The intriguing observations of Swift/BAT X-ray flash XRF 060218 and the BATSE-BeppoSAX gamma-ray burst GRB 980425, both with much lower luminosity and redshift compared to other observed bursts, naturally lead to the question of how these low-luminosity (LL) bursts are related to high-luminosity (HL) bursts. Incorporating the constraints from both the flux-limited samples observed with CGRO/BATSE and Swift/BAT and the redshift-known GRB sample, we investigate the luminosity function for both LL- and HL-GRBs through simulations. Our multiple criteria, including the log N - log P distributions from the flux-limited GRB sample, the redshift and luminosity distributions of the redshift-known sample, and the detection ratio of HL- and LL- GRBs with Swift/BAT, provide a set of stringent constraints to the luminosity function. Assuming that the GRB rate follows the star formation rate, our simulations show that a simple power law or a broken power law model of luminosity function fail to reproduce the observations, and a new component is required. This component can be modeled with a broken power, which is characterized by a sharp increase of the burst number at around L < 10^47 erg s^-1}. The lack of detection of moderate-luminosity GRBs at redshift ~0.3 indicates that this feature is not due to observational biases. The inferred local rate, rho_0, of LL-GRBs from our model is ~ 200 Gpc^-3 yr^-1 at ~ 10^47 erg s^-1, much larger than that of HL-GRBs. These results imply that LL-GRBs could be a separate GRB population from HL-GRBs. The recent discovery of a local X-ray transient 080109/SN 2008D would strengthen our conclusion, if the observed non-thermal emission has a similar origin as the prompt emission of most GRBs and XRFs.


$500, but you can find front-loaders with over 4 cubic inches of capacity and some great features for between $600 and $700. High-efficiency top-loaders tend to be more expensive than old-school agitator models and can cost more than some front-loaders, depending on capacity and extras. However, excluding major sales, it’s hard to find a front-loader for under $600. Top-loaders look mighty tempting when you can find them on sale for under $400. The verdict If you still want a top-loader, you’re not alone. “There has been a continuing shift from top-load to front-load and the front-load market has been growing at a faster rate than top load,” Hale said. “However, the industry is still around 75 percent top-load versus 25 percent front-load. Innovation-wise, both platforms have been progressing, and both have had to change with the constantly increasing energy standards, but those changes have impacted top load more.” Some manufacturers are more outspoken about it than others, but the consensus from several we’ve spoken to is that front-loaders win in cleaning power and efficiency, especially when it comes to water use. The Energy Star program’s findings bear this out as well. The American Cleaning Institute (ACI) has found that most people unhappy with their front-loaders’ performance are actually misusing HE laundry detergent. When it comes to front-loaders, there can be some new quirks if you’ve used top-loaders your whole life, including learning to dial back the detergent. But if top-loaders fit your appliance-buying budget, they definitely have some major advantages over their water-loving counterparts.


Let $\ket{\0}$ and $\ket{\1}$ be two states that are promised to come from known subsets of orthogonal subspaces, but are otherwise unknown. Our paper probes the question of what can be achieved with respect to the basis $\{\ket{\0},\ket{\1}}^{\otimes n}$ of $n$ logical qubits, given only a few copies of the unknown states $\ket{\0}$ and $\ket{\1}$. A phase-invariant operator is one that is unchanged under the relative phase-shift $\ket{\1} \mapsto e^{i \theta}\ket{\1}$, for any $\theta$, of all of the $n$ qubits. We show that phase-invariant unitary operators can be implemented exactly with no copies and that phase-invariant states can be prepared exactly with at most $n$ copies each of $\ket{\0}$ and $\ket{\1}$; we give an explicit algorithm for state preparation that is efficient for some classes of states (e.g. symmetric states). We conjecture that certain non-phase-invariant operations are impossible to perform accurately without many copies. Motivated by optical implementations of quantum computers, we define ``quantum computation in a hidden basis'' to mean executing a quantum algorithm with respect to the phase-shifted hidden basis $\{\ket{\0}, e^{i\theta}\ket{\1}\}$, for some potentially unknown $\theta$; we give an efficient approximation algorithm for this task, for which we introduce an analogue of a coherent state of light, which serves as a bounded quantum phase reference frame encoding $\theta$. Our motivation was quantum-public-key cryptography, however the techniques are general. We apply our results to quantum-public-key authentication protocols, by showing that a natural class of digital signature schemes for classical messages is insecure. We also give a protocol for identification that uses many of the ideas discussed and whose security relates to our conjecture (but we do not know if it is secure).


of bed her two days I just sat there reading them and trying to figure out a way. To make sure other people could read them too because they were all being. Sent to me again so I just I think they did anybody else seen all of the is so I really am retreated a lot of them. I like a lot of them and then had people look through my name my likes. And thankfully you know the New York Times picked it up. When you know on these news shows to discuss it so it did become a bigger conversation. But it was really hard I mean I went out for dinner two days after. Post in the first week. And my friends were and a really good mood you know sort of bummed out in the early let's go this is a really positive thing that you didn't think about bucket with scroll through. My Twitter feed at every time I would update at. Every second that we're still like five new stories and news stories company news stories Ford stars it was just constantly. Women sharing yeah come which was very overwhelming. It brings me to the sort of the larger question here which is you have this amazing voice. Right and you have this incredible platform yen and if there's some sort of like mission. Behind what it is he'd like to accomplish its eighty solely evolving yeah. Ole I think I'm just gonna keep doing what I'm doing now and if anything pops up today. Feel. I should contribute to you or I want to start and I well. Policy against every day's a new day on Twitter thing. NI LA Vista. Yet. Do you obviously you're cute on Twitter how do you pick that your gonna follow. Well now I am. It's mostly. New friends or. Friends and friends. Do you have favorites yet people like you can become so many people's favorite don't have any you know it looked like I have to Packers today. Having favorite I have. But this scene at the core group of people that I follow. All tweet every single day solely on a get my fill of basically like every and it's just like Twitter group more than one person that I speak. Do you follow art art Tweeter in chief. Our president. No I did until he became president and that way. Yes of course that is bold move of course an idea of course that you quit taking the Twitter questions earlier at a bunch for so coming and you would take worried. Degree in line for if you actually seizing that app.


News analysis WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — No one knows how to run against House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi better than Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio. In 2010, he made her the central figure in his campaign to win a rematch against Mary Jo Kilroy, the Democratic incumbent who had defeated him by little more than 2,000 votes in 2008. "Her record mirrors Pelosi's," Stivers said back then. "Really, my focus is going to be on Pelosi and Kilroy." Across the country that year, anti-Pelosi ads were a fixture in Republican campaigns, and Stivers, who ended up winning Round 2 by a whopping 13 percentage points, became part of a freshman class that delivered the House back into GOP hands after Pelosi's four-year run as speaker. Play Facebook Twitter Embed Pence: Trump and I will stand with GOP in 2018 0:46 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog Now, as chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Stivers is charged with fending off a Democratic wave and keeping the GOP's House majority in this year's midterm elections. And he's dusting off the old playbook. "Nancy Pelosi has stayed in the spotlight," Stivers explained said this week as he outlined the GOP's fall campaign plan at a news conference on the sidelines of a congressional Republican retreat here. The question is whether Pelosi is as toxic now, with Republicans in control of the White House and Congress, as she was then. Republicans are certain that she is. On Wednesday night, Vice President Mike Pence told Republicans here that Pelosi is “out of touch with the American people” because she described corporate bonuses of $1,000 as "crumbs" compared to the benefits the wealthy will receive under President Donald Trump's signature tax cut. The next day, in front of the same audience of House and Senate Republicans, Trump likened the remark to Hillary Clinton's formulation that half of Trump's 2016 campaign supporters were "deplorables." Some Democrats fear that the prospect of Pelosi taking the speaker's gavel from Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., will hurt their party's chances in swing districts. Her approval ratings have hovered just below 30 percent. And Conor Lamb, the Democratic candidate running for the House in a western Pennsylvania special election next month, has said he would not vote for Pelosi to lead the party if he's elected.


At classical level, dynamical derivation of the properties and conservation laws for topologically non-trivial systems from Noether theorem versus the derivation of the system's properties on topological grounds are considered as distinct. We do celebrate any agreements in results derived from these two distinct approaches: i.e. the dynamical versus the topological approach. Here we consider the Corrigan-Olive-Fairlie-Nuyts solution based on which we study the stability of the 't Hooft- Polyakov outer field, known as its Higgs vacuum, and derive its stability, dynamically, from the equations of motion rather than from the familiar topological approach. Then we use our derived result of the preservation of the Higgs vacuum asymptotically to derive the stability of the 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole, even if inner core is perturbed, where we base that on observing that the magnetic charge must be conserved if the Higgs vacuum is preserved asymptotically. We also, alternatively, note stability of 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole and the conservation of its magnetic charge by again using the result of the Higgs vacuum asymptotic preservation to use Eq.(5) to show that no non-Abelian radiation allowed out of the core as long as the Higgs vacuum is preserved and restored, by the equations of motion, if perturbed. We start by deriving the asymptotic equations of motion that are valid for the monopole's field outside its core; next we derive certain constraints from the asymptotic equations of motion of the Corrigan-Olive-Fairlie-Nuyts solution to the 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole using the Lagrangian formalism of singular theories, in particular that of Gitman and Tyutin. The derived constraints will show clearly the stability of the monopole's Higgs vacuum its restoration by the equations of motion of the Higgs vacuum, if disturbed.


