text:
December 1965
reviews (0)
make it again
Be the first to rate and review this recipe
Serves 1.
Serves 1.
In a tall glass, combine triple sec and Campari with 3 cubes of ice. Fill the glass with chilled quinine water and stir to blend. Garnish with a strip of orange peel.
Can you believe no one has reviewed this recipe yet? Insightful and well-informed reviews by our members are part of what makes Epicurious the best food site on the planet. Sign in to be the first to review this recipe, and make your opinion heard.


text:
Phillys Big Trip (Alaska to Chile or is that Argentina)
View Single Post
Gnarly Adventurer
Joined: Jun 2012
Location: Netherlands
Oddometer: 263
Sao Paulo to Curitiba, Monday, 18 March 2013, Day 258
Is this how Philly is feeling at the moment?[/caption]
Had breakfast with A & A as Jake and Andrea had already gone to work. A & A heading to the airport to catch a plane to Munich to pick up gunner (there Daisy) to drive to Bucharest hope the weathers not to bad for them and Philly is heading South destination at this stage unknown.
A & A heading back to Bucharest so yet another bye bye photo been a few hopefully there will be more :-)[/caption]
Just like to take this opportunity to thank Jake and Andrea for being the perfect hosts to a total stranger at such short notice I am not sure you know how much I appreciate such gestures and how nice it is to stay at folks houses after been on the road for so long and I very much enjoyed meeting you and getting to share your bit of Brazil for an evening so for that I thank you :-)
Daisy is looking cleaner which is a benefit of the rain however my sheepskin is still wet and my riding kit is still damp but this will dry on the way (Optimist). It was dull and overcast as I tried to find my way out of Sao Paulo back to the coast and before I knew it I was raining again so looks like another wet day in the saddle and it was. It rained then stopped then rained some more did not see much when it was raining it was probably a very pretty ride that I did but I was in the clouds or it was pissing down so I could not see much along the way. Had to be pretty focussed all day as roads where very greasy and treacherous when wet.
Daisy amongst the Bananas[/caption]
As I was heading down the coast wet damp not been able to see anything the thought was going through my head why am I doing this I should just call it quits and go home. I think I was a bit jealous of A & A who where on the plane heading home and just seen a glimpse of being at home at Jakes and Andreas and I was a bit road weary myself and it was going to be another month before I would be back in my little pad in Holland. So I was doing the calculation on how long I would need to get to Buenos Aires could I move my flight forward could Sandra get Daisy on a plane earlier so in other words I was wet miserable lonely and wanted to go home. But than the other side of the argument kicked in Phillip Dean Beckwith you jammy shit you are riding a wonderful motorcycle Daisy through Brazil you are going to ride down along the coast to and through Uruguay as well. You have the luxury currently of not having to work and the huge opportunity to experience stuff other folks just dream about and you are out there doing it now. You will be bored shitless after being back for a week wishing you where here just like how you are wishing you are back at home at the moment so in short after wallowing and feeling sorry for myself gave myself a little pep talk and at that moment the sun should have come out birds starting singing nice music faded in but it did not happen it just kept on raining so I started the singing myself punched in Curitiba as my new destinations in my GPS as I am always happier when I have a target and its a good sign when Philly is singing normally means he is happy. About that taking it easy it was 2pm and Curitiba was 280km wet riding away also happy at giving myself stupid hard stretch targets leaves me less time for wallowing and feeling sorry for myself as I needed to focus on the job on hand instead.
Pulled up at the place I had punched into my GPS 4 hours ago no feeling in my fingers as it was cold and I was soaked to the skin. Was not sure what the place I was heading for would be like but turned to be an Hostelling International place so not to expensive and a courtyard for Daisy and a simple one bed room for Philly and across the road a shopping mall with a huge food court so in short everything I need after another wet day in the saddle so settle in hung up all my wet kit went for some food and a wander then back to the hostel to update this and then to bed. Had a blanket first time in ages complete change in weather from hot and sweaty to cold and wet so all I need is to get rid of either the sweaty and or the cold part and I would be much happier but as I have no influence on this lets just roll with punches and see what tomorrow will bring :-)
Hopefully the sun will come out down the road and I will get to see what is hidden behind the veil of clouds and rain heres hoping :-)[/caption]
View Public Profile
Find More Posts by dean10

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Female , 18-21
I'm a pretty opinionated person. I love horses and I love my Soldier. My life surrounds those two things. I try to stay up beat about things. If you want to know more ask. I am a good listener and will try to help as much as I can.
Last Seen Apr 1, 2012
Member Since Nov 28, 2011
Favorite Quote Behind every soldier is the woman who supports him
Politics Moderate
Horoscope Libra
Special day
Books what ever looks good at the moment
Music Country and Rock
Movies same as books
Local Time July 6th, 7:12 PM
Lonely, Idiot Two weeks ago my soldier went into basic training. I am half way through our first separation until he comes home for Christmas (keeping fingers crossed). Well while he has been gone obviously I have... [more]


text:
By Neo4j Staff | March 23, 2010 There was a NOSQL smackdown at the South by Southwest conference hosted by the changelog. It's a fun 45 minute clip with lots of good-humored banter between representatives from Cassandra, MongoDB, CouchDB and SimpleDB.
The latter is represented by none other than Werner Vogels, the CTO of Amazon, godfather of Dynamo (from which all current key-value stores are inspired) and probably the top expert in the world at building large-scale distributed systems.
The best part is at the end (around minute 45), when the participants were asked to name their favorite nosql systems, except their own. Werner Vogels concluded with saying:
"For anything with multiple relationships, multiple connections, Neo4j absolutely ROCKS!"
A statement we wholeheartedly agree with. Listen to the entire clip here.
Leave a Reply
Stay Connected
Sign up to find out more about Neo4j's upcoming events & meetups.
Have a Graph Question?
Reach out and connect with the Neo4j staff.Stackoverflow
Contact Us
Popular Graph Topics
- neo4j (131)
- nosql (90)
- emil eifrem (58)
- Graph Databases (56)
- cypher (51)
- graphconnect (49)
- graphdb (42)
- community (36)
- graph visualization (33)
- facebook (32)


text: Quick View save 71% Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks December 28, 2012 | Trade Paperback In stock online from $4.74 It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters. It begins with a murder.And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself. Lededje Y''breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for… See Details $4.99 / $4.74 lowest price*was $16.50


text:
Give Now
Rural jobs are on track to return to pre-recession levels, but prime-working aged adults are expected to leave counties where jobs will increase.
Indiana legislators met Wednesday to discuss forming new legislation that would encourage economic development in rural areas.
Knox, Cass and Lawrence counties have some of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the state of Indiana.
The U.S. Postal Service says the reduction in hours will help offices avoid closure.
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security says Hoosiers in rural areas tend to be self-reliant than those in the cities.


