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Q:
Статическая библиотека: убрать зависимость от внутренних библиотек
Есть самописная библиотека С++ (.h и .cpp соответственно) использующая библиотеки OpenCV и boost.
Заголовочный файл имеет вид:
#include <highgui.h>
#include <cv.h>
#include <boost/numeric/ublas/matrix.hpp>
using namespace boost::numeric::ublas;
и дальше объявления классов и функций (реализованных в cpp)
Использую VS2010, если к проекту "напрямую" подкючать эту библиотеку, прописывать все необходимые файлы для работы openCV и boost, то все работает.
Пробовал собрать статическую библиотеку lib. Подключаю заголовочный файл подключаю lib файл к новому проекту и компилятор ругается на неизвестные ему библиотеки: cv.h и тп...
Как можно создать статическую библиотеку, так что бы человеку которому необходимо написать прогу с использованием самописной библиотеки, не надо было иметь собранные OpenCV и boost.
A:
boost::ublas — это header-only library, поэтому к вопросу она отношения не имеет. То есть тому, кто захочет использовать вашу штуковину, нужно будет иметь хэдеры boost'a, и в этом никакой проблемы лично я не вижу.
Далее, правильное решение с OpenCV следующее — не нужно embedd'ить весь OpenCV в вашу библиотеку, а нужно поставлять библиотеку as is, а всех пользователей вашей библиотеки отправлять на opencv.org
Решение с embedd'ингом плохое, поскольку вы лишаете пользователей вашей библиотеки возможности динамически линковаться с OpenCV и форсируете увеличение размера любого приложения, собранного с применением вашей библиотеки.
Также embedd'инг всего OpenCV в вашу библиотеку чреват проблемами с безопасностью. Что должен сделать пользователь вашей библиотеки, в которую статически влинкован OpenCV 2.4.5, если он узнает, что в 2.4.5 нашли exploit, который позволяет получить доступ к любой системе? OpenCV, скажем, выпускает для этого патч-релиз 2.4.6, а ваш пользователь кусает локти.
Последний пример, разумеется, сильно притянут за уши, но аргумент вполне себе имеет место быть.
Если вы все-таки решите статически embedd'ить OpenCV в вашу библиотеку, то в Visual Studio это можно сделать, например, с помощью приложения LIB.
Вам нужно взять файл вашей библиотеки и файл статически собранной библиотеки OpenCV, сдампить из них obj файлы и склеить эти файлы в новую библиотеку, которую и отправлять пользователю.
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Elevation of brain norepinephrine concentration after experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Regional brain tissue catecholamine concentrations were measured in 5 control rats and in 10 rats 72 hours after experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Catecholamine levels were determined in the cerebral hemispheres, brain stem, and cerebellum of each animal using a radioenzymatic assay. Three days after SAH, the tissue concentration of norepinephrine (NE) in the cerebral hemispheres was 64% greater than that in control rats (P less than 0.001). NE levels did not change significantly in either the brain stem or the cerebellum. Most if not all of the NE in the brain tissue rostral to the brain stem is derived from neurons that originate in the locus coeruleus (LC). These data may therefore indicate that the LC is activated after SAH. The possible pathophysiological consequences of activation of the LC in relation to delayed cerebral ischemia after SAH will be discussed.
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Live your best possible life. How good can it get?
Posts tagged ‘quantum entanglement’
Neo:Whoa, déjà vu.Trinity: What did you just say?Neo: Nothing, I just had a little déjà vu.Trinity: What did you see?Cypher: What happened?Neo: A black cat went past us, and then another that looked just like it.Trinity: How much like it, was it the same cat?Neo: Might have been, I’m not sure.Morpheus: Switch, Apoc.Neo: What is it?Trinity: Déjà vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something.
–dialogue from the movie, The Matrix
The phrase “a glitch in the Matrix” originated in the movie, The Matrix, starring Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, in which the characters Neo and Trinity discussed what Neo called a “déjà vu” when he saw a black cat walk past in an adjacent hallway… and then a short time later, saw another cat walk past in exactly the same way. In the movie The Matrix, the main characters discover that physical reality is not nearly so solid as most people assume–and that there is an underlying Matrix (that appears to operate much like computer code running in a gigantic simulation) responsible for creating everything around us.
Have you had a Déjà Vu experience?
While the term déjà vu literally translates from the French to “already seen,” this kind of experience of witnessing a repeating sequence of events is not the type of déjà vu that people typically experience. Most déjà vu experiences do not happen hot on each other’s heels, but instead more typically occur some time after one first has an impression of a certain sequence of unfolding events. Such an impression might come from having previously dreamt about what is now unfolding… or possibly from an earlier daydream or other mental impression.
Groundhog Day Effect
Rapid-fire repeating sequences of events like the black cat “glitch in the Matrix” in which an event has no sooner unfolded to some degree than it unfolds all over again are referenced in Reality Shifts: When Consciousness Changes the Physical World as “the Groundhog Day Effect,” with a nod to another wonderful reality shifting film, Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell, in which the main character wakes up each morning to find… he’s living the exact same day over and over again.
I’ve witnessed two of these repeating-events types of reality shifts; once at a conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico where a woman walked through the hotel lobby exactly the same way twice in a row, and on another occasion at a friend’s house when someone asked for and received a business card… and then asked the same woman for a business card again. What I found so remarkable about these repeating events is that the dress, mannerisms, facial appearances, mood, and all other details occurred exactly the same way twice in a row… as if a scene in a movie was selected to play all over again.
The interesting observation in The Matrix that such repeating sequences of events indicate that there’s been a glitch in the Matrix due to a change having just been made, leads us to wonder why we’d ever notice reality behaving in such a discontinuous manner. One possible explanation could be that if we are living in a multiverse as physicist Hugh Everett III proposes in his Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum physics, we might occasionally expect to see such glitches when moving from one universe of possibility to another. If the universe moves in accordance with physicist John Cramer’s Transactional Interpretation of quantum physics, each path forward in reality is made based on a kind of “handshake” between a point in future spacetime and one the past, and possibly sometimes we’d see evidence of a couple of different reality selections, one after another.
Many Types of “Glitches in the Matrix”
There are many types of reality shifts in addition to repeating sequences of events–involving situations where things appear, disappear, transport and transform… and changes in the way we experience time. Such reality shifts are often recognized to be incidents of mind-matter interaction (MMI), and are sometimes considered to be quantum jumps–and the explanation for why they are occurring can be found when viewing them as all being examples of quantum behavior on the macroscopic scale. While such things as quantum entanglement, superposition of states, quantum teleportation, and quantum “particles” blipping into and out of physical material form are all perfectly normal at the quantum level of microscopic reality… we also witness many of these same characteristics on the macroscopic scale.
I feel tremendously fortunate to be alive during a pivotal time in history in which many quantum behaviors long presumed to only be observable at the quantum level are being witnessed on a human-viewable scale.
A huge breakthrough occurred in November 2012, when a team of scientists led by Xiao-Hui Bao at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei reported the first ever successful teleportation between two macroscopic objects–bundles of rubidium atoms–across a distance of almost 150 meters, using entangled photons to transmit information that remained stable for just 100 microseconds.
In the field of quantum biology, some scientists including Dr. Luca Turin of the Fleming Institute in Greece suspect that many of the processes we’ve known about for years may have at their very heart a quantum basis. As a matter of fact, one leading possible example of quantum teleportation in the field of biology is as close as the nose on your face! According to the quantum tunneling explanation, smell molecules wiggle and vibrate in such a way that electrons in the olfactory receptors in our noses disappear on one side of a smell molecule and reappear on the other. This idea of quantum smelling has been gaining ground recently, since it explains why molecules that include sulphur and hydrogen atoms bonded together can take a wide variety of shapes, yet no matter which way these molecules combine, our nose scent receptors invariably register that familiar rotten egg smell every time. Dr. Turin explains,“If you look from the standpoint of an alternative theory–that what determines the smell of a molecule is the vibrations–the sulphur-hydrogen mystery becomes absolutely clear.” When energy of just the right frequency causes collections of atoms to vibrate, these spring-like collections of atoms vibrate every time an electron in a particular “smelly” molecule jumps or tunnels across the receptor, depositing a quantum of energy as it does so into one of the molecule’s bonds, which sets the springy group of atoms in that molecule vibrating.
While progress in quantum physics and quantum biology laboratories moves steadily forward, it seems we may still have a wait before we see anything like William Shatner playing Captain Kirk on Star Trek, saying this famous line into his communicator, “Kirk to Enterprise. Beam us up, Scotty.”
Historical Accounts of Teleportation
On October 24, 1593, Gil Pérez was on duty working as a palace guard in Manilla in the Philippines the day after he’d received word that Chinese pirates had killed Governor Gomez Perez Dasmarinas. Gil Pérez closed his eyes and leaned against a wall to rest, and when he opened his eyes he found himself in Mexico City’s Plaza Mayor, over 9,000 miles away, wearing the uniform of the guards of the Del Gobernador Palace and with absolutely no idea how he came to be there. When questioned, Pérez explained he had just been in Manilla earlier that same day, and he shared the news of the Governor’s death, which was confirmed in Mexico a couple of months later when a ship arrived from the Philippines.
In the year 1904, Signor Mauro Pansini, an Italian building contractor, witnessed his two sons vanishing from their home and being reported as having suddenly appeared many miles away on numerous occasions. Father Vennetti at the Capuchin Convent, at Malfatti, thirty miles away telephoned Signor Pansini one morning to inform him that ten year old Alfredo and eight year old Paolo. Pansini wondered how his sons could have traveled over thirty miles in less than half an hour as he arrived at the Convent, to find them waiting in the reception hall. According to monks at the Convent, the boys arrived mysteriously, in a deep hypnotic state. Signor Pansini took his boys home to their room where he asked them to remain for the rest of the day. A few minutes after seeing them to bed, he decided to check on them and was astonished to find they had vanished out of a closed room! At that same moment, 15 miles away, Signor Pansini’s brother heard a knock on his door, and found his dazed nephews wondering where they were.
Teleportation Reality Shifts
Those of us who’ve experienced reality shifts involving keys, wallets, socks and other objects disappearing from one location and appearing in another have witnessed teleportation in macroscopic objects outside of the laboratory, outside of controlled experimental protocol and in the wilds of everyday life experience. But what does it feel like to literally be teleported somewhere else?
On September 30, 2007, I was working indoors at a full-day holistic expo in Concord, gazing out one of the windows at the sunny day, and daydreaming I was actually out enjoying that beautiful sunny day. A short while later, I received an email from my friend, Katrina, who told me that she had seen me walking down Solano Avenue that day. She was excited to tell me about this, because she knew I was scheduled to be attending a full-day holistic expo out of town that day, and she was therefore quite surprised to see me enjoying a stroll down the street. Strolling down that street is exactly what I was daydreaming about at that point in time, as I was sitting indoors many miles away!
You can watch me discuss this topic on my YouTube video, Quantum Teleportation Reality Shifts, and please feel free to comment with your thoughts and ideas here on this blog and in the comments under the video. I’d love to know how you feel!
While reading an article in Scientific American recently, Living in a Quantum World, I felt heartened to see the article’s subtitle, “Quantum mechanics is not just about teeny particles, it applies to things of all sizes: birds, plants, maybe even people.”
As noted a few months ago in A Unified Universe of Entangled Diamonds and Altruistic Rats, we are truly living in wonderful times as we see mainstream scientific articles acknowledging that quantum mechanics applies to everything in the universe–even ourselves. What this means for our expanding world view is that we can expect to see signs of such things as quantum entanglement, quantum teleportation, and quantum tunneling around us in everyday life–with no need for electron microscopes.
The Scientific American article Living in a Quantum World states, “In a quantum world, a particle does not just have to take one path at a time; it can take all of them simultaneously.” One implication of this idea of quantum behavior showing up on the macro scale includes the notion that we can expect to see occasional signs that the world we see around us and so often take for granted is not the only one. These signs can clue is in to the possibility that we are surrounded by an infinite number of parallel universes that, on some level, we are experiencing in their totality.
The science behind parallel quantum universes
According to physicist Hugh Everett III’s many worlds theory, there are an infinite number of parallel worlds that exist alongside this one. The significance of this theory is that it allows for quantum particles to behave as we’ve observed them and know them to behave, which is probabilistically.
Experiments mentioned in the Scientific American, Living in a Quantum World, indicate that many macro-scale entities such as birds, plants, and salt crystals exhibit signs of being entangled with one another. Such entanglement is a quantum behavioral characteristic which was previously relegated to the realm of the very, very small–yet now entanglement appears to be a quality of quantum behavior we can now claim also for ourselves.
I was thrilled this past month to read a book of first-hand accounts of travels to parallel universes by author Trish LeSage. In Trish’s book, Traveling to Parallel Universes, Trish describes physical changes she often observes days or weeks prior to switching between universes, such as changes in her body temperature, and observing sights, sounds and sensations of other universes. Trish also writes about how she knows when she has arrived in parallel universes, as she observes differences in the way things manifest, and sees changes in people and animals in each parallel world. I especially love the matter-of-fact way Trish describes her parallel world journeys, along with her authentic emotional reactions when encountering such a variety of parallel universes. In one of the more interesting accounts, Trish describes a universe in which people can easily manifest whatever they contemplate relatively quickly and easily, yet due to lack of character-building through hardships, people are not very friendly, genuine, nor heart-centered.
“… to all outward appearances, my life seems the same as usual. I still do all the mundane things I need to do for survival, so much of the time I am living a life of habitual response. The biggest change in me is mostly one of attitude and mindset, as my sense of what’s real has changed. My mind seeks a stable place to consider solid or real, and that sense of reality is no longer based simply on what I see in front of me or what seems to be solid. My sense of self is not limited to being confined to my body, since I so often experience feelings, sensations, and realities that don’t happen where my body is.”
“By welcoming a waking dream state of consciousness, I allow for the unexpected to occur. Even ordinary things like cooking dinner have a different feeling for me. Sometimes I’ve opened my refrigerator to get something, shut the door, opened it again a few minutes later, and found a jar had vanished and reappeared in that short space of time. I savor these sensuous experiences of feeling awake in a dream, because I am aware of my wishes, desires and feelings shaping reality all around me. I often find my passing thoughts answered by the universe, as I engage in a continuous dialogue with all that is. I feel this communication best when I also feel how loved I am and how everything around me is here for my benefit and appreciation, surrendering myself as fully as possible to knowing I am love.”
I hope you’ll enjoy watching and sharing my YouTube video summary of Living in Parallel Worlds–and please feel free to leave comments either on this blog or on my YouTube video page!
One of the benefits of asking the question, “How good can it get?!” while traveling between parallel universes is that you’re likely to get some pretty wonderful answers. Happy travels!
Over the years I’ve heard some amazing firsthand accounts from people who have had astonishing experiences involving houses vanishing. One might think it would be hard to misplace something as big as a house, yet remarkably, many people have witnessed houses vanishing, sometimes never to be seen again, and sometimes reappearing later on.
This last month I was intrigued to hear from a woman named Bekki in Norfolk in the United Kingdom about a house and horse that vanished… and then reappeared. She wrote:
Hi. My name is Bekki, I live in the UK and I hope you can help me (and vice-versa). It’s hard to explain what happened to myself and my two sons about 18 months ago. It’ll be a bit long I fear! We are all very into horses. When we drive home, we go the way that takes us past lots. On this day, our favourite two ponies weren’t in their usual field. I said ‘Maybe they are out on a ride?’ When we came to our normal turn-off, my youngest pointed straight ahead and said ‘this way’. So, despite NEVER having been up this road before , I said okay… A few hundred yards on, we saw a tell-tale lump of horse poop. Around the next bend, lo and behold, were the two ponies being ridden! Pleased to see them, my boys said ‘let’s go home now’. So I carried on driving, intending to find a spot to turn around. This is where it gets weird.
1) A few hundred yards on, we drove past, and briefly stopped to look at, a ‘heavy horse’ in a field, remember this is a road I have NEVER been down before (despite living less than 3 miles away). A distinctive new-build house was adjoining the field. As we were blocking the road, I drove on, saying ‘We’ll pop back another day to look at the horse’. Excited to find another gorgeous horse to visit! On reaching the end of the road, a road junction, I said to my eldest ‘Ah, I know where we are now’. I hate driving on the road it joined to having had an accident with a deer down there so I turned the car round and drove back, intending to familiarise myself with the road with the horse.
2) On the drive back, we missed the horse property. Thinking it must be because the road looked different in the opposite direction, I turned around and drove back the original way – STILL no horse, no house, yet everything else the same! I drove up, then down, another FOUR times before we gave up. Completely unable to explain the happening, we went home (very freaked out).
3) Here is the odd bit. Six months or so ago, I was driving home, alone, from the local town when I drove up behind a lady riding a heavy horse. The first thing I thought was – ‘that is similar to the horse in the ‘missing’ field. Maybe if I follow them, I’ll locate that darn missing house!’ So I turned down the road the horse and rider did, hoping it would lead me to the house, field and horse we’d not been able to locate since!
Now, this is a road I know very well, having worked at a fruit farm down there and having a friend live there. I kept back about 500 yards so not to spook the horse. Suddenly the lady signaled she was turning right and went into a driveway. As I drove past, I couldn’t see her – but my blood went cold! SAME house, SAME field and shelters, even SELLING bags of horse muck outside… When son arrived home, I just said ‘we’ll go for a drive’ didn’t mention horse, house or whatever. Anyway, as we drove up to the house, I sneaked a look in my rear-view mirror. His face was a mask of confusion. He started “Mum, this is the exact same house and field that…” we passed a year ago? It is! Except–I know VERY well the road the house is on. Had never seen it till that day (its new-ish build) BUT HOW ON EARTH did we SEE IT ALL, on a DIFFERENT ROAD, a YEAR EARLIER?! Three of us?!
Just for your reference, the two roads are approximately a mile and half apart, as the crow flies, and there are NO CONNECTING ROADS.
What happened to us that day? Do you have any idea? I’ve looked at time slips, but the stories I’ve read don’t quite fit?
One of the things we can all learn from reality shift experiences is that they are a regularly occurring, perfectly normal part of life, and we can expect to witness shifts in reality now and again. We can expect reality shifts to happen since we’d expect the same sorts of things we see on the quantum scale such as quantum entanglement, quantum teleportation, and quantum tunneling to occasionally manifest on the “macro” scale, and indeed they do! Another aspect from quantum physics is the observer effect, which means reality shifts when we’re watching–and yes, we can notice that happening as well.
I wrote in response to Bekki:
Thank you so very much for writing to me and sharing your amazing experience with the mysterious newly built house and heavyset horse that appeared in one location, vanished, and a year later reappeared on a completely different street. This definitely sounds like a reality shift to me, of the sort I’ve encountered in slightly different, yet fairly similar ways.
There are many stories shared on the realityshifters.com web site about buildings, doors, signs, and occasionally entire cities appearing and disappearing, as well as relocating … which seems on the face of it to be something so very strange and unexpected. I know what a relief it is to experience something like this with witnesses present, so you can reassure yourself that you didn’t imagine or dream the whole thing, but something quite unusual truly occurred.
I met with two friends, Jan and Cliff, for brunch at a restaurant in the Berkeley Marina one seemingly normal day. We continued our conversation with a leisurely stroll around the marina, as we often enjoyed doing when we got together. I told my friends about some reality shifts I’d seen, and how much I wished they could see one, too … when one occurred right on the spot! We were walking together towards the pier, when my friend, Cliff, asked us, “Do either of you recall ever seeing that statue here before?” as he pointed at a giant sculpture of a sundial. Jan replied, “No … I don’t.” I felt tremendously excited, because I’d seen that sculpture there, but never when I was there with these two friends! The sundial seemed to rise up proudly towards the sun to greet us as we walked in awed silence to get a better look.
We walked around the ten foot tall concrete sculpture as children sat and climbed around on it. This installation is in a central location people notice, right in the middle of a square at the foot of the Berkeley pier. Amazingly, the sundial sculpture’s absence had previously allowed us to clearly see another giant sculpture situated up on a hill above the sundial when we were on the pier and walking back towards the shore … but now that the sundialwas there, we noticed we couldn’t see the other sculpture as well because it was partially obscured by the sundial. The other sculpture is a larger-than-life size Asian archer on horseback with fully drawn bow, aiming his arrow out over the bay—shooting over the sundial’s spot.
I told my friends the sundial sculpture had always been here when I had come here without them, but never when we were here together … until now. The sundial is chipped and worn, made out of concrete, and bears the following inscription:
“The peoples of the bountiful Pacific Ocean are brought together by the sweep of time. This sundial honors the citizens of Sakai Japan, the sister city of Berkeley. United in warm friendship and goodwill, the peoples of Sakai and Berkeley strengthen mutual understanding and respect through the exchange of visitors and cultural programs. This sundial is dedicated to the continuing friendship and growing association between Sakai and Berkeley. 1970”
I am deeply impressed that something as large and majestic as this sundial vanished and reappeared, grasping the magnitude of what else must be possible if such large things can so easily be transformed or transported in time and space. The sundial itself is a symbol that reminds me how love transcends space and time to unite all of us across oceans that physically separate us from one another. I feel great reverence for this universe that allows us to glimpse occasional insights as to how it materializes around us.
Cynthia Sue Larson with Reality Shifts
I hope you’ll enjoy watching and sharing my YouTube video summary of When Houses and Horses Disappear–and please feel free to leave comments either on this blog or on my YouTube video page!
Thinking about houses and horses disappearing and reappearing gives us an opportunity to recognize the possibility that right now, at this very moment, we are waking up inside a dream, witnessing how fluid reality can be. And all of this helps expand what we imagine possible when we contemplate my favorite meditative question, “How good can it get?!”
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A man shot and killed a pit bull that was attacking two children on a residential street in San Bernardino and the children's aunt calls him "a hero."
The dog got loose Sunday afternoon in the 2400 block of North Genevieve Street, a San Bernardino police lieutenant told NBC 4. Maria Ramirez told the news channel that the dog attacked both her niece and nephew. The boy told NBC that his aunt tried to fight off the dog with a scooter.
Ramirez called the neighbor who shot the dog "a hero," but said she's still worried about another dog on the neighboring property.
Police Lt. Paul Williams told the Press Enterprise that the neighbor heard the attack, ran out and was able to scare the dog away. That allowed the children to escape, but the dog returned and began lunging and growling at the neighbor. The man, whose name has not been released, went inside, got a shotgun, and when the dog came at him again he killed it, Williams said.
"He was defending himself and those two children," Williams said.
Though police must file a report when a civilian fires a gun in public, no charges against the neighbor are expected, according to NBC.
However, animal control officers are investigating the dog mauling, according to the Press Enterprise. They will try to determine how the animal got loose and whether neglect was involved, according to Williams. The owners of the pit bull "may face charges," he said.
When NBC went to interview the neighbors, a woman said she was sorry for the incident, but blamed the children for provoking the dog. A man, who hid his face with his shirt, told the reporter that the media "makes up stories" about dog attacks. He said he wanted to confront the man who shot his dog, but he didn't come to the door.
Williams told the Press Enterprise that the children sustained only minor injuries in the attack. "The kids are fine, they were released from the hospital very quickly," he said today.
Neighboring Riverside County is considering an ordinance to sterilize all pit bulls and pit bull mixes on the heels of two recent fatal attacks by the breed, one in which a 2-year-old died after being attacked by his uncle's dogs in Colton and one in which a 91-year-old woman died after being mauled in Riverside.
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From Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast, tar sands industry disproportionately affects indigenous and traditionally marginalized communities of color, poisoning the land base and water supply that rural communities rely on.
Early this morning, Norman, Okla. resident Elizabeth Leja locked her neck to equipment used in constructing the Keystone XL pipeline. Citing concerns for Oklahoma’s waterways and their importance for the health of future generations, her actions have halted construction at the site on Highway 62, just North of the North Canadian River, for the day.
The Gulf Coast Project is the Southern segment of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, a $7 billion project by multinational TransCanada. It is slated to transport diluted bitumen from Cushing, OK through East Texas to refineries in Houston and Port Arthur. Broad coalitions of activist groups and concerned residents have cited concerns over the dangers diluted bitumen poses to important North American watersheds and the communities supported by them.
Leja is working with a coalition of groups and individuals dedicated to stopping tar sands transportation through the Great Plains region. She stands in solidarity with scores of anti-extraction activists in Texas who have, for months, used similar tactics to oppose and actively blockade the construction of the pipeline there. Her action also follows the recent commitment in South Dakota by of a number of Tribes, indigenous groups and allies to resist the Northern segment of the Keystone XL pipeline through the signing of the International Treaty to Protect the Sacred.
The tar sands mining project in Northern Alberta is the largest industrial project in the history of humankind, which when fully realized will have destroyed pristine boreal forest and left a toxic wasteland the size of New York State. The corrosive nature of diluted bitumen makes pipelines prone to leaks and when spills occur, the heavier diluted bitumen sinks into the water table.
From Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast, tar sands industry disproportionately affects indigenous and traditionally marginalized communities of color, poisoning the land base and water supply that rural communities rely on. The Keystone XL, as it snakes its way through the heartland of North America, not only crosses numerous major rivers, but the Ogalala Aquifer, which provides drinking and agricultural water for huge sections of the American Midwest.
“The North Canadian river, which the Keystone XL crosses just south of here, isn’t something that we can compromise”, said Leja. “These two years of drought have made our waterways even more sacred, and the dilbit they want to put in that pipeline is just crazy, it isn’t safe.”
Communities directly impacted by this industry, as well as a growing North American Anti-Extraction movement have made halting tar sands transportation by the Keystone XL an international priority.
The problem faced in this by the First Branch of government, the People, is that the other three branches of government, the congress, the courts and the executive along with the easily manipulated minds of many citizens are owned by and obligated to the corporations backing the pipeline.
Mr Smiley, this is absolute courage against absolute insanity and greed, and it strikes me as beyond ignorance to say what you say. In other words, in gratitude for "state services," we must commit environmental suicide and destroy our means of survival. This is your 'wisdom?' Look up the spill history of Keystone to plainly see your death-wish mentality. Here's one of about 13: In July 2010, a Keystone pipeline ruptured and spilled between 800,000 and a million gallons of tarsands oil into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan. Cleanup is ongoing, and may never be complete, experts say. chicagoist.com/2012/07/26/two_years_after_massive_oil_spill_t.php
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A prominent Wisconsin democrat was asked if he was aware a candidate he endorsed was a corrupt republican with ties to Scott Walker. Instead of answering, he called the cops on the guy asking him the question, having him arrested and jailed.
Inmate Chase Bellefountaine posted a photo of himself to Facebook, which led to an investigation for a cell phone. However during the investigation, law enforcement received information that Bellefountaine was involved in something more serious than possession of a cell phone.
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Two years ago tomorrow, January 12, a catastrophic 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti, leveling thousands of structures and killing hundreds of thousands of people. Haiti, already an impoverished nation, appears in many ways to have barely started recovery 24 months later, despite more than $2 billion in foreign aid. So many homes were destroyed that temporary tent cities hastily set up throughout Port-au-Prince have begun to appear permanent -- more than 550,000 people still live in the dirty and dangerous encampments throughout the Haitian capital. Schools are being rebuilt, and some residents are now beginning to move out of the encampments, rediscovering a sense of community. But jobs and a sense of security remain elusive. Gathered here are recent photos from a still-suffering Haiti, two years after the earthquake.
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Tourniquet pressure: the effect of limb circumference and systolic blood pressure.
Complications attributable to direct pressure may result from the use of pneumatic tourniquets during surgical procedures. Traditional estimates have determined the pressures employed rather than the minimal pressure necessary to produce a bloodless field. To determine this pressure, pre-operative and post-operative systolic blood pressures and the tourniquet pressure at which capillary bleeding occurred were measured in a group of patients undergoing elective surgery of the upper and lower limbs. From these results two equations were derived, one for each of the upper and lower limbs, which give the minimum tourniquet pressures to produce bloodless fields. In an average sized, normotensive patient, 200mm Hg was found to be adequate for the upper limb and 250mm Hg for the lower limb.
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Follow @Sisi_Dammie
Thursday, 13 December 2012
40 - Year - Old Woman Breastfeeds Bengal Tigers
Two cubs, a male and a female, were taken from their mother at Yangon Zoological Gardens in Burma after she killed the third in her litter. The two are now being raised on bottled milk as well as 40 -year - old Hla Htay's milk four times a day.
Ms Htay, the partner of an employee at the zoo, told local newspapers this week she felt sorry for the animals and offered her services, at least until the cubs grew teeth.
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[Enhancing effect of matrine on the tumor-inhibition by TIM2 gene-modified hepatocarcinoma H22 cells in mice].
To investigate the effects of matrine on the anti-tumor efficiency of TIM2 gene-modified murine hepatocarcinoma H22 cells. A combined eukaryotic expression vector pIRES2-EGFP-TIM2 was constructed and transfected into H22 cells by lipofectamin. The monoclone of positive H22-TIM2 cells and negative control H22-EGFP cells transfected with pIRES2-EGFP vector were selected by G418 pressure and limited dilution method in turn and were inoculated to establish the tumor-bearing mouse model. Next, matrine was administered to the tumor-bearing mice and the inhibitory effect of matrine was determined. The co-expression of EGFP protein and TIM2 gene was detected in H22 cells selected after TIM2 gene transfecion. After subcutaneous injection of H22-TIM2 cells, the rate of tumor formation (41%) was lower than that of H22 cells and H22-EGFP cells injection (92%) in mice. The tumor growth was significantly inhibited in mice vaccinated with H22-TIM2 cells. After the experiment was completed, the volume of tumors in mice of H22-TIM2 group was 31.34 +/- 9.21 mm3, smaller than those in H22-EGFP group (98.25 +/- 25.23)mm3 and H22 cells group (114.08 +/- 36.45)mm3 (P < 0.01). Matrine dramatically enhanced the anti-tumor efficiency of TIM2 gene-modified H22 cells, with the highest tumor inhibitory rate (IR) 90.6% among the H22-TIM2 group, matrine treatment group and H22-EGFP cells combined with matrine treatment group (69.2%, 67.5% and 70.8%, respectively) in the experimental mice. The tumorigenesity of H22 cells has been markedly impaired after modification by TIM2 gene. Matrine can enhance its inhibitory effect on tumors of H22-TIM2 cells in vivo. These data indicate importance to further study on the biological role of TIM2 gene in tumor immunity and explore the molecular mechanism of matrine in suppressing of tumor growth.
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Background {#Sec1}
==========
Ptosis incidence following cataract surgery has been reduced with the use of a recently developed phacoemulsification technique involving a small incision, with reported rates of 4--21 % \[[@CR1]--[@CR8]\]. Ptosis is generally defined as a decrease in the marginal reflex distance 1 (MRD1) of 2 mm or more in the postoperative measurement compared to the preoperative measurement \[[@CR9], [@CR10]\]. The precise etiology of ptosis remains elusive, but is considered to be multifactorial. The most critical factor in postoperative ptosis appeared trauma to the superior rectus/levator complex caused by local anesthesia, superior rectus bridle suture, and lid speculum \[[@CR1]--[@CR7]\]. Preoperative ptosis showed no effect on postoperative ptosis \[[@CR1]\], but preoperative visible iris sign was shown as a clinical sign of severe involutional ptosis \[[@CR10]\]. Puvanachandra et al. reported the incidence of postoperative ptosis has reduced by changing from ECCE (18 %) to phacoemulsification (0 %) \[[@CR9]\]. It remains uncertain whether the use of an upper transconjunctival sclerocorneal small incision to perform phacoemulsification in cataract surgery can lead to minor blepharoptosis after surgery, and no prior prospective study has addressed this question.
In the present study, patients underwent cataract surgery in both eyes, with an upper incision used in one eye and a temporal incision used in the other eye. We measured the MRD1 in each eye before and three months after phacoemulsification, and statistically analyzed the MRD1 values, using a strict criterion to define postoperative ptosis.
Methods {#Sec2}
=======
Patients {#Sec3}
--------
This study included patients who were scheduled for cataract surgery on both eyes at Aichi Medical University between October 2013 and September 2015. Patients were excluded if they had a history of thyroid eye disease, proptosis, enophthalmos, or previous lid or ocular surgery.
Cataract surgery {#Sec4}
----------------
All phacoemulsification surgeries were performed by one surgeon (R.T.). Surgery was performed with topical and intracameral local anesthesia. Since evidence suggests that a metallic persistent eyelid speculum may lead to postoperative ptosis \[[@CR11]\], here we used a disposable flexible EzSpec lid speculum (Hoya, Tokyo, Japan) for all patients. No superior rectus bridle suture was used. A 2.4-mm sutureless upper or temporal transconjunctival sclerocorneal incision was performed. The patients were randomly prospectively assigned to either Group 1 (upper incision for right eye and temporal incision for left eye) or Group 2 (upper incision for left eye and temporal incision for right eye), such that each patient received one of each incision type. Another 0.8-mm clear corneal incision was made at the nasal side in all patients.
Measurement of MRD1 and distance between medial and lateral canthi {#Sec5}
------------------------------------------------------------------
To perform the MRD1 measurements, photographs were taken by a single investigator (N.K.) who had no information about the position of incision for each patient. Photographs were taken preoperatively and at three months postoperatively, and MRD1 was measured using universal ophthalmic measure (Mita PD meter, HE-95, Handaya, Tokyo, Japan) as shown in Fig. [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}. All MRD1 measurements were made before mydriatic instillation. We measured the preoperative distance between medial and lateral canthi as shown in Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}. The collected data are available at the LabArchives website (<http://www.labarchives.com/bmc>).Fig. 1Margin reflex distance1 (MRD1) is the distance between the center of the pupillary light reflex and the upper eyelid margin with the eye in primary gaze (yellow lines)Fig. 2The distance between medial and lateral canthi (broken line) was measured preoperatively
Ptosis definition {#Sec6}
-----------------
Ptosis is generally defined as a decrease in the relative position of the upper lid by 2 mm or more compared to the preoperative measurement, which may be the largest difference in MRD1 that can be considered clinically acceptable \[[@CR9], [@CR10]\]. Here we used a stricter standard, defining postoperative ptosis as MRD1 difference of ≥0.5 mm between the preoperative and postoperative measurements.
Statistical analysis {#Sec7}
--------------------
Descriptive statistics are presented as the mean ± standard deviation (SD) or as n (%). A paired *t*-test was used to analyze the change in MRD1 from pre-operation to post-operation measurements. An exact McNemar test was used to compare frequencies in paired binary data. To compare the change in MRD1 (from pre-operation to post-operation) between the temporal incision and the upper incision, we assessed whether the two-sided 95 % confidence interval (CI) for the difference was entirely within the interval −0.5 to 0.5 mm as an equivalence margin. The temporal and upper incisions were considered to be equivalent if the 95 % CI fell entirely within the interval. To explore the risk factors of the postoperative MRD1 reduction, the change in MRD1 was analyzed by using the multivariate regression model including incision position (temporal or upper), preoperative MRD1, and preoperative distance between medial and lateral canthi. A total sample size of 36 patients provided 80 % power that the 95 % CI for the paired mean difference between the two incisions did not exceed ± 0.5 mm, which was the predefined equivalence margin, assuming a mean difference of 0 mm and a SD of 1.0 mm for the change in MRD1. All statistical analyses were performed using SAS 9.4 (SAS institute, Cary, NC, USA). Differences with a *p* value of \<0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Results {#Sec8}
=======
A total of 44 patients were initially enrolled. Ten patients could not make it to the hospital on a scheduled day due to personal reasons, and were excluded from this study. Thus, the final analysis included a total of 34 patients: 16 female and 18 male; mean age, 74.7 ± 11.2 years; age range, 69--87 years.
The preoperative MRD1 was 2.27 ± 0.89 mm in the temporal group and 2.24 ± 0.96 mm in the upper group (Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type="table"}). The two incision groups did not significantly differ in pre-operation MRD1 (*p* = 0.764). The postoperative MRD1 was 2.01 ± 1.08 mm in the temporal group versus 2.00 ± 1.05 mm in the upper group (*p* = 0.920). The change in MRD1 from pre-operation to post-operation was −0.26 ± 0.93 mm with the temporal incision and −0.24 ± 0.86 mm with the upper incision. The mean difference in the change in MRD1 between the two incision types was −0.02 mm, with a 95 % CI of −0.24 to 0.20, establishing equivalence between these incisions. We added all data sets used for this study as Additional file [1](#MOESM1){ref-type="media"}.Table 1MRD1 by each incisionMRD1 (mm)Temporal (*n* = 34)Upper (*n* = 34)*p* value^a^Mean difference (95 % CI)Pre-operation2.27 ± 0.892.24 ± 0.960.7640.03 (−0.20, 0.27)Post-operation2.01 ± 1.082.00 ± 1.050.9200.01 (−0.17, 0.30)Difference between post- and pre-operation values−0.26 ± 0.93\
(95 % CI: −0.58, 0.07)\
(*p* = 0.115)^b^−0.24 ± 0.86\
(95 % CI: −0.54, 0.06)\
(*p* = 0.119)^b^0.849−0.02 (−0.24, 0.20)MRD1 decrease of ≥0.5 mm*n* = 14 (41 %)*n* = 14 (41 %)0.392^c^-^a^Compared between temporal and upper incisions using a paired *t*-test^b^Compared between pre- and post-operation values using a paired *t*-test^c^Compared between temporal and upper incisions using an exact McNemar test
We defined postoperative ptosis as a decrease in MRD1 of ≥0.5 mm from the preoperative measurement to the postoperative measurement. As the mean change from pre-operation to post-operation was −0.26 mm (95 % CI, −0.58 to 0.07) with the temporal incision and −0.24 mm (95 % CI, −0.54 to 0.06) with the upper incision, neither group met this stricter criterion for ptosis. The frequency of postoperative ptosis was 14 (41 %) patients with the temporal incision and 14 (41 %) patients with the upper incision, and did not significantly differ between the two incisions (*p* = 0.392).
The multivariate regression analysis showed that the preoperative MRD1 was significantly associated with the reduction of MRD1 after surgery (*p* = 0.034, Table [2](#Tab2){ref-type="table"}).Table 2Multivariate regression analysis for the change in MRD1FactorEstimate (standard error)*p* valueIncision position (temporal)−0.02 (0.11)0.839MRD1 in pre-operation (mm)−0.26 (0.11)0.034Distance between medial and lateral canthi in pre-operation (mm)−0.05 (0.06)0.382
We examined the distributions of the absolute MRD1 and the change from pre-operation in MRD1. The two measures were basically normally distributed (*p* = 0.07 and *p* = 0.66 by Shapiro-Wilk test, respectively). We added it as Additional file 2.
Discussion {#Sec9}
==========
Our data indicated that postoperative ptosis is rare following phacoemulsification cataract surgery with either an upper or temporal 2.4-mm transconjunctival sclerocorneal incision. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between these two incision types. Interestingly the preoperative MRD1 was significantly associated with the reduction of MRD1 after surgery. Our findings suggest that the decision to perform phacoemulsification cataract surgery with an upper or temporal 2.4-mm transconjunctival sclerocorneal incision may be made based on the surgeon's personal preference without influencing the risk of postoperative ptosis.
Many factors may be involved in the development of postoperative ptosis. Kaplan et al. suggested that potential causative factors may include local anesthesia, either through a volume effect or myotoxicity; the superior rectus bridle suture; the use of a lid speculum; the size and location of the incision; and upper eyelid edema \[[@CR1]\]. They concluded that trauma to the superior rectus muscle by placement of a bridle suture was the most influential factor in postoperative ptosis development. The use of a temporal sutureless incision reduces irritation beneath the upper lid, which is associated with inflammation and edema, and may cause ptosis \[[@CR12]\]. With the recently developed technique of phacoemulsification surgery, the incision size and location are likely the most important factors in the development of postoperative ptosis. Our present study focused on the position of the small sutureless incision in phacoemulsification cataract surgery. In their prospective comparative study, Puvanachandra et al. found a postoperative ptosis rate of 18 % in the extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) group and 0 % in the phacoemulsification group \[[@CR9]\]. They defined ptosis as a decrease in the relative position of the upper lid of 2 mm or more compared to the preoperative measurement, present 6 weeks after surgery. They suggested that the principal factor influencing this difference in ptosis rate was the smaller incision size in the phacoemulsification procedure (10 mm with ECCE compared to 3--4 mm with phacoemulsification).
Kawa et al. compared two groups that underwent phacoemulsification without a bridle suture, but with either peribulbar or retrobulbar anesthesia \[[@CR13]\]. Only one patient developed ptosis, and this low rate was attributed to not using a bridle suture. On the other hand, Patel et al. investigated patients undergoing phacoemulsification under peribulbar anesthesia, and found no difference in ptosis rates between those operated using a superior incision and bridle suture and those with a temporal incision with no bridle suture \[[@CR14]\]. Ptosis has been also reported after radial keratotomy and laser in situ keratomileusis \[[@CR15]--[@CR17]\], but these procedures are performed under topical anesthesia and with no bridle suture. In the present study, we did not place a bridle suture, and we used a flexible disposable lid speculum in all cases. Proposed mechanisms of ptosis induction due to speculum use include traction on the superior rectus levator complex when a speculum is forced open, and damage to the levator aponeurosis upon contraction of the orbicularis oculi against a rigid speculum. We anticipate that by eliminating as many possible causative factors as possible, we can greatly reduce the risk of postoperative ptosis.
Conclusions {#Sec10}
===========
Our present results indicate that ptosis following phacoemulsification cataract surgery is rare when using either an upper or temporal 2.4-mm transconjunctival sclerocorneal incision, even applying our stricter definition of postoperative ptosis. The longer preoperative MRD1 was significantly associated with the reduction of MRD1 after surgery. These findings suggest that the choice of whether to perform phacoemulsification cataract surgery with an upper or temporal 2.4-mm transconjunctival sclerocorneal incision can be left to the surgeon without concern that either choice will influence ptosis risk. However we should take notice of postoperative ptosis in cases of longer preoperative MRD1.
Abbreviations {#Sec11}
=============
CI, confidence interval; ECCE, extracapsular cataract extraction; MRD, marginal reflex distance; SD, standard deviation
Additional files {#Sec12}
================
Additional file 1:Preoperative and postoperative MRD1 values, and preoperative distance between medial and lateral canthi. (XLSX 13 kb)Additional file 2:Histograms of the absolute MRD1 and the change from pre-operation in MRD1, We examined the distributions of the absolute MRD1 (left) and the change from pre-operation in MRD1 (right). According to the figure, the two measures were basically normally distributed (*p* = 0.07 and *p* = 0.66 by Shapiro-Wilk test, respectively).
The authors received no grant support in reporting these clinical observations.
Funding {#FPar1}
=======
None.
Availability of data and materials {#FPar2}
==================================
The dataset supporting the conclusions of this article is available in the repository: <https://mynotebook.labarchives.com/share/MRD1%2520data/MjIuMXwxNzE0NTYvMTcvVHJlZU5vZGUvNzc4NTE4NDM4fDU2LjE=>.
Authors' contributions {#FPar3}
======================
RT was responsible for, collection of data, analysis and interpretation of results and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. KM participated in its design and supervised the study. MG performed the statistical analysis. NK was involved in data collection. MZ conceived the study. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.
Competing interests {#FPar4}
===================
The authors declare that they have no competing interest.
Consent for publication {#FPar5}
=======================
Not applicable.
Ethics approval and consent to participate {#FPar6}
==========================================
All patients provided informed consent prior to study entry, and the study protocol was approved by the internal review board of Aichi Medical University.
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Often our values of solidarity and co-operation are seen as irrelevant or impractical, sometimes Labour is felt to not embody these values. Either way, people across the country experience Labour as alien, remote and irrelevant and this experience has its consequences at elections. This alienation began before Jeremy Corbyn, indeed, in many ways it began before Tony Blair. The Party’s increasing lack of a clear, distinct, positive purpose can be seen as a consequence of the successful attempt to win elections under Blair while doing nothing to challenge the dominance of values hostile to our own. This worked electorally under Blair but the failure to assert and make practical our values meant deeper problems were never addressed and as a strategy it can no longer work. Corbyn’s election as Labour leader was a response to this moral crisis and his leadership offers the chance of addressing it.
MPs have, whether in government or opposition, a clear and vital task at Westminster, but they also have a task and opportunity as they are viewed as the political focus of their communities. If selected as Labour candidate for Lewisham West and Penge, and, subsequently, if elected MP, I will dedicate a significant amount of both my time and Parliamentary salary to helping to build on and politicise community capacities and to institutionalise solidarity in Lewisham West and Penge.
I will work to see the money, and any influence I have, to bring people together, whether they are Labour members or not (and one thing the excitement of Corbyn’s leadership has brought is a large new membership who could have a real, direct impact on their communities), initially to establish a network of Labour breakfast clubs where anyone can get a good, nutritious breakfast. I hope these clubs will begin to provide community focal points where skills and knowledge can be shared for mutual support and be a basis for popular participation to influence how we use the strength of the party membership and the community to meet people’s needs whether directly through things that might include, alongside Labour breakfast clubs, food banks, legal support or cultural education or through influencing our representatives both locally and nationally.
If we want to rebuild the trust in communities that will rebuild our support electorally, Labour must show that co-operation and solidarity are our values and that they are meaningful and practical values. In a context where cuts to benefits, welfare services, legal aid or other legal advice, ever narrower limits on entitlements to housing or lack of childcare and cultural and arts education for working class children limits the lives of thousands in every constituency, we have a duty to use our power to help and the opportunity to show we can be useful. If am selected then elected in Lewisham West and Penge, I will do everything I can to help prove the usefulness of Labour and of our values and, even more importantly, to support and encourage the Party and community to prove that for themselves.
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---
abstract: 'Photometry with [*HST*]{}’s ACS reveals that the subgiant branch (SGB) of the globular cluster NGC 1851 splits into two well-defined branches. If the split is due only to an age effect, the two SGBs would imply two star formation episodes separated by $\sim$ 1 Gyr. We discuss other anomalies in NGC 1851 which could be interpreted in terms of a double stellar population. Finally, we compare the case of NGC 1851 with the other two globulars known to host multiple stellar populations, and show that all three clusters differ in several important respects.'
author:
- 'A. P. Milone, L. R. Bedin, G. Piotto, J. Anderson, I. R. King, A. Sarajedini, A. Dotter, B. Chaboyer, A. Marín-Franch, S. Majewski, A. Aparicio, M. Hempel, N. E. Q. Paust, I. N. Reid, A. Rosenberg, M. Siegel'
title: 'The ACS Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters. III. The Double Subgiant Branch of NGC 1851[^1]'
---
Introduction
============
For many decades, globular clusters (GC) have been considered the simplest possible stellar populations, made up of stars located at the same distance, formed at the same epoch and from the same material. Although anomalies had been noted from time to time in the abundances of a number of individual elements (see discussion in Gratton, Sneden, & Carretta 2004), the description of populations in terms of a helium abundance and an overall heavy-element abundance seemed firm. The “second-parameter problem” has continued to be a pain for many decades, and unusual HB morphologies were turning up more often, but the implications for the origin and evolution of GC stars remained ambiguous. Similarly, theoreticians had predicted that self-enrichment (Cotrell & Da Costa 1981, Ventura et al. 2001, Ventura & D’Antona 2005, Maeder & Meynet 2005) or mergers might generate multiple populations in clusters, but such predictions remained controversial (see, e.g., Fenner et al. 2004, Bekki & Norris 2006), and had little observational basis. Most important for our discussion here, the idea of one clear sequence in each part of the HR diagram of each cluster stood firm.
Now, however, the paradigm of GC hosting simple stellar populations has been seriously challenged by the discovery of multiple evolutionary sequences in $\omega$ Centauri (Bedin et al. 2004) and NGC 2808 (Piotto et al. 2007, P07). In both clusters the evidence that stars must have formed in distinct bursts is the presence of multiple main sequences (MSs). However, the two objects differ in at least two important aspects: The stars of $\omega$ Cen have a large spread in metal content, whereas in NGC 2808 only oxygen and sodium are observed to vary much. Omega Cen shows at least four distinct subgiant branches (SGBs), implying a range of ages, while the narrow turnoff in NGC 2808 implies that there is little or no difference in age among its populations. One more cluster, M54, shows a complex color-magnitude diagram (see, e.g., Layden & Sarajedini 2000), including a bifurcated SGB (see paper IV of this series, Siegel et al. 2007). This cluster has been shown, however, in too many papers to cite here, to be a part of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy that is in process of merging into the Milky Way, and very possibly the actual nucleus of that galaxy. (Actually, it is still matter of debate which parts of the color-magnitude diagram of M54 represent the cluster population and which ones are due to the Sagittarius stars.) Even though $\omega$ Cen could very well represent a similar situation, we feel that M54 is very different from the clusters that we discuss here, and we will therefore not include it in the discussions of this paper.
The puzzling observational facts for $\omega$ Cen and NGC 2808 call for a more careful analysis of the MS, turnoff (TO), and subgiant branch of other GCs. In this respect, the color-magnitude diagram (CMD) database from the [[*HST*]{}]{} Treasury program GO-10755 (see Sarajedini et al. 2007) provides a unique opportunity to search for anomalies in the different evolutionary sequences of other Galactic GCs. Even though the narrow F606W $-$ F814W color baseline is far from ideal for identifying multiple main sequences, our observing strategy was devised to have a very high signal/noise ratio at the level of the TO, and therefore the CMDs are perfectly suitable for identifying multiple TO/SGBs, such as those as found in $\omega$ Cen. (New [[*HST*]{}]{} observations specifically devoted to the identification of multiple MSs are already planned for other massive GCs, in GO-10922 and GO-11233.)
Indeed, a first look at the entire Treasury database showed at least one other GC whose CMD clearly indicates the presence of multiple stellar populations: NGC 1851. Although NGC 1851 is a massive GC with a prototypical bimodal horizontal branch (HB), not much attention has been devoted to the study of its stellar population. The most complete photometric investigation of this cluster is by Saviane et al.(1998), and the most extended spectroscopic analysis was done over 25 years ago, by Hesser et al. (1982). Saviane et al. (1998) confirmed the bimodal nature of the HB of NGC 1851, but did not find any other anomaly in its CMD. Hesser et al. (1982) found that three out of eight bright red giant branch (RGB) stars have extremely strong CN bands.
The present paper is based on new photometry of NGC 1851, from [[*HST*]{}]{}/ACS imaging and from archival WFPC2 images. Section 2 describes the data sets, and § 3 presents the color-magnitude diagram from the ACS data, with a split in the subgiant branch clearly visible. In §4 we use the WFPC2 data, both for proper-motion elimination of field stars and to construct a CMD with a broader wavelength baseline which we use to set a severe upper limit on any spread in the main sequence. Section 5 discusses the properties of the SGB and of the horizontal branch, and shows that the two parts of each have the same spatial distribution. Section 6 considers the ages of the two populations, and § 7 is a discussion and summary.
