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Expression of neuronal growth inhibitory factor (metallothionein-III) in the salivary gland.
Metallothioneins (MTs) are metal-binding proteins that have been regarded as intrinsic factors for protecting cells and tissues from metal toxicity and oxidants. Among the three major classes of MTs, MT-III is different from other MTs because it has neuronal inhibitory activity and is only expressed in the central nervous system. Recent studies, however, have confirmed that MT-III is also expressed in organs other than the brain. These findings not only indicate that MT-III has a much wider tissue distribution than was originally thought, but also suggest that it might have other unknown activities. In the present study, we examined the human salivary and thyroid glands and demonstrated that the MT-III gene is also expressed in the salivary but not in the thyroid gland. While salivary ducts showed intense immuno-reactivity with anti-MT-III, weak immunoreactivity was observed in acinar cells. This, together with the findings that some neuromodulators (i.e. nerve growth factor, etc.) exist in the salivary gland and that MT-III may participate in the transport in renal tubules, suggest that MT-III may have other functions than cytoprotection in the salivary gland.
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Q:
Having trouble seeing an IndexOutOfBoundsException
I was converting over a method that written for arrays to be used to find the mode for an ArrayList passed from main. Somewhere along the way I'm hitting and index error. Im sure its an obvious mistake, but just not seeing it. Would love another set of eyes on this!
public static int getMode(ArrayList<Integer> a)
{
int i ,j ,ctr=0 ,wantedScore ,maxsofar ,position=0 ,mode;
ArrayList<Integer> ctrArray = new ArrayList<>(a.size());
for(i=0; 1< a.size(); i++)
{
wantedScore = a.get(i);
for(j=i+1; j < a.size(); j++)
{
if(a.get(i)==wantedScore)
{
ctr++;
}//End IF
ctrArray.add(ctr);
}//End Inner Loop
}//End Outer For Loop
//Find highest value counter
maxsofar=a.get(0);
for(i=0; i< a.size(); i++)
{
if(ctrArray.get(i)>maxsofar)
{
maxsofar=ctrArray.get(i);
position=i;
}//End If
}//End For Loop
if(maxsofar>0)
mode=a.get(position);
else
mode=-1;
return mode;
}//End getMode
The error I'm getting if the Array list contains the values 1, 2, 3 is:
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException: Index: 3, Size: 3
A:
for(i=0; 1< a.size(); i++)
it should be for(i=0; i< a.size(); i++)
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Campus News
Annual Golf Classic benefits Laker Club, Fund for LSSU
Posted: June 12th, 2013
BENEFIT APPETITE – Golfers enjoy lunch after a day on the links during the Lake Superior State University’s 24th annual Greater Peninsula Orthopedics Lake State Golf Classic, held June 1-2 at Boyne Mountain Resort. Registration, sponsorships, and proceeds from auctions held in conjunction with event receptions raised money for the Laker Club and the Fund for LSSU in support of academic and athletic programs and initiatives at Lake State. (LSSU/John Shibley)
A print-resolution photo that runs with the caption above can be found by clicking here.
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – Lake Superior State University’s 24th annual Greater Peninsula Orthopedics Lake State Golf Classic in support of the Laker Club and the Fund for LSSU was held June 1-2 for the first time at Boyne Mountain Resort. The event attracted more than 115 alumni and friends of Lake Superior State.
Highlights included a live auction featuring a Green Bay Packer team-autographed football, a Red wing Pavel Datsyuk hockey stick, Kyle Jean (now with the New York Rangers organization) Laker jersey, and many other items, held at the Saturday night Classic Bash. About 75 items were sold during the live auction and throughout the weekend during a silent auction, and when combined with the proceeds from a raffle, set a new record for funds raised during that portion of the weekend. Raffle prizes were a $1,500 travel voucher, 50-inch flat-screen TV, and an iPad mini.
Sunday's golf scramble took place on Boyne Mountain's Monument course. Taking first place with a score of 56, in the A Flight were David Jahn, Dale Immel, Kevin Kalchik and Richard Bowerman. Second place A Flight was the foursome of Gary Sharp, Steve Hettinga, Tim Christian, and Doug Laprade with a 59.
In the B Flight, Rick Fitzpatrick, Chuck Cliff, Pete Schmidt, and Dave Drzewiecki took first-place with a score of 65, while the team of Mark Savoie, John Allison, Bill Goldenbogen, and Henry Guzzo placed second with a 66.
The Mixed team winners were Sandra Collins, Dan Dasho, Ernie Maas, and Jim Mackie with a score of 63 followed by Keith Laabs, Megan Manninen, Kevin Manninen, and Ronda Manninen. The Women’s winners were Susan Fitzpatrick, Joan Killips, Danielle Lindloff, and Luanne Webb.
Winners in the inaugural Soo Shooters Flight were Bill Crawford, Bill Eichstaedt, Tom Ewing, and Don Wilson with a score of 66, followed by the team known as “The Firm” consisting of Dan Parker, Greg Potter, Larry Potter, and Randy Potter.
Special event winners were Brad Ward for longest drive, and Tim Christian for closest to the pin. The Women’s special event winners were Ronda Manninen for longest drive and Sandra Collins for closest to the pin.
Next year’s 25th Lake State Golf Classic is slated for the same weekend in June 2013. Call the LSSU Foundation at 906/635-6670 for information and sponsorship opportunities.
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Register
Select whether you are doing assessments for your organisation, or if you are doing assessments for other organisations that you work with.
Enter details about yourself, then click NEXT.
Enter details of the organisation you work for, tick the privacy statement, then click SUBMIT.(You will be redirected to the home page).
Assess a menu: Long day care
Before you begin an assessment, we suggest you have the following information on hand:
Every recipe, food and drink provided on the menu, including each ingredient, and exact quantities. We recommend measuring weight in grams or kilograms, and measuring volume in teaspoon, tablespoon, millilitres or litres).
Start new assessment
Enter a name for the menu (eg, “Summer Week 1”), and enter the number of children the menu caters for each day, then click START ASSESSMENT.
Click ADD ITEM.
Select the time of day it appears on the menu. A pop up box will appear.
Enter the recipe or item name, such as “chicken stir fry” or “apple slices”.(If asked, select which “Day of the week” it appears on the menu)NOTE: If your main lunch meal is vegetarian, you must select “Yes” when asked.NOTE: If your morning or afternoon tea is a baked item, you must select “Yes” when asked.
Start typing the first ingredient. A list of matching options will appear. Click on the option that best matches your ingredient. You can type a little or lot of the name. For example, “chick”, “chicken”, “thigh” or “chicken thigh”. NOTE: use generic item names only, not brand names. Eg, enter “wholemeal bread”, not “Tip Top wholemeal bread”.
Enter the amount and unit of measurement.For example for 500g type “500”, then select “Grams” from the list. For 6 apples type “6”, then select “Whole” from the list.
To add another ingredient, click ADD MORE INGREDIENTS and repeat the steps above.NOTE: Include all condiments, seasoning or finishes used in the recipe, including salt, sugar and oils/butter.TIP: Click SAVE TO RECIPE BANK to store this recipe/item for future menus.
Once you have entered all the ingredients, click ADD TO YOUR MEALS.
To add a saved recipe or common recipe
Click COMMON RECIPES or MY RECIPE BANK.
Search the list for the recipe you want, click ADD TO MENU.
A pop up box with the recipe will appear. You can edit the name, day, mealtime, ingredients and quantities.
Click ADD TO YOUR MEALS when finished.
To finish assessment
Continue adding foods and drinks until your menu is complete, then click SUBMIT FOR ASSESSMENT.
Answer a few more questions on the next page and click FINISH ASSESSMENT.
Your assessment report will appear on screen.
Click SAVE ASSESSMENT AS PDF to save a copy of this report, click save menu or save shopping list.
Assess a menu: Schools, retail outlets or catering
Before you begin an assessment, we suggest you have the following:
All recipes written down with the ingredient names, types and quantities.
The names and nutrition information for any packaged products that you use or offer for sale.
Start new assessment
Sign in
Click START NEW ASSESSMENT.
Select “Assess full menu”
Enter a name for the menu, and select “Retail” or “Catering”
To enter recipes and individual items
Click ADD A RECIPE
Select the category.
Enter the recipe or item name such as “chicken stir fry” or “apple slices”.
Enter the number of serves, and answer any Yes/No questions on screen.
Start typing the first ingredient. A list of matching options will appear. Click on the option that best matches your ingredient. You can type a little or lot of the name. For example, “chick”, “chicken”, “thigh” or “chicken thigh”.
Enter the amount and unit of measurement.For example, for 500g type “500”, then select “Grams” from the list. For a 6 apples type “6”, then select “Whole” from the list.
To add another ingredient, click ADD MORE INGREDIENTS and repeat the steps above.NOTE: Include all condiments, seasoning or finishes used in the recipe, including salt, sugar and oils/butter.
TIP: Click SAVE TO RECIPE BANK to store this recipe/item.
Once you have entered all the ingredients, click ADD TO YOUR MEALS.
Fridges and display cases
If a food or drink appears multiple times in a fridge or display case, it must be added to the menu multiple times.
We count the number of ‘positions’ the item takes up, which is the number of times the item is at the front of the display. (It doesn’t matter how many items are in the fridge/case in total.)
To add a saved recipe or common recipes
A recipe will appear and you can edit the name, serves, ingredients or quantities.
Click ADD TO YOUR MEALS when finished.
To add branded products
Click ADD A PRODUCT
Start typing the name of the item. You could enter the brand name, the product name, or the flavour.For example, if the ingredient is ‘Sample Brand strawberry muesli bar’, you could type any combination of “Sample”, “Brand”, “muesli bar” or “strawberry”.
A list of matching options will appear. Find your product in the list and click ADD.
If you can’t find your product, click ASSESS NEW PRODUCT.a) Select the category.b) Enter the product name. c) Answer the questions on screen using the nutrition information panel and other information on the packaging. The questions will change depending on what category you have selected.
TIP: Click SAVE PRODUCT to use it in future assessments.
When you have finished, click ADD TO PRODUCT LIST
Using a saved product
Click ADD A PRODUCT, and select the category
Click the SAVED PRODUCT tab, and find the item you want from the list, then click ADD.
To finish assessment
When you have finished entering recipes and products to the menu, click SUBMIT FOR ASSESSMENT.(If relevant, answer any question on the next page, then click FINISH ASSESSMENT.)
Your assessment report will appear on screen.
Click SAVE ASSESSMENT AS PDF to save a copy of this report.
Assess a recipe (retail, catering, schools only)
Start typing the first ingredient. A list of matching options will appear. Click on the option that best matches your ingredient. You can type a little or lot of the name. For example, “chick”, “chicken”, “thigh” or “chicken thigh”.
Enter the amount and unit of measurement.For example for 500g type “500”,, then select “Grams” from the list. For a 6 apples type “6”, then select “Whole” from the list.
To add another ingredient, click ADD MORE INGREDIENTS and repeat the steps above.NOTE: Include all condiments, seasoning or finishes used in the recipe, including salt, sugar and oils/butter.
TIP: Click SAVE TO RECIPE BANK to store it in your account for future use.
Once you have entered all the ingredients, click FINISH RECIPE ASSESSMENT.
Start typing the name of the item. You could enter the brand name, the product name, or the flavourFor example, if the ingredient is Sample Brand strawberry muesli bar, you could type any combination of “Sample”, “Brand”, “muesli bar” and “strawberry”.
A list of matching options will appear. Find your product in the list and click ADD. It will appear in the Product List box.
If you can’t find your product, click ASSESS NEW PRODUCT to add the details of the product.a) Select the category.b) Enter the product name.c) Answer the questions on screen using the nutrition information panel and other information on the packaging. The questions will change depending on what category you have selected.d) Click ADD TO PRODUCT LIST
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to peripheral input devices for use with computer-based systems, and, more specifically, to an ability to easily convert use of a system from three-axis to six-axis control, using a control pad with a microprocessor on a board.
2. Related Application Data
The following related applications contain subject matter in common with the present application, and with the exception of the first utility application, the present application is intended to be a continuation in part of these prior applications.
U.S. Utility Patent Application entitled A METHOD FOR SORTING POLYGON DATA AND A VIDEO GAME MACHINE EMPLOYING THE SAME, Application Ser. No. 08/394,838 filed Feb. 27, 1995, claiming priority from Japanese Application No. 56723/94, Mar. 1, 1994.
U.S. Design Patent Application entitled CONTROL PAD, application Ser. No. 29/036,218, filed Mar. 15, 1995.
U.S. Design Patent Application entitled CONTROL PAD WITH CONTROL STICK, application Ser. No. 29/036,221, filed Mar. 15, 1995.
U.S. Design Patent Application entitled CONTROL PAD WITH CONTROL STICK, application Ser. No. 29/036,205, filed Mar. 15, 1995.
U.S. Design Patent Application entitled CONTROL STICK AND BASE, application Ser. No. 29/036,220, filed Mar. 15, 1995.
U.S. Design Patent Application entitled CONTROL PAD WITH DUAL CONTROL STICK, application Ser. No. 29/036,219, filed Mar. 15, 1995.
There is also a related utility patent application entitled A PERIPHERAL INPUT DEVICE WITH SIX-AXIS CAPABILITY, Ser. No. 08/454,609, filed on May 31, 1995; and now U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,577; and
a related utility patent application entitled A CONVERTIBLE PERIPHERAL INPUT DEVICE, Ser. No. 08/455,055, filed on May 31, 1995.
3. Description of the Related Art
The growth of computer games, played on both personal computers and on raster-based game consoles for use with television/video output, has led to an increased need for peripheral input devices which can enable and actuate the movement of objects in the game space. As the computer games and operating systems on which they are played have become richer in their data format and their data processing capabilities, play and control using additional axes has become desirable.
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# Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002,
# 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014,
# 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
# University Corporation for Atmospheric Research/Unidata.
# See netcdf-c/COPYRIGHT file for more info.
SET(abs_top_srcdir ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
remove_definitions(-DDLL_EXPORT)
ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(baseline)
ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(baselineraw)
ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(baselineremote)
ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(cdltestfiles)
ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(daptestfiles)
ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(dmrtestfiles)
ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(nctestfiles)
ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(misctestfiles)
FILE(GLOB COPY_FILES ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/*.sh)
FILE(COPY ${COPY_FILES} DESTINATION ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/ FILE_PERMISSIONS OWNER_WRITE OWNER_READ OWNER_EXECUTE)
IF(ENABLE_DAP_REMOTE_TESTS)
# Change name (add '4') to avoid cmake
# complaint about duplicate targets.
BUILD_BIN_TEST(findtestserver4)
BUILD_BIN_TEST(pingurl4)
ENDIF()
IF(ENABLE_TESTS)
# Base tests
# The tests are set up as a combination of shell scripts and executables that
# must be run in a particular order. It is painful but will use macros to help
# keep it from being too bad.
IF(BUILD_UTILITIES)
add_sh_test(dap4_test test_fillmismatch)
# Following tests are Unit tests, so not tested under visual studio
IF(NOT MSVC)
INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/libdap4)
build_bin_test(test_parse)
build_bin_test(test_meta)
build_bin_test(test_data)
add_sh_test(dap4_test test_parse)
add_sh_test(dap4_test test_raw)
add_sh_test(dap4_test test_meta)
add_sh_test(dap4_test test_data)
ENDIF()
ENDIF(BUILD_UTILITIES)
ENDIF(ENABLE_TESTS)
FILE(COPY ./baselineraw DESTINATION ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
#FILE(COPY ./baseline DESTINATION ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
#FILE(COPY ./cdltestfiles DESTINATION ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
#FILE(COPY ./daptestfiles DESTINATION ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
#FILE(COPY ./dmrtestfiles DESTINATION ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
## Specify files to be distributed by 'make dist'
FILE(GLOB CUR_EXTRA_DIST RELATIVE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/*.c ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/*.h ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/*.sh
#${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/daptestfiles
#${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/dmrtestfiles
#${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cdltestfiles
#${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/baseline
${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/baselineraw
)
SET(CUR_EXTRA_DIST ${CUR_EXTRA_DIST} CMakeLists.txt Makefile.am)
ADD_EXTRA_DIST("${CUR_EXTRA_DIST}")
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Where To Place Grab Bars In Shower Stall Shower Grab Bar Mounting Height Where To Place Bars In Stall Bathroom Placement Where To Place Grab Bars In Shower Stall
where to place grab bars in shower stall shower grab bar mounting height where to place bars in stall bathroom placement where to place grab bars in shower stall.
decorative grab bars shower phenomenal lovely bar for stall about where to put in place ,where to place grab bars in shower stall medium size of walk put,where to put grab bars in shower stall placement place,where to put grab bars in shower stall installing for elderly tenant place,where to put grab bars in shower stall place height bathroom safety placement modern on bat,where to place grab bars in shower stall bathroom safety equipment put, where to place grab bars in shower stall bathroom with bar over the put, where to put grab bars in shower stall place aquatic bath with bar and,where to place grab bars in shower stall put handicap bathroom installation wallpapers design , where to put grab bars in shower stall place bar.
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NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has offered to allow Apple Inc AAPL.O to import mobile handset components intended for use in local manufacturing tax free, a top government official said on Tuesday.
FILE PHOTO: The Apple logo is seen on a computer screen in an illustration photo taken in Bordeaux, France, February 1, 2017. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau/File Photo
The tax concessions will be subject to the condition of increasing local value addition over a period of time.
Apple Inc wants to expand its contract manufacturer’s facility in the southern Indian tech hub of Bengaluru, a federal minister said on Tuesday, as the iPhone maker seeks a bigger share in one of the world’s biggest smartphone markets.
Cupertino, California-based Apple last week started making iPhone SE at its Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron’s plant in Bengaluru..
Apple, which sold over 50 million iPhones in the March quarter, down 1 percent year-on-year, is looking for new markets as its sales in China have weakened.
Among a set of tax concessions, Apple had initially sought a 15-years tax holiday for all components that it would import for setting up a manufacturing facility in India.
A panel of ministries rejected that demand and has offered a phased program to increase the share of local production in the manufacturing, Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary at the Ministry of Electronics and IT said.
“We have offered them tax exemptions on those components which could not be manufactured in India,” Sundararajan told Reuters, adding that local manufacturing component would have to be increased gradually.
Apple has agreed to increase local share in production over a period of time, but there was a difference between the plans of the two sides, she said.
Apple was not immediately available for comment.
India wants Apple to raise value addition share in phases of 3,5,7 and 10 years as the local capacity builds up, part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plans to boost manufacturing.
Industry estimates the phased manufacturing program could increase local value addition in mobile phones manufacturing to 40-50 percent in the next three years.
Earlier, Ravi Shankar Prasad, the federal minister for Electronics and IT said government officials were in touch with Apple and other mobile phone manufacturers about expanding facilities and setting up new plants.
“It will be a little early to say that India and Apple have agreed on the common ground,” said the official, adding India was ready to work out a roadmap to encourage manufacturing.
Industry estimates total value of mobile phones produced in India touched near 900 billion Indian rupees ($13.90 billion) compared with 540 billion rupees in the previous year.
“We are waiting for Apple to come back,” said Sundararajan.
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Ri Supreme Court
The Rhode Island Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by the union representing Providence teachers to control health insurance premiums paid by retired city teachers.
In an opinion authored by Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg, the court upheld a Superior Court decision that ruled that the union’s contract with the Providence School Board allowed the board to charge retired teachers more for health care premiums than active teachers.
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The workshop was hands on. It included many field visits. Hence we selected only 25 participants out of which 13 were young women. All of them checked-in and Nikesh Balami, Project Manager of Code for Nepal gave the name tag to everyone so it would be easier to remember their name during the time of the workshop. Ravi Nepal, Founder of Code of Nepal, welcomed the workshop participants and share about the aim of organizing the event, the kind of opportunities and the impact which can be made to create more jobs and attract more tourist in Janakpur.
Saurav Dhakal from StoryCycle shared a brief overview of what participants will be doing for the 2 and half days. Navin from Appan TV talks briefly about civic responsibility to promote local tourism, where he encouraged the youths to get involved in the community activities.
Sudhan Subedi from Nepal Tourism Board talked about digital tourism and the Visit Nepal 2020 initiative. He was joined by Roshan Ghimire form Code for Nepal, where he highlighted the importance of digitizing Janakpur and the type of impact the workshop can make by promoting the local collaboration and resource sharing.
The workshop was made special by the presence of Mr. Lal Kishor Sah, Mayor of Janakpurdham Sub Municipality. He joined the team to launch the Visit Janakpur project and also assured the long-term support from the Municipality side for its promotion. The participants were excited to hear about the work done by the Municipality to promote the tourism sector, preserve historic places and ongoing renovation in Janakpur Dham.
Soon Survar Dhakal started the session on “Mapping your Story“, where he first asked participant introduce his/her partner with the help of paper maps which were provided to them. They were asked to locate the location of the hometown, school, favorite hangout place of their partners. He also talked about using digital tools to map the stories so that it will make an impact and highlighted the importance of hazard mapping to save lives during the time of natural disasters like floods and earthquake. He also shared some examples of using the mapping for the development and promotion of places.
He was joined by Prijun Koirala, Web Developer of StoryCycle, where they talked about making the proper use of available equipment and applications like using Google Street View to capture 360 photos, Snapseed to edit photos from the mobile, which will help to make the stories attractive and beautiful.
The basic concept of Mobile Photography was shared by the Roshan Ghimire in a separate session, where he shared some tips and tricks to take good quality photos using smartphones. He discussed on focusing on the stories and photo angle, rather than clicking randomly for the fun. After the session on Mobile Photography, Sudhan Subedi joined the participants to talk about gathering accurate information, which can help tourists or grow sales of the existing business. He talked about discouraging incomplete or meaningless information and asked participants to publish the photos and stories they collected as a blog so that visitor will find a complete information online.
Amita Sharma, Teach of Nepal Fellow, led the discussion on “Digital Content Ethics” in the afternoon. She shared about Dos and Don’t of publishing and told participants to be very careful while publishing any kinds of content on the internet.
After all the session, participants were divided into a smaller group for a field visit to map Janakpur using photos and videos. Four group were made and briefed on how to collect the map coordinates and photos of the important places and were sent for the trial mapping session, accompanied by members of Code for Nepal and StoryCycle.
Day 2
On the second day, participants traveled parts of Janakpur to collect stories. Early morning in around 8 AM everyone gathered at the Monastic School and Ravi conducted a short recap session, where he asked the participant to share his/her first day experiences. Many of them requested to organize similar kinds of workshop and events frequently on a timely basis.
After the recap session and tea, Saurav divided the participants into 4 groups by making few changes in the day first group for the field mapping and assigned them with a task to cover and complete. All the four teams were accompanied by members of Code for Nepal and StoryCycle. Participants spent more than 3 hours in the field, collecting map coordinates, photos, and videos. Once they returned to the workshop venue, they were taught how to upload the collected photos and coordinates on Google Maps. The basic of Google Local Guide platform was also shared to encourage participants to continue their contribution after the workshop.
Then participants took some rest over lunch. Soon Mr. Sumit Shekhar Shah, a Digital Photography enthusiast, who has been working in Janakpur for the grassroots awareness joined the participants to talk about how they can promote the history of Janakpur by highlighting the culture, temples, foods etc. He told participants to reach out to him anytime for help.
Participants went to the field again. This time they were asked to focus on 360 photos and video stories. They identified the stories like the making of the Janakpur Lassi, Yummy Samosa, Mithal Arts etc. These videos will be published soon by StoryCycle.
Day 3
Like Day 2, participants gathered in the venue early in the morning and Ravi conducted the short review session. After the review, the team was dispatched again for the field mapping of parts of Janakpurdham.
At the end to the three and half days workshop, we built 542 map points, 55 plus 360-degree imageries and 12 video stories.
Mr. Ram Naresh Ray form Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Environment of Province 2 joined us. In his remarks, he congratulated all the participants and organizers for the hard work and said that the government is working to advance the tourism sector in Province 2.
Data, photos and videos collected from the workshop are still being processed. Some of them have been published http://visitjanakpur.com/
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Obesity is becoming a growing concern in the global population, as more is learned about the negative health effects of obesity. Severe obesity, in which a person is 50 Kg or more over ideal body weight, in particular poses significant risks for severe health problems. Accordingly, a great deal of attention is being focused on treating obese patients.
Appetite suppressing pathways have been the focal point of anti-obesity drug development, since obesity is thought to be due to excess energy intake over energy expenditure. Limiting the caloric intake, however, induces compensatory adaptations that resist weight loss, Because nutrient-sensing neurons cross talk with cognitive and behavioural components, appetite suppressants tend to produce unacceptable psychiatric side effects. However, because of the complexity of the regulation of adipogenesis, few other pathways have been explored.
Diabetes is a metabolic disorder characterised by high blood glucose levels combined with relative insulin deficiency and insulin resistance. The majority of diabetic patients suffer from type 2 diabetes also known as late onset diabetes, and the incidence of this type of diabetes has spiralled in the last few years in line with an increase in obesity.
The function of BAT is to transfer energy from food into heat; physiologically, both the heat produced and the resulting decrease in metabolic efficiency can be of significance, Heat production from brown adipose tissue is activated whenever the organism is in need of extra heat, e.g., postnatally, during entry into a febrile state, and during arousal from hibernation, and the rate of thermogenesis is centrally controlled via a pathway initiated in the hypothalamus.
BAT is abundant in rodents and human neonates but adult humans possess very little BAT and amounts decrease with aging. The amount of BAT in both rodents and humans is inversely correlated with obesity, such that rodents with defects in genes promoting BAT formation and function are prone to obesity and in humans greater amounts of BAT are observed in younger, leaner individuals than in older, overweight subjects. Therefore methods to activate BAT tissue in obese individuals or to increase BAT mass would be expected to have a positive effect on weight loss and susceptibility to obesity associated morbidities, Accordingly, a number of proposals have been made for the introduction of BAT into adult humans to combat obesity, For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,645,229 notes that that “brown adipose tissue (BAT) plays a role in the regulation of energy expenditure and that stimulating BAT can result in patient slimming. BAT activation is regulated by the sympathetic nervous system and other physiological, e.g., hormonal and metabolic, influences. When activated, BAT removes free fatty acids (FFA) and oxygen from the blood supply for the generation of heat.” Neonatal BAT and adult human BAT appear to differ in certain characteristics. For example, neonatal or classical BAT is derived from a Myf5 expressing muscle-like cellular lineage. So-called beige or brite fat comes from a different lineage, from within white adipose tissue (WAT). Recently, it has been proposed that all adult human BAT is beige/brite, rather than classical BAT (Wu et al., 2012 Cell 150:1-11)
Activating or increasing BAT mass can also have a positive effect on diseases associated with BAT—in particular diabetes (Vegiopoulos et al, 2010, Science 328 (1158-61); Seale et al 2001, JCI 121 (96-105); Bostrom et al 2012 Nature 481 (463-68), In the simplest scenario BAT can improve type II diabetes by reducing obesity and therefore WAT depots, thus reducing their induction of insulin resistance. However BAT can also improve metabolic dysfunction beyond that expected by reduction in obesity alone. This is evidenced by the fact that increased BAT improved insulin sensitivity in overweight mice even when they didn't lose weight. It has been shown that BAT can also directly influence insulin secretion from islet cells in response to glucose, improving glucose homeostasis (Guerra et al, JCI, 2001,108 (1205-1213). in addition it has recently been shown that BAT transplants in mice robustly improve the metabolic condition of obese, insulin resistant mice (Liu, et al., (2013). Cell research, 1-4; Stanford, et al., (2013) The Journal of clinical investigation, 123(1), 215-223), and to restore normoglycemia and glucose tolerance in streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice (Gunawardana & Piston, 2012 Diabetes, 61(3), 674-82). In addition to acting as a glucose and energy sink, brown adipocytes are likely to also secrete factors (locally and/or in the circulation) that may have beneficial effects on glucose metabolism/insulin sensitivity and overall energy balance, like IL-6 (Stanford et al., 2013).
WO2009137613 describes a method for generating BAT, on the basis of the discovery that stem cell antigen-1 positive (Sca-1+) progenitor cells treated with one or more bone morphogenic proteins (BMP) differentiate to or towards BAT cells. These BAT cells are described as genuine BAT cells with a complete capacity to respond to catecholamine stimulation by turning on the BAT cell thermogenic program.
Nishio et al, Cell Metabolism 16:394,2012, describe the generation of BAT cells from human pluripotent stern cells, The BAT generated is of the classical, rather than brite, lineage.
More recently, WO2013/123214 described the generation of human BAT from artery-derived cells by exposing internal mammary artery-derived cells (iMACs) to an adipogenic instruction medium.
Citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present invention.
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Percutaneous nephrostomy drainage in the management of neonatal anuria secondary to renal candidiasis.
We report a case of anuria in a premature neonate secondary to bilateral ureteropelvic junction obstructions related to Candida bezoars. Percutaneous decompression and drainage of both kidneys contributed significantly to the successful management of renal candidiasis in this patient. A review of the literature is presented.
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Parathyroid hormone secretion does not respond to changes of free calcium in electropermeabilized bovine parathyroid cells, but is stimulated with phorbol ester and cyclic AMP.
The secretion of parathyroid hormone (PTH) is suppressed in bovine parathyroid cells by raised extracellular [Ca2+], and 12-0-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) stimulates the release of PTH from cells suppressed by high extracellular [Ca2+]. Extracellular and cytosolic free [Ca2+] are proportionally related in intact cells. To assess the role of cytosolic free [Ca2+] on PTH secretion, bovine parathyroid cells were rendered permeable by brief exposure to an intense electric field. PTH secretion was comparable at 40 nM, 500 nM, 5 microM, 28 microM, 0.5 mM and 2 mM [Ca2+] (release of total cellular PTH 3.7 +/- 0.5%, 3.9 +/- 0.4%, 3.4% +/- 0.3%, 3.9 +/- 0.4%, 3.1 +/- 0.3%, 3.5 +/- 0.7%, respectively), but the secretion was stimulated twofold (P less than 0.05 vs. control) in a dose and ATP dependent manner with TPA (100 nM) and cyclic AMP (1 mM). As a result, free [Ca2+] in the range of those observed in intact cells during regulation of PTH secretion by changes of extracellular [Ca2+] did not affect the release of PTH in permeabilized cells. The [Ca2+] independent stimulation of PTH release by TPA and cyclic AMP indicates that changes of cytosolic free [Ca2+] may represent a secondary event not related to the regulation of PTH secretion.
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[Toxic effects of nano-TiO2 on Gymnodinium breve].
In order to reveal the toxicity and mechanism of nano-TiO2 on algae, the inhibition effect, enzyme activity, oxygen free radicals of nano-TiO2 on the growth of G. breve were investigated. The results showed that G. breve was inhibited by nano-TiO2, and the 72 h-EC50 was 9.7 mg x L(-1). With the increasing concentration of nano-titanium dioxide, the activities of SOD decrease significantly (P < 0.05). The content of hydrogen peroxide radicals and the activities of CAT increase significantly (P < 0.05), and the content of superoxide anion shows the increasing trend. The content of hydrogen peroxide radicals was 0.083 U x mL(-1) in 0 mg x L(-1) nano-TiO2 suspension while that was 1.1 U x mL(-1) in control after 48 h. Through the study of 20 mg x L(-1) nano-titanium dioxide on G. breve at different times, the activities of SOD and CAT, the content of MDA are consistent, which the highest values is achieved at the exposure time of 12 hours and the lowest value is found at the exposure time of 48 hours. The content of hydroxyl radical increased significantly at the exposure time of 48 hours. The activity of SOD was 0.14 U x (10(7) cell x min)(-1) in G. breve at 12 h which was ten times higher than that at 48 h.
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New strategy identified for treating acute myeloid leukemia
09/29/2016
A multi-institutional academic and industry research team led by investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute has identified a promising new approach to the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
In their report published online in Cell, the investigators identify a crucial dysfunction in blood cell development that underlies AML and show that inhibiting the action of a specific enzyme prompts the differentiation of leukemic cells, reducing their number and decreasing their ability to propagate the cancer.
"AML is a devastating form of cancer; the five-year survival rate is only 30 percent, and it is even worse for the older patients who have a higher risk of developing the disease," says David Scadden, MD, director of the MGH Center for Regenerative Medicine (MGH-CRM), co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI), and senior author of the Cell paper. "New therapies for AML are extremely limited -- we are still using the protocols developed back in the 1970s -- so we desperately need to find new treatments."
In AML, the normal process by which myeloid stem cells differentiate into a specific group of mature white blood cells is halted, leading to the proliferation of immature, abnormal cells that crowd out and suppress the development of normal blood cells. A wide range of genetic changes occurs in AML, but the authors proposed that the effects on differentiation had to funnel through a few shared molecular events. Using a method created by lead author David Sykes, MD, PhD, of the MGH-CRM and HSCI, the team discovered that a single dysfunctional point in the pathway common to most forms of AML could be a treatment target.
Previous studies had shown that the expression of a transcription factor called HoxA9 -- which must be shut down for normal myeloid cell differentiation to proceed -- is actually maintained in 70 percent of patients with AML. Since no inhibitors of HoxA9 had been identified, the researchers pursued a novel approach to screening potential inhibitors based not on their interaction with a particular molecular target but on whether they could overcome the differentiation blockade characteristic of AML cells.
They first set up a cellular model of AML by inducing HoxA9 overexpression in mouse myeloid cells genetically engineered to glow green if they reached maturity. The team then screened more than 330,000 small molecules to find which would produce the green signal in the cells, indicating that the HoxA9-induced differentiation blockade had been overcome. Only 12 compounds produced the desired result, 11 of which were found to act by suppressing a metabolic enzyme called DHODH, which was not previously known to have a role in myeloid differentiation. Further experiments showed that DHODH inhibition could induce differentiation in both mouse and human AML cells.
The team then tested a known DHODH inhibitor in several mouse models of AML and identified a dosing schedule that reduced levels of leukemic cells and prolonged survival with none of the adverse effects of normal chemotherapy. While six weeks of treatment did not prevent eventual relapse, treatment for up to 10 weeks appears to have led to long-term remission, including a reduction of the leukemia stem cells that can lead to relapse. Similar results were seen in mice into which human leukemia cells had been implanted.
"Drug companies tend to be skeptical of the kind of functional screening we used to identify DHODH as a target, because it can be complicated and imprecise. We think that with modern tools, we may be able to improve target identification, so applying this approach to a broader range of cancers may be justified," says Scadden, who is chair and professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and Jordan Professor of Medicine at Harvard University. Additional investigation of the mechanism underlying DHODH inhibition should allow development of protocols for human clinical trials.
Scadden notes that the manuscript describes six years of work and is a true reflection of the collaborative nature of science in pursuit of clinically relevant therapies. Scientists from MGH, HSCI, the Broad Institute, the University of New Mexico, and Bayer HealthCare were all instrumental in these pre-clinical studies. Second author Youmna Kfoury, PhD, of the MGH-CRM and HSCI, was an instrumental part of the project from its early days.
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[Implication of the neuropeptides methionine enkephalin, neurotensin and somatostatin of the caudal trigeminal nucleus in the experimental migraine].
Primary peptidergic sensory neurons of the trigeminal ganglion that innervate the cerebral dura have been involved in the pathogenesis of headache, including the migraine. In addition, it is known that nociceptive central processes of the trigeminal neurons terminate in the caudal trigeminal nucleus. Moreover, the electrical stimulation of the trigeminal ganglion has been used as an experimental model in order to study the vascular headache, including the migraine. To study whether there is or not a decrease of the immunoreactivity for methionine enkephalin, somatostatin and neurotensin in the caudal trigeminal nucleus after electrical stimulation of the trigeminal ganglion. The trigeminal ganglia of Wistar albino rats of both sexes were electrically stimulated (frequency, 5 Hz; duration, 5 ms; intensity, 0,8 1.4 mA) and unilaterally for five minutes. Sections of the medulla oblongata containing the caudal trigeminal nucleus were obtained and processed for immunocytochemistry, in which specific antibodies were used against methionine enkephalin, neurotensin and somatostatin 28. In stimulated animals, we observed a decrease in the immunoreactivity for the three neuropeptides studied in the stimulated (ipsilateral) side, in comparison with the not stimulated side (contralateral). In control animals (not stimulated) the degree of the immunoreactivity was the same on both sides. 1. The decrease of the immunoreactivity in the ipsilateral side (stimulated) suggests that methionine enkephalin, neurotensin and somatostatin 28 are released in the caudal trigeminal nucleus after electrical stimulation of the trigeminal ganglion; 2. Methionine enkephalin and somatostatin 28 could act in the caudal trigeminal nucleus as inhibitors (with antinociceptive action) of another released exciters neuropeptides (with nociceptive action); and 3. These data will allow in the future to try new therapeutic strategies (e.g., the inhibition of the receptors implicated.), in order to alleviate certain headaches.
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Is early Class III protraction facemask treatment effective? A multicentre, randomized, controlled trial: 15-month follow-up.
To investigate the effectiveness of early class III protraction facemask treatment in children under 10 years of age. Multicentre, randomized controlled trial. Eight UK hospital orthodontic units. Seventy-three patients were randomly allocated, stratified for gender, into an early class III protraction facemask group (PFG) (n = 35) and a control/no treatment group (CG) (n = 38). Dentofacial changes from lateral cephalograms and occlusal changes using the peer assessment rating (PAR). Self-esteem was assessed using the Piers-Harris children's self-concept scale, and the psychosocial impact of malocclusion with an oral aesthetic subjective impact scores (OASIS) questionnaire. Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) signs and symptoms were also recorded. The time points for data collection were at registration (DC1) and 15 months later (DC2). The following mean skeletal and occlusal changes occurred from the class III starting point: SNA, PFG moved forwards 1.4 degrees (CG forward 0.3 degrees; P = 0.018); SNB, PFG moved backwards -0.7 degrees (CG forward 0.8 degrees; P<0.001); ANB, PFG class III base improved +2.1 degrees (CG worsened by -0.5 degrees; P<0.001). This contributed to an overall difference in ANB between PFG and CG of 2.6 degrees in favour of early protraction facemask treatment. The overjet improved +4.4 mm in the PFG and marginally changed +0.3 mm in the CG (P<0.001). A 32.2% improvement in PAR was shown in the PFG and the CG worsened by 8.6%. There was no increased self-esteem (Piers-Harris score) for treated children compared with controls (P = 0.22). However, there was a reduced impact of malocclusion (OASIS score) for the PFG compared with the CG (P = 0.003), suggesting treatment resulted in slightly less concern about the tooth appearance. TMJ signs and symptoms were very low at DC1 and DC2 and none were reported during active facemask treatment. Early class III orthopaedic treatment, with protraction facemask, in patients under 10 years of age, is skeletally and dentally effective in the short term and does not result in TMJ dysfunction. Seventy per cent of patients had successful treatment, defined as achieving a positive overjet. However, early treatment does not seem to confer a clinically significant psychosocial benefit.
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Till Debt Does Its Part
So new budget projections show a cumulative deficit of $9 trillion over the next decade. According to many commentators, that’s a terrifying number, requiring drastic action — in particular, of course, canceling efforts to boost the economy and calling off health care reform.
The truth is more complicated and less frightening. Right now deficits are actually helping the economy. In fact, deficits here and in other major economies saved the world from a much deeper slump. The longer-term outlook is worrying, but it’s not catastrophic.
The only real reason for concern is political. The United States can deal with its debts if politicians of both parties are, in the end, willing to show at least a bit of maturity. Need I say more?
Let’s start with the effects of this year’s deficit.
There are two main reasons for the surge in red ink. First, the recession has led both to a sharp drop in tax receipts and to increased spending on unemployment insurance and other safety-net programs. Second, there have been large outlays on financial rescues. These are counted as part of the deficit, although the government is acquiring assets in the process and will eventually get at least part of its money back.
What this tells us is that right now it’s good to run a deficit. Consider what would have happened if the U.S. government and its counterparts around the world had tried to balance their budgets as they did in the early 1930s. It’s a scary thought. If governments had raised taxes or slashed spending in the face of the slump, if they had refused to rescue distressed financial institutions, we could all too easily have seen a full replay of the Great Depression.
In fact, we would be better off if governments were willing to run even larger deficits over the next year or two. The official White House forecast shows a nation stuck in purgatory for a prolonged period, with high unemployment persisting for years. If that’s at all correct — and I fear that it will be — we should be doing more, not less, to support the economy.
Photo
Paul KrugmanCredit
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
But what about all that debt we’re incurring? That’s a bad thing, but it’s important to have some perspective. Economists normally assess the sustainability of debt by looking at the ratio of debt to G.D.P. And while $9 trillion is a huge sum, we also have a huge economy, which means that things aren’t as scary as you might think.
Here’s one way to look at it: We’re looking at a rise in the debt/G.D.P. ratio of about 40 percentage points. The real interest on that additional debt (you want to subtract off inflation) will probably be around 1 percent of G.D.P., or 5 percent of federal revenue. That doesn’t sound like an overwhelming burden.
Now, this assumes that the U.S. government’s credit will remain good so that it’s able to borrow at relatively low interest rates. So far, that’s still true. Despite the prospect of big deficits, the government is able to borrow money long term at an interest rate of less than 3.5 percent, which is low by historical standards. People making bets with real money don’t seem to be worried about U.S. solvency.
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The numbers tell you why. According to the White House projections, by 2019, net federal debt will be around 70 percent of G.D.P. That’s not good, but it’s within a range that has historically proved manageable for advanced countries, even those with relatively weak governments. In the early 1990s, Belgium — which is deeply divided along linguistic lines — had a net debt of 118 percent of G.D.P., while Italy — which is, well, Italy — had a net debt of 114 percent of G.D.P. Neither faced a financial crisis.
So is there anything to worry about? Yes, but the dangers are political, not economic.
As I’ve said, those 10-year projections aren’t as bad as you may have heard. Over the really long term, however, the U.S. government will have big problems unless it makes some major changes. In particular, it has to rein in the growth of Medicare and Medicaid spending.
That shouldn’t be hard in the context of overall health care reform. After all, America spends far more on health care than other advanced countries, without better results, so we should be able to make our system more cost-efficient.
But that won’t happen, of course, if even the most modest attempts to improve the system are successfully demagogued — by conservatives! — as efforts to “pull the plug on grandma.”
So don’t fret about this year’s deficit; we actually need to run up federal debt right now and need to keep doing it until the economy is on a solid path to recovery. And the extra debt should be manageable. If we face a potential problem, it’s not because the economy can’t handle the extra debt. Instead, it’s the politics, stupid.
A version of this op-ed appears in print on , on Page A23 of the New York edition with the headline: Till Debt Does Its Part. Today's Paper|Subscribe
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19-6-18-4 16-15-5-5 5-18-19-14 26-16-9-20
Advice Animals
Shitty advice? Sound advice? Time will tell.
Advice Animals, are a type of image macro series featuring animals of some kind (including humans) that are accompanied by captioned text to represent a character trait or an archetype that fits the role of a “stock character”
For every all memes that are not adviceanimals please head over to /v/Memes.
I always speak loudly when I'm explaining to my kids how they should behave in public, for two reasons. The first is stated in this pic, the second is so that when my kids start acting like a little pack of untrained monkeys, people around us know that I'm at least trying to teach them how to behave.
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Backstage Beauty: Melissa Nepton F/W 2011 at Montreal Fashion Week
The look: The makeup at Melissa Nepton was a very wearable, everyday look.
How to create the eye look: ApplyCover Girl Smokey Shadow Blast in beige all over the lid and along bottom lashes. Then use the orange shade from Cover Girl 205 Tropical Fusion, almost up to the brow, finishing with a white pencil on the inner rim.
Tip: Smokey Shadow Blast did double duty at this show: Amélie Ducharme, artistic director for makeup at MFW and CoverGirl makeup pro, used the beige on the eyes and to highlight the top of the cheekbone.
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Q:
Issue with importing com.sun.jersey.api.client.ClientResponse;
I have a basic java project wherein I have imported the jersey-client-1.19.jar externally in my java build (using eclipse). I am trying to write a basic jersey client to make a RESTful call to a web service. As soon as I try to import the ClientResponse class, eclipse complains about -
the type javax.ws.rs.ext.runtimedelegate$headerdelegate cannot be resolved. It is indirectly referenced from required .class files.
Eclipse auto correct takes me to my build paths. But I have had no luck fixing this. Googled for this but did not find anything.
I am missing something basic here. Any help is appreciated.
A:
Never mind. Fixed it by trying to import jars from jersey library. The jsr311-api-1.1.1.jar import fixed the issue.
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Washington (CNN) –Kevin Kloosterman, a former Mormon bishop, said he “came out” last year – just not in the way that many people associate with coming out.
“I came out and basically made a personal apology to (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) folks for really not understanding their issues, not really taking the time to understand their lives and really not doing my homework,” Kloosterman said in an interview with CNN.
Though not speaking on behalf of the church, the then-bishop stood in front of a crowd of gay and straight Mormons at a November conference on gay and lesbian issues in Salt Lake City, Utah, where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is headquartered.
Donning a suit and tie, Kloosterman was visibly shaken, struggling to find the right words as tears welled up in his eyes.
“I’m sorry – deeply, deeply sorry,” Kloosterman told the group in a speech that was captured on video. “The only thing I can say to those of you who have been so patient, and have gone through so much, is for you to watch and look for any small changes with your loved ones, with your wards (Mormon congregations), with your leaders. And encourage them in this repentance process.”
Kloosterman’s apology was just one example of what many Mormons and church watchers see as a recent shift in the Mormon community’s posture toward gays and lesbians, including by the official church itself.
Though the church’s doctrine condemning homosexuality has not changed, and the church remains opposed to same-sex marriage, many say the church is subtly but unmistakably growing friendlier toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, including voicing support for some gay rights.
Students at the church-owned Brigham Young University recently posted an “It Gets Better” video about the gay and lesbian community there, while a gay Mormon in San Francisco was selected last year for a church leadership position.
A new conference series on gay and lesbian Mormons – the same one Kloosterman addressed last year – is seeing an uptick in popularity.
Church spokesman Michael Purdy would not comment on whether church members are changing their stance toward gay and lesbian issues but said in an e-mail message: “In the Church, we strive to follow Jesus Christ who showed immense love and compassion towards all of God’s children.”
Purdy wrote, “If members are becoming more loving and Christ-like toward others then this can only be a positive development.”
‘It is definitely getting better’
The Brigham Young students who taped the pro-gay video this month were contributing to a popular video series meant to inspire hope in young people who are struggling to come to terms with their sexuality identity.
The video featured students telling stories of being gay at Brigham Young, sharing tales of heartache, loss and even suicide.
“It kind of is a very different world to be gay and Mormon because it feels like neither community accepts you completely,” said Bridey Jensen, a fifth-year senior and acting president of Understanding Same Gender Attraction, the group that posted the video.
“We put out the message for youth that are going through this, and we want them to know that we were them a few years ago, and it gets better and there is a place for you,” she said.
Though chastity is a requirement at Brigham Young, gay and lesbian students say they are under more scrutiny. The school’s honor code says that “homosexual behavior is inappropriate and violates” the code.
But Jensen said reaction to the video, which has been viewed almost 400,000 times on YouTube, has been “overwhelmingly positive.”
Carri Jenkins, an assistant to Brigham Young's president, told CNN that the production of the video is not a violation of the honor code and that the students will not be punished.
The honor code, Jenkins said, is “based on conduct, not on feeling and if same-gender attraction is only stated, that is not an honor code issue.”
Jensen said that while gay and lesbian Mormons face a tough road, she sees a shift toward greater acceptance. It is definitely getting better within the church, she said. “They are not so quick to judge. They understand that they don’t understand everything. I am glad I can be a little part of it.”
Some scholars of Mormonism, such as Columbia University’s Richard Bushman, said they see the very existence of such a gay rights group at Brigham Young as a step toward greater acceptance of gays and lesbians.
“The last 10 years have been a huge sea change in terms of willingness to accept homosexuals,” Bushman said. “Gay kids are still going to have a tough time in the church, but this level of acceptance and acknowledgment – that is really that last decade I would say.”