text:
|293 posts found
Apprentice Member
Joined: 9/04/12
Originally posted by The_Korrigan
That is such a load. As I said you can get by the CC, and only people unable to adapt or learn, found it a problem. You just don t liek the fact you asked me a few posts ago, honestly tell me how DAOC rvr is better. I did, and you don t like that. I m sure you hoped I would just leave it at that. Zergfests in DAOC had it s times sure, but back in the day, good 8mand groups actually took out larger number forces, if they knew what they were doing because of the players that had no clue how to identify the CCs, or players to take out forst. It was awesoem to watch. You can t do that n the open field in WvW, the bigger force will always win. Back and forth, and back and forth. I m sure a good leader will help, but it s still less diverse in every way.
Login or Register to never see this panel
Hard Core Member
Joined: 4/29/10
Originally posted by Zefire
Good to know. The other games I play don't need a video card upgrade so I may just hold out.
According to this chart, the best bang for my buck is a GTX 480 and it's still like $200.
Apprentice Member
Joined: 9/04/12
Originally posted by eggy08
So you re taking objectives. Ever run into a group 2-3 times bigger and win. Now don t say you did, because it s BS. You could in DAOC, if you had a clue how to play your chars. It s just not possible in GW2 the way the classes are set up.
Novice Member
Joined: 6/23/09
Originally posted by The_Korrigan
And I'm waiting for super fans to finally come down off of their high and see the game for what it is... We get it, you like the game and dislike anyone who doesn't like the game, just like a true super fan.
First the WvW maps are simply too big. This means for starters you will essentially never actually have a 3 way fight at any point in time which makes having 3 sides a bit pointless.
Second, because it is too big people will typically run the moment the fight looks interesting because dying means an annoying amount of run back to the battle area (and a cost of money) so it discourages exciting fights.
Third, siege weapons become an absolute mandatory to do anything, another money cost. It doesn't matter if you have 50 people hitting a gate, it does nothing, you need siege weapons. This sounds like a good idea but it leads to a lot of groups simply standing in place for a couple of hours fighting another big group standing in place for a couple of hours, EXCITING!!
In DAoC you'd hear a story of a rogue who took hours to sneak his way across a battlefield, up through the enemy's keep, into the room and stealing the object along with making it all the way back. You won't hear stories of such cool things in GW2.
Fourth, there is no friggin point! There is no end goal there is no win. It is just a massive constant pointless zergfest.
I'm sure if I wanted to sit down and write a term paper on it I could come up with all of the finer details on the issue. What you, and other super fans are too ignorant to get is that a player can play one thing and enjoy it and play another thing and hate it, WITHOUT EVER STOPPING TO ANALYZE IT. You know when you are having fun and you know when you aren't. Typically you just stop doing the thing that isn't fun instead of sitting down to write out all the reasons B was less fun than A. But as a super fan you couldn't possibly accept that people could have fun with one thing and not have fun with the thing you like without seeing spreadsheets and power point presentations that you can then fault for whatever reason made you feel better.
Apprentice Member
Joined: 9/13/11
Hopefully the fanboi's will at least feel guilty for flaming every naysayer when the game is forgotten in 3 months.
Originally posted by SnarlingWolf
I'm very glad GW2 doesn't have any of this. Some specific classes with specific abilities able to solo stuff meant for an organized group? And you seem to say it's a positive feature of the game? You must be kidding, right? I guess you got so addicted to Mythic's way of balancing a game that you can't see the flaws of it anymore ;-)
And before you call other people names like "super fan", maybe you will want to tone down your own blind love for a long dead game, DAoC, and also keep in mind the people you call "super fans" were doing PvP in online games years before DAoC was even a dream in Mark Jacob's twisted brain, and people who think DAoC's PvP is the best thing since sliced bread remain a tiny minority.
I'm gonna tell you something - every single game since DAoC had it's share of DAoC fans at release whining that the game wasn't DAoC2. Most games survived just fine without being "that" game, they actually did well BECAUSE they were NOT "that" DAoC2 game. And GW2 will do just fine too.
Barbecue time anyway - have a nice day.
Originally posted by Lorkii
You clearly stated that any keep or castle can be taken with 40 over 20. Idc about open world PvP or groups. Your avoiding the facts that:
1. The keep gives a higher advantage due to that they only need to focus the players over focusing doors to meet the objective.
2. Height advantage. Sure you can aoe on the cliff, but then they move back heal up and then go at you again, while you fractically try to damage the door and live.
3. siege weapons function much better on the keep than on the ground. You can easily take out siege weapons on the ground since they are wide open for attack, while on the keep you have to hope its either placed badly on the edge or in an aoe position, which could still take a long time to kill.
Not sure where you got this whole "we think that a zerg loses to a smaller group anytime anywhere mentality" since we were only focusing on keeps and towers.
Novice Member
Joined: 6/23/09
Originally posted by The_Korrigan
You're missing the story 100%. It isn't that it was something rogues could just do.
It took a talented person to plan out how to do it and spend HOURS to do it once. Many rogues tried to do such a thing and they failed over and over. I suppose I can't expect reading comprehension on these forums though so it is ok.
GW2 is setup in a way that people aren't allowed creativity or allowed to even be a hero. It is stale overly sterlized bland PvP in WvW.
Novice Member
Joined: 8/03/12
Already 80 and I'm still overwhelmed with the stuff the game has: crafting, exploring, trading, PvPing, WvWvWing, gear grinding... gah. This game is the bee's knees.
Hard Core Member
Joined: 10/02/11
The Critical Hit Pretzel!
Originally posted by nastyjman
Yeah and the World events and the raiding and Planar Attunement. God and don't forget those puzzles, so fun to do and achievements!
Oh wait wrong game, my bad it sounded like another game... though that sounds like another game and another game... and another game... and another game.
All jokes asside, it does have lots of stuff to do if your really into the game. Not as much as many of its other competitors, but its likely to gain more over time, and at least it doesn't cost monthly.
Novice Member
Joined: 8/03/12
Originally posted by Purutzil
Yep. And I think there will be more down the line.
Advanced Member
Joined: 7/31/06
I had more fun in DAoC's PvE, at least people grouped up and you had to rely on each other. It was far from perfect, but it was an mmo. MMOs these days are just single player games with a shared environment.
I became lvl80 a week ago and I love the game more and more each day! Just got my endgame gear (transmuted T3 Norn cultural to exotic), lvled my crafting disciplines to 400, now slowly unlocking more stuff (working on 100% map now, I'm only at 35%, then I want more cultural weapon and armor skins, more bank and invo slots, all the armor dye colors, etc). No time for an alt yet. Maybe in 2013... Too much to do on my main, haha.
Apprentice Member
Joined: 1/27/12
Originally posted by SnarlingWolf
Been reading the last couple pages, and I must agree with you on RvR vs WvW.
I guess we are "bitter old DAoC vets" even though i'm only 20.
Most people that don't like DAoC's PvP disliked its CC, but that's the only form of controlling a zerg that works. Siege is limited in GW2, which is great, and it CAN hold out against a zerg, but even a 10 seconds mesmerize would IMO be great, you still have all your condition removals you can use to purge them, but it needs something.
I know what DAoC brought to the table. It's par none one of the best PvP games made, ONE of the best, i'm not claiming king, but one of the best made.
I know what it brought, I experienced it all, groups from 2 to 150, I know it. I knew the enemy leaders better than they did :) (looking at you billings and clumsy), they ran the same type of zerg for years, and I found counters to each scenario.
My point, While i like GW2's interpretation of DAoC's RvR (that's undeniable), there are things that would make it better IMO. Does it mean I don't like GW2? No it's actualy the only MMO i'm playing.
I could write a huge long essay on things to do differently, and why certain area's don't allow certain types of gameplay, simple things like swiftness, would really increase the potential of small mans being effective. i'm talking 2 people, not 8.
Others as well, but none-the-less i'm just a bitter young DAoC vet.
The "Youtube Pro": Someone who watches video's on said subject, and obviously has a full understanding of what is being said about such subject.
The release of this game has certainly been one of my favorite experiences in gaming. I'm around 125 hours on my main character and I feel like I've seen only a fraction of what the game has to offer. The prospect of having new zones to explore is extremely exciting, and based on how Anet has handled things so far, I'm assured of their quality and beauty.
Likewise, the combat is rather enjoyable. The game does have an Action-RPG feel to it, which adds to its fluidity and enjoyment. The crafting is also fairly deep and accentuates the exploration focus of the game. The addition of the mystic forge and legendary make an already desirable system even better. Combine that with the well done interface functionality, and I'm in love.
There are few points I think could be improved. First, I would like to see the trait system more flexible. Having to pay for retraits goes against the goals of the game and doesn't provide for the situational flexibility that the first one had. Not having an ability to subtract and add, then save the build also detriments an otherwise good system.
The trading post is a good start and a welcome feature. The functionality behind it is solid, but it could use an interface lift.
Another concern I have is the condition of early level dynamic events that don't provide worthwhile rewards. Additionally, dynamic event rewards should have class based rewards.
Advanced Member
Joined: 1/14/04
Originally posted by Torgrim
I dont have fun playing this game,therfore have not played for about 3 weeks,hope some things changes in game soon so it get more fun
Apprentice Member
Joined: 3/02/12
There are many things great about the game; graphic, art, music, dynamic events, story, big world, big cities, a lot of things to do, and many more.
Sadly, for me, there are some fundamental flaws in the game's design :
- No real character progression and, as a result of this, no long term goal, to set for myself, that would give me a reason to invest time and effort in the game. Mabey I'm missing something, but I feel like I'm going nowhere whenever I play.
- No challenge in playing - I don't mean that the game is easy. What I mean is that, for me, there is no satisfaction after winninng a hard fight. This is true for both PvE and PvP. I think that it's becouse fights feel completly random. Sometimes, I just use all the skills randomly (including weapon switching and all utility skills) and it seems to be just as effective, as playing "properly" and trying to use some strategy. Also, in PvE, death has (almost) no consequence and you go to "downed state" before dying. This makes fights so trivial, that its hard for me to pay attention to what's actually going on.
- No need for interaction between players - many people brought it up in many threads already and I have to agree. No healers, no need for groups, no open world PvP, no need to talk, you can't even fight for recourses, becouse everybody get's their own. The only reason for interaction, that comes to my mind, is roleplaying.
- Separate maps for PvE, sPvP, WvW and instant travel fom anywhere to waypoints that there are waaay to many of. It makes the game feel like a lobby game more than a seamless, open world.
This is just my small, private rant, so don't feel discouraged in any way by it. I still think that the game is very solid and ArenaNet did a good job. I just think that it's veeeery casual and veeeery solo-friendly, and it may fail to keep attention of people, that have been playing MMORPGs for years.
Also, sorry if my english is terrible and you have no idea about what I'm trying to say.
Novice Member
Joined: 3/19/04
219 hours in the last 24 days...highest level toon 55 with only 32% of the world explored..I need to walk away from this thing every now and then
I have no plan when I play , I just wander the world doing whatever I feel like at that moment, not trying to level really. That is the beauty of the game for me. No pressure to make another level so I can get to the "mythical" end game./ Got 5 toons, may play 1 or all of them in an evening
Oh and on the no life thing, just checked one of the games persitant trolls posting history...over 500 posts on a account made a year and a half ago ...all of them telling how bad GW2 was going to be / is bad. talk about needing a life
I miss DAoC
Originally posted by Jackdog
Spotlight Poster
Joined: 2/27/09
Loving it :).
Seems like self fulfilling prophecy is in full effect on these boards. Most people that railed against GW2 prior to release wound up not liking it (surprise, surprise). And most people that were fans of GW2 prior to release, wound up enjoying it.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?


text:
Surgical Treatment Of Recto-Urinary Fistula - York Mason Technique (SIU 2011)
- uploaded: Aug 22, 2011
- Views: 454
Institution:Department of Urology, Department of General Surgery, Amadora, Portugal
Introduction: Recto-urinary fistulas resulting from trauma or surgery are a serious and debilitating complication. They represent a challenge not only because of the difficulty on choosing the best technique to solve them but also because of the risk of recurrence. Spontaneous cure is rare. Materials and Methods: We describe the case of a 61 years old man that on the 9th postoperative day of a laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) started with fecaluria and liquid faeces. Recto-urinary fistula was confirmed at the 10th post-operative day by CT scan and contrast enema. Discussion: We chose the York-Mason technique, because it is simple to perform, effective and has minimal morbidity. This is a posterior, transrectal and transsphincteric approach, carried out on healthy tissues without previous scarring phenomena. Results: The postoperative period progressed without complications and the patient discharged on the 4th day. The closure of the fistula was confirmed radiologically by retrograde cystography after 4 weeks allowing the removal of drainage catheter. The reconstruction of intestinal transit was carried out 2 months later. Conclusion: The York-Mason technique, a transrectal and transsphincteric approach with minimal morbidity, proved to be effective on the resolution of the recto-urinary fistula, a rare complication of the radical prostatectomy.
0 comments
No comments yet.
0 comments
No comments yet.


text:
Sette Canoni Enigmatici
Sette Canoni Enigmatici composed by Donald Martino (1931-2005). Clarinet quartet. For 2 Bb Clarinets, Alto Clarinet, Bass Clarinet. This edition: Playing score. Contemporary Classical. Contemporary Classical. Grade 6. Sheet Music. Published by Dantalian, Inc. (DA.DSE526C).
Originally Nove Canoni, a gift to his teacher Luigi Dallappicola. Later instrumental designations were decided upon. Puzzle Canons with various solutions. DSE526b and c may be combined to make mixed quartet ensembles (1955, 12 minutes).


