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From a distance, Banoi looks like a holidaymaker's paradise: a tropical island in a sparkling blue ocean, home to a luxury beach resort. Get closer, though, and you'll spot blood on the sand (and on the walls, and in the swimming pools). Zombies are shambling around by the beach bars. They're munching on corpses by the surf shack. Time to rethink that vacation.
Much like its once-idyllic location, Dead Island isn't as it first appears. It's got zombies in it, but it's not a survival horror game. It's played in a first-person perspective and has shooting, but it's not a first-person shooter. And whatever that slow-motion trailer would have you believe, it's not a stirring emotional experience. Dead Island is a schlocky, open-world action role-playing game that favours grisly melee combat above all things.
Dead Island's expansive sandbox setting spreads inland, beyond the Royal Palms Resort into city and jungle environments. Its RPG nature is clear in the prominence of quests, doled out by harrowed survivors in the makeshift shelters that form quest hubs. Similarly prominent are RPG staples such as talent trees and numbers, always the numbers: levels, weapon stats, damage, and experience point scores popping out of enemies as you hack away. There are also satisfyingly vicious weapons to be improvised, upgraded, and creatively modded, and a robust online system supports the four-player co-op in which the game is best enjoyed.
Its failings are many but minor, for the most part. The quality of visuals is uneven. Ditto the voice acting. The characters are weak, and the story is a flimsy hook on which to hang the action. Combat is unrefined, and never more so than in the humdrum sections that pit you against shooting human enemies barely smarter than their undead equivalents. The prevalence of drab quests in sewers in the second act is likewise off-putting. All the flaws and missteps amount to a game that is frequently ropey but, thanks to its ambition and scale, nearly always entertaining. There's nothing perfect about what Dead Island does, but it does so much, and does it well enough to give you a good time.
The bulk of your time on Banoi is spent exploring and questing, roaming from hub to hub, foraging items to build weapons or complete missions. Zombies can sometimes be avoided: you can often run around them, amassing a slavering, jogging zombie horde in your wake. More fun, though, is hopping into one of the game's multi-seater vehicles, mowing down the undead as you speed along the island's roads. Some of the best times Dead Island has to offer are those spent cruising in a truck with three friends in cooperative mode, zombies shedding experience points as they bounce off the bonnet.
Dead Island also shines in missions that have you risk life and limb in a sortie to a petrol station, and are best experienced in co-op. Here you might park up in the forecourt then fend off waves of the walking dead while your buddies fill up petrol cans and toss them in the back of the truck. On the journey back to base, your driver might get your ride jammed up between wrecked cars. You might have to pile out to defend the vehicle and its cargo while said driver works desperately to get it unstuck. Dead Island is the kind of game out of which anecdote-generating scenarios naturally, pleasingly emerge--not unlike its zombie-bashing co-op forerunner, Left 4 Dead.
So yes, Left 4 Dead: the undead elephant in the room. If the petrol-gathering mission sounded a lot like Left 4 Dead 2's Scavenge mode, that's because it is. Dead Island lifts liberally from Valve's zombie shooters in other places, too, and beyond the obvious resemblances. Its boss enemies look like leftovers from a Left 4 Dead casting session, approximating the various special infected in that game. Among them is a charger type, a spitter type, and a boomer type. Still, it's hard to begrudge a game for being derivative in a genre as derivative as zombie horror; you could even call it a loving homage, if the bosses were better rip-offs--none are as intimidating as a tank or as creepy as a witch.
The weapon system resembles that of another zombie game, too--this time Dead Rising 2. Though there are guns to be had, they arrive relatively late; melee and throwing weapons are the order of the day, with emphasis on slicing and bludgeoning the enemy. You find basic weapons, such as knives, scythes, and baseball bats, lying around. You can't craft them from scratch, but you can upgrade and modify them at workbenches found in hubs to create, for example, nail-spiked bats and machetes that deliver paralysing electric shocks. It's a shame weapons degrade irritatingly fast over time; a prized weapon you've upgraded and modded to the max might not last too long once you break the cover of a quest hub, leaving you to improvise with scavenged oars and hat stands.
When you take those weapons into a fight, prepare for gore enough to fill swimming pools. Injuries are dynamic and gruesomely vivid, encouraging you to lop off limbs and heads. That the combat is only mildly clunky comes as a surprise--there aren't many successes in the field of first-person brawling. It's grimly satisfying to slice off a zombie's arm with a single, well-aimed swipe, but the system would benefit from a more refined way to block and dodge. As it is, mastery comes from closely watching enemy attack animations, jumping out of the way where possible, and punting zombies back with a well-timed kick in the face. Kicks, in fact, become the unlikely centrepiece of your arsenal, in virtue of being nigh-on uninterruptible and at zero cost to stamina. Swinging other weapons, especially heavy ones, drains your stamina bar, as does sprinting. Weapons can also be thrown--from time to time you find yourself at low health, furiously backpedalling while you lob the contents of your inventory at your pursuer (they can be recovered from his corpse later).
When guns do show up later in the game, they are only passable; Dead Island doesn't excel as a shooter. The guns would be a welcome change of pace in combat, at least, if they didn't come hand in hand with the living, breathing human enemies carrying them. Like many zombie stories, Dead Island is determined to teach us that humans are the real monsters; you occasionally face off against gangs of smugglers, guards, and opportunist punks, but the clashes are mostly tedious sweep-and-clears, turning a brisk action game into a so-so shooter. They feel tacked on, seemingly without even situation-specific voice acting from the player characters: one screams her usual zombies-are-eating-me line ("They're tearing me apart!") when being shot in the head by distant smugglers.
Levelling is par for the course in a role-playing-heavy action RPG, complete with talent trees for customising characters which offer, for instance, options to increase damage or durability of certain weapon types. You level up quickly as well, thanks in part to frequent checkpointing and the minimal penalty for dying: a death tax that skims off a little of the money you've earned by completing missions and scrounging from abandoned suitcases. If you die, you generally respawn a few metres from where you dropped, ready to plunge back into the zombie fray. It's a generous system, though it minimises any sense of dread or tension.
Any remaining traces of terror are wiped out by the characters themselves, who run the gamut from flat to flat and obnoxious. There are two basic personalities among the four playable characters: both of the female characters are disillusioned cops trying to make it in a man's world, both of the men are faded superstars trying to recapture former glory days. Their voice acting is equally lacklustre (in sharp contrast to the cast of zombies, whose groans and angry screeches are alarmingly good). Thankfully, cutscenes are skippable.
The game starts stronger than it finishes, with the first act host to the most visually attractive, most open-feeling location: the beach resort itself. On the other hand, later acts deliver the blueprints for the best mods, so you can at least have exotic hardware for hacking through the enemy in the second act's overlong, under-fun sewer sections. Besides, you can start a second game with all the inventory and character progress of your first, letting you do battle with level-appropriate enemies and your best weapons back in the winning environment of the Royal Palms Resort. Here, among the palm trees and beach huts and gleaming spilt blood, the game looks its best; later, the visuals are spoiled by muddy, low-resolution textures, which are often late to pop in after the level furniture loads.
Dead island deserves credit for backing its multiplayer-favouring action with a reliable system for joining up with other players online. We played online for hours without a hitch, with equally smooth experiences playing alongside friends and match-made strangers. If you play alone, the other three characters aren't added in under computer control, though they still appear in cutscenes.
As a sandbox action role-playing game based on killing zombies with friends, Dead Island is a proposition rich with possibilities, and it exploits a good deal of them, if imperfectly. There's easily 20 hours of content in a single playthrough--much more if you're exploring the Polynesian paradise sandbox and messing around with trucks as much as you should be. If you don't step off the boat expecting a taut horror experience, a masterful gun game, or compelling characters, you'll have a bloody good time.