Most gay Mormons point to 2008’s push for Proposition 8 in California, which banned same-sex marriage in the state but has faced legal challenge in the courts, as a low point in the relationship between the church and gay and lesbian community.
Mormons make up 2% of California’s population, but they contributed half of the $40 million war chest used to defend Proposition 8, according to a Time magazine report.
The church’s Proposition 8 activism angered many gay rights groups around the country, with some labeling the church “bigoted,” “homophobic” and “anti-gay.”
But church officials pushed back against the perception that the Proposition 8 backlash has provoked a Mormon softening on gay and lesbian issues.
“Many positive relationships have come from the Church’s experience in supporting traditional marriage in California,” Purdy, the church spokesman, said in an e-mail exchange with CNN.
Purdy draws a distinction between being against same-sex marriage and against equality for gays and lesbians.
He reiterated that the church was “strongly on the record as supporting traditional marriage,” but he said its stance should never be used as justification for violence or unkindness.
“The Church’s doctrine has not changed but we certainly believe you can be Christ-like, loving and civil, while advocating a strongly held moral position such as supporting traditional marriage,” Purdy wrote in an e-mail message.
“We do not believe that strong support of traditional marriage is anti-gay,” he wrote. “We love and cherish our brothers and sisters who experience same gender attraction. They are children of God.”
Church doctrine says that sex outside marriage is a sin and can lead to excommunication. Since gay people cannot be married in the church, any sex for them would be premarital and, therefore, sinful.
“The distinction between feelings or inclinations on the one hand, and behavior on the other hand, is very clear,” the church’s website says. “It’s no sin to have inclinations that if yielded to would produce behavior that would be a transgression. The sin is in yielding to temptation. Temptation is not unique. Even the Savior was tempted.”
Openly gay and a church leader
Mitch Mayne seems to relish his role as a lightning rod.
Mayne, an openly gay Mormon who blogs about homosexuality and the church, received the calling – a term Mormons use for being invited into a church position – in August.
Mayne is now executive secretary in a San Francisco ward of the church.
“I view myself as gay and being completely whole as being gay,” Mayne said.
Many observers of Mormonism say Mayne’s calling marked a unique moment in church history. Purdy said that Mayne’s appointment is “not unique,” but it’s hard to find precedent for an outspokenly gay executive secretary.
Mayne said he sees his job as building bridges with the gay community in San Francisco and showing them “there are pockets in the Mormon Church where you can be yourself.”
The biggest obstacle toward building those bridges is the threat of excommunication, said Mayne, who told CNN that in some wards just being gay can lead to expulsion from the church.
According to church doctrine, a formal disciplinary council can be called at the request of church leader.
While the leaders of the church mandate councils called for murder, incest or apostasy, it has a long list of reasons to call a disciplinary council.
Some wards are observing that guidance while others aren’t, Mayne said.
“Here in the Bay Area ... we are no longer seeking out LGBT members of the church and excommunicating them,” Mayne said. “Our role is to bring people closer to the Savior, so if we are routinely excommunicating people, then we are really not doing our job.”
Mayne said he believes the challenge is to convince church leaders that they don’t ever have to excommunicate gay members.
And he said the Proposition 8 campaign was the “least Christ-like thing we have ever done as a church.”
“Not only did we alienate gays and lesbians, but we alienated their parents, their friends, those who support them – the ripple effect went way beyond the gay community, and I don’t think we were prepared for such a negative fallout,” Mayne said. “I think the church deserved the black eye they received.”
He added, “As a result of that really horrible time, I think we are entering a really good time to be a gay Mormon. It is getting better.”
‘Mormonism doesn’t simply wash off’
When the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints speaks, the City Council of Salt Lake City listens. At least the council seemed to in 2009 when it voted on an ordinance to make it illegal to discriminate against gay and transgendered residents in housing and employment.
"The church supports these ordinances because they are fair and reasonable and do not do violence to the institution of marriage,” church spokesman Michael Otterson told the council.
Shortly after the church’s expression, the City Council approved the measure unanimously.
Many gay rights activists said they saw the move as an olive branch after the Proposition 8 debate.
“The tone and the culture is evolving, and the way the LGBT people are being treated is changing. I don’t think the church’s policy has caught up to that change in culture,” said Ross Murray, director of religion, faith and values at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. “The Mormon church hasn’t gotten nearly as politically involved as they had since 2009.”
Though Murray sees the church lobbying for anti-discrimination laws as a positive step, he said the church’s shift is more about style than substance.
“It is going to take a lot of intentional effort to actually prove they are different,” Murray said. “That burden, because of the really public nature of their support of Prop 8, falls harder on the Mormon church than others.”
Give us the exact scripture that condemns the saved loving, respectful Christian partnership of a gay couple.....oh...that's right it doesn't exist!
April 17, 2012 at 2:33 pm |
Follow up
Colin, do you think that all gay individuals define themselves as gays? Sorry, my friends don't. Sure it is part of their being, but they are also designers, snowboarders, friends, sons, movie lovers, men... (and on a side note, I know very few that are looking to getting married).
April 17, 2012 at 2:45 pm |
myklds
colin
Swimmers when doing the act of swimming swim in the water, definitely no problem with that. On the other hand, gays doing the act of ho.mo.se.xuality swim in abomination, huge difference.
@Yeah Right
There is no such thing as "respectful Christian partnership of a gay couple" in the Church. All we have are lots of respectful and equally respective gays but they don't have any gay partners.
April 17, 2012 at 3:11 pm |
YeahRight
"n the other hand, gays doing the act of ho.mo.se.xuality swim in abomination, huge difference."
No only prejudice and bigoted people take the scriptures literally and read it that way. Romans was talking about male prostitution.
April 17, 2012 at 3:13 pm |
Stern
Gays and Jews are the two obsessions of CNN.
April 17, 2012 at 2:26 pm |
YeahRight
The civil rights for gays continues to be fought around the country so this is a hot button issue. Look at the Churches in Washington State that are trying to revoke the law of gay marriage. The Catholic church is actually trying to get enough signatures to have it put on the ballot. The church is the most prejudice bigoted group out there and they think it's ok to trample of gay civil rights. It's time to bring a stop to it and show that these hateful people are a menace to our society
April 17, 2012 at 2:35 pm |
don
The Mormon church is very ignorant on a lot of matters so I would not hold my breath on this. They just started letting blacks in and they still convert Jews to Mormonism, fact is that this religion which was found a little over 150 years can't be compared to Christianity or other major religions. I am not talking bad about them but stating the facts.
April 17, 2012 at 2:25 pm |
derp
"religion which was found a little over 150 years can't be compared to Christianity"
You do realize that mormons are christian right?
April 17, 2012 at 2:29 pm |
Mormongirl
The Church of JESUS CHRIST of latter day saints is not Christian? How can you say that? Read the Book of Mormon, it is ANOTHER testament of Jesus Christ. As for the Blacks? The have been in the church since the church began, they have held the priesthood since the 70's. It was NOTHING against the black people. They are as much our brothers and sisters as any other race. Race doesn't matter. We are all children of GOD. So, you weren't stating a FACT.
April 17, 2012 at 2:29 pm |
Follow up
Don is ignorant of many things. This post shows how little he knows about Mormons, religions in general and history. Sorry, an organization doesn't need to change because you don't understand or believe in it.
April 17, 2012 at 2:41 pm |
L Morgan
Don – heck all the protestant faiths are only 200-400 years old. What's your point?
April 17, 2012 at 2:43 pm |
rocketscientist
Uh, actually you are "talking bad about them," don, either intentionally or because your very ignorant of the facts. Mormongirl has already corrected you with respect to what you said about the Church's treatment of blacks. As a non-Mormon, I think it was wrong to deny them the priesthood (just like I think many of the things in the Catholic Church's history were very wrong too), but it was rectified decades ago. It's fixed.
And what's wrong with converting Jews if they want to be converted. Or were you talking about the controversy wrt converting departed Jews by the Church via baptism? If you were, then, yes, that's something that I agree they need to stop. In fact, they have apologized for many of these occurences and, I believe, are trying to rectify them from happening again. They are very sensitive and tolerant of other faiths imo.
Finally, despite its relatively short history, I don't see how you can possibly say that Mormonism isn't comparable to Christianity. For Heaven's sake, they use the same King James Bible as all the Protestant Churches do. They just have another gospel with The Book of Mormon. Yes, I understand why many Christians say that Mormons aren't conventional Christians due to the theological differences (which I enjoy learning about and find very interesting), but I strongly object to characterizations that the Church of LDS is a "cult" or that, as you said, it's "not comparable to Christianity." In the most important sense, recognizing that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer, and in the way they live their lives, Mormons are more Christian that most Christians. And that was stated by a Catholic bishop.
April 17, 2012 at 2:48 pm |
derp
Dear gay people, we are sorry for for treating you so badly. We still don't like you, and we don't think you should be allowed the same civil protections that we enjoy, but we hate you less than we used to.
Sincerely, Mormons.
April 17, 2012 at 2:25 pm |
Mormongirl
Where in the world do people get the idea that mormons don't agree that Gay people should have rights? Weddings...no, it is unnatural to the human state, but insurance and rights for children...heck yes!
April 17, 2012 at 2:30 pm |
sam
@mormongirl – 'unnatural'? Thanks for proving the point!
April 17, 2012 at 2:39 pm |
Hmmmmm
Voting against Gay Marriage has nothing to do with "not liking you". Gay members/nonmembers aren't persecuted in the Mormon community as a church protocol. If you know your history, Mormons were kicked, mobbed, persecuted until them moved out west. I think that one state even made it lawful to kill mormons.
April 17, 2012 at 2:50 pm |
derp
"Where in the world do people get the idea that mormons don't agree that Gay people should have rights?"
If you are against legal marriage for gays, you are against them having the same civil rights that you enjoy. It's really not that complicated. Are you not smart enough to understand that?
April 17, 2012 at 3:07 pm |
johngeisler
Dont let this fool you they will not let gay members be in there church they ex com them I know my parents were mormons i was kicked out and they still knock on my door regulary too save me ?Eye see u
April 17, 2012 at 2:23 pm |
L J
just as so many theist groups have done for centuries, do what favors your group's pocket book and call it something else to look good – and so many are still so blind to see this ...
God is a loving God and wants to reconcile gays and other sinners with himself. However, in his presence there is infinite life and light, which is hot compatible with any death and darkness. Regretably gayness belongs not to God genuine plan for the mankind and hence, if you want to return to God, you must accept that he will release you from your weakness.
Dear gay, God delivered his Son for your gayness and all your other sins and for my sins and he raised Jesus from the dead to give us a new llfe of divine love and righteousness. How about that?
I myself am a Protestant, which tries to keep the genuine doctrine of the Early Church.
I don't hate and judge gays outside the church (even inside the church I don't hate them, but there they need a special treatment). It is only, if they want to join the Christian Church, they have to repent before.
Assumed my workmate, relative, neighbour, etc. would be a gay, I would treat him friendly nevertheless. Only if he would go to church, I would admonish him privatly and tell him he should repent.
Why should a gay church member repent?
Gayness is one of many sins, which is an indicator for our alienation from the Lord, the eternal God, which has made heaven and earth. Inside the Church there should stay only people, which are reconciled with God.
A church, which wants to be connected with the genuine Early Church, has to keep this.
A church, which tolerates gayness in her midst is no Christian Church, but has apostated from her Lord.
I repeat, I don't refer to gays outside the church, but inside the church.
Gays, outside the church, I shall not admonish, but treat kindly (however, if a talk about Jesus develops, I may confess the truth, that God, the Father, delivered his Son for our sins and raised him from the dead for our justification, in oder to set us free form every sin and give us a life of love and righteousness).
Everybody, who hates and judges gays, should ask himself, if he is sinless and consider that even the sinless Jesus did not judge the sinners, but offered the gospel of deliverance, in oder to set them free:
Romans 1:
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: 32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Dear gays, Christ died for your sins and suffered a horrible death for you, furthermore he resurrected for you, in order to set you free. Can you remain gay regarding Christ's atonement for you?
April 17, 2012 at 2:22 pm |
Gustavo Flores
you are one of those so called devoted narrow minded christians that would send anyone different than yourself to their death by crucifixion
April 17, 2012 at 2:30 pm |
YeahRight
This is a typical evangelical response not based on the real facts of TODAY. The scholars have even proven that posters like this idiot are taking the scriptures literally and they lack the reading comprehension skills of putting it into historical context to get the true meaning. What the bible actually condemns is male prostitution, idolatry and bad hospitality, it has nothing to do with what we know and understand about gays today.
April 17, 2012 at 2:31 pm |
derp
Dear gay, bigfoot delivered his Son for your gayness and all your other sins and for my sins and he raised chewbacca from the dead to give us a new llfe of divine love and righteousness. How about that?
Sounds awesome!!!
April 17, 2012 at 2:32 pm |
Primewonk
" God is a loving God"
Bullshít. Your god commands that you go and kill gay folks. Don't see much love there.
April 17, 2012 at 2:34 pm |
Gregory L. Faith
A whole lot of nothing about a whole lot of nothing. If the church allows gays into the fold, it should have years ago. The Mormon Church cannot be a real church since it bans people from coming in and practicing their faith. Any church that bans anyone, is not a real church, period! And I'm a non member of any church.
April 17, 2012 at 2:39 pm |
ABC
Dear you,
Can you show me a scripture where it clearly states that BEING GAY IS A SIN? Since you know so much what God considers a sin, can you please show me this? And then maybe I can understand your point here.
Also, are you free from sin? No one is. EVERYBODY IS A SINNER and the Bible states that, but I don't believe that being gay is a sin. If you can show me otherwise, maybe I can reconsider that opinion.
Lastly, can you please further explain what you mean by your statement referring to gays in the church? Just because they are gay, does not mean that they do not have the right to attend church. In addition, don't you believe that your way of thinking and judgement will only further turn them away from the church?
I know many well-rounded, God loving, great people who ARE GAY. Being gay does not make you a bad person and it does NOT change your relationship with God. But it doesn't matter because it is their individual relationship with God, you do not need to worry about or judge their relationship with God.
#ONLYGodCanJudgeMe
April 17, 2012 at 2:45 pm |
ATLmatt
Forgiveness should not only be requested in word but also in deed. Perhaps showing some support to make gay marriage legal in CA... undo the damage.
April 17, 2012 at 2:22 pm |
Jim
The conman joseph smith still a treasure digger even today, this time the power of the President.
April 17, 2012 at 2:21 pm |
boocat
And some people in this country are dumb enough to fall for this....sad...
April 17, 2012 at 2:21 pm |
Rich
Once again the Mormon church strays from Biblical teachings
April 17, 2012 at 2:21 pm |
Doc Vestibule
You can't stray from Bibilical teachings if you write your own bible.
April 17, 2012 at 2:30 pm |
BetterOption
Where did they stray from bible teachings...?
April 17, 2012 at 2:31 pm |
sam
I sense Rick is gonna drop a cherry picked bible verse on us in 3...2...1....
April 17, 2012 at 2:41 pm |
Jeffer65
It's called an election year and one of the Presidential candidates just happens to be a Mormon. Oh the irony!
April 17, 2012 at 2:20 pm |
LB Colorado
No temple for them.
April 17, 2012 at 2:20 pm |
WachetAuf
The innerrant word of God? Where do you find it?
April 17, 2012 at 2:20 pm |
Primewonk
Inside the mind of the fundiots. They each believe they hold the key to the one true interpretation.
April 17, 2012 at 2:23 pm |
Inis Magrath
The inerrant word of God is in MY bible, silly.
My Bible, my God, my faith, my religion, they are the only one and true faith of the one and only true God. Oh, and I forgot to mention, you will burn in fire for all eternity if you don't accept my Bible, my God, my faith and my religion.
See? It's simple.
April 17, 2012 at 4:50 pm |
angel611
The Mormon church is just trying to get more votes for their famous member, so he can be thier Mormon President.
Nothing else.
April 17, 2012 at 2:19 pm |
Jacques Strappe, World Famous French Ball Carrier
Can you tell me what policies Romney had as a governor in MA that would lead you to believe that he would put religious ideas into his policies?
April 17, 2012 at 2:58 pm |
Mike
This means that there will another revelation around the corner. Firsth there was the revelation about polygamy so Utah could attain statehood and then the revelation about black people not being the mark of cain. Soon the LDS will have a revelation that it really is okay to be gay. Their beliefs change with the times.
April 17, 2012 at 2:19 pm |
Primewonk
Yeah, but where do they stand now on Native Americans being a lost tribe of Israel?
April 17, 2012 at 2:27 pm |
Dave
Mocking what is right is a very good way of not having to do it. It's amazing how confused some of the negative commenters sound when they talk about what they've "heard" or "read", presumably from some of the equally confused anti-mormom websites out there. Your arguments will sound much more credible if you actually learn about the LDS church and use THOSE facts in your argument. The leader of the church is Jesus Christ, the name of the church includes the name Jesus Christ, and members worship Jesus, God, and use the New King James version of the bible for their beliefs. Oh my, how cultish...
April 17, 2012 at 2:18 pm |
Colin
Dave, to quick questions
Did the Mormon Church support polygamy and only give it up to get statehood?
Did the Mormon Church only admit black people recently as a result of political pressure?
Here is a quote from Brigham Young that may help refresh your memory on the latter point.
“You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind....Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin.”
Or, try this one: "Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so."
I am glad it changed, but don't try to sweep its disgusting history under the mat. That's the trouble with Mormonism, Catholicism and other beliefs that claim to know immtable truths. You look silly as society develops.
April 17, 2012 at 2:26 pm |
EricSF
So why don't they let other Christians go inside their temples?
April 17, 2012 at 2:27 pm |
budshot
Total BS. They have a Mormon running for president. This is a PR stunt in an effort to try and get him in office. This is a leopard that will not change its spots.
April 17, 2012 at 2:18 pm |
boocat
I agree.
April 17, 2012 at 2:19 pm |
Mormongirl
The CHURCH has never changed their stance on this subject! We don't care if Mitt Romney is President. He is a Mormon, so what? I have voted for Catholics! The mormons are nothing but loving, caring, responsible, faith filled, moral people! Do your homework before you lash out!
April 17, 2012 at 2:22 pm |
TruthPrevails :-)
I would have to agree with MormonGirl. I have yet to meet a Mormon who holds the same hatred for those of us who don't believe as Catholics/Protestants do (not saying all are hate filled).
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.
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No, no…I’m ready for the temperatures to start feeling like fall. I’m talking about heat in your workouts!
That’s right! There’s a BRAND-NEW program that was just released, and I’ve been dying to tell you about it!! Do you love country music? Do you love grooving out to a beat?! Are you looking to crank up your current fitness results, or begin a program that feels like way more FUN than exercise?! If you said yes to any of those, this might be the PERFECT opportunity for you!
I’m looking for 5-10 women to join my test group! Because this program just launched, I will be doing it alongside you, and I want to see how AWESOME of results we can all find from this new workout program! I’ve been told the results are overall even better than the 21 day fix (and it’s led by the same trainer), so I’m pretty stoked about it!! Here are some before and afters! Seriously these results BLOW ME AWAY, because the workouts are so fun and don’t really feel like working out!
((((((Also…it’s NOT line dancing. And it also doesn’t require tons of coordination. I mean if I can do it, anyone can! Have you ever seen me dance?!! No? There’s a reason for that, haha! 😂And I’ll be doing it while in my 3rd trimester!)))))
Here’s what it entails:
>> 30 days
>> 30 min workouts each day
>> simple to follow nutrition plan that can easily be sustained long-term. This is a plan that won’t leave you feeling deprived!
>> An amazingly delicious nutrition-packed shake each day
>> ME as your coach, and my team to cheer you and keep you motivated in an exclusive group. It’s our goal for you FINISH and see amazing results!
We will kick off on August 8th, so the earlier you get registered the better! Message me for more info, or click on this link to apply!
The end of a month is always such an emotional high for me! It marks the end of a month’s fitness challenge, and I am left awed and humbled by the results shared, victories celebrated, pounds and inches lost, and testimonies of the power of eating healthy foods in just the right proportion.
Finishing a 21 day fitness challenge is not easy for some. It requires hard work, dedication and perseverance. But the programs I use are proven to work, as I’ve seen month after month! Everyone in the groups committed to their particular workout program (most were doing 21 day fix, Hammer & Chisel, or PiYo), following the nutrition plan, and participating in the group for accountability each day. In April, I ran two separate groups; one was focused on becoming summer strong, and the other was oriented around faith & fitness. I am so very proud of the 32 women who were a part of those groups, and for sharing their lives and stories with each other throughout the month!
Oh how I wish every one in the group would let me share their before and after pics with you, because they are REMARKABLE!!! Whether pounds lost was jaw-dropping, or pounds stayed the same and inches were lost, I am blown away by their results! I will share a couple with you, as well as a few testimonies of how the groups left a strong impact on the women.
First up, Natalie! Natalie has been a part of my groups for a few months now (and even leads a group of her own each month!), and her results are so inspiring to me! She is a busy mama of toddler twins, runs a couple of her own businesses at home, and has found these groups to add so much value to her life – far beyond just gaining a smoking hot mama bod! It is NOT easy getting in shape after a full-term twin pregnancy, and she proves that anything is possible with hard work and determination!!
>>>From another mama in the group:
My stomach is the thing that I have always been most sensitive about. I was actually doing pretty good in that area before the 21 day fix, however, I couldn’t quite get it to where it is today. I worked my butt off in the gym too. Why? Because I wasn’t educated, and didn’t have the discipline to eat what I needed to. This group helped to achieve that! And for all the moms – it is so hard after pregnancy. I started day 2 after having my 2 child, Tucker, and it took me about a little over a year to get to where I am. That is without a good eating plan. I hope this is encouraging and helps you all to continue on the journey to get to where you want to be!”
>>> “I think what was most valuable to me about this group, or my biggest takeaway was the way it created healthy routines for me. I definitely didn’t always want to workout, but staying accountable to a group of people made me do it! Thank you to both coaches for being so supportive and available to us.”
>>”I definitely enjoyed the group aspect the most. It’s been so encouraging knowing you and everyone else has my back and being able to encourage others on. As a mom, it can get pretty lonely and hearing from others all over the place in the same boat and having the same love of Jesus and health goals, it’s very powerful. I’ve learned that food should be under control and that God should be my true comfort, not potato chips.😉 And I’ve lost weight! I can feel I’m stronger and it’s so great to be where I am only 6 months after having my second child where I was after over 2 years after my first born. I’m excited now to face this year knowing I can do this and look forward to being even more fit and energetic with my family.”
>>>”Even when I didn’t comment I read the comments of others. I’m a pleaser so knowing others were persevering kept me keeping on. It so transformed my eating. I WANT to maintain good eating habits. It was a lot of work to plan the meals and that was something I hadn’t done for a really long time. But I’m proof you can do this. BUT without the support of this group I doubt I would have stayed focused.”
>>>”This challenge has given me a lot… It gave me a safe network of like-minded woman to feel connected to for this month and it gave me a newfound confidence bc I was focusing on bettering myself, which in turn betters my family! I recently stepped out of my comfort zone twice for events and I’m not sure I would have had prior to this group/challenge!”
CONGRATULATIONS to all who were a part of my April groups! You ROCKED!!
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+++ You live(d) together with a heart sick Labrador Retriever? Please get in touch with us!
+++
Last but not least we would like to give you some important advice – if you decide for a dog from a breeder and not from
an animal shelter – which should help you choose the right dog for you.
Please only buy a Labrador Retriever which was bred by one of the worldwideFCIrecognized
associations. In Germany it is eitherLCD(Labradorclub Deutschland e.V.) orDRC(Deutscher Retriever Club e.V.). In SwitzerlandRCS(Retriever Club Schweiz) is an association which is supported by the FCI. Please
do not support a breeder who irresponsible breeds dogs. Just by doing that you really can make sure that Labrador Retriever are still going to be bred with strict rules regarding health and
creature.
Independently from the predisposition regarding the tricuspid valve dysplasia or other heart diseases, it is necessary
that you watch out that the dam as well as the stud of your potential puppy is not suffering fromHD or ED. Furthermore the dogs’ health regardingEIC, CNM and
prcd-PRAshould be confirmed. Please also pay attention to the dams and studs siblings. A good breeder can give
you information regarding these topics which you can also look up – if available – at the database from each association. In addition you should inform yourself about the already existing breeds
from the dam as well as the stud. The health of those dogs can be a good indicator regarding the sire-quality of their parents.
Regarding the possible heart diseases we would urgently recommend that you ask the breeder for an ultrasound to prove
that the dam and the stud have healthy hearts. Have a look at the according results! If either the dam or the stud had puppies before make sure you ask for their ultrasound results as well. Not
all health results are recorded in the databases and not all breeder release sicknesses of their dogs on their webpage. We would only choose a breeder that is open about sicknesses in their
breed! Furthermore you should precisely look at the line breeding of your planned dog and at least be careful if some middle-aged ancestors have died.
Unfortunately many breeders do not (yet) get an ultrasound of their dogs’ hearts because a heart ultrasound is not
mandatory for breeding in Germany. Even though in the U.S. heart ultrasounds for Labrador Retriever are not mandatory as well, almost every breeding dog from theLabradorclub in the U.S.gets a cardiologic examination. Why there and not here in Germany? It really doesn’t make any sense for us.
Especially with diseases – compared to the in Germany mandatory dental chart
report – which holds for the affected dog serious health effects as well as for the owner severe emotional and financial consequences, a responsible breeder should attach
great importance to get his breeding dogs examined. According to the animal cardiologists from theCollegium Cardiologicum e.V.tricuspid valve dysplasia – similar to HD and ED – belongs to the
Labrador Retriever breed predispositions and even some other heart diseases matter. Without necessary requirements of the breeding regarding this matter nobody is obligated to get an
ultrasound not to mention to release a negative ultrasound result or to register the disease to the association’s database. This makes it difficult to get an idea about which dog
is clear or affected in some way.
Sadly it is a vicious circle: as long as a small amount of affected dogs are made public the necessity of heart
ultrasounds for Labrador Retriever are not enough being communicated. As long as the necessity is not communicated no further dogs can be identified with the disease…
However, there are some positive and excellent examples as well:
There are breeders and stud-owners that precautionary get their dogs examined by ultrasound and publish the results on
their webpage. A little more effort while searching for a breeder is hopefully rewarded with a long shared life.
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In the present day, beamline ion implanters employ multiple components to direct an ion beam from an ion source to a substrate. In order to properly treat a substrate, the ion beam may be accelerated or decelerated to a target ion energy, and may have the trajectory and shape of the ion beam manipulated by various beamline components to produce a set of target characteristics of the ion beam at the substrate. In many types of ion implanters, including medium energy and low energy ion implanters, an ion source may generate an ion beam that is guided down a beamline at a relatively high energy, while decelerated to a final energy just before impacting a substrate. This procedure is used because a best way to produce high current beams (having current more than≈1 mA) at low energy (under≈10 keV) is to transport an ion beam at a relatively higher energy through ion extraction, mass analysis and other beamline elements, before deceleration takes place to a final energy at the latest possible stage before striking the substrate. Such low energy high current beams will not transport for long distances in a beamline because of space charge forces that cause the ions to repel one another. In known ion implanters, the architecture with deceleration near the wafer introduces a risk of energy contamination from energetic species that strike the substrate. In particular, ions that are neutralized in the volume just before or during a final deceleration will continue to propagate with no change in energy, and may accordingly strike the wafer (substrate) at a higher energy than intended.
In some ion implanters, this problem is addressed by providing a bend within a component such as a deceleration stage so that neutrals traveling through the deceleration stage may be screened from the substrate by virtue of the bend in the deceleration stage. While neutrals traveling in a straight direction may fail to reach the substrate, energy contamination is found even in ion implanters having a bend in a deceleration stage.
With respect to these and other considerations the present disclosure is provided.
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Purification and properties of hyaluronidase from Hippasa partita (funnel web spider) venom gland extract.
Spider venom is a complex mixture of protein and peptide toxins. Hyaluronidase a 'spreading factor' has not been studied extensively in spider venom. In this paper, we describe the purification and characterization of a hyaluronidase from Hippasa partita venom gland extract. Hyaluronidase (HPHyal) has been purified by the successive chromatography on a Sephadex G-100 and on CM-Sephadex C-25 columns. HPHyal has been purified to an extent of about approximately 20-folds. The molecular mass was found to be 42.26 kDa by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. HPHyal was optimally active at pH 5.8 at 37 degrees C and in the presence of 300 mM NaCl in the reaction mixture. HPHyal showed absolute specificity for hyaluronan and belongs to neutral active group of enzymes. HPHyal revealed single-precipitin line, while venom gland extract revealed multiple bands in Western blotting with the antiserum prepared against venom gland extract. HPHyal indirectly potentiates the myotoxicity of VRV-PL-VIII myotoxin and also the hemorrhagic potency of hemorrhagic complex-I. Cations, Na(+) and K(+) enhanced the activity and chloride ions do not have any effect while, divalent cations, inhibited the enzyme activity.
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— An estimated 10 years worth of trash was recently discovered along the banks of Falls Lake, which provides drinking water for the City of Raleigh. The enormous cache of litter and garbage was previously unknown to officials. It was recently discovered by a runner.
"I was actually running out here one day, saw some of the trash, started to explore and couldn’t believe what I was seeing," said Joe McClernon, a scout leader with Cub Scout Pack 424 at Immaculate Conception Church in Durham.
Everywhere he looked, he saw trash.
McClernon contacted Keep Durham Beautiful, saying he had found a field of trash of epic proportions along the lake's shore in the northeastern part of Durham County near the Mountains to the Sea trail.
Plastic motor oil containers, household cleaners, medicine bottles, gasoline containers and even full cans of paint cover the shore. The trash is piled so high the sound of plastic crunches beneath the overgrowth with every footstep.
"We had often speculated on where all the littered trash was collecting," said Ian Pond, an official from the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association. He knew the litter they missed had to be accumulating somewhere, and now they've discovered it.
"So all of that pollution is now in the water," Pond said.
How does all the trash get into Falls Lake?
According to Pond, the trash flows down Ellerbe Creek and enters Falls Lake. From there, it gets swept by the westerly winds into the tree line, where it's lifted up in the high water. When the water level drops, everything then gets trapped in the undergrowth and covered by years of fallen leaves.
"This is built up over years, probably decades," said Pond. "We’ve got to stop this getting into the waterway in the first place. That’s the only way to deal with this problem."
Cleaning the trash is only a temporary solution. Volunteers could clean for the next decade and still not keep up with the flow of oncoming garbage.
Volunteers tackle "a trash field of epic proportions"
Volunteers help Pond remain hopeful, even when he sees hundreds of bags of trash sitting along the banks.
"When volunteers came out to tackle this, they literally didn’t have to walk," he said. "They’d come in with a trash bag and a grabber, and you literally stand still and pick."
So far, about 120 people with Keep Durham Beautiful and a scout troop have helped clean up. They've filled roughly 500 bags, and officials believe they will be approaching 3,000 bags before finishing the project.
"It is discouraging, but it also means we have to do something about it," he said. He is hoping this story will encourage more volunteers to come lend a hand.
The community can work together to have clean water
"Falls Lake provides drinking water for the City of Raleigh. The less litter and debris that’s in the water, the cleaner it’ll be, and the tastier it’ll be," said Tania Dautlick, executive director for Keep Durham Beautiful.
She said she would like to see the community work together to have zero tolerance for litter. "Any litter that's on the street," she said, "washes into the storm drain and goes directly to our surface waters."
After 10 years of polluting Falls Lake, this field of trash will finally have a chance to be cleaned, but only if the community works together – both to clean it up and to prevent litter from getting in our streams in the first place.
Viewers who would like to help clean up at Falls Lake as individuals or as groups can contact Keep Durham Beautiful for more information on how to get involved.
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White House chief of staff John Kelly listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting on tax policy with business leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
White House chief of staff John Kelly listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting on tax policy with business leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
WASHINGTON (AP) — In his three months on the job, John Kelly has been credited with bringing order to a chaotic West Wing, but don’t call him a moderate. President Donald Trump’s chief of staff was the enforcer of Trump’s controversial immigration policies, has frequently criticized the president’s enemies, and this week echoed his boss’ defense of Confederate monuments.
It all suggests that “The Chief,” as he is known among aides, may have instilled order, but he is more ideologically aligned with Trump than many believed.
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Much has been made of the imagery of Kelly silently lurking on the sidelines of presidential addresses, seeming to cringe when Trump gets out of line. But it may be wishful thinking by Trump’s critics to believe that he’s tugging the president in another direction.
White House officials and Kelly allies say he is not so much partisan as he is ideological, holding hawkish views on issues like immigration and national security.
One ally, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations, said Kelly was undoubtedly conservative in mindset. The ally said Kelly’s striking Oct. 19 press conference lamenting the nation’s diminishing respect for women, religion and Gold Star families bared his true feelings.
Kelly also has proven to be no stranger to controversy. His defense of Confederate monuments Monday in an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham eclipsed even earlier comments by Trump, as he praised Confederate commander Gen. Robert E. Lee.
“I would tell you that Robert E. Lee was an honorable man,” Kelly told Ingraham. “He was a man that gave up his country to fight for his state, which 150 years ago was more important than country. It was always loyalty to state first back in those days. Now it’s different today. But the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War, and men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand where their conscience had them make their stand.”
Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., a frequent critic of the administration, said in a statement that Kelly “needs a history lesson” for ignoring slavery as the root cause of the conflict.
“He is starting to sound a lot like his boss,” Richmond said.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended Kelly’s comments, citing a single historian’s assessment of the war’s roots.
“I’m not going to get up here and re-litigate the Civil War,” Sanders said.
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And White House spokesman Raj Shah credits Kelly with ensuring Trump gets “the best counsel and can continue making the right decisions for the American people.”
Kelly’s star rose in the Trump orbit earlier this year in part because of the worldview he shares with the president. A retired Marine general who led the U.S. Southern Command, Kelly moved swiftly to enforce — and then defend — the president’s controversial travel ban, which remains tied up in litigation.
And Trump credited Kelly, then the secretary of Homeland Security, for his tough talk on illegal immigration.
In a speech in April, Kelly told lawmakers to “shut up and support the men and women on the front lines,” and to change immigration laws if they don’t agree with how they are being enforced. The previous month, he announced that his department was considering separating families crossing the border illegally in a bid to deter their migration.
Trump took to marveling at statistics showing reduced crossings along the nation’s southern border, and credited Kelly as his most effective Cabinet secretary, officials said.
Kelly has also made clear he shares Trump’s frustration with the media, mocking anonymously sourced stories of palace intrigue and what he perceives to be a negative tone in coverage. At the Coast Guard Academy commencement on May 17, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kelly joked that Trump ought to take a gifted ceremonial sword and “use it on the press.”
After Trump drew criticism for the tone of his call with the widow of a fallen service member, Kelly angrily attacked Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., who had described the president’s conversation with the widow to reporters.
He went on to deliver a factually inaccurate condemnation of a speech Wilson had given years earlier, accusing her of using the families of fallen law enforcement officers for political gain and referring to the congresswoman as an “empty barrel.”
Kelly told Ingraham he had nothing to apologize for: “For something like that, absolutely not. I stand by my comments.”
Since his arrival in the White House on July 31, Kelly has focused his efforts on tightening the flow of information to the president and reforming the administration’s decision-making processes. But he has insisted that his role is not to manage Trump, but to manage those around him.
“I was not sent in to, or brought in to control him,” Kelly told reporters on Oct. 12. “And you should not measure my effectiveness as a chief of staff by what you think I should be doing.”
Kelly declined a request to be interviewed.
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2018-2019 Goldsmith Early Childhood Center Registration
We look forward to having your child(ren) in our program for the 2018-2019 school year. The form below will guide you through our online enrollment application. Enrollment is accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis. If your desired class is unavailable, you will be contacted with alternative choices.
The registration deposit for each child is $310, which will be credited towards your full tuition. The link will automatically direct you to our payment portal. Please note that your registration is not complete without the deposit payment.
We are in the midst of our Goldsmith Early Childhood Center "Operation Facelift" and know that you will enjoy the improvements, new furnishings, and new ideas that the 2018-2019 school year will bring.
Shalom,Michelle Gold, Director
Parent #1 Name*
FirstLast
Parent #1 Cell Phone*
Parent #1 Home Phone*
Parent #1 Work Phone
Parent #1 Email Address*
This is also the email address at which you would like to be contacted.
Parent #1 Mailing Address*
This is the primary mailing address for the student.
Street AddressAddress Line 2CityStateZIP Code
Parent #2 Name
FirstLast
Parent #2 Cell Phone
Parent #2 Home Phone
Parent #2 Work Phone
Parent #2 Email Address
Does Parent #2 have a separate mailing address?
Yes
No
Parent #2 Mailing Address*
Street AddressAddress Line 2CityStateZIP Code
Emergency Contact Name*
Please enter an emergency contact in case we are unable to reach you directly.
FirstLast
Emergency Contact Phone*
Emergency Contact Email Address*
Do you have any other children in Chizuk Amuno schools?*
Yes
No
In which other schools do you have children enrolled?*
Krieger Schechter Day School
Rosenbloom Religious School
Achshav or Netivon High School
Are you members of Chizuk Amuno?*
Yes, we are members of Chizuk Amuno Congregation
No, we are members of another synagogue or unaffiliated
Of which synagogue are you a member?
Would you like someone to contact you regarding membership at Chizuk Amuno?*
Yes, please contact me regarding Chizuk Amuno membership
No thanks, I am not interested in membership at this time
Child #1 Name*
FirstLast
Child #1 Hebrew Name
Name
Child #1 Birthday*
Child #1 Gender*
Male
Female
Child #1 Allergy, Dietary, and Medical Information*
Does your child have any special allergy, dietary, or medical needs that the school should be aware of? If yes, please use the space below to expand.
No health concerns
Child #1 Program Selection - Chizuk Amuno Member*
The full tuition is listed next to each class. Please note that only the $310 deposit will be charged at this time.
Child #1 Program Selection - Member of Another Synagogue/Unaffiliated*
The full tuition is listed next to each class. Please note that only the $310 deposit will be charged at this time.
Child #1 Early Arrival
Early Arrival is available from 7:30am-9:00am, Monday-Friday, for $280 per day selected. Each day selection covers the entire 2018-2019 school year. Early Arrival will also be available on an "as-needed" basis for $15 daily. This item will not be charged upon completion of this registration. Please note there is no substituting once selections have been made.
Monday ($280)
Tuesday ($280)
Wednesday ($280)
Thursday ($280)
Friday ($280)
KSDS FAMILIES ONLY - Monday, 7:30am-8:15am ($125)
KSDS FAMILIES ONLY - Tuesday, 7:30am-8:15am ($125)
KSDS FAMILIES ONLY - Wednesday, 7:30am-8:15am ($125)
KSDS FAMILIES ONLY - Thursday, 7:30am-8:15am ($125)
KSDS FAMILIES ONLY - Friday, 7:30am-8:15am ($125)
Child #1 Extended Stay
Extended Stay is available from 3:00pm-6:00pm, Monday-Thursday, and 3:00pm-5:00pm on Friday, for $565 per day selected. Each day selection covers the entire 2018-2019 school year. This item will not be charged upon completion of this registration. Please note there is no substituting once selections have been made.
Monday ($565)
Tuesday ($565)
Wednesday ($565)
Thursday ($565)
Friday ($565)
Are you interested in enrolling a second child today?*
Yes
No
Child #2 Name*
FirstLast
Child #2 Hebrew Name
Name
Child #2 Birthday*
Child #2 Gender*
Male
Female
Child #2 Allergy, Dietary, and Medical Information*
Does your child have any special allergy, dietary, or medical needs that the school should be aware of? If yes, please use the space below to expand.
No health concerns
Child #2 Program Selection - Chizuk Amuno Member*
The full tuition is listed next to each class. Please note that only the $310 deposit will be charged at this time.
Child #2 Program Selection - Member of Another Synagogue/Unaffiliated*
The full tuition is listed next to each class. Please note that only the $310 deposit will be charged at this time.
Child #2 Early Arrival
Early Arrival is available from 7:30am-9:00am, Monday-Friday, for $280 per day selected. Each day selection covers the entire 2018-2019 school year. Early Arrival will also be available on an "as-needed" basis for $15 daily. This item will not be charged upon completion of this registration. Please note there is no substituting once selections have been made.
Monday ($280)
Tuesday ($280)
Wednesday ($280)
Thursday ($280)
Friday ($280)
KSDS FAMILIES ONLY - Monday, 7:30am-8:15am ($125)
KSDS FAMILIES ONLY - Tuesday, 7:30am-8:15am ($125)
KSDS FAMILIES ONLY - Wednesday, 7:30am-8:15am ($125)
KSDS FAMILIES ONLY - Thursday, 7:30am-8:15am ($125)
KSDS FAMILIES ONLY - Friday, 7:30am-8:15am ($125)
Child #2 Extended Stay
Extended Stay is available from 3:00pm-6:00pm, Monday-Thursday, and 3:00pm-5:00pm on Friday, for $565 per day selected. Each day selection covers the entire 2018-2019 school year. This item will not be charged upon completion of this registration. Please note there is no substituting once selections have been made.
Monday ($565)
Tuesday ($565)
Wednesday ($565)
Thursday ($565)
Friday ($565)
Photo Release*
I hereby allow Chizuk Amuno Congregation (CAC) to use print and digital pictures and videos of my child(ren) taken at CAC events in digital and print publicity and marketing for Chizuk Amuno and Goldsmith Early Childhood Center. I understand that my child's full name will NEVER appear next to his/her picture and the pictures will only be used to promote CAC and Goldsmith Early Childhood Center or for educational materials.
Yes, I give permission for my child(ren)'s image to be used as described above
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ruggles at dyron
-----Original Message-----
From: Landry, Chad
Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2001 10:34 AM
To: Bass, Eric; Blanchard, Timothy; Hull, Bryan; Lenhart, Matthew; '[email protected]'; '[email protected]'; '[email protected]'; Gillette, Lisa
Subject: RE: Happy Hour
you mean: "Ruggles ENEGY Field" (Enron + Dynegy)
ckl
-----Original Message-----
From: Bass, Eric
Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2001 10:20 AM
To: Blanchard, Timothy; Hull, Bryan; Lenhart, Matthew; Landry, Chad; '[email protected]'; '[email protected]'; '[email protected]'; Gillette, Lisa
Subject: RE: Happy Hour
Anybody up for happy hour at Ruggles Enron Field after work?
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Q:
jQuery function for specific class
I am running a custom loop in a wordpress page that should list all the shoes in one category as well as the color selectors. I got the loop running just fine, and page looks ok. But I have a big problem with jQuery script that changes the images.
Each post has:
Several images of different colored shoes and selectors for colors - different shoes have a different number of colors (you can see a demo at: http://www.etfovac.com/testbed/shoe/ - the final page should look like this http://www.etfovac.com/testbed/shoe/mockup.jpg )
my jQ function looks like this (for the testbed page)
$(document).ready(function() {
$(".colorwrap a").click(function(){
var a = $(this).attr("rel");
$(".cipela-1, .cipela-2, .cipela-3, .cipela-4").slideUp('slow');
$("."+a).slideDown("slow");
});
$(".cipela-1").slideDown("slow");
});
But it changes the picture of every shoe on the page.
I can hardcode it in the function so it selects cipela 1 thru 50
What would be a better way to do this?
A:
Dont do slideDown in all the items with that class. Only do the childs of current elements parent. Use the closest() function
$(document).ready(function() {
$(".colorwrap a").click(function(){
var item=$(this);
var a = item.attr("rel");
item.closest(".post").find(".cipela-1, .cipela-2, .cipela-3, .cipela-4").slideUp('slow');
item.closest(".post").find("."+a).slideDown("slow");
});
$(".cipela-1").slideDown("slow");
});
Working sample http://jsfiddle.net/rXB5G/16/
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Q:
What do you prefer ? Writing a Wordpress plugin or child theme?
What think to be consider when you prefer coding a solution in form of child theme rather then in form of a plugin ?
A:
Themes and plugins solve different problems: plugins are for business logic, themes for presentation. They are not interchangeable. I prefer the right tool for the right job. :)
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Product Information
Details
The Garlando Olympic Outdoor Foosball Table is a commercial grade table. It uses the anti-break glass perfectly sealing the playfield area preventing tampering with the game and theft of balls while reducing the playing noise and keeping the playing area clean. The cabinet is constructed of 1-1/4” multi-layer plywood coated with plastic laminate. The upper cabinet is grey with wood veins and a black lower cabinet. The table structure is kept together by metal plates and brackets fastened by screws and bolts for easy replacing of all parts, even the wooden ones. The 4-inch square legs are coated with long-lasting silver paint. Heavy duty leg levelers provide a perfectly flat playfield on all surfaces. Equipped with telescopic safety rods. The bars are fixed to the cabinet by nylon ball bearings. Detachable playing field: two locks enable to detach the playing field from the cabinet upper part for easy cleaning and parts replacing. The cabinet can be opened to reach the inside. Its upper part is kept up by a wooden support bracket which prevents falling during maintenance and cash-box emptying: all operations can be carried out with full safety. The ball release mechanism is comprised of singularly replaceable part for easy maintenance. Color coordinated abacus scorers. Glass/bottle holders. Standard mechanical pull-lever coin mechanism, can be set for any coin or token and releases all balls at once. 10 white Standard balls supplied with the table, for increased visibility below the glass.
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Art & Photography
Sugar Loaf, NY (OCLT): A new multimedia exhibition featuring the Orange County Land Trust’s public nature preserves will open on Friday, November 6. An Opening Reception will be held from 6-8 pm at the Seligmann Center for the Arts in Sugar Loaf.
Preserves for the People is a new project by artist Robert Skinner that explores the natural beauty of the Land Trust's nature preserves with an emphasis on the connection between nature and the human spirit.
The exhibit includes a variety of photographs and aerial video footage focusing on the preserves and the people that seek enjoyment and pleasure in visiting and stewarding the land, including volunteers and casual hikers.
“By capturing and documenting these lands and the people drawn to them, I hope to instill a greater appreciation for nature and how much we rely on the outdoors for rejuvenation, relaxation and overall well-being,” stated Robert Skinner. A number of Land Trust preserves will be showcased, including those in the Towns of Hamptonburgh, Wallkill, Chester, Blooming Grove, Greenville and Warwick.
The exhibit, which will be on display until November 14, was made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Mid-Hudson.
The Seligmann Center for the Arts is located at 23 White Oak Drive in Sugar Loaf. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 9 am – 5 pm, and weekends by appointment only.
Robert Skinner is a social documentary and commercial photographer whose work has appeared in numerous regional galleries, and in publications such as Dupont Fine Home Registry, Christies Great Estates, Sotheby’s International, 201 Magazine, Arts and Crafts Homes, New Jersey Life, Design NJ, and Down East. His most recent project, Salt of the Earth, focuses on the farmers and farm families who worked with the Orange County Land Trust to protect their land from future development.
Since 1993, Orange County Land Trust has helped preserve over 5,000 acres of land in communities throughout Orange County. These lands include working farms, wildlife habitat, scenic ridgelines and natural landscapes. The Land Trust owns and stewards over 1,000 acres of land including several nature preserves, which are open to the public for hiking and other forms of passive recreation. For more information, visit www.oclt.org.
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Carbon encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles for biomedical applications: thermal stability studies.
Carbon encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles may find many prospective biomedical applications, e.g., in drug and gene delivery systems, disease detection, cancer therapy, rapid toxic cleaning, biochemical sensing, and magnetic resonance imaging. Each of these applications hinges on the relationship between magnetic fields and biological systems. Herein we present the results on the thermal stability of carbon encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles. The products were synthesized by using induction radio frequency (RF) thermal plasma. Phase composition and morphology were studied by powder X-ray diffraction and HRTEM, respectively. Thermal stability was investigated by thermogravimetry and differential thermal analyses. Carbon nanostructures were thermally stable up to 500 K.