Observations and Measurements
=============================
The main database used in this paper comes from [*HST*]{} ACS/WFC images in the F606W and F814W bands, taken for GO-10775 (P.I. Sarajedini). In addition, we use [*HST*]{} WFPC2 archive data from GO-05696 (P.I.Bohlin) to extend the wavelength range to the blue, as well as to obtain proper motions. The data sets are summarized in Table 1.
\[t1\]
[cccc]{} DATE & EXPOSURES & FILT & PROGRAM\
\
April 10, 1996 & 4$\times$900s & F336W & 5696\
\
July 1, 2006 & 20s$+$5$\times$350s & F606W & 10775\
July 1, 2006 & 20s$+$5$\times$350s & F814W & 10775\
The photometric and astrometric measurements were made for both WFPC2 and ACS using the algorithms described by Anderson & King (2000, 2006). Each image was reduced independently, with the observations averaged to produce a single flux for each star in each filter. We put the WFC photometry into the Vega-mag system following the procedures in Bedin et al. (2005) and adopting the encircled energy and zero points as given by Sirianni et al. (2005). WFPC2 data were photometrically calibrated following Holtzman et al. (1995). The proper motions were derived as in Bedin et al. (2006).
Breathing can change the focus of the telescope, which can result in small spatial variations of the PSF relative to the library PSF, and consequently in small spatial variations of the photometric zero point. In order to deal with any residual PSF variation, we used a method similar to the one described in Sarajedini et al. (2007) to perform a spatial fit to the color residuals relative to the main-sequence ridge line, and remove them. In this case, however, the corrections were made only to colors, rather than along a reddening line, because, as noted in Section 3, the reddening of NGC 1851 is so small that what we are correcting is surely differences between the spatial variations of the PSF in the two filters, rather than differential reddening. The spatially dependent correction was at the level of $\sim$0.01 magnitude, and merely sharpens the sequences a little.
The ACS/WFC Color-Magnitude Diagram
===================================
In Figure \[f1\] we show the color-magnitude diagram for the ACS/WFC photometry. The left panel shows the original CMD. The main result is already evident: the subgiant branch (SGB) is split into two distinct branches. The right panel shows the CMD after the correction for the spatial variation of the color zero point. The SGB split is still there, and there are clearly two sequences down to the cluster TO. No separation is evident in the main sequence. It must be immediately noted that because of the narrowness of MS below the TO, the SGB broadness can be due neither to any residual spatial variation of the zero point nor to any differential reddening, which is expected to be negligible because of the low reddening of NGC 1851 \[$E(B-V)=0.02$, Harris 1996\].
The two SGBs remain separated by $\sim 0.1$ mag in the magnitude interval $18.0<m_{\rm F606W}<19.0$, over the color interval $0.5<m_{\rm
F606W}-m_{\rm F814W}<0.6$. Hereafter we will refer to the two SGBs as bSGB and fSGB, where b stands for brighter and f stands for fainter.
Omega Cen and NGC 2808 also show evidence of multiple populations, but we note that the split in the SGB of NGC 1851 is quite different from what we found in the former two cases. In NGC 2808, the main sequence splits into three distinct sequences a couple of magnitudes below the turnoff, but the SGB shows no evidence of splitting. In Omega Cen, both the SGB and the MS show evidence of splitting. Here, it is only the SGB that is split. We will see that the main sequence of NGC1851 appears consistent with a single population.
The WFPC2 Data
==============
Proper motions for field decontamination
----------------------------------------
We used the archival WFPC2 images as a first epoch to determine proper motions. WFPC2 has a field of view that is only $\sim$50% of the ACS field, and the crowding prevented us from measuring good WFPC2 positions for stars within 500 ACS/WFC pixels of the cluster center. This somewhat reduces the size of our sample.
In the left panel of Fig. \[f2\] we show the CMD, using the F336W magnitudes from the WFPC2 images and the F814W magnitudes from the ACS images. The second column of panels shows the proper-motion diagrams of the stars for four different magnitude intervals. It should be noted that we measure proper motions relative to a reference frame made up of only cluster members, so that the zero point of our motions is the mean motion of the cluster. In the third column the magnitudes of the proper motion vectors are plotted against stellar magnitude. The errors clearly increase toward fainter magnitudes. The line was drawn in order to isolate the stars that have member-like motions, and was derived as follows. First, we note that in our study of SGB stars it is more important to have a pure cluster sample than a complete one, so we make a conservative choice. Taking each interval of 1 magnitude in F336W, we begin by estimating the sigma of the member-like motions. To do this we find the size of proper motion that includes 70% of the stars; for a bivariate Gaussian this radius should lie at $1.552\sigma$, where $\sigma$ refers to each dimension. We then plot a point at $2.448\sigma$, which is the size that should include 95% of the cluster stars. We use spline interpolation to draw a line through these points, and choose all the stars to the left of the line. By giving up 5% of the cluster stars we effectively exclude nearly all of the field stars. The rightmost panel shows the CMD of our chosen cluster stars.
In Fig. \[f3\] we summarize the results. The top left panel shows a zoomed CMD around the SGB for the stars in our proper-motion-selected sample. Stars marked in red are are bSGB stars (119 objects), and the ones in blue are fSGB stars (88 objects). In the bottom right panel is the vector point diagram for the same stars. The two SGBs seem to have the same proper motion distribution. To show this more clearly, in the adjacent panels we plot normalized histograms of the separate components of the proper motions, for the stars of the three groups separately. Gaussian fits are also shown.
A side-benefit of proper-motion cleaning is that it also removes from the CMD stars that did not have well-measured positions. These stars tend to have poor photometry as well, so removing them naturally improves the quality of the CMD.
Wide color baseline {#ss_widecolor}
-------------------
The second benefit of the WFPC2 data is that it provides a much better color baseline than the ACS data alone; our study of NGC 2808 (P07) showed that a wider color baseline yields a more significant splitting of the main sequence. The CMD in Figure \[f2\] shows F336W vs. the F336W $-$ F814W color. The SGB split is even more clear in this figure than in the $V-I$ CMD of Figure \[f1\] from the ACS data alone — but what is more important is that we now have a better opportunity to study any possible color spread in the main sequence. Any limits on the intrinsic width of the main sequence will translate directly into upper limits on spreads in the helium and heavy-element abundances, since age differences have little effect below the turnoff. (We note, however, the possibility that simultaneous changes in He and heavy elements could have effects that offset each other.)
Fig. \[f4\] shows the color distribution of the MS stars. The left panel repeats a part of the proper-motion-selected CMD that we showed in Fig. \[f2\]. In order to derive the main sequence ridge line (MSRL) we divided the CMD into intervals of 0.2 mag in the F336W band and computed the median color in each interval. By fitting these median points with a spline, we obtained a raw fiducial line. Then for each star we calculated the difference in color with respect to the fiducial, and took as the $\sigma$ the location of the 68th percentile of the absolute values of the color differences. All stars with a color distance from the MSRL greater than $4\sigma$ were rejected, and the median points and the $\sigma$ were redetermined. The middle panel of Fig. \[f4\] shows the same CMD as the left panel, but after subtracting from each star the MSRL color appropriate for its F336W magnitude. Finally, the right panel shows the histograms of the color distributions in five different magnitude intervals.
The color distribution is fairly well reproduced by a Gaussian, and there is no evidence of a split of the MS, such as observed in $\omega$ Cen or NGC 2808. Since most of the error in color will come from the WFPC2 photometry, which will at best have an error of 0.02 mag (Anderson & King 2000), a 0.01 mag color error in the WFC (Anderson & King 2006) will give us an expected color error of 0.025 mags from measuring error alone. As Fig. \[f4\] shows that the MS broadening can be represented with a Gaussian with $\sigma\sim0.05$, we obtain an upper limit for the intrinsic color dispersion of the MS of NGC 1851 of $\sigma_{MS}=0.04$.
Two Stellar populations in NGC 1851 {#SGB}
===================================
In this section we will derive the basic properties of the two SGBs, and consider whether other features in the CMD may indicate the presence of two stellar populations in NGC 1851.
SGB population ratios
---------------------
Figure \[f5\] shows how we fitted Gaussians to the magnitude distributions of the bSGB and fSGB stars to estimate their number ratio. The top panel of the figure is a blow-up of the part of the SGB where the split occurs. The red line is a fiducial line through the bSGB. We drew it by marking the middle magnitude level of bSGB at four equally spaced points and drawing a line through them by means of a spline fit. In the middle panel the magnitude of each star has had subtracted from it the magnitude of this fiducial line at the color of the star. For the analysis that was to follow, we divided the color range into four sections, as shown.
In each color section we estimated the fraction of stars in each of the SGBs, as follows. Our aim was to fit the magnitude distributions in the two branches by a pair of overlapping Gaussians, but we felt the need to eliminate outliers, especially in the bluest color section. This we did by making a preliminary least-squares fit of the Gaussians, using all of the stars. We then repeated the solution, but omitting the stars that lay more than $2\sigma$ above the midpoint of the Gaussian for bSGB or more than $2\sigma$ below the midpoint of the Gaussian for fSGB (using in each case the sigma of the corresponding Gaussian). In the middle panel of Fig. \[f5\] the horizontal lines show the midpoint of the final Gaussians. The red dashed line runs $2\sigma_b$ on the bright side of the bSGB, and the blue dashed line runs $2\sigma_f$ on the faint side of the fSGB (where the $\sigma$’s are those of the best-fitting Gaussians in each color section, fitted to the distributions of the bSGB and fSGB stars, respectively). The stars rejected consist of field stars, objects with poor photometry, or binaries (brighter than the bSGB). We have also marked, in the top panel of Fig. \[f5\], the values of the Gaussian centers of bSGB with large dots and the spline through them with continuous lines. The crosses are the Gaussian centers of fSGB lowered by $2\sigma_f$, and the dashed lines are a spline fitted through the crosses.
The bottom section of Fig. \[f5\] shows the histogram of the magnitude distribution in each color section of the middle panel, and the best-fitting Gaussians. The numbers reported in the figures give the percentage of total area under each of the two Gaussians, i.e., the percentage of bSGB (red) and fSGB (blue) in each interval.
When we added up, for each SGB, the areas under the four Gaussians fitted to the separate color sections, we found that 55% of the stars belong to the bSGB, and 45% to the fSGB. Although the expected sigma of samplings from a binomial distribution of more than 1000 stars, with a probability of 0.55, is less than 2%, we estimate that our observed 55/45 split really has an uncertainty that is more like 5%. This estimate is based on the differing results of several different ways of fitting the Gaussians (e.g., as simple a thing as changing the bin-width of the histograms).
As for the intrinsic width of each SGB, the dispersions in magnitude of the two Gaussians in the color sections where the two SGBs are well separated are of the order of 0.02 mag, consistent with the uncertainties in our corrections for spatial variation of the PSF. (Paradoxically, WFC colors are more accurate than WFC magnitudes, because these corrections are what limits the accuracy of high-S/N photometry, and in the case of colors the corrections are only for the difference in behavior of the PSF through two different filters.)
Spatial distribution of the SGB stars
-------------------------------------
Figure \[f6\] shows the spatial distributions of the two SGB components. We select the two SGB subsamples as shown in the bottom-right panel, and plot the spatial distributions in the bottom-left panel. Stars from both groups have similar spatial distributions. This is also confirmed by the cumulative radial distributions shown in the top panel. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic shows that in random samplings from the same distribution a difference this large would occur 11% of the time, which is very reasonable for the hypothesis that the two SGBs have the same distribution.
The horizontal branch stars
---------------------------
Since the WFC data set included short exposures, we can also examine the horizontal branch (HB) population. Figure \[f7\] shows the upper part of the F606W vs. F606W $-$ F814W CMD. The NGC 1851 HB is clearly bimodal. Interestingly enough, the red HB contains $63\pm7$% of the total red + blue HB stars (242 stars), and the blue part contains $37\pm9$% of the red + blue HB stars (143 stars). Note that some stars populate the RR Lyrae gap. It is difficult to extract RR Lyrae variables from the small number of exposures that went into Fig. \[f7\], with each star caught at random phases in each color band. In any case, the contribution of the RR Lyraes to the total population of the HB stars is $<$10% (see Saviane et al. 1998 and Walker 1992). As in the case of the bSGB and fSGB, stars from the red and blue HB groups have similar spatial distributions (see top right panel of Fig. \[f7\]). This is also confirmed by the cumulative radial distributions shown in the bottom panel. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic shows that in random samplings from the same distribution a difference this large would occur 17% of the time, so here too there is no significant indication of a difference in their radial distribution.
Neither for the SGB stars nor for the HB stars is the distribution of the two samples significantly different. It would obviously be desirable to strengthen the statistics by combining the two sets of counts, but unfortunately this is not possible, because the incompletenesses in star counts at the HB and at the SGB level are different.
On the basis of the relative numbers of red to blue HB stars and of bSGB to fSGB populations, it is very tempting to connect the bSGB (which includes 55% of the SGB stars) with the red HB, and the fSGB (45% of the SGB stars) with the blue HB stars.
The ages of the two populations
===============================
The dispersion in the MS in F336W $-$ F814W is less than 0.04 mag. Such a narrow main sequence implies that either the two SGB populations have the same metallicities and the same helium abundances or some fortuitous combination of abundances that results in no MS split. Comparison with the theoretical models of Dotter et al.(2007) provides an upper limit to a possible dispersion in \[Fe/H\] of 0.1 dex or in helium abundance of $\Delta Y= 0.026$, if each of the two is assumed to act alone. We are not suggesting that such spreads exist; we merely state upper limits to what might be present.
We note that if we just increase the He abundance, there will be no appreciable effect on the SGB luminosity. Helium alone cannot explain the observed SGB split. On the other hand, a population 0.2 dex more metal rich would have an SGB that is fainter by $\sim0.12$ magnitude, and therefore it would be able to explain the SGB split. However, such a high difference in \[Fe/H\] is ruled out by the narrowness of the MS. We have also looked at the color distribution of the red giant branch (RGB) and found no evidence of a split, and found an RGB color dispersion consistent with the photometric error, confirming that any dispersion in \[Fe/H\] alone must be much smaller than 0.2 dex.
Note, however, that increasing \[Fe/H\] makes the MS redder, while increasing helium makes the MS bluer. Thus if, as a mere working hypothesis, one increases \[Fe/H\] by 0.2 dex (enough to explain the SGB split), while changing $Y$ from 0.247 to 0.30, then the two effects cancel each other out, and the MS would have the same color. The same would happen on the RGB: an \[Fe/H\] content 0.2 dex higher would move the RGB to the red, but the RGB would be moved to the original color in the presence of a He content $Y \sim 0.30$. In this way we would be able to reconcile the SGB split with the low dispersions in the MS and RGB. (Clearly, this kind of conspiracy cannot be ruled out till we have high-resolution spectra to measure the metal content of the NGC 1851 stars.) However, there is additional observational evidence which seems to rule out such an unlikely coincidence. A change in \[Fe/H\] of +0.2 dex would imply an HB 0.03–0.04 magnitude fainter, while the suggested $Y$ enhancement would end with a bluer HB that is $\sim0.2$ magnitude brighter. The resulting sloping of the horizontal branch is not observed in Fig. \[f7\].
The only remaining possibility of explaining the SGB split is therefore to assume that in NGC 1851 there are two stellar populations with similar metallicity and He content, but with different ages. Figure \[f5\] shows that the two SGBs are separated vertically by $\sim0.1$ magnitude in F606W. Comparison with the theoretical models of Dotter et al. (2007) shows that this separation corresponds to an age difference of $\sim 1$ Gyr, with the fSGB older than the bSGB.
Discussion
==========
In this paper we have shown that the SGB of the Galactic GC NGC 1851 is split into two distinct branches. If the split is interpreted in terms of age, its width implies that the two populations were formed at epochs separated by $\sim1$ Gyr. As discussed in the previous section, the age difference seems a possible explanation for the peculiar SGB.
The SGB split is not the only observational evidence of the presence of more than one population in NGC 1851, though it is probably the clearest one. We have already noted that NGC 1851 has a bimodal HB, and that there might be a connection between the two SGBs and the two HB sections. The relative frequency of stars in the different branches implies that the progeny of the bSGB are in the red part of the HB, while the progeny of the fSGB are on the blue side of the instability strip. This is what one would expect qualitatively from stellar evolution models, though an age difference of only 1 Gyr is not enough to move stars from the red to the blue side of the HB. Our models indicate that to move stars from the red to the blue side of the RR Lyrae gap would require an age difference of $\sim$ 2–3 Gyr. Some additional parameter, or combination of parameters, must be at work in order to explain the morphology of the HB of NGC 1851.
There is another relevant observational fact that must be mentioned. Hesser et al. (1982) found that three out of eight of their bright RGB stars show “extraordinarily strong” CN bands. These stars also show enhanced Sr II and Ba II lines, and lie systematically on the red side of the RGB. In other words, $\sim$40% of their sample of bright RGB stars contains CNO-processed material. This material could come from the interior of these stars through mixing processes, but after what we have learned from $\omega$ Cen and NGC 2808 we cannot exclude the possibility that this processed material comes from a first generation of stars that polluted the gas from which the CN-strong stars have formed. This hypothesis would be further supported if Sr and Ba are also confirmed to be enhanced (as the spectra of Hesser et al. \[1982\] seem to imply), as these elements cannot be produced in the low-mass stars presently on the RGB of NGC 1851.
Unfortunately, the results by Hesser et al. (1982) are based on a very limited sample of stars; a more extended spectroscopic investigation is clearly needed. Meanwhile, it is rather instructive to look at the CMD published by Grundahl et al. (1999), based on Strömgren photometry. Among the 15 CMDs in their Fig. 1, NGC 1851 shows by far the broadest RGB, with some hint of a bimodality. This bimodality is not visible in our narrow-color-baseline F606W vs.F606W $-$ 814W CMD, but the capability of Strömgren photometry to distinguish stellar populations with different metal content (in particular CN content) is well known, and the CMD of Grundahl et al.(1999) tends to confirm the results of Hesser et al. (1982). We have investigated the possibility that an enhancement of C or N, or of both elements, can be the cause of the observed SGB split. Hesser et al.(1982) found that model spectra with \[C/A\] = +0.2 and \[N/A\] = +0.5 (where they define \[A/H\] as the logarithmic relative abundance of all heavy elements in the theoretical models), or else model spectra with with \[C/A\] = 0 and \[N/A\] = +1.0 could fit the observed spectra equally well. A detailed analysis of the effect of C and N overabundances is beyond the scope of the present paper. Furthermore, before such an analysis is justified we will need better abundance constraints, which would require fitting a larger sample of stellar spectra with modern atmospheric models. Here we note that one possible consequence for a second generation of stars is indeed an increased CNO abundance from mass lost after the third dredge-up in intermediate-mass AGB stars from an earlier generation (see discussion in Ventura & D’Antona 2005 and Karakas et al. 2006). The spectroscopic results of Hesser et al. (1982) suggest enhanced levels of C and N but do not include an analysis of the oxygen abundance, due to a lack of measurable features in the spectra. (This further underlines the need for a new study.) It is however possible that the C + N + O amount is enhanced to some extent, though at the moment we cannot quantify this enhancement. The CNO enhancement is an important observational input, as the level of enhancement would allow us to better identify the possible polluters from the first generation of stars.
The presence of CNO enhancement would affect the age difference between the two populations. A CNO enhancement of +0.3 dex would reduce the age difference between the two SGBs to 300–500 Myr. Under this hypothesis, we estimate a gap in the SGB of $\sim0.07$ magnitude due to the composition alone, and an additional 0.03–0.05 mag displacement due to the age difference, fully accounting for the observed magnitude difference between the two SGBs.
Larger CNO enhancements would further reduce the age gap between the two generations of stars, down to a few hundred Myr, as expected in the intermediate-mass-AGB-star pollution scenario (Ventura et al.2002). We note that if the CNO enhancement in second-generation stars of NGC 1851 is confirmed, NGC 1851 might differ from other globular clusters, in which the sum of CNO elements for normal and self-enriched stars seems to be constant (Cohen & Melendez 2005). New spectroscopy of stars in NGC 1851, along with the photometry presented in this paper and detailed modeling, can significantly improve our understanding of this intriguing situation.
NGC 1851 is the third globular cluster for which we have direct evidence of multiple stellar generations. All three clusters seem to differ in several important respects, however:
- In $\omega$ Cen, the multiple populations manifest themselves both in a main-sequence split (interpreted as a bimodal He abundance; see Bedin et al. 2004, Norris 2004, and Piotto et al. 2005) and in a multiplicity of SGBs (interpreted in terms of large age variations, $\gg 1$ Gyr; see Villanova et al. 2007, and references therein), which implies at least four different stellar groups within the same cluster.
- In NGC 2808, the multiple generation of stars is inferred from the presence of three MSs (interpreted in this case too in terms of three groups of stars characterized by different helium contents; see discussion in Piotto et al. 2007), and further confirmed by the presence of three groups of stars with different oxygen abundances. It is also consistent with the presence of a multiple HB (D’Antona & Caloi 2004). However, in NGC 2808 the TO-SGB regions are so narrow that any difference in age between the three stellar groups must be significantly smaller than 1 Gyr.
- In the case of NGC 1851, we have evidence of two stellar groups from the SGB split, which apparently implies two stellar generations, formed with a time separation of $\sim 1$ Gyr. This hypothesis is further confirmed by the presence of a group of RGB stars with strong CN bands (distinct from the majority of CN-normal RGB stars), and enhanced Sr and Ba, and possibly the presence of a bimodal HB. In the case of NGC 1851 there is no evidence of MS splitting, which implies that any difference in helium or other heavier element content between the two populations should be small.
Apparently, not only are GCs not single-stellar-population objects, containing stars formed in a single star burst, but the evidence emerging from the new exciting [[*HST*]{}]{} observations presented in this paper — as well as from the [[*HST*]{}]{} observations of $\omega$ Cen and NGC 2808 — is that the star-formation history of a globular cluster can vary strongly from cluster to cluster. We are still far from understanding what governs the different star-formation histories, and this is an exciting and challenging question for future investigations. At the moment, we can only note that the three clusters in which multiple generations of stars have been clearly identified ($\omega$ Cen, NGC 2808, and NGC 1851), and the two other clusters strongly suspected to contain more than one stellar generation (NGC 6388 and NGC 6441; see Caloi & D’Antona 2007, and Busso et al. 2007) are among the ten most massive clusters in our Galaxy. This evidence suggests that cluster mass might have a relevant role in the star-formation history of GCs.
We should note finally that the cases of $\omega$ Centauri and M54, both probably associated with mergers of other galaxies into the Milky Way, suggest the possibility that all globular clusters that have complexities in their CMDs are likewise merger remnants. This is an attractive speculation, but we think that it does not yet have enough observational support.
The authors wish to thank the referee, Francesca D’Antona, for useful discussions. The USA authors acknowledge the support for Program number GO-10775 provided by NASA through a grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Incorporated, under NASA contract NAS5-26555.
Anderson, J., & King, I. R. 2000, , 112, 1360 Anderson, J., & King, I. R. 2006, ACS Instrument Science Report 2006-01 (Baltimore: STScI) Bedin, L. R., Piotto, G., Anderson, J., Cassisi, S., King, I. R., Momany, Y., & Carraro, G. 2004, ApJ, 605, L125 Bedin, L. R., Cassisi, S., Castelli, F., Piotto, G., Anderson, J., Salaris, M., & Pietrinferni, A. 2005, MNRAS, 357, 1038 Bedin, L. R., Piotto, G., Carraro, G., King, I. R., & Anderson, J. 2006, A&A, 460, L27 Bekki, K., & Norris, J. E. 2006, ApJ, 637, L109 Busso et al. (2007), A&A, in press Caloi, V., & D’Antona, F. 2007, A&A, 463, 949 Cohen, J. G., & Meléndez, J. 2005, AJ, 129, 303 Cotrell, P. L., & Da Costa, G. S. 1981, ApJ, 245, L79 D’Antona, F., & Caloi, V. 2004, ApJ, 611, 871 Dotter, A., Chaboyer, B., Jevremovic, D., Baron, E., Ferguson, J. W., Sarajedini, A., & Anderson, J. 2007, AJ, 134,376 Fenner, Y., Campbell, S., Karakas, A. I., Lattanzio, J. C., & Gibson, B. K. 2004, MNRAS, 353, 789 Gratton, R., Sneden, C., & Carretta, E. 2004, ARA&A, 42, 385 Grundahl, F., Catelan, M., Landsman, W. B., Stetson, P. B., & Andersen, M. I. 1999, ApJ, 524, 242 Harris, W. E. 1996, AJ, 112, 1487 (Feb. 2003 revision) Hesser, J. E., Bell, R. A., Harris, G. L. H., & Cannon, R. D. 1982, AJ, 87, 1470 Holtzman, J. A., Burrows, C. J., Casertano, S., Hester, J. J., Trauger, J. T., Watson, A. M., & Worthey, G. 1995, , 107, 1065 Karakas, A. I., Fenner, Y., Sills, A., Campbell, S. W., & Lattanzio, J. C. 2006, ApJ, 652, 1240 Layden, A. C., & Sarajedini, A. 2000, ApJ, 119, 1760 Maeder, A., & Meynet, G. 2006, A&A, 448, L37 Norris, J. E., Freeman, K. C., & Mighell, K. J. 1996, ApJ, 462, 241 Norris, J. E. 2004, ApJ, 612, 25 Piotto, G., et al. 2005, ApJ, 621, 777 (P05) Piotto, G., et al. 2007, ApJ, 661, L53 (P07) Sarajedini, A., et al. 2007, AJ, 133, 290 Saviane, I., Piotto, G., Fagotto, F., Zaggia, S., Capaccioli, M., & Aparicio, A. 1998, A&A, 333, 479 Sirianni, M., et al. 2005, . 117, 1049 Sollima, A., Pancino, E., Ferraro, F. R., Bellazzini, M., Straniero, O., & Pasquini, L. 2005, ApJ, 634, 332 Ventura, P., D’Antona, F., Mazzitelli, I., & Gratton, R. 2001, ApJ, 550, L65 Ventura, P., D’Antona, F., & Mazzitelli, I. 2002, A&A, 393, 215 Ventura. P., & D’Antona, F. 2005, ApJ, 635, L149 Villanova, S., et al. 2007, ApJ, in press, astro-ph 0703208 (V07) Walker, A. R. 1992, , 104, 1063
[^1]: Based on observations with the NASA/ESA [*Hubble Space Telescope*]{} under the programs GO-10775 and GO-5696, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.
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Brexit: No Deal Means No Trade for the UK, Economists Say
By Alexander Whiteman (The Loadstar) – Economists have warned that trade is likely to come to a halt if the UK fails to negotiate a deal in leaving the European Union.
Contrary to claims from Theresa May on her campaign trail that “no deal is better than a bad deal”, the chief economist and director of policy at ADS Group, Jeegar Kakkad, said no deal would be the “worst” option.
“A bad deal is one with regulatory and economic divergence,” he said. “It may require more forms be filled out, more bureaucracy, but we will still be able to trade – no deal means no trade.”
Senior economist at Dun & Bradstreet Markus Kuger said his firm was working on the premise that negotiations would throw up three scenarios.
Scenario A, deemed both the most likely and best, would result in an amicable divorce, “parting as friends”, with firm agreements, including on free trade.
Scenario B, somewhat likely and considered the worst case, would be characterised by a breakdown in talks, leading to no deal and a return to World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.
Scenario C, considered highly unlikely and best described as the “bad deal”. Here, there would be Brexit with transition but no free-trade agreements (FTA).
This, said Mr Kuger, was likely if disagreements arose over Irish borders, Gibraltar, or if a far-right party in power somewhere in the EU decided to object to a deal for political gain.
While no FTAs would have been agreed, the transitional window in Scenario C would provide more time for negotiations.
“Theresa May claims Scenario B trumps Scenario C, as the country could go straight to WTO rules and trade with the same level of success the US has had using WTO rules with Germany,” said Mr Kuger.
“The problem with this line of thinking is that the US has so many deals with Germany that, while it may be using WTO framework, it has supplemented this with a multitude of modifications.
“The UK would not have these modifications in place – and would need to negotiate them. So, for instance, Welsh farmers would face a 40% tariff trading with Europe; deal with that.”
Furthermore, Mr Kakkad said, leaving with no deal in place would also pull the UK from numerous international agencies that facilitate trade not only within Europe but at a wider level.
“Take for instance, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA): if we leave with no deal we will have renegotiate entrance to this regulatory body for aircraft compliance.”
Not only does EASA allow UK manufacturers to sell aircraft parts to the EU, EASA also has a bilateral agreement with the US, which allows EASA-compliant parts to be sold there.
“If we are not part of EASA, not only can we not sell to Europe, we cannot sell to the US,” he added. “Being part of EASA is vital for UK aerospace, and that requires reaching a deal with the EU.”
The value of UK aerospace to the country cannot be overlooked, he said. It is the second largest in the world, with a 17% share, and last year reported sales of £31.1bn – up £2bn on the previous year.
Mr Kuger and Mr Kukkad were both speaking at a seminar on ‘Navigating Global Trade in Turbulent Times’ organised by SEKO Logistics, to discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by changing times for the British aerospace, aviation, defence and security industries with the impact of Brexit and the new U.S. Administration.
The Loadstar is fast becoming known at the highest levels of logistics and supply chain management as one of the best sources of influential analysis and commentary.
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Computational prediction of lysine acetylation proteome-wide.
Several studies have contributed to our knowledge of the enzymology underlying acetylation, including focused efforts to understand the molecular mechanism of substrate recognition by several acetyltransferases; however, conventional experiments to determine intrinsic features of substrate site specificity have proven challenging. In this chapter, I describe in detail a computational method that involves clustering analysis of protein sequences to predict protein acetylation based on the sequence characteristics of acetylated lysines within histones. This method illustrates that sequence composition has predictive power on datasets of acetylation marks, and can be used to predict other posttranslational modifications such as methylation and phosphorylation. Later in this chapter, other recent methods to predict lysine acetylation are described and together, these approaches combined with more traditional experimental methods, can be useful for identifying acetylated substrates proteome-wide.
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After more than 35 years playing Luke Spencer on ABC's General Hospital, Anthony Gearyfilmed his last scene on the soap this week. During his teary goodbye with the cast and crew, Geary's co-star Genie Francis, who plays Luke's wife Laura, called wor… Read more
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Very strange that they would target and attack darbar sahib because of Sant Bhindranwale yet there was no crime at the time according to punjabi police he had alleged to have committed.
A First Information Report (FIR) is a written document prepared by police organizations in countries like Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan when they receive information about the commission of a cognisable offence, or in Singapore when the police receives information about any criminal offence.
There was plenty of opportunity to do so as they were accusing him of all sorts yet under indian legislation of that time he had committed no crime. So question is how could the hindu extremist and the secular indian establishment then proceed to paint him as an anti-national khalistani terrorist. A murderer / a rapist / a destroyer of india and the worlds. But there was not a single charge sheet against him.
Any objective and fair minded Indian would and should have questioned why are they targeting him and what was the real game plan? But no, it seems he was used as an excuse to set a trap for Sikhs to get genocided in in their own holiest shrine. Arms were shipped in by the R&AW into darbar sahib. armed Indian state agents were infiltrating darbar sahib and vast numbers of the army deployed in Sikh majority state of punjab.
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Shipped in for who and where did you get this baseless accusation from. I think RAW is providing you this baseless information.
You think huge numbers of arms just happened to be there at darbar sahib prior op blue star?
You think the Indian state did not monitor punjab heavily especially activity around darbar sahib during early 80s? You think the Indian state didnt want to give the public and the world an image that there are heavily armed "anti-nationalists" that only the might of the Indian army can take care of them and not the punjab police?
I personally saw video reports of coverage days prior operation blue star by ITN journalist showing truck load of Singhs and weapons heading towards darbar sahib and a police and army roadblock not stopping them. Why do you think that was? Surely if you want to prevent so called anti-nationalist/armed extremists/terrrorists you would stop and search for any arms coming into an area but they didnt stop nothing. Go figure
Go read some books, articles do some research then reply to very important topics like this.
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Shipped in for who and where did you get this baseless accusation from. I think RAW is providing you this baseless information.
eyewitnesses who survived have spoken at length about the types of guns used and how they differed in number and class from the ones shown by the GOI on Doordarshan post-attack , same way truckloads of sikh manuscripts and literary heritage was shipped out , the parkarma and sarovar were cleared of the thousands of bodies of sikhs that were tortured, raped and murdered in the three days after the attack and until the remainder were thrown in jails
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You think huge numbers of arms just happened to be there at darbar sahib prior op blue star?
You think the Indian state did not monitor punjab heavily especially activity around darbar sahib during early 80s? You think the Indian state didnt want to give the public and the world an image that there are heavily armed "anti-nationalists" that only the might of the Indian army can take care of them and not the punjab police?
I personally saw video reports of coverage days prior operation blue star by ITN journalist showing truck load of Singhs and weapons heading towards darbar sahib and a police and army roadblock not stopping them. Why do you think that was? Surely if you want to prevent so called anti-nationalist/armed extremists/terrrorists you would stop and search for any arms coming into an area but they didnt stop nothing. Go figure
Go read some books, articles do some research then reply to very important topics like this.
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You think huge numbers of arms just happened to be there at darbar sahib prior op blue star?
You think the Indian state did not monitor punjab heavily especially activity around darbar sahib during early 80s? You think the Indian state didnt want to give the public and the world an image that there are heavily armed "anti-nationalists" that only the might of the Indian army can take care of them and not the punjab police?
I personally saw video reports of coverage days prior operation blue star by ITN journalist showing truck load of Singhs and weapons heading towards darbar sahib and a police and army roadblock not stopping them. Why do you think that was? Surely if you want to prevent so called anti-nationalist/armed extremists/terrrorists you would stop and search for any arms coming into an area but they didnt stop nothing. Go figure
Go read some books, articles do some research then reply to very important topics like this.
If the Indian government was montitoring Sikhs very closely they would have known the secret paths into and out of Sri Akal Takht sahib.
You have no evidence to say the weapons were provided by RAW.
Weapons according to Singhs who were apart of the dharam yudh morcha was provided by Muslim sources in pakistan.
Logically why would RAW provide weapons when RAW cut off all media from filming the attack on Sri Akal Takht sahib. They could have planted the weapons very easily after the attack, if they wanted too as there was no media. This is not a democractic country who will not disturb the scene and take photos, and get investigation analysist to see what happened. They shot first and destroyed Sri Akal Takht sahib as the world didn't see anything. They created false statements and created stories. The Singhs inside Sri Akal Takht sahib could have had a single pistol and RAW would have said they had thousands of weapons.
Posts
and the mover of pieces is the great waheguru 😊
Gurbani says "in his house is forever justice"
I remember reading an article on world wars and a line which I will never forget "... the world powers were pushed into the war by some unseen forces..." and we know that force is waheguru .
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Xarelto Lawyer in Denison, TX – 75021
If you or a loved one have experienced serious medical complications related to the use of the drug Xarelto and would like more information about a Xarelto Lawyer in Texas please Call 1 (855) 473-1559 – The Call is Toll Free
Xarelto Lawyer Denison, TX
The blood thinning medication Xarelto – released by Bayer AG and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals – may be connected to adverse side effects in some patients taking the drug.
These include internal bleeding, stroke, hemorrhaging and other major issues. A number of thousand claims have been filed in federal and state courts due to these issues – which have actually in some cases led to the death of the patient.
If you feel you or a loved one has suffered as a result of using Xarelto, you might be entitled to payment. The first step is to call a Texas Xarelto Lawyer and discuss your case.
The popular blood thinning medication prescribed by your physician may have led to thousands of cases of major side effects– some of which may have resulted in deaths of patients.
These adverse effects may have resulted in many difficulties for clients and their families – mounting medical expenses, emotional suffering and possibly much worse.
You and your medical professional did unknown this would take place. Bayer and Johnson & Johnson, according to several lawsuits, might have not effectively warned the public about the potential dangerous side effects of the drug.
Speak with a Xarelto Lawsuit expert today to discuss your potential case and possible legal choices & rights. It’s complimentary, simple, and completely personal. A five-minute call may help you and your family move on as a result of this trying experience.
There may be hope for some sense of resolution and reconciliation for you and your household with these Xarelto legal proceedings. If your case is eligible to join the mass tort or MDL, it will be part of a movement that will want to hold those responsible for this circumstance to account.
Call 1 (855) 473-1559 now to see if your case is eligible to join.
Don’t Just Let Anyone Handle Your Texas Xarelto Lawsuit Case
Cases involving big corporations, dangerous drugs and several complainants are complicated. Picking who represents you in mass tort cases like these is an crucial decision you shouldn’t take lightly.
You want to put your trust in Xarelto legal representatives that are proficient and knowledgeable with this type of mass tort litigation and MDL proceedings.
Our specialists have assisted lots of households and people move on with their own lawsuits versus Xarelto’s manufacturers and they may be able to help you too.
Our group has the knowledge, capability and resources needed to fight high profile cases like these.
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The protein tyrosine kinase p60c-Src is not implicated in the pathogenesis of the human autosomal recessive form of osteopetrosis: a study of 13 children.
Osteopetrosis has been described in mice generated by homozygous gene disruption of c-src gene encoding for the p60c-Src protein tyrosine kinase (Src-/- mice). The similarities of bone histologic findings in this murine model to those observed in some patients first seen with autosomal recessive osteopetrosis, "malignant" osteopetrosis, led us to investigate the potential role of p60c-Src in the pathogenesis of malignant osteopetrosis in 13 children. In 4 patients a c-src mutation was ruled out by an intragenic microsatellite segregation study. In the other 9 we analyzed p60c-Src expression and function, as well as c-src sequence. The expression was normal in all of the patients tested. In addition, the tyrosine phosphorylation and kinase activity of p60c-Src were also normal in all of the patients. Moreover, in these patients, sequences of the coding region of c-src were identical to the published sequence of the human c-src complementary DNA. These results exclude a role for c-src in the pathogenesis of human malignant osteopetrosis in the 13 patients analyzed.
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A grandmother celebrated her 80th birthday in style and fulfilled a lifelong ambition when she rode a Harley Davidson through the streets of Reading.
Riding on one of the iconic motorcycles has been on Sheila Gardener's bucket list for years and she was shocked to see her wish come true when she arrived in Winnersh on Saturday, April 23.
Reading Harley Davidson and Mrs Gardener's friends and family organised the surprise ride which saw the pensioner race around on the back of a bike driven by chapter director of Thames Valley Harley Owners Group Dan Wibberley.
Relative David Gardener, of Windemere Close in Winnersh said: "She knew absolutely nothing about it, she was petrified when she realised was going on but she loved it and it might have whetted her appetite for another ride."
"It went well, she had a good time and everyone turned up. The dealership was extremely good and they organised it really well.
"There were 12 riders there and she went for a ride through Reading and Caversham and then out towards Walingford before coming back through Nettlebed and Henley."
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BAY AREA
"In 2012, BART was awarded a $2.5 billion contract... and has since been working to design and produce new train cars." --Eliza Baker
On January 19th, BART released the first of their 775 new and improved cars.BART, whose very first cars were released in 1972, first had the idea of new cars in 2009. In 2012, BART was awarded a $2.5 billion contract by Bombardier Transit Corporation and has since been working to design and produce new train cars.
These new cars include a number of features that will make it more accessible to the average pedestrian. Perhaps the biggest change is the addition of an extra door on each side of the train, making it three on each side. The idea behind this is that there will be less crowding around each door as people enter and exit the cars.
Because of the constant complaint of noise, the doors themselves were also improved upon. Instead of going out from the train and then again to the side, the new doors move from one side, in and out, not unlike a Minivan’s sliding door. In making the doors more airtight, BART says the new design will successfully decrease the amount of ear-shattering noise from outside the train.Along with the new doors, there will be 50% more priority seating available for the elderly, disabled, pregnant or injured.These new chairs are higher up so as to have more room for luggage underneath the seats, leaving more room on the floor for people to stand. New cars will also include wider isles, higher ceilings, and new handholds for people of all heights. These updates will especially make the travel for people in wheelchairs easier and more efficient.
Despite the promise of new cars in 2017, the release of said cars didn’t actually occur until early into the next year. During the testing of the cars, a few errors were found. The faults were everything from unsafe and jarring breaks to minor bike rack faults. And after a series of negative articles pointing out the obvious defects in July of 2017, BART delayed the release of the new cars once again.But what do these new cars actually mean for people in the Bay Area? The main idea behind the upgrade was to get people moving in and out of the cars more efficiently and quickly.BART officially started in 1972, carrying passengers around Concord and Walnut Creek. Though there have been a few different updates since BART opened, over two-thirds of the old cars were from the original few years—whose ridership has multiplied by roughly 25 times since its inauguration.In 2017, there was an average of 429,000 BART trips on the weekdays, a big contrast from 1972’s 17,000 weekly. On average, there are 126 million trips annually, with a solid 87% of on-time arrivals. BART owns a total of 46 different stations and 112 miles of track. Up until January of 2018, there were 699 train cars. 74% of the operating costs are paid by passenger fares and fees.
The average Public Transportation vessel is a host to many different bacteria, and BART is no exception. Original BART seats featured cloth until replaced by vinyl in 2011. Because thousands of people ride BART each day, and each car is reportedly sanitized only once every 120 days, there is obviously a high risk for bacteria to be found on BART cars and around the stations. The hope is that the new cars will be cleaner than the old ones, and carrying less harmful bacteria.
BART has other plans apart from the new train cars, including a number of improvements to make travel easier and safer. There will be new rails, repairs for old and corroded tunnel walls, as well as a series of replacements for the train control equipment. BART plans on releasing the rest of the cars over the next four years, the number of releases steadily growing as the years progress.
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'I screamed when I saw the contact between the girl and the bus.'
Transport for London has launched an investigation after video emerged which appeared to show a bus driver “nudging” a cyclist out of the way.
Cyclist Silvio Diego captured the incident involving a number 168 bus while he was at a set of lights near Elephant and Castle during the morning rush hour.
The video later shows the cyclist involved in the incident arguing with the bus driver after she is pushed on to the payment by the vehicle.
Diego wrote on YouTube: “Bus driver saw this cyclist but maybe because she took a second to realise the lights were green he decided to nudge her into the pavement and out of his way.
Silvio DiegoYouTube
TfL is investigating after video showed this bus nudging a cyclist, seen left
“Appalling driving and hope TFL and DFT take notice.”
TfL has since launched an investigation into the incident which occurred about 9am on October 5.
Diego told the Evening Standard that he believed the only reason the cyclist was not seriously injured was because she was next to the kerb.
He told the newspaper: “I think it’s pretty dangerous, he could have hit her pedals and either the cyclist goes flying or gets her feet trapped.
“I screamed when I saw the contact between the girl and the bus.”
TfL are yet to respond to a request for comment from the Huffington Post UK, but a spokesperson told the Standard that it has asked the bus operator, Metroline, to launch an immediate investigation into the incident.
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NORRISTOWN — A homeless man who told police he sells cocaine “to make money” now calls state prison his home after he was captured in Pottstown while allegedly fleeing police on Route 422.
Timothy Andrew Smith, 31, who has no fixed address, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to two-to-four years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to a charge of possession with intent to deliver cocaine in connection with the September 2011 incident in Pottstown.
Judge Joseph A. Smyth said Smith is eligible for the state’s Recidivism Risk Reduction Incentive program, commonly referred to as “Triple R-I,” which allows eligible non-violent offenders to receive reductions of their minimum state prison sentences if they successfully complete all required treatment and maintain good-conduct records in prison. If successful, Smith could reduce his minimum sentence to 18 months, according to court documents.
An investigation of Smith began about 12:14 a.m. Sept. 30 when State Police at Skippack observed Smith operating a Dodge Avenger erratically westbound on Route 422 near the Sanatoga exit, according to the criminal complaint. Smith, police alleged, moved the vehicle back and forth between lanes multiple times to pass other vehicles and police clocked the vehicle traveling 110 mph in a posted 55 mph speed zone, according to the arrest affidavit.
Police activated emergency lights and siren but Smith failed to yield and continued westbound on Route 422, eventually exiting the highway at Armand Hammer Boulevard, court documents indicate. As the vehicle continued northbound Smith failed to pull over for police, authorities alleged.
After Smith’s vehicle crossed High Street it traveled onto Estate Drive at a high rate of speed before being forced to come to a stop at a dead end at Estate and Burdan drives, police said. As the vehicle stopped, Smith exited the vehicle and ran away on foot while still leaving the vehicle in gear causing it to roll forward, state police alleged.
After a brief foot chase police apprehended Smith in the side yard of a home in the 400 block of Burdan Drive. When police retraced Smith’s path they discovered a clear bag, which contained 20 smaller bags of a white, chunky substance, discarded on the patio of a Burdan Drive home, about 20 feet from where Smith was apprehended, court documents indicate. Authorities alleged the substance inside the bag was crack cocaine.
When questioned by police, Smith admitted to running from police because he didn’t have a driver’s license and was in possession of the cocaine. Smith allegedly told police “he is kind of homeless and sells cocaine to make money,” according to the criminal complaint.
Other charges of fleeing or eluding police, driving under the influence of alcohol, possessing cocaine and various motor vehicle violations were dismissed against Smith as part of the plea agreement.
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Understanding the molecular mechanism of dominant negative action of mutant thyroid hormone beta 1-receptors: the important role of the wild-type/mutant receptor heterodimer.
The clinical manifestations of patients with resistance to thyroid hormone result from inhibition of the functions of wild-type thyroid hormone receptors (wTRs) by the dominant negative effect of mutant TR beta 1 receptors (mTR beta 1). One of the proposed mechanisms by which mTR beta 1 exerts its dominant negative action is via formation of the putative inactive wTR beta 1/mTR beta 1 heterodimer. However, the nature of the wTR beta 1/mTR beta 1 heterodimer is poorly understood. The present study characterizes the wTR beta 1/mTR beta 1 heterodimer by electrophoretic mobility shift assay. The mutant TR beta 1 used was PV, which contains a frame shift mutation in the C-terminal part of TR beta 1 and has less than 1% of the T3 binding affinity of the wTR beta 1. Because of the difficulty in resolving wTR beta 1 and mutant PV dimers, we used a truncated wTR beta 1 in which the A/B domain was deleted (delta TR beta 1) to demonstrate the formation of the heterodimer on thyroid hormone response elements (TREs) in which the half-site binding motifs are oriented in an inverted repeat (F2), a direct repeat separated by four nucleotides (DR4), or an inverted repeat (Pal). Deletion of the A/B domain had no effect on the binding of T3 and TREs to wTR beta 1. In the presence of equal amounts of delta TR beta 1 and PV, three types of molecular complexes. delta TR beta 1 homodimer, delta TR beta 1/PV heterodimer, and PV homodimer bound to each TRE in a ratio of approximately 1:2:1. The identities of these complexes were confirmed by their ability to be supershifted by anti-TR beta 1 and/or anti-PV antibodies. delta TR beta 1/PV heterodimer formation varied with different TREs. The ratio of apparent affinity constant (Ka) in the binding of delta TR beta 1/PV to TREs was F2:DR4:Pal = approximately 6:2:1. The effect of T3 on delta TR beta 1/PV heterodimer formation was TRE dependent. No T3-induced dissociation was observed for the delta TR beta 1/PV heterodimer when bound to F2 and Pal. In contrast, the delta TR beta 1/PV heterodimer bound to DR4 was dissociated by T3 with an ED50 of 3.9 +/- 0.9 nM. The T3-induced dissociation of delta TR beta 1 homodimer bound to F2, DR4, and Pal had ED50 values of 4.1 +/- 1.2, 1.3 +/- 0.3, and more than 100 nM, respectively. By transfection assays, the dominant negative action of PV was found to be TRE dependent with the rank order of F2 >> Pal > ME (a DR4-like TRE in the rat malic enzyme gene). Taken together, these results indicate a strong correlation between wTR beta 1/mTR beta 1 heterodimer formation and the dominant negative potency of PV. These results suggest that the wTR beta 1/mTR beta 1 heterodimer could play an important role in the dominant negative action of mTR beta 1.
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Howard Repeats as Pre-Season No. 1, Aims for Another National Title RunTexas’ Howard College will probably never duplicate its stunning 2009 season, when it won a junior-college record 59 games in a row on its way to handily winning that year’s Junior College World Series title with a jaw-dropping 68-1 record.
But it won’t be for lack of trying.
Howard was ranked No. 1 in Perfect Game’s pre-season poll of the nation’s Top 50 junior-colleges teams a year ago, only to lose in heartbreaking fashion in the district final, one step away from a return visit to the World Series, played annually in Grand Junction, Colo.
The Hawks are ranked No. 1 once again to start the 2012 season, and Howard coach Britt Smith believes his team has the talent to take care of unfinished business and get the job done this year, though is realistic enough to know that duplicating his team’s 2009 feat is highly improbable.
“I feel that the ranking is appropriate for this year’s team,” Smith said. “In the time I have been at Howard, I really feel that this is the most talented team that we have had. The 2009 team was the best “team” that I could ever imagine being around—not really for the record they had, but for the way the players genuinely cared for one another. That was a special bunch, but a team with very little depth and we were blessed enough to stay healthy all season.
“The team we have right now is full of talent and deep not only from a position-player standpoint, but certainly is the deepest on the mound than I could really ever imagine. I literally feel that we have eight No. 1 and 2-type starters on this staff, not to mention three guys that could be closers for about anyone in the country.”
Howard, which went 46-13 a year ago and is 202-34 over the last four years, has 11 players who have committed to major NCAA Division I programs. The Hawks also have eight players on its roster this spring that transferred in from D-I schools, including the likes of righthander Clayton Crum and outfielder Dexter Kjerstad (both from Texas), lefthander Logan Ehlers (Nebraska), righthander Kyle Hayes (San Diego State) and righthander Spencer Davis (Texas A&M). Four new players transferred in at the Christmas break, including Ehlers, a former eighth-round draft pick of the Toronto Blue Jays.
All are expected to play prominent roles for the Hawks this spring, but the cupboard was hardly bare to begin with as Texas Christian-bound shortstop Paul Hendrix (.379-2-42), Oregon-bound closer Nick Sawyer (2-2, 1.96, 4 SV) and Florida International-bound righthander Michael Franco (10-2, 2.84), the team’s top winner a year ago, all return.
Righthander Reid Scoggins, another FIU recruit, is also scheduled to return after missing last season while undergoing Tommy John surgery. He will join Sawyer as part of a dominant tandem out of the Hawks bullpen. Both closers have been clocked upwards of 94-95 mph.
Sawyer, Ehlers and Hayes are considered the top prospects on the team for purposes of the 2012 draft, with each having a shot of being selected in the top 10 rounds.
Smith believes his team not only has the talent to win another national title, but the resolve to stay on course and not get victimized at a critical point of the season as happened a year ago.
“Our biggest area of concern,” Smith says, “is the ability to stay on course and not lose sight of the ultimate goal. If we can play the entire season as a team and put individual goals behind the team’s goals, then we will be extremely successful.”
Smith acknowledges his college’s location in Big Spring, in remote West Texas, plays a hand in his team’s impressive run of success in recent years.
“We are in the middle of the West Texas desert and there are very few distractions at Howard,” Smith says. “We have good facilities, not the best, but everything is in place for our players to succeed academically and athletically. We really just make the kids aware of the resources that they have available to them in our program and then push them each and every day to maximize their use of them.”
“As far as our talent goes, I have two assistant coaches in J-Bob Thomas and Roberto Martinez that are tireless recruiters. But really, the biggest feather in our cap as a program is that players come here and get better. We are really focused on player development and helping kids to be the best that they can be as players and people.”
Needless to say, scouts have beaten a steady path to little Big Spring, Texas, over the last few years, and have every reason to do so en masse again this year as Howard could conceivably have as many players drafted in June as any four-year college.
“I think we have 6-7 players that will really open some peoples’ eyes this spring,” Smith said, “guys that were cast away from D-I’s and some under-the-radar high-school kids that will really make a name for themselves this year.
