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Many different kinds of hardcopy printing devices are available commercially today, and these include copiers, faxes and printers. Ubiquitous hardcopy printing devices such as printers are commonly found in homes and offices. Since the evolution of office automation, printers have been integrally connected with other office automation equipment like computers, workstations, print servers, or networks to provide hardcopy printing capability. With the advent of increased CPU processing speed and power due to fast-paced technological advancement, better computers, workstations and servers have also come into being. Thus, that complementing equipment such as printers too must have increased throughput in order to contribute to the overall productivity of any office automation system is inevitable.
Printers commonly use printing paper of various sizes, transparencies, or even postcards as print media. These media sheets are fed sequentially into these printers to receive print markings. In doing so, the throughput of the printer is thus limited, in part, by the rate at which the printer receives the media sheets. Many known methods are currently implemented in commercially available printers to handle and provide media sheets efficiently to these printers for printing.
An example of the implementation of such known methods is the pick-and-feed operation of many ink jet printers. A pick operation entails picking a single media sheet from a stack of media sheets and moving it along a media path through the use of a pick roller. A drive roller and a pinch roller, which cooperate to perform a feed operation, controls the positioning of the media sheet with respect to a printing head for receiving print markings. In some ink jet printers, the pick-and-feed operation is performed by the same roller serving both the pick and drive functions for cost reasons. From the perspective of performance however, a pick roller would require a different type of material from that of a driver roller. For high pick reliability, the pick roller should be made of soft rubber with high friction coefficient. Conversely, the rubber used for the drive roller should be hard so that it does not deform easily and thus is able to control the feeding of the media sheet accurately. Therefore the implementation of a common roller to perform both operations may not meet the need for both reliable and accurate media handling.
Some ink jet printers, on the other hand, make use of separate pick and drive rollers to achieve reliable and accurate media handling. This type of implementation, however, can present its own set of problems, especially during the design of a pick system for resiliently handling various sizes of media sheets. This set of problems can exist because such a pick system for multiple sized media sheets is usually susceptible to the occurrence of pick skew of the different sizes of media sheets. If the media sheet is skewed, then the print markings received on the media sheet will not be square to the page and the result will be aesthetically displeasing.
The present invention is intended to provide a solution to various prior art deficiencies, which include those present with the existing printing devices such as copiers, faxes or printers, to provide a cost effective and reliable media sheet pick operation within a media handling system. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Evidence for an involvement of dopamine D1 receptors in the limbic system in the control of immune mechanisms.
Indirect evidence suggests that dopamine within the brain may participate in the regulation of immune responses both in humans and in rodents. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possible modulatory role played by specific dopamine D1 receptor subtypes within discrete sites of the brain dopaminergic pathways. Mitogen responsiveness of splenocytes and natural killer (NK) cell activity were measured in rats following microinfusion of SKF 38393, a specific dopamine D1 receptor agonist, into the ventral tegmental area, the amygdala, the nucleus accumbens and the CA1 area of the hippocampus. We report here that microinfusion of SKF 38393 (100 nmol) within the central amygdala increased the proliferative response of splenocytes to concanavalin A (ConA) while it did not modify the proliferative response of splenocytes to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or NK cell activity. On the contrary, microinfusion of SKF 38393 into the nucleus accumbens decreased the proliferative response of splenocytes to ConA and LPS, while NK cell activity remained unchanged. Similarly, microinfusion of SKF 38393 into the CA1 area of the hippocampus decreased the proliferative response of splenocytes to LPS, but not to ConA and did not affect NK cell activity. Finally, microinfusion of SKF 38393 into the ventral tegmental area did not significantly modify the proliferative response of splenocytes to either ConA or LPS and did not affect NK cell activity. All immunological changes evoked through the different areas of the brain following microinfusion of SKF 38393 were prevented by systemic administration of SCH 23390, a specific D1 receptor antagonist. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
Adding column in pandas python
After adding column in dataframe, am not getting proper output file. Here is my input file
Security Wise Delivery Position - Compulsory Rolling Settlement
10,MTO,01022018,592287763,0001583
Trade Date <01-FEB-2018>,Settlement Type <N>,Settlement No <2018023>,Settlement Date <05-FEB-2018>
Record Type,Sr No,Name of Security,Quantity Traded,Deliverable Quantity(gross across client level),% of Deliverable Quantity to Traded Quantity
20,1,20MICRONS,EQ,53466,27284,51.03
20,2,3IINFOTECH,EQ,7116046,3351489,47.10
20,3,3MINDIA,EQ,2613,1826,69.88
20,4,5PAISA,EQ,8463,5230,61.80
20,5,63MOONS,EQ,324922,131478,40.46
Expecting output
20,1,20MICRONS,EQ,53466,27284,51.03,01022018
20,2,3IINFOTECH,EQ,7116046,3351489,47.10,01022018
20,3,3MINDIA,EQ,2613,1826,69.88,01022018
20,4,5PAISA,EQ,8463,5230,61.80,01022018
20,5,63MOONS,EQ,324922,131478,40.46,01022018
My code
import pandas as pd
df = pd.read_csv('C:/Working/dalal/MTO_11052018.DAT', sep='\t',skiprows=1)
df=df.iloc[1]
l1=list(str(df).split(","))
l2=l1[2]
df2=pd.read_csv('C:/Working/dalal/MTO_11052018.DAT',sep='\t',skiprows=3)
df2['Trans_dt']=df2.apply(lambda row:[l2],axis=1)
df2.to_csv('C:/Working/dalal/deldata/MTO_11052018.OUT',sep=',')
am not getting expected out. Please help on this
A:
I think need header=1 for second row to columns, nrows=0 for no rows and usecols=[2] for read only third column:
import pandas as pd
temp=u"""Security Wise Delivery Position - Compulsory Rolling Settlement
10,MTO,01022018,592287763,0001583
Trade Date <01-FEB-2018>,Settlement Type <N>,Settlement No <2018023>,Settlement Date <05-FEB-2018>
Record Type,Sr No,Name of Security,Quantity Traded,Deliverable Quantity(gross across client level),% of Deliverable Quantity to Traded Quantity
20,1,20MICRONS,EQ,53466,27284,51.03
20,2,3IINFOTECH,EQ,7116046,3351489,47.10
20,3,3MINDIA,EQ,2613,1826,69.88
20,4,5PAISA,EQ,8463,5230,61.80
20,5,63MOONS,EQ,324922,131478,40.46"""
#after testing replace 'pd.compat.StringIO(temp)' to 'C:/Working/dalal/MTO_11052018.DAT'
a = pd.read_csv(pd.compat.StringIO(temp), nrows=0, header=1, usecols=[2]).columns
print (a)
Index(['01022018'], dtype='object')
Then read all necessary data and assign new column:
#after testing replace 'pd.compat.StringIO(temp)' to 'C:/Working/dalal/MTO_11052018.DAT'
df = pd.read_csv(pd.compat.StringIO(temp), skiprows=3).assign(Trans_dt=a[0])
print (df)
Record Type ... Trans_dt
20 1 ... 1022018
20 2 ... 1022018
20 3 ... 1022018
20 4 ... 1022018
20 5 ... 1022018
[5 rows x 7 columns]
df2.to_csv('C:/Working/dalal/deldata/MTO_11052018.OUT')
#if columns names is necessary remove
df2.to_csv('C:/Working/dalal/deldata/MTO_11052018.OUT', header=None)
Or similar if need default rangeindex:
#after testing replace 'pd.compat.StringIO(temp)' to 'C:/Working/dalal/MTO_11052018.DAT'
df = pd.read_csv(pd.compat.StringIO(temp), skiprows=3).rename_axis('val').reset_index().assign(Trans_dt=a[0])
print (df)
val ... Trans_dt
0 20 ... 1022018
1 20 ... 1022018
2 20 ... 1022018
3 20 ... 1022018
4 20 ... 1022018
[5 rows x 8 columns]
If columns names are not important:
#after testing replace 'pd.compat.StringIO(temp)' to 'C:/Working/dalal/MTO_11052018.DAT'
df = pd.read_csv(pd.compat.StringIO(temp), skiprows=4, header=None).assign(Trans_dt=a[0])
print (df)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Trans_dt
0 20 1 20MICRONS EQ 53466 27284 51.03 1022018
1 20 2 3IINFOTECH EQ 7116046 3351489 47.10 1022018
2 20 3 3MINDIA EQ 2613 1826 69.88 1022018
3 20 4 5PAISA EQ 8463 5230 61.80 1022018
4 20 5 63MOONS EQ 324922 131478 40.46 1022018
And last:
df2.to_csv('C:/Working/dalal/deldata/MTO_11052018.OUT', index=False)
#if columns names is necessary remove
df2.to_csv('C:/Working/dalal/deldata/MTO_11052018.OUT', index=False, header=None)
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Square Enix have launched their official website for the Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts X [chi]. New screenshots are shown, and the specs required to play it are revealed. You can read the required specs below.
You will only need either Internet Explorer 8, Google Chrome 22, Mozzila Firefox 15, Safari 5.1 or higher. The minimum for operating systems is Windows XP Service Pack 3 and you'll also need Adobe Flash Player 10.3 or higher. These are all basic specs, and most people will easily be able to run it.
Official Japanese website for Kingdom Hearts X [chi]
Update 1: 4Gamer.net has posted an article about the website's release. They have included some of the new screenshots in this article. You can view them all below, in our gallery.
Update 2: goldpanner has translated the entirety of the 4Gamer.net article, which reveals a huge amount of information about Kingdom Hearts χ [chi]. Thanks to her, this translation can be read below.
Now Recruiting for Closed Beta Testers for Kingdom Hearts Browser Game Kingdom Hearts χ [chi] (Kingdom Hearts: Key). 500 Slots Available Through 4Gamer
Today (13th March 2013), Square Enix opened applications for a Closed Beta Testing of Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] (Kingdom Hearts: Key) for PC Broswer. The CBT participation application period is from 13th March 3pm until 18th March 3pm, and the CBT is planned to run from the 22nd until the 25th of March.
Kingdom Hearts: a popular series by Square Enix set in the worlds of Disney. As we announced in an article published on the 20th Feb 2013, this new title, the first-ever browser game in the series, will be a free-to-play (with purchasable items) card battle-type game, with the player themselves adventuring through various Disney Worlds as the protagonist of the game. As well as advancing strategically through battles with collected cards and co-operating with friends to take down enemies, we hear that one element being prepared is a huge number of collectable items to obtain during the adventure.
And so now 500 tester slots have been prepared for readers of 4Gamer, so if you are interested, please follow the link below to apply. Please bear in mind that a Yahoo! JAPAN ID is necessary for the application. Also, they are planning to gift CBT participants with items that can be used once the official service commences. For more details please refer to the details below.
application link: http://kh-cbt.square-enix.co.jp/?entry_from=4g130311
CBT recruiting site: http://kh-cbt.square-enix.co.jp/
KH series official site: http://www.square-enix.co.jp/kingdom/
~~
Born from Disney and Square Enix: the first PC Browser Online Game in the Ten Year Old Kingdom Hearts Series
Now taking applicants for a Closed Beta Test of Kingdom Hearts χ [chi] (Kingdom Hearts: Key), Sponsored by Yahoo! Games
Square Enix Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Shinjuku, Tokyo, Representative Director and President: Yoichi Wada, hereon Square Enix) and Yahoo! JAPAN Corporation (Head Office: Minato, Tokyo, Representative Director and President: Manabu Miyasaka, hereon Yahoo! Japan) have decided that Kingdom Hearts χ [chi] (Kingdom Hearts: Key, hereon KH χ), a PC browser online game for Kingdom Hearts, a popular series of adventuring through Disney worlds, will be provided through Yahoo! Games, an online game service managed by Yahoo! JAPAN, the best domestic portal site. Also, as we head towards the commencement of the official service, from today we will be taking applications for participants in a Closed Beta Test.
This title marks the very first online PC browser game in the ten year history of the Kingdom Hearts series. On the foundation of the co-operation of Square Enix and Yahoo! Japan, the new title, KH χ, the first Kingdom Hearts (hereon KH) online PC browser game, will be provided through Yahoo! Games. KH χ will not require the downloading or installation of software for personal use, and will instead be available for anyone with an internet connection to enjoy. Because of this, this title is not only for existing fans of the series but also those coming into contact with the series for the first time, and will therefore bring even more people to the Disney Worlds unique to the KH series. Furthermore, with Square Enix handling game development and administration, Yahoo! Japan plan to carry out induction and publicity and other such promotions in addition to providing Yahoo! Japan ID and online account functionality. Please take this opportunity to participate in the Closed Beta Test.
➙Closed Beta Test Participant Application Period
Planned for 13th March (Wed) 3pm ~ 18th March (Mon) 3pm
➙Closed Beta Test Participant Running Period
Planned for 22th March (Fri) ~ 25th March (Mon)
In addition, there are plans to prepare a special bonus for players who participate in the KH χ Closed Beta Test and answer the questionnaire for use once the official service commences:
- Ether x 5 (allows recovery of power necessary when fighting bosses)
- Potion x 5 (allows recovery of action power)
- Munny: 10,000 Munny (can be used to synthesise cards etc in-game)
- Card Draw Points: 2,000 Points (points that allow cards to be switched in-game)
※The special bonus will be bestowed when the official service commences and is limited to participants of the Closed Beta Test who answered the directed questionnaire.
※The content of the special bonus is subject to change without prior notice.