text:
Thanks for redeeming.{{else}}
Success! Thanks for repurchasing.{{/if}} {{else}} {{#if Expired}}
Increase my visibility!{{else}} {{#if IsMultiPack}}
{{#if HasMultiPack}} You have {{MultiPackCount}} top spot(s) left. Now loading you into the search listings... {{else}} You have used all top spots. Now loading you into the search listings... {{/if}}{{else}}
We are loading you into the search listing pages...{{/if}} {{/if}} {{/if}} {{/if}}
{{Current}} just saw you!{{/if}} {{#if LastTopSpotPurchaseIsMulti }} {{#if HasAnyTopSpot}}
{{#if HasFreeTopSpot }} {{ UnclaimedTopSpotFree }} Free {{/if}} {{#if HasPaidTopSpot }} {{#if HasFreeTopSpot }} & {{/if}} {{ MultiPackCount }} {{/if}} Top Spot{{#if Plural}}s{{/if}} Left{{else}}
0 Top Spot{{#if Plural}}s{{/if}} Left{{/if}} {{else}} {{#if HasFreeTopSpot }}
{{ UnclaimedTopSpotFree }} Top Spot{{#if Plural}}s{{/if}} Left{{/if}} {{/if}} {{else}} {{#if HasResults}}
{{Current}} see you now!{{else}} {{/if}} {{/if}}
You can now invite anyone to meet at your favorite Starbucks.
Limited-time feature
27 year old man | Manhattan, NY, USA | Seeking women 18-24 within 30 miles
Looking for the girl that that I'll like so much I put a ring on her
The Story behind me… I knew I was different at the age of like 6 partially due to the fact that I would lend money to relatives and charged a five percent interest. At 12 I learned about my ridiculous ability to break things down to its simplest points, (by this point took apart a computer, keyboard, and radio, but in my defense they were broken and I fixed them). At 16 I learned I could write, and was a decent auditor, by 18 I had grown a vast knowledge of music and have been known to bust out in dance and song. Recently I am finding my inner Sage, the world is quite an interesting thing through my eyes. (If you ever watched Scrubs, I am kind of like John Dorian aka JD) Fast forward to present day I am your not so average Gentlemen, bent on creating smiles and a better world everywhere I go. My friends when asked to describe me I am eccentric, have a Big Heart, Black but speak proper ( I do understand and speak slang, but my dad a college professor among other things at 7 he gave me a encyclopedia twice my weight.), Musical wealth of knowledge, Mr. Nice Guy, Casanova. So what qualifies me to be that guy? Well beside the fact that I can have entire sentences in musical lyrics from random artist, I am laid back, I pay attention to detail and retain the important things, people and dates. If it matters to you no matter how ridiculous it may seem at first to me, it will matter to me as well, because it matters to you. I apparently have a calming effect in scenarios, so I can help bring down nervous situations (Maybe that's due to my quick thinking.) While I never would want to see you cry, I would be there to sit in silence with you until we can talk about it. I look to look into someone eyes and see what the soul holds, because a beautiful soul just seems to radiate a person. Good with children (help change a lot of dippers; I have a village full of cousins). I love to travel and looking for that person I can turn to be and be like wow, this is amazing you saw that right? My ideal match is driven, feisty, has a quirky personality and a girl next door vibe. She must like to read, and love to dance, and enjoy different types of music. Not close-minded and willing to try something or experience certain things once before saying you just don't like it. Must have similar moral standards. It would be nice to for her to like to travel and explore the world with. Enjoy an old fashion cheese burger( Shows she is down to Earth) Likes to eat healthy ( If we can't agree on something as simple as food, it just limits connection). Open communication, and ability to call me out on my B.S. Guess at end of day looking for that girl that after a long day at work and life you can't help but smile seeing their face.
Coffee and conversation , Business networking , Cooking , Dining out , Hobbies and crafts , Movies/Videos , Museums and art , Music and concerts , Exploring new areas , Performing arts , Playing cards , Political interests , Religion/Spiritual , Travel/Sightseeing , Video games , Volunteering , Watching sports , Wine tasting
Baseball, Basketball, Billiards / Pool, Cycling, Football, Martial arts, Other types of exercise, Running, Soccer, Swimming, VolleyBall, Walking / Hiking
I exercise 3-4 times per week.
I like Birds, Cats, Dogs, Exotic Pets, Fish, Horses
That new car smell, the taste of the perfect fruit salad, a juicy medium Swizz bacon burger, The satisfaction of a job well done, seeing a person smile, when my itunes plays the right songs off the Genius playlist, enjoying the sights of the world
The Usual, Jumping out of planes, racing cars, Martial Arts, but on the slower side of the things, a museum, laying on grass and watching clouds go by, playing sports, just hanging out with good company or book.
The Book Thief, Digital Fortress, and The Alchemist.
Z{{Cta}} {{#if HasMoreInfo}} ?{{CtaSecondary}} {{/if}}
|What he is looking for
|5'9" (175cms)
|3'0" (91cms) to 5'11" (180cms)
|Body type:
|Athletic and toned
|Slender, About average, Curvy, Athletic and toned
|No preference
|No preference
|No Way
|No Way
|Social Drinker
|Never, Social Drinker, Moderately
|Executive / Management
|No preference
|$75,001 to $100,000
|No preference
|Never Married
|Never Married
|Have kids:
|No, Yes, and they live away from home
|Wants kids:
|Definitely, Someday, Not sure
|Black / African descent
|No preference
Carribean/ American
|Christian / Other
|Christian / Catholic, Christian / LDS, Christian / Protestant, Spiritual but not religious, Other, Christian / Other
|English, Other
|English, Other
|Bachelors degree
|No preference
Biology Major, Math Minor


text:
Thanks for redeeming.{{else}}
Success! Thanks for repurchasing.{{/if}} {{else}} {{#if Expired}}
Increase my visibility!{{else}} {{#if IsMultiPack}}
{{#if HasMultiPack}} You have {{MultiPackCount}} top spot(s) left. Now loading you into the search listings... {{else}} You have used all top spots. Now loading you into the search listings... {{/if}}{{else}}
We are loading you into the search listing pages...{{/if}} {{/if}} {{/if}} {{/if}}
{{Current}} just saw you!{{/if}} {{#if LastTopSpotPurchaseIsMulti }} {{#if HasAnyTopSpot}}
{{#if HasFreeTopSpot }} {{ UnclaimedTopSpotFree }} Free {{/if}} {{#if HasPaidTopSpot }} {{#if HasFreeTopSpot }} & {{/if}} {{ MultiPackCount }} {{/if}} Top Spot{{#if Plural}}s{{/if}} Left{{else}}
0 Top Spot{{#if Plural}}s{{/if}} Left{{/if}} {{else}} {{#if HasFreeTopSpot }}
{{ UnclaimedTopSpotFree }} Top Spot{{#if Plural}}s{{/if}} Left{{/if}} {{/if}} {{else}} {{#if HasResults}}
{{Current}} see you now!{{else}} {{/if}} {{/if}}
You can now invite anyone to meet at your favorite Starbucks.
Limited-time feature
41 year old woman | Yuba City, CA, USA | Seeking men 38-48 within 50 miles of San Leandro, CA
Good woman looking for more in life
Lets see,about me.... I enjoy life and the finer things it has to offer my children and I! Im out going and up front, sometimes to up front as my family tells me! I would like to meet someone with the same interest as me. Its fun to hang out and learn about each other when you are doing something that both parties enjoy. I do tend to be busy with working and going to school full time, Yes i said school! Looking to broaden my horizons. I enjoy traveling and try to do that as often as possible. The great outdoors is beautiful to me and like going camping, anything that has to do with water Im there! If I am not out having fun with the kids and family then we are at home clowning around. Let me tell you, I can have you laughing so hard tears will come! Now dont get me wrong, home is fun but once in a while getting dressed up and going out is great. Its good for the soul! If you want to know more about me, email me. :) Always willing to talk. I would like to meet someone who is willing to get to know a woman and not just jump right into the bed. That's not me. Needs to be free. No EX'S that are still in the picture. Someone who knows what he wants and is not going to play any games. P.S. I do have more pictures, just have not have a chance to upload them yet. can email if you like.
Other types of exercise
I exercise 1-2 times per week.
I have Cats, Dogs
unspoken by Lisa Jackson
Z{{Cta}} {{#if HasMoreInfo}} ?{{CtaSecondary}} {{/if}}
|What she is looking for
|5'8" (172cms)
|5'10" (177cms) to 8'11" (271cms)
|Body type:
|No preference
|No preference
|Dark brown
|No preference
|No preference
|Social Drinker
|No preference
|Education / Teacher / Professor
|No preference
|I'll tell you later
|No preference
|Widow / Widower
|Never Married, Widow / Widower, Divorced
|Have kids:
|Yes, and they live at home (2)
|No preference
|Wants kids:
|I'll tell you later
|No preference
|No preference
|Christian / Other
|No preference
|Some college
|No preference


text: No recent wiki edits to this page. The shocking events of JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST leave Booster Gold bloody and beaten, and the only way for him to put right what went wrong and save the people he loves is to travel back into the past. But what happens when Booster comes face-to-face with himself and Justice League International?"


