The branching fraction for the decays of gluinos to third generation quarks is expected to be enhanced in classes of supersymmetric models where either third generation squarks are lighter than other squarks, or in mixed-higgsino dark matter models constructed to be in concordance with the measured density of cold dark matter. In such scenarios, gluino production events at the CERN Large Hadron Collider should be rich in top and bottom quark jets. Requiring b-jets in addition to missing transverse energy should, therefore, enhance the supersymmetry signal relative to Standard Model backgrounds from V + jet, VV and QCD backgrounds (V=W, Z). We quantify the increase in the supersymmetry reach of the LHC from b-tagging in a variety of well-motivated models of supersymmetry. We also explore ``top-tagging'' at the LHC. We find that while the efficiency for this turns out to be too low to give an increase in reach beyond that obtained via b-tagging, top-tagging can indeed provide a confirmatory signal if gluinos are not too heavy. Finally, we explore the prospects for detecting the direct production of third generation squarks in models with an inverted squark mass hierarchy. This is signalled by b-jets + missing transverse energy events harder than in the Standard Model, but softer than those from the production of gluinos and heavier squarks. We find that while these events can be readily separated from SM background (for third generation squark masses ~300-500 GeV), the contamination from the much heavier gluinos and squarks remains formidable.


Monday trading in U.S. stocks was another reminder that investors have short memories. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 336 points, or 1.4%, to 24,611 points. The venerable stock index is now down slightly for 2018. But maybe we can still consider the glass to be half full, rather than half empty. On Monday (March 19), shares of Facebook Inc. FB, -6.77% declined 6.8% as some investors grew despondent over the uproar over the company’s disclosure that a company tied to President Trump’s 2016 election campaign gathered and retained data from millions of Facebook users without their permission. Facebook is not a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.35% but the stock’s hammering set the stage for a bad day for technology stocks and U.S. stocks overall. More on the Facebook fallout: Facebook sheds more than $40 billion of market cap as investors flee stock Facebook election issues push investors toward Twitter and Snap Social-media ETF falls with Facebook set for biggest drop since November 2016 Dow summary All components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down Monday, except for Boeing Co. BA, +0.39% which was up slightly. Boeing has risen 12.5%, excluding dividends, this year. In 2017, it was the best Dow performer, with the shares soaring 89%. Here are the Dow 30 sorted by Monday’s declines: These figures include price changes. Dividends aren’t included. Despite the carnage Monday and the overall decline for the index this year, 13 of the Dow 30 are up for 2018, and three — Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO, -1.64% Boeing and Intel Corp. INTC, -0.66% — have increased by double digits. This performance follows 2017’s strength, when 21 of the 30 stocks were up by double digits (again, excluding dividends). So if you are lamenting the state of the market, keep in mind that the year is young, earnings estimates have been increasing and.


We prove that if U\subset\R^n is an open domain whose closure \overline{U} is compact in the path metric, and F is a Lipschitz function on \partial{U}, then for each \beta\in\R there exists a unique viscosity solution to the \beta-biased infinity Laplacian equation \beta |\nabla u| + \Delta_\infty u=0 on U that extends F, where \Delta_\infty u= |\nabla u|^{-2} \sum_{i,j} u_{x_i}u_{x_ix_j} u_{x_j}. In the proof, we extend the tug-of-war ideas of Peres, Schramm, Sheffield and Wilson, and define the \beta-biased \eps-game as follows. The starting position is x_0 \in U. At the k^\text{th} step the two players toss a suitably biased coin (in our key example, player I wins with odds of \exp(\beta\eps) to 1), and the winner chooses x_k with d(x_k,x_{k-1}) < \eps. The game ends when x_k \in \partial{U}, and player II pays the amount F(x_k) to player I. We prove that the value u^{\eps}(x_0) of this game exists, and that \|u^\eps - u\|_\infty \to 0 as \eps \to 0, where u is the unique extension of F to \overline{U} that satisfies comparison with \beta-exponential cones. Comparison with exponential cones is a notion that we introduce here, and generalizing a theorem of Crandall, Evans and Gariepy regarding comparison with linear cones, we show that a continuous function satisfies comparison with \beta-exponential cones.


,746 Cubans who were alleged criminals and could be returned to the island. When the U.S. abandoned the "wet foot, dry foot" policy in January, the two nations agreed that the list could be revised to add other Cuban "marielitos" who were subject to active deportation orders. Rudy Blanco was 8 when he was brought from the port of Mariel by his parents in 1980. He now has a family and owns a home-remodeling business in Perry, Florida. But because he was convicted of attempting to sell cocaine in 1998, he wasn't allowed to become a U.S. citizen and instead received an order of deportation by mail in 2005. Blanco was allowed to stay as long as he made routine visits to ICE. However, he was arrested on May 9 and is now awaiting deportation. An ICE spokeswoman said only that the agency intends to deport him based on the 2005 order. Blanco's wife, Shelly, said that both Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and the family's congressman, Rep. Neal Dunn, have told her they are trying to gather information on the case. Both men are Republicans. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, pardoned another Cuban immigrant for an armed robbery committed 19 years ago, in an effort to stave off his deportation. Rene Lima-Marin, 38, arrived as a toddler in the boatlift and 20 years later received a deportation order after his conviction. Apart from the Mariel list, Cuba has agreed to review deportations on a case-by-case basis. Fifty-seven Cubans have been deported since October, while 335 were arrested between Jan. 22 and April 29. Susan Eckstein, a sociology professor at Boston University, argues that Cubans' immigration privileges should end to make immigration policy more equitable for all foreign nationals. "I would be very surprised.


You’ve probably noticed a series of letters posted along walking trails, parks and other public spaces. The letters are addressed to anonymous victims of sexual assault and violence and the practice marks the third installation of Spruce Grove’s Survivor Love Letters project. Spearheaded by Stephanie Chard, the Love Letters project aims to provide support to those affected by sexual violence in the tri-region and to the further the conversation around consent in the region. “What I’ve done is I’ve put a call out to community members in Spruce Grove and the surrounding area for them to write a letter to a survivor (of sexual violence),” Chard said. "It’s not focused on one person in particular, or calling anyone out, it’s to the broader survivors within our community.” Over the years, Chard has been flooded with letters from the public, expressing their support and belief in those victimized by sexual violence. She takes those heartfelt letters and distributes them throughout the community. “What I did is I took those letters that I got, put them on coloured paper, decorated them and laminated them and placed them throughout the community,” she said. The last two years have been dominated by increased focus on consent and sexual violence with movements like #MeToo and the arrest of disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein, but Chard began her work three years ago from a personal place. “I’m a survivor in this community. As I was growing up and in high school I felt very alone. I did not feel supported and didn’t know anyone in the community who had faced similar situations as I had,” Chard said. “It’s a topic that has a lot of stigma behind it. People don’t want to talk about it even if they are survivors. So trying to get the word out and get people to talk about it and shed some light on the topic.” The Love Letters project has received positive feedback from the community, says Chard who noted she receives messages through social media about the conversations that her project has sparked between families and friends. She’s hoping that those experiences will help improve sexual assault services in Spruce Grove and the surrounding areas. “I’d like to see a sexual assault centre in Spruce Grove. I think it’s highly needed,” Chard said. “We have one in Edmonton but when I was in high school I had no transportation. I had no one that I felt like I could


In order to examine the far-IR/radio correlation at high redshift we have studied the Spitzer 70um/far-infrared (far-IR) properties of sub-mJy radio sources from the 13^H XMM-Newton/Chandra Deep Field by redshift and galaxy type: active galactic nucleus (AGN) or star forming galaxy (SFG). We directly detect 70um counterparts (at >3sigma significance) for 22.5% (92/408) of the radio sources, while for the rest we perform stacking analysis by redshift and galaxy type. For the sources detected at 70um we find that the median and scatter of the observed flux density ratio, q70, are similar to previous results in the literature, but with a slight decrease in q70 towards higher redshifts. Of the radio sources detected at 70um 8/92 were already classified as AGN, but two of which maybe SFGs. For the stacked sources we obtain a detection for the SFGs at every redshift bin which implies they have mean flux densities a factor ~5 below the original 70um detection limit. For the stacked AGN we obtain a detection only in our highest redshift bin (1<~z<~5) where we may be sampling hot dust associated with the AGN at rest-frame 12-35um. The combined observed mean value of q70 for the SFGs (detected and non-detected at 70um) decreases gradually with redshift, consistent with tracks derived from empirical spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of local SFGs. Upon closer inspection and when comparing with tracks of appropriate luminosity, the values of q70 broadly agree at low redshift. However, at z~1, the observed q70 (for ULIRGs) is 2sigma below the value seen for local ULIRGs tracks, implying a difference in the SED between local and z~1 ULIRGs. At higher redshifts, the convergence of the tracks and the higher uncertainties in q70 do not allow us to determine.