Recruitment Details: Read Prior to Registering as Participant in KH χ Closed Beta Test
➙Closed Beta Test Participant (Tester) Application Period
Planned for 13th March (Wed) 3pm ~ 18th March (Mon) 3pm
※A Yahoo! JAPAN ID is necessary for the application.
※Participants in the KH χ Closed Beta Test will be selected from among applicants by lottery and will receive notification by email.
※Successful applicants can expect contact by email on the 19th March 2013 (Tue).
➙Closed Beta Test Site
http://kh-cbt.square-enix.co.jp/
※Please view the application method in full on the Closed Beta Test Participant Recruitment website.
※Restricted to participants who answered the questionnaire for participants in the Closed Beta Test
➙Closed Beta Test Period
Planned for 22th March (Fri) ~ 25th March (Mon)
➙Closed Beta Test Participation Bonus
There are plans to prepare a special bonus for use once the official service commences.
- Ether x 5 (allows recovery of power necessary when fighting bosses)
- Potion x 5 (allows recovery of action power)
- Munny: 10,000 Munny (can be used to synthesise cards etc in-game)
- Card Draw Points: 2,000 Points (points that allow cards to be switched in-game)
※The special bonus will be bestowed when the official service commences and limited to the participants in the Closed Beta Test who answered the directed questionnaire.
※The content of the special bonus is subject to change without prior notice.
➙System Requirements
Internet Explorer 8 / Chrome 22 / Firefox 15 / safari 5.1 and up
※Flash Player 10.3 or up must be installed.
※Browser performance is not guaranteed.
➙Warning
※At the end of the KH χ Closed Beta Test, all data will be reset.
※As the purpose of the KH χ Closed Beta Test is to hear customer's impressions and test the server load, we are enforcing a limit on the number of people.
※Due to the effect of load testing, please be aware that things such as a temporary inability to login may occur.
~~
What is Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] (Kingdom Hearts: Key)?
Presenting the series’ first online PC browser game. Adventure through various Disney worlds as yourself on your web browser You will advance through strategic battles using cards available in-game, and occasionally work together with friends to face off against enemies, introducing a new gameplay sensation never seen in the Kingdom Hearts series before. With collectible items to obtain, this title is looking like something that will be fun to play for a long time. The standard game is free-to-play, with charges for purchasable items.
◆STORY◆
Far, far away, in a fairy-tale realm...
The realm was filled with light.
That light gave birth to many worlds, enveloping them.
The source of the light, Kingdom Hearts, and the key that protected it, the χblade...
As long as they existed, it was believed that the realm would be in eternal light.
However, just as strong light will form a shadow, darkness was born.
The darkness called up fear, unease and craving.
Darkness, hidden deep in hearts, began to spread throughout the realm as chaos.
In order to drive back the spreading darkness, those who wished for light created Keyblades in imitation of the χblade, and embarked on adventures that spanned the realm.
In addition to the familiar Disney World investigation and exhilarating battle of the Kingdom Hearts series, you can enjoy new types of gameplay such as raiding with friends in co-operative boss battles and gathering and enhancing cards!
◆Adopting original avatars for the player character! Explore Disney World settings original to this title!
Before embarking on their journey, players may create their own avatars. Enjoy the various customisations sich as selectable gender, hairdo, skin tone, accessories etc. From original designs to Disney character motifs, many variations are available. Every Disney World that appears in this adventure has been created afresh for this title and fleshes out the world of Disney even more. Also, there are additional action components and gimmicks on the map, which you can enjoy by investigating strategically!
◆Simple action in clicking! Simple battling in a barrage of clicks!
Control movements easily using only the mouse! Field gimmicks too! Move acrobatically by simply clicking on the intended destination. Also, attacks begin automatically by clicking on enemies during a battle. Enjoy battling consecutive enemies and walking on the field to obtain the treasure and materials from the map with simple crisp clicks!
◆Collect cards to turn out techniques! Co-operate with friends for even rarer rewards!
Defeat the enemies in the worlds and obtain cards to get stronger! Your goal is to defeat the many enemies infesting the worlds and collect 'Lux'. By collecting Battle Cards available in-game, you will become able to turn out many techniques. Also, co-operate with your friends to defeat the raid bosses that appear several times a day! With the ability to execute special moves and abilities depending on the cards you are holding, active players will receive special rewards.
◆Synthesise cards and enhance your Keyblade
You can form decks from the cards you obtain during your adventure to use strategically to give yourself more advantage during battle. Players still getting used to things are able to form decks easily by clicking the 'entrust' button. In order to effectively use cards that have become unnecessary, there is of course a card synthesis function for reinforcing, evolving and raising stronger cards! Also, by synthesising the materials available to collect in each world, you can strengthen the abilities of your weapon, the Keyblade!
There are also many other fun factors planned for inclusion, so please look forward to it! | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
The selection of fusion levels in thoracic idiopathic scoliosis.
From the material and data reviewed in our study of 405 patients, it appears that postoperative correction of the thoracic spine approximately equals the correction noted on preoperative side-bending roentgenograms. Selective thoracic fusion can be safely performed on a Type-II curve of less than 80 degrees, but care must be taken to use the vertebra that is neutral and stable so that the lower level of the fusion is centered over the sacrum. The lumbar curve spontaneously corrects to balance the thoracic curve when selective thoracic fusion is performed and the lower level of fusion is properly selected. In Type-III, IV, and V thoracic curves the lower level of fusion should be centered over the sacrum to achieve a balanced, stable spine. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
This is How You Lose the Time War
Once upon a time…
Or maybe twice, thrice. Timelines buckle and bend back on themselves twisted in the multiple dimensions of Calabi-Yau space; some of them curved so tightly that they can fit in the nucleus of a hydrogen atom, others stretching to infinity through the whole breadth of the visible universe. Running through them all, like bright shafts of laser light, are two beams: one red, and the other blue.
This is Red. She is a cyborg, a constructed creature of The Agency. At the Commandant’s command she slices through timelines, cutting and re-sewing them as required. She is the stiletto and the needle, the finest tool that the Agency has to wield.
This is Blue. She is a grown thing, like all agents of Garden. She has roots everywhere, or perhaps we should say she is a vast mycelium connecting all time and space, patiently constraining and guiding its growth towards the outcomes that Garden desires. Of all of the things that Garden has grown, she is the finest, the most subtle and accomplished.
This is the War to End all Wars, because if one side wins it will control not just the present, but the past and the future as well. The winning side will be able to recreate the past so that the loser never even existed, and never will. The stakes could not be higher.
This, then, is a song of red and blue; of left and right; of good and evil (each side good in their own eyes). It is a song of ice and fire; an irresistible force against an immovable object.
Opposites attract, and all binaries are false. But these statements can only be true if they are allowed to be. Particles might collapse into waves, but how can they when they are controlled by agencies that seek to command time itself?
This is, perhaps, a dangerous message, especially in times like these when the news media are constantly telling us that we must be either with them or against them. But it is an important message nonetheless, and one that Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone should be congratulated for writing. It is an undeniable truth that soldiers on either side of a war often have far more in common with each other than they do with the people who sit safely at home and issue orders. This is a message that the world needs to hear.
In every strand of the timeline there is a play called Romeo & Juliet. In some it is written by Shakespeare, in others by Kit Marlowe or Francis Bacon, and in one memorable one by Francis Crawford of Lymond. In some it is a comedy, and in others a tragedy. Perhaps in one it is a love story with a happy ending.
That timeline might be a novella by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone called This is How You Lose the Time War. Or it might not. Time is flexible, and can be re-written. The book that I read might no longer even exist. Buy it now, while you still can.
P.S. There has to be a p.s.. The book is written largely as a series of letters between Red and Blue as they foil each other’s schemes and get to know one another. They have postscripts, and therefore so must we.
P.P.S. The book has already been optioned for TV. That would normally mean little, save that Amal and Max are already writing scripts. I was a little worried about what might happen to the protagonists in the hands of a Hollywood studio, but Amal assures me that the genders of the protagonists are not up for negotiation. In a post-Killing Eve world, lesbian relationships are apparently something that studio executives are less terrified of. Someone, somewhere, has executed a neat intervention in our timeline, changing it for the better. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Intramolecular C-N bond activation and ring-expansion reactions of N-heterocyclic carbenes.
Intramolecular ring-expansion reactions (RER) of the N-heterocyclic carbene 1,3-dimethylimidazolin-2-ylidene were observed upon vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoexcitation. Similarly to RERs reported in the solvent phase, for the reaction of NHCs with main-group-element hydrides, hydrogen transfer to the NHC carbon atom is the crucial initial step. In an ionization-mediated protonation, 1,3-dimethylimidazolin-2-ylidene forms an imidazolium ion, which is the rate-limiting step on the pathway to two six-membered ring products, namely, methylpyrimidinium and -pyrazinium ions. To unravel the reaction path, we have used imaging photoelectron photoion coincidence spectroscopy with VUV synchrotron radiation, as well as high-level composite method calculations. Similarities and differences between the mechanism in the gas phase and in the condensed phase are discussed. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
align node bottom edges vertically
I would like to draw a diagram with boxes of different heights such that the bottom of each box is on the same height. Additionally, I would like to connect the nodes by horizontal arrows. My approach is to use relative positioning (positioning library).
Here is a MWE that illustrates the problem:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{tikz,pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning}
\tikzset{ % from http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/49909/78282
flowbox/.style={
rectangle, rounded corners, minimum width=1cm, minimum height=1cm,text centered, draw=black
},
stdarrow/.style={->,>=stealth}
}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance=1cm]
\node[center,flowbox] (A) {A};
\node[flowbox,right=of A] (B) {\tikz \draw (0,0)--(0,3);};
\draw [stdarrow] (A) -- (B);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
Note that here, the nodes are centered vertically, the arrow is as I want it.
My idea was to use the base for relative positioning:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{tikz,pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning}
\tikzset{ % from http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/49909/78282
flowbox/.style={
rectangle, rounded corners, minimum width=1cm, minimum height=1cm,text centered, draw=black
},
stdarrow/.style={->,>=stealth}
}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance=1cm]
\node[flowbox] (A) {A};
\node[flowbox, base right=of A] (B) {\tikz \draw (0,0)--(0,3);};
\draw [stdarrow] (A) -- (B);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
The problem is that here, the bottom of the second box is higher than that of the first one (since it takes the text as a reference) and the arrow is not horizontal. As I said, I would like to have the bottom edges of the two boxes on the same horizontal height and the arrow starting from the vertical center of box A going horizontal to the right. How is this feasible?
A:
The following code should give the desired result (comments below):
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz,pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning}
\tikzset{ % from https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/49909/78282
flowbox/.style={
rectangle, rounded corners, minimum width=1cm, minimum height=1cm,text centered, draw=black
},
stdarrow/.style={->,>=stealth}
}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance=2cm]
\coordinate (A-Coord) at (0,0);
\coordinate[right=of A-Coord] (B-Coord);
\node[flowbox, anchor=south] (A-Node) at (A-Coord) {A};
\node[flowbox, anchor=south] (B-Node) at (B-Coord) {\tikz \draw (0,0)--(0,3);};
\draw [stdarrow] (A-Node.east) -- (A-Node-|B-Node.west);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
Result:
Comments:
To adjust the placing, I defined two coordinates and the node option anchor=south (probably there exist better solutions for this aspect).
To force the arrow to be horizontal, I used a orthogonal coordinate system identifier (A-Node|-B_Node.west) (see this answer of percusse)
To keep the spacing, I had to adjust the node distance [node distance=2cm]
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
2007-5141
MOORE’S CAFETERIA SERVICES,
doing business as MCS Management,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
UNITED STATES,
Defendant-Appellee.
Sam Z. Gdanski, Gdanski & Gdanski, LLP, of Suffern, New York, for
plaintiff-appellant.
Tara K. Hogan, Trial Attorney, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division,
United States Department of Justice, of Washington, DC, for defendant-appellee. With
her on the brief were Jeanne E. Davidson, Director, and Donald E. Kinner, Assistant
Director.
Appealed from: United States Court of Federal Claims
Judge Nancy B. Firestone
NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
2007-5141
MOORE’S CAFETERIA SERVICES,
doing business as MCS Management,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
UNITED STATES,
Defendant-Appellee.
Appeal from the United States Court of Federal Claims in 07-CV-377, Judge Nancy B.
Firestone.
__________________________
DECIDED: March 20, 2008
__________________________
Before GAJARSA, Circuit Judge, PLAGER, Senior Circuit Judge, and PROST, Circuit
Judge.
PER CURIAM.
In this post-award bid protest case, Moore’s Cafeteria Services (“MCS”) appeals
the judgment of the United States Court of Federal Claims in favor of the United States
(“Government”). We affirm.
This case involves a solicitation by the Department of the Army (“Army”) for the
provision of food services at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, for one year beginning April 1,
2007. The solicitation was a best value procurement and indicated that proposals
would be evaluated using lowest priced technically acceptable award criteria. The
solicitation initially stated that “a technically acceptable offer from a qualified State
Licensing Agency will receive preference in accordance with the Joint Report to
Congress, dated August 29, 2006.” The referenced Joint Report was a report submitted
by three parties, including the Department of Defense, as required by the Randolph-
Sheppard Act (“RSA”), which gives priority to state licensed blind persons in the
procurement of vending facility contracts. 20 U.S.C. § 107(b). The Joint Report
proposed a methodology for ensuring that appropriate priority was given under the RSA
in military dining procurements.