If latest speculations and media reports are to be believed, Brahmastra co-stars Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt are having a secret affair. The news of the two dating has taken the internet by storm as Ranbir and Alia have been spending a lot of quality time with each other these days. Bollywood heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor and diva Alia Bhatt, who will be seen together in Ayan Mukerji’s Brahmastra, are said to be in a secret relationship, according to latest media reports. The two have been allegedly spending a lot of quality time together even after the shooting is over. While Ranbir was rumoured to be dating Pakistani beauty Mahira Khan, it was known to all that Alia Bhatt was dating her Student of The Year co-star Sidharth Malhotra. However, if we go by the speculations, Ranbir and Alia have found love in each other. Earlier this year Ranbir and Alia were spotted chilling together. Their pictures from their outing made its way on social media thanks to their fan pages. The duo also attended the Padmaavat screening together last week. Not to forget Alia and Ranbir have been spotted together on numerous occasions in recent times. In fact, now latest reports are that that Alia and Ranbir have started meeting secretly at each other places. For the unknown, Ranbir dropped by Alia’s house on Wednesday night at around 11 pm and left only next morning at around 7 am. It will be for the first time that Ranbir and Alia would be seen sharing the screen space on the silver screen. The Dharma Productions’ film is Ayan’s third project, which comes four years after his successful romantic-comedy Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. The young filmmaker said he has all his hopes pinned on Brahmastra, which was announced in 2016. Besides Ranbir and Alia, megastar Amitabh Bachchan will also feature in the film and Ayan admitted that the veteran was in his mind since he conceptualised the project years ago.


Defined as X-ray bright galaxy groups with large differences between the luminosities of their brightest and second brightest galaxies, "fossil groups" are believed to be some of the oldest galaxy systems in the universe. They have therefore been the subject of much recent research. In this work we present a study of 10 fossil group candidates with an average of 33 spectroscopically confirmed members per group, making this the deepest study of its type to-date. We also use this data to perform an analysis of the luminosity function of our sample of fossil groups. We confirm the high masses previously reported for many of fossil systems, finding values more similar to those of clusters than of groups. We also confirm the high dynamical mass-to-light ratios reported in many previous studies. While our results are consistent with previous studies in many ways, our interpretation is not. This is because we show that, while the luminosities of the BCGs in these systems are consistent with their high dynamical masses, their richnesses (total number of galaxies above some canonical value) are extremely low. This leads us to suggest a new interpretation of fossil systems in which the large differences between the luminosities of their brightest and second brightest galaxies are simply the result the high BCG luminosities and low richnesses, while the high masses and low richnesses also explain the high mass-to-light ratios. Our results therefore suggest that fossil systems can be characterised as cluster-like in their masses and BCG luminosities, but possessing the richnesses and optical luminosities of relatively poor groups. These findings are not predicted by any of the current models for the formation of fossil groups. Therefore, if this picture is confirmed, current ideas about the formation and evolution of fossil systems will need to be reformulated.


If an NFL team is high on a prospect, you can expect them to send a high-ranking official to that player's Pro Day. Bill Belichick sent himself to N.C. State on Monday. So did Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht. The Carolina Panthers had defensive coordinator Eric Washington and defensive line coach Brady Hoke at the Wolfpack's practice facility, and the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles had assistant head coach/running backs coach Duce Staley there as well. Never miss a local story. Sign up today for a free 30 day free trial of unlimited digital access. SUBSCRIBE NOW There were no stats made available from N.C. State's Pro Day on Monday — scouts keep their stopwatches close to the vest — but who was there and what was said may matter more when figuring out a likely landing spot for N.C. State's prospective draftees. Who was Belichick watching? Belichick, the Patriots head coach, and New England Patriots defensive line coach Brendan Daly were getting a up-close look at N.C. State's four defensive linemen: Bradley Chubb, B.J. Hill, Justin Jones and Kentavius Street. Belichick even got hands-on in showing them some of the drills. Chubb probably won't still be on the draft board by the time the Patriots' 31st overall pick comes around but Hill and Jones have seen their stock rise as of late and may be two options New England mulls over in rounds 1-3. Where does Chubb think he'll go? Chubb was diplomatic with his answers — "Wherever I get drafted, I'll be the happiest player. And I'll have been a fan of that team, wherever I get drafted, since I was 5 years old" — but did say that he has extended meetings on Sunday and Monday with five of the top seven teams. (NFL draft order is: 1. Browns, 2. Giants, 3. Jets, 4. Browns, 5. Broncos, 6. Colts, 7. Buccaneers.) The Bucs pick seventh, and you would guess that would be one of the teams (otherwise why not say five of the top six?). Did Belichick look at Jaylen Samuels and Nyheim Hines? Yes, he even even gave the two some routes he wanted them to run. But Belichick didn't stay for the entirety of those drills. Take that and make it into whatever you will


Knowledge of the supernova (SN) delay time distribution (DTD) - the SN rate versus time that would follow a hypothetical brief burst of star formation - can shed light on SN progenitors and physics. We compile recent measurements of the Type-Ia SN (SN Ia) rate in galaxy clusters at redshifts z=0-1.45. Together with the observed iron-to-stellar mass ratio in clusters, which constrains the time-integrated number of SN Ia events in clusters, we recover the DTD of SNe Ia in cluster environments. The DTD peaks at the shortest time-delay interval we probe, 0<t<2.2 Gyr, with a low tail out to delays of ~10 Gyr, and is remarkably consistent with several recent DTD reconstructions based on different methods, in different environments. We test DTD models from the literature, requiring that they simultaneously reproduce the observed cluster SN rates and the observed iron-to-stellar mass ratios. A power-law DTD of the form t^{-1.2+/-0.3}, extending to a Hubble time, can satisfy both constraints. Shallower power laws, such as t^{-1/2} cannot, assuming a single DTD, and a single star-formation burst (either brief or extended) at high z. This implies 50-85% of SNe Ia explode within 1 Gyr of star formation. DTDs from double-degenerate (DD) models, which generically have ~t^{-1} shapes over a wide range of timescales, match the data, but only if their predictions are scaled up by factors of 5-10. Single degenerate (SD) DTDs always give poor fits to the data, due to a lack of delayed SNe and overall low numbers of SNe. The observations also permit a combination of two SN Ia populations - prompt (e.g. SD) SNe Ia that explode within a few Gyr of star formation, and produce about 60% of the iron mass in clusters, and a DD population that contributes the events seen at z<1.4. Our results support the existence of a DD progenitor channel for SNe Ia, if the overall predicted numbers can be suitably increased.


carried out by the Federal Government, with the full support of Congress, during the 1973-1974 energy crisis, resulting in a national speed limit on highways on the Interstate System of 55 miles per hour, which remained in effect until 1995; (D) a recognition that in 1974, when fewer than 137,000,000 cars traveled in the United States (as compared to 250,000,000 cars in 2006) and only 30 percent of United States oil was imported from foreign sources (as compared to 60 percent of oil so imported on the date of enactment of this Act), 167,000 barrels of oil per day were saved by the imposition of a national speed limit, such that greater savings are possible on the date of enactment of this Act than the savings realized in 1974; and (E) a determination of whether a limitation on the national speed limit on highways on the Interstate System similar to the limitation described in subparagraph (C) could serve as a model to generate gasoline savings, through a national speed limit on highways on the Interstate System of 60 miles per hour, given the improved fuel efficiency of automobile engines in use on the date of enactment of this Act. (b) Future Gasoline Conservation.-- (1) In general.--Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct, and submit to the Committees on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Environment and Public Works, and Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committees on House Administration, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a report describing the results of, a study to determine whether additional gasoline reduction measures by Federal departments and agencies and Congress are technically feasible. (2) Inclusion.--The report under paragraph (1) shall include a proposed schedule of future gasoline reduction measures, if the measures are determined to be technically feasible.


In a dynamical-radiative model we recently developed to describe the physics of compact, GHz-Peaked-Spectrum (GPS) sources, the relativistic jets propagate across the inner, kpc-sized region of the host galaxy, while the electron population of the expanding lobes evolves and emits synchrotron and inverse-Compton (IC) radiation. Interstellar-medium gas clouds engulfed by the expanding lobes, and photoionized by the active nucleus, are responsible for the radio spectral turnover through free-free absorption (FFA) of the synchrotron photons. The model provides a description of the evolution of the spectral energy distribution (SED) of GPS sources with their expansion, predicting significant and complex high-energy emission, from the X-ray to the gamma-ray frequency domain. Here, we test this model with the broad-band SEDs of a sample of eleven X-ray emitting GPS galaxies with Compact-Symmetric-Object (CSO) morphology, and show that: (i) the shape of the radio continuum at frequencies lower than the spectral turnover is indeed well accounted for by the FFA mechanism; (ii) the observed X-ray spectra can be interpreted as non-thermal radiation produced via IC scattering of the local radiation fields off the lobe particles, providing a viable alternative to the thermal, accretion-disk dominated scenario. We also show that the relation between the hydrogen column densities derived from the X-ray (N_H) and radio (N_HI) data of the sources is suggestive of a positive correlation, which, if confirmed by future observations, would provide further support to our scenario of high-energy emitting lobes.