“Kjerstad, Crum, (freshman first baseman Levi) Scott, Hendrix, Franco, Scoggins, (sophomore righthander Rob) Tasin, Davis and (sophomore lefthander Ethan) Carnes are all guys that we are expecting big things from this year. Obviously Ehlers, Sawyer and Hayes are getting plenty of play as far as exposure, and we expect them to do well, but the others are getting less hype and they probably need it.”
While Howard is thriving as a big fish in a small pond like remote Big Spring, the Nos. 2 and 3 teams in Perfect Game’s pre-season Top 50, not coincidentally, also are located on the back roads of mainstream baseball hotbeds.
No. 2-ranked Chipola JC is located in Marianna (pop. 6,000) on the Florida panhandle. No. 3 Central Arizona’s home base is Coolidge (pop. 8,000), located on the Arizona desert, midway between Phoenix and Tucson. In both cases, top-flight junior-college baseball is the big attraction in town.
Unlike Howard, both Chipola and Central Arizona participated in the Junior College World Series last year, with CAC finishing second to Navarro (Texas) JC. Both schools also have rich baseball histories, with Chipola winning a national title in 2007 and Central Arizona in 2002.
Like Howard, those schools have been bolstered by a significant infusion of new talent and it certainly didn’t hurt the cause of either when the top two rated players in this year’s junior-college draft class ended up at those colleges after the Christmas break.
Shortstop Felipe Perez was projected to be a top pick in this year’s draft, possibly as early as the second or third round, while at a California high school before graduating a semester early and ending up at Central Arizona. Similarly, outfielder Andrew Toles, a fourth-round draft pick in 2010, wound up at Chipola in January after being dismissed from the baseball team at Tennessee.Both players are considered solid third- to fourth-round picks in June, but not even the arrival of the two players has been enough for their respective schools to pose a serious enough challenge to powerful Howard, a relatively easy choice as the No. 1-ranked junior-college team in the country.
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Healthcare resources and expenditure in financial crisis: scenarios and managerial strategies.
What are the implications of financial crisis on healthcare expenditure? This paper explores different approaches applied across European countries focusing on the role that managerial tools may have in coping with this challenge. The paper reports the results of recent studies on responses to financial crisis from European countries and which are the techniques they had applied to reallocate resources. Although resources scarcity, some governments did not reduce the healthcare expenditure because they believe in its focal role on the economic development and on maintaining social cohesion and protection of vulnerable people. Other countries decided a strong reduction of costs which often has affected services delivered. In both cases authors suggest to avoid across-the-board cuts in favor of approach involving priority setting. The public sector has assumed new responsibilities following the global crisis and the rising demand for social services. Some countries shifted the healthcare costs from the public purse to private households undermining the survival of the health system and the universal coverage. A way to avoid this risk is based on the ability to share discussion about where to cut and where to reallocate resources.
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Much of the sweet corn that is grown for human consumption is removed from the cob for canning and freezing while the corn kernels are still "green". Corn is considered green when the kernels are still moist and soft and have not matured into seed.
One type of machine that is used in the food processing industry for this purpose is shown and described in Kerr, U.S. Pat. No. 2,787,273. This machine uses six cutting instruments with curved cutting edges that are generally positioned around a circle and around an adjustable aperture. The cutting instruments project forward from the aperture, and together with the aperture form what is known in the industry as an "iris". Ears of corn are shucked and then are fed endwise through the iris--small end first.
The corn cutting instruments or "knives" are unitary or integral parts that are installed in the cutting machine. Each knife has a planar arm that reaches inward towards the center of a cylindrical cutting head where the iris is located. The arm is located in a plane transverse to the longitudinal axis of each ear fed through the aperture of the iris. At the inner or working end of the arm, the knife turns parallel to the ear, and presents a blade of some width that is formed concave relative to the ear. It is known that the blade is angled upward, from heel to toe, at a certain "cob angle" from the longitudinal axis of the ear. This allows the blade to ride up the taper of the cob from the small end to the large end as the kernels are cut off.
At its free end or toe, which meets the oncoming ear of corn, the blade is sharpened to form a curved cutting edge. The curved cutting edge is more complex than a simple arcuate portion of a circle. The bottom of the blade is made concave in an arc related to a spiral cutting path around the cob. The bottom of the blade also controls the depth of the cut so that the kernels are severed at a selected height relative to the pithy part of the cob.
It is also known that the cutting edge should attain a specified oblique angle, which is seen in a plane that is tangent to a midpoint of curvature for the cutting edge. It is also known that the knives of the prior art presented an edge forming a specified "edge angle" between the top surface of the blade and the bottom surface of the blade which rode along the ear.
In operation of the machine, the six blades are carried by a rotating cutting head and are spun around the ear as it passes through the iris. If one of the knives cuts too deeply, a spiral gouge will be seen on the stripped cob. This is one of the observations of the cob that is indicative of corn cutting inefficiency. The geometry of the cutting edges relative to the corn kernels and the corn cob must be maintained to assure a satisfactory yield of corn kernels.
After a period of use, the cutting edges become dull to the point that the yield of properly cut kernels drops. The current maintenance procedure is to remove the knives--only a small part of which is occupied by the cutting edges--and resharpen the cutting edges. This resharpening requires special equipment provided by the machine manufacturer and considerable labor for the many instances when resharpening is necessary. The machine manufacturer also recommends that periodically the knives be returned to a manufactureroperated, central sharpening facility, where the knives can be rehoned, reground and generally returned to an acceptable cutting profile. Even with these procedures, there is a further disadvantage that the blade becomes shorter with repeated resharpening and rehoning, and the original cuttin knife condition cannot be fully restored.
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Benign ovarian cysts and breast cancer risk.
Benign ovarian cysts have been suggested to influence breast cancer risk. To provide a comprehensive picture of the relation between ovarian cysts and breast cancer, we analyzed the data of 3 case-control studies conducted in northern Italy and the Swiss Canton of Vaud between 1983 and 2001. These studies included 6,315 incident, histologically confirmed breast cancer cases and 6,038 hospital-based controls. Odds ratios (OR) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using unconditional multiple logistic regression models, including terms for sociodemographic, menstrual and reproductive factors. Overall, 4.9% of breast cancer cases and 6.6% of controls reported a history of ovarian cysts, with a multivariate OR of 0.72 (95% CI 0.62-0.85). The inverse association between ovarian cysts and breast cancer was consistent in separate strata of age at menarche, parity, age at menopause status and family history of breast cancer. No meaningful differences were also found across strata of menstrual cycle length, oral contraceptive use, history of oophorectomy and body mass index. Thus, the inverse relation between ovarian cysts and breast cancer risk was not accounted for by earlier menopause, or by any difference in reproductive and menstrual characteristics. Although some hormonal correlates of ovarian cysts may have a role on breast cancer risk, a biological explanation of this inverse association is still unclear.
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Lamontville Golden Arrows F.C.
Lamontville Golden Arrows F.C. are a South African soccer club based in Durban that plays in the Premier Soccer League.
History
It was founded in 1943 in the streets of Lamontville, a township in Durban. The club played in the defunct National Professional Soccer League in the 1970s until they were relegated in 1976. They played in the Second Division thereafter until 1980 when they were embroiled in a soccer scandal and thrown out of the National Professional Soccer League.
The team was formed again in 1996 when the Madlala family bought the Second Division franchise of Ntokozo FC and changed its name to Lamontville Golden Arrows.
In 2000 they won promotion to the PSL by winning the National First Division Coastal Stream.
Arrows claimed their first piece of major silverware when they won the MTN 8 in 2009. They routed Ajax Cape Town 6–0 in the final played at Orlando Stadium.
Honours
League
1999-00 – National First Division Coastal Stream Champions (2nd tier)
2014–15 - National First Division (2nd tier)
Cups
2009 – MTN 8 Champions
Pre-season tournaments
2011 – KZN Premier's Cup
Club records
Most starts: Thanduyise Khuboni 212 (2006–2014) (previous record, Siyabonga Sangweni 173 (2005–2011)
Most goals: Mabhuti Khanyeza (2002–2007) 43
Most capped player: Joseph Musonda, 108
Most starts in a season: Thanduyise Khuboni, 35 (2011/12)
Most goals in a season: Richard Henyekane 22 (2008/09)
Record victory: 6–0 vs Platinum Stars (18/3/09, PSL)
Record defeat: 1–5 vs Supersport United (4/2/01, PSL); 0–4 vs Mamelodi Sundowns (1/10/05, Coca-Cola Cup)
Premier Soccer League record
2015/2016 – 9th
2013/2013 – 16th (relegated to National First Division)
2012/2013 – 13th
2011/2012 – 13th
2010/2011 – 11th
2009/2010 – 12th
2008/2009 – 5th
2007/2008 – 9th
2006/2007 – 12th
2005/2006 – 6th
2004/2005 – 9th
2003/2004 – 9th
2002/2003 – 5th
2001/2002 – 13th
2000/2001 – 9th
Club officials and technical team
Chairwoman: Mato Madlala
Team manager: Nonceba Madlala
Coach: Steve Komphela
Assistant coaches: Mandla Ncikazi
Goalkeeper coach: Majdi Mnsaira
Physical trainer: Pedro Picarro
Physio: Gareth Crankshaw
First team squad
Foreigners
In the South African PSL, only five non-South African nationals can be registered. Foreign players who have acquired permanent residency can be registered as locals. Namibians born before 1990 can be registered as South Africans.
Limbikani Mzava
Danny Phiri
permanent residency
Chris Katjiukua
Maximilian Mbaeva
Notable former coaches
Jan Simulambo (2001)
Khabo Zondo (8 Feb 2005 – 9 January 2007)
Manqoba Mngqithi (10 Jan 2007 – 30 June 2010)
Zoran Filipović (12 July 2010 – 21 March 2011)
Ernst Middendorp (22 March 2011 – 30 September 2011)
Muhsin Ertuğral (3 Oct 2011 – 22 October 2012)
Manqoba Mngqithi (23 Oct 2012 – 5 October 2013)
Mark Harrison (7 Oct 2013 – 10 February 2014)
Shaun Bartlett (interim) (10 Feb 2014 – 30 June 2014)
Shaun Bartlett (1 July 2014 – 15 June 2015)
Serame Letsoaka (15 June 2015 – 1 December 2015)
Clinton Larsen (6 Dec 2015 –27 Dec 2018)
Steve Komphele(27 Dec 2018 )
Shirt sponsor and kit manufacturer
Shirt sponsor: None
Kit manufacturer: None
References
External links
Premier Soccer League
PSL Club Info
South African Football Association
Confederation of African Football
Category:Lamontville Golden Arrows F.C.
Category:Soccer clubs in South Africa
Category:Association football clubs established in 1943
Category:Premier Soccer League clubs
Category:Soccer clubs in Durban
Category:1943 establishments in South Africa
Category:National First Division clubs
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abstract: 'We study the effective action for gravity obtained after the integration of scalar matter fields, using the local momentum representation based on the Riemann normal coordinates expansion. By considering this expansion around different space-time points, we also compute the non-local terms together with the more usual divergent ones. We discuss the applicability of our results to the calculation of particle production rates in cosmological backgrounds and compare this method with the traditional Bogolyubov transformations.'
author:
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A. Dobado\
[*Departamento de Física Teórica*]{}\
[*Universidad Complutense de Madrid*]{}\
[*28040 Madrid, Spain*]{}\
and\
A.L. Maroto\
[*Departamento de Física Teórica*]{}\
[*Universidad Autónoma de Madrid*]{}\
[*28049 Madrid, Spain*]{}
title: 'Non-local gravitational effective action and particle production[^1]'
---
=cmr8
1.5pt
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Introduction
============
One of the most interesting aspects of quantum field theory in the presence of a external classical background is the possibility of particle creation. When a external field $J$ is present, the vacuum state (with zero particle number) can become unstable and eventually decay by particle emission. In other words, if the system is prepared in the vacuum state in the remote past $\vert 0, in\rangle$, the probability that the system remains in the same state in the far future will be in general different from one: $\vert\langle 0, in\vert 0, out \rangle_J\vert ^2\neq 1$.
The first works about this subject can be traced back to the early fifties in the context of quantum electrodynamics (QED) [@Schwinger]. In particular, it was shown that intense electric fields could give rise to the creation of electron-positron pairs. The corresponding particle creation rates were obtained by means of effective action (EA) techniques. Within this formalism the vacuum persistence amplitude $\langle 0, in\vert 0, out \rangle_J$ is given by means of the path integral. In the simple case of a real scalar field in a external gravitational background, the EA is given by: $$\begin{aligned}
\langle 0, in\vert 0, out \rangle_{g_{\mu\nu}}&=&
e^{iW[g_{\mu\nu}]}
=\int [d\phi]e^{iS[g_{\mu\nu},\phi]}\nonumber \\&=&
\int [d\phi]e^{-\frac{i}{2}\int d^4x\sqrt{g}\phi
(\Box+m^2+\xi R -i\epsilon)\phi}=
(\det O)^{-1/2}
\label{eaes}\end{aligned}$$ where $O_{xy}(m^2)=(-\Box_y-m^2-\xi R(y) +i\epsilon)\delta^0(x,y)$ with $\delta^0(x,y)$ the covariant Dirac delta. As usual we introduce the non-minimal coupling $\xi R\phi^2$ in order to include the case with conformal invariance $\xi=1/6$. As we see from this expression, the functional integration is performed only on the scalar fields, i.e, they will appear inside the loops, whereas the gravitational field $g_{\mu\nu}$ is considered as classical and hence it will only appear in the external lines. As a consequence, $W[g_{\mu\nu}]$ is the generating functional of Green functions with external gravitational lines and loops only of matter fields. Another interesting point is that as far as the classical action is quadratic in the scalar fields, the one loop calculation is exact, i.e there is no higher loops contribution to the EA.
It is now relatively easy to compute the pair production probability $P_{EA}$ that according to the above discussion will be nothing but: $P_{EA}=1-\vert\langle 0, in\vert 0, out \rangle_{g_{\mu\nu}}\vert ^2$. From eq.\[eaes\] assuming $W[g_{\mu\nu}]$ to be small, we obtain: $$\begin{aligned}
P_{EA}=1-e^{-2{\mbox{Im}}W[g_{\mu\nu}]}\simeq 2{\mbox{Im}}W[g_{\mu\nu}]\end{aligned}$$ Thus the imaginary part of the effective action provides the particle creation probabilities.
Since the first developments of quantum field theory in curved space-time, the topic of particle creation by gravitational fields has received much attention. The pioneering works were due to Parker [@Parker] who studied particle production in Robertson-Walker geometries by means of the mode-mixing Bogolyubov method [@Birrell]. Some other important works are those of Zel’dovich and Starobinsky [@Zeldovich; @Hartle] that extended this technique to homogeneous but anisotropic cosmological space-times. They show that particle production provides an effective mechanism for anisotropy damping in the early universe. But probably it is Hawking radiation the best known example of particle production from a gravitational field. Most of these calculation were done by means of Bogolyubov method. However in this work we present an alternative technique for the calculation of particle creation based on the gravitational EA.
The gravitational effective action eq.\[eaes\] is in general a non-local functional on the metric tensor and the connection. Although the divergent local terms have been extensively considered in the literature [@Birrell], the finite non-local contributions have been studied only more recently [@Hartle; @Vilkovisky; @Avramidi; @DOMA1]. The non-local terms are responsible for the imaginary part and therefore also for the particle creation. The calculation of the EA is in general very difficult for an arbitrary space-time geometry and accordingly we have to rely on some kind of approximation. The most traditional one is the well-known perturbation theory in which the metric tensor is splitted as follows: $g_{\mu\nu}=\eta_{\mu\nu}+\kappa h_{\mu\nu}$. The EA is then expanded in powers of the coupling $\kappa$. This method however is not generally covariant. We will present an alternative (covariant) approximate method in which the EA is expanded in powers of curvature tensors. The curvature expansion will be generated in turn from the Riemann normal coordinates expansion. This kind of curvature expansions was first considered by Barvinsky and Vilkovisky [@Vilkovisky].
Non-local gravitational effective action
========================================
Let us consider a smooth manifold in which geodesics do not intersect so that we can perform the well-known [@Petrov] Riemann normal coordinates expansion for the metric tensor: $$\begin{aligned}
g_{\mu\nu}(y)&=&\eta_{\mu\nu}+\frac{1}{3}
R_{\mu\alpha\nu\beta}(y_0)y^\alpha y^\beta-
\frac{1}{6}R_{\mu\alpha\nu\beta ;\gamma}(y_0)
y^\alpha y^\beta y^\gamma \nonumber \\
&+&
\left[\frac{1}{20}R_{\mu\alpha\nu\beta ;\gamma\delta}(y_0)
+\frac{2}{45}R_{\alpha\mu\beta\lambda}(y_0)
R^{\lambda}_{\;\gamma\nu\delta}(y_0)\right]
y^\alpha y^\beta y^\gamma y^\delta +{{\cal O}}(\partial^5)
\label{normal}\end{aligned}$$ where $y_0$ is the origin of normal coordinates. When substituting this expansion in eq.\[eaes\] we will generate the curvature expansion we are looking for. The operator $O_{xy}$ defined above can then be splitted in a free part: $$\begin{aligned}
A_{xy}(m^2)=(-\Box_0^y-m^2 +i\epsilon)\delta^0(x,y)\end{aligned}$$ with $\Box_0^y=\eta^{\mu\nu}\partial_\mu^y \partial_\nu^y$, and an interaction term that contains all the curvature dependence: $$\begin{aligned}
B_{xy}&=&\left[-\frac{2}{3}R^\lambda_{\;\;\rho}(y_0)
y^\rho\partial_\lambda^y+\frac{1}{3}R^{\mu\;\;\nu}
_{\;\;\epsilon\;\;\beta}(y_0)y^\epsilon y^\beta
\partial_\mu^y\partial_\nu^y
-\xi R(y_0)\right. \nonumber \\
&-&\left(\frac{1}{20}R_{\alpha\;\; ; \beta\gamma}^{\;\;\nu}(y_0)
+\frac{1}{20}R_{\alpha\;\; ; \gamma\beta}^{\;\;\nu}(y_0)
-\frac{1}{20}R^{\mu\;\;\nu}_{\;\;\alpha\;\;\beta;\mu\gamma}(y_0)
-\frac{1}{20}R^{\mu\;\;\nu}_{\;\;\alpha\;\;\beta;\gamma\mu}
(y_0)\right.\nonumber\\
&-&\frac{8}{45}R_{\alpha\lambda}(y_0)
R^{\lambda\;\;\nu}_{\;\;\beta\;\;\gamma}(y_0)
+\frac{1}{15}R_{\alpha\;\;\beta\lambda}^{\;\;\mu}(y_0)
R^{\lambda\;\;\nu}_{\;\;\mu\;\;\gamma}(y_0)
+\frac{4}{45}R_{\alpha\;\;\beta\lambda}^{\;\;\mu}(y_0)
R^{\lambda\;\;\nu}_{\;\;\gamma\;\;\mu}(y_0)
\nonumber \\
&+&\left.\frac{1}{40}R_{\alpha\beta;\gamma}^{\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\nu}(y_0)
+\frac{1}{40}R_{\alpha\beta;\;\;\gamma}^{\;\;\;\;\;\nu}(y_0)\right)
y^\alpha y^\beta y^\gamma \partial_\nu^y
-\left(-\frac{1}{20}
R^{\mu\;\;\nu}_{\;\;\rho\;\;\epsilon;\delta\kappa}(y_0)\right.
\nonumber \\
&+&\left.\left.
\frac{1}{15}R_{\rho\;\;\epsilon\lambda}^{\;\;\mu}(y_0)
R^{\lambda\;\;\nu}_{\;\;\delta\;\;\kappa}(y_0)
\right) y^\rho y^\epsilon y^\delta y^\kappa
\partial_\mu^y\partial_\nu^y -\xi\frac{1}{2}
R_{;\alpha\beta}(y_0)y^\alpha y^\beta\right]\delta^0(x,y)+... \nonumber \\
\label{B}\end{aligned}$$ Accordingly we can write: $$\begin{aligned}
W[g_{\mu\nu}]=\frac{i}{2}{\mbox{Tr}}\log O(m^2)
=\frac{i}{2}{\mbox{Tr}}\log(A+B)\end{aligned}$$ It is then possible to expand $W$ in a power series in the interaction operator $B$. With that purpose we first take the derivative of the EA with respect to the mass parameter, in order to avoid the problem of series expansions of logarithms of operators [@DOMA1]: $$\begin{aligned}
\frac{d}{dm^2}W[g_{\mu\nu}]&=&-\frac{i}{2}{\mbox{Tr}}\frac{1}{O(m^2)}=
-\frac{i}{2}{\mbox{Tr}}((A+B)^{-1})\nonumber \\
&=&-\frac{i}{2}{\mbox{Tr}}(A^{-1}-A^{-1}BA^{-1}+A^{-1}BA^{-1}BA^{-1}-...)
\label{invdes}\end{aligned}$$ As far as the $B$ operator is at least linear in the curvatures and we are only interested in the expansion up to order quadratic in the curvatures, we will only have to keep the first three terms. We now face the main problem of normal coordinates expansion. As we can see from eq.\[B\], all the curvature tensor are evaluated at the same point $y_0$, and therefore eq.\[invdes\] can hardly gives rise to a non-local expression. However, it is possible to circumvent this problem by means of a point splitting procedure in the quadratic terms. Using again the Riemann normal coordinate expansion we can write: $$\begin{aligned}
{\cal R}(y_0){\cal R}(y_0)={\cal R}(y_0){\cal R}(y)
+({\cal R}(y_0)\nabla{\cal R}(y_0)y+
{\cal R}(y_0)\nabla^2{\cal R}(y_0)yy+...)\nonumber \\
+({\cal R}(y_0){\cal R}(y_0){\cal R}(y_0)yy+
{\cal R}(y_0)\nabla{\cal R}(y_0){\cal R}(y_0)yyy+...)+...
\label{pointsplit}\end{aligned}$$ where ${\cal R}$ collectively denotes the scalar curvature or the Riemann and Ricci tensors. There are several ways of performing the splitting (according to the chosen $y$ point), however they all will differ in higher order terms in derivatives.
Evaluating the functional traces in eq.\[invdes\] by using dimensional regularization, we obtain the final result for the gravitational EA up to ${{\cal O}}({\cal R}^2)$ for a real scalar field. We show the masless limit [@DOMA1]: $$\begin{aligned}
W[g_{\mu\nu}]&=&\int d^4 x \frac{\sqrt{g}}{32\pi^2}
\left(\frac{1}{180}\left(R^{\mu\nu\lambda\rho}(x)\Gamma(\Box)
R_{\mu\nu\lambda\rho}(x)-R^{\mu\nu}(x)\Gamma(\Box)R_{\mu\nu}(x)\right)
\right. \nonumber\\
&+& \left.
\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1}{6}-\xi\right)^2 R(x)\Gamma(\Box)R(x)\right)
+{{\cal O}}({\cal R}^3)
\label{nolocal}\end{aligned}$$ with $\Gamma(\Box)=N_\epsilon-\log(\Box/\mu^2)$ and $N_\epsilon=2/\epsilon +\log 4\pi -\gamma$ the usual way of parametrizing the poles in dimensional regularization. The action of the $\Gamma(\Box)$ operators should be understood through the corresponding Fourier transform in normal coordinates, i.e: $$\begin{aligned}
\log\left(\frac{\Box}{\mu^2}\right){\cal R}(y_0)=
\int d^4x \frac{d^4p}{(2\pi)^4}e^{ip x}
\log\left(\frac{-p^2-i\epsilon}{\mu^2}\right)
{\cal R}(x)
\label{act}\end{aligned}$$ We see that the massless limit is regular [@DOMA1] and in this case, the above expression for the EA is exact up to quadratic order.
Particle production in cosmological backgrounds
===============================================
In this section we are interested in calculating the imaginary part of the gravitational EA in eq.\[nolocal\] that, as shown in the introduction, provides us with the particle production probability.
Let us consider a general Bianchi I type metric: $$\begin{aligned}
ds^2=a^3(\tau)d\tau^2-a^2(\tau)g_{ij}(\tau)dx^idx^j\end{aligned}$$ As far as this metric is homogeneous, it is possible to write the different curvature tensor in such a way that they only depend on the time coordinate, and therefore: $$\begin{aligned}
&{\mbox{Im}}& \int d^4x \frac{d^4p}{(2\pi)^4}e^{ip x}{\cal R}(y_0)\log
\left(\frac{-p^2-i\epsilon}{\mu^2}\right){\cal R}(x)\\
&=&
{\mbox{Im}}\int dx^0 \frac{dp_0}{(2\pi)}e^{ip_0 x^0}
{\cal R}(y_0)\log\left(\frac{-p_0^2-i\epsilon}{\mu^2}\right){\cal R}(x^0)
=-\pi{\cal R}(y_0){\cal R}(y_0)\nonumber
\label{frwim}\end{aligned}$$ Using this result it is possible to write the imaginary part as a purely local expression: $$\begin{aligned}
{\mbox{Im}}\; W[g_{\mu\nu}]&=&\int d^4x \frac{\sqrt{g}}{32\pi}\left(
\frac{1}{120}C_{\mu\nu\rho\sigma}
C^{\mu\nu\rho\sigma}+\left(\frac{1}{6}-\xi\right)^2 \frac{R^2}{2}\right)
+{{\cal O}}({\cal R}^3)
\label{imbi}\end{aligned}$$ Here $C_{\mu\nu\rho\sigma}$ is the Weyl tensor and we have discarded a Gauss-Bonnet term. In order to do so, it is necessary that space-time is asymptotically flat or at least that asymptotically ($\tau\rightarrow \pm \infty$), the scale factor behaves as: $a(\tau)\sim \vert \tau\vert^\alpha$ with $\alpha >-1/2$. The integrand can be readily interpreted as the particle production probability per unit time and volume. Therefore, unlike Bogolyubov method that only provides the spectrum of the particle produced, the EA method allows us to know the instantaneous particle production rate. This rate will give rise to the same total amount of particle as the Bogolyubov method in contrast with other methods such as Hamiltonian diagonalization (see [@Birrell] and references therein) which produce vastly more particles. Eq.\[imbi\] is just the general form of the Zel’dovich and Starobinski [@Zeldovich] result. When the metric tensor reduces to the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) form (with vanishing Weyl tensor), the probability will only depend on the scalar curvature. It is then easy to see that in the case of conformal invariance ($\xi=1/6$) there is no particle production, as well as in a radiation dominated universe for which $R=0$ [@Parker].
It is possible to compare (for specific FRW models with $\xi=0$ and complex scalar field), the particle production probabilities per unit volume ($p_{EA}$ and $p_{BOG}$) derived with both methods: $$\begin{aligned}
p_{BOG}\simeq \int \frac{d^3 k}{(2\pi)^3} \log (1+ <N_k>)\;\;\mbox{and}\;
p_{EA}\simeq \frac{1}{576\pi}\int d\tau a^6(\tau)R^2(\tau)
\label{earw}\end{aligned}$$ As an example let us take the model considered in [@schafer] with $a^4(\tau)=A^2\tau^2+B^2$, where $A$ and $B$ are arbitrary constants. The number density of created pairs in the $k$ mode is given by the Bogolyubov method $<N_k>=\exp(-\frac{\pi B^2 k}{A})$. From eq.\[earw\] we extract the following analytical results: $$\begin{aligned}
p_{BOG}=p_{EA}=\frac{7 A^3}{360 B^6\pi}\end{aligned}$$ i.e. both methods give the same probabilities. Comparison with other models can be found in [@DOMA2]. Finally it is worth mentioning that the EA method also provides the particles spectra [@DOMA2] and could be useful in those contexts in which Bogolyubov transformations have been traditionally applied; such as graviton production or the generation of anisotropies in inflationary cosmological models [@bran].
[**Acknowledgements:**]{} This work has been partially supported by Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Spain) CICYT (AEN96-1634).
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[^1]: Contribution to the Proceedings of the International Seminar on Mathematical Cosmology, Potsdam (Germany), March 30 - April 4, 1998
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13 Best Wireless Headphones Compared and Fully Reviewed
By Stacey O'Connor
0
Wireless headphones are a real blessing for runners. No more long cables that were really annoying while running. There are many Bluetooth wireless headphones that can easily connect with many aps and devices. Nowadays, there are many wireless headphones on the market but not every is equal. We’ve created the list of top 13 wireless headphones of 2018. We’ve tried to find products for every budget, there are more expensive products but you can find something budget friendly as well. Let’s get it started.
Last Updated: December 29, 2017
By Brian Price:
We made some replacements and added a few new picks to our list in our most recent update. In addition to that, We also went through and added a little more information worth considering while shopping around for a good set of wireless headphones.
JLab Epic 2
5 out of 5 Our rating
12 hour battery life
Price: See Here
MPow Seashell
4.5 out of 5 Our rating
Affordable
Price: See Here
Jabra Elite Sport
4 out of 5 Our rating
Waterproof
Price: See Here
13 Best Wireless Headphones
JLab Epic 2
JLab's team is comprised of athlete and top tech professionals alike so you know you are getting a quality product. They are a well known brand and a sponsor of many running and fitness events from the Rock and Roll Marathon Series to their local San Diego State University. JLab's Epic 2 earbuds are the choice for athletes who want superior sound quality, waterproof features, and a safety guarentee. JLab took what was already great about their headphones and made them more waterproof, more skip proof, and upped the battery life to specifically appeal to athletes.
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Features
These headphones offer a 12 hours battery life, and when the battery is coming close to its end, the battery indicator will let you know when it's time to recharge. These are also waterproof and skip proof to keep you protected from sweat and aggressive workouts.
Value
Athletes love the price point on these headphones. For under $100, you are getting a high quality product that also comes with a one year sweat proof warranty and a 30 day satisfaction guarantee.
Fit
JLab's Epic 2 are made using their patented Wireless Wire. In addition to this, the product comes with eight different sized gel tips to ensure superior fit. It also comes with a titanium hook that goes over the ear to keep these headphones from comes out of your ears and disrupting your workout. Many runners reported preferring features that hook over the ears because it keeps the product securely in place and reduces distraction during runs.
Pros
One year warranty
Affordable price
8 different gel tips for personalized fit
Cons
Some runners commented that they had problems with their product, but they did also comment that JLab was very responsive and receptive to quickly fix the problems
MPow Seashell
Not every athlete is looking for the most expensive, fancy ear bud that they can find. Some runners want more of a good quality product that will last them, fit well, and provide a reliable sound. The MPow Seashell offers the same quality as some of the bigger brands with a fraction of the price.
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Features
These headphones offer amazing noise cancellation via the CVC 6.0 technology. The overall sound provided from these headphones is great due to the CSR 8645 chip. Runners also appreciated the 7 hour battery life.
Value
These headphones sell for less than $25. Runners loved that they cost is so reasonable, but they didn't feel that the MPow seashell sacraficed quality to cut down on cost.
Fit
Runners raved about the fit of these earbuds. Since one of the biggest complaints with earbuds is that they fall out too easily, runners reviewed that these stayed put (if better than some of their more expensive counterparts).
Pros
Affordable
Good Bluetooth range
7 hour battery life
Cons
Some reviewers commented that the product petered out much quicker than they would have liked
Jabra Elite Sport
The Jabra Elite Sport offers cutting edge technology to ensure superior sound quality and Bluetooth capabilities. These are the headphones for you if you are obsessed with new technology.
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Features
The list is long for this pair. To begin runners get 13.5 hours of battery life because this product comes with its own mobile charging station. Although tiny, each ear bud offers two separate microphones for amazing sound quality. Runners also loved the blue tooth technology, saying that they never lost connection, even over longer distances. Plus they are totally waterproof (and sweatproof).
Value
These are a pricey pair of headphones. They come in right around $250, so they are not for the athlete who is looking to save money. However, review after review raved that they were worth the price. Add to this the fact that they come with a three year warranty which is an extremely rare find.
Fit
Runners love the small and snug fit of these earbuds. They are truly wireless and are comprised of tiny buds that fit snuggly in the ear.
Pros
Waterproof and sweatproof
13.5 hour battery life
3 year warranty
Comes with its own app.
Cons
Expensive
They are so small that some runners reported that they lost them too easily.
Plantronics BackBeat Fit
Plantronic is a headphone brand that is perfect for the individual who is looking for a high quality pair of noise cancelling headphones. Waterproof, sweat proof, stylish and durable these are a great choice for the athlete looking to purchase a high quality pair of wireless headphones. The Plantronics BackBeat Fit prides itself on being a comfortable pair of headphones that won't distract athletes from their workout goals due to issues in fit and function. Another superior quality about this brand is that they really pride themselves on being available and helpful to their customers. They are happy to help you set up a new product or trouble shoot around any issues you may be having.
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Features
While most workout headphones do claim to be sweat proof, these are also waterproof. They use a technologically advanced nano-coating to ensure that moisture, in any form, won't damage these headphones. The over-ear fit ensures that they will stay in place and won't distract you by moving around. Plus, they have an 8 hour battery life. With the on-ear controls, you don't have to struggle with awkward changes of pace or movement to change a song or answer a call.
Value
This product retails for just under $150. Runners reported that it was a very durable product.
Fit
These headphones features an around the head, durable feature to be support them staying in place during workouts. In addition to this, this model features the stay aware technology that doesn't block out all sound so you can stay safe and secure in your environment. This is a unique fitting headset and some runners reported that it took some time to get used, but once they did, they really enjoyed the security that they offered.
Pros
Waterproof and sweat proof
Durable
Stylish
8 hour batter life
Cons
Some runners reported that the range on these blue tooth headphones wasn't as good as some others they had tried in the past.
Bragi The Dash Pro
These wireless headphones are for the lover of smart technology. This is a newer brand but already it is gain serious praise for consumers. The Bragi team took one element they felt was missing from most wireless headphones and added it in. That is the capacity to actually store songs. This ups the anty of the wireless headphone movement. You really can be totally free on your runs now! Plus, they turn on as soon as you place them in your ears, they require only a one touch set up, and runners reported that they were a very intuitive product.
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Features
This is one of the few products that actually allows you to upload songs right to the headphones. No need to worry about your phone at all. It can hold up to 1000 songs on in these earbuds. Runners also liked the products portable charging station which gives the headphones 30 hours of battery life.
Value
These headphones are the most expensive on our list. For those that could afford them, they swore they were worth every penny, but for some, the very high price tag is just too much.
Fit
These are truely wireless headphones. They have no cord whatsoever and runners raved about the security and comfort of the overall fit.
Pros
Holds up to 1000 songs,
Great sound quality
Durable
Cons
Expensive
Jabra Sport Pace
The team at Jabra is obsessive when it comes to the quality of their products. They work a lot with businesses and corporations, setting up their speaker and Bluetooth needs so they are no strangers to pleasing clients and producing quality products. It's no surprise that Jabra made it onto this list twice. They make high quality products for aggressive athletes. The Jabra Sport Pace is a more cost efficient option for runners who are into the Jabra Elite Sport Wireless Headphones.
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Features
The 5 hours of battery life help runners go for longer runs without worrying about their device dying. Although this isn't the longest battery life available in some headphones, this product boasts that it recharges super quickly. If you have 15 minutes, you can get 60 minutes of battery life. Another cool feature? They come in 4 distinct color options to individualize your experience.
Value
Usually, you can find these for around one hundred dollars, but they are often on sale for closer to $70. This is a good price alternative for the runner who wants the quality and durability of the Jabra brand but doesn't want to pay the over $200 price tag for the Elite Sport.
Fit
The fit in comfortable and secure. Runners raved that they never felt uncomfortable, and in fact, many reviewers said they almost forgot they were even wearing headphones. They only weigh 16 grams, after all. Since it is such a huge complaint that so many athletes, it is so valuable to find a pair that you don't have to worry about falling off, fitting incorrectly, or causing irritation around the ears.
Pros
4 unique color options: red, yellow, blue, or gray.
3 year limited warranty
Charges quickly and once fully charged lasts up to 5 hours.
Cons
Some runners commented that these headphones don't come with common features like a button that allows them to skip songs while running.
JBL Under Armour Sport
When you think wireless headphone and technology, you might not automatically think about Under Armour. WHile they have been cranking out high quality gear for the professional and novice athlete for years, they are just starting to get into the headphone and technology game. In general, Under Armour doesn't mess around and it is certainly a brand that can be trusted to produce durable, high quality products for athletes. The Sport Wireless Headphones are tested by athletes to ensure that they are waterproof, comfortable, and deliver superior sound quality.
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Features
The battery of this product delivers up to 8 hours of uninterrupted battery life. It is no surprise that a company that is known for durable, long lasting equipment would create such a long lasting battery life for their headphones. Easy to use, 3 button controls eliminate complications and allow runners to focus on the workout.
Value
This product will cost athletes right around $150. This is a mid range price for similar products.
Fit
One of the highest reviewed qualities of these headphones is the fit. They feature a twist and lock feature along with options for different sized ear bud covering. Both of these features provide superior fit and ensure that the product will not become loose or fall out during workouts.
66 Audio BTS Sport
One thing that athletes and consumers really like about the 66 Audio brand is that they are not just selling quality products, they are also selling a lifestyle. There is a certain respect that comes from owning a pair of these headphones. Many runners started with a non-athletic pair of beats headphones, and were so pleased with them, they couldn't wait to purchase an athletic pair as well. 66 Audio took what consumers love about their product, amazing sound quality and superior Bluetooth capabilities, and tweaked it to create a product that is specifically designed for athletes. The fit of the 66 Audio BTS Sport is comfortable and sweat proof and offers a nice alternative for the athlete who isn't comfortable with the tiny ear bud design of many other wireless headphone options.
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Features
The Bluetooth capabilities in this product are unparalleled. You can connect to two different blue tooth devices at once thanks to the Multipoint technology that is used in this product. The signature amazing sound quality of 66 Audio is also present in this product. Additionally, the larger sized buttons on the side of the headphones make it easy to transition between songs, raise or lower the volume, or switch to calls. And, because of the rechargeable lithium battery, you can enjoy a full 25 hours of battery life.
Value
Runners reported beign surprised at the affordability of these headphones. They come in right around $70 and come with a one year warranty.
Fit
For the runner who is sensitive to the small ear bud that has become the staple of wireless and athletic headphones, the 66 Audio BTS Sport offers a nice alternative. These have a more traditional look and feel of a sweat proof product that covers the entire ear without going inside of it.
Pros
Good sound quality
Unlimited warranty
Affordable
Cons
Some athletes did not like the feel of their entire ear being covered.
Aftershokz Trekz Titanium
Even though it is closer to the bottom of our list, does not mean that this is not an amazing product. Aftershokz has earned high praise from IBT, Forbes, Health, and Digital Trends as well as countless consumers. Aftershokz Trekz Titanium made the list because they are a great product and they are not afraid to break out of the traditional athletic headphone mold. These are a great option for the runner who is looking for a good wireless headphone but is unhappy with the majority of style and fit options. These come in at the middle of the pack because they are a great quality, but they are unique, and therefore not for every athlete.
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Features
The main features to consider in this headphone is that they do the opposite of what many other brands do: they allow you hear your surroundings. This is such an important features for the athlete who is looking for peace on the trail and it is also an extreme safety consideration for those adventuring outdoors. Aftershokz wanted the athlete to still be able to engage in the natural world around them to help them be present in the moment. Also, the AFtershokz Trek Titanium use Aftershokz patented bone conduction which uses scientific research to provide superior sound quality.
Value
These headphones will cost you about $130. They do come with a hassle free two year warranty. This is unique because most headphones come with a one year limited warranty if any warranty at all.
Fit
This product is a unique fit for the runner looking for an alternative to the traditional ear bud design. These headphones actually sit on the outside of the year and allow the runner to stay connected to their surroundings.
Pros
Comes in 4 bright, colorful options
Can still hear surroundings so runners stay safe
Cons
Although they come in different colors that runners enjoyed, some reported that they didn't love the aesthetic of this product.
Bose Sound Sport Pulse
No "best headphones" list would be complete with out at least one Bose product. Bose is the gold standard when it comes to noise canceling headphones and superior sound quality. For years Bose has been leading the charge with the highest sound quality for the home via their speakers, and then they began making their signature noise canceling headphones, and now they are finally moving into sports equipment. The Bose Sound Sport Pulse is a great addition to the Bose lineup and is specifically designed with the athlete in mind.
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Features
Unique to this model is a built in heart rate monitor. It also includes their patented StayHear+ Pulse tips to improve your performance and keep you active and safe. This headphone product also features a microphone on the line that connects the headphones so you can answer calls and stay connected even when you're working out. Runners enjoyed the Bose Connect App but this product can also be connected to any Bluetooth compatible app and device.
Value
Bose is a top of the line product and the price tag certainly reflects that. At close to $200, this product might be beyond the price point for some athletes. It is important to note that this product is an investment.
Fit
This product is designed using wireless earbuds and a wire that connects the two in the back of the head. Runners reported no problems with fit or this products ability to stay put. The buds actually house the battery which makes them a bit larger than your average ear bud, but nonetheless, runners reported that they stayed in place just fine.
Pros
Heart Rate Monitoring
Superior Sweat Proof
Cons
Some runners commented that the size of the ear buds felt bulky and heavier than they would have liked. This is not the most lightweight options.
COWIN E7
If you’re this kind of runner who wants to stay in touch even during running and also want to enjoy some good music, then you should definitely have a look at these headphones. There’s built-in microphone so your hands stay free. The NFC helps to get good connection with the devices with Blootooth. When you use the Bluetooth mode, the headphones will play for 30 hours.
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Features
These headphones are packed with many interesting features. Active noise cancelling technology reduces the noises from the work and travel. If you want to hear the music despite the city traffic, they will work great. What’s more, it can work in both modes- wire and wireless mode. Very powerful sound and accurate base response make this headphones great. There are 40mm big speaker drivers to give you the better sound. The Compact carrying case helps to protect your headphones during travel.
Value
You will be able to get them for less than 80 dollars so it’s a great price for this quality. These are the good balance between expensive and inexpensive headphones on our list.
Fit
These headphones are rather lightweight so there’s no problem with wearing them all day. Wireless wearing is very comfortable
Pros
These have great bass, the highs and lows are also great
Very reasonable price for the quality
You can wear them for a long time
Cons
May be not the best option for people with really big head as the ear cups are tight
Zipbuds 26
Zipbuds 26 are adored by many runners not only because they’re provide perfect sound and they’re sweat resistant but they also look very fashionable .
When it comes to battery life, it’s up to 15 hours of play/talk time and about 200 hours on standby. There’s Magnetic Mobile Charge Clip so it’s very easy to charge them.
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Features
What is very unique about these, it’s Hybrid Driver System that makes the base really deep and distortion-free HD sound makes the sound really clean, no matter what volume you choose. Proprietary Hydrophobic Technology helps to deal with the sweat and preventing the unpleasant odor. They’re Equipped with Bluetooth 4.1
Value
When it comes to the price tag, this is one of the most expensive products on our list. If you want to invest in high quality wireless headphones, they’re worth every dollar.
Fit
They’re very sleek and light so you may even forget that you’re wearing them. The cable is very comfortable in wearing, it stays in place around your neck. The earbud has very ergonomic shape, it’s really small and comfortable
Pros
They work with all iPhone, iPad, Android and Bluetooth enabled devices
Great look and comfortable wearing
The headphones are really tiny, they’re not bulky like some other models
Cons
One runner said that the cord connecting the ear buds isn't long enough
Mpow Thor
Mpow is the brand that you can find the second time on our list. The thing that really draws the attention is definitely the price. There are upgraded speaker driver and on-ear controls for better sound. Check them out!
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Features
Dual 40mm large-aperture driver units make the transition even faster. The sound is said to be really good. When it comes to buttery life, it’s 13 hours so it may be not long enough for some runners. There’s build in microphone so you can talk wherever you want and you your hands are free. The microphone only works in the Bluetooth mode. The charging time os about 4 hours.
Value
Like the other Mpow model on our list, they don’t cost a lot, you will have to spend around 30 dollars and the quality is good.
Fit
They’re padded with very soft memory foam so that’s great amount of cushioning makes your ears really pleased.The ear pad is wrapped in protein leather which is very similar to natural skin. The headphones are rather lightweight so the pressure on your ears and head is reduced.
Pros
They’re lightweight
The pricing is really reasonable
Very good connectivity
Cons
Some runners said that the buttons are hard in using
The Criteria We Used To Find The Best Wireless Headphones
Our list of the top 13 best wireless headphones were thoroughly researched using the following metrics.
Features
Wireless headphones come with unique features that are individual to each product. These features are important for runners to consider because each runner has unique individual needs. One important feature we considered was battery life. Runners, especially distance runners, have been faced with the difficult situation of technology dying mid way through their run. Likewise, many runners find it important for devices to charge quickly once they die or give notice before they are dying. Another feature we considered was Bluetooth connectivity. Some products had a shorter range or would lose connectivity once the device was placed in a pocket. We also looked at special features that certain products offered that made them unique. Some products provide the option of downloading music directly to the earbuds while some came with travel charging case. All of these details are important for the runner to be aware of so they can make the best choice for their needs.
Value
Many of the choices runners make are driven by their budget. It was important to list the cost and the value clearly so that runners could make informed decisions and select a product that best fits their budget.
Fit
Wireless headphones are a wonderful addition to the world of runners, but they aren’t at all helpful if they are uncomfortable to wear. One of the main complaints that runners have in regards to their headphones is that they fall out or need constant readjusting. This can be distracting to the runner. In addition to this, all runners have a personal preference as to the particular fit they prefer. We were sure to detail each fit so the runner could make the most informed choice.
Other Factors To Consider
Technology
The key to a good pair of wireless headphones is that it is compatible with your preferred device. The products on our list can connect via Bluetooth to any smartphone. Since runners purchase wireless headphones primarily to connect to their music and their fitness apps like Nike+ Run Club and MapMyRide, a high quality pair of wireless headphones should have no problem connecting to either. The connection should be strong and reliable. We also looked at the range of the connection as well. For example, you don’t want to lose connection to your device if you place your phone into your pocket or into a runner pouch. Since some athletes are using their headphones in their home gyms, you don’t want to leave a room and lose your connection either. In addition to connectivity, we also looked at the additional technology offered by the product. Some wireless headphones come with their own app, and in that case, we looked at the quality and usability of these apps.
Brand Recognition
Our list has a combination of big brand names and smaller, less well known brands. Brand recognition might not be an issue for some, but some athletes feel more secure with a product that they recognize and has proven to work in the past for them. While there is often a lower cost associated with a lesser recognized brand name, a well known name often comes with a more robust warranty poloicy and a better equipped team of customer service personnel.
Sound Quality
In our search, we found many headphones that fit well, had great Bluetooth range, and also were stylish, but when it came down to it, the sound quality just didn’t cut it. It can be very difficult to fit a quality speaker into such a small space, but all of the products on our list were able to do just that. While some of the headsets, like the 66 Audio BTS+ that made this list, over the total surround sound, noise canceling experience, we also added some headphones that provided excellent sound quality but still allowed you to hear your surroundings.
FAQ
Q. Are wireless headphones waterproof?
A. This is going to be different for each product, but overall, most wireless headphones are sweat-proof, but not many are actually waterproof.
Q. What devices are compatible with wireless headphones?
A. Most wireless devices that have Bluetooth capabilities will be compatible with your wireless headphones. In addition to this, many wireless headphones come with their own unique fitness apps.
Q. How much should I expect to pay for wireless headphones?
A. The most expensive product on our list is over $400 while the most affordable are closer to $50. Wireless headphones can be purchased for much less if cost is a primary concern; however, the headphones that cost less often came with very limited warranties or no warranties at all.
Q. How long can I expect the battery life of wireless headphones to last for?
A. Many wireless headphones come with a portable charging case. These items boast a battery life of close to 30 hours. A good quality product will give you at least 5 hours of uninterrupted battery life without needing to recharge. Some can last up to 12 hours.
Q. Will wireless headphones work without a phone?
A. Most wireless headphones will not work without a phone because they will need a source from which to generate music; however, there are a small number of wireless headphone brands that can download music right to the earbuds, so in this case, you will not need a phone to play music.
Q. Do wireless headphones come in different colors?
A. The traditional color is black or gray but some brands do offer different color options. It is important to note though that depending on the design style you choose, the ear bud may be so small that color won’t really be an issue.
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Quality-of-life measurement in randomized clinical trials in breast cancer: an updated systematic review (2001-2009).
Quality-of-life (QOL) measurement is often incorporated into randomized clinical trials in breast cancer. The objectives of this systematic review were to assess the incremental effect of QOL measurement in addition to traditional endpoints (such as disease-free survival or toxic effects) on clinical decision making and to describe the extent of QOL reporting in randomized clinical trials of breast cancer. We conducted a search of MEDLINE for English-language articles published between May-June 2001 and October 2009 that reported: 1) a randomized clinical trial of breast cancer treatment (excluding prevention trials), including surgery, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, symptom control, follow-up, and psychosocial intervention; 2) the use of a patient self-report measure that examined general QOL, cancer-specific or breast cancer-specific QOL or psychosocial variables; and 3) documentation of QOL outcomes. All selected trials were evaluated by two reviewers, and data were extracted using a standardized form for each variable. Data are presented in descriptive table formats. A total of 190 randomized clinical trials were included in this review. The two most commonly used questionnaires were the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QOL Questionnaire and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy/Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy. More than 80% of the included trials reported the name(s) of the instrument(s), trial and QOL sample sizes, the timing of QOL assessment, and the statistical method. Statistical power for QOL was reported in 19.4% of the biomedical intervention trials and in 29.9% of the nonbiomedical intervention trials. The percentage of trials in which QOL findings influenced clinical decision making increased from 15.2% in the previous review to 30.1% in this updated review for trials of biomedical interventions but decreased from 95.0% to 63.2% for trials of nonbiomedical interventions. Discordance between reviewers ranged from 1.1% for description of the statistical method (yes vs no) to 19.9% for the sample size for QOL. Reporting of QOL methodology could be improved.
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Chiropractic is a philosophy, science, and art which utilizes the inherent recuperative powers of the body and deals with the relationship between the brain, the body and the spinal cord and the role of that relationship in the restoration and maintenance of health.
HISTORY
The actual profession of chiropractic – as a distinct form of health care — dates back to 1895. However, some of the earliest healers in the history of the world understood the relationship between health and the condition of the spine. Hippocrates advised: “Get knowledge of the spine, for this is the requisite for many diseases.” Hippocrates’ dictum “Look well to the spine for the cause of disease,” followed by “reaffirmation” of Hippocrates’ beliefs by mention of the theories of such long ago famous men as Herophelus, Erasistratus, and Descartes who emphasized the importance of the nervous system in health and in disease.
Herodotus, a contemporary of Hippocrates, gained fame curing diseases by correcting spinal abnormalities through therapeutic exercises. If the patient was too weak to exercise, Herodotus would manipulate the patient’s spine. The philosopher Aristotle was critical of Herodotus’ tonic-free approach because, “he made old men young and thus prolonged their lives too greatly.”
B.J. Palmer
But the treatment of the spine was still crudely and misunderstood until Daniel David (D.D.) Palmer discovered the specific spinal adjustment. He was also the one to develop the philosophy of chiropractic which forms the foundation for the profession. Later, his son B.J, who carried on his father’s work — was credited with developing chiropractic into a clearly defined and unique health care system.
