text:
For five years — 60 straight months — Sonoma County's home prices have remained higher than those from a year earlier.
The trend held again in May, when the median single-family home price reached $625,000, according to The Press Democrat's monthly housing report, compiled by Pacific Union International senior vice president Rick Laws. The median price increased 7 percent from May 2016, when it was $583,000.
May 2012 was the last time home prices were higher the year prior. The median price then was $329,500, and home values were just on the verge of rebounding after a historic market crash.
Five years ago, home prices had been depressed by record numbers of foreclosures and by fears about the economy, both agents and brokers said. But a sharp drop in new home construction eventually helped spur demand and led to a sellers' market, with steadily rising prices.
"The bounce started five years ago, and that bounce has a trajectory, and we're still on that trajectory," Laws said.
Prices have risen, but home sales and new listings have fallen for three of the past four years.
In May, buyers purchased 416 single-family homes, a decline of 4 percent from a year earlier. Meanwhile, new listings to date this year are at their lowest level in at least eight years.
May ended with about 750 homes for sale in the county, or less than a two-month supply of inventory at the current sales pace.
The limited inventory has made it difficult for buyers, especially those competing with households willing to pay cash for a property, said Ingrid Mathews, a co-manager in Santa Rosa of Better Homes Realty. In response, agents often encourage buyers to write personal letters to sellers in hopes of winning hearts to obtain a property. Agents also are keeping an eye out for those willing to sell homes without making the properties available to all buyers via the multiple listing service.
Many sellers "don't want to deal with all the commotion and stress" of open houses and multiple offers, Matthews said.
Other brokers said good data is hard to come by, but many buyers today are making purchases via what are called "off-market" sales. As a result, agents are constantly networking with each other to learn which properties might soon become available, either through the multiple listing service or for private sale.
"Everybody's on the hunt," Laws said.
Brokers said the market is different today than it was 12 years ago, when high demand was fueled by an abundance of risky loans. In that era, home prices peaked in August 2005 at $619,000.
However, a few years later the bubble burst and home prices plunged until they hit a low of $305,000 in February 2009. Prices eventually stabilized and rebounded, with a new record peak set in March at $635,000.
From month to month, median home prices rarely rise or fall in a consistent pattern. That's why agents and brokers generally compare such prices to what happened a year earlier.
For the first five months of the year, the median price has increased 9 percent from the same period in 2016.
Brokers this week said it's too difficult to predict when prices will stop rising. But they did note a few factors affecting home values.


text:
DominionStrategy Wiki
Given all that... this can probably be done on ShuffleIT. If ShuffleIT handles all the Crown/Band of Misfits chaos correctly, at least.
We could also replace our first Death Cart gain with after we draw those cards with a Mandarin, then play it to topdeck the shelter out of our hand. That might just work, since we have $1 spare to lose to having one fewer Copper, and another $2 left to lose going from Death Cart to Mandarin.
Buy: Banquet (CC to discard, c, hex Locusts, f -> l, topdeck c)
Buy: Travelling Fair, Travelling Fair, Travelling Fair, Travelling Fair, Advance (f -> d), Advance (f -> d), Advance (f -> r), Advance (f -> w), Advance (f -> v)
Page created in 0.114 seconds with 21 queries.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Hear your best in both ears – with smart bimodal solutions.
When Hearing aids alone are no
longer enough
If you have hearing loss in both ears and find yourself struggling with your hearing aids, there may come a time when you need something more. To improve your hearing performance and help you understand conversations more clearly, you might need to consider a solution that helps you hear your best with both ears.
For some people, cochlear implantation in both ears can be the best way to optimize hearing.* For many, a cochlear implant in one ear and continued use of a hearing aid in the other can provide an enhanced hearing performance.1 This combination is referred to as bimodal hearing.
* This is known as bilateral implantation. Your Hearing Implant Specialist will advise the best solution for you.
With bimodal hearing, the hearing aid and cochlear implant work as a team.
In a bimodal hearing solution, a hearing aid and a cochlear implant system work together to provide you with a richer and more natural hearing experience.2
A bimodal hearing system can provide many benefits:
- Greater clarity and improved speech understanding, especially in noise3
- Better determination of where sounds are coming from4
- Easier to hear sounds and understand speech3,4,5
- Better sound appreciation so you can enjoy your favorite music6
These combined benefits help to build your speech and language understanding and is particularly beneficial for children's learning and development.7
Cochlear™ Nucleus® Implant Systems work with any hearing aid to deliver these life-changing benefits of bimodal hearing.
Introducing the world's only smart bimodal hearing solution that's Made for iPhone.
For the first time, if you have a Cochlear™ Nucleus® 7 Sound Processor and a compatible ReSound hearing aid, you can stream sound directly to both ears at once from a compatible Apple® device.**
With this unique smart bimodal hearing solution, you can use your iPhone® to:
- Connect with others on the phone
- Rediscover the joy of music
- Easily control your device settings
- Find a lost sound processor functionality
The world's only smart bimodal hearing solution
The Nucleus 7 Sound Processor and compatible ReSound hearing aid*** are designed to work together seamlessly to deliver a premium bimodal hearing experience. You can manage your hearing experience with both devices conveniently from your iPhone®.
From your iPhone® to both ears: Clarity, control and confidence
Connect with others on the phone again
With better sound quality and clarity in both ears, phone conversations will feel more effortless and natural—words, sighs and giggles streamed to both ears.8
Rediscover the joy of music
With Cochlear's bimodal solution, you can simultaneously stream all the sounds that make your heart sing from a compatible Apple® device to both ears like never before. From a symphony to your favorite ballad, enjoy all the music you love with greater clarity and richness.9
Control your hearing at the touch of your iPhone®
Thanks to Made for iPhone® technology, there's now a new way to adjust the settings on both your sound processor and your ReSound compatible hearing aid.* No need for any additional equipment—simply use your compatible Apple® device to take control any time, any place.
If you use an Android™ device or any other smartphone, you can stream phone calls, music and more directly to your Nucleus 7 Sound Processor and ReSound hearing aid by using the True Wireless™ Phone Clip. You can also control your Nucleus 7 Sound Processor by using the Remote Control that is included in every new system.
Experience True Wireless™ freedom
When you're not using the Made for iPhone connectivity to stream phone calls, music, etc. directly from your smartphone, you can still enjoy True Wireless™ freedom to help you hear better in noise. Cochlear's True Wireless accessories simultaneously send sound directly to your Nucleus 7 Sound Processor and a ReSound hearing aid so you can take your bimodal hearing experience to the highest level.
Our True Wireless accessories include the Phone Clip, two choices of Mini Microphones and the TV Streamer. All True Wireless accessories are compatible with the Nucleus 7 and Kanso® Sound Processors as well as ReSound hearing aids. So, whether you benefit from a bimodal solution or from a cochlear implant alone, you can enjoy the hearing benefits of our True Wireless technology.
Learn more about Cochlear True Wireless
See How Smart Bimodal Solutions Have Enhanced Chad's Life
Android is a registered trademark of Google Inc.
* This is known as bilateral implantation. Your Hearing Implant Specialist will advise the best solution for you.
**The Nucleus 7 Sound Processor is compatible with iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone SE, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5, iPad Pro (12.9-inch), iPad Pro (9.7-inch), iPad Air 2, iPad Air, iPad mini 4, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 2, iPad mini, iPad (4th generation) and iPod touch (6th generation) using iOS 10.0 or later. The Nucleus Smart App is compatible with iPhone 5 (or later) and iPod 6th generation devices (or later) running iOS 10.0 or later. Apple, the Apple logo, FaceTime, Made for iPad logo, Made for iPhone logo, Made for iPod logo, iPhone, iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad mini, iPad and iPod touch are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Information accurate as of February 2018.
***With compatible ReSound hearing aids. A list of compatible hearing aids is available online at: Nucleus 7 Compatibility
- Sammeth CA, Bundy MBM, D. A. (2011) Bimodal Hearing or Bilateral Cochlear Implants: A Review of the Research Literature. Semin Hear 32:3-31.
- Dorman MF, Gifford RH, Spahr AJ, McKarns SA. The benefits of combining acoustic and electric stimulation for the recognition of speech, voice and melodies. Audiology and Neurotology. 2008;13(2):105-12
- Gifford RH, Dorman MF, McKarns SA, Spahr AJ. Combined electric and contralateral acoustic hearing: Word and sentence recognition with bimodal hearing. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 2007 Aug 1;50(4):835-43.Wolfe J, Morais M, Schafer Erin. Speech recognition of bimodal cochlear implant recipients using a wireless audio streaming accessory for the telephone. Otol Neurotol. 2016 Feb;37(2):e20-5.
- Potts LG, Skinner MW, Litovsky RA, Strube MJ, Kuk F. Recognition and localization of speech by adult cochlear implant recipients wearing a digital hearing aid in the nonimplanted ear (bimodal hearing). Journal of the American Academy of Audiology. 2009 Jun 1;20(6):353-73.
- Gottermeier L, De Filippo C, Clark C. Trials of a Contralateral Hearing Aid After Long-Term Unilateral Cochlear Implant Use in Early-Onset Deafness. American journal of audiology. 2016 Jun 1;25(2):85-99.
- Sucher CM, McDermott HJ. Bimodal stimulation: benefits for music perception and sound quality. Cochlear Implants International. 2009 Jan 1;10(S1):96-9.
- Ching TY, Psarros C, Hill M, Dillon H, Incerti P. Should children who use cochlear implants wear hearing aids in the opposite ear?. Ear and hearing. 2001 Oct 1;22(5):365-80.
- Wolfe J, Morais M, Schafer Erin. Speech recognition of bimodal cochlear implant recipients using a wireless audio streaming accessory for the telephone. Otol Neurotol. 2016 Feb;37(2):e20-5
- (1) Kong YY, Stickney GS, Zeng FG. Speech and melody recognition in binaurally combined acoustic and electric hearing. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 2005 Mar;117(3):1351-61.


