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Bubble Wrap Rebrands Itself as "iBubble Wrap," Launches Product that Won't Pop
They want to be the Apple of packaging goods, but also destroy childhood at the same time.
By Tina Nguyen
By Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
The bubble-wrap bubble has apparently burst.
Thanks to this self-fulfilling prophecy, the makers of Bubble Wrap announced that they would revamp their signature product, releasing a new product that does two bad things: first, it will no longer pop as it used to, depriving everyone the joy of jumping on a massive sheet fresh from the box. Second, it has a silly new name now: i<|fim_middle|> of precious warehouse space required for several rolls of Bubble Wrap.
The new iBubble Wrap will be, like every Apple iProduct, thinner than the previous generation: the new bubbles are designed with "interconnected columns" and must be inflated at the point of shipping, using an expensive machine installed on site. Shipping it un-inflated means more warehouse space: according to a pretty infographic, "one truckload of iBubble Wrap has the same amount of packing material as 47 trucks filled with bubble wrap."
With the new iBubble Wrap, Sealed Air believes that this new product will be as revolutionary as an iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator.
In addition to creating bubble wrap that doesn't pop and stress relievers that won't relieve stress, Sealed Air is researching potential new shipping materials, "experimenting with a combination of agricultural byproducts and mushroom roots that grow and conform to the contours of a package." Like shrooms, but for your packaging, instead of your brain. | Bubble Wrap. It's like Bubble Wrap, but more . . . Apple-y.
Sealed Air, the company that has produced Bubble Wrap since 1957, told The Wall Street Journal that sales of the packaging material have steadily declined in recent years, mostly due to the rise of global shipping, driven by companies like Amazon, and the insane amount | 72 |
Conventional laboratory housing increases morbidity and mortality in research rodents: results of a meta-analysis
Jessica Cait ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8052-34391,
Alissa Cait2,
R. Wilder Scott3,
Charlotte B. Winder4 &
Georgia J. Mason1
BMC Biology volume 20, Article number: 15 (2022) Cite this article
174 Altmetric
Over 120 million mice and rats are used annually in research, conventionally housed in shoebox-sized cages that restrict natural behaviours (e.g. nesting and burrowing). This can reduce physical fitness, impair thermoregulation and reduce welfare (e.g. inducing abnormal stereotypic behaviours). In humans, chronic stress has biological costs, increasing disease risks and potentially shortening life. Using a pre-registered protocol (https://atrium.lib.uoguelph.ca/xmlui/handle/10214/17955), this meta-analysis therefore tested the hypothesis that, compared to rodents in 'enriched' housing that better meets their needs, conventional housing increases stress-related morbidity and all-cause mortality.
Comprehensive searches (via Ovid, CABI, Web of Science, Proquest and SCOPUS on May 24 2020) yielded 10,094 publications. Screening for inclusion criteria (published in English, using mice or rats and providing 'enrichments' in long-term housing) yielded 214 studies (within 165 articles, using 6495 animals: 59.1% mice; 68.2% male; 31.8% isolation-housed), and data on all-cause mortality plus five experimentally induced stress-sensitive diseases: anxiety, cancer, cardiovascular disease, depression and stroke. The Systematic Review Center for Laboratory animal Experimentation (SYRCLE) tool assessed individual studies' risks of bias. Random-effects meta-analyses supported the hypothesis: conventional housing significantly exacerbated disease severity with medium to large effect sizes: cancer (SMD = 0.71, 95% CI = 0.54–0.88); cardiovascular disease (SMD = 0.72, 95% CI = 0.35–1.09); stroke (SMD = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.59–1.15); signs of anxiety (SMD = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.56–1.25); signs of depression (SMD = 1.24, 95% CI = 0.98–1.49). It also increased mortality rates (hazard ratio = 1.48, 95% CI = 1.25–1.74; relative median survival = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.89–0.94). Meta-regressions indicated that such housing effects were ubiquitous across species and sexes, but could not identify the most impactful improvements to conventional housing. Data variability (assessed via coefficient of variation) was also not increased by 'enriched' housing.
Conventional housing appears sufficiently distressing to compromise rodent health, raising ethical concerns. Results also add to previous work to show that research rodents are typically CRAMPED (cold, rotund, abnormal, male-biased, poorly surviving, enclosed and distressed), raising questions about the validity and generalisability of the data they generate. This research was funded by NSERC, Canada.
Globally, at least 120 million mice and rats are used in biomedical research each year [1–3]. Extensive knowledge has been gleaned from such work, but this has not come without ethical concerns. The vast majority of rodent-based research goes unpublished [4], cannot be replicated [5–8] or fails in translatability [9–11]. Most experimental procedures induce moderate to severe distress or pain [2, 3]. Furthermore, rodents experience chronic impacts from typical laboratory housing; globally, most cages are small and contain little more than food, water and a granular flooring substrate (e.g. corncob). In the wild, in contrast, they dig burrows and create nests as warm, safe resting places, and they explore home ranges that may be several cubic metres (e.g. in buildings), or comprise dozens to hundreds of square metres of field habitat [12, 13]. Laboratory rodents find opportunities to perform these natural behaviours highly rewarding: for example, they prefer cages with nesting material [14, 15], mice building elaborate, well-structured nests if given the right substrates [16]; are motivated to dig burrows [17, 18]; will pay costs in order to exercise, e.g. crossing electrified grids to access running wheels [19] and are motivated to explore novelty [20]. Large cages 'enriched' with these opportunities are thus preferred over conventional ones [20] (with mice potentially pushing weights heavier than themselves to reach such environments [21]). Furthermore, conventional cages commonly induce signs of poor welfare that include abnormal behaviours [22–26], cognitive 'pessimism' [27–30], impaired sleep quality [31, 32] and reduced resilience to acute stressors [33] (e.g. showing prolonged tachycardia after injection) [34]. Such welfare evidence has accumulated for decades, yet progress towards improving rodent housing has been slow. Since 2010, for example, Europe has required the provision of shelter or nesting for laboratory rodents, to meet one basic biological need [35], Canada following suit for mice in 2019 [36]. However, the USA, likely the number one laboratory rodent user worldwide [1, 37], still does not [38] and nor do many other countries. The use of barren cages thus continues [39]. This is ethically troubling and may have practical implications too: some have proposed that the resulting poor welfare so alters animals' underlying physiology that they no longer 'embody healthy biological systems' [<|fim_middle|>200). No significant difference between these measures was observed (p = 0.1843), and controlling for 'measure' did not decrease I2.
Random-effects meta-analysis of housing effects showing overall standardized mean difference (SMD [Hedge's G]) and 95% confidence intervals of signs of anxiety. Subgroups are based on measures. Blue diamond = SMD estimate (with the width reflecting the 95% CI), location of black squares indicates study SMD and size indicates the weight of the study in the meta-analysis. CH = conventional housing, EH = 'enriched' housing, RE = random effects. I2 and Q statistic are tests of heterogeneity. Results of the model testing whether SMDs are significantly different from zero: n = 28, z = 5.14, p < 0.0001
Meta-analysis of 26 studies (26 articles) showed that CH exacerbated signs of induced depression, with a very large effect (SMD = 1.24, z = 9.39, p < 0.0001) (Fig. 7). Heterogeneity was low (I2 = 32.44%). When subgroup analysis was performed for each measure, learned helplessness (21 studies; SMD = 1.74, z = 7.06, p < 0.0001) and anhedonia (10 studies; SMD = 0.911, z = 4.99, p = 0.0007) showed significant effects. Effects for hippocampal volume (3 studies) did not reach significance, again likely due to the small number of studies, although the effect direction was consistent with the hypothesis (SMD = 1.19, z = 3.17, p = 0.0870). There was no significant difference between subgroups (p = 0.1670).
Random-effects meta-analysis of housing effects showing overall standardized mean difference (SMD [Hedge's G]) and 95% confidence intervals of signs of depression. Subgroups are based on measures. Blue diamond = SMD estimate (with the width reflecting the 95% CI), location of black squares indicates study SMD and size indicates the weight of the study in the meta-analysis. CH = conventional housing, EH = 'enriched' housing, RE = random effects. I2 and Q statistic are tests of heterogeneity. Results of the model testing whether SMDs are significantly different from zero: n = 26, z = 9.39, p < 0.0001
Hazard ratios
A random-effects meta-analysis of the hazard ratios calculated for 38 studies (from 24 articles) showed a significant effect of housing (CH:EH hazard ratio = 1.48, z = 8.87, p < 0.0001) (Fig. 8), CH thus increased risk of death at any time point by 48%. There was a substantial amount of heterogeneity (I2 = 56.88%). Effects were similar in the subset where death occurred with no prior disease induction (hazard ratio = 1.55, z = 5.36, p < 0.0001) and the subset in which there was prior disease induction (any disease, not just those mentioned previously) (hazard ratio = 1.41, z = 1.97, p = 0.0486). These subgroups did not differ (p = 0.6046), and controlling for subgroup did not decrease I2.
Random-effects meta-analysis of housing effects showing overall hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Subgroups are based on if animals died spontaneously or after disease induction. Blue diamond = SMD estimate (with the width reflecting the 95% CI), location of black squares indicates study hazard ratio and size indicates the weight of the study in the meta-analysis. CH = conventional housing, EH = 'enriched' housing, RE = random effects. I2 and Q statistic are tests of heterogeneity. Results of the model testing whether hazard ratios are significantly different from one: n = 38, z = 8.87, p < 0.0001
Median survivals
A random-effects meta-analysis of median survival times calculated for 15 studies (from 12 articles) showed a significant effect of housing (ROM = 0.91, z = − 7.89, p < 0.0001) (Fig. 9). Mice and rats in CH had 8.55% lower median survival times than EH counterparts. There was a very low level of heterogeneity (I2 = 0.05%). For 12/15 studies, the deaths occurred with no prior disease induction, and effects were similar looking only at this subgroup (ROM = 0.91, z = − 7.78, p < 0.0001). In the other three studies, which did involve disease induction, effects did not reach significance, although the effect direction was consistent with the hypothesis (ROM = 0.97, z = − 0.26, p = 0.796). Subgroups did not differ in ROMs (p = 0.8528).
Random-effects meta-analysis of housing effects showing overall ratio of means (ROM) and 95% confidence intervals of median survival. Subgroups are based on if animals died spontaneously or after disease induction. Blue diamond = SMD estimate (with the width reflecting the 95% CI), location of black squares indicates study ratio of means and size indicates the weight of the study in the meta-analysis. CH = conventional housing, EH = 'enriched' housing, RE = random effects. I2 and Q statistic are tests of heterogeneity. Results of the model testing whether ROMs are significantly different from one: n = 15, z = − 7.04, p < 0.0001
Do housing effects on stress-related disease vary with species, sex and disease?
Visual inspection of the funnel plot (Additional file 18A), and a rank correlation test indicated the presence of potential publication bias (tau = 0.253, p < 0.001). Much of this skew came from a subset of 9 relatively small-scale studies reporting very large SMDs (> 3 up to over 7). To be conservative, and also to achieve normal residuals, we removed these studies for all subsequent analyses; Additional file 18B shows the revised funnel plot. A random-effects meta-regression then assessed whether animal or disease characteristics predicted the effects of housing. SMD magnitudes were not predicted by species, sex, social housing or their interactions (see Table 1), nor were they affected by disease when 'red flags' were included, though housing had smaller effects on infarct volume than on all other measures (see Table 1). Adding these moderators did reduce overall heterogeneity, however (I2 = 54.91%). After removing 'red flag' studies, there was a significant effect of disease, driven by larger effect sizes of housing on stroke outcomes (p = 0.0235).
Table 1 Meta-regression of potential moderators of housing effects on stress-sensitive disease
Do housing effects on mortality vary with species and sex?
Visual inspection of the funnel plot (Additional file 19) and rank correlation test indicated no publication bias (tau = 0.007, p = 0.9500); all studies were therefore retained for subsequent analyses (in which residuals were approximately normal). Hazard ratio magnitudes were not predicted by species, sex, social housing status or their interactions (Table 2). However, adding these moderators did reduce overall heterogeneity (I2 = 45.71%).
Table 2 Meta-regression of potential moderators of housing effects on hazard ratios
For stress-related diseases, SMDs were not predicted by 'resource category' (F3,139 = 0.8280, p = 0.4806) nor its interaction with species (F3,139 = 1.0409, p = 0.3766) (Table 1), although adding it did modestly reduce the I2 statistic (I2 = 45.24%). Removing 'red flag' studies had little effect on these null results (Table 1). A trend appeared for 'resource category', but this made little biological sense (effects were paradoxically smallest when all resources were supplied and largest when only wheels and other resources were supplied [but nesting was absent]), and it also vanished when study weightings were removed (see below).
Turning to mortality, hazard ratios were also not predicted by 'resource category' (F1,26 = 0.0025, p = 0.9608). Almost all (11/12) studies providing multiple items (not just wheels) used mice, so we were unable to assess interactions between resource category and species. Adding the 'resource category' term did not reduce the I2 statistic (I2 = 48.32%), and again removing 'red flag' studies had negligible effect on these null results (Table 2).
Random-effects meta-analyses with study weights removed
All random-effects models were then rerun omitting the weighting for study variance, because variance had been calculated using the N provided by each study, which in many cases were pseudoreplicative (see above). Results changed little; however, this conservative approach did slightly increase the effect sizes (please see Additional file 9, 10, 11).
We assessed whether the coefficient of variation differed between conventional housing and enriched conditions in stress-related diseases. There was no significant effect of housing on the coefficient of variation (CVR = 0.03, z = 0.93, p = 0.3520).
Assessment of the strength of evidence evaluated using GRADE guidelines indicated high quality (Additional file 20), indicating that results can be treated with high confidence.
Conventional housing has strong, robust deleterious effects on health
Our hypothesis was that for laboratory rodents used in biomedical research, the behavioural restriction inherent in their conventional housing (CH) causes sufficient stress to impair functioning and compromise health. This hypothesis made two predictions: that CH would consistently increase the morbidity of induced stress-sensitive diseases, and also elevate all-cause mortality, over levels seen in 'enriched' housing (EH) that better supports species-typical behaviour and meets animals' preferences. Using data from over 214 studies and over 6000 rodents, both predictions were met.
Conventional rodent housing thus significantly increased the severity of five stress-sensitive diseases. Effect sizes ranged from medium for cancer to very large for signs of depression. Only one slight discrepancy emerged: infarct volume was impacted less by housing than were other measures (with its SMD of 0.39). This was probably because after strokes were surgically induced, CH and EH animals were often both housed in isolated, barren cages for 24 h, and this period is when the majority of tissue damage occurs [91]. However even for this measure, the effect of subsequent housing was significant, suggesting that CH impaired lesion recovery. Overall, to summarize the impact of housing with one single SMD, the mean affect size was 0.74 (95% CI = 0.63–0.84). This means that CH exacerbated rodent morbidity with a medium to large effect. Such effects remained substantial after correcting for publication bias, and after eliminating weightings that were skewed by pseudoreplicative study reporting (SMD = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.67–0.90), an issue discussed further below. Effects also seemed consistent across rats and mice, socially housed and isolated animals, males and females, as well as across diseases. However, removing 'red flags' and controlling for infarct volume measures did reveal a second discrepancy: very large effects of CH exacerbating experimentally induced functional stroke outcomes (SMD = 1.63 [95% CI = 0.99-1.73]; compared to other diseases: SMD = 0.68 [95% CI = 0.53-0.83]). The robustness and reason for this needs future research.
Mortality rates were affected by housing too: for CH animals, the instantaneous hazard of dying was elevated by about 50%. Again such effects were not by-products of publication bias; they proved robust to eliminating weightings that were skewed by pseudoreplicative study reporting (hazard ratio = 1.61, 95% CI = 1.36–1.98), and they were also rather consistent, affected little by whether or not deaths arose from an experimentally induced disease, nor by animals' species, sex or social environment. Similar to humans, in whom chronic stress elevates mortality for a range of disorders (e.g. [92, 93]), the cause of death in these studies was diverse. Mortality from experimentally induced disease varied widely (e.g. Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and cardiomyopathy) and when disease was not induced, the cause of death was often unknown. However, effects were large enough that EH increased median survival by 9.3%. For context, this effect is greater than that of leading life-extending compounds resveratrol (which increases median survival by 4.1% [94]) and metformin (which increases mean lifespans by 5.8% [95]).
A meta-analysis is only as good as the studies its uses, and ours did show risks of experimental bias, not only in unit-of-analysis errors, but also in areas of blinding and cage randomization throughout the facility. Thus animal (rather than cage) was often used as the unit of replication, as is common in biomedical literature [87, 88]. This is an important pseudoreplicative error, since here the treatment ('enrichment') was applied to cages (not individuals) [87–90]. Furthermore, it was present in around one third of our studies using socially housed animals. However, rerunning our models excluding weights for inverse variance (which would be inflated for affected studies) had no substantive effect on the conclusions, likely because our total N was so large. The common lack of reported blinding was also concerning. However, the biases typically introduced by non-blind outcome assessment are smaller than our effect sizes: even the largest estimates, which suggest it inflates effect sizes by 0.19 [96], could not account for housing effects of the magnitude that we calculated. Furthermore, our assessment may sometimes reflect poor reporting rather than a true absence of blinding [97]: surveys indicate that some 20% of studies not reporting blinding did actually use it (suggesting that our true rate of blinding may be closer to 50%). The third prevalent risk of experimental bias was not reporting housing animals randomly throughout the room, which may lead to differential cage temperatures or light exposures [98, 99]. However, given the large number of studies and laboratories, this would only have contributed non-systematic error, not bias. Furthermore, collectively the quality of evidence was high, as assessed via GRADE guidelines. Overall, the results of this systematic review can therefore be treated with high confidence (with more data being unlikely to change these estimates of effect).
Ethical and research implications
Conventional rodent cages are intended to meet 'physical, physiologic and behavioural needs.' [38], but whether they do so is generally not closely attended to. Describing housing is also not on the 'essential' list for the ARRIVE 2.0 reporting guidelines [86]. Thus while projects and procedures are regularly ethically reviewed, housing is not subject to the same scrutiny as long as it meets local minimum standards. Our findings reveal this to be a major ethical oversight. It has long been known that CH animals are behaviourally frustrated, at risk of 'pessimism', abnormal behaviour and impaired sleep, and low in resilience (as reviewed in the Introduction). CH can also have metabolic effects, rendering animals obese (especially rats) and hypothermic (especially mice) [77, 78, 80, 82], and CH generally compromises brain development [100, 101]. Our results now also demonstrate that as a result of this stress, CH rodents are consistently more vulnerable to mental and physical health problems: they become sicker when diseased, and die sooner than their EH counterparts. ILAR treats such signs of impaired adaptive capacity as evidence of 'distress' [53]. CH thus causes distress. In terms of regulation, using CH should logically therefore be treated as a stressful procedure (e.g. a 'D' in Canada, defined as 'caus[ing] moderate to severe distress or discomfort' [102]; an 'E' in the USA ['stressful procedures that are not relieved with anaesthetics, analgesics and/or tranquilizers' : [103], and 'moderate' in the EU ['procedures that have caused moderate impairment of the well-being or general condition of the animals': [35]).
Correspondingly, these results challenge two common assumptions in research projects that manipulate housing. The first is that the term 'enriched' is appropriate for housing that is not barren. As others have argued before us [104, 105], 'enriched'—with its implications of 'richness'—is probably not the best term for housing that is merely less poor. The second is that CH conditions represent a 'control', while improving them represents a 'treatment': a ubiquitous assumption made in the studies in this meta-analysis. If CH induces chronic stress, while adding key resources to CH helps animals meet their natural behavioural and thermoregulatory needs, it seems more logical to consider CH a deprivation treatment rather than a normal baseline (such that CH should be implemented only when a model of chronic stress is needed). Reassuringly, we also found no evidence that a move away from this poor housing would increase data variability (see also [106] and [107]). EH is thus unlikely to reduce statistical power.
Furthermore, this view of CH suggests another potential advantage to using rodent housing that is less poor: not just improved animal welfare, but perhaps also increased external validity. Currently, translatability rates are low: 86–91% of drugs that appear to work in animals fail in human clinical trials [108–112]. Some argue that a contributory factor is that data from stressed, sedentary, thermoregulatory-challenged animals are not relevant to people leading less-constrained lives (as outlined in the Introduction; e.g. [40–45, 113]). Our results confirm that housing does indeed have biologically significant impacts: a necessary condition for this hypothesis to be supported. However, our results are not sufficient evidence that CH contributes to the current translatability crisis. That is because our findings cannot identify whether housing has, not just quantitative, but also qualitative, interactive effects on research results (cf. e.g. [114]), such that data from CH or improved housing conditions generate different conclusions. (A figure illustrating this distinction is presented in Additional file 21). Investigating this hypothesis formally would take a new meta-analysis designed to do so. Nevertheless, consistent with this concern, it is already known that some results that look therapeutically promising in CH animals are weaker or abolished if subjects are better housed. For example, relevant to research on lifespan, some anti-oxidant effects of resveratrol in CH mice are diminished or even absent in better-housed conspecifics [115]; and likewise, in Alzheimer's research, certain genetic mutations cause both amyloid plaques and cognitive deficits, but only in CH mice [116]. Conversely (but equally concerning), some null or adverse results in CH animals instead indicate promising therapies if subjects are better housed. For example, the harmful neurological side-effects of some novel anti-cancer agents on CH mice are diminished or even abolished in mice in less poor conditions [117]; in stroke research, epidermal growth factor does not improve recovery in CH rats, but does for rats in improved housing [118]; and flu vaccines which elicit only weak antigen-specific immunity in CH mice, have much greater benefits in better-housed conspecifics [119]. 'Would conducting experiments under more than one set of conditions improve translation of knowledge to the clinic?' ask Hylander & Repasky (2016) in Trends in Cancer [83]. The answer seems likely to be 'yes': a topic we visit below.
What aspects of conventional housing are most impactful?
Housing effects did not seem influenced by the number and type of resources provided. This null result could indicate that CH is so deficient that 'something, anything' improves welfare [120]. However, we suspect it is more likely to be a Type II error resulting from the poor reporting of relevant information. Two thirds of studies did not describe their CH, leaving us assuming (perhaps incorrectly) that it merely met minimum standards. Furthermore, because animals were never observed within their home environments, we could not accurately evaluate how cages differed in their abilities to allow exercise, provide warmth and perceived safety, or support other species-typical behaviours. We thus could not assess how animals used resources (e.g. was a 'structure' used for climbing, or to nest within, or not at all? Was a 'toy' played with, despite subjects being adult, or was it gnawed, climbed on, or just ignored?). We could not assess degrees of use—important because rodents prefer some types of running wheel, and some types of nest boxes, more than others [19, 121]. We could not assess adverse reactions (for example, if grouped male mice were used, whether resources inadvertently triggered aggression [58, 59] was never reported). Finally, we could not evaluate how deprivation affected behavioural phenotypes: important because CH can promote either inactivity and weight gain [77, 78], or instead highly active stereotypic behaviour [25, 122]). Such knowledge gaps make it hard to assess which resources most reduce distress. We urge that as at least a minimum response to these problems, the reporting of animals' housing conditions is moved to ARRIVE's 'essential' list [86].
From a translatability perspective, such research and reporting gaps arguably also represent missed opportunities to strategically design housing in ways that model specific lived experiences, since by manipulating the types and extents of 'enrichment', researchers could differentially enhance specific aspects of animal environments. For example, such manipulations could parse out effects of exercise opportunities, being able to thermoregulate, being able to explore and become familiar with novelty and change, and/or having many other behavioural needs met. Furthermore, by systematically varying EH conditions, this approach could also reveal how robust effects are across a range of situations, thus potentially enhancing reproducibility as well as translatability [123, 124].
Other incidental findings
The three viral infection studies found were not included in the meta-analysis, but two cautiously suggest an interesting exception to our pattern. For Dengue fever, infections were less severe in CH conditions [125, 126]. However, this disease has an unusual pathogenesis involving inflammatory hyperplasia; if confirmed, such effects are thus still consistent with high stress-suppressing immune responses [127, 128]. The third study, of Vaccina, found non-significant trends for wheel-running to protect against weight loss [129].
Some final findings warrant comment. Despite growing recognition of sex as a key biological variable, 80.4% of studies came from articles that used only one sex, and more than two thirds of these used males only (even in studies published since 2010; 72.6% [n = 90]). That research animal populations are commonly male-biased is a problem, since it under-represents female patients [130, 131], again potentially reducing translatability [132]. 31.8 % (n = 68) of studies also socially isolated their animals, including rats and female mice for whom this unambiguously reduces well-being [133–135]. Again this proportion was similar even for studies published since 2010 (29.3% [n = 44]). Finally, of the 33.2% of studies (n = 71), which described their CH conditions, 80.3% (n = 57) did not supply nesting or shelter (even in studies published since 2010; 80.3% [n = 61]). Thus if change is happening, it is slow.
Our findings highlight the inadequacies of conventional cages for research rodents. They indicate that 'enriched' housing is not the luxury this term would imply, but instead something that helps meet animals' basic needs by reducing distress. Furthermore, like relying on 'WEIRD' human subjects in psychology [136] and 'STRANGE' wild animals in ecology [137], our results, combined with previous work on both sex biases and the neurological and metabolic impacts of CH [25, 74, 77, 78, 80, 82, 130, 131], raise questions about data generalisability. Together, they indicate that typical research rodents should be termed 'CRAMPED' (cold, rotund, abnormal, male-biased, poorly surviving, enclosed and distressed). And so we end by asking, are results from CRAMPED rodents relevant to a wide cross-section of humans, including those who are fit and happy? If not, could rectifying their housing improve not only animal well-being, but also the translatability of biomedical research?
All data supporting the conclusions of this article are included within the article and supplemental materials. Additional raw data is available upon request.
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We would like to thank Katherine Miller (University of British Columbia) for her help in designing the search strategy, Sanjeet (Sonu) Lidhar ('SL') for his help screening articles and extracting data, Drs. Jan Sargeant and Olaf Berke (University of Guelph) for imparting their systematic review and meta-analysis expertise, Dr. Wolfgang Viechtbauer (Maastricht University) for developing and maintaining the Metafor R package and providing valuable feedback, the Campbell Center for the Study of Animal Welfare (CCSAW, University of Guelph) for their helpful insights and discussion, Anna Ratuski (University of British Columbia) for her suggestions on coefficient of variation analysis, NSERC for GJM's discovery grant and JC's Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS-D), and all the mice and rats included in this work. The University of Guelph researchers respectfully acknowledge that they work and reside on the treaty lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit.
Funding came from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC): a discovery grant to GJM (Grant number 145607139), and an NSERC doctoral scholarship to JC.
Department of Integrative Biology, College of Biological Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Jessica Cait & Georgia J. Mason
Department of Translational Immunology, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, Wellington, New Zealand
Alissa Cait
School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine and Applied Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
R. Wilder Scott
Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Charlotte B. Winder
Jessica Cait
Georgia J. Mason
GJM conceptualized the project while JC actualized it. GJM and JC developed the review protocol with technical expertise from CBW. JC, AC and CBW conducted relevance screening. JC and AC performed data extraction and risk of bias assessments. JC performed statistical analyses with guidance from RWS, CBW and GJM. JC generated the figures and interpreted the results with guidance from GJM and CBW. JC and GJM wrote the manuscript. All authors commented on and approved the final manuscript.
Correspondence to Georgia J. Mason.
Diseases stated to be exacerbated by psychological stress, in the title and/or abstract of all papers cited in and citing [54] and [46] (citations from the main text). Citers catalogued (April 1 2020, Google Scholar). (PDF 178 kb)
Outcomes and measures extracted for each disease.
Pre-registered study protocol.
Protocol amendments.
Database search strategy.
Title/abstract screening and full text eligibility questions.
Study level data collected. An article may contain multiple studies (where each study contains one set of animals under the same conditions described here).
Results from random-effects meta-analyses rerun without study weights (cf. Figs. 3-9 which include study weights), comparing disease outcomes and mortality in conventionally housed and environmentally enriched animals.
Additional file 10.
Results from a random-effects meta-regression rerun without study weights (cf. Table 1 which includes study weights), investigating potential moderators of housing effects on stress-sensitive disease (standardized mean differences). Bold p values are significant at p < 0.05.
Results from a random-effects meta-regression rerun without study weights (cf. Table 2 which includes study weights), investigating potential moderators of housing effects on hazard ratio.
R syntax used for data analysis.
Studies excluded at full text article screening.
Categorization of each resource.
Study characteristics.
A reference list of studies included in this systematic review.
Risk of Bias assessment.
Funnel plot for all stress-sensitive diseases. (A) Initial funnel plot including all stress-sensitive disease data. Blue dots indicate studies contributing to plot asymmetry (B) Funnel plot of studies included in final analysis with the publication bias removed. Bold line = null result, dotted line = standardized mean estimate calculated from all included studies. A plot with no publication bias should look symmetrical around the dotted line.
A funnel plot of all studies included in the analysis reporting hazard ratios. Bold line = null result, dotted line = hazard ratio estimate calculated from all included studies.
GRADE assessment of confidence of cumulative evidence. SMD = standardized mean difference.
Hypothetical data illustrating how 'enrichments' could impact external validity. This figure demonstrates how interactive effects between a treatment (e.g. a drug) and EH could impact experimental conclusions. Note that in each graph the error bars do not change, as EH does not change data variability. Also note that EH is not one unitary thing, but something that can vary in kind and degree (for example to deliberately introduce heterogeneity). (A) No interactive effect. No matter the cage condition, the experimental conclusion is the same: the drug reduces disease but does not cure it. EH does not affect external validity. (B) The drug effect is absent with EH. This drug could be useful for specific populations (e.g. chronically stressed and/or overweight subjects) but not others (e.g. physically fit content subjects). Testing the drug only under CH conditions will generate false positives, unless the target population is specifically one which is stressed and/or overweight etc. (C) The drug effect is only detectable in EH. This suggests the drug could be useful for some populations (e.g. ones which are physically fit and content) but not others (e.g. chronically stressed and/or overweight) Testing the drug only under CH conditions will generate false negatives, unless the target population is specifically one which is stressed and/or overweight.
Cait, J., Cait, A., Scott, R.W. et al. Conventional laboratory housing increases morbidity and mortality in research rodents: results of a meta-analysis. BMC Biol 20, 15 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-021-01184-0
External validity
Research Synthesis and Meta-research in Biology | 40], such that 'the applicability of [their] results to the average human, who lives in a stimulating environment, rather than impoverished conditions' should be questioned [41] (see also [42–45]).
Here we sought evidence for such biological changes. Such evidence is necessary (albeit not sufficient) to support these authors' hypothesis. Epidemiological research on humans shows the specific types of change that are common under chronic stress. Humans who are chronically stressed have shortened lifespans and are more susceptible to disease [46–48]: the result of stress-induced physiological changes such as supressed immune function [49] and altered hormone signalling [50]. Similar effects can occur in rodents (e.g. rats exposed to 'chronic mild stress' procedures show disrupted metabolic profiles [51], and mice experimentally subjected to chronic aggression have shortened lifespans [52]). As the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR), the US National Academies body responsible for laboratory animal care guidelines, thus summarizes, 'animals exposed to prolonged severe stress experience underlying changes in physiological functions (e.g. gastric lesions) or immunosuppression that can … contribute to morbidity and mortality' ([53]; cited references omitted). This systematic review and meta-analysis therefore aimed to determine if conventional housing has these types of detrimental impacts on rodent health. This hypothesis predicts that compared to 'enriched' housing that is more complex and contains resources that support species-typical behaviours, conventional housing will exacerbate disease, especially conditions known to be stress-sensitive, and increase all-cause mortality rates.
Selection of stress-sensitive diseases for morbidity data
There is considerable research on how stress affects disease risk and severity (e.g. a Medline search of 'psychological stress' and 'disease' generated 1927 hits on May 18, 2020). For feasibility, we therefore first narrowed down a list of relevant diseases by using two extensive reviews on stress and morbidity/mortality as starting points, [54] and [46], hand-searching the titles and abstracts of all references cited, plus papers citing these reviews since publication (found via Google Scholar; see Additional file 1). From these, we selected all diseases described as exacerbated by psychological stress in humans, and mentioned in more than one paper: anxiety disorders, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular disease, major depression, stroke and viral infection. In rodents, these diseases are 'modelled' by being induced artificially (thus not always reflecting the natural pathophysiology of disease onset); however, their subsequent severity and duration, and the degree of recovery, all of which are stress-sensitive in humans, are critically dependent on the animal's physiology (see Additional file 2 for key references).
Reporting, protocol and registration
A pre-registered review protocol was then deposited in the University of Guelph Atrium (our institutional repository) on May 22, 2020 https://atrium.lib.uoguelph.ca/xmlui/handle/10214/17955; see Additional File 3, plus protocol amendments in Additional file 4). The protocol and this manuscript are both reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement [55] (Additional file 5), and follows the ten appraisal questions for biologists outlined by Nakagawa et al. [56] and practical guidelines for conducting meta-analyses using animal studies [57].
Disease measures
Eligible studies were required to report a pre-specified disease-relevant outcome (Additional file 2). The review protocol details how these were chosen. Briefly, we generated a shortlist by identifying which signs of each disease are negatively impacted by stress in humans, for cross-reference with those commonly reported in biomedical rodent research (not specific to environmentally 'enriched' housing [henceforth EH] literature). For feasibility, we limited our focus to a maximum of three outcomes per disease (though note that each could be measured in multiple ways: see Additional File 2).
Studies were included if they (i) were published in English; (ii) described primary in vivo research; (iii) used laboratory mice or rats; (iv) used both conventional housing (henceforth CH), and EH, as animals' long-term living quarters; (v) reported mortality, or used a disease model of interest reporting at least one pre-specified outcome. Eligible studies also required a clear text description or image of the 'enrichment' and did not confound conventional housing with isolation (such that differentially housed animals were always in similar social environments [either all individuals, or all paired/grouped]). For studies lacking clear descriptions of the conventional cages, we assumed the minimum housing requirements specified for the relevant year and country (assuming, unless otherwise stated, that researchers would follow both recommended and required minima). Eligible mortality studies had to report a minimum time at risk in weeks or months (shorter endpoints, e.g. within hours or days of disease induction, were considered readouts of specific acute disease models such as models of anorexia, rather than reflecting how stress can increase mortality over a lifetime).
Data sources and searches
Electronic searches were completed on May 24, 2020, using Medline (via Ovid), CAB abstracts (via CABI), Science Citation Index (via Web of Science), ProQuest Theses & Dissertations (via ProQuest) and Elsevier (via SCOPUS). No restrictions were placed on the search beyond those of the databases themselves. The specific search strategy was created in MEDLINE (OVID interface, 1948 onwards); see Additional file 6 for details. 'Enrich*' was used to find relevant housing studies as the typical terminology in such research.
Article selection
Records from searches were uploaded and de-duplicated in EndNoteX7.8 (Clairvate Analytics, Philadelphia, USA), exported into DistillerSR (Evidence Partners Inc., Ottawa, ON, Canada), further de-duplicated, and then screened in two rounds (title/abstract; full text eligibility) by two independent reviewers (JC and either AC or SL) (see Additional file 7 for screening questions). Prior to screening, a pilot run on the first 100 records for title/abstract, and first 25 records for full text, ensured consistent data collection between reviewers. Any conflicts between reviewers were resolved by consensus.
All data were collected in DistillerSR by two independent reviewers (JC and either AC or SL), conflicts again being resolved by consensus. Study-level data collected on animal, housing, disease and outcome characteristics are shown in Additional file 8.
Data extraction for housing details and other potential moderating factors
We extracted details of which resources (substrates, items or structures) were included in both housing types. Further, we extracted data on factors likely to compromise EH effectiveness (determined a priori: see pre-registered protocol Additional file 3), hereafter referred to as 'red flags': those likely to inadvertently increase aggression (via resource guarding in group-housed male mice) [12, 58, 59], fear (caused by the frequent rotation of novel objects, or providing novel resources to old animals who may be neophobic) [60, 61] or disinterest (possible in old animals, due to anhedonia) [21]. We also flagged any EH supplied for very short timeframes (i.e. less time than the disease could develop in). Meta-regressions were run with and without 'red flags' to determine if these factors impacted EH effectiveness (see sections below).
Data extraction for stress-sensitive diseases
Means, standard deviations (or standard errors) and sample sizes were extracted to calculate and report standardized mean differences (SMD) (Hedge's G): a unit-less summary statistic used to compare and combine results across studies [62]. A SMD of 0.2, 0.5 or 0.8 was interpreted as a small, medium or large effect respectively [63]. For studies which did not report a specific sample size but gave a range, the smallest possible sample size was used to be conservative. For studies that did not report the mean and standard deviation in the text, we extracted values from graphs using Web Plot Digitizer [64]. Studies that did not report how error bars were generated were excluded. For studies reporting multiple experimental groups or time points, we excluded loss of function and gain of function (within-subject) experiments, and if data were sampled at multiple time points, we only extracted data from the latest reported time point (prior to full recovery from disease). For studies generating more than one SMD, to avoid pseudoreplication only one was kept when analyses were pooled (always the least studied measure across all articles).
Data extraction for mortality
To assess all-cause mortality, we computed hazard ratios and median survivals by reconstructing Kaplan-Meier curves from curves presented in articles using Web Plot Digitizer [64]. We extracted data in duplicate and compared extracted coordinates for concordance. Any discrepancies between the two reviewers (JC and SL) were resolved by re-extracting coordinates until concordant; one reviewer's data (JC) were then used for final Kaplan-Meier curve construction, and to calculate hazard ratios (a summary of time-to-event data, which here measures relative instantaneous risk of death between CH and EH populations [62]), confidence intervals and median survival times via methods and R script from Guyot et al. [65].
Risk of experimental bias
Risks of bias in individual studies were assessed independently by two separate reviewers (JC and SL) using the SYstematic Review Center for Laboratory animal Experimentation (SYRCLE) risk of bias tool [66], disagreements again resolved by consensus.
Data synthesis and meta-analysis of housing effects
Random-effects meta-analyses were conducted in R 3.6.2 (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria) using the random-effects meta-analysis function (rma) in the Metafor package [67]. Each study was weighted by its inverse variance (with secondary analyses without study weights also being performed, to avoid any skews from unit-of-analysis errors [see 'Results']; these can be found in Additional files 9, 10, 11). For experiments in which only one comparator group was used in a multi-arm study, we increased the assumed variance to avoid unit-of-analysis errors, based on Rücker et al.'s 'Method Three' [68]. Each SMD (Hedge's G) was reported such that a value greater than zero indicated increased morbidity in conventional cages. Hazard ratio data were analysed by imputing log hazard ratios, and reported so that a hazard ratio > 1 represents increased mortality in conventional cages. Median survival times were analysed using the log transformed ratio of means (ROM) and reported so that a ROM < 1 represents reduced median survival in conventional cages [69]. A separate meta-analysis was performed for each stress-sensitive disease. All disease data were then pooled for subsequent analysis of moderator effects (see below). Hazard ratio data were also run through these analyses (see below). However, median survivals were not, since we could only generate this metric for a few studies (those reaching a minimum 50% survival and recording enough deaths afterwards to calculate 95% confidence intervals [CI]).
All R code used can be found in Additional file 12. Studies meeting eligibility criteria but not included in the meta-analysis are summarized in Additional file 13.
Exploring heterogeneity
Heterogeneity was assessed with the I2 statistic [67]. For each stress-sensitive disease, data were split into subgroups by measure. For mortality, data were split into subgroups according to whether or not an experimental disease had been induced (i.e. whether animals were being used to model a disease or were instead expected to be healthy). Differences between subgroup effect estimates were analysed statistically by including 'measure' as a moderator in the random-effects model. Potential moderators of housing effects (e.g. species, sex; see below) were then explored, using meta-regressions on pooled stress-sensitive disease data and hazard ratio data separately.
Assessing publication bias
Before this exploration of housing effect moderators, we first assessed evidence for publication bias across studies, specifically selective reporting (e.g. omission of non-significant findings from small studies [70]), both statistically (via rank correlation tests [71]), and by examining the degree of effect asymmetry visually in funnel plots (c.f [72, 73].). Funnel plots were generated for all stress-sensitive disease studies (pooled). Any extreme SMD values (≥ 3) not 'reflected' in the plot (indicating the likely non-publication of small studies not rejecting the null hypothesis, thus a publication bias) were removed before further analysis (to be conservative, and also to achieve normal residuals). This process was repeated for studies reporting mortality data (extracted as hazard ratios), revealing no such biases.
Do housing effects vary with species, sex or disease?
Next, we explored whether specific diseases or groups of animals impacted the SMD, pooling all disease data for analysis, residuals first being checked for normality (Shapiro-Wilk test). We included the following moderators via the 'mods' argument: disease (cancer, stroke, depression, anxiety or cardiovascular disease); species (mice or rats); social housing status (individually housed, socially housed or not specified); and sex (male, female or other [mixed or not specified]) as categorical variables, as well as their two-way interactions. Since infarct volume SMDs significantly differed from other measures, based on the preceding analyses comparing subgroups by measure, we also incorporated this as a binary variable (yes this study measured infarct volume / no it did not). Hazard ratio data were then similarly analysed, but instead of including 'disease model' as a moderator, we included whether or not any type of experimental disease was induced.
Do housing effects vary with the number and type of resources supplied?
Finally, to identify key mediators of any differences between CH and EH, we assessed the impact of the type of differentially supplied resource. 'Resource type' was scored based on a priori determination of factors likely to reduce health and welfare in CH/improve it in EH (see Additional file 14). These were as follows: wheels, which are highly motivating and can reduce obesity and hyperinsulinemia (especially in rats) [74–78]; nesting opportunities, which are also highly motivating, and enable proper thermoregulation (especially in mice) [79–83]; and opportunities to perform other natural activities (e.g. gnawing, exploration). Based on these, across all disease studies the differences in resources between CH and EH fell into four well-represented categories: studies where EH provided wheels only (n = 78), opportunities for other activities (but no wheel or nesting; n = 18), both wheels and opportunities for other activities (but no nesting; n = 40), and all three resource types (n = 24). For hazard ratio data, studies fell into just two well-sampled categories: ones where EH provided a wheel only (n = 23) and a heterogeneous group in which EH provided several resources unavailable in CH (n = 11). 'Resource category' and its interaction with species was then added to each model. Both models were then rerun with 'red flag' studies removed.
Coefficient of variation
To test whether housing condition alters the amount of variability seen in experimental outcomes, we conducted a meta-analysis on the log transformed ratios of the coefficient of variation (CVR) using a random-effects model (as described above) [84].
Figures were generated using the Metafor package [67] and stylized using Adobe Illustrator CC (Adobe), except for the risk of bias of individual studies which was generated using GraphPad Prism v7.05 (GraphPad Software, San Diego, California USA).
Confidence in cumulative evidence
The strength of the body of evidence synthesized in this review was assessed (by JC) using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) guidelines [85]. Briefly, the quality of evidence was assessed based on study design (as high, moderate, low or very low) and reduced if there was a high risk of bias, imprecision, inconsistency or indirectness and increased if there was a large effect.
Study selection and characteristics
Search strategy and study selection results are presented in Fig. 1. After de-duplication, 10,094 titles/abstracts were screened, with 9537 being excluded. The full texts of the remaining 557 were then screened, 371 not meeting eligibility criteria, three of which were excluded due to suspected plagiarism (see Additional file 13). This left 186 articles for qualitative synthesis (see Additional file 15; for full reference list see Additional file 16), of which 165 (containing 214 studies using 6495 animals) were included in the meta-analysis (with only one SMD from each study being included in pooled analyses). Of these 214 studies, 59.8% used mice (40.3% rats) and 62.6% used males only while 29.0% used females only (plus 5.6% used both sexes and 2.8% did not specify), and 31.8% housed animals individually (57.0% having > 1 animal per cage, but 11.2% not specifying social housing status at all). 66.8% of studies did not adequately describe their CH, leaving us to infer it from local minimum standards.
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) flow diagram. Article = one published unit, Study = one group of animals (one article may contain multiple studies)
Assessments of experimental risk of bias can be seen in Additional file 17 and Fig. 2. Notably, 60.0% of studies reported randomization of animals to treatment groups, but only two studies indicated how they randomized (a required element of the ARRIVE guidelines [86]), and only 35.3% of studies indicated blinding of outcome assessors. Furthermore, many studies (55.3% of those using socially housed animals) did not use the correct unit of statistical analysis for research like this (which manipulates housing at the cage level), namely 'cage', rather than 'animal' (cf. [87–90]). No other sources of bias were observed.
Graphical representation of the results from the SYRCLE risk of bias tool. Green indicates low risk of bias, yellow unclear and red indicates high risk of bias
Asthma and viral infection
No studies of asthma and only three of viral infection met inclusion criteria for this review, with only one viral infection study reporting an outcome extractable for meta-analysis. A meta-analysis of viral infection data was therefore not performed. The other five diseases are presented below in order of increasing housing-type effect size.
Meta-analysis of 72 studies (from 46 articles) showed that CH significantly exacerbated cancer morbidity, with a medium effect size (SMD = 0.71, z = 8.29, p < 0.0001) (Fig. 3). There was, however, a substantial amount of heterogeneity (I2 = 67.37%). Subgroup analyses by measure showed that tumor number (26 studies; SMD = 0.48, z = 4.21, p < 0.0001), tumor volume (41 studies; SMD = 0.73, z = 0.08, p < 0.0001) and tumor weight (34 studies; SMD = 0.84, z = 5.14, p < 0.0001) all showed significant housing effects. Metastatic measures (8 studies) did not reach statistical significance, likely due to the small N, although the effect was consistent with the hypothesis (SMD = 0.51, z = 1.14, p = 0.2000). Subgroups were very consistent: they did not significantly differ (p = 0.1764), and controlling for 'measure' did not decrease I2, although some were less heterogeneous than others (tumor number [I2 = 26.78%], tumor volume [I2 = 32.46%], tumor weight [I2 = 76.70%] and metastasis [I2 = 79.88%]).
Random-effects meta-analysis of housing effects showing overall standardized mean difference (SMD [Hedge's G]) and 95% confidence intervals of cancer studies. Subgroups are based on measures. Blue diamond = SMD estimate (with the width reflecting the 95% CI), location of black squares indicates study SMD and size indicates the weight of the study in the meta-analysis. CH = conventional housing, EH = 'enriched' housing, RE = random effects. I2 and Q statistic are tests of heterogeneity. Results of the model testing whether SMDs are significantly different from zero: n = 72, z = 8.29, p < 0.0001
Ten studies (from nine articles) reported atherosclerotic plaque size. Meta-analysis showed a medium to large effect size, with CH significantly exacerbating plaque magnitude (SMD = 0.72, z = 4.36, p = 0.0018) (Fig. 4). This analysis had low heterogeneity (I2 = 9.18%).
Random-effects meta-analysis of housing effects showing overall standardized mean difference (SMD [Hedge's G]) and 95% confidence intervals of cardiovascular disease studies. Blue diamond = SMD estimate (with the width reflecting the 95% CI), location of black squares indicates study SMD and size indicates the weight of the study in the meta-analysis. CH = conventional housing, EH = 'enriched' housing, RE = random effects. I2 and Q statistic are tests of heterogeneity. Results of the model testing whether SMDs are significantly different from zero: n = 10, z = 4.36, p = 0.0018
Meta-analysis of 56 studies (from 47 articles) showed that CH significantly exacerbated the outcomes of induced stroke, with a large effect size (SMD = 0.87, z = 6.11, p < 0.0001) (Fig. 5). A substantial amount of heterogeneity was observed (I2 = 75.95%). Subgroup analyses by measure were consistent; composite score (10 studies): SMD = 1.80, z = 4.26, p = 0.0021; Morris Water Maze (12 studies): SMD = 1.41, z = 7.03, p < 0.0001; Ledge Tapered Beam Test (9 studies): SMD = 1.06, z = 3.71, p = 0.0059; Rotarod (9 studies): SMD = 1.05, z = 4.3, p = 0.0026; and infarct volume (37 studies): SMD = 0.39, z = 2.73, p = 0.0098). Effects in Limb Placement Tests (4 studies) did not reach statistical significance, likely due to the small N, although the effect was consistent with the hypothesis (SMD = 1.63, z = 1.45 p = 0.2420). A significant difference between measures (p = 0.0023) reflected a lower SMD for infarct volume, and so controlling for 'measure' reduced heterogeneity (I2 = 62.46%).
Random-effects meta-analysis of housing effects showing overall standardized mean difference (SMD [Hedge's G]) and 95% confidence intervals of stroke studies. Subgroups are based on measures. Blue diamond = SMD estimate (with the width reflecting the 95% CI), location of black squares indicates study SMD and size indicates the weight of the study in the meta-analysis. CH = conventional housing, EH = 'enriched' housing, RE = random effects. I2 and Q statistic are tests of heterogeneity. Results of the model testing whether SMDs are significantly different from zero: n = 56, z = 6.11, p < 0.0001
Meta-analysis of 28 studies (from 26 articles) showed that CH significantly exacerbated signs of anxiety, with a large effect size (SMD = 0.91, z = 5.14, p < 0.0001) (Fig. 6). There was a substantial amount of heterogeneity (I2 = 73.38%). Subgroup analyses by measure were generally consistent: Light/Dark box (7 studies): SMD = 1.63, z = 4.55, p = 0.0038; Elevated Plus Maze (17 studies): SMD = 0.97, z = 4.2, p = 0.0007; and Open Field Tests (7 studies): SMD = 0.75, z = 3.12, p = 0.0018. Effect estimates in Social Interaction Tests (5 studies) did not reach significance, likely due to the small number of studies, but the effect was consistent with the other measures (SMD = 0.84, z = 1.197, p = 0.1 | 5,799 |
This simple Scrap Wood Bike Stand was designed to organize the ever growing number of bikes in our shed. We needed flexibility in where the stands were placed, individually or grouped, and wanted to be able to use smaller pieces of wood to take advantage of the growing stash of leftover dimensional lumber from previous projects.
After making the prototype and adjusting the design to increase stability, we jumped into production and made four more bike stands!
Using the miter saw, cut two spacers of each thickness, making a 30° cut on one end.
2 - 2" x 4" x 7"
2 - 1" x 4" x 7"
The purpose of the angled cut, is to allow the bike wheels to roll more gently into the stand.
Lightly sand the edges of individual pieces to remove rough edges.
Adjusting for different tire sizes: When these spacer pieces are paired, the total thickness is 2 1/4", which is the approximate thickness of the knobbly mountain bike tires (newer tires will be a bit snug at first). To adjust the stand to accommodate different tire sizes, measure the thickness of your tire (approximate) and use that to determine the spacer thickness you will need for your bike stand (keep in mind, that you will also need to adjust the width of your end cap as well).
Using the miter saw, cut four side pieces and two end caps. Because I was making four bike stands at once, I clamped a block to the fence when cutting multiple pieces of the same size so I only had to measure once.
Sand the edges of all pieces.
These supports are<|fim_middle|> around when needed.
Cool! I want to see it out of concrete at a local park.
I've been looking for a design that I could use for a rack to load our bikes onto a utility trailer, so with a very few modifications I think this will work!
It would be great to see how you end up adapting it for a trailer!
Awesome! Try to do some thing like yours. Thanx!
Post a photo if you do! | a few inches longer than my original design, and the stand is now much more stable. You can make them even longer if you want, but this is a good length. I cut a 30 degree bevel on both ends to make them easier to work around in the shed (less tripping) and give them a more finished look.
Line up one of each size of the spacers, clamp them together and pre drill from the 3/4" piece side so that it doesn't split when you screw it together. Screw the two pieces together with a 1 1/2" screw to keep the two pieces aligned for the assembly stage. Repeat with the other two spacers.
Place two of the side pieces together and parallel to each other, then lay the spacers on top of them at each end with the angled side sloping to the inside and line up the outside edges. Place the other two side pieces on top of the spacers to complete the sandwich.
The easiest way to screw this together, is to kneel right on the sandwich (carefully keeping things aligned). Begin at one end and using the longer screws, screw through the top side piece into the spacer and then into the lower side piece into the spacer. Do the same at the other end on this side and then flip everything over, realigning anything that moved out of place, and screw the last two corners together in the same way.
Stand your sandwich up on one end and place an end cap in position so that it lines up with the top edge (sloped edge of spacers) and screw it to the two outside 2"x4" pieces (into the end grain) adding a third screw lower down into the upright 2"x4" of the spacer to catch the edge grain (see photo). Repeat on the other end.
Place the bike stand face down and position one support (beveled side facing down) in the middle of the end on top of the end cap, and screw it together using the longer screws (you might even use 3" screws if you have them). Try to put them in on a bit of an angle to get good purchase. Repeat on the other end.
Flip it over and see how it looks.
Step 10: Using Your Bike Rack!
This self supporting bike rack design works really well in our shed and yard, and allows us to easily move things | 489 |
Who would have guessed that the country with the highest consumption of wine is the Vatican.
<|fim_middle|> dell'Annona", is subject to a much lower tax than in Italy, affecting the final cost of the wine. People who are not citizens of the Vatican but hold a card that allows them to shop at the supermarket there are very likely to fill their carts with bottles of wine at discounted prices, which may explain the high consumption rate registered by the study. | According to a study released by the California Wine Institute, the Vatican came in first in 2012 for wine consumption, with 74 liters per person. A much higher figure than countries traditionally associated with a strong wine market, such as Italy and France.
Some argue that religious functions could have had an impact on the final result, in a state where only 836 people live. The gap with the second country in the list though, Andorra, is quite big since the microstate in the Pyrenees consumes 46 liters of wine per person, while France is third with 44 liters.
There's another factor however to be considered, which the CWI study didn't take into account: taxes. The wine sold in the Vatican supermarket, called "spaccio | 162 |
<|fim_middle|> → | Provincial mental health network for youth successfully launched
January 23, 2015 • By Giv'er Fredericton • 0 Comments
A mental health initiative called ACCESS NB has been successfully funded, according to a government release. The program launched today and was co-ordinated by the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate and Dr. Ashok Malla, of the Douglas Institute for Youth Mental Health at McGill University.
New Brunswick is one of 12 ACCESS sites across Canada, but is the first provincial site to be founded. ACCESS NB is intended to improve youth engagement in and awareness of mental health issues, lead to early identification of youth between the ages of 11 and 25 in need of support and provide timely access to evidence-based, youth-friendly mental healthcare for the entire range of mental health problems.
"The ACCESS NB initiative is a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate how academic and clinical research can meaningfully support policy changes and service delivery that will directly improve the lives of young people," said Lise Dubois, PhD, dean of Graduate Studies at the Université de Moncton.
The ACCESS project was awarded a $25 million grant after winning a national competition held by the Graham Boeckh Foundation and the Canadian Institute for Health Research for being the group presenting the best ideas and capacity for transforming youth mental health services across the country over a span of five years.
"The need for such a transformation is great," said Inspector Rick Shaw, with the RCMP "J" Division and chair of the executive committee for the ACCESS NB initiative. "More than 75 per cent of mental disorders first appear in early adolescence and young adulthood, but only 20-to-25 per cent of youth with mental health challenges in Canada receive appropriate help."
ACCESS is one of several Strategic Patient Oriented Research Initiatives funded by the Canadian Institute for Health Research which aims to improve the health of all Canadians. Through this program, ACCESS NB intends to lend support to the province's youth by;
developing safe spaces for youth with mental health issues to empower their voice and provide improved access to care;
providing mental health training for all sectors of society to better identify and support youth with mental health needs;
knowledge sharing both within the province and throughout the broader national network to ensure that New Brunswick youth benefit from the best clinical care practices; and
evaluating the results of the changes to youth mental healthcare.
ACCESS is one of several Strategic Patient Oriented Research Initiatives funded by the Canadian Institute for Health Research which aims to improve the health of all Canadians.
← Costco features local food options
Elementary Literacy Inc. recognizes volunteer efforts to mentor NB youth | 539 |
One corner of Parma is dedicated to Italian history and documentation of the life, projects, decisions and products of Barilla.