We show that matter yukawa couplings of the New Minimal Supersymmetric (SO(10)) GUT(NMSGUT) are subject to very significant GUT scale threshold corrections. Including these threshold effects relaxes the constraint $ y_b-y_\tau\simeq y_s-y_\mu$ operative in $\textbf{10} -\textbf{120} $plet generated tree level MSSM matter fermion yukawas $y_f$. We find accurate fits of the MSSM fermion mass-mixing data in terms of NMSGUT superpotential couplings and 5 independent soft Susy breaking parameters $M_0, M_{1/2}, A_0, M^2_{H,\bar{H}}$ at $M_X$. The fits generally have elevated unification scale $M_X$ near $M_{Planck}$, viable values of $\alpha_3(M_Z)$, and are consistent with current limits on B violation, $b\rightarrow s\gamma$, muon magnetic moment anomaly and Standard Model $\rho$ parameter. The associated novel and distinctive soft Susy spectra have light gauginos, a \emph{normal} s-hierarchy and Bino LSP. The Bino LSP is accompanied by second and first generation right chiral sfermions light enough to mediate a consistent WIMP dark matter co-annihilation cosmology and to be discoverable at LHC, while third generation sfermions are in the LHC undiscoverable range of 3-50 TeV. The fits found require $|\mu|,|A_0|\sim 100$ TeV which imply both deep CCB/UFB minimae and stability of the MSSM standard vacuum on cosmological time scales. Our results indicate that a consistent realistic phenomenology may be specifiable in terms of SO(10) (NMS)GUT parameters at $M_X$ alone and that a new viable sector of the soft supersymmetry parameter space may exist if flavour violation constraints can be satisfied in the 43 dimensional parameter space.


if such country had been designated under subsection (b) of that section, subject to the provisions of this section. (2) Period of designation.--The initial period of such designation shall begin on the date of enactment of this Act and shall remain in effect for 18 months. (b) Aliens Eligible.--In applying section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a) pursuant to the designation made under this section, and subject to subsection (c)(3) of such section, an alien who is a national of Haiti is deemed to meet the requirements of subsection (c)(1) of such section only if the alien-- (1) is admissible as an immigrant, except as otherwise provided under subsection (c)(2)(A) of such section, and is not ineligible for temporary protected status under subsection (c)(2)(B) of such section; and (2) registers for temporary protected status in a manner that the Secretary of Homeland Security shall establish. (c) Consent to Travel Abroad.--The Secretary of Homeland Security shall give the prior consent to travel abroad described in section 244(f)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a(f)(3)) to an alien who is granted temporary protected status pursuant to the designation made under this section, if the alien establishes to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Homeland Security that emergency and extenuating circumstances beyond the control of the alien require the alien to depart for a brief, temporary trip abroad. An alien returning to the United States in accordance with such an authorization shall be treated the same as any other returning alien provided temporary protected status under section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1254a).


unless such loan or advance of credit, or any loan or advance of credit represented by such an obligation-- ``(A) involves a principal obligation not exceeding the sum of-- ``(i) the amount of the mortgage insurance premium paid by the borrower at the time that the loan, advance of credit, or purchase is made; and ``(ii) 95 percent of the appraised value of the manufactured home or lot on which to place a manufactured home (or both) for which the loan or advance of credit is made; and ``(B) is made to a borrower who has paid in cash or its equivalent, on account of the manufactured home or lot on which to place a manufactured home (or both) for which the loan or advance of credit is made, at least 3 percent of the Secretary's estimate of the costs of acquisition, alteration, improvements, lot preparation, or other eligible activity for which the loan or advance of credit was made (excluding the amount of the mortgage insurance premium paid by the borrower at the time that the loan or advance of credit is made).''. SEC. 5. INSURANCE BENEFITS. Section 2(b) of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1703(b)), as amended by section 4, is further amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph: ``(9) Insurance benefits for manufactured housing loans.-- ``(A) In general.--Any contract of insurance with respect to loans, advances of credit, or purchases in connection with a manufactured home or a lot on which to place a manufactured home (or both) for a financial institution that is executed under this title before or after the date of the enactment of the FHA Manufactured Housing Loan Modernization Act of 2005 by the Secretary shall be conclusive evidence of the eligibility of such financial institution for insurance, and the validity of any contract of insurance so executed shall be incontestable in the hands of the bearer from the date of the execution of such contract, except for fraud or misrepresentation on the part of such institution. ``(B) Losses.--With respect only to a loan, advance of credit, or purchase in connection with a manufactured home or a lot on which to place such a home (or both), the Secretary shall otherwise provide for the payment of insurance benefits under the provisions of this section for losses on such loans, advances, or purchases according to the same terms, conditions, procedures, and requirements applicable under section 204 to a mortgage insured


It is well known that New Physics can contribute to weak decays of heavy mesons via virtual processes during its decays. The discovery of New Physics, using such decays is made difficult due to intractable strong interaction effects needed to describe it. Modes such as B -> K^* l^+ l^- offer an advantage as they provide a multitude of observables via angular analysis. We show how the multitude of "related observables" obtained from B -> K^* l^+ l^-, can provide many new "clean tests" of the Standard Model. The hallmark of these tests is that several of them are independent of the unknown universal form factors in heavy quark effective theory. We derive a relation between observables that is free of form factors and Wilson coefficients, the violation of which will be an unambiguous signal of New Physics. We also derive relations between observables and form factors that are independent of Wilson coefficients and enable verification of hadronic estimates. We show how form factor ratios can be measured directly from helicity fraction with out any assumptions what so ever. We find that the allowed parameter space for observables is very tightly constrained in Standard Model, thereby providing clean signals of New Physics. We examine both the large-recoil and low-recoil regions of the K^* meson and point out special features and derive relations between observables valid in the two limits. In the large-recoil regions several of the relations are unaffected by corrections to all orders in \alpha_s. We present yet another new relation involving only observables that would verify the validity of the relations between form-factors assumed in the low-recoil region. The several relations and constraints derived will provide unambiguous signals of New Physics if it contributes to these decays.


We study in this paper three different theories of gravitation with massive gravitons - the modified Fierz-Pauli (FP) model, Massive Gravity and the bimetric theory proposed by Visser - in linear perturbation theory around a Minkowski and a flat FRW background. For the TT tensor perturbations we show that the three theories give rise to the same dynamical equations and to the same form of the Boltzmann equations for the radiative transfer in General Relativity (GR). We then analyze vector perturbations in these theories and show that they do not give the same results as in the previous case. We first show that vector perturbations in Massive Gravity present the same form as found in General Relativity, whereas in the modified FP theory the vector gravitational-wave (GW) polarization modes ($\Psi_{3}$ amplitudes in the Newman-Penrose (NP) formalism) do not decay too fast as it happens in the former case. Rather, we show that such $\Psi_{3}$ polarization modes give rise to an unusual vector Sachs-Wolfe effect, leaving a signature in the quadrupole form $Y_{2,\pm 1}(\theta,\varphi)$ on the CMB polarization. We then derive the details for the Thomson scattering of CMB photons for these $\Psi_{3}$ modes, and then construct the correspondent Boltzmann equations. Based upon these results we then qualitatively show that $\Psi_{3}$-mode vector signatures - if they do exist - could clearly be distinguished on the CMB polarization from the usual $\Psi_4$ tensor modes.


may make grants to demonstrate the effectiveness of outreach to populations in rural areas that do not normally seek or do not have access to health or mental health services. Grants shall be awarded to enhance linkages, integration, and cooperation in order to provide health or mental health services, to enhance services, or increase access to or utilization of health or mental health services. ``(b) Mission of the Outreach Projects.--Projects funded under subsection (a) should be designed to facilitate the integration and coordination of services in or among rural communities in order to address the needs of populations living in rural or frontier communities. ``(c) Composition of Program.-- ``(1) Consortium arrangement.--To be eligible to participate in the grant program established under subsection (a), an applicant entity shall be a consortium of three or more separate and distinct entities formed to carry out an outreach project under subsection (b). ``(2) Certain requirements.--A consortium under paragraph (1) shall be composed of three or more public or private nonprofit health care or social service providers. Consortium members may include local health departments, community or migrant health centers, community mental health centers, hospitals or private practices, or other publicly funded health or social service agencies. ``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--For the purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated $30,000,000 for fiscal year 1996, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 1997 through 2000.''. SEC. 4. EXTENSION OF CERTAIN PAYMENT PROVISIONS FOR MEDICARE DEPENDENT SMALL RURAL HOSPITALS. (a) In General.--Section 1886(d)(5)(G)(i) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)(5)(G)(i)) is amended by striking ``October 1, 1994'' and inserting ``October 1, 1999''. (b) Payment.--Section 1886(b)(3)(D) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(b)(3)(D)) is amended by striking ``September 30, 1994'' and inserting ``September 30, 1999''. (C) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take effect as if enacted on October 1, 1994.


A L\'evy noise on $\mathbb{R}^d$ assigns a random real "mass" $\Pi(B)$ to each Borel subset $B$ of $\mathbb{R}^d$ with finite Lebesgue measure. The distribution of $\Pi(B)$ only depends on the Lebesgue measure of $B$, and if $B_1, ..., B_n$ is a finite collection of pairwise disjoint sets, then the random variables $\Pi(B_1), ..., \Pi(B_n)$ are independent with $\Pi(B_1 \cup >... \cup B_n) = \Pi(B_1) + ... + \Pi(B_n)$ almost surely. In particular, the distribution of $\Pi \circ g$ is the same as that of $\Pi$ when $g$ is a bijective transformation of $\mathbb{R}^d$ that preserves Lebesgue measure. It follows from the Hewitt--Savage zero--one law that any event which is almost surely invariant under the mappings $\Pi \mapsto \Pi \circ g$ for every Lebesgue measure preserving bijection $g$ of $\mathbb{R}^d$ must have probability 0 or 1. We investigate whether certain smaller groups of Lebesgue measure preserving bijections also possess this property. We show that if $d \ge 2$, the L\'evy noise is not purely deterministic, and the group consists of linear transformations and is closed, then the invariant events all have probability 0 or 1 if and only if the group is not compact.


Context. LS I +61 303 is a member of the select group of gamma-ray binaries: galactic binary systems that contain a massive star and a compact object, show a changing milliarcsecond morphology and a similar broad spectral energy distribution (SED) that peaks at MeV-TeV energies and is modulated by the orbital motion. The nature of the compact object is unclear in LS I +61 303, LS 5039 and HESS J0632+057, whereas PSR B1259-63 harbours a 47.74 ms radio pulsar. Aims. A scenario in which a young pulsar wind interacts with the stellar wind has been proposed to explain the very high energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission detected from LS I +61 303, although no pulses have been reported from this system at any wavelength. We aim to find evidence of the pulsar nature of the compact object. Methods. We performed phased array observations with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at 1280 MHz centred at phase 0.54. Simultaneous data from the multi-bit phased array (PA) back-end with a sampling time of tsamp = 128 microsec and from the polarimeter (PMT) back-end with tsamp = 256 microsec where taken. Results. No pulses have been found in the data set, with a minimum detectable mean flux density of \sim 0.38 mJy at 8-sigma level for the pulsed emission from a putative pulsar with period P >2 ms and duty cycle D = 10% in the direction of LS I +61 303. Conclusions. The detection of posible radio pulsations will require deep and sensitive observations at frequencies \sim0.5-5 GHz and orbital phases 0.6-0.7. However, it may be unfeasible to detect pulses if the putative pulsar is not beamed at the Earth or if there is a strong absorption within the binary system.