Although the profession has advanced tremendously since the days of D.D. and B.J., the basic tenets and understanding of chiropractic as a drug-free method of correcting vertebral subluxations in order to remove nerve interference still stand.
WHY CHIROPRACTIC?
The chiropractic profession is the most popular natural health care choice in the United States. Chiropractic healthcare is a branch of the healing arts that offers the public a natural drugless approach to improving the health and function of the human body. It is a complete system of healthcare focused on restoring, preserving, and optimizing health by natural hands-on care. Where conventional or “allopathic” medicine focuses on curing illness through surgery and pharmaceuticals, the goal of chiropractic is to optimize health with a non-invasive approach that does not use drugs or surgery.
Chiropractic care is based on the scientific fact that the nervous system controls and coordinates the function of every cell, tissue, and organ in the body. Our focus is on the connection between the brain and the body – the brain is the master controller of every system, organ, tissue, and cell in your body. Your health DEPENDS on a proper functioning nervous system.
A basic philosophy of chiropractic is that the body naturally seeks the proper balance among all the systems of the body, and that these systems are meant to work together. A second basic principle is that proper structure is necessary for proper function. If a structure is impaired by injury or stress, its function can be adversely affected.
The spine is an important structure that houses and provides protection for the spinal cord, while providing mobility for the upper body. This dual requirement of strength and flexibility makes the spine a very complex structure, with multiple joints at each spinal segment (the vertebrae) forming the spinal column.
When these joints (also known as articulations) are not positioned or functioning normally (subluxation), it can affect the nerves exiting the spine, which in turn affects the signal traveling through it. Since these signals provide information to the body from the brain and from the brain to the body, the integrity of that connection is crucial to maintain proper function and optimal health.
For example, when our spine (structure) is not positioned normally, it can irritate the nerves exiting the spine. And when spinal nerves are irritated, they don’t function normally and can affect the function of the tissues they interact with. This “end-organ” effect is the central interest in chiropractic care. The relief of localized discomfort at the point of irritation is a secondary objective or “side effect” of care.
Thus chiropractic focuses on the integrity of the spine and its surrounding tissues as a means to enhance normal human function and health. We know if your nervous system is working at 100%, then your body can rely on its own intelligence to heal itself. It’s that simple!
We know if your nervous system is working at 100%, then your body can rely on its own intelligence to heal itself. It’s that simple!
SUBLUXATION & ITS EFFECTS
A subluxation is when one or more of the bones of your spine (vertebrae) move out of position and create pressure on, or irritate spinal nerves. Spinal nerves are the nerves that come out from between each of the bones in your spine. This pressure or irritation on the nerves then causes those nerves to malfunction and interfere with the signals traveling over those nerves.
Vertebral subluxations have a great number of different causes all of which the average individual is exposed to daily. These causes can be described in terms of physical, chemical, and emotional causes:
Chemical causes include poor dietary and nutritional practices, drug and alcohol use and abuse, and the ingestion of chemical toxins in the foods we eat, air we breathe, and water we drink. Chemicals which are harmful to the body decrease the body’s ability to function optimally and reduce the ability to successfully adapt to and withstand internal and external stresses – making us more susceptible to spinal subluxations and the consequences of these subluxations.
Emotional causes refer to stress. Excessive stress or inadequate stress management skills can deplete the body of the ability to sustain normal functions. The impact of emotional stress on physical health is well documented in the medical research and can have devastating effects on the immune system, making the body susceptible to injury and disease.
Your brain is made up of nerve cells that organize into a thick cord of billions of nerve fibers to create your spinal cord. Your spinal cord extends down your back, protected by the bones of your spinal column, from where it branches into numerous nerves that travel to the billions of destinations in your body.
Your nervous system controls and coordinates every function of your body. It is your nervous system that allows you to adapt to, and live in your environment. A large portion of your nervous system passes through your spine. It is your spinal cord that acts as the major cable exiting your brain, travels down inside your spinal column and branches off into spinal nerves at various levels of your spine. These spinal nerves then exit between individual spinal vertebrae and go to the various parts of your body. To be healthy it is essential that your nervous system function properly and free from any interference caused by subluxations.
It’s about much more than back or neck pain or sciatica. Leaving subluxations untreated in your body will lead to dysfunction and then disease. Subluxations are called “silent killers” because many times they start out painless, just like cavities, cancer, and many other diseases. And if they are left uncorrected, they continue to get worse and have profound and serious affects on your health. Your body begins to perform poorly at every level : Your immune system weakens, your strength and coordination is negatively affected, your emotional state can be altered, your organs may not function normally, and you could experience a constant state of pain, stiffness, lack of flexibility, stress, fatigue, and many other symptoms.
This is why it is so important to have regular chiropractic checkups. It is the responsibility of the Doctor of Chiropractic to locate these subluxations, and reduce or correct them. This is done through a series of chiropractic adjustments specifically designed to correct the vertebral subluxations in your spine.
Chiropractors have known about the dangers of subluxations for over one hundred years and we are the ONLY health professionals trained in the detection, location, and correction of these misalignments. Our goal is to allow your body to return itself to the highest level of health possible by correcting these misalignments.
Leaving subluxations untreated in your body will lead to dysfunction and then disease.
WHAT IS A CHIROPRACTIC ADJUSTMENT?
A chiropractic adjustment is the art of using a specific force in a precise direction, applied to a joint that is fixated or not moving properly. This adds motion to the joint, helping bones gradually return to a more normal position. The purpose of this safe & natural procedure is:
– improved spinal function
– improved nervous system function
– improved health
Unfortunately, the muscles connected to subluxated vertebrae get used to their positions and have a tendency to pull the bone back out of place. It may take several adjustments before the adjustment “holds,” and the bone settles into its proper alignment. And, since the first subluxation may have taken place at birth, it also takes time to undo the damage that an uncorrected subluxation has created.
Our education & experience has allowed us to become proficient in various effective, techniques such as Diversified technique, Sacro-occipital technique, Activator or instrument adjusting, & Thompson which utilizes our specialized drop tables. We will choose the most effective technique taking into consideration your physical build, age, or any other health matters.
Research shows patient risk is considerably lower for chiropractic care when compared to medical care, due to the risks with prescription drugs & surgery. Positive proof of its safety record is the fact that medical doctors’ malpractice insurance premiums are, on the average, 10 to 14 times higher than those for Chiropractors. Every person is adjusted differently. Each visit, your spine may be different & upon analysis it is determined where to adjust you on that particular day .
Chiropractic is safe for people of all ages. We care for newborns & children up to the elderly, & everyone in between. Chiropractic procedures take into consideration the nature of the aging spine & the many abnormalities present to provide a strategically effective, safe & noninvasive treatment plan. We also consider the fragile structures of the newborn spine providing gentle, delicate adjustments.
Research shows patient risk is considerably lower for chiropractic care when compared to medical care, due to the risks with prescription drugs & surgery.
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Tynda Airport
Tynda Sigikta Airport is an airport in Russia located 16 km north of Tynda. It is an intermediate class of airfield with several large buildings, probably capable of handling jet traffic.
History
The history of the airport as a standalone runway built during the World War II years, where American planes which flown from Alaska stopped to refuel.
As the airport opened in 1965, to October 26, 1974, opens regular flights from Komsomolsk-on-Amur - Chegdomyn - Tynda. Over 1974 passengers were sent to 6592, and in connection with the construction of the Baikal–Amur Mainline by 1975 the airport already 23,830 passengers passed in the airport. From 1988 to 1992 the reconstruction was taking place with the construction of the terminal, which includes a terminal with a capacity of 100 people per hour, ticket hall, snack bar, lounge with 500 seats, lounges, navigation and meteorological service. the runway has been increased to 1923 meters (the project up to 3000 m).
References
RussianAirFields.com
Category:Airports built in the Soviet Union
Category:Airports in Amur Oblast
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Climbing Board Training
Climbing Training Boards: What They Are
Climbing boards are pieces of mountain climbing training equipment that consist of a resin or wood board that you can hang above a doorway or other small space. The board has a variety of pockets and handholds cut into it or attached to it so that you can train your upper body, and your fingers. Most climbing boards are designed to mount permanently on a wall with long wood screws, but there are some that can be hung temporarily in a doorway like a pull up bar. One of the newer innovations in climbing training boards is the Blank Slate Climbing Trainer, which allows you to install your own unique combinations of climbing holds so that you can train on the slopes and finger holds that fit your training routine. It’s as close as you can get to a full-scale rock- climbingwall in your home.
Unable to get Youtube feed. Did you supply the correct feed information?
Finally, there are rock rings, which are miniature climbing boards — about 4 to 6 inches across and the same from top to bottom – with a couple of finger holds in each ring. They’re designed to be hung from a joist or pull up bar with the included ropes, giving you a completely portable hanging board for climbing training.
While you won’t get a full climbing experience from a hanging board, you will get lots of practice hanging and pulling up using a variety of hand and finger holds. For about the cost of a good rope, you can own one of the best ways to train and stay in shape for climbing without leaving your home.
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Q:
Removing rows using join and skip some of them - MySQL
I'm having a hard time to use a MySQL query.
If I do the following:
SELECT ads.id_ad
FROM tab_ads ads, tab_orders orders
WHERE (ads.id_user = 111 AND ads.id_ad = orders.id_ad)
It gives me the correct answer, which is: "show me the ads belonging to user 111 that have been sold"
What I want is to remove all ads, except the ads that have been sold.
So I change the equal to not equal in the where criteria:
SELECT ads.id_ad
FROM tab_ads ads, tab_orders orders
WHERE (ads.id_user = 111 AND ads.id_ad != orders.id_ad)
And it gives me trash results.
Ex:
I have three tables:
tab_ads
id_ad - title - etc.
01 - title1
02 - title2
03 - title3
tab_orders
id_order - id_ad - amount - etc.
XX - 01 - $10
tab_users
id_user - name - etc.
110 - Dr. Jivago - etc.
111 - Sherlock - etc.
I need to remove all ads from 111 (Sherlock) where there's no sell. So I need to remove ad 02 - title2 and 03 - title3 because ad 01 - title1 has been sold and I need to keep it for future consultation.
A:
You could use not in and a subselect
select ads.id_ad
FROM tab_ads
where ads.id_ad not in (
SELECT ads.id_ad
FROM tab_ads ads
INNER JOIN tab_orders orders on ads.id_user = 111 AND ads.id_ad = orders.id_ad)
)
AND tab_ads.id_user = 111
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swagger: "2.0"
info:
version: "1.0.0"
title: Invalid API
paths:
/users:
get:
responses:
"default":
description: hello world
schema:
type: user # <--- Invalid response type
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1991 French Open – Men's Singles
Ninth-seeded Jim Courier defeated Andre Agassi 3–6, 6–4, 2–6, 6–1, 6–4 in the final to win the Men's Singles tennis title at the 1991 French Open. Andres Gomez was the defending champion but did not compete that year.
Boris Becker had a chance to complete the career Grand Slam, he lost to Agassi in the semifinals.
Seeds
The seeded players are listed below. Jim Courier is the champion; others show the round in which they were eliminated.
Stefan Edberg (Quarterfinals)
Boris Becker (Semifinals)
Ivan Lendl (Withdrew due to wrist injury)
Andre Agassi (Finals)
Sergi Bruguera (Second round)
Pete Sampras (Second round)
Guy Forget (Fourth round)
Goran Ivanišević (Second round)
Jim Courier (Champion)
Michael Chang (Quarterfinals)
Emilio Sánchez (Second round)
Michael Stich (Semifinals)
Jonas Svensson (Withdrew due to injury)
Karel Nováček (First round)
John McEnroe (First round)
Brad Gilbert (First round)
Draw
Finals
Top half
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Bottom half
Section 5
Section 6
Section 7
Section 8
External links
Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) – 1991 French Open Men's Singles draw
Men's Singles
Category:French Open by year – Men's Singles
Category:1991 ATP Tour
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I prefer riding the train to driving my car. It’s cheaper, and it forces me into a very public atmosphere, removing the sense of separation I get when sitting alone in the traffic, partitioned from other motorists. A busy train ride is a lesson in sharing space: people knock against each other, sweat together and show their different levels of patience for the hawkers who weave through the crowds, selling ID book covers, super glue and other non-essential items.
Public transport is a great leveler that bring strangers into close contact, temporarily removing social barriers that ordinarily separate them.
But the way that Metrorail continues to divide passengers by how much they pay for their tickets serves to entrench the classism that keeps South Africans from really reaching beyond their social comfort zones. Officially, the tickets that allow one to sit in the “better” carriages sell under the “Metro Plus” tag (and cost a few rand more) than the cheap tickets, which are just “Metro”. But listen to most people at the counters, sellers included: they more commonly use the terms “first” and “third class” when tickets exchange hands.
The difference between “first” and “third” class is marginal. For the trains that run the Simon’s Town to Cape Town line, a third-class ticket gets you a seat with no cushioning. In some carriages the first-class seats are more comfortable and arranged differently. In others the seats are arranged the same but just have a skimpy layer of cushioning. The real issue is that in a country working to overcome its sensitivity to past divisions and faced with massive economic inequality, this not so subtle segregation perpetuates a “them and us” mentality based on how much citizens can shell out for a ride. It does nothing to promote equality and reminds commuters that those who are less affluent get to travel in their own “third-class” section away from the better-offs. It’s a form of commuter elitism that seems to go largely unchallenged at the ticket booth.
Ride the subway in San Francisco, New York and other major cities. Passengers have no option for segregating themselves because they have a few more dollars to spare. A ticket gets you a ride, just the same as everyone else. Of course, that’s not to say those cities are pinnacles of equality.
But when it comes to public transport, at least, commuters are not split at the ticket counter and sent off to different ends of the train when it arrives at the station.
On a recent train trip, in a packed “third-class” carriage that grew increasingly swollen as we got closer to Cape Town, a man I was squashed against suggested that Metrorail start building double-decker trains to make more space for passengers. Before that happens, I’d want to see standardised, affordable tickets so that all fare-paying commuters ride together instead of being unnecessarily compartmentalised. If the double-deckers come first, I’ve got one guess for which class of commuter will be riding on the top level, enjoying the superior view.
Brendon Bosworth is a Cape Town based writer who drives when it’s not viable to catch the train or ride his skateboard. He is continually interested in South African society.
Are you kidding me? First right through to third class tickets is not a ‘South African’ occurrence. This is a universally accepted, standardised classification for price brackets in travel.
You have economy, business and first class plane tickets. You have star ratings for hotels and other forms of accommodation.
If you earned enough to travel in comfort you do so, if you can’t afford it it’s simple. perhaps you would be better suited to a more socialist approach in this respect, in which case you might be better suited to commuting and residing in a country where the liberties of capitalism are not so easily accrued. Then again, where you to reside in said socialist state this platform for free thought would not exist and you would have no means of voicing your grievances in the first place.
So take your pick: spew worthless drivel onto a site for lateral thought or ride in equally distasteful train carriages…
http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/davidjsmith David J Smith
In a country like SA where some people live in shacks and others live in camps bay, the train ticketing system is hardly an issue. We can save it for later down the track (sorry, bad pun), once we have solved the bigger stuff.
Momma Cyndi
Brendon,
If being squished into cattle-class on a train or a plane is the only way you can associate with humanity then go for it. I wouldn’t, however, send my daughter with her laptop on that train – would you?
Even in your most delightfully ‘equal’ communist countries, there is a class system. That is reality
J
Thanks for the article Brendon. If more people like yourself discussed inequality, in all its forms, whether on trains, or in different suburbs, perhaps South Africa would not be one of the most unequal societies in the world.
The disregard of inequality by some is unfathomable, still in this mind frame of black and white socialism vs capitalism as the answer to everything. Socialism is evil and capitalism is sent from God or vice versa…etc etc…really these analogies need to stay in the cinema with Lord of the Rings.
To Mr Tired, it sounds like you are tired, not being able to put a reasonable argument together at this point. I think the point is “metro” is far from economy, and getting on a plane or staying at a hotel is hardly a worthy comparison to catching a metro commuter train. I doubt the metro class passengers would understand or agree if you told them they should not expect anything more than the overcrowded dangerous trains they catch simply because they cannot afford it. Very easy for some to say such things when they personally are not riding the metro.
Bert
Brendon, there is a BIG difference between a subway and a train service. I have also ridden subways in many different countries, all single ‘class’. But, in the same countries, I was always offered a choice of ‘class’ when buying a ticket on a train. There is nothing ‘classist’ about this Brendon.
Maybe you should suggest that Metrorail do what is done in the UK on some lines. You buy a cheap ticket and board the train. Once underway, the conductor will offer you an upgrade if there are seats available in the more expensive ‘classes’. Of course, you have to pay for this, but it works out to a discount of about 80% on what you would have paid.
Finally, please provide concrete examples of this country ‘working’ to overcome past divisions. I certainly struggle to find them, but examples of Government creating new divides are everywhere.
Do you have the same objection to the different ‘classes’ on aeroplanes? You should start lobbying the airlines? But wait, if you succeed in your quest for a ‘classless’ world, every time you buy a ticket it will be more expensive, because those who bought the more expensive option are actually subsidising you.
Tired
Dear J.
It just so happens that I take the Southern Line from Wynberg twice a day. The argument is perfectly valid, in fact, in light of what you and Brendon are complaining about.
Equality cannot be effected by making everyone ride a single class just it cannot be helped by giving away the luxuries of some just so others can enjoy them too. Perhaps you should read animal farm again and take a good long look at what it is we should be working towards.
If you remove the extra funds garnered by more expensive tickets then you’d have no new carriages, not new seats, central heating or even enough money to pay those driving the trains.
So you see my dear, quasi-liberal, socialist J, without those that pay more, the rest would suffer for it and well, we’ll just drive to work.
Zeph
Class is everywhere. Try getting into a first class carriage with a second class ticket in Germany. I had four Polizei glaring at me a tapping their batons within half a minute…
Brendon, where do you live? What car do you have? What booze do you drink? What school did you go to and how do you speak? If you don’t like it then don’t use it and take the egalitarian option.
Personally after a bothersome day I do not want to be squashed…call me a snob!
HLM
It is clearly stated in the article that there is not large level of increased comfort across the train carriages – from my experience of CT trains the only real difference between them is the fullness. In actual fact the metro carriages are so full in the busy hours that if they just standardised the whole train the system would probably be able to better cater for demand and not really lose any money. The existence of these classes, as the article indicates is not to dramatically increase comfort if you have the option. They serve no real purpose so the author makes a valid point.
http://feministssa.com Jen Thorpe
I always wonder why they don’t just add more carriages onto all trains and make them one ‘class’.
For a start they could have spent the money they spent on televisions at the central station on ensuring that the windows open, and that there are sufficient trains to meet the needs of commuters.
Nigel
We visit Kalk Bay quite often from Johannesburg, getting a lift to the Gautrain, flying to Cape Town, taking the shuttle bus to the city centre and then the Simonstown train to Kalk Bay where we walk across the road to our accommodation. The variety of forms of transport is fascinating and the costs per kilometre vary widely. But the hour’s train ride to Kalk Bay costs just R11 for Metro Plus and we believe that paying more for very similar seating actually subsidises the cost of the “Third Class” tickets. So we are, in fact, helping people with little in the way of funds to travel the same route we do, but for less.
Lennon
I’ve been doing the Metrorail (or as some like to joke, MetroFail) run along both the Maitland and Century City lines for the last 13 years.
During peak hours, the difference between Metro and Metro Plus is indistinguishable unless you’re lucky enough to grab a seat which is seldom possible at Bellville Station between 7 and 8 am. It’s still a sardine tin until you pass Old Mutual (if you’re on the Maitland line).
The newer (relatively speaking) trains on the Century City line only have the newer (crappier) blue seats – some of which have those thin cushions and even then they’re randomly dotted around two of the carriages in any given train. The only issue with the blue seats is that it’s pretty easy to slide off them whereas the yellow seats in the Metro carriages on the older trains are much more comfortable.
The best seats, oddly enough, can be found in those ancient coaches which make up the Malmesbury Express. I’m not sure how many of the carriages they’re in, obviously barring the first which (I think) used to be a dining car since it has tables in it.
Of course there’s the ultra-laanie Boland Express with its coffee, muffins and wi-fi, but it’s far too pricey. Perhaps Metrorail should can this as well as the Blue Train.
http://southafricanseamonkey.wordpress.com Po
In England the trains have first and third class. I commuted every day, an hour each way. I also have a back problem and cannot stand for more than 5 minutes without pain. There were almost never seats in the morning in the normal third class areas. The first class carriage would essentially be empty but I had to squat on the floor or stand in pain, usually with my back pressed up to the first class carriage. And the first class tickets cost a LOT more, they were not affordable to me, actually the third class ones were barely affordable. It really sucked.
Enough Said
@Tired
“So you see my dear, quasi-liberal, socialist J”
What I have found is people who rely on name calling and steriotype rhetoric ususally lack a persuasive argument and factual data.
What was the point you were trying to make? Sorry, I generally dismiss people who trot out labels to try and imply others are inferior to them.
Have you seen the research that shows that liberals are more intelligent than conservatives. Check it out.
@Brendon
Thanks I enjoyed reading your article. There are some comment above that are definately worth taking cognisance of, others are just empty barrels trying to make some noise.
Mark Kerruish
In the last two years I’ve been on the Shanghai subway system many times. This includes travelling during rush hour. There is no “premium” or “lower” rate. The fare is the fare. Even during the height of rush hour I’ve never experienced overcrowding like that which I previously experienced on Metrorail in the Western Cape (Bellville and Simonstown lines) in both Metro and Metro Plus carriages.
This is in a single city that has about half the population of South Africa – 25 000 000.
If I convert currencies, I have never paid more than R8 for a trip clear across the city either.
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Tuesday, May 2
Five weeks after the Tsunami hit, Sishir Chang went to Thailand to see how the people there were recovering and to see how those concerned could help. The following is the sixth installment of his experiences in the aftermath of one of the world's most devastating natural disasters. Originally published in the Southasian, the article is being republished here, with previously unpublished photographs, with the author's permission.___Part 6: COME TO PHUKET
EMPTY BEACHES
Even with the scale of the tsunami Phuket still remains beautiful. Unfortunately for the Thais the place is far below its tourist capacity and I had heard that many tourists are staying away out of fear, uncertainty and even guilt. In Patong I was told by everyone that I talked to that the number of visitors was very down. November to May is supposed to be their high season when many businesses earn enough money to make it through the rest of the year. The beach at Patong was only about half full while some other beaches, even those untouched by the tsunami, had even less. At night many of the bars and restaurants were nearly empty, often to the consternation of the Thai women who worked them as hostesses or to troll for lonely foreigners.
Tourism is the backbone of Phuket’s economy and without it recovery will be very difficult, if not impossible. In the town of Kamala I spoke to Tan, a shopkeeper who had lost three of his stores and was in the process of rebuilding one of them. The store he said was being paid for from his own savings and a bank loan and whether he could rebuild his other stores would depend on how well the next few seasons went. The Thais and frequent visitors all wanted to let people know that tourists should return to Phuket. Some visitors who had been to Phuket before and enjoyed it were upset by what they felt was overblown and sometimes wrong coverage by the media regarding the extent of damage.
REBUILDING AN ECONOMY, ONE ATTRACTION AT A TIMEMarty Testa, a visitor from Ohio, even tried to call a radio station back home to tell them that they were exaggerating the extent of damage to Phuket. Debbie Cliff and Celia Frodham frequent visitors to Phuket from England said that Phuket had gotten a lot of bad publicity and that its time it got some good publicity. At first many of their friends had told them not to go to Phuket but they went ahead anyway and have not regretted their decision. Even though I was speaking to them on the ruins of a seawall where once a seafood restaurant that they frequented stood they said, “you can still do everything as before.”
|
Change of Callsign
Many of you may recall that this past autumn my friend Ben Wright
K9DID became a Silent Key. You may have read about Ben in QST or in
the AMSAT Journal, or may have read his article in CQ magazine called
"It's All My Mother's Fault.". He was a good friend and mentor to me
and many other hams.
Ben was a long time AMSAT member, VEC and probably the nicest person
anyone could every hope to meet on the air. He was a great family
man, loyal friend and fond of all of his ham acquaintances around the
world. We had some great times on AO-40, and an even better time
when we did the eyeball QSO in the booth at Dayton this past year.
In Dayton Ben and I hatched a scheme as a practical joke where I
would change my callsign suffix to "DID". Ben had influenced many
DIDs in amateur radio including AMSAT members K8DID Ron and K7DID
Deanna (not to forget hams KA8DID Bonnie and K5DID Art) and he
thought it would be "neat" to have me join them. Unfortunately when
Katrina hit the FCC closed down the vanity system and Ben passed
before I could "DID" it.
When the FCC re-opened the vanity call system in January I submitted
my application. As of today the application was granted, and W0EEC
is retired on the air.
I suspect it will take a bit longer to switch over email and the
like, re-subscribe to mailing lists, etc. I'm sure I'll fumble my
callsign for a few days, but N1DID feels right for so many reasons.
I'll still be W0EEC administratively at AMSAT and keep the mail alias
as long as feasible, so I hope the change won't impact any member services.
In lieu of sending me an email about the new email address please
consider sending a contribution to AMSAT in Ben's name to one of the
HEO projects (P3E, Eagle or just HEO in general). He was very fond
of AO-40 and I'm sure many of you worked him on that bird. I have a
strong feeling Ben would like to be remembered in either that way, or
if you simply think of Ben the next time you Elmer someone.
73,
Emily - N1DID
---------------------------------
N1DID formerly W0EEC - CM87tm
Donate to AMSAT at http://www.amsat-na.com/donation.php
Support Project OSCAR - http://www.projectoscar.net
Personal Website - http://www.PlanetEmily.com
----
Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Not an AMSAT member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe amsat-bb" to [email protected]
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Patterns of visual scanning as predictors of emotion identification in normal aging.
Emotion identification appears to decline with age, and deficient visual scanning may contribute to this effect. Eye movements of 20 older adults (OAs) and 20 younger adults (YAs) with normal saccades were recorded while viewing facial expressions. OAs made fewer fixations overall, and they made a higher proportion of fixations to the lower halves of faces. Topographical distribution of fixations predicted better OA accuracy for identifying disgust than other negative emotions. Impaired OA accuracy for fear and anger was specific to vision, with normal identification of these emotions in the auditory domain. Age-related frontal-lobe atrophy may affect the integrity of the frontal eye fields, with consequent scanning abnormalities that contribute to difficulties in identifying certain emotions.
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A blunt dissection technique using the LigaSure vessel-sealing device improves perioperative outcomes and postoperative splenic-vessel patency after laparoscopic spleen- and splenic-vessel-preserving distal pancreatectomy.
We have recently performed a blunt dissection technique using LigaSure technology for laparoscopic spleen- and splenic-vessel-preserving distal pancreatectomy to reduce the risk of bleeding during the dissection of the splenic vessels. The aim of this study was to compare the utility of the blunt dissection technique and a conventional dissection technique during laparoscopic spleen- and splenic-vessel-preserving distal pancreatectomy. Fifty-five patients who underwent laparoscopic spleen- and splenic-vessel-preserving distal pancreatectomy performed by a single surgeon between March 2003 and December 2015 were enrolled in this retrospective single-center study. The patients were divided into the LigaSure group (n = 23) and non-LigaSure group (n = 26). Perioperative clinical outcomes and the postoperative patency of the preserved splenic vessels in the two groups were compared. The patient and tumor characteristics did not differ significantly between the two groups. The incidence of postoperative complications was similar in the two groups. However, the mean operative time (145 vs. 231.1 min, P = 0.001), intraoperative blood loss (95.6 vs. 360 ml, P = 0.001), and postoperative hospital stay (6.4 vs. 9.8 days, P = 0.001) were significantly lower in the LigaSure group than in the non-LigaSure group, respectively. The splenic artery patency rate was similar in both groups, but the splenic vein patency was significantly better in the LigaSure group than in the non-LigaSure group (total occlusion rate: 4.5 vs. 30.8%, respectively, P = 0.017). The results of this study suggest that the blunt dissection technique using a LigaSure reduces the operating time and intraoperative blood loss during laparoscopic spleen- and splenic-vessel-preserving distal pancreatectomy and increases the patency of the preserved splenic vessels.
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New Jewish group supports independence for Kurdistan
(JTA) — Several prominent Jews in Europe and North America joined an organization fostering Jewish-Kurdish friendship and supporting independence for Iraqi Kurdistan.
The Jewish-American lawyer Alan Dershowitz joined the honorary board of the Brussels-based Jewish Coalition for Kurdistan last month, along with Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister of Canada, and Serge and Beate Klarsfeld, two well-known hunters of Nazis from Germany, the group’s founder and president, Joel Rubinfeld, told JTA Wednesday.
Also on the honorary board of the coalition are Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and Charles Tannock, a British lawmaker at the European Parliament and foreign affairs and human rights spokesman for the UK Conservative delegation.
The unveiling Wednesday of Rubinfeld’s group is among several high-profile actions in support of Kurdish national aspirations by Jews following the September independence referendum in Kurdistan, the autonomous region in northern Iraq.
On Friday, Bernard-Henri Lévy, a French-Jewish philosopher and longtime supporter of Kurdish independence, will attend a screening at the United Nations headquarters in New York of his documentary film on the subject titled “Peshmerga,” which is the Kurdish-language name of the Kurdish combatants. Levy is not a member of the Jewish Coalition for Kurdistan.
Rubinfeld is a former president of the federation of French-speaking Jewish communities of Belgium and founder of the Belgian League against Anti-Semitism. He unveiled the pro-Kurdish group while in Israel, where he is slated to attend a first-of-its kind conference on Kurdish independence at Israel’s Knesset.
Scheduled for Nov. 29, the 70th anniversary of the successful vote on the UN Partition Plan for Palestine, the event is titled “Kurdistan and Israel: Together Toward Peace and Stability in the Middle East.” The conference is being organized by Zionist Union lawmaker Ksenia Svetlona. In addition to Israeli lawmakers, members of the Kurdish Jewish community and activists like Rubinfeld, Kurdish civil society leaders also will attend.
“It’s natural that such an event should take place in Israel, which is today the best ally of Kurdistan today, and perhaps its only one, unfortunately,” said Rubinfeld, who began lobbying for the Kurdish national cause two years ago. “There is widespread understanding of the rightfulness of the Kurdish cause and its strategic importance” in Israel, he added.
Israel was among the first countries in the world to support the establishment of a Kurdish state following a statement on the issue by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel in the past had remained silent on Kurdish national ambitions, which Turkey, a major trade partner of Israel and previously also a key ally, has long opposed.
While a majority of voters in Kurdistan supported independence in the September referendum, the Iraqi government said it does not recognize the referendum’s results and implemented various sanctions, including a ban on all outgoing and incoming flights from the Kurdish autonomy. Amid pressure from Baghdad, Kurdish militia soldiers last month ceded dozens of forward positions to Iraqi army troops, in what Rubinfeld decried as “a great accomplishment for Iran.”
Iran is widely seen as dictating various policies and actions of the government of Iraq. “The Peshmerga were abandoned by the United States under Donald Trump,” charged Rubinfeld.
Following clashes between Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers and Iraqi Security Forces in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk in October, President Trump said he is “not taking sides.” The State Department said it “strongly opposes” the referendum on independence, preferring a dialogue facilitated by the United States and United Nations.
“There is a kinship between the two peoples, the Jewish one and the Kurdish one, that transcends merely political calculus,” Rubinfeld said. “We are two nations of several millions people who by and large both stand for Western values such as tolerance, progress, equal rights for women and who, in the Middle East and beyond, stand up to tyranny and fanaticism.”
Rubinfeld added that the Israeli flag is to many Kurds a second national symbol “because they identify with Israel and the Jews.”
Iraq’s parliament in Baghdad voted last month to criminalize flying the Israeli flag in the country, after they appeared at several Kurdish rallies in the lead up and aftermath of the referendum.
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Q:
Firebird dot net provider doesn't fully execute query?
I'm running a number of SQL command using the dot net provider for Firebird in c#. Specifically I'm changing the database schema, and doing data updates and the like.
As part of my processing I create a new table, run a query to copy data from an old table, and then drop the old table.
When I do this firebird generates and error:
unsuccessful metadata update object is in use
I've done some looking and it seems like the query to copy the data hasn't been "cleared" our or something yet. What I mean is when I check the monitoring tables in Firebird with my c# execution paused I see the query in the MON$STATEMENTS table, as inactive. This is after I've run a commit statement.
My questions:
Is there a way to pause, or wait, or force the query to fully complete before I try to run the next command?
When I run the same sequence of queries in ISQL it works perfectly. Is there something different ISQL does that I can force the dot net Firebird provider to do so it doesn't keep this query open or something?
So for reference the code looks something like this (obviously this is a very simplified):
// create the table
string commandString = "CREATE TABLE ...";
// run the command in a transaction and commit it
mtransaction = Connection.BeginTransaction( IsolationLevel.Serializable );
FbCommand command = new FbCommand(commandString, Connection, mtransaction);
command.ExecuteNonQuery();
transaction.Commit();
transaction.Dispose();
transaction = null;
// copy the data to the new table from the old
commandString = "INSERT INTO ...";
mtransaction = Connection.BeginTransaction(IsolationLevel.Serializable);
FbCommand command = new FbCommand(commandString, Connection, mtransaction);
command.ExecuteNonQuery();
transaction.Commit();
transaction.Dispose();
transaction = null;
// drop the old table
commandString = "DROP TABLE ...";
mtransaction = Connection.BeginTransaction(IsolationLevel.Serializable);
FbCommand command = new FbCommand(commandString, Connection, mtransaction);
command.ExecuteNonQuery();
// this command fails with the exception
// if I pause execution in c# before running this command, and
// use isql to look at the db I see the new table, and the data fully populated
// and I also see the inactive insert command in MON$STATEMENTS
transaction.Commit();
transaction.Dispose();
transaction = null;
A:
Okay, Horrible solution to problem:
I actually was able to get this to work by closing and disposing the connection, then re-connecting. This resulted in the "stuck" query being removed somehow, and then I can exectute the table drop command. So squence looks something like this:
// create the table
string commandString = "CREATE TABLE ...";
// run the command in a transaction and commit it
mtransaction = Connection.BeginTransaction( IsolationLevel.Serializable );
FbCommand command = new FbCommand(commandString, Connection, mtransaction);
command.ExecuteNonQuery();
transaction.Commit();
transaction.Dispose();
transaction = null;
// copy the data to the new table from the old
commandString = "INSERT INTO ...";
mtransaction = Connection.BeginTransaction(IsolationLevel.Serializable);
FbCommand command = new FbCommand(commandString, Connection, mtransaction);
command.ExecuteNonQuery();
transaction.Commit();
transaction.Dispose();
transaction = null;
// ------------------
// Drop the connection entirely and start a new one
// so the table can be dropped
Connection.Close();
Connection.Dispose();
// build connection string
FbConnectionStringBuilder csb = new FbConnectionStringBuilder();
csb.DataSource ... etc...
// connect
Connection = new FbConnection(connectionString);
Connection.Open();
// Now have new connection that does not have weird
// lingering query, and table can now be dropped
// -----------------
// drop the old table
commandString = "DROP TABLE ...";
mtransaction = Connection.BeginTransaction(IsolationLevel.Serializable);
FbCommand command = new FbCommand(commandString, Connection, mtransaction);
command.ExecuteNonQuery();
// this no longer fails because the connection was complete closed
// and re-opened
transaction.Commit();
transaction.Dispose();
transaction = null;
NOTE: I am very not happy with this solution. It works, but I don't know why. It seems excessive and unnessicary for me to have to do this to drop a table. I would very much appricate any insight anyone may have to offer in this matter!!!
|
Q:
My web.config written on windows xp does not work on iis7
i have a lot of web apps developed with visual studio 2005 , 2008 , 2010 and all developed on windows xp and iis
all these Web apps do not work on iis7 displaying this error
Server Error
500 - Internal server error.
There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed.
even if i turned the errors to enable detailed errors it still like this
is there a tool to convert these web.config files to work on ii7
i cant change them manually one by one because the are tens of Web Apps
please advice
Example:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
<!-- The configSections define a section for ASP.NET Atlas. -->
<configSections>
<section name="TheodoreWebsite.Data" type="TheodoreWebsite.Data.Bases.NetTiersServiceSection, TheodoreWebsite.Data" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" restartOnExternalChanges="true" />
<section name="enterpriseLibrary.ConfigurationSource" type="Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common.Configuration.ConfigurationSourceSection, Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common, Version=5.0.414.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
<sectionGroup name="microsoft.web" type="Microsoft.Web.Configuration.MicrosoftWebSectionGroup">
<section name="converters" type="Microsoft.Web.Configuration.ConvertersSection" requirePermission="false" />
<section name="webServices" type="Microsoft.Web.Configuration.WebServicesSection" requirePermission="false" />
<section name="authenticationService" type="Microsoft.Web.Configuration.AuthenticationServiceSection" requirePermission="false" />
<section name="profileService" type="Microsoft.Web.Configuration.ProfileServiceSection" requirePermission="false" />
</sectionGroup>
</configSections>
<appSettings/>
<connectionStrings>
<add name="TheodoreWebsite.Data.ConnectionString" connectionString="Data Source=server-0278FFE454\SQL2008R2;Initial Catalog=TheodoreWebsite;User ID=sa;Password=qwer1234" />
</connectionStrings>
<TheodoreWebsite.Data defaultProvider="SqlNetTiersProvider">
<providers>
<!--
*** SqlClient Provider ***
connectionStringName: sqlclient connection string to the db
useStoredProcedure: if true, indicates that we use the stored procedures, otherwise, we use parametrized queries that are embedded.
-->
<add
name="SqlNetTiersProvider"
type="TheodoreWebsite.Data.SqlClient.SqlNetTiersProvider, TheodoreWebsite.Data.SqlClient"
connectionStringName="TheodoreWebsite.Data.ConnectionString"
useStoredProcedure="false"
providerInvariantName="System.Data.SqlClient"
entityFactoryType="TheodoreWebsite.Entities.EntityFactory"
useEntityFactory="true"
enableEntityTracking="false"
enableMethodAuthorization="false"
defaultCommandTimeout="30"
/>
<!--
*** WebserviceClient Provider ***
The url parameter indicates the webservices url (ex: http://localhost/TheodoreWebsite/TheodoreWebsiteServices.aspx)
<add
name="WsNetTiersProvider"
type="TheodoreWebsite.Data.WebServiceClient.WsNetTiersProvider, TheodoreWebsite.Data.WebServiceClient"
url="/TheodoreWebsiteServices.asmx"
/>
-->
</providers>
</TheodoreWebsite.Data>
<!--
The microsoft.web section defines items required for the Atlas framework.
-->
<microsoft.web>
<converters>
<add type="Microsoft.Web.Script.Serialization.Converters.DataSetConverter"/>
<add type="Microsoft.Web.Script.Serialization.Converters.DataRowConverter"/>
<add type="Microsoft.Web.Script.Serialization.Converters.DataTableConverter"/>
</converters>
<webServices enableBrowserAccess="true" />
<!--
Uncomment this line to enable the authentication service.
<authenticationService enabled="true" />
-->
<!--
Uncomment these lines to enable the profile service. To allow profile properties to be retrieved
and modified in Atlas applications, you need to add each property name to the setProperties and
getProperties attributes. If you intend for all properties to be available, you can use "*"
as a shorthand rather than enumerating each property
<profileService enabled="true"
setProperties="propertyname1;propertyname2"
getProperties="propertyname1;propertyname2" />
-->
</microsoft.web>
<system.web>
<pages theme="default">
<controls>
<add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI" assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
<add tagPrefix="ajaxToolkit" namespace="AjaxControlToolkit" assembly="AjaxControlToolkit"/>
<add tagPrefix="data" namespace="TheodoreWebsite.Web.Data" assembly="TheodoreWebsite.Web"/>
<add tagPrefix="data" namespace="TheodoreWebsite.Web.UI" assembly="TheodoreWebsite.Web"/>
</controls>
</pages>
<!--
Set compilation debug="true" to insert debugging
symbols into the compiled page. Because this
affects performance, set this value to true only
during development.
-->
<compilation debug="true">
<buildProviders>
<add extension=".asbx" type="Microsoft.Web.Services.BridgeBuildProvider" />
</buildProviders>
<assemblies>
<add assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
</assemblies>
</compilation>
<!--
ASMX is mapped to a new handler so that proxy javascripts can also be served.
-->
<httpHandlers>
<remove verb="*" path="*.asmx"/>
<add verb="*" path="*.asmx" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory" validate="false"/>
<add verb="*" path="*_AppService.axd" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
<add verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" validate="false"/>
<!--
The MultiRequestHandler enables multiple requests to be handled in one
roundtrip to the server. Its use requires Full Trust.
-->
<add verb="*" path="atlasbatchcall.axd" type="Microsoft.Web.Services.MultiRequestHandler" validate="false"/>
<add verb="*" path="atlasglob.axd" type="Microsoft.Web.Globalization.GlobalizationHandler" validate="false"/>
<add verb="*" path="*.asbx" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory" validate="false"/>
<!--
The IFrameHandler enables a limited form of cross-domain calls to 'Atlas' web services.
This should only be enabled if you need this functionality and you're willing to expose
the data publicly on the Internet.
To use it, you will also need to add the attribute [WebOperation(true, ResponseFormatMode.Json, true)]
on the methods that you want to be called cross-domain.
This attribute is by default on any DataService's GetData method.
<add verb="*" path="iframecall.axd" type="Microsoft.Web.Services.IFrameHandler" validate="false"/>
-->
</httpHandlers>
<httpModules>
<add name="ScriptModule" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
<add name="EntityTransactionModule" type="TheodoreWebsite.Web.Data.EntityTransactionModule, TheodoreWebsite.Web"/>
</httpModules>
<!--
The <authentication> section enables configuration
of the security authentication mode used by
ASP.NET to identify an incoming user.
<authentication mode="Windows"/>
-->
<!--
The <customErrors> section enables configuration
of what to do if/when an unhandled error occurs
during the execution of a request. Specifically,
it enables developers to configure html error pages
to be displayed in place of a error stack trace.
<customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="GenericErrorPage.htm">
<error statusCode="403" redirect="NoAccess.htm"/>
<error statusCode="404" redirect="FileNotFound.htm"/>
</customErrors>
-->
</system.web>
<!-- Uncomment this if your site globally denies access to anonymous users. The
authentication service and profile service are located under the virtual
"ScriptServices" directory. Since you normally call the authentication web
service with an un-authenticated user, the following location tag can be used
to grant access to anonymous users. If you use anonymous profile support
you will also need to grant access to anonymous users. -->
<!--
<location path="ScriptServices">
<system.web>
<authorization>
<allow users="*" />
</authorization>
</system.web>
</location>
-->
<enterpriseLibrary.ConfigurationSource selectedSource="File Configuration Source">
<sources>
<add name="File Configuration Source" type="Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common.Configuration.FileConfigurationSource, Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common, Version=5.0.414.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"
filePath="entlib.config" />
</sources>
</enterpriseLibrary.ConfigurationSource>
</configuration>
A:
It should not throw error if it is written older version of Visual Studio. New IIS version supports backward compatibility.
You can try this option if you have 32 bit application,
'Enable 32 bit Application' from 'Application Pool' advance settings which will enable 32bit mode 'Worker Process'. Check the following links.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rakkimk/archive/2007/11/03/iis7-running-32-bit-and-64-bit-asp-net-versions-at-the-same-time-on-different-worker-processes.aspx
http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/201/32-bit-mode-worker-processes/
http://forums.iis.net/p/1152526/1882555.aspx
|
Anton Regh
Anton Regh (12 September 1940 – 14 January 2018) was a German former footballer who played as a defender for 1. FC Köln and Fortuna Köln. He died on 14 January 2018 at the age of 77.
Honours
German football championship: 1962
Bundesliga: 1963–64
DFB-Pokal: 1967–68
References
External links
Category:1940 births
Category:2018 deaths
Category:German footballers
Category:Association football defenders
Category:1. FC Köln players
Category:SC Fortuna Köln players
Category:Bundesliga players
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Best restaurants in London to celebrate the Euros
Whether you love football or hate it, you will have found it impossible to escape the Euro 2016 football championship. But with England, Wales and Northern Ireland all through to the last 16, there is much for home nations to celebrate. If you’re not able to make it out to France to enjoy these matches, why not try a different kind of celebration? Across the UK, many top restaurants are getting into the spirit of the Euros with themed nights, big screens and a great atmosphere.
Best London restaurants that are celebrating the Euros
The Marksman in Hackney is gearing up to support England all the way. It is screening all of England’s matches and is serving up a special three-course menu to accompany the festivities for £35. This includes oysters, curry buns, fried potatoes, steak and ice cream sandwiches. Booking in advance is recommended.
The Exhibit is an all-day bar and restaurant in Balham. Its garden has gone “football crazy” with TVs to watch the matches and an outdoor bar and kitchen. You do not need to miss a second of the game when you want some refreshment.
Smith & Wollensky is a steakhouse just off the Strand serving prime dry-aged sirloin. This is the perfect place to get together with a group of fellow fans. Hire a private dining room to watch the game, and enjoy steak, spinach, chips and your choice of a pint for £38.
Big Fernand in Fitzrovia is the first London-based branch of a French chain that serves burgers in a true French style. The upstairs dining room has been transformed to celebrate the Euros with a big screen, table football and plenty of seating for the fans. Open a bottle of French beer, enjoy the authentic Gallic atmosphere and pretend that you’re in France!
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The agglutinating antibody response in the duodenum of infants with enteropathogenic Escherichia coli gastroenteritis.
The agglutinating antibody response in duodenal fluid and serum was measured serially in 15 infants with enteropathogenic Escherichia coli gastroenteritis. Peak levels of duodenal agglutinins were recorded 8-18 days after the onset of symptoms, and the titres fell within the next 7-14 days. The immunoglobulin (Ig) class of these antibodies was mainly IgA, but IgM antibodies were detected early in the response, especially in the younger infants. Late antibodies showed less cross-reactions with other strains of E. coli than did early antibodies. Serum antibody responses were detected in eight infants, but they correlated poorly with the titres of intestinal antibodies. No rise in serum antibodies was detected in six infants. It is not known whether these differences are host-derived, or whether they are the result of the invasive properties of some of the infecting organisms.
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The cyber-attack on an information system is rapidly increasing, and a countermeasure against the cyber-attack is required. As an intrusion route of the cyber-attack, a network and a USB memory are well known. Conventionally, as a technique for preventing the cyber-attack from the network, there is a packet filter. The packet filter has a mechanism to permit or deny a packet to pass in accordance with the rule set. The rule set consists of a condition to be satisfied by the packet and a rule describing an action of when the packet satisfies the condition. The action herein is to permit or deny the packet to pass. There is order in a sequence of rules within the rule set, and the packet is collated with the rule in accordance with the order. “The packet matches the rule” or “the packet and the rule much” means that the packet satisfies the condition described in the rule. When receiving the packet, the packet filter collates the packet with the rule in accordance with the order within the rule set. If the packet matches the rule, the packet is permitted or denied in accordance with the action defined in the rule. If the packet does not match the rule, it is continued to collate the packet with a next rule. At the end of the rule set, a rule called a default rule which matches all packets is set. Accordingly, even if the packet does not match any other rule, the packet is always processed by the default rule.
As the system and the attack on the system become more complicated, a corresponding rule set for packet filtering becomes larger. On the other hand, since the packet is collated with the rule one by one in accordance with the order, as the number of rules increases, in proportion to that, it takes longer to complete collation. Therefore, a technique for improving processing efficiency is necessary.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique for speeding up a packet filter by swapping order of rules within a rule set. An idea of Patent Literature 1 is to improve processing efficiency by moving a rule which matches a packet more frequently earlier in the order, and a rule which matches a packet less frequently later in the order. For that purpose, the rules are dynamically swapped in the rule set. That is, at a time of operating the packet filter, the number of times each rule matches a packet is recorded, and in accordance with that number of times, the rules are swapped. However, it is not allowed to result in changing meaning of the rule set by swapping the rules. Thus, only when two rules do not conflict with each other, these two rules are swapped. Here, the two rules are said to conflict with each other if actions of these rules are different, and if there is an overlap in any of conditions described in these rules. For example, a condition specified in a destination address is considered. If a range from 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.100 is described in a rule as a condition, and a range from 192.168.0.50 to 192.168.0.150 is described in other rule as a condition, these conditions are overlapped with each other.
Non-Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique for speeding up a packet filter by, before performing usual collation, performing other collation processing to filter out most of packets at high speed. If it is supposed that a rule is a logical expression and a bit string of a packet is a value to be substituted into the logical expression, the packet matches the rule only when a value of the logical expression is 1 and matching is limited at that time. Therefore, collation of the packet with the rule can be realized by the calculation of the logical expression. Hence, high speed collation can be realized by a data structure suitable for the calculation of the value of the logical expression. In Non-Patent Literature 1, the high speed collation is realized by a data structure which is a tree structure called a BDD. However, since a large storage area is necessary in order to represent the rule set using the BDD, it is difficult to represent the entire rule set using the BDD. Hence, scanning a tree of the BDD is terminated to a certain depth. This is performed as preprocessing of the original packet filter, the most of packets are filtered out, and the usual collation processing is performed on remaining packets. Thus, it is possible to shorten a time to process the entire packet filter.
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As a recent story from the The Washington Post illustrates well, “tradition” is a gating factor in the ongoing transformation of the legal industry. Despite the highly conservative nature of courts, bar associations and attorneys, however, in the post-Great Recession legal market of 2013, technology and changing values are rapidly disrupting traditional legal services.
My colleague and friend Jonathan Askin, Founder of the Brooklyn Law Incubator & Policy Clinic, hosted a seminar on legal start-ups in late August. Many of the companies highlighted there are focused on low-hanging fruit, taking the trend started by LegalZoom of moving do-it-yourself work product to consumers into spaces that for decades have remained buttoned-up by prohibitions against “unauthorized practice of law” and the resistance of lawyers to allowing clients document control. (LegalZoom itself has been challenged by bar groups and class action plaintiffs in North Carolina, Connecticut, Missouri and California for allegedly engaging in the practice of law, a classic and anticompetitive use of regulations designed to protect consumers, not prohibit new business models.) Like taxi-hailing companies Uber and Sidecar, legal start-ups thus face opposition from incumbents who are well-situated to employ archaic regulatory regimes to thwart new entry.
Nonetheless, the four emerging firms Askin profiled make a persuasive case that the guild-like barriers which for centuries protected lawyers from competition are breaking down before our eyes.
Shake allows consumers to create binding contracts automatically on their smartphones or tablets with a few Q&As and then sign them electronically.
Caserails offers cloud-based document assembly and editing functionalities for individuals or groups, long the bane of corporate transactions.
Priori Legal allows SMBs to select among a trusted community of lawyers for discounted or fixed-rate engagements with Web-based comparison shopping.
The best and brightest of these firms will undoubtedly rise to the top over time. Much like banks in the 1970s — when toasters as deposit “gifts” were replaced by deregulated interest rates and tellers by ATMs — legal consumers no longer care or very much appreciate the old traditions of the legal profession, especially its convoluted language, fancy office space and expensive artwork. The successful start-ups in this steady disintermediation of legal services will be the ones who recognize that they are driven by what legal transactions can and will be, not what they have been historically, and that they are technology companies solving legal problems, not legal companies trying to understand technology.