The Barilla Historical Archive contains examples of all kinds of documentation produced by the company, including packages representing the group's brands and unforgettable promotional images. The archive covers many years of Italian<|fim_middle|> and valorise documents that bear witness to developments in the food industry and to changes in Italian habits. The Barilla Historical Archive is a treasure trove for enthusiasts of graphics and imagery, like the professionals who work at Golinelli Communication Lab. A journey through the archive is a journey through the history of the colours, characters, images and promotions of a historical brand of pasta and through changing fashions in the world of communications.
Golinelli Communication Lab was formed in 1951 and has been transferring Italian style, design and taste to paper ever since. | history, and records the country's changing fashions, styles, attitudes, habits and emotions.
To help build up the Historical Archive's digital content, Golinelli Communication Lab was chosen to catalogue and scan 11,000 packages of pasta and other Barilla products illustrating how the company's image has evolved.
The aim is to collect, conserve | 73 |
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Faegre Baker Daniels Advises CRU Group on the acquisition of Fertecon Research Centre
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International law firm Faegre Baker Daniels has advised CRU Group, the leading, independent, global metals, mining and fertilizer analysis, consultancy and conference business, on its acquisition of Fertecon Research Centre (FRC) for an undisclosed amount.
CRU Group was founded in 1969 and is dedicated to promoting quality analysis and insight to its global customer base. The company employs more than 225 staff in London, Beijing, Pittsburgh, Santiago and Mumbai and has representative offices in Sydney and Sao Paolo.
The acquisition strengthens and extends CRU's existing portfolio and the FRC team and product range will join CRU's long-established fertilizer analysis and consultancy operation.
FRC was founded in 1991 and has a reputation for the strength and consistency of its analysis and the loyalty of its customers. This deal complements the investment<|fim_middle|> to make your browsing experience as useful as possible. In order to have the full site experience, keep cookies enabled on your web browser. By browsing our site with cookies enabled, you are agreeing to their use. Review Faegre Baker Daniels' cookies information for more details.
Not Agree | which CRU has made this year in developing the methodologies and format of its proprietary portfolio of Market Outlooks to increase their value, robustness and ease-of-use for customers.
CRU Group was advised by Faegre Baker Daniels. FRC received legal advice from Waterfront Solicitors LLP. The sellers also received corporate advice from Fusion Corporate Partners.
The Faegre Baker Daniels team advising on this transaction was led by Mary Shields with support from John Enstone and Amy Coburn. Victoria Pengelly and Anna Byford provided assistance with employment matters.
Commenting on the deal, Mary Shields said:
"We were delighted to provide support to CRU Group in successfully completing this strategic acquisition in a niche market. As a full-service law firm, we were able to advise CRU Group on both the transactional and employment related aspects of this deal, facilitating the successful integration of an owner-managed business and key analysts within the international group. We wish the analysts at FRC and the CRU Group continued success together following this transaction and look forward to working with them again in future."
Alison Kuipers
alison.kuipers@FaegreBD.com
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The Faegre Baker Daniels website uses cookies | 270 |
Zemeckis smooths away some of the rougher edges of the real Petit to deliver a playful film that uses the well-worn tropes of a standard heist caper (assembling a team, st<|fim_middle|> English instead of the natural French (Petit wants to keep practicing it as he's going to New York. Translation: This is a mainstream Hollywood movie and too many subtitles might alienate general audiences).
Review by Kevin Knapman
The Walk (3D) (PG)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Joseph Gordon Levitt
UK Release: Friday 2nd October 2015 (IMAX)
thewalkmovie.com | aking out the location, near run ins with security guards) effectively. Building up the tension until and beyond the moment Petit finally steps out on to the wire itself.
At this point the film really comes into its own and does what the documentary couldn't, puts you onto the wire along with Petit. The final third is real heart-in-the-mouth stuff even if you know the outcome. Although it's obviously a lot of CGI and little actual height, vertigo sufferers may want to give this a miss.
Though the character of Petit has the potential to be an insufferably arrogant fool (he starts off as a unicycle riding, top hat wearing, mime artist) the ever-likeable Joseph Gordon-Levitt soon gets the audience on his side despite a dodgy French accent and even dodgier wig. Ben Kingsley hams it up enjoyably as Petit's mentor, Charlotte Le Bon is fine if increasingly underused as the film goes on and James Badge Dale, Cesar Domboy, Clement Sibony and Ben Schwartz are very good as some of the members of Petit's team.
For once, there is a decent use of 3D throughout from a director who really understands the medium (especially in the final third) and thankfully the film never overplays the final fate of the World Trade Centre. Its one nod to it in the very last shot is bittersweet and surprisingly subtle. Plus an equally playful Alan Silvestri score compliments the visuals.
There are a few clunky moments. I could have done without the slightly twee and whimsical decision to have Levitt narrate the story throughout standing by the Statue of Liberty torch and the moments where unnecessary attention is constantly and clumsily drawn to the switch to | 348 |
PCMag UK Reviews First Looks
Sony Reader Wi-Fi PRS-T1
PCMag UK Oct 18, 2011
Sony finally comes down to earth with the Reader Wi-Fi, a $150 ebook reader that compares well with the B&N; Nook Touch and upcoming Amazon Kindle Touch.
Slim design.
Excellent contrast.
Includes a memory card slot, a headphone jack, and ePub support.
Attractive font choices.
Clunky Reader Store is difficult to use.
No Reader Store-compatible iPhone or iPad apps.
A few bugs.
Sony has made ebook readers for longer than Amazon or Barnes & Noble, but you wouldn't know it from the sales figures. Credit the company's pricing, which has been far from competitive. Many Sony Readers also lacked Wi-Fi or 3G; the only option for adding books<|fim_middle|> Store ecosystem has Android, Sony Tablet, PC, and Mac apps, but nothing for Apple devices, as Apple rejected Sony's Reader app earlier this year.
Sony says the Reader Wi-Fi lasts for up to five weeks or 14,000 continuous page turns on a single charge. There's a basic file manager for organizing your books and music. The Sony Reader Wi-Fi stores up to 1,200 books with its 2GB of internal memory, but there's also a microSD card slot on the side. My 32GB SanDisk card worked fine; using a card like that, you could store plenty of music or several lifetimes worth of additional e-book reading, or even larger PDFs with lots of graphics.
So the Reader Wi-Fi itself is mostly a winner, even if the Sony Reader Store could still use improvement. At this point, Sony finally has the right hardware and pricing; now it's a matter of whether the company can catch up with the competition. The Amazon Kindle, our current Editors' Choice for ebook readers, lacks a touch screen, and you need to spend $30 extra if you want an ad-free version. But even that Kindle is still $40 less expensive than the Reader Wi-Fi, and Amazon also offers a more comprehensive book store and digital app ecosystem. (The Amazon Kindle Touch would be a better comparison because of its touch screen, but that model isn't out yet; we'll review the Kindle Touch separately as soon as it's available.) The stubby B&N Nook Touch is another solid alternative; while it's a little larger and heavier, B&N has also done a better job with its own ebook store, and B&N also has iPhone and iPad apps available for the Nook.
More Ebook Reader Reviews:
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All NYC Subway Stations, Buses Now Accept Apple Pay Mobile Payments | was to sync with a PC using a cable or memory card. That has all changed: Sony's new Reader Wi-Fi (PRS-T1) rings in at $149—just $10 more than what Barnes & Noble is charging for the Nook Touch ($139, 4.5 stars), and what Amazon will charge for the ad-free version of the upcoming Kindle Touch. The Reader Wi-Fi is a slick piece of gear; just make sure you like the way Sony lets you download books first, because the Reader Store still needs plenty of work.
Design, Screen, and User Interface
Before this model, Sony was selling three separate Readers: the Pocket Edition ($179.99, 3 stars), the Touch Edition ($229.99, 3 stars), and the Daily Edition ($299.99, 2.5 stars), each with different screen sizes. All three have been discontinued; the Reader Wi-Fi replaces all of them. Sony also plans to offer a limited edition, Harry Potter-branded Reader Wi-Fi for a short time, which lets buyers download the first e-book of the series when it becomes available.
The Reader Wi-Fi sports a 6-inch, touch screen E Ink Pearl V220 display, weighs just 5.9 ounces, and is less than four tenths of an inch thick. Depending on which color you choose, the front bezel is red, white, or (like my test unit) black glossy plastic. The tapered back panel is in a soft touch matte material that prevents the unit from sliding around on a table. It's also quite comfortable to hold.
There are five hardware buttons in all along the bottom; aside from those two, there are also Home, Back, and Menu buttons. The bottom edge of the reader holds the microUSB charger port, a recessed Reset switch, a power button, and a standard-size 3.5mm headphone jack you can use to listen to audiobooks or MP3 music files. Along the left is a covered microSD memory card slot. I admit was I worried to see a decidedly old-tech, plastic stylus in the package, but it turns out it's just for a separate handwriting mode, which is useful for taking notes when you don't have paper or a pen handy.
Reading, Page Turns, and the Reader Store
You get six available fonts and eight adjustable font sizes, and you can also adjust the brightness and contrast. To my eye, the font choices are more attractive and not as bold as the new Amazon Kindle's ($79, 4.5 stars) three fonts. Sony builds in 12 dictionaries, including two English-language (American and British), and 10 translation from other languages such as French, German, and Spanish. At any time, you can double-tap a word to get its meaning or translate it into five other languages. You can also bookmark pages, as well as take notes by writing on the page or highlighting text, either with the supplied plastic stylus or your finger.
While reading, you can turn pages either by swiping to the left or right, or by using the hardware page turn buttons on the bottom left. This means you can only use the device one-handed with your left hand, but that's not a huge issue. You can also pinch zoom text in and out, which is an impressive touch. Page turns themselves were quick, though it still flashes the entire screen every page turn; the latest Kindles and Nooks employ a caching system to reduce the frequency of full-screen flashes.
Sony's Reader Store contains over two million titles. You can also borrow free books from the local public library—unlike Amazon, Sony cheerfully provides ePub support in all its Readers. You can also download Google public domain books, and access Wikipedia and Google Search on the Web.
Buying books directly from Sony isn't much fun, though, as the Reader Store always gives the impression that it's about to crash. First, it takes a long time to connect and start up. The home screen is attractive and has a promiment search feature at the top. But tap Browse, and you'll have to drill down multiple pages before you begin to see any books at all. The store also has a penchant for flashing each new screen several times, over a period of two or three seconds, which feels sluggish and becomes distracting quickly. If I wanted a book, I could get to it, but mainly I was happy to be in and out of the store as soon as possible.
A Few Quirks, Other Features, and Conclusions
I also ran into a few actual bugs. Logging into the Reader Store using my Sony account the first time proved difficult, and required several tries where it threw me back a screen or two. When it finally worked, the Sony Reader Wi-Fi unceremoniously said, "Your device is successfully authorized (-50500)," which didn't exactly inspire confidence. Several times during the review period, I returned to find the reader screen blank, instead of showing a book cover in sleep mode like it's supposed to; I had to power cycle the unit to restore operation each time.
You're also more limited in terms of device and app support. Sony's Reader | 1,077 |
Printable Calendar 2019 Large Numbers – printable calendar 2019 big numbers, printable calendar 2019 large numbers, Monitoring the most important activities of daily life, formal sessions and daily events is difficult without having a calendar. Technologies have advanced ample to bring in devices like managers and alerts. Nonetheless, the convenience of any monthly calendar can seldom be competed against. The standard customs of spending a dollar to acquire a calendar, or reminding yourself to do this is passé. There are printable types of calendars of numerous sorts. You are able to print it within the ease of your house, when you have a computer with an Internet connection along with a inkjet printer.
Wall surfacedesktop computer and wall calendars, solitary-page calendars or modest placard varieties<|fim_middle|> letting them tag off their triumphs. Educators can use these to let people find out about birthday celebrations, school assemblies as well as other unique days. Print a complete year in order to commence planning holiday events and family vacation trips now. The uses of free printable calendars are unlimited!
Related Posts of "Printable Calendar 2019 Large Numbers" | of calendars may also be printed out out. Some works extremely well by young children to get in their own individual imaginative details after you have been printed out. Printable calendars could also be used as instructional jobs presenting various templates, with pictures of vehicles, months of theseason and events, aquatic creatures and the like. Stamping is usually done in PDF, postscript or Word formats. There are even printable calendar internet sites for individual moms and dads and stepparents like outside the house right here, which offer selections for marking out, courtroom times, visitation plans, supporting your children and also other capabilities.
How can totally free printable calendars help keep you organized? Utilize one to keep an eye on your children's activities and impending college projects. Or blend plans for your overall family on one calendar for easy research. Get young children linked to housework by generating task calendars and then | 177 |
A magnetic compass may be old technology, but it's still an essential navigational tool.
Want to learn more about navigation? The nonprofit<|fim_middle|>. You'll have more situational awareness and less strain on your eyes. On a sailboat, an added bonus is that steering by compass can keep you attuned to the wind. As the wind shifts, you may be able to harden up or crack off a few degrees, rather than trying to follow that line on the plotter. Novice helmsmen often complain that the compass is constantly moving, but it's worth remembering that the compass does not move. It's the boat that's moving! | BoatUS Foundation offers an online advanced navigation course. Go to BoatUS.org/Navigation for a free preview or to sign up.
To keep track of compass deviation, you'll need a deviation card, which shows the difference in degrees between the compass reading and the actual course shown on the compass. Compasses that are professionally adjusted will be supplied with a card. But if you do the adjustments yourself, you need to make up your own card. Deviation should be no more than a few degrees on each heading, while variation could be quite a bit more, depending on location. Both deviation and variation (each of which may be added or subtracted) must either be accounted for when working out the plot on the chart or when communicating a compass course to steer to the helmsman. Visit the website schoolofsailing.net/true-and-magnetic.html for more information.
Practice steering a compass course rather than following the chartplotter. It takes some getting used to, but when you need it, you'll know how to do it | 208 |
As the COVID crisis continues there's a decline in public confidence in the NHS's ability to cope –
November 2020 edited November 2020 in General
As the COVID crisis continues there's a decline in public confidence in the NHS's ability to cope – politicalbetting.com
Throughout the COVID crisis Ipsos MORI has been carrying out regular surveys when the same questions are asked in the same manner so we can look at the trends. The latest polling shows:
ClippP Posts: 549
The first serious issues for the religion which is the NHS?
Finally, people starting to realise the NHS isn't infallible?
kle4 Posts: 60,535
Maybe, or just that they think it's under that much pressure even it cannot cope.
But being less sentimental about it would help in the long run.
TOPPING Posts: 26,009
I could say that unless you are wheeled in with a bone sticking out of your leg/arm/etc, when the immediate care can be excellent, then the NHS is useless.
But they can be useless post-op in those situations also.
Curse of the new thread. FPT.
Roy_G_Biv said:
https://twitter.com/toryboypierce/status/1329324374072193024
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1329349195891937280
I've never understood how one and the same person can be worried about the strategic inroads China is making into Africa, and simultaneously be in favour of slashing foreign aid and development. It's like saying "yes, I recognise than soft power can be beneficial, pay for itself, and in the hands of the wrong people is bad.... but I think we shouldn't do that."
The only logical conclusion to these two viewpoints is that these people think the UK is worse that China. Which is a view, I guess.
Simple - China's investment in Africa etc is with loads of strings attached, whereas our foreign aid is explicitly no strings attached.
Meaning that both China and us can spend in the same country and afterwards thanks to Chinese strings they benefit and besides a warm glow in our hearts for a few seconds while thinking about how benign we are we simply don't.
Having had two different cancers treated to where I'm told I'm 'considered to be clear' I would absolutely disagree with the description of useless.
fpt for @state_go_away
OK what a fantastic way to spend a morning - thinking of good books to read!
One corner of global events that I found extremely interesting is/was first the Rwandan massacres and then leading on to the issue of child soldiers and in particular the LRA.
These I found extremely engaging.
Romeo Dallaire - amazing and of course first hand knowledge.
Shake Hands with the Devil
They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children
Paul Rusesabagina - the film of course was made of this, and he's in the news again now.
Emmanuel Jal
Ishmael Beah
And then more general:
The Lord's Resistance Army - Myth and Reality, Ed Tim Allen & Koen Vlassenroot
The Wizard of the NIle, Matthew Green (about Joseph Kony)
Plenty of others I'm sure but those are very "enjoyable".
geoffw Posts: 4,664
Prof Carl Heneghan & Tom Jefferson "Landmark Danish study shows face masks have no significant effect"
Unlike other studies looking at masks, the Danmask study was a randomised controlled trial – making it the highest quality scientific evidence.
Concludes:
And now that we have properly rigorous scientific research we can rely on, the evidence shows that wearing masks in the community does not significantly reduce the rates of infection.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/do-masks-stop-the-spread-of-covid-19-
state_go_away said:
Any books to recommend to order and read over Christmas - i like non- fiction over fiction (except where the fiction is related to subjects I like ) - subjects I like are
Politics (no surprise!)
Gambling (again no surprise being on a website like this ! - prefer gambling individual or bookie stories as opposed to how to win books)
London (have a growing collection of London books)
Railways (not an avid trainspotter but love the lifestyle of trains )
Gothic stuff
History (medium rather than high brow though)
Sport ( not bios generally but more general stuff about sport- love sport stats !)
From previous thread.
Looking forward to seeing what this generates.
Some non-fiction I liked this year:
Bad Blood (10/10) - gripping, very fast-paced read of the dumpster fire that was Theranos. Some political themes - but more about business/ethics than politics.
Shoe Dog (8/10) - memoir of Nike co-founder. Got some interesting sports themes, famous namedrops and also fascinating to see how much America has changed in 50 odd years or so. Not the greatest writing, but definitely gives you a sense of the urgency and pressure they felt. At times a little implausible, but a good read.
The Shoemaker and his Daughter (9/10) - one family's true story to survive and thrive set in Soviet Russia and Siberia. Not highbrow history.
Nigel Farage - the purple revolution: the year that changed everything (7/10) - there's something about Nigel Farage that I find a little bit fascinating. It's pretty entertaining and it does give a good sense of how Farage views things, or how he wants to be viewed. A quick read. Available at charity shops if you don't want to make a contribution to Nige! Excellent for winding people up by placing prominently on a bookshelf.
JACK_W Posts: 346
Gabriel Debenedetti of the "New York Magazine" gives a fascinating insight into the data analytics of the Biden campaign as the election loomed, November 3rd and the days following :
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/11/election-night-with-bidens-data-guru.html
Roger Posts: 13,713
Distrust in Johnson's government is just spreading to everything they're responsible for and with good reason.
IshmaelZ said:
kle4 said:
FrancisUrquhart said:
Its the Express so....you know the deal, but...they say oxford will reveal results tomorrow....of Phase 2 ;-)
https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/1329189444306472961
Fuck me but it's 23 years since she died and they're STILL on about Diana?
More worryingly, they must do so because people still want to read about it.
The Diana story is the Bashir story. It's been in all the papers for days.
Yes I know, it still is hardly front page stuff.
Disagree. BBC commits criminal forgery to entrap vulnerable woman into hugely damaging interview. It would be cataclysmic if it were about Jane Doe or Mrs Mohammed. It is getting a paradoxical free ride because people just think "Ah, more Dianaballs."
Alright, but you need to factor time decay into it. It was 25 years ago, and the interviewee is long, long dead.
It's really much less important than they think it is.
Exactly. That's why it's a story, but not a huge one.
And I find the idea it would be as big a news if it were Jane Doe to be utterly laughable. People get screwed over and organisations make errors all the time and it makes news, but not Diana level news.
It doesn't seem the solution to that is to abandon the playing field altogether.
No it may not be but it answers Roy G Biv's question.
What the solution is, is another debate. But the simple fact is what we are doing and what the Chinese are doing are two completely different methods.
CorrectHorseBattery Posts: 12,387
https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1329350474789752833
How come they had such a battle over a few £100 million to feed kids but this money just plops out of thin air?
Current Betfair prices:-
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Roy_G_Biv Posts: 998
Preventing China from benefiting from its strings is a benefit for the whole of the liberal, capitalist, democratic world. Ceding that space completely to them is not a good idea.
There's a danger here of the same kind of short-sightedness you get in some US Republican circles about military aid. Defending Lithuania is not transactional; Lithuania will never be able to defend the US to the same extent it benefits from the US umbrella, but that doesn't mean it's not in the strong interests of the US to contain Russia. It's all about front lines, not just geographical but also ethical, ideological, and political. Better to be defending our way of life far, far from home than to have the barbarians at the gate. It doesn't show up on the balance sheet as a credit, but that's merely an<|fim_middle|>. If as a gratuitous insult then absolutely not appropriate.
My liberal credentials will get a bit of a hammering here.
Had a look and not so far as I can see. There's a bit in the notes at the end about the SNP splitting in 1941 or so, half, the Right supporting the pro-Fascist Govt (led incidentally by Beaverbrook) and the Left, which was part of the Resistance. But I'm only about half way at the moment. Odd references so far.
So what you're saying is that it is acceptable to play it and context is what matters?
In which case green light for Fairytale of New York. The context is entirely fine, we all know that.
Had a look and not so far as I can see. There's a bit in the notes at the end about the SNP splitting in 1941 or so, half, the Right supporting the pro-Fascist Govt (led incidentally by Beaverbrook) and the Left, which was part of the Resistance. But I'm only about half way at the moment.
Hmm, interesting.
As I remember it, it was a personal statement separate from the novel, along the lines of dreadful people who want to split up my country, today's version of Nazism etc, etc.
Yup, the square hypothesis relates to how masks affect the wearer's susceptibility to infection, which misses the point about it being to protect others. More difficult to set up a randomised control trial for that though.
MrEd Posts: 2,030
Re the uneducated whites vote thing, the Hispanic side of things seems to edging more towards the profile of white voters. For Black voters, it will have a lot to do with age. Much of the older Black generation is still seeped in the Civil Rights / Church / "Souls to the Polls" tradition. One of the things I would be interested to see in terms of a breakdown of the vote of Black men by age and the differences between the older generation, who go to church, and the younger ones who don't | artefact of what is measurable.
Wulfrun_Phil Posts: 3,388
Only three weeks back the Government talked up the new lockdown on the basis of what are now known to be wholly false projections that it used to assert that the NHS would otherwise be unable to cope.
Yet the % thinking that the NHS will not be able to cope only ticked up by about 4% on the back of that.
So a few are still prepared to take the Government at their word, and most are not. What this polling shows is that the vast majority of the UK population have decided that our Government can't be trusted to level with those it governs in a national emergency. It was very different back in early Spring.
geoffw said:
1) they are misstating what the study says
2) more importantly -> the idea behind masks is not primarily to protect the wearer, but to protect others from the wearer if the wearer is infectious.
The actual study says: "The recommendation to wear surgical masks to supplement other public health measures did not reduce the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate among wearers by more than 50% in a community with modest infection rates, some degree of social distancing, and uncommon general mask use. The data were compatible with lesser degrees of self-protection."
(FPT)
It's very far from rigorous.
There's an extensive critique of the paper here:
Letter of concern regarding »Reduction in COVID-19 infection using surgical facial masks outside the healthcare system«
https://ugeskriftet.dk/dmj/letter-concern-regarding-reduction-covid-19-infection-using-surgical-facial-masks-outside-healthcare
...This study poses a serious risk of mistranslation, in part due to misleading statements about what the study actually measures in the protocol paper and trial registration. To most decision-makers, null or too-small effects will be misinterpreted to mean that masks are ineffective. However, the more accurate translation is that this study is uninformative regarding the benefits (or lack thereof) of wearing masks outside of the healthcare setting. As such, we caution decision-makers and the media from interpreting the results of this trial as being anything other than artifacts of weak design.
There were similar warnings about the trial long before the results came out:
https://twitter.com/NoahHaber/status/1280206598456004609
Maybe, maybe not. According to the study quoted there was a 10% reduction in transmission in the mask group than the control group so seems to be an issue needing further research.
Plus it doesn't address a plethora of other studies that show that there seems to be a significant variolation effect from mask wearing that means if you wear a mask regularly and catch COVID then you could start with a lower viral load that means you get over the illness easier.
Finally the whole purpose of universal mask wearing is to protect others not yourself yet this study seems to be answering if the mask helps the wearer, not the others. The whole point is if other people are wearing masks then they protect you and if you are wearing masks then you protect others. How was this controlled for if in a study deliberately the others you're coming into contact with aren't wearing masks?
MaxPB Posts: 23,900
PS5 time, the dawn of a new console generation. I can probably chart my life by PlayStation starting from PS1 as a kid to PS5 as a much bigger one.
TOPPING said:
Good list.
Here was my recommendation FPT (for those prepared to commit the time.)
Combining two of those interests - politics and history - Rick Perlstein's series of books on the rise of modern US conservatism is terrific.
Before the Storm; Nixonland; The Invisible Bridge; Reaganland
The series of four starts with Goldwater, and I've just received the recently published copy of the fourth book.
He writes from a liberal viewpoint, which may or may not put some off, but I guess that depends on whether one prefers histories written by apologists or critics.
Definitely long reads - particularly the last two.
CorrectHorseBattery said:
Poor kids have a long way to go before they have the lobbying power of the arms industry.
Fishing Posts: 1,480
Wulfrun_Phil said:
Experience vs innocence.
The latest volume of Michael J Fox's autobiography is out
I have enjoyed them all
Except we can't prevent China from benefiting from their strings since it's not either or. In fact if we help develop a country that China has also tied in strings then that is More advantageous to China not less.
The only way to prevent China from benefiting from its strings isn't for us to be developing other nations marginally it would be if we were sabotaging and destroying what the Chinese have done - which I don't think is appropriate.
Mexicanpete Posts: 8,706
Today is the day to turn one's back on PC liberal wokery.
The Kirsty McColl verse from The fairytale of New York has been butchered for BBC Radio 1 to satisfy PC gentility.
Christopher Chope and Phillip Davies were right all along!
Mexicanpete said:
You're a cheap lousy maggot?
MaxPB said:
...bit haggard, rather than a faggot!
Just a question, if the radio were to play a song with the word "nigger" in it from several decades ago, do people still believe this is appropriate
Err, not sure if you've listened to 1Xtra...
rkrkrk said:
I must admit to quite liking contrarian history, but I'm currently reading 'Dominion' (C.J.Sansom) for a discussion group and finding it very depressing. For the uninitiated, it's set in the 50's, and describes life after after the UK had sued for peace in 1940. Very like Vichy France, according to the histories. Just hope the goodies win in the end!
Is it naive to imagine Conservatives might say that instead of slashing aid, we should take a leaf out of the Chinese book and target creating jobs and building industries and not just concentrate on relief work?
Now that is a great idea - I hadn't even known he had written any.
state_go_away Posts: 2,796
Thanks everyone who has suggested so far - please keep them coming if you want to - looking them up online at the moment!
Stereodog Posts: 20
Political correctness maybe but it's hardly new. Kirsty MacColl recorded a version with 'ass' replacing 'arse' in 1987 and a version replacing "You cheap lousy faggot" with "You're cheap and you're haggard" in 1992. Complaining about PC liberals ruining the song is becoming one of our longer running Christmas traditions.
Do we need that sort of language on pb? At the very least it will trigger content filters.
From several decades ago
Carnyx Posts: 9,252
Sometimes it's not worth the arguments. One thinks of the film Dambusters - and arguments over whether to keep or bleep the dog's name rather overshadowed the bravery of the crews. Very much a proxy for Brexiter vs The Woke vs The Sensible. I tend to feel that the pooch's name was not germane and that it would only distract the new generation, so best omitted.* Did the new film sans dog's name ever come out?
The context seems to matter. Quoting the song in an academic history of attitudes is one thing. But putting it straight out as is is riskier. Of course the song itself may be providing its own context, e.g. by criticising the use of the word?
* In principle, no different from the fact that the Upkeep mines in the film were spherical, or that Lincolns were pretending to be Lancasters in some shots - details which only matter to the cognoscenti but for which there were good practical reasons at the time (security, lack of airworthy Lancs).
Stereodog said:
Christmas has been ruined by people complaining that Christmas has been ruined.
What! They'll be banning repeats of "Love they neighbour next"!
"Straight Outta Compton"?
That's 32 years old now, old enough to be a grandparent. Still sounds good today.
Pretty well any 'negro spiritual'?
I did wonder how they managed to get Kirsty to change the lyrics in 2020.
David McCullough's biography of Truman was really great as well. A president I didn't know much about but an immensely impressive man who racked up a lot of achievements.
I wonder if the Navy are still considering selling the 2nd carrier.
Cherck the past thread - some of us missed this new thread.
RochdalePioneers Posts: 8,453
Those of you with gym memberships - anyone arguing with your gym over membership? My 12 month contract expires at the end of December and I've given them notice to cancel. Extraordinarily they have emailed me and informed me that they have extended my contract for the months they were closed.
I know the pox has been tough for a lot of businesses. But one party can't unilaterally change a contract without the other party agreeing. They say "you haven't made 12 payments" - true, they haven't taken payments when closed. But the contract doesn't provide any ability for them to change 12 months to an indefinite period until they claim 12 payments.
On Twitter it seems to be a standard tactic for gyms. What makes this one even sillier is that I had to use the wayback machine to find their members T&Cs - the page that hosts them has been mysteriously dropped from their website. I wonder why...
With the scary emergence of deep fake songs I wouldn't be surprised if it were a new version they were playing.
It's going to "focus" on rotary wing ops. ie be the Ocean replacement and the world's most expensive LPH.
Thanks - I haven't read much contrarian history but suspect I'd like it. The only thing is, I know almost nothing about the UK in the 50s... so it feels like I should probably get a better sense of that first.
There's a lot of zero sum game thinking there.
So you're suggesting that we should tie strings to our own foreign aid and tie it to jobs and industries in this country?
That was explicitly ruled illegal in 1997 and has been considered virtually evil for the past couple of decades. I wonder what makes it suddenly possibly a good idea?
So "lousy faggot" has fallen victim to 2020 PC cancel culture by being re-recorded in 1992.
I blame that Keir Starmer. He takes the knee and look what happened 28 years before as a result.
OnlyLivingBoy said:
And what an arms industry! Fuck soft power.
'UK remains world's second-biggest arms dealer, figures suggest'
https://tinyurl.com/y2opwmfg
I think I pointed out before that the UK had managed, despite sanctions, to sell arms to both sides in the recent Nagorno-Karabakh unpleasantness.
Actually my thinking was the opposite of zero sum. It was Roy G Biv that was zero sum thinking that if we spent aid that would neutralise Chinese strings attached whereas I said that we can actually end up amplifying and improving the benefits the Chinese get by supplementing their own investment without severing their strings or tying any of our own.
RochdalePioneers said:
Does it matter? If you want to go back to the gym when we get the all-clear, then having them roll your unused months over seems reasonable enough, and even if you are not sure but want the gym still to be there so you have the choice, the same applies. I'd be wary of fighting against your own best interests on a so-called point of principle.
JACK_W said:
A very good read. Two standouts. The extraordinary amount of information they have on who will vote how and where and a question that isn't addressed but is relevant to the results. Why do uneducated whites vote overwhelmingly for Trump when other uneducated people don't and what is it about Trump that attracts them?
From memory there was a weird 20 page rant from the author about the SNP at the end of the book (this was before the 2014 referendum). Is it still in your edition?
That's obviously not what I meant and you're being disingenuous by using it as an example. "Nigger" in that context is very different to the usage historically and by white people against black people.
Where's HYUFD? Surely not licking his wounds?
That is extraordinary!
Mind me asking which company?
malcolmg Posts: 31,130
Nobody should be fiddling with past, it is gone and is history. Not for some half witted PC woke lentil munchers to decide what we can and cannot see or hear. No wonder this country is well and truly F**ked
kjh Posts: 2,711
I think I do. I don't think we should be editing history. For instance I don't think the Dam Busters film should be edited as that was the name of the dog.
Where do you draw the line. Should we pretend women had the vote in the 19th century and that we didn't drown witches, because we wouldn't do that now. This is all discrimination just like language is by using insulting words for ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and disability.
It happened. Don't pretend it didn't by editing it out.
Its not disingenuous whatsoever it is the word being used.
Fairytale of New York has an even more innocent and acceptable use of lyrics than that does.
Where's HYUFD?
Jedburgh in a Chally 2.
Morris_Dancer Posts: 54,687
FPT: Good morning, everyone.
F1: Mick Schumacher may be driving for Haas next year.
Probably inside the Georgia State House with an AK47
Theuniondivvie said:
There was - very out of place. Book not a patch on his Henrician novels with Matthew Shardlake, but then he doesn't rant there on the wonders of the Henrician settlement or conversely the appalling notion of having the King as head of the C of E.
Try using the cash to help the poor beggars at home , once that is sorted start trying to solve the world. WTF we have people going without food here and will not help them but will shovel billions to despots and half wits to squander all over the world. The Tories are really bent.
It is, because a black person using the word "nigger" in this context is not being racist, in some sense black people have re-defined/re-owned the word.
If a white person called somebody a nigger today, clearly it's racist, it's completely different as you well know.
As an example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigger_in_the_woodpile - this is wholly unacceptable today, if you said or used this, you'd be absolutely be being racist.
At least while the British Army still has tanks, I suppose.
You simply asked about the use of the 'n-word', something that's been a staple of hip-hop music since its inception. Context is irrelevant, if you're going to ask for words to be banned.
Don't start me on Dave Chappelle's latest comedy special either, there's at least a dozen 'n-words' in that.
Australian special forces involved in murder of 39 Afghan civilians, war crimes report alleges
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/nov/19/australian-special-forces-involved-in-of-39-afghan-civilians-war-crimes-report-alleges
The ASAS should be disbanded over this but probably won't be.
It's a huge story, and the absolving of 'senior command' by the report seems at the least questionable. I don't expect that to go unexamined, particular if any of these cases ever go to trial (which they should).
I'm trying to cancel so I'm not looking to go back. This isn't Brexit where I demand access without paying!
Total Fitness. But its not just them, I know David Lloyd have done the same thing. I have pointed out to them that the "Limited Liabilities" section of the contract talks exclusively about injury so makes no provision to limit their liabilities on things like breach of contract
If a white person records a song with the word "nigger" in it, you either think that's appropriate or you don't, which is it?
Sansom does describe the gloom and sadness of the late 40's/v.early 50's, as I recall it, although of course as I was ca 11 I didn't quite realise what things were like. I do recall my parents often being unhappy about the world though.
A few months ago I did a WEA Zoom course on contrarian history; Started with 'what would have happened if Harold had won at Hastings in 1066' which inspired a lot of discussion, including 'What would have happened if Harald Hardrada and Tostig Godwinson had defeated Harold at Stamford Bridge a couple of weeks before Hastings?'
I heard Olivers Army (great song) on the radio recently - The word was merged out (although the word was not meant to be offensive when written )
Another example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nigger_in_the_Woodpile
Is this appropriate to air today? I don't think so. Not without extremely, extremely clear warnings before, during and after, I would say.
Carnyx said:
What is it with Tories and tanks (yeah, I know Ruth's is an spg, but still)? Bunch of Shermans if you ask me.
I found it dull. The first three quarters describes comparing actual with expected results, which is what happens on pb every election night (the difference is we want to bet, whereas the campaign wants to update its spin teams for American television). The last quarter, which jumps back in time but was too mundane to lead the piece, has our hero doing the reverse: comparing opinion polls with the swing needed on the night in order to inform strategy. With no technical detail, it is a long statement of the bleeding obvious and it is not even very well written.
Its not disingenuous as the question was never about white people or drawing a distinction.
Your question (in the context of talking about Fairytale of New York) was just this: "Just a question, if the radio were to play a song with the word "nigger" in it from several decades ago, do people still believe this is appropriate"
Straight Outta Compton is from several decades ago. It ticks every box of your question. And the context was immediately after discussing Fairytale of New York so don't try and change this into some twisted black versus white thing - if you meant that you should have said that but you did not.
So can you answer your own question: If the radio were to play [Straight Outta Compton which is from several decades ago], do [you] still believe this is appropriate"?
You're right that my thinking is more zero-sum than yours in this context. But I stand by my view.
For me it feel a bit like having well-regulated finance versus loan sharks. Ideally you don't want the loan sharks to exist at all, and ensuring people have access to proper finance can reduce the temptation to rely on bad actors. It is not a prophylactic, but it helps. Cutting off all legitimate finance options, on the other hand, drives them into the arms of the finger-breakers.
(Just to be totally clear, I am using finance as a metaphor. I'm not suggesting that foreign aid is literally like lending.)
Correct - unwarranted hype imo.
I'm happy to clarify what I meant, as you so wish.
Playing Straight Outta Compton, is entirely different to say airing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nigger_in_the_Woodpile. Completely and entirely different.
BluestBlue Posts: 2,972
malcolmg said:
Damn. When malcolmg's right, he's really right.
With his party in a state of flux, he quite likely has more important things to do (from his POV) than spend time here ?
But but... they need you more than [ENOUGH! -Ed]
Must get back to work, have a lovely morning all.
It's almost like they've a square hypothesis that they want to ram into any round holes going.
Ah yes, 2020, the year that radio edits of songs first appeared.
Never before has a song had lyrics "ducked" or "rerecorded" for the version that is broadcast on the radio.
Disagree. Context is all important. In a protest song it may well be ok | 4,431 |
Say you own two stocks. You bought each at $50 a share. Over the course of your investment, one has risen to $75 per share. The other has fallen to $25.
Suddenly, you and your spouse decide you need to raise money for something immediately. Perhaps a car you've wanted is on<|fim_middle|>, a good investment will still be attractive at that point. And in many cases, I've found better opportunities by then.
There are plenty of valid "sell signals" you can use to cut short your losers. But trailing stops are also a simple, easy-to-understand way to eliminate your emotions and get out of losing positions before they get too large.
A simple secret for long-term investing success.
This is the simplest way to track your stop losses… and drastically improve your investment performance.
Something different: A skier ties an iPhone to string and swings it around his head (video). | sale at the local dealer, or a cabin on a lake where you want to retire is suddenly on the market. You decide to sell one of your investments. But which stock do you sell?
It's a nearly universal impulse… but it's a terrible investing choice.
We love to sell our winners too soon and ride our losers too long. A slew of behavioral finance studies show it. One, by University of California at Berkeley professor Terry Odean, found investors are almost twice as likely (1.7 times) to sell a winning stock as they are to sell a losing stock.
Following similar logic (urges, really), investors held losing stocks for 124 days and unloaded their winning stocks after 102 days.
It turns out, the winning stocks (which had been sold) subsequently outperformed the losing ones (which investors were still holding).
This confirms the old adage: "Let your winners run, and cut your losers short.
When most people buy a stock, they worry about what to do if it falls. But dealing with rising stocks presents an equal challenge. This blind spot in the human psyche regularly worried Peter Lynch.
Lynch is an investing legend. He averaged 29% annual returns over the 13 years he ran Fidelity's Magellan Fund. He was also an eternal optimist when it came to buying stocks. His analysts joked that he "never met a stock he didn't like," and his fund swelled to more than 1,400 holdings.
Of course, no individual investor should try to manage 140 positions, let alone 1,400. But the point is… Lynch had a different outlook on the market than most folks. Once an investment shows a little gain, fearful ideas permeate our thoughts. Any little bit of news – good or bad – seems like a reason to lock in gains.
Research shows a strategy that buys the 10% of stocks with the highest returns over the previous month and sells the 10% of stocks with the lowest returns in the past month generates about 1% a month – roughly double the expected return on the market. In other words, momentum wins out.
Other studies show stocks that hit a new 52-week high are more likely to outpace the market in the following week… not fall back down.
There's no single rule that will tell you when to sell… And that's because there's no rule that tells you when to buy.
The strategy for selling is determined by the reason you bought in the first place – and should be determined at the time of your initial investment.
Write down WHY you bought it.
Write down WHEN you'll sell it.
Review your investment at least once a year (but preferably every six months).
One trick I use to make sure I stick with my discipline is to ask myself whether I'd buy more right now or recommend the investment to friends or family. If the answer is no, it's probably time to sell.
If I'm really worried that I'm making a mistake… I remind myself that I can always open a new position after a 30- or 60-day break. There's nothing magical about the time frame. It just serves as a cooling-off period for my emotions. And most likely | 671 |
This is a band worth checking out especially all you musicians out there. Magnetico<|fim_middle|> still rockin', but the lyrics leave more to be desired. "Letter For a Friend" is another great track, but I find it takes a few more listens than the other songs before the heavier message hits you. Going back to "Avalanche," that's another song with a deeper meaning. Apparently, it's about cocaine? But you wouldn't know it after the first listen. Actually, you would have probably never figured it out unless I told you, so there are potentially deeper messages in the other songs as well. Always a good thing.
The one thing I wish this album would do is take some risks. Sure, there aren't that many guitar virtuosos and good-old-fashion rock bands, so Magnetico's mere choosing this path is commendable, but maybe those bands of yore aren't around for a reason. I wonder if perhaps the age of wicked guitar solos is over, who knows. My metalhead friends would argue otherwise but I still think that they have to inject something different into the formula. Well, something a little more obvious than subversive meanings in their songs.
Joseph Shaw likes music, food and napping. Originally from Northern California, he now lives in Los Angeles. He serves coffee for a living and writes about music for his sanity. | is a band packed to the brim with talent. First of all you have Chris Cornell/Vertical Horizon's bass player and P!nk/Ozomatl's drummer, creating a pretty solid foundation. The cherry on top is Rafael Moreira, lead guitarist for the House Band for CBS's Rock Star: INXS and Rock Star: Supernova and touring guitarist for Paul Stanley (KISS), P!nk, Don Felder (The Eagles), Christina Aguilera, Steven Tyler (Aerosmith), Stevie Wonder, Dave Navarro, Natasha Bedingfield, Tommy Lee, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge and more.
I find it hard to believe that they're still unsigned, but I suspect that they won't be for long. Rafael Moreira's talent on guitar is amazing on the album. I can only imagine what it is like live. His shredding is quick and limber but doesn't aim to be shredding for shredding's sake. Each guitar solo is thoughtful nestled in each song and enhances the song without getting too egotistical.
Magnetico's latest album Songs About the World, is a well-made and carefully-crafted record. With every listen, I was uncovering different parts, a harmony I overlooked here, a guitar part hiding in the background there. The attention to detail is incredible.
My favorite tracks are "Avalanche" and "The Emperor," but everything is pretty strong. I could have done without "Santa Claus is a Lie" and "Killer Girl." Musically, they're | 314 |
The related term "photolithography" refers to when photographic images are used in lithographic printing, whether these images are printed directly from a stone or from a metal plate, as in offset printing. "Photolithography" is used synonymously with "offset printing". The technique as well as the term were introduced in Europe in the 1850s. Beginning in the 1960s, photolithography has played an important role in the fabrication and mass production of integrated circuits in the microelectronics industry.
Lithography uses simple chemical processes to create an image. For instance, the positive part of an image is a water-repelling ("hydrophobic") substance, while the negative image would be water-retaining ("hydrophilic"). Thus, when the plate is introduced to a compatible printing ink and water mixture, the ink will adhere to the positive image and the water will clean the negative image. This allows a flat print plate to be used, enabling much longer and more detailed print runs than the older physical methods of printing (e.g., intaglio printing, letterpress printing).
Lithography was invented by Alois Senefelder in the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1796<|fim_middle|> second of inferior quality. The decisive factor is that the stone is absolutely plane-parallel and has the same strength everywhere. Nevertheless, it happens that the stone breaks during printing.
To manually transfer a drawing to the stone, the lithographer needs a pen and lithographic ink. This ink consists of the basic substances wax, fat, soap and soot. Here, a distinction is made between industrially manufactured liquid ink and so-called rod ink. The rod shower must be rubbed with distilled water for use.
Lithographic chalk comes in the form of pencils and as square chopsticks, which are clamped in a holder. There are six degrees of hardness, with 0 representing the softest and 5 the hardest. Chalk consists of the same substances as lithographic ink. The soft chalk is suitable for dark areas and shadows, while the harder grades are used for fine gradations.
Lithographic shower is transferred to the stone with a steel drawing pen. These are special springs that are softer than standard plumes. If a feather becomes dull from use, it can be sharpened on an Arkansas stone if necessary to create fine lines or spots. Another important tool is the scraper to make corrections like with an eraser on the drawing. The lithographer owns a whole assortment of narrow and broader scrapers, which often have to be resharpened with the help of the oilstone.
If possible, the stone should not be touched by hand, as every fingerprint leaves greasy marks. That's why the lithographer works on a specially designed lithographic console or table. The industrial chromolithograph worked standing or sitting on a wooden desk. For sitting he had a height-adjustable wooden swivel chair without backrest. The desk was slightly inclined from back to front and the two side walls protruded about 10-12 cm beyond the table top. Over the tabletop a so-called wooden bracer was laid. Underneath lay the lithographic stone, which could now be worked on with the feather or the scraper, without touching it with his hand. Today, artists use similarly designed tables for their lithographic work.
In order to transfer the printed image to the stone, the lithographer has several techniques at his disposal.
In spring technology, a pen drawing is placed directly on a smooth-cut stone. In general, the lithographer needs a preliminary drawing as a stop. He uses transparent paper to which the contours of the original drawing are transferred. The reverse side of the transparent paper is then rubbed with graphite or red chalk and the paper is positioned and fixed on the stone in the wrong direction. With a steel needle, the lithograph traces the contours and transfers them to the stone so clearly visible. Today, artists project a photo of the subject on an episcopal stone and trace the contours.
The spring technology is one of the oldest processes in lithography. The drawing is reversed with the steel spring or the bourdon tube and lithographic shower on the previously smoothed surface of the stone. Minor corrections are made by the lithographer with the scraper. When the picture is ready and the ink dried, the stone is rubbed off with talcum and then gummed with gum arabic as protection.
To prepare a chalk lithograph, the stone is grained with sand, so it gets a rough surface. For graining, quartz sand was formerly used. Today you take silicon carbide, which is offered in the trade in different grain sizes of coarse, medium and fine. The printed image is transferred to the stone reversed as in the spring technology. The sharpening of the chalk is done from the top with a sharp knife. Depending on the tonal value of the drawing, the lithographer chooses a hard chalk for light areas, but softer chalks for darker areas. Again, minor corrections can be made with the scraper. The chalk lithograph is one of the most expressive techniques in the graphics. For example, wiping with a special wiper, the Estompe, and triturating the chalk coating creates a diminutive effect with smooth transitions. The aftertreatment of the finished drawing is again with talc and gum arabic.
The stone engraving was used especially for business cards, letterheads and securities because of their fine line drawing. For this, the lithographer uses a gray-blue stone of the highest quality, which is first ground and then with clover saltis polished. The poisonous clover salt is a potassium dioxalate and forms a compound with the limestone, in which the pores are closed and the operator produces a mirror-smooth surface by polishing with a tampon. Thereafter, the stone is covered with a dark colored layer of gum arabic. Again, a preliminary drawing is created as a stop before the lithographer scores the drawing with an engraving needle or an engraved diamond. The needle pierces the rubber layer and the lines in the stone surface may be at most 0.2 mm deep. Then the stone with olive oilsoaked before the lithographer removes the rubber layer with water. Although the engraved lines lie deeper in the stone, they can be dyed with a rough leather roller or with a tampon. The absorbent paper must be slightly moistened to better conform to the stone and take on the color.
In the feather puncturing style, feather and ink are used to place the dots on the stone point by point. The dot density and size depends on the respective tonal value of the original. The most well-known technique in chromolithography is called Berliner Mannier, in which the lithographer applies a semicircle to the dots. The colored lithographs often consisted of twelve or more colors printed on top of each other, which differed greatly in their brightness. Thus, the brighter colors were roughly dotted and the tones were even underlaid. The darker, drawing colors were executed by the best lithographers, who could set very fine points.
The Tangiermanier eventually supplanted the spring stipple partly because it was much easier. Here, a hardened gelatin film already carries the desired pattern of dots, lines or other shapes, which is transferred directly to the stone after being colored by pressing. Spots that should remain free are covered with a repellent layer of gum arabic. However, this technique is only suitable for smooth halftones. Gradients and shades can not be generated with it.
In the spray painting, which was already known Senefelder, a ink-saturated brush is brushed over a sieve, which is held at a certain distance above the stone. Again, the areas covered with gum arabic, on which later no color should adhere. A gradation of the tonal values is generated by the frequency of the injection process.
In the Schabmanier, also called asphalt or Tuschemanier, is applied on a grained stone over the entire surface of an asphalt layer. The light image parts are lightened after drying with a doctor blade, with sandpaper and lithographic needles of the template accordingly. The method is particularly suitable for fine tonal gradations. When the drawing is finished, the stone is treated with a strong caustic solution of gum arabic and seven percent nitric acid.
The drawing on the stone can not be printed without preparation. The lithographer and the lithographer call this chemical process etching. The fat-friendly printing areas, ie the drawing, should be reinforced in their capacity and the non-printing parts of the stone should remain fat-repellent and water-absorbent. The etching consists of a mixture of nitric acid, gum arabic and water, which is applied with a sponge on the stone surface and acts. By etching nothing is removed or etched away, but only optimized the printing property of the stone. The process can be repeated several times and is considered complete when the first proofs have been made without any change.
For this activity a lot of experience is necessary in addition to expertise. Artists today have their lithographs partially commissioned by an experienced lithographer so as not to jeopardize the outcome of their work.
In the lithography, a distinction is made between the manual press and the rapid press. Today, only a few hand presses are in operation in Germany, where prints are made for artists. The best-known hand press or toggle press was created in 1839 in the workshop of the locksmith Erasmus Sutterin Berlin and is more of a tool than a machine dar. The frame of the hand press is made of heavy cast iron, in which there are a cart or cart and a roller, with which the stone can be manually moved back and forth. The pressing pressure is done by pressing down a grinder, under which the car is pulled through with the stone. The paper to be printed is placed between the stone, previously rolled in with ink, and a firm, smooth cardboard, press cover or pressboardcalled. After removing the press cover, the printed sheet is carefully lifted off and inspected. To set the right friction pressure, the lithographer needs experience and tact. For each hand press, there are different widths of rifers, which are adapted to the respective stone size.
With the further development of lithography in the 19th century and the growing demand for printed matter, the hand press could no longer meet the requirements. This requirement was met by the lithographic press, whose hourly printing output was around 800 sheets. The considerably larger stone was not printed by a grinder, but by a roller. The inking unit ensured a uniform distribution of color on the color table, which was picked up by further ink rollers and transferred to the stone. Dampening rollers took over the necessary moistening of the stone. The car with the stone ran first under the dampening rollers, further under the inking rollers and finally under the impression cylinder. On the cylinder covered with a blanket was the paper, was now printed and stored on the Auslegetisch again. The sheet to be printed was created manually, mostly by women. The drive of the Schnellpresse took place first manually, but later bySteam engines via drive belts.
Unlike the modern four- or six-color presses, this lithographic press was able to print one color at a time. This meant that in a twelve-color lithograph printing had to be repeated twelve times. It is easy to imagine how elaborate color images were produced at that time.
The term transfer printing or autography encompasses methods by which drawings or prints are transferred from the paper to the lithographic stone. The transfer printing processes include overprintingin which a drawing of a stone is printed on a special transfer paper and then transferred to a second stone, for example a machine stone. This process is repeated until the much larger machine block of its size contains many drawings. The transfer paper is provided with a water-soluble coating, which forms a separating layer between drawing or printing and paper. It is moistened, placed on a second stone and transferred under pressure. The paper is then moistened again until it can be easily removed. The drawing is now visible in all details on the second stone and can be treated like a normal lithograph.
The machine stone used in the lithographic press generally contained lithographs that were produced by transfer printing. Depending on the number of copies, a certain number of copies or benefits, ie copies of the original lithograph, were produced.
The Abklatsch or gossip was used in chromolithography to provide the number of colors corresponding to many stones with the contours of the printed image. The lithographer previously created a fine-line drawing of the original image, which contained outlines and color differences, and served as a blueprint for later chromolithography. Again, transfer paper was used, but provided only with so little color that the contours of the preliminary drawing later adopted no ink.
Many artists have used the transfer printing paper, alongside Honoré Daumier and Toulouse-Lautrec also Emil Nolde, Ernst Barlach, Henri Matisse and Oskar Kokoschka. However, this technique results in a slight loss of quality in the printed image.
Already Senefelder dealt with the colored reproduction of fonts, maps and pictures. He underlayed a chalk lithograph with a clay plate, a chamoiston, from which the lights had been removed by means of scraping technique. For the viewer, the impression of a multicolored lithography was created.
In 1837, German-French lithographer Godefroy Engelmann (1788-1839) from Mulhouse patented a colored version of lithography called chromolithography (color lithography, color lithography), which was to remain the most widely used method for high-quality color illustrations until the 1930s, Chromolithographies of up to 16, 21 and even 25 colors were not uncommon. However, it was clear that this was a very time-consuming and costly process. After the introduction of the lithographic printing press around 1871, large quantities of colored lithographic printed matter were produced, since now higher print runs were possible.
As a template or original served the Chromolithografen a painted picture. In the first step, a contour drawing was made on stone. It was a drawing of fine lines, which marked the outlines and color differences of the original. This contours plate served the lithographer as a clue for the exact elaboration of the intended individual colors. Using the transfer printing process, copies of the contour plate called gossip were then made on a number of stones corresponding to the number of colors provided. The clapper showed the contours only hinted at in a bright hue and later disappeared during the preparation of the finished chromolithography print.
After finishing the brighter colors, the proof was started. With the help of thin crosses, which were called pass marks or passport marks, the motif to be printed could be printed over all colors exactly and accurately. This process was called needlesthe proof. Previously, the lithographer had drilled a tiny hole in the middle of the register marks on the right and left of the stone. These holes were repeated on the paper to be printed, which could now be positioned exactly on the stone with the help of two needles. After printing each color, the Chromolithograph examined the progress of its work and then processed the next darker color. Finally, the finished proof was presented to the customer, who was now able to express his requests for change. After the corresponding correction, the job was ready for printing and the edition could be printed in the lithographic press.
Since the machine block was considerably larger than the Andruckstein, depending on the number of copies several Umdrucke were produced by the original lithograph. If the machine block had not yet been filled, additional orders could be placed on the stone. Despite the slight loss of quality, the print run from the machine block should be as close as possible to the result of the proof.
Already the Frenchman Niépce copied 1822 photographic negatives on the litho stone. However, there was no way to resolve the photographic image into printable halftones. As the inventor of glass engraving raster applies Georg Meisenbach, who in 1881 developed the high-precision glass engraving screen and thus could disassemble photographically halftones into printable halftone dots for the first time. This screening was done in a reproduction camerain which the photographic plate to be exposed has been preceded by a grid plate. Because of the differentiated tonal reproduction, this technique allowed for printed reproduction in six or four colors instead of twelve or more, making it far more economical than conventional chromolithography.
To make the necessary separations, the Reprofotograf used color filters. The negatives on glass thus produced were processed by the photolithograph with Farmer's attenuator to lighten it and blue wedge color to darken it. Non-printing areas were rendered opaque with red chalk or cover red. The finished retouched negatives served as copy templates for the stone copy. A prepared stone was sensitized with a protein chromate solution. This consists of a solution of distilled water, dry protein, ammonia and ammonium bichromatewith which the stone was doused and evenly distributed and dried in a sling. The photolithograph now laid the retouched negative layer on top of the stone and weighted it with a glass plate. The games outside the negative got a black paper cover. In a Steinkopiergerät the exposure took place with carbon arc light, whereby the exposed parts were cured. Subsequently, the stone was rolled in black ink and in a flat, water-filled basin, the copy was developed with a cotton ball. The unexposed parts dissolved and on the stone appeared a positive reversed color separation. This could now be manually edited again, before the stone was prepared for printing.
A similar process was the asphalt copying, in which the stone was sensitized with a solution of asphalt, turpentine, benzene and chloroform. However, this method was extremely hazardous to health.
After the lithography had been replaced by offset printing, only the misleading job title Fotolithograf remained, although this occupation had nothing to do with a lithographic stone. The later correct job title was Druckvorlagenvorbereiter – specializing in offset printing.