And other costs and fees that would be expected to be due if the mortgagor obtained instead other mortgage products offered by the lender and for which the borrower would qualify with a similar loan- to-value ratio in connection with a conventional mortgage (as that term is used in section 305(a)(2) of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation Act (12 U.S.C. 1454(a)(2)) or section 302(b)(2) of the Federal National Mortgage Association Charter Act (12 U.S.C. 1717(b)(2)), as applicable), assuming prevailing interest rates; and ``(B) a statement regarding when the requirement of the mortgagor to pay the mortgage insurance premiums for a mortgage insured under this section would terminate, or a statement that the requirement shall terminate only if the mortgage is refinanced, paid off, or otherwise terminated.''. SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. Section 245 of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1715z-10) is amended-- (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``, or if the mortgagor'' and all that follows through ``case of veterans''; and (2) in subsection (b)(3), by striking ``, or, if the'' and all that follows through ``for veterans,''. SEC. 4. REPEAL OF GNMA GUARANTEE FEE INCREASE. Section 972 of the Higher Education Amendments of 1998 (Public Law 105-244; 112 Stat. 1837) is hereby repealed. SEC. 5. INDEXING OF FHA MULTIFAMILY HOUSING LOAN LIMITS. (a) The National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 206 the following new section 206A (12 U.S.C. 1712A): ``SEC. 206A. INDEXING OF FHA MULTIFAMILY HOUSING LOAN LIMITS. ``(a) Method of Indexing.--The dollar amounts set forth in-- ``(1) section 207(c)(3)(A) (12 U.S.C. 1713(c)(3)(A)); ``(2) section 213(b)(2)(A) (12 U.S.C. 1715e(b)(2)(A)); ``(3) section 220(d)(3)(B)(iii)(I


Except that such term does not include-- ``(A) any rule of particular applicability, including a rule that approves or prescribes for the future rates, wages, prices, services, or allowances therefor, corporate or financial structures, reorganizations, mergers, or acquisitions thereof, or accounting practices or disclosures bearing on any of the foregoing; ``(B) any rule relating to agency management or personnel; or ``(C) any rule of agency organization, procedure, or practice that does not substantially affect the rights or obligations of non-agency parties. ``Sec. 802. Congressional approval of major rules ``Subject to section 805, before a major rule can take effect, such rule shall be-- ``(1) submitted to Congress as required under section 803; and ``(2) approved by a joint resolution described under section 804. ``Sec. 803. Congressional review ``(a)(1) Any agency promulgating a major rule shall submit to each House of Congress and to the Comptroller General a report containing-- ``(A) a copy of the major rule; ``(B) a concise general statement relating to the major rule; and ``(C) the proposed effective date of the major rule. ``(2) On the date of the submission of the report under paragraph (1), the agency promulgating the major rule shall submit to the Comptroller General and make available to each House of Congress-- ``(A) a complete copy of the cost-benefit analysis of the major rule, if any; ``(B) the agency's actions relevant to sections 603, 604, 605, 607, and 609; ``(C) the agency's actions relevant to sections 202, 203, 204, and 205 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995; and ``(D) any other relevant information or requirements under any other Act or any relevant Executive order. ``(3) Upon receipt of a report submitted under paragraph (1), each House shall provide copies of the report to the chairman and ranking member of each standing committee with jurisdiction under the rules of the Senate or the House of Representatives to report a bill to amend the provision of law under which the major rule is issued. ``Sec. 804. Approval procedure ``(a)(1) In this section, the term `joint resolution' means only a joint resolution that-- ``(A) is introduced on the date described under paragraph


The secondary-to-primary B/C ratio is widely used to study the cosmic ray (CR) propagation processes in the Galaxy. It is usually assumed that secondary nuclei such as Li-Be-B are entirely generated by collisions of heavier CR nuclei with the interstellar medium (ISM). We study the CR propagation under a scenario where secondary nuclei can also be produced or accelerated from galactic sources. We consider the processes of hadronic interactions inside supernova remnants (SNRs) and re-acceleration of background CRs in strong shocks. Thus, we investigate their impact in the propagation parameter determination within present and future data. The spectra of Li-Be-B nuclei emitted from SNRs are harder than those due to CR collisions with the ISM. The secondary-to-primary ratios flatten significantly at ~TeV/n energies, both from spallation and re-acceleration in the sources. The two mechanisms are complementary to each other and depend on the properties of the local ISM around the expanding remnants. The secondary production in SNRs is significant for dense background media, n ~1 cm^-3, while the amount of re-accelerated CRs is relevant for SNRs expanding into rarefied media, n ~0.1 cm-3. Due to these effects, the the diffusion parameter 'delta' may be misunderstood by a factor of ~5-15%. Our estimations indicate that an experiment of the AMS-02 caliber can constrain the key propagation parameters while breaking the source-transport degeneracy, for a wide class of B/C-consistent models. Given the precision of the data expected from on-going experiments, the SNR production/acceleration of secondary nuclei should be considered.


Unique to the Zero1, Marver says, is a multilayered approach to protection. The helmet is made with a collapsible outer shell which covers a layer of vertical columns composed of a proprietary material that compress to absorb shock from a hit. “This is designed to endure thousands of collisions,” Marver says, pushing on the flexible outer shell. “It bounces back each time, and the whole process is invisible to the naked eye.” The Zero1 recently came down in price, from $1500 down to $950, which is still almost four times as much as the NFL’s number two ranked helmet, the Schutt Air XP Pro VTD II. Is the Zero1 that much safer? Arthur Maerlender with the Brain Injury Alliance of Nebraska and a professor in the Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln said the verdict is still out. But, he added that any parent looking for fool-proof equipment to eliminate concussions in their son or daughter will be out of luck. “We’re not able to say, ‘This is good, you’re never going to get a concussion with this helmet,’” Maerlender said. “That’s just not going to happen.” Instead, Maerlender said, one of the best things parents can do is to make sure their child athletes are removed from playing and taken to see a doctor after its suspected they may have suffered a concussion. The NFL states on its helmet ranking poster that any advantage the Zero1 had over the 13 other helmets in the "top-performing-group" is statistically insignificant. The independent Virginia tech STAR helmet rating system — widely considered the industry standard — has yet to test the Zero1 because it hasn't been publicly available until recently. VICIS maintains their research and design will only continue to improve and that the cost will only go down. “Like a lot of new technologies, it's expensive at first,” Marver said when asked about the cost. For the Connor family, the high cost wasn’t a deterrent. Andy Connor felt that having the top-ranked helmet was a no-brainer. “I couldn't really make the decision not to do it knowing what could happen.


When an accreting star is close to rotational equilibrium between the dipole component of the stellar magnetic field and the accretion disk, the star's rotation rate is roughly of the order of the Keplerean rotation rate at the inner boundary of the disk, estimated as the conventional Alfven radius. A range of frequencies higher than this equilibrium rotation frequency can naturally arise if the accretion flow is channeled by higher multipoles of the star's magnetic field. The higher multipole components of the magnetic field will balance the material stresses of the accretion flow at radii closer to the star. The Kepler frequencies associated with these generalized Alfven radii increase with the order of the multipole. Other frequency bands, like the epicyclic frequencies associated with the accretion flow, may in turn be higher than the Kepler frequencies. We present expressions for the spectrum of higher frequencies arising due to these effects. Kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillation frequencies that are much higher than the rotation rate of the neutron star, as observed from the recently discovered 11 Hz (P = 90 ms) X-ray pulsar IGR J17480-2446 in the globular cluster Terzan 5, may be due to modulation of the accretion rate by the excitation of these modes in the accretion flow. The very high QPO frequencies observed from the soft gamma repeaters SGR 1806-20 (P = 5.2 s) and SGR 1900+14 (P = 7.5 s) may also correspond to these characteristic frequencies.


Then the government of Nigeria should immediately wake up and give South Africa a strong word on this mindless killings and if South Africans do not desist from this cruelty to Nigerians, South African businesses in Nigeria should be expelled from the country. South Africa makes billions of naira from Nigeria, yet they hate Nigerians so much even when they are supposed to unite with Nigerians to forge a common front as the two leading nations in Africa. This should no longer be condoned by Nigerians and the Nigerian government. If we don’t protect our citizens, other countries will continue to maim and kill them without minding the consequences. If our government keeps taking this serious issue of the continuous killing of Nigerians in South Africa with levity, South Africans will continue to kill Nigerians in South Africa. When Nelson Mandela the former South African president was alive, he advocated African unity and was a father to all. He benefited so much after all his struggles, from Nigerian efforts towards liberating South Africa from Apartheid rule which for many years oppressed South African citizens. After freedom from the clutches of white minority rule, it is unthinkable that South Africa would now turn against Nigeria who incidentally was instrumental to their freedom. This should no longer be acceptable to the Nigerian people. The government of Nigeria must immediately take this issue very seriously. One of the reasons why the killing of innocent Nigerians in South Africa persists is because the Nigerian government has over the years taken this issue with levity. No country can progress when its citizens are not protected wherever they are. The government of President Muhammadu Buhari has done little or nothing to stop these mindless killings. The government should now do more in this regard. President Buhari should interface with the new South African president and give him a strong word on this issue. There should be consequences for South Africa if these killings of Nigerian citizens continue. The life of every Nigerian citizen is sacrosanct and must be duly protected. By TAYO DEMOLA, Human Rights Advocate/Activist & Author. Lagos, Nigeria. He can be reached via [email protected] Do you have something awesome to share with the world? Click here to share Do you ever have any question about anything you wish to ask and get answer? Click here to ask Follow us on twitter @NigeriaTodayNG Also, Like us on facebook Share this


Artisanal pizzas, make room for PQR’s Roman-style, rectangular slices ($4 to $8). The new spot at 1631 Second Ave. (near East 85th Street) is the only place in town that boasts the airy-yet-crispy pizza crust made famous by PQR partner and head chef Angelo Iezzi, who began tossing his signature dough in Rome in 1987. He went on to become a “pizza god,” according to PQR owner Fabio Casella, who also runs nearby San Matteo. Iezzi, who first learned to make pizza at age 13, was regarded by Italy’s old-school pizza masters as a dangerous renegade when he launched his contrarian style, which relies on a lighter dough, in the late 1980s. But it soon caught on, and he now heads a global pizza-making school called Associazione Pizzerie Italiane in Rome. The Iezzi process starts with special flour. PQR uses taglio alle romana, a soft wheat variety that’s not as heavy as the ubiquitous “00” flour. It’s used to form a dough that ferments for 96 hours and is 80 percent water, 20 percent flour. That’s much wetter than typical pizza doughs, which have water-flour ratios of 70 to 30 or 60 to 40. The dough is pressed into massive, 2-centimeter-deep pans, topped with an ever-changing variety of ingredients and cooked in a volcanic-stone oven for 13 minutes. The result is a crust that’s “soft but crisp with air bubbles inside,” Casella says. It ably supports toppings that range from the classic margherita to spicy soppressata with grape tomatoes to marvelously aromatic crema di zucca (squash) with pancetta and provolone. I loved them all except for one with black truffles and potatoes, a combination oddly without much flavor. The lighter dough was something of a revelation. I’m bloated after a single slice of Ray’s, but after eating most of four different PQR slices, I only wanted more.