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Hi Everyone! :)
Happy Valentine’s Day! <3
I have a couple of looks to show you today:
I found this gorgeous light pink nail polish from Catrice called Apropos Coco and thought it was perfect for Valentine’s Day. Of course, I had to add a little sparkle to it. So I added the little heart using Barry M Rose Quartz and the rhinestones because they matched the glitter. I thought it was a very sweet, girly mani.
Next, I have a purple stripe heart mani because it was requested by Margaret after I posted this Sinful Colors mani.
I wanted to make it a bit different so that I wasn’t repeating myself so I did ombre hearts.
I used, from pinkie to index, Nails Inc Duchess Street, China Glaze Creative Fantasy, Bella Pierre Lavender and Sinful Colors Beverly Hills. The white is Deborah Lippman Amazing Grace.
I did a dotted heart on my thumb with the same purple polishes and really liked how it turned out. (I sometimes experiment on my thumb because you never see it :)
So, instead of repeating the striped hearts on my other hand, I decided to try the dotted heart again, only in pink. I liked it again!
By now, I was confident that I could do dotted hearts and did them on my whole hand..but I think I was overly confident because they don’t look like hearts!
I love the different sized dots though – it’s like a cute colour blind test. Next time I’ll just dot the whole nail and I think that will look better.
What do you guys think of my Valentine’s nails?
I hope you’re all having a great day!
Thanks for looking :)
– Eleobel
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Chondroma of the Tongue.
Chondromas are rare mesenchymal benign tumors that are most often encountered in pelvis and ribs, and rarely in head and neck region. They account for about 10% of all benign chondroid proliferations and the rarest occurrence of soft tissue chondromas is within oral cavity. A 10-year-old female patient was referred to our Clinic because of moderate speech impairment, swallowing disturbances and foreign body sensation in tongue. On clinical examination and MRI scans, hard, painless, clearly demarcated submucosal mass was observed on the left side of the tongue. Surgery was perfomed using intraoral incision approach, and the tumor was completly removed. Histopathological examination of the specimen was positive for chondroma. Chondromas benign tumors of mature hyaline cartillage localized in soft tissues of head and neck region. Growing slowly, and painlessly, they remain silent for some period, until reaching certain dimensions, and becoming symptomatous. Magnetic resonance imaging scan provides complete information about localization, size, growth of the tissue, and contributes significantly to the decision of appropriate surgical approach.
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Identification of endogenous gibberellins in strawberry, including the novel gibberellins GA123, GA124 and GA125.
Extracts of carboxylic acids from immature fruits of strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch. cv. Elsanta) were analysed for gibberellins by combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The following previously characterised gibberellins were identified by comparison of their mass spectra and Kovats retention indices (KRIs) with those of standards or published data: GA1, GA3, GA5, GA8, GA12, GA17, GA19, GA20, GA29, GA44, GA48, GA49, GA53, GA77, GA97, GA111 and GA112. Evidence for endogenous 1-epi GA61 (GA119) and 11alpha-OH-GA12 was also obtained. In addition, a number of putative GAs were detected. Of these, three were shown to be 12alpha-hydroxy-GA53, 12alpha-hydroxy-GA44, and 12alpha-hydroxy-GA19 by comparison with authentic compounds prepared by rational synthesis, and have been allocated the descriptors GA123, GA124 and GA125, respectively.
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A A
HALIFAX, N.S. —
Sometimes you need to take your feet off the beaten path to find niche businesses. That is what John Connors has done with East Coast Kicks, a consignment shop for collectible sneakers.
The shop is located at 5687 West St. In Halifax, slightly hidden on the second floor, but the door is just steps away from Agricola Street.
Connors originally started East Coast Kicks as a hobby and eventually evolved into having a retail store in January 2017. It has been in the same building the entire time but has just moved to its third expanded space.
I asked Connors about the somewhat hidden location.
“Our motto going into this was ‘Stay down before you come up.’ Rent is very expensive up here so we’ve had our chance to actually grow our businesses being here,” he said.
“Anyone who is looking for us finds us, no matter how many stairs we put in front of them”
When Connors says “us” he is talking about Classic Soles, a companion business that he shares space with that’s run by owner Tyrone Goodwin, who specializes in cleaning, restoring and customizing sneakers.
East Coast Kicks also provides shelf space to nine small local startup clothing brands. They rent space and can have their products in a retail location and have exposure to a like-minded clientele.
However, the main focus of the shop is limited- and special-edition sneakers on consignment. These are shoes you won’t find in mass retail at the mall.
Connors says Jordan 1s and Yeezys are the most popular, but there are lots of other models available. There are shoes that cost less than $50, while one pair comes in at $1,800.
East Coast Kicks is open Tuesday through Sunday, or browse online.
Here are some more retail highlights and happenings:
Sticking with the theme of expansion, Garrison Brewing has opened its Oxford Taproom on Quinpool Road in Halifax. Part retail store front, part small brewery, part taproom. There is no menu in-house but it will have occasional food pop-ups, and they encourage customers to bring in food from the array of neighbours while they enjoy a pint. Based on the crowds this weekend, it is an instant success.
Diana Lewis, Garrison Brewing's marketing and events co-ordinator, pours a sampler for a guest during a sneak peek of the Oxford Taproom, formerly part of the old Oxford Theatre, in Halifax on Thursday. - Ryan Taplin
Espresso 46, which opened as literally a hole in the wall two years ago at 2867 Isleville St. in Halifax, has gone from being just a walk-up cafe takeout window and has added some indoor seating.
Over in Dartmouth, new and consignment furniture and home decor store The Posh Pearl has already expanded into a larger space at 171 Main St. after opening in September 2018.
The former Schtnizel Bistro on King Street in Dartmouth will be the home of another location of Buta Ramen. You can already find Buta Ramen on Morris Street in Halifax.
Lazeezo in Clayton Park has been rebranded to Charger Burger.
Jugo Juice will be returning to Mic Mac Mall. It will be opening beside Tim Hortons in the food court
Improv Cafe has opened in the back of Ratinaud on Gottingen Street.
Kim Feng, a Chinese restaurant, has opened at 516 Pleasant St., near the Circumferential Highway.
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You might want to take a deep breath.
Eagle-eyed Walking Dead fans have spotted a huge clue which suggests there will be two victims at the hands of Negan.
The feared leader of the Saviors brutally beat to death an unknown member of Rick's group with his prized Lucille (a baseball bat covered in barbed wire) in season six's controversial cliffhanger. But it looks like Negan doesn't stop there...
AMC
Walking Dead boss Greg Nicotero may have inadvertently dropped a hint in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. When asked about whether he was surprised by the outrage with the cliffhanger, here's what he had to say:
"I'd say in retrospect, I don't think we would have changed anything. I would have still supported doing it the way that we did it, because of the fact that the story doesn't end there.
"If we would have shown the deaths, then they wouldn't have felt our characters in season seven the way they need to.
"And the thing that I think a lot of people will get out of it is how that moment changes the entire make-up of our universe with a split second. And it's that moment that launches our entire season seven into that direction."
AMC
Did you spot it?
"If we would have shown the deaths..."
Nicotero said "deaths" - not "death". Meaning, more than one death. At least two.
We're already sobbing.
AMC
Related: The Walking Dead: Who does Negan kill? Here's what happens next in the comics
In the comics, it's Glenn who gets the bat after he was picked in Negan's twisted game of 'eeny, meeny, miny, moe'.
But who will it be in the TV series? We'll find out when The Walking Dead returns to AMC on October 23.
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io
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Q:
Array of pointers to objects returns jibberish
Good evening,
I've been tasked with a mission to create an array that'll hold all objects in game.
Sadly, all of these objects are created in different places - putting them into an array manually would be tedious - in fact, I would feel better if they were physically in the place where they were created, but with a reference to them stored in an array.. a reference in form of a pointer.
So, this is what I figured out so far, I've done so pointer to every instance of the object is added to the array in constructor as seen below:
const int GAME_MAX_ENTS = 65536;
class Object
{
public:
static Object* list[GAME_MAX_ENTS];
char type[64] = "ENT_OBJECT";
Object();
~Object();
};
Object::Object()
{
for (int i = 0; i < GAME_MAX_ENTS; i++)
{
if (!list[i])
{
list[i] = this;
break;
}
}
}
Object* Object::list[GAME_MAX_ENTS];
Now, my issue is - when I'm trying to look through that list and display value of 'type' in a different scope than the one in which object was created, it pops nonsense - I'm assuming it's random memory output.
Here's the portion of me trying to pop proper info:
static void OnRender()
{
//Grid
SDL_RenderClear(renderer);
//Draw objects
for (int i = 0; i < GAME_MAX_ENTS; i++)
{
if (Object::list[i])
{
Object* obj = Object::list[i];
printf("%s\n", obj->type);
}
}
[...]
.. and to make everything as clear as possible, here's the portion where I created objects - mind you, Tile is just a class inheriting from Object:
static void Initialize()
{
[...]
Tile tile;
Object obj;
}
I'm fairly certain it's all due to my lack of experience with C++, I'm just a web dev/C# scrub - don't go hard on me ^^
A:
It looks like you're creating objects in Initialize() that then go out of scope. In C++, you have to manage your own memory (when using pointers). Storing a pointer to an object does not prevent it from being destroyed.
You will need to either store a copy of the objects or explicitly create the objects with new and then manage the pointers (or use C++ smart pointers to help you manage them).
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It happended in June/July 1992. A thunderstorm over the north atlantic sent a good swell down to the cote basque.
Just in the middle between "Dunes" and "Cavaliers" in Anglet/France, on a hot day with a huge low tide coefficient, a 200 meters outside sandbar began to work. Nobody than me mentioned it. I Paddled out and had 30 minutes undisturbed, unforgetable rides.
I took all strength to paddle out and catched a big set wave to the right. I didn't mention that the wave took me by far away from the safe river mouth into the high cliffs that frame the Tamri rivermouth beach on left and right side. There also was a strong current pulling me more and more into the rocks. With carrying my board as a shield against the nonstop incomimg foamwalls, I climbed through the stones out of the danger zone and back to the beach.
It took me a couple of days, even with smaller waves, to surf Tamri again.
Good for fast waves and relative narrow moves.
No usable in small waves or big ones over 3 meters.
Session Memories:
Pokai Bay, Oahu
Shape:
Retro / Single
Fins:
3- Thrusther
Shaper:
unknown ("underground")
Size x Width x Thickness:
7'2"
Condition:
Battered and Bruised
Tail:
round
Bottom:
Flat
Type of Fins:
Small fixed fins
Year Made:
1995
Year Bought:
1997
My Opinion About:
Very thick, paddles good, allowes duck diving, takes every wave from kneesize to 3 meters. Forgives wrong steps but ist small enough to be able to curve. My every time everywhere mostly all conditions board.
Unfortunately (and due to often use) it is coverd with dings and holes, so it has to be replaced.
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Hydrogen molecules trapped in interstitial host channels of alpha-hydroquinone.
Easy come, easy go: Hydroquinone forms a channel structure of cages with hydrogen-bonded hexagons. These may provide an ideal route for the fast inclusion and facile release of hydrogen molecules (see figure), which can lead to reversible hydrogen storage under mild conditions.
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1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device employing a trench structure as a MOS gate, and a method of fabricating such a semiconductor device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a semiconductor device provided with gate oxide film formed on the walls of trenches and having improved characteristics, and a method of fabricating such a semiconductor device.
2. Background Art
FIG. 16 is an exemplary diagram of the construction of a conventional power device employing a trench as a MOS gate, such as an IGBT (insulated-gate bipolar transistor). FIG. 16(a) is a typical view of trenches, FIG. 16(b) is a sectional view of the power device taken on line A-Axe2x80x2 aligned with the longitudinal axis of the trench in FIG. 16(a), and FIG. 16(c) is a sectional view of the power device taken on line B-Bxe2x80x2 extending across the trenches in FIG. 16(a).
Shown in FIG. 16 are an nxe2x88x92 type diffused layer 1, an n type diffused layer 2, a p+ type heavily doped diffused layer 3, a p type base layer 4, a diffused n+ type emitter layer 5, trenches 7, a gate insulating film 11, a gate 12, a silicon dioxide film 15, interlayer insulating films 16 and 17, a p+ type region 18, a silicide layer 19, a barrier metal layer 20, and an aluminum layer 20. In this conventional trenched MOS gate construction, the surface of the gate 12 lies below a plane including the surface of a silicon wafer, i.e., below a plane including the tops of the trenches.
FIG. 17 shows, for comparison, a conventional planar MOS gate, in which parts like or corresponding to those shown in FIG. 16 are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.
FIGS. 18 to 20 are exemplary diagrams of the steps of fabricating a conventional power device employing a trench as a MOS gate, such as an IGBT (insulated-gate bipolar transistor).
The method will be described. As shown in FIG. 18(a), an n type region 2 and a p+ type region 3 are formed on the lower surface of an nxe2x88x92 type region 1 of a semiconductor substrate 30, such as a silicon substrate, and a doped p type region 4 is formed on the upper surface of the nxe2x88x92 type region 1. A heavily doped n+ type region 5 is formed selectively in portions of the doped p type region 4. Trenches 7 are formed through the p type doped region 4 and the n+ type regions 5. Then, the walls and top ends of the trenches 7 are smoothed.
As shown in FIG. 18(b), a gate insulating film 11 of silicon dioxide is formed so as to cover the walls of the trenches 7 and the surface of the wafer 30. The gate insulating film 11 is a silicon dioxide film.
As shown in FIG. 18(c), a low-resistance polysilicon film for forming gate electrodes 12 is deposited over the entire surface of the wafer 30 so as to fill up the trenches 7.
Then, as shown in FIG. 18(d), the polysilicon film is patterned to form the gate electrodes 12. A silicon dioxide film 15 is formed on the gate electrodes 12 as shown in FIG. 19(a).
Then, as shown in FIG. 19(b), CVD films 16 and 17 are deposited by CVD to form an interlayer insulating film over the entire surface of the wafer 30.
Then, the oxide films 16 and 17 are etched to form trenched MOS gates as shown in FIG. 19(c).
Then, as shown in FIG. 20, a silicide layer 19, a barrier metal layer 20 and an aluminum layer 21 are formed by sputtering and lamp annealing, and an electrode 22 is formed to complete a trenched IGBT.
In the conventional device of the construction as shown in FIG. 16 thus fabricated, a projection is formed along a Si/SiO2 boundary in a region C shown in FIG. 16(b). The thickness of portions of the gate insulating film 11 in the region C and a region D is reduced, which deteriorates the characteristics and reliability of the gate insulating film 11 formed on the walls of the trenches 7.
Since the n+ type emitter layer 5 and the p type base layer 4 are exposed on the sidewalls of the trenches 7, the impurities of the diffused layers diffuse into the gate insulating film 11 when forming the gate insulating film 11 in the process of FIG. 18(b). Consequently, the characteristics and reliability of the gate insulating film 11 deteriorate.
The present invention has been made to solve those problems and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device, such as a power device employing a trench as a MOS gate, of a device construction capable of improving the characteristics of an insulating film, such as a gate oxide film, formed on the walls of the trenches, and a method of fabricating such a semiconductor device.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a trenched semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor substrate provided with at least one trench in a major surface thereof. An insulating film is formed on the wall of the trench to extend onto the major surface of the semiconductor substrate. Further, a conductive part is filled up in the trench to extend onto the insulating film on the major surface of the semiconductor substrate.
In another aspect of the present invention, the thickness of the portion of the insulating film is increased preferably at the top portion of the trench so that the thickness of the portion of the conductive part is reduced preferably at the top portion of the trench.
In another aspect of the present invention, the insulating film is continuously formed in the adjacent trenches and on the major surface of the semiconductor substrate therebetween, and the conductive part is continuously formed filling up the adjacent trenches and extending onto the insulating film on the major surface of the semiconductor substrate therebetween.
In another aspect of the present invention, a capacitor area of the portion of the insulating film, lying on the major surface of the semiconductor substrate, is 5% or above of a total capacitor area of the insulating film.
In another aspect of the present invention, a gate edge length of the portion of the insulating film, lying outside the trench, is 30% or above of a total gate edge length of the insulating film.
In another aspect of the present invention, the insulating film is composed of either a two-layer construction consisting of a thermal oxide film and a CVD film formed on the thermal oxide film, a two-layer construction consisting of a CVD film and a thermal oxide film formed on the CVD film, or a three-layer construction consisting of a thermal oxide film, a CVD film formed on the thermal oxide film, and a thermal oxide film formed on the CVD film.
In another aspect of the present invention, the conductive part contains implanted nitrogen.
In another aspect of the present invention, the semiconductor substrate is a silicon wafer, the insulating film is a silicon dioxide film, and the conductive part is made of polysilicon.
In another aspect of the present invention, the trench sidewall of the semiconductor substrate serves as a channel, the insulating film serves as a gate insulating film, and the conductive part serves as a gate.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a trenched semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor substrate provided with at least one trench in a major surface thereof. An insulating film is formed on the wall of the trench to extend onto the major surface of the semiconductor substrate. A conductive part is formed at least in the trench. Further, the thickness of the portion of the insulating film on the major surface of the semiconductor substrate is at least twice the thickness of the portion of the insulating film on the wall of the trench.
For reference, the trenched semiconductor device may be fabricated in either of the following methods.
In one fabricating method, at least one trench is formed in a major surface of a semiconductor substrate. An insulating film is formed on the wall of the trench and on the major surface of the semiconductor substrate. A conductive film is formed in the trench and over the major surface of the semiconductor substrate. A portion of the conductive film a predetermined distance apart from the trench is removed to leave a conductive film in the trench and on the insulating film surrounding the trench.
In another fabricating method, at least one trench is formed in a major surface of a semiconductor substrate. A first insulating film is formed over the wall of the trench and the major surface of the semiconductor substrate. A first conductive film is formed in the trench and on the major surface of the semiconductor substrate. A first conductive part is formed by removing the portion of the first conductive film at the upper portion of the trench and on the major surface of the semiconductor substrate. A second insulating film is formed over the entire surface of the major surface of the semiconductor substrate. At least an opening is formed through the second insulating film so as to reach the first conductive part formed in the trench, leaving the second insulating film over the first insulating film. Further, a second conductive part is formed in the opening so as to be connected to the first conductive part.
In another fabricating method, the insulating film and the conductive film are formed to extend continuously across the adjacent trenches.
In another fabricating method, an insulating film on the wall of the trench and the major surface of the semiconductor. substrate is formed so that the thickness of the portion of the insulating film, formed on the major surface of the semiconductor substrate, is not less than twice that of the portion of the insulating film formed on the wall of the trench.
Other and further objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear more fully from the following description.
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When is it safe for patients to drive after right total hip arthroplasty?
Old studies recommend 6weeks post-operative before patients can return to driving safely. This is a prospective study assessing brake reaction time (BRT) after THA. 38 patients underwent a pre-operative, 2, 4 and 6weeks post-operative BRT test. General linear repeated measurement was used. The mean pre-operative reaction time was 0.635±0.160seconds SD and 2-week was 0.576±0.137seconds SD (P=0.029); 33 patients (87%) were able to reach their baseline time by 2weeks. The remaining five patients (13%) reached their baseline at the 4-week post-operative. No differences were found with respect to age, gender, and the use of assistive devices. With new techniques in THA, most of patients return to normal times within the 2-week.
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Eurycratides
Eurycratides (, "wide ruler") was the thirteenth king of Sparta from the Agiad dynasty. He succeeded his father Anaxander around 615 BC and reigned during a devastating period of war with Tegea.
In 590 BC Eurycratides was succeeded by his son Leon ("lion"). His grandson was King Anaxandridas II.
References
External links
Category:7th-century BC rulers
Category:6th-century BC rulers
Category:7th-century BC Spartans
Category:6th-century BC Spartans
Category:Agiad kings of Sparta
Category:590 BC deaths
Category:Year of birth unknown
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Male elephant seals compete fiercely for access to females during the breeding season, and their violent, bloody fights take a toll on both winners and losers. These battles are relatively rare, however, and a new study shows that the males avoid costly fights by learning the distinctive vocal calls of their rivals. When they recognize the call of another male, they know whether to attack or flee depending on the challenger's status in the dominance hierarchy.
Researchers from UC Santa Cruz have been studying the behavior of northern elephant seals at Año Nuevo State Reserve since the late 1960s. The new findings, published August 12 in the journal Royal Society Open Science, come from a long-term study led by graduate student Caroline Casey and research biologist Colleen Reichmuth in collaboration with French experts in bioacoustics and animal signaling systems.
"Anybody who's studied elephant seals knows that their vocal communications are important, but we haven't known what information is encoded in the vocalizations," Casey said. "What we found is that these calls are identity signals. Each male has a unique call, and they learn to recognize the calls of their competitors, so they know how to respond during contests."
During the breeding season, the beaches at Año Nuevo are crowded and noisy. Males establish their social status initially through physical confrontations, but most of the interactions between males consist of ritualized displays involving loud vocalizations called "clap threats," as well as physical posturing (usually rearing up to show an elevated profile). Sometimes they slam their chests onto the sand to send a seismic signal. High-ranking "alpha" males defend their harems from all challengers, while mid-ranking "beta" males respond to rivals according to their relative social status.
Social network
"There is a very structured social network among the males in a given location. Although the rate of conflict between males is very high, the rate of actual physical aggression is very low--only about 5 percent of interactions lead to physical contact," said Reichmuth, director of the Pinniped Cognition & Sensory Systems Laboratory at UC Santa Cruz.
The researchers recorded the calls made by male elephant seals during challenge displays directed at other males. Then they used acoustic analysis and playback experiments to figure out what is being communicated in those exchanges. They found that males responded aggressively to the calls of subordinate males, but when presented with the call of a dominant rival, they moved quickly away without calling.
Males of many species use specialized signals to assess their opponents, and these are often so-called "honest signals" that directly convey information about an individual's size and strength or willingness to fight. For example, a large male might have a louder or longer call than a smaller male. In elephant seals, however, the researchers found that even though some features of the males' calls are associated with size, those features don't predict how competitors will respond. Instead, males recognize the calls of familiar rivals and respond accordingly.
To see how males would respond to the calls of unfamiliar rivals, the researchers went to a different rookery, at San Simeon State Park, and played back calls recorded at Año Nuevo. For each of ten mid-ranking males, they played one call from a dominant male and another call from a subordinate male. Instead of attacking or retreating, most males simply sat up and looked toward the speaker.
"They either ignored the speaker or seemed hesitant to respond, like they were looking for more information," Casey said.
Reichmuth noted that the call of an individual male is not only very distinctive, it is always the same, regardless of the situation. Whether engaged in combat or shooing away a low-ranking male, an individual's call did not vary at all. "It's impressive that they could stay that stable, which tells us how important it is for them to have an identity signal--a special vocal signature," she said. "Elephant seals have a fairly unique system of acoustic communication that is based on identification of familiar individuals and learning of social networks."
Conserving energy
This communication system is important because it allows the males to conserve their energy and avoid unnecessary fights during a breeding season in which they are fasting for up to three months. The researchers observed individual male elephant seals engaging with as many as 43 opponents over the course of a single breeding season. Sustained fights occurred in less than 2 percent of the interactions and always involved males of similar dominance status that had not fought previously that season.
The study required an enormous effort over the course of four breeding seasons to record and mark all the males in the colony, observe their interactions, obtain recordings free of background noise, and conduct playback experiments within the large, dynamic colony.
"Many animal behavior studies involve observation and description of patterns of behavior, but doing field experiments is less common," Reichmuth said. "This study is a very thorough attempt to decode animal signaling through an extensive set of observational and experimental data."
In addition to Casey and Reichmuth, the coauthors of the paper include Isabelle Charrier of the University of Paris Sud and Nicolas Mathevon of the University of Lyon/Saint-Etienne. This research was supported in part by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), and the University of Lyon/Saint-Etienne.
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To link to the entire object, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed the entire object, paste this HTML in websiteTo link to this page, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed this page, paste this HTML in website
One more time: instances, applications, and implications of the replay
ONE MORE TIME:
INSTANCES, APPLICATIONS,
AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE REPLAY
by
Christopher C.P. Hanson
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(CINEMA-TELEVISION—CRITICAL STUDIES)
December 2010
Copyright 2010 Christopher C.P. Hanson
First used to describe a rematch of a tied sporting event, the term "replay" was extended in the early twentieth century to express the playback of a recording. Since this usage, the significance of the term and concept of replay has expanded considerably into a range of cultural, social, political, industrial, technological, and experiential practices. As such, replay resists simple classification and definition, and this dissertation unpacks the various meanings and implications of its instances and applications across several media forms. In particular, I interrogate the replay’s usage and significance in the United States through avant-garde filmmaking practices, television broadcasting, and the structures and play mechanics of video games.; I begin with a consideration of avant-garde film practitioners who have engaged with replay through multiple registers. Reliant on the unique relationship between cinema and reality, filmmakers use film’s capacity to record and replay for a range of investigations, including psychosexual examination and recontexualization of extant film. Throughout its industrial history, replay and repetition have played central roles in the production, distribution, exhibition, and experience of television. Emerging from the practices of radio broadcasting and reception, television’s structure has long emphasized regularized and predictable content structured into organized programming schedules. Additionally, specific modes of televisual broadcasting have been shaped by methods of textual replay, which alters events during their broadcast. The capacity for replay has increasingly passed into the viewer’s control, with the arrival of television technologies which provide users a degree of control over the stream of programming entering their home. A consideration of the bipartite nature of the ludic and the digital in the ontology of video games initiates my discussion of the replay in interactive media. After establishing this framework, I examine the multiple implementations and implications of the replay through several critical lenses. This exploration includes the consideration of the replay’s function as an industrial strategy, its ideological significance, and its evolving relationship with play itself. Ultimately, I contend that the replay at once contains and extends time and space, transforming the lived experience—and its register in memory and media—into a palimpsest.
ONE MORE TIME:
INSTANCES, APPLICATIONS,
AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE REPLAY
by
Christopher C.P. Hanson
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(CINEMA-TELEVISION—CRITICAL STUDIES)
December 2010
Copyright 2010 Christopher C.P. Hanson
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THE BRANDON SMITH SHOW
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Take 5 minutes to let us know what you like about the show and what you want more of, and you could win a $50 Amazon giftcard. Click here to share your thoughts.
YOUR JOB SHOULD NOT HAVE TO SUCK.
LIFE DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS HARD.
You deserve better.
I want to help. Got a bad boss? Struggling with what’s next in your career? Work/life balance out of whack? Making your job and your life better is what “The Brandon Smith Show” is all about. I promise to bring you some of the best ideas, experts and life hacks. And most importantly, I promise not to hold back. There will be no sugar-coating or avoiding the tough conversations. My commitment to you is to always be real, honest and a little bit irreverent. Let’s get started. Your better life starts today!Brandon
Let’s end the daily drudgery of unhappy work and enter a new era of workplace happiness, satisfaction and bliss.
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Site-specific insulin conjugates with enhanced stability and extended action profile.
Two different hydrophilic moieties, carboxyl derivatives of monosaccharidic (Glc, Gal, Man, Fuc) glycosides and methoxypolyethylene glycols of varying MW, were covalently attached to the insulin GlyA1, PheB1 and/or LysB29 amino groups (seven possible derivatives), and resulting insulin conjugates purified to homogeneity. In vivo bioactivity in rats of most derivatives was preserved while disubstituted PEG-insulins showed decreased potency. Only site-specific modification of PheB1 amino group with either moiety resulted in pronouncedly increased resistance of insulin to fibrillation, indicating that the B-chain N-terminus of the insulin molecule is mechanistically involved in the fibrillation process. Immunogenicity in vivo and in vitro of monoglycosylated insulins was comparable to that of insulin, diglycosylated insulins showed immunogenicity enhancement. Immunogenicity of PEG-insulins was significantly suppressed. PheB1-glycosylated insulins administered subcutaneously in dogs displayed extended action profiles, the most effective being PheB1-galactosylated insulin, resembling the pharmacodynamic response of intermediate-acting insulin preparations. The pharmacokinetic parameters of these insulin derivatives were not significantly different from that of insulin even though absorption and residence time and clearance were increased, providing some explanation for prolonged action profile. Lectin-specific binding as a retardation basis is not likely involved. In support of this, subcutaneously administered PheB1-PEG(600)-insulin showed an even more protracted action profile, suggesting that the basis of retardation is physical and nonspecific. This implies that by increasing PEG chain MW, further delay/prolongation of action can be achieved to yield new soluble basal insulin substitutes with potential clinical applications.
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Q:
Check if one of the range conditions is a point
The conditions below yield to a Real point (or hyperplane):
x == 1
x == 1 && y == 2
x == 1 && y < 2
x < 1 && y == 2
x < 1 && y == 2 && z < 5
In other words some of the variables in equations / inequalities above cover only single value rather than range. For obvious reasons equations / inequalities below have all of their variables covering a range and thus the equations themselves represent not a point not a hyperplane but a volume.
x == 1 && y == 2 || (x < 1 && y < 2)
x == 1 && y == 2 || (x < 0 && y < 0)
Is there a way to test if condition belongs to a first or second case (is it a hyperplane or a volume) in Mathematica? I.e. Suppose you have a piecewise function consisting a mixture of conditions above and you want to distinguish conditions based on previously described explanation?
Thank you in advance!
A:
You may use ImplicitRegion with RegionDimension.
RegionDimension@ImplicitRegion[x == 1 && y == 2 || (x < 1 && y < 2), {x, y}]
2
The above is a surface.
RegionDimension@ImplicitRegion[x == 1 && y == 2, {x, y}]
0
The above is a point.
Hope this helps.
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Comparison of different dry binders for roll compaction/dry granulation.
The suitability of different dry binders for roll compaction/ dry granulation was evaluated. Two copovidones and two crospovidones of different particle size beside three celluloses well suited for roll compaction/ dry granulation were included in the study. To classify the binders, they were compared in a binary mixture of binder and dicalciumphosphate and another formulation including a drug. Tensile strength and dissolution properties of tablets compressed from powders or granules were the focus of this study. Tablets containing the small copovidone and the small crospovidone showed the best binder properties in terms of large granule size, low fine particle fraction, and high tensile strength values. Dissolution behavior revealed a significant difference between these two binders. The dissolution of tablets containing small copovidone was significantly slower than the tablets compressed with the small crospovidone. The two copovidones showed comparable dissolution behavior, although tensile strength was higher for the type with small particles. In general, the small crospovidone was most appropriate for uncoated tablets, because it combines superior dry binding properties with fast disintegration and dissolution.
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Hyderabad: Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi late on Wednesday night called Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamlesh Tiwari "wald-ul-haraam" (illegitimate child) in a reaction to the latter's controversial comments on Prophet Muhammad. Owaisi was addressing a gathering at his party headquarters in Darussalaam at the Jalsa-e-Rahmatulil Alameen public meeting on Milad-un-Nabi eve. In an oblique reference to Tiwari, whose controversial comments on Prophet Muhammad created outrage in the Muslim community in many parts of the country, Owaisi said, "The person who has made blasphemous remarks against the Prophet is wald-ul-haraam." He sought to buttress his point by quoting the scriptures and also by using arguments of scholars of Islam on the issue. The Hyderabad parliamentarian contended that blasphemy was not freedom of speech. "I agree that there is freedom of expression. But blasphemy isn't freedom of speech. This is why we have section 295 and 153 - A of the IPC and Article 19 G (of the Constitution)," Owaisi said. Tearing into Prime Minister Narendra Modi's gaffe in Russia when he walked on despite the national anthem being played, Owaisi quoted a cartoon in a newspaper which carried the word "aawara". He sought to compare Modi's gaffe with the recent incident of a Muslim couple being forced to leave a movie theatre, reportedly in Mumbai, for not standing up when the national anthem was played. Even as he expressed outrage at the couple being termed "anti-national", Owaisi said, "The band started playing the national anthem and our PM started walking. What will you say to him? What will the RSS khaki chaddi wearing people who call us traitors do now?" he questioned. Owaisi lashed out at right wing groups for having brought stones for the construction of a Ram Mandir at the Babri Masjid demolition site in Ayodhya. "Unless the Supreme Court delivers a verdict, not a single bird can flutter its wings," he said. Owaisi criticised Mulayam Singh and the Samajwadi Party government in UP for not seizing the construction material.
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Thread Scheduling for
Multiprogrammed Multiprocessors
Robert D. Blumofe
The University of Texas at Austin
I will present an efficient user-level thread scheduler for shared-memory
multiprocessors and an analysis of its performance under multiprogramming.
This scheduler is a non-blocking implementation of the work-stealing algorithm.
Idle processes (kernel threads) steal (user-level) threads from randomly
chosen victims, and all concurrent data structures are implemented with
non-blocking synchronization. Without any need for special kernel-level
resource management, such as coscheduling or process control, this non-blocking
work stealer efficiently utilizes whatever processor resources are provided
by the kernel.
We demonstrate this efficiency with an algorithmic analysis and an empirical
analysis. For our algorithmic analysis, we assume that the kernel is an
adversary, and we prove that the execution time is optimal to within a
constant factor. We have implemented the non-blocking work stealer in Hood:
a C++ threads library built on top of Solaris pthreads, and we have studied
its performance. This study shows that application performance does conform
to the theoretical bound with a very small constant factor, roughly 1.
Applications efficiently utilize processor resources even when the number
of processes exceeds the number of processors and even when the number
of processors grows and shrinks arbitrarily.
This work has been done in collaboration with Nimar Arora, Dionisios
Papadopoulos, and Greg Plaxton of The University of Texas at Austin.
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There will not be peace when there is hunger, unemployment, insecurity, injustice in the land – Melaye fires Buhari, APC
The Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Senator Dino Melaye has bitterly criticize his party, the ruling All Progressives Congress saying it has become “Public Complaint Commission”.
Melaye revealed this after receiving Legislator of the award at the Daily Asset Newspaper annual award and lecture held in Abuja.
Starting his remarks with his usual coinage; “If you speak the truth, you die. If you lie, you die. I, Dino Melaye has decided to speak the truth and die,” the fiery Senator wowed the audience with his vitriolic against his own party, which he likened to the Public Complaint Commission, apparently due to its penchants for blaming past administrations for its inability to deliver on some of its electioneering campaign promises.
“The APC government has become Public Complaint Commission. I say this without fear or favour. We have more complains in the APC and even in the Presidency than service rendered. We cannot as a people continue like this.
“The President said two days ago we should all embrace peace but I want to say without fear or favour that there can be no peace without justice. There is hunger in the land, there is poverty in the land, and there is unemployment in the land. A lot of decision has not been taken; yet we say we want peace. The primary objective of government is the security and welfare of the people. There is no security, there is no welfare,” he said.
According to the federal lawmaker, “Nigeria is not only sick presently but equally suffers from regretful congenital abnormality. There is therefore a serious need for amelioration, palliation and correction. The question is: are you going to be part of that correction? I want to say that in an unjust society, silence is a crime, and every one of us here today, is the reason why (sic) Nigeria is sick.
“It is not about the leadership, it is the inability of the followership to check the leadership. Today Nigerians have become indolent, we are suffering and smiling. We are not reactionary. We are not asking questions and that is why we are where we are.
“Democracy will continue to be government of the people by the people for the people but what we have today is greedocracy which is government of the greedy by the greedy and for the greedy, “he added.
While berating the the low standard of living of people, Melaye warned those in positions of authority not to forget that their failure to make the most of their offices in the interest of the people could turn out to hurt them, arguing that not even the rich would be immune from the disaster that looms in the horizon.
“2019 is around the corner again. Many of us are lackadaisical about the future. I delivered a lecture recently at the University of Lagos and some students from very wealthy homes, two of them said they didn’t care who the president of the country is and that it was none of their business because their parents were very successful. I said to them that when the poor have nothing to eat, they will start eating the rich.
“A time will come when it will be difficult to drive your expensive jeeps and cars on the streets. A time will come when it would be difficult to switch on your generator because everywhere around you is dark. Will you be the only one having light? There was no kidnapping before, and kidnapping is seen as the redistribution of both ill-gotten and legitimate wealth. People now take from the rich and they now appropriate to themselves,” he noted even as he urged the masses to be wary of the elites whom he accused of polarizing the rest of the populace.
“The elites have divided us using tribal sentiments. When you go to the hospital, there is a column for religion on your call card, a column for tribe and local government as if this will in any way facilitate your recovery. We have become too ethnic conscious. I sponsored a bill that is about to go for a second reading. The bill is saying that we should abolish state of origin and in its place; we should have state of residence. This is when we will have a true Nigeria when you will not need a Senator’s note to get job with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN or the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC,” he added.
7 thoughts on “There will not be peace when there is hunger, unemployment, insecurity, injustice in the land – Melaye fires Buhari, APC”
Wow! How I wish all senators and reps were like this gentle man. I can’t imagine how great this country will be if every Nigeria should have this kind of spirit. Kudos Dino Malaye. Kogi West is yours. Senate President come 2019 by the grace of God.
Say the truth and the truth will sent you free. God will protect you Distinguish Senator Dino. You shall live long with good health. You have stood on and speak out for the poor voiceless Nigerians and God will stand for you when you need him to
Am fully in support of senator Dino milaye, he always fight for de youth and every Nigeria citizens. Sir God will bless u and u will return back to office come 2019 election, the youth are with behind u sir. De NASS shud kindly send de peace corps bill back to president for assent to create employment for de youths to fulfill de part of his promises during his campaign
Am fully in support of senator Dino milaye, he always fight for de youth and every Nigeria citizens. Sir God will bless u and u will return back to office come 2019 election, the youth are with behind u sir.
Dino has done very well for Nigerian Youths and always speak their minds,if they know what is good for them characters like Dino must be re-elected into the upper chamber.I support him and God will be with him always.
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A depiction of the double helical structure of DNA. Its four coding units (A, T, C, G) are color-coded in pink, orange, purple and yellow. Credit: NHGRI
Working with tissue, blood and DNA from six people with precancerous and cancerous lung lesions, a team of Johns Hopkins scientists has identified what it believes are among the very earliest "premalignant" genetic changes that mark the potential onset of the most common and deadliest form of disease.
In a report on the discovery, published online September 16 in Nature Communications, the team says the DNA alterations it uncovered were in premalignant lung lesions known as atypical adenomatous hyperplasia, or AAH, and that the alterations occurred long before the lesions would acquire the ability to invade surrounding tissue and fulfill the definition of adenocarcinoma of the lung.
"We believe we were able to detect, for the first time, DNA circulating in the blood from precancerous lesions of the lung," says Mariana Brait, Ph.D., an assistant professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a member of the research team. "This work is a big step in advancing our knowledge of lung cancer because it could give us a chance to find people at risk early."
Their analysis also showed, they say, that different regions of the same lesion had various mutations distinctly associated with good and poor outcomes, and that in patients for whom blood samples were available, circulating DNA evidence of the mutations showed up clearly.
"This study takes detection to a whole new level in terms of size of the lesion," says David Sidransky, M.D., professor of oncology and pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the director of head and neck cancer research at Johns Hopkins. "I'm not aware that circulating DNA from precancerous lesions this small has ever been identified before."
Sidransky cautions that the findings are preliminary, involved only a few patients and are but a first step in figuring out how DNA testing might be used to detect precancerous changes at their earliest stages. But the knowledge is invaluable, he says, for both understanding the molecular biology of how lung cancer originates and how to use the findings in clinical applications.
According to the American Lung Association, adenocarcinomas are the most frequent subtype of lung cancer and are usually diagnosed after they have spread. The average five-year survival rate for people with adenocarcinoma is 15 percent, even with the most advanced chemotherapy, surgery and other treatments.
The prevailing opinion among lung cancer experts is that adenocarcinomas of the lung develop from microscopic lesions that accumulate multiple genetic alterations over time that then lead to malignancy.
The problem is that many such precancerous lesions regress and disappear after a few years, but some will progress to cancer, says Evgeny Izumchenko, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in Sidransky's laboratory and the lead author of the study.
To help sort out factors that might predict which small lesions progress to lung cancer, the team collected tissue samples from six patients undergoing surgical removal of lung tumors. Then William Westra, M.D., professor of pathology, painstakingly went through the tissue samples millimeter by millimeter to single out tiny precancerous AAH lesions in the lung tissue for study.
The scientists then extracted and sequenced DNA from these AAH lesions, as well as from other adenocarcinomas in situ, minimally invasive adenocarcinomas and fully invasive adenocarcinomas—a spectrum of lesions that represent the progression from AAH to fully invasive adenocarcinoma.
Using a technique known as targeted next-generation sequencing, which enables rapid sequencing of large stretches of DNA, they next looked for mutations in 125 genes known to play a significant role in cancer development and progression.
By comparing the DNA of the premalignant lesions with DNA isolated from primary invasive cancer within each patient, the sequencing approach showed that in three of the patients, the same mutations were shared between the premalignant lesions and the tumor from the same patient. This is the first definitive link ever found between potential premalignant lesions and invasive tumors in the same lung, says Izumchenko, and it suggests that those mutations may be the drivers of tumor progression.
The team also found that different AAH lesions from different patients had unique patterns of mutations, indicating that lung cancer can be initiated by disturbances in different molecular pathways. The researchers also discovered, to their surprise, they report, that some of the lesions were "dead ends," harboring mutations in their DNA that most likely were insufficient to progress to full-blown cancer.
When the team further explored different regions within the same lesion, they found genetic differences even within the same lesion. Mutations associated with good and poor prognosis or responses to therapy were seen in different regions of the same tumor, highlighting the limitations of single biopsies commonly used to decide patients' therapies, Sidransky says.
In another experiment using blood plasma and sputum from two patients, the researchers extracted DNA from these fluids and used digital polymerase chain reaction, an ultrasensitive method for detecting minute amounts of mutated DNA in a sample, to look for the same mutations they had found in each patient's biopsy samples. They detected those mutations in the fluids—even mutations found in only one specific zone of a lesion. Sidransky says that this finding may indicate that a blood or sputum test could better represent the overall composition of a tumor than a single biopsy sample.
Further studies are planned to confirm the findings in more lung cancer patients. "We have a glimpse into the future in which we can detect premalignant lesions in the lung before they become tumors," says Izumchenko. "But it is only the beginning of a long road we must travel to figure out how to interpret these discoveries to use them optimally in the clinic."
Explore further New DNA testing for liver cancer could improve survival
More information: Targeted sequencing reveals clonal genetic changes in the progression of early lung neoplasms and paired circulating DNA, Nature Communications 6, Article number: 8258 Journal information: Nature Communications Targeted sequencing reveals clonal genetic changes in the progression of early lung neoplasms and paired circulating DNA,6, Article number: 8258 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9258
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The 3D printing "revolution" isn't just being held up by the state of the technology. It's also being held up by the sheer cost of a 3D printer. But in February 2014, some key patents will expire, leaving an opening for competitors come in with cheaper alternatives.
The patents in question are for a technology called "laser sintering," the lowest-cost 3D printing technique. Laser sintering produces items in very high resolution, which means they can be sold as finished products, and they're much higher quality than that flimsy novelty stuff you can make on current 3D printers on the market.
There's some historical evidence that these patents expiring will help move 3D printing along. Fused deposition modeling is another more base-level form of 3D printing tech. Patents for FDM expiring directly led to the creation of a massive number of open-source FDM printers, as well as the eventual creation of one of the biggest names in 3D printing, Makerbot. What's more is that prices on FDM machines dropped from several thousand dollars to as low as $300 within a few years of the patents going defunct. And this is pretty much what led to the maker movement as it is now.
“This is what happened with FDM,” Shapeways design evangelist Duann Scott told Quartz. “As soon as the patents expired, everything exploded and went open-source, and now there are hundreds of FDM machines on the market. An FDM machine was $14,000 five years ago and now it’s $300.”
You could compare this situation to prescription drugs. They're generally very expensive until a patent expires, at which point other pharmaceutical companies can come in and make a generic version of a drug for a fraction of the cost. We could see something similar happen with 3D printers.
3D printing hasn't quite changed the world. But next year, we're just might see history repeat itself, bringing us printers real people can actually afford. Then maybe that 3D printing revolution will arrive. [Quartz]
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Beautifully updated, open concept home located in the historic village of Milford, within walking distance to growing downtown area and parks. This 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath features new carpet through out, spacious kitchen with hardwood floors, new granite counters, back splash and Merillat oak cabinets that is open to the family room. Back door wall opens out to an octagon all seasons room and on to the back deck with big fenced in back yard. Master bedroom has hardwood floors and all new master bath, complete with slate tile floor, dual sink vanity and fully tiled shower.. BATVAI
Features
Cable Available
High Spd Internet Avail Attached
Direct Access
Electricity
Property Inquiry
First Name *
Last Name *
Email *
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Ask About this Property
Request a Showing
I'm not a robot *
Jennifer Hazel
Realtor®
I am the proud mom of 2 and grandma to 3 awesome grand kids, with over 20 yrs combine experience in Real Estate, the Mortgage industry and Finance. This has given me extensive knowledge of the market and the ability to help my clients maneuver their way thru one of the biggest purchases and or sales they will ever make. From start to finish and even after, I am always available. Personally committing to making sure my clients are happy and have the best experience possible. It's not just "my job", it's what I LOVE to do!!
Neighborhood
This data up-to-date as of January 21, 2019 time - 04:08 PM. For the most current information, contact CENTURY 21 Metro Brokers, (810) 694-1000, [email protected].
The data relating to real estate for sale on this website comes in part from the IDX program of Realcomp. Real estate listings held by brokerage firms other than CENTURY 21 Metro Brokers. are marked with the IDX logo and detailed information about them includes the name of the listing brokers.
All information deemed reliable but not guaranteed and should be independently verified. All properties are subject to prior sale, change or withdrawal. Neither listing broker(s) nor CENTURY 21 Metro Brokers. shall be responsible for any typographical errors, misinformation, misprints and shall be held totally harmless. IDX information is provided exclusively for consumers' personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing.The data relating to real estate for sale on this web site comes in part from the Rapattoni Corporation.Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Listing broker has attempted to offer accurate data, but buyers are advised to confirm all items.
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Experience with an adult alcohol withdrawal syndrome practice guideline in internal medicine patients.
To standardize treatment of alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) in internal medicine patients using an adult AWS practice guideline with a symptom-triggered management approach. Prospective interventional (pilot group) and retrospective (control group). University teaching hospital. Thirty-two internal medicine patients identified as being at risk for AWS and treated according to the AWS practice guideline who were compared with 49 internal medicine patients managed with nonstandardized approaches. Patients in the pilot group were assessed using the AWS type indicator. They received lorazepam, clonidine, or haloperidol, based on AWS type indicator assessment and adult AWS practice guideline criteria. Data collected and analyzed were drugs administered to control AWS symptoms, use of sitters and physical restraints, length of hospital stay, and discharge from hospital receiving tapered drug therapy. Pilot patients received 46.6% less benzodiazepine (p=0.001), 20% more clonidine (p=0.01), and 18.2% more haloperidol (p=0.002) than control patients. No drug therapy was required in 19% of pilot patients compared with 2% of controls (p=0.01). Significantly more control (71.4%) than pilot patients (18.8%) were discharged with tapered benzodiazepine therapy (p<or=0.01). No significant differences were found between groups for sitters, restraints, or hospital length of stay. This pilot project suggests that internal medicine patients at risk for AWS can be managed with a standardized, symptom-triggered approach using decreased amounts of benzodiazepine in combination with adjunctive agents to treat adrenergic hyperactivity and delirium. Further data are necessary to determine the impact of the practice guideline on patient outcome measurements.
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Effects of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea on transcriptionally active and inactive nucleosomes: macromolecular damage and DNA repair.
We previously reported a separation, on an organomercurial column, of transcriptionally inactive nucleosomes (class 1) from those containing active gene sequences (classes 2 and 3). In this paper, we analyzed nucleosomal damage caused by exposure of HeLa S3 cells in suspension culture to the directly alkylating carcinogen N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU). The extent and site of methylation induced by the compound in nucleosomal DNA and RNA were determined by cell incubation in the presence of [3H]MNU. The highest amount of damage was detected in DNA of class 3 nucleosomes, while RNA alkylation was comparable in all nucleosomal classes. Cellular capacity for repair of MNU-induced DNA strand breaks (estimated after a short pulse with [3H]thymidine) was found to be higher in active nucleosomal fractions (classes 2 and 3) than in the inactive fraction (class 1). Our data support the postulate that chromatin primary structure plays a role in modulating carcinogen damage to chromosomal macromolecules and in DNA strand breakage and repair mechanisms. Some of these initial steps are believed to be critical in the process of carcinogenesis.