text:
2014 Sail for Hope
Saturday, October 4, 2014
First Start: 1100
REGATTA INFORMATION: (To Be Posted Here as Event Approaches)
REGISTRATION - Register Online Here
WAIVER - All Skippers and Crew must complete before sailing
SCRATCH SHEET (Preliminary) - Download below
SAILING INSTRUCTIONS - Download below
2014 RESULTS - Preliminary Results (Download below)
The Wounded Warrior Project and RI Red Cross Armed Services Families
The Roanoke, VA-based Wounded Warrior Project is a non-profit organization aimed at empowering and honoring wounded servicemen and women. The Wounded Warrior Project actively puts forth a rehabilitative effort in assisting our warriors to recover and transition back to a civilian lifestyle.
The RI Red Cross Service to Armed Forces Fund is a local charity. This charity assists servicemen and servicewomen and their families to prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies. Also the RI Red Cross Service ensures that current and eligible former service members have ready access to emergency communications, case management services, and finally emergency financial assistance.


text:
PIRO is a conceptual classification system in which a number of demographic, clinical, biological and laboratory variables are used to stratify patients with sepsis in categories with different outcomes, including mortality rates.
To identify variables to be included in each component of PIRO aiming to improve the hospital mortality prediction.
Patients were selected from the Portuguese ICU-admitted community-acquired sepsis study (SACiUCI). Variables concerning the R and O component included repeated measurements along the first five days in ICU stay. The trends of these variables were summarized as the initial value at day 1 (D1) and the slope of the tendency during the five days, using a linear mixed model. Logistic regression models were built to assess the best set of covariates that predicted hospital mortality.
A total of 891 patients (age 60±17 years, 64% men, 38% hospital mortality) were studied. Factors significantly associated with mortality for P component were gender, age, chronic liver failure, chronic renal failure and metastatic cancer; for I component were positive blood cultures, guideline concordant antibiotic therapy and health-care associated sepsis; for R component were C-reactive protein slope, D1 heart rate, heart rate slope, D1 neutrophils and neutrophils slope; for O component were D1 serum lactate, serum lactate slope, D1 SOFA and SOFA slope. The relative weight of each component of PIRO was calculated. The combination of these four results into a single-value predictor of hospital mortality presented an AUC-ROC 0.84 (IC95%:0.81–0.87) and a test of goodness-of-fit (Hosmer and Lemeshow) of p = 0.368.
We identified specific variables associated with each of the four components of PIRO, including biomarkers and a dynamic view of the patient daily clinical course. This novel approach to PIRO concept and overall score can be a better predictor of mortality for patients with community-acquired sepsis admitted to ICUs.
Citation: Granja C, Póvoa P, Lobo C, Teixeira-Pinto A, Carneiro A, Costa-Pereira A (2013) The Predisposition, Infection, Response and Organ Failure (Piro) Sepsis Classification System: Results of Hospital Mortality Using a Novel Concept and Methodological Approach. PLoS ONE 8(1): e53885. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0053885
Editor: Jorge I. F. Salluh, D'or Institute of Research and Education, Brazil
Received: August 3, 2012; Accepted: December 4, 2012; Published: January 18, 2013
Copyright: © 2013 Granja et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: Cristina Lobo was financially supported by the Grant from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (PIC/IC/83312/2007). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Sepsis represents a substantial health care burden [1], [2] and its incidence is increasing, in particular due to progressive aging of the population [3], [4], [5], [6], [7].
Severe sepsis and septic shock are associated with significant degrees of organ dysfunction/failure. The sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) [8] and multiple organ dysfunction score (MODS) [9] are among the scoring systems most commonly used to describe organ dysfunction in the intensive care unit (ICU). In 2001, the North American and European sepsis definitions conference [10] convene a meeting to evaluate opinions about robustness of the existing severe sepsis criteria. The PIRO concept, which describes septic patients across four domains, aroused on that conference with the suggestion that sepsis could be looked in a similar way to cancer, with the TNM staging system. This system suggested that patients could be stratified on the basis of their predisposing conditions, the nature and extent of the insult (infection), the nature and magnitude of the host response, and the degree of organ dysfunction.
Describing sepsis-associated organ dysfunction in light of the PIRO system and introducing it in everyday practice has been challenging. The PIRO system was not assessed in any representative population until 2008, when Moreno et al [11] segregated sepsis data from the SAPS 3 database [12], and investigated whether a modified PIRO concept could be used to predict mortality in patients with infection or sepsis in the ICU. Subsequently, Rubulotta et al [13] similarly developed a score based on the PIRO concept, using two large databases of patients with severe sepsis—placebo arm patients from the PROtein C Worldwide Evaluation in Severe Sepsis (PROWESS) [14] and patients included in the PROmoting Global Research Excellence in Severe Sepsis (PROGRESS) registry [15]. Most recently, Howell et al [16] analyzed data from three observational cohorts of patients with clinically suspected infection in two U.S. centers. In a derivation cohort, a multivariable regression identified 17 covariates that were associated with hospital mortality. Similar studies have been conducted in more specific groups of septic patients [17], [18]. Although these models [11], [13], [16] have been shown to predict mortality, the variables included differed widely from one study to another, and several limitations from the different studies have introduced flaws in the diverse models [19].
Calls to dynamic views concerning sepsis staging are arising [20] and new methodological approaches have been suggested in an attempt to solve those limitations; sepsis is a dynamic process, as thus, the assessment of patterns of variation in organ dysfunctions [21] and biomarkers may be useful to assess individual outcomes in sepsis [22]. Examples of possible directions using a PIRO-based rationale are available in recent studies in which sequential changes in inflammatory markers can be surrogates of response to therapy [23] and may potentially help guide optimal duration of antibiotic therapy [24].
The Portuguese Community-Acquired Sepsis study (Sepsis Adquirida na Comunidade e internada em Unidade de Cuidados Intensivos - SACiUCI) [25], [26], [27], was designed to characterize the epidemiology of community-acquired sepsis in patients admitted to Portuguese ICUs and, in addition, to assess the level of compliance with Surviving Sepsis Campaign recommendations [26].
The aim of this study is to identify for each component of PIRO the specific variables associated with higher ability to predict hospital mortality, including a dynamic assessment of variables of the PIRO classification system.
Materials and Methods
Study Design
The SACiUCI study is a prospective, multi center, observational study designed to evaluate the epidemiology of community-acquired sepsis in patients who were admitted in Portuguese ICUs and has been described elsewhere [25], [26], [27].
Definitions for infection, community-acquired sepsis (CAS), sepsis, severe sepsis, septic shock, emergency surgery, primary admission diagnosis, primary infection source, were the same used in previous studies [25], [27]. Health-care associated sepsis (HCAS) was defined, as in our previous study [27], at hospital admission according to the presence of the following criteria: home infusion therapy (including antibiotics) or home wound care; chronic dialysis or chemotherapy within 30 days; hospitalization for 2 days or more in the preceding 90 days; residence in a nursing home or extended care facility [28], [29].
In addition, definitions for underlying disease were those from previous studies [26] and included metastatic cancer, hematological malignancy and AIDS were those used in the Simplified Acute Physiological Score (SAPS) II definitions [30]; cirrhosis, chronic heart failure, chronic respiratory failure using Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II definitions [31]; chronic renal failure if there was need of chronic renal support or history of chronic renal insufficiency with a serum creatinine level over 2 mg/dl); HIV status (without complications defining AIDS); hematological disease including chronic neutropenia (≥3 months) or ≤1000 neutrophils/mm3; immunocompromised state was defined by either administration in the 12 months prior to ICU admission of chemotherapy, radiation therapy or the equivalent to 0.2 mg/Kg/day prednisolone for at least three months or 1 mg/Kg/day for a week within in the three months prior to ICU admission. Multidrug resistant (MDR) microorganisms were defined as microorganisms that were resistant to more than two different antibiotic classes and guideline concordant antibiotic therapy was considered if it was prescribed according to published guidelines for the treatment of each focus of community-acquired infection [32], [33], [34], [35], [36], [37].
Selection of variables for each component of PIRO
The initial study protocol did not specify a classification of the variables based on the PIRO components. Therefore the authors established a classification of the variables according to the following rational:
- For the P component we selected demographic variables (sex, age in years), underlying disease variables (presence of chronic failure such as hepatic, renal, cardiovascular, respiratory and hematological failure), metastatic cancer, immunocompromised state (short and long course corticosteroid therapy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, HIV, AIDS) and number of comorbidities.
