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Join us on January 27th, 2017 at Round the Bend Farm from 10am - 4pm to learn, discuss and come together around the topic of seed saving! THIS EVENT NOW INCLUDES A SEED SWAP!
Those who control the seed system, control the food system, control the people. And yet, over the past 50 years, as we've lost the majority of our plant breeds and seed companies, we've also divorced plants from their place and from a culture of human-scale, regenerative and organic agriculture.
There is now a growing movement to reclaim seeds and breeds, to re-localize seeds to particular bioregions, and to return to growers the power to participate in the process. Through partnerships between professional breeders and growers, we can develop better genetics and provide growers with new streams of income.
This field day brings together growers, veteran breeders, and seed experts to discuss how we can reclaim our seed systems while also diversifying our enterprises.
This all-day intensive workshop covers:
*The state of organic and regionally-adapted seed and keeping seed in the public commons
*Incorporating seed work on your farm or garden
*Participatory Plant Breeding- what it means, how to get involved, and where do we go from here?
*And a plenary Q & A with our fine panel of experts (listed below)
Hanna Traggis, Plant Physiologist. Senior Horticulturalist and Educator at Massachusetts Horticultural Society.
Adrienne Shelton, Plant Breeder, Vitalis Organic Seeds. Farmer, organizer,
seed saver, researcher.
Heron Breen, Independent Seed Grower. Plant Breeder. Advocate.
Bill Braun, Farmer, Seed Steward, Ivory Silo Seed Project.
Registration for the event is $48 for NOFA members and %58 for non-members. Don't forget that scholarships are available for all NOFA/Mass events!
There will be a Potluck Lunch, so please bring a dish! (use your odd varieties, forgotten breeds, and mutant vegetables!)
Please see our website for full details and to register:http://www.nofamass.org/events/seed-sovereignty-field-day


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Prayer Alert: UK High Court Rules Against Christian Foster Parents in Landmark Case
A Christian couple unwilling to promote homosexuality has been denied the right to become foster parents by a UK high court. This landmark ruling is expected to have significant impact on the future of fostering and adoption by Christian families in the UK.
Eunice and Owen Johns, a married couple who fostered 15 children in the 1990s, were asked by a social worker how they would answer a foster child who came home from school with questions about homosexuality. The Johns made it clear that as Pentecostal Christians they could not tell a child homosexuality was an acceptable lifestyle.
Concerns by the social worker that the Johns' views might be harmful to children led to a Feb. 28, 2011 ruling by a UK high court that denied the Johns the right to become foster parents.
Reactions to the ruling ranged from praise to dismay.
Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall, a lesbian, gay and bisexual charity is quoted said: "Thankfully, Mr. and Mrs. Johns' outdated views aren't just out of step with the majority of people in modern Britain, but those of many Christians too."
Robert Pigott, Religious News Correspondent for the BBC, stated: "The court discriminated between kinds of Christianity, saying that Christians in general might well make good foster parents, while people with traditionalist Christian views like Mr. and Mrs. Johns might well not. Such views, said the judges, might conflict with the welfare of children."
The Christian Legal Centre (UK) reacted to the ruling with great concern, saying that the judgment "sends out the clear message that orthodox Christian ethical beliefs are potentially harmful to children and that Christian parents with mainstream Christian views are not suitable to be considered as potential foster parents."
For a deeper explanation of the case and the disturbing implications, see the Christian Legal Centre's video below.

subset: commoncrawl


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"I want to do something that can possibly change the world," Cameron Halter says.
It's a big claim but then dreaming big is not necessarily a bad thing.
Halter is the man behind bitcoin's first debit card, one of the latest ideas to try to push bitcoin out to a wider audience and take it mainstream. His company, Tradecoinz, is hoping to launch the iBTCard in a matter of months and is gauging interest now by asking people to pre-register to reserve their spot to obtain a card.
Halter says the main reason he decided to create a debit style card for bitcoin was to try to address what he saw as three key issues with the currency: Security, useability and acceptance. After a year of research he believes he is ready to develop such a card. "We believe this card will help fix some of the problems bitcoin has. We are developing with technology people who already understand and use bitcoin almost every day. I believe this card will increase acceptance of bitcoin and encourage consumers to sign up," he says.
In addition to the PIN that is used with most debit cards, the iBTCard will also require one-time password (OTP) authentication and he hopes that merchants will easily be able to integrate the iBTCard into their current point of sale (POS) systems. "If they have a supported POS, all they will need to do is install a simple update from the POS manufacturer," Halter says, although on bitcointalk he did concede that this may take some time and is currently in talks with POS manufacturers.
For the consumer, what he hopes will prove a big attraction are the absence of monthly fees. Halter told us the card will function just like a Visa or MasterCard. "When a request enters our system, it will contain the amount requested in fiat. We will then convert that amount into bitcoins and pull that amount from the cardholder's wallet." What mechanism they will use to determine the bitcoin value at the time of the transaction he did not say and he is still looking for potential wallet clients to work with so won't give names at the moment.
There are also plans to integrate the iBTCard with ATMs in several major cities but he told us he will figure out where those will be from the data he receives during preregistration.
Halter's passion and enthusiasm for bitcoin are infectious. He believes getting bitcoin circulating is key to the future success of the currency. "I see a future where at least 30% of the global transactions involve bitcoin. This will take a lot of effort and require hard working individuals to make this happen. The current path bitcoin is taking isn't promising." He says in reference to the fact that more than 50% of bitcoins are currently lying in dormant wallets and states that unless this changes, "bitcoin will continue to be an unstable currency,". He went on to say, "I believe a series of groundbreaking companies have the opportunity to push bitcoin to a successful path."
In order to become one of those companies, Halter is hoping to raise over $500,000 through a combination of investment and crowdfunding. He hopes that if they manage to raise enough, they will have a demo card ready by October 5th, with plans to reveal it at the Crypto-Currency Conference in Atlanta.
There is certainly no doubting his ambitions for this project, nor for the company itself. His final words to us: "I don't want to create a great company. I want to create a great company that changes the world."
By Louise @ Bitscan
By Louise @ Bitscan


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|Dress is extremely fashionable
|Dress is power-lunch or power-walk
|Runway shows with next season's clothing
|Galley proof giveaways of next season's books
|Stars are mobbed for autographs
|Authors are mobbed for autographs
|Editors spew theories about "upcoming trends"
|Editors spew theories about "upcoming trends"
Totally the same thing! Except with people happily eating cupcakes at parties, and a focus on books instead of clothing...
Trend Report
YA Dystopian is Dead. Long Live YA Contemporary, Diversity, and Melded GenresEditors from Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic, Candlewick Press, The Atlantic, and Disney-Hyperion proclaimed that the YA Dystopian trend is over, but every few minutes they seemed to decide another buzzword was the future of the YA market. I can't remember if different publishing houses were predicting different trends, but it seems like the YA book world could be spending the next season in transition before a new real trend emerges. Let's face it, diversity and melded genres cannot be a fad the way that vampires/werewolves/angels/corrupt futuristic governments have been because something that's offering novelty at every corner is not going to gain the trust of reluctant readers. (Unless you distill "diversity" into a trite common theme of "I'm different but I love myself for it!" which I very much hope doesn't happen.)
Based on the galleys I picked up and the books I heard about at the panel, transcending time is a theme, whether through literal time travel (the much-hyped All Our Yesterdays), genetic immortality (Wake Up Missing), or ghosts (Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer; Plague in the Mirror; Raven Boys quartet; These Broken Stars).
As for the editor-observed diversity theme, maybe there's a Native American Indian moment coming this fall (Ghost Hawk, If I Ever Get out of Here, Sorrow's Knot), but it looks like there's a long way to go still.
Welcome Back, Stand Alone Novels!The editors on the YA panel said that they are "weary" of the trilogy craze that has dominated the market for years. We can only hope that readers agree, and that John Green gets some healthy competition on the NYTimes YA Bestsellers list.
New Adult FictionThis is the latest buzzword, and it seems to describe YA-like books with late teen / early twenties main characters who have more sex than normal YA characters. I think I picked up two that may qualify (Left Drowning and The Art of Falling). The only thing truly interesting about New Adult is that there's no consensus on whether it exists.
I think it may work like imaginary numbers, so when a publisher has only one manuscript that seems like New Adult, it gets marketed as YA; but two manuscripts get farmed to genres, three claim a mature YA designation, and if there are four then the publisher can announce that New Adult is real. (Yes, the math on this is not just imaginary but wrong.)
American Girls Historical Book Questions(because you know you had them too)
Why did Elizabeth Cole (Felicity books) become a blonde, and did someone simply Photoshop all the images of her to keep girls from learning she originally had beautiful dark brown hair?At the time of the Elizabeth Cole BFF doll creation, American Girl determined that they had overrepresented brunettes, and for the sake of balance they needed another blonde. I really enjoyed talking to the American Girl editor, but it is INSANE that the American Girl/Mattel people thought that blondes should be 40% of their visual image.
As for how such hair changes are done, the illustrator was asked to rework some pictures. There may have also been some Photoshopping involved, but it was mostly done by hand.
Why wasn't Ivy the main character of the Julie/Ivy 1970s pair? Did American Girl really need another blonde?The process of making an American Girl historical character starts with brainstorming issues or events that the company would like to address, matching these to a time period, and fleshing out further themes for the series. The company then commissions an author, who develops the character's personality and stories. After that, the company determines what the character looks like (by figuring out what color hair they need, as we saw above).
In the case of Julie/Ivy, author Megan McDonald wrote a draft of Meet Julie that described Ivy. The production team loved Ivy so much that they hired an additional author, Lisa Yee, to write a separate book about Ivy in time for the Julie launch.
I still think it's weird that American Girl's efforts towards showing the diversity of experiences and circumstances in American history, as well as the unity of family and friendship bonds, hasn't led to an AAPI main character in the historical line. I can only guess that the story the editor told me about Ivy's inception means that American Girl legitimately didn't realize it was ignoring the AAPI community, and when they saw Ivy in the Julie draft, they decided to create an Ivy doll before drawing too much attention to their oversight.


