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Zhenjiang
situated the southern part of Jiangsu Province,on the south
bank of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River,with Nanjing
to the west,Shanghai,Suzhou,Wuxi and Changzhou to the east;
and Yangzhou in the north across the river,Zhenjiang is a
historically and culturally famous city approved by the State
Council,which integrates industry,port and tourism into
a whole.
ZHENJIANG has ascendant environment for investment.
It has five essential conditions of logistics,resources,water supply,land and urban base,which are necessary for
the establishment of large-scale enterprises,and the conditions
of water supply,electricity,gas,post and telecommunication
are among the top in the Yangtze River Delta. Seven economic
development zones are scattered along the Yangtze River and
highways. Fifty square kilometershas been developed,with
perfect infrastructure and living facilities and visible industry
characteristics. Gold East Paper,Chi Mei Chemical Industry,GPPC Plastics,Liancheng Chemicals,Lichangrong Chemical Industry,Haili Electronics,Kenuoshuangfeng Wood Industry,Yijin Photoelectricity
and other world-famous enterprises have settled in the Development
Zones. A group of leading industrial bases has formed in Zhenjiang,including papermaking-the largest in Asia,engineering plastics-the
largest in China,main machine for laser-electronic products,cylinder for vehicle engine,optical-fiber telecommunication
products representing the world technology,wood processing
and bicycle. Zhenjiang Export Processing Zone,approved by
the State Council,will start operation soon,which provides
a newer opportunity and a development platform for investors
in Zhenjiang.
It
has a vast range of prospects to invest in Zhenjiang. In order
to carry out the strategy of development along the Yangtze
River in Jiangsu,Zhenjiang took the lead in compiling "Program
of Coastal Industries Belt",preferentially developing
photoelectricity,papermaking,zoological chemistry and new
material,cultivating the production bases of road machine,specific engineering ship and facilities,engineering appliance,metallurgy tool,specific vehicle and auto fittings,and foodstuff,stepping up the scenic area construction of Jinshan Mount,Jiaoshan Mount,Beigu Mount,Nanshan Mount,Baohua Mount ,and Shiyezhou-a national level scenic spot,and Runyang Bridge
Theme Park. It stresses the modern logistics,centering on
the great bridges and ports. Upon the base of industry program,86 key projects are presented for investment promotion,including
automibles,ships,machinery,electronics,chemical industry,textile,light industry,metallurgy,construction material,agriculture,infrastructure,zone area development,and tourism,providing a vast range of prospects for investors to invest
in Zhenjiang.
Zhenjiang has preferential policies for investment.
Upon the base of State preferential policies for foreign invested
enterprises,Zhenjiang has drawn 11 items of preferential
policies,covering tax refund,fees reduction or exemption,land usage,state-owned enterprise merging,etc,encouraging
from both home and abroad to invest in Zhenjiang ,set up
business,and share the development.
Zhenjiang will accompany you to enter a bright
and colorful world.
Ten Advantages to the
Development along the Yangtze River in Zhenjiang
1. Regional advantage
It is located in the prosperous and richly endowed Yangtze
Delta. The "golden crossing watercourse" of Yangtze
River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal cross here at Zhenjiang.
2. Harbor and port advantage
It is a first-class open coastal city of the State. The harbor
has 20 berths of 10,000 tonnages,and has established relations
of shipment business with over 120 harbors in the world.
3. Shoreline advantage
It has 259.4 km of Yangtze River coastal lines,of which 67.8
km is below -10 meters.
4. Transportation advantage
The Beijing-Shanghai Railway and the Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway
goes through Zhenjiang from west to east. It is 2.5 hours'
drive away from Shanghai and 1 hour's drive from Nanjing.
5. Resource advantage
Jianbi Power Plant has an installed capacity of 1,625,000
kilowatts.
6. Water resource advantage
It is a coastal city,with abundant water resource and high-quality
water.
7. Talent advantage
There are Jiangsu University,Eastern China Shipping Industry
Institute and other higher education institutions as well
as a group of secondary technical schools,with over 50,000
students at school.
9. Environment advantage
It is a historically and culturally famous city,scenery-tourism
city,and coastal economic open region.
10. Cost advantage
The price for land or labor is evidently lower that of the
eastern region.
ZHENJIANG New Area (Zhenjiang Economic &
Technical development zone of Jiangsu Province) is optimized
from the two former provincial-level Development Zones: Zhenjiang
Economic & Technical Development Zone (authorized to establish
in 1991),Zhenjiang Dagang Economic Development Zone (authorized
to establish in 1992). It includes Chemical Industry Park,Mechanic & Electronic Industry Park,Photoelectricity
Industry Park,Taiwan Industry Park,New & Hi-tech Industry
Development Park and ExportProcessing Zone,covering a total
area of 82 square kilometers,Fomous multinationals from over
20 countries and regions,such as USA,Singapore,Japan,Korea,France,Spain,Italy,Taiwan,Hongkong,have come and invested
in the Development Zone,Up to the end of 2002,the number
of projects approved to be set in the Zone has reached 800,of which 145 is foreign-capital projects,the accumulated
contract foreign-capital has reached US$ 3.188 billion,contracted
utilized foreign-capital has reached US$ 2.99 billion,and
US$ 2.126 billion has entered the account. Gold East Paper,Chi Mei Chemical Industry,GPPC Plastics,Allray Photoelectricity,Cargill Feed,Total LPG,Total Lube,Thai Hinlong Food,Jianlibao
Beverage,Kotch Asphalt,Nantdi Chemicals,Laitaixiang,Ulide,Liancheng Chemicals and other world famous enterprises have
invested in the Development Zone. A group of leading industrial
bases has formed in Zhenjiang,including papermaking-the largest
in Asia,cylinder for vehicle engine and main machine for
laser-electronic products-the largest in China,optical-fiber
telecommunication products representing the world technology.
Five pillar industries as papermaking,chemicals,auto parts,photoelectricity and biomedicine have formed hereby.
DANTU Economic Development Zone is a provincial-level
development zone. It is located in the beautiful and richly
endowed Yangtze River Delta,situated in Gaozi Township,the
western suburb of Zhenjiang,It is 230 kilometers eastward
to the metropolitan Shanghai,and 50 kilometers westward to
Nanjing,capital of Jiangsu province.
Dantu Economic Development Zone covers an area
of 22 square kilometers,stressing on the development of essential
chemical industry,and energy.Metallurgy ,port logistics
and coastal industries,will be combined into Nanjing petrol-chemical
circlewith provincial key chemical industries along the Yangtze
River. | 2024-05-15T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/9182 |
The Philippine islands are often
the first major landmass to be stricken by storms that generate over the
Pacific. The Southeast Asian country endures about 20 major storms each year,
many of them deadly.
The most powerful and deadliest
was Haiyan, which left 7,350 people dead or missing and destroyed entire towns
in heavily populated areas of the central Philippines in November 2013.-VNA | 2024-07-26T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/2223 |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to container forming machines, and in particular to a new and improved method and apparatus for forming and attaching lids to fiberboard containers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the packaging industry, numerous fiberboard containers and designs have been developed over the years. Such containers are typically constructed of a corrugated material and are used to ship and store a wide variety of products such as fresh fruits and vegetables, canned and bottled goods, meat, and the like. The fiberboard materials may be single face corrugated, single wall (double-faced) corrugated, double wall corrugated, triple wall corrugated, etc. Containers may also be made of other paperboard products including, without limitation, container board, boxboard, linerboard, and cardboard.
Of the numerous types of fiberboard containers that have been developed, many employ lids that are separate from the main box of the container. A "box" (or "case") is a large, usually rectangular container made out of fiberboard or paperboard and designed to hold a given number (e.g. 12 or 24) of smaller units such as cartons, bottles, cans, or produce pieces. A "tray" is a term used to describe a variety of different containers, but which is typically used to describe a style of box which uses a separate lid. Tray boxes may also refer to containers designed to hold a certain weight or volume of product (e.g. 35 pounds of grapes, 60 pounds of beef, etc.).
There are numerous machines in the industry which are used to form open ended (i.e. lidless) tray boxes. Such machines are typically included as part of a larger production line as follows: a first machine forms the empty tray box itself, a second machine fills the box with its contents, a third machine forms or provides a lid for the box, and a fourth machine attaches the lid to the box.
Existing lid forming and attaching machines are slow in operation and mechanically cumbersome. Some existing machines lift the tray box vertically up to the lid on a table which moves up and down from a lower to an upper position. The operation of such machines is extremely slow since the next box in line must wait for the table to retract to its lower position before such a box can be moved into position onto the table.
Other lid forming machines employ a ram which lowers the lid down onto the box. These machines suffer from the serious drawback of not obtaining good adhesion between the sides of the lid and the box. This is because there may be little or no lateral support for the sides of the box as the edges of the lid are pressed against it. | 2024-03-13T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/4581 |
Lysophosphatidylcholine induces delayed myelination in the juvenile ventral hippocampus and behavioral alterations in adulthood.
Maternal virus infection or maternal polyinosinic-polycytidilic acid injection confers behavioral alterations including deficit in prepulse inhibition on the offspring. We previously found delayed myelination specifically in the early postnatal hippocampus in the polyinosinic-polycytidilic acid-injection model. To test whether the transient delay in myelination in the juvenile hippocampus leads to abnormal behaviors after adolescence, we injected lysophosphatidylcholine, a potent demyelinating agent, into the ventral hippocampus of the 10-day-old rat. The lysophosphatidylcholine treatment yielded hypomyelination at postnatal day 16, but myelination reverted to normal level in the adult rat. Neuronal arrays and morphology were not disturbed in this model. We then performed a battery of behavioral tests on the lysophosphatidylcholine-treated and control PBS-injected rats. The lysophosphatidylcholine-treated rats showed deficit in prepulse inhibition, motor hyperactivity in response to methamphetamine and anxiety-related behaviors, all of which are typical behaviors observed in the maternal infection models. These findings suggest that the timing of myelination in the early postnatal hippocampus is crucial for the proper development of sensorimotor and emotional functions. The lysophosphatidylcholine-treated rat without a gross anatomical defect is useful as a model for psychotic disorders. | 2023-11-24T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/6960 |
Q:
R: How to sum multiple columns of data frames in a list?
i want to sum multiple columns of data frames in a list and only show the sum without showing the (calculation) input columns. Here an example:
ls <- list(data.frame(a=1, b=5, c=3, d=2), data.frame(a=NA, b=2, c=7, d=9))
ls
[[1]]
a b c d
1 1 5 3 2
[[2]]
a b c d
1 NA 2 7 9
my expected result is:
ls2
[[1]]
c new
1 3 8
[[2]]
c new
1 7 11
Any ideas how to do this? So far I tried to enhance this answer for lists, without success and without omiting the input columns (a,b,d). I tried so far lapply:
lapply(ls, function(x) x$e <- rowSums(x[,c("a", "b", "d")], na.rm=T))
and
ls$e <- lapply(ls, function(x) rowSums(x[,c("a", "b", "d")], na.rm=T))
Thank you in advance
Edit:
Thanks Aech and Abdou for your answers, which work fine with this example. However, I have >200 columns, do you know a way without writing the columns that will remain? Like deleting the columns that I use for the calculation, instead of naming all columns.
EDIT 2:
Thanks for your improved code, it works well with the example data. However, with my true data set not... I get the following error:
Error in rowSums(x[, columns_to_sum], na.rm = T) :
'x' must be an array of at least two dimensions"
My list has about 96 matrices with 200 columns and one row. But I don´t know how to prepare a reproducible example of my error. Any ideas?
A:
You should not name your list ls, because ls is a function.
lapply(myList, function(x) data.frame(c=x$c, new = rowSums(x[,c("a", "b", "d")], na.rm=T)))
Here is a solution where you specify the dropped columns only (after edit):
dropped <- c("a", "b", "d")
lapply(myList, function(x) {
x$new <- rowSums(x[,dropped], na.rm=T)
x[!names(x) %in% dropped]
})
| 2023-12-01T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/7040 |
Introduction
============
In monogenic neurological disease a single mutation can lead to varied clinical (phenotypic) manifestations (e.g., Huntington\'s disease) ([@bib25]); likewise a similar phenotype can result from a number of different genetic mutations (e.g., hereditary Alzheimer\'s diseases) ([@bib34]). The supposition is that environmental or epigenetic factors modify the expression of specific gene mutations and thus determine the final phenotype. In this study, we investigate this hypothesis in primary dystonias looking for informative differential structural brain endophenotypes by crossing genetic and clinical factors.
Primary dystonias comprise a broad spectrum of genetic and non-genetic conditions characterised by dystonia as the only clinical feature (with or without tremor) and no pathology seen on standard brain imaging ([@bib21]). Classification according to age of onset defines young-onset dystonia with symptom occurrence before the age of 26 years ([@bib7; @bib29]) and those with adult-onset usually between the fourth and sixth decade ([@bib26]). The majority of familial young-onset primary dystonia is due to deletion of a GAG trinucleotide in the DYT1 gene on chromosome 9q32--q34 encoding torsinA, a putative chaperone protein ([@bib24; @bib36]). DYT1 dystonia has age-dependent phenotypic penetrance of 25--30% with marked variability in severity of dystonic signs, ranging from disabling generalised dystonia to mild focal presentations ([@bib8; @bib35]). Adult-onset primary dystonia often occurs sporadically although familial forms of adult-onset dystonia with genetic linkage (DYT 6, 7, 13) and without are reported ([@bib28]). Adult-onset primary dystonia tends to affect the cranio-cervical region and remains focal or segmental in distribution ([@bib26]).
Lesion studies, neurophysiology experiments, animal and theoretical models focus on the basal ganglia, particularly the putamen and pallidum, as key structures in the pathophysiology of dystonia ([@bib1; @bib13; @bib33]). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies support this notion and demonstrate correlates of abnormal neural activity in basal ganglia, premotor and motor related areas ([@bib32; @bib41]). Fluoro-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18FDG-PET) studies of symptomatic and/or asymptomatic DYT1 mutation carriers show either relative putamen hypermetabolism ([@bib19; @bib39]) or a lack of significant metabolic changes in the basal ganglia compared to healthy controls ([@bib11]). The fact that bilateral globus pallidus internus (GPi) deep brain stimulation produces sustained motor improvement in generalised primary dystonia further confirms the assumption of dysfunctional basal ganglia in dystonia ([@bib42]).
Although the definition of primary dystonia implies normal brain structure, numerous volumetric and computational anatomy studies of primary adult-onset dystonia demonstrate structural abnormalities in the basal ganglia and/or associated cortical areas ([@bib6; @bib10; @bib15; @bib18; @bib20; @bib23]). At the macroscopic level increases in basal ganglia volume have been interpreted either as plastic change due to abnormal motor output/sensory input from repetitive movements or dystonic postures ([@bib10; @bib15; @bib20]) or as indicators of developmental abnormality ([@bib23]). Up to date, there are no similar reports regarding *in vivo* assessment of grey matter structural abnormalities in DYT1 carriers.
Our aim was to demonstrate the effect of a DYT1 mutation on brain morphology as a function of clinical signs in symptomatic \[S+\] and asymptomatic \[S−\] DYT1 positive \[M+\] and negative \[M−\] subjects. In addition we included in our analysis a separate cohort of familial non-DYT1 adult-onset primary dystonia. Based on previous findings ([@bib15; @bib18; @bib19; @bib39]) our primary hypothesis was that DYT1 mutations resulting in clinical signs have a specific impact on basal ganglia volume. Although our primary hypothesis could be addressed by region-of-interest (ROI)-based basal ganglia volumetrics, a recent combined ROI volumetrics/voxel-based morphometry (VBM) study in Huntington\'s patients has shown advantages of the unbiased whole-brain VBM technique ([@bib14]). Therefore, we performed whole-brain analyses of acquired T1 weighted images using the validated and automated VBM method ([@bib3]).
Methods
=======
Participants
------------
We recruited: 1) eleven symptomatic DYT1 mutation carriers \[S+M+\]; 2) eleven asymptomatic DYT1 mutation carriers \[S−M+\]; 3) fifteen DYT1 mutation negative patients with primary dystonia of mixed type and positive family history \[^1^S+M−\]; 4) fourteen DYT1 mutation negative adult-onset dystonics without family history \[^2^S+M−\] and 5) twenty-eight healthy subjects \[S−M−\]. We used the Burke--Fahn--Marsden scale (BFM), a validated tool for assessment of dystonic patients ([@bib9]), to rate the severity of dystonic signs. We defined clinically significant dystonia as the presence of dystonic signs and a BFM score of 4 or more. Disease duration estimation was based either on family and patient\'s report on the developmental history or from available medical documentation. All participants underwent independent clinical assessment by two of the authors (B.D. and S.A.S.) with review of video assessments by a third (K.P.B.).
Inclusion criteria for symptomatic \[S+M+\] DYT1 carriers (8 females, 3 males; mean age 50; range 19--72 years) were (i) positive genetic analysis for the DYT1 gene mutation, and (ii) presence of dystonia with BFM score \> 4. The group of asymptomatic DYT1 subjects \[S−M+\] (6 females, 5 males; mean age 47; range 30--76 years) was recruited among family members of the \[S+M+\] group. Criteria for inclusion were (i) presence of a DYT1 mutation; and (ii) absence of dystonic symptoms, at most trivial clinically detected signs unrecognised by the subjects and a BFM score of 3 or less. The cohort of subjects with primary dystonia of mixed type plus positive family history \[^1^S+M−\] included patients with focal, segmental or generalised dystonia (10 females, 5 males; mean age 49.7; range 27--64 years). Inclusion criteria were (i) absence of a DYT1 mutation; (ii) the presence of focal, segmental or generalised dystonia; and (iii) a positive family history of dystonia. We aimed to recruit all symptomatic adult-onset primary dystonia patients with a positive family history on our books. However, in a few cases symptomatic relatives were either dead, or contact with them was lost. The inclusion criteria for the adult-onset primary dystonia cohort (\[^2^S+M−\] 6 females, 8 males; mean age 49.7; range 39--71 years) were (i) absence of a DYT1 mutation; (ii) the presence of focal or segmental adult-onset dystonia (age of onset over 35 years); and (iii) no family history of dystonia. The common inclusion criteria for all symptomatic patients required (i) no other neurological disorder than dystonia; (ii) no other cause for dystonia ascertained by clinical assessment, blood tests or neuroimaging; (iii) no brain, spinal or peripheral nerve surgery for dystonia; and (iv) no use of botulinum toxin in the previous 4 months. Clinical details of all patients are given in [Table 1](#tbl1){ref-type="table"}.
Twenty-eight healthy subjects (12 females; mean age 43; range 27--60) with no family history of dystonia and negative DYT1 mutation status were recruited from a departmental register of volunteers \[S−M−\]. Inclusion criteria for all subjects comprised absence of history of psychiatric disorder or brain trauma, no brain, spinal or peripheral nerve surgery and a normal MRI brain scan. All subjects gave written informed consent prior to MRI-examination and the local ethics committees approved the study.
Data acquisition
----------------
MRI was performed on a Siemens Sonata scanner (Erlangen, Germany) operating at 1.5 T. A three-dimensional structural MRI scan was acquired from each subject using a T1-weighted MDEFT sequence (176 slices, 1 mm thickness, no interslice gap, sagittal acquisition, FoV 224 × 256 mm, matrix 224 × 256, TR = 20.66 ms, TE = 8.42 ms, TI = 640 ms, flip angle 25°, fat saturation, bandwidth 178 Hz/pixel) ([@bib12]).
Image processing
----------------
Data processing and analysis were performed with freely available statistical parametric mapping software (SPM5; Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, London, UK <http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm>) running under Matlab7 (Mathworks, Sherborn, MA, USA). The T1 weighted scans are partitioned into different tissue classes --- grey matter (GM), white matter (WM) and non-brain voxels (CSF, skull) based on separate tissue probability maps for each tissue class using the "unified segmentation" approach in SPM5 ([@bib4]). In order to compare brains of different subjects the resulting segments are normalised to a population template generated from the complete dataset using a diffeomorphic registration algorithm ([@bib2]). This new high-dimensional non-linear warping algorithm selects conserved features, which are informative for registration, thus minimising the structural variation among subjects and providing optimal inter-subject registration. Subsequently, all images are "modulated" by the Jacobian determinants from the normalisation steps to preserve initial volumes~.~ Following this the images are smoothed by convolution with an isotropic Gaussian kernel of 6 mm full-width at half maximum (FWHM).
Statistical analysis
--------------------
We examined the interaction between DYT1 gene mutation and dystonic phenotype by creating voxel-based, whole-brain statistical parametric maps (SPMs) for regional grey matter volume using the theory of Gaussian random fields and the general linear model (GLM) for regional grey matter volume. We used a two-way independent ANOVA design with a two level phenotype factor --- presence or absence of dystonic symptoms \[S+ and S−\] and a two level genotype factor --- presence or absence of the DYT1 mutation \[M+ and M−\]. Given the dystonia subtype dependent differences between groups we included disease duration, severity of dystonic symptoms (indexed by BFM score), age, gender and total intracranial volume (TIV) as "nuisance" variables to control for any independent effects on our findings and to ensure that the analysis identifies regionally specific "non-global" effects ([@bib3]). Considering the significant correlation between the group means and the variable disease duration (*r* \> .7) and severity of dystonic signs (*r* \> .6) we orthogonalized them using a Gram--Schmidt process implemented in SPM. All analyses were performed using the same model that included all five groups: 1) symptomatic \[S+M+\] and 2) asymptomatic \[S−M+\] DYT1 mutation carriers, DYT1 negative adult-onset dystonics 3) with \[^1^S+M−\] and 4) without positive family history \[^2^S+M−\] and 5) mutation negative controls \[S−M−\].
Additionally, we modelled the mean-corrected covariates representing severity of clinical symptoms (BFM score) and disease duration for the DYT1 positive group and for both DYT1 negative symptomatic cohorts in separate multiple regression analyses.
Significance levels were set at *p* \< 0.05 after family wise error (FWE) correction for multiple comparisons for whole-brain volumes. We also used a small volume correction (SVC), thresholded at *p*\<0.05 (FWE correction), comprising the whole volume of the basal ganglia, because our *a priori* hypothesis justified limiting the search volume to the basal ganglia. The anatomical location and volume of the basal ganglia were defined from the WFU-Pick brain atlas ([@bib30]).
Results
=======
Clinical assessment
-------------------
The clinical details of each cohort are given in [Table 1](#tbl1){ref-type="table"}. The BFM score has the range between 0 and 150; higher BFM score indicates more severe dystonic symptoms.
Interaction analysis
--------------------
We found a significant negative crossover interaction between the factors DYT1-genotype and dystonic phenotype in both putamen and pallidum bilaterally (*p* \< 0.05, FWE correction). The SPMs, superimposed on a T1-weighted anatomical image, warped into standard stereotactic space, are presented in [Fig. 1](#fig1){ref-type="fig"} and results are shown in [Table 2](#tbl2){ref-type="table"}. There were no statistically significant main effects of phenotype or genotype (*i.e.*,{\[S+M+\] + \[^1\ or\ 2^S+M−\] *vs* \[S−M+\] + \[S−M−\]} and {\[S+M+\] + \[S−M+\] *vs* \[^1\ or\ 2^S+M−\] + \[S−M−\]}).
A descriptive analysis of simple effects underlying the interaction shows that the DYT1 mutation has an influence on putamen volume measurements bilaterally in symptomatic patients (\[^1\ or\ 2^S+M−\] *vs* \[S+M+\]) and in asymptomatic subjects (\[S−M+\] *vs* \[S−M−\]), (*p* \< 0.05, FWE correction). Asymptomatic DYT1 mutation carriers and both groups of non-DYT1 primary dystonia patients have significantly greater putamen volumes than either normal subjects or symptomatic DYT1 carriers. The presence of symptoms, consequently, has an effect on putamen volume in those with the DYT1 mutation (\[S−M+\] *vs* \[S+M+\]), non-symptomatic carriers having the greater volume. In the absence of a DYT1 mutation symptomatic adult-onset dystonic patients have greater grey matter volume than normal controls in both putamen and pallidum (\[^1\ or\ 2^S+M−\] *vs* \[S−M−\]). Additionally, a bilateral grey matter volume increment is found in somatosensory cortex in asymptomatic DYT1 carriers \[S−M+\] compared to healthy controls \[S−M−\], (*p* \< 0.05, FWE correction), ([Table 2](#tbl2){ref-type="table"}).
Regression analysis
-------------------
The secondary multiple regression analysis demonstrated in the DYT1 mutation carriers ([Fig. 2](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}) a significant negative correlation between dystonia severity (indexed by the BFM score) and putamen volume bilaterally (*p* \< 0.05, FWE correction). The more severe the dystonia, the smaller the volume of the putamen. The mean dystonia severity score (BFM) in the \[S+M+\] group was 33.2 with a range of 9 to 70, in the \[S−M+\] − 1.9 with a range of 0 to 3. No significant correlations were found between grey matter volume and clinical variables (BFM score, disease duration) in the groups of adult-onset primary dystonia patients.
Discussion
==========
Our results find differential changes of brain structure in primary dystonia by demonstrating clear evidence for an interaction between clinical phenotype (dystonia) and genotype (DYT1 mutation status). We find positive proof for a differential impact of DYT1 genotype on basal ganglia volume depending on the presence or absence of dystonia such that the putamen bilaterally are larger in asymptomatic DYT1 carriers than in symptomatic DYT1 patients. Further, grey matter volume of the basal ganglia in asymptomatic DYT1 carriers resembles that of non-DYT1 adult-onset primary dystonia. This result is replicated in a separate cohort of familial non-DYT1 dystonics. We confirm the unique significance of this result (despite the presence of subtle, clinically insignificant dystonic signs in asymptomatic DYT1 carriers) by showing in additional regression analysis a tight and significant negative linear correlation between symptom severity and putamen volume bilaterally across the whole DYT1 positive population.
How are we to interpret these novel findings? One hypothesis is that the aetiology of basal ganglia volume change in DYT1 mutation carriers is different from that brought about by the causative gene(s)/environmental influences in non-DYT1 adult-onset primary dystonia. There is some rationale for this hypothesis in that histological studies have revealed a neurodegenerative process in DYT1 dystonia ([@bib31]), and lack of such degeneration in primary non-DYT1 adult-onset dystonia ([@bib27]). Further, there are numerous abnormalities on electrophysiological and psychophysical tests that are similar in symptomatic and asymptomatic DYT1 mutation carriers and patients with non-DYT1 adult-onset primary dystonia (and their unaffected relatives) ([@bib17; @bib16; @bib22; @bib37]). Conversely, particular abnormalities are confined to symptomatic DYT1 carriers. This growing body of evidence suggests a complex set of pathophysiological changes in all patients with primary dystonia. There are some abnormalities that are not sufficient on their own to cause dystonia and therefore also occur in asymptomatic DYT1 mutation carriers or unaffected relatives of patients with adult-onset dystonia. However, there are some abnormalities (e.g. excessive response to a plastic force), which appear necessary for the production of clinical symptoms.
Basal ganglia dysfunction driven by aberrant plasticity phenomena partially due to dopamine dysfunction is thought to be a major factor contributing to dystonia ([@bib5; @bib37; @bib40]). The impact of compensation for motor loop dysfunction could translate into morphological changes in these circuits. This hypothesis would suggest that putamen enlargement in asymptomatic DYT1 mutation carriers is perhaps a compensatory phenomenon, which does not occur in symptomatic gene carriers. The adult-onset primary dystonia non-DYT1 patients included in our study in general have mild dystonia (most with a BFM score of 5--10) that developed in mid-life. As such, one could consider that they have achieved remarkably good compensation for whatever underlying defect is the cause of their dystonia. Asymptomatic DYT1 mutation carriers are an even better example of such compensation with no or negligible clinical dystonia despite their genetic predisposition. All these subjects have enlarged putamen bilaterally. The symptomatic DYT1 mutation carriers, who have dystonia of young-onset, often of marked severity, have significantly smaller putamen volume, and the size of the putamen bilaterally is negatively correlated with the severity of symptoms. Given these findings and the data reviewed above, an alternative hypothesis is therefore that putaminal enlargement may be a general compensatory response to a variety of gene mutations, including the DYT1 mutation that predisposes to dystonia. If this compensation occurs, as in asymptomatic DYT1 carriers and adult-onset non-DYT1 primary dystonia, then dystonia either does not occur, or occurs late and is limited in distribution and severity. If it does not occur, as in symptomatic DYT1 mutation carriers, then dystonia occurs early in life, may affect many body parts and may be severe.
Conversely, in adult-onset non-DYT1 primary dystonia, putamen volume increase may be part of the pathological process leading to symptom production. As support for this hypothesis, a recent study has found that putamen volumes were enlarged in a mixed group of patients with predominantly non-DYT1 dystonia ([@bib18]). The lack of correlation between clinical symptom severity and basal ganglia volume in both non-DYT1 adult-onset primary dystonia cohorts contrasts with a significant correlation in DYT1 patients, which also supports the idea of a developmental pathological insult, unrelated to the clinical course of disease. Our results with basal ganglia volume reduction in DYT1 dystonics have the implication that there is something particular about DYT1 mutation carriers. This idea implies that putaminal enlargement could be protective against the development of clinical dystonia in DYT1 carriers. In non-DYT1 adult-onset primary dystonia, putaminal enlargement may be reflecting a pathological process that eventually leads to symptoms of dystonia.
A third hypothesis is that it is the early age at onset of symptoms in symptomatic DYT1 mutation carriers that is responsible for the difference in their putamen volume compared to the other patient groups. DYT1 mutation related dystonic signs developed in our cohort at a mean age of 15.5 years while the familial primary non-DYT1 dystonia onset clustered around the age of 36 years and the adult-onset non-familial --- around the age of 42 years. The putamen volume decrement in symptomatic DYT1 carriers is consistent with a recent report pointing towards a pivotal role for torsinA, encoded by the defective DYT1 gene, in stress-induced remodelling of basal ganglia circuits ([@bib43]). The supposition here is that we observe in DYT1 mutation carriers the net effect of two different processes --- primary basal ganglia enlargement caused by the DYT1 gene and stress-induced remodelling of striatal circuits related to clinical expression of symptoms. Such a formulation could explain the symptom manifestations, gene mutation status and the interaction between them in terms of the anatomical endophenotypes we have shown. However, the absence of similar changes in the familial non-DYT1 early onset dystonics is a factor against this idea.
An apparent experimental limitation is that other unknown genetic factors may have contributed to the differential anatomical results. In our study the interaction is observed between DYT1 carriers and two groups of non-DYT1 dystonics --- one is familial with an unknown genotype and the other has no evidence of any monogenic association. This finding strengthens the idea that the DYT1 gene mutation is specifically responsible for the differential anatomical and pathophysiological expression. In addition, we corrected for any independent effect of unmatched patient variables to the results by including age, gender, disease duration and symptom severity in our analysis. The higher usage of anti-cholinergic medication in symptomatic DYT1 mutation carriers (see [Table 1](#tbl1){ref-type="table"}) represents another potential confound. Anti-cholinergic drugs are associated with cortical hypometabolism ([@bib38]), however there are no morphometric studies suggestive of a specific effect on brain structure. The significant negative linear correlation between symptom severity and putamen volume bilaterally suggests a unique contribution of dystonic phenotype to the demonstrated morphometric changes.
In conclusion, we have demonstrated different patterns of basal ganglia volume change in patients with adult-onset primary dystonia, non-symptomatic and symptomatic DYT1 mutation carriers. These constitute differential anatomical endophenotypes. Our results suggest a different pathophysiological process in DYT1 dystonia compared to other forms of primary dystonia and also indicate that increases in putamen volume are not always associated with clinically symptomatic dystonia.
This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (Ref: 075696/Z/04/Z to R.S.J.F and J.A.) and the Brain Research Trust (S.A.S). We thank all the participants in our study, Laura Avanzino and the radiographers at the Functional Imaging Laboratory for their assistance acquiring the data. We also thank Marianne Novak, Davide Martino, Bart van de Warrenburg and especially Mark Edwards for their valuable comments on this paper.
![Statistical parametric maps (SPMs) of structural changes in grey matter representing the anatomical expression of both genotype-phenotype interactions: ((\[^1^S +M−\]--\[S+M+\]) vs (\[S−M+\]--\[S−M−\])) and ((\[^2^S +M−\]--\[S+M+\]) vs (\[S−M+\]--\[S−M−\])). (A--C) For presentation purposes, the SPMs are superimposed on a T1 weighted image at a threshold of *p* \< 0.001, uncorrected. Parameter estimates at voxel maxima in the left putamen \[− 26 − 5 − 4\]. (D and F) Bar plot and interaction plot of crossover interaction between factors genotype \[DYT1 M+ or M−\] and phenotype \[S+ or S−\]. Familial \[^1^S+M−\] and sporadic \[^2^S+M−\] non-DYT1 dystonics labelled with numbers 1 and 2 in the interaction plot. (E) Voxels displayed on "glass brain" show significant effects at *p* \< 0.05 after FWE correction for multiple comparisons over the whole brain. Coordinates \[x y z\] refer to the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) standard stereotactic space. \[S+M+\] --- DYT1 mutation positive dystonics. \[^1^S+M−\] --- Familial DYT1 mutation negative dystonia. \[S−M+\] --- DYT1 mutation positive asymptomatic carriers. \[S−M−\] --- Healthy controls. \[^2^S+M−\] --- Sporadic DYT1 mutation negative dystonia.](gr1){#fig1}
![Correlation between severity of dystonia (BFM rating scale) and structural changes in the putamen (in red --- right putamen, in blue --- left putamen) in the group of DYT1 gene mutation carriers \[M+\], (*p* \< 0.001 two-tailed Pearson correlation test). The effect size was estimated at voxel peaks in the right \[x y z; 31 0 1\] and left putamen \[x y z; − 29 2 4\]. Coordinates \[x y z\] refer to the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) standard stereotactic space).](gr2){#fig2}
######
Clinical data of participants with primary dystonia.
Cohort Case Gender and age (years) Disease duration (years) Site of onset Current distribution BFM Medication
--------- ------ ------------------------ -------------------------- --------------- ---------------------- ---------------------------------- ------------
S+M+ 1 M/72 57 R Arm Segmental 9 None
2 F/66 50 R Arm Segmental 14 Trihexyphenidyl
3 F/25 15 R Arm Segmental 16 None
4 M/53 10 Neck, axial Segmental 22 None
5 F/40 32 R Arm, foot Generalised 24 Trihexyphenidyl, Clonazepam
6 F/67 65 R, L Legs Generalised 28 Trihexyphenidyl
7 F/70 26 R Arm, axial Generalised 30 None
8 F/37 26 R Arm Generalised 34 Trihexyphenidyl
9 F/61 54 R Arm Generalised 52 Trihexyphenidyl, Clonazepam
10 M/41 31 L Foot Generalised 66 Trihexyphenidyl, BTX
11 F/19 14 R Foot Generalised 70 BTX
S−M+ 1 F/30 N/A N/A N/A 0 None
2 M/55 N/A N/A N/A 0 None
3 M/46 N/A R Shoulder Focal 1 None
4 M/31 N/A Neck Focal 2 None
5 F/50 N/A R Arm Focal 2 None
6 F/42 35 R Arm Focal 2 None
7 M/35 13 R Arm Focal 2 None
8 F/47 N/A R Arm Focal 2 None
9 F/76 N/A L Shoulder Focal 3 None
10 M/32 6 R Arm Focal 3 None
11 F/76 N/A Neck Focal 3 None
^1^S+M− 1 F/56 6 Neck Focal 5 BTX
2 F/64 4 Neck Focal 5 BTX
3 M/36 2 Neck Focal 5 BTX
4 F/60 12 Neck Focal 6 BTX
5 F/54 27 Neck Focal 6 BTX
6 M/36 18 Neck Focal 6 BTX
7 F/58 8 Neck Focal 7 BTX
8 F/64 16 Neck Focal 7 BTX
9 F/58 11 Neck Focal 8 BTX
10 M/29 10 R Arm Segmental 9 BTX
11 F/40 5 Neck Segmental 9 BTX
12 F/45 33 Neck Segmental 15 BTX
13 M/64 5 Neck Segmental 15 BTX
14 M/27 5 Neck Segmental 16 BTX
15 F/34 23 R Arm, neck Generalised 32 Trihexyphenidyl, Tetrabenazine
^2^S+M− 1 M/40 4 Neck Focal 5 BTX
2 M/47 17 Neck Focal 5 BTX
3 F/71 18 Neck Focal 5 BTX
4 F/49 15 Neck Focal 5 BTX, Amitriptyline
5 M/56 11 Neck Focal 5 BTX, Propranolol
6 M/44 3 Neck Focal 5 BTX, Propranolol
7 M/43 4 Neck Focal 5 BTX, Baclofen, Propranolol
8 M/53 8 Neck Focal 5 BTX
9 M/41 4 Neck Focal 6 BTX
10 M/52 3 Neck Focal 6 BTX, Amlodipine, Simvastatin
11 F/58 12 Neck Focal 6 BTX
12 F/46 8 Neck Focal 7 BTX
13 F/48 2.5 Neck Focal 8 BTX
14 M/56 4.5 Neck Focal 8 BTX, Trihexyphenidyl, Clonazepam
\[S+M+\] --- DYT1 mutation positive dystonics.
\[S−M+\] --- DYT1 positive asymptomatic carriers.
\[^1^S+M−\] --- DYT1 negative dystonics with family history.
\[^2^S+M−\] --- DYT1 negative dystonics without family history.
BTX --- botulinum toxin injections.
N/A --- not applicable.
######
Summary of VBM results (whole brain *P*~FWE~ \< 0.05).
Analysis Region Left hemisphere coordinates (mm) Z-score Right hemisphere coordinates (mm) Z-score
---------------------------------------------------- ---------- ---------------------------------- --------- ----------------------------------- --------- ------ ------ ----- -----
*Interaction*
((\[^1^S +M−\]--\[S+M+\]) vs (\[S−M+\]--\[S−M−\])) Putamen − 26 − 5 − 4 4.9 29 4 1 4.9
Gpi⁎ − 14 − 2 − 13 3.8 13 − 1 − 11 3.2
((\[^2^S +M−\]--\[S+M+\]) vs (\[S−M+\]--\[S−M−\])) Putamen⁎ − 23 − 2 0 4.5 29 − 5 1 4.6
Gpi⁎ − 15 − 1 − 10 3.5 15 3 − 10 3.1
*Simple effects*
(S+M+) \< (1S+M−) Putamen⁎ − 30 − 9 − 2 3.9 31 − 8 4 3.4
(S+M+) \< (2S+M−) Putamen⁎ − 29 − 2 12 3.1 30 0 11 3.2
(S−M+) \> (S−M−) Putamen⁎ − 27 5 − 2 4.2 29 1 − 3 4.5
Si/Sii⁎ − 43 − 55 39 3.6 41 − 36 49 4.9
(S+M+) \< (S−M+) Putamen⁎ − 24 − 4 0 3.6 29 − 5 1 3.8
Si/Sii⁎ 41 − 36 49 3.8
(^1^S +M−) \> (S−M−) Putamen⁎ − 30 − 3 − 6 4 37 − 3 − 7 4.4
(^2^S +M−) \> (S−M−) Putamen⁎ − 18 3 0 3.1 31 − 1 − 2 3.4
*Correlation*
BFM -- (S+M+) and (S−M+) Putamen⁎ − 29 2 4 4.6 31 0 1 4.2
Results with asterisk (⁎) are corrected using a small volume correction (SVC for the whole basal ganglia volume, *P*~FWE~ \< 0.05). Coordinates \[x y z\] refer to the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) standard stereotactic space). GPi --- internal segment of globus pallidus; SI/II --- primary/secondary sensory cortex.
| 2023-11-04T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/8947 |
Challenges during the implementation of a laparoscopic skills curriculum in a busy general surgery residency program.
The purpose of this article is to describe our experience with the incorporation of a proficiency-based laparoscopic skills curriculum in a busy surgical training program that aims to improve the technical proficiency of residents. The curriculum has a cognitive component and a manual skills component and is adjusted to resident training level. It is based on the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery program and includes basic laparoscopic virtual-reality tasks of the Lap Mentor simulator (Simbionix USA Corp., Cleveland, Ohio). Training occurs in weekly 1-hour sessions until expert-derived performance goals are achieved. Maintenance training ensures skill retention. Performance is assessed with objective metrics and is supported with feedback and an award system. Resident workload is assessed at regular intervals. Knowledge tests and manual skills tests are administered at the beginning and end of the academic year to assess resident performance improvement and curriculum effectiveness. Resident attendance rates and training progress are monitored continuously, and training sessions are adjusted to individual needs. Our curriculum has been implemented for several months. Our experience so far suggests that it is imperative to have dedicated supervising personnel and dedicated training time in the busy week of the surgical resident to ensure attendance. Our next step is to incorporate the 20 modules of the new Association of Program Directors in Surgery (ADPS)/American College of Surgeons (ACS) national skills curriculum into our skills training program, to expand its cognitive component by incorporating additional procedural videos, and to adapt scenario-based training on trauma and critical care on human patient simulators. | 2024-06-30T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/5334 |
Reflections of a Lapsed Orthodox Jew
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Purity of Arms?
The other day an axe-wielding Palestinian terrorist entered a West Bank settlement between Jerusalem and Hebron and murdered a 13-year-old boy with axe blows to his head. The same attacker wounded a 7-year old, who managed to run away. Attempts to subdue the attacker failed.
This is the first challenge for the new right-wing government installed on March 31. Prime Minister Netanyahu has of course called for the apprehension of the terrorist, and the army is on it. Meanwhile, the newly appointed Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman sends conflicting messages.
One day he insults Egypt, another he wants to exchange visits with them. One day he seems to reject the Annapolis peace process, another day he accepts prior cabinet decisions in support of the two-state solution. One day he comes up with a loyalty oath for all Arab-Israeli citizens, and only them, while another he tries to explain why he is not a racist.
Bemused Jewish Congressional Representatives and other American Jewish leaders are trying to figure out how to deal with this guy. Obama and Hillary Clinton are silent, but can’t be happy. But aside from laying out a carpet for Netanyahu-Lieberman, stained red with Jewish children’s blood, this attack was also fueled by the questionable moral stance of the Israeli Army in the recent Gaza action.
According to The New York Times, confirmed by major Israeli newspapers, a left-wing army commander who runs an army preparatory school wrote an unsettling article in an army publication. In it he quoted Jewish soldiers who were very disturbed by some things they had done in Gaza and, more importantly, by what they described as a permissive attitude toward IDF attacks on civilians.
It’s one thing when Amnesty International or some anti-Israel UN relief workers describe what could be war crimes committed by Israel; it’s quite another to read Israeli soldiers describing their own behavior in similar terms. If you are doubtful, read the transcript of the meeting where the soldiers told their stories. They describe a cavalier attitude in some army units toward the killing of civilians. Aviv, a squad commander, said this:
"You do not get the impression from the officers that there is any logic to it, but they won't say anything. To write 'death to the Arabs' on the walls, to take family pictures and spit on them, just because you can. I think this is the main thing in understanding how much the IDF has fallen in the realm of ethics, really. It's what I'll remember the most.
"One of our officers, a company commander, saw someone coming on some road, a woman, an old woman. She was walking along pretty far away, but close enough so you could take out someone you saw there. If she were suspicious, not suspicious – I don't know. In the end, he sent people up to the roof, to take her out with their weapons. From the description of this story, I simply felt it was murder in cold blood."
In another instance, a family was ordered to leave a house and did, but mistakenly went left instead of right from the front door, and the mother and two children were shot dead. There is no doubt from the transcript and from other reports that these are complex situations and that tragic mistakes are inevitable.
According to the official United Nations estimates, 14,000 buildings in Gaza were completely or partially destroyed and over 1300 people killed, 40 percent of them civilians. If we accept these estimates, the record is far better than has been the case for most armies fighting in urban conditions in recent decades, and there is an anomaly here that nobody discusses.
Consider: How do you destroy 14,000 buildings and kill five hundred people? It can only happen if the vast majority of the buildings are empty. Why were they empty? Because Israel warned people to leave them before they were destroyed. So as callous as it seems to say it, the so-called “collateral damage” was far less than could be expected.
But what is far more disturbing is the description here and elsewhere of an attitude on the part of the IDF leadership, encouraged especially by Orthodox rabbis, that may be making these errors far more numerous than they have to be. Racist graffiti scrawled by Jewish soldiers on the walls of homes. Soldiers spitting on family photographs and defecating routinely inside the houses, even on piles of clothing, and talking in a cavalier manner about the killing of large numbers of civilians.
The army’s official doctrine of ethics, Spirit of the IDF, was once famous for its concept of Tohar HaNeshek—Purity of Arms. It was said to have made the Israeli armed forces the most ethical in the world. In Israel this is now widely considered to be a thing of the past. True, there were always war crimes, but fewer than in many armies, and frequently tried and punished.
Now there may be a permissive attitude toward them, stemming from a new code of ethics—that of right-wing rabbis who see the Palestinians as nothing but permanent enemies and obstacles to resettlement of all their Holy Land. For an army once run mainly by kibbutzniks whose Zionism coexisted with social responsibility and universalist humanism, this is a sea change of large and frightening proportions.
The editors of Haaretz conclude: “The army is absorbing more and more religious extremism from the teachings of the IDF's rabbinate. It would be appropriate to investigate the problems from outside the IDF and root them out before the rot destroys the IDF and Israeli society.”
For those who read Hebrew, here is an article that brings us back to an IDS committed to the purity of arms: http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/1076745.htmlIn it, Amos Harel reports one officer and three soldiers who were awarded medals yesterday (Apr. 5, 2009) for avoiding harm to civilians in the city of Nablus. In two incidents, armed wanted persons took refuge within their families. The wanted men were captured but their family members were unharmed.
Mel,The concept of Tohar Ha Neshek needs to be protected with an all consuming vigilence. Having said that it is worth noting that IDF casualties numbered a little more than 10 in this latest conflict and that compares to the 130+ soldiers killed in the Lebanon war of 2006. The leadership of the IDF made a very serious effort to limit IDF casualties this time around and in so doing most likely pushed the edge of the envelope of Tohar Ha Neshek. War essentially boils down to a few basic concepts for survial. One of the choices is "Us or Them". Clearly, this time around the IDF was a bit more cautious and in so doing was perhaps overly aggresive with civilians…but lets not forget it was (and still is) Israeli civilans in Sderot and elsewhere in the south who are undergoing a daily barrage of rockets leaving us with the question…us or them?
These comments are most appreciated. This is a difficult issue, and the answers will not be black and white, even to what seem like the most starkly moral questions.
Jack: J Street is a new lobbying group made up of left-leaning Jews who don’t like being represented by AIPAC, Commentary, and other standard American Jewish organs that they perceive as pulling Israel to the right rather than just straightforwardly supporting her. While I maintain my view that American Jews have not earned the right to make decisions for Israel, I am concerned that the considerable and well organized power of some right-leaning Americans, perhaps especially Orthodox Jews, have led to a situation that amounts to not just "Israel right or wrong" but "Israel right, in both senses of the word." Balance can’t be bad.
Shlomit: I am very glad you referenced this important story, and I will continue to check Haaretz for the English translation, which so far doesn’t seem to be there. (Perhaps when you get a moment–haha–you can elaborate on the details.) There is no doubt in my mind that there are and will continue to be more cases like this one than like the ones I mentioned in the blog. But the issue that is disturbing of course is not the "bad apples" but whether there is a new attitude that has changed the balance because of the vigor of the Israeli right and it’s growing role in the army.
Steve: An astute observation, and one made even stronger by the fact that several of the ten deaths were due to "friendly" fire. I agree it comes down in the end to "us or them," but Israel must in the long run consider the strategic value of being viewed as a state whose moral stature is above that of its neighbors–as opposed to the way it is increasingly viewed in Europe and elsewhere. This involves a more complex calculation than the one you offer, yet might save more Israeli lives in the final analysis.
This is not related to the article but I just ran across an piece you wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution entitled "Carter’s rogue diplomacy hinders peace."First of all, I would say that the world needs more dignataries like Jimmy Carter and less people like Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman. I guess you would consider this latest headlines in Haaretz to be something that helps peace "U.S. furious over Israel’s demolition of East Jerusalem homes" http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072813.html. The Israelis have demolished more than 12,000 homes of innocent Palestinians and these Jews have the nerve to portray themselves as victims. Israel is the sore thumb of the world. period. Is it any wonder that in a recebt European poll that Israel was chosen as the biggest threat to world peace? http://www.turks.us/article.php?story=20031103151152157
Arab Sudan murders 300,000 in the Darfur genocide. Sri Lankan army kills tens of thousands while suppressing Tamil separatists. China crushes Tibet. Four million die in the war in Central Africa. North Korea launches missiles toward Japan and the U.S. A brutal dictator crushes the people of Zimbabwe. The junta in Burma destroys and imprisons its own people. Iran goes nuclear and threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Hamas shoots rockets into Israel daily for years on end. Russia invades Georgia and slaughters thousands. Millions starve in the failed state of Somalia, which exports piracy to threaten world shipping. Nuclear Pakistan on the verge of Islamist upheaval, the province of Swat in Taliban hands and many girls murdered for going to school.
Israel "the biggest threat to world peace"? To believe this you have to be breathtakingly ignorant, anti-Semitic, or both. | 2024-07-15T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/4386 |
Q:
Image going to random positions: Trying to loop
I made my image go to random positions on load but I want it to go to random positions in a loop every, let's say 2 seconds. How would I loop it? All the js tutorials on looping show conditions and stuff. I just want it to go every 2s. (If you run the snippet, keep pressing run and it will go to a different position.)
function getRandomPosition(element) {
var x = document.body.offsetHeight - element.clientHeight;
var y = document.body.offsetWidth - element.clientWidth;
var randomX = Math.floor(Math.random() * x);
var randomY = Math.floor(Math.random() * y);
return [randomX, randomY];
}
window.onload = function() {
var img = document.createElement("img");
img.setAttribute("style", "position:absolute;");
img.setAttribute(
"src",
"https://s.cdpn.io/profiles/user/4052743/80.jpg?1580237522"
);
document.body.appendChild(img);
var xy = getRandomPosition(img);
img.style.top = xy[0] + "px";
img.style.left = xy[1] + "px";
};
img {
border: solid;
border-color: purple;
border-radius: 10px;
}
A:
You should use setInterval
function getRandomPosition(element) {
var x = document.body.offsetHeight - element.clientHeight;
var y = document.body.offsetWidth - element.clientWidth;
var randomX = Math.floor(Math.random() * x);
var randomY = Math.floor(Math.random() * y);
return [randomX, randomY];
}
var img = document.createElement("img");
img.setAttribute("style", "position:absolute;");
img.setAttribute("src","https://s.cdpn.io/profiles/user/4052743/80.jpg?1580237522");
function moveImg(){
var xy = getRandomPosition(img);
img.style.top = xy[0] + "px";
img.style.left = xy[1] + "px";
}
window.onload = function() {
document.body.appendChild(img);
setInterval(moveImg, 2000);
};
img {
border: solid;
border-color: purple;
border-radius: 10px;
transition: all .2s ease;
}
| 2024-04-10T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/4811 |
Frankly, if you put Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin in your movie, you don't really need to worry about the script: we'd happily watch them do just about anything on-screen. And here they sieze every hint of humour, drama and action to keep us entertained and make us care about their characters. Indeed, they maintain their dignity by refusing to give in to the screenplay's lazy old-age jokes and convoluted plot.
The story kicks off when Val (Pacino) gets out of prison after 28 years behind bars. His only remaining friend is Doc (Walken), who lets him stay in his humble apartment. But Val wants to get back in the game, and tries to get Doc to abandon his austere retirement. Then Val learns that Doc is only alive because gangster Claphands (Margolis) is forcing him to kill Val on his release - an act of vengeance against both of them. With nothing to lose, they liberate their dying buddy Hirsch (Arkin) from hospital and decide to go out with a bang.
Screenwriter Haidle seems to want this to be a geriatric Apatow-style comedy, as these men continually talk frankly about their sex lives (including of course a tired Viagra joke). But this is more squirm-inducing than amusing. And director Stevens lets the action set-pieces drag on too long, trying to crank up the energy by giving every scene a madcap spin. But none of this was necessary with these actors: they are geniuses at adding zing to even the most weakly written and directed scenes, keeping us engaged by constantly upstaging each other. They may be past their prime, but they prove that there's plenty of life still in them.
Graceland is created by Jeff Eastin (NBC's Hawaii, USA's White Collar), and follows members of separate law enforcement branches who are required to work - and live - together undercover in a Californian beach house in an hour long show. '
Described as "grittier" and "more complex" than White Collar by The Washington Post, the story and setting are said to be based on real-life events where a beach house, that was seized in the 90s by the feds, is used as a base for undercover agents. The name 'Graceland' comes from the name of the house - after its previous drug dealing owner's obsession with Elvis.
The first episode focuses on Mike: a Virginian played by Aaron Tveit, who you may recognise from Les Misérables and Gossip Girl. The move, and subsequent culture-shock Mike experiences, from Virginia to sunny Santa Monica is explored in the pilot episode as he adapts to his new surroundings and unconventional housemates. Mike joins a band of other undercover agents in the mansion, lead by "menacingly ambivalent" senior FBI agent Paul Briggs; who is played by Daniel Sunjata - best known from FX's firefighter drama Rescue Me.
Doc is lifelong criminal who goes to meet his best friend Val when he leaves prison following a long sentence, but little does Val know that his crime companion has been forced to kill him by his crook boss Hirsch. It doesn't take him long to realise, however, with Doc's sheepish presence constantly giving him away. The pair decide to enjoy themselves in the only ways they know how; theft, drugs and alcohol, before the time comes when Doc has to do the deed to save his own life. As the time draws nearer, he pleads with Hirsch for mercy, unwilling to shoot dead his best and only friend while Val repents for his sins in confession for the first time in 60 years in a bid to make his peace with God before he dies.
This crime comedy highlights friendship, unbreakable promises and sin as the main themes played out by a star-studded main cast. It has been directed by the Oscar winning actor Fisher Stevens in his second feature film after his 'Just a Kiss', and written by Noah Haidle in his first full length feature film and Dave Weasel his first ever feature film. It is set for release in the US on January 11th 2013.