- For the I component we selected variables that characterized the infection and adequacy of the initial treatment, namely type of microorganism (Gram positive, Gram negative, fungi, other, non-isolated microorganism), infection focus (urological, respiratory, neurological, intra-abdominal, other), positive blood cultures, antibiotic therapy (guideline concordant or not), multi-drug resistant (MDR), polymicrobial infection and HCAS.
- For R component we considered variables that are potential indicators of response to the infection: the selected variables were C-reactive protein (CRP) (mg/dL), heart rate (bpm), white cell count (WCC) (10−3*L) and neutrophils (%).
- Finally, for the O component the selected variables were those that reflect organ dysfunction namely glycemia (mg/dL), serum lactate (mmol/L) and SOFA score. Hypoglycemia was defined as glycemia lower than 90 mg/dL and hyperglycemia was defined as higher than 150 mg/dL.
Several variables included in the R and O component had repeated measurements along the first five days of ICU stay. These repeated measurements were summarized with the estimated value at day 1 and the slope over the five days according to the methodology described below.
Statistical Analysis
We started with a univariate analysis of the data. Each variable of the PIRO components was associated with hospital discharge status (death or alive) using t-tests and Mann-Whitney tests for continuous variables and Chi-square tests for categorical variables. Variables with a p-value <0.2 were screened for the multivariable analysis.
Variables with repeated measurements over the first five days (CRP, heart rate, WCC and neutrophils for the R component, glycemia, serum lactate and SOFA for the O component) were summarized using two parameters: the estimated initial value of the measurement and the slope of the linear trend for the following days. These parameters were obtained by fitting linear mixed models, considering the repeated measurements as the outcomes and patient-specific random intercepts and random slopes for the measurement day. The best linear unbiased predictors (BLUPs in the mixed models literature) were obtained for the random coefficients (intercept as the estimate for the initial value and slope as the estimate of the trend over the five days) and were used as the summary of the variable profile for each patient. Intuitively, the idea is to fit for each patient a linear regression to his five measurements and use the intercept and slope to describe the evolution of the variable for that patient over the five days period. However, with the linear mixed models, we estimate the individual linear regressions for the patients all at the same time. Neutrophils, glycemia and serum lactate were log transformed and CRP, SOFA and WCC were square root transformed due to their skewed distribution. Therefore, the odds ratios presented for these variable refer to the transformed scales and, when indicated, they represent the increase in the odds for a 0.1 increase on the transformed scale. Given the non-linearity of these transformations it is not feasible to back transform the odds ratios to the original scales.
In the multivariable analysis, we built multiple logistic regressions for each component of PIRO to obtain the set of covariates that best predicted hospital mortality. Variables with p-value <0.2 in the univariate analysis were candidates for the final models and were kept in the models if p-value <0.1. Interactions were tested with the final group of variables but none was found to contribute significantly. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to assess models discrimination and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test to analyze the goodness-of-fit.
After obtaining the four logistic models for the components of PIRO, we computed the predicted probability of death for each patient according to each component. These four results were then combined in another logistic regression to obtain the overall discrimination ability for the combined components.
PASW (SPSS)® software 18.0 for MAC (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA) and R 2.15.0 (Development Core Team. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Vienna, Austria: 2005) were used for the statistical analysis.
Characteristics of the study population
Participating ICUs and patients have been described previously and included 17 ICUs and 4142 patients [25], [26], [27]. A total of 891 patients with CAS were segregated from the original population and included for analysis, 206 patients were classified as having HCAS.
Hospital mortality was significantly higher in those with HCAS (46% vs. 35%, p = 0.005), with fungal infections (65% vs. 40%, p = 0.042), with positive blood cultures (46% vs. 35%, p = 0.015), with MDR microorganisms (42% vs. 11%, p = 0.047) and with guideline non-concordant antibiotic therapy (43% vs. 36%, p = 0.034). There were no significant differences in mortality according to admission diagnosis, infection focus, Gram negative or Gram positive microorganisms and polymicrobial infection (Table 1).
PIRO Components
P component.
Variables significantly associated with mortality concerning P component in univariate analysis were age (OR = 1.5 for age group 60–80, p<0.001 and OR = 3.4 for age group >80, p<0.001), chemotherapy (OR = 2.1, p = 0.025), chronic liver failure (OR = 2.1, p = 0.003), chronic renal failure (OR = 1.8, p = 0.038), chronic hematological disease (OR = 2.7, p = 0.027) and metastatic cancer (OR = 2.9, p = 0.001) (Table 2). The number of associated comorbidities was also significantly related with mortality (OR = 1.9 for 2 or more comorbidities versus none, p<0.001). In the multivariable regression analysis predisposing factors associated with mortality were gender (OR = 1.4 for male group, p = 0.025), age (OR = 1.6 for age between 60 and 80 years and OR = 4.1 for age higher than 80 years, p = 0.002 and p<0.001, respectively), chronic liver failure (OR = 2.3, p = 0.001), chronic renal failure (OR = 2.1, p = 0.007) and metastatic cancer (OR = 2.9, p = 0.001) (Table 2). Those P component variables were found to be the best predictors of death with an AUC-ROC 0.66 (CI95%: 0.62–0.69) (Fig. 1 (A)) and a test of goodness-of-fit (Hosmer and Lemeshow) of p = 0.297.
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and areas under the curves (AUC) for each PIRO components, Predisposition (A), Infection (B), Response (C), Organ failure (D) and the four components of PIRO combined (E).
I component.
Variables significantly associated with mortality concerning I component in univariate analysis were fungal infections (OR = 2.8, p = 0.050), positive blood cultures (OR = 1.5, p = 0.015), guideline concordant antibiotic therapy (OR = 0.7, p = 0.034) and HCAS (OR = 1.6, p = 0.005) (Table 3). In the multivariable regression analysis, infection factors associated with mortality were positive blood cultures (OR = 1.7, p = 0.005), guideline concordant antibiotic therapy (OR = 0.7, p = 0.048) and HCAS (OR = 1.6, p = 0.005) (Table 3). Those I components were found to be the best predictor of death with an AUC-ROC 0.59 (CI95%: 0.55–0.63) (Fig.-1 (B)) and a test of goodness-of-fit (Hosmer and Lemeshow) of p = 0.630.
R component.
Response variables significantly associated with mortality in univariate analysis were heart rate and neutrophils and CRP (Table 4).
Response variables associated with mortality were the slope of CRP squared root transformed (OR = 2.3, p = 0.001), initial value of heart rate (OR = 1.04, p<0.001), heart rate slope (OR = 1.1, p<0.001), initial value of neutrophils in the log scale (OR = 1.04, p<0.001) and neutrophils slope in the log scale (OR = 1.31, p<0.001) (Table 4). Those variables were found to be the best predictors of death with an AUC-ROC 0.72 (CI95%: 0.68–0.75) (Fig. 1 (C)) and a test of goodness-of-fit (Hosmer and Lemeshow) of p = 0.678.
O component.
Organ dysfunction variables significantly associated with mortality in univariate analysis were total SOFA and each component of the SOFA score, with the exception of hepatic SOFA which was significant only by the third day (Table S1). Serum lactate >2 mmol/L was also significantly associated with mortality and hypoglycemia was significantly associated with mortality on day 1 and 2 and hyperglycemia on day 3 to 5.
In the multivariable model, the variables associated with mortality were initial value of serum lactate in the log scale (OR = 1.2 per increase of 0.1 units, p<0.001), serum lactate slope in the log scale (OR = 2.4 per increase of 0.1 units, p<0.001), initial value of SOFA squared root transformed (OR = 1.1 per increase of 0.1 units, p<0.001) and SOFA slope squared root transformed (OR = 2.6 per increase of 0.1 units, p<0.001) (Table 5). Those variables were found to be the best predictors of death with an AUC-ROC 0.81 (CI95%:0.78–0.84) (Fig. 1 (D)) and a test of goodness-of-fit (Hosmer and Lemeshow) of p = 0.588. Additionally, for the O component, we fitted the final model substituting the SOFA score by the 6 SOFA components (cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, neurological, hematological and hepatic). However, the AUC-ROC did not improve (0.81, CI95%: 0.78–0.84) therefore we maintained the more parsimonious model with the total SOFA.
Overall PIRO performance
The combination of the four results from PIRO's components in a single logistic regression to model the probability of death showed that each component was independently associated with mortality (p<0.001 for the P component, p = 0.004 for the I component, p = 0.002 for the R component and p<0.001 for the O component) and resulted in an AUC-ROC of 0.84 (CI95%: 0.81–0.87) in predicting hospital outcome. This AUC-ROC was significantly higher (p<0.001) than the AUC-ROC for SAPS II 0.74 (CI95%:0.70–0.77) (Fig. 1 (E)) obtained for the patients in our study.
This study identified a group of variables associated with each component of the PIRO staging system that are good predictors of hospital mortality for patients with CAS admitted to ICU.