The value of a lithograph depends on the number of copies drawn (this determines the rarity), the artist's rating and the artist's involvement in the draw.
Many innovations and technical refinements have been made in printing processes and presses over the years, including the development of presses with multiple units (each containing one printing plate) that can print multi-color images in one pass on both sides of the sheet, and presses that accommodate continuous rolls (webs) of paper, known as web presses. Another innovation was the continuous dampening system first introduced by Dahlgren, instead of the old method (conventional dampening) which is still used on older presses, using rollers covered with molleton (cloth) that absorbs the water. This increased control of the water flow to the plate and allowed for better ink and water balance. Current dampening systems include a "delta effect or vario," which slows the roller in contact with the plate, thus creating a sweeping movement over the ink image to clean impurities known as "hickies".
This press is also called an ink pyramid because the ink is transferred through several layers of rollers with different purposes. Fast lithographic 'web' printing presses are commonly used in newspaper production.
Microlithography and nanolithography refer specifically to lithographic patterning methods capable of structuring material on a fine scale. Typically, features smaller than 10 micrometers are considered microlithographic, and features smaller than 100 nanometers are considered nanolithographic. Photolithography is one of these methods, often applied to semiconductor device fabrication. Photolithography is also commonly used for fabricating micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) devices. Photolithography generally uses a pre-fabricated photomask or reticle as a master from which the final pattern is derived.
During the first years of the 19th century, lithography had only a limited effect on printmaking, mainly because technical difficulties remained to be overcome. Germany was the main center of production in this period. Godefroy Engelmann, who moved his press from Mulhouse to Paris in 1816, largely succeeded in resolving the technical problems, and during the 1820s lithography was adopted by artists such as Delacroix and Géricault. After early experiments such as Specimens of Polyautography (1803), which had experimental works by a number of British artists including Benjamin West, Henry Fuseli, James Barry, Thomas Barker of Bath, Thomas Stothard, Henry Richard Greville, Richard Cooper, Henry Singleton, and William Henry Pyne, London also became a center, and some of Géricault's prints were in fact produced there. Goya in Bordeaux produced his last series of prints by lithography—The Bulls of Bordeaux of 1828. By the mid-century the initial enthusiasm had somewhat diminished in both countries, although the use of lithography was increasingly favored for commercial applications, which included the prints of Daumier, published in newspapers. Rodolphe Bresdin and Jean-François Millet also continued to practice the medium in France, and Adolf Menzel in Germany. In 1862 the publisher Cadart tried to initiate a portfolio of lithographs by various artists, which was not successful but included several prints by Manet. The revival began during the 1870s, especially in France with artists such as Odilon Redon, Henri Fantin-Latour and Degas producing much of their work in this manner. The need for strictly limited editions to maintain the price had now been realized, and the medium became more accepted.
During the 20th century, a group of artists, including Braque, Calder, Chagall, Dufy, Léger, Matisse, Miró, and Picasso, rediscovered the largely undeveloped artform of lithography thanks to the Mourlot Studios, also known as Atelier Mourlot, a Parisian printshop founded in 1852 by the Mourlot family. The Atelier Mourlot originally specialized in the printing of wallpaper; but it was transformed when the founder's grandson, Fernand Mourlot, invited a number of 20th-century artists to explore the complexities of fine art printing. Mourlot encouraged the painters to work directly on lithographic stones in order to create original artworks that could then be executed under the direction of master printers in small editions. The combination of modern artist and master printer resulted in lithographs that were used as posters to promote the artists' work. | . In the early days of lithography, a smooth piece of limestone was used (hence the name "lithography": "lithos" (λιθος) is the ancient Greek word for stone). After the oil-based image was put on the surface, a solution of gum arabic in water was applied, the gum sticking only to the non-oily surface. During printing, water adhered to the gum arabic surfaces and was repelled by the oily parts, while the oily ink used for printing did the opposite.
Lithography works because of the mutual repulsion of oil and water. The image is drawn on the surface of the print plate with a fat or oil-based medium (hydrophobic) such as a wax crayon, which may be pigmented to make the drawing visible. A wide range of oil-based media is available, but the durability of the image on the stone depends on the lipid content of the material being used, and its ability to withstand water and acid. After the drawing of the image, an aqueous solution of gum arabic, weakly acidified with nitric acid HNO3 is applied to the stone. The function of this solution is to create a hydrophilic layer of calcium nitrate salt, Ca(NO3)2, and gum arabic on all non-image surfaces. The gum solution penetrates into the pores of the stone, completely surrounding the original image with a hydrophilic layer that will not accept the printing ink. Using lithographic turpentine, the printer then removes any excess of the greasy drawing material, but a hydrophobic molecular film of it remains tightly bonded to the surface of the stone, rejecting the gum arabic and water, but ready to accept the oily ink.
Every printing process requires a print template, ie a medium containing the texts, drawings and pictures to be printed. For lithographic lithography stone is used. In the trade, lithographic stones in different thicknesses between 5 and 10 cm are offered. The richest deposits are mined in France at Dijon, in Switzerland in Solothurn and in Germany in Solnhofen. Solnhofen slate is considered the world's best material for lithographic printing plates.
The quality of a lithography brick correlates with its hue. A yellow stone is of inferior quality, because it can absorb a lot of water due to its molecularly open structure and thus does not allow a clean pressure. A gray stone is molecularly denser and therefore provides better print results. Solnhofen Plattenkalk has a gray-blue color. Its consistency is even denser, giving it even better printing properties.
Lithographic stones are ground before use. This process can be done both manually and in a grinding machine. New stones have to be ground flat; already used stones must be freed from the previous printed image. Depending on the intended drawing technique, the stone is sanded smooth, grained or polished.
In order to be used in lithography, the stones must have a predetermined thickness, so they do not break under the pressure of the lithographic press. The required strength is around 8-10 cm; To achieve this, the stone on which the printing surface is located is glued or plastered onto a | 669 |
Billie Weymouth Foster
Obituary of Billie Weymouth Foster
Please share a memory of Billie to include in a keepsake book for family and friends.
Ms. Billie Weymouth<|fim_middle|> Foster Dotson and husband, Denver, of Kernersville and Julia Foster and husband, Ernest Roten of Sparta. She was preceded in death by her parents. Celebration of Life services will be private. In memory of Billie, the family suggests memorials to the Watauga County Humane Society, PO Box 1835, Boone, NC 28607. Online condolences may be shared at the website www.austandbarnesfuneralhome.com Austin & Barnes Funeral Home and Crematory is serving the Foster family | Foster, age 78, of Jefferson, passed away Saturday, January l4, 2023 at Ashe Memorial Hospital. Born December 1, 1944 in Watauga County. She was a daughter of William Hugh and Lyla Barnett Foster. Growing up in Blowing Rock Billie developed her love of reading. She obtained her Master's Degree in English from Appalachian State University. For a time she was employed as a secretary by the Town of Boone and later retired from her career as an English Teacher from Catawba Technical Institute in Hickory. Billie is survived by her sisters, Cissie | 129 |
Rachel House Talks Thor: Ragnarok & Working with Taika Waititi!
You might not recognize Rachel House from many films – unless<|fim_middle|> times that there was so much that did not make it in. "Yeah. There was this whole scene where Jeff does a song at the keyboards. And he made it up. I mean, I think he had a tiny little bit to go with, but then he just kept expanding. As you know, he is a wonderful jazz musician so he just expanded that. Then I was sort of his back up – really bad – back up singer as well. That didn't make it in, which is a bummer." That's a scene I hope ends up in the bonus features – it sounds hilarious!
See Thor: Ragnarok in Theaters NOW! | you watched Hunt for the Wilderpeople like I suggested. But I guarantee you would remember her voice. She voiced Gramma Tala in Moana, and now she is in Thor: Ragnarok. Her character, Topaz, is one of the best characters in the film if you ask me. She is hilarious! I honestly don't know how she kept a straight face while filming – but we did ask her about it in this exclusive interview!
We asked Rachel if there was any particular scene they shot that she wished had made it in the final cut. She had already mentioned a few | 119 |
That evening I got a surprise. Matt came by the hospital, after work, to see how I was doing and keep me posted on the latest developments with the company. We talked for a couple of hours about things. He asked if we could take the Monster, my old Peterbilt tractor and finally restore the truck that started the company.
Hey, it's not that bad!" I knew they were just picking on me. It was normal when the three of us got together. I knew the Monster was not really messy inside. I had quite a bit of stuff that I often carried with me, but it was all stashed neatly away. I set it up so that in an emergency, I could get my stuff out of the truck in no time. Renee helped me organize it all, so I knew she could handle unloading the stuff.
We decided to set up a computer here at the hospital so that I could help Matt out. There was a lot I could do, even from here, and I wanted to get going; I was seriously bored! Living with three women was great, except when they were at work, and I was here by myself. I wasn't even allowed to go outside. Maybe getting some work done would keep my mind busy.
Matt talked to Min so that she could arrange things. She was all for it. She had been worried about the extended confinement, and the accompanying boredom. She pushed the request thru on therapeutic grounds. I was anxious for things to start. I had my laptop with me, but it was nothing compared to my desktop.
I was surprised when they showed up Tuesday afternoon with some of our drivers to help move things in, but the real shock was that they brought up a queen sized bed! I never thought Min could arrange that! I had to admit, it would make things much more comfortable.
Anna and Min came over and took my hands to lead me off for a card game they wanted to play.
"help. Oh help, I say. Save me…"I said, but David just waved it off.
Oh well. Nobody gets my humor. Humph!
We played a few different card games, and then Anna brought up the farmhouse. She and Renee had gone to check it out. The house had been well maintained, but there were several acres of tillable land that were currently supporting a large weed population. There were three usable outbuildings, a large barn and what had been a chicken house and a tool shed. There was also a large pole barn which needed some work to be useful again, along with several other buildings which were more questionable. The house was built on a hill that sloped down a considerable yard to the road. There was a large porch that wrapped around to the sides of the house.
The house itself was very large. It had two stories and a full basement. The basement had been finished back in the Sixties, and it showed it. It would need a full remodel, and I had some ideas. There were a total of seven bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms. Six of the bedrooms and two baths were upstairs, and the large master suite had its own full bathroom downstairs. There was a ½ bath (which did not have a tub or a shower), that connected the huge dining room with the study.
I looked forward to the Living room, with its massive stone fireplace, made of stones that were gathered when the house was built. There was a smaller walk through fireplace in the study/sunroom, and I anticipated filling the shelves there with books. The Master Suite also had a fireplace, a bit smaller than the one in the study, and there was one more in the basement.
I was trying to get used to the idea that I was going to be restricted to this house. I had always been an explorer of sorts, traveling from place to place, either for my job or on my own time. Now, in an effort to protect others, I was going to be stuck on this farm, away from people. Many people will say that having three beautiful women and a nice home should be adequate compensation, but I felt like I was giving up my soul. I tried not to think about it too much.
By selling our homes, we hoped to raise enough money to completely restore and refurnish the house. I knew that I would also have to give up my cars, since it would not be safe for me to drive on public roads. We discussed selling the Monster, but Matt and I both refused. We had decided it would be rebuilt into a show truck, to be used in promotions and recruiting drives.
Partners would remain a major part of my life, though. One room of the house would be set up as an office for me. I might not be able to drive, but there were many tasks which I could do, and I was already working on understanding everything. Matt had decided we should swap roles as much as possible. He was going to handle customer relations and outside sales, while I handled the office tasks that did not require direct interaction.
One problem we faced was our legal status. Technically, only Renee and I were legally married. I hadn't realized that we had an issue until after Anna's divorce had become final. We had begun a tradition of evening "business" meetings, where we sat around and hashed out whatever we thought was important-updates on the house, medical and personal issues, et cetera. Few "outsiders" were invited to these meetings, Matt and David being the exceptions.
One night, Anna decided to address the group on an issue which was important to her.
"No." Renee said, and I saw Anna go pale with heartbreak at her rejection, but Renee wasn't finished.
Anna was surprised at first, but as it hit her, they both began to laugh, cry, and hug each other more.
"I hate you!" Anna laughed, and Min was quick to stand and join them.
"I love it! What a wonderful idea!" She said.
The reception was explosive, and I found myself attacked by three very happy women. We couldn't get married, but we could have a wedding.
David arrived just as things began to settle down. We filled him in on our plans, and he looked at me with new respect.
"What's going on?" I asked. Something in the way he had said it gave me the chills, like an evil premonition.
The next day I was introduced to an older gentleman, who smiled and asked me if I had a drug problem.
Thomas turned and Min gave him a hug. He pulled away and looked closely.
"Then he is just the man we need to talk to." We went to David's office, where we found David waiting for us. He rose and shook Thomas' hand.
Who is this guy? David seemed to almost trip over himself, trying to offer assistance.
They spent the next hour going over the current knowledge and theories about Fred, where it came from and what it wasn't. Thomas asked me several questions, some of which I had answers for, and others I thought he should have asked the Docs about, because I had no idea. By the time we were done, I felt it very likely that Thomas now knew more about Fred than I did.
"That's okay, Thomas, we do that all the time anyway." I couldn't wait for him to leave. It was very obvious that he was more than competent, but he seemed like more than just a good lawyer.
Over the next month, things changed fast. Well, everything except our legal issues. I had to go to the Grand Jury to plead my innocence, which was a serious chore, but they decided that there was probable cause to charge me with the crime of manslaughter. Thomas said that I shouldn't worry; this was only the first step.
The D.A. didn't seem to be searching for answers, but seemed more concerned that it was an election year, and it seemed I was to be a major issue. Great, just the opposite of what we needed.
Our "wedding" ceremony was held at the farmhouse, although it wasn't ready to be lived in. We had a simple ceremony, performed by Thomas. I wore a suit, and each of the girls had chosen their own version of a wedding dress. I passed out the rings we had designed, and we all toasted our new partnership. It rained soon after the ceremony, but I was able to walk around a little to see what the property looked like. Anna promised to give me a better tour when I moved out to the house.
A month later, the construction crew cleared us to move in. We had kept the best of our furniture and bought quite a few new pieces, and Renee decided to stay at the house to get things prepared. She quit her job, over the protestations of her District Manager, so she could work on the house full time. She was still there part-time, helping to run the store and train a replacement, but her hours were very limited.
We hoped to be in the house completely by early August, partly because I did not want to spend an entire summer in the Hospital. I waited, impatiently, for my bed to arrive. Once it had, it was agreed that I would move in to help Renee make the house livable. Anna and Min would stay at Min's apartment near the hospital, which had a lease that didn't expire until the end of September, so it worked out well.
There were more discoveries made in that month regarding Fred, and David was named to an official administrative position at the Hospital. It was quite a surprise, and although it pleased him enormously, his workload seemed to increase exponentially. Min also received official recognition, but she refused a promotion. After seeing what had happened to David, I saw that she had been wise.
The bed finally arrived, and arrangements were made for me to move to the house. We had sold the Firebird (Damn it!), so I went with Anna in her little pickup truck. I would have preferred to drive myself, but the Jeep was in the shop after our camping trip, when I kind of cracked the fiberglass body. The ride to the farmhouse was comfortable, and I had Anna with me. As we drove, I enjoyed looking at the beautiful woman beside me. Renee and Min met us at the farmhouse. It was beautiful, even in the early morning.
The lights were all on, and we took a tour through the house. Renee promised to have a surprise in the morning, and Anna said she would give me a tour around the farm when we woke up. We went into the study, and Renee showed me my new job for the next few days. There were crates of books to open and place on the shelves. Some were mine, some came from Anna's house, Min contributed several boxes worth, and then they revealed that there were several that the girls had purchased at donation stores and used book dealers. I could see that I had quite a bit of work ahead of me. We had a quick snack, and headed off to bed.
Min slept with me (and no, I don't know how this was decided-I just didn't complain!) and the other gals took rooms upstairs. I discovered later that each of the girls had their own room, and that they had created a schedule between them to arrange time with me.
I slept wonderfully. Of course, Min and I first had to "break in" the huge California King sized bed, and that workout would help anyone sleep! I woke to the smell of eggs and bacon. Min told me to stay in bed for a few minutes, and she got up to open the curtains.
It was spectacular! Almost the whole wall was triple pane windows, and some of them opened to allow the breeze in. I was astounded, and couldn't wait to see some of the other surprises the house held. Anna and Renee came in, and after a short group make out session, we got up and had a great breakfast together. We made our plans for the day, and mine were a bit tenuous. Renee and Min had to run some quick errands, so Anna took me on a walking tour of the farm.
It felt great to be outside. Except for short breaks at the "wedding" ceremony and to see the Grand Jury, I had been in the hospital since the end of winter. The midsummer morning sun felt good on my face. We explored the different buildings around the farm, especially the barn, which gave me an interesting idea. I spent a little time in there, letting the idea grow, then we went to explore more. There were several outbuildings, but only two besides the barn were usable. Some of them I resolved to rip down, and a couple I thought could be repaired fairly easily, including a large garage. As Anna showed me the fields, I could see that there was a large wooded area behind them (to the south). Anna said that most of it was unusable, and that it was quite a large area.
As we headed back to the house, I heard a familiar sound. Renee drove my Jeep into the driveway and<|fim_middle|> her on a Jeep ride to explore the woods a little.
We didn't do any real four wheeling, but I did see some areas that I wanted to explore much more thoroughly. The most enticing looked like a small island, surrounded by a very swampy pond. I had a feeling that I was going to spend a great deal of time here. Perhaps the pond could be improved, if we could make it deeper. I'm not an expert on any of this, so it was going to take some searching on the internet, and possibly some phone calls.
We had a nice dinner that night. It felt strange that it was just Renee and I at dinner. We had been married for many years, and had always had our dinners like this, but we both missed my extra wives. Perhaps it was the size of the house, or even just the size of the table, but it felt empty in the house.
Renee commented that she was really feeling comfortable with her work in the house. It made her feel like she belonged here, or more appropriately, like the house was becoming a member of the family, and we were bringing it to life. We lit the fireplace in the Master suite that night, and the warmth of the flickering flames was very romantic. Renee confessed that when she had been here alone, she had worried that we could never be comfortable in this huge house, but that having me here had helped her to see that everything was okay.
I had sort of felt that way, also. I liked our old house, and I had worried that we wouldn't have the same feel in this old farmhouse. I could see that my worries were unfounded. After one day, this house felt like our home, and I hadn't even seen the upstairs yet!
Submitted by Wren on Tue, 01/11/2011 - 18:30.
I have to apologize. I have a tendency to write very formally (too many college papers). I forgot to re-edit this chapter to correct that, so if this chapter seems a bit, well, stiff, that's what happened. Sorry!
Also, I need to thank Nick B. for all of his help getting this posted. I really need to learn more about using HTML.
Sorry, Nick! I am working on it! | up to us. It was a beautiful lime green color with white, yellow and orange flames. She had kept it a secret, because she wanted me to see it in the daylight.
I couldn't believe it. I had worried that I would have little to do, now, but I realized that I would be hard pressed to find enough time in the day to do everything. I began to feel much better about being here.
I drove the jeep around the property for a while, and then took it up to one of the outbuildings that I had chosen as my shop. I walked back to the house, and then helped to take in some more supplies. Min took her car back to town with Anna, because they both had to work that night. Before they left, I asked Min to arrange a meeting between her and David and I, here at the farm. She seemed confused, but agreed to arrange it .
After they left, Renee and I started our unpacking chores. I went to the study, a very large room with several bookshelves that opened into a larger sun porch with several comfortable chairs and a walkthrough fireplace that could be seen from both rooms. I had to start by pulling all the books out and arranging them so that I knew what we had, and what went together. I finally decided I had done enough damage for the day, and went to see if Renee needed any help. She had most of the kitchen done to her satisfaction, and was moving into the dining room. I helped her move boxes out of the way, and arranged some furniture. Soon I decided that I had done enough for the day, and I took | 336 |
I am passed on the stairs by an American GI, he nods politely. I turn to my left and spot a row of Vespa's parked up in a row, chrome glint<|fim_middle|> is the modern world, but has this meant our attitude to clothes has become throw-away too?
Maybe there is some truth in what their promotional flyers say, When it comes to fashion – there really is no time like the past. | ing in the sunlight and to my right a group of girls with brightly coloured hair done up in victory rolls walk in besides me. Even in my original sixties baker boy hat and bright green military coat I feel instantly underdressed.
There's something about big vintage fairs that I love- and it's not just the clothes. It's a place where people come and to meet other like-minded stylish retro folk and indulge their passions in what is a form of escapism from the banality of modern life.
The nostalgic extravaganza that is the "Festival of Vintage" took place at York Racecourse the 26th and 27THApril is one of many vintage fairs across the UK that are becoming increasingly popular.
Some women embrace 50s rockabilly with patterned dresses and a short black bobs, others opt for ultra glamorous; favouring stockings, heels and furs. The gents look dapper in cool combo of tweed, tattoos, braces, punctuated by impressive beards.
On the Saturday I joined Laura Adams from Grandma Eileen's Affordable Vintage. Laura set up her business a year ago "I wanted to sell products that were not only excellent condition but affordable and distinctive" she says.
I regularly frequent vintage fairs as a buyer so it was interesting to observe from the other side of the rail so to speak.
The modern vintage enthusiast of course, loves to make a purchase. It seems the enthusiasm and interest is not just limited to the outfits. You have the "Discerning Purchaser", they need to know date of the item and its origin before committing. The "Bargain Hunter" – what's on the price tag is never a done deal, they love to haggle and finally you have the "Frenzied Fashionista". If look like it fits and its cheap, its sold.
Laura explains she likes to use the fair as a networking opportunity to promote her online business. "it's a great place to meet people and mix with industry insiders she says".
It's not just clothing that brings the crowds. Antique stalls, paraphernalia and pop up beauty parlours fill the ground floor; offset to a dance floor filled with moves that would put even the most limber to shame.
As I leave I am feeling reflective. The festival may well be a playground of quirky styles and dress up encouraging us to remember to good old days for a weekend, but back then people took real pride in the way they dressed. One reason these festivals are proving so popular. Clothes were tailored, well cut and often reflected a movement. Today we have mass consumerism, "throw away fashion" and a hotchpotch of eras. This | 552 |
by Don Basile | Nov 4, 2021 | Tech
Picture a world in which your car's speedometer appears not on the dashboard, but rather on the inside of the windshield. A world in which smart windows adjust their transparency according to the environment. A world in which advanced wearables<|fim_middle|> materials are characterized by positively charged electrons, n-type materials by those that are negatively charged, and stacking them atop one another allows electronic devices to function. The issue, however, is that researchers have not been able to find many p-type oxides over the years.
Daeneke's team built on previous research showing that tellurium could behave as both a metal and non-metal. They were able to synthesize beta-tellurite, then spread a molten layer — one that was just 1.5 nanometers thick — over a surface. Testing showed that it was anywhere between 10 and 100 times faster than any p-type semiconductors that had been previously developed.
The RMIT team built in part upon the work of a team at Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, which in 2018 developed nanowires so thin that they were transparent. Atif Shamim, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and Principal Investigator of the Integrated Microwave Packaging Antennas and Circuits Technology (IMPACT) lab, told the website Phys.org that the idea came to him when he saw his newborn son in an incubator within a maternity ward: How can infants be protected from radiation in such a room, the elder Shamim wondered, while still being visible to their loved ones?
His team's work revealed a potential answer to that question, and now the RMIT team has gone one step further. So too has the technology as a whole. | measure not just data like body temperature and pulse rate but also hormone levels.
That's the world we are fast approaching, given developments in the field of transparent electronics.
A research team from Australia's Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) issued a report in April 2021 about a breakthrough in the two-dimensional semiconductor space, and that is expected to make all of this possible, as well as things like transparent solar panels and optical coatings. (An aside about the latter: The hope is that whatever eyewear comes of this, it advances beyond the Google Glass, which created a buzz in the early 2010s but was phased out just a few years later, largely because of privacy concerns.)
Certainly the potential of transparent electronics has attracted the attention of the tech giants, as well as investors. Samsung, Apple, 3M and Cambrios Technology are among those making inroads in the field, and the market for these devices, which stood at a shade over $996 million in 2019, is expected to balloon to $3.8 billion by 2025. That's an impressive compound annual growth rate of 25 percent, and it's not expected to slow anytime soon. By 2041, in fact, the market is expected to reach $20 billion.
The RMIT team developed ultrathin beta-tellurite, a high-mobility p-type oxide that according to team leader Dr. Torben Daeneke "fills a crucial gap in the materials spectrum to enable fast, transparent circuits."
As explained in the report, p-type semiconducting | 335 |
<|fim_middle|> | MetroMusicScene
Friday Night Videos - Pronoun Edition
Posted by Brian G Flores on July 31, 2020 Friday Night Videos Land of Talk Lara Kramer Son Lux
Norman Rockwell's "Fare Thee Well" - An MMS Preview
Posted by Brian G Flores on October 15, 2012
Northern Virginia folk rockers Norman Rockwell are preparing for the release of their debut album, "Fare Thee Well", this Saturday, October 20th at Vienna's Jammin' Java. MetroMusicScene was lucky enough to hear a preview of the album, a strong debut in the spirit of The Avett Brothers and Noah and the Whale.
This is music for a sweltering summer day, the kind of album you'd put on when riding down a dusty county road with the windows open, the radio blaring, watching the storm clouds forming on the horizon. This quartet is fronted by a pair of vocalists, Joshua Johnston and banjoist Ben Hirsch. Individually, Johnston's tremulous vocals falls somewhere in between the wailing tenor of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's Alec Ounsworth and the speak-singing of NatW's Charlie Fink. Together, Johnston and Hirsch's vocals complement and ricochet off one another, not unlike Seth and Scott Avett or Carl Newman and Dan Bejar of The New Pornographers. Rounding out the quartet are bassist Sean Meyers and percussionist Nathan Read.
You can check out one of the songs from "Fare Thee Well", the aptly named 'Stateline'. This track, inspired by a band member's commute back and forth from home in Virginia to college in Vermont, tells the story of a journey that is as much intellectual and emotional as it is physical, as well as the transition from childhood to adulthood.
Doors open at the CD Release and After-Party at 7pm, and tickets are $15.
Fare Thee Well Jammin Java Norman Rockwell
Glad to see Norman Rockwell getting a well deserved good review. They are a great band and this is an accurate review about their style too!
Practice Spaces - Updated May 2015
One of the most common questions on the Yahoo Group is about practice space and where to find it. A list is being compiled here of practice spaces in the D.C. Metro Area, which you'll be able to access anytime through the link under "Resources For Musicians" in the right hand column. If you have something to add, please post it as a comment below. The list will be updated as people submit more information. Practice Spaces in the D.C. Metro Area: Barco Rebar Falls Church, VA 703-207-1657 http://www.barcorebar.com 7Drum Lessons 2008 8th Street NW Washington DC 20001 http://www.7drumlessons.com Uncle Bob's Self Storage Alexandria, VA 800-242-1715 http://www.unclebobs.com Music Cave Studios 46040 Center Oak Plaza #150 Sterling, VA 20166 (703) 430-1095 http://musiccavestudios.com Rock Shop Studios 8455 R Tyco Road Vienna VA 22182 (703) 801-4737 http://www.rockshopstudios.com Str8way Music Service (240) 479-5855 http://www.str8waymusic.com
Leonard Cohen @ Merriweather / A Review
As if to contest any argument that he may be too old for this at 74, Leonard Cohen jogged spryly on to the stage at Merriweather Post Pavilion promptly at 7:30 the night of May 11th, and the band kicked into "Dance Me to the End of Love." Thus began an evening of masterful musicianship, high sartorial style, inspired lighting and some of the most beautiful lyrics ever written in the English language. Leonard Cohen's age was reflected in the suit and fedora that he wore. The formal, retro stylishness was reiterated in the breast pocket handkerchiefs, haberdashery, and polished wingtips of his excellent backup musicians. A bygone time was also recalled in the way he would take off his hat while listening to the solos — the melancholy moan of the stand-up bass played by Roscoe Beck, the mandolin hauntingly plucked by Javier Mas, the aching tones of Bob Metzger's steel pedal guitar — or when accepting the adulation of the audience. When singing, though, his voice belied the years, the low
Friday Night Music Fight - Life's Fleeting Nature
Dear reader(s), my output has dropped of late. I haven't been able to summon the energy to write while dealing with a loss in the family. A very sweet light went dark too soon, leaving my family to pick up the pieces. Days are growing shorter, the dark and cold are rapidly encroaching on our fair burg, and I have been ruminating on loss. This is nothing new, nor especially profound. Hobbes wrote that life was "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" more than 350 years ago, and Palahniuk mused on the topic, "On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero". First up we have MMS favorite Laura Gibson with the title track from last year's exquisite Goners. Like so many of her songs, this one is more abstrusely personal than broadly philosophical, filtered through her famously wry sense of humor. She sings "Here comes the end/of the future/if we're already goners" over the gentle swelling of horns, a future as lovely
Copyright MetroMusicScene | 1,251 |
Diagnosed With Breast Cancer At 24, Her Biggest Fear Wasn't Death But Infertility
By C. Dixon
Emmy Rickert was only 24 years old when she was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, a very aggressive form of the disease.
Her biggest fear wasn't the cancer, though — it was that she wouldn't be able to start a family. She was young and had her whole life ahead of her. She wasn't even married yet.
Her cancer diagnosis was just another terrible occurrence in a string of unfortunate health issues in her family that occurred over the span of only a few years.
Rickert's dad underwent a heart transplant. Only eight months later, her mom died from a brain aneurism. Two years after that, she lost her aunt to breast cancer.
"I was really angry. I just kept thinking, 'Okay, when is it gonna end?" Rickert said. "We're kinda worn out."
Photo: Facebook/Emmy Rickert
Two weeks after her aunt's death, Rickert felt something on her chest.
"I was sitting at my desk, playing with my necklace and I noticed the top of my chest felt really bruised," she told Wood TV8. "And<|fim_middle|> no answer besides Him needing me to be a bright light for others. I know now that His plan and path for my life is more splendid than I could have ever imagined. The tapestry He has woven for me is something that humbles me every day. To God be the Glory. And cancer, I will ALWAYS fight back because being a Survivor is a never ending quest. In it to end it!"
It's been more than six years since her diagnosis, and Rickert is still cancer-free.
Eventually, she plans to get an oopherectomy, since she has a 40% chance of developing ovarian cancer as well.
We are so glad that she was able to have the children she dreamed of, and that she's happy and healthy!
Learn more in this video. | so I felt a little deeper and noticed a definite lump."
"Normally, I would've just waited or thought, you know, maybe I bumped something on it."
But her aunt's recent death made her pause.
See how we're making a difference for People, Pets, and the Planet and how you can get involved!
She immediately called her OBGYN. From there, she underwent an ultrasound and then a core biopsy. A few days later, she got the phone call telling her that she had triple negative breast cancer. She was already stage II. She also found out that she carried the BRCA2 gene mutation.
She underwent a mastectomy. Then she had to begin chemo. But before she did, she saw a fertility specialist and had her eggs frozen.
"I decided I'm not letting this take being a mother from me — whether it's through, eventually, fertility procedures, or adoption, or if God gives me my own babies," she said.
About a year after she completed chemotherapy, Rickert started dating her college sweetheart, Kelly Rickert, again, and they soon got married.
They wanted to start a family, but knew it would be a long road ahead of them. They expected it to take several years, and they started trying right away.
Much to their surprise, they conceived naturally.
Their daughter, Grace, was born. Then, 18 months later, they welcomed Huck; 20 months after that, they had Boone.
The Rickerts feel incredibly blessed, and don't take their sweet family for granted.
"I'm so thankful still when I look at them," Rickert said. "I tell them that, 'Even when you guys are being stinkers, I love you so much!'"
Rickert has since been a big advocate for looking after your breast health and being aware of your body. In one Facebook post, she wrote:
"#livelikeerin. Remember that it is more than pink. Remember it takes people's mothers, wives, daughters, aunts, and friends. It takes entire portions of a woman's body away. Use this as inspiration to begin self breast examinations at 18. Use this as inspiration to remind your loved ones to be screened. October is one month. Just one of 12 in which many will die from metastatic breast cancer. Use this as inspiration to do research on how you can help."
In April of 2017, Rickert found out that Susan G. Komen had named her their Survivor of the Year, and she was floored. She realized her battle with breast cancer and all the blessings she'd received since were just part of God's plan.
In another Facebook post, she wrote:
"Yesterday, I received news that has humbled me to the highest degree. Susan G. Komen Michigan has named me their Survivor of the Year. When diagnosed with cancer, I asked God why. How could this possibly be the right plan for my life? I could find no reason, | 610 |
Nest bed linen is among the very first manufacturing facility direct-to-customer firms to market bed-in-a-box mattresses. A bed in a box is a revolutionary brand-new way to get and also ship a mattress. It is substantiated of freshly spearheaded manufacturing as well as packaging procedures. This design enables you to buy a bed mattress online from the comfort of your home as well as have it delivered to your doorstep in a comfortably sized box, which removes the inconvenience that comes with mattress shopping.
Alexander Trademark: The Alexander Signature Series is a gel memory foam bed mattress available in 3 various suppleness setting. Every one is made to match particular resting preferences. The Alexander Luxury Firm is best for back as well as tummy sleepers, while the Alexander Medium Plush is best for back and side sleepers. 92% of sleepers like the Medium Plush including myself. The Alexander Soft seems like a soft hug, as well as it 's finest for side sleepers who love to snuggle up in bed.
Alexander Signature Hybrid: Alexander Signature Hybrid is among minority bed mattress available as a bed-in-box utilizing innerspring coils in its building and construction. The<|fim_middle|> will not roll you out of bed.
Love and also Sleep: The Love and Sleep is one of the reduced valued direct- to-consumer cushions. It is an upgrade to Nest Bedding prominent Love Mattress. This is not memory foam, a latex foam bed mattress or a spring cushion. Instead, the Love and also Sleep cushion makes use of an unique sort of foam called Energex foam that offers you the bouncy feeling of a latex mattress and also the extra-supportive convenience of memory foam. Nest Bedding likewise paid special interest to air conditioning, responsiveness and also convenience. It is also readily available in two different suppleness degrees: Medium and also Firm as well as a fantastic factor to consider for back, stomach and also combo sleepers, according to your recommended comfort level.
Crossbreed Latex: The Nest Bedding Hybrid Latex cushion incorporates the bounce of latex foam with the assistance of pocketed coils that delivers flexible convenience for a distinct sleeping experience, normally. It comes in three firmness options– Soft, Medium and Firm. The communication in between foam as well as coils accomplishes a wonderful blend of bounce and also assistance, which maintains you raised in addition to the bed mattress while still feeling reassuring pressure level. Hybrid Latex additionally has certain benefits over innersprings, such as better activity seclusion, less noise, and longer life-span usually.
Latex Cushion: The Latex Mattress is produced making use of all-natural products. The surface area is environmentally friendly as well as gives the sleeper a healthy and balanced increase. The bed mattress not only alleviates pressure on the joints however additionally preserves correct spine alignment by even distribution of body weight. The foundation of the cushion consists of a high-density base offering lifelong longevity and stamina to the entire structure. Additionally, the Latex Mattress is available in 3 suppleness choice. The Soft, Medium as well as Firm choices.
The Nest Alexander Signature Select can be found in a box and the purchase is incredibly simple. You just place an order through their web site and also the mattress will get to your front door in about a week or less. The best component is that delivery is definitely totally free!
The Alexander Signature Series is made using a breathable, resilient pressure-relieving, cooling Gel Foam, as well as support base layer complicated foam.
If you are in the market for pressure alleviation without getting stuck, get this bed mattress. It does an outstanding job.
Unlike all the other on-line brand names I have actually examined, the Nest Bedding likewise offers financing directly from their site! If you have good credit score, you will certainly be qualified for 0% funding for 12 months! So if you want to sleep in convenience currently, you can! Just click on the funding message listed below the cost to pay in monthly installations rather than all at once.
Side, stomach, back as well as also mix sleepers (the Nest Latex Mattress can be found in multiple firmness levels).
Warm sleepers (Latex has a tendency to be a naturally cooler product).
People that want a mattress that's backed by a lifetime convenience warranty and lifetime warranty.
Anybody working with a very restricted spending plan.
It takes a couple of hrs for convenience layer to completely decompress, adhering to unboxing.
University student or any individual that intends on moving residences regularly (It's hefty and also a discomfort to move). | cushion cover is made using quilted foam stuffed with gel-infused memory foam. The bed is also readily available in 3 different suppleness setting – Plush, Medium and also Luxury Firm. With each suppleness setup, the construction remains the exact same while the foam densities vary slightly. This well-shaped mattress is not only comfy; it offers proper spinal column alignment as well as pressure point alleviation. It is particularly excellent for belly as well as back sleepers, as well as its strong sides | 100 |
With colouring pencils from the world's best brands including Der<|fim_middle|> who just want to add a touch of colour to their artwork. Whatever your requirement, Homecrafts has a coloured pencil just for you. | went, Bruynzeel, Berol, Prismacolor and Spectrum, Homecrafts has a pencil for every level of artistic ability. Our huge choice of coloured pencils offers incredible value across all brands making Homecrafts the best place to come for high quality branded coloured pencils at affordable prices. Each pencil brand offers its own unique set of characteristics designed to match a wide variety of needs. Spectrum Very Thick coloured pencils, for instance, offer a wide coloured core making them perfect for large-scale drawings as they offer more colour within each barrel. Derwent Inktense pencils on the other hand can be manipulated with water, transforming beautiful coloured pencil into vibrant ink-like colour. Ideal for experienced artists and for those | 142 |
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Trinder, Barrie - The Industrial Archaeology of Shropshire
Hardback. A fine copy in a fine dustwrapper. Pp.x,278. 125 black and white illustrations. "This penetrating new micro-study of Shropshire examines in detail the whole range of artefacts, images, structures, sites and landscapes which relate to manufactures or mines and their associated transport and social systems."
Published : Phillimore & Co 1996, First Edition
Trotter Wilfred - The Collected Papers of Wilfred Trotter
A good copy. Slightly faded on spine. some foxing to endpapers. 194pp. 12 papers mainly on the philosophy of medicine.
Published : Oxford University Press 1946,
Turner A. Logan - Joseph, Baron Lister Centenary Volume 1827-1927
A good copy, a little faded on spine. 182pp. Frontispiece and 8 illustrations + portrait medallion on upper board. Essays to celebrate the centenary of Lister's birth.
A very good copy in a virtually complete but rather dusty wrapper with a few tears. 182pp. Frontispiece and 8 illustrations + portrait medallion on upper board. Essays to celebrate the centenary of Lister's birth.
Tyndall John - The Glaciers of the Alps. Being a Narrative of Excursions and Ascents, an Account of the Origin and Phenomena of Glaciers and an Exposition of the Physical Principles to Which They are Related
Hardback. A good copy in blind-decorated cloth which is faded on the spine (although the lettering is clear). A little marked on spine. Internally a very good, clean, copy without foxing or ownership inscription and with sound hinges. Pp.xxvi,445. Frontispiece and 61 illustrations including one plate in colour. Prefatory Note by the author's widow.
Wallace, William - Geometrical Theorems and Analytical Formulae, with Their Application to the Solution of Certain Geodetical Problems. And an Appendix, Containing a Description of Two Copying Instruments
Hardback. A good copy in the original patterned boards, originally mauve or purple but now considerably faded. The gilt lettering on the spine remains clear. The book is inscribed as follows: To Dr. Traill from the Author Feb. 18th 1839."The ex libris label of Thomas Stewart Traill is on the front fixed end-paper. Traill was Professor of medical jurisprudence at the University of Edinburgh and the main editor of the Encyclopaedia Britannica from 1852 to 1861. Pp.xiii,155. Three folding diagrams at rear. Various figures in the Appendix. Two loose pages which came with the book (one a continued errata page, the other described as a Supplement to Article 112) remain present. The author writes: "In this Tract ----the reader will find a very considerable number of new propositions, interesting in themselves as speculative truths, and remarkable, by their connecting Theories hitherto considered as but slightly, if at all related." The author was emeritus professor of mathematics in the University of Edinburgh.
Published : Adam and Charles Black, Edinburgh 1839, First Edition
Walton, D. W. H. - Antarctic Science
4to. A fine copy in a fine dustwrapper. Pp.viii,280. Many illustrations including colour. This is a review of the major international developments in Antarctic sciense.
Warburton, Dorothy; Byrne, Julianne; Canki, Nina - Chromosome Anomalies and Prenatal Development: An Atlas
Hardback. 4to. A very good copy in the original cloth. Neat ownership inscription. Pp.vii,104. Numerous colour illustrations. Graphs. This is no. 21 of the Oxford Monographs on Medical Genetics.
Published : Oxford University Press, New York 1991, First Edition
Warren, Kenneth - Chemical Foundations : The Alkali Industry in Britain to 1926
Hardback. A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. No ownership inscription. Pp.viii[4],208. 3 plates. 34 figures. A study of the rise and decdline of Britain's alkali industry up to the formation of ICI.
Watt George - The Pests and Blights of the Tea Plant Being a Report of Investigations Conducted in Assam and to Some Extent Also in Kangra
A near good copy in a black half leather binding with green boards. Lettered and decorated in gilt on the spine. Trace of a bump and indentation near the top of the spine with a little water damage at top of end-papers. Presentation label signed by the author pasted to front fixed end-paper. Pp.467 + 17 pages index. 11 figures in text.
Published : Office of the Superintendent, Government Printing, Calcutta 1898, First Edition
Weismann, Dr. August - The Evolution Theory Volume II
Hardback. A very good copy in maroon cloth which is just a little faded on the spine. 405 pages. Illustrations 96-131 in this volume.
Published : Edward Arnold, London 1904, First Edition
Wells H. G. - Text-Book of Biology Part I Vertebrata and Part II Invertebrates and Plants
[1893]. A very good two volume set in dark green cloth lettered in gilt on spines. Vol. I, pp.x,149 + 16 page undated catalogue (which refers to this book as being "in the press" and states of another item that it "will be published during the fortnight following the examination of June 1893"). 24 sheets with plates.Vol. II,pp.x,157 + 2 page advert. for evening and vacation classes + 14 page publisher's catalogue dated December 1894. 23 sheets with plates (as called for). Vol. I has no ownership inscription. Vol. II has an ownership inscription on the half-title dated 1895. Neither volume is foxed internally and both have just a touch of edge foxing. This was Wells' first published book. Photographs available on request. A very decent set<|fim_middle|> the Stock of Whales at South Georgia
4to. A very good copy in light grey card covers. Comprises pages 351-372 of Volume IX of the "Discovery Reports." 5 tables. 3 figures. The Discovery Reports were funded by the British Colonial Office and were intended to provide the scientific background to stock management of the Antarctic whale fishery.
Wightman W.P.D. - Science and the Renaissance; an Introduction to the Study of the Emergence of the Sciences in the Sixteenth Century Volume 1
A very good copy in a good dustwrapper with a few edge tears. Pp.xv,327. 8 plates. End-paper map. This volume traces the growth of scientific ideas in the Renaissance. (The second volume is a bibliography of 16th century scientific books in the library of Aberdeen University).
Published : Oliver & Boyd for the University of Aberdeen, Edinburgh 1962, First Edition
Williamson George - Memorials of the Lineage, Early Life, Education and Development of the Genius of James Watt
A very good copy in a half-leather binding. Five raised bands. Moderate wear to the spine. 262 pages. 16 illustrations including folding map of the River Clyde, double page view of Greenock and folding plan of the steamship "Atrato". (Loosely inserted is a folding plate of the same ship which does not appear to come from the book).
Published : Printed for the Watt Club By Thomas Constable Printer to Her Majexty 1856, First Edition
Wood, Rev. J.G. - Common Objects of the Microscope
Illustrated by Tuffen West.
Hardback. 12mo. A good copy in red cloth decorated in gilt on the spine and upper board. The boards are now protected in a clear, removable sleeve. Ownership inscription. Pp.iv,188. 12 full page colour plates. Black and white illustrations in the text. "---a general demand has arisen for an elementary handbook upon the Microscope and its practical application to the study of nature; and in order to supply that want, this little volume has been published."
Published : Routledge, Warne & Routledge, London 1864,
Youngson, A. J. - The Scientific Revolution in Victorian Medicine
A very good copy in a very good dustwrapper. A clean copy without foxing or ownership inscription. 237 pages.
Published : Croom Helm, London 1979, First Edition
Yule, Bill - Matrons, Medics and Maladies : Inside Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in the 1840s
Illustrated by John Johnstone.
Softback. A very good copy. A clean copy without foxing or ownership inscription. Pp.xiv,236. Illustrated. A serious but entertaining study which refers to real cases. | of a scarce item.
Published : University Correspondence College Press, London 1893, First Edition
Wells H. Gideon, DeWitt Lydia M. and Long Esmond R. - The Chemistry of Tuberculosis
A good copy in blue cloth which is a little marked. Stamp of a medical college on front end-paper. Pp.vii,447. In three sections headed "The Chemistry of Acid-Fast Bacteria", "The Chemical Changes in the Tuberculous Host" and "The Chemotherapy of Tuberculosis".
Published : Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore 1923, First Edition
West, Luther S.; Peters, Oneita B. - An Annotated Bibliography of Musca Domestica Linnaeus
Hardback. A very good copy in a good, complete, dustwrapper which shows some rubbing. A clean copy internally with no ownership inscription or other marking. Pp.xiii,743. Frontispiece. Described as "a new aid to entomological research."
Published : Dawsons of Pall Mall 1973, First Edition
Wheeler J. F. G. - On | 243 |
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Researching the Boundary of Space
by Patrick Gannon
It's not exactly where the rubber meets the road, but where space meets the earth's atmosphere, is becoming ever more critical to the growing deployment of low and mid-earth orbit satellites. This region, where the earth's atmosphere bumps into space, has more going on in it than first meets the eye. As more and more miniature CubeSats are launched, along with fleet and asset tracking satellites in low earth orbit, new challenges are being encountered that require a better understanding of this boundary region.
NASA wants to understand this region to a much greater extent, and on Dec 8, 2017, they plan to launch the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON), to learn more about this critical region of growing importance. Launched on a Pegasus rocket from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the satellite will investigate how things like weather patterns on the earth, from hurricanes, to stiff winds blowing over the top of a mountain, interact and affect the electrically charged part of the atmosphere, known as the ionosphere.
Researchers are interested, because the charged particles of the ionosphere can disrupt communications signals as well as cause low-Earth orbit satellites to become electrically charged, which can damage them. In severe cases, these particles can cause<|fim_middle|> and we need to be able to make accurate forecasts to protect valuable assets and overcome communications issues. At present, it is thought that winds might be directly related to the electrical fields that are measured on various spacecraft traversing the ionosphere, but there is no data to confirm this. ICON is designed to study this and more.
ICON's instruments will study the glowing gasses of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere, using new instruments that are more sensitive, and more encompassing in what they can capture. New techniques will be used to optimize the way in which "snapshots" are used to relay information to Earth, vastly increasing the amount of data that can be transferred using a set amount of bandwidth. One instrument will have the ability to measure the composition of particles miles away, as another examines the charged gasses around the spacecraft. While some of this data has been available from other instruments on various spacecraft, the readings have all taken place at different levels. ICON 's ability to combine data from its four instruments, all operating in the same space and time, is a key advance.
ICON's project scientist pointed out that while we use satellites to track hurricanes as they move across the ocean, when we really want to know what's going on, we fly planes right through the storm. This, in essence, is what ICON is doing for the critical boundary between earth and space, in hopes of improving forecasts and developing technology to maintain communications and protect spacecraft operating in this region. Tune in to NASA TV on Dec 8, at 3AM Marshall Island time to watch the launch!
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© 2003-2020 BusinessCom LLC and BusinessCom Networks Limited. All Rights Reserved. | power outages on the ground. It was formerly thought that all such effects were due to the sun, however it seems that since these particles are right at the edge of space, they may also be affected by conditions on Earth. Currently there is little data to provide much indication one way or the other.
The ionosphere extends from about 80 to 1000 km (50 – 600 miles), above the earth's surface. Below, lie the mesosphere, stratosphere, and the troposphere where we live. These layers are a good thing, as they protect us from solar radiation. The ionosphere exists because of ultraviolet radiation from the sun. It breaks apart the atmospheric molecules that remain at these altitudes, knocking off electrons, leaving a sea of ions and charged electrons. This region of charged particles exists alongside the very thin upper atmosphere.
We need to understand how earth's weather patterns, including thunderstorms, snow, rain and heat, hurricanes, etc. affect this region, because many low-earth satellites that orbit the Earth, including the International Space Station, fly right through the ionosphere. Interestingly, the ionosphere actually supports some of the radio waves and signals that we rely on, such as GPS signals. When the ionosphere is unpredictably changed, creating ripples and bubbles of dense plasma, the impact on our communication technology can be significant.
On the other hand, some signals, like those of short-wave radio, bounce off the ionosphere and rely on it for communications around the globe. Changes in the ionosphere can affect the signals that must go through it, like GPS, and those that bounce off of it, like short wave radio. For a long time, researchers thought that only space weather – sun activity – affected the ionosphere, but now we are learning that earth's weather also has an impact, | 377 |
Read our customer testimonials to learn about real experiences with our boats and dealing with the Eyachts team.
Interested in finding out what Axopar, Greenline and Sealine are really like… this if your chance to find out why our customers chose their boat over the others on the market, what they do onboard and their highlights with their yachts.
We are pleased to announce yet another successful handover to a very happy Melbourne customer!
In their words the Axopar has "EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS" in more ways than one!
In<|fim_middle|> there were never problems, only solutions.
WHY PETER OSBORN CHOOSE GREENLINE 48?
Peter Osborn did a lot of research and investigation when making the choice which flybridge to choose in the 45-50ft category.
Read about his research and the reasons why he choose Greenline. | terms of the vessel "Everything is perfect," said Ian.
Tim Davis and his family love their Axopar 28.
They use it most weekends and Friday evenings for wake boarding, day trips with friends, finding secluded beaches and seeing the city at night.
Hayden, Harry and Rosie on handover day. They did a trip down the coast and stopped for a spot of whale watching.
Harry said "I was extremely impressed with the way the boat handled on the trip offshore".
Another Axopar on Sydney Harbour!
Handover on our beautiful Sydney which started in the afternoon but everyone was have so much fun they were still going at dusk!
The new happy owner said "I just love it"!
HOW WAS EYACHTS TO WORK WITH?
"Working with Dan Jones in Sydney was great… | 164 |
The sea was glassy<|fim_middle|> and slugs. | today off the Palos Verdes Peninsula, smoother than I've seen in years. Once again we had sub par conditions over the weekend and excellent conditions during the weekdays.
Kevin Lee called in sick to join Merry and me as well as Scott and Margaret Webb for a good time on Kevin's Reef. We had good visibility and the life continues to return here. Kevin found two Peltodoris mullineris on the edge of the gully and Merry found two more on the south side of the reef. While following Kevin to his discovery he pointed down at a moray eel tucked in its den.
Hermissenda opalescens were large and their cerata were in full plumage. Tinier nudibranchs peppered the reef. It wasn't difficult to find subjects on this reef today.
We made a second dive at Little Reef. It sits on the border of the Pt. Vicente Marine Protected Area. We didn't need GPS to find it as a line of lobster traps dotted the border all the way out to Hawthorne Reef.
This reef is made up of scattered boulders and is not for the squeamish. The place is crawling with worms | 240 |
This simple but impressive building—designed by Maximilian Godefroy, designer of Baltimore's Battle Monument—was built in 1818. It is the oldest building to be continually used as a Unitarian church in North America. The church was originally called "The First Independent Church of Baltimore" by its members, who were mainly free thinkers and independent spirits who were very diverse in their religious beliefs. Just a year after moving into this new structure, Rev. Dr. William Ellery Channing delivered a landmark sermon, now known as the "Baltimore Sermon." In it, Channing defined<|fim_middle|> coffered barrel vault was later added to close off the dome. Distinguished Baltimoreans who have been members of this congregation include artist Rembrandt Peale, George Peabody, Enoch Pratt, and Mary Richmond, a pioneer in the field of professional social work and philanthropy. | the essence of Unitarianism in the United States, which led to the formation of the denomination in 1824. Godefroy's building design was considered daring at the time. It uses the basic shapes of the cube and the sphere, with a minimum of detail on the flat planes to emphasize the structure's geometry. Because the acoustics under the dome were poor, a | 79 |
With summer in full swing, it is getting hot and humid here in New Braunfels. Many homes are running their air conditioning units more frequently and for longer periods throughout the day now. With this extra use, many AC units are now experiencing stressors they were not put under during winter and spring. This can lead to a myriad of problems and issues that you'll need to call an AC and heating repair technician for.
Has your AC started making strange noises? Is it not producing cool enough air, or not moving air at all? It's probably time to call an AC repair technician from Legacy Services. We'll address<|fim_middle|> sign. In the case of your air conditioner, there are a few reasons why it might be leaking.
Perhaps the most common cause of leaks is a clogged drain line. The drain line can get clogged with objects like dust, dirt, and molds that are just part of operating outside. In this case, you'll need an AC and heating repair specialist to remove the clog with a special vacuum. Typically, this fixes most leaky AC units.
Over time, as moisture pools on and around various components of your AC, it can cause the formation of patches of rust. This can break apart, and water will drip right through your drain pan. This is most common in older AC units that are 13-to-15 years old.
If your air conditioner is installed inside of your home, in the basement perhaps, then you have a specialized part called a condensate pump. This pump moves water that pools up within the AC unit and moves it outside of your home. Should this pump fail or break, water will begin to leak out of your air conditioner and collect within your home. You'll need to repair or replace your pump immediately to prevent damage to the interior of your home.
In most cases, a leaky air conditioner cannot be solved by adding more refrigerant. But in some cases, a leaky AC may be a sign that your unit is low on refrigerant. Low levels of refrigerant lower the pressure in the unit, and that causes the evaporator coils to freeze. When these coils are exposed to the heat from outside, or of the AC unit itself, these coils melt, drip onto the drain pan, and then overflow out of the pan. The obvious signs of low refrigerant are if you hear a hissing or bubbling noise coming from your AC or if the AC isn't cooling the air as well as it used to.
A leaky AC is just one of many problems you might experience this summer. In our next blog, we'll cover another handful of common problems. When your AC is failing to keep you cool, there's no need to get hot-headed. Call New Braunfels' AC and heating repair experts. We'll send a repair technician to your home right away to repair your air conditioner, no matter the problem. Call now! | your problem, and get it fixed fast. While you're waiting for one of our speedy specialists, you can brush up on these common air conditioner problems.
No matter the appliance, a leak is never a good | 42 |
BioMicroCenter:BioInformaticsStaff
HOME -- SEQUENCING -- LIBRARY PREP -- HIGH-THROUGHPUT -- COMPUTING -- OTHER TECHNOLOGY
1 BIOINFORMATICS SUPPORT
2 AUTHORSHIP
3 BIOINFORMATICS STAFF
3.1 Vincent Butty, MD, PhD
3.2 Duan Ma, PhD
3.3 Huiming Ding, PhD
3.4 Charlie Whittaker, PhD
3.5 Stuart Levine, PhD
4 INFORMATICS ANALYSIS
BIOINFORMATICS SUPPORT
REQUEST MIT - ILABS
External - contact biomicro@mit.edu
UNIT Hourly or as FTE
PRICING HERE
SUPPORT Informatics staff are subsidized by Departments of Biology and Biological Engineering, MIT CEHS and the Koch Institute.
As part of our mission statement, the BioMicro Center is designed to assist users in computational challenges. One key aspect of this is providing our users with the bioinformatics support to interpret their data readily and to assist them in analyzing data for publications and grants. To accomplish this, the BioMicro Center has a team of informatics scientists on staff able to assist labs with experience in a broad number of methodologies. Bioinformatics consultations are available by appointment for CORE lab members. Bioinformatic projects are undertaken by the BioMicro Center on a collaborative basis.