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Confidence index explanation
Before uploading your submission, we would like to know how you rank your confidence level in performing an anastomosis on a low fidelity simulator:
Please rank your confidence level according to the following scale:
5 = Extremely High Confidence Level:
I have the impression that I am ready to move to anastomoses on the living human in real life situations. Due to my confidence level, I believe I can successfully and repeatedly execute an anastomosis and score above 90 % of the maximum value of an OSATS.
4 = High Confidence Level:
I have the impression that I need some final adjustments before performing anastomoses on the living human in real life situations. Due to my confidence level, I believe I can sometimes execute an anastomosis and score above 90 % of the maximum value of an OSATS
3 = Medium Confidence Level:
I have the impression that I know all the essential elements of a technically perfect anastomosis but I am not yet able to execute them simultaneously or repeatedly.
2 = Low Confidence Level:
I have had a first contact with all the components of an anastomosis and have started practicing them in a simulated environment.
1 = Not Confident:
I do not yet know the components allowing me a perfect anastomosis but I am willing to proceed along an educational path towards this ambition.
Please note that as a self-ranking, the score is NOT a valid predictor of the actual ability to perform a cardiovascular anastomosis during a real patient surgery.
An OSATS is an Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skill.
The OSCE (Objectives Structured Clinical Examination) introduced by Harden (BMJ 1975;1:447-451) assessed clinical behaviors in medical schools. Kopta used checklists to assess the operative skills of residents (Surgery 1971;70:297-303). Schueneman (Surgery 1984;96:288-95) added a rating scale of surgical skill. Winckle (Am J Surg 1994;167:423-7) used operation-specific checklists and detailed global rating scales in assessing residents' skills in the operating theatre.
The concept of OSATS, by Martin, Regehr, Reznick (British J Surgery 1997,84,273-278) involves direct observation of residents performing structured operative tasks on inanimate models. A???ac imperdiet tortor. Suspendisse ante leo, vehicula ut ante id, mattis feugiat orci. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Nullam ornare tristique nisi. Duis volutpat dui eu mollis cursus. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus.
Morbi sit amet ante a leo tempor interdum ac ac ipsum. Vivamus id euismod ligula. Fusce consequat sit amet orci non accumsan. Donec volutpat nunc vel semper facilisis. Suspendisse potenti. Vestibulum nec scelerisque orci. Aliquam eleifend neque sed ligula tempor placerat. Praesent faucibus bibendum massa ac cursus. Nullam in sem vitae quam porta vulputate id at dolor. Curabitur semper ante vitae quam aliquam, sit amet rutrum erat dictum. Etiam at urna purus. Nulla in leo dignissim, efficitur nisi ut, suscipit dolor. Maecenas consectetur volutpat tortor, a facilisis augue tincidunt auctor. Fusce egestas sem non posuere dapibus.
Instructions for taking a picture
The pictures should clearly present your training for the step.
When talking a picture, make sure you have read the specific guidelines given by the faculty member in the curriculum step's submission part. Look at the example picture that is provided in the guidelines.
Take these pictures from less than 50 cm distance. Use appropriate magnification and high resolution to allow the evaluator to distinguish all features of the exercise and to get good results. Make sure the pictures are taken in colour to be able to show good contrast
Example image types are: .jpg, .png, .tiff, .bmp.
Instructions for taking a video
The video(s) should present your training on the anastomosis curriculum elements in the particular steps. You should take a look at the specific video requirements in the submissions section of that step. You can alos take a look at the example video that is provided in the briefing of the step's submission page.
The videos should not exceed 2-3 minutes in length. Take the videos from less than 100 cm distance from anastomosis, ideally from 75 cm distance.
The video scenes should visualize the hands, their support, the needle holders and the grafts. Try to have a surgical (stable) video hand, preferably use a fixed support.
For visual and technical reasons, try to use a needle sized 9-13 mm. Use a suture size 6-0, max. 7-0. You do not need to add any sound to the video.
You do not need to pay specific attention to the size of videos, since we have a engine that will convert the videos to a good size and format for online display.
Example video formats are: .mp4, .avi, .mov, .wmv, .mkv, .3gp.
Instructions for adding comments
- The notes should be written in English language.
- The number of words is restricted to 500 words.
- Please understand that these notes will only be seen by the proctor.

subset: commoncrawl


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The West Point Community Growth Alliance (The Growth Alliance) is this community's designated full-service, Economic and Community Development mechanism. We are your Business Development group, your Main Street Association, and your Chamber of Commerce. The overall objective of the Growth Alliance is to position and navigate West Point & Clay County on the course to reach its maximum quality-of-life potentials. Through both public and private sectors, the Growth Alliance's collaborative efforts provide the impetus for quality growth and development. Acting as a community and a team, the Growth Alliance seeks to preserve the rich cultural heritage of a southern town with an eye on the horizon to remain competitive in a global marketplace. Boosting civic pride and uncovering hidden potentials are our principles. Concentrating on where we're going with pride and where we've been ensures that generations to come will be proud to call West Point their home. For additional information, click here. |
Contact InformationCity Hall |