Variables associated with response and organ-dysfunction took into account also their evolution over the first five days of ICU stay rather than as isolated measurements in each day. We summarize the dynamics of the measured variables with the initial value and how fast the variable changes over time (slope). These features seem to be more important than point-wise difference at specific days. This methodology was previously described concerning the same cohort of patients [27] and it seems a suitable approach for the PIRO staging system. Interestingly, it is in accordance to what has been recently suggested as a more appropriate approach [20]. It is worthwhile to highlight why this dynamic perspective may be more suitable when trying to stage sepsis patients; sepsis patients are not in a static condition but are markedly dynamic, as thus, changes overtime are much more informative of the clinical course than a single "picture" at the day of infection diagnosis or ICU admission. There are a number of variables that may not be available at the time of infection diagnosis or ICU admission but, when available, will change the treatment approach. Our perception of the patients is not determined only by the first evaluation but it changes over time with the clinical course and information coming from several diagnostic procedures (laboratory, radiology). Besides, to our knowledge, this is the first study to introduce biomarkers, namely CRP, as well as a dynamic approach to the PIRO staging system and we believe it may enhance its predictive accuracy concerning mortality, as the combination of the four PIRO's components presented very good discriminatory ability (AUC 0.85, CI95%: 0.82–0.88).
Moreover, we were able to confirm findings from previous studies concerning risk factors and procedures associated with an increase of mortality in sepsis patients: HCAS, higher severity of disease, fungal infections, positive blood cultures, MDR microorganisms and guideline non-concordant antibiotic therapy. Five prior studies, already mentioned, have been published addressing the PIRO concept: Moreno et al [11] included variables from 2628 ICU sepsis patients in their model that were stratified into only three components, instead of the four original components of the PIRO system; this model showed fair ability to predict in-hospital mortality (AUC 0.77). Rubulotta et al [13] used a regression tree analysis to create a PIRO score and obtained a limited discriminatory performance (AUC 0.70). Rello et al [17] built a PIRO score from a cohort of 529 ICU patients admitted with community-acquired pneumonia. Their PIRO score showed very good discrimination (AUC 0.88) for known risks of community-acquired pneumonia. Lisboa et al [18] created a PIRO score for 441 ICU patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia. The ventilator-associated pneumonia PIRO score had a very good discrimination (AUC 0.81). Howell et al [16] built a derivation cohort to include 2132 patients to create a PIRO score. Their PIRO score also showed excellent discrimination (AUC 0.9). However, mortality in this cohort was very low as patients included came from the emergency department with "suspicion of infection" and patients with noninfectious diagnosis might also have been included.
We believe that our results show that the specific variables of each of the four domains are better suited than the variables from previous studies; in particular, we were able to select specific variables for each of the four components that may fit better to the consensus definition and concept of the PIRO.
All those previous studies present several limitations: restrict to a cohort of patients with a single cause of sepsis: community-acquired pneumonia or ventilator-associated pneumonia in the studies by Rello and Lisboa [17], [18]; based on secondary analysis of cohorts included on other studies with diverse aims as in the studies by Moreno and Rubollota [11], [13]; including patients with "suspicion of infection", introducing the possibility that patients without sepsis might have been included, in particular if we look at the very low mortality rate in the study by Howell et al [16]. However, those previous studies have added substantial information: we understood that the PIRO concept may be brought into practice and that the PIRO concept might improve future research of sepsis. In cancer research, patients are not categorized only with "cancer", they are also categorized as having a tumor that might be T3N0M0. This categorization has practical implications for decisions such as initiating or not chemotherapy/radiotherapy or any new drug as well as the timing and type of surgery. In sepsis patients, we need to move forward and begin to try new therapies for patients presenting with different PIRO scores.
We believe that the novel aspects developed in our study, i.e., the inclusion of biomarkers for the R component and a dynamic view of the patient daily evolution are a step forward in the building of the PIRO staging system.
The limitations from the present study include those pointed out on previous studies with the same cohort of patients [25], [26], [27], namely the exclusion of nosocomial infections and the need for validation in an independent population. Concerning the R component we only assessed one biomarker, CRP. It is possible that other biomarkers, namely procalcitonin, or even assessing panels of biomarkers might improve the results. Moreover, for antibiotic therapy we used the definition of concordant antibiotic therapy [38] as it was not possible to gather results according to adequacy of antibiotic therapy and microbiologic documentation was available in only 40% of the patients [25]. In addition, definitions for cancer disease was restricted to the definition for metastatic cancer used in the original SAPS II study [30] which may not reflect all the array of severity of cancer disease.
The present study has important strengths: it is the first step on trying to find a methodological way to describe a dynamic perspective on the PIRO staging system, with dynamic assessment of variables, an approach that may fit better to describe patients with sepsis as a dynamic process. Moreover, it is probably the first including more suitable variables for each of the four components of PIRO, in particular, the variables for the R component, which included the WCC and CRP in a dynamic view.
Currently, PIRO is still a research concept, not an established tool ready to be used at the bedside, however, with the present study we gave a step further in trying to find out which model with which variables may best fit on a tool able to give us, clinicians, information concerning the prognosis and treatment response of severe sepsis and septic shock and a step further on a future consensus. In conclusion, our results showed that this novel approach to PIRO concept present a good prediction of hospital mortality for patients with CAS admitted to ICUs. It is also our believe that PIRO system should be further investigated in order to become a true patient staging system with real treatment and prognostic implications in sepsis patients.
Supporting Information
Table S1.
Evolution of clinical and laboratorial variables along the first five days in ICU.
Appendix S1.
SACiUCI Study Coordinator and list of all the participating ICUs and respective ICU study coordinator.
Author Contributions
Conceived and designed the experiments: CG PP AC. Performed the experiments: CG PP AC. Analyzed the data: ATP CL ACP. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: ATP CL ACP. Wrote the paper: CG PP AC ATP CL ACP.
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- 15. Beale R, Reinhart K, Brunkhorst FM, Dobb G, Levy M, et al. (2009) Promoting Global Research Excellence in Severe Sepsis (PROGRESS): lessons from an international sepsis registry. Infection 37: 222–232.
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- 21. Levy MM, Macias WL, Vincent JL, Russell JA, Silva E, et al. (2005) Early changes in organ function predict eventual survival in severe sepsis. Crit Care Med 33: 2194–2201.
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- 27. Povoa P, Teixeira-Pinto AM, Carneiro AH (2011) C-reactive protein, an early marker of community-acquired sepsis resolution: a multi-center prospective observational study. Crit Care 15: R169.
- 28. Hutt E, Kramer AM (2002) Evidence-based guidelines for management of nursing home-acquired pneumonia. J Fam Pract 51: 709–716.
- 29. Mylotte JM (2002) Nursing home-acquired pneumonia. Clin Infect Dis 35: 1205–1211.
- 30. Le Gall JR, Lemeshow S, Saulnier F (1993) A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II) based on a European/North American multicenter study. JAMA 270: 2957–2963.
- 31. Knaus WA, Draper EA, Wagner DP, Zimmerman JE (1985) APACHE II: a severity of disease classification system. Crit Care Med 13: 818–829.
- 32. Warren JW, Abrutyn E, Hebel JR, Johnson JR, Schaeffer AJ, et al. (1999) Guidelines for antimicrobial treatment of uncomplicated acute bacterial cystitis and acute pyelonephritis in women. Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Clin Infect Dis 29: 745–758.
- 33. Mermel LA, Farr BM, Sherertz RJ, Raad II, O'Grady N, et al. (2001) Guidelines for the management of intravascular catheter-related infections. Clin Infect Dis 32: 1249–1272.
- 34. Solomkin JS, Mazuski JE, Baron EJ, Sawyer RG, Nathens AB, et al. (2003) Guidelines for the selection of anti-infective agents for complicated intra-abdominal infections. Clin Infect Dis 37: 997–1005.
- 35. Tunkel AR, Hartman BJ, Kaplan SL, Kaufman BA, Roos KL, et al. (2004) Practice guidelines for the management of bacterial meningitis. Clin Infect Dis 39: 1267–1284.
- 36. Stevens DL, Bisno AL, Chambers HF, Everett ED, Dellinger P, et al. (2005) Practice guidelines for the diagnosis and management of skin and soft-tissue infections. Clin Infect Dis 41: 1373–1406.
- 37. Mandell LA, Wunderink RG, Anzueto A, Bartlett JG, Campbell GD, et al. (2007) Infectious Diseases Society of America/American Thoracic Society consensus guidelines on the management of community-acquired pneumonia in adults. Clin Infect Dis 44 Suppl 2: S27–72.
- 38. Menendez R, Torres A, Zalacain R, Aspa J, Martin-Villasclaras JJ, et al. (2005) Guidelines for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia: predictors of adherence and outcome. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 172: 757–762.