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Tim grew up in Virginia, and graduated from T.C. Williams High School in the City of Alexandria. He earned a B.S. in Political Science with a minor in History from Frostburg State University and his Master of Public Administration degree from Virginia Tech. Tim is also a graduate of the University of Virginia's Senior Executive Institute.
He and his wife, Kristen, have lived in the region for nearly two decades. They have three young children.


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The AHA/ASA has partnered with the Ad Council and New York-based pro bono advertising agency Grey Healthy People to develop a campaign to increase awareness of the warning signs of stroke and the need to call 9-1-1 at the first sign(s).
The campaign includes public service announcements (PSAs) for TV, radio, print, online, and outdoor placements. It also features an all new design for our Stroke Warning Signs page. The PSAs are being distributed to more than 30,000 national media outlets. For the first time, we are using the F.A.S.T. acronym (Face, Arm, Speech, Time) to convey the warning signs.
Learn the signs and save a life! We hope you'll watch our first powerful TV spot and help us spread the word.


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Making Creative Matter®
We love the immediate and lasting difference our work makes for our clients, for their customers, for the world. We grow businesses, tell stories, meet challenges, exceed expectations, change lives, explore wonder, help clients sleep well at night. We're a creative strategic firm whose approach is built on collaboration, commitment and caring. We work with companies that value design thinking, that appreciate design's role as a competitive advantage, that embrace teamwork.
Our clients tell us we take a big-picture, long-term view toward solving their business problems. Whatever the project, be it an annual report or a documentary film, we pour into it our passion and design thinking and energy. We make creative matter®. And we're ready to do it for you.
Let's talk about your: Brand Strategy, Brand Management, Design, Advertising, Packaging, Social Media, Web Design, Logos, Books


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Our riverside town has many visual gems which I took a few minutes to appreciate afresh this week. The huge Moreton Bay Fig is a majestic old tree, right in town. We have so many wonderful mature trees lining our streets, one of the joys of living in an older town. The very mild autumn mornings have been perfect for camera detours on the way home from driving my husband at work, especially combined with the more relaxed days of school holidays.
It is quite a privilege to make my husband's lunch early each morning and drive him to work, especially after the last two years when he was not well enough to work. We celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary this week by going out for lunch, just the two of us, something we very rarely do, yet hope to do again soon. :)
My organic Etsy shop quilts make a beautiful stack as they wait for new homes. They are usually safely stored away in a cupboard along with two more. Very grateful for the sales I've had already.
Today I completed the last of the extra hand quilting on my Set Free quilt. It was soon in the washing machine then hung out to dry in the autumn breeze. This one is a keeper, I love the beautiful blue and white prints and the timeless design.
Sharing at Skywatch Friday.


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Sarasota, FL
What I Believe:
Individuals and teams perform best when they are acting from their natural way of being – when their actions align with their purpose, core values, and style. Being authentic carries great power and is the best foundation for making purposeful change and creating success – and it's a lot more enjoyable! Change that is rooted to what is inside ourselves is change that lasts. That's why my coaching is all about supporting you in finding your own best way to succeed. Good coaching is about helping you find the way forward without answers being fed or forced upon you. Good coaching isn't about fixing problems, it's about helping you find the best answers for you, using your own strengths and beliefs. Awareness of our emotional intelligence can be a great source of information to help create meaningful change in our lives.
My Background:
I come to coaching via the corporate world; as a start-up entrepreneur, a worldwide partner in Arthur Andersen, and as a successful general manager of multiple technology businesses ranging in size from a few million to $265 million with companies such as Sage and Intuit.
Along the way, I've had the good fortune to work for, and with, some of the best business leaders and coaches in the world. I have been fortunate to see the best at work up close and have learned invaluable lessons from them.
My coaching background blends these experiences with formal training and study at The Hudson Institute, a leader in coaching education since 1986.


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- Film ,
Monday, March 5, 2018
1:00 pm - 2:45 pm
Edouard Coleman (Alain Delon, The Leopard) spends his days and nights chasing criminals, but doesn't see the crook right under his nose: Simon (American actor Richard Crenna, First Blood, who learned his lines in French and wound up being dubbed anyway), a smooth nightclub owner, works with a small crew to execute daring heists with big payoffs, while the beautiful Cathy (Catherine Deneuve, Belle de Jour) is torn between them. As cop and criminal do what they do best, paths converge and old scores must be settled. In his 13th and final film, Melville doubles down on the ice-blue color palette that was his signature in Le Samouraï and Le Cercle Rouge, both starring the equally cool Delon.
Event Location and Ticket Information
Jacob Burns Film Center
364 Manville Road
Pleasantville, 10570
Handicap Accessible? Yes
Date: Monday, March 5, 2018
Times: 1:00 pm - 2:45 pm
Ticket pricing:
Get tickets now
Presenter: Jacob Burns Film Center
Presenter Phone: 9147475555
Presenter Website: https://burnsfilmcenter.org/


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Clarence (1922)
Directed by William C. DeMilleSub-Genres - Domestic Comedy | Countries - USA |
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Synopsis by Janiss Garza
Wallace Reid plays against type in this comedy-drama, based on the play by Booth Tarkington. As a matter of fact, he does a fair imitation of Alfred Lunt, who played the title role on Broadway. He even parts his hair in the middle and wears horn-rimmed glasses, just as Lunt did. Clarence Smith (Reid) is an ex-soldier who is hired for odd jobs by Mr. Wheeler (Edward Martindel) primarily because he has overheard a family argument. And the Wheeler household is going through quite a bit of turmoil -- Mrs. Wheeler (Kathlyn Williams) feels neglected by her husband and is jealous of Violet Pinney, the governess (Agnes Ayres). Daughter Cora (May McAvoy) is planning to elope with her father's secretary, Hubert Stem (Adolphe Menjou). Son Bobby (Robert Agnew), meanwhile, has been making passes at the maid. Clarence manages to solve the Wheelers' various problems -- he kidnaps Cora back from Stem, repairs everyone's hurts and ends up with Violet. Reid, incidentally, was directed by both DeMille brothers -- Cecil B. and William C. -- at one point or another during his career. Sadly, the star would be dead from drug abuse within six months of this picture's release.
elopement, family-disapproval, flapper, love


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acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas
The small coffee stained sketch is still at my desk, and I wonder how a scribbled pen and ink drawing, which I can barely recognize, becomes a painting. But, at the time, the sketch was fresh and alive, and I knew exactly what I wanted to say. That is why, if I feel it necessary to add notes and info. bites onto the drawing, just in case I can't get to it right away.
Fortunately this one surpassed my expectations.