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All courses, arranged by program, are listed in the catalog. If you cannot locate a specific course, try the Advanced Search. Current class schedules, with posted days and times, can be found on the NOW/Student Dashboard or by logging in to SiS.
This course is a continuation of 95.477 and serves as an introduction to solid state electronic and optoelectronic devices. The course will cover bipolar junction transistors, field effect transistors, integrated circuits, lasers, switching devices, and negative conductance microwave devices. Three or four practical demonstrations will also be performed with the analysis of the generated data assigned as homework. (offered as 95.548 for graduate credit)
An introduction to the most fundamental area of physics: the nature of motion, what affects it, and how it is measured. We examine Newton's laws, including the law of gravity, and how forces produce acceleration The course also examines the nature of energy - potential and kinetic - and how it relates to motion and forces. We will concentrate on how to analyze physical situations and solve the basic equations of motion. This course is intended to help teachers develop their understanding of the physics of motion.
Newton's laws of motion. Momentum and angular momentum. Energy. Oscillations. Variational principles. Central forces and planetary motion. Non-inertial systems of reference. Rotations of rigid bodies, tensors of inertia. Normal modes of oscillation.
This one-semester, 3-credit course intended for junior level science and engineering majors, is centered around the conceptual design of a spaceflight mission. In this project-based and team-based class, students will apply their science and technical knowledge to develop a spacecraft and mission concept tailored to answer a specific science question. Students will perform quantitative trade studies consistent with real-life constraints such as cost, schedule, manufacturability, team-expertise, operational environment, mission lifetime, etc. Students will 1) learn the fundamentals of key subsystems involved in a space flight mission and 2) apply their skills of inquiry, research, critical thinking to design a complete space science mission to solve a real-world problem while working within a multidisciplinary team.
An integrated study of the thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, review of the experimental foundations and historical development of classical thermodynamics; probability and statistical methods of studying macroscopic systems; atomic basis of the laws of thermodynamics and microscopic definitions of thermodynamics quantities using the method of ensembles; entropy and related quantities; TdS equations, Maxwell relations, equation of state, and applications: canonical and grand canonical ensembles; phase transitions; quantum statistics; application to radiation, magnetism, specific heats. (offered as 95.521 for graduate credit)
De Broglie waves, the Schroedinger equation, wave functions, wave packets, Heisenberguncertainty principle, expectation values, particle in a box, the simple harmonic oscillator, free particles, step barrier, barrier penetration, square well potential, time independent perturbation theory. (offered as 95.535 for graduate credit)
The three dimensional Schroedinger equation, the deuteron nucleus, angular momentum, spin, the hydrogen atom, spin-orbit interaction, Zeeman effect, Pauli exclusion principle, atomic structure, multi-electron atoms, the Fermi gas, X-rays.
This course will cover the use of lenses,mirrors,and other optics to construct optical systems. Topics will include paraxial optics, aberrations, two element systems (such as telescopes), and dispersive optics (such as diffraction gratings and binary optics). We will discuss transfer functions, zernike polynomials, ray tracing procedures, and other analysis techniques in order to understand the performance of systems and their aberrations. As time allows we will discuss wave effects including diffraction, interferometry, and other physical effects.
Wave nature of light, mathematics of wave motion, electro-magnetic theory of light propagation, reflection and refraction, Fresnel coefficients, polarization, interference, Young's experiment, fringe visibility and coherence, various interferometers, Newton's rings and applications, Fraunhofer diffraction by single and multiple apertures and diffraction gratings, Fresnel diffraction.
Optical properties of materials, including dispersion, absorption, reflection and refraction at the boundary of two media. Crystal optics and induced birefringence and optical activity. Polarization states and Jones matrices. Applications to electro-optic devices. Experiments and projects involving the study of optical sources and detectors , spectroscopy, polarization, birefringence, pockels' effect, optical fibers, and optical communication. (offered as 95.539 for graduate credit)
A one-semester course designed to teach the student several of the important techniques for characterizing the structural, optical, and electronic properties of materials. Experiments will include x-ray diffractometry, hardness measurements, elipsometry, visible and near infrared spectroscopy, far infrared spectroscopy, and raman spectroscopy.
The theory of electromagnetic fields using vector analysis: electrostatic fields and potentials in vacuum, conductors, and dielectric media, magnetic effects of steady currents in nonmagnetic media, magnetic induction and time varying currents and fields. (offered as 95.553 for graduate credit)
Magnetic materials, electric multipoles, solutions to Laplace's equation, boundary conditions, image charge problems, Maxwell's equations; propagation of electromagnetic waves in vacuum, conductors and dielectrics; reflection and refraction of electromagnetic waves; radiation from dipoles and antennas. (offered as 95.554 for graduate credit).
The course introduces the present knowledge of space phenomena and the physical understanding of the plasma environment from the sun to the earth's ionosphere and in the heliosphere. Regions in space to be discussed include the solar surface, solar wind, bow shock, magnetosheath, magnetosphere, magnetotail, radiation belts, ring currents, and the ionosphere. Among space plasma physic theories, single particle theory, kinetic theory, and magnetohydrodynamics, which describe charged particle motion in electromagnetic fields and its consequences, are introduced and applied to the space environment.
Pre-Reqs: MATH 2310 Calculus III, MATH 2340 Differential Equations, PHYS 3540 or 95.554 Electromagnetism II.
Our knowledge of the universe beyond the Solar System is derived almost entirely from our interpretation of the radiation we receive from the universe; Our knowledge of the Earth's upper atmosphere and the atmospheres of other solar system objects is heavily dependent on observations of electromagnetic radiation. To understand the atmospheres of Earth and other planets, stars, galaxies and the universe, we need to understand the processes which produce electromagnetic radiation, and how radiation interacts with matter and propagates through space. This course describes the basic processes which create and alter such electromagnetic radiation before it's detected here in the Solar System. The course will consist of a combination of lectures, problem sets and class discussion sessions. The lectures will be expanded from the material in the text and will include additional material on the astrophysical and planetary context of radiative processes, drawn primarily from the following list of references. The discussion sessions will often be based on recent problem sets - regular participation of students in class discussions is expected.
Nuclear properties including size, mass, binding energy, electromagnetic moments, parity and statistics; nuclear shell model, collective structure, deformed shell model, radioactive decay law and the Bateman equations, radioactive dating, counting statistics, energy resolution, coincidence measurements and time resolution, lifetime measurements; nuclear barrier pentetration; angular momentum, Coulomb barrier, alpha decay and systematics, fission. (offered as 95.561 for graduate credit).
Pre-Req: 95.210 Introductory Modern Physics
The course aims to provide an overview of the main and common computational methods currently used in physics research. The course will cover the topics of basic concepts of computational physics, first and second order methods of integration of advection equations, kinetic methods and N-body methods, Monte Carlo and Particle in Cell (PIC) methods, finite elements, finite volume and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), spectral methods, girding methods and Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR), and introduction to parallel computing.
Pre-req: MATH.2310 Calculus III, and MATH.2340 Differential Equations, and PHYS.3810 Math Physics I, and PHYS.3820 Math Physics II.
Review of Special Relativity and a brief introduction to general relativity. Introduction to the Standard Model of Particle Physics. Fundamental particles, Quarks, Leptons and Gauge Bosons. Conservation rules and symmetries. Parity Conservation and intrinsic parity of particles. Parity violation in weak interactions. Charge conjugation invariance and its violation in weak interactions. Gauge transformations and local gauge invariance in quantum field theories. Gauge invariance in electroweak theory. The Higgs mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking. Higgs Boson. Comparison of electroweak theory with experiment. Introduction to Astrophysics and Cosmology. The expanding universe. The Hubble Constant. Olber's paradox. The Friedman equation. The age of the universe. Cosmic microwave radiation. Radiation and Matter Eras. Primordial nucleosynthesis. Baryogenesis and the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. Development and structure in the early universe. Horizon and Flatness Problems. Quantum fluctuations and Inflation. Particle physics in the stars. Stellar evolution. Hydrogen burning and the pp cycle in the sun. Helium burning and the production of carbon and oxygen. Production of heavy elements. Electron degeneracy pressure and the white dwarf stars. Neutron stars and Pulsars. Solar neutrinos, neutrino oscillations.
There is currently no description available for this course.
The course aims to provide upper level undergraduate and graduate students from Physics and Engineering background in plasma physics, focusing on the fundamental physics principles, not any specific application or field of research. The course will cover the topics of basic plasma concepts, single-particle motion in an electromagnetic field, magnetohydrodynamics, plasma waves, plasma instabilities, plasma kinetics, and some advanced topics in plasma physics.
Pre-req: MATH.2310 Calculus III, and MATH.2340 Differential Equations, and PHYS.3530 Electromagnetism I.
Crystal structures, x-ray diffraction, crystal binding, lattice vibrations, free electron and band models of metals. (offered as 95.572 for graduate credit).
This course is an introduction to solid state electronic and optoelectronic devices for undergraduate science students (i.e. biology, chemistry, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, physics, etc.) graduate students just entering a scientific endeavor which utilizes solid state devices, and practical engineers and scientists whose understanding of modern electronics and optoelectronics needs updating. The course is organized to bring students with a background in sophomore physics to a level of understanding which will allow them to read much of the current literature on new devices and applications. The course will cover fundamental crystal properties, atoms and electrons, energy bands and charge carriers, excess carriers, junctions and p-n junction diodes (includes photodiodes and light-emitting diodes). Three or four practical demonstrations will also be performed with the analysis of the generated data assigned as homework. (offered as 95.577 for graduate credit)
Physics based introduction to modern Astronomy and Astrophysics. Aimed at students who have already studied E&M, Modern Physics, and Calculus. Focus on fundamentals of Stellar Astrophysics and Galactic Astronomy.
Pre-req: PHYS 1410 Physics I, or PHYS 1610 Honors Physics I and PHYS 1440 Physics II or PHYS 1640 Honors Physics II.
This course explores the essentials of cloud physics, beginning with the basic laws of thermodynamics of both dry and moist atmospheres. Condensation, nucleation, and drop growth are studied in detail at an advanced level.
Experiments in various branches of physics including optics, atomic physics, solid state physics and nuclear physics.
Vector analysis; matrices and determinants; theory of analytical functions; differential equations, Fourier series, Laplace transforms, distributions, Fourier transforms. Students taking PHYS.6050/6060 cannot get credit for PHYS.6070.
Partial differential equations, boundary value problems, and special functions; linear vector spaces; Green's functions; selected additional topics; numerical analysis. Students taking PHYS.6050/6060 cannot get credit for PHYS.6070.