text:
Bride at the clothes shop for wedding dresses, she is choosing a dress and a bridal veal
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text:
Fresh PS3 Title to be Revealed at E3
Jake Osuwah of Sony's PR team has remarked that a "fresh" new PS3 title will be shown at this year's E3 convention. At this time there is a press embargo preventing him from giving any more details.
"E3 UPDATE: Fresh New Title for PS3 @ E3, will keep you guys posted as soon as I can (Embargo might be lifting soon), STAY TUNED…"
What could it possibly be? A new IP, or a game part of an existing franchise? Start speculating now, because there isn't much time left.


text:
But Hollywood's condescension toward the South never left him laughing. After a stint doing stage work in Atlanta, McKinnon moved to Los Angeles in the late 1980s to break into films, and he was shocked by the stereotyping he found there.
"I was really naive back then," McKinnon recalls during a recent interview at a Los Angeles bistro. "I'd audition for roles in movies ... and I'd read the dialogue and the setting and say, 'This is crap. How is this possible?'"
With a passion to do justice to his home region, he started writing scripts that chronicled not the cute, quaint South, or even the slick New South, but the true, unique South.
In 2002, McKinnon won an Oscar for writing, directing and playing the title character in The Accountant, a short film that, despite its 38-minute running time, remains one of the best — and funniest — movies ever made about the realities of Dixie. And with his first feature film, Chrystal, he attempts to build on The Accountant's below-the-radar popularity with a dark Southern drama that owes more to Jim Jarmusch than Sweet Home Alabama.
McKinnon's wife and co-producer, Lisa Blount (best known as Debra Winger's mercenary pal in An Officer and a Gentleman), plays Chrystal's title role, an agonized woman living in the Ozarks 16 years after losing her son — and breaking her back — when her husband Joe (Billy Bob Thornton) crashed their car during a police chase. Joe returns after years in jail on drug charges to seek redemption from his wife.
In the tradition of a Tennessee Williams heroine, Chrystal's sanity and sexuality have both run off the rails: In an early scene, she services young football players in the back of a car.
"I was very influenced by independent films and wanted to write something that was way, way independent," explains McKinnon. "I wanted to do something that was Southern, but that also had a madness to it."
McKinnon further fuels Chrystal's live-wire intensity by portraying Snake, a hillbilly drug lord who tries to bring Joe back into the fold.
Seeking to get Chrystal financed, McKinnon discovered that his script's mountain madness scared off many potential backers, one of whom sniffed, "Who are these country people?" McKinnon sought to answer that question in Chrystal by revealing both the dark side and the dignity of "country people."
"For some reason, things in the South are more distilled, more amplified. There's this great beauty to the South, and this great darkness," he says.
McKinnon shared his dedication for regional authenticity with his castmates and co-producers, Blount and The Shield's Walt Goggins, another Southerner who first worked with McKinnon when they played drug dealers on In the Heat of the Night.
"Most Southern films are written by people who have never spent any significant time in the South. They write from a memory of other movies," says McKinnon. "Whereas we know these guys. We grew up with these guys. Guys like Snake scared the shit out of me, and I was from a small Southern town."
McKinnon filmed Chrystal on location in the Ozarks, not far from Blount's hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas. He can't figure out why more films aren't shot in America's most culturally rich settings. "Here's a beautiful place, right in the middle of our country, that seldom gets a cinematographic exploration. Why is that? I see movies that have no sense of place, because they're shot in Toronto or Romania."
A rough cut of Chrystal received a mixed reception at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, but saw greater success at festivals in Savannah and Stockholm (where Blount won a best actress award). McKinnon feels it's easily misunderstood.
"Chrystal has been described, on a sound-bite level, as being about a man and woman who lose their child and the man returns for forgiveness. That makes it sound like this heavy, plodding drama, but it's misleading to say it's like Monster's Ball or In the Bedroom. There's uproarious stuff going on, too."
After Chrystal's limited release in the South, McKinnon plans to begin work on his second feature, a Georgia-set comedy called Randy and the Mob, in which he plays estranged twin brothers. But even doing light fare, don't expect cookie-cutter cornpone farce from the filmmaker. When it comes to chronicling the South on screen, he's a rebel.
If it wasn't for the high-profile Billy Bob Thornton heading the cast and other notable pros on both sides of the camera, Chrystal ( out of four) could easily pass as a prime example of low-budget regional filmmaking; even in its present state, it's not far off the mark. Writer-director Ray McKinnon has made an affecting melodrama that's deep-fried in Southern heritage right down to its ribs : this is the sort of film in which the story often feels incidental to its makers' ability to capture a specific landscape and its people. Thornton stars as Joe, who returns to his backwoods home in the Ozarks following a two-decade stint in prison. Joe's a man seeking redemption: Before going to jail, he was involved in a high-speed pursuit with the cops that ended with the physical death of his infant son and the spiritual death of his wife Chrystal (Lisa Blount, McKinnon's real-life spouse). Back in an attempt to begin life anew, Joe finds that communicating with his wife is a difficult task, made even more stressful by the interference of a slimy redneck (McKinnon) who's trying to bully Joe into embarking once again down the criminal path. Thornton is effective in his own understated way, even though he's essentially repeating his characterizations from Levity and Monster's Ball; more interesting to watch is Blount, whose portrayal provides the film with a haunting stillness that permeates every scene.
- Matt Brunson


text:
Join us for a tour of ABUS Mobile Security in Germany
Manufacturing is alive and well in Germany, made evident by a recent tour of three ABUS lock making facilities. Several stock-in-trade ABUS products are still being produced decades after their development, while others, like the popular folding Bordo locks, are prompting the 90-year-old company to add extra shifts to keep up with demand.
Join us for a tour of the factory.Tweet Print


text:
We think it's high time the media planted themselves in Chicago to remind us how violent the president's home town is. Thus far in the so-called "national conversation" about guns there's been no conversation about Chicago.
Two shootings on the South and West sides left three people dead and two wounded at 2:15 and 4 a.m. Saturday morning.
Three men were shot outside of a diner at the corner of Wallace Street and Pershing Road in the Bridgeport neighborhood about 4 a.m. Saturday. Two men died at the scene.
At the north end of the 1100 block of South Mozart Street in the Lawndale neighborhood, two people were shot. One also died there, police said. That happened about 2:15 a.m.
Meanwhile, opponents of the Second Amendment have a rally planned in the City of Blood today. Hopefully nobody gets whacked during it. Would make for bad optics.


text:
What better way to start your Sunday than with a Champagne breakfast on Noosa Main Beach. Join John Susman Fishtales & Qantas epiQure. Indulge in three different champagne styles from one of the finest French Champagne houses, Taittinger, whilst tasting an amazing fresh seafood breakfast that will have the senses flowing - a morning not to be missed.
SESSION 143: Champagne Breakfast
9am Qantas Beach Marquee
$125 per person
Seafood breakfast with Champagne Taittinger
Includes Sunday General Admission to Festival Village with
food/wine tickets available for purchase – $8.
Sunday 18 May
Noosa International Food & Wine Festival
15, 16, 17, 18 May 2014
Food | Wine | Music | Fun
Various locations
Visit "NIFW14" for full Program, Tickets & Info
Over 200 invited chefs, producers, winemakers and media will descend on the village of Noosa and its iconic surroundings to join foodies from all over the world to celebrate and enjoy the good things in life. Food trails to the Hinterland and river, the beach, the Noosa National Park and of course the Festival Village will all be part of the action again and the 2014 Festival will be the most fun yet.
Qantas Beach Marquee, Noosa Heads
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text:
NEW feature: Say "AAAH!" (Activities Acting As Healers:) Rx For Broken Bones: Pet a Cat? 'Purr'-haps! Read more
Got Bible-study-leader wannabes? Get resources at Christian Library International!
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text:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (aka LDS or Mormons) have been indexing millions of records for the couple of few years. One of their newest projects is to index the entire 1892 New York State census. The 1892 census fills the hole that comes about from the destruction of the 1890 federal census from fire and water damage. But the 1892 New York State census is the worst census that New York State did. There aren't any street names nor house numbers. There also aren't any family numbers so it is sometimes hard to figure out if a person with a different surname is part of a family or not. The other questions asked were: sex, age, color, country born, citizenship and occupation. Other NY census had asked for the relationship to the head of house; but the 1892 census did not. This census just asked for the country of birth and others asked for a state or even the county if born in New York. So this is definitely not the best census taken by New York State.
The LDS has many indexing projects going at a time and they are still looking for volunteers to help. If you have the time to help in indexing records then you can go to Family Search and click on"Index Records" for more details and the form to volunteer. They also are looking for people that know other languages besides English to index records from other countries. The best part the LDS projects is that the completed records are available to all for FREE on the internet. To see the millions of records that have already index go to Family Search then hover over the "Search Records" tab and click on the "Record Search pilot" link. I have found some fantastic records there for my families and more are added every few weeks.


text:
Samsung Optical Joystick Phoneposted by MR WAVETHEORY at 12/19/2006 07:25:00 PM
Samsung Electronics has introduced a CDMA 2000 1X EV-DO handset featuring an optical joystick. The 'Optical Joystick Phone', the SCH-V960, features a joystick which can be used with one finger allowing users to move a cursor to navigate the menu system. Users can also point and click on icons on the MyScreen interface and use the joystick to scroll through listings, such as a music play list. The V960 further features a 'Smart Lighting' feature which automatically controls the brightness of the LCD screen and keypad. The handset further comes with a 2 megapixel camera, GPS, Bluetooth, and microSD external memory support. The V960 will be launched in the Korean market at the end of December.


text:
The Official String Theory Web Site:-->
Basics -->How many theories? (basic / advanced)
At one time, string theorists believed there
were five distinct superstring theories: type
I, types IIA and IIB,
and the two heterotic string theories.
The thinking was that out of these five candidate theories, only one
was the actual correct Theory of Everything,
and that theory was the theory whose low energy limit, with ten dimensions
spacetime compactified down to four, matched the physics observed in
our world today. The other theories would be nothing more than rejected
string theories, mathematical constructs not blessed by Nature with
But now it is known that this naive picture
was wrong, and that the the five superstring
theories are connected to one another as if they are each a special
case of some more fundamental theory, of which there is only one. These
theories are related by transformations that are called dualities.
If two theories are related by a duality transformation, it means that
the first theory can be transformed in some way so that it ends up looking
just like the second theory. The two theories are then said to be dual
to one another under that kind of transformation.
These dualities link quantities that were also
thought to be separate. Large and small distance scales, strong and
weak coupling strengths -- these quantities have always marked very
distinct limits of behavior of a physical system, in both classical
field theory and quantum particle physics. But strings can obscure the
difference between large and small, strong and weak, and this is how
these five very different theories end up being related.
The duality symmetry that obscures our ability
to distinguish between large and small distance scales is called T-duality,
and comes about from the compactification of extra space dimensions
in a ten dimensional superstring theory.
Suppose we're in ten spacetime dimensions, which
means we have nine space and one time. Take one of those nine space
dimensions and make it a circle of radius R, so that traveling in that
direction for a distance L=2pR
takes you around the circle and brings you back to where you started.
A particle traveling around this circle will
have a quantized momentum around the circle, and this will contribute
to the total energy of the particle. But a string is very different,
because in addition to traveling around the circle, the string can wrap
around the circle. The number of times the string winds around the circle
is called the winding number, and that is also quantized.
Now the weird thing about string theory is that
these momentum modes and the winding modes can be interchanged, as long
as we also interchange the radius R of the circle with the quantity
Lst2/R, where Lst is the string length.
If R is very much smaller than the string length,
then the quantity Lst2/R is going to be very large.
So exchanging momentum and winding modes
of the string exchanges a large distance scale
with a small distance scale.
This type of duality is called T-duality.
T-duality relates Type IIA superstring theory
to Type IIB superstring theory. That means if we take Type IIA
and Type IIB theory and compactify them both on a circle, then switching
the momentum and winding modes, and switching the distance scale, changes
one theory into the other! The same is also true for the two
heterotic theories.
So T-duality obscures
the difference between large and small distances. What looks
like a very large distance to a momentum mode of a string looks, looks
to a winding mode of a string like a very small distance. This is very
counter to how physics has always worked since the days of Kepler and
What is a coupling constant? This is some number
that tells us how strong an interaction is. Newton's constant is the
coupling constant for the gravitational force, for example. If Newton's
constant were twice the size it is measured to be now, then we would
feel twice as much gravitational force from the Earth, and the Earth
would feel twice as much from the Moon and the Sun, and so on. A larger
coupling constant means a stronger force, and a smaller coupling constant
means a weaker force.
Every force has a coupling constant. For electromagnetism,
the coupling constant is proportional to the square of the electric
charge. When physicists study the quantum behavior of electromagnetism,
they can't solve the whole theory exactly, so they break it down to
little pieces, and each little piece that they can solve has a different
power of the coupling constant in front of it. At normal energies in
electromagnetism, the coupling constant is small, and so the first few
little pieces make a good approximation to the real answer. But if the
coupling constant gets large, that method of calculation breaks down,
and the little pieces become worthless as an approximation to the real
This also can happen in string theory. String
theories have a coupling constant. But unlike in particle theories,
the string coupling constant is not just a number, but depends on one
of the oscillation modes of the string, called the dilaton.
Exchanging the dilaton field with minus itself exchanges a very large
coupling constant with a very small one.
This symmetry is called S-duality.
If two string theories are related by S-duality, then one theory with
a strong coupling constant is the same as the other theory with weak
coupling constant. Notice that the theory with strong coupling cannot
be understood by means of expanding in a series, but the theory with
weak coupling can. So if the two theories are related by S-duality,
then we just need to understand the weak theory,
and that is equivalent to understanding the
strong theory. For a physicist, that is the proverbial two-for-one
Superstring theories related by S-duality
are: Type I superstring theory with heterotic
SO(32) superstring theory, and Type
IIB theory with itself.
T-duality is something unique to string physics.
It's something particles cannot do, because a particle cannot get wrapped
around a circle like a string. If string theory is a correct theory
of Nature, then this implies that one some deep level, the separation
between large vs. small distance scales in physics is not a fixed separation
but a fluid one, dependent upon the type of probe we use to measure
distance, and how we count the states of the probe.
The same goes for S-duality, which teaches us
that the strong coupling limit of one string theory can describe the
weak coupling limit of a different string theory.
This sounds like it goes against all traditional
physics, but this is indeed a reasonable outcome
for a quantum theory of gravity, because Einstein's theory of
gravity tells us that gravity is about how the sizes of objects and
magnitudes of interactions are measured in curved spacetime.
<< Previous
Next >>
What is theoretical physics? // Particles
and relativity // Why strings? // What
is string theory? // How many are there?
How are string theories related? // Is
there a more fundamental theory?


