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[Accelerated hyperfractionated radiotherapy combined with simultaneous chemotherapy in locally advanced pharyngeal and oral carcinomas].
To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of a concurrent radio-chemotherapy regimen for locally advanced carcinomas of the pharynx and floor of the mouth. Since January 1990, 97 patients with locally advanced carcinomas of the naso-, oro-, hypopharynx and the oral cavity in UICC stages III and IV were treated according to an accelerated hyperfractionated radiotherapy schedule with concurrent chemotherapy. The primary tumor and positive lymph nodes received a total dose of 72 Gy in 6 weeks. In the first 3 weeks, large fields were irradiated 5 times per week with 2 Gy per fraction. Thereafter, treatment was accelerated, giving 2 daily fractions of 1.4 Gy with minimal intervals of 6 hours. Target volumes were reduced after 49.6 and 59.4 Gy, excluding clinically uninvolved lymph node regions of low and high risk. On day 1, 350 mg/m2 5-FU and 50 mg/m2 folinic acid were given as intravenous bolus followed by continuous infusion of 350 mg/m2 5-FU and 100 mg/m2 folinic acid, days 1 to 5. 10 mg/m2 mitomycin C was given on day 5 and 36 of the treatment. Salvage surgery was offered for residual disease 5 to 6 weeks after the end of radiotherapy. 70 male, 27 female; age: 27 to 81 years; T2/T3/T4: 7/30/60; N0/N1/N2/N3: 20/18/53/6; nasopharynx/oropharynx/hypopharynx/oral cavity: 16/33/36/12. Median follow-up is 26 months. Overall survival and recurrence-free survival at 2 years were Overall survival and recurrence-free survival at 2 years were 68 +/- 5% and 74 +/- 5%. Multivariate analysis revealed a significant influence of the geometric mean neck node diameter or the N-stage on loco-regional control and survival. T-stage, tumor volume, or tumor localisation did not become significant. Acute toxicity of this schedule was acceptable but required optimised supportive care. Treatment related grade 4+ late toxicity of mucosa, soft tissue and bone were observed with a cumulative frequency of 13% at 2 years. Two patients died during a phase of severe leuko- or thrombocytopenia. This phase I to II trial shows favourable results using an intensified treatment radio-chemotherapy protocol. A phase III study is now planned, comparing this regime with an accelerated hyperfractionated radio-therapy alone to an increased total dose of 77.6 Gy. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
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The reaction Sunday by the pearl-clutching left and their media allies to the chaotic scene on the southern border could serve as Exhibit A in a case study on hypocrisy, and goes to show that it’s all about politics.
Unless the Obama administration is held to a different standard when setting the precedent for actions taken by the Trump administration.
Hundreds of illegal immigrants from the migrant caravan made a mad rush on the U.S. border, with some becoming violent, attacking Border Patrol agents with rocks. Agents held their ground, fighting back with flash bang grenades and tear gas.
All of which sent Democrats into a frenzy.
You tear-gassed women and children, asswipe! And on Thanksgiving weekend, you piece of shit, asshole, motherfucking, evil-creature-person!! https://t.co/ngaAlnhWa0 — Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) November 26, 2018
Asking to be considered a refugee & applying for status isn’t a crime. It wasn’t for Jewish families fleeing Germany.
It wasn’t for targeted families fleeing Rwanda.
It wasn’t for communities fleeing war-torn Syria.
And it isn’t for those fleeing violence in Central America. https://t.co/qhv7Rr1itn — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) November 25, 2018
And while the rock throwing drew little attention, the media was quick to report on children — who were forced on this perilous journey and placed directly into harms way by their parents — being caught up in the fracas.
The photograph seen above was featured by most major news outlets in the U.S., to include The New York Times.
US Border Patrol has just launched tear gas into Mexico. Breeze carrying it hundreds of yards. Parents running away with choking toddlers. #migrantcaravan — Chris Sherman (@chrisshermanAP) November 25, 2018
Never mind that several border patrol agents were hit by projectiles thrown by the mob that turned violent, according to a tweet from the agency.
Today, several migrants threw projectiles at the agents in San Diego. Border Patrol agents deployed tear gas to dispel the group because of the risk to agents' safety. Several agents were hit by the projectiles. The situation is evolving and a statement is forthcoming. — CBP (@CBP) November 25, 2018
And while this humanitarian crisis that has been in the making for months — aided and abetted by the left — will surely dominate the news cycle over the coming days, the stunning irony here is that five years ago, to the very day and at the exact same spot, there was a similar incident.
…which created nary a ripple on the left, to include the media.
As Brietbart’s Brandon Darby reminded his followers, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported “about 100 people trying to illegally cross the border Sunday near the San Ysidro port of entry threw rocks and bottles at U.S. Border Patrol agents.”
And the agents “responded by using pepper spray and other means to force the crowd back into Mexico.”
Reminder: The Obama Admin also used force and tear gas in 2013 when a large group of people stormed our border and threw rocks at our agents—at the same exact place. Source: https://t.co/YPlc8KXpdo — Brandon Darby (@brandondarby) November 26, 2018
The difference between the two incidents? Barack Hussein Obama sat in the White House in 2013.
But make no mistake, President Trump is staying true to his word about not allowing the invading migrant caravan to enter the country.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection closed the San Ysidro border crossing south of San Diego, bringing to a screeching halt the flow of humanity.
The San Ysidro border crossing – the busiest border crossing along the southern US border – is STILL shut down. Thousands of cars were turned away and hundreds of ppl are waiting to get through. #MigrantCaravan pic.twitter.com/IsEd8xrfYR — Annie Rose Ramos (@Annie_Rose23) November 25, 2018
Trump took to Twitter early Monday to reinforce that stance and threaten to close the border “permanently,” if necessary.
“Mexico should move the flag waving Migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries. Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it anyway you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A. We will close the Border permanently if need be. Congress, fund the WALL!” the president tweeted. | {
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Travel tips
Transportation
The transportion and access in Indonesia is not really developed yet, especially inter-islands/inter-city tranportation. The central and local governments are still struggling to build advance transportation system in the country. The best way for you to travel to another cities are by airplane. However, travel by train inside Java is possible. There is no bullet train, but if you travel for the first time, especially long disstance, it is adviceable to take first / executive class with reasonable price.
Long distance trip
By Air
From Jakarta to Bali would take 1 hour snd 15 minutes instead of 16 hours by train. Garuda Indonesia is Indonesian flag carrier which in 2 consecutive years get most precise time awards in the world. If you are luck you can get 40 USD from Jakarta to Bali.
Inter-city KRL Jabodetabek (Jabodetabek Electrified Rail) could be your alternative to travel around Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi city. Take this, you will not have any traffic jam problem. However, be prepare for delays and overcrowded coaches.
In the cities
There are unique transportation which probably do not exist in your country. You should try for new advantures. Most of them are fun. Every places has they are own style. Most of it does not really have fix tarif. Mostly it depends on the distance. You can try to bargain, if you are lucky, you could get much cheaper price than what he offers you. This could be the cheapest transportation you can use. Try to ask people where you can get these transportation. I tell you how you pronounce it.
Becak
Read: be- like bay, -cak like chuck.It is a three-wheels bicycle. Two in the front side, which is your seat, and the drivel cycles on the back seat. It is fun since you will see everything in front of you. Becak will cost you around $ 5 USD. You will find this vehicle in Java, and some other islands, but not (or hardly to find) in Jakarta.
Bajaj
Read: ba like bar, -j like jack, and –aj sounds like eye.A very noisy three-wheels vehicle with high vibration. You will still experience the vibration after step out of the vehicle. However, this vehicle could take you faster in a bad traffic jam with their small body, meanwhile you will be stucked in a cab. Originaly from India. You will find this a lot in Jakarta.
Delman/Dokar/Andong
Read: Del- read like Dell, -man sounds like month. Dokar was taken from word dog-car.A cart run by a horse with the driver sit behind the horse. Passenger sit on the back and next to the driver. It is just like a ride for royal family from the past. You will find this in most of cities in Java.
Ojek
Read: O and jek sounds like jack.A simple motorcycle with a driver. It will only fit for one person. If you think it’s too far away to walk to your place from a market, you can take ojek to your front door. You will find this everywhere in Indonesia. Just look at
Angkot
Read: Ang like Unc in uncle, kot sounds like court.A minibus with passenger seats facing each other. A cheap transportation with a lot of routes. You will find this in some major cities of Indonesia.
Citybus
Like some other countries bus is the most common transportation in Indonesia. It will take you inside the city or out (tran-province). In jakarta, there are too many busses, however, take the one called Busway or transjakarta. Find here the route of Transjakarta.
Taxi
Do you want a comfortable and (sometimes) fast transportation inside the city? Like in other cities in other countries, taxi is your choice. It is an expensive transportation, but it would not be more expensive than in your country. There are some choices, depend on the rates. More expensive you will get more comfort. However, it is not the fastest option in the rush hours. Blue bird is one of the most trusted taxi company in whole Indonesia. You can see more information on their website.
Rent a car
One way is to rent a car, especially when you travel with a group. It could be cheapest option. However, be prepare for traffic jam.
Rent a car could be very cheap if you know someone you can trust. It could cost you 40 USD per 10 hours with the driver from a small car rental. However, there are well-known rental such as AVIS or Blue Bird Group which offer you various cars and could be more trusted with higher tarifs.
Parties
Mailing list
Sign up if you would like to receive occasional treats from us.
Follow us
Indonesia Accommodation and Hotels
This website provides you information about tourism in Indonesia. From Indonesia Accommodation and Hotels site you will find places to visit and accommodation/hotels to stay in Indonesia.
Find accommodation/hotels | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Rethinking measurement of neighborhood in the context of health research.
Systematic social observations have been gaining increasing recognition in neighborhood and health research as a way of measuring neighborhood attributes hypothesized to affect residents' well-being. Despite the growing popularity of this methodology, there has not been a critical discussion of potential shortcomings of this approach. This paper reviews some of the challenges and limitations in the systematic social observations methodology. We especially differentiate between limitations related to the methodology itself and challenges the approach presents for researchers in the field. We conclude by offering directions for future research utilizing this technique. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
} |
248 U.S. 90 (1918)
UNITED DRUG COMPANY
v.
THEODORE RECTANUS COMPANY.
No. 27.
Supreme Court of United States.
Argued March 12, 13, 1918.
Decided December 9, 1918.
CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT.
*91 Mr. Laurence A. Janney, with whom Mr. Alexis C. Angell and Mr. Frederick L. Emery were on the briefs, for petitioner.
Mr. Clayton B. Blakey for respondent.
*93 MR. JUSTICE PITNEY delivered the opinion of the court.
This was a suit in equity brought September 24, 1912, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, by the present petitioner, a Massachusetts corporation, against the respondent, a Kentucky corporation, together with certain individual citizens of the latter State, to restrain infringement of trade-mark and unfair competition.
The District Court granted an injunction against the corporation defendant pursuant to the prayer of the bill. 206 Fed. Rep. 570. The Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decree and remanded the cause with directions to dismiss the bill. 226 Fed. Rep. 545. An appeal was allowed by one of the judges of that court, and afterwards we allowed a writ of certiorari. Pursuant to a stipulation, the transcript of the record filed for the purposes of the appeal was treated as a return to the writ. Under § 128, Judicial Code, as amended by Act of January 28, 1915, c. 22, § 2, 38 Stat. 803, the appeal must be dismissed, and the cause will be determined on the writ of certiorari.
*94 The essential facts are as follows: About the year 1877 Ellen M. Regis, a resident of Haverhill, Massachusetts, began to compound and distribute in a small way a preparation for medicinal use in cases of dyspepsia and some other ailments, to which she applied as a distinguishing name the word "Rex" derived from her surname. The word was put upon the boxes and packages in which the medicine was placed upon the market, after the usual manner of a trade-mark. At first alone, and afterwards in partnership with her son under the firm name of "E.M. Regis & Company," she continued the business on a modest scale; in 1898 she recorded the word "Rex" as a trade-mark under the laws of Massachusetts (Acts 1895, p. 519, c. 462, § 1); in 1900 the firm procured its registration in the United States Patent Office under the Act of March 3, 1881, c. 138, 21 Stat. 502; in 1904 the Supreme Court of Massachusetts sustained their trade-mark right under the state law as against a concern that was selling medicinal preparations of the present petitioner under the designation of "Rexall remedies" (Regis v. Jaynes, 185 Massachusetts, 458); afterwards the firm established priority in the mark as against petitioner in a contested proceeding in the Patent Office; and subsequently, in the year 1911, petitioner purchased the business with the trade-mark right, and has carried it on in connection with its other business, which consists in the manufacture of medicinal preparations, and their distribution and sale through retail drug stores, known as "Rexall stores," situate in the different States of the Union, four of them being in Louisville, Kentucky.
Meanwhile, about the year 1883, Theodore Rectanus, a druggist in Louisville, familiarly known as "Rex," employed this word as a trade-mark for a medicinal preparation known as a "blood purifier." He continued this use to a considerable extent in Louisville and vicinity, spending money in advertising and building up a trade, so that *95 except for whatever effect might flow from Mrs. Regis' prior adoption of the word in Massachusetts, of which he was entirely ignorant he was entitled to use the word as his trade-mark. In the year 1906 he sold his business, including the right to the use of the word, to respondent; and the use of the mark by him and afterwards by respondent was continuous from about the year 1883 until the filing of the bill in the year 1912.
Petitioner's first use of the word "Rex" in connection with the sale of drugs in Louisville or vicinity was in April, 1912, when two shipments of "Rex Dyspepsia Tablets," aggregating 150 boxes and valued at $22.50, were sent to one of the "Rexall" stores in that city. Shortly after this the remedy was mentioned by name in local newspaper advertisements published by those stores. In the previous September, petitioner shipped a trifling amount five boxes to a drug store in Franklin, Kentucky, approximately 120 miles distant from Louisville. There is nothing to show that before this any customer in or near Kentucky had heard of the Regis remedy, with or without the description "Rex," or that this word ever possessed any meaning to the purchasing public in that State except as pointing to Rectanus and the Rectanus Company and their "blood purifier." That it did and does convey the latter meaning in Louisville and vicinity is proved without dispute. Months before petitioner's first shipment of its remedy to Kentucky, petitioner was distinctly notified (in June, 1911,) by one of its Louisville distributors that respondent was using the word "Rex" to designate its medicinal preparations, and that such use had been commenced by Mr. Rectanus as much as 16 or 17 years before that time.
There was nothing to sustain the allegation of unfair competition, aside from the question of trade-mark infringement. As to this, both courts found, in substance, that the use of the same mark upon different but somewhat *96 related preparations was carried on by the parties and their respective predecessors contemporaneously, but in widely separated localities, during the period in question between 25 and 30 years in perfect good faith, neither side having any knowledge or notice of what was being done by the other. The District Court held that because the adoption of the mark by Mrs. Regis antedated its adoption by Rectanus, petitioner's right to the exclusive use of the word in connection with medicinal preparations intended for dyspepsia and kindred diseases of the stomach and digestive organs must be sustained, but without accounting for profits or assessment of damages for unfair trade; citing McLean v. Fleming, 96 U.S. 245; Menendez v. Holt, 128 U.S. 514; Saxlehner v. Eisner & Mendelson Co., 179 U.S. 19, 39; Saxlehner v. Siegel-Cooper Co., 179 U.S. 42. The Circuit Court of Appeals held that in view of the fact that Rectanus had used the mark for a long period of years in entire ignorance of Mrs. Regis' remedy or of her trade-mark, had expended money in making his mark well known, and had established a considerable though local business under it in Louisville and vicinity, while on the other hand during the same long period Mrs. Regis had done nothing, either by sales agencies or by advertising, to make her medicine or its mark known outside of the New England States, saving sporadic sales in territory adjacent to those States, and had made no effort whatever to extend the trade to Kentucky, she and her successors were bound to know that, misled by their silence and inaction, others might act, as Rectanus and his successors did act, upon the assumption that the field was open, and therefore were estopped to ask for an injunction against the continued use of the mark in Louisville and vicinity by the Rectanus Company.
The entire argument for the petitioner is summed up in the contention that whenever the first user of a trade-mark has been reasonably diligent in extending the *97 territory of his trade, and as a result of such extension has in good faith come into competition with a later user of the same mark who in equal good faith has extended his trade locally before invasion of his field by the first user, so that finally it comes to pass that the rival traders are offering competitive merchandise in a common market under the same trade-mark, the later user should be enjoined at the suit of the prior adopter, even though the latter be the last to enter the competitive field and the former have already established a trade there. Its application to the case is based upon the hypothesis that the record shows that Mrs. Regis and her firm, during the entire period of limited and local trade in her medicine under the Rex mark, were making efforts to extend their trade so far as they were able to do with the means at their disposal. There is little in the record to support this hypothesis; but, waiving this, we will pass upon the principal contention.
The asserted doctrine is based upon the fundamental error of supposing that a trade-mark right is a right in gross or at large, like a statutory copyright or a patent for an invention, to either of which, in truth, it has little or no analogy. Canal Co. v. Clark, 13 Wall. 311, 322; McLean v. Fleming, 96 U.S. 245, 254. There is no such thing as property in a trade-mark except as a right appurtenant to an established business or trade in connection with which the mark is employed. The law of trade-marks is but a part of the broader law of unfair competition; the right to a particular mark grows out of its use, not its mere adoption; its function is simply to designate the goods as the product of a particular trader and to protect his good will against the sale of another's product as his; and it is not the subject of property except in connection with an existing business. Hanover Milling Co. v. Metcalf, 240 U.S. 403, 412-414.
The owner of a trade-mark may not, like the proprietor *98 of a patented invention, make a negative and merely prohibitive use of it as a monopoly. See United States v. Bell Telephone Co., 167 U.S. 224, 250; Bement v. National Harrow Co., 186 U.S. 70, 90; Paper Bag Patent Case, 210 U.S. 405, 424.
In truth, a trade-mark confers no monopoly whatever in a proper sense, but is merely a convenient means for facilitating the protection of one's good-will in trade by placing a distinguishing mark or symbol a commercial signature upon the merchandise or the package in which it is sold.
It results that the adoption of a trade-mark does not, at least in the absence of some valid legislation enacted for the purpose, project the right of protection in advance of the extension of the trade, or operate as a claim of territorial rights over areas into which it thereafter may be deemed desirable to extend the trade. And the expression, sometimes met with, that a trade-mark right is not limited in its enjoyment by territorial bounds, is true only in the sense that wherever the trade goes, attended by the use of the mark, the right of the trader to be protected against the sale by others of their wares in the place of his wares will be sustained.
Property in trade-marks and the right to their exclusive use rest upon the laws of the several States, and depend upon them for security and protection; the power of Congress to legislate on the subject being only such as arises from the authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States and with the Indian tribes. Trade-Mark Cases, 100 U.S. 82, 93.
Conceding everything that is claimed in behalf of the petitioner, the entire business conducted by Mrs. Regis and her firm prior to April, 1911, when petitioner acquired it, was confined to the New England States with inconsiderable sales in New York, New Jersey, Canada, and Nova Scotia. There was nothing in all of this to give her *99 any rights in Kentucky, where the principles of the common law obtain. Hunt v. Warnicke's Heirs, 3 Kentucky (Hardin), 61, 62; Lathrop v. Commercial Bank, 8 Dana (Ky.), 114, 121; Ray v. Sweeney, 14 Bush (Ky.), 1, 9; Aetna Ins. Co. v. Commonwealth, 106 Kentucky, 864, 881; Nider v. Commonwealth, 140 Kentucky, 684, 687. We are referred to no decision by the courts of that State, and have found none, that lays down any peculiar doctrine upon the subject of trade-mark law. There is some meager legislation, but none that affects this case (Kentucky Stats., § 2572c, subsec. 7; §§ 4749-4755). There was nothing to prevent the State of Kentucky (saving, of course, what Congress might do within the range of its authority) from conferring affirmative rights upon Rectanus, exclusive in that Commonwealth as against others whose use of the trade-mark there began at a later time than his; but whether he had such rights, or respondent now has them, is a question not presented by the record; there being no prayer for an injunction to restrain petitioner from using the mark in the competitive field.
It is not contended, nor is there ground for the contention, that registration of the Regis trade-mark under either the Massachusetts statute or the act of Congress, or both, had the effect of enlarging the rights of Mrs. Regis or of petitioner beyond what they would be under common-law principles. Manifestly, the Massachusetts statute (Acts 1895, p. 519, c. 462) could have no extraterritorial effect. And the Act of Congress of March 3, 1881, c. 138, 21 Stat. 502, applied only to commerce with foreign nations or the Indian tribes, with either of which this case has nothing to do. See Ryder v. Holt, 128 U.S. 525. Nor is there any provision making registration equivalent to notice of rights claimed thereunder. The Act of February 20, 1905, c. 592, 33 Stat. 724, which took the place of the 1881 Act, while extending protection to trade-marks used in interstate commerce, does not enlarge *100 the effect of previous registrations, unless renewed under the provisions of its twelfth section, which has not been done in this case; hence we need not consider whether anything in this act would aid the petitioner's case.
Undoubtedly, the general rule is that, as between conflicting claimants to the right to use the same mark, priority of appropriation determines the question. See Canal Co. v. Clark, 13 Wall. 311, 323; McLean v. Fleming, 96 U.S. 245, 251; Manufacturing Co. v. Trainer, 101 U.S. 51, 53; Columbia Mill Co. v. Alcorn, 150 U.S. 460, 463. But the reason is that purchasers have come to understand the mark as indicating the origin of the wares, so that its use by a second producer amounts to an attempt to sell his goods as those of his competitor. The reason for the rule does not extend to a case where the same trade-mark happens to be employed simultaneously by two manufacturers in different markets separate and remote from each other, so that the mark means one thing in one market, an entirely different thing in another. It would be a perversion of the rule of priority to give it such an application in our broadly extended country that an innocent party who had in good faith employed a trade-mark in one State, and by the use of it had built up a trade there, being the first appropriator in that jurisdiction, might afterwards be prevented from using it, with consequent injury to his trade and good-will, at the instance of one who theretofore had employed the same mark but only in other and remote jurisdictions, upon the ground that its first employment happened to antedate that of the first-mentioned trader.
In several cases federal courts have held that a prior use of a trade-mark in a foreign country did not entitle its owner to claim exclusive trade-mark rights in the United States as against one who in good faith had adopted a like trade-mark here prior to the entry of the foreigner into this market. Richter v. Anchor Remedy Co., 52 Fed. *101 Rep. 455, 458; Richter v. Reynolds, 59 Fed. Rep. 577, 579; Walter Baker & Co. v. Delapenha, 160 Fed. Rep. 746, 748; Gorham Mfg. Co. v. Weintraub, 196 Fed. Rep. 957, 961.
The same point was involved in Hanover Milling Co. v. Metcalf, 240 U.S. 403, 415, where we said: "In the ordinary case of parties competing under the same mark in the same market, it is correct to say that prior appropriation settles the question. But where two parties independently are employing the same mark upon goods of the same class, but in separate markets wholly remote the one from the other, the question of prior appropriation is legally insignificant, unless at least it appear that the second adopter has selected the mark with some design inimical to the interests of the first user, such as to take the benefit of the reputation of his goods, to forestall the extension of his trade, or the like."
In this case, as already remarked, there is no suggestion of a sinister purpose on the part of Rectanus or the Rectanus Company; hence the passage quoted correctly defines the status of the parties prior to the time when they came into competition in the Kentucky market. And it results, as a necessary inference from what we have said, that petitioner, being the newcomer in that market, must enter it subject to whatever rights had previously been acquired there in good faith by the Rectanus Company and its predecessor. To hold otherwise to require Rectanus to retire from the field upon the entry of Mrs. Regis' successor would be to establish the right of the latter as a right in gross, and to extend it to territory wholly remote from the furthest reach of the trade to which it was annexed, with the effect not merely of depriving Rectanus of the benefit of the good-will resulting from his long-continued use of the mark in Louisville and vicinity, and his substantial expenditures in building up his trade, but of enabling petitioner to reap substantial benefit from the publicity that Rectanus *102 has thus given to the mark in that locality, and of confusing if not misleading the public as to the origin of goods thereafter sold in Louisville under the Rex mark, for, in that market, until petitioner entered it, "Rex" meant the Rectanus product, not that of Regis.
In support of its contention petitioner cites the same cases that were relied upon by the District Court, namely, McLean v. Fleming, 96 U.S. 245; Menendez v. Holt, 128 U.S. 514; Saxlehner v. Eisner & Mendelson Co., 179 U.S. 19, 39; and Saxlehner v. Siegel-Cooper Co., 179 U.S. 42. They exemplify the rule that, where the proof of infringement is clear, a court of equity will not ordinarily refuse an injunction for the future protection of the proprietor of a trade-mark right, even where his acquiescence and laches have been such as to disentitle him to an accounting for the past profits of the infringer. The rule finds appropriate application in cases of conscious infringement or fraudulent imitation, as is apparent from a reading of the opinions in those cases; but it has no pertinency to such a state of facts as we are now dealing with. In McLean v. Fleming, the only question raised in this court that affected the right of the appellee to an injunction was whether the Circuit Court had erred in finding that defendant's labels "Dr. McLean's Universal Pills," etc., infringed complainant's label "Dr. C. McLane's Celebrated Liver Pills," and this turned upon whether the similarity was sufficient to deceive ordinarily careful purchasers. The evidence showed without dispute that from the beginning of his use of the offending labels the defendant (McLean) had known of the McLane liver pills, and raised at least a serious question whether he did not adopt his labels for the purpose of palming off his goods as those of complainant. What he controverted was that his labels amounted to an infringement of complainant's, and when this was decided against him the propriety of the injunction was clear. In Menendez v. *103 Holt, likewise, defendants (Menendez) admitted the existence of the brand in question the words "La Favorita" as applied to flour and admitted using it, but denied that Holt & Company were the owners, alleging that one Rider was a former member of that firm and entitled to use the brand, and that under him defendants had sold their flour branded "La Favorita, S.O. Rider." There was, however, no question but that defendants adopted the brand knowing it to be already in use by others. In the Saxlehner Cases, the facts were peculiar, and need not be rehearsed; injunctions were allowed to restrain the sale of certain waters in bottles and under labels in which those of complainant were intentionally imitated. In all four cases the distinguishing features of the present case were absent.
Here the essential facts are so closely parallel to those that furnished the basis of decision in the Allen & Wheeler Case, reported sub nom. Hanover Milling Co. v. Metcalf, 240 U.S. 403, 419-420, as to render further discussion unnecessary. Mrs. Regis and her firm, having during a long period of years confined their use of the "Rex" mark to a limited territory wholly remote from that in controversy, must be held to have taken the risk that some innocent party might in the meantime hit upon the same mark, apply it to goods of similar character, and expend money and effort in building up a trade under it; and since it appears that Rectanus in good faith, and without notice of any prior use by others, selected and used the "Rex" mark, and by the expenditure of money and effort succeeded in building up a local but valuable trade under it in Louisville and vicinity before petitioner entered that field, so that "Rex" had come to be recognized there as the "trade signature" of Rectanus and of respondent as his successor, petitioner is estopped to set up their continued use of the mark in that territory as an infringement of the Regis trade-mark. Whatever confusion may have *104 arisen from conflicting use of the mark is attributable to petitioner's entry into the field with notice of the situation; and petitioner cannot complain of this. As already stated, respondent is not complaining of it.
Decree affirmed.
| {
"pile_set_name": "FreeLaw"
} |
All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.
Introduction {#sec001}
============
The improvement of the performance of commercial banks is of great significance for the rational use of financial resources and the enhancement of the comprehensive competitiveness of China's banking industry. This improvement leads to considerable progress and the development of commercial banks. Intuitively, the efficiency evaluation of banks in China plays a vital role in providing policy implications to managers and decision-makers. Issues related to banking efficiency have long been emphasized in the literature, wherein financial ratio analysis \[[@pone.0204559.ref001]\], data envelopment analysis (DEA) \[[@pone.0204559.ref002]\], stochastic semi-nonparametric envelopment of data (StoNED) \[[@pone.0204559.ref003]\], and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) \[[@pone.0204559.ref004],[@pone.0204559.ref005]\] have been applied to find the production or cost frontier and analyze productivity efficiency. Among these evaluation methods, the DEA (radial or non-radial) is one of the most widely used tools to estimate banking efficiency. Examples include Halkos et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref001]\] for Greece; Ohsato et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref006]\] and Fukuyama and Weber \[[@pone.0204559.ref007],[@pone.0204559.ref008]\] for Japan; Ebrahimnejad et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref009]\] for East Virginia; Eken et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref010]\] for Turkey; Wu et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref011]\] for Canada; Park et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref012]\] for Korea; Khodabakhshi et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref013]\] and Kwon et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref014]\] for the US; Webb \[[@pone.0204559.ref015]\] for the UK retail Banks; Puri et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref016]--[@pone.0204559.ref018]\] for India; Nguyen et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref019]\] for Vietnam; Matthews \[[@pone.0204559.ref020]\], Wang et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref021]\], and Zha et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref022]\] for China; and Huang et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref023]\] for a panel of 17 Central and Eastern European countries.
Decision making units (DMUs) are treated as a 'black box' in traditional DEA models, where one of the drawbacks of these approaches is the neglect of intermediate products or linked activities \[[@pone.0204559.ref024], [@pone.0204559.ref025]\]. In fact, some production systems have a network (multiple stages) structure; these include new energy enterprises \[[@pone.0204559.ref026]\], the iron and steel industry \[[@pone.0204559.ref027], [@pone.0204559.ref028]\], the service industry \[[@pone.0204559.ref029]\], and commercial banks and supply chains \[[@pone.0204559.ref030], [@pone.0204559.ref031]\]. To open the 'black box' and obtain greater insight into the production process, network DEA models have been constructed to analyze the network structure of production. Some examples include Huang et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref002]\], Fukuyama et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref008]\], Wang et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref021]\], Tone et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref025]\], Färe et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref032]\], Zhu \[[@pone.0204559.ref033]\], Sexton et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref034]\], Lozano \[[@pone.0204559.ref035]\] and Huang et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref036]\]. On the basis of these studies, DEA methods, especially network structures or multistage DEA approaches, attracted interest for measuring banking efficiency from the perspective of macro-, meso-, and micro-levels. However, several key issues should be highlighted when measuring bank efficiency, which are explained in detail as follows.
Although many previous studies have assessed banking performance by considering undesirable outputs (such as non-performing loans; see, for example, Huang et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref002]\], Park et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref012]\], Zha et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref022]\], Fukuyama and Weber \[[@pone.0204559.ref037]\] and Fukuyama et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref038]\]) and super efficiency (Khodabakhshi et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref013]\], Andersen et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref039]\], Chiu et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref040]\], Chen \[[@pone.0204559.ref041]\], Minh et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref042]\], Avkiran et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref043]\] and Zhou et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref044]\]) either separately or simultaneously \[[@pone.0204559.ref002]\], these models do not consider both super efficiency and heterogeneous factors, while they assume that banks share a common production frontier. Actually, the production sets of different banks may differ due to differences in physical and capital stocks, as well as the social and economic infrastructure in which the production occurs \[[@pone.0204559.ref045]\]. If these differences are left out, the measures of banking efficiency may be biased.
Metafrontier analysis is a mainstream approach to consider the heterogeneity of factors \[[@pone.0204559.ref046]--[@pone.0204559.ref048]\], and it proceeds in two steps. First, banks are classified into different groups according to their internal characteristics (such as state-owned commercial banks, joint-stock commercial banks, and foreign banks), including some stylized environments \[[@pone.0204559.ref049]--[@pone.0204559.ref052]\] to estimate a group-specific production frontier for each group. Admittedly, external environments such as the spatial effect of tourism building investments on tourist revenues \[[@pone.0204559.ref053]\], the asymmetric impact of oil price shock on the stock market \[[@pone.0204559.ref054]\], and portfolio optimization problems \[[@pone.0204559.ref055]\] also exert influences on the group division. Second, the metafrontier is estimated by enveloping the group-specific frontiers \[[@pone.0204559.ref029], [@pone.0204559.ref056], [@pone.0204559.ref057]\]. In their latest work, Chiu et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref057]\] developed a new model to decompose the source of metafrontier inefficiency for various banks based on a two-stage network system with undesirable outputs. Their empirical results suggest that foreign banks are less efficient in developed countries, indicating that there are technology gaps among different types of commercial banks. However, the metafrontier constructed in the abovementioned works is concave, and the meta-technology gap may be greater than unity when evaluated by a slack-based measure (SBM) in a two-stage framework. This outcome may occur because the concave metafrontier exhibited some piecewise differences located on the area labeled 'Infeasible Input-Output combinations' \[[@pone.0204559.ref058]\], which is consistent with the indivisibility of technology proposed by Tone and Sahoo \[[@pone.0204559.ref059]\]. In such cases, it is necessary to extend the concave metafrontier analysis to a non-concave metafrontier one.
Based on the need to include the abovementioned issues in the DEA analytical framework, we propose an innovative measurement approach that incorporates a non-concave metafrontier and undesirable outputs into a slack-based network DEA model (NCMeta-US-NSBM), providing more accurate results and evidence when banking efficiency is estimated. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to consider a non-concave metafrontier, super efficiency, and undesirable outputs in a network SBM framework. The strength of the NCMeta-US-NSBM (compared to traditional DEA models) is its comparability treatment of efficiency of the same DMUs in different years due to possible unobserved exogenous technical changes and the ranks of the efficient DMUs on the efficient frontier.
Methodology {#sec002}
===========
The proposed model {#sec003}
------------------
Assuming that the number of observed DMUs (banks) is *N* and they can be divided into *G*(*G*\>1) groups in terms of heterogeneous factors, each group contains *N*~*g*~ DMUs and ${\sum_{g = 1}^{G}N_{g}} = N$. Furthermore, suppose that there are two stages in the production process of a bank. They are the deposit stage (stage 1) and the loan stage (stage 2), which are also known as the productivity stage and the profitability stage. The efficiency scores of these two stages are called productivity efficiency and profitability efficiency in this study, respectively. Then, each DMU obtains *Q* intermediate products on the consumption of *M* original inputs in the productivity stage and utilizes *Q* intermediate products to produce *R* desirable and *J* undesirable outputs in the second stage. These are denoted by vectors **x,z,y** and **b**, respectively, where $\mathbf{x} = \left\lbrack {x_{1},x_{2},\cdots,x_{M}} \right\rbrack \in {\mathbb{R}}_{+}^{M}$, $\mathbf{z} = \left\lbrack {z_{1},z_{2},\cdots,z_{Q}} \right\rbrack \in {\mathbb{R}}_{+}^{Q}$, $\mathbf{y} = \left\lbrack {y_{1},y_{2},\cdots,y_{R}} \right\rbrack \in {\mathbb{R}}_{+}^{R}$, and $\mathbf{b} = \left\lbrack {b_{1},b_{2},\cdots,b_{J}} \right\rbrack \in {\mathbb{R}}_{+}^{J}$. We define the intensity variable column for the first stage as $\mathbf{\lambda} = (\lambda_{1},\lambda_{2},\cdots,\lambda_{N}) \in {\mathbb{R}}_{+}^{N}$, and, for the second stage, the intensity column vector is $\mathbf{\gamma} = (\gamma_{1},\gamma_{2},\cdots,\gamma_{N}) \in {\mathbb{R}}_{+}^{N}$. All the variables are strictly greater than 0. [Fig 1](#pone.0204559.g001){ref-type="fig"} illustrates the production procedure of a bank.
{#pone.0204559.g001}
### Production possibility sets {#sec004}
The production possibility sets of the productivity and profitability stages can be given by Eqs ([1](#pone.0204559.e008){ref-type="disp-formula"}) and ([2](#pone.0204559.e009){ref-type="disp-formula"}).
{#pone.0204559.e008g}
P
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{#pone.0204559.e009g}
P
(
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By combing ([1](#pone.0204559.e008){ref-type="disp-formula"}) and ([2](#pone.0204559.e009){ref-type="disp-formula"}), the network production possibility set is $$\begin{array}{l}
{N_{PPS} = \left\{ \left. {(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{z},\mathbf{y},\mathbf{b})} \right| \right.(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{z}) \in P^{(1)}} \\
{\mspace{148mu}\left. {(\mathbf{z},\mathbf{y},\mathbf{b}) \in P^{(2)}} \right\}} \\
\end{array}$$
A function that is homogeneous of degree 1 is said to either have constant returns to scale or neither economies or diseconomies of scale. A function that is homogeneous of a degree greater (less) than 1 is said to have either increasing (decreasing) returns to scale or economies (diseconomies) of scale, known collectively as variable returns to scale. If the production function is not homogeneous, the returns to scale can still be determined by summing the respective ratios of the marginal to average products. Holod et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref060]\] suggested that the assumption of variable returns to scale (VRS) was a better alternative to constant returns to scale (CRS). Moreover, the performance of the efficiency scores obtained by the assumption of VRS is better than that of the assumption of CRS \[[@pone.0204559.ref061]\]. Thus, we first estimate the banking efficiency under the assumption of VRS. Specifically, the network production technology of the group frontier *g*′(*g*′ = 1,2,⋯,*G*) under the assumption of VRS can be expressed as follows: $$\begin{array}{l}
{N_{PPS}^{g^{\prime}} = \left\{ {\left. {(x_{m},z_{q},y_{r},b_{j})} \right|x_{mg^{\prime}o} \geq {\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o}{\lambda_{g^{\prime}n}x_{mg^{\prime}n}}},m = 1,2,\cdots,M;} \right.} \\
{\mspace{184mu} y_{rg^{\prime}o} \leq {\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o}{\gamma_{g^{\prime}n}y_{rg^{\prime}n}}},r = 1,2,\cdots,R;} \\
{\mspace{184mu} b_{jg^{\prime}o} \geq {\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o}{\gamma_{g^{\prime}n}b_{jg^{\prime}n}}},j = 1,2,\cdots,J;} \\
{\mspace{184mu}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o}\lambda_{g^{\prime}n}} = 1;{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o}\gamma_{g^{\prime}n}} = 1;} \\
{\mspace{184mu}\lambda_{g^{\prime}n},\gamma_{g^{\prime}n} \geq 0,n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o;} \\
{\mspace{184mu}\left. {z_{q}\ free,\ q = 1,2,\cdots,Q.} \right\}} \\
\end{array}$$
Similarly, the network production technology of the overall DMUs, with respect to the concave metafrontier, under the assumption of VRS assumption can be expressed as follows: $$\begin{array}{l}
{N_{PPS}^{c - meta} = \left\{ {\left. {(x_{m},z_{q},y_{r},b_{j})} \right|x_{mg^{\prime}o} \geq {\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}{\lambda_{gn}x_{mgn}}}},m = 1,2,\cdots,M;} \right.} \\
{\mspace{216mu} y_{rg^{\prime}o} \leq {\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}{\gamma_{gn}y_{rgn}}}},r = 1,2,\cdots,R;} \\
{\mspace{216mu} b_{jg^{\prime}o} \geq {\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}{\gamma_{gn}b_{jgn}}}},j = 1,2,\cdots,J;} \\
{\mspace{216mu}{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}\lambda_{gn}}} = 1;{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}\gamma_{gn}}} = 1;} \\
{\mspace{216mu}\lambda_{gn},\gamma_{gn} \geq 0,g = 1,2,\cdots,G;n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime};} \\
{\mspace{216mu}\left. {z_{q}\ free,\ q = 1,2,\cdots,Q.} \right\}} \\
\end{array}$$
[Fig 2](#pone.0204559.g002){ref-type="fig"} portrays the standard (concave) metafrontier with respect to the two technologies (I and II) in the two-stage setting. It is clear from [Fig 2](#pone.0204559.g002){ref-type="fig"} that the metafrontier can encompass input/output combinations that are not feasible in either of the two technologies. These observations are in the triangle labeled 'Infeasible Input--Output combinations' (such as *A*\* and *B*\* in stage 1 and stage 2, respectively; see [Fig 2](#pone.0204559.g002){ref-type="fig"}). Tiedemann et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref058]\] introduced a non-concave metafrontier (piecewise part of bold form in [Fig 2](#pone.0204559.g002){ref-type="fig"}) that enveloped those input--output combinations that are part of the technology set of at least one of the technologies, eliminating the area labeled 'Infeasible Input--Output combinations.' They also provided a two-step procedure to estimate a non-concave metafrontier. More details can be found in Huang et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref062]\]. This may ensure that the TGR in different stages under the network framework lies in (0,1\]. Meanwhile, the TGRs of some DMUs in different stages are greater than unity when considering the concave frontier since it contains the area labeled 'Infeasible Input--Output combinations', thus resulting in incorrect and irrational estimations.
{#pone.0204559.g002}
Following Tiedemann et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref058]\] and Huang et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref062]\], we extended the non-concave metafrontier to a network framework, which is expressed as follows: $$\begin{array}{l}
{N_{PPS}^{nc - meta} = \left\{ {\left. {(x_{m},z_{q},y_{r},b_{j})} \right|x_{mg^{\prime}o} \geq {\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}{\lambda_{gn}x_{mgn}}}},m = 1,2,\cdots,M;} \right.} \\
{\mspace{216mu} y_{rg^{\prime}o} \leq {\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}{\gamma_{gn}y_{rgn}}}},r = 1,2,\cdots,R;} \\
{\mspace{216mu} b_{jg^{\prime}o} \geq {\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}{\gamma_{gn}b_{jgn}}}},j = 1,2,\cdots,J;} \\
{\mspace{216mu}{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in (g^{\prime} = 1),n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}\lambda_{gn}}} = \phi_{1},{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in (g^{\prime} = 2),n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}\lambda_{gn}}} = \phi_{2},\cdots,{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in (g^{\prime} = G),n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}\lambda_{gn}}} = \phi_{G};} \\
{\mspace{216mu}{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in (g^{\prime} = 1),n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}\gamma_{gn}}} = \varphi_{1},{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in (g^{\prime} = 2),n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}\gamma_{gn}}} = \varphi_{2},\cdots,{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in (g^{\prime} = G),n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}\gamma_{gn}}} = \varphi_{G};} \\
{\mspace{216mu}{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}\phi_{g}} = 1;{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}\varphi_{g}} = 1;\phi_{g} = 1\ or\ 0;\varphi_{g} = 1\ or\ 0;\lambda_{gn},\gamma_{gn} \geq 0;n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime};} \\
{\mspace{216mu}\left. {z_{q}\ free,\ q = 1,2,\cdots,Q.} \right\}} \\
\end{array}$$
Consequently, we have the following relationship between $N_{PPS}^{g^{\prime}}$, $N_{PPS}^{conc - meta}$ and $N_{PPS}^{nc - meta}$: $$N_{PPS}^{g^{\prime}} \subseteq N_{PPS}^{nc - meta} \subseteq N_{PPS}^{conc - meta}.$$
### NCMeta-US-NSBM model {#sec005}
There are two types of models in DEA: radial and non-radial efficiency measures. The shortcoming of the former approach is that it neglects the non-radial input/output slacks (i.e., it cannot provide detailed information regarding the inefficiency of a specific input/output). As indicated by Tone \[[@pone.0204559.ref063]\], slack-based measures used as non-radial measures can directly address the 'input excess' and 'output shortfall' problems, where the objective function value can be interpreted as the ratio of mean input and output mix inefficiencies. Slack-based measure approaches can effectively explore the sources of inefficiency behind the operational process of each bank from this point of view. In this subsection, we mainly focus on the proposed model NCMeta-US-NSBM, which simultaneously incorporates the non-concave metafrontier technique, super efficiency, and undesirable outputs into the network slack-based measure model.
Assume that *N* DMUs (*n* = 1,2,⋯,*N*) consist of *K* divisions (stages). Let *M*~*k*~ be the number of original inputs, *R*~*k*~ and *J*~*k*~ respectively stand for the number of final undesirable and desirable outputs of division, and let *Q*~*k*~ be the number of intermediate products (*k* = 1,2,⋯,*K*). Denote the link leading from division (*k*−1) to division *k* by (*k*−1,*k*) and the set of links by *L*. The observations are $\left\{ {x_{g^{\prime}n}^{k} \in {\mathbb{R}}_{+}^{M_{k}}} \right\}$ (original inputs to DMU *n* at division *k* in group *g*′), $\left\{ {y_{g^{\prime}n}^{k} \in {\mathbb{R}}_{+}^{R_{k}}} \right\}$ (final desirable outputs to DMU *n* at division *k* in group *g*′), $\left\{ {b_{g^{\prime}n}^{k} \in {\mathbb{R}}_{+}^{J_{k}}} \right\}$ (final undesirable outputs to DMU *n* at division *k* in group *g*′) and $\left\{ {z_{g^{\prime}n}^{(k - 1,k)} \in {\mathbb{R}}_{+}^{\pi(k - 1,k)}} \right\}$ (linked intermediate product from division (*k*−1) to division *k* in group *g*′), where *π*(*k*−1,*k*) is the number of items in link (*k*−1,*k*). Note that $z_{g^{\prime}n}^{(k - 1,k)}$ demonstrates the outputs from (*k*−1) and the inputs to *k*.
With the group frontier and metafrontier defined, we can measure bank efficiency by a Group-US-SBM model by considering the undesirable outputs and super efficiency in the SBM model with respect to the group frontier. The optimal objective value for the *o*th DMU in group *g*′(*o* = 1,2,⋯,*N*~*g*′~; *g*′ = 1,2,⋯,*G*) under the group frontier is estimated as: $$\begin{array}{l}
{\lbrack{Group}‑{US}‑{NSBM}\rbrack\ \rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{group*} = \min\frac{{\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\omega^{k}}\left\lbrack {1 + \frac{1}{M_{k}}\left( {\sum\limits_{m = 1}^{M_{k}}\frac{t_{mg^{\prime}o}^{xk}}{x_{mg^{\prime}o}^{k}}} \right)} \right\rbrack}{{\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\omega^{k}}\left\lbrack {1 - \frac{1}{R_{k} + J_{k}}\left( {{\sum\limits_{r = 1}^{R_{k}}\frac{t_{rg^{\prime}o}^{yk}}{y_{rg^{\prime}o}^{k}}} + {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{J_{k}}\frac{t_{jg^{\prime}o}^{bk}}{b_{jg^{\prime}o}^{k}}}} \right)} \right\rbrack}} \\
{s.t.\ x_{mg^{\prime}o}^{k} - {\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o}{\lambda_{g^{\prime}n}^{k}x_{mg^{\prime}n}^{k}}} + t_{mg^{\prime}o}^{xk} \geq 0,m = 1,2,\cdots,M_{k};k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o}{\gamma_{g^{\prime}n}^{k}y_{rg^{\prime}n}^{k}}} - y_{rg^{\prime}o}^{k} + t_{rg^{\prime}o}^{yk} \geq 0,r = 1,2,\cdots,R_{k};k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{b_{jg^{\prime}o}^{k} - {\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o}{\gamma_{g^{\prime}n}^{k}b_{jg^{\prime}n}^{k}}} + t_{jg^{\prime}o}^{bk} \geq 0,j = 1,2,\cdots,J_{k};k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{1 - \frac{1}{R_{k} + J_{k}}\left( {{\sum\limits_{r = 1}^{R_{k}}\frac{t_{rg^{\prime}}^{yk}}{y_{rg^{\prime}o}^{k}}} + {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{J_{k}}\frac{t_{jg^{\prime}}^{bk}}{b_{jg^{\prime}o}^{k}}}} \right) \geq \varepsilon,k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o}{\lambda_{g^{\prime}n}^{k}z_{g^{\prime}n}^{({k - 1,k})}}} = {\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o}{\gamma_{g^{\prime}n}^{k}z_{g^{\prime}n}^{({k,k - 1})}}},k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o}\lambda_{g^{\prime}n}^{k}} = 1,k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o}\gamma_{g^{\prime}n}^{k}} = 1,k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{{\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\omega^{k}} = 1,k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{\omega^{k},t^{xk},t^{yk},t^{bk},\lambda^{k},\gamma^{k} \geq 0;k = 1,2,\cdots,K.} \\
\end{array}$$ The same applies for the *o*th DMU in group *g*′(*o* = 1,2,⋯,*N*~*g*′~; *g*′ = 1,2,⋯,*G*) under the concave metafrontier, which is estimated as: $$\begin{array}{l}
{\lbrack{CMeta}‑{US}‑{NSBM}\rbrack\ \rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{c - meta*} = \min\frac{{\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\omega^{k}}\left\lbrack {1 + \frac{1}{M_{k}}\left( {\sum\limits_{m = 1}^{M_{k}}\frac{s_{mg^{\prime}o}^{xk}}{x_{mg^{\prime}o}^{k}}} \right)} \right\rbrack}{{\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\omega^{k}}\left\lbrack {1 - \frac{1}{R_{k} + J_{k}}\left( {{\sum\limits_{r = 1}^{R_{k}}\frac{s_{rg^{\prime}o}^{yk}}{y_{rg^{\prime}o}^{k}}} + {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{J_{k}}\frac{s_{jg^{\prime}o}^{bk}}{b_{jg^{\prime}o}^{k}}}} \right)} \right\rbrack}} \\
{s.t.\ x_{mg^{\prime}o}^{k} - {\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}{\lambda_{gn}^{k}x_{mgn}^{k}}}} + s_{mg^{\prime}o}^{xk} \geq 0,m = 1,2,\cdots,M_{k};k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}{\gamma_{gn}^{k}y_{rgn}^{k}}}} - y_{rg^{\prime}o}^{k} + s_{rg^{\prime}o}^{yk} \geq 0,r = 1,2,\cdots,R_{k};k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{b_{jg^{\prime}o}^{k} - {\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}{\gamma_{gn}^{k}b_{jgn}^{k}}}} + s_{jg^{\prime}o}^{bk} \geq 0,j = 1,2,\cdots,J_{k};k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{1 - \frac{1}{R_{k} + J_{k}}\left( {{\sum\limits_{r = 1}^{R_{k}}\frac{s_{rg^{\prime}}^{yk}}{y_{rg^{\prime}o}^{k}}} + {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{J_{k}}\frac{s_{jg^{\prime}}^{bk}}{b_{jg^{\prime}o}^{k}}}} \right) \geq \varepsilon,k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}{\lambda_{gn}^{k}z_{gn}^{({k - 1,k})}}}} = {\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}{\gamma_{gn}^{k}z_{gn}^{({k,k - 1})}}}},k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in (g^{\prime} = 1),n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}\lambda_{gn}^{k}}} = 1,k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in (g^{\prime} = 1),n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}\gamma_{gn}^{k}}} = 1,k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{{\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\omega^{k}} = 1,k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{\omega^{k},s^{xk},s^{yk},s^{bk},\lambda^{k},\gamma^{k} \geq 0;k = 1,2,\cdots,K.} \\
\end{array}$$
For a two-stage (two-division) bank production procession (that is, *K* =2), the bad outputs (such as NPLs) are part of stage 2 instead of stage 1. Accordingly, we can also define the divisional efficiency score of each stage with respect to the group frontier as follows: $$\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{group*1} = \frac{1 + \frac{1}{M_{1}}\left( {\sum\limits_{m = 1}^{M_{1}}\frac{t_{mg^{\prime}o}^{x1*}}{x_{mg^{\prime}o}^{1}}} \right)}{1 - \frac{1}{Q}\left( {\sum\limits_{q = 1}^{Q}\frac{t_{qg^{\prime}o}^{z*}}{z_{qg^{\prime}o}}} \right)};$$ $$\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{group*2} = \frac{1 + \frac{1}{Q}\left( {\sum\limits_{q = 1}^{Q}\frac{t_{qg^{\prime}o}^{z*}}{z_{qg^{\prime}o}}} \right)}{\left\lbrack {1 - \frac{1}{R_{2} + J_{2}}\left( {{\sum\limits_{r = 1}^{R_{2}}\frac{t_{rg^{\prime}o}^{y2*}}{y_{rg^{\prime}o}^{2}}} + {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{J_{2}}\frac{t_{jg^{\prime}o}^{b2*}}{b_{jg^{\prime}o}^{2}}}} \right)} \right\rbrack}.$$ where the slack variables with the superscript "\*" denote the optimal slacks of model ([8](#pone.0204559.e023){ref-type="disp-formula"}) in the corresponding stages.
The same applies for a concave metafrontier. The divisional efficiency score of each stage is computed as follows: $$\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{c - meta*1} = \frac{1 + \frac{1}{M_{1}}\left( {\sum\limits_{m = 1}^{M_{1}}\frac{s_{mg^{\prime}o}^{x1*}}{x_{mg^{\prime}o}^{1}}} \right)}{1 - \frac{1}{Q}\left( {\sum\limits_{q = 1}^{Q}\frac{s_{qg^{\prime}o}^{z*}}{z_{qg^{\prime}o}}} \right)};$$ $$\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{c - meta*2} = \frac{1 + \frac{1}{Q}\left( {\sum\limits_{q = 1}^{Q}\frac{s_{qg^{\prime}o}^{z*}}{z_{qg^{\prime}o}}} \right)}{\left\lbrack {1 - \frac{1}{R_{2} + J_{2}}\left( {{\sum\limits_{r = 1}^{R_{2}}\frac{s_{rg^{\prime}o}^{y2*}}{y_{rg^{\prime}o}^{2}}} + {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{J_{2}}\frac{s_{jg^{\prime}o}^{b2*}}{b_{jg^{\prime}o}^{2}}}} \right)} \right\rbrack}.$$ where the slack variables with the superscript "\*" denote the optimal slacks of model ([9](#pone.0204559.e024){ref-type="disp-formula"}) in the corresponding stages.
The technology gap ratio (TGR) based on the optimal objective values $\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{group*}$ and $\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{c - meta*}$ can be computed as follows: $$TGR_{g^{\prime}o}^{c} = \frac{\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{c - meta*}}{\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{group*}}.$$
The TGR with respect to each stage under a concave metafrontier is given by: $$TGR_{g^{\prime}o}^{c1} = \frac{\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{c - meta*1}}{\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{group*1}};$$ $$TGR_{g^{\prime}o}^{c2} = \frac{\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{c - meta*2}}{\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{group*2}}.$$ $$\begin{array}{l}
{\lbrack{NCMeta}‑{US}‑{NSBM}\rbrack\ \rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{nc - meta*} = \min\frac{{\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\omega^{k}}\left\lbrack {1 + \frac{1}{M_{k}}\left( {\sum\limits_{m = 1}^{M_{k}}\frac{\tau_{mg^{\prime}o}^{xk}}{x_{mg^{\prime}o}^{k}}} \right)} \right\rbrack}{{\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\omega^{k}}\left\lbrack {1 - \frac{1}{R_{k} + J_{k}}\left( {{\sum\limits_{r = 1}^{R_{k}}\frac{\tau_{rg^{\prime}o}^{yk}}{y_{rg^{\prime}o}^{k}}} + {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{J_{k}}\frac{\tau_{jg^{\prime}o}^{bk}}{b_{jg^{\prime}o}^{k}}}} \right)} \right\rbrack}} \\
{s.t.\ x_{mg^{\prime}o}^{k} - {\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}{\lambda_{gn}^{k}x_{mgn}^{k}}}} + \tau_{mg^{\prime}o}^{xk} \geq 0,m = 1,2,\cdots,M_{k};k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}{\gamma_{gn}^{k}y_{rgn}^{k}}}} - y_{rg^{\prime}o}^{k} + \tau_{rg^{\prime}o}^{yk} \geq 0,r = 1,2,\cdots,R_{k};k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{b_{jg^{\prime}o}^{k} - {\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}{\gamma_{gn}^{k}b_{jgn}^{k}}}} + \tau_{jg^{\prime}o}^{bk} \geq 0,j = 1,2,\cdots,J_{k};k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{1 - \frac{1}{R_{k} + J_{k}}\left( {{\sum\limits_{r = 1}^{R_{k}}\frac{\tau_{rg^{\prime}}^{yk}}{y_{rg^{\prime}o}^{k}}} + {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{J_{k}}\frac{\tau_{jg^{\prime}}^{bk}}{b_{jg^{\prime}o}^{k}}}} \right) \geq \varepsilon,k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}{\lambda_{gn}^{k}z_{gn}^{({k - 1,k})}}}} = {\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}{\gamma_{gn}^{k}z_{gn}^{({k,k - 1})}}}},k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in (g^{\prime} = 1),n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}\lambda_{gn}^{k}}} = \phi_{1}^{k},{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in (g^{\prime} = 2),n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}\lambda_{gn}^{k}}} = \phi_{2}^{k},\cdots,{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in (g^{\prime} = G),n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}\lambda_{gn}^{k}}} = \phi_{G}^{k};} \\
{{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in (g^{\prime} = 1),n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}\gamma_{gn}^{k}}} = \varphi_{1}^{k},{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in (g^{\prime} = 2),n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}\gamma_{gn}^{k}}} = \varphi_{2}^{k},\cdots,{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}{\sum\limits_{n \in (g^{\prime} = G),n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}\gamma_{gn}^{k}}} = \varphi_{G}^{k};} \\
{{\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}\phi_{g}^{k}}} = 1;{\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}{\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}\varphi_{g}^{k}}} = 1;\phi_{g}^{k} = 1or0;\varphi_{g}^{k} = 1or0;} \\
{{\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\omega^{k}} = 1,k = 1,2,\cdots,K;} \\
{\omega^{k},\tau^{xk},\tau^{yk},\tau^{bk},\lambda^{k},\gamma^{k} \geq 0;k = 1,2,\cdots,K.} \\
\end{array}$$ where *t*^*x*^(*s*^*x*^,*τ*^*x*^), *t*^*y*^(*s*^*y*^,*τ*^*y*^) and *t*^*b*^(*s*^*b*^,*τ*^*b*^) are the slacks of the inputs, desirable outputs, and undesirable outputs with respect to group frontiers (concave metafrontier and non-concave metafrontier), respectively. The term *ε* is non-Archimedean infinitely small, and the corresponding constraint ensures that the denominator in the objective function is greater than zero. For the sake of considering the continuity of the production activities of the two stages, the linkage between the productivity stage and the profitability stage is added in the proposed models. Specifically, we have: $$\sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}\lambda_{gn}^{k}z_{gn}^{({k - 1,k})} = \sum\limits_{g = 1}^{G}\sum\limits_{n \in g^{\prime},n \neq o\ if\ g = g^{\prime}}\gamma_{gn}^{k}z_{gn}^{({k,k - 1})},k = 1,2,\cdots,K.$$
Considering a non-concave metafrontier, the divisional efficiency score of each stage is computed as follows: $$\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{nc - meta*1} = \frac{1 + \frac{1}{M_{1}}\left( {\sum\limits_{m = 1}^{M_{1}}\frac{\tau_{mg^{\prime}o}^{x1*}}{x_{mg^{\prime}o}^{1}}} \right)}{1 - \frac{1}{Q}\left( {\sum\limits_{q = 1}^{Q}\frac{\tau_{qg^{\prime}o}^{z*}}{z_{qg^{\prime}o}}} \right)};$$ $$\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{nc - meta*2} = \frac{1 + \frac{1}{Q}\left( {\sum\limits_{q = 1}^{Q}\frac{\tau_{qg^{\prime}o}^{z*}}{z_{qg^{\prime}o}}} \right)}{\left\lbrack {1 - \frac{1}{R_{2} + J_{2}}\left( {{\sum\limits_{r = 1}^{R_{2}}\frac{\tau_{rg^{\prime}o}^{y2*}}{y_{rg^{\prime}o}^{2}}} + {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{J_{2}}\frac{\tau_{jg^{\prime}o}^{b2*}}{b_{jg^{\prime}o}^{2}}}} \right)} \right\rbrack}.$$ where the slack variables with the superscript "\*" denote the optimal slacks of model ([8](#pone.0204559.e023){ref-type="disp-formula"}) in the corresponding stages.
The technology gap ratio (TGR) based on the optimal objective values $\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{group*}$ and $\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{nc - meta*}$ can be computed as follows: $$TGR_{g^{\prime}o}^{nc} = \frac{\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{nc - meta*}}{\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{group*}}.$$
The TGR with respect to each stage under a concave metafrontier is given by: $$TGR_{g^{\prime}o}^{nc1} = \frac{\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{nc - meta*1}}{\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{group*1}};$$ $$TGR_{g^{\prime}o}^{nc2} = \frac{\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{nc - meta*2}}{\rho_{g^{\prime}o}^{group*2}}.$$
Dagum's decomposition and Gini coefficient for subpopulations {#sec006}
-------------------------------------------------------------
The Gini decomposition method proposed by Dagum \[[@pone.0204559.ref064]\] can be used to describe the sources of between group disparity and the distribution of subsamples free from the influence of sample overlap. Eq ([24](#pone.0204559.e043){ref-type="disp-formula"}) below can express it: $$G = \frac{\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{k}{\sum\limits_{h = 1}^{k}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n_{j}}{\sum\limits_{r = 1}^{n_{k}}\left| {y_{ji} - y_{hr}} \right|}}}}{2\mu n^{2}}$$ where *y*~*ji*~(*y*~*hr*~) is the efficiency score of a bank in the group *j*(*h*), *μ* is the mean value of banking efficiency, *n* is the total number of banks, *k* is the number of groups, and *n*~*j*~(*n*~*h*~) is the number of banks in the group *j*(*h*).
The groups must be sorted by their average banking efficiency using Eq ([25](#pone.0204559.e044){ref-type="disp-formula"}) before performing Dagum's decomposition: $$\overline{Y_{1}} \leq \overline{Y_{2}} \leq \cdots \leq \overline{Y_{j}} \leq \cdots \leq \overline{Y_{k}}$$
The Gini coefficient can be decomposed into three components according to Dagum's approaches. 1) The contribution of differences within groups *G*~*w*~ (i.e., the spatial differences between the banking efficiency within groups) refers to such differences between groups within SOB, JSB, FB and CCB in China in this study. 2) The contribution of differences between groups *G*~*nb*~ (i.e., the bank efficiency differences between groups) refers to such differences between SOB, JSB, FB and CCB in this study. 3) The contribution of the intensity of transvariation *G*~*t*~ is the overlapping contribution of banking efficiency between groups. The components satisfy *G* = *G*~*w*~ + *G*~*nb*~ + *G*~*t*~. *G*~*jj*~ is the Gini coefficient within group *j*. *G*~*jh*~ is the Gini coefficient between groups *j* and *h*. Then, the contribution rate of *G*~*w*~, *G*~*nb*~ and *G*~*t*~ can be calculated as $\frac{G_{w}}{G} \times 100\%$, $\frac{G_{nb}}{G} \times 100\%$ and $\frac{G_{t}}{G} \times 100\%$, respectively. $$G_{jj} = \frac{\frac{1}{2\overline{Y_{j}}}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n_{j}}{\sum\limits_{r = 1}^{n_{k}}\left| {y_{ji} - y_{hr}} \right|}}}{n_{j}^{2}}$$ $$G_{w} = {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{k}{G_{jj}p_{j}s_{j}}}$$ $$G_{jh} = \frac{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n_{j}}{\sum\limits_{r = 1}^{n_{k}}\left| {y_{ji} - y_{hr}} \right|}}{n_{j}n_{h}(\overline{Y_{j}} + \overline{Y_{h}})}$$ $$G_{nb} = {\sum\limits_{j = 2}^{k}{\sum\limits_{h = 1}^{j - 1}{G_{jh}(p_{j}s_{h} + p_{h}s_{j})D_{jh}}}}$$ $$G_{t} = {\sum\limits_{j = 2}^{k}{\sum\limits_{h = 1}^{j - 1}{G_{jh}(p_{j}s_{h} + p_{h}s_{j})(1 - D_{jh})}}}$$ $$D_{jh} = \frac{d_{jh} - p_{jh}}{d_{jh} + p_{jh}}$$ where *p*~*j*~ = *n*~*j*~/*n*, $s_{j} = {{n_{j}\overline{Y_{j}}}/n}\overline{Y}$, and *j* = 1,2,⋯,*k*. *D*~*jh*~ is the relative contribution rate of banking efficiency between groups *j* and *h*. *d*~*jh*~ is the difference of the contribution rates of banking efficiency between groups (i.e., the weighted average of all samples with *y*~*ji*~ − *y*~*hr*~ \> 0 in groups *j* and *h*). *p*~*jh*~ is the first-order moment of transvariation (i.e., the weighted average of all samples with *y*~*hr*~ − *y*~*ji*~ \> 0 in groups *j* and *h*). $$d_{jh} = {\int\limits_{0}^{\infty}{dF_{j}(y)}}{\int\limits_{0}^{y}{(y - x)dF_{h}(x)}};$$ $$p_{jh} = {\int\limits_{0}^{\infty}{dF_{h}(y)}}{\int\limits_{0}^{y}{(y - x)dF_{j}(x)}}$$ where *F*~*j*~ and *F*~*h*~ are the cumulative density distribution functions of groups *j* and *h*, respectively.