23 years after Gordon Gekko's incarceration for insider trading, he finds himself being released into the outside world. He may have no family to meet him but he's ready to once again take his place in the business world. His soon to be son-in-law Jacob contacts Gordon in the hope that together they will reunite father and daughter. Winnie has always been wary of her father, especially his business dealings to which she warns her fiancé but when Jacob finds himself taken under the wing of Gordon, the offer is too good to turn down.
Longtime buddies Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez have worked together before (Four Rooms, Sin City), but this takes it to the next level. Grindhouse is their shared B-movie fantasy: a three-hour, bare-knuckled double feature epic, an unapologetic celebration of '70s-era hardcore schlock that's authentic, witty beyond expectation, and unerringly crowd-pleasing.
In a recent TV interview, Tarantino said he and Rodriguez had always wished those low-budget flicks were as good as their posters -- and they set out to achieve that, decades after the movies' heyday. With an obvious passion for the genre, the pair has recreated the experience of being at some cheap Texas drive-in with two features, fake coming attractions, missing reels, local ads, and announcements from theater management. Even if you don't catch on to everything, just watching the package is a complete thrill.
Some films are so bad they bring shame even to the lowly reviewer who sits through them to make a lousy nickel. Man of the House is almost, but not quite, that bad.
The premise: Tommy Lee Jones plays a Texas Ranger who goes undercover in a girls' sorority house to protect five cheerleaders who have witnessed a murder -- is about as bad a concept as has ever been approved by a studio (at least until the Deuce Bigalow sequel comes out). But a funny thing about this film (about the only funny thing) is that the actors seem to be enjoying themselves -- especially Jones, whose droll, dry persona makes this film, if not a hoot, at least not a total travesty.
If you're looking for a review of "Cursed" or "Man of the House" in your newspaper this morning, you're not going to find one -- in any newspaper anywhere. Opening in theaters nationwide today, these two movies have been kept hidden from critics because, to be blunt, the studios think they're garbage and want to rake in as much money as they can before word gets out.
Of course, nobody will admit to this at Dimension Films or Columbia Pictures, which are releasing the junkers. But it's no coincidence that every movie Hollywood doesn't screen in advance -- either by not holding previews until the night before opening or not holding them at all -- is largely lambasted once critics and audiences have caught up with it.
Maguire so completely embodies the character's unique yinand yang -- the joyous, daredevil confidence of Spidey and the sweet, self-doubtingyoung chump that is Peter Parker -- that the exhilarating action in "Spider-Man2" is less interesting than his inner turmoil at being torn betweendoing what he's compelled to do and having the life he wants.
A smart, melancholy subculture slice-of-life and an unromantic roundelay between half a dozen denizens of the internet underground, the stylish low-budget indie "On_Line" has serious art-house sleeper-hit potential.
Taking place in large part over the internet (through webcams, QuickTime windows and creative split-screen effects), the interwoven stories revolve around a cybersex web site called Intercon-X, operated out of the sparse Manhattan apartment of two recent college grads.
Harmless, insecure, broken-hearted, cynical John (unshaven, sad-eyed Josh Hamilton, "The House of Yes") and charismatic downtown lothario Moe (Harold Perrineau, "The Matrix Reloaded," HBO's "Oz") don't seem to be making a fortune, but the site has become the primary source of human interaction for most of the film's damaged and cautious characters. | 2023-10-28T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/5480 |
June 05, 2017
3426-3432 22nd St, Eureka Valley-Dolores Heights
4,208 square foot multi-unit Italianate Victorian built in 1899. This is well-maintained rental property that last sold for $32.7K in 1969.
Today's value is about $3.5 million.
The Eureka Valley-Dolores Heights neighborhood contains a variety of architectural styles, though you will find a predominance of Victorians. This district is coveted because of its central location, many shops and restaurants, abundant transit, access to parks and vibrant energy. To discover the real magic of this neighborhood you have to explore its hilly areas and small streets. Venturing up towards Kite Hill you leave the familiar grid pattern to gently curving streets that provide spectacular city views. If architecture is more your style, Hartford Street between 17th and 18th Streets, just behind the Castro Theater, provides a spectacular collection of Queen Anne Row Houses. | 2024-01-21T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/3516 |
I think it's great how you solved the lighting of the face and hair, despite not having a colored drawing level you handled it great that you dont need to know what type of lighting is the face. Its excellent sorry for my english its not very well
Epic piece. Nice use of shadows and highlights. I think the hair should be smoother but the sort of work contrasting the softness of the skin. I also like how the eyes and lips serves as pop of color drawing emphasis to her face. Good job | 2023-09-02T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/4920 |
Reviews
What you will love most about the Vim Hybrid pants…
What you will love most about the Vim Hybrid pants is their total functionality. They are great for cross-country skiing, winter biking, running, snowshoeing or any kind of high-intensity cold-weather activity. A 100 percent polyester shell helps repel moisture and thigh zippers allow you to regulate your body temperature. Tapered legs, with zippered ankle cuffs, reduce wind resistance and bulk, and, they won’t get caught in a bike chain. Articulated knees offer full range of motion and a Merino wool waistband sits slightly below your waist, making these the first anti-mom-pant I’ve ever seen in cross-country ski gear.
The fit? Superb. They are not so tight that you can’t add a layer of long undies for extra warmth nor are they too baggy that they’ll catch wind. I live in Minnesota and I've been using these for cross country skiing, biking and trail running, along with the matching Vim Hybrid Jacket and the Indie Zip T as a base layer. They would also be great in the spring and fall for a myriad of activities.
If you’re a runner or biker, reflective details on the legs will help cars see you. | 2023-12-29T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/4162 |
Need inspiration to find your why and your way?
Join the Tribe Today!
The Sunday Series (8), with Mark Brodinsky
It’s Sunday on a Thanksgiving Weekend, the perfect time to settle in for a story of inspiration. A story about someone born to do what they do. Someone living their why, their purpose, and in turn changing lives.
The Sunday Series (8): Sandy & The House That Love Built
“There is no doubt I was born to do it. This may sound corny, but literally for most of my adult life I always had this voice in my head, like what is it? I know there is something, what is it? I kept thinking it was when I had my family, my house of children. But still, what is it? What am I supposed to be doing? Then I got this job, and I heard the voice say this is your house of children and since I took this job here I have total clarity of purpose. I no longer have the question, what is it I am supposed to be doing. I found it… or it found me.”
Wow. We are two months into the Sunday Series and the quote above is one of the best answers I have been given so far. It comes from one of the most outstanding women you will ever meet. And I’m not alone in that point of view, she is the best of the best, a Circle of Excellence Inductee into the Top 100 Women of Maryland. You’d be hard pressed to find a more compassionate, dedicated servant to her purpose, the President and CEO of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Baltimore, Sandy Pagnotti.
Sandy says not only has she found her place, but it’s ironic she is working at a place with McDonald’s in its title, since when she was in college she actually spent three summers packing cups on the McDonald’s Restaurant line at the Maryland Cup Factory. Who knew then that the college co-ed would one day be the leader of a McDonald’s legacy, as part of one of the world’s most respected philanthropic organizations, The Ronald McDonald House.
A quick pause here to explain for some who don’t know about the House and it’s mission. I serve on the Board of Directors for RMH, and I meet people all the time who don’t have a clear idea of what the Ronald McDonald House is all about. First the official explanation, then I will give you Sandy’s, as only she can describe it.
From the website, www.rmhcbaltimore.org: Ronald McDonald House Charities of Baltimore provides a home away from home for seriously ill children and their families, and helps to fund programs in the local area that directly improve the well-being of children.
Now from Sandy: “The way I describe it, it’s the Four Seasons Hotel meets Disney meets grandma’s house. It’s five-star service, a focus on magic and kids and love, warmth and nurturing. Sandy says the experience she wants is for families who are going through one of the toughest experiences of their lives to walk into Ronald McDonald House and feel a huge sense of relief, that they will be catered to and well-cared for, a huge weight lifted off their shoulders and for the kids to walk in and say, “Wow”.
Since the fall of 2010, when Sandy took over as head of the House, (at least half-a-dozen people told her about the job as soon as it became available that summer), she and her team have been laser-focused on living up to the mission. And it’s not an easy mission to accomplish. The families of these children are at the end of their ropes, most of the children are being treated at, or even confined to nearby hospitals as they battle illnesses or deal with life-long disabilities. It’s stressful and overwhelming for the families and their children and it’s the sole purpose for Sandy and her dedicated team to focus and do the best they can to bring what Sandy describes as, “joy to their journey.”
“I get asked all the time, isn’t your job sad?”, says Sandy. “Not if we can help it, it’s not. Some days yes, I am overwhelmed by the tragedy of what can go on here, but I am also overwhelmed by the volunteers and community and support. Some days you can’t get over the generosity and kindness of what people do for us. There are days I leave and sit in my car thinking, people are so good, people are so good.”
Sandy says her favorite part of the job is that the House and staff offer direct service to these families. “I can be sitting in my office and I might hear a family checking in at the front desk, or hear kids talking and laughing. You meet people who come here under the worst of circumstances and you see the resilience of the human spirit and the kindness of strangers. It’s remarkable what the families go through and every day I get to witness the power of what true community is.”
But not all the moments at the Ronald McDonald House lift spirits, some challenge the very depths of your soul.
Brooke and her Mom
Consider Brooke Shockley, a 14-year-old girl who had just been diagnosed with bone cancer when she came to the House. She ended up staying there for 15 months, Sandy and her team were part of her entire journey. Brooke and her mom became part of the family. Cancer got the best of Brooke and when she died it was as Sandy describes it, “devastating”. But the spirit of the House and the care Brooke received from Sandy and her staff brought about redemption.
At the one year anniversary of her passing Brooke’s mom, Brooke’s brother and sister came back to the House and presented Sandy with Brooke’s jersey from the Red Shoe Shuffle, an RMH event for which Brooke had served as honorary chairperson. But there was more. Brooke’s family presented a gift to the entire staff, a Build-a-Bear which when you press the bear’s hand it triggers a voice from inside the bear… it was Brooke’s voice, recorded just before she died, thanking the entire staff at the Ronald McDonald House.
Sandy and her team had served their mission; they couldn’t affect Brooke’s outcome, but they brought such joy to her journey, that even as she knew she was going to die, she felt compelled to say “thank you” and to leave behind her message of hope. It’s moments like these which are at the very soul of the Ronald McDonald House.
And at this moment in time, under Sandy’s stewardship, may be a turning point in the 30+ year history for RMH of Baltimore. The House can only host 36 families a night. Last year, 1,400 families came through the doors, but 600 more had to be turned away. It is something which is tough for the staff, to make the phone call to a family in crisis and tell them there is no room for them to come to this house of hope. But change is in the wind. A search is on in earnest to find a new location for the Ronald McDonald House of Baltimore and allow for expansion to serve more families. As soon as the property can be secured, it’s full steam ahead and the construction of a new future for RMH.
Find what you love to do and make sure what you do enriches the lives of other people. Sandy is living her purpose, living her dream, living her why. “I am manager, marketer, minister, politician, business owner… I can’t believe all these things exist in one job and I think about that every day”, says Sandy. “Honestly, I am the luckiest person in the world to have this job.”
No doubt. But hundreds, if not thousands of other people will take that same statement and turn it around, they are the lucky ones, because they have been touched by someone determined to make a difference in their lives, to bring hope, love and joy to their journey.
Search over 500 posts, including The Sunday Series
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Mark Brodinsky Emmy Award Winner, 1996
Ever thought about writing a book? check this out!
Blog Reviews
Love seeing new blogs hit the ground running like this one (by a dad no less), but I also urge anyone vaguely interested in blogging to stay tuned, I am. Good luck on your journey – glad that I am along for the ride.
Rachel Blaufeld
Great blog Mark! I always appreciate reading what you have to say. You are very gifted and talented and hopefully someday you’ll not just blog, but write a book.
Stephen Koncurat
I’m definitely along for the ride. We’ve all seen how much damage the written word can inflict. More positive writers are needed. And I love how you are using your personal experiences – those with your wife and children – and your gift of writing to open eyes and to inspire others.
Victoria Endicott
Absolutely beautifully written! The girls in your life must be very proud of you. Thanks for sharing Mark, I look forward to reading more!
Gina Glick Jolson
Very shortly this site will be famous amid all blogging and site-building users, due to it’s pleasant posts.
Leila Galloway
Absolutely beautiful! Are you at all thinking of penning a book? You’ve got a fan base out there that really thinks you should Mark. You write so eloquently. Glad that I got onto this site.
Marilyn Lefkowitz
Mark, You are truly a gifted writer and obviously, a special father and husband . Always a delight to read your words.
I’m speechless…beautiful words flow from your heart just like a gentle waterfall into a tranquil stream… thank you so much for the friend request I was blessed the day I clicked confirm.
Lynne Turner Dorsey
From your first writing in 4th grade entitled “People” which was published in the school newspaper, you have always been able to write. Never more so than when you started “Caringbridge” and now your blog, everyone who reads says what a wonderful writer you are. Our DREAM for you is to become an author and encourage people every day. You are by the far the best and we hope and pray you reach your dream.
Bonnie Brodinsky
I know you always thank us for reading but I would like to say thanks for writing.
Stuart Abell
Great piece. You are an inspiration!
Rob Commodari
Mark I just wanted to let you know that you are succeeding in your “ultimate goal”. I have gained so much from your blogs. I look forward to reading them for the special lift that they give me. Thank you.
Amy F.
I love waking up and starting my day with my coffee and your blog! It a great way to start my day with positive uplifting thoughts!! It puts me in a positive frame of mind throughout the day and allows me to reflect on my personal life, make changes, and grow !!!
Gayle Blank
You are quite talented Mark. Thanks for sharing!
Cynthia
I always look forward to your Blog Mark. Thanks for sharing and as you always do, make it a great / remarkable Day!
Chuck Connolly
Thanks for your Blog Mark. It is fun, encouraging and a nice break from a day full of ups and downs.
Jackie Hetrick
With my busy schedule, there is (sadly) little time for reading. But I have two must-reads every time I come across them, the sports section and your blogs. Keep inspiring and following your dream!
Ed Nemec
Mark, you are a truly remarkable individual. You do speak from your heart, I can’t wait to read your book. You are an incredible writer.
Debbie Press
Mark, I am glad I clicked on your post this morning, which lead me to your writing, your goal.
Would like to connect. This speaks to me.
Aileen Braverman
I can’t wait to read the book. I have followed all the blogs and feel so good that I know u guys. You make me cry but you make me laugh too. All the very best to you!
Beverlee Rendelman
Connect with Mark!
WOW!!! It Takes 2 is a must read for anyone who has known someone diagnosed with cancer or other life threatening disease. This is the real story of a family lead by an incredible woman, Debbie Brodinsky, who took radical steps to beat the breast cancer beast. The story is told by her husband, Mark Brodinsky, through journal entries he kept starting with diagnosis through one year cancer free. This author's unique ability to pour his heart out onto the page draws you in from the beginning and holds you until the very end.
Thanks to Mark and Debbie Brodinsky for this gift...I have a new perspective on what it means to be a breast cancer survivor. You are a hero, Debbie Brodinsky!
TeeBThree
September 25, 2013
This book gives a heartfelt, in depth description of what it is like to go through breast cancer with the one you love. It is beautifully written and I felt as though I was living it with them! I highly recommend this book!
Jgs17September 24, 2013
In It Takes 2, Mark Brodinsky windows us into his world where his wife, the cancer patient, is not the only victim. Part journal, part roadmap, It Takes 2 goes to the real humanity of facing the mortality of one's better half. Mark's candid perspective, love, and fierce intention resonate with hope in a story which is about much more than cancer. Mark himself is perhaps the most heroic character for the way he appreciates this life and so many of us in it...as he says, "thanks for caring."
Réné PallaceSeptember 24, 2013
It Takes Two: A Spouse's Story by Mark Brodinsky should be read by every person who is experiencing serious illness or injury or by a loved one of someone who is experiencing either of those situations. The book is an eloquent testament to the power of love and the healing energy derived from the belief that things will get better. There is not one word of "poor me" from the author or his wife who suffered breast cancer and the radical surgery she elected to have to beat the cancer. Rather, the book is a celebration of the courage displayed by them both in seeing it through.
The book also encourages readers to speak and write down their true feelings and be validated in them. John Mackovic writing in the Palm Springs, CA Desert Sun on November 2, 2013 quoted author and artist Doe Zantamata who said, " To be happy, you don't have to do anything new. You just have to remember how to believe again...Believe everything good is possible. Believe in your dreams. Believe in people. Believe in love. But most of all...believe in yourself." The author, his wife, their family and extended family and friends never stopped believing in his wife's recovery, and I think, in themselves. Read this book and believe.
Paul A. RiecksNovember 4, 2013
This book is a must read for anyone with a family member with breast cancer. It takes you through the spouse's perspective from diagnosis to recovery. Mark journaled his wife's journey and put all of his emotions out there. It is beautifully written and inspiring to anyone going through breast cancer. Thank you, Mark for sharing Debbie's story.
Jmu1109October 23, 2013
A friend recommended this book. This was a great perspective of a man standing beside his partner and passing along to the reader fear, hope, useful information and a broader story than his own. I loved Vinnie the tattoo artist. This is a great book. Thanks for sharing, Mark and "thanks for caring"
Blahsan
This book is a must read. What sets this book apart from other books about surviving breast cancer is that it is told by the husband and his point of view, not from the survivor. At times sad, at times poignant but even through the worst of it you can always feel the love he has for his wife, her strength and the strength of their extended family and friends. The posts that are included from their friends and family lets you really into the heart and strength of the family. I would recommend this book to anyone who is currently going through this, whether you are the person or the caregiver. I also recommend this book to anyone who has a friend that has been or is currently going through their fight now. It was an eye opener for me.
L. BogashSeven Valleys, PA
There isn't a shortage of books about breast cancer, but most are written from the perspective of the person who has battled cancer or a physician or other expert. What an enlightening experience to read about breast cancer from a husband and caregiver's perspective! Not only does the author give us insight into his wife's experience and emotions, but he openly shares and reveals his love, compassion, support, and, yes, sometimes anger at the disease as he stands by his wife's side during their journey to beat the beast. Your story may not be the same, but I guarantee if you have a loved one battling cancer, you won't go wrong reading It Takes 2.
PattiMSeptember 25, 2013
From the moment I opened this book I never stopped reading. Mark invites the reader to come along on this journey that his family went through. I cried, laughed and learned so much. This book will give comfort and knowledge to those going through similar situations. Most importantly, Mark and his family never give up. They get knocked down and get right back up. They fought cancer together and with their strength, determination and will to prevail... They do!
If you are old enough to remember, you will never forget. If everyone has a story, then on this day, everyone lived a story they will share as long as they are alive. Today we remember and in many respects still search for a way to heal and help others to do the same. I […]
It doesn’t have to happen because of challenges or misfortune. There doesn’t have to be some tragedy or bad stroke of luck to make a dramatic change in your life which inspires others. Some people are simply born with the power of inspiration inside them. In fact, most of us are, we just don’t realize […] | 2024-02-14T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/6779 |
Details
Description
While rolling upgrading, namenode's website overview will report there are two versions datanodes in the cluster, for example, 2.6.0 has x nodes and 2.6.2 has y nodes. However, sometimes when I stop a datanode in old version and start a new version one, namenode only increases the number of new version but not decreases the number of old version. So the total number x+y will be larger than the number of datanodes. Even all datanodes are upgraded, there will still have the messages that there are several datanode in old version. And I must run hdfs dfsadmin -refreshNodes to clear this message.
I think this issue is caused by DatanodeManager.registerDatanode. If nodeS in old version is not alive because of shutting down, it will not pass shouldCountVersion, so the number of old version won't be decreased. But this method only judges the status of heartbeat and isAlive at that moment, if namenode has not removed this node which will decrease the version map and this node restarts in the new version, the decrementVersionCount belongs to this node will never be executed.
So the simplest way to fix this is that we always recounting the version map in registerDatanode since it is not a heavy operation. | 2024-02-04T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/1610 |
With the launch of the Social Jobs Partnership on Wednesday, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) added a new dimension to its social networking business.
In conjunction with the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), and several other agencies, the company has aggregated 1.7 million listings from BranchOut, DirectEmployers, Work4Labs, Jobvite, and Monster.com (NYSE:MWW) into a single platform. The application enables Facebook users to search for jobs by industry, location, and skill, apply to open positions directly, and share jobs with friends.
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“When it comes to economic growth, few issues are more important than matching qualified candidates with great jobs,” Facebook said on the company’s blog. “In that spirit, we know that the power of social media – the connections between friends, family and community – can have an outsized impact on finding jobs.”
Even before the application’s launch, Facebook was used by recruiters for hiring, a fact the company highlighted in its announcement of the Social Jobs Partnership. Citing a recent NACE survey, the social network said that 50 percent of employers surveyed use Facebook in the hiring process, and 90 percent found that Facebook has decreased the amount of print advertising needed for recruiting purposes.
But the application is not a Facebook-dominated initiative. “Nearly a year ago, the U.S. Department of Labor joined the Social Jobs Partnership to explore better ways to connect people with job information through social media,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis regarding the application. “Through the expertise of our partners and the foundation of an industry-supported open source job posting schema, the Social Jobs Partnership is helping get America back to work.”
Now LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) has a direct competitor. Although the company has a three-year head start on the Social Jobs application and a well-established enterprise recruitment tool, Facebook already has a much larger base, with 1 billion accounts compared to LinkedIn’s 175 million. The social network also has a much more varied user demographic than LinkedIn, enabling Facebook’s application to support a greater range of entry-level and hourly positions rather than the salaried openings that LinkedIn primarily offers.
Shares of LinkedIn were trading down 1 percent, at $98.16, midday on Wednesday following the launch.
Don’t Miss: Is This a Major Red Flag for Facebook? | 2024-05-16T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/8834 |
When it comes to Ethereum, the future of adoption remains decentralized, privacy-focused, and non-custodial.
Despite the lukewarm recovery of the cryptocurrency market and concerns about blockchain centralization, 2019 in Ethereum was big on figuring out easy and secure solutions to make decentralization user-friendly.
After the 2017 ICO boom, 2018 was a year of uncertainty and doubt for crypto. As regulators began to exert their influence in the space and the market endured a prolonged bear phase, members of the crypto community as well as outside commentators began to believe that in order to survive, cryptocurrency must compromise the most important of its original blockchain ideals: decentralization, privacy, and autonomy.
Nevertheless, looking back at 2019, it’s clear that those principles remain intact and foremost in the minds of developers working on solutions for the Ethereum blockchain. Moving forward as a community, we must keep in mind that if we dedicate time and effort to building friendly, secure, intuitive decentralized solutions, we can preserve blockchain ideals without sacrificing adoption.
DeFi and Web3 show value of decentralization, great UX unlocks its potential
Decentralized finance (DeFi) products have seen considerable growth over 2019, but their role in 2020 will be defined in many ways by the quality of a user’s experience. Technologies that can bring traditional finance tools to the blockchain in a trustless manner have the potential to reduce friction and, as a result, bring us closer to a future with a decentralized global economy.
Despite overall security standards improving throughout the space, major exchange hacks continue to happen, highlighting the dangers of centralized control. Decentralized exchanges (DEX) are becoming more user-friendly, providing convenience without making users dependent on third parties.
Centralized crypto exchanges have grown quickly due to the familiarity of their custodial user experience, but 2020 will be the year when advantages of decentralized finance | 2023-08-18T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/4927 |
/*PGR-GNU*****************************************************************
Copyright (c) 2015 pgRouting developers
Mail: project@pgrouting.org
------
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
********************************************************************PGR-GNU*/
-- these should all be true
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0foobar23', '2.1');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0foobar23', '2.1-rc1');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0foobar23', '2.1-beta');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0foobar23', '2.1-alpha');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0foobar23', '2.1-dev');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0foobar23', '2.1rc1');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0foobar23', '2.1beta');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0foobar23', '2.1alpha');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0foobar23', '2.1dev');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0-dev', '2.1');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0-dev', '2.1-rc1');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0-dev', '2.1-beta');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0-dev', '2.1-alpha');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0-dev', '2.1rc1');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0-dev', '2.1beta');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0-dev', '2.1alpha');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0-alpha', '2.1');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0-alpha', '2.1-rc1');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0-alpha', '2.1-beta');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0-alpha', '2.1rc1');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0-alpha', '2.1beta');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0-beta', '2.1');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0-beta', '2.1-rc1');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0-beta', '2.1rc1');
select _pgr_versionless('2.0.0', '2.1');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1', '2.1.3');
select _pgr_versionless('1.05', '2.0.0');
select _pgr_versionless('1.05', '2.0');
select _pgr_versionless('1.05', '2');
-- these should all be false
select _pgr_versionless('2.1', '2.1.0foobar23');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1-rc1', '2.1.0foobar23');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1-beta', '2.1.0foobar23');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1-alpha', '2.1.0foobar23');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1-dev', '2.1.0foobar23');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1rc1', '2.1.0foobar23');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1beta', '2.1.0foobar23');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1alpha', '2.1.0foobar23');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1dev', '2.1.0foobar23');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1', '2.1.0-dev');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1-rc1', '2.1.0-dev');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1-beta', '2.1.0-dev');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1-alpha', '2.1.0-dev');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1rc1', '2.1.0-dev');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1beta', '2.1.0-dev');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1alpha', '2.1.0-dev');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1', '2.1.0-alpha');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1-rc1', '2.1.0-alpha');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1-beta', '2.1.0-alpha');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1rc1', '2.1.0-alpha');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1beta', '2.1.0-alpha');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1', '2.1.0-beta');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1-rc1', '2.1.0-beta');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1rc1', '2.1.0-beta');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1', '2.0.0');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.3', '2.1');
select _pgr_versionless('2.0.0', '1.05');
select _pgr_versionless('2.0', '1.05');
select _pgr_versionless('2', '1.05');
select _pgr_versionless('2', '2.0.0foobar');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1', '2.1.0');
select _pgr_versionless('2.1.0beta3dev', '2.1.0beta1dev');
| 2024-07-28T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/4657 |
Endocrine alterations associated with extended time interval between estrus and ovulation in high-yield dairy cows.
Short fertile half-lives of the male and female gametes in the female tract necessitate accurate timing of artificial insemination. We examined the possible association between extension of the estrus to ovulation (E-O) interval and alterations in concentrations of estradiol, progesterone, and the preovulatory LH surge before estrus and ovulation. High-yielding Holstein cows (n = 74 from a total of 106) were synchronized and were examined around the time of the subsequent estrus. They were observed continuously for estrual behavior. Blood samples were collected before and after estrus, and ultrasound checks for ovulation were made every 4 h. About three-quarters of the cows exhibited short (but normal) E-O intervals of 22 to 25 h (25%) or normal intervals of 25 to 30 h (47%); 17% of them displayed a long (but normal) E-O interval of 31 to 35 h, and about 10% exhibited a very long E-O interval of 35 to 50 h. Extended E-O interval comprised estrus-to-LH surge and LH surge-to-ovulation intervals that were both longer than normal. Pronounced changes in hormonal concentrations were noted before ovulation in the very long E-O interval group of cows: progesterone and estradiol concentrations were reduced, and the preovulatory LH peak surge was markedly less than in the other 3 groups. Postovulation progesterone concentrations during the midluteal phase were lesser in the very long and the long E-O interval groups compared with those in the short and normal interval groups. Season, parity, milk yield, and body condition did not affect the estrus to LH surge, LH surge to ovulation, and E-O intervals. The results indicate an association between preovulatory-reduced estradiol concentrations and a small preovulatory LH surge, on the one hand, and an extended E-O interval, on the other hand. Delayed ovulation could cause nonoptimal timing of AI, a less than normal preovulatory LH surge that may be associated with suboptimal maturation of the oocyte before ovulation, or reduced progesterone concentrations before and after ovulation. All may be factors associated with poor fertility in cows with a very long E-O interval. | 2024-07-15T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/4039 |
1. Introduction {#sec1-materials-08-05445}
===============
Masonry arches and vaults, common to historic buildings, have been predominantly designed to resist vertical static loads, hence dynamic horizontal loads induced by earthquakes often cause significant damage or the collapse of these structural elements.
Considerable progress has been made in understanding arch and vault behavior in the last three decades \[[@B1-materials-08-05445],[@B2-materials-08-05445],[@B3-materials-08-05445],[@B4-materials-08-05445]\] and several repair and/or strengthening methods have been proposed for re-establishing and enhancing the static and dynamic performance of curved masonry structures. However, these proposals are promoted on the basis of static testing alone, potentially due to a reluctance to address the complexities of dynamic analysis. However, it is apparent that failure to consider the efficacy of repair work to historic vaulted structures under dynamic behavior will constrain a rigorous evaluation of the most appropriate design solutions and promote the employment of ineffective implementation strategies to fortify these structures. All potential loading conditions acting on historic vaulted structures must be considered if our global building heritage is to be preserved.
This investigation of historic vaulted structures, proposes addressing the complexity of applied loading conditions through the adoption of composite materials. FRP-materials present a solution for the retrofitting and seismic fortification of historical buildings located in earthquake zones. The application of these materials to situations where an increase in strength is to be balanced against minimising an increase in mass, has become widespread for more than two decades; the static efficiency of these repairs being demonstrated in the laboratory and through numeric modelling techniques \[[@B5-materials-08-05445],[@B6-materials-08-05445],[@B7-materials-08-05445]\].
Fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) reinforcements provide engineers the option to explore interesting repair techniques. This includes the possibility of easy reinforcement removal and replacement, while maximizing the benefits resulting from the low self-weight and high strength of these fibres, facilitating conservation through maintaining the boundary conditions of the original structure and not increasing the original mass.
The FRP reinforcement of masonry vaults is incapable of preventing masonry from cracking or repairing an existing crack, but it does transmit the tension force between the two sides of the crack, stitching the crack together. Hence, hinges may form, but cannot open, since the tension force is transmitted by the reinforcement in lieu of the cracked masonry, *i.e.*, the tension force bypasses the crack and transfers directly to the reinforcement. This means that reinforcing the vault's extrados or intrados, effectively prevents collapse mechanisms from occurring, forcing such structures to fail by other failure modes (*i.e.*, crushing, sliding, debonding or FRP rupture).
Increases in loading capacity ranging from 30% to 600% have been recorded from static tests on reinforced and unreinforced structures. This has been noted in many experimental and analytical studies in the last two decades on masonry arches \[[@B8-materials-08-05445],[@B9-materials-08-05445],[@B10-materials-08-05445],[@B11-materials-08-05445]\], masonry barrel vaults \[[@B12-materials-08-05445],[@B13-materials-08-05445],[@B14-materials-08-05445]\], cross vaults and domes \[[@B15-materials-08-05445],[@B16-materials-08-05445],[@B17-materials-08-05445]\]. While these researchers predominantly focus on the static behaviour of masonry structures strengthened with composite materials, studies based on dynamic behaviour would more accurately simulate the load application conditions that induce failure, while facilitating the analysis of the dynamic parameters of a vaulted structure achieved after strengthening interventions employing FRPs. Experimental studies of the dynamic behavior of historic masonry structures reinforced with composite materials are rare \[[@B18-materials-08-05445],[@B19-materials-08-05445],[@B20-materials-08-05445]\] and the investigation of FRP reinforcement applied to vaulted structures under dynamic test conditions has not yet been addressed, this study attempts to address these omissions in the research conducted to date.
2. Experimental Program and Vault Details {#sec2-materials-08-05445}
=========================================
Tests were carried out within the laboratory and on site, with the aim of analyzing the dynamic behavior of undamaged, damaged and FRP-reinforced vaulted masonry structures.
Three full scale masonry vaults were constructed in laboratory for the purpose of this investigation from solid clay bricks and weak cement-based mortar. Two of the vaults (BV1 and BV2) were of a barrel vault design and were constructed from identical brickwork specification. Vault RV3 was a rib barrel thin vault. Insertion of ribs in barrel vaults allows for thickness reduction without a significant decrease in the structure's stiffness. Two ribs with a cross section of 25 cm × 12 cm were constructed for the barrel thin vault.
The experimental vaults were constructed with a span of 4.80 m, a rise of 0.76 m and a depth of 1.40 m, respectively. The wall thickness for vaults BV1 and BV2 was 12 cm ([Figure 1](#materials-08-05445-f001){ref-type="fig"}), while a thickness of 5.5 cm was adopted for RV3 (thin vault).
The specimens were built on a wooden framework, with the barrel vaults springing constructed from L shaped steel profile and effectively fixed to the floor. A triangular concrete cast block was utilised along the vault's depth to commence the masonry work with full bricks for both springings ([Figure 2](#materials-08-05445-f002){ref-type="fig"}).
Each of the three vaults were simply supported at the base, while dynamic behaviour was evaluated under the following structural vault configurations: (a) undamaged vault; (b) damaged vault; (c) repaired vault with FRP-materials. The damage of the vaults arose from the formation of three hinges and subsequent cracks in the mortar joints.
{#materials-08-05445-f001}
{#materials-08-05445-f002}
The tests carried out on the damaged and repaired vaults utilised strengthening material in the form of uni-directional glass fabrics (GFRP). Two 250 mm wide fibre strips bonded at the vaults extrados at a distance of 550 mm apart, were employed throughout the experimental program in the laboratory. The surfaces of the repaired vaults were manually cleaned in order to remove any residual dust prior to the application of the composite strips. The surface was then pre-impregnated with an epoxy primer to improve bonding at the interface. A layer of epoxy putty was applied to fill the voids between the bricks; another layer of the bi-component epoxy resin was applied at the surface, before and after, the placement of the fabric strip. The placement of the strips ensured that the fibres lay perpendicular direction to the cracks and became embedded in the resin through the application of a light pressure. The curing time for the FRP reinforcement was seven days at room temperature, in accordance with the resin product specification.
Field tests were carried out on the vaults of an historical building in L'Aquila, Italy. This building, an aristocratic residence dating back to 18th century with important decorative features (frescos, marble window seals, fire-places, decorative mouldings, *etc.*), was heavily damaged by the 2009 earthquake. The large rooms of the main floor were characterized by thin tile vaulted ceilings, partially filled at the extrados with light in-fill material to ensure structural stability ([Figure 3](#materials-08-05445-f003){ref-type="fig"}). This is a typical arrangement for brick vaults in the city of L'Aquila: very large in-folio (thin) brick vaults partially filled with building rubble. These structural masonry elements usually exhibit weak behavior under seismic loads, highlighting the necessity for reinforcement and retrofitting.
{#materials-08-05445-f003}
The tests in this study were carried out on a large damaged thin vault. Dynamic tests were performed before and after the application of the composite materials. Reinforcement was applied at the vault's intrados due to the presence of a high-historic value ancient floor over the vault, thereby preventing any kind of work at the vault's extrados. The vault was not decorated with frescos, which facilitated the application of the reinforcement. However, the imposition of constraints by the Italian body for preservation and conservation of historic monuments (Soprintendenza per i Beni Architettonici e Paesaggistici) did not allow an extensive use of polymeric adhesives (epoxy resins) to bond the composites at the vault intrados, despite being aimed at guaranteeing the non-destructive removability of reinforcement and compatibility with historic masonry. For this reason, a GFRP textile reinforced mortar coupled with a non-polymeric cement-based matrix was used and applied over the entire vault intrados surface ([Figure 4](#materials-08-05445-f004){ref-type="fig"}).
{#materials-08-05445-f004}
In order to improve the structural behavior of the vault, Carbon FRP strips (CFRP) were applied at the vault's intrados over the GFRP mesh, to form an internal FRP-reinforced arch ([Figure 5](#materials-08-05445-f005){ref-type="fig"}a). The intention was to create a structural element with a similar structural mechanism to that of an umbrella: the thin-tile GFRP reinforced vault represented the fabric of the umbrella while the CFRP strips acts as the spokes. In addition, local reinforcement in form of CFRP sheet crossing was applied over the GFRP mesh. The CFRP sheets were bi-directional with a dimension of 500 mm × 600 mm and a density of 300 g/m^2^ ([Figure 5](#materials-08-05445-f005){ref-type="fig"}b).
{#materials-08-05445-f005}
It should be noted that Aramidic fibres (AFRP) connectors in the form of spikes were driven into the bricks at the abutments, resulting in a brick penetration of approximately 80 mm. This was done for only the CFRP strips resulting in a penetration into the bricks of approximately 80 mm, ensuring adequate connection between the CFRP strips and the vault.
2.1. Material Specification {#sec2dot1-materials-08-05445}
---------------------------
For laboratory tests, solid clay bricks of nominal dimension 5.5 cm × 12 cm × 25 cm were adopted in the construction of the vaults. Thirty bricks, tested according to American Society for Testing Material (ASTM) C67 \[[@B21-materials-08-05445]\], gave a mean compressive strength of 20.99 MPa and root-mean-square deviation of 1.87 MPa.
The mortar mix design used was established as 6:2.5:0.5 (sand:lime:cement). Eighteen compression tests have been conducted on the mortar in accordance with ASTM C349 \[[@B22-materials-08-05445]\]. The mortar had a compression strength of 1.92 MPa and a Coefficient of Variation (CoV) of 18.4%. Nine mortar prisms were tested in bending according to ASTM C348 \[[@B23-materials-08-05445]\]; the prisms' dimensions were 40 mm × 40 mm × 160 mm. Bending strength was 0.29 MPa and CoV (27.5%).
In order to measure the mechanical properties of the brickwork masonry, two wallettes with dimensions 509 mm × 335 mm × 115 mm were built for each vaulted specimen for evaluating masonry compression strength and Young's modulus. The weight density of this masonry was 1657 kg/m^3^, with average compressive strength and average elastic modulus values of 6.17 MPa (CoV = 20.7%) and 3634 MPa (CoV = 17.1%), respectively. The fibre adopted in this investigation consisted of a uni-directional woven fabric made of Alkaline Resistant (AR) Glass fiber (GFRP). The fabric was impregnated by an epoxy resin.
For laboratory and in-situ tests mechanical properties of CFRP strips, GFRP textile and CFRP sheet and AFRP spikes, as reported in the producer's data sheet, are shown in [Table 1](#materials-08-05445-t001){ref-type="table"}. CFRP strips were 50 mm × 1.2 mm in cross section and made by pultrusion.
materials-08-05445-t001_Table 1
######
Mechanical characteristics of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP)-materials.
Property AR GFRP CFRP Strips GFRP Textile AFRP Spikes
--------------------------- ----------- ------------- -------------- -------------
Fiber orientation Unidir. Unidir. Bidir. Unidir.
Young's Modulus (GPa) 65 \*\* 205 74 \*\* 100 \*\*
Weight density (kg/m^2^) 0.6 1.71 0.22 --
Tensile strength (MPa) 1700 \*\* 3252 2875 \*\* 2905 \*\*
Thickness (mm) 0.23 \* 1.2 0.048 \* --
Elongation at failure (%) 2.8 1.6 2.9 1.44
\* dry fabric, \*\* using dry fabric thickness.
3. Test Results {#sec3-materials-08-05445}
===============
The method of data analysis employed in this study is referred to as the peak-amplitude or peak-picking method. This method is appropriate for the examined masonry structures with well-separated modes \[[@B1-materials-08-05445],[@B24-materials-08-05445]\].
3.1. Laboratory Tests {#sec3dot1-materials-08-05445}
---------------------
For the laboratory tests, the dynamic excitation is achieved through the use of a sling which allows the "vertical raising" of the vault followed by the release of the sling to enable the vault to vibrate ([Figure 6](#materials-08-05445-f006){ref-type="fig"}) until rest. Individual resonance peaks are detected on the Frequency Response Function (FRF) plot and the frequency of maximum response is taken as the mode natural frequency.
{#materials-08-05445-f006}
In the case of specimen BV1, the sling was applied at left haunch and the excitation method allowed the measurement of the natural modal frequencies, particularly the first mode frequency. Measurement of vibrations of the vaults have been recorded using a Polytec Doppler laser-vibrometer model OFV 3001-OFV 303 (Polytec GmbH, Waldbronn, Germany) with CPU OFV-600 at the center point of the "raised" haunch along a direction with a slope of 40° on the horizontal plane. Results are partially reported in \[[@B25-materials-08-05445]\]. From the experimental investigations on specimens BV2 and BV3, with the excitation applied at one haunch, the results are presented in [Table 2](#materials-08-05445-t002){ref-type="table"}.
materials-08-05445-t002_Table 2
######
Natural frequencies under free oscillation.
Specimen Undamaged Damaged Strengthened
---------- ----------- --------- -------------- ------- ------- -------
BV1 11.25 -- 10.50 -- 12.50 --
BV2 10.00 -- 6.25 10.62 9.37 18.75
BV3 6.25 13.00 3.50 9.00 8.50 15.50
Testing of the masonry vaults occurred 45 days post-construction. The first modal frequencies values of 11.25 Hz and 10.00 Hz were recorded for BV1 and BV2 respectively ([Figure 7](#materials-08-05445-f007){ref-type="fig"}) while a much lower natural frequency value, 6.25 Hz, up to 40% lower, was recorded for BV3. These frequency values can be also compared with those obtained from a numerical simulation: frequencies of 10.66 and 9.62 Hz were found from the numerical simulation for BV1- and BV3-type vaults, respectively. For a BV1-type vault, these values are in a very good agreement with experimental ones. The difference in dynamic behavior illustrated by the first-mode natural frequency of BV3 when compared with BV1 and BV2, can be explained by the difference in vault thickness and the presence of the ribs.
{#materials-08-05445-f007}
A simple 3D linear finite element model has been used to deepen the dynamic behaviour of the vault. The geometry is the same of the experimentally tested specimens and the vault body is created by an Ansys \[[@B26-materials-08-05445]\] software using Solid 65 elements (three-dimensional eight-node hexahedron isoparametric elements). For the boundary conditions in the finite element model of the vault, all translations are fixed at the vault imposts, but rotations are allowed.
For the sake of simplicity, both elastic and perfectly plastic behavior were adopted: (a) with infinite ductility and (b) with isotropic behavior hypotheses for the material. It must be underlined that such assumptions do not take into account two important aspects of masonry at failure, the first related to the damaging behavior of joints, the latter related to the well-known higher masonry horizontal in-plane strength with respect to the vertical one, essentially due to brick staggering. Nevertheless, these aspects cannot be taken into account easily. On the other hand, the assumption of a zero tensile strength with frictional behavior is widely accepted \[[@B27-materials-08-05445]\] for the analysis of masonry constructions. Within this approach, a Mohr--Coulomb type failure criterion with tension cut-off type behavior was assumed for masonry. This failure criterion, initially adopted for concrete, accounts for both cracking and crushing failure modes through a smeared model. In particular, the masonry brittle behavior was here defined by means of only two constants: *f*~t~ (uniaxial tensile strength) and *f*~c~ (uniaxial compressive strength).
The main aim of this simple model was only to determine the natural frequencies and modes of vibrations. [Figure 8](#materials-08-05445-f008){ref-type="fig"} shows the first two natural modes of vibration of BV3. For undamaged vaults, this analysis demonstrated that the experimental value of first natural frequency is very similar to the numerical one: the first natural frequency from the model was 11.12 Hz (compared to 11.25 and 10 Hz measured for BV1 and BV2, respectively). For damaged vaults, the results of numerical and experimental tests highly differed for the difficulty of modelling the vault damage and the hinges. This difference (in terms of first natural frequency value) reduced for strengthened vaults (numerical 11.84 Hz, average experimental 10.93 Hz) due to the mitigation of non-linear effects.
{#materials-08-05445-f008}
Damping values were also calculated for all the three tested masonry vaults ([Table 3](#materials-08-05445-t003){ref-type="table"}). The value of the damping α, has taken into consideration the time range (*t~i+~*~1~, *t~i~*) of approximate 0.4 s and also the tests with the sling placed at the left haunch. For an underdamped system: $$x\left( t \right) = - Xe^{- \mathsf{\alpha}t}$$
The value of the damping α is given by: $$\mathsf{\alpha} = \frac{1}{(t_{i + 1} - t_{i})}\ln\left( \frac{x_{i}}{x_{i + 1}} \right)$$
*x~i~* and *x~i+~*~1~ are the peaks of the displacements *x(t)* respectively within the time range *t~i+~*~1~, *t~i~*.
materials-08-05445-t003_Table 3
######
Recorded damping values from free oscillations.
Specimen Undamaged (s^−1^) Damaged (s^−1^) Strengthened (s^−1^)
---------- ------------------- ----------------- ----------------------
BV1 1.28 1.50 1.47
BV2 1.25 2.08 1.75
BV3 1.22 1.87 1.15
Free oscillation tests were also performed on the damaged vaults. Damage was caused by a vertical load through the application of two hydraulic cylinders and a spreader beam under one haunch ([Figure 9](#materials-08-05445-f009){ref-type="fig"}). The static vertical loading was increased until hinges formed at three locations along the curved length of the vault; one hinge occurred around the vault springing, another hinge formed over the position of the vertical load, and the third hinge formed in the opposite haunch 11 brick lengths from the crown (for BV1-type vault).
{#materials-08-05445-f009}
The global behavior of the damaged vaults was predominantly elastic allowing for analysis of the vault's behavior via free oscillation tests, as previously done for the undamaged vault. A decrease in the frequencies of the first natural mode was recorded in all tests carried out on the damaged vaults compared to the values recorded for undamaged vaults. Natural frequencies values of first and second mode for the tested masonry vaults are presented in [Table 2](#materials-08-05445-t002){ref-type="table"}. The first natural mode frequency value for specimen BV1 experiences a decrease from 11.25 Hz (undamaged vault) to 10.50 Hz (damaged vault) as shown in [Figure 10](#materials-08-05445-f010){ref-type="fig"}, while a decrease from 10.00 Hz to 6.25 Hz and from 6.25 Hz to 3.50 Hz was recorded for specimens BV2 and BV3, respectively. The decrease in the first-mode natural frequency is a consequence of the damage sustained. This value depends on the positions of the hinges and the extent of structural damage. This explains the different values (10.50 and 6.25 Hz) recorded for vaults BV1 and BV2. It must be highlighted that if damage does not progress, this value remains constant with time. Similarly, an increase in the damping values was experienced in the damaged vaults compared to the undamaged vaults. The damping values are summarized in [Table 3](#materials-08-05445-t003){ref-type="table"}. Corresponding values were recorded for undamaged vaults (average value 1.25 s^−1^). The damage resulted in an increase in the damping value between 17.1% and 66.4%.
{#materials-08-05445-f010}
The test procedure, applied to the undamaged and damaged vaults was repeated on strengthened vaults, and the results are presented in [Table 2](#materials-08-05445-t002){ref-type="table"} and [Table 3](#materials-08-05445-t003){ref-type="table"}. Due to the strengthening, an increase in the frequencies of the first natural mode compared to those for damaged vaults was recorded. The first mode frequency values for the strengthened vaults were almost the same as that of the undamaged vaults. The first natural mode frequency for specimen BV3 after strengthening, reached the value of 8.50 Hz compared the 6.25 Hz and 3.50 Hz for the same vault in the undamaged and the damaged configurations, respectively ([Figure 11](#materials-08-05445-f011){ref-type="fig"}). The cracks where the three hinges formed are still present, but tensile stresses are now transferred to the GFRP reinforcements ([Figure 12](#materials-08-05445-f012){ref-type="fig"}).
Strengthening with GFRP sheets has resulted in a decrease of the damping value ([Table 3](#materials-08-05445-t003){ref-type="table"}) for the repaired vault compared to the vault that is damaged but has had no strengthening interventions. However, the application of the GFRP at the vault extrados has not re-established the original damping values due to the presence of the mortar joint cracks. This could be considered as an additional advantage to be gained from strengthening. Reinforcement can greatly enhance the tensile strength of masonry while re-establishing the original dynamic response of the undamaged structure.
{#materials-08-05445-f011}
{#materials-08-05445-f012}
Consideration of the behavior of the rib masonry barrel vault illustrates the natural frequency of the strengthened specimen to be higher than in the control undamaged vault. This may be explained by the increased masonry stiffness between the ribs, resulting from the application of fibre strips. A high decrease in damping was suggested in the damping value following the strengthening application.
3.2. On-site Tests {#sec3dot2-materials-08-05445}
------------------
A further dynamic investigation has been carried out on-site on a thin brick vault to validate the efficiency of the reinforcing technique. Dynamic tests were performed on the vault before and after the application of reinforcement at the intrados. Free vault oscillations were induced by a blow from a sledgehammer. The tests were conducted over a period of four days, as a preliminary investigation into the dynamic characteristics of the vault. A full modal survey was not conceived, the study only served to identify the prominent modes of vibration. It was expected that a mildly non-linear response of the masonry vault would be observed due to the presence of cracks at the sides of the un-strengthened damaged vault.
A 2 kg sledgehammer instrumented with a piezoelectric force transducer was used for the forced excitation of the vault. The response of the structure was measured using three low-frequency Monitran MTN/7100 accelerometers with nominal sensitivity of 5.39 mV/g.
Both force and response signals were filtered using a 16th order low-pass Butterworth filter with a cut-off frequency of 200 Hz. Accelerometers mounted on steel blocks were attached to the masonry vault with an adhesive. Hammer excitation was concentrated on the vault key-stone, as it was almost level, and, therefore, easy to balance on ([Figure 13](#materials-08-05445-f013){ref-type="fig"}). The magnitude of the accelerations were recorded at the vault haunches on a direction perpendicular to the vault surface at that point. The Frequency Response Function (FRF) for each location was obtained from an average of ten hammer blows for a spectral resolution of 0.0625 Hz.
{#materials-08-05445-f013}
Typical FRF spectra for un-reinforced vault ([Figure 14](#materials-08-05445-f014){ref-type="fig"}) are presented showing their component magnitudes. The damage to the vault promoted an inelastic dynamic response and any natural frequency could be recorded for the vault. Dynamic pounding between closely spaced parts of the vault resulted in the recording of high peaks for the amplitude of acceleration, but any dynamic analysis could be executed.
{#materials-08-05445-f014}
For the reinforced vault, an elastic behavior was restored and the vault exhibited a clear dynamic behavior ([Figure 15](#materials-08-05445-f015){ref-type="fig"}). Modal peaks in the spectra indicated the presence of a number of modes of vibration below 120 Hz. The well-defined peaks represent individual modes, and their repeatability across the full spectral set facilitated a modal analysis. Re-establishing the elastic behavior of the vault through application of reinforcement is considered to be a positive result of the investigation.
{#materials-08-05445-f015}
4. Conclusions {#sec4-materials-08-05445}
==============
The effectiveness of FRP-reinforcement of vaulted and arch masonry structures has been demonstrated through static tests by several research investigations evidenced by the rich bibliography presented in this paper. In advancing this work, this research considers dynamic behavior before and after the application of FRP reinforcement.
The strengthening of masonry vaults through FRPs have highlighted some limitations as well as advantages. The dynamic tests have been carried out in laboratory on three full-scale masonry barrel vaults constructed from two different masonry solid-brick brickworks (two barrel vaults and one rib barrel vault) and on-site on a damaged thin-brick vault before and after reinforcement.
The results of the laboratory tests detail the dynamic behaviour of the masonry vaults in the un-damaged, damaged and strengthened configurations. In particular, it is noted that the FRP strengthening operations promote the approximate re-establishment of the value of frequency of first natural mode, prior to damage. The strengthening is partially able to restore the dynamic behaviour of the undamaged vaults, without changing the constraint conditions and increasing the dead loading to the structure. The benefits of this non-invasive reinforcement technique are identified as having particular application to retrofitting, comparing favorably to traditional invasive techniques which can result from the practice of constructing a reinforced concrete layer on top of the original extrados. FRPs can be removed mechanically upon application of heat.
Detachment of the composites from the masonry surface, was never observed during the test procedures employed. Even for vault BV3, the mono-directional GFRP sheet remained attached to the masonry surface. However, further research on the long-term adhesion and of the mechanical properties of composite materials for particular site conditions, is necessary.
The authors wish to record their indebtedness to Angelo Di Tommaso, Alessandra Barbieri and Giuseppe Paci for their contribution to part of the experimental work. Thanks are also due to the Materials and Structures (LASTRU) Laboratory Staff of the University of Perugia, Italy.
Marco Corradi and Antonio Borri conceived and designed the experiments; Giulio Castori performed the experiments; Marco Corradi and Kathryn Coventry analysed the data; Kathryn Coventry wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
| 2024-05-28T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/8418 |
Tag: stress
Someone dies unexpectedly on the ward; a baby is born with a severe abnormality; a surgical patient wakes up with paralysis – so many things can and do go wrong in the daily life of a hospital. Nearly half a million adverse events occur every year in Australian healthcare, so it’s likely that you’ll one day find yourself dealing with a patient who has been harmed under your care.
Although clearly the first priority in such circumstances are the patients themselves, doctors too can find themselves traumatised when something goes badly wrong. Managing doctors’ mental health after serious adverse events is extremely important and often overlooked.
Common responses when things go wrong are shock, disbelief, guilt and shame, along with a loss of confidence in your abilities as a practitioner. Some doctors can even develop PTSD symptoms or suffer survivor guilt. Reactions can be more extreme with patients with whom we feel a closer connection, which is why establishing some separation is important to maintaining your ability to be effective.
The reactions to avoid are denial, obsessively going over the events in your mind, worrying about things you can’t control and isolating yourself from those who can help.
Open disclosure with the patient harmed or the patient’s family is a crucial process. This needs to be honest as well as consistent over time, with a primary point of contact. You need to have all the information at hand before starting this process, and be honest about what is not known. Avoid speculating or elaborating to try and comfort the patient or family, and let them know what more is being done and when.
Express sympathy, and offer to listen if they feel like talking. Ask how you can help in other ways. Saying nothing can be misconstrued as rejection, or reinforce the notion of a “code of silence” around the event.