An important result in the study of polynomial-time preprocessing shows that there is an algorithm which given an instance (G,k) of Vertex Cover outputs an equivalent instance (G',k') in polynomial time with the guarantee that G' has at most 2k' vertices (and thus O((k')^2) edges) with k' <= k. Using the terminology of parameterized complexity we say that k-Vertex Cover has a kernel with 2k vertices. There is complexity-theoretic evidence that both 2k vertices and Theta(k^2) edges are optimal for the kernel size. In this paper we consider the Vertex Cover problem with a different parameter, the size fvs(G) of a minimum feedback vertex set for G. This refined parameter is structurally smaller than the parameter k associated to the vertex covering number vc(G) since fvs(G) <= vc(G) and the difference can be arbitrarily large. We give a kernel for Vertex Cover with a number of vertices that is cubic in fvs(G): an instance (G,X,k) of Vertex Cover, where X is a feedback vertex set for G, can be transformed in polynomial time into an equivalent instance (G',X',k') such that |V(G')| <= 2k and |V(G')| <= O(|X'|^3). A similar result holds when the feedback vertex set X is not given along with the input. In sharp contrast we show that the Weighted Vertex Cover problem does not have a polynomial kernel when parameterized by the cardinality of a given vertex cover of the graph unless NP is in coNP/poly and the polynomial hierarchy collapses to the third level.


We use high-resolution relativistic MHD simulations coupled with a radiative transfer code to compute multiwavelength afterglow light curves of magnetized ejecta of gamma-ray bursts interacting with a uniform circumburst medium. The aim of our study is to determine how the magnetization of the ejecta at large distance from the central engine influences the afterglow emission, and to assess whether observations can be reliably used to infer the strength of the magnetic field. We find that, for typical parameters of the ejecta, the emission from the reverse shock peaks for magnetization $\sigma_0 \sim 0.01 - 0.1$ of the flow, and that it is greatly suppressed for higher $\sigma_0$. The emission from the forward shock shows an achromatic break shortly after the end of the burst marking the onset of the self-similar evolution of the blast wave. Fitting the early afterglow of GRB 990123 and 090102 with our numerical models we infer respective magnetizations of $\sigma_0 \sim 0.01$ and $\sigma_0 \sim 0.1$ for these bursts. We argue that the lack of observed reverse shock emission from the majority of the bursts can be understood if $\sigma_0 \simmore 0.1$, since we obtain that the luminosity of the reverse shock decreases significantly for $\sigma_0 \sim 1$. For ejecta with $\sigma_0 \simmore 0.1$ our models predict that there is sufficient energy left in the magnetic field, at least during an interval of ~10 times the burst duration, to produce a substantial emission if the magnetic energy can be dissipated (for instance, due to resistive effects) and radiated away.


We study the nonlinear growth of cosmic structure in different dark energy models, using large volume N-body simulations. We consider a range of quintessence models which feature both rapidly and slowly varying dark energy equations of state, and compare the growth of structure to that in a universe with a cosmological constant. The adoption of a quintessence model changes the expansion history of the universe, the form of the linear theory power spectrum and can alter key observables, such as the horizon scale and the distance to last scattering. We incorporate these effects into our simulations in stages to isolate the impact of each on the growth of structure. The difference in structure formation can be explained to first order by the difference in growth factor at a given epoch; this scaling also accounts for the nonlinear growth at the 15% level. We find that quintessence models that are different from $\Lambda$CDM both today and at high redshifts $(z \sim 1000)$ and which feature late $(z<2)$, rapid transitions in the equation of state, can have identical baryonic acoustic oscillation (BAO) peak positions to those in $\Lambda$CDM. We find that these models have higher abundances of dark matter haloes at $z>0$ compared to $\Lambda$CDM and so measurements of the mass function should allow us to distinguish these quintessence models from a cosmological constant. However, we find that a second class of quintessence models, whose equation of state makes an early $(z>2)$ rapid transition to $w=-1$, cannot be distinguished from $\Lambda$CDM using measurements of the mass function or the BAO, even if these models have non-negligible amounts of dark energy at early times.


Protecting Your Reputation When You’re Ready to Go A top manager is preparing to leave an organization she set on a good course. What if her successors foul things up and blame her? Image Credit Glenn Harvey Send your workplace conundrums to workologist@nytimes.com, including your name and contact information (even if you want it withheld). The Workologist is a guy with well-intentioned opinions, not a professional career adviser. Letters may be edited. I’m the founding director of a nonprofit that works with local government on legal policy matters. Everyone on my small staff is competent, but all are tied in to political forces in the region. My board of directors is packed with elected officials, as well as a couple of community members. The political influence causes a lot of dysfunction, and I’m happily on my way to another position in a different field. The agency has successfully grown under my direction, but I’m worried that my colleagues will not keep the place functioning smoothly — and that their poor performance will somehow be blamed on me. Is there a checklist or some sort of parting document I can prepare to protect my reputation? LIZ Here’s one (admittedly rude) thought: Get over yourself. That’s a churlish thing to say, but I mean it in the most reassuring way possible. We’ve all had the feeling that our workplace would completely crumble in our absence. It’s rarely true. So at least consider the possibility that the organization will muddle along happily without you. More seriously, the best thing you can do is worry less about your reputation than about the organization itself. “When I think of making a checklist,” says Rebecca Zucker, a partner in the leadership development firm Next Step Partners, “I think, ‘What do I need to make sure is in place before I leave?’” Make sure you’re giving your people the information and guidance you believe they need — and responding to whatever they believe they need. In short, leave the agency “in a good position to continue on the trajectory that you’ve set it on,” Ms. Zucker adds. Even if they louse things up anyway, it’s time to move on. “There is no protecting yourself against blame once you leave a company,” says Camille Fournier, author of “The Manager’s Path” and a managing director at Two Sigma, an investment firm. Accept that this is true, she adds, even if you organize a masterful transition.


fix of wildebeest giving birth? Are you not entertained? In our current political climate, is this not more cathartic television than anything short of Arya’s Frey Faceoff? Starting this Sunday after the Big Game (get it?), the show is airing for five straight nights. The program broadcasts game drives from Sabi Sands, South Africa, and the Maasai Mara, Kenya, zooming in on all kinds of wildlife, from big cats to bugs. It’s the circle of life and you’re all up in it. As co-founder Graham Wallington puts it, “Everything about how we build our safari experience recreates exactly what it feels like to be on the vehicle.” I’ve tagged along in the back of Mara Safari LIVE vehicle and watched an impressive amount of broadcasting, and let me tell you: watching from home has its benefits. All of the excitement of a game drive, none of the danger of tumbling-while-tipsy out of the vehicle to being eaten by lions. Note: Throughout the week of February 4th, Safari LIVE is giving normals-like-us the chance to win a full luxury African safari by playing interactive bingo.* *I, on the other hand, am offering absolutely nothing for you to play my SAFARI SUNDOWNER DRINKING GAME except the utter joy of it, so you should definitely prioritize mine. Without further ado… THE SAFARI SUNDOWNER DRINKING GAME: Unsplash Well, okay, one more ado. For our purposes, a “drink” is a sip of your favorite poison. A proper sundowner is a gin and tonic, but we’ll forgive you if your tastes run less to, um, imperialism and more to…anything else.


adding at the end the following new subsection: ``(d) Application With Respect to Major Integrated Oil Companies.-- This section shall not apply to amounts paid or incurred by a taxpayer in any taxable year in which such taxpayer is a major integrated oil company (as defined in section 167(h)(5)(B)).''. (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall apply to amounts paid or incurred in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2011. Subtitle B--Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Natural Gas SEC. 211. REPEAL OF OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF DEEP WATER AND DEEP GAS ROYALTY RELIEF. (a) In General.--Sections 344 and 345 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15904, 15905) are repealed. (b) Administration.--The Secretary of the Interior shall not be required to provide for royalty relief in the lease sale terms beginning with the first lease sale held on or after the date of the enactment of this Act for which a final notice of sale has not been published. Subtitle C--Miscellaneous SEC. 221. DEFICIT REDUCTION. The net amount of any savings realized as a result of the enactment of this Act and the amendments made by this Act (after any expenditures authorized by this Act and the amendments made by this Act) shall be deposited in the Treasury and used for Federal budget deficit reduction or, if there is no Federal budget deficit, for reducing the Federal debt in such manner as the Secretary of the Treasury considers appropriate. SEC. 222. BUDGETARY EFFECTS. The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be determined by reference to the latest statement titled ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, provided that such statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.