If you are looking for informatics support, the easiest way to begin is with an ilabs request with a brief description of your experiment. One of the members of our informatics staff will reach out to you to schedule a one on one meeting. This meeting is free for CORE lab members. Once an experimental plan is approved we will begin work on your project, checking in with you at regular intervals to be sure the project is on track. The project can be paused at any time by the researcher.
Significant portions of the informatics staff salaries are paid by direct support from faculty members. As such, these "sponsors" of the informatics groups have priority access on their projects. Additional blocks of time are reserved for each informaticist to work on projects that are billed hourly with priority given to CORE labs. A small number of hours may remain to assist non-MIT labs with data analysis but such projects are always considered low priority. Labs interested in sponsoring the informatics staff at the BioMicro Center should contact Stuart Levine
Informatics Offices
Informatics projects through the BioMicro Center are considered collaborative efforts. Publications resulting from statistic or bioinformatics work frequently merit co-authorship: the order of authorship is not of concern. Placing BioMicro Center staff on publications significantly increases our ability to obtain financial support through grants and is helpful in the renewal process for CEHS and KI core grants.
BIOINFORMATICS STAFF
Vincent Butty, MD, PhD
Informatics Scientist
Dr. Vincent Butty joined the core in April 2012. He is an MD/PhD with a strong background in RNA sequencing methodologies and immunology. Vincent obtained his MD at the University of Geneva and received a PhD in Immunology from Harvard where he studied the population genetics of autoimmune diseases such as Type-I diabetes in the Benoist/Mathis lab. Vincent did his postdoctoral training here at MIT in Dr. Chris Burge's group, where he investigated the regulation of RNA processing across a broad variety of disease contexts using RNA sequencing. In the core, Vincent is currently involved in the analysis of long non-coding RNAs, the role of chromatin in development and the response to genotoxic and infectious stresses. Specialties
RNAseq
<|fim_middle|> by Braveheart, which drive Cardiac Differentiation, generated using the Spring-embedded algorithm in Cytoscape. A sequence of cardiac transcription factors and genes involved in myofibril organization were not induced during EB differentiation in Bvht-depleted cells.
From Klattenhoff et al. (Boyer, Burge labs), Cell 152:570. / Hierarchical clustering of genes identified from a time series microarray experiment. Clustering was performed using Cluster and the corresponding heatmap was generated with TreeView. (collaboration with Walker Lab)
SNPs and Mutations
ChIPseq Analysis and Motif Finding
NGS variant detection procedure: (A) Input material can either be whole-genome or transcriptome isolate, or a selected subset such as the exome (exon capture) or specific genome regions. Raw sequences are pre-processed and aligned using various options (BWA or Bowtie). The GeZnome Analysis Took Kit (GATK) and SAMtools are used to call variants and snpeff is used to annotate the consequences of those variations. (B) IGV is used to visualize the alignments in the context of the genome and its associated annotations. Characterizations of the significant Chip-Seq peaks. Figures describing proportions of binding sites located around annotated genic locations. Sequence logos from binding sites identified through MAST. (Horvitz Lab) Large-scale phylogenetic analyses of sequences can be performed using combinations of multiple sequence alignment tools and data visualization packages.
In this example phylogenetic relationships of the hits were visualized using iTOL. (Boyden lab)
Retrieved from "https://openwetware.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=BioMicroCenter:BioInformaticsStaff&oldid=1051031"
Content is available under GNU FDL or Creative Commons BY-SA unless otherwise noted. | Immunology & Immunogenetics
Duan Ma, PhD
Huiming Ding, PhD
Huiming is the longest serving member of the team. He received his PhD in Physics from Jilin University in China before working for nearly a decade as a senior research associate in bioinformatics at the University of Toronto where he supported the work of Dr. Charlie Boone in studying cellular networks and pathways using synthetic genetic array (SGA) and synthetic dosage lethal (SDL) screens. Huiming has significant experience in deriving interaction networks and in creating statistical scoring algorithms and databases. His current collaborative projects involve the study of functional interaction networks from time course data and generation of genome-scale metabolic pathway models. Specialties
Charlie Whittaker, PhD
Stuart Levine, PhD
Core Director
Stuart Levine's primary responsibility is to direct the BioMicro Center but in a previous life Stuart was a bioinformaticist and is still available to assist on data analysis as time is available. Stuart received his BS in Biology from MIT (where he UROPed with Dr. Peter Sorger) then did his graduate work with Dr. Bob Kingston and Dr. William Forrester at Harvard Medical School where he studied the biochemical activities of the polycomb group of gene regulators. Stuart then did his post-doctoral work with Dr. Richard Young where he switched from biochemistry to bioinformatics, studying gene regulation on a genome wide scale using expression and chromatin immunoprecipitation data. Stuart has numerous publications in the areas of regulation of transcription, genomic architecture and cell fate determination.
Chromatin IP
expression analysis
Transcription mechanism
INFORMATICS ANALYSIS
Isoform Visualization and Quantitation
Functional Analyses
Gene expression analysis can be done using RNA-Seq and microarrays. (A) The RNA-Seq analysis pipeline has been implemented and the method is gaining popularity as sequencing becomes more affordable. Benefits include flexibility with level of detail collected and a lack of platform-dependent biases. (B) Microarrays are still a viable alternative to genome-wide mRNA analysis. They are generally less expensive and benefit from routine and well-developed processing and analysis methods. RNA-Seq reads compatible with different transcript isoforms are quantitated using a Bayesian analytical framework (MISO), generating posterior distributions of isoform abundances. Read densities are visualized using Sashimi plots. Core Network of Genes regulated | 481 |
St. Louis Fed's Bullard Addresses the U.S. Growth Surprise
Singapore – Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard on Monday delivered the OMFIF Foundation City Lecture with remarks titled "Some Consequences of the U.S. Growth Surprise."
In his talk, Bullard noted that economists' views of U.S. economic growth are in flux due to the surprisingly strong performance of the U.S. economy relative to projections made in the first half of 2017. As of March 2017, U.S. real GDP growth was projected to be close to 2 percent for 2017, 2018 and 2019, according to the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) median Summary of Economic Projections (SEP). "It now appears growth will exceed that forecast for all three years," Bullard said.
"The U.S. growth surprise has been a factor in allowing the FOMC to normalize its policy rate along a projected path, with attendant consequences for global financial markets," he said. However, continuation of the U.S. growth surprise likely requires faster U.S. productivity growth, he explained.
A Projection Puzzle
Bullard pointed out that the median projection in the FOMC's March 2017 SEP was for stable and subdued economic growth in 2017, 2018 and 2019. In addition, unemployment and inflation were projected to remain about constant over these three years. Nevertheless, the median projection among FOMC participants was that the policy rate would rise over this period, he noted.
"Broadly speaking, in March 2017 the FOMC expected very little movement in U.S. real GDP growth, unemployment and inflation over a three-year horizon," he said. "The FOMC projected that this outcome would be consistent with a rising U.S. policy rate."
He then compared these projections with the realized values for these macroeconomic variables. "As with many macroeconomic forecasts, the March 2017 SEP projection has turned out to be inaccurate in important respects," Bullard said. In particular, he noted, actual real GDP growth has been stronger than expected, actual unemployment has trended lower than expected, and actual inflation has been somewhat lower than expected. "At the same time, the actual policy rate path so far has been about what was projected in March 2017," he said.
The Global Growth Surprise
Bullard also pointed out that growth surprised outside the U.S. All major economies surprised to the upside in 2017 relative to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) October 2016 forecast of real GDP growth. "Relatively speaking, the growth surprise was larger outside the U.S," he said.
While the difference between actual growth in 2017 and the IMF's forecast was 0.1 percentage points in the U.S., it was 0.9 percentage points in the euro area, 0.6 percentage points in the U.K., 1.1 percentage points in Japan and 0.7 percentage points in China.
"In 2018, the growth surprise is on track to be positive in the U.S.," Bullard pointed out, "while other major economies are projected to not do as well as they did in 2017."
Some Consequences of the U.S. Growth Surprise
Bullard discussed several consequences of the growth surprise over the last two years. First, he noted that faster-than-expected U.S. real GDP growth and lower-than-expected U.S. unemployment have allowed the FOMC to normalize along its projected path.
Second, the faster-than-expected global real GDP growth has helped the profitability of U.S. firms, helping to drive U.S. equity markets higher, Bullard noted.
Third, the dollar weakened in 2017, he explained, due in part to the larger growth surprise abroad. It has strengthened in 2018, due in part to the larger growth surprise domestically, he added.
Can U.S. Growth Continue Apace?
Turning to whether the U.S. growth surprise can continue, Bullard pointed out that the U.S. potential growth rate is widely thought to be relatively low, in part due to demographics. In particular, he noted that labor force growth has been slower in the U.S. since 2008 due to demographic factors.
"Accordingly, the U.S. will likely need faster productivity growth in order to maintain current real GDP growth rates," he said. "This is a possibility if U.S. investment improves and technological diffusion begins to improve business processes at a faster pace."
The U.S. labor force growth rate remains close to the 0.5 percent average since 2008, Bullard noted. Meanwhile, he said that the U.S<|fim_middle|>.1 "Adding these together suggests a potential growth rate for the U.S. of 1.8 percent, about the same as many private-sector forecasts," he explained.
A switch to the high state for labor productivity growth, with a high-state value of 2.9 percent previously experienced between the late 1990s and the mid-2000s, would raise the U.S. potential growth rate to a stunning 3.4 percent, he noted. "This switch is a possibility, but it has not materialized so far," he added.
1 See J.A. Kahn and R.W. Rich, 2006, "Tracking Productivity in Real Time," Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Current Issues in Economics and Finance, 12(8); and J.A. Kahn and R.W. Rich, 2007, "Tracking the new economy: Using growth theory to detect changes in trend productivity," Journal of Monetary Economics, 54(6).
For media inquiries contact:
mediainquiries@stls.frb.org
James Bullard
St. Louis Fed President and CEO
James Bullard is president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. In these roles, he participates in the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and directs the activities of the Federal Reserve's Eighth District. | . labor productivity growth rate does not appear at this point to be meaningfully different from the Kahn-Rich low-state value of 1.3 percent | 30 |
About Student EXP
Student EXP
90 Years of Service: The Crimson Circle
This year, LMU's oldest service organization on<|fim_middle|>, "We value diversity and leadership and individuals who excel not only inside the classroom but outside as well," said Burk. "We look for individuals who are involved in other organizations and have a big impact on campus. I would hope people would say that we have the highest integrity, that our intentions are very genuine, and that we are individuals with and for others." Burk is proud of how involved the 35 members of Crimson Circle are in other organizations on campus and sees them as some of the best leaders the university has to offer.
With 90 years now in the rearview mirror, Burk is excited for what the future holds for Crimson Circle, "Moving forward into the new year, our new e-board needs to know our values and the type of people we want in Crimson Circle. We need to keep being Loyola men and keep finding guys to pass on our tradition." Here's to another 90 years, Crimson Circle!
By: Nik Feldhaus
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© 2021 Loyola Marymount University | campus, the Crimson Circle, is celebrating its 90th year. As the original service organization on campus, Crimson Circle has been an integral part of the Lion community, read what their President Raleigh Burk '20, a management and screenwriting double major, thinks about their legacy and hopes for the future.
"You cannot tell the story of LMU without talking about Crimson Circle," said Burk.
"We were created to help LMU, and we have assisted the university in all the changes they have gone through over the last 90 years while helping maintain both the university's and our own main identity," said Burk. "Crimson Circle has seen many changes around them on campus over the last nine decades, but they are still living by the principles that they lived by all that time ago."
Raleigh Burk '20, president of Crimson Circle
Burk takes pride in being in Crimson Circle and believes that being a member of the organization means, "being with and for others as well as reflecting the mission statement of LMU." Crimson is continually working to better both the campus and the community that surrounds the university. Crimson Circle helps out different events on campus throughout the year, like working mass, their recent blood drive and Burk's favorite, coaching the Special Games. Members are also heavily involved in the Los Angeles community by volunteering at Skid Row and tutoring kids in the city, among many other service trips.
Service is an extremely important part of being in Crimson Circle. For Burk, it is just one piece of the puzzle | 309 |
Lynn Byrne Simon was first inspired to paint at age 7 by her family in a small town outside Philadelphia. Lynn studied painting at Moore College of Art in Philadelphia until 1970, when she moved to Manhattan to study art at The New School. Having moved to Los<|fim_middle|> Palm Springs and Thousand Oaks. Her award winning art is currently on view at Ojai Gallery 353. | Angeles in 1976, Lynn continued her art studies at Santa Monica College until she moved to Ventura County, where she found a painting environment that enabled freer expression of humanism and nature. After many years as a still life painter in oils, Lynn changed artistic directions when she was introduced to the art of pastels. She is now focusing on the landscape and how pastels can express the texture and raw color of nature, and has continued her art education by studying with Elizabeth Tolley, Richard McKinley, Kim Lordier, Bert Collins, and Stephanie Birdsall.
Lynn Byrne Simon is a member of the Westlake Village Art Guild, California Art Club, and Santa Barbara Art Association, and is currently President of the Pastel Society of the Gold Coast. In addition to private collections both nationally and internationally, Lynn's work has been exhibited in the Los Angeles Design House 2000, the Carnegie Art Museum of Ventura County and various juried shows in Santa Barbara, La Quinta, Calabasas, | 209 |
This week we began ourJourney Through John, and I found myself overwhelmed with gratitude. There's something powerful about reading God's Word with thousands of others, and yet something so personal about the ways God speaks to each of us.
We<|fim_middle|>, the weekend is a great time to catch up. Follow the reading plan in the Willow Creek app, or click here to view our digital version. | also had an all-staff retreat this week at our Crystal Lake campus.We've been on quite the journey together, and God is moving in our midst. It was an honor to worship alongside coworkers who are wholeheartedly seeking God, knowing He is taking all we have to offer and making something beautiful.
We continue Journey this weekend with a message by Jo Saxton. She is a gifted communicator who is passionate about helping people fall more in love with Jesus. I can't wait to learn from her.
P.S. If you missed the start of JourneyThrough John | 113 |
Home > Optoelectronics > LEDs
INT's AMOLED display technology delivers highest pixel density for VR/AR designs
Aims to set a new standard for high-definition HMDs for robotic, military, industrial, and commercial applications
Taiwanese startup INT Tech., an asset-light advanced technology company, recently debuted its first product, an ultra-high pixel density display (UHPD) platform that will significantly improve the user's visual experience. The UHPD platform is a proprietary glass-based red/green/blue (RGB) AMOLED display that delivers the industry's highest pixel density at >2,200 ppi. This enables realism in displays of all sizes and makes them suitable for a range of applications such as virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) headsets as well as more visually demanding robotic surgical devices, military, and industrial head-mounted displays (HMDs).
INT also introduced its smart pixel and IC (SPIC) platform. The board-level solution supports the integration of multiple sensors, including fingerprint, eye tracking, ambient light, and proximity, on the same backplane as the display. "SPIC allows designers to make an entire display into a live sensing area," said the company.
The SPIC platform enables a larger sensing area, which can be as large as the whole display because the sensors are developed on the glass or flexible substrate or integrated on the backplane. In comparison, silicon-based displays, which require a separate layer for the sensors, increase thickness while limiting potential active sensing areas, said INT. In addition, glass or flexible substrate-based sensors can be developed in flat panel fabs and manufactured at a much lower cost than silicon-based sensors.
Direct comparison of pixel density in INT Tech's UHPD AMOLED vs. commercially available AMOLED in smartphones at the same magnification. (Image: INT Tech)
Three advantages:
Highest ppi on glass — The 2,228-ppi demo display sets a new pixel-density standard, eliminates screen door effect, and dramatically increases image sharpness.
Larger field of view (FOV) — The glass-based display can be made much larger than silicon-based OLEDs.
Smart pixel and IC (SPIC) technology — The proprietary SPIC technology enables the integration of multiple sensors on the same backplane as the display. Based on a thin-film transistor (TFT) process and developed on a glass or flexible substrate, SPIC is suited for internet of things (IoT) and biosensor applications.
The UHPD AMOLED display is built on INT's proprietary sub-micron TFT process that offers a small pixel size and a much larger aperture ratio. It also eliminates the "screen door effect," wherein the lines separating the pixels are visible, and increases image sharpness.
One of the overriding goals of the company is to develop key technologies that enable the 5G era. Currently, it has three technology platforms to support the market: UHPD, SPIC, and O'flex, a foldable or flexible electronics technology. However, the company's initial focus is on UHPD display technology as it strengthens its partner relationships through joint development, customized design and sampling, and migration to mass production.
"When 5G arrives, people will no longer be satisfied with 2D images and video," said David Chu, Ph.D., chairman and CEO, INT. "This will drive new opportunities in VR, and it is a big reason why we are targeting this fast-evolving space as we introduce our first technologies to market."
"INT's UHPD is especially well-suited to VR and AR because it eliminates the screen door effect that has plagued users," added Chu. "At the same time, it provides exceptionally immersive user experiences. More importantly, this technology can dramatically improve the image quality of visually demanding applications such as robotic surgical systems, military HMDs, and other specialized industrial applications."
INT's 2,200-plus-ppi display is the highest ppi ever achieved on glass, said Sun Ling, INT's director of business development. "Currently, the highest pixel density for commercial mobile phone AMOLEDs is 572 ppi, and the yield is low when approaching 800+ ppi. We have 4× more pixels in unit area, and the difference is dramatic. We also have a large field of view."
2.17-inch 2,228-ppi AMOLED display module from INT Tech. (Image: INT Tech)
OLED microdisplays also have very high pixel density, but they are built on more expensive silicon wafers and the maximum screen size is very small at less than 1 inch, said Sun. "Even though it has very high pixel density, it cannot be used for VR because it is too small and the FOV is very limited. We can make 3- or 3.5-inch displays for the VR system, providing a larger FOV while reducing costs."
<|fim_middle|>-care monitoring is one area where we can contribute," said Chu. "If you combine UHPD capability with O'flex, it can be like a flexible biometric sensor with a much bigger sensing area that will enhance the accuracy of the signal. Today, most of these sensors are made on a silicon chip, provide a small sensing area, and don't stick to your skin. With flexible technology, it's more like a skin sensor, so it offers much more reliable data."
"There are challenges, such as how do you make an organic LED, and we're working on that on the horizon," said Chu.
But INT doesn't operate like most display technology companies. Chu, a veteran in the display industry, who founded INT in 2016 after serving as CEO of EDO, a $1.1 billion AMOLED business, explained that INT's go-to-market strategy is based on a collaborative development model through joint ventures and joint development programs that gives partners access to the company's core knowledge and technologies to help them succeed.
One example is its partnership with UltraChip, which yielded a joint venture in 2017 called UltraDisplay, an AMOLED driver IC design house. The company is already selling the driver IC in the supply chain to major AMOLED manufacturers. UltraChip is the major stakeholder and is responsible for the joint venture, while INT provides the IP to the company.
INT has a very flexible business model and can work with customers in a number of ways, which includes joint development consulting services as well, said Sun.
Chu is very focused on developing next-generation display technologies. "I felt that going forward, we ought to be competing on a knowledge-based instead of scale-based economy. Forty years ago, when Taiwan emerged as one of the Four Asian Dragons, it took advantage of the growing young population back then. Now, it no longer possesses those advantages, so it's good timing to try a knowledge-based economy, which is focused on innovation and my passion of working on the technology."
INT stands for innovation and transformation, explained Ling. "We have a very rich IP portfolio, and our core competence enables our partners to compete in the market."
INT is working with a lot of VR and AR companies in joint development projects through its lab, said Sun. "Starting next year, we want to transfer our lab into a microfab for a little more capacity so we can offer more samples to our customers."
The company's business model is to move from the lab into a microfab (as an extension of its lab) next year to provide customized design and sampling followed by mass production (via mega projects) in 2021 to 2023 through collaboration with partner relationships. | Another competitive technology is microLED displays, said Sun. There is a lot of discussion about this technology, but there is still no commercialization because of problems with improving yield in the mass transfer technology, she added.
INT would like to enter into more value-added and demanding applications, including robotics, medical, and military. "Our Smart Pixel and IC technology platform lets us develop the sensors on the glass — on the same backplane as the display — so we can put sensors anywhere on the whole display area," said Sun. "It opens up new opportunities based on the integration, cost savings, and space savings. You can place it anywhere on the display and the cost is very low."
"There are other merits," said Chu. "Once you integrate all of these different functions on the backplane, you naturally reduce the thickness of the device. In order to reach a true foldable cellphone, you need to thin down the thickness first, and this technology will enable you to do this, so there are benefits beyond cost reduction and space utilization."
INT's O'flex technology (Origami Flexible Electronics) frees up displays and sensors from rigid form factors and offers better user experience, said Sun. "This is in addition to UHPD enabling next-generation VR/AR apps and Smart Pixel and IC that enables the development of multiple sensors on a glass substrate and the integration of sensors in the display area."
"We choose these technologies because we see them as key technologies for the 5G era," said Sun. "For 5G, we focus on AR/VR, which will be very popular because of the very high transmission speed, so when demand goes up, there will be demand for UHPD technology over the next 10 to 20 years. Also, in the 5G era, the IoT will become very popular and will need a lot of and all kinds of sensors, and everything will become foldable and flexible in the future. There will be foldable and flexible displays with integrated sensors for wearables, automotive, and biomedical."
"Health | 416 |
At the Berlin<|fim_middle|>. | Cooking Club, I was also inspired by Jill's sweet potato salad. Did anyone else know you can eat sweet potatoes raw?
As with corn, sweet potatoes always make me wonder why I don't cook them more often. This dish incorporates both corn and sweet potato and is both savoury and light. It's loosely based on a recipe by Angela Hartnett, writing in the Guardian.
It's a great way to use up leftover roast chicken, and if you have any leftover gravy, you can substitute that for the stock.
Serve with bread on the side to mop up the juices, homemade cornbread if you want to go to a bit of extra effort.
Melt a knob of butter in a pan over medium heat and fry the pancetta until starting to crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon. Cut the leeks, onion and celery into large dice and fry in the bacon fat along with the corn until softened and just starting to catch. Return the bacon to the pan and add the chicken and the white wine, scraping to remove any tasty brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken stock and bring to the boil. If your pan is not ovenproof, tip the lot into a dish that is.
Peel and thinly slice the sweet potato and lay the slices on top of the chicken mixture, slightly overlapping. Dot with butter and bake in the hot oven for about 40 minutes until the potato is soft and browned at the edges.
Serve in wide shallow bowls with bread or cornbread on the side | 309 |
The Swedish House Mafia alums still make festival<|fim_middle|>Renegade" has a deliciously icy, slinky electro vibe that balances squiggly, laser-guided synths with penetrating, set-the-night-on-fire lyrics. But while the title track also thrums with danceable energy, its big-hearted vocals aren't a mere topline: the emotion-packed verses and rousing chorus hit home like a pop chart-topper.
I'm so excited for this EP!! I was a bit dissapointed with "I Love You", but I knew they had some good future releases floating around. I'm so glad they finally decided to release "More Than You Know" and "Dawn" − those tracks are absolute FIRE. I love Axwell /\ Igrosso!!!
I love anything these guys do, been a fan since the beginning. They killed it as headliners at the last Ultra in Miami. Their latest, "Renegade" is absolutle FIRE!!! Been blasting it all through Miami Beach. | -slaying electro-house bangers but the More Than You Know EP reaffirms that Axwell's and Sebastian Ingrosso's eyes are dead set on conquering the pop world. " | 37 |
Music programs at The Kidz Universe are designed with years of expereince and knowledge in the science behind music and importance of music and movement in child development.
We use our music<|fim_middle|> bonding time with your babies or toddlers?
Get in touch with us by calling (408)887-7284 to learn more. | curriculum from Kindermusik -- A global pioneer of music and movement sessions for children. With the trust of more than 2 Million families across 70 countries, Kindermusik curriculum ensures scientific delivery, educator training and age-appropriate materials for infants, toddlers, pre-schoolers and kids.
We are proud to say that we are an award-wining company serving thousands of families in bay area, CA. Right now, we have programs for kids 0-3 years old in 3 locations. Please scroll down to see the details, dates and contact us at 408-887-7284 to schedule your first discovery class.
LEARN WITH MUSIC at your Pre-school while you are busy with your work! Let your kid learn with their pre-school friends! Please contact us at (408)887-7284 to find out availability and schedule your free 20-minute demo class for your school.
Can traveling be tiresome? Planning a get together with your friends and family and want to have a 30 or 45-minute musical | 226 |
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"Hiya Mark, Just a quick note to give you an update on the 230cc kit you did for our lad Micky who works for us. He completed the<|fim_middle|> it by putting the bike flat out on a straight run. It's a 90mph speedo and the needle remained stuck there - at 90mph. Go figure that one! The bike got there, did the IOW, and returned all without so much as a hiccup. Over 3600km's on a freshly built 230cc Lambretta with no probs is quite something. Whilst part of this credit goes to the lad himself (20 years old and it's his first Lambretta) as he built the whole scooter, it certainly is an advert for your work. The work on the barrel kit and the MB crank were impeccable. As Micky managed to also fall off, just 100km's from home, last weekend he had some of the bodywork off to get re-painted. Whilst he was there, he decided to strip the top end down to have a looky see at the whole show. Guess what? It's still like new. Well done and many thanks. Micky has asked me to thank you as he doesn't speak English. People say that MB, like us at RLC, are expensive BUT with the parts you supplied him, the proof is that you get what you pay for. How many other dealers could have supplied parts like that for him to go trotting off around Europe - TROUBLE FREE? Not many I reckon is the answer. Cheers, Dean. RLC"
Dean Orton | engine the night before we were due to depart and it was with some trepidation that we set off especially considering he had to cover the trip with an tuned iron barrel. He needn't have worried : other than changing an inlet rubber stub for the carb in France, the whole show was absolutely perfect. Okay, he was with us (me on a standard Vega, and two friends on a GP150 and an Sx200) so he had the chance to run in the scooter properly at our "speeds", but once he had 500 - 600 miles under his belt, he'd blast off into the distance every now and then to free things up (and to relieve the bordem?). He had fitted a newly restored original Smiths chronometric speedo and near Caen he managed to break | 171 |
Your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life; we put together this wedding day meditation to help you enjoy a stress-free wedding day. Even though you might feel like you have a million things to do, allow yourself the gift of five minutes of meditation. I've photographed countless weddings as a San Francisco wedding photographer, and I've seen how challenging it is to stay relaxed. I remember how exuberant and overwhelmed I felt on my wedding day…it really helped to take a few minutes to center<|fim_middle|> its own perfect way. Even if things don't go exactly according to plan, know that this relaxed and blissful feeling is available to you throughout the day. Carry it with you and enjoy!
Wishing you the very best on your wedding day…hope this pre-wedding meditation helps you feel calm and joyful on this amazing day!
Take this meditation with you–download your free copy. | myself. When you take the time to relax and center yourself, you'll enjoy the day even more!
Take a moment to settle. Close your eyes, feel your sitting bones rooting into the chair or cushion you're sitting on. Feel your spine lengthening as you stretch the crown of your head towards the sky and the base of your pelvis towards the earth. Place your attention on your breath, noticing the flow of the inhale and exhale, making each breath slow, steady, and luxurious.
Breathe and scan the body.
Scan the body beginning at the feet, and notice any areas you feel tension. Imagine you're sending the energy of each breath into those areas. You might see that energy as a color or as golden light. Relax the shoulders. Loosen the muscles of the face and jaw, letting the lips part slightly. Soften the eyebrows and the forehead. Keep the breath slow and steady, and if you find your mind wandering, gently bring your attention back to your breath.
Now place your attention on your heart. Imagine there is a radiant light glowing within. Fell the love and warmth of this light spreading through your whole body. Next, visualize you and your partner surrounded by your family and friends, the community of all those you love who also love you. Imagine each of them has that same radiant light glowing from within. See the light from your body expanding, while the light from their bodies also expands until that light fills the whole room.
Set an intention for your wedding day.
As you see yourself and the people you hold dear surrounded and bathed in this light seal it with your intention for your wedding day, a blessing of joy, heartfelt connection and fun. Now imagine all of this wonderful light pouring into your body through the crown of your head, raining through to your heart center and filling you up with that joy connection and fun. Take three deep breaths. Enjoy the bliss of this feeling.
Return to this relaxed state throughout the day.
When you are ready, slowly open your eyes. Remind yourself that your day will be magical, in | 420 |
While buying such tickets always state that you never pay more this actual associated with the passes. Buying tickets from the concert ticket counters get you ticket with no amount of extra fee in order to have to pay for while getting the ticket web based<|fim_middle|> Catch a play or grab some gig tickets - the Roundhouse has everything.
Needless to say, or even a associated with great tips for a retirement gift that all retiree is bound to appreciate. People have to know is anything they enjoy one of the most and where did they feel regarding retirement and you will definitely have all of the tools elements to find the perfect gifts for pensionable! | . But again buying ticket from check in centre need up of one's. So choose the best option that that suits you. If you stay nearby, thinking want to obtain tickets off of the counter else internet is normally there a person.
Yes, it's correct. People are claiming to be what they never are. IS it because everyone to help be some other person or a tick out hot water is created fraud? I not really know. Some 'Social Media' started as a tale and now is a huge business, perhaps this isn't a different friend it is often a scam. Who is sure? could is, to create.
Give them something may perhaps help them adjust to their life after retirement. Let your favourite retiree recognize that there without a doubt life after retirement. And maybe one belonging to the best strategies to do is definitely giving them a well thought of book to the matter. Niche markets . several great books that let you see how he or she can live life to the fullest, nevertheless had comments saying goodbye to the workforce. Giving books which could help them explore the potentials of other worthwhile income-generating activities is another very good idea.
Eric Church is perhaps the freshest face in this line up. After years of struggling to get significant airplay he has seemed to lock into his following and his sound. He built his base of followers with dynamic live shows and party songs like "Smoke Just a little Smoke." Watch for mainstream record companies and critics to really start to concentrate to Church as his Concert Tickets continue to sell out (and bigger rooms keep filling) with the exceptional album sales sell these days. Church's sound (with assist of "Pontoon" producer Jay Joyce) has a gritty experimental vibe onto it but his vocal twang is almost as country as Willie Nelson.
The Zac Brown Band is another game changing group. Lead singer Zac Brown (again, Jorja Smith Tour dates 2018 from Georgia) set the table for early success by performing a strong jam band following in smaller clubs in South Eastern side. Shortly after number one airplay of "Chicken Fried" they were playing arenas, then stadiums and creating their own music fairs. The unconventional and organic approach struck a chord with all music fans winning them a Grammy Award for best new artist and a non stop string of number one songs.
Take a tough look at yourself techniques you manage your total funds are something which everyone undergoing debt should start to do. There are non-profit counselors should you still cannot make it work on own or have no family or friends will be able to work with. When you are gazing at applying for online cash advances in order to buy your extras, then you need to to rework your money.
Roundhouse. Work with a think an early repair shed could host a great party, nevertheless the Roundhouse is actually a premiere spot for live entertainment because 60s. | 582 |
ENGLAND TAKE 2-1 ASHES LEAD
There's no pretence at art about the thumbnails below - they're just fan photos taken from the Priory Stand at Edgbaston on Friday afternoon.
Still, they capture a wonderful moment in English cricket - the seconds after Alastair Cook's side clinched an eight wicket win over the Aussies to take a 2-1 lead in the Ashes.
The only time I ever bunked off school<|fim_middle|> top bowler Jimmy Anderson will miss the next match with a side strain.
The visitors, though, are no pushovers. A Test which threatened to be over within two days, ultimately stretched into two full sessions on Day 3.
Although the result was never in doubt after Australia were bowled out for 136 in the first innings, obstinate batting down the order by Peter Nevill and Mitchell Starc ensured that England had to wait for victory.
There are undoubtedly more tough challenges ahead. | was to see an England v Australia Test - even as a youngster I realised that the chance to see Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson in their prime was worth a detention.
For years the Aussies had it over us, until the unforgettable series of 2005, when England claimed the urn for the first time in 18 years.
Back then, the Edgbaston test was a crucial turning point, with England winning by just two runs, and and after a caning at Lords, the Birmingham stadium could once again prove to be a turning point.
With Warwickshire's homegrown star Ian Bell unbeaten at the crease in the second innings (rescuing his Test career as well as his team) alongside Joe Root - who thumped the winning four - it was a good day all round for the home fans, marred only by the knowledge that | 177 |
If you could choose one word… – write. play. repeat.
One of the most enjoyable parts of the blog lately has been reading the guest posts of people who, instead of making long<|fim_middle|> records would you take with you?" One of the questions is inevitably, "If you could choose one word to describe yourself, what would it be?" Several years ago, I was convinced I had my word: Hungry.
I was hungry for experience, for knowledge, for sounds, textures, words… and of course, food. I felt like that one word covered it all. (If you are familiar with the Enneagram, I am a classic 7.) Now I know that the word 'hungry' conveys not just a lust for life, but lack. Hunger comes from a place of not having enough, of never being satisfied. This year I am releasing that hunger.
I love this word because in many ways it is the opposite of 'hungry'. It's also a verb, which implies and creates action.
Instead of hungering, I choose to use my present experiences to really give back to myself, to heal my body and grow my spirit.
Instead of looking for new experiences, I choose to be fully present and aware of how my current experience is feeding me.
This word applies to many aspects of my life, from my interactions with food and my body to the things I want to surround myself with to my relationships with friends and family.
In 2010, I choose to nourish my body.
I want to be more aware of the nutrients I'm putting into my body, of how to create healthy and satisfying meals. I want to take more time to myself to go on walks, to do yoga, and to explore what my muscles are capable of.
In 2010, I choose to nourish my mind.
I want to spend more time reading things that interest me, and less time being overloaded with information online. I want to create a home office that inspires me and allows me to write comfortably at home. I want to take classes in subjects I haven't been brave enough to study before.
In 2010, I choose to nourish my relationships.
I want to spend more quality time talking to my family, and less time defending myself. I want to have more real, one-on-one interactions with my friends rather than only seeing them at parties. I want to continue to learn what it is to be a partner to someone in every sense of the word.
In 2010, I choose to nourish my spirit.
I have spent a lot of time trying to find out what I love. Now that I have a better idea, I want to explore those things in-depth and go out of my way to be in touch with the divine in everyday life. I want to create more moments of real joy rather than instant gratification. I want to become aware of the times I need to take care of myself so that I can be more available to others.
A well-nourished person looks, feels, and acts much differently from a hungry person. By asking myself every day whether my choices and actions are nourishing me, I hope to reach the point where I can not only nourish myself, but extend that gift to everyone around me.
Do you think have discovered your word for 2010? What is it?
Beautiful post, Juliana. I'm getting to the same place (partly by necessity – I have two little ones to nourish!). I think it has to do with getting older…or, to put it a better way, growing up.
Growing up is great. I've finally made peace with it instead of thinking about it as "becoming stagnant"… and just focusing on the "Growing" part.
I really like this idea of having one word for the year, though. I think my word would have to be acceptance, for a variety of reasons.
Acceptance is a great guiding word. Congratulations on all the great music stuff you've got happening lately, too!
Picking a word for the year is certainly an interesting exercise. I'm really struggling to find a single word, largely because me and Amy and a number of friends have declared this "year of the Rock Star," a year when we all have agreed to do whatever it takes to achieve great things.
For me, that's the 545 mile bike ride in June, the AIDS/Lifecycle. For Amy, that's writing a book. For others, it's their first web shows. But, of course "Rock Star" is two years.
After a decade of "I Want It All" being my anthem, I find myself needing a new one.
f you really felt like you had to break it down into a word for the year, maybe think about what "Rock Star" means to you? Achievement? Shine? Push?
Personally, I think "Rock Star" can definitely count as your word, even if it spans two years!
Great comment, as usual. Thanks for your thoughts.
Nourish has such a lush sound too it. It's great. The word that popped into my head immediately for this year for myself is create. Create because I'm busy in the planning stages of an album. Create because I'm writing 32 songs over 32 days around February (and encouraging 32 other songwriters to write a song each. Create because I'm busy hand-drawing covers for albums. Create because I'm actively in the process of creating so many of things I've been working towards for years. That said, they'll need to be some nourishing as well. No creation without the proper nourishment.
Timmy, the 32 days project sounds incredible! Congratulations for taking on such a cool challenge. It seems like you're off to a really productive and wonderful start to your "Create" year! | lists of New Year's Resolutions, chose a single word to hold with them through the year. One word to remind them of their intentions, to create new possibilities, and remind them of who they want to become. I absolutely love this idea, and so I've chosen a word for myself for 2010.
Have you ever taken one of those questionnaires online that asks you things like, "If you were stranded on a desert island, which three | 94 |
The medieval and early modern epigraphic sources in the district of Krems (Lower Austria) offer an interesting glimpse into the development of a very important arena of Austrian as well as European history, namely the Wachau, the stretch of the Danube between Melk and Krems, which has been designated an UNESCO World Heritage site, the Wachau Cultural Landscape. The inscriptions reflect the self-representation of the local nobility, the savoir-vivre of the wealthy citizens of urban centres and marketplaces, as well as the influence of foreign landowners such as the Bavarian monasteries or the archbishopric of St. Peter in Salzburg that held vast shares of the region's vineyards from the early Middle Ages through the 19th century. These 5<|fim_middle|> but also to general social and cultural history as well as the history of confessions and mentalities. | 28 inscriptions from before 1650 have been collected and edited for this annotated publication according to the guidelines of the Deutschen Inschriften project. The publication presents new details that contribute not only to the region's history, | 49 |
NYC Student Ambar Jimenez Grows Opportunities through Chemistry Research | SUNY Plattsburgh
As a high school student in New York City, Ambar Jimenez '16 didn't anticipate she would go on to work alongside her future college professors in a research team or have the opportunity to present original research at a national conference.
Jimenez, a biology major, is presenting research she has been working on with faculty members for the past year and a half at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in Tampa, Fla. in November. She was awarded full funding to cover her travel expenses to the conference.
A first-generation college student, Jimenez was accepted to SUNY Plattsburgh through the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) two days after she graduated from high school.
Jimenez was raised by her grandmother, Estebania Moreno, after Jimenez emigrated to the United States from the Dominican<|fim_middle|> lead her far in her future career."
Jimenez is finishing her honors thesis on the research she presented at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. It's also being refined into a research paper of which Jimenez is the first co-author along with co-authors Sunasee and Dr. Karina Ckless, associate professor of biochemistry, along with other collaborators from Canada.
Sunasee has instilled in Jimenez the importance of originality in one's work, she said.
"What I have learned from him is how to be unique, how to not imitate other people."
'Research to Improve Lives'
Sunasee wants his students to be known for the way they think and work not as a reflection of others, but a reflection of themselves, Jimenez said.
Among Jimenez's accomplishments during her undergraduate career is her work as part of Brown University's Leadership Alliance Summer Research-Early Identification Program in the summer of 2016. The nine-week program is designed to help high achieving underrepresented undergraduate students develop experience with graduate-level research.
At Brown, Jimenez studied the toxicity of manganese to humans and wildlife who come into contact with water, seafood or air contaminated by the element. She worked with Dr. Agnes Kane, professor of medical science and chair of the pathology and laboratory medicine department.
"I like to do research that will have a direction to improve the living conditions of humans," she said.
After graduation, Jimenez plans to enroll in graduate school and continue her research. She's excited to see what discoveries biomedical researchers will make in the future as the field continues to evolve.
"I can't wait for the next 15 years to see where it goes." | Republic when she was 12 years old.
"For me, my degree is a way to thank her for raising me," Jimenez said. "She wanted me to have a good education and reach the levels I wanted to reach."
A conscientious student, Jimenez has studied hard in her classes, seeking to develop her natural academic curiosity.
"EOP has been very supportive to me in the most hard moments academically and personally," Jimenez said. "When you take a rocky path, it takes a while to learn how to abate the hard moments and how to get up when you fail."
'Strong Motivation and Curiosity'
A year and a half ago, Dr. Rajesh Sunasee, assistant professor of chemistry, recognized Jimenez's academic interest and talent and invited her to join a faculty research team. The group is looking at the design of sugar molecule-based nanomaterials for potential biomedical applications like cancer drug deliverance, for example.
"The purpose of doing this research is to be able to introduce new methods to help people with certain diseases without causing other medical issues," Jimenez said.
Sunasee said he knows Jimenez's will be successful beyond her time at Plattsburgh.
"She has a great work ethic, always dedicating time for her research," Sunasee said.
"Her biggest strength is her continuous strong motivation and curiosity in the scientific field, in particular, chemistry, that will definitely | 291 |
There is<|fim_middle|>t is truly an extraordinary wedding venue with exceptional taste.
Schoone Oordt is passionate about food, about wine, about people and about the environment.
For more information about getting married at Schoone Oordt visit Schoone Oordt Country House for more details or to send an enquiry. | something quite magical about Schoone Oordt Country House. She has been passionately, painstakingly and lovingly restored over many years by Richard and Alison Walker. As a result, she has been instilled with charm and grace and she adores welcoming guests.
Her extensive grounds house eight magnificently crafted sumptuous suites, a quaint, private family cottage and a romantic and secluded honeymoon hideaway set in lush, abundant gardens and sheltered by aged oak trees. Each luxurious room has conceded to every modern convenience whilst unique, restored (mostly by Richard) antiques retain the Victorian feel of the Manor House and a bygone era.
The Manor House, originally built in 1853, boasts the most exquisite light and airy conservatory, which Richard designed and built in true English style, a cosy fire-lit bar and lounge, an intimate dining room and a true country kitchen. The warmth of the original wooden floors, ceilings and doors coupled with many quirky antique pieces creates a wonderful welcoming ambience and guests are encouraged to 'kuier' here.
The grounds themselves have been especially designed to host small intimate weddings for 20 to 60 guests. Choose from the intimate and private venue with views of the mountains, the light and airy conservatory with views of the gardens or the cosy, formal dining room in the grand old house. Schoone Oord | 277 |
Researchers Find The Root Cause of Corrosion in Pipelines
By: Louie Gerhard | June 27th, 2019
Nanoscale corrosion is responsible<|fim_middle|>Take a Break! It Can Lower Risk of Early Death
How To: Transform a Tin Can Into an Inexpensive Cheese Grater
Emotion Aviation Touting New 287 mph Jet Engine Powered Helium Airship | for unpredictably decreasing the working life of steel pipes. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories, the Department of Energy's Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies and the Aramco Research Center in Boston published this finding in an open-access paper Nature's Materials Degradation journal.
Using transmission electron microscopes and examining the materials on a nanoscale, the root problem became apparent on a triple junction formed by a grain of cementite – a compound of carbon and iron and two grains of ferrite, a type of iron. This atomic junction forms frequently in the manufacturing process of a steel pipe.
Studies showed that this interfacial junction flaw during the manufacturing process, makes it easier for the corrosive solution to remove iron atoms along that interface junction, leading to nano corrosion.
An experiment showed that once the junction point of these atoms is consumed by corrosion, the corrosive process stopped. However, the crevice left behind allowed the corrosive solution to attack the interior of the steel.
To mimic the chemical exposure of pipe in the field, very thin pipe samples were exposed at Sandia to a variety of chemicals known to pass through oil pipelines. These samples were "mapped" by delicate microscopes before and after the experiments.
A Sandia National Laboratories transmission electron microscope helped create this phase equilibrium map showing areas where corrosion of steel was observed at the triple junction formed where one cementite grain abuts two ferrite grains. (Micrograph courtesy of Katherine Jungjohann)
"This was the world's first real-time observation of nanoscale corrosion in a real-world material— steel—which is the most prevalent type of steel used in infrastructure worldwide. Through it, we identified the types of interfaces and mechanisms that play a role in the initiation and progression of localized steel corrosion. The work is already being translated into models used to prevent corrosion-related catastrophes like infrastructure collapse and pipeline breaks." Senior research scientist Steven Hayden said
The effects of localized corrosion (junction corrosion) are different from uniform corrosion which is only observable at its endpoint.
Katherine Jungjohann, co-author and lead microscopist expanded on the research by adding, "We thought of a possible solution for forming new pipe, based on changing the microstructure of the steel surface during forging, but it still needs to be tested and have a patent filed if it works. But now we think we know where the major problem is."
Louie Gerhard
Specialized in the Mechanical, Engineering and IT Technical environment with over 33 years experience.
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| 538 |
Home › Media & Gallery › ANCAP Media Releases › Airbags proven once again to save lives
Airbags proven once again to save lives
The effectiveness of airbags in protecting vehicle occupants from death and serious<|fim_middle|> by the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) to mandate Head Protecting Technology (HPT) as part of its forward-looking Rating Road Map, research by MUARC has found combination airbags* reduced the risk of death and injury by 61% in struck side crashes.
The report concluded that "combination airbags designed to protect the head, neck, face and thorax are highly effective in reducing injury due to side struck crashes."
Combination airbags were associated with statistically significant reductions in the odds of death and injury of:
51% to all body regions;
61% to the head, neck, face and thorax; and
53% to the head, neck and face.
"As part of ANCAP safety rating assessments, side impact tests and pole tests are conducted to assess the effectiveness of Head Protecting Technology. It is a mandatory requirement that a vehicle be fitted with HPT to driver and front passenger seats in order to achieve the maximum 5 star ANCAP safety rating. From 2014 this will also apply to second row seats," said ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Mr Nicholas Clarke.
For a full list of ANCAP safety ratings and model specifications, and vehicle safety information visit ancap.com.au.
* Combination airbags are designed to protect the head and torso.
Nicholas Clarke Chief Executive Officer +61 2 6232 0232 | injury has again been validated following an evaluation conducted by the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC).
Supporting the position taken | 26 |
Hire ALO for a Corporate Event or Performance Booking.
ALO is more than a band. Its a musical relationship that has endured for over two decades, with band members playing in numerous projects together and apart. Following the release of their freewheeling Sounds Like This, the band took time off to work on various side projects. Zach Gill (keys/vocals) toured the world with the bands college pal Jack Johnson; Dan Lebo Lebowitz (guitar/vocals) played shows with the Grateful Deads Phil Lesh; Steve Adams (bass/vocals) toured and recorded with Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers; Dave Brogan (drums/vocals) joined up with Utah band, Mokie. These and other endeavors have influenced the bands new album Tangle Of Time. Long acclaimed for their deft musicianship, potent songwriting, and astonishing on-stage interaction, the members of ALO have played together for more than two decades, with the current permutation now in its 10th year and counting. Invigorated by an unstructured approach to the studio process, ALO have accessed new avenues of resourcefulness, resulting in a truly distinctive collection of songs that adroitly captures all the glorious ingenuity and adventure of the bands legendary live sets. The band skillfully weaves quirky California soul with shape-shifting explorations, introspective lyrics with sun-soaked funk, all infused with the uplifting vibe that ALOs ever growing legion of fans live for. ALOs sound is always changing. One thing that never changes, however, is the fact that this is a band composed of four top-notch musicians at the top of their game. .
Learn how to hire ALO or research availability and pricing for booking ALO to perform at a corporate event, fundraiser, private party, social media campaign, fair or festival, tradeshow or conference, endorsement project, or hire ALO as a guest speaker, please submit the form to our agency.
Frequently Asked Questions about booking ALO .
Is ALO available to work my event?
ALO 's current work schedule and location in relation to your event's type, date, budget, and locality will play a primary factor in the acceptance of booking ALO for your party. As long as your funding is commensurate to the price range to book ALO , CTI will propose your event to the official agency representing ALO . After we consult with them, we can circle back with you to provide a personal and accurate quote that includes: final costs, availability, and actual interest in being hired for your specific event or party.
How much is ALO charging for events?
CTI can give you the ALO booking price once we submit your event details to their camp. "How much does it cost to book ALO for an event?" is a frequent question we get, but the final ALO booking price is contingent on many variables and the booking fee we show is based on a range derived from our past experience with what will ALO charge for<|fim_middle|> to hire at corporate events, conventions, trade shows, business retreats or for television and radio commercials, voice overs, and charity events. Be advised that the ALO booking price may drastically change based where spokesperson campaigns, speeches, fairs and festivals; and even a shoutout, birthday party, or private concert is located when factoring domestic or international travel. CTI agency will help book ALO if the buyer has the budget and if they are interested in the event. CTI can also assist on the production requirements for ALO , when needed. | an event. Also, thier speaking fee might be different than the fee shown for the cost to perform or to just appear. Popularity, career stage, along with current demand will cause fluctuations in their speaking price too. The final booking price may be more than what is shown, but you should at least have a budget within that range for them to consider an appearance, performance or speaking engagement.
How do I contact the ALO agent or manager?
CTI negotiates on behalf of professional event planners and talent buyers for paid appearances! We cannot give out direct contact information of the ALO agent or help distribute fan mail, personal messages, gifts, requests for free appearances, or donations of time. The ALO manager and agent will only work with us if we present them with funded offers for their client to work your event.
Can I book ALO for an event at a price less than shown?
There is low probability to book ALO for a party with anything substantially less than the published booking cost price range. We will negotiate with the ALO agent on your behalf, but if your funding is not in place then it will more difficult to book ALO , because they get many offers to work events that are at or above asking price. It is also important to consider the travel costs when researching the ALO booking fee, as additional expenses like this, as well as an entourage of staff and equipment, are not necessarily built-in to the booking fee range shown. If your budget does not factor that in, then there is no benefit for them to want to be hired. We do not personally speak for ALO , but in our experience in booking talent for over 25 years, this is generally the outcome of inadequate funding.
CALL US TODAY (760) 729-2000 and speak with a CTI ALO booking agent to get direct availability and pricing for having this talent to work your event.
With almost 30 years of industry experience working with professional event planners and talent buyers like you, we can successfully work to hire ALO for a corporate event, personal appearance, corporate entertainment, speaking engagement, endorsement, private party, or wedding. For complete information on booking ALO for projects like branding and promotional marketing, product or service launches, print advertising campaigns, media events, fundraisers, social marketing campaigns, and a guest appearance on TV/Movie specials including, documentaries, infomercials or voice over in video games, please call us at (760) 729-2000.
CTI will contact the ALO agent, manager or representative on your behalf to inquire about the current ALO booking fee and availability, while negotiating the lowest cost on your behalf. Choose CTI as your booking agency for ALO | 566 |
Which hair parting is right for me?
Pastel Perfection: Get the fresh, soft and modern look!
Hair content by people who love it.
It's winter time, and it's cold and windy outside! But it's also warm and toasty inside, thanks to the fireplace (or, central heating, in my home). But with this constant, and abrupt, change in temperature, one's tresses can become frazzled and unhappy. To stop the erratic weather giving your locks a present they don't want, invest in any or all of the Top 3 Oils. They'll be a gift you can use all year round for soft, silky, and strong hair.
Is my personal number one for being so multidimensional. Its composition is supreme and its effects to the hair are simply perfect. If you want super soft strands, then nourish them with coconut oil.
The composition of the oil can even penetrate the hair's cell membrane so deeply that it can repair damaged hair and even promote new hair growth. It is also fabulous internally, as when the lauric acid within it is converted by the body it becomes monolaurin, which can help fight off viruses and bacteria-fuelled infections.
It is full to the brim with antioxidants too, which prevents free-radicals from damaging DNA and thus stops premature aging of the cells. It also maintains functions of the body's organs, doesn't increase LDL cholesterol (unlike other vegetable sat fats) and can even speed up the metabolism, as it causes no stress to the pancreas.
Coconut oil basically keeps your body in tip-top condition, from your head to your toes, inside and out, and it's so easy and cheap to find! I guarantee you'll find a tub in your local health store, local supermarket, and if in doubt, hit the World Wide Web.
This oil is sourced from the Argan tree, which is native to Morrocco, and is renowned for its healing properties. It is rich in omega 3 and 9, which actively penetrates the hair shaft and can directly infuse the cuticle with nutrients which helps repair damaged follicles and stimulate hair growth. With this chain of fatty acids comes the sovereign antioxidant for healthy hair, Vitamin E. Due to its high concentration of vitamin E in Argan oil, it increases the cells membrane to absorb oxygen. This vital nutrient therefore allows better circulation in the scalp, and in turn the hair follicles will be penetrated with even more nourishment.
Argan oil acts like a coat for hair, by sealing in moisture and it also works as a shield against harmful UV rays and pollution. This lightweight and non-greasy oil is easily manoeuvred through the hair and should be massaged into the scalp for the best results.
Many products on the high street now contain Argan Oil, and they are bible for healthy hair. However, due to the tree it is derived from being endangered, the products are quite pricy. So be prepared to invest a little more in this than in alternative oils.
Extracted from hemp seeds, the oil is packed with essential fatty acids (omega 3, 6 and 9), vitamins (especially Vitamin E) and protein. This makes it a top contender not just for healthy hair, but a healthy scalp too. The oil itself works as an emollient, which helps condition the hair and scalp. Most importantly, the oil therefore helps prevent moisture loss, enabling your scalp to remain soft and hydrated. This is known as the best oil for winter conditions, as it can accommodate to dramatic temperature fluctuations.
Because of its nutritious content, hemp directly affects the root, meaning it works deeply into the hair. It combats dryness, strengthens strands, maintains hydration and can even stimulate growth.
Hemp certainly offers a multitude of benefits to the hair, and thankfully, it's easy to find. This popular essential oil can be found in local health stores, supermarkets and also online, such as on Amazon.
Other notable oils for hair are grapeseed, avocado, rosemary, jojoba and avocado. You are spoilt for choice when it comes to finding an oil to keep your tresses tamed all year round. So, enjoy healthy, smooth hair whatever the weather.
P.S. I use OGX's Argan oil mist spray and my hair remains super soft, despite the cold conditions. So, it is definitely worth the purse invasion!
Is Moroccanoil as good as everyone says?
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At some Websites and through certain promotions, you can submit information about other people such as a person's name and mailing address to send a gift. This information is used to facilitate the communication or provide the service and may otherwise be used as set forth herein. If that person becomes a subscriber to one of more of our Publications, or becomes an attendee or sponsor or speaker at one of more of our events, his/her information will be treated in the same manner as all others in that category. Please be aware that when you use any send-to-a-friend functionality on our Websites, your email address may be included in the communication sent to your friend.
(a) Provide, Manage and Improve our Website. Hype Content uses information we collect from you in part to provide you with the goods and service you have requested (e.g., to sign up for an account, request promotional materials directly from a third party partner), to respond to your inquiries, to administer the Website and for other lawful business purposes.
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(d) Reader Surveys. We may collect information from you in connection with voluntary surveys about your usage of the Website, your household/personal characteristics and your purchase behaviour. The information you provide in any audience marketing surveys will only be shared in the aggregate with advertisers<|fim_middle|> otherwise have your consent.
Delivery of Advertising and Other Content. In addition to ads and content that we serve you directly, Hype Content may use third party advertising companies and marketing services to serve ads and other content when you visit the Website and elsewhere on the internet and in other media. We also use analytics services supported by third party companies to perform analytics and track trends. We work with other third parties to provide certain functionalities on the Website and to improve the effectiveness of the Website and its content. Those third party companies may use Tracking Technologies to collect and store Usage Information about you and may combine this information with information they collect from other sources. If you access the Websites through a mobile device or app, we may also share your information with mobile carriers, operating systems and platforms.
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Please note that the-opt out is cookie-based and will only affect the specific computer and browser on which the opt-out is applied.
We implement appropriate administrative, technical and security safeguards to help prevent unauthorised access, use, or disclosure of the information we collect. However, no systems can be completely secure. Therefore, while Hype Content uses reasonable efforts to protect your information, Hype Content cannot guarantee its absolute security, and your use of the Website indicates your agreement to assume this risk.
The Website is for a general audience and are not designed or intended for use by children, especially those under age thirteen (13) or sixteen (16) in the EU. | and partners unless we notify you otherwise at the time of collection. Any other survey results may be shared with advertiser and partners, at our discretion, unless we notify you otherwise at the time of collection.
(e) Editorial Use. In addition, we may use information you provide us through emails, blogs, forums, in response to polls, or through any other user generated submission for editorial purposes, and may use your name and any stories you provide us in articles published on the Website. If you provide us with personal anecdotes, they may be attributed to you. Hype Content can edit, rewrite, use, and reuse the content, including your name, likeness, photograph, and biographical information you provide, with or without attribution, including publication on the Website, and in trade media, and advertising. You hereby consent to this.