Pre-Req: PHYS.6050 Math Methods of Physics I.
Vector and tensor analysis; Linear spaces; Special functions; Fourier transforms; Theory of complex variables. Students taking PHYS.6070 cannot get credit for PHYS.6050/6060.
Knowledge of Lagrangian mechanics assumed. Central force problem, scattering, rigid-body mechanics, normal modes and special relativity. Hamiltonian dynamics, canonical transformations, Hamilton-Jacobi theory and action-angle variables. Continuous systems and fields. Simplectic formulation, stochastic processes, and chaos theory.
The representation of quantum states as abstract vectors. Superposition of states. Quantum operators and their matrix representations. Angular momentum operator as the generator of rotations. Eigenvalues and eigenstates of angular momentum. The uncertainty principle. Spin one-half and spin one as examples. Addition of angular momentum. The Hamiltonian operator and the Schrodinger equation. One dimensional examples. The momentum operator, eigenstates of position. Operator solution of the harmonic oscillator. I(3,0) Quantum Mechanics I The representation of quantum states as abstract vectors. Superposition of states. Quantum operators and their matrix representations. Angular momentum operator as the generator of rotations. Eigenvalues and eigenstates of angular momentum. The uncertainty principle. Spin one-half and spin one as examples. Addition of angular momentum. The Hamiltonian operator and the Schrodinger equation. One dimensional examples. The momentum operator, eigenstates of position. Operator solution of the harmonic oscillator.
Quantum mechanics in three dimensions. translational and rotational invariance and conservation of linear and angular momentum, center-of-mass coordinates. Position-space representation of the angular momentum operator, orbital angular momentum eigenfunctions. Bound states of central potentials, including the Coulomb potential and the hydrogen atom. Approximation methods: time-independent perturbations, applications to the Stark effect, the Zeeman effect, spin-orbit coupling in hydrogen. The variational method. Time dependent perturbations. Indistinguishable particles: multielectron atoms, covalent bonding. Scattering. Electromagnetic interactions: emission and absorption of radiation.
This single-semester course assumes prior exposure to quantum mechanics and is designed to train students in more complex concepts and tools of quantum mechanics. The topics include mathematical framework of complex vector spaces, exactly solvable systems such as harmonic oscillator and spin-half, path integral formalism, continuous and discrete symmetries, gauge invariance and quantum Hall effect ,time-independent and time-dependent perturbation theory, second quantization of many-body quantum systems. The aim of the course is to provide foundational conceptual and technical background requisite for advanced elective courses, such as quantum Information, quantum optics, quantum field theory, and/or quantum many-body physics. Students can get credit for either PHYS.6165 or for PHYS.6150/PHYS.6160 Sequence.
Pre-req: PHYS.5350 Introductory Quantum Mechanics I, and PHYS.5360 Inrodutory Quantum Mechanics II, or Permission of Instructor.
Dirac equation as a single particle wave equation, free particle spinors and plane waves, matrices and relativistic covariance, nonrelativistic approximation and the fine-structure of the H atom. Quantization of the e.m. field in the coulomb gauge; interaction of an atom with the quantized radiation field; radiative transitions in atoms; Thomson scattering; classical and quantized Lagrangian field theory; symmetries and conservation laws: quantization of the real and complex Klein-Gordon field; Dirac Field and the covariant quantization of the e.m. field; Feynman propagators; the interaction picture and the S-matrix expansion in perturbation theory and the Wick's Rule. Feynman diagrams and rules for calculating S-matrix elements in QED; formulas for cross-section and spin and photon polarization sums; calculation of cross-sections for (1) e++e- l++ l - (2) e++e- e++e- (3) Compton scattering and (4) scattering of electrons by an external e.m. field.
Introduction of physical concepts behind quantum information processing; Quantum description of physical systems, such as a harmonic oscillator and a single qubit, from an information processing point of view; More complex systems composed of entangled qubits; General tools, rooted in density-matrix formalism, used to describe entanglement and decoherence; Quantum error correction and how it can correct for qubit decoherence to realize fault tolerant computation; Recent advances in engineering quantum information processing platforms, teleportation, and quantum annealing.
The aim of this elective course is to introduce graduate students to advanced concepts in collective phenomena, phase transitions, and renormalization group techniques. The course assumes familiarity with basic concepts of statistical physics such as kinetic theory of gases, partition functions, classical and quantum gases.
Pre-req: PHYS.5210 Statistical Thermodynamics, and PHYS.6110 Classical Mechanics, and PHYS.6165 Graduate Quantum Mechanics, or special permission from the instructor.
Wave propagation in a linear anisotropic medium; Wave propagation in a nonlinear optical medium. Classical model for the origin of nonlinear optical effects; Second order nonlinear optical effects - second harmonic generation, sum and difference frequency generation, linear electro-optical effect; Third order nonlinear optical effects, Kerr effect and intensity dependent nonlinear index of refraction, stimulated Raman and Billouin scattering; Photorefraction; Nonlinear optical devices.
Electrostatics and magnetostatics with special attention to boundary value problems. Quasistatic fields and displacement currents. Maxwell's equations, special relativity, wave-guides, scattering, radiation from accelerated charges, propagation in material media and plasmas, Kramers-Kronig relations.
Electrostatics and magnetostatics with special attention to boundary value problems. Quasistatic fields and displacement currents. Maxwell's equations, special relativity, waveguides, scattering, radiation from accelerated charges; propagation in material media and plasmas, Kramers-Kronig relations.
The nucleon-nucleon force; nuclear models; nuclear reaction theory and partial wave analysis of scattering; fast neutron physics.
This course provides in depth knowledge of space phenomena and physical understanding of the plasma environment form the sun to the earth's ionosphere and in the heliosphere. Regions in space include solar surface, solar wind, bow shock, magnetosheath, magnetosphere, magnetotail, radiation belts, ring currents, and upper ionosphere. Among space plasma physics theories, single particle theory and magnetohydrodynamics are discussed in depth.
Pre-req: PHYS 5550 Introduction to Space Physics or ATMO 4840 Space Weather.
Special relativity and Lorentz transformations; Scalar and electromagnetic fields; Curved spacetime and the metric tensor; The equivalence principle; Geodesics, covariant derivatives, and Killing vectors; Einstein's field equations; The energy conditions; Relativistic cosmology and the expanding Universe; (Special topics: Schwarzschild solution and black holes; Penrose-Carter diagrams; Quantum gravity)
Pre-req: PHYS.3540 Electromagnetism II, and PHYS.3820 Mathematical Physics II, and PHYS.4130 Mechanics.
Geometry, kinematics, and dynamics in an expanding Universe; Thermal history; Generation of standard model particles; Phase transitions; Inflation; quantum origin of primordial inhomogeneities; Scalar, vector, and tensor perturbations; Gravitational instability; Choice of gauge; Matter distribution; Galaxy bias; Redshift space distortions; Cosmic microwave background anisotropies; Baryon acoustic oscillations; Polarization.
Pre-req: PHYS.6830 General Relativity, and PHYS.6150 Quantum Mechanics I, and PHYS.5210 Statistical Thermodynamics.
A series of invited lectures on current research topics in Physics. "Variable credit course, student chooses appropriate amount of credits when registering."
involve presentations by students, faculty members, and visiting scientists of advanced topics, original research or journal articles. "Variable credit course, student chooses appropriate amount of credits when registering."
A weekly series of presentations and discussions by students and faculty concerning research in progress and planned research at the 5.5 MV Van de Graaff Accelerator. Enrollment in the course is limited to students whose research projects involve the Van de Graaff accelerator. "Variable credit course, student chooses appropriate amount of credits when registering."
A weekly series of presentations and discussions concerning experimental optics research in the University of Massachusetts Lowell Department of Physics and Applied Physics. "Variable credit course, student chooses appropriate amount of credits when registering."
Presentations by students of progress in their research projects. "Variable credit course, student chooses appropriate amount of credits when registering."
"Variable credit course, student chooses appropriate amount of credits when registering."
Course involves presentations by students , faculty members, and visiting scientists of advanced topics, original research for journal articales relevant to technologies at terahertz frequencies. "Variable credit course, student chooses appropriate amount of credits when registering."
Seminar in Biomedical Optics, offered at the Advanced Biophotonics Laboratory by Dr. Anna N. Yaroslavsky, covers topics related to recent advances in biomedical optics. Examples include, but are not limited to, the development of individualized, image-based methods of light dosimetry and planning for cancer treatments, concepts and implementation of full inverse Monte Carlo technique for reconstruction of tissue optical properties, investigation of light scattering by complex biological structures and live tissues, development of steady-state and time-resolved polarization, fluorescence and elastic scattering methods for diagnostics and treatment of pathology. "Variable credit course, student chooses appropriate amount of credits when registering."
Reading in preparation for research, or research not for thesis. If results of the research are to be subsequently incorporated into a thesis, credits earned in this course may be used to satisfy thesis credit requirements in M.S. or Ph.D. Thesis Research with the written permission of the thesis supervisor, provided such permission is granted at the time of registration for this course. If the results are incorporated in an M.S. project, not more than 3 credits are allowed. "Variable credit course, student chooses appropriate amount of credits when registering."
Involves presentations by students, faculty members, and research scientists on advanced topics in heavy-ion spectroscopy, including both original research and journal articles. "Variable credit course, student chooses appropriate amount of credits when registering."
This course is a weekly seminar covering the areas of conventional "space physics" and extending to "astrophysics" and 'Upper atmospheric physics". Each seminar is focused on a topic that is currently at the cutting edge in these fields while an extended introduction will be given based on diverse background knowledge at graduate level in physics and engineering. "Variable credit course, student chooses appropriate amount of credits when registering."
Students will study the scientific literature on topics and concepts in nanoscale physics and technology, including nanoscale thermal properties, micro-and nano-fluidity, nano-optics, quantum confinement to electronic states, and other phenomena. Students will make presentations and lead discussions on these studies at the frontiers of the field. The presentations will help them to generate new ideas for their own graduate research. Every student will have the opportunity to lead more than one discussion session. "Variable credit course, student chooses appropriate amount of credits when registering."
Current research topics in medical physics, discussed by faculty, students and invited speakers. "Variable credit course, student chooses appropriate amount of credits when registering."
Selected topics courses cover recent advances and more advanced topics, not covered in the regular courses in these areas. Subject matter varies, depending on the interests of the instructor and the needs of the students. Subject matter varies sufficiently that these courses may be taken more than once for credit without repeating topics.
Research project leading to the Graduate Research Admission Examination (for Ph.D. candidates only.)
Note: Courses with 98 prefix are described in the Radiological Sciences and Protection section of this catalog. "Variable credit course, student chooses appropriate amount of credits when registering."
Continued Grad Research
Cooperative Education in Physics. "Variable credit course, student chooses appropriate amount of credits when registering."