Here are some keys for coping after an adverse event in your professional life: | 2023-10-19T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/2150 |
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The Complete 3 module set includes EVERYTHING for only $68, and here is why that is ridiculously cheap...Other magic companies usually charge you $20-$50 dollars for a SINGLE trick. In the three Modules you get over 30 PDF Books, Video Downloads and tricks that if you bought through a magic shop would cost you over $300 | 2024-06-13T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/8104 |
Role of exon 2-encoded beta -domain of the von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor protein.
Sporadic clear cell renal carcinomas frequently harbor inactivating mutations in exon 2 of the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) tumor suppressor gene. Here, we examine the effect of the loss of exon 2-encoded beta-domain function on VHL biochemical properties. Exon 2-encoded residues are required for VHL-mediated NEDD8 conjugation on cullin-2 and assembly with hypoxia-inducible factor alpha (HIFalpha) and fibronectin. These residues are not essential for VHL ability to assemble with elongin BC/cullin-2, to display E3 ubiquitin ligase activity in vitro and to confer energy-dependent nuclear import properties to a reporter protein. Localization studies in HIF-1alpha-null embryonic cells suggest that exon 2-encoded beta-domain mediates transcription-dependent nuclear/cytoplasmic shuttling of VHL independently of assembly with HIF-1alpha and oxygen concentration. Exon 3-encoded alpha-helical domain is required for VHL complex formation with BC/cullin-2 and E3 ubiquitin ligase activity, for binding to HIFalpha/fibronectin, but this domain is not essential for transcription-dependent nuclear/cytoplasmic trafficking. VHL(-/-) renal carcinoma cells expressing beta-domain mutants failed to produce an extracellular fibronectin matrix and to degrade HIFalpha, which accumulated exclusively in the nucleus of normoxic cells. These results demonstrate that exon 2-encoded residues are involved in two independent functions: substrate protein recognition and transcription-dependent nuclear/cytoplasmic trafficking. They also suggest that beta-domain mutations inactivate VHL function differently than alpha-domain mutations, potentially providing an explanation for the relationship between different mutations of the VHL gene and clinical outcome. | 2023-10-17T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/5142 |
The iron dispersion of the globular cluster M2, revised.
M2 has been claimed to possess three distinct stellar components that are enhanced in iron relative to each other. We use equivalent width measurements from 14 red giant branch stars from which Yong et al. detect a ∼0.8 dex wide, trimodal iron distribution to redetermine the metallicity of the cluster. In contrast to Yong et al., which derive atmospheric parameters following only the classical spectroscopic approach, we perform the chemical analysis using three different methods to constrain effective temperatures and surface gravities. When atmospheric parameters are derived spectroscopically, we measure a trimodal metallicity distribution, that well resembles that by Yong et al. We find that the metallicity distribution from Fe ii lines strongly differs from the distribution obtained from Fe i features when photometric gravities are adopted. The Fe i distribution mimics the metallicity distribution obtained using spectroscopic parameters, while the Fe ii shows the presence of only two stellar groups with metallicity [Fe/H] ≃ -1.5 and -1.1 dex, which are internally homogeneous in iron. This finding, when coupled with the high-resolution photometric evidence, demonstrates that M2 is composed by a dominant population (∼99 per cent) homogeneous in iron and a minority component (∼1 per cent) enriched in iron with respect to the main cluster population. | 2024-07-31T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/1383 |
Marine Air Control Squadron 9
Marine Air Control Squadron 9 (MACS-9) was a United States Marine Corps aviation command and control squadron. The squadron provided aerial surveillance and ground-controlled interception and saw action the Vietnam War. They were last based at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina and fell under the command of Marine Air Control Group 28 (MACG-28) and the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (2nd MAW).
History
Early years
Marine Ground Control Intercept Squadron 9 (MGCIS-9) was commissioned 31 May 1952 at Marine Corps Air Station Miami, Florida. During the squadron’s time at MCAS Miami it participated in numerous training exercises in Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the Caribbean Ocean area. The unit acquired its current designation as MACS-9 on 15 February 1954. A year and a half later MACS-9 was ordered to the West Coast and by September 1955 they had settled at Marine Corps Air Station Santa Ana, California. In September 1960 the squadron began the first of three deployments to Japan where they would locate at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni. In January 1962, MACS-9 aided VMF-451 with in-flight refueling during their trans-Pacific flight (the first oceanic crossing attempted and completed by a Marine Corps squadron). In June 1962, a MACS-9 controller directed the first tactical intercept by VMF-314 using their new fighter interceptor, the F4H-1 Phantom. During the last of the three deployments to Japan in 1964 the squadron would re-locate to Naval Air Station Atsugi midway through.
Vietnam Era and beyond
MACS-9 received orders to prepare for deployment to Vietnam in the spring of 1965. In early July the squadron set sail from Yokosuka, Japan aboard the USS Terrell County (LST-1157). They arrived at Chu Lai on 9 July 1965. Their time in Vietnam was very short and by the latter part of August 1965 they began moving to Okinawa with follow on movement to their new home at MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina where they eventually arrived on 1 October 1965. For the next few years MACS-9 maintained a vigorous training program for the detection of hostile aircraft and missiles however they were deactivated on 1 July 1971.
Unit awards
A unit citation or commendation is an award bestowed upon an organization for the action cited. Members of the unit who participated in said actions are allowed to wear on their uniforms the awarded unit citation. MACS-9 has been presented with the following awards:
See also
United States Marine Corps Aviation
Aviation combat element
List of United States Marine Corps aviation support squadrons
Notes
References
Specific
Bibliography
Radar
Category:Inactive units of the United States Marine Corps | 2023-10-16T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/3297 |
Recently, progress is being made in compound semiconductor devices, for example, semiconductor lasers and heterojunction bipolar transistors, which are key devices for today's highly advanced information society. The research and development for these compound semiconductor devices have been performed so that the devices have a finer structure, and are more complicated. This suggests that the a process combining fabrication of a fine structure by dry-etching and epitaxy should be a key technology essential in fabrications of compound semiconductor devices in the near future. In Si-LSI, which go on higher integration, the super clean technology utilizing complicated processing or the research on new device structures have top priority.
In the complicated process comprising dry-etching and epitaxy where a portion of a crystal is selectively etched and an epitaxial layer having different electrical and optical properties is regrown thereon control of the cleanness of the regrowth interface and maintenance of cleanliness of the regrowth interface remains as one of the most important problems to be solved. In particular, a compound semiconductor material including Al as constituent, such as AlGaAs, is easily oxidized on its surface when exposed to the atmosphere and once this happens, it is extremely difficult to clean the surface of AlGaAs oxidized thereby. Therefore, it is difficult to grow a high quality crystal on the oxidized surface of AlGaAs by epitaxial regrowth, resulting in a poorer quality of regrown semiconductor layer in terms of electrical and optical characteristics.
In regard to the situation described above, those who have invented the present invention have investigated the complicated process comprising dry-etching and epitaxial growth in many aspects, and they have proceeded the understanding of the degree of cleanliness of the regrowth interface and have provided improved techniques. For example, the inventors of the present invention disclosed, in pp. 35-42 of Journal of Crystal Growth 134 (1993), a method in which a GaAs cap layer is formed on AlGaAs, the sample is subjected to HCl gas etching at 750.degree. C. and thereafter, epitaxial regrowth is carried out thereon. This method aims at suppressing oxidation of AlGaAs surface to the utmost. This method includes forming GaAs cap layer formed on the AlGaAs, HCl gas etching is started at 750.degree. C. from the GaAs cap layer to reach the AlGaAs layer, and thereafter, regrowth in the same chamber so that accumulation of oxide on the regrowth interface is avoided. In the HCl gas etching of the AlGaAs oxidized surface at 750.degree. C., residual oxide remains on the surface after the etching therefore, although that regrowth by MOCVD is performed in the same chamber after etching, the crystal quality of the regrown GaAs layer could be poor. According to the method described above, however, residual oxide is reduced by the factor of 1/5 as compared with the oxidized AlGaAs layer being etched, and the crystalline quality of the regrown GaAs layer is also significantly improved. It was also pointed out that the flow rate of AsH.sub.3 used for the etching is important.
However, it is found that these methods described above are not sufficient to assure the complete removal of residual impurities from the regrowth interface. This is because the HCl gas etching at the high temperature of 750.degree. C. is not able to completely remove the oxide, thus leaving oxides on the surface after the etching.
As is made apparent from the above-described examination result, as described on pp. 35-42 of Journal of Crystal Growth 134 (1993), when a preferable epitaxial growth is to be performed in the same chamber on the AlGaAs layer on which the HCl gas etching has been performed, it is necessary to provide a GaAs cap layer on the AlGaAs layer. However, it is insufficient to adopt only the cap layer and it is indispensable to perform surface cleaning of the GaAs cap layer. In other words, it is quite difficult to maintain the degree of cleanliness of the regrowth interface only by performing the complicated process including dry-etching and epitaxial growth by successively performing each in the same chamber or by performing them in a system for transferring a wafer between two mutually connected chambers without exposing the wafer to the atmosphere. This means that it is indispensable to use the surface cleaning jointly with the above-described complicated process.
FIG. 11 illustrates a fabrication method that is intended to solve the above-described problems. This method was invented by the inventors of the present invention and is disclosed in Japanese Published Patent Application Hei. 5-44869. Reference numeral 1 designates a GaAs substrate, reference numeral 2 designates an AlGaAs layer, reference numeral 3 designates a GaAs cap layer, reference numeral 4 designates a regrown GaAs layer, reference numeral 5 designates a regrowth interface, reference numeral 6 designates an oxide film formed on the GaAs cap layer 3, reference numeral 8 designates a SiN film pattern, and reference numeral 9 designates a sulfur film.
The fabrication method of the prior art semiconductor device will be described as follows. First, the AlGaAs layer 2 2 .mu.m thick and the GaAs cap layer 3 0.1 .mu.m thick are successively grown by MOCVD on the GaAs substrate 1. Then the sample is taken out of the chamber and is kept in the atmosphere for several days, during which period a thin oxide film 6 is formed on the GaAs cap layer 3. FIG. 11(a) shows the sample thus prepared. Then, an SiN film pattern 8 of a desired configuration is formed on the sample surface as shown in FIG. 11(b). Next, the sample is treated in an ammonium sulfide solution. In this example, (NH.sub.4).sub.2 S is used as the ammonium sulfide solution and the sample is treated at 60.degree. C. for 3 hours. During that time, a portion of the GaAs cap layer 3 not covered with the SiN film pattern 8 is etched away and the sulfur film 9 is formed as shown in FIG. 11(c). Next, the sample is set in the MOCVD chamber and is treated in a hydrogen environment at 450.degree. C. for 30 minutes. Then, as shown in FIG. 11(d), the sample is etched for 1 .mu.m with a mixture of arsine (AsH.sub.3), HCl, and H.sub.2 using the SiN film pattern as the etching mask. Finally, the GaAs layer 4 is formed in the same chamber to produce the semiconductor device as shown in FIG. 11(e).
In the conventional method described above, the treatment with the ammonium sulfide removed the oxide film 6 and created the sulfur film 9 on the surface of the sample, thereby functioning to suppress further surface oxidation, and the sulfur film 9, the GaAs cap layer 3, and the portion of AlGaAs layer 2 are etched with HCl etching, and thereafter, the GaAs layer 4 is grown. This procedure does not cause oxidation on the regrowth interface 5, thereby improving both the degree of cleanliness of the regrowth interface 5 and the crystallinity of the regrown GaAs layer 4.
Another conventional method employing an ECR (Electron Cyclotron Resonance) plasma using hydrogen in which cleaning of the GaAs surface is performed at 300.degree. C. is disclosed by Kondo et. al., in Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 28, No. 1, January, 1989, pp. L7-L9. This method is very effective in cleaning the GaAs surface.
As discussed above, when the prior art complicated process of dry-etching and recrystallization growth is to be performed, it is thought of combining the treatment with the ammonium sulfide and the treatment in an ECR plasma to clean the surface of semiconductor materials and to get rid of impurities such as oxide films. However, the treatment with the ammonium sulfide requires skilled expertise based on experience and, therefore, will not easily be applied to a mass production scheme. It is also hard to maintain the purity of the ammonium sulfide solution, resulting in the inability to achieve a desired result.
The problem for employing the ECR plasma treatment is that it requires the construction of a special apparatus which combines an ECR plasma chamber and an epitaxial growth chamber. It has been shown that this technology could not be easily applied to a typical mass production facility. | 2024-01-28T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/3906 |
Q:
Subgroup of the centralizer
On pg.124 of Abstract Algebra by Dummit and Foote the observation is made that In any group $G$, $<\hspace{0.2mm}g \hspace{0.2mm}> \hspace{1mm} \le \hspace{1mm} C_G(g)$
I am having a difficult time proving this observation to myself. The book gives a particular example but does not provide any proof or general explanation.
A:
To make it trivial write down with words:
$$\langle g\rangle \le C_g(g)\iff \text{any power of $\,g\,$ commutes with $\;g\;$}$$
| 2024-07-27T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/9769 |
Q:
Subscript a plus sign in latex
I want to subscript a "+" or "-" sign. But it not working with this:
$$(\beta-\gamma)_{+}$$
It has not any error, But plus sign seeing inline instead of subscript.
any Idea?
A:
Are you looking for this..
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb}
\begin{document}
$\beta_{-} \gamma_{+}$
\end{document}
| 2024-05-28T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/1155 |
---
abstract: 'This paper studies accelerated algorithms for Q-learning. We propose an acceleration scheme by incorporating the historical iterates of the Q-function. The idea is conceptually inspired by the momentum-based acceleration methods in the optimization theory. Under finite state-action space settings, the proposed accelerated Q-learning algorithm provably converges to the global optimum with a rate of $\mathcal{O}(1/\sqrt{T})$. While sharing a comparable theoretic convergence rate with the existing Speedy Q-learning (SpeedyQ) algorithm, we numerically show that the proposed algorithm outperforms SpeedyQ via playing the FrozenLake grid world game. Furthermore, we generalize the acceleration scheme to the continuous state-action space case where function approximation of the Q-function is necessary. In this case, the algorithms are validated using commonly adopted testing problems in reinforcement learning, including two discrete-time linear quadratic regulation (LQR) problems from the Deepmind Control Suite, and the Atari 2600 games. Simulation results show that the proposed accelerated algorithms can improve the convergence performance compared with the vanilla Q-learning algorithm.'
author:
- 'Bowen Weng, Lin Zhao, Huaqing Xiong and Wei Zhang[^1][^2][^3][^4]'
bibliography:
- 'CDC19.bib'
title: '**Momentum-based Accelerated Q-learning** '
---
INTRODUCTION
============
Reinforcement learning (RL) aims to study how an agent learns a policy through interacting with its environment to minimize the accumulative loss for a task. RL has received dramatically growing attention and gained success in various tasks, such as playing video games [@mnih2013playing], bipedal walking [@castillo2018reinforcement] and studying control systems [@lewis2012reinforcement], to name a few. This paper focuses on the Q-learning algorithm which is a model-free RL algorithm to find an estimate of the optimal action value function.
Ever since the first proposal of the Q-learning algorithm in 1989 [@watkins1992q], the method has been studied extensively in the finite state-action space. When the size of the state-action space is relatively small, the Q-function can be explicitly represented as a tabular function leading to a convenient proof of convergence [@jaakkola1994convergence]. When the state-action space is continuous or considerably large, Q-learning usually requires function approximations. Lewis et. al. studied the Q-learning problem for linear control systems [@al2007model] and extended the method to the continuous time domain [@vamvoudakis2017q; @vrabie2009adaptive]. They consider value iteration with appropriate sampling and customized Q-function structure. The step of [*target update*]{} was later introduced in the Deep Q-Network (DQN) learning [@mnih2013playing] with the Q-function being parameterized as a deep neural network. DQN has gained great success in playing video games [@oh2015action] that significantly exceeds human-level of performance. This also leads to various improved algorithms for Q-learning [@van2016deep] and for general RL [@schulman2017proximal].
Besides the exploration on the improved Q-learning algorithms with better performance in applications, another line of research lies in the convergence analysis of variants of the Q-learning algorithms [@azar2011speedy; @beck2012error; @bertsekas1996neuro; @devraj2017fastest; @even2003learning]. Given that the training speed largely determines how an algorithm can contribute to the real application, accelerating the convergence is always of great interest. Optimization theory has provided effective schemes of acceleration with theoretic guarantees. One of the most popular schemes is based on the so-called momentum idea by involving more historical information into the update. Momentum-based algorithms, including Heavy-ball (HB) [@polyak1964some], Nesterov’s accelerated gradient (NAG) [@nesterov2013introductory], have been proved to be able to accelerate the convergence when loss functions are strongly convex [@ghadimi2015global; @nesterov2013introductory]. Under general convex or nonconvex settings, the acceleration of these algorithms has not been established theoretically. Nevertheless, its convergence can still be guaranteed for specific classes of nonconvex loss functions [@xiong2018analytical] and numerical results also show great success [@attouch2017rate; @dozat2016incorporating]. A successful application of the momentum to accelerate Q-learning is the so-called Speedy Q-learning (SpeedyQ) [@azar2011speedy]. It is provably better than the vanilla Q-learning assuming a finite state-action space. Our contribution in this paper is twofold. First, we propose a new accelerated Q-learning scheme which is inspired by the general momentum-based optimization algorithms. Under the finite state-action space and the synchronous sampling settings [@even2003learning] , we prove the upper bounds of the convergence rate which is comparable to that of SpeedyQ. Furthermore, using a popular grid world game, we numerically show that the proposed acceleration scheme can outperform SpeedyQ under the same settings as considered in the theoretical derivations. Second, we also generalize our acceleration scheme to the continuous state-action space case, where the Q-function is usually approximated by parametric functions. In this case, we numerically evaluate the proposed algorithms in various challenging tasks, including two linear quadratic regulation problems from the Deepmind Control Suite [@tassa2018deepmind] and the Atari 2600 video games. A significant improvement of the performance over the vanilla Q-learning is shown by the simulation results.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section \[sec: tabularQ\] introduces the background of Q-learning and SpeedyQ. Section \[sec:AQL\] proposes a new acceleration scheme, followed by the convergence analysis and numerical performance comparison with SpeedyQ. In Section \[sec:ctnQ\], we generalize our acceleration scheme to the case where the state-action space is continuous or considerably large. We also provide numerical results to show the promising applications of our algorithms in more complicated applications.
Preliminaries {#sec: tabularQ}
=============
In this section, we provide the background of Q-learning. We also briefly revisit the SpeedyQ algorithm for comparison in later sections.
Q-learning
----------
We consider the standard reinforcement learning settings, where a learning agent (e.g. controller or control policy) interacts with a (possibly stochastic) environment (e.g. process or system dynamics, etc.). This interaction is usually modeled as a discrete-time discounted Markov Decision Processes (MDPs), described by a quintuple $(\mathcal{X},\mathcal{U},P,R, \gamma)$, where $\mathcal{X}$ is the state space, $\mathcal{U}$ is the action space, $P:\mathcal{X}\times \mathcal{U} \times \mathcal{X}\mapsto [0,1]$ is the probability kernel for the state transitions, e.g., $P(\cdot|x, u)$ denotes the probability distribution of the next state given current state $x$ and action $u$. In addition, $R: \mathcal{X}\times \mathcal{U}\mapsto[0,R_{\max}]$ is the reward function (or negative of the cost function) mapping station-action pairs to a bounded subset of $\mathbb{R}$, and $\gamma\in (0,1)$ is the discount factor. The optimal stationary policy $\pi^{\star}: \mathcal{X}\mapsto \mathcal{U}$ of MDP is defined as the solution of following optimization problem: $$\begin{aligned}
& \underset{\pi}{\text{maximize}}
& & J_{\pi}(x_0) = {\mathbb{E}_P}\left\{\sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \gamma^k R(x_k, \pi(x_k))\right\}, \nonumber\\
& \text{subject to}
& & x_{k+1} \sim P(\cdot|x_k, \pi(u_k)),\label{eq:systemEquation}\end{aligned}$$ where $\mathbb{E}_P$ denotes the expectation with respect to the transition probability $P$. The above optimization problem seeks to maximize the expected accumulated discounted rewards over different policies $\pi$.
A stationary policy $\pi$ induces a Q-function $Q^\pi$ which satisfies the *Bellman equation*: $$Q^{\pi}(x,u):=R(x,u)+\gamma\mathbb{E}_P Q^{\pi}(x^{\prime},\pi(x^{\prime})),$$ where $x^{\prime}\sim P(\cdot|x,u)$ denotes the next state.
The Bellman operator $\mathcal{T}$ is defined pointwisely as $$\label{eq:BellmanOperator}
\mathcal{T}Q(x,u) = R(x,u)+\gamma\mathbb{E}_P \underset{u^\prime \in U(x^\prime)}{\text{max}}Q((x^\prime,u^\prime),$$ which can be shown to be a contractive in the supremum norm (i.e., ${\left\lVertQ\right\rVert}:=\sup_{x,u}|Q(x,u)|$) $$\label{eq:Contraction}
{\left\lVert\mathcal{T}Q(x,u) - \mathcal{T}Q'(x,u)\right\rVert} \leq \gamma{\left\lVertQ(x,u) - Q'(x,u)\right\rVert},$$ and its unique fixed point is the optimal Q-function $Q^{\star}$, i.e., $\mathcal{T}Q^{\star}(x,u)=Q^{\star}(x,u)$, which also satisfies the *optimal Bellman equation* [@bertsekas1996neuro]: $$\label{eq:OptimalBellmanEq}
Q^{\star}(x,u) = R(x,u)+\gamma\mathbb{E}_P \underset{u^\prime \in U(x^\prime)}{\text{max}}Q^{\star}(x^\prime,u^\prime),$$ Therefore, starting with an arbitrary Q-function, we can apply the Bellman operator $\mathcal{T}$ iteratively to learn $Q^{\star}$.
Let $J^{\star}(x):=J_{\pi^{\star}}(x)$ be the optimal value function when applying the optimal policy $\pi^{\star}$. It relates to $Q^{\star}$ as follows $$\label{eq:bellQ}
J^{\star}(x)=\underset{u\in U(x)}{\text{max}}Q^{\star}(x,u), \forall x\in\mathcal{X},$$ where $U(x)$ denotes the admissible set of actions at state $x$. Hence, the optimal policy can be obtained from the optimal Q-function as: $$\label{eq:optPol}
\pi^{\star}(x) = \underset{u \in U(x)}{\text{argmax}}\ Q^{\star}(x,u),\forall x\in\mathcal{X}$$ Note that the knowledge of the transition probability $P$ is not needed in , which is the advantage of Q learning.
In practice, exact evaluation of the Bellman operator is usually infeasible due to the lack of the knowledge of the system dynamics (i.e. the transition probabilities). Instead, the *empirical Bellman operator* is evaluated using samples [@jaakkola1994convergence]. Specifically, for the $k$th round of iteration at state-action pair $(x,u)$, we sample the next state $y_k\sim P(\cdot|x,u)$, and then evaluate the empirical Bellman operator $\mathcal{T}_{k}$ as $$\label{eq:empTQ}
\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_k(x,u) = R(x,u)+\gamma \underset{u'\in U(y_k)}{\max}Q_k(y_k,u'),$$ where note that the subscript of $\mathcal{T}_k$ is to track that of samples $y_k$. As an example, the vanilla Q-learning is implemented as $$\label{eq:tabular q learning}
Q_{k+1} = Q_k - \alpha_k(Q_k - \mathcal{T}_{k}Q_k),$$ where $\alpha_k$ is the step size and we omit the dependence on $(x,u)$ hereafter when no confusion can arise.
Speedy Q-learning
-----------------
In optimization and deep learning, momentum-based schemes, including Heavy-ball (HB) [@polyak1964some] and Nesterov’s accelerated gradient (NAG) [@nesterov2013introductory], have been widely used to accelerate the convergence of gradient based algorithms. Such schemes also inspired some improved Q-learning algorithms such as SpeedyQ [@azar2011speedy], which follows the update as: $$\label{eq:sql}
Q_{k+1} = Q_k + \alpha_k(\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_k - Q_k) + (1-\alpha_k)(\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_k - \mathcal{T}_{k}Q_{k-1}),$$ where $\alpha_k=\frac{1}{k+1}$. Compared with , SpeedyQ added a momentum term $\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_k - \mathcal{T}_{k}Q_{k-1}$. This is a straightforward setup considering the history momentum. In the following section, we further explore the accelerated Q-learning framework with a more sophisticated design.
Accelerated Q-learning {#sec:AQL}
======================
In this section, we propose a new class of accelerated Q-learning (AQL) algorithms inspired by general momentum-based optimization algorithms. A generic form of AQL is given by $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq: acc tabular q learning}
& S_k = (1-a_k)Q_{k-1} + a_k\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_{k-1},\\
& P_{k} = (1-a_k)Q_k + a_k\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_k, \\
& Q_{k+1} = P_{k} + b_k(P_{k} - S_{k}) + c_k(Q_{k}-Q_{k-1}).
\end{aligned}$$ where $a_k,b_k,c_k$ are the step sizes or learning rates. In this paper, we will mainly consider the synchronous sampling, where all the state-action pairs are updated simultaneously at each iteration round [@even2003learning]. The pseudo code of the implementation is listed in Algorithm \[alg:AQL\]. Note that we used the notation $\mathcal{M}Q_{k}(y_{k}):=\max_{u\in U(y_k)}Q_k(y_k,u)$.
**Input:** Initial action-value function $Q_0$ and $Q_{-1}=Q_0$,\
discount factor $\gamma$, parameter $m\geq \frac{1}{\gamma}$, and maximum\
iteration number $T$\
**for** = $k=0,1,2,\cdots, T-1$ **do**\
$a_k = \frac{1}{k+1},\ b_{k}=k-m-1,\ c_{k}=\frac{-k^2+(m+1)k+1}{k+1}$;\
**for** = each $(x,u)\in \mathcal{X}\times U(x)$ **do**\
Generate the next state sample $y_k\sim P(\cdot|x,u);$\
$\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_{k-1}(x,u)= R(x,u)+\gamma\mathcal{M}Q_{k-1}(y_{k});$\
$\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_{k}(x,u)= R(x,u)+\gamma\mathcal{M}Q_{k}(y_{k});$\
$S_{k}(x,u)= (1-a_{k})Q_{k-1}(x,u)+a_{k}\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_{k-1}(x,u)$\
$P_{k}(x,u)= (1-a_{k})Q_{k}(x,u)+a_{k}\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_{k}(x,u)$\
$Q_{k+1}(x,u)= $ = $P_{k}(x,u)+b_k\left(P_{k}(x,u)-S_{k}(x,u) \right)$\
$+c_k(Q_k(x,u)-Q_{k-1}(x,u))$\
**end for**\
**end for**\
**Output:** $Q_T$
To facilitate the analysis, we rewrite in a more compact way as $$\label{eq:compactAQL}
\begin{aligned}
Q_{k+1}= & (1\!-\!a_{k})Q_{k}\!+\!\left[b_{k}(1-a_{k})\!+\!c_{k}\right](Q_{k}-Q_{k-1}) \\
& +a_{k}\left[(1+b_{k})\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_{k}-b_{k}\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_{k-1}\right].
\end{aligned}$$ Comparing with the SpeedyQ given in , we notice that first, SpeedyQ only contains $\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_{k-1}$ in the update without explicitly using the historical information $Q_{k-1}$. This additional term in our algorithm may help attenuate possible large overshoots during the iteration. Second, simply involves $\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_k - \mathcal{T}_{k}Q_{k-1}$ as the only momentum term, while our algorithm designs this part in a more careful manner. That is, we first use two consecutive outputs of the empirical Bellman operators to update the Q-function and obtain $S_k$ and $P_k$. Intuitively, since $S_k$ and $P_k$ are derived by the update of the vanilla Q-learning, selecting $S_k-P_k$ as the additional momentum term can contribute to a better estimation of the optimal Q-function while preserving the acceleration. This intuition is also verified in our numerical results, which will be shown later. Before that, we first provide convergence analysis of the proposed algorithm.
Convergence Rate Analysis of AQL
--------------------------------
Our analysis is based on the finite state-action space assumption, which is the same as in [@azar2011speedy].
\[asp:boundSpace\] The state space $\mathcal{X}$ and the action space $\mathcal{U}$ are finite sets with cardinalities $|\mathcal{X}|$ and $|\mathcal{U}|$, respectively. We denote $n=|\mathcal{X}|\cdot|\mathcal{U}|$.
Our analysis starts with analyzing the errors of approximating the exact Bellman operator $\mathcal{T}$ with empirical Bellman operators $\mathcal{T}_k$. These stochastic errors and their evaluations over time are major challenges in proving convergence and deriving convergence rate.
For convenience, we denote all $\mathcal{T}_k$ terms in by $$\mathcal{D}_k\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right]:=(1+b_k)\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_k-b_k\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_{k-1}, \label{eq:Dk}$$ for all $k\geq 0$. Note that is a function of all samples $\{y_1,y_2,\cdots, y_k\}$ for all station-action pair $(x,u)$ up to round $k$. Let $\mathcal{F}_k$ denote the filtration generated by the sequence of these random variables $\{y_1,y_2,\cdots, y_k\}$. Then if we define $\mathcal{D}\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right]$ as the conditional expectation of $\mathcal{D}_k\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right]$ given $\mathcal{F}_{k-1}$, we obtain by the definition of $\mathcal{T}$ that $$\begin{aligned}
\mathcal{D}\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right]
&:= \mathbb{E}_{P}\left(\mathcal{D}_{k}\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right]|\mathcal{F}_{k-1}\right)\nonumber \\
&= (1+b_k)\mathcal{T}Q_{k} -b_k\mathcal{T}Q_{k-1}.\label{eq:exactD}\nonumber \end{aligned}$$
Now define the error between $\mathcal{D}_k$ and $\mathcal{D}$ $$\epsilon_{k}:=\mathcal{D}\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right]-\mathcal{D}_{k}\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right].$$ Clearly $\mathbb{E}_{P}\left(\epsilon_{k}|\mathcal{F}_{k-1}\right)=0$. This shows that $\forall(x,u)\in\mathcal{X}\times U(x)$, the sequence of estimation error $\left\{ \epsilon_{k}(x,u)\right\} _{k=0}^T$ is a martingale difference sequence with respect to the filtration $\mathcal{F}_{k}$. In other words, if we denote $$\label{eq:Ek}
E_{k}(x,u):=\sum_{j=0}^{k}\epsilon_{j}(x,u),$$ then $E_k$ is a martingale with respect to $\mathcal{F}_{k},$ $\forall(x,u)\in\mathcal{X}\times U(x)$ and $\forall k\geq0$.
To proceed, we need the following assumption.
\[asp:boundQ\] The Q-function is uniformly bounded throughout the learning process. That is, $\exists V_{\max}$, such that ${\left\lVertQ_k\right\rVert}\leq V_{\max},\forall k\geq0$. Without loss of generality, we further let $R_{\max} +\gamma V_{\max} = V_{\max}$.
Based on Assumption \[asp:boundQ\], we can further obtain the uniform bounds of $\mathcal{D}_k$ and $\epsilon_k$ as shown in the following lemma. All proofs are collected in the Appendix.
\[lem:boundDk\] Given Assumption \[asp:boundQ\] and AQL as Algorithm \[alg:AQL\], $\mathcal{D}_{k}\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right]$ and $\epsilon_{k}$ are uniformly bounded for all $k\geq0$. Specifically, $\exists D_{\max}>0$, s.t. ${\left\lVert\mathcal{D}_{k}[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}]\right\rVert}\leq D_{\max}, {\left\lVert\epsilon_{k}\right\rVert}\leq 2D_{\max}, \forall k\geq 0$.
The uniform bounds proved in Lemma \[lem:boundDk\] are critical in the derivation of the main theorem below.
\[thm:main\] Given Assumption \[asp:boundSpace\], \[asp:boundQ\] and fixing $\gamma, m$ with $\gamma m\geq 1$ in AQL as Algorithm \[alg:AQL\], with probability at least $1-\delta$, the output of AQL satisfies: $$\label{eq:thm}
\begin{aligned}
\left\Vert Q^{\star}\!-\!Q_{T}\right\Vert\!\leq\!\frac{2(\gamma R_{\max}\!+\!hV_{\max}) \!+\!D_{\max}\sqrt{8(T-m)\log \frac{2n}{\delta}}}{T(1\!-\!\gamma)},
\end{aligned}$$ where $D_{\max}$ is from Lemma \[lem:boundDk\] and $h=\gamma(m+1)+1$.
Combining Theorem \[thm:main\] and the Borel-Cantelli lemma we know $Q_T$ converges to $Q^\star$ with the rate $\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{1/T})$ almost surely. We further comment that the asymptotic convergence rate is comparable to that of SpeedyQ [@azar2011speedy]. Recalling our intuition for the difference of the update rules, we expect AQL can actually outperform SpeedyQ. We numerically verify this in the following.
Numeric Comparison with SpeedyQ
-------------------------------
Given the analytical convergence rate derived above is also comparable to SpeedyQ. We seek to explore extra experiments to verify that our algorithm actually outperforms SpeedyQ. We emphasize that the settings in this section are consistent with those of AQL in algorithm \[alg:AQL\] and SpeedyQ in [@azar2011speedy Algorithm1]. Thus the numerical results should be able to give a convincing comparison between two algorithms. Note that the choice of $m$ is not explicitly specified with only a lower bound. We try 3 different selections of $m$ and observe stable performance in convergence, which also aligns with the theoretical analysis. To evaluate the algorithms in the finite state-action space, we apply them to the popular FrozenLake grid world games.
FrozenLake is a classic baseline problem for Q-learning. An agent controls the movement of a character in a grid world. Some tiles of the grid are walkable, and others lead to the agent falling into the water. Additionally, the movement direction of the agent is uncertain and only partially depends on the chosen direction. The agent is rewarded for finding a feasible path to a goal tile. The environment for FrozenLake is a $4 \times 4$ grid world. We consider two sub-tasks, the FrozenLake (Fig. \[fig: frozenlake comparison\]) and the FrozenLake8x8 (Fig. \[fig: frozenlake8 comparison\]) with a bigger grid world . In both Frozenlake tasks, “S” is the safe starting point, “F” is the safe frozen surface, “H” stands for the hole that terminates the game, and “G” is the target state that comes with an immediate reward of 1. This forms a problem with state space size of $16$ ($64$ for FrozenLake8x8), action space size of $4$ and reward space $R = \{0, 1\}$.
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Considering the randomness embedded in the MDP of both FrozenLake games, we evaluate the performance of each algorithm with 20 different random seeds and then illustrate the average loss and standard deviation in Fig. \[fig: frozenlake comparison\] and Fig. \[fig: frozenlake8 comparison\]. For evaluation purpose, we have access to the true transition probability, and can find the ground truth optimal Q-function $Q^{\star}$ using dynamic programming. In both games, the loss at step $k$ is then defined as ${\left\lVertQ_k - Q^\star\right\rVert}$. It can be seen from the results that AQL with various choices of $m$ all can converge faster than Speedy Q-learning.
GENERALIZATION TO PARAMETRIC AQL {#sec:ctnQ}
================================
In this section, we generalize our acceleration scheme to the case where the state-action space is considerably large or even continuous. Numerical verification of the performance of the proposed algorithms is then provided with various tasks.
AQL with Q-function approximation {#subsec:PAQL}
---------------------------------
We consider the same MDP problem as that in Section \[sec: tabularQ\], but in a continuous state-action space $\mathcal{X}\times\mathcal{U}$. In this case, it is often impossible or extremely difficult to write the Q-function as an explicit tabular function w.r.t each state-action pair, and thus the update rule of (\[eq:tabular q learning\]) is no longer applicable.
To handle this problem, we consider a parametric function $\hat{Q}(x,u ; \theta)$ as an approximation of the Q-function. The parameter vector $\theta$ is of finite and relatively lower dimension and thus easier to implement. The approximation architectures can be rich through different choices of the function class, such as linear function approximation [@bertsekas1996neuro] and neural networks [@mnih2015human]. Instead of updating the estimating Q-function directly as , here we can only iteratively update the parameter $\theta$. This kind of Q-learning is referred as parametric Q-learning (PQL), which follows the update rule as $$\label{eq:vpql}
\theta_{k+1} = \theta_{k} - \alpha_{k} \Delta_k\frac{\partial}{\partial \theta_{k}}\hat{Q}_{k}(x, u; \theta_{k}),$$ where $$\label{eq:Delta}
\Delta_k\! =\! \hat{Q}_{k}(x, u; \theta_{k})\! -\! R(x, u)\! -\! \gamma \underset{u'\in U(x')}{\max} \hat{Q}_k(x', u';\theta_{k}).$$ Then we can generalize the proposed acceleration scheme to the vanilla PQL in . We refer the AQL in this case as parametric AQL (PAQL) given by $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq: acc pq learning}
& \xi_k = \theta_{k-1} - a_{k} \Delta_{k-1}\frac{\partial}{\partial \theta_{k-1}}\hat{Q}_{k-1}(x, u; \theta_{k-1}),\\
& \zeta_{k} = \theta_{k} - a_{k} \Delta_k\frac{\partial}{\partial \theta_{k}}\hat{Q}_{k}(x, u; \theta_{k}), \\
& \theta_{k+1} = \zeta_{k} + b_k(\zeta_{k} - \xi_{k}) + c_k(\theta_{k}-\theta_{k-1}).
\end{aligned}$$ Notice that when we take $b_k=0$, then the update only involves one-step historical information $\theta_{k-1}$. This applies the same idea as HB and thus is referred as HBPAQL. When taking $b_k\neq 0$, we also involve $\xi_k$ into the update, which is motivated by the idea of NAG and thus denoted as NesPAQL.
In the following, we evaluate PAQL in two discrete-time LQR problems from the Deepmind Control Suite [@tassa2018deepmind] and Atari 2600 games, where the function approximation architectures are linear functions and neural networks, respectively. Throughout this section, we adopt $\epsilon$-greedy [@mnih2015human] and prioritized experience replay [@schaul2015prioritized] for exploration and sampling, both of which are common techniques in RL with parametric approximation.
![Testing tasks for PAQL, from left to right: LQR with 2 Masses and 1 Linear Actuators, LQR with 6 Masses and 2 Linear Actuators, Pong and Boxing from Atari 2600 Games.[]{data-label="fig: env"}](images/paql_envs.png)
Linear Quadratic Regulation {#subsec: expLin}
---------------------------
The problem of infinite-horizon discrete-time LQR considers a linear system $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq: linear system}
x_{k+1} = Ax_k + Bu_k,\end{aligned}$$ with cost function in a quadratic form as $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq: lqr cost}
J = \sum_{t=0}^{\infty}\left( x_k^T Q x_k + u_k^T R u_k + 2x_k^TNu_k\right).\end{aligned}$$ Let the positive definite $P$ be the unique solution to the discrete-time algebraic Riccati equation (DARE) $$\label{eq: DARE}
P = A^TPA\! -\! (A^TPB\! +\! N)(R\! +\! B^TPB)^{-1}(B^TPA\! +\! N^T)\! + \!Q.$$ We have the optimal control as $u_k^{\star} = -K^{\star}x_k$ with $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq: optimal linear solution}
K^{\star} = (R + B^TPB)^{-1} (N^T + B^TPA).\end{aligned}$$ Following the procedure established in section \[subsec:PAQL\], we parameterize a Q-function which is linear w.r.t a matrix parameter $H$ in the form of $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq: Q-function for lqr}
Q(x, u ;H) =
\left[ \begin{array}{c} x \\u\end{array} \right]^T \left[ \begin{array}{c c} H_{xx} &H_{xu} \\ H_{ux} &H_{uu}\end{array} \right] \left[ \begin{array}{c} x \\u\end{array} \right].\end{aligned}$$ The stationary linear policy corresponding to the Q-function (\[eq: Q-function for lqr\]) satisfies $u = -Kx, K = H_{uu}^{-1}H_{ux}$. We evaluate the performance of various PAQL algorithms at each iterate $k$ with the Euclidean norm ${\left\lVertK_k - K^{\star}\right\rVert}_2$.
In this section, the linear system is constructed as a coupled mass damper system with $n$ masses, serially connected through linear joints (see Fig. \[fig: env\]) with $m$ joints being actuated. The system has the state dimension of $2n$ with position state $x_p$ and velocity state $x_v$. The action dimension is $m$. The reward is quadratic with respect to the position and controls, i.e. $R = \frac{1}{2}x_p^TQx_p + \eta \frac{1}{2}u^TRu$ with control cost coefficient $\eta=0.1$. The system is a default RL benchmark from the Deepmind control suite [@tassa2018deepmind]. We consider two sub-tasks, the “LQR\_2\_1” with $n=2$, $m=1$ and the “LQR\_6\_2” with $n=6$, $m=2$ which take 4269 and 11840 iterates respectively to converge to $K^{\star}$ through DARE.
We compare the performance of proposed the PAQL algorithms with the vanilla Q-learning in Fig \[fig: lqr\_2\_1 comparison\] and Fig. \[fig: lqr\_6\_2 comparison\]. For both tasks, we let $a_k=0.9$, $b_k=0.2$, $c_k=0.2,\forall k$ for corresponding algorithms. The learning process of DARE is also included. Direct comparison regarding the training time with DARE is not fair given that DARE requires system dynamics but Q-learning methods are model-free. In our illustration, we exclude the sampling time and consider the number of value iterations required to achieve certain level of desired performance (Table \[tbl: lqr convergence\]).
Task DARE Q-learning HBPAQL NesPAQL
----------- ------ ------------ -------- ---------
LQR\_2\_1 769 515 229 205
LQR\_6\_2 2768 1094 235 241
: Iterates for Converging to ${\left\lVertK_k - K^{\star}\right\rVert}_2 \leq 0.1$[]{data-label="tbl: lqr convergence"}
Atari 2600 games {#subsec: expNN}
----------------
We further evaluate the performance of PAQL with two Atari 2600 games. It is a challenging RL benchmark task that takes high-dimensional high-frequency video sequence ($dim(\mathcal{X})=84 \times 84 \times 4$) as state and real video game control keys as action. The performance for each algorithm is justified empirically by the average return of 100 trails of episodes. The Q-function is parameterized as a deep convolutional neural network. Hyper-parameters are set as $a_k=0.9$, $b_k=0.2$, $c_k=0.2,\forall k$. The algorithm is implemented based on the open.ai baseline, which is a set of high-quality implementations of RL algorithms. The original DQN implementation and its variants are roughly on par with scores in published papers, which mostly exceeds expert level of human play. Results are illustrated in Fig. \[fig: atari comparison\].
The Q-function is structured with millions of parameters (i.e., the weights of deep neural networks). The sampling and target learning with SGD both consume a significant amount of time and computational power. On a dual-GPU machine with the PAQL algorithm, the training for the game Pong takes $0.6$ million samples in 15 minutes. For the Boxing game to achieve the illustrated results, PAQL takes $2$ million samples in 40 minutes. On the contrast, DQN would require at least $4$ million samples to acquire similar performance.
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CONCLUSION
==========
We proposed a set of momentum-based accelerated Q-learning algorithms, which are provably converging faster than vanilla Q learning in finite state-action space if it is stable. We empirically evaluate the algorithms and verify that the proposed algorithms can accelerate the convergence in comparison to SpeedyQ and vanilla Q-learning on various challenging tasks under both finite and continuous state-action spaces settings.
Our future work includes providing theoretical guarantee of the stability of the proposed algorithm in the finite state-action space case (see Assumption \[asp:boundQ\], although we never found unstable cases in our simulation). For the continuous state-action space, it is also important to study the stability of the proposed iteration scheme when using a general nonlinear approximation architecture such as neural networks. Moreover, further extensions of this work include exploring more complicated adaptive acceleration schemes to improve the convergence performance, which will be our future interests.
**Maximal Hoeffding-Azuma Inequality:**
\[lem:ineq\] Let $\{M_1,M_2,,\dots,M_T\}$ be a martingale difference sequence with respect to a sequence of random variables $\{X_1,X_2,,\dots,X_T\}$ (i.e. $\mathbb{E}(M_{k+1}|X_1,X_2,,\dots,X_k)=0,\forall 1\leq k\leq T$) and uniformly bounded by $\bar M>0$. If we define $S_k=\sum_{i=1}^k M_i$, then for any $\varepsilon>0$, we have $$\mathbb{P}\left( \underset{1\leq k\leq T}{\max}S_k>\varepsilon \right)\leq \exp\left( \frac{-\varepsilon^2}{2T\bar M^2} \right).$$
Proof of Lemma \[lem:boundDk\]
==============================
**Proof of Lemma \[lem:boundDk\]:**
When $k=0$, $$\begin{aligned}
\left\Vert \mathcal{D}_{0}\left[Q_{0},Q_{-1}\right]\right\Vert = & \left\Vert \mathcal{T}_{0}Q_{0}\right\Vert \leq\left\Vert R\right\Vert +\gamma\left\Vert \mathcal{M}Q_{0}(y_{0})\right\Vert \\
\leq & R_{\max}+\gamma V_{\max}=V_{\max}:=\bar B_0\end{aligned}$$
Now, considering $k\geq1$ we have $$\begin{aligned}
&\left\Vert \mathcal{D}_{k}\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right]\right\Vert \\
\leq & \left\Vert R\right\Vert +\gamma\Vert(1+b_k)\mathcal{M}Q_{k}-b_k\mathcal{M}Q_{k-1}\Vert\\
= & R_{\max}+\gamma\Vert(1+b_k)\mathcal{M}\bigl(Q_{k-1}\\
& -\alpha_{k-1}Q_{k-2}+\alpha_{k-1}\mathcal{D}_{k-1}\left[Q_{k-1},Q_{k-2}\right]\bigr)\\
& -b_k\mathcal{M}Q_{k-1}\Vert\\
\leq & R_{\max}+\gamma{\left\lVertQ_{k-1}\right\rVert} + \gamma |1+b_k| a_{k-1}{\left\lVertQ_{k-2}\right\rVert}\\
&+\gamma |1+b_k|\alpha_{k-1}{\left\lVert\mathcal{D}_{k-1}\left[Q_{k-1},Q_{k-2}\right]\right\rVert},\end{aligned}$$ where the first inequality follows from the triangle inequality and the second follows due to the triangle inequality and the definition of the infinity norm.
By the choice of the hyper-parameters in Algorithm \[alg:AQL\], we know $|1+b_k| a_{k-1}=\frac{|k-m|}{k}$. Then we consider two cases: $1\leq k<\frac{m}{2}$ and $k\geq \frac{m}{2}$. The first case only contains finite steps, and in the second case, we can simply bound $|1+b_k| a_{k-1}=\frac{|k-m|}{k}\leq 1$.
When $1\leq k<\frac{m}{2}$, i.e. when $1<|1+b_k| a_{k-1}=\frac{|k-m|}{k}\leq m$, we have $$\begin{aligned}
&\left\Vert \mathcal{D}_{k}\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right]\right\Vert \\
\leq & R_{\max}+\gamma{\left\lVertQ_{k-1}\right\rVert} + \gamma |1+b_k| a_{k-1}{\left\lVertQ_{k-2}\right\rVert}\\
&+\gamma |1+b_k|\alpha_{k-1}{\left\lVert\mathcal{D}_{k-1}\left[Q_{k-1},Q_{k-2}\right]\right\rVert}\\
= & R_{\max}+\gamma{\left\lVertQ_{k-1}\right\rVert} + \gamma \frac{m-k}{k}{\left\lVertQ_{k-2}\right\rVert}\\
&+\gamma \frac{m-k}{k}{\left\lVert\mathcal{D}_{k-1}\left[Q_{k-1},Q_{k-2}\right]\right\rVert}\\
\leq & R_{\max}+\gamma V_{\max} +\gamma mV_{\max} +\gamma m{\left\lVert\mathcal{D}_{k-1}\left[Q_{k-1},Q_{k-2}\right]\right\rVert}\\
\leq & (1+\gamma m) V_{\max}\sum_{i=0}^{k-1}(\gamma m)^i + (\gamma m)^k{\left\lVert\mathcal{D}_{0}\left[Q_{k-1},Q_{k-2}\right]\right\rVert}\\
\leq & \frac{(1+\gamma m)((\gamma m)^{k-1}-1) V_{\max}}{\gamma m-1} + (\gamma m)^k V_{\max},\end{aligned}$$ where the third inequality follows from Assumption \[asp:boundQ\]. Since $\gamma m\geq 1$, in this case $D_k$ can be uniformly bounded as $$\begin{aligned} &\left\Vert \mathcal{D}_{k}\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right]\right\Vert\\
&\leq \left(\frac{(1+\gamma m)((\gamma m)^{\lfloor m/2 \rfloor-1}-1)}{\gamma m-1}+(\gamma m)^{\lfloor m/2 \rfloor} \right)V_{\max}:=\bar B_1,
\end{aligned}$$ where $\lfloor * \rfloor$ denotes the largest integer that is no larger than $*$.
Then we consider when $k\geq \frac{m}{2}$, i.e. when $|1+b_k| a_{k-1}=\frac{|k-m|}{k}\leq 1$: $$\label{eq:pf}
\begin{aligned}
&\left\Vert \mathcal{D}_{k}\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right]\right\Vert \\
\leq & R_{\max}+\gamma{\left\lVertQ_{k-1}\right\rVert} + \gamma |1+b_k| a_{k-1}{\left\lVertQ_{k-2}\right\rVert}\\
&+\gamma |1+b_k|\alpha_{k-1}{\left\lVert\mathcal{D}_{k-1}\left[Q_{k-1},Q_{k-2}\right]\right\rVert}\\
\leq & R_{\max}+\gamma{\left\lVertQ_{k-1}\right\rVert} + \gamma {\left\lVertQ_{k-2}\right\rVert},
\end{aligned}$$ Notice that the second inequality follows due to $|1+b_k| a_{k-1}=\frac{|k-m|}{k}\leq 1$, which is the main difference from the previous case. Then we can further bound $$\label{eq:pf4}
\begin{aligned}
&\left\Vert \mathcal{D}_{k}\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right]\right\Vert \\
\leq & R_{\max}+2\gamma V_{\max}+\gamma\left\Vert \mathcal{D}_{k-1}\left[Q_{k-1},Q_{k-2}\right]\right\Vert \\
\leq & R_{\max}\sum_{i=0}^{k-\lfloor m/2 \rfloor}\gamma^{i}+2V_{\max}\sum_{i=1}^{k-\lfloor m/2 \rfloor}\gamma^{i}\\
&+ \gamma^{k-\lfloor m/2 \rfloor}\left\Vert \mathcal{D}_{\lfloor m/2 \rfloor}\left[Q_{0},Q_{-1}\right]\right\Vert \\
\leq & \frac{\left(R_{\max}+2\gamma V_{\max}\right)}{1-\gamma}+ \bar B_1\\
= & \frac{1+\gamma}{1-\gamma} V_{\max}+ \bar B_1 :=\bar B_2,
\end{aligned}$$ where the first inequality follows from Assumption \[asp:boundQ\]. Observe that clearly $\bar B_0 < \bar B_1 < \bar B_2$. Then we can uniformly bound ${\left\lVertD_k\right\rVert}$ as $$\left\Vert \mathcal{D}_{k}\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right]\right\Vert\leq \bar B_2:=D_{\max},\ \forall k\geq 0.$$
The bound on $\epsilon_{k}$ follows directly from its definition as $$\begin{aligned}
\left\Vert \epsilon_{k}\right\Vert &=\left\Vert \mathbb{E}_{P}\left(\mathcal{D}_{k}\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right](x,u)|\mathcal{F}_{k-1}\right)-\mathcal{D}_{k}\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right]\right\Vert\\
&\leq2\left\Vert \mathcal{D}_{k}\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right]\right\Vert\leq 2D_{\max}.
\end{aligned}$$ Thus we conclude our proof.
**Proof of Theorem \[thm:main\]:**
We first prove two lemmas that will lead to the main results. The first lemma derives the dynamics of $Q_k$ in terms of $E_k$, which will be handy later.
\[lem:dynQ\] For any $k\geq1$ and given AQL as in Algorithm \[alg:AQL\], we have $$\label{eq:2termIter}
\begin{aligned}
Q_{k}=&\frac{1}{k}(Q_{k-1}-Q_{0}+(k-m-1)\mathcal{T}Q_{k-1})\\
&+\frac{1}{k}((m+1)\mathcal{T}Q_{0}-E_{k-1})
\end{aligned}$$
First we rewrite by the definition of $D_k$ and $\epsilon_k$ as $$\label{eq:oneLineIteration}
\begin{aligned}
Q_{k+1}\!=\! & (1\!-\!a_{k})Q_{k}\!+\!\left[b_{k}(1-a_{k})\!+\!c_{k}\right](Q_{k}-Q_{k-1}) \\
& +a_{k}\left[(1+b_{k})\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_{k}-b_{k}\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_{k-1}\right] \\
= & (1\!-\!a_{k})Q_{k}\!+\!\left[b_{k}(1-a_{k})\!+\!c_{k}\right](Q_{k}-Q_{k-1}) \\
& +a_{k}\mathcal{D}_{k}\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right]\\
= & (1\!-\!a_{k})Q_{k}\!+\!\left[b_{k}(1-a_{k})\!+\!c_{k}\right](Q_{k}-Q_{k-1}) \\
& +a_{k}\left(\mathcal{D}\left[Q_{k},Q_{k-1}\right]-\epsilon_k\right).