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165 F.Supp.2d 686 (2001)
Melissa KALLSTROM, et al., Plaintiffs,
v.
CITY OF COLUMBUS, Defendant.
No. C-2-96-124.
United States District Court, S.D. Ohio, Eastern Division.
September 27, 2001.
*687 *688 Richard M. Kerger, Kerger & Kerger, Toledo, OH, for Plaintiffs.
David Marburger, Baker & Hostetler, Cleveland, OH, for Intervenor-Plaintiffs.
Patricia A. Delaney, Glenn Brooks Redick, Columbus City Attorney's Office, Columbus, OH, for Defendant.
OPINION, ORDER, AND ISSUANCE OF LIMITED PERMANENT INJUNCTION
GEORGE C. SMITH, District Judge.
I. INTRODUCTION
"Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost."
Thomas Jefferson, 1786
In this case, the Court is being asked to limit the freedom of the press by preventing the news media from obtaining public information contained in the city's personnel files. City police officers fear its publication may endanger themselves and their families.
To deny members of the press access to public information solely because they have the ability to disseminate it would silence the most important critics of governmental activity. This not only violates the Constitution, but eliminates the very protections the Founders envisioned a free press would provide.
Plaintiffs, who are three Columbus police officers ("Officers"), filed suit against defendant City of Columbus ("City") seeking compensatory damages under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1988 and an injunction to prevent further dissemination of their personal information. Specifically, plaintiffs claim defendant violated their rights to privacy as guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by making their personnel records *689 available to a criminal defense attorney pursuant to the Ohio Public Records Act, Ohio Rev.Code § 149.43.[1] In October 1998, intervenors, a group of ten Ohio news organizations, joined the lawsuit without opposition after the City, citing the Sixth Circuit decision in this case, denied their request to see plaintiffs' personnel files.[2]
These matters are before the Court on, among other motions, intervenors' motion for summary judgment in their declaratory judgment action and defendant's motion for summary judgment on plaintiffs' § 1983 claim. For the reasons set forth herein, the Court grants intervenors' motion for summary judgment on grounds one and two of their declaratory judgment action, denies intervenors' motion for summary judgment on ground three of their declaratory judgment action, and grants defendant's motion for summary judgment as to plaintiffs' § 1983 claim.
II. FACTS
A. The Original Proceeding Before This Court
Plaintiffs Melissa Kallstrom, Thomas Coelho, and Gary Householder are undercover officers in the narcotics division of the Columbus Police Department. All three officers were involved in a federal investigation of the Short North Posse ("Posse"), a violent gang in the Short North area of Columbus. The undersigned Judge presided over the criminal prosecution of forty-one members of the Short North Posse on drug conspiracy charges. United States v. Derrick Russell, et al., CR-2-95-44 (S.D.Ohio) (Smith, J.). Beginning in September 1995, eight alleged Posse members were tried before a jury in this Court. All three plaintiffs served as prosecution witnesses during the trial, which resulted in seven convictions and one acquittal.
During the Russell trial, the City released Officer Kallstrom's personnel file to one of the defendant's lawyers, who apparently allowed at least one of the Posse defendants to read it in the courtroom. Officers Coelho and Householder suspect copies of their personnel files were obtained by the same defense attorney. Following a request in the fall of 1995, the City also released Officer Coelho's file to the Police Officers for Equal Rights.[3] The organization was investigating possible discriminatory hiring and promotion practices by the City. Plaintiffs allege the files included the Officers' addresses and phone numbers; the names, addresses, and phone numbers of immediate family members; the names and addresses of personal references; the Officers' banking institutions and account information, including account balances; their social security numbers; responses to questions regarding their personal lives asked during the *690 course of polygraph examinations; and, copies of their drivers' licenses, which included the Officers' pictures and home addresses. Plaintiffs contend they feared for their safety and the well-being of their families knowing that Posse members might have access to this information.
Plaintiffs brought suit against the City under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1988 seeking compensatory damages and an injunction to prevent further dissemination of their personal information. After initially entering a temporary restraining order, this Court denied plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction and entered final judgment for the City. The Court based its decision on a clear and unbroken line of Sixth Circuit decisions that steadfastly refused to recognize a general constitutionally protected right to privacy that would prevent the government from releasing personal information about an individual.[4] Plaintiffs then appealed the Court's decision to the Sixth Circuit.
B. Sixth Circuit Appeal
On February 12, 1998, a three-judge panel reversed the decision of this Court and remanded the case for further proceedings. See Kallstrom v. City of Columbus, 136 F.3d 1055 (6th Cir.1998). Establishing new law for the Sixth Circuit[5], the panel held the Officers had a constitutionally protected privacy right in the information contained in their personnel files, "specifically their interest in preserving their lives and the lives of their family members, as well as preserving their personal security and bodily integrity." Id. at 1062. The court found "where the release of private information places an individual at substantial risk of serious bodily harm, possibly even death," the government act is subject to strict scrutiny and will be upheld under the substantive due process component of the Fourteenth Amendment only where it furthers a compelling state interest and is narrowly drawn to further that interest. Id. at 1064. The court then balanced the interests of the Officers against those of the City. It found the City did not establish that its actions narrowly served a compelling state interest and, therefore, disclosure of the information unconstitutionally denied the Officers their fundamental rights to privacy and personal security. Id. at 1065.
The Sixth Circuit also held that procedural due process requires the Officers receive notice and an opportunity to be heard prior to the release of personal information "where the disclosure of the requested information could potentially threaten the officers' and their families' personal security." Id. at 1069.
C. Proceedings Before This Court on Remand
Following the Sixth Circuit's ruling, intervenors requested portions of plaintiffs' *691 personnel records from the City pursuant to Ohio's public records laws. The City refused to provide any of the requested records, citing the Sixth Circuit opinion in this case and because, as members of the press, the intervenors have "substantial capacity ... to disseminate" identifying information in the plaintiffs' records to "wide and diverse audiences, including Short North Posse members or other dangerous persons who have the motive and capabilities to harm the officers or their families." Intervenor Compl. (Doc. 26) at ¶ 17; Defendant Answer (Doc. 28) at ¶ 2. The news organizations then intervened in this lawsuit without opposition.
Intervenors filed their motion for summary judgment on July 28, 2000. Plaintiffs made no effort to respond and did not file for an extension.[6] Thus, on September 12, 2000, this Court granted intervenors' unopposed motion for summary judgment. More than a month after intervenors' motion was granted, plaintiffs sought leave to file a response to intervenors' motion for summary judgment. Due to plaintiffs' counsel's difficult personal circumstances, this Court granted plaintiffs' motion to file a responsive memorandum. Defendant then filed for summary judgment on January 2, 2001, adopting many of intervenors' positions.
These issues are now before the Court. First, plaintiffs move to dismiss intervenors' claims as moot following recent actions by the Ohio Supreme Court and the Ohio General Assembly. Second, intervenors seek to strike portions of plaintiffs' response to intervenors' motion for summary judgment as hearsay. Third, intervenors move for summary judgment seeking declarations that (1) the Sixth Circuit decision in this case does not prohibit the City from complying with the news organizations' request; (2) the First Amendment prohibits the City from denying a public records request from a member of the press due to the press' ability to disseminate the information; and, (3) the constitutional right of privacy as articulated by the Sixth Circuit does not exist. Finally, defendant moves for summary judgment on plaintiffs' § 1983 claim.
III. DISCUSSION
A. Plaintiffs' Motion to Dismiss Intervenors' Claims as Moot
Plaintiffs argue intervenors' claims should be dismissed as moot following recent actions by the Ohio Supreme Court and the Ohio General Assembly. A case is moot if the requested relief has been granted or no live controversy remains. *692 See Deakins v. Monaghan, 484 U.S. 193, 199, 108 S.Ct. 523, 98 L.Ed.2d 529 (1988); Great W. Sugar v. Nelson, 442 U.S. 92, 93, 99 S.Ct. 2149, 60 L.Ed.2d 735 (1979). Specifically, plaintiffs contend that the Ohio Supreme Court's decision in State ex. rel. Keller v. Cox, 85 Ohio St.3d 279, 707 N.E.2d 931 (1999), prevents intervenors from inspecting plaintiffs' personnel records under Ohio's Public Records Act, Ohio Rev.Code § 149.43. They also argue the General Assembly's amendment of the public records laws to limit access to peace officer records prevents the relief intervenors seek.
The Court finds intervenors' claims remain justiciable. First, the intervenors' federal constitutional claims are not affected by the recent changes in state law. Second, the 1999 amendment to the Ohio Public Records Act does not prevent intervenors from receiving the requested records. The legislation states on its face that it applies "only" to requests for records or releases of information "made on or after the effective date" of the amendment, which was December 1999. Intervenors made their request to the City for plaintiffs' personnel records in October 1998 more than a year before the legislation became effective. Additionally, even if the amendment did apply, it still allows press access to police officers' home addresses. Although the amendment exempts from public disclosure certain information about peace officers, it provides an agency "shall disclose to the journalist the address of the actual personal residence of the peace officer" upon written request. Ohio Rev.Code § 149.43(B)(5).
The Ohio Supreme Court's decision in Keller is equally inapplicable. In Keller, an attorney representing a criminal defendant sought a writ of mandamus to compel county officials to allow the attorney to inspect the personnel records of a county detective. The detective planned to testify in the prosecution of the attorney's client. The court found that the federal constitutional right of privacy barred access to these records "to a defendant who might use the information to achieve nefarious ends." Keller, 85 Ohio St.3d at 282, 707 N.E.2d at 934. Further, plaintiffs contend the "good sense rule" mentioned by the court prevents the relief intervenors seek. In Keller, the suggested a "good sense rule" because the information was "sought by a defendant in a criminal case." Id. No one suggests intervenors are criminal defendants or would use the information to achieve "nefarious ends." As neither the amendment to the Ohio Public Records Act nor Keller prohibit the relief intervenors seek, the Court DENIES plaintiffs' motion to dismiss intervenors' claims as moot.
B. Intervenors' Motion to Strike Portions of Plaintiffs' Memorandum in Opposition
Intervenors move to strike portions of plaintiffs' memorandum in opposition to intervenors' motion for summary judgment. Specifically, intervenors claim pages five through the top half of page seven of plaintiffs' memorandum and the corresponding evidentiary materials should be stricken as hearsay. On these pages, plaintiffs quote from an FBI Bulletin, the Calibre Press Street Survival Newsline, a transcript from ABC News 20/20, and a letter from the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. The full news stories are attached as exhibits to the memorandum. Intervenors contend that plaintiffs are using these exhibits in an attempt to prove that the release of plaintiffs' addresses will endanger the Officers. Intervenors argue that plaintiffs use of an out-of-court declarant to prove this risk to *693 the Officers constitutes hearsay. Plaintiffs offer no response.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 56(e) requires testimony in support of or in opposition to summary judgment to be made on personal knowledge "set[ting] forth such facts as would be admissible in evidence." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). Hearsay statements are not admissible unless covered by an exception under the Federal Rules of Evidence. Fed.R.Evid. 802. A statement is hearsay if (1) it is made by someone other than the declarant while testifying at trial or a hearing and (2) is offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted. Fed.R.Evid. 801(c). The challenged statements are classic hearsay and do not fall within any of the exceptions provided by the Federal Rules of Evidence. Therefore, the Court GRANTS intervenors' motion to strike.
C. Intervenors' Motion for Summary Judgment
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c) provides the mechanism for deciding cases on summary judgment. It provides:
The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. See Adickes v. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 158-59, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970). Summary judgment will not lie if the dispute about a material fact is genuine; "that is, if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Summary judgment is appropriate, however, if the opposing party fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party's case and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); see also Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has recognized that Liberty Lobby, Celotex, and Matsushita have effected "a decided change in summary judgment practice," ushering in a "new era" in summary judgments. Street v. J.C. Bradford & Co., 886 F.2d 1472, 1476 (6th Cir.1989). The Street court determined that complex cases and cases involving state of mind issues are not necessarily inappropriate for summary judgment. Id. at 1479. Also, in responding to a summary judgment motion, the nonmoving party "cannot rely on the hope that the trier of fact will disbelieve the movant's denial of a disputed fact, but must `present affirmative evidence in order to defeat a properly supported motion for summary judgment.'" Id. (quoting Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. at 257, 106 S.Ct. 2505). The nonmoving party must adduce more than a scintilla of evidence to overcome the summary judgment motion. Id. It is not sufficient for the nonmoving party to merely "show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts." Id. (quoting Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348).
Moreover, "[t]he trial court no longer has a duty to search the entire record to establish that it is bereft of a genuine issue of material fact." Id. That is, the "nonmoving party has an affirmative duty to direct the court's attention to those specific portions of the record upon which it seeks to rely to create a genuine issue of *694 material fact." In re Morris, 260 F.3d 654, 665 (6th Cir.2001).
First Ground: Kallstrom Decision Does Not Bar Access
First, the intervenors request a declaration from the Court that the 14th Amendment does not prevent the City from allowing the news organizations to inspect or copy the requested information from plaintiffs' personnel files. In essence, the intervenors argue the Sixth Circuit's decision in this case does not prohibit the City from complying with its public records request. The Court agrees and grants summary judgment for intervenors on their first ground for declaratory judgment.
In expanding the penumbra of constitutionally protected privacy rights, the Sixth Circuit refused to provide plaintiffs with a "blanket prohibition against the future release of information contained in their personnel files." Kallstrom, 136 F.3d at 1067. Instead, the Sixth Circuit provided a two-part test to determine whether this newly articulated standard would protect a party seeking to avoid disclosure of highly personal information. First, a party's privacy interest must rise to a constitutional dimension by releasing "private information [which] places an individual at substantial risk of serious bodily harm, possibly even death, from a perceived likely threat." Id. at 1061, 1064. Once a party establishes a constitutional interest, the court must balance the individual's privacy interest with the public's need for disclosure. Id. at 1061.
In Kallstrom, the Sixth Circuit held plaintiffs had a constitutional privacy interest after this Court found the City's release of the Officers' addresses, phone numbers, and copies of their drivers' licenses during the Russell case "created a serious risk to the personal safety of the plaintiffs and those relatives named in the files." Id. at 1063. The court then assumed that state interests served by allowing public access to agency records were compelling, but held that the City's automatic release of this information was not narrowly tailored to serve that interest. Id. at 1065. Using the Sixth Circuit's framework, the Court finds the Fourteenth Amendment does not prevent the City from allowing intervenors to inspect or copy the requested information from plaintiffs' personnel files.
Intervenors have requested the home addresses of each plaintiff; summaries of investigations of plaintiffs' backgrounds; memos and reports of any assaults in which the plaintiffs were either perpetrators or victims; memos and reports related to any motor vehicle accidents in which City vehicles operated by plaintiffs were damaged or caused property damage or personal injury to others; memos and notices related to any disciplinary charges; and, answers to personal history questions.[7] Intervenors' Mot. for Summ. J. (Doc. 63) at 1 n. 1. The request specifically excludes information identifying the Officers' banking institutions and financial account numbers; personal credit card numbers; social security numbers; information about any psychological conditions the Officers may have; responses to polygraph examinations; and, "medical records" or any other recorded information exempt from mandatory disclosure under Ohio Revised Code § 149.43. Intervenors' *695 Compl. (Doc. 26) at ¶ 15. Further, intervenors do not object to the City redacting the names of any minor dependents of plaintiffs unless the dependent is employed by the City, any information made confidential by the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., or records which the Ohio Public Records Act would not require the City to disclose. Intervenors' Mot. for Summ. J. (Doc. 63) at 1 n. 1.
Plaintiffs' Constitutional Privacy Interest
The Court finds plaintiffs do not have a constitutional privacy interest in the information requested by intervenors. Under the Sixth Circuit standard, plaintiffs must show that the release of information they wish to keep private would place them "at substantial risk of serious bodily harm, possibly even death, from a perceived likely threat." Kallstrom, 136 F.3d at 1064. The Court could fathom information contained in plaintiffs' personnel files that satisfies this stringent constitutional standard. Yet, that is not the Court's responsibility. The Sixth Circuit requires this Court to look at a "clear development of the factual circumstances" surrounding any future release of personal information from the Officers' personnel files. Id. at 1068. Plaintiffs have failed to provide any potentially admissible evidence to suggest that the release of any information contained in the three personnel files may place any of the plaintiffs at any risk of serious bodily harm. Nor have they identified a current "perceived likely threat."[8] This is fatal to their claims. By not identifying any real potential danger that could arise from the release of information in their personnel files, plaintiffs have failed to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to their case for which they carry the burden. See Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548; see also Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348.
Further, the majority of intervenors' request focuses on each plaintiff's disciplinary records, incident complaints from citizens, and other documents detailing how each officer is performing his or her job. Although plaintiffs may wish maintain the confidentiality of their employment histories, the Constitution does not provide a shield against disclosure of potentially embarrassing or even improper activities by public servants.
Finally, plaintiffs' interests in their home addresses also fail to meet the stringent constitutional standard set by the Sixth Circuit. Addresses are part of the public domain. Anyone with an individual's name and either Internet access or the initiative to visit a local government office can scan county property records, court records, or voter registration records for such information as an individual's address, the exact location of his or her residence, and even a floor plan of the home. The Supreme Court has found that "[t]he interests in privacy fade when the information involved already appears on the public record." Cox Broad. Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U.S. 469, 494-95, 95 S.Ct. 1029, 43 L.Ed.2d 328 (1975). In this case, plaintiffs have voluntarily revealed their own identities. For instance, plaintiffs initiated this lawsuit in their own names and describe their profession in the pleadings as "undercover narcotics officers." Plaintiffs' Compl. (Doc 1) at ¶ 3; Plaintiffs' Am. Compl. (Doc. 56) at ¶ 3. Plaintiffs also *696 chose to testify without a pseudonym in the Posse trial.[9] As plaintiffs have revealed their identities, their addresses are easily accessible in the public domain.
Balancing of Interests
Even assuming plaintiffs have a constitutional interest in the information contained in their personnel files, the balancing test described by the Sixth Circuit still weighs in favor of disclosure. Where a state action infringes upon a fundamental right, the action will be upheld only where it furthers a compelling state interest and is narrowly drawn to further that state interest. Kallstrom, 136 F.3d at 1064. In Kallstrom, the Sixth Circuit assumed that the state interests served by allowing public access to agency records were compelling, but held that the City's release of plaintiffs' personnel files to counsel for a criminal defendant did not narrowly achieve these interests. Id.
Ohio's Public Records Act requires the state to make available all public records to any person unless the record falls within one of the statute's exceptions. Ohio Rev.Code § 149.43(B). The state has an interest in releasing its governmental agency records to "ensure accountability of government to those being governed." See State ex rel. Strothers v. Wertheim, 80 Ohio St.3d 155, 158, 684 N.E.2d 1239, 1242 (1997). In Kallstrom, the Sixth Circuit acknowledged "there may be situations in which the release of this type of personal information might further the public's understanding of the workings of its law enforcement agencies." Kallstrom, 136 F.3d at 1065. This is one of those situations. The information intervenors request details the functioning of the City's police force. The personnel files reveal, among other things, the character and background of the City's police officers, whether the officers are using City property responsibly, and whether the City is enforcing the residency requirement for City employees as required by the City's charter. The state has a compelling interest in releasing this type of information to enlighten the public about the performance of its law enforcement agencies and ensure government accountability. The importance of public access to these files as a restraint on government activity is evident from cases such as the U.S. Justice Department's civil rights action against the City concerning police practices, which is currently pending in this courthouse. United States v. City of Columbus, OH, CV-2-99-01097 (S.D.Ohio) (Holschuh, J.).
Further, the City's disclosure of public records, including police officer personnel files, is narrowly tailored to achieve this compelling state interest. In Kallstrom, the Sixth Circuit failed "to see how placing [the Officers'] personal information into the hands of the Russell defendants in any way increases public understanding of the City's law enforcement agency." Id. at 1065. The press, however, is a different entity.[10] In addressing the importance of *697 press access to public records, the Supreme Court has observed:
(I)n a society in which each individual has but limited time and resources with which to observe at first hand the operations of his government, he relies necessarily upon the press to bring to him in convenient form the facts of those operations. Great responsibility is accordingly placed upon the news media to report fully and accurately the proceedings of government, and official records and documents open to the public are the basic data of governmental operations.
Cox Broad., 420 U.S. at 491, 95 S.Ct. 1029. The Cox Broadcasting Court concluded that the "freedom of the press to publish [public] information appears to us to be of critical importance to our type of government in which the citizenry is the final judge of the proper conduct of public business." Id. at 495, 95 S.Ct. 1029. The full disclosure of these personnel files is necessary to enable the press to do its job. As nothing less than full disclosure will ensure transparency in government, the Court finds full disclosure is narrowly tailored to meet the state's compelling interest. Therefore, the Court GRANTS summary judgment for intervenors on their first ground for declaratory judgment.
Second Ground: City's Denial Violates First Amendment
The intervenors seek a second declaration that the City is violating the First Amendment by denying the news organizations a state law right because they might publish accurate reports of the contents of public records. The Court agrees and grants summary judgment for intervenors on their second ground for declaratory judgment.
In its pleadings, the City admits it denied intervenors' public records request because the news organizations have "substantial capacity ... to disseminate" identifying information in plaintiffs' records "to wide and diverse audiences, including Short North Posse members or other dangerous persons who have the motive and capabilities to harm the officers or their families." Intervenors' Compl. (Doc. 26) at ¶ 17; Defendant Answer (Doc. 28) at ¶ 2. Intervenors urge the Court to review the City's actions under strict scrutiny. The cases intervenors cite for this proposition, however, neither discuss strict scrutiny nor suggest it should apply in this context. Nevertheless, the Court finds summary judgment appropriate based on a less stringent standard.
Neither the First Amendment nor the Fourteenth Amendment mandates a right of access to government information or sources of information within the government's control. Houchins v. KQED, Inc., 438 U.S. 1, 15-16, 98 S.Ct. 2588, 57 L.Ed.2d 553 (1978) (Burger, C.J., plurality opinion). The Constitution, however, assures "the public and the press equal access once the government has opened its doors." Id. at 16, 98 S.Ct. 2588 (Stewart, J., concurring). In this case, the doors have been opened by the Ohio Public Records Act. Thus, the issue becomes whether the City can deny intervenors their state law right to these public records because, as members of the news media, they have the ability to disseminate the information contained in plaintiffs' personnel files.
The Supreme Court has held that the government may not single out the press to bear special burdens without violating the First Amendment. Minneapolis *698 Star & Tribune Co. v. Minnesota Comm'r of Revenue, 460 U.S. 575, 585-86 n. 7, 103 S.Ct. 1365, 75 L.Ed.2d 295 (1983). In Minneapolis Star, the Supreme Court found that Minnesota's use tax on paper and ink violated the First Amendment for "singling out the press for taxation" that did not apply to other enterprises. Id. Courts, however, have not been hesitant to extend this rationale beyond taxation. See, e.g., Legi-Tech, Inc. v. Keiper, 766 F.2d 728, 734 (2d Cir.1985) (suggesting denial of press access to a public legislative database would face "hostile scrutiny" as singling out the press for a special burden). These decisions address concerns that "singling out the press as a whole or targeting individual members poses a particular danger of abuse by the state." Arkansas Writers' Project, Inc. v. Ragland, 481 U.S. 221, 228, 107 S.Ct. 1722, 95 L.Ed.2d 209 (1987). The threat of any burden "can operate as effectively as a censor to check critical comment by the press, undercutting the basic assumption of our political system that the press will often serve as an important restraint on government." Minneapolis Star, 460 U.S. at 585, 103 S.Ct. 1365. Specifically, the Supreme Court worried any special burden placed on the press would "threaten to hinder the press as a watchdog of government activity." Leathers v. Medlock, 499 U.S. 439, 447, 111 S.Ct. 1438, 113 L.Ed.2d 494 (1991). The importance of protecting the press derives from "the critical role played by the press in American society." Houchins v. KQED, Inc., 438 U.S. 1, 17, 98 S.Ct. 2588, 57 L.Ed.2d 553 (1978) (Stewart, J., concurring). Judge Learned Hand explained:
[The newspaper] industry serves one of the most vital of all general interests: the dissemination of news from as many different sources, and with as many different facets and colors as is possible. That interest is closely akin to, if indeed it is not the same as, the interest protected by the First Amendment; it presupposes that right conclusions are more likely to be gathered out of a multitude of tongues than through any kind of authoritative selection. To many this is, and always will be, folly; but we have staked upon it our all.
United States v. Associated Press, 52 F.Supp. 362, 372 (S.D.N.Y.1943). Thus, the Supreme Court has concluded, "`an untrammeled press [is] a vital source of public information', and an informed public the essence of working democracy." Minneapolis Star, 460 U.S. at 585, 103 S.Ct. 1365, quoting Grosjean v. Am. Press Co., 297 U.S. 233, 250, 56 S.Ct. 444, 80 L.Ed. 660 (1936) (citations omitted).
Due to these important considerations, a state-imposed burden on the press is always "subject to at least some degree of heightened First Amendment scrutiny." Turner Broad. Sys., Inc. v. FCC, 512 U.S. 622, 640-41, 114 S.Ct. 2445, 129 L.Ed.2d 497 (1994). When the government specially burdens the press, "the appropriate method of analysis thus is to balance the burden implicit in singling out the press against the interest asserted by the State." Minneapolis Star, 460 U.S. at 586 n. 7, 103 S.Ct. 1365. The burden "can survive only if the governmental interest outweighs the burden and cannot be achieved by means that do not infringe First Amendment rights as significantly." Id.
In its pleadings, the City states its interest as preventing members of the press from accessing plaintiffs' personnel records because news organizations have the ability to disseminate the information to "wide and diverse audiences, including the Short North Posse." Intervenors' Compl. (Doc. 26) at ¶ 17; Defendant Answer (Doc. 28) at ¶ 2. Since the second part of the Minneapolis Star test is dispositive, *699 the Court finds it unnecessary to balance the City's interest with the burden implicit in singling out the press. The Court concludes the City's decision to single out the press for disparate treatment does not satisfactorily accomplish its stated purpose.
Treating the press differently will not prevent the harm the City is seeking to avoid. The City's denial of the intervenors' public records request because of their ability to disseminate information suggests that the same records would have been provided to anyone who did not have this capability. Any member of the public would have access to these records including Short North Posse members, their friends, and their families. Silencing the press makes no difference as to whether these people have access to plaintiffs' personal information.
Further, this distinction does not prevent the press from gaining access to the materials. The news organizations could have a surrogate request the records and provide copies to the press. Even a reporter for one of the intervenors could request the records as a citizen, without revealing his or her professional affiliation, and use plaintiffs' personal information in the same manner as if the news organization had requested the records as an entity. Allowing the City to impose these arbitrary burdens threatens to eviscerate the ability of the press to serve as a restraint on government activity, poses inherent dangers to free expression, and presents great potential for censorship or manipulation.
The Court recognizes this case is unique. The timing of intervenors' request placed the City in a difficult position. The City could have released the public records to the press, but it feared this might result in a violation of plaintiffs' constitutional privacy rights or even place the Officers in physical danger. Alternatively, it could deny the news organizations' request for the records and violate Ohio's Public Records Act. Admittedly, the City had little guidance from either the Sixth Circuit or this Court. In choosing to deny intervenors' request based on their ability to disseminate the information, however, the City placed a burden on the press that would not have attached to any other request for those public records. The City's arbitrary treatment of the press is not only thoroughly ineffective at achieving its objective, but also highly offensive to the First Amendment. Therefore, the Court GRANTS summary judgment for intervenors on their second ground for declaratory judgment.
Third Ground: Sixth Circuit Kallstrom Opinion Is Not Binding
Intervenors further argue they are entitled to a declaration that the Sixth Circuit opinion in this case amounts to an advisory opinion since it is based on erroneous information in a less-than-complete record. This motion is denied.
As discussed below, the record has changed significantly since the Sixth Circuit issued its opinion. The Sixth Circuit, however, did not decide this case as intervenors contend on hypothetical facts. The panel's decision reflects the state of the record at the time it heard the case. The fact that neither party discovered nor accurately reported the contents of the documents disclosed by the City during the Russell trial has no impact on the authority of Sixth Circuit decision. This Court has tremendous respect for the Sixth Circuit and will not entertain further speculation that its decisions are not binding on this Court. Moreover, it is doubtful that a district court even has the authority to declare a Circuit Court decision to be void or invalid, absent a clear decision by the U.S. Supreme Court reversing the Circuit *700 Court's holding. Therefore, the Court DENIES summary judgment for intervenors on their third ground for declaratory judgment.
D. Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment
Defendant moves for summary judgment on plaintiffs' § 1983 claim.[11] Section 1983 imposes civil liability on a person acting under color of state law who deprives another of the "rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws." 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Sixth Circuit found plaintiffs successfully pled a prima facie case to recover under § 1983.
This Court and the Sixth Circuit, however, did not have the benefit of viewing portions of plaintiffs' personnel records until after the news organizations intervened in the case. Based upon a record consisting almost exclusively of plaintiffs' affidavits, this Court and the Sixth Circuit thought the City disclosed the Officers' addresses and phone numbers; the names, addresses, and phone numbers of immediate family members; the names and addresses of personal references; the Officers' banking institutions and corresponding account information, including account balances; plaintiffs' social security numbers; responses to questions regarding their personal lives asked during the course of polygraph examinations; and, copies of their drivers' licenses, which included their pictures and home addresses. Kallstrom, 136 F.3d at 1059. Relying on the accuracy of these affidavits, this Court found that the release of this personal information, in light of the Short North Posse's propensity for violence, created a serious risk to the personal safety of the plaintiffs and their family members named in the files. D. Op. and Order (Doc. 10) at 5.
It is now apparent that the City redacted most of this information before releasing plaintiffs' files to the Russell defendant's attorney. It is uncontroverted that the exhibits attached to intervenors' motion for summary judgment are accurate copies of plaintiffs' personnel records as released by the City. Therefore, the Court makes the following findings to clarify the information actually released by the City to defense counsel during the Russell trial.
Revised Findings of Fact
With respect to Officer Kallstrom's file, the City redacted 13 pages to delete any references to her current home address and phone number. The only residential addresses listed for Officer Kallstrom were an Akron-area address listed on an expired driver's license and a list of previous residences she included on a 1986 application to join the City's police force. She no longer lives at any of those addresses. As for immediate family members, the file showed that Officer Kallstrom's parents are deceased; that she was unmarried; and, she had no children or dependents. While the records included the names of her brother, sister, and sister-in-law and their addresses, the information appeared on forms from March 1986 and did not include any home phone numbers. Her relatives do not currently live at any of the listed addresses.
The City also redacted Officer Householder's personnel files to eliminate any references to his address or phone number. The copy of his driver's license was rendered illegible. The file includes the names and addresses of ten relatives on forms dated September 1980 and January 1981. None of the records disclosed any home phone numbers for his relatives.
*701 The City also redacted every home address and phone number listed for Officer Coelho since he joined the City police force in 1981. A copy of his driver's license also was rendered illegible. Addresses are listed for eight relatives, but the most recent is from 1981. No home phone numbers are listed for any of his relatives.
Summary Judgment
In Kallstrom, the Sixth Circuit identified two threshold issues in determining whether plaintiffs' constitutional rights to privacy were violated. Both must be proven before plaintiffs can recover under § 1983. First, plaintiffs' privacy interests in the information must be "of a constitutional dimension." Kallstrom, 136 F.3d at 1062. If plaintiffs have a constitutional privacy right, the court then undertakes to balance plaintiffs' privacy interest and the public's interest in disclosure. Id. at 1061. Second, state action, an element of any § 1983 claim, requires a link between the City and the party who might commit the violent act. Id. at 1066. In Kallstrom, the Sixth Circuit used the state-created-danger theory to satisfy the state action requirement. Id. Both elements essentially require the same proof. In order to have a constitutional privacy interest and satisfy the state-created-danger theory, plaintiffs must prove that the information released by the City posed a very real threat to the physical safety of plaintiffs and their families. Plaintiffs have not raised any genuine issues of material fact as to either the content released by the City or its effects. Therefore, this Court decides as a matter of law that plaintiffs do not have a constitutional privacy interest in the information disclosed by the City and its release did not amount to state action.
Constitutional Privacy Interest
To recover under § 1983, plaintiffs must prove the City deprived them of a "right secured by the Constitution and the laws." Kallstrom, 136 F.3d at 1060 (quoting Baker v. McCollan, 443 U.S. 137, 99 S.Ct. 2689, 61 L.Ed.2d 433 (1979)). The Sixth Circuit determined a person has a constitutional privacy interest "where the release of private information places an individual at substantial risk of serious bodily harm, possibly even death, from a perceived likely threat." Kallstrom, 136 F.3d at 1064.
Defendant contends the information released in plaintiffs' personnel files is innocuous since it redacted any reference to plaintiffs' current addresses and any remaining information is ten to fifteen years old. Through its own motion and by adopting relevant portions of intervenors' motion for summary judgment, defendant argues that the redacted, stale information disclosed during the Posse trial did not create a "substantial risk of serious bodily harm" to plaintiffs or their families.
Plaintiffs counter with an abundance of largely inadmissible, irrelevant speculation concerning the alleged harm to the Officers. Rule 56(e) requires testimony in support of or in opposition to summary judgment to be made on personal knowledge "set[ting] forth such facts as would be admissible in evidence." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). As many of plaintiffs' assertions would not be admissible in evidence, they do not stand as a barrier to summary judgment.
For example, in their memoranda in opposition, plaintiffs direct the Court's attention to plaintiffs' deposition testimony. Plaintiffs cite Officer Kallstrom's testimony that she looked through the materials during the trial and saw "information like my address, my brother's and sister's address, personal references that I used when I applied for the job, their names, *702 addresses, a copy of my driver's license. ..." Plaintiffs' Mem. in Opp'n (Doc. 69) at 7. Plaintiffs attempt to use this deposition testimony to establish a genuine issue of material fact as to the contents of the personnel records released by the City.
Plaintiffs' argument, however, fails under the Best Evidence Rule. See Fed.R.Evid. 1002. The Best Evidence Rule states: "To prove the content of a writing, recording, or photograph, the original writing, recording, or photograph is required, except as otherwise provided in these rules or by an Act of Congress." Id. Other evidence of the contents of a writing is admissible only if (1) the originals have been lost or destroyed; (2) the original is not obtainable; (3) the original is in possession of an opponent; or, (4) where the writing is not closely related to a controlling issue. See Fed.R.Evid. 1004. Plaintiffs do not dispute that the exhibits attached to intervenors' motion for summary judgment are copies of the files as disclosed by the City during the Russell trial. Further, they do not contest the authenticity of the documents. They only seek to prove the contents of the documents through the deposition testimony of Officer Kallstrom. The Federal Rules of Evidence expressly prohibit proof of the contents of a document through any means other than the document itself where none of the exceptions apply. This is the case here. Therefore, Officer Kallstrom's deposition testimony regarding the contents of her personnel file fails to create a genuine issue of material fact.
Plaintiffs also attempt to show the risk to police officers from disclosure of personal information by attaching articles and transcripts from popular media sources to their pleadings. As discussed above, this is inadmissible hearsay and has been stricken from the record.
Plaintiffs' reliance on this inadmissible testimony is even more significant when viewed in the context of this case. It has been nearly six years since plaintiffs' personnel files were viewed by the Russell defendants. Fortunately, during this time, no evidence has developed that Short North Posse members or anyone associated with them have done anything to place plaintiffs at a substantial risk of serious harm. In their depositions, plaintiffs struggle to identify any harm that resulted from the City's release of their personal information. Officer Kallstrom cites a single mysterious phone call that she may be able to attribute to the disclosure of her personnel file. Kallstrom Dep. at 18-22. Similarly, Officer Coelho identifies several unexplained phone calls where he could hear someone breathing on the line. Coelho Dep. at 23. Officer Householder also recalls several suspicious phone calls, but cannot link them to the Posse. Householder Dep. at 20-21. Even when drawing all inferences in favor of the plaintiffs, this speculation does not amount to a sufficient evidentiary showing of substantial harm.
Finally, plaintiffs contend the information actually released in the files placed plaintiffs and their family members at substantial risk. For example, plaintiffs suggest a sloppily redacted address that still reveals Officer Kallstrom's zip code narrows "the search any possible enemy would have to make." Plaintiffs' Mem. in Opp'n (Doc. 69) at 10. Further, plaintiffs assert that one of Officer Kallstrom's sisters lives in Columbus "making her an immediately available target." Id. These bald, conclusory statements do not enable plaintiffs to survive summary judgment. An opposing party must make a showing to establish the existence of an element essential to its case on which it will bear the burden of proof at trial. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548. As plaintiffs have failed to identify any potentially admissible *703 evidence showing that defendant's actions placed them at a substantial risk of serious bodily harm, the Court finds as matter of law that plaintiffs did not have a constitutional privacy interest in the information disclosed by the City.
State-Created-Danger Theory
In Kallstrom, the Sixth Circuit satisfied the state action requirement for § 1983 claims by applying the state-created-danger theory. Kallstrom, 136 F.3d at 1066. This theory attributes the potentially violent actions of a private actor, such as the Short North Posse, to the City where the City's actions substantially increase the likelihood that a private actor "would deprive [the Officers] of their liberty interest in personal security." Id. The Sixth Circuit has never held a state or state actor liable under the state-created-danger theory. Id. Other circuits, however, have applied the theory. The Tenth Circuit has found that it is not enough that plaintiff show the state increased the danger of harm from third persons, but plaintiff also must show that the state acted with the requisite degree of culpability in failing to protect the plaintiff. Sutton v. Utah State School for Deaf and Blind, 173 F.3d 1226, 1238 (10th Cir.1999). Plaintiffs' claim "must be predicated on reckless or intentionally injury-causing state action which `shocks the conscience' of federal judges." Id. Most courts require at least a showing of deliberate indifference before § 1983 liability will attach. See Morse v. Lower Merion Sch. District, 132 F.3d, 902 908 (3rd Cir.1997); L.W. v. Grubbs, 92 F.3d 894, 896 (9th Cir.1996).
In this case, the Court finds the City's release of redacted personnel files pursuant to a valid public records request does not "shock the conscience" or amount to deliberate indifference on the part of defendant. As discussed above, the information that may have placed plaintiffs or their family members at harm either was redacted or out of date. Indeed, the City appears to have gone to great efforts to redact addresses and phone numbers on more than 30 pages of plaintiffs' personnel files before disclosing them. For these reasons, the state-created-danger theory does not apply. Therefore, there is no state action as required under § 1983.
IV. CONCLUSION
The Court appreciates the need to protect the health and safety of law enforcement officials and their families. But the health and safety of this democracy depend on a press that can function without additional burdens being imposed based on its ability to publish information concerning government activities.
Based on the foregoing, plaintiffs' motion to dismiss intervenors' claims as moot is hereby DENIED; intervenors' motion to strike is hereby GRANTED; intervenors' motion for summary judgment in their declaratory judgment action is hereby GRANTED on grounds one and two and DENIED on ground three; and, defendant City's motion for summary judgment is hereby GRANTED.
Pursuant to the Order of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, this Court enters a limited PERMANENT INJUNCTION against defendant City of Columbus requiring it to provide plaintiffs with meaningful written notice prior to its release of any information that could potentially threaten the personal security of plaintiffs or their families. Specifically, the City must notify the Officers of a request for their addresses, phone numbers, and copies of their drivers' licenses, or the names, addresses, and phone numbers of their family members, prior to releasing this information so that the Officers might have the opportunity to invoke their constitutionally *704 protected rights to privacy and personal security. See Kallstrom, 136 F.3d at 1067.
The Clerk shall remove documents 63, 73, and 79 from the Court's pending motions list and this case from the Court's pending cases list.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
NOTES
[1] Plaintiffs' state law cause of action, arising under Ohio Rev.Code Ann. §§ 2921.24 and 102.03(B), was dismissed by this Court. As plaintiffs only appealed the dismissal of their federal law claims, they have waived any challenge to the dismissal of their state law claims.
[2] Intervenors include the publishers of the following newspapers: The Columbus Dispatch, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Cincinnati Post, The Cincinnati Inquirer, The Akron Beacon Journal, The Toledo Blade, The Youngstown Vindicator, and The Canton Repository. The remaining intervenors are Scripps Howard Broadcasting Company, which operates Cincinnati television station WCPO and Cleveland television station WEWS; and, the Ohio Newspaper Association, which is a trade association of publishers of daily and weekly newspapers throughout Ohio.
[3] Police Officers for Equal Rights is an organization dedicated to protecting the rights of minority police officers.
[4] See Cline v. Rogers, 87 F.3d 176, 179 (6th Cir.1996) (county sheriff's disclosure of plaintiff's arrest record to private citizen did not violate plaintiff's constitutional rights); Jarvis v. Wellman, 52 F.3d 125, 126 (6th Cir.1995) (disclosure of rape victim's medical records to inmate did not violate right to privacy); Doe v. Wigginton, 21 F.3d 733, 740 (6th Cir.1994) (disclosure of inmate's HIV positive status to corrections officer did not violate right to privacy); J.P. v. DeSanti, 653 F.2d 1080, 1090 (6th Cir.1981) (dissemination of juveniles' social histories to juvenile court and other government, social, and religious agencies did not violate juveniles' constitutional rights); see generally John E. Nowack & Ronald D. Rotunda, Constitutional Law § 14.30 at 857 (5th ed. 1995) ("The Supreme Court has not yet held that the right to privacy limits governmental powers relating to the collection of data concerning private individuals.").
[5] The Kallstrom decision "strikingly" changed the law of the Sixth Circuit. Smith v. City of Dayton, Ohio, 68 F.Supp.2d 911, 917 (S.D.Ohio 1999).
[6] The Court has made every effort to accommodate plaintiffs' counsel due to his difficult personal circumstances. Yet, even before these troubles arose, plaintiffs' lack of responsiveness had tested this Court's patience. Initially, plaintiffs refused to respond to intervenors' first motion for summary judgment, which was filed on August 9, 1999. On November 1, 1999, the Magistrate Judge granted plaintiffs a two-week extension to respond. Plaintiffs still remained silent. On January 13, 2000, the Court entered an order requiring plaintiffs to show cause no later than February 2, 2000 explaining why intervenors' motion should not be granted as requested. Plaintiffs responded to the show cause order by asserting that the case was close to settling, but never addressed the pending summary judgment motion. On March 3, 2000, the Court denied the intervenors' motion for summary judgment, but later vacated the decision.
This behavior has continued throughout the pendency of the case. Recently, plaintiffs filed a motion for leave to file a brief in opposition to defendant City's motion for summary judgment. According to the motion for leave, "a copy of [the motion] is attached and leave is sought to file it instanter." Plaintiffs, however, failed to attach the brief in opposition. Only after this Court made a call to plaintiffs' counsel did plaintiffs send the three-page brief.
[7] As per the Sixth Circuit's injunction, the City must provide plaintiffs with meaningful written notice of any public records request for plaintiffs' personnel files. Concerning intervenors' instant request, this lawsuit provides plaintiffs with notice and, indeed, full procedural due process, including every opportunity to argue that they have a constitutional privacy interest in the information contained in their personnel files.
[8] The Court sympathizes with plaintiffs' initial fears of retaliation from the Short North Posse. As discussed in detail below, however, plaintiffs have not developed clear and factual circumstances, outside of mere speculation, that this threat still exists. The only evidence in the record suggests, fortunately, the threat never developed.
[9] A witness may receive judicial permission to withhold his or her name, address, or place of employment if revealing the information would place the witness in danger. See, e.g., Smith v. Illinois, 390 U.S. 129, 134-35, 88 S.Ct. 748, 19 L.Ed.2d 956 (1968) (White, J. and Marshall, J. concurring) (recognizing the safety of a witness as proper ground for limiting cross-examination). Accord, U.S. v. Rangel, 534 F.2d 147, 148 (9th Cir.1976); Caldwell v. Minnesota, 536 F.2d 272, 273-74 (8th Cir.1976); McGrath v. Vinzant, 528 F.2d 681, 683-84 (1st Cir.1976); U.S. v. Cosby, 500 F.2d 405, 407 (9th Cir.1974); U.S. v. Ellis, 468 F.2d 638, 639 (9th Cir.1972); U.S. v. Alston, 460 F.2d 48, 51-52 (5th Cir.1972); U.S. v. Persico, 425 F.2d 1375, 1384 (2d Cir.1970); U.S. v. Baker, 419 F.2d 83, 87 (2d Cir.1969); U.S. v. Palermo, 410 F.2d 468, 472-73 (7th Cir.1969).
[10] The Court refuses to base its decision on a strict distinction between the importance of access to public records for the press and criminal defense attorneys. In many instances, the criminal defendant's right of access to police personnel files may be equally compelling as that of the press.
[11] The applicable legal standard for summary judgment is set forth above.
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Vulnerable
Events with this classification type identify a service that is badly configured, unnecessarily exposed to the internet or otherwise vulnerable to exploitation. The service possibly exhibits a known weakness that can be abused by a third party. Otherwise, the service is not intended to be accessible from the public internet, and may be targeted by brute-force attacks.
Such vulnerabilities can be abused for example to support DDoS attacks, gain unauthorized access or even tamper with the system, service or data to just name a few examples. The abuse possibility strongly depends on the nature of the vulnerability.
Most commonly the cause are internet accessible services without sufficient access control, allowing any one on the internet to access or abuse the service. Missing software updates (patches) is also a common cause that the service is vulnerable as the updated version fixes the software flaw. Configuration mistakes on service level are also a common issue that lead to vulnerable services.
The system identified by source is most likely vulnerable to be abused by third parties. If available we include additional information like a classification identifier or `extra` information. The mitigation usually strongly depends on the vulnerability. The system does not have to be compromised, but it should be still investigated.
Recommendations:
Check for further information related to the vulnerability.
Restrict the access permissions to the intended users on network level.
Secure and restrict the access to the intended users on application level.
Update the software running on the system.
Check the logs for unusual behavior.
Classification Identifier
Reported systems have the Cisco Smart Install service exposed on port 4786/tcp. This service is not intended to be reachable from the internet. Moreover, there are known vulnerabilities for the service which allow unauthenticated remote code execution.
If not required, the Smart Install service may be deactivated with the command no vstack.
Organisation
The scan is not performed by SWITCH. The scans are performed by a known trusted partner.
Reported systems expose components of a Hadoop cluster; either a namenode (50070/tcp) or a datanode (50075/tcp). These services have the possibility of disclosing sensitive information or may possibly allow a miscreant to manipulate the hadoop instance.
Organisation
The scan is not performed by SWITCH. The scans are performed by a known trusted partner.
Reported systems have a VNC service exposed on port 5900/tcp. This service does not utilize encryption and has the possibility of disclosing sensitive information or unknowningly providing remote access to the system if configured improperly.
Organisation
The scan is not performed by SWITCH. The scans are performed by a known trusted partner.
Reported systems run a DNS service on port 53/udp without client restrictions. These so-called open DNS resolvers will happily answer queries for anyone on the internet. These servers have the potential to be used in DNS amplification and reflection attacks.
Organisation
The scan is not performed by SWITCH. The scans are performed by a known trusted partner.
Elasticsearch is a distributed search engine software with a HTTP web interface. Reported systems run an Elasticsearch instance on port 9200/tcp which is accessible to the public. While this is not a vulnerability by itself, the service does not support authentication by default, which means that anybody can likely access the service and the contents of the data store.
Organisation
The scan is not performed by SWITCH. The scans are performed by a known trusted partner.
MongoDB is an opensource, cross-platform document-based database system, classified as NoSQL. Reported systems run a publicly accessible MongoDB instance on port 27017/tcp. While this is not a vulnerability by itself, in the majority of installations authentication is not enabled. Without authentication, the MongoDB instance can be accessed by anyone. This is prone to ransomware attacks, in which attackers encrypt the whole database content.