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A Prescription for Life, Given by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
A moment occurs in the Garden of Gethsemane that presents a very good stance for Holy Week, indeed for the whole of our life: Jesus was at prayer; He returned to find His disciples asleep and said,
Watch and pray so that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is indeed willing but the flesh is weak (Matt 26:41).
Let's examine the passage and explore what it has to say about us and to us.
I. Problem – Jesus comes to His disciples and finds them sleeping. A great showdown between light and darkness, good and evil, Satan and the Lord, is about to unfold—is unfolding! But the disciples, the first leaders of the Church, are sleeping at this crucial moment in human history. Disgracefully, things have not changed since that time.
Yes, this is too often still the case. And lest you think that I am singling out popes, bishops, priests, and deacons alone, let me be clear in saying that the phrase "leaders of the Church" includes parents and community elders as well.
We in the clergy too often remain sleepy and quiet while our people are undergoing severe trials and exposure to terrible sin and error. Well does the Scripture describe many of us clergy when it says, Israel's watchman are blind, the lack knowledge; they are mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep (Is 56:10).
But many parents, the leaders of the domestic Church, are also woefully out of touch with the struggles of their children. They have little idea what their children are actually listening to or watching; they seem to have higher priorities than monitoring their children and teaching them with clarity.
Yes, for all of us Church leaders, at the parish level and at the domestic level, we too easily doze off and dream away, seemingly unaware of the great cosmic battle that is going on all around us, claiming our people and our children.
Or perhaps we do have some sense of the awful battle, but don't know what to do about it. Overwhelmed and stressed out, we medicate ourselves. Perhaps like the disciples we drink some wine and doze off in the garden while the critical battle unfolds around us. Overwhelmed, we tune out. We veer off to diversions, watch fantasies on television, or lose ourselves in virtual Internet "relationships" while our real relationships languish. Reality is too painful, so we medicate ourselves and go off to sleep, a spiritual sleep, a moral sleep, even a physical sleep.
Only the pure mercy of God can save us. If the Church or the world depended on human leaders we'd be doomed. If the Church were solely dependent on human beings to keep her together, she would've lasted 20 minutes, at best! Yes, only the pure mercy of God can see us through. Without Jesus, awake and sober in the garden, we're surely lost.
Yes, a serious problem is described here: while the cosmic battle between good and evil rages around us, too many of us are asleep. And while God's mercy can help to close the gap, we must be willing to do what Jesus commands, what He now prescribes.
II. Prescription – Jesus says, Watch and pray! That is to say, "Wake up; come to your right mind; be sober!" To be sober is to have a clear mind, a mind that is aware of what is going on, and that can clearly identify the signs of the times. The sober mind is able to identify the tactics of the enemy, the drives of sin, and know their moves. The sober mind is also in touch with the remedies of grace and how to apply them prudently. We simply must watch and pray!
In particular, our prayer needs to be rooted in the Scriptures and the revealed truth of Jesus Christ. There's just too much "stinking thinking" in our world today to believe that our mind is going to be anything but polluted if we don't cleanse it every day with the Word of God.
Our minds are like sponges. Put a sponge in muddy water and the sponge is going to come out muddy. How then is the muddy sponge to be cleansed? It is plunged into clean water and rung out; then it is plunged back into the clean water and rung out again and again and again. Similarly, our minds—like sponges muddied by the polluted, confusing, and erroneous thinking of the world—must be cleansed daily by being plunged into the clear, clean water of God's Holy Word.
It is a sobering fact that if we are not praying daily and being deeply rooted in God's Word, it is very unlikely that we will make it.
The Lord's prescription is bluntly simple: wake up and keep watch by praying! We somehow seem to find time for everything else. It's time to wake up and keep our eyes focused on the Lord, to watch Him, to listen to Him, and to be deeply rooted in the relationship of prayer and obedience to His Word. Otherwise, a terrible peril is upon us.
III. Peril – We are told to watch and pray lest we undergo the test, lest we give way to temptation. The Greek word for temptation use here is πειρασμόν (peirasmon), which almost sounds like the English word "peril."
Now don't let temptation become something abstract. Temptation is the work of Satan to drag you to Hell. Are you clear on that? If you're not watching and praying, you're defenseless; you're an easy target; you're low hanging fruit; you're probably not going to make it. If you do not pray, Jesus warns that you will give way to temptation. That is, Satan will be able to drag you off to Hell and probably others along with you.
If you don't even care enough about yourself to pray, then at least do it for the sake of others, who are probably depending on you for teaching and example! No priest goes to Hell alone; he takes others with him. And no parents go to Hell alone; they take others with them.
It's time to wake up and recognize the peril. You will give way to temptation if you won't watch and pray. Satan can and will drive you to Hell. This peril is real. If you don't think so, take it up with Jesus; He said it, I didn't.
IV. Prevailing priority – Jesus goes on to say, The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.
Sadly, most of us interpret this passage as an excuse, as if Jesus were permitting us to say, "Well, deep in my heart I want to do what's right, but I'm really not able to do it because of my weak flesh. So it's really not my fault. I should get credit for having good intentions in my heart."
This is not only an incorrect interpretation of what Jesus says here; it is a sinful interpretation. Jesus is not saying that our flesh excuses us. He's saying that our spirit is willing, that our Spirit (by His grace) has the capacity to prevail over the weakness of the flesh!
We are going to have to battle against our flesh; that is true; that much is clear. But our spirit, the part of us that is open to God, has the capacity to prevail, if we will permit God's Holy Spirit to strengthen our human spirit.
In other words, our spirit is to be our number one priority, over and against our flesh. With this as our first priority, we will open our spirit to God's Holy Spirit and will be strengthened. We will prevail over temptation. We will be victorious over Satan's attempts to drag us to Hell.
There should be no excuses here. Jesus says that although the flesh is weak, and we'll battle against it until the day we die, our spirit can "will" us to overcome the drives of our flesh. Our spirit can and must have a priority that will empower us to prevail over the flesh and over any incursions of the evil one.
We must make a decision; our spirit must be willing to watch and pray. We cannot allow the emphasis to fall on the weakness of the flesh. The emphasis must always be on the prevailing power and priority of the human spirit, graced by God's Holy Spirit, to win the victory.
Not a bad prescription for life and for Holy Week, too!
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'Jesus says that although the flesh is weak, and we'll battle against it until the day we die, our spirit can "will" us to overcome the drives of our flesh.' Not by might nor by power but by the SPIRIT says The LORD. For GOD is the Strength of my heart. These battles are indeed unwinnable if we are to embark on our own capacity but if we rely on The HOLY SPIRIT the war can be won. Watch and pray we must for the evil is relentless in his pursuit to destroy the children of GOD, a roaring lion ready to pounce. Good we have The LION OF JUDAH on our side. LORD, in my last gasp of breath, may I blurt out, remember me in THY Kingdom, oh LORD, into THY Hand I commend my spirit. YHWH NISSI!
Thank you Father!
My wife and I both love your "prescription" (i.e. Our Lord's prescription).
I might add that the tendency to sleep, when we should be vigilant, was also pointed out by Heraclitus back in the sixth century BC although I think he was speaking chiefly of the life of the mind. http://lionandox.com/2012/03/12/one-world-in-common/