(f) Marketing. Subject to applicable law, we may combine and use any and all information we collect on you either online or otherwise, including from third parties, for marketing purposes, including sending you promotional emails regarding special offers about our products and services or on behalf of third party marketing partners who we think can offer services and products of interest to you. Unless we expressly notify you otherwise at the time of collection, we also may disclose information that we receive from you and from third party sources to third parties whose practices are not covered by this privacy statement (e.g. other marketers, magazine publishers, retailers, participatory databases and non-profit organisations) that want to market products or services to you. This includes licensing information about your interests and activities, and marketing segments created with such data, which we may share with third parties for their marketing purposes.
(h) Promotions. By agreeing to participate in a Promotion, you are agreeing to the official rules that govern that Promotion.
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(j) Third Party Contests and Promotions. In some cases you may have entered a contest or sweepstakes sponsored by a third party, in which case the information you provide via the contest or sweepstakes may be shared by us with that third party for their use in their discretion, including direct marketing. Some of our contests and sweepstakes will ask you at the time of entry whether you would like to have your personal information shared with the sponsor, in which case we will honour your selection. Other contests will not give you that option and in that event, if you do not want your information to be shared, you should not enter the contest. The privacy policies of such third party companies apply to their use and disclosure of your information that we collect and disclose to such third party companies.
(l) Affiliates. We may transfer your information to other Hype Content offices and affiliates for internal management and administrative purposes on our behalf.
(p) Co-Branded Areas. Our Website may from time to time partner with a retailer or other third party to offer online shopping opportunities, games, services, subscriptions, registration opportunities for our events and summits and other applications on a co-branded or cross-promotional basis ("Co-Branded Areas"). Those transactions on the Co-Branded Areas may take place on the Website, or the site of the third party. In either case, the information you provide in connection with the transaction may be collected directly by, or shared by Hype Content with, the third party, as well as with any participating sponsors or advertisers of such Co-Branded Areas.
If you are a visitor from the European Economic Area, our legal basis for collecting and using the information described above will depend on the information concerned and the context in which we collect it.
(c) if we | 788 |
There literally is no time of the day that is not suitable for an ice cream.<|fim_middle|> and customer service.
Hazel promises you a delightful ice-cream time anytime! | Haven't we heard of the rhyme "I scream, you scream, we all scream for Ice cream"? Understanding your unique ice cream cravings, Hazel, the ecstatic ice cream corner offers much more than just ice cream!
We at Hazel do not think twice to introduce a new flavour or a signature classic.
Back in 2011, when two thick friends Vinay and Sunil, launched Hazel – the ice cream store that also serves thick shakes and much more, they potentially were fearless, keeping aside the risk factor. The quiet sit down café in Gachibowli once, has now expanded into bigger outlets in the busy areas of Banjara Hills, Jubille Hills, Madinaguda Manjeera Mall. The importance given to quality and service, Hazel has taken thousands of customers by awe and turned them to their regular customers.
Hazel only makes (yes we make them!) pure vegetarian ice cream with fresh milk, butter and real time flavours with absolutely no synthetic ingredients.
Hazel now taken over by Ganaay Foods Pvt Lt and the team of Ganaay has a vast and diversified experience in Food and Technology Industry. The team also has certified experience in Ice Cream industry from Penn State University (USA) and worldwide exposure with clear vision of serving Hazel ice cream to the world with no compromise being made on quality | 269 |
Avante POP Displays has been a leader of POP Kiosk<|fim_middle|> our brochure today for information about our kiosk manufacturing. | manufacturing since 1989. Our customers are always assured of quality work at prices they can afford. We will work with your ideas and budget to create an engaging and persuasive environment that is conducive to sales.
All Avante POP kiosk manufacturing consists of in-house production. This means that you have more time to focus on your needs instead of taking production from company to company.
Production is often overlooked in this industry. Anyone with experience will tell you that the durability and value of display is not solely in the design. Production quality means the world when you're dressing your signage for lasting results.
Imagine choosing an outfit for your top salesperson to wear to every meeting over the next two to five years. Imagine the importance of this selection in terms of overall performance. Everything from polish to wear and tear must be considered… and our signage is built with both polish and lasting performance in mind.
We approach each client with our full-service belief that we have the winning ideas to design and build a powerful kiosk for any product. Not only are the results stunning from a design standpoint… they're also highly successful with their ability to perform, educate, and persuade.
At Avante Kiosks, we think of everything: aesthetic appeal, durability and ease-of-use. Our kiosks are simple to install and able to withstand prolonged use.
The environment matters to us for a number of reasons, and for this reason we do everything we can to create our displays with the environment in mind. Our production team stays up to date with the eco trends in order to remain an efficient, responsible, cost effective manufacturer.
Table top retail kiosk, podium retail kiosk, sink retail kiosk or tower retail kiosk. Choose from the vast variety of styles we have to offer. Know that you can always count on us for on-time, within-budget solutions.
Call 250-497-5110 or 1-877-407-8655, request a custom quote or download | 409 |
What should I do if I am charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child (EWOC)?
Penal Law § 260.10 Endangering the welfare of a child.
I've represented clients on EWOC charges throughout Monroe, Livingston, Wayne, and Genesee Counties. It's a tricky statute because it's very subjective. in other words, it covers a wide range of conduct, and sometimes not everybody agrees on what constitutes illegal conduct.
whether<|fim_middle|>5 for a free telephone consultation and case evaluation.
Attorney Advertising. Updated March 13, 2019. | the allegations are true or not - they are simply not criminal.
For example, I've seen people charged with EWOC because police found drugs in the home where the children were staying. If the police search of the home was unlawful, none of the evidence relating to the drugs is admissible, and the EWOC charge must be dismissed.
I've also seen EWOC cases where parents fell asleep during the afternoon, and their toddlers wandered outside only to be found by a neighbor. Is that reckless on the part of the parent? Maybe. But is it criminal? I know that my son made it two feet out the side door one January back when he was only three years old. His mother and I were both awake, but he moved pretty quickly. Should we have been charged with a crime if a neighbor saw him before we did?
If you are charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child, please contact us at (585) 485-002 | 199 |
This was such a fun cake smash, Ms. E was so expressive, and gave smashing her all .
Who's ready for a cake smash?
Mr B. was ready for his one year Disney inspired cake smash. In my preview on<|fim_middle|> of the main characters !
So as a feminist, raising a Princess loving 3 year old, we'll have fun with the clothes and beautiful tiaras, and discuss the messages of such fairy tales. | Facebook, I put this image out as the teaser asking what kind of smasher he would be?
You really never know what to expect when a 1-year-old sits down, alone with a cake for the very first time in his life.
And proceeded to smash delicately.
We wrapped up Baby B's smash with a little tub action.
Little Miss turned 4 this month, and as is the tradition, we took her 4th year portrait.
Ms. Danica is all girl. Pink, and purple, dolls and princesses, lipstick and hair, she loves it all. So naturally, I tried to capture her slant on life appropriately. If you know her, let me know which image screams Danica, and if you don't, which image do you like best.
And a quick flashback to This is 2.
As cliché as it sounds, as a photographer you spend your days chasing after the perfect image. Soliciting a smile, sometimes even demanding one of your own child. Sometimes they give one, sometimes they don't. Sometimes you plead, bargain or cajole.
And sometimes you see a moment, come in quietly, start snapping, and capture something unique, real, and lovely.
It's an edit unlike most that I do, but I love it. And these two, well, I love them dearly. Smiling or not, they are perfect.
So the question is…. edit #1, or edit #2?
This is us. This perfectly represents my relationship with my daughter. When she was a baby, she would refuse to go to others. I would have to baby wear her in between breast feeding her, letting her sleep on me, and in between holding her. We have been attached for a long time now. When she was a baby, it was sometimes stifling. Too much, overwhelming, never getting a break or time alone. It still can be. BUT, I have come to realize it's also a kind of love I'll never have again. A pure, honest beautiful love that is special and unique. Never will I be this loved again. So these days, as she approaches 4, and school and activities and friends loom like a crowbar that will pry her a bit away from me physically, I can only hope that this closeness will always be there in some way. I hope that I haven't wished away too many days in the pursuit of a bit of freedom. I hope that I can keep working on myself and be as good of a person as she thinks I am when she looks at me this way. With pure, beautiful love. And so, this is us.
I started the Princess Series with my daughter, Danica when she was 3 years old. We had a lot of fun finding the outfits, styling the hair, and she enjoyed playing each princess. We completed this 15 part series the first day we had snow so we could finish up with Queen Elsa . I have enjoyed this process and the creativity that came with styling 15 different shoots. The feedback I got on this series was amazing. Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment, to share your thoughts, support and encouragement. It is appreciated more than you can imagine.
So here I present, the completed 15 part Princess Series.
Thanks so much for following along. Please feel free to share these images.
As one of the most patriarchal Prince saves Princess stories, Sleeping Beauty doesn't have much to offer in terms of female empowerment. I used to be fully against, and horrified at the messages of stories such as this. This project has taught me a few things. Take what applies to you, discard what doesn't, and discuss what conflicts with your world view.
And did anyone else think that the three good fairies were really in control of almost everything? Disney missed a fabulous opportunity to play up the fact that Flora, Fauna and Merryweather controlled a HUGE amount of the decisions and actions in the movie, and drove the plot in many ways ! Three strong women, snuck in, and took over in the shadow | 835 |
This app is available in the windows app store. Coming to iphone and<|fim_middle|> the Enable checkbox for Accelerometer – Snail Mail Monitor.
The Period (s): field shows how often, in seconds, the sensor sends data about its position to the app. If you want to check your letterbox more or less frequently, type the new number of seconds into this field. If you uncheck the Notification checkbox, the sensor will stop sending data to the app.
To disable Stove Mode, uncheck the Enable checkbox for Infra Red Temperature – Stove Monitor.
The Period (s): field shows how often, in seconds, the sensor sends data about temperature to the app. If you want to check your stove more or less frequently, type the new number of seconds into this field. If you uncheck the Notification checkbox, the sensor will stop sending data to the app.
Tap on the Update button to update any changed settings.
The rest of the screen displays diagnostic information about your sensor. You cannot change these fields.
Check that the firmware version is 1.7. If not, you will need to update your firmware.
To change the firmware, tap on the Firmware button.
Use the firmware screen to update the firmware file for your sensor device.
The Image File Loader field shows whether an A type or B type of image file is required.
Tap on one of the available files listed, or tap on the Pick File button to upload a file from OneDrive or from your phone. Select a .bin file of the required type. The selected file is displayed in the File field.
Tap on the Update Firmware button to update the firmware file. The Block Index field will display the update progress. This can take a couple of minutes.
Here you can set the beacons advertisement and scan response. You really need to know technically what they do to use them properly.
You can also set the device's local name, device id and keypass code. | android soon.
You can use the SensorTagIot app to warn you if you leave your house with the stove turned on, or to check your letterbox for mail. You will also need a Texas Instruments CC2541 SensorTag Development Kit.
If you want to monitor your stove, place your sensor device in a glass jar on your stove, with the heat sensor pointing towards the heat source.
If you want to monitor your letterbox, place your sensor device upright in your letterbox, in a position that will cause it to be knocked over by delivered mail.
On the opening screen you will see a list of available sensors. If you have only one sensor it is automatically selected. Tap on the sensor you want to use. If your sensor does not appear in the list, you need to turn it on using the button on the side of the sensor.
Tap on Stove Mode to receive a warning if you leave the house without turning off the stove.
Tap on Snail Mail Mode to receive an alert when mail is detected in your letterbox.
Tap on Refresh List to refresh the list of available sensors.
Tap on Manual Connect to connect manually to the selected sensor for diagnostic purposes.
You will next see the details screen.
If you chose Stove Mode or Snail Mail Mode, after a few seconds the SnailMail field or Stove ok field will turn green to verify that the app is receiving sensor data. You can simply exit the app or you can change the settings first.
To disable Snail Mail Mode, uncheck | 311 |
Now you've completed the quiz in the previous Step, take a look at the table below which summarises what is happening to the air from the four major air masses as they approach the UK.
You can view a PDF version of the recognising air masses table above.
The satellite image in Figure 1, shows Tropical Continental air over much of continental Europe and the UK. Although there is a front coming in from the west, before it arrives much of the UK is cloud free and sunny. However, it's worth noting those small, puffy blobs of cloud over the centre of Spain and France. In small areas, the sun has warmed the ground enough to make the air there rise and form localised summer thunderstorms.
In Figure 2 you can<|fim_middle|> still form – this time in large horizontal sheets of stratus cloud. Again, the water source is the ocean, so the cloud mainly forms there. This cloud won't produce rainfall as heavy as that associated with polar air, but might give a steady drizzle. For a useful guide to identifying clouds, you can refer to page 5 of our course supplement.
The characteristics of the air mass may change between summer and winter. For example, in the summer, even easterly winds from central Europe or the Ukraine could be counted as tropical continental, as the continent becomes so hot at this time of year. Also in the summer, the low cloud formed by Tropical Maritime air can be evaporated by the Sun during the day, clearing the sky but leaving the air warm and humid. With a polar maritime air mass, in summer, the difference between west and east is not as important – as the ground warms, local convection can trigger showers anywhere. We rarely experience Arctic air in the summer.
Take a look at the beautiful image of current surface air flow on earth.nullschool.net. Using this image for guidance, can you see where you are based on the map? What direction is the air currently coming from in your area? What might that mean for the weather?
Share your thoughts in the discussion below. Remember you can 'Like' and respond to comments made by other learners, and don't forget you to include #FLRainorshine in any discussions you may have about the course on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. | see a typical satellite image showing Polar Continental air. Air blowing off Scandinavia is initially very cold and dry, giving a clear band of sky in the east North Sea and Baltic. However, as it travels over the water it picks up moisture and eventually cloud forms – over the western North Sea and the first bit of the UK it reaches – the east coast.
Figure 3, shows a very characteristic winter satellite image, as Polar Maritime air dominates UK weather. In the winter, the ocean is warmer than the land as well as being the moisture source – most of the convection (warm air rising) and rainfall occurs there. You can see the small blobs of convective cloud – puffy, cumulus clouds. The first bit of land the air reaches will be the west coast of Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England. As the air rises over the land, it cools further and more cloud, and rain, form.
In Tropical Maritime air (Figure 4), the air is cooling as it travels North, so the cumulus clouds associated with convection don't form. However, the air is cooling without rising, so cloud can | 230 |
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 4.
2. Place the halved peppers, skin side up, in a roasting tin. Pour over the lime juice and drizzle over the olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, sugar and cayenne pepper.
3. Roast the peppers for 30-35 minutes, until they have<|fim_middle|>pan with the olive oil, salt, chopped garlic and grated ginger.
6. Pour the boiling mixture over the couscous and leave for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
7. Stir in the lime zest and juice and add the dried apricots and two-thirds of the mint. Stir well to combine and season to taste with cayenne pepper and more salt if needed.
8. Lay the pepper halves on a chopping board and stuff with the couscous. Roll them up as tightly as possible and set aside.
9. To make the dressing mix the cooking juices from the peppers with the olive oil, grated ginger and cooked peas. Stir in the lime zest and juice and add the remaining mint. Serve at room temperature with steamed pak choi as an accompaniment. | softened. Transfer the peppers and any cooking juices to a bowl and cover with cling film.
4. After about 10 minutes, remove the cling film and as soon as the peppers are cool enough to handle, peel them and set aside, reserving the cooking juices for adding to the dressing.
5. For the couscous, bring the water to a boil in a large sauce | 80 |
St. Luke's relies on public support through corporations, foundations, and individuals like you. Your contribution provides for the continued educational programming and preservation initiatives of this national historic landmark and national patriotic shrine.
Our Annual Fund totally relies on your generous gifts of support. Click here to review the package of programs detailing our various programs, their impact and budgets. We prefer the Sustained Giving option of support since it helps us with "leveling-out" cash flow and makes our budget easier to manage and predict. Any and all of your gifts are greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Click the "Sustained Gift" button below to set<|fim_middle|> consider including us in your estate gift plans. Help assure the perpetual care and operation of this national treasure. For more information, contact Executive Director Todd Ballance at tballance@historicstlukes.org.
If you would like to gift shares of stock, please click button below for instructions. | up a recurring gift online in any amount.
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If St. Luke's has a place in your heart, | 41 |
Extreme slow growth as alternative strategy to survive deep starvation in bacteria
Declan A. Gray1,
Gaurav Dugar ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5678-36792,
Pamela Gamba1,
Henrik Strahl1,
Martijs J. Jonker3 &
Leendert W. Hamoen ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9251-14032
Nature Communications volume 10, Article number: 890 (2019) Cite this article
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Antibacterial drug resistance
Cellular microbiology
Bacteria can become dormant or form spores when they are starved for nutrients. Here, we find that non-sporulating Bacillus subtilis cells can survive deep starvation conditions for many months. During this period, cells adopt an almost coccoid shape and become tolerant to antibiotics. Unexpectedly, these cells appear to be metabolically active and show a transcriptome profile very different from that of stationary phase cells. We show that these starved cells are not dormant but are growing and dividing, albeit with a doubling time close to 4 days. Very low nutrient levels, comparable to 10,000-fold diluted lysogeny broth (LB), are sufficient to sustain this growth. This extreme slow growth, which we propose to call 'oligotrophic growth state', provides an alternative strategy for B. subtilis to endure nutrient depletion and environmental stresses. Further work is warranted to test whether this state can be found in other bacterial species to survive deep starvation conditions.
Bacteria encounter multiple environmental stresses during their life, including depletion of nutrients. Some genera, such as Bacillus, Streptomycetes, and Clostridia, have developed specialized cells, spores, to survive extended periods of nutrient depletion. These dormant spores contain a dehydrated cytoplasm encased in a highly protective multilayer spore coat, making them resistant to extreme environmental conditions1. However, the majority of bacterial species do not form spores but are nevertheless able to survive prolonged periods of nutrient starvation. For example, the fish pathogen Flavobacterium columnare remains viable after 14 days of incubation in pure water2. Brucella suis, the causative agent of swine brucellosis, can survive 6 weeks of incubation in a salt solution3, and Escherichia coli can withstand 260 days of incubation in river water4. It should be mentioned that in all these cases it was only a small fraction of the population that survived. Cells that are exposed to deep starvation conditions typically show morphological changes, e.g. coiling in the case of F. columnare cells2, and cell shrinkage in the case of Micrococcus luteus and Staphylococcus aureus5,6.
A recurring question is how dormant these long-term starved cells are. In contrast to bacterial spores, which are fully dormant, it is likely that starved non-sporulating cells have to maintain some basic cellular activities, such as the proton motive force, to remain viable. For example, S. aureus cells starved for 7 days showed some sensitivity toward chloramphenicol indicating ongoing translation6. On the other hand, Mycobacterium tuberculosis starved for 6 weeks tolerated extensive treatment with the RNA polymerase inhibitor rifampicin or the mycobacterial cell wall synthesis inhibitor isoniazid, suggesting a fully dormant state7.
The soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis forms dormant endospores upon prolonged nutrient starvation. Sporulation is a costly differentiation process in terms of time and energy, and cannot be reversed once the asymmetric sporulation septum has been formed8,9. That is why B. subtilis only initiates sporulation in a fraction of cells in a population10. This differentiation bifurcation is known as a bet-hedging strategy, as it enables the population to survive when starvation continues or to quickly respond when there is an influx of fresh nutrients11,12. However, this bifurcation raises the question what happens with the non-sporulating cells when the starvation period continues.
In this study we show that non-sporulating B. subtilis cells can survive for many months in pure water, and that they become tolerant to different stresses. Using cell biological techniques and a novel assay for growth, we were able to demonstrate that these cells are not dormant but instead are growing slowly. Transcriptome profiles of these cells differed substantially from exponentially growing and stationary phase cells, indicating that these cells undergo an alternative cellular adaptation process. We propose to call this the "oligotrophic growth state". The advantage of this cellular differentiation over sporulation and whether oligotrophic growth is a common mechanism in bacteria to survive prolonged nutrient depletion are further discussed.
Survival of non-sporulating B. subtilis
To facilitate the examination of non-sporulating B. subtilis cells, we made use of a sporulation-deficient mutant. Sporulation begins with phosphorylation of the response regulator Spo0A13. Since this transcription factor regulates many other stationary phase processes, including biofilm formation, genetic competence, and degradative enzyme production14, we left the spo0A gene intact and instead used a strain with an impaired spoIIE gene, which is one of the first essential sporulation genes induced by Spo0A, and is not required for other differentiation processes15. The ∆spoIIE strain was grown in Spizizen minimal medium (SMM) at 37 °C under continuous shaking. Samples were withdrawn at regular time intervals to determine viability by measuring colony-forming units (CFU). Unexpectedly, this non-sporulating strain not only survived several days without fresh nutrients, but even after 100 days the culture still contained some viable cells that formed colonies (Fig. 1a).
Long-term survival of non-sporulating B. subtilis. a Colony-forming units (CFU) of B. subtilis ΔspoIIE (strain DG001) incubated in Spizizen minimal medium (SMM). b CFU of ΔspoIIE cells that were first grown for 2 days in SMM, and subsequently filtered and incubated in either starvation buffer or water (=0 days time point). The CFU numbers of the first time point are therefore comparable to those of time point 2 days in graph (a). Averages and standard deviation from three independent experiments are depicted. The difference between the two graphs becomes significant after day 7 (p < 0.05, unpaired two-tailed t-test). c CFU of spores and cells in a wild-type B. subtilis culture (strain BSB1) incubated in starvation buffer. The percentage of spores is indicated in the bar diagram. Results of two replicate experiments are shown in Supplementary Figure 2A. See Methods for details on growth and starvation conditions
In the stationary growth phase unused amino acids are left in the medium and substantial levels of overflow metabolites accumulate. Moreover, we observed a drop in optical density and in CFUs during the first 2 days of starvation (Fig. 1a), suggesting a release of more nutrients. To be sure that these nutrients could not be used for further growth, cultures were filtered after 2 days of stationary growth and subsequently resuspended in a modified SMM lacking any carbon source, here called starvation buffer. This deep starvation procedure, schematically outlined in Supplementary Figure 1, was used in all further experiments. In this starvation buffer, deprived of any nutrients, non-sporulating B. subtilis cells still survived for more than 100 days (Fig. 1b). The pH remained stable for at least the first 14 days, which is not surprising considering the presence of 100 mM phosphate buffer. However, even when cells were resuspended in pure water they also survived, although with lower CFU counts (Fig. 1b). Clearly, B. subtilis cells can survive prolonged nutrient starvation conditions without having to resort to sporulation.
To confirm that non-sporulating B. subtilis cells are also present in wild-type populations under deep starvation conditions, the number of sporulating and non-sporulating cells was monitored in a wild-type B. subtilis culture. As shown in Fig. 1c, eventually most cells sporulated, however, a substantial fraction of the population (~20–30%) comprised non-sporulating cells, even after more than 100 days of deep starvation. For the first 14 days of starvation, this was confirmed by counting spores and non-sporulating cells by phase contrast microscopy (Supplementary Figure 2B). Comparable results were found when a wild-type culture was resuspended into pure water (Supplementary Figure 2C).
B. subtilis spores can germinate spontaneously even when conditions are unfavorable for growth. It is assumed that by this mechanism spores can scout the environment16. To examine whether there is a germination-sporulation cycle during long starvation conditions, we measured the viable count of a mutant that is unable to germinate17. During the first 11 days of starvation, this strain followed the same reduction in viable counts as the non-sporulating ∆spoIIE strain. After that the viable count reduced approximately one more log-unit and stabilized around 104 CFU ml−1 (Supplementary Figure 3). The extra reduction in viable counts after 11 days suggests that a fraction of the germination mutant formed spores. However, this reduction did not continue, at least for another 40 days (Supplementary Figure 3), indicating that B. subtilis does not use a continuous sporulation-germination cycle to survive long-term starvation. Thus, in contrast to the general assumption, B. subtilis does not necessarily have to sporulate to survive long periods of nutrient starvation. For reasons of practicality, the rest of the starvation experiments were performed with the non-sporulating ∆spoIIE strain, and CFU measurements were limited to 14 days' incubation in starvation buffer.
Morphological changes
Morphological changes caused by long-term nutrient deprivation, primarily a reduction in cell size, have been observed for several bacterial species2,5,6. When a B. subtilis ∆spoIIE culture was filtered and incubated in starvation buffer, we noticed a 40% reduction in cell length over the first 2 days, and cells became almost coccoid (Fig. 2a, b). It should be mentioned that the time axis in Fig. 2b depicts the days of incubation in starvation buffer after filtration. Consequently, at time point day 0 cells have already undergone 2 days of stationary phase in the SMM.
Cell length reduction during deep starvation. a Phase contrast images of B. subtilis ΔspoIIE cells in the beginning (day 0), and after 14 days of incubation in starvation buffer. Scale bar is 2 µm. b Average cell length. Average and standard deviation from three independent experiments are depicted. Approximately 100 cells were measured for every condition
The reduction in cell length in the first 2 days of deep starvation suggested that the starved cells are still able to divide. After the cells became so short that they reached an almost coccoid shape, the cell length remained constant (Fig. 2b). This raised the question how metabolically active these small non-sporulating cells are when they have been incubated for up to 2 weeks in buffer lacking any nutrients. Previous studies used antibiotic sensitivity as an indication of metabolic activity in starved cells6,18. The addition of chloramphenicol to starved non-sporulating B. subtilis cells had no effect on survival (Fig. 3a). Ampicillin efficiently killed exponentially growing cells, but nutrient-starved cells were much more tolerant to this bactericidal antibiotic (Fig. 3b). A starvation period of 7 and 14 days also resulted in an increased tolerance to paraquat, an inducer of oxidative stress19 (Fig. 3c).
Antibiotic sensitivity under starvation conditions. Cultures of ΔspoIIE were set up in accordance with the starvation assay. Samples were taken from cultures at days 0, 7, and 14, and treated with either: a 5 µg ml−1 chloramphenicol, b 100 µg ml−1 ampicillin, c 1 mM paraquat, or d 10 µM valinomycin, for 8 h. As a control, exponential phase cells were treated in the same manner as the starvation samples (gray lines). Graphs show the average and standard deviation of three independent experiments. e Membrane potential levels of cells after 0, 4, 7, 11, and 14 days' deep starvation. Relative membrane potential levels were determined based on the uptake of the membrane potential sensitive fluorescent dye 3,3′-dipropylthiadicarbocyanine iodide. As controls, membrane potential levels of exponentially growing cells (OD600 0.2), and cells treated with the ionophore gramicidin ABC (10 µg ml−1) were determined. Fluorescence intensities of approximately 100 cells were quantified (median in red). Two biological replicates are presented in Supplementary Figure 4
These data suggested that the small coccoid-shaped B. subtilis cells are dormant. To test whether these cells still maintain a membrane potential, cells were treated with the membrane potential-dissipating ionophore valinomycin. This led to a clear decrease in CFUs (Fig. 3d). When we measured the membrane potential in individual cells using the voltage-sensitive dye 3,3′-dipropylthiadicarbocyanine iodide (DiSC3(5))20, deep-starved cells appeared to have a membrane potential levels almost comparable to those found in exponentially growing cells (Fig. 3e).
Protein synthesis capacity
The presence of a membrane potential strongly suggests that the deep-starved cells are still metabolically active. To test whether these cells are capable of expressing proteins, an isopropyl β-d-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG)-inducible green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter fusion was introduced into the cells. Samples of 0-, 7-, and 14-day-starved cultures were taken and incubated with 1 mM IPTG for 4 h after which GFP levels were measured using fluorescence light microscopy. Surprisingly, 14-day-starved cells were expressing GFP, and in fact better than day 0 cells (Fig. 4). Apparently, the protein synthetic machinery is better adapted to starvation conditions after several days than at the onset of starvation.
gfp expression capacity during deep starvation. B. subtilis strain ΔspoIIE containing an inducible green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter (strain DG017, amyE::Phyperspank-sfGFP) was incubated in starvation buffer for 0, 7, and 14 days, followed by incubation in the presence or absence of 1 mM isopropyl β-d-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) for 4 h, after which cells were imaged by fluorescence light microscopy. The fluorescence of approximately 100 cells was quantified for each condition. Cells were binned based on their fluorescence intensities (arbitrary units), and the number of cells in each bin were plotted as histograms. Two biological replicates can be found in Supplementary Figure 5
To confirm that starved cells were metabolically active, we determined nascent peptide synthesis in individual cells by incubation with the amino-acid analog l-homopropargylglycine (L-HPG) for 18 h followed by fluorescent labeling with Alexa594 using click chemistry21. Alexa594 levels in individual cells was measured using fluorescence light microscopy and showed a clear accumulation of the fluorophore in 14- and 19-day-starved cells further incubated with L-HPG (Supplementary Figure 6A, B). Heat-inactivation (15 min 80 °C) or the addition of 200 μg ml−1 puromycin completely blocked the incorporation of L-HPG. Finally, we labeled nascent peptidoglycan using the fluorescent d-amino acids analog NBD-amino-d-alanine (NADA)22, and found that the cell wall of starved cells showed a clear fluorescence after 24 h incubation with NADA (Supplementary Figure 6C). Together, these data show that the surviving cells are still metabolically active despite 2 weeks of starvation.
Transcriptome analysis
The small coccoid B. subtilis cells and classic stationary phase B. subtilis cells have in common that they show tolerance to antibiotics (e.g. Fig. 3, day 14 and day 0, respectively). This is not surprising since both types of cells are dealing with nutrient-limiting conditions that suppress growth. On the other hand, the small coccoid B. subtilis cells are capable of synthesizing high levels of protein (Fig. 4). To examine whether deep-starved B. subtilis cells differ from stationary phase cells, we performed an RNA-sequencing experiment to compare the transcriptome profiles of both cell types. To obtain sufficient cells after 14 days, a 1 l culture was used as starting material. For the comparison with stationary growth phase cells, a culture was grown in SMM and incubated overnight. The transcriptome profile of an exponentially growing culture was also included in the analysis. As shown in Fig. 5a, a principal component analysis indicated that the 14-day-starved cells differ substantially from both stationary phase and exponentially growing cells. This is also illustrated by a heat map of the transcriptome profiles (Fig. 5b). One hundred-sixty-five genes were at least twofold upregulated in the 14-day-starved culture when compared to the exponentially culture, and 145 genes were at least twofold upregulated in the 14-day-starved cultures when compared to the stationary phase cultures (Fig. 5c). Thirty of these genes were only upregulated in the 14-day-old cells (Table 1). The majority of these genes are involved in nutrient acquisition (araE, exuT, rbsC, rbsD, and rhiF) and utilization (acoABC, araBDLNPQ, ganB, hutH, manA, uxaC, and uxuA). Twenty-one genes were uniquely downregulated in the 14-day-old cells compared to both the exponential and stationary phase cells (Fig. 5c). The majority of these genes are involved in biofilm formation (bioI, epsD, epsI, epsJ, epsL, and tasA) or competence development (comC, comGC, comGD, comGE, comGF, and comGG) (Table 1).
Transcriptome comparison. Transcriptomes (RNA-seq) of B. subtilis ∆spoIIE were analyzed for cells incubated 14 days in starvation buffer (in triplicate), and for cells grown in Spizizen minimal medium (SMM) and harvested in exponential or stationary growth phase, respectively (each in duplicate). a Principal component analysis plot of the different samples. Samples were plotted against the first two principal components calculated from the gene expression values. The axes labels indicate percentage of total variance that is explained by each component. b Heat map of the averaged transcriptome profiles. Expression levels were transformed to Z-scores. Green indicates low expression (Z-score = −3.5), yellow indicates average expression (Z-score = 0), and red indicates high expression (Z-score = +3). c Venn diagram indicating the number of upregulated and downregulated genes in 14-day-starved cells compared to exponential growth phase cells (left) and stationary growth phase cells (right). Strain used: B. subtilis PG344 (spoIIE::erm)
Table 1 Up- and downregulated genes in 14-day-starved cells
Growth and cell division
The transcriptome data indicated that the 14-day-starved cells differed substantially from stationary phase cells, and the DiSC3(5) assay (membrane potential) and GFP induction experiments suggested that 14-day-starved cells are metabolically active. Also cell division genes, such as ftsZ, ftsA, ftsL, pbpB, and divIVA, were not downregulated in the 14-day-old culture compared to the exponentially growing culture. This forced us to consider the possibility that these 14-day-starved coccoid B. subtilis cells are not dormant but are actually growing. As a first test we examined the localization of the cell division protein DivIVA in deep-starved cells using a DivIVA-GFP reporter fusion. DivIVA is involved in cell division regulation and accumulates at midcell when synthesis of the division septum creates a strong concave (inward) curvature of the cell membrane to which DivIVA specifically binds23,24. Microscopic images of cells that had undergone 14 days of deep starvation showed a clear fluorescence signal at midcell, suggesting that these cells were still actively dividing (Fig. 6a). When we counted these cells, the frequency of midcell localized DivIVA-GFP seemed to increase during the first 7 days of deep starvation (Fig. 6b).
Presence of cell division sites. B. subtilis ΔspoIIE cells encoding divIVA-gfp reporter were incubated for 14 days in starvation buffer. a At different time intervals samples were taken for microscopic analysis. Cells were stained with the fluorescent membrane dye FM5–95. Scale bar is 2 µm. b To avoid bias, the captured phase contrast images were used to select approximately 100 cells per sample, and the number of cells containing a midcell DivIVA-GFP signal, indicative of cell division, were counted. As a control, the number of division sites present in both exponentially growing cells (OD600 ~0.2), and stationary growth phase cells (overnight) were determined. Bar diagram represents average and standard deviation of three independent experiments. Strain used: B. subtilis DG001 (spoIIE::erm, divIVA:divIVA-GFP(cm))
The presence of cell division proteins at midcell is no definitive proof for growth. To unequivocally determine whether long-term starvation resulted in dormant or in growing cells, we developed a new assay based on blocking cell division. The compound 3-methoxybenzamide (3-MBA) impairs polymerization of the key cell division protein FtsZ of B. subtilis, resulting in inhibition of cell division and consequently cell elongation25. In theory, this should reveal whether starved cells are either dormant or still growing. Samples were taken over a 14-day starvation period at regular time intervals and cells were incubated in the presence or absence of 3-MBA for 48 h. Cells were stained with the fluorescent membrane dye FM5-95 to facilitate cell length measurements (Fig. 7a). Consistent with the previous cell length measurements (Fig. 2), a reduction in cell length was observed for untreated day 0 samples after 48 h. As expected, this reduction was suppressed when cell division was blocked by 3-MBA. Interestingly, after 2 days of starvation the presence of 3-MBA resulted in a clear increase in cell length, and this was even the case for cells that were starved for 14 days (Fig. 7a, b). We also tested starved wild-type cells and found a similar result (Supplementary Figure 7A). 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining of 3-MBA-treated cells showed that these elongated cells contained normal nucleoids (Supplementary Figure 7B), indicating that cell elongation is accompanied by chromosome replication. Importantly, when we tested an ftsZ mutant (G196S, N263K) that is resistant to 3-MBA26, no increase in cell length was observed (Supplementary Figure 7C). We must therefore conclude that deep starvation does not lead to dormant cells but to actively growing cells.
Cell growth under deep starvation conditions. B. subtilis ΔspoIIE cells (strain DG001) were incubated for 14 days in starvation buffer. At regular time intervals samples were withdrawn and incubated with the cell division inhibitor 3-methoxybenzamide (3-MBA) for 48 h. a Cells were stained with the fluorescent membrane dye FM5-95 in order to determine cell length before and after 3-BMA treatment. Scale bar is 2 µm. b Average change in cell length was calculated for approximately 100 individual cells for each time point. Bar diagram depicts the average and standard deviation of three independent experiments
With an average increase in cell length of 0.75 µm after 48 h incubation with 3-MBA (Fig. 7b), and an average cell length of ~1.5 µm (Fig. 2), the doubling time of these deep-starved B. subtilis cells is estimated to be approximately 4 days. Since these cells show such a distinct transcriptome profile and cell shape, and since they are still growing, we propose to call this the "oligotrophic growth state".
Oligotrophic growth implies the presence of small levels of nutrients in the starvation buffer. A likely source is the cells that lyse in the first days of incubation. To confirm this, 7-day-old cells were filtered and resuspended either in the filtrate or in fresh starvation buffer. As shown in Fig. 8a, resuspension in starvation buffer resulted in a further decline in the CFU, whereas resuspension in the culture filtrate had no effect on the CFU count. Clearly, cell lysis is necessary to provide nutrients to maintain the oligotrophic growth state of the surviving cells. This also explains why stationary phase cells, when filtered and resuspended into fresh starvation buffer (day 0 samples), displayed a lower membrane potential and a low capacity to express GFP than later time samples (Figs. 3e and 4).
Nutrient and genetic factors, and escape. a Importance of nutrients released by lysed cells was determined by filtering B. subtilis ΔspoIIE cultures (strain DG001) after 7-day starvation followed by resuspension (arrow) in either fresh starvation buffer (buffer) or the cell filtrate (filtrate). b Effect of resuspension, after 7-day starvation, in starvation buffer supplemented with 0.5 µg ml−1 peptone or tryptone. c Survival of different extra-cytoplasmic function (ECF) sigma factor mutants. Only log 4–8 colony-forming units (CFU) ml−1 is shown to emphasize differences. d Survival of mutants lacking different stationary phase regulators. Only log 4–8 CFU ml−1 is shown to emphasize differences. e To determine whether proteases are important for survival, a strain lacking all eight secreted proteases, ∆WB800, was tested. The absence of the two extracellular nucleases produced by B. subtilis on survivability was also tested (∆nucA and ∆nucB). f Survival of strains carrying cumulative deletions of the eight secreted proteases (nprB, aprE, epr, bpr, nprE, mpr, vpr, and wprA, respectively). wprA was the last deleted gene (∆8) but a single wprA deletion (∆wprA) shows normal CFU levels. g Survival of oligotrophically growing cells in seawater. Cells were incubated for 14 days in starvation buffer, water, or artificial seawater (450 mM NaCl, 10 mM KCl, 9 mM CaCl2, 30 mM MgCl2, and 30 mM MgSO4). Only log 5–9 CFU ml−1 is shown to emphasize differences. h Escape from the oligotrophic growth state. SMM was inoculated with either stationary phase cells or 14-day-starved cells, and outgrowth was measure by either CFU or optical density (OD) measurements (inset). Graphs represent averages and standard deviations of three independent experiments. The ΔspoIIE background strain was used in all experiments
A Bradford assay to quantify protein concentrations indicated that the amount of proteins released from lysed cells reached approximately 120 µg ml−1 after 4 days of starvation (Supplementary Figure 8). To confirm that this low concentration of proteins is indeed sufficient to support oligotrophic growth, 7-day-starved cultures were filtered and resuspended in starvation buffer containing low concentrations of either tryptone or peptone. It appeared that even concentrations as low as 0.5 µg ml−1 tryptone or peptone were sufficient to maintain the oligotrophic growth state (Fig. 8b).
Genetic factors
To determine whether the oligotrophic growth state requires specific gene products, several of the upregulated genes in Table 1 were deleted (acoA, manA, mmgB, yezD, and yisJ) and tested for survival under deep starvation conditions. However, none of the five tested deletions reduced the viability (Supplementary Figure 9A).
Several of the upregulated genes in Table 1 are controlled by alternative sigma factors27,28. We first tested whether one of the sporulation sigma factors (∆sigE, -F, -G, -H, and -K) was required for survival, but none of the sigma factor deletion mutants showed an effect (Supplementary Figure 9B). Also mutants lacking either the general stress response sigma factor SigB, the heat shock sigma factors SigI, or the sigma factor SigL, which renders cells cold-sensitive, were able to survive for 14 days without problems (Supplementary Figure 9C). Last, we tested the extra-cytoplasmic function (ECF) sigma factors (SigM, -V, -W, and -X) involved in cell envelope stress29. As shown in Fig. 8c, the ∆sigX mutant showed a continuous decline in viable count, reaching an order of magnitude lower CFU counts after 14 days, suggesting that the oligotrophic cells are exposed to cell wall disturbing factors. To examine whether bacteriophages are responsible for this, we tested a strain lacking all six prophages30. However, this strain showed a reduction in CFUs that was comparable to the wild type (Supplementary Figure 9D). A strain lacking the major autolysin LytC, involved in cell separation and cell wall turnover, also had no strong effect on survival (Supplementary Figure 9D). We then examined whether the main stress proteins are necessary for survival and tested strains lacking either the protein quality control protease ClpP, the stringent response regulator RelA, or the DNA recombination/repair proteins RecA and PnpA31,32. Only the ΔrelA mutant showed a slightly lower viability after 7 and 14 days of deep starvation (Supplementary Figure 9D).
Differentiation processes in B. subtilis are coordinated by a few key transcription factors. Motility is activated by the sigma factor SigD, genetic competence by the activator ComK, and transcription factors like SinI, CodY, AbrB, DegS, DegU, and Spo0A regulate differentiation processes such as sporulation, degradative enzyme production, and biofilm formation10,33,34. However, none of these transcription factors were essential to survive deep starvation, although the absence of DegU caused a reduction in viable count, especially during the first week of starvation (Fig. 8d). The response regulator DegU controls expression of secreted proteases and it is likely that proteases are necessary for the release of nutrients from lysed cells. Indeed, a strain lacking all eight extracellular secreted proteases (strain ∆WB800 lacking nprB, aprE, epr, bpr, nprE, mpr, vpr, and wprA)35 showed a 100-fold decrease in survival (Fig. 8e). To determine whether this was due to the absence of a specific protease, we introduced sequential deletions of the eight protease genes into the spoIIE background. As shown in Fig. 8f, only the strain lacking all eight proteases showed a decrease in viable count. wprA was the last deleted gene (∆8) but a single wprA deletion (∆wprA) showed normal CFU levels (Fig. 8f). This demonstrated that a single secreted protease is sufficient for oligotrophic growth. We also tested whether the absence of the extracellular nucleases NucA or NucB made a difference, but this was not the case (Fig. 8e).
Salt resistance and escape
Oligotrophic environments are ubiquitous and include most lakes and seas, but can also be found in soil36. In fact, B. subtilis is not only found in soil but can also be isolated from seawater37. When we used artificial seawater for deep starvation experiments, the viability increased, and CFU counts became 10× higher, indicating that B. subtilis can maintain oligotrophic growth in salty seawater (Fig. 8g).
Finally, we tested how much time it takes for cells to escape the oligotrophic growth state and resume normal growth. To this end, samples from 14-day-starved cultures were inoculated in fresh SMM medium. For comparison, normal stationary phase cells were used that were grown overnight in SMM medium. The overnight culture was diluted 103 times to obtain comparable viable counts at t = 0. Growth was followed by either viable count measurements or optical density in microtiter plates. As shown in Fig. 8h, the 14-day-starved cells resumed growth as efficiently as cells from the overnight culture. Thus, cells in the oligotrophic growth state are capable of rapidly responding to improved nutrients conditions.
A recurring question is whether cells become dormant when exposed to long-term starvation conditions or whether they are still metabolically active. The main reason for this is that an unambiguous assay for (very slow) cell growth has been lacking. One of the longest microscopic observations, 1.5 days monitoring of starved E. coli cells in a microfluidic setup, did not detect cell growth38. On the other hand, in a long (weeks) starvation experiment using E. coli, mutants appeared that could outcompete non-starved cells, suggesting that starved cells were still active39. However, it should be noted that in this experiment the starved cells were kept in the same growth medium (lysogeny broth (LB) medium) and were not resuspended in fresh water or buffer lacking any nutrients. Other long-term starvation studies, e.g. with M. luteus, Deinococcus sp., and E. coli, concluded that deep starvation resulted in dormant cells5,40,41. Prolonged nutrient starvation can also result in viable-but-non-culturable (VBNC) cells42,43,44. These VBNC cells appear metabolically active when observed with certain fluorescent probes, but they can no longer grow when nutrients are replenished45. In our experiments the drop in CFU appears to be caused primarily by cell lysis rather than the appearance of VBNC cells, since the optical density of starved cultures decreased substantially and microscopic observations also showed a strong reduction in cell numbers.
Here we have shown that deep starvation of B. subtilis results in actively growing cells, however this growth does not lead to an increase in CFUs. This balance between cell growth and cell lysis has been coined cryptic growth46. This phenomenon is presumably widespread in nutrient-depleted cultures but it is difficult to measure, and previously could only be assessed indirectly by testing sensitivity toward antibiotics or the incorporation of radioactive precursors. Our cell division inhibition assay with 3-MBA provides now an unambiguous test for cryptic growth, enabling direct detection of slow growing cells at a population-wide scale.
A fascinating question is how cell growth and cell lysis are balanced during cryptic growth. In B. subtilis, the matured endospore escapes the mother cell by programmed cell lysis47. In addition, B. subtilis cells can display a cannibalism phenotype during stationary phase, releasing killing factors that specifically lyse other B. subtilis cells, thereby releasing nutrients into the medium48. Whether these mechanisms are involved in cryptic growth-related cell lysis remains to be determined. However, both cell lysing mechanisms are activated by Spo0A, and since a ∆spo0A mutant shows the same lysis pattern as wild-type cells, other mechanisms might be active. We can rule out the involvement of bacteriophages, given that a strain devoid of all bacteriophages showed a normal oligotrophic growth pattern (Supplementary Figure 9D). It has been shown that depletion of the proton motive force causes autolysis of B. subtilis cells49. After 14 days of deep starvation, the membrane potential is almost comparable to that of normally growing cells in many cells. However, there is a large heterogeneity in membrane potential levels (Fig. 3e), and it is possible that cells with low membrane potentials are the ones that are prone to lysis.
The oligotrophic B. subtilis cells showed an increased tolerance to chloramphenicol, ampicillin, and oxidative stress. Tolerance to environmental stresses during nutrient deprivation is well-known. For example, starved E. coli and Vibrio cells have been shown to become tolerant to hydrogen peroxide, heat, and ultraviolet (UV) radiation50,51. Starved S. typhimurium cells develop tolerance to UV radiation and hydrogen peroxide, as well as tolerance to acids52. Tolerance to antibiotics by reduction of the growth rate has been put forward as the main reason for the bacterial persister phenotype53. During oligotrophic growth of B. subtilis the doubling time is reduced more than 100× compared to normal exponentially growing cells (from ~40 min to ~4 days). This dramatic reduction in growth rate might explain why oligotrophic cells are tolerant to chloramphenicol and ampicillin and cope better with oxidative stress. This property might also explain why mutants with either reduced DNA repair (∆recA), cold shock survival (∆pnpA), protein refolding (∆clpP), or general stress survival (∆sigB) capacities did not show a decrease in viability during the 14 days' starvation.
Whether oligotrophic growth is a carefully regulated differentiation process remains to be seen. Of the transcriptional regulators tested in this study, only the absence of SigX, DegU, and RelA showed an effect on viable counts during starvation. However, the absence of the stringent response regulator RelA, and the two-component response regulator DegU involved in the induction of secreted proteases, had only mild effects on survival. The strongest effect, one order of magnitude reduction in viable count after 14 days, was observed for the ΔsigX mutant. The ECF sigma factor SigX induces genes that modify the cell wall, making cells more resistant to heat and certain cell envelope-targeting compounds54,55.
Oligotrophic cells have to be thrifty and the turnover of proteins will be slow, as the tolerance against chloramphenicol indicated. In addition, the extreme reduction in growth rate means that for most processes only a limited number of proteins are required to fulfill the necessary tasks. This is for example illustrated by the fact that only a single protease is required to maintain oligotrophic growth (Fig. 8f). Transcription is an intrinsically noisy process56 and some leaky expression will occur especially over long time intervals. Therefore, a carefully regulated signal transduction pathway might not be essential in these slowly growing cells, and substrate feedback at the enzyme level might be the predominant measure of regulation during oligotrophic growth.
Some bacteria are obligate oligotrophs whereas others are facultative oligotrophs57. B. subtilis can now be added to the latter family. We have shown that concentrations as low as 0.5 µg ml−1 tryptone or peptone are sufficient to maintain oligotrophic growth. Normally, B. subtilis is studied using rich growth media such as LB. LB is composed of 10 mg ml−1 tryptone and 5 mg ml−1 yeast extract, thus, concentrations that are approximately 10,000 times higher than necessary for oligotrophic growth. Since B. subtilis lives in oligotrophic environments such as soil and seawater, the question arises whether growth in rich media like LB is the most natural condition to investigate this organism, and whether oligotrophic growth might not be the most common cellular state of this organism in nature.
It will be interesting to see whether oligotrophic growth is a common survival strategy for bacteria. A large drop in CFU during the first days of deep starvation is observed for most bacteria that are starved for prolonged periods of time, including S. aureus, E. coli, M. luteus, S. typhimurium, B. suis, and F. columnare2,3,6,58,59. Consequently, at least the small amount of nutrients necessary to support oligotrophic growth will be available.
Thus far, sporulation has been considered the principal cellular differentiation through which B. subtilis survives prolonged periods of nutrient depletion. Here we show that B. subtilis can also survive by growing very slowly, a state that makes them resilient to a variety of environmental stresses. The advantage of oligotrophic growth over sporulation is that oligotrophic cells are able to rapidly resume normal growth when nutrient conditions improve (Fig. 8h), whereas spore germination is a time-consuming and extremely heterogenic process, with many spores delaying outgrowth even when conditions are good16,60. In conclusion, oligotrophic growth adds another differentiation state to the already rich repertoire of cellular differentiations that B. subtilis is capable of.
Maintenance and growth of strains
Nutrient agar (NA) (Oxoid) was used for routine selection and maintenance of both B. subtilis and E. coli strains. Supplements were added as required: chloramphenicol (cm, 5 and 50 µg ml−1), erythromycin (erm, 1 µg ml−1), kanamycin (kan, 2 μg ml−1), spectinomycin (spec, 50 µg ml−1), tetracycline (tet, 10 µg ml−1), ampicillin (amp, 100 and 1000 µg ml−1), valinomycin (val, 10 and 100 µM), IPTG (1 mM), and paraquat (para, 100 and 1000 µM). For liquid cultures, cells were cultured in either SMM61 (15 mM (NH4)2SO4, 80 mM K2HPO4, 44 mM KH2PO4, 3 mM tri-sodium citrate, 0.5% glucose, 6 mM MgSO4, 0.2 mg ml−1 tryptophan, 0.02% casamino acids, and 0.00011% ferric ammonium citrate (NH4)5Fe(C6H4O7)2), LB (10 g l−1 tryptone, 5 g l−1 peptone, and <|fim_middle|>5) cultures were set up in accordance with the starvation protocol. After 7 and 14 days of starvation, 400 µl samples were taken and incubated with and without 5 µM NADA for 48 h at 37 °C. From these subcultures 100 µl samples were taken after 1 and >24 h. The cells underwent a centrifugation wash, to remove excess NADA, and resuspended in starvation buffer, after which cells were observed with fluorescence light microscopy.
RNA-sequencing
B. subtilis (ΔspoIIE) cultures were set up in accordance with the starvation assay. In order to obtain sufficient cell material, 1 l culture volumes were used. Cells were collected by filtering through 90-mm polyethersulfone membrane filters (0.22-µm pores (Millipore)) at 37 °C. For comparison, stationary phase and exponential phase cells were collected. For stationary growth phase samples, 1 l ΔspoIIE cultures were grown overnight (16–18 h) at 37 °C under continuous shaking. For the exponential growth phase samples, 1 l ΔspoIIE cultures were grown to an OD600 of ~0.2 at 37 °C under continuous shaking. Also the stationary phase and exponential growing cells were collected by filtration. After harvesting cells were flash-frozen in liquid nitrogen, and stored at −80 °C.
To isolate RNA, the frozen pellets were grounded by using a mortar and pestle before immersion in QIAzol Lysis Reagent (Qiagen). RNA was isolated and purified using the RNeasy kit (Qiagen), including an on-column treatment with the RNase-free DNase set (Qiagen). The concentration was measured on a NanoDrop ND-2000 (Thermo Scientific) and RNA integrity was examined using the 2200 TapeStation System with Agilent RNA ScreenTapes (Agilent Technologies). ERCCs spike-in mix 1 (Thermo Fisher Scientific) were added to each RNA sample and a ribosomal RNA depletion was performed using the Ribo-Zero rRNA Removal Kit (Gram-Positive Bacteria) (Illumnia). Barcoded RNA libraries were generated according to the manufacturers' protocols using the Ion Total RNA-Seq Kit v2 and the Ion Xpress RNA-Seq barcoding kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific). The size distribution and yield of the barcoded libraries were assessed using the 2200 TapeStation System with Agilent D1000 ScreenTapes (Agilent Technologies). Sequencing was performed on the Ion Proton system using the Ion PI Chips (Thermo Fisher Scientific) according to the manufacturers' protocols.
The quality of the sequencing data was assessed using FASTQC64 and an in-house pipeline. The reference genome and annotation were downloaded from the NCBI (NC_000964.3), and the sequence reads were mapped onto the genome65. The gene expression levels were quantified using HTseq. The data were normalized and analyzed for differential expression using DESeq266. Gene expression data have been deposited at the public repository Gene Expression Omnibus, accession number GSE102140. Variance stabilized normalized data were subjected to principal component analysis and cluster analysis, using R statistical software.
Protein concentration
Protein concentration of the starvation medium was determined using a Bradford assay (Bio-Rad) according to the manufacturers' instructions. Samples from starvation cultures were taken through the incubation period, cells were removed by centrifugation (5 min at 8000 rpm, ~14,000 × g) and the supernatant used for the Bradford assay.
Outgrowth experiment
Both stationary phase cells and 14-day-old cells (∆spoIIE) were used to inoculate SMM (1:10 diluted). Stationary phase cells were first diluted 1000-fold in order to have approximately the same starting cell count as 14-day-starved cells. Cultures were incubated at 37 °C with aeration. The CFU was determined by taking periodic samples and serial dilution on NA plates. The OD600 was determined using a microtitre plate reader (BMG FLUOstar OPTIMA).
Reporting summary
Further information on experimental design is available in the Nature Research Reporting Summary linked to this article.
Gene expression data have been deposited in the public repository Gene Expression Omnibus, accession number GSE102140. Other data supporting the findings of this study are included in the paper and its Supplementary Information files, or available from the corresponding author upon request.
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We would like to thank S. Syvertsson, J. Kirstein, J. Stülke, R. Daniel, A. Guyet, J. Errington, T. Ewen, S. Ishikawa, and C. Harwood for strains; and K. Turgay for critical reading of the manuscript. Funding for D.A.G. was provided by a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) DTP Studentship BB/J014516/1. G.D. was funded by EMBO (ALTF 936–2016) and European Commission MCSA-IF grant 749510. P.G. and H.S. were funded by BBSRC grants BB/I004238/1 and BB/I01327X/1, respectively, and L.W.H. was partially funded by STW-Vici grant 12128 from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).
Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, Baddiley-Clark Building, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4AX, UK
Declan A. Gray, Pamela Gamba & Henrik Strahl
Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Gaurav Dugar & Leendert W. Hamoen
MicroArray Department and Integrative Bioinformatics Unit, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Martijs J. Jonker
Declan A. Gray
Gaurav Dugar
Pamela Gamba
Henrik Strahl
Leendert W. Hamoen
D.A.G. carried out the experiments. D.A.G. and L.W.H. designed the project, and D.A.G., G.D., P.G., H.S., M.J.J. and L.W.H. analyzed the data and wrote the paper.
Correspondence to Leendert W. Hamoen.
Journal peer review information: Nature Communications thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Peer reviewer reports are available.
