text:
Can't get enough of that good data?
Do you know about ICPSR, the treasure trove of data files?
ICPSR is the acronym of the Inter-University Consortium of Political and Social Research. But don't let the title fool you. There is a wealth of data of interest to the College of Nursing community, including the Health and Medical Care Archive. This collection includes data files such as Chronic Illness and Caregiving, Community Tracking Study- Physician Survey and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Employer Health Insurance Survey.
How do I access ICPSR?
1. Start at the library homepage. Click Databases, A-Z and then choose ICPSR
2. In order to download data sets, you must register for a personal account. Click MyData Login/Create Account once you are in the database. Most of the data sets can be downloaded into SPSS for analysis.
3. Highly recommended: Data Use Tutorial.
Online Biennial ICPSR Meeting
The Biennial ICPSR Meeting will take place next week from Monday, Oct. 5 to Friday, Oct. 9. Please take a look at the program. This year's meeting will be completely online, which means that you will be able to follow live presentations, ask questions and join online discussions from the comfort of your office.
No pre-registration is necessary! Log in via the Webinar Session Links in the program to join the online meeting at the time indicated.
Learn about tools that support data analysis and about using data files such as the Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the Integrated Fertility Study Series and much, much more.
Harness the power!
Bausell, R. B., & Li, Y-F. (2002). Power analysis for experimental research: A practical guide for the biological, medical and social sciences. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge U. Press. 2006 digital reprinting.
Available at Falvey: R 853.S7B375 2007
(From the back cover) "Power analysis is an essential tool for determining whether a statistically significant result can be obtained in a scientific experiment prior to the experiment being performed. Many funding agencies and Institutional Review Boards now require power analyses to be carried out before they will approve experiments, particularly when they involve the use of human subjects."
This work will show you how to conduct power/sample size analyses, even if you have only a basic understanding prior knowledge of summary statistics.
For more information contact Barbara Quintiliano (tel. x95207)
0 Comments »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

subset: commoncrawl


text:
"Africa's best-kept secret is Namibia. I personally welcome you."
By Dr. Hage Geingob, President of Namibia
Many African nations aspire to attract foreign investment and hope to create environments to facilitate the flow of people and capital. Namibia has the great advantage of being one of the most attractive destinations for investors and offering stability, social justice, a government focused on good governance and transparency, gender equality, respect for the environment, improved quality of life, and one of the most beautiful landscapes and unspoiled coastlines in the world.
If you haven't already heard much about Namibia it is mostly likely because our nation is peaceful and our national culture is characterized by our quiet determination and our modest nature. We don't make a lot of noise, but as President of Namibia I do want to personally invite interested business leaders and investors to come see for yourselves. Our desire to diversify our economy and achieve greater inclusive growth is captured in our Harambee Prosperity Plan that I would like to share with you.
In the context of competition in an emerging Africa, the case for Namibia is compelling. I am in New York this week to address the United Nations General Assembly. I spoke of the challenges of middle-income countries. I referred to Namibia's economic development blueprint and our vision for youth employment, our strong support for the Paris Agreement on climate change, and our steadfast belief in the United Nations' role in fostering prevention and mediation for sustaining peace in the world.
But, above all, all Namibians wish the world to know that we are proud of our nation – as large as France but with only 2.4 million inhabitants and we are open for welcoming a family of investors and visitors who embrace our values and wish to become part of our growing success story.


text:
I hope everyone's having a wonderful 4th of July!
I finally got around to uploading Apple's Red Band trailers.
First I played with Filefactory, but was disappointed with their speed as my download rate maxed out around 50KB/s, making a 150MB 1080p trailer download take almost an hour.
Then I tried MegaUpload and was much happier with their speed (was getting 300KB/s), though in addition to a Captcha, they make you wait 45 seconds per file, which gets a bit annoying.
Those were just 2 of the few file sharing sites which actually support files greater than 100MB. These Red Band trailers are all between 150MB and 200MB. Both file sharing sites have a limit of 1 simultaneous download, so I'll be listing both file shares just in case you want to download 2 simultaneously.
** WARNING ** The following PREVIEWS have been approved for RESTRICTED AUDIENCES ONLY by the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc.
Deleted Apple Red Band Trailers (1080p):
- Burn After Reading: MegaUpload / FileFactory
- Step Brothers: MegaUpload / FileFactory
- Tropic Thunder: MegaUpload / FileFactory
- Wanted: MegaUpload / FileFactory
I believe both file services delete the files from their servers after a 30 day period of inactivity. If for a certain file above, both links are broken, please leave a comment and I'll reupload it. Enjoy!


text:
If you use A-1 Custom Cabinets, we're confident you'll LOVE your cabinets. Seriously. They're a WOW!"
- Melody & John Modrall, Treasure Island, Florida
Founded in 1970, A-1 Custom Cabinets, Inc. is one of the oldest cabinet shops in Pinellas County. Based in Clearwater, Tampa Bay, Florida, we build custom wood cabinets for both homes and businesses in the entire Tampa Bay area. Our signature is our exquisite custom kitchen cabinetry.
We also provide bathroom vanities, laundry room cabinets, built-ins, wall units, custom office furniture, reception stations and much more. Clients choose from a wide range of door designs, moldings, finishes, hardware, and customized pullouts and at a variety of price points.
Our kitchen & bathroom countertops are offered in laminate, wood, metal, solid surface, quartz and granite countertops, to name a few. We also build laminate cabinets, stock boxes, and are a dealer for Showplace Wood Products.
We have in-house interior design services and utilize computer generated drawings to help your dream kitchen or bath become a reality. Our conceptual ideas are innovative whether your style is traditional, contemporary, ornate or rustic.
The most important part of our job is pleasing our customers. The majority of our business is referred by our satisfied customers.


text:
The Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins will kick off the 2013 preseason in the NFL/Hall of Fame Game on Sunday, August 4 at 8:00 PM ET on NBC.
The game will be played at Fawcett Stadium in Canton, Ohio one day after the newest class of enshrinees is formally inducted into the Hall of Fame on Saturday, August 3. Three of the seven members of the Class of 2013 have ties to the participating teams.
Guard Larry Allen is the 14th longtime member of the Cowboys franchise to earn election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He starred for the team from 1994-2005 and was named All-Pro seven times. Bill Parcells finished his Hall of Fame coaching career with four seasons in Dallas from 2003-06. He also spent time in the Dolphins front office as the club's Executive Vice President of Football Operations (2007-2010). Wide receiver Cris Carter closed out his playing career with the Dolphins in 2002.
Joining Allen, Carter, and Parcells in the Class of 2013 are defensive tackles Curley Culp and Warren Sapp, tackle Jonathan Ogden, and linebacker Dave Robinson.
Demand for tickets for this year's NFL/Hall of Fame Game is expected to be substantially higher than previous years. This year's game will serve not only as the culminating event of the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival, but as an exclamation point for the Hall of Fame's 50th Anniversary Golden Reunion Celebration. More than 120 previously elected members of the Hall of Fame are expected to be in Canton to celebrate the Hall of Fame's 50th Anniversary. It will be the largest gathering of Hall of Famers in one place at the same time.
In addition to recognizing the members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2013 during the game, plans are being formulated to recognize many of the returning Hall of Fame members.
Tickets for the NFL/Hall of Fame Game are priced at $52, $62, $67, and $72 and can be ordered online at Profootballhof.com.
This year, the Pro Football Hall of Fame is partnering with NFL On Location, the league's event experience and hospitality source, to offer exclusive fan packages to the 2013 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival and Golden Anniversary Celebration. The all-inclusive fan packages include exclusive opportunities such as VIP seating at the Enshrinement Ceremony. Fan packages may be purchased through NFL On Location by calling (888) 310-HALL begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (888) 310-HALL FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting or visiting www.nflonlocation.com. Packages are serviced by Sports Travel and Tours, the official travel partner of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Additional information on both the NFL/Hall of Fame Game and the 2013 Enshrinement Ceremony including Enshrinement Festival fan packages can also be found on Profootballhof.com.


text:
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Picture of the Day - The Airliner Chronicles Part 11
3 comments:
- C W Magee said...
It looks like a small volcanic field. I would guess somewhere in the Snake River Plain, but I certainly don't recognize it.
- February 7, 2008 at 4:57 PM
- Ron Schott said...
My first impulse was a field of cinder cones, as well, but I'm not so sure upon looking at it more closely. Your description calls it a geological mystery, and that called to mind Mima Mounds. I took a quick look around Washington State, but didn't spot the locality immediately, though a more thorough search might yield better results.
I've thought about posting photos of geologic localities in a series mirroring "Where on (Google) Earth?" - this might be a good starting point for something like that. - February 7, 2008 at 5:21 PM
- Garry Hayes said...
You are definitely thinking like geologists, and are right, but in an incomplete way: most of the researchers around this area would have agreed with you right up to 1980. See the follow-up post!
- February 8, 2008 at 9:51 AM