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The Adjustment That Made 5-Star Iman Marshall the Most Feared CB in 2015 ClassAugust 14, 2014
Iman Marshall sensed he was on the verge of stardom after his sophomore season. Early scholarship offers from USC, Notre Dame, Tennessee and Florida State cemented his spot as a coveted cornerback recruit in the 2015 class.
However, his 5-star status simply wasn't enough. There was still work to be done.
Despite an array of accolades, the Long Beach, California, product known as "Biggie" recognized he remained a work in progress. His father, Tony Marshall, made sure he didn't forget it.
"I'm lucky to have a dad who really pays attention to the way I play on a daily basis and identifies what I need to work on," Marshall said. "I kind of struggled with tackling during my sophomore year. He noticed it and talked to me about how it was holding me back from reaching my full potential."
Since that epiphany, his progress has proven again you can't put a price on fatherly advice.
"Our conversations helped change my mindset about how to play the game," he said.
Marshall blossomed into a balanced defensive back during his junior campaign, shutting down opponents through the air and on the ground. The combination proved disastrous for opposing offenses.
The 6'1", 190-pound Long Beach Poly High School standout earned 2013 Defensive Player of the Year honors from the Long Beach Press-Telegram. His improvement in perimeter and downfield run coverage resulted in a career-high 64 tackles, validating an altered outlook.
"I learned that you just can't be afraid of contact," Marshall said. "You have to get your nose in there and get after the ball. That's not what I always did before, but it's definitely the way I play now."
He also stymied aerial attacks with greater efficiency than ever as a junior. Marshall didn't allow a single pass completion in six Moore League matchups, each resulting in a victory.
His signature effort occurred during a pivotal 35-28 victory over perennial state title contender Corona Centennial. Marshall thrived in man coverage, shutting down 6'3" wide receiver Barry Ware, a 4-star prospect who signed with Washington State.
Part of his approach against taller receivers includes a relentless effort to fight for position and knock opponents off balance upon the snap. Unlike finesse cornerbacks, Marshall likes to mix it up early in the progression of a play.
"He's really impressive at the line," 4-star Texas wide receiver Ryan Newsome said at The Opening, an annual invite-only prospect showcase held each July at Nike's world headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon.
"He jams you up and you can tell he's been working on that part of his game because the technique is solid. You have to respect him because he's a humble guy and lets his play do the talking."
Newsome, a burner who holds offers from Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon and UCLA, shared his assessment with several highly skilled receivers in Beaverton. Top-ranked pass-catcher Calvin Ridley earned seven-on-seven tournament MVP honors, but even he had to tip his cap to the smothering Southern California defender.
"Marshall is the No. 1 cornerback in this class," the Alabama commit said. "I caught a big pass against him but he was always right on me, fighting for the ball. He doesn't fall for any moves either so he stays with you the whole time."
His aggressive style of play puts passers in a precarious situation. When downfield targets struggle to find space, it creates opportunities for the defensive front to generate a pass rush.
"Receivers really have to fight to get open against him because he always seems to be on the attack," 5-star Alabama quarterback pledge Blake Barnett said. "He's pretty fearless. That definitely doesn't make it easy on us quarterbacks."
USC commit Ricky Town credits Marshall's intelligence as a key factor in his effectiveness.
"You can tell how much he understands the mental part of this game," the 5-star passer said. "A lot of defensive backs have the size and speed but get lost in coverage. He can do it all."
Marshell views himself as a student of the game. Countless hours of film study and playbook adjustments allow him to adapt on a game-by-game basis, consistently creating problems for opponents.
"Preparation is so important because it helps you react as quickly as possible and that's what playing defensive back is all about," he said. "When you study something over and over again, nothing is a surprise anymore. You understand what's coming—the formations, the schemes, everything."
Marshall is versatile enough to shadow receivers of all statures, from shifty slot guys to towering targets. His anticipation helps him maintain stride-for-stride coverage and disrupt passing lanes at various vertical points.
"I'm always trying to make the most of each play by competing at a high level, regardless of who's lined up across from me," Marshall said. "I can play press or man defense. I can handle big and small receivers. I can help the defense out at cornerback, safety or at the nickel."
His whatever-it-takes attitude has won over plenty of prospects and coaches on the recruiting trail. Marshall, rated sixth overall nationally in 247Sports' recruiting rankings, carries dozens of scholarship offers.
College programs across the country continue to pursue him with all their resources as time ticks toward national signing day. Pac-12 contenders USC, Stanford and UCLA loom large but make no mistake, this is a nationwide chase.
LSU, Texas and Notre Dame provide potential landing spots beyond state borders, while an SEC squad recently entered the equation, according to Marshall.
"Texas A&M is a team I've become interested in," he said. "They're up-and-coming and I've had a chance to get to know some of their commits. The program stands out to me."
It's big news for the Aggies, as head coach Kevin Sumlin attempts to elevate a defensive unit that has lagged behind the team's explosive offensive attack in recent years. However, Marshall remains a long way off from any commitment and admits he may be waiting too long to focus on finding the right college fit.
"I'm trying to weigh it all out because I want to make a sure and sound decision," he said. "I want to feel like I dotted my I's and crossed my T's during the process. The last thing I want to do is rush into a decision then regret it later and change my mind. I've kind of kept recruiting on the back-burner but it's getting to the point where I understand I really need to start making some moves. No more delaying."
Due to his uncommitted status and supreme skills, Marshall was the recipient of several sales pitches at The Opening.
"I don't think there's a guy in this class who wouldn't want to team up with Biggie at the next level," 4-star USC cornerback commit Isaiah Langley said. "Everyone is trying to get him on board, including me."
If he does end up wearing a Trojans jersey—which is projected to happen by 100 percent of predictions in 247Sports' Crystal Ball—it would set the stage for showdowns with 5-star UCLA pledge Josh Rosen.
"He definitely challenges you," the nation's top-rated passer said. "It forces you to bring your best on each and every play. You can't afford to make a mistake."
Abundant admiration from fellow competitors is greatly appreciated by Marshall. In fact, it's paramount among goals he aims to achieve throughout his playing career.
"The most important thing is earning respect from your peers," Marshall said. "It's an honor to be considered a top defensive back by some of the best quarterbacks and receivers in the country. I feel blessed about that."
Marshall patterns his game after former cornerback Darqueze Dennard, a first-round selection in the 2014 NFL draft. He cites the former Michigan State playmaker's physicality and relentlessness as traits to emulate.
To this point, his imitation is Hollywood-worthy.
"He's No. 1 for a reason," 5-star Georgia receiver commit Terry Godwin said. "He's physical, fast and he's a competitor. I like that. He's the kind of player who makes this game special."
Alabama commit Minkah Fitzpatrick, one of Marshall's premier contemporaries at cornerback, lauded that physical nature.
"He's another one of those bigger corners who can impact the game with his size," Fitzpatrick said. "He roughs up receivers off the line. I also think his football IQ stands out."
Again, Marshall's smarts are routinely pinpointed as an asset.
"Biggie is the best cornerback I've faced by far," 5-star Arizona receiver Christian Kirk said. "When I go up against him, I have to pull out everything I can because I know he's going to be ready to react."
That isn't by coincidence, Kirk explained.
"Every time there's new information available and a chance to work on his craft, he's all over it," he said. "He's a sponge when it comes to learning and understanding new stuff because he wants to be ready for what the offense is doing at all times. You've got to respect that competitive attitude."
Marshall underwent an upgrade during his junior season and must take another step forward this fall. Pressure is in place following the departure of 5-star Long Beach Poly defensive back John Smith, who is now a freshman at USC.
"It was his team last year, it's my team now," Marshall said." I have to be a leader and set the example. We want to do big things this season, and it's my responsibility to make sure we get where we want to be. I've prepared for this moment."
All quotes obtained firsthand by B/R national recruiting analyst Tyler Donohue unless otherwise noted.
Recruit ratings courtesy of 247Sports.