\end{aligned}$$
Then we prove the lemma by plugging in the choice of the hyper-parameters and using induction. For $k=1$, $Q_{1}=\mathcal{T}_{1}Q_{0}=\mathcal{T}Q_{0}-E_{1}$, Thus (\[eq:2termIter\]) holds when $k=1$. Now under the assumption that (\[eq:2termIter\]) holds for $k$ we prove it also holds for $k+1$. $$\begin{aligned}
&Q_{k+1}\\
= & \frac{1}{k+1}Q_{k}-\frac{1}{k+1}Q_{k-1}+\frac{k}{k+1}Q_{k}\\
& +\frac{1}{k+1}\left[(k-m)\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_{k}-(k-m-1)\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_{k-1}\right]\\
= & \frac{1}{k+1}Q_{k}-\frac{1}{k+1}Q_{k-1}+\frac{1}{k+1}(Q_{k-1}-Q_{0}\\
& +(k-m-1)\mathcal{T}Q_{k-1}+(m+1)\mathcal{T}Q_{0}-E_{k-1})\\
& +\frac{1}{k+1}\left[(k-m)\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_{k}-(k-m-1)\mathcal{T}_{k}Q_{k-1}\right]\\
= & \frac{1}{k+1}Q_{k}-\frac{1}{k+1}Q_{k-1}+\frac{1}{k+1}(Q_{k-1}-Q_{0}\\
& +(k-m-1)\mathcal{T}Q_{k-1}+(m+1)\mathcal{T}Q_{0}-E_{k-1})\\
& +\frac{1}{k+1}\left[(k-m)\mathcal{T}Q_{k}-(k-m-1)\mathcal{T}Q_{k-1}-\epsilon_{k}\right]\\
= & \frac{1}{k+1}(Q_{k}-Q_{0}+(k-m)\mathcal{T}Q_{k}+(m+1)\mathcal{T}Q_{0}-E_{k}),\end{aligned}$$ which shows (\[eq:2termIter\]) holds for $k+1$, and therefore it holds for all $k\geq1$.
The second lemma derives the propagation of the errors $\epsilon_k$ in the process of $Q$ function iteration, which can be proved conveniently using Lemma \[lem:dynQ\].
\[lem:errorProp\] Given Assumption \[asp:boundQ\] and fixing $\gamma,m$ with $\gamma m\geq 1$ in AQL as Algorithm \[alg:AQL\], for all $k\geq m+1$, we have $$\label{eq:pf5}
\left\Vert Q^{\star}\!-\!Q_{k}\right\Vert\leq 2\frac{\gamma R_{\max}+hV_{\max}}{k(1-\gamma)}\!+\!\frac{1}{k}\sum_{i=0}^{k-m-1}\gamma^{i}\Vert E_{k-i}\Vert,$$ where $h=\gamma(m+1)+1$.
For $k\geq m+1$, expand $Q_k$ using (\[eq:2termIter\]) in Lemma \[lem:dynQ\], and we have $$\begin{aligned}
&\left\Vert Q^{\star}-Q_{k}\right\Vert \\
= & \frac{1}{k}\Vert Q_{k-1}-Q_{0}+(k-m-1)(\mathcal{T}Q^{\star}-\mathcal{T}Q_{k-1})\\
& +(m+1)(\mathcal{T}Q^{\star}-\mathcal{T}Q_{0})+E_{k}\Vert\\
\leq & \frac{\gamma(k-m-1)+1}{k}\Vert Q^{\star}-Q_{k-1}\Vert\\
& +\frac{\gamma(m+1)+1}{k}\Vert Q^{\star}-Q_{0}\Vert+\frac{\Vert E_{k}\Vert}{k}\\
\leq & \frac{\gamma(k-1)}{k}\Vert Q^{\star}-Q_{k-1}\Vert+\frac{2h}{k}V_{\max}+\frac{\Vert E_{k}\Vert}{k}\\
\leq & \frac{\gamma^{k-m}}{k}\Vert Q^{\star}-Q_{m}\Vert+\frac{2hV_{\max}}{k}\sum_{i=0}^{k-m-1}\gamma^{i}\\
& +\sum_{i=0}^{k-m-1}\frac{\gamma^{i}}{k}\Vert E_{k-i}\Vert\\
\leq & 2\frac{\gamma R_{\max}+hV_{\max}}{k(1-\gamma)}+\frac{1}{k}\sum_{i=0}^{k-m-1}\gamma^{i}\Vert E_{k-i}\Vert,\end{aligned}$$ where the first inequality follows from the triangle inequality and the contraction property , and the second inequality holds due to $\gamma m\geq 1$ and Assumption \[asp:boundQ\] and $h=\gamma(m+1)+1$.
Now we are ready to prove the main results of Theorem \[thm:main\]. The proof builds on the results of Lemma \[lem:errorProp\] and makes uses of the Maximal Hoeffding-Azuma Inequality (see Lemma \[lem:ineq\]).
Plugging $k=T$ in in Lemma \[lem:errorProp\] and obtain $$\left\Vert Q^{\star}-Q_{T}\right\Vert\leq 2\frac{\gamma R_{\max}+hV_{\max}}{T(1-\gamma)}+\frac{1}{T}\sum_{i=0}^{T-m-1}\gamma^{i}\Vert E_{T-i}\Vert.$$ It suffices to bound the second term. Observe that $$\label{eq:pf3}
\begin{aligned}
\frac{1}{T}\sum_{i=0}^{T-m-1}\gamma^{i}\Vert E_{T-i}\Vert
&\leq\frac{1}{T}\sum_{i=0}^{T-m-1}\gamma^{i}\underset{0\leq i\leq T-m-1}{\max}{\left\lVertE_{T-i}\right\rVert}\\
&\leq \frac{\max_{0\leq i\leq T-m-1}{\left\lVertE_{T-i}\right\rVert}}{(1-\gamma)T}.
\end{aligned}$$
In remains to bound $\max_{0\leq i\leq T-m-1}{\left\lVertE_{T-i}\right\rVert}$. For the sake of convenience, we denote $K=T-m-1$. Notice that $\max_{0\leq i\leq K}{\left\lVertE_{T-i}\right\rVert}=\max_{(x,u)} \max_{0\leq i\leq K}\lvert{E_{T-i}(x,u)}\rvert$. For a given $(x,u)$ and $\varepsilon>0$, we have $$\label{eq:pf1}
\begin{aligned}
&\mathbb{P}\left( \underset{0\leq i\leq K}{\max}\lvert E_{T-i}(x,u)\rvert>\varepsilon \right)\\
=&\mathbb{P}\left( \left\{\underset{0\leq i\leq K}{\max}( E_{T-i}(x,u)) >\varepsilon\right\}\right.\\
&\left.\bigcup \left\{\underset{0\leq i\leq K}{\max}( -E_{T-i}(x,u)) >\varepsilon\right\} \right)\\
=&\mathbb{P}\left( \underset{0\leq i\leq K}{\max}( E_{T-i}(x,u))>\varepsilon \right) +\\ &\mathbb{P}\left( \underset{0\leq i\leq K}{\max}( -E_{T-i}(x,u))>\varepsilon \right),
\end{aligned}$$ where $D_{\max}$ is derived in Lemma \[lem:boundDk\]. Since $\{\epsilon_k(x,u)\}_{k\geq 0}$ is a martingale difference sequence w.r.t the filtration $\mathcal{F}_k$ as defined previously, we can apply the Maximal Hoeffding-Azuma inequality (see Lemma \[lem:ineq\]) as $$\nonumber
\begin{aligned}
\mathbb{P}\left( \underset{0\leq i\leq K}{\max}( E_{T-i}(x,u))>\varepsilon\right) &\leq \exp\left( \frac{-\varepsilon^2}{8(K+1)D_{\max}^2} \right)\\
\mathbb{P}\left( \underset{0\leq i\leq K}{\max}( -E_{T-i}(x,u))>\varepsilon\right) &\leq \exp\left( \frac{-\varepsilon^2}{8(K+1)D_{\max}^2} \right).
\end{aligned}$$ Then we can further bound as $$\mathbb{P}\left( \underset{0\leq i\leq K}{\max}\lvert E_{T-i}(x,u)\rvert>\varepsilon \right)\leq 2\exp\left( \frac{-\varepsilon^2}{8(K+1)D_{\max}^2} \right).$$ Since we consider a finite state-action space where the size of state-action pairs is bounded by $n$ as Assumption \[asp:boundSpace\], we can eventually use the union bound to obtain $$\mathbb{P}\left( \underset{0\leq i\leq K}{\max}\lVert E_{T-i}\rVert>\varepsilon \right)\leq 2n\exp\left( \frac{-\varepsilon^2}{8(K+1)D_{\max}^2} \right).$$ By letting $\delta = 2n\exp\left( \frac{-\varepsilon^2}{8TD_{\max}^2} \right)$ we have $$\mathbb{P}\left( \underset{0\leq i\leq K}{\max}\lVert E_{T-i}\rVert\leq D_{\max}\sqrt{8(K+1)\log \frac{2n}{\delta}} \right)\geq 1-\delta,$$ where $K=T-m-1$. By plugging the above probability bound in we conclude our results.
[^1]: This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant CNS-1552838.
[^2]: Bowen Weng and Huaqing Xiong are with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210. [weng.172, xiong.309]{}
[^3]: Lin Zhao is with the Pittsburgh Technology Center, Aptiv PLC. [zhao.833@osu.edu]{}
[^4]: Wei Zhang is with the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen, China. [zhangw3@sustech.edu.cn]{}
| 2023-09-16T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/8641 |
MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski makes the case that Donald Trump's performance at his Thursday campaign rally shows the president is "completely unhinged and getting worse."
Because of what she described as "mental decline," she suggested he be removed from office via the 25th Amendment.
"He's not well," she said bluntly. "That’s the bottom line. There’s no way anyone who knows Donald Trump, but has not bought in some way, could watch him last night and not come away with the feeling that the President of the United States is completely unhinged and getting worse by the day."
“Morning Joe” contributor Donny Deutsch then explained how Trump’s mental decline can be observed simply by comparing interviews that he conducted just a decade ago with the interviews he’s been conducting since being elected president.
“A few months ago, I watched an hour-long interview I did with him in 2007,” he said. “His cadence, his eyes — he was a different guy. And I would ask everybody to go and look at some old interviews with Donald Trump. He’s not just younger. His entire mannerisms, entire way of speaking is different.”
Extended segment:
| 2024-07-25T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/8437 |
Detection of Chlamydia trachomatis in semen and urethral specimens from male members of infertile couples in Tunisia.
The sequelae to infection with Chlamydia trachomatis in women are an established cause of tubal infertility. However, little is known about chlamydial infection and male infertility. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of asymptomatic C. trachomatis infections in urethral and semen specimens from the male members of infertile couples by means of four different methods: the direct fluorescence antibodies assay, cell culture, the Roche Cobas Amplicor polymerase chain reaction, and the presence of chlamydial local IgA antibodies by the recombinant antibody-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. One or more chlamydial infection markers were detected in 42 (45.7%) of the 92 examined urethral and semen specimens from the male partners of infertile couples. C. trachomatis was detected in 23.9% (22/92) of urethral specimens and in 35.9% (33/92) of semen specimens. Although there was a significant correlation between the detection of one or more chlamydial infection markers in urethral and semen specimens (p = 0.01), no significant correlation was found between the detection of C. trachomatis DNA in these samples. Furthermore, no significant association was found between the presence of chlamydial local IgA antibodies and the detection of C. trachomatis. The discrepancies in positive results found between some techniques for the detection of C. trachomatis in urethral and semen specimens might be explained by variations in the sensitivities and specificities of the tests carried out and the use of specimens from different anatomical locations. Our findings suggest that C. trachomatis seems to be widespread among the male partners of infertile couples in Tunisia. The detection of C. trachomatis in urethral or semen specimens can serve as a marker for the presence of this organism in the genital tract, which is not necessarily the cause of male infertility. The study of the correlation between the detection of chlamydial infection markers and the parameters of male fertility seems to be necessary in order to determine the direct link between chlamydial infection and male infertility and to choose the most efficient technique and most suitable specimen with which to diagnose C. trachomatis-associated male infertility. | 2024-02-23T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/3767 |
Q:
VS2013 list initialization
Consider the code
#include "stdafx.h"
#include <Windows.h>
#include <iostream>
struct B
{
public:
void f() { for (auto &v : member) { std::cout << v << std::endl; } }
private:
int member[100];
};
int main()
{
B b{};
b.f();
}
I think this code is guided by $8.5.4/3
List-initialization of an object or reference of type T is defined as follows:
— If the initializer list has no elements and T is a class type with a default constructor, the object is value-initialized.
Instead the VS2013 compiler emits all 0xCCCCCCCC implying that it is leaving all elements of b.member as uninitialized. So, it appears it is performing default initialization instead of value initialization.
Please let me know if I am missing something.
A:
Your code sample can be simplified even further.
#include <iostream>
struct B
{
public:
void f() { std::cout << member << std::endl; }
private:
int member;
};
int main()
{
B b{};
b.f();
}
This produces the output:
-858993460
which is 0xCCCCCCCC in hex, the debug pattern the VC compiler fills memory with in Debug builds. This seems to be a known bug with both VS2012 and VS2013 as reported here.
You can work around the error by defining a constructor that value initializes the data member individually. In your case adding this constructor will result in all elements of member being 0
B() : member{} {}
| 2023-10-31T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/7854 |
ONE of the Cynon Valley’s busiest train stations could soon lose its ticket office, according to a transport union report.
Aberdare train station is one of 23 offices across Wales to be affected by proposed changes, which would see officials being replaced by more self-service ticket machines.
More than half of Wales’ railway ticket offices could be closed after a recommendation was found in the small print of a Westminster report detailing how to achieve savings in the railway industry.
The proposal, which identifies 23 ticket offices in Wales which could be shut, was found “buried” in a government-commissioned report by a transport union.
Union leaders have claimed the proposals could lead to problems with the safety of passengers.
David Sidebottom, for Passenger Focus Wales, feared any closure of ticket offices could put commuters off travelling by train.
He said: “Ticket vending machines offer at best a second-rate service – not all machines sell the full range of tickets to all destinations, or any tickets at all to some destinations.
“When we asked what would make passengers feel safer when travelling on the railway, the message from them was clear: increase the presence of visible staff.
“The closure of ticket offices will make passengers feel less safe and put them off from travelling by train.”
Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood, who represents the South Wales Central region in the Assembly, said: “It could well be a false economy to close the smaller ticket offices on the rail network as it could cause problems further down the rail line for the larger stations.
“Customers will lose the ability to seek advice and perhaps even to pay by card if the ticket machines do not accept cash like the ones proposed by London Midland.
“Furthermore, tickets bought from machines tend to be more expensive.
“This is something that will adversely affect elderly passengers in particular.
“Public transport should be made more attractive and not be a hassle. This news comes after we were told last month that fares will rise by 25% over the next three years.
“In Wales, the decision to close these ticket offices will fall to the Welsh Government and I hope the needs of passengers and rail workers will be considered fully.”
The proposals have sparked a mixture of positive and negative comments from passengers on the Leader’s Facebook page.
Robert Nicholas, a member of the Leader group, said: “I thought they wanted to create jobs, not make more people unemployed.
“It’s not good enough, Mr Cameron – it’s time you lost your job.”
But Deborah Richards argues: “How many people really use the ticket offices?
“Most buy the tickets on the train with the staff on board.”
If closures went ahead it would more than halve the number of ticket offices in Wales – which currently stands at 40 – as well as culling ticket office jobs. Overall one in four ticket offices in Wales and England could close.
The information was uncovered by the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) from a lengthy report by former Civil Aviation Authority Chairman Sir Roy McNulty. | 2023-08-06T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/5427 |
Major altcoin Ethereum (ETH) is about to see a “trend reversal and rally strongly” up to $1,900 per token by the end of 2018, according to Fundstrat head of research Tom Lee, as Bloomberg reported September 27.
In a note to clients of Fundstrat Global Advisors, Lee noted the “overly negative” sentiment on the Ethereum market, which he says will be a basis for its strong rebound in the near future.
In his prediction, Lee has referenced the historical performance of Ethereum, citing that the times when the altcoin “underperformed peers by two standard deviations,” the price trend saw a subsequent reverse.
Lee concluded that Ethereum will reach $1,900 by the end of 2018 — a price point that is at least 40 percent higher than Ethereum’s all-time high of $1,349, recorded on January 13, 2018. The price of Ethereum is $230 at press time, meaning that the altcoin’s price will surge by 726 percent by the end of the year, according to Lee.
Ethereum all time price chart. Source: Cointelegraph Ethereum Price Index
In July, Lee reiterated his bull position in regard to major cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC), claiming that the cryptocurrency could trade between $22,000 and $25,000 by the end of the year. Most recently, the crypto analyst concluded that Bitcoin “could end the year explosively higher,” citing a correlation between BTC and emerging markets.
Launched on July 30, 2015, Ethereum is the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization at press time. Ethereum provides an open-sourced blockchain that features smart contracts and a basis for emerging blockchain-powered applications in a number of industries.
After surging to above $1,300 in early 2018, Ethereum has seen a massive decline, with the current price amounting to just around 17 percent of the all-time high. Ripple (XRP) has twice overtaken Ethereum in terms of market capitalization in September. | 2024-06-14T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/5167 |
Q:
Monitor Database Updates Live using AJAX and SQL
How can one trigger an event locally when a field in a connected database changes? I've done some research but it seems like there there are varying and inconclusive answers to the question.
I'm building an application where users rate comments, and I'd like to have the ratings change live when they are modified by a different user. For example: users A and B are both viewing the comment feed. Say user A uprates a comment, causing the "rating" field for that comment's row in my database table to be incremented. Without having a timer for periodic refreshing, I'd like to have user B see the change in comment (updated on his page) as soon as A has rated it. Is there a way to do this using just PHP, SQL, and JavaScript/jQuery, or applicable plugins/libraries?
Examples, ideas, links, etc. all appreciated. Thanks so much for the help.
A:
The technique is called Comet, a play on words to Ajax. There are many ways to accomplish it. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_(programming)
| 2023-08-22T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/9829 |
The present invention relates to microwave assisted chemistry techniques and apparatus, and in particular, relates to a method and apparatus for microwave assisted high throughput chemical synthesis.
Microwave assisted chemical synthesis refers to the use of electromagnetic radiation within the microwave frequencies to provide the energy required to initiate, drive, or accelerate certain chemical reactions. As chemists have long been aware, the application of heat energy is one of the most significant factors in increasing the rate of a wide variety of chemical reactions. Thus, generally familiar devices such as the Bunsen burner, other types of gas burners, hot plates, and other similar devices have historically been used to initiate or accelerate various chemical reactions.
Microwave assisted reactions, however, can be completed in a much shorter period of time. It will be understood that this time savings has a particularly significant advantage in any situation in which large number of samples must be tested on an almost continuous basis, or high throughput analysis. Understood by those familiar with the electromagnetic spectrum, the term “microwave” is often used generically to refer to radiation with wavelengths of between about 1000 and 500,000 microns (μ), and corresponding frequencies of between about 1×109 and 5×1011 Hertz (Hz). These are arbitrary boundaries, however, and other sources refer to microwaves as having frequencies of between about 108 Hz and 1012 Hz and wavelengths of between about 300 centimeters (cm) and 0.3 millimeters (mm).
Microwave assisted chemistry is relatively new compared to some other techniques, however, it has become well established and accepted in a number of analytical applications. For example, the use of microwave energy is well suited for the accelerated decomposition and analysis of fat and oil content in a sample, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,548,304 to Collins and assigned to CEM Corporation of Matthews, N.C. As another example, published US Patent Application No. 2003/0089706 to Jennings, and assigned to CEM Corporation, discloses the use of microwave energy for chemical synthesis processes. These and many other examples provide sufficient evidence as to the usefulness and enormous potential that the utilization of microwave energy has in chemical synthesis, particularly the field of combinatorial chemistry.
The field of combinatorial chemistry stands to benefit greatly from the proper utilization of microwave energy. Combinatorial chemistry has emerged as one of the most promising approaches to chemical library synthesis for the purpose of drug discovery. Traditional methods that use sequential and parallel methods of organic synthesis generally comprise a starting array of reagents that are dispensed to specialized tubes, where additional reagents may be added. This is followed by the application of heat or light energy, which is followed by an additional dispensing of the products to a product array (such as a microtiter plate).
This conventional methodology suffers from two main drawbacks. First, it is far too slow to meet the current demand for chemical library generation. Despite accelerating this process by running the reactions in a parallel manner, the complexity and expense soon outweighs the benefit of the moderate gain in speed. Secondly, current methodology typically requires set volumes of liquid in a given synthesis run. This limits the flexibility of the process to generate compounds via different reactions.
The generation of chemical libraries, also referred to as chemical compound libraries, or small molecule libraries, is necessary for screening against a rapidly growing range of therapeutic targets resulting from genomics research. Novel compounds are also useful for testing on current therapeutic targets to search for drugs with maximum efficacy and minimal side effects.
Given the current demand for novel compounds in drug discovery research, there is a need for improving the adaptation of microwave energy to synthesize chemical libraries at an exponentially faster pace.
Progress is occurring in these areas. For example, the VOYAGER™, DISCOVER™, NAVIGATOR™ and EXPLORER™ instruments available from CEM Corporation, Matthews, N.C., USA (the assignee of the present invention) offer significant advantages in microwave assisted chemistry particularly in the areas of small sample size, appropriate application of energy and automated sample handing. Relevant patents and applications describing these devices include U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,607,920; 6,744,024; 6,867,400; 6,989,519; and 7,144,739; and published U.S. application No. 20030199099. The contents of all of these are incorporated entirely herein by reference.
Nevertheless, the current technology with respect to adapting microwave energy to high throughput chemical library synthesis is limited in several ways. First, microwave assisted synthesis reactions are typically run in series (even if automated), rather than in parallel. This compromises the speed advantage that microwave synthesis has over conventional techniques because more time is spent moving tubes into and out of the microwave chamber.
Secondly, the current technology is limited with respect to the use of liquid and solid reagents under pressure. The speed advantage gained with the use of microwaves is negated by the need for sealing or “crimping” the reaction tube(s) to maintain the proper pressure for the reaction. The mechanism required for crimping the tubes further adds expense and moving parts to the process. Opening such tubes or vessels likewise requires mechanical decrimping steps. All of these steps, even if automated, add time, mechanical complexity and expense.
Stated in an alternative fashion, the use of microwaves to treat continuously flowing compositions (“flow-through”) in some fashion is generally well understood; e.g. commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,039 (for flow through digestion). Similarly, carrying out pressurized or pressure-generating reactions using microwave assistance is also well established; e.g. commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,287,526 (for high pressure reactions in closed vessel systems). Nevertheless, combining each of these relative advantages in an efficient fashion—i.e., an instrument that maintains both a high-throughput and the capability to carry out reactions at elevated pressures—remains a desired goal in this art.
Accordingly, the need exists for instruments and associated methods that take advantage of microwave assisted chemistry, that increase the rate of throughput, that are or can be automated, that are efficiently-sized for widespread laboratory use, that are economically efficient, and that can handle high-pressure reactions concurrently with their high-throughput advantages. | 2024-02-14T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/2784 |
Terror in Mali: An Attack on China and Russia?
Too many coincidences to ignore, including silence from the Western media...
November 27, 2015 (Eric Draitser - NEO) - Coming on the heels of the terrorist attack in Paris, the mass shooting and siege at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako, the capital of the African nation of Mali, is still further evidence of the escalation of terrorism throughout the world. While there has already been much written about the incident in both western and non-western media, one critical angle on this story has been entirely ignored: the motive.
For although it is true that most people think of terrorism as entirely ideologically driven, with motives being religious or cultural, it is equally true that much of what gets defined as “terrorism” is in fact politically motivated violence that is intended to send a message to the targeted group or nation. So it seems that the attack in Mali could very well have been just such an action as news of the victims has raised very serious questions about just what the motive for this heinous crime might have been.
International media have now confirmed that at least nine of the 27 killed in the attack were Chinese and Russian. While this alone would indeed be curious, it is the identities and positions of those killed that is particularly striking. The three Chinese victims were important figures in China’s China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), while the Russians were employees of Russian airline Volga-Dnepr. That it was these individuals who were killed at the very outset of the attack suggests that they were the likely targets of what could perhaps rightly be called a terrorist assassination operation.
But why these men? And why now? To answer these questions, one must have an understanding of the roles of both these companies in Mali and, at the larger level, the activities of China and Russia in Mali. Moreover, the targeted killing should be seen in light of the growing assertiveness of both countries against terrorism in Syria and internationally. Considering the strategic partnership between the two countries – a partnership that is expanding seemingly every day – it seems that the fight against terrorism has become yet another point of convergence between Moscow and Beijing. In addition, it must be recalled that both countries have had their share of terror attacks in recent years, with each having made counter-terrorism a central element in their national security strategies, as well as their foreign policy.
And so, given these basic facts, it becomes clear that the attack in Mali was no random act of terrorism, but a carefully planned and executed operation designed to send a clear message to Russia and China.
The Attack, the Victims, and the Significance
On Friday November 20, 2015 a team of reportedly “heavily armed and well-trained gunmen” attacked a well known international hotel in Bamako, Mali. While the initial reports were somewhat sketchy and contradictory, in the days since the attack and siege that followed, new details have emerged that are undeniably worrying as they provide a potential motive for the terrorists.
It is has since been announced that three Chinese nationals were killed at the outset of the attack: Zhou Tianxiang, Wang Xuanshang, and Chang Xuehui. Aside from the obviously tragic fact that these men were murdered in cold blood, one must examine carefully who they were in order to get a full sense of the importance of their killings. Mr. Zhou was the General Manager of the China Railway Construction Corporation’s (CRCC) international group, Mr. Wang was the Deputy General Manager of CRCC’s international group, and Mr. Chang was General Manager of the CRCC’s West Africa division. The significance should become immediately apparent as these men were the principal liaisons between Beijing and the Malian government in the major railway investments that China has made in Mali. With railway construction being one of the key infrastructure and economic development programs in landlocked Mali, the deaths of these three Chinese nationals is clearly both a symbolic and very tangible attack on China’s partnership with Mali.
In late 2014, Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita traveled to China to attend the World Economic Forum in Tianjin. On the sidelines of the forum the Malian president sealed a number of critical development deals with the Chinese government, the most high-profile of which were railway construction and improvement agreements. Chief among the projects is the construction of an $8 billion, 900km railway linking Mali’s capital of Bamako with the Atlantic port and capital of neighboring Guinea, Conakry. The project, seen by many experts as essential for bringing Malian mineral wealth to world markets, is critical to the economic development of the country. Additionally, CRCC was also tapped to renovate the railway connecting Bamako with Senegal’s capital of Dakar, with the project carrying a price tag of nearly $1.5 billion.
These two projects alone were worth nearly $10 billion, while a number of other projects, including road construction throughout the conflict-ridden north of the country, as well as construction of a much needed new bridge in gridlock-plagued Bamako, brought the cumulative worth of the Chinese investments to near (or above) the total GDP for Mali ($12 billion in 2014). Such massive investments in the country were obviously of great significance to the Malian government both because of their economically transformative qualities, and also because they had solidified China as perhaps the single most dominant investor in Mali, a country long since under the post-colonial economic yoke of France, and military yoke of the United States.
It seems highly implausible, to say the least, that a random terror attack solely interested in killing as many civilians as possible would have as its first three victims these three men, perhaps three of the most important men in the country at the time. But the implausible coincidences don’t stop there.
Among the dead are also six Russians, all of whom are said to have been employees of the Russian commercial cargo airline Volga-Dnepr. While at first glance it may seem irrelevant that the Russian victims worked for an airline, it is in fact very telling as it indicates a similar motive to the killing of the Chinese nationals; specifically, Volga-Dnepr is, according to its Wikipedia page, “a world leader in the global market for the movement of oversize, unique and heavy air cargo…[It] serves governmental and commercial organizations, including leading global businesses in the oil and gas, energy, aerospace, agriculture and telecommunications industries as well as the humanitarian and emergency services sectors.” The company has transported everything from gigantic excavators to airplanes, helicopters, mini-factories, and power plants, not to mention heavy machines used in energy extraction.
This fact is significant because it is quite likely, indeed probable, that the airline has been transporting much of the heavy, oversized equipment being used by the Chinese and other developers throughout the country. In effect, the Russian crew was part of the ongoing economic development and foreign investment in the country. And so, their killing, like that of the CRCC executives, is a symbolic strike against Chinese and Russian investment in the country. And perhaps even more importantly, the attack was a symbolic attack upon the very nature of Sino-Russian collaboration and partnership, especially in the context of economic development in Africa and the Global South.
It would be worthwhile to add that Volga-Dnepr has also been involved in military transport services for NATO and the US until at least the beginning of the Ukraine conflict and Crimea’s reunification with Russia. Whether this fact has any bearing on the employees being targeted, that would be pure conjecture. Suffice to say though that Volga-Dnepr was no ordinary airline, but one that was integral to the entire economic development initiative in Mali. And this is really the key point: China and Russia are development partners for the former French colonial possession and US puppet state.
China, Russia, and Mali’s Future
China and, to a lesser extent, Russia have become major trading and development partners for Mali in recent years. Aside from the lucrative railroad and road construction projects mentioned above, China has expanded its partnerships with Mali in many other areas. For instance, in 2014 China gifted Mali a grant of 18 billion CFA (nearly $30 million) and an interest-free loan of 8 billion CFA (nearly $13 million). Additionally, China established a program that offers 600 scholarships to Malian students over the 2015-2017 period. Also, the Chinese government announced the construction of a training and educational center focused on engineering and the construction industry, as well as the completion of the Agricultural Technical Center in the city of Baguineda in Southern Mali, not far from the capital and population center of Bamako.
Of course, these sorts of Chinese offerings are only the tip of the iceberg as Beijing has also expanded its contracts with Mali in the transportation, construction, energy, mining, and other important sectors, including an agreement for China to construct at least 24,000 affordable housing units, making ownership of a decent home possible for many who would otherwise never have such an opportunity. Going further, as African Leadership Magazine reported in 2014:
Mali also relies on China to invest in new power plants to break the electricity crisis that is affecting the country. This is supposed to make available cheaper electricity for the industrial development…A hydroelectric dam will be built in the area of Dire in the North of the country; a hybrid power plant in Kidal in the North-East and another one in Timbuktu, which is in the North as well. Solar power plants will also be created in other parts of the country and all those infrastructures will be connected to the national grid of electricity… A factory of medicine production that is being constructed in the outskirts of the capital will be enlarged to be the largest in West Africa…More than 95 percent of the factory has been completed and it will be operating on January, 2015…Chinese banks that are not yet present in Mali are supposed to contribute to create small-scaled companies and industries.
To be sure, China is not offering such deals to Mali solely out of altruism and in the spirit of generosity; naturally China expects to enrich itself and ensure access to raw materials, resources, and markets in Mali now and in the future. This is the sort of “win-win” partnership forever being touted by China as the cornerstone of its aid and investment throughout Africa. Indeed, in many ways, Mali is a prime example of just how China operates on the continent. Rather than a purely exploitative investment model (the IMF and World Bank examples come to mind), China is engaging in true partnership. And, contrary to what many have argued (that China is merely a rival imperialist power in Africa), China’s activities in Africa are by and large productive for the whole of the countries where China invests, a few egregious bad examples aside.
China is a friend of Africa, and it has demonstrated that repeatedly throughout the last decade. And perhaps it is just this sort of friendship that was under attack in the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako.
Likewise Russia has been engaged in Mali, though certainly nowhere near the extent that China has. Russia was one of the principal contributors to the humanitarian relief effort in Mali after the 2012 coup and subsequent war against terror groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda. Russia provided much needed food, clothing, and basic medical aid, while also supplying more advanced, and essential, medical equipment to Malian hospitals desperately trying to cope with the flood of wounded and displaced people.
Additionally, Moscow became one of the major suppliers of weapons and other military materiel to Mali’s government in its war against terrorism in 2013. According Business Insider in 2013, Anatoly Isaikin, head of Russia’s state-owned arms exporter Rosoboronexport, “revealed that Moscow had recent military contacts with the government of Mali…He said small amounts of light weapons were already being delivered to Mali and that new sales were under discussion. ‘We have delivered firearms. Literally two weeks ago another consignment was sent. These are completely legal deliveries…We are in talks about sending more, in small quantities.’”
Finally, Mali has a longstanding cultural connection with Russia through the Soviet Union’s sponsorship of thousands of Malian students who studied in Soviet universities from the early 1960s through the 1980s. As Yevgeny Korendyasov of the Center for Russian-African Relations at the Russian Academy of Sciences explained:
We have had very close ties to Mali throughout recent history…Though overall financial estimates of Soviet aid received by Mali are hard to come by, Moscow’s involvement with the country was all-encompassing.
Indeed, the Soviets educated Malian officials and intelligentsia, as well as their children, developed local infrastructure, and mapped the country’s abundant natural resources. Such long-standing ties, moribund though they may seem today, still have a lasting legacy in the country.
While the world has been transfixed by terrorism from the downing of the Russian airliner in Egypt, to the inhuman attacks in Paris and Beirut, not nearly enough attention has been paid to the attack in Mali. Perhaps one of the reasons the episode has not gotten the necessary scrutiny and investigation is the seemingly endless series of terror attacks that have transfixed news consumers worldwide. Perhaps it is simply good old fashioned racism that sees Africa as little more than a collection of chaotic states constantly in conflict, with violence and death being the norm.
Or maybe the real reason almost no one has shined a light on this episode is because of the global implications of the killings, and the obvious message they sent. While media organizations seem to have deliberately ignored the implication of the attacks of November 20th in Mali, one can rest assured that Beijing and Moscow got the message loud and clear. And one can also rest assured that the Chinese and Russians are well aware of the true motives of the attack. The question remains: how will these countries respond?
Eric Draitser is an independent geopolitical analyst based in New York City, he is the founder of StopImperialism.org and OP-ed columnist for RT, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”. | 2024-01-18T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/7296 |
A private virtual local area network (VLAN) is a Layer 2 (i.e., a data link layer of the seven-layer Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model) security feature that allows segregation of host devices within a VLAN. A private VLAN includes a primary VLAN and one or more secondary VLANs provided within the primary VLAN. There are two types of secondary VLANs: a secondary community VLAN and a secondary isolated VLAN. Ports within a community VLAN can communicate with each other but cannot communicate with ports in other community VLANs at the Layer 2 level. Ports within an isolated VLAN cannot communicate with each other at the Layer 2 level. Private VLANs provide Layer 2 isolation between ports within the same private VLAN. The private VLAN ports may be promiscuous ports, community ports, or isolated ports.
A promiscuous port belongs to the primary VLAN and can communicate with all interfaces, including community and isolated ports that belong to the secondary VLANs associated with the primary VLAN. A community port is a host port that belongs to a secondary community VLAN. Community ports communicate with other ports in the same community VLAN and with promiscuous ports. Community ports are isolated from all other interfaces in other communities and from isolated ports within their private VLAN. An isolated port is a host port that belongs to a secondary isolated VLAN. Isolated ports have complete Layer 2 separation from other ports within the same private VLAN, except for promiscuous ports. Private VLANs block all traffic to isolated ports except traffic from promiscuous ports. Traffic received from an isolated port may be forwarded only to promiscuous ports.
In order to implement these communication guidelines, multiple broadcast domains are created and Ethernet media access control (MAC) addresses are installed in VLANs. For example, a MAC address learned on an isolated port is installed in the isolated VLAN and in the primary VLAN. A MAC address learned on a community port is installed in the community VLAN and in the primary VLAN. A MAC address learned on a promiscuous port is installed in the primary VLAN, in all community VLANs, and in all isolated VLANs. Thus, MAC address learning is needed in more than one VLAN. In an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)-based forwarding system, hardware learning is disabled, and MAC address learning is achieved with software learning. In software learning, a central processing unit (CPU) receives an indication of a new MAC address and decides whether to install the new MAC address in an unbounded number of VLAN MAC address tables. However, maintaining multiple VLAN MAC address tables puts a strain on hardware resources (e.g., the CPU). | 2024-05-01T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/3250 |
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| 2023-12-16T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/8534 |
Is Portland State Doing Enough to Prevent Sexual Assault?
The results of a survey published last week in The Oregonian show approximately 14 percent of women (1 in 7), and 29 percent of transgendered students in the undergraduate program at Portland State University have experienced some form of sexual assault on or off campus.
Nationwide studies indicate that 20 percent of women say they have been sexually assaulted at college and 50 percent of transgendered students have been sexually assaulted or abused at some point in their life. While the percentages at PSU may be below the national average, the reality is that 14% translates to more than 1,600 women who have experienced sexual assault while attending the university, most of them under the age of 25.
There is a serious breakdown when it comes to reporting. Only 13 rapes were reported in 2015. Less than half of the students surveyed knew how to report an incident of assault or harassment.
And less than half of students knew how to access information and support from an advocate. Perhaps this is because there are only 6 staff advocates at PSU. If every female assault survivor asked for support, each advocate would have a caseload of 266. That number does not include transgendered survivors seeking support.
Changing the rape culture requires that colleges make a substantial and sustained investment in the following areas:
· Education to raise awareness about consent and sexual assault.
· Training that empowers students to defend themselves.
· Access to sensitive, non-judgmental support, information and options for survivors of violence.
· A reporting process that is clear and fair to everyone involved.
· A system of justice that holds perpetrators accountable which means, among other things, removing offenders from campus.
The PSU survey was done in response to Barack Obama’s 2014 ‘It’s on Us’ campaign and Task Force which directed colleges to become proactive in stopping sexual assault. Obama even threatened to pull federal funding from colleges who fail to take steps to make colleges safer.
We are not likely to see this kind of federal leadership under the current administration. The Trump administration has no policy on sexual assault and Trump himself is dodging dozens of accusations of sexual assault and harassment.
Today it’s on us to stay informed, read between the lines, ask questions and, in a very public way, expect colleges to invest in the safety of every student. This survey provides few answers and raises a lot of questions. Follow the link below to read the Oregonian’s article and link directly to the survey. [i]
If you are interested in learning more about sexual assault on colleges campuses I recommend Jon Krakauer’s book Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town published in 2015. | 2023-12-21T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/4515 |
Britain First leaders Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen. (Photo: Getty)
As part of a wave of new suspensions, Twitter took down several far-right accounts that had been retweeted by President Donald Trump.
The suspensions of the Britain First account, as well as those of leader Paul Golding and deputy leader Jayda Fransen, appears to be part of Twitter’s new promise to crack down on hate speech and violent content on the platform. Trump retweeted several videos posted by Fransen in November, including one that depicted a teenager being pushed off a roof. His retweets came as he was trying to drum up support for a travel ban targeting Muslim countries.
Because Fransen’s account is suspended, these videos have finally disappeared from Trump’s Twitter feed as well.
Twitter faced backlash for not removing the violent videos at the time, and it struggled to justify the company’s decision to keep them online. Initially, Twitter seemed to indicate that the tweets were left up because of their newsworthiness, but later said they were allowed under the company’s media policy.
As The Daily Dot notes, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended Trump’s decision to retweet the videos. “Whether it’s a real video, the threat is real and that is what the president is talking about,” she said.
Golding and Fransen are far from the only accounts affected by Twitter’s newest purging of extremism from its platform. White supremacist organization American Renaissance and its editor Jared Taylor—long since quarantined on YouTube—were suspended today. Also removed were accounts associated with the Traditionalist Workers Party, the League of the South, Generation Identitaire, and American Vanguard, all groups which made regular showings at political rallies which often became violent.
Amid the steady removal of smaller accounts with obvious associations to neo-Nazism, the question remains if Twitter will act against these movements’ loudest enablers. Previous suspension efforts took aim at low hanging fruit like the attention-starved Tim “Baked Alaska” Gionet, but failed to move against far-right figures like Mike Cernovich and Richard Spencer, whose accounts remain active on the site. | 2023-09-03T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/9555 |
The 'Paperoles' pattern was first created in 2000 by Claudia Stuhlhofer Mayr. This stunning design celebrates a form of Parisian paper art with an elaborate border draped around fanciful horse and carriage motifs. MEASUREMENTS: 35"L x 35"W. | 2024-02-21T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/3103 |
Andrew Maguire Exposes What Has Shocked Traders In The Gold Market All Over The World
In the aftermath of strange interference with last week’s audio interview, today whistleblower and London metals trader Andrew Maguire spoke with King World News about what has shocked traders in the gold market all over the world.
Eric King: “Andrew, you are back here at King World News for the second round of this interview. As you know, we had a mysterious technical issue with your first audio interview, but we got that resolved. All kinds of strange things seem to happen when you are interviewed here on KWN. The first time we tried to come back and do this (bonus audio) there was interference again. We had to shut the systems down and then bring them back online. But Andrew, besides the powers that be interfering, can you give us an update on the war in the gold and silver markets?”
Andrew Maguire: “We started off this week with a U.S. holiday, very thin markets, and China coming back in (to the market). So what we had was an immediate reaction and I’ll explain that in a second…
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Andrew Maguire continues: “But gold and silver have acted extremely well considering they were both technically overbought. And not many people are aware that Indian wholesalers have actually been sitting on the sidelines due to an anticipated duty (tax) cut, which should go through in just over a week.
Bear in mind that if this duty cut is 4 or 5 percent, that could be a $50 discount on gold for Indians. Now with Indians on the sidelines, gold being technically overbought, and China waking up to a $60 higher price, you would have expected for a large discount to occur — the usual synthetic ‘wash and rinse cycle’ to commence.
This Has Shocked Traders In The Gold Market All Over The World
But every attempt to get gold below $1,200 saw very, very strong physical buying. What I’m saying here is that it’s the physical buying in the marketplace that is actually supporting price and negating the ability of the synthetic market to keep pushing price lower (up to now). This is a massive change in behavior.
It all boils down to some of the things we were talking about earlier, which is that liquidity is flowing out of London and it’s flowing into the physical markets (elsewhere). So what we are witnessing is a massive change in behavior and it’s something that we don’t normally see.
In these type of conditions when you normally get this technically overbought, you always see a turnaround. But I think that the commercials, who really are the concentrated few who control what’s going on in the Comex markets, are constrained as to how far they can push price.”
A Completely Different Market
Eric King: “Andrew, in last week’s KWN written piece featuring you we actually showed a chart of your December 18 interview and the subsequent surge in the price of gold. What do you expect to see for the balance of this year?”
Andrew Maguire: “Well Eric, I think we have a completely different market. If I had to draw a comparison I would say I think we are very close to what we saw…To continue listening to the interview that powerful entities tried to erase,including this week’s bonus audio with Andrew MaguireCLICK HERE OR ON THE IMAGE BELOW.
***ALSO RELEASED:Famed Short Seller Says Gold Is Now In The Early Stages Of A Bull MarketCLICK HERE. | 2024-07-08T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/1758 |
American journalist held in Syria for two years released
View full sizeIn this image made from undated video obtained by The Associated Press, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a man believed to be Peter Theo Curtis, a U.S. citizen held hostage by an al-Qaida linked group in Syria, delivers a statement. The U.S. government said on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014 that Curtis, who had been held hostage for about two years, had been released. (AP Photo)
An American journalist who had been kidnapped and held hostage for nearly two years was released Sunday, the day another American journalist was laid to rest after he was brutally executed by The Islamic State.
Peter Theo Curtis of Massachusetts was released by an al-Qaida-linked group in Syria, according to a Fox News story.
White House national security adviser Susan Rice told The Associated Press that Curtis is now safe outside of Syria. Curtis was held by an al-Qaida-linked group called Jabhat al-Nusra, also known as the Nusra Front.
According to The Associated Press, Curtis was released in the Golan Heights, where he was met by U.S. government personnel.
Curtis' release came on the same day as the memorial service for slain photojournalist James Foley. Foley was beheaded by the militant group The Islamic State. | 2024-07-02T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/9565 |
Winnipeg Jets hire Matt Prefontaine as Video Coach
A day after Tony Borgford left for the Oilers AHL affiliate the Jets have added Winnipeg native Matt Prefontaine to replace him.
Jets Release:
The Winnipeg Jets would like to announce the hiring of Matt Prefontaine as Video Coach.
Prefontaine, a native of Winnipeg, MB, has spent the previous three seasons as Video Coach of the Rockford IceHogs in the American Hockey League. He originally joined the IceHogs organization as a broadcast intern in 2010-11 and became their Video Coach the following season. Prefontaine attended Brock University in St. Catharines, ON, prior to joining the Rockford IceHogs. | 2023-11-21T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/1478 |
Q:
Displaying multiple stacked layers in ArcGIS Desktop?
I am looking for a way using Layout View in ArcGIS 10.3 to display multiple layers in this manner:
I would call this a "map stack", yet I couldn't find a way to do this or how the displaying method is called.
A:
The Layout View of ArcMap only displays a planimetric view.
For the view that you seek you could investigate the ArcScene application of ArcGIS 3D Analyst.
| 2023-08-29T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/7918 |
Multiple copies of MATE elements support autonomous plasmid replication in Aspergillus nidulans.
The AMA1 sequence is an efficient plasmid replicator and transformation enhancer in Aspergillus nidulans. It comprises two long perfect inverted repeats (MATE elements) flanking a short, unique, central spacer. Subclone analysis indicates that the complete inverted duplication, but not the unique central spacer, is necessary for efficient plasmid replication. The smallest fragments able to affect transformation efficiency lie within the AT-rich portions of the inverted repeats. We demonstrate that two or more copies of the repeat in any relative orientation are able to perform the replicator function. A single copy of a MATE element increases transformation frequency to a modest extent but leads to multiple rearrangement, unstable integration or concatenation of vector molecules. Multimeric concatenates generated during this process are more sable mitotically, and when reisolated, transform the fungus at a much higher frequency than the original monomeric vector. Selection for multiple products which resemble amplified DNA in various eukaryotic systems. | 2024-03-11T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/6610 |
2009-10 Season
OUTDOOR TRACK...Competed as a sprinter for the Cougars' track team in the 400m and 800m events...Set his current personal best in the 400m (47.01) at the Texas Invitational, for a 16th-place mark...Ran the 400m at the NCAA Regionals and placed 25th (47.08)...Won the 800m event at the Conference USA Outdoor Championships (1:50.88).
INDOOR TRACK..Beat his previous personal best in the 400m at the New Balance Invitational (48.10) to finish third in the event...Ran the 800m at three meets, earned his best time of the season at the Texas A&M Challenge (1:52.93) when he finished ninth...Recorded his highest finish in the 800m at the Conference USA Indoor Championships by placing second (1:53.79).
2008-09 Season
Outdoor Track...Ran a then-personal best 48.14 at the C-USA Championships, finishing in fifth place.
Indoor Track...Finished sixth in the 400m dash at the New Mexico Cherry & Silver Invitational with a time of 48.27 ... Ran a personal-best 48.10 race at the New Balance Invitational to finish in 13th place ... Competed in the 400m dash at the Texas A&M Invitational.
HIGH SCHOOL
Competed at Leander High School for head coach Kelly Broussard ... UIL State Champion in the 4X400 relay ... Also was a district champion and a three-time AAU National Qualifier.
PERSONAL
Born on July 31, 1989 in Tucumcari, N.M. ... Son of Rosa and Douglas Kelley ... Chose to attend the University of Houston because of the track program's proud history and the coaching staff ... Hobbies include working out, fishing and hanging out with friends and family ... Also recruited by Texas, Barton County College and South Plains College ... Nickname is Dougie Fresh. | 2024-03-22T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/7673 |
You should also know that it’s OK to like a little attention from prospective suitors, even if you know you’re not planning to take it further. Often times what happens is that people get a little complacent when they pair up, and settle into a not-so-sexy routine.
While we all know that recycling, taking public transit, and limiting our consumption of animal products can all help reduce our environmental footprints, you can also take steps in the bedroom to make your sex life a little greener. | 2024-03-07T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/2622 |
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| 2024-06-01T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/3359 |
The 12 days of GCHQ quizmas: test your brain power with these daily puzzles
How Badoo built a billion-pound social network... on sex
This article was taken from the May 2011 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content bysubscribing online.
It's a 120-million-member social network that's adding over 300,000 users a day, with more than 4.3 million daily photo and video uploads, and seven billion monthly page views. It has Facebook's fastest-growing app, with 570,000 new daily users, making it the third-biggest app of all after FarmVille and CityVille. Hugely profitable, it's forecast to generate hundreds of millions of dollars this year, and is being aggressively courted by venture-capital firms valuing it in the billions. And it's run from London by a secretive Russian serial entrepreneur who has steadfastly refused to be interviewed or photographed. Until now.
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The world's largest social network
Badoo is the world's largest social network that you probably haven't yet heard of. Run from 800-square-metre loft-style offices in Soho, it is brilliantly effective at providing one simple and universally compelling service: hooking up members according to their profile pictures and location. "Chat, flirt, socialise and have fun!," implores the home page, alongside photos of prospective friends such as Terri, 21 ("Wants a candlelit dinner"), and Christopher, 25 ("Wants wake up with a girl" [sic]). Sign in, and a message declares that "204,516 girls [or guys] near you are looking to meet a guy your age!".
Read more
Super Mario Run hands-on: Nostalgic brilliance that comes at a (small) cost
ByMatt Burgess
Explain your intentions (the pull-down menu's suggestions include "to talk about sex", "to get a massage", "to flirt") and Tatyana, Oshrit or Gary might just give you access to their stash of private photos.
Still barely registering in Britain or the US, the free-to-use network -- on the web and via smartphones -- is a mass phenomenon in Brazil (14.1 million members), Mexico (nine million), France (8.2 million), Spain (6.5 million) and Italy (six million). Relying on word-of-mouth rather than any marketing spend, it has cracked the internet's eternal conundrum: how to persuade users to pay hard cash in a world drowning in free digital services and content, by charging members each time they want to boost their visibility to others searching for a date.
A year after Badoo's 2006 launch, when it had 12 million members, Russia's Finam Technology Fund bought a ten per cent stake for $30 million, valuing it at $300 million (this year Finam will realise an option for a further ten per cent at a higher valuation). Today, A-list investors such as Sequoia and Accel are courting the business and there is talk of an initial public share offering. "Cracking the Anglo-Saxon market will probably give us double to triple today's reach," says Bart Swanson, recruited as CEO last September, having expanded Amazon into Europe and run EMI in France. "The opportunity for people discovery [through Badoo] is a horrendously large market -- it's a confluence of social, proximity, mobile, and it's extremely local. The basic mechanism of what Andrey has developed is genius -- just like Google with its AdWords, it's people paying for self-promotion. And it works."
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Read more
Cyber Monday deals at Carphone Warehouse
ByAmelia Heathman
Mysterious Andrey
Andrey is Andrey Andreev, originally from Moscow but based in London for the past six years, who founded Badoo on a string of other highly profitable Russian internet businesses: Mamba, SpyLog, Begun. Andreev, a youthful 37 with a cherubic smile below a floppy fringe, has so far eluded media attention: Russian Forbes last year called him "one of the most mysterious businessmen in the West" (it also reported his original name as Andrey Ogandzhanyants, under which the SpyLog.net domain was registered). We were introduced in January by Israeli investor Yossi Vardi at Burda's DLD conference in Munich, which Vardi co-chairs, and later met in London. (Vardi has no stake in Badoo.) And then in mid-February, alone in an office belonging to Freud Communications, Andreev agreed to share his story. It has been a busy few days. Andreev explains that Michael Moritz, the legendary Sequoia investor who took early stakes in Google and Apple, has just flown in from Palo Alto to meet him; he has also been meeting Kevin Comolli of Accel's London office. Moritz declined to speak to Wired, but Comolli -- whose investments include Playfish, Kayak and Getjar -- calls Andreev a "genius" with whom he would like to work. "Badoo is a social phenomenon," Comolli says. "It's explosive growth, viral, it's playful, it seems consistent with offline social interaction but in this hypervirality mode that only the internet has enabled. The secret sauces in companies like this are so nuanced, and the difference between getting it wrong and right lies only with these special people like Andrey. He's created something very powerful." So why has Andreev remained silent? "I love to focus on making things rather than exploring myself," he says quietly and precisely, his 5' 8" frame constantly moving in agitated discomfort at being quoted on the record for the first time. "I don't feel that it helps to make money or make business."
And now? "I feel Badoo is ready for me to identify with. Because it works, it grows like crazy. And people love it."
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Read more
This video could make your iPhone unusable
ByMatt Burgess
There is another unspoken reason: with an IPO being considered, the company needs to raise awareness to maximise the valuation being floated by investors and bankers (currently being discussed at "around $2 billion", according to Andreev). The business is printing money: revenues and profit are growing by "double-digit percentages" each month, he says. "We see bankers everywhere. We are like celebrities."
Badoo explodes
Badoo launched in late 2006 in Spain, where Andreev was then living, as a conventional photo-sharing website. "We assumed that the 'meet new people' idea wouldn't work there -- Spanish girls are like princesses, you couldn't touch them, you had to meet their parents first before inviting them to the cinema," he says. The site wasn't generating revenue, but numbers were growing sharply: the 2007 Google Zeitgeist list of fastest-rising search terms listed "Badoo" second, just below "iPhone". In 2008, Andreev decided to test his assumptions of Spanish women and as an experiment refocused the site on meeting new people. "And the girls didn't leave. At that time, France was growing fast, Italy was.
Then one day we discovered we had 30,000 registrations in Turkey
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Apple will now replace faulty iPhone 6S batteries free of charge
ByJames Temperton
[that day]. What happened? Was it a hacker attack or scammers? No, someone wrote an article about us. It's as if all the users jumped on the bus and went there. Bang -- in two months, suddenly we have a Turkish market with a million members." Today the overall gender ratio is 45 percent female, 55 per cent male (in Brazil and Poland women outnumber men); 86 percent of users are aged 18 to 34.
Andreev introduced some simple premium services. You could pay a dollar or a euro to "rise up" the search results, and so attract greater attention. You could pay again to have your profile photo more widely visible across the site. He introduced virtual gifts to buy for your prospective date. "No one's pushing you to spend money, but if you want to attract more users, you have to pay," he explains. "You pay to advertise yourself. If you want something to go faster, you pay. And some people pay tens of times every day to rise up." By the end of 2009, the site had 48 million registered users -- a fifth of whom, then CEO Neil Bryant said at the time, were paying to boost their profile.
Badoo mobile "Then we had the idea of mobile -- how to meet people nearby,"
Andreev says. "We understood that people could meet each other in a big town, but how much more exciting to see who's sitting next to you in a café? Or you can just walk past a nightclub and see who you can pick up before you get in. It's another opportunity to hook up random people for adventure. We're talking about real life, real time. We know this girl is 500 metres from here now."