In a minimal way, then neutrino-anti-neutrino clouds of sufficient number density can experience an instability in which helicities are suddenly reversed. The predicted collective evolution is many orders of magnitude faster than given by cross-section calculations. The instabilities are the analogue of the ``flavor-angle" instabilities (enabled by the Z exchange force) that may drive very rapid flavor exchange among the neutrinos that emerge from a supernova. These exchanges do require a tiny seed in addition to the scalar couplings, but the transition time is proportional to the negative of the logarithm of the seed strength, so that the size of this parameter is comparatively unimportant. For our actual estimates we use a tiny non-conservation of leptons; an alternative would be a neutrino magnetic moment in a small magnetic field. The possibility of a quantum fluctuation as a seed is also discussed. Operating in the mode of putting limits on the coupling constant of the scalar field, for the most minimal coupling scheme, with independent couplings to all three $\nu$, we find a rough limit on the dimensionless coupling constant for a neutrino-flavor independent coupling of $G<10^{-10}$, to avoid the effective number of light neutrinos in the early universe being essentially six. If, on the other hand, we wish to fine-tune the model to give a more modest excess (over three) in the effective neutrino number, as may be needed according to recent WMAP analyses, it is easy to do so. \pacs{13.15.+g}


Few weeks are “crunch time” for school districts who are deciding on what their budgets will look like for next year. “It’s a difficult position our districts are in,” Joyce remarked. “They don’t want to initiate the pink slip process, but I think they’re coming to that time where it’s going to become a reality.” As Joyce explains, time is running out for school districts all across the state. But it is not too late for a change. Welborn and many others have spent the past few days imploring the General Assembly to change course and all those who are concerned about the wellbeing of North Carolina’s school districts should do the same. “To continue going down this road is not helping children,” Welborn warned. Everyone in North Carolina wants to make sure that children in this state receive the best education that they can, most of all the school districts themselves. Therefore, the North Carolina General Assembly should listen to those who are closest to the issue and reconsider the K-3 class size mandate. Moreover, they would also do well to provide more funding to the public schools that they claim to care about so much. As of 2015, North Carolina ranks 47th in the nation in teacher pay and 46th in per-pupil funding. As someone who has worked in the North Carolina public school system, I have talked to a number of educators who have told me that even well-meaning and compassionate teachers will leave North Carolina in order to pursue a job that pays better. While class size is certainly an issue that needs to be analyzed, the real crisis is the dismally low amount of money that the General Assembly allocates to its public school system. The legislature therefore has two options: either increase funding for the districts or reconsider the K-3 mandate. The latter is probably the more likely scenario, but even that prospect looks relatively bleak. Yet.


2 through 6 of this Act shall cease to have force or effect at the end of fiscal year 2017. SEC. 9. AUTHORITY OF INSPECTORS GENERAL. Title XXXVII of the Crime Control Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 5779 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: ``SEC. 3703. AUTHORITY OF INSPECTORS GENERAL. ``(a) In General.--An Inspector General appointed under section 3 or 8G of the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) may authorize staff to assist the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children-- ``(1) by conducting reviews of inactive case files to develop recommendations for further investigations; and ``(2) by engaging in similar activities. ``(b) Limitations.-- ``(1) Priority.--An Inspector General may not permit staff to engage in activities described in subsection (a) if such activities will interfere with the duties of the Inspector General under the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.). ``(2) Funding.--No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section.''. SEC. 10. USE OF RESOURCES. The Attorney General may reprogram funds appropriated for any congressionally directed spending item (as that term is defined under rule XLIV of the Standing Rules of the Senate) to carry out this Act or the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (Public Law 109- 248; 120 Stat. 587), or an amendment made by that Act.


Get ready for the faux lovers — designed to look hotter than any humans on the planet — to outthink us, as well as out-sex us. The company that produces the $7,000-or-so fornication toys, made from silicon and painted by hand, is coming out with a high-tech app that gives its products artificial brains. The hope is that the new iteration of RealDolls will be able to establish emotional ties to their owners — and, in the not too distant future, have some robotic qualities as well. It gets us one step closer to a real-world version of the film “Her”, in which Joaquin Phoenix’s character falls in love with the Alexa-style software in his computer. “They made a movie about what we are trying to do,” Matt McMullen, CEO of RealDoll fabricator Abyss Creations, tells the Post. “We just released the AI as an app on the phone to customize [the doll’s] personality. Toward the end of the year, we will release the robotic counterpart.” According to Digital Trends, the AI-wired head alone — slated for later this year, and available as an add-on to existing dolls — will go for around $10,000. Not only will the sex bots ultimately be able to move their lips and bodies and speak in a variety of accents, but they will also possess the ability to learn. As explained on Techmine, RealDolls with artificial brains will be able to remember the “main events [in their owners’ lives]” and “create a simulation of a compelling relationship.” Eventually, the hope goes, these RealDolls will be able to hold up their end of a conversation. It’s still a work in progress. As reported on Engadget, when asked its favorite sexual position, the brain-infused RealDoll mistakenly responded, “She’s not that kind of girl” — but refinements are coming along. (Phew. Nobody wants a reserved old maid of an artificial sex surrogate.) McMullen, who is married and does not have a RealDoll of his own, expects to see his creations become something more than merely sex objects. “A lot of people are focusing on the fact that it is a sex robot,” he says. “But it’s more [oriented toward] companionship. We are trying to create an alternative for people who don’t necessarily


We studied the impact of the revisited values for the LSR circular velocity of the Milky Way (Reid et al. 2004) on the formation of the Magellanic Stream. The LSR circular velocity was varied within its observational uncertainties as a free parameter of the interaction between the Large (LMC) and the Small (SMC) Magellanic Clouds and the Galaxy. We have shown that the large-scale morphology and kinematics of the Magellanic Stream may be reproduced as tidal features, assuming the recent values of the proper motions of the Magellanic Clouds (Kallivayalil et al. 2006). Automated exploration of the entire parameter space for the interaction was performed to identify all parameter combinations that allow for modeling the Magellanic Stream. Satisfactory models exist for the dynamical mass of the Milky Way within a wide range of 0.6*10^12Msun to 3.0*10^12Msun and over the entire 1-sigma errors of the proper motions of the Clouds. However, the successful models share a common interaction scenario. The Magellanic Clouds are satellites of the Milky Way, and in all cases two close LMC-SMC encounters occurred within the last 4Gyr at t<-2.5Gyr and t approx. -150Myr, triggering the formation of the Stream and of the Magellanic Bridge, respectively. The latter encounter is encoded in the observed proper motions and inevitable in any model of the interaction. We conclude that the tidal origin of the Magellanic Stream implies the previously introduced LMC/SMC orbital history.


The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands of the United States, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, any other territory or possession of the United States, and each federally recognized Indian Tribe. (14) User.--The term ``user'' means, with respect to a covered service, a person who-- (A) is a current or former-- (i) subscriber to such service; or (ii) holder of an account for such service; (B) purchases such service without a subscription or account; (C) is an applicant for such service; or (D) in the case of a service described in clause (iii) or (iv) of paragraph (4)(A), uses the service. (15) User information.--The term ``user information'' means any information that-- (A) a provider of a covered service acquires in connection with the provision of such service; and (B) is linked or reasonably linkable to an individual. SEC. 7. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAW. (a) Preemption of State Law.--No State or political subdivision of a State shall, with respect to a provider of a covered service subject to this Act, adopt, maintain, enforce, or impose or continue in effect any law, rule, regulation, duty, requirement, standard, or other provision having the force and effect of law relating to or with respect to the privacy of user information. (b) Other Federal Law.-- (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), nothing in this Act shall be construed to supercede any other Federal statute or regulation relating to information privacy. (2) Communications act of 1934.--Insofar as any provision of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) or any regulations promulgated under such Act apply to any person, partnership, or corporation subject to this Act with respect to privacy policies, terms of service, and practices covered by this Act, such provision of the Communications Act of 1934 or such regulations shall have no force or effect.


We examine existence and stability of relative equilibria of the $n$-vortex problem specialized to the case where $N$ vortices have small and equal circulation and one vortex has large circulation. As the small circulation tends to zero, the weak vortices tend to a circle centered on the strong vortex. A special potential function of this limiting problem can be used to characterize orbits and stability. Whenever a critical point of this function is nondegenerate, we prove that the orbit can be continued, and its linear stability is determined by properties of the potential. For $N\geq 3$ there are at least three distinct families of critical points associated to the limiting problem. Assuming nondegeneracy, one of these families continues to a linearly stable class of relative equilibria with small and large circulation of the same sign. This class becomes unstable as the small circulation passes through zero and changes sign. Another family of critical points which is always nondegenerate continues to a configuration with small vortices arranged in an $N$-gon about the strong central vortex. This class of relative equilibria is linearly unstable regardless of the sign of the small circulation when $N\geq 4$. Numerical results suggest that the third family of critical points of the limiting problem also continues to a linearly unstable class of solutions of the full problem independent of the sign of the small circulation. Thus there is evidence that linearly stable relative equilibria exist when the large and small circulation strengths are of the same sign, but that no such solutions exist when they have opposite signs. The results of this paper are in contrast to those of the analogous celestial mechanics problem, for which the $N$-gon is the only relative equilibrium for $N$ sufficiently large, and is linearly stable.