text:
Irishman Leigh Van Bryan's experience with the Department of Homeland Security was horrific. Last month he was put on the "watch list", interrogated, incarcerated and made to pay for his own deportation all because of some slang he used on Twitter.
The Department of Homeland Security has an automatic algorithm combing social media websites to pick out persons of interest. In December, Van Bryan, who planned on going on vacation to LA with his friend Emily Bunting, tweeted "Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America". His use of the British slang "destroy" ("to party") meant his tweets were monitored over the coming weeks.
Paul Quigley, founder of Newswhip.ie, explained in his column on Journal.ie, that the Department of Homeland Security would have picked the Irish tourist's tweets, out of the daily 250 million posted everyday worldwide, using what is known as the "firehose".
Read more:
Irish tourist deported and barred from US after 'destroy America' tweet
Super Bowl fever is suddenly sexy all over Ireland again
U2's Bono set to become billionaire thanks to Facebook investment
He explains that companies who are managing a brand such as Coca Cola, or even media groups such as NewsWhip, monitor social media networks and gather data using "sentiment analysis". For example, a company like Coca Cola would monitor the Internet for phrases such as "I hate Coca Cola" or the words "Coke" and "disappoint".
Quigley says that the DHS has something similar picking up on words such as "attack" or "destroy". It seems that in Van Bryan's case the DHS's algorithm spotted the words "destroy" and "America" in close proximity and his account was put on the "watch list".
Upon their arrival in LAX the pair were separated and interrogated. Van Bryan was then transported to a prison in a cage (where he had a panic attack). He was imprisoned overnight before he and his companion were made to pay for their own plane tickets back to the UK.
Free speech advocates worry that some human should have realized the mistake made by the DHS before these holiday makers were deported. They ask the question are the computers taking over?
What do you think?
Earlier this year, Reuters reported that the DHS was officially monitoring dozens of popular websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, WikiLeaks, Huffington Post, and the Drudge Report, among others.
Since 2010, the DHS has been operating a "Social Networking / Media Capability" which involves monitoring of "publicly available online forums, blogs, public websites and message boards."
In the official government report they state that the purpose of this is to "collect information used in providing situational awareness and establishing a common operating picture."
That fact that the DHS are using an algorithm to pick up on terms such as "destroy" and "America" makes sense, but it is the fact that Van Bryan and his companion ended up being interrogated, incarcerated, and deported without anyone using common sense and intervening which his worrying.
The DHS probably sees the story of Van Bryan and Bunting as a success, however, what does this mean for the future of social networking and travel. Do we have to carefully choose each word we use on Twitter and Facebook? Are jokes and slang to be banned? Where will that end?
Here's Mashable's video on Bryan Van Leigh's experience:


text:
Mitt Romney on Welfare & PovertyFormer Republican Governor (MA); presidential nominee-apparent |
Asked whether his words might strike some as odd, Romney said: "We will hear from the Democrat party the plight of the poor; we have a safety net to help those that are very poor." Romney added that he's more worried about the unemployed, people living on Social Security and those struggling to send their kids to college.
Democrats and Republicans alike pounced and the GOP front-runner quickly sought to explain his remarks. "No, no, no. You've got to take the whole sentence," said Romney, noting that his remark was consistent with his theme throughout the race, adding: "My energy is going to be devoted to helping middle-income people."
In the 2008 Republican primary, Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's Mormon faith was likewise perceived as an issue by some voters. Claiming that many would be reluctant to pull the lever for a person of his beliefs, some pundits and political advisors urged him to "do a JFK." Just give a speech, they told him, and reassure voters that your faith will have nothing to do with your presidency. Instead, he gave a thoughtful speech that eloquently and correctly described the role of faith in American public life.
Unlike JFK, Romney declared that our religious liberty is "fundamental to America's greatness." And he spoke openly of "how my faith would inform my presidency, if elected."
The threat to our culture comes from within. The 1960�s welfare programs created a culture of poverty. Some think we won that battle when we reformed welfare, but the liberals haven�t given up. At every turn, they try to substitute government largesse for individual responsibility. Dependency is death to initiative, risk-taking and opportunity. Dependency is a culture-killing drug. We have got to fight it like the poison it is.
A: Well, my system is primarily based on trying to create jobs, not handing out cash to individuals. I do lower the lowest income tax bracket from 10% to 7.5%. And that helps people at the low economic level. But the heart of what I�m doing is trying to get businesses to become more active, buying capital equipment, trying to get businesses to grow in this country and to create more jobs.
Q: But what about those 50 million who don�t pay any taxes? Nothing for them?
A: Well, it�s focused on jobs. What you want to do is provide the incentives to help companies to be create new jobs. Obviously, the best antidote to having an economic slowdown is growth in the business sector, creating jobs, and that generates more income for everybody. But for those that are not paying any taxes at all, simply writing a check doesn�t seem to me to be the right course to follow.
Critics of the faith-based effort warn that Romney's move bolsters President Bush's attempt to get more federal dollars to religious organizations carrying out social services, a policy they say is eroding the traditional division between church and state. ''The Bush administration is trying to break down the church-state wall and give public money to the churches without the legal safeguards that ought to be in place," said one critic.
Faith-based organizations apply directly for the federal grants, but Romney said the state can assist groups in the application process.


text:
The belief in one God. The French writer Ernest Renan has propounded the theory that the monotheistic instinct was a Semitic trait, and that therefore the universal belief that it was characteristic of the Hebrews alone must be modified. But later research into Semitic origins has demonstrated the untenability of Renan's contention. Robertson Smith has summed up the matter with the statement that "what is often described as a natural tendency of Semitic religion toward ethical monotheism is in the main nothing more than a consequence of the alliance of religion with monarchy" ("Rel. of Sem." p. 74; Montefiore, "Hibbert Lectures," p. 24; Schreiner, "Die Jüngsten Urtheile über das Judenthum," p. 7). The Hebrews alone of all the Semitic peoples reached the stage of pure monotheism, through the teachings of their prophets; however, it required centuries of development before every trace of idolatry disappeared even from among them, and before they stood forth as a "unique people on earth," worshipers of the one God and of Him alone.
Rise of the Belief.In Hebrew tradition the origin of the belief in the one God is connected with the religious awakening of the patriarch Abraham. Later legends describe circumstantially how Abraham reached this belief (Beer, "Leben Abrahams nach Auffassung der Jüdischen Sage"; see Abraham). Though the tradition contains without doubt the kernel of the truth, modern criticism holds that the Hebrew tribes were brought to a clear realization of the difference between their God and the gods of the surrounding nations through the work and teachings of Moses. The acceptance of the pure monotheistic belief by the whole people was a slow process at best; how slow, many statements in the historical and prophetical books of the Bible prove amply. Throughout the period of the first commonwealth there was constant reversion to idolatry on the part of the people (comp. Judges ii. 11-13, 17, 19; iii. 7; viii. 33; x. 6, 10, 13; I Sam. viii. 8, xii. 10; I Kings ix. 9, xiv. 9, xvi. 31; II Kings xvii. 7, xxii. 17; Isa. ii. 8, x. 11, xxxi. 7; Jer. i. 16; vii. 9, 18; ix. 13; xi. 10, 13, 17; xii. 16; xiii. 10; xvi. 11; xix. 4-5, 23; xxii. 9; xxxii. 29, 35; xliv. 3, 5, 15; Hos. ii. 7, iii. 1, iv. 17, viii. 4, xi. 2; Ps. cvi. 36; II Chron. vii. 22; xxiv. 18; xxviii. 2, 25; xxxiii. 7; xxxiv. 25). Forgetful of their obligation to worship
In the development of religious belief in Israel there are indications of a growth through various stages before the conception of absolute uncompromising monotheism was reached. Down to the eighth-century prophets, the religionof the people was monolatrous rather than monotheistic; they considered
As among other Semitic peoples (Smith, l.c. p. 91), so, too, in early Israel the closest relationship was supposed to subsist between the Deity, the land, and the people.
In Israel, then, and in Israel's land
From this attitude of Elijah it was but a step to pure monotheism; the belief is found in full flower in the speeches of the great eighth-century prophets; the genius of Amos and his successors carried the conception of the "oneness" of
The modern view of the development of religious thought in Israel is that the conception of pure monotheism was reached through three channels—through the recognition of God in nature and in history, and through the belief in the ethical character or holiness of God. When
But the conception of the holiness of
The doctrine of absolute monotheism is preached in the most emphatic manner by Jeremiah (x. 10; xiv. 22; xxiii. 36; xxxii. 18, 27) and the Deuteronomist(iv. 35, 39), but the Biblical teaching on the subject may be said to have culminated in Isaiah of Babylon.
The spread of Christianity with its doctrine of the divinity of its founder called forth a number of expressions from the Jewish sages touching the subject of the absolute unity of God; thus a commentary on the first commandment reads, "A king of flesh and blood has a father and a brother; but God says, 'With Me it is not so; "I am the first" because I have no father, and "I am the last" because I have no brother; and "besides me there is no God," because I have no son'" (Ex. R. xxix. 5). A similar expression is used in explanation of Ecclus. iv. 8 ("There is one alone, and there is not a second"): "he hath neither child nor brother; but hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One" (Deut. R. ii. 33). There can be little doubt that such a saying as "Whoever draws out the pronunciation of the word 'one' [in the Shema'], his days and years will be lengthened" is of similar import (Ber. 13b); the emphasizing of the unity was the particular characteristic of the faithful in a world of dualistic and trinitarian propaganda. As long as a man refused allegiance to other gods he was looked upon as a Jew; "whoever denies the existence of other gods is called a Jew" (Meg. 13a).
The unity of God was a revealed truth for the Jew; there was no need of proofs to establish it; it was the leading tenet of the faith; nor is any attempt at such proof found until the time of the medieval Jewish philosophers, who, in building up their systems of religious philosophy, devoted considerable space to the consideration of the attributes of God, especially of His unity. Proofs for the unity are given at length by Saadia ("Emunot we-De'ot," i. 7), Maimonides ("Moreh," ii. 1), Gersonides ("Milḥamot Adonai," iii. 3), and Ḥasdai Crescas ("Or Adonai," iii. 4).
The belief in the unity was formulated by Maimonides as the second of the thirteen articles of the faith known as the Maimonidean Creed: "I believe that the Creator, Blessed be His name, is One, and that no unity is like His in any form, and that He alone is our God, who was, is, and ever will be." Solomon ibn Gabirol expressed the idea in another manner in his great liturgical poem "Keter Malkut": "Thou art One, the first great Cause of all; Thou art One, and none can penetrate—not even the wise in heart—the mystery of Thy unfathomable unity; Thou art One, the Infinitely Great." This statement of belief found constant expression in the liturgy, as in the Minḥah service for Sabbath afternoon ("Thou art One and Thy name is One"), and in such liturgical poems as the "Adon 'Olam" ("He is One and there is no second, to compare to Him or associate with Him") and the "Yigdal" ("He is One and there is no unity like His unity. . . . His unity is unending").
The profession of the unity is the climax of the devotion of the greatest of the holy days, the Day of Atonement. At death it is the last word to fall from the Jew's lips and from the lips of the bystanders. This has been Judaism's great contribution to the religious thought of mankind, and still constitutes the burden of its Messianic ideal, the coming of the day when all over the world "God shall be One and His name One" (comp. Zech. xiv. 9). See Shema'.