Gray, D.A., Dugar, G., Gamba, P. et al. Extreme slow growth as alternative strategy to survive deep starvation in bacteria. Nat Commun 10, 890 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08719-8
Scale invariance of cell size fluctuations in starving bacteria
Takuro Shimaya
Reiko Okura
Kazumasa A. Takeuchi
Communications Physics (2021)
Inferring time-dependent population growth rates in cell cultures undergoing adaptation
H. Jonathan G. Lindström
Ran Friedman
BMC Bioinformatics (2020)
Rapid identification of a subset of foodborne bacteria in live-cell assays
Qingsu Cheng
Bahram Parvin
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology (2020)
Ursula Hofer
Nature Reviews Microbiology (2019) | 10 g l−1 NaCl), or Penassay broth.
Strains and primers used in this study are listed in Supplementary Table 1 and 2, respectively. Strain construction was achieved through transformation of recipient strain with chromosomal DNA from the appropriate strain, and checked by selecting for the correct resistance. For strain DG034, the erythromycin resistance cassette was removed using plasmid pDR244 according to the protocol provided by the Bacillus Genetic Stock Center. Briefly, pDR244 was transformed into the recipient strain and selected for at 30 °C on spectinomycin. Successful colonies were then streaked onto plain NA plates and incubated at 42 °C overnight. The resultant colonies were then checked for sensitivity to both spectinomycin and erythromycin. The removal of the cassette was confirmed by PCR. All strains containing "clean" gene deletions, no antibiotic resistance marker, were verified by PCR using oligonucleotides listed in Supplementary Table 2. In order to replace the erythromycin resistance cassette in strain PG344, marker-exchange using plasmid pErm::Spec was carried out62.
Deep starvation conditions and spore assay
Bacteria were cultured in SMM at 37 °C with aeration for 48 h. Cells were collected by vacuum filtration using a 47-mm filter membrane with 0.45-µm pores (Thermo Fisher Scientific). This was always performed at 37 °C to prevent temperature shock. Filtered cells were resuspended in starvation buffer (15 mM (NH4)2SO4, 80 mM K2HPO4, 44 mM KH2PO4, 50 mM NaCl, and 0.8 mM MgSO4) by vortexing. The resuspended cultures were incubated at 37 °C while shaking for 14 days. Periodic sampling was performed to determine viable counts through serial dilutions and plating on NA plates. The spoIIE gene was deleted by insertion of an erythromycin resistance marker. This, and the use of the DivIVA-GFP marker in several cases, enabled us to check for possible contaminations during long starvation periods.
Spore numbers were determined by heating samples for 25 min at 80 °C, which will kill normal cells except for spores. A serial dilution on NA plates was used to determine spore counts.
Microscopy-based methods
Microscopic experiments were performed using a Nikon Eclipse Ti (Nikon Plan Fluor ×100/1.30 Oil Ph3 DLL and Plan Apo ×100/1.40 Oil Ph3 objectives) microscope. Images were acquired using Metamorph 6 (Molecular Devices, Inc) and analyzed with ImageJ (National Institutes of Health). For visualization, 0.3 µl samples were immobilized on a thin layer of 1.2% agarose and a glass coverslip (VWR) was placed on top.
Cell lengths were determined by staining cell membranes with 0.4 µg ml−1 FM5-95 (Molecular Probes), followed by length measurements using ImageJ. To determine changes in cell length, samples were treated with 10 µM of the FtsZ inhibitor 3-MBA for 48 h at 37 °C. Images were acquired at the beginning of incubation and after 48 h.
GFP levels were determined using a GFP-filter set and quantification using ImageJ. On days 0, 7, and 14 of starvation strain DG017 (amyE::spec Phyperspank-sfGFP) was incubated with and without 1 mM IPTG for 4 h at 37 °C, after which cells were observed with fluorescence light microscopy.
Membrane potential determination was achieved using the voltage-sensitive dye DiSC3(5), which accumulates in polarized cells20. Cellular membrane potential levels were assessed for starved cells by incubating cells with 2 µM DiSC3(5) for 5 min at 37 °C, followed by microscopy using Cy5-filter sets. As a control, the DiSC3(5)-fluorescence levels were measured for exponentially growing cells, and cells depolarized with 10 µg ml−1 gramicidin ABC20.
To determine nascent peptide synthesis, samples were treated with 1 mM of the amino-acid analog L-HPG (Jena Bioscience) for 18 h at 37 °C. The samples were washed with 1× phosphate-buffered saline and subsequently permeabilized using sequential resuspension in 50 and 100% ethanol. The L-HPG incorporated in the nascent peptides was clicked to the azide group in AF594-azide (Jena Bioscience) using click chemistry21, using THPTA-based CuAAC Cell Reaction Buffer Kit (Jena Bioscience). Cells from microscopy images were auto-selected and quantified using Coli-Inspector63. Statistical analysis between HPG+ and other control samples was performed using unpaired t-test in GraphPad Prism.
To visualize peptidoglycan synthesis, fluorescently labeled d‐amino acid NADA was used22. Efficient peptidoglycan labeling of B. subtilis cells requires a strain lacking the d,d‐carboxypeptidase encoded by dacA22. ∆dacA (strain DacAKS1 | 1,239 |
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VIADEIMILLE · SICILIA IS A LONG JOURNEY THAT BEGINS IN THE 50S, IN SICILY, IN THE BAROQUE TOWN OF NOTO, WITH AN ARTISANAL DISTILLERY OF ESSENTIAL OILS...
A fascinating family activity, suddenly stopped, and that is renewed 60 years later by the imagination of Stefano Alderuccio as a tribute to the work started by his grandfather and to his homeland.
In the 50s, in the town of Noto, in a poetic Sicily where nature is still intact, Salvatore Scorsonelli begins the production of flower essences and especially of zagara, the very delicate and inebriating blossom of the bitter orange tree. It is in Via dei Mille, in front of his house, in a typical Sicilian garden planted with jasmine, almond and citrus trees, that Salvatore installs the distillery where for more than ten years he would manufacture one of the most precious floral oils used to design perfumes. The essence, of the finest quality, extracted by steam distillation, was shipped to France, destined to the perfumery industry of Grasse.
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VIADEIMILLE · SICILIA is first of all the result of a family history, but it is also a story of renaissance, of<|fim_middle|>
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Mandorlo $260.00 | 143 |
This adult event in the Art Institute's Modern Wing invites you to drink, eat and dance while to live entertainment.
An Easter Egg hunt in the dark for adults – you'll need a flashlight to find all the eggs in the park! Some will have hidden prizes. The event will also have food and drinks for sale.
Hundreds of crafters will be selling goods at this event for craft enthusiasts. Kids under age 10 are free.
<|fim_middle|> meet The Easter Bunny!
These discount prices include all taxes and fees.
CityPass gets you into 5 attractions for $109. | Check out locally made goods from a large variety of vendors. Shop for clothing, jewelry, food and more. The event repeats in August and December.
A festival that features drinks from brewers and vintners as well as food and live entertainment.
Party with the bunny at this family-friendly event. You can enjoy egg hunts, rides, games and more!
The event for the robot enthusiast in your life: the Museum of Science and Industry celebrate with robot interactions and competitions, as well as talks about the future of robotics!
There are Easter Egg hunts already beginning this weekend. Check out the hunts in Chicago and in the suburbs, hunts in the western suburbs, hunts in the south suburbs, as well as unique egg hunts, egg hunts that are "beyond average" and events where you can | 158 |
On a summer afternoon this past summer, I received the news that my grandmother had mostly lost consciousness and, under hospice care, hovered in that mysterious space between life and death.
I had said a meaningful goodbye to her just days before, and now, 500 miles away, there was nothing left to say. I was restless on the doorway of grief and had no further capacity to work that day.
I left the office and went to a local farm stand where I purchased a $12 box of perfectly ripe apricots. For the rest of that day and into the night, I immersed myself in that box. I pitted, cut and processed those apricots into pints of jam and quarts of preserves. My daughters helped for awhile and my husband came through with a finger<|fim_middle|>." Proust's words invite me to see food and my struggle with it–my "thing"–as an important spiritual practice. I will revisit her book on those days when the crackers in the cupboard seem like the only option to fill the restless void inside. I encourage others to read her book together and to join in community with others who are seeking to be faithful. And I will continue to explore how a box of apricots can connect my spirit to my body, healing and strengthening myself and others in this journey of life. | swipe along the inside of the pan.
By the time I went to bed that night, I had touched the fruit of the earth, marvelled at its color, smell and taste, allowed the juice to run between my fingers, and had resourcefully put away the best of the current season for a winter day months off. I had processed much more than apricots. In touching those apricots, I had touched my grandmother and all the generations before her who had done the same thing. I was healed by food that day.
Food has not always been so healing. My grandmother also passed down a complex relationship with food along with a metabolism that takes no prisoners. There has not been a day since my early adolescence where my appetite is not at war with my pant size. I am well-acquainted with the various approaches to weight loss and have participated in most of them. I have gained and lost pounds. I have done a marathon and I have been a couch potato. I have eaten a paleo diet and I have binged on junk food. At 41 years old, I no longer look for the perfect diet solution nor expect that today's willpower will be available to me tomorrow. I have learned not to beat myself up for today's extra slice of cake because tomorrow or the next day, I will have more capacity for restraint.
While I would love to just be done and never worry about it again, I have also come to accept that this is my "thing." We all have a "thing" and though exegetically, it may be something much more complex, I've always imagined this was what the Apostle Paul meant when he bemoaned the thorn in his side that didn't leave despite his pleading with God. We want to be rid of our thing more than anything else but it is there to teach us that in our weakness, God is strong.
But my thing is not unique. My grandmother and I are just two women in a nation full of people who struggle between the physical necessity of nutrition and the excessive desire to taste and fill our bodies and our souls in the quickest and most immediate way we know: through our mouths.
"There is only one true path, and that has to begin with God and expand both outward and inward through prayer and mindfulness, non-judgment and self-love." says Mary DeTurris Proust in her book Cravings. Proust connects our eating habits with our fear and avoidance of this path. This is not new. Others have explored it. Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth is another excellent resource that encourages meditation and mindfulness as the only sure path through the struggle with our overgrown, misdirected appetites. But those who are willing to explore the connection between our physical and spiritual appetites trod into into sacred ground. Most of us hide our relationship with food even when our metabolism betrays us. Because we don't talk about it, its grip grows tighter in the darkness. Proust's vulnerable and public exploration into her relationship with food begins to let some fresh air into the dank cellar of our eating as well. Because we are suspended between the necessity of food and its excess, we need to let all the fresh air in that we can.
Proust ties our struggle with food to eucharistic theology as a way forward. Just as we set the table and set out the chalice and the bread, so we can clean the countertops and revel in the preparation of our food. Just as we perform rituals around the taking of the bread and cup, so we can stop and be mindful of the food we are eating. Just as we wait to be in community with others before we eat and drink at the Lord's Table, so we can eat in communion with God and our souls rather than shoving food into a vacuum that will never be filled. Just as we savor the moment of receiving the bread and wine, so we can savor each bite.
The eucharist provides us with a goal that will never be consistently reached as long as soccer practices cut into dinner time, and young mothers reach for a piece of chocolate to stave off exhaustion at 4:00 in the afternoon, and writers need to munch in order to get through mental blocks. But it is a way forward. The Feast at the Table is not about deprivation and hostility towards food or ourselves, but healing and delight.
"Food should have a sacred role in our lives. It can be something we sacrifice, something we savor, something we share, and through it all we can remain filled because we are grounded in God, the only one who can satisfy our hungry hearts | 946 |
Did I really believe I'd get to this point and say to myself, "Here's a good spot to turn around. I've seen enough." No.
There's a lie at the heart of most of my hikes. The lie is that this brief foray into wherever will be enough. A few hours, a few miles and that will suffice. My mind will clear, my spirit will lift, my body will be invigorated by the clean air and ten thousand steps over unpaved earth. It's not true. At least not completely. My mind does clear, my spirit is lifted, and I'm sure the physical benefits are myriad. But if the point was to be in this place, to experience whatever this trail has carried us to, to devote however small a portion of life to existing here, then why on earth should we<|fim_middle|> dislike day hikes. Quite the opposite. I adore them. Maybe that's the problem. They come in neat little packages, contained within a day that is bookended by a comfortable sleeping arrangement and good meals that seem earned. They are tempting and irresistible. They don't require a big pack. If I weren't always bringing a camera along, my day pack would be terribly light: water, a snack, a map, maybe an extra layer, that's all. Day hikes give a sense of achievement: I went there and came back to tell the tale. They are miniature adventures. They have beginnings with some amount of unknown ahead. They have middles with strain, tedium, and unexpected encounters with beauty before the eventual arrival at some wonderful place. And they have a conclusion, a final chapter where sometimes the earlier steps are retraced and sometimes the loop is completed but always the journey comes to a bittersweet end where "I'm so glad I did this" is countered by "I wish I was still out there."
I'm standing at the midpoint of this day hike right now, as far away from the trailhead as I'll get today. Kathryn is sitting in the shade of a boulder back on the edge of the snowfield that I couldn't resist crossing. I had to continue, to carry on up the canyon just a little bit more, to postpone for a while longer the turn back towards the start, towards the end. Already I am dreading the departure. This is place I wanted to be today. Thoughts of separating so soon are hindering my ability to appreciate where I stand. Now is not the time for those thoughts. Now is the time to focus on here, on now. I want to drink this in, I want to remember every detail of this. I need this beauty locked in my memory before I leave Garnet Canyon.
Middle Teton rises at the head of this glacial track. A vertical, dark line marks its eastern face where an intrusion of basalt ascended though a fracture in the granite. It keeps catching my eye. It looks so unnatural, so geometric. I have the shrunken glacier I cannot see to thank for exposing it, and for revealing the canyon in the first place.
That glacier lies out of view, up in a hanging canyon above Spalding Falls, the feature to which I now turn my attention. The water drops in steps, cascading down from a gap in the trees, bending towards me, disappearing behind the plants that live in the talus at its base. Earlier, I held my hand in the same stream, lower in the canyon. The water was as cold as it was clear. Ten seconds of immersion was enough to feel the frigid pain, to respect the eternal winter that lies in the heart of the glacier that gives life to this dazzling ribbon dancing down to Bradley Lake. This water is fresh, released perhaps only minutes ago by the heat of summer. It may have been locked in the glacier for decades. I envy it, for it enjoyed a long spell here in this alpine idyll. It lingered through the seasons, through the years, resting in the embrace of these jagged peaks. It clung to the mountainside, persisted through the August sun and the January storm. It has spent more time in this place than I could ever hope to, but even so it is leaving now. It has no choice. A force beyond its control calls it down. It is bound for the Snake, the Columbia, and the Pacific. It cannot stay forever.
I know I must follow this water down the mountain. Like the stream, I cannot stay. But before I walk back across the snow to Kathryn, before we scramble back over the boulders and ramble back down the trail past the wildflowers and through the forest, before the end of another day hike, I want one more moment of wonder. Diligently, I pass my gaze over the scene, scrutinizing each rocky face. I stare up to the summits, snowfields, and passes that beckon me upward. My ears ring with the constance of the falls and the breeze that is stirring the low leaves.
A deep breath of mountain air, and then I turn down back the canyon. | leave so soon?
This is not to say I | 10 |
South Korea's nuclear ambitions face safety, quality issues
May 9, 2019 by Dan Yurman
Dan Yurman summarises the regulatory, academic and press coverage of serious delays to South Korean nuclear reactors being built for the UAE. According to reports, these were caused by having to replace substandard components in reactors located in both South Korea and those planned for the UAE. There are problems with staff training too. South Korea recently completed the US NRC safety review process for its 1400 MW design. But the author asks whether this situation will affect South Korea's ability to win new export work.
Delays in the startup of the first of four South Korean 1400 MW PWR type nuclear reactors being built for the Emirates Nuclear Energy Program in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have cascaded forward affecting the next three due to a combination of safety issues and quality assurance problems with components and systems.
The first unit was scheduled to begin the process of fuel loading and startup in 2018. However, that milestone has now been pushed back to late 2019 or early 2020. This is the second significant delay in startup of the first of four reactors being built at the site. A report published in MIT Technology Review in late April describes some of the nuclear plant issues.
Small Modular Reactors:…
Is selling nuclear plants for…
U.S. sanctions against Nord…
These issues are not new. The New York Times (NYT) first reported the problems in 2013 with construction of three nuclear plants in South Korea in 2013. At the core of the issue are fabricated safety certificates for parts shipped to nuclear reactors<|fim_middle|>ged With: Nuclear, regulations, South Korea, training, UAE, US
About Dan Yurman
Bas Gresnigt says
Thanks for this clear illustration.
I wondered already long time about causes for the long startup delays. | under construction in South Korea and bribes paid by supplier chain firms to nuclear construction managers to accept the substandard components.
According to the NYT report, counterfeit parts, cables and possibly other components sidelined construction and startup of a key South Korean nuclear reactor in 2014 to 2016 which also setback training of UAE reactor operators at that plant.
The reference South Korean plant for the training work is the Shin Kori-3, an APR-1400, which is the same design as the units being built in the UAE. It was supposed to start up in 2013/2014. However, it didn't have its first criticality until December 2015 and wasn't connected to the grid for revenue service until December 2016. The delays were caused by the need to rip and replace counterfeit cables and other components installed in the plant.
Korea Kori Nuclear Power Plant Photo Credit: Korea Kori NPP. SOURCE: IAEA Imagebank CC BY-SA 2.0
Separately, the MIT Technology Review magazine article documents a long history of double dealing among firms supplying components and systems to be used in the construction of South Korean nuclear reactors.
Two kinds of problems are reported – first, substandard transformers for the switchyard, a reported 300 units in all, and second, and more significantly, counterfeit cables which impacted both PWR and CANDU type reactors being built in South Korea.
According to the magazine, some of the counterfeit parts made their way to the UAE units under construction which resulted in a loss of confidence by Emirati nuclear officials in the reliability of the South Korean supply chain.
The magazine's report did not cite evidence that anyone in the UAE knowingly accepted parts with false safety certificates
"Several faulty parts had also found their way into the UAE plants, angering Emirati officials. 'It's still creating a problem to this day,' Neilson-Sewell, the Canadian advisor to Barakah, told the magazine 'They lost complete faith in the Korean supply chain.'"
Outcome of the Operational Readiness Review for Unit 1
Another cause of the delay in startup of Unit 1, which was the second postponement of the startup process, is that the unit had problems with a management process called an "Operational Readiness Review" or ORR.
The ORR is a standard check point or milestone in the startup of any new commercial nuclear reactors, and the process is more or less the same for any new commercial reactor globally. The basic intent of an ORR is to check that ALL of the equipment is installed properly, and that EVERY piece of equipment functions exactly as specified in terms of its function within the reactor system.
On the human factors side, an ORR checks that staff are fully trained and that they are following all of the procedures for safely operating the reactor. If deficiencies are found either in terms of equipment installation or operation, or in terms of staff correctly following procedures, a "finding" is documented and the plant operator has to take "corrective actions" to fix the problem.
The ability of the Emirates Energy utility to license the plant depends on a successful ORR with closure of all findings. The more serious the issue that is found, the longer it usually takes to fix it.
Organisational Readiness Inspections at Barakah 1
The ORR included multiple areas resulting in approximately 70 inspections which took place. Organisational issues are as important as technical concerns. In terms of safety culture, key items included;
Control room crew readiness
Training and qualification of all staff
Staffing levels of the operating company
Implementing procedures in all technical areas
Licensing for Emirates Nuclear Reactors
Nawah Energy Company said it "has completed a comprehensive operational readiness review (ORR)" in April 2018 for an updated start-up schedule for the reactor, but in May as a result of over 400 "findings" from the ORR postponed the first reactor's startup by 18-24 months.
Briefing on April 2018 UAE ORR – PDF file
UAE April 2018 ORR summary report – PDF file
Christer Viktorsson, director-general of UAE's Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR), told Reuters that while the reactor was almost technically ready, the regulator could not yet issue an operating license to Nawah and could not say when the firm would get its license.
Implications of problems in UAE for South Korea's nuclear future
These delays, and the problems with substandard parts, produced serious consternation at the UAE and the situation may eventually affect South Korea's prospects for winning new export work with Saudi Arabia or elsewhere.
South Korea has had an aggressive posture in terms of seeking new export deals, and recently completed getting its 1400 MW design through the US NRC safety review process. South Korea has also been negotiating to sell its reactors to the UK, but has not yet started the equivalent safety review process there, called the Generic Design Assessment (GDA), for its products there.
The key reason is that it lost its "preferred bidder" status from Toshiba for the Moorside project after the two firms came to loggerheads over differences on costs and related finances.
In all, South Korea's nuclear industry has some serious challenges ahead. The government doesn't trust it, wants to shut it down, and its key foreign customer is bent out of shape over the delays in start up of the first unit. Digging out of this hole is going to take a lot of work.
A longer version of this article appeared at Neutron Bytes.
Dan Yurman is the author of Neutron Bytes and writes on nuclear matters.
Filed Under: Energy, Nuclear Tag | 1,184 |
By Brandon Harris
(Weapons screens Sunday night, April 12th, at 11pm as part of the Cinema Nolita/Hammer to Nail screening series in downtown Manhattan. Director Adam Bhala Lough is expected to be in attendance. Or you can buy it at Amazon.)
Weapons opens with a bang, immediately bringing into relief its rather loaded title (pun intended) and telling us quite bluntly, "This<|fim_middle|> educator. The Cincinnati, Ohio native is a Contributing Editor for Filmmaker Magazine and teaches part time at the New York Film Academy. You can catch his reviews here at H2N and over on his site Cinema Echo Chamber. He resides in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, which is also the setting for his forthcoming feature film debut, Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa.
SPACE DOGS | ain't your father's Boyz in the 'Hood." Nick Cannon, the star of Drumline and an actor more talented than you might suspect, is eating a cheeseburger. It has way too much ketchup. We see him lift it—in slow-motion, with credits and blaring hip-hop accompanying the image—and put it in his mouth. He seems to be enjoying it, as any red meat eating young man would. All the while those eyes stare right at us, implicating the audience in the moment, chewing away, this handsome, all-American boy (at least in this age of messianic Black politicians). Yet once the credits end, a shadow begins to emerge from behind, in the front of the sunlit Burger joint. An out of focus white man stands in the background (eventually we will learn that this is Paul Dano, in perhaps his most penetrating and complete performance to date). He hoists one of several Weapons that will be on display for the next 80 or so minutes—in this case a double barrel shotgun—and he blows Mr. Cannon's high cheekbones, or at least part of one of them, directly into the lens. Everyone's attention has been immediately acquired, and for good reason: Adam Bhala Lough, this film's extraordinarily talented 29-year-old director, knows how to never let it go.
About 30 minutes or so into this revelatory tale of misbegotten vengeance among the young and dumb in an monotonous exurban hell, I started to feel like I was being plunged into some early 21st century version of Thomas Hobbes' "state of nature." This is a place where pervasive lawlessness, boredom and mistrust fuel a stringent pathology that centers on the notion that violence reprisal can be just and normative. Where it seems every individual's desires, be it sex, justice or self-dignity, are only achievable through violence and sadism. Of course, these desires are never met in an ecosystem such as this. "War of all against all," as Hobbes put it in Leviathan, leads to lives that are "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short."
The environment of Bhala Lough's second feature is a distinctly American one, a place where small ranch houses, ones paid for with sub-prime mortgages and bad faith, bleed together in anonymity, where young men smoke blunts and complain about the heat, where fathers see their only children for the first time since they've returned from State College and can only ask, "You got a cigarette, boy?", where lives are shattered by senseless violence all too easily and where small dreams are generally deferred, although they are more than likely never even conjured.
Shot in the working class suburbs of East L.A., it has a tone and feel uncommon for films about dangerous youths. Without condescending to his small circle of early twentysomethings bent on revenge and tethered to an ethos that can only be described as nihilism, Bhala Lough shows us people whose lives are dominated by sluggishness, ignorance, depravity and pain in a rigorous but accessible way, prying empathy out of us without letting his subjects off the hook for their transgressions or their mediocrity.
Unfolding mostly in a series of breathlessly long tracking shots, home video and slow-motion interludes which suggest the tedium of its setting and within the lives of its young, angry characters, this gem of Sundance 07' has, after a sticky two years in distribution limbo following its Sundance bow, finally arrived on DVD via Lionsgate and not a moment to soon. It contains the best performances in the young careers of several emerging performers such as Cannon and Mark Webber, but Paul Dano steals the show. He plays an apathetic, angry, forgotten and disliked person, a young man who has a small DV camera and a double barrel shotgun and isn't sure which one to use first. The type of individual almost no one likes to encounter and fewer want to watch a film about. Yet Dano invests his character with such authenticity and naked human sorrow that we can't help but be cauterized by his self-destruction. He uses the camera for pretty much the entire film, but only uses the shotgun in the first and last moments of Weapons, ones which happen to be the same moment, and as the film doubles back many times, in deeply unsettling but hypnotic detail, to show us just why he had to blow Nick Cannon's face into the lens, you will bear witness to a film that will in time be seen as evidence of the early maturation of some very talented performers and an equally promising filmmaker.
— Brandon Harris
Adam Bhala LoughLeviathanMark WebberNick CannonPaul Danosenseless violencestate of natureThomas HobbesWeapons
Brandon Harris
Brandon Harris works nebulously in the world of American Independent Film as a critic and journalist, producer and director, writer and | 1,023 |
According to a consumer insight study published by Microsoft, the human attention span has diminished to less than that of a goldfish.
The average human attention span was just 8.25 seconds in 2013, which is 4 seconds less than the 12-second average in 2000. This also puts humans nearly 1 second behind the goldfish, which has an attention span of 9 seconds.
The study maintains that our growing loss of concentration is one of the side-effects of our increasingly digitalized lifestyles (and the effect it has on our brains).
It's not all bad news, though. The study also showed that we are getting better at internalizing information we receive in these short bursts of attention.
Short-Form video, what is it anyway?
Generally speaking, short-form videos are under 10 minutes and long-form videos are over 10 minutes.
However, at DVI, unless we're making a training piece with a captive audience, we say short-form video is 2 minutes or under. And now even that length is diminishing.
Short-form is the undisputed video format of choice for Millennials and represents the hottest growth category in digital media.
The Millennial demographic's appetite for Short-Form video (and video of all sorts) is off the charts, with audience penetration in the 12- to 44-year-old demographic ranging from 88% to 96%.
"Multi-screening" behavior makes consumers less able to filter out distractions. Consumers are continually seeking something new.
This means we have more opportunities to hijack the consumer's attention, BUT it also means brands need to work harder to maintain their audience's focus.
One of today's greatest marketing challenges is maintaining audience focus.
Because of the barrage of influencer messaging that we get hit with daily, humans are unable to focus on anything for very long. If you ask a person to spend too much time looking at something, they won't commit.
This is especially true in the internet environment where pop ups and customized ads leave viewers in a constant state of media-induced A.D.D.
So, if you have an important message to convey, figuring out the shortest way to do it can work to your advantage.
Their Mobile device is like their right hand – explore the world without leaving their coffee shop. Mobile video production has never been more important to consider as part of your marketing strategy.
Millennials are consuming more Short-<|fim_middle|> decide to watch (or not watch) a video.
If the time investment doesn't match the engagement, they're gone.
And if it's longer than three minutes, the multitasking will begin and you'll lose their attention to a Groupon pop up.
It's Attention-Grabbing: We are genetically programmed to notice and react to movement.
It gets to the point: The message should be clear, personal, relevant and (quickly) get to the point.
It's not too long: Viewers can be entertained and informed without feeling overcommitted. Embed calls to action before the consumer moves on to the next thing.
Too long-winded for Short-Form video?
So, what if you have too much to say in just 90 seconds? Before your video script is written, decide the major point you need to communicate to your audience.
Then, bullet point out all the things you want to convey, but make sure each item is essential to making your major point.
Although it seems like lists of features and benefits are the perfect way to tell somebody about how awesome your product is, if your viewer's brain turns off mid-video because you've bored them, it's really your fault.
If you have boiled down your message as much as humanly possible and you still have too much content to fit into 90 seconds, consider splitting your message into a series of Short-Form videos.
That gives your viewer the luxury of precisely choosing what part of your message is relevant to them. And viewers love that.
In today's mobile device landscape, Short-Form mobile video clearly rules the day but there are occasions when long form is still a great way to share information with an audience.
When you have a captive audience (a conference or training class), a long form training video or corporate business video can be a great way to share lots of information.
Also, when you're sharing detailed information that people want to know and have sought you out to find it (for example, how to properly winterize your boat), you get to indulge yourself with long form video.
But only then. Otherwise, your viewers (and your message) will be lost. | Form video than ever. This year, adults in the U.S. are averaging over 5 hours a day watching videos. But not on broadcast Television. They're viewing videos on social media. They're watching on Vine.
How to stop the scroll with Short-Form video.
This generation of consumers likes Short-Form video – and the shorter the better. Studies show a direct correlation between the length of a video and the % viewed by the consumer.
Consumers have become very savvy about the way they consume media. Most check the timecode before they | 111 |
+Size Stardust II is powerful and small enough for patients to use in the comfort of their homes. The ultra-portable unit is worn on the chest. Three sensors plug directly into the recorder, so that patients aren't "tethered" to a large recorder. This gives your patients more freedom to move as they would normally. And that could give you a better picture of how they're breathing.
+Convenience Since Stardust II can plug into Virtuoso LX or Tran<|fim_middle|> Windows®-based application is easy to learn and easy to use. Pre-programmed default settings make Stardust a powerful tool right out of the box.
Measurements/Data Collection Advanced flexibility lets sleep clinicians customize reports and manually score sleep studies. | quility CPAP machines, studying compliance progress is comfortable. That's because these studies can be performed at home with equipment already being used comfortably and with a level of familiarity.
Just as Stardust II frees your patients from a bulky recorder, it can free your business from scheduling problems. Now you can conduct initial studies at your patients' homes. Or you can use Stardust II for follow-up studies. You can monitor patients wherever they sleep: in your lab, in their homes or even while traveling.
+Cost/Warranty Stardust II reduces costs by enabling in-home sleep studies. It comes with a two-year warranty.
+Software The real power of Stardust II is its host software. Based on proven Alice 4 software, this simplified, | 150 |
Conrad Gargett announces promotions nationally
Conrad Gargett is delighted to announce the promotion of four of its current Senior Associates to Principals, taking the total number of Principals to fourteen.
The promotions add significant strength to the leadership team of the national Australian practice, with a growing portfolio of local and international projects including the detailed business case for the Toowoomba Hospital Redevelopment,<|fim_middle|> across Australia and internationally.'
The new Principals are Lada Bodnaruk, Paul Emmett, Amanda Kershaw and Brent Sanders.
The new Senior Associates are Rhianna Allison, Ben List, Marcelo Locane, Angelo Pagano, Nic Martoo, YE Ng, and Steven Whisker.
The new Associates are: Architects - Edward Armstrong, Kirstie Galloway, Anh Ho, Owen Murphy, David Oliver, Chris Rawlinson, Chris Ward and Interior Designers - Brooke Watts and Laura Molloy.
sports and entertainment Cultural | the transit-oriented mixed-use development at Lamington Markets, Queensland and the Victorian Heart Hospital in joint venture with JWA Architects.
Conrad Gargett is also promoting seven Associates to Senior Associates, and eight project architects to Associates.
In addition, Conrad Gargett is promoting Associate David Oliver to the role of Operations Manager to manage the growing team and practice.
Following the merger announcement with McConnel Smith & Johnson Architects (MSJ) in September, these promotions mark a new phase in the continued growth of the practice, building on sector specific capability in health, defence, education and civic projects.
At the same time, it allows Conrad Gargett to take its architecture and design, heritage and conservation, strategic planning, advisory and research expertise to a wider regional and global stage.
Managing Director, Lawrence Tolado said "Conrad Gargett continues to grow in size, expertise and geographic footprint because of the talent, commitment and hard work of our team.
The promotion of these leaders, together with our existing leadership team, enhances our goal of maintaining a resilient and sustainable, design focussed practice.
We would like to thank our new Principals, Senior Associates, Associates and all our staff, for the valuable contribution they make | 246 |
Wooden Kaleidoscope, "Hand Held" by Carol and Mark Reynolds.
Wooden Kaleidoscope, "Hand Held" by Carol and Mark Reynolds. A solid black surface on the object chamber gives a striking black background to the interior image of this brilliant wooden kaleidoscope<|fim_middle|>018 - 2 " By Carol and Marc Reynolds.
Wooden Kaleidoscope, "Handheld in Sapelle 2018 - 2 " By Carol and Marc Reynolds. | , with the light coming in sideways. While many women choose this wood kaleidoscope for themselves, we find it makes an even more popular choice in unique gifts for men. Crafted from beautiful figured wood with a decorative band of inlaid wood, the black wooden base of this kaleidoscope can be outfitted with a personalized brass plate. The � Handheld kaleidoscope creation is designed to be enjoyed for many years!
Engraved Brass plate dimensions can be up to 6 inches long by 1 inch tall.
Wooden Kaleidoscope, "Handheld in Sapelle 2018 - 2 " By Carol and Marc Reynolds.Wooden Kaleidoscope, "Handheld in Sapelle 2 | 148 |
Home » Technical Analysis » Moving Average Indicator Explained: Formula and Method
Moving Average Indicator Explained: Formula and Method
All of us understand averages. It's basically a number calculated by adding quantities together and dividing it by total number of quantities.
For example, if the temperature in Mumbai on Monday is 32 degrees<|fim_middle|> average line crosses the 200-day moving average line on March 11th. Some traders use this 'crossing of lines' to sell their positions.
Techniques of using moving averages to trade will be discussed in more detail in another article.
Types of Moving Averages
There are two types of moving average that are commonly used on the charts.
SMA (Simple Moving Average): It's the calculation that we discussed in this article. The closing price is divided by the number of days.
EMA (Exponential Moving Average): The calculation method is a little more complicated here, as more weightage is giving to the recent closing prices.
Piercing Line Candlestick Pattern
Doji Candle Stick | , Tuesday 34 degrees and 39 degrees on Wednesday. How do we calculate the 3-day average?
We add up all the numbers: 32 + 34 + 38 = 105. The number of days is 3. To get the average we divide 105 by 3 = 35.
The average temperature in Mumbai over the last three days is 35 degrees Celsius.
Similarly, 'Moving Average' in stock market is the price average. It's used as a technical indicator, which some traders use to buy and sell stocks.
On a chart, 'Moving Average' looks like this:
The blue line on the chart is the 20-day moving average.
Look closely at the chart.
It's a candlestick chart of the stock 'Havells'. The price has been moving in a downward direction since June 2019.
The Blue colour line on the chart is the 20-day simple moving average.
The calculation is simple. The closing price of the last 20 days is added and divided by 20. This gives the average price for the last 20 days.
On the 21st day, the same process is repeated. The average of the last 20 days is taken and the line is joined.
The process is repeated everyday, which gives us a long line on the chart – along with a clear indication on how the price is moving.
Moving Average Formula
The Formula to calculate the Simple Moving Average (SMA) is like the name says – Simple.
Add closing price and divide by Number of Days
Moving Average Method used by Traders
Generally, short term traders use 8-day, 10-day or 20-day moving averages. It gives a clearer picture on the short-term trend of the stock.
Medium term traders use 50 or 100-day moving averages, while those with a longer-term view use 200-day moving average.
The '200 day moving average' also called '200 DMA' is quoted quite frequently on financial websites. When a stock goes below or above its '200 DMA' it's considered to be a long-term trend reversal.
Moving Averages are generally not standalone indicators. Traders use them in combination with other indicators like 'Moving Average Convergence Divergence' (MACD), Relative Strength Index (RSI) and other indicators.
A Moving Average can also be used with other Moving Averages. For example, a 50-day and 200-day moving average can be moving in different directions. When a stock is in an uptrend, the 50-day moving average is higher than the 200-day moving average.
However, when the 50-day moving average cuts the 200-day moving average on the downside – the stock is considered to turn bearish.
Reliance Industries Chart: The Green Line is the 200-day Moving Average. Blue Line is the 50 day Moving Average.
In the above chart, the Green Line is the 200-day moving average. Since the price is averaged over a long period of time – it's smoother and flatter, because the 200-day average has been consistently around 1350 price range.
Whereas, notice how the 50-day moving average was more volatile. That's because during the Coronavirus market crash in March 2020, the stock crashed from more than 1500 rupees per share to less than 900 per share.
On the chart, the 50-day moving | 752 |
Playing Poser in a 2018 Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid
A Californian, an Okie, and two Michiganders meet in Detroit
Conner GoldenWriter, Photographer
It sounds like some sort of crappy regional joke. One Texan turned Californian, two Michiganders, and one Okie meet in Detroit to see The Boy from Toronto, all crammed into the leather-lined cockpit of the fastest four-door Porsche. In a perfect storm of scheduling and last minute planning, three of my closest friends and I closed out the summer with a Drake concert in the Motor City, accompanied by a 2018 Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid.
Rap phenoms, we are not. Mogul-worthy car notwithstanding, picture two pairs of helplessly dorky 20-somethings hollering misremembered lyrics at Six God himself on stage, revelry fueled by stunning burst of acceleration and breathless freeway on-ramp sprints that reduced all of us to giggling tots.
Obnoxious? Absolutely, but this party was a long-time coming. This was the first time the whole gang has been in the same place in almost four years. In truth, the concert was a brief portion of the trip. As was the partying; we're working grown-ups now, apparently. The Porsche was far and away the most glamorous portion of the trip. Bottle service, box seats, penthouse views,<|fim_middle|> at $187,250, this handsome Night Blue Metallic Panamera carried a $201,540 tag, inflated thanks to optional extras like eight-way power rear seats, a $5,370 Assistance package, and four-zone climate control.
It's hard to pick a more impressive executive sedan than the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid. It's coddling, loaded with tech, and fast enough to make your executive assistant lose his/her Lobster Thermidor lunch. Above all else, it's perfect for playing poseur with some of your best friends.
PRICE $185,450/$201,540 (base)/(as tested)
ENGINE 4.0L twin-turbo DOHC 32-valve V-8/ 550 hp @ 5,750 - 6,000 rpm, 567 lb-ft @ 1,960 - 4,500 rpm, plus electric motor / 136 hp @ 2,800 rpm, 295 lb-ft @ 100 - 2,300 rpm; 680 hp, 626 lb-ft combined
TRANSMISSION 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
LAYOUT 4-door, 4-passenger, front-engine, AWD sedan
EPA MILEAGE 21 mpg combined, 49 mpge combined
L x W x H 198.8 x 85.2 x 56.2 in
WEIGHT 5,093 lb
0-60 MPH 3.2 sec
TOP SPEED 192 mph | and culinary excursions? It was more like a few beers at home (we Ubered), general admission to the standing area, air mattresses, and late-night Detroit coney dogs.
Once we blew-out both vocal chords and eardrums at the concert, we used the Panamera as our ultra-luxe runabout while we enjoyed the sights and sounds of the greater Detroit metroplex. Having lived in the Motor City area for two years not long ago, I spent an hour and change cruising Woodward Ave., seeing storefronts and hangouts I thought I left behind when I moved out west.
This is a tremendously powerful vehicle. With a full battery, launch-control sprints can lead to crushing speeds that even a 911 Turbo would raise an eye at. Porsche claims 0-60 mph takes a fleeting 3.2 seconds, but real-world tests have proven it can clock-in at less than 3.0. After a few launches down one of Michigan's many tree-lined backroads, my three passengers were liquefied. "It's like a roller coaster," they all agreed.
Merging, overtaking, closing the gap, showing off—whatever you're into, the Turbo S E-Hybrid has you covered to a shocking degree. This 5,093-pound sled has the guts and gumption to pick on supercars of any age, primarily thanks to the hi-power hybridized powertrain.
The majority of that power comes from a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8, putting out 550 hp and 567 lb-ft of torque. Augmenting that is an electric motor between the V-8 and the eight-speed PDK transmission, spitting out a further 136 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque. When the two combine forces, 680 hp and 626 lb-ft of torque are on tap. Porsche is quick to point out this tech was more-or-less developed from the system found on the mighty 918 Spyder hypercar from a few years ago.
This hybrid system is quite an impressive bit of tech. The engine likes to shut off, even at speed, relying on the electric motor while coasting. If the battery is topped-off, you've got an EPA-estimated all-electric cruising range of 14 miles from that 14.1 kWh lithium-ion battery, usable without burning dino-juice up to 86 mph. We ran into particularly nasty stop-and-go en-route to Ann Arbor, so e-mode was used to its full extend. No surprises here, it's smooth and silent.
Thanks to one of Michigan's frequent rainy spurts, a boatload of twisty backroad blasts were out of the question. Still, in the mostly arrow-straight environment in which I drove the Panamera, it felt as solid as a boulder, pushing through traffic and advancing down open roads with trademark Germanic confidence. It's not nearly as engaging or scalpel-sharp as Porsche's two-door offerings, but it isn't designed to be. It can slip, slide, and carve with the best of them, but this supersonic limo is primarily aimed at banking executive and CEO types rather than track-day junkies.
Inside, this power-player attitude really shows. The cockpit is awash with leather and metal, contrasted by a glossy haptic-touch center console. This panel is just one itty-bitty piece of the Panamera's incredible tech package; if anything, it's too clever for its own good. The haptic-clickable center buttons are nice, but considering you're forced to adjust the center A/C vents with a drag-and-drop touch-screen interface, I might have appreciated a simpler, less-convoluted system. But I'm not the target demographic here. My buddies were more impressed—they had a ball futzing with the myriad interfaces and screens, especially in the executive rear seats with infotainment embedded in the center console.
Of course, all this coddling and techno-wizardry comes at a price. Aside from the extended wheelbase Executive variant, the Turbo S E-Hybrid is at the top of the Panamera heap, only losing out in sticker heft to some 911 Turbo and GT products. Starting | 884 |
Let<|fim_middle|> long run. | 's get into the nuts and bolts (so to speak) of snow plow blade installation! When you're tightening and applying pressure to your hardware, it's formally known as torque.Torque is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis, fulcrum, or pivot. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist to an object. Proper tightness (torque) is what's most important when installing your cutting edge.
Improper torque can be a serious cause of poor blade performance. Over-tightening your blades can cause them to break prematurely, and under tightening can cause cutting edges and accessories to fall off, which causes the same problems. Additionally, loose blades can also cause shearing and moldboard damage and leave dangerous debris in the roadway.
Here are some tips to ensure proper torque and avoid added road maintenance come spring.
Use lock nuts because they are always hardened, Grade 8—this means they won't mushroom during use. The higher the hardness or grade, the higher the strength.
More isn't always better. Too much torque will cause the heads of the bolts to pop off.
The moldboard acts as the support for the cutting edge. If the moldboard has been shortened from wear and tear, the backward blade torque will be increased, resulting in bolt and blade damage and/or breakage.
Never weld the nut to the bolt. The heat of welding destroys the treated properties and could cause the fasteners to fail during use.
Lock washers are a no-go. It's a hardened washer that acts as a cutting tool to the softer steel of the plow moldboard or blades.
Always make sure everything is clean! No debris before any installation like sand, dust, rust etc. This debris will grind away in plow use, resulting in under torqued bolts which means bolt shear.
Always calibrate your wrench several times during the winter season.
The easiest way to put an old blade section in a vise is to tighten the bolt with an impact wrench and determine the torque. Be sure to adjust the impact wrench output up or down as needed.
Improper torque causes poor blade performance which causes increased road maintenance. Using the right torque for your blades when installing them can save time and headache!
Click below to learn more about low-bid blades and how they cost you big in the | 481 |
Updates revealed for GDTF standard
The updated DIN SPEC 15800:2021 will be published by Beuth Verlag sometime after LDI
Europe/USA - With fellow General Device Type Format (GDTF) founders MA Lighting and Robe Lighting, global design and BIM software provider Vectorworks has revealed several updates to GDTF - the standard for describing the hierarchical and logical structure and controls of any type of controllable device in the lighting and entertainment industry.
The GDTF file format has continued to evolve with input and involvement from manufacturers across the globe and critical feedback from its many adopters, resulting in a newly published update to DIN SPEC 15800:2021.
"Receiving recognition in the form of a published update to DIN SPEC 15800:2021 is a testament to the continued evolution and success of GDTF," comments Vectorworks CEO, Dr. Biplab Sarkar. "The necessary work will continue<|fim_middle|> Josef Valchar, CEO of Robe Lighting. "The continuous engagement of the GDTF group resulted in another GDTF update in the form of DIN SPEC 15800:2021, incorporating the feedback and work of many industry experts who contributed their expertise and time into a standard that allows their own products to utilize simpler yet more comprehensive workflows."
"The GDTF group maintains a strong commitment to developing the format using open sources, while demonstrating responsiveness to critiques and requests to improve the formats," said Gerhard Krude, managing director of MA Lighting Technology. "All in all, we emphasize that GDTF and MVR are made by the industry for the industry."
https://www.robe.cz/
Visions for the future told live through RCF array
Nick Chang enlists Elation for Christmas services
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Chauvet lights Novi Sad for Doček
Fundraising for Waheishi's funeral underway | to take place to ensure GDTF's bright future so that its benefits can not only advance the work of the designers utilizing it, but the entertainment industry as a whole."
DIN, the German Institute for Standardization, is the independent platform for standardization in Germany and worldwide. A DIN SPEC is a document that specifies requirements for products, services and/or processes. It's a trusted strategic instrument for quickly and easily establishing and disseminating innovative solutions that do not conflict with any existing standards or rules of procedure.
"The update to DIN SPEC 15800:2021 is a good example of how DIN SPECs can evolve and stay current with specifications that meet the needs of the market," said Michael Bahr, project manager at DIN. "GDTF and DIN SPEC 15800:2021 are clearly succeeding in serving the needs of the entertainment industry. I'm happy that we could support this project and update this standard with the GDTF group. The updated DIN SPEC 15800:2021 will make the GDTF format easier to use and more scalable for the future. That's what DIN SPEC is made for: 'Today's idea. Tomorrow's standard.'"
DIN officially published GDTF as a public available specification for the entertainment industry worldwide in June 2020. Since then, the original creators of the file format have been joined by manufacturers and users across the industry to ensure it remains the standard to truly benefit the end users. Open communication, addressing feedback and continuous improvement efforts have led to the latest version of the file format, GDTF 1.2. GDTF 1.2 includes several major changes that address prior criticisms of the standard and key enhancements.
GDTF 1.2 includes SVG support for defining 2D representation and .gITF support for defining 3D representation, allowing for better graphical rendering for GDTF objects. The additional support of these object types makes GDTF truly universal, not only targeting fixtures, but all kinds of objects that are used inside of an event.
The updated GDTF file format will provide support for non-linear behaviour of channel functions inside GDTF with DMX Profiles and better descriptions of the physical behavior of channel functions with SubPhysicalAttributes.
GDTF 1.2 delivers support for non-DMX based control protocols like OSC. This support for OSC demonstrates the file format's ability to not only support DMX, but also other formats, providing design and production professionals with more flexibility and control.
GDTF 1.2 also provides support for more object types like trusses, lasers, hoists and power distributors with new geometry types.
"A seemingly impossible task to allow standardized cross-manufacturer data exchange between devices in the lighting and entertainment industry has turned into a success story of industry-wide cooperation with the GDTF specification," said | 595 |
Home > Delhi > Cold Wednesday morning in Delhi, 22 trains cancelled
Cold Wednesday morning in Delhi, 22 trains cancelled
IANS10 Jan 2018 5:42 AM GMT
New Delhi: It was a foggy morning here on Wednesday with the minimum temperature recorded at 6.8 degrees Celsius, the season's average, the weather office said.
Visibility stood at 800 metres and humidity was recorded at 87 per cent at 8.3<|fim_middle|>.2 degrees Celsius, three notches below the season's average. | 0 a.m.
The Railways cancelled 22 trains while 49 were delayed and three rescheduled due to fog in several parts of northern India.
The Met has predicted a clear day ahead. "There will be shallow or moderate fog in the morning," an India Meteorological Department official said.
The maximum temperature was likely to be around 22 degrees Celsius.
The maximum temperature on Tuesday settled at 21.6 degrees Celsius, two notches above the season's average while the minimum temperature was recorded at 4 | 107 |
Concert Review of the Moment: Cincinnati, OH - Neil Young + Promise of the Real, July 11, 2015
"Words" - Neil Young + Promise of the Real, Cincinnati, OH - July 11, 2015
The Concert Review of the Moment is Cincinnati, OH - Neil Young + Promise of the Real, July 11, 2015 by Genghis Kon.
Here is my review of the show, forgive me for its length.
July 13th. The big day had finally come. After waiting for months, anticipation growing, the day was finally here. At 17, I would see my first concert, and even more importantly, I would also see Neil Young and Promise Of The Real. My dad (a fellow fan) and I made the trek to Cincinnati in the morning. We listened to Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere on the way, and after eating at the Boathouse, the Precinct, and visiting the Newport Aquarium to pass the time, the moment had come, and we arrived at the Riverbend.
We filed in amongst many other fans, and I purchased two of the t-shirts, both adorned with tractors and anti-GMO symbols. It felt strange when I sat down dead center in Row F; "Am I really gonna be this close?" I wondered in awe (Ticketmaster is a living, breathing entity. It cannot be manipulated, and sometimes grants mercy, as with us). After the roadies tuned everything up, Band Of Horses came out and played a short set. Their performance was very good, but they were very loud, and my virgin ears were not quite ready for that level of sound, so I put in some earplugs. Thankfully, I could still hear pretty well. After a thank you to the audience, BoH left the stage, and introduced another man (forgive me, I don't remember his name). The man was a Native American, and spoke of how Rio Tinto and John McCain are mining on their land (reservations, I think), and had us join in a moment of Native American song. After all of this, he thanked Neil for having him here, and finished his speech.
"This is it. The big man is coming" I thought to myself, suddenly feeling very stiff. The roadies did their job, and the women in farming clothes came out, sprinkling seeds all over the stage. At this point, I had taken out my earplugs, and they would remain in my pocket for the rest of the show. As the women began to part to the side of the stage, I saw a familiar black hat glide behind the equipment, and sit down behind the piano. A choir of cheers erupted from the audience. In the distance, I heard the faint sound of the opening chords of After The Gold Rush ring out, but there was a problem with the sound. Suddenly, like a beacon from a lighthouse in a violent storm, Neil faded into earshot. The crowd went wild as he sang the first lyrics, and though I may have just been imagining this, there was a moment where he looked up from the shadow cast by his hat, and I swear, I saw a glint in his eye, and we briefly made eye contact. I'm sure everyone at a concert has had this experience, and I felt paralyzed. It just seemed so strange that he was actually up there and so close. I wasn't just watching a movie anymore, this was it.
After an excellent performance, Neil switched over to his well-worn D-28 (Hank, I believe). More cheers greeted a wise sounding Heart of Gold. "It's these expressions, I try to give" Neil sang, modifying the lyrics, and changing the meaning of the song somewhat significantly, at least in my mind.
Neil switched over to his other D-28, and briefly had an issue plugging it in, where the electronics weren't responding properly. After this quick malfunction, he began playing Old Man. Though it was played in a whole step down, that didn't make a difference. I could only think to myself that his voice seemed so strong tonight, it was mind-boggling!
Testing his harmonica, Neil strode over to his old pump organ, and played a beautiful, wistful version of Mother Earth. His message was really starting to become clear here, and this would continue throughout the show.
Suddenly, gas was sprayed across the stage. A few men in hazmat suits walked about, obliterating the seeds with pesticides. The lights dimmed, and out of the haze, Neil was suddenly not alone: Lukas Nelson and Corey McCormick stood to his left, Micah Nelson to his right, and behind him, Anthony Logerfo and Tato Melgar. The ever-iconic intro to Out On The Weekend began playing, and I became ecstatic. It was absolutely stunning, one of the highlights of the show. Micah seemed to be channeling his inner Jimmy Page, dragging a bow across his strings. He and Lukas seemed to be simulating Ben's steel parts, and were doing a fine job of it. Micah proved to be a versatile rhythm player, who added an extra layer to all of the songs that were played. Serene and sad as always, the song continued to unfold. Promise Of The Real gave it their all on backing vocals, and they sounded great. The crowd joined Neil, and we sang along gleefully.
Neil switched harmonicas, and thanked the crowd for coming. He wisecracked that "Mother nature is cooperating with us for the time being", all<|fim_middle|> issue at all. Another old classic that we all enjoyed as much as Neil and the band.
The title track of Monsanto Years was the next song to be played. In my opinion, this is the only MY track that kind of dragged along. Overbearing at times, the aggressive nature of the song made me a little uncomfortable, even amidst the other MY songs. However, that's not to say it wasn't punctuated by moments of brilliance, riffs and solos thrown at the audience by Lukas.
Drastically lightening the mood, Neil performed the captivating If I Don't Know. Borrowing an old term from Jimmy Page, this song seems to utilize a lot of "light and shade". Lyrics that projected imagery of nature and its leafy touch gave way to morbid descriptions of dams and other threats, as the chords created a vertigo inducing sensation of falling down a bottomless pit, tumbling towards oblivion. One of the best songs from MY.
The other shows seemed to draw a bit from Ragged Glory, and finally Neil assaults the audience with a crushing version of Love And Only Love. The song announced its presence with a savage eruption of frenzied soloing. At this point in the show, I now realized I was being concussed by the sound, and to be honest, I didn't care. The soloing was very strange, though. It became so loud, that I felt it like lightening. Like streaks of electricity shooting jaggedly though the Riverbend and my ears, my cochleae felt like they caved in. It was an indescribable sensation, and the electricity metaphor is the best I can possibly do. The song signaled a rave up by the band. Lukas threw off his hat, and began swinging his head wildly, his hair flying every which way. He even pulled a Hendrix, and started playing with his teeth, creating mass hysteria in the audience. Finally, after the band pulled a ton of false endings, they finished the last song of the set. The band grouped together, took a bow, and walked off.
Of course, the audience didn't stop cheering. "What will he play?" I wondered. Ideas bounced around in my head. Danger Bird? Revolution Blues? Thrasher? When he returned to the stage, the audience continued its roars, and Neil, with true honesty in his voice, thanked Cincinnati, as well as everyone for attending. The band set up, and fired into the immortal classic, Cinnamon Girl. The song was perfect, right down to the iconic one note solo. As Neil reaches the final coda, he steps towards the audience and raises his arms, prompting everyone to do so as well, an ocean of shaking hands. After one last blast from the band, they all lower their instruments. For the last time of the night, they bow out, and wave as the band exits the stage, and the lights dim, and then come back up, revealing an empty stage.
The performances of all the members were outstanding. Everyone had a moment to shine. Not detracting from anyone's performance, especially Neil's, I must say that Lukas was a real standout. He had a giant's shoes to fill, yet somehow he did it, and then some. I would give anything to see these guys play together again.
Driving back home with my dad, the one thing I can hear in my head, aside from the ringing of my ears, is that man whose words really stuck with me. I was really lucky to be there. Not just that, but I'm very lucky to be a Neil Young as well. Nothing could have rivaled what I saw yesterday. I finally fulfilled my dream of seeing one of my heroes live. This day will forever be ingrained in my mind.
(Once again, sorry for the long post!)
Thanks Genghis Kon! Awesome review & vids.
Labels: concert, neil young, reviews, tour
Thanks for the comment and videos.
In all the recent discussion, I've been wanting to say this, and the video clips got me to put it to type: Rock and roll can never die.
That's what it's all about. Once again, thanks for the musical ride, Neil.
Thanks Genghis Kon! Damn. Sure hope they expand this thing. Come on Neil! Just bring Daryl with ya!
At 7/14/2015 11:49:00 PM, anon said...
NEIGHBORHOOD THEATER CHARLOTTE
-HELPLESSLY HOPING
-CHANGE PARTNERS
-THOROUGHFARE GAP
-GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY (Dylan)
-IT DOESNT MATTER (Manassas)
-DAYLIGHT AGAIN : AWESOME!
-I USED TO BE A KING (Nash)
-JOHNNY'S GARDEN (GREAT)
-SUITE:JUDY BLUE EYES
-SOUTHERN CROSS
-TREETOP FLYER (JEWEL)
-GAME ON (NEW)
-DON'T WANT LIES (The Rides)
-ROADHOUSE (The Rides)
-MAKE LOVE TO YOU
(Stills/Young album)
-VIRTUAL WORLD (NEW-SPECTACULAR!)