Read more
Apple's £249 book contains 450 photos of Apple products
ByMatt Burgess
5 items
Badoo Mobile launched last summer on the iPhone, and in March on
Android. Within weeks, with barely any marketing, the iPhone app was the number-one social-networking app in France; after eight months, it had been downloaded 1.5 million times. Andreev sees proximity as key to the business's future. Even desktop computer users can share their location by downloading an app that accesses Wi-Fi networks, IP addresses and other data points. "If you're sitting at home and someone's walking with an iPhone nearby, we know the distance between you. We can also show the iPhone user that you're nearby.
So it works for everyone."
Mamba
Read more
iPhone sales drop sees Apple's revenues fall for the first time since 2001
ByMatt Burgess
Before Badoo there was Mamba, a Russian online-dating business that Andreev launched in 2004 as "an interface for offline relationships, for all type of adventures". It was, he says, profitable in month two. He offered it as a white-label service to existing dating sites, letting them keep their ad revenue and deepening their subscribers' pool of prospective dates. Once it had a million members, a similar model emerged: a free site, it let users pay via premium SMS to be more easily discovered. "You register, upload a profile picture, and we put you at the top of the search list,"
Andreev explains. "Then you slowly move down the hill -- if we have 50,000 new customers a day, you can quickly understand how many minutes of attention you have. When you lose attention, like a Google search result, no one finds you. "The first day [of this paid service] we made $5,000, the second $6,000, the third more -- I wasn't expecting this. But people love advertising themselves. Lots of people use this function several times a day. They become addicted."
A few weeks later, the site added the opportunity to be briefly visible on every page, for a fee. "This was even more successful.
Some people spent hundred of dollars every day. People complained they couldn't write SMS messages fast enough, and a lot on pay-as-you-go had to keep going to kiosks to buy new scratchcards to charge another $50." So Mamba began taking credit cards, online currencies, Yandex money. Revenues climbed ever more steeply. "We just sat back, relaxed, and added more services every day,"
Read more
Apple files lawsuit against fake chargers on Amazon. Here's how to check yours is genuine
ByAmelia Heathman
Andreev says. "There were virtual gifts -- before Zynga. You could send a gift, make a virtual phone call at 50 cents per minute. It was Mamba time. You can't imagine how cool it is to run things that are growing fast, getting revenue, watching the charts as the money grows -- it's a sport." He grins.
Finam invested a reported $20 million in 2005 for a majority stake; Mail.ru took a minority stake. After 18 months, Andreev had sold a fast-growing and highly profitable business, retaining no equity for himself. "I jump from project to project when I have new inspiration," he says. "I wanted the freedom to do whatever I wanted."
And he knew that the limited Russian market would not keep him excited for long. It was time to go global.
Read more
iPhone 7 Plus review: brilliant battery life is almost worth the money alone
8/10
ByVictoria Woollaston
It's 8.55pm on the last Saturday in February and, at the open ground-floor kitchen of L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Covent Garden, Andreev is seeking reactions to the soup he created.
L'oignon doux -- "Sweet onion soup 'Andreï style'", according to the two-Michelin-starred menu -- is something he devised when working in the kitchen as a weekend hobby alongside head chef Olivier Limousin. "I'm not sure if it was a joke, but when they got their second Michelin star," he says matter-of-factly, "Olivier said it was because of my soup."
Andreev slips unobtrusively into chefs' whites in this and other London kitchens as "sometimes you need a different type of adventure". He adds with a grin: "And I'm not talking about using Badoo." He learned cookery in Spain, where he lived before coming to London in 2005. "Street education. If you try to learn something, you just get it." Why did he move to London? "Badoo is not only in London -- we have offices in Prague, Miami, Malta, Cyprus and Moscow too," he says quickly and a little anxiously. But with around 65 of its 120 staff, including its management and executive teams, based in Soho, this is effectively a British business. "London's the international hub, where you can find anything you want," he says. "Crazy town. I feel at home here." He owns a house in central London -- but winces at the suggestion of naming the neighbourhood -- and spends weekends hiring luxury cars to explore England's countryside. "I've been everywhere, stayed in manors, castles, very cool." His social circle is a mix of locals and Russians, and he is single. "I don't know why. No time."
Marriage could happen one day, he says, "but I'm afraid to build a family now. I'm not sure I am able to give enough time." Does he use Badoo? "I use any option to meet new people, not only Badoo.
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But I do play with Badoo, yeah." And...he has enjoyed pleasant experiences? He pauses, then smiles. "Yeah. I think most of the guys and girls in the office are using it, they all have good experiences. And it helps them improve the features." Since hiring Swanson as CEO, Andreev has stepped back from day-to-day management to focus on product development. And, yes, he is thinking about his next project. "Always -- I have a black box of things to do, but it's not easy to jump from one to another." What type of business? "Look at my experience -- it won't necessarily be a dating or hook-up service. But it will be internet. The mobile internet is the biggest opportunity in the world. Smartphones outsold PCs last quarter. The opportunities will include meeting new people. Hook-up on mobile is a multibillion business. And on tablets."
Childhood
Andreev grew up in Moscow. He shows his identity card: born in February 1974. "You see my problem? I'm old," he says. "Normal family, parents in education, younger sister, mother teaching, father a professor of mathematics. They encouraged me to learn." But he became distracted by an earlier global communications network: amateur radio. "I was 14, and with a group of friends built a bunch of big black boxes and put a big antenna on the rooftop. It was not possible in Russia at that time to purchase anything from Europe, so it was a lot of fun to create something that could send 1kW of energy to the antenna on the roof. I spent years on this."
At 18 he began studying management at university in Moscow while holding down a job, but dropped out after 18 months and moved to Spain, where his parents had relocated. He had saved money through the job and had time to think about what to do next.
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A businessman was born
In 1999, he and some Russian friends -- "technical guys very into the internet" -- set up a web-tracking business, SpyLog, based in Moscow. It helped webmasters track not only visits to their sites, but users' habits on the wider internet. "It was big fun to make more and more statistics," Andreev says in his sometimes hesitant English. "We provided information about how much time they spent on other sites, what time they woke up and went to sleep, search requests. Most webmasters were very happy to pay for this information." The data let SpyLog serve targeted ads. The business grew quickly -- the main Russian portals used it -- but 18 months later, he became restless. "I had the idea for my next project. I was dreaming about advertising money. I knew you could make a lot from ads -- and if the market wants something that no one provides, you move."
The ad business was Begun -- again, based in Moscow -- which launched in 2002 selling contextual advertising by auctioning keywords. "It's like Google AdWords, but we started a bit earlier,"
Andreev says. (Google launched AdWords in 2000 but began keyword auctions in 2002.) "The marketing message was that for one cent you could buy one client. Soon, most keywords began to be very expensive." Andreev personally negotiated with the big search engines. Arkady Volozh of Yandex "never believed me about the opportunities"; rival site Rambler "proved very difficult". But he convinced Aport, then Mail.ru, and did a deal with Google. "We launched in April 2002, and ten weeks later were at breakeven. In month three, we returned everything that had been invested. We had a big success, so it was easy to speak to Rambler again. With money, you can speak with the big guys. It grew like crazy."
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As for SpyLog, "I just left. I kept some guys running it. It was growing, it was good." He retains no ownership. Why not sell his stake? "I just gave it to people," he says detachedly. "I was involved with my new venture, and I didn't feel I could be helpful to SpyLog any more." So he wasn't motivated by making money? He smiles. "No. I just walked away."
First date
Begun, meanwhile, had run its 18-month cycle for Andreev. By mid-2003, he began "playing" with dating as "it just felt there was money". At the end of 2003, Finam acquired 80 percent of Begun. "I can't talk about the price," Andreev says when pressed. "I can tell you that last year Finam tried to sell it to Google for $140 million, but the Russian government stopped the deal." He no longer has a stake.
So he is not one to look back. "No, I just swim to what's next."
He is easily bored then? "Maybe." And has he ever failed? "In terms of the big projects, never. In terms of small experiments, of course -- some work, some don't. I spoke with Andrey [Ternovskiy], the creator of Chatroulette, to see if he wanted to join Badoo so we could create an exciting feature. He refused, so we created our own
[webcam] section. A week later we just removed it. Big companies spend months on marketing research. We go much faster -- prototype, build, see if it works, kill."
The 2003 transaction made him a millionaire, but his lifestyle barely changed -- apart from developing a liking for German cars.
In London, he does not own a car, but prefers to rent Jaguars or Aston Martins. "New experience, new fun, new feeling," he says.
And though he has two passports, he plans to remain in the UK. "I love this country. I'd love to stay here."
The Badoo impact
Some join Badoo to find a relationship. Lucy, 19, told Wired she created an account after moving from Liverpool to London for university. "I had split up with my boyfriend due to distance," she says. "But it is hard to meet up with boys my type on my uni course. My friend Josh said he uses Badoo to look for guys and that I should try it, so he came over armed with some alcohol and I signed up."
A number of users sent Lucy "weird and inappropriate messages" (an offer to star in a porn movie; questions about her feet), but there were two men with whom she enjoyed chatting regularly. "Then the third one, I met up with. He's 20. I felt comfortable meeting up with him as it was in public, and he told me everywhere he was taking me. We've been on four dates and it's going well."
Others are open to more casual encounters. Edita, 35, from Madrid, says she makes friends, but "you can find a weekend roll" too. Rafe, also from Madrid, has done just that. "After nine months I started chatting with a guy. We talked for a month and one day he gave me his number. The next day he came to my house in the morning. I was alone. Within an hour we were in my bed naked."
Hooking up
The site's hook-up function -- accounting for four-fifths of usage, according to Swanson -- sometimes surprises new users. Mary, 19, from London, says she joined to make new friends, and didn't anticipate being approached for sex. "It's happened quite a bit and they usually ask for more than just one partner, which is actually making me want to leave. They are typically late 20s, 30s, even a 47-year-old." And although membership is restricted to over-18s, one member Wired spoke to revealed that she was only 16.
Some members are clearly there for professional sexual purposes.
We found accounts that heavily hinted at offline transactions for services rendered; users such as Silina -- 19 and in France -- began a conversation by proposing "a striptease for just six SMS codes".
Swanson says prostitution "hasn't surfaced as an issue since I've been here". Still, he accepts that "it's a risk -- when you have millions of users on a site, lots of things can happen. We have moderation, and when we see that happening, we delete those accounts." He adds that underage accounts are deleted when discovered.
Controversy
A network with Badoo's goals and scale naturally attracts controversy. Last July, the News of the World reported that a convicted sex offender had listed himself as "looking for love with girls aged between 18 and 25" and posted a photo of himself taken in a children's park. In January, the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti ran the headline: "Beware this Facebook application", accusing Badoo of collecting profiles without permission. And an evaluation of 45 social-networking sites by Joseph Bonneau and Sören Preibusch of Cambridge University gave Badoo the lowest score for privacy.
Is Andreev bothered by his site being accused, at the very least, of simply promoting promiscuity? "OK, which is bad?" he replies neutrally. "Badoo is not for sex, it's for adventure. If you go to a nightclub, of course you've got the opportunity to find a girl or a boy -- but it's not necessarily for sex, it could be to enjoy five mojitos and nothing else. "Badoo simply continues the offline lifestyle. Badoo is just a casual way to hook up with people, as you do in the street or nightclub. But we make the world work faster."
Badoo's future
So what's next? Today Badoo is in 24 languages, and takes payment in 100 currencies, but the company eyes huge growth potential -- not least in markets such as the UK, where Swanson says there are 150,000 users. And mobile: "If today 90-95 percent [of engagement] is via the web, in a year 50 percent will be mobile," Swanson says.
Badoo has barely got started on helping people hook up through their mobile devices. "Meeting people is the basis of evolution,"
Swanson says. "It's not like the person who's successful leaves, as with a dating site."
Does Andreev have Facebook in his sights? "Badoo is more of a social network than Facebook, as on Facebook you interact with your existing friends in an absolutely virtual life," he says. "Badoo is more social: it provokes you to go down on the street and meet these people."
As for Andreev's next move, in Swanson's words, "he's built up the mousetrap, he's involved in the strategic issues, but he's not that involved on the details and he's phasing himself out. My challenge is to keep him here as long as possible."
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Andreev interrupts. "You want to keep me? I need freedom, so I can build more things." He then notices an email on his iPhone and jumps up excitedly. "Forbes Russia just sent me an invitation," he says. "They've put me in the top 30 successful businessmen in Russia and they're inviting me to their party. I don't think I should be top 30, but top ten." He laughs. "Bart, what should I do with this?" "Say thank you," says Swanson. "You're not flying to Moscow."
Does he fear becoming more public? "For now, it's not a big problem," Andreev replies, "as now we have a company that's successful." He pauses. "It's a human thing. You have something cool. This is mine -- I made it. It's like a kid. Before you have this, what's there to talk about? That I'm cool?"
David Rowan is editor of Wired. Additional reporting by Charlie Burton. | 2024-04-11T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/5149 |
This is a very nice collection; relaxing and light. I am so glad to see that my top is part of your mood today. Thank you very much. Wishing you a lovely relaxing Monday and a wonderful week to come.-Bai
AddThis
About me
I believe that every soul has its own unique sparkle that enables us to shine as individuals and express our individuality. I believe that gemstones also possess this unique quality, which is why we often feel an affinity with, or are drawn to particular stones. It is this inner sparkle that inspires me each time I create a new design. I hope you will be inspired by my creations and find the perfect piece that reflects your own individuality. | 2024-01-02T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/8580 |
Q:
How to preallocate RadialGradient?
I'm drawing some circles on a canvas. I want to apply a radial gradient to each of this circle.
I'm currently allocating a new gradient for each circle, but i'm guessing this not a very good idea.
protected void onDraw(Canvas canvas)
{
int radius = 6;
int cx = radius;
int cy = radius ;
for(int i = 0; i < nbPage; i++)
{
if(i % 12 == 0 && i > 0) {
cx = radius;
cy += 20;
}
RadialGradient gradient = new RadialGradient(cx, cy, radius, 0xFFFFFFFF,
0xFF000000, android.graphics.Shader.TileMode.CLAMP);
p.setDither(true);
p.setShader(gradient);
canvas.drawCircle(cx, cy, radius, p);
cx += 20; //16px + 4 de marge
}
}
Is there a solution to preallocate the radial gradient knowing that each circle have the same radius but differents coordinates ?
Thanks
A:
Take the RadialGradient object and draw it to a Bitmap, then proceed to draw that Bitmap to the Canvas for each circle.
Bitmap circleBitmap = Bitmap.create((int) (radius * 2.0f), (int) (radius * 2.0f),
Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888);
Canvas tempCanvas = new Canvas(circleBitmap);
RadialGradient gradient = new RadialGradient(cx, cy, radius, 0xFFFFFFFF,
0xFF000000, android.graphics.Shader.TileMode.CLAMP);
p.setDither(true);
p.setShader(gradient);
tempCanvas.drawCircle(radius, radius, radius, p);
for (int i = 0; i < nbPage; i++)
canvas.drawBitmap(circleBitmap, cx + (i * 20) - radius, cy - radius, p);
| 2024-01-14T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/1034 |
SS Princess Alice (1911)
SS Princess Alice was a passenger vessel in the coastal service fleet of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) during the first half of the 20th century.
This ship was called a "pocket liner" because she offered amenities like a great ocean liner, but on a smaller scale. The ship was part of the CPR "Princess fleet," which was composed of ships having names which began with the title "Princess". Along with the SS Princess Adelaide the SS Princess Mary and the SS Princess Sophia, the SS Princess Alice was one of four similar ships built for CPR during 1910-1911.
History
The SS Princess Alice was built by Swan Hunter, Wallsend, United Kingdom for the Canadian Pacific Railway. Princess Alice was launched on May 29, 1911; and she was completed in September 1911.
The 3,099-ton vessel had length of , breadth of , and depth of
In 1913, Princess Alice made several special Alaskan cruises through the inside passage at reduced rate of $60 round trip.
In 1949, the ship was sold to Typaldos Lines, and she was renamed SS Aegaeon. On April 1, 1955 the ship, sailing from Venice, undertook a "Hellenic Cruise" organised by Swans Tours of 8, Great Russell Street, London. The cruise took the ships passengers southwards to the Ionian Sea, through the Corinth Canal and into the Aegean Sea, thence through the Sea of Marma, and on to Istanbul. In returning through the Sea of Marma the ship visited Thassoss, Skiathos, and Skros, before berthing at Piraeus, where passengers went on to Athens. The ship then returned through the Corinth Canal to Venice. On the outward leg many sites of antiquity were visited, including Ithaca, Delphi, Delos, Mykonos, Samos, Ephesus and Troy. Among the many passengers on the cruise were The Hon. Michael Berry (later Baron Hartwell) and Lady Berry; Frederick Smith, 2nd Earl of Birkenhead, with his son The Viscount of Furneaux (later Frederick Smith, 3rd Earl of Birkenhead; the classical scholar Sir Maurice Bowra; American born Professor Sir Arthur Lehman Goodhart, and his wife Lady Goodhart; The Lord Moyne (Bryan Walter Guinness of the brewing family) and Lady Elisabeth Moyne, with four of their children; the former war-time MI6 Swiss station chief Count Frederick Vanden-Heuvel and his wife Countess Vanden-Heuvel; and the noted archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler and Lady Wheeler. The cruise was completed on April 15, 1955 when the ship berthed at Venice. Sir Maurice Bowra and Sir Mortimer Wheeler, along with other academics, gave talks both aboard ship and at various sites visited.
The ship was wrecked in tow at Civitavecchia in December 1966.
See also
CP Ships
List of ocean liners
List of ships in British Columbia
Notes
References
Musk, George. (1981). Canadian Pacific: The Story of the Famous Shipping Line. Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles. ; OCLC 7523720
Category:1911 ships
Category:Ocean liners
Category:Steamships of Canada
Category:Ships of CP Ships
Category:Ships built by Swan Hunter | 2024-03-13T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/2100 |
A blog dedicated to venting frustration about dumb members of the sports media via angry commentary.
No, we're not the first guys to do this kind of thing. Still, Jay Mariotti and several other prominent members of the national sports media need to lose their jobs. We want to facilitate that process any way we can.
Feel free to direct any pressing questions or comments to any or all of us at firejaymariotti@gmail.com.
Monday, December 29, 2014
I'll bet you thought this blog was dead. Nope, not yet. It's dying, true, but it's dying reeeeally slowly. I don't think I'll stop posting entirely for another 15 years or so. Anyways, back to the HOF articles, because like I said before, it's the most wonderful time of the year for bad sportswriting. Apparently Dan saw what Murray did and was like "Fuck that, he's barely even trying. I can top that in half the word count."
More than a quarter of a century after getting my first ballot,
And around 24 years after I should have stopped getting one,
the Hall of Fame selection progress just keeps getting more challenging.
Each year I say to myself, "How antagonize people who actually use their brains even more than I antagonized them last year?"
Wednesday my ballot will be mailed with boxes checked next to the names of Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, John Smoltz, Curt Schilling, Tim Raines, and Alan Trammell.
Big ups to him for voting for Raines and Trammell. Big downs to him for everything else in this article or that he's ever done since entering the workforce.
Yikes. Imagine going into a seven-game series with a roster of the guys I’m not voting for: Piazza behind the plate. An infield of McGwire, Biggio, Nomar, and Bagwell. An outfield of Bonds, Sosa, and Sheffield. Edgar at DH. Clemens on the mound. Lee Smith in the bullpen. Mussina ready to pitch Game 2. Who wouldn’t take their chances with that team against any team?
Where are you going? Are you lost? Do you need help? Did you actually attend college and take any courses in writing or critical thinking?
So let it rip. Bring on the hate.
Yeah, I mean, we can't rule out the idea that this is merely a troll act designed to increase pageviews. (If that is the case, I sincerely hope he put at least Biggio and Mussina on his ballot, if not some of the other deserving guys from his obviously "not steroid users" list above.)
Bring on the humiliation.
Oh, it's here.
Bring on the blogboy outrage.
Needs more reference to basements and virginity.
Bring on the analytic arrogance.
"Bring on the people that use numbers to make arguments about how good people were at a quantifiable activity."
Bring on the PED Hall Pass.
Hall of SHAME if you ask me.
It’s a tradition like no other.
Yes, the Masters Tournament certainly is.
Voting for the Hall is a great privilege. It’s the most important function of the vast lodge
of cuntrags
known as the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Some newspapers don’t allow their writers to vote.
I have no idea what those papers' logic for that regulation might be, but no matter how misguided, they're probably doing baseball fans everywhere a favor.
Thankfully, the Globe still lets us participate. Still, it has become almost impossible to be consistent with this ballot.
Yeah, if you're a fucking idiot, I agree that it might be hard to apply a consistent standard to guys who all played the exact same game under substantially the exact same rules over time.
Voters in this election are baseball writers who were on the beat for at least 10 consecutive seasons. There are approximately 570 voters.
HOLY SHIT WE KNOW. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR COLUMN. STOP LISTING FACTS FROM THE BBWA WEBSITE AND GET TO EXPRESSING YOUR OPINION ALREADY.
We are allowed to vote for no more than 10 players.
Or six, as the case may be.
Players are not eligible until five years after they retire. A candidate must be selected on three-quarters (75 percent) of all votes cast to walk into Cooperstown next July.
Thanks, Wikipedia!
In my view, Pedro, Johnson, Smoltz and Biggio will be announced as new Hall members on Jan. 6.
Which is exactly why he CAN'T vote for Biggio.
None will be unanimous. No one has ever been a unanimous selection. You cannot get 570 baseball writers to agree that the earth is round.
Because at least twenty of them legitimately don't understand that fact. IF IT'S ROUND WHY DON'T WE FALL OFF OF IT?????
Since no one has been elected unanimously, some voters withhold to keep that stupid record intact.
His win total of 219 (accompanied by a mere 100 losses) will put off some voters, but Pedro (three Cy Young awards) should come in well north of 90 percent. Johnson is a 300-game winner (always Hall-worthy, unless you cheated), won five Cy Youngs, and ranks second lifetime in strikeouts (behind Nolan Ryan). Johnson is a lock. Smoltz gets in because he’s the only pitcher with 200 wins (213) and 150 saves (154) and he went 15-4 in the postseason.
Totally fair. Of course Mussina's 270 wins, a 123 ERA+ and 83 WAR (one fewer than Pedro, and more than Ryan or Tom Glavine) gets left out, but he'll cover that with spectacular idiocy below.
Biggio missed by only two votes last year. He has 3,000 hits, four gold gloves, and almost 300 homers. I would put him in the Hall of Very Good (only one 200-hit season),
BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
That's great. Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron? Three 200 hit seasons a piece. I guess those two extra seasons where they exceeded a totally unimportant threshold that Biggio only exceeded once are the difference between being among the best ever and being in the Hall of Very Good. On the other hand, Beantown legend Carl Yastrzemski NEVER had a 200 hit season. Neither did Eddie Mathews or the greatest leadoff hitter of all time, Rickey Henderson. REVOKE THEIR ADMISSION, BWAA. HAVE YOU NO SHAME?
but that won’t matter. He’s going in. This year.
In spite. Of my assholish. Refusal to vote for him.
Raines and Trammell are problematic and I am guilty of inconsistency with their candidacies.
That's OK, Dan. Even Mother Teresa wasn't perfect.
Raines was a rare combination of power (170 homers) and speed (808 steals). He had six 100-run seasons. Trammell is going to be off the ballot soon, and won’t make the Hall with the BBWAA, but there’s lots of value in a shortstop who hit .300 seven times, won four Gold Gloves, and should have been MVP (he lost to George Bell) in 1987.
Bringing up the MVP reminds me of that great post the other FJM did about Colin Cowherd yelling that anyone who won that award even once should be in the hall.
Schilling also is borderline. He won 216 games compared with 270 for Mussina. But Schill gets this vote because he went 11-2 in the postseason and was one of the great strike machines in baseball history. Who would you want on the mound in a big game — Mussina or Schill?
I know, right? You can't vote for both. It's not allowed. Meanwhile, to answer that question, I dug around and found this one time that they opposed each other as starting pitchers. Who would you have wanted on the mound in that game? I have no clue what happened in their other matchups (if other matchups exist), but I think this one game sample answers the question for me.
The Roids Boys are the greatest burden on voters.
Oh, woe is you! Such a burden! Keep pushing that rock up that hill, Sisyphus!
Some voters don’t care. Some cherry-pick the cheaters.
You mean like if they wanted to vote for Bonds, because he was one of the best ever, but not for Sosa, because he really wasn't all that great? How dare they!
Some turn away from anything that even looks dirty.
Like you, by designating Bagwell and Piazza as cheaters!
Withholding votes for guys who cheated and guys who look like they cheated is unfortunate, sometimes unfair, and almost impossible to impose consistently.
This is correct. He has walked to the door of logic that has awareness and enlightenment on the other side. All he has to do to pass through is realize that since it's so hard to impose this kind of thing consistently, maybe you should just vote for the guys who have HOF numbers and not vote for the guys who don't. Unfortunately, he can't find the knob.
Objection to the Roids Boys is gradually eroding. As years pass and new voters replace older voters, it is likely there will be increased leniency. Each year there are more voters who don’t care about PEDs. The thinking becomes, “This was the era. They were all doing it.’’ Or, “Bonds and Clemens were already Hall of Famers before they started cheating.’’
The first one of those two justifications is flippant and not a great way to go about making voting decisions (although is also a truism that shouldn't be ignored). The second one of those two justifications is a perfectly good way to go about making voting decisions, and it would be great if mouth breathers like Dan used it.
Sorry, I am not there. No votes for guys caught using.
Fine, but Bagwell and Piazza--
And worse — no votes for guys who just don’t look right. Bagwell and Piazza are the two players most penalized for this arbitrary crime. By any statistical measurement, Bagwell and Piazza are first-ballot Hall of Famers, yet their vote totals (62 percent for Piazza last year, 54 percent for Bagwell) remain considerably lower than their résumés merit.
Thanks to shiteaters like you.
This was a lot more fun when it was just Trammell vs. Biggio, Schilling vs. Mussina, or Jim Kaat vs. Don Drysdale. When it was about baseball.
Yeah! Who in the world ever decided to make it about something other than baseball???? Could it be... the moralizing chodes in the BWAA? Why yes, I think that might be correct!
At this point in writing this article, I guess he realized that some kids were playing on his lawn, so he decided to wrap it up rather abruptly.
Happily, none of the bad stuff ever touched Pedro. Long after the votes are counted and the arguments subside, Cooperstown in July is going to be a Boston baseball party.
And there you go. That's the only conclusion you get, dedicated Shaughnessy readers. I'm glad we settled the whole steroid user/suspected steroid user debate though. That was fun.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Normally I just link when I do a "something that doesn't suck" post, but this was ESPN Insider, so I'm posting it in full. What you need to know is this: Buster Olney sometimes has dumb ideas. This time, he has a really, really smart idea.
Mike Mussina spent each of his 18 seasons in the most treacherous waters pitchers have ever faced, among the whitecaps of what will always be remembered as an era of rampant steroid use -- and in the offense-rich American League East, no less. He was a fly ball pitcher who called two homer-happy ballparks -- Camden Yards and Yankee Stadium -- his home during his career.
It’s as if he navigated his way daily through one of those monstrous marble-hard golf courses in Scotland covered with bunkers that have names (such as St. Andrews' Road Hole Bunker), as compared to the Executive Par-3s of 2014. In 2000, Mussina’s last season with the Orioles, 47 hitters mashed 30 or more homers; in 2014, only 11 batters reached 30 homers.
Mussina finished his career with a 3.68 ERA and is 19th all time in strikeouts. He also is 24th in WAR among pitchers, and most of the guys ahead of him on the list are in the Hall of Fame.
A park-independent stat would help (ERA+ of 123), but yeah, Mussina is a HOFer for sure. UNLESS HE HAD BACKNE.
But his chances for induction will improve slightly this year because I’m abstaining from the voting for the first time, and won’t submit a ballot. The same is true for Curt Schilling, and Tim Raines, and at least two others who I think should be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Also both HOFers. And I'm sure you all understand why Olney isn't voting, but I'll let him explain it.
To repeat: I think Mussina, Schilling and Raines and others are Hall of Famers, but it’s better for their candidacy if I don’t cast a ballot.
If that sounds backward, well, that’s how the Hall of Fame voting has evolved, squeezed between rules that badly need to be updated and the progression of the candidates linked to the use of performance-enhancing drugs. The process needs to be pruned to allow voters to get back to answering a simple question about each candidate: Was his career worthy of the Hall of Fame?
How novel. It's almost like, let's just put the best players in the hall (allowing for disagreement re: steroid users; that's not even why I'm posting this, even though Olney agrees with me), instead of making some guys wait because fuck you I'm a self-important sportswriter, or not voting for guys like Rickey Henderson on the first ballot because no one's ever been unanimous, or whatever. Christ. Baseball writers are the worst people on earth (besides NFL-only fanboys).
When I started covering Major League Baseball, getting the opportunity to participate in the Hall of Fame voting was something to really look forward to, a nice carrot through the long days of spring training, the travel delays of the summer and extra-inning games.
Well now you're just mocking those of us with regular shitty jobs.
After being a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America for 10 years, receiving a blank Hall of Fame ballot for the first time, with voting instructions and pages of notes on each candidate also in the envelope, carried the same excitement as receiving a thick college admission letter.
So it's incredible that declining to cast a ballot is even a consideration. But in light of where we are, it seems like the right thing to do for the candidates involved, until the rules are adjusted.
For years, the rule that each writer can vote for no more than 10 candidates was probably irrelevant; it certainly was for me, given that I usually voted for anywhere from four to seven players. It's not clear why the "Rule of 10" was put in place, but I suspect it was originally designed to prevent writers from flooding their ballots with names of players who had no chance of being elected, just so they could report to their buddy that they had voted for them.
Christ. Baseball writers are the worst people on earth (besides NFL-only fanboys).
A decade ago, nobody could have anticipated the quandary that has developed because of this rule, and because of the debate surrounding the steroid-era candidates.
Mark McGwire first appeared on the ballot in December 2006, five years after he retired, and he became the first real test case for what the voters would do with players either directly linked with performance-enhancing drugs or suspected of doing them.
As written in this space many times, I think all players should be judged within the context of the era in which they played,
I'd like to burn that last phrase into Murray Chass's lawn. Sadly, I won't be able to do that, because it's a crime, and because I don't know where he lives.
and during McGwire's career, the sport was saturated with performance-enhancing drugs, largely because over the period of about 15 years, no one within the institution of baseball -- not the union leaders, not MLB owners, not the commissioner, not the clean players, nor the media that covered the sport --
MURRAY SAW PIAZZA'S BACKNE. HE SAW IT. AND MAYBE HE REPORTED ON IT I'M NOT SURE, BUT PROBABLY NOT, BECAUSE IF HE HAD, WE'D NEVER HEAR THE END OF IT FROM HIM.
aggressively addressed the growing problem.
Good thing Tony La Russa was triumphantly inducted into the HOF last summer! Now there's a guy who is in no way linked to PEDs.
Through that inaction, what evolved was a chemical Frankenstein of a game. Like it or not, that's what the sport was in that time: no drug testing, lots of drug use, lots of drug users, lots of money being made by everybody. (And by the way, no team, baseball executive or player has offered to give back the money made in that time.)
And this is why park- and era-adjusted stats are so useful--we can tell from McGwire's 163 OPS+ that even in an era when everyone and their brother was hitting 25 HRs per season, he was still way way way above and beyond most other players. (I think he's a fringe HOFer, though; just 64 WAR, probably not on an HOF track when he started using.)
The idea of retroactive morality is ridiculous,
I would also like to burn that into Chass's lawn.
especially given that the folks in the sport had a strong idea by the mid-'90s that there was a growing problem and nobody did anything about it. Here's Jose Canseco being asked about his steroid use on national television before the 1988 playoffs, right after Olympic sprinter Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medal. And here's a Bob Nightengale story from 1995 in which then-interim commissioner Bud Selig was asked about the problem, and made mention of a "private meeting" the year before. Yet serious testing and penalties really weren't in place until 2006.
McGwire was a star during that time, with 583 homers, including his record-setting 70 homers in 1998, so I voted for him. That was a minority opinion, for sure: 23.5 percent of the 545 voters cast ballots for him, far short of the 75 percent needed for induction, but more than the 5 percent required to remain on the ballot. The McGwire test case continued, however, because his candidacy carried over to the next ballot, and so did that of Rafael Palmeiro and others, until they became stacked up like planes on a runway, their Hall of Fame situation stuck in a weird sort of purgatory.
This is how the rule that limits writers to 10 players became a serious problem. Roger Clemens became eligible, and Barry Bonds. Jeff Bagwell and Mike Piazza also hit the ballot, and while there is no indisputable evidence of steroid use by those two as there is for Palmeiro, who was suspended in 2005 after a positive test, a high number of voters apparently withheld votes for them because of suspicion of PED use. The career numbers for Bagwell and Piazza are overwhelmingly worthy for Hall of Fame election, but Bagwell has never finished higher than 59.6 percent in his four years on the ballot; Piazza, the all-time leader in homers for catchers, got only 57.8 percent of the vote in his first year.
If McGwire, Palmeiro and Sosa never make it, that's fine with me. Bonds I will be more upset about, although it'll be annoying. But fucking fuck, if Bagwell and Piazza never make it, I'm going to go to Cooperstown just to take a piss on that building. Christ. Baseball writers are the worst people on earth (besides NFL-only fanboys).
So the list of serious candidates grew well beyond 10 spots. Last year I counted 17 players I thought were Hall of Fame-worthy, from Greg Maddux to Tom Glavine to Craig Biggio. But because of the Rule of 10, I had to leave off seven players who I believe are of Hall of Fame caliber. That included Mussina, Schilling and Raines. For the first time since McGwire became eligible, I didn't cast a vote for him.
The way I picked among the 17 was to rank them in order among the first nine, from the best player on down, regardless of the PED question. I also included Jack Morris, who was in his last year of eligibility; I wanted to give Morris a fair last shot with my ballot, knowing that Mussina, Raines, Schilling and Jeff Kent probably would get enough votes to stay on the ballot for this winter.
Morris got his fair shot during his mediocre career, and during the previous 14 years. But whatever. This is all mostly reasonable.
But really, that didn't seem right, because there's nothing in the voting rules that suggest I should weigh the candidates against each other, or must consider the landscape of the ballot. There is no guidance for picking 10 players from a 17-man field of worthy candidates. There is only this:
"Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played."
That's actually more complex than I thought it was. That's a lot of criteria. You could elect Jeter based on any one of them! Especially integrity, or something!
The practical reality was that I wasn't deciding on whether to vote for Mussina based on career performance. My vote was predicated entirely on his standing among an extraordinary volume of candidates, from Maddux to Glavine to Bonds to Piazza to Frank Thomas. (Let's again dismiss the notion that the "character" was ever used by writers as a serious criterion for election before McGwire's name appeared on the 2007 ballot. We all know the stories about some of the racists, alleged cheats, drunkards and PED users who already are in the Hall of Fame.)
If that commenter from last week who made the slavery argument wants to come back and discuss that analogy further, I encourage him/her to do so.
And while I think Schilling and Mussina are Hall of Fame-worthy, my ballot hurt them. My ballot counted against their percentage. Five hundred seventy-one voters cast ballots last year, and my ballot was among the 450 that didn't have Mussina included, which lowered his percentage.
That makes no sense.
HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE LIKE JACK MORRIS AND HAD THROWN A SHUTOUT IN GAME 7 OF THE WORLD SERIES. -stupid baseball writers
Christ. Baseball writers are the worst people on earth (besides NFL-only fanboys).
The Rule of 10 seemed to factor heavily in the voting last year, dragging down the vote percentages for everyone from Morris to Clemens to Alan Trammell, whose numbers plummeted from 33.6 percent of the vote to just 20.6 percent. Clearly Trammell wasn't being judged based on his career; he lost votes last winter because of the choices made under the Rule of 10.
Poor Trammell. I'm sure White Sox fan Chris W feels the same way.
Maddux was a slam-dunk candidate after posting 355 career wins and four Cy Young Awards,
BUT DID YOU BUY A TICKET TO WATCH HIM PLAY??????????? -stupid baseball writers
Christ. Baseball writers are the worst people on earth (besides NFL-only fanboys).
but he was left off 16 ballots entirely. I don't know who all of those 16 were, but a couple of writers mentioned to me privately that in dealing with the confines of the ballot limit, they thought about not voting for Maddux and Glavine, knowing that they'd probably get in anyway. It would be a shame to think that Maddux lost any votes because of the Rule of 10 problem.
I'm sure he did, as well as the "we can't vote anyone in unanimously because DURRRR" problem.
Christ. Baseball writers are the worst people on earth (besides NFL-only fanboys).
During the summer, the Hall of Fame adjusted some of its rules. Voters are now required to register to receive a ballot, writers can lose the right to vote,
DAN LE BATARD DISGRACED THE HOLY AND SACRED RITUAL OF THE PREVIOUSLY TOTALLY PERFECT VOTING PROCESS. WE MUST MAKE SURE THIS NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN. ALSO, JIM RICE IS A HALL OF FAMER AND LOU WHITTAKER ISN'T.
and players could remain on the ballot for a shorter period of time.
Surprisingly, however, the Rule of 10 was not altered. The same impossible math remains: I'm counting 15 worthy candidates right now for those 10 spots. Other writers are telling me they see anywhere from 12 to 20 worthy candidates, which means that in their eyes, they'll be leaving players they feel are Hall of Fame-worthy off their ballots. It means that as great as Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez were -- both should be unanimous, in light of their accomplishments -- they might lose votes as writers struggle with the question of how to deal with the ballot guideline that seems completely arbitrary. (Why not a ballot limit of 11? Why not 12? Why not eight? Why not six? Is it 10 only because it's a round number?)
Since this was written a week ago, they have bumped it to 12. Obviously the problem is now fixed, just like how the NFL fixed the totally idiotic fact that there are still ties by really really really mildly tweaking the regular season OT rules a couple years ago. WE'VE GOT A GOLDEN GOOSE HERE, BOYS. LET'S NOT MAKE A SENSIBLE RULE CHANGE AND RISK KILLING IT WHILE IT'S LAYING THESE GOLDEN EGGS.
Christ. NFL owners are the worst people on earth (besides baseball writers and NFL-only fanboys).
Maybe I should've figured it out last year, but this puzzle cannot be solved. There's no way to judge each candidate strictly on his merits given the current ballot limitations, no fair way to vote.
I can't stand the protest ballots we've seen in the past, when someone signs a blank ballot that counts as a vote against all candidates. That's unfair.
Someone, please fire this asshole and take away his ballot (and possibly his children, if he has any).
I've hated to hear the stories of voters who haven't voted for a player because they didn't like them personally.
Baseball writers would never be so petty! Don't be ridiculous!
The voting shouldn't be about the writer; it should be only about the players and whether they're worthy of induction.
You lost me there. Please revisit that sentence, and figure out where backne fits in.
And I can't stand the idea of casting a ballot that works against players that I think should be inducted, such as Mussina, Schilling or others. So as much as it has been an honor in the past to participate in the voting, I'll abstain, and hope that in the future the rules change.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
It's the most wonderful time of the year for bad sportswriting! Hall of Fame voting season!
P.S.--I got this from Murray Chass's blog, because Murray Chass is a blogger who writes a blog.
(Before we begin, Simmons was back to his old tricks last weekend, going 5-11, yes that's right, 5-11, putting him at 59-61 on the season. Dogs went 8-8, they are now 92-96. Year of the Dog, Simmons is a dicktoaster, etc.)
Hear ye! hear ye! hear ye!
I am listening! Also, not sure if that's an olde tyme Englyshe thing there, but you should capitalize the first world of every sentence!
Barry Bonds deserves to be in the Hall of Fame,
Correct.
and he shall be elected to the Hall of Fame.
Maybe, maybe not.
Who makes such a proclamation?
As to the first part of your sentence, everyone who follows baseball and isn't a wrinkled old puckering asshole. As to the second part, probably Bonds himself.
Why none other than Bonds himself.
True, he is arrogant. Fun fact: he is the only arrogant pro athlete who has ever lived, and he should be pilloried for it in the town square. How dare he request enshrinement after the career he had? Chass favorite Jim Rice, of course, was guilty of the same thing, but Rice is different, because he's not a CHEATING CHEATER and also he was NOT THAT GOOD AT BASEBALL.
In a typically arrogant and self-serving interview with an MLB.com reporter who has long been a Bonds sycophant, Bonds said:
“I love Major League Baseball. I always have and I loved playing the game. I don’t have any doubts that I’ll get there in time. I’m bothered about it, but I don’t sit here going, ‘I’m not going to make it.’ I don’t see how it stays the way it’s going. In my mind, in my head, I’m a lot more positive about it than I am negative. I think eventually they’ll do the right thing.”
Wow, that's not even that arrogant. That's more like "I like the idea of being in the HOF, so I picture myself being there, and I think voters will eventually elect me." Old age has perhaps mellowed Barry's sociopathic ways.
And he said:
“I deserve to be there. Clemens deserves to be there. The guys that are supposed to be there are supposed to be there. Period. I don’t even know how to say it. We are Hall of Famers. Why are we having these conversations about it? Why are we talking about a baseball era that has come and gone?
OK, that's a lot more arrogant. Barry needs some PR help. Still, he's conservatively one of the twenty best hitters ever (if you take his career from start to 1999, when he allegedly started juicing--that's a mere 445 HR, 460 SB, a 163 OPS+, and 103 WAR--and then discount the numbers he put up from 2000 to 2007 against what you'd expect a non-user with his history to do during that period of his career). So let's go ahead and put him in the Hall. I probably hate Clemens even more than I hate Bonds, but he's conservatively one of the 20 best pitchers ever, so fuck it, let's put him in too. Doesn't seem too complicated to me.
“Era, era, era. Do the best players in the game deserve to be in the Hall of Fame? Yes. Everything that everyone has accomplished in baseball is in that book. Correct? So if that’s correct, then we need to be in there. End of story.”
Well, that's less arrogant than brutally realistic. I can get with that. Not a bad look on Barry. Maybe he hired that PR person I was just talking about in between quotes.
Bonds referred to the baseball record book, not the excellent 2006 book “Game of Shadows” that tells you all you need to know about Bonds and performance-enhancing drugs.
Pictured: Murray Chass
But Bonds indeed is in the record book – for having hit the most home runs in a single season (73) and for having hit the most home runs in a career (762). He is there, on page 19 of The Elias Book of Baseball Records, because Major League Baseball has not amended his achievements.
Because doing so would be insultingly stupid to any baseball fan or player with a brain. You know the reasons why. I don't need to list them. If I were to pick my favorite, it would probably be "And what do we do with guys who used amphetamines in the 70s and beyond? Or the guys who used coke in the 80s and beyond? What do we do with guys who aren't so easily proven to have used steroids? What, Murray? WHAT WHAT WHAT NOW GO LIVE IN THE MOUNTAINS SOMEWHERE AND DON'T BOTHER PEOPLE ANYMORE."
“He wasn’t accused of anything,” Siwoff said in a telephone interview Saturday, then referring specifically to the 73 home runs Bonds hit in 2001 added, “When he did it, he wasn’t guilty of anything we knew of so he was put in. It was the record. I couldn’t dispute it.”
In retrospect, Siwoff said, “We know it’s a fraud. He never hit more than 49 home runs and he suddenly hits 73.”
As if the 73 is the only argument he has for enshrinement.
As for Bonds’ linking the record book and the Hall of Fame, Siwoff said, “The book has no bearing on the Hall of Fame.”
That's a good point (from a guy who doesn't seem to like Bonds), one that Chass immediately drops, because Chass is a shitty writer and a shittier logician.
Bonds is not in the Hall of Fame because in the two years he has been on the ballot, the voters – members of the Baseball Writers Association –
A group as known for its intellectual prowess as professional athletes themselves--
have rejected his achievements, believing they were chemically aided.
Voting individually but collectively coming to the same conclusion, they have done that because they believe Bonds achieved his record numbers with the aid of performance-enhancing drugs.
They have also come to many other conclusions, like the idea that Jim Rice was a HOFer and Alan Trammell was not. So. Yeah.
[bunch of garbage about how Bonds and Sosa were totally using steroids skipped]
Like Bonds, Sosa eluded detection, but is any more circumstantial evidence needed? Convicts have been executed on less.
Ah, yes, executions: those are definitely something to hang your hat on in terms of "the authorities always get it right."
In an interview a couple of years before the recent one, the same reporter, Barry Bloom, quoted Bonds as saying about the Hall of Fame:
“You have to vote on baseball the way baseball needs to be voted on. If you vote on your assumptions or what you believe or what you think might have been going on there, that’s your problem. You’re at fault. It has nothing to do with what your opinion is. Period.
“If that’s the case, you better go way, way back and start thinking about your opinions. If that’s how you feel life should be run, I would say then you run your Hall of Fame the way you want to run your Hall of Fame. That’s what I think. That’s my personal opinion. If you want to do the Hall of Fame the way the Hall of Fame is supposed to be done, then you make the right decision on that. If you don’t, that’s on you. To stamp something on your assumptions, it doesn’t work for me.”
This article is like 25% quotes from Bonds, showing that he's kind of a jerk, and maybe in denial about the fact that everyone knows he used steroids. OK, cool story. It's only been told about 5,000 times in the last ten years. I know you're a blogger, Chass, but let's start making some point or drawing some conclusions or something.
Bonds, I believe, uttered that mouthful before the voters judged him for the first time.
You "believe?" Does the interview have a fucking date on it or doesn't it? Here, I'll Google.
/Larry B spends ten seconds copying and pasting a couple of those sentences into Google
August 6, 2012, which was before his first appearance on the ballot. Do some fucking research for your blog, you dumb fucking hack.
His words did not sway them. With 75 percent of the vote needed for election, Bonds received 36.2 percent, less than half. In his second appearance on the ballot last year, he fared even worse, dropping to 34.7 percent.
All of this is true. Also true: last year's ballot was astonishingly stacked, and some of the socketfuckers in the BBWA have among their many unwritten HOF ballot rules "Don't vote for more than three guys even though you can vote for up to ten," so he probably lost some votes that way. I'd be surprised if many voters who voted for or against him solely on his own merits/faults changed their mind between the 2013 and 2014 ballots.
The history of Hall of Fame voting shows that when players of star status appear for the first time, others on the ballot suffer. There’s no sensible logic to that because with 10 spots on the ballot, voters can vote for the super first-timers and still vote for others.
And yet they don't. Look at this dolt who just revealed his ballot: he didn't vote for Randy Johnson. Or John Smoltz. Or Tim Raines. Or Curt Schilling. BBWA voters are the stupidest fucking people on earth. They're stupider than NFL fanboys and fangirls. Yes, I said it.
However, the ballot presence of Frank Thomas, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine did not affect Bonds. If any of the writers wanted to ignore the PED allegations and put an X next to his name, they would have done it.
Foolproof logic. WE KNOW THIS TO BE TRUE. The HOF voting process is broken, and should be fixed, starting with sending Murray Chass on a one way trip to Jupiter.
It is always possible that something could happen that would catapult Bonds into the Hall of Fame, but he shouldn’t hold his breath. The voters generally have demonstrated their unwillingness to elect tainted players, and a huge bloc of them would have to change their stance.
Yeah, definitely no tainted players of any kind in the HOF. None at all. If you aren't pure as driven snow, you're out. Just ask Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, etc.
The Hall’s board of directors has made Bonds’ task more difficult with a change in rules of eligibility that also applies to other candidates. Players will no longer be eligible for 15 years; the board has cut that period to 10 years.
That change leaves Bonds with 8 years of eligibility instead of 13, a significantly shorter period in which lightning could strike on Bonds’ behalf.
Give Murray this: he's got subtraction down pat.
The Hall’s board also knows that players already in the Hall object to being joined by players whose credentials includes PEDs.
Let's send Goose Gossage on that one way trip to Jupiter, too, while we're at it. Here's what I'd say: ask the guys in the HOF who played with and against Bonds if they want him in there. Ask Tony Gwynn, Greg Maddux, etc. See what they have to say. I'm pretty confident I know how it would turn out.
Some members have gone so far as to say they would boycott induction ceremonies if steroids users are elected.
This far into the candidacy of PED players the Hall of Famers need have no fear of bad guys being elected. The decline in Bonds’ percentage of votes fits the pattern of voting for the most seriously challenged PED candidates. Their percentages have continued to drop, moving farther away from the 75 percent needed.
Yes, McGwire and Sosa and Palmeiro (off the ballot already) haven't fared well. But here's the thing: add up the career WAR of those three guys--you get 172.0. Bonds, on his own, had 162.4. So there you go.
[Summary of the decline experienced by Clemens, McGwire, Sosa and Palmeiro skipped, because this is what we came for coming up next. This is the good stuff. This is the meat.]
Three other players on the ballot have resumes that are foggier than these five.
Do tell--bring on the backne stories!
Jeff Bagwell, Mike Piazza and Craig Biggio have never been linked to steroids by anything other than news media mention,
And we know how reliable those baseball writers are. Why, take fringe one day-HOFer Todd Helton, a guy whose career arc couldn't scream much more emphatically "I DIDN'T DO STEROIDS." Some asshole with a microphone decided to throw him under a bus once. As a Rockies fan, I won't be furious if he never gets into the Hall (LOL COORZ FEELD), but I will go on a puppy punting spree if any writer dares to say "He was once linked to steroids by the baseball media..."
but in my view more time is needed to learn more about their past practices.
Like fucking what? What the hell can we learn in the next however many years? Should we wait for other players to out them? Should we wait for Doc Brown and Marty McFly to show up and take you back to 1994, so you can see with your own eyes what those guys did in the locker room?
I voted for Bagwell on his first appearance on the ballot, when he received 41.7 percent of the votes. After several people told me that he had been heavily involved in steroids,
I left him off my ballot the second year. He received 56 percent of the votes that year and climbed to 59.6 percent the next year. But last year he slipped to 54.3 percent, perhaps a victim of the newcomers on the ballot.
BUT BONDS WASN'T. WE KNOW THIS TO BE TRUE FOR SURE FOR DEFINITELY.
Biggio will almost certainly be elected this time. He was only two votes short of election in the last election and should clear the threshold, even though a reporter friend told me that a dozen or more players told him that Biggio used steroids.
Another strong killself candidate right there.
When I wrote that, Biggio’s fans were outraged.
Why, it's almost like a guy was having his character assassinated for no reason and people got mad about that!
If it’s not clear by now, I don’t vote for steroids-tainted players.
Classic blogger self-righteousness.
If steroids were legal, I’d have no problem with players using them. But they are illegal, and players who use them cheat. I can’t vote for players who cheat at the expense of their fellow players who don’t cheat.
Or for players who were once linked to them by quadruple hearsay, apparently. Seriously, you "need more time" to figure out if the douchecanoe who told you that about Biggio was right or not? What's the presumption here?
/Larry B's head explodes
That brings me to Piazza. Piazza has been on the ballot for two years and avoided the falloff problem in his second year.
Wait for it
He gained 57.8 percent, then 62.2 percent, an indication that he could be headed for election.
Wait for it
But I have written about my belief that he was one of the steroids gang.
WAIT FOR IIIIIIIITTTTT
His many fans have excoriated me for my view, but they are blind to what I believe is strong evidence of his use. When he played for the New York Mets, he didn’t hide his acne-covered back.
/game show sirens and buzzers and bells
/confetti falls from ceiling
/crowd cheers wildly
Steroids experts say that Piazza’s condition is one of the signs of steroids use.
I am happy to have the relative anonymity of the internet to tell everyone reading this two things that are absolutely true: 1) I have never used steroids, and 2) I have a medium amount of acne on my back. Draw what conclusions you will. You're welcome for the visual, by the way.
When I first wrote about Piazza’s possible use several years ago, his fans ridiculed me. They completely ignored a critical aspect of what I wrote. Piazza’s back cleared up completely when baseball began testing for steroids and remained clear to his retirement. It was not a stretch to conclude that Piazza had stopped using steroids to avoid being caught by a urine test.
OK, so, "not a stretch" that your hunch that was based on the flimsiest of anecdotal (and somewhat voyeuristic) evidence was not incorrect is the standard. You know what? I heard from a friend's grandpa whose uncle once worked the scoreboard at Shibe Park that Jimmie Foxx used to use pure opium to give himself superpowers. REMOVE THAT MAN FROM THE HALL, BBWA. HAVE YOU NO SHAME?????
Also, this next part is fun because it's the end of the article. This is it. Just a non-conclusory sentence, a chart, and blogger Murray Chass is done. Time to go yell at the kids who are playing near his lawn, and then settle down with a nice warm glass of tomato juice.
Percentage of votes in Hall of Fame elections for players who have been linked to steroids use, some more specifically than others:
Murray Chass is a bad person who should be fired from his job as a blogger. That is all.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Come on, sportswriters of America! They just released the ballot, so the time to get your moralizing and self-important posturing in is NOW! NOW NOW NOW! Talk about how Mike Piazza supposedly had back acne, or how Jeff Bagwell "was just a little too strong for it to have been only weightlifting, if you get my drift," or how Barry Bonds stabbed baseball to death with a screwdriver and danced on its grave. Alas, I looked for a while and came up with nothing. Give it a couple of weeks I guess. Instead, who's up for some Bill? His picks column from last week is all I've got, because I refuse to watch his dipshittery unfold on TV, and he's not writing anything else right now because he's too busy playing with the Trade Machine ZOMG TRADE MACHINE NERDGASM NERDBONER.
Gambling update: Gotta hand it to him; he's 18-11 since I last updated. That puts him at 54-50 on the season, which is basically the break even point. Good for him. Meanwhile, Year of the Dog? How could it NOT be Year of the Dog when they went 15-14 these past two weeks, leaving them at 84-88 on the season. It's almost too easy! THANKS FOR THE FREE MONEY, VEGAS!
Anyways, here are some LOWlights (lol) from his week 12 picks. Someone should punch this man in the throat, yes, but let's not ignore His Readers (tm). Most of them need a good throat-punchin' too.