After receiving an inquiry from the Kentucky Office for the Blind, a State
Licensing Agency (“SLA”), the Army’s contracting officer amended the solicitation to
remove reference to the Joint Report and to provide that an SLA would receive
preference in accordance with the RSA. The Army’s position was that the specific
policies set forth in the Joint Report would not be effective until implemented by
regulations. MCS, the incumbent contractor, did not object to the amendment.
The contracting officer evaluated the three technically acceptable proposals that
were submitted, including one from MCS and one from the Kentucky SLA, and awarded
the contract to the SLA. After the Government Accountability Office denied its protest,
MCS filed suit in the Court of Federal Claims, alleging, inter alia, that the award violated
the Joint Report’s requirement that a contract not be awarded to an SLA whose price
exceeds the best value offer by more than five percent. The trial court granted the
Government’s motion for judgment on the administrative record. MCS appeals.
We review the trial court’s determination on the legal issue of the Government’s
conduct, in a grant of judgment on the administrative record, without deference.
2007-5141 2
Bannum, Inc. v. United States, 404 F.3d 1346, 1351 (Fed. Cir. 2005). Reapplying the
standards set forth in the Administrative Procedure Act, we may set aside the agency’s
procurement decision only if it was “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or
otherwise not in accordance with law.” Id. (quoting 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A)).
First, we agree with the trial court that MCS waived the ability to challenge the
terms of the solicitation by failing to object prior to the close of bidding. See Blue &
Gold Fleet, L.P. v. United States, 492 F.3d 1308, 1313 (Fed. Cir. 2007). When the
solicitation was amended to delete the reference to the Joint Report, MCS was on
notice that the contract did not require the contracting officer to follow the methodology
set forth in the Joint Report, including the five percent benchmark for evaluating price
reasonableness. If MCS believed that the contracting officer was legally required to
consider the Joint Report in making the award, as it now argues, the proper time for
raising that issue was before the bidding process was complete. See id.
In the absence of a five percent standard, we also agree with the trial court that
the contracting officer’s price reasonableness evaluation had a rational basis and was
not arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion. The contracting officer compared
the prices of the three technically acceptable offers, determined that the range of
variation was relatively narrow, and thus concluded that the price of the SLA’s offer,
which was between the other two, was reasonable. This is an acceptable method for
evaluating price reasonableness. 48 C.F.R. § 15.404-1(b)(i). The fact that MCS’s
proposed price was lower than the SLA’s price does not demonstrate that the SLA’s
price was unreasonable, especially when the solicitation stated that “application of [the
2007-5141 3
RSA] preference may result in award to other than the lowest priced technically
acceptable offeror.”
Finally, as the trial court correctly determined, MCS has not shown any prejudice
in alleged errors in the Independent Government Estimate (“IGE”). Although
comparison to the IGE was not required, the contracting officer also used that method to
determine that the SLA’s price was reasonable. However, she stated even if the IGE
were flawed and required correction, she still would have determined that the SLA’s
price was reasonable based on comparison to the other offeror’s prices. Thus, MCS
has not established that it suffered “significant prejudice” because it cannot show it
would have received the contract award but for the alleged errors in the IGE. Bannum,
404 F.3d at 1353.
We have considered MCS’s additional arguments and find them to be without
merit.
2007-5141 4
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
Why is the Node.js AWS-SDK returning the wrong SQS queue URL when creating a local queue
I'm using ElasticMQ to simulate AWS SQS on my local dev machine. I'm running ElasticMQ inside a Docker container, using docker-osx-dev to host the Docker container on a Linux VM. This means that I access the local ElasticMQ instance at the IP of the VM, not my localhost IP.
When I try and create a queue in EMQ using the code below, it returns a queue URL at localhost and not the IP of the VM hosting the docker container.
var AWS = require('aws-sdk');
var config = {
endpoint: new AWS.Endpoint('http://192.168.59.103:9324'),
accessKeyId: 'na',
secretAccessKey: 'na',
region: 'us-west-2'
}
var sqs = new AWS.SQS(config);
var params = {
QueueName: 'test_queue'
};
sqs.createQueue(params, function(err, data) {
if (err) {
console.log(err);
} else {
console.log(data.QueueUrl);
}
});
Currently this code returns: http://localhost:9324/queue/test_queue, but it should return http://192.168.59.103:9324/queue/test_queue. If I replace 'localhost' in the URL with the actual IP address, I can access the queue with that URL successfully, indicating that it was indeed created, but this is a pretty nasty hack. What do I need to change in the code above to correct this issue?
Update: Invalid Endpoint
I returned to this after another issue came up using an ElasticMQ simulation container. This time it was part of a docker-compose file and another container was accessing it by it's docker hostname. SQS will not accept host names with underscores in them. This will mess with most peoples docker-compose files as underscores are common. If you get an error message about invalid endpoints, try renaming your container in the compose file with a hyphen instead of an underscore (i.e. http://sqs_local:9324 will fail, http://sqs-local:9324 will be fine).
A:
The problem you're facing it that ElasticMq is exposing the host and port of the container it's running in. This is a problem I've faced before and fixed it by creating a custom Docker container that lets you set the host and port programmatically.
I've written a blog post on how to fix it, but in essence what you need to do is:
Use my custom image tddmonkey/elasticmq
Set the NODE_HOST and NODE_PORT environment variables when you create the container.
Ultimately your command line for this is:
$ docker run -e NODE_HOST=`docker-machine ip default` -e NODE_PORT=8000 -p 8000:9324 tddmonkey/elasticmq
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Receive the latest national-international updates in your inbox
A school official made the offer after seeing NBC 7 San Diego’s coverage on the controversial termination of Carie Charlesworth at Holy Trinity School in El Cajon. NBC 7's Diana Guevara has this exclusive report. (Published Monday, Jun 17, 2013)
The San Diego-area woman fired from her teaching job because of her ex-husband's violent behavior has a job offer.
Teacher Fired After Domestic Violence Gets New Job Offer
A school official made the offer after seeing NBC 7 San Diego’s coverage on the controversial termination of Carie Charlesworth at Holy Trinity School in El Cajon. NBC 7's Diana Guevara has this exclusive report. (Published Monday, Jun 17, 2013)
Carie Charlesworth was emotional after learning that the viewer, who wants to remain anonymous, was so touched by her story she would like to offer her a job.
"It's good to know that people generally care about other people," Charlesworth said.
Domestic Violence Victim Fired From Teaching
Domestic violence victim Carie Charlesworth shares her story with NBC 7 reporter Steven Luke about being fired from Holy Trinity School in El Cajon after a dispute involving her ex-husband who is currently in jail. She had worked at the district for 14 years. (Published Wednesday, Jun 12, 2013)
Charlesworth is the victim of domestic violence and was terminated from her teaching job earlier this year, after school officials said they were concerned about her ex-husband's threatening behavior.
The second grade teacher was put on indefinite leave, and her four children were also asked to no longer attend the school.
YWCA Reacts to Teacher's Termination
A letter sent to Charlesworth said that school officials are concerned about her ex-husband's "threatening and menacing behavior," and as a result they "cannot allow" her to continue teaching at the Holy Trinity School.
Despite an outpouring of parents who voiced their support for the school's decision, this anonymous school official says she's willing to take the risk and give Charlesworth a job.
"For me, I was angry at the thought that she had done nothing wrong, and yet she was being hurt by that herself," the school official said.
The woman runs a private school in the Los Angeles area and said from educator to educator, it's the least she could do.
"If nothing else, I'm more than happy to simply say to her, 'There's somebody out there that cares,'" the official told NBC 7 San Diego.
After taking her situation public, Charlesworth thought her career would be over. Now she says she's beyond thankful to get another chance.
"To take someone they don't even know and to offer a job opportunity,” she said. “It's amazing to me."
Charlesworth and the school official still need to talk things over, but she said she would be willing to relocate to the Los Angeles area for the job.
She's still on paid leave from the school, but that will run out in August. So she said she is exploring other options.
Her ex-husband is scheduled to be released from jail at the end of June.
Meanwhile, both the San Diego Catholic Diocese and the school have declined to comment on this story. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Been was a male Otolla Gungan who was a member of the Gungan High Council at the time of the Invasion of Naboo and lived during the Galactic Civil War between the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance.
Contents show]
Biography Edit
Been was the keeper of the ancient records of the Gungans, and knew the locations of many secret Gungan hiding places. During the Trade Federation invasion of Naboo, Been supported Boss Rugor Nass' decision to evacuate the population of Otoh Gunga to the sacred place, and later agreed with him in forming an alliance with Queen Padmé Amidala.
During the Galactic Civil War sometime following 0 BBY, Been could still be found at the sacred place. While there, he employed the help of a spacer. The spacer, who was sympathetic to the Rebellion, was first tasked with retrieving documents from Boona Tanje. After successfully completing the task, Been gave the spacer three more missions. The next mission was to escort a Human female named Reefa Been back to the sacred place. Though the spacer was ambushed by four bandits, Reefa was returned safely. The spacer was then told to kill the bandit leader, and escort an individual named Vajoo Jinssa back to the sacred place. Once again, the spacer failed to let Been down.
Behind the scenes Edit
In the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies, Been appeared as a Non-Player Character (NPC) in the Gungan sacred place point of interest. Here, players could take a series of quests from Been which involved simple kill, escort, or delivery objectives. Much of his quest dialogue was bugged, and Been was eventually removed from the game.
Appearances Edit
Sources Edit | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
NSURL from NSURLConnection?
It seems dead simple, as to create an NSURLConnection I usually do this:
NSURL *theURL = [NSURL URLWithString:urlString];
NSURLRequest *req = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:theURL];
NSURLConnection *connection = [NSURLConnection connectionWithRequest:req delegate:self];
But how can I get the URL back in the delegate methods? Short of hanging on to them myself (I'm running many connections at once, so this becomes slightly messy). It seems as though I should be able to get the URL back from a connection.
Am I missing something?
A:
In -connection:didReceiveResponse: you can get the URL. Note that this may not be the same URL you created the connection with since the connection may have been redirected.
- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection
didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response {
NSURL * url = [response URL]; // The URL
}
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
T cells respond to antigens in the context of major histocompatability complex (xe2x80x9cMHCxe2x80x9d) molecules. Cytotoxic T cells respond to antigens in the context of MHC class I molecules, while helper T cells respond to antigens in the context of MHC class II molecules (for review, see Davies, H., 1997, Introductory Immunobiology, Chapman and Hall, New York, pp. 177-223). Class I molecules are comprised of a heavy xcex1 chain and a xcex22-microglobulin light chain; class II molecules are heterodimers comprised of xcex1 and xcex2 chains, each having two domains and being of approximately the same length. The DNA regions containing MHC genes have been well characterized for mouse and man. The mouse MHC is referred to as the xe2x80x9cH-2 complexxe2x80x9d and the human MHC is referred to as the xe2x80x9cHLA complexxe2x80x9d (for Human Leukocyte Antigen). Class I molecules are encoded at the A, B and C loci in man and the K, D, and L loci in mouse. Class II molecules are encoded at the DP, DQ and DR regions in man and the I-A and I-E regions in mouse. At each region, a multitude of alleles has been identified.
The interaction between MHC-peptide complexes expressed on antigen presenting cells (APC) and T cell receptors (TCR) expressed on T cells leads to various T cell functions including proliferation and cytokine secretion, differentiation toward various cell subsets, anergy and apoptosis. See Davis et al. (1998) Ann. Rev. Immunol. 16:523-544. Various attempts have been made to mimic these immunomodulatory effects with soluble MHC-peptide complexes. For example, MHC molecules have been extracted from cell membranes and subjected to peptide elution followed by exchange for specific peptides in vitro. (Nag et al. (1996) Cell. Immunol. 170:25-33; Sharma et al. (1991) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 88:11465-11469; Spack et al. (1995) J. Autoimmunity 8:787-807). Also, MHC molecules have been produced recombinantly and then loaded with peptides in vitro (Abastado et al. (1995) J. Exp. Med. 182: 439-447; Altman et al. (1996) Science 274: 94-96; Godeau et al. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267:24223-24229; Scheirle et al. (1992) J. Immunol. 149:1994-1999; Scott et al. (1996) J. Exp. Med. 183:2087-2095; Stem et al. (1992) Cell 68:465-477). Other attempts include the production of genetically engineered, covalently-linked peptide/MHC chimeras (International Patent Application Publication No. WO95/23814; Kozono et al. (1994) Nature 369:151-154; Mottez et al. (1995) J. Exp. Med. 181:493-502; Rhode et al. (1996) J. Immunol. 15:4885-4891; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,869,270).
A major disadvantage of monovalent MHC II-peptide ligands is that they are recognized by cognate TCRs with low avidity. The on-rates at 25xc2x0 C. vary from very slow (1,000) to moderately fast (200,000), whereas the off-rates are in a relative narrow range (0.5-0.01), or to a txc2xd of 12-30 seconds. Rates are estimated to be 2-3 times faster at physiologic temperature (Matsui et al. (1991) Science 254:1788-1791; Matsui et al. (1994) Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 91:12862-12866). In general, TCR exhibits 2 to 3-times lower binding affinity for the monovalent MHC II-peptide complex than for clonotypic antibodies to MHC-peptide complexes (Porgador et al. (1997) Immunity 6:715-726; Dadaglio et al. (1997) Immunity 6:727-738).