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Tonic Au 126
May 26, 2016
Upon clicking the ambiguous lettered video link, we had no idea what to expect from Tonic au 126. That being said, we couldn't be more stoked to have made the click and witness this awesome video that is Tonic. Seriously, these dudes made something completely reflective of their crew... And that's hard to do in a world where everyone is trying to fit the skateboarder mold. We just hope their landlord or neighbors didn't call the cops. Bravo gentlemen!


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Darren Aronofsky's Wolverine film will officially be called...
Simple and cool. Amazing what a 'the' can do!
Thanks to HitFix for uncovering the title tidbit. The information was revealed in a recent interview conducted between the site and director Darren Aronofsky for the filmmaker's upcoming BLACK SWAN. There had never been word before on what the follow-up to last year's X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE would be called, but now we know officially.
It's also become official that THE WOLVERINE will not be a sequel to Gavin Hood's ORIGINS film, with Aronofsky calling it a "one-off". As we've known, the story - from a script by Christopher McQuarrie (THE TOURIST) - will follow the Chris Claremont/Frank Miller 1980s mini-series which finds Logan venturing off to Japan.
Now, the more distance this film has from Hood's much-derided entry, the better I say. However, this could also be seen as Aronofsky marking a clear distinction between his work and that of the other films in the X-MEN franchise (much like Matthew Vaughn's X-MEN: FIRST CLASS has), which may prove interesting for the character after all is said and done.
THE WOLVERINE is expected to begin production in New York this March.
|Extra Tidbit:
|Like it?


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Thank you all for your amazing response to my recent post. It means the world to me to have wonderful friends and readers like you! I am so thankful for the outpouring of support, and it means so much to me that my story touched and informed so many.
Feeling thankful for things, this weekend we hosted an early Thanksgiving dinner. We're going to be out of the country during (Canadian) Thanksgiving, but since it's my favourite holiday, I really wanted to celebrate it early. Of course, that meant Early Thanksgiving fell within Sugar-Free September, so well, that was a challenge!
The only thing stressing me out all week was dessert. For me, Thanksgiving isn't really Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie, so I really wanted to find a way to enjoy pumpkin pie while avoiding any sugars and sweeteners including stevia, and even maple syrup and dates. I found a way!
I'll be sharing some of my healthy Thanksgiving recipes here on the blog, but as a thank you for reading, I'm giving you a copy of my totally Sugar-Free Thanksgiving menu to download.
You'll find 7 easy recipes for a healthy Thanksgiving dinner menu that contains absolutely no added sugars, including my sugar-free pumpkin pie.
Subscribe to receive updates from Home at Six and to download a printable PDF of my Sugar-Free Thanksgiving menu. If you're already subscribed, just enter your email address to receive your free download.
Sugar-Free Healthy Thanksgiving Menu!
Recipes include:
- Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey
- Turkey Stock and Gravy
- Roasted Butternut Squash Sweet Potato Soup
- Thanksgiving Stuffing (Dressing)
- Turnip Sweet Potato Mash
- ……….and Sugar-Free Pumpkin Pie


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The Escalante River. (Photo courtesty of Flickr user Bureau of Land Management. Licensed under Creative Commons.)
This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com.
My home sits at the gateway to a national park in Utah, a source of envy among tourists who gather along Capitol Reef's "scenic drive." But after forty years of living in one desert or another, I know firsthand that America's iconic desert landscapes, places like Monument Valley and Arches National Park, are the exceptions, not the rule. The rule is that we dig up, dump on, dam, bomb, drill, over-graze and otherwise abuse our deserts, most of them public lands owned by you, the taxpaying citizen. Generally, our management of the nation's public lands is a disgrace and deserts are exhibit A.
But let's skip the grim survey of how humans are overloading the carrying capacity of our original earthly Eden that usually opens a report like this. The intent of such a recitation of folly is to compel the reader's attention by underlining the dire importance of the topic at hand. But I assume you understand by now that you woke up this morning on an overheated planet of slums threatened by ecological collapse.
So instead, let's get right to the point: what do we do about it? How do we begin to heal the wounds?
The crises we face and that our children and grandchildren will endure long after we leave them invite a visionary response. On the other hand, the world is already awash in well-intentioned tinkerers. Yet dysfunction and destruction still reign. Maybe it's time to leap to a new paradigm.
Enter John Davis and Trek West. At this very moment, Davis is walking, biking, paddling and horseback riding 6,000 miles through a chain of mountain ranges that stretches like a spine across North America from the Sierra Madres of Mexico through the Rockies of the American West up into Canada. He started this winter in the Sonoran desert we share with our southern neighbor and has been heading northward for months. He will cross many of our most treasured national parks like Yellowstone and Grand Canyon, the ones that tourists love, but his trek is no sightseeing adventure.
Davis and his Trek West partners along the route are advocating for what they call "landscape connectivity" on a continental scale. Two years ago, Davis trekked from Key West to Quebec, 8,000 human-powered miles. Same theme: conserve and connect.
A Conservation Revolution
Gone are the days when conservation was all about bullets, hooks and cameras. Fishermen and hunters are still an important constituency in the conservation community, but birdwatchers now outnumber them. Ecological criteria increasingly frame any debate about how to heal degraded habitat. What the nineteenth-century naturalist and Sierra Club founder John Muir knew intuitively—that everything in the universe is "hitched to everything else"—has been confirmed beyond doubt by hard science.
Davis is one of the founders of a new school of thought called conservation biology. Its proponents argue that it is not faintly enough to preserve scenic rock and ice parks and isolated islands of wildlife. Wild creatures need room to roam so they can find the necessary water, food and mates. In the long run, many of America's wild creatures from salamanders to bears will survive only in Disney movies if we box out genetic diversity, block migration routes, destroy nesting grounds and save only carefully preserved, isolated populations of a species. Connectivity is the keel of an emerging conservation ethic for helping to heal this country.