text:
A method and device for extrapolating past signal-history data for insertion into missing data segments in order to conceal digital speech frame errors. The extrapolation method uses past-signal history that is stored in a buffer. The method is implemented with a device that utilizes a finite-impulse response (FIR) multi-layer feed-forward artificial neural network that is trained by back-propagation for one-step extrapolation of speech compression algorithm (SCA) parameters. Once a speech connection has been established, the speech compression algorithm device begins sending encoded speech frames. As the speech frames are received, they are decoded and converted back into speech signal voltages. During the normal decoding process, pre-processing of the required SCA parameters will occur and the results stored in the past-history buffer. If a speech frame is detected to be lost or in error, then extrapolation modules are executed and replacement SCA parameters are generated and sent as the parameters required by the SCA. In this way, the information transfer to the SCA is transparent, and the SCA processing continues as usual. The listener will not normally notice that a speech frame has been lost because of the smooth transition between the last-received, lost, and next-received speech frames.
1. A loss-tolerant speech decoder that receives speech frame parameters according to a speech compression algorithm, said decoder comprising:
a frame error detector, said frame error detector capable of discriminating between properly received speech frame parameters and parameters that are lost or corrupted, said frame error detector further capable of issuing a signal upon receipt of lost or corrupted speech frame parameters,
a parameter decoder, said parameter decoder capable of decoding said received speech frame parameters to make decoded speech frames,
a buffer, said buffer used to store a history of said decoded speech frames received by said buffer from said parameter decoder,
a speech filter, said speech filter capable of generating replacement speech frame parameters that are written to said parameter decoder upon issuance of said signal from said frame error code detector upon receipt of a lost or corrupted speech frame,
wherein said replacement speech frame parameters take the place of lost or corrupted speech frame parameters received by said decoder in order to conceal said lost or corrupted speech frame parameters.
2. A speech decoder as in claim 1 wherein said speech filter has a plurality of neural networks.
3. A speech decoder as in claim 2 wherein said neural networks are multi-layer feed-forward neural networks.
4. A speech decoder as in claim 3 wherein said neural networks are finite-impulse response multi-layer feed-forward neural networks.
5. A speech decoder as in claim 2 wherein said neural networks are trained by the back-propagation method.
6. A speech decoder as in claim 5 wherein said back-propagation training includes the addition of input nodes.
7. A speech decoder as in claim 2 wherein at least one neural network is designated for the energy characteristics of said speech frame parameters.
8. A speech decoder as in claim 2 wherein at least one neural network is designated for the voicing characteristics of said speech frame parameters.
9. A speech decoder as in claim 2 wherein at least one neural network is designated for the pitch characteristics of said speech frame parameters.
10. A speech decoder as in claim 2 wherein at least one neural network is designated for the low frequency envelope characteristics of said speech frame parameters.
11. A speech decoder as in claim 2 wherein at least one neural network is designated for the medium frequency envelope characteristics of said speech frame parameters.
12. A speech decoder as in claim 2 wherein at least one neural network is designated for the high frequency envelope characteristics of said speech frame parameters.
13. A speech decoder as in claim 2 wherein said speech filter generates replacement speech frame parameters based upon said history of said decoded speech frames stored in said buffer.
14. A speech decoder as in claim 1 wherein said buffer receives decoded speech frame information from said speech filter.
15. A speech decoder as in claim 1 wherein a speech compression algorithm synthesizer receives decoded parameters from said parameter decoder and transforms said decoded parameters into speech signal voltages that are then output to a listener.
16. A speech decoder as in claim 1 wherein said replacement speech frame parameters from said speech filter are reformatted in a back-calculation device to conform to an input format of said parameter decoder before said replacement speech frame parameters are written to said parameter decoder.
17. A speech decoder as in claim 1 wherein said decoded parameters received by said parameter decoder are first reformatted in a calculation device to conform to a format acceptable to said buffer before being stored in said buffer.
The present invention was made in the performance of work under a NASA contract and is subject to the provisions of Section 305 of the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, Public Law 85-568 (72 Stat. 435, 42 U.S.C. 2457). The Phase I contract number was NAS 9-18870, NASA Patent Case No. MSC-22426-1-SB and the Phase II contract number is NAS 9-19108.
The present invention relates to telecommunication systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and device that compensates for lost signal packets in order to improve the quality of signal transmission over wireless telecommunication systems and packet switched networks.
Modern telecommunications are based on digital transmission of signals. For example, in FIG. 1, analog vocal impulses from a person 12 are sent through an analog-to-digital coder 14 that makes digital representations 16, 17 of the sender's message. The digital representation is then transmitted to a listener's receiver where the digital signal is decoded by means of a decoder 18. The decoded signal is used to activate a standard speaker in the listener's headset 20 that faithfully reproduces the sender's message. In some instances, the digital representations 16 may be lost in transit whereas other digital representations 17 arrive correctly.
Speech is sampled, quantized, and coded digitally for transmission. There are two main types of coders-decoders (codecs) used for speech signals: waveform coders, and vocoders (from voice-coders). The waveform coders attempt to approximate the original signal voltage waveform. Vocoders, on the other hand, do not try to approximate the original voltage waveform. Instead, vocoders try to encode the speech sound as perceived by the listener.
Some early waveform coder designs, such as the Abate adaptive delta-modulation codec used on the U.S. Space Shuttle, combined error mitigation in the coding of speech samples themselves. See Donald L. Schilling, Joseph Garodnick, and Harold A. Vang, "Voice Encoding for the Space Shuttle Using Adaptive Delta Modulation," IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. COM-26, No. 11 (November 1978). Similarly, some error-control coding schemes, such as the convolution coder, mitigate errors at the bit level.
Vocoders typically encode speech by processing speech frames between 10 to 30 ms in length, and by estimating parameters over this window based on an assumed speech production model. Additionally, the development of forward-error correction, such as Reed-Solomon, and advances in vocoder quality have led to frame-based error-control, speech coding/compression and concealment of errors.
Conventional vocoders are designed to minimize the required bit rate or bandwidth needed to transmit speech. Consequently, speech compression algorithms are used to reduce the number of bits that must be transmitted. Instead of transmitting the coded bits that represent the speech waveform, only the parameters of the speech compression algorithm are transmitted. All suitable decoders must be able to read the speech compression algorithms parameters in order to recreate the coded bits that faithfully reproduce voice messages.
Digital cellular and asynchronous networks transmit digital information (data) in the form of packets called speech frames. On occasion, digital cellular and "PCS" wireless speech communication channels lose speech frame data due to a variety of reasons, such as signal fading, signal interference, and obstruction of the signal between the transmitter and the receiver. A similar problem arises in asynchronous packet networks, when a particular speech frame is delayed excessively due to random variations in packet routing, or lost entirely in transit due to buffer overflow at intermediate nodes. The popular transport control protocol (known usually as TCP/IP, which includes the Internet Protocol header) guarantees that the packets transmitted will be received (so long as the connection remains open) in the order in which they were sent. TCP also guarantees that the data received is error-free. What TCP does not guarantee is the timeliness of the delivery of the packet. Therefore, TCP or any re-transmission scheme cannot meet the real-time delivery constraints of speech conversations. See W. R. Stevens, "TCP/IP Illustrated, Vol. 1, The Protocols," Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Reading Mass., 1994. All of these problems result in the loss or corruption of speech frames for voice transmission. These "frame-loss" and "frame-error" conditions cause a significant drop in speech quality and intelligibility.
Prior art digital wireless telecommunication systems and asynchronous networks have employed various techniques to alleviate the degradation of speech quality due to frame-loss and frame-error. There are five techniques employed in prior art systems. These five techniques are called: "do nothing", "zero substitution," "parameter repeat," "frame repeat," and "parameter interpolation."
The "do nothing" method does just that--nothing. A corrupted speech frame is simply passed along without any attempt at error-correction or error-concealment. The decoder processes the speech data as if it were correctly received (without error), even though some of the bits are in error. Likewise, no effort is made to conceal the loss of a speech frame. The "signal" presented to the user in the case of a lost speech frame is simply that of "dead air" which sounds like static noise.
The "zero substitution" method works specifically for lost speech frames. With this technique, a period of silence is substituted for lost speech frames. Unlike the "do nothing" method, where the "dead air" sounds like static noise, the lost speech frames under the zero substitution method sound like gaps. Unfortunately, the sound gaps under the zero substitution method tend to chop up a telephone conversation and cause the listener to perceive "clicks" which they find annoying. In some cases, playing the garbled data is preferable to inserting silence for the frames in error. Furthermore, if any subsequent speech coding is performed on the information, then the effects of the error will propagate downstream of the decoder. Many low bit rate coders do use past history data to code the information.
The "parameter repeat" method simply repeats previously received coding parameters. The coding parameters come from previously received speech frame packets. In other words, the parameter repeat method simply repeats the last received frame until non-corrupted speech frames are again received. Repeating the previously received coding parameters is better than the techniques of doing nothing and inserting silence. However, listeners complain that the speech received via the parameter repeat method is synthetic, mechanical, or unnatural. If too many frames are lost, a considerable decrease in quality can be heard. Despite these drawbacks, the parameter repeat method is the most widely used frame-error concealment technique.
The "frame repeat" method is like the parameter repeat method, except that the previously received frame is repeated--in pitch--synchronously with the last-known-good speech frame. The downside to the frame repeat method is that there is usually a discontinuity at the boundary between the lost and the next received frame which causes a click to be heard by the listener. Unfortunately, real-time speech has strict end-to-end timing requirements, that make retransmission of speech frames to the receiver undesirable and impractical.
The "parameter interpolation" method receives the last-known-good speech frame and waits until the next-known-good speech frame is received. Once the next-known-good speech frame is received, an interpolation is made to create intermediate speech frame that is inserted to fill the gap in time between the last-known-good speech frame and the next-known-good speech frame. While the parameter interpolation method can yield significantly improved quality of speech, it is only effective for one lost frame (up to 30 ms) and an additional frame-delay is introduced in the decoder. The problem with this method, and all other prior art speech decoders, is that they fail to maintain acceptable speech quality when digital data is lost.
An illustration of the aforesaid techniques is shown in FIG. 2.
During the late 1980's and early 1990's, the University of Kansas Telecommunication and Information Sciences Laboratory (TISL) explored the use of priority-discarding techniques for use in congestion control in integrated (voice-data) packet networks by detecting the onset of congestion and discarding speech packets that contained "redundant" low-priority information that could "possibly" be extrapolated. See D. W. Petr, L. A. DaSilva, Jr., and V. S. Frost, "Priority Discarding of Speech in Integrated Packet Networks," IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, Vol. 7, No. 5, June 1989; and L. A. DaSilva, D. W. Petr, and V. S. Frost, "A Class-Oriented Replacement Technique for Lost Speech Packets," IEEE CH2702-9/89/0000/1098 (1989). The solution then found was based on classifying the speech packets, and developing replacement techniques for each of the four classes of speech (background noise, voiced, fricatives, and other noise). The techniques that were developed for the concealment of lost speech packets were moderately successful at maintaining the quality for background noise, fricatives, and the "other noise" classes. Unfortunately, this work did not find a lost packet replacement technique for voiced speech packets that maintained an acceptable perceived quality to the listener. An alternative voice speech packet approximation method was disclosed in a masters thesis by Jaime L. Prieto entitled "A Varying Time-Frequency Model Applied to Voiced Speech Based on Higher-Order Spectral Representations" which was published on Mar. 5, 1991. The technique disclosed in the Prieto thesis used linear-prediction as a parameter-based pitch and frequency-domain extrapolation of the spectral envelope. The linear-prediction technique was only moderately successful in generating replacement speech for lost frames and is now known as the linear-prediction magnitude and pitch extrapolation (LPMPE) technique.
There is, therefore, a need in the art for a frame-error and frame-concealment technique that improves sound quality and intelligibility. There is also a need in the art for a frame-error and frame-loss concealment technique that does not impose a time delay on real-time data transmissions. It is an object of the present invention to overcome the limitations of the prior art. It is a further object of the present invention to increase the quality of speech in a frame-error or frame-loss environment compared to all prior art frame error/loss concealment techniques.
The present invention solves the problems inherent in the prior art techniques. The present invention uses an extrapolation technique that employs past-signal history that is stored in a buffer. The extrapolation technique models the dynamics of speech production in order to conceal digital speech frame errors. The technique of the present invention utilizes a finite-impulse response (FIR) multi-layer feed-forward artificial neural network trained by back-propagation for one-step extrapolation of speech compression algorithm parameters.
Once a speech connection has been established, the speech compression algorithm (SCA) device will begin sending encoded speech frames. As the speech frames are received, they are decoded and converted back into speech signal voltages. During the normal decoding process, the present invention will pre-process the required SCA parameters and store them in a past-history buffer. If a speech frame is detected to be lost or in error, then the present invention's extrapolation modules are executed and replacement SCA parameters are generated and sent as the parameters required by the SCA. In this way, the information transfer to the SCA is transparent, and the SCA processing continues unaffected. The listener will not normally notice that a speech frame has been lost because of the smooth transition between the last-received, lost, and next-received speech frames.
FIG. 1 illustrates the loss of speech frames in the reception of digital wireless networks.
FIG. 2 illustrates the prior art frame-loss concealment techniques.
FIG. 3 illustrates a wireless telecommunication channel used with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 shows the parameters used in the prior art STC encoded bit-stream.
FIG. 5 illustrates the functional relationship of elements of the prior art STC.
FIG. 6 illustrates the functional arrangement of an SCA decoder that is modified with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of the general operation of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of the functional process of an embodiment of the present invention that generates replacement speech frame parameters in the event that a speech frame is lost or corrupted.
FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of the functional process that trains the neural network of and embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 10 illustrates the architecture of a finite-impulse response (FIR) multi-layer feed forward neural network (MFFNN) of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 11 shows the input/output arrangement of the energy neural network of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 12 shows the input/output arrangement of the voicing neural network of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 13 shows the input/output arrangement of the pitch neural network of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 14 shows the input/output arrangement of the low frequency (LF) envelope neural network of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 15 shows the input/output arrangement of the medium frequency (MF) envelope neural network of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 16 shows the input/output arrangement of the high frequency (HF) envelope neural network of an embodiment of the present invention.
The present invention will work for any "channel" based system. Referring to the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) model, the present invention functions in the "transport layer" or layer 4. See A. S. Tanenbaum, "Computer Networks," Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1988. The transport layer provides the end-users with a pre-defined quality of service (QOS). The present invention may be used in conjunction with a speech compression algorithm (SCA) in any wireless, and packet speech communication system. The present invention should be activated at any time a digital phone is "off-hook" and when frame-errors are detected. The present invention relies on a frame-error detection service provided by the lower communication levels.