text:
Health Tip: Create an Asthma Action Plan
An asthma action plan is a written guide that explains how to manage your asthma, and instructions for when to call the doctor or head to the emergency room.
The American Lung Association says your asthma action plan should include:
- Basic personal information, including your name.
- Emergency contact information.
- Your health-care provider's contact information.
- Classification for your asthma's severity.
- A list of things that may trigger an asthma attack.


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If you are working for yourself in any capacity then we can help you with your accountancy and tax needs
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"The definition of a white person is a person who in appearance obviously is a white person . . . or who is generally accepted as a white person and is not in appearance obviously not a white person." The preceding is not another jaw dropper from Senator Harry Reid but rather verbatim law from South Africa's apartheid regime.
The statute is read aloud during a courtroom scene from Anthony Fabian's Skin, the true story of Sandra Laing, a black girl born to white parents in 1950s South Africa. In a country where being "white" means you're a citizen and being "black" means you're not, the distinction is of particular interest to Laing's family.
Yet ultimately, Sandra — played as a young girl by the stunningly effective Ella Ramangwane and through womanhood by the engrossingly awkward Sophie Okonedo — embraces her blackness, a decision that puts her at odds not only with the monstrous Kafka-esque government but also with her fanatically inflexible father. Her life-long ordeal is the latest reflection on race from an increasingly vibrant cinema about South Africa.
See all articles by: LANCE GOULD
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Video ▶
As romantic relationships move forward, the Liars investigate a new suspect in the murder case. With Ezra back in Rosewood, Aria must tell him the truth about her involvement with his book. Spencer and Caleb deal with a media leak that affects the campaign. Hanna takes a look at her life after an incident at work. Emily gets harassed by the stalker while she continues the search for Sara. Meanwhile, two lovers finally tie the knot with the help ...
Episode Guide
Season 01
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Sorry things have been so slow around here. I know I keep promising that I'm going to post more frequently, but it's hard. Life as an engineer at a startup is exhausting. There's so much work to do! And the work is so fun – it's easy to let it eat up all of your time.
Anyway… last good-math post 'round these parts was about monoids and programming. Today, I'm going to talk about monads and programming!
If you recall, monoids are an algebraic/categorical construct that, when implemented in a programming language, captures the abstract notion of foldability. For example, if you've got a list of numbers, you can fold that list down to a single number using addition. Folding collections of values is something that comes up in a lot of programming problems – capturing that concept with a programming construct allows you to write code that exploits the general concept of foldability in many different contexts.
Monads are a construct that have become incredibly important in functional programming, and they're very, very poorly understood by most people. That's a shame, because the real concept is actually simple: a monad is all about the concept of sequencing. A monad is, basically, a container that you can wrap something in. Once it's wrapped, you can form a sequence of transformations on it. The result of each step is the input to the next. That's really what it's all about. And when you express it that way, you can begin to see why it's such an important concept.
I think that people are confused by monads for two reasons:
- Monads are almost always described in very, very abstract terms. I'll also get into the abstract details, but I'll start by elaborating on the simple description I gave above.
- Monads in Haskell, which are where most people are introduced to them, are very confusing. The basic monad operations are swamped with tons of funny symbols, and the basic monad operations are named in incredibly misleading ways. ("return" does almost the exact opposite of what you expect return to do!)
In programming terms, what's a monad?
Basically, a monadic computation consists of three pieces:
- A monadic type, M which is a parametric type wrapper that can wrap a value of any type.
- An operation which can wrap a value in M.
- An operation which takes a function that transforms a value wraped in M into another value (possibly with a different type) wrapped in M.
Whenever you describe something very abstractly like this, it can seem rather esoteric. But this is just a slightly more formal way of saying what I said up above: it's a wrapper for a series of transformations on the wrapped value.
Let me give you an example. At foursquare, we do all of our server programming in Scala. In a year at foursquare, I've seen exactly one null pointer exception. That's amazing – NPEs are ridiculously common in Java programming. But in Scala at foursquare, we don't allow nulls to be used at all. If you have a value which could either be an instance of A, or no value, we use an option type. An Option[T]
can be either Some(t: T)
or None
So far, this is nice, but not really that different from a null. The main difference is that it allows you to say, in the type system, whether or not a given value might be null. But: Option is a monad. In Scala, that means that I can use map on it. (map is one of the transformation functions!)
val t: Option[Int] = ... val u: Option[String] = t.map( _ + 2 ).map(_.toString)
What this does is: if t
is Some(x)
, then it adds two to it, and returns Some(x+2)
; then it takes the result of the first map, and converts it toa string, returning an Option[String]
. If t
is None
, then running map on it always returns None
. So I can write code which takes care of the null case, without having to write out any conditional tests of nullness – because optionality is a monad.
In a good implementation of a monad, I can do a bit more than that. If I've got a Monad[T]
, I can use a map-like operation with a function that takes a T
and returns a Monad[T]
For an example, we can look at lists – because List
is a monad:
val l: List[Int] = List(1, 2, 3) l.flatMap({ e => List( (e, e), (e+1, e+2) ) }) res0: List[(Int, Int)] = List((1,1), (2,3), (2,2), (3,4), (3,3), (4,5))
The monad map operation does a flatten on the map steps. That means a lot of things. You can see one in the rather silly example above.
You can take values, and wrap them as a list. THen you can perform a series of operations on those elements of a list – sequencing over the elements of the list. Each operation, in turn, returns a list; the result of the monadic computation is a single list, concatenating, in order, the lists returned by each element. In Scala, the flatMap operation captures the monadic concept: basically, if you can flatmap something, it's a monad.
Let's look at it a bit more specifically.
- The monadic type:
. - A function to wrap a value into the monad: the constructor function from List
def apply[T](value: T): List[T]
- The map operation:
def flatMap[T, U](op: T => List[U]): List[U]
(In the original version of this post, the I put the wrong type in flatMap in the list above. In the explanation demonstrating flatMap, the type is correct. Thanks to John Armstrong for catching that!)
You can build monads around just about any kind of type wrapper where it makes sense to map over the values that it wraps: collections, like lists, maps, and options. Various kinds of state – variable environments (where the wrapped values are, essentially, functions from identifiers to values), or IO state. And plenty of other things. Anything where you perform a sequence of operations over a wrapped value, it's a monad.
Now that we have some understanding of what this thing we're talking about it, what is it in mathematical terms? For that, we turn to category theory.
Fundamentally, in category theory a monad is a category with a particular kind of structure. It's a category with one object. That category has a collection of arrows which (obviously) are from the single object to itself. That one-object category has a functor from the category to itself. (As a reminder, a functor is an arrow between categories in the category of (small) categories.)
The first trick to the monad, in terms of theory, is that it's fundamentally about the functor: since the functor maps from a category to the same category, so you can almost ignore the category; it's implicit in the definition of the functor. So we can almost treat the monad as if it were just the functor – that is, a kind of transition function.
The other big trick is closely related to that. For the programming language application of monads, we can think of the single object in the category as the set of all possible states. So we have a category object, which is essentially the collection of all possible states; and there are arrows between the states representing possible state transitions. So the monad's functor is really just a mapping from arrows to different arrows – which basically represents the way that changing the state causes a change in the possible transitions to other states.
So what a monad gives us, in terms of category theory, in a conceptual framework that captures the concept of a state transition system, in terms of transition functions that invisibly carry a state. When that's translated into programming languages, that becomes a value that implicitly takes an input state, possibly updates it, and returns an output state. Sound familiar?
Let's take a moment and get formal. As usual for category theory, first there are some preliminary definitions.
- Given a category, C, 1C is the identity functor from C to C.
- Given a category C with a functor T : C → C, T2 = T º T.
- Given a functor T, 1T : T → T is the natural transformation from T to T.
Now, with that out of the way, we can give the complete formal definition of a monad. Given a category C, a monad on C is a triple: (T:C→C, η:1C→T, μ:T2 → T), where T is a functor, and η and μ are natural transformations. The members of the triple must make the following two diagrams commute.
Commutativity of composition with μ
Commutativity of composition with η
What these two diagrams mean is that successive applications of the state-transition functor over C behave associatively – that any sequence of composing monadic functors will result in a functor with full monadic structure; and that the monadic structure will always preserve. Together, these mean that any sequence of operations (that is, applications of the monad functor) are themselves monad functors – so the building a sequence of monadic state transformers is guaranteed to behave as a proper monadic state transition – so what happens inside of the monadic functor is fine – to the rest of the universe, the difference between a sequence and a single simple operation is indistinguishable: the state will be consistently passed from application to application with the correct chaining behavior, and to the outside world, the entire monadic chain looks like like a single atomic monadic operation.
Now, what does this mean in terms of programming? Each element of a monadic sequence in Haskell is an instantiation of the monadic functor – that is, it's an arrow between states – a function, not a simple value – which is the basic trick to monads. They look like a sequence of statements; in fact, each statement in a monad is actually a function from state to state. And it looks like we're writing sequence code – when what we're actually doing is writing function compositions – so that when we're done writing a monadic sequence, what we've actually done is written a function definition in terms of a sequence of function compositions.
Understanding that, we can now clearly understand why we need the return function to use a non-monad expression inside of a monadic sequence – because each step in the sequence needs to be an instance of the monadic functor; an expression that isn't an instance of the monadic functor couldn't be composed with the functions in the sequence. The return function is really nothing but a function that combines a non-monadic expression with the id functor.
In light of this, let's go back and look at the definition of Monad
in the Haskell standard prelude.
class Functor f where fmap :: (a -> b) -> f a -> f b class Monad m where (>>=) :: m a -> (a -> m b) -> m b (>>) :: m a -> m b -> m b return :: a -> m a fail :: String -> m a -- Minimal complete definition: -- (>>=), return m >> k = m >>= _ -> k fail s = error s
The declaration of monad is connected with the definition of functor – if you look, you can see the connection. The fundamental operation of Monad
is ">>=
" – the chaining operation, which is basically the haskell version of the map operation, which is type m a -> (a -> m b) -> m b
is deeply connected with the fmap
operation from Functor
's fmap
operation – the a
in m a
is generally going to be a type which can be a Functor
. (Remember what I said about haskell and monads? I really prefer map and flatMap to >> and >>=).
So the value type wrapped in the monad is a functor – in fact, the functor from the category definition! And the ">>=
" operation is just the functor composition operation from the monad definition.
A proper implementation of a monad needs to follow some fundamental rules – the rules are, basically, just Haskell translations of the structure-preserving rules about functors and natural transformations in the category-theoretic monad. There are two groups of laws – laws about the Functor
class, which should hold for the transition function wrapped in the monad class; and laws about the monadic operations in the Monad
class. One important thing to realize about the functor and monad laws is that they are not enforced – in fact, cannot be enforced! – but monad-based code using monad implementations that do not follow them may not work correctly. (A compile-time method for correctly verifying the enforcement of these rules can be shown to be equivalent to the halting problem.)
There are two simple laws for Functor
, and it's pretty obvious why they're fundamentally just strucure-preservation requirements. The functor class only has one operation, called fmap
, and the two functor laws are about how it must behave.
fmap id = id
(Mapping ID over any structured sequence results in an unmodified sequence) -
fmap (f . g) = (fmap f) . (fmap g)
("." is the function composition operation; this just says that fmap preserves the structure to ensure that that mapping is associative with composition.)
The monad laws are a bit harder, but not much. The mainly govern how monadic operations interact with non-monadic operations in terms of the "return
" and ">>=
" operations of the Monad
return x >>= f = f x
(injecting a value into the monad is basically the same as passing it as a parameter down the chain – return is really just the identity functor passing its result on to the next step. I hate the use of "return". In a state functor, in exactly the right context, it does sort-of look like a return statement in an imperative language. But in pretty much all real code, return is the function that wraps a value into the monad.) -
f >>= return = f
(If you don't specify a value for a return, it's the same as just returning the result of the previous step in the sequence – again, return is just identity, so passing something into return shouldn't affect it.) -
seq >>= return . f = fmap f seq
(composing return with a function is equivalent to invoking that function on the result of the monad sequence to that point, and wrapping the result in the monad – in other words, it's just composition with identity.) -
seq >>= (x -> f x >>= g) = (seq >>= f) >>= g
(Your implementation of ">>=
" needs to be semantically equivalent to the usual translation; that is, it must behave like a functor composition.)