text:
Boy, am I excited to share this layout with you today!
I knew exactly what I wanted to send to the talented Amanda Jones in her last design team package and wow - she knocked it out of the park! This gorgeous layout features three new items from the shop. First, the Chipboard Postage Stamp Frames are back! I am happy to say that both fabric-covered frames and these sewing pattern frames are now available (here):
You can order the fabric-covered frames in any fabric you see in the shop. For example, if you like the Orange and Aqua Fabric and Felt Flowers, you can order the frames to match:
Amanda also used the new Sewing Pattern Butterfly Sweet Spots, available here:
And last, but not least, Amanda used a Ribbon Bow:
The variety of bows on the shelf will vary as my supply of ribbon changes. You can find a sweet set perfect for a little girl's party and another with a more masculine feel here. Are you digging the yellow and black and white? I'll get more of that combo up soon :).
Today's giveaway is a set of the Sewing Pattern Chipboard Frames and a set of the Sewing Pattern Butterfly Sweet Spots. If you'd like to make them yours, just leave a comment. A random comment will be selected tomorrow and the winner announced shortly after.
Speaking of winners, yesterday's Pinterest winner is: SANDI! Congratulations! Please email me or convo me and I'll get you set up with your prize. Have a wonderful day, everyone! Tessa
Thursday, March 1, 2012
New in the Shop
4 comments:
Great layout Amanda! I love the colours and the lovely embellishments clustered together! Great bows too Tessa!ReplyDelete
What a beautiful LO from Amanda. And the new items are fab! Loving the colours, too! :)ReplyDelete
Awesome layout. Love the bows. And the frames. And everything you make.ReplyDelete
BEAUTIFUL Layout! I love ALL your new stuff!! TFS and have a GREAT Day,ReplyDelete
Me-Ma Kim
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The retinal vessel width relationship at vessel branch points in fundus images is an important biomarker of retinal and systemic disease. We propose a fully automatic method to measure the vessel widths at branch points in fundus images. The method is a graph-based method, in which a graph construction method based on electric field theory is applied which specifically deals with complex branching patterns. The vessel centerline image is used as the initial segmentation of the graph. Branching points are detected on the vessel centerline image using a set of detection kernels. Crossing points are distinguished from branch points and excluded. The electric field based graph method is applied to construct the graph. This method is inspired by the non-intersecting force lines in an electric field. At last, the method is further improved to give a consistent vessel width measurement for the whole vessel tree. The algorithm was validated on 100 artery branchings and 100 vein branchings selected from 50 fundus images by comparing with vessel width measurements from two human experts.
Citation: Xu X, Reinhardt JM, Hu Q, Bakall B, Tlucek PS, Bertelsen G, et al. (2012) Retinal Vessel Width Measurement at Branchings Using an Improved Electric Field Theory-Based Graph Approach. PLoS ONE 7(11): e49668. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0049668
Editor: Edward Chaum, University of Tennessee, United States of America
Received: May 14, 2012; Accepted: October 12, 2012; Published: November 27, 2012
Copyright: © 2012 Xu 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: This research was supported by the National Eye Institute (R01 EY017066), Research to Prevent Blindness, NY, and the Department for Veterans Affairs. 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.
The retinal vessel width relationship at vessel branch points in fundus images is an important risk factor of retinal and systemic disease, including ischemic heart disease, hypertension and brain abnormalities, [1], [2]. The relationship between retinal arterial diameters at branch points conform to predicted optimal values in normal subjects, but deviate significantly in patients with peripheral vascular disease [3]. Studies also showed that this relationship deviates from the theoretic optimum with advancing age [4]. Increased branching coefficients of retinal vessels have been reported to be associated with periventricular white matter hyperintensities and ischaemic heart disease, and decreased branching coefficient with deep white matter hyperintensities [1]. In some conditions, such as hypertension, the smaller arteries are affected more than the larger ones [2]. Compared with using vessel width directly as a parameter, the vessel width relationship at the branch point is dimensionless, which allows measurements without correcting for the differences in magnification by the optics of the eye across individuals, caused by different refractive errors. [5], [6].
Previous Work
Though image analysis of retinal vessel has been widely studied and over two hundreds papers have been published in the field of retinal vasculature detection and vessel width measurements [7], only a few studies focus on vessel width measurement at branch point and proposed specific methods to solve these type of problems [1], [3], [8]–[11]. In general, studies that treat branch points separately focused on two phases: a) detection of branch point, and b) vessel width measurement at branch point.
Most of the retinal branch point detection methods target using the bifurcations as a landmark for further image analysis [8]–[10], [12]–[14], such as retinal image registration. Shen et al. in 2001, proposed a real-time landmark extraction method from fundus images. This model-based method detects branch points as a fragment of the vasculature that consist of two relatively straight anti-parallel edges with either an intensity peak or an intensity valley in between. Tsai et al. further refined this method in 2004, in which the detected branch point is used as the initial estimated branch point. Then an exclusion region is provided around the estimated branch point and the location is further refined within the exclusion region. In 2008, Bhuiyan et al. proposed a method to detect vascular bifurcations and crossovers based on the vessel geometrical features. A binary vessel image is first segmented from the color fundus image and morphological thinning operation is applied to find the vessel centerline. Subsequently, rotational invariant 33 masks are used to detect potential bifurcations and crossover points. Finally, the geometrical and topological properties are used to refine the result. A detection accuracy of 95.82% was reported.
Compared with vessel branch point detection, fewer studies have addressed the problem of width measurement at branch points. In most retinal branching studies, the vessel width is measured by manual methods ([2], [4], [15], [16]) or semi-automatic methods ([1], [3], [11]). In a study on the relationship of peripheral vascular disease and arterial bifurcation diameter, Chapman et al. proposed a semi-automatic method to measure the vessel width for arteries [3]. This method needs human expert operators to draw lines perpendicular to arteries and then an automatic method is used to determine the points of maximum intensity variation based on the cross-sectional profiles [17]. This method is not specific for retinal vascular branchings. Doubal et al. proposed a semi-automatic method that can track down each branch if the branch center is identified by a trained grader. Then the cross-sectional profiles can be obtained and a Gaussian curve is fit to determine the width [1]. Each profile needs manual inspection after the fitting. Patton et al. used a similar semi-automatic method to calculate the branching vessel width [11]. The human operator manually identifies the arterial and venous branch points and draw a line perpendicular to the vessel. Four other intensity profiles can be automatically generated from the given profile. Each profile can be rejected or accepted by the operator. Then a Gaussian fitting is used to identify the vessel width.
To our knowledge, no fully automatic method has been developed to specifically deal with the vessel width measurement problem at branch points in fundus image.
We have previously published a graph-based method to measure the vessel width for straight vessel segments [18]. The vessel centerline image is used to obtain the base nodes for the graph. Then, a two-slice three-dimensional graph is luxated for each vessel segment. The graph columns are built perpendicular to the vessel growing directions. The perpendicular direction is calculated using principal component analysis (PCA). A smoothness constraint between the two slices is applied. Thus, the simultaneous two-dimensional boundary segmentation problem is transformed into a three-dimensional surface segmentation problem. It is further converted to a minimum closed set problem in a node-weighted graph. By solving this minimum closed set problem, the two boundaries of blood vessels can be determined and the vessel width can be measured. Because graph columns are constructed along the second principal component of PCA, this method will be referred to as the PCA-method in the remainder of this paper.
The PCA-method for straight vessel width measurement cannot be extended to the measurement of branch point directly. First, the graph columns will intersect each other as the graph columns approach the branching center, resulting in multiple vessel width measurements at the same point. Second, the graph columns might run into adjoining vessel branches, resulting in meaningless measurements of vessel width inside the vessel segment. In order to address these problems, a different graph construction method is needed. We propose an electric field theory motivated graph construction method to solve this problem. Similarly, because the graph columns are constructed along the electric lines of force, this method is referred to as the ELF-method.
Pre-processing and Bifurcation Detection
The goal of pre-processing is to obtain a vessel centerline image as the initial segmentation. We start with the vessel segmentation map as proposed by Niemeijer et al. in [19]. As in the original study of the vessel segmentation, we used the images and reference standard of the DRIVE database (http://www.isi.uu.nl/ Research/Databases/DRIVE/). One example image is shown in Figure 1 (b). The vessel segmentation map is a gray scale image with each pixel assigned the likelihood of being in a blood vessel, the higher the intensity, the higher the likelihood. By thresholding the vessel segmentation map, a binary vessel segmentation image is generated. A constant low threshold of 70 is chosen to better maintain the continuity of blood vessels. The trade-off is that small regions of noise may not be suppressed adequately. Thus, vessel regions with an area smaller than 20 pixels are erased from the binary vessel image. A sequential thinning approach is then applied to the binary vessel segmentation image to find the vessel centerline [20].
(a) An enlarged part of a color fundus image. Branch inside the rectangle indicates the branch in Figure 1. (b) The corresponding vesselness map. (c) The corresponding vessel centerline image with spur presented. A crossing point is split into two branch points. (d) The corresponding vessel centerline image after spur pruning and crossing point exclusion.
Branch points are detected on the vessel centerline image using a series of 33 kernels [20]. The kernels are given in Equation 1.(1)
These kernels can effectively detect all branch points which are shown on the vessel centerline image. The ability for the proposed algorithm to automatically localize the correct vessel centerline was validated in Reference [18]. However, not all detected branch points are true vessel branchings, as shown in Figure 1 (c). False branches can result from abrupt vessel width changes, vessel direction changes, or from noise. Moreover, the vessel crossings are often detected as two adjacent branchings on the vessel centerline image. Hence, a spur pruning and crossing point exclusion step is applied.
Starting from a detected branch point, all three branches are traced. If another branch point is reached within certain distance, the two branch points are regarded as a single crossing point and excluded from further study. On the other hand, if an end point is reached within certain distance, the traced branch is regarded as a spur and removed from the centerline image.
Graph-Based Vessel Boundary Segmentation
We apply an electric field theory motivated graph construction method to build the graph at branch points. This graph construction method was first proposed by Yin et al. in 2009 [21]. The method is inspired by the non-intersecting property of electric lines of force. Recall Coulomb's law:(2)where is the electric field at point , is the charge of point , is the distance from the point to the evaluation point , is the unit vector pointing from the point to the evaluation point , and is the vacuum permittivity. The total electric field E at point is the sum of :(3)the electric field has the same direction as the electric line of force (ELF).
When multiple source points exist in an electric field, the electric line of force holds a non-intersecting property. If we change to , the non-intersection property still holds. The difference is that the vertices with larger distances will be penalized in ELF computing. A value of is used to decrease the effect from pixels with a larger distance and hence increase the robustness of local ELF computation.
By applying this theory to the problem of graph construction at branch points, we assume each vessel centerline pixel is a positive unit charge. The electric line of force is calculated and the graph is constructed along the electric line of force, as illustrated in Figure 2 (b).
(a) A figure to illustrate possible problems in applying traditional graph construction method to branch point situation. The problems include possible graph column intersection and graph columns running into another vessel branch. (b) Introduction to electric field theory based graph construction method. Its most attractive is the non-intersecting property of electric field lines.
If we consider branch points to be isolated from vessel trees, the graph given above is good enough to give a reliable measurement. However, if a consistent vessel width measurement is desired for the whole vessel tree, problems will arise at the transition from the graph built using ELF-method for branch points to the graph built using PCA-method for the adjoining straight vessels, as shown in Figure 3 (a). The electric line of force points outside at the end of each branch. When the two different types of graphs are connected, the graph columns from different methods will intersect.
For illustration purposes, not all graph columns are shown in the figure. (a) Problems encountered when combining the traditional graph and electric field theory based graph. The graph columns intersect each other because the graph columns from the electric field theory based method point outside rather than the normal direction when approaching the end of branches, as shown in dashed red lines. (b) Improved combined graph. Two strategies are introduced to improve the construction of the combined graph. (c) Three graphs are built for the three boundaries separately, as shown in color green, blue, and purple. After the three boundaries are determined, the vessel width is measured as the Euclidean distance between the corresponding nodes from the same centerline pixel.
We propose two strategies to improve the electric field theory based graph construction method, as illustrated in Figure 3 (b). First, in order to pull the electric lines of force towards the normal direction at the end of each branch, extra positive charges and negative charges are added in the electric field. Positive charges with extremely large values are positioned at the infinite extension of each branch. This is used to generate a parallel force along the vessel growing direction that can push the graph columns toward the perpendicular direction. A distance of 10,000 pixels is used to simulate the infinite distance and the charge value was chosen to be 100,000 unit charges. Values of the distance and charge are not sensitive and do not have a large effect as long as they are big enough to be considered as "infinity" in this case. In order to further pull the graph columns towards the normal direction, three negative charges are positioned in the middle points of three branches. Values of the negative charges are also not sensitive as long as they are comparable to the value of adjacent positive charges. We chose the value to be five in this case.
Second, a combined graph construction method is introduced at the transition location. Six centerline pixels at the transition location are used to build the combined graph. First of all, the location of graph nodes are calculated using both the PCA-method and the ELF-method, given by and , where is the distance from the graph column to the branching center. Then the node locations in the combined graph are calculated using a weighted linear interpolation of and :(4)where .
Cost Function
The cost function is generated from convolution of the image's green channel with an oriented first order derivative of Gaussian. The green channel has been reported to show the highest contrast between the blood vessels and background [22]. A steerable first order derivative of Gaussian filter is used to implement the kernel [23]. The steerable filter has high responses to the gradient along different angles at different locations. The separable first order derivative of Gaussian along the x-axis and along the y-axis are given by and . The first order derivative of Gaussian along any angle is defined in Equation 5.(5)The original image is first convolved with and to get the first order derivative image along the x-axis and y-axis. Then within each normal profile, the weights of the profile nodes are calculated according to equation 5. In our implementation, angle is the graph column direction, i.e., the direction of the electric lines of force at each graph node location.
Graph Search and Boundary Determination
For each branch point, the three boundaries are constructed as three independent single slice graphs. Intra-column smoothness constraints are set to maintain the smoothness within the slice. After the graphs are built, the optimal segmentation is found and the vessel boundary is determined as described by Li et al. [24].
Once the three boundaries are determined, the vessel width is measured as the Euclidean distance between the graph nodes on the segmentation from the same centerline pixel, as illustrated in Figure 3 (c).
Experimental Methods
A set of 100 artery branchings and 100 vein branchings were selected from 50 fundus images from 50 normal subjects and used to assess vessel width measurement performance (available on INSPIRE website: http://webeye.ophth.uiowa.edu/component/k2/item/270). These 50 normal subjects were selected randomly from the Tromsø study cohort. The Tromsø study was initiated in in an attempt to help combat the high mortality of cardiovascular diseases in Norway. The Tromsø study consists of six surveys that have been conducted in the municipality of Tromsø from 1974 to 2008. This population study includes 40051 subjects in total who have attended at least on of the six surveys. There are currently some 100 different ongoing research projects based on the data from the consecutive six surveys. A good overview of the Tromsø study is in Jacobsen et al [25]. All subjects provided written informed consent for participation in this study, and all images were de-identified before sharing with the University of Iowa. The research team at the University of Iowa did not have access to any patient identifiable information, and the study was therefore declared exempt by the institution review board of the University of Iowa. All research was in accordance with the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. The image resolution is pixels, and images were stored in DICOM format. A pixel is approximately 3.7 on each side. For each fundus image, two artery branches and two vein branches were initially selected (based on their contrast) to evaluate the algorithm. In order to make sure the measurements given by experts and algorithm are comparable, i.e., at approximately the same location, for each branch, a start point and an end point were given to indicate where the measurements should be performed. For each branch, the start point was at approximately one vessel diameter (15 pixels) away from the branch center. The end point was at approximately two vessel diameters away from the branch center. The three start points and three end points are shown in Figure 4 as blue dots on the branch.
Blue dots denote the region where the measurement should be given. Black text were superimposed by the author for the sake of illustration. Vessel width for branch 1 is calculated as the average of the three width profiles. The branch center for branch 1 is calculated as the average of the three width profile center.
The two experts are denoted as and respectively. The manual measurements were performed on a tablet-based color fundus image evaluation system ([26]) and the interface is given in Figure 4. The blue dots denote the region within which the measurement should be given. The black texts were superimposed by the author for the sake of illustration. Each expert was told to annotate at least three measurement profiles to each of the three branches for each selected branch point. Each measurement profile contains seven outputs: image name, image index, branch index, and profile start and end locations , , , and . The branch center is defined as and the width of the branch is defined as , where is the number of measurement at the given branch and denotes the two experts.
Typical vessel width measurements are shown in Figure 5. Red lines denote the vessel width measurement for branch points. Black lines denote the vessel width measurement for straight vessels.
(a) shows the vessel width measurement of Figure 1.
We compared the performance of our algorithm with the performance of the two human experts. As mentioned, the branch center is defined as , where are the two experts. Similarly, we determine the branch center calculated in our algorithm as , where is the number of measurement profiles given by the algorithm. When the performance is compared, , , are matched. A match is considered successful if the Euclidean distance between the two centers is less than 15 pixels (approximately one vessel diameter). The match could fail when is too far from either or , or and are too far from each other. The performance for a branching is considered as valid if the matches of all three branches are successful. Branchings were detected automatically. Among the 200 branchings, 3 out of 200 expert selected branchings were not detected by our automatic approach and were not included in further analysis. Hence, 197 out of 200 (98.5%) of the branches were used for further vessel width comparison. The vessel width is compared for valid branchings. The average of and is considered as the ground truth for comparison and is denoted as AVE in Table 1, which shows the signed errors and unsigned errors. The result of the comparison is given in Table 2. , and are the three branches.
The scatter plots are given in Figure 6. Arteries and veins were plotted separately. The Intraclass Correlation Coefficient is given to quantify how consistent it is between different measurements. The measurements for venous branches showed a better consistency both between experts, and between experts and the automatic algorithm.
(a) The scatter plot of vessel width measured by automatic algorithm and the average of vessel width given by expert 1 and expert 2 for artery branchings. (b) The scatter plot of vessel width measurement performed by expert 1 and expert 2 for artery branchings. (c) The scatter plot of vessel width measured by automatic algorithm and the average of vessel width given by expert 1 and expert 2 for vein branchings. (d) The scatter plot of vessel width measurement performed by expert 1 and expert 2 for vein branchings.
The Bland-Altman plots are given in Figure 7.
(a) Bland-Altman plot of proposed method and expert 1. (b) Bland-Altman plot of proposed method and expert 2. (c) Bland-Altman plot of proposed method and the average of expert 1 and expert 2. (d) Bland-Altman plot of expert 1 and expert 2.
We developed and validated a fully automatic vessel width measurement method for branch points on retinal images. Performance of the method was comparable to the performance of human experts. Both the human experts and the automatic method showed a lower performance for artery compared to vein branch points. We observed that the veins usually have a more clearly defined vessel boundary than arteries, because of the increased absorption of light by de-oxygenated (venous) hemoglobin versus oxygenated (arterial) hemoglobin. For instance, Figure 8 shows a typical artery branch and a typical vein branch. This might have resulted in the ambiguities in arterial vessel width measurement for both human experts and the proposed automatic method.
Arteries usually have a lower contrast to the background comparing with veins. (a) A typical arterial branch point. (b) A typical venous branching.
The proposed method is computationally efficient. For a retinal image of pixels in size, the vessel segmentation map generation and image centerline generation takes less than 10 seconds. The average number of straight vessel segments on the image is 90 and the number of branching is about 30. It takes around 17 seconds to solve the graph for straight vessels and about 9 seconds to solve the graph for branch points.
The method suffers from the limitation that it relies largely on the quality of the vessel segmentation and centerline image. If the vessel centerline image exhibits a false positive branch point, the algorithm will still try to delineate the vessel boundaries, resulting in invalid measurements. However, our algorithm is not dependent on any specific vessel segmentation approach, and therefore, as improved vessel segmentations become available, our algorithm can be expected to improve as well.
An important application of the vessel width relationship at branch points is in artery-to-vein ratio (AVR). In the area of retinal image analysis, AVR is an important parameter, associated with stroke and other cardiovascular events in adults, and associated with an increased risk of retinopathy of prematurity in premature infants [7]. AVR is defined as the ratio between Central Retinal Artery Equivalent (CRAE) and Central Retinal Vein Equivalent (CRVE) [15], [16]. The vessel width relationship at arterial branch points and venous branch points is the most important information in AVR calculation. However, until now, only manual or semi-automatic methods are available to measure this relationship [1]–[4],[11],[16]. Due to the laboriousness of manual and semi-automatic work, only a limited number of measurements have been available to estimate the relationship, which reduced the reliability of the measurement. Future work of this study includes the application of the proposed method in AVR calculation.
We proposed a retinal vessel width measurement method at branch points based on an improved electric field theory motivated graph approach. This first fully automatic retinal branching vessel width measurement method has a performance comparable to human experts.
Author Contributions
Conceived and designed the experiments: MA XX. Performed the experiments: XX. Analyzed the data: XX. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: BB PT GB. Wrote the paper: XX MA JR. Shared helpful suggestions during the implementation of method: QH.
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- 13. Calvo D, Ortega M, Penedo MG, Rouco J (2011) Automatic detection and characterisation of retinal vessel tree bifurcations and crossovers in eye fundus images. Computer methods and programs in biomedicine 103: 28–38.
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Niemeijer M, Staal J, van Ginneken B, Loog M, Abramoff MD (2004) Comparative study of Retinal Vessel Segmentation Methods on a New Publicly Available Database. In: SPIE Medical Imaging. Spie, volume 5370, pp. 648–656.
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ReBAR (1225 S. Main St.), a new Downtown spot that is part thrift shop and part tavern, is selling sausages that feed more than just the people who order them. Owner/operator Derek Stonebarger donates a portion of his sausage sales to Three Square Food Bank. Essentially, one sausage ordered at ReBar equates to feeding one hungry Southern Nevadan. So how many people has Stonebarger actually fed (outside of his bar)? More than 3,000 individuals in the past three months! A cancer survivor, Stonebarger says that he looks to give back to the community any chance he can. He is also a big fan of locally made spiral cut sausages from John Mull's Meats. They are made fresh, fully cooked and smoked with no added nitrates at John Mull's butcher shop, then the hot links and brat links are served on Great Buns Bakery's pretzel rolls. A completely original concept, ReBAR is a full bar with a patio and a shop filled with antiques and collectables. Everything is for sale, including the glass you're drinking out of and the stool you're sitting on.
Finally, a trade-show designed to help small, innovative F&B producers to be discovered is taking place on March 30-31 with the two-day Vegas Food Expo (vegasfoodexpo.com). Founder Brett Ottolenghi, who has been giving pre-shifts at various restaurants around town each night to build excitement, says that original food products are likely to come from smaller companies. Attendees can look forward to 140 (and counting) hand-selected exhibitors who are poised to be discovered based on product quality, package design, professionalism and originality. Explore amazing charcuterie by Olympia Provisions, sea salt from XRoads Philippine Sea Salts, water-grown wasabi from the Oregon coast's Frog Eyes Wasabi farm, from-scratch Worcestershire sauce aged in Kentucky bourbon barrels, country hams from the South and so much more. The first day is open to industry only, but the second day will open up to everyone to experience the world of food and a side of the business that is not usually available to the public. In addition, the Vegas Food Expo is teaming up with Three Square Food Bank to donate any excess food from the expo to help feed our hungry neighbors in Southern Nevada. The expo has been two years in the making. Ottolenghi says there is no place like Las Vegas, emphasizing that the city is a leading food and convention destination, making an event like this for our city's culinary talent long overdue.
With Valentine's Day coming up, there are many places at which to dine and leave with full stomachs and happy hearts … or you can skip the gushy stuff and go kick rocks! The Anti-Valentine's Day Bash at House of Blues Restaurant & Bar (in Mandalay Bay, mandalaybay.com) begins at 11:30 a.m. on Valentine's Day with food and drink specials, and entertainment at 8 p.m. Bring a picture of your ex to put on the #SelfieShameBoard and get a shot while supplies last! Playful menu highlights include the Dear John, a thick-cut grilled cheese with bacon jam and cream of roasted tomato soup; Missing You, mac and cheese with fontina, asiago, Gruyere, roasted tomatoes, spinach and Tasso ham topped with crispy onions and blue cheese; and the Plotting Your Revenge, a "pint" of vanilla ice cream with chocolate chip cookie dough chunks, hot fudge and "the works," among other specials.