Recently, multivalent MHC II-peptide ligands with increased avidity for the cognate TCRs have been generated. A soluble bivalent MHC-II peptide ligand on an immunoglobulin scaffold, which binds stably and specifically to cognate TCR on T-cells, has been engineered. (Casares et al. (1997) Protein Engineering 10:1295-1301; International Patent Application Publication No. WO99/09064). Bivalent MHC II-peptide ligands engineered on an immunoglobulin scaffold exhibit approximately 20 to 25 times lower off-rates than the monovalent forms (Appel et al. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275:312-321). U.S. Pat. No. 6,211,342 discloses divalent MHC complexes that may be loaded with a peptide. Reich et al. expressed a BirA-dependent biotinylation site on xcex2-chain of MHC class II molecules to engineer tetravalent MHC II-peptide ligands through the streptavidin-mediated cross linking (Reich et al. (1997) Nature 387:617-620). Tetravalent MHC II/peptide ligands were successfully used to identify low-frequency antigen-specific T-cells in the peripheral blood of patients with HIV infection (Crawford et al. (1998) Immunity 8:675-682). However, the tetravalent MHC II/peptide ligands did not exceed the avidity of immunoglobulin-based, dimeric MHC II/peptide ligands, presumably because of the rigidity of biotin-streptavidin bonds that may not provide optimal accommodation of the tetramers on the TCR motifs.
Although the tetrameric MHC II-peptide molecules generated through the biotin-streptavidin bonds are valuable tools for in vitro investigation, the non-covalent nature of this bonds raises the concern of its stability in vivo. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for multimeric MHC II-peptide molecules that maintain structural integrity in vivo and exhibit immunomodulatory effects on T cells.
The present invention provides a complex comprising at least two chimeric molecules, wherein each chimeric molecule comprises an immunoglobulin constant region element having two heavy chains, wherein each heavy chain is linked to an MHC element, and wherein a peptide of interest is associated with each of the MHC elements, and wherein at least two of the chimeric molecules are covalently linked through a carbohydrate residue of the immunoglobulin constant region element by a polyalkylene glycol linker.
The present invention further provides compositions comprising the complexes.
In another embodiment, the present invention is directed to a method of making such a complex.
The present invention also provides a method of modulating T cell function comprising administering the complex of the invention, and a method of diagnosing an autoimmune disorder using the complex of the invention. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Researched and compiled by Mark Groubert
This is it. Finally, the Official Crooks and Liars Top 100 Stand-up Comedians of all time. Let's face it, whether you're David Letterman or Oskar Schindler, everyone loves lists. While highly subjective, this list has been scientifically vetted by recently deceased members of the Friar's Club for accuracy and fairness. There is no wiggle room. This is the official list. Anyone thinking otherwise is of course in error but can explain their massive feelings in the comments section. (Please remember to keep all comments to ten words or less so more can vent.)
]John Amato: There are videos hyperlinked to each name so that you can see a small performance of as many of the great stand-ups as we could find. (language alert) Have fun--agree or disagree, but sit down for a few minutes and enjoy a laugh with us.
1. Lenny Bruce
2. Richard Pryor
3. Woody Allen
4. Mort Sahl
5. Buddy Hackett
6. George Carlin
7. Eddie Murphy
8. Richard Lewis
9. Robin Williams
10. Rodney Dangerfield
11. Gilbert Gottfried
12. Jerry Seinfeld
13. Albert Brooks
14. Lord Buckley
15. Steve Martin
16. Chris Rock
17. David Brenner
18. Jonathan Winters
19. Dick Gregory
20. Sam Kinison
21. Bill Cosby
22. Bob Newhart
23. Sarah Silverman
24. Jackie Vernon
25. Bob Hope
26. Don Rickles
27. Shecky Greene
28. Milton Berle
29. Phyllis Diller
30. Andy Kaufman
31. Bill Hicks
32. Martin Lawrence
33. Redd Foxx
34. Jack Benny
35. Jamie Foxx
36. Jim Carrey
37. Joan Rivers
38. Professor Irwin Corey
39. Billy Crystal
40. Shelley Berman
41. Eddie Izzard
42. Jon Stewart
43. David Chappelle
44. Henny Youngman
45. Andrew Dice Clay
46. Elaine Boosler
47. Johnny Carson
48. Bill Maher
49. Freddie Prinze
50. Johnny Yune
51. Jon Pinette
52. Steven Wright
53. Roseanne Barr
54. DL Hughley
55. Mitch Hedberg
56. Alan King
57. Richard Jeni
58. Totie Fields
59. Robert Klein
60. Dennis Miller
61. Gary Shandling
62. George Burns
63. Jackie Gleason
64. Richard Belzer
65. David Steinberg
66. Will Durst
67. Cheech and Chong
68. Pat Paulson
69. Lily Tomlin
70. Sandra Bernhard
71. Martin Mull
72. Ellen DeGeneres
73. Groucho Marx
74. Rick Aviles
75. Damon Wayons
76. Dana Carvey
77. Denis Leary
78. Tommy Davidson
79. David Cross
80. Jackie Mason
81. Moms Mabley
82. Jan Murray
83. Mel Brooks
84. Morty Gunty
85. Larry David
86. Carl Reiner
87. Jerry Lewis
88. Adam Sandler
89. Paula Poundstone
90. Larry Miller
91. Tim Allen
92. Jay Leno
93. Ray Romano
94. Lewis Black
95. Phylliss Yvonne Stickney
96. Joey Bishop
97. Billy Connolly
98. Flip Wilson
99. George Wallace
100. T.K. Kirkland
A WGA screenwriter/producer/journalist based in Hollywood, California, Mark Groubert is the Senior Film and Book Reviewer for CrooksandLiars.com. As a filmmaker he has produced numerous documentaries for HBO. Groubert is also the former editor of National Lampoon Magazine, MTV Magazine and The Weekly World News. In addition, he currently writes for the L.A. Weekly, L.A. City Beat, Penthouse, High Times and other publications while on strike and doing stuff like this. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Effect of salicylate on the surgical inducement of joint degeneration in rabbit knees.
Degenerative joint changes were produced in one knee of each of fourteen rabbits by surgical induction of instability. The involved knee in rabbits with and without systemic salicylate treatment was compared with the knee not operated on. Salicylate did not significantly change the activities of lysosomal enzymes in cartilage or synovial fluid, the uptake of tritiated thymidine, glycine, or 35S-inorganic sulphate by cartilage, or the histological manifestations of cartilage degeneration. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
EU member states have warned that a Brexit deal hinges on agreement in Theresa May’s cabinet, as they gathered in Brussels on Monday to be updated on the latest news in talks.
Belgian foreign minister Didier Reynders told reporters outside the council meeting the EU was “waiting for new news from London”, adding: “We have time, but not so much.”
France’s EU affairs minister, Nathalie Loiseau echoed the sentiment, telling reporters on the way into the gathering: “The ball is in the British court. It is a question of a British political decision.”
Downing Street last week said the cabinet needed more time to come to an agreement despite a long meeting last week. But an emergency session called for today to discuss the deal has been cancelled, suggesting a common UK government position is still some way off.
Asked about whether a deal would be struck, Ms Loiseau added: “I have no crystal ball unfortunately. We are determined, we are committed to find a good deal. We know that it is better than a no-deal.”
Speaking on his way into the same meeting Germany’s EU affairs minister Michael Roth warned that “the clock is ticking”.
“The room for manoeuvre is very much limited and our British friends know exactly where our discussions are,” he said.
The ball is in the British court. It is a question of a British political decision Nathalie Loiseau, French EU affairs minister
Austrian EU affairs minister Gernot Blumel told waiting press there was “a certain dynamic in the negotiations, but it is too early to say how we are going to proceed on that”.
Austria holds the EU council’s rotating presidency and has been coordinating meetings between member states and the Europe Commission.
Though member states are regularly updated on progress, they are not present at the coal-face of talks with Britain and rely on the commission for information.
Member states were updated by commission chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Monday’s meeting about the current state of talks, with the prognosis understood to be that there has been no breakthrough.
In a statement the council presidency said: “The commission’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, informed the EU27 ministers of the situation following negotiations with the UK over the last few weeks.
“Michel Barnier explained that intense negotiating efforts continue, but an agreement has not been reached yet. Some key issues remain under discussion, in particular a solution to avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.”
Both sides want a deal in November, with the original October deadline having slipped. The EU has repeatedly said December will be too late to ratify the deal before the UK is set to drop out of the bloc on 29 March 2019.
Disagreements in negotiations are centred on the issue of Northern Ireland, and how to prevent a hard border from appearing with the Republic of Ireland after Brexit. Though officials are in a communications “tunnel” and reliable information is hard to come by, the EU appears to have agreed to British demands to keep the whole UK inside a temporary customs union to help prevent a hard border.
Nathalie Loiseau, France’s EU affairs minister, on the doorstep of the meeting (EbS)
This UK demand was borne of an unwillingness to see just Northern Ireland kept inside the trade agreement, an approach the Northern Irish unionists who prop up Theresa May’s government have rejected outright as a breach of sovereignty.
But Brexiteers in the British cabinet are worried that such a “temporary” customs union might become permanent if no other solution to the border is found.
The UK has therefore also asked for some kind of review mechanism or time-limit to assuage the Tory ministers – a demand that is proving difficult to square with the EU’s insistence that the backstop must prevent a hard border in Northern Ireland whatever the circumstances. The UK government also signed up to this commitment in writing in December and March.
Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An abandoned shop is seen in Mullan, Co Monaghan. The building was home to four families who left during the Troubles. The town was largely abandoned after the hard border was put in place during the conflict. Mullan has seen some regeneration in recent years, but faces an uncertain future with Brexit on the horizon Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A defaced ‘Welcome to Northern Ireland’ sign stands on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Mervyn Johnson owns a garage in the border town of Pettigo, which straddles the counties of Donegal and Fermanagh. ‘I’ve been here since 1956, it was a bit of a problem for a few years. My premises has been blown up about six or seven times, we just kept building and starting again,’ Johnson said laughing. ‘We just got used to it [the hard border] really but now that it’s gone, we wouldn't like it back again’ Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Farmer Gordon Crockett’s Coshquin farm straddles both Derry/Londonderry in the North and Donegal in the Republic. ‘At the minute there is no real problem, you can cross the border as free as you want. We could cross it six or eight times a day,’ said Crockett. ‘If there was any sort of obstruction it would slow down our work every day’ Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures John Murphy flies the European flag outside his home near the border village of Forkhill, Co Armagh Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Potter Brenda McGinn stands outside her Mullan, Co Monaghan, studio – the former Jas Boylan shoe factory which was the main employer in the area until it shut down due to the Troubles. ‘When I came back, this would have been somewhere you would have driven through and have been quite sad. It was a decrepit looking village,’ said McGinn, whose Busy Bee Ceramics is one of a handful of enterprises restoring life to the community. ‘Now this is a revitalised, old hidden village’ Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Union Flag colours painted on kerbstones and bus-stops along the border village of Newbuildings, Co Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Grass reflected in Lattone Lough, which is split by the border between Cavan and Fermanagh, seen from near Ballinacor, Northern Ireland Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Donegalman David McClintock sits in the Border Cafe in the village of Muff, which straddles Donegal and Derry/Londonderry Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures An old Irish phone box stands alongside a bus stop in the border town of Glaslough, Co Monaghan Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Billboards are viewed from inside a disused customs hut in Carrickcarnon, Co Down, on the border with Co Louth in the Republic Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Seamus McQuaid takes packages that locals on the Irish side of the border have delivered to his business, McQuaid Auto-Parts, to save money on postal fees, near the Co Fermanagh village of Newtownbutler. ‘I live in the south but the business is in the North,’ said McQaid. "I wholesale into the Republic of Ireland so if there’s duty, I’ll have to set up a company 200 yards up the road to sell to my customers. I’ll have to bring the same product in through Dublin instead of Belfast’ Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A disused Great Northern Railway line and station that was for customs and excise on the border town of Glenfarne, Co Leitrim Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures Alice Mullen, from Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland, does her shopping at a former customs post on the border in Middletown, Co Armagh. ‘I’d be very worried if it was a hard border, I remember when people were divided. I would be very afraid of the threat to the peace process, it was a dreadful time to live through. Even to go to mass on a Sunday, you’d have to go through checkpoints. It is terribly stressful,’ said Mullen. ‘All those barricades and boundaries were pulled down. I see it as a huge big exercise of trust and I do believe everyone breathed a sigh of relief’ Reuters Brexit threatens life on the Irish border: in pictures A bus stop and red post box stand in the border town of Jonesborough, Co Armagh Reuters
EU officials also want the UK to sign up to a series of “level playingfield” conditions – such as maintaining workers’ rights and environmental standards – if they want to stay inside the customs union, so that EU businesses cannot be undercut by laissez faire practices. These, too, are controversial in the Cabinet, because some right-wing MPs see Brexit as an opportunity to strip out regulations.
It is unclear whether the proposed UK-wide backstop would even placate Northern Irish unionists, as it would be unlikely to eliminate all regulatory checks across the Irish sea, notable on animal products. The DUP has said they would not accept such checks and vote against any deal that included them. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Subgroup analysis
Subgroup analysis refers to repeating the analysis of a study within subgroups of subjects defined by a subgrouping variable (e.g. smoking status defining two subgroups: smokers and non-smokers).
Aim
The aim of subgroup analysis is usually to assess whether the association of two variables differs depending on a third variable. For instance, investigators of a study testing the effect of an intervention (variable 1) on preventing heart attacks (variable 2) might be interested in whether the effect varies by smoking status (variable 3). Therefore, they could perform separate analyses for smokers and non-smokers, and then compare the results. If results differ, there is a subgroup effect.