A simple pillbox model with two adjustable parameters accounts for the selectivity of both DEEA Ca channels and DEKA Na channels in many ionic solutions of different composition and concentration. Only the side chains are different in the model of the Ca and Na channels. Parameters are the same for both channels in all solutions. 'Pauling' radii are used for ions. No information from crystal structures is used in the model. Side chains are grossly approximated as spheres. The predicted properties of the Na and Ca channels are very different. How can such a simple model give such powerful results when chemical intuition says that selectivity depends on the precise relation of ions and side chains? We use Monte Carlo simulations of this model that determine the most stable-lowest free energy-structure of the ions and side chains. Structure is the computed consequence of the forces in this model. The relationship of ions and side chains vary with ionic solution and are very different in simulations of the Na and Ca channels. Selectivity is a consequence of the 'induced fit' of side chains to ions and depends on the flexibility (entropy) of the side chains as well as their location. The model captures the relation of side chains and ions well enough to account for selectivity of both Na channels and Ca channels in the wide range of conditions measured in experiments. Evidently, the structures in the real Na and Ca channels responsible for selectivity are self-organized, at their free energy minimum. Oversimplified models are enough to account for selectivity.


Very recently Ben Andrews and Haizhong Li showed that every embedded cmc torus in the three dimensional sphere is axially symmetric. There is a two-parametric family of axially symmetric cmc surfaces; more precisely, for every real number H and every C > 2 (H+\sqrt{1+H^2}) there is an axially symmetry surface \Sigma_{H,C} with mean curvature H. In 2010, Perdomo showed that for every H between cot(\pi/m) and (m^2-2)/(2(m^2-1)^1/2), there exists an embedded axially symmetric example with non constant principal curvatures that is invariant under the ciclic group Z_m. Andrews and Li, showed that these examples are the only non-isoparametric embedded examples in the family when H>0. In this paper we study those examples in the family with H<0. We prove that there are no embedded examples in the family when H<0 and we also prove that for every integer m>2 there is a properly immersed example in this family that contains a great circle and is invariant under the ciclic group Z_m. We will say that these examples contain the axis of symmetry. Finally we show that every non-isoparametric surface \Sigma_{H,C} is either properly immersed invariant under the ciclic group Z_m for some integer m>1 or it is dense in the region bounded by two isoparametric tori if the surface \Sigma_{H,C} does not contain the axis of symmetry or it is dense in the region bounded by a totally umbilical surface.


You’ll probably want to pay a visit to a cosy new Croydon bistro which serves up rich coffees, fresh salads and handmade sweet treats. Romeo, on Wickham Road in Shirley, was opened on September 29 by husband and wife team Tracey-ann and Julian Sequino, who wanted to bring a taste of Italy to their neighbourhood. The couple, who have two young children, had been running a similar café in central London for more than ten years when they decided it was time to “bring a bit of London and Italy closer to home”. “When we first moved here, we loved the area but we realised it was just not possible to stop and have a nice coffee anywhere after a walk,” Tracey-ann explained. “There’s a lovely little community here and we wanted to offer some diversity to the parade by providing an alternative to a greasy spoon – fry-ups are great but you just don’t fancy them every day. “Our menu consists of things that nowhere else around here offers and everything is light, fresh and made from scratch.” The bistro serves hot breakfast and lunch dishes as well as pastries, cakes, tarts, salads and paninis in a variety of flavours. The menu been designed with Julian’s expertise as a fourth-generation chef, and all dishes can be eaten in or taken away. “We want people to make themselves at home here and to serve them food which is all about quality rather than quantity,” Tracey-ann said. “The menu is simple so we can focus on doing a few things very well – and so that customers who are popping in quickly on the school run can choose something they will love.” For breakfast, you might choose granola with fresh berries and yoghurt or an egg muffin – which is a crustless quiche made with carrots, peppers and crispy pancetta. Hearty lunch dishes include a beef and vegetable stew and baked aubergines stuffed with tomato sauce and cheese, with lighter bites like bruschetta and fig salad with mozzarella also available. If you’re peckish between meals, sweet treats on the menu include fruit gateau, chocolate and citrus cupcakes and brioche buns filled with cream or Nutella and berries. To drink, there's a tempting range of herbal teas and hot coffee on offer, as well as Italian-style thick hot chocolate. Cold drinks include smoothies, pear juice, apricot juice and an


We give sufficient and necessary geometric conditions, guaranteeing that an immersed compact closed manifold $\Sigma^m\subset \R^n$ of class $C^1$ and of arbitrary dimension and codimension (or, more generally, an Ahlfors-regular compact set $\Sigma$ satisfying a mild general condition relating the size of holes in $\Sigma$ to the flatness of $\Sigma$ measured in terms of beta numbers) is in fact an embedded manifold of class $C^{1,\tau}\cap W^{2,p}$, where $p>m$ and $\tau=1-m/p$. The results are based on a careful analysis of Morrey estimates for integral curvature--like energies, with integrands expressed geometrically, in terms of functions that are designed to measure either (a) the shape of simplices with vertices on $\Sigma$ or (b) the size of spheres tangent to $\Sigma$ at one point and passing through another point of $\Sigma$. Appropriately defined \emph{maximal functions} of such integrands turn out to be of class $L^p(\Sigma)$ for $p>m$ if and only if the local graph representations of $\Sigma$ have second order derivatives in $L^p$ and $\Sigma$ is embedded. There are two ingredients behind this result. One of them is an equivalent definition of Sobolev spaces, widely used nowadays in analysis on metric spaces. The second one is a careful analysis of local Reifenberg flatness (and of the decay of functions measuring that flatness) for sets with finite curvature energies. In addition, for the geometric curvature energy involving tangent spheres we provide a nontrivial lower bound that is attained.


Mayor Megan Barry's admission on Wednesday that she had an affair with the former head of her security detail, has done little to erode her support among the residents of Tennessee's largest city. Case in point: At least two billboards proclaiming "We Love Our Mayor" have been spotted in Nashville. One is situated off Interstate 24 and another is located in downtown Nashville on Silliman Evans bridge, ABC affiliate WKRN reported Friday. According to WKRN, it is unclear who paid for the billboards. WKRN said it reached out to the billboard company for comment but has yet to hear back. Mark Humphrey/AP "Today, I have acknowledged publicly that I have engaged in an extramarital affair with the former head of my security detail," Barry said in a statement Wednesday, of the affair with retired Metro Nashville Police Department Sgt. Robert Forrest. Barry continued, "I accept full responsibility for the pain I have caused my family and his. I am so sorry to my husband Bruce, who has stood by me in my darkest moments and remains committed to our marriage, just as I am committed to repairing the damage I have done." At a press conference Wednesday, following her statement's release, Barry told reporters that the affair "is over." WKRN Forrest, meanwhile, said in a statement, "I deeply regret that my professional relationship with Mayor Barry turned into a personal one. This has caused great pain for my wife, my family, friends and colleagues. At no time did I ever violate my oath as a police office or engage in actions that would abuse the public trust." WKRN via Nashville.gov Nashville TV station WZTV spoke to drivers who expressed their support of the embattled mayor. "Megan Barry has done a lot for Nashville," Nashville resident Latisha Yarlett told WZTV. "She's brought us a very far way." Fellow resident Andy Martin told the TV station, "When I saw the billboard I thought you know that's Nashville . That's pretty cool."


Share Twitch has revealed the May lineup for its Free Games with Prime program. Headlined by indie darling Gone Home, May’s slate of six games features an eclectic bunch of critically acclaimed indies that are sure to appeal to a wide variety of gamers. By now, Gone Home probably doesn’t need an introduction. The 2013 game from Fullbright was one of the first major successes in the walking simulator genre, and featured a gripping domestic mystery that focuses on narrative over gameplay. If you still haven’t gotten around to Gone Home, this is an opportunity you shouldn’t pass up. Next up is Titan Souls, a devilishly challenging top-down adventure with pixelated visuals. You play as a nameless hero who must defeat 19 challenging bosses called Titans. To make matters more challenging, you only wield a single arrow. So each time you shoot, you must go retrieve the arrow from the target. It may not sound as appealing, but this 2015 indie is a tough-as-nails delight that makes great use of its singular mechanic. Also up for grabs is the 2003 cult hit Psychonauts from Double Fine Productions. The platforming game focuses on a summer camp for psychically gifted kids. Raz, with the help of other campers, suspects that something bigger is going on at the camp and sets off to investigative. Wonderful dialogue, neat powers, interesting set pieces, and the endless charm that Double Fine is known for are all on display in Psychonauts. Zany physics-based arcade racer Clustertruck tasks players with maneuvering through all sorts of ridiculous hazards during its increasingly challenging series of levels. You can also pick up High Hell, a “neon-soaked” first-person shooter with simplistic but appealing visuals and fast-paced action that will appeal to fans of old-school shooters. Rounding out May’s lineup is I, Hope, a poignant adventure about a young girl who has been affected by cancer. According to its Steam page, I, Hope was created specifically to inspire kids who are battling cancer, and all developer profits are being donated to Game Changer Charity, a nonprofit whose mission is to help kids in hospitals. All six games will be available for free for Amazon Prime members. Even if you’re subscription lapses, you can still play Free Games with Prime. May’s games go live on the first of the month, so make sure you have secured April’s lineup.


In this paper we present a new derivation of the QCD factorization. We deduce the k_T- and collinear factorizations for the DIS structure functions by consecutive reductions of a more general theoretical construction. We begin by studying the amplitude of the forward Compton scattering off a hadron target, representing this amplitude as a set of convolutions of two blobs connected by the simplest, two-parton intermediate states. Each blob in the convolutions can contain both the perturbative and non-perturbative contributions. We formulate conditions for separating the perturbative and non-perturbative contributions and attributing them to the different blobs. After that the convolutions correspond to the QCD factorization. Then we reduce this totally unintegrated (basic) factorization first to the k_T- factorization and finally to the collinear factorization. In order to yield a finite expression for the Compton amplitude, the integration over the loop momentum in the basic factorization must be free of both ultraviolet and infrared singularities. This obvious mathematical requirement leads to theoretical restrictions on the non-perturbative contributions (parton distributions) to the Compton amplitude and the DIS structure functions related to the Compton amplitude through the Optical theorem. In particular, our analysis excludes the use of the singular factors x^{-a} (with a > 0) in the fits for the quark and gluon distributions because such factors contradict to the integrability of the basic convolutions for the Compton amplitude. This restriction is valid for all DIS structure functions in the framework of both the k_T- factorization and the collinear factorization.