Q: I have a six year old son. He is basically like a boney ball of energy that just wants to wrestle, run, jump, and climb everywhere and all the time. As a dad, it’s fun to horse around and let him win like a WWE style match. He loves it. But sometimes he gets a bit out of control and I need to pull him off a bookshelf or off my back. For everyone’s safety. He always has the same stunned reaction, like “How did you do that? You must be the strongest man in the world!” Watching the Pats game and Gronk’s ridiculous man handling of the Colts it reminded me of well, me as a dad. Gronk looks like he is just playing with a bunch of little kids. Its all fun and games, until he gets pissed and decides to toss defenders around like a dad that just took much crap. You’ve got a boy, ever go ‘Gronk ‘on him?—Jim, Wharton, NJ
Let's run down the content of this email.
1) Writer letting other people know that, yes, he has conceived a child and is now raising that child, a feat previously never accomplished in recorded human history, so don't you just want to read about it?
2) Writer telling very unremarkable stories about said child
3) Chest-thumping about awesome parenting abilities, including the ability to monitor safety of said child
4) Talking about the GREATRIOTS to make sure Bill publishes your email
5) Answering your own question for Bill, to further make sure Bill publishes your email
Jim from Wharton, NJ, is a loser.
BS: We have the same son —
No you don't, fuckhead. Most 6 year olds are alike. YOU'RE NOT THE CENTER OF THE FUCKING UNIVERSE.
There’s nothing funnier than fake-wrestling a completely fearless little boy who weighs three times less than you.
There are a lot of things funnier than that. Norm MacDonald is funnier than that. The Three Stooges are funnier than that. It's a pretty long list.
They’re like a cross between a pinball and the amped-up dog in There’s Something About Mary.
Timely! Nothing brings the readers in like a reference to an obscure part of a somewhat good Ben Stiller movie from 15 years ago.
So as the dad, your job is to make sure neither of you get injured.
You don't say. I was guessing the top priority would be to go totally ape shit in order to defeat your child at wrestling, but I guess that's why I don't have one!
Here’s how much I love Rob Gronkowski: I haven’t written a full-fledged Gronk column because I can’t risk putting the Simmons Stink on him, seeing him suffer another dumb injury because yet another safety cowardly took out his legs when Gronk wasn’t looking,
All hail Bernard Pollard, my favorite football player of all time!
watching in horror as another Lombardi vanishes into a puff of smoke,
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA fuck you. Tell me all about the Lombardis your franchise has lost to injuries, Bill. Tell me all about it. It's never happened to any other good team; only to yours. Sure, they choked away what could have been the greatest season ever, while they were fully healthy and their QB was in his prime. But if only GRONK had been healthy, they surely would have won nine straight titles by now. DIE.
then sentencing myself to a lifetime of head shakes from my father and caustic emails from bitter Patriots fans. No way. There will be no Gronk column.
I hope the Pats are 100% healthy come January, and Denver or Indy or whoever goes into Gillette and stomps the fuck out of them. God, it warms my soul just to think about it.
Q: The QB is the NFL’s most important position. Because of that, a QB is going to win another MVP in 2014.
Watch out, everyone. Dr. Knowledge is in the house and he's writing HOT TAEK prescriptions.
Shouldn’t the NFL create a different award to recognize the non-QB who offers the most value to his team?
AHHHHH RUN RUN RUN IT'S GREGGGGGGGGGG WRITING IN UNDER A PSEUDONYM THE CALLS ARE COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE RUNNNNNNNNNN
If this award was reality it would be a five-player race right now between Gronk, Watt, Antonio Brown, DeMarco Murray and maybe Justin Houston (if he breaks the sack record).
Hmmm. "Gronk" and "Watt" used as nicknames because they've already been mentioned in the previous question... either Bill is editing his readers' questions unnecessarily, or he writes these questions himself. I know which one I hope is true.
Why not a non-QB MVP? It’s a better idea than sending teams to London, that’s for sure.—Patrick, Rhode Island
Sending teams to London is dumb. This award idea is also dumb. Congrats.
BS: And you didn’t even mention this wrinkle — in a 30-year span from 1956 (when the award was created) through 1986, only 17 QBs won the MVP.
MY GOD. IT'S ALMOST LIKE QUARTERBACK HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE GAME'S MOST IMPORTANT POSITION, AND RECENT RULE CHANGES HAVE BEEN DESIGNED TO CREATE MORE SCORING, WHICH ENHANCES THEIR VALUE. FUCK ME SIDEWAYS. MY DICK JUST FELL OFF. THIS IS TRULY ASTONISHING.
Q: After watching Gronk’s
Gronk. Gronk Gronk Gronk. Gronk? Gronk. Bill is a seven year old who just picked his favorite player, and thinks the rest of the world finds this just as exciting as he does.
extracurricular pancake block followed by his ridiculous touchdown in Sunday’s game, we came up with a new word.
Why are you writing this email in tandem? I don't care if you're best friends, lovers, or the only two owners of a newly-formed corporation. Write your fucking sports mailbag emails solo.
LeBronk: A player who plays the game with such a unique level of swagger that you continue to watch lopsided games just to see if they do something outrageous. At any given time, there are only a few LeBronks out there. Who’s on the LeBronk Mount Rushmore right now? We’ve got LeBron, Gronk, The Brow, and J.J. Watt.—Sam and Noam, Brooklyn
You're both douchenozzles and you should be punched in the throats.
BS: You nailed the current LeBronk Mount Rushmore
There is no LeBronk Mount Rushmore (why not just call it LeBronkMore????!?!?!?!?!). There are only athletes who play sports, and teams that employ those athletes. That's all this is. If you have to make things more complicated than that, you don't actually like sports. You're just in it for the water cooler talk. Go fuck yourself.
Q: If Rob Gronkowski and JJ Watt fought each other in the Thunderdome and it was scored like a football game, what would the betting line be?
HOLY FUCKING SHIT WHO CARES?
My friends and I thought that the public would probably push the line to Watt -6.5,
WHO SAYS NO?
so I’d take Gronk with those odds.
What odds? How the fuck do you score a physical fight like a football game? Why is anyone entertained by this? Who cares? Just watch football and enjoy it for what it is, it's not this complicated.
Sure Watt has the size advantage, but I think Gronk’s hands would help him grab the weapon needed to give him the upper hand. What’s the line and how would you bet?—Alex MG, NYC
Yeah, it was totally Andy Reid going 2 for 14 on 3rd down and letting the Raiders rack up 180 rushing yards. All you, Andy. You're a punchline for dumb fans. Sorry about that. Those of us with brains acknowledge that you've won almost 60% of the games you've ever coached.
Q: Heading into Week 12 games: did you know that, if there were a fantasy football player named “All The Chiefs Receivers,” ATCR would rank #26 on the WR list averaging 9.2 fantasy points/game.—Dave, Rogersville, MO
This is actually a non-idiotic email. That is an interesting stat. What will Bill do with it?
BS: And … there’s your problem with the Chiefs. You can’t be one-dimensional for four straight playoff rounds. It’s never worked.
Really? Never? Never? Not in 1999, when the Greatest Show on Turf Rams ran for 111 yards TOTAL in their three playoff games? Total, not average. OK, cool. Oh, I forgot--the GREATRIOTS beat them in the Super Bowl two seasons later, totally invalidating everything Kurt Warner and that iteration of the Rams accomplished. My bad.
(Those K.C. receivers put up 9.5 points last night, by the way.) Here’s the strange thing: For all their faults, the Chiefs were (and are) the scariest AFC matchup for the Patriots.
And there's what Bill did with that interesting stat--turned it into a chance to be WEEI caller WILLY FROM WORCESTER and tell the host that the PATS DO NAWT FEA-AH MANNING BECAUSE HE IS A FACKIN' GASH, BUT THE CHIEFS, NOW THAT IS A TOUGHAH MATCHUP. VAH-REE TOUGH MATCHUP.
Q: Make a pick for the following prop bet: What Philadelphia team will have more wins this year, Sixers (-200) or Eagles (+170)?—Steve D, Philadelphia
Hey assholes: not everything has to be expressed as a made up prop bet.
BS: I’d jump on that Eagles +170 bet.
I'd play the role of the house and take that bet. Last year's Sixers were certainly better than this year's, with Evan Turner and Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes making them slightly un-terrible, but last year's team won 19 games. That's a big cushion. Only twice ever has a team won single digit games (or been on pace to win single digit games if the season were 82 games).
I can’t see any scenario in which the 2014-15 Sixers reach 10 victories —
None. No scenarios. Zero of them. The East is a joke, Philly's division is ESPECIALLY a joke, but yeah. There are literally ZERO WAYS they stumble to 10 wins. Cool.
that’s a gruesome disgrace of a roster. Even though their front office played the bottoming-out thing correctly on paper, the fact remains, they’re disgracing the sport and defecating on their season-ticket holders.
This guy has a lot of nerve. He really has a lot of fucking nerve, doesn't he? Big fucking balls on this Simmons character. I never, ever, EVER link directly to his stuff, but I'm going to do it here, because the out-of-both-sides-of-mouth talking display he's putting on here is truly something to behold. Fuck Bill Simmons, fuck his readers (real or invented by him for mailbag purposes), fuck Thanksgiving, and fuck everything. Have a nice holiday, everyone.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
As a commenter on my last post pointed out, apparently Zach Lowe has always been the kind of dope who is interested in teams' logos and court designs, which is unfortunate. However, notwithstanding that, apparently he's got a pretty good head on his shoulders. This is most definitely a good read. I mean, if you're not a mouth-breathing moron, you know this country's level of discourse about sports, particularly individual players' legacies, has basically been reduced to bunch of turds screaming at each other on TV, full of sound and fury and lacking any substance. (Thanks, Mark Shapiro!) But it feels good to see a very sensible article like this published on ESPN.
A sample, in case you're too lazy to click that link:
Narratives are fun, and interesting. They can get at larger truths, and they reflect the way that we, as fans and media, think and talk about basketball. There is value in just analyzing that — in digging into media discussions and fan behavior. The zoomed-out examination of basketball, and of positions, at FreeDarko changed the way a lot of us think about the game — for the better. Shining a light on some of the team-level “narratives” — the notion that a jump-shooting team can’t win it all, for instance — can reveal deeper truths about the game, even if anyone paying token attention already knew the basic conclusion.
Some narratives are also, frankly, dumb. The word “narrative” can act as a synonym for “line of thought that exists somewhere in the world, and is demonstrably false.” We use an awful lot of brain space addressing and rebutting “narratives” that probably don’t merit all that much attention, save for the fact that they bring clicks. The “LeBron isn’t clutch” narrative after the 2011 Finals was ridiculous, given his past buzzer-beaters, overtime baskets, insane streaks of consecutive points, and other playoff heroics. It was accurate to say that LeBron quaked under the pressure of his first Finals appearance with villainous Miami, but that’s very different — and less catchy — than just branding him a crunch-time failure.
The notion that Dirk Nowitzki was “soft” gained some traction after the 2006 Finals and the Mavericks’ subsequent flameouts, and it died only after Nowitzki triumphed in those 2011 Finals against the Heat. Nowitzki was never soft. He wasn’t even a much different player in 2011 than the one he had been in 2006 and 2007, when Golden State’s “We Believe” team pulled off an all-time upset over Dallas. He was more experienced, smarter, better at posting up the Stephen Jackson types who gave him fits in prior seasons.
But he hadn’t discovered some inner fortitude that allowed him to succeed in 2011 where he had failed before. Nowitzki before snuffing the Heat was, by almost any measure, one of the greatest postseason performers and clutch shooters in league history. He hit monster shots in monster moments every season, including in the last minutes of close games in those 2006 Finals, when Udonis Haslem frustrated him into some unusually bad shooting nights. Even then, Nowitzki was taking and making clutch baskets. They are on record. They exist. You can watch a lot of them online, for free.
Even better, the intro to the same piece:
Things changed at the end of Game 5 of last season’s Clippers-Thunder playoff series. Chris Paul made three critical mistakes in the final 45 seconds of an improbable Thunder rally, and Oklahoma City wrapped the series in the next game. The Clippers were vanquished again.
You began hearing it, and reading it, all over the place: Nine seasons in, Chris Paul, the alleged Point God, had yet to appear in the conference finals. It has been no different in this corner of the Internet. Andrew Sharp wrote incisively about how Paul’s future playoff fate, and all the variables that will go into it, would determine the way we remember and talk about Paul. As I stood backstage during the taping of the first Grantland Basketball Hour, attempting not to crap my pants at the thought of appearing on national TV between Bill Simmons and Jalen Rose (and Jalen’s bat), I listened intently as Simmons asked Jeff Van Gundy about Paul’s conference finals shutout: “What does it mean?”
Monday, November 10, 2014
First, your Bill NFL gambling update. He went 7-6 last week, a nice big healthy step up from the 4-11 mark he posted the previous week. MNF is still in progress, but Bill took the Eagles and I'll give him that (currently 31-7 in the 2nd quarter). Thus he has gone 7-6 again this week, meaning that if you had shadowed him for the last 3 weeks (since returning from his suspension) and put $10 on every game, you'd only be down about $60. Meanwhile, Year of the Dog (tm)? You bet your swollen nutsack it is. Dogs went 7-6 last week, and assuming the Eagles hold on and cover, will go 3-10 this week. That brings them to 69-74 on the season so far. Year of the Dog. WHO SAYS NO?
Anyways, when we last left Bill, he was explaining why he considers certain NBA teams fun to watch and others not fun to watch. This kind of thought exercise is only carried out by people who don't actually like sports, and need to find a way to categorize and rank everything in order to have fun while watching the games which they're only watching while waiting for gossipy non-news things to happen. (A compulsive need to constantly make up or predict gambling lines is a classic symptom also present in this kind of fuckhead.) But just wait until you see the hotness of some of the hot takes he drops in this second half of his watchability rankings. I'm not including the actual rankings/point scores he and Lowe assigned to the teams, because that's stuff only idiots would care about, but just know that the commentary goes in ascending order from "mediocre to watch" to "OMG SO FUN TO WATCH BECAUSE THINK ABOUT THE CELEBS WHO WILL BE SITTING COURTSIDE." We start with the Rockets, who are a fun team to watch for a lot of reasons, one of which is that they employ one of the game's best shot blockers/defenders/rebounders.
OK. Well that's another way to approach it I suppose. On one hand, Dwight Howard is an athletic freak who is good at basketball. On the other hand, maybe you don't like to watch him play basketball, because he's an asshole manchild, or because you're still mad that the 2009 Magic knocked the Celtics out of the playoffs, or something. Reasons. That's what Bill has. Reasons.
Lowe: I still love watching him play defense. He had some “Holy shit!” defensive moments in crunch time of that Portland series.
Yeah but! When you think about it, Bill really makes a great point here.
Simmons: Great point. I will amend to “I’d rather sit through Season 1 of The Leftovers again
That's actually shockingly timely for a Bill reference.
than watch Dwight Howard play offense.”
Only guys who are good at offense are fun to watch! Bill Russell is a God on Earth! No one denies this!
But I could see them missing the playoffs for five reasons:
You're right. 54 win team loses Chandler Parsons and Jeremy Lin, adds Trevor Ariza and Jason Terry. Seems like a recipe for failure to me. After all, the West is as nasty as ever this year. Let's hear those reasons.
Dwight’s health (you never know),
Stunningly worthless analysis. It's not like he's Greg Oden. He's started 70+ games in every season of his career other than the lockout-shortened one. Even when he's 75%, like he supposedly was two years ago in LA, he's still a total badass. But yeah, you never know. His arms could fall off in his sleep at any point.
Post-Contract Ariza (in this case, we DO know),
Ariza signed as a free agent with Houston back in 2009, after being a key cog on that 2009 Magic team that went to the Finals. He went from "very good 6th man" to "OK starter," who was good for 15/6/4 with decent 3 point shooting and good defense, before the Rockets sent him to New Orleans in a trade for Courtney Lee. WE KNOW EXACTLY WHAT WE'RE GETTING OUT OF ARIZA, AND THAT COULD COST THE ROCKETS A PLAYOFF SPOT. What?
You're crazy, and dumb, and a lot of other things. You're certainly right that trusting 2nd year Isaiah Canaan, old as dirt Terry and a couple young Euros to anchor your bench is a little risky. You're certainly wrong that they're going to miss Lin, who made too much and never gelled with Harden's ball-hogging style.
McHale’s coaching (sorry, no. 32, you know I love you),
About as worthwhile as "Dwight's health (you never know)."
and Year 2 of the whole “Dwight and James are our leaders” thing (I mean … come on).
This is true, and it wouldn't be crazy if the Rockets missed. But the same can be said for everyone other than the Clippers, Spurs and maybe the Warriors. Saying "their best player might get hurt, and their bench isn't awesome, and other stuff" is not analysis. It's just pooping onto a keyboard.
At gunpoint, I’d pick the Rockets or Blazers to fall out if I had to pick anyone from last year’s eight.
You wouldn't pick a Mavs team that was the 8 seed last year, is still old as dirt, and either treaded water in the offseason or got a little worse by losing Jose Calderon, Vince Carter, Shawn Marion and Sam Dalembert and adding Parsons, Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton? Cool.
Lowe: That’s bold. I get the concerns, especially with big-man depth, but it’s hard to see a team with a healthy Howard-Harden combination missing the playoffs. One of Jeff Adrien and Joey Dorsey will emerge as a useful bench big, Trevor Ariza will fit in, and Terrence Jones should take another leap.
Enough of your common sense, Lowe! We need more scalding hot takes!
Simmons: Can we at least agree that the Rockets could finish as a top-12 team that still misses the playoffs?
Define "could."
Lowe: I’d say this: They’re a playoff team that is one serious injury from being a lottery team. But you can say that for anyone outside the Thunder-Spurs-Clippers trio atop the West.
And there you go, with the Thunder removed due to injury since the writing of this article, and me adding the Warriors, who I hate, but who are pretty fucking good.
Simmons: For the record, I will always dislike the decision to let Chandler Parsons leave.
And Asik! Where will they get minutes from white guys this year????
That three-year offer sheet made him untradable? Fine. Year 1, you’re not dealing him, anyway. Year 2, it’s a fair number with salaries going haywire. And Year 3, the salary cap is going to be roughly $400 million per team. I’m not selling my Dork Elvis Fan Club membership or anything, but I thought he whiffed on that one. Well, unless he knows he’s getting Rondo. (And he might.)
IT ALL COMES BACK TO BEANTOWN. IT ALWAYS DOES! THE FATE OF EVERY TEAM IN THE LEAGUE IS INEXTRICABLY TIED TO THE C'S! FACK YOU!
Moving on to the Timberwolves.
Lowe: This is our last certain lottery team, and they’re up this high because of you.
Simmons: Why, thank you. Good news, Minnesota fans … even though you haven’t made the playoffs in 10 years, you’re our highest-ranked League Pass lottery team by far! Pour some skunked champagne over each other’s heads!
Is... is that a reference of some kind? A terrible joke? Why do I still read this guy's work?
Lowe: I ranked them 11 spots lower than you, so I’m here to be the buzzkill: This team has some exciting pieces, particularly the young dunkers, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into exciting 48-minute NBA basketball games. Zach LaVine has looked overwhelmed in preseason, and Andrew Wiggins is facing stiff veteran competition for minutes — unless/until Flip Saunders The GM trades one of Corey Brewer, Chase Budinger, or (least likely) Kevin Martin.
Simmons: LaVine looking overwhelmed in the preseason was a bigger lock than me ranking the T-Wolves too high. Come on, you’re not a wee bit excited to watch the T-Wolves?
Bill is that person who comes up with a completely subjective and ridiculous set of criteria on which to rank something, and then when you disagree with him, he needs validation so badly that he wants to argue with you over something that basically comes down to "You don't have the same favorite color as me? Aw, come on!!!!" Also, without Kevin Love, this team is going to be dreadful this year. They might as well get Wiggins as many minutes as they can, because his development is the only significant positive that team's going to generate this year.
Simmons: I’m excited to start developing a fully formed opinion of Wiggins. (Can he become this generation’s T-Mac? Is he a poor man’s T-Mac? Is he a bankrupt T-Mac?)
It's entirely possible he's a totally independent entity from T-Mac, who will have his own strengths and weaknesses and not even be named "Tracy McGrady."
I’m excited for Rubio’s contract year.
Yeah, in order to boost his offseason earnings, he might even step up his game and learn to play D-minus level defense. (Not that he isn't fun to watch on the other end of the court, of course.)
I’m excited for Shabazz Muhammad and Anthony Bennett being in crazy-good shape. I’m excited for every Gorgui Dieng 20-10-5 game that makes me regret trashing Minnesota’s 2013 draft-day trade, but still. I’m excited for lots and lots and lots of dunks and alley-oops. I’m even excited for the whiff of post–Kevin Love Ewing Theory potential.
YEAH! BILL WAS EXCITED ABOUT HIM FIRST, EVERYONE! HE WAS EXCITED ABOUT DAVIS WAY BACK WHEN DAVIS WAS STILL AT KENTUCKY AND WAS NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR AS A FRESHMAN, PLAYING FOR THE NATIONAL CHAMPION! THE REST OF YOU MUST LOOK TO BILL FOR GUIDANCE AS TO WHEN TO BE EXCITED ABOUT A PLAYER! FACK YOU!
Raptors:
Simmons: Infinitely more fun on the Trade Machine than League Pass. Do you realize they have $28 million worth of Johnson/Fields/Hayes/Williams/Hansbrough expirings? My God. I need to take a long shower and regroup.
NERDGASM! ZOMG! The Trade Machine is certainly a useful tool, considering how complex the NBA's cap rules are. It's also just a calculator with some faces next to the numbers. You don't need to bring it up in every fucking column. We're not talking about Orville and Wilbur at Kitty Hawk here. Get the fuck over it.
Wizards:
Lowe: I do endorse John Wall fast breaks, Bradley Beal stretching his game, Nene’s passing and angry dunks, everything about Marcin Gortat, and Paul Pierce already getting four guys suspended and nearly smushing poor Tom Thibodeau in a Pierce–Joakim Noah sandwich. DeJuan Blair and Kris Humphries were sneaky good signings, and Professor Miller, PhD, is still holding office hours down in the low post for all you suckas. Maybe this team should be higher?
Guys. It's your fucking rankings. You invented them. It's not the periodic table of the elements. For fucking fuck's sake, just rank the teams however you see fit.
Simmons: I think you’re right.
Of course you do.
We did our rankings before we found out that America’s Team wants to thug it up and embrace the spirit of the Bad Boy Pistons. It’s a great idea. Maybe they can’t beat Cleveland in a talent show, but they can beat them up inside, use their depth to wear them down, and maybe rattle them with the whole hard fouls/trash-talking/eyeballing routine.
Great idea in 1990. Not such a great idea in 2014 given the 500 rules changes that have happened in the meantime, although I will admit I kind of like the team the Wizards have put together and wouldn't mind seeing them go deep in the postseason.
It just can’t be forgotten how many key Cavs have never been in a seven-game war. That’s their biggest issue in my opinion.
Well, their best player has been in like ten 7 game wars. I'm pretty sure that will even out with the fact that none of Washington's most important players had been in the playoffs before last year, when they participated in zero 7 game wars. Among Wizards who are likely to play at least 10 minutes per game, only Pierce, Gortat, Gooden and Miller (who somehow has played only one game 7 in his million year career) have played in one. But good attempt at starting a totally worthless narrative there.
Lowe: I was just having this conversation with a front-office guy the other day. Sometimes you get so deep in the weeds, you forget about the obvious stuff: Cleveland’s second- and third-best players have never been to the playoffs.
Their best player is one of the best players ever, and he has two rings and three additional Finals appearances. I think they'll probably be fine.
Knicks:
Simmons: I never expected them to score this highly,
And they shouldn't, because holy shit are they unwatchable. Don't worry though, they'll only be on TNT/ESPN like 35 times this year.
OMG LIKE I TOLD YOU IN THE INTRO! CELEBS! AND MSG! ISN'T WATCHING A GAME BEING PLAYED THERE A MILLION TIMES MORE INTERESTING THAT WATCHING A GAME BEING PLAYED IN A NON-FAMOUS ARENA? WHO SAY NO!
the Spike-Phil feud, the classic uniforms, the storied history (a history of six Finals appearances in 68 years, but still),
So, the non-storied history. Got it.
the first-class TV production,
Holy shit dude, it's 2014. Every single NBA team has first class TV production. You may have heard, but there's a considerable amount of money flowing through this business.
Clyde’s outfits,
Somehow sadder than "the Spike-Phil feud."
the MSG crowd during a big game,
So much different on TV than a non-famous arena crowd!
and, of course, the comedy of Amar’e’s Expiring and Bargnani’s Expiring bouncing around and roping me into yet another Trade Machine session.
DIE.
Lowe: You nailed it. This team isn’t very good
And not only that, they play a slow pace (29th in the league last season; 30th so far this season) and get like 60% of their scoring from Melo isolating, starting to drive, and then shooting 15 foot pullup jumpers, or isolating, starting to drive, and getting fouled. It's ridiculous. I'd rather watch college basketball than the shitty offbrand NBA ball the Knicks play.
Simmons: And if that’s not enough, Rondo might be a Knick in three months. I factored in a possible Rondo trade for my ranking:
DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE
I hope Rondo stays in Boston this whole season and then signs somewhere else next summer. That would be satisfying. Not as satisfying as when the Celtics got nowhere in the 2014 draft lottery, but still. Very satisfying.
Thunder:
Simmons: In general, I’d boycott the Thunder if I didn’t love watching Durant and Westbrook so much. We just watched the Thunder miss the Finals because OKC had to play a washed-up Derek Fisher, in crunch time, in its biggest playoff games. What happened this summer? They turned two 2014 first-rounders, some cap space and Kendrick Perkins’s Expiring Contract into Mitch McGary, Anthony Morrow, a D-Leaguer, and Kendrick Perkins’s Expiring Contract. Anthony Morrow. That was your big move, OKC????
Big ups to Bill for not bringing up Harden! Lowe did near the end of the section (not pictured here), but somehow Bill didn't. Maybe he finally let himself be edited.
Bulls:
Simmons: Here’s another Eastern team that can knock the young Cavs around and get into their heads.
I like how the Cavs top eight this season (so far, anyways) includes LeBron (30), Love (26), Anderson Varejao (32), Shawn Marion (36) and Mike Miller (34). They are "the young Cavs" if you are a ballgargler who likes to create narratives, I guess.
But they also have more unanswered questions than any other contender.
Do they? Are you going to "prove" this by listing questions about the Bulls, which essentially all boil down to "This team isn't the dynastic Celtics of the 60s or the Showtime Lakers--HOW WILL THEY COPE?" Of course you are.
Can Taj Gibson jump a level? Can McDermott and Mirotic guard ANYONE? What are they getting from Rose? Was Pau on cruise control during the Lakers/D’Antoni era, or is Pau more washed-up than we realize? Can you play Pau and Noah at the same time? Intriguing — all of it.
You can do this for literally every team, from the best to the worst. You can do it for the Spurs. You can do it for the 76ers. You have proved exactly nothing.
I love anyone and everyone with 25-foot range. It’s why I loved Curry so much before the 2009 draft.
Only me! Me me me me! Only I was excited about this 2nd team All-American with a NBA-playing father who averaged almost 30 points per game the season before and carried his team on an very memorable March Madness run in 2008! I AM AT THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE! ME ME ME ME MEMEMEMEMEMEMEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
It’s also why I got stuck holding all this Jimmer stock. You want any?
OK, that's actually mildly funny.
Mavericks:
Lowe: We both had them in the same spot.
CAN WE AGREE THAT THEY ARE PROPERLY RANKED THEN? HOLY SHIT, I WORRY THAT WE CANNOT. THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN ONE SPOT LOWER. IT'S OBVIOUS.
It feels right.
WHEW.
Simmons: If Carlisle could figure out how to use Monta Freaking Ellis, he’s DEFINITELY figuring out the perfect way to use Chandler Parsons. Because Houston never totally figured it out. By the way, I love that Chandler’s weight goes up and down just like Chandler Bing’s weight did on Friends.
See, that's the kind of reference I know and expect from Bill.
Spurs:
Simmons: And maybe our final season for Parker as an elite playmaker (very quietly, it’s Year 14 for him!!!)
NO ONE DENIES THIS! THIS IS IT! HE WILL SUDDEN GO FROM ELITE TO NON-ELITE IN JULY OF 2015!
and Boris Diaw playing at the right weight.
File this and similar comments under "things people who aren't actually sports fans care about." Which of course is why this was written in the first place.
My biggest question: How will they remain motivated after last season?
Good point--what about their coach or best players indicates they're interested in being more than a flash in the pan? YOU'RE GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT, SPURS. LET'S SEE SOME EFFORT OUT THERE.
How do you top redeeming one of the worst sports defeats ever, winning the NBA title at home AND murdering the LeBron era in Miami?
I don't know, let's ask Popovich and Duncan, which I can totally do telepathically because I know exactly how they'd respond to that kind of drivel. "By winning another championship this summer," they both said. Good to know.
There’s some decent letdown potential hanging over this season.
You're a fucking idiot.
Clippers:
Simmons: Plus, I sit right across from Ballmer’s seats, so I can gawk at him as he’s behaving like a heavier, balder Bob Sacre in real time.
Now we're combining caring about people at the arena who aren't on the team with analyzing someone's weight! NBA US Weekly editor Bill Simmons is here to dish, everyone.
I put the Clips over the Warriors for three reasons. First, they feature more day-to-day dunks, alley-oops and general WHOA moments.
But which team is more NOW?
Second, I think they’re making the 2015 Finals.
God, I hope not. Imagine the articles Bill would write.
And third, give me in-the-moment Ballmer reactions over in-the-moment Joe Lacob reactions every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Cavaliers:
Simmons: In 11 years, LeBron played with only one elite player who made him better: Dwyane Wade in 2011 and most of 2012 before he slowly turned into Heavier,
And again.
Moodier, Not-As-Good Dwyane Wade.
This is also known as "being a pro athlete in your early 30s." Not that Bill would argue that, but even though I hate Wade, this is kind of an unnecessary driveby attack on him.
Kevin Love will make LeBron better every single game. Remember, LeBron has never — not in his entire life — played with a great rebounder, a great outlet passer, or a great pick-and-roll forward.
OK, this is splitting hairs a bit, because the "LeBron has never had great teammates" thing is sort of kind of right, but Zydrunas Ilgauskas was an elite rebounder for much of LeBron's time in Cleveland. Just saying. That dude was a monster on the offensive glass.
Never. Not ever.
NEVER EXCEPT FOR THOSE FOUR OR FIVE SEASONS. Also, let's not shed a tear for LeBron re: the quality of his teammates. Wade, even FLABBY Wade, is awesome, and Bosh is also pretty damn good. It's not like it was all LeBron going to the Finals four straight years in Miami.
I can’t wait to watch them. I want to upgrade my score to a perfect 50. Is it too late?
Yes, but it's not too late for you to strap yourself to a rocket and launch yourself into deep space.
Lowe: You’re short-changing Bosh as a pick-and-pop guy who gave LeBron space to work and defended his tail off in Miami.
Fair point. Bill, your counter?
Simmons: Bosh was a very good pick-and-pop partner for LeBron. Love could be a GREAT pick-and-pop partner for LeBron. That’s my defense.
Awesome.
Simmons: And what happens when Varejao gets hurt? If anyone out there thinks the Cavs are getting 100 games out of Anderson Varejao over the next eight months, I have some Pets.com stock to sell you.
Wow, SUPER timely. He must have realized the Jimmer joke was good, and decided to go back to the "worthless stock" well. And then for some reason he didn't pick a company that's falling apart now (Zynga) or something that fell apart during the 2009 recession (Bear Stearns). Nope. He went right to the 90s, where he's most comfortable. Good for him. Change is scary.
Lowe: They get the top spot in spite of the ugliest uniform/court design combination in the league.
These are things that definitely matter to you if you're a basketball fan! (Pretty sad to see Lowe get in on this line of analysis.)
Simmons: One other thing — every 2015 Cavs home game is going to be appointment viewing. Even the ones against Philly and Utah. Everyone forgets how fantastic their home games were in 2009 and 2010,
I don't think anyone who cares about the NBA forgets that. I know you invented the concept of fandom, Bill, but it's maybe just maybe possible that there are other people just as enlightened about sports as you are. Hard to believe, I'm sure.
how much energy ripped through that building every night, and how LeBron always seemed to feed off his hometown peeps.
Yo! Bill is hip to the youth culture, homies!
They went 39-2 at home in 2009 with inferior talent, a clueless coach and a roster that couldn’t do 40 percent of the stuff that this 2015 Cavs team can do. These LeBron 2.0 home games are going to be a borderline religious experience. I really believe that.
Such a bold and daring take. It shows real guts to hold an opinion like "The team that employs the best player in a generation and two other very solid supporting cast members will be exciting to watch," but Bill is here to put his reputation on the line.
Christ, I hate this guy. Maybe I'll go back to focusing on his terrible NFL gambling tips next week.
Friday, October 31, 2014
I'm sure you came to this blog today to read something that might make your day better. Probably you came to read Larry's latest takedown of Simmons, and that seems to do the trick for some people. But I doubt many of you came here with the intent to make your day worse. I apologize in advance, then, since this post drags up stuff that you had hopefully repressed by now, stuff that hasn't been in the news for a month now, stuff you didn't even want to think about back when it was news. I'm talking about the ridiculous end-of-year Jeter adulation. Yes, it was terrible, and if you watched even a few minutes of sports tv or read any sports websites in the month of September, you were subject to a cacophonous cavalcade of catastrophic commendation.Hopefully we never hear from Jeter again, and he fades into the sunset until he is eventually elected into the Hall of Fame and we have to do another Jeter Month, which is something I'm looking forward to about as much as a car crash. But it will have to be done, because everyone loves the steely-eyed shortstop so much that their brains turn to mush and they start spewing folderol.Let's start with Jayson Stark: Ten Astounding Jeter Numbers3,461. This, of course, is Derek Jeter’s hit total. And holy, schmoly, that’s a lot of hits. Heck, it’s more than Hank Greenberg and Shoeless Joe Jacksoncombined (3,400)Way to cherry-pick the guy who gave up his age-30 to age-34 seasons to serve in World War II, as well as a guy whose career was ended partially because baseball needed a scapegoat. Actually Hank Greenberg, in about half as many seasons, won two MVPs to Jeter's zero. But that's giving the Hebrew Hammer some credit for doing things like hitting home runs, which is unfair because Jeter can't do it. How about the fact that Shoeless Joe, in about half as many full seasons, led his league in hits as many times as Jeter? Both of these guys were better baseball players than Derek Jeter.2,673. Here’s another super-cool number. It’s the number of games Jeter has played at shortstop. And it's not only more games than Ernie Banks and Robin Yount played at short put together, but also the most games by any man in history who played one defensive position and never played anywhere else -- not even in the 19th inning, for one batter. Pete Rose played six positions. Ty Cobb played seven. Stan Musial played five (including pitcher). And Derek Jeter played one position. And only one. Now that’s how it ought to be done. This is a great number... to prove how much Jeter is a jerk. In fact, Mr. Stark's conclusion here is totally wrong. This is NOT how it should be done. Frankly, when your team acquires acquires younger and better shortstop, you should move to third base, especially when he's actually better at fielding than you are. And besides that, the worst part about this paragraph is that Stark cites these other greats as examples of what not to do... Rose, Musial and Cobb shifted positions so they could help their teams put the best nine guys on the field. Jeter wouldn't even take a few steps to his right. Not once, not even in the 19th inning for one batter. It's a disgrace that Jayson Stark is so eager to praise Jeter that he cites this stat as an example of Jeter's personal amazingness, as though it had nothing to do with his team. As though Derek Jeter personally had the courage and fortitude to only play shortstop for his whole career, while those other Hall of Famers were too weak to do so, or that Jeter was so astoundingly amazing the Yankees had no choice but to ever play him at shortstop for his whole career, even when they paid a quarter of a billion dollars to acquire a better one.
Heck, you might even argue that playing multiple positions at a big-league level actually makes you a better all-around ballplayer. In my whole life I've never heard anyone equate playing more positions with being a worse player.1. Finally, there’s this astounding number. According to Elias, it’s the number of games Jeter has played, in his entire career, in which his team, the mighty Yankees, was mathematically eliminated from some sort of race for some sort of trip to the postseason. One meaningless game in 20 seasons? Whoa. On one hand, it would be nuts to argue that was all Derek Jeter’s doing.So then don't. You have the chance here to NOT do that, but now you're going to go ahead and do that. Terrible work here, Mr. StarkOn the other hand, what defines his career better than that? A man who lived for the big game -- and played nothing but big games. For 20 years. What better way to put a frame around the career of one of the greatest shortstops who ever turned a 4-6-3? I agree - a guy who consistently played for a really amazing team, a team with 20 straight years of consistently above-average to amazing baseball, and who benefitted, perhaps more than any player in history, from being a long-lasting above-average player who also happened to be surrounded by above-average players. Has there been any other player who has benefitted as much as Jeter has from being on consistently good teams? Enough from Jayson Stark. Here's a bit from Andrew, a guy who I think once actually posted something on this site. He pointed me to a bit from Colin Cowherd on the radio: "Jeter was a .300 hitter, but he hit .350 every time he was in the world series . You don't see that with other players in other sports.Jordan didn't score more in the playoffs"Andrew points out that Jordan's career ppg is 30.1, and his playoff ppg is 33.4. It's also worth noting that Jeter did not in fact his .350 every time he was in the World Series. In fact, his career World Series average is only 12 points higher than his regular reason average, and that his career ALCS average is 53 points lower. It's also worth noting that one of Jeter's worst World Series performance overall was his only seven-game World Series (2001).where he hit .118 and did not walk. But I guess he did hit a clutch home run. But you'd think if he were so clutch, he might have helped his team a little more in that series. And just because I'm a glutton for punishment, I even went to MLB.com and found an article by somebody named Tim Healey that could not have had a more inaccurate title, even if it were titled "South Wins Civil War" or "Larry B Ascends Stairs to Parents' Kitchen". It's called "10 Jeter stats that demonstrate his dominance". An accurate title would be: 10 Jeter stats that demonstrate his team's dominance" or "10 Jeter stats that demonstrate his longevity" or "10 Jeter stats that demonstrate his PR team's dominance"
1. Winning percentage: .593 Jeter is the leader in personal winning percentage (minimum of 1,000 games) among active players, his career record of 1,626-1,116 producing that .593 mark.
Ow ow ow ow this hurts my brain so much. My brains are leaking out my ears.Someday I will understand why people care that Jeter is the leader in personal winning percentage, like he was playing tennis or something. Are we going to add "wins" to the stat column for position players, too?
3. Two hundred-hit seasons: 8. Gehrig is the only other Yankee to collect 200 hits in a single campaign that many times. If you want to use consecutive seasons as a tiebreaker, Jeter twice had streaks of three straight seasons with 200-plus hits, while Gehrig only did that once. (Gehrig fell two 1933 hits shy of a five-season streak.)
Fine, I know that hits is Jeter's marquee stat. And eight 200-his seasons is really good. But the ridiculous thing is that Tim Healey is going to great lengths to show how, in this comparison, Jeter is better than Lou Gehrig, without bothering to mention that Lou Gehrig's chance at a second such streak in 1938 was cut short by the unfortunate and unlucky fact that Gehrig was CRIPPLED BY A TERRIBLE AND DEBILITATING NEUROMUSCULAR DISEASE. (Aside Try saying that last sentence in your best Norm voice, like this clip). If Larrupin' Lou had been as good as Jeter he wouldn't have let that happen.
Oh, and that Gehrig would have almost certainly had a five-season streak if he had the benefits of Jeter's era, because Lou was playing in a 154-game season. Duh.
News flash to Tim Healey: if you've found a stat that proves that Jeter is better than Lou Gehrig, you're using the wrong stat. Unless you want to use longevity stats to show how much better Jeter was, in which case you're being a total asshole to a guy who might have been given a bad break, but who by all accounts was a much better human being than Jeter was.
7. Parting gifts: 18
Obviously this is a terrible article, and obviously it is the worst thing I've ever read about baseball, but this is even worse than that. Somehow this stat demonstrates Jeter's dominance?
Jeter's early retirement announcement was a savvy PR move. It's the classic getting ahead of the story move, so he could control the narrative, and thus nearly all of the stories were about his historic career, and not his below-average season, which may have contributed to the Yankees' missing the playoffs. And it meant that eighteen teams oughta be ashamed of themselves for puckering up to Jeter and giving expensive presents to a multimillionaire.
I can't even finish this article because it, somehow, actually goes downhill from there.
It's ten AM and I'm all set for a terrible day. Hope I've made yours worse. | 2024-02-23T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/6846 |
Pouchitis associated with primary cytomegalovirus infection.
We report a patient with a history of ulcerative colitis status after total proctocolectomy with an ileoanal J pouch who presented with marked, refractory pouchitis associated with a primary cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. The patient had atypical lymphocytosis in the blood and serology consistent with primary CMV infection. Biopsies of the pouch revealed CMV inclusion bodies and yielded positive CMV cultures. The patient improved clinically with resolution of pouchitis after a 10-day course of therapy with gancyclovir and has remained in remission for over 5 yr. This is the first report of pouchitis associated with a primary CMV infection. This case demonstrates that CMV infection is in the differential diagnosis for causes of pouchitis, and it suggests that the pouch, like the colon, is a potential site for a primary CMV infection in an immunocompetent host. | 2024-02-22T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/2625 |
Eutaw massacre
The Eutaw riot was an episode of white racial violence in Eutaw, Alabama, the county seat of Greene County, on October 25, 1870, during the Reconstruction Era in the United States. It was related to an extended period of campaign violence before the fall gubernatorial election, as white Democrats in the state used racial terrorism to suppress black Republican voting. White Klan members attacked a Republican rally of 2,000 black citizens in the courthouse square, killing as many as four and wounding 54.
Black Republicans feared for their safety, staying away from the polls or voting Democratic. The Democratic Party won the 1870 gubernatorial election, as similar intimidation was conducted against blacks in other heavily majority Republican counties.
Background and violence
As in other states of the former Confederacy, Alabama citizens had been terrorized frequently by the Ku Klux Klan in the run-up to the 1870 gubernatorial election: in Calhoun County, four blacks and one white had been lynched in July 1870. In Greene County, Gilford Coleman, a black Republican leader, had been lynched, fatally shot and his body mutilated, after being taken from his own house. His was the first of two political assassinations of black men in the county in the summer and fall.
Earlier in the year, on the night of March 31, 1870, James Martin, a black Republican from Union, Alabama was killed, as was white Republican County Solicitor Alexander Boyd, shot in his hotel in Eutaw, the county seat, by members of a 30-member, masked and costumed lynching party who rode into town on horseback. No one was prosecuted for either death, and state attempts to end violence in Greene County stopped after Boyd's murder.
On October 25, a Republican political rally was held at the county courthouse in Eutaw, attracting 2,000 blacks. The rally was attacked by Klansmen (supporting Democrats), who first verbally harassed the attendees and then started shooting; they left two to four blacks dead and 54 people injured.
Federal troops in the area did not intervene that day. Black voters stayed away from the polls on election day in fear of more violence, contributing to Democratic electoral success for the governorship. In the 1868 presidential election, Greene County had voted for Republican Ulysses S. Grant by a margin of 2,000 votes; in the 1870 gubernatorial election, voters carried Democrat Robert B. Lindsay by a margin of 43 votes.
Legal aftermath
After the riot, local man Samuel B. Brown, likely a low-ranking Republican politician, appeared before U.S. Circuit Court Judge William Woods. His testimony resulted in a complaint charging fourteen whites with violating the First Amendment, and white Democrats with violating the Constitutional rights of Brown and six others by the Eutaw attack.
Election day was calm in Eutaw. Black voters, intimidated and fearful, stayed home or voted Democratic. While state officials took no action (besides arresting some of the black victims of the riot), the U.S. Commissioner in Demopolis issued arrest warrants, and $4000 bonds to ensure the defendants appeared in court.
A federal grand jury indicted twenty of the rioters on December 24, 1870, while Woods was awaiting a response to a letter he sent to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph P. Bradley, inquiring whether federal law, particularly the Enforcement Act of 1870, was applicable to these events. Bradley responded in January 1871, indicating he understood the real question: whether the rioters had violated the victims' constitutionally protected right to freedom of speech. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments protected individuals against the state, but in Eutaw, private individuals, not the state, had violated citizens' rights.
The matter was considered especially pressing as some Southern states had been readmitted to the Union. But despite passage of the Enforcement Acts in May 1870 to end Klan violence, Democratic politicians and their supporters in those states continued with violent suppression of the black (Republican) vote, resulting in significant Republican losses in the U.S. Congress. These events strengthened Bradley in his resolve to defeat violent white Southerners by legal means.
United States Attorney General Amos T. Akerman, a former Confederate and slaveholder who became one of the Klan's most outspoken enemies, directed prosecution of the case. In the end, federal prosecutors failed to gain a conviction in United States v. Hall, which was against one of the white defendants, as the court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment was limited to acts by the state. Bradley was eventually swayed by Miller, and backed away from application of the 14th Amendment to protecting natural rights of individuals. If US v. Hall had been decided in favor of the government, it has been argued, the case could have set an important precedent for the protection of African Americans under the Fourteenth Amendment.
References
Notes
Bibliography
Category:1870 in Alabama
Category:1870 in American politics
Category:Ku Klux Klan crimes in Alabama
Category:Greene County, Alabama
Category:Riots and civil disorder in Alabama
Category:Riots and civil disorder during the Reconstruction Era
Category:October 1870 events
Category:White American riots in the United States
Category:Massacres in the United States | 2024-01-15T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/1361 |
Mike Dietze
Mike Dietze (born July 19, 1989) is an American soccer player who currently plays for the Philadelphia Fury of the American Soccer League.
Career
Born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, Dietze grew up in Ramsey, New Jersey and played high school soccer at Don Bosco Preparatory High School.
He played four years of college soccer at Seton Hall University beginning in 2008 and played in the USL Premier Development League for NJ-LUSO Rangers FC. He made 16 appearances for the Rangers in 2012, tallying 4 goals and 2 assists. Dietze participated in the 2013 NASL Combine where he was noticed by the Strikers' coaching staff and was invited to preseason with the team. On March 25, 2013, the Strikers announced that he had signed his first professional contract with the club. In 2014, Dietze signed with the Philadelphia Fury for the inaugural season of the ASL, where he played in all 10 matches, scoring once.
References
External links
Fort Lauderdale Strikers Bio
Ramsey resident signs with Fort Lauderdale Strikers
Category:1989 births
Category:Living people
Category:American soccer players
Category:Seton Hall Pirates men's soccer players
Category:NJ-LUSO Parma players
Category:Fort Lauderdale Strikers players
Category:People from Ramsey, New Jersey
Category:People from Ridgewood, New Jersey
Category:Soccer players from New Jersey
Category:Sportspeople from Bergen County, New Jersey
Category:USL League Two players
Category:North American Soccer League players
Category:Don Bosco Preparatory High School alumni
Category:Association football midfielders
Category:Philadelphia Fury players | 2024-04-26T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/4967 |
A discrete LINE-1 transcript in mouse blastocysts.
The LINE-1 (L1) repetitive elements of mammalian genomes are retrotransposons lacking LTRs; L1-encoded reverse transcriptase probably mediates an important step in the generation of new copies. Most L1 transcripts are nonspecific, but discrete full length transcripts are present in embryonal carcinoma cells. We report here an abundant L1 transcript in mouse blastocysts but not in oocytes. The transcript is about 8 kb, sense strand, polyadenylated, and includes the 5' end of the two open reading frames. We propose that retrotransposition which generates pseudogenes and mammalian SINES as well as the L1 family occurs around the blastocyst stage of the germ cell cycle. | 2023-12-17T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/9239 |
/* +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Mobile Robot Programming Toolkit (MRPT) |
| https://www.mrpt.org/ |
| |
| Copyright (c) 2005-2020, Individual contributors, see AUTHORS file |
| See: https://www.mrpt.org/Authors - All rights reserved. |
| Released under BSD License. See: https://www.mrpt.org/License |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+ */
#pragma once
#include <mrpt/maps/CRandomFieldGridMap2D.h>
#include <mrpt/obs/CObservationWirelessPower.h>
namespace mrpt::maps
{
/** CWirelessPowerGridMap2D represents a PDF of wifi concentrations over a 2D
* area.
*
* There are a number of methods available to build the wifi grid-map,
* depending on the value of
* "TMapRepresentation maptype" passed in the constructor (see
* CRandomFieldGridMap2D for a discussion).
*
* Update the map with insertIndividualReading() or insertObservation()
*
* \sa mrpt::maps::CRandomFieldGridMap2D, mrpt::maps::CMetricMap,
* mrpt::containers::CDynamicGrid, The application icp-slam,
* mrpt::maps::CMultiMetricMap
* \ingroup mrpt_maps_grp
*/
class CWirelessPowerGridMap2D : public CRandomFieldGridMap2D
{
DEFINE_SERIALIZABLE(CWirelessPowerGridMap2D, mrpt::maps)
public:
/** Constructor */
CWirelessPowerGridMap2D(
TMapRepresentation mapType = mrKernelDM, double x_min = -2,
double x_max = 2, double y_min = -2, double y_max = 2,
double resolution = 0.1);
/** Destructor */
~CWirelessPowerGridMap2D() override;
/** Parameters related with inserting observations into the map:
*/
struct TInsertionOptions : public mrpt::config::CLoadableOptions,
public TInsertionOptionsCommon
{
/** Default values loader */
TInsertionOptions();
void loadFromConfigFile(
const mrpt::config::CConfigFileBase& source,
const std::string& section) override; // See base docs
void dumpToTextStream(
std::ostream& out) const override; // See base docs
} insertionOptions;
/** Returns a 3D object representing the map */
void getAs3DObject(mrpt::opengl::CSetOfObjects::Ptr& outObj) const override;
protected:
/** Get the part of the options common to all CRandomFieldGridMap2D classes
*/
CRandomFieldGridMap2D::TInsertionOptionsCommon* getCommonInsertOptions()
override
{
return &insertionOptions;
}
// See docs in derived class
void internal_clear() override;
bool internal_insertObservation(
const mrpt::obs::CObservation& obs,
const mrpt::poses::CPose3D* robotPose = nullptr) override;
double internal_computeObservationLikelihood(
const mrpt::obs::CObservation& obs,
const mrpt::poses::CPose3D& takenFrom) override;
MAP_DEFINITION_START(CWirelessPowerGridMap2D)
/** See CWirelessPowerGridMap2D::CWirelessPowerGridMap2D */
double min_x{-2}, max_x{2}, min_y{-2}, max_y{2}, resolution{0.10f};
/** The kind of map representation (see
* CWirelessPowerGridMap2D::CWirelessPowerGridMap2D) */
mrpt::maps::CWirelessPowerGridMap2D::TMapRepresentation mapType{
CWirelessPowerGridMap2D::mrKernelDM};
mrpt::maps::CWirelessPowerGridMap2D::TInsertionOptions insertionOpts;
MAP_DEFINITION_END(CWirelessPowerGridMap2D)
};
} // namespace mrpt::maps
| 2024-06-26T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/6147 |
Prismatic Games is currently running a Kickstarter to fund their Wii U game Hex Heroes. Hex Heroes is a very unique real time strategy game that can be played up to 5 players locally. Taking advantage of the best type of asymmetric multiplayer, 4 players operate the TV while the 5th is on the Wii U GamePad (If you have played 5 player Nintendo Land you know how great this can be)
Hex Heroes also has fun in mixing genres. The Wii U GamePad player takes the role of the Real-Time Strategy master, using the touch screen to command your units. The units however are also your real multiplayer team mates, having direct control of their units, split screen on the TV. This is a game that will require strategic co-operation and potentially make or brake friendships.
Don’t always have your 4 best buds around? No problem! Hex Heroes also has a impressive 1 player mode. You still use the Wii U GamePad as your control centre but this time you are in control of 2 characters. And to complete the feature set, online multiplayer will be included for when you simply can’t arrange everyone to be at the same place.
In addition to the very unique concept being pitched, Prismatic games has managed to convince a whole bunch of awesome indie developers to lend their characters to Hex Heroes. There are currently 6 announced and more are said to be on the way…
I strongly recommend anyone with a Wii U to check out this Kickstarter, the idea is both incredibly unique and equally ambitious.
Lewis Pugh is a game developer at Leuvsion (www.leuvsion.com) for mobile platforms, born and bred on Nintendo gaming. Being a developer gives Lewis a unique perspective on Nintendo news, especially relating to the eShop and Nintendo Network. Today he plays Wii U and 3DS enjoying their distinctive gameplay offerings. Looking into what the future holds for Nintendo is always tricky, even with its established heritage, but that’s exactly what makes it so fun. NNID: Leuvsion | 2023-08-08T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/8541 |
Q:
What causes the dip in this graph?
This a picture of the sequence A032740 from the OEIS (Numbers n such that n is a substring of 2^n.).
The graph is similar for A049301 (Numbers n such that n is a substring of 3^n.) and A049302 (Numbers n such that n is a substring of 4^n). For higher exponent bases, I think I see the same pattern but the data gets scarce.
A:
In hindsight, it's not such a deep question.
The dip appears around when $a(n)=1000$. Suppose the number of digits in $a(n)$ is $m_n = \lfloor \log_{10}(a(n)) \rfloor$ and the number of digits in $2^{a(n)}$ is $k_n = \lfloor a(n) \log_{10}(2)\rfloor$.
The probability that a substring of $m_n$ integers appears in $k_n$ uniformly chosen random digits is simply
$$ \frac{(k_n - m_n + 1) 10^{k_n - m_n}}{ 10^{k_n}} = \frac{k_n - m_n + 1}{ 10^{m_n}} $$. Around when $a(n) = 1000$, $m_n$ suddenly increases by 1 and the probability decreases (less than) 10-fold. So the graph is steeper.