text:
BBQing On The Mighty Columbia
Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I went boating on the Columbia & Snake rivers. The weather was perfect and I found the perfect river BBQ food.
I marinated chicken tenders and pork tenderloin in teriyaki sauce for 2 days then piled them on bamboo skewers and BBQ'ed them to perfection on the shores of the snake river. Having these delicious BBQ morsels on a stick was not only easy but yummy too. I also put red peppers,pineapple,red onion and tomatoes on separate skewers which added even more flavor to the kabobs. We had a great time on the river which is one of the reasons why we love living in Tri-Cities.


text:
New Viva could help Vauxhall topple Ford
New Viva has very striking styling especially up front and the city car will be up against formidable opposition such as the trio from the VW Group including the VW Up and Skoda Citigo plus other rivals like the latest Toyota Aygo and Citroen C1.
For a small car the distinctive styling at the front where it has inherited the Corsa's impressive headlights and Vauxhall's very smart new-look grille which together have provided Viva with a lot of street appeal.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe launch of Viva will provide Vauxhall with three small cars along with Adam and Corsa and the company will be hoping that this will enable them to boost their sales in this market segment especially against their great rivals at Ford who do not have such a large number of small cars in their range.
This situation was emphasised by Vauxhall's chairman and managing director, Tim Tozer, who said that Viva was a "proper small car with great appeal" that would provide the company with a compelling small car portfolio giving them an unrivalled position in this market sector.
New Viva is priced from £7,995 on the road for the five door entry level model with two trim levels, SE and SL which both feature a high level of standard equipment that includes tyre pressure monitoring, lane departure warning, cruise control with speed limiter and front fog lights with cornering function.
However, air conditioning is not available on the entry SE level model and this is available in the SE Air Con model and climate control is standard on the SL range.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdPower comes from a new 1.0-litre three cylinder 75ps engine that first appeared in the Adam Rocks Air and new Corsa which is mated to a five speed transmission driving the front wheels with combined fuel economy of 62.8mpg.
The high economy version of this power unit the Viva SE ecoFLEX has a combined fuel consumption of 65.7mpg and CO2 emissions of 99g/km which it achieves with the addition of a front lip spoiler, extended rear spoiler and ultra low rolling resistance tyres.
Vauxhall say the Viva is a five seater but the car is available with either four or five seats that will make it easier for potential customers to choose a model suitable for their particular needs which is a very good idea that other manufacturers would do well to copy.
I well remember the original Viva was a splendid little car that went on to enhance Vauxhall's reputation in this market sector and the latest could be another winner and help Vauxhall to achieve their ambition of overtaking Ford as the UK's top manufacturer.
Verdict: New Viva could help Vauxhall topple Ford.
Fact File
Model: New Vauxhall Viva.
Engine: 1.0-litre three cylinder.
Transmission: Five speed manual.
Doors: Five.
Trim levels: two.
Seats: Five or four.
Price: From £7,995.


text:
Czech President Milos Zeman failed to win re-election during the first round of a presidential election Saturday and will face a runoff in two weeks against the former head of the country's Academy of Sciences.
Zeman and Jiri Drahos advanced to the second round of voting because none of the nine candidates seeking the Czech Republic's largely ceremonial presidency received a majority of votes in the first round held Friday and Saturday.
However, with almost all ballots counted by the Czech Statistics Office, Zeman had 38.6 percent of the vote, a commanding lead over Drahos' 26.6 percent.
A former diplomat, Pavel Fischer, was a distant third with 10.2 percent. Songwriter Michal Horacek finished fourth with 9.2 percent, ahead of physician Marek Hilser, who had 8.8 percent. The three pledged their support to Drahos in the runoff.
Zeman congratulated Drahos and said he was ready to debate him before the Jan. 26-Jan. 27 runoff. Zeman didn't take part in any debates ahead of the first round of voting.
"Mr. Drahos said that he would like to meet me face to face. I am happy to oblige him," the president said.
Election officials said voter turnout was 61.9 percent in the preliminary election. Drahos called on all those "who want a change" to cast ballots in the runoff.
"The final is still ahead of us, and that's what matters," Drahos said.
Zeman, 73, was elected in 2013 during the country's first direct presidential vote, a victory that returned the former left-leaning prime minister to power. As president, he has become a strong anti-migrant voice and major pro-Russian voice in European Union politics.
A chain smoker with a soft spot for alcohol, he was one of the few European leaders to endorse Donald Trump's bid for the White House.
Drahos, 68, is seen as more western-oriented and firmly supports the country's EU and NATO membership.
The previous two presidents of the country created in 1993 when Czechoslovakia was split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Vaclav Havel and Vaclav Klaus, were elected by Parliament.
Under the Czech Constitution, the president picks the prime minister after a general election, one of the office's key responsibilities.
The president also appoints members of the Central Bank board and selects Constitutional Court judges with the approval of Parliament's upper house.
Otherwise, the president has little executive power since the country is run by a government chosen and led by the prime minister.
Zeman was considered a more pro-European than his euroskeptic predecessor Klaus, but in recent years has used every opportunity to attack the EU, and has proposed a referendum on the country's membership in the bloc after Britain decided to leave.
He also has become known for strong anti-migrant rhetoric that won him support from the populist right. He has divided the nation with his pro-Russian stance and his support for closer ties with China.
Drahos is a political newcomer who is not affiliated with a political party and has said he wants the values of "truth, reason and decency" to win. He says he is worried about the rise of extremism and populism. A professor of chemistry, he headed the academy from 2009 until last year.


text:
I've read plenty of J.G. Ballard, but I'm not really a Ballardian. I've met Ballardians, and I know when I can't compete. I like Ballard in his relatively unchallenging apocalyptic mode: Vermilion Sands, The Drowned World, The Burning World, The Crystal World. I've never read his really difficult, spiky stuff, like The Atrocity Exhibition. I can respect a book with a chapter entitled "Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan" without necessarily wanting to actually open it.
But I've always felt drawn to Ballard, not just by his work but by his weird life, the story of which he told in lightly fictionalized form in Empire of the Sun, which then got turned into an excellent movie, possibly Spielberg's best, starring a 12-year-old Christian Bale. (And there's more of it in Ballard's The Kindness of Women.) Now Ballard has told it again, in entirely unfictionalized form, in his last book, a slim but wonderfully luminous memoir called Miracles of Life (to be released in the United States Feb. 4).
Actually it's called Miracles of Life: Shanghai to Shepperton, an Autobiography, which is approximately one subtitle too many for my personal taste, but it's still a beautiful book. The best bits, not wholly surprisingly, are in the first half, and deal with Ballard's childhood in Shanghai before and during WWII. His father ran the Chinese division of an English textile firm there, and he and his family were part of the small, louche, cocktail-swilling expatriate society, contained within the larger cocoon of the vast Chinese city.
(MORE: Paint a Vulgar Picture: A Fan's Notes on a Biography of The Smiths)
(This is clearly a good if extreme way for parents to produce writers. Mervyn Peake, of Ghormengast fame, was a child in the European compound in Tientsin.)
Ballard's memories of Shanghai are vivid, seething crowd scenes of beggars and soldiers and servants and dragon-ladies and con-men. They spin by the boy Ballard as he pedals madly around the city—then all at once the action will grow still as he pauses on a single, indelible Ballardian image, like a drained swimming pool, or the wreck of a crashed, burned Chinese fighter plane in a field that Ballard used to climb into (that one made its way into Empire). Or one day, trying to make his way to school after the Japanese invasion, he had to slip through a destroyed casino, "through the silent gaming rooms where roulette tables lay on their sides and the floor was covered with broken glasses and betting chips." It gave him "the sense that reality itself was a stage set that could be dismantled at any moment, and that no matter how magnificent anything appeared, it could be swept aside into the debris of the past." As well it might.
There is not a whiff of self-pity in the account that follows, of his family being taken from their lavish house and interned in a single room in a concentration camp called Lunghua. It's not even repressed: Ballard felt none. As a child he ran cheerfully wild in the camp, and saw nothing unusual or unpleasant in it, to the point where he cheerfully ate up the bugs that infested their food, for the extra protein.
The book's strangest tableau comes when the war ended, and Ballard—unsupervised as usual—decided he was going to walk the five miles back to Shanghai from the camp, alone. Strolling along a railroad track, he passed a group of Japanese soldiers on a train platform who had captured a young Chinese man and were slowly strangling him with lengths of cut-down telephone wire. Ballard stopped. The soldiers took his belt and then lost interest in him. The Chinese man eventually died. Ballard walked the rest of the way to Shanghai. When he finally found his family's house, which he hadn't seen in three years, it was stripped and looted down to the naked bricks.
(MORE: Caro, Katherine Boo Nominated for Critics Prizes)
Ballard finished his schooling in England, a country which seemed bizarre and downtrodden to him, at a boarding school where he was extravagantly and miserably alienated. He went to Cambridge, studied first medicine (dissection and anatomy fascinated him; he was unsurprisingly unsqueamish) then English ("the worst possible preparation for a writer's career"), then he graduated and enlisted in the RAF. He had already decided to be a writer, but he was still trying to chart his own idiosyncratic path between the Scylla and Charibdis of high and low culture. "Popular fiction was too popular," he wrote, "and literary fiction too earnest":
Writers of so-called serious fiction shared one dominant characteristic—their fiction was first and foremost about themselves. The 'self' lay at the heart of modernism, but now had a powerful rival, the everyday world, which was just as much a psychological construct, and just as prone to mysterious and often psychopathic impulses.
Science fiction, Ballard felt, was the form that reckoned most effectively with that neglected exterior world.
Ballard would have been justified in feeling that he'd already had his life's allotment of bizarre misfortune, but fate wasn't done with him. When he was 33 his wife died suddenly from pneumonia related to an infection following an appendectomy. He was left alone with three young children. He raised them himself: "I made them breakfast and drove them to school, then wrote until it was time to collect them." The difficulty must have been tremendous, and one does not begrudge him the "strong Scotch and soda" he downed after dropping off the kids in the morning, to kick off the day's writing: "A friendly microclimate unfurled itself from the bottle of Johnnie Walker and encouraged my imagination to emerge from its burrow and test the air." Often, when I feel like complaining about the demands that parenthood places on a writer's life, I think of Ballard, and I shut the hell up.
Ballard becomes slightly less amiable company as he grows happier and more successful—success licenses him to be crustier and more judgmental and self-satisfied, to name-drop and settle a literary score here and there. There's a generalization or two I could have done with out ("There are only two words in the Chinese bible: Make Money.") But his love of his children runs warmly through the second half of his life—they are the titular "miracles"—and there are some entertaining glimpses of the London Literary Life. Once when Ballard was lunching with the increasingly angrily reactionary Kingsley Amis during the 1970s, a countercultural protest march passed by. "Amis began to tremble and shake. 'Jim, what are they? What are they?'"
You can see why Ballard was interested in lost worlds: we all lose one or two in our lives, but he lost more than most. (One wants to paraphrase Wilde here: To lose one world may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose more looks like carelessness.) Ballard's loss gained him power, the novelist's power of making our comfortable, settled-seeming planet into something strange and temporary. Maybe it's not a coincidence that Ballard wasn't the only artist to emerge from the camp at Lunghua: there was an older boy named Cyril Goldbert, a wit who took roles in the camp's dramatic productions, and who dreamed of a life on the stage. He and Ballard were friendly and saw each other intermittently in the years after, until Goldbert changed his name to Peter Wyngarde and became a hugely successful actor in TV and movies.
Ballard only met him once following his transformation. "I saw him in St. James's Park," he writes, "camel-hair coat stylishly slung over an elegant suit, a tilted homburg and dazzling teeth. I started to speak to him but he cut me dead."