As shown in FIG. 3, the channel-based receiver system 30 has an antenna 32, an amplifier 34, a demodulator 36, and an error control coding device 38. The signal received by the antenna is processed by the amplifier 34, the demodulator 36 and is checked by the error control coding device 38. The resulting signal is then sent to the speech decoder 18 and, if the signal is received correctly, the decoder 18 decodes the signal for presentation to the listener on headset 20. The present invention 40 interacts with the speech decoder 18 by receiving a copy of the received signal from the error control coding device 38 and, in the case of a lost speech frame, extrapolating new speech frame data based upon past-history data and supplying the new data to the speech decoder 18 in order to conceal the absence of the lost speech frames.
A suitable embodiment of the present invention may be implemented on a Texas Instruments TMS320C31-based digital signal processing (DSP) board. A suitable coder for use with the present invention is the Sinusoidal Transform Coder (STC) that was developed at the Lincoln Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The STC algorithm uses a sinusoidal model with amplitudes, frequencies, and phases derived from a high resolution analysis of the short-term Fourier transform. A harmonic set of frequencies is used as a replacement for the periodicity of the input speech. Pitch, voicing, and sine wave amplitudes are transmitted to the receiver. Conventional methods are used to code the pitch and voicing, and the sine wave amplitudes are coded by fitting a set of cepstral coefficients to an envelope of the amplitude. See MA. Kohler, L. M. Supplee, T. E. Tremain, in "Progress Towards a New Government Standard 2400 BPS Voice Coder," Proceedings IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, pp. 488-491, May 1995.
The STC encoded bit-stream, along with the bit allocations for each parameter, are shown in FIG. 4. Note that an STC frame is generated every 30 ms. The total size of the STC frame is 72 bits, so the coding rate is indeed 2400 bps. See R. J. McAulay, T. F. Quatieri, "The Application of Subband Coding to Improve Quality and Robustness of the Sinusoidal Transform Coder," Proceedings IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, pp. II-439-II-446, April 1993; R. J. McAulay, T. F. Quatieri, "The Sinusoidal Transform Coder at 2400 b/s," IEEE 0-7803-0585-X/92 15.6.1 to 15.6.3, 1992.
FIG. 5 shows the general functions of the encoding side of the digital transmission. The prior art coder 50 has an analog-to-digital converter 52 that digitizes the speech waveform. The digitized speech frame is then sent through the speech compression algorithm 54 in order to reduce the number of bits needed to be transmitted. The speech compression algorithm 54 produces floating point parameters that represent the speech waveform. Next, the floating point parameters are encoded by the speech compression algorithm encoder 56. Finally, the quantized parameters are broadcast onto the channel (in channel-frame format) by ECC 58.
FIG. 6 show the general arrangement of functional elements of the decoder 60 with the LTSD 70 of the present invention that composes the decoding side of the digital transmission. FIG. 7 shows the steps of operation. As with prior art decoders, the decoder 60 has an error control detector 62 which is used to detect lost or corrupted speech frames (corresponding to error control decoder device 38 in FIG. 3). As with all SCA devices, a parameter decoder 64 is provided which reverses the process of the SCA coder 56 of FIG. 5. Properly decoded speech frames are sent to the SCA synthesizer 66 which outputs the reconstructed speech to the listener. The elements comprising the LTSD 70 of the present invention are the intelligent speech filter (ISF) 76, which generates extrapolated parameters that replace the lost or corrupted parameters detected by the error control detector 62. The LTSD 70 also has a buffer 78 that stores the past-history speech information. The ISF 76, which is a collection of FIR multi-layer feed-forward neural networks (MFFNN), uses the information in the past-history buffer 78 for the generation of extrapolated parameters that replace the lost or corrupted parameters. Pre-and post-processing of the ISF 76 data are handled by two calculation devices, 72 and 74. The back-calculation device 72 is used to reformat the output of the ISF 76 into a format that is readable by the parameter decoder 64. The calculation device 74 is used to reformat, continuously, the output of the parameter decoder 64 into a format suitable for the past history buffer 78. Note that the LTSD 70 of the present invention is located in the receiver/decoder so that the SCA bit-stream (shown in FIG. 4) is not modified. This arrangement, and the use of the back-calculation 72 and calculation device 74, enables the LTSD 70 to be used with a variety of SCA devices.
FIG. 7 shows the operation of this embodiment of the present invention. In step 80, the input bit-stream that composes the speech frame is received. Many SCA decoders are setup to decode and frame-fill the frame, even if the frame has bit-errors. For this reason, in step 82, the received bit-stream is interrogated in order to determine if it is lost or corrupted. If the frame is deemed correctly received, then, in step 84, the parameters are decoded to reverse the process of the SCA coder 56 of FIG. 5. In step 84, the voicing probability, the gain, the pitch, and the line-spectral pairs (LSP) are available. The LSPs are converted to all-pole coefficients, which are then converted to cepstral coefficients. In step 86, the decoded parameters are synthesized in order to convert the decoded parameters into speech signal voltages that are then output to the listener in step 88. In the event that the received frame is lost or corrupted, then a replacement speech frame is generated in step 90 within the intelligent speech filter. The output of the intelligent speech filter is first reformatted in step 92 to conform to the input format of the parameter decoder (64 of FIG. 6), and then routed to the parameter decoder for the performance of step 84 as above. In all cases, the output of step 84 is stored in the past history buffer during step 96 after first being reformatted to conform to the format of the past-history buffer in step 94. The information stored in the past history buffer (78 of FIG. 6) is used in step 90 for the generation of replacement speech frames. Replacement speech frames generated during step 90 are also routed to the past history buffer and stored within the buffer during step 96. With this method, the listener will not normally notice that a speech frame has been lost because of the smooth transition between the last-received, lost, and next-received speech frames.
An embodiment of the present invention is connected to the STC at 2400 bps to create the LT-STC. The LT-STC program is ported to an electronic programmable read-only memory (EPROM) module for installation on the C31-based board. Power is provided in a stand-alone mode, e.g., with a cellular battery. The present invention can be modified to function with other speech compression algorithms.
An embodiment of the present invention uses a matrix of finite-impulse response (FIR) filters expanded into the input and hidden layers of a multi-layer feed-forward neural network trained by the well-known back-propagation algorithm in order to extrapolate each of the SCA parameters. The back-propagation neural network training is based on an "iterative version of the simple least-squares method, called a steepest-decent technique." See J. A. Freeman, D. M. Skapura, "neural Networks--Algorithms, Applications, and Programming Techniques," Addison Wesley Publishing Company, Reeding Mass., 1991. The preferred embodiment of the present invention employs an "intelligent speech predictor" in which the movement of the vocal tract and other speech parameters are continued for the generation of speech frames that substitute lost speech frames.
The Concealment Technique
During step 84 of FIG. 7, if the frame has been received (or a replacement frame generated by the ISF), then the cepstral coefficients are converted to a linear magnitude spectral envelope, and the present invention will process the frame in step 94 in order to un-queue the necessary information for the past-history buffers for each of the STC parameters.
The details of step 90 of FIG. 7 are illustrated in FIG. 8. The first step 100 in the extrapolation phase is to load up the input vectors to the MFFNN. In the next step 102, the intelligent speech filter (ISF) prediction and post-processing is performed in order to determine the extrapolation parameters. In step 104, the sum of the extrapolated envelope magnitudes is calculated (at multiples of Fint =15.67 Hz frequencies of observation). In step 106, the target envelope is normalized to ensure that the extrapolated envelope is a probability mass function (PMF) (i.e., the sum of the envelope component is equal to one). In the fifth step 108, the "states" of the system, such as voice-activity, voicing, energy states, and the number of consecutive lost and received frames are all updated. Sixth, in step 110, all of the required SCA frame inputs to the MFFNN's are pre-processed and stored in the past-history buffer for each required SCA parameter. Finally, in step 112, the extrapolated spectral envelope is scaled to the extrapolated energy (or gain) for the current frame. This concludes the steps necessary for frame-error concealment for the current lost frame.
FIR Multi-layer Feed-Forward Networks (MFFNN)
The finite-impulse response (FIR) multi-layer feed-forward neural network (MFFNN) can be transformed into a "standard" MFFNN that may be trained by back-propagation by adding additional input nodes for each one of the tap-delayed signals used. The addition of input nodes is commonly done, for example, in the time-delayed neural network (TDNN).
The following section is borrowed from Simon Haykin's chapter on Temporal Processing. See Simon Haykin, "Neural Networks, A Comprehensive Foundation," McMillan College Publishing Company, New York, 1994. Some of the contents presented in the Haykin text have been modified to make it more relevant to the design of the present invention.
The standard back-propagation algorithm may also be used to perform nonlinear prediction on a stationary time series. A time series is said to be stationary when its statistics do not change with time. It is known however that time is important in many of the cognitive tasks encountered in the real-world, such as vision, speech, and motor control. It may be possible to model the time-variation of signals if the network is given the dynamic properties of the signal.
For a neural network to be dynamic, it must be given memory. This memory may be in the form of time-delays as extra inputs to the network (i.e. a past-history buffer). The time-delayed neural network (TDNN) topology is actually a multi-layer perceptron in which each synapse is represented by an FIR filter. For its training, an equivalent network is constructed by unfolding the FIR multi-layer perceptron in time, which allows the use of the standard back-propagation algorithm for training.
The training steps are shown in FIG. 9. The first step 120 in the training phase is to load the input vectors into the MFFNN. In the second step 122, the "states" of the system, such as voice-activity, voicing, energy states, and the number of consecutive lost and received frames are all updated. In the next step 122, the intelligent speech filter (ISF) prediction and post-processing is performed in order to determine the extrapolation parameters. In step 124, the target envelope is normalized to ensure that the extrapolated envelope is a probability mass function (PMF) (i.e., the sum of the envelope component is equal to one). In step 126, all of the required SCA frame inputs to the MFFNN's are pre-processed (reformatted). In step 128, the MBPN index needed for training is obtained. In step 130, the "desired" output vectors for the ISF are loaded. In step 132, it is determined if the speech state is proper for the training parameters. If so, then the input and output vectors are stored as a valid training set in step 134, otherwise, the vectors are discarded.
Therefore, the FIR multi-layer perceptron is a feed-forward network which attains dynamic behavior by virtue of the fact that each synapse of the network is an FIR filter. The architecture used by the present invention is shown in FIG. 10, which is similar to the FIR multi-layer perceptron except that only the input layer synapses use the tap-delays as inputs, therefore forming the FIR component of the network.
The MFFNN is trained in an "open-loop adaptation scheme" before it is needed in the real-time application. Once the network is trained, the weights are "frozen," and the "real-time" application performs the extrapolation by performing a recursive "closed-loop" prediction for all lost-frames until a frame is actually received. In other words, a "short-term" prediction of the SCA parameter is computed for each lost frame "k" by performing a sequence of one-step predictions that are fed back into the past-history buffers of all of the networks using the SCA parameter. The second dimension for prediction "n" is the frequency index, and is used only for the vocal tract parameters (i.e. the spectral envelope). For more information on neural networks and temporal processing, see Daykin, pp. 498-533. The next section describes the "heart" of the frame-error concealment technique of the present invention.
The Intelligent Speech Filter (ISF) Design
This section describes the core process of the LTSD frame-error concealment technique, the intelligent speech filter (ISF). The ISF is composed of six "optimized" non-linear signal processing elements implemented in Multi-layer Feed Forward Neural Networks (MFFNN).
The largest tap-delay value gives the "order" of prediction of the unwrapped FIR filter. In each case, a 4th-order FIR filter implementation for each extra SCA parameter was used at the respective input layers. The four taps represent 60 ms of past-history used for the extrapolation of the current 15 ms sub-frame "k". There are two 15 ms sub-frames per transmitted 72 bits (30 ms) frame, so that the ISF makes two extrapolations for each transmitted frame. The spectral envelope inputs only used 2-tap-delay FIR filters, or 30 ms for the extrapolations. An increase in the number of taps could be used for an increase in performance of the spectral envelope extrapolation, but this would increase the hardware requirements beyond a "real-time" capability (using currently available hardware).
In each case, inputs from other SCA parameters are used to characterize the current state of the dynamics of speech, which identify the phoneme (actually, the "phone" or actual sound made) and speaker characteristics needed for a "quality" extrapolation. For instance, the energy level of the lost frame is a function of past energy values, the level of the excitation source of the recent past (i.e. voicing), and the shape of the vocal tract. As shown in FIG. 10, each one of the SCA parameters is assigned to an MFFNN for parameter extrapolation, where "k" is the frame index, and "n" is the frequency index for the spectral envelope parameters. Specific input and output parameters for the SCA parameters "Energy," "Voicing," and "Pitch" are shown in FIGS. 11, 12 and 13, respectively.
The frequency spectrum was subdivided into three frequency bands: Low, Mid and High-Frequency. The bands are used to decrease the memory and processing requirements, and also to allow the networks to "specialize" within their band. Specific input and output parameters for the "Low," "Medium," and "High" are shown in FIGS. 14, 15 and 16, respectively. The general shape of the other bands is contained in the CumEnv85 140 and CumEnv170 150 parameters, which represent the cumulative percent energy density of the PMF-normalized spectral envelope up to the 85 and 170 frequency indices (corresponding to 1328.125 and 2656.25 Hz). Each frequency band overlaps into its adjacent band by 156.25 Hz at the input to the MFFNN. In each case, the lower frequency band is used to replace the output magnitudes in overlapping frequencies. A "hard" transition between bands was used at the output to go from one band to the next. For example, the output of the LF-band MFFNN (FIG. 14) was used all the way up to the 94th index (1468.75 Hz). The output from the MF-band MFFNN (FIG. 15) was used from 95th to the 215th frequency index, and so on. In an embodiment of the present invention, there are occasional sharp discontinuities between the frequency bands. The discontinuities can be "smoothed" out by the envelope-to-cepstral conversion.
The dimensions of each MFFNN are shown in FIGS. 11-16. The following section discusses the SCA parameter pre-processing, and the SCA parameter post-processing which correspond to steps 94 and 92, respectively, of FIG. 7 and steps 110 and 102, respectively, of FIG. 8. Finally, details of the training procedure of FIG. 9 is discussed.
SCA Pre- and Post-Processing
The received spectral envelope is first converted to a probability mass function (PMF) by dividing each magnitude by the total sum over all frequencies. This creates an input vector of magnitude one. After this process, each of the SCA parameters including the envelope are pre-processed based on the input statistics.
Two pre-processing transformations are used to convert the data into a form suitable for the MFFNN. Both pre-processing transformations are implemented for "real-time" and "train-set" modes. The ISF implements mapping routines that are dynamically allocated and configured to a SCA parameter are from an ISF initialization file. With the mapping transformations identified for each SCA parameter, they are then initialized.
The post-processing functions implement the inverse of the pre-processing functions.
ISF Training Procedure
The training sets are gathered for each of the SCA parameters (in the STC they are envelope, voicing, pitch, and energy), and the FIR Multi-layer Feed-Forward Network is trained by the well-known back-propagation algorithm with a momentum term. The output nodes for all networks are linear, and bias nodes (which have a constant input of 1) were added to each of the layers. The weights are initialized to uniformly distributed positive random numbers from ˜U 0.0, 2.4/(Number of Inputs)!.
As discussed in the previous section, the spectral envelope frequency band was divided into three bands. The following table lists the characteristics of each network, and information concerning the training process. Suitable neural network training may be performed on a specialized 16-processor single-instruction multiple data machine built by HNC Software, called the SNAP-16. The SNAP is connected to the workstation S-bus through a VME bus and has a peak processing rate of 640 MFLOPS (actual floating-point arithmetic speeds depend on how efficiently the network can be divided amongst the 16 processors). The HNC software called Neurosoft, and the Multilayer Backpropagation Network routines can be used without modification. See "HNC SIMD Numerical Array Processor User's Guide for Sun Products," April 1994.
The training of a network actually involves a weight update phase (according to back-propagation) and a testing phase, where the weights are held constant and a mean-squared error (MSE) is calculated. Once the networks is trained, the weights file is read for forward propagation on the workstation.
In each case, the set of weights that generate the smallest test-set mean-squared error (MSE) are saved. Pre-selected learning rates are used for starting values. The learning rates are then decreased until the MSE does not change. Once the test-set MSE does not change, then the learning rates are increased again and training proceeds as before. If the test-set MSE does not change within a pre-defined tolerance, then the training process is stopped. Note that the number of training passes per test iteration may be different for each of the SCA parameters, and not all of the input training vectors are saved to the training and test sets.
Finally, the above-discussion is intended to be merely illustrative of the invention. Numerous alternative embodiments may be devised by those having ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the following claims.
Patent Citations
Referenced by
Legal Events
Original Image