The legal industry got hit hard during the economic downturn, making it a less attractive path for would-be lawyers. As indicated by the historically unprecedented layoffs at mega-firm Weil Gotshal, law is yet to recover, with some experts saying it will be years, if at all, before the industry returns to pre-recession levels. Enrollment at law schools is off sharply and new law graduates are still having a very hard time getting jobs. That in turn has led to a new round of law firm mega-mergers, further isolating much of the AmLaw 100 from the interests of all but the largest corporate clients. At the same time, electronic discovery specialists, software companies, legal outsourcing by in-house corporate legal departments (i.e., Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO)) and new requirements for legal project management are stealing or compressing margins for much of the lowest level, and formerly highly profitable, litigation work from big firms. None of these alternatives existed at any meaningful scale ten years ago.
Law, a $300 billion industry and the second largest professional services sector, has become a great place for entrepreneurs. The market is flooded with an oversupply of lawyers, consumers of all sizes are seeking more affordable access to legal services, and technology — practically the standard in other businesses — is yet to become widely adopted in the practice of law. Taken together, this is an exciting moment for legal innovators.
Some of those innovators, like Axiom Law, are changing the nature of law firms themselves, going virtual, offering novel rate structures and upending the nature of legal partnerships by aggregating one thousand lawyers under the tag line “Forget everything you thought you knew about legal services.” Another consumer class action heavyweight observes sharply that lawyers “still cling to rigid hierarchical work environments that stifle ingenuity, the free exchange of information, and job satisfaction. The billable hour continues to dictate fees (and associate pay), which results in having to perform the awkward dance of fostering and preserving relationships with clients while our financial interests remain misaligned. And, we refuse to let go of the notion that attorneys must be seasoned for years before they can meaningfully contribute.”
Frankly, these are likely just the tip of the iceberg. When you combine entry restrictions with falling demand, price-elastic customers and technology that allows direct access to legal resources by clients, one has the economic basis for an industrial revolution in the law. Of course, that presupposes that the U.S. bar, which has fashioned a Byzantine labyrinth of state-specific rules that undermine national uniformity and competition, will be forced to accept the inevitable change in the industry’s economic structure. Yet unlike many attorneys who pine for the old days and reflexively oppose “do it yourself” legal services, I find these to be very exciting (and of course very challenging) times in the law. Keep an eye out for more legal disruption to come.
Competition
Some, if not all of society’s most useful innovations are the byproduct of competition. In fact, although it may sound counterintuitive, innovation often flourishes when an incumbent is threatened by a new entrant because the threat of losing users to the competition drives product improvement. The Internet and the products and companies it has enabled are no exception; companies need to constantly stay on their toes, as the next startup is ready to knock them down with a better product.
Innovation
New technologies are constantly emerging that promise to change our lives for the better. These disruptive technologies give us an increase in choice, make technologies more accessible, make things more affordable, and give consumers a voice. And the pace of innovation has only quickened in recent years, as the Internet has enabled a wave of new, inter-connected devices that have benefited consumers around the world, seemingly in all aspects of their lives. Preserving an innovation-friendly market is, therefore, tantamount not only to businesses but society at large.
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The Disruptive Competition Project (DisCo) is a project to promote disruptive innovation and competition to policymakers. DisCo brings together experts to explain how disruptive change in the modern economy promotes growth and advances our society.
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// @flow
/**
* Check if the input `node` is a reference to a bound variable.
*/
export default function isReferenced(
node: Object,
parent: Object,
grandparent?: Object,
): boolean {
switch (parent.type) {
// yes: PARENT[NODE]
// yes: NODE.child
// no: parent.NODE
case "MemberExpression":
case "JSXMemberExpression":
case "OptionalMemberExpression":
if (parent.property === node) {
return !!parent.computed;
}
return parent.object === node;
// no: let NODE = init;
// yes: let id = NODE;
case "VariableDeclarator":
return parent.init === node;
// yes: () => NODE
// no: (NODE) => {}
case "ArrowFunctionExpression":
return parent.body === node;
// no: export { foo as NODE };
// yes: export { NODE as foo };
// no: export { NODE as foo } from "foo";
case "ExportSpecifier":
if (parent.source) {
return false;
}
return parent.local === node;
// no: class { #NODE; }
// no: class { get #NODE() {} }
// no: class { #NODE() {} }
// no: class { fn() { return this.#NODE; } }
case "PrivateName":
return false;
// no: class { NODE() {} }
// yes: class { [NODE]() {} }
// no: class { foo(NODE) {} }
case "ClassMethod":
case "ClassPrivateMethod":
case "ObjectMethod":
if (parent.params.includes(node)) {
return false;
}
// fall through
// yes: { [NODE]: "" }
// no: { NODE: "" }
// depends: { NODE }
// depends: { key: NODE }
// fall through
case "ObjectProperty":
// no: class { NODE = value; }
// yes: class { [NODE] = value; }
// yes: class { key = NODE; }
// fall through
case "ClassProperty":
case "ClassPrivateProperty":
if (parent.key === node) {
return !!parent.computed;
}
if (parent.value === node) {
return !grandparent || grandparent.type !== "ObjectPattern";
}
return true;
// no: class NODE {}
// yes: class Foo extends NODE {}
case "ClassDeclaration":
case "ClassExpression":
return parent.superClass === node;
// yes: left = NODE;
// no: NODE = right;
case "AssignmentExpression":
return parent.right === node;
// no: [NODE = foo] = [];
// yes: [foo = NODE] = [];
case "AssignmentPattern":
return parent.right === node;
// no: NODE: for (;;) {}
case "LabeledStatement":
return false;
// no: try {} catch (NODE) {}
case "CatchClause":
return false;
// no: function foo(...NODE) {}
case "RestElement":
return false;
case "BreakStatement":
case "ContinueStatement":
return false;
// no: function NODE() {}
// no: function foo(NODE) {}
case "FunctionDeclaration":
case "FunctionExpression":
return false;
// no: export NODE from "foo";
// no: export * as NODE from "foo";
case "ExportNamespaceSpecifier":
case "ExportDefaultSpecifier":
return false;
// no: import NODE from "foo";
// no: import * as NODE from "foo";
// no: import { NODE as foo } from "foo";
// no: import { foo as NODE } from "foo";
// no: import NODE from "bar";
case "ImportDefaultSpecifier":
case "ImportNamespaceSpecifier":
case "ImportSpecifier":
return false;
// no: <div NODE="foo" />
case "JSXAttribute":
return false;
// no: [NODE] = [];
// no: ({ NODE }) = [];
case "ObjectPattern":
case "ArrayPattern":
return false;
// no: new.NODE
// no: NODE.target
case "MetaProperty":
return false;
// yes: type X = { somePropert: NODE }
// no: type X = { NODE: OtherType }
case "ObjectTypeProperty":
return parent.key !== node;
// yes: enum X { Foo = NODE }
// no: enum X { NODE }
case "TSEnumMember":
return parent.id !== node;
// yes: { [NODE]: value }
// no: { NODE: value }
case "TSPropertySignature":
if (parent.key === node) {
return !!parent.computed;
}
return true;
}
return true;
}
|
World War I: When northern France was on German time
By: Florence GAILLARD 1 min
During World War I, 13 of France's regional departments were under German occupation. For four years, two million French citizens took their orders from Berlin. No more coal for heating, no gas or electricity for lighting... The people were starving, kept in the dark and the cold. Thousands of men and women were deported to provide forced labour. The resistance fought back, with an underground press and escape routes.
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Q:
Simplification of complex conjugates
I was working through a limit problem and got stuck on the simplification. I have the answer key however I am not sure where I can simplify more.
So the question is,
$$f(z) = z \bar z$$
Differentiable at z=0.
I know I can take the limit of this as it approaches zero to check for this.
$$ f'(z) = \frac{f(z+h) - f(z)}{h}$$
Then the equation becomes:
$$ f'(z) \lim z \Rightarrow 0 = \frac{(h+z)^2 (\bar h +\bar z) - z^2\bar z}{h}$$
$$ f'(z) \lim z \Rightarrow 0 = \frac{ (z^2 \bar h) + 2zh\bar h + h^2 \bar h + 2z \bar z h + h^2 \bar z}{h}$$
The professor has simplified then solution to:
$$f'(z) \lim z \Rightarrow 0 = \frac{z^2 \bar h + 2z \bar z h }{h} $$
I think I must be missing some sort of an identity in my base knowledge. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
A:
We have that
$$(h+z)^2 (\bar h +\bar z) - z^2\bar z=(h^2+2hz+z^2)(\bar h +\bar z) - z^2\bar z=$$
$$=h^2\bar h+2h\bar hz+z^2\bar h+h^2\bar z+2hz\bar z+z^2\bar z- z^2\bar z=$$
$$=h^2\bar h+2h\bar hz+h^2\bar z+z^2\bar h+2z\bar zh=z^2\bar h+2z\bar zh \iff h^2\bar h+2h\bar hz+h^2\bar z=0$$
and as noticed by Lord Shark it seems we are neglecting the higher order terms for $h$ (and $\bar h$) since we are assuming $|h|<<|z|$.
|
Pence's chief of staff will not take over White House role after John Kelly leaves Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff will go to a pro-Trump super PAC.
Nick Ayers, who was widely speculated to be the next White House chief of staff, will not be stepping into John Kelly's role, ABC News has confirmed.
Instead, Vice President Mike Pence's 36-year-old chief of staff will go to a pro-Trump super PAC.
President Donald Trump, who announced Kelly's departure Saturday, announced on Twitter Sunday that he will be making a decision soon.
ABC News has learned Trump is considering a number of different people for the chief of staff position.
Congressman Mark Meadows, former Trump deputy campaign manager Dave Bossie, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney are all being considered, according to sources with direct knowledge of Trump's thinking.
A replacement will be named, possibly on an interim basis, Trump told reporters Saturday on the South Lawn of the White House before departing for the Army-Navy football game.
"John Kelly will be leaving, I don’t know if I can say retiring. But he’s a great guy," Trump said Saturday, adding he would announce Kelly's replacement "over the next day or two."
The leading candidate to take over was Ayers, sources told ABC News.
A senior White House source said Ayers has been clear for weeks that he was planning on moving his young family back to Georgia in December, and a time frame on being chief of staff had been a part of his discussions with the president.
Kelly departs after 17 months on the job. He was appointed by Trump to replace Reince Priebus in July 2017. He previously served as the president's Department of Homeland Security secretary.
"I appreciate his service very much," Trump said Saturday.
ABC News' John Santucci contributed to this report
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Linda Bartz served as a Port St. Lucie Councilwoman for District 1 since 2006, and was appointed as Vice Mayor since 2010. Linda is a business woman who knows how to balance a budget and manage money.
Linda is active in the community serving with the Council on Aging, Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers, Roundtable of St. Lucie County, SLC Transportation Planning Organization (TPO), St. Lucie Tourist Development Council, Fort Pierce Harbor Advisory Committee, and Concerned Citizens.
Whether it’s helping to address important issues in the community such as traffic and roads to ensure that emergency vehicles can get to and from hospitals and accident scenes quickly, working with the Superintendent and members of the St. Lucie County School District to raise educational standards or helping to bring down the high cost of taxes, insurance and living on the Treasure Coast, Linda is dedicated and committed to keeping St. Lucie County moving into the future.
Originally from New Jersey, Linda and her husband Gary have been residents of Port St. Lucie for 30 years. They have three grown daughters and are the proud grandparents of four grandchildren.
|
#!/usr/bin/env perl
if (!$::Driver) { use FindBin; exec("$FindBin::Bin/bootstrap.pl", @ARGV, $0); die; }
# DESCRIPTION: Verilator: Verilog Test driver/expect definition
#
# Copyright 2003-2009 by Wilson Snyder. This program is free software; you
# can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either the GNU
# Lesser General Public License Version 3 or the Perl Artistic License
# Version 2.0.
# SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-3.0-only OR Artistic-2.0
scenarios(simulator => 1);
compile(
v_flags2 => [],
);
execute(
check_finished => 1,
);
ok(1);
1;
|
Decision comes after months of discussion and debate, center could open by mid-2020
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Ming Sun, of Fremont, speaks Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, at the Fremont City
Council meeting, urging the council to place the city's first homeless
navigation center at a parking lot behind city hall. (Joseph Geha/Bay Area
News Group)
Members of the Fremont City Council listen as a person speaks about the
location of the city's first ever homeless navigation center at a meeting
on Sept. 10, 2019. (Joseph Geha/Bay Area News Group)
Hundreds of people lined up outside Fremont City Hall Tuesday evening, in
anticipation of voicing their opinions about the city’s first planned
homeless navigation center, an issue that has stirred significant debate in
the largely affluent East Bay suburb. (Joseph Geha/Bay Area News Group)
People wearing shirt that have the words “No HNC in Fremont” and “Little
Help Big Waste” printed on the back are seen the Fremont City Council
meeting on Sept. 10, 2019. (Joseph Geha/Bay Area News Group)
Groups of people holding signs and posters expressing their views on
Fremont's planned homeless navigation center are seen behind television
news station reporters broadcasting from Fremont City Hall's parking lot on
Sept. 10, 2019. (Joseph Geha/Bay Area News Group)
Groups of people hold up signs and posters expressing their views on
Fremont's planned homeless navigation center as television news station
reporters broadcast from in front of them in Fremont City Hall's parking
lot on Sept. 10, 2019. (Joseph Geha/Bay Area News Group)
FREMONT — After months of debate, the Fremont City Council unanimously agreed that its budding downtown was the best spot for a homeless navigation center.
The center, aimed at housing 45 homeless people for up to six months, will be placed in a parking lot behind city hall, near transit options and social services and where many of the city’s homeless already reside.
“These folks are already here, they’re already on the street,” said Vice Mayor Raj Salwan during a raucous hearing at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Most of the council said they supported the city hall location for its access to BART, the Fremont Family Resource center, grocery stores and potential employers for homeless people who would stay there, echoing sentiments of a large group of residents opposed to placing the center at a north Fremont location.
Some residents called for the the city to scrap plans for the center altogether. But Councilman Rick Jones said they need to show sympathy for others because in the pricey Bay Area, it doesn’t take much for someone to “end up on the street.”
Hundreds of people lined up outside City Hall Tuesday evening, in anticipation of voicing their opinions about the center, which has stirred significant debate in the largely affluent East Bay suburb where the average home sale price is around $1 million.
In July, the council narrowed the possible locations for the center to two pieces of city-owned property — a parking lot behind city hall in downtown off 3300 Capitol Ave., or on surplus land next to a plant nursery in the northern end of the city at 4178 Decoto Rd.
However, warring groups of residents from the neighborhoods near each of the two locations had vehemently protested against placing the center in their neck of the woods. While some were completely against a center, another group supported establishing the center anywhere in the city.
The navigation center would be modeled after a navigation center created in Berkeley last year, and would be comprised of prefabricated buildings, city staff said, including dormitory-style sleeping units, community rooms, and hygiene units.
About half of the people selected to stay there would be homeless people living in Fremont currently, as well as some from Newark and Union City. Those in the program would work with dedicated housing “navigators” whose main responsibility is to find them permanent housing, whether it be an apartment, shared living space, or renting a room in a house.
Staff members of the center would also help residents in finding employment, benefits, and health and wellness connections.
The center could be ready for use by mid-2020, and would cost about $7.7 million to build and operate over the next three fiscal years, city staff said.
The city plans to pay for that with approximately $3.7 million from housing and homelessness emergency state funds, about $3.2 million in city money including surplus funds and affordable housing funds, and $800,000 from Alameda County’s social services funding.
Although Bay Area Community Services — a nonprofit Fremont chose to run the future center — touted a roughly 80 percent success rate of moving people into housing from its Berkeley navigation center in the first year it opened, some residents believe the center is a bad idea.
“I feel it’s not an effective way to use public funds,” said Tom Zhang, who lives in the Mission San Jose area of the city, and is opposed to the center altogether. He’d like to see more emergency homeless funds go toward rental subsidies for the working poor instead.
Jane Wang, from central Fremont, is worried that more homeless people will come from other parts of the state if a navigation center is established here.
Both Zhang and Wang were wearing red shirts many donned Tuesday night that had the words “No HNC in Fremont” and “Little Help Big Waste” printed on the back.
Others said they doubt the efficacy of the navigation center model.
The question of where to locate the center has been discussed at multiple public workshops and meetings — including one where tensions reached a fever pitch, with people banging on city hall windows and shouting over other speakers.
Tuesday night, people set up tables with information on their views on the issue in the city hall parking lot and distributed signs, while other held posters in support or against the center.
Residents also were concerned that homeless people would commit crimes in their neighborhoods, though Fremont’s police chief, Kim Petersen, said she believes the center would actually contribute to a safer city by reducing the number of people living on the streets, and offering them stability.
Petersen also said the police department will ensure the area around the center doesn’t become overrun with homeless encampments, if they sprout up after the center opens.
Councilman Yang Shao said he likes the downtown location because of the “close supervision that the city government can provide,” and told residents at the meeting he hopes they will give the center a chance to work.
“If it turns out to not be as successful as we hope, then we close it. We terminate it,” Shao said.
Meanwhile, people who favor the center at any location said the council should continue to take action to support people living on society’s margins.
Samar Barakat, who lives in north Fremont, thinks those who protested placing the center in north Fremont and were advocating for the city hall location really didn’t want a center at all.
“They’re just going to keep saying no, no, to each location, until eventually it doesn’t get made in Fremont,” she said.
“It makes me really sad,” she said. “We’ve seen homelessness increasing throughout the years, so this is a solution that needs to happen now, and that can be built upon.”
Joseph Geha is a multimedia journalist covering Fremont, Milpitas, Union City, and Newark for the Bay Area News Group. His prior work has been seen in multiple Bay Area outlets, including SF Weekly, as well as on KQED and KLIV radio. He is a graduate of California State University, East Bay (Hayward), a Fremont native and a lifelong Oakland Athletics fan.
Seven retailers are now open for in-store shopping and services at Santana Row, while six restaurants are now open for outdoor dining, according to Federal Realty, the principal owner of the mixed-use commercial complex.
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Over the MOON with my new mesh head!
Good Morning ladies! Yesterday morning the COSMETIC FAIR opened it`s doors, and let`s just say I was camped outside overnight waiting for the sound of the keys unlocking the door to allow the shoppers in 😉 I`m just kidding, but I seriously did just log in SL before having to rush to my RL job, because I HAD to get my MOON mesh head! Let`s start there…..some time back, I started seeing the previews & was in love immediately. It seems that the internet will forever allow people to post their negative comments & opinions on anything & everything. Instead of simply “scrolling by” if something doesn`t interest you. The creator of this new mesh head most know from creating hair, and in her ads, you always see her adorable avi that looks completely different than most. Her head is usually featured larger than her petite little body, and I personally have always loved that she`s unique with her look and doesn`t follow the masses. Of course that particular look isn`t for everyone, but isn`t that the beauty of SL? We are all free to create whichever look we want, everyday, multiple times a day, & there is no one that can dictate how we should look. Imagine if we all had to look the same, how boring would that be? Extremely! And so, it may not be a look I use for everyday, in fact, there isn`t a look at all I use everyday, I try to change my avi daily as I do with the outfits I bring you. Staying the same bores me, and there is just too much creativity in SL that I love to explore and try new shapes, skins & mesh body parts pretty consistently. And that`s just for me, whatever makes you happy, is exactly what you should do, no matter what anyone else may think or say. So that`s my little rant about all of the negative comments I seen about how “she needs to change her proportions etc”. No, she doesn`t, she doesn`t have to do a damn thing that any of us think…this is her SL, and it`s my SL, and it`s your SL, just be happy in it and allow people to do whatever they please with their choices.
Let`s move on to the actual purchase. The MOON mesh head is rather inexpensive compared to other mesh heads, at 2000L, you get the mesh head, (only needing to decide which skin tone you prefer out of 4 choices). I was concerned instantly when I seen you had to choose a single tone that I wouldn`t be able to match my body perfectly with the head, but MOON took care of that, and so when you purchase the head, you get the Maitreya Body Applier, as well as an Omega Body applier. How sweet is that? Included you get a hud to control eye blinking, you can set it to non blinking, constant blinking, or closed eyes. You also get another hud where you can choose eyebrow colors, lip colors, eye makeups, and multiple hairbases. There is also an on & off ear option, a modifiable shape included, all alphas needed, and standard skin included in case you aren`t wearing a mesh body but still want this head. She`s pretty much covered everything for everyone, as long as there is the Omega applier and you get the correct relay huds, you can use with your Slink hands & feet and more! Of course this first head isn`t as detailed with animations as others, and the price definitely reflects that, so there really shouldn`t be any complaints at all. I`m sure in time, there will be more heads released with more options, and who knows maybe even an update if we`re lucky 🙂 We never know, but for now, I`m so enjoying this adorable mesh head so uniquely created. I decided that in honor of her first mesh head, I would do a complete Moon tribute post 🙂 Sometimes, my escape from blogging obligations allows me to run out & shop, which I do often, but hardly ever find the time to actually blog what I purchased, lol. Don`t get me wrong, not that I wouldn`t purchase the items I blog, because I won`t blog it if I don`t like it, I just have so many commitments, and not enough days in the week.
I grabbed this super cute outfit from Kitja at the last round of Uber, as well as the butterfly sandals from N-Core. I wanted a really cute short hair to show off the face, so I found this one at the current Elikitira sale, and thought it was just adorable. I hope you enjoy the pics & go try a demo, and have an open mind, have fun in your SL, don`t get stuck in stagnate – try new things, it`s fun!
I`ll be showing these much more because they just came out, but SUICIDAL UNBORN just released new “Yuna” eyes. I`m wearing them in today`s post, and I`ll share the vendor pic at the end so you can see all of the colors available. You know SU! eyes are my favorite so I just had to share them with you right away 😉
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Blogger since 2011. Sponsors are named on the sponsors page. Unfortunately because of how busy I stay, I removed logos unless required. If you are interested in having me review your items, please contact me in-world via notecard only because my messages cap daily. Hope you enjoy the blog even half as much as I enjoy bringing you so many of the awesome creations in Second Life.
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ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences
A council worker has won a claim that he suffered racial harassment in a row over an office pot plant - landing taxpayers with a bill for thousands of pounds.
Benyam Kenbata, 34, took legal action after a colleague at Westminster council put the plant on her desk, blocking his view.
He complained to his boss that it was racial segregation and discrimination as it “restricted the ease with which he could hold discussions with colleagues”.
Now, after a two-year legal battle, he has successfully sued the council for racial harassment and victimisation.
Mr Kenbata said: “I genuinely believed I was being unlawfully discriminated against. Working day in, day out with colleagues not effectively communicating with you about work for no apparent good reason is really difficult.”
The row began in December 2013 when support officer Zinnie Denby-Mann put a plant on her desk, opposite capital programme manager Mr Kenbata.
A few months later he complained to his boss.
Westminster’s human resources department denied any racial connotations, saying the problem was simply that the “plant had grown too high”.
In 2015 Mr Kenbata went to London Central Employment Tribunal and made 29 allegations of direct discrimination, racial harassment and victimisation.
It ruled against him, saying it was “quite satisfied that the positioning of the plant and its growth was not an act of direct discrimination nor harassment”.
It found Mr Kenbata “acted in bad faith in making the race discrimination complaint arising from the existence of the overgrown pot plant” and ordered him to pay £10,000 costs. It backed Mr Kenbata on just one count, ruling the discussion about the complaint with his boss, which took place in an open-plan office, amounted to victimisation as it should have happened confidentially.
Mr Kenbata appealed and a judge said the case should be re-examined - and this week the tribunal adjusted its findings, ruling his complaint “was not an act of mischief after all” and “the discussion in the open-plan office was racial harassment”.
This was because his boss’s response to the allegation “was capable of violating his dignity or creating a humiliating environment for him”.
However, the tribunal ruled there was no racial discrimination as they found no evidence “race was an issue in the office”. It said he should still pay £10,000 towards the council’s costs as he had acted “unreasonably” with respect to his other claims. Westminster has spent “well over” £60,000 defending the claims.
Ms Denby-Mann, who now works as a planning officer at Aberdeen council, declined to comment but a relative described the proceedings as “a bit silly” and “rather bizarre”.
Westminster council said it set “the highest standards in treating employees fairly”, adding: “We are pleased the tribunal agreed there was no foundation for a claim of direct race discrimination made against the individual. We note the finding that there was a minor act of harassment, albeit categorised as a one-off incident which fell close to the bottom of the scale in terms of injury to feelings.”
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Long, drawn-out tribunals like this are in nobody’s interest. They hurt those involved as well as costing taxpayers. Reform of the system is needed.”
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Q:
$\lim_{n \to\infty} p_n = p$ implies $\lim_{n \to \infty}p_n^3 = p^3$
In an example from my lecture notes, I have that if $( p_n )_n$ is a sequence and $\displaystyle\lim_{n \to \infty} p_n = p$, then $\displaystyle\lim_{n \to \infty} p_n^3 = p^3$.
I don't understand all of this example, though I do understand it when $p=0$.
Now let $p\neq0$. Then there exists $n_1\in \mathbb{N}$ such that $|p_n-p|=|p|/2$ for all $n\geq n_1$. This is also a theorem in our book. I don't understand it. Why is this true and what is its purpose?
From that we have this line of reasoning: for all $n \geq n_1$
$$\left| |p_n|-|p| \right|\leq|p_n-p|=\tfrac{|p|}{2}\longrightarrow \tfrac{|p|}{2}<|p_n|<\tfrac{3|p|}{2}.$$
I don't fully understand this.
This follows: (I didn't understand it but after typing it I get it!) Thought I'd leave it in.
$$\begin{align}
|p_n^3-p^3|
&= |p_n-p| \cdot |p_n^2+p_n\cdot p+p^2| \\\
& \leq |p_n-p| \cdot (|p_n^2|+|p_n| \cdot |p|+|p^2|) \\
&\leq |p_n-p| \cdot (\tfrac{9|p|^2}{4}+\tfrac{3|p|^2}{2}+|p^2|) \\
&= \tfrac{19|p|^2|p_n-p|}{4}.
\end{align}$$
Then $n_3$ and $\epsilon$ is defined and the proof is wrapped up. Can anyone please explain the parts above I don't understand. I'd really appreciate it! Thank you!
A:
The statement $\displaystyle\lim_{n \to \infty}p_n = p$ means that "as $n$ becomes large, $|p_n-p|$ becomes arbitrarily small".
We wish to prove $\displaystyle\lim_{n \to \infty}p_n^3 = p^3$, i.e. "as $n$ becomes large, $|p_n^3-p^3|$ becomes arbitrarily small".
Now, note that $|p_n^3-p^3| = |(p_n-p)(p_n^2+p_np+p^2)| = |p_n-p| \cdot |p_n^2+p_np+p^2|$.
As $n$ gets arbitrarily large, $|p_n-p|$ becomes arbitrarily small. So, if we can show that $|p_n^2+p_np+p^2|$ doesn't become arbitrarily large (or do other weird stuff), then the product $|p_n-p| \cdot |p_n^2+p_np+p^2| = |p_n^3-p^3|$ will become arbitrarily small, which is what we want.
Now more formally, since $\displaystyle\lim_{n \to \infty}p_n = p$ the definition of the limit says that for any $\epsilon > 0$, there exists an $n_1$ such that $\forall n \ge n_1$, $|p_n-p| < \epsilon$. Since this is true for all $\epsilon > 0$, it must be true for $\epsilon = |p|/2$, that is there exists an $n_1$ such that $\forall n \ge n_1$, we have $|p_n-p| < |p|/2$. If $p > 0$, then this becomes $-p/2 < p_n-p < p/2$, i.e. $p/2 < p_n < 3p/2$. If $p < 0$, then this becomes $p/2 < p_n-p < -p/2$, i.e. $3p/2 < p_n < p/2$. In either case $|p_n| < 3|p|/2$.
Using this inequality along with the triangle inequality, we get the following:
$|p_n^2+p_np+p^2| \le |p_n^2|+|p_np|+|p^2| < \frac{9}{4}|p|^2+\frac{3}{2}|p|^2+|p|^2 = \frac{19}{4}|p|^2$.
Therefore, $|p_n^3-p^3| = |p_n-p| \cdot |p_n^2+p_np+p^2| < \frac{19}{4}|p|^2|p_n-p|$.
Now, intuitively, as $n$ gets arbitrarily large, $|p_n-p|$ gets arbitrarily small, and $\frac{19}{4}|p|^2$ is just a constant. Hence $\frac{19}{4}|p|^2|p_n-p|$ gets arbitrarily small. Then since $|p_n^3-p^3| < \frac{19}{4}|p|^2|p_n-p|$, we know that $|p_n^3-p^3|$ also gets arbitrarily small. To formalize this last part, you just need to apply the definition of the limit.
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package org.openstreetmap.atlas.utilities.command.subcommands;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.HashSet;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Optional;
import java.util.Set;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;
import org.locationtech.jts.geom.Geometry;
import org.locationtech.jts.geom.LineString;
import org.locationtech.jts.geom.Point;
import org.locationtech.jts.geom.Polygon;
import org.locationtech.jts.io.ParseException;
import org.locationtech.jts.io.WKTReader;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.geography.Location;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.geography.PolyLine;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.geography.boundary.CountryBoundary;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.geography.boundary.CountryBoundaryMap;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.geography.converters.jts.JtsPointConverter;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.geography.converters.jts.JtsPolyLineConverter;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.geography.converters.jts.JtsPolygonConverter;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.geography.sharding.Shard;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.geography.sharding.Sharding;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.geography.sharding.converters.StringToShardConverter;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.streaming.resource.File;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.streaming.resource.StringResource;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.tags.ISOCountryTag;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.utilities.command.AtlasShellToolsException;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.utilities.command.abstractcommand.AbstractAtlasShellToolsCommand;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.utilities.command.abstractcommand.CommandOutputDelegate;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.utilities.command.abstractcommand.OptionAndArgumentDelegate;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.utilities.command.parsing.ArgumentArity;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.utilities.command.parsing.ArgumentOptionality;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.utilities.command.parsing.OptionOptionality;
import org.openstreetmap.atlas.utilities.command.terminal.TTYAttribute;
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
/**
* @author lcram
*/
public class WKTShardCommand extends AbstractAtlasShellToolsCommand
{
private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(WKTShardCommand.class);
private static final String SHARDING_OPTION_LONG = "sharding";
private static final String SHARDING_OPTION_DESCRIPTION = "The sharding to use, e.g. dynamic@/Users/foo/my-tree.txt";
private static final String SHARDING_OPTION_HINT = "type@parameter";
private static final String INPUT_FILE_OPTION_LONG = "input";
private static final String INPUT_FILE_OPTION_DESCRIPTION = "An input file from which to source the WKT entities. See DESCRIPTION section for details.";
private static final String INPUT_FILE_OPTION_HINT = "file";
private static final String COUNTRY_BOUNDARY_OPTION_LONG = "country-boundary";
private static final String COUNTRY_BOUNDARY_OPTION_DESCRIPTION = "A boundary file to use for intersection checks. See DESCRIPTION section for details.";
private static final String COUNTRY_BOUNDARY_OPTION_HINT = "boundary-file";
private static final Integer SHARDING_CONTEXT = 3;
private static final Integer COUNTRY_BOUNDARY_CONTEXT = 4;
private static final String INPUT_WKT_SHARD = "wkt|shard";
private final OptionAndArgumentDelegate optionAndArgumentDelegate;
private final CommandOutputDelegate outputDelegate;
public static void main(final String[] args)
{
new WKTShardCommand().runSubcommandAndExit(args);
}
public WKTShardCommand()
{
this.optionAndArgumentDelegate = this.getOptionAndArgumentDelegate();
this.outputDelegate = this.getCommandOutputDelegate();
}
@Override
public int execute()
{
final List<String> inputWktOrShard = new ArrayList<>();
if (this.optionAndArgumentDelegate.hasOption(INPUT_FILE_OPTION_LONG))
{
inputWktOrShard.addAll(readInputsFromFile(this.optionAndArgumentDelegate
.getOptionArgument(INPUT_FILE_OPTION_LONG).orElse(null)));
}
inputWktOrShard.addAll(this.optionAndArgumentDelegate.getVariadicArgument(INPUT_WKT_SHARD));
if (inputWktOrShard.isEmpty())
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnWarnMessage("no input WKTs were found");
return 0;
}
Sharding sharding = null;
CountryBoundaryMap countryBoundaryMap = null;
if (this.optionAndArgumentDelegate.getParserContext() == SHARDING_CONTEXT)
{
sharding = Sharding
.forString(
this.optionAndArgumentDelegate.getOptionArgument(SHARDING_OPTION_LONG)
.orElseThrow(AtlasShellToolsException::new),
this.getFileSystem());
}
else if (this.optionAndArgumentDelegate.getParserContext() == COUNTRY_BOUNDARY_CONTEXT)
{
final Optional<CountryBoundaryMap> mapOptional = loadCountryBoundaryMap();
if (mapOptional.isEmpty())
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnErrorMessage("failed to load country boundary");
return 1;
}
countryBoundaryMap = mapOptional.get();
}
else
{
throw new AtlasShellToolsException();
}
for (int i = 0; i < inputWktOrShard.size(); i++)
{
final String wktOrShard = inputWktOrShard.get(i);
parseWktOrShardAndPrintOutput(wktOrShard, sharding, countryBoundaryMap);
// Only print a separating newline if there were multiple entries
if (i < inputWktOrShard.size() - 1)
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnStdout("");
}
}
return 0;
}
@Override
public String getCommandName()
{
return "wkt-shard";
}
@Override
public String getSimpleDescription()
{
return "perform various intersection lookups";
}
@Override
public void registerManualPageSections()
{
addManualPageSection("DESCRIPTION",
WKTShardCommand.class.getResourceAsStream("WKTShardCommandDescriptionSection.txt"));
addManualPageSection("EXAMPLES",
WKTShardCommand.class.getResourceAsStream("WKTShardCommandExamplesSection.txt"));
}
@Override
public void registerOptionsAndArguments()
{
registerArgument(INPUT_WKT_SHARD, ArgumentArity.VARIADIC, ArgumentOptionality.OPTIONAL,
SHARDING_CONTEXT, COUNTRY_BOUNDARY_CONTEXT);
registerOptionWithRequiredArgument(INPUT_FILE_OPTION_LONG, INPUT_FILE_OPTION_DESCRIPTION,
OptionOptionality.OPTIONAL, INPUT_FILE_OPTION_HINT, SHARDING_CONTEXT,
COUNTRY_BOUNDARY_CONTEXT);
registerOptionWithRequiredArgument(SHARDING_OPTION_LONG, SHARDING_OPTION_DESCRIPTION,
OptionOptionality.REQUIRED, SHARDING_OPTION_HINT, SHARDING_CONTEXT);
registerOptionWithRequiredArgument(COUNTRY_BOUNDARY_OPTION_LONG,
COUNTRY_BOUNDARY_OPTION_DESCRIPTION, OptionOptionality.REQUIRED,
COUNTRY_BOUNDARY_OPTION_HINT, COUNTRY_BOUNDARY_CONTEXT);
super.registerOptionsAndArguments();
}
private Optional<CountryBoundaryMap> loadCountryBoundaryMap()
{
final Optional<CountryBoundaryMap> countryBoundaryMap;
final File boundaryMapFile = new File(
this.optionAndArgumentDelegate.getOptionArgument(COUNTRY_BOUNDARY_OPTION_LONG)
.orElseThrow(AtlasShellToolsException::new),
this.getFileSystem());
if (!boundaryMapFile.exists())
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnErrorMessage(
"boundary file " + boundaryMapFile.getAbsolutePathString() + " does not exist");
return Optional.empty();
}
if (this.optionAndArgumentDelegate.hasVerboseOption())
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnCommandMessage("loading country boundary map...");
}
countryBoundaryMap = Optional.of(CountryBoundaryMap.fromPlainText(boundaryMapFile));
if (this.optionAndArgumentDelegate.hasVerboseOption())
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnCommandMessage("loaded boundary map");
}
return countryBoundaryMap;
}
private void parseWktOrShardAndPrintOutput(final String wktOrShard, final Sharding sharding,
final CountryBoundaryMap countryBoundaryMap)
{
final Optional<Geometry> geometryOptional = parseWktOrShardString(wktOrShard);
if (geometryOptional.isEmpty())
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnErrorMessage(
"unable to parse '" + wktOrShard + "' as WKT or shard string");
return;
}
final Geometry geometry = geometryOptional.get();
if (geometry instanceof Point)
{
printPointOutput(wktOrShard, geometry, sharding, countryBoundaryMap);
}
else if (geometry instanceof LineString)
{
printLineStringOutput(wktOrShard, geometry, sharding, countryBoundaryMap);
}
else if (geometry instanceof Polygon)
{
printPolygonOutput(wktOrShard, geometry, sharding, countryBoundaryMap);
}
/*
* TODO handle more geometry types? e.g. MultiPoint, MultiLineString, and MultiPolygon?
*/
else
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnErrorMessage("unsupported geometry type " + wktOrShard);
}
}
private Optional<Geometry> parseWktOrShardString(final String wktOrShard)
{
final WKTReader reader = new WKTReader();
try
{
return Optional.of(reader.read(wktOrShard));
}
catch (final ParseException exception)
{
logger.warn("unable to parse {} as wkt", wktOrShard, exception);
// input String was not a WKT, so try parsing it as a shard string
try
{
final StringToShardConverter converter = new StringToShardConverter();
final Shard shard = converter.convert(wktOrShard);
return Optional.of(new WKTReader().read(shard.toWkt()));
}
catch (final Exception exception2)
{
logger.warn("unable to parse {} as shard", wktOrShard, exception2);
}
}
return Optional.empty();
}
private void printLineStringOutput(final String wktOrShard, final Geometry geometry,
final Sharding sharding, final CountryBoundaryMap countryBoundaryMap)
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnStdout(wktOrShard + " intersects:", TTYAttribute.BOLD);
final PolyLine polyline = new JtsPolyLineConverter().backwardConvert((LineString) geometry);
if (sharding != null)
{
final Iterable<? extends Shard> shards = sharding.shardsIntersecting(polyline);
for (final Shard shard : shards)
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnStdout(shard.toString(), TTYAttribute.GREEN);
}
}
if (countryBoundaryMap != null)
{
final List<CountryBoundary> boundaries = countryBoundaryMap.boundaries(polyline);
for (final CountryBoundary boundary : boundaries)
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnStdout(boundary.getCountryName(), TTYAttribute.GREEN);
}
}
}
private void printPointOutput(final String wktOrShard, final Geometry geometry,
final Sharding sharding, final CountryBoundaryMap countryBoundaryMap)
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnStdout(wktOrShard + " covered by:", TTYAttribute.BOLD);
final Location location = new JtsPointConverter().backwardConvert((Point) geometry);
if (sharding != null)
{
final Iterable<? extends Shard> shards = sharding.shardsCovering(location);
for (final Shard shard : shards)
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnStdout(shard.toString(), TTYAttribute.GREEN);
}
}
if (countryBoundaryMap != null)
{
final List<CountryBoundary> boundaries = countryBoundaryMap.boundaries(location);
for (final CountryBoundary boundary : boundaries)
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnStdout(boundary.getCountryName(), TTYAttribute.GREEN);
}
}
}
private void printPolygonOutput(final String wktOrShard, final Geometry geometry,
final Sharding sharding, final CountryBoundaryMap countryBoundaryMap)
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnStdout(wktOrShard + " contains or intersects:",
TTYAttribute.BOLD);
final org.openstreetmap.atlas.geography.Polygon polygon = new JtsPolygonConverter()
.backwardConvert((Polygon) geometry);
if (sharding != null)
{
final Iterable<? extends Shard> shards = sharding.shards(polygon);
for (final Shard shard : shards)
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnStdout(shard.toString(), TTYAttribute.GREEN);
}
}
if (countryBoundaryMap != null)
{
/*
* This is handled a little differently here than in the other printXOutput methods.
* This is because the CountryBoundaryMap#boundaries method does not handle certain
* cases the way we want it to, e.g. like when a shard boundary or other large polygon
* completely encloses a country boundary (think large ocean shard totally containing a
* small island country). We still want to report those enclosed boundaries in this
* case. In the future, we may want to fix CountryBoundaryMap to handle this case in
* some way.
*/
final List<org.locationtech.jts.geom.Polygon> polygons = countryBoundaryMap
.query(geometry.getEnvelopeInternal()).stream().distinct()
.collect(Collectors.toList());
final Set<String> countries = new HashSet<>();
polygons.forEach(polygon2 -> countries
.add(CountryBoundaryMap.getGeometryProperty(polygon2, ISOCountryTag.KEY)));
for (final String country : countries)
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnStdout(country, TTYAttribute.GREEN);
}
}
}
private List<String> readInputsFromFile(final String path)
{
if (path == null)
{
throw new AtlasShellToolsException();
}
final Path inputPath = this.getFileSystem().getPath(path);
if (inputPath.toString().startsWith("~"))
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnWarnMessage("the '~' was not expanded by your shell");
}
if (!Files.isReadable(inputPath) || !Files.isRegularFile(inputPath))
{
this.outputDelegate.printlnErrorMessage(
inputPath.toAbsolutePath().toString() + " is not a readable file");
return new ArrayList<>();
}
final List<String> wktOrShardList = new ArrayList<>();
final StringResource resource = new StringResource();
resource.copyFrom(new File(inputPath.toAbsolutePath().toString(), this.getFileSystem()));
final String rawText = resource.all();
final String[] split = rawText.split(System.getProperty("line.separator"));
for (final String line : split)
{
if (!line.isEmpty())
{
wktOrShardList.add(line);
}
}
return wktOrShardList;
}
}
|
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Q:
Learning .prototype
Edit: for those people seeing this post in the future, this site was undoubtedly critical for me to digest Javascript. If you're coming from a traditional OOP background, I HIGHLY recommend it. The UML-esq diagrams were amazing.
I still can't get my head around what the .prototype property in Javascript is. Is it simply a reference to another object? Or is it a reference to a pointer to another object? I come from C/C++/x86 and just can't see how it works. Let's look at some examples of how I currently see things; it'd help to point out my errors to see how things work. I don't even know if some of these are valid syntax. Object and Function are the global object/function objects respectively.
1 // Global.prototype = ??
2 // Function.prototype = ??
3
4 var obj1 = {}; // obj1.prototype = Object
5 obj2 = {}; // obj2.prototype = Object
6
7 var func1 = function() {}; // func1.prototype = Function
8 func2 = function() {}; // func2.prototype = Function
9 function func3() {} // func3.prototype = Function
10
I'm so confused.
11 var Foo = function() { this.prop1 = 0; }
12 var foo = new Foo(); // should it be 'new Foo' or 'new Foo()'?
13 // Foo.prototype = Function
14 // foo.prototype = Foo
15 var Goo = function() { this.prop2 = 0; }
16 var goo = new Goo();
17 // goo.prototype = Goo
18 goo.prototype = new Foo();
19 // goo.prop1 now exists ?
I also don't understand swapping prototypes around.
20 function A () {
21 this.prop1 = 1;
22 }
23 function B () {
24 this.prop2 = 2;
25 }
26 function C () {
27 this.prop3 = 3;
28 }
29 C.prototype = new B();
30 var c = new C();
31 // c.prop1 = 1
32 // c.prop2 = 2
33 // c.prop3 = undefined
34 C.prototype = new A();
35 // c.prop2 = 2???
36 // c.prop3 = 3
I can't get a grasp on the concept. I don't quite understand. I don't get how cloned objects get their own local copies of data, but changes to the original object (the prototype) somehow cascade down to the clones. I've been fiddling around with FigureBug trying things out, but mentally I can't come up with an idea that is consistent with every example ive seen
C++ may be a huge monstrosity, but at least I know exactly what's going. Here... I'm using my best guess..
Just a new paradigm I suppose. Anyways, thanks if you can help out... I'm turned upside-down on this .prototype.
A:
Wow, that's a lot of questions. Let's work through them.
Is it simply a reference to another object? Or is it a reference to a pointer to another object?
There are no pointers in JavaScript. Yet, a variable or property holding "an object" is actually holding a reference to the object, so other variables can hold references to the same object.
Global.prototype = ??
The global object (window if you want), where all global variables are defined, has no prototype (don't care about exceptions in some environments).
I still can't get my head around what the .prototype property in Javascript is.
The .prototype property is a property that all function objects have, pointing to their prototype object (a plain object).
You must not confuse it with the internal prototype reference which each object has. That prototype points to the object where properties are looked up which an object doesn't have itself.
Function.prototype = ??
This is the object from which all Function objects inherit. It contains things like call or bind.
var obj1 = {}; // obj1.prototype = Object
var func1 = function() {}; // func1.prototype = Function
Yes, kinda. I think you've got the concept, but didn't know the terminology. While func.prototype is a different thing, the obj.prototype property doesn't even exist. However, you meant the internal prototypes - we can access them via the Object.getPrototypeOf function. And they don't refer to the constructor functions, but their prototype objects. Here's the correction:
Object.getPrototypeOf(obj1) === Object.prototype
Object.getPrototypeOf(func1) === Function.prototype
should it be 'new Foo' or 'new Foo()'?
That doesn't matter, they're equivalent. You only need the brackets explicitly when you want to pass arguments.
var Foo = function() { this.prop1 = 0; }
var foo = new Foo();
Again, your assumptions were correct but expressed wrong. Let's work through the details.
Above, I've talked about "prototype objects". What are those? They are plain objects which get implicitly created with every function. In this case, it's Foo.prototype - an empty object. So we deal here with three objects: The Foo constructor function, its Foo.prototype prototype object and the foo instance.
What's special about foo? It's the first thing which the new operator does. When a function is getting invoked as a constructor - with new - then its .prototype property is accessed and a new object is instantiated with its internal prototype set to that prototype object. That's the miraculous thing. After that the function is called on the new instance so that this is the new object; and in your case it creates the .prop1 property on the instance. Then the result is returned (and assigned to foo).
How to make use of that magic now? The point is to create properties on the prototype object, which will be inherited then.
// modify `Foo.prototype`, the object which `foo` inherits from:
Foo.prototype.prop2 = 1;
console.log(foo.prop2); // 1!
I also don't understand swapping prototypes around.
The problem is that this is quite impossible. Once instantiated, an object's prototype chain is quite static. However, you don't need that often.
goo.prototype = new Foo();
That didn't work because the .prototype property is not what you expected.
var c = new C();
C.prototype = new A();
That does work only a littlebit. Have a look above at what new does - it looks up the .prototype property of the constructor only once. The internal prototype stays locked then - you don't change the c instance. However, if you would create a new instance var d = new C() now then it would inherit from the A instance.
I hope this helps; if you have further questions please comment.
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Introduction {#s1}
============
Group II introns are mobile genetic retroelements present in the genomes of bacteria and organelles. They are related to spliceosomal introns, telomerase and retrotransposons in eukaryotes, and are even considered to have played a key role in the origin of eukaryotic cells and genetic evolution (Koonin, [@B16]; Lambowitz and Belfort, [@B17]). In recent years, they have also been used in various biotechnological applications in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, due to their ability to recognize specific sequences for their insertion (Toro et al., [@B48]; Enyeart et al., [@B10]). They usually consist of a catalytically active intron RNA and an intron-encoded protein (IEP) that act together as a ribonucleoprotein (RNP) particle (Lambowitz et al., [@B18]; Saldanha et al., [@B42]; Lambowitz and Zimmerly, [@B19]). Immediately after its translation, the IEP is stabilized by binding to the unspliced precursor RNA, facilitating intron lariat excision by successive transesterifications to generate the active RNP complex for intron mobility (recently reviewed in Lambowitz and Belfort, [@B17]). Thus, the RNP particles can insert the lariat RNA into a short, specific DNA sequence recognized by both RNA and protein components in the reverse reaction to intron splicing (Guo et al., [@B12]; Singh and Lambowitz, [@B44]; Jiménez-Zurdo et al., [@B15]). Some RNP enzymes produce a double strand break (those with an endonuclease domain, see below) and use the 3′ end of the bottom strand to initiate reverse transcription (Zimmerly et al., [@B55]; Matsuura et al., [@B25]), but other complexes cannot cut the bottom strand, and an alternative method is therefore required for priming during cDNA synthesis (Muñoz-Adelantado et al., [@B33]; Martínez-Abarca et al., [@B21]). The integration process is completed by host enzymes that degrade the RNA, synthesize the complementary strand of cDNA and repair nicks in the DNA (Smith et al., [@B46]; Coros et al., [@B5], [@B6]; Yao et al., [@B52]). As described for HIV-1 RT, RNP particles were widely thought to be formed by the interaction of a dimeric protein with a single lariat RNA (Saldanha et al., [@B42]; Rambo and Doudna, [@B39]; Gupta et al., [@B14]). However, a recent determination of the structure of RNP particles obtained *in vivo* suggested that there was a 1:1 (Qu et al., [@B38]), or even 2:2 (Zhao and Pyle, [@B54]) ratio of protein and RNA in the complex.
The ribozyme has a conserved, complex three-dimensional structure comprising six domains, DI to DVI (Toor et al., [@B47]; Qu et al., [@B38]). All six domains are important for correct structure and catalysis, but domain V plays a key role in nucleating the catalytic residues (the AGC triad and AY bulge) essential for Mg^2+^ coordination and in intron activity (Qin and Pyle, [@B37]; Gordon and Piccirilli, [@B11]; Pyle, [@B36]). The IEP is a multifunctional protein encoded by domain IV in most bacterial introns and about half the known organellar group II introns (Belfort et al., [@B2]; Lambowitz and Zimmerly, [@B20]). All these proteins have an N-terminal reverse transcriptase domain (RT) followed by a region involved in RNA splicing (domain X or maturase). Some IEPs also have a DNA binding (D) domain and a C-terminal DNA endonuclease (En) domain. These domains have been extensively characterized in LtrA (the IEP encoded by the *L.lactis* group II intron Ll.LtrB) (San Filippo and Lambowitz, [@B43]). The RT domain consists of eight (RT 0--7) to twelve (RT 2a, 3a, 4a, and 7a) conserved amino-acid blocks resembling those of telomerase, non-LTR-retrotransposon and retroviral RTs (Blocker et al., [@B3]; Zhao and Pyle, [@B54]). Mutational screening and unigenic evolution analyses revealed that the N-terminal RT0 region bound the DIVa subdomain of the ribozyme with high affinity, enabling the protein to regulate its own transcription (Wank et al., [@B51]; Singh et al., [@B45]; Cui et al., [@B8]; Gu et al., [@B13]). Additional contacts involving other RT and maturase residues seem to be established with the catalytic core of the excised intron RNA (involving DI, DII, and DVI) and are required for the formation of fully functional RNP complexes (Cui et al., [@B8]; Dai et al., [@B9]; Qu et al., [@B38]). The active site of the RT, the YADD motif in RT5, is not required for intron splicing or DNA endonuclease activity (Moran et al., [@B32]; Cui et al., [@B8]). By contrast, domain X has been shown to facilitate the excision of the ribozyme in an intron-specific manner (Mohr et al., [@B26]; Moran et al., [@B31]; Saldanha et al., [@B42]). Maturase binding to partially folded introns has been shown to stabilize tertiary interactions in the RNA, leaving other regions relatively flexible for productive conformational changes during catalysis (Matsuura et al., [@B24]; Noah and Lambowitz, [@B35]). The D and En domains are required for intron mobility, due to their role in DNA target site binding and cleavage during reverse splicing. The D domain is involved in target DNA recognition, whereas the En domain, an Mg^2+^-dependent DNA endonuclease of the H-N-H family, cleaves the target DNA strand to generate the primer for reverse transcription (San Filippo and Lambowitz, [@B43]).