text:
Rafael Nadal lost early to fashionable Italian Andreas Seppi at last week's ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament (just FYI, none of the eight seeds made it past the second round).
Fortunately for the Mallorcan, his poor performance was offset by a new outfit from Nike. Rafa wears his usual uniform from the Global Power collection: the sleeveless tank, the pirate pants, and the wristbands and headband. But instead of the Engine Orange that started out the year, he's moved onto New Blue.
Get the look: Nike Global Power Sleeveless Top, $55; 3/4 pants, $55; Swoosh bandana, $8; and Swoosh doublewide wristbands, $8. Unfortch, the top doesn't come in the white/new blue colorway. Nor do the wristbands.


text:
13 Jul 2003
The Whittle Laboratory was officially opened, as the 'Science Research Council Turbomachinery Laboratory', on 25 May 1973, by Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle.
10 Jul 2003
Many congratulations to Professor Ann Dowling on her election to the Royal Society.
Some 140 Year 12 students from maintained schools and colleges from across the UK will be attending summer schools at Cambridge University in July.
29 Jun 2003
A 'virtual open day' has been created on the Department's web site to allow potential students who are unable to attend the actual event to get a flavour of the action.
23 Jun 2003
Andy Hopper FREng, Professor of Communication Engineering, has won a prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering Silver Medal.
18 Jun 2003
A reception was held in the gardens of the Vice Chancellor's residence in Latham Road to celebrate the 50th year of Prince Philip as Patron of the Cambridge University Engineers' Association.
14 Jun 2003
On June 10th and 11th, a total of some 2,500 youngsters from all over the region descended on the Imperial War Museum, Duxford.
06 Jun 2003
The annual CUED vs OUDES sports day took place on Saturday 21st June in Oxford.
02 Jun 2003
Professor Ann Dowling has been appointed Chair of the Royal Society/Royal Academy of Engineering Working Group on Nanotechnology.
30 May 2003
Many congratulations to the ten undergraduates in their second year, who have been awarded the prestigious Engineering Leadership Awards from the Royal Academy of Engineering.


text:
Astro Particle Physics 1
Module PH2073
Module version of WS 2022/3 (current)
There are historic module descriptions of this module. A module description is valid until replaced by a newer one.
Whether the module's courses are offered during a specific semester is listed in the section Courses, Learning and Teaching Methods and Literature below.
available module versions | |||||||
Basic Information
PH2073 is a semester module in English or German language at Master's level which is offered in winter semester.
This Module is included in the following catalogues within the study programs in physics.
- Specific catalogue of special courses for nuclear, particle, and astrophysics
- Complementary catalogue of special courses for condensed matter physics
- Complementary catalogue of special courses for Biophysics
- Complementary catalogue of special courses for Applied and Engineering Physics
If not stated otherwise for export to a non-physics program the student workload is given in the following table.
Total workload | Contact hours | Credits (ECTS) |
150 h | 60 h | 5 CP |
Responsible coordinator of the module PH2073 is Susanne Mertens.
Content, Learning Outcome and Preconditions
This module builds the connection between cosmology and particle physics. First, basic cosmological observactions, and the standard model of particle phsyics, are introduced. The most important observable properties of our universe are discussed in light if how they depend on the properties of elementary particles, and how the study of particles of astophysical origin can provide information about the universe. Topics discussed are: The cosmic microwave background, primordial nucleosythesis, large scale structures, sources of and detectors for cosmic radiation. The dark matter problem is discussed in detail, including candidates and experiments looking for dark matter.
The lecture is structured as follows:
I. Introduction to cosmology
II. Introduction to the standard model of particle physics
III. Cosmological observations
IV. Dark Matter
Learning Outcome
After successful completion of the module the students are able to:
- describe the standard model of particle physics and its limitations.
- explain a number of basic observations that informed our current understanding of cosmology.
- explain the influence of elementary particles and their interactions on the evolution and the geometry of the universe.
- connect the creation of the light elements and the origin of the cosmic microwave background to the evolution of the universe.
PH0014: Nuclear, Particle and Astrophysics 1 and PH0015: Nuclear, Particle and Astrophysics 2.
Courses, Learning and Teaching Methods and Literature
Courses and Schedule
Type | SWS | Title | Lecturer(s) | Dates | Links |
VU | 4 | Astro particle physics 1 | Lanfranchi, J. |
Wed, 08:30–10:00, PH HS3 and dates in groups |
Learning and Teaching Methods
This module consists of a lecture and an exercise course.
The material will be covered in a lecture. Short interactive problems and questions to the students will encourage the students to actively think about the material being covered.
There will be tutorials with conceptional questions and quantitative calcuations. Students should work out all the tutorial problems. It is strongly suggested that the students work on the lecture material before and after each lecture.
Slide presentation, problem sheets.
- L. Bergstrom, A. Goobar: Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics, Springer-Verlag Berlin/Heidelberg, (2004)
- H.V. Klapdor-Kleingrothaus, K. Zuber: Teilchenastrophysik, Teubnerverlag, Stuttgart, (1997)
- B.R. Martin, G. Shaw: Particle Physics, John Wiley & Sons, (2017)
- P. Schneider: Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology, Springer-Verlag Berlin/Heidelberg, (2010)
- C. Grupen: Astroparticle physics, Springer-Verlag Berlin/Heidelberg, (2005)
Module Exam
Description of exams and course work
There will be an oral exam of 25 minutes duration. Therein the achievement of the competencies given in section learning outcome is tested exemplarily at least to the given cognition level using comprehension questions and sample calculations.
For example an assignment in the exam might be:
- What is the origin of the cosmic microwave radiation, and what have we learned from it?
- Explain how the ratio of hydrogen to helium in the universe is connected to the number of lepton generations.
- What is an 'open' and a 'closed' universe, and what conditions must be true in each case for the proportion of each type of energy in the universe to the total energy density? How can one measure the geometry of the Universe?
In the exam no learning aids are permitted.
Participation in the exercise classes is strongly recommended since the exercises prepare for the problems of the exam and rehearse the specific competencies.
Remarks on associated module exams
The exam for this module can be taken together with the exam to the associated follow-up module PH2074: Astro Particle Physics 2 / Astroteilchenphysik 2 after the follwoing semester. In this case you need to register for both exams in the following semester.
Exam Repetition
The exam may be repeated at the end of the semester. There is a possibility to take the exam in the following semester.
Current exam dates
Currently TUMonline lists the following exam dates. In addition to the general information above please refer to the current information given during the course.
Title | |||
Time | Location | Info | Registration |
Exam to Astro Particle Physics 1 | |||
Mon, 2024-02-05 till 23:55 | Dummy-Termin. Wenden Sie sich zur individuellen Terminvereinbarung an die/den Prüfer(in). Anmeldung für Prüfungstermin vor 23.03.2024. // Dummy date. Contact examiner for individual appointment. Registration for exam date before 2024-Mar-23. | till 2024-01-15 (cancelation of registration till 2024-02-04) | |
Mon, 2024-03-25 till 23:55 | Dummy-Termin. Wenden Sie sich zur individuellen Terminvereinbarung an die/den Prüfer(in). Anmeldung für Prüfungstermin zwischen 25.03.2024 und 20.04.2024. // Dummy date. Contact examiner for individual appointment. Registration for exam date between 2024-Mar-25 and 2024-Apr-20. | till 2024-03-24 |