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Real Cost of 'Stupid' New York Flyover Far More Than Air Force's Total
Flying the presidential jet over lower Manhattan for a photo op, sending panicked New Yorkers running into the streets, was as "stupid a thing to do as one could dream up," the White House said Wednesday. And it cost far more than the $328,835 the Air Force says it spent.
New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg's office said it doesn't have hard numbers yet on how much the city had to spend to deal with the panic caused when a backup jet to Air Force One, accompanied by two F-16 fighter jets, flew around for approximately 30 minutes for a photo shoot commissioned by the White House Military Office.
The city's 911 operators were inundated with phone calls as residents of New York and New Jersey looked out their windows to see a jumbo jet and two fighters circling lower Manhattan, where nearly 3,000 people were killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
The New York Police Department said there were an estimated 97 calls to 911 about the flyover in a one-hour span. That is an increase of about 15 percent from a typical hour.
Across New York Harbor, ambulances and police officers in Jersey City, N.J., were deployed to Exchange Plaza after the city received 13 emergency calls requesting information or medical assistance, said city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill.
"(The police) had a loudspeaker, telling people it wasn't an attack," she said. "There were people falling down stairs, and there was a lot of confusion and chaos."
"We don't have any inventory nor will we be able to prepare one," Jason Post, a spokesman for Bloomberg, said when asked to give the cost of the emergency response.
"We can't count the jet fuel like the Pentagon did. It was an unwelcome disruption, but we don't have a number to put on it."
The cost extended beyond municipal government to lost hours for New York and New Jersey businesses, as workers streamed out of their offices in panic.
In lower Manhattan a number of companies ordered their employees to evacuate after seeing the Air Force One backup plane fly past their high-rise windows.
In the World Financial Center complex alone, at least two of the four towers, representing some 20,000 office workers, were partially evacuated, said Melissa Copley, a spokeswoman for Brookfield Properties, which manages the buildings.
"It's kind of hard to say. There were two (companies) in one building, three in another," she said. "I'd say less than half the workers in those buildings evacuated."
The 911 tapes released on Wednesday vividly revealed the extent of the disturbance.
"We just saw a big airliner being escorted by two fighter planes next to it," one caller told a 911 operator. "We just saw a jetliner fly low-ceiling above the medical center. We thought it was gonna crash into us. There were two fighter planes next to it."
The lack of a public warning on the flyover prompted outrage from both Bloomberg and President Obama, who both said they were unaware of the photo-op.
"It was a mistake, as was stated. It was something we found out about along with all of you. And it will not happen again," the president said.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs elaborated on the president's words on Wednesday, calling the flyover as "stupid a thing to do as one could dream up."
If President Obama had had "any knowledge of the stupid idea to go take pictures of the plane in New York, I can assure you that wouldn't have happened," Gibbs said aboard Air Force One.
In an interview with MSNBC later in the day, Gibbs said, "This was a dumb idea on just about every level that you want to analyze it on. I would certainly agree with that. The president would agree with that.
"He was furious when we told him about it and he's asked that the deputy chief of staff look into how a decision like this got made and to ensure that it never happens again. And that's what we're doing right now."
It may be the one issue on which Gibbs and Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., agree.
Calling it a "glamour shot," Bond said the "stunt is a symbol of how far from their minds the attacks of Sept. 11 are."
White House Military Officer Louis Caldera has taken the blame for authorizing the flyover, and he has apologized to the public.
The Air Force said the three-hour mission to New York was considered part of its training schedule and would have been flown regardless of the photo-op.
Of the $328,835 spent, about $35,000 was the cost of fuel, with the remainder spread over regular repair and maintenance costs estimated over the life of the aircraft.
Only crew were on board the flight, Air Force spokesman Vince King said.
Stephen Clark contributed to this story.


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Notes from TNT's Coverage of the NBA – Thursday, February 19, 2009
TNT NBA Thursdays continue on Thursday, 26 at 8 p.m. ET featuring the Cleveland Cavaliers @ Houston Rockets followed by the Phoenix Suns @ Los Angeles Lakers
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TNT NBA Tip-off presented by AutoTrader.com
Announcers: Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley
Barkley on his return to the TNT set: "I'm glad to be back. Let me start by saying something. Clearly everybody knows that I got a DUI; that's unacceptable and it's 100% my fault. I let my family down clearly, I let TNT down clearly, I let T-Mobile down clearly, but also I let the NBA family down…All I can say is that it will never happen again and I'm sorry, that's all I can say. It's been interesting sitting back and listening to all these people tell me this and this and this and listen to what everybody's got to say. I screwed up, I made a mistake, I'm sorry and I apologize."
Barkley on what positive will come out this experience: "I will never get behind the wheel when I've been drinking. Every person who's drunk thinks they're alright to drive, so I challenge everybody out there to really…I could be a hypocrite and tell you that I hope nobody drinks and drives, but I think that's unrealistic. I want everybody to really, seriously think about if you've had something to drink…I hope that somebody else out there thinks about that before they get behind the wheel."
Barkley on Rafer Alston being traded to the Orlando Magic: "I think that's an upgrade, clearly, but are they better than the Cavaliers or the Celtics? We'll have to wait and see. It is an upgrade, I like Rafer Alston, I think he brings toughness to the table and if there's one thing Orlando needed it was toughness."
Smith: "Honestly, I think this puts (Orlando) over the hump of Cleveland. Boston is still clearly the best team but it took them over Cleveland because what Rafer does different than Jameer (Nelson) is (Jameer) doesn't get the ball to (Hedo) Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis and to Dwight Howard as easily and less reluctantly as Rafer Alston does. He wants to give the basketball up so those guys are going to actually be better because he's there. Whereas with Jameer Nelson there he was having a great year but I think Rafer is actually going to propel those guys – those three guys are going to score more and score easier."
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Game #1: San Antonio Spurs (83) @ Detroit Pistons (79)
Announcers: Marv Albert and Reggie Miller; Craig Sager reporting
Miller on why Detroit Pistons guard Allen Iverson should come off the bench: "(Allen Iverson) could be the new version of Vinnie Johnson, the great Detroit Piston (also known as) 'The Microwave.' All you had to do was hand him the ball and say, 'You can take 18-22 shots, do whatever you want with that second unit.' Rip Hamilton needs to be pampered and when you have AI and Rip (Hamilton on the floor) at the same time it takes away, that's why Tayshaun (Prince) is probably going to be the primary ball handler when those two guys are out there at the same time."
Miller on Allen Iverson not wanting to come off the bench: "I think in his head (Allen Iverson) doesn't feel that way, but he's going to have to learn to come off the bench on whatever team he goes to after this – if Joe Dumars doesn't sign him. I think that's why Rip Hamilton probably took the high road because he's like look, 'AI will probably be gone next year and I'll probably be back in the starting lineup.' But AI at some point in time is going to have to learn to come off the bench, and you know what? For a team that's contending, Allen Iverson coming off the bench, that would be scary for 25-30 minutes."
Miller on the trade at the start of the season that sent Allen Iverson to the Detroit Pistons and Chauncey Billups to the Denver Nuggets: "Everyone talks about the (previous) trade with Chauncey (Billups) and (Allen Iverson). If you look at their numbers as individuals they're pretty much the same. Both of them are averaging 18 (ppg), shooting 42 percent from the field, Chauncey is probably averaging one more assist. But Chauncey has a better supporting cast – Nene, Carmelo Anthony, JR Smith. The guys are underachieving here in Detroit for AI."
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T-Mobile Halftime Report
Announcers: Johnson, Smith, Barkley
TNT Insider David Aldridge joined the show via satellite to weigh in on the trade deadline.
Aldridge on the Houston/Orlando/Memphis trade that sent guard Rafer Alston to the Magic: "(Rafer Alston) was a great pick up for Orlando. They were going south in a hurry without Jameer Nelson at the point and to pick up Rafer Alston for Brian Cook, essentially, that's pretty good. Rafer Alston is a starter in this league, he's started for a playoff team for the past couple of years. You're not going to find a better player who's available for less than what Orlando was able to do. Now they can take Hedo Turkoglu off the ball, put Rafer on the ball, he's a shooter playing off Dwight Howard he should have some real success there. Great pick up by Orlando."
Aldridge on why the Cleveland Cavaliers didn't make a trade: "(The Cavaliers) tried (to make a trade), they really did try. They were all over the place. They tried to get Antawn Jamison from Washington, they tried to get Amar'e Stoudemire, they tried to get Richard Jefferson, they tried to get Shaq. I can tell you this, they were more interested in Shaquille O'Neal than they were in Amar'e Stoudemire. That's a fact. They wanted Shaq badly and they really tried to get him."
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Miller on the Phoenix Suns scoring 140 points in back-to-back games under their new interim coach Alvin Gentry: "I'm happy for Alvin Gentry, it's nice that he was given another chance. That's really a slap in the face to Terry Porter. What that's saying is, 'We laid down for Terry Porter when you were brought in to change the culture and make us more defensive-minded. You're gone, now we're going to run the score up to 140 in back-to-back games.' That's a slap in Terry Porter's face."
Miller on mentoring a young Rip Hamilton: "When I was an older player and Rip (Hamilton) was in Washington he would wait for me after games and say, 'Hey Reg, can you teach me some things about coming off screens and things like that?' Fast forward to some of our hotly contested match-ups when he was in Detroit and he was using some of my own moves against me. What is up with that? Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer."
TNT's Craig Sager interviewed Spurs forward Bruce Bowen following the game.
Bowen on how important it was for him to guard Allen Iverson during the final seconds of the game: "It was important. I've been known as a defender and I take pride in that. It's not a situation where you feel like you're going to be able to stop everybody, but you want to make the shot as difficult as possible. That was my main goal, try to use my length against him and hopefully he'd miss the shot."
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Game #2: Boston Celtics (85) @ Utah Jazz (90)
Announcers Kevin Harlan and Doug Collins with Cheryl Miller reporting
Collins on the Utah's style of play at home: "One of the reasons why Utah is so good at home, obviously there's altitude, but they run more at home. They get into the open court, they create turnovers."
TNT's Cheryl Miller spoke with Jazz forward Carlos Boozer who recently had knee surgery.
Boozer on when he will return: "I'm very close. I did some shooting drills yesterday with the team and tomorrow hope to go through practice. I'll get a couple more practices in and hopefully be back next week."
Cheryl Miller interviewed Celtics head coach Doc Rivers after the first quarter.
Rivers on the strong Celtics defense in the first quarter: "Charles' return inspired us tonight. Welcome back, Charles. It was great, the defense was great. I thought we were a little clumsy offensively, but as long as our defense was good we get a chance to win the game and that was great to start the half."
Collins on matching up against the Celtics: "When you play against the Celtics you better meet their toughness. You better meet the physical challenge they bring to you and also the verbal challenge they bring to you."
Collins on Jazz guard Ronnie Brewer: "(Ronnie Brewer's) calling card really is his defense and now he's starting to pick up his offense. One thing about these Utah Jazz younger players is how much better they get from year-to-year. They really do a great job here developing young players."
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T-Mobile Halftime Report
Announcers: Johnson, Smith, Barkley
Barkley on Celtics forward Kevin Garnett's injury that sent him to the locker room in the second quarter: "You gotta be concerned because you can see that (Kevin Garnett's) ankle didn't turn, he hurt it on liftoff. You just have a pray that it's not an Achilles (injury). For a guy who represents everything good about the game, you hope it's not a season-ending injury. It would be monumental for the Eastern Conference and the entire NBA to lose a guy like that."
Barkley on the Jazz struggling without forward Carlos Boozer: "You can see that Utah is never going to be a complete team until they get Carlos Boozer back. They got off to tough start shooting the ball, and then between jump shooters and guys who can get you easy baskets or wide open jump shots, is your inside game. So you can' really judge this Utah team until they get Boozer back."
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Following halftime Cheryl Miller gave a report on the status of Kevin Garnett.
Cheryl Miller on Kevin Garnett sitting out the rest of the game: "It was a hold-your-breath type of moment. Kevin Garnett gave it his best shot, he went back out on the court. Even before he went out on the court he was stretching and I was told by the team representative that he strained his right knee. Doc (Rivers) came out and told me there is no way he's going to play and that they were shutting it down, but Kevin did want to play. But they are going to error on the side of caution."
Colllins on Celtics center Kendrick Perkins: "Kendrick Perkins, it's so important to see him. When he was out with a shoulder injury (the Celtics) missed him. His size and strength and toughness on that front line, very underrated in the Celtics' success."
TNT's Cheryl Miller interviewed Deron Williams after the game.
Williams on how the win against the Celtics matches up against the recent win against the Lakers: "This is our second statement win. Both of these wins have been huge for our confidence. This was a great defensive win and we battled it out with them all night. It's a great win for our team."
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Inside the NBA presented by Hyundai
Announcers: Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley
Barkley on Rockets guard Rafer Alston being traded to the Magic: "(Rafer Alston) will speed up the tempo of the game. Orlando shoots too may threes, you don't live by threes you die by threes. Rafer is really going to help (Hedo) Turkoglu and Rashard (Lewis), they're going to get easier baskets."
Barkley on the Cavaliers not making a trade: "The Cavaliers made a mistake (by not making a trade)…They should have said, 'We're going to keep LeBron (James), we're going to keep Mo Williams, you can have anybody else we got.' If they would have done anything to get a big body they would have been better off."
Smith: "I told you what they would've heard. A dial tone."
Smith on the Rafer Alston trade having a big impact on the Magic: "Some people say some trades aren't big, like because Rafer Alston doesn't have that household name in terms of superstar status. I remember when Mario Ellie came to the Houston Rockets and people asked if that was a big trade and I said, 'That's a big trade for us because he's a guy that puts us in position to win it all because he can grab so many different things.' And then he went to San Antonio and it was a big trade. It is a big trade when a guy can put you in position to win it all. Regardless of his stat line, he puts them in position to win it all now."
Barkley: "I think he's a good leader because I noticed last year in the playoffs he was talking to (Tracy McGrady)….and that's what a leader does, especially a point guard."
Barkley's Oscar picks:
Best movie: Slumdog Millionaire
Best actress: Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Best actor: Sean Penn, Milk
Best supporting actress: Viola Davis, Doubt
Best supporting actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Log onto TNT OverTime on NBA.com for a full replay of Inside the NBA and exclusive reports from TNT announcers.