However, a large group of introns lack the D/En domains (Toro and Martínez-Abarca, [@B49]), instead having a short C-terminal extension (Molina-Sánchez et al., [@B30]). The RTs of these introns thus have no DNA endonuclease activity and cannot cut the bottom strand. RmInt1 is the most widely studied retroelement of this type of group II introns (Martínez-Abarca et al., [@B22]). Despite lacking the D and En domains, RmInt1 is an efficient mobile element, the dispersal of which appears to be linked to the transient single-stranded DNA formed during replication (Martínez-Abarca et al., [@B21]). RmInt1 has been shown to self-splice under non-physiological conditions *in vitro* (Costa et al., [@B7]; Chillón et al., [@B4]), and to form an intron lariat and circles *in vivo* (Molina-Sánchez et al., [@B29]). Two mobility pathways, differing in terms of the priming of reverse transcription, have been postulated for RmInt1. The preferred pathway involves the invasion of single-stranded DNA by the intron, with the nascent lagging DNA strand used as the primer for intronic cDNA synthesis. A less efficient alternative pathway has also been suggested, in which the intron probably uses random non-specific opposite strand nicks, a nascent leading strand or the *de novo* initiation of cDNA synthesis.
We show here that the RmInt1 IEP can be readily purified from *Escherichia coli* cells, as a highly soluble fusion protein that is stable and functional in the absence of the intron RNA. The IEP was competent to assist in accurate lariat excision from the precursor intron RNA. Similarly, the intron RNA formed functional RNP particles upon incubation with the purified fusion protein, directing target DNA cleavage and further reverse splicing of the intron lariat into DNA substrates.
Materials and methods {#s2}
=====================
Bacterial strains and growth conditions
---------------------------------------
*Sinorhizobium meliloti* RMO17 was used for mobility assays. It was grown at 28°C on TY or defined minimal medium (Villadas et al., [@B50]) supplemented with 180 μg·ml^−1^ kanamycin and 10 μg·ml^−1^ tetracycline. *E. coli* DH5α cells were routinely cultured at 37°C in LB medium for molecular cloning. When required, antibiotics were used at the following concentrations: 180 μg·ml^−1^ for kanamycin and 200 μg·ml^−1^ for ampicillin. IEP were expressed in *E. coli* Rosetta-gami (DE3): pLysS (Novagen). This strain was grown at 37°C in LB medium supplemented with 0.2% glucose, 100 μg·ml^−1^ ampicillin, and 50 μg·ml^−1^ chloramphenicol, with protein induction by incubation with 0.3 mM IPTG at 20°C for 16--22 h.
Plasmid constructs
------------------
pMALFlagIEP encodes the IEP tagged with 3xFlag fused to the maltose-binding protein (MBP). This plasmid was constructed by inserting a *Not*I fragment containing the FlagIEP from pCEP4FlagIEP (Reinoso-Colacio et al., [@B40]) into the pMAL-c5X vector (New England Biolabs) digested with *Not*I and dephosphorylated. pMALFlagIEP mutant constructs were generated by replacing the C-terminal region of the IEP with the corresponding mutated fragment. PCR products containing the various IEP mutations were obtained with Phusion polymerase (Thermo Scientific), the primers 21.0 5′-AGAAAAGACGTC AAATGCAA-3′ and *SacBbr* 5′-GGGAGCTCACGTGCC TCGTTTTCATCGATGAGA-3′, and template plasmids containing the mutated IEP: pKG4-YAHH (Molina-Sánchez et al., [@B28]); pKG4-K381 and pKG4A354A355 (Molina-Sánchez et al., [@B30]). These PCR fragments were digested with *Kpn*I and *Pml*I and inserted into the *Kpn*I/*Eco*RV-digested pMALFlagIEP.
pLMWT, which was used for *in vitro* transcription of the intron precursor, was described in a previous study by Chillón et al. ([@B4]) (ΔORF-WT2). It consists of the pUC19 backbone plus15 bp of the RmInt1 5′ exon from IS*Rm2011-2*, the ΔORF intron sequence and 5 bp of the 3′ exon followed by 145 bp of the *E. coli lac*Z gene (positions 42--169). ΔORF is an engineered ribozyme in which nucleotides 611--1759 of the large terminal loop of the RmInt1 domain IV have been deleted (Costa et al., [@B7]).
The construction of control donor (pKGEMA4) and recipient (pJB0.6LAG) plasmids for *in vivo* retrohoming analysis has been described elsewhere (Martínez-Abarca et al., [@B21]; Nisa-Martínez et al., [@B34]). pKG4_MALFlagIEP was generated from the pKGEMA4 donor plasmid by replacing the wild-type IEP sequence with the MBP-FlagIEP fusion protein sequence. The MBP-FlagIEP N-terminal region was amplified from pMALFlagIEP with primers LMS33 5′-GG[ACTAGT]{.ul}GGAAACAGG **ATG**AAAATCGAAGAAGG-3′ and PR1000 5′-GCGGAA GATTGTCAAACAGC-3′ and Phusion polymerase (Thermo Scientific). LMS33 hybridized to the start of the maltose-binding protein sequence (the ATG start codon is shown in bold) and included a *Spe*I restriction site (underlined), to facilitate cloning in pKGEMA4. PR1000 is an oligonucleotide complementary to positions 980--1000 in the wild-type RmInt1 sequence (454 bp into the IEP sequence) just downstream from the *Eco*RI restriction site. pKGEMA4 was then digested with *Spe*I/*Eco*RI and the fragment obtained was replaced with the corresponding digested PCR product. The sequence of the insert was checked before retrohoming assays.
Mobility assays
---------------
We used a two-plasmid system based on a donor plasmid (pKGEMA4-derived plasmids) encoding IEP followed by ΔORF and a recipient plasmid (pJB0.6LAG) containing a 640 bp fragment of IS*Rm2011-2* including the DNA target site inserted in the lagging strand orientation (Martínez-Abarca et al., [@B22]). As negative controls, we used a splicing-deficient mutant intron donor plasmid, pKG4dV, and a recipient plasmid lacking the intron insertion site, pJBΔ129. Plasmid pools from *S. meliloti* RMO17 were analyzed by Southern hybridization with probes specific for the intron (ribozyme) and the target DNA (Martínez-Abarca et al., [@B23], [@B22]). Retrohoming efficiency was calculated as a percentage relative to the wild-type intron, by determining the proportion of the recipient plasmids invaded.
Expression and purification of the MBP-FlagIEP fusion protein in *E. coli*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*E. coli* Rosetta-gami (DE3) pLysS cells were freshly transformed with the pMALFlagIEP expression plasmid or with a mutated form of this plasmid. For starter cultures, a single colony was used to inoculate 5 ml of LB medium containing antibiotics and glucose, and the cultures were incubated overnight at 37°C, with shaking at 270 rpm. An aliquot (1 ml) of the overnight culture was then used to inoculate 50 ml of LB medium + ampicillin + chloramphenicol + glucose, which was incubated at 37°C for 4 h with vigorous shaking, until an OD~600~ of 0.5 was reached. Following IPTG induction, cells were harvested by centrifugation at 5000 × g for 30 min at 4°C, and the pellet was washed twice with cold column buffer (CB: 20 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.4, 200 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM DTT, EDTA-free protease inhibitor). The cell pellet was resuspended in 1 ml of ice-cold CB buffer and lysed by three freeze-thaw cycles (alternation between −70°C and +28°C), followed by addition of 7 ml CB. Lysates were subjected to sonication and cleared by centrifugation (16,000 × g for 5 min at 4°C). For protein binding to the column (Econo-Pac Chromatography, Bio-Rad), which was prepared with washed amylose beads (0.5 ml bead volume, New England Biolabs), cleared lysates were incubated for 2 h at 4°C on a rotary shaker. After washing to remove non-specifically bound proteins, MBP-IEP was eluted by adding 2 ml CB supplemented with 10 mM maltose (Sigma-Aldrich). Protein preparations were concentrated and dialyzed with YM-30 centrifugal filters (Amicron Ultra, Millipore) Proteins were analyzed by electrophoresis in Coomassie blue-stained 0.1% SDS-10% polyacrylamide gels and immunoblot analysis with antibodies against the Flag epitope (Sigma-Aldrich). Protein concentrations were determined by the Bradford method, with the Bio-Rad protein assay reagent and BSA as the standard (Bio-Rad).
*In vitro* transcription and purification
-----------------------------------------
pLMWT was linearized by using digestion with *Nde*I, for the generation of a 908 nt RNA transcript. Unlabeled transcripts were generated with 20 μg of linearized plasmid and 70 units of T7 RNA polymerase in 1 ml reaction buffer containing 1 × transcription buffer (10 × transcription buffer: 150 mM MgCl~2~, 400 mM Tris--HCl, pH 7.5, 20 mM spermidine, and 50 mM DTT), 0.96 mM NTPs, 10 mM DTT and 400 units of RNAseOUT (Invitrogen). Internally labeled RNA transcripts were generated with 4 μg of linearized plasmid, 1 × transcription buffer, 10 mM DTT, 0.96 mM ATP, 0.96 mM CTP, 0.96 mM UTP, 0.064 mM GTP, 50 μCi \[α-^32^P\]GTP (3000 Ci/mmol; 10 mCi/mL; Perkin Elmer), 80 units of RNAseOUT (Invitrogen) and 2--4 units of T7 RNA polymerase, in a final volume of 50 μl (Chillón et al., [@B4]). In both cases, RNA synthesis was stopped after 3--5 h at 37°C, by adding an equal volume of gel loading dye \[10 M urea, 0.1% (w/v) xylene cyanol and bromophenol blue dyes, 40 mMTris (pH 7.5), 8.3% (w/v) sucrose, and 0.83 mM EDTA\]. RNA samples were subjected to electrophoresis in a 5% (w/v) denaturing (7 M urea) polyacrylamide gel. The relevant bands were excised and the RNA molecules were eluted by overnight incubation in elution buffer (0.3 M NaCl, 10 mM MOPS pH 6, 1 mM EDTA). Residual polyacrylamide was removed and the RNA was precipitated with ethanol and glycogen as the carrier. The RNA was dried and dissolved in RNA storage buffer (10 mM MOPS pH 6, 1 mM EDTA).
Exogenous RT assay
------------------
Reverse transcriptase with poly(rA)-oligo(dT)~18~ was carried out as previously described (Muñoz-Adelantado et al., [@B33]). IEP preparations (5 μM) were assayed in 10 μl of reaction medium (50 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.5, 10 mM KCl, 25 mM MgCl~2~, 5 mM DTT) with 1 μg of poly(rA)-oligo(dT)~18~ or poly(rA), and 2.5 μCi of \[α-^32^P\]dTTP (800 Ci/mmole; Perkin Elmer). The products (8 μl) were spotted onto Whatman DE81 filters, which were then washed four times with 2 × SSC and counted in a liquid scintillation analyzer (Beckman-Coulter).
Self-splicing and IEP-assisted splicing
---------------------------------------
Protein-assisted splicing reactions were carried out with internally ^32^P-labeled RNA and purified MBP-FlagIEP fusion proteins. RNA precursor (1 nM) was incubated in 40 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.5 at 90°C for 1 min, then at 50°C for 1 min and, finally, at room temperature for 1 min. Correct RNA conformation/stabilization was favored by adding 500 mM NH~4~Cl and 5 mM MgCl~2~ to the renatured samples. The splicing reaction was triggered by the incorporation of a 50-fold excess of the MBP-IEP fusion proteins and incubation of the mixtures at 30°C. *In vitro* splicing control reactions from which the protein was omitted were carried out at 50°C for 5 h. Aliquots (1--2 μl) were removed at the indicated timepoints and reactions were stopped by the addition of 10 μl quenching buffer \[1.8% sucrose, 1 × TBE, 0.018% xylene cyanol dye, 36% (v/v) formamide, and 25 mM EDTA\] and incubation on ice. The products were resolved by electrophoresis in a denaturing 5% polyacrylamide gel. The gel was then dried and the radioactivity quantified with a Personal Molecular Imager FX (Bio-Rad) laser scanning system and Quantity One software (Bio-Rad).
RNP particle reconstitution
---------------------------
RmInt1-ΔORF RNP particles were reconstituted from RNA synthesized *in vitro* and purified MBP-FlagIEP or the corresponding mutated proteins, with a modified version of a previously described method (Saldanha et al., [@B42]). Unlabeled precursor intron RNA (2.5 μM) was denatured by heating at 90°C for 1 min and then renatured by successive incubations at 50°C and room temperature for 1 min each in 40 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.5, before the addition of 500 mM NH~4~Cl, 5 mM MgCl~2~, and 5 μM purified MBP-FlagIEP protein. The mixture was placed in a water bath at 30°C for 30 min to 2 h, and the samples were then kept on ice. Freshly prepared reconstituted RNP particles were used for RT and DNA endonuclease assays. Different concentrations of RNA and protein were tested, to optimize the protocol.
Primer extension
----------------
RNP particle preparations were subjected to phenol extraction and the RNA component was precipitated in ice-cold 100% ethanol. Primer extension reactions were carried out essentially as previously described (Molina-Sánchez et al., [@B30]). RNA samples were resuspended in H~2~O and combined with 5′-labeled P primer (5′-TGAAAGCCG ATCCCGGAG-3′) in 10 mM Pipes (pH 7.5) and 400 mM NaCl. The annealing mixture was heated at 85°C for 5 min, rapidly cooled to 60°C and slowly chilled to 45°C. Extension reactions were initiated by adding AMV RT buffer 1x (5x: 250 mM Tris--HCl pH 8.0, 300 mM NaCl, 50 mM DTT, 30 mM MgOAc), dNTPs, actinomycin D (Sigma-Aldrich), RNase OUT (Invitrogen) and AMV RT (Roche Diagnostics) and incubating at 42°C for 60 min. The reactions were stopped by ethanol precipitation and the products were subjected to electrophoresis in a denaturing 6% polyacrylamide gel. Primer extension products were quantified with Quantity One software (Bio-Rad) and excision efficiency was determined as 100 × \[Lariat/(Lariat + Precursor)\].
DNA cleavage/reverse splicing activity
--------------------------------------
DNA cleavage assays were carried out on a 70-mer single-stranded DNA oligonucleotide containing the intron insertion site at position 35, which was 5′ end-labeled with \[γ-^32^P\]ATP (6000 Ci/mmol; Perkin-Elmer) and T4 polynucleotide kinase (New England Biolabs), or 3′ end-labeled with terminal transferase (New England Biolabs) and cordycepin 5′-triphosphate \[α-^32^P\] 3′-deoxyadenosine (6000 Ci/mmol; Perkin Elmer). DNA substrates were gel-purified and eluted from acrylamide, essentially as previously described (Molina-Sánchez et al., [@B30]). DNA oligonucleotide (300,000 cpm) was incubated with reconstituted RNP particles (2.5 μl; \~900 nM) at 37°C for 30 min to 2 h in reaction buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.5, 10 mM KCl, 25 mM MgCl~2~, 5 mM DTT). The reactions were cleaned by extraction with phenol-chloroform-isoamyl alcohol (25:24:1) followed by ethanol precipitation, and the products were analyzed by electrophoresis in denaturing 7 M urea-6% (w/v) polyacrylamide gels. The gels were scanned and the products were quantified with Quantity One software (Bio-Rad), with the results expressed as a percentage of the activity of RNP complexes reconstituted with the wild-type MBP-FlagIEP fusion protein.
Results and discussion {#s3}
======================
*In vivo* functionality of the MBP-FlagIEP
------------------------------------------
The IEPs of group II introns are proteins with a high proportion of positively charged amino acids and an alkaline isoelectric point, and their stability and solubility are, therefore, usually low (Mohr et al., [@B27]; Zhao and Pyle, [@B54]). We overcame these problems by producing the RmInt1 IEP as a fusion with the maltose binding protein (pMAL, New England Biolabs). The construct encoded the maltose binding protein (*mal*E, MBP) followed by the Flag epitope, all in-frame with the N-terminal region of the RmInt1 intron ORF. We assessed the competence of the MBP-FlagIEP fusion protein for assisting the *in vivo* activities of RmInt1 intron RNA, by carrying out retrohoming assays with a two-plasmid (donor/recipient) system (Martínez-Abarca et al., [@B21]). We used an intron donor plasmid derived from pKGEMA4 (Nisa-Martínez et al., [@B34]) and encoding the fusion protein under the control of the kanamycin promoter (P~Km~) and upstream from the RmInt1 ΔORF ribozyme flanked by exon sequences −20/+5 (Figure [1A](#F1){ref-type="fig"}). *S. meliloti* RMO17, an intronless strain, harboring the recipient plasmid pJB0.6LAG was transformed with the pKG4_MALFlagIEP intron donor plasmid (Figure [1B](#F1){ref-type="fig"}, lane 1). Homing efficiency was slightly lower (21%) than for the wild-type protein construct, pKGEMA4 (lane 2). The MBP-IEP fusion protein therefore seemed to be fully functional *in vivo*.
{#F1}
Production, purification, and RT activity of the RmInt1 IEP
-----------------------------------------------------------
The MBP-FlagIEP cassette was inserted downstream from the *tac* promoter and the fusion protein was produced in Rosetta-Gami (DE3) pLysS cells after IPTG induction. The protein was purified further by affinity chromatography on amylose resin (see Materials and Methods). The one-step purification procedure yielded large amounts of soluble protein (1--60 mg/L of culture), but the preparation was heterogeneous, containing protein aggregates and partially degraded/synthesized protein fragments (not shown). Quantification of the various bands suggested that the full-length protein preparation was about 70% pure (checked for several different preparations).
We assessed the functionality of the protein, by carrying out reverse transcriptase assays with the exogenous substrate poly(rA)/oligo(dT)~18~ (Figure [2A](#F2){ref-type="fig"}). The MBP-FlagIEP fusion protein displayed significant RT activity in the presence of the RNA substrate and the DNA primer (8.6 × 10^5^ cpm), whereas the absence of oligo(dT)~18~ resulted in much lower levels of cDNA synthesis (2 × 10^3^ cpm). As a control, we also investigated three other fusion proteins in which conserved residues of the RT and maturase domains had been mutated (Figure [2B](#F2){ref-type="fig"}). As expected, cDNA synthesis was abolished in the RT-deficient YAHH mutant (0.3% wild-type), in which two essential aspartate residues in RT domain 5 were replaced with histidines (Muñoz-Adelantado et al., [@B33]). The YYAA maturase-null mutant, in which two conserved tyrosine residues at positions 354--355 in the RGWXNYY maturase motif were replaced with two alanine residues, had very low levels of RT activity (1.7% wild-type). In addition, the K381A mutant, with a substitution of the lysine 381 residue in the conserved maturase R(K/R)XK motif decreasing intron excision rates to 30% those for the wild type (Molina-Sánchez et al., [@B29], [@B30]), had low levels of RT activity (22% wild-type). These results suggest that these residues might be relevant for the substrate docking required for cDNA synthesis, to somewhat different degrees. Thus, MBP-FlagIEP was stable and active when assayed alone in the absence of the intron RNA.
![**Purified MBP-FlagIEP has reverse transcriptase activity *in vitro***. **(A)** The bar graphs show the reverse transcriptase activity of the MBP-FlagIEP fusion assayed with poly(rA)/oligo(dT)~18~ (black bar), or with poly(rA) \[in the absence of oligo(dT)~18~, white bar\]. The RT activity is expressed in counts per minute (cpm). The data shown are the means for at least three independent assays and three to seven independent MBP-FlagIEP preparations. Error bars represent the standard errors. **(B)** The RT activity of several mutant proteins was evaluated relative to the wild-type fusion protein. Note that the Y axis is represented in logarithmic scale. RT values were derived from at least three experimental replicates, with three different protein preparations used for each mutant. Error bars correspond to the standard errors.](fmolb-03-00058-g0002){#F2}
RmInt1 splicing *in vitro*
--------------------------
As the fusion protein itself has RT activity, we investigated whether this protein could interact successfully with the intron ribozyme. Previous studies performed by our group revealed that RmInt1 efficiently self-spliced *in vitro* in the presence of high-magnesium (100 mM) buffer, but that these conditions gave rise to multiple products corresponding in size to the lariat intron-3′exon intermediate, and lariat or circle (double band) introns (Costa et al., [@B7]; Chillón et al., [@B4]). IEP-promoted splicing of a 906 nt ΔORF precursor RNA was monitored over time (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}). Protein-assisted splicing of the ΔORF RNA precursor resulted in a single lariat RNA product (Figure [3A](#F3){ref-type="fig"}). A two-exponential model fitted the data well, with an initial fast reaction (\>60% of lariat formation was completed in the first 15 min) followed by a phase of slow reactivity (Figure [3B](#F3){ref-type="fig"}). In the presence of MBP-FlagIEP wild-type, the percentage lariat formation reached 31%. IEP-promoted *in vitro* splicing was performed in different Mg^2+^ concentrations, but the results were not improved by increasing MgCl~2~ concentration beyond 5 mM (not shown). As previously reported, this low-magnesium buffer does not allow intron excision in the absence of the IEP (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}, left panel). Hence, IEP assistance reduces magnesium requirements and accelerates lariat formation, preventing the production of secondary products. A two-phase reaction has also been reported for LtrA-assisted splicing, with a fast phase in which about 50--75% of the molecules react, followed by a slow reaction until the fraction spliced finally reaches 75--95%, depending on the conditions (Wank et al., [@B51]; Matsuura et al., [@B24]; Noah and Lambowitz, [@B35]; Cui et al., [@B8]).
{#F3}
We also evaluated the ability of mutant proteins to assist the splicing of the intron RNA. Consistent with our *in vivo* results (Molina-Sánchez et al., [@B30]), there was no significant difference in lariat formation between the YAHH mutant and the wild-type MBP-FlagIEP (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}). Likewise, the splicing-deficient YYAA mutant was unable to induce intron excision *in vitro*, and substitution of the K381 residue greatly decreased splicing efficiency (20% wild-type levels). Our results therefore indicate that the catalytic residues for RT are not directly involved in RmInt1 splicing, and are consistent with a possible alteration of the domain X mutant IEPs protein structure and binding properties.
Together, these results indicate that the MBP-FlagIEP fusion protein functionally complements the ribozyme activity of the RmInt1 intron and is therefore suitable for use in RNP particle reconstitution *in vitro*.
Reconstituted RNP particles have DNA endonuclease activity
----------------------------------------------------------
We investigated whether the IEP and the excised lariat RNA were sufficient for RmInt1 DNA endonuclease activity, by reconstituting RNP particles from the components purified *in vitro*, as previously described by Saldanha et al. ([@B42]). The ΔORF precursor RNA was incubated with MBP-FlagIEP, in different ratios, at 30°C for 30--60 min. These experiments assessed the ability of the protein to promote RmInt1 RNA splicing, assuming that the complex remained intact to generate active RNP particles containing the protein and the intron lariat. We tested this hypothesis, by evaluating lariat formation by primer extension (Figure [4A](#F4){ref-type="fig"}). The cDNA was synthesized with an intron-specific primer complementary to a sequence located 80--97 nucleotides from the 5′ end of the intron (Muñoz-Adelantado et al., [@B33]). The unspliced precursor-derived products were detected as a 112 nt band, whereas the cDNA corresponding to the lariat molecules migrated at 97 nt. As expected, the amount of lariat formed increased with the amount of MBP-FlagIEP added, before reaching a plateau at about 30% lariat (ratio RNA:IEP 1:50), with no further increase even if the amount of protein was doubled. This finding is consistent with those for our IEP-assisted splicing experiments (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}), suggesting that considerable large proportion of intron RNA cannot take part in the reaction.
{#F4}
We assessed the best conditions for RNP particle reconstitution, by carrying out DNA endonuclease assays with titrated reconstitution reactions (Figure [4B](#F4){ref-type="fig"}). In DNA endonuclease experiments, we incubated reconstituted RNP particles with a 5′ end-labeled 70 nt single-stranded DNA substrate containing the intron recognition site located at position 35. We found that adding the intron RNA or the fusion protein alone did not generate a cleavage band (lanes 2 and 3). Incubation of the substrate with RNP particles reconstituted with a fixed amount of RNA (2 pmol) and increasing amounts of MBP-FlagIEP revealed that cleavage efficiency increased with the amount of protein used for reconstitution, probably reflecting the active RNP complex levels (lanes 5--7). Likewise, for RNP particles reconstituted with a constant amount of MBP-FlagIEP (100 pmol) but increasing amounts of precursor RNA, cleavage product levels increased with the amount of precursor RNA, reflecting higher levels of active RNP particle formation (lanes 8--10). No DNA endonuclease activity was detected when the RNP particles were reconstituted with a precursor RNA with a mutated domain V (GUU → CGA) resulting in a loss of splicing ability (lane 4). Suitable conditions for RNP particle reconstitution would therefore be a 1:2 ratio of RNA to IEP and 2.5 μM intron RNA. Higher concentrations of RNA did not increase the efficiency of the reaction, with DNA endonuclease activity eventually becoming saturated. These data are consistent with previous findings for LtrA, for which kinetic analyses of splicing and RNA binding reactions showed that the LtrA protein bound to Ll.LtrB RNA as a dimer (Saldanha et al., [@B42]; Wank et al., [@B51]; Rambo and Doudna, [@B39]). However, this interpretation should be viewed with caution, because it conflicts with findings for RNP complex stoichiometry based on recent structural determinations (Gupta et al., [@B14]; Qu et al., [@B38]; Zhao and Pyle, [@B54]).
Having established appropriate reaction conditions, we investigated whether the RNP particles reconstituted with different mutant proteins were active in DNA cleavage. The wild-type fusion protein cleaved the substrate, generating a 35 nt product corresponding to the intron insertion site that was more clearly visible when the substrate was labeled at the 5′ end (Figure [4C](#F4){ref-type="fig"}, lane 1) than when it was labeled at the 3′ end (lane 2). The presence of high-molecular weight bands in lanes containing 5′ end-labeled substrates would correspond to full reverse-splicing products. On the contrary, 3′ end-labeled substrates might reveal both full and partial reverse splicing. We observed partial reverse splicing products with wild-type reconstituted RNP particles (lane 2), but we cannot rule out that full reverse splicing occurs. These data correlate with those obtained for other group II introns, that shown significantly more partial reverse splicing than full reverse splicing (Matsuura et al., [@B25]; Saldanha et al., [@B42]; Aizawa et al., [@B1]). Similar results were obtained with RNP complexes reconstituted with the MBP-YAHH RT-deficient mutant, which displayed high levels of DNA cleavage activity (90--95% of wild-type, lane 3). By contrast, as expected reconstituted RNP particles using the MBP-YYAA mutant protein were unable to cleave the DNA substrate at the insertion site, resulting in the absence of reverse splicing bands (lanes 5--6). Finally, RNP particles reconstituted with the K381A mutant protein had lower levels of cleavage activity than wild-type complexes (78%; lane 7), consistent with the lower RT and splicing activities observed, and only bands generated by partial reverse splicing were also detected (lane 8). These findings may explain why this mutant has no retrohoming activity *in vivo* (Molina-Sánchez et al., [@B30]).
Concluding remarks {#s4}
==================
In this work, we developed a protocol for producing active RmInt1 IEP. The MBP-Flag IEP fusion protein was competent for reverse transcription and facilitated intron splicing *in vitro*, reducing Mg^2+^ requirements. Like other group II introns, RmInt1 IEP-dependent splicing occurred in a two-phase reaction: most of the lariat molecules were generated rapidly, early in the incubation period, and there was then a slow reaction phase. We were also able to produce RNP particles *in vitro* from the two purified components, and these complexes efficiently cleaved single-stranded DNA substrates, with the intron RNA mostly remaining linked to the 3′ exon. We also obtained control RNP particles, which reproduced *in vitro* the activities previously described for RNP-enriched fractions recovered *in vivo* (Molina-Sánchez et al., [@B30]).
RNP particles formed *in vivo* have already been purified with tagging and other similar procedures (Zerbato et al., [@B53]; Qu et al., [@B38]), but, to our knowledge, there have been only two reports of active RNP complex reconstitution *in vitro* from purified components (Ll.ltrB, Saldanha et al., [@B42] and subsequent studies arising from this work; and, *B.h.*I1, Robart et al., [@B41]). Further studies increasing our insight, the efficiency of RNP particle reconstitution and the purity of RNP particle preparations will provide tools for exploring new biotechnological applications for group II introns lacking the DNA endonuclease domain.
Author contributions {#s5}
====================
NT designed the project; MM purified and reconstituted the RNP complex and performed activity assays; FG conceived and constructed the pMAL_IEP purification system; NT, FG, and MM discussed the results and wrote the paper. All the authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Funding
=======
This work was supported by research grant BIO2014-51953-P of the *Plan Nacional de I*+*D*+*i*, Biotechnology program from the Spanish *Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad* including ERDF (European Regional Development Funds).
Conflict of interest statement
------------------------------
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
We would like to thank Jose María del Arco and Ascensión Martos for technical assistance. We also thank Mercedes Reinoso and Isabel Chillón for laying the foundations for part of the work presented in this manuscript.
[^1]: Edited by: Ulf Andersson Ørom, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Germany
[^2]: Reviewed by: Tohru Yoshihisa, University of Hyogo, Japan; Sunny Sharma, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
[^3]: This article was submitted to Ribonucleoprotein Networks, a section of the journal Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences
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Gary Whitta
The Walking Dead developer TellTale has shown it has the chops to tell great stories over the years, and writer Gary Whitta has shed light on his time with the team and backed up the studio’s dedication to a strong narrative.
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India frees 19 Pakistani prisoners
The released Indian citizens had completed their prison term and most of them had served much longer than the sentence awarded by Pakistani courts
Amritsar (Punjab): 19 Pakistani prisoners returned home from the Attari-Wagah border after being released by Indian authorities on Tuesday.
They had been put in Indian jails on charges ranging from espionage to staying in the country illegally.
"I was caught in 2009 without a visa in India. I stayed in the country for four years without a visa and was convicted for 10 years," Vikas Ahmed, one of the prisoners who was freed after completing his term, said.
"I'd love to come back to India but with due legal procedure this time. No more sneaking around under the wires, I'll come with a visa again," he added.
"I'd just like to request the governments of both India and Pakistan to release prisoners of the other nationality from their respective jails," said Mustaffa, a fisherman, who was released after spending 13 months in an Indian jail.
Both the sides have spruced up efforts in releasing prisoners belonging to the other nation in recent times, with Pakistan recently releasing 60 Indians -- including 55 fishermen -- at the Wagah border on April 30.
The released Indian citizens had completed their prison term and most of them had served much longer than the sentence awarded by Pakistani courts.
India had sent a note verbale to Pakistan on April 9, urging it to make necessary arrangements for immediate release and repatriation of Indian prisoners who had completed their jail term.
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Prokaryotic diversity, distribution, and insights into their role in biogeochemical cycling in marine basalts.
We used molecular techniques to analyze basalts of varying ages that were collected from the East Pacific Rise, 9 degrees N, from the rift axis of the Juan de Fuca Ridge and from neighboring seamounts. Cluster analysis of 16S rDNA terminal restriction fragment polymorphism data revealed that basalt endoliths are distinct from seawater and that communities clustered, to some degree, based on the age of the host rock. This age-based clustering suggests that alteration processes may affect community structure. Cloning and sequencing of bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA genes revealed 12 different phyla and subphyla associated with basalts. These include the Gemmatimonadetes, Nitrospirae, the candidate phylum SBR1093 in the bacteria, and in the Archaea Marine Benthic Group B, none of which have been previously reported in basalts. We delineated novel ocean crust clades in the gamma-Proteobacteria, Planctomycetes and Actinobacteria that are composed entirely of basalt-associated microflora, and may represent basalt ecotypes. Finally, microarray analysis of functional genes in basalt revealed that genes coding for previously unreported processes such as carbon fixation, methane oxidation, methanogenesis and nitrogen fixation are present, suggesting that basalts harbor previously unrecognized metabolic diversity. These novel processes could exert a profound influence on ocean chemistry.
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Q:
php mysql fetch name with character issue
Hi i have a list of restaurants name in my db where some of the name comes with character like &, @, and ' (quote), the way the name are displayed in browser when viewing then are http://localhost/my-restaurant-new-york as i use this function to replace empty spaces with dash -
$businessDetail = strtr($businessDetail, '-', ' ');
based on business name an business id will be found and retrieve all the related infos. If in my db i have a name like My Restaurant New & york i cause an error in sql as follow
Message: SQLSTATE[42000]: Syntax error or access violation: 1064 You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ')' at line 3.
The question now is how can i save the name in the beginning and how to retrieve it back without having an issue with special characters. Thanks
UPDATE:
i am using zend framework so this is how i save name into db and retrieve back
$testMapper = new Application_Model_Mapper_TestMapper();
$testModel = new Application_Model_Test();
$bzname = str_replace("'", '', $this->_getParam('name'));
$testModel->setId($id)
->setName($bzname);
$business_id = $testMapper->save($testModel);
All link to the business name are translated by this function
$this->view->bzurl = preg_replace("![^a-z0-9]+!i","-", $result['business_name']);
Update2:
public function getBusinessId($business_detail)
{
$select = $this->getDbTable()->getAdapter()->select();
$select->from('business',array('business_id'))
->where("business_name='".$business_detail."'");
$result = $this->getDbTable()->getAdapter()->fetchRow($select);
return $result['business_id'];
}
A:
->where("business_name='".$business_detail."'")
should be:
->where("business_name = ?", $business_detail)
to ensure that the data is correctly escaped. If that's the query generating the error, that should fix your issue. I'd recommend you read up a little on SQL injection and how to avoid it.
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An alkynyl-protected Au40 nanocluster featuring PhC[triple bond, length as m-dash]C-Au-P^P motifs.
An alkynyl-protected gold nanocluster [Au40(PhC[triple bond, length as m-dash]C)20(dppm)4](SbF6)4 (dppm = bis(diphenylphosphino)methane) (1) has been synthesized. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction reveals that the cluster has a face-centered cubic (FCC) Au34 kernel that is made up of two Au20 units via sharing a rectangular face. Two linear PhC[triple bond, length as m-dash]C-Au-C[triple bond, length as m-dash]CPh staple motifs are located around the central part of the Au34 core, and four L-shaped PhC[triple bond, length as m-dash]C-Au-P^P staple motifs are located at the four corners of the Au34 core. Cluster 1 and [Au38(PhC[triple bond, length as m-dash]C)20(PPh3)4](CF3SO3)2 both have the FCC Au34 core, and it is found that the diphosphine ligands bringing two more Au atoms into the system have significant effects on the optical properties and stability of the clusters. The combination of a diphosphine ligand and an alkynyl ligand is helpful in generating new ligand-protected metal nanoclusters.
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Dickkopf-3 (DKK-3) obstructs VEGFR-2/Akt/mTOR signaling cascade by interacting of β2-microglobulin (β2M) in ovarian tumorigenesis.
In this study, we investigated a possible mechanism of β2-microglobulin (β2M) function in cancer metastases in vitro, using a human ovarian carcinoma cell line. β2M, a modulator acts as a cell growth-promoting and cellular signaling factors, was identified as a dickkopf-3 (DKK-3) interacting protein. We also observed that DKK-3 suppresses endothelial cell angiogenesis of β2M through vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) in tumorigenesis. Luciferase activity was remarkably reduced by the transfection of DKK-3 in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, over-expression of β2M activates cell growth by suppressing DKK-3-induced apoptosis. The effect of β2M on cell cycle and apoptosis-regulatory components was also confirmed through the silencing of β2M expression. Furthermore, induction of β2M-mediated VEGFR-2/Akt/mTOR phosphorylation and tumor angiogenesis was significantly suppressed by over-expression of DKK-3. Taken together, our results suggest an underlying mechanism for an increase of β2M-related activity in ovarian tumor cells.
|
<?php
/* For licensing terms, see /license.txt */
/**
* Get the intro steps for the web page.
*
* @author Angel Fernando Quiroz Campos <[email protected]>
*/
/**
* Init.
*/
require_once __DIR__.'/../../../main/inc/global.inc.php';
require_once __DIR__.'/../config.php';
if (!api_is_anonymous()) {
$currentPageClass = isset($_POST['page_class']) ? $_POST['page_class'] : '';
if (!empty($currentPageClass)) {
$userId = api_get_user_id();
$tourPlugin = Tour::create();
$tourPlugin->saveCompletedTour($currentPageClass, $userId);
}
}
|
Gov. Mark Dayton on Wednesday signed a bullying-prevention bill into law, creating a tough new set of rules for Minnesota schools to follow to protect students from being tormented by classmates.
The Safe and Supportive Schools Act replaced a 37-word anti-bullying law that was widely considered one of the nation’s weakest. Its passage came almost three years after the state’s largest school district was hit with a lawsuit that accused it of failing to protect students from being bullied.
“Nobody in this state or nation should have to feel bad about themselves for being who they are,” Dayton said. “This law says, ‘Not in Minnesota.’ ”
For more than two years, legislators have been battling over the measure’s language, details and philosophy. Opponents argued that it was too prescriptive and would take away control from local officials who know their schools best.
The law requires school districts to track and investigate cases of bullying and to better train staffers and teachers on how to prevent it. Some Minnesota school leaders still have lingering concerns about how much it will cost to implement the new law, while others — particularly in rural Minnesota — still wonder whether it was needed at all.
But most administrators said Wednesday that the law is simply the right thing to do.
GLEN STUBBE • [email protected]
Jake Ross, left, an 11-year-old Boy Scout from Forest Lake, watched asGov. Mark Dayton signed the antibullying bill on the steps of the Capitol on Wednesday. At the right are the sponsors of the legislation, state Rep. Jim Davnie and state Sen. Scott Dibble.
“This debate is all too familiar to me,” said Dennis Carlson, superintendent of the Anoka-Hennepin district, where bullying has been a major issue for some time and which was sued. “But my point has always been that we have to put the welfare of students ahead of all the political rhetoric.”
Minnesota’s anti-bullying laws are no longer the weakest in the nation, but the bill signed into law is not as strong as its original incarnation.
A number of provisions in earlier versions were taken out to appease groups such as the Association of Metropolitan School Districts and the Minnesota School Boards Association. The final bill no longer requires schools to keep data and report it, and they won’t be subject to mandatory training of volunteers.
Districts will not have to adopt the state’s model policy unless they decline to devise one of their own. Many already have anti-bullying policies in place.
“We are really doing a great deal and plan on doing more to make sure all of our student feel safe and secure,” said Ryan Vernosh, administrator of St. Paul public schools’ strategic planning and policy efforts. “We really don’t anticipate a change in course.”
Toward the end of the past decade a number of states passed legislation to crack down on bullying, but Minnesota activists were dealt a major setback in 2009 when former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, vetoed an anti-bullying measure.
Around that time, activists’ passions were ignited by a series of high-profile incidents of alleged bullying and suicides among students in the Anoka-Hennepin district, a situation that ultimately resulted in intervention by the U.S. Department of Justice. That led to a legal settlement that forced the state’s largest district to get more involved in policing harassment against students.
While Carlson said he supports the new law, some of his district’s school board members have lingering concerns about how much it will cost to implement. Cost estimates for statewide implementation have ranged between $5 million and $25 million.
“Our board is still not happy with it because they feel like it is an unfunded mandate,” he said. “For many school districts, that remains an issue.”
Urban and rural legislators were split over the bill. Fred Nolan, executive director of the Minnesota Rural Education Association, said many of his group’s members wanted to keep the current law in place.
“The issue is not as salient in our schools as it is for many metro schools,” he said. “Many felt as though it was a solution looking for a problem.”
Bill ‘American as ... can be’
During the nearly 12-hour debate on the Minnesota House floor Tuesday night, some Republicans said the bullying measure smacked of fascism, and others said it would create a totalitarian society like the one described in George Orwell’s book “1984.”
Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe, said he believes the law will do little to prevent bullying. He spoke more favorably of a spanking he once got as a child from a bus driver for bullying another child.
“The point is, it corrected the problem,” he said of the incident. “I didn’t have to go to counseling, therapy, or sue the bus driver. It was over.”
Dayton said that while much of the debate was heartfelt from both sides of the aisle, he believes some comments were out of line.
GLEN STUBBE • [email protected]
Gov. Mark Dayton applauded 11-year-old Jake Ross, who testified about being bullied, as he looked back to thank bill sponsors state Rep. Jim Davnie and state Sen. Scott Dibble.
“The First Amendment guarantees free speech. But it doesn’t distinguish between intelligent speech and unintelligent speech,” Dayton said to applause. “This bill is American as any bill can be.”
The governor was flanked by children who had written to lawmakers, testified before the Legislature and spoken out about their support for the law. Among them was Jake Ross, 11, of Forest Lake, who introduced himself as a Boy Scout and a Christian.
In a calm, articulate speech, Jake told the crowd of his experience in elementary school. As a 7-year-old, he said, he was threatened, attacked, laughed at and abused by bullies who even threatened to kill him.
“Today marks the beginning of a change in thinking about bullying,” Jake said. “I am very happy for this day.”
He said his school lacked policies to protect him and that he ended up transferring to another. Now, he said, he wishes to tell other bullied children that he understands their struggles.
|
The invention is in the field of semiconductor technology and relates to a method for fabricating a microelectronic structure having the following steps: providing a semiconductor substrate having a main area and at least one trench disposed at the main area, the trench having at least one side wall and the side wall and the main area having at least one common edge region; filling the trench with an insulating material leaving the edge region uncovered; and oxidizing the main area and the edge region to form an oxide layer having a thickness in the edge region at least just as great as at the main area.
During the fabrication of integrated circuits, active components disposed in the semiconductor substrate have to be suitably insulated from one another. One possibility for doing that resides in insulating the active components from one another through the use of trench isolation (so-called Shallow Trench Isolation (STI)). In that type of insulation, trenches are etched into the semiconductor substrate and subsequently filled with an insulating material.
Instances of such trench isolation can be found, for example, in German Published, Non-Prosecuted Patent Application DE 197 31 203 A1 and German Patent DE 195 35 629 C1. In the methods described therein, an oxide layer serving as gate oxide and a polysilicon layer serving as gate electrode are applied to the semiconductor substrate. Afterwards, trenches are etched into that layer system down into the semiconductor substrate. The trenches define the position of the individual active components. Finally, the trenches are filled with a thermal oxide. In those methods, however, it has turned out to be problematic that in the course of filling the trenches, the semiconductor substrate and the polysilicon may be partially oxidized, thereby producing a gate dielectric having a varying thickness. In order to minimize that problem, German Patent DE 197 31 203 C1 proposes implanting nitrogen into the gate dielectric after the formation of the gate oxide and before the filling of the trenches, in order to thereby limit the lateral oxygen diffusion. It has been shown, however, that such a measure also cannot completely eliminate the problem.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,993 discloses the use of nitrogen for forming gate dielectrics of varying thicknesses. To that end, nitrogen is implanted in a laterally varying concentration into a silicon substrate provided with trenches that have already been filled, and an oxide is subsequently formed thereon. However, due to the varying nitrogen concentration in the silicon substrate, oxides of varying thicknesses are formed which may often have an inhomogeneous thickness in the transition regions to the trenches that have already been filled.
It is problematic, moreover, that gate oxides are often severely thinned at the transition regions from the silicon substrate to the isolation trenches (e.g. so-called Shallow Trench Isolation). So-called corner devices form at the transition regions. The corner devices usually have a lower threshold voltage than the actual transistor and, as a result, adversely affect the switching characteristic and the leakage current behavior of the entire transistor. That behavior is additionally aggravated by a thin gate oxide at the transition regions. The effect of the corner device has usually been reduced through the use of a higher channel doping, but that in turn entails undesirable side effects.
In order to avoid the corner device, International Publication No. WO 99/25018 attempts to damage the edge region between the main area and the trench by amorphizing implantation. The aim is to produce a somewhat thicker oxide layer there in the course of the subsequent oxidation.
The method mentioned in the introduction, on the other hand, is disclosed e.g. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,891,787, where, after the formation and filling of a trench, silicon is implanted into the edge regions between the trench and the main area. That implantation is intended to bring about an excess of silicon atoms in the edge region with the main area covered, so that a thicker oxide layer than in the region of the main area can be produced there in the course of the subsequent oxidation. The implantation of nitrogen for the formation of diffusion barrier centers and elimination of crystal defects is described as an alternative. Although local thickening of the oxide layer serving as gate dielectric can be achieved by that method, microelectronic structures that are fabricated in that way only exhibit unsatisfactory properties. That is due, for example, to the fact that the oxide layer produced due to the silicon excess has a different material structure than that formed on the main area and exhibits an increased leakage current tendency. The formation of the corner device is thereby likewise only suppressed to an insufficient extent.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a method for fabricating a microelectronic structure, which overcomes the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known methods of this general type and which enables largely homogeneous gate dielectrics to be formed, with the formation of a corner device being suppressed.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a method for fabricating a microelectronic structure, which comprises the following steps providing a semiconductor substrate having a main area and at least one trench disposed at the main area, the at least one trench having at least one side wall, and the at least one side wall and the main area having at least one common edge region; filling the trench with an insulating material leaving the edge region uncovered; introducing nitrogen into the semiconductor substrate to provide a higher nitrogen concentration in the vicinity of the main area than in the edge region; and then oxidizing the main area and the edge region to form an oxide layer with a thickness in the edge region at least just as great as on the main area, the nitrogen causing the oxide layer to grow more slowly in the main area than in the edge region.
According to the present invention, a semiconductor substrate is provided and at least one trench having a side wall is introduced at the main area of the semiconductor substrate. This trench defines, for example, the position of an active component in the semiconductor substrate. In the transition region between the side wall of the trench and the main area of the semiconductor substrate there is an edge region formed by both of them.
Nitrogen is subsequently introduced into the semiconductor substrate, with a higher nitrogen concentration being sought in the region of the main area than in the edge region. In this case, the difference in nitrogen concentration should be dimensioned in such a way that oxide layers each having a predetermined thickness are produced in the course of subsequent oxidation of the semiconductor substrate, i.e. of the main area and of the edge region. In the common edge region between the main area and the side wall, the nitrogen concentration preferably uniformly decreases in the direction of the side wall. The effect that is intended to be achieved as a result of this is that the oxide layer which is subsequently to be formed has an increasing thickness in the edge region and thereby contributes to a uniform transition from the oxide layer thickness on the main area to the oxide layer thickness on the side wall. In this case, however, what is sought is an oxide layer thickness that is as uniform as possible as far as the edge region and even into the edge region.
The particular effect achieved through the use of the method according to the invention is that the oxide layer is not thinned in a disturbing manner in the edge region between the main area and the side wall, and the undesirable influence on the transistor properties by the so-called corner device is thereby avoided. The effect of the corner device is disturbing particularly in the case of a cell transistor required for DRAM cells since, due to increased leakage currents, the stored charge flows away undesirably faster and the memory cell thus has to be refreshed again in shorter time intervals.
A further advantage of the use of the method according to the invention resides in the fact that the lower threshold voltage of the corner device in comparison with the cell transistor (the threshold voltage is lower even given an identical oxide thickness of the corner device and of the cell transistor), can be compensated for by a thicker gate oxide in the edge region.
It has been shown that by targeted retardation of the oxidation of the main area by the nitrogen introduced beforehand, a relatively uniform oxide layer having a sufficient thickness in the edge region can be formed.
Nitrogen is preferably introduced by implantation into the semiconductor substrate, in which case it has proved favorable for nitrogen to be implanted essentially only at the main area and partially in the edge region. This can be achieved, for example, by nitrogen being introduced into the semiconductor substrate by implantation which is to the greatest possible extent perpendicular to the main area. However, the implantation angle relative to the main area may also encompass a certain solid angle range in order to ensure sufficient implantation of nitrogen in the edge region as well.
The implantation of nitrogen should preferably be performed very near the surface, and this can be achieved, for example, by an implantation energy of 10-30 keV. By virtue of the largely perpendicular implantation near the surface, it is possible to establish e.g. a ratio of the nitrogen concentration at the main area to that at the edge region of, preferably, greater than 2 to 1, which manifests itself in a distinctly varying oxide thickness.
A further advantage of the method according to the invention resides in the fact that, due to the compensated threshold voltage of the corner device, it is possible to dispense with a higher doping of the semiconductor substrate. The relatively high doping of the semiconductor substrate is generally used to counteract the decreased threshold voltage of the corner device. However, this high doping, which may be present, for example, in the form of a well doping, unfavorably induces a further leakage mechanism. The latter is referred to as so-called xe2x80x9cjunction leakagexe2x80x9d and manifests itself in a defect-driven and field-driven leakage current in the space charge zone of the PN junction between a source or drain region and the semiconductor substrate. This type of leakage current is predominant particularly in MOSFET transistors having a small channel width.
The relatively high doping of the well, i.e. of the channel region, that is usually necessary can therefore be dispensed with when the method according to the invention is used. As a result, reliable transistors can thus be fabricated which are distinguished, in particular, by a lower leakage current rate and a more accurately defined threshold voltage.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a method for fabricating a microelectronic structure, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
|
// +build ignore
package sales
import (
"github.com/corestoreio/pkg/config/element"
"github.com/corestoreio/pkg/store/scope"
)
// ConfigStructure global configuration structure for this package.