text:
How would YOU like to discover LITTLE-KNOWN secrets for BEATING SPEEDING TICKETS... ... CANCELLING parking fines... and winning against the traffic police in the COURTS?
There ARE secrets. And I'd like to share them ALL with you -- RIGHT HERE.
Please note: this is a completely legal guide to help you use the law to your advantage. Nothing within the guide is illegal, or could be used to criminal advantage.
Every single day the UK Government fine THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of drivers for minor driving offences. Go just a few miles above the limit on an empty motorway... and you could be facing a massive THREE POINTS on your license and a HEFTY FINE.
After twelve points, you're BANNED.
Or, if you've been driving under two years, it's just six points before you're off the road.
IS THIS MAKING THE ROADS SAFER? Not in the slightest. In the period from 1997 to 2000, revenue from motorist fines went from £13 million to over £25 million. Yet road accidents during that period INCREASED, not decreased.
Instead of helping keep the roads safe, the Police Force are using motorists to increase funding and provide better year-end statistics. Who do you think is easier to arrest... a professional burglar, or the innocent motorway driver accidentally driving a few miles above the limit?
Whether you choose to believe it or not. It's what happens. And if you don't care about it now, you can be sure that at some point in the near future you'll wish you had. Think about it...
What would YOU do right now if your license was REVOKED? How would you SURVIVE?
It's more than just inconvenient. The impact is enormous. You'd lose your job (or, at best, revert to the horrors of public transport). You'd lose your social life. You'd lose income and local integrity. You could lose SO MUCH. And it could all happen just by being caught ONCE going 90 MPH on an empty motorway!
Are you ANGRY?? YOU SHOULD BE! The whole system is a shambles, and you need to protect yourself.
Now, thanks to a UK driving loopholes expert with over 20 years of experience, you can do EXACTLY that...
Most drivers pay little attention to the law.
They've heard you can go 10% above the speed limit without getting fined, yet are sketchy on the detail. "Somebody else" said that curling back your tongue when taking a breathalyzer test helped lower the result. "Another person" said that if you simply said nothing, they'd let you off with a warning.
Do you ENJOY building your life on PURE HEARSAY?
Our brand new UK Driving Secrets guide (now fully updated for 2019!) was written by a UK motoring law expert with over 20 years of experience. He knows the business better than anyone. He's at the cutting-edge of motoring law -- and in this NEW, SHOCKINGLY BLUNT guide, he shares secrets that will TOTALLY redefine your understanding of what the Police can actually do.
For example, do you know about the one single test that police absolutely MUST conduct every time they stop a person for speeding? And do you know that if the Police don't conduct this test, and you point it out later, you'll be IMMEDIATELY let off the hook?
How about the one thing you absolutely must NOT say when stopped? Break this little rule, and ALL is lost.
Yes, there ARE secrets to beating your speeding ticket. And you're given EVERY SINGLE ONE of them.
In fact, the guide has an ENTIRE CHAPTER devoted to speeding tickets. You'll discover how to use the law to your maximum advantage. And you WON'T be disappointed.
We also cover practically every other area of driving, where LITTLE-KNOWN TRICKS are practically BEGGING to be revealed. For example, you'll learn the following PARKING TICKET secrets:
Discover SPEED GUN secrets that most drivers haven't even heard about:
Learn about the world of SPEED CAMERAS and how they're practically useless:
You'll also find out:
"You will be pleased to know that after I purchased the UK Driving Secrets guide, I decided to challenge the fixed penalty I received for parking on double yellow lines. I wrote to the Chief Constable and pointed out, following instructions in your guide, that they COULDN'T issue a fixed penalty. "The result... it has been announced that all of the fixed penalty notices issued over the last 15 years are invalid. As such, the department are to issue around £3,000,000 in refunds. "My story appeared in the Isle of Man Examiner. You have saved me and thousands of others a LOT of money!" -- David Turner, Isle of Man
The system of fining motorists depends on the majority of individuals meekly accepting the charges and paying the fee. It doesn't have to be this way. In fact, says the author, it's often BETTER to request your case be taken to COURT!
You just need to know which letters to send, or what to say in a courtroom. The UK Driving Secrets 2019 guide tells you all you need to know about the process, including:
With this sort of armour, you can practically quash any conviction made against you. This is the ultimate weapon for drivers throughout the country. This book is for those looking for the loopholes, the secrets, the backdoors that FEW OTHERS really know about.
"I'd never heard of the [technique] before. Now I see why. Last week, I sent off a template letter from your kit. This morning I found out the ticket had been cancelled. "I'm ecstatic! You really should stop selling this at just £40 -- put the price up, you fools!" -- D.Flatt, Leeds
So you think the UK Driving Secrets 2019 guide is limited to just speeding tickets, parking fines & the courts?
You don't get to spend 20 years as a motoring legal eagle and NOT learn a whole bundle of tricks that most of the UK simply have NO IDEA about. It's a perk of the job. And now YOU can take advantage of this knowledge for your own gain!
You'll discover the following UNBELIEVABLE SECRETS:
PLUS BRAND NEW in our LATEST June UPDATE:
This is the one handbook that should come with every car and provided with every copy of the Highway Code. It's a book about exposing the loopholes in the law that can give you an easy ride. It's all totally ABOVE BOARD and absolutely CUTTING-EDGE.
This is no out-of-date foreign adaptation, as sold by backstreet mail order companies or unlicenced eBay traders. This is pure gold-dust for UK drivers. And this is YOUR chance to learn the secrets -- before it's too late. You need to know exactly how to respond the moment you're pulled over. NOW YOU CAN.
"Never realized there were so many loopholes in the law. Why didn't I know these already? "I had two outstanding tickets, and I've been let off with both of them thanks to your [technique] and the [technique]. I'm so prepared for the future, I can't believe it. Please use this as a testimonial... Very satisfied!" -- D.Campbell, Oxon
Under request of the author, we are only producing 450 unique copies of the UK Driving Secrets 2019 guide. EVER!
This serves two purposes. Firstly, it helps restrict this secret knowledge to the elite few that decide to purchase. Secondly, by keeping the reader base small and exclusive, it helps prevent the "discovery" of such loopholes, and thereby stops any changes in the law.
UPDATE: We currently expect to sell ALL of our guides by the end of June, and would like to thank all of our previous customers for bringing us this far!
In celebration of this fact, we are now reducing the last bundle of the UK Driving Secrets 2019 guide from £39.95 ... down to just �27.95!
That's a saving of OVER £12, if you purchase before MIDNIGHT, MONDAY!
Interested? Want to be one of the EXCLUSIVE FEW that know EXACTLY how to control the driving system? If you're looking for the most amazing, most legal loopholes around -- you will absolutely love the UK Driving Secrets 2019 guide.
Ready to purchase? Your guide will be delivered instantly via download. Just click to begin...
The UK Driving Secrets 2019 guide is made available as a download. You will be sent a link via e-mail immediately after your purchase.
We accept Visa, Mastercard, Delta, Switch, Solo, and other cards. You'll also be given the option to phone in your order, or pay by cheque. VAT will be added at 15%.
Here's our GUARANTEE: If our guide doesn't provide details on EVERY SINGLE loophole claim made on this page, just let us know and we'll provide you with a complete and utter refund.
No surcharges or extra fees. And absolutely NO small print. You can feel TOTALLY SAFE with our 100% consumer guarantee.
We know you will be truly ecstatic with the UK Driving Secrets 2019 guide. And with our guarantee, you can try it out totally risk-free. The deal simply doesn't get any better.
So, again, if you're interested -- TAKE THIS FINAL CHANCE to get in on the act right now, for our special price of just £27.95:
Got questions? You might wish to read our list of Frequently Asked Questions , or you can contact us direct via our dedicated support site at .
I hope you decide to join us on this "mini-revolution." I'm sure you'll enjoy the ride.
Thank you for your time,
Dan Strauss, MD UK-Driving-Secrets.com
PS. You CANNOT buy the UK Driving Secrets 2019 guide in the shops. It's absolutely EXCLUSIVE to this Web site. Do NOT fall for cheap eBay imitations full of useless information stolen straight from Wikipedia. If you want the ABSOLUTE *TRUE* SECRETS, then you MUST buy this guide. Click HERE!
PPS. REMEMBER, this is the absolute BEST TIME to buy the guide. Not ONLY are we running the discount from �39.95 down to just �27.95, but you're also hitting our site as we're approaching our limit of 450 copies. This guide WILL be removed. So learn the SECRETS while you still can. Click HERE!
PPPS. NOT going to BOTHER? You're going to wait until you're CAUGHT? Some of my friends told me they'd be interested in this information AFTER they were caught. BIG MISTAKE! You need to know EXACTLY what to do if you're pulled over... NOW! After you've BEEN pulled over, it's too late. We'll tell you exactly what to say to the police officer... and how to follow it up, to ensure you NEVER get a ticket or a fine! Click HERE to learn more.
� WCCL 2019. All rights reserved. Read our privacy policy.