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Wonderful Tips for You When Planning To Travel
Often times, people are stuck in planning for a travel occasion, and in major cases, they end up panning wrongly. Others spend more than they should have spent on the travel just because they did not have the right information for the same like in Andrew M. Berke Insider Trading. Costs are usually easy to expect whenever traveling is mentioned but the value of the traveling is what counts. It is important to engage some experts in travel guidelines that have been experienced in the most things, and that is key like in Andrew M. Berke Insider Trading. In most cases, traveling involves vacations and that is what you should never miss on.
Timing is where everything begins so that you can achieve many things in the end. It is important for you because you will get to know the seasons when you are traveling, and that is what encourages you mots. It is a good thing to know how long the journey is going to take you so that you can set things in order at home.
The next thing that you should be careful to look into is researching on the available travel rates from different individuals like the Andy Berke Insider Trading. This will allow you time to compare the rates and once that is done you can know what to settle for depending on your pocket terms. It is important to be watchful of the costs we pay for various services because they determine how well we are going to enjoy the travel. Know if there are chances for some discounts and that will relieve you of some cash that you can use for some other things. Once you confirm what you want to settle for you can now book early for the tickets.
Get in touch to know where you are going to rest once you arrive at your destination. It may not be easy for you and that is why you will need to ensure you gate the locations early enough. Remember you have the dates of when and how long you intend to be in that destination, so it is important to plan for the same carefully like the Andy Berke Insider Trading. The duration of the vacation will enable you to settle on the matters and what to be doing before then so that you can meet all your objectives on time.
Ensure you agree and comfortable with the choices that you intend to make. Ensure that whomever you are moving with is okay with the decision and not favor a few.