One can state more formally why each digit has nearly uniform distribution in the powers of 2.
| 2024-03-17T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/8205 |
// Windows/FileFind.h
#ifndef __WINDOWS_FILE_FIND_H
#define __WINDOWS_FILE_FIND_H
#include "../Common/MyString.h"
#include "Defs.h"
namespace NWindows {
namespace NFile {
namespace NFind {
namespace NAttributes
{
inline bool IsReadOnly(DWORD attrib) { return (attrib & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READONLY) != 0; }
inline bool IsHidden(DWORD attrib) { return (attrib & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN) != 0; }
inline bool IsSystem(DWORD attrib) { return (attrib & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_SYSTEM) != 0; }
inline bool IsDir(DWORD attrib) { return (attrib & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY) != 0; }
inline bool IsArchived(DWORD attrib) { return (attrib & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_ARCHIVE) != 0; }
inline bool IsCompressed(DWORD attrib) { return (attrib & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_COMPRESSED) != 0; }
inline bool IsEncrypted(DWORD attrib) { return (attrib & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_ENCRYPTED) != 0; }
}
class CFileInfoBase
{
bool MatchesMask(UINT32 mask) const { return ((Attrib & mask) != 0); }
public:
UInt64 Size;
FILETIME CTime;
FILETIME ATime;
FILETIME MTime;
DWORD Attrib;
bool IsAltStream;
bool IsDevice;
/*
#ifdef UNDER_CE
DWORD ObjectID;
#else
UINT32 ReparseTag;
#endif
*/
CFileInfoBase() { ClearBase(); }
void ClearBase() throw();
void SetAsDir() { Attrib = FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY; }
bool IsArchived() const { return MatchesMask(FILE_ATTRIBUTE_ARCHIVE); }
bool IsCompressed() const { return MatchesMask(FILE_ATTRIBUTE_COMPRESSED); }
bool IsDir() const { return MatchesMask(FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY); }
bool IsEncrypted() const { return MatchesMask(FILE_ATTRIBUTE_ENCRYPTED); }
bool IsHidden() const { return MatchesMask(FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN); }
bool IsNormal() const { return MatchesMask(FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL); }
bool IsOffline() const { return MatchesMask(FILE_ATTRIBUTE_OFFLINE); }
bool IsReadOnly() const { return MatchesMask(FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READONLY); }
bool HasReparsePoint() const { return MatchesMask(FILE_ATTRIBUTE_REPARSE_POINT); }
bool IsSparse() const { return MatchesMask(FILE_ATTRIBUTE_SPARSE_FILE); }
bool IsSystem() const { return MatchesMask(FILE_ATTRIBUTE_SYSTEM); }
bool IsTemporary() const { return MatchesMask(FILE_ATTRIBUTE_TEMPORARY); }
};
struct CFileInfo: public CFileInfoBase
{
FString Name;
#if defined(_WIN32) && !defined(UNDER_CE)
// FString ShortName;
#endif
bool IsDots() const throw();
bool Find(CFSTR path);
};
class CFindFileBase
{
protected:
HANDLE _handle;
public:
bool IsHandleAllocated() const { return _handle != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE; }
CFindFileBase(): _handle(INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {}
~CFindFileBase() { Close(); }
bool Close() throw();
};
class CFindFile: public CFindFileBase
{
public:
bool FindFirst(CFSTR wildcard, CFileInfo &fileInfo);
bool FindNext(CFileInfo &fileInfo);
};
#if defined(_WIN32) && !defined(UNDER_CE)
struct CStreamInfo
{
UString Name;
UInt64 Size;
UString GetReducedName() const; // returns ":Name"
// UString GetReducedName2() const; // returns "Name"
bool IsMainStream() const throw();
};
class CFindStream: public CFindFileBase
{
public:
bool FindFirst(CFSTR filePath, CStreamInfo &streamInfo);
bool FindNext(CStreamInfo &streamInfo);
};
class CStreamEnumerator
{
CFindStream _find;
FString _filePath;
bool NextAny(CFileInfo &fileInfo);
public:
CStreamEnumerator(const FString &filePath): _filePath(filePath) {}
bool Next(CStreamInfo &streamInfo, bool &found);
};
#endif
bool DoesFileExist(CFSTR name);
bool DoesDirExist(CFSTR name);
bool DoesFileOrDirExist(CFSTR name);
DWORD GetFileAttrib(CFSTR path);
class CEnumerator
{
CFindFile _findFile;
FString _wildcard;
bool NextAny(CFileInfo &fileInfo);
public:
void SetDirPrefix(const FString &dirPrefix);
bool Next(CFileInfo &fileInfo);
bool Next(CFileInfo &fileInfo, bool &found);
};
class CFindChangeNotification
{
HANDLE _handle;
public:
operator HANDLE () { return _handle; }
bool IsHandleAllocated() const { return _handle != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE && _handle != 0; }
CFindChangeNotification(): _handle(INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {}
~CFindChangeNotification() { Close(); }
bool Close() throw();
HANDLE FindFirst(CFSTR pathName, bool watchSubtree, DWORD notifyFilter);
bool FindNext() { return BOOLToBool(::FindNextChangeNotification(_handle)); }
};
#ifndef UNDER_CE
bool MyGetLogicalDriveStrings(CObjectVector<FString> &driveStrings);
#endif
}}}
#endif
| 2023-10-15T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/1447 |
Coaching
Nancy has been bringing her 30 years of practical experience as a church leader to her new role as a Coach with Slingshot Group. A coach can bring fresh eyes and perspective to your situation – whether you are facing a problem, sensing a plateau and time for a transition, or are a pioneer in a leadership role. Nancy will bring her intuitive mind and heart to your situation, offering trustworthy and Biblical counsel with the entire aim of helping you to flourish in life and ministry. Nancy is currently coaching both men and women in all areas of ministry and some in the corporate world. She has also led team retreats or one-day meetings of leadership teams. A coach wants to help you get better in every way.
What People Are Saying
The Coaching Circle with Nancy Beach has breathed new life into the soul of my leadership. The shared calling and unique giftings within this circle have been both affirming and molding. My strengths have been championed and my weaknesses garnered. I am so grateful to Slingshot, Nancy, and the women around the circle for dreaming big, believing big, and providing this opportunity to better live out God’s calling on my life.
I have to confess that I’ve always wanted to meet Nancy. So when the opportunity came up, I jumped on it. Nancy has been incredible for sure – her wisdom and breadth of experience is mind-blowing. But what has been most enriching for me is the relationships with my group of worship & arts leaders from around the country. We draw so much from one another and I’m sure it’s only the beginning.
I’m convinced Nancy Beach’s Coaching Circles are among the most catalytic experiences available to women in church leadership. The opportunity to connect with other women in the trenches of local church ministry combined with Nancy’s world-class coaching has renewed my soul and strengthened my leadership. God is doing a special thing through these learning communities.
Slingshot’s Coaching Cohort with Nancy Beach has unequivocally been the best thing for my leadership development thus far. I met a group of people who are shooting for very similar stars, only now we can share rocket fuel. Nancy Beach has helped me feel confident in my calling while offering her wisdom in creating creative cultures. Bill Hybels has often said, “Everyone wins when a leader gets better.” I am grateful to Slingshot and Nancy Beach for helping my ministry and my church win. | 2024-05-06T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/5028 |
Q:
Unable to recieve given number of entry data: TypeError: list indices must be integers or slices, not Entry
I've written some code which automatically creates entry boxes based on a numberical user input.
When trying to .get() the data from these entry boxes through a regular button command I get the following error:
TypeError: list indices must be integers or slices, not Entry
Heres the code:
ply_name = []
ply_θ = []
tk = []
i = 0
for i in name_count:
n_n = (n_count[i]).get()
n.append(n_n)
n_a = (a_count[i]).get()
a.append(n_a)
n_t = (t_count[i]).get()
t.append(n_t)
i += 1
if i == given_count:
break
I know that the given_count value is correct as it's used further up to add the entry boxes in question to the my grid system.
The error seems to lie in the i value.
No matter how I try lay this out aslong as I cann i as the index value I get the same error.
Any help would be much appriciated!
A:
To keep track of your Entries you need to keep a reference.
if you just stor a number or a charakter it does not have any reference.
here is x the reference.
Lets consider this bit of code:
import tkinter as tk
root = tk.Tk()
my_entries = []
for _ in range(5):
x = tk.Entry(root)
x.pack()
my_entries.append(x)
print(x)
root.mainloop()
If you run this code the follow will be printed:
.!entry
.!entry2
.!entry3
.!entry4
.!entry5
these are the Id's for tkinter that it creates for each widget you will create.
Python itself knows these elements by the python_id we can print out with:
print(id(x))
So if we run this code with id(x) the following is printed out for me:
54022032
59532048
59532976
59532144
59533040
So a full exampel of what you trying to do is:
import tkinter as tk
root = tk.Tk()
my_entries = []
for _ in range(5):
x = tk.Entry(root)
x.pack()
my_entries.append(x)
print(x)
def auto_fill():
for entry in (my_entries):
entry.insert(0, str(entry))
b = tk.Button(root, text='autofill', command=auto_fill)
b.pack()
def pprint():
for entry in my_entries:
print(entry.get())
b2 = tk.Button(root, text='print', command=pprint)
b2.pack()
root.mainloop()
Hope this helps
| 2023-12-05T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/6408 |
[Medical expenditure for the elderly and factors related to its geographical variations within Fukuoka Prefecture].
Using national health insurance data in 1992, medical expenditure for the elderly in Fukuoka Prefecture were compared with that in all of Japan, and analyzed for relationships to several socioeconomic factors, medical supply, medical needs, and health care and welfare services using univariate and multivariate analyses to clarify factors related to geographical variations in medical expenditure within Fukuoka Prefecture. The results were as follows: 1) Compared to national average, Fukuoka Prefecture showed 43% higher per capita medical expenditure for inpatients, despite slightly lower inpatient medical expenditure per day. For outpatients, per capita medical expenditure in Fukuoka Prefecture was similar to national average. 2) Of the elderly aged 70 or over, 6.7% had hospitalizations of durations exceeding six months with over half of these being hospitalized for the entire year. Circulatory diseases, particularly stroke, were the most important cause for long-term hospitalization. 3) In both univariate and multivariate analyses of geographical variations, per capita inpatient medical expenditure was correlated positively with the number of hospital beds per 100,000 and negatively with the average number of persons per household. In the multivariate analyses, per capita inpatient medical expenditure was not correlated with all-cause death rates for the elderly aged 70 or over, an index of medical needs. This suggests that factors other than medical needs contribute greatly to the hospitalization of elderly. In both univariate and multivariate analyses, per capita outpatient medical expenditure showed a significantly positive correlation with all-cause death rates for the elderly aged 70 or over and negative with rates of participation in general health checkups. | 2024-06-03T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/6927 |
# test/tubes_test.rb
require File.expand_path('../test_helper', __FILE__)
describe Beaneater::Tubes do
describe "for #find" do
before do
@beanstalk = stub
@tubes = Beaneater::Tubes.new(@beanstalk)
end
it("should return Tube obj") { assert_kind_of Beaneater::Tube, @tubes.find(:foo) }
it("should return Tube name") { assert_equal "foo", @tubes.find(:foo).name }
it("should support hash syntax") { assert_equal "bar", @tubes["bar"].name }
end # find
describe "for #use" do
before do
@beanstalk = Beaneater.new('localhost')
end
it "should switch to used tube for valid name" do
Beaneater::Tube.new(@beanstalk, 'some_name')
@beanstalk.tubes.use('some_name')
assert_equal 'some_name', @beanstalk.tubes.used.name
end
it "should raise for invalid tube name" do
assert_raises(Beaneater::InvalidTubeName) { @beanstalk.tubes.use('; ') }
end
end # use
describe "for #watch & #watched" do
before do
@beanstalk = Beaneater.new('localhost')
end
it 'should watch specified tubes' do
@beanstalk.tubes.watch('foo')
@beanstalk.tubes.watch('bar')
assert_equal ['default', 'foo', 'bar'].sort, @beanstalk.tubes.watched.map(&:name).sort
end
it 'should raise invalid name for bad tube' do
assert_raises(Beaneater::InvalidTubeName) { @beanstalk.tubes.watch('; ') }
end
end # watch! & watched
describe "for #all" do
before do
@beanstalk = Beaneater.new('localhost')
@beanstalk.tubes.find('foo').put 'bar'
@beanstalk.tubes.find('bar').put 'foo'
end
it 'should retrieve all tubes' do
['default', 'foo', 'bar'].each do |t|
assert @beanstalk.tubes.all.map(&:name).include?(t)
end
end
end # all
describe "for Enumerable" do
before do
@beanstalk = Beaneater.new('localhost')
@beanstalk.tubes.find('foo').put 'bar'
@beanstalk.tubes.find('bar').put 'foo'
end
it 'should map tubes' do
['default', 'foo', 'bar'].each do |t|
assert @beanstalk.tubes.map(&:name).include?(t)
end
end
end
describe "for #used" do
before do
@beanstalk = Beaneater.new('localhost')
@beanstalk.tubes.find('foo').put 'bar'
@beanstalk.tubes.find('bar').put 'foo'
end
it 'should retrieve used tube' do
assert_equal 'bar', @beanstalk.tubes.used.name
end
it 'should support dashed tubes' do
@beanstalk.tubes.find('der-bam').put 'foo'
assert_equal 'der-bam', @beanstalk.tubes.used.name
end
end # used
describe "for #watch!" do
before do
@beanstalk = Beaneater.new('localhost')
end
it 'should watch specified tubes' do
@beanstalk.tubes.watch!(:foo)
@beanstalk.tubes.watch!('bar')
assert_equal ['bar'].sort, @beanstalk.tubes.watched.map(&:name).sort
end
end # watch!
describe "for #ignore" do
before do
@beanstalk = Beaneater.new('localhost')
end
it 'should ignore specified tubes' do
@beanstalk.tubes.watch('foo')
@beanstalk.tubes.watch('bar')
@beanstalk.tubes.ignore('foo')
assert_equal ['default', 'bar'].sort, @beanstalk.tubes.watched.map(&:name).sort
end
end # ignore
describe "for #reserve" do
before do
@beanstalk = Beaneater.new('localhost')
@tube = @beanstalk.tubes.find 'tube'
@time = Time.now.to_i
@tube.put "foo reserve #{@time}"
end
it("should reserve job") do
@beanstalk.tubes.watch 'tube'
job = @beanstalk.tubes.reserve
assert_equal "foo reserve #{@time}", job.body
job.delete
end
it("should reserve job with block") do
@beanstalk.tubes.watch 'tube'
job = nil
@beanstalk.tubes.reserve { |j| job = j; job.delete }
assert_equal "foo reserve #{@time}", job.body
end
it("should reserve job with block and timeout") do
@beanstalk.tubes.watch 'tube'
job = nil
@beanstalk.tubes.reserve(0) { |j| job = j; job.delete }
assert_equal "foo reserve #{@time}", job.body
end
it "should raise TimedOutError with timeout" do
@beanstalk.tubes.watch 'tube'
@beanstalk.tubes.reserve(0) { |j| job = j; job.delete }
assert_raises(Beaneater::TimedOutError) { @beanstalk.tubes.reserve(0) }
end
it "should raise DeadlineSoonError with ttr 1" do
@tube.reserve.delete
@tube.put "foo reserve #{@time}", :ttr => 1
@beanstalk.tubes.watch 'tube'
@beanstalk.tubes.reserve
assert_raises(Beaneater::DeadlineSoonError) { @beanstalk.tubes.reserve(0) }
end
end # reserve
end # Beaneater::Tubes
| 2023-09-17T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/1610 |
Switching to lower tar cigarettes does not increase or decrease the likelihood of future quit attempts or cessation.
This study examined whether switching to low-tar cigarettes predicts future quit attempts or smoking cessation. Prior studies of whether switching to low-tar cigarettes increases or decreases cessation behavior have produced contradictory results. We believed a large, prospective population-based study was needed. Participants in the Community Intervention Trial for Smoking Cessation (COMMIT), who were smokers in 1989 and 1991 and provided their smoking status in a 1993 interview, provided product code information so that the tar categories of their cigarettes could be identified. Smokers' brands were classified as ultralight (0-6 mg tar), light (7-15 mg tar), and regular (16+ mg tar). The main predictor measure was switching to a lower tar yield category: 8% of baseline light smokers and 19% of baseline regular smokers switched to a lower yield product between 1989 and 1991. The main outcome measures were attempts to quit and successful 6-month cessation. Despite greater desire to quit among switchers, switching down was not associated with increased or decreased number of attempts to quit or the likelihood of future cessation. No evidence of differential effects was found for subgroups of smokers, including those who did and did not believe that low-tar cigarettes are safer. The data show that switching to a low-tar cigarette does not appear to increase or decrease the likelihood of future cessation, though motivation to stop smoking may be associated with switching. | 2023-08-23T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/8574 |
Neuville and Ogier resume epic title fight at iconic fixture
Thierry Neuville and Sebastien Ogier resume their head-to-head title fight on Finland’s iconic roads this weekend as the FIA World Rally Championship enters a decisive point.
Neuville, chasing his maiden crown, won the final two rounds before the mid-season break. This way he built a 27-point lead over five-time champion Ogier with six rallies remaining.
The battle resumes on the daunting rollercoaster roads of Neste Rally Finland (26 – 29 July), the fastest event on the calendar. Huge jumps and blind corners over crests demand bravery and pin-point accuracy in the delivery of pace notes.
Ogier is armed with a new aero package on the rear of his Ford Fiesta
A revised bumper and diffuser will provide increased downforce on the smooth gravel forest roads around Jyväskylä in central Finland.
“We hope the updates will give us that little bit extra in terms of performance,” said the Frenchman, a Finland winner in 2013. “But we’ll still have to get absolutely everything right over the course of the weekend if we want to be in the fight for the top results.
“We know the car was strong here last year and we had a good feeling on the test, but this is a rally that doesn’t forgive even the smallest of mistakes.”
Finland is the jewel in the WRC’s crown
Passionate fans provide a crackling atmosphere on speed tests that wind round the region’s many lakes. And Neuville is all set to resume his bid to dethrone Ogier.
“I’m ready to carry the momentum forward into the second half of the season. Finland is one of those rallies that everyone looks forward to. It’s going to be tricky this year coming into it after the extended break and jumping straight in the car,” said the Belgian.
“It will be tough as the speeds here are very high but I can’t wait for the challenge,” added Neuville. His Hyundai team also leads the manufacturers’ standings by 28 points from Ogier’s M-Sport Ford squad.
The rally starts with a spectacular street stage in the centre of Jyväskylä on Thursday night and finishes in the town on Sunday afternoon after 23 speed tests covering 317.26km. | 2024-07-14T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/4937 |
Q:
separate member and guest template content in django
I'm trying to figure out what is the best way to have mixes member and guest templates.
The main difference would be the menu of the page. In some languages i've worked with you can add prefixes to templates to get it to switch out the whole templates for the other version.
ex:
base.guest.html
base.member.html
In Django the only way i've seen any thing related to this is this code i found in the documents:
if request.user.is_authenticated():
# Do something for authenticated users.
else:
# Do something for anonymous users.
Is this the base way to do this in Django? or is there something else that i'm missing.
For most of my pages this would work out ok but wasn't sure if there was a better way to switch content based on authenticated state.
A:
You don't extend in this case, instead you include. The base.html should authentication-agnostic.
{% if user.is_authenticated %}
{% include 'member.html' %}
{% else %}
{% include 'guest.html' %}
{% endif %}
If you want to, you can do have the if-statement also in your view, and pass the name of the template-to-be-included to the main template. For more info see https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/templates/builtins/#include
| 2024-06-17T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/8358 |
Wonderful Benefits of Android for Developing Scalable Applications
If you are looking to develop android applications, it is a great idea as you can enjoy a range of benefits that are mentioned in this article. To get most out of this OS, you can hire a professional android developer, who offers you best applications to meet your business requirements.
Transcript of "Wonderful Benefits of Android for Developing Scalable Applications"
2.
• Android is a Linux-based mobile operating system that
widely used by people worldwide because of its flexible
functionality and wonderful features.
• The platform has acquired tremendous popularity in the
last couple of years as its excellent features allow users to
enjoy various applications of different categories.
• Android is an extremely affordable platform that can be
used to develop a wide range of applications.
3.
• No matter what kind of application you want for your
device, you can hire android developer, who can develop
any type of application like
1.business 2.education 3.e-learning 4.sports
5.travel & tourism 6.weather forecasting
7.games 8.social networking 9.multimedia
10.personal utilities and many more.
• According to your need, you can get any type of
application and enjoy numerous benefits.
4.
Many of you may think that
why to use Android
platform when there are
lots of other operating
systems obtainable, but
the reason is simple,
Android comes with
range of benefits that are
listed below:
• Excellent Graphic Support:
• Cost-Effective Rates:
• Greater Flexibility:
5.
Excellent Graphic Support:
• This great platform offers high built-in support for powerful
2D and 3D graphics that help businesses and other
organizers to attract millions of users to their mobile
applications.
• As we all know that high quality graphics plays a very
significant role in applications.
• Moreover, high graphics allow developers to expand
applications with maximum number of features as Android
is a great OS that you are looking for.
6.
Cost-Effective Rates:
• Another benefit that android users can enjoy is cost-
effective rates that allow android users to save their lots of
money because the platform includes no license and you
may develop stylish programs with minimum expenditure.
• However, there are numerous programs presently coded in
the platform as its devices are utilized by various people
worldwide.
• Apart from this, Android developers are allowed to use
different programs without paying any certification fees.
Moreover, there is no need of more assets that required for
an example SDK construction.
7.
Greater Flexibility:
As we all are well aware that
iPhone is a uniform
hardware target while
Android is a highly
flexible OS that allows
developers to huge
amount of flexibility
when it comes to develop
android applications.
In tapping the features of the
phone, an android
developer has excellent
freedom. However, when
an application is put on
the market, the turnaround
time is much lesser as
compare to apps that are
obtainable at Apple store.
8.
These are some of the major
benefits of android platform
that every user can enjoy by
opting for this platform. If you
have decided to get an
application on android
platform, you should hire
android app developer from
any reliable android
application development
company that has developed
Text box
With shadow
Text box
With shadow
9.
Summary
If you are looking to develop android applications,
it is a great idea as you can enjoy a range of
benefits that are mentioned in this Presentation. To
get most out of this OS, you can hire a
professional android developer, who offers you
best applications to meet your business
requirements.
You can find responsible android apps developer
http://www.perceptionsystem.com
10.
Summary
If you are looking to develop android applications,
it is a great idea as you can enjoy a range of
benefits that are mentioned in this Presentation. To
get most out of this OS, you can hire a
professional android developer, who offers you
best applications to meet your business
requirements.
You can find responsible android apps developer
http://www.perceptionsystem.com | 2024-01-26T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/7782 |
Predicting axillary lymph node metastases in breast carcinoma patients.
Routine axillary dissection is primarily used as a means of assessing prognosis to establish appropriate treatment plans for patients with primary breast carcinoma. However, axillary dissection offers no therapeutic benefit to node negative patients and patients may incur unnecessary morbidity, including mild to severe impairment of arm motion and lymphedema, as a result. This paper outlines a method of evaluating the probability of harbouring lymph node metastases at the time of initial surgery by assessment of tumour based parameters, in order to provide an objective basis for further selection of patients for treatment or investigation. The novel aspect of this study is the use of Maximum Entropy Estimation (MEE) to construct probabilistic models of the relationship between the risk factors and the outcome. Two hundred and seventeen patients with invasive breast carcinoma were studied. Surgical treatment included axillary clearance in all cases, so that the pathologic status of the nodes was known. Tumour size was found to be significantly correlated (P < 0.001) to the axillary lymph node status in the multivariate anlaysis with age (P = 0.089) and vascular invasion (P = 0.08) marginally correlated. Using the multivariate model constructed, 38 patients were predicted to have risk of nodal metastases lower than 20%, of these only 4 (10%) patients had lymph node metastases. A comparison with the Multivariate Logistic Regression (MLR) was carried out. It was found that the predictive quality of the MEE model was better than that of the MLR model. In view of the small sample size, further verification of this model is required in assessing its practical application to a larger population. | 2023-12-06T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/8036 |
The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Gamescom 2013 Interview
It’s been a little while since Gamescom 2013, and we still had one interview left to release. This one is for The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt.
The world is in chaos. The air is thick with tension and the smoke of burned villages. The fearsome Nilfgaardian Empire has struck again, ravaging the hapless Northern Kingdoms. The once mighty who tried to use Geralt are dead or gone. These are uncertain times and no one can say who will rise or fall, who will bring peace to the world and who will bring only misery.
But a force darker and deadlier has appeared. Little do the petty men and women moving their tin-plated armies across the Northern Kingdoms know that their conflict is mere child’s play compared with another otherworldly danger which now looms closer than ever. This brooding danger lusts after one thing: that which matters most to Geralt, that which is dearest to his heart.
I sat down with the story writer to learn more about The Witcher 3:
The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt will be released on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC later in 2014.
I am the owner and editor of this site. I have been interested in gadgets and tech since I was a little kid. I have also written a number of books on various tech subjects. I also blog for The Huffington Post and for FHM. And I am honoured to be a Microsoft MVP since January 2008 - again this year as an Xbox MVP. | 2024-05-03T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/7122 |
Subscribe to Push Square on
As part of the Yakuza Remastered Collection, Yakuza 4 will hit PlayStation 4 in a few short months on 29th October. Here to tide us over is five minutes of chaotic gameplay from the remaster of the fourth entry.
Coming courtesy of IGN, the footage is incredibly fight-heavy. We get glimpses of Kazuma Kiryu, Taiga Saejima, Shun Akiyama, and Masayoshi Tanimura all laying the beat down on some fools along with some flashy moves that deal some real damage. It's clearly not quite on the same level as the Yakuza: Kiwami re-releases, but we're happy to take what we can get at the moment.
Have you picked up Yakuza 3 on PS4 yet? Are you looking forward to this remaster? Beat up some dudes in the comments below. | 2023-10-31T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/1101 |
Look what Millennials are interested in
A new report from LendingTree indicates that Millennials are interested in buying cars. For a few years, it seems that this generation had less of an interest in owning cars, or even driving, than their predecessors did.
A close friend’s son is graduating from junior college this year and has been accepted into one of the more prestigious engineering schools in the area. I am very happy and excited for him. I’ll get into that in greater detail in a bit. For now, let’s focus on driving.
This recent JC graduate spent his freshman year without a car. Not only didn’t he have a car, he didn’t have a drivers license! It seemed preposterous to his dad and me; how could an 18 year old not only not have an interest in driving, but he didn’t even care to get his license? His dad and I joked with him (insert old guy voice) “…back in my day, we couldn’t wait to get out drivers license…” It’s true, when I turned 16, and could drive legally, it was one of the happiest, most exciting days of my (then) young life. But my friend’s son had no interest in driving. He and his friends would either use mass transit — yes, we do have a mass transit system in Southern California — or they would use a right sharing service, like Uber or Lyft.
At the start of his second year of college, my friend gave his son one of his old cars — my friend has six cars and trucks, all of them white, all of them at least 10 years old — but it would mean that he would have to get a license. He did, and he loves driving now. Driving and owning cars among Millennials is on the rise.
“With unemployment among millennials improving, coupled with lower interest rates and low gas prices, the share of millennial auto loan requests is on the rise,” said Doug Lebda, founder and CEO of LendingTree. “Although the share of millennial auto loan requests is relatively lower in densely populated urban areas, the auto market appears to be enticing aging millennials.”
My friend’s son’s prior lack of interest in driving was not unique among his fellow Millennials. Many believe that this generation has no interest in cars. And it’s true, the number of Millennials buying and driving cars has been far below prior generations, However, despite this widely-held belief that Millennials will become an increasingly smaller segment of the total car-buying population, the share of auto loan requests from this generation has been increasing in recent years. The share of Millennials auto loan requests has climbed from roughly 27 percent in early 2013 to about 34 percent in 2016, suggesting a return of younger buyers to the car market.
So what cars are Millennials buying? On a volume basis, the most popular cars that millennials requested a loan for were the Nissan Altima, Dodge Charger, Honda Accord, Chevrolet Impala, and Chevrolet Tahoe. Millennials opted for used vehicles at a slightly higher clip than older drivers, 46% vs. 44%. Here’s a list of the top ten
The crush of major automaker-tech firm partnerships (Toyota-Uber, GM-Lyft, Fiat-Google, Volkswagen-Gett) popping up is predicated in part on a younger generation attuned to ride-sharing and ride-hailing. There’s also been an assumption by some analysts of a topping out of U.S. auto demand this year or next due in part to millennial disinterest.
Engineering school degree
I am so excited that my friend’s son was accepted into an engineering school. Those college students who graduate with a STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) degree will have greater opportunities than those who graduate with degrees from many other disciplines. Over the course of a 40-year career, a professional who holds a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field will likely earn nearly $2.8 million, compared with just $1.6 million earned by those with a bachelor’s in education. That disparity starts immediately with entry level salaries that tend to be in the low to mid $30K range for educators and can exceed $60K for STEM graduates.
Of course, every individual is different, there are people with humanities degrees who succeed in life far beyond any STEM graduate, and there are those with degrees in the STEM programs who struggle to get ahead in their careers. Your own work ethic, aptitude, sphere of influence, and (let’s not kid ourselves) luck all play a part. | 2024-02-24T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/2065 |
Q:
Regex expression for numbers with commas and optional .00
I want to make a regex pattern for number input. When user enter numbers the comma is automatically separate entered number like 1,424 or 23,232. This is working fine with regex pattern
/^[0-9.,]*$/
But the problem is that this pattern allowed dot(.) between numbers. I want to make regex expression like the input can allowed .00 ate the end of numbers not between numbers. But the .00 is also optional.
Allowed number formats are below:
123312131256457.00
1233121312564
9,223,372
Not allowed number formats are below:
34.343455.3434
34353...
I spend lost of time on same but does't get any solution. Please share yours ideas. Thanks in advance.
A:
Try this regex:
/^[0-9]{1,3}((,[0-9]{3})*|([0-9])*)(\.[0]{2})?$/
Here is a brief explanation:
^ from the start
[0-9]{1,3} match 1 to 3 numbers
(,[0-9]{3})* followed by a comma and three numbers, any number of times
([0-9])* OR just followed any amount of numbers, with NO commas
(\.[0-9]{2})? followed by an optional decimal point and two zeroes
$ end
Demo here:
Regex101
A:
The very, very simple answer would be /^[0-9,]*(\.00)?$/. I.e., add an optional .00 suffix, remove support for . literal before the optional part.
As commented above you could go for something more fancy: ^(0|[1-9]\d{0,2}(,?\d{3})*)(\.00)?$
This will behave as commented:
0 // OK
01 // Not OK, must start with 1-9 if not 0 or 0.00
1,1,1.00 // Not OK, groups must be 3 digits, if used
0,000.00 // Not OK, should be 0.00
1,000 // OK
123312131256457.00 // OK, groups are optional
1233121312564 // OK, decimals (.00) are optional
9,223,372 // OK
| 2023-08-16T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/2425 |
WASHINGTON—Admitting he was surprised by all the tasks required of him in order to enter the prestigious organization, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh reportedly stated Thursday that he was impressed by the hazing rituals you have to go through before they let you join the Supreme Court. “Man, I knew the Supreme Court doesn’t let just anyone in, but I’ve got to say, they’ve really made me run the gauntlet and do all this embarrassing stuff—I mean, I had to go on national television with my wife and tell everyone how long I was a virgin,” said Kavanaugh, acknowledging that he had to respect the humiliating challenges he’s been put through to prove himself worthy of the Supreme Court, like showing his high school diary to the entire country and having to face multiple women from his youth who he “didn’t even go all the way with.” “I did some pretty gnarly stuff back during my fraternity days, so I figured they’d force me to get paddled or chant the Supreme Court motto ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ for a few hours outside in my underwear or stick my thumb up someone’s ass, but this hazing is really putting me through a wringer. But I’ll do whatever I have to if it means they’ll let me be a justice. Supreme Court for life!” Kavanaugh added that when he had felt especially ashamed during the hazing process, he just reminded himself that this was the same initiation his future Supreme Court brother Clarence Thomas had to endure.
Advertisement | 2023-10-18T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/3982 |
Visual Studio + ReSharper offer for Russian users extended!
Originally scheduled to last until late November, the offer has been extended until December, 31, so if you’re a SMB from Russia and you’re looking to extend your .NET toolset, you can still consider this opportunity. | 2024-03-19T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/9445 |
6 Herbs That Will Make You Healthier
From headaches, nausea, fatigue and insomnia to the common cold and moodiness, all collegiettes deal with aliments from time to time. While your first instinct may be to pop a pill when you’re feeling off, there are much better, more natural options that will not only relieve you of your symptoms, but also make you healthier and happier in the long run.
So the next time you’re feeling less than stellar or you’re just looking for a boost, try a natural plant! All of these herbs can be found in a variety of forms, such as teas and capsules, and you can find them in most grocery stores and health food stores.
1. Rhodiola
Rhodiola, also known as “golden root” or “arctic root,” has a long list of health benefits. The herb reduces stress, aids in muscle recovery, strengthens the nervous system, fights depression, increases immunity, enhances memory and improves hearing, among other things. It is best taken if you want relief from stress or if you’re running low on energy and motivation (in other words, perfect during finals week!).
“Rhodiola has a regulating effect on cortisol,” says Mary Helen Lee, acupuncturist and co-manager of White Moon Healing Center in Chicago. “People get excess cortisol from stress. Rhodiola has a very calming and stabilizing effect on the nervous system because it's able to help balance adrenal chemistry. Because of this, it helps support the immune system as well.”
Rhodiola is best taken in capsule form, and it is important to make sure to get a supplement that is guaranteed Siberian-grown. Some good brands to try are New Chapteror Gaia Herbs.
2. Ginseng
Native to eastern North America, American ginseng is considered to be a stress reducer and energizer. American ginseng (one of many varieties of ginseng) has been proven to increase energy and endurance as well as physical and mental performance while nourishing your mind and body. “Ginseng will improve alertness and exercise performance,” says Virginia Hadley, registered nurse, nutritionist, counselor and herbalist at Bearfoot Herbals.
Amanda Ball, a freshman at Western Michigan University, had a good experience when she took ginseng. “Ginseng helped me become healthier; when I was taking it, my hair and nails grew significantly!” she says.
Ginseng can be taken in capsule form (NOW Foods is a good brand to try), or it can also be brewed as a tea (Triple Leaf Tea is a great choice).
3. Peppermint
It might be better known in candy form, but the peppermint plant has a wide range of medicinal uses. “Peppermint is perhaps best known for helping digestion,” Lee says. Peppermint can help with gas, nausea, indigestion and cramps. It also relieves cold symptoms, such as a sore throat.
“Whenever I drink peppermint tea, I feel like it opens my airways and it soothes me, calms me down and makes me feel refreshed,” says Hannah Schuring, a senior at Portage Central High School in Michigan. The peppermint plant is best enjoyed in tea form; if you want to try it, try Celestial Seasonings Peppermint Herbal Tea.
Lemon balm also has calming properties and can be used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Unlike Adderall, lemon balm does not have detrimental side effects – in fact, quite the opposite. “Lemon balm helps to quiet the mind and increase clarity and concentration,” Lee says. “It's a safe herb (a member of the mint family) that can be taken daily as needed.” Focusing during your next history lecture will seem like a breeze!
Used as a treatment for insomnia, valerian root has a calming effect that enhances sleep, allowing for a restful night. “It improves sleep latency, meaning people who take it fall asleep faster,” Stage says. “They also report more restful sleep. [Valerian] does this by binding to GABA (a relaxing neurotransmitter in the brain) receptors, thus inducing a feeling of relaxation at lower doses and sleepiness at higher doses.”
As collegiettes, we often suffer from lack of sleep (loud neighbors, piles of homework, an eventful social life), and it can be difficult to wind down. With valerian, though, you’ll drift off comfortably and wake up rejuvenated! Valerian can be found in capsule form; a good choice is Nature’s Way Valerian Root.
6. Ashwagandha
Valued for centuries for its healing properties, ashwagandha, also known as “Indian winter cherry” or “Indian ginseng,” is useful in treating pain, fever and restlessness. This revitalizing herb has the ability to stabilize your mood, and it also boosts the immune system as well as brain function.
“It modulates the immune system, meaning it increases immune response when needed (such as when someone has a chronic infection like hepatitis C) and decreases immune response when needed (autoimmune diseases like lupus),” Stage says. “Ashwagandha also is great for energy, helping establish healthy sleep patterns and supporting people who are anemic or depleted after being sick (it increases red and white blood cells).”
If you’re feeling ill or like you’re fighting off a sickness, ashwagandha will help you return to full health. If you want to give ashwagandha a try, it is available in capsule form. Some reputable brands to try are Gaia Herbs or Nature’s Way.
It’s inevitable that we’ll experience health problems in life, but with some natural herbs to help alleviate your ailments, you’ll be free to spend more time being healthy and happy, and who wouldn’t want that?
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About The Author
Lauren is an aspiring herbalist and nutritionist attending the University of Colorado Boulder in beautiful Boulder, Colorado. She enjoys hiking, yoga, biking and being in nature. Some of her favorite things include herbs, mountains, music festivals and shows, sunrises and sunsets, cinnamon tea, hemp jewelry, and homemade granola. Lauren is passionate about herbs, health food, natural remedies and natural living, and she can personally attest to the dramatic difference healthy living makes in both mind and body. Lauren loves spending time with her family, friends, pet cats, and most importantly, God. Lauren has an ethereal relationship with God, and Jesus Christ is the source of her peace, radiance and joy. | 2024-07-25T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/6498 |
A baby is born at AnMed Health Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Anderson, South Carolina. Under the Republican health care proposal the House passed last week, insurance plans would not have to cover maternal and newborn care. © The Associated Press
Critics of the Republican health care plan the House passed last week mostly have focused on how it might harm Americans with pre-existing health conditions and poor and disabled people who rely on Medicaid — two vulnerable, but defined, populations.
But another change might have more far-reaching effects: eliminating the Affordable Care Act’s “essential health benefits,” or EHBs. That shift could affect almost everybody, including the 156 million Americans who receive health coverage through their employers.
Under the ACA, health plans sold to individuals and small groups (employers with 50 or fewer employees) must include 10 essential benefits: emergency services, habilitative and rehabilitative services, inpatient care, outpatient care, maternity and newborn care, mental health and addiction treatment, lab tests, preventive care, prescriptions, and pediatric services, including oral and vision care.
Plans offered by larger employers do not have to include all 10 essential benefits. However, if the plans cover any EHBs, they cannot impose annual or lifetime limits on reimbursements for those expenses.
The House GOP plan would eliminate the federal mandate under the ACA, and instead give states the power to determine what health plans sold on the individual and small group market must cover.
Insurers would be free to sell cheaper, bare-bones plans to young and healthy consumers who don’t think they’ll need certain benefits. Many of those consumers would end up paying less for their health insurance.
Supporters of the GOP plan say it makes little sense to force people to pay for services they don’t want. Why, for example, should a single man have to pay extra for a policy that covers maternal health care?
“That is a commandeering approach to health insurance which those of us on our side find objectionable,” said Edmund Haislmaier, senior health policy research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
But for people needing broader coverage, the change likely would mean higher premiums and fewer choices. It also would force people who opt for bare-bones coverage to pay out-of-pocket for services they unexpectedly need.
The change would affect even those who receive coverage through their employers, because the prohibitions on annual and lifetime caps are tied to the essential benefits.
A late amendment to the GOP bill, which now moves to the Senate, would allow large employers to choose benefit packages from any state, instead of being bound by the rules in their home state. For example, an employer looking to cut its insurance costs could choose to follow the rules of a state that had made hospitalization nonessential. The employer could then impose annual or lifetime limits on reimbursement for hospitalization — something barred under the ACA.
“The quality of health insurance will vary widely from state to state, as would the depth of those services,” said Michael Williams, director of the Center for Health Policy at the University of Virginia.
Widespread Concern
The Republican proposal has drawn opposition from many prominent health care groups, including the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the American Diabetes Association. Some Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, have objected to the elimination of some EHBs, especially addiction treatment services at a time when her state, like many others, is facing a crisis of opioid addiction.
Even the insurance industry, which might be expected to welcome the increased flexibility it would have under the GOP plan, has been circumspect about the question of EHBs. Kristine Grow, a spokeswoman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, the lobbying arm of the commercial health insurance industry, said the group has taken no position on whether they should be scrapped.
Most health care policy analysts are adamantly opposed to scrapping the essential benefits mandate, fearing a return to pre-ACA days when most plans offered on the individual market provided bare-bones coverage or high deductibles and copayments.
“The essential health benefits made insurance coverage really meaningful,” said Karen Pollitz, a senior health policy fellow at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. “It really took a lot of junk off the market, and there was a lot of it.”
Higher Premiums?
Pollitz said the elimination of the essential health benefits would cause a cascade of negative effects, both for people who opt to purchase the bare-bones plans and those who opt for more comprehensive coverage.
For the former, Pollitz said, the change “would make monthly premiums less expensive, but it adds to the risk that if something did happen that they didn’t anticipate, they’d have to pay for their health care out of their own pockets.”
For the latter, premiums would go up, because insurers could no longer spread risk across a broader pool of beneficiaries.
As an example, Pollitz pointed to maternal health care, which most pre-ACA individual policies did not offer. If insurers were not required to include it, only pregnant women or women who hoped to become pregnant would opt to pay more for policies that included that benefit. Because nearly all of them likely would use it, the premiums for such policies would be extremely high, probably “pretty close to the cost of labor and delivery themselves,” Pollitz said.
Pollitz and other critics also contend that eliminating the essential health benefits would undermine the popular ACA provision requiring health insurers to accept policyholders with pre-existing health conditions.
House Speaker Paul Ryan recently called the Republican bill a “rescue mission” to provide affordable health insurance, “especially and including people with pre-existing conditions.” Opponents note, however, that the bill would reduce ACA subsidies that help people pay for coverage.
The reduction of the subsidies, coupled with the end of the essential benefits mandate, would make it difficult for many with pre-existing conditions to find and afford the kind of coverage they would need.
“The reality is that if states strip out the [essential health benefits], that could very well take out the very services needed to address that pre-existing condition,” said Molly Smith, senior associate director for policy development at the American Hospital Association.
That could hit hospitals hard, since presumably many of the people who would go to hospitals for care not covered by their insurance would be unable to pay for it out of their own pockets, leaving hospitals to pick up the tab.
Williams of the University of Virginia pointed out another problem hospitals could face if the essential health benefits are jettisoned: Patients who are ready for discharge but not yet capable of returning home may no longer be covered for treatment in rehabilitative or skilled nursing care facilities. In those cases, Williams said, hospitals would be reluctant to discharge them, leading to longer and more costly hospital stays. The slower turnover might cause a shortage of beds.
“You can operate that way only so long,” Williams said. “It’s just not sustainable.” | 2024-07-07T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/9744 |
Coming up:
The AGSD-UK provides support and help for individuals and families affected by Glycogen Storage Disease (GSD). It does this by putting people in contact, providing information, issuing Newsletters and holding Conferences and Workshops. Find out more about us and what we do by exploring the menus above or using the site map.
Glycogen is a stored form of glucose, which is used as a fuel for energy. Glycogen Storage Disease occurs when there is an absence or deficiency of an enzyme needed to produce or break down glycogen. GSD primarily affects the liver and/or the muscles.
Bake or Burn Campaign - Making Calories Count!
Whether you prefer to bake-off or burn-off calories, you can join our calorific campaign to raise funds and awareness for kids living with GSD.
BAKING - Self-raising awareness
If you prefer baking then why not hold a cake sale for your friends or work colleagues? Of course you don’t have to make cakes; you can cook anything you like; how about selling hot soup and bread rolls after a brisk country walk? Or hold a “Come Dine with Me” evening for friends and neighbours?
BURNING – £ for lb?
If you’re more of the active type; then try a sponsored walk, run, cycle, swim or any other activity to burn off a few calories. You can join an organised event or make up one of your own with family and friends.
Contact Fundraising to discuss how we can help you make every calorie count | 2024-05-27T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/7131 |
Q:
Email sent from iOS app
In my app, a user can send an email from the app clicking on a button.
The needed function receives the email recipient from a parse.com object.
The first time the function is called, the app throws an error: is not a valid email address.
I have put print("Email=",self.emailConsulta) to check if the received email address is valid or not, and it is valid.
Then I close the email and if I click on the send email button again, then it works fine and the email app from the device shows the received email address as recipient for the email.
Here is the code, I haven't found the issue there, any help is welcome:
@IBAction func sendEmailButtonTapped(sender: AnyObject) {
let mailComposeViewController = configuredMailComposeViewController()
if MFMailComposeViewController.canSendMail() {
self.presentViewController(mailComposeViewController, animated: true, completion: nil)
} else {
self.showSendMailErrorAlert()
}
}
func configuredMailComposeViewController() -> MFMailComposeViewController {
let query = PFQuery(className: "datos_contacto")
query.getObjectInBackgroundWithId("G5w8G3kVBG", block: {
(questionObject: PFObject?, error: NSError?) -> Void in
let direccion: AnyObject! = questionObject!.objectForKey("dato_contacto")
self.emailConsulta = direccion as! String
print("Email=",self.emailConsulta)
})
let mailComposerVC = MFMailComposeViewController()
mailComposerVC.mailComposeDelegate = self // Extremely important to set the --mailComposeDelegate-- property, NOT the --delegate-- property
print (emailConsulta)
mailComposerVC.setToRecipients([emailConsulta])
mailComposerVC.setSubject("Enviado desde Pedro Villarejo App Clientes (iOs)...")
mailComposerVC.setMessageBody("Escriba aqui su texto", isHTML: false)
return mailComposerVC
}
func showSendMailErrorAlert() {
let sendMailErrorAlert = UIAlertView(title: "Could Not Send Email", message: "Your device could not send e-mail. Please check e-mail configuration and try again.", delegate: self, cancelButtonTitle: "OK")
sendMailErrorAlert.show()
}
// MARK: MFMailComposeViewControllerDelegate
func mailComposeController(controller: MFMailComposeViewController, didFinishWithResult result: MFMailComposeResult, error: NSError?) {
controller.dismissViewControllerAnimated(true, completion: nil)
}
A:
You are requesting the destination mail address from Parse in the background, so in some cases your function will return before the data has been retrieved from Parse. You can restructure your code so that the mail compose controller is presented from the completion closure -
@IBAction func sendEmailButtonTapped(sender: AnyObject) {
if MFMailComposeViewController.canSendMail() {
self.showMailComposeController()
} else {
self.showSendMailErrorAlert()
}
}
func showMailComposeController() {
let query = PFQuery(className: "datos_contacto")
query.getObjectInBackgroundWithId("G5w8G3kVBG", block: {
(questionObject: PFObject?, error: NSError?) -> Void in
let direccion: AnyObject! = questionObject!.objectForKey("dato_contacto")
self.emailConsulta = direccion as! String
print("Email=",self.emailConsulta)
let mailComposerVC = MFMailComposeViewController()
mailComposerVC.mailComposeDelegate = self // Extremely important to set the --mailComposeDelegate-- property, NOT the --delegate-- property
mailComposerVC.setToRecipients([emailConsulta])
mailComposerVC.setSubject("Enviado desde Pedro Villarejo App Clientes (iOs)...")
mailComposerVC.setMessageBody("Escriba aqui su texto", isHTML: false)
self.presentViewController(mailComposeViewController, animated: true, completion: nil)
})
}
func showSendMailErrorAlert() {
let sendMailErrorAlert = UIAlertView(title: "Could Not Send Email", message: "Your device could not send e-mail. Please check e-mail configuration and try again.", delegate: self, cancelButtonTitle: "OK")
sendMailErrorAlert.show()
}
// MARK: MFMailComposeViewControllerDelegate
func mailComposeController(controller: MFMailComposeViewController, didFinishWithResult result: MFMailComposeResult, error: NSError?) {
controller.dismissViewControllerAnimated(true, completion: nil)
}
| 2023-08-09T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/1244 |
Shizuru Seino
is a Japanese manga artist. Her works include Power!!, published in North America as Girl Got Game, and Love Attack!.
Bibliography
(1997)
(1998)
(1999)
(1999–2002) Power!!; English translation: Girl Got Game
(2003) Heaven!!
(2005–Present) ; English translation: Love Attack!
(2011–Present) "RabuKatsu!"; English translation: Love Win!
(2013-Present) seishun otome banchou
External links
Official website
Category:Living people
Category:Manga artists
Category:1976 births | 2024-05-21T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/5712 |
Bury Differences, World Body Ad-hoc Committee to Indian Boxing Family
Updated: 23 September 2015 21:34 IST
Amateur International Boxing Association-appointed ad-hoc committee has urged all stakeholders to bury their differences and show a "disciplined approach" to end the long-dragging administrative crisis in the sport.
Written by Press Trust of India Written by Press Trust of India
Read Time : 2-min
New Delhi:
The Amateur International Boxing Association-appointed ad-hoc committee to run boxing in India has urged all stakeholders to bury their differences and show a "disciplined approach" to end the long-dragging administrative crisis in the sport.
In a letter sent out to the suspended Boxing India president Meren Paul, the committee's chairman Kishan Narsi has said that the matter can be resolved only if the members of "boxing family" work in tandem.
"Please understand, we at ad-hoc committee are totally committed to the welfare of Indian Boxers and Indian Boxing as well. However, it would be helpful if the Indian Boxing family bury their differences to follow the International Boxing Association (AIBA) guidelines in order to resolve issues as soon as possible," Narsi wrote in the letter.
"AIBA has been more than kind to accommodate India's requests every time and then and it needs member's firm resolve to rise above all the petty issues and have a disciplined approach to tide over the present crisis," he added.
Indian boxing has been in turmoil for three years now after the erstwhile Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) was terminated. The new body which took office last year -- Boxing India -- also disintegrated and was suspended after its President and Secretary General were sacked following a revolt by state units.
Ever since, the ad-hoc committee has been running the sport and has been mandated to find a new group to constitute the national federation all over again. However, state units and BI have tried to come back into reckoning by holding meetings leading to sharp reaction from AIBA.
Narsi urged the stakeholders to not act unilaterally.
"...I request you and your group to follow AIBA directions and refrain from operating independently organising any event, competition, meet or meeting hereafter, without ad-hoc committee approval," he wrote to Paul.
Narsi said the committee is trying to arrive at consensus to resolve the crisis.
"...we are in process of involving more family members in ad-hoc committee's work to re-start boxing activities including organising a joint meeting and getting all the stakeholders together to resolve this issue that may include a fresh elections as well.
"We expect disciplined conduct from the members to achieve that at the soonest possible," he asserted.
The committee is planning to conduct the National Championships next month. | 2024-04-29T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/4411 |
Here is some of what Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen said on Tuesday:
• Matt Moore wears his emotions on his sleeve. He gets the ball out quick. He takes chances. He throws strikes.
• Moore can anticipate throws. He can let it go. You can’t just throw to the open guys.
• Jermon Bushrod has played extremely well.
• Ja’Wuan James needs to be more consistent. Same for Laremy Tunsil. He faces a challenge this week. Presumably Terrell Suggs.
• This short week may be the biggest challenge of the season. Back to back physical games. Sunday was a three-hour brawl.
• The Dolphins are very fortunate to have the insurance policy of Matt Moore.
• The personality of the offense will be different. Moore is a fireball. He comes in there flinging it. He’s fun to watch. He is going to keep you in the thing. Everyone loves the reliever. He’s that kind of guy. An electric guy. He’s the pied piper. He’s popular. His energy is contagious. The stadium was into it. | 2024-02-15T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/7627 |
Israel Through Its Own Eyes
Filmmakers offer a glimpse into a world unknown to those outside the country.
In Israel Through Its Own Eyes Al Jazeera takes a frank look at Israel through the work of Israeli filmmakers who are able to offer us a glimpse into a world which would otherwise be unknown to those outside the country.
The film One Shot by Nurit Kedar is a troubling look into the work and the minds of an elite team of Israeli army snipers who carry out assassinations.
After five weeks of training an Israeli soldier can become a sniper if he chooses.
The filmmaker spent a whole year getting all the necessary permits from the Israeli military authorities.
This is the first time Israeli snipers were given permission to be interviewed for a film and Israeli military censors required the filmmaker to cover the faces of the soldiers who speak.
By the director Lina Chaplin, Yoel, Israel and the Pashkavils takes us into the heart of a tiny self-made Jewish ghetto in Jerusalem.
It is home to the Neturei Karta - a group of Orthodox Jews who reject Zionism and the establishment of the State of Israel.
In this ghetto, television and radio, newspapers and magazines are all forbidden. The only form of media is the printed wall-poster - the pashkavil.
This film portrays two men: Israel who prints pashkavils and Yoel who collects them, and is the first time television cameras have ever penetrated their walls of rejection.
One Shot will be shown from Monday, April 14, 2008 at the following times GMT: | 2024-03-24T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/4611 |
Patient awareness of genetic and environmental risk factors in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus--relevance to first-degree relatives.
Primary preventative strategies may be useful in non-insulin-dependent (Type 2) diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), where weight reduction and physical exercise may help to counteract the increased risk to first-degree relatives of affected patients. To assess the extent of patient's awareness of these and related issues, 100 NIDDM patients were selected to complete a questionnaire. Forty-four per cent had a family history of NIDDM. Forty per cent and 35%, respectively, were aware that the patient's siblings and children were at an increased risk of developing NIDDM. Sixty-three per cent and 35%, respectively, were aware that obesity and physical inactivity increased the risk of developing NIDDM. After appropriate counselling about these risk factors, all 100 patients claimed that they would be advising their first-degree relatives. However, at 4 months review, 53% of patients had informed their first-degree relatives of the increased genetic risk to them. Of these patients, 83%, 74%, and 23% had provided relevant advice on diet, weight reduction, and physical exercise, respectively, as a means of reducing the risk of first-degree relatives developing NIDDM. We conclude that only a small proportion of patients are aware of the increased genetic susceptibility of their first-degree relatives to develop NIDDM and that weight reduction and regular physical exercise can reduce this risk. But, after appropriate education, a significant proportion of NIDDM patients did inform their close relatives of these issues and this may prove to be a useful strategy in the primary prevention of NIDDM. | 2024-07-16T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/2761 |
Restaurants Stay Salty
Restaurants Stay Salty
Illumined people across the globe have been quitting smoking and cutting back on fats en masse, but certain other addictions die hard. Take, for instance, our collective love affair with salty foods. Many of us know that we should limit the amount of sodium in our diets, and yet, we continue to eat salt-laden snacks and frequent restaurants that serve meals with sodium content in the stratosphere. New evidence shows that the restaurants we patronize aren't doing enough to make their meals less salty, either, in spite of having made public pledges to do so.1
A recent study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest compared the sodium content in 136 children's and adult meals served in America's 17 most popular chain restaurants in 2009, to those same meals today.2 The researchers found that while a few of the restaurants examined did slightly decrease sodium in their offerings, several went in the other direction and actually increased the amount of sodium in their meals.