Terminology
The terminology is inconsistent. Alternative names for subgrouping variables include effect modifiers, predictive factors, or moderators. Alternative names for subgroup effects include effect modification and interaction. Some authors define effect modification and interaction differently, and distinguish different types of interaction. A more unspecific term is heterogeneity of treatment effects.
See also
Post-hoc analysis
References
Category:Statistical analysis
Category:Design of experiments
Category:Medical statistics | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
How to replace Django's primary key with a different integer that is unique for that table
I have a Django web application that uses the default auto-incremented positive integers as the primary key. This key is used throughout the application and is frequently inserted into the URL. I don't want to expose this number to the public so that they can guess the number of users or other entities in my Database.
This is a frequent requirement and I have seen questions to similar mine with answers. Most solutions recommend hashing the original primary key value. However, none of those answers fit my need exactly. These are my requirements:
I would like to keep the Primary Key field type as Integer.
I also would prefer not to have to hash/unhash this value every time it is read or written or compared to the database. That seems wastefuly It would be nice to do it just once: When the record is initially inserted into the Database
The hashing/encryption function need not be reversible since I don't need to recover the original sequential key. The hashed value just needs to be unique.
The hashed value needs to be unique ONLY for that table -- not universally unique.
The hashed value should be as short as possible. I would like to avoid extremely long (20+ characters) URLs
What is the best way to do achieve this? Would the following work?
def hash_function(int):
return fancy-hash-function # What function should I use??
def obfuscate_pk(sender, instance, created, **kwargs):
if created:
logger.info("MyClass #%s, created with created=%s: %s" % (instance.pk, created, instance))
instance.pk = hash_function(instance.pk)
instance.save()
logger.info("\tNew Pk=%s" % instance.pk)
class MyClass(models.Model):
blahblah = models.CharField(max_length=50, null=False, blank=False,)
post_save.connect(obfuscate_pk, sender=MyClass)
A:
The Idea
I would recommend to you the same approach that is used by Instragam. Their requirements seems to closely follow yours.
Generated IDs should be sortable by time (so a list of photo IDs, for
example, could be sorted without fetching more information about the
photos) IDs should ideally be 64 bits (for smaller indexes, and better
storage in systems like Redis) The system should introduce as few new
‘moving parts’ as possible—a large part of how we’ve been able to
scale Instagram with very few engineers is by choosing simple,
easy-to-understand solutions that we trust.
They came up with a system that has 41 bits based on the timestamp, 13 o the database shard and 10 for an auto increment portion. Sincce you don't appear to be using shards. You can just have 41 bits for a time based copmonent and 23 bits chosen at random. That does produce an extremely unlikely 1 in 8.3 million chance of getting a conflict if you insert records at the same time. But in practice you are never likely to hit this. Right so how about some code:
Generating IDs
START_TIME = a constant that represents a unix timestamp
def make_id():
'''
inspired by http://instagram-engineering.tumblr.com/post/10853187575/sharding-ids-at-instagram
'''
t = int(time.time()*1000) - START_TIME
u = random.SystemRandom().getrandbits(23)
id = (t << 23 ) | u
return id
def reverse_id(id):
t = id >> 23
return t + START_TIME
Note, START_TIME in the above code is some arbitary starting time. You can use time.time()*1000 , get the value and set that as START_TIME
Notice that the reverse_id method I have posted allows you to find out at which time the record was created. If you need to keep track of that information you can do so without having to add another field for it! So your primary key is actually saving your storage rather than increasing it!
The Model
Now this is what your model would look like.
class MyClass(models.Model):
id = models.BigIntegerField(default = fields.make_id, primary_key=True)
If you make changes to your database outside django you would need to create the equivalent of make_id as an sql function
As a foot note. This is somewhat like the approach used by Mongodb to generate it's _ID for each object.
A:
You need to separate two concerns:
The primary key, currently an auto-incrementing integer, is the best choice for a simple, relatively predictable unique identifier that can be enforced on the database level.
That does not mean you have to expose it to users in your URLs.
I'd recommend adding a new UUID field to your model, and remapping your views to use it, instead of the PK, for object lookups.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Lifesaving advice from a black woman held at gunpoint by police - nafizh
https://theundefeated.com/features/lifesaving-advice-from-a-black-woman-held-at-gunpoint-by-police/
======
dTal
The most alarming thing about this story, apart from the suspected racism, is
the sheer amount of confirmation bias on display from someone who is quite
prepared to shoot you.
She offered corroborating evidence from the get go, and even the 911
dispatcher confirms her story, yet the officer is too busy waving his piece
around to get off his power trip.
I'd be mad too. Some element of this volatile combo of deadly weapons and
unprofessional police behavior has to change. Preferably both.
~~~
bsder
We need to have a set of cops who are clearly marked, wired with a body
camera, and who _don 't carry weaponry_. Put them in blaze orange or something
so criminals can see them coming and run away. You should have to go through
this period for some number of years until you get to carry a gun.
Most cops go their whole lives without firing their gun--adding an extra gun
rarely makes a situation better. While TV and movies like to portray heroic
feats of gunplay, in reality, 90+% of the bullets go errant in situations
where a gun was actually useful and required.
~~~
LyndsySimon
I don't think the gun is the issue here - _I_ carry a gun, regularly, and I've
never felt the need to draw it and point it at someone who might be stealing
something.
Police in the US are generally seen as adversarial, while police in the UK are
generally seen as mostly helpful. In my estimation, the problem in the US is
one of culture. Police here are looking for a reason to charge you with a
crime, not trying to keep you out of trouble. It's "us versus them" on both
sides.
~~~
akytt
The issue that the police in UK fire their guns a few orders of magnitude less
might have something to do with it. It makes no sense to dive into statistics
as to encounters and guilt and race and what not. Police in US is seen as
adversial because they tend to shoot people and that's the core problem.
[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-police-
sho...](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-police-shooting-
statistics-discharge-firearms-figures-freddie-gray-baton-killings-
homicide-a7160391.html)
~~~
nojvek
Police in the US also get shot at magnitudes higher than the UK. Something
something about everyone having guns.
------
cperciva
This was flagged away, but I vouched it back; I think it's interesting to hear
a story which _almost_ ended in tragedy, just like it's useful to hear about
software bugs which _almost_ resulted in data loss or security
vulnerabilities.
~~~
narak
In fact the almost case is more valuable because the survivor in this case was
doing absolutely nothing wrong and lived to tell the tale.
~~~
SilasX
"Absolutely nothing wrong" is a little bit overstating it.
She wasn't doing anything _illegal_ , sure, but it was a bit reckless to
arrange the transfer so that the buyer was expected to go alone, onto
someone's driveway, to replace the license plates and drive off with the car
without talking to the resident or owner.
Imagine if you sold your Magic cards to someone and told them, "oh, they're in
my bedroom at 123 Elm Street -- just jimmy open the window and fish 'em out.
If anyone asks, just give them this handwritten note."
Or, "Cool, just pick up the keys from under my office desk. Walk past
security, just ignore them if they stop you, and fish them out of the cabinet.
Pick the lock if you have to."
No. Bad idea. You look like a thief doing that.
Could they have handled the situation better? Definitely. But it's a bit much
to act outraged that anyone would misinterpret her actions.
~~~
zzalpha
_She wasn 't doing anything illegal, sure, but it was a bit reckless_
Only in a world where random folks from the neighbourhood might come out and
point a gun at you instead of simply asking a few logical questions and
looking at proffered supporting documentation.
_But it 's a bit much to act outraged that anyone would misinterpret her
actions._
Who's outraged at her actions being misinterpreted?
The outrage is at the fact that a panicky cop saw something they thought was
suspicious and reacted by immediately pointing their gun at someone (something
any good gun owner knows you never do unless you plan to shoot), creating a
potentially life threatening situation, and the person on the other end of it
was forced to defuse it.
~~~
SilasX
>Who's outraged at her actions being misinterpreted?
Anyone characterizing her behavior as doing "absolutely nothing wrong".
You can both believe that the son-in-law and officer overreacted without
believing the buyer somehow did everything exactly right. It's not either/or.
>The outrage is at the fact that a panicky cop saw something they thought was
suspicious ...
Yes, people are outraged at that too, but they also blur that with the more
dubious claim that "she did nothing wrong". I think that's pushing it. Again,
not "either/or".
~~~
zzalpha
_Yes, people are outraged at that too, but they also blur that with the more
dubious claim that "she did nothing wrong"._
Let's just admit it: if she were white, it wouldn't have turned out this way
She arranged the sale.
She had the seller's info.
She had the keys.
She had the paperwork.
Only problem is, she 1) is black, and 2) looked like a guy.
Could this situation have been handled differently? Sure. But I struggle to
lay more than a small piece of the blame on her. I'd just as soon blame the
mother-in-law for not telling her cowboy son that she'd sold the car.
------
weberc2
This article makes a lot of claims about innocent black people being gunned
down by police, but is there any actual evidence of this happening
disproportionately to white people? Last year I trawled the 2015 Washington
Post police shooting dataset and couldn't find any evidence, and a couple
months later a black Harvard economist released a paper saying he couldn't
find any evidence in the data he looked at. Between that and all of the bad
reporting around the Michael Brown shooting, I'm beginning to believe that the
only disparity is in media coverage... This story and its interest don't
depend on this (in)accuracy, but it's such a common talking point and it
doesn't seem to be substantiated.
In particular, I was expecting a lot more drama from a story of a black woman
"surviving" an encounter with police. Here's a similar story about a white man
in San Fran: [https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/good-samaritan-
backfire-9...](https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/good-samaritan-
backfire-9f53ef6a1c10). This sort of stuff makes me think that race is perhaps
a red herring, and that the quality of police (or police training) simply vary
a lot in our country.
~~~
apeace
You didn't research very hard.
From the Washington Post[0]:
> White people make up roughly 62 percent of the U.S. population but only
> about 49 percent of those who are killed by police officers. African
> Americans, however, account for 24 percent of those fatally shot and killed
> by the police despite being just 13 percent of the U.S. population. As The
> Post noted in a new analysis published last week, that means black Americans
> are 2.5 times as likely as white Americans to be shot and killed by police
> officers.
If you look at fatal police shootings so far this year[1], the numbers are the
same.
You should provide a link to the Harvard study you mentioned.
Here[2] is one from Yale which someone once touted to me, which supports your
claims. But they only used data from a limited number of police departments in
Houston, TX. I'm not sure why anyone would look at that and not the national
numbers. In the paper, of their own methods they say, "In essence, this is
equivalent to analyzing labor market discrimination on a set of firms willing
to supply a researcher with their Human Resources data!".
There are many places to find this information online. It is a fact: black
people are shot and killed more often by police than white people.
[0] [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-
nation/wp/2016/07/1...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-
nation/wp/2016/07/11/arent-more-white-people-than-black-people-killed-by-
police-yes-but-no/)
[1] [https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-
shoo...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-
shootings-2017/)
[2]
[https://law.yale.edu/system/files/area/workshop/leo/leo16_fr...](https://law.yale.edu/system/files/area/workshop/leo/leo16_fryer.pdf)
~~~
asdfpoiuqwer
I believe The Guardian also ran a project to count people murdered by law
enforcement because there are no strict requirements to record this across the
country:
[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-
interactive/2015/jun/...](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-
interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database)
~~~
weberc2
I think that was the same impetus as the WashPo dataset. I do wish the United
States made it mandatory for agencies to submit their data to the FBI. I also
wish Eric Holder's Justice Dept didn't withhold offender race data from the
NCVS. Interestingly, the FBI's Unified Crime Report seems to cover about 50%
of police-involved shootings, making it a pretty good sample (and the UCR is
generally consistent with the NCVS which is a survey of victims). Leaving data
collection up to the media is sketchy, notably because the media are more
likely to report officer race if the suspect is black and even more so if the
officer is white.
------
johngalt
Here's the test. Reverse the situation. Off-duty cop is buying a car and
random good neighbor black person sees all the same "suspicious behaviors" and
begins an armed confrontation with the person they believe to be stealing a
car. Suddenly pointing a gun at a "suspicious person" is no longer "lawful and
proper" behavior. At a minimum, the civilian goes to jail for being reckless.
~~~
loco5niner
Sorry, but that is not a good comparison. I would assume that off-duty cops
(rightly) have more authority when it comes to these types of situations.
~~~
zzalpha
_I would assume that off-duty cops (rightly) have more authority when it comes
to these types of situations._
And yet, when they make a mistake, they aren't held to a higher standard,
despite we, as citizens, granting that authority to them.
~~~
weberc2
No. Police are necessarily involved in more risky encounters than laypeople.
They have manyfold the opportunities to make a mistake than laypeople.
Training offsets some of that risk, but not all of it.
~~~
zzalpha
_No. Police are necessarily involved in more risky encounters than laypeople.
They have manyfold the opportunities to make a mistake than laypeople._
That's illogical.
There are myriad professions where trust is delegated to the person in that
profession, and consequences to go with it. A doctor doesn't get a free pass
if they kill someone due to incompetence when performing a surgery just
because they do it more often. Heck, engineers are held liable if their work
results in injury or death.
Yet, with law enforcement, the opposite is often true, even when the facts
clearly demonstrate fault on the part of the police. You couple that with the
"thin blue line" culture that results in police circling the wagons whenever
one of their own screws up, and it's no wonder that trust in the police has
eroded. The perception is that there's simply no consequences to police
misconduct. And in many cases, that perception unfortunately matches reality.