Let $N$ be a connected and simply connected nilpotent Lie group, $\Lambda$ a lattice in $N$, and $X=N/\Lambda$ the corresponding nilmanifold. Let $Aff(X)$ be the group of affine transformations of $X$. We characterize the countable subgroups $H$ of $Aff(X)$ for which the action of $H$ on $X$ has a spectral gap, that is, such that the associated unitary representation $U$ of $H$ on the space of functions from $L^2(X)$ with zero mean does not weakly contain the trivial representation. Denote by $T$ the maximal torus factor associated to $X$. We show that the action of $H$ on $X$ has a spectral gap if and only if there exists no proper $H$-invariant subtorus $S$ of $T$ such that the projection of $H$ on $Aut (T/S)$ has an abelian subgroup of finite index. We first establish the result in the case where $X$ is a torus. In the case of a general nilmanifold, we study the asymptotic behaviour of matrix coefficients of $U$ using decay properties of metaplectic representations of symplectic groups. The result shows that the existence of a spectral gap for subgroups of $Aff(X)$ is equivalent to strong ergodicity in the sense of K.Schmidt. Moreover, we show that the action of $H$ on $X$ is ergodic (or strongly mixing).


Get hired by a firm that combats cyber-threats. Criminal and malicious hackers are endlessly inventive and every day despatch novel viruses and other digital threats into cyber-space to wreak havoc. Getting paid to tackle these is about as cutting edge as you can get. One emerging discipline in this field of cyber-incident response tackles the most skilled and serious of these hackers - those who work for nation-states. The UK's GCHQ now estimates that 34 separate nations have serious, well-funded cyber-espionage teams targeting friends and foes alike. The threat from these state-sponsored digital spies has been deemed so serious that the intelligence agency has designated five firms victims can all on if they are caught out by these attackers. "We get called when people have a big fire and we come along with our hoses and try to put it out," says James Allman-Talbot, head of incident response in the cyber-security division of BAE Systems. Image copyright BAE Image caption "We're like the fire service," says BAE's James Allman-Talbot That captures the fact that, more often than not, the fire brigade arrive to find a building still in flames. When it comes to cyber-fires, that means the hackers are still embedded in a victim's network and are still trying to steal data or burrow more deeply. Unlike the fire service, the BAE team do not arrive in a blaze of lights and sirens. They have to be more stealthy. "If the attackers have access to the victim's email servers the last thing you want to do is discuss it on there," says Robin Oldham, head of the cyber-security consulting practice at BAE, who is also part of the incident response team. Tipping off the bad guys could prompt them to delete evidence or, if they have more malicious motives, shut down key systems and destroy data, he says. Instead, responders first gather evidence to see how bad the incident is and how far the hackers have penetrated a network. It's at this point that the team use the skills picked up during earlier careers. All of the team have solid technical computer skills to which they have added particular specialities. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Responders first gather evidence to see how bad the incident is and how far the hackers have penetrated a network Prior to working at BAE, Mr Allman-Talbot did digital forensics for the Metropolitan


Ky child sex abuse scandal. "Their parallel strategies make sense, given what's at stake for Mr. Cosby. He's fighting for his personal and professional lives." On Tuesday, as jury deliberations stretched into a second day without signs of a verdict, Wyatt steered reporters to a former colleague of accuser Andrea Constand who said Constand had once suggested she would try to set up a famous man to get money. The judge had barred her hearsay testimony from the trial, but Wyatt made sure her statement got out. Constand alleges Cosby gave her three sedatives he claimed were an herbal remedy and then groped her breast and genitals while she was paralyzed and unable to fight him off. Cosby said he was in a romantic relationship with the young staffer on the women's basketball team at his alma mater, Temple University, and that the encounter was consensual. "If he's found guilty, his estate would likely take an enormous financial hit that would devastate his family. That's why their approach makes practical sense, even if it makes some feel uncomfortable," La Torre said. Jurors appeared tired and spent when they decided to call it quits late Tuesday after about 16 hours of deliberations. They'll resume Wednesday morning. The judge praised them for being remarkably conscientious as they consider three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault that could put Cosby in prison for the rest of his life. The jury's day began Tuesday by reviewing more than a dozen passages from Cosby's decade-old deposition, including his telling Constand the pills were "three friends" to make her relax. Cosby left the courthouse on Wyatt's arm Tuesday night, shouting the "Fat Albert" catchphrase, "Hey, hey, hey" and giving a thumbs-up as he got in his SUV. He didn't comment to reporters. The AP does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault.


We present results on the evolution of the intrinsic scatter of black hole masses considering different implementations of a model in which black holes only grow via mergers. We demonstrate how merger driven growth affects the correlations between black hole mass and host bulge mass. The simple case of an initially log-normal distributed scatter in black hole and bulge masses combined with random merging within the galaxy population results in a decreasing scatter with merging generation/number as predicted by the Central-limit theorem. In general we find that the decrease in scatter {\sigma} is well approximated by {\sigma}merg(m) = {\sigma}ini \times (m + 1)^(-a/2) with a = 0.42 for a range of mean number of mergers m < 50. For a large mean number of mergers (m > 100) we find a convergence to a = 0.61. This is valid for a wide range of different initial distributions, refill-scenarios or merger mass-ratios. Growth scenarios based on halo merger trees of a (100 Mpc)^3 dark matter LambdaCDM-simulation show a similar behaviour with a scatter decrease of a = 0.30 with typical number of mergers m < 50 consistent with random merging (best matching model: a = 0.34). Assuming a present day scatter of 0.3 dex in black hole mass and a mean number of mergers not exceeding m = 50 our results imply a scatter of 0.6 dex at z = 3 and thus a possible scenario in which overmassive (and undermassive) black holes at high redshift are a consequence of a larger intrinsic scatter in black hole mass. A simple toy model connecting the growth of black holes to the growth of LambdaCDM dark matter halos via mergers, neglecting any contribution from accretion, yields a consistent M\cdot -MBulge relation at z = 0 -.


Since its discovery quantum teleportation has often been seen as a manifestation, indeed the epitome, of the very paradoxical and mysterious nature of quantum theory itself. It is commonly regarded as genuinely quantum and essentially paradoxical. Although a common approach to teleportation amongst physicists nowadays is a somewhat operational one, some researchers are making an effort to deflate the above views. On the one hand, it was recently argued that the paradox of information transfer taking place in teleportation is dissolved (Timpson, 2006) by appealing the very notion of information. On the other hand, it was demonstrated that some classical versions of teleportation retain its important features, which hitherto were considered genuinely quantum (Cohen, 2003; Collins&Popescu, 2002; Hardy, 1999; Mor, 2006; Spekkens, 2007). I will present a special version of a quantum teleportation protocol which is in a sense split into classical and quantum steps. This description provides us with a unified picture of teleportation in both domains. It will be explicitly shown how classical teleportation is embedded in the quantum protocol. Moreover, the classical step can be successfully accomplished even if the state shared by the parties is completely disentangled [this is consistent with the result obtained in (Wang, 2005)]. Yet, all the (apparent) paradoxical features usually associated with quantum teleportation are clearly present in this step. In particular, this demonstrates that entanglement cannot be ultimately responsible and not necessary for the (paradoxical?) information transfer. Thus, even.


(p,q)-strings are bound states of p F-strings and q D-strings and are predicted to form at the end of brane inflation. As such these cosmic superstrings should be detectable in the universe. In this paper we argue that they can be detected by the way that massive and massless test particles move in the space-time of these cosmic superstrings, in particular we study solutions to the geodesic equation in the space-time of field theoretical (p,q)-strings. The geodesics can be classified according to the test particle's energy, angular momentum and momentum in the direction of the string axis. We discuss how the change of the magnetic fluxes, the ratio between the symmetry breaking scale and the Planck mass, the Higgs to gauge boson mass ratios and the binding between the F- and D-strings, respectively, influence the motion of the test particles. While massless test particles can only move on escape orbits, a new feature as compared to the infinitely thin string limit is the existence of bound orbits for massive test particles. In particular, we observe that - in contrast to the space-time of a single Abelian-Higgs string - bound orbits for massive test particles in (p,q)-string space-times are possible if the Higgs boson mass is larger than the gauge boson mass. We also compute the effect of the binding between the p- and the q-string on observables such as the light deflection and the perihelion shift. While light deflection can also be caused by other matter distributions, the possibility of a negative perihelion shift seems to be a feature of finite width cosmic strings that could lead to the unmistakable identification of such objects. In Melvin space-times, which are asymptotically non-conical, massive test particles have to move on bound orbits, while massless test particles can only escape to infinity.


We report on the long term X-ray monitoring with Swift, RXTE, Suzaku, Chandra and XMM-Newton of the outburst of the newly discovered magnetar Swift J1822.3-1606 (SGR 1822-1606), from the first observations soon after the detection of the short X-ray bursts which led to its discovery, through the first stages of its outburst decay (covering the time-span from July 2011, until end of April 2012). We also report on archival ROSAT observations which witnessed the source during its likely quiescent state, and on upper limits on Swift J1822.3-1606's radio-pulsed and optical emission during outburst, with the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), respectively. Our X-ray timing analysis finds the source rotating with a period of P=8.43772016(2) s and a period derivative \dot{P}=8.3(2)x10^{-14} s s^{-1} , which entails an inferred dipolar surface magnetic field of B~2.7x10^{13} G at the equator. This measurement makes Swift J1822.3-1606 the second lowest magnetic field magnetar (after SGR 0418+5729; Rea et al. 2010). Following the flux and spectral evolution from the beginning of the outburst, we find that the flux decreased by about an order of magnitude, with a subtle softening of the spectrum, both typical of the outburst decay of magnetars. By modeling the secular thermal evolution of Swift J1822.3-1606, we find that the observed timing properties of the source, as well as its quiescent X-ray luminosity, can be reproduced if it was born with a poloidal and crustal toroidal fields of B_{p}~1.5x10^{14} G and B_{tor}~7x10^{14} G, respectively, and.