Organisation
The scan is not performed by SWITCH. The scans are performed by a known trusted partner.
These devices have the potential to be used in UDP amplification attacks in addition to disclosing large amounts of information about the system and we would like to see these services made un-available to miscreants that would misuse these resources.
The scan is not performed by SWITCH. The scans are performed by a known trusted partner.
Methodology
All the routable IPv4 addresses that are not firewalled from the internet on port 111/udp are queries with an "rcpinfo" packet and the response is parsed. If the mountd service is accessible, it will be followed up with a packet equivalent of "showmount"
Self testing
To see if portmap is accessible, run the command "rpcinfo -T udp -p [IP address]" and "showmount -e [IP address]". If the portmapper service is accessible, zou should see a response detailing some of the services that are running. Please note that even though this command specifies that you wish to probe portmapper over UDP, some implementations attempt TCP first and if that probe fails, it does not attempt to probe over UDP.
Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is a proprietary protocol developed by Microsoft, which provides a user with a graphical interface to connect to another computer over a network connection. The user employs RDP client software for this purpose, while the other computer must run RDP server software.
Reported systems run a RDP server that is publicly accessible. While this is not a vulnerability by itself, this service has the possibility of disclosing sensitive information or unknowningly providing remote access to the system if configured improperly.
Organisation
The scan is not performed by SWITCH. The scans are performed by a known trusted partner.
Self-Testing
To see if RDP is accessible, run the command "nmap -v --script=ssl-cert -p 3389 <ip-address>".
Reported systems have the SMB service exposed on port 445/tcp. This service does not utilize encryption and has the possibility of disclosing sensitive information or unknowningly providing remote access to the system if configured improperly. This service is not intended to be reachable from the internet.
Organisation
The scan is not performed by SWITCH. The scans are performed by a known trusted partner.
Reported systems expose a telnet service on port 23/tcp. As this is not a vulnerability by itself, telnet does not use encryption and has the possibility of disclosing sensitive information or unknowingly providing remote access to the system if configured improperly.
Organisation
The scan is not performed by SWITCH. The scans are performed by a known trusted partner.
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Q:
Clearing a SIM Card
After doing a factory reset on my phone, I reinserted the SIM card into the phone and I got a message suggesting that I import settings, messages, and contacts from my SIM card to my phone.
I know how to delete messages and contacts on the SIM card after importing them to the phone. My question is, how do I delete the settings from the SIM card?
A:
A Subscriber Identity Module commonly known as SIM card has a storage for text (SMS) messages and contacts only. Settings (I presume you are talking about access points and GPRS/3G configuration - clarify it you mean something else) about your phone are not stored, except the carrier related parameters like message service center number, value added services codes etc.
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Q:
Very basic batch self-replicating code: how dangerous?
After reading a bit too much about von Neumann self-replicating machines, I decided to tinker a bit with batch, trying to make a simple file that would make a copy of itself upon running.
I ended up with this:
set self=%~n0
REM get own filename
TYPE %self%.bat > %self%E.bat
The file is saved as WEE.bat and each run of the latest iteration makes a copy with an additional E.
It is very simple to add a simple line to automaticaly run the latest iteration, and at this point I actually have no idea what happens: Does something keep my computer to try to overflow its own drive? with the "improvement", how different would this piece of code be from an actual malware (besides the obvious spreading through network thing)?
A:
Does something keep my computer to try to overflow its own drive? with the "improvement", how different would this piece of code be from an actual malware (besides the obvious spreading through network thing)?
No. If you instruct your computer to do something useless or detrimental it will do so. The only limiting factor here is that with echo enabled, every line of execution must be spewed to the console window, so it's not going to be terribly fast. You'll have a chance to kill it with Ctrl-C, but its going to create thousands of files until the file name is too long to invoke, at which point it will fail. Most hard drives have orders of magnitude more space on them than your script could possibly fill-up.
If you want to experiment, see timeout /?. Add a timeout of five or ten seconds for each run of the script and you can see the number of files increasing in whatever directory you run the batch file in.
EDIT:
It appears the limiting factor here is the file path/name length at 270 characters.
>type D:\TMP\Joseph\testeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.cmd 1>D:\TMP\Joseph\testeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.cmd
The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.
>D:\TMP\Joseph\testeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.cmd
The parameter is incorrect.
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Limitations of routine spiral computerized tomography in the evaluation of bladder trauma.
We evaluate the accuracy of spiral computerized tomography (CT) in diagnosing traumatic bladder rupture. Medical records of 24 consecutive patients diagnosed with traumatic bladder rupture at our level 1 trauma center from 1993 to 1998 were retrospectively reviewed. Of the patients 15 underwent retrograde cystography and spiral CT of the abdomen and pelvis. The results of these imaging studies were compared. Retrograde cystography successfully diagnosed all cases of bladder rupture and correctly classified injuries confirmed surgically. Spiral CT successfully diagnosed 9 of 15 bladder ruptures (60%), and correctly classified 4 of 5 intraperitoneal (80%) and 6 of 11 extraperitoneal (55%) ruptures. Spiral CT is less accurate than retrograde cystography in diagnosing traumatic bladder rupture.
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273 S.C. 748 (1979)
259 S.E.2d 606
STATE of South Carolina, Appellant,
v.
Earl FAIN, Jr., Earl Fain, III, James B. Fain and Remer R. Lane, Respondents.
21070
Supreme Court of South Carolina.
October 24, 1979.
*749 *750 Atty. Gen. Daniel R. McLeod, Asst. Atty. Gen. Edward B. Latimer, Paul H. Infinger and William C. Moser, Columbia and Edward D. Buckley Charleston for Appellant.
Dowling, Dowling, Sanders & Dukes, Hilton Head Island and James P. Harrelson, of Harrelson & Gregory, Walterboro, for Respondents.
October 24, 1979.
Per Curiam:
This is a quiet title action instituted by the State (appellant) to extinguish a could on its claimed title to certain tidelands situated on the Combahee River in Colleton County. Respondents, by way of answer, asserted title to the real property in dispute and demanded that appellant's claim to title be extinguished by the court. The case was tried before a jury and, at the conclusion of the evidence, motions were made by each party for a directed verdict. The lower court granted a directed verdict in favor of respondents, denying the motion of the State, from which ruling this appeal has been taken. We reverse and remand for further proceedings in conformity with the views herein expressed.
The property to which the State's claim is asserted lies approximately twenty-six miles upstream on the Combahee River from Fields Point, a National Ocean Survey Station located near the juncture of the Combahee River with the Coosaw River, which is, at that point, the inter-coastal waterway. The area in dispute was formerly under dike and, in the remote past, used for rice cultivation for an indeterminate number of years. The dikes and trunks in the canals have apparently not been intact for many years, and the unenclosed property in question has reverted to a natural state not dissimilar to any open tidewater area. The mean tidal fluctuation in the area is 3.1 feet. Intervening between this area and the channel of the Combahee River are disjointed remnants of a deteriorated dike, which was artificially constructed and of ancient origin. This dike was constructed *751 parallel with the Combahee River and near its channel. Portions of the remnants of this dike protrude at intervals above the mean high water mark, but access to the disputed area from the river channel is free and open for both boaters and the ebb and flow of the tide. Other than runoff of rain from adjacent fastlands, the tidelands in dispute have no independent source of water other than the waters of Combahee and the ebb and flow of tide in that river.
Respondents assert title to the disputed areas by virtue of a direct and unbroken chain to three contiguous grants of title from the King of England: two to respondents' predecessor-in-title, John Palmer (being dated, respectively, January 12, 1705 and September 12, 1705) and the other to respondents predecessor-in-title, Mary Hutson (being dated December 12, 1746), the grants, in the aggregate, totaling 1732 acres. Although each of the grants recite the attachment of a plat to the grant, there are no such plats of record nor have any been otherwise located.
In this action we are concerned only with the southern boundary of the granted land, which boundary is designated in the grants as the Combahee River. The trial judge found, and there has been no appeal from such finding, that the Combahee River is a tidal, navigable stream. He further held that the "bank" of the Combahee River is clearly defined by the remnants of the above-referenced deteriorated dike protruding above high water and that this "bank" constitutes the southern boundary of respondents' grant. The effect of this decision was to grant to respondents the disputed tidelands since all of such lands lie immediately to the north of the line designated by the lower court as the boundary.
It is undisputed that the land in question is covered by water at each high tide, and that the Combahee River is a tidal, navigable stream. In view of the above, respondents are confronted with the fundamental principle of tidelands law in this jurisdiction that *752 in the case of a tidal navigable stream the boundary line is the high water mark, in the absence of more specific language showing that it was intended to go below high water mark, and the portion between high and low water mark remains in the State in trust for the benefit of the public.
State v. Hardee, 259 S.C. 535, 539, 193 S.E. (2d) 497, 501 (1972); see also Hobonny Club, Inc. v. McEachern, S.C. 252 S.E. (2d) 133 (1979); Cape Romain Land and Improvement Co. v. Georgia-Carolina Canning Co., 148 S.C. 428, 146 S.E. 434 (1928); State v. Pacific Guano Co., 22 S.C. 50 (1884).
In addition to the above principle of tidelands law, it is well settled that the State comes into court with a presumption of title, and, if an individual is to prevail, he must recover upon the strength of his own title, of which he must make proof. State v. Hardee, supra; State v. Pinckney, 22 S.C. 484 (1884). It is further a settled rule of construction that a grant by the government to a subject is construed most strongly against the grantee and in favor of the grantor. State v. Pacific Guano Co., supra. Giving due adherence to these principles, it necessarily follows that respondents in no event can prevail in this case on their grants alone. The grants are lacking in any language disclosing an intent to convey lands below high water mark and, as previously stated, the grants are not supported by plats.
Respondents offered at trial extrinsic testimony as to the history of the region during the period of almost three hundred years since the grants. Such testimony was offered in support of their theory that the lands in question were highlands at the time of the grants and that it was, thus, the intent of the grantor to convey the tidelands in dispute. This testimony was offered through a number of expert witnesses such as an historian, a geologist, engineers in various fields, and others. Illustrative of the theories advanced by these witnesses are the hypotheses that the disputed land subsided *753 through the years due to the removal of peat and trees therefrom, and that the water level of the Combahee River had risen through the years by reason of silting and diking of the river to facilitate the planting of rice. These examples, while not all-inclusive of the areas of expert testimony, demonstrate the nature of the testimony on which respondents' was primarily grounded.
The State, in proving its case, relied principally on its presumption of title as well as the other fundamental principles of tidelands law which we have recited. It offered photographic evidence of the fact that the land in dispute is covered by normal high tide and testimony of an expert who gave the water depths on the disputed property at various stages of the tide.
We find that the trial court was in error in ruling that respondents' property extended to the "bank" of the Combahee River which it considered to be coextensive with the remnant of the dike near the channel of the river. From the authorities cited above, it is clear that the prima facie title of the State extended to the northernmost flow of mean high water, which boundary would embrace the area in dispute. Thus, it was error to direct a verdict for respondents.
We next consider whether the trial court should have granted the State's motion for a directed verdict. The State has made a prima facie case of ownership of the lands in question. Unless the respondents have presented competent evidence legally sufficient to create a factual issue as to the intent of the original parties to the grant, verdict should be granted for the State in this case.
We are not familiar with any case in this jurisdiction which has decreed private ownership of tidelands unless there existed language in the grant or designations on the plat which were interpreted by the court as manifesting an intent to convey tidelands. Here there is a complete absence of any language in the grants lending itself *754 to such an interpretation.[1] It was said in State v. Hardee, supra, that tidelands remain in the state unless there is "specific language, either in the deed or on the plat, showing that it was intended to go below high water mark." Id. 259 S.C. at 543, 193 S.E. (2d) at 501. While we do not hold that the above language excludes all extrinsic testimony on this issue, we do not feel that the testimony here offered by respondents meets that standard of proof prescribed by Hardee. The testimony offered was, for the most part, general in nature when related to the specific property involved, only indirectly relevant, and based on assumptions and speculation in many areas. Upon a thorough consideration of the record, we are of the opinion that the expert opinion testimony offered is not of sufficient probative value to create a jury issue as to the ownership of the tidelands in question. While respondents have been diligent and resourceful in presenting their case, we feel that the only reasonable inference from all of the testimony, when viewed in the light of the applicable law, is that a verdict should have been directed for the State on the issue of ownership of the tidelands in dispute.
Respondents also assert that this action is barred by the twenty year statute of limitation set forth in Section 15-3-310, Code of Laws of South Carolina (1976). This court was faced with a similar contention in the case of State v. Yelson Land Co., 265 S.C. 78, 216 S.E. (2d) 876 (1975). The court in that case held that, assuming without deciding that the statute applied to the assertion of rights to tidelands, if the grants do not convey the disputed tidelands, there can be no basis for respondents' claim of *755 possession or the assertion of the bar of the statute. The rationale of the decision is that asserted possession, which respondents rely upon to refeat the action of the State, is based upon a presumption of possession which follows the establishment of legal title. The statute relied on by respondents, therefore, does not bar the present action by the State.
Respondents urge that we apply the "headlands" rule in determining the southern boundary of the area in dispute. This rule considers the boundary between a tributary waterway and a larger body of water to be a line joining the headlands of the tributary. This rule would run counter to the established law of tidelands in this state and, additionally, is not adaptable to the facts as we have found them to exist in this case. We decline to apply such rule.
For the foregoing reasons, the order of the lower court granting respondents' motion for directed verdict is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with the holdings in this case.
Reversed and remanded.
NOTES
[1] The trial court in its rulings gave significance to the following formal language of the grants: "Together with all Woods Underwoods Timber and Timber Trees Lakes Ponds Fishings Waters Water Courses Profits Commodities Emoluments Appurtenances and Hereditaments whatsoever thereto belonging or in any wise Appertaining" (Emphasis added). It construed the emphasized words as indicative of an intent to include tidelands. This rationale was considered and rejected in Cape Romain, supra. See dissenting opinion of Justice Cothran. Id. 148 S.C. at 443, 146 S.E. at 440.
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Q:
Is it possible to update an already open document in mongodb
In JS, Is there a better way of doing the following:
I'm finding a user, and then checking password, then I wish to update the same users' document.
Can I leverage the already open document (var doc) for updating? Or do as the code below does and re-search for name:name when updating.
user_collection.findOne({ name:name }, function(err, doc) {
if(err)
throw err;
if(doc) {
// verify doc.password etc
user_collection.update({ name:name }, {$set: { last_joined:last_joined }}, { upsert:true }, function(err, doc) {
if(err) {
// log error
}
});
}
});
A:
Yes - use the save method.
The document you have in doc is an in-memory copy of the record in the database. If you want to modify it then save it to the database, you need to either use the update method as you do, or use save(modified_doc).
Note: as freakish said, you probably should use user_collection.update({ _id: doc._id }, ...) instead of searching for name again, since it may not be unique.
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Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Hoque said one person had been detained following the operation.
“We initially suspect them to be JMB (Jamaa’tul Mujahideen Bangladesh) operatives,” he told reporters gathered at the site.
Police said the militants were occupying a fourth-floor flat in a six-storey building — most of its apartments rented out to bachelors.
Additional Police Commissioner Sheikh Maruf Hasan said preparations for the raid, jointly conducted by RAB and police, got under way after midnight.
The final storming, led by SWAT, started just before 6am, he said.
Hasan said they found nine bodies inside the apartment once the raid ended.
Police are yet to reveal the identities of those killed.
“Jihadi books, bombs and firearms have been found,” said the senior police officer.
Police said all the dead wore black clothes and that they had found a black flag as well.
“We have found unpacked black dresses and a black flag. A grenade and a pistol have been seized from the apartment,” said Additional Deputy Commissioner Sanowar Hossain of the counter-terrorism unit.
The five Gulshan cafe killers, too, had worn black clothes while posing for photographs in front of an Islamic State flag.
The photos were reportedly released by the Islamic State after the Jul 1 attack, which left 22 people dead.
Since the Gulshan attack, police have been conducting raids on suspected militant hideouts in the capital and elsewhere.
After an hour of the search operation in the Kalyanpur area that started around 12.30am, police presence was strengthened on the street where the building stands, said Mirpur police OC Bhuiyan Mahbub Hossain.
The militants, holed up inside, shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is great) and opened fire as the raiding team approached the building around 2am, he said.
One of the suspected militants, injured in the skirmish, has been taken to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).
The injured man has been listed at the DMCH as 25-year-old ‘Hasan’, son of one Rezaul Karim from the northern district of Bogra.
IGP Hoque told the media that ‘grenades’ were lobbed at the police as they closed in.
The raiding team at once called for backup forces, he said. “Reinforcements arrived and sealed off the area. Later, the SWAT squad and a Bomb Disposal Unit did a recce.”
The Bangladesh Police chief said that the final push to enter the building — ‘Operation Storm 26’ — started at 5:51am.
“The militants came out of the apartment firing their way out in an attempt to escape. They wore black dresses, had turbans on their heads, and backpacks with them,” said Hoque.
He said the militants and the Gulshan cafe attackers belonged to the same group.
“We suspect them to be JMB activists, but they claim themselves to be part of the IS (Islamic State).
“We have found no IS links with them,” said the IGP.
Allama Iqbal Anik, a resident of the building raided on Tuesday, said that there were four flats on each floor, most being rented out to ‘bachelors’.
The family of the building-owner lived on the first floor, he said.
Police said that the suspected militants rented rooms in apartments on the fourth-floor. Seven of the bodies were found lying in the corridor and two others in separate rooms.
Heavy police deployment was seen in and around the building on Tuesday morning with no one being allowed to leave or enter.
Counter-terrorism unit officer Hossain told bdnews24.com that they were now looking for bombs and explosives that might be lying in the apartment.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia, who visited the scene, told the media they felt more explosives could be hidden there and that no one would be allowed to enter until the search was over.
He added details of the incident would be released later at a media briefing.
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Friday, February 27, 2015
12546: UK Bitch Session.
At Campaign, “Portraits of a lady” presents more Whitewomenwhining. Now the UK Mad Women are arguing that they’re not just underrepresented, but unfairly represented too—despite enjoying roughly 50 percent representation in the field. The clueless complainers include Lindsey Clay, and the 3 percenters are joining the revolution too. It’s only a matter of time before somebody invites Patricia Arquette to the bitch session. Of course, no one is mentioning that while White women are allegedly underrepresented and unfairly represented, minorities aren’t represented at all.
I want you to get it out. I want to see it. I want to feel it, hold it, put it in my mouth,” the young woman says in a close-up to camera.
No, this isn’t a scene from 50 Shades Of Grey but from an ad shown on daytime TV last year for the e-cigarette brand VIP.
It was an example highlighted at last week’s Wacl event in the House of Commons, where the audience agreed conclusively – after fierce debate – that the depiction of women in advertising today still lags behind the reality.
Yes, there has been huge progress over the past 25 years – just look at the brilliant Sport England campaign “this girl can” by FCB Inferno – but there is still much more to be done.
The lazy use of outdated stereotypes and unnecessary sexualisation aside, what’s often most damaging is unconscious bias.
The chair of the Account Planning Group, Tracey Follows, highlighted a recent Apple ad for Siri in which men asked work-related questions while women requested a reminder about grocery shopping.
It’s this type of bias that is powerfully exposed in the “#LikeAGirl” ad for Always by Leo Burnett. And also why the Thinkbox chair, Tess Alps, argued that Mother’s “epic strut” ad for Moneysupermarket.com is a feminist statement. The spot shows a man flouncing down the street in hotpants and high heels.
“By making a man behave like women are expected to behave all the time, it shows how ridiculous it is,” Alps said. “We might not always be able to change the culture, but we don’t have to adopt the worst aspects of it.”
Partly, the bias is a result of the “male gaze”. If the majority of creative directors in charge of depicting a woman are men, can they – however well-intentioned – ever truly reflect a woman’s experience?
The problem is not usually an individual ad but the accumulative effect of what advertising says about the role of women in society.
One of the most interesting ways to redress the balance came from Thinkbox’s chief executive, Lindsey Clay, who suggested the creation of a Bechdel test for advertising.
The Bechdel test, originally used on movies, asks whether a work of fiction features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. Sounds simple, but you’d be surprised how many films fail the test.
Clay suggested judging whether an ad showed a woman who was not in a domestic setting, not playing a nurturing role and not defined through a sexual relationship with a man.
It’s a thought-provoking concept but, as the debate showed, things are not always clear-cut. Procter & Gamble’s brand director of northern Europe, Roisin Donnelly, said that businesses cannot afford to offend women in their ads because they won’t be effective if they don’t engage with the consumer. She then cited research revealing that UK women still handle 75 per cent of the housework and 88 per cent of the childcare.
Frightening statistics, but if 70 per cent of females say they feel alienated by most ads (research pointed out by Follows), then perhaps women don’t recognise, or want to recognise, the reality.
Advertising is aspirational and has the power to change behaviour. So it is also within the industry’s power to show a more equal society in ads.
As the equalities minister Jo Swinson put it: “Does advertising want to reflect what reality is, or lead us to a new reality?”
Examining our own business is a helpful lens and one that shows the need for Wacl, aged 92, to still exist. As our vice-president, Lindsey Clay, pointed out: while we start out in advertising with a 50/50 gender split, as we “progress” only 25 per cent of senior management roles are held by women. Not a great start.
And it’s far, far worse when we delve into disciplines; the lack of senior female creatives is a massive issue worldwide. On 12 June, the 3% Club (reflecting the percentage of executive creative directors stateside who are female) will come here to help raise awareness and inspire more creative talent, so that the people conceiving ads bring a realistic, empathetic view and also reflect the market.
We’re making a big effort to attract and support female chief strategy officers too; as an organisation, we will try to encourage more super senior female planners to help us deliver true insights and thus effective comms. Misunderstanding female consumers from a business perspective is lunacy; two-thirds of the world’s purchase power is wielded by females – that’s $12 trillion!
What else can we do? We can call out any lazy, unhelpful hangovers of casual sexism and gender stereotyping as a priority – we can all raise our hands and our voices. It’s our industry and we should all take responsibility.
Wacl’s goal isn’t to create an undue advantage, but we do want a level playing field. Let’s reflect reality – or, better yet, an achievable improvement on a society where only 23 per cent of our MPs and five of our FTSE 100 chief executives are women.
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177 F.3d 648
161 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2195, 138 Lab.Cas. P 10,427
R.L. COOLSAET CONSTRUCTION CO., Plaintiff-Appellee, Cross-Appellant,v.LOCAL 150, INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS,Defendant-Appellant, Cross-Appellee.
Nos. 98-2102, 98-2526.
United States Court of Appeals,Seventh Circuit.
Argued Jan. 19, 1999.Decided May 7, 1999.Rehearing and Suggestion for RehearingEn Banc Denied June 14, 1999.
Lawrence D. Levien (argued), Joseph A. Turzi, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, Washington, DC, Christopher Meyer, Dukes, Martin, Helm & Ryan, Danville, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellee, Cross-Appellant.
Dale D. Pierson (argued), Pasquale A. Fioretto, Baum, Sigman, Auerbach, Pierson & Neuman, Chicago, IL, David Stuckel, Harvey & Stuckel, Peoria, IL, for Defendant-Appellant.
Before FLAUM, RIPPLE, and DIANE P. WOOD, Circuit Judges.
FLAUM, Circuit Judge.
1
This is an appeal from judgment in favor of a contractor claiming that a union engaged in improper secondary picketing in violation of federal law and breached the "no-strike" clause in the parties' collective bargaining agreement. The union claims that its activity was aimed only at a non-union contractor on the same project, and to the extent it affected the secondary contractor, it was protected as a sympathy strike implicitly allowed by the terms of their bargaining agreement. The union also challenges the district court's damages award and the contractor cross appeals, claiming the court failed to include certain items in its calculation of prejudgment interest. We now affirm the district court's decisions regarding each of the union's claims, and reverse the court's calculation of damages.
Background1
2
This dispute stems from a picket line set up by Local 150 ("Local 150") of the International Union of Operating Engineers ("IUOE") in June 1992, at the National Gas Pipeline Company's ("NGPL's") gas storage facility in Herscher, Illinois. In 1991, NGPL hired R.L. Coolsaet Company ("Coolsaet"), a union contractor, to repair a pipeline running into NGPL's gas compressor at the Herscher facility. As a member of the Pipe Line Contractors Association ("PLCA"), a national trade group, Coolsaet was at all relevant times a signatory to a national collective bargaining agreement ("National Agreement") between the PLCA and the IUOE. Pursuant to this agreement, Coolsaet hired workers represented by Local 150, as well as workers represented by other craft unions, to perform the work at Herscher. Coolsaet worked in and around an 80-acre fenced-in area within the Herscher facility referred to as Station 201. In 1992, NGPL hired Haley Brothers, a local nonunion contractor, to perform water pipe installation work in the fields surrounding Section 201. At no time prior to the strike, however, did Coolsaet and Haley employees work in close proximity to each other.
3
On the morning of June 23, 1992, Local 150's steward, Roger Seale, and one of its business agents, Gary Benefield, met at Station 201 and drove three miles to an area called Saffer 3, where Haley was then working. There, Benefield told one of Haley's owners that its work should be performed by union labor and asked Haley to join Local 150. The owner refused. Soon after, John Filiatrault of NGPL arrived at Saffer 3 and told Benefield that Haley's work was a "separate job, separate contract, separate system," and that NGPL had the right to hire non-union contractors. Benefield responded that Haley's presence at Herscher could result in union picketing. That afternoon, Roger Seale repeated Benefield's warning to Coolsaet's office manager.
4
The same day, in an effort to avert a strike, NGPL scheduled a meeting with union representatives but called it off after concluding that the dispute was between Coolsaet and its unions, not between the union and NGPL. After the meeting was canceled, Benefield called other craft unions representing Coolsaet employees to inform them that Local 150 would likely begin picketing the following day, June 24, in front of Station 201.
5
Station 201 had three gates: the Main Gate, which was used by anyone with business at the site, Gate 2, which was locked during this period, and Gate 3, which was used exclusively by Coolsaet employees. On the morning of June 24, Benefield set up pickets in the area where Haley had been working the day before, and in front of the Main Gate, which Haley occasionally used to retrieve supplies stored inside Station 201. Benefield also set up pickets in front of Gate 3, despite the union's knowledge that only Coolsaet employees used that gate. The picket line included some Coolsaet employees.
6
Because none of its union employees would cross the picket line, Coolsaet's operation was completely shut down from June 24 until July 7. On June 25, Michael Quigley, the Local 150 business agent in charge of the picketing activity, requested a meeting with NGPL and representatives from other unions to discuss his concern about Haley working at Herscher. NGPL's manager, David Nightengale, informed Quigley that Haley had removed all of its supplies from Station 201 that day and asked why Local 150 continued to picket at that location instead of where Haley was actually working. Quigley responded that the union had the right to picket wherever it would be most effective.
7
The pickets remained in place in front of Station 201 from approximately 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day even though Haley no longer used either gate and Local 150 business agents did not know whether Haley was working on the site during those hours. During this period, Quigley told Coolsaet's manager, Ryan Colonello, that as long as Haley was still on the job, the picketing would continue.
8
The National Agreement between the PLCA and IUOE contained a broad no-strike provision (Article IX(A)) which prohibited the union from engaging in any "strike slowdown, stoppage of work or any interference ... with the progress of the work" and prevented the employer from ordering any lockout of union workers. On July 25, 1992, Hailey Roberts, the director of the PLCA, faxed a letter to Frank Hanley, president of the IUOE, informing him that Local 150 had set up a picket line at Herscher in violation of the no-strike clause in the National Agreement. On July 30, Howard Evans of the IUOE faxed Roberts' letter to Bill Dugan, president of Local 150, along with a cover note stating: "I am sure you are aware that Article [IX] of the National Pipeline Agreement contains a no strike clause." On July 2, Local 150 treasurer Joe Ward told Evans that "the picket line would be down on Monday [July 6]." When the strike continued on July 6, Evans faxed another letter ordering the removal of the picket line, which came down on July 7, 1992.
9
In September 1992, Coolsaet sued Local 150 for damages resulting from what it alleged was an illegal secondary picket in violation of the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA"), 29 U.S.C. § 158(b)(4), and the Labor Management Relations Act ("LMRA"), 29 U.S.C. §§ 185 and 187. Coolsaet also claimed that Local 150 breached the no-strike clause of the National Agreement.
10
Following a four day bench trial, the court determined that because Local 150 had intended to exert pressure on Coolsaet and NGPL, neutral or secondary employers, in an effort to remove Haley from the Herscher site, the union violated Section 8(b)(4) of the NLRA. Additionally, the court held that Local 150 breached the no-strike clause of the National Agreement. Based on the delay and increased cost Coolsaet incurred as a result of the strike, the court initially awarded the contractor $329,467 in damages. After additional briefing by the parties, the court awarded Coolsaet $105,221 in compounded prejudgment interest based on all of the contractor's damages except those associated with equipment expenses on machines owned by Coolsaet.
11
Local 150 now appeals, claiming that it did not engage in any illegal secondary activity nor did it violate the National Agreement. The union also challenges the court's damages and interest calculations. Coolsaet cross-appeals, claiming that the interest award improperly excluded equipment expenses and should have been higher.
Discussion
12
In reviewing the trial court's decision, we examine any legal conclusions de novo, Orix Credit Alliance v. Taylor Mach. Works, Inc., 125 F.3d 468, 474 (7th Cir.1997), but adopt its factual findings unless clearly erroneous. Air Line Pilots Ass'n, Int'l v. United Air Lines, Inc., 802 F.2d 886, 891 (7th Cir.1986); Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a). A finding of fact is clearly erroneous only when "the reviewing court is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed." Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, North Carolina, 470 U.S. 564, 573, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985). The court's award of damages or prejudgment interest is reviewed for abuse of discretion. Treat Bros. Co. v. Fidelity and Deposit Co., 986 F.2d 1110, 1121 (7th Cir.1993). An abuse of discretion exists where the district court has made a manifest error of law, but this court does not second-guess the exercise of discretion that falls within the range of reasonable options. See American Nat'l Bank & Trust Co. v. Regional Transp. Auth., 125 F.3d 420, 431 (7th Cir.1997). With these standards in mind, we examine each of the claims raised on appeal.
Unlawful Secondary Boycott
13
Section 303 of the LMRA provides a private cause of action for a party injured by union conduct defined as an unfair labor practice under Section 8 of the NLRA. 29 U.S.C. § 187. Section 8(b)(4), in turn, defines picketing as an unfair labor practice if "any object of that activity is to exert improper influence on secondary or neutral parties." International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, AFL-CIO v. NLRB, 47 F.3d 218, 223 (7th Cir.1995). As this court has explained:Where a union has a grievance with the terms and conditions of employment of a certain employer, (the "primary" employer), it must focus its picketing activity on that employer. The union may not exert pressure on an unrelated, "secondary" [or neutral] employer in order to coerce the secondary employer to cease dealing with the primary employer, thereby advancing the union's goals indirectly.
14
Mautz & Oren, Inc. v. Teamsters, Chauffeurs, and Helpers Union, Local No. 279, 882 F.2d 1117, 1120 (7th Cir.1989). Section 8(b)(4)'s prohibition covers situations where the union acts with mixed motives: "It is not necessary to find that the sole object of the strike was secondary so long as one of the union's objectives was to influence the secondary employer to bring pressure to bear on the primary." Id. at 1121 (internal citations omitted); see also BE&K Construction Co. v. Will & Grundy Counties Building Trades Council, AFL-CIO, 156 F.3d 756, 761 (7th Cir.1998). The union's motive is a question of fact to be determined by an examination of the "totality of [the] union's conduct in [a] given situation." International Union of Operating Engineers, 47 F.3d at 223.
15
The analysis of secondary activity is more complicated where the primary and secondary employers share a common work site. Id. at 762. In that situation, because it is difficult or impossible to target the primary employer without having a substantial effect on a secondary employer, Section 8(b)(4) has been interpreted to allow some foreseeable secondary impact so long as the union does not intend to enmesh the secondary employer in the dispute. See Mautz & Oren, 882 F.2d at 1121. Claims of secondary picketing at a common work site are analyzed under an evidentiary framework known as the Moore Dry Dock standards. See Sailor's Union of the Pacific (Moore Dry Dock), 92 N.L.R.B. 547, 549, 1950 WL 9143 (1950). Under these standards, a union's picketing is presumed to be lawful primary activity if (1) it is strictly limited to times when the situs of the dispute is located on the secondary employer's premises; (2) at the time of the picketing the primary employer is engaged in its normal business at the situs; (3) the picketing is limited to places reasonably close to the location of the situs; and (4) the picketing discloses clearly that the dispute is with the primary employer. International Union of Operating Engineers, 47 F.3d at 223. However, Moore Dry Dock only sets up a presumption which is rebutted by evidence of an unlawful intent. Id. Therefore, whether Moore Dry Dock is used to examine union conduct or not, the question remains a factual inquiry into the union's actual state of mind. Id.
16
The district court doubted whether Moore Dry Dock applied to this case because Haley's and Coolsaet's operations were more than a mile apart and thus the Herscher facility did not constitute a single work site. Even so, the court indicated that the Moore Dry Dock standards had not been met, particularly the limitations on the time and place of picketing. Ultimately, however, the court held that Moore Dry Dock was irrelevant because it found by a preponderance of the evidence that Local 150 intended to pressure secondary employers Coolsaet and NGPL in its effort to rid the Herscher facility of Haley. Essentially, the court concluded that one of the purposes of Local 150's picket line was to disrupt Coolsaet's operation by keeping its union employees from crossing it. This in turn would induce NGPL to either force Haley into joining the union or to kick the contractor off the premises in order to resume work.
17
The court based its conclusion on a number of factual findings: Local 150 set up pickets in front of Gate 3 despite its knowledge that only Coolsaet employees used that gate; the union used Coolsaet employees on its picket line; the continued picketing of Station 201 after Haley no longer stored material there; the union's maintenance of the picket line without regard to whether Haley was on the site or not; the union's failure to target Haley with its pickets and focus instead on areas where it knew Coolsaet was working; and, finally, the statements by Local 150 business agents made to representatives of Coolsaet and NGPL that the pickets would only come down if Haley was removed. Based on these findings, the court held that the union was "overtly exerting improper pressure on neutral employers [Coolsaet and NGPL]" in violation of Section 8(b)(4).
18
Local 150 now argues that the court's legal conclusions were not supported by the facts and that many of the court's key factual findings were incorrect. The union suggests that the court misinterpreted Local 150's actions and failed to credit certain testimony which contradicted the court's factual findings. Essentially, the union counters each key fact with its own version of events, reiterating what it argued before the district court.
19
However, the union has failed to overcome the considerable burden it bears in attempting to refute the district court's factual findings. See Air Line Pilots Ass'n, Int'l v. United Air Lines, Inc., 802 F.2d 886, 891 (7th Cir.1986). In challenging these findings, the union relies primarily on the testimony of its own representatives Benefield and Seale. Yet, the trial court specifically discredited these witnesses on key factual issues because their testimony was "vague, selective and, therefore, lacked credibility." When findings of fact are based on determinations regarding the credibility of witnesses, our review is particularly deferential: "only the trial judge can be aware of the variations in demeanor and tone of voice that bear so heavily on the listener's understanding of and belief in what is said." Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, North Carolina, 470 U.S. 564, 575, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985). Without objective evidence to the contrary, the court's credibility rulings are extremely difficult to overturn. Rumsavich v. Borislow, 154 F.3d 700, 703 (7th Cir.1998); In re Generes, 69 F.3d 821, 825 (7th Cir.1995); Dunning v. Simmons Airlines Inc., 62 F.3d 863, 868 (7th Cir.1995). Because we consider the court's findings to be well supported by the record, and because the union has failed to present any objective evidence to the contrary, we will not disturb them.
20
Given these factual findings, we also agree with the court's legal conclusion that Local 150 engaged in improper secondary activity. Even if this case is analyzed under Moore Dry Dock,2 the court reasonably concluded that at least one of the union's objectives was to pressure Coolsaet and NGPL into forcing Haley off the Herscher site. The court's finding that Benefield and Quigley maintained the pickets at Station 201 without regard to where or when Haley was working supports the court's conclusion that Local 150 had failed to satisfy two of Moore Dry Dock 's standards: that picketing be limited to the times and places the primary employer worked. This failure sets up a presumption of secondary intent which Local 150 has not rebutted. International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, AFL-CIO, 47 F.3d 218, 223 (7th Cir.1995). Moreover, we are satisfied that, in addition to its failure to narrowly target Haley's operations, the use of Coolsaet's employees on the picket line as well as the statements to Coolsaet and NGPL that the pickets would remain until Haley was removed from Herscher all strongly support the notion that at least one of Local 150's purposes was to exert secondary pressure. Id.
21
The union argues that the statements it made to Coolsaet and NGPL were protected by the Supreme Court's decision in NLRB v. Servette, 377 U.S. 46, 84 S.Ct. 1098, 12 L.Ed.2d 121 (1964), which held that non-threatening statements concerning protected activity do not violate Section 8(b)(4). This argument is unavailing. In Servette, the Court held that a union could ask managers of a secondary employer not to handle goods of the primary employer. Id. at 51, 84 S.Ct. 1098. The court specifically noted that the union was not "attempting to induce or encourage them to cease performing managerial duties in order to force their employers to cease doing business with [the primary employer]." Id. Here, however, the court interpreted Local 150's statements to be just that--an attempt to induce or encourage Coolsaet and NGPL to cease doing business with Haley. Because we believe the court did not err in interpreting these statements as it did, they are not protected by the holding in Servette. See BE&K Construction Co. v. Will & Grundy Counties Building and Trades Council, 156 F.3d 756, 769 (7th Cir.1998) ("[T]he union cannot avoid liability for illegally threatening a secondary employer by conveying the threat with innocuous words, implications and body language."); Pickens Bond Const. Co. v. United Brotherhood of Carpenters, 586 F.2d 1234, 1240 (8th Cir.1978) ("Selection of permissible inferences raised by evidence is primarily a function of the trial court and findings thus will stand unless clearly erroneous.").
22
While the line between permissible primary activity and unlawful secondary activity may be "more nice than obvious," Local 761, Elec. Workers v. NLRB, 366 U.S. 667, 674, 81 S.Ct. 1285, 6 L.Ed.2d 592 (1961), Local 150 clearly crossed it at Herscher.
Breach of the National Agreement
23
The union next argues that it did not breach the National Agreement because Coolsaet failed to exhaust contractual remedies and because the Agreement's no-strike provision did not cover the kind of picketing at issue.
24
The trial court concluded that although Article IX(A)3 of the National Agreement states that all disputes concerning the Agreement were to be arbitrated, Article IX(B) allows either party to opt out of the arbitration clause and go directly to court if the dispute involves a union strike or an employer lock-out. Article IX(B) provides in relevant part:
25
If the local union ... causes or promotes a strike, slowdown, work stoppage or any interference with the operation or progress of the work ... then the Employer ... may at its option declare the provisions of [the arbitration clause] inoperative and seek whatever remedy may be available from the National Labor Relations Board or any Federal or State court having jurisdiction over the matter.
26
The trial court decided that because Coolsaet chose to pursue its remedy in federal court, it had triggered Article IX(B) and did not need to arbitrate the dispute.4
27
Local 150 now argues that Coolsaet never actually "declared" that the arbitration clause was inoperative, so it is still in effect and the employer is still bound by its requirements. We reject this formalistic assertion. Article IX(B) does not appear to require any specific declaration language and none should be inferred. It is hard to imagine a clearer declaration that the arbitration clause is inoperative than the filing of this suit. Article IX(B) clearly allows an employer to by-pass the arbitration requirement if the dispute involves a work stoppage. Although parties to a collective bargaining agreement must normally exhaust contractual arbitration before pursuing other remedies, see Mautz & Oren, 882 F.2d at 1126-27, they need not do so if the agreement does not require arbitration over the dispute at issue. Cf. Drake Bakeries, Inc. v. Local 50, 370 U.S. 254, 257-60, 82 S.Ct. 1346, 8 L.Ed.2d 474 (1962) (holding that because parties had failed to carve out the issue in question from the arbitration clause, it needed to be arbitrated).
28
Local 150 also argues that despite the no-strike clause, it still had a right to sympathy strike5 because the National Agreement did not specifically prohibit it. Relying on our decision in Indianapolis Power and Light v. NLRB, 898 F.2d 524 (7th Cir.1990), the union argues that without extrinsic evidence of an intention to waive sympathy strikes, it may still engage in them.
29
However, whether we apply the rule stated in Indianapolis Power or not,6 the language of the National Agreement, as well as certain extrinsic evidence, convince us that the parties intended the kind of strike at issue to be included in the no strike clause. First, the no-strike clause is accompanied by a specific sympathy strike exception which does not cover Local 150's actions at Herscher. That exception provides:
30
It shall not be a violation of this Agreement or of the no-strike clause if members of the International Union of Operating Engineers refuse to cross a picket line established by another craft union within the pipe line industry.
31
Article IX(D). This exception for certain sympathy strikes--those in observance of other unions' picket lines--strongly implies that sympathy strikes in general were included in the no-strike clause, for if they were not, there would be no need for an exception. The fact that sympathy strikes in favor of Local 150's own picket lines are not included in the specific exception similarly indicates that the union's actions here fell "within the purview of the no-strike clause." Indianapolis Power, 898 F.2d at 528; see also Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 150 v. Vertex Const. Co., 932 F.2d 1443, 1449 (11th Cir.1991) ("The doctrine of expressio unius est exclusio alterius instructs that when certain matters are mentioned in a contract, other similar matters not mentioned were intended to be excluded."); see also Smart v. Gillette Co. Long-Term Disability Plan, 70 F.3d 173, 179 (1st Cir.1995) ("While this interpretive maxim [expressio unius] is not always dispositive, it carries weight."). Additionally, based on the history of negotiations between the PLCA and the IUOE, the court concluded that "the no-strike clause in the National Agreement represents a fifteen year drafting effort by the parties to the agreement to eliminate work stoppages caused by recognitional picketing." More specifically, a Coolsaet witness testified that the no strike clause was added to the Agreement in response to the activity of Local 2 of the IUOE, which had engaged in strikes similar to the one at issue here. Thus, both the structure of the National Agreement, with its specific sympathy strike exception, and its bargaining history clearly point to the conclusion that Local 150's activities fall within the prohibition of the no strike clause. See Inland Steel Co. v. NLRB, 719 F.2d 205, 207 (7th Cir.1983); Amcar Div., ACF Industries v. NLRB, 641 F.2d 561, 567 (8th Cir.1981); cf. Indianapolis Power, 898 F.2d at 530 (evidence that parties "agreed to disagree" about whether certain strikes were covered by the no-strike clause held not sufficient to waive the right to engage in those strikes). We therefore see no error in the district court's conclusion that the union breached the National Agreement.
Damages and Interest
32
Local 150 next argues that even if it engaged in improper secondary activity at Herscher, the court erred in awarding Coolsaet damages, or alternatively, that its damage award was excessive. In either case, claims Local 150, the court erred in awarding pre-judgment interest.
Damages
33
The trial court awarded Coolsaet damages based on what the court found to be a twelve day delay (in addition to the eleven days of the strike itself) in completion of the project which was directly attributable to the strike.7 This post-strike delay resulted from work that had to be redone and lost time and efficiencies remobilizing the project. The damages figure includes increased payroll and equipment expenses as well as other miscellaneous expenses associated with the strike-induced delay.
34
Local 150 now claims that the award should be reversed because the damages calculation was purely speculative. See Mid-America Tablewares v. Mogi Trading Co., 100 F.3d 1353, 1367-69 (7th Cir.1996). This argument is essentially another challenge to the court's factual findings. Yet the union fails to show how any are clearly erroneous. On the contrary, the court reasonably calculated a delay of twelve days based on an estimated completion date made just prior to the strike and comparing it to the actual completion date. The evidence also supports the court's finding that work needed to be redone after the strike and that Coolsaet experienced serious problems re-mobilizing its workforce. Both of these delay factors are directly attributable to the strike and the expenses associated with them are compensable. American Bridge Division, U.S. Steel Corp. v. International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 487, 772 F.2d 1547, 1552 (11th Cir.1985) (increased costs associated with 50% reduction in efficiency attributable to illegal strike recoverable); John B. Cruz Co. v. United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners, 907 F.2d 1228, 1232 (1st Cir.1990) (holding damages recoverable under Section 303 of NLRA, 29 U.S.C. § 187, for harm done by illegal secondary boycott). The actual cost figures applied to the delay are not disputed by the union. That the exact amount of loss suffered by Coolsaet cannot be determined with absolute certainty does not bar recovery: "While the employer must prove that he has sustained some injury to his business or property, he need not detail the exact amount of damages suffered. It is sufficient if the evidence supports a just and reasonable approximation." Refrigeration Contractors, Inc. v. Local Union No. 211, 501 F.2d 668, 671 (5th Cir.1974); see Zazu Designs v. L'Oreal, S.A., 979 F.2d 499, 505-06 (7th Cir.1992) (compensatory damages must rest on just and reasonable estimate based on relevant data).
35
Next, relying on a decision from the Ninth Circuit, Matson Plastering Company, Inc. v. Plasterers & Shophands Local 66, the union claims that the court erred in awarding damages based on equipment expenses because only "out of pocket expenses paid to third parties as a result of picketing" are compensable under Section 303. 852 F.2d 1200, 1203 (9th Cir.1988). Their argument is that Coolsaet owned all its own equipment and thus it should not be compensated for equipment expenses because they were not out-of-pocket and not paid to third parties.8 Nothing in Matson, however, supports this constrained approach to damages. On the contrary, that court discussed lost profits--something neither out of pocket nor paid to third parties--as a recoverable item under the NLRA. Id. at 1202 (citing Frito-Lay, Inc. v. Local 137, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers, 623 F.2d 1354, 1363 (9th Cir.1980)). As other courts have recognized, idle equipment (or equipment which must remain on a job site because the project is delayed) is a real and quantifiable loss to the contractor, whether rent is paid to another or charged to the contractor himself as an accounting expense,9 and it is recoverable. American Bridge Division, U.S. Steel Corp. v. International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 487, 772 F.2d 1547, 1553 (11th Cir.1985); Frito-Lay, Inc., 623 F.2d at 1364; Metropolitan Paving Co. v. International Union of Operating Engineers, 439 F.2d 300, 305 (10th Cir.1971). The trial court did not abuse its discretion by including these expenses in its calculation of damages.
Interest
36
After requesting additional briefing, the trial court decided to award Coolsaet an additional $105,221, which represents the compounded interest on Coolsaet's total damage award except for the amount awarded for equipment costs. Beelman Truck Company v. Chauffeurs, Teamsters, Warehousemen and Helpers, 33 F.3d 886, 892 (7th Cir.1994) (award of interest under the LMRA is at discretion of the trial court). The union now challenges that decision.
37
Initially, Local 150 argues that Coolsaet's request for interest, which is normally treated as a Rule 59(e) motion, was untimely because it was filed more than ten days after the court entered its judgment. Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e); see McNabola v. Chicago Transit Authority, 10 F.3d 501, 520 (7th Cir.1993) (court lacks jurisdiction to hear untimely requests for interest). Yet as the court explained, Coolsaet requested interest well before judgment was rendered. After awarding Coolsaet damages, the court requested an additional brief from Coolsaet in support of the interest award. Although this brief was filed more than ten days after the judgment, because Coolsaet's initial request is treated as a Rule 59(e) motion, it was timely. See John Hancock Healthplan of Penn. v. Lexington Ins. Co., 1991 WL 63854 (E.D.Pa.1991); Dunn v. Truck World Inc., 929 F.2d 311 (7th Cir.1991); Jurgens v. McKasy, 905 F.2d 382 (Fed.Cir.1990); Protective Nat. Ins. v. Safety Nat. Casualty Corp., 19 F.3d 28 (9th Cir.1994).