Kernel density estimation {#sec007}
-------------------------
Kernel density estimation (KDE) is an important approach to nonparametric estimation. It describes the general distribution of a random variable using a continuous density curve obtained by estimating its probabilistic density \[[@pone.0204559.ref065]\]. Specifically, suppose *x*~1~,*x*~2~,⋯,*x*~*n*~ are samples from a continuous population *X*. Then, the KDE for the population density function *f*(*x*) at any point *x* can be defined as: $$\hat{f_{h}}(x) = \frac{1}{nh}{\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{n}{K\left( \frac{x - x_{i}}{h} \right)}}$$ where *K*(∙) is the kernel function, and *h* is the bandwidth. Since the shape of the kernel function has little effect on the accuracy of the estimation result, this study bases its estimation on the Gaussian kernel function \[[@pone.0204559.ref066]\]: $$K(x) = \frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi}}\exp\left( {- \frac{x^{2}}{2}} \right)$$
Empirical analysis {#sec008}
==================
Data sources and variable descriptions {#sec009}
--------------------------------------
The datasets used in this paper include 93 commercial banks from China's mainland taken from the Bureau van Dijk (BvD) (Bankscope) over the period of 2005--2016. The appendix includes a sample list. Following previous studies \[[@pone.0204559.ref002], [@pone.0204559.ref057]\], we use three inputs: fixed assets (*fixed_asset*), equity (*equity*), and personnel expenses (*personnel_expenses*). The deposits (*deposits*) are treated as intermediates in the two-stage network DEA framework. The desirable outputs are gross loans (*gross_loans*) and other earning assets (*other_earning_assets*). Non-performing loans (*NPLs*) are an undesirable output. All financial data are deflated using the GDP deflator with a base = 100 in 2005. The descriptive statistics of all inputs, intermediates, and outputs are summarized in [Table 1](#pone.0204559.t001){ref-type="table"}, which reveals that significant differences exist among banks.
10.1371/journal.pone.0204559.t001
###### Descriptive statistics of samples (Unit: Million RMB).
{#pone.0204559.t001g}
Total Total SOB JSB FB CCB
------------------------ -------- ------------- ----------- ------------ ------------ ---------- -----------
**Original inputs**
*fixed_asset* 0.0740 1339.7830 63.5013 1002.9660 120.2605 1.4609 15.9305
*equity* 1.5590 5761.0680 328.6731 3592.2850 947.2279 51.1371 125.7505
*personnel_expenses* 0.0200 576.1070 30.7610 313.2472 105.8187 3.9377 11.0294
**Intermediates**
*deposits* 7.0360 107182.7000 5371.0440 62074.6800 17626.1500 325.4474 1711.6410
**Final outputs**
*gross_loans* 3.5610 64309.5900 3209.6400 39371.4400 10104.3800 212.9052 901.2157
*other_earning_assets* 1.5230 44212.8500 2176.4720 24714.9200 7187.1240 166.7921 698.5564
*npls* 0.0160 13397.8300 322.3043 6638.5430 256.8248 1.8208 21.8842
SOB, JSB, FB and CCB represent state-owned banks, joint-stock banks, foreign banks and city commercial banks, respectively.
### Evaluation and evolution of bank efficiency {#sec010}
Different groups may reflect different productivity performances, and the efficiency scores may vary among different banks. As reported in [Table 2](#pone.0204559.t002){ref-type="table"}, on average, the pooled descriptive statistics of overall efficiency indicate that SOBs perform the best, followed by JSBs, and the FBs are the worst. However, the productivity efficiency of the JSBs is the highest, followed by SOBs, and the FB's is the smallest. Meanwhile, the controversy rank can be found in the profitability stage. Thus, for different bank types, the efficiency development is unbalanced, especially for FBs and CCBs, with respect to a non-concave metafrontier. [Table 3](#pone.0204559.t003){ref-type="table"} presents both a paired *t*-test and a sign rank test that show that there are significance differences among the four groups in different stages. Consequently, it is necessary to consider heterogeneity when measuring banking efficiency.
10.1371/journal.pone.0204559.t002
###### Pooled descriptive statistics of overall efficiency and stage efficiencies.
{#pone.0204559.t002g}
Overall Stage 1 Stage 2
------------- -------------------------- ------ --------- --------- --------- -------- -------- --------
Total banks
Non-Concave Metafrontier 1116 0.4977 0.2520 0.0373 1.0281 0.6339 0.5935
Group frontier 1116 0.5264 0.2495 0.0373 1.0514 0.6659 0.7942
Technology Gap Ratio 1116 0.9452 0.1186 0.4665 1.0000 0.9446 0.7753
SOB
Non-Concave Metafrontier 48 0.8369 0.1871 0.4916 1.0281 0.8823 0.1130
Group frontier 48 0.8957 0.1100 0.6882 1.0514 0.9392 0.9521
Technology Gap Ratio 48 0.9280 0.1425 0.4676 1.0000 0.9377 0.1201
JSB
Non-Concave Metafrontier 108 0.8312 0.1157 0.6710 1.0052 0.9168 0.4052
Group frontier 108 0.8317 0.1166 0.6710 1.0505 0.9170 0.9118
Technology Gap Ratio 108 0.9995 0.0047 0.9520 1.0000 0.9998 0.4555
FB
Non-Concave Metafrontier 384 0.4084 0.2076 0.0373 1.0000 0.5082 0.7165
Group frontier 384 0.4092 0.2083 0.0373 1.0514 0.5573 0.7871
Technology Gap Ratio 384 0.9982 0.0124 0.8858 1.0000 0.8937 0.9433
CCB
Non-Concave Metafrontier 576 0.4665 0.2288 0.1374 1.0000 0.6441 0.5868
Group frontier 576 0.5165 0.2239 0.1402 1.0514 0.6684 0.7638
Technology Gap Ratio 576 0.9012 0.1453 0.4665 1.0000 0.9687 0.7778
10.1371/journal.pone.0204559.t003
###### The comparison of stage efficiencies of different groups.
{#pone.0204559.t003g}
Groups *t*-test (*t*-value) Mean difference Sign rank test(Z-value)
-------------------------- ------------------ --------------------------------------------------- ----------------- ---------------------------------------------------
Overall efficiency
SOB *versus* JSB 0.2323[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"} 0.0057 1.5100
SOB *versus* FB 13.6209[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"} 0.4284 9.4120[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"}
SOB *versus* CCB 10.9138[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"} 0.3704 8.6790[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"}
JSB *versus* FB 20.2850[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"} 0.4227 13.7860[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"}
JSB *versus* CCB 16.1756[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"} 0.3647 13.0390[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"}
FB *versus* CCB -3.9950[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"} -0.0580 -3.9110[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"}
Productivity efficiency
SOB *versus* JSB -1.5761 -0.0345 -0.1790
SOB *versus* FB 9.0732[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"} 0.3741 8.2520[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"}
SOB *versus* CCB 7.4795[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"} 0.2382 7.6690[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"}
JSB *versus* FB 14.7253[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"} 0.4086 11.9340[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"}
JSB *versus* CCB 12.7071[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"} 0.2727 11.5020[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"}
FB *versus* CCB -8.4326[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"} -0.1359 -7.5910[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"}
Profitability efficiency
SOB *versus* JSB -9.3232[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"} -0.2922 -8.8580[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"}
SOB *versus* FB -20.6942[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"} -0.6035 -11.3270[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"}
SOB *versus* CCB -23.9605[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"} -0.4737 -11.5200[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"}
JSB *versus* FB -13.9715[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"} -0.3113 -10.8610[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"}
JSB *versus* CCB -11.4197[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"} -0.1816 -7.7570[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"}
FB *versus* CCB 11.8982[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"} 0.1298 11.0900[\*\*\*](#t003fn001){ref-type="table-fn"}
\*\*\*, \*\*, and \* denote significance at the levels of 1%, 5%, and 10%, respectively.
In terms of the overall efficiency, the TGR of the JSB group is highest at 0.9995, FB comes in second at 0.9982, SOB comes in third at 0.9280, and CCB is the lowest at 0.9012. The metafrontier implies the potential payoffs from the meta-technology for each heterogeneous group \[[@pone.0204559.ref045]\]. The results of TGR evaluation indicate that JSB achieves 99.95% of the potential payoffs, which is greater than the case with the other technology groups. This indicates that the technology of JSB is the best technology type relative to the other types since it can produce the most outputs under the given input level. The percentages of achievable potential payoffs in FB, SOB and CCB are 99.82%, 92.80% and 90.12%, respectively. Moreover, regarding productivity efficiency (stage 1), the percentages of achievable potential payoffs in SOB, JSB, FB and CCB are 93.77%, 99.98%, 89.73% and 96.87%, respectively This declines to 12.01%, 45.55% and 77.78% for SOB, JSB, and CCB, respectively, with respect to profitability efficiency (stage 2). The above findings indicate that most of the banks have a large space for improvement, especially for SOB and JSB in the profitability stage.
[Fig 3](#pone.0204559.g003){ref-type="fig"} displays the sources and contribution rates of the overall difference in the four groups. Since we mainly focus on the evaluation and evolution of bank efficiency with respect to the non-concave metafrontier, we do not provide the evolution of the banking efficiency with respect to the group frontier and TGR. From 2005 to 2016, the contribution rate of the between group differences and the intensity of transvariation showed a fluctuating tendency, while the within group differences had a contribution rate that was stable. The curve of the intensity of transvariation was always the highest, thus making it the major source of the overall differences in banking efficiency in mainland China. For overall efficiency, productivity efficiency and profitability efficiency, the gap between the group differences and the intensity of transvariation decreased until 2007 and then increased after 2007. However, the contribution rate of the intensity of transvariation is stable and at a lower rate (smaller than 20%) for each type of efficiency.
{#pone.0204559.g003}
[Fig 4](#pone.0204559.g004){ref-type="fig"} shows the evolutionary path of the differences in the 93 banks' efficiencies during 2005--2016. Generally, the basic characteristics of the kernel density curve have similar shapes for the overall efficiency, productivity efficiency and profitability, including the shape of the curve, the location of the curve and the peak values. More importantly, the central point of the density function is located at approximately 0.5, indicating that the level of banking efficiency is not very high overall. In addition, there is one major peak value and the interval of the variation changed little. This indicated that the banking efficiency presents a trend of polarization and the group differences changed little from 2005 to 2016. With regard to the overall efficiency (productivity efficiency and profitability efficiency are similar), we specifically get the following.
{#pone.0204559.g004}
Peak values and numbers. From 2005 to 2016, the peaks of the distribution curve showed an increasing trend. The increase of a peak's corresponding area indicates an increase in each bank's efficiency in the period. There are a prominent peak and a side peak in 2005, thus indicating that there are significant differences in the banking efficiency in China. In addition, there are a prominent peak and more than one side peak since 2008, thus showing that the multilevel differentiation phenomenon of bank efficiency appears compared to the initial period.
Shape of the curve. The tail of the banking efficiency distribution in China becomes longer over time, thus indicating that the gaps in banking efficiency among different groups are gradually increasing during the study period.
Conclusions and directions for further research {#sec011}
===============================================
The primary concerns of this paper are the evaluation and evolution of banking efficiency in China over the period of 2005--2016. On the one hand, considering a non-concave metafrontier framework and super efficiency simultaneously in a network SBM model to open the black box of traditional DEA methods provides more accurate and comprehensive measurements of banking efficiency. This paper extends the US-NSBM model introduced by Huang et al. \[[@pone.0204559.ref002]\] to a new two-stage network model called NCMeta-US-NSBM by combining the model with a non-concave metafrontier, undesirable outputs, and super efficiency. An empirical analysis of the proposed model is provided that is based on the data of Chinese commercial banks from 2005 to 2016 (complete panel data; 93 banks, and 1116 observations). On the other hand, we employ the Dagum Gini index decomposition method and kernel density estimation technique to investigate the evolution of banking efficiency. The main empirical findings are summarized as follows.
First, the statistical analysis shows that the disparity of efficiency occurs in banks in terms of the average level. Therefore, the efficiencies of different bank types are unbalanced. For the overall efficiency, SOB and JSB perform better than FB and CCB. The same conclusion can be found in the productivity stage, but a controversial result is obtained in the profitability stage. Second, both a paired *t*-test and a sign rank test show that there are significance differences among the four groups for overall efficiency, productivity efficiency and profitability efficiency. Third, the results of the TGR evaluation of SOB, JSB, and CCB in the productivity stage are higher than are those in the profitability stage, indicating that most of the banks have a large space for improvement, especially for SOB and JSB in the profitability stage. Finally, although the kernel density estimations for different efficiency scores have similar distributions in corresponding years, the multilevel differentiation phenomenon of bank efficiency may appear after 2008.
For further research studies, our NCMeta-US-NSBM can be extended to measure and compare productivity changes for banks in different groups under the framework of the Malmquist--Luenberger productivity indicator. With the same metafrontier, these indicators are comparable and can provide insightful information. More specifically, they can show whether productivity change is driven by technological change or efficiency change, which has different implications for managers and policymakers. Essentially, the production process of banking industry may be treated as a complex network or dynamic rather than a two-stage mode or static, and it is a far-reaching attempt to introduce the complex network analysis \[[@pone.0204559.ref067]\] into the measurement of bank efficiency.
Supporting information {#sec012}
======================
###### Dataset of 93 banks in the sample.
(DOCX)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Excel spreadsheet listing inputs and outputs for the proposed DEA model, along with the measures of banking efficiency.
(XLSX)
######
Click here for additional data file.
This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41571524), the National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 15BGL041), the Social Science Foundation of Hunan Province (No. 15YBA014), and the Collaborative Innovation Center for the Development of Modern Services and New Urbanization in Hunan Province (No. CIC1502).
[^1]: **Competing Interests:**The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
| {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Central"
} |
Mobile devices have batteries. Cell phones, laptop computers, and tablets are all available with a rechargeable battery. When the battery is drained, the battery is recharged for continued use. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Editions
Ten cool podcasts you need to listen to
Interesting, fun and creative shows in Podcast world
When I first heard about Podcasts I was intrigued, back in 2004 I read about how Adam Curry, an ex MTV DJ, had reviewed a way of broadcasting talk, radio style, on the Internet.
The first podcast I listened to was by Mark Hoppus [Blink 182], Hi My Name Is Mark, I was not impressed, the sound quality was bad and the content, boring.
Safe to say I did not listen to any Podcasts for some duration, until 2010 I stumbled upon the TWiT show [This Week in Tech], I was impressed with how things had improved: sound quality and content.
It was just a matter of time until I found out about other podcasts and realized that we were in the middle of a new media revolution that was empowering individuals with the ability to globally distribute their ideas and create a following of like minded fans.
Podcasts have been impacting traditional industries such as journalism, education and entertainment allowing anyone to freely create and distribute news and media, socially. Lately Podcasts have experienced a massive wave of interest thanks to the success of the Serial Podcast. But there are much more interesting, fun and creative shows in Podcast world, and that is why I decided to put together a list of my favorite Podcasts.
10. TWiT - This Week In Tech
This Week in Tech is a roundtable of tech talk that will keep enthusiasts up-to-date on the latest technology news hosted by the charismatic Leo Laporte. As I said, TWiT was the gateway to the podcast world for me and it is pretty interesting to listen when they have guests like Nick Bilton, Baratunde Thurston and John C. Dvorak because they not only know what they are talking about but they can also bring an entertainment factor. The problem with the show is when they cannot employ interesting guests speakers, they rely on tech bloggers that have not much to add to conversation but to make crazy speculations about tech companies and industries.
9. The Andy Greenwald Podcast
The Andy Greenwald Podcast is part of Grantland which is a sports and culture blog that was created by the sports journalist Bill Simmons and has a wide coverage of culture and pop-culture. On the podcast Andy Greenwald interviews TV personalities, movie-stars and musicians, they discuss shows, projects, and genres the individuals are involved with. The interviews are very casual in style and make you feel like you are just listening to two friends talking about what they are up to.
8. You Made It Weird
You Made it Weird is a weekly podcast by comedian Pete Holmes on the Nerdist Industries which is a powerhouse for great podcasts. Holmes interviews other comedians, musicians, writers and actors and, as the name implies, he makes it weird. Holmes is known for avoiding the usual interview questions, the show can often get spiritual and deep which makes it interesting and introspective. There are always open, honest and funny answers from the guests and you can expect some amazing jokes from both parties.
7. Get up on this
On this podcast Jensen Karp, Matthew Robinson and a guest [a different one every week] discuss things they think will soon become popular. The guests are often interesting and charming and the content is very spot on, these guys talk about upcoming somethings for example: music, TV shows, apps, movies etc]. You might been thinking, who are these guys and why should I trust them. Well, they have been integrated within the entertainment industry since they were kids, and are up to date with entertainment, right now.
6. The Nerdist Writers Panel
The format of this podcast is pretty straightforward. The host Ben Blacker, a writer with credits on various TV shows and with lots of charisma have informal chats among professional writers about the process and business of writing. How they broke, developed and succeeded in the business, their experiences working on various shows, writers rooms, and how networks operate.
It features some of the best writers and showrunners working in television and film. The show is also on the Nerdist Industries and is great way to know about behind the scene stuff that has happened on your favorite TV shows and Movies.
5. The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast
From all the Podcasts I listen regularly the Bret Easton Ellis is the only one that makes me cringe and get mad at the host sometimes. This is because his attitude towards millenniums and young people in general. He always sounds very bitter and insecure when he goes on these rants, like a typical Xgener [a generation X person] that could not keep up with the changes in the Entreatment and Media Industries brought by the younger generation. But besides that the Podcast is great. Bret, a best-selling author of books like: Less Than Zero and American Psycho, always have an intelligent and fascinating conversation with his guests. The show always kicks off with a long monologue from the host and is followed by conversations topics like: political correctness, porn, gay identity and TV vs movies [sorry, Bret but TV is much better than movies these days] the dude can be a jerk sometimes but he does host a very entertaining Podcast.
4. Hollywood Babble-on
When not working in movies, Smith can be found podcasting every waking moment of his life over at his Podcast empire, SModcast.com, meanwhile Garman can be heard every weekday morning on Los Angeles' a.m radio program, The Kevin And Bean Show, as celebrity impersonator and character voice actor.
This show takes a look at the news of the week in Hollywood, and generally mocks the business that has made them both so successful. What makes this duo special is the harmony between Smith and Garman. Kevin is the lovable mischievous kid-bear, Ralph is more of a puppet master, and they know how to play off one-another.
3. NoAgenda
NoAgenda is a show that preaches about not having an agenda. The whole Idea of the show according to both hosts John C. Dvorak [A columnist in the areas of technology and computing] and the “Podfather” himself Adam Curry is to make a deconstruction of the mainstream news cycle which they call disguised propaganda. I find it highly entertaining, as long as I don't get too ramped up with all of the conspiracy theories that Curry ejects. The show has no advertisers and instead relies on its listeners [known as “Producers”] to voluntarily donate, the jingles that they play on the show are hilarious and are all made by the listeners also. I enjoy the NoAgenda because they seem to strike a good chord between "crackpot ideas" and realistic potential whist being at times, hilarious.
2. The Nerdist
The comedian and professional host Chris Hardwick founded the Nerdist Industries in 2012, The Nerdist is the flagship podcast of the company and started in 2010. The idea behind the Podcast is very simple; like many other shows they focus on pop-culture but with a twist, It is made by geeks, and for geeks, making the interviews very interesting almost as if, it was made by a fan. Even though their celebrity interviews great and fun to listen to. The show gets even more personal during the episodes when Chris and co-hosts Jonah and Matt go guest-less and just chat about what’s going on in their lives. Since a hostful episodes doesn't have a guest to focus on, their topics and rapport are rapid and relentless.
1. WTF with Marc Maron
Comedian Marc Maron fell into podcasting as a last resort attempt to save his career and here fpund his true genre. WTF is one of the Internet's most popular podcasts. Twice a week, Marc interviews comedians, comedy writers, musicians and other folks from the entertainment industry—all from the comfy of his garage, yeah you read it right, he does the podcast from his garage which in my humble opinion is awesome.
Maron is neurotic, vulnerable and fractious, but he is also curious and deeply empathetic. Maron often makes his lack of preparation clear during interviews, he even has a bit about his stand up routine on how he never prepares for anything. Most of his interviews start with him asking about the guest’s parents, childhood, and early career, which he skillfully returns to late in the interview when guests are more comfortable. Maron is without a doubt is one of the best interviewers around and that was probably why president Obama decided to come to the garage last June for an interview. Kudos, to him and his genre when the most powerful leader of the free world shows up on your garage for an interview.
Well, I hope you liked my little list. if you have never listened to a podcast before these may be a good starting point. You don’t necessarily need an iPod or any special device to listen to any of these, as they are all available on the their websites, Soundcloud or YouTube. But if you prefer to listen to the while commuting, or taking a road trip you will definitely need a mobile device, both iOS or Android offer many apps where you can download, manage and listen to Podcasts. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
About EFT
EFT, which stands for Emotional Freedom techniques – also referred to simply as Tapping, is a modern complementary therapy, and a very powerful healing modality, with its origins in ancient Chinese Medicine. It was developed by an American Stanford Engineer, Gary Craig.
The basic theory behind EFT is “the cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body’s energy system”, Gary Craig.
The energy system refers to the meridians, which are used in Chinese Acupuncture. However unlike acupuncture, in EFT your fingers are used to adjust the energy by tapping on certain energy points. This technique is safe, easy to use and portable. In experienced hands EFT can bring amazing results to whatever issues you are working on; it’s painless and often works when nothing else has. EFT is one of the best Energy Healing Therapies that I have ever come across and has a universal success rate of over 80%.
The main points we use in EFT are below:
EFT is a therapy that can stand alone or as a tool that can be used with Hypnotherapy, Life Coaching and Counselling, helping you to move forward by addressing and clearing what keeps you stuck. EFT works by neutralising or releasing the negative energy blocks. It is pain free and usually very gentle on your emotions, if you choose to work with a qualified practitioner. You can use EFT to combat stress with immediate effects OR you can dig deeper and use it to get to the core issues of the stress (or any other symptoms or negative issues that you have).
EFT helps you stay calm and feel more at peace with yourself, so that you are able to look at your life in a different way and have greater choice.
Phobias: EFT is safe easy way to reduce the intensity of these feelings, so that you can gain back self control, greater self confidence, cope better with challenging situations, have relief from fear and greater freedom. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
We may not be able to change recent events in our lives, but how well we remember them plays a key role in how our brains model what’s happening in the present and predict what is likely to occur in the future, finds new research in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
“Memory isn’t for trying to remember,” said Jeff Zacks, professor of psychology and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and an author of the study. “It’s for doing better the next time.”
The study, co-authored with Chris Wahlheim of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), brings together several emerging theories of brain function to suggest that the ability to detect changes plays a critical role in how we experience and learn from the world around us.
Known as “Event Memory Retrieval and Comparison Theory” or EMRC, the model builds on previous research by Zacks and colleagues that suggests the brain continually compares sensory input from ongoing experiences against working models of similar past events that it builds from related memories.
When real life does not match the “event model,” prediction errors spike and change detection sets off a cascade of cognitive processing that rewires the brain to strengthen memories for both the older model events and the new experience, the theory contends.
“We provide evidence for a theoretical mechanism that explains how people update their memory representations to facilitate their processing of changes in everyday actions of others,” Wahlheim said. “These findings may eventually illuminate how the processing of everyday changes influences how people guide their own actions.”
In their current study, Zacks and Wahlheim tested the change detection model with experiments that take advantage of the well-documented fact that older adults often have increased difficulty in recalling details of recent events.
Groups of healthy older and younger adults were shown video clips of a woman acting out a series of routine, everyday activities, such as doing dishes or preparing to exercise. One week later, they were shown similar videos in which some event details had been changed.
“When viewers tracked the changes in these variation-on-a-theme videos, they had excellent memory for what happened on each day, but when they failed to notice a change, memory was horrible,” Zacks said.
“These effects may account for some of the problems older adults experience with memory — in these experiments, older adults were less able to track the changes, and this accounted for some of their lower memory performance.”
Previous research by Zacks and others has shown that the brain breaks up the activities of daily life into a hierarchy of distinct smaller events or “chunks,” and that our ability to identify transitions or “boundaries” between these chunks has consequences for how these experiences gets encoded in our memories.
For instance, just walking through a doorway, which the brain perceives as an “event boundary,” has been shown to diminish our recollection for information being processed just before we entered the new room. Thus, we sometimes find ourselves forgetting the reason we entered a room in the first place.
This event-driven model of brain function, known as Event Segmentation Theory (EST), has been gaining credence over the last decade.
Zacks, the author of the book “Flicker: Your Brain on Movies,” has used EST to explain how the brain processes fast-paced movie cuts and other film-making techniques that force viewers to process sensory input in ways evolution could never have predicted.
Event models may be based on previous personal experiences, but might also include perceptions gleaned from conversations with friends or similar situations portrayed in books, movies and television.
Thus, someone’s “event model” for a future wedding day might be based on other weddings attended, past gatherings of family and friends and tidbits gleaned from repeat viewings of the movie, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”
Event Memory Retrieval and Comparison Theory takes the event segmentation model a step further by introducing concepts from the “memory-for-change” framework, a theory put forth in recent research by Wahlheim and Larry Jacoby.
Jacoby is a prominent cognitive psychologist known for work on the interplay of consciously controlled versus more automatic influences of memory. He is now a professor emeritus of psychological & brain sciences at Washington University.
Wahlheim completed his PhD and postdoctoral training at Washington University, and now directs the Memory and Cognition Lab as an assistant professor at UNCG.
In recent research, Jacoby and Wahlheim exposed study participants to series of lists that included pairs of related words, including some lists where an originally presented word was paired with a new word.
While seeing the same “trigger” word associated with multiple word pairs has been shown to cause interference in the recall process, Jacoby and Wahlheim found that memory improved when participants both recognized the change during presentation and later remembered that the change had been recognized.
The memory-for-change framework suggests that noticing the change is critical to the creation of a memory trace that ties all these events together, strengthening our memory for the original pairing, the recognition of change and the new pairing.
The current study explores the memory-for-change phenomena in a more naturalistic scenario in which videos of daily activities replace paired-word lists. It also adds a chronological element by suggesting the videos represent activities filmed one week apart.
Findings suggest that establishing time-based connections improves recall because memory for a later event becomes embedded within a trace that includes reminding of an earlier event. Recent events embed earlier events, but not vice versa.
More broadly, these studies provide evidence that a major function of our memory is to help us retrieve relevant experiences and relate them to what is happening in the current environment.
“Our study lends support to the theory that predictions based on old events help us identify changes and encode the new event,” Zacks said. “Memories of recent experiences are valuable because they can be used to predict what will happen next in similar situations and help us do better in dealing with what’s happening now.” | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
$NetBSD: patch-ac,v 1.2 2006/08/02 19:24:55 kristerw Exp $
--- xroads.c.orig 1999-06-30 20:25:02.000000000 +0200
+++ xroads.c 2006-08-02 21:14:27.000000000 +0200
@@ -282,13 +282,13 @@
}
/*************************************************************************************************/
-int trunc( float num ) { /* Truncate a float to an int */
+int mytrunc( float num ) { /* Truncate a float to an int */
if (num>0) return (int)num;
else return (int)(num-0.5);
}
/*************************************************************************************************/
-int round( float num ) { /* Round a float to an int */
+int roundup( float num ) { /* Round a float to an int */
return (int)(num+0.5);
}
@@ -394,11 +394,11 @@
/* VacAttack */
/*
if(data[amonst->type].attack1==VACCUUM && (amonst->x==monst[targ].x
- || amonst->y==monst[targ].y) && (round(amonst->x) ==
- trunc(amonst->x) && round(amonst->y) == trunc(amonst->y))) {
+ || amonst->y==monst[targ].y) && (roundup(amonst->x) ==
+ mytrunc(amonst->x) && roundup(amonst->y) == mytrunc(amonst->y))) {
*/
- if(data[amonst->type].attack1==VACCUUM && (round(amonst->x) ==
- trunc(amonst->x) && round(amonst->y) == trunc(amonst->y)) &&
+ if(data[amonst->type].attack1==VACCUUM && (roundup(amonst->x) ==
+ mytrunc(amonst->x) && roundup(amonst->y) == mytrunc(amonst->y)) &&
clearshot(amonst, &monst[targ])) {
watchentity(amonst, &monst[targ]);
vacattack(amonst, &monst[targ]);
@@ -423,19 +423,19 @@
else amonst->frame++;
if(data[amonst->type].etype!=EFFECT) {
- maze[round(oldy)][round(oldx)]=-2; /* Blank out old space */
- maze[trunc(oldy)][trunc(oldx)]=-2;
- maze[round(amonst->y)][round(amonst->x)]=number;
- maze[trunc(amonst->y)][trunc(amonst->x)]=number;
+ maze[roundup(oldy)][roundup(oldx)]=-2; /* Blank out old space */
+ maze[mytrunc(oldy)][mytrunc(oldx)]=-2;
+ maze[roundup(amonst->y)][roundup(amonst->x)]=number;
+ maze[mytrunc(amonst->y)][mytrunc(amonst->x)]=number;
}
/* If there was something underneath the effect, redraw it */
- if(maze[trunc(amonst->y)][trunc(amonst->x)]!=-2) {
- bmonst=&monst[maze[trunc(amonst->y)][trunc(amonst->x)]];
+ if(maze[mytrunc(amonst->y)][mytrunc(amonst->x)]!=-2) {
+ bmonst=&monst[maze[mytrunc(amonst->y)][mytrunc(amonst->x)]];
draw_tilex2(mainwindow, data[bmonst->type].tile[bmonst->frame], (bmonst->x)*GRIDSIZE,
(bmonst->y)*GRIDSIZE, bmonst->color, bmonst->dir);
}
- if(maze[round(amonst->y)][round(amonst->x)]!=-2) {
- bmonst=&monst[maze[round(amonst->y)][round(amonst->x)]];
+ if(maze[roundup(amonst->y)][roundup(amonst->x)]!=-2) {
+ bmonst=&monst[maze[roundup(amonst->y)][roundup(amonst->x)]];
draw_tilex2(mainwindow, data[bmonst->type].tile[bmonst->frame], (bmonst->x)*GRIDSIZE,
(bmonst->y)*GRIDSIZE, bmonst->color, bmonst->dir);
}
@@ -558,7 +558,7 @@
else if(player->attr & PULL_R) { newx+=1; player->attr &= ~PULL_R; }
/* Only one half-step at a time */
- if(round(newx)!=trunc(newx) && round(newy)!=trunc(newy)) {
+ if(roundup(newx)!=mytrunc(newx) && roundup(newy)!=mytrunc(newy)) {
#ifdef DEBUG
printf("Damn, in two half-steps at a time...\n");
#endif
@@ -574,30 +574,30 @@
/* If we're in a half-step, eqx and eqy are the space we're moving
into */
- if(round(newx)!=trunc(newx)) {
- eqy = trunc(newy);
+ if(roundup(newx)!=mytrunc(newx)) {
+ eqy = mytrunc(newy);
if(newx > player->x)
- eqx = round(newx);
+ eqx = roundup(newx);
else if(newx < player->x)
- eqx = trunc(newx);
+ eqx = mytrunc(newx);
}
- else if(round(newy)!=trunc(newy)) {
- eqx = trunc(newx);
+ else if(roundup(newy)!=mytrunc(newy)) {
+ eqx = mytrunc(newx);
if(newy > player->y)
- eqy = round(newy);
+ eqy = roundup(newy);
else if(newy < player->y)
- eqy = trunc(newy);
+ eqy = mytrunc(newy);
}
else {
- eqx = trunc(newx);
- eqy = trunc(newy);
+ eqx = mytrunc(newx);
+ eqy = mytrunc(newy);
}
/*
switch(player->dir) {
- case LEFT: eqx = trunc(newx); break;
- case RIGHT: eqx = round(newx); break;
- case UP: eqy = trunc(newy); break;
- case DOWN: eqy = round(newy); break;
+ case LEFT: eqx = mytrunc(newx); break;
+ case RIGHT: eqx = roundup(newx); break;
+ case UP: eqy = mytrunc(newy); break;
+ case DOWN: eqy = roundup(newy); break;
default:
}
*/
@@ -610,8 +610,8 @@
printf("Destination (%0.2f, %0.2f)...\n", newx, newy);
printf("Equiv (%d, %d)\n", eqx, eqy);
printf("@ %d, %d : %d\n", eqx, eqy, maze[eqy][eqx]);
- printf("newx: %0.2f: round %d, trunc %d\n", newx, round(newx), trunc(newx));
- printf("newy: %0.2f: round %d, trunc %d\n", newy, round(newy), trunc(newy));
+ printf("newx: %0.2f: round %d, trunc %d\n", newx, roundup(newx), mytrunc(newx));
+ printf("newy: %0.2f: round %d, trunc %d\n", newy, roundup(newy), mytrunc(newy));
printf("Checkdest: %d\n", checkdest(eqx, eqy));
printf("-----\n");
}
@@ -646,8 +646,8 @@
else if(!okay) {
#ifdef DEBUG
printf("something in the way. (%d or %d)\n",
- maze[trunc(newy)][trunc(newx)],
- maze[round(newy)][round(newy)]);
+ maze[mytrunc(newy)][mytrunc(newx)],
+ maze[roundup(newy)][roundup(newy)]);
#endif
newx=player->x;
newy=player->y;
@@ -658,15 +658,15 @@
#endif
/* Destination has been set, now all we have to do is move there */
- maze[round(player->y)][round(player->x)]=-2;
- maze[trunc(player->y)][trunc(player->x)]=-2;
+ maze[roundup(player->y)][roundup(player->x)]=-2;
+ maze[mytrunc(player->y)][mytrunc(player->x)]=-2;
draw_tilex2(mainwindow, blank, player->x*GRIDSIZE, player->y*GRIDSIZE,
BLACK, RIGHT);
/* Draw player */
player->x=newx; player->y=newy;
- maze[round(player->y)][round(player->x)]=player->ind;
- maze[trunc(player->y)][trunc(player->x)]=player->ind;
+ maze[roundup(player->y)][roundup(player->x)]=player->ind;
+ maze[mytrunc(player->y)][mytrunc(player->x)]=player->ind;
draw_tilex2(mainwindow, data[datapos].tile[player->frame],
player->x*GRIDSIZE, player->y*GRIDSIZE,
player->color, player->dir);
@@ -1279,8 +1279,8 @@
player[i]->health = 0;
if(player[i]->attr & ACTIVE) {
player[i]->attr ^= ACTIVE;
- maze[round(player[i]->y)][round(player[i]->x)] = -2;
- maze[trunc(player[i]->y)][trunc(player[i]->x)] = -2;
+ maze[roundup(player[i]->y)][roundup(player[i]->x)] = -2;
+ maze[mytrunc(player[i]->y)][mytrunc(player[i]->x)] = -2;
draw_tilex2(mainwindow, blank, player[i]->x*GRIDSIZE,
player[i]->y*GRIDSIZE, BLACK, RIGHT);
#ifdef XPLOSIONS
| {
"pile_set_name": "Github"
} |
AIR News
In Jammu and Kashmir, a gunfight is underway between militants and security forces in central Kashmirs Budgam district.Deputy Inspector General Police, Central Kashmir Range, Ghulam Hassan Bhat told AIR that the exchange of fire is going on in Pakherpora area of Budgam district.He said so far there was no report of any fatal or non-fatal casualties on either side.
In Rajasthan, a study on the open prison system and parole practices have found that most of the crime happens due to transient impulse and without any planning. The research carried out by criminologist Smita Chakraburtty of the Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority recommends that open Jail is the best substitute to take these people back into the mainstream.
Peace talks have begun in Geneva to end the civil war in Syria, but there has been no breakthrough in the standoff between government and rebel forces.UN Special Envoy, Staffan de Mistura met on Tuesday with delegates from the Syrian opposition.
Dutch prosecutors are investigating how a Bosnian Croat war criminal Slobodan Praljak managed to take his own life, apperently after drinking poison he had smuggled into a UN court yesterday.Prosecutors said their investigation would focus on what killed Praljak and whether he had received any outside help in obtaining the suspected poison.
Pope Francis who leads the 1.28 billion Catholics around the world is arriving in Dhaka this afternoon on a 3-day visit on the second leg of his Myanmar-Bangladesh tour which began on November 28th. This is the second visit of a Pope, the head of the Vatican State, to Bangladesh, the earlier Pope John Paul VI having visited the country in 1986.
CEO Prasad Bharti, Shashi Shekhar Vempati today said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Mann Ki Baat is the best example of using a combination of traditional and social media to reach masses. Taking part in a panel discussion held on the usage of traditional and social media held as part of Global Entrepreneurship Summit this morning, he said social media has a tremendous impact on the audience.
The Indian Coast Guard conducted the Regional Level Marine Oil Pollution Response Exercise 'Clean Sea' at sea off Port Blair yesterday. The highlight of the exercise was participation of one ICG Pollution Control Vessel and integration of the Indian Coast Guard Dornier/Chetak aircraft into the Oil Spill Disaster Management System for aerial assessment/ delivery of Oil Spill Dispersant for mitigation of the spilled oil.
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has banned sand mining in Tamil Nadu.Justice R Mahadevan has directed the state government to close down all sand quarries within the next six months and asked to take measures for the import of sand to meet the requirements.
The depression lying over the South West Bay has intensified into Deep Depression and has moved to the Comorin area and its neighbourhood early this morning.The Meteorology Department has said, the weather system lies some 210 kilometres South and South East of Kanyakumari at present.
Odisha government has released about 365 crore rupees for the rain-hit farmers in 19 districts of the State.The fund was released from the State Disaster Relief Fund to be distributed as agriculture input subsidy among farmers who sustained crop loss due to unseasonal rain during the third week of this month.
The special CBI court in Mumbai, which is conducting the trial in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati alleged fake encounter cases, has barred the media from reporting the court proceedings until further order. The court took the decision yesterday following a plea from the defence counsel.
In Odisha, a vigilance court in Baripada has awarded 14 months' rigorous imprisonment to Bimal Lochan Das, a former Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MLA and ex-president of the Urban Cooperative Bank Ltd, in a corruption case.Vigilance court special judge also slapped a penalty of one lakh rupees Bimal Lochan Das.
Ecuador's President today called a nationwide referendum that will include a question asking voters whether they want to revoke a law pushed forward by his predecessor allowing Presidents to be indefinitely re-elected. President Lenin Moreno presented two decrees to the National Electoral Council calling for a popular vote that he said is needed to restore the country's constitution, whose values he said have been compromised by "Vices" within the nation's political process.
The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) was today recognised as a national body by the Indian Olympic Association, which removed the terminated Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) as its affiliate after months of indecision. The BFI, already recognised by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) and the Sports Ministry, finally got the IOA's nod, which had IABF registered as the official body till now.
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology has asked the Chairman of Central Board of Film Certification Prasoon Joshi and Director of Padmavati movie Sanjay Leela Bhansali to appear before it today and present their views on the controversy surrounding the movie. The 30-member committee which has actors and Parliamentarians Paresh Rawal, Hema Malini and Raj Babbar as members will examine the issues relating to the movie.
Libya agreed today with EU and African leaders to allow migrants facing abuse in detention camps to be evacuated within days or weeks.French President Emmanuel Macron said the decision was taken after Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara called for all urgent measures to end slave trading and other migrant abuses in Libya at an EU-Africa summit in Abidjan. | {
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THEY'RE more expensive than prostitutes, their bodies aren't what they used to be and their children walk in during sex.
These are just some of the brutally offensive reasons that a growing group of men have given for not wanting to date single mums.
6 Jonathan Cass says that dating a single mum will make you feel second best Credit: Supplied
On a recent thread on the secret sharing app, Whisper, tried to explain the warped reasons they ruled out dating single mothers.
Here, Sun Online, meets the men who are breaking a taboo by refusing to date single mums.
Jonathan Cass, 52, has joined their ranks, having been single for three years, and now makes a point of swiping left on dating apps and rejecting women if there’s any mention of a little one at home.
"I don’t want to be second best," he says.
“There’s a real trend in current parenting that the children always have to come first and women now seem to live for their kids” says Jonathan, who works in film and television and lives in Dunmow, Essex.
And he's by no means alone in this.
6 A YouTube clip by Richard Cooper on the pitfalls of dating single mums has nearly 600,000 views Credit: YouTube
King Richez posted a video on not dating single mothers which amongst other things says: “She should be focused on her kids – not on penis” - and Richard Cooper's YouTube talk on the Dangers of Dating Single Mothers has been viewed 583, 297 times.
This clip opens with a slide showing a woman holding a baby with the meme: “Single mother here: please take care of some other man’s ball of flesh that eats money destroys dreams and s***s stress. I offer you my ruined floppy pu**y and mental issues!”
On another a shocking blog called Everything Must Go, one of the posts is titled: “Don’t date single mothers – here is why.”Reason number five is, “A woman who has given birth can’t ever have a body close to what she had before carrying a child. This is not saying that having a child isn’t worth it, but this is not about YOU having a child. That child is hers, not yours. Her body was changed by something that is of no benefit to you.”
'I don’t want to be second best'
6 Jonathan has nothing against parents of older children... but mothers of young kids are definitely ruled out Credit: Supplied
Jonathan explains: “I’m a really spontaneous person and love the idea of saying to my partner, ‘come on, pack your bags, let’s go away for a couple of days’ but you can’t do that with kids. Everything has to be planned and organised beforehand.”
He also struggles with the emotional burden of having to be a father figure to someone else’s child.
“I’ve been married twice and had a son in my first marriage – who is now 27 – and in between the two marriages I did date a woman with a son but I felt like she wanted me to become a father-figure to this child,” he says.
“It raised lots of complex feelings: I felt guilty to be spending more time with her and her son than my own and I didn’t like the idea of stepping on someone else’s toes as his biological father was still very much around.”
While Jonathan wouldn’t mind if a potential partner had grown-up children, provided they were no longer at home and doing their own thing, “young ones are definitely out.”
6 The expense of being with a single mum also puts Jonathan off Credit: Supplied
'I'm feeling selfish'
“I don’t want to be part of a family unit and splashing out on days out together. Single mums are too expensive. I’m feeling selfish and not dating women with children is part of that.”
There are two million single parents in the UK and 91 per cent of them women.
The list of celebrity single mums is endless and many, including Britney Spears, Kate Hudson, Louise Redknapp, Kate Hudson and Sun columnist Stacey Solomon, have spoken out about their experiences.
dating coach Richard La Ruina, author of The Natural: How to Effortlessly Attract the Women You Want warns that dismissing single mothers as potential partners is a risky decision.
“Finding love is hard enough as it so to narrow the pool even further is a mistake,” he says.
“Yes, dating a single mother adds an extra potential complication but it’s not a total deal breaker.”
'I won't spend my hard earned money on them'
Paul Dakers feels very differently.
The 45 year-old logistics specialist from St Ives in Cambridgeshire has never been married and has been single for over a year.
“I would very much like to meet someone and have a family of my own but I really don’t want to date anyone with their own children,” he says.
“I dated a girl for a year and she had three children and she lived a couple of hours away. She would come and see me every two or three weeks and I kept saying, ‘I’ll come and see you, I promise’ but I never did. I never met her children and didn’t want to.
6 Paul is concerned that it would be awkward to be around someone else's kids Credit: Supplied
“She’d talk about them constantly and I’d nod and shake my head in the right places but I wasn’t really paying attention. It puts me off that they wouldn’t be mine.
"What would they call me? Paul? Dad? Oh no. It’s weird. If they’re not mine, I haven’t brought them up and I’m not mentally prepared to cope with that kind of responsibility.”
“I might also feel reluctant to spend my hard-earned money on them.
"It is getting harder at my age now to meet women without kids and I know it narrows down the numbers but I’m trying to stay hopeful.”
6 Paul, centre, says it's hard to find love... but he's staying hopeful Credit: Supplied
'Her son walked in on us in the bedroom'
Dan Mower is another good example.
He is 46 but still wants to settle down and have at least two children, which can be an issue for some single mothers who are wary of entering new relationships and having more children.
“They’ve been there, done that and don’t necessarily want more,” says Dan, a self-employed businessman from North London.
“After all, it hasn’t worked out once before so why should they risk having more children?”
The need to breed The desire to procreate and carry on your ancestral line is something evolutionary psychologist Carole Jahme believes is inbuilt in men. “We are driven to reproduce and continue our lineage ,” says Carole. “When men are looking for a mate they look for someone physically and mentally healthy to breed with so that their child can be born strong. “It’s very possible that single mothers – especially those in their late 30s and 40s – may send out signals, even subconsciously, that they may not want to have more children. “Men are aware that an investment of time is needed to put into a child and, on the whole, it makes sense for them to invest that time in seeking a woman who is prepared to have their own biological child.”
Dan has dated a number of single mothers in the past but is now avoiding them altogether.
“I’ve not had great experiences dating single mums and don’t want go there again,” says Dan.
“One of my exes had a 12-year-old son and we’d been on-and-off for a few years. The last time we went out in February, we were trying to catch up in her bedroom – talking, being intimate – and her son just walked in on us.
“She seemed fine with it, saying he knew about us and he has the right to see her when she wants, but that totally put me off. I’m not the biological father though so it means I can’t set any of the standards or rules.
“The kids of another woman I dated didn’t really accept me and there was a feeling of ‘Who are you? You’re not my dad’ and it just added complications.”
Dan also dislikes coming second in a relationship. “A single mother will always prioritise her children over me,” he says. “I’ve been stood up a few times because the children are sick or the childcare has fallen through and I want someone who wants to put our relationship first.”
Yet relationship psychotherapist Caron Barruw says the problem isn't single mums, but the immature commitment-phobic men who won't date them.
"This is an immature and selfish way of looking at relationships", she says.
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“A woman would have to be very, very attractive for me to be able to look past the fact they have children and make me want to go out with them,” says Paul.
“I know it’s getting harder to find single women without children at my age but I’m going to keep looking. There has to be someone out there.”
Lucky her. | {
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See more than your reflection!
Smart Mirror is here with reflections of the future. It doesn’t just show your reflection, it reflects your daily life as well! Smart Mirror is intelligent, user-friendly and enriches you and your lifestyle.
Take a look into the future!
Smart Mirror is not your ordinary mirror, it’s your personalized dashboard which will revolutionize the way you live. It’s a “Reflections of the future” with almost every cool feature you can think of.
Have your own personalized dashboard!
Smart Mirror is your own personalized dashboard. You can get every information you want on the surface of your Smart Mirror so that It becomes your personalized dashboard to keep you stay organized. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
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St. Joseph's School, Khorabar, Gorakhpur
St. Joseph’s School, Khorabar,Gorakhpur(सेंट जोसेफ स्कूल) is an English Medium School, established and governed by the Catholic Diocese of Gorakhpur.
Category:Catholic schools in India
Category:Private schools in Uttar Pradesh
Category:Christian schools in Uttar Pradesh
Category:Gorakhpur district
Category:Educational institutions established in 1997
Category:1997 establishments in India | {
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
} |
---
abstract: 'We present an atomistic self-consistent study of the electronic and transport properties of semiconducting carbon nanotube in contact with metal electrodes of different work functions, which shows simultaneous electron and hole doping inside the nanotube junction through contact-induced charge transfer. We find that the band lineup in the nanotube bulk region is determined by the effective work function difference between the nanotube channel and source/drain electrodes, while electron transmission through the SWNT junction is affected by the local band structure modulation at the two metal-nanotube interfaces, leading to an effective decoupling of interface and bulk effects in electron transport through nanotube junction devices.'
author:
- 'Yongqiang Xue$^{1,*}$ and Mark A. Ratner$^{2}$'
title: 'Electron transport in semiconducting carbon nanotubes with hetero-metallic contacts'
---
Devices based on single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) [@Dekker; @DeMc] have been progressing in a fast pace, e.g., the performance of carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (NTFET) is approaching that of the state-of-the-art silicon Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFET). [@AvFET; @DaiFET; @McFET] But a general consensus on the physical mechanisms and theoretical models remains to appear. A point of continuing controversy in NTFET has been the effect of Schottky barriers at the metal-SWNT interface. [@Barrier; @AvFET1] Since SWNTs are atomic-scale nanostructures in both the axial and the circumferential dimensions, any barrier that may form at the interface has a finite thickness and a finite width. [@AvFET; @XueNT; @AvFET2] In general a microscopic treatment of both the source/drain and gate field modulation effect will be needed to account for faithfully the atomistic nature of the electronic processes in NTFET.
Since the characteristics of the NTFETs depend sensitively on the gate geometry, [@AvFET] a thorough understanding of the Schottky barrier effect in the simpler two-terminal metal-SWNT-metal junction devices is essential in elucidating the switching effect caused by applying a finite gate voltage. [@XueNT] As a basic device building block, the two-terminal device is also of interests for applications in electromechanical and electrochemical sensors, where the conduction properties of the SWNT junctions are modulated by mechanical strain [@NTMe] or molecular adsorption respectively. [@NTCh] Previous works have considered symmetric SWNT junctions with different contact geometries. [@XueNT] Here we consider SWNT in contact with metallic electrodes of different work functions. Such hetero-metallic junctions are of interests since: (1) The electrode work function difference leads to a contact potential and finite electric field (built-in field) across the junction at equilibrium. A self-consistent analysis of the hetero-metallic junction can shed light on the screening of the applied field by the SWNT channel and the corresponding band bending effect even at zero bias; (2) For SWNTs not intentionally doped, electron and hole doping can be induced simultaneously inside the channel by contacting with high and low work function metals; (3) Since the metallurgy of the metal-SWNT contact is different at the two interfaces, the asymmetric device structure may facilitate separating interface effect on electron transport from the intrinsic property of the SWNT channel.
The hetero-metallic SWNT junction is shown schematically in Fig. \[xueFig1\], where the ends of an infinitely long SWNT wire are buried inside two semi-infinite metallic electrodes with different work functions. The embedded contact scheme is favorable for the formation of low-resistance contact. For simplicity, we assume the embedded parts of the SWNT are surrounded entirely by the metals with overall cylindrical symmetry around the SWNT axis. [@Note1] For comparison with previous work on symmetric SWNT junctions, we investigate $(10,0)$ SWNTs (with work function of $4.5$ eV [@Dekker]) in contact with gold (Au) and titanium (Ti) electrodes (with work functions of $5.1$ and $4.33$ eV respectively for polycrystalline materials [@CRC]). Choosing the electrostatic potential energy in the middle of the junction and far away from the cylindrical surface of the SWNT as the energy reference, the Fermi-level of the Au-SWNT-Ti junction is the negative of the average metal work functions $E_{F}=-4.715$ eV. The SWNT channel length investigated ranges from $L=2.0,4.1,8.4,12.6,16.9$ nm to $21.2$ nm, corresponding to number of unit cells of $5,10,20,30,40$ and $50$ respectively. We calculate the transport characteristics within the coherent transport regime, as appropriate for such short nanotubes. [@Phonon]
Using a Green’s function based self-consistent tight-binding (SCTB) theory, we analyze the Schottky barrier effect by examining the electrostatics, the band lineup and the transport characteristics of the hetero-metallic SWNT junction as a function of the SWNT channel length. The SCTB model is essentially the semi-empirical implementation of the self-consistent Matrix Green’s function method for *ab initio* modeling of molecular-scale devices, [@XueMol] which takes fully into account the three-dimensional electrostatics and the atomic-scale electronic structure of the SWNT junctions and has been described in detail elsewhere. [@XueNT; @Note2] The SCTB model starts with the semi-empirical Hamiltonian $H_{0}$ of the bare $(10,0)$ SWNT wire using the Extended Huckel Theory (EHT) with non-orthogonal ($sp$) basis sets $\phi_{m}(\vec r)$. [@Hoffmann88] We describe the interaction between the SWNT channel and the rest of the junction using matrix self-energy operators and calculate the density matrix $\rho_{ij}$ and therefore the electron density of the equilibrium SWNT junction from $$\begin{aligned}
\label{GE}
G^{R}
&=& \{ (E+i0^{+})S-H-\Sigma_{L}(E)-\Sigma_{L;NT}(E)
-\Sigma_{R}(E)-\Sigma_{R;NT}(E)\}^{-1}, \\
\rho &=& \int \frac{dE}{2\pi }Imag[G^{R}](E)f(E-E_{F}).\end{aligned}$$ Here $S$ is overlap matrix and $f(E-E_{F})$ is the Fermi distribution in the electrodes. Compared to the symmetric SWNT junctions, here the Hamiltonian describing the SWNT channel $H=H_{0}+\delta V[\delta \rho]+V_{ext}$ includes the contact potential $V_{ext}$ (taken as linear voltage ramp here) in addition to the charge-transfer induced electrostatic potential change $\delta V$ ($\delta \rho$ is the density of transferred charge).
The calculated charge transfer per atom and electrostatic potential change along the cylindrical surface of the SWNT for the Au-SWNT-Ti junction are shown in Fig. (\[xueFig2\]). Previous works [@XueNT] have shown that by contacting to the high (low)-work function metal Au (Ti), hole (electron) doping is induced inside the SWNT channel. Here we find simultaneous electron and hole doping inside the SWNT channel for the hetero-metallic Au-SWNT-Ti junction (lower figure in Fig. \[xueFig2\](a)). Since the magnitude of hole doping inside the Au-SWNT-Au junction ($\approx -5.6 \times 10^{-4}$/atom) is much larger than that of the electron doping inside the Ti-SWNT-Ti junction ($\approx 3 \times 10^{-5}$/atom) due to the larger work function difference, the majority of the channel remains hole-doped inside the Au-SWNT-Ti junction. Due to the localized nature of interface bonding, the charge transfer pattern immediately adjacent to the Au(Ti)-SWNT interface remains similar to that of the Au-SWNT-Au (Ti-SWNT-Ti) junction both in magnitude and shape. The short-wavelength oscillation in the transferred charge inside the SWNT channel reflects the atomic-scale variation of charge density within the unit cell of the SWNT. [@XueNT; @Tersoff02]
The contact-induced doping affects the transport characteristics by modulating the electrostatic potential profile along the SWNT junction. We find that inside the SWNT channel, the built-in electric field is screened effectively by the delocalized $\pi$-electron of carbon. So the net electrostatic potential change along the cylindrical surface ($V_{ext}+\delta V[\delta \rho]$) is much more flat than the linear voltage ramp denoting the contact potential except close to the metal-SWNT interface (lower figure of Fig. \[xueFig2\](b)), where its shape remains qualitatively similar to that at the Au (Ti)-SWNT interface of the Au-SWNT-Au (Ti-SWNT-Ti) junction. Due to the confined cylindrical structure of the SWNT channel, the charge-transfer induced electrostatic potential change $\delta V$ decays rapidly in the direction perpendicular to the SWNT axis. This has led to a different physical picture of band bending in symmetric SWNT junctions. [@XueNT] In particular, the band lineup inside the SWNT channel has been found to depend mainly on the metal work function, while interaction across the metal-SWNT interface modulates the band structure close to the interface without affecting the band lineup scheme in the middle of the channel. Similar physical picture applies to the hetero-metallic SWNT junction, where we find that the band lineup in the middle of the Au-SWNT-Ti junction is essentially identical to that of the SWNT junction with symmetric contact to metals with work function of $4.715$ eV. This is examined through the local-density-of-states (LDOS) of the SWNT channel as a function of position along the SWNT axis in Figs. \[xueFig3\] and \[xueFig4\].
The coupling across the metal-SWNT interface and the corresponding strong local field variation immediately adjacent to the Ti-SWNT interface has a strong effect on the SWNT band structure there, which extends to $\sim 4$ nm away from the interface (Fig. \[xueFig3\](a)). The band structure modulation at the Au side is weaker. For the 40-unit cell (16.9 nm) SWNT, the band structure in the middle of the SWNT junction remains essentially unaffected. This is shown in Fig. \[xueFig4\], where we compare the LDOS of the Au-SWNT-Ti junction in the left end, the right end and the middle of the SWNT channel with the corresponding LDOS of the Au-SWNT-Au, Ti-SWNT-Ti junction and the bulk (infinitely long) SWNT wire respectively. Since the magnitude of the build-in electric field is smaller than the charge-transfer induced local field at the metal-SWNT interface, the LDOS at the two ends of the SWNT channel remain qualitatively similar to that of the symmetric SWNT junction (Figs. \[xueFig4\](a) and \[xueFig4\](c)). Note that the LDOS plotted here has been energetically shifted so that the SWNT bands in the middle of the hetero-metallic junction line up with those of the symmetric SWNT junctions.
The above separation of band lineup scheme at the interface and in the interior of the SWNT junction implies that in NTFETs, the gate segments controlling the device interiors affect the device operation through effective modulation of the work function difference between the source/drain electrode and the bulk portion of the SWNT channel (applying a finite gate voltage to the SWNT bulk leads to an effective modulation of its work function relative to the source/drain electrodes), while the gate segments at the metal-SWNT interfaces affect the device operation by controlling charge injection into the device interior through local modulation of the SWNT band structure and Schottky barrier shapes including height, width and thickness, in agreement with recent lateral scaling analysis of gate-modulation effect [@AvFET3] and interface chemical treatment effect in Schottky barrier NTFETs. [@MolNT] Note that since the band structure modulation at the metal-SWNT interface can extend up to $\sim 4$ nm into the interior of the SWNT junction, it may be readily resolved using scanning nanoprobe techniques. [@NTSTM]
The Schottky barrier effect at the metal-SWNT interface can also be analyzed through the length-dependent conductance and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the Au-SWNT-Ti junction, which are calculated using the Landauer formula [@XueMol] $G=\frac{2e^{2}}{h}\int dE T(E)[-\frac{df}{dE}(E-E_{F})]
=G_{Tu}+G_{Th}$ and $I=\int_{-\infty}^{+\infty}dE \frac{2e}{h}T(E,V)
[f(E-(E_{F}+eV/2))-[f(E-(E_{F}-eV/2))]=I_{Tu}+I_{Th}$ and separated into tunneling and thermal-activation contributions as $G_{Tu}=\frac{2e^{2}}{h}T(E_{F}),G_{Th}=G-G_{Tu}$ and $I_{Tu}=\frac{2e}{h}\int_{E_{F}-eV/2}^{E_{F}+eV/2} T(E,V)dE,
I_{Th}=I-I_{Tu}$. [@XueNT; @XueMol03]
In general the transmission function is voltage-dependent due to the self-consistent screening of the source-drain field by the SWNT channel at each bias voltage. Since in the case of voltage dropping mostly across the interface, the transmission coefficient is approximately voltage-independent at low-bias, [@XueMol03] here we calculate the I-V characteristics using the equilibrium transmission coefficient instead of the full self-consistent calculation at each bias voltage. We find that the conductance of the Au-SWNT-Ti junction shows a transition from tunneling-dominated to thermal activation-dominated regime with increasing channel length, but the length where this occurs is longer than those of the symmetric Au/Ti-SWNT-Au/Ti junctions (Fig. \[xueFig5\](a)). This is partly due to the fact that the Fermi-level is closer to the mid-gap of the SWNT band inside the channel, partly due to the reduced transmission close to the valence-band edge (Fig. \[xueFig4\](d)) caused by the band structure modulation at the Ti-SWNT interface. Due to the finite number of conduction channels, the increase of the conductance with temperature is rather slow (Fig. \[xueFig5\](b)). [@XueNT] The relative contribution of tunneling and thermal-activation to the room-temperature I-V characteristics is shown in Figs. \[xueFig5\](c) and \[xueFig5\](d) for the 20- and 40-unit cell long (8.4 and 16.9 nm) SWNT respectively, where we see that thermal-activation contribution increases rapidly with bias voltage for the 20-unit cell SWNT junction while the thermal-activation contribution dominates the I-V characteristics at all bias voltages for the 40-unit cell SWNT.
In conclusion, we have presented an atomistic real-space analysis of Schottky barrier effect in the two-terminal SWNT junction with hetero-metallic contacts, which shows an effective decoupling of interface and bulk effects. Further analysis is needed that treat both the gate and source/drain fields self-consistently in the real space to achieve a thorough understanding of NTFETs.