Let $H$ be an undirected graph. In the List $H$-Homomorphism Problem, given an undirected graph $G$ with a list constraint $L(v) \subseteq V(H)$ for each variable $v \in V(G)$, the objective is to find a list $H$-homomorphism $f:V(G) \to V(H)$, that is, $f(v) \in L(v)$ for every $v \in V(G)$ and $(f(u),f(v)) \in E(H)$ whenever $(u,v) \in E(G)$. We consider the following problem: given a map $f:V(G) \to V(H)$ as an oracle access, the objective is to decide with high probability whether $f$ is a list $H$-homomorphism or \textit{far} from any list $H$-homomorphisms. The efficiency of an algorithm is measured by the number of accesses to $f$. In this paper, we classify graphs $H$ with respect to the query complexity for testing list $H$-homomorphisms and show the following trichotomy holds: (i) List $H$-homomorphisms are testable with a constant number of queries if and only if $H$ is a reflexive complete graph or an irreflexive complete bipartite graph. (ii) List $H$-homomorphisms are testable with a sublinear number of queries if and only if $H$ is a bi-arc graph. (iii) Testing list $H$-homomorphisms requires a linear number of queries.


The matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking ``Effective'' and all that follows through ``implement'' and inserting ``Effective 60 days after date of conveyance of the Projects, the Secretary shall, subject to the availability of appropriated funds, take such actions as are necessary to implement''; and (ii) in paragraph (1), by striking ``referred to in section 3(c)(2) for the removal of the dams and full;'' and inserting ``for the removal of the Elwha dam and''; and (B) in the first sentence of subsection (b), by striking ``referred to in section 3(c)(2)''; (2) in section 5(a), by striking ``as provided in section 3(e)''; (3) in section 6-- (A) in the first sentence of subsection (a), by striking ``makes the determination to remove the dams and''; and (B) in the first sentence of subsection (b)(1)-- (i) by striking ``makes the determination to remove the dams and''; and (ii) by inserting ``of the Elwha Project'' after ``removal''; and (4) in section 7(a)-- (A) by striking ``makes the determination to remove the dams and''; and (B) by inserting ``of the Elwha Project'' after ``removal''. SEC. 4. COLUMBIA-SNAKE RIVER HYDROELECTRIC SYSTEM PROTECTION. (a) In General.--Under no circumstances shall removal of dams on the Elwha River be considered a precedent of any kind for removal of dams on other rivers. (b) Congressional Authorization Required.--Except as otherwise provided in this Act, no dam, impoundment, or other facility on the Columbia River or Snake River or their tributaries that is owned or operated by an agency of the United States for flood control, hydroelectric power generation, irrigation, navigation, or other congressionally authorized purpose may be removed or significantly modified structurally, except for reasons of safety or necessary repairs.


The court shall award damages in an amount equal to 3 times the amount otherwise to be awarded under subparagraph (A). (2) Attorney's fees and costs.--A court shall award reasonable attorney's fees and costs to a prevailing beneficiary in a civil action brought under subsection (a). (d) Limitation.--A civil action may not be brought under this section on or after the date that is 10 years after the date of enactment of this Act. SEC. 5. EFFECT OF PRIOR JUDGMENTS AND RELEASES. (a) In General.-- (1) Effect.--Subject to subsection (b)(1), a judgment or release described in paragraph (2) shall not preclude, foreclose, bar, release, waive, acquit, discharge, or otherwise impair any claim brought under section 4 by any person. (2) Judgments and releases.--A judgment or release described in this paragraph is-- (A) a judgment entered before the date of enactment of this Act for any claim arising under a covered policy in any civil action in a Federal or State court; or (B) an agreement entered into before the date of enactment of this Act under which any person (on behalf of the person, any other person, or a class of persons) agrees not to assert or agrees to waive or release any claim described in subparagraph (A), regardless of whether the agreement is-- (i) denominated as a release, discharge, covenant not to sue, or otherwise; or (ii) approved by a court. (b) Rules of Construction.-- (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), nothing in this section shall affect the validity or enforceability of any agreement entered into between any claimant under a covered policy and the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims or an insurer under which the claimant has agreed to release or waive any claim in consideration for payment under a covered policy. (2) Exception.--Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any agreement for which the payment is denominated as humanitarian by the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims. SEC. 6. EFFECT OF EXECUTIVE AGREEMENTS AND EXECUTIVE FOREIGN POLICY. (a) Effect of Executive Agreements and Executive Foreign Policy on State Laws.--An executive agreement described in subsection (c)(1) and an executive foreign policy described in subsection (


C) Grants to States.-- ``(1) Assistance in meeting federal standards.--Beginning on the date a final regulation is promulgated under subsection (b)(2), the Secretary of Transportation shall award grants to States to assist them in conforming to the minimum standards for driver's licenses and personal identification cards set forth in the regulation. ``(2) Allocation of grants.--The Secretary of Transportation shall award grants to States under this subsection based on the proportion that the estimated average annual number of driver's licenses and personal identification cards issued by a State applying for a grant bears to the average annual number of such documents issued by all States. ``(3) Minimum allocation.--Notwithstanding paragraph (2), each State shall receive not less than 0.5 percent of the grant funds made available under this subsection. ``(d) Extension of Effective Date.--The Secretary of Transportation may extend the date specified under subsection (b)(1)(A) for up to 2 years for driver's licenses issued by a State if the Secretary determines that the State made reasonable efforts to comply with the date under such subsection but was unable to do so. ``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Transportation for each of the fiscal years 2005 through 2009, such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.''. (B) Effective date.--Section 7212 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, as added by subparagraph (A), shall take effect as.


Inversions of spectropolarimetric observations of penumbral filaments deliver the stratification of different physical quantities in an optical depth scale. However, without establishing a geometrical height scale their three-dimensional geometrical structure can not be derived. This is crucial in understanding the correct spatial variation of physical properties in the penumbral atmosphere and to provide insights into the mechanism capable of explaining the observed penumbral brightness. The aim of this work is to determine a global geometrical height scale in the penumbra by minimizing the divergence of the magnetic field vector and the deviations from static equilibrium as imposed by a force balance equation that includes pressure gradients, gravity and the Lorentz force. Optical depth models are derived from the SIR inversion of spectropolarimetric data of an active region observed with SOT on-board the Hinode satellite. We use a genetic algorithm to determine the boundary condition for the inference of geometrical heights. The retrieved geometrical height scale permits the evaluation of the Wilson depression at each pixel and the correlation of physical quantities at each height. Our results fit into the uncombed penumbral scenario, i.e., a penumbra composed of flux tubes with channelled mass flow and with a weaker and more horizontal magnetic field as compared with the background field. The ascending material is hotter and denser than their surroundings. We do not find evidence of overturning convection or field free regions in the inner penumbral area analyzed. The penumbral brightness can be explained by the energy transfer of the ascending mass carried by the Evershed flow.


As a generic model system of an asymmetric binary fluid mixture, hexadecane dissolved in carbon dioxide is considered, using a coarse-grained bead-spring model for the short polymer, and a simple spherical particle with Lennard-Jones interactions for the carbon dioxide molecules. In previous work, it has been shown that this model reproduces the real phase diagram reasonable well, and also the initial stages of spinodal decomposition in the bulk following a sudden expansion of the system could be studied. Using the parallelized simulation package ESPResSo on a multiprocessor supercomputer, phase separation of thin fluid films confined between parallel walls that are repulsive for both types of molecules are simulated in a rather large system (1356 x 1356 x 67.8 A^3, corresponding to about 3.2 million atoms). Following the sudden system expansion, a complicated interplay between phase separation in the directions perpendicular and parallel to the walls is found: in the early stages the hexadecane molecules accumulate mostly in the center of the slit pore, but as the coarsening of the structure in the parallel direction proceeds, the inhomogeneity in the perpendicular direction gets much reduced. Studying then the structure factors and correlation functions at fixed distances from the wall, the densities are essentially not conserved at these distances, and hence the behavior differs strongly from spinodal decomposition in the bulk. Some of the characteristic lengths show a nonmonotonic variation with time, and simple coarsening described by power-law growth is only observed.


Of each employer making such a submission. The Secretary may, after consultation with the Interstate Conference of Employment Security Administrators, prescribe regulations requiring that additional information be submitted by such State with respect to the amount of such tax payable by such employer.'' (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 23 of such Code is amended by striking the item relating to section 3311 and inserting the following new items: ``Sec. 3311. State collection of tax. ``Sec. 3312. Short title.'' (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 1996. SEC. 5. REQUIRED DISTRIBUTION OF STATE-SPECIFIC INFORMATION PACKETS. (a) In General.--Subsection (a) of section 3304 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to approval of State laws) is amended by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (18), by striking the period at the end of paragraph (19) and inserting ``; and'', and by adding at the end the following new paragraph: ``(20) the State will distribute to unemployed individuals State-specific information packets explaining unemployment insurance eligibility conditions.'' (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply to certifications of States for 1997, except that section 3304(a)(20) of such Code, as added by subsection (a), shall not be a requirement for the State law of any State prior to July 1, 1998.


''. SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF SUNSET. Section 110105 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 is amended-- (1) by striking ``--'' and all that follows through ``(1)''; and (2) by striking ``; and'' and all that follows through ``that date''. SEC. 4. GRANDFATHER PROVISIONS. Section 922(v)(2) of title 18, United States Code, is amended-- (1) by inserting ``(A)'' after ``(2)''; (2) by striking ``on the date of the enactment of this subsection'' and inserting ``as of September 13, 1994''; and (3) by adding after and below the end the following: ``(B) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any firearm the possession or transfer of which would (but for this subparagraph) be unlawful by reason of this subsection, and which is otherwise lawfully possessed on the date of the enactment of this subparagraph.''. SEC. 5. REPEAL OF CERTAIN EXEMPTIONS. Section 922(v)(3) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking ``(3)'' and all that follows through the 1st sentence and inserting the following: ``(3) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any firearm that-- ``(A) is manually operated by bolt, pump, level, or slide action; ``(B) has been rendered permanently inoperable; or ``(C) is an antique firearm.''. SEC. 6. REQUIRING BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR THE TRANSFER OF LAWFULLY POSSESSED SEMIAUTOMATIC ASSAULT WEAPONS. Section 922(v) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: ``(5) It shall be unlawful for any person to transfer a semiautomatic assault weapon to which paragraph (1) does not apply, except through-- ``(A) a licensed dealer, and for purposes of subsection (t) in the case of such a transfer, the weapon shall be considered to be transferred from the business inventory of the licensed dealer and the dealer shall be considered to be the transferor; or ``(B) a State or local law enforcement agency.


Let V be a finite set and M a collection of subsets of V. Then M is an alignment of V if and only if M is closed under taking intersections and contains both V and the empty set. If M is an alignment of V, then the elements of M are called convex sets and the pair (V, M) is called an aligned space. If S is a subset of V, then the convex hull of S is the smallest convex set that contains S. Suppose X in M. Then x in X is an extreme point for X if X-x is in M. The collection of all extreme points of X is denoted by ex(X). A convex geometry on a finite set is an aligned space with the additional property that every convex set is the convex hull of its extreme points. Let G=(V,E) be a connected graph and U a set of vertices of G. A subgraph T of G containing U is a minimal U-tree if T is a tree and if every vertex of V(T)-U is a cut-vertex of the subgraph induced by V(T). The monophonic interval of U is the collection of all vertices of G that belong to some minimal U-tree. A set S of vertices in a graph is m_k-convex if it contains the monophonic interval of every k-set of vertices is S. A set of vertices S of a graph is m^3-convex if for every pair u,v of vertices in S, the vertices on every induced path of length at least 3 are contained in S. A set S is m_3^3-convex if it is both m_3- and m^3- convex. We show that.


You should also keep your hand on your wallet. The BBB and an AG's office are warning about relationship scams preying on the love-lorn this Valentine's Day. And consumer experts have advice for saving on that last-minute flower purchase. Because with shoppers spending $18 billion on Valentine's Day this year, according to National Retail Federation estimates, there's plenty of money at play. Here's how not to get screwed on V-Day: Play Facebook Twitter Google Plus Embed Can you tell which is a real diamond and which is a cheaper gemstone? 5:12 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog Buy Flowers From a Local Florist Try shopping with your local florist with good reviews instead of calling up one of the big national chains. Orders are farmed out to local shops anyway, so you can cut out the middleman. And flowers ordered online don't always look like their photos, says Consumer Reports. Trying to get a bouquet to someone who doesn't live nearby? Simple. Call the local florist near them. Don't Turn up Your Nose at the Supermarket Supermarket flowers used to be a punchline, but quality has been increasing lately. Often you can get a perfectly good bouquet at your grocer for less than an online store or florist. Related: Why Valentine's Gifts for Men Are Gaining Ground Pro tip: Avoid the pre-made bouquets as they tend to wilt faster and be more padded, Apartment Therapy writes. Instead, create your own from the most beautiful and freshest flowers in the bins, even if they're not traditional roses. Watch Out for "Sweetheart Scams" The Better Business Bureau and one state attorney general are warning the public to be on the watch for scammers who prey on dating site users. These "catfishers" tend to get more aggressive around Valentine's Day because that's the day "when we all could be a little lonely," Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear told WKRN. The BBB gave an example of one Tennessee woman who lost money to a man she met on a Christian dating site. "He really played the part of a sincere Christian, even calling me to pray with me over the phone before bedtime," the victim told the BBB. Beware Valentine Targeted Phishing The BBB is also warning users to be wary of sketchy-looking Valentine's Day e-greetings that are nothing more than phishes in cupid's clothing


We report results from numerical simulations of star formation in the early universe that focus on the dynamical behavior of metal-free gas under different initial and environmental conditions. In particular we investigate the role of turbulence, which is thought to ubiquitously accompany the collapse of high-redshift halos. We distinguish between two main cases: the birth of Population III.1 stars - those which form in the pristine halos unaffected by prior star formation - and the formation of Population III.2 stars - those forming in halos where the gas is still metal free but has an increased ionization fraction. This latter case can arise either from exposure to the intense UV radiation of stellar sources in neighboring halos, or from the high virial temperatures associated with the formation of massive halos, that is, those with masses greater than 1e8 solar masses. We find that turbulent primordial gas is highly susceptible to fragmentation in both cases, even for turbulence in the subsonic regime, i.e. for rms velocity dispersions as low as 20 % of the sound speed. Contrary to our original expectations, fragmentation is more vigorous and more widespread in pristine halos compared to pre-ionized ones. We therefore predict Pop III.1 stars to be on average of somewhat lower mass, and form in larger groups, than Pop III.2 stars. We find that fragment masses cover over two orders of magnitude, indicating that the resulting Population III initial mass function was significantly extended in mass as well. This prompts the need for a large, high-resolution study of the formation of dark matter minihalos that is capable of resolving the turbulent flows in the gas at the moment when the baryons become self-gravitating. This would help determine which.


Welcome to “The Month in Live Jazz,” a column highlighting three standout performances from the past month on stages across New York City. SULLIVAN FORTNER TRIO WITH MELISSA ALDANA Jazz Standard, May 25 Sullivan Fortner, a pianist born in New Orleans, has an extravagant amount of talent and a hyperactive flow on the keyboard. He mixes chords and crossing patterns and two-handed unison lines, all at a rapid clip. Sometimes he’ll play with both hands right around the center of the instrument, but you’ll swear that he’s using every key. At other times, he really is. Mr. Fortner is about to release a fine album, “Moments Preserved” and he celebrated the occasion with a four-night run at Jazz Standard, performing with a trio that included the drummer Marcus Gilmore, an experimentalist with an ear for micro-attunements and stippled phrasing. On Friday, Melissa Aldana, one of the more exciting young tenor saxophonists today, joined as a special guest. She mixes the influence of certain clean-toned tenors of the 1990s — Mark Turner and Chris Potter, especially — with that of classic figures like Joe Henderson and, further back, Don Byas. On “Aria,” the first tune of the night featuring Ms. Aldana, Mr. Gilmore and Mr. Sullivan seemed almost isolated in their own worlds, sending flares and building private 3-D designs. There wasn’t a clear place for her saxophone to go, and at first, it seemed as.


Not everyone can get away for a basketball tournament where their favorite team is playing. For example, the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association OKC Chapter has members who can’t get away for the OSU basketball game Saturday against Florida State University in the Orange Bowl Classic in Florida. So, the stay-at-homers have planned a full day together right here in Oklahoma City. They’re calling it an Ice Skate and Tailgate Day. The group will ice skate at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Devon Ice Rink. At 1 p.m., they will gather to tailgate at the Renaissance Hotel. OSU Alumni Association members will receive discounted tickets to this event. Of course, if some aren’t interested in basketball, they can ice skate until 11 p.m. Christmas in Guthrie Guthrie’s Territorial Christmas brightens this historic city every year and it really makes the town look like it did in the early years. Come to the Victorian Walk on Saturday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. to see living window displays and hear live music. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., many of the beautiful homes are open for tours. Pick up $15 tickets at the Frontier Drugstore Museum, 214 W. Oklahoma Ave., beginning at 9 a.m. Spectacular settings Spectacular is the only way to describe the decor of Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club for the annual members’ Christmas party. Maybe there’s another word to describe the decor but I don’t know what it is. As members walked into the club, they stopped and gasped. The wall was not there. They saw a red-carpeted, golden staircase that curved from ceiling to floor and looked so real one wanted to step up. Then the members entered the ballroom and found that they were in a forest of pine trees in a snowstorm, a covering for the walls of the entire ballroom. Don’t know who designed this entire setting for the main floor of the club, but it was certainly elegant. Holiday fun downtown There’s snow tubing at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The kids will love it. Take a free trip down the Bricktown Canal to see the colorful decorations – or just walk down the path and do close-up enjoyment The skating rink in the Myriad Botanical Gardens is open daily and.


South Simcoe Police say it is dealing with a new twist on the gift card scam. This time, an Innisfil business says an employee got an email from what appeared to be the boss, really a scammer, who had the worker go buy a large amount of iTunes gift cards supposedly as gifts for clients. The phony company CEO also had the employee’s cell number, through which different instructions were issued to the point where the employee became weary and contacted the boss directly. Fraud Alert: New twist on gift card #scams. #Innisfil employee out several thousand dollars after receiving bogus email from ‘boss’ to buy large amount of iTunes cards. Please check with employer to confirm email is legit before shopping. #giftcards #fraud pic.twitter.com/DVd1E7lywy — South Simcoe Police (@SouthSimcoePS) May 30, 2018 That’s when the scam was discovered and some of the iTunes purchase transactions were cancelled; the fraud still amounted to several thousand dollars. Police are warning the public to be suspicious of any large-purchase requests from the boss, confirming it is legitimate before going through with any purchase. This scam mirrors another type of fraud that has someone purportedly from the Canada Revenue Agency calling, demanding payment on a phony debt through the purchase of iTunes gift cards. South Simcoe Police say the scam artists on the other end of these transactions are able to use the information on the back of the iTunes card, given by the unsuspecting victim, to retrieve the funds used to purchase them. The so-called CRA Scam became so prevalent at one point that South Simcoe Police even introduced a new initiative in the Spring, aimed at stopping gift card scams before they start. The imitative included printouts at the point-of-purchase, along with increased training for cashiers. Police say, in the fraud involving a phony boss, the cashier at the store even asked the employee.