~~~
weberc2
No, the error is yours, I think. We trust experts like police and surgeons to
do certain dangerous tasks because their expertise offsets much of the risk;
however, they're still more likely to make a mistake since they have to roll
the dice more frequently. If the probability of a layperson wrongly killing
someone is 20% per police-like-encounter, and the probability of a trained
police officer killing someone is 1%, who has the greater odds of killing
someone? The layperson who rolls the dice one time or the police officer who
roles the dice a couple times a year (or a couple times a week in some
places)?
> A doctor doesn't get a free pass if they kill someone due to incompetence
> when performing a surgery just because they do it more often.
So you have data that police are being acquitted of shootings (when a jury
finds that the shooting occurred due to incompetence) at a higher rate than
surgeons? Or are you using different standards for "incompetence" (for
surgeons, presumably the result of an investigation, but for police it's the
opinion of the first pundit you heard?). Mind you, none of this has any
bearing on comparing police shootings with civilian shootings, which was the
topic of your original point...
~~~
zzalpha
_We trust experts like police and surgeons to do certain dangerous tasks
because their expertise offsets much of the risk; however, they 're still more
likely to make a mistake since they have to roll the dice more frequently._
And therefore the consequences should be significantly lessened for them
relative to an untrained civilian?
The approach you advocate will result in the perverse incentive that a cop is
better off always pulling a gun in any situation, as the lack of consequences
means the incentive is to always minimize personal risk in an encounter in the
short term, as there's no risk as a result of a mistake in the long term.
It's perverse.
In effect you place the power of life in death in the hands of a trusted
individual, and then create a situation where they're incentivized to use it,
especially in situations where even a whiff of short-term personal risk is
perceived (like, say, in an encounter with a person in a minority where racial
biases may come into play).
~~~
weberc2
You're confusing a reasonable standard of proof with complete impunity.
~~~
zzalpha
And you're assuming a reasonable standard of proof is applied. I'm not willing
to make that assumption. This case is yet another example of why.
~~~
weberc2
I'm not assuming a reasonable standard of proof is applied, only that the
standard for proof in police shootings should account for the fact that
they're far more likely than civilians to be involved in escalated situations.
------
op00to
How is property worth pointing a gun at someone over? It's a car. Cars can be
replaced.
~~~
sturgeongeneral
It may be just a car to you, but I have a valuable sports car, and if I caught
someone attempting to steal it I wouldn't hesitate to point a gun. Not for a
moment. Would the intent be to kill? Of course not. It'd be to deter.
Edit for the downvotes: it's not just a car to me, and it's not just about the
monetary value. It has sentimental value and I wouldn't be able to replace it
easily. I don't see what's so controversial about attempting to protect one's
property. That said I did find this story disturbing and I'm not trying to
imply that the woman did anything wrong. I was simply replying to the point
above.
~~~
pmiller2
There's no such thing as pointing a firearm to "deter." One of the basic
tenets of firearm training is that you never point it at anything you don't
intend to shoot. And, when shooting, always go for a center mass shot.
"Winging" someone is neither practical nor probable.
~~~
sturgeongeneral
Of course there is, but yes, I accept the lethal outcome.
~~~
mnm1
If you mean murder, don't say 'deter' and then wonder why you're getting
downvoted.
~~~
sturgeongeneral
Murder is unlawful and premeditated.
------
covercash
Relevant comic: [http://christopherkeelty.com/surviving-a-police-
encounter/](http://christopherkeelty.com/surviving-a-police-encounter/)
------
justifier
This articles bothers me
Both the individual's story and her message here
I am glad it is here to bring further attention to these issues and even how
this specific event happened to this woman
Both the encounter and how the police later handled the 'investigation' are
both disgusting and why serious reform is anything but a top priority for
officers and politicians is completely revolting to me
But I wish the author was more clear on what she meant in saying 'prevent the
next philando castile'
Was she going to prevent it by filing the complaint and removing that officer
from the street or was she insisting she would help prevent more philandos by
educating others in saying:
> My behavior is how everyone should act in those situations: comply, survive
> and complain later.
Because Castile did comply and was still murdered
This clip discusses how the definition of 'comply' changes with each high
profile murder
[https://youtu.be/aufMdURbitU](https://youtu.be/aufMdURbitU)
Trevor Noah and the writers of the daily show have been discussing the issues
in a way that I think has been highlighting some of the problems very clearly,
and with great respect and composure
This clip calls out the silence from a leading voice defending law abiding
citizens' rights to carry firearms, especially in regard to doing so without
fear of being murdered by the police for carrying a firearm
[https://youtu.be/0IJSSBMLz6g?t=250s](https://youtu.be/0IJSSBMLz6g?t=250s)
And this video showcases the newly released dashcam footage of the philando
murder
[https://youtu.be/wqgz7kRGVxg](https://youtu.be/wqgz7kRGVxg)
We need to talk about these issues but insinuating blame on the victim is the
wrong way to do it
I hope the article was actually focused on the prevention method of filing
complaints but I wish that was more clear
So please, until this is solved, comply like Castile did and if you live to
tell your side of the encounter then please report these offenders
------
shawnee_
Thank you, this was an interesting read.
On the tangent of arbitrary and unneeded flagging, there seems to be quite a
great deal of it lately... it's not improving the site.
After I got off work, I tried to find a story that I'd noticed earlier and
wanted to comment on, but it was completely gone from not just the front page
but everywhere. A completely benign, tech-related story. Makes no sense:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14745430](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14745430)
~~~
DrScump
Given that that same submitter submitted _at least six_ copies of essentially
the same press release within _minutes_ of each other, I'm not surprised if
several received many flags for duplication. Click "Past" on that link to see
what I mean.
~~~
shawnee_
Okay... but I imagine dupes happen a lot when companies make an announcement.
Doesn't mean we should bury _all_ instances of a story. The one I noticed had
19 votes at the time I read it, and this was the one I'd planned to comment
on.
Isn't there a "merge" feature or something similar you can do to prevent
squelching of a topic entirely? Let the site readers be the collective
mechanism that votes or ignores something.
------
pacaro
I also had to vouch it back, there appears to be a concerted effort to flag
this.
~~~
gpm
I too just vouched it back (after seeing this comment so we didn't click vouch
simultaneously).
If you're flagging this story, perhaps you could leave a comment here about
why?
Edit: And while posting this comment it got reflagged/revouched again...
~~~
Erwin
This seems like a long-standing country-specific societal problem to me:
> Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're
> evidence of some interesting new phenomenon.
~~~
gpm
That's a fair argument.
I'd argue it's a new phenomenon in that this is the first time (I've seen
anyways) people resigning themselves to simply giving advice on how to de-
escelate the situation as a non-cop. But I can see how that seems like a
stretch.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
WCF (.NET 4.0) + IIS 7 + Windows Authentication Error - "service require Windows Authentication but it is not enabled for the IIS application "
We have a simple WCF (on .NET 4.0) Service which uses Windows authentication and same is enabled on the IIS 7 Authentication feature. This works with same settings and same configuration on two servers, but on one of the server comes back with error Security settings for this service require Windows Authentication but it is not enabled for the IIS application that hosts this service. I checked everything possible on web, and tried all the options like disabling other Authentication mechanisms etc. Nothing seems to be working. Could anyone point what can be the issue.
Again identical settigns on two servers is working perfectly on third server it has the issue.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
<appSettings>
<add key="ABCDbConnection" value="Data Source=xxx; Initial Catalog=sss;Integrated Security=True"/>
<add key="MetadataDbConnection" value="Data Source=xxx; Initial Catalog=sss;Integrated Security=True"/>
<add key="UsageEnabled" value="True"/>
</appSettings>
<system.web>
<compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0" />
</system.web>
<system.serviceModel>
<protocolMapping>
<add scheme="http" binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="WindowsBasicHttpBinding"/>
</protocolMapping>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
<behavior>
<serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true"/>
<serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="true"/>
<dataContractSerializer maxItemsInObjectGraph="6553600"/>
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
<bindings>
<basicHttpBinding>
<binding name="WindowsBasicHttpBinding">
<security mode="TransportCredentialOnly">
<transport clientCredentialType="Windows"/>
</security>
</binding>
</basicHttpBinding>
</bindings>
<serviceHostingEnvironment multipleSiteBindingsEnabled="true" />
</system.serviceModel>
<system.webServer>
<modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true"/>
</system.webServer>
</configuration>
A:
Did any of the solutions in this thread work?
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/wcf/thread/021babc6-2009-4ed9-81f4-ac48cc300c94
From this blog post, it mentioned this KB article.
If this error is returned and Windows
Authentication has been enabled in
IIS, it means there is an issue with
the supported network authentication
schemes for the website that the web
service is installed under. The most
likely cause is that it is configured
for NTLM only. We want to specify NTLM
and Negotiate.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Volunteer Spotlight: Craig Hansen
By Shelly Jensen
April 11, 2014
Keeping us on our toes
Everybody is ready to pitch in and do their part at JDRF’s Greater Iowa Chapter. That’s because JDRF is a well-managed organization in general, but also because Craig Hansen recently completed his term as the Chapter’s Board President. He explains, “Since our Chapter had already achieved much success prior to my involvement, I wanted to focus primarily on board engagement and accountability. We have recruited and retained many talented board members and I want to make sure that we establish expectations.” Under Craig’s leadership, everyone has a sense of duty and this team spirit is felt by the staff and volunteers alike.
Craig holds the Chapter in very high regard and wants a cure for T1D as much as anyone living with the disease. He came to JDRF after looking for a way to give back to his community. It all started when the Chapter was in need of a “numbers” oriented volunteer. Networking led Mary Hunter, then the Executive Director and currently the Director of Development Budgeting & Forecasting of the Chapter, to Holmes Murphy, an insurance company where Craig is a Senior Vice President. With no direct connection to T1D, Craig was unfamiliar with the disease until he met with Mary. Craig says, “She was very persuasive and after learning more about JDRF and the people affected by T1D, it was an easy decision.” He became involved right away.
When Craig took on the role of Board President, he developed a platform of duty and ownership. He says, “We have a very passionate group of board members and we need to make sure that we match their talents with our needs.” His business experience often comes into play. He says, “I help manage a large insurance brokerage firm where sales is our primary focus. Whether you’re selling an insurance product or raising money for JDRF, you have to develop clear expectations, measure success and hold each other accountable.”
It’s not all talk. Craig is motivated by the JDRF mission, believes in the research and works hard to engage the community. He meets with local corporate leaders to explain why their involvement can make a big difference in the creating a world without T1D. It’s second nature for him to present the value of partnering with JDRF.
The Chapter appreciates Craig’s approach and the staff and volunteers feel lucky to work with him. Mary says, “He provides leadership knowing that the staff and volunteers work tirelessly to make us the best we can be…He is a teacher, a coach, a friend to all of us.” | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
A Milwaukee County supervisor and domestic violence survivor has added $100,000 to the 2020 county budget to provide temporary housing for people exiting abusive environments.
Supervisor Sequanna Taylor proposed the amendment last week, saying safe housing is a pathway to freedom and recovery from domestic violence.
"As a mother and someone who went through it, I wanted to always make sure my children had a home over their head," Taylor said. "This is a safety net for these women and could probably save lives."
On June 26, Sonya Collins was shot and killed in Milwaukee while protecting her daughter from an abusive boyfriend, authorities say.
Oshonti Cannady, the 21-year-old man accused of killing Collins, is scheduled for trial this month.
Taylor said when she was in an abusive relationship, her children were 1 and 2 years old. She said when she heard Collins’ story, she thought about how that could have been her.
Taylor said at one point, her abuser pointed a gun at her.
"He told me he had thoughts of killing me," she said. "One of the reasons I did stay was he was the main breadwinner. I had no place to go."
Taylor said a lot of times domestic violence victims don’t want to go to a shelter, because they are already experiencing trauma.
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"Having a place where you can call yours, even if it is a transition, it helps to start the healing process," Taylor said.
Every year the National Network to End Domestic Violence does a point in time census. On a single day in 2017, there were 11,444 unmet needs for service. Of those people 65 percent were in need of housing, said Abby Swetz, policy and systems analyst at End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin.
In Wisconsin, the numbers are even higher.
Swetz said 87 percent of requests from domestic violence victims are for housing help.
"In Wisconsin there is a pretty significant shortage in low income housing," said Swetz. "In rural areas it is hard to find housing for rent versus ownership, and in urban areas there is not a lot of housing for low income people."
Swetz said even when there is available housing, there needs to be extra protection available.
"There are so many barriers for survivors needed to rebuild a life," she said. "When we talk about domestic violence, we are not only talking about physical abuse. Quite a lot of abuse has to do with financial dynamics, which just creates a cycle that makes it very difficult to get back on your feet."
The county money will provide a safe house in Milwaukee for victims and their children. The county Housing Division will submit a plan to the county board by March 2020 with more details, Taylor said.
Last week, the county Finance Committee approved Taylor’s recommendation and the full county board will vote on the proposal Tuesday, Nov. 12. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
6 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 612 (1972)
Richmond
v.
Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency.
Original jurisdiction, No. 145 C.D. 1972.
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.
Argued September 12, 1972.
December 6, 1972.
*613 Argued September 12, 1972, before Judges KRAMER, MENCER and ROGERS, sitting as a panel of three.
Lawrence Silver, for petitioner.
John D. Killian, with him Killian & Gephart, for respondent.
OPINION BY JUDGE MENCER, December 6, 1972:
On May 22, 1969, petitioner Kenneth W. Richmond (Richmond) filed an application with respondent Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) for scholarship aid. PHEAA denied such aid to Richmond, and he appealed such denial according to PHEAA regulations. After a hearing concerning the matter on July 30, 1971, the PHEAA Hearing Examiner recommended that Richmond be granted full *614 scholarship aid retroactive to May 22, 1969. PHEAA subsequently accepted this recommendation.