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: yxue@uamail.albany.edu. URL: http://www.albany.edu/ yx152122. Dekker C 1999 *Phys. Today* [**52**]{}(5) 22 Bachtold A, Haley P, Nakanishi T and Dekker C 2001 *Science* [**294**]{} 1317 Avouris Ph, Appenzellaer J, Martel R and Wind S J 2003 *Proc. IEEE* [**91**]{} 1772 Javey A, Guo J, Wang Q, Lundstrom M and Dai H 2003 *Nature* [**424**]{} 654; Javey A, Guo J, Paulsson M, Wang Q, Mann D, Lundstrom M and Dai H 2004 *Phys. Rev. Lett.* [**92**]{} 106804 Yaish Y, Park J-Y, Rosenblatt S, Sazonova V, Brink M and McEuen P L 2004 *Phys. Rev. Lett.* [**92**]{} 46401 Xue Y and Datta S 1999 *Phys. Rev. Lett.* [**83**]{} 4844; Le[ó]{}nard F and Tersoff J 2000 *Phys. Rev. Lett.* [**84**]{} 4693; Odintsov A A 2000 *Phys. Rev. Lett.* [85]{} 150; Nakanishi T, Bachtold A and Dekker C 2002 *Phys. Rev. B* [**66**]{} 73307 Heinze S, Tersoff J, Martel R, Derycke V, Appenzeller J and Avouris Ph 2002 *Phys. Rev. Lett.* [**89**]{} 106801; Appenzeller J, Knoch J, Radosavljevi[ć]{} M and Avouris Ph 2004 *ibid.* [**92**]{} 226802 Xue Y and Ratner M A 2003 *Appl. Phys. Lett.* [**83**]{} 2429; Xue Y and Ratner M A 2004 *Phys. Rev. B* [**69**]{} 161402(R); Xue Y and Ratner M A 2004 *Phys. Rev. B* In Press (*Preprint* cond-mat/0405465) Appenzeller J, Radosavljevi[ć]{} M, Knoch J and Avouris Ph 2004 *Phys. Rev. Lett.* [**92**]{} 48301 Minot E D, Yaish Y, Sazonova V, Park J-Y, Brink M and McEuen P L 2003 *Phys. Rev. Lett.* [**90**]{} 156401; Cao J, Wang Q and Dai H 2003 *Phys.Rev. Lett.* [**90**]{} 157601 Chiu P-W, Kaempgen M, and Roth S 2004 *Phys. Rev. Lett.* [**92**]{} 246802; Chen G, Bandow S, Margine E R, Nisoli C, Kolmogorov A N, Crespi V H, Gupta R, Sumanasekera G U, Iijima S and Eklund P C 2003 *Phys. Rev. Lett.* [**90**]{} 257403 Experimentally low-resistance contacts can be obtained either by growing SWNT’s directly out of the predefined catalyst islands and subsequently covering the catalyst islands with metallic contact pads (Ref. ) or by using standard lithography and lift-off techniques with subsequent annealing at high-temperature (Ref. ). In both cases, the ends of the long SWNT wires are surrounded entirely by the metals with strong metal-SWNT surface chemical bonding, although the exact atomic structure of the metal-SWNT interface remains unclear. Contacts can also be formed by depositing SWNT on top of the predefined metallic electrodes and side-contacted to the surfaces of the metals (side-contact scheme), which corresponds to the weak coupling limit due to the weak van der Waals bonding in the side-contact geometry leading to high contact resistance (Ref. ). Other types of contact may also exist corresponding to intermediate coupling strength. The contact geometry chosen in this work thus serves as a simplified model of the low-resistance contact. A comprehensive study of the contact effects in SWNT junction devices is currently under way and will be reported in a future publication. 1994 *CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics* (CRC Press, Boca Raton) Yao Z, Kane C L and Dekker C 2000 *Phys. Rev. Lett.* [**84**]{} 2941; Park J-Y, Rosenblatt S, Yaish Y, Sazonova V, Ustunel H, Braig S, Arias T A, Brouwer P and McEuen P L 2004 *Nano Lett.* [**4**]{} 517 Xue Y, Datta S and Ratner M A 2002 *Chem. Phys.* [**281**]{} 151; See also Datta S 1995 *Electron Transport in Mesoscopic Systems* (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge) The SWNT-metal interaction arises from one discrete cylindrical shell of metal atoms, surrounded by the bulk metal and treated using the Green’s function method as detailed in Ref. . We use a SWNT-metal surface distance of $2.0(\AA)$, close to the average inter-atomic spacing in the SWNTs and metals. Hoffmann R 1988 *Rev. Mod. Phys.* [**60**]{} 601; Rochefort A, Salahub D R and Avouris Ph 1999 *J. Phys. Chem. B* [**103**]{} 641 Le[ó]{}nard F and Tersoff J 2002 *Appl. Phys. Lett.* [**81**]{} 4835 Wind S J, Appenzeller J, and Avouris Ph 2003 *Phys. Rev. Lett.* [**91**]{} 58301 Auvray S, Borghetti J, Goffman M F, Filoramo A, Derycke V, Bourgoin J P and Jost O 2004 *Appl. Phys. Lett.* [**84**]{} 5106 Freitag M, Radosavljevi[ć]{} M, Clauss W and Johnson A T 2000 *Phys. Rev. B* [**62**]{} R2307; Venema L C, Janssen J W, Buitelaar M R, Wild['’o]{}er J W G, Lemay S G, Kouwenhoven L P and Dekker C 2000 *Phys. Rev. B* [**62**]{} 5238 Xue Y and Ratner M A 2003 *Phys. Rev. B* [**68**]{} 115406; Xue Y and Ratner M A 2004 *Phys. Rev. B* [**69**]{} 85403
![\[xueFig1\] (Color online) (a) Schematic illustration of the Au-SWNT-Ti junction. The ends of the long SWNT wire are surrounded entirely by the semi-infinite electrodes, with only a finite segment being sandwiched between the electrodes (defined as the channel). Also shown is the coordinate system of the nanotube junction. (b) Schematic illustration of the band diagram in the Au-SWNT-Ti junction. The band alignment in the middle of the SWNT junction is determined by the average of the metal work functions. $W_{1(2)},E_{F}$ denote the work functions and Fermi-level of the bi-metallic junction. ](xueFig1.eps){height="4.0in" width="5.0in"}
![\[xueFig2\] Electrostatics of the Au-SWNT-Ti junction for SWNT channels of different lengths. (a) Upper figure shows transferred charge per atom as a function of position along the SWNT axis for SWNT channel lengths of $2.0, 8.4 12.6, 16.9$ and $21.2$ nm. Lower figure shows the magnified view of the transferred charge in the middle of the channel for the longest (21.2 nm) SWNT studied. (b) Upper figure shows the electrostatic potential change at the cylindrical surface of the 20 (8.4 nm) and 40- unitcell (16.9 nm) SWNTs studied. The dotted line denote the linear voltage ramp $V_{ext}$ (contact potential) due to the work function difference of gold and titanium. The dashed line show the charge-transfer induced electrostatic potential change $\delta V(\delta \rho)$. The solid line shows the net electrostatic potential change $V_{ext}+\delta V$. Lower figure shows the magnified view of the electrostatic potential change in the middle of the 40-unitcell SWNT junction. ](xueFig2-1.eps "fig:"){height="3.0in" width="5.0in"} ![\[xueFig2\] Electrostatics of the Au-SWNT-Ti junction for SWNT channels of different lengths. (a) Upper figure shows transferred charge per atom as a function of position along the SWNT axis for SWNT channel lengths of $2.0, 8.4 12.6, 16.9$ and $21.2$ nm. Lower figure shows the magnified view of the transferred charge in the middle of the channel for the longest (21.2 nm) SWNT studied. (b) Upper figure shows the electrostatic potential change at the cylindrical surface of the 20 (8.4 nm) and 40- unitcell (16.9 nm) SWNTs studied. The dotted line denote the linear voltage ramp $V_{ext}$ (contact potential) due to the work function difference of gold and titanium. The dashed line show the charge-transfer induced electrostatic potential change $\delta V(\delta \rho)$. The solid line shows the net electrostatic potential change $V_{ext}+\delta V$. Lower figure shows the magnified view of the electrostatic potential change in the middle of the 40-unitcell SWNT junction. ](xueFig2-2.eps "fig:"){height="3.0in" width="5.0in"}
![\[xueFig3\] (Color online) Local density of states (LDOS) as a function of position along the SWNT axis for SWNT channel length of $16.9 nm$. We show the result when self-consistent SWNT screening of the build-in electric field is included in (a). For comparison we have also shown the result for non self-consistent calculation in (b). The plotted LDOS is obtained by summing over the $10$ atoms of each carbon ring of the $(10,0)$ SWNT. Note that each cut along the energy axis at a given axial position gives the LDOS of the corresponding carbon ring and each cut along the position axis at a given energy gives the corresponding band shift. ](xueFig3-1.eps "fig:"){height="3.8in" width="5.0in"} ![\[xueFig3\] (Color online) Local density of states (LDOS) as a function of position along the SWNT axis for SWNT channel length of $16.9 nm$. We show the result when self-consistent SWNT screening of the build-in electric field is included in (a). For comparison we have also shown the result for non self-consistent calculation in (b). The plotted LDOS is obtained by summing over the $10$ atoms of each carbon ring of the $(10,0)$ SWNT. Note that each cut along the energy axis at a given axial position gives the LDOS of the corresponding carbon ring and each cut along the position axis at a given energy gives the corresponding band shift. ](xueFig3-2.eps "fig:"){height="3.8in" width="5.0in"}
![\[xueFig4\] Local-density-of-states (LDOS) and transmission versus energy (TE) characteristics of the 40-unit cell Au-SWNT-Ti junction. (a) LDOS at the 1st unit cell adjacent to the Au side (left end) of the Au-SWNT-Ti junction (solid line) and the LDOS at the corresponding location of the Au-SWNT-Au junction (dashed line). (b) LDOS in the middle unit cell of the Au-SWNT-Ti junction (solid line) and the LDOS of the bulk (10,0) SWNT (dashed line). (c) LDOS at the 1st unit cell adjacent to the Ti side (right end) of the Au-SWNT-Ti junction (solid line) and the LDOS at the corresponding location of the Ti-SWNT-Ti junction (dashed line). (d) TE characteristics of the Au-SWNT-Ti junction. ](xueFig4.eps){height="4.0in" width="5.0in"}
![\[xueFig5\] (a) Room temperature conductance of the Au-SWNT-Ti junction as a function of SWNT channel length. (b) temperature dependence of the conductance of the 40-unit cell (16.9 nm) SWNT junction. The room temperature current-voltage characteristics of the 20- and 40- unit cell SWNT junctions are shown in (c) and (d) respectively. ](xueFig5.eps){height="4.0in" width="5.0in"}
| {
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THE BLOG
If you’re like me, and you’re sick of getting looked at funny by all the young Dad’s at the park with a full head of hair, there are solutions. There are a number of ways to fight thinning hair and hair loss, some of which require little effort and money and that can be integrated into your life... | {
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Isolated intestinal transplants vs. liver-intestinal transplants in adult patients in the United States: 22 yr of OPTN data.
We examined the outcomes of adult intestinal transplants (ITx); isolated ITx vs. liver-intestinal transplants (L-ITx) were compared using the UNOS database (1987-2009). Of 759 ITx transplants in 687 patients, 463 (61%) were isolated and 296 (39%) were L-ITx. Patient survival for primary isolated ITx at one, three, and five yr was 84%, 66.7%, and 54.2%; and primary L-ITx was, 67%, 53.3%, and 46% (p = 0.0005). Primary isolated ITx graft survival at one, three, and five yr was 80.7%, 57.6%, 42.8%; primary L-ITx was 64.1%, 51%, 44.1% (p = 0.0003 at one, three yr, Wilcoxon test). For retransplants (n = 72), patient and graft survival for isolated ITx (n = 41) at five yr was 40% in era 1 (1987-2000) and 16% in era 2 (p = 0.47); for retransplanted L-ITx (n = 31), it improved from 14% to 64% in era 2 (p = 0.01). Cox regression: creatinine >1.3 mg/dL and pre-transplant hospitalization were negative predictors for outcome of both; bilirubin >1.3 mg/dL was a negative predictor for isolated ITx and donor age >40 yr for L-ITx. Isolated ITx should be considered prior to liver disease for adults with intestinal failure; L-ITx is preferable for retransplantation. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
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Meet the Yeast Priests
While you’re at the Art of Beer, say hey to Beaumont’s first craft beer advocacy group the Yeast Preasts. Local beer-lover Jeffrey Wheeler — one of the event’s organizers — is one of the group’s founders, and he’s planning to bring more craft beer to Beaumont than you can shake a drunk stick at.
What started as a beer and wine pairing at Wheeler’s house has grown into a powerful local advocacy group that is bringing more selection to local bars and events.
Wheeler said the group has a number of big events coming up, including the tapping of a cask of Saint Arnold Brewing Company’s Elissa IPA at the Oct. 13 Merchant Soiree at
Art of Beer co-organizer and Yeast Priests co-founder Jeffrey Wheeler enjoys a sampling of a fall craft beer during a tasting at Del Papa. Valentino Mauricio/cat5
Goodfella’s. The group is also working with Miller Liquor to create a “Yeast Priests-approved” tag to tip shoppers off to great new craft beer.
And better yet, the Yeast Priests are planning a craft beer pub crawl downtown in November. Trust us, we’ll have more information about that when it’s time. Because that is awesome. | {
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Doomed to Die
Doomed to Die is a 1940 American mystery film directed by William Nigh and starring Boris Karloff as Mr. Wong. It is a sequel to the 1940 film, The Fatal Hour.
Plot
When the head of a shipping company is murdered in his office the identity of the killer seems obvious. The killer is the son of the owner of a rival shipping company; the reason is the Romeo and Juliet romance between the killer and the murdered man's daughter. They wanted to get married. The murdered man refused to give them his permission.
The murdered man's daughter asks Mr. Wong to investigate. She hopes that Wong will be able to prove that her fiancé didn't kill her father.
The killing took place a few days after the Wentworth Castle, one of the company's liners, caught fire and sank with the loss of more than 400 lives. Once again, Wong is given important information by the leader of a powerful tong (Chinese secret society) that leads him to other suspects. The tong leader tells Wong that a member of the tong was smuggling a great amount of tong money into the United States aboard the Wentworth Castle. The smuggler is known to have survived the sinking but disappeared with the tong's money.
Wong uses modern (for 1940) technology to recover seemingly "lost" evidence. He uncovers multiple conspiracies within the shipping company and succeeds in proving that the fiancé is not the murderer.
Cast
Boris Karloff as James Lee Wong
Marjorie Reynolds as Roberta "Bobbie" Logan
Grant Withers as Capt. William "Bill" Street
William Stelling as Dick Fleming
Catherine Craig as Cynthia Wentworth
Guy Usher - Paul Fleming
Henry Brandon as Victor "Vic" Martin
Melvin Lang as Cyrus P. Wentworth
Wilbur Mack as Matthews
Kenneth Harlan as Ludlow
Richard Loo as Tong leader
Production
Filming began in mid June. The film uses actual news footage from the burning of the liner SS Morro Castle, which caught fire on September 8 1934 during a trip from Havana to New York City.
References
External links
Doomed to Die at Google Videos
Category:1940 films
Category:American films
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:English-language films
Category:American detective films
Category:Monogram Pictures films
Category:Films directed by William Nigh
Category:American sequel films
Category:American mystery films
Category:Films set in San Francisco
Category:1940s mystery films | {
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
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Image generation and handedness: is the hemi-imagery method valid for studying the hemisphere imagery generation process?
The validity of the proposal by Shuren et al. (Neuropsychologia, 1996, 34, 491-492) that there is some relation between handedness and hemi-imagers was investigated by means of the hemi-imagery test. Two-hundred and two subjects were asked to image one-half of an object and to report which half (left or right) they saw. The analyses, based on criteria identical to those of Shuren et al., did not replicate their findings that subjects were more likely to image the right half of objects than the left, and that right handers are right hemi-imagers. Rather, our subjects were more inclined to image the left half than the right, and no relation between handedness score and right hemi-imagers was found. It is suggested that the reading habits of the different cultures of the groups of subjects may account for this discrepancy. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
} |
In the wake of the controversial burkini ban that implemented across some French towns, people are calling for Speedos to be prohibited too.
Those calling for the ban are confused as to why the swimwear is allowed to be worn on the beach when burkinis are not. Some have even called the swimming trunks "offensive".
On Thursday, The Mideast Beast, a satirical Middle East news site, reported that Muslim women were demanding the criminalisation of fat, white men in Speedos in jest but, it appears calls from the wider public very much exist.
Speedos are worn by most men in France - and are often a requirement should you want to visit a public pool - allegedly for hygiene reasons. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
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On the goodness of Beeminder
Beeminder.com improves my life a lot. This is surprising: few things improve my life much, and when they do it’s usually because I’m imagining it. Or because they are things that everyone has known about for ages and I am slow on the uptake (e.g. not moving house three times a year, making a habit of eating breakfast, making habits at all). But Beeminder is new, and it definitely helps.
One measurable instrumental benefit of Beeminder is that I have exercised for half an hour or an hour per day on average since last October. Previously I exercised if I needed to get somewhere or if the fact that exercise is good for people crossed my mind particularly forcibly, or if some even less common events occurred. So this is big. It seems to help a lot for other things too, such as working, but the evidence there is weaker since I used to work pretty often anyway. I’m sorry that I didn’t keep better track.
Unlike many other improvements to my life, I have some guesses about why this is so useful. But first let me tell you the basic concept of Beeminder.
Take a thing you can measure, such as how many pages you have written. Suppose you measure this every day, and enter the data as points in a graph. Suppose also that the graph contains a ‘road’ stretching up ahead of your data, to days that have not yet happened. Then you could play a game of keeping your new data points above the road. A single day below the road and you lose. It turns out this can be a pretty compelling game. This is basically Beeminder.
There are more details. You can change the steepness of the road, but only for a week in the future. So you can fine-tune the challengingness of a goal, but can’t change it out of laziness unless you are particularly forward thinking about your laziness (in which case you probably won’t sign up for this).
There is a lot of leeway in what indicators you measure, and some I tried didn’t help much. The main things I measure lately are:
number of 20 minute blocks of time spent working. They have to be continuous, though a tiny bit of interruption is allowed if someone else causes it
points accrued for doing tasks on my to-do list. When I think of anything I want to do I put it on the list, whether it’s watching a certain movie or figuring out how to make the to do list system better. Some things stay there permanently, e.g. laundry. I assign each task a number of points, which goes up every Sunday if it’s still on the list. I have to get 15 points per day or I lose.
At first glance, it looks like Beeminder is basically a commitment contract: that it gets its force from promising to take your money if you lose. In my experience this seems very minor. I often forget how much money is riding on goals, and seem to keep the ones with no money on about as well as the others. So at least for me the threat of losing money isn’t what’s going on.
What is going on? I think Beeminder – especially the way I use it – actually does a nice job of combining a bunch of good principles of motivation. Here are some I hypothesize:
Concrete steps
In order to use Beeminder for a goal, you need to be clear on how you will quantify progress toward it. This means being explicit about the parts it is made of. You can’t just intend to read more, you have to intend to read one philosophy paper every day. You can’t just intend to do your taxes, you have to intend to finish one of five forms every week. You can’t just intend to ponder whether you’re doing the right thing with your life, you have to intend to spend twenty minutes per week thinking up alternatives. Making a goal concrete enough to quantify it destroys ugh fields and makes it easier to start. ‘What get’s measured gets done’ – just making a concrete metric salient makes it easier to work toward than a similar vague goal.
Small steps
To Beemind a goal, you need to divide it into many small parts, so you can track progress. ‘Finish making my presentation’ might be explicit enough to measure, but the measure will be zero for a long time, then one. Breaking goals up into small steps has nice side effects. It removes ugh fields, induces near mode, makes success likely at any particular step. In Luke Muehlhauser’s terminology, it increases ‘expectancy’ and allows ‘success spirals’*. Trading long term goals for short term ones also avoids the kind of delay that might make it easy to succumb to procrastination.
Don’t break the chain
Otherwise known as the Seinfeld hack. This might be the main thing that motivates me to keep my Beeminder goals, in the place of the money. Imagine you are skipping rope. You have made it to 70 skips. It was kind of hard, but you’re not so exhausted that you have to stop. You probably feel more compelled to keep going and make it to 80 than you did when you started. In general, once you have successfully done something a string of times, doing it again seems more desirable. Perhaps this is particular to OCD kinds of people, but a Google search suggests many find it useful.
Beeminder is a nicely flexible implementation of this, because the chain is a bit removed from what you are doing. You only have to maintain an average, so you can work extra one day to slack off the next. This doesn’t seem to undermine the motivational effect.
Hard lines in middle grounds
Firm commitments are naturally made to extremes. This is partly due to principled moral stances, which tend to be both extreme and firm. But that’s not all that’s going on. It’s hard to manage a principle of eating 40% less meat. If people want to eat less meat, they either eat none at all, or however much they feel like pushed down in a vague fashion with some bad feelings. The middle of the meat eating spectrum is too slippery for a hard line – it’s hard to tell how much you eat and annoying to track it. ‘None’ is salient and verifiable. In other realms intermediate lines are required: your diet can’t cut eating to zero. So often diets are more vague; which makes them harder to keep.
Similarly, it’s easy to commit to doing something every day, or every Sunday, or every month. It’s harder to commit to do a thing 2.7 times per week on average, because it’s awkward to track or remember this ‘habit’.
Compromised positions are often more desirable than extremes, and desired frequencies are unlikely to match memorable periods. So it’s a pity that vague commitments are harder to keep than firm ones. Often people don’t make commitments at all, because the readily available firm ones are too extreme. This is a big loss.
Beeminder helps with making firm commitments to intermediate positions. Since you only ever need to notice if the slope of your data isn’t steep enough, any rate is as easy to use as a goal. You can commit to eating 40% less meat, you just have to estimate once what 40% is, then record any meat you eat. I’ve used Beeminder to journal on average five nights per week. This is better than every night or no night, but would otherwise be annoying to track.
A small threat to overcome tiny temptations
While working, there are various moments when it would be easier to stop than to continue, particularly if you mostly feel the costs and benefits available in the next second or so, and if you assume that you could start again shortly (related). It is in these moments that I tend to stop and get a drink, or look out of the window, or open my browser or whatnot.
Counting short blocks of continuous time working pretty much solves this problem for me. The rule is that if you stop at all the whole block doesn’t count. So at any given moment there might be a tiny short term benefit to stopping for a second, but there is a huge cost to it. In my case this seems to remove stopping as an option, in the same way that a hundred dollar price on a menu item removes it as an option without apparent expense of willpower.
I originally thought it would be good to measure the amount of work I got done, rather than time spent doing it. This is because I want to get work done, not waste time on it. But given that I am working, I strongly prefer to do good work, fast. So there’s not much need for an added incentive there. I just need an incentive to begin, and one to not stop when a particular moment makes stopping look tasty. In Luke’s terminology, this kills impulsiveness.
Less stress
The long term threat of failing to write an essay is converted into a short term pleasure of winning each night at Beeminder. I’m not sure why this seems like a pleasure, rather than a threat of losing, but it does to me. Probably because losing at Beeminder isn’t that unpleasant or shameful. And how could getting points or climbing a scale not seem like winning? (This is about value in Luke’s terms).
More accuracy
It’s harder to maintain planning fallacy, overconfidence, or expectation of perfection in the future, in light of detailed quantitative data, and a definite trend line.
Just the difference between ‘I should do that’, and ‘I should do that, so how much time will it take?… About two hours, so I guess it should get 20 points.. that probably won’t be enough to compel me to do it soon, but that’s ok, it’s not urgent’ seems to change the mindset to one more sensitive to reality.
***
In sum, I think Beeminder partly works well because it causes you to think of your goals in small, concrete parts which can easily be achieved. It also makes achieving the parts more satisfying, and strings them into an addictive chain of just the right challengingness. Finally it lends itself to experimentation with a wide range of measures of success, such as measuring time blocks or ‘points’, at arbitrary rates. The value from innovations there is probably substantial. So, averse as I am to giving lifestyle advice, if you’re curious about the psychology of motivation in humans, or if you want to improve your life a lot, you should probably take a look at Beeminder.
*you can also increase expectancy by measuring something like time rather than progress.
LOL about “slow on the uptake … making habits at all”. For some people, forming habits is the hardest thing of all. I was 25 before I had any consistency about which way the toilet paper roll was installed, whether I slept at the head or foot of the bed (or on the bed at all), and so on.
Personally, I think it’s better for people to understand, apply, and experiment with the motivations behind a generic framework like Beeminder than to adopt a framework. Implementing these processes yourself is not so difficult, and has its rewards.
http://beeminder.com Daniel Reeves
Personally, I (along with Bethany Soule) agree with this so hard that we literally created Beeminder.
Also, holy cow are we in love with Katja Grace right now!
Danny of Beeminder
Paul Crowley
I don’t think I’m Beeminder’s target market; because my money is also Jess’s, I can’t punish myself by spending it without punishing her and I don’t feel able to do that. That said, I have fallen off all three of my Beeminder roads. One was a genuine failure of will; one because I set too ambitious a target; and the last because there was no way for me to deal with disruptions like being ill, being away etc. I would like a tool that allowed me to simply track my progress against a target, with none of the extra anti-akrasia features that Beeminder provides, but Beeminder has a revenue model and such a tool wouldn’t have that…
http://beeminder.com Daniel Reeves
Ooh, allow me to argue, self-interestedly, that this is the wrong way to think of it! You can spend money on, say, a gym membership even though that’s half Jess’s money, right? If Beeminder makes you awesomer then it’s probably Jess-approved.
I think the key (grains of salt ready?) is to think of the money you pay for the occasional derailment as just part of the process of working your way towards god-like awesomeness.
V V
Nice. Thanks for sharing Katja!
Stephen Diamond
You probably feel more compelled to keep going and make it to 80 than you did when you started. In general, once you have successfully done something a string of times, doing it again seems more desirable.
How is this different from the sunk-cost fallacy?
Like the whole behavior- modification/cognitive-behavioral school of psychological thinking, these excessively “near-mode” (http://tinyurl.com/6pt9eq5) approaches ignore the “meta-lessons” their practice instills.
Prediction Your dwelling place will become more cluttered as sunk-cost thinking further infects your being (cf your earlier essay on disorganized collections).
Luke Muehlhauser’s summary, by the way, is woefully obsolete; Luke omitted the two recent gigantic developments relevant to the field: construal-level theory and ego-depletion theory. (http://tinyurl.com/7d2yh6x)
AmagicalFishy
I think sunk-cost thinking would be something along these lines:
– Neglecting information telling you that your current goal is no good because you’ve already invested into it (and don’t want to feel like you’ve wasted resources). In other words, if you continue to invest in a goal solely because you’ve already invested in it—despite information telling you it’s a bad investment—you’re commiting the sunk-cost fallacy.
– Assuming your goal’s probability of success, benefits, etc. are better than they actually are because you’ve already invested in it. In other words, it’s your prior investment that determines your view of your goal’s success—not the information known regardless of your investment.
That is, I believe sunk-cost refers to motivation for investment in a bad goal because of past investment, regardless of information telling you that continued investment is not worth it. It is not dependent on you simply being motivated by some factor. It is dependent on the extent to which your most prominent motivation is based on whether or not the goal is worth reaching (decided by information independent of your investment).
If your goal is to jump rope 80 times, being more motivated to get to 80 when you’re at 70 jumps isn’t sunk-cost. If your goal is to follow the Atkins diet for 30 days and you find out that the Atkins diet is a hoax 25 days in, but continue to follow it because you’re already 25 days in, it *is* sunk-cost.
Beeminder motivates you towards completing your goals, and the closer you get to a goal, the more motivated you are. If you’ve chosen detrimental goals, and are continuing to follow them because of Beeminder—then you’re committing the sunk-cost fallacy. What should ultimately determine your want to complete a goal is whether or not the goal is worth completing. Let’s hope that people using Beeminder are using it to motivate themselves in reaching beneficial goals, where prior information has already told them their investment will be good.
Also, disclaimer: I’m a long time lurker and have little educational background in anything that’d give me insight into various fallacies—my understanding of the sunk-cost fallacy might be… well… fallacious.
Stephen Diamond
It is dependent on the extent to which your most prominent motivation is based on whether or not the goal is worth reaching (decided by information independent of your investment).
The reasoning’s unsoundness doesn’t depend on whether the conclusion is warranted or whether the fallacy is the decisive point in your deliberations. BeeMinder encourages you to leverage sunk-cost thinking for instrumentally rational purposes: treating “sunk costs” as a useful fiction. Since System 1 doesn’t distinguish between useful fictions and truth, this practice is likely to encourage sunk-cost thinking in general, including the many instances where its harmful, except when System 2 intervenes.
What I get from what you’re saying is that, one isn’t necessarily always *commiting* the sunk-cost fallacy by using BeeMinder, but in doing so, one exercises (and thus strengthens) the method of thought that causes the sunk-cost fallacy.
If my interpretation is correct, I think it’s a bit of a stretch to claim that BeeMinder is ultimately detrimental or that it will cause sunk-cost thinking to infect a person’s being. To me, it seems like a legitimate use of System 1’s mechanics. Being motivated by incrimental steps, and more motivated the closer you get to your goal seems no more a promotion of sunk-cost thinking than any method of thought that makes use of System 1 via conscious approval of System 2. (i.e. – When a one immediately assumes people at a NASCAR race enjoy racing, that generalization doesn’t necessarily promote racism. Though both might rely on the “group generalization” method of thought, one is surely more reasonable than the other.)
suzanne
you, katja, are a wonderful addition to overcoming bias. i always look forward to reading your stuff–(and certainly appreciate the warning ahead of time when something is going to get “technical”)–because your thoughts are interesting at intellectual AND practical levels, seem well grounded in theory, and are fabulously amusing to read. your style! i really dig your style. thanks for making me smile. with your style. (now i’m betting i’m scaring you.)
I’m growing a beard. There are days when it looks bad (or when I’m inclined to think that it does), there are days when it itches, there are infinite chances to “break the chain,” which in this case is a literal, physical thing that grows with time and that starts from zero when you “fail”
You would think the idea of NOT shaving each day would be an easier habit than actively doing a thing each day, but in terms of being the opppsite of “impulsiveness,” it’s not really different. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
/*
* linux/sound/soc/ep93xx-i2s.c
* EP93xx I2S driver
*
* Copyright (C) 2010 Ryan Mallon <ryan@bluewatersys.com>
*
* Based on the original driver by:
* Copyright (C) 2007 Chase Douglas <chasedouglas@gmail>
* Copyright (C) 2006 Lennert Buytenhek <buytenh@wantstofly.org>
*
* This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
* it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as
* published by the Free Software Foundation.
*
*/
#include <linux/module.h>
#include <linux/init.h>
#include <linux/slab.h>
#include <linux/clk.h>
#include <linux/io.h>
#include <sound/core.h>
#include <sound/pcm.h>
#include <sound/pcm_params.h>
#include <sound/initval.h>
#include <sound/soc.h>
#include <mach/hardware.h>
#include <mach/ep93xx-regs.h>
#include <mach/dma.h>
#include "ep93xx-pcm.h"
#define EP93XX_I2S_TXCLKCFG 0x00
#define EP93XX_I2S_RXCLKCFG 0x04
#define EP93XX_I2S_GLCTRL 0x0C
#define EP93XX_I2S_TXLINCTRLDATA 0x28
#define EP93XX_I2S_TXCTRL 0x2C
#define EP93XX_I2S_TXWRDLEN 0x30
#define EP93XX_I2S_TX0EN 0x34
#define EP93XX_I2S_RXLINCTRLDATA 0x58
#define EP93XX_I2S_RXCTRL 0x5C
#define EP93XX_I2S_RXWRDLEN 0x60
#define EP93XX_I2S_RX0EN 0x64
#define EP93XX_I2S_WRDLEN_16 (0 << 0)
#define EP93XX_I2S_WRDLEN_24 (1 << 0)
#define EP93XX_I2S_WRDLEN_32 (2 << 0)
#define EP93XX_I2S_LINCTRLDATA_R_JUST (1 << 2) /* Right justify */
#define EP93XX_I2S_CLKCFG_LRS (1 << 0) /* lrclk polarity */
#define EP93XX_I2S_CLKCFG_CKP (1 << 1) /* Bit clock polarity */
#define EP93XX_I2S_CLKCFG_REL (1 << 2) /* First bit transition */
#define EP93XX_I2S_CLKCFG_MASTER (1 << 3) /* Master mode */
#define EP93XX_I2S_CLKCFG_NBCG (1 << 4) /* Not bit clock gating */
struct ep93xx_i2s_info {
struct clk *mclk;
struct clk *sclk;
struct clk *lrclk;
struct ep93xx_pcm_dma_params *dma_params;
struct resource *mem;
void __iomem *regs;
};
struct ep93xx_pcm_dma_params ep93xx_i2s_dma_params[] = {
[SNDRV_PCM_STREAM_PLAYBACK] = {
.name = "i2s-pcm-out",
.dma_port = EP93XX_DMA_M2P_PORT_I2S1,
},
[SNDRV_PCM_STREAM_CAPTURE] = {
.name = "i2s-pcm-in",
.dma_port = EP93XX_DMA_M2P_PORT_I2S1,
},
};
static inline void ep93xx_i2s_write_reg(struct ep93xx_i2s_info *info,
unsigned reg, unsigned val)
{
__raw_writel(val, info->regs + reg);
}
static inline unsigned ep93xx_i2s_read_reg(struct ep93xx_i2s_info *info,
unsigned reg)
{
return __raw_readl(info->regs + reg);
}
static void ep93xx_i2s_enable(struct ep93xx_i2s_info *info, int stream)
{
unsigned base_reg;
int i;
if ((ep93xx_i2s_read_reg(info, EP93XX_I2S_TX0EN) & 0x1) == 0 &&
(ep93xx_i2s_read_reg(info, EP93XX_I2S_RX0EN) & 0x1) == 0) {
/* Enable clocks */
clk_enable(info->mclk);
clk_enable(info->sclk);
clk_enable(info->lrclk);
/* Enable i2s */
ep93xx_i2s_write_reg(info, EP93XX_I2S_GLCTRL, 1);
}
/* Enable fifos */
if (stream == SNDRV_PCM_STREAM_PLAYBACK)
base_reg = EP93XX_I2S_TX0EN;
else
base_reg = EP93XX_I2S_RX0EN;
for (i = 0; i < 3; i++)
ep93xx_i2s_write_reg(info, base_reg + (i * 4), 1);
}
static void ep93xx_i2s_disable(struct ep93xx_i2s_info *info, int stream)
{
unsigned base_reg;
int i;
/* Disable fifos */
if (stream == SNDRV_PCM_STREAM_PLAYBACK)
base_reg = EP93XX_I2S_TX0EN;
else
base_reg = EP93XX_I2S_RX0EN;
for (i = 0; i < 3; i++)
ep93xx_i2s_write_reg(info, base_reg + (i * 4), 0);
if ((ep93xx_i2s_read_reg(info, EP93XX_I2S_TX0EN) & 0x1) == 0 &&
(ep93xx_i2s_read_reg(info, EP93XX_I2S_RX0EN) & 0x1) == 0) {
/* Disable i2s */
ep93xx_i2s_write_reg(info, EP93XX_I2S_GLCTRL, 0);
/* Disable clocks */
clk_disable(info->lrclk);
clk_disable(info->sclk);
clk_disable(info->mclk);
}
}
static int ep93xx_i2s_startup(struct snd_pcm_substream *substream,
struct snd_soc_dai *dai)
{
struct snd_soc_pcm_runtime *rtd = substream->private_data;
struct ep93xx_i2s_info *info = snd_soc_dai_get_drvdata(dai);
struct snd_soc_dai *cpu_dai = rtd->cpu_dai;
snd_soc_dai_set_dma_data(cpu_dai, substream,
&info->dma_params[substream->stream]);
return 0;
}
static void ep93xx_i2s_shutdown(struct snd_pcm_substream *substream,
struct snd_soc_dai *dai)
{
struct ep93xx_i2s_info *info = snd_soc_dai_get_drvdata(dai);
ep93xx_i2s_disable(info, substream->stream);
}
static int ep93xx_i2s_set_dai_fmt(struct snd_soc_dai *cpu_dai,
unsigned int fmt)
{
struct ep93xx_i2s_info *info = snd_soc_dai_get_drvdata(cpu_dai);
unsigned int clk_cfg, lin_ctrl;
clk_cfg = ep93xx_i2s_read_reg(info, EP93XX_I2S_RXCLKCFG);
lin_ctrl = ep93xx_i2s_read_reg(info, EP93XX_I2S_RXLINCTRLDATA);
switch (fmt & SND_SOC_DAIFMT_FORMAT_MASK) {
case SND_SOC_DAIFMT_I2S:
clk_cfg |= EP93XX_I2S_CLKCFG_REL;
lin_ctrl &= ~EP93XX_I2S_LINCTRLDATA_R_JUST;
break;
case SND_SOC_DAIFMT_LEFT_J:
clk_cfg &= ~EP93XX_I2S_CLKCFG_REL;
lin_ctrl &= ~EP93XX_I2S_LINCTRLDATA_R_JUST;
break;
case SND_SOC_DAIFMT_RIGHT_J:
clk_cfg &= ~EP93XX_I2S_CLKCFG_REL;
lin_ctrl |= EP93XX_I2S_LINCTRLDATA_R_JUST;
break;
default:
return -EINVAL;
}
switch (fmt & SND_SOC_DAIFMT_MASTER_MASK) {
case SND_SOC_DAIFMT_CBS_CFS:
/* CPU is master */
clk_cfg |= EP93XX_I2S_CLKCFG_MASTER;
break;
case SND_SOC_DAIFMT_CBM_CFM:
/* Codec is master */
clk_cfg &= ~EP93XX_I2S_CLKCFG_MASTER;
break;
default:
return -EINVAL;
}
switch (fmt & SND_SOC_DAIFMT_INV_MASK) {
case SND_SOC_DAIFMT_NB_NF:
/* Negative bit clock, lrclk low on left word */
clk_cfg &= ~(EP93XX_I2S_CLKCFG_CKP | EP93XX_I2S_CLKCFG_REL);
break;
case SND_SOC_DAIFMT_NB_IF:
/* Negative bit clock, lrclk low on right word */
clk_cfg &= ~EP93XX_I2S_CLKCFG_CKP;
clk_cfg |= EP93XX_I2S_CLKCFG_REL;
break;
case SND_SOC_DAIFMT_IB_NF:
/* Positive bit clock, lrclk low on left word */
clk_cfg |= EP93XX_I2S_CLKCFG_CKP;
clk_cfg &= ~EP93XX_I2S_CLKCFG_REL;
break;
case SND_SOC_DAIFMT_IB_IF:
/* Positive bit clock, lrclk low on right word */
clk_cfg |= EP93XX_I2S_CLKCFG_CKP | EP93XX_I2S_CLKCFG_REL;
break;
}
/* Write new register values */
ep93xx_i2s_write_reg(info, EP93XX_I2S_RXCLKCFG, clk_cfg);
ep93xx_i2s_write_reg(info, EP93XX_I2S_TXCLKCFG, clk_cfg);
ep93xx_i2s_write_reg(info, EP93XX_I2S_RXLINCTRLDATA, lin_ctrl);
ep93xx_i2s_write_reg(info, EP93XX_I2S_TXLINCTRLDATA, lin_ctrl);
return 0;
}
static int ep93xx_i2s_hw_params(struct snd_pcm_substream *substream,
struct snd_pcm_hw_params *params,
struct snd_soc_dai *dai)
{
struct ep93xx_i2s_info *info = snd_soc_dai_get_drvdata(dai);
unsigned word_len, div, sdiv, lrdiv;
int err;
switch (params_format(params)) {
case SNDRV_PCM_FORMAT_S16_LE:
word_len = EP93XX_I2S_WRDLEN_16;
break;
case SNDRV_PCM_FORMAT_S24_LE:
word_len = EP93XX_I2S_WRDLEN_24;
break;
case SNDRV_PCM_FORMAT_S32_LE:
word_len = EP93XX_I2S_WRDLEN_32;
break;
default:
return -EINVAL;
}
if (substream->stream == SNDRV_PCM_STREAM_PLAYBACK)
ep93xx_i2s_write_reg(info, EP93XX_I2S_TXWRDLEN, word_len);
else
ep93xx_i2s_write_reg(info, EP93XX_I2S_RXWRDLEN, word_len);
/*
* EP93xx I2S module can be setup so SCLK / LRCLK value can be
* 32, 64, 128. MCLK / SCLK value can be 2 and 4.
* We set LRCLK equal to `rate' and minimum SCLK / LRCLK
* value is 64, because our sample size is 32 bit * 2 channels.
* I2S standard permits us to transmit more bits than
* the codec uses.
*/
div = clk_get_rate(info->mclk) / params_rate(params);
sdiv = 4;
if (div > (256 + 512) / 2) {
lrdiv = 128;
} else {
lrdiv = 64;
if (div < (128 + 256) / 2)
sdiv = 2;
}
err = clk_set_rate(info->sclk, clk_get_rate(info->mclk) / sdiv);
if (err)
return err;
err = clk_set_rate(info->lrclk, clk_get_rate(info->sclk) / lrdiv);
if (err)
return err;
ep93xx_i2s_enable(info, substream->stream);
return 0;
}
static int ep93xx_i2s_set_sysclk(struct snd_soc_dai *cpu_dai, int clk_id,
unsigned int freq, int dir)
{
struct ep93xx_i2s_info *info = snd_soc_dai_get_drvdata(cpu_dai);
if (dir == SND_SOC_CLOCK_IN || clk_id != 0)
return -EINVAL;
return clk_set_rate(info->mclk, freq);
}
#ifdef CONFIG_PM
static int ep93xx_i2s_suspend(struct snd_soc_dai *dai)
{
struct ep93xx_i2s_info *info = snd_soc_dai_get_drvdata(dai);
if (!dai->active)
return 0;
ep93xx_i2s_disable(info, SNDRV_PCM_STREAM_PLAYBACK);
ep93xx_i2s_disable(info, SNDRV_PCM_STREAM_CAPTURE);
return 0;
}
static int ep93xx_i2s_resume(struct snd_soc_dai *dai)
{
struct ep93xx_i2s_info *info = snd_soc_dai_get_drvdata(dai);
if (!dai->active)
return 0;
ep93xx_i2s_enable(info, SNDRV_PCM_STREAM_PLAYBACK);
ep93xx_i2s_enable(info, SNDRV_PCM_STREAM_CAPTURE);
return 0;
}
#else
#define ep93xx_i2s_suspend NULL
#define ep93xx_i2s_resume NULL
#endif
static struct snd_soc_dai_ops ep93xx_i2s_dai_ops = {
.startup = ep93xx_i2s_startup,
.shutdown = ep93xx_i2s_shutdown,
.hw_params = ep93xx_i2s_hw_params,
.set_sysclk = ep93xx_i2s_set_sysclk,
.set_fmt = ep93xx_i2s_set_dai_fmt,
};
#define EP93XX_I2S_FORMATS (SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S32_LE)
static struct snd_soc_dai_driver ep93xx_i2s_dai = {
.symmetric_rates= 1,
.suspend = ep93xx_i2s_suspend,
.resume = ep93xx_i2s_resume,
.playback = {
.channels_min = 2,
.channels_max = 2,
.rates = SNDRV_PCM_RATE_8000_192000,
.formats = EP93XX_I2S_FORMATS,
},
.capture = {
.channels_min = 2,
.channels_max = 2,
.rates = SNDRV_PCM_RATE_8000_192000,
.formats = EP93XX_I2S_FORMATS,
},
.ops = &ep93xx_i2s_dai_ops,
};
static int ep93xx_i2s_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
{
struct ep93xx_i2s_info *info;
struct resource *res;
int err;
info = kzalloc(sizeof(struct ep93xx_i2s_info), GFP_KERNEL);
if (!info) {
err = -ENOMEM;
goto fail;
}
dev_set_drvdata(&pdev->dev, info);
info->dma_params = ep93xx_i2s_dma_params;
res = platform_get_resource(pdev, IORESOURCE_MEM, 0);
if (!res) {
err = -ENODEV;
goto fail;
}
info->mem = request_mem_region(res->start, resource_size(res),
pdev->name);
if (!info->mem) {
err = -EBUSY;
goto fail;
}
info->regs = ioremap(info->mem->start, resource_size(info->mem));
if (!info->regs) {
err = -ENXIO;
goto fail_release_mem;
}
info->mclk = clk_get(&pdev->dev, "mclk");
if (IS_ERR(info->mclk)) {
err = PTR_ERR(info->mclk);
goto fail_unmap_mem;
}
info->sclk = clk_get(&pdev->dev, "sclk");
if (IS_ERR(info->sclk)) {
err = PTR_ERR(info->sclk);
goto fail_put_mclk;
}
info->lrclk = clk_get(&pdev->dev, "lrclk");
if (IS_ERR(info->lrclk)) {
err = PTR_ERR(info->lrclk);
goto fail_put_sclk;
}
err = snd_soc_register_dai(&pdev->dev, &ep93xx_i2s_dai);
if (err)
goto fail_put_lrclk;
return 0;
fail_put_lrclk:
clk_put(info->lrclk);
fail_put_sclk:
clk_put(info->sclk);
fail_put_mclk:
clk_put(info->mclk);
fail_unmap_mem:
iounmap(info->regs);
fail_release_mem:
release_mem_region(info->mem->start, resource_size(info->mem));
kfree(info);
fail:
return err;
}
static int __devexit ep93xx_i2s_remove(struct platform_device *pdev)
{
struct ep93xx_i2s_info *info = dev_get_drvdata(&pdev->dev);
snd_soc_unregister_dai(&pdev->dev);
clk_put(info->lrclk);
clk_put(info->sclk);
clk_put(info->mclk);
iounmap(info->regs);
release_mem_region(info->mem->start, resource_size(info->mem));
kfree(info);
return 0;
}
static struct platform_driver ep93xx_i2s_driver = {
.probe = ep93xx_i2s_probe,
.remove = __devexit_p(ep93xx_i2s_remove),
.driver = {
.name = "ep93xx-i2s",
.owner = THIS_MODULE,
},
};
static int __init ep93xx_i2s_init(void)
{
return platform_driver_register(&ep93xx_i2s_driver);
}
static void __exit ep93xx_i2s_exit(void)
{
platform_driver_unregister(&ep93xx_i2s_driver);
}
module_init(ep93xx_i2s_init);
module_exit(ep93xx_i2s_exit);
MODULE_ALIAS("platform:ep93xx-i2s");
MODULE_AUTHOR("Ryan Mallon <ryan@bluewatersys.com>");
MODULE_DESCRIPTION("EP93XX I2S driver");
MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
| {
"pile_set_name": "Github"
} |
Remodeling of endosomes during lysosome biogenesis involves 'kiss and run' fusion events regulated by rab5.
The small GTPase rab5 has been shown to play key roles in the function of both endocytic and phagocytic organelles. Although these organelles share several additional common features, different processes have been proposed to explain their biogenesis. In the present study, we provide evidence that lysosome biogenesis involves mechanisms similar to those previously described for the formation of phagolysosomes. Transient interactions ('kiss and run') between endocytic organelles are shown to occur during lysosome biogenesis. These interactions are regulated initially by the GTPase activity of rab5, as demonstrated by the loss of size-selective fusion between endosomes in cells expressing a GTPase-deficient mutant of rab5. Endocytic compartments in these cells sequentially display properties of early and late endosomes. However, the formation of lysosomes and the sorting of endocytic solute materials to small electron dense vacuoles are not affected by the rab5 mutation. Together, our results indicate that endosome maturation occurs during the early part of lysosome biogenesis. This process involves transient fusion events regulated, in part, by the small GTPase rab5. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
} |
2019–20 Segunda División de Fútbol Salvadoreño
The 2019–20 season (officially known as Liga de Plata and also as Torneo Luis Baltazar Ramírez) will be El Salvador's Segunda División de Fútbol Salvadoreño. The season will be split into two championships Apertura 2019 and Clausura 2020. The champions of the Apertura and Clausura play the direct promotion playoff every year. The winner of that series ascends to Salvadorean Primera Division.
Changes from the 2019–20 seasons
Teams promoted to 2019–20 Primera División de El Salvador
El Vencedor
Teams relegated to Segunda División de Fútbol Salvadoreño - Apertura 2019
Firpo
Teams relegated to Tercera Division de Fútbol Salvadoreño - Apertura 2019
No teams relegated
Teams promoted from Tercera Division De Fútbol Profesional - Apertura 2019
Turin
C.D. Cacahuatique
New Teams or teams that purchased a spot in the Segunda division
C.D. Titán (bought one of two spots available for $TBD)
C.D. Topiltzin ( bought one of two spots available for $TBD)
Marte Soyapango (bought spot of Chaguite for $TBD)
AD Juayúa (bought spot of Turin FESA for $TBD)
Gerardo Barrios (Best Third division team promoted in place of recently relegated Luis Angel Firpo)
Teams that failed to register for the Apertura 2019
C.D. Chagüite (sold their spot to Marte Soyapango)
Firpo (Failed to meet the requirements and therefore were relegated)
Turin (sold their spot to Juayúa)
Notable death from Apertura 2019 season and 2020 Clausura season
The following people associated with the Segunda Division have died in Middle of 2019 and mid 2020.
Jaime Rafael Mina (San Pablo) [ ]
* Victor Emmanuel Rodriguez (ex Fuerte Aguilares player)
Stadiums and locations
Personnel and kits
Managerial changes
Apertura 2019
Foreign players
Conference standings
Group A
Group B
Season statistics
Top scorers
Hat-tricks
Finals
Quarterfinals
A.D. Juayua won 2-1 on aggregate.
Platense won 2-1 on aggregate.
Brujos de Izalco won 3-1 on aggregate.
Racing Jr won 3-2 on aggregate.
Semifinals
Racing Jr won 1-0 on aggregate.
Platense won 1-0 on aggregate.
Final
First leg
Second leg
Platense won 4-3 on aggregate.
Individual awards
Clausura 2020
Teams
Foreign players
Conference standings
Group A
Group B
Season statistics
Top scorers
Finals
Quarterfinals
TBD won 6-1 on aggregate.
San Pablo won 6-4 on aggregate.
TBD won 4-1 on aggregate.
Platense won 7-1 on aggregate.
References
External Links
Category:Football in El Salvador | {
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
} |
Foot lesions in diabetic patients: pathogenesis and management.
Vascular disease is the major factor in the development of many lesions in diabetics, although the independent role of neuropathy has been increasingly recognized. The major problem in assessment is to decide the severity of ischaemia and neuropathy present in a particular patient. Healing after local surgery can be expected in those lesions which are painless, and peripheral (that is, are situated on the toes or forefoot), especially if the ankle pulses are present. Operation must provide adequate drainage and wound care must be meticulous. The problem of prevention of recurrences remains unsolved, but recurrences can probably be delayed or prevented by a careful follow-up. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
} |
The rapidly growing world population and the high rate of unintended pregnancies make contraception a need and a priority for any public health program. While several contraceptive methods for women are currently available, a more comprehensive approach to birth control requires extending contraception to males. However, a safe, effective and reversible contraceptive for men is still unavailable. An attractive approach t develop male contraceptives consists in targeting proteins that are specifically expressed in sperm and are required for sperm fertility. Evidence from our laboratory has shown that Na,K-ATPase ?4, a sperm specific plasma membrane transporter, which exchanges cytoplasmic Na+ for extracellular K+ is one of these attractive targets for male contraception. Na,K-ATPase ?4 is only expressed in male germ cells of the testis after meiosis and abundant in the sperm flagellum. Importantly, ?4 has functional characteristics that are highly unique and critical for sperm function. Activity of ?4 is essential for maintaining sperm intracellular Na+ levels ([Na+]i) and several vital sperm parameters, including membrane potential (Vm), intracellular Ca+2 ([Ca2+]i) and pH. Importantly, ?4 is crucial for sperm motility and hyperactivation, a key event associated with sperm capacitation. Accordingly, knockout of ?4 in mice results in complete male infertility. From a biochemical standpoint, ?4 has a particularly high affinity for the cardenolide ouabain. We have developed a series of synthetic compounds with steroidal and non-steroidal backbone structure, which, by targeting the ouabain binding site of ?4, selectively inhibit ?4 and affect sperm motility. These results provide strong evidence for the suitability of ?4 as a pharmacological target for the control of male fertility. The key to targeting Na,K-ATPase ?4 is that inhibition of this protein will allow to specifically interfere with sperm function, without affecting spermatogenesis and providing temporary and reversible contraception. In addition, the lack of ?4 in somatic cells reduces the chances that its inactivation will produce side effects. However, before the ?4 inhibitors can be moved forward into their application as male contraceptives, it is necessary that their efficacy, drug-target interaction, biomarkers for their in vitro and vivo specificity, side effects and mechanisms of action are identified and optimized for future clinical use. We will test this here by determining the efficacy and selectivity of action of our inhibitors on Na,K-ATPase ?4 activity, on sperm motility and on sperm parameters that are controlled by Na,K-ATPase ?4 activity, including sperm [Na+]i, [Ca2+]i, pH, Vm, sperm hyperactivation, motility and fertility. Finally, we will determine the pharmacokinetic parameters, safety and contraceptive effectiveness of Na,K-ATPase ?4 inhibitors in mating trials in mice. The rationale for the research is that once the suitability of cardenolides as targets of Na,K-ATPase ?4 is validated, both in vitro and in vivo, they can be advanced as agents for the reversible control of male fertility. | {
"pile_set_name": "NIH ExPorter"
} |
The Wi-Fi monitors all have lower EMF readings than the dedicated options with the lowest average EMF readings being 0.87 for the LeFun C2 720P Wi-Fi and 0.92 for the Nest Cam Indoor Wi-Fi with the reader 6 ft from the camera. The lowest average value for the dedicated monitors at 6 ft is 1.89 for the Infant Optics DXR-8 and 1.91 for the Philips Avent SCD630.
The Nest Cam Indoor Wi-Fi camera is a cool Wi-Fi camera that pairs with your personal device like a smartphone or tablet. This easy to use camera has amazing video, can be viewed anywhere you have a connection and has several useful features. The Nest Cam is good for baby watching, but it can also be used as a nanny cam or for security after your little one is older. We love that the Nest Cam has a reasonable price and can be used for many years to come retaining its value long after the standard monitoring device is no longer useful.
Baby's exposure could potentially be even lower if parents place the camera on a wall at least 15 feet from baby (a distance still good for night vision to work properly with most monitors). Given the sensitivity of baby's developing systems we recommend placing the monitor as far away from the baby as possible while still being able to utilize the night vision as intended and see baby's face to determine if they are awake or sleeping at a glance. For most of the products, this distance is between 10-15 feet from the baby.
Ease of setup and installation factored heavily into our ratings, including whether an account needed to be created and if there were any extra subscription fees necessary. Each unit had cords protruding out of its back, so design wasn't much of a factor in my choice, though parents should take care to keep dangling cords and wires away from their children's reach when setting up a monitor.
Video, Audio, or Both: First-time parents are suckers for high-definition, night-vision baby monitors where they can pick up on exactly how their child’s chest is rising and falling. You will do this dozens of times a night. Past the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome-scare age, you may just want an audio baby monitor (which a lot of video ones double as), because you’ll know an “I’m hungry” cry from an “I lost my sock” whine.
The iBaby M6 Wi-Fi is a Wi-Fi camera designed with nurseries in mind, something not true of the Nest Cam. This camera is easy to use, works with your internet for connectivity anywhere and has features that are baby-centric. The iBaby tied with the Nest Cam Indoor Wi-Fi in our review, but the iBaby is a better option for parents who want a camera designed for watching a baby. The iBaby includes sensors for temperature, humidity, and air-quality (things to watch when setting up best sleep practices). It has different lullabies included, and you can add your own songs, voice, or stories with minimal effort. This option has an intuitive interface and works well on your personal device with continual use even while running other apps. You can even take pictures or video of your little one in action or peacefully dreaming. You get all of this with a list price below the Nest Cam making it a good choice for parents who want a Wi-Fi option but are less concerned with longevity.
The LeFun camera connects to your WiFi, and you use the associated app to watch real-time footage in 750-pixel high definition. Because the product uses WiFi to transmit video, you don’t need to worry about walls obstructing the signal. The camera can pan an impressive 350 degrees and tilt 100 degrees, and it also has night vision that many reviewers say works well.
Video products for monitoring baby is a growing industry, and it feels like every company is jumping on the bandwagon and throwing something into the already overflowing market of monitors. This plethora of products can make sorting through products difficult and attempts to narrow the field daunting. Luckily, we have already done the legwork by doing an initial review of the top products and choosing 9 of the most popular and well-rated options to test and compare. After months of hands-on testing, we feel confident that no matter what you might be looking for in a video product for monitoring baby, that you can find it in one of our award winners or the top-ranked products in this review.
The longest battery life for the dedicated products in our review is the Levana Lila, which ran for 12.75 hours in full use mode. The manufacturer claims this unit will work up to 72 hours in power saving mode, but we only tested the monitors in full use. The Infant Optics DXR-8 came in second place with a shorter run time of closer to 11.5 hours. The Motorola MBP36S earned the lowest score for battery life with a runtime just under 7 hours. While not necessarily a deal breaker, there are plenty of other reasons to dislike the Motorola MBP36S, and the battery life is just a small part of a disappointing overall picture (no pun intended).
Still need help? We understand! There’s a lot to choose from, and given that the baby monitor performs a super important job, we want to help you select the one that provides the ultimate peace of mind when it comes to baby’s safety and security. We’ve rounded up 10 of the best baby monitors on the market, from high-end, do-it-all monitors to affordable but effective audio monitors and everything in between. You’re sure to find your digital nap companion on our list!
If you sleep in the same room as your baby or live in a small enough space that you can always hear or see what your baby is up to, you probably don’t need a monitor. Otherwise, most parents enjoy the convenience a baby monitor provides—instead of needing to stay close to the nursery or constantly checking on your child, you’re free to rest, catch up on Netflix or get things done around the house during naptime. Monitors can also double as a nanny cam to keep an eye on your child and their caretaker. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Air sorting and/or air screening is applied in sorting and screening machines for sorting and/or screening grain, seeds, and similar materials in order to separate from the materials chaff, husks, shells, empty grains and other light materials which are included in the row material but should not be present in the good product. It is of course important to perform this sorting or screening operation as effectively as possible. This requires a strong air flow but on the other hand the air flow cannot be allowed to rise to any high level because the good grains which shall be included in the good product and comprise the heavier particles of the row material, in that case will also be carried away by the air current. Thus, it is a matter of adjusting very accurately the air flow such that at the most single grains only of the good product are carried away by the air current; then, it is pretty sure that there will be obtained an effective separation of the lighter materials which one want to get rid of although it is achieved at the cost of some loss, though a small one, of good product.
The air flow accordingly must be set accurately and carefully, and it may be necessary to adjust from time to time the setting, initially made, when the sorting or screening machine is operating, and it may also be necessary of course to use different settings for different types of material. This means that the machine when operating requires supervision by a skilled person if one does not want to run the risk of too high a loss of good product or, alternatively, will not be satisfied with an inferior sorting or screening result due to an air flow which is too strong or too light, respectively. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention is related to spinal fixation and stabilization systems in general and to intervertebral implant systems for promoting arthrodesis in particular.
Stabilization of vertebrae relative to each other, primarily for the purposes of indirect nerve decompression and fusion (arthrodesis), is an well-accepted surgical objective. To date, most methods entail a two staged process of intervertebral distraction and then subsequent interposition of either a cortical bone graft or an inorganic implant to maintain the relative position of the vertebrae during the healing phase of arthrodesis.
Many variations of this basic surgical technique exist. Unfortunately, these systems often require considerable time and effort for successful implant placement. This is frequently due to the fact that such systems typically require both excessive surgical tissue dissection and mechanical vertebral distraction such that the various stabilization component(s) of the system can be successfully positioned in a patient""s intervertebral space.
In addition, the dimensional constraints typically imposed by access considerations are often in conflict with the desire to place the largest implant possible to support the loads transmitted across the vertebral endplates. Specifically, the larger the implant inserted, the greater the amount of resulting tissue damage both in the intervertebral space, and in the surrounding tissues.
An additional problem with many intervertebral implant devices is that they do not confer a proper lordotic relationship between the vertebrae, either as a consequence of their geometry or their insertion method.
The present invention provides an intervertebral implant system, comprising; a plurality of implants, each implant having at least one hole passing therethrough; and an elongated member dimensioned to pass through the holes in each of the plurality of implants. In a preferred method, the plurality of intervertebral implants are positioned in a patient""s intervertebral space by; introducing the elongated member into the patient""s intervertebral space; and sequentially advancing a plurality of intervertebral implants over the elongated member and into the patient""s intervertebral space.
In preferred aspects of the invention, the elongated member comprises a cord, string, tether or suture which is used to hold together the plurality of intervertebral implants such that together they form an implant assembly which is positioned between two adjacent vertebrae.
In preferred aspects, each of the intervertebral implants have ends which are angled such that when the implants are pulled or pushed together, they will tend to form a generally C-shaped assembly, which may easily be positioned between two vertebral endplates around the curved perimeter of the patient""s intervertebral space.
As will be explained, another advantage of the present system is that the degree of curvature exhibited by the C-shaped implant assembly can itself be selected by selecting implants which are dimensioned with their ends being disposed at preferred angles.
Another important advantage of the present system is that it can be deployed through a narrow operating cannula. As such, the present system advantageously permits the placement of a load supporting implant assembly over a large area between two of the patient""s vertebrae, but without requiring that a large diameter access portal pass through the patient and into the patient""s intervertebral space.
Therefore, the present system is ideally suited to be introduced into a patient in a minimally invasive surgical procedure, with minimal disturbance to the soft musculature and ligament tissue structures in the spinal region. In contrast, the placement of existing intervertebral implant systems typically compromises such tissues.
Another important advantage of the present system is that it provides an assembly (comprising a plurality of intervertebral implants) which can easily be positioned around the curved perimeter of the patient""s intervertebral surface, such that the assembly is positioned on the denser portion of the vertebral endplates (i.e.: the perimeter) to provide enhanced support between the two adjacent vertebrae.
In an optional preferred aspect, at least some of the plurality of individual intervertebral implants have top and bottom surfaces which are angled to one another such that the plurality of intervertebral implants form an assembly which tapers in a lordotic angle when the implants are abutted together end-to-end. Therefore, another advantage of the present system is that the overall implant assembly can preferably be shaped to provide a proper lordotic angle between the adjacent vertebrae when positioned therebetween.
In various optional aspects of the invention, a positioning rod can be used to position each of the separate implants. In one aspect, the separate implants are pushed tightly together, such that they form a C-shaped assembly.
In additional aspects, the elongated member passing through each of the implants can be withdrawn or tightened such that the individual implants are tightened together to abut tightly against one another end-to-end.
As will be explained, an operating cannula(e) and a surgical guideframe for positioning the operating cannula(e) may also preferably by used.
Other advantages of the present system include reduction both in the amount of vertebral distraction and tissue dissection required, thereby decreasing surgical time, complexity and trauma to the patient. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
t m(o) = -9*o**3 - 2*o**2. Let p(w) = 69*w - 347. Let i be p(5). Let y(f) = -91*f**3 - 21*f**2. Determine i*y(b) + 21*m(b).
-7*b**3
Let y(m) = m**2 + 2*m + 22. Let o(q) = -q - 3. What is 14*o(r) + 2*y(r)?
2*r**2 - 10*r + 2
Let w(c) = -7*c**3 + 5*c**2 - 45*c + 30. Let z(j) = j**3 - j**2 - 5. What is -w(f) - 6*z(f)?
f**3 + f**2 + 45*f
Let h(o) = -5*o. Let j(x) = 3*x - 4. Let b be j(2). Let r(d) = 2 + d**2 - b + 3*d + d. What is -2*h(l) - 3*r(l)?
-3*l**2 - 2*l
Suppose 2*o = 10, 5*l + 0*l + 4*o = 35. Let f(h) = -5*h + 2 + l - 5. Let w(a) be the first derivative of 8*a**2 - 1. Calculate -10*f(k) - 3*w(k).
2*k
Let o(u) = -3*u + 1. Let x(y) = y**3 - y**2 - 6*y + 2. Let z(p) = -2*o(p) + x(p). Let m(f) = -f**3 + 5*f**2 + 1. Calculate m(t) + 4*z(t).
3*t**3 + t**2 + 1
Let t(s) be the first derivative of -s**3/3 - 5*s**2/2 - 5*s + 62. Let x(c) = -3*c**2 - 18*c - 18. Give 18*t(b) - 5*x(b).
-3*b**2
Let x(w) = -2*w**3 + w**2. Let u(a) = -11. Let l(k) = -4. Let n(h) = -3*l(h) + u(h). Calculate -2*n(c) - x(c).
2*c**3 - c**2 - 2
Let y(d) = 6*d**3 - 4*d**2 - 4*d + 4. Let g(x) = 7*x**3 - 5*x**2 - 5*x + 5. Let m(n) = 4*n**2 + 61*n + 20. Let j be m(-15). Give j*y(w) - 4*g(w).
2*w**3
Suppose 52*c + 114 = 33*c. Let j(g) = 259*g**2 + 77*g + 77. Let k(i) = 20*i**2 + 6*i + 6. Determine c*j(o) + 77*k(o).
-14*o**2
Suppose -12*j = -7*j - 265. Let i(z) = 30 - z - j + 24. Let s(a) = -a**2 + a + 1. Give i(h) - s(h).
h**2 - 2*h
Let c(n) = 3*n - 2. Suppose -3*w = -7*w - 36. Let a(h) = 76*h - 40. Let u(g) = -15*g + 8. Let f(y) = -2*a(y) - 11*u(y). Calculate w*c(j) + 2*f(j).
-j + 2
Suppose 13 = -2*o - 13. Let m = o + 12. Let l(x) = 3*x**3 - x**2 + x + 1. Let y(s) = -s**3 + s**2 - s - 1. What is m*y(n) - l(n)?
-2*n**3
Let i(y) = 2*y. Let c(k) = 2*k**2 + 9*k + 27. Give c(h) - 4*i(h).
2*h**2 + h + 27
Let m(a) = -127687*a + 1221. Let y(n) = 629*n - 6. Give -2*m(i) - 407*y(i).
-629*i
Let i be -1 - (-5 + (5 - 3)). Let s(l) = -2*l + 2*l + 4*l - l**2 + 5*l**3 + i + 2. Let x(u) = -u**3 - u - 1. Let j = -1 + 2. Calculate j*s(o) + 4*x(o).
o**3 - o**2
Suppose -p + 2 = -2*p. Let f(v) = -6 + v - 2*v**2 + 5*v - 6*v. Let n(t) = t**2 + 3. Give p*f(k) - 5*n(k).
-k**2 - 3
Let m(i) = 460*i**3 - 575*i + 575. Let u(t) = -t**3 + t - 1. Calculate -m(o) - 575*u(o).
115*o**3
Let n(q) = -3*q**2 - q + 10. Suppose 31*w + 107 + 110 = 0. Let o(d) = 2*d**2 + d - 7. Calculate w*o(y) - 5*n(y).
y**2 - 2*y - 1
Let f(w) = -2*w**2 + 5. Let u(a) = a**2 - 1. Suppose -4*z = p + 14, -2*p - 11 + 7 = 2*z. Let n be 2*-5*(p - 6/4). What is n*u(b) - f(b)?
-3*b**2
Let b(y) = -2*y - 4. Let k = -11 - -6. Let w(r) = -3*r - 7. Let t be (30/(-35))/((-2)/7)*1. Give k*b(s) + t*w(s).
s - 1
Let r(q) = -31*q - 2. Let k(u) = -6*u. Calculate -4*k(a) + r(a).
-7*a - 2
Let x(s) = -s**3 - 2*s + 1. Let q(p) = -2*p - 4. Let h be q(-3). Let v(m) = 2*m + 0*m**3 - 6 + 0*m**2 + 5*m**3 - 2*m + 11*m - m**2. Calculate h*v(t) + 11*x(t).
-t**3 - 2*t**2 - 1
Let w(d) = -d**3 - 2*d**2 + 28*d - 2. Let b(k) = 3*k**3 + 7*k**2 - 86*k + 7. What is -6*b(x) - 21*w(x)?
3*x**3 - 72*x
Let m(t) = 2*t**2 + 2*t + 2. Let h be (-12)/(-2)*3/9. Let b(l) = l**2 + 16*l. Let q(i) = -3*i**2 + 11*i - 5. Let a(f) = b(f) - q(f). Calculate h*a(v) - 5*m(v).
-2*v**2
Let d(h) = -h - 1. Let p(j) = 0*j - 3*j - 10 + 7*j + 23 - 15. Calculate -2*d(t) + p(t).
6*t
Let b(u) = u**2 - u. Let c(t) = t**3 - 9*t**2 + 9*t - 1. Let s = -1467 + 1465. Give s*c(k) - 18*b(k).