38
Next, the union claims that because their actions were not intentional or outrageous and because the underlying damages were speculative, prejudgment interest was inappropriate. See Gorenstein Enterprises v. Quality Care-USA, 874 F.2d 431, 436 (7th Cir.1989). We are not convinced. While prejudgment interest may be inappropriate where the defendant had no reason to know of the wrongfulness of its actions, see Wickham Contracting Co. v. Local No. 3, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 955 F.2d 831, 833-34 (2nd Cir.1992), that is not the case here. Indeed, a violation of Section 8(a)(4) requires, and the district court found, an unlawful intent. See Mautz & Oren, Inc. v. Teamsters Local 279, 882 F.2d 1117, 1120-21 (7th Cir.1989). Nor is the fact that the damages award could not be calculated with absolute precision a bar to prejudgment interest. See Wickham, 955 F.2d at 836. As noted above, the court's damages award was well supported by the record, and awarding prejudgment interest was appropriate. P.A. Bergner & Co. v. Bank One, 140 F.3d 1111, 1123 (7th Cir.1998) ("[P]rejudgment interest should not be thought of as a windfall in any event; it is simply an ingredient of full compensation that corrects judgments for the time value of money.").
Cross-Claim for Interest
39
Before calculating the amount of prejudgment interest, the district court subtracted from the total damages amount the sum designated as Coolsaet's equipment expenses. Apparently, the trial court concluded that because Coolsaet owned its equipment this money was not "out-of-pocket" and could not have been invested, so it would not have earned any interest. Coolsaet maintains, however, that this decision deprived it of complete compensation and the interest award should be increased. We agree. Prejudgment interest is based on the notion that a plaintiff is not fully compensated unless it receives interest for the time it was deprived the use of its money. See Partington v. Broyhill Furn. Indus. Inc., 999 F.2d 269, 274 (7th Cir.1993). This court has explained that:
40
Money today is not a full substitute for the same sum that should have been paid years ago. Prejudgment interest therefore is an ordinary part of any award under federal law. By committing a tort, the wrongdoer creates an involuntary creditor. It may take time for the victim to obtain an enforceable judgment, but once there is a judgment the obligation is dated as of the time of the injury.... Prejudgment interest at the market rate puts both parties in the position they would have occupied had compensation been paid promptly.
41
In re Oil Spill by Amoco Cadiz, 954 F.2d 1279, 1331 (7th Cir.1992); see also NLRB v. International Measurement and Control Company, 978 F.2d 334, 336 (7th Cir.1992). As discussed above, the equipment expenses at issue represent actual, compensable losses to the contractor. American Bridge Division, U.S. Steel Corp. v. International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 487, 772 F.2d 1547, 1553 (11th Cir.1985); Frito-Lay, Inc., 623 F.2d at 1364; Metropolitan Paving Co. v. International Union of Operating Engineers, 439 F.2d 300, 305 (10th Cir.1971). Had Coolsaet been compensated for its equipment loss when it occurred, it could have put that money to productive use. In re Oil Spill by Amoco Cadiz, 954 F.2d at 1331. For the purpose of prejudgment interest, we see no reason, nor find any in the case law, for treating the damages items awarded to Coolsaet differently. We therefore conclude that the contractor is entitled to interest on the entire amount.10
Rule 38
Sanctions
42
After briefs were submitted on this appeal, Coolsaet moved for damages and costs pursuant to Rule 38 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. Rule 38 states: "If a court of appeals shall determine that an appeal is frivolous, it may award just damages and single or double costs to the appellee." In Spiegel v. Continental Illinois Bank, 790 F.2d 638 (7th Cir.1986), we stated, "an appeal is frivolous when the result is obvious or when the appellant's argument is wholly without merit." Id. at 650 (citations omitted). Coolsaet argues that because the bulk of Local 150's argument on appeal depended on this court overturning the district court's credibility determinations, the union had no chance of prevailing. See District 8, International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO v. Clearing, Division of U.S. Industries, Inc., 807 F.2d 618, 623 (7th Cir.1986) (appeal based solely on assertion that district court should have credited appellant's witnesses rather than appellee's was frivolous and justified Rule 38 sanctions); Rennie v. Dalton, 3 F.3d 1100, 1110 (7th Cir.1993) (same). Although Local 150 failed to provide us with a basis for overturning the district court's decision, we do not believe the appeal was frivolous. Local 150 raised substantial, if non-meritorious, legal challenges to the district court's finding of secondary activity, its interpretation of the no-strike clause and its calculation of damages. Hal Commodity Cycles Management Co. v. Kirsh, 825 F.2d 1136, 1139 (7th Cir.1987). Because the union's arguments created some plausible chance of reversal on each of these grounds, see Borowski v. DePuy, Inc., 876 F.2d 1339, 1341 (7th Cir.1989), we do not consider this is an appropriate case for sanctions. See id. Therefore, Coolsaet's motion is denied and each party shall bear its own costs.
Conclusion
43
We agree with the district court's decision that Local 150 engaged in illegal secondary activity and breached the no-strike clause in the collective bargaining agreement it had with Coolsaet. We also agree with all but one of the district court's damages determinations. Therefore, we AFFIRM in part, REVERSE in part and REMAND for recalculation of prejudgment interest.
1
The following account is based on the district court's finding of facts pursuant to FED.R.CIV.P. 52(a)
2
Although the court did not hold that Moore Dry Dock applied to this case, it nonetheless concluded that under its standards Local 150's conduct was not legal. While we share the court's skepticism that the Herscher facility is a single work site triggering Moore Dry Dock, because the court found actual evidence of an intent to exert secondary pressure we need not decide this question. See Mautz & Oren, Inc. v. Teamsters, Chauffeurs, and Helpers Union, Local No. 279, 882 F.2d 1117, 1121 (7th Cir.1989) ("The question throughout remains a factual inquiry into the union's actual state of mind under the totality of the circumstances.")
3
Article IX(A) provides:
All grievances, disputes, differences of opinion and other questions concerning this Agreement shall be settled in accordance with the procedures for settlement of grievances and disputes set out in [Article X, the arbitration clause] below.
4
Section 301 of the LMRA confers federal jurisdiction over claims for breach of collective bargaining agreements. See 29 U.S.C. § 185
5
As the term is used in this case, a sympathy strike is essentially the refusal of union members to cross a picket line when they are not themselves the subject of the dispute. See Gary Hobart Water Corp. v. NLRB, 511 F.2d 284, 287 (7th Cir.1975). It is recognitional in nature and generally considered protected by Section 7 of the NLRA, 29 U.S.C. § 157. The right to sympathy strike may, like other strike rights, be waived by clear and unmistakable contractual language. See NLRB v. Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry Co., 440 F.2d 393, 399 (7th Cir.1971)
6
We recognize that the rule stated in Indianapolis Power is not necessarily the law of this circuit. Our decision in that case was the result of its unusual procedural posture. The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit had announced the rule (that in the absence of extrinsic evidence, no strike clauses do not automatically include sympathy strikes) prior to remanding the case. Indianapolis Power, 898 F.2d at 526. On a subsequent appeal the case was transferred to this court. Id. In holding that the rule announced by the D.C. Circuit would be considered the law of the case and applicable to the parties in the suit, we said that "far from being clearly erroneous, we believe that the [rule] is reasonable and consistent with the [NLRA] ... [It] reasonably accommodates the two important policies: that a waiver of statutory rights is not to be lightly inferred, and that parties should be free to bargain and enter into an agreement reflecting their bargains." Id. at 529. Because sympathy strikes are analytically distinct from traditional strikes, see Gary Hobart Water Corp. v. NLRB, 511 F.2d 284, 287 (7th Cir.1975), we see no reason to assume that a no strike clause automatically includes them. Yet the question of whether Indianapolis Power controls this case is not squarely before us, and because we believe the language and history of the National Agreement clearly forbid this kind of work stoppage, we need not address the issue further here
7
The court essentially arrived at the twelve day figure by comparing--with certain adjustments--the pre-strike estimated completion or "tie-in" date with the actual "tie-in" date
8
Local 150 also argues that the court failed to deduct the damage to Coolsaet attributable to lawful primary conduct from unlawful secondary activity. See Boxhorn's Big Muskego Gun Club, Inc. v. Electrical Workers Local 494, 798 F.2d 1016 (7th Cir.1986). The district court rejected this contention by noting that the union had failed to even suggest how any of Coolsaet's requested damages resulted from Local 150's picketing of Haley alone and not from the picketing at Station 201, which the court held was entirely tainted with secondary intent. We see no error in the court's reasoning
9
Contractors must charge themselves rent on equipment they own. This rent essentially accounts for the depreciation (the real decline in the value of the equipment) as well as finance costs, insurance and certain taxes. As the equipment sits idle, these expenses accumulate without generating any offsetting revenue. Even if the equipment is owned by the contractor free and clear of finance charges, keeping the equipment on a project longer than expected without a corresponding increase in revenue entails opportunity costs. See Frito-Lay, Inc., 623 F.2d at 1364
10
Our conclusion might have been different if, for example, the court had concluded that the equipment expenses were far more speculative than the other expenses or were otherwise suspect. See Wickham Contracting v. Local No. 3, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 955 F.2d 831, 833-4 (2d Cir.1992). But the court's decision to exclude them from the interest calculation appears to be based only on the notion that they are not out-of-pocket expenses
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112 F.3d 460
97 CJ C.A.R. 636
Nancy GAYLOR, Plaintiff-Appellant,v.JOHN HANCOCK MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, a corporation,Defendant-Appellee.
No. 96-6038.
United States Court of Appeals,Tenth Circuit.
April 29, 1997.
Glenn Mullins, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
L.E. Stringer and Mark D. Spencer, Crowe & Dunlevy, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Defendant-Appellee.
Before KELLY, Circuit Judge, McWILLIAMS, Senior Circuit Judge, and BRISCOE, Circuit Judge.*
PAUL KELLY, Jr., Circuit Judge.
1
Plaintiff Nancy Gaylor appeals from a district court decision affirming the denial of her claim for long-term disability benefits. Ms. Gaylor maintains first that her policy with Defendant John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company (Hancock) is not governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), Pub.L. No. 93-406, 88 Stat. 832 (codified as amended at 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461). Second, she argues that even if her claim is governed by ERISA, the bases relied upon by Hancock were insufficient to deny her claim. Our jurisdiction arises under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we reverse.
Facts
2
As part of an association of employers, the Morris General Agency (Morris) purchased two group insurance policies from Hancock, for the purpose of providing insurance benefits to its employees. Employees of Morris become eligible to receive benefits after six months of employment with Morris. Should employees choose to participate, life and accidental death and dismemberment (ADD) policies are mandatory; other coverage, including disability, is optional. Morris contributes the entire cost of the premiums for its employees' life and ADD insurance; for certain employees, Morris also contributes part of the premiums for its employees' disability insurance.
3
Morris hired Nancy Gaylor as a salaried employee on March 1, 1992. On June 13, 1992, Ms. Gaylor slipped on wet concrete and fell, injuring her lower back. Two days later, she saw a doctor, who prescribed pain medication and diagnosed her with "sciatic neuritis." She continued to visit general practitioners over the summer, and was finally referred to Dr. J. Patrick Livingston, who set up a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test and an electromyography (EMG) study. On the basis of the MRI and EMG, Dr. Livingston concluded that Ms. Gaylor was not in need of orthopedic surgery, and recommended that Ms. Gaylor see a neurosurgeon. She did so in late November 1992, and the neurologist again could find no cause for Ms. Gaylor's condition. In a letter dated November 23, 1992, Dr. Livingston indicated that Ms. Gaylor was still his patient and that he would see her in further follow-ups.
4
In the meantime, Ms. Gaylor's condition had hindered her work with Morris, and her work production suffered. She filed a disability claim form on October 13, 1992, claiming that although her accident occurred in June, she was unable to work as of October 13, 1992. Two days later, Morris terminated Ms. Gaylor's employment.
5
In January 1993, Hancock requested an independent medical examination of Ms. Gaylor's injury by Dr. Ronald R. Chadwell, who also could not verify the cause of Ms. Gaylor's disability through clinical or laboratory means. He did agree with Dr. Livingston and Ms. Gaylor's primary care physicians, however, that Ms. Gaylor suffered from a debilitating condition, and diagnosed a back strain secondary to her fall and also some early degenerative changes in the lumbo-sacral spine area.
6
On March 1, 1993, Hancock authorized payment of $1,345.73 on Ms. Gaylor's claim for the two-week period from November 14, 1992 to November 28, 1992. On March 2, 1993, Ms. Gaylor saw Dr. Livingston, who informed her that there was nothing more he could do for her and suggested that she return to her primary care physicians for long-term treatment. Dr. Livingston later explained in a letter to Hancock that he believed that Ms. Gaylor's chronic, non-surgical condition required follow-up and care and medications that are best handled by primary care physicians who would continue to see patients on a regular basis. Ms. Gaylor followed Dr. Livingston's advice, and, in June, attempted to make an appointment with a general practitioner. She was rejected, however, because she was financially unable to pay the doctor's bill. On August 10, 1993, Ms. Gaylor finally did see her primary care physician.
7
Finally, on October 4, 1993, Hancock denied Ms. Gaylor's claim for any additional benefits under her disability policy, claiming that (1) she was not under the regular care of a physician, and (2) her physical condition could not be verified by the use of clinical and laboratory diagnostic means. On November 9, 1993, Ms. Gaylor filed this lawsuit.
Discussion
I. ERISA Preemption
8
Ms. Gaylor argues that her policy with John Hancock is not part of an "employee welfare benefit plan" within the meaning of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. § 1002(3). She further argues that even if her policy is part of an ERISA plan, her claims under Oklahoma state law fall within the ERISA savings clause, 29 U.S.C. § 1144(b)(2)(A), and thus are not exempted by ERISA.
9
A. Whether Morris established or maintained an "employee
10
welfare benefit plan"
11
We must first determine whether ERISA covers the insurance benefits which Morris provides to its employees, a question which we review de novo. Peckham v. Gem State Mut. of Utah, 964 F.2d 1043, 1047 (10th Cir.1992).
12
Ms. Gaylor argues that the benefits provided by Morris are excluded from ERISA coverage under the "safe harbor" provision, 29 C.F.R. § 2510.3-1(j), which provides that the term "employee welfare benefit plan" shall not include programs in which (1) no contribution is made by the employer; (2) participation in the program is completely voluntary for the employees; (3) the sole functions of the employer are to permit the insurer to publicize the program to employees and to collect premiums through payroll deductions; and (4) the employer receives no consideration in connection with the program. Plans which meet each of these four factors are excluded from ERISA coverage. Hansen v. Continental Ins. Co., 940 F.2d 971, 977 (5th Cir.1991). The district court indicated that if the safe harbor provision does not apply, "the employer's involvement in the insurance program is deemed sufficiently significant to qualify the program as an 'employee welfare benefit plan' subject to ERISA." Aplt.App. at 389. We observed in Peckham, however, that "[t]he fact that [a] plan is not excluded from ERISA coverage by this regulation does not compel the conclusion that the plan is an ERISA plan." 964 F.2d at 1049 n. 10. "[A] program that fails to satisfy the [safe harbor provision] is not automatically deemed to have been 'established or maintained' by the employer, but, rather, is subject to further evaluation under the conventional tests." Johnson v. Watts Regulator Co., 63 F.3d 1129, 1133 (1st Cir.1995).
13
Ms. Gaylor argues that no contribution was made by Morris with respect to her disability insurance, and that the first factor is therefore satisfied. Morris did contribute, however, the entire cost of Ms. Gaylor's ADD insurance, which was mandatory once Ms. Gaylor chose to enroll for coverage. For purposes of satisfying the safe harbor provision, Ms. Gaylor attempts to sever her optional disability coverage from the rest of the benefits she received through her employer's plan. "This cannot be done because the [optional] coverage was a feature of the Plan, notwithstanding the fact that the cost of such coverage had to be contributed by the employee." Smith v. Jefferson Pilot Life Ins. Co., 14 F.3d 562, 567 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 808, 115 S.Ct. 57, 130 L.Ed.2d 15 (1994); see also Glass v. United of Omaha Life Ins. Co., 33 F.3d 1341, 1345 (11th Cir.1994).
14
Having determined that the safe harbor provision does not apply, we now turn to the "conventional tests" for whether Morris's plan is governed by ERISA. Johnson, 63 F.3d at 1133. ERISA governs "employee benefit plans," 29 U.S.C. § 1003(a), one form of which is an "employee welfare benefit plan," 29 U.S.C. § 1002(3). ERISA defines "employee welfare benefit plan" as:
15
any plan, fund, or program ... established or maintained by an employer ... for the purpose of providing for its participants or their beneficiaries, through the purchase of insurance or otherwise ... medical, surgical, or hospital care or benefits, or benefits in the event of sickness, accident, disability, death or unemployment ...
16
29 U.S.C. § 1002(1).
17
The definition can be broken down into five elements: (1) a "plan, fund, or program" (2) established or maintained (3) by an employer (4) for the purpose of providing health care or disability benefits (5) to participants or their beneficiaries. See Peckham, 964 F.2d at 1047. It is clear that Ms. Gaylor, as an employee of Morris, was provided with life, ADD and disability benefits. We must now determine whether Morris established or maintained a plan within the meaning of § 1002(1).
18
A "plan, fund, or program" exists if "from the surrounding circumstances a reasonable person can ascertain the intended benefits, a class of beneficiaries, the source of financing, and the procedures for receiving benefits." Id. ( quoting Donovan v. Dillingham, 688 F.2d 1367, 1373 (11th Cir.1982)). Under this test, we are certain that a plan exists. The intended benefits are life, ADD, medical, accident and sickness, and disability benefits; the class of beneficiaries is Morris's employees, and if the employees so choose, their dependents; financing comes from both Morris and its employees; and the procedures for receiving benefits are detailed in the informational booklets provided to Morris employees.
19
Just because a plan exists, however, does not mean that it is an ERISA plan. Hansen, 940 F.2d at 977. We must determine whether Morris established or maintains the plan. As John Hancock points out in its brief, the "established or maintained" requirement is designed to ensure that the plan is part of an employment relationship. Peckham, 964 F.2d at 1049. According to John Hancock, therefore, simply because Ms. Gaylor obtained her disability policy through her employment relationship with Morris, the plan meets the "established or maintained" requirement. This argument fails to recognize, however, that we determine whether the plan is part of an employment relationship "by looking at the degree of participation by the employer in the establishment or maintenance of the plan." Id. An employer's mere purchase of insurance for its employees does not, without more, constitute an ERISA plan. Hansen, 940 F.2d at 978. An important factor in determining whether a plan has been established is whether the employer's purchase of the policy is an expressed intention by the employer to provide benefits on a regular and long-term basis. Peckham, 964 F.2d at 1049; Wickman v. Northwestern Nat'l Ins. Co., 908 F.2d 1077, 1083 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1013, 111 S.Ct. 581, 112 L.Ed.2d 586 (1990). Thus, although the purchase of insurance does not conclusively establish a plan, it is evidence of the employer's intention to establish a plan: "the purchase of a group policy or multiple policies covering a class of employees offers substantial evidence that a plan ... has been established." Donovan, 688 F.2d at 1373 (footnote omitted), quoted in Peckham, 964 F.2d at 1048 n. 8. The court in Donovan also cautioned, however, that the mere decision to extend benefits to employees does not "establish" a plan within the meaning of ERISA; instead, it is the "reality of a plan ... that is determinative." 688 F.2d at 1373.
20
In this case, there is evidence of Morris's intention to provide benefits on a long-term basis, and also of the reality of an ERISA plan. Morris's purchase of disability insurance from John Hancock was not "an isolated and aberrational incident," Wickman, 908 F.2d at 1083, but was part of a comprehensive insurance program providing to Morris employees several different kinds of insurance. In addition, Morris distributed to its employees a handbook detailing ERISA rights, which is "strong evidence that the employer has adopted an ERISA regulated plan." Id. at 1083. The fact that an employer delegates part of the operational responsibility for the plan to the insurer does not mean that it did not "establish or maintain" a plan. See 29 U.S.C. § 1105(c)(1) (allowing the delegation of fiduciary responsibilities under an ERISA plan). Given Morris's intention to provide its employees benefits on a long-term basis, and the reality of an ongoing comprehensive insurance program, we hold that Morris's plan was clearly part of its employment relationship with its employees. Thus, Morris's plan meets the "established or maintained" requirement. See Peckham, 964 F.2d at 1049.
21
Ms. Gaylor cites Fort Halifax Packing Co. v. Coyne, 482 U.S. 1, 107 S.Ct. 2211, 96 L.Ed.2d 1 (1987), for the proposition that Morris's plan must include an "ongoing administrative program" in order to fit within ERISA. Id. at 11, 107 S.Ct. at 2217. We agree with that proposition, but disagree that Morris's plan is not an ongoing administrative program. As we have noted in the past, Fort Halifax involved a state statute which required employers to provide a single lump-sum payment to employees relating to certain plant closings. Peckham, 964 F.2d at 1048. Because the statute at issue in Fort Halifax required only a single payment, and thus presented no danger of conflict with ERISA regulations, the Court held that the statute was not preempted. In contrast to Fort Halifax, the programs in Peckham and in Ms. Gaylor's case do not involve single lump-sum payments that present no danger of conflicting regulations; instead, these programs are ongoing, and therefore present the danger of conflicting regulations. Peckham, 964 F.2d at 1048; see also Pilot Life Ins. Co. v. Dedeaux, 481 U.S. 41, 45-46, 107 S.Ct. 1549, 1551-52, 95 L.Ed.2d 39 (1987) (describing Congress's intent to preempt the field of employee benefit plans for federal regulations, thus eliminating the threat of conflicting or inconsistent state and local regulation).
22
B. Whether Ms. Gaylor's state law claim is preempted
23
Ms. Gaylor claims that Hancock handled her disability claim in bad faith, in violation of Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 36, §§ 3629, 4405 (West 1990), which provide a cause of action in the event that an insurance claim is improperly processed. Ms. Gaylor argues that even if the plan is governed by ERISA, her state law claim for bad faith is not preemtped because it is exempted by ERISA's "saving clause," which states:
24
[N]othing in this subchapter shall be construed to exempt or relieve any person from any law of any State which regulates insurance, banking, or securities.
25
29 U.S.C. § 1144(b)(2)(A). This clause is an exception to the general rule, however, and must be harmonized with the "clearly expansive nature" of ERISA's preemption clause. California Div. of Labor Standards Enforcement v. Dillingham Constr., 519 U.S. 316, ----, 117 S.Ct. 832, 837, 136 L.Ed.2d 791 (1997) (detailing Supreme Court cases which have noted the "broad sweep" of ERISA's preemption provision). The preemption clause of ERISA states:
26
[T]he provisions of this subchapter and subchapter III of this chapter shall supersede any and all State laws insofar as they may now or hereafter relate to any employee benefit plan....
27
29 U.S.C. § 1144(a). Ms. Gaylor concedes that the Oklahoma case law and statutory law "relate to" an employee benefit plan. See Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, 463 U.S. 85, 96-97, 103 S.Ct. 2890, 2900, 77 L.Ed.2d 490 (1983) ("A law 'relates to' an employee benefit plan, in the normal sense of the phrase, if it has a connection with or reference to such a plan.").
28
The question, then, is whether Oklahoma's bad faith law "regulates insurance" within the meaning of the saving clause. To determine whether a state law regulates the business of insurance, we apply the test adopted by the Supreme Court in Pilot Life, which asks whether the state law (1) has the effect of transferring or spreading a policyholder's risk; (2) is an integral part of the policy relationship between the insurer and the insured; and (3) is limited to entities within the insurance industry. 481 U.S. at 48-49, 107 S.Ct. at 1553-54. Ms. Gaylor argues that the Supreme Court "erred" in Pilot Life by adopting this test, and instead should have focused on the relationship between the insurance company and the policyholder. In our view, however, the relationship between insurers and insureds is precisely the focus of the Pilot Life test. More importantly, the Supreme Court's adoption of the test settles the issue; we are bound to apply it and have consistently done so. See, e.g., Fuller v. Norton, 86 F.3d 1016, 1024-25 (10th Cir.1996) (applying Pilot Life test in ERISA context); Winchester v. Prudential Life Ins. Co. of Am., 975 F.2d 1479, 1484-85 (10th Cir.1992) (same); Kelso v. General Am. Life Ins. Co., 967 F.2d 388, 391 (10th Cir.1992) (same).
29
Our application of the three-part test in Pilot Life, as well as previous cases applying the test to similar state laws, indicates that Oklahoma's bad faith law does not sufficiently regulate insurance such that it falls within ERISA's saving clause. Oklahoma's bad faith law does not regulate the spreading of policyholder risk. Pilot Life, 481 U.S. at 50, 107 S.Ct. at 1554 (holding that Mississippi bad faith law does not effect a spreading or transferring of risk); Kelley v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 882 F.2d 453, 456 (10th Cir.1989) (holding that Colorado bad faith law, which was specifically directed at the insurance industry, does not spread policyholder risk). A law which defines the manner in which insurance claims should be processed "declares only that, whatever terms have been agreed upon in the insurance contract, a breach of that contract may in certain circumstances allow the policyholder to obtain [consequential and] punitive damages." Pilot Life, 481 U.S. at 51, 107 S.Ct. at 1555. Such a law thus does not effect a change in the risk borne by insurers and the insured, because it does not affect the substantive terms of the insurance contract. On the other hand, a law mandating that a certain disease be covered under health insurance contracts would effect a spread of risk, both from insureds to insurers, and among the insureds themselves. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Massachusetts, 471 U.S. 724, 743, 105 S.Ct. 2380, 2391, 85 L.Ed.2d 728 (1985) (holding that a statute requiring insurers to provide mental-health benefits does effect a spreading of risk among policyholders). For substantially the same reasons, we hold that Oklahoma's bad faith law also does not satisfy the second prong of Pilot Life. See Pilot Life, 481 U.S. at 51, 107 S.Ct. at 1554-55. Finally, although Oklahoma's bad faith law is specifically directed at the insurance industry, we note that, like the bad faith law in Pilot Life, its origins are from general principles of tort and contract law. See Christian v. American Home Assurance Co., 577 P.2d 899, 904 (Okla.1977) (describing the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing in every contract, and concluding that bad faith subjects insurer to liability in tort) (quoting Gruenberg v. Aetna Ins. Co., 9 Cal.3d 566, 108 Cal.Rptr. 480, 510 P.2d 1032 (1973)).
30
Finally, we note that in holding that Mississippi's bad faith law was not saved, the Pilot Life court concluded that the civil enforcement provisions of ERISA § 1132(a) were intended to be the "exclusive vehicle for actions by ERISA-plan participants and beneficiaries asserting improper processing of a claim for benefits." 481 U.S. at 52, 107 S.Ct. at 1555. As Ms. Gaylor notes in her own brief, Oklahoma's bad faith law is designed to provide causes of action for the improper processing of a claim for benefits. Aplt. Br. at 28 (citing Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 36, §§ 3629, 4405 (West 1990)). Thus, Ms. Gaylor's claim under Oklahoma's bad faith law is a claim within the scope of ERISA § 1132(a) and "would pose an obstacle to the purposes and objectives of Congress." Pilot Life, 481 U.S. at 52, 107 S.Ct. at 1555.
II. Hancock's Denial of Disability Benefits
31
Section 1132(a)(1)(B) of ERISA provides that participants in an ERISA plan may challenge a denial of benefits in district court. The Supreme Court has held that any such challenge under § 1132 "is to be reviewed under a de novo standard unless the benefit plan gives the administrator or fiduciary discretionary authority to determine eligibility for benefits or to construe the terms of the plan." Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Bruch, 489 U.S. 101, 115, 109 S.Ct. 948, 956-57, 103 L.Ed.2d 80 (1989). Hancock concedes that the Morris plan gave the administrator no discretionary authority, and we therefore review Ms. Gaylor's challenge de novo.
32
Hancock argues that Ms. Gaylor is not entitled to disability benefits under the plan because (1) she was not shown to be "under a doctor's care," and (2) her physical condition could not be "verified by the use of clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques." We discuss each of these reasons in turn. First, however, we note that this circuit has held that exhaustion of administrative remedies is an implicit prerequisite to seeking judicial relief under § 1132(a)(1)(B). Held v. Manufacturers Hanover Leasing Corp., 912 F.2d 1197, 1206 (10th Cir.1990). In its brief, Hancock discusses exhaustion generally but does not argue that Ms. Gaylor's claim should be barred for failure to exhaust her remedies. Because exhaustion in the ERISA context is an implicit prerequisite rather than a statutory one, see id., and has not been asserted by Hancock, there is no need for us to discuss it further and we decline to address the issue.
33
A. "Under a doctor's care"
34
Hancock argues that Ms. Gaylor was no longer "under a doctor's care" after November 1992, because she did not see another doctor until March 1993, just over three months later. Hancock's view is much too rigid. Hancock's own guidelines state that the requirement is "necessarily flexible depending on the diagnosis and its level of acuteness or chronicity," and that the "general rule of thumb is to require evidence [of treatment] at least once every 3 months for acute conditions, [and] 6 months for long-term chronic conditions...." Aplt.App. at 673. At least two doctors characterized Ms. Gaylor's condition as chronic, a characterization that is unchallenged in the record. According to Hancock's own guidelines, then, Ms. Gaylor had until at least late May 1993, to see a doctor. She saw Dr. Livingston in March 1993, well within the six months allotted her by Hancock's guidelines. From March, she had another six months, until September, to satisfy this requirement. She did so in June 1993, when she attempted to see her family physician, but was unable to obtain an appointment because she had no means of paying the bill. It would indeed be anomalous, as well as unjust, to deny benefits because the insurer refused to underwrite the visit, without which the insured cannot afford to see a doctor--the very reason for obtaining insurance in the first place. We also note that Ms. Gaylor finally managed to see her physician on August 10, 1993.
35
B. Whether Ms. Gaylor is disabled under the plan
36
Hancock also denied Ms. Gaylor's claim because her physical condition could not be "verified by the use of clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques." In light of the substantial evidence confirming Ms. Gaylor's disability, this reason for denying benefits reminds us of the doctor who, when asked for the diagnosis, responds, "we won't know for sure until the autopsy." We hold that Ms. Gaylor presented enough evidence to establish her disability.
37
The record reflects that Ms. Gaylor suffers from a debilitating condition which prevents her from engaging in any work similar to her job with Morris. Dr. Chadwell, who independently examined Ms. Gaylor at Hancock's request, stated that Ms. Gaylor "is certainly restricted from any stooping, bending, lifting, and prolonged static sitting." Aplt.App. at 553. Dr. Livingston, Ms. Gaylor's orthopedic surgeon, indicated that although Ms. Gaylor is not a candidate for surgery, she still suffers from a "debilitating and painful condition" which prevented her from continuing her job with Morris. Aplt.App. at 556. Although no particular etiology was identified through clinical and laboratory diagnostic means, both physicians agree that Ms. Gaylor suffers from a disabling condition.
38
These doctors did not use a crystal ball to conclude that Ms. Gaylor was disabled; their opinions were based on clinical physical examinations. The verification requirement must be treated as evidentiary in nature. Medicine is, at best, an inexact science, and we should not disregard the great weight of the evidence merely because objective laboratory diagnostic findings either are not yet within the state of the art, or are inconclusive. Cf. Stone v. First Wyoming Bank, N.A., 625 F.2d 332, 342 n. 15 (10th Cir.1980) ("[T]estimony as to a simple fact capable of contradiction, not incredible, and standing uncontradicted, unimpeached ... must be taken as true."); Rawdon v. Stanley, 455 F.2d 482, 484 (10th Cir.1972) ("Unimpeached credible evidence may not be disregarded by the trier of fact.").
39
Hancock asserted in its brief that it denied Ms. Gaylor's claim on only two grounds, and we have found them both to be inadequate. We therefore reverse Hancock's denial and hold that Ms. Gaylor is entitled to long-term disability benefits.
40
REVERSED.
*
After examining the briefs and the appellate record, this three-judge panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not be of material assistance in the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R.App. P. 34(a); 10th Cir. R. 34.1.9. The cause is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument
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Bouveret's syndrome--a rare presentation of gallstone ileus.
We present the case of an elderly Irish male with Bouveret's syndrome--a very unusual cause of gallstone ileus, where a large gallstone occludes the gastric outlet or duodenum causing obstruction. Management of this condition is often controversial. We discuss the various medical, radiological and surgical therapies available for treatment of this rare entity. Bouveret's Syndrome--A Rare Presentation of Gallstone Ileus
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DETROIT -- Joe Nathan was going to have to get back on the mound and face the boos at Comerica Park eventually. David Price's home debut as a Tiger Saturday night, with a three-run lead, seemed like as good a time as any.
"At some point, he's going to have to pitch again in this ballpark," manager Brad Ausmus said. "In my mind, really, it's better to do it sooner than later."
Said Nathan: "I knew my nerves would be a little extra. When I was apologizing, I've never been a part of any type of controversy, and I will not be a part of it again."
The boos began, albeit just a few, before Nathan had made it from the bullpen to the mound. They multiplied before he began warming, then really picked up upon introduction. A leadoff single amplified them. Each time, the boos would start and eventually stop for the next at-bat, though they would resume at some point.
The runner eventually scored, but Nathan held it there, getting a game-ending double play to finish off a 4-2 win. And as the boos turned to cheers for a big win finished, Nathan kept his celebration to a point at his catcher, Alex Avila, and congratulations from his teammates. There was no chin-flick, no look into the stands.
"I held it in," Nathan said. "I definitely didn't want to have any reaction tonight, kind of just get back to trying to finish games, try to keep my emotions in check. But I knew it was important, my first time back on the mound since the incident. Just wanted to give the fans something to cheer about before they try to battle traffic with One Direction going on [next door at Ford Field]."
Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. Read Beck's Blog and follow him on Twitter @beckjason. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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At Dr. Steven W. Haywood in Timonium, we want our patients to come in twice a year for a dental examination and cleaning. If you skip a checkup because you don’t think you have any cavities, remember there’s more to your visit, because we perform oral cancer screenings, too.
Lung and breast cancer get a lot of public attention. There is less awareness of oral cancer, even though it claims thousands of lives every year. If you smoke or have tested positive for HPV, you have a higher risk for developing oral cancer.
We work to elevate awareness of oral cancer and the significance of early diagnosis. Here are five important things to know about oral (mouth) and oropharyngeal (back of mouth and throat) cancers.
About 80% of people with oral cancer use some variety of tobacco (cigarettes, chewing tobacco, pipes).
40% of individuals who receive late-stage diagnosis of oral cancer die within five years. The survival rate for early stage diagnosis is 90%.
In many cases, it is almost impossible for the individual to detect oral and oropharyngeal cancers because they can produce inconspicuous symptoms or no symptoms at all. Any abnormality in the mouth or throat, even if small and painless, should be examined by a dentist or doctor.
HPV (the most common sexually transmitted disease in the US) is the most common cause of oropharyngeal cancer. Of the numerous strains of HPV, HPV16 is the one most often linked to oropharyngeal cancer.
Black males have a higher risk of dying from oral cancer than whites.
By having an oral cancer screening, you’ll get the peace of mind that comes with knowing you’ve got a clean bill of health. If we happen to find an abnormality, then you’re on the road to early treatment, which dramatically improves the chances of a positive outcome.
We use ViziLite technology to examine your cheeks, teeth, and gums for signs of oral cancer. It is a fantastic, non-invasive screening device that helps us to find any signs of oral cancer.
Contact Dr. Steven W. Haywood:
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Dr. Steven W. Haywood
Dr. Steven W. Haywood is proud to offer outstanding dental services for patients in the Baltimore area, including dental implants and sedation dentistry! Call now to meet with him if you are in the Timonium, Pikesville, or Towson!https://www.flossem.com/
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1. Introduction {#sec1}
===============
Surgical conditions are neglected in healthcare systems in Sub-Saharan Africa \[[@B1], [@B2]\]. There is limited access to surgical services and accordingly low surgical output compared to richer nations \[[@B3], [@B4]\]. The reasons for limited access to surgical services are numerous, including but not limited to inadequate Human Resources for Health (HRH), limited surgical supplies, and lack of transportation to get to the distant health facilities that can offer the appropriate surgical services \[[@B5], [@B6]\].
In response to these realities, the Association of Surgeons of Uganda (ASOU) piloted the first surgical camp in 2001 in northern Uganda, a 6-hour drive from the capital city of Kampala. Due to the success of this first camp, general surgeons continue to offer annual camps. Additionally, subspecialty camps occur regularly, such as for open heart surgery and plastic-cleft lip repairs \[[@B7], [@B8]\]. On average, 1 to 2 surgical ASOU endorsed camps are carried out every year, in different regions of the country each time.
Surgical camps are preplanned activities were volunteer surgical teams congregate at a specified place and perform a wide range of mostly elective procedures for a limited and specified period of time normally a week or little more, usually at no cost to the patient. Several fundraising activities precede the camp to cover direct costs, such as transportation, food, and water at the venues. The sources of funds are from the business private sector, individuals, and Ministry of Health. There is normally no monetary compensation for the personnel: services are offered pro bono.
The purpose of this study therefore was to describe this surgical camp model as an approach to improving access to surgical services for vulnerable communities and estimate the unmet burden of surgical disease in the areas where the camps took place.
2. Materials and Methods {#sec2}
========================
2.1. Study Design {#sec2.1}
-----------------
This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study using both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods.
2.2. Study Settings {#sec2.2}
-------------------
The study took place in Northeastern Uganda at 8 rural sites, including 3 district hospitals, 4 health center level IVs, and 1 regional hospital, in the month of July 2013.
All sites had operating rooms, postoperative recovery areas, and the admission space for those who required it. The teams at the sites included specialist general surgeons, nurses, medical officers, and medical students. Patient follow-up was conducted by the resident health worker at the host sites following routine standard protocols.
2.3. Data Collection {#sec2.3}
--------------------
Before the camp, mobilization activities took place to recruit patients, including but not limited to radio announcements, announcements at special gatherings such as church services, advertisements at health facilities, and house-to-house visits by the village health teams and the local council committee.
A day or two prior to commencement of surgeries, clinical screening was conducted, and those eligible for surgery were selected. Clinician\'s judgment, based on history and physical exam, determined fitness for surgery and anesthesia, as laboratory and imaging capacity was limited. Personnel that participated in the camp included 20 specialist surgeons, 6 surgical residents, 6 medical officers, 7 clinical officers, 17 anesthetists, and 55 theater nurses (a total of 121 staff in all).
Operating logs were filled during the camp, which included the date of procedure, patient age and gender, clinical diagnosis, operation performed, and type of anesthesia. Data were extracted from the operating logs. Camp summary reports were submitted, which included challenges encountered and solutions undertaken. Direct expenditure details were obtained from the finance secretary of the Association/camp.
2.4. Data Analysis {#sec2.4}
------------------
Data were entered in Excel from paper operating logs and analyzed. Variables considered were age, gender, diagnosis, procedure done, direct cost per patient, and type of anesthesia. Data from the summary reports and interviews were collected into themes and presented in a table.
2.5. Ethical Issues {#sec2.5}
-------------------
All patients gave their informed written consent for the procedures done.
3. Results {#sec3}
==========
3.1. Patient Demographics {#sec3.1}
-------------------------
A total of 536 patients were operated on and 551 procedures were performed over a period of 4 days across 8 sites. Mean age was 35 years (SD 23) and gender ratio was 2 : 1 (male : female). The age distribution had a bimodal trend as shown in [Figure 1](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}. However, for hernia repair and hydrocelectomy, the age distribution was constant (see [Table 3](#tab3){ref-type="table"}).
3.2. Clinical Diagnoses and Surgical Procedures {#sec3.2}
-----------------------------------------------
Of the 551 procedures, the most common diagnoses were inguinal hernia, hydrocele, lipoma, epidermoid cyst, and goiter contributing to 70% of all diagnoses (see [Table 1](#tab1){ref-type="table"}). The four most common procedures were herniorrhaphy, skin lump excisions, hydrocelectomy, and thyroidectomy, accounting for 81% of all procedures (see [Table 2](#tab2){ref-type="table"}). Immediate postoperative mortality was zero (1--4 days). In total, 70% were done under local or spinal anesthesia.
3.3. Challenges {#sec3.3}
---------------
Several logistical challenges were encountered, including power outages, inadequate sterilization and anesthetic equipment, lack of running water, and inadequate surgical sets. Others included an overwhelming number of patients, inadequate nursing personnel to cover the recovery bays, and limited laboratory and imaging investigative capability (see [Table 4](#tab4){ref-type="table"}).
3.4. Expenses {#sec3.4}
-------------
The gross expenditure on direct costs was 100,000,000 Uganda Shillings (\$40,000). This converts to 187,000 Uganda Shillings (or \$75) per patient and 182,000 Uganda Shillings (or \$73) per procedure.
3.5. Types of Anesthesia Used at the Surgical Camp in Uganda {#sec3.5}
------------------------------------------------------------
There were three types of anesthesia as follows: General anesthesia 109 (30%). Locoregional anesthesia 206 (57%). Spinal anesthesia 97 (13%).
4. Discussion {#sec4}
=============
The surgical camp model for providing surgical services to vulnerable or underserved populations in Africa is not new, and in the case of Uganda and ASOU this has been done for the past decade \[[@B7]\]. However, data on patient demographics and the scope of surgical procedures have not been previously documented in the literature.
Persons with surgical disease are young and form the bulk of the Ugandan productive work force. The bimodal distribution of age showed that the paediatric (below 18 years) population and those between 30 and 60 years represent the bulk of the surgical burden of disease. This emphasizes the need for paediatric surgical skills in surgical training for medical officers.
Males were overrepresented, likely due to the high burden of inguinal hernias and hydroceles. Although the procedure per population rate was estimated at 12.5 : 100,000 in this review, at some sites it was as high as 146 : 100,000, close to what was estimated by Nordberg \[[@B11]\] in 1984, three decades ago. Inguinal hernia and hydrocele occurrence were in equal proportions throughout age distribution.
The most common conditions seen in our study were hernia, hydrocele, and goiter. These procedures are within the realm of competence of a medical officer (nonspecialist physician) if properly trained and supported \[[@B12]\]. What is also true is that surgical camps environment is a platform for apprenticeship: the less experienced surgeons or trainees work with more experienced colleagues to learn more in a practical setting handling high volumes of surgical cases in a short period of time.
Locoregional anesthesia was used in 70% of cases. This aligns with recommendations made previously on the basis of cost of care and safety.
This study also allowed us to estimate procedure per population rate for the less common surgical conditions. The prevalence of correctable surgical congenital anomalies in Uganda is not known. In total, 4% of all procedures done were for congenital anomalies. Gluteal fibrosis or gluteal muscle contracture caused by repeated intramuscular quinine injections accounted for 3% of surgical diagnoses. It accounted for 3% of surgical diagnoses. GMC, first reported by Valderrama, is a clinical syndrome pathologically characterized by degeneration, necrosis, and fibrosis of the gluteal muscles and fascia, leading to serious limitation of hip movements \[[@B14], [@B15]\]. Malaria is endemic in Uganda, and in some places injectable quinine is used indiscriminately.
Several challenges were encountered; screening for comorbidities such as NIDDM (non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus) and cardiorespiratory diseases was limited to clinical assessment without lab and imaging for most patients, yet we know there is a significant burden of prediabetic and diabetic states among Ugandans \[[@B14]\]. The consequences of not screening are not known in this context.
Whereas these populations have close geographical access to health centers, they likely delay in access to appropriate care due to a number of reasons including lack of skilled manpower at the health centers, drug stock-outs for anesthetics, and health centers prioritizing resources for emergency procedures like Cesarean sections \[[@B13]\]. During the camp, several logistical challenges were faced ranging from power outages, inadequate sterilization capacity, limited surgical instruments, limited operating room space and intermittent supply of running water. These are not new \[[@B2], [@B5], [@B10]\]; they impede access to surgical services even for stop-gap approaches like surgical camps. Documenting these challenges is part of advocacy to mobilize resources and engage those that have the power to prioritize available resources for service.
What has also been highlighted here (albeit crudely) is the cost of surgical intervention. The cost of surgical intervention was \$72.50 per procedure. This cost however was further subsidized by the infrastructure that already exists.
What is clear from this study is that the scope of conditions that were seen over ten years ago is still the same. However, a population-based estimate of the burden of surgical disease \[[@B3]\] and regular documentation of the camps\' outcomes have not been done. Estimates indicate that surgery can address 7% of DALYs (disability-adjusted life years) that occur in Africa \[[@B9]\] and this burden is most probably increasing rapidly \[[@B10]\].
Organizing a camp successfully requires a clear objective, a group of individuals or organization(s), finance(s), and an appropriate target population (beneficiary group). In addition, there was an agreed work plan with the involvement of all stakeholders including local leaders, hosting health centers, sponsors, Ministries of Health, and the personnel that carry out the procedures. Publicity of these activities is encouraged in order to promote the service, gain support, and ensure sustainability on the long term.
5. Study Limitations {#sec5}
====================
The data for screened patients that did not qualify for surgery were unavailable. The catchment population is an estimate; there may be overlap of health facility catchment areas, and previously done procedures in the area/catchment were not known. No postoperation data was collected to assess postoperative complications which may inform future camps.
6. Conclusion {#sec6}
=============
Surgical camps improve access of surgical services to vulnerable populations. Inguinal hernias formed the bulk surgical disease encountered. Hydroceles and thyroid disease also contribute significantly to the burden of disease in Sub-Saharan Africa. Surgical camps should become an integral part of health service delivery in rural Africa.
All staff of participatory sites, all the patients, local leadership, and volunteers.
ASOU:
: Association of Surgeons of Uganda
GMC:
: Gluteal muscle contracture
HRH:
: Human Resources for Health.
Additional Points
=================
The economic and social implications of unrepaired hernia need to be investigated. For future camps, postoperative morbidity data should be collected and the total number of screened patients. Mostly importantly we consider surgical camps as an integral part of surgical service delivery by hospitals, medical schools, and Ministries of Health.
Competing Interests
===================
The authors declare no competing interests.
Authors\' Contributions
=======================
M. Galukande wrote the first draft, Elissa Butler, E. Elobu and M. Galukande analyzed data. O. Kituuka, J. Jombwe, J. Sekabira, J. Faulal performed critical reviews for intellectual content. All authors authorized submission of this work for publication and agreed to content.
{#fig1}
######
Surgical procedures at a campsite in Uganda, 2013.
Amuria^†^ Kaberamaido^†^ Soroti^▲^ Ngora^*∗*^ Katakwi^†^ Kumi^*∗*^ Aturur^*∗*^ Serere^†^ *Total*
---------------------------- ----------- ---------------- ----------- ------------ ------------ ----------- ------------- ----------- ---------
Herniorrhaphy 13 26 20 26 13 4 21 55 *178*
Skin excisions 12 10 16 12 18 8 26 29 *131*
Hydrocelectomy 26 19 6 6 24 3 11 10 *105*
Thyroidectomy 0 0 15 10 0 9 0 1 *35*
Gluteal fibrosis release 0 0 0 0 0 17 1 0 *18*
Anorectal procedures^1^ 0 2 7 1 1 0 6 0 *17*
Wound-related procedure^2^ 2 1 7 0 1 0 4 1 *16*
Laparotomy 0 0 3 0 0 4 1 2 *10*
Obstetric^3^ conditions 6 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 *8*
Hysterectomy 0 0 0 1 0 0 5 1 *7*
Orchiopexy 0 5 0 0 0 0 1 1 *7*
Orthopedic procedures 0 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 *5*
Appendectomy 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 *4*
Other procedures 0 0 2 5 0 1 2 0 *10*
*Total* *59* *64* *80* *61* *58* *47* *79* *103* *551*
^1^Hemorrhoidectomy, parasagittal anorectoplasty, lateral internal sphincterotomy, and manual anal dilation.
^2^Incision and drainage, debridement, and surgical toilet.
^3^Cesarian section and uterine evacuation.
^*∗*^District hospitals with a 100-bed capacity, all state owned public hospitals.
^†^Health center IVs, outpatient facilities with 20-bed in-patient facilities.
^▲^A regional referral hospital, 250 beds with some specialist services.
######
Showing diagnosis by age, campsite in Uganda, 2013.