Counsel for Richmond then demanded of PHEAA costs of $275.00 for the hearing transcript and $50.00 for the transporting of Richmond, his counsel, and witnesses to Harrisburg, for the hearing. Counsel for PHEAA replied to this request that "the Board of Directors took formal action to deny the request." Richmond then filed a Petition for Assignment of Costs with this Court. PHEAA timely filed preliminary objections to this petition challenging the jurisdiction of this Court, the sufficiency of the claim for relief, the form of the verification of the petition, and the specificity of the allegations of damages.
This action is properly within our original jurisdiction pursuant to Section 401(a)(1) of the Appellate Court Jurisdiction Act of 1970, Act of July 31, 1970, P.L., No. 223, § 401, 17 P.S. § 211.401(a) (1), which states, in pertinent part, "The Commonwealth Court shall have original jurisdiction of: (1) All civil actions or proceedings against the Commonwealth . . . ." Section 102(a)(2) of the same Act, 17 P.S. § 211.102(a) (2), defines "Commonwealth" as including "departments, departmental administrative boards and commissions, officers, independent boards or commissions, authorities and other agencies of this Commonwealth.. . ." (Emphasis added.) PHEAA is such an agency.
We conclude that the petition must be dismissed. The right to impose or recover costs in a proceeding based on a statute must be found in the statute; otherwise it does not exist. Morganroth's Election Contest Case, 346 Pa. 327, 29 A. 2d 502 (1943); Scott Township Appeal, 186 Pa. Superior Ct. 167, 142 A. 2d 357 (1958); see also 2 F. Pollock & F. Maitland, The History of English Law 597 (2d ed. 1898). No such authorization in this type of proceeding is contained in *615 the Act of August 7, 1963, P.L. 549, 24 P.S. § 5101 et seq., which created the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency. Nor have we found or been referred to any other relevant legislation on the subject.
We are urged to accept the Statute of Gloucester, 6 Edw. 1, c. 1 (1275), which is still in force in Pennsylvania (but ceased to have effect in England after 1875), as requisite statutory authorization. It is true that this statute and several other ancient English acts initiated the principle that a prevailing party is entitled to his costs, and, as a general rule of law, this principle still obtains in the Commonwealth. See Taged, Inv. v. Zoning Board of Adjustment and Shields, 6 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 331, 295 A. 2d 339 (1972). But the Statute of Gloucester extends only to cases where damages are recovered in a common law forum, and then only if the damages were recoverable at common law. Black's Appeal, 106 Pa. 344, 15 W.N.C. 308 (1884); Cameron v. Paul, 11 Pa. 277 (1849); see also Annot., 12 A.L.R. 721, 723 (1921). As Sir Edward Coke said, "[I]t extendeth to all the legall cost of the suit, but not to the costs and expences of his travell and losse of time . . . ." E. Coke, Second Institutes 288 (1642) (emphasis added). Therefore, although liberal construction is to be given statutes providing for costs, Steele v. Lineberger, 72 Pa. 239 (1872), the Statute of Gloucester is clearly inapplicable to the administrative proceedings which generated the costs at issue and to the very costs claimed.
Moreover, by reason of the general immunity of the sovereign, costs cannot be placed upon the Commonwealth even under a statutory provision unless the legislative intention to do so is clearly manifest, either by express terms or necessary implication. Tunison v. Commonwealth, 347 Pa. 76, 31 A. 2d 521 (1943). This immunity from liability for costs is generally extended *616 to state officers, boards, or other agencies. See Annot., 72 A.L.R. 2d 1379, 1385, 1406 (1960).
Nor was Richmond effectively denied access to the judicial system for reasons predicated upon his wealth in contravention of Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U.S. 371, 28 L. Ed. 2d 113 (1971) (indigent persons may not be prevented from bringing divorce actions except on payment of court fees and service-of-process costs which they are unable to pay), and Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12, 100 L. Ed. 891 (1956) (indigent defendants may obtain a free transcript to obtain appellate review of constitutional questions). It is apparent that Richmond's appeal was readily and efficiently handled within PHEAA. Disregarding possible counsel fees, the appeal was concluded with a minimum of expense.[1] We therefore reject Richmond's contention[2] that a dismissal of his petition will effectively terminate future challenges to adverse PHEAA rulings.
In view of our disposition of this matter, we need not consider the other questions raised by PHEAA.
ORDER
NOW, December 6, 1972, the preliminary objections of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance *617 Agency are hereby sustained, and the Petition for Assignment of Costs of Kenneth W. Richmond is dismissed.
NOTES
[1] Circumstances indicate that, but for reasons of haste, Richmond could have received a transcript of the hearing without charge.
[2] Quoting from Knight v. Auciello, 453 F. 2d 852, 853 (1st Cir. 1972): "The violation of an important public policy may involve little by way of actual damages, so far as a single individual is concerned, or little in comparison with the cost of vindication, as the case at bar illustrates. If a defendant may feel that the cost of litigation, and, particularly, that the financial circumstances of an injured party may mean that the chances of suit being brought, or continued in the face of opposition, will be small, there will be little brake upon deliberate wrongdoing. In such instances public policy may suggest an award of costs that will remove the burden from the shoulders of the plaintiff seeking to vindicate the public right."
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Subthalamic nucleus stimulation is efficacious in patients with Parkinsonism and LRRK2 mutations.
Stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) improves motor signs in patients with levodopa-responsive Parkinson's disease (PD). Mutations in the leucine-rich repeat kinase-2 (LRRK2) gene cause Parkinsonism. We assessed 69 patients under STN stimulation and found heterozygous LRRK2 mutations in 9 (G2019S in 8 and T2031S in 1). The age at onset of PD, the clinical characteristics before or after neurosurgery, and the clinical response to STN stimulation were similar in both groups. Two patients with the G2019S LRRK2 mutation still benefited from STN stimulation, 9 and 10 years after surgery. Patients with LRRK2 mutations are, therefore, good candidates for STN stimulation. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Two Cretaceous Period predatory dinosaurs named Gualicho shinyae hunting smaller bipedal herbivorous dinosaurs in northern Patagonia 90 million years ago Thomson Reuters Since the election, Facebook and Google have been rocked by criticism that they are promoting "fake news" on their platforms.
Both have pledged to try and stop this type of content from spreading, but it remains a consistent issue. On Sunday, The Guardian pointed out that the top Google search result for "Did the Holocaust happen?" returned a list of reasons why it "didn't happen," published on white nationalist site Stormfront.
But it turns out that Google's fake news problem is a lot bigger than just Stormfront.
For many conspiracy theories, the first search result is a website that purports to confirm the conspiracy is true: from 9/11 being a hoax to chemtrails.
It's easy to see how this could be a problem. Let's take chemtrails as an example. If I were unsure about the theory and asked Google, "can chemtrails control your mind?" it would return me a definite "yes" as the first result.
Here's the headline for that first hit: "This Is Huge! Gov Bill Proves Chemtrail and Mind Control Cover-Up Is Real! UN Leaker Makes a Stunning Statement! (Bone-Chilling Video)." That is emphatic.
You have to scroll down to the seventh search result to find a more reasoned perspective on chemtrails: the Wikipedia article.
So what is Google's take on this?
In response to a question about the Stormfront/Holocaust result, Google provided the following statement to Business Insider:
"We are saddened to see that hate organizations still exist. The fact that hate sites appear in Search results does not mean that Google endorses these views. Search is a reflection of the content and information that is available on the Internet. A site's ranking in search results is determined by computer algorithms using hundreds of factors to calculate a page's relevance to a given query. We do not remove content from our search results, except in very limited cases such as illegal content, malware and violations of our webmaster guidelines."
Google doesn't want to censor, which is an understandable position. But the fact that someone might come to Google searching for information on a theory they heard, and be confronted with bogus facts backing it up as the first result, is troubling.
What's worse is that part of the first search result is sometimes pulled as a snippet by Google, which seems to imply that Google is providing you the answer to the question you just asked.
Here's an example:
You'd be forgiven for thinking Google was telling you that, "there's a fair amount of proof that this New World Order (or at least something like it) really does exist."
Here are seven examples we found where the top result for a conspiracy theory was a confirmation: | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Lessons Learned Scaling the Audiogalaxy Search Engine - slackerIII
http://www.spiteful.com/2008/03/07/lessons-learned-scaling-the-audiogalaxy-search-engine/
======
slackerIII
I'm curious if anyone out there is doing the "Silky Smooth Searching" thing I
mention in the article. Does that have a more official name?
(The idea is to use some AJAX magic to post the user's search term to the
server before they actually hit "submit" so that it can be cached when they do
run their search).
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Combined treatment with MK-801 and nicardipine reduces global ischemic damage in the gerbil.
Excessive activation of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor by glutamate produces an influx of Ca2+, which in turn is thought to lead to ischemic cell death. In this study we evaluated the combined treatment of the N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist dizocilpine (MK-801) and the dihydropyridine Ca2+ channel blocker nicardipine for the reduction of hippocampal CA1 neuronal loss. Global ischemia was induced by bilateral carotid artery occlusion in the gerbil. Body temperature was maintained between 36.5 degrees C and 37.5 degrees C during surgery. MK-801 (5.0 mg/kg) was injected 15 minutes after occlusion whereas nicardipine was given by injection and via a micro-osmotic pump (1.0 mg/kg/day) for 3 days. Postischemic treatment with MK-801 reduced CA1 cell loss by 27.0%, whereas nicardipine reduced CA1 cell loss by 13.3%. Combined postischemic treatment with these drugs yielded an additive, protective effect (44.5% reduction of CA1 loss) that did not appear to result from postischemic hypothermia as assessed by skull and rectal temperature recordings. Our results demonstrate that MK-801 plus nicardipine significantly attenuates CA1 cell death after forebrain ischemia in the gerbil. Excitatory amino acid antagonists in combination with Ca2+ channel antagonists may be an effective therapy in patients exposed to global ischemic insult. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
'Elect the eunuchs and they will prove their honesty in contrast to a practicing politician. Without any kith and kin, they can at least be a catalyst sorely needed for minimising, if not uprooting......
Putting up its best-ever performance, Samajwadi Party on Tuesday stormed to power in Uttar Pradesh with a stunning majority routing Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Part, the third time a party captured......
Let's start with a simple litmus test to see if you will enjoy One Two Three:Do you think adding an 's' to all things English and making them plural (as in, Suneils Shettys, yous understands?) is a......
A student of film atNew York University and at Sorbonne, Paris,not to mention a multiple award winner fordocumentaries on architecture and urbanism, 38-year-old Manu Rewal's foray into mainstream......
From left, Indian 10m air pistol shooting team Samaresh Jung, Jitu Rai and Prakash Papanna pose with their bronze medals. Photograph: PTI. Photograph: PTI Indian shooters continued to shine at the...... | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Gellan gum.
For decades microbial exopolysaccharides have been invaluable ingredients in the food industry, as well as having many attractive pharmaceutical and chemical applications. Gellan gum is a comparatively new gum elaborated by the Gram-negative bacterium Sphingomonas paucimobilis. Although its physico-chemical properties have been well characterized, the ecology and physiology of Sphingomonas, and the factors influencing the fermentation process for production of this gum have received much less attention. This review focuses on the metabolism and the enzymic activity of this bacterium, as well as the factors that influence gellan production, including process temperature, pH, stirring rate, oxygen transfer, and composition of the production medium. Potential strategies for improving the production process are discussed in the context of processes for the production of other microbial biopolymers, particularly exopolysaccharides. In addition, the importance and potential utility of gellan lyases in modification of gellan and in other applications is critically evaluated. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
No Scoop for You
Comedy Bang Bang #123September 19, 2011
Break the monotony of this Manic Monday with a new Comedy Bang Bang featuring Amy Poehler, The Bangles, and possibly the biggest guest we’ve ever had, David Fiene! Amy and Scott gab about the original UCB pilot and the alternative comedy scene of the ’90s, but that’s nothing compared to the showbiz stories David has to offer. David came up with some of the biggest legends of comedy (I’m not going to namedrop, but he certainly will) and has walls and walls of quotes and advice for young comedic upstarts. Match that with the dulcet tones of The Bangles and the rap stylings of our guests and you’ve got an hour and a half of aural decadence. Would you rather listen to this episode or go about your humdrum day? I thought so! | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Global Creators Pledge Support for Australian Audiovisual Authors in Fight for Fair Remuneration
A fair go. Fair dinkum. A fair shake of the sauce bottle. It’s no coincidence that Australia has so many colloquialisms for equity as this concept is extremely close to every Australian’s heart. That’s also why recent revelations about Australian screenwriters and directors being paid almost none of their royalty entitlements over the last twenty-five years has attracted so much local media attention and sparked outrage among fair-minded people.
In March this year, Australian screenwriters launched legal action against the government-mandated collecting agency (an organisation called “Screenrights”) in an effort to claw back some of the millions of dollars in Australian royalties they believe is owed to both local and international authors. This litigation is ongoing and Writers & Directors Worldwide wholeheartedly supports its colleagues at the Australian Writers’ Guild and the Australian Writers’ Authorship Collecting Society in this fight.