-BLUEBIRD
-ROCKIN IN THE FREE WORLD (INCENDIARY)
-FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH
-LOVE THE ONE YOU'RE WITH
2 1-hour sets
LOTS of SS VIRTUOSO GUITAR
VOICE OK....SOMETIMES SOARING BUT MOSTLY RAGGED
At 7/15/2015 02:38:00 AM, RP NY Fan said...
Genghis--great review. I could not agree more especially about the backup vocals on Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. I think I was about five rows behind you. I saw someone about your age with earplugs through the opening act and then off Neil.
Well Said, from your ears and your heart.
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Rehearsals: Neil Young and Promise of the Real's R... | uding to the severe storms that had just hit earlier. He sprung effortlessly into Unknown Legend. "Somewhere on a desert highway, she rides a Harley-Davidson, her long blonde hair flying in the wind" Neil sang, and once again, the audience joined, some humorously pointing towards the stage on the "Harley-Davidson" line.
Continuing into the second Harvest Moon song of the night, Neil whipped out From Hank To Hendrix. His voice was still in fine shape. The singalong potential was brilliant, and the lyrics were more relevant than ever.
The first new song of the night, Neil began playing Wolf Moon. Though it had seemed somewhat sterile on the album, here, it rang with an honest beauty, and impressed the audience. The song is just so pleasant, there was nothing you could do other than enjoy it.
Suddenly, everything seemed to freeze. Did I just see a technician bring out the White Falcon? Neil pulled the strap over his shoulder, and began strumming three familiar chords. Suddenly, it exploded into Words, and the audience, appropriately, was overjoyed. The song was as intense as always, and violent flurries of electric guitar burst through the air around me. Neil converged on Lukas, and they formed the classic "Crazy Horse huddle" and they began soloing aggressively. Lukas is really starting to impress me. Very good guitarist.
Neil stepped up to the mic, and gave a speech about four students, who were "actively engaged" and "stood up to the government". Everyone knew what this meant. The Riverbend was splintered by the erupting grit of Ohio, which quickly grew in power like the roots of a willow tree. The performance really hit home with me. Though I did not ever live to experience the slaying of those students (I wasn't even close, a few decades off), I live right down the road from Kent State, tucked between Akron and Cleveland. The song was incredibly emotionally charged, and I began chanting the lyrics with everyone else, many of whom were (obviously) fellow Ohioans. I felt my blood boil in a way it never has, and I felt like I was a part of the music, living this nightmare. What an experience.
Man, I needed a break after that last song. In a rumble of guitar, a chorus of whistles pierced the air, and A Rock Star Bucks A Coffee Shop was underway. Here, I realized the song was EXTREMELY catchy, and the song's chorus (Monnnn-Sannnnn-Tooooo) was irresistible. I quickly found myself singing along (by the way, I'm never the type to sing along).
Next, Neil played People Want To Hear About Love. Another song from Monsanto Years, I found it to really shine live as well. The riff almost reminds me of Country Home, but the song differs greatly otherwise. Monsanto Years is really starting to grow on me.
Without word, Neil and POTR lunged into a searing version of Down By The River. On the way to the show, I listened to Down By The River with Crazy Horse from the Fillmore East 1970, and I dare say this performance trumped it. My jaw dropped to the floor when Lukas just cut loose. His soloing had a strange quality in that he would grab for the high frets of his sharp looking Strat, with natural finish, and just shred away. He's more of a technical player than Neil. Not only that, but it was just so loud, I had never heard anything like it. All of this gave it a very ethereal quality. Lukas is turning out to be one of the best guitarists I've ever seen. Some people have observed that Lukas can potentially fill the late, great Danny Whitten's shoes, and I can see it! Down By The River just kept ascending and ascending, reaching heights I didn't think were possible. The chorus shook the Riverbend every time, and then the soloing recommenced. One of the most exhilarating moments of the night.
I had been looking forward to this one. With a streak of juvenile energy, the band tore into Working Man. One of my favorites off Monsanto Years, the song charges forward with an energy and melody much akin to Time Fades Away. I found myself clapping along and swaying to the music as Neil continued his crusade to tarnish the name of Monsanto. Neil threw his harmonica off stage without a care as to where it went. I wonder who got it. Right around here, one man who sat near us leaned over to me, and yelled "You're very lucky to be here! It's really good for you that you're here!" I laughed, and could only agree. All in all, a very fun song with a serious message.
And just like that, they catapult into what is likely the best song off of Monsanto Years: Big Box. The song runs with a serious Restless Consumer vibe. It is incredibly foreboding with the haunting chorus "Too big to fail, too rich for jail", followed by a riff that I find very similar to Pushed It Over The End, handled perfectly by Lukas.
It is here that I need to mention the other members. Corey McCormick is a fine bassist with great stage presence. He almost reminds me of Billy Talbot in that sense (I'll stop with the Horse comparisons): he jumps around the stage, bangs his head to the music (doesn't have the rubber band neck like Talbot, though!), and by the end, sweat was pouring from his snapback cap. Anthony Logerfo is a very high energy drummer. He could hold the beat fantastically, and made the venue shake with his fills. Tato Melgar seemed content to avoid the limelight. He sat to the left of Logerfo, and provided flourishes of percussion on his bongos, as well as other embellishments. The whole band is incredibly qualified, and deserve their position next to Neil, for sure.
To the pleasure of the crowd, Neil plowed through a jubilant version of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. Sounding great as always, he sang with a smile on his face the lyrics he knows so well by now. My only criticism is that the backing vocals here (the la-la-las) seemed a little scrambled, but the audience filled in enough for it to get by without much of an | 1,329 |
Peace now. The instrument of peace is one of the greatest and holiest of swords that you could hold in front of you. With every interaction, with every human being or animal or other life form, you may hold before you your own sword of peace. This tells those around you that you are a soldier of peace, that you seek to quiet the energies around you: to deliver calm; to radiate that all is equal among us all; that within this calm, comes rationality, clarity, the ability to receive new ideas to<|fim_middle|> the recovery effort, you can do so at The American Red Cross. | solve problems that have been facing humanity for oh, so much time.
The way we shift the world global stage is to begin at the beginning, within ourselves. Although you may have already been on a healing and transformational journey for years, we are now being catapulted into higher and higher vibrational frequencies within our bodies and our very cells. We have increased capacity to receive and hold more Light, and as we do, all that is not Light rises up and asks to be released.
This is not easy, no matter how experienced you are. If you would like support privately for your energy, you can see what I offer HERE.
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"It was wonderful. The energy I was drawn into was a huge sun with a bouncy center that I found myself in the midst of, gently bouncing and smiling. It felt extremely protective and energizing at the same time. Such an unusual texture very supportive, fun and secure. The color was that of a yellow sun with rays going out from all angles. Also, there were rays of light and energy going from my heart and connecting to all in the class. At one point I felt pain in my heart and then a gentle calming returned. There was a sound like ringing, but I thought it was coming from outside until you asked us to hear the sounds."
The essential oil blend, "Harmony" is my choice as a solution if conflict seems to be arising in a number of areas of your life at once. It's time to shut down, go within and discover what internal conflict you might be having with yourself. "Harmony" Essential Oil blend can help you heal and resolve this conflict.
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So many people continue to suffer under the affects of SuperStorm Sandy. If you wish to support | 587 |
A not-to-be-missed monument and symbol of the capital,<|fim_middle|> are fitted with hearing loops. | the Eiffel Tower stands 325 m tall, and weighs 10,100 tons, 7,300 of which are just for the metallic skeleton of the structure. Created in 2 years, 2 months and 5 days, it was built for the Exposition Universelle of 1889.
You can go up the Eiffel Tower by the stairs or by lift. On the completely refurbished 1st floor, there are shops; on the 2nd, treat yourself to a gastronomic meal at the famous Jules Verne restaurant (closed for works), 125 m above ground. Finally on the 3rd floor you are at cloud level and have an exceptional 360° view!
Free audio guide with ZeVisit.
Early closure on July 14th.
Lift access: every day 9.30am-11.45pm or 9am-12.15am (from 22 June to 2 September 2019); last entry to the top of the tower 1 hour 45 minutes before closing.
Stair access: every day 9.30am-6.30pm or 9am-12.45am (from 22 June to 2 September 2019); last entry 45 minutes before closing.
Vertical race up the steps of the Eiffel Tower!
Priority queue-jump access is granted to disabled visitors and an accompanying person.
- Physical disability: access to the 1st and 2nd floors by lift. For safety reasons, the top of the Eiffel Tower is not accessible to those in wheelchairs.
- Hearing disability: the tills | 366 |
Today it is hard to find a bathroom without extra accessories. There are many reasons for this. The main one is the bathroom has grown to be more than a functional room in the home. It is now an essential part of one's relaxation and enjoyment plan. Many<|fim_middle|> in bathroom wet environments for long. The absence of any defect, chamfering edge smooth round, atmospheric grade.
【STYLE】: The Towel Ring's small body can save more space, and it is Sturdy and durable, with sufficient weight bearing capacity. Modern and Stylish Look With Concealed Screws Design Fits Well In Different Styles.
Mirrors in the bathroom are very important and we think it would be very difficult to find a bathroom that hasn't got some sort of a mirror. There is a tremendous variety of bathroom mirrors available on the market. They come in many shapes, sizes and price ranges. Illuminated bathroom mirrors are very dramatic and can really bring a bathroom to life.
Size: 60 x 45cm, 600 x 450mm, Approximately 24 x 18" inches.
Drilled holes: this mirror has 4 drilled holes. Drilled hole diameter = 7mm). The drilled holes are located 38mm from mirror edge to hole centre.
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The above are just some of the accessories available to you when you want to add something extra to your bathroom. They don't cost a lot of money but they have a big impact on how your bath looks and how well it serves you. | bathrooms are equipped with more than the necessary items. If you were to visit many families' bathrooms up and down the country you will find that everyone has done something to their bathroom to make it something special.
This is where bathroom accessories come in. They allow you to add style and sophistication without costing an arm and a leg. A well chosen item such as a towel rail will yield so much benefit.
If your bathroom is looking a bit dark and gloomy, then a good a good bathroom fitting can work wonders. They come in many shapes, powers and sizes and also colours so that you can create something truly wonderful and unique to you. A well chosen lighting scheme can make a small bathroom seem bigger or you can use it to make the master bathroom feel cosy and relaxing.
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1 x ceiling light with E27 socket for max. 40 W, excluding illuminant, Dia. 310 mm - Height: 95 mm.
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Having somewhere to hang your towels is of the utmost importance. This way your towels will stay clean and your floor clutter free. You can buy basic towel holders and rings and they do the job just fine, but if you want something a little special, then look into electric towel rails. These accessories keep your bath towels nice and warm and also look fantastic in the bathroom.
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Screws fixing installation, package content : 1 holder, 2x anchors and 2x Screws.
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【MATERIAL】: Made of durable Brass, ensuring quality and longevity. Polished Bright Silver Chrome Finish, surface smooth level off, Never RUST even | 1,490 |
A New Life for 'Visions Of The Third Eye'
emanative — March 18, 2021
The New Life Trio's 'Visions Of The Third Eye', the 1979 avant-garde jazz classic recorded by Steve Reid, Brandon Ross and David Wertman, has today been reissued on Early Future Records. The DJ, producer, drummer, recording artist and Steve Reid Foundation trustee, widely known as Emanative, spoke to surviving member Brandon Ross and Early Future's Alex Arnold about the seminal recording.
So, 'Visions Of The Third Eye' by the New Life Trio, was I believe the last release on Steve Reid's legendary label "Mustevic Sound", and is a record sought after by crate diggers, jazz freaks and all manner of vinyl collectors the world over. An original might see you remortgaging your house, if you could even find a copy out in the wild, that is (slight exaggeration perhaps, but you get the general idea of its rarity).
So what exciting news it was to hear from Alex Arnold at Early Futures Records and to discover that I may be able to get hold of a copy of this masterpiece from the trio of drummer Steve Reid, bassist David Wertman and guitarist and surviving member Brandon Ross.
As you can imagine, this is an absolute favourite album of mine and I was just dying to ask Brandon and Alex a few questions about all of this. I spoke to Brandon first.
VISIONS OF THE THIRD EYE by NEW LIFE
Brandon Ross – New Life Trio
Hi Brandon, great to meet you like this! So how and when did you first meet Steve Reid & David Wertman, and how did you come to form the New Life Trio?
@brandonrossnyc: First met David in Northampton, Massachusetts in '78, or late '77. Through David's initiative I met Steve in December of '78, when we recorded "VOTTE" ("Visions Of the Third Eye"). David invited Steve to join him and me for a Recording we had planned to do in another instrumental configuration that didn't include<|fim_middle|> Life?
New Life.
My best to you Nick!
Thanks for the questions and the support.
Thank you for your time, insight and for the music.
Alex Arnold – Early Future Records
I had to follow up with Early Future's Alex Arnold to hear his side of the story about this amazing reissue.
Hi Alex (Arnold, of Early Future Records), what an amazing undertaking. What was it that made you decide to release "V.O.T.T.E." at this particular time on Early Future Records?
Alex @earlyfuturerecords: It took about 3 years to get to this point! Lots of stops and starts and hurdles, but thanks to Brandon and Lynne, we're finally here! It was a record I'd aimed to reissue a while back, as a single project, but it turned into the 3rd record I've put out.
People don't always realise the amount of effort and love it takes to bring a project like this to fruition, you must love the record! Would you like to tell us a bit about your story of making this release happen?
Alex @earlyfuturerecords: I was just obsessed with this album for a long time, knew other people loved it too, and thought it would be a good thing to make it available again. It's so unique, even for a Steve Reid record, and accidentally seminal, in that I like to imagine lots of tiny bands in the 90s being influenced by it….except they weren't!
It allowed me to dig into Brandon's career too, starting here and then finding out about Harriet Tubman (1998!), his work with Kip Hanrahan, and his two amazing solo albums from '04 and '06 (amongst many other projects) – So the seeds of this record have continued to flower for over 40 years!
The story of getting this record out involved bugging a lot of people and knocking over a lot of stones (but leaving some unturned) to eventually pull together these sounds, words, and Visions….
Well thank you for all your hard work on bringing this whole thing together.
'Visions Of The Third Eye by the New Life Trio, is available on Early Future Records via Bandcamp, on the link below, and select stores.
Crucial Material – March 17th, 2021
Exclusive Premiere: Shamis & Rebiere "Rock It For Ya"
emanative
Emanative has created a cosmic strand of multi-cultural UK jazz with African, Indian and Middle Eastern influences unlike any other act on the UK scene.
Dust-e-1 – in 10 Records
G L O W Z I – in 10 Records
Edouardo (Sonorama) – in 10 Records
Loum – in 10 Records | drums at all. A last minute change resulted in the birth of New Life.
Did you perform this material very often 'live' around that time?
@brandonrossnyc: Actually in other combinations in Northampton. David and I were playing with various other musicians up in the Pioneer Valley and hanging a lot, and playing some of his music and some of mine, but not so formally. After we made VOTTE, I believe we discussed performing, but Steve was in NYC, and busy at that time with Charles Tyler, among many others, and developing his record label Mustevic Sound. David and I were a 3.5 hour drive away, so it wasn't very practical to develop a group and to find opportunities to play and be paid properly.
How many copies were originally pressed up of the 'Visions Of The Third Eye' vinyl?
@brandonrossnyc: I believe Steve did a run of 500 copies originally, because that seems likely as it was the primary format back then.
And how many have been newly reissued?
@brandonrossnyc: The initial reissue run is 500 copies, with a supplemental Zine insert, with as much archival material as we could use to enhance the provenance of New Life. We've got photos and score reproductions, and original label promo material and reviews.
Was it difficult to get music like this released back in the mid 70's?
@brandonrossnyc: Back then, I was just getting started… I was really a 'kid on the block' – and hard at work developing my music and skills so that I could go down to NYC and really learn and hopefully work with the musicians who had been inspiring me. Steve began his label exactly because independent creative music was not broadly supported by the major labels, and the 'gatekeeping' situation kept many musicians out of the attention of the People. Mustevic Sound was a DIY initiative intended to record and promote Steve's music and the creative musicians Steve was affiliated with.
How did you find it surviving as a black musician in those times in NYC and have things changed or improved, do you feel there is still a long way to go?
@brandonrossnyc: Again, I wasn't yet living in NYC at that time. I felt I wasn't ready on all the levels involved with being able to live in NYC as an artist musician and be successful doing so. There are so many extra-musical skills to have in your toolbox. Refining the musical skills in itself, is a fuller than full-time job. I left New England in the Fall of '79, and stayed with my family in Orange, NJ, just outside of NYC, and started making inroads, checking out what was happening where, musically and socially in Manhattan and talking with Steve more frequently, who was really a mentor.
What I learned as I connected with the musicians I admired and saw not only, how they were navigating the NYC scene but the international scene, without which most of them would not have had the careers or elevation they achieved. Much of that is due to an historical pattern of animosity and under-valuation of Black Art and Black artists by America.
To the innocents (and I was among them back then) if you are looking at LP covers and listening to the music, and reading the magazines and responding to the promoted narratives, and without a true immersion in the LIFE, it seems that it's a beautiful meritocracy, and the best stuff (obviously) is what you've got in your hands and on your turntable and on your TV, and in the news… Well, it can take a minute to realize that it's not necessarily that way, and that there are all kinds of forces in place that discriminate on the basis of what you are, or appear to be…
We seem to be in a moment of a revisioning of our societies right now, and I can see what would and in many ways does qualify as better conditions, opportunities for Black Art music and musicians, that have expanded since the 70's, but there is still much more to be accomplished.
Were there other recordings made of you playing with Steve & David?
@brandonrossnyc: No there were not.
The title of the album suggests something spiritual in nature, is this something that is and was important to you as an artist?
@brandonrossnyc: It is of paramount importance to me personally and as an artist. It was also something very important to Steve, and why he came up with the LP title. It was also important to David… It wasn't something that we overtly discussed, it was something that made itself apparent in the music we recorded, and our individual musical intentions.
As a fan of this album myself, I feel it has D.I.Y. qualities and almost punk attitudes to jazz (or at the very least towards the music business) insofar as it is highly improvised and free spirited yet still grounded in groove and the blues. Head in the clouds, feet firmly rooted on the earth. Does anything of my subjective interpretation resonate with you and your intentions in the creation of this music, or am I talking nonsense? (ha!)
The perspectives of listeners and observers are always speculative and self-reflective. There's no way around that, unless one is a master of Zen. I am of the thought that anything created truly from the inside out functions as a relatively 'perfect' mirror of consciousness of the observer, and the creator. If a creation of art manages to occupy a 'timeless' state at its core, the artifacts that convey its essence – the media/medium – tend not to obscure its communication. Nostalgia, trend, style, while evident in various degrees will not overwhelm the opportunities of the present moment of experience.
Whatever we call something, starts to obscure our vision of the thing we are being with.
I have found that having a 'manifesto' of intention for something like art, is like buying one's newborn a burial plot the day of their birth… and all the rest of the details. We can look at the music and say it has these elements in it, and that attitude about it, and yet still does this and that… And someone who dislikes the music might attribute the reasoning to all the very same attributes under consideration. Insanely, ridiculously, beautiful, no?
Respectfully, I consider VOTTE to be a document of a real, honest, adventurous musical imperative, fueled by desire, determination, and dreams of what could be.
We might call that 'Jazz' or 'Creative Music' or maybe it's simply the "it, of itself", in one of many costumes, illuminating some aspect of itself, in service to | 1,383 |
Electrochemistry could explain Mars's organics
Brines and metal-rich minerals could reduce CO₂ to make alcohols and more
by Sam Lemonick
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Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
The National Aeronautics & Space Administration's Curiosity rover found deposits of organic molecules in rocks on Mars.
Scientists have identified aliphatic and aromatic organic molecules on the surface of Mars and in martian meteorites over the last several decades. The source of these molecules is unknown, but some scientists suggest they formed during meteorite impacts or through geological processes. Now one team proposes a novel explanation: As salty liquids flowed through microscopic fissures in metal-rich minerals on the red planet, electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (ERC) produced small organic molecules (Sci. Adv. 2018, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aat5118). Chemists are intrigued by the mechanism, but some say they want to see more evidence that the chemistry is plausible.
Andrew Steele of the Carnegie Institution for Science has been studying martian organics when he noticed signs of corrosion in meteorites in which<|fim_middle|> says he hasn't been able to model the system computationally because many variables are still unknown. But he explains that electrical potentials can increase dramatically in nanoscale galvanic cells. William Zimmerman, who studies microfluidic systems, agrees that these ERC reactions are "perfectly plausible" at the proposed scales.
Ice reactions could have helped form Titan's dunes
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Title: Electrochemistry could explain Mars's organics
Author: Sam Lemonick | the organic molecules had been found. The corrosion made him wonder if an electrochemical process could have created the molecules. That led him to ERC—a process that chemists have used in which an electrochemical potential drives reduction of CO2 to yield CO and simple organics.
Credit: Andrew Steele
Scientists propose that the minerals titano-magnetite (a) and pyrite (b) sandwiching brine in cracks between them (c)--like in this slice of a martian meteorite--could form galvanic cells that electrochemically reduce carbon dioxide to organic molecules.
He and his colleagues propose that neighboring micrometer-thick layers of iron-rich and iron-poor minerals could act as electrodes in a galvanic cell, with a brine moving through cracks in the rock serving as the electrolyte. At low pH, Steele says, electrochemical reactions could reduce CO2 dissolved in the brine to make organic molecule like methane and formate.
"This inspiring study shows how materials complexity can translate into very interesting localized reaction conditions," electrochemist Frank Marken of the University of Bath says. He adds that the process could be the first step in developing a chemical environment that could be compatible with the beginnings of life. And Kirsten Siebach, a planetary geologist at Rice University, says the process could have led to organics on Earth too.
But Marken and others aren't ready to say the researchers' explanation is complete. They are skeptical that the proposed system has enough energy to reduce CO2 and suggest another source, such as light, might be needed. David Fermin, an electrochemist at the University of Bristol, says one way to test the energetics of the system is to replicate it in a lab.
Steele says he's working on such a demonstration, and | 363 |
Power Promotes John Mitchell
Milwaukee Power Promotes John Mitchell
January 20, 2022, Mequon, WI – The Milwaukee Power has promoted John Mitchell to Associate Head Coach.
VP Hockey Operations/General Manager Kevin Marion will continue as interim Head Coach for the remainder of this season<|fim_middle|> contract with the Anaheim Ducks, completing his 200th career professional game in 2014. Following his playing career, John moved on to coaching, first with Team Wisconsin in 2015, then to University School of Milwaukee in 2018, moving on the Power for the 2021-22 season.
Preview – Power Head to Peoria For Two Games
Recap – Power Fall To Mustangs |
"From day one, John has proven himself as an invaluable member of our coaching staff and organization, said Chase Ernst, CEO of Local Hockey Partners/President of the Milwaukee Power. "His professionalism on the bench, knowledge of the game, commitment to our players and work ethic on and off the ice is second to none. I am tremendously proud of his growth this season and I am confident the Power's future is bright with John helping lead the way in his new capacity as Associate Head Coach," added Ernst.
"John is a huge asset to our organization. He is a great teacher of the game to our players both in practice and games," said Kevin Marion, VP Hockey Operations/General Manager. "We are excited for John to take on this role and continue his growth with the Milwaukee Power," added Marion.
A native of Neenah, Wisconsin, Mitchell brings experience from both a player and coaching perspective. He played two seasons in the USHL before heading to the University of Wisconsin to become a Badger where he was a NCAA National Champion and NCAA runner-up. After leaving Wisconsin, he signed an NHL | 224 |
Twenty Years
Jun 6, 2021 3 min read Short Fiction
Photo by Hiep Duong / Unsplash
With the curfew close, hardly any people were on the streets. Taxis were no longer running and the cleaners had started their nightly sanitizing.
A soldier at the end of a street bar, watched the machines trundle past. Their flashing lights reflected off his medals, which he wore on special occasions.
"He's drunk," said one of the bartenders that waited for him to finish.
"Nothing wrong with that.
"It's time for us to close."
"Let him be."
A young family rushed past on the street. The man carried a small child, and they disappeared into the shadow of an alley.
"If you want to worry about anyone, it should be them," the older bartender said.
"They didn't look like they were from around here."
"If they don't have a pass, an officer will pick them up."
The soldier waved his glass for another.
"No more," the young one said.
The soldier slapped the counter. "Yes."
The bartender turned his back to the<|fim_middle|> bars of light across the ceiling.
It had been twenty years since the war, and despite what the older bartender thought, the younger one remembered everything.
It had been twenty years since their visit was met with violence. Twenty years since they'd hunted his species down and tried to murder every one of them. Twenty years when they went after his home-world and destroyed it.
Yes, it was an anniversary. Just not one he felt was worth celebrating.
Today was my first real attempt to start organizing a content calendar and plan ahead. After yesterday's story running out of time again, I need to do what I can to get ahead of this daily schedule. This one was a little inspired by this work.
The first version of this played out as more telling versus showing, so I went for a walk and realized that I really wanted it to be a variation on Hemingway's "A Clean, Well Lighted Place."
The conflict, who we empathize with, and the location are all different. (Although it's not fully apparent, this one is a cyberpunk future, heavily drawn from more scrolling of DeviantArt). So, my apologies, to Hemingway for how much I bastardized his fine story. | man. "I won't give him another."
"Why must you be this way?" the older one said, taking a bottle over to top up the soldier's cup.
"You shouldn't encourage him."
"Hey, it's been twenty years. For these men, it's an anniversary."
The bartender shook his head. "It was just one man's death. Nothing more."
"Show some respect. You may be young, but that man leads us to victory."
The bartender didn't look at the older one, but took a cloth and wiped the counter. "I didn't know you'd fought."
The older bartender shook his head. "I didn't, but it doesn't stop me from recognizing what he did for our world."
The young bartender rolled his eyes, before pausing. "Were they really that bad?"
"You tell me. Those dirty Greys came down and almost wiped us out before he taught us to fight back. So if that soldier wants to mourn the man, we let him."
The young bartender returned to his work.
"How much do I owe you?" the soldier mumbled.
"It's on the house."
The old soldier saluted the bartender before he stumbled out of the bar.
The young bartender said nothing as he grabbed the man's glass and washed it.
The other bartender watched him work. "I know you're young, and you may not get it, but we need to remember the sacrifices of those that came before us."
"Fine. Are we done?"
The bartender shook his head. "Yeah, we're done."
The young bartender pulled the security gate down and held it while the older one locked it.
"What say I grab you a cuppa before you head home?" the older one asked.
"I want to get home before sunrise."
"Kid, I'm trying to say no hard feelings."
"It's okay. I'm just tired."
The older man grumbled, waving him away, frustrated he was being stubborn.
The younger man headed home. He stayed in the shadows of the streetlights, keeping an eye open for any officers hoping to get an easy ticket.
By the time he arrived at his small flat, the sky was already lightening, but he kept the lights off and readied himself for bed in the dark. He laid down, and although he was tired, he couldn't sleep. He stared at the roof, the sunlight projecting thin | 485 |
Melanoma is one of the most serious forms of cutaneous malignancies with an incidence of over two million people worldwide1. During 2010, an estimated 68,130 new patients were diagnosed with melanoma, and 8,700 deaths were attributed to the development of metastatic disease in the United States2. Compared to earlier stages of melanoma, the prognosis for patients with metastatic (stage IV) melanoma is very poor with six out of every seven skin cancer-related deaths being attributed to melanoma. However, our diagnostic and prognostic methods for melanoma are primarily histologic, such as Breslow's depth of invasion, falling far short of being able to accurately predict the overall survival, recurrence risk, or clinical outcomes for patients3. There are several methods of treatment for metastatic melanoma, including radiation therapy, immunotherapy, chemotherapy, and palliative surgery2, 4, 5. However, there exists a clear and unfortunate understanding that these therapies are only minimally effective in treating patients with advanced disease6.
MicroRNAs(miRNAs) are a set of small, average 22 nt in length, single-stranded, non-protein-coding RNA molecules that can recognize and bind 3'-untranslated regions (UTR) of mRNA, blocking translation of the gene or inducing cleavage of the mRNA7, 8. To date, a total of 15,172 miRNAs (Version 16.0), including 1,049 human miRNAs, have been registered in the miRbase database. The biogenesis of miRNA is similar to the other RNA starting from DNA transcription. A primary miRNA (pri-miRNA) is an independent transcript processed by RNA polymerase II (Pol II), which are bound in the nucleus by the microprocessor complex consisting of the RNase III-type endonuclease, Drosha, and its co-factor, Pasha (DGCR8). These enzymes can crop the pri-miRNA into a hairpin loop, cleaving off 3' and 5' regions of excess mRNA to give precursor miRNA (pre-miRNA) ~70 nt in length. Pre-miRNA is then actively transported to the cytoplasm by exportin-5 where it is bound by the RNAse III-type endonuclease, Dicer, which removes the loop, resulting in a duplex of complementary, mature miRNA sequences. One strand is bound by the RNA-induced silencing (RISC) complex, which guides mature miRNA to target mRNA for subsequent silencing. The remaining strand is usually degraded, but it may be bound by RISC and target its own mRNAs, which are denoted with an asterisk (i.e., miR-10b and miR-10b*)9, 10.
In both plants and animals, miRNAs are capable of mediating gene expression by influencing the RNA's stability and/or translational resspression11, 12. Impressively, a single miRNA can potentially bind hundreds to thousands of its cognate mRNA 3'UTR sequences. It is predicted that miRNAs may regulate upwards of 30% of all mammalian genes' expression, due to their critical function in gene regulation and expression8. Thus, it is meaningful to understand their roles and significance in the essential cellular events, such as development, differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis, which account for carcinogenesis, tumor progression, and metastasis13-16. MiRNA synthesis and function is summarized in Figure 1.
Following a pilot study connecting B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and deregulated expression of miR-15a and miR-16-117, it has been demonstrated that more than 50% of miRNA genes are located in cancer-associated genomic regions or within fragile sites18, and more and more miRNAs have been identified to play a central role in the pathogenesis of human cancers. Although it was in 2006 that the first study on miRNA in melanoma has reported that 86% of primary melanoma cell lines had DNA copy number alterations in genomic loci containing miRNA genes19, studies focusing on the roles of miRNA in the pathogenesis and development of melanoma have bloomed since 2008. Figure 2 illustrates the miRNAs reported by more than two studies or confirmed by functional studies in the progression of melanoma20-26, suggesting that miRNAs play an important role in melanocyte and melanoma biology. To date, there are 77 publications that can be retrieved in PUBMED when using keywords "melanoma and miRNA"; more than 99% of them were published in the latest three years, and half of them were published from 2010 to 2011, which is evidence that this research field is rapidly expanding. However, a few knowledge and understanding gaps need to be filled before taking full advantage of miRNA signatures in melanoma research. In 2010, we were invited to author a review summarizing the accomplishments on the research of miRNA and melanoma27. Here, based on the previous review, we will highlight the latest progress in this field.
The role of miRNAs in tumorigenesis depends on their target genes' classification and abundance. When targeting tumor suppressor genes, these over-expressed miRNAs will play the promoting tumor roles as oncogenes; likewise, when targeting oncogenes, these miRNAs will have the characteristics of tumor suppressors. Kitago et al. reported that miR-532-5p directly targeted the runt-related transcription factor 3 (RUNX3) tumor suppressor during the progression from melanocyte to metastatic melanoma28. MiR-532-5p was shown to be significantly up-regulated in melanoma cells compared to normal melanocytes and in metastatic melanoma tissue compared to primary melanoma tissue. The transfection of anti-miR-532-5p molecules to the melanoma cells rescued the expression of RUNX3. Methylation analysis of the RUNX3 promoter region showed that transcriptional regulation was not a major regulatory mechanism for the down-regulation of RUNX3 expression in melanoma, suggesting miR-532-5p induced post-transcriptional regulation played an important role in melanoma progression.
Zhang et al. demonstrated that the expression of miR-210, the most prominent miRNA up-regulated by hypoxia and a direct transcriptional target of hypoxia inducible factors (HIFs), was elevated in multiple cancer types and correlated with breast cancer and melanoma metastases, respectively. MiR-210 over-expression in cancer cells bypassed hypoxia-induced cell-cycle arrest by directly targeting the expression of MNT, which is a gene known as one of the Myc antagonists. The miR-210-mediated abolishment of hypoxia-induced cell-cycle arrest was restored by the loss of Myc5. This finding indicated that miR-210 influenced the hypoxia response in tumor cells by triggering a Myc-like response by targeting MNT expression.
The miR-200 family has received much attention for suppressing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) as well as their down-regulation in some tumors promotes invasion and metastasis. Interestingly, Elson et al. showed that levels of miR-200 are increased in melanoma cell lines compared to normal melanocytes. In melanoma cell lines, the expression of miR-200 members has no significant effect on suppressing invasion but instead leads to a switch between modes of invasion. For example, miR-200c results in a higher proportion of cells thus adopting the rounded, amoeboid-like mode of invasion by reduced expression of myristoylated alanine-rich protein kinase C substrate (MARCKS); meanwhile, miR-200a results in a protrusion-associated elongated mode of invasion by reduced actomyosin contractility. This study improved our understanding of the impacts of the miR-200 family on suppressing invasion and metastasis, and implied a novel insight of these miRNAs in melanoma29.
Recently, miR-34 was identified as a target and a potential key responder of the tumor suppressor gene product, p53. Ectopic expression of miR-34a induced a G1 cell-cycle arrest, senescence, and apoptosis, which suggested that miR-34 was a potential tumor suppressor12. The altered expression of miR-34 was also found in melanoma progression22, 24, 30. Lodygin et al. reported that miR-34a expression is silenced in several types of cancer due to the aberrant CpG methylation of its promoter. Reportedly, 43.2% of melanoma cell lines and 62.5% of primary melanoma samples displayed CpG methylation of the miR-34a promoter and loss of miR-34a expression, whereas the two samples of normal melanocytes included in the study did not show promoter methylation30. Migliore et al. identified three miRNAs, miR-34b, miR-34c, and miR-199a*, in melanoma cells that negatively regulate the expression of MET, which is an oncogene that encodes the tyrosine kinase receptor for hepatocyte growth factor24. MET is frequently over-expressed in many human tumors and promotes the 'invasive growth' that results from the stimulation of cell motility and protection from apoptosis. Exogenous expression of these miRNAs in primary melanoma cells led to a decreased MET protein expression and resulted in the impairment of MET-mediated motility in these cells24. Recently, Yan et al. detected the expression level of miR-34a in uveal melanoma cells and melanocytes and found that miR-34a had been actively expressed in melanocytes but not in uveal melanoma cells. Additionally, the transfection of miR-34a into melanoma cells led to a significant repression of their growth and migration by down-regulating the expression of c-Met directly and the expression of phosphorylated Akt (p-Akt) and other cell-cycle-related proteins indirectly 22.
Mazar et al. found the levels of miR-211 were reduced in melanoma cell lines compared with expression levels in melanocytes. Ectopically expressing miR-211 in different melanoma cell lines caused significant growth inhibition and reduced invasiveness by cleaving the mRNA and inhibiting the translation of KCNMA1, a highly expressed protein in metastasizing melanoma, prostate cancer, and glioma31. Another research study resulted in a similar but more interesting conclusion. MiR-211 is encoded within the sixth intron of TRPM1, which is known as melastatin and is greatly down-regulated in metastatic melanomas; it is widely believed to function as a melanoma tumor suppressor. Levy et al. reported that the tumor suppressive activity of TRPM1 in melanoma is not mediated by this gene itself but instead by miR-211 hosted within an intron of TRPM1 because of the increasing expression of miR-211 but not a TRPM1 reduced migration and invasion of invasive human melanomas cells. This result implicates miR-211 as a suppressor of melanoma invasion whose expression is silenced or selected against via the suppression of the entire TRPM1 locus during human melanoma progression. Additionally, they also identified three central node genes, IGF2R, TGFBR2, and NFAT5, as the target of miR-21132. Notably, the micropthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), which is important for melanocyte development and function, is needed for high TRPM1 expression31, and thus, MITF contributes to miR-211 expression, suggesting that the tumor-suppressor activities of MITF may at least be partially executed through miR-211's tumor suppressing effect.
MiR-196a is another documented tumor suppressor in melanoma by Dr.Bosserhoff's group 33, 34. First, they found that miR-196a was significantly down-regulated in malignant melanoma cell lines and tissue samples when screening differential miRNAs. Re-expressing miR-196a in vitro can dramatically reduce the invasive behavior of melanoma cells, which is partially believed to account for the negative regulating expression of the transcription factor HOX-C8, which is a member belonging to the homeobox genes family. By investigating a potential "miR-196a → HOX-C8 → target gene" model, they further identified cadherin-11, calponin-1, and osteopontin as the downstream targets of miR-196a34. Additionally, they elucidated that down-regulated miR-196a in melanoma cells leads to enhanced HOX-B7 mRNA and protein levels, another member of the homeobox genes family, which subsequently raise Ets-1 activity, another transcription factor, by inducing basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). Ets-1 eventually up-regulates bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP-4) playing an important role in melanoma progression33.
Chen et al. reported that the over-expression of miR-193b in melanoma cell lines repressed cell proliferation by down-regulating cyclin D1 (CCND1). They identified 31 miRNAs that are differentially expressed (13 up-regulated and 18 down-regulated) in metastatic melanomas relative to benign nevi by profile-analyzing tissue samples from benign nevi and metastatic melanomas. Notably, miR-193b was significantly down-regulated in the melanoma tissues examined. Functional studies revealed miR-193b is a tumor suppressor in melanoma. Their study indicates that miR-193b is able to repress cell proliferation and regulate CCND1 expression, suggesting that the deregulation of miR-193b may play an important role in melanoma development35.
The development of rational treatments for melanoma will depend on our taking advantage of its clinical features' molecular basis. The necessary understanding of the molecular genetics underlying melanoma is gradually emerging36. Many key genes and signaling pathways have been characterized for their functions associated with melanoma. For example, the micropthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) is one of the most recognizable oncogenes in melanoma, which regulates cell proliferation and apoptosis, and is over-expressed in 10-20% of human melanoma32. Also, it is a member in Myc supergene family of basic helix-loop-leucine-zipper transcription factors, which are necessary for functional melanocyte formation37. Because MITF's critical role in melanoma progression, several recent studies have explored miRNAs' impact on melanoma through MITF mediated pathways.
MicroRNA.org, an online database for miRNA targets prediction, provides more than 300 miRNA candidates that putatively target MITF. However, only few of them have been verified.
MiR-137 is located in the chromosomal region, 1p22, which is known to harbor an allele for melanoma susceptibility. The bioinformatics and in vitro analyses verified that miR-137 had targeted MITF in melanoma cells20. Most recently, Chen et al. reported the down-regulation of MITF by miR-137 in uveal melanoma cells38. Additionally, the over-expression of miR-137 in uveal melanoma cells can lead to a significant decrease in cell growth through inducing G1 cell cycle arrest, which might be due to its suppression on oncogenic tyrosine kinase protein receptor c-Met, cell cycle-related protein CDK6, and MITF38.
Segura et al. described miR-182 also as a negative regulator of MITF expression25. MiR-182 is located in 7q31-34, a chromosomal region frequently altered in melanoma<|fim_middle|>7 acted as a tumor suppressor and usually decreased in uveal melanoma as previously described. Chen et al described one avenue to increase the expression levels of miR-137 through treatment with a DNA hypomethylating agent, 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine, or a histone deacetylase inhibitor, trichostatin A, for down-regulating its cognate target genes MITF and CDK638. MiR-182 is a pro-metastatic miRNA frequently over-expressed in melanoma. Huynh et al. assessed the effect of anti-miR-182 oligonucleotides in a mouse model with melanoma liver metastasis and confirmed that miR-182 levels were effectively down-regulated in the tumors of anti-miR-treated mice. This study implies that anti-miR may be a promising therapeutic strategy for metastatic melanoma74. Targeted delivery of RNA-based therapeutics for cancer therapy remains a challenge. By developing an improved liposome-polycation-hyaluronic acid (LPH) nanoparticle vehicle, Chen et al. reported that miR-34a was successfully delivered to B16-F10 melanoma lung metastasis-bearing mice, and it could specifically suppress the surviving expression in the metastatic tumor and reduced tumor load in the lung75.
There were approximately 40 publications from the past year and a half that reported the involvement of miRNA in melanoma research from both laboratory and clinical settings, which evidences the perspective of miRNA as one of the most valuable biomarkers and therapeutic targets in current melanoma research. We are pleased to find the that research trend of miRNA and melanoma has changed from solely searching altered specific miRNAs to exploring molecular networks and connections between miRNAs and signaling pathways involved in the progression of melanoma (Table 1). Certainly, a better understanding of the biological machinery of miRNA function will allow us to visibly observe the genetic impacts on carcinogenesis and to explore effective therapeutic strategies for conquering melanoma in the near future.
We specifically acknowledge the Ochsner Journal for giving us a permission to represent partial contents from our pervious publication "MicroRNA in melanoma". We also appreciate Ms. Amy Brown for her editorial assistance. | . MiR-182 was demonstrated to increase the invasive potentials of melanoma cells by repressing MITF and FOXO3, a Forkhead family transcription factor. Importantly, 7q31-34 also harbors c-Met (encodes hepatocyte growth factor receptor with tyrosine-kinase activity) and BRAF (member of the raf/mil family of serine/threonine protein kinases), two important regulators in the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway39. They found that miR-182 was over-expressed not only in human melanoma cell lines but also in tissue specimens. These results were inversely correlated with MITF and FOXO3 expression in the prediction of melanoma progression and development. Moreover, miR-182 ectopic expression in melanoma cells stimulated the anchorage-independent growth and invasion using an in vitro extracellular matrix assay, and promoted melanoma lung metastasis in a mouse model, whereas miR-182 down-regulation impeded invasion and triggered apoptosis of melanoma cells.
MiR-340 is capable of causing mRNA degradation by interacting with its 3'-UTR of MTIF. Interestingly, the RNA-binding protein coding region determinant-binding protein (CRD-BP) is highly expressed in melanoma and can directly bind the 3'-UTR of MITF mRNA thus preventing miR-340 access, resulting in the stabilization of the MITF transcript and the elevation the transcription of MITF40.
As described earlier, miRNA has a similar transcription and regulatory process to other RNA molecules. MITF has been demonstrated as a transcriptional factor37. Ozsolak et al. identified a number of miRNAs that were regulated by MITF in melanoma cells using nucleosome mapping and linker sequence analyses41. These miRNAs included some members of let-7 family (let-7a-1, -7d, -7f-1 and -7i), miR-221/222, miR-17-92 cluster, miR-106-363 cluster, miR-29, miR-146a, miR-148b and miR-125b41. A few of them, such as let-7, miR-17-92, miR-221/222, and miR-148, have been documented for their abilities to connect many key genes and to signal pathways to melanoma. Here, we will illustrate a MITF-centered regulatory loop with the involvement of multiple miRNAs/mRNAs/pathways (Figure 3).
The Let-7 family is highly conserved across species in sequence and function, which were first validated to be involved in tumorigenesis42. Schultz et al. revealed five members of the let-7 family (let-7a, -7b, -7d, -7e, and -7g) as being significantly down-regulated in primary melanoma when compared with benign nevi, which suggested that the let-7 family might be tumor suppressors in melanoma43. The ectopic over-expression of let-7b diminished the anchorage-independent growth ability of melanoma cells and inhibited the cell-cycle progression. The over-expression of let-7b eventually repressed cyclins (D1, D3 and A) and cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK4) all of which had been described to play a role in melanoma development. Most recently, another study showed that the over-expression of let-7b in the melanoma cell line B16-F10 exhibited an inhibition of both cellular proliferation and colony formation. Let-7b can reduce lung metastasis by repressing the expression of basigin, which is a stimulator for tumor cells producing matrix metalloproteinases (mmps) and is highly expressed on the surface of tumor cells44.
Let-7a is considered lost in melanoma when one is comparing primary melanocytes to malignant melanoma cell lines. Sequencing analysis suggested Let-7a had an interaction with the 3'UTR of integrin β3 mRNA26. Integrin β3 is highly related to melanoma progression and leads to an enhanced migratory and an enhanced invasive potential of melanoma cells45. The transfection of melanoma cells with let-7a pre-miR molecules resulted in the down-regulation of integrin β3 mRNA and protein expression, which suggested that the loss of let-7a expression might be one of the essential regulatory mechanisms leading to an increase integrin β3 expression in melanoma cells26. Muller et al. also proved that the over-expression of let-7a in melanoma cells reduced their invasive potential by approximately 75%; meanwhile transfection with let-7a anti-miRs and anti-sense oligonucleotides that directly binds and inhibits the actions of miRNAs, resulted in the induction of the integrin β3 expression and induced the migration of anti-let-7a-transfected melanocytes. These findings revealed let-7a to be an important integrin β3 regulator, and the loss of let-7a is thus involved in the development and progression of malignant melanoma.
The miR-17-92 cluster locates to chromosome 13 and contains 6 members (miR-17, -18a, -19a, -20a, -19b-1 and -92a-1), while another miRNA cluster, miR-106-363that shares many similarities with the miR-17-92 cluster locates to the X chromosome; it also consists of 6 members (miR-106a, -18b, -20b, -19b-2, -92a-2 and -363). Both miRNA clusters are described as being oncogenic and found to be highly expressed in a variety of cancers46, 47. Muller et al. compared the miRnomes of normal human melanocytes and well characterized melanoma cell lines derived from primary tumors and melanoma metastases and showed that all members of the miR-17-92 cluster were up-regulated in primary tumor cell lines compared with normal melanocytes. The expression of the miR-17-92 cluster was even higher in metastatic cell lines with an approximately two-fold up-regulation as compared to primary melanoma cell lines. The expression of the miR-106-363 cluster was similar to the expression of the miR-17-92 cluster in melanocytes and melanoma cells. They detected a strong up-regulation of miR-106a expression in primary tumor cells and a further increase in expression levels in metastatic melanoma cells48. In addition to finding miR-17-5p, miR-18a, miR-20a, and miR-92a over-expressed and miR-146a, miR-146b, and miR-155 down-regulated in the majority of melanoma cell lines with respect to melanocytes, Levati et al. found that ectopic expression of miR-155 in melanoma cells inhibits the proliferation49. These results imply that the miR-17-92 cluster would be involved in melanoma progression.
Both miR-221 and miR-222 are regulated by MITF at the transcription level21. These two miRNAs are clustered on the X chromosome, are transcribed as a common precursor, and are over-expressed in a variety of cancers with the function of repressing the c-Kit receptor. In normal melanocytes, stem cell factor (SCF)-dependent c-Kit-mediated signaling supports proliferation, migration, and differentiation of cells50. Constitutive activation of c-Kit receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) alone does not induce a tumorigenic transformation of the melanocytes in neither in vitro nor in vivo51; however, cutaneous melanoma are often characterized with a loss of c-Kit expression52. The inhibition of c-Kit RTK in c-Kit-positive melanoma showed an increased apoptosis and G1 phase cell-cycle arrest52, while the re-expression of c-Kit in the c-Kit-negative melanoma cells restored c-Kit-mediated apoptosis and resulted in a loss of tumorigenic potential53. In accordance with these observations, Felicetti et al. found that up-regulated miR-221/222 repressed the expression of the c-Kit receptor and p27Kip1 (cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1B, CDKN1B) tumor suppressor during melanoma progression from a weakly invasive primary tumor to a more invasive phenotype21. The over-expression of miR-221/222 in melanoma cells led to an increase in their proliferation and invasion in vitro and accelerated tumor growth in a mouse melanoma model. Conversely, treatment with anti-miRs against both miRNAs resulted in a reduced proliferation rate and migration of melanoma cells with a high level of miR-221/222 abilities. They also found that the elevated expression of miR-221/222 in melanoma cells was caused by the loss of a transcription factor, promyelocytic leukemia zinc finger (PLZF). PLZF binds to the miR-221/222 promoter and inhibits their transcription in normal melanocytes.
Cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) has been reported to phosphorylate PLZF, triggering its ubiquitination and subsequent degradation54. Furthermore, p27Kip1 is important for the efficient induction of G1 cell-cycle arrest by PTEN and is necessary for PTEN-induced down-regulation of CDK2 55, 56. Additionally, PTEN is an inhibitor for Ha-ras-mediated astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1) transactivation 57. AEG-1 directly binds PLZF, preventing it from binding its target promoters58, including those of miR-221/222. Therefore, PTEN may be an important negative regulator of miR-221/222 in melanoma as it is capable to maintain PLZF levels to bind the miR-221/222 promoters, preventing their transcription. Although there are no miRNAs currently described to target PTEN in melanoma, recent reports highlighted miR-221/222 in aggressive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and hepatocarcinoma as oncomirs capable of directly targeting and inhibiting the expression of the tumor suppressor, PTEN 59, 60. As a result, there may be a positive feedback loop for miR-221/222 expression, promoting melanoma progression through the joint inhibition of PTEN and p27Kip1 and blocking PTEN/AEG-1/PLZF and/or p27Kip1/CDK2/PLZF-mediated repression of miR-221/222.
Additionally, Igoucheva et al. confirmed that c-Kit was down-regulated by miR-221/222 and revealed that c-Kit regulation was mainly based on miRNA-dependent post-transcriptional mechanisms instead of an AP-2-dependent transcriptional mechanism50. Recently, mutations have been identified in both miRNAs and target genes that disrupt regulatory relationships. Godshalk et al. described a genetic variant in the 3' UTR of the KIT; this KIT variant results in a mismatch in the seed region of a miR-221 complementary site and thus leads to an increased expression of the KIT oncogene 61.
Haflidadóttir et al. suggested that miR-148 affects MITF mRNA expression in melanoma cells through a conserved binding site in the 3'UTR sequence of mouse and human MITF37. Interestingly, it seemed that MITF transcriptionally regulated the expression of miR-148b in melanoma cells41, which showed that there was a negative feedback regulation between miR-148 and MITF to control their balance.
Several years ago, we and other groups independently demonstrated that miRNAs were relatively more stable and tolerate RNAases better than mRNAs in both archived tissue samples and in blood samples27, 41, 62, which suggests that miRNAs have the potential to be valuable, practical, and reliable biomarkers for disease states.
Recently, several groups employed a high through-put microarray technique to discover miRNA biomarkers from formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) melanoma samples9, 63, 64. A number of miRNAs have shown the potential to become diagnostic markers for melanoma based on data from clinical samples and array analysis9, 63, 64.Radhakrishnan et al. examined the presence of oncogenic miRNA (oncomirs) in uveal melanoma using FFPE specimens by comparing miRNA expression profiles between non-invasive tumor and melanoma metastatic to the liver. They revealed 19 miRNAs that were expressed in non-metastatic melanoma but were absent in metastatic melanoma, and they revealed 11 miRNAs with the opposite expression pattern65.
Kanemaru et al, in particular, indentified the serum level of miR-221 as a new tumor marker in patients with malignant melanoma67. MiR-221 is usually up-regulated in malignant melanoma cells as we discussed earlier. By measuring the miR-221 levels in serum from 94 malignant melanoma patients and 20 healthy controls, they found that the circulating miR-221 was detectable and could be quantified in serum samples; the serum levels of miR-221 were significantly increased in malignant melanoma patients when compared to healthy controls. Among the malignant melanoma patients, the miR-221 levels were significantly increased in patients with advanced melanoma compared to those with melanoma in situ, and the levels were correlated with tumor thickness. Moreover, they also revealed a decreasing tendency for the miR-221 levels along with the surgical removal of the primary tumor, but miR-221 was found to increase again at recurrence, which strongly suggested that circulating miR-221 may be useful not only for diagnosing malignant melanoma and for differentiating melanoma with different stages, but it could also be useful as a prognostic marker for patients with malignant melanoma67.
Like miR-221, some other miRNAs have been reported for their prognostic signatures in melanoma. Worley et al. were the first to use a genome-wide, microarray-based approach to investigate the value of miRNA expression patterns in predicting metastatic risk in uveal melanoma. They found the most significant discriminator to classify low and high metastatic risk was let-7b and miR-199a expression. A classifier system that included the top six miRNA discriminators accurately distinguished melanoma patient tissues with high metastatic propensity with 100% sensitivity and specificity23. Satzger et al. found that miR-15b and miR-210 were significantly up-regulated in parallel with the down-regulation of miR-34a in melanoma compared to nevi. These three miRNAs were then analyzed in 128 primary melanoma patients, including detailed clinical follow-up information; only the high expression of miR-15b was significantly correlated with the poor recurrence-free survival and overall survival by the univariate Kaplan-Meier and the multivariate Cox analyses. Furthermore, the transfection of anti-miR-15b into melanoma cells led to a reduced tumor cell proliferation and an increased apoptosis. Their results showed that miR-15b might be a novel melanoma biomarker contributing to poor prognosis and tumorigenesis68. Segura et al. identified the signature of a panel of miRNAs for predicting post-recurrence survival in metastatic melanoma by analyzing 59 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded melanoma metastasis samples. Eighteen over-expressed miRNAs are significantly correlated with longer survival (>18 months). The signature of a six-miRNA panel (miR-150, miR342-3p, miR-455-3p, miR-145, miR-155, and miR-497) can have a better advantage to classify stage III patients into different prognostic categories because it is an independent predictor of survival69. Additionally, the down-regulation of miR-191 and the up-regulation of miR-193b were reported to be associated with poor melanoma-specific survival70.
Since miRNAs are critical in regulating many cellular events and are highly deregulated in various cancers, including melanoma, it is likely that miRNAs could be effective targets for treatment. The basic strategies of miRNA-based therapeutics are: first, delivering highly expressed miRNAs that are tolerated in normal tissues but are lost in diseased cells, which may provide a general strategy for miRNA replacement therapies71; and second, using specific compounds targets aberrant oncogenic miRNAs, especially for over-expressed miRNAs.
Sun et al. recently found that genistein, an isoflavone isolated from soybeans, inhibited human uveal melanoma cells growth in vitro and in vivo and altered the expression of miR-27a and its target gene zinc finger and BTB domain containing 10 (ZBTB10), hinting at the contributions of miR-27a to genistein's inhibitory effect on melanoma growth72. Das et al. found that human polynucleotide phosphorylase (hPNPase(old-35)), a type I IFN-inducible 3'-5' exoribonuclease, can specifically down-regulate the expression of miR-221, a regulator of p27(kip1) and usually over-expressed in melanoma, as stated previously. This study implied that targeting over-expression of hPNPase(old-35) might provide an effective therapeutic strategy for miR-221-overexpressing and IFN-resistant tumors, such as melanoma73. MiR-13 | 3,970 |
Keep It Going At Home
Adam Peaty encourages younger generation in BBC 'Lockdown Life' series
World champion swimmer Adam Peaty had a supportive and motivating message for younger athletes in the midst of the third national lockdown.
Peaty featured on BBC Breakfast's new series 'Lockdown Life' which sees some famous and familiar faces explain how they're coping during lockdown and offering some top tips.
The breaststroke word record holder encouraged everyone to 'find something you enjoy' when it comes to exercise and insisted the younger generation are not 'falling behind', as he went on to explain that he didn't take swimming seriously until the age of 15.
He said: "I feel like a lot of kids feel like they're falling behind and that's the kind of culture we've got in sport now, where they look at the top of the top and say 'I want to be there'.
"That's a great thing, but I think kids have got to remember they're still kids, they can still have fun, it<|fim_middle|> make it short and snappy and as long as you're doing something it's better than nothing."
From https://www.swimming.org/sport/adam-peaty-lockdown-life/
Previous PostREGISTRATION OPENS for the Connacht Region Annual Conference 2021Next PostClub Fixtures for FISH OUT OF WATER | 's not going to make much of a difference.
"It's great that kids work hard, but you're not falling behind at all. I think a lot of kids have just got to relax. You are kids, enjoy it, enjoy the journey.