-2*k**3 + 2
Let o(v) = -4 + 0 - 3*v**2 + 4. Let m(s) = -6*s**2. Let g be 4*7/((-21)/(-12)). Let w = 7 - g. Give w*o(l) + 4*m(l).
3*l**2
Suppose 3*s - 7*s + 40 = 0. Let n(w) = -s*w + 6 + 3*w + 5*w. Let c(x) = -1. What is 4*c(d) + n(d)?
-2*d + 2
Let n(a) = -7*a**3 + 9*a - 35. Let o(c) = 6*c**3 - 7*c + 36. Give 3*n(t) + 4*o(t).
3*t**3 - t + 39
Let v(q) = 13*q - 5. Let c be -31 - (72/56 - 4/14). Let p(y) = 84*y - 32. Determine c*v(i) + 5*p(i).
4*i
Let s(m) be the third derivative of m**6/40 - m**4/8 - m**3/3 + 74*m**2. Let c(n) = 4*n**3 + n**2 - 4*n - 3. Determine 2*c(y) - 3*s(y).
-y**3 + 2*y**2 + y
Let l(o) = 236*o**3 - 14*o**2 - 14*o - 14. Let z(u) = -79*u**3 + 5*u**2 + 5*u + 5. Determine -5*l(g) - 14*z(g).
-74*g**3
Let q(g) = -54*g - 4. Let v(z) = -164*z - 13. Calculate 14*q(u) - 4*v(u).
-100*u - 4
Let q(y) = 105*y**3 + 3*y**2 - 3*y + 4. Let f(w) = -w**3 + w**2 - w + 2. Give 3*f(z) - q(z).
-108*z**3 + 2
Let o(j) = -79*j**3 + 2*j**2 + 1. Let m(x) = -237*x**3 + 7*x**2 + 3. What is 2*m(l) - 7*o(l)?
79*l**3 - 1
Let z(o) = 32*o - 65. Let g be z(2). Let n(d) = 6*d**3 + 9*d. Let k(r) = -2*r - 1. Let y be k(4). Let t(m) = -m**3 - m. What is g*n(a) + y*t(a)?
3*a**3
Let u(p) = p**2 - 2*p**2 + 6*p**2 - 4*p**2 + 5*p - 6. Let i(n) = n**2 + 4*n - 5. What is -4*i(d) + 3*u(d)?
-d**2 - d + 2
Let q(z) = -172*z - 2. Let b(v) = -85*v. Give 5*b(p) - 2*q(p).
-81*p + 4
Let w(c) = -2*c**2 + c - 5. Suppose 5*s + 9 = h + s, 3*s = 3*h. Let q(j) = 2*j**2 - j + 4. Calculate h*q(g) - 2*w(g).
-2*g**2 + g - 2
Let f = 838 + -839. Let c(v) = v**2 - v + 1. Let r(p) = 3*p**2 - 7*p + 3. Calculate f*r(s) + 5*c(s).
2*s**2 + 2*s + 2
Let q(y) be the second derivative of -y**4/3 + y**3/3 - y**2/2 - 5*y + 28. Let v(t) = -4*t**2 + t - 1. Give 2*q(o) - 3*v(o).
4*o**2 + o + 1
Let k(v) = 3*v - 8*v + 2*v + v**3 + 3. Let c(x) = -x**3 - x**2 + 7*x - 7. Let b(h) = -h**3 + h**2. Let o(n) = b(n) + c(n). What is 5*k(l) + 2*o(l)?
l**3 - l + 1
Let s be 108 + 0 - (17 + -14). Suppose -a + s = 4*a. Let f(i) = 36*i - 21. Let x(j) = -7*j + 4. Give a*x(w) + 4*f(w).
-3*w
Let a(p) = 1. Let u(c) = -2*c**2 - 3*c + 3. Let t be (5/15*-3)/1. Suppose -f = k - 4, 5*f + 0*k = k + 20. Determine f*a(v) + t*u(v).
2*v**2 + 3*v + 1
Let k(t) = 7*t**3 + 15*t**2 + 5*t + 117. Let d(w) = -3*w**3 - 6*w**2 - 2*w - 59. Give 5*d(x) + 2*k(x).
-x**3 - 61
Let w = -640 + 629. Let z(q) = -4*q**2 + 1. Let h(g) = -9*g**2 + 2. Determine w*z(j) + 6*h(j).
-10*j**2 + 1
Let y(g) = -9*g - 5. Let v be (-25)/(-5) + (-5 + 15 - 13). Let f(t) = -4*t - 3. Determine v*y(c) - 5*f(c).
2*c + 5
Let m be (-1)/((-2)/(-22))*1. Let t = 6 + m. Let l = -11 + 18. Let f(k) = 4*k**2 - 9*k + 5. Let v(z) = 6*z**2 - 13*z + 7. Give l*f(o) + t*v(o).
-2*o**2 + 2*o
Let n(m) = 6*m**2 - 3*m - 6. Let d(h) = -23*h**2 + 2*h + 11. Let b(o) = 22*o**2 - 3*o - 12. Let l(i) = 6*b(i) + 5*d(i). Determine 3*l(x) - 8*n(x).
3*x**2 - 3
Let s(i) = -26*i - 16. Let z(a) = 8*a + 5. Determine -2*s(j) - 7*z(j).
-4*j - 3
Let o(y) = -5*y**2 - 41*y. Let d(h) = -14*h**2 - 122*h. Give -4*d(p) + 11*o(p).
p**2 + 37*p
Let q(a) = -11*a**3 + 11*a - 8. Let t(d) = -10*d**3 + 10*d - 7. Calculate -6*q(l) + 7*t(l).
-4*l**3 + 4*l - 1
Let p(q) = 2*q**3 - q + 9. Let b(g) = -2*g**3 + g**2 + g - 8. Calculate -4*b(m) - 3*p(m).
2*m**3 - 4*m**2 - m + 5
Let m(i) be the second derivative of -3*i**5/20 + 11*i**4/12 - 3*i**2 + 2*i - 201. Let u(s) = -s**3 + 4*s**2 - 2. What is 6*m(k) - 17*u(k)?
-k**3 - 2*k**2 - 2
Let q(j) = 2*j + 1. Suppose -4*o + 3*o - w - 3 = 0, -3*w - 7 = 4*o. Suppose o = 5*m - 18. Let l = -8 + m. Let h(k) = 2*k + 1. Give l*q(t) + 5*h(t).
2*t + 1
Let i(q) = 3*q**2 + q + 2. Let x(s) = -s - 1. Let m be (-4)/((-24)/2)*(6 + 3). Suppose -2 = m*a + 4. Calculate a*x(l) - i(l).
-3*l**2 + l
Let k be (2 - (3 + 2))*1. Let q(n) = 0*n**3 + 34*n - 4*n**3 - 2*n**3 - 41*n - 5 - 5*n**3. Let i(t) = 6*t**3 + 4*t + 3. Calculate k*q(d) - 5*i(d).
3*d**3 + d
Let q(z) = 120*z - 14. Let l(w) = -121*w + 11. Calculate -5*l(d) - 4*q(d).
125*d + 1
Let g(k) be the third derivative of -4*k**5/15 + k**4/6 - 2*k**3/3 - 581*k**2. Let v(x) = -x**2 + x - 1. What is -g(r) + 4*v(r)?
12*r**2
Let o(k) = -54*k - 65. Let z be o(-1). Let b(i) = -5*i - 2. Let g be (2/(-3))/((-2)/(-6)). Let f(r) = -r**2 + 26*r + 11. Determine g*f(l) + z*b(l).
2*l**2 + 3*l
Let v(s) = s - 1. Let q(m) = -45*m + 16. Let p(a) = -20*a + 8. Let f(g) = -7*p(g) + 3*q(g). Determine f(t) - 3*v(t).
2*t - 5
Let g(a) = 3*a**2. Let h(c) = 6*c**2. Let n(v) = 5*v - 45. Let b be n(6). Give b*g(u) + 6*h(u).
-9*u**2
Let q(m) = 198*m**3 + 5*m**2. Let i(u) = -57616*u**3 - 1456*u**2. Calculate 5*i(y) + 1456*q(y).
208*y**3
Let j(v) = -3 - 21*v - 29*v + 53*v. Let b(c) = -8*c + 8. What is -4*b(q) - 11*j(q)?
-q + 1
Let h(c) = -29*c + 1. Suppose 5*v + 5*b - 104 = 3*b, -4*v + 3*b = -97. Let y(n) = 6*n + 3*n - v*n + 6*n. Determine -2*h(o) + 9*y(o).
-5*o - 2
Let s be 114 | {
"pile_set_name": "DM Mathematics"
} |
Combined endovascular and open repair of a penetrating innominate artery and tracheal injury.
Endovascular therapy affords the opportunity to decrease surgical morbidity and improve operative planning in complex penetrating injuries of the chest. In this case report we describe a hemodynamically stable patient with a single gunshot wound to the base of the neck (zone I), with combined vascular and tracheal injuries. We present a novel approach to the repair of this type of injury using combined endovascular and open techniques. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
} |
Spokoyny (settlement)
Spokoyny () is a rural locality (a settlement) in Krasnooktyabrskoye Rural Settlement of Maykopsky District, Russia. The population was 44 as of 2018. There is 1 street.
References
Category:Rural localities in Adygea | {
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
} |
Atraumatic restorative treatment with resin-modified glass ionomer material: short-term results of a pilot study.
The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of the resin-modified glass ionomer (RMGI) material in atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) approach and compare RMGI with the high-strength traditional glass ionomer cement (GIC) in permanent teeth with one or more surface-carious cavities. This study was conducted in a village school in rural southeastern Anatolia, Turkey. The RMGI and GIC restorations with the ART technique were placed randomly employing a split mouth design. In addition, the ART approach was used when necessary for both primary and/or permanent teeth with no pulpal involvement and no perceived pain before treatment. Ninety-one fillings were placed on contralateral molar pairs of 37 children. Baseline and 6-month evaluation of the fillings were made with the classic ART, modified Ryge and USPHS criteria. Based on the ART criteria, 100% of RMGI and 92.4% of GIC restorations were classified as successful after 6 months, and the difference between the 2 groups was statistically significant (p=0.009). While marginal discoloration was the commonest failure in the RMGI group according to both the modified Ryge and USPHS criteria, unsatisfactory surface texture and low anatomic form were the commonly seen failures in the ART technique. Generally, for each rating system, RMGI exhibited better clinical performance than GIC in all categories, except for marginal discoloration. Results based on the 6-month evaluation show that RMGI can be an alternative material to the GIC. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
} |
The present invention generally relates to an automated delivery of physical mail packages, and more specifically, to a method, system and computer program product for automatically delivering and collecting physical mail to a first secure mailbox using unmanned aerial vehicles.
Mail package delivery and reception may be complicated for those outside their homes due to work or travel. In general, a recipient of physical mail may be required to be physically present to receive mail packages. Additionally, delivery services may indicate a time span during which they may deliver the physical package instead of a fixed time and date. As a consequence, recipients may need to waste valuable time waiting for the package to be delivered.
Attempts have been made to deliver packages by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones. However, the drones may deliver the mail packages at a specified location without any control that the package was delivered to the right person. In addition, the service may not solve the problem of sending packages in a safe manner, since they may be generally brought to a regular post office for distribution. Moreover, some drone systems may allow package delivery only to a central station where the delivery to the correct mailbox is managed using a simple barcode. This, may not allow sending and receiving packages via drones to people not served by the central station. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Q:
How do I get the pcap lib on Ubuntu?
I have a programming assignment where I need to use the pcap lib.
#define _BSD_SOURCE
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <pcap.h> // <-- missing include
#include <netinet/ip.h>
#include <netinet/tcp.h>
void logpacket( unsigned char* payload, struct ip* ipheader, struct tcphdr* tcpheader )
{
//...
}
int main(int argc, char* argv[] )
{
//...
}
How can I get the library files I need to compile this program?
A:
For Ubuntu 12.04, 12.10, 13.10, 14.04 and onward open the terminal and type:
sudo apt-get install libpcap0.8-dev
| {
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
} |
Gene flow vs. pollution pressure: genetic diversity of Mytilus galloprovincialis in eastern Adriatic.
Environmental pollution may modify all the evolutionary processes involved in shaping the genetic patterns of exposed populations. In order to evaluate the pollution impact on the genetic diversity of Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis ten populations inhabiting differently polluted sites along the eastern Adriatic coast, from pristine bays to heavily trafficked harbours, were studied. Pollution pressure was assessed through an integrated study of biological effects and responses across different levels of biological organization. Eight microsatellite markers were analysed to assess genetic diversity of investigated populations. Both the principal component analysis (PCA) of the biomarker data set as well as the biomarker response index (BRI) confirmed substantial pollution pressure at the highly polluted sites, and very low pollution exposure at the three reference sites. Very shallow genetic differentiation was found in respect to maritime distances or pollution status, and this was attributed to a high gene flow among the populations. However, populations inhabiting polluted sites exhibited higher levels of genetic diversity and evolutionary mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are discussed. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
} |
PBR wood material collection for 3D CG artists and designers
Whether it’s furniture design, architecture or an abstract scene, these PBR materials will move your renders to the next level. It doesn’t matter how big your object is. We made sure the wood materials will always look good and photorealistic. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Our Social Places
Newsletter
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DescriptionThe genuine leather strap is soft and breathable to wear, suitable for any occasion. Its crystal glass watch mirror is solid and scratch-resistant. It's 30m water-resistant, but not for swimming, diving or showering. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
/*
* Copyright 2019-2020 Hans-Kristian Arntzen
*
* 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.
*/
#ifndef SPIRV_CROSS_C_API_H
#define SPIRV_CROSS_C_API_H
#include <stddef.h>
#include "spirv.h"
/*
* C89-compatible wrapper for SPIRV-Cross' API.
* Documentation here is sparse unless the behavior does not map 1:1 with C++ API.
* It is recommended to look at the canonical C++ API for more detailed information.
*/
#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif
/* Bumped if ABI or API breaks backwards compatibility. */
#define SPVC_C_API_VERSION_MAJOR 0
/* Bumped if APIs or enumerations are added in a backwards compatible way. */
#define SPVC_C_API_VERSION_MINOR 30
/* Bumped if internal implementation details change. */
#define SPVC_C_API_VERSION_PATCH 0
#if !defined(SPVC_PUBLIC_API)
#if defined(SPVC_EXPORT_SYMBOLS)
/* Exports symbols. Standard C calling convention is used. */
#if defined(__GNUC__)
#define SPVC_PUBLIC_API __attribute__((visibility("default")))
#elif defined(_MSC_VER)
#define SPVC_PUBLIC_API __declspec(dllexport)
#else
#define SPVC_PUBLIC_API
#endif
#else
#define SPVC_PUBLIC_API
#endif
#endif
/*
* Gets the SPVC_C_API_VERSION_* used to build this library.
* Can be used to check for ABI mismatch if so-versioning did not catch it.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_get_version(unsigned *major, unsigned *minor, unsigned *patch);
/* Gets a human readable version string to identify which commit a particular binary was created from. */
SPVC_PUBLIC_API const char *spvc_get_commit_revision_and_timestamp(void);
/* These types are opaque to the user. */
typedef struct spvc_context_s *spvc_context;
typedef struct spvc_parsed_ir_s *spvc_parsed_ir;
typedef struct spvc_compiler_s *spvc_compiler;
typedef struct spvc_compiler_options_s *spvc_compiler_options;
typedef struct spvc_resources_s *spvc_resources;
struct spvc_type_s;
typedef const struct spvc_type_s *spvc_type;
typedef struct spvc_constant_s *spvc_constant;
struct spvc_set_s;
typedef const struct spvc_set_s *spvc_set;
/*
* Shallow typedefs. All SPIR-V IDs are plain 32-bit numbers, but this helps communicate which data is used.
* Maps to a SPIRType.
*/
typedef SpvId spvc_type_id;
/* Maps to a SPIRVariable. */
typedef SpvId spvc_variable_id;
/* Maps to a SPIRConstant. */
typedef SpvId spvc_constant_id;
/* See C++ API. */
typedef struct spvc_reflected_resource
{
spvc_variable_id id;
spvc_type_id base_type_id;
spvc_type_id type_id;
const char *name;
} spvc_reflected_resource;
/* See C++ API. */
typedef struct spvc_entry_point
{
SpvExecutionModel execution_model;
const char *name;
} spvc_entry_point;
/* See C++ API. */
typedef struct spvc_combined_image_sampler
{
spvc_variable_id combined_id;
spvc_variable_id image_id;
spvc_variable_id sampler_id;
} spvc_combined_image_sampler;
/* See C++ API. */
typedef struct spvc_specialization_constant
{
spvc_constant_id id;
unsigned constant_id;
} spvc_specialization_constant;
/* See C++ API. */
typedef struct spvc_buffer_range
{
unsigned index;
size_t offset;
size_t range;
} spvc_buffer_range;
/* See C++ API. */
typedef struct spvc_hlsl_root_constants
{
unsigned start;
unsigned end;
unsigned binding;
unsigned space;
} spvc_hlsl_root_constants;
/* See C++ API. */
typedef struct spvc_hlsl_vertex_attribute_remap
{
unsigned location;
const char *semantic;
} spvc_hlsl_vertex_attribute_remap;
/*
* Be compatible with non-C99 compilers, which do not have stdbool.
* Only recent MSVC compilers supports this for example, and ideally SPIRV-Cross should be linkable
* from a wide range of compilers in its C wrapper.
*/
typedef unsigned char spvc_bool;
#define SPVC_TRUE ((spvc_bool)1)
#define SPVC_FALSE ((spvc_bool)0)
typedef enum spvc_result
{
/* Success. */
SPVC_SUCCESS = 0,
/* The SPIR-V is invalid. Should have been caught by validation ideally. */
SPVC_ERROR_INVALID_SPIRV = -1,
/* The SPIR-V might be valid or invalid, but SPIRV-Cross currently cannot correctly translate this to your target language. */
SPVC_ERROR_UNSUPPORTED_SPIRV = -2,
/* If for some reason we hit this, new or malloc failed. */
SPVC_ERROR_OUT_OF_MEMORY = -3,
/* Invalid API argument. */
SPVC_ERROR_INVALID_ARGUMENT = -4,
SPVC_ERROR_INT_MAX = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_result;
typedef enum spvc_capture_mode
{
/* The Parsed IR payload will be copied, and the handle can be reused to create other compiler instances. */
SPVC_CAPTURE_MODE_COPY = 0,
/*
* The payload will now be owned by the compiler.
* parsed_ir should now be considered a dead blob and must not be used further.
* This is optimal for performance and should be the go-to option.
*/
SPVC_CAPTURE_MODE_TAKE_OWNERSHIP = 1,
SPVC_CAPTURE_MODE_INT_MAX = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_capture_mode;
typedef enum spvc_backend
{
/* This backend can only perform reflection, no compiler options are supported. Maps to spirv_cross::Compiler. */
SPVC_BACKEND_NONE = 0,
SPVC_BACKEND_GLSL = 1, /* spirv_cross::CompilerGLSL */
SPVC_BACKEND_HLSL = 2, /* CompilerHLSL */
SPVC_BACKEND_MSL = 3, /* CompilerMSL */
SPVC_BACKEND_CPP = 4, /* CompilerCPP */
SPVC_BACKEND_JSON = 5, /* CompilerReflection w/ JSON backend */
SPVC_BACKEND_INT_MAX = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_backend;
/* Maps to C++ API. */
typedef enum spvc_resource_type
{
SPVC_RESOURCE_TYPE_UNKNOWN = 0,
SPVC_RESOURCE_TYPE_UNIFORM_BUFFER = 1,
SPVC_RESOURCE_TYPE_STORAGE_BUFFER = 2,
SPVC_RESOURCE_TYPE_STAGE_INPUT = 3,
SPVC_RESOURCE_TYPE_STAGE_OUTPUT = 4,
SPVC_RESOURCE_TYPE_SUBPASS_INPUT = 5,
SPVC_RESOURCE_TYPE_STORAGE_IMAGE = 6,
SPVC_RESOURCE_TYPE_SAMPLED_IMAGE = 7,
SPVC_RESOURCE_TYPE_ATOMIC_COUNTER = 8,
SPVC_RESOURCE_TYPE_PUSH_CONSTANT = 9,
SPVC_RESOURCE_TYPE_SEPARATE_IMAGE = 10,
SPVC_RESOURCE_TYPE_SEPARATE_SAMPLERS = 11,
SPVC_RESOURCE_TYPE_ACCELERATION_STRUCTURE = 12,
SPVC_RESOURCE_TYPE_INT_MAX = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_resource_type;
/* Maps to spirv_cross::SPIRType::BaseType. */
typedef enum spvc_basetype
{
SPVC_BASETYPE_UNKNOWN = 0,
SPVC_BASETYPE_VOID = 1,
SPVC_BASETYPE_BOOLEAN = 2,
SPVC_BASETYPE_INT8 = 3,
SPVC_BASETYPE_UINT8 = 4,
SPVC_BASETYPE_INT16 = 5,
SPVC_BASETYPE_UINT16 = 6,
SPVC_BASETYPE_INT32 = 7,
SPVC_BASETYPE_UINT32 = 8,
SPVC_BASETYPE_INT64 = 9,
SPVC_BASETYPE_UINT64 = 10,
SPVC_BASETYPE_ATOMIC_COUNTER = 11,
SPVC_BASETYPE_FP16 = 12,
SPVC_BASETYPE_FP32 = 13,
SPVC_BASETYPE_FP64 = 14,
SPVC_BASETYPE_STRUCT = 15,
SPVC_BASETYPE_IMAGE = 16,
SPVC_BASETYPE_SAMPLED_IMAGE = 17,
SPVC_BASETYPE_SAMPLER = 18,
SPVC_BASETYPE_ACCELERATION_STRUCTURE = 19,
SPVC_BASETYPE_INT_MAX = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_basetype;
#define SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_COMMON_BIT 0x1000000
#define SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_BIT 0x2000000
#define SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_HLSL_BIT 0x4000000
#define SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT 0x8000000
#define SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_LANG_BITS 0x0f000000
#define SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_ENUM_BITS 0xffffff
#define SPVC_MAKE_MSL_VERSION(major, minor, patch) ((major) * 10000 + (minor) * 100 + (patch))
/* Maps to C++ API. */
typedef enum spvc_msl_platform
{
SPVC_MSL_PLATFORM_IOS = 0,
SPVC_MSL_PLATFORM_MACOS = 1,
SPVC_MSL_PLATFORM_MAX_INT = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_msl_platform;
/* Maps to C++ API. */
typedef enum spvc_msl_vertex_format
{
SPVC_MSL_VERTEX_FORMAT_OTHER = 0,
SPVC_MSL_VERTEX_FORMAT_UINT8 = 1,
SPVC_MSL_VERTEX_FORMAT_UINT16 = 2
} spvc_msl_vertex_format;
/* Maps to C++ API. */
typedef struct spvc_msl_vertex_attribute
{
unsigned location;
unsigned msl_buffer;
unsigned msl_offset;
unsigned msl_stride;
spvc_bool per_instance;
spvc_msl_vertex_format format;
SpvBuiltIn builtin;
} spvc_msl_vertex_attribute;
/*
* Initializes the vertex attribute struct.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_msl_vertex_attribute_init(spvc_msl_vertex_attribute *attr);
/* Maps to C++ API. */
typedef struct spvc_msl_resource_binding
{
SpvExecutionModel stage;
unsigned desc_set;
unsigned binding;
unsigned msl_buffer;
unsigned msl_texture;
unsigned msl_sampler;
} spvc_msl_resource_binding;
/*
* Initializes the resource binding struct.
* The defaults are non-zero.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_msl_resource_binding_init(spvc_msl_resource_binding *binding);
#define SPVC_MSL_PUSH_CONSTANT_DESC_SET (~(0u))
#define SPVC_MSL_PUSH_CONSTANT_BINDING (0)
#define SPVC_MSL_SWIZZLE_BUFFER_BINDING (~(1u))
#define SPVC_MSL_BUFFER_SIZE_BUFFER_BINDING (~(2u))
#define SPVC_MSL_ARGUMENT_BUFFER_BINDING (~(3u))
/* Obsolete. Sticks around for backwards compatibility. */
#define SPVC_MSL_AUX_BUFFER_STRUCT_VERSION 1
/* Runtime check for incompatibility. Obsolete. */
SPVC_PUBLIC_API unsigned spvc_msl_get_aux_buffer_struct_version(void);
/* Maps to C++ API. */
typedef enum spvc_msl_sampler_coord
{
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_COORD_NORMALIZED = 0,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_COORD_PIXEL = 1,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_INT_MAX = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_msl_sampler_coord;
/* Maps to C++ API. */
typedef enum spvc_msl_sampler_filter
{
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_FILTER_NEAREST = 0,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_FILTER_LINEAR = 1,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_FILTER_INT_MAX = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_msl_sampler_filter;
/* Maps to C++ API. */
typedef enum spvc_msl_sampler_mip_filter
{
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_MIP_FILTER_NONE = 0,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_MIP_FILTER_NEAREST = 1,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_MIP_FILTER_LINEAR = 2,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_MIP_FILTER_INT_MAX = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_msl_sampler_mip_filter;
/* Maps to C++ API. */
typedef enum spvc_msl_sampler_address
{
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_ADDRESS_CLAMP_TO_ZERO = 0,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_ADDRESS_CLAMP_TO_EDGE = 1,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_ADDRESS_CLAMP_TO_BORDER = 2,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_ADDRESS_REPEAT = 3,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_ADDRESS_MIRRORED_REPEAT = 4,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_ADDRESS_INT_MAX = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_msl_sampler_address;
/* Maps to C++ API. */
typedef enum spvc_msl_sampler_compare_func
{
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_COMPARE_FUNC_NEVER = 0,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_COMPARE_FUNC_LESS = 1,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_COMPARE_FUNC_LESS_EQUAL = 2,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_COMPARE_FUNC_GREATER = 3,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_COMPARE_FUNC_GREATER_EQUAL = 4,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_COMPARE_FUNC_EQUAL = 5,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_COMPARE_FUNC_NOT_EQUAL = 6,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_COMPARE_FUNC_ALWAYS = 7,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_COMPARE_FUNC_INT_MAX = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_msl_sampler_compare_func;
/* Maps to C++ API. */
typedef enum spvc_msl_sampler_border_color
{
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_BORDER_COLOR_TRANSPARENT_BLACK = 0,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_BORDER_COLOR_OPAQUE_BLACK = 1,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_BORDER_COLOR_OPAQUE_WHITE = 2,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_BORDER_COLOR_INT_MAX = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_msl_sampler_border_color;
/* Maps to C++ API. */
typedef enum spvc_msl_format_resolution
{
SPVC_MSL_FORMAT_RESOLUTION_444 = 0,
SPVC_MSL_FORMAT_RESOLUTION_422,
SPVC_MSL_FORMAT_RESOLUTION_420,
SPVC_MSL_FORMAT_RESOLUTION_INT_MAX = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_msl_format_resolution;
/* Maps to C++ API. */
typedef enum spvc_msl_chroma_location
{
SPVC_MSL_CHROMA_LOCATION_COSITED_EVEN = 0,
SPVC_MSL_CHROMA_LOCATION_MIDPOINT,
SPVC_MSL_CHROMA_LOCATION_INT_MAX = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_msl_chroma_location;
/* Maps to C++ API. */
typedef enum spvc_msl_component_swizzle
{
SPVC_MSL_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_IDENTITY = 0,
SPVC_MSL_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_ZERO,
SPVC_MSL_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_ONE,
SPVC_MSL_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_R,
SPVC_MSL_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_G,
SPVC_MSL_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_B,
SPVC_MSL_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_A,
SPVC_MSL_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_INT_MAX = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_msl_component_swizzle;
/* Maps to C++ API. */
typedef enum spvc_msl_sampler_ycbcr_model_conversion
{
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_YCBCR_MODEL_CONVERSION_RGB_IDENTITY = 0,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_YCBCR_MODEL_CONVERSION_YCBCR_IDENTITY,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_YCBCR_MODEL_CONVERSION_YCBCR_BT_709,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_YCBCR_MODEL_CONVERSION_YCBCR_BT_601,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_YCBCR_MODEL_CONVERSION_YCBCR_BT_2020,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_YCBCR_MODEL_CONVERSION_INT_MAX = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_msl_sampler_ycbcr_model_conversion;
/* Maps to C+ API. */
typedef enum spvc_msl_sampler_ycbcr_range
{
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_YCBCR_RANGE_ITU_FULL = 0,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_YCBCR_RANGE_ITU_NARROW,
SPVC_MSL_SAMPLER_YCBCR_RANGE_INT_MAX = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_msl_sampler_ycbcr_range;
/* Maps to C++ API. */
typedef struct spvc_msl_constexpr_sampler
{
spvc_msl_sampler_coord coord;
spvc_msl_sampler_filter min_filter;
spvc_msl_sampler_filter mag_filter;
spvc_msl_sampler_mip_filter mip_filter;
spvc_msl_sampler_address s_address;
spvc_msl_sampler_address t_address;
spvc_msl_sampler_address r_address;
spvc_msl_sampler_compare_func compare_func;
spvc_msl_sampler_border_color border_color;
float lod_clamp_min;
float lod_clamp_max;
int max_anisotropy;
spvc_bool compare_enable;
spvc_bool lod_clamp_enable;
spvc_bool anisotropy_enable;
} spvc_msl_constexpr_sampler;
/*
* Initializes the constexpr sampler struct.
* The defaults are non-zero.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_msl_constexpr_sampler_init(spvc_msl_constexpr_sampler *sampler);
/* Maps to the sampler Y'CbCr conversion-related portions of MSLConstexprSampler. See C++ API for defaults and details. */
typedef struct spvc_msl_sampler_ycbcr_conversion
{
unsigned planes;
spvc_msl_format_resolution resolution;
spvc_msl_sampler_filter chroma_filter;
spvc_msl_chroma_location x_chroma_offset;
spvc_msl_chroma_location y_chroma_offset;
spvc_msl_component_swizzle swizzle[4];
spvc_msl_sampler_ycbcr_model_conversion ycbcr_model;
spvc_msl_sampler_ycbcr_range ycbcr_range;
unsigned bpc;
} spvc_msl_sampler_ycbcr_conversion;
/*
* Initializes the constexpr sampler struct.
* The defaults are non-zero.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_msl_sampler_ycbcr_conversion_init(spvc_msl_sampler_ycbcr_conversion *conv);
/* Maps to C++ API. */
typedef enum spvc_hlsl_binding_flag_bits
{
SPVC_HLSL_BINDING_AUTO_NONE_BIT = 0,
SPVC_HLSL_BINDING_AUTO_PUSH_CONSTANT_BIT = 1 << 0,
SPVC_HLSL_BINDING_AUTO_CBV_BIT = 1 << 1,
SPVC_HLSL_BINDING_AUTO_SRV_BIT = 1 << 2,
SPVC_HLSL_BINDING_AUTO_UAV_BIT = 1 << 3,
SPVC_HLSL_BINDING_AUTO_SAMPLER_BIT = 1 << 4,
SPVC_HLSL_BINDING_AUTO_ALL = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_hlsl_binding_flag_bits;
typedef unsigned spvc_hlsl_binding_flags;
#define SPVC_HLSL_PUSH_CONSTANT_DESC_SET (~(0u))
#define SPVC_HLSL_PUSH_CONSTANT_BINDING (0)
/* Maps to C++ API. */
typedef struct spvc_hlsl_resource_binding_mapping
{
unsigned register_space;
unsigned register_binding;
} spvc_hlsl_resource_binding_mapping;
typedef struct spvc_hlsl_resource_binding
{
SpvExecutionModel stage;
unsigned desc_set;
unsigned binding;
spvc_hlsl_resource_binding_mapping cbv, uav, srv, sampler;
} spvc_hlsl_resource_binding;
/*
* Initializes the resource binding struct.
* The defaults are non-zero.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_hlsl_resource_binding_init(spvc_hlsl_resource_binding *binding);
/* Maps to the various spirv_cross::Compiler*::Option structures. See C++ API for defaults and details. */
typedef enum spvc_compiler_option
{
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_UNKNOWN = 0,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_FORCE_TEMPORARY = 1 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_COMMON_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_FLATTEN_MULTIDIMENSIONAL_ARRAYS = 2 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_COMMON_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_FIXUP_DEPTH_CONVENTION = 3 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_COMMON_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_FLIP_VERTEX_Y = 4 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_COMMON_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_SUPPORT_NONZERO_BASE_INSTANCE = 5 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_SEPARATE_SHADER_OBJECTS = 6 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_ENABLE_420PACK_EXTENSION = 7 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_VERSION = 8 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_ES = 9 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_VULKAN_SEMANTICS = 10 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_ES_DEFAULT_FLOAT_PRECISION_HIGHP = 11 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_ES_DEFAULT_INT_PRECISION_HIGHP = 12 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_HLSL_SHADER_MODEL = 13 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_HLSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_HLSL_POINT_SIZE_COMPAT = 14 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_HLSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_HLSL_POINT_COORD_COMPAT = 15 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_HLSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_HLSL_SUPPORT_NONZERO_BASE_VERTEX_BASE_INSTANCE = 16 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_HLSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_VERSION = 17 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_TEXEL_BUFFER_TEXTURE_WIDTH = 18 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
/* Obsolete, use SWIZZLE_BUFFER_INDEX instead. */
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_AUX_BUFFER_INDEX = 19 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_SWIZZLE_BUFFER_INDEX = 19 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_INDIRECT_PARAMS_BUFFER_INDEX = 20 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_SHADER_OUTPUT_BUFFER_INDEX = 21 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_SHADER_PATCH_OUTPUT_BUFFER_INDEX = 22 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_SHADER_TESS_FACTOR_OUTPUT_BUFFER_INDEX = 23 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_SHADER_INPUT_WORKGROUP_INDEX = 24 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_ENABLE_POINT_SIZE_BUILTIN = 25 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_DISABLE_RASTERIZATION = 26 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_CAPTURE_OUTPUT_TO_BUFFER = 27 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_SWIZZLE_TEXTURE_SAMPLES = 28 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_PAD_FRAGMENT_OUTPUT_COMPONENTS = 29 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_TESS_DOMAIN_ORIGIN_LOWER_LEFT = 30 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_PLATFORM = 31 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_ARGUMENT_BUFFERS = 32 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_EMIT_PUSH_CONSTANT_AS_UNIFORM_BUFFER = 33 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_TEXTURE_BUFFER_NATIVE = 34 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_EMIT_UNIFORM_BUFFER_AS_PLAIN_UNIFORMS = 35 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_GLSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BUFFER_SIZE_BUFFER_INDEX = 36 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_EMIT_LINE_DIRECTIVES = 37 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_COMMON_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_MULTIVIEW = 38 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_VIEW_MASK_BUFFER_INDEX = 39 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_DEVICE_INDEX = 40 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_VIEW_INDEX_FROM_DEVICE_INDEX = 41 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_DISPATCH_BASE = 42 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_DYNAMIC_OFFSETS_BUFFER_INDEX = 43 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_TEXTURE_1D_AS_2D = 44 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_ENABLE_BASE_INDEX_ZERO = 45 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_IOS_FRAMEBUFFER_FETCH_SUBPASS = 46 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_INVARIANT_FP_MATH = 47 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_EMULATE_CUBEMAP_ARRAY = 48 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_ENABLE_DECORATION_BINDING = 49 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_FORCE_ACTIVE_ARGUMENT_BUFFER_RESOURCES = 50 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_FORCE_NATIVE_ARRAYS = 51 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_MSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_ENABLE_STORAGE_IMAGE_QUALIFIER_DEDUCTION = 52 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_COMMON_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_HLSL_FORCE_STORAGE_BUFFER_AS_UAV = 53 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_HLSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_FORCE_ZERO_INITIALIZED_VARIABLES = 54 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_COMMON_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_HLSL_NONWRITABLE_UAV_TEXTURE_AS_SRV = 55 | SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_HLSL_BIT,
SPVC_COMPILER_OPTION_INT_MAX = 0x7fffffff
} spvc_compiler_option;
/*
* Context is the highest-level API construct.
* The context owns all memory allocations made by its child object hierarchy, including various non-opaque structs and strings.
* This means that the API user only has to care about one "destroy" call ever when using the C API.
* All pointers handed out by the APIs are only valid as long as the context
* is alive and spvc_context_release_allocations has not been called.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_context_create(spvc_context *context);
/* Frees all memory allocations and objects associated with the context and its child objects. */
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_context_destroy(spvc_context context);
/* Frees all memory allocations and objects associated with the context and its child objects, but keeps the context alive. */
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_context_release_allocations(spvc_context context);
/* Get the string for the last error which was logged. */
SPVC_PUBLIC_API const char *spvc_context_get_last_error_string(spvc_context context);
/* Get notified in a callback when an error triggers. Useful for debugging. */
typedef void (*spvc_error_callback)(void *userdata, const char *error);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_context_set_error_callback(spvc_context context, spvc_error_callback cb, void *userdata);
/* SPIR-V parsing interface. Maps to Parser which then creates a ParsedIR, and that IR is extracted into the handle. */
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_context_parse_spirv(spvc_context context, const SpvId *spirv, size_t word_count,
spvc_parsed_ir *parsed_ir);
/*
* Create a compiler backend. Capture mode controls if we construct by copy or move semantics.
* It is always recommended to use SPVC_CAPTURE_MODE_TAKE_OWNERSHIP if you only intend to cross-compile the IR once.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_context_create_compiler(spvc_context context, spvc_backend backend,
spvc_parsed_ir parsed_ir, spvc_capture_mode mode,
spvc_compiler *compiler);
/* Maps directly to C++ API. */
SPVC_PUBLIC_API unsigned spvc_compiler_get_current_id_bound(spvc_compiler compiler);
/* Create compiler options, which will initialize defaults. */
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_create_compiler_options(spvc_compiler compiler,
spvc_compiler_options *options);
/* Override options. Will return error if e.g. MSL options are used for the HLSL backend, etc. */
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_options_set_bool(spvc_compiler_options options,
spvc_compiler_option option, spvc_bool value);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_options_set_uint(spvc_compiler_options options,
spvc_compiler_option option, unsigned value);
/* Set compiler options. */
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_install_compiler_options(spvc_compiler compiler,
spvc_compiler_options options);
/* Compile IR into a string. *source is owned by the context, and caller must not free it themselves. */
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_compile(spvc_compiler compiler, const char **source);
/* Maps to C++ API. */
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_add_header_line(spvc_compiler compiler, const char *line);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_require_extension(spvc_compiler compiler, const char *ext);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_flatten_buffer_block(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_variable_id id);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_compiler_variable_is_depth_or_compare(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_variable_id id);
/*
* HLSL specifics.
* Maps to C++ API.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_hlsl_set_root_constants_layout(spvc_compiler compiler,
const spvc_hlsl_root_constants *constant_info,
size_t count);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_hlsl_add_vertex_attribute_remap(spvc_compiler compiler,
const spvc_hlsl_vertex_attribute_remap *remap,
size_t remaps);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_variable_id spvc_compiler_hlsl_remap_num_workgroups_builtin(spvc_compiler compiler);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_hlsl_set_resource_binding_flags(spvc_compiler compiler,
spvc_hlsl_binding_flags flags);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_hlsl_add_resource_binding(spvc_compiler compiler,
const spvc_hlsl_resource_binding *binding);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_compiler_hlsl_is_resource_used(spvc_compiler compiler,
SpvExecutionModel model,
unsigned set,
unsigned binding);
/*
* MSL specifics.
* Maps to C++ API.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_compiler_msl_is_rasterization_disabled(spvc_compiler compiler);
/* Obsolete. Renamed to needs_swizzle_buffer. */
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_compiler_msl_needs_aux_buffer(spvc_compiler compiler);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_compiler_msl_needs_swizzle_buffer(spvc_compiler compiler);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_compiler_msl_needs_buffer_size_buffer(spvc_compiler compiler);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_compiler_msl_needs_output_buffer(spvc_compiler compiler);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_compiler_msl_needs_patch_output_buffer(spvc_compiler compiler);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_compiler_msl_needs_input_threadgroup_mem(spvc_compiler compiler);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_msl_add_vertex_attribute(spvc_compiler compiler,
const spvc_msl_vertex_attribute *attrs);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_msl_add_resource_binding(spvc_compiler compiler,
const spvc_msl_resource_binding *binding);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_msl_add_discrete_descriptor_set(spvc_compiler compiler, unsigned desc_set);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_msl_set_argument_buffer_device_address_space(spvc_compiler compiler, unsigned desc_set, spvc_bool device_address);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_compiler_msl_is_vertex_attribute_used(spvc_compiler compiler, unsigned location);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_compiler_msl_is_resource_used(spvc_compiler compiler,
SpvExecutionModel model,
unsigned set,
unsigned binding);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_msl_remap_constexpr_sampler(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_variable_id id, const spvc_msl_constexpr_sampler *sampler);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_msl_remap_constexpr_sampler_by_binding(spvc_compiler compiler, unsigned desc_set, unsigned binding, const spvc_msl_constexpr_sampler *sampler);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_msl_remap_constexpr_sampler_ycbcr(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_variable_id id, const spvc_msl_constexpr_sampler *sampler, const spvc_msl_sampler_ycbcr_conversion *conv);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_msl_remap_constexpr_sampler_by_binding_ycbcr(spvc_compiler compiler, unsigned desc_set, unsigned binding, const spvc_msl_constexpr_sampler *sampler, const spvc_msl_sampler_ycbcr_conversion *conv);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_msl_set_fragment_output_components(spvc_compiler compiler, unsigned location, unsigned components);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API unsigned spvc_compiler_msl_get_automatic_resource_binding(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_variable_id id);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API unsigned spvc_compiler_msl_get_automatic_resource_binding_secondary(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_variable_id id);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_msl_add_dynamic_buffer(spvc_compiler compiler, unsigned desc_set, unsigned binding, unsigned index);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_msl_add_inline_uniform_block(spvc_compiler compiler, unsigned desc_set, unsigned binding);
/*
* Reflect resources.
* Maps almost 1:1 to C++ API.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_get_active_interface_variables(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_set *set);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_set_enabled_interface_variables(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_set set);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_create_shader_resources(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_resources *resources);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_create_shader_resources_for_active_variables(spvc_compiler compiler,
spvc_resources *resources,
spvc_set active);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_resources_get_resource_list_for_type(spvc_resources resources, spvc_resource_type type,
const spvc_reflected_resource **resource_list,
size_t *resource_size);
/*
* Decorations.
* Maps to C++ API.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_compiler_set_decoration(spvc_compiler compiler, SpvId id, SpvDecoration decoration,
unsigned argument);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_compiler_set_decoration_string(spvc_compiler compiler, SpvId id, SpvDecoration decoration,
const char *argument);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_compiler_set_name(spvc_compiler compiler, SpvId id, const char *argument);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_compiler_set_member_decoration(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_type_id id, unsigned member_index,
SpvDecoration decoration, unsigned argument);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_compiler_set_member_decoration_string(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_type_id id,
unsigned member_index, SpvDecoration decoration,
const char *argument);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_compiler_set_member_name(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_type_id id, unsigned member_index,
const char *argument);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_compiler_unset_decoration(spvc_compiler compiler, SpvId id, SpvDecoration decoration);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_compiler_unset_member_decoration(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_type_id id,
unsigned member_index, SpvDecoration decoration);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_compiler_has_decoration(spvc_compiler compiler, SpvId id, SpvDecoration decoration);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_compiler_has_member_decoration(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_type_id id,
unsigned member_index, SpvDecoration decoration);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API const char *spvc_compiler_get_name(spvc_compiler compiler, SpvId id);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API unsigned spvc_compiler_get_decoration(spvc_compiler compiler, SpvId id, SpvDecoration decoration);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API const char *spvc_compiler_get_decoration_string(spvc_compiler compiler, SpvId id,
SpvDecoration decoration);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API unsigned spvc_compiler_get_member_decoration(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_type_id id,
unsigned member_index, SpvDecoration decoration);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API const char *spvc_compiler_get_member_decoration_string(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_type_id id,
unsigned member_index, SpvDecoration decoration);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API const char *spvc_compiler_get_member_name(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_type_id id, unsigned member_index);
/*
* Entry points.
* Maps to C++ API.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_get_entry_points(spvc_compiler compiler,
const spvc_entry_point **entry_points,
size_t *num_entry_points);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_set_entry_point(spvc_compiler compiler, const char *name,
SpvExecutionModel model);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_rename_entry_point(spvc_compiler compiler, const char *old_name,
const char *new_name, SpvExecutionModel model);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API const char *spvc_compiler_get_cleansed_entry_point_name(spvc_compiler compiler, const char *name,
SpvExecutionModel model);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_compiler_set_execution_mode(spvc_compiler compiler, SpvExecutionMode mode);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_compiler_unset_execution_mode(spvc_compiler compiler, SpvExecutionMode mode);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_compiler_set_execution_mode_with_arguments(spvc_compiler compiler, SpvExecutionMode mode,
unsigned arg0, unsigned arg1, unsigned arg2);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_get_execution_modes(spvc_compiler compiler, const SpvExecutionMode **modes,
size_t *num_modes);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API unsigned spvc_compiler_get_execution_mode_argument(spvc_compiler compiler, SpvExecutionMode mode);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API unsigned spvc_compiler_get_execution_mode_argument_by_index(spvc_compiler compiler,
SpvExecutionMode mode, unsigned index);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API SpvExecutionModel spvc_compiler_get_execution_model(spvc_compiler compiler);
/*
* Type query interface.
* Maps to C++ API, except it's read-only.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_type spvc_compiler_get_type_handle(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_type_id id);
/* Pulls out SPIRType::self. This effectively gives the type ID without array or pointer qualifiers.
* This is necessary when reflecting decoration/name information on members of a struct,
* which are placed in the base type, not the qualified type.
* This is similar to spvc_reflected_resource::base_type_id. */
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_type_id spvc_type_get_base_type_id(spvc_type type);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_basetype spvc_type_get_basetype(spvc_type type);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API unsigned spvc_type_get_bit_width(spvc_type type);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API unsigned spvc_type_get_vector_size(spvc_type type);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API unsigned spvc_type_get_columns(spvc_type type);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API unsigned spvc_type_get_num_array_dimensions(spvc_type type);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_type_array_dimension_is_literal(spvc_type type, unsigned dimension);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API SpvId spvc_type_get_array_dimension(spvc_type type, unsigned dimension);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API unsigned spvc_type_get_num_member_types(spvc_type type);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_type_id spvc_type_get_member_type(spvc_type type, unsigned index);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API SpvStorageClass spvc_type_get_storage_class(spvc_type type);
/* Image type query. */
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_type_id spvc_type_get_image_sampled_type(spvc_type type);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API SpvDim spvc_type_get_image_dimension(spvc_type type);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_type_get_image_is_depth(spvc_type type);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_type_get_image_arrayed(spvc_type type);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_type_get_image_multisampled(spvc_type type);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_type_get_image_is_storage(spvc_type type);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API SpvImageFormat spvc_type_get_image_storage_format(spvc_type type);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API SpvAccessQualifier spvc_type_get_image_access_qualifier(spvc_type type);
/*
* Buffer layout query.
* Maps to C++ API.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_get_declared_struct_size(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_type struct_type, size_t *size);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_get_declared_struct_size_runtime_array(spvc_compiler compiler,
spvc_type struct_type, size_t array_size, size_t *size);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_get_declared_struct_member_size(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_type type, unsigned index, size_t *size);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_type_struct_member_offset(spvc_compiler compiler,
spvc_type type, unsigned index, unsigned *offset);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_type_struct_member_array_stride(spvc_compiler compiler,
spvc_type type, unsigned index, unsigned *stride);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_type_struct_member_matrix_stride(spvc_compiler compiler,
spvc_type type, unsigned index, unsigned *stride);
/*
* Workaround helper functions.
* Maps to C++ API.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_build_dummy_sampler_for_combined_images(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_variable_id *id);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_build_combined_image_samplers(spvc_compiler compiler);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_get_combined_image_samplers(spvc_compiler compiler,
const spvc_combined_image_sampler **samplers,
size_t *num_samplers);
/*
* Constants
* Maps to C++ API.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_get_specialization_constants(spvc_compiler compiler,
const spvc_specialization_constant **constants,
size_t *num_constants);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_constant spvc_compiler_get_constant_handle(spvc_compiler compiler,
spvc_constant_id id);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_constant_id spvc_compiler_get_work_group_size_specialization_constants(spvc_compiler compiler,
spvc_specialization_constant *x,
spvc_specialization_constant *y,
spvc_specialization_constant *z);
/*
* Buffer ranges
* Maps to C++ API.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_get_active_buffer_ranges(spvc_compiler compiler,
spvc_variable_id id,
const spvc_buffer_range **ranges,
size_t *num_ranges);
/*
* No stdint.h until C99, sigh :(
* For smaller types, the result is sign or zero-extended as appropriate.
* Maps to C++ API.
* TODO: The SPIRConstant query interface and modification interface is not quite complete.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API float spvc_constant_get_scalar_fp16(spvc_constant constant, unsigned column, unsigned row);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API float spvc_constant_get_scalar_fp32(spvc_constant constant, unsigned column, unsigned row);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API double spvc_constant_get_scalar_fp64(spvc_constant constant, unsigned column, unsigned row);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API unsigned spvc_constant_get_scalar_u32(spvc_constant constant, unsigned column, unsigned row);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API int spvc_constant_get_scalar_i32(spvc_constant constant, unsigned column, unsigned row);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API unsigned spvc_constant_get_scalar_u16(spvc_constant constant, unsigned column, unsigned row);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API int spvc_constant_get_scalar_i16(spvc_constant constant, unsigned column, unsigned row);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API unsigned spvc_constant_get_scalar_u8(spvc_constant constant, unsigned column, unsigned row);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API int spvc_constant_get_scalar_i8(spvc_constant constant, unsigned column, unsigned row);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API void spvc_constant_get_subconstants(spvc_constant constant, const spvc_constant_id **constituents, size_t *count);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_type_id spvc_constant_get_type(spvc_constant constant);
/*
* Misc reflection
* Maps to C++ API.
*/
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_compiler_get_binary_offset_for_decoration(spvc_compiler compiler,
spvc_variable_id id,
SpvDecoration decoration,
unsigned *word_offset);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_compiler_buffer_is_hlsl_counter_buffer(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_variable_id id);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_bool spvc_compiler_buffer_get_hlsl_counter_buffer(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_variable_id id,
spvc_variable_id *counter_id);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_get_declared_capabilities(spvc_compiler compiler,
const SpvCapability **capabilities,
size_t *num_capabilities);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_get_declared_extensions(spvc_compiler compiler, const char ***extensions,
size_t *num_extensions);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API const char *spvc_compiler_get_remapped_declared_block_name(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_variable_id id);
SPVC_PUBLIC_API spvc_result spvc_compiler_get_buffer_block_decorations(spvc_compiler compiler, spvc_variable_id id,
const SpvDecoration **decorations,
size_t *num_decorations);
#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif
#endif
| {
"pile_set_name": "Github"
} |
Q:
yii afterfind pass array to view
Inside my Model i have this code, this is partial code
protected function afterFind ()
{
$car= Car::model()->findAll("car_id = '{$this->model_id}'");
foreach($car as $cars) {
$val['car_name'][] = $cars->car_name;
$val['car_value'][] = $cars->car_value;
}
$this->car_arr = $val;
parent::afterFind();
}
How do i pass array to view? When i do something like this, there was an error output by YII saying
htmlspecialchars() expects parameter 1 to be string, array given
A:
Yii afterfind() method is overrided to Postprocess AR attributes.
From the docs:
This method is invoked after each record is instantiated by a find
method. The default implementation raises the onAfterFind event. You
may override this method to do postprocessing after each newly found
record is instantiated. Make sure you call the parent implementation
so that the event is raised properly.
So it usually works like:
protected function afterFind()
{
$this->attribute_a = customize($this->attribute_a); //return customized attribute_a
$this->attribute_b = customize($this->attribute_b); //return customized attribute_b
....
parent::afterFind(); //To raise the event
}
I am not sure what are you trying to do? but may be you want to automate some task (populating some array) after each find !!
In that case you can define a public array in your model:
$public car_arr = array();
Then populate it in your afterFind() and it will be accessible in the View.
| {
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
} |
---
abstract: 'Multiplicity distributions of charged particles for pp collisions at LHC Run 1 energies, from $\sqrt{s}=$ 0.9 to 8 TeV are measured over a wide pseudorapidity range ($-3.4<\eta<5.0$) for the first time. The results are obtained using the Forward Multiplicity Detector and the Silicon Pixel Detector within ALICE. The results are compared to Monte Carlo simulations, and to the IP-Glasma model.'
address: 'Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark'
author:
- 'Valentina Zaccolo, on behalf of the ALICE Collaboration'
bibliography:
- 'biblio\_QM.bib'
title: 'Charged-Particle Multiplicity Distributions over a Wide Pseudorapidity Range in Proton-Proton Collisions with ALICE'
---
charged-particle multiplicity distributions ,pp collisions ,saturation models ,forward rapidity
Introduction {#Intro}
============
The multiplicity distribution of charged particles ($ N_{\text{ch}}$) produced in high energy pp collisions, $\text{P}(N_{\text{ch}})$, is sensitive to the number of collisions between quarks and gluons contained in the colliding protons and, in general, to the mechanisms underlying particle production. In particular, $\text{P}(N_{\text{ch}})$ is a good probe for the saturation density of the gluon distribution in the colliding hadrons. The pp charged-particle multiplicity distributions are measured for five gradually larger pseudorapidity ranges. The full description of the ALICE detector is given in [@Aamodt:2008zz]. In this analysis, only three subdetectors are used, namely, the V0 detector [@Abbas:2013taa], the Silicon Pixel Detector (SPD) [@Aamodt:2008zz] and the Forward Multiplicity Detector (FMD) [@Christensen:2007yc] to achieve the maximum possible pseudorapidity coverage ($-3.4<\eta<5.0$).
Analysis Procedure {#Analysis}
==================
Three different collision energies (0.9, 7, and 8 TeV) are analyzed here. Pile-up events produce artificially large multiplicities that enhance the tail of the multiplicity distribution, therefore, special care was taken to avoid runs with high pile up. For the measurements presented here, the pile-up probability is of $\sim2\%$. The fast timing of the V0 and SPD are used to select events in which an interaction occurred and events are divided into two trigger classes. The first class includes all inelastic events (INEL) which is the same condition as used to select events where an interaction occurred (this is called the MB$_{\text{OR}}$ trigger condition). The second class of events requires a particle to be detected in both the V0A and the V0C (MB$_{\text{AND}}$ trigger condition). This class is called the Non-Single-Diffractive (NSD) event class, where the majority of Single-Diffractive events are removed.
The FMD has nearly 100$\%$ azimuthal acceptance, but the SPD has significant dead regions that must be accounted for. On the other hand, interactions in detector material will increase the detected number of charged particles and have to be taken into account. The main ingredients necessary to evaluate the primary multiplicity distributions are the raw (detected) multiplicity distributions and a matrix, which converts the raw distribution to the true primary one. The raw multiplicity distributions are determined by counting the number of clusters in the SPD acceptance, the number of energy loss signals in the FMD [@Abbas:2013bpa], or the average between the two if the acceptance of the SPD and FMD overlap. The response of the detector is determined by the matrix $R_{\text{mt}}$ which, when normalized, is the probability that an event with true multiplicity t and measured multiplicity m occurs. This matrix is obtained using Monte Carlo simulations, in this case the PYTHIA ATLAS-CSC flat tune [@d'Enterria:2011kw], where the generated particles are propagated through the detector simulation code (in this case GEANT [@Brun:1994aa]) and then through the same reconstruction steps as the actual data. The response matrix is obtained from an iterative application of Bayes’ unfolding [@2010arXiv1010.0632D].
[0.39]{} ![Charged-particle multiplicity distributions for NSD pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=0.9$ and 8 TeV. The lines show fits to the data using double NBDs (eq. \[eq2\]). Ratios of the data to the fits are also shown.[]{data-label="V0AND900"}](2015-Sep-21-results_0_1.pdf "fig:"){width="\textwidth"}
[0.39]{} ![Charged-particle multiplicity distributions for NSD pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=0.9$ and 8 TeV. The lines show fits to the data using double NBDs (eq. \[eq2\]). Ratios of the data to the fits are also shown.[]{data-label="V0AND900"}](2015-Sep-21-results_2_1.pdf "fig:"){width="\textwidth"}
The probability that an event is triggered, at all, depends on the multiplicity of produced charged particles. At low multiplicities large trigger inefficiencies exist and must be corrected for. The event selection efficiency, $\epsilon_{\text{TRIG}}$, is defined dividing the number of reconstructed events with the selected hardware trigger condition and with the reconstructed vertex less than 4 cm from the nominal IP by the same quantity but for the true interaction classification: $\epsilon_{\text{TRIG}}=N_{\text{ch,reco}}/N_{\text{ch,gen}}$. The unfolded distribution is corrected for the vertex and trigger inefficiency by dividing each multiplicity bin by its $\epsilon_{\text{TRIG}}$ value. Diffraction was implemented using the Kaidalov-Poghosyan model [@Kaidalov:2009aw] to tune the cross sections for diffractive processes (the measured diffraction cross–sections at LHC and the shapes of the diffractive masses $M_{\text{X}}$ are implemented in the Monte-Carlo models used for the $\epsilon_{\text{TRIG}}$ computation).
Results {#Results}
=======
The multiplicity distributions have been measured for the two event classes (INEL and NSD) for pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 0.9, 7, and 8 TeV. Fits to the sum of two Negative Binomial Distributions (NBDs) have been performed here and are plotted together with the results in Figs. \[V0AND900\] and \[V0AND7000\]. The distributions have been fitted using the function $$\label{eq2}
\text{P}(n)=\lambda[\alpha \text{P}_{NBD}(n,\langle n\rangle_{\text{1}},k_{\text{1}})+(1-\alpha)\text{P}_{NBD}(n,\langle n\rangle_{\text{2}},k_{\text{2}})]$$ To account for NBDs not describing the 0–bin and the first bins for the wider rapidities (and therefore removing that bin from the fit), a normalization factor $\lambda$ is introduced. The $\alpha$ parameter reveals the fraction of soft events. It is lower for higher energies and for wider pseudorapidity ranges, where the percentage of semi–hard events included is higher: $\alpha\backsim65\%$ for $\vert\eta\vert<2.0$ at $\sqrt{s}=$ 0.9 TeV and $\alpha\backsim35\%$ for $-3.4<\eta<5.0$ at 7 and 8 TeV. $\langle n\rangle_{\text{1}}$ is the average multiplicity of the soft (first) component, while $\langle n\rangle_{\text{2}}$ is the average for the semi–hard (second) component. The parameters $k_{\text{1,2}}$ represent the shape of the two components of the distribution.
In Fig. \[V0AND900\], the obtained multiplicity distributions for 0.9 TeV and 8 TeV for the NSD event class are shown for five pseudorapidity ranges, $\vert\eta\vert<2.0$, $\vert\eta\vert<2.4$, $\vert\eta\vert<3.0$, $\vert\eta\vert<3.4$ and $-3.4<\eta<5.0$. The distributions are multiplied by factors of 10 to allow all distributions to fit in the same figure without overlapping. Figure \[V0AND7000\] shows the results for the INEL event classes for collisions at 7 TeV (left plot). Comparisons with distributions obtained with the PYTHIA 6 Perugia 0 tune [@Skands:2010ak], PYTHIA 8 Monash tune [@Sjostrand:2014zea], PHOJET [@Bopp:1998rc] and EPOS LHC [@Pierog:2013ria] Monte Carlo generators are shown for INEL events at 7 TeV (right plot) . Both PHOJET and the PYTHIA 6 strongly underestimate the multiplicity distributions. PYTHIA 8 reproduces well the tails for the wider pseudorapidity range, but shows an enhancement in the peak region. EPOS with the LHC tune models well the distributions, both in the first bins, which are dominated by diffractive events, and in the tails.
[0.39]{} ![Left: charged-particle multiplicity distributions for INEL pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV. The lines show fits to the data using double NBDs (eq. \[eq2\]). Ratios of the data to the fits are also shown. Right: comparison of multiplicity distributions for INEL events to PYTHIA 6 Perugia 0, PYTHIA 8 Monash, PHOJET and EPOS LHC at 7 TeV.[]{data-label="V0AND7000"}](2015-Sep-21-results_1_0.pdf "fig:"){width="\textwidth"}
[0.39]{} ![Left: charged-particle multiplicity distributions for INEL pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV. The lines show fits to the data using double NBDs (eq. \[eq2\]). Ratios of the data to the fits are also shown. Right: comparison of multiplicity distributions for INEL events to PYTHIA 6 Perugia 0, PYTHIA 8 Monash, PHOJET and EPOS LHC at 7 TeV.[]{data-label="V0AND7000"}](2015-Sep-21-MCresults_1_0.pdf "fig:"){width="\textwidth"}
The multiplicity distributions are compared to those from the IP–Glasma model [@Schenke:2013dpa]. This model is based on the Color Glass Condensate (CGC) [@Iancu:2003xm]. It has been shown that NBDs are generated within the CGC framework [@Gelis:2009wh; @McLerran:2008es]. In Fig. \[IPGlasmaMineNSD7000\], the distribution for $\vert\eta\vert<2.0$ is shown together with the IP–Glasma model distributions as a function of the KNO variable $N_{\text{ch}}/\langle N_{\text{ch}}\rangle$. The IP–Glasma distribution shown in green is generated with a fixed ratio between $Q_{s}$ (gluon saturation scale) and density of color charge. This introduces no fluctuations. The blue distribution, instead, is generated with fluctuations of the color charge density around the mean following a Gaussian distribution with width $\sigma=0.09$. The black distributions includes an additional source of fluctuations, dominantly of non-perturbative origin, from stochastic splitting of dipoles that is not accounted for in the conventional frameworks of CGC [@McLerran:2015qxa]. In this model, the evolution of color charges in the rapidity direction still needs to be implemented and, therefore, in the present model the low multiplicity bins are not reproduced for the wide pseudorapidity range presented here.
![Charged-particle multiplicity distributions for pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV compared to distributions from the IP–Glasma model with the ratio between $Q_{s}$ and the color charge density either fixed (green), allowed to fluctuate with a Gaussian (blue) [@Schenke:2013dpa] or with additional fluctuations of proton saturation scale (black) [@McLerran:2015qxa].[]{data-label="IPGlasmaMineNSD7000"}](2015-Sep-21-comparison.pdf){width="79.00000%"}
Conclusions {#Conclusions}
===========
Data from the Silicon Pixel Detector (SPD) and the Forward Multiplicity Detector (FMD) in ALICE were used to access a uniquely wide pseudorapidity coverage at the LHC of more the eight $\eta$ units, from $-3.4<\eta<5.0$. The charged-particle multiplicity distributions were presented for two event classes, INEL and NSD, and extend the pseudorapidity coverage of the earliest results published by ALICE [@Adam:2015gka] and CMS [@Khachatryan:2010nk] around midrapidity, and, consequently, the high-multiplicity reach. PYTHIA 6 and PHOJET produce distributions which strongly underestimate the fraction of high multiplicity events. PYTHIA 8 underestimates slightly the tails of the distributions, while EPOS reproduces both the low and the high multiplicity events. The Color Glass Condensate based IP–Glasma models produce distributions which underestimate the fraction of high multiplicity events, but introducing fluctuations in the saturation momentum the high multiplicity events are better explained.
| {
"pile_set_name": "ArXiv"
} |
CASE REPORT {#S0001}
===========
A 68-year old woman presented with urge-incontinence, resistant to anticholinergic therapy. Urinalysis revealed a urinary tract infection caused by E. coli and cytology showed several neutrophils, but no malignant cells. Despite treatment with ciprofloxacin, the urge-incontinence persisted. Ultrasonography revealed right hydronephrosis and thickening of the bladder wall. In addition a cystoscopy was performed, displaying abnormal tissue at the level of the trigon and on both sides of the bladder wall. Transurethral biopsies were obtained revealing tumor cells of unknown primary origin. The immunohistochemical studies disclosed positivity for CK7, estrogen and progesterone receptors compatible with metastatic lobular carcinoma of the breast. In 1989 the patient had undergone a right radical mastectomy and adjuvant radiotherapy for a lobular breast carcinoma pT1N0M0. Analysis of the family history revealed that her mother had pancreatic cancer; her father esophageal cancer and her daughter a teratoma of the ovary. Genetic analysis for gene mutations, including BRCA1, was negative. Further staging using positron emission tomography (PET)-CT displayed local recurrence in the right breast and confirmed the unique metastatic location at the level of the trigon. Treatment with tamoxifen, 20 mg daily, was started with progressive improvement of the urge-incontinence within 5 months. A follow-up PET-scan showed decreased intensity of the breast lesion and trigon lesion. Nearly 10 months after diagnosis the patient is in clinical and partial radiological remission and the urge-incontinence has dissipated, while she has no overt toxicities from treatment with tamoxifen.