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One hundred percent of donations are designated for facilities acquisition and the bursary and scholarship fund. The Foundation's support is currently limited to the organizations listed on this page.
(NOTE: Some of these organizations have their own websites; to visit the site, click on the name. For those that do not have websites, a brief description is provided.)
The following organizations benefit directly from the Bosco Foundation.
- ABH - Child and Family Services Association (ABH-CAFS) was established as a support organization to provide Psychological Services, Relief Staff, Administrative Services, Maintenance Services and a range of fee-for-services programs complementary to the Bosco Homes' range of services. ABH-CAFS is a subsidiary of Bosco Homes.
- Bosco Homes, A Society for Children and Families
- Canadian Institute for Crisis Intervention
- Children First Family Services Association
- Bright Bank Academy
- Columbus Academy
- Phoenix Academy
- Thomas More Academy
- The Canadian Institute for Crisis Intervention Training (CICIT) is a subsidiary of Bosco Homes which provides professional development programs to the Bosco family of agencies and other non-affiliated agencies throughout the province. CICIT specializes in providing licensing standards training and refresher courses.
- The Wetaskiwin Touchstone Place Clubhouse Society is a mental health support group based on International Clubhouse standards that assists adult mental health clients live successfully in their home communities. The society includes volunteers from the community, family members of persons with mental health conditions or illnesses, program staff members and mental health professionals. The Society provides assistance in securing safe living accommodations, clothing, furnishings, and job readiness training.
The following community groups and organizations benefit indirectly from the Bosco Foundation by renting space in our St. Francis Center facilities on a sliding scale basis but no more than one third of market value.
- Dragoons Army Cadets
- Northeast Edmonton AA Chapter
- Eastwood AA Chapter
- Eritrean Coptic Orthodox Parish - description coming soon
- St. Francis Food Bank Society has been in existence in the northeast Edmonton community for more than 45 years. Originally established by the St. Francis of Assisi Parish, the Society serves a diverse population which includes many immigrant families, first nations families and the general population. The St. Francis Food Bank Society is a member of the Edmonton Food Bank Association.
- St. Francis Secular Council (Franciscan Order) is the original Secular Franciscan Council in the greater Edmonton area, established almost a century ago. It engages in charitable works and provides lay people an opportunity to live according to the rules of the Franciscan Order.


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JANTY® Personal Charger Casing (PCC). Please read the manual before use.
The JANTY® PCC is equipped with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery 1200 MaH. The mini USB
port is used to connect the PCC to the power outlet for charging. There are three LED's on the
casing, from top to bottom they are named A,B,C.
C is a red & green bi-color indicating LED. A and B are red color indicating LED's.
1. When the casing is charged through an external power adaptor (output through USB interface)
or a computer USB interface, the input is 5.0v and LED C will reflect the following status:
When the PCC is being charged, LED C shows red.
When the PCC is fully charged, LED C shows green: the charge is finished. When you unplug the
external power adapter or the USB cable from your computer, LED C will dim. (Note: The PCC
charges fully in about 4.0 hours.)
2. When the voltage of the PPC battery drops to 3.3V, LED B will show red: the casing needs to
be charged. LED A will dim.
3. When a battery is inserted into the PCC, the PCC tests the voltage of the battery. If the battery
voltage is less than 4.0v, LED A will turn red and the battery will be charged. When the battery is
fully charged LED A will dim.
4. In case the battery should not charge properly you will need to clean the inside of the charger
casing with cotton and alcohol to ensure there are no debris that impede the electrical conductivity.
5. Power storage: A fully charged PCC can fully charge 5 batteries.


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Meet Shivani Kotecha!
Just how special is it to be a Human Resources Specialist?
It's actually pretty special! I make sure all new hires are set up for success when they start at Taulia and ensure job satisfaction for all employees. I also make sure everyone gets paid (you're welcome, Taulians!), and is covered by our company benefits. What's really exciting is being the Taulia Fun Officer where I get to plan our monthly Taulia Thursday event. Every last Thursday of the month, we throw a happy hour at 4pm and celebrate the month we had. In November, we had a Thanksgiving feast and Belgian beer tasting--it's always a great time!
When you're not onboarding new employees and making sure we all get paid, what are you doing in your spare time?
I looooove dancing! I have 11 years of Indian classical dance training and joined a competitive dance team throughout college. In college, we competed against other teams across the state and won first place--and I was the captain! From there, we advanced to the final round in New York City called The Best of the Best as one the top 3 teams in the nation. It was such a thrilling experience! Dancing has been a huge part of my life and I've always wanted to open up my own dance studio. Maybe someday! (Editor's note: I'm sure we all wouldn't be mad if the common area of the Taulia office turned into a dance studio once a week!)
What excites you about being at Taulia every day?
Definitely the people and the culture! Coming straight out of college, I'm really excited to being able to learn SO much every single day that I'm here. The people here are amazing and everyone in the company is very community-like. The environment is very fun yet weird--you're certainly able to be yourself!
If you could switch roles with anyone in the company for a day, who would it be?
I would want to switch roles with someone in each department so I can learn what everyone does. In HR, I interact with everyone in different departments, and I want to understand what their roles are like to make me a better HR Specialist!
What has been your most memorable moment at Taulia so far?The Oktoberfest Party! It was about halfway into my internship and I just started getting to know everybody. Not only was I part of the fabulous planning committee, but I finally got to meet all the remote employees I've worked with in real life and match names to faces. It was one of the first times I really saw our culture as a whole, and I'll never forget that!


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Jul 17, 2016
Enjoying the Summer in Yokohama
This is my third summer in Yokohama and even though it is hot and humid there are many fun activities available. Starting in the bay area there are weekly festivals, food and drink activities, sports events, great fireworks, and much more. I take a daily walk and usually end up at one of 100's of local parks. Here you can watch the locals and learn a lot about the culture. There are a variety of museums throughout the city filled with activities and history. Even though we are close to Tokyo we are a world apart. Out streets are wide with excellent sidewalks and the people do not seem to be in a hurry like they are in Tokyo. Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan with a family like atmosphere. If you are considering a trip to Japan visit my blog reywatjapan.blogspot.jp to see and read about this wonderful city.
Retired High Tech industry , moved to Yokohama in 2013. Independent Travel Writer married to wonderful Japanese women since 2009. Write for Japan Travel and Retirement & Good Living.