text:
PayPal Billionaire, Boeing Battle Over Who Can Build a Better Space Taxi
Elon Musk thinks his company SpaceX can do a better job of sending military satellites into space.
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has a plan to launch military satellites that he claims could save the government hundreds of millions, but to make it work, he says he needs Congress's help to break up a military-industrial monopoly.
"Competition and the free market is a good thing," Musk told Congress on Wednesday, estimating that his SpaceX rockets would cost nearly $300 million less per launch if given the opportunity to compete with United Launch Alliance—a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin that the military currently relies on to ferry its satellites.
SpaceX ships have already conducted resupply missions for NASA to the International Space Station, but have found it more difficult to break into the Defense Department's launch program.
At present, the Air Force is slated to buy up to 36 rockets from ULA, while another 14 will be made open to competition for SpaceX and other companies. ULA CEO Michael Gass said his company's exclusive role in military launches is a good thing, offering reliability (the company boasts 68 straight successful launches; Musk and Gass had a back-and-forth over each company's mishaps and what constitutes a "successful" launch) and preventing spending on redundant technology.
But Musk took issue with the reliability argument, using events in Ukraine to undercut ULA's standing. "It makes no sense to claim that ULA's Atlas V [rocket] provides assured access to space when it depends on a Russian engine," he told reporters after the hearing. "In light of Russia's recent actions, with the de facto annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and the fact that we've severed military ties with Russia—we're contemplating sanctions—it does not make sense to award Russia right now with a huge multi-hundred-million dollar contract for rocket engines."
He proposed that SpaceX's Falcon rockets could replace the Atlas V, with ULA still providing its Delta rockets to the military.
Gass countered that his company has a two-year supply of Atlas V engines already stockpiled, meaning near-term tensions between the two countries are unlikely to keep the U.S. out of orbit. "We are not at any risk," he said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein—a California Democrat whose state hosts both SpaceX and some ULA launches—came to Musk's aid, producing a chart from the Government Accountability Office that showed spending increasing rapidly after Boeing and Lockheed merged their launch programs. "The costs to the government, to the taxpayer, have skyrocketed," she said. "Competition is the American basic demand for the accordance of a contract. So what keeps us from doing this?"
Added Musk: "When Boeing and Lockheed merged, the point at which they stopped being competitors, the costs doubled," The government, he said, further diminishes competition with a billion-dollar annual payment—which he referred as a subsidy—to ULA. He argued that funding "exclusively in support of the incumbent provider" should be eliminated, or at least factored into cost analyses when ULA competes for contracts.
That payment, known as the ELC, is crucial for ensuring ULA's readiness to meet America's space needs, even when demand ebbs, Gass replied. "The nation needs a launch vehicle company to stand ready," he said.
Sen. Richard Shelby—whose home state of Alabama hosts ULA's production plant—praised the company's track record. The Republican argued that competition, while generally a driver of progress, could lead to "duplication of existing infrastructure" and expressed skepticism at "re-creating the wheel." He also pressed Musk on a SpaceX engine failure that sent a cargo ship into the wrong orbit.
Meanwhile, Gass used an argument Musk couldn't—his knowledge of classified technology—to insist that getting multiple companies the capability to handle such payloads isn't feasible. "Those missions can't work in a competitive commercial environment," he said. "If you don't have a winner-take-all, survival of the fittest competition … it doesn't work."
Musk replied that his company is prepared to meet the needs of any military launch, adding that expanded capabilities are built into its cost estimates. He dismissed the notion that ULA's longer track record should give it the edge in launching military satellites. "Reliability is a key factor in competition. It doesn't become less important; it becomes more important," he said. "If our rockets are good enough for NASA, why are they not good enough for the Air Force?"


text:
Eugene Kaspersky is a world-renowned cybersecurity expert and successful entrepreneur. He is a co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Kaspersky Lab, the world's largest privately-held vendor of endpoint protection and cybersecurity solutions.
Eugene began his career in cybersecurity accidentally when his computer became infected with the 'Cascade' virus in 1989. Eugene's specialized education in cryptography helped him analyze the encrypted virus, understand its behavior, and then develop a removal tool for it. After successfully removing the virus, Eugene's curiosity and passion for computer technology drove him to start analyzing more malicious programs and developing disinfection modules for them. This exotic collection of antivirus modules would eventually become the foundation for Kaspersky Lab's antivirus database. Today the database is one of the most comprehensive and complete collections in cybersecurity, used in detecting and preventing systems from being infected by more than 500 million malicious programs.
Further pursuing his passion for defensive technologies, in 1990 Eugene started gathering a team of like-minded enthusiast researchers to create the AVP Toolkit Pro antivirus program, which four years later was recognized by the University of Hamburg as the most effective antivirus software in the world.
Wishing to combine their successful track record of antivirus programming with their entrepreneurial vision, Eugene and his colleagues decided to establish their own independent company. In 1997 Kaspersky Lab was founded, with Eugene heading the company's antivirus research. In 2007 he was named Kaspersky Lab's CEO.
Today Kaspersky Lab is one of the fastest growing IT security vendors worldwide, operating in almost 200 countries and territories worldwide. The company employs more than 3,800 professionals and IT security specialists in 35 dedicated regional offices across 31 countries, and its cybersecurity technologies protect over 400 million users worldwide.
Kaspersky Lab's globally renowned team of experts has investigated some of the most complex and sophisticated cyberattacks ever known, including Stuxnet, Flame, and Red October. The company also cooperates extensively with INTERPOL, Europol, and national police bodies to actively assist them in their fight against cybercrime.
Eugene has an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the UK's Plymouth University. He regularly gives both lectures on cybersecurity at universities around the globe, and keynotes at leading conferences and industry events.
Eugene is both a passionate traveler and dedicated devotee of wild nature and adventure-tourism. He is also a tale


text:
Whether you're a customer or partner, we can prepare you for success in the craft, operation and administration of our products and solutions.
Sony offers a wide range of learning opportunities from online videos, workshops and webinars to industry-leading, certified face-to-face training courses.
As customer expectations change, and new online streaming technologies have evolved, so Sony has introduced advanced remote training methodologies. These provide more choice for Sony customers and partners to learn about our products, solutions and technologies.
Sony's Centre of Excellence, based at Pinewood Studios, offers a place for professionals to consult, learn and gain experience on the latest cutting-edge, industry-leading professional products and technologies. Come and experience demonstrations, expertise and training programmes in cinematography, broadcast and media production, corporate and education.


text:
In case you are in the Paris area and don't know already, there is a a GNU Hackers Meeting event being held from Thursday 25th to Sunday 28th August, 2011 at IRILL If you are a GNU user, enthusiast, or contributor of any kind, feel free to come. I guess you can still drop an email to firstname.lastname@example.com.
For folks around on Wednesday (yeah, that's tomorrow), we are having a dinner around 8 PM at the Mussuwam, a Senegalese restaurant in Paris, near Place d'Italie. When you get there, just give them the secret password (which is 'GNU') and they'll show you were the rest of the crowd sits. Be sure to keep that password secret though. No one else should be in the know.
Happy hacking and I hope to see you guys there.


text:
I have sold a property at 206 2559 PARKVIEW LANE in Port Coquitlam.
Do you like colour? This lovely condo at The Crescent has it. Come and experience everything this complex, area and condo have to offer you. Features include 2 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, 2 side-by-side parking stalls, storage locker, in-suite laundry and a balcony that's large enough to use and BBQ with a nice treed outlook . Pets (2 max) and rentals (6 month min) are allowed with restriction. The complex offers you a nicely equipped gym, sauna, clubhouse and bike room. This wonderful area has parks, trails, shopping, great transportation and more. Call for your private viewing or come to the 1st open houses both Sat. & Sun. Sept. 10th and 11th from 1:30 to 4:00 PM