Procedure Age groups Unknown age Total
------------------------ ------------ ------------- ------- ----- ---- ---- -----
Inguinal hernia 29 29 23 29 27 6 143
Hydrocele 10 19 12 36 33 2 112
Lipoma 2 7 14 19 14 1 57
Goiter 0 0 16 15 3 1 35
Epidermoid cyst 2 5 11 8 5 1 32
Other hernias 0 1 8 9 8 1 27
Congenital conditions 13 5 2 1 0 0 21
Gluteal fibrosis 0 18 0 0 0 0 18
Anorectal 0 1 10 5 1 0 17
Infection 1 4 3 6 2 0 16
Tumor 2 3 6 3 1 1 16
Gynecologic 0 1 6 6 0 0 13
Intra-abdominal masses 0 3 3 4 1 0 11
Ganglion cyst 0 2 2 1 2 0 7
Obstructed labor 0 2 4 0 0 0 6
Trauma 0 1 3 2 0 0 6
Other procedures 0 6 4 3 1 0 14
Total 59 107 127 147 98 13 551
######
Procedure per population rates, campsite in Uganda, 2013.
Site Catchment population (2010/11 estimates) Category and number of procedures Procedure: per 100,000 of population
----------------- ------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------- -------------------------------------- ----------
Amuria 315,900 Hernia 13 1 : 4.1
Hydrocele 26 1 : 8.2
Goiter 0 ---
Kaberamaido 195,400 Hernia 18 1 : 9.2
Hydrocele 25 1 : 12.8
Goiter 0 ---
Katakwi 153,600 Hernia 10 1 : 6.5
Hydrocele 24 1 : 15.6
Goiter 8 1 : 5.2
Serere 176,500^*∗*^ Hernia 45 1 : 25.5
Hydrocele 10 1 : 5.7
Goiter 13 1 : 7.4
Ngora 101,900^*∗*^ Hernia 18 1 : 17.7
Hydrocele 6 1 : 5.9
Goiter 10 1 : 9.8
Kumi and Aturur 13,000 Hernia 19 1 : 146
Hydrocele 15 1 : 115
Goiter 9 1 : 69
Soroti 241,200 Hernia 20 1 : 8.3
Hydrocele 6 1 : 2.5
Goiter 15 1 : 9.9
Overall 1,197,500 Hernia 147 1 : 12.5
Hydrocele 112 1 : 10
Goiter 35 1 : 2.9
^*∗*^2002 population census estimates.
######
Challenges reported, solutions, and future plans.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Domain Challenges Solutions
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Water and electricity Lack of running water at some sites\ Patients and/or their attendants to provide 20 litres of water each\
Prolonged power outages at two sites Using a generator (consider standby generators in future surgical camps)
Inadequate number of anesthetists\ Predetermining personnel needs and secure personnel (anesthetists) beforehand
No anesthetic machine
Sterilization and supplies Limited capacity to sterilize (due to inadequate number of autoclaves), power outages, and inadequate linen supplies\ Better projections and resource mobilization for future camps\
Drugs and surgical sundries were in short supply Considering hiring autoclaves\
Contact nearby hospitals to participate and share
Equipment and instruments Equipment and instruments were limited (surgical sets, anesthesia equipment)\ Doing better projections, hiring equipment and instruments\
There was a concurrent ophthalmology camp going on\ Considering portable oxygen supply
We had only one oxygen source
Human resource Several patients with gynecological conditions came yet we had no gynecologists\ Including gynecologists in future camps\
Operating theater condition: some were very old, dilapidated\ Instituting quality assurance and safety guidelines and agreeing on the minimum standards\
Few staff in the theater to help in coordination and patient flow\ Getting required personnel to commit before the camp begins
Inadequate postoperative nursing manpower\
One of the team members fell sick
Demand for service Overwhelming number of cases\ Planning triage days before the camp begins and generating manageable operating lists
Some pediatric cases could not be worked on
Technical operative difficulties Giant hydroceles and hernias that had stayed for over 10 years were a challenge, with no intensive care unit (ICU) facilities Triage and referral to better facilitated centers\
Allocating "difficulty" cases to the experienced surgeons\
Priority was given to children, the elderly, and those whose conditions greatly affecting the quality of life\
Mainly cases which need minimal postoperative nursing care were done
Others Only a handful presented for preoperative screening\ Encouraging preoperative screening in future camps\
Due to limited working space, privacy could not be observed all the time\ Procuring tents as a way of availing more working space\
Inadequate linen Getting more linen
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[^1]: Academic Editor: Gasparini Giulio
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After the Obama administration announced an investigation into the CIA’s interrogation tactics, both Dick and Liz Cheney returned to the Sunday morning talk shows. On ABC’s This Week Liz Cheney continued to claim that waterboarding is not torture, while over on Fox News Sunday, Dick Cheney continued to endorse torture.
Here is Dick Cheney courtesy of Think Progress:
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Cheney said, “Chris, my sort of overwhelming view is that the enhanced interrogation techniques were absolutely essential in saving thousands of American lives, in preventing further attacks against the United States, in giving us the intelligence we needed to go find al Qaeda, to find their camps, to find out how they were being financed. Those interrogations were involved in the arrest of nearly all of the al Qaeda members that we were able to bring to justice. I think they were directly responsible for the fact that for eight years, we had no further mass casualty attacks against the United States. It was good policy. It was properly carried out. it worked very, very well.”
Host Chris Wallace asked Cheney if he was comfortable with cases where the CIA went beyond their legal authorization, and he said, “I am.”
Here is Liz Cheney courtesy of Media Matters:
Liz Cheney said, “You guys have misstated the standard here for a legal investigation, here, and I would point you to Andy McCarthy’s excellent piece in National Review online which goes through what the standard is that the Justice Department should have applied here which is the notion that you need evidence that you can move beyond the presumption of innocence in a court of law that torture occurred.”
Fellow panelist Sam Donaldson said, “Everyone, except one person, that I know of prominence thinks waterboarding and torture is wrong.” Cheney replied, “Waterboarding isn’t torture and we can go down that path.”
Interestingly the one unnamed person that Donaldson was referring to was Liz’s Daddy former vice president Dick Cheney. Their father/daughter act today once again demonstrated how dangerous the Cheney’s are to the Constitution. Liz Cheney talks about presumption of innocence for torturers, but does not believe that the same presumption applies to detainees, while her dear old dad believes that it is for CIA interrogators to violate the law.
You might be thinking wait a minute detainees don’t have constitutional rights, but running secret programs and withholding information from Congress is a violation of the constitution. Plus if the Cheney’s believe that is constitutional to torture, it is a small step towards claiming that torture for American detainees is also legal.
What the Cheneys did today was engage in Operation Keep Dick Cheney out of Prison. Dick and Liz Cheney are hurting their party every time they go on national television and defend torture. The last thing that the GOP needs is for the American people to be reminded of the previous eight years, but the Cheneys don’t care about the GOP. They are only interesting in saving Dick Cheney’s hide.
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Superstar chef Paul Prudhomme dies at 75
Dominic Massa / Eyewitness News , WWLTV1:10 PM. CDT October 09, 2015
MADRID, Spain: US chef Paul Prudhomme listens during the international gastronomy summit, "Madrid Fusion" in Madrid, 18 January 2006. Chefs and foodies from all over the world are congregating for 3 days of seminars, conferences and cook ups with special notice being given this year to US and European chefs. AFP PHOTO/ Pierre-Philippe MARCOU (Photo credit should read PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/AFP/Getty Images)(Photo: PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU, AFP/Getty Images)
Paul Prudhomme, the internationally-known superstar chef and restaurateur who brought new life to Cajun and Creole cuisine, popularizing it internationally and setting off a cooking craze in the 1980s, while also building a spice and food business empire, has died. He was 75.
Prudhomme's death was confirmed by his restaurant, K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen. A representative said the chef died after a brief illness.
The restaurant opened in the French Quarter in 1979, taking part of his name and that of his late wife, Kay Hinrichs Prudhomme. But Prudhomme first gained fame in New Orleans as the chef at Commander's Palace, where he, Ella and Dick Brennan revolutionized Creole cuisine. He became executive chef there in 1975, turning the landmark restaurant into a national treasure.
"Paul was a joy to work with and he's been an inspiration to all of us in the food world. Cajun and Creole cuisines crashed in the kitchen of Commander's Palace in the 1970s with Paul Prudhomme and Ella Brennan and the Brennan family. Prior to that, Cajun food had not been a part of New Orleans cooking. The result was an explosion of spectacular flavors and wonderful cooking that influenced the city, state, country and the world. There's been no better ambassador for New Orleans and Louisiana than Paul Prudhomme and he will be greatly missed," the family said.
Emeril Lagasse, who followed Prudhomme as executive chef at Commander's, called Prudhomme a visionary and true friend.
"Paul was a true legend whose impact on New Orleans cuisine will never be forgotten. We have lost an amazing soul and incredible chef. My heart goes out to Paul's family."
At his own restaurant, K-Paul's, which opened in 1979, Prudhomme and his wife Kay introduced the blackened redfish craze, which made the fish so popular that commercial fishing of the species became restricted in order to prevent it from going extinct. Prudhomme is also credited with introducing the turducken poultry dish, now a mainstay. The line outside his Chartres Street restaurant, which at the time had a no-reservation policy, often stretched down the block. The restaurant now accepts reservations and remains a must-visit for locals and tourists alike.
"A book could be written about his influence on the New Orleans, Louisiana, American and world cuisines," said WWL Radio restaurant critic Tom Fitzmorris in his New Orleans Menu daily email. "In his prime in the early 1980s, there was no chef whose fame exceeded his. Nor was there ever a time when, in his reflected starshine, Cajun and Creole food was held in greater regard."
"But for all that, Chef Paul's greatest achievement was in changing the way American people - especially young adults - looked upon the restaurant industry. Chef Paul changed the image of a cook from just a a job into a career. Of course, he himself was the best illustration of the possibilities. He grew up in a large, poor Cajun family and turned himself into a world-class chef."
He moved back to New Orleans for jobs at Le Pavillion Hotel and Maison duPuy. Television personality Terry Flettrich, along with Ella Brennan, are credited with first "discovering" Prudhomme, first as a cooking school teacher with them, and then a superstar chef.
As a national celebrity, Prudhomme has been featured on countless TV series and interviews, as well as national and international magazines. He has been honored with awards from the food industry over the years including Restaurateur of the Year, Culinary DiPrudhomme wrote 9 cookbooks over the years and hosted five national cooking shows on PBS, which were produced locally by WYES-TV and remain viewer favorites here and across the country.
"He truly connected with the viewers and his programs were some of the highest-rated ever on PBS stations," said Beth Arroyo Utterback, WYES executive vice-president and chief operating officer. "Chef Paul was not only a genius, but a kind, generous and thoughtful friend. New Orleans, and the world, has lost a treasure."
Chef and restaurateur John Besh, who followed Prudhomme's footsteps with two national PBS shows produced by WYES, called Prudhomme a genius who spread Louisiana culture worldwide.
"He embodied everything Louisiana," Besh said in an interview. "He took Louisiana to the world, not only our great food but our culture, our sense of hospitality and generosity. If you ever met Chef Paul, you know he was this gentle soul even though he was bigger in stature than any chef could ever be in this entire world."
As a result of endless requests for his seasoning secrets, Prudhomme also in the 1990s created his own line of all natural herbs and spices. Today, his brand of Magic Seasoning Blends and products is distributed in all 50 states and in more than 30 countries around the world, produced at a factory in Elmwood.
Born and raised in Opelousas, the youngest of 13 children, Prudhomme's given name was Paul but as a young man he went by the name Gene Autry Prudhomme, a nod to the famous singing cowboy.
He opened his first restaurant in Opelousas in 1957, a hamburger restaurant called Big Daddy O's Patio. The restaurant went out of business in nine months, which also saw the end of his first marriage. Prudhomme then moved to New Orleans, taking odd jobs in restaurants here and elsewhere.
He was named a diplomat by the American Culinary Federation, and was named a humanitarian by Bon Appetit in 2006 for his donation of food and services to relief workers after Hurricane Katrina. He cooked for members of Congress, heads of state and international celebrities, as well as donating his time for non-profit causes and fundraisers.
Prudhomme is survived by his wife, Lori, whom he married in 2010. His wife Kay died in 1993.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated Monday, Oct. 12 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Louis Cathedral. Visitation will be from 9 a.m. until Mass time. Visitation will also be held Sunday, Oct. 11 from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. at Jacob Schoen and Son Funeral Home, 3827 Canal Street. Jacob Schoen and Son is handling arrangements.
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Sunday, February 28, 2010
Ezekiel 9:4 KJVAnd the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
The New Testament teaches a Christian to rejoice. And we have a lot of reasons to rejoice.We can rejoice in the salvation Christ provides usWe can rejoice in the promises God has made to usWe can rejoice in blessing of hope for the eternal future
We could list many more reasons to rejoice so as a believer, I want to have joy in my soul and I want it to show in my countenance.
But underlying that spirit of joy there should also and always be a sense of heartbreak, tears and sighing.Sighing for those who do not know Jesus Christ as SaviourSighing for the corruption sin has made in this worldSighing for how the sin nature so often dominates usSighing for the abominations of Satan and man, dishonoring Almighty God
We are not to sign so muchBecause the economy is not what we wish it wasBecause things have not gone our way like we wantedBecause has injured or hurt us
Or tears, our burden, our grief ought to be that God has not been glorified and worshiped among men. That is a reason to mourn.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Romans 5:5 KJVAnd hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
I question whether today's Christians (I am not speaking of the Charismatics who I do not believe to be true Christians) place enough consideration of the importance of the Holy Ghost in our Christian experience.
The Holy Ghost seals the believer's salvationEphesians 4:30 KJVAnd grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
The Holy Spirit is the earnest of our salvationEphesians 1:13-14 KJVIn whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
The Holy Spirit is the witness of our salvationRomans 8:16 KJVThe Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
And then, from our passage this morning, the Holy Spirit emboldens our salvation with love.
If there is any area of the Christian life that we have been trapped in head knowledge but not heart knowledge it is probably in this area. We know doctrinally that the Holy Spirit is real and that He has done these things for Christian, but whether we have ever fully sensed these works of the Spirit on our behalf is another question.
God help us be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Ghost and to know His presence.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Romans 4:2 KJVFor if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.
This entire chapter is an illustration of the truth that justification and salvation are the result of faith and not of works. Abraham is set forth as the great example (though David is also quoted in this chapter).
But it is important to keep in mind that, while his works did not justify him, Abraham did work.He left the Ur of ChaldeesHe offered sacrifices to GodHe offered Isaac as a sacrifice when requested to do so by the Lord
The Bible does not teach lazy faith. The Bible does not encourage a kind of faith that claims to believe but then lives just as if one did not believe.
Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him as righteousness, but also Abraham believed God and it was evident in his action.
There is a caution here; it is so easy to change the evidence into the substance. It is so easy to put our faith in our activity rather than our God. But that said, though faith saves and not works, faith does work.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Ezekiel 3:12 KJVThen the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place.
Ezekiel 3:14 KJVSo the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.
Ezekiel 3:24 KJVThen the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house.
Ezekiel's example is a picturesque one to the preacher of God's Word. He begins with images that will not be fully understood until we get to heaven. From there God gives Him the Word of God. He is to eat it and preach it to his own people; a people God says will not hear. God tells him that if he had been sent to preach to a people of a strange language they would have heard.
But what caught me this morning is that three times in this chapter the Bible associates his ministry with the Spirit of God.The Spirit caused him to know the glory of GodThe Spirit caused him to sense the horror of the sin of God's people andThe Spirit caused him to withhold his message for a time
The lesson here is that the ministry is supposed to be one of submission to the Spirit of God. It is not that we are in any way able, educated or even gifted enough to do the ministry. It is strictly this, that God's Spirit uses us.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Romans 2:29 KJVBut he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
It is never a bad idea for a believer to remember this main rule of real faith, "...whose praise of not of men, but of God." We can win the praise of men for all sorts of reasons.Some win that praise for acts of heroismSome win that praise for their skills on the acting screenSome win that praise for their athletic abilitiesSome win praise for being kind soulsSome win praise for being generous
Some only seek the praise of one or two peopleSome seek the praise of a nation
But the problem with seeking the praise of men is that it so often is at the expense of the praise of God. God's thoughts are not our thoughts and God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts. What people believe to be praiseworthy is frequently and abomination before the Lord.
The cure? Always seek only the praise of God. Sometimes those who also seek the praise of God will praise you for it, but even then be careful; you aren't looking for their praise either.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Romans 1:17 KJVFor therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
I could not help this morning but to see that there are contrasting revelations in verses 17 and 18. God's Word reveals to man
The wrath of GodIt is against all ungodlinessNot just some ungodliness and not just what man has determined is the worst of ungodliness.
It is against all unrighteousness of menAnd that unrighteousness is defined as holding the truth in unrighteousness. Every generation of mankind in every race of people hold some portion of the truth. Thousands of years ago the Chinese people developed their written language. When it was developed, though they were miles away from the culture of the Jews, they developed a symbol for the word peace which involves a man with and sheep and a lance. The gist of the symbol is that peace (with God) comes from bring a lamb in our hand to slay. That is straight from God's Word. They knew that before the Bible was written. God had given them that truth.
The righteousness of GodThe righteousness of God is revealed in contrast tot he unrighteousness of man. And it is more than simply that God shows us that He is righteous and we are unrighteous. The great truth of the righteousness of God is that it is available to sinful men, through faith.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Lamentations 3:40 KJVLet us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
Right in the middle of one of the most solemn and mournful books in the Bible are found some of the most inspirational and hopeful verses in the Bible.
The book of Lamentations is written as a series of poetical pieces, each piece is twenty two lines long with the except of chapter three, which is a series of three twenty two's; sixty six lines in all. Not all the chapter is positive, but much of it is. And one of those verses that lifts and inspires is this one.
As far away as a man can become from the Lord he always has this encouragement,
He can stop in his tracks
He can search and
He can try his ways and
He can turn again to the LORD
There is no one whose sin has taken him so far that he can't be back in the presence of the Lord with just a simple turn.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Acts 27:23 KJVFor there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve
There are three components to this verse;The presence"there stood by me...the angel of God"There could be little that would give as much assurance as knowing that the angel of God stands by us.
But before that assurance can be reached the other two components of the passage must also be true
The possession"whose I am"I am not ashamed to be possessed of the Lord. Worldlings want to make themselves their own gods. Let them do it! I am more than happy to be possessed of the maker of the universe.
The passion"and whom I serve"Paul was more than a professor of religion. He was a practitioner of faith. His life was wholly given up to the service of Christ.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Acts 26:6 KJVAnd now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers:
This year our church theme is "Standing on the Promises of God." It has been a blessing so far to preach the promises of God in His Word. One of the things I have come to realize in the study for these messages is that there is really only one promise as given in Genesis 3:15; the promise of a seed, the promise of a Saviour. All of the other major promises simply build upon that one.
This is the promise upon which Paul stood. andThis was the promise upon which Paul was judged
Sometimes we Christians make up our own promises for God to keep. When we stand upon them we find they are insufficient. No wonder; they are not real.
If we stand upon this one promise, that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. (1 John 1:7) Then we will have an anchor for the soul steadfast and sure!
Friday, February 19, 2010
Acts 25:9 KJVBut Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure, answered Paul, and said, Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these things before me?
Acts 24:27 KJVBut after two years Porcius Festus came into Felix' room: and Felix, willing to shew the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound.
I am reminded that it is more common that the people of the world will "shew each other a pleasure" than it is they choose to do the right thing. Felix had been under conviction. He knew that Paul should have been released and he knew that the message he preached was powerful and true. Still he was more influenced by the pressure of the crowd than the truth of God's Word.
The power of God is infinite and God can do anything. But God does not do everything we think He ought. Paul's treatment by the Romans seems so wrong. He had done nothing worthy of bonds. Still he was bound. God could have done something about it and did not.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Acts 24:14 KJVBut this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:
Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ even though it was "a way which they call heresy."
True Christians have always been a small and even hated people in this world, mostly because false Christians call their way heresy. We ought not shrink at the accusation of heresy. While we want to diligently search the Scriptures so that our way of worship in not heresy, that those in this world would accuse us of it is no real problem.
The problem would be to conform to this world's kind of worship and face instead, the future wrath of God on this world.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Acts 23:4 KJVAnd they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest?
It struck me this morning that Paul is not the only one who "wist not that he was the high priest." Though Paul did submit to the authority of the high priest in this case, if it were not for the Apostle Paul we would not even know that this man existed!
Mankind has such poor priorities. This man was revered in his day (at least he was by his little band of Jews - a people who would be nearly annihilated before this man passed from life) but Paul, whose earthly presence seemed so small that even the minority Jews appeared to overpower him.
But consider today. In the year of our Lord 2010, Paul's name is still spoken and his influence feltDay after dayAll over the world andIn every class of people
Paul's influence? It was all because he had given up the things of this world in order to know Christ and the power of his resurrection.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Acts 22:16 KJVAnd now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
Matthew Poole's Commentary says"as washing causeth the spots to disappear, and to be as if they had not been, Isa_1:18; so does pardoning mercy, or remission of sins, which accompanieth baptism, as in the due receiver, Mat_3:11 1Pe_3:21,22. Where true faith is, together with the profession of it by baptism, there is salvation promised, Mar_16:16. In the mean while it is not the water, (for that only signifies), but it is the blood of Christ, which is thereby signified, that cleanseth us from our sins, as 1Jo_1:7. Yet sacraments are not empty and deceitful signs; but God accompanieth his own ordinances with his power from on high, and makes them effectual for those great things for which he instituted and appointed them."
This verse does not say that baptism washes away sins. It is the calling on the name of the Lord that does that.
No man has to be baptized in order to be saved. The thief on the cross proves that. However, I cannot conceive of a Christian who does not want to follow the Lord in believer's baptism. When we have an excuse such as the thief's then we may well miss baptism. But having opportunity to be baptized in obedience to the Lord, any true believer would naturally follow His Saviour into the water.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Jeremiah 44:28 KJVYet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs.
I think we sometimes forget that the principle throughout the Scriptures is " a small number." True faith in the Lord will not be embraced by the majority, the crowds, the masses of people. It will always be "a small number" who come to genuine faith in Christ and follow Him into eternity.
Israel was, in comparison to the rest of the nations, a small number on this earth.Of them, only a small number were not taken into Babylonian captivity.Of those that escaped that captivity (and from there went to Egypt for what they thought would be safety) a small number would escape the sword and return to God's Promised Land.
Faithfulness is the measure of real Christianity, not success in numbers. To preach the Word of God in fullness is the goal, not to reach the largest numbers of people possible.
Of course we want to reach people, but if reaching people becomes the goal then we are too tempted to tweak the message in order to get them. The goal, the priority must be the truth, come what may.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Acts 20:27 KJVFor I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
It happened that my devotions took me to both this passage andJeremiah 42:4 KJVThen Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.
In the Jeremiah passage, he did declare all that the LORD said, but they did not obey or follow. In fact Jeremiah preached it to them knowing that they had dissembled and would not obey.
We need to hear all the counsel of God's Word even if we don't obey it. Of course the right thing to do would be to submit and follow God's message, but even if that isn't what we do, it is still what we need.
I wonder how many people will attend services today that are designed in a way to promote and keep high attendance rather than to proclaim all the counsel of God?
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Acts 18:4 KJVAnd he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.
Acts 18:28 KJVFor he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.
I found the word persuaded several times in chapters 18 and 19 of the book of Acts. Someone said that the only real leadership a Christian has is the leadership of persuasion. We persuade men and through persuading them, we lead them.
But there can be more than one way to persuade.Some persuade through intimidationSome persuade through skillful speakingSome persuade through charisma
The only godly way for a Christian to persuade men is through the Scriptures and, specifically by showing "by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ."
Friday, February 12, 2010
Acts 17:31 KJVBecause he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
The term that caught my attention is the word assurance.
God has given assurance, the Bible says, unto all men. That assurance is found in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The proofs of that resurrection are indisputable. While so many in our world today (and apparently they did the same in Paul's day) simply scoff it off, not willing to do the homework to discover the truth of it for themselves, those who have researched and considered it have come to the position that Christ's resurrection is irrefutable. My purpose here is not give any of those proofs but simply to acknowledge they exist.
The resurrection of Christ from the dead, according to this passage, provides assurance unto all men. I see that assurance as having two applications.
First, the world may be assured that the judgment of God upon this world will happen. Revelation 19 describes Jesus Christ coming as King of Kings and Lord of Lords and as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Also described areThe seven year Tribulation periodThe 1000 year reign of Christ followed by the final battle with SatanThe Great White Throne JudgmentThe destruction of this earth and the creation of a new oneAny who cares to consider the truth of Christ's resurrection and then compare it with this verse will find he can be assured such judgment is coming.
Secondly, Christ's resurrection provides assurance for the believer that, though this judgment is sure, we have escaped it.We have no need to fear, who have fled to Christ for safety. Though the judgment is real, Christ has already suffered that judgment and any who come to Him have assurance of absolute rest and shelter from it.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Two things struck me this morning.Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises.These are not the best of circumstances. They are in prison, chained to the stocks. They have been beaten and mistreated. They do not know what the outcome of all of this will be. It could mean the end of their lives.Yet the prayed and they sang praises unto God.And they are vocal enough that the second thing that struck me happened
The prisoners heard themIt is midnight. I do not imagine that everybody wanted to hear them, at least at first. But the word here means more than that they simply were in earshot. The word means they listened intently.
One of the more interesting things in the Bible to me is that, though it is obvious that God was doing powerful things in the world through the Christians, it was not as if God was making it easy on the Christian. Life was hard, and it was even harder if you were a Christian. But they persisted cheerfully through their hardships and God used them in powerful ways. Perhaps the reason why we see so little real spiritual power today is because we want that power to make us comfortable, not to make us useful.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Jeremiah 33:3 KJVCall unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
This is a wonderful promise in God's Word and one that I believe every Christian can claim. I did, however, find myself interested in its first application to Jeremiah personally.
Jeremiah finds himself, in this chapter, in a prison cell. All he has done is preach God's Word faithfully, but the price has been heavy. God begins His promise to Jeremiah with a statement concerning Himself:Jeremiah 33:2 KJVThus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name;
The "it" of the passage is anything God wills.God has made the prison Jeremiah found himself in.God had permitted Jeremiah to be imprisoned.God can do as He pleases and always does what He does for His own glory and for our own good.
Now for the promise; God told Jeremiah if he would ask that God would show him great and mighty things. And those things are then shown him in the following verses.
First there is a revelation of judgmentvs 4-5
Secondly there is a revelation of peacevs 6
Thirdly there is a revelation of restorationvs 7
Fourthly there is a revelation of pardonvs 8
Fifthly there is a revelation of joy and praise and honourvs 9
There are no greater things than those that God does to bring sinners to a place of peace, pardon and praise before God.
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Jeremiah 30:15 KJVWhy criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.
Although I find a lot to be hopeful of in chapter 30 of Jeremiah, this is a passage that slaps us alongside the face. This is a generation of Jews who had begun and were about to go through some very difficult days. Of course they complained about them; nobody enjoys affliction. But God confronts them is blunt terms that ought to wake us and cause us to take note.
God said they had no good reason to cry. All of their sorrow was the result of their own iniquity and sins. It had come upon them because they had not obeyed the Lord at all.
This passage does not make going through sorrowful times any easier for us, but it is still the truth. Our sorrows come upon us first, because we live in a world that mankind allowed sin to enter, secondly because we so often choose to sin rather than to do the obedient thing ourselves.
Whenever we go through times of sorrow we need to use that experience to pull us back into a walk with the Lord. Rather than crying over our troubles, lets instead turn to the Lord in our troubles.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Jeremiah 29:11 KJVFor I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
This is one of those passages that a person ought not ever let themselves forget.When things get tenseWhen life has been discouragingWhen dreams have not been fulfilledWhen the heart breaksWhen we are persecutedWhen a friend has forsaken usWhen God seems distantWhen our sins are being chastened
No matter how long these low times may go on still this passage holds true; God's thoughts toward His people are of peace and not of evil.
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Acts 12:7 KJVAnd, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.
Acts 12:23 KJVAnd immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.
I noticed this morning that two men were smitten of the Angel of the Lord in this chapter. But the results of that smiting is much different between the two. The Greek word is even the same in both verses. The word has a huge difference in meaning; either, to knock gently or to strike fatally. We see both extremes in the chapter.
Neither is pleasant, but the purpose of each is far different and it goes to remind us of the difference of facing God's chastisement or His judgment.
God's judgment is fatal and eternal.It condemns the soul to eternal hell and is horrible in both the short and long term impacts.
God's chastening is temporal and gentle.Its purpose is to bring the intended into a right relationship with the Father. It is not pleasant but yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
God's judgment has been met in the person of Jesus Christ. Any person who trusts Christ as Saviour never need fear the fatal blow of judgment. God's chastening is only for the child of God.
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Jeremiah 23:6 KJVIn his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
I have been studying the names of the Lord for a few weeks now and I was glad to see this one in my devotions for the day. While the Hebrew name, Jehovah Tsidkenu, seems to be popular among some teachers, I prefer the English of the name.
The is no righteousness except it come from the Lord. He not only makes us righteous and gives us righteousness (which would still mean the righteousness has not become a part of our own character) no, it is much better than that, He is our righteousness.
Religion always creates a system whose main focus and drive is to conform its adherents to what they believe is righteous behaviour. Even true Christians can make the mistake of ding that. We urge people to call on the Lord to save them from their sins and then we spend the rest of our time trying to get them to behave how we believe they should. Our followers become confused and frustrated because they just can't measure up to our expectations. This is not at all the plan of God. Our righteousness is not found in how we behave.
Friday, February 05, 2010
Acts 10:37 KJVThat word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;
I find it interesting that in two of the earliest efforts to reach non Jews, those they attempted to reach had already been exposed to the Word of God.
In Samaria, Philip's ministry among these people was certainly aided by the ministry Christ had there with the woman at the well. In this case Peter bluntly exclaims that Cornelius and those with him already knew the Word he was about to preach to them. It had been published throughout Judaea and began from Galilee.
This is still the case of much of the world today, certainly of all of the civilized world; very few people do not know something about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Perhaps this is the difference between true missions and what might be better called evangelism: Missions takes the message to those who have never heard any portion of the Word of God, evangelism reaches out to those who have heard, with the personal application, "Ye must be born again."
In the world in which I live, though people are becoming less and less "Christianized" still my main work is not to introduce them to the name of Christ for the first time, my work is to bring what they have already heard to life. My task, as was Peter's, is to try to get the message from the head into the heart.
Peter preached the Word of God and Cornelius and those with him responded as the Spirit of God moved upon them.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Jeremiah 20:11 KJVBut the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
I may be that Jeremiah really entered into his ministry right here; or at least became mature in the ministry here. He had been struggling, even asserting that God had deceived him. The ministry had been difficult, more difficult than he could have ever imagined.
He considered quitting.
But he just couldn't. The Word of God was too compelling. The need of souls was too demanding.
It is here then that Jeremiah comes to the conclusion that marks a ministry born in the Spirit of the Lord and not of man. Though the persecutors were all around him, now he saw the Lord as a mighty terrible One going before him and using him as the Lord saw fit.
Here he began to trust the God he had been preaching for others to trust.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Jeremiah 17:16-17 KJVAs for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee.Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil.
Though Jeremiah did not believe himself to be "qualified" to be the man of God he had been called to be, yet he was not hesitant to follow the Lord in this calling. Jeremiah could foretell that his ministry was going to be one of trouble and woe and he did not enter into it lightly.
Jeremiah could also foresee that the message he would bring was one of judgment to the people of Israel and he was quick to say that it wasn't a message he was anxious to see come to pass.
A pastor is called of God to preach a difficult message to a stiff necked people, yet:His ministry must be one of following the LordHis message must be right before the LordHis manner must be tender toward the congregants andHis hope must be in the Lord
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Jeremiah 15:11 KJVThe LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
This is a great promise in God's Word.
The Prophet is speaking about the remnant of those faithful to the Lord. Among the Jews, though the most of them had completely turned from a true walk with the living God, still there were some that had remained faithful. To those God promises that it would be well with them.
They were sinners just as the rest of the Jews were. We all are. And as sinners they would also experience the chastisement of God.They would too be captured by the enemy.They would too be dispossessed of their landThey would too be carried off to foreign places
But God said of them that, though they were chastened, it would be all right. It would be well with them.
We live in sinful times. And even those Christian who today strive to live for the Lord get caught up in the sins of the present evil world. We do things that are wrong and sometimes we have trouble seeing the error of tem because they are so prominent in our world. For these sins we must be corrected. But it will still be well with us. God's chastening in meant to be corrective on our part and not punitive. Our judgment has been paid; the wrath of God has been revealed for us against Christ Jesus. Yes; God longs to make us Christlike, but He has no intention of destroying us.
Monday, February 01, 2010
Jeremiah 14:22 KJVAre there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.
The Prophet gives good reason to wait upon the Lord....
First, because the gods of the Gentile world are just vanities.They are falseThey are useless andThey are powerless
The land was in a drought when the Prophet spoke these words. And none of the vanites of the Gentiles could have done anything to correct it.
Secondly, the Lord has made all thingsGod is realGod is aliveGod is powerful andGod is capable to answering the prayers of those who call upon Him
It is obvious why a man would wait upon the Lord. There is no other one upon whom to wait.
His Name Is Jesus
About Me
I was born in the Pacific Northwest and have lived the majority of my life right here. I became a Christian at the age of 18. God has allowed me to pastor Baptist churches in Washington and Oregon for the better part of 30 years. I have also enjoyed the opportunity to serve as the executive vice president of Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College in San Dimas, CA and move with the college to become Heartland Baptist Bible College in Oklahoma City, OK.
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1. Field of the Invention
The field of the present invention relates to a multi-layered roof module for motor vehicles.
2. Background
EP-A-995 667 and EP-A-1 077 225 describe the preparation of automobile exterior components, such as roof modules, engine hoods etc., wherein deep-drawn colorized thermoplastic sheets or metal foils are reinforced by glass-fiber reinforced polyurethane (PUR). DE-A-100 57 365 describes the preparation of fiber-reinforced plastic sandwich components having an intermediate layer structure.
The deep-drawn sheets usually do not run exactly according to the contour of the mold. This produces an air cushion between the sheet and mold. When a full-surface glass fiber (GF) PUR is introduced, the entrapped air cannot escape from between the sheet and mold during the PUR foaming. The thus entrapped air is partially compressed; the foaming pressure is lower than the pressure of the air between the sheet and mold, resulting in a bulging of the sheet towards the GF PUR. This indentation remains visible on the sheet surface after the molded part has been demolded.
The deep-drawn sheets from thermoplast, aluminum coil coasting or steel coil coating may also be reinforced by another process. In this method, the sheets are inserted in the foaming mold and covered by a layer of GF PUR in a long fiber injection (LFI) PUR method. A honeycomb cardboard is inserted in the reaction mixture while it is still wet. (The honeycomb cardboard may be coated with a glass-fiber mat on both sides thereof. The honeycomb cardboard serves the function of a spacer in the component. This results in a weight reduction as compared to the conventional LFI PUR method.) Now, a second layer of GF PUR is inserted onto the honeycomb cardboard by the LFI PUR method. Subsequently, the mold is closed, and the honeycomb cardboard with the LFI PUR is formed into the desired shape.
For example, a honeycomb cardboard having a thickness of 12 mm is compressed to about 7 mm in the middle zone and about 2 mm in the marginal zone. Due to the high degree of compression in the marginal zone, the air present between the sheet and foaming mold becomes entrapped and cannot escape during the foaming process. This produces partial air cushions that result in the formation of indentations in the sheet.
In addition, it is difficult in this method to foam thread inserts or metal sheet inserts with screwing points in a way as to achieve high tearing-out forces.
In this construction, the trimming edge of the built-in component projects into the wet zone of the vehicle. Due to the capillary action and hydrophilicity of the honeycomb cardboard, an undesirable water absorption by the component may occur. The wet honeycomb may be attacked by microbes, and/or the component may freeze and burst open at freezing temperatures (ice bursting), resulting in a delamination of the exterior coating and reinforcement. In the worst case, this may lead to a drastic deterioration of the mechanical properties.
DE 102 44 287 A1 describes a process for the preparation of a composite element composed of i) a sheet and ii) a reinforcing layer containing a polyurethane, comprising the steps of: (A) inserting a sheet (i) in an open mold, B1) introducing polyurethane system components into the mold on top of the sheet (i), B2) introducing a spacer layer into the mold on top of the introduced polyurethane system components, B3) introducing polyurethane system components into the mold on top of the inserted spacer layer, and C) closing the mold and reacting the introduced polyurethane system components to form a polyurethane (ii), and D) optionally trimming projecting sheet, wherein the dimensions of the spacer layer are selected in such a way that the outer edge of the spacer layer within the composite element has a distance of at least from 10 mm to 300 mm, preferably from 15 to 250 mm, more preferably from 25 to 220 mm, more preferably from 40 to 200 mm, from the edge of the resulting composite element. Further, this specification relates to a composite element composed of i) a sheet and ii) a reinforcing layer containing a polyurethane, wherein a spacer layer is embedded in the reinforcing layer, characterized in that the embedded spacer layer has a horizontal distance of at least from 10 mm to 300 mm, preferably from 15 to 250 mm, more preferably from 25 to 220 mm, more preferably from 40 to 200 mm, from the edge of the composite element, and to the use of the composite element for preparing indentation-free vehicle body exterior parts, especially indentation-free roof modules.
“Indentation-free” within the meaning of DE 102 44 287 A1 means that no unevenness, especially no projections or indentations, can be detected in sheet (i) upon visual inspection of the prepared composite element, i.e., the sheet is in a planar arrangement on the reinforcing layer. However, according to the technical teaching disclosed therein, surfaces having a high optical finish (class A) cannot be prepared.
WO 2006/09939 A1 relates to a process for the preparation of fiber-reinforced composite components in which an exterior sheet is bonded to a layer containing fiber-reinforced polyurethane, characterized in that a) an elastic intermediate layer having a modulus of elasticity of from 0.5 MPa to 50 MPa and a thickness of from 0.3 mm to 6 mm is first applied to the outer sheet having a thickness within a range of from 0.2 mm to 5 mm; and subsequently b) at least one other layer is applied to the back side of the intermediate layer, wherein at least one layer containing fiber-reinforced polyurethane is applied.
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Inspiring Quotes of the Week + super bonuses!
The Cost of ADHD
by Carole Gayle
Recent studies indicate that ADHD is one of the most costly health conditions in the U.S. - topped only by alcohol abuse and clearly ahead of drug abuse in terms of cost. Annually, alcohol abuse costs American families $86 billion in lost household income. The annual cost for ADHD is $77 billion and the annual cost for drug abuse is $58 billion.
Hard costs, like out-of-pocket medical treatment, are only one aspect of lost income. ADHD high school graduates and college graduates make considerably less money annually than their non-ADHD counterparts. Research indicates that it doesn't matter if the person with ADHD has the same level of education as someone who does not have ADHD, the person with ADHD will make less money than the person without ADHD. The numbers are between $4500.00 and $10,000.00 annually. People with ADHD suffer from symptoms like inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity - which are not always conducive to the work environment.
Although about half the children with ADHD learn to adequately manage their symptoms into adulthood, the other half continue to struggle as they transition from school to work. If ADHD goes untreated into adulthood, the symptoms can affect their financial health by making it harder to hold down a job, making it harder to obtain the education needed to land high-paying jobs and it can cause more lost work days.
Many psychiatrists that treat adults with ADHD ask their clients to bring in their employee evaluations; most of the evaluations brought in read like a textbook case. The ADHD adult will talk out of turn, have difficulty following through with instructions, show lack of focus, have difficulty finishing projects and complain of being disorganized. Symptoms like these make it very hard for an adult with ADHD to maintain a successful work environment. More often than not, these are the employees that get passed up for a promotion or are under-employed according to their abilities.
Not only does the adult with ADHD have more problems at work, without successful treatment the ADHD adult typically also has:
Higher divorce rates.
Lower levels of satisfaction with all aspects of their lives.
Less likely to have a positive self- image or be optimistic.
More likely to abuse drugs or alcohol.
More driving accidents.
Most experts agree that if ADHD is detected and treated at a young age, the ADHD adult will be less likely to struggle with work and their everyday duties. The key is in finding successful and healthful treatment for the ADHD adult.
Carole Gayle is a freelance writer who focuses on health related issues.
Here is a link to a free 20-minute track from iAwake Technologies - a sample of the type of tools that will deepen your meditation immediately and help you quickly become a successful meditator. It's the opening track of iAwake's flagship product, the Profound Meditation Program, called the iAwake Experience...
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Q:
Can I use a dimmer with the light in my ceiling fan
I almost never use the fan, and I don't care about using a dimmer for the fan speed. I just want to be able to dim the light.
There are three wires. One is black going to the bottom of the switch, one white going to the top, and a second white wire at the top of the switch wrapped around a screw but not plugged into it.
A:
Note: my terminology is probably off, I'm from the Netherlands and I'm not used using English DIY terms. So these are the terms I'll be using:
live: the wire that "gives power", the phase wire, the hot wire.
neutral: opposite of live, the wire where "power flows off".
earth: the protective wire, earth, ground, the "safety wire".
Important Edit: Please look at this DIY SE question. @Tester101 (the guy with most rep on DIY SE) says you need to check the fine print on the dimmer. Also, Using a standard dimmer with a ceiling fan can damage the motor, and/or cause the dimmer and/or motor to overheat and cause a fire. just like @ThreePhaseEel says in the comments and @Ed-beal in his answer. I only speak of personal experience (well, from colleagues), those three have a lot of questions answered on this site and probably have more experience.
Option 1 : use a special dimmer for both the fan and lamp
You can just use a dimmer switch to dim the light, however the speed of the fan will also be "dimmed". Make sure you use the right dimmer for your lamp, otherwise you can hear noise. Also check for minimum/maximum wattage.
Edit: This works for some people, not for all. I work in a retail shop and some customers and colleagues have this working setup. However, after seeing @Ed-beals answer and some Googling, I found out this doesn't work for all people. There are special dimmer-switches for ceiling fans, this is a better solution.
Option 2: use a switch for the fan and a dimmer for the light
There are probably three wires going into your ceiling fan, a live one, a neutral and an earth. When you open your fan, you should see that the live wire splits (with a wire connector). One wire goes to the lamp, the other goes to the motor. You can take out the one that goes to the lamp and connect it to the live wire of the dimmer. This way your light will be dimmed with the dimmer and the fan still worked the old way (with a regular switch I presume).
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Da Nang sees strong growth in high-end accommodation services
Hanoi (VNA) – Many businesses operating
in accommodation services in the central city of Da Nang have worked to improve
their service quality, as the high-end accommodation segment is growing and investment
in the segment projected to continue to rise in coming time.
Many accommodation establishments of
three- to five-star are being built in the city, creating a foundation for
development of middle- and high-end tourism.
According to the municipal Tourism
Department, domestic and foreign investment has been strongly poured into tourism
services, especially in high-end tourism products. In addition to
infrastructure, investors also paid attention to human resources development.
The number of holidaymakers in this segment
has been on the rise, bringing big revenues for local hotels and resorts.
As of the end of April 2018, Da Nang is
home to 712 accommodation establishments with more than 29,730 rooms, rising by
7,355 rooms compared to the same period last year. Of the lodges, there are 156
three- to five-star hotels with more than 18,000 rooms.
By the end of this year, the city expects to raise the number of lodges to 774
with 36,031 rooms. Da Nang targets to have over 920 establishments with about
45,600 rooms by 2020.
In 2017, total earnings of three- to five-star hotels made up 86 percent of the
city’s accommodation service revenue with 7.7 trillion VND (337.62 million USD),
a year-on-year increase of 52 percent.
Vietnam has witnessed an influx of international hotel brands and hotel
management companies in the last few years, according to property consultant
Savills Vietnam.
From 30 hotels with international brand names in 2010, the number had
increased to 79 at the end of last year. The strong growth of the tourism sector has also given a boost to the
hospitality industry.
Da Nang is a popular tourist destination in central Vietnam. The online
marketplace and hospitality service Airbnb announced a list of the world’s top
10 destinations for the 2018, in which Da Nang ranked fifth in booking surges
of up to 255 percent.
According to the Da Nang Department of
Tourism, the number of visitors to the central coastal city is increasing with
annual average growth of 20.06 percent in the 2013-2017 period.
In 2017, the city welcomed 6.6 million
tourists, 2.1 times higher than the figure in 2013. The tourism industry
generated 186,770 jobs in 2017 and grossed over 19.5 trillion VND (854.1
million USD) in revenues, 2.5-fold increase from 2013.
The city was ranked second in the list of the 10 most popular destinations
among solo or couple travelers in 2018, according to the Republic of Korea’s
Ticket Monster Inc.
The website said people who plan to
travel abroad with family members chose Da Nang as the most popular
destination.
The city is also the second-most popular
destination among couple of travellers, followed by Bangkok (Thailand) and Guam
(the US), it said.
According to the
Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Da Nang was said to be the best
place to live in Vietnam with many world-recognised records. It is famous for
My Khe Beach, one of the six most attractive beaches on the planet selected by
the US’s Forbes Magazine in 2013, the cable line to Ba Na Hills at an altitude
of 1,487 metres, and Sun Wheel, which is 115 metres in height and situated in
Asian Park, Hai Chau district.
Besides, Da Nang International Airport was ranked third among the best airports
in the world in 2014, according to a survey by Dragon Air.-VNA
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Attachment to Physical Media
If you browse a web design gallery or two you’ll notice a pattern—something that the design of my own site shares as well. The visuals of many sites recreate physical media. This is done by using paper textures for backgrounds, grungy or handwritten fonts, paper edges, wrapping labels, paint strokes, cardboard textures and so on. Even though the design is that of a website, which only exists in the digital world, the designer chooses to utilize familiar visuals of the physical realm.
This is a trend that appears to be growing. Look around on CSS galleries and you’ll see a lot of such techniques in use. Websites are starting to feel like they’re made out of paper, with painted headers and printed letters. The inspiration behind this trend is clear. The physical media looks and feels good, and we’re all familiar with it. It’s comforting and pleasing to see the nuances of that media on the screen.
But…I’m not convinced that this trend is a right direction for web design. You see, while the trend is aesthetically pleasing, the idea behind it closes off some great opportunities for the designer.
By recreating the physical media, you’re not only recreating something that already exists—and so is not new or innovative—you’re setting limits on your own creativity, limits imposed by an older media. The computer screen is free from the many restrictions of paper. There is no limit to what color you want to use or how thin a line you wish to depict (limited only by the pixel density). Things don’t have to be static on a computer screen. Sure, digital images still have their limitations, but these are not the same limitations of physical paper, and the opportunities for creating something new and unique are far greater.
When you follow the trend of recreating the physical media on the digital screen, you’re not only copying its strengths, you’re copying its flaws. The digital screen is an evolution of paper, and yet here we are going back, trying to recreate what we’ve had before. Sure, the old media like paper has character—indeed, the flaws also help make it what it is—but there is absolutely no reason why digital should lack character as well, after all, it’s up to the designer to create it.
So my thought really is this: when you find yourself working on a new design and are making it look like the physical media—paper, paint, dirt, wood, etc.— why not take a step back and ask yourself if this design can be made differently. Can you utilize the full potential of the digital medium that your website lives in by creating a look that is unique? Why submit to the limitations of an older media? Can you design something that we haven’t seen before? If you can, why not do it?
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This Saturday will see Southampton and Bournemouth battle for three points in the Premier League. Mark Hughes’s team will be desperate for three points as they haven’t won a game in nearly three months. READ MORE: Crystal Palace v Leicester Live Stream, TV Channel, Match Preview, Team News and K...
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He followed me closely, staring at me-
-of a chilled and laid back frog became a
hate symbol
hacked online by far right groups.
The internet is a place where people believe
in expansive freedom of expression.
This is not a fight over a cartoon frog, this
is a fight about political speech.