According to the study report, "In 2009, Yum! Brands Inc., the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, announced that it was working to reduce sodium in its restaurants." Other restaurants gave themselves a longer timeline: "Olive Garden promised to cut sodium levels by 10% by 2016 and 20% by 2021, and McDonald's has pledged a 15% reduction by 2015." Subway made the most dramatic pledge, vowing to cut sodium by 25 percent by 2014, a goal the company has actually exceeded.
On average, the restaurants in this study reduced sodium by 1.5% annually. While that's certainly better than nothing, it falls far short of being enough. As Michael Jacobson, who heads the Center for Science In The Public Interest (CSPI) says, "At that rate, to get even a 30% reduction, it would take 20 years, which is crazy."3
Even more crazy is the fact that some of the restaurants actually increased the amount of sodium in their meals, pledge be damned-but more on that in a minute. First, let's review the context. As we've reported before, 90 percent of us consume far too much salt. In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control established a top limit of 2300 mg of salt daily for healthy people, and 1500 mg for individuals at risk of cardiac issues-and that includes 60 percent of the population. In other words, according to the CDC, the majority of us should consume under 1500 mg daily. In fact, most of us consume over 4000 mg daily. Experts say that excess sodium intake contributes to the high incidence of hypertension, stroke, heart attacks, kidney disease, and other health problems, and the CSPI report notes that if US citizens cut intake of sodium by 1200 mg daily, it would save as much as $24 billion in medical costs each year.4
Now that said, while there is little debate about the 2300 mg figure, there is actually a lot of debate about the 1500 mg figure. For example, a panel of experts convened by the Institute of Medicine in 2013 concluded that "the evidence on direct health outcomes does not support recommendations to lower sodium intake ... to or even below 1,500 mg per day."5 Among other things, the report cited an earlier Italian study that found that people on a low-sodium diet actually did worse [compared to those on medium-sodium diets]. They had more hospital re-admissions and they had a higher mortality rate.6 But let's be perfectly clear here: the numbers we're talking about are way outside the 1,500-2,300 mg debate.
Polls indicate that most of us eat out anywhere from one to four times a week, and most of our sodium comes from restaurant meals or packaged foods.7 The CSPI study found that some of the chains in the study offered meals containing more than 5000 mg of sodium. That's in just one meal; imagine how high the total goes when you add in the rest of the day's meals. Worst of all were the higher end, sit-down chain restaurants like Red Lobster, Chili's, and Olive Garden. While all of these chains did reduce the sodium content in their menu offerings within the past five years, they still serve single meals that contain three days' worth of sodium. The sodium reductions they achieved are the equivalent of going from a three-pack-a-day cigarette habit down to a two-pack habit.
For example, back in 2009, each of these chains offered entrees containing over 6000 milligrams, and none of them do that now, but Chili's still serves Crispy Honey Chipotle Chicken Crispers with Ranch Dressing, which tops out at 4,100 mg of sodium, while Red Lobster's North Pacific King Crab Legs contain 4,070 mg. Out of the 81 adult meals reviewed, 79 percent still contained more than 1500 milligrams of sodium. Clearly, these reductions still leave diners in the sodium danger zone.
As noted above, some of the restaurants added yet more salt to their offerings. KFC did decrease sodium in one of the meals tested, but five actually showed significant increases. For instance, their Extra Crispy Chicken plate rang in at 3100 milligrams in 2009; today it contains 3445 mg. Likewise, the bacon ultimate cheeseburger at Jack-in-the-Box contained 3370 mg in 2009, but today it contains 3670 mg. In contrast, Subway exceeded the goals it set, reducing the sodium content in all the meals tested, and lowering sodium in children's meals by 29%. You can order the 295 mg veggie delight sandwich at Subway, making it one of the lowest sodium offerings in the study. Burger King also did very well, reducing sodium in children's meals by an average of 40%.
Just because a restaurant was not included in the study doesn't mean that it's sodium safe. For instance, one bowl of hot and sour soup at PF Chang's contains nearly 8000 mg of sodium. At Joe's Crab Shack, the Big Hook Plate has 7610 mg. It might be even worse at single location restaurants, because they don't have to reveal the amount of sodium in their meals. At present, only restaurants with more than 20 locations are required to reveal nutritional content.
The bottom line is that going out to eat is a risky adventure, particularly if you're already at risk for coronary or kidney issues. You can avoid getting slammed with sodium overload by choosing restaurants carefully, examining the nutritional content if it's available, going places where they cook to order, avoiding dishes with sauces and gravies, and specifying that you don't want any extra salt added to your meals. Or, you can stay home and cook for yourself, always a safer bet.
2. "Chain Restaurants Decrease Sodium Slightly but Progress is Slow & Uneven, Report Finds." 2 July 2014. Center for the Study of Science in the Public Interest. 3 July 2013. http://cspinet.org/new/201407021.html
Comments
Please understand that by reducing salt intake, you are also reducing iodine intake from iodized salt and there is insufficient iodine in the typical American diet.
Moreover, the problem with salt is that there is insufficient potassium in foods normally consumed. What is needed is a K:Na ratio of at least 4:1.
There are studies that show sodium restriction is associated with increased, not decreased, mortality.
I agree the sodium content in restaurant food is way too high. When out I usually eat salads and am careful to not add items that add hidden salt. I also do not like the idea of low sodium. Your body cannot properly hydrate without sodium. And lastly, I eat salt freely at home on food and in my water daily. The key is the proper kind of salt. I use Himalayan Salt and use it as a Sole and add to my water. And I use quite a bit daily with no water retention, swelling or higher blood pressure. The plus is I get more trace minerals and the salt taste better than general table salt which is stripped of all minerals to look pure white. I call it Junk Salt.
I appreciate (even applaud) most of the articles here, including many by this author. However, in this case, with respect... why beat the restaurants over the head for something that hasn't even been proved harmful? In fact there's a lot of evidence to the contrary.
"Experts say that excess sodium intake contributes to the high incidence of hypertension, stroke, heart attacks, kidney disease, and other health problems,..."
Some experts may still say that, but many relevant studies and reviews have concluded otherwise. Of course, it may depend on exactly how you define "excess" sodium. You say in mentioning the 2013 IOM Review, linked as ref. 5, "there is little debate about the 2300 mg figure" [recommended daily maximum salt intake for a healthy adult]. But that review actually says the following, on p. 60:
"... when analyzed for intakes less than 2,300 mg per day compared to 2,300 mg per day or greater, lower sodium intake was statistically significantly associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality."
In other words even the advice to lower daily salt intake to 2300mg or below looks to be wrong.
Although higher salt consumption may raise blood pressure significantly for some people (not everyone), the question of mortality risk is separate, a point well explained by Dr Albert Fuchs in his blog post "Little Evidence that Low-Salt Diet Prevents Heart Disease" (the system here wouldn't let me include the URL).
I wish restaurants would, at the very least, offer some low-sodium versions of a few of their dishes.
I'm on medication for high blood pressure. Recently my blood pressure shot up to 180/139, which was absolutely terrifying and dangerous. I could have had a stroke. My vision was blurry for several days. I've since drastically cut my sodium intake, and my blood pressure is now normal.
Soon my husband and I will travel out-of-town for our dog's ortho surgery. We'll stay in a hotel for 5 days. I've studied nutrition charts of various restaurants but I've found so little that I can eat. It's frustrating.
I want to live so it looks like I'll be eating a lot of salad.
I'm so glad you mentioned Subway's Veggie Delite Sandwich--at least one thing that I can have during the trip. Thank you!
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Getting started
First of all we need to create the base structure of our interceptor and provide it in our main AppModule:
Please note that you can define multiple interceptors and therefore the order matters! Interceptors are executed from the top to the bottom for outgoing requests and bottom to top for incoming server responses.
This simple code will let any request pass through untouched. Since this is not what we want, we will add some simple logic to check whether or not we are in localhost (we probably do not want this interceptor in production) and if we have a configuration for the current url.
As you can see, the code is fairly simple: all the magic is happening inside the buildHTTPResponse method. Here we retrieve the configuration for the URL and check if it needs to be an HttpResponse (status 200) or an HttpErrorResponse (status > 400):
That’s it! All that is left to do is to configure it, using the mimicConfiguration property we defined. You can both store your configuration inline (for small JSON responses) or just define it in a separate file and import it.
Wrapping up
Before coming up with this code I was trying to achieve the same results using the included webpack dev-server proxy configuration + json-server but the fact that I have to use localhost as my API endpoint forces me to have the full backend up and running.
This solution, instead, allows me to point my app towards the test or production backend and handle only the requests I’m interested in while letting the others flow.
Let me know if you have any suggestions, improvements or alternative ways of achieving the same goal.
Thanks for reading, here’s the full code: | 2023-09-10T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/7572 |
A compensatory base change in human U2 snRNA can suppress a branch site mutation.
We have developed an assay to test whether U2 snRNA can base-pair with the branch site during mammalian mRNA splicing. The beta 110 point mutation (GG----AG) within the first intron of human beta-globin generates a new 3' splice site that is preferentially used. We show here that use of the normal 3' splice site can be restored either by improving the match of a cryptic branch site to the branch site consensus or by introducing mutant U2 snRNAs with greater complementarity to the cryptic branch site. These data indicate that human U2 snRNA can form base pairs with the mRNA precursor; however, base pairing appears to be optional because some mammalian branch sites do not match the consensus. | 2023-08-28T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/3034 |
Judge in Kan. orders scientist from China detained
Wednesday
Dec 18, 2013 at 9:34 AM
Co-defendant, Wengui Yan, a naturalized U.S. citizen, worked for the Department of Agriculture as a research geneticist at the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center in Arkansas. Yan has also been detained in Arkansas.
MARIA SUDEKUMAssociated Press
A Chinese scientist accused of taking agricultural seeds from a private research facility in Kansas and giving them to members of a visiting delegation from China has to remain in federal custody at least until his next court appearance, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
Weiqiang Zhang, an agricultural seed breeder at a biopharmaceutical company's facility in Junction City, was charged last week with conspiracy to steal trade secrets. He's accused of collecting the seeds from the company — which court documents identify only as "Company A"— for more than a year and storing them at his home in Manhattan, Kan., before handing at least some of them off this summer to a group of agriculture officials from China whose U.S. trip he helped arrange, according to the federal complaint.
The company told federal authorities it was the only producer of those particular seeds in the U.S. and that if those seeds were stolen and the technology compromised "its entire research and development investment would be compromised," according to the complaint. The company said its research investment in developing the seeds ranged from $3 million to $18 million.
Zhang, who attended the hearing in an orange prison jumpsuit, listened as an interpreter relayed the court's hour-and-a-half long proceedings during which prosecutors tried to show Zhang should be detained because he would likely flee the country to avoid prosecution.
Thomas Bartee, Zhang's federal public defender, said Zhang would not leave the area because he has a wife, two children, ages 8 and 11, and deep ties to the Manhattan community, where he's lived for several years.
U.S. District Magistrate Judge James P. O'Hara, however, sided with prosecutors and ordered Zhang detained in part because testimony from the FBI agent who investigated the case showed Zhang "was at best evasive, if not intentionally untruthful," O'Hara said.
"I do believe based on what's been proffered here ... you would cross a border and leave the country," the judge said. O'Hara said he would consider a request for "substantial" bail at Zhang's next hearing, which he set for Dec. 30.
Zhang, a citizen of China, is a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. His co-defendant, Wengui Yan, a naturalized U.S. citizen, worked for the Department of Agriculture as a research geneticist at the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center in Arkansas. Yan has also been detained in Arkansas.
Zhang and Yan are accused of arranging the trip for the officials from China and then giving them seeds, which were confiscated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection before the group flew home to China. Zhang and Yan face up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Their case coincided last week with charges in Iowa against six men from China, including the CEO of a seed corn subsidiary of a Chinese conglomerate. They are charged with conspiring to steal patented seed corn from two of America's leading seed developers.
Jim Cross, spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys in Kansas, said Tuesday as far as he knows the two cases are not related.
The number of cases of economic espionage that the government has brought since 1996 has largely remained constant at between 10 and 15 prosecutions a year, said Peter Toren, a Washington lawyer and former federal prosecutor who handled cases involving theft of trade secrets. But he said the number of prosecutions involving China in the last few years has accounted for at least half of those indictments.
"China is looking for a way to compete on the world market now as cheaply as possible, and it's much cheaper to steal information from American companies ... than develop it on their own," Toren said.
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Digital access or digital and print delivery. | 2024-05-26T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/7511 |
Think You Know Brazil?
by Otávio Clark
| Aug 13, 2018
Brazil is known for its paradisiac beaches, extraordinary biodiversity, and welcoming people. However, there is much more to see in this beautiful tropical country. Brazil is a country marked by a great duality, in which extreme opposites live side by side.
In the past few years, Brazil has emerged as one of the core growth markets in the world. Brazil is the largest country in South America, covering 47% of the continent, and also its largest economy, with a GDP per capita of approximately US $13,000. But its disparities are almost as big. In some states, the GDP per capita can be as high as US $22,000 (as in the case of the Federal District), or as low as US $3,100 (as in the case of Maranhão, located in one of the poorest regions of the country).[1]
This unequal income distribution impacts the health of the population – and the healthcare system.
For example, the country recently faced outbreaks of dengue fever, yellow fever and Zika virus – health problems that don’t discriminate between affluence and poverty. And we are still struggling to tackle these diseases. But at the same time, obesity and health problems linked to it, like diabetes and heart disease, are on the rise – and these are problems traditionally seen in more developed countries.
Despite all of these issues, the country has managed to improve its health indicators in recent years. The child mortality rate[2] significantly decreased, from 4% of the total deaths recorded in 2005 to 2.5% in 2015. And it is still decreasing. Life expectancy is on the rise. In 2000, a Brazilians’ life expectancy at birth was 69.8 years, and it rose to 75.5 years in 2015 – an increase of 5.7 years.[3]
A dual healthcare system
Brazil also faces another duality in its healthcare financing system. The country has a public healthcare system which is free and universal. However, many Brazilians pay for additional private health insurance. The public healthcare system covers 75% of the population, and the private covers 25%. Incorporation of new technologies also differ between these two systems: while the private system can be more prone to adopting new technologies and providing easier access to services, incorporating them in the public system has been challenging and slow, mainly due to the lack of government budget.
Also, the expenditure on health in Brazil is extremely low. The country invests approximately 7% of GDP in health and, of this total, 4% is directed to the private sector (which treats less than 45 million people) and 3% to the public sector (which treats more than 160 million people). Over time, this has caused a deep gap in patient care, with some patients having access to the latest technologies and treatments and some not.
Despite these difficulties, the public healthcare system has managed to develop some high quality programs. The AIDS, hepatitis, and vaccination programs from the Brazilian public sector have been cited as models for the rest of the world.
Looking to the future
Brazil has many challenges to face in the health area. Financing the costs of new technologies may be the greatest of them. New products (some of them very expensive) to treat diseases with better efficacy are constantly arriving, and payers struggle to find efficient ways to allocate money. This is even more complicated in the case of the public system, where the budget is more limited.
The hope for the future is that the gap in access between the private and the public healthcare systems decreases considerably. The public-private partnership (PPP) will help to improve this scenario, not only by developing new technologies but also by financing them in the public sector, thus expanding access.
Lastly, Brazil is still a land of opportunities for those seeking valuable data. Conducting clinical trials can help in the development of new technologies and in access to them, and the Brazilian government has been making an effort to streamline the approval process. For having a unique healthcare set, real-world research (RWR) in the country is also extremely interesting. It can benefit patients with access to new treatments, healthcare personnel with education and training, and the market in general with new insights.
Read more in Kantar Health's latest Edge of Insight report – Inside the Growth Markets, where we take an in-depth look at today's most attractive healthcare growth markets – China, Brazil, India, Korea, Taiwan, and Central and Eastern Europe – and detail what steps you can take to achieve commercial success. | 2023-08-06T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/2904 |
Including All Three Episodes of the DC Crossover Event:ElseworldsAvailable Only on the Blu-Ray Set
BURBANK, CA(May 22, 2018) – Get ready for nonstop action from start to finish when Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releasesArrow: The Complete Seventh Seasonon Blu-ray and DVDAugust 20, 2019. Both sets contain all 22 action-packed episodes from the seventh season, plus the show’s 2018 Comic-Con Panel, a crossover featurette, deleted scenes, a gag reel and more! All three DC Crossover:Elseworldsepisodes will be available only for fans who purchase the Blu-ray set.The Complete Seventh Seasonis priced to own at $39.99 SRP for the DVD ($51.99 in Canada) and $44.98 SRP for the Blu-ray ($52.99 in Canada), which includes a Digital Copy (U.S. only). Both sets have an order due date ofJuly 16, 2019.Arrow: The Complete Seventh Seasonis also available to own on Digital via purchase from digital retailers.
Following Oliver Queen’s shocking decision to turn himself over the FBI and reveal his identity as the Green Arrow to the public, Oliver has spent the past five months in prison while his team was left behind to protect Star City. In the wake of Ricardo Diaz’s escape, Oliver has yet again turned into someone else inside Slabside Maximum Security Prison. Determined to keep a low profile to shorten his sentence for the sake of his family, Oliver’s limits will be tested when he and Team Arrow are pitted against the most ruthless villains they have yet to face.
“Arrowhas struck a chord with audiences over the years through its incredible action and impressive special effects,” said Rosemary Markson, WBHEG Senior Vice President, TV Marketing. “As Arrow enters its eighth and final season on The CW, fans will be eager to add the most recent season to their collection and enjoy the two hours of bonus content included on Blu-ray and DVD.”
With Blu-ray’s unsurpassed picture and sound,Arrow: The Complete Seventh SeasonBlu-ray release will include 1080p Full HD Video with DTS-HD Master Audio for English 5.1. In addition to featuring all 22 episodes from the seventh season in high-definition, as well as a digital copy of the season (available in the U.S. only), the 4-disc Blu-ray will also includeall threecrossover episodes, a tremendous value and collectors’ opportunity. | 2024-03-09T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/3916 |
/**
* This file is part of the mingw-w64 runtime package.
* No warranty is given; refer to the file DISCLAIMER within this package.
*/
#define HDS_HORZ 0x0
#define HDS_BUTTONS 0x2
#define HDS_HOTTRACK 0x4
#define HDS_HIDDEN 0x8
#define HDS_DRAGDROP 0x40
#define HDS_FULLDRAG 0x80
#define HDS_FILTERBAR 0x100
#define HDS_FLAT 0x200
#if NTDDI_VERSION >= 0x06000000
#define HDS_CHECKBOXES 0x400
#define HDS_NOSIZING 0x800
#define HDS_OVERFLOW 0x1000
#endif
#define TBSTYLE_BUTTON 0x0
#define TBSTYLE_SEP 0x1
#define TBSTYLE_CHECK 0x2
#define TBSTYLE_GROUP 0x4
#define TBSTYLE_CHECKGROUP (TBSTYLE_GROUP | TBSTYLE_CHECK)
#define TBSTYLE_DROPDOWN 0x8
#define TBSTYLE_AUTOSIZE 0x10
#define TBSTYLE_NOPREFIX 0x20
#define TBSTYLE_TOOLTIPS 0x100
#define TBSTYLE_WRAPABLE 0x200
#define TBSTYLE_ALTDRAG 0x400
#define TBSTYLE_FLAT 0x800
#define TBSTYLE_LIST 0x1000
#define TBSTYLE_CUSTOMERASE 0x2000
#define TBSTYLE_REGISTERDROP 0x4000
#define TBSTYLE_TRANSPARENT 0x8000
#define BTNS_BUTTON TBSTYLE_BUTTON
#define BTNS_SEP TBSTYLE_SEP
#define BTNS_CHECK TBSTYLE_CHECK
#define BTNS_GROUP TBSTYLE_GROUP
#define BTNS_CHECKGROUP TBSTYLE_CHECKGROUP
#define BTNS_DROPDOWN TBSTYLE_DROPDOWN
#define BTNS_AUTOSIZE TBSTYLE_AUTOSIZE
#define BTNS_NOPREFIX TBSTYLE_NOPREFIX
#define BTNS_SHOWTEXT 0x40
#define BTNS_WHOLEDROPDOWN 0x80
#define RBS_TOOLTIPS 0x100
#define RBS_VARHEIGHT 0x200
#define RBS_BANDBORDERS 0x400
#define RBS_FIXEDORDER 0x800
#define RBS_REGISTERDROP 0x1000
#define RBS_AUTOSIZE 0x2000
#define RBS_VERTICALGRIPPER 0x4000
#define RBS_DBLCLKTOGGLE 0x8000
#define TTS_ALWAYSTIP 0x1
#define TTS_NOPREFIX 0x2
#define TTS_NOANIMATE 0x10
#define TTS_NOFADE 0x20
#define TTS_BALLOON 0x40
#define TTS_CLOSE 0x80
#if NTDDI_VERSION >= 0x06000000
#define TTS_USEVISUALSTYLE 0x100
#endif
#define SBARS_SIZEGRIP 0x100
#define SBARS_TOOLTIPS 0x800
#define SBT_TOOLTIPS 0x800
#define TBS_AUTOTICKS 0x1
#define TBS_VERT 0x2
#define TBS_HORZ 0x0
#define TBS_TOP 0x4
#define TBS_BOTTOM 0x0
#define TBS_LEFT 0x4
#define TBS_RIGHT 0x0
#define TBS_BOTH 0x8
#define TBS_NOTICKS 0x10
#define TBS_ENABLESELRANGE 0x20
#define TBS_FIXEDLENGTH 0x40
#define TBS_NOTHUMB 0x80
#define TBS_TOOLTIPS 0x100
#define TBS_REVERSED 0x200
#define TBS_DOWNISLEFT 0x400
#if _WIN32_IE >= 0x0600
#define TBS_NOTIFYBEFOREMOVE 0x800
#endif
#if NTDDI_VERSION >= 0x06000000
#define TBS_TRANSPARENTBKGND 0x1000
#endif
#define UDS_WRAP 0x1
#define UDS_SETBUDDYINT 0x2
#define UDS_ALIGNRIGHT 0x4
#define UDS_ALIGNLEFT 0x8
#define UDS_AUTOBUDDY 0x10
#define UDS_ARROWKEYS 0x20
#define UDS_HORZ 0x0040
#define UDS_NOTHOUSANDS 0x80
#define UDS_HOTTRACK 0x100
#define PBS_SMOOTH 0x1
#define PBS_VERTICAL 0x4
#define PBS_MARQUEE 0x8
#if NTDDI_VERSION >= 0x06000000
#define PBS_SMOOTHREVERSE 0x10
#endif
#define CCS_TOP 0x1L
#define CCS_NOMOVEY 0x2L
#define CCS_BOTTOM 0x3L
#define CCS_NORESIZE 0x4L
#define CCS_NOPARENTALIGN 0x8L
#define CCS_ADJUSTABLE 0x20L
#define CCS_NODIVIDER 0x40L
#define CCS_VERT 0x80L
#define CCS_LEFT (CCS_VERT | CCS_TOP)
#define CCS_RIGHT (CCS_VERT | CCS_BOTTOM)
#define CCS_NOMOVEX (CCS_VERT | CCS_NOMOVEY)
#define LWS_TRANSPARENT 0x1
#define LWS_IGNORERETURN 0x2
#if NTDDI_VERSION >= 0x06000000
#define LWS_NOPREFIX 0x4
#define LWS_USEVISUALSTYLE 0x8
#define LWS_USECUSTOMTEXT 0x10
#define LWS_RIGHT 0x20
#endif
#define LVS_ICON 0x0
#define LVS_REPORT 0x1
#define LVS_SMALLICON 0x2
#define LVS_LIST 0x3
#define LVS_TYPEMASK 0x3
#define LVS_SINGLESEL 0x4
#define LVS_SHOWSELALWAYS 0x8
#define LVS_SORTASCENDING 0x10
#define LVS_SORTDESCENDING 0x20
#define LVS_SHAREIMAGELISTS 0x40
#define LVS_NOLABELWRAP 0x80
#define LVS_AUTOARRANGE 0x100
#define LVS_EDITLABELS 0x200
#define LVS_OWNERDATA 0x1000
#define LVS_NOSCROLL 0x2000
#define LVS_TYPESTYLEMASK 0xfc00
#define LVS_ALIGNTOP 0x0
#define LVS_ALIGNLEFT 0x800
#define LVS_ALIGNMASK 0xc00
#define LVS_OWNERDRAWFIXED 0x400
#define LVS_NOCOLUMNHEADER 0x4000
#define LVS_NOSORTHEADER 0x8000
#define TVS_HASBUTTONS 0x1
#define TVS_HASLINES 0x2
#define TVS_LINESATROOT 0x4
#define TVS_EDITLABELS 0x8
#define TVS_DISABLEDRAGDROP 0x10
#define TVS_SHOWSELALWAYS 0x20
#define TVS_RTLREADING 0x40
#define TVS_NOTOOLTIPS 0x80
#define TVS_CHECKBOXES 0x100
#define TVS_TRACKSELECT 0x200
#define TVS_SINGLEEXPAND 0x400
#define TVS_INFOTIP 0x800
#define TVS_FULLROWSELECT 0x1000
#define TVS_NOSCROLL 0x2000
#define TVS_NONEVENHEIGHT 0x4000
#define TVS_NOHSCROLL 0x8000
#define TVS_EX_NOSINGLECOLLAPSE 0x1
#if NTDDI_VERSION >= 0x06000000
#define TVS_EX_MULTISELECT 0x2
#define TVS_EX_DOUBLEBUFFER 0x4
#define TVS_EX_NOINDENTSTATE 0x8
#define TVS_EX_RICHTOOLTIP 0x10
#define TVS_EX_AUTOHSCROLL 0x20
#define TVS_EX_FADEINOUTEXPANDOS 0x40
#define TVS_EX_PARTIALCHECKBOXES 0x80
#define TVS_EX_EXCLUSIONCHECKBOXES 0x100
#define TVS_EX_DIMMEDCHECKBOXES 0x200
#define TVS_EX_DRAWIMAGEASYNC 0x400
#endif
#define TCS_SCROLLOPPOSITE 0x1
#define TCS_BOTTOM 0x2
#define TCS_RIGHT 0x2
#define TCS_MULTISELECT 0x4
#define TCS_FLATBUTTONS 0x8
#define TCS_FORCEICONLEFT 0x10
#define TCS_FORCELABELLEFT 0x20
#define TCS_HOTTRACK 0x40
#define TCS_VERTICAL 0x80
#define TCS_TABS 0x0
#define TCS_BUTTONS 0x100
#define TCS_SINGLELINE 0x0
#define TCS_MULTILINE 0x200
#define TCS_RIGHTJUSTIFY 0x0
#define TCS_FIXEDWIDTH 0x400
#define TCS_RAGGEDRIGHT 0x800
#define TCS_FOCUSONBUTTONDOWN 0x1000
#define TCS_OWNERDRAWFIXED 0x2000
#define TCS_TOOLTIPS 0x4000
#define TCS_FOCUSNEVER 0x8000
#define ACS_CENTER 0x1
#define ACS_TRANSPARENT 0x2
#define ACS_AUTOPLAY 0x4
#define ACS_TIMER 0x8
#define MCS_DAYSTATE 0x1
#define MCS_MULTISELECT 0x2
#define MCS_WEEKNUMBERS 0x4
#define MCS_NOTODAYCIRCLE 0x8
#define MCS_NOTODAY 0x10
#if NTDDI_VERSION >= 0x06000000
#define MCS_NOTRAILINGDATES 0x40
#define MCS_SHORTDAYSOFWEEK 0x80
#define MCS_NOSELCHANGEONNAV 0x100
#endif
#define DTS_UPDOWN 0x1
#define DTS_SHOWNONE 0x2
#define DTS_SHORTDATEFORMAT 0x0
#define DTS_LONGDATEFORMAT 0x4
#define DTS_SHORTDATECENTURYFORMAT 0xc
#define DTS_TIMEFORMAT 0x9
#define DTS_APPCANPARSE 0x10
#define DTS_RIGHTALIGN 0x20
#define PGS_VERT 0x0
#define PGS_HORZ 0x1
#define PGS_AUTOSCROLL 0x2
#define PGS_DRAGNDROP 0x4
#define NFS_EDIT 0x1
#define NFS_STATIC 0x2
#define NFS_LISTCOMBO 0x4
#define NFS_BUTTON 0x8
#define NFS_ALL 0x10
#define NFS_USEFONTASSOC 0x20
#define BS_SPLITBUTTON 0xcL
#define BS_DEFSPLITBUTTON 0xdL
#define BS_COMMANDLINK 0xeL
#define BS_DEFCOMMANDLINK 0xfL
#define BCSIF_GLYPH 0x1
#define BCSIF_IMAGE 0x2
#define BCSIF_STYLE 0x4
#define BCSIF_SIZE 0x8
#define BCSS_NOSPLIT 0x1
#define BCSS_STRETCH 0x2
#define BCSS_ALIGNLEFT 0x4
#define BCSS_IMAGE 0x8
| 2023-11-18T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/2693 |
Pressure on Japan for stronger laws on child pornography
A booklet entitled, "Violence Against Children in Cyberspace", is pictured at an office of Keiji Goto, a police officer-turned lawyer in Tokyo August 10, 2012. "The average citizen is against child pornography, but I feel they don't act strongly on those beliefs. Whenever they face strong opposition, they tend to back down easily," says Goto, who in 2005 left the police force's cybercrime unit and became a lawyer, who now works with crime victims. Picture taken August 10, 2012. To match Feature JAPAN-PORNOGRAPHY/ REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao
TOKYO (Reuters) - When police in Japan’s old historic capital of Kyoto nabbed three men this summer for buying child pornography DVDs online, they made history: for the first time, someone in the country faces the possibility of jail time for possessing such material.
Japan is the only OECD nation that has not universally outlawed possession of child pornography and activists say the new, tougher local laws in Kyoto will not change that overnight.
With various manifestations of a fascination with the young and innocent as sex objects, from graphic versions of manga, or Japanese comics, to the “junior idol” industry featuring child models in bikinis, Japan has a considerable way to go to shed an image of pornographers’ safe haven.
Out of Japan’s 47 provinces, only Kyoto bans possession of child pornography and prescribes a jail sentence. Neighbouring Nara is the only other province to deem it a crime, but it has only financial penalties. It has arrested several people for possession of child pornography, but authorities could not give a number since several were charged with other crimes.
In 1999, Japan outlawed production and distribution of child pornography as well as possession with the intention to pass it on, and offenders could face fines and prison terms of up to five years. However, simple possession, without an intention to distribute, remains legal, except in Kyoto and Nara.
Kyoto’s new ordinance that came into force in January imposes fines for possession of child pornography and introduces a penalty of up to one year in jail for buying or downloading such material.
“It will be a big wake-up call for the parliament,” says UNICEF Japan spokesman Hiromasa Nakai.
But there may not be any quick action.
There is no national debate on the subject at the moment as major parties brace for general elections expected later this year. The ruling Democratic Party of Japan has reservations about extending the Kyoto law nationally, while the opposition is for it, lawmakers told Reuters.
TOO FAR
Sanae Takaichi, from the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, says the initiatives taken in Nara province, and later in Kyoto, inspired her to campaign for a possession ban at the national level.
“I’ve been trying to bring such local initiatives to state politics since Nara, my hometown, put the ordinance into effect following a tragedy in the prefecture where a little girl was killed by a child porn lover.”
The Democrats, however, have argued that local initiatives were going too far and making owning child pornography a crime could lead to abuse of police powers and that investigators should focus on those who make and distribute the material.
They have also voiced concern that a blanket ban could be extended to comics and animation, which in turn could infringe on the freedom of expression.
A rare endorsement for tougher laws from Japan’s National Police Agency (NPA), which usually avoids positions on legislation and policy, could however help revive the debate.
The NPA says child pornography is spreading on the internet at an “unprecedented pace” so those who buy and possess it should be severely punished to curb its supply.
“Child pornography producers are making DVDs because there is demand, yet we are not able to arrest buyers,” the agency said. “Furthermore, some makers are encouraged by paedophiles to make increasingly brutal products that involve rape of children, and thus such buyers should be prosecuted as heavily as possible,” it said in a written response to queries from Reuters.
Police data show a steady rise in cases of child pornography production and distribution -- there were a record 1,455 cases in 2011, up 8.4 percent from 2010. This year is likely to be another record with 1,016 cases by the end of July, nearly a 10 percent rise.
There is no comparable international data, but the latest U.S. State Department human rights report describes Japan as an “international hub for production and trafficking of child pornography.”
The report also says the lack of a ban on possession of child pornography in Japan “continued to hamper police efforts to enforce the law effectively and participate fully in international law enforcement.”
A 2002 cabinet office survey showed that 15 percent of Japanese men polled have seen child pornography and 10 percent admitted to owning it.
In Kyoto’s landmark case, police checking for illicit content online found a site selling DVDs featuring girls under 13, a local police spokesman said. Through transaction records they found the buyers: two 20-year old students and a 19-year-old office worker, who were brought in for questioning and now await charges. Their names have not been released.
LEGISLATIVE LIMBO
Advocates say only by bringing national laws into line with other major nations can Japan join the global crackdown against child pornography’s rapid spread over the Internet.
Russia is another exception, where production and distribution is a crime, but possession remains legal.
Japan signed a UN protocol in 2005 that bans all forms of involvement in child pornography, including its possession, and a 2007 government survey showed 90 percent of the Japanese public favoured tougher laws.
Yet a 2008 draft law and its later versions got stuck in a legislative limbo amid frequent government changes and political trench warfare in a divided parliament.
The resistance came from lawmakers, many in the Democratic party that won power in 2009, who feared the laws could be abused to frame political opponents and only proposed punishing those who buy the material “repeatedly”. Japan’s bar associations also opposed the possession ban, concerned it would give police too much leeway.
“There is the possibility that the police will use this law to investigate further into different cases that are completely unrelated to the possession of child pornography,” said Yuri Kawamura, a lawyer representing the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, an umbrella group.
“It’s for the sake of the children, not the police’s investigative powers,” says Goto, who until 2005 investigated child pornography while in charge of a cyber crime unit.
“If simple possession is illegal there will be less people buying and selling it, and as a consequence, there would be fewer victims of such abuse.”
Yet, the bar association’s arguments come amid criticism of Japan’s detention laws by rights groups. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have opposed the system under which judges routinely allow investigators to hold suspects for up to 23 days before they are charged.
Others who wield considerable power in the debate are manga publishers and fans, who fear that anti-porn laws could hit their genre, exposing it to censorship, and so oppose changes to current laws.
In 2010, when Tokyo authorities banned sales of sexually extreme manga and anime films to minors, publishers hit back at the ban as an infringement on free speech and 10 major publishers threatened to boycott an annual anime fair.
Some children’s rights advocates also say the portrayal of minors as sex objects has become so commonplace that the public has grown to accept it as normal. One instance is the so-called junior idol genre that features child models in DVDs and photo books striking provocative poses.
Annual sales of this industry concentrated in Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics district are estimated at 60 billion yen ($758 million).
“Child pornography cases appear to be perceived as ”crimes of images or movie scenes“ not crimes with real-life victims,” says UNICEF’s Nakai. “Therefore the public opinion has yet to turn into political pressure on the national parliament.” | 2024-07-12T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/3915 |
Q:
why is @T used in NopCommerce and what are its benefits / usage?
i know this is pretty noobish, i am a vb.net developer and need to know why is @T used in NopCommerce and what are its benefits / usage?
e.g we can take the code below for explanation.. i am trying to do @T("Forum.Forums").ToUpper() and it throws an error..
CS1061: 'Nop.Web.Framework.Localization.LocalizedString' does not contain a definition for ...
@model MenuModel @using Nop.Web.Models.Common;
<ul class="top-menu">
@Html.Widget("header_menu_before")
<li><a href="@Url.RouteUrl("HomePage")">@T("HomePage")</a></li>
@if (Model.RecentlyAddedProductsEnabled)
{
<li><a href="@Url.RouteUrl("RecentlyAddedProducts")">@T("Products.NewProducts")</a>
</li>
}
<li><a href="@Url.RouteUrl("ProductSearch")">@T("Search")</a> </li>
<li><a href="@Url.RouteUrl("CustomerInfo")">@T("Account.MyAccount")</a></li>
@if (Model.BlogEnabled)
{
<li><a href="@Url.RouteUrl("Blog")">@T("Blog")</a></li>
}
@if (Model.ForumEnabled)
{
<li><a href="@Url.RouteUrl("Boards")">@T("Forum.Forums")</a></li>
}
<li><a href="@Url.RouteUrl("ContactUs")">@T("ContactUs")</a></li>
@Html.Widget("header_menu_after") </ul>
A:
It is used for localization. You can find same pattern in Orchard CMS as well.
NOP Commerce stores resources (key value pairs) used for localization in database. While accessing, it does cache them and uses their engine to access these resources.
@T is just a method to access to resources while using differnt langs in the app.
in order to remove the error i mentioned we neet to use Convert.ToString(T("whatever")).ToUpper() and it will not throw that error again
| 2024-04-01T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/6960 |
Indonesia’s foreign tourist arrivals rise 16% y-o-y in August
JAKARTA: Indonesia attracted 944,455 foreign tourists in August, up 16.14% from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said.
The rate of growth slipped from 20.13% in July.
The total number of visitors in August, including those passing through Indonesia’s borders from neighbouring countries and foreign workers with permits for less than one year, was 1.03 million, up 13.19% from a year ago.
Indonesia has been attracting growing numbers of Chinese visitors.
The government wants to expand tourism to help reduce the economy’s reliance on exports of raw commodities.
It aims to attract 20 million visitors a year by 2019, more than double last year’s 9.73 million. — Reuters | 2023-08-25T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/3141 |
On Friday, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was escorted from the White House, where he had served on the National Security Council. His twin brother, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, was also dismissed from the NSC.
Alexander Vindman had testified against President Trump in the House impeachment proceedings. He had listened in on the president’s telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and testified that Trump had abused his office by withholding aid to Ukraine until it announced investigations of his political opponents. Reportedly, Alexander is believed to be the primary source of information for alleged whistleblower Eric Ciaramella.
Although Yevgeny did not testify, there are unconfirmed reports that he may have had a role in leaking parts of former Ambassador John Bolton’s anti-Trump book manuscript, which is embargoed and under review at the NSC.
Alexander’s lawyer and the mainstream media are denouncing these dismissals as unjustified retaliations by President Trump. To hear them tell it, a position on the NSC is an entitlement that may not be rescinded.
Within hours of the Vindmans being put out the door, Gordon Sondland, who testified about Trump’s Ukraine dealings during the House impeachment hearings, announced that “the president intends to recall me effective immediately as United States ambassador to the European Union.”
Sondland testified to his assumption that Trump had engaged in a quid pro quo exchange of U.S. military aid to Ukraine in return for that country’s assistance in investigating the corrupt Ukrainian dealings of Vice President Joe Biden and his wastrel son. Only after being pinned down on cross-examination did Sondland finally admit that, contrary to Sondland’s assumptions, Trump had explicitly told him that he wanted nothing from Ukraine other than for Zelensky to clean up that country’s culture of corruption.
As described by the hysterical media, you would think that President Trump had “settled all family business” in the manner portrayed in The Godfather’s climactic scene, in which Michael Corleone has the heads of New York’s five Mafia families whacked.
But the truth is altogether to the contrary. In May of this year, Alexander Vindman will enroll in the Army War College. This is a highly sought and selective program and a singular opportunity to advance one’s military career. It is open only to the favored few who are being groomed for top leadership positions in the military.
Similarly, Yevgeny Vindman is set to work in the Office of General Counsel of the Army at the Pentagon. Neither this assignment nor the slot at the Army War College can be considered as punitive. Put another way, neither qualifies as the equivalent of being reduced in rank and placed in charge of the PX at Camp Frostbite, Alaska.
As for Sondland, he is a hotel magnate who was a big contributor to Trump’s 2016 campaign. Recalling him is not the equivalent of terminating the livelihood of a career State Department official. Sondland can go back to his day job of running his hotel empire. And since the Obama regime is no longer in charge, he can do so without fear of the IRS auditing his company, OSHA inspecting his hotels, and ICE vetting his employees.
As retaliation goes, removing the Vindmans from the National Security Council and stripping Sondland of his ambassadorship is pretty weak stuff. Which raises the troubling question as to whether or not such pallid measures will be enough to deter others who may wish to emulate Sondland and the Vindman twins in any future coup attempt.
There are now reports that the House Democrats are gearing up for another impeachment. Given the positive effect that the last impeachment had on Trump’s approval rating and campaign fundraising, you might think that the House Democrats would be disinclined to do it again. But then such a conclusion would be premised on the belief that these people are rational. They are not. When it comes to Trump, they are bat-guano crazy and consumed by the kind of frustration and uncontrolled rage that drove Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to publicly debase and embarrass herself by tearing up the president’s State of the Union address.
Since the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result, you can count on the Democrats again impeaching Trump at least once between now and the November election.
That is why President Trump should seriously consider taking firm and decisive punitive action to discourage all deep-state partisans from promoting yet another impeachment hoax. In that regard, he has a positive obligation to the nation to make clear to one and all that they will pay a heavy price if they meretriciously participate in any future attempted coup.
The Vindmans and Sondland got off relatively unscathed. But if other deep-state denizens remain to be called to account, the president needs to take off the gloves.
George Parry is a former federal and state prosecutor. He is a regular contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer and blogs at knowledgeisgood.net. He may be reached by email at kignet1@gmail.com. | 2024-02-12T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/4607 |
/*
* Copyright (C) 2011 The Android Open Source Project
*
* Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
* you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
* You may obtain a copy of the License at
*
* http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
*
* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
* distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
* WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
* See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
* limitations under the License.
*/
package android.media.effect;
import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
/**
* <p>The EffectFactory class defines the list of available Effects, and provides functionality to
* inspect and instantiate them. Some effects may not be available on all platforms, so before
* creating a certain effect, the application should confirm that the effect is supported on this
* platform by calling {@link #isEffectSupported(String)}.</p>
*/
public class EffectFactory {
private EffectContext mEffectContext;
private final static String[] EFFECT_PACKAGES = {
"android.media.effect.effects.", // Default effect package
"" // Allows specifying full class path
};
/** List of Effects */
/**
* <p>Copies the input texture to the output.</p>
* <p>Available parameters: None</p>
* @hide
*/
public final static String EFFECT_IDENTITY = "IdentityEffect";
/**
* <p>Adjusts the brightness of the image.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>brightness</code></td>
* <td>The brightness multiplier.</td>
* <td>Positive float. 1.0 means no change;
larger values will increase brightness.</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_BRIGHTNESS =
"android.media.effect.effects.BrightnessEffect";
/**
* <p>Adjusts the contrast of the image.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>contrast</code></td>
* <td>The contrast multiplier.</td>
* <td>Float. 1.0 means no change;
larger values will increase contrast.</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_CONTRAST =
"android.media.effect.effects.ContrastEffect";
/**
* <p>Applies a fisheye lens distortion to the image.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>scale</code></td>
* <td>The scale of the distortion.</td>
* <td>Float, between 0 and 1. Zero means no distortion.</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_FISHEYE =
"android.media.effect.effects.FisheyeEffect";
/**
* <p>Replaces the background of the input frames with frames from a
* selected video. Requires an initial learning period with only the
* background visible before the effect becomes active. The effect will wait
* until it does not see any motion in the scene before learning the
* background and starting the effect.</p>
*
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>source</code></td>
* <td>A URI for the background video to use. This parameter must be
* supplied before calling apply() for the first time.</td>
* <td>String, such as from
* {@link android.net.Uri#toString Uri.toString()}</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*
* <p>If the update listener is set for this effect using
* {@link Effect#setUpdateListener}, it will be called when the effect has
* finished learning the background, with a null value for the info
* parameter.</p>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_BACKDROPPER =
"android.media.effect.effects.BackDropperEffect";
/**
* <p>Attempts to auto-fix the image based on histogram equalization.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>scale</code></td>
* <td>The scale of the adjustment.</td>
* <td>Float, between 0 and 1. Zero means no adjustment, while 1 indicates the maximum
* amount of adjustment.</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_AUTOFIX =
"android.media.effect.effects.AutoFixEffect";
/**
* <p>Adjusts the range of minimal and maximal color pixel intensities.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>black</code></td>
* <td>The value of the minimal pixel.</td>
* <td>Float, between 0 and 1.</td>
* </tr>
* <tr><td><code>white</code></td>
* <td>The value of the maximal pixel.</td>
* <td>Float, between 0 and 1.</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_BLACKWHITE =
"android.media.effect.effects.BlackWhiteEffect";
/**
* <p>Crops an upright rectangular area from the image. If the crop region falls outside of
* the image bounds, the results are undefined.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>xorigin</code></td>
* <td>The origin's x-value.</td>
* <td>Integer, between 0 and width of the image.</td>
* </tr>
* <tr><td><code>yorigin</code></td>
* <td>The origin's y-value.</td>
* <td>Integer, between 0 and height of the image.</td>
* </tr>
* <tr><td><code>width</code></td>
* <td>The width of the cropped image.</td>
* <td>Integer, between 1 and the width of the image minus xorigin.</td>
* </tr>
* <tr><td><code>height</code></td>
* <td>The height of the cropped image.</td>
* <td>Integer, between 1 and the height of the image minus yorigin.</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_CROP =
"android.media.effect.effects.CropEffect";
/**
* <p>Applies a cross process effect on image, in which the red and green channels are
* enhanced while the blue channel is restricted.</p>
* <p>Available parameters: None</p>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_CROSSPROCESS =
"android.media.effect.effects.CrossProcessEffect";
/**
* <p>Applies black and white documentary style effect on image..</p>
* <p>Available parameters: None</p>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_DOCUMENTARY =
"android.media.effect.effects.DocumentaryEffect";
/**
* <p>Overlays a bitmap (with premultiplied alpha channel) onto the input image. The bitmap
* is stretched to fit the input image.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>bitmap</code></td>
* <td>The overlay bitmap.</td>
* <td>A non-null Bitmap instance.</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_BITMAPOVERLAY =
"android.media.effect.effects.BitmapOverlayEffect";
/**
* <p>Representation of photo using only two color tones.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>first_color</code></td>
* <td>The first color tone.</td>
* <td>Integer, representing an ARGB color with 8 bits per channel. May be created using
* {@link android.graphics.Color Color} class.</td>
* </tr>
* <tr><td><code>second_color</code></td>
* <td>The second color tone.</td>
* <td>Integer, representing an ARGB color with 8 bits per channel. May be created using
* {@link android.graphics.Color Color} class.</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_DUOTONE =
"android.media.effect.effects.DuotoneEffect";
/**
* <p>Applies back-light filling to the image.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>strength</code></td>
* <td>The strength of the backlight.</td>
* <td>Float, between 0 and 1. Zero means no change.</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_FILLLIGHT =
"android.media.effect.effects.FillLightEffect";
/**
* <p>Flips image vertically and/or horizontally.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>vertical</code></td>
* <td>Whether to flip image vertically.</td>
* <td>Boolean</td>
* </tr>
* <tr><td><code>horizontal</code></td>
* <td>Whether to flip image horizontally.</td>
* <td>Boolean</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_FLIP =
"android.media.effect.effects.FlipEffect";
/**
* <p>Applies film grain effect to image.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>strength</code></td>
* <td>The strength of the grain effect.</td>
* <td>Float, between 0 and 1. Zero means no change.</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_GRAIN =
"android.media.effect.effects.GrainEffect";
/**
* <p>Converts image to grayscale.</p>
* <p>Available parameters: None</p>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_GRAYSCALE =
"android.media.effect.effects.GrayscaleEffect";
/**
* <p>Applies lomo-camera style effect to image.</p>
* <p>Available parameters: None</p>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_LOMOISH =
"android.media.effect.effects.LomoishEffect";
/**
* <p>Inverts the image colors.</p>
* <p>Available parameters: None</p>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_NEGATIVE =
"android.media.effect.effects.NegativeEffect";
/**
* <p>Applies posterization effect to image.</p>
* <p>Available parameters: None</p>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_POSTERIZE =
"android.media.effect.effects.PosterizeEffect";
/**
* <p>Removes red eyes on specified region.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>centers</code></td>
* <td>Multiple center points (x, y) of the red eye regions.</td>
* <td>An array of floats, where (f[2*i], f[2*i+1]) specifies the center of the i'th eye.
* Coordinate values are expected to be normalized between 0 and 1.</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_REDEYE =
"android.media.effect.effects.RedEyeEffect";
/**
* <p>Rotates the image. The output frame size must be able to fit the rotated version of
* the input image. Note that the rotation snaps to a the closest multiple of 90 degrees.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>angle</code></td>
* <td>The angle of rotation in degrees.</td>
* <td>Integer value. This will be rounded to the nearest multiple of 90.</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_ROTATE =
"android.media.effect.effects.RotateEffect";
/**
* <p>Adjusts color saturation of image.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>scale</code></td>
* <td>The scale of color saturation.</td>
* <td>Float, between -1 and 1. 0 means no change, while -1 indicates full desaturation,
* i.e. grayscale.</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_SATURATE =
"android.media.effect.effects.SaturateEffect";
/**
* <p>Converts image to sepia tone.</p>
* <p>Available parameters: None</p>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_SEPIA =
"android.media.effect.effects.SepiaEffect";
/**
* <p>Sharpens the image.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>scale</code></td>
* <td>The degree of sharpening.</td>
* <td>Float, between 0 and 1. 0 means no change.</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_SHARPEN =
"android.media.effect.effects.SharpenEffect";
/**
* <p>Rotates the image according to the specified angle, and crops the image so that no
* non-image portions are visible.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>angle</code></td>
* <td>The angle of rotation.</td>
* <td>Float, between -45 and +45.</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_STRAIGHTEN =
"android.media.effect.effects.StraightenEffect";
/**
* <p>Adjusts color temperature of the image.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>scale</code></td>
* <td>The value of color temperature.</td>
* <td>Float, between 0 and 1, with 0 indicating cool, and 1 indicating warm. A value of
* of 0.5 indicates no change.</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_TEMPERATURE =
"android.media.effect.effects.ColorTemperatureEffect";
/**
* <p>Tints the photo with specified color.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>tint</code></td>
* <td>The color of the tint.</td>
* <td>Integer, representing an ARGB color with 8 bits per channel. May be created using
* {@link android.graphics.Color Color} class.</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_TINT =
"android.media.effect.effects.TintEffect";
/**
* <p>Adds a vignette effect to image, i.e. fades away the outer image edges.</p>
* <p>Available parameters:</p>
* <table>
* <tr><td>Parameter name</td><td>Meaning</td><td>Valid values</td></tr>
* <tr><td><code>scale</code></td>
* <td>The scale of vignetting.</td>
* <td>Float, between 0 and 1. 0 means no change.</td>
* </tr>
* </table>
*/
public final static String EFFECT_VIGNETTE =
"android.media.effect.effects.VignetteEffect";
EffectFactory(EffectContext effectContext) {
mEffectContext = effectContext;
}
/**
* Instantiate a new effect with the given effect name.
*
* <p>The effect's parameters will be set to their default values.</p>
*
* <p>Note that the EGL context associated with the current EffectContext need not be made
* current when creating an effect. This allows the host application to instantiate effects
* before any EGL context has become current.</p>
*
* @param effectName The name of the effect to create.
* @return A new Effect instance.
* @throws IllegalArgumentException if the effect with the specified name is not supported or
* not known.
*/
public Effect createEffect(String effectName) {
Class effectClass = getEffectClassByName(effectName);
if (effectClass == null) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot instantiate unknown effect '" +
effectName + "'!");
}
return instantiateEffect(effectClass, effectName);
}
/**
* Check if an effect is supported on this platform.
*
* <p>Some effects may only be available on certain platforms. Use this method before
* instantiating an effect to make sure it is supported.</p>
*
* @param effectName The name of the effect.
* @return true, if the effect is supported on this platform.
* @throws IllegalArgumentException if the effect name is not known.
*/
public static boolean isEffectSupported(String effectName) {
return getEffectClassByName(effectName) != null;
}
private static Class getEffectClassByName(String className) {
Class effectClass = null;
// Get context's classloader; otherwise cannot load non-framework effects
ClassLoader contextClassLoader = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
// Look for the class in the imported packages
for (String packageName : EFFECT_PACKAGES) {
try {
effectClass = contextClassLoader.loadClass(packageName + className);
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
continue;
}
// Exit loop if class was found.
if (effectClass != null) {
break;
}
}
return effectClass;
}
private Effect instantiateEffect(Class effectClass, String name) {
// Make sure this is an Effect subclass
try {
effectClass.asSubclass(Effect.class);
} catch (ClassCastException e) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Attempting to allocate effect '" + effectClass
+ "' which is not a subclass of Effect!", e);
}
// Look for the correct constructor
Constructor effectConstructor = null;
try {
effectConstructor = effectClass.getConstructor(EffectContext.class, String.class);
} catch (NoSuchMethodException e) {
throw new RuntimeException("The effect class '" + effectClass + "' does not have "
+ "the required constructor.", e);
}
// Construct the effect
Effect effect = null;
try {
effect = (Effect)effectConstructor.newInstance(mEffectContext, name);
} catch (Throwable t) {
throw new RuntimeException("There was an error constructing the effect '" + effectClass
+ "'!", t);
}
return effect;
}
}
| 2024-01-21T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/4806 |
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If you have an inspiring story to tell, or would like to be involved with a future event, then the NICGC would love to hear from you. | 2024-06-05T01:27:17.760571 | https://example.com/article/7083 |
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