A nonlinear force-free solution is constructed for the coronal magnetic field in NOAA solar active region AR 10953 based on a photospheric vector magnetogram derived from Hinode satellite observations on 30 April 2007, taking into account uncertainties in the boundary data and using improved methods for merging multiple-instrument data. The solution demonstrates the "self-consistency" procedure of Wheatland & Regnier (2009), for the first time including uncertainties. The self-consistency procedure addresses the problem that photospheric vector magnetogram data are inconsistent with the force-free model, and in particular that the boundary conditions on vertical electric current density are over-specified and permit the construction of two different nonlinear force-free solutions. The procedure modifies the boundary conditions on current density during a sequence of cycles until the two nonlinear force-free solutions agree. It hence constructs an accurate single solution to the force-free model, with boundary values close, but not matched exactly, to the vector magnetogram data. The inclusion of uncertainties preserves the boundary conditions more closely at points with smaller uncertainties. The self-consistent solution obtained for active region AR 10953 is significantly non-potential, with magnetic energy E/E_0 = 1.08, where E_0 is the energy of the reference potential (current-free) magnetic field. The self-consistent solution is shown to be robust against changes in the details of the construction of the two force-free models at each cycle. This suggests that reliable nonlinear force-free modeling of active regions is possible.


We analyze the absorption of microwaves by the Heisenberg-Ising chain combining exact calculations, based on the integrability of the model, with numerical calculations. Within linear response theory the absorbed intensity is determined by the imaginary part of the dynamical susceptibility. The moments of the normalized intensity can be used to define the shift of the resonance frequency induced by the interactions and the line width independently of the shape of the spectral line. These moments can be calculated exactly as functions of temperature and strength of an external magnetic field, as long as the field is directed along the symmetry axis of the chain. This allows us to discuss the line width and the resonance shift for a given magnetic field in the full range of possible anisotropy parameters. For the interpretation of these data we need a qualitative knowledge of the line shape which we obtain from fully numerical calculations for finite chains. Exact analytical results on the line shape are out of reach of current theories. From our numerical work we could extract, however, an empirical parameter-free model of the line shape at high temperatures which is extremely accurate over a wide range of anisotropy parameters and is exact at the free fermion point and at the isotropic point. Another prediction of the line shape can be made in the zero-temperature and zero magnetic field limit, where the sufficiently anisotropic model shows strong absorption. For anisotropy parameters in the massive phase we derive the exact two-spinon contribution to the spectral line. From the intensity sum rule it can be estimated that this contribution accounts for more than 80% of the spectral weight.


We study the physics potential of future long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments at large $\theta_{13}$, focusing especially on systematic uncertainties. We discuss superbeams, \bbeams, and neutrino factories, and for the first time compare these experiments on an equal footing with respect to systematic errors. We explicitly simulate near detectors for all experiments, we use the same implementation of systematic uncertainties for all experiments, and we fully correlate the uncertainties among detectors, oscillation channels, and beam polarizations as appropriate. As our primary performance indicator, we use the achievable precision in the measurement of the CP violating phase $\deltacp$. We find that a neutrino factory is the only instrument that can measure $\deltacp$ with a precision similar to that of its quark sector counterpart. All neutrino beams operating at peak energies $\gtrsim 2$ GeV are quite robust with respect to systematic uncertainties, whereas especially \bbeams and \thk suffer from large cross section uncertainties in the quasi-elastic regime, combined with their inability to measure the appearance signal cross sections at the near detector. A noteworthy exception is the combination of a $\gamma=100$ \bbeam with an \spl-based superbeam, in which all relevant cross sections can be measured in a self-consistent way. This provides a performance, second only to the neutrino factory. For other superbeam experiments such as \lbno and the setups studied in the context of the \lbne reconfiguration effort, statistics turns out to be the bottleneck. In almost all cases, the near detector is not critical to control systematics since the combined fit of appearance and disappearance data already constrains the impact of systematics to be small.


The effect of a magnetic field on the linear phase of the advective-acoustic instability is investigated, as a first step toward a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) theory of the stationary accretion shock instability taking place during stellar core collapse. We study a toy model where the flow behind a planar stationary accretion shock is adiabatically decelerated by an external potential. Two magnetic field geometries are considered: parallel or perpendicular to the shock. The entropy-vorticity wave, which is simply advected in the unmagnetized limit, separates into five different waves: the entropy perturbations are advected, while the vorticity can propagate along the field lines through two Alfven waves and two slow magnetosonic waves. The two cycles existing in the unmagnetized limit, advective-acoustic and purely acoustic, are replaced by up to six distinct MHD cycles. The phase differences among the cycles play an important role in determining the total cycle efficiency and hence the growth rate. Oscillations in the growth rate as a function of the magnetic field strength are due to this varying phase shift. A vertical magnetic field hardly affects the cycle efficiency in the regime of super-Alfvenic accretion that is considered. In contrast, we find that a horizontal magnetic field strongly increases the efficiencies of the vorticity cycles that bend the field lines, resulting in a significant increase of the growth rate if the different cycles are in phase. These magnetic effects are significant for large-scale modes.


1395fff). (d) Effective Date.--The provisions of this section shall take effect as if included in the enactment of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS ON ADMINISTRATIVE BURDENS ON MEDICARE HOME HEALTH AGENCIES IN COMPLYING WITH OUTCOME AND ASSESSMENT INFORMATION SET (OASIS) REQUIREMENT. (a) Report to Congress.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall submit to Congress and the Comptroller General of the United States a report describing costs incurred by medicare home health agencies in complying with the data collection requirement of patients of such agencies under the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) standard as part of the comprehensive assessment of patients. (b) GAO Audit.--The Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct an independent audit of the costs described in subsection (a). Not later than 180 days after receipt of the report under subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a report describing the Comptroller General's findings with respect to such audit, and shall include comments on the report submitted to Congress by the Secretary of Health and Human Services under subsection (a). (c) Definitions.--In this section: (1) Comprehensive assessment of patients.--The term ``comprehensive assessment of patients'' means the rule published by the Health Care Financing Administration that requires, as a condition of participation in the medicare program, a home health agency to provide a patient-specific comprehensive assessment that accurately reflects the patient's current status and that incorporates the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS). (2) Outcome and assessment information set.--The term ``Outcome and Assessment Information Set'' means the standard provided under the rule relating to data items that must be used in conducting a comprehensive assessment of patients. SEC. 5. ELIMINATION OF INCREMENTAL BILLING REQUIREMENT. (a) In General.--Section 1895(c)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395fff(c)(2)) is amended by striking ``, as measured in 15 minute increments.'' and inserting a period. (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) takes effect as.


A meeting to revive the Maynooth Musical Society will be held in the Glenroyal Hotel in Maynooth tomorrown night. So if you dance, sing, act or enjoy the hustle and bustle of the backbone of a society, drop down to the Glenroyal Hotel on Tuesday August 15 at 8pm. The remaining committee members of Maynooth Musical Society have been contacted by a local man who is proposing to relaunch the society. Declan, a scriptwriter with 20 years of experience, who moved to Maynooth two years ago, wants to re-launch the society. “I want to bring the society back to Maynooth and operate it as a fun and equal opportunity society with members who are passionate about performing. I see the society as a place where members can audition for roles and only be judged on their suitability and performance at the time. I see a society where the communication policy is open and there is no home for politics. I see a society growing because of the strength of their members. All members who join the society will be treated with the respect that you deserve. Maynooth is a fantastic town and it is time for it to have a society that can become part of its history.” Declan has worked in music around the world. He comes from a family of directors and has spent a number of years producing various acts. He proposes to bring a new concept to the society and provide people with the opportunity to be cast in a new original musical. As has always been the case, the society would continue be open to all people who are interested in getting involved, on and off stage. It is described as a chance for people who love theatre to be part of the journey again, perform in some great shows and build confidence in their performance. Anyone with experience in music, drama, committee experience or.


Better drop the baggage because when you meet FBI Special Agent Gina Osborn preconceived notions explode. After six years in Army counterintelligence, 22 years in the FBI catching terrorists and cracking down on cyber crime, Osborn is handing in her federal badge this week to write film and television scripts. Girls participate in the first FBI Cyber G-Girl Academy in 2014 at the Orange County Regional Computer Forensics Lab. The purpose of the program is to encourage girls to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and to plant the seed for them to consider the FBI as a career. (Photo courtesy of Gina Osborn) Participants in the first FBI Cyber G-Girl Academy in 2014 show their certificates at the Orange County Regional Computer Forensics Lab. The purpose of the program is to encourage girls to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and to plant the seed for them to consider the FBI as a career. (Photo courtesy of Gina Osborn) Sound The gallery will resume in seconds Gina Osborn, FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Cyber and Computer Forensics works at the crime lab in Orange on Wednesday, May 23, 2018. Osborn is leaving the FBI to focus on script writing. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG) That’s right, when most law enforcement types either retire to the forests of Idaho or reach for the riches of corporate security, Osborn is turning to an iffy career in — OMG — Hollywood. Her quest is to go beyond the usual cop dramas and show the world what women can do. She even calls her new company G-Girl Productions. It’s a tip of the fedora to the old-school FBI nickname — G-Men. But that’s not what blows my mind. When I sit down with Osborn at the FBI’s cyber forensics lab (they actually let me in!), she reminds me more of Reese Witherspoon in “Legally Blonde” than my idea of someone trained at Quantico. With long blond locks, a pink jacket and gold high heels, it appears she’s gone glam. I ask, “Girly girl?” Oh, my bad. “Be your authentic self,” Osborn counters. Cyber crime heats up Before proceeding, let’s clear some brush and consider three things about FBI agents I’ve learned over the years: They are smart, meticulous, patriotic.