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Health care advocates call on the governor to close the gap in BadgerCare.
Wisconsin businesses will pay $120 million more in federal taxes if Governor Scott Walker rejects increased federal Medicaid money to expand BadgerCare as part of ObamaCare — Affordable Care Act — according to Citizen Action of Wisconsin Executive Director Robert Kraig. "We should understand that turning down the Medicaid money is going to lead to a very large tax increase of a large magnitude on Wisconsin businesses."
Under the federal health care law, employers with more than 50 workers who don't offer adequate health insurance would have to pay a tax penalty for each employee who enrolls in the new health exchanges, but not if employees opt for BadgerCare. Milwaukee Democrat Jon Richards serves on the Assembly Health Committee. "This should be a no-brainer to expand coverage to people of Wisconsin, especially if the federal government's gonna kick in 100 percent or even 90 percent of that cost," he says, "we should be moving forward aggressively."
The governor has not yet made a decision about accepting over $12 billion in federal funds over the next decade to help expand Medicaid services. State Health Secretary Dennis Smith told reporters recently, there's still a lot of uncertainty. Under ObamaCare, Smith said Wisconsin taxpayers will pay more for healthcare programs for Wisconsin's poor — more than the law will save. "Medicaid is unsustainable without reform; without reform states really cannot expand."
David Riemer is a senior fellow with Community Advocates Public Policy Institute, and author of this new analysis. "If we don't expand BadgerCare, there will be a large tax increase for Wisconsin's employers. The only question is the magnitude of it."
Governor Walker addressed the Wisconsin Bankers Association's annual economic forecast luncheon in Madison on Thursday and talked to reporters afterward. He made no indication of any Medicaid decision.
Secretary Smith said a decision on Medicaid expansion will be in the governor's budget, expected next month.