DISCUSSION {#S0002}
==========
The typical symptoms of urge-incontinence are frequent and urgent micturitions with incontinence. In most of the cases, no underlying cause is observed. However, when adequate behavioral attitude, pharmacological treatment and intense physiotherapy do not lead to improvement of urge-incontinence, an underlying disease should be ruled out. Primary bladder cancer should be excluded with a cystoscopy.
Metastasis in the bladder occurs in 2% of all malignant disease and only 2.4% of these bladder metastases arise from a primary breast carcinoma \[[@CIT0001]\]. Only a few cases of an isolated bladder metastasis of breast cancer have been reported \[[@CIT0002]--[@CIT0009]\].
Various therapeutic options have been employed in these cases. Isolated metastases of primary breast carcinoma to the bladder are mostly treated by systemic chemotherapy \[[@CIT0002], [@CIT0003], [@CIT0007], [@CIT0009]\]. In only two estrogen-receptor positive cases, successful hormonal treatment with tamoxifen has been reported. Soon et al. reported an 87-year old patient presenting with genuine stress incontinence as a first sign of breast cancer \[[@CIT0005]\]. Unlike in our case, family history for breast cancer was positive. Choudhary et al. describe a patient with mixed incontinence, 18 years after an infiltrating ductal breast carcinoma \[[@CIT0006]\]. In both cases, a cystoscopy with biopsy revealed a metastasis of the breast, positive for estrogen and progesterone receptors. Tamoxifen treatment resulted in improvement of the urinary symptoms. No estrogen-receptor negative cases treated with tamoxifen have been described.
In our case the patient suffered from a lobular subtype of breast cancer. Of the 19 cases with bladder metastases from breast cancer reviewed by Feldman et al. about one third had a lobular carcinoma subtype \[[@CIT0010]\]. The two cases previously described as successfully treated by tamoxifen presented one patient with a history of lobular subtype and another with a ductal subtype. This current third case report describes tamoxifen as a successful treatment of urge-incontinence, due to an isolated bladder metastasis. In the advent of an unknown cancer history or inconclusive malignant history, we propose to take a biopsy and to look for the presence of estrogen receptors as this offers an opportunity for a well-tolerated treatment that can produce long-term disease control and allows a conservative approach with regard to the local treatment. Zagha et al. promoted a more invasive approach \[[@CIT0004]\]. After discovering bladder metastasis of a primary breast cancer, they performed a partial cystectomy, followed by long-term treatment with fulvestrant.
CONCLUSION {#S0003}
==========
There is no standard therapy to the rare occurrence of isolated bladder metastasis from breast cancer. This current case report describes tamoxifen as a successful treatment of urge-incontinence due to an isolated bladder metastasis.
| {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Central"
} |
what we do?
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Increase Your Online Visibility with Our Professional SEO Services
Having a business website is not enough to compete for consumers. Your site, along with the products or services your business offers, should be easy to find on the web.That’s where Choice Exposure Marketing comes in. As a results-focused digital marketing agency, we offer professional SEO services that make your small business more visible in Google and other search engines. With our help, your business will rank well in search results.
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It’s time that you make your website work for you. You can rely on our team of SEO professionals to provide you with a customized SEO plan that helps you gain excellent visibility on the web. Email adeborja@choiceexposuremarketing.comto get a free SEO audit. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
The Population Growth Rate In India Essay
, Research Paper The Population Growth Rate in India For many years concern has been voiced over the seemingly unchecked rate of population growth in India, but the most recent indications are that some
, Research Paper
The Population Growth Rate in India
For many years concern has been voiced over the seemingly unchecked rate
of population growth in India, but the most recent indications are that some
success is being achieved in slowing the rate of population growth. The
progress which has been achieved to date is still only of a modest nature and
should not serve as premature cause for complacency. Moreover, a slowing of the
rate of population growth is not incompatible with a dangerous population
increase in a country like India which has so huge a population base to begin
with. Nevertheless, the most recent signs do offer some occasion for adopting a
certain degree of cautious optimism in regard to the problem.
One important factor which is responsible for viewing the future with
more optimism than may previously have been the case has been the increase in
the size of the middle class, a tendency which has been promoted by the current
tendency to ease restrictions on entrepreneurship and private investment. It is
a well-known fact that as persons become more prosperous and better educated
they begin to undertake measures designed to eliminate the size of their
families. (The obvious exception would be families like the Kennedys who
adhere to religious strictures against artificial birth control, but the major
Indian religions have traditionally lacked such strictures.) Ironically, the
state of Kerala which had long had a Communist-led government had for many years
represented a population planning model because of its implementation of
programs fostering education and the emancipation of women. The success of such
programs has indicated that even the poorer classes can be induced to think in
terms of population control and family planning through education, but increased
affluence correspondingly increases the pressure for the limitation of family
size, for parents who enjoy good life want to pass it on to their children under
circumstances where there will be enough to go around. In contrast, under
conditions of severe impoverishment there is not only likely to be lack of
knowledge of family planning or access to modes of birth control, but children
themselves are likely to be viewed as an asset. Or, perhaps one might more
accurately say with regard to India, sons are viewed as an asset. We will have
more to say later about the relationship between gender and population growth,
but here we may make the obvious point that if a family seeks sons it may also
have to bring into the world some “unwanted” daughters, thereby furthering the
trend towards large families. Under conditions of severe impoverishment,
attended as it has traditionally been by high childhood mortality rates, “it has
estimated for India that in order to have a 95 per cent probability of raising a
son to adulthood, the couple had to have at least six children.”
In general, direct efforts on the part of government to promote family
planning have had only limited success in India. In large part this has been
due to the factors which have traditionally operated in Indian culture and
society to promote large families, of which more will be said later. Here,
however, it might be noted that the most common family planning modes have
proven difficult to implement under Indian conditions. Where government efforts
are concerned, “for mass consumption only three methods are…advocated:
sterilization (vasectomy for fathers and tubectomy for mothers), IUDs and
condoms.” Sterilization has traditionally met with strong resistance among
uneducated sectors of the population who associate it with loss of virility or
feminimity, and, often being irrevocable, it has been a source of understandable
concern in a society where couples who may already have several children risk
losing some or all of them as a result of such factors as epidemics earthquakes
or floods. Resistance to sterilization has traditionally been strongest among
men, Chandrasekhar suggesting that the prevalence of tubectomies as opposed to | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Secondary Menu
Home »Vendors that grant vendor credit and report to the business credit bureaus
Vendors that grant vendor credit and report to the business credit bureaus
You will have the following information on each vendor: the services they provide, who they report to, the terms, the application form and contact information.
[one_half]
You will know which “starter vendors” are recommended for a new business and which vendors your business will need to approach later, after a business credit profile has been developed.
Below is a summary of the reporting vendors you have selected to apply with.
This summary also appears on your Dashboard. Remember, the goal here is to obtain at least 5 vendor credit lines that will report your Net payment history to the business credit agencies. Now it’s time to simply open accounts to place your first “orders” and then make your first payments at least 5 – 10 days early.
Begin With The Starter Vendors!
The vendor process needs to go in stages and the first stage should definitely be with the Starter Vendors. This includes any vendors you may have opened accounts with throughout Steps 1 and 2 as well. Just make sure you begin with at least three (3) Starter Vendors.
You’ll need to verify that your first payments for products or services with the Starter Vendors show up on your business credit reports before applying with any other vendors in Step 4.
This credit usage will eventually lead to strong business credit scores which, in turn, will allow you to open credit lines with almost any vendor who extends credit terms.
So with at least five (5) Net-Terms accounts as our goal, you may have to apply with seven (7) or eight (8) vendors to get the 5 to 6 reporting vendor tradelines you need.
[/one_half]
[one_half_last]
[box type=”shadow”]
7 Steps to Our Ultimate Business Credit Building System:
[learn_more caption=”Business Questioner and Evaluation:”]
What type of business credit funding will I receive for my business? Cash or vendor lines?
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"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Q:
About list sorting and delegates & lambda expressions Func stuff
List<bool> test = new List<bool>();
test.Sort(new Func<bool, bool, int>((b1, b2) => 1));
What Am I missing?
Error 2 Argument 1: cannot convert from 'System.Func' to 'System.Collections.Generic.IComparer'
Error 1 The best overloaded method match for 'System.Collections.Generic.List.Sort(System.Collections.Generic.IComparer)' has some invalid arguments
When I have
private int func(bool b1, bool b2)
{
return 1;
}
private void something()
{
List<bool> test = new List<bool>();
test.Sort(func);
}
it works fine. Are they not the same thing?
A:
Func is the wrong delegate type. You can use either of these:
test.Sort((b1, b2) => 1);
test.Sort(new Comparison<bool>((b1, b2) => 1));
| {
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
} |
The Uganda I/CDC strain of Plasmodium malariae in Aotus lemurinus griseimembra monkeys.
Two lines of the Uganda I/CDC strain of Plasmodium malariae were studied in splenectomized Aotus lemurinus griseimembra monkeys. A line initially adapted to these monkeys from an infected chimpanzee failed to produce high-level parasite counts or mosquito infection in 13 of this type of monkey during 16 linear passages. Another line, originally adapted from the chimpanzee to Aotus azarae boliviensis, after 7 linear passages in 3 different types of Aotus was then passaged to 14 splenectomized A. lemurinus griseimembra. Geometric mean maximum parasitemia in these monkeys was 18,400/mm3. Mosquito infections were readily obtained during the period just after the parasite count rose above 1,000/mm3. Anopheles freeborni, An. stephensi, An. dirus, and 2 strains of An. gambiae supported the development of the parasite to the presence of sporozoites in the salivary glands. Two attempts to transmit the strain to other splenectomized A. lemurinus griseimembra by sporozoite inoculation were unsuccessful. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
} |
Astir G-DDPO
Barograph of my first and longest flight of the day
I've attached my logger files below, just in case you're a data nerd like me.
Sutton Bank provides conditions for pilots of all persuasions; winter offers up more hill soaring and wave conditions, whilst in the summer season the thermals can start popping and providing the method of circling height gain that most people (I assume) typically associate with the sport of gliding.I first started learning to fly just as the 2016 season started and I didn't manage to get along to as many days as I perhaps could have, so consequently during the height of that season, I spent more time practising basic flying skills rather than advanced soaring techniques. As my personal flying ability was improving, the weather was descending into winter and so by the time I was ready to start learning these things the options to do so were far more limited. I have therefore spent the off-season working on the areas of my flying that conditions allowed, including some winching, ridge flying and the odd tricky approach into significant headwind; but no real thermal soaring. I had the ground brief, but that was almost a year ago.Having kept one eye on the developing weather conditions throughout the week (as I have become accustomed to doing), I decided that Saturday was going to be the most likely day to do some flying, which is better as it means I get to spend Sunday doing very little and catching up on sofa time and doing stuff around the house. When I go flying, I don't turn up to the airfield with a plan; I arrive with several plans in my head and depending on the availability of instructors, aircraft and conditions I choose the one that I think will help me get the most out of the day. The aim is always to inch ever closer to the Bronze Badge with cross country endorsement that will mean I can apply for my glider pilots licence and in turn, embark on adventures beyond the relative safety of Sutton base.The morning briefing, followed by a look at the flying list (and of course out of the window) suggested that I might have the opportunity to get back to flying single-seaters after a couple of weekends spent in the club K-21s practising winch launch failures and being thwarted by rain showers from taking my first solo launch on a wire. There was only one other contender for G-DDPO and they graciously offered to let me fly first.Once the launch point was set up and the fleet put on line, the two-seaters got going immediately. Each flight taking either a trial lesson or scout for a short air experience flight. I was looking for something longer and so I waited on the ground to see if the conditions would get going enough to allow the possibility of some extended flight times. At around 11:00am, it started to look promising and a couple of people suggested that it would be a good time to launch. The log indicated that flight times so far had all been sub 20 minutes, but since nobody had really been trying to stay up, that told me little. One recently landed instructor and student indicated that conditions might be starting to develop into something that was soarable.So with the Astir DI'd, and with the help of the scout party who were waiting for their aircraft to return, I pulled my aircraft onto the flight line, strapped myself in and went through my checks.Steve, today's duty instructor and the person who I happened to have done most of my winter flying with, wandered over as I was getting ready to go."There's not a big waiting list for this aircraft, just one other person, so take an hour or an hour and a half, and go and have fun!"I'm not sure what face I pulled in response to that. I nodded to confirm my understanding, but internally my brain was dying to say "Sure, but we both know I'll be back here in 20 minutes, right?"Everyone on the ground helped out as usual to start the launch. The tug plane eased forward to take up the slack, the wing-runner prepared to go, and presumably the signaller was ready too - but I can't see him or her from where I'm sitting. Stick on the backstop and left hand on the cable release, I got ready for the all-out.Take-off was as uneventful as could possibly be. On Runway 02, the glider eased off the ground just after it crossed the winch track, I held steady at around ten feet, shortly afterwards the tug plane became airborne and we started to ascend in the kind of tight formation that naturally results from being attached to each other by a steel cable.I had already decided to take two thousand feet from the tow, which is a shade under three thousand over the Vale, but the extra height doesn't count for anything other than good views since my eventual aim is to land back where I started. I was encouraged by the fact that I'd felt a couple of surges of rising air on the way up behind the tug. As the long needle approached the top of the altimeter for the second time, I pulled the release and turned away from the suddenly dangerous cable and tow plane that I was no longer attached to. I went up and to the left, and he went down and to the right as usual. Once separated and out of immediate danger, I trimmed out for around fifty knots so that I could get properly set up for flight.Right from the first few flights, we're well drilled with pre-launch checks - ABCD, CBSIFTCBE. We go through HASELL before a non standard manoeuvre such as spin or stall practice, and WULF before turning downwind to land. Nobody has taught a formal check for post release, so I've come up with my own mnemonic; "Shovel" (SHUVLL). Speed, Height, Undercarriage, Vario, Location and Lookout. Not putting the wheel up isn't unsafe (perhaps the opposite!) but it's definitely noise and drag that we can do without.Two thousand feet QFE, just east of Boltby and in the glide now. I had around ten to fifteen minutes before I would be sat on the ground again if I couldn't both find and then exploit a source of lift. First things first, I turned south and flew along the ridge line (just for practice) to ensure I was in comfortable range of the airfield should it have been needed. It was just at the 'point' near Gormire Lake where things started to get interesting.The sensation of being in a thermal is quite unique and not one that a person who keeps their feet firmly on the ground will ever experience. To think that this weather phenomenon is going on all of the time and most people never realise it suddenly feels quite strange. It now feels odd to me that in my almost forty years of being alive, I haven't felt anything like it before. You feel it through the seat of the aircraft - as light as they are, you can well imagine that lifting glider and pilot vertically upwards requires significant energy. You hear it too, gently gliding around is a peaceful experience but when you enter a vortex, the speed at which the air is moving vertically up (or down if you're less lucky) around you causes a loud 'whooshing' sound, it's a sound I have instantly come to love hearing as it means that something exciting is about to happen.Having already looked out in preparation and found myself to be alone in the area, I rolled the glider into a steep right hand turn at 11:17am and at a GPS altitude of 2,438 ft (Sutton Bank is 920 ft ASL) according to my log file. Three minutes later I found myself at 3,556 ft and needing to level out to avoid climbing into cloud. Perhaps more through luck than judgement, I seemed to almost hit the core, as the lift was fairly constant apart from during four my eight right turns, where it indicated zero climb (but zero descent). This was the first time that I'd identified my own potential thermal, hit it and succeeded - a few weeks ago, I had enjoyed some success by following other gliders and joining their climbs but this was more like it. With a gain of around 1,000 ft this was also my best solo climb to date and so having reached cloudbase, there was little to do but enjoy (and try to prolong) my descent to Earth for a bit.After losing 700 ft exploring the area, I climbed again, adding another 300 ft or so to my total, and then again, staying at between 2,800 and 3,400 ASL until around 11:35am when I decided to stretch my legs a bit and head out into the Vale of York, almost reaching Great Thirkleby before deciding it was prudent to turn back and ensure that a safe landing in the right place was on - I knew I was downwind and so I kept a little bit of extra height as a safety margin. As it turns out, I barely descended at all heading back into wind toward the airfield and so I continued to play around in weak lift, selecting clouds, gliding out towards them (slowly, since I wasn't really sinking) and seeing what I could do once there.Two of the things you need to do for the cross country endorsement is to fly solo for a duration of one hour, and separately for two hours. I had done neither at this point, with a best of 57 minutes a few weeks ago. I decided that an hour was definitely on, actually, so was two - but I didn't want to use up the best of the day knowing that somebody else wanted to fly the aircraft, and the days are still going to get longer and better for at least a couple more months.By 12:07 and around an hour since I'd released from the tow plane, I found myself at the what the logger recorded as the flights maximum height of around 4,100 ft ASL, and I was starting to think about being courteous and returning the aircraft for the other pilot to have some fun. I considered opening the airbrakes to descend more quickly, but quickly decided that it would be much more enjoyable and worthwhile to trim the glider out for speed and check out the handling characteristics at around 70-100 knots - if I'm to aspire to cross country flying, these are the kinds of speeds in the glide that I need to become accustomed to.I kept turning to stay close enough to home, but covered a lot of distance this way. At 12:18pm and 2,000ft ASL (1,100 QFE to Sutton), I had done my hour and I was all but ready to join the circuit to land; I might need a favour from this other pilot some day and I also needed to pee quite badly by this point.I decided I would start thinking about landing checks and just had time to head out to one last cloud to see what it might offer - I had secretly hoped for, and managed to find another strong updraft and so couldn't resist. Four and a half minutes later, I was once again looking down at the world from 3,850ft ASL. I zoomed out to Gormire and back, my flight log indicating a brief moment flying at 118 kts IAS (About 135 mph) - who says gliding is a gentle sport?This time, guilt did get the better of me and I decided I wouldn't take another climb. I completed my WULF checks, joined the unfamiliar circuit for runway 06, putting into practice everything I'd learned about judging the approach by the angle to the ground. All the while, I kept close to the Whitestone cliff so as never to put my landing area beyond reach. Flying almost directly overhead, I got to enjoy the best view of the famous white horse that you could wish for, I smiled as I noted the people on the footpath below stopping and pointing upwards as I passed over them on final approach, and frowned as I noted a small group of people watching from the very part of the airfield that I had intended to land on. At least they'd had the sense to stop moving though, so I jinked to the left and gave myself a clear field and an uneventful landing.The glider came to a halt with a small application of wheelbrake, and as the right wing came to rest on the ground, I unclipped and opened the canopy. I had just completed my longest solo flight yet with one hour and twenty, having covered 68.6 nautical miles (127 km) all without leaving gliding distance of Sutton Bank!I would go on later that day to record another flight of exactly an hour so all in all, had a great days flying. I definitely returned home a better soaring pilot that I was when I arrived that morning, although there is undoubtedly still a great deal to learn and practice. | {
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NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION
To be cited only in accordance with
Fed. R. App. P. 32.1
United States Court of Appeals
For the Seventh Circuit
Chicago, Illinois 60604
Submitted April 13, 2011*
Decided April 13, 2011
Before
MICHAEL S. KANNE, Circuit Judge
DIANE S. SYKES, Circuit Judge
JOHN DANIEL TINDER, Circuit Judge
No. 10‐3776
SAMER T. SHEHADEH, Petition for Review of an Order of the Board
Petitioner, of Immigration Appeals.
v. No. A047 794 075
ERIC H. HOLDER, JR.,
Attorney General of the United States,
Respondent.
O R D E R
Samer Shehadeh, a citizen of Jordan, married an American citizen and then moved to
the United States as a conditional permanent resident. See 8 U.S.C. § 1186a(a)(1); 8 C.F.R.
§ 216.1. Less than a year after he arrived, an Illinois court convicted him of misdemeanor
domestic battery against his then‐spouse, see 720 ILCS 5/12‐3.2(a)(1). An immigration judge
ordered him removed after determining that this conviction qualified as a “crime of
domestic violence,” see 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i), meaning “any crime of violence” as
*
After examining the briefs and record, we have concluded that oral argument is
unnecessary. Thus, the petition for review is submitted on the briefs and record. See FED. R.
APP. P. 34(a)(2)(C).
No. 10‐3776 Page 2
defined in 18 U.S.C. § 16(a) that is committed against a person with whom the perpetrator
has a domestic relationship. The Board of Immigration Appeals agreed and dismissed
Shehadeh’s administrative appeal, relying on our decision in LaGuerre v. Mukasey, 526 F.3d
1037 (7th Cir. 2008). In LaGuerre, we held that a conviction under the same statutory
provision for domestic battery in Illinois qualified as a crime of violence. See id. at 1039.
Shehadeh now petitions for review of the Board’s decision; we deny his petition.
In his sole argument on appeal, Shehadeh invites us to revisit LaGuerre. He contends
that our earlier decision in Flores v. Ashcroft, 350 F.3d 666 (7th Cir. 2003), requires us first to
examine the minimum amount of force required under the statute before the conviction
may be qualified as a crime of violence. He insists that we skipped this step in LaGuerre.
Shehadeh misunderstands our holding in Flores. In Flores we examined whether a
“crime of domestic violence” under § 1227(a)(2)(E)(i) included a conviction for
misdemeanor battery in Indiana. As we noted in Flores, and as the Supreme Court later
directed in Leocal v. Ashcroft, 543 U.S. 1, 7 (2004), we assess whether an offense is a crime of
violence by focusing on the elements of the crime, see LaGuerre, 526 F.3d at 1039; Szucz‐Toldy
v. Gonzales, 400 F.3d 978, 981 (7th Cir. 2005); Flores, 350 F.3d at 671, and ascertain whether
the crime requires as an element the use of physical force, meaning “force . . . that is
intended to cause bodily injury.” Flores, 350 F.3d at 672; see also Johnson v. United States, 130
S. Ct. 1265, 1271 (2010). At the time he was convicted, the relevant portion of the domestic
battery statute in Illinois prohibited “intentionally or knowingly . . . [c]aus[ing] bodily harm
to any family or household member.” 720 ILCS 5/12‐3.2(a)(1) (2002). Because Shehadeh’s
domestic battery conviction requires the use of physical force, it qualifies as a crime of
violence under 18 U.S.C. § 16(a). See LaGuerre, 526 F.3d at 1039 (citing United States v. Upton,
512 F.3d 394, 405 (7th Cir. 2008)). Although Shehadeh criticizes LaGuerre for not considering
the quantum of force needed to violate the statute, we do not look beyond the elements of
the crime unless it is divisible, meaning that the statute creates multiple crimes or specifies a
variety of ways to commit a single offense, some of which contain the elements of a crime of
violence, and some that do not. See Szucz‐Toldy, 400 F.3d at 981; Flores, 350 F.3d at 670; see
also United States v. Woods, 576 F.3d 400, 411 (7th Cir. 2009). The portion of the domestic
battery statute in Illinois at issue is not divisible.
DENIED.
| {
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Q:
Rows To Columns in SQL SERVER USING PIVOT Command (Replacing NULL Values To 0 & Display SUM Of ALL VALUES)
I want to display rows to columns in Sql Server. I have seen the other questions but those columns are hardcoded in the pivot but my columns will be dynamic. What I have achieved till now. As shown in the screenshot I am able to convert the rows into columns but few things I am not able to accomplish.. Need your guyz help
Replacing NULL To 0 in All the Columns
Need to Add 1 more column which will show the sum of all Columns except the companyID
My SQL code:
DECLARE @Columns VARCHAR(MAX)
DECLARE @Convert VARCHAR(MAX)
SELECT @Columns = STUFF((
SELECT '],[' + ErrClassfn
from ArchimedesTables.dbo.PM_ErrClassificationSetup
WHERE CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), ISNULL(EndDate, GETDATE()), 101)
Between CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), GETDATE(), 101)
AND CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), GETDATE(), 101)
ORDER BY '],[' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(MAX), ID) ASC
FOR
XML PATH('')
), 1, 2, '') + ']'
SET @Convert = 'SELECT * INTO #mynewTable FROM
(
SELECT COUNT(WQ.ErrClassfnID) as ErrorCount, UPPER(WQ.CompanyID) as CompanyID,
PME.ErrClassfn as ErrorName
FROM Version25.dbo.WF_Quality AS WQ
LEFT JOIN ArchimedesTables.dbo.PM_ErrClassificationSetup as PME
ON WQ.ErrClassfnID = PME.ID
GROUP BY
UPPER(CompanyID), ErrClassfn
) Quality PIVOT ( SUM(ErrorCount) For ErrorName IN (' + @Columns
+ ')) as PivotTable SeLeCt * FROM #mynewTable'
EXEC(@Convert)
A:
You can alter the columns names, etc for a Dynamic Pivot, similar to this:
DECLARE @ColumnsNull VARCHAR(MAX)
DECLARE @Columns VARCHAR(MAX)
DECLARE @Convert VARCHAR(MAX)
SELECT @ColumnsNull = STUFF((SELECT ', IsNull(' + QUOTENAME(ErrClassfn) +', 0) as ['+ rtrim(ErrClassfn)+']'
from ArchimedesTables.dbo.PM_ErrClassificationSetup
WHERE CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), ISNULL(EndDate, GETDATE()), 101)
Between CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), GETDATE(), 101)
AND CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), GETDATE(), 101)
ORDER BY ID ASC
FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE
).value('.', 'NVARCHAR(MAX)')
,1,1,'')
SELECT @Columns = STUFF((
SELECT '],[' + ErrClassfn
from ArchimedesTables.dbo.PM_ErrClassificationSetup
WHERE CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), ISNULL(EndDate, GETDATE()), 101)
Between CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), GETDATE(), 101)
AND CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), GETDATE(), 101)
ORDER BY '],[' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(MAX), ID) ASC
FOR
XML PATH('')
), 1, 2, '') + ']'
SET @Convert = 'SELECT CompanyID, '+ @ColumnsNull + '
INTO #mynewTable
FROM
(
SELECT COUNT(WQ.ErrClassfnID) as ErrorCount, UPPER(WQ.CompanyID) as CompanyID,
PME.ErrClassfn as ErrorName
FROM Version25.dbo.WF_Quality AS WQ
LEFT JOIN ArchimedesTables.dbo.PM_ErrClassificationSetup as PME
ON WQ.ErrClassfnID = PME.ID
GROUP BY
UPPER(CompanyID), ErrClassfn
) Quality PIVOT ( SUM(ErrorCount) For ErrorName IN (' + @Columns
+ ')) as PivotTable SeLeCt * FROM #mynewTable'
EXEC(@Convert)
I would advise to write the query and get the columns working first, then add the data to a #temp table. It will be easier to debug that way.
You can also create a SUM() field the same way, where you build it dynamically and then add it at in the final SELECT:
So it could be something like this that you could add to the final SELECT:
SELECT @ColumnsTotal = STUFF((SELECT '+' + QUOTENAME(ErrClassfn)
from ArchimedesTables.dbo.PM_ErrClassificationSetup
WHERE CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), ISNULL(EndDate, GETDATE()), 101)
Between CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), GETDATE(), 101)
AND CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), GETDATE(), 101)
ORDER BY ID ASC
FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE
).value('.', 'NVARCHAR(MAX)')
,1,1,'')
| {
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If you haven't been paying attention to what Phillies left fielder Domonic Brown has been doing this season, now is the time to start. In the first inning of yesterday's game against the Brewers, Brown hit the absolute bejesus out of a Mike Fiers pitch, depositing the ball into the second deck in right field. That was Brown's 16th homer of the season—good for the National League lead—and his eighth in the last nine games. But what's even more impressive than the sheer number of homers that Brown has been hitting lately is the way in which he's been hitting them.
First, there's that gorgeous swing of his, a classic left-handed pull-hitter's swing that is equally graceful and violent. It's the kind of swing that's designed to wrap moonshots around the right-field foul pole. It's the kind of swing that makes people wonder at how hitting a home run can possibly look so easy and effortless.
And then there's Brown's approach at the plate, which includes a whole lot of swinging for the fences and not much else. Brown has drawn only 11 walks on the season, and he finished the month of May with 12 home runs and zero walks. According to Baseball Reference, he is the first player in history to hit more than eight home runs while drawing zero walks in a single month.
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That low walk rate may prove problematic for Brown's chances at maintaining this high level of play throughout the season, but it's also part of what has made his recent hot streak so much fun to watch. There will always be something alluring about a player who refuses to be bashful about his desire to put every pitch he sees into the seats. Smart baseball fans understand the importance of working pitch counts and a high on-base percentage, but deep down we all just want to see someone hit the shit out of a baseball, and Brown has more than sated that desire.
Brown's power surge is a surprising one as well, as he never showed any hint that he could hit for this kind of power in his minor league career or during his brief stints in the majors. But Brown and his teammates point to a classic mechanical tweak as the impetus behind his newfound power stroke: a shortened swing. From Philly.com:
A former high school wide receiver offered a scholarship to play at the University of Miami, Brown arrived in the big leagues with long arms, and with it, a long swing. It worked for him in the minor leagues.
"I would get away with it," Brown said, "because pitchers don't have that much movement. Up here, you have to shorten your swing up."
Utley, who lockers a few stalls away from Brown and studies film regularly, has seen the difference in his fellow lefthander's stroke.
"It's noticeable," Utley said. "I think he's in more control than he has been in the past. He's made some adjustments in his stance, where his hands are, and that's probably allowed him to be a little quicker to the baseball, shorter to the baseball. You guys are seeing the results."
Or maybe Brown is hitting simply because he's finally been given some consistent playing time. For years, Brown was regarded as one of the top prospects in baseball, but his hype was at an all-time low coming into this season thanks to the Phillies' willingness to yo-yo him between the big leagues and Triple A for three seasons, never giving him a real shot to prove himself. But now, at long last, Domonic Brown has arrived. And thank god for that, because now we get to watch him do stuff like this: | {
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Sep 13, 2018
Serena Williams may have succeeded in spinning the tantrum she displayed in US Open final into a Woman's Rights Issue. But despite her fans and supporters clamoring, one cannot deny the fact that her conduct in this incident both on the field and off the field has been a disgrace to the 'Great Champion' she actually is!
Usually I don't write about anything other than Football in this Blog. Most of the articles will be related to FC Barcelona or at the least related to Football. But I felt a deep urge to write about the recent controversy surrounding Serena Williams about her actions in this year's US Open Final. Many of her fans and supporters have felt that the referee, Carlos Ramos have wronged Serena Williams and took from her the chance to script another memorable come-back triumph.
Serena Williams smartly played the 'Gender' and the 'Mother' card around the issue, and that too immediately. Such a characterization of the issue meant that, those who wanted to speak against her were literally are afraid of being termed a 'Racist'. Which means a host of Greats and Big names in sports have already backed Serena Williams in the entire episode. The Women's Tennis Association and the US Tennis Association both have backed Serena without looking at the merit of the case; one has to wonder what did the referee did wrong in their eyes?
Serena Williams Played the 'Gender' card immediately; and that was a Serious Low
When something is pitched as a gender bias issue, it is very difficult to challenge the same. Anyone who questions those arguments immediately will be named and shamed as 'Anti-Feminist'. Only a Woman can question this, but not a single female player or female commentator came forward to question Serena's actions.
And to make matters worse, she is an African-American Woman. If you muster the courage to question her, that card will be played immediately and many already have felt the impact of the same. So it was encouraging to see African-American commentator Stephen A Smith calling 'A Spade a Spade'. He described Serena's behaviour as totally wrong and how she lost the argument the moment she played the 'Gender' card. Everyone should watch him.
Like Stephen said it was Cheap for her to play the 'Gender' card and also she didn't stop at it also; she immediately brought the 'Mother' card. I still is trying to understand why she did that. What will her months old child understand about any of these. If she is worried like later when her kids see this, her stature will be lowered in front of her own kids; then she should be more worried about what she did before she entered motherhood. She was not a saint in terms of on-field behaviour earlier in her career.
Let's be clear, Serena played the 'Mother' card as a calculated offense against Ramos. A normal individual would have immediately caught off-guard and would have walked back. But then Ramos being Ramos, stuck it back. Many Women players have completely bowled over by the 'Women' card she played. It was pathetic to see a legend like Billie Jean King getting hysterical about it.
Serena Was Completely Wrong and Carlos Ramos was absolutely Correct
What Serena did was totally wrong and Ramos actions were simply justified. The way she played the 'Gender' card saw people like King side with her without any justification. Let's analyse what happened - first she was given a Warning for Coaching. She immediately, started the verbal volley. She immediately sets off at the referee saying "I have never cheated in my life, I’d rather lose than cheat.You owe me an apology". Her own coach have confirmed later that he was Coaching but added a caviar that she may not have seen it. Obviously when you are caught on Camera, you need to come up with a smart alibi.
Then she played a poor game and allowed her opponent to comeback. Such was the frustration that she threw her racket on the ground and received a point violation. Totally justified. Instead of accepting the same and continuing she suffered an epic meltdown. She simply went after the referee calling him a thief and liar. So when it continued he gave her teh third penalty, which was as per the rule and game penalty.
Carlos Ramos played his part as per the book, he gave her the warning which was justified; she simply went nuts after that. It looks like the 'Greatest of All Time' debate have gone to her head and she simply behaved as if she owns the court. It is comical to read what she said to Ramos - "You are a liar. You will never be on a court of mine as long as you live. When are you going to give me my apology? Say you are sorry". She had the audacity to rule that he will never judge a single match of hers. Unbelievable!
Legends like King, instead of seeing the entire episode through an unbiased lens, immediately spun it into a Women Rights issue. But like Stephen points out in the video above, Ramos have been clearly this harsh with Men also. He pointed out how Nadal and Djokovic both were at receiving end of similar events. But they were smart enough not to let it affect their game. Something Serena couldn't do through the entire episode.
Men are allowed to Cheat, so Should We also argument is so Cheap!
The Women players and legends who jumped in to Serena's defense all took the familar defense - 'men are allowed, so should we'. That argument in itself is pretty poor. That's not how you fight a Rights issue. They should have simply asked that all the referees follow the same standard. Instead the moment they played 'Men Cheat' argument, the entire crux of their argument fell down. Then when people like Stephen clearly demonstrates how Ramos have ruled similarly in Mens game also, that too against big Champions; their entire argument simply meltdown like Serena's composure in the game.
Amidst of all the fury the best tweet came from Stuart Fraser, the Tennis Correspondent.
Carlos Ramos one of the few umpires not afraid to call a rules violation against the top players when it is due. It is his colleagues who are letting him down with their inaction, which then leads to situations like this in which players feel they are receiving unfair treatment. https://t.co/SuoNAnXoVG
That should the action plan for Tennis association to take forward. If someone show the courage to make a call which is as per the book, you should encourage others also to do the same. But instead the WTA and USTA both set up the wrong example. By backing Serena Willams in her unfair actions, they simply put rubber stamp to tens and hundreds of similar event that's going to happen later. Now everyone knows how to get back at the referee, play the appropriate cards - sometimes it would be Gender, then we have , Race, Caste, Color, nationality. Just wait for it all to unfurl.
The biggest repercussion at least for now would be coming from the referees. The latest news is suggesting that they will be forming a Union because of the treatment melted out by Associations against Ramos. And there are reports of them considering not officiating Serena's matches in future. Now WTA will have another head-ache in their hand to deal with.
In the end when the dust settles, Serena Williams will definitely regret her actions and how that lowered her own reputation. And if a confrontation occurs between the referees and WTA, she will be remembered solely for that. By bringing cheap arguments, she downgraded those huge rights issue fight people are waging across the globe. Her fight has nothing to do with 'Being a Women' or 'Being a Mother'; it was more to do with her own sense of 'Being Privileged'.
Obviously we should encourage referees in being as tough as Ramos is. Especially in Men's game. There are too many characters who simply take things to the limit. If Ramos like characters officiates every match, we will have better control in Men's game. That will at least clear the perceived unfairness. In Men's tour currently there are characters who could get at least 3-4 game violation per match and there are those who could get that in every game!
And for those who bemoans that Ramos stole from them a great spectacle; it's a nonsensical argument. To produce a great match is the responsibility of the Players not the referees. His job is to ensure that there is a level playing field as defined by the books. We have heard this argument before also. In Arsenal vs Barca Champions League football final, we heard many complaining how Lehman's departure destroyed the final. But then Lehman should have know about the repercussions of his actions that day. It's not the referees job to cover your stupid mistakes! | {
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cricket
Updated: Feb 23, 2019 10:45 IST
India captain Virat Kohli will look to improve his sub-par batting record in the upcoming T20I series against Australia. India are scheduled to play two T20Is in Vishakhapatnam and Bengaluru on February 24 and 27 respectively.
While Kohli is widely regarded as the best batsman in the world, his batting record in the shortest format states otherwise. Before the added burden of captaincy, Kohli enjoyed a rich vein of form in T20Is but it has changed drastically since him being named the skipper in all three formats.
Also Read: India favourites to win 2019 World Cup, says Sourav Ganguly
So far, Kohli has led India in 20 T20Is and averages 34.00 with 510 runs, which is 23.13 lesser than his average without captaincy. Although his strike-rate has changed for the better, Kohli’s balls/boundary and innings/50 rates haven’t improved.
Out of the 20 matches in which Kohli has led the side in T20Is, India have played eight matches at home. Stats reveal that his average as captain in away matches is better than home games and this might play on his mind in the forthcoming series.
Moreover, Kohli stands at a lowly sixth in the list of list of best average by captains with 500+ runs in the shortest format. Interestingly, Rohit Sharma — who takes the role of captain in Kohli’s absence — tops this particular list.
Kohli will be eager to get back on the field after being rested for the final two ODIs and T20I series against New Zealand. The India skipper will be hopeful of getting some runs under his belt and fire the team to victory over Australia. | {
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We've shown you how to build a photo booth with a laptop and some PVC pipe before, but this all-in-one Raspberry Pi setup from maker Chris Evans will upload the photos it takes to Tumblr as an animated gif.
The whole things fits in a custom wooden box that Evans constructed, so it can travel easily to any event. It works just like the real thing, with flashing lights indicating when it's going to take your picture. After it takes four photos, it combines them into an animated gif and uploads them to the Tumblr account you set up. For a list of parts, code, and a complete guide to putting one together yourself, check out the link below.
Raspberry Pi Photo Booth | Drumminhands Design via Adafruit | {
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The unequal familiarity of fandom
The unequal familiarity of fandom
Because I’m writing three (THREE) books right now, I literally don’t have time to read. Since I don’t know that I can live without mainlining words to my brain, I’ve been listening to audiobooks and just recently, podcasts. SF Squeecast, in particular. The content is great and it’s tons of fun to listen to SFF professionals talking about things they love and how those things are created.
It struck me, though, how entirely unequal the experience is. After listening to several episodes, I could tell you about Elizabeth Bear’s dog and how Seanan McGuire insists that Thomas, her enormous Maine Coon cat, will someday ride the giant ridiculous dog to world domination. I can tell you that Catherynne Valente has been dealing with miserable carpal tunnel. Paul Cornell has an infant son. Lynne Thomas has an unshakeable love for Doctor Who, which she calls a lifestyle.
Listening in to friends talk like this means that I know a lot more about them than they could possibly know about me. It starts to feel like I know them, the actual human beings, not just the public personae. It’s almost like they’re my friends – or more appropriately, that I’m their friend and they just don’t know it yet.
I bet this sort of blurred line leads to some bizarre and awkward conversations at conventions.
Anyway, away from my musing and on to my reporting!
Currently on submission:
“The Smell of Fall”, a gaslamp zombie story. If this doesn’t sell, I’ll likely sell it via Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) within the next couple of months. (FINISHED)
Expected to release this year:
Untitled collection of short stories in the world of Eye of the Storm, via KDP (some hard copies for Kickstarter backers) (50% done) | {
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Teaching German
Africa
Algeria's fear of its southern neighbors
Islamists in Algeria took foreign hostages and demanded an end to French intervention in Mali - and the whole world stopped to watch. DW looks at how the recent hostage taking is connected to the conflict in Mali.
In recent years, Algeria has been ignored by the media, forgotten by tourists and neglected by Western leaders. A former French colony that is one of Africa's largest countries by area, Algeria has been a political dwarf on the international stage - until now. A group of radical Islamists last week attacked a gas field in eastern Algeria, taking foreign workers as hostages. Suddenly, Algeria was in the media, and the whole world was watching - surprised, shocked and confused - as the hostage crisis unfolded. At least 37 foreigners died after authorities carried out what has now become a controversial raid.
Algeria's civil war and its consequences
The links between the hostage crisis in Algeria and the conflict in neighboring Mali run deep, in part due to the former's history. In 1988, young Algerians blocked streets in the whole country to demand democratic reforms and an opening of their restrictive society.
"The Arab Spring essentially began in Algeria more than 20 years ago. They were the first to incite a massive uprising," says Asiem El-Difrauoui, Middle East expert and author of the book,"The Jihad of Images." This led to a process of cautious opening.
An armored vehicle in front of government buildings during the civil war in 1992
But when the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), swept local elections in the early 1990s, the government moved to curtail its takeover. This led to a decade-long civil war between the armed FIS and the country's military.
The role of the military
The military was able to consolidate its dominant position and the Islamists were pushed to the periphery.
"The violent and armed jihadi groups regrouped several times. Some moved toward the Sahara, where they formed alliances with terrorist movements from Mauretania, Mali and the Sahel region," says Rachin Ouaissa from the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies (CNMS) at the University of Marburg in Germany.
Rachin Ouaissa from the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies
"The problem that we have with the terrorists today goes back to the Algerian civil war [of the 1990s]," says Werner Ruf, another Africa expert and professor at the University of Kassel.
"At the time, the military helped support and build other Islamist armed groups, in part, in its fight against the FIS," Ruf said.
The goal of the army was to spread the terror of these groups to make all Islamists unpopular in the country. The terrorist acts of these Islamist networks were supposed to cover the atrocities, torture and mass murder of the Algerian army on the people, Ruf explains. Up to 200,000 people were killed in the country's brutal civil war.
Algeria's Jihadists in Mali
In the end, the army managed to defeat the Islamists and push them from the major cities, but it did not destroy them, says Algerian expert Rachin Ouaissa. Several groups that were ready to be violent sprung up, taking advantage of the weak structures and massive uninhabited areas in the Sahel, on the border with Mali. That's where they hid themselves and built networks with similar groups around the world. Their countries of origin played a secondary role. What matters for Jihadists is their ideology.
"[In the hostage taking], you had attackers of 8 nationalities; one was Tunisian, others were from Niger, Egypt; apparently there was one from Canada," Williams Lawrence, a North Africa expert at the International Crisis Group (ICG), told DW.
William Lawrence, International Crisis Group (ICG) Africa expert
The demands of the kidnappers were clearly linked to the conflict in Mali. When the attackers said that the reason for their attack was the situation in Mali, they managed to grab the attention of the public, Lawrence said.
Fear of Jihad
Lawrence is skeptical of the intervention in Mali and asks where the Jihadists are likely to go if pushed out of the northern part of the country. Back to Algeria where most of them come from, when it had managed to push them to the south? What is really needed is a more profound strategy to fight radical Islam on the continent.
Lawrence doesn't believe that the Islamists present a threat to Algeria's political stability. The Islamist parties didn't do well in the country's last elections. The military is still very present in the country, as the bloody end of the recent hostage taking at the gas field showed. | {
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Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a decoration panel and method for manufacturing a decoration panel.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-201153, filed Sep. 30, 2014, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Description of Related Art
In the related art, a manufacturing method of a decoration panel is known in which a through hole is formed in part of an outer layer of a stacked body formed by superimposing a plurality of layers which are different from each other, and an inner layer is designed to be seen through the through hole of the outer layer (for example, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,633,019 B1).
In the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,633,019 B1, part of the outer layer is removed from a composite body formed by stacking the outer layer and the inner layer via laser processing such that the through hole having a predetermined design pattern is formed in the outer layer. When the outer layer of the stacked body is removed using the laser processing or the like according to the technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,633,019 B1, the inner layer seen through the through hole of the outer layer is exposed into the shape of a flat surface in a position lower than the outermost surface of the outer layer.
In addition, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2003-326897, performing injection molding with respect to a decorative material having a window hole to which an inlay member can be inserted from a back side after filling the window hole with an inlay member is disclosed as a method for efficiently producing a decoration panel having an inlay pattern.
In the technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,633,019 B1, the outer surface of the inner layer which can be seen through the through hole of the outer layer is a monotonous flat surface, and freedom of design is low. In the technology disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2003-326897, it takes a long time to fill the window hole with the inlay member, or it is necessary to accurately match the dimensions of the inlay member and the window hole, and thus productivity is low. | {
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[Non-Convulsive Status Epilepticus Caused by Hyponatremia in an Elderly Woman: A Case Report].
We report the case of a 67-year-old woman with non-convulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) due to hyponatremia. She had a history of psychogenic polydipsia but not epilepsy. She was admitted to our hospital with dysbulia. On admission, she was confused and disoriented (Glasgow Coma Scale: 6, E1V1M4). Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain showed no abnormalities. Laboratory test showed hyponatremia (Na<sup>+</sup> level: 115 mEq/L). The electroencephalography (EEG) showed a generalized slow wave of 5 Hz during recording. The slow wave was promptly suppressed by diazepam and levetiracetam administered intravenously and orally, respectively. After the hyponatremia was treated the seizures stopped and did not reoccur, even after cessation of the anticonvulsant drugs. The patient was discharged with no neurological deficits. Few reports have described this condition. Here we discuss the diagnosis and treatment of NCSE due to hyponatremia. (Received May 31, 2016; Accepted December 12, 2016; Published April 1, 2017). | {
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CD Reviews
Pretentious but interesting
Stephen F Mulcahy | United States | 10/29/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"in my opinion the best of the bosstown sound albums was earth opera's debut which for some reason elektra refuses to put out on cd it seems. the 1st beacon street union album and the first 2 ultimate spinach records are not far behind. its pretentious but intriguing. john lincoln wright is still active in the boston area fronting country bands. the 1st album is as an earlier reviewer said pretty straight ahead rock with touches of blues and r &b here and there. there are some psychedelic flashes and tones however. those expecting some kind of major musical freakout will probably be disappointed, but paul tartachny was a quite talented guitarist, and you'll find some impressive runs on the 1st album. just about every track on the eyes of the beacon street union is solid. the 2nd album is more hit or miss, but the title track and angus of aberdeen are first rate. the former is a somewhat jazzy piece with oblique dylanesque lyrics and the latter features some of tartachny's best guitar work. another excellent song is now i taste the tears which is kind of reminiscent of the rolling stones to some degree, its an r &b type of tune with some fine vocalizing by wright. this is worth picking up if you are a fan of the era or interested in the bosstown sound."
GREAT PSYCHEDELIA
Stephen F Mulcahy | 08/09/1999
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Unfortunately I couldn't give any review of "Clown Died..." as I only have heard "The Eyes Of...", which I have in my own vinyl-collection. So I stick to "The Eyes Of The Beacon Street Union" and this is an effort of several fine psychedelic rock numbers ("My Love Is", Blue Avenue" and "Green Destroys The Gold"), great eastern-tinged psychedelia in the "raga- rock" mould ("Mystic Mourning") and nice heavy psych ""Sadie Sad No"). Also of note is "Speed Kills" which is sort of imaginative "pop- sike". You'll also find a bluesnumber, one weird instrumental, a bit humoresque rock`n`roll ("Beautiful Delilah", pass this one!) and two more songs in the psych-vein. Fine psychedelic guitarwork throughout. Recommended !!" | {
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Professor Gregory S. McNeal, JD/PhD, is an Associate Professor of Law and Public Policy at Pepperdine University. He is an expert on drones and topics related to security, technology and crime. He is a nationally recognized commentator and a frequent keynote speaker about technology, law and policy.
Is Affluenza Real? Ask Senator Elizabeth Warren And Other Experts
A 16 year old who killed four people while driving drunk after stealing alcohol from WalMart was sentenced to probation after his defense team argued he suffered from “affluenza” a malady that affects people who come from affluent families.
Is affluenza real? To answer that question I decided to research the term, and I found quite a few references to it in legal literature. The consistent theme in the literature is that affluenza is not a disorder per se, but rather a term used to describe rampant consumerism or materialism (although some authors referred to it as a “disease” or “malady” with quotes to indicate skepticism about the technical nature of the term). It’s also fascinating to note that most references to the term come from tax lawyers and estate planners.
The most prominent author citing the concept of “affluenza” was none other than U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren. In a 2004 article in the Washington University Law Review, then Professor Warren noted (internal citations omitted):
Economist Robert Frank claims that America’s newfound “luxury fever” forces middle-class families “to finance their consumption increases largely by reduced savings and increased debt.” Documentary filmmaker John de Graaf and Duke Economics Professor Thomas Naylor explain in Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic, “It’s as if we Americans, despite our intentions, suffer from some kind of Willpower Deficiency Syndrome, a breakdown in affluenza immunity.” They assert that Americans have a new character flaw–“the urge to splurge.” Economist Juliet Schor echoes the theme, explaining that American families are buying “designer clothes, a microwave, restaurant meals, home and automobile air conditioning, and, of course, Michael Jordan’s ubiquitous athletic shoes, about which children and adults both display near-obsession.”
Warren seems skeptical about the concept of affluenza, and consistent with her other writings believes that “affluenza” and rampant spending myths are barriers to regulation of the financial industry. She concludes, “So long as Americans can be persuaded that families in financial trouble have only themselves to blame, there will be no demand to change anything. In order to get on with the difficult business of making America once again safe for middle class families, the Over-Consumption Myth must be laid to rest for good.”
Paul Comstock, a noted author in the field of private foundations, coined the phrase: “Affluenza” for a malady common to children of affluent families. This Affluenza is characterized by one or more of the following symptoms: distorted view of money; lack of connection between work and reward; lack of self-discipline; lack of motivation; guilt; low self esteem; and feelings of incompetence.
Merrill Lynch, in particular, would have its customers believe that trusts, with their perceived magic powers, are capable of curing “affluenza.” Affluenza is a “disease” that strikes when the earned millions of middle-class parents turn good bourgeois children into wastrels.
A PBS special that aired in 1997, entitled “Escape from Affluenza” described the phenomenon as a “consumer chase” and “an epidemic of stress, waste, overconsumption and environmental decay.”
Daniel Farber, a law professor at Berkeley wrote in a Vanderbilt Law Review article
Jessie H. O’Neill, a psychotherapist, defines affluenza as: The collective addictions, character flaws, psychological wounds, neuroses, and behavioral disorders caused or exacerbated by the presence of, or desire for money/wealth . . . . In individuals, it takes the form of a dysfunctional or unhealthy relationship with money, regardless of one’s socio-economic level. It manifests as behaviors resulting from a preoccupation with–or imbalance around–the money in our lives.
Children of affluent families are prone to a malady that some have referred to as “affluenza.” [citing Paul Comstock] It has been noted that this condition is characterized by one or more of the following symptoms:
Too much unearned income can have a negative impact on productivity. Some studies suggest that individuals who inherit large sums of money are more likely to leave the labor force. Psychological costs, such as substance abuse, anxiety, and depression, also are associated with being a child of wealthy parents. Receiving large unconditional bequests could compound these psychological costs. “Affluenza,” a term “coined to describe an epidemic of over-consumption and its often negative effects on children-alienation, laziness, arrogance and low self esteem,” is not merely a hypothetical problem.
All told, the bulk of the legal literature referencing affluenza does so as a means to provide guidance to financial planners and others when dealing with trusts, inheritance and other transfers of wealth.
Gregory S. McNeal is a professor specializing in law and public policy. You can follow him on Twitter @GregoryMcNeal.
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Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out. | {
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Judas Priest are known as the Metal Gods for good reason. Black Sabbath might have invented it with a single Devil’s tritone but Judas Priest went on to define pure, rampant, all-guitars-blazing heavy metal for more than four decades. They released their debut studio full-length Rocka Rolla way back in 1974. In truth it wasn’t that great, with more of a hippified psychedelic-rock vibe, but ever since then they’ve released classic metal album after classic metal album. So which are their best? Read on to find out… then feel free to give us your opinion. Even though it’s wrong.
10. Turbo (1986)
Ooh, a controversial one to start. When it first came out, Turbo was reviled by fans. It saw Judas Priest embracing synths and adopting a more polished, glam-tinged pop-metal approach. More than 30 years on it still divides opinion, but the likes of Turbo Lover with its sleek, purring engine and the anthemic Locked In stand revealed as simply great songs. It was also the sound of a band refusing to be, uh, locked in to the strict genre standards that they themselves had pretty much defined.
9. Angel Of Retribution (2005)
No disrespect to Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens, who went from a Judas Priest cover band to replacing Rob Halford in the genuine article. He’s got a great set of pipes but, in much the same way that few Iron Maiden fans would count the Blaze Bayley albums amongst the band’s best, so that era of Priest is often written off. The two Ripper albums weren’t terrible but when Rob returned for his first Priest album since 1990’s Painkiller, it felt like a genuine event. The result was a revitalised stormer, loaded with classic riffs and lyrical references to previous Priest triumphs.
8. Sad Wings Of Destiny (1976)
After the false start of Rocka Rolla, Priest found their metal-shod feet in spectacular fashion with Sad Wings Of Destiny. It’s far more layered and progressive than most subsequent albums. Victim Of Changes was a grandiose 8-minute epic but the likes of The Tyrant and Ripper introduced that distinctive sheet metal riffage for the first time, along with Rob’s peerless wail. Judas Priest had arrived and a still developing metal scene had its gods-in-waiting.
7. Firepower (2018)
In most walks of life a bunch of men mostly in their late 60s (and a 38-year old whippersnapper in ‘new’ guitarist Richie Faulkner) would be more likely to be found pottering round a garden centre than forging one of the year’s best metal albums. Firepower continued the band’s return to classic metal form after the divisive prog-doom concept experiment of Nostradamus. At the time of writing it is, of course, the band’s most recent but it’s also here on merit. There’s not a duff song in sight and it’s all delivered with as much fire, passion and sheer unstoppable energy as anything they’ve released in their incredible career.
6. Killing Machine (1978)
Known as Hell Bent For Leather in the States, Killing Machine introduced the punchier anthemic sound with which Judas Priest would conquer the world in the next decade. It also saw them adapting the studs and leather look that Rob borrowed from gay S&M clubs – a fine private joke when you consider the unreconstructed machismo of the metal crowd back then. A little further down the line, the song Hell Bent For Leather would also go on to provide one of the band’s most gloriously OTT metal moments when the singer took to riding onto the stage on a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
5. Sin After Sin (1977)
This, along with the following year’s Stained Class, was the sandwich filling of their collection of 70s classics and was suitably satisfying, providing the bridge between the more sprawling Sad Wings Of Destiny and the direct assault that would come with Killing Machine. Live album Unleashed In The East remains the best introduction to that era incidentally - the production here lacks some power but the songs certainly don’t. Sinner remains an all-time galloping classic, their cover of Joan Baez’s Diamonds & Rust was both powerful and haunting while the stinging Dissident Aggressor would go on to influence a new breed of even more aggressive metalheads (see Slayer’s own cover on South Of Heaven for proof).
4. Screaming For Vengeance (1982)
Preceding Iron Maiden’s Piece Of Mind by a year, Screaming For Vengeance did more than any other album to take metal to the masses. Maiden actually supported Priest on their US World Vengeance Tour, during which pure heavy metal first exploded into arenas. Musically it’s lean and mean, with all traces of flab and the former bluesy elements excised. It was a blueprint for the ‘classic’ Priest sound that runs through most of their latter-day releases and still stands tall with a clutch of classic songs.
3. Painkiller (1990)
Painkiller would be Rob Halford’s last album with Priest until 2005’s Angel Of Retribution, but to say he bowed out on a high would be an understatement. The title-track is perhaps the single finest pure metal song ever written, exploding in an orgiastic welter of speed metal riffs, furious rhythms and lung-bursting screams. Not every song here is faster than a laser bullet but they all consistently slay, from the sinister creep of A Touch Of Evil to the piledriving stomp of Between The Hammer & The Anvil.
2. British Steel (1980)
By the turn of the ’80s Judas Priest were already veterans but they gate-crashed the NWOBHM party like cool older cousins who could bring the booze. Fittingly, British Steel boasted the ultimate party song in Living After Midnight. It kicked off with the proto-thrash Rapid Fire but generally featured a more singalong, anthemic sound. Breaking The Law remains their most recognisable song while Metal Gods gave the band their epithet. Bonus fact: in a time before digital sampling was commonplace, they made the sound of marching metal feet by rattling trays of cutlery in the studio.
1. Defenders Of The Faith (1984)
“Rising from darkness where hell hath no mercy, and the screams of vengeance echo on forever, only those who keep the faith shall escape the wrath of The Metallian… Master of all Metal.” The only thing that even comes close to being as metal as the legend on the back of this album is maybe the titanium plate implanted into Slayer frontman Tom Araya’s neck from too much headbanging. And, of course, the contents of the album itself. Defenders Of The Faith is frequently overlooked in favour of its predecessor Screaming For Vengeance. In terms of breaking the band and overall impact, there’s no denying that Screaming… was more important but here they perfected the formula. Freewheel Burning, The Sentinel, Jawbreaker… these are slabs of pure metal perfection and this is the pinnacle of Priest. And, therefore, classic metal as a whole.
Posted on January 29th 2019, 12:05pm | {
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Q:
how to group dictionaries using itemgetter
I have a list of dictionaries like this:
students = [
{'name': 'alex','class': 'A'},
{'name': 'richard','class': 'A'},
{'name': 'john','class': 'C'},
{'name': 'harry','class': 'B'},
{'name': 'rudolf','class': 'B'},
{'name': 'charlie','class': 'E'},
{'name': 'budi','class': 'C'},
{'name': 'gabriel','class': 'B'},
{'name': 'dessy', 'class': 'B'}
]
I would like to group these dictionaries by class, append them to a list and append each list to a list:
[[{'name': 'alex', 'class': 'A'},
{'name': 'richard', 'class': 'A'}],
[{'name': 'harry', 'class': 'B'},
{'name': 'rudolf', 'class': 'B'},
{'name': 'gabriel', 'class': 'B'},
{'name': 'dessy', 'class': 'B'}],
[{'name': 'john', 'class': 'C'},
{'name': 'budi', 'class': 'C'}],
[{'name': 'charlie', 'class': 'E'}]]
I know how to sort the previous list, using itemgetter:
import itertools
from operator import itemgetter
students = sorted(students, key=itemgetter('class'))
How can I group-append them in a list and create a list of lists? Also, would using sets be better in this case (order would not matter, as long as the dictionaries are grouped by class).
A:
You can do it with defaultdict
from collections import defaultdict
res = defaultdict(list)
for i in students:
res[i['class']].append(i)
print(list(res.values()))
Output
[[{'name': 'alex', 'class': 'A'}, {'name': 'richard', 'class': 'A'}],
[{'name': 'john', 'class': 'C'}, {'name': 'budi', 'class': 'C'}],
[{'name': 'harry', 'class': 'B'},
{'name': 'rudolf', 'class': 'B'},
{'name': 'gabriel', 'class': 'B'},
{'name': 'dessy', 'class': 'B'}],
[{'name': 'charlie', 'class': 'E'}]]
| {
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I. INTRODUCTION
===============
Thyroid carcinoma is rare in children, especially in patients under 10 years of age (1). In Europe, its incidence is estimated at around 1--2 cases per million in children aged 10--14 years compared to 70 cases per million in adults (2). The incidence rate is higher in females than in males, with a sex ratio ranging from 2:1 in children aged 0--14 years to 3,5:1 between 15--19 years (3). From the histological point of view, four major types of thyroid cancer are recognized: papillary and follicular carcinoma (differentiated carcinoma), medullary carcinoma and anaplastic carcinoma.
The aetiology of thyroid cancer is still not completely understood. Exposure to ionizing radiation may promote the development of a differentiated thyroid cancer, especially in children, probably due to increased sensitivity and proliferative activity of thyrocytes compared to adults (4).
However, medullary carcinoma correlates with some hereditary factors such as the mutation of the RET proto-oncogene and recurs in families with MEN syndrome (multiple endocrine cancers).
Follicular cancer is related to both dietary iodine deficiency and predisposing genetic factors that are not yet clear. The authors describe the diagnostic and therapeutic process of three clinical cases of patients suffering from papillary thyroid carcinoma, observed at University Hospital of Salerno.
Case 1
------
Male, 14 years old. At the age of 12, an indolent tumefaction was detected in the thyroid region. In another hospital he underwent a biopsy with a histological result of papilliferous carcinoma. Then, the child underwent subtotal thyroidectomy surgery at the same site.
After 2 years, because of the appearance of some right latero-cervical tumefactions, he came to our department. At the physical examination, the right laterocervical region presented ovoid masses, arranged along the sternocleidomastoid muscle, with a well-defined contour, with an irregular anterior surface and a hard-elastic consistency, not adhering to the skin, but was united to the deep cutaneous tissues and it was painless.
An otorhinolaryngological specialist consultation revealed a hemiparesis from the right vocal cord compensated by the left chord, probably related to a injury of the right recurrent nerve. We performed a neck ultrasound (US) and the chest and skeletal x-ray which excluded pleuro-parenchymal, mediastinal and bone alterations. Also thyroid scintigraphy was performed; it showed persistence of captive tissue in the thyroid region. The "Total Body" scintigraphic examination, performed with I131, revealed two modest adsorptive thyroid residues, one at the isthmus and the other less absorbing at the level of the upper portion of the right lobe of the thyroid, with no lesions in the rest of the organism. It was decided to schedule surgery to remove the two known formations and a lymph node package at the right jugular vein below the sternocleido-mastoid muscle.
The histological examination of the removed lymph nodes confirmed neoplastic infiltration by papilliferous carcinoma ([Fig. 1](#f1-tm-22-028){ref-type="fig"}), while the two formations were made up of healthy thyroid tissue. The patient was discharged, on the 15th post-operative day, with iodine thyroglobulin replacement therapy.
Periodic clinical, radiological and laboratory tests performed for up to three years were within normal limits.
Case 2
------
Female, 16 years old. She came to our observation for the presence of a right laterocervical tumefaction which had been persistent for a year. The three US controls performed after 1, 2 and 3 months revealed laterocervical lymph-adenomegalies with a maximum diameter of 17x10 mm, an inhomogeneous echo-structure and peripheral vascularization ([Fig. 2](#f2-tm-22-028){ref-type="fig"}).
The thyroid, which was evaluated during the same tests, did not present any pathological element.
At the local physical examination, we observed the presence of a right laterocervical oval tumefaction, of hard-elastic consistency, mobile on the underlying planes, slightly painful on palpation, not painful spontaneously. Because of the persistence of the clinical and diagnostic situation, it was decided to perform the surgical exeresis and biopsy of the lymph node.
Histology reported tissue infiltration of papillary differentiated thyroid carcinoma. For this reason, after 20 days, a further ultrasound examination was performed and it revealed a nodule at the right thyroid lobe of 13 mm, with microcalcifications and intralesional vascularization, associated with lymph adenomegalies in the latero-cervical site and in the thyroid lodge and small nodules size in the isthmic site and left lobe.
At this point, total thyroidectomy surgery was necessary with right laterocervical compartment resection and positioning of two drains at the level of the thyroid lodges. On the third postoperative day, the following parameters were measured: FT4, FT3, TSH, TG, anti-TG, anti-TPO, anti-TSH receptors, calcitonin; (within the normal limits). On the fourth and fifth day the two drainages were removed and on the seventh day the patient was discharged in good general condition and with replacement therapy with levothyroxine.
She subsequently performed a cycle of radioiodiotherapy. At the follow-up at 1 and 3 months the patient appeared in good conditions.
Case 3
------
Female, 6 years old. At the age of 5 years, during a routine pediatric check, a nodule was noted in the right anterior region of the neck. For this reason, a thyroid ultrasound was performed, which highlighted the presence of "a single nodule at the level of the middle third level of the right thyroid lobe with a solid echo-structure, isoechogen with halo calcifications, vascularized type III, of the size of 7.8x10x14 mm ".
An ago-biopsy was also performed but, since the examination was not executed in narcosis, the removal of sufficient material for diagnosis was not possible. The blood values of anti-TPO, anti-TG, TSH, FT4 and FT3 were normal. After 2 months, the ultrasound examination showed an increased isoechogenic nodule (17x12 mm), with hypoechogenic halo and peripheral vascularization, in a right thyroid lobe increased in volume. This picture was compatible with hyperplastic nodule.