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On January 2, five children entered a pool of water to catch fish on a river bank reconstruction site located in Xinxin County, Yunfu City, of Guangdong Province, and three of the children drowned because no required warning signs were installed to notify people about the dangerous area.
Many people on the scene watched indifferently while these children were drowning. The parents who sorrowed over their beloved children' death said that the construction party should be responsible for the accident, and that it is quite inconceivable that a crowd of onlookers just stood by and did not rescue these poor children.
A reporter for Nanfang City News interviewed Mr. He, the father of one of the dead children and a worker at the local reconstruction site. Mr. He told the reporter that his son, He Zhiliang and another child, Zhao Shiji, were both 10 years old and fourth grade students at Changqiao Elementary School, which is near the embankment site. Wang Qiang, a relative, came to stay with them during the New Year's holidays.
Around 1 p.m. in the afternoon, the three children were playing together outside, with Mr. He's youngest son and a six-year-old girl from the village. Nobody could predict that tragedy would strike only 30 minutes later. Mr. He's youngest son said that his older brother and the other two children wanted to catch fish. They took off their clothes, so their parents would not notice wet clothes and scold them. The three children then walked less than two meters away where they got into deep water. They struggled for a while and soon disappeared under the water. "If the construction crew or the local onlookers had helped these poor kids, they would not have drowned," Mr. He's wife cried.
A veteran security guard who was on duty at the site that day said that he heard the kids crying for help at around 2 o'clock that afternoon. He noticed many people running towards the river bank, but they just stood by with folded arms. Nobody jumped into the water to save those children.
No warning signs were found at the site of the drowning. The construction crew never took any steps to enclose the reconstruction site, despite that there was heavy traffic in the immediate vicinity of the site close to schools and villages, thereby causing a threat for public safety.
The person in charge at the Administration of Work Safety of Yunfu Municipality pointed out that the drowning was an accident, because the work site prohibited any persons without permission from entering the site. He said that these three children ran in by themselves, so their death was partly caused by a lack of discipline. The families of the dead became very angry about this explanation. They argued, "If you did not dig the pool, the tragedy would not have happened. You did not enclose the pit or hang any warning signs. So, it was completely a security incident caused by human error."


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I looked over the window and saw kuya Rod washing some weeds a.k.a. herbal medicine. It is really a herbal medicine according to his response. It was meant for medicinal bath.
What is medicinal bath or medicinal bath solution? From the Filipino tradition, different type of herbs are gathered and boiled in generous amount of water. Cooled to touch, about 45 °C, and use for bathing by person previously suffered from sickness, usually fever. Also, by woman who gave birth recently.
The plant is tagulinau or tagulinaw. A herbal medicine, a weed, which can be found growing anywhere. Growth period is unknown. Today's calendar month is October – maybe this herb is abundant from September to December, the rainy cold months.
The plant is edible according to Burkil and Stuart Exchange. I pulled up two plants and brought it to office. My boss tried it and said it tasted flat and tasted like ashitaba. I was totally clueless. I have never tasted ashitaba yet nor see it in real.
I rolled one leaf and ground it in between my teeth. All I can say – it tasted flat and smelled like any other ordinary grass.
The plant can be used as/for: 1) ulcer treatment, 2) expectorant, cough cure, 3) fever cure, 4) digestive problems, 5) eye drop for night blindness, 6) sore throat, and 7) poultice wound and swelling (bpi.da.gov.ph).
Information about the herb are limited. Please add! Your inputs will be highly appreciated!