Is this cartoon frog a symbol of free speech
or artwork high jacked by racist hate groups?
Pepe as he's known has been labelled a Nazi,
condemned by a presidential candidate
and now is at the center of an important legal
battle over the first amendment
in this era of unlimited replication, imitation
and mutation.
It's a fight that involves the Alt-Right,
Trump voters,
one of Washington DC's most powerful law firms,
and the website 4chan, AKA 'the asshole of
the internet.'
Pepe the frog is the creation of a 38 year
old cartoonist from Ohio named Matt Furie,
who declined to be interviewed for this story.
The anthropomorphic frog first appeared 12
years ago in Furie's webcomic 'Boy's Club'
In the series' most famous sequence,
Pepe is caught standing at a toilet with his
pants around his ankles.
As he later explains, 'feels good man.'
It wasn't until a few years later,
when someone posted his image to the anonymous
online image board 4chan
that Pepe became a global phenomenon.
The feels bad man Pepe emerged, followed by
sad frog and so on.
Pepe was tweeted out by Katy Perry and instagramed
by Nicki Minaj
and Matt Furie defended the anonymous people
on the internet
who had turned his creation into an unstoppable
meme.
But then Pepe became something else entirely.
Pepe is a white nationalist symbol-
It has one of the things that the racist right
has adopted-
The anti-defamation league's database of hate
symbols.
It's been a nightmare for Matt Furie.
Intellectual property attorney Lewis Tompros
says Matt Furie contacted his firm WilmerHale
after Pepe appeared in what he describes as
an Islamophobic children's book,
in which Pepe does battle with a bearded alligator
and what appear to be his burka clad minions.
But that was just the beginning.
Pepe's recent evolution into a right wing
symbol most likely started on 4chan's /pol/ page,
a board devoted to facilitating politically
incorrect conversation
that became a haven for Donald Trump supporters
in 2016.
Images of Pepe wearing red MAGA hats proliferated,
and Donald Trump, Jr. even posted an image
that included a Trumpified version of Pepe
to social media.
The Clinton campaign responded by branding
Pepe
a "symbol associated with White Supremacy."
The emerging racist ideology known as the
Alt-right-
Enter Mike Cernovich,
whether it's exposing Congressman John Conyers
' sexual harassment scandal
or publicly threatening to publish the 'shitty
men in media' list,
Cernovich has a knack for leveraging his large
social media presence
to catapult himself into the news cycle.
Most people in the fake news media who get
to the high level are pedophiles.
We're not Alt-right and we're not old school
National Review,
take the high road boring right,
We're very aggressive.
We've taken over, for example, the microphones
at left wing rallies.
We're in a meme world, we're in a world where
you have to be catchy, punchy,
that's how you're actually influencing voters,
that's how you're actually persuading people
to accept your ideas as true.
So we're a bunch of, kind of merry meme makers.
Cernovich posted a fan made video on his YouTube
channel
that incorporates Hillary Clinton's audio
book description
of what it felt like sharing the debate stage
with Trump.
There's an excerpt where she goes 'and he
was stalking me, breathing down my neck
I felt so creeped out' referring to Trump,
and then you have Pepe kind of stalking Hillary
Clinton.
No matter where I walked, he followed me closely,
staring at me, making faces,
it was incredibly uncomfortable.
And I thought that this is art.
Furie's attorney sent Cernovich a take down
notice,
he complied but also hired free speech lawyer
Marc Randazza to draft a response.
The way I try to explain fair use to people
is that
you can take a whole bunch of already created
works
and when you take them all together and then
you blow new life into that,
a new thought is expressed in that,
you probably have engaged in what's called
fair use.
You can't copy other people's ideas and claim
free speech,
that's now how the first amendment works,
that's not how copyright law works.
They're absolutely free to spout hate in some
other form
we just don't want them using Pepe the frog
to do it.
On a human level I have tremendous empathy
for Furie.
I think he made a tremendous mistake by not
getting ahead of the Pepe usage,
I think he, Matt Furie, could be a world wide
name, a world wide brand
and that he could have actually beat the people
who are using Pepe in ways he doesn't like
by spreading more Pepe images.
Furei's attorneys have gone a step further
in the case of a Kansas City based artist
named Jessica Logsdon,
who refused to take down the Pepe themed paintings
she sells on Ebay
for 99 cents plus 37 dollars shipping.
They've filed a lawsuit against Logsdon who
declined to appear in this video,
but responded via email that, while she may
appear confident,
she's 'rational enough to be scared because
WilmerHale is a titan of law.'
She also attached a picture of a new painting
she calls 'WilburFail'
We're not trying to do this because she's
some kind of a small fish,
had she simply complied with the DMCA notice
and our request,
there's no question we would not have brought
a lawsuit.
I had a brief conversation with her and she
sent me as a gift
I think if you can see it over my shoulder,
what is now one of my favorite works of art.
If I were still teaching copyright law classes,
I would bring this in
as an example of classic fair use.
I believe that things can be memed into the
public domain.
You have the picture of the little kid with
his fist like that, you know,
I don't know who originally took that picture,
whoever did, if they were to try to lasso
control of that picture at this point,
I think they would fail miserably.
But I think the result would be a thousand
times more people reusing it.
Because the internet is a place where people
believe in expansive freedom of expression
and sometimes the greatest way to set a fire
on the internet
is to try and blow out one candle.
Furie is demanding Logsdon cease her display
and sale of any Pepe imagery
and that the court award damages and unlawful
profits.
4channers have responded by projecting images
of Pepe on the WilmerHale office building.
The case has yet to go to trial, but it could
set a legal precedent
better defining the blurry line between the
free speech rights of internet meme makers
and the copyright claims of artists.
This is a fight about a big, multi-national
multi-billion dollar corporation
going after not me, because I'm a big name,
but going after very small people,
who don't have the resources it takes, this
is lawfare.
This is not a David versus Goliath case, this
is a situation where, if anything,
the little guy here is Matt Furie,
who's an artist trying to make sure that his
work is protected.
Copyright is not just there to incentivize
you to create,
but it's also there to create a larger marketplace
of ideas.
It is not there so that you can say 'I'm upset
about how my work has being portrayed,
about how my work's being talked about,
how my work is now being used in a trans-formative
manner,
and I'm gonna put a lock down on that.'
You don't get to do that Matt Furie, the frog
is on the loose.
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Senior Conservative MP Ken Clarke has warned there are some Government ministers who are “not excessively fond of workers’ rights” and retaining them after Brexit.
The comments from the former Chancellor came during the second of eight late-night sittings in the Commons on the EU (Withdrawal) Bill – the legislation that aims to transpose EU law onto the UK statue book after Brexit.
But the Government avoided any serious backbench rebellion after five amendments to the bill were voted down by MPs in the Commons on Wednesday evening.
Clause 58 – put forward by the Labour frontbench – sought to ensure that after Britain’s departure from the bloc that EU derived employment rights, environmental protection, health and safety standards and consumer standards can only be amended by primary legislation.
The amendment was defeated by 311 votes 299, giving the Government a slim majority. Just one Conservative rebel, Mr Clarke, voted with Labour for the amendment.
Shadow Brexit minister Matthew Pennycook said his party had put forward the amendment to the bill to prevent secondary legislation being used by future governments to “chip away at rights, entitlements, protections and standards that the public enjoy and wish to retain” after Brexit.
During the debate the former Chancellor and pro-European Conservative asked why, if the Government did not intend to water down workers’ rights after Brexit, ministers were not prepared to enshrine this in the Bill by backing the amendment.
“Heaven forbid by party should swing to the right at any time in its long and distinguished history,” he said.
“There are members of the present Government who are not excessively fond of lizards and bats and or workers' rights, and we could be all reassured if he will undertake to put on the face of the bill reduced formal powers.”
Despite voting with the Government the former Conservative attorney general Dominic Grieve warned that laws protecting such rights will be brought to the “lowest possible status” in Parliament after Brexit.
Brexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 /8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA
Mr Grieve later said he wanted an assurance from Government that the matter was being looked at, also describing Labour's proposed change as having “problems of its own”.
He went on: “I put the Government on notice that we are going to have to draw together the issues that we're debating today, and indeed I'm convinced it will be similar issues next week, all of which derive from the same problem, as to the way the Government has approached this and drafted this legislation at the moment, and it must be remedied.”
On the Government benches, Robert Buckland, the solicitor general told the Commons: “The Brexit process will in no way whatsoever be used to undermine or curtail the rights of workers that have been enshrined both in domestic law and in law by virtue of the EU.”
Mr Buckland added there was an essential clause to preserve the domestic statute book and to provide certainty over what was domestic law. He later later hinted he was prepared to make concessions at report stage following questioning from Mr Grieve and Mr Clarke.
MPs in the Commons also voted down an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill put forward by Caroline Lucas by 313 to 295.
The amendment sought to ensure that animals continue to be treated as sentient being after Brexit in domestic law. “The omission in terms of the transferral of this bit of EU law into UK law, I understand the reasons that's it not been able to be directly transposed, but I think it is something that we could very easily rectify,” she told MPs.
“I'm not expecting anyone to find any great controversy about that, I think we're simply saying, and what new clause 30 is simply seeking to do, is to make sure that we close that gap.
“I am not suggesting for a moment that as a result of not closing it we're all suddenly going to go out and start murdering kittens. No one is suggesting anything like that.
“But what we are simply saying is that this is an important protocol.”
Theresa May asked about Brexit scrutiny in light of Telegraph 'mutineer' front page
During the debates on the various amendments Priti Patel, who resigned from Government last week following a series of undisclosed meetings with Israeli officials, also made her first speech as a backbench MP since stepping down as International Development Secretary.
She joked about her “intensive course” over the past week on “how to stage an exit” as she backed the Government’s Brexit plans.
“Of course I am speaking today in this debate following an intensive course over the past week, I think it's fair to say, on how to stage an exit which was the focus of a degree of international attention,” she said.
“So for anyone who is still tracking my movements, it's fair to say that I can confirm that as I walked into the chamber this afternoon I passed statues and portraits commemorating some of our greatest statesmen including Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill, statesmen who stood up and defended democracy, freedom and sovereignty of our great nation.”
David Davis announces final Brexit bill will be a seperate act of parliament
Referring to the proposed legislation, Ms Patel added: “This Bill paves the way for a smooth withdrawal from the European Union and it complements many of the debates and discussions that have happened, Article 50 and delivers on the will of the British people as expressed in the referendum.”
At Prime Minister’s Questions earlier on Wednesday, Theresa May said the Government was listening to the contributions being made in the debate and “listening carefully to those who wish to improve the Bill”.
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The subject matter of the present application relates to microelectronic packages, or assemblies, comprised of stacked microelectronic elements and to methods of fabricating them, for example, by processing applied simultaneously to a plurality of microelectronic elements arranged in an array.
Microelectronic elements, such as semiconductor chips, are flat bodies with contacts disposed on the front surface that are connected to the internal electrical circuitry of the element itself. Microelectronic elements are typically packaged with substrates to form microelectronic packages, or assemblies, having terminals that are electrically connected to the element's contacts. The package or assembly may then be connected to test equipment to determine whether the packaged device conforms to a desired performance standard. Once tested, the package may be connected to a larger circuit, e.g., a circuit in an electronic product such as a computer or a cell phone.
Microelectronic packages or assemblies also include wafer level packages, which provide a package for a microelectronic component that is fabricated while the die are still in a wafer form. The wafer is subject to a number of additional process steps to form the package structure and the wafer is then diced to free the individual die. Wafer level processing may provide a cost savings advantage. Furthermore, the package footprint can be identical to the die size, resulting in very efficient utilization of area on a printed circuit board (PCB) to which the die will eventually be attached. As a result of these features, die packaged in this manner are commonly referred to as wafer-level chip scale packages (WLCSP).
In order to save space certain conventional designs have stacked multiple microelectronic chips or elements within a package or assembly. This allows the package to occupy a surface area on a substrate that is less than the total surface area of all the chips in the stack added together. Development efforts in this technology focus on producing wafer-level assemblies that are reliable, or thin, or testable, or which are economical to manufacture, or have a combination of such characteristics.
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Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said during an interview with ABC's 'This Week' that President Barack Obama will not negotiate over the debt limit with Republicans seeking spending cuts. Lew reiterates Obama won't negotiate over debt limit
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew says President Barack Obama will not sign government funding bills that cut domestic spending and will not negotiate over the debt limit with Republicans seeking spending cuts.
"Congress can't let us default. Congress has to do its work," Lew said Sunday on ABC's "This Week," adding the president has has been "crystal clear" that raising the country's debt limit this fall is not an issue of negotiation between Congress and the White House.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid also said last week he'll not negotiate over raising the country's borrowing limit, a position that echoes that of the Obama administration. House Republicans hope to use the debt ceiling as leverage to extract more spending cuts, and a group in both chambers has stated they are opposing any spending bill that funds Obamacare.
"I certainly hope that Congress isn't looking to create confrontations and false crises because we did see, in 2011, how bad that is for the American economy," Lew said. "The mere fact of negotiating over the debt limit, after 2011, would introduce this notion that somehow there's a question about whether or not we're going to pay our bills, whether or not we're going to protect the full faith and credit of the United States."
Lew also said from his conversations with congressional leaders that there's a majority in Congress that wants to replace the sequester's automatic spending cuts. A group of Senate Republicans, including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona, are meeting with White House staff to try to find a replacement for the sequester's broad, automatic cuts. That solution can't fix military and defense spending at the expense of other priorities, Lew said.
"What the president said - and has written to Congress is - that they cannot fix the problems created by the across-the-board cuts-- known as sequestration by cutting domestic priorities in order to fund defense. That's unacceptable," Lew said on NBC's "Meet the Press," adding: "He won't sign that. "
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How quickly and reliable is a routers dynamic IP update?
I have justm changed ISP from a cable ISP provider to an ADSL - - I notice the ADSL ISP changes IP address much more frequently than that of the cable (both are dynamic IPs)
On the Netgear router there is a setting so that my dynamic IP address updates the name that i like it to resolve to - i.e http://123.dyndns.org will always point to the IP address of my router - but I wonder how often this may update itself, is it reliable?
Reason I ask is that my MX records point to for example: 123.dyndns.org - and if the IP is not updated the mail for my domain name is unlikely to hit my exchange server.
Is there some sort of mail service (free) that can fire an email to me at specific time (perhaps ever 30 mins) so I can see that the mail is constantly working?
Linksys had several issues with DynDNS, however they have been fixed, if you update your router with the latest firmware. You are right many of the phone companies update their IP's much more frequently that the cable companies, especially if you have a PPPoE service. I have a couple of dozen VPN's set up with dynamic IP's using DynDNS, and several are connected to frequently changing IP's. The Linksys RV042 and DynDNS combination has worked extremely well for me. However, if you are concerned, DynDNS offers a back up service, called "MailHopSM Backup MX", that holds your mail for 5 days if your domain/server is unavailable at any time. You might want to look into that. It is great insurance for something like $25/year.
Read the guide to learn how to orchestrate Data ONTAP, create application-consistent backups and enable fast recovery from NetApp storage snapshots. Version 9.5 also contains performance and scalability enhancements to meet the needs of the largest enterprise environments.
>>"thanks for the sidebar comment"
jocasio, if you are referring to the back up MX service, it works well, and is an incredible deal. Great for power outages or 2-5 day shut downs. I haven't tested the DynDNS service one for more than a few hours, it is a relatively new service for them, but no-ip, which I used elsewhere in the past, worked great after a 3 day power outage, with 50 mailboxes.
Though it is not recommended, you could enable on your router, responding to WAN requests, or ICMP (ping) requests, and then from a remote site set up a ping utility like IPMonitor to ping your DDNS name every minute, to see if you get a constant connection. Might report something interesting.http://ipmonitor.tsarfin.com/
I was actually refering to the firmware update you suggested :). I could never get that pesty DynDNS updater to work in LinkSYS!!!
BUt yes, the MX Service seems to be a great idea, especially if you're depending on DynDNS for your email delivery...
jocasio, ah, yes the Linksys problems. DynDNS would actually disable the DDNS account sometimes, as Linksys was not following their guidelines, but all firmware issued the last 9 months or more seems to work fine. I like the idea of the router maintaining it, assuming it works :-), so it's not dependent on a computer being up and running. Just my opinion.
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After creating this article (http://www.experts-exchange.com/articles/23699/Setup-Mikrotik-routers-with-OSPF.html), I decided to make a video (no audio) to show you how to configure the routers and run some trace routes and pings between the 7 sites…
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Mobile Robot Algorithms Laboratory
The ultimate goal of the Laboratory is to realize the Human's long-standing dream of having a fully autonomous mobile assistant who can perform assignments and make decisions on its own to achieve the goal.
Main research projects
Duckietown is an open research project in autonomous robotics domain. It consists of two parts -- robots (“duckiebots”) and town ("duckietown") where these robots roam. A life like traffic environment including traffic lights, signs, roads with markup, and some obstacles are simulated through the town. Each mobile robot is built on an autonomous chassis and works using a Raspberry Pi computer with ROS. All the software is autonomous. A simple RGB-camera is used for receiving data from the environment.
Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) methods are essential for mobile robots which are subjected to and required to effectively act in unknown environments. In spite of the various algorithms which have already been proposed, an algorithm that robustly solves the problem in a general case and satisfies performance constraints is still a subject of research. Unfortunately, there is no publicly available framework that provides a common set of components in order to speed up SLAM research (frameworks and toolkits that simplify development of particular SLAM parts are not taken into account).
Massive Open Online Course (MOOCs) have made the distribution of knowledge accessible and borderless across the world. We wish to harness their power and bring the opportunity to learn effectively to all people regardless of their background. We are developing online courses to teach key software engineering technologies and improving the ease of development of online courses for Stepik.org teachers. We hope to support the future of education with our research into the development of automatic generators for online course tasks which will help make it easier to generate tasks for the courses using these platforms.
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Q:
What is the difference between 敬仰 and 瞧得起
On the German/Chinese forum a guy was asking about how to say:
He is your little brother, that's why he looks up to you.
I wanted to use: 因为他是你弟弟，当然他瞧得起你。
I ask 2 Chinese friends, who both said no, '瞧得起‘ is unfriendly, use 敬仰。 However, they haven't given me an explanation I can follow about why '瞧得起’ is unfriendly, derogatory. I don't want to get on their nerves, so I'll ask here.
How does 瞧得起 deride someone? Do they mean: ‘You think he is great, but he is not.'??
How is 瞧得起/看得起 used?
A:
'敬仰' means 'respect and admire' ; 'look up to'.
If you say that you 敬仰 someone, you are humbling yourself.
'瞧得起‘ means 'consider worthy'
If you say you 瞧得起 someone, you are putting yourself in the position of judging that someone's worthiness (and in the position of granting favors to him or her) ; you thanks someone for 瞧得起你 (consider you worthy) to show your humbleness.
因为他是你弟弟，当然他瞧得起你
... why '瞧得起’ is unfriendly, derogatory.
It is not unfriendly or derogatory, just improper in certain situations. It is perfectly acceptable to say: "your boss promotes you because he 瞧得起你". It is also fine to say: " A big movie star 瞧得起你 because he invited you to his party."
A younger brother is not in the position of judging his older brother's worthiness. Therefore, 瞧得起 is an improper term to be used in this instance.
Even for an older brother, it is still not right to say someone 瞧得起 his younger brother-- Brothers are expected to consider each others worthy by default.
Side notes:
敬仰 = 尊敬(respect)+ 仰慕(admire)
The opposite of 瞧得起 (consider worthy/ look favorably upon) is 瞧不起 (consider not worthy/ look down upon)
A:
敬仰是书面用语，适用于正式场合。瞧得起是口语，适用于街头巷尾。
另外，敬仰隐含仰视的意思，是自认身份较低的人对身份较高的人所说。
而瞧得起，则带有非常明显的俯视态度，有认为自己纡尊降贵的意思。
敬仰是书面用语，适用于正式场合。瞧得起是口语，适用于街头巷尾。
另外，敬仰隐含仰视的意思，是自认身份较低的人对身份较高的人所说。
而瞧得起，则带有非常明显的俯视态度，有认为自己纡尊降贵的意思。
One difference is that 敬仰 is mostly used in written, and in formal circumstances, whereas 瞧得起 is colloquial and more popular.
Furthermore, 敬仰 implicitly conveys admiration, it is used by someone - who puts themselves in a lower status - when referring to someone else of higher status.
On the other hand, 瞧得起 carries an extremely evident sense of patronizing superiority and condescension.
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Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad
NEW DELHI: More than 50% of high courts in the country have opposed the Centre’s proposal to constitute an All India Judicial Service to recruit judges at the level of district judges. The Centre’s proposal has been pending since 2012 when it had suggested creation of an all-India service on the lines of recruitment of IAS/IPS officers by the Union Public Service Commission.
At least 15 of the 25 HCs and state governments of Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh , Meghalaya, Nagaland and Punjab have objected to the Centre’s proposal, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
The minister, however, argued in favour of constitution of a centralised recruitment authority for district judges. “In government’s view, a properly framed All India Judicial Service (AIJS) is important to strengthen overall justice delivery system. This will give an opportunity for induction of suitably qualified fresh legal talent selected through a proper all-India merit selection system as well as address the issue of social inclusion by enabling suitable representation to marginalised and deprived sections of society,” he said in his written reply to a question.
Prasad said the HCs of Sikkim and Tripura had concurred with the proposal approved by a committee of secretaries for formation of AIJS. The HCs of Allahabad, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala , Manipur, Meghalaya, Orissa and Uttarakhand suggested changes in age at the induction level, qualifications, training and quota of vacancies to be filled through AIJS. “Rests of the high courts have not favoured the idea,” he said.
The reason, the minister said, was that most HCs did not want to cede administrative control over the subordinate judiciary. While the HCs of Jharkhand and Rajasthan indicated that the matter was under consideration, HCs of Calcutta, J&K and Gauhati are yet to respond to the Centre’s proposal.
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In a traditional mopping process, a traditional mop bucket is filled with clean water at a janitor's closet or other water source and is moved from a janitor's closet to the site to be cleaned. The user dips a dry mop into the water in the mop bucket and fully wets the mop. The user lifts the mop and sets it in the wringer and wrings some of the water out of the mop into the mop bucket. The user mops the floor with the wet mop to clean the floor until the mop becomes too dirty or too dry. The user then dips the mop into the water in the mop bucket to rinse the dirt out of the mop. The user places the mop in the wringer and wrings the water and dirt from the mop into the water in the mop bucket. This process may be repeated multiple times. The water in the mop bucket becomes increasingly dirty as the process is repeated. When the dirty water is reintroduced to the floor via the mop, it is likely to redeposit some amount of dirt onto the floor. From this point on, until the mop bucket is dumped and rinsed and fresh water is added, the water continues to get dirtier. The only option for clean water is for the user to return the mop bucket to the janitor's closet or other water source, dump out the dirty water and refill the bucket with clean water including additional chemical cleaning agents. Such a process is labor and time intensive.
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Firefighters across Somerset to strike on eight consecutive days from this weekend
FIRE service bosses have pledged to do everything possible to keep people safe during the latest round of firefighter strikes starting this weekend.
Crews will walk out between 12noon and 2pm and 10.59pm until 11.59pm over eight days from this Saturday, August 9, until the following Saturday, August 16.
Members of the Fire Brigades Union are in dispute with the Government over pension reforms they claim will mean firefighters having to tackle blazes up to the age of 60.
Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: “It is absolutely ludicrous that a government can impose a scheme which means that firefighters will have to ride engines and rescue people from fires up to age 60.
“This is unsafe and unrealistic for both firefighters and the public.
“We know it, and the public knows it, but the government will not listen to the evidence-based case we have made to them.”
A Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said it has a legal duty to maintain a level of service as best it can.
He added: “We will continue to respond to 999 calls and will do everything we can to keep the public safe, including during any national fire strike.
“People can help us by taking extra care and time to think about fire safety in their home during this period - checking smoke alarms, ensuring you know what you would do if there was a fire and not making unnecessary calls to the fire and rescue service.
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“Businesses are also reminded to be mindful of their responsibilities, as during periods of industrial action the service may not be able to respond to fire safety enquiries within its usual timescales.”
The new Fire Minister, Penny Mordaunt, said her respect for firefighters and their work is her “motivation in office”.
She added: “This will not be altered or diminished by strikes or the threat of strikes.
“The action by the FBU is completely futile and counterproductive to the interests of their members and the public. I hope they will soon realise that and re-engage so we can get this situation swiftly resolved.”
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*Meanwhile, council and school staff across the country plan to escalate their strike action over pay, with another day of industrial action on Tuesday, October 14.
It follows a previous mass walkout on July 10.
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Comments (5)
Firefighters across Somerset to strike on eight consecutive days from this weekend
duckface08 says...7:01pm Mon 4 Aug 14
People are sick and fed up with these strikes which we all know are motivated by political reasons because of the upcoming General Election. Can't the agitators see that come the election the public will vote for whoever is furthest away from the unions.
People are sick and fed up with these strikes which we all know are motivated by political reasons because of the upcoming General Election. Can't the agitators see that come the election the public will vote for whoever is furthest away from the unions.duckface08
People are sick and fed up with these strikes which we all know are motivated by political reasons because of the upcoming General Election. Can't the agitators see that come the election the public will vote for whoever is furthest away from the unions.
Score: 3
Boring says...12:35am Tue 5 Aug 14
People have a right to strike, good on the fireman for standing up and being counted. Just imagine what our working conditions and pay would be like if workers throughout the ages hadn't stood up for themselves. People who knock the unions should do some research and actually see the great things they have done for working people.
People have a right to strike, good on the fireman for standing up and being counted.
Just imagine what our working conditions and pay would be like if workers throughout the ages hadn't stood up for themselves.
People who knock the unions should do some research and actually see the great things they have done for working people.Boring
People have a right to strike, good on the fireman for standing up and being counted. Just imagine what our working conditions and pay would be like if workers throughout the ages hadn't stood up for themselves. People who knock the unions should do some research and actually see the great things they have done for working people.
Score: 2
Boring says...12:38am Tue 5 Aug 14
duckface08 wrote…
People are sick and fed up with these strikes which we all know are motivated by political reasons because of the upcoming General Election. Can't the agitators see that come the election the public will vote for whoever is furthest away from the unions.
So a dispute which has been going on for at least 18 months is only due to a GE in a years time! Who are you kidding.
[quote][p][bold]duckface08[/bold] wrote:
People are sick and fed up with these strikes which we all know are motivated by political reasons because of the upcoming General Election. Can't the agitators see that come the election the public will vote for whoever is furthest away from the unions.[/p][/quote]So a dispute which has been going on for at least 18 months is only due to a GE in a years time! Who are you kidding.Boring
duckface08 wrote…
People are sick and fed up with these strikes which we all know are motivated by political reasons because of the upcoming General Election. Can't the agitators see that come the election the public will vote for whoever is furthest away from the unions.
So a dispute which has been going on for at least 18 months is only due to a GE in a years time! Who are you kidding.
Score: 8
Mi_Coc says...10:23am Tue 5 Aug 14
After 13 years of labour the public sector is so dysfunctional! You have fire-fighters, paramedics and day to worker being squeezed and having to work longer for less and people like shelia wheeler getting £160k plus £20k a year pension for a being a figure head and £30k for months of no work at all. The £300k costs for two temps at scc for one year, its criminal.
After 13 years of labour the public sector is so dysfunctional!
You have fire-fighters, paramedics and day to worker being squeezed and having to work longer for less and people like shelia wheeler getting £160k plus £20k a year pension for a being a figure head and £30k for months of no work at all.
The £300k costs for two temps at scc for one year, its criminal.Mi_Coc
After 13 years of labour the public sector is so dysfunctional! You have fire-fighters, paramedics and day to worker being squeezed and having to work longer for less and people like shelia wheeler getting £160k plus £20k a year pension for a being a figure head and £30k for months of no work at all. The £300k costs for two temps at scc for one year, its criminal.
Score: -4
Monument says...8:53am Sat 9 Aug 14
It is illegal for the Police to go on strike. It should be the same for the other Emergency Services. They hold a unique position in society and with it comes special responsibilty. If you dont like it then don't choose that as a career.
It is illegal for the Police to go on strike.
It should be the same for the other Emergency Services. They hold a unique position in society and with it comes special responsibilty. If you dont like it then don't choose that as a career.Monument
It is illegal for the Police to go on strike. It should be the same for the other Emergency Services. They hold a unique position in society and with it comes special responsibilty. If you dont like it then don't choose that as a career.
Ipsoregulated
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"To ear is human, to frogive is divine": Bob Capranica's legacy to auditory neuroethology.
Bob Capranica was a towering figure in the field of auditory neuroethology. Among his many contributions are the exploitation of the anuran auditory system as a general vertebrate model for studying communication, the introduction of a signal processing approach for quantifying sender-receiver dynamics, and the concept of the matched filter for efficient neural processing of complex vocal signals. In this paper, meant to honor Bob on his election to Fellow of the International Society for Neuroethology, I provide a description and analysis of some of his most important research, and I highlight how the concepts and data he contributed still inspire neuroethology today.
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Biodegradable microspheres containing a colchicine analogue inhibit DNA synthesis in vascular smooth muscle cells.
Smooth muscle cell proliferation plays a major role in the genesis of restenosis after angioplasty or vascular injury. Local application of agents capable of modulating vascular responses, including smooth muscle cell proliferation, has been achieved, but difficulty in maintaining active levels locally has been a factor limiting the efficacy of such approaches. One strategy to maintain adequate levels is the local delivery of microspheres that release active agents over sustained time periods. We incorporated a colchicine analogue into biodegradable microspheres composed of a lactic acid/glycolic acid copolymer and characterized their drug release behavior as well as their effects on bovine aortic smooth muscle cells (BASMCs) in culture. Drug release was evaluated by spectrophotometric assay. Drug effects on DNA synthesis were measured by thymidine incorporation after addition of serum to subconfluent cells synchronized by serum withdrawal as well as in asynchronous cell populations. Polymeric microspheres incorporating 10% to 17% drug by weight and averaging 6 microns in size were found to release the colchicine analog in buffered saline solutions over more than several weeks. Drug-loaded particles inhibited DNA synthesis completely, with EC50 values ranging from 0.001 to 0.005 g% (wt/wt). Morphological changes suggesting microtubule depolymerization were observed after drug particle treatment, with similar EC50 values. Microspheres allowed to contact the cell surface demonstrated effects similar to those seen with microspheres suspended in the nutrient medium by porous polycarbonate filters, at EC50 values approximately fivefold lower. In contrast, control microspheres composed only of polymer with no incorporated active drug demonstrated no observable toxicity to BASMCs and < 40% inhibition of thymidine incorporation even in suspensions containing up to 0.5 g% particles. Biodegradable microspheres were fashioned that release a colchicine analogue and inhibit DNA synthesis in smooth muscle cells. Drug-loaded polymeric particles are candidates for local delivery at sites of arterial injury to decrease restenosis.
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The raunchy Netflix animated comedy Big Mouth started as an absurd yet deeply personal show about the horrors of puberty, from inconveniently timed first periods to embarrassing uncontrolled erections. But just as the show’s theme, “Changes,” implies, creators Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin, and Jennifer Flackett never intended this show to stay static. While it’s experienced some growing pains and still has some painfully awkward moments, it’s developing into a remarkably powerful and entertaining comedy.
Middle schoolers exploring their sexuality is still the driving force of Big Mouth, which released its 10-episode third season on October 4th. But the show has expanded to follow other equally challenging teen issues, like academic pressure, mental health, and the changing dynamics between friends. While the show follows many of the traditional sitcom beats, it’s crafted a rich mythology and personal history for its characters that means new viewers will want to start from the beginning to be able to appreciate all the callbacks and see how much the characters have grown.
The main tension of the season is between best friends Nick Birch and Andrew Glouberman, voiced respectively by Kroll and John Mulaney. Nick was the sensitive smart-aleck to Andrew’s nerdy pervert for the past two seasons, but now he’s gotten more confident with the help of the Hormone Monstress Connie (Maya Rudolph of Saturday Night Live and The Good Place).
Connie and her male counterpart Maurice (also voiced by Kroll) have always been the absolute highlight of the show, which is why they’re going to be the subject of a newly announced spinoff series called Human Resources. The monsters serve as invisible mentors to the young heroes, providing deeply questionable advice about kissing, masturbation, and sending dick pics. The season 2 finale, “The Department of Puberty,” provided a look at how they work in concert with anthropomorphized versions of various body parts and emotions to guide kids through healthy development, though they aren’t all particularly good at their jobs.
Connie joined Nick after he had a succession of much worse monsters. Nick was late to develop, and in season 1, he was accompanied by the crusty, ancient, barely discernible Hormone Monster Rick (also voiced by Kroll). When Rick retired, he was replaced by the overly enthusiastic childlike Hormone Monster Tyler (John Gemberling of Broad City) who Nick banished after discovering he was working with the Shame Wizard (David Thewlis of the Harry Potter films). Both characters were worse for Nick than Connie, but they were also less entertaining as foils. While Connie still delivers terrible advice like encouraging Nick to kiss Andrew’s ex-girlfriend, the extra time with her strengthens the show.
The show’s creative team has also built on the complicated personal dramas that were introduced in season 2 and the surprisingly sweet Valentine’s Day special, providing a payoff for previously underdeveloped characters. Jay Bilzerian (comedian Jason Mantzoukas) was an obnoxious sideshow at the start of the show, perpetually annoying and disgusting the other characters with his obsession with magic and humping pillows. The pillows were anthropomorphized as women, and in one plot that really overstayed its welcome, Jay’s favorite pillow gets pregnant, gives birth to a baby pillow, and runs off.
But Jay also started masturbating with couch cushions, which were anthropomorphized as male. Suddenly, his sexual quirk turned into a way for him to discover his bisexuality. This season, he’s struggling with how to share his revelation with his friends and how to face the stigma against bisexual men. One particularly sweet segment shows him exploring his fantasies by collaborating with his horny spaz classmate Missy Foreman-Greenwald (Jenny Slate of SNL and Parks & Recreation) on slashfic starring Missy’s crush Nathan Fillion, who voices himself. It’s a fairly nuanced look at the challenges of coming out, even if Jay encapsulates his sexual orientation by screaming “I want to fuck everyone!”
Matthew (Andrew Rannells of Girls) was previously relegated to a stereotypical catty best friend to Nick and Andrew’s sarcastic buddy Jessi Glaser (Jessi Klein), but he finally came into his own in the Valentine’s Day episode by exploring the hardships of being the only openly gay kid in his small town. That adds even more pressure to his first budding relationship. His new connections come at the expense of Jessi who continues to battle the oppression of Depression Kitty (voiced with an oozing seductive malice by Jean Smart of Fargo and Legion).
Jordan Peele has been voicing the ghost of Duke Ellington, who haunts Nick’s attic, since Big Mouth’s first episode. But the bit has always seemed just a step too weird even by Big Mouth’s standards. Nick didn’t start with his own Hormone Monster, and his visits to Duke always seemed like a poor substitute for the monsters’ running commentary. Duke served a similar function, suggesting Nick could solve his problems through sex and punctuating his advice with historic anecdotes and offputting manic laughter.
But this season, Duke finally gets some highlight moments of his own. His ability to seemingly conjure any other dead celebrity results in a clever musical number about the spectrum of gender identity and sexual orientation, starring Prince, David Bowie, and Freddie Mercury. Nick writing a celebrity book report also provides an excuse for an entire episode set in 1913 where Duke paints a tale of jazz, sex, and the importance of finding your passion. It’s one of season 3’s best stories.
This season, the writers have doubled down on the show’s musical numbers, which vary wildly in tone but are always high-quality. A song in the first episode featuring all the girls in school protesting a dress code meant to protect boys from uncontrollable urges helps set the tone for the whole season. A duet where Jessi and Nick mourn the fact that none of them made it onto their peers’ lists of the hottest people in school, despite their non-appearance-related strengths, is deeply relatable. But the best of the numbers is “Anything Goes in Florida,” a ballad skewering the goofy, genuinely terrible aspects of the Sunshine State, ranging from Spring Break to stand-your-ground laws. It’s a perfect crystallization of the show’s ability to pivot from silly to serious so quickly that it causes emotional whiplash.
The smoothing of the show’s rough edges does make its remaining issues feel all the more abrasive. Kroll voices four main characters and a host of supporting characters, and Big Mouth would be stronger if he killed some of his darlings. His idiot gym teacher Coach Steve has been in every episode, even though he’s a one-note gag who feels like a throwback to Adam Sandler’s 1990s films. Coach Steve was fired at the end of season 2 and is blissfully absent from most of season 3, only showing up in a series of odd jobs. His stint as a Lyft driver is the only Steve segment where the jokes actually hit the mark, via a rambling end-credits monologue about the varied ways ride-sharing can be incredibly awkward.
But any goodwill the character earns there quickly falls away in the season’s penultimate episode where Steve gets a makeover from the Queer Eye Fab Five, who all voice themselves. Big Mouth relentlessly breaks the fourth wall, and jokes focusing on its status as a Netflix show are peppered throughout the season, most bitingly in a jab at 13 Reasons Why. But the Queer Eye episode feels like a 20-minute commercial, and the terrible payoff is that Steve gets his job back, meaning he’ll continue to be a comedic drag on the show.
While the Shame Wizard — the incarnation of embarrassment and self-loathing who was season 2’s primary antagonist — briefly appears when Andrew visits a Men’s Rights group, he’s otherwise absent this season. That’s a disappointing loss, considering how much powerful conflict he stirred in season 2. He’s also missed since because while season 3 has plenty of memorable moments, it doesn’t reach a satisfying climax like season 2 did.
Season 1 of Big Mouth was all about how characters experience the beginnings of puberty in different ways. Season 2 had them coming to terms with their new raging hormones and accepting their new selves. Season 3 feels more like a series of vignettes on a theme. The rift between Andrew and Nick isn’t just caused by hormones but by other stresses, like Nick becoming addicted to the idea of social media stardom. Jay tries to earn acceptance for his sexuality while also struggling with his neglectful home life, and the more structured but loving environment he finds while briefly living with Nick. Missy grapples with anger and her newly aggressive sexuality. Taken as individual bits, Big Mouth’s comedy is sharper than ever, but it could be even better if the creators could keep all of the characters interconnected to better build off the entertaining dynamics they’ve developed over the past three seasons.
The writers try to bring all of these plots together in a final episode where the characters gain superpowers tied to their inner struggles, but the gimmick gets away from the point in a way that makes “Super Mouth” feel incoherent. Season 3 ends with a series of cliffhangers showing that some of the characters are more miserable and confused than ever. Big Mouth has already been renewed for three more seasons, so there’s plenty of time left for the characters and show to continue growing. That process is sure to be as awkward, confusing, and painful as puberty, but so far, the compassion and humor the creators have brought to the process are making the show’s growth extremely entertaining.
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I still think we'd be better off if we get another cb, if there is 1 worth which ever pick, and move Winfield to safety to pair with Smith. Everyone keeps saying that the safety's are more important in our defense then the corners anyway. Put our 2 best db @ safety then. We'd maybe have safety's that can tackle.
That would not be smart. Winfield is best on the line of scrimmage, in the slot close to the quarterback. Putting him at safety takes away all his effectiveness.
I still think we'd be better off if we get another cb, if there is 1 worth which ever pick, and move Winfield to safety to pair with Smith. Everyone keeps saying that the safety's are more important in our defense then the corners anyway. Put our 2 best db @ safety then. We'd maybe have safety's that can tackle.
That would not be smart. Winfield is best on the line of scrimmage, in the slot close to the quarterback. Putting him at safety takes away all his effectiveness.
Not too mention, Winfield in jump ball situations in deep halves against WRs like Marshall and Megatron is a disaster waiting to happen. Winfeild is a terrible fit at S for the Vikes Cover 2 scheme
At his age Winfield is not the man he used to be and his contribution to the team will now be in limited roles rather than an every down player. He has also began to break down physically over the last few years due to his playing style.
We needed a starting S very badly as we did nearly every other position on the team. Hopefully the staff is good enough to take these guys and get more production out of them than they have been able to with the secondary players that have been drafted in the mid rounds the past 5-6 years. It would be a refreshing change.
Spielman: "I think when you're building your roster and you look at the center of your roster, from your center to your quarterback to your linebacker to your safety, those better be very intelligent people because that's who's directing traffic. Those are the guys making the calls and adjustments. With Chad Greenway, with John Sullivan, with Christian Ponder and now with Harrison Smith, not only do you have very good football players, but you have very intelligent football players. That is a huge key to putting that roster together."
In the case of Harrison Smith, the Vikings were so convinced of his value after the Senior Bowl that they didn't speak again through the entire draft process. They didn't interview him at the annual scouting combine and didn't invite him to their facility for a pre-draft visit.
Spielman: "When we got into our meetings and we put our board together and seeing how it was going to develop and knowing that we do need some help on the back end to improve our secondary. That was the one huge advantage of being able to coach the Senior Bowl because we got to know those players inside and out and know what they are about. How they are in a meeting room. How they are out on the field. Our coaches know what it’s like to coach that player so that was a huge advantage for us and we know exactly what we are getting in Harrison Smith."
I don't have anything in mind to purchase when I sign my contract. Maybe someplace to live and some groceries for the house.
I like all types of music. I'm from Tennessee. So I like country music. I like rap, hip-hop, everything.
I'm into "Breaking Bad" right now. And "Workaholics" as well.
"Superbad." Funniest movie ever made.
Best movie ever is "Shawshank Redemption."
Best advice I ever got? Do not live under the bed, meaning don't live scared. Don't change your lifestyle because you're scared to do something.
To me, the highest praise is when you get it from your peers, and they respect you. I think that comes along with being a great player. That, to me, is worth more than anything.
Grumpy after a loss? Absolutely. After a loss, I usually don't talk, maybe even more than a day. I try to go 24 hours and move on to the next game. But I'll still be pretty upset until we get the next win.
Superbad is a good movie, but the funniest ever made? Not really. Any of Mel Brooks' movies are far funnier than Superbad. My personal favorite is History of the World Part I. I'd also have to put Monty Python's movies ahead of it (Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and Meaning of Life especially)._________________
The Vikings have also wanted safety Harrison Smith to stay hungry and not simply walk in to a starting spot. He didn’t begin working with the first-team defense until this week, while Mistral Raymond and Jamarca Sanford manned the position. But they’re both late-round draft picks (Sanford went in the seventh in 2009 and Raymond in the sixth in 2011), and they both struggled to stop the run in last Friday’s preseason game at San Francisco in which the 49ers rushed for 260 yards.
So Smith has moved past Sanford on the depth chart
Smith: “My favorite part is kind of being able to be on the back end and the front end, just because safeties have the ability to drop down in the box or play deep. So you can kind of get the best of both worlds. Big hits and interceptions both serve their purposes. I think interceptions help the team the most, but big hits, they get everybody pumped up.”
Alan Williams: “I love that. You want your safeties to be quarterbacks and smart but you want some nastiness to them too, and he has that.”
Jared Allen: “I hope he’s really, really awesome. Because that gives me more time to hit the quarterback.”
This is the real selling point.
Improving the secondary, will improve Jared Allens play.
Then again if our defense gets off the feild quicker, he will get less opportunities to get sacks... dont think he will mind too much tho_________________
Harrison Smith inched toward the line of scrimmage until he stood across from a receiver in the slot on third-and-15. At the snap, Smith sprinted toward the Buffalo Bills backfield. He didn't have enough time to get his hands on quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, but he did the next best thing. He leaped and batted Fitzpatrick's pass down with both arms.
That singular play in the Vikings preseason home opener Friday night was significant because the Vikings coaching staff not only showed enough confidence in the rookie safety to send him on a blitz on third down, but more important, Smith made a play. A timely play that allowed the defense to get off the field.
Smith: "The coaches have kind of been saying, 'If we call your number on a blitz and you don't make a play, we're probably not going to send you again. When you hear that, you know it's time to make a play just so you can keep doing it."
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Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Research Group (UGCRG)
About the UGI Cancer Research Group
Esophageal and gastric cancers together cause over 1,000,000 deaths each year. Because these upper gastrointestinal (UGI) cancers have very poor prognoses, discovering etiologic agents and improving methods of early detection for these cancers are of prime importance.
The overriding goal of the DCEG UGI Cancer Research Group is to foster the exchange of ideas and expertise on UGI cancers among investigators from DCEG, NCI, and the extramural community. Additionally, this exchange of ideas and expertise will enhance use of our existing research resources and more thoughtful conceptualization and execution of future research. This working group also serves as a magnet for the recruitment and training of junior investigators interested in UGI cancer research.
Objectives
Promote the exchange of ideas and expertise on UGI cancers within DCEG and among other NCI and extramural researchers in the field
Discuss research priorities in UGI cancer research
Organize, coordinate, and optimize the use of UGI cancer research resources in DCEG
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A CMOS imager circuit includes a focal plane array of pixel cells, each one of the cells including a photosensor, for example, a photogate, photoconductor or a photodiode overlying a substrate for accumulating photo-generated charge in the underlying portion of the substrate. Each pixel cell has a readout circuit that includes at least an output field effect transistor formed in the substrate and a charge storage region formed on the substrate connected to the gate of an output transistor. The charge storage region may be constructed as a floating diffusion region. Each pixel may include at least one electronic device such as a transistor for transferring charge from the photosensor to the storage region and one device, also typically a transistor, for resetting the storage region to a predetermined charge level prior to charge transference.
In a CMOS imager, the active elements of a pixel cell perform the necessary functions of: (1) photon to charge conversion; (2) accumulation of image charge; (3) resetting the storage region to a known state; (4) selection of a pixel for readout; and (5) output and amplification of a signal representing pixel charge. The charge at the storage region is typically converted to a pixel output voltage by the capacitance of the storage region and a source follower output transistor.
CMOS imagers of the type discussed above are generally known as discussed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,140,630, 6,376,868, 6,310,366, 6,326,652, 6,204,524 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,333,205, assigned to Micron Technology, Inc., which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram for a CMOS imager 10. The imager 10 includes a pixel array 20. The pixel array 20 comprises a plurality of pixels arranged in a predetermined number of columns and rows. The pixels of each row in array 20 are all turned on at the same time by a row select line and the pixels of each column are selectively output by a column select line. A plurality of row and column lines are provided for the entire array 20.
The row lines are selectively activated by the row driver 32 in response to row address decoder 30 and the column select lines are selectively activated by the column driver 36 in response to column address decoder 34. Thus, a row and column address is provided for each pixel. The CMOS imager 10 is operated by the control circuit 42, which controls address decoders 30, 34 for selecting the appropriate row and column lines for pixel readout, and row and column driver circuitry 32, 36, which apply driving voltage to the drive transistors of the selected row and column lines.
Each column contains sampling capacitors and switches 38 associated with the column driver 36 reads a pixel reset signal Vrst and a pixel image signal Vsig for selected pixels. A differential signal (Vrst−Vsig) is produced by differential amplifier 40 for each pixel and is digitized by analog-to-digital converter 45 (ADC). The analog-to-digital converter 45 supplies the digitized pixel signals to an image processor 50, which forms a digital image output.
Lighting can effect image exposure. Light conditions may change spatially and over time. Thus, automatic light control is required to ensure that the best image is obtained by controlling the image sensor's exposure to the light. In some imager applications, there is a need to use the illumination during the actual exposure of an image (i.e., “present illumination”) to control the exposure (i.e., perform exposure control). That is, there is a need to use present illumination because the use of the previous picture's illumination may not be sufficient for the intended application.
One exemplary application that would benefit from using present illumination in exposure control is the imager in a swallowable pill application, such as the one described in U.S. application Ser. No. 10/143,578, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,187,049 issued Mar. 6, 2007, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Due to the nature of the imager in a pill application, automatic light control using present illumination is required. A proposed solution would be to light the application's light source (e.g., light emitting diodes) prior to the actual exposure periods. This technique, however, creates an undesirable high waste of energy and power by having the light source on longer than the exposure period.
Accordingly, there is a desire and need for automatic light control during an exposure period that uses present illumination, yet does not unnecessarily waste energy or power in the process.
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