"If you are watching this right now and you're 12, 13, 14 – I didn't even start taking swimming seriously till I was 15 and six years later I was Olympic gold medallist.
"It's not going to be like that for everyone but I chose the early teen years to have a little bit more fun and I was training two hours a week.
"So you're not falling behind, enjoy what you do, enjoy this family time hopefully and just walk more than yesterday I guess."
Find something you enjoy
As an elite athlete, the reigning Olympic champion has been able to continue training throughout lockdown.
However, Peaty revealed he had taken up yoga during the first lockdown and that also helps him to cope.
He added: "There's so much content out there. If it's on TikTok or if it's on Instagram, or if it's simply going for a walk.
"Find something that you enjoy. There's nothing worse than doing something you hate. I hate running, I hate it!
"That's why I don't do it, so I try something else or try and find something on YouTube to do.
"But there's so much content out there and it's really about making it enjoyable, make it fun, | 307 |
Comparative analysis is one of the most powerful methods available for understanding the diverse and complex systems found in biology, but it is often limited by a lack of comprehensive taxonomic sampling. Despite the recent development of powerful genome technologies capable of producing sequence data in large quantities (witness the recently completed first draft of the human genome), there has been relatively little change in how evolutionary studies are conducted. The application<|fim_middle|> order to demonstrate the practicality of these ideas and the potential benefit for functional genomic analysis, we describe a pilot project we are conducting to simultaneously sequence large numbers of vertebrate mitochondrial genomes. | of genomic methods to evolutionary biology is a challenge, in part because gene segments from different organisms are manipulated separately, requiring individual purification, cloning, and sequencing. We suggest that a feasible approach to collecting genome-scale data sets for evolutionary biology (i.e., evolutionary genomics) may consist of combination of DNA samples prior to cloning and sequencing, followed by computational reconstruction of the original sequences. This approach will allow the full benefit of automated protocols developed by genome projects to be realized; taxon sampling levels can easily increase to thousands for targeted genomes and genomic regions. Sequence diversity at this level will dramatically improve the quality and accuracy of phylogenetic inference, as well as the accuracy and resolution of comparative evolutionary studies. In particular, it will be possible to make accurate estimates of normal evolution in the context of constant structural and functional constraints (i.e., site-specific substitution probabilities), along with accurate estimates of changes in evolutionary patterns, including pairwise coevolution between sites, adaptive bursts, and changes in selective constraints. These estimates can then be used to understand and predict the effects of protein structure and function on sequence evolution and to predict unknown details of protein structure, function, and functional divergence. In | 235 |
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Hilton San Francisco Financial District is<|fim_middle|>6
Hotel Holiday Inn San Francisco-Golden Gatewaydeals from ₱8,658
Hotel Hotel Warwick San Franciscodeals from ₱7,914
The Clancy, Autograph Collection
Grand Hyatt San Francisco
W San Francisco
Hyatt Centric Fisherman'S Wharf San Francisco
Club Quarters Hotel in San Francisco
Courtyard San Francisco Union Square
Hotel The Park Central San Francisco
Hyatt Regency San Francisco | a 3 star hotel close to Chinatown in the centre of the city. The Fisherman's Wharf area is less than 2 miles and the Golden Gate Bridge 4 miles.
Recently renovated this hotel has 544 air conditioned guest rooms and suites on 27 floors with en-suite bathroom, hair dryer, direct dial telephone, iron and ironing board, flat screen television with satellite TV channels and pay per view movies, coffee maker and room safe. Wireless high speed internet access is available throughout the hotel and is free of charge. The 750 restaurant is open for breakfast and the 750 bar is open for lunch and dinner and serves a comfort cuisine with a north Californian flavour. Private in room dining is also available.
The spa and health club has a sauna, a range of massage treatments and a fully equipped fitness room. Private car parking is possible on site and charges will apply. For conferences and meetings there is a business centre and over 20,000 square feet of meeting space, complete with modern technical equipment.
750 Kearny Street, San Francisco, 94108, USA
Hypoallergenic rooms
Hypoallergenic bedding
Hotel InterContinental Hotel Mark Hopkins San Franciscodeals from ₱9,57 | 268 |
We hope to enlist<|fim_middle|> a big Mahalo to Terry Donnelly of Blue Dolphin Charters for his dedication to our community! Terry Received our first coconut award! | the help of like minded people and organizations worldwide so that we as a whole can make a positive change in conservation practices in Hawaii, Polynesia, and the World. Many places in Hawaii are on the verge of becoming protected areas, and we as a whole can work to implement these changes efficiently and positively!
From "The Garden Island" Newspaper 2004.
of thousands of tourists visiting yearly; Hawaiian huis, environmental groups, community members, and scientists alike are realizing that our marine resources are in trouble.
We need to know what our reefs look like and how abundant they are in different places around the island. Baseline surveys of our Marine Resources are imperative. What this means is that locals and scientists must examine the near shore marine coral reef as well as measure ocean health in offshore areas around each island. Baseline surveys are important to discover the health and abundance of animals on the reef, noting areas of importance and abundance, like where juvenile fish may shelter, turtle or monk seal areas, heavy coral spawning sites, other notable features as well as shoreline activity. Mapping the near shore with GPS (global positioning system), GIS (geographic information systems), as well as video and digital photo documentation can show the community what the reefs look like, provide an archive of the reef health if something was to harm it, and then let the community decide what is best for our reefs.
help Hawaii protect our ocean and land.
Many local groups here on Kauai like Waipa, Limahuli Valley, Hanalei Watershed Hui, Malama Maha'ulepu, Nawiliwili Watershed Council, Save Our Seas, and Reef Check have seen that their own fish catch sizes decreasing, and less abundance of marine animals. They have already taken action and currently are monitoring and surveying local reefs, while training community members, and high school students in these techniques that support Ahupua'a, MPA (Marine Protected Area) and resource conservation projects. Currently, there are NO Marine Protected Areas on Kauai! All of the other islands have them, but we must ask ourselves why we have none here.
Marine Protected Areas have many different designations, some are Hawaiian Sustenance Fishing grounds where native Hawaiians may fish, some are Fish Replenishment and Management Areas, where fish are left by fisherman and collectors to recover and "seed" other areas as ocean currents take the young of these animals and spread them around the islands. Some MPA's, like the tourist hot spot Hanauma Bay on Oahu, are Marine Life Conservation Districts and are completely protected areas only open to certain activities and even restrictions about fish feeding, litter, and suntan lotion apply. These areas are created by the community, for the community, and it is up to us to get together and make these Marine Protected Areas places that we all can agree on.
to make rules and help enforce rules because our own government can not. Bottom fishing and "gill net task forces" must take action and find ways to create restrictions on themselves so that they may care for fish populations, our resources.
Mike Sakamoto, author and TV personality has proposed "a Fishing Task Force to look into a Marine License, smaller bag limits, slot limits, closed seasons on ulua and other species, an ulua enhancement program (stocking of ulua) and other enhancement programs…" as well as "Spear Fishing Task Forces" so that we the fishermen come up with size and bag limits, tournament restrictions, and night diving regulations. All of these ideas are a great way to increase and monitor populations, and the community certainly will be able to come up with more.
us working together, with help from the state and federal agencies, to make sure that areas of high diversity are preserved and that future generations may have plentiful resources, we must create a bounty that will ensure the legacy of those that live on these islands.
The Voyage of the Kaisei is an on-going "Peace-Keeping" initiative that utilizes education and research to promote a fundamental change in the international attitude toward its ocean. The Kaisei's enlightening programs created by SOS are geared towards students of all ages and all countries. The Sailing Academy is a foreign exchange program for younger students interested in cultural harmony and the pursuit of building life-long friendships with people from other places.
Sunday August 1st, 2004 Kaisei set sail for the island of Ni'ihau with some lucky local students and a United Nations Film crew. These students learned how to sail a brigantine tall ship, ocean stewardship, and coral reef monitoring. Kaisei anchored off the North shore of Ni'ihau that evening and the crew was treated to a spectacular moonrise over the cliffs. The boat weighed anchor the next morning to run into the beginning of the tropical storm that blasted the island last Wednesday. Though the trip was slow returning, Kaisei and its professional crew arrived safely back in Hanalei late the next day.
A percent of Kaisei's fuel was BioDiesel, or recycled vegetable oil donated by Pacific BioDiesel of Maui. Save Our Seas incorporates alternative energy sources as part of a conscious effort to decrease the world's reliance on petro-chemicals. The new SOS alternative energy program focuses on Solar Plus energy, Wind generated energy, Hydrogen Fuel Cells, BioDiesel, and other viable alternative fuel sources.
The Tropic Bird is owned by Terry Donnelly of Blue Dolphin Charters, Ltd. Terry has been in the ocean recreation and tourist business on Kauai since 1980. He started out teaching scuba diving and now has a charter boat business, Blue Dolphin Charters, Ltd.
On July 7th, 2003, The Tropic Bird, voyaged down the Na Pali Coast to Nualolo Kai. (The first OP @ Sea trip) Students from the Youth Conservation Corp (YCC), and the Kaua'i Children's Discovery Museum (KCDM) were taught by local Educators about the Na Pali coast on the way to Nualolo Kai. At Nualolo Kai, the YCC was led by Sabra Kauka, President of the Na Pali Coast Ohana, to the ancient fishing village and temple site, and the students preformed preservation work and cultural activities. The KCDM was led by Donna Brown of REEF.org, and Maui Community College, Marine Option Program in a fish count and identification that will be added to a global database. Dave Raney led Reef Check divers on a reef survey that will be added to their global database.
On Sunday, October 5th, 2003, The Tropic Bird once again had a successful trip educating students from the Kaua'i Children's Discovery Museum (KCDM) and Myron B. Thompson Academy (MBTA). Students and community members were taught by local Educators, from UH Sea Grant, Reef Check, NOAA, and SOS about the flora, fauna and geology of Kipu Kai and Maha'ulepu. A Reef Check Survey was preformed within the Nawiliwili harbor inside the break wall, and a myriad of interesting and unique reef creatures and fish were found and surveyed. This trip was filmed by Storyteller Media, an international film crew from Australia.
February 8, 2004 Kaua'i Children's Discovery Museum (KCDM) and Myron B. Thompson Academy (MBTA). Students and community members voyaged to Kipu Kai to survey the south side of the bay and watch Humpback Whales.
Drug Free Learning Environment: As part of the militaries zero tolerance for drugs, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) implemented a random drug-testing program for all charter boats. This random drug-testing program has been very effective. Students actively participate in this program and are rewarded with incentives (like boat or helicopter trips, t-shirts etc.) donated from the community, a great deterrent for drugs. Students, crew, and captains will avoid certain situations because drugs may be around.
SOS sends out | 1,657 |
Tylocephale (meaning "swollen head", from the Greek τυλη meaning 'callus' or 'hard swelling' and κεφαλη meaning 'head') is a genus of pachycephalosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period. It was a herbivorous dinosaur, reaching in length and in body mass. It had the tallest dome of any known pachycephalosaur.
Tylocephale lived during the Campanian stage, around 74 million years ago. It was discovered in the Khulsan locality of the Barun Goyot Formation, Mongolia sometime between 1965 and 1971. The type species is T. g<|fim_middle|>ale.
See also
Timeline of pachycephalosaur research
References
External links
Tylocephale in the National History Museum's Dino Directory
Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of Asia
Fossil taxa described in 1974
Pachycephalosaurs
Taxa named by Teresa Maryańska
Taxa named by Halszka Osmólska
Ornithischian genera | ilmorei, described by Teresa Maryańska and Osmólska in 1974 based on a partial skull (specimen ZPAL MgD-I/105).
Pachycephalosaurids evolved in Asia and then migrated into North America, thus it is likely that Tylocephale migrated back into Asia. It is closely related to Prenoceph | 79 |
Circumference diameter calculator, formula and calculation examples
There are three ways to calculate the diameter of a circumference, by means of the area, the radius or the length of the circumference.
The simplest way to calculate the diameter of a circle is by means of the following diameter calculator.
Formulas for the calculation of the diameter of a circumference:
How to find the diameter of a circumference:
– How to calculate the diameter of a circle when you have the radius:
– How to calculate the diameter of a circle when you have the area:
– How to calculate the diameter of a circle when you have the length of the circumference:
Most important definitions:
1. Formula for the calculation of the diameter from the radius. The following equation describes the relationship between the diameter and the radius R of a circumference:
r: Radius of the circumference.
D: Diameter.
2. Formula for the calculation of the diameter from the Area. An equally simple formula determines the relationship between the diameter and the area of a circle:
A: Area of the circle.
π: Constant<|fim_middle|> basic definition is the distance from the center to the edge.
Number "pi" π: Pi is the name given to the relation of the circumference of a circle and the diameter. That means that, for any circle, you can divide the circumference (the distance around the circle) by the diameter and always get the same number. No matter how big or small the circle is, Pi remains the same.
Length of the circumference: See definition circumference.
Area of the circumference: Informally we could say that the area of a circle, are all the points that are enclosed in the circle. It is all that has a circle inside it.
Categories maths
© 2021 Derechos reservados - Contacto - Términos y condiciones legales | Number equivalent to 3.1415
3. Formula for the calculation of the diameter from the length of the circumference. This formula with the same simplicity of the others relates the diameter with the length of the circumference:
LC: Length of the circumference.
As you can see there are three ways to calculate the diameter of a circumference, the method you use of the following three will depend on the data you have (Radius, area or circumference length):
Step a. The radio data is indispensable in this method, the value is a numerical constant. Let's suppose that the radius is equal to 45 meters.
Step b. Substitute the previous value in formula No. 1, which depends on the radius: D = 2xR = 2 × 45 = 90 meters.
Step a. In this method of calculation you must have the area of the circle. In our case we are going to assume an area of 200cm ^ 2.
Step b. You must replace in the formula that depends on the bone area the No2. as follows: D = √ ((Ax4) / π) = (200 × 4) / 3.1415 = 15.96cm. If you are a retailer you will notice that the area is given with the distance squared (cm ^ 2), while the length (Diameter) is given in "cm".
Step a. The length of the circumference is indispensable for this way of calculating the diameter. We are going to assume a valos of length of circumference of 32mm.
Step b. Like all the previous methods, this is the same, it is simple. You only have to replace the formula No 3, in the following way: LC / π = 32 / 3.1415 = 10.19mm.
Diameter: The diameter of a circle or circumference is the length of the line that passes through the center and touches two points on its edge.
The diameter is also a chord. A chord is a line that joins two points in a circle. A diameter is a string that extends through the center point of the circle. It is the longest possible chord of any circle.
The center of a circle is the midpoint of its diameter. That is, it divides it into two equal parts, each of which is a radius of the circle. The radius is half the diameter.
Circumference: The circumference is the distance around the edge of the circle.
Circle: A circle is a shape with all points at the same distance from the center. If you measure the distance around a circle and divide it by the distance through the circle passing through the center, you will always approach a particular value, depending on the accuracy of your measurement. This value is approximately 3.14159265358979323846 … the Greek letter pi (pronounced Pi) is used to represent this value.
Radio: A | 625 |
Things To Do at and Near El Cortez Las Vegas
When it comes to Las Vegas casino properties, El Cortez is just different. Situated just blocks away from the Fremont Street Experience, El Cortez still proudly flaunts its "Spanish Colonial Revival" architecture that it did on opening<|fim_middle|> at El Cortez is playing the tables. Minimum bets on games like blackjack, craps, and roulette are commonly as low as $5. That type of dollar stretching value is tough to find on the Strip, and in our experience, the free drinks come early and often.
Get a cut and a shave: Gentlemen that need some grooming are likely to enjoy the experience at the Speakeasy Barbershop, a hidden gem located on the second level of El Cortez. An old-school cut and a straight razor shave are exactly what the doctor ordered when it comes to shaking the cobwebs and ensuring you look sharp for the day ahead in Vegas. Earning 5/5 stars on Yelp, we think you'll be satisfied with the service, experience, and look.
Grab a bite at Siegel's 1941: Notably, El Cortez was once partially owned by Bugsy Siegel of Flamingo fame. While Bugsy suffered an untimely demise, his name lives on at El Cortez in the form of a restaurant. While the restaurant commonly runs deals that attract value seekers to include a 24/7 $14.95 prime rib special, Vegas, and mob history buffs will enjoy the decor that recalls an earlier era of Sin City. See the full menu and specials here.
Catch happy hour: Hit the Parlour Bar for happy hour which runs daily from 5 pm – 7 pm and includes $3 Bud Light drafts, $5 cocktails, and $5 appetizers. Aside from this deal, there are numerous happy hour deals near El Cortez – Check 'em out!
Things To Do Near El Cortez
Located across the street, the Downtown Container Park is comprised of shopping, dining, and drinking establishments housed in shipping containers. There is commonly live entertainment or even karaoke scheduled for the stage near the rear of the complex. Check the calendar of events here. There is also a gigantic praying mantis that shoots fire from its antennae nighty.
Obviously, you'll need to walk over to the Fremont Street Experience to take advantage of free entertainment ranging from the overhead light show to live bands. While there, score a cheap (.99) shrimp cocktail at Lanai Express at Fremont, walk through Circa's new casino, tour the Mob Museum, or play Sigma Derby at The D. There are also a number of historically significant things worth checking out while downtown!
Check here for a full list of things to do on Fremont Street besides gambling.
El Cortez's location offers a great home base for those looking for a quieter hotel experience while also being steps away from the activities found nearby at resorts on Fremont Street.
Related: Check out our stays at a Premium Room at Flamingo, the Superior Room at Downtown Grand, and the recently renovated Binion's Hotel Apache.
Categories Properties, Things To Do in Vegas
Things To Do at and Near Golden Nugget Las Vegas
Things To Do at and Near 4 Queens Las Vegas | day in 1941. The property is so unique and historic, in fact, that it has been included on the National Registrar of Historic Places. While the property originally had less than 60 hotel rooms, it has since expanded to over 350 which includes the Cabana Suites across Ogden Avenue behind the property (Tip: They are among the quietest hotel rooms in downtown Las Vegas)
There are plenty of things to do at El Cortez beyond simply admiring its historic charm, many of which are gambling-focused.
See Also: Where to eat cheap in Las Vegas.
Things To Do at El Cortez
Play real token slots: While the vast majority of slot games in Vegas, and even at El Cortez have adopted TITO or "Ticket In, Ticket Out" technology, there are few real token dispensing options left at El Co. The remaining token slot games can be found near Ike's Bar, and are labeled with an overhead sign.
Play coin video poker: In addition to the vintage token slot games, El Cortez offers a large number of video poker machines that accept and dispense real quarters. If you're looking to fill some buckets and hear that endorphin triggering "ting, ting, ting" then El Cortez could be a great option.
Related: Where to find real coin slots in Vegas.
Cheap minimums: Among budget gambler's favorite things to do | 287 |
Fee Assistance Program /
Ashish Thakurdas Khanchandani
I will always be indebted to the AAMC Fee Assistance program, which single-handedly enabled me<|fim_middle|> Resources, Services, and Tools) program provides free resources to help you make wise financial decisions.
MCAT Official Prep Hub
The MCAT Official Prep Hub is where you can access your products received through the Fee Assistance Program, purchase new products, and view free resources.
LOG-ON | to put my best foot forward while applying to medical school.
Fee Assistance Program Application
Medical School: Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University
Expected Graduation Year: May 2024
Undergraduate Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Major: Quantitative Biology
Minor: Chemistry
Why I'm becoming a doctor
Growing up with immigrant parents, I saw how they didn't have good access to healthcare. Furthermore, growing up in an underserved community (Eastern North Carolina) showed me that the disparities I saw with my parents affected numerous factions of people across the region. I don't expect to single-handedly fix some of these systemic issues, but I am motivated to become a physician and go to medical school so that I can channel my strengths in STEM to play a small role in fixing these community-wide inequities. At the very least, I want to provide care to those families who don't have access to quality healthcare, like my parents years ago.
My experience with the AAMC Fee Assistance Program
I used the following benefits during my premed journey:
MCAT Official Prep Online-Only Bundle
Reduced MCAT registration fee
Waiver for AMCAS fees
Other ways I benefited from the AAMC Fee Assistance Program
I was able to have all my secondary fees waived. I learned about these typically by filling out the secondary or contacting the school. Overall, this was a huge burden that was lifted during stressful application cycles.
Advice to future applicants
Make sure to be as thorough as possible. Keep your tax returns, tuition stubs, your parent's finances, and any other pertinent financial information on hand. Additionally, even if you don't think you'd qualify, definitely still apply and see whether you will be approved. Fee Assistance Program application provides a section to explain any extenuating circumstances or provide additional information, so utilize this to explain your case and why you need the Fee Assistance Program. More information will never hurt most of the time. Also, just because AMCAS allows you to apply to up to 20 schools with the fee waiver, don't feel obligated to use all of that. Likewise, try to be efficient and good stewards of the resources allotted to you. It'll keep you less stressed and enable you to have a successful application cycle.
These students' testimonials were selected because they represent diverse stories. The views expressed herein are those of the students and do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the AAMC.
Contact the Fee Assistance Program
AAMC Attn: Fee Assistance Program 655 K Street N.W., Suite 100 Washington, DC 20001
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Canadian Fee Assistance Program Questions? Visit AFMC's website at https://www.afmc.ca/resources-data/education/aspirants-applicants/
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fap@aamc.org
The 2023 AAMC Fee Assistance Program application will open on February 6.
2023 Fee Assistance Program Essentials
Understanding the 2023 Fee Assistance Program Essentials is the first step in applying. This is required reading before completing your AAMC Fee Assistance Program application and necessary for a smooth application process.
The AAMC's FIRST (Financial Information, | 721 |
D<|fim_middle|>c-portion of an llama antibody that has been modified to block antibody recycling through FcRn binding and induces rapid depletion of the autoimmune disease-causing IgG autoantibodies. | utch llama antibody specialist ArgenX met the safety endpoint in a Phase II trial with ARGX 113 (efgartigimod), a first-in-class antibody that lowers pathogenic levels of IgG, in patients with the autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis.
According to the company, 75% of patients (N=24) with confirmed generalised muscle weakness reported a significant improvement in their MG-ADL scores over 6 weeks vs 25% who received placebo. Myasthenia Gravis Activity-of-Daily-Living is an eight-item patient-reported scale developed to assess MG symptoms and their effects on daily activities.
Furthermore ARGX-113 demonstrated strong clinical improvement over placebo as measured by the surrogate clinical efficacy scales Quantitative Myasthenia Gravis (QMG), and Myasthenia Gravis Composite (MGC) disease severity scores as well as the Myasthenia Gravis Quality of Life (MGQoL) score.
"These data demonstrate a rapid and sustained benefit in disease score after treatment with ARGX-113, supporting further development of the drug as a potential new option to fill the current treatment gap for MG patients," said James F. Howard Jr., principal investigator of the study.
Pharmacokinetic and pharmcodynamic data showed that patients in the treatment arm had a rapid and deep reduction of their total IgG levels and disease improvement was found to correlate with reduction in pathogenic IgG levels.
"These results strengthen our conviction that reducing pathogenic autoantibodies may offer an innovative approach to treat myasthenia gravis and could give rise to potential therapeutic benefits in other neuromuscular conditions that are similarly mediated. Further, through our deeper understanding of the drug's mechanism, we see promise of its potential across other disease categories as well, including autoimmune blood disorders or skin blistering diseases which we are evaluating in our two ongoing Phase II studies in immune thrombocytopenia and pemphigus vulgaris," said ArgenX's CMO Nicolas Leupin. The company, which recently licenced a cancer product, has already raised capital to finance Phase III development of ARG-113.
ARGX-113 was designed to exploit the natural interaction between IgG antibodies and the recycling receptor FcRn. It consists of the F | 480 |
BOSS ON CUP EXIT
Smith reflects on FA Cup loss...
SADDLERS' boss, Dean Smith has reflected upon our FA Cup defeat at the hands of Lincoln City<|fim_middle|> to help themselves and be better.
"At the start of the season there were no expectations on us and we started well with some really good results. With that came more pressure because those expectation levels were raised and we have to be able to live with that and deal with it.
"I'm hopeful of having Andy Taylor back on Saturday and we have other key players to come back into the fold." | .
"We looked nervy during the first half and never got going on the ball," he said. "We started the second half brightly and almost took the lead before they broke away to score what looked like an offside goal.
"We went on to dominate the possession and deservedly got back on level terms with a good strike. I thought at that stage that we would go on to see the game out but we conceded a disappointing goal from a set-piece.
"They got men behind the ball and made it difficult for us; my job now is to build the confidence back up but the players also have | 120 |
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Michael Madison reviews MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL on 4K Ultra HD from Disney.
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This week's Blu-ray releases for January 14th, 2020.
Own TOY STORY 4 on Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray & UHD Blu-ray Steelbook!
October 3, 2019 - Blu-ray Releases, Blu-ray SteelBook, Ultra HD Blu<|fim_middle|>zilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954-1975 (Blu-ray Box Set) (The Criterion Collection) [UK]
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Woody has always been confident about his place in the world and that his priority is taking care of his kid, whether that's Andy or Bonnie. But when Bonnie adds a reluctant new toy called "Forky" to her room, a road trip adventure alongside old and new friends will show Woody how big the world can be for a toy.
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FORUM SUPPORT MANAGER | Kelly enjoys Computers, Movies as well as Movie Memorabilia -- Give him a computer and he'll tear it down and build something better and more advanced. Action & Suspense are his type of Movies. Marvel Cinematic Universe and X-Men Movies are his Favorite. Cult Classic Movies like Hardware & Hellraiser are also enjoyable. He obsessively collects SteelBook type Blu-ray Media and thoroughly enjoys a good TV-Series; The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones & NCIS to name a few.
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Michael Madison reviews MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL on 4K Ultra HD from Disney....
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Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker - In theaters December 20, 2019
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - In theaters July 26, 2019
The Batman - In theaters June 25, 2021
The Irishman - In theaters and on Netflix, Fall 2019
Guns Akimbo - In theaters February 28, 2020
Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Complete Box Set (4K+2D Blu-ray Limited Edition) (Amazon UK Exclusive) [UK]
John Wick: Chapters 1-3 (4K+2D Deluxe Triple Box Set Limited Edition) (Amazon Exclusive) [UK]
Hellraiser Trilogy with Bust (Blu-ray SteelBook Limited Edition)(Zavvi Exclusive) [UK]
Spider-Man: Far From Home (3D Blu-Ray Collector's Edition) (w/ Travel Notebook) [Italy]
Cinema of Conflict: Four Films by Krzysztof Kieślowski (Blu-ray Limited Edition) (Arrow Academy) [UK]
Last Blu-ray Special Edition/Displays purchased - post pics!
Knives Out (4K+2D Blu-ray Collector's Edition) (HMV Exclusive - First Edition #2) [UK]
Hammer Volume Five : Death & Deceit (Blu-ray Limited Edition) (Powerhouse Films) [UK]
Django Unchained (Blu-ray Ultimate Collector's Edition) (Reel Synergy Productions) (Supreme Team)
The Amazing Mr Blunden (Blu-ray Limited Edition) (Second Sight Films) [UK]
[CANCELLED] Parasite (4K+2D Blu-ray Ultimate Edition) [Germany]
Pan's Labyrinth (Ultimate Edition) [Germany]
Gravity (Diamond Luxe Edition) (Blu-ray) [USA]
God | 736 |
Stirring a pot of simmering passionfruit butter stirs up memories... I am reminded of poems, preserves, summers past and a robust flowering passionfruit vine that crept vigorously along the fence in my sister's back garden.
Christmas Day 1984 is a blue-sky scorcher. Gifts have been shared, and we've laughed, cried and eaten as much ham, turkey and potato salad as a belly can bear. There's passionfruit topped pavlova too, but that must wait. Outside in the back corner of the garden there's a surprise that beckons young and old. My sister and her husband reveal their new pool. It has cedar decking, banana lounges and a cabana that was once a cubby house for my nieces and nephew. In the heat of the day, it's cool, wet and inviting. My father, wearing shorts, is already in the water floating on a golden lilo. He is smiling, enjoying precious time spent with his beloved daughters and grandchildren. I see my mother at the door of the cabana, she has stripped down to her undergarments, a white cotton bra and knickers, for her swimsuit is the drawer at home in Malua Bay, 160 kilometres away. The oasis is sheltered from the neighbourhood thanks to a passionfruit vine creeping vigorously along the tall lattice-topped fence, so before long she too is in the water, my toddler son in her watchful arms. I take out my camera and capture the moment. Clouds waft across the vivid sky, the sweltering air fills with peals of joy, and the back lawn is slowly strewn with thongs, wet beach towels and puddles... as this memorable day draws to an end.
Afterwards, I line up with others to congratulate her and buy a copy of her book. She inscribes it: 'Dear Liz, thanks for coming! Yours sincerely, Danielle Stewart'. Years later, I continued to reach for that book, still enjoying her poems, and wondering whatever became of her. Only recently I read in a newspaper article that life was never particularly kind to Danielle, she had suffered abuse and years of intense turbulence. Tragically, aged 27, she stabbed her husband to death but has no recollection of doing it. She is now 37, has 'done her time' in prison, and returned to university to finish a degree. I remain in awe.
In the early 2000s, Mum's Mess was one of my favourite stores at the produce markets I managed and Janet, the owner, one of my favourite store holders. She was a no nonsense, down to earth lady, with a quick mind and cheeky sense of humour that matched my own. Over time, the former school teacher and fellow cook became a friend and confidante. Our conversations would always venture to family and life and recipes. Artisan jams, sauces and preserves were Janet's specialty and she had access to all of the market fresh fruit and vegetables from the greengrocers around the corner. Her tiny shop comprised wall to wall shelves filled with jars and bottles, all in neat rows. When cumquats were in season, with a wink and nod she would insist that I take a small bottle of leftover brandied cumquat infusion. Her special gift to me. 'Enjoy it', she would chuckle. It was almost like nectar with just a hint of citrus. A real treat! Another of her specialties was Passionfruit Butter... rich, smooth and exquisite. Not too tart, not too sweet. Here and there I would indulge in a jar of it, that is until my gallbladder told me to abstain. When her elderly mother fell ill, Janet sold her shop. Someone pleasant enough bought the business, but it wasn't to be the same. Janet would always be missed. For a time, I saw her at the Old Bus Depot Markets, but then she faded away. Nowadays whenever I make brandied cumquats and passionfruit butter, I think fondly of her.
Cut the passionfruit in half and scoop out the pulp, seeds and juice into a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs then transfer the egg mixture to a stainless steel saucepan. Add the passionfruit pulp, seeds and juice, together with the caster sugar, butter and lemon juice. Stir over a medium heat until the mixture begins to boil, then lower heat and simmer gently for around 15 minutes until it thickens sufficiently to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Meanwhile, sterilise a 1/2 litre jar and ladle the hot passionfruit butter into the warm jar. Seal immediately and refrigerate after opening.
* My recipe is adapted from one by Maggie Beer in one of my favourite of her books, Maggie's Orchard (1997).
Note: look beyond perfection at the produce stall, for the sweetest, best-tasting passionfruit have old, wrinkled skin.
Tell me, do you reflect on past events as you cook, dear readers? Does stirring a pot stir memories for you?
A reminder about Google Reader... it<|fim_middle|> so very much! It is good to reflect on better, happier times, isn't it. I'm sorry to hear that things are sad for you at present. I am sending you warm hugs and hoping that this storm passes for you.
Kellie, thanks so very much indeed. I am delighted to share my stirring the pot memories.... and am going to look up your recipe for lime and green tea polenta cake.
Liz, thanks for reminding me about Janet and her lovely Mum's Mess shop. The passionfruit butter looks so yummy!
Hiya Hil, so very kind of you to pop in and say so.... I'm glad you enjoyed Danielle's poem, it has stayed with me for many, many years. And I'm delighted to have shared my memories.
I came here for the taste of passion fruit… but the depth of multidimensional storytelling took me by surprise. | 's winding up, so please head over to Feedly or BlogLovin' and migrate your Google Reader feeds. Or, subscribe to Bizzy Lizzy's Good Things via email and have my delicious updates delivered fresh to your IN box.
Image of passionfruit flower used under Creative Commons. See footer.
Hello there Barbara, thank you very much for your kind words. Wow, an indoor passionfruit vine?! Amazing. I am not sure that you can eat the flowers. But the fruit is divine, as I'm sure you know.
Poor Danielle, poor husband - how tragic. I'm glad it's behind her (if something like that is ever possible). Loved the poem.
I've got heaps of passionfruit but haven't made any butter yet this year. Thanks for the spank on the hand. It would be a shame to waste those!
Terrific post - some excellent writing. When we lived in Florida we had a butterfly garden, and we always grew passionflowers - they attracted a couple of different butterflies. Gorgeous plant! Never got any fruit from them, alas, and the fruit isn't all that common in most of the US (Hawaii is an exception). Anyway, good read - thanks.
Oh John, I love the sound of your butterfly garden... am intrigued and would love to know more! Passionfruit flowers are so pretty, aren't they! I wonder why the fruit isn't so common in the US? Thank you for your very kind words, John.
OMG - how gorgeous... One passion fruit on the Canadian Prairies costs 5 dollars and is usually way over ripe... I have never seen a purple one like this, only the yellow ones. I bought and tasted my first "homemade" passion fruit butter in Honolulu at the Farmer's Market in January. I bought 8 jars... they were 8 dollars each and 125ml each... but still so much cheaper than at home. So delicious my toes tingled. They had taken out the seeds. I love that you left yours in. Beautiful. I may have to do something completely naughty if I ever see these ones on sale here.... and buy a non-local passion fruit and make batch of this heady delicacy. I can only imagine the perfume in the air. I mixed the ones I bought with heavy cream, whipped in a tart... and, confess, ate one right out of the jar.
Wow, Valerie, how interesting that you have only seen the yellow ones! And $8.00 a jar for passionfruit butter. Lordy!!! A toe tingler, that's true. Email me your postal address and I will send you some canned passionfruit pulp and seeds!
Beautiful post, so beautiful. I love your memories of your family. :-) Yes, food definitely brings back memories for me. Things are sad in my family right now, and it is lovely to think of better times through happy, shared food memories.
Krista, thank you | 602 |
The Nexus is a small, flexible, and hacker friendly breakout box that connects your multichannel guitar to the outside<|fim_middle|> supply suitable for audio. The Main Module includes reverse polarity protection and LC noise-filters, low-noise regulators plus capacitance multipliers to maintain noise free audio. | world using a specialized (LEMO compatible) multi-pin connector for up to 15 channels of audio and 7 channels of analog control voltages for by-wire (remote) control of volume, tone, patch or effects. Audio may come from standard mono-pickups or from the Nu multichannel pickup. Analog control voltages are converted to MIDI control messages.
Main Board: Where all signals from the multichannel input as well as control voltages pass through, plus power regulation and conditioning.
MIDI Module: Converts control voltages (CV) from the guitar to MIDI. The basic firmware supports up to 6 analog and 7 digital inputs.
I/O Module: 12 input and output channels where each channel can be configured as an input or output. Typically, these are used to send multichannel audio to your effects, amp, mixer or multichannel audio interface. If you do not need all 12 channels, they can also be configured as inputs (e.g. Foot switches and Expression pedals). We use only high quality Neutrik connectors.
The Basic Kit includes the Main Board and the I/O Module inside an elegant all-aluminum enclosure. The MIDI Module is sold separately.
Note: 12 Volt power supply not included. Use a well regulated power | 264 |
The Best Places to Take a Walk in Chicago
North America / United States of America / Chicago /
Walking Paths and Scenic Routes in Chicago
Chicago is a beautiful city for walking and exploring. With its many parks, gardens, and outdoor spaces, there is no shortage of places to enjoy a relaxing stroll. Below are some of the scenic spots that are worth wandering around.
Belmont Harbor Dog Beach
Belmont Harbor Beach is a popular spot for running, walking, or biking. It's near Chicago's Yacht Club and, with a great fenced in area near the water, this is a popular spot for dog owners. When the weathers nice, head here for a day of relaxing, exercising, of simply enjoying the great outdoors with your dog companion.
Belmont & Lake Shore Drive, Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL, 60614
Burnham Park follows the banks of Lake Michigan for six miles from 14th Street to 56th Street. It spans 600 acres and includes the Burnham Harbor, Soldier Field, and McCormick Place. The Lakefront Trail passes through the park as well. Skateboarders will appreciate Burnham Skate Park, but there are also tennis courts, a fishing pier, and several beaches. For kids, there is a playground.
South Loop, Chicago, IL
Planning a trip to Chicago? You might also be interested in The Best Places to Run in Chicago and The Best Playgrounds in Chicago.
Chase Promenade
Chase Promenade is a tree-lined pedestrian walkway in Millennium Park. It spans 8 acres and hosts regular exhibitions and festivals.
Chase Promenade Central, Loop, Chicago, Illinois
Chicago Riverwalk
The Chicago River is an iconic part of the city, and it runs parallel to the lakeshore through the heart of the city. The Riverwalk is along a popular stretch of the river, and it's lined with many great restaurants and some of Chicago's most impressive architecture. You can wander along the Riverwalk, rest at one of the many benches, take in the impressive views or simply people watch.
Loop, Chicago, IL, 60601
Garfield Park is a popular city park on the West Side of the city in the Garfield Park neighborhood. It has a number of recreational facilities including baseball, boxing, basketball, tennis, and swimming. There's also a playground and trails for running, walking and bike riding. When the weather isn't cooperating, you can head inside to the Garfield Park Conservatory, which has about 120,000 plants from 600 different species in a 1.6 acre indoor space.
300 N. Central Park Ave., Garfield Park, Chicago, IL, 60624
Grant Park is a large and impressive public space in the city's central business district. This large park is where you'll find the famous Millennium Park, Buckingham Fountain, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum Campus. There are a number of gardens, sport fields, and performances venues found in the park as well.
Printer's Row, Chicago, Illinois
Dating back to the mid 1800s, this park was at one time considered to be one of the greatest public parks in the country. Today it has rose gardens, tennis courts, an inland beach, and bike paths.
Humboldt Park, Chicago, IL
Located on the South Side of Chicago, this neighborhood is rich in history. It was the location of the 1893 World's Fair and it has a number of notable residences including a home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright as well as the former home of President Barack Obama. Hyde Park sits on the edge of Lake Michigan and offers beautiful water views. It's also easily accessible to the 18 mile lakefront running and biking path. Within Hyde Park you'll find the University of Chicago, the Museum of Science and Industry, and part of Jackson Park.
Chicago has plenty more to offer, so see also our other articles: Things to do Along the Magnificent Mile (and in River North) and Quintessential Neighborhoods in Chicago.
This is a relatively new national park, and it's a popular day trip for Chicago locals who want to escape the city. It has three miles of pristine lake shore that is lined with dunes, marshes, grassland, and forest. There are plenty of places to hike and explore, as well as nine beaches that are great for relaxing in the sun on a warm day.
1050 N Mineral Springs Rd, Chesterton, IN, 46304
Jackson Park
This is a 600 acre park that sits on the edge of Lake Michigan on the South Side of Chicago. It has a variety of facilities including basketball, tennis courts, and playgrounds. The Osaka Garden is also on the grounds, which is a Japanese style garden that's on an island in the park's east lagoon. There are also several beaches and a running track that visitors can take advantage of.
6401 S Stony Island Ave, South Shore, Chicago, IL, 60637
Lakefront Trail
The Chicago Lakefront Trail is a 18.5-mile long trail that is great for running, walking, biking, and even skateboarding. It runs alone the western shore of Lake Michigan and it's popular with locals, tourists, athletes, and commuters. From the trail you can access the lake at different points and the trail passes by a number of different recreational areas including Lincoln Park, Grant Park, Burnham Park, and Jackson Park.
Bordering the shore of Lake Michigan to the east, Lakeview is a relaxed neighborhood with a laidback vibe. The area combines East Lakeview, Central Lakeview, Boystown, and Wrigleyville and it offers a number of entertainment options, shopping districts, as well as bars and restaurants that are popular with locals and tourists alike. There are live music venues, theaters, and dance clubs. There are also outdoor activities like the Lakefront Trail, picnic areas, a golf course, and summer street festivals. Boystown is also notable as the first gay neighborhood in the United States to gain official recognition by a city government. You can visit during June to celebrate the annual Pride Parade.
This neighborhood and park area offers a beautiful setting with nicely landscaped gardens, a quaint lily pond, and lakefront green space that has nice views of the city. The Lakefront Trail, the Lincoln Park Trail, Lincoln Park Zoo, North Avenue Beach, and Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum are all in the area. There is also plenty of shopping in Lincoln Park with many boutique shops spread among the row houses.
Lincoln Park Conservatory
This impressive Victorian style greenhouse has four separate sections that include the Orchid House, Palm House, Fern Room, and Show House. There's also an outdoor Formal Garden and the English Grandmother's Garden. This is a beautiful conservatory and it's free to the public.
2391 N Stockton Dr, Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL, 60614
Chicago has plenty more to offer, so see also our other articles: A Nature Lover's Guide to Chicago and Best Places To Enjoy A Picnic In Chicago.
Loyola–Leone Beaches
These beaches stretch out for eight blocks, making them the longest stretch of beach in Chicago. Located near Loyola University in the East Rogers Park neighborhood, this area has a playground and areas that are perfect for strollers. There are also a number of sports fields nearby including baseball fields, basketball courts, and a kayak launching spot.
1222 W Touhy Ave, East Rogers Park, Chicago, IL, 60626
Maggie Daley Park
Maggie Daley Park is an impressive park with a 1/4 mile long ice skating/roller skating ribbon. There's also a 40 ft tall climbing wall and a play garden for kids. The playground includes a pirate ship play structure with slides, rope bridges, and climbing areas. There's also a 18 hole mini golf course in the park.
337 E Randolph St, Millennium Park, Chicago, IL, 60601
Millennium Park is a famous public space that's located in Grant Park. The 24.5 acre park is near the Lake Michigan shoreline and includes a number of famous attractions such as Cloud Gate, Crown Fountain, Lurie Garden and a number of outdoor performance areas.
Loop, Chicago, Illinois, 60601
North Avenue Beach
North Avenue Beach is a popular summer destination when it fills with locals playing volleyball and families playing in the sand.<|fim_middle|> number of attractions including the DuSable Museum, a bird and butterfly sanctuary, The Fountain of Time, and several lagoons.
5531 S. Martin Luther King Dr., Hyde Park, Chicago, IL, 60637
Planning a trip to Chicago? You might also be interested in The Best Outdoor Activities in Chicago and The Best Parks in Chicago.
Winnemac Park
This 22 acre park offers a number of sports and activities as well as a playground and an impressive Fourth of July fireworks display.
5100 N Leavitt St, Lincoln Square, Chicago, IL, 60625
Wrigley Square
Wrigley Square, in Millennium Park, is where you'll find the Millennium Monument, which is a circular fountain with large columns. Throughout the park are temporary art installations that change regularly. There are also several places to buy snacks and drinks. Head to one of the picnic tables to enjoy your food while you soak in the setting.
Millennium Park, Chicago, IL
Prices for activities, things to do, and tours range from $5 to $498. The average cost for a tour or tickets is $93. A few of the best options are below.
Chicago: Riverwalk Self-Guided Walking Tour Get Your Guide $6.00
Chicago: Millennium Park Self-Guided Walking Tour Get Your Guide $6.00
Chicago's Modern Skyscrapers Guided Walking Tour Get Your Guide $30
Chicago: Guided Walking Tour and Food Sampling Get Your Guide $70
Where to Stay in Chicago
Selina Chicago HostelWorld View Price
Freehand Chicago HostelWorld View Price | Swimming is popular when the water gets warm and there is plenty of water sports equipment available for rent including kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, and jet skis. Bands frequently play at the beach house and there's also ice cream and margaritas available.
1601 N. Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable Lake Shore Drive, Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL, 60611
Ping Tom Memorial Park
Located in Chicago's Chinatown, this park has a pagoda-style pavilion, bamboo gardens, and a playground. The waterfront park spans 17 acres and there are places nearby where you can rent kayaks. The Field House is a recreational area in the park that has a pool with slides and a fitness center. From here you can enjoy great views of the Chicago skyline. Throughout the year there are a number of events held here including Shakespeare in the Park. Runners and walkers will appreciate the trails through the park as well.
300 West 19th Street, Chinatown, Chicago, Illinois, 60616
Prairie Avenue Historic District
The Prairie Avenue Historic District is in the Near South Side community. It was the location of the Battle of Fort Dearborn and later became a luxury residential neighborhood following the Great Chicago Fire. Today there are a number of small museums housed in the former mansions.
1920 South Prairie Avenue, Near South Side, Chicago, Illinois, 60616
Planning a trip to Chicago? You might also be interested in Places to Bike in Chicago and The Best Gardens in Chicago.
Prairie District Park
This little park has slides, climbing areas, play houses, and water misters. There's also a nice dog park where pets can run free, a running path, and a pool.
2051 S Prairie Ave, Burnham Park, Chicago, IL, 60616
South Shore Cultural Center Park
This park was originally built as a country club but today it is a historic landmark that offers a number of classes and programs throughout the year. The park covers 65 acres and includes a golf course, grass fields, a beach, and the South Shore Nature Sanctuary.
7059 S South Shore Dr, South Shore, Chicago, IL, 60649
This renovation project has turned an elevated railway track into a 2.7 mile path that weaves through the North Side of the city, passing through Logan Square, Humboldt Park, Wicker Park, and Bucktown. It connects a handful of parks and is the perfect place to enjoy a walk, bike ride, or short run.
This 13 acre park is located in the Near West Side area. The park has large fields, playgrounds, a swimming pool, tennis courts, basketball courts, and baseball fields. The playgrounds have slides, swings, and plenty of space for kids to run around.
1566 West Washington Boulevard, Near West Side, Chicago, Illinois, 60612
Walden Pond & Thoreau's Cabin
Henry David Thoreau, the famous American author, wrote some of his most famous works at this cabin which is now a museum and park. Visitors can walk around the famous Walden Pond which has a small beach area and walking trails. It's a nice spot for a swim in the summer. The area is now a state park and open to the public.
915 Walden St, Concord, Massachusetts
Washington Park has a | 724 |
For a tasty and healthy treat, try Sharon's Simple Berry Sauce from 101 Simple Foods That Could Save Your Life by David Grotto, RD, LDN. Pour it on waffles or pancakes, or add to a fruit smoothie. Combine a 10-ounce package frozen mixed berries, 1/4 cup agave syrup, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and a pinch of salt in a saucepan. Cook over low heat until the frozen berries are defrosted. Bring to a boil. Let simmer, uncovered, until sauce thickens, about 20 to 30 minutes. Serves 4.
One of the best ways to boost brain performance and recall? "Eat," says David Grotto, RD, LDN, author of 101 Simple Foods That Could Save Your Life and 101 Optimal Life Foods. Sounds simple enough. But despite this advice from nutritionists that we must fuel our bodies and brains with a steady supply of food, many of us still skip breakfast, go too long between meals and eat too much at one sitting. All of these habits set us up for brain drain. Without proper fuel (aka glucose, the main sugar the body makes from the foods we eat and that fuels all the cells in our body), our brains have to work that much harder to complete something as simple as counting change. "The brain fuels itself on glucose, which we need to replenish from food every three to four hours," Grotto says. "Research on breakfast eaters shows that those who eat it perform better on cognitive function and recall." Essentially, a morning meal helps your<|fim_middle|> saturated fat and sugar — so don't overdo it. Two ounces per day or two teaspoons of cocoa powder will allow you some benefits without overloading on calories, fat and sugar. And until manufacturers develop a uniform system for measuring flavonol levels, rely on percentage of cocoa content — the higher the better.
Spinach. This dark-green leaf is packed with antioxidants, flavonols and folic acid, which is a win-win food when it comes to brain health. Same goes for kale and collard greens. Aim for three servings a day (the amount you'd get in a good-size salad) and your brain will thank you.
Any fruit ending in erry. Blueberry, cranberry, raspberry, blackberry and pomegranate-erry (okay, we snuck that last erry in there). These fruits slow the aging of the brain, thanks to their high antioxidant level. Sprinkle a handful on your cereal or oatmeal each morning, add them to yogurt or mix them in a smoothie. Just find a way to eat some berries each day.
Coffee. In animal studies, caffeine (the equivalent of two cups of really strong coffee) helped improve memory in mice and even improved it in mice that were bred to have the equivalent of Alzheimer's disease. The caffeine cut in half the levels of beta-amyloid, a protein that clumps in the brain and causes memory loss.
Green tea. To produce the effects of coffee, you'd need to drink 14 cups of tea. But even in smaller amounts, black and green tea contains brain-boosting antioxidants and theanine, an amino acid that can calm you. But be sure to let that tea bag steep. A 2007 study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry shows that tea brewed for seven minutes had 60 percent more flavonoids than tea brewed for only three minutes. Tea devotees are also raving about Matcha, a stone-ground powdered form of green tea that packs a serious nutritional punch, thanks to antioxidants and vitamins C and A.
Red wine. Red grapes contain resveratrol, a substance that counteracts the free radical cell damage that's associated with aging and normal wear and tear on our bodies and brains that comes from stress, pollutants, etc. Red wine is also packed with polyphenols, which may stop brain-cell-destroying plaques from building up. Why does red wine get all the glory? Red grapes are just naturally higher in resveratrol and polyphenols than green ones are. "Part of this is also due to the red wine making process, which allows for the skin of the red grape to stay in longer contact with the fruit, and further up levels," Grotto says. White wine has some resveratrol, but not as much as red. Docs recommend one glass of wine per day for women, one to two glasses for men. Not a wine drinker? Pour yourself a glass of Concord grape juice instead.
To high amounts of fructose, a sugar found in concentrated juices, table sugar and processed foods made with high-fructose corn syrup. A new study out of Georgia State University says that when rats were fed a diet high in fructose they had a hard time remembering previously learned tasks. Fructose can up your triglyceride levels, and consequently impair memory. | brain function better when it comes to thinking, learning, reasoning and remembering.
Conversely, eating a large amount of calories, carbs and fat at one sitting can make you feel sluggish afterward (thanks to temporarily elevated blood sugar levels, followed by a drop-off — which people can experience as low energy, sluggishness or brain fog). If eating three large meals leaves you with brain drain, consider eating four to six mini-meals over the course of the day.
Eggs. The protein-packed egg is rich in vitamins E and D and is considered the optimal brain food by many nutritionists, thanks to its connection with improving memory function. Plus, the yolk is rich in the B vitamin choline, which converts to acetylcholine in the brain, a neurotransmitter that is also critical for memory function. Worried about cholesterol found in egg yolks? Some docs and nutritionists consider whole eggs such an optimal food that they suggest cutting out cholesterol in other areas of your diet (such as butter and cheese) rather than lose out on all of the benefits of whole eggs. You can also keep cholesterol to a minimum by eating one whole egg and adding egg whites to round out an omelet or scrambled eggs.
Oats. "Whole-grain oats are my go-to grain because they're rich in B vitamins, which reduce oxidative stress to the body's tissues," Grotto says. When we're stressed, our body pumps out the hormone cortisol, which causes an inflammatory response that impairs memory. Getting your whole grains is like putting a bucket of water on the hormonal fire. Slow-cooking, steel-cut oatmeal is a great choice since the grain is still intact and it tastes super yummy. Top oatmeal with walnuts for brain-boosting omega-3 fatty acids and milk or soymilk fortified with docosahexaenoic acid (or DHA) and you've got a home-run breakfast for your brain. Other smart choices: whole-grain breads, quinoa and whole-grain cereals such as Total.
Omega-3-rich fish. Salmon is considered one of the best sources of two types of brain-boosting omega-3 fatty acids: eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). These two fats are critical to brain, heart and eye function. But since we don't manufacture DHA and EPA ourselves, we need to get them from our diet. The general recommendation is to aim for two to three three-ounce servings of omega-3-rich fish per week. Sardines, cod, haddock, tuna and halibut also contain omega-3 fatty acids. However, many fish farmers are feeding corn and soybeans to their stock, which actually lowers their overall omega-3 levels. Michael F. Roizen, MD, chief wellness officer of the Cleveland Clinic and co-author of the best-selling YOU series, recommends sticking to wild salmon and lake trout as your main source of DHA/EPA-rich fish. He also sees benefits to aiming for 13 ounces per week.
Not a fish fan? Or can't quite meet the recommended fish servings? Incorporate flaxseed, canola oil, walnuts and soybean oil into your diet. These foods are rich in the omega-3 alpha linolenic acid (ALA). You don't get quite the same brain benefit as you do from DHA/EPA-rich sources, but it's better than not getting any.
While food sources allow for the best absorption of omega-3s, you can also get them in a fish oil supplement. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) says that while some initial studies look promising, it won't have an official recommendation on omega-3 supplementation with regards to cognitive health until more research can be done. However, because omega-3s contribute to overall health and "appear to be safe for most adults at low to moderate amounts," says the NIH, those who aren't getting adequate amounts of omega-3s from their diets should consider supplements. Some health organizations say healthy adults can reap overall benefit from 220 mg of DHA per day or one gram total combined of DHA and EPA. Dr. Roizen would up this amount but says to consider first what you're getting from your diet. His general guide: If you're eating no fish, take one 600 mg supplement of DHA per day or two grams of omega-3 fish oil capsules. If you eat half the recommended amount of omega-3-rich fish on a regular basis, then you can cut that dosage in half. Vegans can get DHA from algae-based supplements that average about 200 mg per day(though DHA and EPA are more effective in combination).
It's important to know that fish oil supplements may cause stomach upset and bloating. In super-high doses (more than three grams per day), fish oils can cause bleeding. Omega-3s can also interact with certain medications, such as blood thinners and high blood pressure drugs, so be sure to check with your doctor and/or pharmacist before taking supplements.
Chocolate. Chocolate contains cocoa that helps improve blood flow to the brain by boosting nitric oxide levels that in turn allow blood vessels to function more efficiently. Chocolate is also packed with flavonols, which reduce blood clots and fatty buildup in the arteries, and antioxidants, which lessens inflammation in the body. In one study at Northumbria University in Newcastle, England, participants who were given chocolate drinks with 500 mg of flavonols could complete math calculations more quickly and accurately than those who had nothing. Unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably organic, non-alkali) offers the most antioxidants and flavonols. Dark chocolate is the runner-up, followed by milk chocolate. Keep in mind that chocolate contains | 1,195 |
Printing expert Printron<|fim_middle|> to boost its productivity," says Jon. | ix Auto ID has just launched T4000, the latest in its range of enterprise level printers. It's priced very competitively and is a small yet powerful device that can easily print 5000 labels a day, an impressive figure for a machine of its class.
"For such a small device it packs a powerful performance, printing at speeds of up to 8 inches per second, and on label thicknesses of up to 0.28mm," says Neil Baker, Printronix Auto ID's Sales Manager UK, Ireland, Benelux & South Africa.
"If you're looking to improve productivity in healthcare, logistics, or manufacturing then the T4000 could prove a real ally, by maximising your uptime and optimising operational efficiency," he says.
Measuring just 264mm x 276mm x 455mm, its sleek design and compact footprint is a real space-saver. And when sited in a cramped workspace where access can prove challenging its clever windowed bifold side media door will make quick and easy work of monitoring and changing print heads, label rolls and ribbons.
A 3.5" LCD colour display panel on the front makes navigation and control of the T4000 very easy, especially in poorly lit workspaces. The full metal chassis and enclosure of this rugged device render it further suitable for challenging environments, where operating temperatures can range from 0C to +40°C.
The T4000 is easy to integrate, manage and maintain from anywhere in the world thanks to PrintNet Enterprise Auto ID remote control software. "This allows businesses to remotely troubleshoot and monitor the status of their printers, as well as push firmware and reconfigure printers in batches," suggests Neil. "A quick change memory card further allows printers to be easily swapped out," he adds.
Printronix Auto ID's thermal industrial printers are renowned the world over for their dependability, and the new T4000 is no exception. "Its unrivalled print speed, coupled with its compact size and competitive price makes it incredible value for any organization looking | 438 |
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