// Used in frontend and backend. See init() for details.
var ConfigStructure element.Sections
func init() {
ConfigStructure = element.MustMakeSectionsValidate(
element.Section{
ID: "sales",
Label: `Sales`,
SortOrder: 300,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Resource: 0, // Magento_Sales::config_sales
Groups: element.MakeGroups(
element.Group{
ID: "general",
Label: `General`,
SortOrder: 5,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales/general/hide_customer_ip
ID: "hide_customer_ip",
Label: `Hide Customer IP`,
Comment: text.Long(`Choose whether a customer IP is shown in orders, invoices, shipments, and credit memos.`),
Type: element.TypeSelect,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno
},
),
},
element.Group{
ID: "totals_sort",
Label: `Checkout Totals Sort Order`,
SortOrder: 10,
Scopes: scope.PermWebsite,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales/totals_sort/discount
ID: "discount",
Label: `Discount`,
Type: element.TypeText,
SortOrder: 2,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermWebsite,
Default: 20,
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales/totals_sort/grand_total
ID: "grand_total",
Label: `Grand Total`,
Type: element.TypeText,
SortOrder: 5,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermWebsite,
Default: 100,
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales/totals_sort/shipping
ID: "shipping",
Label: `Shipping`,
Type: element.TypeText,
SortOrder: 3,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermWebsite,
Default: 30,
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales/totals_sort/subtotal
ID: "subtotal",
Label: `Subtotal`,
Type: element.TypeText,
SortOrder: 1,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermWebsite,
Default: 10,
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales/totals_sort/tax
ID: "tax",
Label: `Tax`,
Type: element.TypeText,
SortOrder: 4,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermWebsite,
Default: 40,
},
),
},
element.Group{
ID: "reorder",
Label: `Reorder`,
SortOrder: 20,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales/reorder/allow
ID: "allow",
Label: `Allow Reorder`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 1,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: true,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno
},
),
},
element.Group{
ID: "identity",
Label: `Invoice and Packing Slip Design`,
SortOrder: 40,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales/identity/logo
ID: "logo",
Label: `Logo for PDF Print-outs (200x50)`,
Comment: text.Long(`Your default logo will be used in PDF and HTML documents.<br />(jpeg, tiff, png) If your pdf image is distorted, try to use larger file-size image.`),
Type: element.TypeImage,
SortOrder: 100,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
// BackendModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Backend\Image\Pdf
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales/identity/logo_html
ID: "logo_html",
Label: `Logo for HTML Print View`,
Comment: text.Long(`Logo for HTML documents only. If empty, default will be used.<br />(jpeg, gif, png)`),
Type: element.TypeImage,
SortOrder: 150,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
// BackendModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Backend\Image
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales/identity/address
ID: "address",
Label: `Address`,
Type: element.TypeTextarea,
SortOrder: 200,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
},
),
},
element.Group{
ID: "minimum_order",
Label: `Minimum Order Amount`,
SortOrder: 50,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales/minimum_order/active
ID: "active",
Label: `Enable`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 5,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermWebsite,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales/minimum_order/amount
ID: "amount",
Label: `Minimum Amount`,
Comment: text.Long(`Subtotal after discount`),
Type: element.Type,
SortOrder: 10,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermWebsite,
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales/minimum_order/tax_including
ID: "tax_including",
Label: `Include Tax to Amount`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 15,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermWebsite,
Default: true,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales/minimum_order/description
ID: "description",
Label: `Description Message`,
Comment: text.Long(`This message will be shown in the shopping cart when the subtotal (after discount) is lower than the minimum allowed amount.`),
Type: element.TypeTextarea,
SortOrder: 20,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales/minimum_order/error_message
ID: "error_message",
Label: `Error to Show in Shopping Cart`,
Type: element.TypeTextarea,
SortOrder: 30,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales/minimum_order/multi_address
ID: "multi_address",
Label: `Validate Each Address Separately in Multi-address Checkout`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 40,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermWebsite,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales/minimum_order/multi_address_description
ID: "multi_address_description",
Label: `Multi-address Description Message`,
Comment: text.Long(`We'll use the default description above if you leave this empty.`),
Type: element.TypeTextarea,
SortOrder: 50,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales/minimum_order/multi_address_error_message
ID: "multi_address_error_message",
Label: `Multi-address Error to Show in Shopping Cart`,
Comment: text.Long(`We'll use the default error above if you leave this empty.`),
Type: element.TypeTextarea,
SortOrder: 60,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
},
),
},
element.Group{
ID: "dashboard",
Label: `Dashboard`,
SortOrder: 60,
Scopes: scope.PermDefault,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales/dashboard/use_aggregated_data
ID: "use_aggregated_data",
Label: `Use Aggregated Data (beta)`,
Comment: text.Long(`Improves dashboard performance but provides non-realtime data.`),
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 10,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermDefault,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno
},
),
},
element.Group{
ID: "orders",
Label: `Orders Cron Settings`,
SortOrder: 70,
Scopes: scope.PermWebsite,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales/orders/delete_pending_after
ID: "delete_pending_after",
Label: `Pending Payment Order Lifetime (minutes)`,
Type: element.TypeText,
SortOrder: 6,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermWebsite,
Default: 480,
},
),
},
),
},
element.Section{
ID: "sales_email",
Label: `Sales Emails`,
SortOrder: 301,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Resource: 0, // Magento_Sales::sales_email
Groups: element.MakeGroups(
element.Group{
ID: "general",
Label: `General Settings`,
Scopes: scope.PermDefault,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/general/async_sending
ID: "async_sending",
Label: `Asynchronous sending`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 1,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermDefault,
Default: false,
// BackendModel: Magento\Sales\Model\Config\Backend\Email\AsyncSending
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Enabledisable
},
),
},
element.Group{
ID: "order",
Label: `Order`,
SortOrder: 1,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/order/enabled
ID: "enabled",
Label: `Enabled`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: true,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/order/identity
ID: "identity",
Label: `New Order Confirmation Email Sender`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 1,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Identity
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/order/template
ID: "template",
Label: `New Order Confirmation Template`,
Comment: text.Long(`Email template chosen based on theme fallback when "Default" option is selected.`),
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 2,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales_email_order_template`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Template
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/order/guest_template
ID: "guest_template",
Label: `New Order Confirmation Template for Guest`,
Comment: text.Long(`Email template chosen based on theme fallback when "Default" option is selected.`),
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 3,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales_email_order_guest_template`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Template
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/order/copy_to
ID: "copy_to",
Label: `Send Order Email Copy To`,
Comment: text.Long(`Comma-separated`),
Type: element.TypeText,
SortOrder: 4,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/order/copy_method
ID: "copy_method",
Label: `Send Order Email Copy Method`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 5,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `bcc`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Method
},
),
},
element.Group{
ID: "order_comment",
Label: `Order Comments`,
SortOrder: 2,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/order_comment/enabled
ID: "enabled",
Label: `Enabled`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: true,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/order_comment/identity
ID: "identity",
Label: `Order Comment Email Sender`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 1,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Identity
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/order_comment/template
ID: "template",
Label: `Order Comment Email Template`,
Comment: text.Long(`Email template chosen based on theme fallback when "Default" option is selected.`),
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 2,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales_email_order_comment_template`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Template
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/order_comment/guest_template
ID: "guest_template",
Label: `Order Comment Email Template for Guest`,
Comment: text.Long(`Email template chosen based on theme fallback when "Default" option is selected.`),
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 3,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales_email_order_comment_guest_template`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Template
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/order_comment/copy_to
ID: "copy_to",
Label: `Send Order Comment Email Copy To`,
Comment: text.Long(`Comma-separated`),
Type: element.TypeText,
SortOrder: 4,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/order_comment/copy_method
ID: "copy_method",
Label: `Send Order Comments Email Copy Method`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 5,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `bcc`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Method
},
),
},
element.Group{
ID: "invoice",
Label: `Invoice`,
SortOrder: 3,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/invoice/enabled
ID: "enabled",
Label: `Enabled`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: true,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/invoice/identity
ID: "identity",
Label: `Invoice Email Sender`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 1,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Identity
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/invoice/template
ID: "template",
Label: `Invoice Email Template`,
Comment: text.Long(`Email template chosen based on theme fallback when "Default" option is selected.`),
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 2,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales_email_invoice_template`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Template
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/invoice/guest_template
ID: "guest_template",
Label: `Invoice Email Template for Guest`,
Comment: text.Long(`Email template chosen based on theme fallback when "Default" option is selected.`),
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 3,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales_email_invoice_guest_template`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Template
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/invoice/copy_to
ID: "copy_to",
Label: `Send Invoice Email Copy To`,
Comment: text.Long(`Comma-separated`),
Type: element.TypeText,
SortOrder: 4,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/invoice/copy_method
ID: "copy_method",
Label: `Send Invoice Email Copy Method`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 5,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `bcc`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Method
},
),
},
element.Group{
ID: "invoice_comment",
Label: `Invoice Comments`,
SortOrder: 4,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/invoice_comment/enabled
ID: "enabled",
Label: `Enabled`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: true,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/invoice_comment/identity
ID: "identity",
Label: `Invoice Comment Email Sender`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 1,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Identity
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/invoice_comment/template
ID: "template",
Label: `Invoice Comment Email Template`,
Comment: text.Long(`Email template chosen based on theme fallback when "Default" option is selected.`),
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 2,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales_email_invoice_comment_template`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Template
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/invoice_comment/guest_template
ID: "guest_template",
Label: `Invoice Comment Email Template for Guest`,
Comment: text.Long(`Email template chosen based on theme fallback when "Default" option is selected.`),
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 3,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales_email_invoice_comment_guest_template`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Template
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/invoice_comment/copy_to
ID: "copy_to",
Label: `Send Invoice Comment Email Copy To`,
Comment: text.Long(`Comma-separated`),
Type: element.TypeText,
SortOrder: 4,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/invoice_comment/copy_method
ID: "copy_method",
Label: `Send Invoice Comments Email Copy Method`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 5,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `bcc`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Method
},
),
},
element.Group{
ID: "shipment",
Label: `Shipment`,
SortOrder: 5,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/shipment/enabled
ID: "enabled",
Label: `Enabled`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: true,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/shipment/identity
ID: "identity",
Label: `Shipment Email Sender`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 1,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Identity
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/shipment/template
ID: "template",
Label: `Shipment Email Template`,
Comment: text.Long(`Email template chosen based on theme fallback when "Default" option is selected.`),
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 2,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales_email_shipment_template`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Template
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/shipment/guest_template
ID: "guest_template",
Label: `Shipment Email Template for Guest`,
Comment: text.Long(`Email template chosen based on theme fallback when "Default" option is selected.`),
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 3,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales_email_shipment_guest_template`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Template
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/shipment/copy_to
ID: "copy_to",
Label: `Send Shipment Email Copy To`,
Comment: text.Long(`Comma-separated`),
Type: element.TypeText,
SortOrder: 4,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/shipment/copy_method
ID: "copy_method",
Label: `Send Shipment Email Copy Method`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 5,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `bcc`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Method
},
),
},
element.Group{
ID: "shipment_comment",
Label: `Shipment Comments`,
SortOrder: 6,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/shipment_comment/enabled
ID: "enabled",
Label: `Enabled`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: true,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/shipment_comment/identity
ID: "identity",
Label: `Shipment Comment Email Sender`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 1,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Identity
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/shipment_comment/template
ID: "template",
Label: `Shipment Comment Email Template`,
Comment: text.Long(`Email template chosen based on theme fallback when "Default" option is selected.`),
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 2,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales_email_shipment_comment_template`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Template
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/shipment_comment/guest_template
ID: "guest_template",
Label: `Shipment Comment Email Template for Guest`,
Comment: text.Long(`Email template chosen based on theme fallback when "Default" option is selected.`),
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 3,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales_email_shipment_comment_guest_template`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Template
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/shipment_comment/copy_to
ID: "copy_to",
Label: `Send Shipment Comment Email Copy To`,
Comment: text.Long(`Comma-separated`),
Type: element.TypeText,
SortOrder: 4,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/shipment_comment/copy_method
ID: "copy_method",
Label: `Send Shipment Comments Email Copy Method`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 5,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `bcc`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Method
},
),
},
element.Group{
ID: "creditmemo",
Label: `Credit Memo`,
SortOrder: 7,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/creditmemo/enabled
ID: "enabled",
Label: `Enabled`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: true,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/creditmemo/identity
ID: "identity",
Label: `Credit Memo Email Sender`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 1,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Identity
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/creditmemo/template
ID: "template",
Label: `Credit Memo Email Template`,
Comment: text.Long(`Email template chosen based on theme fallback when "Default" option is selected.`),
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 2,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales_email_creditmemo_template`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Template
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/creditmemo/guest_template
ID: "guest_template",
Label: `Credit Memo Email Template for Guest`,
Comment: text.Long(`Email template chosen based on theme fallback when "Default" option is selected.`),
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 3,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales_email_creditmemo_guest_template`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Template
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/creditmemo/copy_to
ID: "copy_to",
Label: `Send Credit Memo Email Copy To`,
Comment: text.Long(`Comma-separated`),
Type: element.TypeText,
SortOrder: 4,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/creditmemo/copy_method
ID: "copy_method",
Label: `Send Credit Memo Email Copy Method`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 5,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `bcc`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Method
},
),
},
element.Group{
ID: "creditmemo_comment",
Label: `Credit Memo Comments`,
SortOrder: 8,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/creditmemo_comment/enabled
ID: "enabled",
Label: `Enabled`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: true,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/creditmemo_comment/identity
ID: "identity",
Label: `Credit Memo Comment Email Sender`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 1,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Identity
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/creditmemo_comment/template
ID: "template",
Label: `Credit Memo Comment Email Template`,
Comment: text.Long(`Email template chosen based on theme fallback when "Default" option is selected.`),
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 2,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales_email_creditmemo_comment_template`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Template
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/creditmemo_comment/guest_template
ID: "guest_template",
Label: `Credit Memo Comment Email Template for Guest`,
Comment: text.Long(`Email template chosen based on theme fallback when "Default" option is selected.`),
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 3,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `sales_email_creditmemo_comment_guest_template`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Template
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/creditmemo_comment/copy_to
ID: "copy_to",
Label: `Send Credit Memo Comment Email Copy To`,
Comment: text.Long(`Comma-separated`),
Type: element.TypeText,
SortOrder: 4,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
},
element.Field{
// Path: sales_email/creditmemo_comment/copy_method
ID: "copy_method",
Label: `Send Credit Memo Comments Email Copy Method`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 5,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: `bcc`,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Email\Method
},
),
},
),
},
element.Section{
ID: "sales_pdf",
Label: `PDF Print-outs`,
SortOrder: 302,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Resource: 0, // Magento_Sales::sales_pdf
Groups: element.MakeGroups(
element.Group{
ID: "invoice",
Label: `Invoice`,
SortOrder: 10,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales_pdf/invoice/put_order_id
ID: "put_order_id",
Label: `Display Order ID in Header`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 1,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: true,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno
},
),
},
element.Group{
ID: "shipment",
Label: `Shipment`,
SortOrder: 20,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales_pdf/shipment/put_order_id
ID: "put_order_id",
Label: `Display Order ID in Header`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 1,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: true,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno
},
),
},
element.Group{
ID: "creditmemo",
Label: `Credit Memo`,
SortOrder: 30,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: sales_pdf/creditmemo/put_order_id
ID: "put_order_id",
Label: `Display Order ID in Header`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 1,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Default: true,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno
},
),
},
),
},
element.Section{
ID: "rss",
Groups: element.MakeGroups(
element.Group{
ID: "order",
Label: `Order`,
SortOrder: 4,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: rss/order/status
ID: "status",
Label: `Customer Order Status Notification`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 10,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermStore,
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Enabledisable
},
),
},
),
},
element.Section{
ID: "dev",
Groups: element.MakeGroups(
element.Group{
ID: "grid",
Label: `Grid Settings`,
SortOrder: 131,
Scopes: scope.PermDefault,
Fields: element.MakeFields(
element.Field{
// Path: dev/grid/async_indexing
ID: "async_indexing",
Label: `Asynchronous indexing`,
Type: element.TypeSelect,
SortOrder: 1,
Visible: element.VisibleYes,
Scopes: scope.PermDefault,
Default: false,
// BackendModel: Magento\Sales\Model\Config\Backend\Grid\AsyncIndexing
// SourceModel: Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Enabledisable
},
),
},
),
},
)
Backend = NewBackend(ConfigStructure)
}
|
Hazards
Be on the lookout for obstructions near the shoreline, including floating debris, shallow areas, submerged stumps, logs and rocks.
Protecting Yourself from Hypothermia
Cold water kills quickly. Wearing a lifejacket can save your life! It can double your survival time in cold water.
If stranded, do not try to swim. Remain still to conserve heat and assume the fetal, or Heat Escape Lessening Posture (HELP). This position only works if you wear a life jacket.
If your boat capsizes, stay with the boat if it is still afloat. Get yourself as far out of the water as possible. This will help stave off the effects of hypothermia and offer a much larger target to those that may be searching for you.
If stranded in groups, huddle together to preserve body heat.
Dress appropriately for the water conditions.
Financial assistance for this project was provided, in part, by the Michigan Coastal Zone Management Program, Office of the Great Lakes, Department of Environmental Quality, under the National Coastal Zone Management Program, through a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.
|
I have a requirement in SQL Server where in one of the DB tables i need to group the data on the basis of a Grouping flag. And this GroupingFlag is generated on the 0 value occurence of another column in this table called 'Price'. For EX, plz refer below table
SO I need to populate this GroupingFlag column in a table which has huge data. I have achieved this with the help of While/For Loop but these are taking considerable amount of item. Is there any approach where we can do this, by single update statement or select statement. I have tried to implement it using below Update query, however with huge data this is giving abrupt results but working for less data.
|
BEIRUT Syrian government air strikes overnight put four hospitals in Aleppo province out of action, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday.
They included three hospitals in Aleppo city, which is divided between government and rebel control, and one in Aleppo's western countryside, the Observatory said. It did not immediately report casualties. The strikes hit near the hospitals, it said.
Many hospitals have been hit or damaged during the five-year conflict. In April, an air strike on a hospital in rebel-held Aleppo killed dozens of people. Rebel rockets hit a hospital on the government side of the city a few days later.
(Reporting by John Davison, editing by Louise Heavens)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
|
Q:
How can I access attached data section in custom script language?
Sorry if title is not clear, suggestions on better title are welcome.
For the purpose of [self-]education I am writing a toy scripting language that would compile to bytecode and be executed on a toy VM.
This is not going to be a turing-complete language, and it would only contain simple flow control structures such as if...then...else and overall be just a straight sequence of instructions.
I have already pretty much everything working except for one part -- I would like my bytecode to have a read-only data section (pretty much like .rodata in native binaries). However I am stuck on how do I reference this in opcodes? I can give the address of the beginning of data block, but how do I provide the length of data?
For example - I can have an opcode 0x01 to compare an immediate value 0x0005 with data in data section at an address 0xf002 (ignore endianness for now):
0000 0100050002
...
f002 0005000000
One possible solution I would think of is to either prepend value with length of data block (such as 0005000000 becomes 0200050000) but that leads to issue of either being limited in data block size (i.e. if use 1 byte as in this example, then it will obviously be limited by 255 bytes, which some may say is enough for everyone) or if provide size part big enough (e.g. 8 bytes), the size part very well will be bigger than the actual data in some cases, which is not desirable.
What would be a better approach?
A:
Plain bytes don't carry any types. Instead, the operations on these bytes impose an interpretation of this data. Most instruction sets have different instructions for performing the same operation but with different-sized types. Alternatively, these instructions always load one “word”, and require the program to mask off any unwanted bits.
For example, you might have this pseudo-assembly:
LOAD WORD [0xf002]
...
LOAD BYTE [0xf002]
...
; at address 0xf002:
ca ff ee 01 23 ...
Then, assuming 32-bit words, the first LOAD instruction would load ca ff ee 01, whereas the second LOAD would get ca only (ignoring endianess). These two load instructions would usually be encoded with a different opcode.
Instruction sets for hardware don't typically have instructions that can process variable-size data. But this restriction doesn't necessarily exist in VMs. In particular, a VM might offer instructions for operations that would be performed as syscalls or library calls on real hardware. The most flexible approach for dealing with variable sized data is providing the data and the size of this data separately. I.e. the instruction set doesn't need to have a concept of a “string type”.
The size would be provided to string-processing instructions as a separate argument. How to do that depends on your calling conventions. For example, in a stack-based VM
; print 3 bytes from string at address 0xf002
CONST 0xf002
CONST 3
PRINT
It is then the responsibility of the program generating these opcodes to know the correct length. This is possible because the compiler generates both the instructions and the data. Instead of placing the length as an immediate value, it could also be loaded from the data. E.g.:
CONST 0xf003 ; string start
LOAD BYTE 0xf002 ; load string length
PRINT
If the string is larger, then this is statically known, e.g.:
CONST 0xf006
LOAD WORD 0xf002
PRINT
This raw memory access is very annoying and not necessary for a VM. Especially for toy VMs, operating on an object model is far more convenient.
A notable example of a real-world VM with this approach is the JVM. The .class files are a binary but structured format that describe a class (fields and methods). Upon loading, a class data structure is generated in the VM. This data structure contains a constant pool table from which the code can load values by index.
A lot of data layout and loading problems don't have to be solved within the instruction set. Instead, the assembler and the loader can be extended to make sure that offsets and sizes are correct.
|
---
abstract: 'We study the dynamical properties of human communication through different channels, i.e., short messages, phone calls, and emails, adopting techniques from neuronal spike train analysis in order to characterize the temporal fluctuations of successive inter-event times. We first measure the so-called local variation (LV) of incoming and outgoing event sequences of users, and find that these in- and out- LV values are positively correlated for short messages, and uncorrelated for phone calls and emails. Second, we analyze the response-time distribution after receiving a message to focus on the input-output relationship in each of these channels. We find that the time scales and amplitudes of response are different between the three channels. To understand the impacts of the response-time distribution on the correlations between the LV values, we develop a point process model whose activity rate is modulated by incoming and outgoing events. Numerical simulations of the model indicate that a quick response to incoming events and a refractory effect after outgoing events are key factors to reproduce the positive LV correlations.'
author:
- Takaaki Aoki
- 'Taro Takaguchi$^\dagger$'
- Ryota Kobayashi
- Renaud Lambiotte
title: 'Input-output relationship in social communications characterized by spike train analysis'
---
Introduction {#sec:intro}
============
The study of social systems from a network perspective has a long tradition in the social sciences, i.e., social network analysis [@wasserman], and has played a central role in the recent advent of computational social science [@Lazer2009]. Focusing on the structure of social relationships has revealed generic properties of social networks, including their strongly heterogeneous connectivity and modular structures [@Albert:2002p869; @Newman:2003p839]. Structural properties of social networks also exhibit considerable impacts on different types of dynamical processes on the networks, such as epidemic and information spreading [@Barrat2008; @Pastor-Satorras2015].
As accessible datasets of human behavior become increasingly rich, various approaches have been employed to improve the network modeling in order to uncover hidden aspects of human dynamics. In particular, records of communication events between individuals with high temporal resolutions have led to the study of dynamical properties of networks rather than static ones, in the emerging field of temporal networks (see Refs. [@Holme2012; @Holme2015; @MasadaLambiotte2016] for comprehensive reviews). In social temporal network studies, researchers have focused on the properties of the time series of interaction events associated to an individual (e.g., Refs. [@Sanli2015; @Borge-Holthoefer2015; @Darst2016]). Such timelines of instantaneous events can be found in technology-mediated human communication, such as emails, short messaging service (SMS), or other message delivery services like Twitter, Facebook, google plus, and others. Assuming that interaction events have a very short duration, as is often the case, this type of representation is also popular for mobile phone calls and physical proximity patterns measured by Bluetooth [@Eagle2005] or RFID [@Isella2011].
Previous studies have shown in a variety of domains that burstiness is a universal feature of time series of human interactions [@Eckmann2004; @Barabasi:2005aa; @Alexei2006PRE]. The notion of burstiness refers to the bursting behavior of individuals, as they exhibit a high activity within short periods and occasionally exhibit long periods of silence. Burstiness is often characterized by the fat tail of the distribution of the interevent times (IET) between successive events, sometimes fitted by power-law functions [@Barabasi:2005aa], and significantly deviating from the exponential distributions expected in the case of classical Poisson processes. These observations motivated the design of more elaborated models for human activity [@Barabasi:2005aa; @Malmgren2008].
Although the presence of heavy-tailed IET distributions is a clear evidence of burstiness, the temporal dynamics of human communication is only partially described by a given IET distribution. For example, as illustrated in Fig. \[fig:SchemeOfLV\], a single set of heavy-tailed IETs yields event sequences with drastically different temporal fluctuations. The sequence at the top panel looks like a regular IETs with slow frequency modulation. In contrast, in the bottom sequence, the short and long IETs occur intermittently. The middle one is in an intermediate situation. Therefore, additional measures are required to distinguish these different behavior. In fact, intermittent sequences associated to higher-order correlations between IETs have been reported in real-world examples [@Goh2008; @Karsai2012; @Vestergaard2014]. The characterization of such temporal fluctuations in social communication is an ongoing challenge to understand the nature of temporal dynamics of human communication.
![(Color online) Three sequences of events with different temporal fluctuations (right) that are generated from the same set of the IETs (left).[]{data-label="fig:SchemeOfLV"}](Fig1.eps)
Similar questions are central in the field of computational neuroscience. Characterization of the signal sequence of neuronal activity, called spike trains, is an important issue related to the problem of neural coding, which aims to understand how neurons communicate using spikes [@dayan_abbott_2001tnc]. A variety of methods have been developed for the analysis of spike trains [@gabbiani1998; @kostal2007; @Shinomoto:2003aa; @Shinomoto2009]. In the present work, we are especially interested in a measure originally designed to characterize temporal fluctuations in spike train data, called local variation (LV) [@Shinomoto:2003aa; @shinomoto2005; @Shinomoto2009]. The LV measure presents the advantage of being essentially orthogonal to the activity rate in the sense of information geometry [@Miura:2006aa], and has been shown to be a robust measure against the non-stationary modulation of the activity rate which were tested in multiple datasets in comparison with other statistical measures [@shinomoto2005; @Shinomoto2009]. These properties make LV a promising candidate measure for the study of social communication data, as they are subject to external modulation of the activity rate, such as daily, weekly, and seasonally rhythms [@Malmgren2008; @Jo2012; @KobaLambiotte2016]. The LV measure was recently used to study the effect of popularity on temporal fluctuations of events in Twitter [@CeydaRenaud].
An important difference between the previous studies and our work is to pay attention to the relationship between incoming and outgoing events involving social agents and its impacts on temporal fluctuations. Similarly to neurons, receiving inputs and integrating them to send outputs, social agents are subject to incoming messages that may, or not, trigger reactions. In order to test this idea, we analyze the response-time distribution in empirical datasets and develop a generalized Hawkes process to model the observed dynamical properties. The majority of previous studies on higher-order correlations between IETs [@Goh2008; @Karsai2012; @Vestergaard2014] primarily focused on the event timings and dismissed the directions of messages. However, investigation of the input-output relationship in human messaging processes may provide us important insight on how information flows in human communications.
Toward this goal, in section \[sec:characterization\], we introduce the LV measure and show that it provides a characterization of temporal fluctuation of each individual. In section \[sec:inout\], using the LV measure, we characterize the relationship between the incoming (receiving) and outgoing (sending) event sequences, and develop a point process model to identify the mechanism behind the observed correlations. Finally, in section \[sec:discussion\], we summarize and discuss our findings.
Characterizing temporal fluctuations by statistical measures for event sequences {#sec:characterization}
================================================================================
Datasets {#sec:data}
--------
We analyze the social communication datasets of SMS, phone-calls, and emails. In the following, we refer to the three datasets as SMS, Phone, and Email. The SMS and Phone datasets are a collection of timestamp of communication events made among a subset of anonymized users offered by a European cellphone service provider [@Tabourier:2016ks]. The SMS dataset contains 28,757,905 events among 983,424 unique users during one month and the Phone dataset contains 14,303,384 events among 1,131,049 unique users during the same period. Although each event in the Phone dataset has a duration, we discard it and focus on the starting time in the following analysis. It should be noted that missed phone calls (with null duration) have been filtered out from the dataset. The Email dataset is Enron email network [@konect:klimt04] [^1] that contains 1,148,072 emails sent between employees of Enron from 1999 to 2003. This dataset was made public during the legal investigation concerning the Enron corporation. A user can send an email to oneself and we keep such self events for analysis. The time resolution of all the datasets is equal to one second.
Statistical measure for event sequences
---------------------------------------
Let us consider a sequence of IETs denoted by $\left\{ T_1, T_2, \ldots, T_n \right\}$ between $n+1$ events, where $T_i$ is the length of $i$-th interval. Different statistical indicators can be used in order to characterize this time series. A popular choice is the coefficient of variation (CV), defined as $$\begin{aligned}
\mathrm{CV} \equiv \frac{\sqrt{\frac{1}{n-1}\sum_{i=1}^{n} (T_i - \bar{T})^2 }} {\bar{T}},\end{aligned}$$ where $\bar{T} \equiv \sum_i T_i / n$ is the average IET. A large value of CV indicates the heterogeneity in the IETs. The CV is equivalent to the burstiness measure proposed in Ref. [@Goh2008] up to algebraic variable transformation.
The local variation (LV) is instead defined by [@Shinomoto:2003aa]: $$\begin{aligned}
\mathrm{LV} \equiv \frac{1}{n-1} \sum_{i=1}^{n-1} \frac{3 (T_i - T_{i+1})^2}{(T_i + T_{i+1})^2}, \label{eq:DefLV}\end{aligned}$$ and mainly differs from CV by its comparison between successive values of IETs. The factor three of the numerator in the right hand side of Eq. is as to set the LV value for a Poisson process equal to unity. Theoretically, the LV value ranges from zero (i.e., regular) to three (i.e., intermittent).
Let us summarize some known properties of LV and its comparison with CV. The expected value of LV, denoted by ${\mathbb E}(\mathrm{LV})$, is equal to unity for a Poisson process with a constant activity rate [@Shinomoto:2003aa], and ${\mathbb E}({\rm CV})$ is also equal to unity in this case. By the definition of LV in Eq. , if the fluctuations among successive IETs are smaller than those expected for a Poisson process, the LV value is smaller than unity. In other words, the event sequence with ${\rm LV} < 1$ is more regular than a Poisson process. By contrast, if the fluctuations are larger than those of a Poisson process and the event sequence is intermittent, the LV value is larger than unity. When the event sequence is intermittent with a large LV value, we typically observe a negative correlation between two successive IETs; a short IET is likely to follow a long IET and vice versa. In neuroscience literature [@Shinomoto:2003aa; @shinomoto2005; @Shinomoto2009], the intermittent sequence is referred as bursty, because such an intermittent spike train is often recorded from bursting neurons, which is one of electrophysiological neuronal types [@shepherd2004synaptic]. It should be noted that burstiness is defined in a different way from the definition in the literature of network science [@Barabasi:2005aa]. The LV measure takes finite values even when the CV value diverges. For example, let us suppose that the tail of the IET distribution exhibits a power-law function $\tau^{-\alpha}$. If $\alpha \le 2$ holds, the CV value diverges to $+ \infty$ in the limit of a large number of events (and very large values in finite samples as shown in Fig. \[fig:LVCV\]). Even in such a case, the LV value remains finite and can capture the correlations between successive IETs.
LV and CV values of empirical datasets {#sec:LV_CV}
--------------------------------------
{width="12cm"}
We calculate the LV and CV values of users in the SMS, Phone, and Email datasets. The events in all of the three datasets have their directionality. In other words, each user has two sequences of events: the incoming (i.e., receiving) events and the outgoing (i.e., sending) events of messages. In this section, we separately evaluate these statistical measures for the incoming and outgoing events (i.e., ${{\rm CV}^{\rm in}}$, ${{\rm CV}^{\rm out}}$, ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$, and ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$) for each user. In the following analysis, we restrict ourselves to consider the users having no less than $100$ IETs for both incoming and outgoing events so as to obtain stable results. This restriction leaves the number of users to be analyzed equal to $50403$ ($5.1$ percent of the users in the original dataset) for SMS dataset, $4614$ ($0.41$%) for Phone, and $290$ ($0.33$%) for Email. We adopted the threshold value (i.e., $100$ IETs) that was used in the previous studies [@Shinomoto:2003aa; @Shinomoto2009]. In addition, as shown in Appendix A, we numerically confirmed that the standard deviation of LV over synthetic event sequences with $100$ IETs is sufficiently small. We plot the IET distribution of outgoing events for all the nodes in the SMS dataset (Fig. \[fig:LVCV\](a)). In accordance with the results reported in the previous studies on various communication data [@Barabasi:2005aa; @Alexei2006PRE], the IET distribution of outgoing events indicate a heavy-tailed behavior that roughly follows a power-law function. This heterogeneity in the outgoing IETs is also confirmed at the individual level; the $99.83\%$ of users have the ${{\rm CV}^{\rm out}}$ values larger than unity (Fig. \[fig:LVCV\](b)). By contrast, the ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ values of users has a bell-shaped distribution, approximated by a normal distribution with the mean $1.56$ and standard deviation $0.28$. The range of the ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ values indicates the variety in message sending behavior; some individuals send messages in a regular manner and others send in a random or even intermittent manner. In fact, the $97.1\%$ of users have the ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ values larger than unity, which implies that for those individuals, the IET fluctuations are larger than those of a Poisson process. For the rest of users ($2.9\%$ of all), their temporal behavior are more regular than a Poisson process. However, The $98.9\%$ of users with ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}< 1$ still have the ${{\rm CV}^{\rm out}}$ values larger than unity, indicating the heterogeneity of the set of IETs from these users (Fig. \[fig:LVCV\](b)). As we can see in Figs. \[fig:LVCV\](b) and \[fig:LVCV\](c), there are no clear correlations between the CV and LV values of users for either incoming or outgoing events. Therefore, the LV measure may capture characteristics of event sequences that cannot be explained by CV. The same plots for the other two datasets are shown in Figs. \[fig:LVCV\](d)-(i). We can see similar behavior of LV and CV as in the SMS dataset. The CV values in the Email dataset can be very large, possibly because of the long term of the observation (i.e., four years) and presence of very long IETs.
dataset type $0.1$-percentile $F$-value (LV) $F$-value (CV)
--------- ---------- ------------------ ---------------- ----------------
SMS incoming 1.146 28.982 8.236
outgoing 1.137 32.740 9.011
Phone incoming 1.227 4.203 12.398
outgoing 1.151 6.286 11.122
Email incoming 1.178 3.377 1.160
outgoing 1.568 5.867 1.328
: Results of $F$-test statistics for the LV and CV values in the three datasets.[]{data-label="tbl:Ftest"}
In closing this section, we confirm the consistency of the LV and CV values of a user over time. Because we want to use the LV and CV values as the steady characteristics of users, the variance of these values of a user across different periods must be smaller than the variance over the population. We verify the consistency by using a statistical $F$-test [@Wildt1978], in which we compare the variances of the LV (CV) values across all nodes with the average of the variances of the LV (CV) values of each node across $20$ subdivided sequences (see Appendix B for details). As the results of the statistical tests summarized in Table \[tbl:Ftest\], the $F$-values of the LV and CV values for both incoming and outgoing events are significantly above the $0.1$-percentile points for all of the three datasets, except for the CV values in the Email dataset. These results indicate that the variance of the LV value of each user over time is significantly smaller than the variance over the population, and the usage of these measures as the users’ characteristics is justified.
Relationship between incoming and outgoing event sequences {#sec:inout}
==========================================================
We first investigate the correlations between the statistics of incoming and outgoing events of users and study how individuals send messages in response to receiving messages. Then, we propose a simple model for interpreting the observations in the datasets.
Correlations between LV values of incoming and outgoing events {#sec:correlation_LV}
--------------------------------------------------------------
{width="12cm"}
Figure \[fig:LVCorr\] shows the distributions of the LV values and the correlations of the LV (CV) values between incoming and outgoing events for the three datasets. For the SMS dataset, the ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ and ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ values are almost identically distributed (Fig. \[fig:LVCorr\](a)). This identity of the two distributions is not trivial because these events are driven by different mechanisms as follows. On the one hand, receiving messages is a passive process for a user, because senders (i.e., other users) determine the timings. If the actions of the senders are independent of each other as well as of the focal user’s action, the correlations between the successive events are disappeared and the resultant event sequence of receiving messages can be modeled by a Poisson process with a time-dependent activity rate [@Kass:2005go]. On the other hand, sending messages is an active process for a user, because the user determines the timing and it can differ from a Poisson process. Therefore, this identity of the ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ and ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ distributions shown in Fig. \[fig:LVCorr\](a) suggests that the event sequences of receiving messages from different senders are not independent of each other and may be correlated with the action of the receiver.
To examine the relationship of incoming and outgoing events at the individual level, we depict the scatter plots of the ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ and ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ values and the ${{\rm CV}^{\rm in}}$ and ${{\rm CV}^{\rm out}}$ values (Figs. \[fig:LVCorr\](b) and \[fig:LVCorr\](c)). The ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ and ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ values of a user exhibit a positive correlation, whereas the ${{\rm CV}^{\rm in}}$ and ${{\rm CV}^{\rm out}}$ values are less correlated. The 95% confidence interval of the correlation between ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ and ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ is equal to $[0.726,0.734]$ for SMS (Fig. \[fig:LVCorr\](b)), while it is $[0.271, 0.323]$, $[0.23,0.437]$ for Phone (Fig. \[fig:LVCorr\](e)) and Email (Fig. \[fig:LVCorr\](h)) datasets, respectively. Thus, the correlation observed for SMS dataset significantly deviates from those for the other two datasets. It should be noted that these correlation coefficients are robust against the change in the threshold value of the number of IETs that we use to filter the users (see Appendix A). Although the values of the Pearson correlation coefficients for the LV ($0.73$) and CV ($0.68$) plots are close, its 95% confidence interval for the LV, $[0.726,0.734]$, deviates from that for the CV, $[0.679,0.689]$. The correlation between ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ and ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ values implies a possible interaction between the incoming and outgoing events, that is, a reaction behavior of users when replying to received messages.
The Phone and Email datasets exhibit the ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ and ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ statistics different from those of the SMS dataset, while the results of the two datasets are similar (Figs. \[fig:LVCorr\](d)–\[fig:LVCorr\](i)). For the two datasets, the distributions of the ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ and ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ values (Figs. \[fig:LVCorr\](d) and \[fig:LVCorr\](g)) are less similar than those for the SMS dataset (Figs. \[fig:LVCorr\](a)). In addition, the correlations between the ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ and ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ values (Figs. \[fig:LVCorr\](e) and \[fig:LVCorr\](h)) are much weaker than that for the SMS dataset (Figs. \[fig:LVCorr\](b)). For the Phone dataset, the correlation for LV is also much weaker than that for CV. These differences in the LV statistics between the three datasets may be owing to the different communication manner for these communication tools. For example, users of SMS may quickly respond to a received message. For phone-call communication, such quick response (i.e., back call) may not be necessary because one can have conversations within a single call. In a similar way, for email communication, many messages are left in mailbox and later the replies to them are sent. To examine the response behavior between the datasets, we will employ the response-time distribution analysis in the next section.
Response behavior to incoming messages {#sec:eta}
--------------------------------------
![(Color online) Schematic of computation of the response-time distribution.[]{data-label="fig:ETAIllust"}](Fig4.eps)
To clarify the differences between the three datasets in terms of the response patterns, the response-time distributions are computed for the SMS, the Phone, and the Email datasets. The procedure for calculating a response-time distribution is schematically shown in Fig \[fig:ETAIllust\]. We define the response time to an incoming event as the time interval until the first outgoing event of the user (top of Fig. \[fig:ETAIllust\]). We count the response time if and only if there is no other incoming event between the focal pair of the incoming and outgoing events, so as to avoid the duplication of the response time. The response-time distribution is then computed by constructing a histogram of the response times for all the users (bottom of Fig. \[fig:ETAIllust\]). The bin size of the histogram is set to $10$, $20$, and $120$ seconds for the SMS, the Phone, and the Email datasets, respectively. The bin size for the Email dataset is larger than those for the other datasets so as to remove the peaks of activities at every minute which may be artefact due to batch mail delivery system. As shown in Fig. \[fig:ETAResult\](a), the response-time distributions of all the datasets have a sharp peak just after an incoming event and decreases with time. The distribution for all the datasets have sharp peaks at $\tau \sim 1$ minute. It should be noted that a similar peak is also reported in Ref. [@Saramaki2015PRE] although a different definition of the response time is adopted Only the Email dataset has another smaller peak at $\tau \sim 1$ hour.
{width="14cm"}
Although the response-time distribution (Fig. \[fig:ETAResult\](a)) provides full information of the response behavior in the datasets, we want to know which part of the response-time distribution cannot be explained by a baseline activity patterns, or a null model, of individuals. To generate such a null-model event sequences, we shuffle the time stamps of all the events in a dataset (this shuffling is called randomly permuted times [@PhysRevE.71.046119; @Holme2012]). This randomization destroys any temporal correlations between the event times, while retaining the total number of incoming and outgoing events of each user and the total number of events for each user pair. The randomization also conserves the total number of events occurring at each time and consequently daily and weekly activity patterns.
We calculate the response-time distribution for the randomized dataset and compare them with the original ones (Fig. \[fig:ETAResult\](b)). The response-time distributions for the randomized datasets do not have the apparent peaks, in contrast to the original response-time distributions, while they exhibit decay for large $\tau$ similar to the original distributions. If we vertically rescaled the null-model response-time distributions, they mostly overlaps with the original distributions for large $\tau$. This result implies that the decay of the distribution is not related to the response behavior of users, because the randomization destroys any temporal correlations between the incoming and outgoing events.
Subtracting the rescaled null-model curves from the original response-time distributions reveals the response behavior of users that deviate from the null model (Fig. \[fig:ETAResult\](c)). We refer to the resultant curves as the net response functions to an incoming event. The impacts of an incoming event are evaluated by the largest peak of the response function and the area under it. The peak and area are equal to $0.23$ and $0.41$ for the SMS dataset, $0.0067$ and $0.084$ for the Phone dataset, and $0.0017$ and $0.024$ for the Email dataset. These results suggest that the impacts of an incoming event is much stronger in the SMS dataset than those in the other two datasets. We also quantify the decay of the net response function by the time required for the net response function to decay to the $1/100$ value of the peak after the peak time, denoted by $T_{1/100}$. We decide to measure the decay in this way because the net response functions cannot be well fitted by an exponential function (Fig. \[fig:ETAResult\](d)). The $T_{1/100}$ values are equal to $11.3$, $109$, and $90$ minutes for the SMS, the Phone, and the Email datasets. These results indicate that the response of users in the SMS dataset is much faster than those in the Phone and the Email datasets.
A generalized Hawkes model incorporating response behavior {#sec:Hawkes}
----------------------------------------------------------
Combining the results described in the previous sections, we are interested in the relationship between the correlations between the ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ and ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ values (Fig. \[fig:LVCorr\]) and the response behavior of users (Fig. \[fig:ETAResult\]). The hypothesis is that the fast and intense response such as observed in the SMS dataset induces chain reactions of messaging events between individuals in a short period and thus a positive correlation between ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ and ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ emerges. By contrast, the slow and moderate response observed in the Phone and the Email datasets do not cause a strong correlation between the LV values. To validate this hypothesis, we introduce a point process model of communication activities and examine the dependence of the correlation between the ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ and ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ values on the response behavior.
Our model is based on the Hawkes process [@Hawkes], which was first proposed to model seismic patterns [@ogata1988] and was recently applied to human communication behavior [@masuda2013; @PhysRevE.89.042817; @SEISMIC; @KobaLambiotte2016], In the Hawkes model, the activity rate of an individual, denoted by $\lambda(t)$, is determined by $$\begin{aligned}
\lambda(t) = u_0 + a_{{\mathrm{self}}} \sum_{k: t_k^{{\rm out}} < t} \frac{1}{\tau_{{\mathrm{self}}}} \exp \left[ - \left( \frac{t - t_k^{\mathrm{out}}}{\tau_{{\mathrm{self}}}} \right) \right], \label{eq:Hawkes}\end{aligned}$$ where $u_0$ is the baseline activity rate, $t_k^{\rm out}$ is time of the $k$-th outgoing event and $a_{{\mathrm{self}}}$ and $\tau_{{\mathrm{self}}}$ are the amplitude and the time constant of self-modulation (i.e., effects of outgoing events). We incorporate the effect of response behavior to incoming events from others (i.e., receiving messages) by adding the corresponding term to Eq. as: $$\begin{aligned}
\lambda(t) = u_0
+ a_{{\mathrm{self}}} \sum_{k: t_k^{\mathrm{out}} < t} \frac{1}{\tau_{{\mathrm{self}}}} \exp \left[ - \left( \frac{t - t_k^{\mathrm{out}}}{\tau_{{\mathrm{self}}}} \right) \right] \notag \\
+ a_{{\mathrm{ex}}} \sum_{k: t_k^{\mathrm{in}} < t} \frac{1}{\tau_{{\mathrm{ex}}}}\exp \left[ - \left( \frac{t - t_k^{\mathrm{in}}}{\tau_{{\mathrm{ex}}}} \right) \right], \label{eq:model}\end{aligned}$$ where $t_k^{\mathrm{in}}$ is the time of the $k$-th incoming event and $a_{{\mathrm{ex}}}$ and $\tau_{{\mathrm{ex}}}$ are the amplitude and the time constant of the response behavior.
The incoming event sequence represents an exogenous effect of the model and we have to set its generation process for numerical simulations. As shown in Figs. \[fig:LVCV\](c,f,i), the ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ values follow a bell-shaped distribution. To mimic this situation, we first randomly draw a ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ value from the normal distribution with mean $\mu = 1$ and the standard deviation $\sigma = 0.25$.
Then, we generate an event sequence with the given ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ value by using a gamma process. A gamma process is a renewal process whose IETs, denoted by $T$, obey a gamma distribution: $$\begin{aligned}
p(T; \kappa, \theta) = T^{\kappa -1} \frac{e^{-T/\theta}}{\theta^\kappa \Gamma(\kappa)},\end{aligned}$$ where $\kappa$ and $\theta$ are parameters and $\Gamma(x)$ is the gamma function. The mean and variance of IETs and the LV value of the gamma process are given by [@Shinomoto:2003aa]: $$\begin{aligned}
{\mathbb E}[T] = \kappa \theta, \quad {\rm Var}[T] = \kappa \theta^2, \quad {\rm LV} = \frac{3}{2\kappa + 1}.\end{aligned}$$ Therefore, we set $\kappa = (3/{{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}-1)/2$ to achieve the given ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ value and then $\theta = 1/\kappa$ to retain $ {\mathbb E}[T] = \kappa \theta = 1$. For a drawn ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ value, we run a numerical simulation of the model of Eq. until we obtain $100$ IETs [^2]. Then, we compute the ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ value of the generated event sequence.
We summarize the numerical results of the model into the phase diagrams of the Pearson correlation coefficient $R$ between ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ and ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ in Figs. \[fig:HawkesModel\](a) and \[fig:HawkesModel\](b). We draw randomly $100000$ ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ values and carry out the simulations for a fixed set of parameters $(u_0, a_{{\mathrm{self}}}, \tau_{{\mathrm{ex}}}, \tau_{{\mathrm{self}}})$. These diagrams indicate that the positive correlation between the ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ and ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ values, which is similar to that observed in the SMS dataset (Fig. \[fig:LVCorr\](b)), emerges if $a_{{\mathrm{ex}}}$ is positively large and $a_{{\mathrm{self}}}$ is negatively large and $\tau_{{\mathrm{ex}}}$ is small. A typical scatter plot with 1000 points in this condition is shown in Fig. \[fig:HawkesModel\](c). This parameter setting can be interpreted as follows. The combination of a large $a_{{\mathrm{ex}}}$ and a small $\tau_{{\mathrm{ex}}}$ implies that the impact of an incoming event is strong and its response is very quick, as the response behavior observed in the SMS dataset (Fig. \[fig:ETAResult\](c)). Another key factor is a negative $a_{{\mathrm{self}}}$, which represents a refractory effect that the activity rate decreases after sending a message. This refractory effect might be interpreted as a user who just sent a message is satisfied and stop further sending or that some interval is required to write the next message. In addition, $\tau_{{\mathrm{ex}}} < \tau_{{\mathrm{self}}}$ holds and the impact of incoming events decays faster than that of outgoing events. Without these conditions, the ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$-${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ correlation is not observed as shown in Figs. \[fig:HawkesModel\](d) and \[fig:HawkesModel\](e). In one case, when the model user has a weak response behavior (e.g., $a_{{\mathrm{ex}}} = 0.1$) and a strong self-excitation effect (e.g., $a_{{\mathrm{self}}} = 1$), there is no correlation between the LV values (Fig. \[fig:HawkesModel\](d)). In another case, when the model user has a strong response behavior (e.g, $a_{{\mathrm{ex}}}$ = 2) and does not have self-modulation effect (i.e., $a_{{\mathrm{self}}} = 0$), the correlation is also almost equal to zero (Fig. \[fig:HawkesModel\](e)).
On the basis of these results, the working hypothesis should be modified as follows. The intense and quick response to incoming events (i.e., a large $a_{{\mathrm{ex}}}$ and a small $\tau_{{\mathrm{ex}}}$) and the refractory effect (i.e., a negative $a_{{\mathrm{self}}}$) are the fundamentals of the positive correlation between the ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ and ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ values.
Discussion {#sec:discussion}
==========
In this paper, we have studied the temporal characteristics of human communication behavior using by the spike train analysis techniques. First, we have introduced LV measure to evaluate how the incoming and outgoing event intervals are temporally fluctuating, and found the positive correlation between ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ and ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ for the SMS dataset, while little correlation for the Phone and Email datasets. Second, we have analyzed the response time of users to quantify how individuals send messages in response to receiving messages. The comparison of the net response-time function for the original and the randomized datasets have unveiled a strong and quick response in the SMS dataset, contrary to the weak and slow response in the Phone and Email datasets. To understand the mechanism behind these observations, we have developed a point process model based on the Hawkes model. From this model study, we identified that the positive LV correlation can be reproduced by two key factors: a strong and quick response to incoming events and a refractory period after outgoing events.
It is worth noting the difference between the present study and previous works. We used the LV measure to capture the correlations between successive IETs in this study. This is a way to quantify higher-order correlations in the event sequences beyond the statistics of single IETs. Some previous work also considered such higher-order correlations and different ways of their characterizations have been discussed [@Goh2008; @Karsai2012; @Vestergaard2014]. An important difference between the present study and others is the attention to the input-output relationship in social communications. For example, in Ref. [@Goh2008], the correlation of IETs is measured by the Pearson correlation coefficient of two successive IETs. In Ref. [@Karsai2012], the correlation and memory effect in event sequences have been discussed by counting the number of events occurring within a time window. However, the directions of contacts were omitted in both of the two studies. Combination of the event counting statistics and the input-output relationship analysis, for instance, would provide new insight in understanding the higher-order correlations hidden in human social communications.
In section \[sec:eta\], we defined the response time to an incoming event as the time interval until the first outgoing event made by the user after the incoming event. This definition gives the lowest estimation of the true response time. Context analysis of message contents may give a closer estimation, however, achieving a perfect matching between messages is still challenging. Furthermore, the message contents of social communications are often not accessible for privacy protection. Therefore, we decided to use the simplest estimation of the response time based on available data. In a preliminary analysis, we checked the receivers of the outgoing events made by a user and found that most of receivers are the sender of the last incoming event to the focal user. In other words, most of the outgoing events were the return calls or messages to the users who made the latest incoming event. This observation supports our assumption behind the definition of the response time, although it does not completely exclude possible underestimates. The timing between the arrival of a message and its notification to the user is another channel-dependent factor which may have impacts on the response time but was not taken into account in this study. We may frequently receive and check the notifications of incoming SMS messages and Phone calls on mobile phones. By contrast, we may less frequently check incoming emails on computers than we do on mobile phones (this may result in a small peak in the response function at around one hour for Email dataset, as shown in Fig. \[fig:ETAResult\]). This direction of analysis requires the observation of the time when users recognize incoming messages, which is not included in the three datasets we considered. Other datasets with such observation, if any, would lead to further understanding of the social response behavior in future work.
The present study leaves several open research questions. The first question is to clarify the relationship between the type of communication channel and the properties of the event sequences. Although we observed different response behavior of users in several datasets, it is not clear whether the response behavior is common for the same type of communication (e.g., SMS) or is unique for the dataset used in this study. A comparison analysis of different instances of datasets for the same communication type would provide an answer to this question. The second question, more general one, is to develop better stochastic models to describe the input-output relationship in social communications. Our proposed model has a limitation that it does not distinguish source nodes of incoming events nor target nodes of outgoing events. In reality, there should be heterogeneity in communication patterns between different user pairs. In addition, our model does not explicitly consider the structure of social networks. Aside from the limitation of models, another important issue is to develop a procedure for evaluating the models. In computational neuroscience, proper benchmarks of the goodness of dynamical models has encouraged researchers to develop better models that can reproduce the input-output relationship observed in actual neuronal data [@jolivet2008; @MATMODEL]. Similarly, introducing adequate benchmarks for social communication datasets would help us for further understanding of human dynamics on the basis of quantitative models.