text:
Star Wars: The Sith Resurrection Part VI: Death to the Sith
View Single Post
One of Thousands
Join Date
: Aug 2005
: Kirkwall/The Free Marches
: 3,181
Current Game
: Dragon Age II
Andirrul turned to Wrath. "You're right," she replied, wiping away a tear. "I am stronger than this, but it seems I am in a lethal quandary..." She stood up. "I made a bargain with three hunters--Mech, Ulim and Terror--vowing that if they killed Lord Tyrannus (and Terror ate him), I'd set them up with a contract and a permanent supply of Ultra-Chrome, a rare and almost-indestructible metal. They almost fulfilled their half of the bargain. Terror almost murdered Tyrannus and ate him, but the Dark Lord stunned him and allowed himself to live another day. He says to send Terror after the Jedi, but how can I tell Mech and Ulim that their target for assassination has suddenly been switched? I can't. They'll think I'm weak, and they'll think I'm no good at choosing targets or keeping bargains."
She blinked. "After this, Lord Tyrannus is going to try and kill me. He's going to make me pay for my betrayal. I suggest a duel, you and me, in which--I practice fighting you. I will not kill you. You are the only one I trust now."
you may:
quote & reply
View Public Profile
Find More Posts by Tysyacha


text:
Research in International Business and Finance
Enter your login details for Research in International Business and Finance below. If you do not already have an account you will need to register here.
Check submitted paper
Track accepted paper
Once your article has been accepted you will receive an email from Author Services. This email contains a link to check the status of your article. Track your accepted paper
Research in International Business and Finance (RIBAF) aims to publish empirical and applied research on issues relating to International Business and International Finance. The editors encourage the submission of high quality, insightful, well-written papers that explore current and new issues in International Business, International Finance, and the common grounds between these discipline areas.
Papers that use new and or novel empirical methodologies to examine topical issues using extensive international data sets are particularly welcome.
Country-level replication studies of key themes in International Business, International Finance, and in Finance are also welcome. In order to qualify as a replication study, the submitted paper must clearly state what is being replicated, why it is important to replicate it, why the particular replication is of interest to international business and finance scholars, and how the replication analysis contributes to the process of validating, negating...
This journal supports the following content innovations
- Special issue: 'Finance reconsidered'Editors: Bernard Paranque (guest editor), Thomas Lagoarde-Segot
- Call for Papers: Vietnam International Conference in Finance (VICIF-2014)
Most Cited Articles
- The effect of board composition on the informativeness and quality of annual earnings: Empirical evidence from GreecePanagiotis E. Dimitropoulos | Dimitrios Asteriou
- Dynamic relationship between exchange rate and stock price: Evidence from ChinaHua Zhao
- Equity market integration in emerging Balkan marketsDimitris Kenourgios | Aristeidis Samitas
Recent Articles
- The impact of profitability on capital structure and speed of adjustment: An empirical examination of selected firms in Nigerian Stock Exchange
Isaiah Oino | Ben Ukaegbu
- The valuation of social impact bonds: An introductory perspective with the Peterborough SIB
Christophe Schinckus
- Board of directors' composition and capital structure
Paulo Alves | Eduardo Barbosa Couto | …
- Gender, style diversity, and their effect on fund performanceVassilios Babalos | Guglielmo Maria Caporale | …
- Firm Level Aspects of International IntegrationVolume 27, Issue 1 (2013)
Thomas Lagoarde-Segot Order Now
- Innovation and internationalisationVolume 23, Issue 2 (2009)
Professor Louis Brennan Order Now
- Research in International Business and FinanceVolume 23, Issue 2 (2009)
Brennan Order Now