At the age of 6, the patient comes to our observation in good general condition. The physical examination of the neck showed a right front rounded formation, with a smooth surface, mobile on the levels below and with swallowing, not mobile with the tongue protrusion, not adhering to the skin and not sore nor painful. A new ultrasound examination ([Fig. 3](#f3-tm-22-028){ref-type="fig"}) confirmed a further right thyroid nodule increased in volume (21x13 mm), with internal calcifications and peripheral vascularization, and with reactive bilateral laterocervical lymphadenopathies (maximum diameter of 15 mm on the right and 13 mm to the left).
It was therefore considered necessary to perform a new aspiration in narcosis, in order to have a clear histological diagnosis of this neoformation. The result was compatible with papilliferous carcinoma.
Total thyroidectomy surgery was performed, with positioning of two drainages in the two thyroid lodges. FT3, FT4, TSH, anti-TG, FSH were all in the normal ranges. The chest x-ray was negative. On the second day, the patient underwent thyroid replacement therapy with levothyroxine. On the third and fourth day the two drainages were removed.
The girl was discharged after a 7-day hospital stay. The child began radioiodiotherapy cycle.
II. DISCUSSION
==============
Differentiated thyroid carcinoma in children has a good prognosis in the majority of cases. In paediatric age, it is a rare condition and its annual incidence is about 0.5 cases/100,000 worldwide.
The affected population is very heterogeneous, and it is necessary to distinguish epidemiologically and prognostically between prepubertal children and adolescents. The 5-year survival rate is estimated 98% in children aged 0--14 and 99% in adolescents aged 15--19 (3). We considered two cases in adolescence and one in prepubescent age.
Papillary thyroid carcinoma in children differs significantly from adulthood particularly in terms of size and multifocality (5--6). Generally, children have large sizes and multifocal tumors; in our experience all cases presented an indolent mass at diagnosis (13mm in case 2 and 17x12mm in case 3).
The main features of the three cases are summarized in [Table 1](#t1-tm-22-028){ref-type="table"}.
In pediatric age there is an increased incidence of lymph node metastases at diagnosis, which we observed either in the 1st case or in the 2nd case. Moreover, in the 2nd case lymph node involvement was the first sign of illness. Considering the incidence of distant metastases this is higher in pediatric age compared to adults (7% of patients in the age \<20 years compared to 2% in subjects \> 20 years) with a higher risk of recurrence. In fact, at 16.6 years of follow-up, recurrence occurs in 40% of patients in whom the tumor occurred at \<20 years of age and in 20% of patients with 20 to 50 years at diagnosis(7).
Despite the increased incidence of relapse ( 8) and the increased number of metastases at diagnosis, the survival of children with differentiated thyroid cancer is greater than in adults. This better prognosis is certainly to be connected with a greater responsiveness of children's functionally and metabolically active cancer cells to radioiodiotherapy and a more effective immune response of the body. In conclusion, compared to adults, in children there is a clear prevalence of the papillary type against the follicular, an element that can be linked to the child's increased thyroid susceptibility to ionizing radiation, which is at the basis of the onset of papillary carcinoma.
Our choice to perform a radical surgery instead of the subtotal thyroidectomy in presence of lymph node involvement, arises precisely from the need to reduce the risk of recurrence. In fact, analyzing our 3 clinical cases we observed that in case 1 the subtotal thyroidectomy did not guarantee a complete removal of the tumor, which relapsed after two years.
Because of the high incidence of lymph node metastasis and the increased frequency of relapse, early diagnosis is extremely important in differentiated thyroid carcinoma in the pediatric age.
In all three cases an accurate diagnostic process, characterized by careful clinical examination, ultrasound examination and histological confirmation was performed.
US may highlight nodules with a diameter of less than 15 mm, with irregular margins and increased intranodular vascularization (9, 10).
However, in case 2 the initially US examination showed exclusively laterocervical lymphadenopathy without thyroid alterations, while a further US revealed a nodule at right thyroid lobe of 13 mm.
Finally, through the fine-needle aspiration and the subsequent histological examination of the neoformation, it is possible to have a diagnosis of certainty. This examination presents a high sensitivity, (from 94% up to 100%) (11, 12), a specificity around 74.9% and a positive predictive value of 89% (13). The fine-needle aspiration allows us to evaluate the histopathological characteristics of a thyroid nodule and directs the therapeutic choice in order to avoid unnecessary surgical treatments in healthy children.
In children with papillary thyroid carcinoma the treatment to perform is surgery. Although there is the possibility of complications in total thyroidectomy such as hypoparathyroidism (in case of ablation of the parathyroid glands) and dysphonia up to the aphonia (in case of injury of the right and left recurrent nerves) we did not find post-operative alterations.
Total thyroidectomy is associated with the removal of the lymph nodes of the thyroid lodge, especially if they are macroscopically involved (14--15). A total thyroidectomy involves subsequent life-long replacement therapy.
Controversial is the utility of laterocervical lymph nodes dissection that is mainly performed in case of certain diagnosis of tumor infiltration (16); two of our patients with lateral-cervical lymph node involvement performed the lymphadenectomy while case 3 underwent total thyroidectomy without lymph node dissection.
It is also important consider the usefulness of post-surgical radioiodine therapy, as it has a low rate of complications or side effects and has a high specificity for residual or metastatic thyroid tissues.
The association of surgery and radioiodiotherapy allows a higher selectivity on the residual cancer (5-18-19). For this reason, we subjected two patients (case 2 and 3) to post-surgical treatment with radioiodium.
III. CONCLUSION
===============
Differentiated thyroid carcinoma in children is a rare tumor, but not to be underestimated. The importance of early diagnosis is linked to the high frequency with which it given repetitions and relapses. However, proper treatments still allow a good survival rate and an excellent quality of life.
The most appropriate therapeutic strategy should be implemented early and includes a first surgical phase of complete ablation of the gland associated or not with exeresis of the latero-cervical lymph nodes and a second phase of radioiodiotherapy that further completes the healing of young patients.
{#f1-tm-22-028}
{#f2-tm-22-028}
{#f3-tm-22-028}
######
main features of the three cases
Case 1 Case 2 Case 3
--------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------
**Sex** Male Female Female
**Age at diagnosis** 12 years old 16 years old 6 years old
**Clinical presentation** Latero-cervical tumefactions Latero-cervical tumefaction which had been persistent for a year Nodule in the right anterior region of the neck
**Lymph node involvement** Yes Yes No
**Medical tests** Thyroid ultrasound, Ches t and skeletal x-ray, Thyroid scintigraphy Thyroid ultrasound, biopsy of the lymph node. Thyroid ultrasoud, ago-biopsy
**Surgical treatment** -Total thyroidectomy - latero-cervical compartment resection -Total thyroidecto my - latero-cervical compartme nt resection -Total thyroidect omy
**Post-surgical radioiodine therapy** No Yes Yes
| {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Central"
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Long story I used to have one of the original Subdecay Echoboxes, actually before that I had an EHX Memory Man. When the pedal (and all of its neighbors) were stolen out of my car, I replaced it with the newer version. What they had done was class up the box, make it more subtle, less pushy, more like the MXR Carbon Copy. It creates echos that tend to want to space themselves behind your clean signal, the gain structure is pretty polite, kind of an extended echo working like a reverb pedal (to my shoegazey ears) in that it adds dimension without taking over. You have to really jack the dials to get it to oscillate, or make any kind of mess. It's a handy pedal, but I sometimes need broader, more psychedelic strokes.
Short story who knows of a delay pedal that tends to make big clouds of echo, and can slip into analogy (don't really care if it's actual or digital) smear, oscillation, and semi-controllable noise when coaxed. I need a dangerous delay.
dod fx 96. my favorite analog delay ever. they stretched one BBD chip to unheard of lengths, when you max out the delay (and pot inside for more time) it gets wacky and wierd. also has a "tape effect" which is just a LPF which is cool cause it kinda modulates and gives funky tones to the repeats. cheap as hell, super underrated, i probably just ruined them by mentioning them here, now radiohead or some bullshit will be using them and they'll be at klon centaur prices. damnit.
I used to have that Boss/Roland Space Echo pedal, the RE-20 I believe. Lots o' fun. Read up on the "twist" function.
Sold that years ago though; now I very much enjoy the Minifooger delay. Expression pedal input and a dip switch inside to make it control either rate or feedback. Plus they threw in a distortion circuit just for kicks!
I recently picked up the Deluxe Memory Boy. It has expression, tap tempo, a pretty strong delay mix (blend), and the ability to choose dotted 8th notes, etc. ("tap divide"). It can oscillate like Superballs inna blender.
Point of fact, I bought the regular Memory Boy because my need was for something simpler, and the MB does chorus and vibrato.
Delay Llama Plus. I somehow got an early prototype on ebay for very cheap - I wouldn't have spent anywhere near the going rate on it at the time, but now if my pedalboard was stolen it'd be the very first thing I'd replace. Sound-wise it's a perfect mix of the old DM2/obscure Japanese smear-y, blurry analog delay and the kind of dirtier, starker original DMM. And personally, unless I'm doing something that stacks delays on top of reverbs on top of delays, I only use analog delays - I find they don't clutter the signal in the same way that digital delays do. It's the only thing I've ever been an analog purist about. I've played plenty of digital delays that are great analog sims tonally, but they always feel clutter-y when I play them. Because of its lack of clutter (to me), the hold button on the Delay Llama+ doesn't behave the way a hold on a digital delay ever could - you can get a swirling crazy mess going and still play *with* it and not *against* it if you want to. If that makes sense.
"I don't need time, I need a deadline." -Duke Ellington
"I liked the holes in it as much as I liked what was in them." -Tom Waits
Try the Danelectro Wasabi Forward-Reverse delay if you can. I haven't pushed it into oscillation, so I don't know about that side of it, but the tone is fantastic. I used to have a Boss DM2 and that was great, but the Wasabi actually improves the tone of the guitar. It's also the best reverse delay out there, and allows you to have the mix 100% wet, which is kind of the whole point of reverse delay, IMO. The cheap Dano delays, like FAB echo, can be modded to do all kinds of crazy self-oscillation. I think essentially the same mods can be applied to just about any delay. I think most of them use the same main chip (PTsomethingorother) anyway.
The Behringer Vintage Delay is a DM2 clone; it's cheap and sounds a lot like the original. A change of a pot value or two could get you what you're after, possibly.
get a hammered sound from guitar or bass! http://www.stringhammer.com
hand-made version to raise money for manufacturing... kind of like kickstarter, but you get a fully functional item now
Whoa, that box is crazy, and that commercial is hilarious. I don't know that I'd ever use anything that complicated, but it's cool to see. Just when I think we've reached peak stompbox market I find more, and more unique boxes.
Been through the gamut of delays, too many to mention. Still own a lot of them, but mostly I get bored and move on. (I keep a SD Vapor Trail for analog cuz I haven't found better.) Just (finally) got a Boss RE-20 and it is the most fun I've had with a delay in decades - it seems to be the one that is most like playing an instrument. Just the right amount of controls plus a certain amount of pixie dust. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
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Denver Hotels
The Four Seasons' central location, attentive staff, and ultra-luxurious rooms make it one of Denver's top hotels. It offers all the features you'd expect from a property of this caliber: a year-round, heated outdoor pool, large fitness center, and upscale spa. The decor blends the sleek sophistication…
This 110-room luxury boutique, located in a historic building across the street from the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, has sophisticated (if smallish) rooms, a locally-inspired restaurant, a grand marble lobby, and theatrical costumes displayed on the walls. But it lacks some amenities you'll…
The Oxford is one of Denver's most notable historic hotels, ideally located in the lively LoDo neighborhood and in close proximity to area hot spots. Many of the 80 individually decorated rooms include luxe touches like claw-foot bathtubs, pillow-top mattresses, or bath butler service. Modern updates…
The Warwick Denver’s 219 rooms are large and bright, with flat-screen TVs and balconies. The hotel is located on the southwestern outskirts of downtown, on a grassy, tree-lined street that's still just within walking distance of major attractions. It offers a rooftop pool (a Denver rarity), but unlike…
This upscale boutique delivers all the fundamentals of the Kimpton chain: bright, quirky decor, a free nightly wine hour, and an open-arms pet policy. The day spa is recognized as one of the best in Denver, and rooms are stylish, with 37-inch flat-screen TVs. But bathrooms are a bit run-of-the-mill by…
The 202-room, sophisticated luxury property has a prime downtown location, upscale rooms that are the largest in Denver, and a popular steakhouse. The large spa is first-rate, as is the privately-owned fitness club, which guests can access for free. Only the Four Seasons and Brown Palace Hotel can compare.
At a staggering 38 stories, the business-oriented Hyatt Regency is almost a city unto itself, with over 1,100 rooms, a large fitness center, a lap pool, and three dining venues. Rooms are upscale, if chain-like, and some offer stunning views of the Rocky Mountains.
This upper-middle-range boutique hotel in downtown Denver is housed in a historic building, but inside, it's stylish and contemporary. The rooms are on the small side, but come with up-to-date technology, and high ceilings and large windows make them seem bigger than they are. The hotel offers some great…
This four-pearl business chain in Denver's Central Business District is perfectly pleasant, but lacks wow factor. The decor in the 516 rooms is mostly generic, with a few subtle Colorado influences (such as muted checkered pillow covers and Colorado themed pictures), and views are of the city or the…
One of the best-known and best-located hotels in Denver, the 364-room Crowne Plaza is an ideal upscale chain hotel for business travelers, families, and tourists who want to be within walking distance of the Convention Center, 16th Street Mall, and the Denver Art Museum. Although bathrooms are on the…
The 336-room Curtis DoubleTree by Hilton may be a mid-range hotel, but it's fun and kid-friendly, with themed floors -- including the TV Mania floor and the Floor of Champions -- and a great downtown location. Rooms are modern but a bit bland, and walls are thin.
The Westin Denver Downtown, conveniently located next to the 16th Street Pedestrian Mall, is quite like a Westin anywhere, with contemporary but generic rooms and a bevy of solid amenities. Chief among those is a heated indoor/outdoor pool with sundeck that offers lovely views of Downtown Denver and…
Cozy, historic, and romantic, the mid-range, nine-room Castle Marne Bed & Breakfast is perfect for couples who prefer a more intimate and personalized experience, loaded with character, over a more bigger, more commercialized hotel experience. Set in Denver’s leafy and residential downtown Capitol Hill…
Situated right off of Interstate 25 in an industrial, non-scenic area of Denver, the La Quinta Denver Central is a clean and partially renovated two-and-a-half pearl motel a 15-minute walk from Coors Field and within easy driving distance of most attractions, thanks to the proximity of the highway. Although…
The 213-room Quality Inn Central Denver is a budget hotel close to downtown. Guest rooms are generic but modern, with flat-screen TVs, coffeemakers, and free Wi-Fi. Some have kitchenettes. Conveniently, the hotel's free shuttlecan take guests anywhere within a five-mile radius. Breakfast is free, and… | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Q:
Jquery and Asynchronous Methods in popup.html
I'm playing around with building chrome extensions. I'm currently testing out the popup.html functionality when you click on the icon in the tool bar.
However I'm having a difficult time trying to wrap my head around using jquery in conjunction with the asynchronous methods of chrome.* apis. Maybe someone can elaborate further for me?
Scenario
popup.html contains buttons that interact with the current tab, The button's href is generated based on the current tab's url + additional text from an array. Using jQuery, I have a $("button").click(); inside of a document is ready. However these two do not seem to play nicely. Everything except for the jQuery stuff works.
example.
var the_current_url = '';
var url_addition = {
"button 1" : "/home",
"button 2" : "/about",
"button 3" : "/content"
}
function getCurrentURL(currentURL) {
if(currentURL) {
var scheme = currentURL.match(/^https?:\/\//i);
var newURL = '';
currentURL = currentURL.substring( scheme[0].length, currentURL.length );
currentURL = currentURL.substring( 0, currentURL.indexOf("/") );
the_current_url = newURL.concat(scheme[0], currentURL);
}
return true;
}
function buildButtons() {
var new_code = "<ul>\n";
// Generate the <li>
for (var key in url_addition) {
new_code = new_code.concat("<li><a href=\"",
the_current_url.concat(url_addition[key]),
"\" title=\"",
url_addition[key],
"\">",
key,
"</a></li>\n");
}
new_code = new_code.concat("</ul>");
return new_code;
}
// Get the Current URL and build the new url
chrome.tabs.query({
'active': true
}, function(tab) {
var currentURL = tab[0].url;
// Pass the Current URL to bb_current_url via Function
getCurrentURL(currentURL);
// add the popup buttons
document.getElementById("button-container").innerHTML = buildButtons();
});
$(document).ready(function() {
// Clicked on buttons
$("a").parents("#button-container").click(function() {
console.log("test" );
});
});
I'm able to get the current tab's url and build the buttons with the proper links, however when it comes to the jquery click action don't work. It seems like the jquery stuff happens before the button-container's buttons are created. So that the $("a")'s click doesn't return any output to the console.log. Anyone know how I'm suppose to correctly use chrome's api with jquery in this instance?
A:
This has nothing to do with jQuery - the same problem would occur with plain JS as well.
Basically, you need to make sure that:
The links are inserted into the DOM only when it is ready (so your button-container is present).
The behaviour is attached to the links after they have been inserted into the DOM.
You can change your code so that the links are inserted inside of $(document).ready(...) (to ensure the button-container is already there) and the event-handlers are registered right after inserting the links (to ensure that the links are present in the DOM).
E.g.:
/* Original comments omitted for brevity */
$(document).ready(function () {
/* The DOM is ready, so `#button-container` is guaranteed to be present */
chrome.tabs.query({ active: true } , function (tabs) {
var currentURL = tabs[0].url;
getCurrentURL(currentURL);
$('#button-container').html(buildButtons());
/* Place this inside the callback to ensure the links are present */
$('a').parents('#button-container').click(function() {
console.log('test');
});
});
});
BTW, your $('a').parents('#button-container') will resolve to #button-container (not to the children as). If I am not mistaken, you want to target all as that are inside #button-container and not #button-container itself.
To achieve this change your expression to:
$('#button-container a').click(function () {...});
| {
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
} |
This month’s “Agent Spotlight” features Andy Dressler of The Firm of Louisiana in Lake Charles. Dressler sat down with Louisiana Comp Blog to share his life-long love of Louisiana, the insurance business, and his grateful mentality. Read on to find out why Dressler will never be a “yes man” for his clients, even if it means a longer explanation.
Comp Blog: What is your family background (where you were born/grew up; spouse; children; any interesting details)?
Dressler: I was born and raised in Lake Charles, Louisiana. I have three boys: Jordan is 19, Noah is 10 and Dillon is 8. They are the joys of my life and constantly keep me on my toes with their words and antics!
My mother and father, Francis and Jan Dressler, have been together since they were fifteen years old and are still going strong and happy as ever, despite the many illnesses they have conquered. My two best friends in the world are my two brothers, Billy and Joey. I have the pleasure of seeing Billy every day as he is one of my partners at The Firm. Joey lives with his wife in Shreveport and my two beautiful and talented nieces. He also recently received his white coat at LSU medical school. I feel like I am the wealthiest man in the world when it comes to family.
Comp Blog: What is your agency or firm and your role within it?
Dressler: I am the owner of The Firm of Louisiana Property and Casualty, LLC and The Firm of Louisiana, LLC. I have two partners and we recently added a fourth. I am very active in The Firm of Louisiana Property and Casualty as an agent in Lake Charles. We have five agents, eight customer service reps, bookkeeper and a receptionist with our agency. We opened in September of 2008 and have been blessed and very fortunate with the growth and success of our business. We work on a referral basis and word of mouth.
Comp Blog: What are your areas of expertise in the insurance industry here in Louisiana?
Dressler: My area of expertise with our firm is getting to know the customers and finding a common ground with them. I feel like I know enough about the insurance products and coverage to help people and guide them in the right direction. I feel comfortable and enjoy talking to people. I love doing commercial insurance, but I also enjoy the personal lines side.
Comp Blog: How did you get into the insurance industry and why did you choose it?
Dressler: I graduated from college and immediately went into outside sales in the oil and gas industry. I enjoyed the people but the products weren’t very exciting. I stayed in that sector for five years and then decided to make a change and entered the life insurance business. I did well and eventually became a manager with my own team, but it became more of a daycare situation than a sales job.
In 2005, I went to work for an agency in which I could sell life and health insurance, as well as property and casualty. Armed with that knowledge, I opened my own agency from scratch in 2008 with the support of my partner, Barry Terrell. I thoroughly enjoy this industry and working closely with my clients. There is really no other occupation I would have chosen. I work with people that have to have the products I offer, making me an important part of their everyday business. There is a great satisfaction in knowing that you helped someone.
Comp Blog: What are your main recommendations/key considerations for clients as they shop for their coverage?
Dressler: When you are shopping for insurance coverage, don’t just be concerned with “price.” Many people who have incurred claims would have gladly paid more in premium to have some additional coverage. Have your agent go over each coverage with you and explain what it means, that is service that should be expected. Make sure you don’t have a wind and hail exclusion in the policy if you have property coverage. Get copies of all your paperwork. Always check your exclusions and endorsements. Don’t ever assume anything. Always check out the credibility of the company with which you’re being placed. Know what your deductibles are and how they function. Always ask questions if you’re uncomfortable in any way.
Comp Blog: What should a client look for in their agent?
Dressler: The best advice I can give to someone looking for an agent is to find a person who will listen and return your calls. You don’t want a “yes man,” you want someone to listen to your concerns and address them with actual solutions. Find someone that will go over your coverage with you and explain what you actually have. Also, always ask: “what am I losing if I move from one carrier to another?” As a client, you need to be comfortable with and trust your agent one hundred percent.
Comp Blog: How do you differentiate yourself in service to your clients? What makes you unique?
Dressler: As I mentioned, I work on a referral basis. I feel like I am always looking out for the client and my carriers before myself, which is how it should be. I go over coverage with my clients as well as my prospective clients. I am very good at getting back with my clients. I have a well-trained staff that try to treat customers the same as if I were working with them myself on whatever the situation is at that time. We have a very personable staff that are easy to work with and like their work environment. If we look high on a premium or we can’t get adequate coverage for the same premium, I have no problem telling someone to do what is best for them: whether it is to stay put or to look elsewhere.
Comp Blog: Could you comment on the local workers’ comp market: is it competitive right now? If so, how does this benefit your clients?
Dressler: The local workers’ comp market is very competitive right now. Many companies have taken price decreases in certain class codes, others have had increases. This is a benefit for the client and the agent because of the variety of options. Many companies now offer safety meetings for specific types of risks and loss control. One of the largest advantages for the client is that, because of all of the competition, the rates have remained consistently competitive and affordable.
Comp Blog: Louisiana has several local workers’ comp companies that together have the majority of the market. How important is it to you to have a strong local presence for workers’ comp markets and why?
Dressler: We, in Louisiana, have a great number of work comp carriers. Some carriers specialize in certain class codes. Other carriers may specialize in high risk classes only. Being diversified and having many local markets is great for both agents and their clients. Having experience with local carriers, and knowing where to market for a certain type of risk, can save the agency and the work comp underwriters a great deal of time and money.
Comp Blog: Finally, what is your favorite thing about Louisiana?
Dressler: I don’t know where to start! I love to hunt, fish, play golf, and watch my kids in their many sporting activities. I also love to eat and there is no finer cuisine than that of Louisiana.
I think the greatest thing about Louisiana is that people still say “thank you” when you help them – and they sincerely mean it. Our culture is wonderful and I am proud to be a part of it.
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About LA Comp Blog
Louisiana Comp Blog’s fresh and original content ranges from features and profiles of industry leaders to commentary/opinion articles and event coverage. We also publish a daily Comp News Bulletin every morning, which allows our readers to get a head start on their day with the top three to five stories affecting Louisiana’s workers’ comp industry on both the local and national scale. All of this makes us your one-stop source for the best workers’ comp reporting from across Louisiana. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Lennart Hannelius
Lennart Vilhelm Hannelius (8 November 1893 – 4 May 1950) was a Finnish sport shooter who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics. He won the bronze medal in the 25 m rapid fire pistol event.
References
External links
profile
Category:1893 births
Category:1950 deaths
Category:Finnish male sport shooters
Category:ISSF pistol shooters
Category:Olympic shooters of Finland
Category:Shooters at the 1924 Summer Olympics
Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Finland
Category:Olympic medalists in shooting
Category:Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics | {
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
} |
---
abstract: 'Online social networks (OSNs) are ubiquitous attracting millions of users all over the world. Being a popular communication media OSNs are exploited in a variety of cyber-attacks. In this article, we discuss the [*chameleon* ]{}attack technique, a new type of OSN-based trickery where malicious posts and profiles change the way they are displayed to OSN users to conceal themselves before the attack or avoid detection. Using this technique, adversaries can, for example, avoid censorship by concealing true content when it is about to be inspected; acquire social capital to promote new content while piggybacking a trending one; cause embarrassment and serious reputation damage by tricking a victim to like, retweet, or comment a message that he wouldn’t normally do without any indication for the trickery within the OSN. An experiment performed with closed Facebook groups of sports fans shows that (1) [*chameleon* ]{}pages can pass by the moderation filters by changing the way their posts are displayed and (2) moderators do not distinguish between regular and [*chameleon* ]{}pages. We list the OSN weaknesses that facilitate the [*chameleon* ]{}attack and propose a set of mitigation guidelines.'
author:
- 'Aviad Elyashar, Sagi Uziel, Abigail Paradise, and Rami Puzis'
bibliography:
- 'references.bib'
title: 'The Chameleon Attack: Manipulating Content Display in Online Social Media'
---
Introduction {#sec:introduction}
============
The following scenario is not a conventional introduction. Rather, it’s a brief example to stress the importance and potential impact of the disclosed weakness, unless the countermeasures described in this article are applied.
\[ex:teaser\] Imagine a controversial Facebook post shared by a friend of yours. You have a lot to say about the post, but you would rather discuss it in person to avoid unnecessary attention online. A few days later when you talk with your friend about the shared post, the friend does not understand what you’re referring to. Both of you scan through his/her timeline and nothing looks like that post. The next day you open Facebook and discover that in the last six months you have joined three Facebook groups of Satanists; you actively posted on a page supporting an extreme political group (although your posts are not directly related to the topics discussed there), and you liked several websites leading to video clips with child abuse. A terrible situation that could hurt your good name especially if you are a respected government employee!
At the time of submission of this article, the nightmare described in Example \[ex:teaser\] is still possible in major online social networks (OSNs) (see Section \[sec:susceptibility\]) due to a conceptual design flaw.
Today, OSNs are an integral part of our lives [@boyd2007social]. They are powerful tools for disseminating, sharing and consuming information, opinions, and news [@kwak2010twitter]; and for expanding connections [@gilbert2009predicting], etc. However, OSNs are also constantly abused by cybercriminals who exploit them for malicious purposes, including spam and malware distribution [@lee2010uncovering], harvesting personal information [@boshmaf2011socialbot], infiltration [@elyashar2013homing], and spreading misinformation [@ferrara2015manipulation]. Bots, fake profiles, and fake information are all well-known scourges being tackled by OSN providers, academic researchers, and organizations around the world with various levels of success. It is extremely important to constantly maintain the content of social platforms and service-wise, in order to limit abuse as much as possible.
To provide the best possible service to their users, OSNs allow users to edit or delete published content [@facebook_help_edit_post], edit user profiles, and update previews of linked resources, etc. These features are important to keep social content up to date, to correct grammatical or factual errors in published content, and eliminate abusive content. Unfortunately, they also open an opportunity for a scam where OSN users are tricked into engaging with seemingly appealing content that is later modified. This type of scam is trivial to execute and is out of the scope of this article.
Facebook partially mitigates the problem of modifications made to posts after their publication by displaying an indication that a post was edited. Other OSNs, such as Twitter or Instagram, do not allow published posts to be edited. Nevertheless, the major OSNs (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn) allow publishing redirect links, and they support link preview updates. This allows changing the way a post is displayed without any indication that the target content of the URLs has been changed.
In this article, we present a novel type of OSN attack termed the [*chameleon* ]{}attack, where the content (or the way it is displayed) is modified over time to create social traction before executing the attack (see Section \[sec:chameleon\_attack\]). We discuss the OSN misuse cases stemming from this attack and their potential impacts in Section \[sec:misuse\]. We review the susceptibility of seven major OSN platforms to the [*chameleon* ]{}attack in Section \[sec:susceptibility\] and present the results of an intrusion into closed Facebook groups facilitated by it in Section \[sec:group\_infiltration\_experiments\]. A set of suggested countermeasures that should be applied to reduce the impact of similar attacks in the future is suggested in Section \[sec:mitigation\].
The contribution of this study is three-fold:
- We present a new OSN attack termed the [*chameleon* ]{}attack, including an end-to-end demonstration on major OSNs (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn).
- We present a social experiment on Facebook showing that chameleons facilitate infiltration into closed communities.
- We discuss multiple misuse cases and mitigation from which we derive a recommended course of action to OSNs.
Background on redirection and link preview
==========================================
#### Redirection
It is a common practice on the web that helps Internet users to find relocated resources, use multiple aliases for the same resource, and shorten long and cumbersome URLs. Thus, the use of URL shortening services is very common within OSNs.
There are two types of redirect links: server, and client redirects. In the case of a server-side redirect, the server returns the HTTP status code 301 (redirect) with a new URL. Major OSNs follow server-side redirects up to the final destination in order to provide their users with a preview of the linked Web resource. In the case of a client-side redirect, the navigation process is carried out by a JavaScript command executed in the client’s browser. Since the OSNs do not render the Web pages they do not the follow client redirects up to the final destination.
#### Short links and brand management
There are many link redirection services across the Web that use 301 server redirects for brand management, URL shortening, click counts and various website access statistics. Some of these services that focus on brand management, such as *[rebrandly.com](rebrandly.com)*, allow their clients to change the target URL while maintaining the aliases. Some services, such as *[bitly.com](bitly.com)*, require a premium subscription to change the target URL.
The ability to change the target URL without changing the short alias is important when businesses restructure their websites or move them to a different web host. Yet, as will be discussed in Section \[sec:chameleon\_attack\], this feature may be exploited to facilitate the [*chameleon* ]{}attack.
#### DNS updates
DNS is used to resolve the IP address of a server given a domain name. The owner of the domain name may designate any target IP address for his/her domain and change it at will. The update process may take up to 24 hours to propagate. Rapid DNS update queries, known as Fast Flux, are used by adversaries to launch spam and phishing campaigns. Race conditions due to the propagation of DNS updates cause a domain name to be associated with multiple, constantly changing IP addresses at the same time.
#### Link previews
Generating and displaying link previews is an important OSN feature that streamlines the social interaction within the OSN. It allows the users to quickly get a first impression of a post or a profile without extra clicks. Based on the meta-tags of the target page, the link preview, usually includes a title, a thumbnail, and a short description of the resource targeted by the URL [@kopetzky1999visual].
When shortened URLs or other server-side redirects are used, the OSN follows the redirection path to generate a preview of the final destination. These previews are cached due to performance considerations. The major OSNs update the link previews upon request (see Section \[sec:weaknesses\] for details). In the case of client-redirect, some OSNs (e.g., Twitter) use the meta-tags of the first HTML page in the redirect chain. Others, (e.g., Facebook) follow the client redirect up to the final destination.
The Chameleon Attack {#sec:chameleon_attack}
====================
The [*chameleon* ]{}attack takes advantage of link previews and redirected links to modify the way that published content is displayed within the OSN without any indication for the modifications made. As part of this attack, the adversary circumvents the content editing restrictions of an OSN by using redirect links.
![\[fig:chameleon\_attack\_phases\]Chameleon Attack Phases.](killchain.png){width="0.6\columnwidth"}
We align the phases of a typical [*chameleon* ]{}attack to a standard cyber kill chain as follows:
1. **Reconnaissance** (out of scope): The attacker collects information about the victim using standard techniques to create an appealing disguise for the [*chameleon* ]{}posts and profiles.
2. **Weaponizing** (main phase): The attacker creates one or more redirection chains to web resources (see Required Resources in Section \[sec:resources\]). The attacker creates [*chameleon* ]{}posts or profiles that contain the redirect links.
3. **Delivery** (out of scope): The attacker attracts the victim’s attention to the [*chameleon* ]{}posts and profiles, similar to phishing or spear-phishing attacks.
4. **Maturation** (main phase): The [*chameleon* ]{}content builds trust within the OSN, collects social capital, and interacts with the victims. This phase is inherent to spam and phishing attacks that employ fake OSN profiles. But since such attacks are not considered as sophisticated and targeted, this phase is typically ignored in standard cyber kill chains or is referred to by the general term of *social engineering*. Nevertheless, building trust within an OSN is very important for the success of both targeted and un-targeted [*chameleon* ]{}attacks.
5. **Execution** (main phase): The attacker modifies the display of the [*chameleon* ]{}posts or profiles by changing the redirect target and refreshing the cached link previews.
Since the [*chameleon* ]{}attack is executed outside the victim’s premises there are no lateral movement or privilege escalation cycles. This attack can be used during the reconnaissance phase of a larger attack campaign or to reduce the cost of weaponizing any OSN based attack campaign (see examples in Section \[sec:misuse\]). The most important phases in the execution flow of the [*chameleon* ]{}attack are *weaponizing*, *maturation*, and *execution* as depicted in Figure \[fig:chameleon\_attack\_phases\]. The attacker may proceed with additional follow-up activities depending on the actual attack goal as described in Section \[sec:misuse\].
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A Brief Showcase
----------------
To demonstrate how a [*chameleon* ]{}attack looks from the user’s perspective, we show here examples of [*chameleon* ]{}posts and profiles.[^1] The link preview in this post will change each time you click the video. It may take about 20 seconds and requires refreshing the page.
#### Chameleon Post
Figures \[fig:posts\] (1,2) present the same post on Facebook with two different link previews. Both versions of the post lead to *YouTube.com* and are displayed accordingly. There is no indication of any modification made to the post in either of its versions because the actual post was not modified. Neither is there an edit history, for the same reason. Likes and comments are retained. If the post was shared, the shares will show the old link preview even after it was modified in the original post.
Similarly, Figure \[fig:posts\] (3,4) and (5,6) present two versions of the same post on Twitter and LinkedIn respectively. There is no edit indication nor edit history because Twitter tweets cannot be edited. As with Facebook, likes, comments, and retweets are retained after changing the posted video and updating the link preview. Unlike Facebook, however, the link previews of all retweets and all LinkedIn posts that contain the link will change simultaneously.
#### Chameleon Profile
Figure \[fig:pages\] presents example of a [*chameleon* ]{}page on Facebook and a [*chameleon* ]{}profile on Twitter. Since the technique used to build [*chameleon* ]{}profiles and [*chameleon* ]{}pages are similar, as well as their look and feel, in the rest of this paper, we will use the terms pages and profiles interchangeably. All OSNs allow changing the background picture and the description of profiles, groups, and pages. A [*chameleon* ]{}profile is different from a regular profile by [*chameleon* ]{}posts included alongside neutral or personal posts. This way a Chelsea fan (Figure \[fig:pages\].1) can pretend to be an Arsenal fan (Figure \[fig:pages\].2) and vice versa.
Required Resources {#sec:resources}
------------------
The most important infrastructure element used to execute the [*chameleon* ]{}attack is a redirection service that allows attackers to modify the redirect target without changing the alias. This can be implemented using a link redirection service or a website controlled by the adversary.
In the former case, the link redirection service must allow modifying the target link for a previously defined alias. This is the preferred infrastructure to launch the [*chameleon* ]{}attack.
In the latter case, if the attacker has control over the redirection server then a server-side 301 redirect can be used, seamlessly utilizing the link preview feature of major OSNs. If the attacker has no control over the webserver, he/she may still use a client-side redirect. He/she will have to supply the required metadata for the OSN to create link previews.
If the attacker owns the domain name used to post the links, he/she may re-target the IP address associated with the domain name to a different web resource. Fast flux attack infrastructure can also be used; however, this is overkill for the [*chameleon* ]{}attack and may cause the attack to be detected [@holz2008measuring].
Example Instances {#sec:misuse}
-----------------
In this section, we detail several examples of misuse cases [@mcdermott2000eliciting] which extend the general [*chameleon* ]{}attack. Each misuse case provides a specific flavor of the attack execution flow, as well as the possible impact of the attack.
### Incrimination and Shaming
This flavor of the [*chameleon* ]{}attack targets specific users. Shaming is one of the major threats in OSNs [@goldman2015trending]. In countries like Thailand, the shaming misuse cases can potentially be dangerous where people face up to 32 years in prison for “liking” or re-sharing content that insults the king. Here, the impact can be greatly amplified if the adversary employs *chameleons* and the victim is careless enough to interact with content posted by a dubious profile or page.
#### Execution flow
The attacker performs the (1) *reconnaissance* and (3) *delivery* phases using standard techniques, similar to a spear-phishing attack.[^2]
\(2) During the *weaponizing* phase, the attacker creates [*chameleon* ]{}posts that endorse a topic favored by the victim, e.g., he/she may post some new music clips by the victim’s favorite band. Each post includes a redirect link that points to a YouTube video or similar web resource, but the redirection is controlled by the attacker.
\(4) During the *maturation* phase, the victim shows their appreciation of seemingly appealing content by following the [*chameleon* ]{}page, linking, retweeting, commenting, or otherwise interacting with the [*chameleon* ]{}posts. Unlike in spear-phishing, where the victim is directed to an external resource or is required to expose his/her personal information, here standard interactions that are considered safe within OSNs are sufficient to affiliate the victim with the [*chameleon* ]{}posts. This significantly lowers the attack barrier. (5) Finally, immediately after the victim’s interaction with the [*chameleon* ]{}posts, the adversary switches their display to content that opposes the victim’s agenda to cause maximal embarrassment or political damage. The new link preview will appear in the victim’s timeline. The OSN will amplify this attack by notifying the victim’s friends (Facebook) and followers (Twitter) about the offensive posts liked, commented, or retweeted by the victim.
#### Potential impact
At the very least, such an attack can cause discomfort to the victim. It can be life-threatening in cases when the victim is a teenager. And it can have far-reaching consequences if used during political campaigns.
### Long Term Avatar Fleet Management
Adversaries maintain fleets of fake OSN profiles termed avatars to collect intelligence, infiltrate organizations, disseminate misinformation, etc. To avoid detection by machine learning algorithms and build long term trust within the OSN sophisticated avatars need to be operated by a human [@elyashar2016guided; @paradise2017creation]. The maturation process of such avatars may last from several months to a few years. Fortunately, the attack target and the required number of avatars are usually not known in advance significantly reducing the cost-effectiveness of sophisticated avatars. *Chameleon* profiles exposed here facilitate efficient management of a fleet of avatars by maintaining a pool of mature avatars whose timeline is adapted to the agenda of the attack target once it is known.
#### Execution Flow
In this special misuse case, the attack phases *weaponizing* and *maturation* are performed twice; both before and after the attack target is known.
\(1) The first *weaponizing* phase starts with establishing the redirect infrastructure and building a fleet of avatars. They are created with neutral displays common within the OSN.
\(2) During the initial *maturation* process, the neutral avatars regularly publish [*chameleon* ]{}posts with neutral displays. They acquire friends while maximizing the acceptance rate of their friend requests [@paradise2017creation].
\(3) Once the attack target is known the attacker performs the required *reconnaissance*, selects some of the mature [*chameleon* ]{}profiles, and (4) *weaponizes* them with the relevant agenda by changing the profile information and the display of all past [*chameleon* ]{}posts.
During (5) *delivery* and (6) the second *maturation* phase, the refreshed [*chameleon* ]{}profiles (avatars) contact the target and build trust with it. The (7) *execution* phase in this misuse case depends on the attacker’s goals. The avatars that already engaged in an attack will likely be discarded.
#### Potential Impact
The adversary does not have to create an OSN account and build an appropriate agenda for each avatar long before executing an attack. *Chameleon* profiles and posts are created and maintained as a general resource suitable for various attack campaigns. As a result, the cost of maintaining such avatars is dramatically reduced. Moreover, if an avatar is detected and blocked during the attack campaign, its replacement can be *weaponized* and released very quickly.
### Evading Censorship
OSNs maintain millions of entities, such as pages, groups, communities, etc. For example, Facebook groups unite users based on shared interests [@casteleyn2009use]. To ensure proper language, avoid trolling and abuse, or allow in only users with a very specific agenda, moderators inspect the users who ask to join the groups and review the published posts. *Chameleon* attack can help in evading censorship, as well as a shallow screening of OSN profiles. See Section \[sec:mitigation\] for specific recommendations on profile screening to detect [*chameleon* ]{}profiles.
For example, assume two Facebook groups, uniting Democrat and Republican activists during U.S. elections. Assume a dishonest activist from one political extreme that would like to join a Facebook group of the rivals. Reasons may vary from trolling to spying. Assume, that this activist would like to spread propaganda within the rival group. But pages that exhibit an agenda that is not appropriate for the group would not be allowed by the group owner. The next procedure would allow the rival activist to bypass the censorship of the group moderator.
#### Execution Flow
During the (1) *reconnaissance* phase, the adversary learns the censorship rules of the target. (2) The *weaponizing* phase includes establishing a [*chameleon* ]{}profile with agenda appropriate to the censorship. During the (3) *maturation* phase, the adversary publishes posts with redirect links to videos fitting the censorship rules. (4) *delivery* in this case represents the censored act, such as requesting to enter a group, sending a friend request, posting a video, etc. The censor (e.g., the group’s administrator) reviews the profile and its timeline and approves them to be presented to all group members. Finally, in the (5) *execution* phase, the adversary changes the display of its profile and posts to reflect a new agenda that would otherwise not be allowed by the censor.
#### Potential Impact
This attack allows the adversary to infiltrate a closed group and publishing posts in contrast to the administrator’s policy. Moreover, one-time censorship of published content would no longer be sufficient. Moderators would have to invest a lot more effort in the periodical monitoring of group members and their posts to ensure that they still fit the group’s agenda. In Section \[sec:group\_infiltration\_experiments\], we demonstrate the execution of the [*chameleon* ]{}attack for penetrating closed groups using soccer fan groups as an allegory for groups with extreme political agenda.
### Promotion
Unfortunately, the promotion of content, products, ideas, etc. using bogus and unfair methods is very common in OSNs. Spam and crowdturfing are two example techniques used for promotion. The objective of spam is to reach maximal exposure through unsolicited messages. Bots and crowdturfers are used to misrepresent the promoted content as a generally popular one by adding likes and comments. Crowdturfers [@lee2013crowdturfers] are human workers who promote social content for economic incentives. *Chameleon* attack can be used to acquire likes and comments of genuine OSN users by piggybacking a popular content.
#### Execution Flow
During (1) *reconnaissance* phase, the attacker collects information about a topic favorable to the general public that is related to the unpopular content that the attacker wants to promote. (2) During the *weaponizing* phase, the attacker creates a [*chameleon* ]{}page and posts that support the favorite topic. For example, assume an adversary who is a new singer who would like to promote themselves. In the *weaponizing* phase, he/she can create a [*chameleon* ]{}page that supports a well-known singer. During the (3) *delivery* and (4) *maturation* phases, the OSN users show their affection towards seemingly appealing content by interacting with the [*chameleon* ]{}page using likes, linking, retweeting, commenting, etc. As time passes, the [*chameleon* ]{}page obtains social capital. In the final (5) *execution* phase, the [*chameleon* ]{}page’s display changes to support the artificially promoted content retaining the unfairly collected social capital.
#### Potential Impact
The attacker can use [*chameleon* ]{}pages and posts to promote content by piggybacking popular content. The attacker enjoys the social capital provided by a genuine crowd that otherwise would not interact with the dubious content. Social capital obtained from bots or crowdturfers can be down-rated using various reputation management techniques. In contrast, social capital obtained through the [*chameleon* ]{}trickery is provided by genuine OSN users.
### Clickbait
Most of the revenues of online media come from online advertisements [@chakraborty2016stop]. This phenomenon generated a significant amount of competition among online media websites for the readers’ attention and their clicks. To attract users and encourage them to visit a website and click a given link, the website administrators use catchy headlines along with the provided links, which lure users into clicking on the given link [@chakraborty2016stop]. This phenomenon titled clickbait.
#### Execution Flow
\(1) During the *weaponizing* phase, the attacker creates [*chameleon* ]{}profiles with posts with redirect links. Consider an adversary that is a news provider who would like to increase the traffic to its website. To increase its revenues, he can do the following: in the *weaponizing* phase, he should publish a [*chameleon* ]{}post with a catchy headline with an attached link to an interesting article. Later, in the *maturation* phase, users attract the post by its attractive link preview, as well as its headline, and increase the traffic to a website. Later, in the *execution* phase, the adversary changes the redirect target of the posted link but keeping the link preview not updated. As a result, new users will click on the [*chameleon* ]{}post that its display did not change, but now they will be navigated to the adversary’s website.
#### Potential Impact
By applying this attack, the attacker can increase his traffic and, eventually, his income. Luring the users with an attractive link preview in which increases the likelihood that the user will click on it and will consume his content.
Susceptibility of Social Networks to the Chameleon Attack {#sec:susceptibility}
=========================================================
Online Social Networks
----------------------
Attacker’s ability OSN feature Facebook Twitter WhatsApp Instagram Reddit Flickr LinkedIn
-------------------- -------------------------------------------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ----------- -------- -------- ----------
Editing a post’s publication date Y N N N N N N
Presenting original publication date Y - - - - - -
Editing previously published posts Y N N Y Y Y Y
Presenting editing indication in published posts Y - - Y N N Y
Presenting editing indication in shared post N - - Y - - Y
Presenting edit history Y - - N - - N
Publishing redirect links Y Y Y N Y Y Y
Changing display Displaying link preview Y Y Y - Y N Y
Updating link preview Y Y N - N - Y
Switching content Hiding posts Y N N Y Y Y N
= Facilitates the [*chameleon* ]{}attack. = Mitigates the [*chameleon* ]{}attack \[tab:OsnCompareTbl\]
### Facebook
Facebook allows users to manipulate the display of previously published posts based on several different features. The features include the publishing of redirect links, editing post’s publication date, hiding previously published posts, and publishing unauthorized content in a closed group.
Up until 2017, in case a user edits a post on Facebook, an indicator is presented for the users to notify them that the content had been updated. After 2017, a Facebook update removed this public notification and enable to see the post’s history only via the button of ’View Edit History.’
While Facebook allows editing post’s publication date, it displays a small indication concerning the original publication date of the post. To watch the original publication date, a user must hover over the clock icon shown in the post, and a bubble will be shown together with the original publication date.
Also, concerning Facebook pages, Facebook does not allow to do radical changes to the original name of a page daily. However, it is still possible to conduct limited edits to the page’s name; changes that are so minor that the context of the original name will be not changed. As a result, we were able to rename a page in phases by editing the name of a given page with small changes in each edit action. First, we changed only two characters from the name of a page. Afterward, three days later, we changed two more characters and so forth until eventually, we were able to rename the page entirely as we wished.
As a countermeasure, Facebook employs a mechanism called *Link Shim* to keep Facebook users safe from external malicious links [@FacebookLinkShim]. When clicking on an external link posted on Facebook, their mechanism checks whether the link is blacklisted. In case of a suspicious URL, Facebook will notify the user [@FacebookLinkShim]. Redirect links used in [*chameleon* ]{}posts lead to legitimate destinations and so are currently approved by *Link Shim*.
### Twitter
As opposed to Facebook, Twitter does not allow users to edit and hide tweets that have already been published, or to manipulate a tweet’s publication date (see Table \[tab:OsnCompareTbl\]). This mechanism makes it more difficult for an attacker to manipulate the display of previously published content. On the other hand, Twitter allows the use of client redirects. This poses the same danger as Facebook redirects, allowing attackers to manipulate the link preview of a tweet with content that is not necessarily related to the target website. Moreover, Twitter allows users to update a link preview using the *Card Validator*.[^3] In addition, Twitter makes it possible to change a user’s display name but does not allow to change the original username chosen during registration (serves as an identifier).
### WhatsApp
WhatsApp allows messages to be published with redirect links and it displays link previews but it does not allow the update of an already published link preview. As opposed to other OSNs, WhatsApp is the only OSN that displays an indication that the message was deleted by its author.
WhatsApp is safe against most flavors of the [*chameleon* ]{}attack, except *clickbait* where an attacker can trick others by encouraging them to click a malicious link with a preview of a benign link.
### Instagram
Concerning redirect links, Instagram does not allow users to publish external links (see Table \[tab:OsnCompareTbl\]). Since the posts are image-based, the attacker cannot change the published content by redirect link. However, Instagram allows to edit already published posts, The editing process includes the text in the description section, as well as the image itself. In case of such a change to a post was made by its owner, no indication is shown to users.
### Reddit
Alongside its popularity, Reddit is prone to a [*chameleon* ]{}attack: In this OSN, the attacker can edit, delete or hide already published posts while others will not be able to know that the content has been modified.
### Flickr
As opposed to Facebook and WhatsApp, Flickr does not show link previews, but it allows users to update their posts, replace uploaded images, hide already published posts, and edit their account name. All these activities can be performed by users, without any indication for the users to the editing activity.
### LinkedIn
LinkedIn permits users to share a redirect link and to update the link preview using *Post Inspector*.[^4] As a result, users can edit their posts, however, the post will be marked as edited.
Existing Weaknesses and Security Controls {#sec:weaknesses}
-----------------------------------------
Next, we summarize the OSN weaknesses related to the [*chameleon* ]{}attack, as well as controls deployed by the various OSNs to mitigate potential misuse. While the main focus of this article is the [*chameleon* ]{}attack facilitated by cached link previews, in this subsection we also discuss other types of the [*chameleon* ]{}attack successfully mitigated by major OSNs.
### Creating artificial timeline
Publishing posts in retrospective is a feature that is easiest to misuse. Such a feature helps an adversary creating OSN accounts that look older and more reliable than they are. Luckily, all OSNs, but Facebook, do not provide such a feature to their users. Although Facebook allows *editing a post’s publication date*, it mitigates possible misuse of this feature for creating artificial timelines by *presenting the original publication date* of the post.
### Changing content
Some OSNs provide their users with the ability to *edit previously published posts*. This feature facilitates all misuse cases detailed in Section \[sec:misuse\] without any additional resources required from the attacker. Twitter and WhatsApp do not allow editing of previously published posts. Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn mitigate potential misuse by *presenting editing indication in published posts*. Facebook even *presents the edit history* of a post. Unfortunately, in contrast to Instagram and LinkedIn, Facebook does not *present the edit indication in shared posts*. We urge Facebook to correct this minor yet important omission.
### Changing Display
The primary weakness of the major OSNs (Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn) which facilitates the [*chameleon* ]{}attack discussed in this paper is the combination of three features provided by the OSNs. First, *publishing redirect links* allows attackers to change the navigation target of the posted links without any indication of such a change. Second, OSNs *display a link preview* based on metadata provided by the website at the end of the chain of server redirects. This feature allows the attackers to control the way link previews are displayed. Finally, OSNs allow *updating link preview* following the changes in the redirect chain of the previously posted link. Such an update is performed without displaying an indication that the post was updated. Currently, there are no controls that mitigate the misuse of these features.
WhatsApp, Reddit, and LinkedIn display link previews of redirect links similar to Facebook and Twitter. But they do not provide a feature to update the link previews. On one hand, the only applicable misuse case for the [*chameleon* ]{}attack in these OSNs is *clickbait*. On the other hand, updating link previews is important for commercial brand management.
### Switching Content
Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and Flickr allow users to temporarily *hide their posts*. This feature allows a user to prepare multiple sets of posts where each set exhibits a different agenda. Later, the adversary may display the appropriate set of posts and hide the rest. The major downsides of this technique as far as the attacker is concerned are: (1) The need to maintain the sets of posts ahead of time similar to maintaining a set of regular profiles. (2) Social capital acquired by one set of posts cannot be reused by the other sets, except friends and followers.
Overall, all reviewed OSNs are well protected against timeline manipulation. The major OSNs, except Reddit and Flickr, are aware of the dangers of post-editing and provide appropriate controls to avoid misuse. Due to the real-time nature of messaging in Twitter and WhatsApp, these OSNs can disable the option of editing posts.
The major OSNs, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, care about the business of their clients and thus, explicitly provide features to update link previews. *Chameleon* attack exposed in this paper misuses this feature to manipulate the display of posts and profiles. Provided that Reddit and Flickr allow editing the post content, only WhatsApp and Instagram are not susceptible to [*chameleon* ]{}attacks.
Instagram stores the posted images and not the links to the external resources, an approach that may not scale and may not be suitable for all premium customers. WhatsApp stores the data locally and does not allow recollecting past messages if the receiver is not a member of the group when the message was posted. WhatsApp’s approach is not suitable for bloggers, commercial pages, etc. that would like to share their portfolio with every newcomer.
Additional Required Security Controls {#sec:mitigation}
-------------------------------------
The best way to mitigate the [*chameleon* ]{}attack is to disallow redirect links and to disable link preview updates in all OSNs. Nevertheless, we acknowledge that it is not possible to stop using external redirect links and short URLs. These features are very popular on social networks and important in brand management.
First and foremost an appropriate change indication should be displayed whenever the link preview cache is updated. Since on Facebook the cache is updated by the author of the original post, it can naturally be displayed in the post’s edit history. Link preview cache updates should be treated similar to the editing of posts.
However, edit indications on posts will not help unless users will be trained to pay attention to these indications. Facebook, and other OSNs, should make it crystal clear which version of the post a user liked or commented on. To minimize the impact of the [*chameleon* ]{}attack likes, shares and comments of a post should be associated with a specific version of the post within the edit history, by default. It is also important to let users know about subsequent modifications of the posts they liked, commented, or shared. The users will be able, for example, to delete their comments or to confirm it, moving the comment back from the history to the main view.
In Twitter and LinkedIn, anyone can update the link preview. The motivation for this feature is two-fold: (1) The business owner should be able to control the look and feel of his business card within the OSN regardless of the specific user who posted it. (2) Link previews should always be up to date. It will be challenging to design appropriate mitigation for the [*chameleon* ]{}without partially giving up these objectives.
We suggest notifying a Twitter (or LinkedIn) user who posted a link to an external site whenever the link preview is updated. The user will be able to delete the post or accept the link preview update at his sole discretion. By default, the link preview should remain unchanged. This approach may increase the number of notifications the users receive, but with appropriate filters, it will not be a burden on the users. However, it may require maintaining copies of link previews for all re-posted links, which in turn significantly increase storage requirements.
Finally, OSNs should update their anomaly detection algorithms to take into account changes made to the posts’ content and link previews, as well as the reputation of the servers along the redirection path of the posted links.
It may take time to implement the measures described. Meanwhile, users should be aware that their *likes and comments are precious assets* that may be used against them if given out blindly.
Next, we suggest a few guidelines that will help average OSN users detecting [*chameleon* ]{}posts and profiles. Given a suspected profile, check the textual content of its posts. *Chameleon* profiles should publish general textual descriptions to easily switch agenda. The absence of opinionated textual descriptions in the topic of your mutual interest may indicate a potential [*chameleon* ]{}. A Large number of ambiguous posts that can be interpreted in the context of the cover image or in the context of other posts in the timeline should increase the suspicion. For example, “This is the best goalkeeper in the world!!!” without a name mentioned is ambiguous. Also using public services like Facebook provided[^5] for watching a given post history can be useful for detecting a [*chameleon* ]{}post.
Many redirect links within the profile timeline is also an indication of [*chameleon* ]{}capabilities. We do not encourage the users to click links in the posts of suspicious profiles to check whether they are redirected! In Facebook and LinkedIn, a simple inspection of the URL can reveal whether a redirection is involved. Right-click the post and copy-paste the link address in any URL decoder. If the domain name within the copied URL matches the domain name within the link preview and you trust this domain, you are safe. Today, most links on Facebook are redirected through Facebook’s referral service. The URL you should look at follows the “u” parameter within the query string of l.facebook.com/l.php. If the domain name is appearing after “, u=” differs from the domain name within the link preview, the post’s author uses redirection services. Unfortunately, today, links posted on Twitter are shortened, and the second hop of the redirection cannot be inspected by just copying the URL.
Group Infiltration Experiment {#sec:group_infiltration_experiments}
=============================
In this section, we present an experiment conducted on Facebook to asses the reaction of Facebook group moderators to [*chameleon* ]{}pages. In this experiment, we follow the execution flow of the misuse case number 4 *evading censorship* in Section \[sec:misuse\].
Experimental Setup {#sec:experimentalSetup}
------------------
In this experiment, four pairs of rival soccer and basketball teams were selected: Arsenal vs Chelsea, Manchester United vs Manchester City, Lakers vs Clippers, and Knicks vs Nets. We used sixteen Facebook pages: one regular and one [*chameleon* ]{}page for each sports team. Regular pages post YouTube videos that support the respective sports team. Their names are explicitly related to the team they support e.g., “Arsenal - The Best Team in the World.” *Chameleon* pages post redirect links that lead to videos that support either the team or their rivals. Their names can be interpreted based on the context e.g., “The Best Team in the World.” The icons and cover images of all pages reflect the team they (currently) support.
Next, we selected twelve Facebook groups that support each one of the eight teams (total of 96 Facebook groups) according to the following three criteria: (a) the group allows pages to join it, (b) the group is sufficiently large (at least 50 members), and (c) there was at least some activity within the group in last month.
We requested to join each group four times: (1) as a regular fan page, (2) as a regular rival page, (3) as a [*chameleon* ]{}page while supporting the rivals, and (4) the same [*chameleon* ]{}page requested to join the group again now pretending to be a fan page. We requested each group in a random order of the pages. We used a balanced experiment design to test all permutations of pages where the respective [*chameleon* ]{}page first requests to join the group as rival’s page and afterward as fan’s page. We allowed at least five days between consequent requests to join each group.
A page can be *Approved* by the group admin or moderator (hereafter admin). In this case, the page becomes a member of the group. While the admin has not decided yet, the request is *Pending*. The owner can *Decline* the request. In this case, the page is not a member of the group, but it is possible to request to join the group again. Neither one of our pages was *Blocked* by the group admins, therefore, we ignore this status in the following results. Whenever a [*chameleon* ]{}page pretending to be a rival page is *Approved* by an admin, there is no point in trying to join the same group using the same page again. We consider this status as *Auto Approved*.
The first phase of the experiment started on July 20, 2019, and included only the Facebook groups supporting Chelsea and Arsenal. The relevant [*chameleon* ]{}pages changed the way they are displayed on Aug. 16. The second phase started on Sept. 5, 2019, and included the rest of the Facebook groups. The relevant [*chameleon* ]{}pages changed the way they are displayed on Sept. 23. The following results summarize both phases.
Results {#sec:results}
-------
During the experiment, 14 Facebook groups prevented (any) pages from joining the group. We speculate that the admins were not aware of the option of accepting pages as group members, and updated the group settings after they saw our first requests. These 14 groups were *Disqualified* in the current experiment. Overall, there were 206 *Approved* requests, 87 *Declined*, and 35 *Pending*. Figure \[fig:chamVsPage\] presents the distribution of request statuses for the different types of pages.
![Request results by type of page[]{data-label="fig:chamVsPage"}](chamVsPage.JPG){width="3.5in"}
Some admins blindly approved requests. For example, 28 groups approved all requests. Other group admins meticulously check the membership requests. Thirteen groups *Declined* or ignored the rival pages and *Approved* pages that exhibit the correct agenda. Overall, **the reaction of admins to [*chameleon* ]{}pages is similar to their reaction to regular pages with the same agenda**. To check this hypothesis, we used a one-way ANOVA test to determine whether there is a significant difference between the four types of group membership requests. The test was conducted on the request status values at the end of the experiment (*Declined*, *Pending*, *Approved*). Results showed that there is no statistically-significant difference between the approval of [*chameleon* ]{}fan pages and regular fan pages (p-value = 0.33). There is also no statistically-significant difference between the approval of [*chameleon* ]{}rival pages and regular rival pages (p-value = 0.992). However, the difference between the approval of either regular or [*chameleon* ]{}rival pages and the approval of both types of fan pages is statistically-significant with p-value ranging from 0.00 to 0.003. These results indicate that the reaction of admins to [*chameleon* ]{}pages in our experiment is similar to their reaction to regular (non-*chameleon*) pages with a similar agenda. We conclude that **admins do not distinguish between regular and [*chameleon* ]{}pages.** This conclusion is stressed by the observation that only two groups out of 82 *Declined* [*chameleon* ]{}fan pages and *Approved* regular fan pages. Seven groups approved [*chameleon* ]{}fan pages and rejected regular fan pages.
The above results also indicate that, in general, **admins are selective toward pages that they censor.** Next, we measure the selectivity of the group admins using a Likert scale [@joshi2015likert]. Relying on the conclusion that admins do not distinguish between regular and [*chameleon* ]{}pages, we treat them alike to measure admins’ selectivity. Each time a group admin *Declined* a rival page or *Approved* a fan page he/she received one point. Each time a fan page was *Declined* or a rival page was *Approved*, the selectivity was reduced by one point. *Pending* request status added zero toward the selectivity score.
For each group, we summed up the points to calculate its selectivity score. When the selectivity score is greater than three, we consider the group as *selective*. If the selectivity score is less than or equal to three, we consider the group as *not selective*.
To explain the differences in groups’ selectivity, first, we tested if there is a difference between the number of members in selective and non-selective groups using t-tests. We found that smaller groups are more selective than, larger ones with p-value = 0.00029. This result is quite intuitive. Smaller groups tend to check the identity of the users who ask to join the group, while large groups are less likely to examine the identity of the users who want to join the group. Figure \[fig:groupsScoreAvg\] presents the groups’ activity and size vs. their selectivity score. There is a weak negative correlation between the group’s selectivity score and the number of members (Pearson correlation = -0.187, p-value = 0.093).
Related Work
============
Content Spoofing and Spoofing Identification
--------------------------------------------
Content spoofing is one of the most prevalent vulnerabilities in web applications [@grossman2017whitehat]. It is also known as content injection or virtual defacement. This attack deceives users by presenting particular content on a website as legitimate and not from an external source [@lungu2010optimizing; @awang2013detecting; @karandel2016security]. Using this, an attacker can upload new, fake, or modified content as legitimate. This malicious behavior can lead to malware exposure, financial fraud, or privacy violations, and can misrepresent an organization or individual [@hayati2009spammer; @benea2012anti]. The content spoofing attack leverages the code injection vulnerability where the user’s input is not sanitized correctly. Using this vulnerability, an attacker can provide new content to the web, usually via the GET or POST parameter.
There are two ways to conduct content spoofing attack: An HTML injection, in which the attacker alters the content of a web page for malicious purposes by using HTML tags, or a text injection that manipulates the text data of a parameter [@hussain2019content]. Jitpukdebodin et al. [@jitpukdebodin2014novel] explored a vulnerability in WLAN communication. The proposed method creates a crafting spoof web content and sends it to a user before the genuine web content from a website is transmitted to the user. Hussain et al. [@hussain2019content] presented a new form of compounded SQL injection attack technique that uses the SQL injection attack vectors to perform content spoofing attacks on a web application.
There have been a few techniques for the detection of content spoofing attacks: Benea et al. [@benea2012anti] suggested preventing content spoofing by detecting phishing attacks using fingerprints similarity. Niemela and Kesti [@niemela2018detecting] detected unauthorized changes to a website using authorized content policy sets for each of a multiplicity of websites from the web operators.
![Average groups activity by selectivity score[]{data-label="fig:groupsScoreAvg"}](groupsScoreAvg.JPG){width="3.5in"}
Website Defacement
------------------
This is an attack that changes the visual appearance of websites [@kanti2011implementing; @borgolte2015meerkat; @romagna2017hacktivism]. Using this attack, an attacker can cause serious consequences to website owners, including interrupting website operations and damaging the owner’s reputation. More interestingly, attackers may support their reputation, promoting a certain ideological, religious, or political orientation [@romagna2017hacktivism; @maggi2018investigating]. Besides, web defacement is a significant threat to businesses since it can detrimentally affect the credibility and reputation of the organization [@borgolte2015meerkat; @medvet2007detection]. Most website defacement occurs when attackers manage to find any vulnerability in the web application and then inject a remote scripting file [@kanti2011implementing].
Several types of research deal with the monitoring and detection of website defacement, with solutions that include signature-based [@gurjwar2013approach; @shani2010system] and anomaly-based detection [@borgolte2015meerkat; @davanzo2011anomaly; @hoang2018website]. The simplest method to detect website defacement is a checksum comparison. The website’s content is calculated using hashing algorithms. The website is then monitored and a new checksum is calculated and compared with the previous one [@kanti2011implementing; @gurjwar2013approach; @shani2010system]. This method is effective for static web pages but not for dynamic pages.