text:
By Reza Sayah. Hamdi Alkhshali and Joe Sterling
CAIRO (CNN) — Egypt remained a powder keg Monday, with 25 soldiers killed in a Sinai ambush and onetime ruler Hosni Mubarak winning acquittal on a corruption charge.
Suspected militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades struck two buses carrying security forces and killed the soldiers in the city of Rafah, on the border between Egypt and Gaza, state-run Nile TV reported.
The Sinai Peninsula is a lawless area that was the site of frequent attacks even before Egypt's latest round of turmoil. In May, for example, seven Egyptian solders were kidnapped and held for six days there, a spokesman for Egypt's armed forces said.
But the attack underscores the persistent tension across the country since the military ousted democratically elected President Mohamed Morsy in a coup.
Over the past week, about 900 people — security forces as well as citizens — have been killed.
Deaths occurred when the military used force to clear two pro-Morsy sit-in sites in Cairo on Wednesday and violence raged after pro-Morsy supporters staged demonstrations Friday.
On Sunday, at least 36 jailed members of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement, were killed in what the Interior Ministry called an attempted jailbreak.
As for the Sinai ambush, the Brotherhood condemned the attack on Egyptian soldiers.
"Our peaceful protests (are) stronger than any weapon, and we don't accept any violence," said Murad Mohamad Ali, media adviser to the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party.
Morsy supporters, many of whom are members of the Muslim Brotherhood, and those aligned with the military-backed interim government blame each other for stoking the violence.
Morsy has been in detention since his overthrow. Egyptian prosecutors have extended the detention for 15 days, pending investigations.
Prosecutors have charged him with participating in the detention, torture, murder and attempted murder of Egyptian citizens; broadcasting false news to influence judicial authorities in their inquiries; and inciting thugs to use force and terrorize citizens.
Questions about aid
The crackdown also spurred a call from a leading U.S. senator, John McCain, to cut off its $1.3 billion in aid to Egypt. He said the United States has failed to follow its own rule requiring suspending aid to states overtaken by a military coup — though the U.S. has not officially described the recent regime change in Egypt as a coup.
"We have no credibility. We do have influence, but when you don't use that influence, then you do not have that influence," McCain said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."
But Saudi Arabia's foreign minister assured Egyptians that Arab nations will support Egypt if any international aid to the country is cut, the Saudi Press Agency reported Monday.
"The Arab and Islamic nation is rich when it comes to the support of its sons and its potentials and will not shy away from providing a helping hand to Egypt," Saud Al-Faisal said.
International response called weak, ineffective
The carnage has spurred a call from leading human rights group Amnesty International for a "full, impartial and effective investigation in the shocking loss of life."
"The interim government has already stained its human rights record — first by breaking its promises to use nonlethal weapons to disperse pro-Morsi sit-ins and allow for the safe exit of wounded, and then by justifying their actions despite the tragic loss of lives," said Salil Shetty, secretary-general of Amnesty International.
"The response of the international community has been weak and ineffective, even as everyone leaps to condemn the horrific loss of life. The international community must act decisively to send a message that no government can behave this way and retain any credibility."
The group documented a rise in civil strife since the July 3 coup and cited "a string of serious human rights abuses, culminating in the wholesale attack by the security forces" on pro-Morsy sit-ins last week.
"These abuses have included an alarming and unprecedented rise in sectarian violence against Coptic Christians across the country, "seemingly in retaliation for their support" for Morsy's ouster.
It cited abuses by pro-Morsy protesters "including beatings, torture and killings.
"In recent days, the scale of violence by some Morsy supporters have manifestly increased, as some attacked government buildings and police stations and personnel. Some protesters have also fired live ammunition on local residents," Amnesty said.
Mubarak in court
As the upheaval persists in Egypt, Mubarak's court cases grind on. In Cairo, a criminal court acquitted the former president in a corruption case, Egyptian state TV reported Monday.
The case stemmed from accusations of squandering public money allocated for renovating presidential palaces. He also faces at least one other outstanding corruption claim.
Separately, Mubarak is also facing a more serious accusation: that he was involved in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising.
A Cairo court on Saturday adjourned a retrial in that case to Sunday, August 25.
Mubarak ruled Egypt, the most populous Arab country, for three decades until demonstrators opposing his rule forced his ouster in 2011. He was convicted in 2012 in the deaths of numerous protesters, but was later granted a retrial.
After a lengthy trial, he and his former interior minister, Habib al-Adly, were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison last year on charges that they were complicit in the protesters' killings. After appealing their convictions, they were granted a new trial early this year.
Mubarak has been held since his guilty verdict last year. After months spent in a military hospital, a public prosecutor sent him back to prison in April.
The ousted autocratic leader's health has been a bone of contention during his trial and incarceration. He suffered a heart attack after relinquishing power and had said that he was physically unfit to stand trial.
CNN's Ali Younes, Schams Elwazer, Ian Lee, Saad Abedine and Holly Yan contributed to this report.
™ & © 2013 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.


text:
The University of Delaware has fired head football coach K.C. Keeler after 11 seasons.
Keeler was 86-52 with the Blue Hens and led them to a Division I-AA national title in 2003 and two subsequent championship game appearances in 2007 and 2010.
Athletics director Eric Ziady says Keeler's success at the school will ''forever be etched in the hearts and minds of the Blue Hen faithful,'' but that a change in direction is needed. Delaware went 12-10 over the past seasons and missed the post-season in four of the last five seasons.
Keeler was a linebacker for Delaware from 1978-1980. He served as head coach at Rowan University for nine seasons before taking over at Delaware in 2002.
Among Keeler's notable players is current Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco.


text:
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EzFlow TruDip Rosé All Day 2 oz
In stock
Item Number
Buy 2 for $12.50 each and save 22%
Pour dip powder into dipping tray. Apply Base then dip nail into powder. Repeat above step on all fingers. Finish with application of Activator and air dry. Apply one fast coat of Seal to one hand , then immediately repeat with 2nd coat. Air dry.
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The Office of Emergency Management is charged with preparing New Castle County and the public to manage activities before, during, and after the impact of natural and technological disaster agents to protect lives and property within the county.
The office operates under the concept of comprehensive emergency management, which applies to all types of hazards and requires a partnership among all levels of government, the private sector, industry, voluntary organizations, and the public.
To request a presentation from the Office of Emergency Management, download the presentation request form (PDF), fill it out with as much detail as possible, and fax or mail it back to us.


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Great Idea!!
Now someone needs to explain to them pesky Ruskies that 99% of the data they harvest is, at best, half truths and at worst, total lies :)
Hackers have turned the harvesting of personal information from Monster.com and other large US jobsites into a lucrative black market business A Russian gang called Phreak has created an online tool that extracts personal details from CVs posted onto sites including Monster.com, AOL Jobs, Ajcjobs.com, Careerbuilder.com, …
I uploaded my CV to monster.co.uk and had is a a private view only. Within a week the amount of spam targeted to my name/email combo on the CV had quadrupled. As they state - they are not responsible for any of your private data that you upload to them.
I wrote to monster about it and their response was:
"We understand that this type of communication may be frustrating, especially as the opportunity that the company is offering may not be something in which you are interested. However, we would like to reassure you that Monster takes all instances of "blanket mailing" or spam very seriously. We are always ready to take action against users who do not comply with our stated guidelines.
While we cannot guarantee that third parties will gain unauthorized access, we do attempt to limit access to our searchable resume database to employers, recruiters, hiring managers, headhunters, and human resource professionals. As delineated in Monster's Privacy Statement (http://about.monster.co.uk/privacy/), we are not responsible for the use made of resumes by third parties who access such resumes while they are in our searchable database."
They also asked for me to provide the headers for the emails. (a little silly assuming that the spam was probably sent via some form of abstraction - say a botnet.)
I think its time for there to be some thinking about how companies that hold large quantities of data on individuals behave. Most seem to be pretty complacent.
"A CAPTCHA is a type of challenge-response test designed to distinguish between requests from an automated program and a human. "
No: A CAPTCHA is a type of challenge-response test designed to distinguish between requests from an automated program and a human who is not visually impared.
A couple of months back I had a unique email address harvested from Monster and subsequently used by the RockPhish enterprise to tout money-laudering roles (typically "Green Tree" spam). When I contacted Monster, they took many days to respond, and did not seem to acknowledge the seriousness of my allegation that my *monster-unique* address had been harvested, and just gave a fairly bland cut-and-paste reply.
In the past couple of days I've had a new deluge of phoney-Monster mailings to a more generic email addy. I haven't yet established whether there's a real link between these and Monster-harvested data, or whther it's just a 'lucky try'...
I sued TD Ameritrade for violating their privacy policy, in failing to prevent their customer database from being obtained by hackers. It is a more serious case; they've already offered $1.9MM in plaintiff's attorney's fees alone to settle the case.
It's much harder for Monster to keep crooks out of its database than AMTD... How would monster do so? I.e. how would it differentiate between a faux firm set up to look like a normal company looking for staff, and a real one? Reliably? At reasonable cost?
Why is this news, and why do they need to use bots to do this?
Just do a search for "curriculum vitae.doc" on Google. Plenty of personal information for the taking (albeit in a nasty proprietary format; anyone applying for a job here would get short shrift ).
I think it shouldn't be too difficult to set up a website where you first have to upload an OpenPGP public key; once you have done that, documents -- encrypted using that key -- become available for download. That would at least provide some measure of traceability: an OpenPGP key is a bit more concrete than an IP address.