We combine new Herschel/SPIRE sub-millimeter observations with existing multiwavelength data to investigate the dust scaling relations of the Herschel Reference Survey, a magnitude-, volume-limited sample of ~300 nearby galaxies in different environments. We show that the dust-to-stellar mass ratio anti-correlates with stellar mass, stellar mass surface density and NUV-r colour across the whole range of parameters covered by our sample. Moreover, the dust-to-stellar mass ratio decreases significantly when moving from late- to early-type galaxies. These scaling relations are similar to those observed for the HI gas-fraction, supporting the idea that the cold dust is tightly coupled to the cold atomic gas component in the interstellar medium. We also find a weak increase of the dust-to-HI mass ratio with stellar mass and colour but no trend is seen with stellar mass surface density. By comparing galaxies in different environments we show that, although these scaling relations are followed by both cluster and field galaxies, HI-deficient systems have, at fixed stellar mass, stellar mass surface density and morphological type systematically lower dust-to-stellar mass and higher dust-to-HI mass ratios than HI-normal/field galaxies. This provides clear evidence that dust is removed from the star-forming disk of cluster galaxies but the effect of the environment is less strong than what is observed in the case of the HI disk. Such effects naturally arise if the dust disk is less extended than the HI and follows more closely the distribution of the molecular gas phase, i.e., if the dust-to-atomic gas ratio monotonically decreases with distance from the galactic center.


one or many website addresses you want to point people toward. Categories are actually quite extensive so technically you should find something to describe your business. If not, there's the ever-present Other to pick. Away Messages Away messages are automated responses that your customers will get when they try reaching you and you're not available. You can set them to on, off, or on a schedule. The message can be personalized to include any text you want (+ emoji!). As for scheduling, it's quite rudimentary now. You can set a start and end date and time, but I hope that gets improved. Recurrent options like every day or every Saturday and Sunday for example should be possible, that way you don't have to manually turn it on every night or every weekend. And that's what we've discovered so far that's different between WhatsApp Business and the regular app. For the most part, the rest of the app is unchanged, but there could be more hidden features for businesses only when you start a chat or get notifications for example. From the customer's side When your customers add your phone business' number and try to reach it, they will see a yellow briefing for end-to-end encryption (happens with regular personal chats too) as well as a pop-up and yellow briefing that they're talking to a business account and it has/hasn't been verified yet. If they check your profile, they'll see all the details you've manually applied in your business profile: image, verification status, location, category, email address, web address, and so on. So what do you think? Maybe WhatsApp Business isn't something many of you will use, but if you live in a country where everything happens on WhatsApp, you'll definitely come across businesses who use it at some point and you probably have thoughts about how they should/shouldn't handle this transition to a Business account. As a small business owner, I like what I see. I was pleasantly surprised by the landline support addition and the well thought multiple account management possibilities, but I'm expecting better analytics, better away scheduling, and more useful features in the future. You can't download WhatsApp Business right now (and neither can we) but you can sign up to test it here. Once you do, and if you're lucky enough to be accepted in the test, you should find the app on the Play Store at this address.


If there’s one thing you should always remember about science, it’s that fact and truth are established after multiple studies converge on an answer. Even after that, further research might turn over what you thought was true of the other studies, because you were looking at it through too narrow of a lens. Single papers offer evidence, but rarely do they offer firm truths. This reality is compounded by another factor in certain fields, like nutrition and medical science. There are business interests trying to sell you a product, and proof that a product is healthy is obviously a great selling point. On the other side, if you’re an activist, proof that a product is bad can be just as useful. All of this can add bias. What the Health, a new documentary on Netflix produced by Joaquin Phoenix, takes advantage of these realities. The documentary cherry-picks studies to “prove” that any animal-based product will cause cancer or diabetes. Of course, we don’t know for sure whether giving up animal products is actually good for your health in the long run. Some studies show that vegetarians and vegans live longer, but others don’t, as Melody Ding outlines in The Conversation. Those that do suffer from a general health consciousness bias. Those folks that avoid meat and animal products could simply be living longer because they care more about their lifestyles in lots of different ways. They might also be younger and wealthier. What does that mean for you? Well, avoid meat if animal welfare or environmentalism is important to you. Otherwise, if you’re really interested in living longer (which is what everyone ultimately wants, right?) cross your fingers and hope your parents live for a long time. We use this quote a lot, but S. Jay Olshansky once told Gizmodo, “In the world of aging sciences, if you want to live a long life, choose long-lived parents.” After that, don’t smoke, and focus on a diet that minimises processed foods and includes more vegetables. Maybe eat less, get out more, and focus on a real healthy lifestyle change like biking to work every day or giving up all desserts. Past that, you might have to rely on research or expertise backed by less or less reliable data that will point you in the direction the expert thinks best reflects the existing evidence... and maybe their ethics. More Netflix Posts:


LOS ANGELES — The Latest on a shooting following a house fire south of downtown Los Angeles (all times local): 7:35 a.m. Police say a suspect who opened fire, killing one person, after a house fire in Los Angeles appears to have suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Los Angeles police say the suspect was taken into custody after holing himself up Tuesday morning for two hours inside the burned home. Police said one person had been killed but provided no additional details. Firefighters were first called to the home in the Harbor Gateway neighbourhood before dawn and reported hearing gunshots after knocking down the flames. Police and sheriff’s deputies had set up a perimeter and evacuated nearby homes. —— 7:05 a.m. Los Angeles authorities say one person was fatally shot at the scene of a house fire and a suspect is in custody after holing himself up for two hours inside the burned home. Police Officer Chris No confirmed one fatality in the shooting early Tuesday but didn’t know whether the victim is a man or woman. The Fire Department says crews heard gunshots after knocking down the flames before dawn south of downtown Los Angeles. The gunman was taken into custody shortly before 7 a.m. Several homes in the Harbor Gateway neighbourhood were evacuated as police set up a perimeter. There are no reports of injuries to firefighters or police officers. —— 6:30 a.m. Authorities say a suspect fired a weapon at the scene of a house fire south of downtown Los Angeles. The Fire Department says crews heard gunshots after dousing the flames in the Harbor Gateway neighbourhood early Tuesday. Officials say the suspect then holed up inside a home. Police and sheriff’s deputies have set up a perimeter and evacuated nearby homes. Authorities have not confirmed if anyone is hurt.


If you’re a frequent buyer of seafood, you may be aware that more attention is being focused on how that seafood was captured. There are several certification programs meant to convey whether the fish you like to eat was taken from overfished areas. Enter another program: Fair Trade. You may know if from coffee or chocolate. In recent years, it’s expanded into seafood. And soon, the first U.S. seafood products will get that label. Is there something truly different about the Fair Trade label, or is it just another fish in the sea? If you’re a socially conscious seafood eater, you’ve got options. There’s the Marine Stewardship Council’s “Sustainable Seafood” mark, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium has a “Seafood Watch” app to help you shop. Ashley Apel, manager of the seafood program at Fair Trade USA, said her organization’s certification is different because it considers workers’ conditions and social benefits. “Other seafood certifications — at least for wild capture — really only focus on environmental sustainability of the stock,” Apel said. For U.S. scallop fishers, the premium price that comes with the label could help ease some regulatory costs. “Fishermen are still dealing with having to provide a lot of data and a lot of tracking on their vessels, and that can be very expensive,” Apel said. “So part of the premium can be used to ensure the health of the stock.” Can the marketplace sustain yet another label for responsible seafood? “If we ever got to the point where sustainability labels were competing with each other, that’d probably be a good problem to have,” said Tim Fitzgerald, who focuses on fisheries for the Environmental Defense Fund. He’s also on the advisory committee for Fair Trade’s seafood program. He said one big benefit of the label: people recognize it. “With Fair Trade getting into seafood, it puts social responsibility and environmental responsibility on the radar of just a huge amount more people,” Fitzgerald said. Still, he said price is the main factor when people choose which fish they’ll buy, and the Fair Trade scallops that’ll roll out later this month will cost a little more.


If you think your job is more stressful than it should be, you're not alone. Americans work hard, and it takes a physical and mental toll, not to mention that it frequently cuts into personal time, according to a comprehensive survey on working conditions the nonpartisan RAND Corporation published Monday. But having a good boss and good friends on the job can make work feel less taxing. In 2015, RAND researchers, along with Harvard Medical School and the University of California, Los Angeles, began collecting data from over 3,000 people from all income and education levels who work or have worked in all types of jobs. What they discovered about how we work may help inform policymakers looking to grow the economy and employers looking to retain the best workers. This kind of data, examining workplace conditions in the U.S., has not been collected for decades. "We have excellent data on wages, on training... but we don't know much about the conditions of work," says Nicole Maestas, an economist and associate health care policy professor at Harvard Medical School who is the lead researcher on this study. What the researchers found was that more than 1 in 4 Americans surveyed say they don't have enough time to do their jobs, with about half of Americans reporting that they do some work in their free time. This was most prevalent among white-collar workers. Two-thirds of all workers say they frequently work under tight deadlines or at high speed. In addition, 1 in 5 reported experiencing verbal abuse, threats, humiliating behavior or unwanted sexual attention at work in the past month; or they experienced bullying, harassment or sexual harassment in the past year. "One thing that really struck me was the high prevalence of hostile social interactions at work," says Maestas. Her survey found that while such interactions were seen across the board, verbal abuse was much more common in customer service jobs and experienced at the highest rates among men who did not graduate from college. Younger women and women of "prime age," defined in the survey as ages 35-49, experienced the most unwanted sexual attention. But people who have "good" bosses — or bosses who respect them, praise them, work with them and give feedback — were less likely to have workers who reported verbal or physical threats, Maestra notes. "Maybe bad bosses are part of the problem," she says, when it comes to a hostile work environment. American workers feel, by and large, that they have a reasonable amount


) and (c) of section 6412 of such Code shall apply for purposes of this section. SEC. 4. FLOOR STOCKS TAX. (a) Imposition of Tax.--In the case of any liquid subject to tax under section 4091 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 by reason of section 4092(b)(2) of such Code and on which such tax would have been imposed but for section 2, and which is held on the suspension termination date, by any person, there is hereby imposed a floor stocks tax equal to the excess of the tax which would be imposed on such liquid had the taxable event occurred on such date over the tax previously paid (if any) on such liquid. (b) Liability for Tax and Method of Payment.-- (1) Liability for tax.--A person holding a liquid on the suspension termination date, to which the tax imposed by subsection (a) applies shall be liable for such tax. (2) Method of payment.--The tax imposed by subsection (a) shall be paid in such manner as the Secretary shall prescribe. (3) Time for payment.--The tax imposed by paragraph (1) shall be paid on or before 45 days after the suspension termination date. (c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section-- (1) Held by a person.--A liquid shall be considered as ``held by a person'' if title thereto has passed to such person (whether or not delivery to the person has been made). (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary's delegate. (d) Other Law Applicable.--All provisions of law, including penalties, applicable with respect to the taxes imposed by sections 4091 and 4092 of such Code shall, insofar as applicable and not inconsistent with the provisions of this section, apply with respect to the floor stock taxes imposed by subsection (a) to the same extent as if such taxes were imposed by such sections.


Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1166) is amended-- (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ``or (6)'' and inserting ``(6), or (7)''; and (B) in paragraph (4)(A), by striking ``or (6)'' and inserting ``(6), or (7)''. (4) Definition.--Section 607(3)(C) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1167(2)) is amended by striking ``603(6)'' and inserting ``603(6) or 603(7)''. (c) Internal Revenue Code of 1986.-- (1) Period of coverage.--Section 4980B(f)(2)(B)(i) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subclause: ``(VI) Qualifying event involving substantial reduction or elimination of a retiree group health plan.--In the case of an event described in paragraph (3)(G), the date on which such covered qualified beneficiary becomes entitled to benefits under title XVIII of the Social Security Act.''. (2) Qualifying event.--Section 4980B(f)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subparagraph: ``(G) The substantial reduction or elimination of group health coverage as a result of plan changes or termination with respect to a qualified beneficiary described in subsection (g)(1)(D).''. (3) Notice.--Section 4980B(f)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended-- (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``or (F)'' and inserting ``(F), or (G)''; and (B) in subparagraph (D)(i), by striking ``or (F)'' and inserting ``(F), or (G)''. (4) Definition.--Section 4980B(g)(1)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ``(f)(3)(F)'' and inserting ``(f)(3)(F) or (f)(3)(G)''. SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act shall take effect as if enacted on January 1, 1995.


Getty Image Jermaine Fowler was named to Variety‘s 10 comics to watch list in 2016, and in 2017, we’re all getting the chance with Fowler starring alongside Judd Hirsch in CBS’ Superior Donuts as an energetic artist/donut shop clerk and as a stand-up comic opposite Pete Holmes in HBO’s Crashing, which premieres on Sunday. Fowler was nice enough to take some time to add his answers to the Uproxx questionnaire series and to reveal that Lupe Fiasco has made him cry, Redman changed his life, and that he’d like to do the same for Nic Cage. 1. You walk into a bar. What do you order from the bartender? Pineapple juice. 2. Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram? The Rock on Instagram and Aretha Franklin on Twitter. 3. What’s currently waiting for you on your DVR? I don’t have a DVR. Smartass. 4. It’s your last meal — what are you going out with? I’m not answering this question during Black History Month. 5. What websites do you visit on a regular basis? Forbes, Fast Company, Box Office Mojo, Complex, Fandango, Jermainefowler.com. 6. What’s the most frequently played song on your mobile device? “4r Da Squaw” by Isaiah Rashad. It used to be “LAXTasy” by Brandon DeShay until I updated my damn iPhone. I’m still pissed. 7. If you could go back and give your 18-year-old self one piece of advice what would it be? She’s gonna dump you, don’t answer the phone! 8. What’s the last thing you Googled? “is Kevin Durant a Deer?” 9. Dogs or cats? I don’t think it’s fair that I have to choose. Though, if I had to…PITBULL PUPPIES!


We present a detailed analysis of the reliability of abundance and magnetic maps of Ap stars obtained by Zeeman Doppler mapping (ZDM). It is shown how they can be adversely affected by the assumption of a mean stellar atmosphere instead of appropriate "local" atmospheres corresponding to the actual abundances in a given region. The essenceof the difficulties was already shown by Chandrasekhar's picket-fence model. The results obtained with a suite of Stokes codes written in the Ada programming language and based on modern line-blanketed atmospheres are described in detail. We demonstrate that the high metallicity values claimed to have been found in chemically inhomogeneous Ap star atmospheres would lead to local temperature structures, continuum and line intensities, and line shapes that differ significantly from those predicted by a mean stellar atmosphere. Unfortunately, past applications of ZDM have consistently overlooked the intricate aspects of metallicity with their all-pervading effects. The erroneous assumption of a mean atmosphere for a spotted star can lead to phase-dependent errors of uncomfortably large proportions at varying wavelengths both in the Stokes I and V profiles, making precise mapping of abundances and magnetic field vectors largely impossible. The relation between core and wings of the H_beta line changes, too, with possible repercussions on the determination of gravity and effective temperature. Finally, a ZDM analysis of the synthetic Stokes spectra of a spotted star reveals the disturbing differences between the respective abundance maps based on a mean atmosphere on the one hand, and on appropriate "local" atmospheres on the other. We then discuss what this all means for published ZDMresults. Our discussion makes it clear that realistic local atmospheres must be used, especially if credible small-scale structures are to be obtained.


We analyzed two XMM-Newton observations of the bright atoll source 4U 1705-44, which can be considered a prototype of the class of the persistent NS LMXBs showing both hard and soft states. The first observation was performed when the source was in a hard low flux state, the second during a soft, high-flux state. Both the spectra show broad iron emission lines. We fit the spectra using a two-component model, together with a reflection model specifically suited to the case of a neutron star, where the incident spectrum has a blackbody shape. In the soft state, the reflection model, convolved with a relativistic smearing component, consistently describes the broad features present in the spectrum, and we find a clear relation between the temperature of the incident flux and the temperature of the harder X-ray component that we interpret as the boundary layer emission. In this state we find converging evidence that the boundary layer outer radius is ~ 2 times the neutron star radius. In the low flux state, we observe a change in the continuum shape of the spectrum with respect to the soft state. Still, the broad local emission features can be associated with a disk reflecting matter, but in a lower ionization state, and possibly produced in an accretion disk truncated at greater distance. Our analysis provides strong evidence that the reflection component in soft states of LMXBs comes from to hard X-ray thermal irradiation, which we identify with the boundary layer emission, also present in the continuum model. In the hard state, the broad iron line if also produced by reflection, and the continuum disk emission can be self-consistently accounted if the disk is truncated at a greater distance than the soft state.


roup Transactions.-- Section 355 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended by subsection (a), is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: ``(f) Section Not To Apply to Certain Intragroup Transactions.-- Except as provided in regulations, this section shall not apply to the distribution of stock from 1 member of an affiliated group filing a consolidated return to another member of such group, and the Secretary shall provide proper adjustments for the treatment of such distribution, including (if necessary) adjustments to-- ``(1) the adjusted basis of any stock which-- ``(A) is in a corporation which is a member of such group, and ``(B) is held by another member of such group, and ``(2) the earnings and profits of any member of such group.'' (c) Effective Date.-- (1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall apply to distributions after April 16, 1997. (2) Transition rule for distributions followed by acquisitions.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall not apply to any distribution after April 16, 1997, if such distribution is-- (A) made pursuant to a written agreement which was (subject to customary conditions) binding on such date and at all times thereafter, (B) described in a ruling request submitted to the Internal Revenue Service on or before such date, or (C) described on or before such date in a public announcement or in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission required solely by reason of the distribution. This paragraph shall not apply to any written agreement, ruling request, or public announcement or filing unless it identifies the acquirer of the distributing corporation or any controlled corporation, whichever is applicable.


if you’ve raised over $100! If you don’t need to drop off funds or pick up a shirt, there is no need to stop by registration, you can simply enjoy our festival zone! Stroller are of course permitted along the walk route. Feel free to run the route, however please note that the March of Dimes will not be keeping time for runners. Please do not bring your bike, bikers will not be permitted on the walk route in the interest of the safety of all other walkers. Dogs ARE welcome at the Balboa Park walk, however they are not permitted at the Oceanside walk site. Together we hope for a day when all moms and babies are healthy. Families, businesses, and volunteers dedicated to the fight for the health of all moms and babies take part in March for Babies®, March of Dimes biggest annual fundraising event. All March for Babies events are non-smoking. About March of Dimes March of Dimes is the leading non-profit organization for pregnancy and baby health. If you had a heel prick test, and APGAR score, were ever given a Polio Vaccine or your mother took Folic Acid during pregnancy, chances are YOU are a March of Dimes Baby. Since 1938, March of Dimes has been actively working to fight infant disease, birth defects and premature birth across the globe. March of Dimes offers comprehensive information on pregnancy and newborn topics, such as, complications, caring for your baby, birth defects, folic acid, etc. Through marchofdimes.com you can search various pregnancy related topics and access medical references, publications, and reports.


If you have ever spent any time in Toronto’s Kensington Market, then you have likely passed by Reg Dried Foods. The dried fruit and nut shop on Baldwin Street is a modestly sized emporium overflowing with rare spices, dried exotic fruit and nuts in every shape and variety imported from all over the world. Among the gleaming jars of saffron and green and purple tubs filled with crushed pistachios sits Reg Alex, the store’s owner and chief employee. For the past 41 years, she has watched Kensington’s lively community evolve from a livestock market in the 1970s, to a bohemian hippy paradise in the 1990s, to the gentrified arena of craft beer breweries and artisanal grocery stores that it is today. After escaping communism and emigrating from Romania in 1976, Alex opened Reg Dried Foods later that year. At 80 years old, she has never taken a vacation. She works seven days a week and 14 hours a day everyday, only taking time off for Christmas and New Year’s. Her unwavering work ethic has woven her presence into the fabric of Kensington, right next to the kaleidoscopic graffiti alleys and corners overflowing with produce stands. Decades of Toronto residents are familiar with the lady who sits outside the dried food shop and watches to make sure that you don’t accidentally pop a plump sliver of dried kiwi into your mouth before paying for your haul, but few actually know who she is. “My name is Reg,” she says, pointing to the store sign that reads Reg Dried Foods. “Reg Alex. That’s it.” As a wave of shoppers clad in trendy streetwear labels and Louis Vuitton purses pass by, one gets the sense that there is almost too much to explain about the decades she has spent watching Kensington change. “Come here, Corina,” she says eventually, getting up from her stool between the bulk bins and walking out into the street. “It’s Claudia,” I correct without realizing that, to her, I might as well be called Reporter Number 156. “Ok Corina,” she insists, grabbing my arm and forcing me to lean in before whispering into my ear. “Chickens.” She points up and down the narrow road littered with gourmet food shops, including a chocolatier selling hand-painted single origin chocolates and an artisanal sourdough bakery. “In the ’