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Let's Be Safe Together
The University of Texas Police Department and the university do a great deal to provide a safe environment. Participation from the community makes these efforts more sustainable and effective.
The Be Safe campaign is an effort to encourage folks to look out for one another so that our entire community becomes safer with each collective interaction.
UT Austin students, faculty members and staff members are invited to participate in the Be Safe campaign.
We want YOU to express yourself by creating an artistic representation of what the Be Safe campaign means to you. This can include posters, GIFs, videos, paintings, sculptures, poetry — any creative venue to help spread the valuable Be Safe message!
Your creativity could be showcased in a number of ways — including being shown on the Jumbotron at a UT game to 100,000 fans!
How to participate:
Submit original design/concept through the Be Safe submissions page.
Submissions of digital or print publication graphics should be uploaded as either a JPEG or PDF.
- Written pieces may be uploaded as a Word document or PDF.
- Ideas/concepts for nontraditional marketing media (e.g. dance, 3-D art, large-scale drawings/paintings/banners, etc.) may be submitted as written proposals, sketches, mock-up images, or other means that concisely convey your idea.
- Audio files should be uploaded as MP3 files.
- Videos should be submitted as MP4, MOV files.
Submissions posted directly to social media or publicly viewable/accessible digital forums will be removed immediately and not be considered or sanctioned as official communication from UT Austin.
A committee composed of a cross section of the campus community will determine whether to accept the artwork or ideas that are submitted, based on the design requirements listed below. Members of the committee and/or the campaign creative director will meet with participants to agree upon the timing and quality execution of the work. Upon final approval of the work, the committee will place Be Safe logos in the design. Each submission will be posted to the Be Safe website and will be shared on social media, with full credit to the participant.
Who can participate:
- Any UT Austin student in good academic standing.
- Any UT Austin staff/faculty member.
Design requirements:
Each piece of artwork should communicate only one of the three points of the Be Safe campaign below:
- Walk With Me is an invitation to walk together on campus.
- Be Aware is a reminder to put your phone down and keep your eyes and ears on your surroundings.
- Call 911 is a reminder that dialing 911 is the fastest way to get help from police ANY TIME you feel unsafe, or to get help during medical or fire emergencies.
All artwork should incorporate only the three colors used in the campaign that are listed below. Designs that include other colors will not be considered, with the exception of black and white photography.
Please keep in mind that the Be Safe and UT Austin logos will be incorporated into the final, approved execution by the committee.
Be as creative as you want to be. Executions could include, but are not limited to:
- Social media posts and/or imagery
- Kiosk posters
- Art posters
- Short film/video
- GIF/animations
- Written Pieces
- Short stories
- Poems
- Editorials
- Song Lyrics
- Performance piece
- Music
- Dance
- Fine art
- Painting
- Drawing
- Sculpture
- Pottery
- Mural
- Photography
Submissions will become property of UT Austin, which will retain all reproduction rights to submitted artwork, with credit given to the artist. UT Austin agrees not to sell any of the artwork or photography.
About the Be Safe campaign
The Brand
The tone of communication in your submission should be authoritative but familiar.
Imagine the Be Safe communication coming from a caring friend whom you trust with your life. Someone you laugh with but when things get tough, that person is shoulder to shoulder with you to grind it out.
Color Palette
This color palette was chosen for its simplicity and distinctiveness. The Be Safe brand should be instantly recognizable against a clutter of other colors. Black, white and blue are familiar as police colors and thus hold authority. This particular shade of blue is meant to be friendly and energizing — empowering, but not bureaucratic.
Be Safe Black
Be Safe Blue
Contact Us : If you have questions about submission guidelines.


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Today I wanted to take a moment to share some of my favorite books that other people have written, books that, for whatever reason, I enjoyed and made me broaden my ideas as a writer. I always worry I'm going to leave someone out as I make a list like this, and I'm sure I'm doing that, but – that's what the comments section is for. Feel free to chime in with your own favorites.
I got started reading BDSM romances largely because of Emma Holly. No one book stands out for me, but I'm going to go with Velvet Glove. It's been a long time, and my memories are hazy, but this one is on my to-read-again shelf.
Raw Silk, by Lisabet Sarai, was another Black Lace book that really moved me. The author uses the exotic location of Thailand very well. I wouldn't call it a romance, exactly, but it's extremely steamy.
Natural Law, by Joey Hill, surprised me when I read it. I didn't really want to read a Femdom romance, but it sucked me in and she proved to me that male submissives can be hot. I explored this space a little in In The Middle (amazon), and I don't think I would have if I hadn't read this book by the excellent Joey Hill.
Another one I really liked was Master of the Mountain, by Cherise Sinclair. I'd read her Shadowlands books (love 'em!) and wasn't sure I was going to be as enthused about a new series. But I ended up liking this book, and the series, even more. Her understanding of what BDSM is all about in real life really shines through in her books to create believable characters.
Caught, by Cassandra Carr, was another book that surprised me. It's a quick read, and the pages start burning right from the beginning. I don't know that I would want to submit to her hero, but he took my breath away – and that mixture of feelings was delicious.
I loved Eliza Gayle's Midnight Playground. Two delicious heroes, and two is indeed better than one. This is probably my favorite BDSM Menage. This book also confronts issues of body image a bit more head-on than most, and Eliza does a really good job with that.
So... those are some of my favorites. If you'd like to comment on mine, or share some of yours, I'd love that. Always nice to add more books to my TBR list!


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It's already another chapter of Mahouka Kyuukousen-hen for you!
Continue reading Release #179 – MAHOUKA KOUKOU NO RETTOUSEI: KYUUKOUSEN-HEN CHAPTER 12
It's already another chapter of Mahouka Kyuukousen-hen for you!
Continue reading Release #179 – MAHOUKA KOUKOU NO RETTOUSEI: KYUUKOUSEN-HEN CHAPTER 12
Hey all!
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOK!! It's finally a release of a (new) Mahou Sensou chapter! Unfortunatly…
It's a chapter of Mahouka Kyuukousen-hen~!
Continue reading Release #177 – MAHOUKA KOUKOU NO RETTOUSEI: KYUUKOUSEN-HEN CHAPTER 11
It's a new series!!!! (where they aren't called 'chapters' but 'versions')
A new chapter of Umaru for you <3
Continue reading RELEASE #175 – Himouto! Umaru-chan Chapter 119
Next chapter of Asterisk is here! As of this chapter, Oni-scans has dropped the series, so the project will be solely by us. Please join me and thank Oni-scans for their hard work and contribution to the project; these releases would not have been possible without them. We here at MSD wish them the best of luck on their projects. Who else is excited about the anime?! More after the jump.
Continue reading Release #174 – Gakusen Toshi Asterisk Chapter 15
Here is the next chapter of this…series.
That is really all I have to say, enjoy!
And here is my little tid bit for recruitment: we are recruiting and we need more staff! We are in need of translators to help out on new projects we want to successfully pick up. Typesetters, cleaners/redrawers, and quality checkers to help out with more releases!
Next chapter of Liar's Paradox is out!
Good evening all, please welcome the arrival of Usotsuki Paradox. This was transferred to MSD after FTH disbanded a while ago upon request. Essentially, the same team from FTH works on the project, but just released under a different banner. Please enjoy and look to more timely releases. Will be on the reader shortly, give 24 hours.
Got chapter 3 of Hakoniwa for you here!


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1. Offset Front Length: Hold the end of the tape measure at the side of the
neck where it meets the top of the shoulder. The tape measure goes straight
down the front over the breast and along any body contour. With the other
hand, place your index finger and thumb at the point of your measurement.
Take a photo showing just the torso and the entire tape measure. We do not
need to see the face or legs, just the torso and tape measure.
2. Arm Only Length: Best to use tape to secure the beginning of the tape
measure or have someone else hold the tape measure. From the point of the
arm where it meets the shoulder, use the other hand and place your index
finger and thumb at the length where you measured the arm only length. We
only need to see the arm and tape measure, not the head or legs.
3. Send the photos via a reply to the email address of this emailed receipt.
We will acknowledge receipt and advise of any further information the
tailors may need. Your photos will not be used for any other purpose than
making your coat. Thank you for your patience and assistance.
After ordering you can send this information and the photo's to: email@example.com
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