Several techniques have been proposed for website defacement based on complex algorithms. Kim et al. [@kim2006advanced] used a 2-grams for building a profile from normal web pages for monitoring and detecting of page defacement. Medvet et al. [@medvet2007detection] detected website defacement automatically based on genetic programming. The method builds an algorithm based on a sequence of readings of the remote page to be monitored, and on a sample set of attacks. Several techniques use machine learning-based methods for website defacement detection [@borgolte2015meerkat; @davanzo2011anomaly; @hoang2018website; @bartoli2006automatic]. Those studies, build a profile of the monitored page automatically, based on machine learning techniques. Borgolte et al. [@borgolte2015meerkat] proposed the ’MEERKAT’ detection system that requires no prior knowledge about the website content or its structure, but only its URL. ’MEERKAT’ automatically learns high-level features from screenshots (image data) of defaced websites by stacked autoencoders and deep neural networks. Its drawback is that it requires extensive computational resources for image processing and recognition. Recently, advanced research [@bergadano2019defacement] proposed an application of adversarial learning to defacement detection for making the learning process unpredictable so that the adversary will be unable to replicate it and predict the classifier’s behavior using a secret key.
Cloaking Attack and Identification
----------------------------------
Cloaking, also known as ’bait and switch’ is a common technique used to hide the true nature of a website by delivering different semantic content [@wang2011cloak; @invernizzi2016cloak]. Wang et al. [@wang2011cloak] presented four cloaking types: repeat cloaking that delivers different web content based on visit times of visitors, user-agent cloaking that delivers specific web content based on visitors’ user-agent string, redirection cloaking that moves users to another website using JavaScript, and IP cloaking, which delivers specific web content based on visitors’ IP. Researchers have responded to the cloaking techniques with a variety of anti-cloaking techniques [@invernizzi2016cloak]. Basic techniques relied on a cross-view comparison technique [@wang2006detecting; @wang2007spam]: A page is classified as cloaking if the redirect chain deviated across fetches. Other approaches mainly target compromised webservers and identify clusters of URLs with trending keywords that are irrelevant to the other content hosted on page [@john2011deseo]. Wang et al. [@wang2011cloak] identified cloaking in near real-time by examining the dynamics of cloaking over time. Invernizzi et al. [@invernizzi2016cloak] developed an anti-cloaking system that detects split-view content returned to two or more distinct browsing profiles by building a classifier that detects deviations in the content.
Manipulating Human Behavior
---------------------------
These days, cyber-attacks manipulate human weaknesses more than ever [@blunden2010manufactured]. Our susceptibility to deception, an essential human vulnerability, is a significant cause of security breaches. Attackers can exploit the human vulnerability by sending a specially crafted malicious email, tricking humans into clicking on malicious links, and thus downloading malware, (a.k.a. spear-phishing) [@goel2017got].
One of the main attack tools that exploit the human factor is social engineering, which is defined as the manipulation of the human aspect of technology using deception [@uebelacker2014social]. Social engineering plays on emotions such as fear, curiosity, excitement, and empathy, and exploits cognitive biases [@abraham2010overview]. The basic ’good’ human nature characteristics make people vulnerable to the techniques used by social engineers, as it activates various psychological vulnerabilities [@bezuidenhout2010social; @conteh2016cybersecurity; @conteh2016rise; @luo2011social]. The exploitation of the human factor has extensive use in advanced persistent threats (APTs). An APT attack involves sophisticated and well-resourced adversaries targeting specific information in high-profile companies and governments [@chen2014study]. In APT attacks, social engineering techniques are aimed at manipulating humans into delivering confidential information about a targeted organization or getting an employee to take a particular action [@paradise2017creation; @gulati2003threat; @bere2015advanced].
With regard to *chameleons*, they were previously executed in files during content-sniffing XSS attacks [@barth2009secure] but not on the OSNs. Barth et al. discussed [*chameleon* ]{}documents that are files conforming to multiple file formats (e.g., PostScript+HTML). The attack exploited the fact that browsers can parse documents as HTML and execute any hidden script within. In contrast to [*chameleon* ]{}documents, which are parsed differently by different tools without adversarial trigger, our [*chameleon* ]{}posts are controlled by the attacker and are presented differently to the same users at different times.
Lately, Stivala and Pellegrino [@Stivala2020deceptive] conducted a study associated with link previews independently. In their research, they analyzed the elements of the preview links during the rendering process within 20 OSNs and demonstrated a misuse case by crafting benign-looking link previews that led to malicious web pages.
Conclusions and Future Work
===========================
This article discloses a weakness in an important feature provided by three major OSNs: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, namely *updating link previews without visible notifications while retaining social capital* (e.g., likes, comments, retweets, etc.). This weakness facilitates a new [*chameleon* ]{}attack where the link preview update can be misused to damage the good name of users, avoid censorship, and perform additional OSN scam detailed in Section \[sec:misuse\]. Out of seven reviewed OSNs, only Instagram and WhatsApp are resilient against most flavors of the [*chameleon* ]{}attack.
We acknowledge the importance of the link preview update feature provided by the OSNs to support businesses that disseminate information through social networks and suggest several measures that should be applied by the OSNs to reduce the impact of [*chameleon* ]{}attacks. The most important measure is binding social capital to the version of a post to which it was explicitly provided. We also instruct OSN users on how to identify possible *chameleons*.
We experimentally show that even the most meticulous Facebook group owners fail to identify [*chameleon* ]{}pages trying to infiltrate their groups. Thus, it is extremely important to raise the awareness of OSN users to this new kind of trickery.
We encourage researchers and practitioners to identify potential [*chameleon* ]{}profiles throughout the OSNs in the nearest future; develop and incorporate redirect reputation mechanisms into machine learning methods for identifying OSN misuse; and include the [*chameleon* ]{}attack in security awareness programs alongside phishing scam and related scam.
Ethical and Legal Considerations {#sec:ethics}
================================
Our goal is hardening OSNs against misuse while respecting the needs and privacy of OSN users. We follow strict Responsible Full Disclosure Policy, as well as guidelines recommended by the Ben-Gurion University’s Human Subject Research Committee.
In particular, we did not access or store any information about the profiles we contacted during the experiment. We only recorded the status of the requests to join their Facebook groups. The [*chameleon* ]{}pages used during the experiment were deleted at the end of the study. Owners of the contacted Facebook groups can decide whether or not to accept the request from our pages. Although we did not inform them about the study before the requests, they are provided with post-experiment written feedback regarding their participation in the trial. We contact the relevant OSNs at least one month before the publication of the trial results and disclosure of the related weaknesses. No rules or agreements were violated in the process of this study. In particular, we used Facebook pages in the showcase and in the experiment rather than profiles to adhere to the Facebook End-User Licence Agreement.
Availability
============
*Chameleon* pages, posts, and tweets are publicly available. Links can be found in the GitHub repository.[^6] Source code is not provided to reduce misuse. CWE and official responses of the major OSNs are also provided on the mentioned GitHub page.
[^1]: A demo [*chameleon* ]{}post is available at <https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=101149887975595&id=101089594648291&__tn__=-R>
[^2]: Here and in the rest of this section, numbers in parentheses indicate the attack phases in the order they are performed in each misuse case.
[^3]: <https://cards-dev.twitter.com/validator>
[^4]: <https://www.linkedin.com/post-inspector>
[^5]: https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/sharing/batch/
[^6]: <https://github.com/aviade5/Chameleon-Attack/>
| {
"pile_set_name": "ArXiv"
} |
Epidemiology of pollution-induced airway disease: urban/rural differences in East and West Germany.
The prevalence of asthma and allergic disorders was assessed in 9-11 year-old children in Leipzig and Halle in East Germany, as well as in Munich, West Germany. Both East German cities are heavily polluted due to private burning of coal and industrial emissions, while Munich has low smoke emissions but heavy road traffic. All fourth grade pupils in Munich were compared with those in Leipzig and Halle. Non-specific airway disease (bronchitis), cough, and autumn/winter nasal symptoms were most prevalent in Leipzig and Halle. Hay fever and skin test reactivity to aeroallergens were higher in West Germany compared with East Germany. Furthermore, the prevalence of asthma was also higher in the West German study area. Increased skin prick test reactivity in the West explained the increased prevalence of asthma. Longitudinal analysis showed increased respiratory symptoms on days with high mean levels of sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen, as well as on days with a high peak level of 10 mu respirable particles (PM10) in East Germany. The effects of these pollutants were additive. Exposure to heavy road traffic in Munich was related to decreased pulmonary function and non-specific airway symptoms, but not to allergic sensitization and asthma. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
} |
The present invention relates to a safety harness for children carried in automobiles.
It is well known that if there is an impact or sudden stop, the passengers in an automobile are propelled violently towards the front of the vehicle.
In order to lessen bodily injuries sustained by passengers, vehicles are generally equipped with safety belts in the front seats.
However, if a child occupies the seat next to the driver such safety belts are incapable of fulfilling this purpose.
As regards the rear seats, these are not generally provided with any safety device for preventing the passengers being propelled forwards following an impact.
With regard to children occupying the rear seats, which is generally the case, they are not held in by any means, which can have serious consequences. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
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} |
## API documentation
See our [API documentation](https://moov-io.github.io/ach/api/) for Moov ACH endpoints.
## Setup our ACH file
Creating an Automated Clearing House (ACH) file can be done several ways:
- [using Go and our generated client](#go-client)
- [uploading a JSON representation](#upload-a-json-representation)
- [uploading a raw ACH file](#upload-a-json-representation)
### Go Client
We have an example of [using our Go client and uploading the JSON representation](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/http/main.go). The basic idea follows this structure:
1. Create a [BatchHeader](https://godoc.org/github.com/moov-io/ach#BatchHeader) record with `ach.NewBatchHeader()`.
1. Create an [EntryDetail](https://godoc.org/github.com/moov-io/ach#EntryDetail) record with `ach.NewEntryDetail()`.
1. Create a [Batch](https://godoc.org/github.com/moov-io/ach#Batch) from our `BatchHeader` and `EntryDetail`.
1. Using a constructor like `batch := ach.NewBatchPPD(batchHeader)` and adding the batch with `batch.AddEntry(entry)`.
1. Call and verify `batch.Create()` returns no error.
1. Create our ACH File record `file := ach.NewFile()` and [FileHeader](https://godoc.org/github.com/moov-io/ach#FileHeader) with `ach.NewFileHeader()`
1. Add the `FileHeader` (via `file.SetHeader(fileHeader)`) and `Batch` records to the file (via `file.AddBatch(batch)`).
1. Call and verify `file.Create()` returns no error.
1. Encode the `File` to JSON (via `json.NewEncoder(&buf).Encode(&file)`) for a `net/http` request.
### Upload a JSON representation
In Ruby we have an example of [creating an ACH file from JSON](https://github.com/moov-io/ruby-ach-demo/blob/master/main.rb). The JSON structure corresponds to our [api endpoint for creating files](https://api.moov.io/#operation/createFile) that the ACH HTTP server expects.
We have [example ACH files](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/testdata/ppd-valid.json) in JSON.
Note: The header `Content-Type: application/json` must be set.
### Upload a raw ACH file
Our ACH HTTP server also handles [uploading raw ACH files](https://api.moov.io/#operation/createFile) which is the NACHA text format. We have example files in their NACHA format and example code for creating the files and reading the files
| SEC Code | Description | Example ACH File | Read | Create
| :---: | :---: | :---: | :--- | :--- |
| ACK | Acknowledgment Entry for CCD | [Credit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-ack-read/ack-read.ach) | [ACK Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-ack-read/main.go) | [ACK Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-ack-write/main.go) |
| ADV | Automated Accounting Advice | [Prenote Debit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-adv-read/adv-read.ach) | [ADV Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-adv-read/main.go) | [ADV Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-adv-write/main.go) |
| ARC | Accounts Receivable Entry | [Debit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-arc-read/arc-debit.ach) | [ARC Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-arc-read/main.go) | [ARC Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-arc-write/main.go) |
| ATX | Acknowledgment Entry for CTX | [Credit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-atx-read/atx-read.ach) | [ATX Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-atx-read/main.go) | [ATX Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-atx-write/main.go) |
| BOC | Back Office Conversion | [Debit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-boc-read/boc-debit.ach) | [BOC Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-boc-read/main.go) | [BOC Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-boc-write/main.go) |
| CCD | Corporate credit or debit | [Debit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-ccd-read/ccd-debit.ach) | [CCD Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-ccd-read/main.go) | [CCD Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-ccd-write/main.go) |
| CIE | Customer-Initiated Entry | [Credit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-cie-read/cie-credit.ach) | [CIE Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-cie-read/main.go) | [CIE Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-cie-write/main.go) |
| COR | Automated Notification of Change(NOC) | [NOC](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-cor-read/cor-read.ach) | [COR Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-cor-read/main.go) | [COR Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-cor-write/main.go) |
| CTX | Corporate Trade Exchange | [Debit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-ctx-read/ctx-debit.ach) | [CTX Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-ctx-read/main.go) | [CTX Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-ctx-write/main.go) |
| DNE | Death Notification Entry | [DNE](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-dne-read/dne-read.ach) | [DNE Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-dne-read/main.go) | [DNE Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-dne-write/main.go) |
| ENR | Automatic Enrollment Entry | [ENR](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-enr-read/enr-read.ach) | [ENR Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-enr-read/main.go) | [ENR Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-enr-write/main.go) |
| IAT | International ACH Transactions | [Credit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-iat-read/iat-credit.ach) | [IAT Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-iat-read/main.go) | [IAT Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-iat-write/main.go) |
| MTE | Machine Transfer Entry | [Credit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-mte-read/mte-read.ach) | [MTE Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-mte-read/main.go) | [MTE Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-mte-write/main.go) |
| POP | Point of Purchase | [Debit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-pop-read/pop-debit.ach) | [POP Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-pop-read/main.go) | [POP Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-pop-write/main.go) |
| POS | Point of Sale | [Debit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-pos-read/pos-debit.ach) | [POS Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-pos-read/main.go) | [POS Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-pos-write/main.go) |
| PPD | Prearranged payment and deposits | [Debit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-ppd-read/ppd-debit.ach) and [Credit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-ppd-read/ppd-credit.ach) | [PPD Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-ppd-read/main.go) | [PPD Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-ppd-write/main.go) |
| RCK | Represented Check Entries | [Debit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-rck-read/rck-debit.ach) | [RCK Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-rck-read/main.go) | [RCK Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-rck-write/main.go) |
| SHR | Shared Network Entry | [Debit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-shr-read/shr-debit.ach) | [SHR Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-shr-read/main.go) | [SHR Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-shr-write/main.go) |
| TEL | Telephone-Initiated Entry | [Debit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-tel-read/tel-debit.ach) | [TEL Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-tel-read/main.go) | [TEL Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-tel-write/main.go) |
| TRC | Truncated Check Entry | [Debit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-trc-read/trc-debit.ach) | [TRC Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-trc-read/main.go) | [TRC Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-trc-write/main.go) |
| TRX | Check Truncation Entries Exchange | [Debit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-trx-read/trx-debit.ach) | [TRX Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-trx-read/main.go) | [TRX Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-trx-write/main.go) |
| WEB | Internet-initiated Entries | [Credit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-web-read/web-credit.ach) | [WEB Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-web-read/main.go) | [WEB Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-web-write/main.go) |
| XCK | Destroyed Check Entry | [Debit](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/test/ach-xck-read/xck-debit.ach) | [XCK Read](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-xck-read/main.go) | [XCK Create](https://github.com/moov-io/ach/blob/master/examples/ach-xck-write/main.go) |
Note: The header `Content-Type: text/plain` should be set.
| {
"pile_set_name": "Github"
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---
abstract: 'We present bilateral teleoperation system for task learning and robot motion generation. Our system includes a bilateral teleoperation platform and a deep learning software. The deep learning software refers to human demonstration using the bilateral teleoperation platform to collect visual images and robotic encoder values. It leverages the datasets of images and robotic encoder information to learn about the inter-modal correspondence between visual images and robot motion. In detail, the deep learning software uses a combination of Deep Convolutional Auto-Encoders (DCAE) over image regions, and Recurrent Neural Network with Long Short-Term Memory units (LSTM-RNN) over robot motor angles, to learn motion taught be human teleoperation. The learnt models are used to predict new motion trajectories for similar tasks. Experimental results show that our system has the adaptivity to generate motion for similar scooping tasks. Detailed analysis is performed based on failure cases of the experimental results. Some insights about the cans and cannots of the system are summarized.'
author:
- 'Hitoe Ochi, Weiwei Wan, Yajue Yang, Natsuki Yamanobe, Jia Pan, and Kensuke Harada [^1]'
bibliography:
- 'reference.bib'
title: Deep Learning Scooping Motion using Bilateral Teleoperations
---
Introduction
============
Common household tasks require robots to act intelligently and adaptively in various unstructured environment, which makes it difficult to model control policies with explicit objectives and reward functions. One popular solution [@argall2009survey][@yang2017repeatable] is to circumvent the difficulties by learning from demonstration (LfD). LfD allows robots to learn skills from successful demonstrations performed by manual teaching. In order to take advantage of LfD, we develop a system which enables human operators to demonstrate with ease and enables robots to learn dexterous manipulation skills with multi-modal sensed data. Fig.\[teaser\] shows the system. The hardware platform of the system is a bi-lateral tele-operation systems composed of two same robot manipulators. The software of the system is a deep neural network made of a Deep Convolutional Auto-Encoder (DCAE) and a Recurrent Neural Network with Long Short-Term Memory units (LSTM-RNN). The deep neural network leverages the datasets of images and robotic encoder information to learn about the inter-modal correspondence between visual images and robot motion, and the proposed system use the learnt model to generate new motion trajectories for similar tasks.
![The bilateral teleoperation system for task learning and robotic motion generation. The hardware platform of the system is a bi-lateral tele-operation systems composed of two same robot manipulators. The software of the system is a deep neural network made of a Deep Convolutional Auto-Encoder (DCAE) and a Recurrent Neural Network with Long Short-Term Memory units (LSTM-RNN). The deep learning models are trained by human demonstration, and used to generate new motion trajectories for similar tasks.[]{data-label="teaser"}](imgs/teaser.png){width=".47\textwidth"}
Using the system, we can conduct experiments of robot learning different basic behaviours using deep learning algorithms. Especially, we focus on a scooping task which is common in home kitchen. We demonstrate that our system has the adaptivity to predict motion for a broad range of scooping tasks. Meanwhile, we examine the ability of deep learning algorithms with target objects placed at different places and prepared in different conditions. We carry out detailed analysis on the results and analyzed the reasons that limited the ability of the proposed deep learning system. We reach to a conclusion that although LfD using deep learning is applicable to a wide range of objects, it still requires a large amount data to adapt to large varieties. Mixed learning and planning is suggested to be a better approach.
The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 reviews related work. Section 3 presents the entire LfD system including the demonstration method and the learning algorithm. Section 4 explains how the robot perform a task after learning. Section 5 describes and analyzes experiment setups and results. Section 6 draws conclusions and discusses possible methods to improve system performance.
Related Work
============
The learning method we used is DCAE and RNN. This section reviews their origins and state-of-the-art applications.
Auto-encoders were initially introduced by Rumelhart et al. [@rumelhart1985learning] to address the problem of unsupervised back propagation. The input data was used as the teacher data to minimize reconstruction errors [@olshausen1997sparse]. Auto-encoders were embedded into deep neural network as DCAE to explore deep features in [@hinton2006fast][@salakhutdinov2009semantic] [@bengio2007greedy][@torralba2008small], etc. DCAE helps to learn multiple levels of representation of high dimensional data.
RNN is the feed-backward version of conventional feed forward neural network. It allows the output of one neuron at time $t_i$ to be input of a neuron for time $t_{i+1}$. RNN may date back to the Hopfield network [@hopfield1982neural]. RNN is most suitable for learning and predicting sequential data. Some successful applications of RNN include handwritting recognition [@graves2009novel], speech recognition [@graves2013speech], visual tracking [@dequaire2017deep], etc. RNN has advantages over conventional mathematical models for sequential data like Hidden Markov Model (HMM) [@wan2007hybrid] in that it uses scalable historical characters and is applicable to sequences of varying time lengths.
A variation of RNN is Multiple Timescale RNN (MTRNN), which is the multiple timescale version of traditional RNN and was initially proposed by Yamashita and Tani [@yamashita2008emergence] to learn motion primitives and predict new actions by combining the learnt primitives. The MTRNN is composed of multiple Continuous Recurrent Neural Network (CTRNN) layers that allow to have different timescale activation speeds and thus enables scalability over time. Arie et al. [@arie2009creating] Jeong et al. [@jeong2012neuro] are some other studies that used MTRNN to generate robot motion.
RNN-based methods suffers from a vanishing gradient problem [@hochreiter2001gradient]. To overcome this problem, Hochereiter and Schmidhuber [@hochreiter1997long] developed the Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) network. The advantages of LSTM is it has an input gate, an output gate, and a forget gate which allow the cells to store and access information over long periods of time.
The recurrent neural network used by us in this paper is RNN with LSTM units. It is proved that RNN with LSTM units are effective and scalable in long-range sequence learning [@greff2017lstm][^2]. By introducing into each LSTM unit a memory cell which can maintain its state over time, LSTM network is able to overcome the vanishing gradient problem. LSTM is especially suitable for applications involving long-term dependencies [@karpathy2015visualizing].
Together with the DCAE, we build a system allowing predicting robot trajectories for diverse tasks using vision systems. The system uses bilateral teleoperation to collect data from human beings, like a general LfD system. It trains a DCAE as well as a LSTM-RNN model, and use the model to learn robot motions to perform similar tasks. We performed experiments by especially focusing on a scooping task that is common in home kitchen. Several previous studies like [@yang2017repeatable][@mayer2008system][@rahmatizadeh2017vision][@liu2017imitation] also studied learning to perform similar robotic tasks using deep learning models. Compared with them, we not only demonstrate the generalization of deep models in robotic task learning, but also carry out detailed analysis on the results and analyzed the reasons that limited the ability of the proposed deep learning system. Readers are encouraged to refer to the experiments and analysis section for details.
The system for LfD using deep learning
======================================
The bilateral teleoperation platform
------------------------------------
Our LfD system utilizes bilateral teleoperation to allow human operators to adaptively control the robot based on his control. Conventionally, teleoperation was done in master-slave mode by using a joystick [@rahmatizadeh2017vision], a haptic device [@abi2016visual], or a virtual environment [@liu2017imitation] as the master device. Unlike the conventional methods, we use a robot manipulator as the master. As Figure 2 shows, our system is composed of two identical robot systems comprising a Universal Robot 1 arm at the same joint configuration and a force-torque sensor attached to the arm’s end-effector. The human operator drags the master at its end-effector and the controller calculates 6 dimensional Cartesian velocity commands for robots to follow the human operator’s guidance. This dual-arm bilateral teleoperation system provides similar operation spaces for the master and slave, which makes it more convenient for the human operator to drag the master in a natural manner. In addition, we install a Microsoft Kinect 1 above the slave manipulator to capture depth and RGB images of the environment.
The bilateral teleoperation platform provides the human operator a virtual sense of the contact force to improve LfD [@hokayem2006bilateral]. While the human operator works on the master manipulator, the slave robot senses a contact force with a force-torque sensor installed at its wrist. A controller computes robot motions considering both the force exerted by human beings and the force feedback from the force sensor. Specifically, when the slave does not contact with the environment, both the master and slave move following human motion. When the slave has contact feedback, the master and slave react considering the impedance from force feedback. The human operator, meanwhile, would feel the impedance from the device he or she is working on (namely the master device) and react accordingly.
The deep learning software
--------------------------
LSTM-RNN supports both input and output sequences with variable length, which means that one network may be suitable for varied tasks with different length of time. Fig.\[lstmrnn\] illustrates a LSTM recurrent network which outputs prediction.
![LSTM-RNN: The subscripts in $Input_i$ and $Predict_i$ indicate the time of inputs and for which predictions are made. An LSTM unit receives both current input data and hidden states provided by previous LSTM units as inputs to predict the next step.[]{data-label="lstmrnn"}](imgs/lstmrnn.png){width=".47\textwidth"}
The data of our LfD system may include an image of the environment, force/torque data sensed by a F/T sensor installed at the slave’s end-effector, robot joint positions, etc. These data has high dimensionality which makes computation infeasible. To avoid the curse of dimensionality, we use DCAE to represent the data with auto-selected features. DCAE encodes the input data with a encoder and reconstructs the data from the encoded values with a decoder. Both the encoder and decoder could be multi-layer convolutional networks shown in Fig.\[dcae\]. DCAE is able to properly encode complex data through reconstruction, and extract data features and reduce data dimension.
![DCAE encodes the input data with a encoder and reconstructs the data from the encoded values with a decoder. The output of DCAE (the intermediate layer) is the extracted data features.[]{data-label="dcae"}](imgs/dcae.png){width=".35\textwidth"}
The software of the LfD system is a deep learning architecture composed of DCAE and LSTM-RNN. The LSTM-RNN model is fed with image features computed by the encoder and other data such as joint positions, and predicts a mixture of the next motion and surrounding situation. The combination of DCAE and LSTM-RNN is shown in Fig.\[arch\].
![The entire learning architecture. OD means Other Data. It could be joint positions, force/torque values, etc. Although drawn as a single box, the model may contain multiple LSTM layers.[]{data-label="arch"}](imgs/arch.png){width=".49\textwidth"}
Learning and predicting motions
===============================
Data collection and training
----------------------------
The data used to train DCAE and LSTM-RNN is collected by bilateral teleoperation. The components of the bilateral teleoperation platform and the control diagram of LfD using the bilateral teleoperatoin platform are shown in Fig.\[bicontrol\]. A human operator controls a master arm and performs a given task by considering force feedback ($F_h\bigoplus F_e$ in the figure) from the slave side. As the human operator moves the master arm, the Kinect camera installed at the middle of the two arms take a sequence of snapshots as the training images for DCAE. The motor encoders installed at each joint of the robot take a sequence of 6D joint angles as the training data of LSTM-RNN. The snapshots and changing joint angles are shown in Fig.\[sequences\]. Here, the left part shows three sequences of snapshots. Each sequence is taken with the bowl placed at a different position (denoted by $pos1$, $pos2$, and $pos3$ in the figure). The right part shows a sequence of changing joint angles taught by the human operator.
![Bilateral Teleoperation Diagram.[]{data-label="bicontrol"}](imgs/bicontrol.png){width=".49\textwidth"}
![The data used to train DCAE and LSTM-RNN. The left part shows the snapshot sequences taken by the Kinect camera. They are used to train DCAE. The right part shows the changing joint angles taught by human operators. They are used to further train LSTM-RNN.[]{data-label="sequences"}](imgs/sequences.png){width=".49\textwidth"}
Generating robot motion
-----------------------
After training the DCAE and the LSTM-RNN, the models are used online to generate robot motions for similar tasks. The trajectory generation involves a real-time loop of three phases: (1) sensor data collection, (2) motion prediction, and (3) execution. At each iteration, the current environment information and robot state are collected and processed and then attached to the sequence of previous data. The current robot state is fed to the pre-trained LSTM-RNN model to predict next motions that a manipulator uses to take action. In order to ensure computational efficiency, we keep each input sequence in a queue with fixed length.
The process of training and prediction is shown in Fig.\[teaser\]. Using the pre-trained DCAE and LSTM-RNN, the system is able to generate motion sequences to perform similar tasks.
Experiments and analysis
========================
We use the developed system to learn scooping tasks. The goal of this task is to scoop materials out from a bowl placed on a table in front of the robot (see Fig.\[teaser\]). Two different bowls filled with different amount of barley are used in experiments. The two bowls include a yellow bowl and a green bowl. The volumes of barley are set to “high” and “low” for variation. In total there are 2$\times$2=4 combinations, namely {“yellow” bowl-“low” barley, “yellow” bowl-“high” barley, “green” bowl-“low” barley, and “green” bowl-“high” barley}. Fig.\[expbowls\](a) shows the barley, the bowls, and the different volume settings. During experiments, a human operator performs teleoperated scooping as he/she senses the collision between the spoon and the bowl after the spoon is inserted into the materials. Although used for control, the F/T data is not fed into the learning system, which means the control policy is learned only based on robot states and 2D images.
![(a) Two different bowls filled with different amount of barley are used in experiments. In total, there are 2$\times$2=4 combinations. (b) One sequence of scooping motion.[]{data-label="expbowls"}](imgs/expbowls.png){width=".35\textwidth"}
The images used to train DCAE are cropped by a 130$\times$130 window to lower computational cost. The DCAE has 2 convolutional layers with filter sizes of 32 and 16, followed by 2 fully-connected layers of sizes 100 and 10. The decoder has exactly the same structure. LeakyReLU activation function is used for all layers. Dropout is applied afterwards to prevent over fitting. The computation is performed on a Dell T5810 workstation with Nvidia GTX980 GPU.
Experiment 1: Same position with RGB/Depth images
-------------------------------------------------
In the first group of experiments, we place the bowl at the same position, and test different bowls with different amounts of contents. In all, we collect 20 sequences of data with 5 for each bowl-content combination. Fig.\[expbowls\](b) shows one sequence of the scooping motion. We use 19 of the 20 sequences of data to train DCAE and LSTM-RNN and use the remaining one group to test the performance.
Parameters of DCAE is as follows: Optimization function: Adam; Dropout rate: 0.4; Batch size: 32, Epoch: 50. We use both RGB images and Depth images to train DCAE. The pre-trained models are named RGB-DCAE and Depth-DCAE respectively. Parameters of LSTM-RNN is: Optimization function: Adam; Batch size: 32; Iteration: 3000.
The results of DCAE is shown in Fig.\[dcaeresults\](a). The trained model is able to reconstruct the training data with high precision. Readers may compare the first and second rows of Fig.\[dcaeresults\](a.1) for details. Meanwhile, the trained model is able to reconstruct the test data with satisfying performance. Readers may compare the first and second row of Fig.\[dcaeresults\](a.2) to see the difference. Although there are noises on the second rows, they are acceptable.
{width=".99\textwidth"}
The results of LSTM-RNN show that the robot is able to perform scooping for similar tasks given the RGB-DCAE. However, it cannot precisely differ “high” and “low” volumes. The results of LSTM-RNN using Depth-DCAE is unstable. We failed to spot a successful execution. The reason depth data is unstable is probably due to the low resolution of Kinect’s depth sensor. The vision system cannot differ if the spoon is at a pre-scooping state or post-scooping state, which makes the robot hard to predict next motions.
Experiment 2: Different positions
---------------------------------
In the second group of experiments, we place the bowl at different positions to further examine the generalization ability of the trained models.
Similar to experiment 1, we use bowls with two different colors (“yellow” and “green”), and used two different volumes of contents (“high” and “low”). The bowls were placed at 7 different positions. At each position, we collect 20 sequences of data with 5 for each bowl-barley combination. In total, we collect 140 sequences of data. 139 of the 140 sequences of data are used to train DCAE and LSTM-RNN. The remaining 1 sequence are used for testing. The parameters of DCAE and LSTM-RNN are the same as experiment 1.
The results of DCAE are shown in Fig.\[dcaeresults\](b). The trained model is able to reconstruct the training data with high precision. Readers may compare the first and second rows of Fig.\[dcaeresults\](b.1) for details. In contrast, the reconstructed images show significant difference for the test data. It failed to reconstruct the test data. Readers may compare the first and second row of Fig.\[dcaeresults\](b.2) to see the difference. Especially for the first column of Fig.\[dcaeresults\](b.2), the bowl is wrongly considered to be at a totally different position.
The LSTM-RNN model is not able to generate scooping motion for either the training data or the test data. The motion is randomly changing from time to time. It doesn’t follow any pre-taught sequences. The reason is probably the bad reconstruction performance of DCAE. The system failed to correctly find the positions of the bowls using the encoded features. Based on the analysis, we increase the training data of DCAE in Experiment 3 to improve its reconstruction.
Experiment 3: Increasing the training data of DCAE
--------------------------------------------------
The third group of experiments has exactly the same scenario settings and parameter settings as Experiment 2, except that we use planning algorithms to generate scooping motion and collect more scooping images.
The new scooping images are collected following the work flow shows in Fig.\[sample\]. We divide the work space into around 100 grids, place bowl at these places, and sample arm boatswains and orientations at each of the grid. In total, we additionally generate 100$\times$45$\times$3=13500 (12726 exactly) extra training images to train DCAE. Here, “100” indicates the 100 grid positions. “45” and “3” indicate the 45 arm positions and 3 arm rotation angles sampled at each grid.
![Increase the training data of DCAE by automatically generating motions across a 10$\times$10 grids. In all, 100$\times$45$\times$3=13500 extra training images were generated. Here, “100” indicates the 100 grid positions. At each grid, 45 arm positions and 3 arm rotation angles are sampled.[]{data-label="sample"}](imgs/sample.png){width=".43\textwidth"}
The DCAE model is trained with the 140 sequences of data in experiment 2 (that is 140$\times$120=16800 images, 17714 exactly), together with the 13500 extra images collected using the planner. The parameters of DCAE are exactly the same as Experiment 1 and 2. The results of DCAE is shown in Fig.\[dcaeresults2\]. Compared with experiment 2, DCAE is more stable. It is able to reconstruct both the training images and the test images with satisfying performance, although the reconstructed spoon position in the sixth and seventh columns of Fig.\[dcaeresults2\](b) have relatively large offsets from the original image.
{width=".99\textwidth"}
The trained DCAE model is used together with LSTM-RNN to predict motions. The LSTM-RNN model is trained using different data to compare the performance. The results are shown in Table.\[conf0\]. Here, $A1$-$A7r\_s1$ indicates the data used to train DCAE and LSTM-RNN. The left side of “\_” shows the data used to train DCAE. $A1$-$A7$ means all the sequences collected at the seven bowl positions in experiments 2 are used. $r$ means the additional data collected in experiment 3 is used. The right side of “\_” shows the data used to train LSTM-RNN. $s1$ means only the sequences at bowl position $s1$ are used to train LSTM-RNN. $s1s4$ means both the sequences at bowl position $s1$ and position $s4$ are used to train LSTM-RNN.
The results show that the DCAE trained in experiment 3 is able to predict motion for bowls at the same positions. For example, (row position $s1$, column $A1$-$A7r\_s1$) is $\bigcirc$, (row position $s1$, column $A1$-$A7r\_s1s4$) is also $\bigcirc$. The result, however, is unstable. For example, (row position $s2$, column $A1$-$A7r\_s1s4$) is $\times$, (row position $s4$, column $A1$-$A7r\_s4$) is also $\times$. The last three columns of the table shows previous results: The $A1\_s1$ column and $A4\_s4$ column correspond to the results of experiment 1. The $A1A4\_s1s4$ column correspond to the result of experiment 2.
A1-A7r\_s1 A1-A7r\_s1s4 A1-A7r\_s4 A1\_s1 A4\_s4 A1A4\_s1s4
--------------- ------------ -------------- ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------
position $s1$ $\bigcirc$ $\bigcirc$ - $\bigcirc$ - $\times$
position $s4$ - $\times$ $\times$ - $\bigcirc$ $\times$
Results of the three experiments show that the proposed model heavily depends on training data. It can predict motion for different objects at the same positions, but is not able to adapt to objects at different positions. The small amount of training data is an important problem impairing the generalization of the trained models to different bowl positions. The experimental results tell us that a small amount of training data leads to bad results. A large amount of training data shows good prediction.
Conclusions and future work
===========================
This paper presented a bilateral teleoperation system for task learning and robotic motion generation. It trained DCAE and LSTM-RNN to learn scooping motion using data collected by human demonstration on the bilateral teleoperation system. The results showed the data collected using the bilateral teleoperation system was suitable for training deep learning models. The trained model was able to predict scooping motion for different objects at the same positions, showing some ability of generalization. The results also showed that the amount of data was an important issue that affect training good deep learning models.
One way to improve performance is to increase training data. However, increasing training data is not trivial for LfD applications since they require human operators to repeatedly work on teaching devices. Another method is to use a mixed learning and planning model. Practitioners may use planning to collect data and use learning to generalize the planned results. The mixed method is our future direction.
Acknowledgment {#acknowledgment .unnumbered}
==============
The paper is based on results obtained from a project commissioned by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).
[^1]: Hitoe Ochi, Weiwei Wan, and Kensuke Harada are with Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Japan. Natsuki Yamanobe, Weiwei Wan, and Kensuke Harada are also affiliated with Natioanl Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan. Yajue Yang and Jia Pan are with City University of Hongkong, China. E-mail: [wan@sys.es.osaka-u.ac.jp]{}
[^2]: There are some work like [@yu2017continuous] that used MTRNN with LSTM units to enable multiple timescale scalability.
| {
"pile_set_name": "ArXiv"
} |
Prosecutors argued Tuesday that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort Paul John ManafortOur Constitution is under attack by Attorney General William Barr Bannon trial date set in alleged border wall scam Conspicuous by their absence from the Republican Convention MORE opened more than 30 overseas bank accounts to hide his earnings from lobbying work in Ukraine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Uzo Asonye argued in his opening statement in Manafort’s trial in Virginia that the former Trump associate opened more than 30 unreported bank accounts in three foreign countries. The accounts were allegedly used to hold the more than $60 million Manafort earned doing pro-Russian lobbying in Ukraine.
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Manafort has pleaded not guilty. His defense team argued in their opening statements that he was a victim of his former associate, Richard Gates, who has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI as part of a plea deal.
The trial is expected to last about three weeks.
Lydia Wheeler contributed reporting. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Employment after spinal cord injury: the impact of government policies in Canada.
The British Columbia Paraplegic Association (BCPA) sought a research partnership to evaluate where its activities should be focused. A survey of members with disabilities of the BCPA included questions on employment and identified three priorities related to employment. These were the need for assistance in finding appropriate work, the impact of policies of government and insurance agencies, and attitudes of employers. This paper examines the social and political environment related to employment following spinal cord injury in British Columbia, Canada. There is no coherent set of goals underlying government employment and income programs in Canada. Incremental development of particular employment and income programs during the 20th century led to a patchwork of policies and programs, which deal with people differently according to the cause of their disability. Federal and provincial governments have attempted to educate employers and reduce barriers to employment of those with disabilities by focusing on anti-discrimination legislation and individual rights (e.g. the Employment Equity Act and the Canadian Human Rights Act). However, people with disabilities face non-accommodating environments, inadequate income support, lack of opportunities and little political influence which stem from an unfair distribution of societal resources, not from discrimination. Joint efforts of the BCPA and other disability organizations are likely to have the most impact on legislative changes. | {
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
} |
Introduction {#Sec1}
============
It has been well established that the cyclical development of the mammary gland in mammals represents a valuable model of the processes underlying cell differentiation for the dynamic remodeling of the organ and of its function, in this case, the production and secretion of milk. This interest was further strengthened when in 2006 two studies showed the presence of a single pluripotent cell possessed the ability to completely regenerate the functional unit of the gland, the mammary alveolus^[@CR1],[@CR2]^. Further, a single cell clone has been reported to be able to differentiate in a bilayered system organized into alveolar structures connected by a common ductal system. The two cell layers are separate but contiguous throughout and consist of an inner layer of cytokeratin CK18^+^ luminal cells and an outer layer of cytokeratin CK14^+^ myoepithelial cells^[@CR2]^. In subsequent years, further studies were carried out on the characterization of this niche of mammary pluripotent stem cells in the human or in laboratory animals and on the maintenance and activation processes of adult stem cells both in physiological and pathological contexts^[@CR3]--[@CR6]^. The purification and isolation of these cells in other species is made more difficult due to the lack of species-specific cellular information and the availability of specific antibodies for the individual species although cell isolation and characterization has been reported in the bovine, caprine, canine and feline species ^[@CR7]--[@CR10]^. Interestingly, among mammalians species, with respect to the development and interaction of the alveolar functional unit and the extracellular matrix of the mammary gland, the morphological development of the mammary gland in humans and ruminants is similar^[@CR11]^, revealing the potential of ruminant species to serve as useful models for a better understanding of human breast development and cancer.
In the phenotypic characterization of this small stem cell population, some surface markers appear to be established and in part common among species, such as alpha-6 integrin (CD49f) and CD24^[@CR12]--[@CR15]^ as well as intracellular enzymes which have been evaluated for some species (i.e. absence of ALDH1 activity^[@CR16]^. Furthermore, it is well accepted that this stem cell niche is localized in close association with the basal layer of the alveolus^[@CR17]^.
P-Cadherin is a calcium-dependent cell--cell adhesion glycoprotein with a homeostatic function in several tissues and its name is derived from the site where this adhesion molecule was firstly characterized, the placenta^[@CR18]^. It exerts a crucial role in the conservation of the structural integrity of epithelial tissues and regulates processes involved in embryonic development and maintenance of adult tissue architecture, important for cell differentiation, cell shape, cell polarity, growth and migration^[@CR19]--[@CR21]^.
P-Cadherin is of interest in that it plays a role both during embryonic development and during the processes of differentiation of adult tissue, maintaining its architecture through cell differentiation, polarity organization, the induction of migration and proliferation^[@CR22]^.
Despite being expressed in human fetal structure^[@CR23],[@CR24]^, P-Cadherin is present in several adult tissues, usually co-expressed with E-Cadherin, such as the basal layer of the epidermis, the mammary gland and the prostate, as well as the mesothelium, the ovary, the cervix, the hair follicle, and the corneal endothelium^[@CR25]^.
It has been reported that P-Cadherin may be involved in the biology of mammary stem cells as its expression was observed in a cellular subpopulation with a phenotype similar to the basal epithelial cells and which co-expressed with SLUG, a transcription factor that regulates cadherin genes and the genes involved in mammary epithelial cell lineages^[@CR26]^, but within the basal or myoepithelial layer where the niche of multipotent cells are believed to reside^[@CR27]--[@CR29]^. Moreover during the evolution of the gland, P-Cadherin is found in stem cells that give rise to the myoepithelial cell layer, termed cap cells^[@CR30],[@CR31]^. In contrast, in the mature lactating gland, P-Cadherin is expressed in human alveolar cells, the units responsible for milk protein production^[@CR32]^.
To date, however, there is no functional evidence of the role of P-Cadherin for the generation of a mammary alveolus and normal function. While it is interesting to confirm the possible identification of a new marker linked to mammary stem cell populations, in particular for a species where few molecular markers are available, it is necessary to examine the cellular processes that occur in this cell niche in the presence of P-Cadherin.
The aim of this research is to demonstrate the utility of P-Cadherin in the characterization of the cellular phenotype of adult stem cells in the mammary gland and to report which genes are activated in this role during the process of mammary differentiation through transcriptome analysis.
Results {#Sec2}
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Frequencies of the mammary epithelial subpopulations {#Sec3}
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The expression of CD49f. and P-Cadherin were analyzed by flow cytometry in mammary epithelial cells recovered from eight Piedmontese heifers. After exclusion of dead cells, four subpopulations were identified according to the expression levels of both markers (Fig. [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}). A double negative population (CD49f^neg^/P-Cadherin^neg^), a highly CD49f positive/P-Cadherin negative population (CD49f^high^/P-Cadherin^neg^), a medium CD49f/medium P-Cadherin positive population (CD49f^mid^/P-Cadherin^mid^) and a medium CD49f/highly P-Cadherin positive population (CD49f^mid^/P-Cadherin^high^) were identified in all samples analyzed. The distribution of these populations shows variability among samples: CD49f^neg^/P-Cadherin^neg^ ranged from 5 to 30.7%, CD49f^high^/P-Cadherin^neg^ ranged from 10.3 to 52.6%, CD49f^mid^/P-Cadherin^mid^ ranged from 8.6 to 40.6% and CD49f^mid^/P-Cadherin^high^ ranged from 3.9 to 40%.Figure 1Sorting strategy for separating mammary subpopulations. The figure shows representative scatterplots of a sample of bovine mammary epithelial cells and the general sorting strategy adopted. A broad gate was set for the physical parameters, then events that were positive for 7-AAD (dead cells) and CD45 + (leucocytes) were excluded from the population of interest. Cells were then separated according to the expression levels of CD49f and P-Cadherin.
The expression of CD45 was also evaluated and CD45^+^ cells accounted for less than 5% of the starting population in all analyzed samples.
Distribution of mammary progenitor cells among sorted fractions {#Sec4}
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As we have previously shown, in adult bovine mammary tissue, both stem cells and committed unipotent progenitor cells can be observed^[@CR38]^. A clonogenic assay such as the CFC allows for the detection of highly proliferating cells that are committed to either a myoepithelial or a luminal phenotype. We carried out the CFC assay with the four sorted fractions in order to investigate whether the progenitors that were present in the mammary tissue were associated with one or more of the phenotypes that we identified and therefore in which of the subpopulations they segregated.
In all the dishes where cells from the CD49f^neg^/P-Cadherin^neg^ fractions were seeded, the overall frequency of colonies was lower than 0.05%, while within cell populations of the other fractions were seeded, the colony frequency ranged from 2.7 to 4.1% (Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}i). Interestingly, when the colonies were scored according to their morphology as previously described \[both in the CD49f^mid^/P-Cadherin^mid^ and in the CD49f^mid^/P-Cadherin^high^ fractions\], no myoepithelial-like colonies could be observed and only luminal-like colonies were apparent. In the CD49f^igh^/P-Cadherin^neg^ fraction however, myoepithelial-like colonies could be observed and their relative frequency was 71.4 ± 3.8% (number of myoepithelial colonies / total number colonies × 100 ± s.e.) (Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}ii).Figure 2Frequency distribution of mammary progenitors among sorted fractions. (**i**) frequency of mammary progenitors in the four isolated cell fraction is expressed as number of colonies per 1,000 cells seeded (*n* = 3) ± s.e. (**ii**) relative frequency of luminal and myoepithelial colonies within the CD49f^high^/P-Cadherin^neg^ subpopulation when cells were seeded immediately after sorting and after cells of the same fraction were engrafted in NOD/SCID mice.
Mammary epithelial stem cells segregate in the CD49f^high^*/P-Cadherin*^neg^ subpopulation {#Sec5}
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While the CFC assay is efficient in detecting highly proliferating cells of different lineages (i.e. committed progenitors), it is not suitable to detect cells that retain stem-like properties. Therefore cells from different subpopulations were xenografted into immunocompromised mice as an in vivo model that has been previously described^[@CR3],[@CR33]^. In a xenotrasplantation model, only mammary stem cells are able to engraft and regenerate outgrowths that mirror ducts and acini found in the bovine mammary tissue. In previous experiments, it was established that 7.5 × 10^5^ cells were an optimal number to obtain a sufficient number of outgrowths to enable analysis. Therefore for each sorted subpopulation, the number of cells that were engrafted was calculated as equal to the frequency of the subpopulation measured when sorting, applied to a 7.5 × 10^5^ total cell number.
Three bovine mammary samples were selected and for each subpopulation, multiple gels were prepared. Two to three gels were engrafted into each kidney for a total of five to six gels per bovine sample/experiment. When recovered, two to three gels per subpopulation were dissociated and seeded in CFC assays to assess the progenitor cell content of the xenografts, while the remaining gels were paraffin-embedded and sectioned for immunohistological analysis.
After inclusion and sectioning of the gels, outgrowths were detected only in those seeded with the CD49f^high^/P-Cadherin^neg^ fraction (*n* = 9) (Fig. [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"}). The regenerated structures exhibited an internal lumen. Both round-shaped and slightly elongated outgrowths were visible even in the same section and consisted of an inner layer of cuboidal cells and an outer layer of flat, more elongated CK14^+^ cells (Fig. [4](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}). Occasionally, multilayered structures could be detected. In gels seeded with cells from the other fractions (*n* = 9 for each subpopulation), no outgrowths could be detected.Figure 3Histological sections of xenografted gels. Representative images of xenografted gels from each of the mammary epithelial cell subpopulations after 4 weeks of in vivo engraftment. Hematoxylin staining, scale bar is 250 µm.Figure 4Regenerated structures in CD49f^high^/P-Cadherin^neg^ seeded gels. (**i**) and (**ii**) show representative images of regenerated outgrowths in which an inner lumen and a double layer is visible. Hematoxylin staining, scale bar is 50 µm. (**iii**) and (**iv**) shows immunofluorescence staining for cytokeratin (CK) 14. CK14 is in green, nuclei are stained blue with DAPI, scale bar is 50 µm.
By dissociating the recovered gels and seeding the cells in a CFC assay, evaluation could be undertaken of whether committed progenitor cells were produced by stem cells during the xenograft. Only CD49f^high^/P-Cadherin^neg^-engrafted cells were able to produce distinct colonies. Such colonies included myoepithelial-like (with a frequency of 36.7 ± 1.8%) and luminal-like ones (63.3 ± 6.9%) (Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}ii).
Whole transcriptome analysis of mammary subpopulations {#Sec6}
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The first step in the analysis of the whole transcriptome of the four different populations consisted of fitting the mixed model. Since normalization of arrays occurred prior to analysis, no significant effect of cell population is expected, as was observed here (*P* = 0.36). Also no between-sample variation is expected, as supported by the small variance component estimate ($\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$\hat{\sigma }_{S}^{2} = 0.036 \pm 0.019$$\end{document}$). However as expected there was substantial overall between-gene variation ($\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$\hat{\sigma }_{G}^{2} = 5.44 \pm 0.070$$\end{document}$), and also substantial Gene.CellPop effects ($\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$\hat{\sigma }_{G.CP}^{2} = 0.672 \pm 0.006$$\end{document}$) suggesting the existence of DE genes.
Differentially expressed genes {#Sec7}
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Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type="table"} shows the results of fitting of the mixture model for DE and non-DE genes. Based on the model, a large proportion of genes showed evidence of differential expression from 23% of genes (CD49f^mid^/P-Cadherin^mid^) to 39.7% (CD49f^high^/P-Cadherin^neg^). Using the threshold of a probability of 0.8, individual genes were classified as DE or non-DE. The false discovery rates (FDR) of DEGs was also calculated using this threshold, for each cell population. Overall, it is estimated that 3.2% of genes identified as being DE are 'false discoveries'. A complete list of DE genes is available in Supplementary Table [1](#MOESM1){ref-type="media"}.Table 1Results of fitting of the mixture model for DE and non-DE genes.Cell populationCD49f^neg^\
P-cad^neg^CD49f^mid^\
P-cad^mid^CD49f^mid^\
P-cad^high^CD49f^high^\
P-cad^neg^π~1~0.2270.2250.3070.375σ~0~0.3020.2040.3500.261σ~1~1.2900.6121.1191.109*n*~DE~1,4339801,6442,669FDR0.0300.0410.0350.029π~1~ = estimated proportion of genes that are differentially expressed (DE); σ~0~ = SD of the Gene × Cell population gene effects in each cell population for the non-DE genes; σ~1~ = corresponding SD for DE genes; *n*~DE~ = number of DE genes detected; FDR = false discovery rate of a gene being DE based on a threshold probability of \> 0.8.
A general comparison of the four different subpopulations was initially undertaken. Genes were clustered according to their pattern of expression and a heatmap of DE genes was generated (Fig. [5](#Fig5){ref-type="fig"}). A list of DE genes split into 8 clusters (3rd level of splitting, 2^3^) was generated and a functional analysis for enrichment for biological processes (BP) was carried out. The analysis was performed both on the annotated bovine transcriptome and by translating bovine transcripts in their human orthologs.Figure 5Clustering of DE genes. The graph shows the eight clusters of DE genes distributed among the four different mammary epithelial subpopulations that were used to perform the analysis for enrichment of biological processes, molecular function and cell components associated genes.
When the bovine annotated transcripts were used, Cluster 3 showed an enrichment for transcripts associated with cell-to-cell communication (signal transduction, 68 transcripts; signaling, 71; cell communication, 71; regulation of cellular process, 92; cellular response to stimulus, 75). In Cluster 8, an enrichment in metabolic process (183 transcripts) was found. Cluster 2 showed an enrichment in genes associated with immune response and leukocytes activation although the number of transcripts per each specific category was between 3 and 9 and many transcripts were shared among the categories.
When the analysis was repeated with the human orthologs, an increased number of categories of enrichment were found. Again, in Cluster 2 biological processes associated with an immune response and activation of different leukocyte populations (in particular lymphocyte) were observed. In contrast to what was identified when using bovine annotated transcripts, Cluster 3 showed an enrichment in biological processes again associated with immune response, similar to Cluster 2. In Cluster 4, biological processes associated with angiogenesis and cell junction assembly were observed to be enriched in these transcripts. More interestingly, in the same cluster, the following biological processes could also be found: anatomical structure formation involved in morphogenesis (104 transcripts), cell migration (114 transcripts), tube morphogenesis (81 transcripts), epithelial cell migration (34 transcripts), epithelial cell differentiation (47 transcripts), epithelial cell proliferation (36 transcripts). In Cluster 8, an enrichment in transcripts was found for biological processes either associated with chromosome/chromatid segregation (20 and 14 transcripts respectively), mitotic nuclear division (21 transcripts) and DNA repair (19 transcripts), or with cofactor metabolic process (46 transcripts), oxidation--reduction process (76 transcripts), carboxylic acid metabolic process (82 transcripts), cellular amide metabolic process (50 transcripts).
When analyzing differentially expressed genes, 445 genes were overexpressed exclusively in the CD49f^high^/P-Cadherin^neg^ population while 333 were downregulated in the same subpopulation when compared to the other three (that is they were not detected as DE in the other subpopulations) (Supplementary Fig. [1](#MOESM2){ref-type="media"}).
Among the overexpressed genes, FGFR1, members of MAP kinase family (MAP3K11, MAPK11), ADAMTS1 and ADAMTS7 metalloproteases, MEF2A transcription factor, CADM4 cell adhesion molecule and several RHO GTPases (RHOB, RHOD, RHOF, RHOJ) were detected. Notably, Fos was among the downregulated gene along with HOXC9.
The same functional analysis for enrichment was subsequently performed on these two gene subsets. Only the analysis on the human orthologs was performed for better annotation.
At first an analysis for enrichment of biological process-related genes was performed. No functional enrichment was found when the analysis was restricted to the subset of the upregulated genes. However, in the subset of the downregulated genes, an enrichment for genes associated with chromosome organization, mitotic cell cycle, mitotic cell cycle process and sister chromatid segregation was found (Supplementary Fig. [2](#MOESM2){ref-type="media"}i). When single genes in these enrichment categories were examined and their specific function investigated in the literature, many were related to chromatin condensation, kinetochore formation, histone acetylation and cell-cycle progression checkpoints.
We then performed an analysis for enrichment of molecular function (MF)-related genes. In the subset of the upregulated genes, we could detect specific enrichments for genes associated with the cadherin binding and cell adhesion molecule binding functions (Supplementary Fig. [2](#MOESM2){ref-type="media"}ii). When single genes in these categories were examined and their function investigated in literature, most of them promoted cytoskeleton organization, cell adhesion, cell migration and focal adhesion. No statistically significant enrichment was found for MF in the downregulated subset of genes.
Discussion {#Sec8}
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This study reports for the first time the utility that P-Cadherin may have in the purification of adult stem cells of the mammary gland in the bovine species. P-Cadherin has been observed to be crucial for preserving the structural integrity of epithelia in general^[@CR22]^ and for maintaining important functions related to cellular differentiation and polarity, cell growth and cell migration also in adult tissues, although its role has proved prominent mostly during embryonic development^[@CR25],[@CR39]^.
At the level of the mammary gland it has been reported that P-Cadherin is co-expressed with markers of the basal layer of the mammary alveolus in the mouse in association with CK5 and CD49f^[@CR40]^ but it has not been investigated in more detail if it has a relevance for the regulation of the stem and / or progenitor cells. Our results propose that P-Cadherin may have an influence in cellular differentiation and its segregation outside a progenitor-rich compartment is important for the characterization of stem cells in the basal mammary phenotype when analyzed along with CD49f, a recognized marker of mammary stemness.
Our study reports that mammary stem cells exhibit a cellular phenotype (CD49f^high^ /P-Cadherin^neg^) which identifies a subpopulation of cells capable of regenerating polarized mammary acini unlike the other three subpopulations sorted with different levels of co-expression of the two membrane markers.
The overall frequency of colonies was lower than 0.05% in the double negative cells, while when cells of the other fractions were seeded, it ranged from 2.7 to 4.1%. Such frequencies would exclude the presence of progenitors in the double negative compartment, while indicating their presence in the other three. While the overall frequency of progenitor cells did not differ among the three subpopulations, it is important to emphasis that colony types differed among the remaining cell fractions. Interestingly, the analysis of cellular colonies resulting from the clonal proliferation of these populations shows the capacity of the CD49f^high^/P-Cadherin^neg^ population to differentiate into luminal-only colonies and basal-only colonies as demonstrated by expression of markers that we previously reported^[@CR16],[@CR33]^. In fact, both in the CD49f^mid^/P-Cadherin^mid^ and in the CD49f^mid^/P-Cadherin^high^ fractions, no myoepithelial-like colonies could be found and only luminal-like colonies were apparent. In the CD49f^high^/P-Cadherin^neg^ fraction however, myoepithelial-like colonies could be detected with relative high frequency (71%). As for the out-growths, only CD49f^high^/P-Cadherin^neg^-engrafted cells were able to produce colonies at all. Moreover myoepithelial-like and luminal-like colonies were both evident. Such behavior adds proof to the stem identity of the engrafted cells from the CD49f^high^/P-Cadherin^neg^ subpopulation.
The organization of the mammary stem niche in the bovine appears, as previously reported, more similar to the mammary stem niche of the humans rather than the murine^[@CR8],[@CR33]^. The observed prevalence of mixed colonies in assays of cells isolated from regenerated structures is similar to what we have seen in similar assays of human cells and likely reflects the early regenerative phase of the structures from which they were obtained. In addition, the niche requirements of these primitive bovine mammary stem cells appear to more closely resemble those of their human rather than their murine counterparts since they regenerated structures in the kidney capsule assay but not when injected directly into cleared mouse mammary fat pads^[@CR3],[@CR41]^.
Higher expression of P-Cadherin seems to be restricted to luminal-only progenitors and therefore might play a role in luminal differentiation in adult mammary tissue. This observation has been reported in human cancer cell lines^[@CR28]^ that underlined the correlation with ALDH1, a well-known cancer stem cells marker^[@CR42]^ and an association with a phenotype of luminal progenitor more than stem cells. In our study a specific functional test for stem cells relate strictly the absence of P-Cadherin to a normal primitive niche. The CD49f^mid^/P-Cadherin^mid^ and the CD49f^mid^/P-Cadherin^high^ fractions do not give rise to myoepithelial colonies when seeded at clonal density. Such observations lead us to hypothesize that P-Cadherin expression becomes relevant when stem cells have already started differentiating towards the phenotype of the innermost layer of the alveolus, which is formed by secretory epithelial cells. Previously, similar observations have always been reported in the bovine for E-Cadherin for its co-expression with the luminal phenotype^[@CR14]^. However, we report here that P-Cadherin absence is associated with the maintenance of a stem state.
Some authors have reported that mammary stem cells are associated with a high expression of CD49f^[@CR43]^. Therefore, separating different mammary subpopulations just by using CD49f can result in an enrichment in the stem cell fraction by selecting for the cells with the highest expression of this marker. However, such sorting strategy would suffer from a major drawback, specifically the variability in setting a gate for such a population. The use of a secondary marker, such as P-Cadherin, allows for a better separation of mammary subpopulations since P-Cadherin expression is different in the CD49f^mid^ and CD49f^high^ populations. This approach results in a higher purity of the mammary stem cell population. The similarity with the behavior reported above with the stem niche characterized for the human species allows us to hypothesize that this surface marker in association with CD49f increases the purity of cellular subpopulation for stemness.
The transcriptome analysis of the different cell subpopulations highlights that P-Cadherin^neg^ cellular subpopulation has a downregulation of genes related to the progression through cell cycle, which is consistent with a quiescent nature of adult stem cells. We have reported that 445 genes were overexpressed in the stem-cell enriched mammary subpopulation identified in CD49f^high^/P-Cadherin^neg^ phenotype while 333 were downregulated in the same subpopulation. In particular, in the subset of the downregulated genes, an enrichment for genes associated with chromosome organization (such as SMC2), mitotic cell cycle (such as CDC23), mitotic cell cycle progress, sister chromatid segregation (such as SYCP3, KIF22 and AURKB), chromatin condensation, kinetochore formation (such as KIF2C and CENPQ), histone acetylation (such as EYA3 and HDAC11), and cell-cycle progression checkpoints (such as CCNE1 and MYB) was observed. It was reported that some types of stem cells, such as long-term hematopoietic stem cells and skeletal muscle stem cells, are characterized by prolonged periods of quiescence^[@CR44],[@CR45]^. The identity of the niche signals required for long-term stem cell quiescence, and the mechanisms that underlie the transition from quiescence to activation, are not completely understood however interesting results have been proposed^[@CR46]^ N-Cadherin and M-Cadherin have been proposed as niche-based regulators of SC quiescence assuming that cell--cell adhesion exerts a key role in niche-regulated stem cell behavior, with cadherin-based adhesive junctions anchoring stem cells to niche cells^[@CR47]^. In our study, a correlation for the activation of the mammary stem niche could be hypothesized due to the presence of P-Cadherin which would initiate a partial differentiation towards cellular precursors. In these mammary epithelial subpopulations that lack the expression of P-Cadherin we show that genes related to cell cycle are downregulated while genes related to cytoskeleton organization are upregulated, thus when this cadherin is expressed the cells loose the focal adhesion, start to migrate from their stem niche and proliferate.
In conclusion, this study reports for the first time the role of P-Cadherin to isolate the adult mammary stem cells subpopulation at higher purity in association with CD49f, indicating how the expression of this cadherin is important for the recruitment towards a more differentiated phenotype and, as already reported for other cadherins, its absence is linked to the activation or shutdown of genes associated with cell quiescence. This observation could be useful for identifying new strategies for controlling stem cell mobilization in mammary tissue.
The data discussed in this publication have been deposited in NCBI\'s Gene Expression Omnibus^[@CR48]^ and are accessible through GEO Series accession number GSE148447 (<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GSE148447>.
Materials and methods {#Sec9}
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Tissue collection and cell isolation {#Sec10}
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The study on cows/animals were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations: whole udders were collected from Piedmontese breed cows (age ranging from 17 to 28 months) at a local abattoir within 2 h of the time of slaughter. Sample collection, after the slaughter, was performed with the authorization and under the supervision of representatives of the Veterinary Services of the Italian National Health Service branch of the Ministry of Health. Animal work described in this study (NOD-SCID mice experiments) has been reviewed and approved by the Italian Ministry of Health (Authorization note no. 149401894128) and by the Bioethics Committee of the University of Turin.
Mammary tissue was then processed as previously described^[@CR33]^ in order to obtain a single cell suspension to be used for subsequent assays. Briefly, tissue samples were dissociated overnight in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium/Nutrient Mixture F12 Ham (DMEM/F12) 1:1 v/v mixture supplemented with 2% bovine serum albumin (BSA), 300 U/ml collagenase type IV, 100 U/ml hyaluronidase type IV-S, 100 U/ml penicillin and 100 μg/ml streptomycin (all from Sigma-Aldrich Corp., St. Louis, MO, USA).
Epithelial aggregates were then separated by differential centrifugation and enzymatically digested with a 0.5 mg/ml trypsin solution supplemented with 0.2 mg/ml EDTA followed by a digestion with 5 mg/ml dispase and 100 µg/ml DNAseI (all from Sigma-Aldrich Corp.).
Flow cytometry and sorting {#Sec11}
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After the dissociation of the epithelial organoids, a single cell suspension was obtained. The cell suspension was then further filtered through a 40-µm mesh. Cells were then counted, centrifuged and resuspended in a suitable volume of Hank's Balanced Salt Solution (HBSS) supplemented with 2% Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS, Gibco, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA USA). Cell concentration was kept lower than 0.5 × 10^7^ cells/ml. Antibodies were then added to the cell suspension at the following concentration: 5 µl/10^6^ cells CD49f.-PE (clone GOH3, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Dallas, TX USA), 10 µl/10^6^ cells P-Cadherin-FITC (N-19, Santa Cruz Biotechnology), 20 µl/10^6^ cells CD45-Alexa647 (CACTB51A, Monoclonal Antibody Center---Washington State University, Pullman, WA USA that was conjugated with Alexa647 using an APEX Antibody Labeling kit from Thermo Fisher Scientific). Cells were incubated for 20 min at 4 °C in the dark and then washed with HBSS supplemented with 2% FBS and resuspended in a suitable volume of HBSS. Immediately before sorting 7-Aminoactinomycin D (7-AAD) was added to each tube for live/dead cells discrimination at a final concentration of 1 µg/ml. 7-AAD negative events were selected to exclude dead cells and CD45 negative events to exclude immune cells. 7-AAD^-^/CD45^-^ cells were then sorted according to the expression of CD49f. and P-Cadherin by use of a FACSAria III (BD-Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, NJ USA) equipped with an 85-µm nozzle tip and three lasers (405, 488 and 633 nm).