If you’re a business leader, it’s likely you got to where you are through hard work, perseverance, and a determination to be the best you can be. Regardless of your success, you’re unlikely to be content with your current leadership game. Instead, you’re always seeking ways in which to advance and improve. This is no easy feat. Being a leader demands high levels of responsibility; leaders need to motivate and inspire their team, and they need to deal with fluctuating workplace demands. Moreover, what constitutes a great leader tends to evolve and change over time. What compelled Generation X to work hard won’t work with Generation Z. As our understanding of human psychology advances, we also become more knowledgeable on what inspires high levels of engagement and discretionary effort. With this article, we’ll look at modern leadership techniques and how to implement them in 2018 in order to improve individual, team, and company performance and productivity, while building a more competitive and profitable business. 1. Take the time to discover employee strengths — and allow them to use them As we move into 2018, autonomy is a key concept all leaders should keep in mind when it comes to both their leadership style and their performance management systems. Rather than rigidly controlling your employees or trying to manipulate their strengths to suit your company, you would be far more efficient and successful as a leader if you allowed your employees to play to their strengths. According to a Gallup poll, if you keep your employees' strengths in mind when constructing objectives and goals, you can make your company much stronger. Simultaneously, you can boost engagement and morale while minimizing turnover and lessening stress levels The use of employee strengths has been shown to be far more effective a motivator than even leadership exhortations. Put simply, this is because as a leader, you have taken the time to find out what truly motivates your employees, which ultimately works to your company’s advantage. In fact, even simply learning about employee strengths is known to make them 7.8% more productive, while boosting company sales and profit. So as we move into 2018, leaders should do more to focus on strengths and positives than dwelling on what employees can stand to improve. 2. Incorporate real-time feedback and more frequent one-on-ones The concept of continuous, agile performance management is no longer a revolutionary or disruptive management trend. It’s widely recognized to be a more effective means of managing behavior and performance than an annual performance review


The XMM-Newton survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) was performed to study the population of X-ray sources in this neighbouring galaxy. During one of the observations, the symbiotic binary SMC3 was found at its highest X-ray luminosity observed until now. In SMC3 wind accretion from a giant donor star onto a white dwarf is believed to cause steady hydrogen burning on the white dwarf surface, making such systems candidates for supernova type Ia progenitors. It was suggested that the X-ray source is eclipsed every ~4.5 years by the companion star and its stellar wind to explain the large X-ray variability seen in ROSAT data. We use the available X-ray data to test this scenario. We present the ~20 year X-ray light curve of SMC3 and study the spectral evolution as seen with XMM-Newton/EPIC-pn to investigate possible scenarios which can reproduce the high X-ray variability. We did not find significant variations in the photo-electric absorption, as it would be expected during eclipse ingress and egress. Instead, the X-ray spectra from different intensity levels, when modelled by black-body emission, can be better explained by variations either in normalisation (by a factor of ~50) or in temperature (kT between 24 eV and 34 eV). The light curve shows maxima and minima with slow transitions between them. To explain the gradual variations in the X-ray light curve and to avoid changes in absorption by neutral gas, a predominant part of the stellar wind must be ionised by the X-ray source. Compton scattering with variable electron column density (of the order of 5 x 10^24 cm^-2) along the line of sight could then be responsible for the intensity changes. The X-ray variability of SMC3 could also be caused by temperature changes in the hydrogen burning envelope of the white dwarf, an effect which could even dominate if the stellar wind density is not sufficiently high.


We investigate the potential of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) for measuring the magnetic fields in clusters of galaxies via Faraday rotation of background polarised sources. [...] We find that about 10 per cent of the sky is covered by a significant extragalactic Faraday screen. Most of it has rotation measures between 10 and 100 rad/m/m. We argue that the cluster centres should have up to about 5000 rad/m/m. We show that the proposed mid frequency aperture array of the SKA as well as the lowest band of the SKA dish array are well suited to make measurements for most of these rotation measure values, typically requiring a signal-to-noise of ten. We calculate the spacing of sources forming a grid for the purpose of measuring foreground rotation measures: it reaches a spacing of 36 arcsec for a 100 hour SKA observation per field. We also calculate the statistics for background RM measurements in clusters of galaxies. We find that a first phase of the SKA would allow us to take stacking experiments out to high redshifts (>1), and provide improved magnetic field structure measurements for individual nearby clusters. The full SKA aperture array would be able to make very detailed magnetic field structure measurements of clusters with more than 100 background sources per cluster up to a redshift of 0.5 and more than 1000 background sources per cluster for nearby clusters, and could for reasonable assumptions about future measurements of electron densities in high redshift clusters constrain the power law index for the magnetic field evolution to better than dm=0.4, if the magnetic field in clusters should follow B ~ (1+z)^m.


An investigation is launched into the fundamental characteristics of operations on and between sets, with a focus on compact convex sets and star sets (compact sets star-shaped with respect to the origin) in $n$-dimensional Euclidean space $\R^n$. For example, it is proved that if $n\ge 2$, with three trivial exceptions, an operation between origin-symmetric compact convex sets is continuous in the Hausdorff metric, GL(n) covariant, and associative if and only if it is $L_p$ addition for some $1\le p\le\infty$. It is also demonstrated that if $n\ge 2$, an operation * between compact convex sets is continuous in the Hausdorff metric, GL(n) covariant, and has the identity property (i.e., $K*\{o\}=K=\{o\}*K$ for all compact convex sets $K$, where $o$ denotes the origin) if and only if it is Minkowski addition. Some analogous results for operations between star sets are obtained. An operation called $M$-addition is generalized and systematically studied for the first time. Geometric-analytic formulas that characterize continuous and GL(n)-covariant operations between compact convex sets in terms of $M$-addition are established. The term "polynomial volume" is introduced for the property of operations * between compact convex or star sets that the volume of $rK*sL$, $r,s\ge 0$, is a polynomial in the variables $r$ and $s$. It is proved that if $n\ge 2$, with three trivial exceptions, an operation between origin-symmetric compact convex sets is continuous in the Hausdorff metric, GL(n) covariant, associative, and has polynomial volume if and only if it is Minkowski addition.


If $\Omega\subset\R^n$ is a bounded domain, the existence of solutions ${\bf u}\in H^1_0(\Omega)^n$ of ${div} {\bf u} = f$ for $f\in L^2(\Omega)$ with vanishing mean value, is a basic result in the analysis of the Stokes equations. In particular it allows to show the existence of a solution $({\bf u},p)\in H^1_0(\Omega)^n\times L^2(\Omega)$, where ${\bf u}$ is the velocity and $p$ the pressure. It is known that the above mentioned result holds when $\Omega$ is a Lipschitz domain and that it is not valid for arbitrary H\"older-$\alpha$ domains. In this paper we prove that if $\Omega$ is a planar simply connected H\"older-$\alpha$ domain, there exist right inverses of the divergence which are continuous in appropriate weighted spaces, where the weights are powers of the distance to the boundary. Moreover, we show that the powers of the distance in the results obtained are optimal. In our results, the zero boundary condition is replaced by a weaker one. For the particular case of domains with an external cusp of power type, we prove that our weaker boundary condition is equivalent to the standard one. In this case we show the well posedness of the Stokes equations in appropriate weighted Sobolev spaces obtaining as a consequence the existence of a solution $({\bf u},p)\in H^1_0(\Omega)^n\times L^r(\Omega)$ for some $r<2$ depending on the power of the cusp.


In this paper we consider a nearest-neighbor $p$-adic hard core (HC) model, with fugacity $\lambda$, on a homogeneous Cayley tree of order $k$ (with $k + 1$ neighbors). We focus on $p$-adic Gibbs measures for the HC model, in particular on $p$-adic "splitting" Gibbs measures generating a $p$-adic Markov chain along each path on the tree. We show that the $p$-adic HC model is completely different from real HC model: For a fixed $k$ we prove that the $p$-adic HC model may have a splitting Gibbs measure only if $p$ divides $2^k-1$. Moreover if $p$ divides $2^k-1$ but does not divide $k+2$ then there exists unique translational invariant $p$-adic Gibbs measure. We also study $p$-adic periodic splitting Gibbs measures and show that the above model admits only translational invariant and periodic with period two (chess-board) Gibbs measures. For $p\geq 7$ (resp. $p=2,3,5$) we give necessary and sufficient (resp. necessary) conditions for the existence of a periodic $p$-adic measure. For k=2 a $p$-adic splitting Gibbs measures exists if and only if p=3, in this case we show that if $\lambda$ belongs to a $p$-adic ball of radius 1/27 then there are precisely two periodic (non translational invariant) $p$-adic Gibbs measures. We prove that a $p$-adic Gibbs measure is bounded if and only if $p\ne 3$.