text:
Download SimplestSearchEngine.zip - 26.16 KB
My intention is to set a new base for the relevance of semantic searches on internet and to bring a practical approach in the information retrieval from large scale text-based databases. Actually what I am about to say it's not really new, since it works very well in the major internet search engine nowadays. It's just that the details have been ignored or not observed, even if they were available all the time, and that's why today we have very few truly relevant search engines.
People who deal with information retrieval, semantic search, everybody using internet. There are a lot to say and complexity may grow but I'm sure people involved in search engines or who want to know the internal anatomy of a search engine will have the patience to read it.
There are a lot of problems when searching inside large sites and particulary in ones having active forums or discussion boards. Most of these sites use to perform exact searches in the topics table, sometimes using the full text search engine provided by the database with a very low relevance. In the picture bellow, I've been searching for search engines on the Codeproject website, although the internal search engine is far better than engines provided by common sites we can notice at least one irrelevant result on the first page. When this happen, a method prove to be useful, I type in browser something like site:website.com words to find and a major search engine reveals far better results than the search provided by the website itself. In this particular case, we can use the query site:www.codeproject.com search engines
Pretty much the same issue with the online newspapers, where searching archives provide very poor results. There are far more cases when the local search is really bad and you better use a internet search engine for a better relevance. But sometimes you want to index your data and the information is sensitive - you can't just use a public search engine to index it.If you work at computer and perform several searches a day using a major search engine you quickly find out that there are not really many choices. Try to change it and you become disappointed by the new results. You will still find bulk text documents without titles on the first results page...
And all these happen after more than 20 years of information retrieval theories. Isn't it something wrong in all these? Why some engines provide relevant results while the rest of them not?
Everything started by trying to optimize one of my websites for crawlers and by noticing techniques for categorizing a document as relevant. While digging into details I had to read more about information retrieval and ended up with a set of new conclusions and with my own search engine. When this one proved to be relevant, I knew that all the assumptions I made were true. In the meantime my site got first on some really hard keywords since most of the software companies here were using them and of course knowing the internals of a search engine helped a lot.Things are pretty much settled in internet today, you can hardly make something to overpass a big name. But maybe this theory will improve generation of small local relevant search engines thus improving site searches.
So what is this all about? Well, basically we will try to find relevant documents with summary matching our search criteria. We prefer well formed documents but they can be bulk texts or compound documents. For example, if we look for "search engine crawler" we expect to find documents containing software or source code for internet crawlers / spirders. Notice that those documents providing information about "search engines" only are not quite relevant to my search.
I won't define the terms like query, term, weight, density(frequency) as they are well known. If you want to read further and don't know these terms yet, you can perform a search on internet for them :).
A search engine providing documents with irrelevant summary on the first results page among billions of available pages.
I will start with the most common theory today mostly used in academic area but not only. In fact so many search engines are based on it that it is hard to ignore it. Of course these search engines provide some results, sometimes even relevant results, but not the most relevant possible. I won't be long on it either since I consider everything about it based on a wrong foundation.
The basics of the inverse document frequency theory is:
Given a query Q, containing keywords q1,...,qn, the BM25 score of a document D is calculated as above, where f(qi,D) is qi's term frequency in the document D, | D | is the length of the document D in words, and avgdl is the average document length in the text collection from which documents are drawn. k1 and b are free parameters, usually chosen as k1 = 2.0 and b = 0.75. IDF(qi) is the IDF (inverse document frequency) weight of the query term qi. IDF is usually computed as:tf-idft = log (N / n(q)) where N is number of documents in collection and N(q) is the number of documents containing q.Suppose a query term q appears in n(q) documents. Then a randomly picked document D will contain the term with probability (where N is again the set of documents in the collection). Therefore, the information content of the message "D contains q" is (see above). This weight is a statistical measure used to evaluate how important a word is to a document in a collection or corpus. The importance increases proportionally to the number of times a word appears in the document but is offset by the frequency of the word in the corpus. Variations of the tfidf weighting scheme are often used by search engines as a central tool in scoring and ranking a document's relevance given a user query.Well, I am going to stop here with quotations and present the first conclusions.
Human brain is a huge neural network with enormous capabilities. Patterns identification is done at incredible speed, so the storage and retrieval of information. Whenever we meet a friend our brain perform a fast search to locate his image and associate it with some other memories.
When we read a document, the same neural network analyses the written language, extracts concepts from it, makes a set of summary concepts and store it as a memory. This represents our understanding about that document. If someone is asking you what was about in this document so far, you will say that something like "search engines, relevance, internet" etc. ("no big deal, the guy is wasting his time" is also possible)
The brain extracted the summary concepts from the document ignoring the noise around them. The same process takes place while evaluating a document relevance. The brain tries to match the concepts to find with the concepts inside the document. In case all the concepts are found and they are highlighted enough among other concepts inside the document, then the document is considered relevant.
People are looking for concepts. In human language, concepts are usually transmitted through nouns. A text can be understood (or evaluated) even if all words but nouns are missing (this also happen when we are reading fast). Here is how the first phrases in this document look like, by ignoring everything else but nouns:
There are several good theories about retrieving nouns, still there is a long way to go. Sometimes concepts are indirect, not expressed through direct nouns and we need to learn to deal with them.At a practical level, let's consider that someone is searching for "best cars". Actually the concept to find is "cars", "best" is only descriptive. Suppose we found two similar documents, one containing highlighted (or more occurrences) of "best", the other of "cars". For a simple occurence ranking, let's say the first document has 5 best and 7 cars occurrences, the other has 7 best 5 cars occurrences, for the same document length. Obviously, statistically the one with highlighted "cars" is more important. The other one could talk about "best phones", and "cars" may be only a secondary concept. Words don't have the same weight inside a document but not because they occur more or less often in others documents but because they are or they are not concepts.Someone can say that the word "best" occurs more often than "car" along internet, I will tell that "hypanthial" occurs really more rarely than "car". (I don't know what that word is, I just found it in Webster as an adjective) So, if we need to build a "word-weight" function for a document, somehow we need to give concepts / nouns a bit more importance (or "best car 5-7" document will have the same score as "best car 7-5" document). But there are a lot of other more important things in text information retrieval, that's because people already search mostly nouns / concepts. I did this more like to fix the inverse document frequency issue and to bring on scene the "concept" issue.
To summarize:- a document is a set of concepts, mostly expressed through nouns but these concepts can be indirect too. When searching, we try to match the query concepts with the concepts in documents. Believe it or not, even Britney Spears is a concept, and a lot of people look for it.
Going further, titles, which we already decided that represent ideas or summary from the document, are most of the time composed of concepts. You rarely find titles like "German cars are good", this belong rather to content, but you can find content summarizes into a title like "German cars" therefore "car" concept. When searching for "car", a document having the title "German cars" may at least in the set of good documents if not relevant.Ex. Amazon's main title, well made: Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs - pretty much full of concepts. When you build a query to search something, always remember you search for concepts, and try to visualize these. You will help search engines to provide better results.
I will also give a tricky sample. Let's search for the query "How products are made?", we will find a fairy large number of hits. Even more, they are matching the exact words (all words in query) and content is very relevant to the title. Searching for "products" will provide completely irrelevant results for the query "how products are made?". So why the "products" concepts doesn't provide relevant results for "how products are made" ? Well, the answer is that I haven't properly extracted the right concepts from the query before performing the search. The concepts from "How products are made?" are "products manufacturing" not "products" alone, this will provide better results.
Since is hard to extract indirect concepts from a query, the search engines prefer to perform exact searches and look for words ignored in the past, like stop words. The first result for "how products are made" is a internet forum archive, where the first phrase is like "How Products Are Made explains and details the manufacturing process of a wide variety of products, from daily household items to complicated electronic equipment and heavy machinery." So the concepts they talk about in document are "products manufacturing" but they summarized it into a title with an indirect concept (manufacturing). This hit also probably occurs in the results of a query like "manufacturing process of products" too, since these concepts are explicitly contained into the document. The document itself is not really relevant, but it contains a link to a real relevant document (I rather find directly that one). If I would reduce both the documents and the query to concepts, it would be easier to match "products manufacturing" query in all "products manufacturing" documents.
The exact search we use today may be only a temporary method towards understanding the human language and the ability to extract proper concepts from interrogations and documents.
In order to avoid some negative comments of the one of you who use to look at the code first and then read comments (sometimes I do this myself too), I have attached a model of the simplest search engine. No optimizations, no overhead, it just parse several text files, build and inverted index and perform searches. The first thing it can be improved is to unify the character case into the inverted index (yes, use ToLower()).This occurs when the index button is clicked. Just choose several .txt files with a decent length.
// index files private void buttonIndex_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { if (openFileDialog.ShowDialog() != DialogResult.OK) return; // parse each file and build the inverted index. foreach (string fileName in openFileDialog.FileNames) { string text = File.ReadAllText(fileName).Replace("\r", " ").Replace("\n", " "); string[] terms = text.Split(" ".ToCharArray(), StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries); // parse each term (word) in text file and put it in dictionary foreach (string term in terms) { if (!InvertedIndex.ContainsKey(term)) InvertedIndex.Add(term, new List<string />()); if (!InvertedIndex[term].Contains(fileName)) InvertedIndex[term].Add(fileName); } } // update label labelIndex.Text = openFileDialog.FileNames.Length.ToString() + " files indexed"; }
When the files are indexed, we fill the search textbox and perform a search on multiple terms. The results are not ranked, we only show the documents containing terms in query.
// perform a seach over the inverted index built earlier private void buttonSearch_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { // split query in terms string query = textBoxQuery.Text; string[] terms = query.Split(" ".ToCharArray(), StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries); // see documents for each term and merge them List<string /> commonDocuments = null; foreach (string term in terms) { // if one term not in index, end search if (!InvertedIndex.ContainsKey(term)) { if (commonDocuments != null) commonDocuments.Clear(); break; } // find documents containing all terms if (commonDocuments == null) commonDocuments = InvertedIndex[term]; else commonDocuments = GetCommonDocuments(commonDocuments, InvertedIndex[term]); } // display results if (commonDocuments != null) { listBoxResults.Items.Clear(); foreach (string fileName in commonDocuments) listBoxResults.Items.Add(fileName); } } // merge two arrays of file indexes private List<string /> GetCommonDocuments(List<string /> documentList, List<string /> newDocumentsList) { List<string /> common = new List<string />(); foreach (string file in documentList) if (newDocumentsList.Contains(file)) common.Add(file); return common; }
I really believe that the code above doesn't need any more comments. That's all, not much use for it, only a model, but we have source code in the first part. Just feel free to email me at my hotmail address, adrian_pirvu
anatomy of a search engine
This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)
General News Suggestion Question Bug Answer Joke Praise Rant Admin
Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch messages, Ctrl+Up/Down to switch threads, Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right to switch pages.


text:
Nat Geo Travel Contest Winners
For the 25th annual photo contest, National Geographic Traveler magazine received more than 15,500 entries from skilled photographers from around the globe. Taken in locations ranging from Brazil to Kenya, the winning pictures show everything from quiet landscapes to surprising moments. Here are the winning images.