After the acceptance of this manuscript for publication in a journal, we noticed that the analysis of response times similar to our approach had been done in Ref. [@Saramaki2015PRE].
Acknowledgments {#acknowledgments .unnumbered}
===============
The authors thank Shigeru Shinomoto, Raphaĕl Liégeois, and Paul Expert for fruitful discussions. The SMS and Phone dataset was provided by Lionel Tabourier. The Email dataset was download from The Koblenz Network Collection. This work was partly supported by Bilateral Joint Research Program between JSPS and F.R.S.-FNRS. T.A. acknowledges financial support from JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 24740266 and 26520206. R.K. acknowledges financial support from JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 25870915. R.L. acknowledges financial support from ARC and the Belgian Network DYSCO (Dynamical Systems, Control, and Optimismtion), funded by the Interuniversity Attraction Poles Programme.
Relationship between Local Variation and the number of IETs
===========================================================
The LV values fluctuate over different instances of event sequence with the same number of IETs. We numerically investigated the dependency of the standard deviation of the LV values on the number of IETs for the synthetic event sequences generated from the Gamma process (see section \[sec:Hawkes\] for its definition). Figure \[fig:Uncert\_Lv\] shows the standard deviation of the LV values over different instances as a function of the number of IETs. Regardless of the parameter values of the Gamma process, the standard deviation algebraically decreases with the number of IETs and reaches to a sufficiently small value $(\sim 0.1)$ for $100$ IETs.
![(Color Online) Effect of the number of IETs on the standard deviation of the LV values. For each point, the standard deviation was calculated over 100 instances of event sequences generated from the Gamma process with a given number of IETs. The results were well fitted with a power-law function $1.2 n^{-0.5}$.[]{data-label="fig:Uncert_Lv"}](Fig_S1.eps){width="7cm"}
According to the obsevation described in the previous paragraph, we set the threshold value of the number of IETs equal to $100$ to filter users when we calculated the LV values in section \[sec:LV\_CV\] and the following. We confirmed that the correlation coefficients between ${{\rm LV}^{\rm out}}$ and ${{\rm LV}^{\rm in}}$ reported in Fig. \[fig:LVCorr\] are robust against the change in the threshold value (see Fig. \[fig:Threshold\]).
Statistical $F$-test (analysis of variance)
===========================================
To evaluate how the measures (LV and CV) worked in discrimination of individual temporal patterns, we conducted the $F$-test [@Wildt1978], which compares the variance of the measure means across $N$ users to the mean of the measure variances across $n$ (=20) fractional sequences of individuals. The null hypothesis of this test is $$\mu_1 = \mu_2 = \cdots = \mu_N,$$ where $\mu_i$ is the mean of measure (LV and CV) of user $i$ across $n$ fractional sequences.
For a given set of LV values $\{{\mathrm{LV}}_{ij}\}$, each of which is computed for the $j$-th fractional IET sequence ($j$ = $1, 2, \cdots, n$) of user $i$ ($i$ = $1, 2, \cdots, N$), the $F$-value is given by $$\begin{aligned}
F = \frac{ n \frac{1}{N-1}\sum_{i=1}^{N} \left(\overline{{\mathrm{LV}}}_i - \langle \overline{{\mathrm{LV}}} \rangle \right)^2}
{\frac{1}{N} \sum_{i=1}^N \frac{1}{n-1} \sum_{j=1}^{n} ({\mathrm{LV}}_{ij} - \overline{{\mathrm{LV}}}_i)^2},
\end{aligned}$$ where $M = Nn$ is the size of the set of values $\{{\mathrm{LV}}_{ij}\}$ and $\overline{{\mathrm{LV}}}_i = \sum_{j=1}^{n} {\mathrm{LV}}_{ij} /n$, $\langle \overline{{\mathrm{LV}}} \rangle = \sum_{i=1}^{N} \overline{{\mathrm{LV}}}_{i} /N$. This $F$-value follows the $F$-distribution with $N - 1$, $M - N$ degrees of freedom under the null hypothesis. The same test has been performed for CV. The subset of users who have no leas than 1000 IETs are analyzed in this $F$-test, because each fractional sequence have no less than 50 IETs to evaluate LV and CV.
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[^1]: http://konect.uni-koblenz.de/ (Date accessed: March 22nd, 2016).
[^2]: In the empirical data analysis, the sequence that has at least $100$ IETs are selected to evaluate LV and CV measures (see section \[sec:LV\_CV\]).
|
namespace Protobuild.Tests
{
using System.IO;
using Prototest.Library.Version1;
public class HostPlatformGenerationNeverOccursIfFeatureDisabledTest : ProtobuildTest
{
private readonly IAssert _assert;
public HostPlatformGenerationNeverOccursIfFeatureDisabledTest(IAssert assert) : base(assert)
{
_assert = assert;
}
public void GenerationIsCorrect()
{
this.SetupTest("HostPlatformGenerationNeverOccursIfFeatureDisabled");
var @out = this.Generate("Android", hostPlatform: "Windows", capture: true);
var solutionPath = this.GetPath("Module.Android.sln");
_assert.True(File.Exists(solutionPath));
var solutionContents = this.ReadFile(solutionPath);
_assert.Contains("Console.Android.csproj", solutionContents);
_assert.DoesNotContain("Console.Windows.csproj", solutionContents);
_assert.DoesNotContain("Console.Linux.csproj", solutionContents);
_assert.DoesNotContain("Console.MacOS.csproj", solutionContents);
_assert.Contains("Starting generation of projects for Android", @out.Item1);
_assert.DoesNotContain("Starting generation of projects for Windows", @out.Item1);
_assert.Contains("WARNING: One or more projects requires host platforms to be generated", @out.Item2);
}
}
}
|
Scaphoid fracture in the elderly: a review.
Although scaphoid fractures are relatively common encounters in orthopaedic and trauma surgery, the demographics of these injuries are not well studied. The classical teaching in the subject limits scaphoid fractures in the age between ten and 60 years (or 70 years in other sources). The incidence or the prevalence of scaphoid fractures in the elderly population is not focused on and not studied or explored. We reviewed the literature for any available epidemiological studies of scaphoid fractures. We also sought the available data of scaphoid fractures in the elderly population in case series and case reports which have relevant data on the subject. Four epidemiological studies, two case series, and one case report are included. We discuss the available data in these articles and conclude that scaphoid fractures in the elderly, although rare, have been reported. However, there are not enough epidemiological studies to draw figures. Ignorance of this proportion of population could result in missed fractures in the elderly. Therefore, we encourage researchers to carry out epidemiological studies of scaphoid fractures with more focus on this population group.
|
Displaying religious object in public places has become a very controversial and highly publicized issue in America. One of the main reasons for the controversy are the competing rights on either side.
What Are The Competing Sides?
The controversy over religion and public property comes from two competing government interests, both of which have equally valid and important interests:
The Freedom of Religion
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution contains the Freedom of Exercises Clause. It has generally been held to give citizens of the United States the freedom to:
Believe in any religion, and
To act in connection to any religion.
The Separation of Church and State
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution also contains the Establishment Clause. It has generally been held to show that the government must not influence any religion, nor can it adopt a religious preference.
Quite often these two competing goals will come into conflict when a religious object is placed on or displayed at a public place. Courts are called upon to make the difficult decision of deciding which side should prevail. To make this decision, courts will generally look at multiple factors.
What Factors Will A Court Consider?
In deciding if a religious object should remain in place or be removed, a court will consider many factors. Generally, a court will look at:
The religious significance of the object on display,
The size or visibility of the object on display,
The inclusion of other religious symbols in the display,
The historic background of the display, and
The proximity of the object on display to the public property.
Do I Need an Attorney to Handle my Religion and Public Property Issue?
If you think that a religious display on public property should be taken down, or you are trying to protect a religious display, it is recommended that you contact a Constitutional law attorney. Only an attorney will be able to explain the relevant issues and help defend your rights.
|
Molecular determinants of the structural and functional organization of the sarcoplasmic reticulum.
The endo-sarcoplasmic reticulum of striated muscle cells consists of distinct functional domains that are extremely well organized both in terms of functional specialisation and of spatial organisation. Here we shall review recent evidence on the potential involvement of recently identified novel proteins and of cytoskeletal components in the structural and functional organization of the sarcoplasmic reticulum with respect to the surface membrane/T-tubule system and the contractile apparatus.
|
Q:
Posting JSON to web service (400) Bad Request
I am trying to post some JSON to a webservice as below but I keep getting a (400) Bad Request response, I can't seem to figure out why.
Documentation
Send SMS
POST /customers/{customerId}/sms
To send a new SMS, simply POST a representation of a new smsmessage to
the list resource. If successful, a representation of the newly
created smsmessage will be returned in the body of the response.
POST https://pbx.sipcentric.com/api/v1/customers/25/sms
{
"type": "smsmessage",
"to": "07902000000",
"from": "01212854400",
"body": "Hey, this API is awesome!"
}
My Code
var httpWebRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("https://pbx.sipcentric.com/api/v1/customers/3682/sms");
String username = "username";
String password = "password";
//Encode Password & user
String encoded = System.Convert.ToBase64String(System.Text.Encoding.GetEncoding("ISO-8859-1").GetBytes(username + ":" + password));
//attach authentication details to header
httpWebRequest.Headers.Add("Authorization", "Basic " + encoded);
httpWebRequest.ContentType = "application/json";
httpWebRequest.Method = "POST";
httpWebRequest.Accept = "application/json";
using (var streamWriter = new StreamWriter(httpWebRequest.GetRequestStream()))
{
streamWriter.Write(smsJson);
streamWriter.Flush();
streamWriter.Close();
}
var httpResponse = (HttpWebResponse)httpWebRequest.GetResponse();
using (var streamReader = new StreamReader(httpResponse.GetResponseStream()))
{
var result = streamReader.ReadToEnd();
}
And my JSON
{"smsmessage":{"type":"smsmessage","to":"07984389886","from":"07984389886","body":"THIS IS A TEXT MESSAGE"}}
A:
Your json should be in the following form:
{"type":"smsmessage","to":"07984389886","from":"07984389886","body":"THIS IS A TEXT MESSAGE"}
without the outer "smsmessage" encapsulation.
API reference here.
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Q:
Jquery - waiting for user input
im trying to make a popup that comes up to confirm a users action (deleting a row in a table, for example..). aiming at making the popup entirely HTML and Javascript. What i can't get my head around is how i would make the javascript wait for the users input, but still function for other javascript events. (other click triggered stuff, etc..). What i thought i'd do is something like
if(makePopup("Are you sure?") == true) {
//bla bla
}
where makePopup function would create a popup containing the string passed to it, and give the user a yes or no option. somewhere in that function i'd need a loop that would wait for the user to click yes or no. the code just waits at that line until something is done. which is what i want... but theres my problem.. if the code is stuck in a loop there, how can jquery perform other tasks? for example, what if the popup box was draggable? how will the events for these effects get trigged when the code is busy looping at that point..? just cant get my head around a solution right now..
here's something i have at the moment to test..
$(document).ready(function(){
$('a').click(function(){
makePopup("Wana go to google?",function(){
window.location.replace("http://www.google.com");
});
});
});
function makePopup(msg,callback){
$('body').append("<div class='popup'><p>"+msg+"</p></div>");
}
still unsure of how to do the confirmation stuff. the popup should include a yes and no button.
A:
you can implement something like this
makePopup("Are you sure?", function {
//bla bla
});
which will call your callback only if user sure, after he clicks a button or whatever. Smth like:
function makePopup(msg, callback) {
$("#sureformmsg").html(msg);
$("#sureform").show().submit(function() { if (..check..) callback(); });
}
Your example:
$(document).ready(function(){
$('a').click(function(){
makePopup("Wana go to google?",function(){
window.location.replace("http://www.google.com");
});
});
});
function makePopup(msg,callback){
$('body').append("<div class='popup'><p id='themsg'>"+msg+"</p></div>");
$('#themsg').onclick(callback);
}
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K5 Oceanside Game of Skate Recap
August 11, 2008
K5 Oceanside Game of Skate Press Release
When rippers like Kirby Cox, Brendan Villanueva, Conner Getzlaf and Nick Tucker show up to skate, the Jr. Division just blows up with action. Brendon V, Kirby Cox, and Joey Palomba battled through their first heats, creating a great final. At the end, it was K5 Team rider Brendon Villanueva taking top honors with a clean Nollie inward Heel Flip.
As always, the Open division was full of talent. Kyle Kolod sent everyone to the sidelines after his front board, 270 out in the first heat and NickTucker and Aaron Astorga cruised through their heats sealing their spots in the final. The Final was close as Astorga got an early lead with his technical old school style, but in the end it was Brendon V. taking out Nick Tucker with a 50•50 to board slide.
Congrats to Brendon Villanueva for not only winning the Jr. and Open Divisions, but also edging out Conner Getzlaff in the best trick event as well!
K5 would like to thank everyone who came out to support this grassroots event, with a special thanks to MC Danny G.
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Former Mexican President Jose Lopez Portillio has died at the age of 83. Mr. Lopez Portillio, who served as president from 1976 to 1982, died Tuesday at a Mexico City hospital where he was being treated for pneumonia.
When he took office, Mexico was wallowing in one its worst recessions. Mr. Lopez Portillo tried to expand his nation's income by increasing oil production.
But when world crude oil market crashed in the early 1980's, the Mexican economy was left in worse shape than before.
By the time Mr. Lopez Portillo left office, Mexico was deeply in debt and the Peso was badly devalued. There was also rampant corruption during his rule.
In recent years he had developed a heart condition for which he underwent a heart bypass operation in 2001.
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Adobe aligns software branding to shine light on Flash
Adobe is aligning its Web design and developer tools, including a new one available for testing Monday, under its Flash brand to emphasize the heart of its strategy to give developers everything they need to build RIAs.
Adobe FlexBuilder is being rebranded as Adobe FlashBuilder to alleviate some confusion developers had about the software and to emphasize the importance of the Flash brand and technology, said Adobe group marketing manager David Gruber during a recent meeting in New York. FlashBuilder is a tool that allows developers to work with design code
“There's been some confusion in the marketplace about the Flex brand,” he said.
This confusion stems from the existence of another offering, the Flex framework, which is free software for building applications for either the Flash player running in a browser or the Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) running on a desktop, Gruber said. FlexBuilder, on the other hand, is a commercially sold toolset for building RIAs using Flash and other technologies.
“We're up-leveling the Flash brand and trying to get this out in front of people early so people can see what we’re doing,” Gruber said.
Today, (Monday) , Adobe will release betas of version 4 of both of those products, as well as the beta for another Flash-centric tool, Adobe Flash Catalyst. Catalyst is a new tool that helps bridge the gap between designers and developers so a rich Internet application as conceived by a designer has the best chance of being developed that way on the back end, Gruber said.
Catalyst previously went by the code name Thermo, but was named in November at Adobe's developer conference.
Usually, a design team will conceive how it wants an application to look and come up with a set of what are called “wire frames” — similar to still photographs — to show developers how the application should look, he said. The team will also pass over a set of assets — such as photographs, graphics and the like — to developers to incorporate into the final application.
Because these are static images and assets for what will eventually be a dynamic and creative application, this process is flawed; it's hard for developers to create exactly what the designer had in mind by building an application this way, said Tim Buntel, a senior product manager at Adobe.
A developer doesn’t find it easy to translate those suggestions to allow a functioning application,” he said.
Catalyst solves this problem by allowing “the designer who came up with the design in the first place to come up with a working application without having to write all that code,” Buntel said.
Indeed, “the real promise of Catalyst is to make it easier to take something a designer locks up and build out an application from it,” said RJ Owen, a senior developer with EffectiveUI in Denver, Colorado, who has worked with Catalyst. EffectiveUI is a 100-person firm that builds RIAs for clients such as eBay and United Airlines.
Adobe's Web design tools like Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Flash have been enormously popular with Web designers for years, but Adobe has been working for about five years to give people who write code better tools for executing on the plans of the design teams. Developers and designers use inherently different tools and skillsets, and helping them work better together has been a consistent problem.
FlashBuilder is another tool aimed at bridging the gap between the two teams, but it was built more for a developer audience because it allows developers to use programming languages they are familiar with to build RIAs, Owen said. Catalyst is more for the design side of the house, he said.
Meanwhile, competitor Microsoft, which has a loyal following of developers who use its Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE) to write code, has been filling out its design portfolio with the Expression set of tools. Blend is one of the tools in that suite that is similar to Catalyst, said Jason Fellin, an interface engineer at EffectiveUI.
EffectiveUI also uses Microsoft tools, but Owen said that, in his opinion, Adobe is a bit further along in giving developers tools they can use to work with designers than Microsoft is at providing design tools on par with those from Adobe.
“I would say Adobe is a little farther into the back end than Microsoft is into the front end,” he said.
Adobe has not decided on whether Catalyst will be a part of a future version of its Creative Suite, which includes Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, Flash Professional and other tools, depending on the version.
However, EffectiveUI's Owen said that the interface of the tool is similar to that of other Creative Suite software, so it seems likely Catalyst will end up as part of the suite. “If you open up Catalyst, it feels just like one of the [Creative Suite] apps,” he said.
Companies are still mainly using RIAs for consumer-facing, high-impact Web sites and applications, Owen said. However, there is some work being done with business-line applications, and companies are increasingly interested in how a creative user interface can be used to make enterprise applications more user-friendly, he said.
Adobe's Gruber said that enterprise software companies like SAP and others are also beginning to understand the impact of a powerful user interface, and are among the early adopters of RIAs as enterprise customers themselves. The work they're doing should help raise awareness about RIAs among their customers and other businesses, he said.
For instance, SAP recently introduced software from its BusinessObjects acquisition called the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, which the company boasted had an easy-to-use interface similar to the one in Apple's iTunes software, to help enterprises search for business analytics data. SAP used Flex, Adobe's freely available, companion framework to FlashBuilder, to design the interface of that product, Gruber said.
“ISVs are helping the enterprise start to become exposed to how things can be different,” he said.
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Meningitis-linked firm sold drugs without prescriptions: emails
October 13, 2012|Toni Clarke and Aaron Pressman | Reuters
Its "pharmacy license did not allow it to ship large quantities for general use," Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said on Friday as the state suspended the company's license and opened an investigation. If found guilty of violating the Michigan public health code, officials of NECC, which produced the tainted steroid linked to the scandal, could face a prison sentence, the attorney general's complaint said.
Several other states including Indiana, Minnesota and Ohio are investigating the company. Still others, including New Hampshire and the hardest hit state of Tennessee, have scheduled administrative hearings on possible violations.
Massachusetts prohibits pharmacies such as NECC, which create drugs that are unavailable from pharmaceutical companies, from selling medications without being in receipt of a prescription. It is not illegal, however, for healthcare providers to buy in bulk from licensed pharmacies, of which NECC was one.
Emails between NewSouth NeuroSpine and NECC show NECC solicited bulk orders with the promise of lower costs in return for higher ordering volume - sometimes offering competitive price quotes for drugs that had not been ordered by the physician.
In July, Barron offered in an email to supply NewSouth NeuroSpine with 50 vials per month of a steroid at a cost of $20 per vial.
"If you are using approximately 50 per month your total yearly savings, if sourced through NECC, would be $4,500," Barron said in an email.
Frank York, the chief executive of NewSouth, told Reuters the center did not order or purchase the steroid from NECC. The products it ordered, he said, included items such as a contrast agent used in X-rays that the center could not get elsewhere in the dosages it needed and were provided without prescriptions.
And while the physicians were asked by NECC to fill out a "Prescription Order Form," the form acted more as a bulk ordering form than a standard physician's prescription, York said.
In one email, Barron asked the clinic to provide NECC with a list of patients scheduled for upcoming procedures "to correspond with the medication."
"If you are ordering 75 units we will need a representation of patients that you plan to use the medication on," Barron said in the email. "If one day's schedule has close to 75 patients that will be acceptable to fulfill the order. If it is easier for you to provide a simple list of names that would be OK too."
The clinic did not provide its schedule to NECC for patient privacy reasons, according to York, who added that the clinic did not receive any of the tainted steroid implicated in the meningitis outbreak.
Even without the names or individual prescriptions, however, NECC continued to supply NewSouth, York said.
Massachusetts health officials said at a press briefing on Thursday that NECC appears to have been operating in violation of the state's compounding pharmacy licensing requirements, though they did not go into detail.
"This organization chose to apparently violate the licensing requirements under which they were allowed to operate," Madeleine Biondolillo, director of the Bureau of Health Care and Safety at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, said on a call with reporters on Thursday.
State and federal regulators in the briefing declined to say whether they previously knew about NECC's bulk sales to entities including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. They said investigations were ongoing.
Regulators were not immediately available to comment on NECC's interactions with Ameridose.
While Massachusetts conducts periodic inspections of compounding pharmacies, the state does not track the volume of medications prepared and distributed at its licensed pharmacies, Biondolillo said.
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Seidman Hudon Food Brokerage
Although they are still considered to be “specialty” items by most grocers, the products distributed by Seidman Hudon Food Brokerage are becoming an increasingly common sight at many supermarkets. The company, based on Coral Springs, Fla., represents a number of prominent ethnic food lines as part of its numerous offerings. For more than 15 years, Seidman Hudon Food Brokerage has served customers including supermarkets such as Publix throughout the Southeast.
Through the years, the company says the experience of its founders and its willingness to do whatever it takes for its clients have been key to its success. As it has grown from a small brokerage based in South Florida to a key distributor in the Southeast, Seidman Hudon Food Brokerage has continued to hold true to the values and principles of its leadership, and it says it expects the future to bring with it more growth and new opportunities.
The company was founded by Gary Seidman and Ed Hudon, two veterans of the food brokerage business in South Florida who met in 1998 at a trade show and discovered there was a lot they could do to help each other, according to the company. “[Seidman] had the principals but not a lot of time, and [Hudon] was a little short on principals but was long on time and determination to make a go of it in the brokerage business,” the company says. “Joining forces seemed like a good idea.”
The two merged their companies in November 1998, creating Seidman Hudon Food Brokerage. The company utilized its founders’ expertise in the kosher foods category to build a reputation as a reliable and effective distributor of specialty food items and other grocery products such as floor cleaners and laundry detergents.
“Our principals and our customers have come to rely on us,” Seidman said in a statement. “When you want something, it gets done. Our manufacturers know that no matter how large or small they are, [their products] are going to get the attention and service they require. We want them to feel they are important.”
Important Elements
According to the company, working closely with all parties at every point in the supply chain is the single-most-important element of what Seidman Hudon Food Brokerage does. By providing fast, attentive service to all of its partners and customers, the company says it ensures that all of them have a positive experience while working with it, which is important in establishing strong relationships.
“Seidman Hudon Food Brokerage believes in working closely with all parties involved in the selling process – principals, distributors, store-level managers, retailers and merchandisers,” the company says. “We act as a liaison to bring awareness of strengths and awareness of areas in need of improvement.”
“The importance of our role as brokers is bringing the buyer and seller together to complete everyone’s goal – making the sale,” Seidman said in a statement.
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A Burger King employee was seriously burned after a customer allegedly threw scalding hot coffee at her.
The altercation reportedly occurred at a Burger King in Seminole, Fla., sparked by a disagreement that started in the restaurant’s drive-thru.
Anastasia Lantier took the argument inside the restaurant, where it quickly turned violent, The Miami Herald reported. According to arrest records, Lantier threw the cup of hot coffee that was sitting on the counter all over the employee, which caused her to develop second- and third-degree burns.
FELON ARRESTED AT BASKIN ROBBINS AFTER ACCIDENTALLY DROPPING GUN IN VIEW OF MULTIPLE COPS
Both women reportedtly continued to fight and both were covered in scratches after the incident. Lantier was bitten during the incident, according to Fox 13.
Lantier fled the scene with her mother, as per the Herald, and was later apprehended at her home.
She initially claimed that the coffee-throwing was spontaneous and that she had no idea what was in the cup. She reportedly confessed to picking up the cup with the intention to throw it.
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Lantier was charged with aggravated battery and reportedly posted bond.
According to Fox 13, arrest records claim that the coffee was 250 degrees Fahrenheit when it was thrown, although water turns to steam at 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Burger King did not immediately return Fox News’ request for comment.
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A common form of pointing device for use with computers and the like is referred to as a “mouse”. The computer user moves the device over a surface to move a cursor on the computer screen. The amount of motion and the direction of motion of the mouse are sensed by the device and determine the distance and direction in which the cursor moves on the screen. Inexpensive mice based on a ball that rolls over the surface have been used for some time. The ball turns two cylinders that sense the distance and direction of motion. Unfortunately, the ball picks up grease and other dirt from the surface and transfers this material to the cylinders. The resulting coating on the cylinders interferes with the motion of the cylinders, and hence, the devices must be cleaned periodically. The cleaning operation is awkward and time consuming.
Mice based on optical sensing avoid this problem. Originally, such mice had to be moved over a special pad that had grid lines that were sensed by the device. The need to use this special pad made these devices less attractive than the mechanical mice discussed above. Recently, optical mice that do not require such pads have been developed. These mice include a light source that illuminates the surface under the mouse at a shallow angle, which accentuates the structural details of the surface. An image sensor in the mouse records an image of the illuminated surface periodically. By comparing two successive images, the displacement of the mouse between the times at which the images were taken can be determined.
Wireless optical mice are particularly attractive since the user is not constrained by a cable connecting the pointing device to the computer. Battery life is an important consideration in such systems both from the standpoint of operating cost and convenience. Hence, systems with reduced power demands are of particular value.
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In the face of a disintegrating healthcare system, skyrocketing insurance costs, and increasing need to be self-reliant, we would do well to improve our health and remain free of accident, illness, and injury. Achieving this requires balance on both a metaphysical and physical level. Let’s examine the metaphysical preconditions for good health first.
Metaphysical Causes of Illness
We know that stress reduces the immune system, but aside from the biological mechanism behind this, there are metaphysical ones as well. The physical body is supported at the quantum level by the etheric body, an energetic scaffolding that keeps everything in order. A breakdown in the etheric body leads to increased entropy in the physical, allowing viruses, fungi, and bacteria to more easily establish themselves with an infection. Several things lead to damage of the etheric body in the form of rips, blockages, and darkenings.
First are negative emotions like fear, worry, anger, hatred, contempt, guilt, and depression — especially if repressed. For example, reading an emotionally distressing news article and boiling with anger, but being unable to do anything and just letting the anger linger, that causes negative etheric energy to build up in one’s etheric body (actually the astral, but it filters down into the etheric) and causes damage. It also spikes the cortisol and adrenaline levels which can wear down one’s physical immune system. Another example: excessive fear, worry, depression, and cynicism over financial and economic conditions will affect one’s etheric body and magnetize one to the probability of getting sick. Last example: internally raging at someone and wanting to verbally thrash them but having to hold it in, that can case an imbalance in the throat chakra and increase chances of a sore throat infection.
Second is stubbornly pushing oneself toward some goal or duty that causes one great stress and discomfort, especially something that is soul-killing. This is a big one. There is a flow to life, a rhythm and direction of optimal balance where your soul maintains health and equilibrium because what it experiences in life matches its spiritual needs. Going 180 degrees against this is like pressing on the gas pedal with the breaks on; it creates friction and stress that can burn out the engine and the breaks. How does one go against the flow? By pursuing ego-inspired or socially-forced goals that go against wisdom and destiny. Sometimes we feel we have no choice, and sure enough sometimes we don’t, but other times we do have the choice to stop some unwise course of action but stubbornly push for it anyway. That’s when accidents and illness increase, which are synchronistic forms of “smoke” and “fire” caused by “friction.”
So those two factors alone, negative emotions and pushing against the spiritual grain, are enough to weaken the immune system and attract disease. Other factors like sleep deprivation and substance abuse can also weaken or damage the etheric body.
Third is holding on to hypochrondriacal belief systems, that is, having subconscious programming that one is under constant assault and at risk of falling ill at any moment. It is true that with chemtrails in the air, fluoride and chemicals in the water, pesticides and GMOs in food, BPA in plastics, and superbugs in our environment that we are under physical attack. However, due to epigenetic and occult reasons a constant and deep seated fear of these threats (beyond mere calm awareness useful for strategic solutions) can catalyze their effects on the body, mind, and soul. For example, in attempting to avoid all toxins in foods and eating clean and organic, one can go overboard and become neurotic, training the body to treat everything as a potential threat, and that can lead to autoimmune issues and a runaway cascade of allergies to anything and everything.
Therefore you may benefit from meditating a few minutes before sleep and after awakening with the thought and feeling that you are completely well and at ease, safe and protected, healthy and sound in mind, body, and soul. This will reprogram your subconscious and epigenetic responses toward being better able at coping with various threats.
Physical Support of the Immune System
Numerous physical factors can reduce one’s immune system.
The first is not getting enough sleep. This leaves the nightly cleanup of metabolic toxins unfinished, creates a stress response (cortisol, adrenaline, and homocysteine) and makes the immune system sluggish. Sleep deprivation can cause loss of brain cells, obesity, heart disease, and more. Do your best to get enough sleep. Caffeine only surges more adrenaline through one’s system, which is like adding nitro to an engine full of sand. It can lead to eventual adrenal fatigue and burnout, and perpetual illness.
The second is the aforementioned stress factor, which also comes from pushing too hard against the spiritual grain and harboring / repressing negative emotions. The worse you feel, the worse your immune system feels. The better you feel, the better your immune system. If you get sick, get warm and sleep like a maniac to conserve calories and feel as awake as you possibly can, for then the lymphocytes are likewise energized and ready to tackle the pathogen. Try to breathe deeply too to oxygenate your body; alkalizing foods such as vegetables help as well.
The third is lack of sunlight / vitamin D. The reason flu season is in full swing by February is not only because people spend more time indoors breathing each other’s air, but because by that point it’s already been a few months of wearing cold weather clothing and not being in the sun as much. Without vitamin D, a host of biological processes cannot function optimally, and the immune system suffers. Unfortunately, supplements are neither as safe, strong, or efficiently absorbed as sunlight, but a D3 supplement is better than nothing during winter months or low-light areas of the world. Zinc and magnesium can enhance the absorption of Vitamin D.
The fourth is a poor diet, and not only the consumption of immune-reducing foods, but the lack of certain macronutrients. For example, not having enough fat or calories can lead to starvation effects, which are quite deleterious to the body. Fat is necessary for hormones and the absorption of vitamins and minerals; going on too low-fat of a diet will lead to malnutrition and autoimmune problems such as intestinal inflammation and dryness of mouth and eyes upon eating certain trigger foods; people have addressed that issue successfully by consuming more vitamin D and fats such as butter. If you are concerned about obesity, then simply make your fatty meal low-carb, because it’s the mixture of high carb and high fat that lead to obesity the quickest.
But the big three immune-knockers are grains, sugar, and dairy.
The high gluten levels in modern wheat products has been linked to mild or severe allergic reactions in people. These reactions cause intestinal and systemic inflammations. Modern commercial wheat products are not fermented, have extra gluten added, use fast-rise yeast that cannot break down the complex starches in wheat, and come from a species of wheat grain that has far more gluten than what our ancestors originally ate. The info on wheat is out there, for example read this book review on the book Dangerous Grains.
The problem is that Celiac Disease is just the most severe type of reaction to wheat gluten, whereas a lesser condition is more common but tends to go undiagnosed. The condition known as gluten sensitivity leads to symptoms that aren’t obviously linked to gluten being the problem. Those with Celiac Disease ought to eliminate gluten entirely, while those with sensitivity can get by with largely reducing their gluten intake. Please do further research on gluten sensitivity and Celiac disease to know what foods are okay to eat, if you suspect you have either.
If you do have to eat wheat bread, then the two safest types are genuine sourdough and sprouted wheat bread. Real sourdough uses no fast-rise yeast and is given a long rise time in which the starches are broken down by the natural micro-organisms in the sourdough starter. This is closer to the kind of bread eaten before the advent of modern industrial bread making. Sprouted wheat has some of the gluten and anti-nutrients deactivated, so it’s not as harsh as the regular commercial breads.
Traditional substitutes for wheat include rice, oats, corn, quinoa, millet, buckwheat, or amaranth. Of these, rice is the least problematic. But while these alternatives contain less gluten (some none, some less than others) it’s generally acknowledged that grains overall aren’t as ideal for human consumption as fruits, vegetables, and tubers. The safest carbs from a dietary, epigenetic, and allergenic standpoint are sweet potatoes, butternut squash, cooked plantains, and fruits.
As for sugar, it’s fine in moderate quantities, but beware of larger quantities as found in soft drinks, cool-aid, fruit juices, cookies, cakes, and pastries. Interestingly, the biggest sugar danger of all is high glycemic carbs such as white bread, soft mushy white rice, fat-free pastries, mashed potatoes, or mushy pasta. These turn into blood sugar quickly because they are so digestible, and that level of sugar either turns into fat or cross-links with proteins in your blood vessels, causing damage to them and accelerating the aging process. It’s the sugar crash one gets an 1-4 hours later that really kicks the immune system down. A big glass of juice can do it, a lot of bread or pastries can do it, a big pile of mashed potatoes can do it — if you get a sugar crash, never eat that food or that quantity again, because every sugar crash is a step closer to cancer, diabetes, obesity, and accelerated aging. The aforementioned safe carbs avoid this by having enough fiber and complex carbs that they are slower to digest.
For those cutting down on sugar, it’s fine to have a teaspoon here and there. In fact, that can reduce cravings and prevent binging. It’s the several tablespoon’s worth found in juice and soft drinks or pastries, cookies, puddings, etc. that should be avoided. Alternatives to sugar include honey, stevia, and maple syrup. Stevia is a bit estrogenic so not recommended for men. There are different types of sugar (glucose, sucrose, fructose, lactose, xylitol). Fructose is the one to minimize as much as possible; agave nectar is very high in fructose, hence not recommended. Honey contains 50% glucose and 50% fructose just like table sugar, but these are not bound to each other; point being that honey is still sugar, and so is maple syrup. Use in moderation.
As for dairy, well that has several problems: 1) high estrogen content in milk fat (means ovarian cancer for women, breast enlargement in males), 2) pus content from cows with infected udders, 3) lactose sugar which causes intestinal problems for some people, 4) casein protein which not everyone fully digests, causing undigested proteins to circulate in the blood and act as an opium mimicker which screws with brain chemistry and may aggravate autistic and schizophrenic symptoms, 5) pasteurization, which destroys the enzymes that would normally help us digest milk better, and 6) homogenization, which breaks fat globules up into little jagged particles that go rancid more easily. That’s what you get in modern commercial dairy.
If you do cow dairy anyway, butter and half-n-half are alright in moderate quantities, other than the high estrogen levels, so guys don’t go crazy with the butter unless you like a little more weight on your chests. Coconut oil and olive oil are great alternatives to butter. Goat milk and cheese is a decent substitute for regular milk, if you can get used to the goaty taste. Else, there is plain oat/rice milk, just watch out for some having lots of added sugar. Avoid soy milk since it has estrogen-mimickers that will interfere with hormones.
Mainly it is cow cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, yogurt, and whole/2%/1% milk that cause the biggest problems. Best to reduce them to condiment-levels, and stick to alternatives for larger quantities. What is the problem exactly? Well, dairy proteins don’t always digest well and the homogenization process turns fat globules into jagged little particles that can permeate the gut lining. In both cases, dairy particles escape into the blood where the lymphatic system has to clean them up, which clogs it up and reduces its ability to clean up pathogens. For example, the tonsils are a part of the lymphatic system that excretes this waste down the back of the throat, and consuming too much dairy can cause white secretions to form in the tonsils which shouldn’t be there and are a symptom of an overloaded lymphatic system. Stopping dairy will make those go away, proving they are dairy particles the body is trying to eliminate. These particles in the blood can also create an allergic and inflammatory condition, leading to sinusitis, acne, and other health issues. Thus dairy nowadays isn’t a good idea to consume daily or in large quantities.
Here is a list of the top food combinations to avoid, from the most damaging to the least damaging:
The top three ought to ideally be eliminated altogether, and the rest used sparingly or in moderation. Everyone has different biology and metabolism, so it takes some fine tuning to settle in on the foods that give you energy. For most people, wheat, dairy, and sugar don’t have to be eliminated completely, just restricted. A little butter, a little cream in coffee, some wheat breading on chicken, and a little sugar added to stews or oatmeal are fine for most people. It’s mainly the larger quantities and combinations of two or three of the wheat, dairy, and sugar, that do a number on the immune system.
It’s also worth reducing caffeine intake since caffeine creates a stress-response in the body (adrenaline and cortisol increase) — anything over 30mg of caffeine per day is getting into health-negative territory, leading to fatigue, headaches, and rapid aging.
As for supplements and the immune system, the major thing to watch out for is being deficient in zinc, B-vitamins, vitamin C, and vitamin D. Deficiencies in any of those will lower your immune system, therefore read up on deficiency symptoms and compensate as necessary. A good site for getting up to speed on nutrition is http://whfoods.com
Physiological Adjustments
A little bit of exercise can go a long way. If you sit on your butt all day and heart rate rarely ever elevates, your overall health may decline. The body will become like a stagnant pond versus a clear bubbling stream. Exercise is necessary to oxygenate cells, accelerate the expulsion of accumulated toxins, and flush out your circulatory system. No, jogging isn’t necessary, nor is exercising so hard that your chest hurts. Just increased breathing and breaking into a light sweat by maintaining elevated heart rate for at least ten minutes per day is enough. Simple home exercises like pushups, bicycle crunches, barbell movements, and leg lifts or squats (if you don’t have weak knees) do the job. Whatever works.
And as mentioned earlier, get enough sleep — every night. Some people view sleep as something that gets in the way of living, but that’s like saying coming up for air gets in the way of diving. Sleep is when the body repairs itself and charges up with physical and vital energy. If you sacrifice sleep for trivial reasons, you will burn the candle at both ends. Your immune system will suffer for it, you will age faster, get sick more often, have lowered creativity and initiative, get stressed and irritated more easily, and become more zombie-like. Get the sleep you need to feel your fullest, and take a short nap if you hit an energy slump during the day.
Metaphysical Adjustments
Moderating your emotional response to situations will become an invaluable skill in the times ahead. I prefer staying on the slightly positive side of neutral — not so flat as to be stone-faced, but not so giddy as to see through rose-colored glasses. Rather, good-natured, optimistic, and most of all sharp, balanced, aware, and lucid.
How can this be done in very challenging circumstances? Well, through a combination of faith and understanding. Faith is needed where knowledge fails, where you have done what you could and the rest is not in your hands. Then it’s better to invoke a feeling that that things will work out, than to worry unnecessarily. Understanding comes down to feeling security in knowing what you must do, that panicking will get you nowhere. An attitude of strategic optimism, that you will get through this and will play your moves smartly, that really helps. If you are confronted with anger or fear, ask yourself whether you can do something about the problem right now. If yes, then do it. If not, then let those emotions go and don’t worry since it’s out of your hands right now.
Catching yourself before you let loose with a blind emotional reaction will keep you from having to suppress that emotion, by nipping it in the bud. How? By noticing yourself reacting the moment that you do, instead of being entranced by the thing triggering your reaction. Notice yourself, notice how you the observer are actually calm and silent deep inside while the emotion is an external thing trying to latch itself onto you, trying to get you to align and identify with it. Ask yourself if this is really necessary. Then look for understanding, the meaning, the lesson, the way out of this situation you are in, and act logically and strategically.
If you build up a momentum of balanced optimism then when confronted with a negative emotional trigger you are less liable to lose control because you are already centered and stable. Therefore it may help to start your day with some thoughts of gratitude, hope, and wonderment. If you do this, you will also notice it affecting the probability of your experiences throughout the day, reducing incidences of aggravation and misfortune and increasing positive synchronicities. That is because consciousness subtly affects how the future flows into the present.
A harder task is aligning with the optimal flow of life. It can be accomplished by consulting your intuition, heart, and common sense when making decisions, by spotting genuine inner and outer resistance to going in the wrong direction (see my article Battle of Opposites).
The key to survival and good health in the coming years will be keeping your eyes open and acting smartly without losing your emotional composure or spiritual integrity, no matter what happens to you or those around you.
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/*
* This file is part of INAV.
*
* INAV is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
* it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
* the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
* (at your option) any later version.
*
* INAV is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
* but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
* MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
* GNU General Public License for more details.
*
* You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
* along with INAV. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
*/
/*
* Authors:
* Dominic Clifton - Cleanflight implementation
* John Ihlein - Initial FF32 code
* Konstantin Sharlaimov - busDevice refactoring
*/
#include <stdbool.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include "platform.h"
#include "build/debug.h"
#include "common/axis.h"
#include "common/maths.h"
#include "drivers/system.h"
#include "drivers/time.h"
#include "drivers/io.h"
#include "drivers/exti.h"
#include "drivers/bus.h"
#include "drivers/sensor.h"
#include "drivers/accgyro/accgyro.h"
#include "drivers/accgyro/accgyro_mpu.h"
#include "drivers/accgyro/accgyro_mpu6000.h"
#if defined(USE_IMU_MPU6000)
// Bits
#define BIT_H_RESET 0x80
#define MPU_CLK_SEL_PLLGYROX 0x01
#define MPU_CLK_SEL_PLLGYROZ 0x03
#define BIT_I2C_IF_DIS 0x10
#define BIT_GYRO 3
#define BIT_ACC 2
#define BIT_TEMP 1
// Product ID Description for MPU6000
// high 4 bits low 4 bits
// Product Name Product Revision
#define MPU6000ES_REV_C4 0x14
#define MPU6000ES_REV_C5 0x15
#define MPU6000ES_REV_D6 0x16
#define MPU6000ES_REV_D7 0x17
#define MPU6000ES_REV_D8 0x18
#define MPU6000_REV_C4 0x54
#define MPU6000_REV_C5 0x55
#define MPU6000_REV_D6 0x56
#define MPU6000_REV_D7 0x57
#define MPU6000_REV_D8 0x58
#define MPU6000_REV_D9 0x59
#define MPU6000_REV_D10 0x5A
static void mpu6000AccAndGyroInit(gyroDev_t *gyro)
{
busDevice_t * busDev = gyro->busDev;
const gyroFilterAndRateConfig_t * config = mpuChooseGyroConfig(gyro->lpf, 1000000 / gyro->requestedSampleIntervalUs);
gyro->sampleRateIntervalUs = 1000000 / config->gyroRateHz;
gyroIntExtiInit(gyro);
busSetSpeed(busDev, BUS_SPEED_INITIALIZATION);
// Device Reset
busWrite(busDev, MPU_RA_PWR_MGMT_1, BIT_H_RESET);
delay(150);
busWrite(busDev, MPU_RA_SIGNAL_PATH_RESET, BIT_GYRO | BIT_ACC | BIT_TEMP);
delay(150);
// Clock Source PPL with Z axis gyro reference
busWrite(busDev, MPU_RA_PWR_MGMT_1, MPU_CLK_SEL_PLLGYROZ);
delayMicroseconds(15);
// Disable Primary I2C Interface
busWrite(busDev, MPU_RA_USER_CTRL, BIT_I2C_IF_DIS);
delayMicroseconds(15);
busWrite(busDev, MPU_RA_PWR_MGMT_2, 0x00);
delayMicroseconds(15);
// Accel Sample Rate 1kHz
// Gyroscope Output Rate = 1kHz when the DLPF is enabled
busWrite(busDev, MPU_RA_SMPLRT_DIV, config->gyroConfigValues[1]);
delayMicroseconds(15);
// Gyro +/- 2000 DPS Full Scale
busWrite(busDev, MPU_RA_GYRO_CONFIG, INV_FSR_2000DPS << 3);
delayMicroseconds(15);
// Accel +/- 16 G Full Scale
busWrite(busDev, MPU_RA_ACCEL_CONFIG, INV_FSR_16G << 3);
delayMicroseconds(15);
busWrite(busDev, MPU_RA_INT_PIN_CFG, 0 << 7 | 0 << 6 | 0 << 5 | 1 << 4 | 0 << 3 | 0 << 2 | 0 << 1 | 0 << 0); // INT_ANYRD_2CLEAR
delayMicroseconds(15);
#ifdef USE_MPU_DATA_READY_SIGNAL
busWrite(busDev, MPU_RA_INT_ENABLE, MPU_RF_DATA_RDY_EN);
delayMicroseconds(15);
#endif
// Accel and Gyro DLPF Setting
busWrite(busDev, MPU_RA_CONFIG, config->gyroConfigValues[0]);
delayMicroseconds(1);
busSetSpeed(busDev, BUS_SPEED_FAST);
mpuGyroRead(gyro);
if (((int8_t)gyro->gyroADCRaw[1]) == -1 && ((int8_t)gyro->gyroADCRaw[0]) == -1) {
failureMode(FAILURE_GYRO_INIT_FAILED);
}
}
static void mpu6000AccInit(accDev_t *acc)
{
acc->acc_1G = 512 * 4;
}
bool mpu6000AccDetect(accDev_t *acc)
{
acc->busDev = busDeviceOpen(BUSTYPE_ANY, DEVHW_MPU6000, acc->imuSensorToUse);
if (acc->busDev == NULL) {
return false;
}
mpuContextData_t * ctx = busDeviceGetScratchpadMemory(acc->busDev);
if (ctx->chipMagicNumber != 0x6860) {
return false;
}
acc->initFn = mpu6000AccInit;
acc->readFn = mpuAccReadScratchpad;
acc->accAlign = acc->busDev->param;
return true;
}
static bool mpu6000DeviceDetect(busDevice_t * busDev)
{
uint8_t in;
uint8_t attemptsRemaining = 5;
busSetSpeed(busDev, BUS_SPEED_INITIALIZATION);
busWrite(busDev, MPU_RA_PWR_MGMT_1, BIT_H_RESET);
do {
delay(150);
busRead(busDev, MPU_RA_WHO_AM_I, &in);
if (in == MPU6000_WHO_AM_I_CONST) {
break;
}
if (!attemptsRemaining) {
return false;
}
} while (attemptsRemaining--);
busRead(busDev, MPU_RA_PRODUCT_ID, &in);
/* look for a product ID we recognise */
switch (in) {
case MPU6000ES_REV_C4:
case MPU6000ES_REV_C5:
case MPU6000_REV_C4:
case MPU6000_REV_C5:
case MPU6000ES_REV_D6:
case MPU6000ES_REV_D7:
case MPU6000ES_REV_D8:
case MPU6000_REV_D6:
case MPU6000_REV_D7:
case MPU6000_REV_D8:
case MPU6000_REV_D9:
case MPU6000_REV_D10:
return true;
}
return false;
}
bool mpu6000GyroDetect(gyroDev_t *gyro)
{
gyro->busDev = busDeviceInit(BUSTYPE_ANY, DEVHW_MPU6000, gyro->imuSensorToUse, OWNER_MPU);
if (gyro->busDev == NULL) {
return false;
}
if (!mpu6000DeviceDetect(gyro->busDev)) {
busDeviceDeInit(gyro->busDev);
return false;
}
// Magic number for ACC detection to indicate that we have detected MPU6000 gyro
mpuContextData_t * ctx = busDeviceGetScratchpadMemory(gyro->busDev);
ctx->chipMagicNumber = 0x6860;
gyro->initFn = mpu6000AccAndGyroInit;
gyro->readFn = mpuGyroReadScratchpad;
gyro->intStatusFn = gyroCheckDataReady;
gyro->temperatureFn = mpuTemperatureReadScratchpad;
gyro->scale = 1.0f / 16.4f; // 16.4 dps/lsb scalefactor
gyro->gyroAlign = gyro->busDev->param;
return true;
}
#endif
|
The present invention relates to stationary rings surrounding gas passages in a gas turbine, and more particularly it relates to cooling stationary rings in a gas turbine.
A gas turbine, in particular a high pressure turbine of a turbomachine, typically comprises a plurality of stationary vanes alternating with a plurality of moving blades in the passage for hot gas coming from the combustion chamber of the turbomachine. The moving blades on the turbine are surrounded over their entire circumference by a stationary ring that is generally made up of a plurality of ring segments. These ring segments define part of the flow passage for hot gas passing through the blades of the turbine.
The ring segments of the turbine are thus subjected to the high temperatures of the hot gas coming from the combustion chamber of the turbomachine. To enable the turbine ring to withstand the temperature and mechanical stresses to which it is subjected, it is necessary to provide the ring segments with cooling devices.
One of the known methods of cooling consists in feeding cooling air to an impact plate mounted on the bodies of the ring segments. The plate is provided with a plurality of orifices for passing air which, under the pressure difference between the sides of the plate, comes to cool the ring segment by impact. The cooling air is then exhausted into the hot gas passage via holes formed through the ring segment.
Such a method does not enable effective and uniform cooling of the ring segments to be obtained, particularly at the upstream ends of the ring segments which constitute a zone that is particularly exposed to hot gas. This therefore has an affect on the lifetime of the ring segment. Furthermore, that technology requires too great an amount of cooling air to be taken, thereby decreasing the performance of the turbine.
|
Patient involvement in a professional body: reflections and commentary.
The purpose of this paper is to consider the issues which emerge when an autonomous, professional, member-led organisation attempts to demonstrate its accountability to patients through lay involvement in its standard-setting processes. The paper reports a project, which is still in progress and could be described as action research. Data were collected through participant observation in a series of discussions and working groups. A limited literature search was carried out at the start of the initiative but found little which relates to lay involvement in professional bodies. The paper finds that patient involvement in a professional body is unlikely by itself to be a useful mechanism for delivering greater professional accountability. The paper is a single case study and can only suggest hypotheses for further research. The paper shows that professional bodies of various types are increasingly being asked to demonstrate public involvement in their decision making. It is important to identify the most effective mechanisms for this and the limitations inherent in the structures of organisations, which are accountable primarily to their members. The paper shows that individual doctors are held to account through a number of mechanisms, but little attention has been given to how medical professional bodies can be made more accountable for the collective power they hold. Patient involvement is interpreted within a consumerist model, which focuses on the doctor-patient relationship and ignores the considerable strategic influence which medical royal colleges exercise within the health service.
|
Northwest pear growers are estimating a fresh crop of nearly 18.9 million boxes for the 2018 season, larger than last year’s shorter crop but in line with the five-year average.
Industry representatives released their estimate during Northwest Pear Bureau meetings Wednesday and Thursday in Portland, Oregon.
Following lengthy discussion, the Fresh Pear Committee unanimously voted to increase assessments from 44.9 cents per box to 46.3 cents per box in order to increase the amount of money devoted to pear research. Of that, 38.5 cents will go to promotion, 3.3 cents will go to administrative costs, and research projects will receive 4.5 cents, up from 3.1 cents.
The increase is the first since 2012 and only the second in 20 years.
Meanwhile, the industry’s Processed Pear Committee estimated another crop on the small side for canning at about 100,000 tons, with more orchards being transitioned to organic and more fruit being sold for the fresh market. In the past six years alone, the processing side of the industry has lost more than 1,000 acres.
In business action, the committee approved a reduced assessment of $7.15 per ton, down from $8 per ton last year. The decision reduces the part of the assessment geared to promotion from $6.35 per ton to $5.50 per ton, while maintaining research at $1.15 per ton and administration at 50 cents per ton.
For more news from the pear industry meetings, stay tuned to goodfruit.com and future issues of Good Fruit Grower.
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