text:
Originally written on Fox Sports Southwest | Last updated 7/18/12
Michael Irvin is no stranger to arrests. The former Cowboys wide receiver and Hall of Famer was arrested for drug possession in 1996 and missed the first five games of the season. Irvin has had other run-ins with the law throughout his career and after but none involving domestic violence. During an appearance Tuesday on the NFL Network, Irvin talked about Bryants arrest for allegedly assaulting his mother Saturday in DeSoto. "To say this is totally out of the realm of possibility, I wouldnt be totally honest," Irvin said. "We know with Dezs background and upbringing, that he may have the proclivity to make some bad decisions. I had that proclivity. But to go this distance with it is a bit far. "I dont even care to talk about what the Dallas Cowboys must be doing here. I need to know what some council is going to tell Dez, or what guy hes talking to about this issue. You heard her say shes tired of this, she cant take it, so obviously its so sad because its not the first time. An...
Comments are closed.
What do you think?To leave a comment, you can:
NFL News
Delivered to your inbox
You'll also receive Yardbarker's daily Top 10, featuring the best sports stories from around the web. Customize your newsletter to get articles on your favorite sports and teams. And the best part? It's free!
Follow us on Twitter
|Best of Yardbarker
|NFL News
|MLB News
Today's Best Stuff
For Bloggers
Join the Yardbarker Network for more promotion, traffic, and money.
Company Info
What is Yardbarker?
Yardbarker is the largest network of sports blogs and pro athlete blogs on the web. This site is the hub of the Yardbarker Network, where our editors and algorithms curate the best sports content from our network and beyond.
|© 2015 Yardbarker, Inc. All rights reserved. Use of this website (including any and all parts and components) constitutes your acceptance of these Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. (What's New?)


text:
Instead, I bring you ten fun and exciting Dick Morris audios, images, videos (in chronological order).
These do not appear in chronological order, but jump around from 1948 to 2006 to 1971, from Moscow to Boston to Friedburg.
Like Moby-Dick, River Bend Chronicle mixes together narrative and essays, not always in chronological order.
a sequence according to time of occurrence


text:
Henry Lascelles Jenner
1 portrait of Henry Lascelles Jenner
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Henry Lascelles Jenner
by Martin John Jacolette
cabinet card, 1870s-1900s
5 3/4 in. x 4 1/8 in. (145 mm x 105 mm) image size
Given by Corporation of Church House, 1949
Photographs Collection
NPG x76761
Click on the links below to find out more:
Sitterback to top
- Henry Lascelles Jenner (1820-1898), Bishop of Dunedin and Bishop of the Eglise Catholique Gallicane. Sitter in 3 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Martin John Jacolette (1850-1907), Photographer. Artist associated with 3 portraits.


text:
A review of existing licences found 12 were for components which could be part of equipment used in Gaza by the Israel Defence Forces and Business Secretary Vince Cable said they would be suspended if the ceasefire broke down.
The review found that the vast majority of exports currently licensed for Israel are not for items that could be used by forces in Gaza, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Bis) said.
Mr Cable said: "We welcome the current ceasefire in Gaza and hope that it will lead to a peaceful resolution. However the UK Government has not been able to clarify if the export licence criteria are being met.
"In light of that uncertainty we have taken the decision to suspend these existing export licences in the event of a resumption of significant hostilities."
The licences include components for military radar systems, combat aircraft and tanks, Bis said.


text:
Chicken Fried Steak with Milk Gravy
|All purpose flour
|3⁄4 Cup (12 tbs)
|1 1⁄2 Teaspoon
|1 Teaspoon
|Coarsely ground black pepper
|1 Teaspoon
|Ground red cayenne pepper
|1⁄8 Teaspoon
|Beef cubed steaks
|36 Ounce (Six 6 Ounce Each Pieces)
|Vegetable oil
|1⁄2 Cup (8 tbs)
|Beef broth
|1⁄2 Cup (8 tbs)
|2 Cup (32 tbs)
1. Preheat oven to 200°F. Line jelly-roll pan with paper towels. On waxed paper, combine flour, salt, paprika, black pepper, and ground red pepper. Reserve 3 tablespoons seasoned-flour mixture. Coat cubed steaks with remaining flour mixture, shaking off excess.
2. In 12-inch skillet, heat oil to 375°F. Cook steaks, two at a time, 2 minutes; turn and cook 1 minute longer. Transfer steaks to paper towel-lined jelly-roll pan to drain; place in oven. Repeat with remaining steaks, transferring each batch to jelly-roll pan in oven when done.
3. Discard all but 2 tablespoons oil from skillet. Reduce heat to medium-high. Stir in reserved flour mixture; cook, stirring, 1 minute. With wire whisk, whisk in broth until browned bits are loosened from bottom of skillet; boil 1 minute. Whisk in milk and heat to boiling; boil 2 minutes. Makes 2 cups.
4. Place steaks on platter and serve with gravy.


text:
PHT Morning Skate: Wendel Clark thinks highly of Clarkson
Jul 12, 2013, 7:14 AM EDT
PHT's Morning Skate takes a look around the world of hockey to see what's happening and what we'll be talking about around the NHL world and beyond.
Nick Leddy brought the Stanley Cup to Minneapolis yesterday. The Minnesota-native was drafted by the Wild, but traded to Chicago in 2010. (Star Tribune)
Wendel Clark thinks newly signed Toronto Maple Leafs forward David Clarkson is a more talented player than he was. (NHL.com)
25-year-old defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti is reportedly heading to the KHL after spending the 2013 campaign with the Carolina Hurricanes. (Hurricanes.nhl.com)
Andrew Ference gave Matt Brown the Boston Bruins' Army Ranger jacket, which was given to the top player after each playoff victory. Brown is a former hockey player, but he was paralyzed during a game in 2010. "Everything the jacket represented, he's just that to a T, so I knew it would be special to him and I knew it would be special to me," Ference said. (Boston Globe)
19-year-old forward Riley Barber was drafted by the Washington Capitals in the sixth round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft and he's already looking like a potential steal. (CSN Washington)
Steve Politi sees Ilya Kovalchuk's decision to leave the New Jersey Devils as an "absolute disaster." At least for now. (Star-Ledger)
- pastabelly - Jul 12, 2013 at 7:24 AM
Andy Ference is a class act and will be missed in Boston. It's great to see him get such a big payday in Edmonton. When he comes back to the Garden, Boston fans will treat him well. No matter what uniform he wears, he's a Bruin.
- jacketsfan7 - Jul 12, 2013 at 8:21 AM
I agree , Edmonton got a huge steal in ference
- tmlhockeyfan - Jul 12, 2013 at 7:40 PM
Andrew Ference and Ilya Kovalchuk. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to classy moves.
If David Clarkson want to channel his inner Wendel Clark, I'm ok with that. Can't wait for the season to get going!
Top Posts
- Brandon Saad brings championship experience to Blue Jackets 16
- Sharks sign Joel Ward to three-year deal 21
- Sabres lock up O'Reilly through 2022-23 69
- Locked in: Columbus signs Saad to six-year, $36M deal 27
- Oilers sign McDavid to entry-level contract 28
- 'Hawks would like to re-sign Oduya, but still working through 'financial hurdles' 17
- Trade: Caps acquire Oshie from Blues for Brouwer, Copley and draft pick 73
- Voynov takes plea, gets 90 days in jail plus probation 66
- Curtains on Broadway: Martin St. Louis calls it a career 36
- Discuss: Where's the best fit for Alex Semin? 23
Most Commented
- Blockbuster: Kessel traded to the Penguins (131)
- Trade: Flyers send Rinaldo to Bruins for 2017 third-rounder (105)
- Trade: Jackets land Saad; Anisimov and Dano headed to Chicago (93)
- Bypassing a buyout? Kings terminate Richards' contract for 'material breach' (90)
- Trade: Caps acquire Oshie from Blues for Brouwer, Copley and draft pick (73)
- M. Richards (2628)
- P. Kessel (2215)
- Z. Kassian (2176)
- B. Saad (1976)
- S. Voynov (1946)
- R. O'Reilly (1824)
- A. Sekera (1777)
- B. Richards (1733)
- D. Hamilton (1712)
- M. Green (1644)


text:
Get e-mail updates
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- http://www.bags.gr. on Sprucing up leftovers: beef-mushroom stew on Twitter Cooking Live
- best ways to make on Fried and Fresh? That's chicken Karaage for you
- pengertian keterampilan on How to make spaghetti squash exciting
- Kimberley on Oysters with verjus mignonette
- i forgot my google on Caramelized peach sorbet – no ice cream machine required
Tag Archives: fried chicken
Fried and Fresh? That's chicken Karaage for you
By Remy Charest | Published: January 8, 2012
I really love Gojee, a very visual and ingredient-based collection of recipes from multiple blogs that I discovered through a foodie friend who tweeted about it, some months ago. Since then, I've been receiving their weekly top three newsletter, always mouthwatering and fun to look at. Back in December, one recipe really caught my eye: chicken [...]
Posted in Food, frying, main course | Also tagged Chicken Karaage, garlic, ginger, Gojee, Japanese food, Kewpie mayonnaise, sake, Sasasunakku, sesame oil, soy sauce | 6 Comments