text:
Corn ear molds have been observed at the University of Illinois Northwestern Research and Education Center in Monmouth. In plant pathology, we like to talk about the disease triangle.
Not only must a susceptible hybrid and the pathogen be present, but weather conditions must be conducive for disease development. While moderate temperatures and moist weather favor Gibberella and Diplodia ear molds, hot, dry weather as we've experienced in 2011 favors Aspergillus and Fusarium ear molds.
Although ear mold fungi can reduce yield by consuming grain dry matter, of far greater importance is that many of the fungi produce chemicals called mycotoxins, byproducts that are toxic to humans and other animals.
To scout for ear molds, choose several locations in the field and peel back the husk leaves from the ears of several plants. If you observe mold, proper diagnosis can help you determine your risk of mycotoxin contamination, as not all ear mold fungi produce mycotoxins. The University of Illinois Plant Clinic can diagnose ear molds.
A corn ear infected by Aspergillus corn mold. (University of Illinois photo) |
Aspergillus ear mold. Aspergillus ear mold is caused by two fungal species, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus.
The fungus survives and sporulates on infected crop residue. Fungal spores are disseminated through the air and can infect kernels either by growing down the silk channel or by entering insect-feeding wounds. Aspergillus ear mold is favored by drought, high temperatures, and high relative humidity during pollination and grain fill.
Signs of Aspergillus should be easy to see; they most often develop near the ear tip (due to insect feeding) or at any spot where the ear has been damaged. Aspergillus produces a powdery grey-green growth on and around kernels.
The presence of Aspergillus ear mold indicates the potential for mycotoxin contamination in your crop. Some strains of A. flavus and A. parasiticus produce aflatoxin, a mycotoxin that is toxic to liver tissue and carcinogenic.
An inexpensive way of determining whether you have risk of aflatoxin contamination is to illuminate infected grain with a blacklight (365 nm). However, this method is neither quantitative nor accurate, as some strains of A. flavus fluoresce but do not produce mycotoxins. Chemical analysis is required to determine whether your corn contains aflatoxin.
Disease control includes residue management, such as chopping or burying residue to aid decomposition. Also, anything you can do to minimize stress in your corn plants, such as planting drought-tolerant hybrids, irrigating, ensuring adequate soil fertility, and controlling insects through Bt traits, can reduce your risk of Aspergillus ear mold.
A corn ear infected by fusarium ear mold. (University of Illinois photo) |
Fusarium ear mold. Fusarium ear mold is caused by the fungus Fusarium verticillioides and other Fusarium species. The fungus survives on crop residue, and infection occurs primarily through silks and insect damage. While symptoms can appear under a wide range of conditions, they are most severe when weather is hot and dry.
Symptoms include a distinct "starburst" pattern of streaks radiating from the tops of kernels and close to the ear tips. Signs of the fungus include cottony fungal growth that ranges from white to pink.
Some Fusarium species produce mycotoxins called fumonisins, which can be toxic or even fatal to livestock.
Disease control includes planting disease-tolerant hybrids, rotating crops, managing residue, and controlling insects through Bt traits.
I have ear mold--what can I do? Unfortunately, once mycotoxins are present in grain, they are not broken down by the drying process, but there are several actions you can take to stop their production.
Start with clean grain bins, and store contaminated grain separately. Set your combine to kick out light kernels, and clean grain before storage. If you anticipate large-scale infection, harvest at higher moisture levels (25%), and dry at high temperatures--to 18% moisture for short-term storage and 15% for long-term storage--as soon as possible to stop fungal growth and the potential for additional mycotoxin production.
If you suspect Aspergillus ear mold, dry grain to 14%. After drying, cool grain to 30°F as soon as possible to retard fungal growth.
Test your grain to get an accurate measurement of the mycotoxin concentration. This will help in determining how the grain can be used.


text:
WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)–April 16, 2013. As part of its commitment to developing an effective strategy for the safe and secure storage and management of used nuclear fuel, the Energy Department today announced a new dry storage research and development project led by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). The project will design and demonstrate dry storage cask technology for high burn-up spent nuclear fuels that have been removed from commercial nuclear power plants.
"The Energy Department is committed to advancing clean, reliable and safe nuclear power – which provides the largest source of low-carbon electricity in the United States," said Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Pete Lyons. "At the same time, the Department is working to address the challenges of the back end of the fuel cycle, including advancing secure and reliable extended storage and dry cask technologies."
In the nuclear energy industry, burn-up relates to the power extracted from reactor fuels. Over the last few years, many improvements have been made in fuel technologies which have allowed plant operators to achieve higher burn-up levels, almost doubling the amount of energy captured. The Energy Department has studied the current long-term dry cask systems used to store spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power reactors, and has identified areas for continued research and data collection related to the storage of high burn-up spent fuel. The research project led by EPRI will focus on studying these issues. The Department will invest $15.8 million over five years, with private industry contributing at least 20 percent of the total project cost.
This work builds on the steps the Department is taking in FY 2013, and has proposed for FY 2014, to support a new strategy for the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. In the Energy Department's budget request presented last week, the Department requested $60 million for nuclear waste research and development that aligns with the recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future and supports to the Administration's Strategy for the Management and Disposal of Used Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste. The request includes funds to lay the groundwork for the design of an integrated waste management system as well as related research and development on storage, transportation and materials issues.
Find the Strategy for the Management and Disposal of Used Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste and additional information on the Office of Nuclear Energy's efforts to develop used nuclear fuel management strategies and technologies at www.energy.gov/ne.
Source: energy.gov


text:
A former CIA officer accused of revving an electric drill near the head of an imprisoned terror suspect has returned to U.S. intelligence as a contractor, training CIA operatives after leaving the agency, The Associated Press has learned.
The CIA officer wielded the bitless drill and an unloaded handgun – unauthorized interrogation techniques – to menace suspected USS Cole bombing plotter Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri inside a secret CIA prison in Poland in late 2002 and early 2003, according to several former intelligence officials and a review by the CIA's inspector general.
Adding details to the public portions of the review, the former officials identified the officer as Albert, 60, a former FBI agent of Egyptian descent who worked as a bureau translator in New York before joining the CIA. The former officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because many details of the incident remain classified.
Both Albert and his CIA supervisor at the time, a second official known as Mike, were reprimanded for their involvement in the incident, the former officials said.
The AP is withholding the last names of the two men at the request of U.S. officials for safety reasons.
Human rights critics say the men's actions were emblematic of harsh treatment and oversight problems in the CIA's detention and interrogation program, amounting to torture that should have been prosecuted. They also say Albert's return as a contractor raises questions about how the intelligence community deals with those who used unauthorized interrogation methods.
"The notion that an individual involved in one of the more notorious episodes of the CIA's interrogation program is still employed directly or indirectly by the U.S. government is scandalous," said Ben Wizner, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union.
Federal prosecutor John Durham is looking at the case – the third time federal authorities have examined it for possible charges. Now held at Guantanamo Bay prison, al-Nashiri faces possible terror charges either in a U.S. military commission or in a civilian court, and the outcome of Durham's investigation could influence his case, possibly determining whether the detainee was tortured.
Nancy Hollander, al-Nashiri's lawyer, said torture would be a mitigating factor if al-Nashiri ever faced a possible death sentence.
After leaving the CIA, Albert returned at some point as a contractor, training CIA officers at a facility in northern Virginia to handle different scenarios they might face in the field, according to former officials. Albert hasn't been involved in training CIA employees for at least two years, but a current U.S. official says he continues to work as an intelligence contractor.
A message left with Albert was not returned. It's not clear when he left the agency and became an intelligence contractor.
His former supervisor, Mike, 56, retired from the CIA in 2003 and now teaches and works in the private sector. Mike declined to comment.
The events in Poland were outlined in the CIA Inspector General's special review of the agency's detention and interrogation program, parts of which were declassified last year. But a full accounting of what happened to al-Nashiri at the so-called black site and who was involved has never been made public.
The CIA used secret prisons scattered around world, from Thailand to Poland, where detainees were questioned and subjected to the simulated drowning technique of waterboarding and other harsh methods.
President George W. Bush closed the black sites in 2006, but the government has yet to divulge the full history of the secret program. Revelations have continued to surface, confronting the CIA even as the spy agency tries to focus on the future.
Al-Nashiri was captured in Dubai in November 2002 and was taken to another CIA secret prison in Afghanistan known as the Salt Pit – a facility that figures in a separate Durham prosecution of a detainee death in 2002.
Al-Nashiri was flown to still another secret CIA prison in Thailand, where he stayed briefly, then taken to the Poland prison on Dec. 5, 2002, just days after that facility was opened.
In Poland, al-Nashiri was subjected to a series of enhanced interrogation techniques – including some not authorized by Justice Department guidelines.
There were heated arguments at CIA headquarters about al-Nashiri's treatment, according to a former CIA official. Some CIA officers felt al-Nashiri was "compliant" after two weeks of tough questioning and additional rough treatment was unnecessary. But others thought he was withholding information, and Albert was sent to Poland, according to the special review.
According to the review, Albert took an unloaded semiautomatic handgun to the cell where al-Nashiri was shackled. The officer then racked the slide – a cocking action – of the unloaded weapon once or twice next al-Nashiri's head, according to the review.
The special review said that, probably on the same day, Albert revved a power drill to frighten al-Nashiri, who had been left naked and hooded. The drill did not contain a sharpened bit, but the detainee would not have known that. The drill was placed near the detainee's head but did not touch him, the review concluded. In January 2003, newly arrived CIA officers heard about these incidents and reported them to headquarters.
Former and current intelligence officials said the agency disciplined Albert and Mike, the CIA officer in charge of the jail. The details of the reprimands remain classified, but Mike had given Albert permission to use the unauthorized techniques, failing to get approval from headquarters, the former U.S officials said.
The CIA's inspector general investigated the incident and referred it to the Bush administration Justice Department. But prosecutors declined in September 2003 to charge Albert with a crime.
Charging Albert for the gun and drill incidents could prove difficult. CIA officers can be prosecuted in the U.S. for crimes committed overseas, but typically just for felonies. Simple assault would not qualify.
And since the gun was unloaded and the drill contained no bit, it would be hard to convict him of more serious charges such as assault with intent to murder or assault with intent to do bodily harm.
Despite those hurdles, al-Nashiri's lawyer insisted she would press for legal consideration of the detainee's treatment.
"Terrorizing a hooded, shackled prisoner is torture," Hollander said. "I will do everything in my power to make sure the world knows that agents of the U.S. government tortured my client and have now held him in violation of U.S. and international law for over eight years."
Associated Press writer Matt Apuzzo in Washington contributed to this report.
Another Nuremberg in the Making: Intelligence Agencies Employ Physicians to Torture Detainees
Another Nuremberg in the Making: Intelligence Agencies Employ Physicians to Torture Detainees


text:
We are a couple of enthusiastic entrepreneurs with years of experience on restaurant services and needs in addition to our tailoring skills. We founded Destiny Aprons in 2017 and our main goal is to ensure that every apron is handmade as a rare piece of art. In Destiny Apron LLC, production means a dedicated effort to bring a product with the best quality and personal dedication. For us to create an apron for a single customer who is just into the culinary art or many aprons for highly skilled chefs means the same because we offer the same time, dedication, and love to them. We exceed your expectations is our signature.
No posts were found.