Colony forming cell (CFC) assay {#Sec12}
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CFC assays were carried out as previously described^[@CR33]^. Briefly, single cell suspensions of bovine mammary epithelial cells were prepared from the sorted fractions and seeded at very low density (2 × 10^3^ cells per 60-mm dish) along with 2 × 10^5^ NIH 3T3 fibroblasts that were previously treated with mitomycin C (10 μg/ml for 2 h).
Cells were cultured for 24 h in human EpiCult B medium (STEMCELL Technologies, Vancouver, BC, Canada) supplemented with 5% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and 10^-6^ M hydrocortisone, 100 U/ml penicillin and 100 μg/ml streptomycin (Sigma-Aldrich Corp). Subsequently the medium was replaced with fresh media but without FBS and cells were cultured for seven additional days.
Colonies were then examined under a Leica DM IL inverted contrast phase microscope in order to assess their morphology and scored accordingly.
Xenograft {#Sec13}
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Immediately after sorting, cells from each fraction were resuspended and mixed with 10T1/2 mouse fetal fibroblasts that were previously treated with mitomycin C at a concentration of 2 μg/ml for 16 h. Cells were then embedded in rat tail collagen as previously described^[@CR33]^ and transferred under the kidney capsule of female NOD/SCID mice. Mice received a silicone pellet (MED-4011, NuSil Technology, Carpinteria, CA, USA) containing 2 mg of 17β-estradiol and 4 mg of progesterone (both from Sigma-Aldrich Corp) at the time of surgery. The gels were recovered 4 weeks later.
Staining of paraffin embedded sections {#Sec14}
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When gels were recovered from mice, they were processed as previously described for paraffin embedding^[@CR33]^. Briefly, gels were fixed in 4% neutral buffered formalin overnight and subsequently dehydrated and paraffin embedded. Sections of 4 µm were cut and processed for either hematoxylin eosin staining or for immunofluorescence staining.
After dewaxing, sections were placed in Tris--HCl buffered saline supplemented with Tween-20 (TBS-Tween, 0.1 M Tris HCl, 0.14 M NaCl, 0.05% Tween-20, pH7.6, all reagents from Sigma-Aldrich) for 10 min, then incubated at room temperature for 1 h in TBS-Tween supplemented with 10% goat serum (Sigma-Aldrich) and then for 1 h at room temperature with the primary antibody. Sections were then washed 3 times with TBS-Tween, the secondary antibody applied and incubated for another hour. Sections were then counterstained with 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI, Sigma-Aldrich) and then mounted.
As primary antibody, human cytokeratin 14 (CK14, 1:500 dilution, polyclonal AF-64, Covance, Princeton, NJ, USA) was used, while as secondary antibody, AlexaFluor 488-labelled goat anti-rabbit IgG was used (1:500, Invitrogen, Thermo Fisher Scientific).
RNA extraction and sequencing {#Sec15}
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In order to perform a whole transcriptome analysis, total RNA was extracted from cells of the four different fractions. Cells were directly sorted in 1.5 ml tubes containing 1 ml of TRI Reagent (Sigma-Aldrich Corp). For each fraction, at least 5 × 10^5^ cells were collected and lysed for RNA extraction.
RNA was purified by adding 200 µl of chloroform (Sigma-Aldrich Corp.) and centrifuging at 12,000×*g* for 15 min at 4 °C. The upper clear phase was recovered and RNA was precipitated with 500 µl of isopropanol (Sigma-Aldrich Corp.) followed by a wash with 70% ethanol (Sigma-Aldrich Corp.). The RNA pellet was then resuspended in DEPC water (approximately 20 µl) and quantified with a Nanodrop 2000 (Themo Fisher Scientific).
RNA samples were then shipped to IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Italy, where they were processed for an Illumina TruSeq sequencing protocol with a reads depth of 30 M and expression data were normalized as RPKM.
Gene expression analysis {#Sec16}
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The data set allowed to compare patterns of gene expression across the four cell types, namely CD49f^−^/P-cad^-^ (*n* = 3); CD49f^+^/P-cad^+^ (*n* = 2); CD49f^++^/P-cad^-^ (*n* = 3); and CD49f^+^/P-cad^++^ (*n* = 3). Data analysis was conducted by using a two-stage approach, as outlined by Singh et al.^[@CR24]^ and Trabzuni et al.^[@CR34]^. Firstly, a large-scale linear mixed model was fitted to all the gene expression data, of the form$$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$ {\text{logExpr}} = {\text{constant}} + {\text{CellPop}} + {\text{Sample}} + {\text{Gene}} + {\text{Gene}}.{\text{CellPop}} + \varepsilon $$\end{document}$$where logExpr is the logarithm of the expression value, CellPop is the fixed effect of the cell population type, Sample is the random effect of the array, Gene is the random effect of a particular gene, and Gene.CellPop is the specific random effect of a gene in a particular cell population, and ε is the random error. Of main interest it will be the estimates of the Gene.CellPop terms. Fitting of the linear mixed model was conducted using ASReml-R^[@CR35]^ within the R computing environment.
The second stage of the analysis involved fitting a two-component mixture model for these Gene.CellPop effect estimates, separately for each cell population. The two components are a set of differentially expressed (DE) and non-differentially expressed (non-DE) genes. Genes are assigned as DE when the (posterior) probability of being DE exceeds 0.8.
Following this, some descriptive approaches were used, particularly to investigate patterns of differential expression across the four cell population types. All analyses were conducted using R.
Gene annotation and functional analysis {#Sec17}
---------------------------------------
Genes named after their ENSEMBL ID have been translated to their common gene name in order to have the same identifier for all genes considered, the translation has been run with data from BioMart tool as in Ensembl Release 96 (April 2019) based on the bovine genes ARS-UCD1.2 assembly.
Gene ontology enrichments and gene functional analysis have been conducted in R environment, release 3.6.1, through Bioconductor (<https://www.bioconductor.org/>) package ClusterProfiler, version 3.12.0, a 0.05 cutoff value has been chosen for false discovery rate values. Bovine and human functional annotation were based on org.Bt.eg.db^B^ and org.Hs.eg.db^C[@CR36]^, respectively, and homologene^D[@CR37]^ package has been used for cow-human gene orthology conversion.
Supplementary information
=========================
{#Sec18}
Supplementary file1Supplementary file2Supplementary file3
**Publisher\'s note**
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
=========================
is available for this paper at 10.1038/s41598-020-71179-4.
This work was supported by FIL 2015 and 2016 of the University of Turin and IRCA University of Sydney 2015.
E.M.: Conception and design, writing manuscript. U.A.: Data analysis and interpretation. P.A.S.: financial support, manuscript revision. PCT: data analysis and interpretation. M.B.: Conception and design, writing manuscript, financial support.
The authors declare no competing interests.
| {
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A Columbus, Ohio police officer was injured Monday night after he bit into a glass-laced sandwich that was served up at a local café.
The officer had stopped into the eatery about 3 p.m. Monday where he ordered the food and took a bite, according to ABC 6.
He then heard a crunching noise, felt a “grisly texture,” and realized right away that something was wrong. When he looked at the sandwich he found several shards of glass.
The officer was taken was taken to a hospital where he is being treated for several cuts to his mouth.
It has not been determined how the glass got into the sandwich or if it was put there deliberately. The restaurant, which has not been named, was closed as officials investigate. | {
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Billygan's Roadhouse
Billygan's Roadhouse restaurant is the best steakhouse north of the Columbia river. Located in Vancouver, WA and just minutes from downtown Portland, OR; Billygan's serves the best burgers, chicken, ribs and seafood. Come try us today and see why we are the best burger place in Clark County and Portland Metro combined!
Jollie's Restaurant & Lounge
Quiznos
Yo 2 Go
Starbucks
Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to ethically sourcing and roasting the highest quality arabica coffee in the world. Today, with stores around the globe, the company is the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world.
Muchas Gracias Mexican Food
Don & Jo's Drive-In
Starbucks
Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to ethically sourcing and roasting the highest quality arabica coffee in the world. Today, with stores around the globe, the company is the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world. | {
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President Donald Trump, who launched his campaign with a forceful attack on immigrants, is now the man responsible for catapulting immigration reform back into contention.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Tuesday that the administration would rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, an Obama-era executive action that protected from deportation about 800,000 young undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children — people known as “Dreamers,” after the failed 2010 DREAM Act.
Immigration advocates blasted the decision as a moral failing on the part of the Trump administration. But they also acknowledged on Tuesday that Trump provided a renewed political opening none of them had expected from a man who barnstormed the presidency by referring to Mexican immigrants as drug dealers, criminals and rapists.
Chances of passing a new DREAM Act remain a long shot, and some Republicans in Congress said Tuesday that they were skeptical that any stand-alone bill granting legal status to Dreamers could pass. White House officials said they hoped to use the impetus to win concessions on a border wall and other priorities.
But despite major hurdles ahead, immigration activists said, Trump has single-handedly revived chances for the DREAM Act, if not for something larger.
The president “has really tossed the issue onto the table — not putting pressure on Democrats, but into the lap of Republicans,” said Frank Sharry, founder and executive director of the immigration reform group America’s Voice. “This is not the issue Republicans would have chosen. Trump chose it for them. In a backhanded way, he’s made it more likely that the DREAM Act will be passed.”
Trump acted on Tuesday in response to a Sept. 5 deadline imposed on him by a coalition of attorneys general from across the country — led by Texas. The group had threatened to sue the administration if the president did not take any action to end the program.
Breaking News Alerts Get breaking news when it happens — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
The decision — one that the president “wrestled with,” according to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders — has created momentum for Congress to take action on immigration reform, which stalled on the Hill in 2010 and again in 2013. Trump has given Congress a six-month window to pass legislation.
Hundreds of protesters swarmed the gates in front of the White House and gathered on Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower yelling “Shame!” at the administration for rescinding a backstop for hundreds of thousands of undocumented individuals who have served in the military, contributed to the economy, and pursued college plans in the country where they grew up.
But immigration activists conceded that if Trump had instead decided to let the fight over DACA play out in the courts, there might not have been any window for reviving consideration of immigration reform legislation.
In that scenario, “the pressure on Congress wouldn’t have been nearly as intense,” said Sharry. “It would be, ‘Let’s see what the courts do.’ In this scenario, there’s no ambiguity as to who is responsible. It’s cleaner.”
Ironically, it’s Sessions — who for years has been one of the biggest forces on the Hill pushing attempts to kill any comprehensive immigration reform — who’s been part of the brain trust advising Trump to take action that puts the onus on Congress to act.
“The fact that the Trump administration ended DACA creates a sense of urgency for Congress to pass the DREAM Act,” said Tyler Moran, managing director of the DC Immigration Hub. “Republicans are in control of both the House and the Senate, and they need to make a decision if they’re going to be part of the solution, or if they’re going to side with [White House senior policy adviser] Stephen Miller and Jeff Sessions.”
Other immigration activists were not eager to see any silver lining in Tuesday's announcement. “Whatever happens in Congress, the notion of using Dreamers as pawns to leverage to pass legislation is a very distasteful one,” said Jeremy Robbins, executive director of the New American Economy, a pro-immigration reform group launched by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
But Robbins conceded that Trump’s move revives the issue, which has been lagging for years.
In December 2010, the DREAM Act failed, with 55 in favor, 41 opposed and four senators abstaining. Only three Republicans voted in favor of the bill that year. In 2013, a comprehensive immigration reform bill passed the Senate, only to die in the House.
In a statement he released on Tuesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan struck a sympathetic tone and expressed hope for a “permanent legislative solution that includes ensuring that those who have done nothing wrong can still contribute as a valued part of this great country.”
But Trump may have set Ryan up not for a test of his own principles, but of his backbone, as he seeks to pass a bill that is likely to be unpopular with the Republican base.
“Speaker Ryan and Leader [Mitch] McConnell know how cold-hearted and senseless it would be to round these bright young Americans up and kick them out of the only home they’ve ever known,” said Jesse Lehrich, communications director for Obama for America. “The administration has dared Speaker Ryan and Leader McConnell to summon the moral courage and leadership to do something about it, once and for all.”
| {
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A keepsake sinking into the depths of the ocean must dodge dangerous creatures and collect memories along the way.
Please Remember was made by team Ranch BLT for the 48 hour Bacon Game Jam 09. The theme was "Depth."
| {
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Xbox One November 2015 update for Backwards compatibility
We have some fantastic news to confirm now, the news which you have all been waiting weeks to hear from Microsoft. We now know the official Xbox One backwards compatibility release date combined with when the new Xbox One Experience dashboard update in November 2015 is out.
Without further ado, we can confirm that the big date is November 12 which falls on a Thursday. This is going to be the day in which the new Xbox One November 2015 update is also live with a new dashboard on top of the backwards compatibility goodness – free for all Xbox One owners remember.
That makes it a massive month for Xbox gamers adding the Games with Gold titles into the mix and now you can count down the days after finally knowing when it will be available.
For those that need a recap on what the new Xbox One dashboard will look like in the update, we’ve added the video from E3 2015 to refresh your memory.
Simply put, if you love the look of Windows 10 then you are going to also love how the new Xbox One update in November will look as it’s styled off the Windows 10 interface.
Give us your reaction to the news below and what you are most looking forward to within the update next month. Is free backwards compatibility one reason why you prefer Xbox One over PS4? | {
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Ian Watson (author)
Ian Watson (born 20 April 1943) is a British science fiction writer. He lives in Gijón, Spain.
Life
In 1959 Watson worked as an accounts clerk at Runciman's, a Newcastle shipping company. The experience was not particularly satisfying.
Watson graduated in English Literature from Balliol College, Oxford, in 1963; in 1965 he earned a research degree in English and French 19th-century literature.
Watson lectured English in Tanzania (1965–67) and Tokyo (1967–70), and taught Future Studies at the Birmingham Polytechnic from 1970 to 1976. After 1976 he devoted himself to his career as a professional writer.
His first novel, The Embedding, winner of the Prix Apollo in 1975, is unusual for being based on ideas from generative grammar; the title refers to the process of center embedding. A prolific writer, he has also written the novels Miracle Visitors, God's World, The Jonah Kit and The Flies of Memory and many collections of short stories. Watson is credited as author of the screen story for the motion picture A.I. Artificial Intelligence. In 1977, The Jonah Kit won the BSFA Award for Best Novel.
During 1980, Watson and Michael Bishop wrote the first transatlantic SF novel collaboration, Under Heaven's Bridge, using typewriters and postal services.
He has also written a series of novels relating to the Warhammer 40,000 line of games: Space Marine, and the Inquisition War trilogy of Inquisitor, Harlequin and Chaos Child (republished in 2002 by The Black Library, with Inquisitor retitled Draco). Other recent stories have been published in US magazine Weird Tales, the Canadian anthology Lust For Life, New Writings in the Fantastic, the Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica volume 7, and in a few more books. Some of these stories have been translated into non-English languages.
A collaboration with Italian surrealist writer Roberto Quaglia has produced a book, The Beloved of My Beloved, launched during April 2009 during Eastercon.
His major work of recent years is The Waters of Destiny co-written with Andy West.
Bibliography
Novels
The Jonah Kit. London: Gollancz, 1975.
Orgasmachine. Paris: Editions Champ Libre, 1976.
The Martian Inca. London: Gollancz, 1977.
Alien Embassy. London: Gollancz, 1977.
Miracle Visitors. London: Gollancz, 1978.
God's World. London, Gollancz, 1979.
The Gardens of Delight. London: Gollancz, 1980.
Deathhunter. London: Gollancz, 1981.
Under Heaven's Bridge, with Michael Bishop. London: Gollancz, 1982.
Chekov's Journey. London: Gollancz, 1983.
Converts. London: Granada, 1984 (paper).
The Books of the Black Current:
The Book of the River. London: Gollancz, 1984.
The Book of the Stars. London: Gollancz, 1984.
The Book of Being. London: Gollancz, 1985.
Yaleen, omnibus edition. Dallas, TX: BenBella Books, 2004
Queenmagic, Kingmagic. London: Gollancz, 1986.
The Power. London: Headline, 1987.
Whores of Babylon. London: Paladin, 1988 (paper).
Meat. London: Headline, 1988.
The Fire Worm. London: Gollancz, 1988.
The Flies of Memory. London: Gollancz, 1990.
The Books of Mana:
Lucky's Harvest. London: Gollancz, 1993.
The Fallen Moon. London: Gollancz, 1994.
Hard Questions. London: Gollancz, 1996.
Oracle. London: Gollancz, 1997.
Mockymen. Urbana, IL: Golden Gryphon Press, 2003.
Orgasmachine. Alconbury Weston: NewCon Press, 2010.
The Waters of Destiny (with Andy West)
Assassins. Palabaristas Press, 2012
Tongue of Knowledge. Palabaristas Press, 2012
Death Overflows. Palabaristas Press, 2012
Warhammer 40,000
The Inquisition War trilogy:
Inquisitor (vt 2002 Draco). Brighton: GW Books, 1990 (paper).
Harlequin. London: Boxtree, 1994.
Chaos Child. London: Boxtree, 1995.
Space Marine. London: Boxtree, 1993 (paper).
Short fiction
Collections
The Very Slow Time Machine. London: Gollancz, 1979.
Sunstroke and Other Stories. London: Gollancz, 1982.
Slow Birds and Other Stories. London: Gollancz, 1985.
The Book of Ian Watson. Willimantic: Mark V. Zeising, 1985.
Evil Water and Other Stories. London: Gollancz, 1987.
Salvage Rites and Other Stories. London: Gollancz, 1989.
Stalin's Teardrops. London: Gollancz, 1991.
The Coming of Vertumnus. London: Gollancz, 1994.
The Great Escape. Urbana, IL: Golden Gryphon Press, 2002.
The Butterflies of Memory. Harrogate: PS Publishing, 2006.
Saving for a Sunny Day. Alconbury Weston: NewCon Press, 2012.
Stories
Poetry
List of poems
References
Other sources
Contributors Bio for Helix: A Speculative Fiction Quarterly
External links
The Beloved of My Beloved, homepage of the 2009 book (Watson and Roberto Quaglia)
The Waters of Destiny, homepage of the 2012 trilogy (Watson and Andy West)
Category:1943 births
Category:Living people
Category:20th-century British novelists
Category:20th-century British male writers
Category:21st-century British novelists
Category:21st-century British male writers
Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Category:Asimov's Science Fiction people
Category:British male novelists
Category:British science fiction writers
Category:Warhammer 40,000 writers | {
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Skin targeting of resveratrol utilizing solid lipid nanoparticle-engrossed gel for chemically induced irritant contact dermatitis.
Irritant contact dermatitis (ICD) is a chronic and relapsing skin disease with severe eczematous lesions. Despite its growing prevalence, therapeutic treatments remain limited. Long-term topical corticosteroid treatment can induce skin atrophy, hypopigmentation, and increase in transepidermal water loss. An innovative dermal treatment is essential to reduce the side effects of corticosteroids. Topical resveratrol (RES), although effective for ICD, is a challenging molecule due to low solubility and poor bioavailability. The objective of this work was to build RES-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles (RES-SLNs) with skin targeting. For this purpose, RES-SLNs were prepared using the probe ultrasonication method utilizing Precirol ATO 5 and Tween 20. The RES-SLNs were evaluated for particle size, entrapment efficiency (EE), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies. Further, RES-SLNs were incorporated into Carbopol gel and investigated for ex vivo skin permeation, deposition study on human cadaver skin, and finally skin irritation study on New Zealand White rabbits. It was further assessed for possible beneficial effects on ICD using BALB/c mice. RES-SLN showed mean size below 100 nm and 68-89% EE. TEM studies confirmed spherical particles in the nanometer range. An ex vivo study of RES-SLN-loaded gel exhibited controlled drug release up to 24 h; similarly, in vitro drug deposition studies showed potential of skin targeting with no skin irritation. RES-SLN gel confirmed competent suppression of ear swelling and reduction in skin water content in the BALB/c mouse model of ICD when compared to marketed gel. Thus, the formulated RES-SLN gel would be a safe and effective alternative to conventional vehicles for treatment of ICD. | {
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Boston Harbor tunnel
Boston Harbor tunnel may refer to one of the following tunnels under Boston Harbor:
Callahan Tunnel
Sumner Tunnel
Ted Williams Tunnel
See also
List of crossings of the Charles River | {
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Strangled from Birth and Beyond
Strangled From Birth and Beyond is a compilation album by The Stranglers.
Track listing
"Tomorrow was the Hereafter"
"Bring on the Nubiles" (Cocktail Version)
"My Young Dreams" (A Marriage of Convenience)
"Goebbels, Mosley, God and Ingrams" (JJ Burnel)
"Waiting for the Trees to Grow" (JJ Burnel)
"Gone Are Those Days" (JJ Burnel)
"The Beast"
"New Day Today"
"Mr. Big"
"I'll Be Seeing You"
Category:1994 compilation albums
Category:The Stranglers compilation albums | {
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The Forsyth Central Girls tennis team had a hard fought 3-2 win over Sequoyah on Monday, February 26th. In singles play, line #1 freshmen Grace Wilson fought hard to secure a win in 3 sets, winning the first 6-3, falling in the second 4-6, but coming back strong in the third set winning 6-1. At
Girls Varsity and JV Tennis beat Chestatee High school yesterday 4-1 and 3-0. Grace Wilson and Emma Stevenson led the team at line 1 and line 2 singles defeating their opponents in 2 sets. Skyler McPherson and Ashely Sciandra at Line 1 and Laney Benson and Bailey McCatchren at line 2 doubles both defeated their
The Forsyth Central Girls tennis team had a hard fought 3-2 over North Forsyth on Monday, March 20th. In singles play, line #1 junior Chloe Muklevicz continued her strong singles play this year, picking up her team leading 5th singles win 6-2, 6-0. At Line #2, junior Ashley Sciandra lost a close singles match 4-6,
The Varsity Girls tennis team defeated Apalachee 4-1 at Victor Lord Park in Winder on Monday, March 6th for the team’s second win of the season. Singles winners included Line #1 Junior Ashley Sciandra 8-2 in dominant fashion and Line #2 Sophomore Lydia Robbins in a match much closer than the score would indicate .
Girls Tennis earned their first victory of the season with a 4-1 win over Apalachee. Chloe Muklevicz won her singles’ match and both doubles teams of Caroline Perry & Ashley Sciandra and Heidi Fell & Ruolan Greenlee were victorious.
The Lady Dawgs won 4/5 of their last tennis games. As they continue their season at the region tournament on Tuesday, April 14th momentum appears to be in their favor! Ladies, way to represent C-House!
The girls tennis team team defeated North Forsyth. Catie Moye, Nellie Harrison, Peyton Ledford and Chloe Muklevicz all dominated their North Forsyth opponents. The girls take on North Atlanta on Monday | {
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At Mom’s suggestion, I’m going to try putting together a post or two on some of the more obvious “what…” and “why…” questions about IceCube. I say “try” because I’m no expert on the physics involved. There’s lots of hand waving going on here…
What is a neutrino?
There’s plenty more information on wikipedia, but the short version is that a neutrino is another sub-atomic particle. There are gobs of neutrinos all through the universe, but we don’t notice them normally, since they don’t usually interact with normal matter.
To explain that in a bit more detail:
The sub-atomic world is a bit more complicated than the protons, neutrons, electrons, and photons that we learn about in grade school. Protons and neutrons, for instance, are made up of three quarks each, but electrons and photons are not.
Quarks, electrons, photons, and several other things are fundamental particles – meaning that, as far as we know, they aren’t made of smaller parts. Neutrinos are fundamental particles, and there are three kinds of them.
One way that the fundamental particles differ from each other is in the degrees in which they interact with the four fundamental forces: gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear, and weak nuclear. Everything we experience day-to-day comes from the gravitational and electromagnetic forces.
Although gravity is a fundamental force, and very important – it keeps our ice cream from floating away – we don’t worry about it too much here since it doesn’t have much effect at the small scales we’re talking about. To think about this, consider that things are pulled down by gravity, but normal size things don’t get pulled towards each other. This is because you need a very large scale mass (say, Earth) to produce much gravitational force.
Our senses like touch, sound, and sight are results of electrons pushing and pulling electrically charged particles through the electromagnetic force. Chemistry is all about electrons moving around, being attracted and repelled – another example of the electromagnetic force. Compared to gravity, the electromagnetic force is quite strong at smaller scales. Think of how strongly a pair of magnets are pulled together, compared to their weight, when they are close together.
The strong and weak nuclear forces are a bit harder to think about, since they are mainly important at much smaller scales than we normally deal with. The strong nuclear force is what holds protons and neutrons together in the nucleus of an atom. It’s also the strong nuclear force that holds the quarks together to make up individual protons and neutrons. Strong nuclear force doesn’t affect electrons or neutrinos. If the word “atomic” makes you think of something powerful, that power comes from the strong force.
The weak nuclear force acts on even smaller scales than the strong force – one thousandth the diameter of a neutron, as compared to the strong force interacting over the diameter of a medium size nucleus, which would contain some neutrons. The weak nuclear force is interesting to us mainly because it does act on electrons and neutrinos.
Neutrinos have a very low mass, so they are affected by gravity. They don’t have an electrical charge though, which means they don’t interact through the electromagnetic force. We just learned that neutrinos don’t interact through the strong nuclear force, but do interact through the incredibly short-range weak nuclear force.
So, what all this means is that neutrinos basically don’t interact with normal matter. But, when they do interact with normal matter, they do it through the weak nuclear force. | {
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This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: In Canada, armed forces raided native Wet’suwet’en territory in British Columbia Monday, with at least 14 arrests being reported. Land defenders faced off with Royal Canadian Mounted Police as the officers breached two checkpoints set up to keep pipeline workers out of protected territory. Indigenous leaders are reportedly being blocked from their territory.
WET’SUWET’EN LAND DEFENDER: The Wet’suwet’en have won rights and title to their lands. We did not hurt anyone. The hereditary chiefs say, “No, you cannot go through our lands.” And under your law, the authority is them.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: TransCanada Corporation has been seeking entry into indigenous territory, where they’re planning to build the massive $4.7 billion Coastal GasLink pipeline. Land protectors from First Nations clans set up two encampments where they had been physically blocking entry to TransCanada workers. This is a protester speaking after being arrested.
PROTESTER: There were a couple of the protesters who had secured themselves to the barricade inside. I’m not sure exactly how, but the rest of us were standing watching and singing, as they pried people loose. And the only thing I could do for myself was try to block the path between the bus and one side of the bridge. And I’m not a big person, but I was big enough to stand. And they had asked me to move, and I said, “No, I’m not moving. I’m here to the Wet’suwet’en, and I’m not moving.” And so they said, “Well, we can arrest you.” I said, “Yeah.” And I’m proud to have been arrested.
AMY GOODMAN: And this is Wet’suwet’en Chief Namox speaking after the arrests.
CHIEF NAMOX: Today was a perfect example of who steers the government. And it’s absolutely industry. Industry told government how to direct the RCMP. The RCMP removed the fence at the access point, arrested people, have charged a number of them. They were following the law of the Wet’suwet’en. What happened today was our trespass laws were broken. But according to Canadian law, who is being steered by industry, they say that these people are now criminals.
Now we need all Canadians to stand up and tell this government that they have to treat indigenous people as human beings, hereditary chiefs as true owners of this Wet’suwet’en land. And we will never give up our rights, title or jurisdiction or authority to any form of government.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more, we’re joined by Karla Tait, a member of the Unist’ot’en House Group of the Gilseyhu Clan. Dr. Tait is the director of clinical programming for the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre.
We thank you very much for being with us, Dr. Tait. Can you explain—first set the larger context for us. Where is this happening in British Columbia? Talk about what the larger struggle is right now.
DR. KARLA TAIT: So, this is occurring just outside of Houston, BC, on our unceded traditional territories. It’s about an hour’s drive down the forest service road.
And in terms of a larger context, the Unist’ot’en camp was established when my aunt took up her residence there in 2010. So she’s been living there on our territory for eight years. It’s been used by our chiefs, by our membership, for trapping and other purposes, for millennia before that.
And the reason that Freda took up her residence there and started fundraising to build our Healing Centre is she wanted to fulfill our family’s vision of bringing healing to our people on the land, but also she wanted to ensure that projects that were going to compromise the integrity of that healthy environment, of that healthy land, were not permitted to proceed without permission of our hereditary chiefs, who have jurisdiction over that land.
So, she’s been there for a long time, had defeated or maintained that territory against the Enbridge pipeline. And more recently, we’ve been faced with provincial permits and pressure to allow the Coastal GasLink to begin construction.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Now, the Coastal GasLink pipeline, could you talk about its potential impact on your lands? And also, this issue that the company is claiming it has gotten the necessary approvals from the elected leaders of the indigenous people—could you talk about the difference between the elected leaders and the hereditary chiefs?
DR. KARLA TAIT: Sure. I’ll start with the second question. So, we do have a hereditary governance system that’s been in place since time immemorial. It’s a highly stratified system in which hereditary chiefs belonging to each of the clans oversee their house group’s territory, and they’re responsible for stewarding it and ensuring that that land is available for use and benefit of their members, to provide for them.
The Wet’suwet’en law they abide to ensures that conduct on any respective house group’s territory isn’t going to negatively impact their neighbors. So, these projects, that are environmentally precarious—and we saw this with Enbridge—you know, our hereditary chiefs have been unified in their opposition, because there is too great a threat to the limited remaining territory that we have as Wet’suwet’en people, particularly for the Unist’ot’en. We have less than 10 percent of our traditional territory remaining that can actually support programs like our Healing Centre, which is based on connection to the land and revitalizing cultural identity.
And we need the land and the critical infrastructure there, such as the medicine-gathering grounds; the berry patches; the trap lines; the fresh, clean, potable water that runs through our territory and provides a spawning, like a salmon spawning estuary, headwaters that feed many more communities downstream, that split into two main river systems here in the north.
So, that hereditary system was recognized by the Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa Supreme Court of Canada ruling of 1997, in which Canada recognized that we had never extinguished our aboriginal rights and title. We’ve never ceded or surrendered our territories. And the hereditary chiefs had provided that oral testimony on which that ruling was based.
Now, Coastal GasLink and many industry projects have been consulting and reaching out to band councils in Canada, which only have jurisdiction within the boundaries of their reservations. And reservation lands make up less than 1 percent of the territory in Canada. And all of the reserves, at least to my knowledge, that have signed on with this project are not within the pathway of the pipeline. That pipeline through Wet’suwet’en territory goes through a number of traditional territories assigned or belonging to hereditary chiefs, who have all stated verbally their opposition to this pipeline and have never been—received any meaningful consultation, nor have they given consent to this project.
I guess I would add, as part of our Wet’suwet’en law and that responsibility to ensure our territories are intact and healthy for future generations and to be mindful of our activities that could negatively impact our neighbors, Coastal GasLink is a liquefied natural gas project, and so we are well aware that the environmental costs of fracking are huge. You know, they use up fresh water that is in limited supply in our world.
And moreover, you know, those proposed pipelines do breach. You know, we heard of an explosion near another First Nation here in Canada in October, near the Lheidli T’enneh community, and it caused the evacuation of the whole community. And in a remote setting like ours, where there are fragile systems in place, like pristine salmon estuaries, an explosion like that could be hugely detrimental and hard for the environment to recover from, and could compromise the safety of residents at our Healing Centre.
AMY GOODMAN: Karla—
DR. KARLA TAIT: Yes?
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to turn to the Canadian MP Nathan Cullen speaking on Monday.
NATHAN CULLEN: The main concern that I came up here today was to see the RCMP checkpoint denying Wet’suwet’en access to their own territory. Denying the press access to what is happening further up this road here also seemed to me not in the interest of public safety or peace. The Parliament, just a few months ago, stood and voted and passed the U.N. Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. If the current government thinks they can just do something in Parliament but not actually enforce it on the land, then I don’t know what that vote means.
AMY GOODMAN: So that’s Canadian MP Nathan Cullen. The environmentalist, activist, author Naomi Klein, professor at Rutgers University, tweeted, “A shameful day for Canada, which has marketed itself as a progressive leader on climate and Indigenous rights. It has just invaded unceded Wet’suwet’en territory and arrested land defenders, all for a gas pipeline that is entirely incompatible with a safe climate.”
Our guest, Dr. Karla Tait, a member of the Unist’ot’en House Group of the Gilseyhu Clan, a Native Canadian, speaking to us from a couple hours from the site of contention right now. If you can explain, Karla, what is happening right now? When did the Royal Canadian Mounted Police get involved? What kind of checkpoints or blockades have they set up? And describe what you understand has taken place with the arrests of, it looks like, at least 14 indigenous people at this point.
DR. KARLA TAIT: Well, to my knowledge, the police had breached the Gidimt’en checkpoint. And the Gidimt’en Clan is another of the five clans of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. That checkpoint was erected with the support of all five clans and was determined in a smoke feast, which is, I guess, our—where our laws are enacted within our communities, through the feast system.
And I understand, yesterday, that at least 23 units of police officers arrived on site, some of them members of a tactical response team that were dressed in fatigues and heavily armed. They blocked access for the public and anyone, actually, wishing to go on site at the 27-kilometer mark. And the Gidimt’en checkpoint on that forest service road is at the 44-kilometer mark, so quite a ways up, up the road. So a lot of media weren’t even able to witness how they planned to enforce the injunction.
From what I heard of contacts, you know, our—I know my hereditary chiefs had made efforts to go and be on our territory, to be with my aunt and my mother, who are at our camp right now, on our territory. And they were—they were denied access. Our Chief We’alih and Lht’at’en were not able to go in. Our Chief Knedebeas, however, was permitted to go as far as the 44 checkpoint to speak with a police liaison. None were permitted access any further.
It sounded like there was a great deal of fear from those at the checkpoint, just because of the force that had shown up for a peaceful protest. I know I’ve seen mixed reports and adjusted reports about some burning of pallets or other things at the site. I know some of the flags that we’d prepared for the nation were damaged. So, I guess I’m questioning where the arson—or who had started the arson. But I know that there were a few folks that were affixed to that gate, and there was some use of force to push through the gate and potentially some injuries to some of the land defenders there. And I did get confirmation that Molly Wickham, the spokesperson for the Gidimt’en, was one of the people detained and arrested.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Now, your aunt and her partner are both named in the injunction that Coastal GasLink secured from the courts. Have you had any offers of support from other First Nations in Canada or the United States, or are you asking for support from others outside the area?
DR. KARLA TAIT: We’ve had a really good showing of solidarity and support through our Unist’ot’en Healing Centre’s webpage. People have been donating to our legal fund. You know, I believe there’s a national day of action call-out that the Gidimt’en had requested, and a number of demonstrations going on across Canada and other countries, just to bring light to the fact that, you know, we are facing violations of our aboriginal rights and title here, and there is a great deal of force to remove us from what remains of our land and the violation of Canada’s commitment to the United Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.
Moreover, we have this—established the fact that we’ve never ceded or given up rights to our territory, and that’s recognized in the highest court of Canada, through a really protracted, expensive court case, in which we paired up with the Gitxsan people. So, I think that this is a really key juncture for Canada and its relationship with indigenous people. And for all of the talk of reconciliation and all of the positive momentum we’ve seen even with the establishment of a self-determined or -governed health authority here in BC, there’s so many ways that Canada had been turning a tide, and I think instances like this reflect truly where Canadian interests lie. And it seems that they’re willing to ignore and overstep and oppress indigenous rights and title when it serves economic interests.
AMY GOODMAN: Karla Tait, I wanted to read from a statement issued by the RCMP, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which claims jurisdiction in the area. They write, “For the land in question, where the Unist’ot’en camp is currently located near Houston, BC, it is our understanding that there has been no declaration of Aboriginal title in the Courts of Canada. In 1997, the Supreme Court of Canada issued an important decision, Delgamuukw v. British Columbia, that considered Aboriginal title to Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en traditional territories. The Supreme Court of Canada decided that a new trial was required to determine whether Aboriginal title had been established for these lands, and to hear from other indigenous nations which have a stake in the territory claimed. The new trial has never been held, meaning that Aboriginal title to this land, and which Indigenous nation holds it, has not been determined.” Again, that’s a statement of the RCMP, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Karla Tait, your response?
DR. KARLA TAIT: I would say those are colonial tactics that we’ve seen for the 150 years since Canada was colonized. You know, we are at an extreme disadvantage working to establish our rights and title in a court system that the state has the ultimate authority over. You know, the state drafts the laws. They control the legal force used to enact those laws.
And I think that court case was so significant, because, for the first time, our hereditary system, our hereditary chiefs were able to speak and provide testimony to the fact that we’ve occupied and governed our lands and maintained them for millennia through a complex governance system that predates Canada. So, it is an act of oppression to expect that we, through great expense, challenge that and provided that landmark case. And I’d say we were—you know, a good friend of mine put this in good words—understandably, took a breather and need to, in Canada’s eyes, do that next step.
And in our eyes, by hereditary law, we have pre-existing Wet’suwet’en law that governs these lands. So, by that note, I’d say Canada has the responsibility of showing how they have jurisdiction over territories that we governed long before Canada existed. It is complex, playing within a system that is markedly stacked against you. And so, I would say that this is an important critical juncture about the future of aboriginal rights and title and the relationship between Canada and its indigenous people.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I want to go to Molly Wickham of the Gidimt’en Clan speaking Saturday night.
MOLLY WICKHAM: You know, people like to think that things have gotten a lot better in so-called Canada and in our communities and that things aren’t the same that they were 150 years ago. But that’s just a fallacy. It’s false, because we know, right now, in this reality, that the state is willing and capable of using the same kinds of violence that they have used against our people for the last 150 years here.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: That was Molly Wickham of the Gidimt’en Clan speaking Saturday night. Dr. Karla Tait, your understanding is she was one of the people arrested?
DR. KARLA TAIT: That’s correct. She was. I think she summed it up really clearly. She was acting at the direction of her clan and with the approval of her hereditary chiefs to defend that territory against trespass, essentially, is what is occurring. By Wet’suwet’en law, Coastal GasLink, the province are committing trespass on our unceded territories. They have never meaningfully consulted with our chiefs, and they forcefully removed members and guests from our territory, in the interest of an economic profit, you know. So, I think it’s a huge violation of our rights.
And my thoughts are with Molly and with my family, who’s still in Unist’ot’en, you know, and I’m very fearful for their safety. The relationship between aboriginal people and the police has not been a good one in Canada. You know, they were complicit in the removal of our children during the residential school era, which was legally sanctioned. So the removal of our people from our territories, from our limited remaining territories, is, I believe, an act of violence against our people.
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Karla Tait, finally, your message to the world, what you want to see happen right now?
DR. KARLA TAIT: So, my message to the world is, we need support and solidarity. We need vocal dissent to this stance that Canada is taking against indigenous people. We need to hold our government accountable to the commitments that they make as a nation on the rights of indigenous people. And we just need respect and humanity shown to the original people of this land.
AMY GOODMAN: Karla Tait, I want to thank you so much for being with us. Dr. Karla Tait is a member of the Unist’ot’en House Group of the Gilseyhu Clan, speaking to us about the conflict that’s taking place right now in British Columbia. This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. | {
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Social media giants accused of abusing market power
by Don Groves
Here is a summary of some of the submissions to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) digital platforms inquiry.
Facebook and Google are abusing their monopoly powers, which negatively impacts traditional media and harms consumers, are spreading misinformation and are not preventing the misuse or theft of users' data, according to some submissions to the ACCC.
News Corp Australia told the inquiry the digital platforms are subverting access to online subscription and advertising revenues, which is "undermining the sustainability of news and journalism as a private enterprise, leading to widespread cost-cutting in newsrooms and reduced incentives to invest in quality journalism."
News also noted the growth in the "rapid spread of misinformation, as there is less oversight and fact-checking of information published and disseminated on digital platforms."
Seven West Media (SWM) urged regulators to investigate and shine a light on the behaviour of the social media giants in data collection following the Cambridge Analytica scandal which embroiled Facebook.
Unconstrained by competitors; countervailing customer/buyer power; and regulation, Google and Facebook use their market power in their respective markets to engage in conduct which negatively impacts traditional media, and which harm consumers," SWM said.
SWM said the ACCC should consider whether the existing regulatory regime is "sufficient to protect the interests of users, to maintain competition in associated markets and to constrain undue influence and power being exerted over businesses and government."
The Australian Communications and Media Authority said the potential for platforms to harvest data about non-users requires further examination, as does the question of whether depersonalisation of data - so that the individual is no longer identifiable - is adequately addressed by existing privacy laws.
In its submission Foxtel said the free but unauthorised availability of Foxtel and Fox Sports' content on digital platforms is undermining subscription revenue, contributing to churn and threatening the economics of content production.
Whole series of programs created by Foxtel and Fox Sports at considerable cost as well as content such as NFL matches and V8 Supercars are freely available on YouTube and/or Facebook, which monetise this content through the insertion or display of pre-roll advertising.
However appeals by Foxtel to YouTube to take down infringing videos have had no effect as YouTube has failed to terminate the infringing user's account.
"If media companies are unable to monetise the content they create or licence, whether through subscription or advertising revenue, it is inevitable that decisions will be made to no longer commission or acquire that content."
In an Op-Ed piece for the company's newspapers, News Corp executive chairman Michael Miller said the business model for the news industry is now in a fragile state, with the digital platforms preventing publishers from best positioning their operations for the future.
News Corp's submission details how the platforms' market power has made them "unavoidable trading partners" for publishers which are, in effect, trapped and hurt by their anti-competitive practices.
In Australia, Google has 95% of the search engine market and 50 % of the mobile device operating system market while Facebook has 80% of the social media market and Apple around 40% of the mobile device market.
"As publishers transition to digital, platforms are increasingly using this dominance to stop publishers competing on their merits," Miller wrote.
"They can decide what you see, when you see it, what you don't see, what they know about you, the prices advertisers pay, where ads appear, and make or break businesses - with too little recourse for those affected."
"The potential to damage creation, distribution and consumption of news and cause widespread consumer harm is profound."
On behalf of Australia's screen production businesses Screen Producers Australia (SPA) asserted that Google and Facebook's influence in the advertising market has affected the market for content.
SPA referred to a market failure where buyers seeking are 'more for less' from producers, combined with the increasing trend to in-house production at the free-to-air broadcasters.
SPA called on the federal government to intervene in the market to address competition issues through a UK-style legislated terms of trade and to extend local content obligations to new market entrants.
The ACCC will provide a preliminary report to the Treasurer by December 3 2018 and a final report by June 3 2019. | {
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289 F.2d 938
129 U.S.P.Q. 335
SENSYTROL CORPORATION, Plaintiff-Appellant,v.RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA, Defendant-Appellee, andAmerican Telephone& Telegraph Company et al., Defendants.
No. 381, Docket 26838.
United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit.
Argued May 5, 1961.Decided May 24, 1961.
Robert W. Fiddler, New York City (Emil K. Ellis, New York City, on the brief), for plaintiff-appellant.
James B. Henry, Jr., New York City (Cahill, Gordon, Reindel & Ohl, and William K. Kerr, New York City, on the brief), for defendant-appellee.
Before LUMBARD, Chief Judge, and HINCKS and MOORE, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM.
1
Affirmed on the opinion below, D.C.S.D.N.Y., 190 F.Supp. 121.
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A human face lies inert on a surgical tray as if staring up at the team of doctors hovering over it. It has taken them 16 hours of precise, painstaking work to remove it from a 31-year-old female donor, who had died three days earlier. A few seconds after photographer Lynn Johnson captured this extraordinary moment, plastic surgeons in the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, began the second phase of a procedure that lasted around 30 hours in total. When it was completed, 21 year-old Katie Stubblefield became the youngest person to receive a successful full face transplant.
Taken in 2017 as part of a bigger series documenting Stubblefield’s groundbreaking surgical transformation, Katie’s New Face (2017) is one of several arresting images that have made the shortlist for the 2019 Wellcome Photography prize. The aim of the award is to celebrate “compelling imagery that captures stories of health, medicine and science”. Composed of four categories – Social Perspectives, Hidden Worlds, Medicine in Focus and Outbreaks – the shortlist perhaps predictably favours documentary and photojournalism. There are some surprises, though, not least the often beautiful abstractions of David Linstead’s microscopic image of the capillaries of a human fingertip that had been injected with red ink.
Katie’s New Face, 2017, Lynn Johnson.
At the age of 21, Katie became the youngest person ever to receive a full- face transplant. This was the critical moment after the donor’s face was surgically removed before being transferred onto Katie. There was complete silence in the room as the surgical team absorbed the gravity of their mission. The transformational procedure took over 30 hours and was undertaken by a team of around 30 medical professionals at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.
From its inception, photography has been utilised to illuminate the mysteries of science and medicine, with Victorian pioneers such as Henry Fox Talbot and Auguste Adolphe Bertsch creating microscopic studies of insects and plants that often resembled ornate line drawings. As the category Hidden Worlds shows, that tradition of cutting-edge experimentation continues apace with an advanced image-mapping of HIV infection undertaken by a team of research scientists that allows us to see four representations of the same cluster of 100,000 cells from a rhesus monkey.
Shroud, Rhône Glacier, 2018, Simon Norfolk and Klaus Thymann
In the Rhône glacier in the Swiss Alps, a family runs an ice grotto as a popular tourist attraction. But, as the Earth warms, the glacier is shrinking and the grotto is under threat – an unusual example of how climate change imperils people’s livelihoods. In response, the family has covered part of the glacier with white geosynthetic blankets to reflect away the sun’s heat and keep the cold in. This slows the shrinkage, but it is only a small-scale, temporary fix.
In the same section, Simon Norfolk and Klaus Thymann’s man-altered landscape Shroud, Rhône Glacier, shows the range of approaches and the breadth of subject matter that the prize celebrates. It could be mistaken at first glance for a signature work by the conceptual land artist Christo, famous for his wrapping of monumental buildings and stretches of landscape in fabric. It is, in fact, an attempt by environmentalists to slow down the melting of the Swiss glacier, the heavy thermal material reflecting heat and light that would otherwise destroy the ice. It is an image of an undertaking that seems both surreal and slightly desperate, but the ecological context is calamitous: the Rhône Glacier has lost 350 metres (1,150ft) in ice thickness since 1856 and around 40 metres in the last decade alone.
Zora the Robot Care-Giver, 2018, Dmitry Kostyukov
This woman in a nursing facility outside Paris has developed an emotional attachment to Zora the robot. There are at least 15 of these robots currently in use in healthcare settings in France, and more around the world, including Australia, the US and elsewhere in Europe. Controlled remotely by a nurse, Zora can help people with communication and provide comfort and entertainment (including exercise classes). Some people respond very positively to interacting with Zora, others ignore it completely.
Sex and death inevitably feature and, again, it is in the Hidden Worlds category where the contrast is most dramatic. Simone Cerio’s wonderfully tender and intimate series, Love Givers, is represented by a single understated image of two semi-naked women lying on a bed. Shot from above, it suggests the casual intimacy of longterm lovers, but one of them, Debora, is the first officially sanctioned sexual assistant in Italy, whose role is “to support disabled people to explore intimate practices”.
Love Givers, 2013, Simone Cerio
Debora is the first sexual assistant in Italy supporting disabled people (male and female) to explore intimate practices. Repression of sexual instincts can cause psychological stress, and this can particularly affect those who are not able to use their bodies fully. By providing physical contact of the right kind in a safe environment, a trained professional can improve a person’s wellbeing, increase self-esteem, and prepare them for future intimate relationships.
Cerio has described her project as “a physical and mental journey” that challenges our perception of the disabled and their most intimate needs. “Sexual assistance is a technique of psychophysical approach to disabled people, based on massages, kisses, visual contacts and erotic stimulation,” she elaborates on her Facebook page, “This project is an opportunity, perhaps the only way for disabled people to have such an experience.”
The Morgue, 2017 Luis Henry Agudelo Cano
In a country with high rates of violent crime, many young people in Colombia choose to study forensic sciences or embalming. They seek to discover the identities of the many unknown bodies that arrive at the morgue in the hope that they can then be returned to their families. This busy university teaching morgue in Medellín also doubles as the judicial morgue when the civil service is on strike.
Luis Henry Agudelo Cano has already won second place in the current affairs and news category of the 2018 Sony world photography awards for his black and white series Young People Who Beautify Death. The single image from it included here gives you a sense of its almost ghostly intimacy. Entitled The Morgue, and shot in Colombia in 2017, it is a multiple exposure of one of the young people who are trained to, as Cano puts it, “salvage the beauty of the deceased, that those who love them can always remember them”. Like his fellow students, this young man is being trained in postmortem techniques to erase the scars and wounds of violent death so that the victims of Colombia’s prolonged paramilitary-fuelled violence can be viewed by their relatives.
Among the several captured moments of intimacy on display in the shortlist, perhaps the strangest is by Dmitry Kostyukov. His portrait of an elderly resident of a nursery facility near Paris is tenderly observed, but it challenges all our received notions of what constitutes care and, indeed, tenderness. The woman is cradling Zora, a robot remotely controlled by a nurse as an aid to “communication, comfort and entertainment” of the residents. Many of them ignore Zora, while others take her to their hearts as they would a child.
Mapping SHIV infection in the body, 2018, by Carly Ziegler, Alex Shalek, Shaina Carrol, Leslie Kean, Victor Tkachev and Lucrezia Colonna.
Visualising complex genomic data is hard. In this image, each of the four coloured circles shows the same roughly 100,000 cells from rhesus macaques, with genetically and phenotypically similar cells clustered together. Every dot represents a single cell and the lines connecting them reflect how similar they are. In the bottom right circle, red cells are from monkeys infected with simian- human immunodeficiency virus while blue cells are from uninfected ones. Distinguishing the red and blue cells helps to show which cells change and malfunction during infection, despite treatment with antiretroviral drugs.
Like many of the images that have made it on to the shortlist, Zora the robot care-giver is a glimpse of a future in which new technologies such as advanced robotics and artificial intelligence will inform our lives in ways that, until recently, we would have scarcely imagined outside of the realm of science fiction. It is these glimpses of a future that is already here that makes the selection so compelling. That, and the evidence of the deep humanity that still underlies so much of the work done by those at the forefront of advances in health, medicine and science.
All the winning and shortlisted entries will go on show at the Lethaby Gallery, London, 4-13 July. Category prizes and the overall winner will be announced at a ceremony in London on 3 July 2019 | {
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[Evaluation of results of therapy with cast removable partial prosthesis. I. Significance of the residual teeth].
On the basis of results from follow-up examinations in patients with removable cast partial prostheses, the author points to injuries to the remaining teeth which are attributable above all to errors of indication, insufficient preliminary measures, and inadequate metaphylaxis. | {
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Q:
Create a Scriptable Object Instance through a Constructor
I have a Character Scriptable Object and I have several methods in it. Like GetDate,GetAge (which I am not showing here). I have created a Constructor there, but I don't know how to create an instance of that ScriptableObject through the Constructor. That's what I want to do.
I have tried to just type the values in the inspector but that did not run the methods in the Constructor.
Character.cs
[CreateAssetMenu]
[Serializable]
public class Character : Scriptable Object
{
// Attributes
public string firstName;
public string middleName;
public string lastName;
public string fullName;
public bool isMale;
// Constructor
public Character(string _firstName, string _middleName, string _lastName, bool _isMale)
{
firstName = _firstName;
middleName = _middleName;
lastName = _lastName;
// All The Functions
fullName = string.Format("{0} {1} {2}", firstName, middleName,
lastName);
isMale = _isMale;
// and all the other functions like date calculator.
}
}
I want to create an instance of this Scriptable Object through this Construction. Something like
Character char("x", "y", "z", true);
or when I type the required fields in the Unity Inspector, then it will run all the methods like that full name string.format.
A:
You can't create a new ScriptableObject Instance using a constructor (much like a monobehaviour).
so you need to use Unity API methods
I have added a working sample
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;
using System;
[CreateAssetMenu]
[Serializable]
public class Character : ScriptableObject
{
// Attributes
public string firstName;
public string middleName;
public string lastName;
public string fullName;
public bool isMale;
// Constructor
public Character(string _firstName, string _middleName, string _lastName, bool _isMale)
{
firstName = _firstName;
middleName = _middleName;
lastName = _lastName;
// All The Functions
fullName = string.Format("{0} {1} {2}", firstName, middleName,
lastName);
isMale = _isMale;
// and all the other functions like date calculator.
}
public void Initialize(string _firstName, string _middleName, string _lastName, bool _isMale)
{
firstName = _firstName;
middleName = _middleName;
lastName = _lastName;
// All The Functions
fullName = string.Format("{0} {1} {2}", firstName, middleName,
lastName);
isMale = _isMale;
}
}
and here is the class that creates the Character
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEditor;
public class Tester : MonoBehaviour
{
int characterCounter = 0;
// Update is called once per frame
void Update()
{
if(Input.GetMouseButtonDown(0))
{
Character c = CreateMyAsset();
c.Initialize("a", "b", "c", true);
}
}
public Character CreateMyAsset()
{
Character asset = ScriptableObject.CreateInstance<Character>();
string assetName = "Assets/c" + characterCounter + ".asset";
characterCounter++;
AssetDatabase.CreateAsset(asset, assetName);
AssetDatabase.SaveAssets();
EditorUtility.FocusProjectWindow();
Selection.activeObject = asset;
return asset;
}
}
A:
No, not like that. It is still unclear why you have to use ScriptableObjects
instead of having a simple class (we came from this question) where you would simply configure those Characters e.g. in the Inspector or use eg.
new Character("abc", "xyz", "kfk", true);
You could however have some kind of factory method like e.g.
[CreateAssetMenu]
[Serializable]
public class Character : Scriptable Object
{
// Attributes
public string firstName;
public string middleName;
public string lastName;
public string fullName;
public bool isMale;
// Constructor
private void Init(string _firstName, string _middleName, string _lastName, bool _isMale)
{
firstName = _firstName;
middleName = _middleName;
lastName = _lastName;
// All The Functions
fullName = string.Format("{0} {1} {2}", firstName, middleName, lastName);
isMale = _isMale;
// and all the other functions like date calculator.
}
public static Character CreateCharacter(string firstName, string middleName, string lastName, bool isMale)
{
var character = ScriptableObject.CreateInstance<Character>();
character.Init(firstName, middleName, lastName, isMale);
}
}
or alternatively do it e.g. in
private void OnEnable()
{
fullName = $"{firstName} {middleName} {lastName}";
}
so it is there when the game starts.
If you really want to have it while typing those names in the Inspector you won't come around using a Custom Inspector by implementing Editor
#if UNITY_EDITOR
using UnityEditor;
#endif
public class Character : Scriptable Object
{
...
}
#if UNITY_EDITOR
[CustomEditor(typeof(Character))]
public class CharacterEditor : Editor
{
private SerializedProperty firstName;
private SerializedProperty middleName;
private SerializedProperty lastName;
private SerializedProperty fullName;
// called once when the Object of this type gains focus and is shown in the Inspector
private void OnEnable()
{
firstName = serializedObject.FindProperty("firstName");
middleName= serializedObject.FindProperty("middleName");
lastName= serializedObject.FindProperty("lastName");
fullName= serializedObject.FindProperty("fullName");
}
// kind of like the Update method of the Inspector
public override void OnInspectorGUI()
{
// draw the default inspector
base.OnInspectorGUI();
serializedObject.Update();
fullName.stringValue = $"{firstName.stringValue} {middleName.stringValue} {lastName.stringValue}";
serializedObject.ApplyModifiedProperties();
}
}
#endif
alternatively to using #if UNITY_EDITOR you can ofcourse have the CharacterEditor in a complete separate script and put that one in a folder named Editor. In both cases the according code is stripped of in a build.
| {
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} |
Q:
Attempting to use an array within an array to store and retrieve data. Having some isses
I have a loop iterating through various users (the counter is simply determining how many users to parse through). In every iteration a user's id and distance are stored in Array $friendObj. Then I want to add the $friendObj array to the $friendsArry. It does this, but each user iteration it replaces the data at the $friendArry[0] spot. Out of the five echo's at the end, only the first one displays anything and that data is the id of the very last user processed. Any suggestions to alter (or completely change my code) would be great (kind of new to php).
//...
//There is a loop above this cycling through different users.
$friendObj = array('id' => $fId, 'distance' => $distanceFromYou);
$friendsArry = array();
array_push($friendsArry, $friendObj);
echo "<br />";
if($counter >= 5)
{
break;
}
} //end of loop
echo "Test1: ". $friendsArry[0]['id']. "<br />";
echo "Test2: ". $friendsArry[1]['id']. "<br />";
echo "Test3: ". $friendsArry[2]['id']. "<br />";
echo "Test4: ". $friendsArry[3]['id']. "<br />";
echo "Test5: ". $friendsArry[4]['id']. "<br />";
A:
Try deleting this line:
$friendsArry = array($friendInc => friendObj);
I don't even understand what are you doing with that one.. o.O
| {
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
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Q:
Jquery - Toggle Input text after checkbox
I have this code which works perfectly, It can toggle an input when checkbox is checked.
https://jsfiddle.net/majmo6r4/
But, if one day I want to add more checkboxes, I have to duplicate my code and that's not what I want. I want to improve my code in order to have the same feature with each checkboxes without create another class and duplicate my if statement and variables on my js file.
I had an idea like this :
(function($){
function $test() {
let $cbs = $(".cbTeam");
$cbs.each(function () {
let $inputs = $('.inputTeam');
if($cbs.siblings().is(':checked')) {
$inputs.css("display", "flex");
} else {
$inputs.css("display", "none");
}
});
}
$(this).click($test);
}(jQuery));
For each checkboxes, I can toggle his input, so I need to consider that the checkboxes has the same class name and for the inputs too.
<div class="form-group">
<label>Jeux - Préférences</label>
<div class="checkbox">
<label><input type="checkbox" class="cbTeam" value="">Hearthstone</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control inputTeam" placeholder="Equipe Hearthstone">
</div>
<div class="checkbox">
<label><input type="checkbox" class="cbTeam" value="">League of Legends</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control inputTeam" placeholder="Equipe LoL">
</div>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-default">S'inscrire</button>
</div>
Thank you for taking time to my problem, I hope there's enough informations and have a nice day full of code :)
P.S. I want to say "Hello" at the start of the topic but it disappear when i publish the message :(
A:
You can show/hide the input text by using $(this).parent().next()
$(this) - will return to the current checkbox being clicked.
$(this).parent() - will return the parent of the checkbox. Which is <label> based on your html code.
$(this).parent().next() - will return the next element of the parent which is input text.
Basically, you are trying to locate the input text (one step at a time) and do some actions on it.
Since you already locate the right element(text input), you can now do actions like show() or hide(). Example: $(this).parent().next().hide()
The text input is the next element of the checkbox's parent.
$(document).ready(function() {
$(".checkbox input[type=checkbox]").click(function() {
if ($(this).is(":checked")) $(this).parent().next().show();
else $(this).parent().next().hide();
});
//Hide inputs initially
$(".checkbox input[type=text]").hide();
});
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div class="form-group">
<label>Jeux - Préférences</label>
<div class="checkbox">
<label>
<input type="checkbox" class="cbHs" value="">Hearthstone
</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control teamHs" placeholder="Equipe Hearthstone">
</div>
<div class="checkbox">
<label>
<input type="checkbox" class="cbTeam" value="">League of Legends
</label>
<input type="text" class="form-control inputTeam" placeholder="Equipe LoL">
</div>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-default">S'inscrire</button>
</div>
| {
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FC Serp i Molot Moscow
FC Serp i Molot Moscow (, meaning "Sickle and Hammer") was a Soviet and now Russian football team of the city of Moscow.
Football
History
Serp i Molot won the Soviet First League in Summer 1936, and won promotion to the Soviet Top League. During the 1938 season, they finished third.
Name changes:
1923—1924 — AKS
1925—1930 — RkimA
1936 — Serp i Molot
1937—1962 — Metallurg
1963-19?? — Serp i Molot
2000 — Serp i Molot-SNS
2001 — Serp i Molot Tusom
2005 — FC Maccabi Moscow was formed on the basis of ex-Serp i Molot
2009 — FC Serp i Molot (reborn)
Current
Currently, they play in the Moscow Amateur League (LFL MRO-Centre).
Bandy
The women's bandy team of the club won the Russian championship in 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1992.
External links
Metallurg stadium site
Category:Defunct football clubs in Moscow
Category:Soviet Top League clubs | {
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
} |
African rainforests need our attention more than ever
Around 2 million km² of Africa is covered by tropical rainforests. They are second only in extent to those in Amazonia, which cover around 6 million km². Rainforests are home to vast numbers of species. For example, the world’s tropical rainforests are estimated to be home to at least 40,000 tree species, with up to 6,000 in African forests.
Yet African rainforests are poorly studied compared to those in Amazonia and South East Asia. And the continent’s rainforests are being lost to deforestation at a rate of 0.3% every year. This is slower than in Amazonia (estimated to be 0.5% per year in Brazil) and South East Asia (1% in Indonesia).
Help for African rainforests may come from an unexpected source: international policies to tackle climate change.
The world’s tropical forests store 250 billion tonnes of carbon. If global temperature increases are to be kept well below 2°C this carbon needs to be kept locked away in trees rather than released into the atmosphere. Because of this, incentives to conserve forests for their carbon were officially recognised at the Paris climate summit in 2015. Examples include the United Nations REDD+ policy framework.
But our research into the relationship between the amount of carbon forests store and their biodiversity produced two interesting findings. The first suggests that carbon focused approaches like REDD+ will miss many forests with high biodiversity. This is because the forests that store the most carbon are not necessarily home to the most species.
The second is that Africa’s rainforests have unique characteristics. In particular, we found that they store more carbon than those in the Amazon. This makes designing policies that protect them all the more important, and more complex.
Tree diversity and carbon storage
At first glance, incentives to protect forests for their carbon should also benefit biodiversity. This is because they encourage more forests to be protected. But protecting one area often diverts threats to other areas. So, protecting some forests for their carbon could increase human pressure on others. It’s therefore crucial to know the relationship between biodiversity and carbon storage to assess whether carbon-focused conservation will also protect the most biodiverse forests. That’s what we set out to research.
Previous studies have found that ecosystem functions like carbon storage increase with biodiversity. So, it may be expected that the forests with the most tree species also have the most carbon. But it’s unknown whether this positive effect of biodiversity would be evident in high-diversity tropical forests.
To see how carbon and biodiversity were related in mature tropical forests we – a team of 115 scientists from 22 countries – surveyed 360 plots situated across the lowland rainforests of South America, Africa and Asia. In each 1 hectare (100 by 100 m) plot we identified and measured the diameter of every tree. From here, we could estimate the amount of carbon the forest stored.
Surprisingly, we found that tree diversity and carbon storage were completely unrelated, even after we accounted for the effect of climate and soil.
The absence of a relationship between tree diversity and carbon storage means that strategies like REDD+ – that only promote the conservation of forests with the most carbon – will miss some high diversity forests.
That’s not to say that carbon-focused conservation isn’t still important. Conserving forests for their carbon will be vital to reducing the amount the planet warms, and programmes like REDD+ are needed if this is to happen.
But our results indicate that biodiversity has to be explicitly considered when planning protected areas, and not just assumed to automatically benefit from carbon-focused conservation.
African rainforests store more carbon than those in the Amazon. Image: Shutterstock
Unique characteristics
Ourresults also contribute to the growing understanding that African rainforests are unique. For example, they store more carbon than those in the Amazon. On average, a hectare of African rainforest stores 183 tonnes of carbon compared to 140 tonnes in the same area of Amazonian rainforest – but do so with 170 fewer trees per hectare.
The extra carbon in African forests comes from trees being larger; the average diameter of a tree in an African rainforest is 1.5 times larger than that of a tree in the Amazon. Trees in African rainforests are also taller than their Amazonian counterparts.
African forests also have fewer tree species than tropical forests in other continents. If you were to identify 300 trees in an African forest you would find, on average, 65 species, compared to 109 species in the Amazon and 120 species in South East Asia. This low diversity may partly be a legacy of past climate, with dry periods in the past wiping out species that require wet conditions all year round.
African rainforests are still important centres of biodiversity despite having fewer tree species than other rainforests. Forests need to be protected to safeguard both the huge number of species that live in them and the vast amounts of carbon they store.
Our results show that it’s not safe to assume that protecting one of these will automatically protect the other. Instead, both biodiversity and carbon need to be considered when planning how to protect Africa’s rainforests. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
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