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2011 North American Youth Chess Championship, June 25-29 |
By Beatriz Marinello | |
June 22, 2011 | |
The North American Youth Championship begins Friday in Tarrytown, New York. Bookmark the official website for updates and check out some details below from tournament organizer Beatriz Marinello. Also look for an exclusive midway tournament report by Shaun Smith for CLO. Previously hosted in Boca Raton, Florida (USA) in 2004, it is with great pleasure and honor that I organize the North American Youth Championship again, bringing it to the United States for the second time around. We have staff that speaks English, Portuguese, Spanish and French, the main languages of the Americas. Record Breaking Attendance At this point we have 264 players registered (a record breaking number!) and we are expecting 10-20 more to sign up this week. We welcome these young talented players to this year's event! We have an impressive list of participants which includes official and extra playersfrom each participating country. These talented young chess players are among the top rated in their nations. This is definitely a challenging FIDE event eagerly anticipated by many who are serious about their game. Get Serious About Your Game - this phrase adequately conveys how these young players feel about chess and the strength of this competition. This event is a rallying of truly talented young minds ready for serious play to kick off, not only their summer, but, their introduction to international competition. About the North American Youth Chess Championship FIDE Americas created this event to provide geographical diversity and allow players to participate in international youth events in their regions. The 2011 North American Youth has representation from the Bahamas, Canada, Mexico and the United States. Impressive List of Talented Young Players With over 264 players from the participating countries attending, find out who's competing! Here is a link to all of the players participating in this tournament. This list includes the player's national rating. In a few days we will add the FIDE ratings for those players who have them. See the list of players now >>> This tournament is being sanctioned by the World Chess Federation (FIDE), FIDE Americas and the U.S. Chess Federation. Sponsored by Chess Educators and the U.S. Chess Trust It is with great gratitude that we acknowledge the contribution of the U.S. Chess Trust, an independent 501(c)(3), non-profit organization created in 1967 to promote, stimulate and encourage the study and play of the game of chess as a means of intellectual development. Visit them online at www.uschesstrust.org. World Chess Federation (FIDE) Rules Apply For this event, FIDE rules apply, exposing many of these young, talented players to the international rules of tournament play. Rules Highlights: FIDE Rules vs. USCF Rules 1. Moves must be made on the board before they are recorded. 2. If castling, the King must be touched first. 3. The arbiter can also call flags. 4. Any cell phone that goes off, whether on vibrate or not, will result in a player being forfeited. All cell phones must be turned completely off in the playing halls. 5. Any player that arrives late at the board, will be forfeited after 1 hour. If neither player is present initially, the arbiter will split the clock time between the two players. Click Here for FIDE Rules >> Tournament BYES FIDE allows zero point byes, so if players need to request a bye, please do so in advance. You can send an e-mail to [email protected] to request it. See you in Tarrytown! Beatriz Marinello Tournament Organizer |


text: The City's requests for bids and proposals, bid results, and notices of award can be obtained through the City of Anaheim Vendor Portal "Bid Opportunities" window. All necessary forms, specifications and other bid documents may be viewed and downloaded electronically. Businesses who have registered in the Vendor Portal will receive email notices when a new request for bid or proposal relevant to their line of business is issued. Any interested party may view the City's solicitations, as well as the bid results and final notices of award, by logging into the Vendor Portal and using the search features to locate the items of interest . The City's policy is to award bids to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. Requests for proposals are awarded to the company whose proposal provides the best overall value and best meets the needs of the City.


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- City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
- Dubai 05:21 06:34 12:33 15:53 18:26 19:40
From family and friends to strangers on the subway and public figures on 24-hour news cycles, humans recognise an astonishing 5,000 faces, scientists said Wednesday in the first study of its kind.
Through most of history humans lived in small groups of a hundred or so individuals, a pattern that has changed drastically in recent centuries.
A study by scientists at Britain's University of York found that our facial recognition abilities allow us to process the thousands of faces we encounter in busy social environments, on our smartphones and our television screens every day.
"In everyday life, we are used to identifying friends, colleagues, and celebrities, and many other people by their faces," Rob Jenkins, from York's Department of Psychology, told AFP.
"But no one has established how many faces people actually know."
For the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Jenkins and his team asked participants to write down as many faces they could remember from their personal lives.
The volunteers were then asked to do the same with people they recognised but did not know personally.
They were also shown thousands of images of famous people - two photos of each to ensure consistency - and asked which ones they recognised.
The team found an enormous range of the number of faces each participant could recall, from roughly 1,000-10,000.
"We found that people know around 5,000 faces on average," Jenkins said.
"It seems that whatever mental apparatus allows us to differentiate dozens of people also allows us to differentiate thousands of people."
Never forget a face
The team said it believes this figure - the first ever baseline of human "facial vocabulary", could aid the development of facial recognition software increasingly used at airports and criminal investigations.
It may also help scientists better understand cases of mistaken identity.
"Psychological research in humans has revealed important differences between unfamiliar and familiar face recognition," said Jenkins.
"Unfamiliar faces are often misidentified. Familiar faces are identified very reliably, but we don't know exactly how."
While the team said it was focused on how many faces humans actually know, they said it might be possible for some people to continue learning to recognise an unlimited number of faces, given enough practice.
They pointed out that the brain has an almost limitless capacity to memorise words and languages - the limits on these instead come from study time and motivation.
The range of faces recognised by participants went far beyond what may have been evolutionarily useful: for thousands of years humans would likely only have met a few dozen people throughout their lives.
Jenkins said it was not clear why we developed the ability to distinguish between thousands of faces in the crowd.
"This could be another case of 'overkill' that is sometimes seen in nature," he said.
"The venom of some spiders can kill a horse, even though the spider has no need to eat a horse."
Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.


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The ultimate celebration of 20 Years of Sonic gaming, Sonic Generations delivers the definitive experience for Sonic fans new and old.
Sonic's universe is thrown into chaos when a mysterious new power comes into force, creating 'time holes' which take Sonic and his friends back in time. Whilst there, Sonic runs into some very familiar characters from his past including a younger version of himself! Now they must team up to defeat their enemies, save their friends, and find out who is behind this diabolical deed.
Key Features:
- Twice the Fun - Play as both Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic in the ultimate Sonic experience. Master the moves of each character as they race through each environment on their own designed built track.
- The Best Bits Just Got Better - Iconic environments from gaming history come to life in beautiful HD for the ultimate Sonic adventure, each revisited, recreated and re-imagined with stunning results.
- All New Experience - Play some of your gaming's most iconic environments in a whole new way with famous Sonic stages presented in stunning new stereoscopic 3D.
- Unlock New Adventures - Once you complete each level and 'free' Sonic's captured friends, you'll get to go back and take on more challenges with them at your side.
- Infamous Bosses and Rivals - Take on some of the most notorious characters from Sonic's past as you fight for ultimate supremacy.
- Master Your Moves - Master Classic Sonics famous spin-dash attack and utilise Modern Sonic's 'Boost' as you complete all new tracks.
More Info
Developer: Sonic Team, Devil's Details
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Arcade, Platformer
Language: EN / Multi
Treatment: Not required
Release Date: 2011
Minimum System Requirements
CPU: Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4200 (2x2.0GHz) or AMD equivalent
RAM: 2 GB RAM (XP)/ 3GB RAM (Windows 7 / Vista)
OS: Windows XP / Vista / 7
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 (512MB) / ATI Radeon HD 2900 (512MB)
Free Disk Space: 11 GB
Recommended System Requirements
CPU: Intel Core i5 @ 2.66 GHz / AMD Phenom II X4 @ 3.0 GHz
OS: Windows 7
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 (1GB) / ATI Radeon HD 5850 (1GB)
Free Disk Space: 11 GB