text:
Rome Cast Iron Square Pie Iron
Cast iron
Cooks in the fire
Perfect for cooking many foods
Gander Mountain Tracker Cot
Heavy-duty reinforced frame
Assembles very quickly
Gander Mountain Mojo 2.0 Chair
Lightweight aluminum frame
Padded seat and back with mesh panel
Solid aluminum armrests
Deluxe cup holder
Storage bag
Gander Mountain Large Camp Organizer Table
Aluminum roll top
Adjustable legs
3 foam padded organizer drawers
Internal leak-proof ice bin
Camp Chef Explorer 2-Burner Outdoor Stove
Equipped with two 30,000 BTU adjustable burners
Built to accomodate a variety of cooking vessels
Cast iron burners designed for long-lasting use
Detachable legs can be individually leveled
One year limited warranty
Gander Mountain XL Zero Gravity Cot
Built-in neoprene pillow
Lightweight aluminum and steel frame
Easy assembly
Rome Cast Iron Round Pie Iron
Cast iron
Cooks in the fire
Perfect for cooking many foods
Gander Mountain Cabin Cot
25 mm aluminum tubing frame
Accessory pocket
Comfortably sleeps an adult up to 510" tall
Sleeping area: 72" x 26.75"
Weight capacity: 220-lb
Camp Chef Outdoor Camp Oven and 2-Burner Range
Built for portability and power
Powered by a 1-lb. propane tank (not included)
Twin burners run at 5,300 BTUs each
Oven burns at 3,500 BTUs per hour
Stainless steel frame with tempered glass window
Gander Mountain Portable Case Table
Collapsible legs and folding tabletop for storage
Handle allows easy transport when collapsed
MDF tabletop with aluminum finish
47"L x 23"W x 27.5"H
Includes 600D carry bag
New! Stanley Classic Vacuum Camp Mug, 16 oz.
Double-wall insulation maintains temp. longer
Stainless steel construction resists rust
Classic, timeless design
Integrated D-ring clips to backpacks and bags
Leak-resistant flip lid
Gander Mountain Deluxe Camp Kitchen
Dual, adjustable lantern poles
Center tabletop removes to use PVC sink
Weather-resistant hanging pantries
Powder coated steel alloy frame
Folds to fit nylon carry bag
Slumberjack Big Cot
82" L x 32" W x 19" H
325-lb. weight capacity
600D x 300D polyester
No-Squeak aluminum frame with steel end bars
Includes a mesh carry bag
Slumberjack Big XL Cot
Huge 40" x 86" cot
No-Squeak steel-reinforced aluminum frame
Durable polyester fabric
Convenient storage loft under cot
Includes carry bag
Gander Mountain Camp Kitchen
Perfect for setting up your camping kitchen
Made from lightweight aluminum
Adjustable lantern pole
Wire storage rack
Carry case
SmithWorks ComfortQuest Sport Chair
Durable black powder coated aluminum frame
600D water resistant coated polyester fabric seat
Chair legs adjust from 13" to 18"
Folds to a compact size and stows in a carry bag
Turf feet are included
Super Duty Weiner Fork
Holds a variety of dogs and sausages
43" long
8" wooden handle
Leather storage strap
Masterbuilt Cooker Stand
Solid-steel gas stove makes outdoor cooking easy
Portable unit features a 15" LP gas cooker stand
Cast iron burner with type-1 regulator hose
Works with any aluminum pot up to 30 quarts
Protected by a 1-year limited warranty
Leatherman Wave Multi-Tool with Nylon Sheath
Stainless steel
All-locking blades
Features over 15 tools
Nylon sheath
Big Stick Hot Dog Fork
33" long with an 18" wooden handle
Easy to hold with one or two hands
Suitable for hot dogs or marshmallows
Chrome plated steel


text:
Arcteryx Men's Fission SV Jacket
The Arcteryx Men's Fission Jacket is made from only the finest, most durable Gore-Tex fabric, to keep you nice and cozy. Coreloft insulation provides maximum warmth, while still keeping this Arcteryx jacket lightweight. Oh, and this thing has super-cool storage pockets. You'll probably feel like you're James Bond when you wear it or something. Probably not, but you'll be super comfortable and warm.
FEATURES of the Arcteryx Men's Fission SV Jacket
- Waterproof
- Breathable
- Micro-seam allowance (1.6 mm) reduces bulk and weight
- Tiny Gore seam tape (13 mm)
- Laminated PrimaLoft non-quilted construction eliminates cold spots
- Articulated elbows
- One-hand adjustable drawcords
- Helmet compatible Drop Hood
- Integrated fitted collar panel for added warmth and comfort
- Laminated chin guard
- WaterTight external zippers
- Molded zipper garages
- Laminated die-cut Velcro cuff adjusters reduce bulk, and won't catch or tear off
- Drop back hem
- Adjustable hem drawcord
- Laminated hem
- Full seat coverage
- Reinforced shoulders, arms and hips
- Waist drawcord
- New Gore-Tex fabric is durable, quiet, supple
- Coreloft insulation is lightweight with maximum warmth
- Insulated Drop Hood has insulated collar two internal mesh dump pockets two laminated chest pockets insulated hand pockets
- Activity: All Around
SPECIFICATIONS of the Arcteryx Men's Fission SV Jacket
- Weight: 33.4 oz / 947.80 g
- Fit: Expedition with e3D, upper hip length
- N40R GORE-TEX Pro Shell 3L
- N80P-X GORE-TEX Pro Shell 3L
- Coreloft 140 insulation (140 g / m2)
- Coreloft 100 insulation (100 g / m2)
- Machine wash in warm water or dry clean
- Double rinse
- Wash dark colors separately
- Do not use fabric softener
- Starch or hydrogen peroxide detergents
- Tumble dry on medium heat
- Do not iron
This product can only be shipped within the United States. Please don't hate us.
custy reviews
for the Arcteryx Men's Fission SV Jacket
Average Custy Rating:
(based on 22 reviews)
|Love it
|Big Ups
Bad Ass Mo Fo
Sort of Experienced
Probably Shouldn't Listen to Me
Under 18
Over 45
Hunk and a Half
I am so happy that I made this purchase. It is such a great jacket. I have worn it in the snow and freezing rain and it kept me dry. I purchased this jacket because it is so light and thin. I was a little worried if it was going to keep me warm and it did, sometime a little too warm. The size fit great. I wear a 48 coat and the XL work fine. I even have room for layers.
Excellent. Very little bulk and weight for such a warm coat. I ordered a size up with layering in mind; however, the coat is "expedition fit" which appears to be cut a little larger. Probably didn't need to size up. Definitely the warmest, lightest coat I have.
This is perhaps the best jacket I have ever owned. It is feathery light and yet warm to face Arctic cold (just kidding), but it is really warm to survive in -25 degrees Centigrade.I love it, thank you
Perfect ski jacket for all conditions. Warm but whicks away perspiration so if you're slaying the slopes, you won't overheat. Also doubles as my winter jacket, so clearly this is a very fashionable garment. Absolutely love the product.
I feel completely comfortable at -20 ℃wearing the jacket everyday. It is fully wind- and water- proof, plus keeps the heat inside. Adjusting the hood very comfortable. I am very pleased with the purchase and I want to thank Moosejaw for giving an unique discount! Anyway I would have bought this jacket even without the discount, and would recommend it to friends! !!!
This Archaeopteryx top ski warm padded very beautiful, it is not only beautiful appearance, and its intrinsic function is very powerful, waterproof class, gore-tex pro shell fabric to wear it skiing or go to the outdoor adventures are veryconvenient
Now that I have this jacket, I wish I had ordered it sooner. I've had it for a little over a week and have worn it pretty much everyday since it arrived. It is incredibly warm and the athletic cut makes the ladies weak in the knees (I'm 6'3" 225 and went with a large). Everything about the jacket kicks butt, but perhaps my favorite feature has been the pockets. I get a handgasm every time I slip my paws inside. They are uber-warm and lined with a very soft, fine fleece on the upper side and a silky nylon on the palm side...mmm. It's like sticking your hand into a warm bowl of awesome cloud soup. Buy it and you won't regret it. Trust me, I am a very honest person.
Before trying this at a local store, I did a lot of buying and returning famous brand like TNF, Patagonia. Finally, I got paid off by this guy. This is a definitely a game changer for the following reasons:(1) First of all, very light, extremely warm (20F below no prob), yet breathable water proof, wind proof(2) the cut is beautiful done so that you can move your arms like wearing nothing. (3) draw cord in the pocket is actually to tight the waist so that it serves as a snow skirt(4) double main zippers makes heat ventilation much easierI would highly recommend this to anyone who are looking for a warm winter coat, which he can wear in town, yet also for skiing, snow boarding.


text:
Separate multiple email addresses with a comma.
Note: Your message must be entered as plain text. Special characters, formatting, and HTML code are not supported.
Executive Education
Alumni HUB,
Events, Resources
Recruiting, Partnerships,
Executive Education
Profiles, Centers,
Fields of Study
Our Philosophy &
Computing technologies have become pervasive and fundamental to the operation of modern businesses. These technologies are at the core of today's knowledge-based economy, fueling the development of innovative products, services and business processes. Developing great software-intensive products and services, however, requires more than just technical excellence. Technology leaders also need a deep understanding of business fundamentals and of how to integrate novel technologies, business processes and market forces together to create successful products and services.
As a joint partnership of the Tepper School of Business and Carnegie Mellon's top-ranked School of Computer Science, the Technology Leadership MBA Track emphasizes strategic and management issues relevant to the development and application of cutting-edge software technologies. The Technology Leadership MBA Track is one of the most popular offerings in the MBA program. Graduates are successful product managers at some of the most prominent tech companies on the West Coast. Some have started their own companies, and others work as consultants for mainstream consultancies as well as boutique firms within the technology industry.
Graduates of this MBA Track are exceptionally prepared to address the complex issues that lie at the intersection of business and technology. They are trained to lead their future organizations in developing and executing technology strategies and managing innovative technology projects. The Technology Leadership MBA Track prepares students who aspire to senior technology positions ranging from Product Manager and Technology Consultant to VP of Products, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Information Officer, and Chief Executive Officer.
Tepper School appoints new head of MBA program http://bit.ly/1f2LXWB
MT @NaturiOrganics: #Didyouknow Naturi was started by 3 @teppercmu graduates? #Pittsburgh #CarnegieMellon #startup pic.twitter.com/BN9dRuv5E2
Face-ism: How first impressions from faces bias our choices
Dr. Christopher Olivola, Assistant Professor of Marketing
Our success, as individuals...
The MBA Tour - Mexico City