Let game B be Toral's cooperative Parrondo game with (one-dimensional) spatial dependence, parameterized by N (3 or more) and p_0,p_1,p_2,p_3 in [0,1], and let game A be the special case p_0=p_1=p_2=p_3=1/2. Let mu_B (resp., mu_(1/2,1/2)) denote the mean profit per turn to the ensemble of N players always playing game B (resp., always playing the randomly mixed game (1/2)(A+B)). In previous work we showed that, under certain conditions, both sequences converge and the limits can be expressed in terms of a parameterized spin system on the one-dimensional integer lattice. Of course one can get similar results for mu_(gamma,1-gamma) corresponding to gamma A+(1-gamma)B for 0<gamma<1. In this paper we replace the random mixture with the nonrandom periodic pattern A^r B^s, where r and s are positive integers. We show that, under certain conditions, mu_[r,s], the mean profit per turn to the ensemble of N players repeatedly playing the pattern A^r B^s, converges to the same limit that mu_(gamma,1-gamma) converges to, where gamma:=r/(r+s). For a particular choice of the probability parameters, namely p_0=1, p_1=p_2 in (1/2,1), and p_3=0, we show that the Parrondo effect (i.e., mu_B is nonpositive and mu_[r,s] is positive) is present if and only if N is even, at least when s=1.


on Twitter suggesting the same. Paul McShane’s reaction when Liam Hood threw the ball at him suggested he was dumbfounded that, after giving himself up and not risking giving away a penalty for failing to be square, he was instead penalised for standing a good few metres behind the play-the-ball after someone chucked it at him! “I’ve seen it a few times over the weekend and it’s not something I’m a big fan of,” Hull captain Gareth Ellis said on Monday’s Super League Show. “I’d like to see it addressed.” It’s hard to disagree with Ellis. It’s essentially gamesmanship – and perhaps referees can instead penalise attacking teams for doing it so blatantly to try and win a penalty and get easy points if they believe that’s the case? Apparently, one Super League coach warned his side off doing it following the opening weekend. Hopefully it can be clamped down upon sooner rather than later – although we’ll see on Thursday with Huddersfield’s clash against Salford whether anything has changed. Perhaps it’s no surprise when you read this column and see that I picked out Castleford Tigers as the team that really caught my eye on the first weekend of the new season. The Tigers were well-held by Leigh for the opening 20 minutes of their match last Friday but in truth, once Cas got one try, the points continued to flow – and you might struggle to see as breathless a 20 minutes all season as the period Daryl Powell’s men put together in the run-up to half-time at the weekend. There were impressive performances all across the field, and while new recruits such as Zak Hardaker and Jesse Sene-Lefao will make a massive impact in 2017, having captain Michael Shenton back was like a whole new signing in itself. Shenton was back to his best on Friday night too, I thought. A winger is only as good as his centre, so the old saying goes, and whichever Cas winger is lucky enough to play outside the classy Shenton this season will have a hell of a time pocketing tries. It’s no surprise to see him straight back in England’s EPS squad after his cruel season-ending injury 12 months ago, too. He remains one of England’s most enjoyable outside backs to watch – and he will give England an extra dimension if he keeps this form up throughout 2017.


If you could bend time … regardless of eras, what four drivers would you like to see race for the win at Daytona? Nate Ryan: Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Jr. David Pearson and Richard Petty. When I think of winners in magical moments at Daytona, those are the four names that initially come to mind. The next question would be: Does the race happen with or without restrictor plates? Dustin Long: Richard Petty, David Pearson, Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Mario Andretti. All Daytona 500 winners and among the greats in racing. Daniel McFadin: Dale Earnhardt Jr. from 2004, Dale Earnhardt Sr. from 1991, Bill Elliott from 1988 and Brad Keselowski from today. Give them some IROC cars from 1999 and let them loose for 25 laps. Dan Beaver: Richard Petty, David Pearson, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Sr. I’m not sure who would win, but it would certainly be spectacular. What driver currently outside a playoff spot is one you think has the best chance to win Saturday’s race at Daytona (7:30 p.m. ET on NBC)? Nate Ryan: Jamie McMurray. The two-time winner at Daytona always is a solid driver in plate races if he can avoid the wrecks and getting antsy in the draft. Dustin Long: Ryan Newman. He’s won at Daytona before and his teammate, Austin Dillon, won the Daytona 500 in February. Richard Childress Racing could make it two in a row there. Daniel McFadin: I think Paul Menard could be a sleeper. He’s finished in the top six in his last three Daytona starts. He and AJ Allmendinger are the only drivers who have finished in the top 10 in the last three Daytona races. Dan Beaver: The defending winner of this race, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., has a knack for plate racing and could get into the playoffs this week. What’s the wildest finish you’ve witnessed? Nate Ryan: The Oct. 7, 2012 race at Talladega Superspeedway. Tony Stewart attempted to throw a block off Turn 4 on the last lap, and 25 cars wrecked a few hundred yards from the finish line in a massive storm of dirt, sheet metal and smoke Dustin Long: The finish to the 2007 Daytona 500. It has Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin side-by-side


by adding at the end the following new subsection: ``(e) Methodology for Designating Assets.-- ``(1) In general.--In carrying out subsection (b), the Secretary may develop and implement a methodology for designating assets after the replacement plan adoption date that takes into account the value of the District Retirement Fund as of the replacement plan adoption date and the proportion of such value represented by $1.275 billion, together with the income (including returns on investments) earned on the assets of and withdrawals from and deposits to the Fund during the period between such date and the date on which the Secretary designates assets under subsection (b). In implementing a methodology under the previous sentence, the Secretary shall not be required to determine the value of designated assets as of the replacement plan adoption date. Nothing in this paragraph may be deemed to effect the entitlement of the District Retirement Fund to income (including returns on investments) earned after the replacement plan adoption date on assets designated for retention by the Fund. ``(2) Employee contributions; judicial retirement and survivors annuity fund.--The Secretary may develop and implement a methodology comparable to the methodology described in paragraph (1) in carrying out the requirements of subsection (c) and in designating assets to be transferred to the District of Columbia Judicial Retirement and Survivors Annuity Fund pursuant to section 124(c)(1) of the District of Columbia Retirement Reform Act (as amended by section 11252). ``(3) Discretion of the secretary.--The Secretary's development and implementation of methodologies for designating assets under this subsection shall be final and binding.''. SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect as if included in the enactment of title XI of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.


Using a combination of N-body simulations, semi-analytic models and radiative transfer calculations, we have estimated the theoretical cross power spectrum between galaxies and the 21cm emission from neutral hydrogen during the epoch of reionization. In accordance with previous studies, we find that the 21cm emission is initially correlated with halos on large scales (> 30 Mpc), anti-correlated on intermediate (~ 5 Mpc), and uncorrelated on small (< 3 Mpc) scales. This picture quickly changes as reionization proceeds and the two fields become anti-correlated on large scales. The normalization of the cross power spectrum can be used to set constraints on the average neutral fraction in the intergalactic medium and its shape can be a tool to study the topology of reionization. When we apply a drop-out technique to select galaxies and add to the 21cm signal the noise expected from the LOFAR telescope, we find that while the normalization of the cross power spectrum remains a useful tool for probing reionization, its shape becomes too noisy to be informative. On the other hand, for a Lyalpha Emitter (LAE) survey both the normalization and the shape of the cross power spectrum are suitable probes of reionization. A closer look at a specific planned LAE observing program using Subaru Hyper-Suprime Cam reveals concerns about the strength of the 21cm signal at the planned redshifts. If the ionized fraction at z ~ 7 is lower that the one estimated here, then using the cross power spectrum may be a useful exercise given that at higher redshifts and neutral fractions it is able to distinguish between two toy models with different topologies.


If the hospital or critical access hospital is not within such network or otherwise such a participating provider or supplier, the estimated amount that the hospital or critical access hospital will charge the individual for such items and services in excess of any cost sharing obligations that the individual would otherwise have under such health benefits coverage for such items and services if the hospital or critical access hospital were within such network or otherwise participating in such coverage. ``(C) Whether any of the providers of services or suppliers furnishing items or services at the hospital or critical access hospital who will furnish the items or services to the individual are not within the health care provider network or otherwise a participating provider of services or supplier with respect to such health benefits coverage of such individual. ``(D) If any of such providers of services or suppliers are not within such network or otherwise such a participating provider or supplier, the estimated amount that such providers of services or suppliers will charge the individual for such items and services in excess of any cost sharing obligations that the individual would otherwise have for such items and services if the providers of services or suppliers were within the such network or otherwise participating in such coverage. ``(3) Consent described.--For purposes of paragraph (1)(B), the consent described in this paragraph, with respect to an individual with health benefits coverage described in paragraph (1) who is to be furnished items or services by a hospital or critical access hospital (or provider of services or supplier furnishing services at such hospital or critical access hospital) that is not within the health care provider network or otherwise a participating provider of services or supplier with respect to such health benefits coverage of such individual, is a document specified by the Secretary through rulemaking that is signed by the individual (or by a representative of the individual) not less than 24 hours prior to the individual being furnished such items or services by such hospital, critical access hospital, provider of services, or supplier, respectively, and that-- ``(A) acknowledges that the individual has been-- ``(i) provided with a written estimate of the charge that the individual will be assessed for the items or services anticipated to be furnished to the individual by the hospital, critical access hospital, provider of services, or supplier that is not within such network or otherwise such a participating provider of services or supplier; and ``(ii) informed that the payment of such charge by the individual will not accrue toward any limitation that the health benefits coverage places upon the annual out-of-pocket expenses to be paid by the individual or upon the in-network


Assuming that inflation happened through a series of tunneling in the string theory landscape, it is argued that one can determine the structure of vacua using precise measurements of the scalar spectral index and tensor perturbations at large scales. It is shown that for a vacuum structure where the energy gap between the minima is constant, i.e. $\epsilon_i=i m_f^4$, one obtains the scalar spectral index, $n_s$, to be $\simeq 0.9687$, for the modes that exit the horizon 60 e-folds before the end of inflation. Alternatively, for a vacuum structure in which the energy gap increases linearly with the vacuum index, i.e. $\epsilon_i=\frac{i^2}{2} m_f^4$, $n_s$ turns out to be $\simeq 0.9614$. Both these two models are motivated within the string theory landscape using flux-compactification and their predictions for scalar spectral index are compatible with WMAP results. For both these two models, the results for the scalar spectral index turn out to be independent of $m_f$. Nonetheless, assuming that inflation started at Planckian energies and that there had been successful thermalization at each step, one can constrain $m_f<2.6069\times 10^{-5} m_P$ and $m_f<6.5396\times 10^{-7} m_P$ in these two models, respectively. Violation of the single-field consistency relation between the tensor and scalar spectra is another prediction of chain inflation models. This corresponds to having a smaller tensor/scalar ratio at large scales in comparison with the slow-roll counterparts. Similar to slow-roll inflation, it is argued that one can reconstruct the vacuum structure using the CMB experiments.