Ironically, the word “fair” is also central to another emerging battle surrounding the fight to protect the fundamental essence of copyright itself against the doctrine of “fair use”. Another Australian government agency, The Productivity Commission, has recommended the adoption of U.S. style “fair use” provisions in the Australian Copyright Act. This would have the effect of further winding-back the already diminished rights of local screenwriters and directors by damaging their entitlements to retention of copyright and to equitable remuneration for the use of their work.
This is a vital campaign because the adoption of “fair use” doctrine would set a very ugly precedent for authors’ rights everywhere. The worst impact would be in Asia where the importance of authors’ copyright is only just being realised.
Both of these separate issues are perfect examples of why the recently launched Audiovisual Campaign is so important in protecting the cultural and economic contribution of authors.
Writers & Directors Worldwide calls upon “Screenrights” to join negotiations with Australian screenwriters and directors to resolve this dispute. We also encourage the Australian government to reject the introduction of “fair use” provisions in the Australian Copyright Act.
Signed on behalf of the Writers & Directors Worldwide executive committee.
Yves Nilly
President of Writers & Directors Worldwide
Notes:
The Writers & Directors Worldwide executive committee is made up of screenwriters, playwrights, poets and directors from all over the world and comprises: | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
"Ben, we've already driven to like, four tree lots. Can we just make a decision already?" Leslie was completely exhausted from her and Ben's day of Christmas tree finding. She just wanted to fall asleep in the car. "I told you, I will not rest until we find the PERFECT tree! It has to be magical." "Ben, I'm sure any tree will be perfectly magical, as long as I get to put my Joe Biden ornament on it." All of this was cute to her at first, but she didn't think it would take this long. She tiredly got out of the car door after they parked in the next tree lot for the day. Ben seemed to somehow still be full of energy.
Of course, this particular lot was probably the largest one they had been to in the course of the entire day. It looked as if it could go on for miles. "Alright, let's hope that our tree is here." Ben sighed. They spent quite a while walking down every aisle of trees. They did their usual "inspection," first examining the size, smelling the tree (who wants a Christmas tree that barely has any pine scent), and of course, the mighty price tag.
Finally, after what seemed to be twenty minutes of searching through the endless evergreen maze, Ben stopped right in his tracks in a part of the lot that was less abundant in trees. There was one right in the center area of where they were standing. It was giant, gorgeous, and Leslie had to admit that it had the best pine smell out of all the trees she had seen today. She could tell by the way Ben was looking at it that it was definitely "the one."
"We have to get it, Leslie. I mean, how cool is this going to look in the house?"
"Pretty cool, and not to mention freakishly big," Leslie laughed. "Will it even fit inside the house?"
"Well, it better." Ben walked over to the tree and checked the price tag. His eyes opened wide.
"Should we be moving on from this one…?"
"Nope, I got it, I got it. We can't let this tree go to waste!"
Leslie wasn't even going to try and argue with him, so they went back to the front to get them to bring over the tree. Soon enough, they had it tied up on their car and were riding back home with it.
Everything seemed just right as they drove home with their new Christmas tree. Leslie was happy to see Ben so excited about it. Just as they got off the main road, though, they heard a large crack and a tumble—there was no question what the noise was. They both gasped and Ben stopped the car.
Leslie knew what was coming, but she didn't want to admit it. The tree had toppled off of the car and off into who knows where. It was so dark outside, there would really be no way to find it until the next day. Ben looked crushed. She tried to say something, but he just huffed and got back in the car like an upset little kid. It would be a long ride home.
Once they got home, they had dinner together, but Leslie could tell Ben was still a little sad about the tree that he had spent probably over $100 on. She wanted to do something to make up for it. She certainly wasn't going to buy another expensive tree, but she could definitely find a tree.
After Ben had fallen asleep, Leslie snuck out of bed and out of the house. She got in the car and drove all the way out to the market. She grabbed every tree-like plant in sight and bought them all, then raced home. They wouldn't have a real Christmas tree, but they would have something even better.
When Ben woke up, he noticed Leslie wasn't still there sleeping next to him. He figured she had to get to work early. He realized that his assumption was wrong when he walked into the living room.
All along the mantle and by the fireplace were miniature evergreen trees. They were all strung with Christmas lights with little ornaments hung on them. Leslie had even hung the stockings up early. Ben smiled. It was one of the sweetest things anyone had ever done for him for Christmas.
"So I know we lost our precious tree of perfection, but I think this could work out just fine, right?" Leslie grinned.
"It's perfect," Ben hugged her. "Now if we could just find some mistletoe…"
The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Today, I’m going to take a moment to declare my intention to temporarily refocus my game playing for the purposes of this blog.
I started this blog to share my love of video games and the nostalgia that I feel when I think about my youth. It didn’t take long for me to learn that there was a lot more to those warm fuzzy memories than retro video games. My childhood was extraordinary. I was born in the late 70s, so my early childhood took place in the 80s – a wonderful time for games, cool movies, cartoons, etc. All the great kid stuff came out in the 80s. During this time, I also was blessed with the fortune of being able to experience life in a foreign country. My time in Japan helped open my eyes to a larger world and even though it was only three short years, it had a large effect on me as I grew into adulthood. After getting married and settling into the routine of the five-day work week, I had my first child.
Unless you’re just a selfish deadbeat, having a child changes you in ways that you cannot expect. Your priorities change, and so does your habits. Sometimes, things even end up coming full-circle. Right before my son came along, my wife and I enjoyed going to clubs, socializing with other couples, attending concerts, things like that. Video games and other “childish” obsessions had really been put on the shelf to large extent. However, once you have an infant in the home, you find yourself AT HOME at lot more often than before. It doesn’t take long for you to go thru that stack of DVDs you never got around to watching. Once they are gone, you’re bored. While I had never fully abandoned my interest in gaming, I now found myself thinking about taking up the hobby with more zeal. When you have baby sleeping in a bassinet for extended periods of time, something like a video game ends up being a perfect way to pass the time. You play it for as long as you need to. You can pause it, save it, whatever.
It was during this time that I once again allowed gaming to become a main hobby of mine. Once my son got a little older, he naturally wanted to play games as well. It was at that time that I knew gaming was something I would be able to use to help form a bond with both of my children in one way or another. I guess that’s a big reason why I’m so passionate about games these days. When I play a video game, it reminds me of the good times of my youth and also rings a chime on the present day as well.
When I started this blog, I decided to replay my entire game library. Starting with the games I played as a kid and progress onward to new games. To date, I’ve pretty much covered the first half of my plan. I’ve reviewed and a talked about a majority of the games that were important to me when I was a child as well as sprinkled in a few new releases from time to time. I’ve deviated on a couple of occasions, like my Castlevania and Mega Man playthroughs, but I’ve done a pretty good job to sticking to my original goal.
Currently, according my own plans, I should be focusing on games for the original PlayStation. But I’m going to announce another temporary deviation: The Final Fantasy Initiative.
You see, Final Fantasy is one of my favorite video game franchises. I’ve played almost every title to date (with a few exceptions). These exceptions are the most recently released titles in the series. If you’re reading this, you know me by now. I am pretty OCD when it comes to playing things in a particular order and I’m starting to fall behind. There’s a slew of new FF titles on the horizon and I need to catch up quick.
So when it comes to my game entries, I’m going to be catching up on all of the remaining Final Fantasy games I have yet to review. So far on this blog, I’ve managed to playthrough Final Fantasy 1-7 and all of the related spin-off games thus far. Next up, I’m going to proceed onward with 8, then 9, etc. Final Fantasy XV is expected to come out this spring and I would LOVE to be ready to play it on release day. Of course, I admit that I will unlikely be able to meet that goal, I do plan to be there as fast as possible.
Once I am all caught up on the series, I will resume my original plans.
I’ve now made a few posts about the games that make me tick and why I find video games so appealing. This post is going to serve as a more formal introduction. First, let’s talk a bit about my moniker (and the name of this blog itself): Retro Sensei
“Retro” refers to my love of old school gaming. But of course I don’t limit myself, nor the content of this site to games of the past. I have a love of video games both old and new, but I do think it’s important for any gamer to “know their roots” so to speak. Not to mention, as a child of the 80’s and 90’s, I suffer from frequent bouts of nostalgia – all of which I plan to share with the readers of this blog.
The “Sensei” part? Well, this is a bit more complicated. As an older gamer who loves to share my passion for retro games, I suppose you could consider this blog my way of teaching these youngsters about the games of yesteryear. On top of that, I actually spent several years as a child living in the country of Japan. My time there, gave me a deep appreciation and love for Japanese culture. So… RetroSensei.
Originally, I ran this blog under the name of “8bitwizard” (So yes, you’re reading an edited post).
I conceived the 8bit Wizard name a few years ago when posting on some old video game newsgroups back in the early days of the Internet. The name came to mind again when I decided to create a blog. I knew I wanted to make a blog with a strong focus on video games, but occasionally I like to ramble about other topics that interest me. Most of which are subjects that would also appeal to the geek-culture that seems to have blossomed with the advent of the Internet. In a nutshell, I decided it was time to change the name when I moved the blog to its own domain. Apparently, there’s a webcomic called 8-bit Wizard. (even if it only has one issue..)
Now, to get a bit personal. As I’ve said before, as of 2012, I’m a 33 year old adult, but I’m obviously still nothing more than a big kid who wears the skin of responsibility quite comfortably. I was the only child in a military household. This means that every three years or so, my father would be reassigned to a different location and my family had to move. Moving so often makes it a bit difficult to make friends. Not only are you always confronted with new people, but there’s the whole social awkwardness of being in a strange place and not knowing how things work in a new school, etc. Often times, due to variances in education standards from state to state, you find yourself playing catch up or sometimes you’ll move to a new school and you’ll actually be further ahead and BORED TO DEATH!
I had a rough go of it as a kid. I was skinny, a bit awkward, and I usually talked different from everyone else. (Born in New England but lived in placed like Arkansas and Louisiana). I was always the “nerd” that everyone picked on. I was never good at sports, I had nothing in common with most of the other kids, you get the picture. So I retreated to safe confines of my bedroom where countless worlds awaited me thanks to both my large library of books and my NES.
I finally broke free of my nerd label as a teenager. I became interested in music and taught myself to play the guitar. Around the age of 14, I put away my games and focused my attention on starting a band. Playing rock music helped me build confidence to the point where I learned how to develop my social skills and overcame all the nonsense that plagued my early childhood. Over the years, I learned how to take care of myself and not to be pushed around. Regardless, I never forgot where I came from and I’ve made it a personal goal never to be like the bullies that once harassed me.
I got married in my early twenties and shortly after, my interest in video games returned. My wife and I bought a Playstation 2 and a Gamecube. I slowly started to rebuild my library and catch up on all the great games I missed over the years. That brings us to now. I worked a fulltime job, raise my family, and pursue a variety of interests. But my love of games remains.
As tempting as it is to claim that this is going to be a retro-gaming blog, I can’t really promise that. I’m also going to be talking about newer games. Actually, I’ll pretty much be posting about anything that interests me. Movies, comics, novels, whatever. Another large focus of this blog will probably be my video game interactions with my kids. My oldest son is eight, and his interest in games is at an all time high. If nothing else, I hope this site will make a nice bank of memories for them to look back on. But in the meantime, I hope anyone who stumbles across it has fun. If nothing else, this blog is a diary of sorts for whatever nerdy passion consumes me at the moment. Please feel free to participate and comment. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
We have investigated neurotransmitter metabolites and glucose metabolism in incarcerated violent offenders, arsonists, and healthy volunteers. We have found that low cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) concentrations, and hypoglycemia during oral glucose tolerance tests are associated with each other and impulsive violent acts and fire setting. To elucidate the pathophysiology of the reactive hypoglycemia, englycemic insulin clamp studies with indirect calorimetry have been performed on more than 70 offenders and healthy volunteers. The data have not been analyzed, because initial power calculations indicated that a larger sample size is necessary.Sample collection for the molecular genetic family study on alcoholic violent offenders has been completed. The clinical data have been blind rated for psychiatric diagnoses and all biochemical and physiological data have been entered in the computers and double checked for errors. Molecular genetic analyses in the Laboratory of Neurogenetics are underway. Thirteen hundred DNA samples, which represent a random sample of Finns, and which are without identifiers, were received from Dr. Leena Peltoven in the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki. Together with our own control sample which consists of 300 volunteers, these samples will be used to establish the true allelic frequencies of rare polymorphisms among the Finnish population. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Changes in NPY and POMC, but not serotonin transporter, following a restricted feeding/repletion protocol in rats.
Serotonin (5-HT) plays a key role in controlling food intake and feeding behaviour and drugs targeting the 5-HT transporter (SERT) at the synaptic cleft have been used to treat feeding related disorders. To test the hypothesis that SERT might be one of the etiologic factors in the rebound hyperphagia that frequently follows the abandoning of calorie restriction diets, brain SERT content and gene expression were assessed in a restricted feeding/repletion (RFR) protocol in female rats. Animals were food-restricted (2 h access to food per day) for 7 consecutive days and then allowed constant free access to food (FAF). This intermittent fasting protocol resulted in rebound hyperphagia. Higher levels of plasma corticosterone during fasting in food-deprived rats were used as an index of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activation. Neither brain SERT density nor expression was modified following the RFR protocol. Nevertheless, with respect to other messengers involved in eating behaviour, in the presence of low plasma leptin levels, an increase in NPY expression and a parallel decrease in POMC expression were observed in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus of rats killed just before rebound hyperphagia. Food-restricted animals provide a tool for the further study of neurochemical alterations and for the development of new drugs to treat alterations that may occur in humans when dieting is abandoned. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
You have two choices, either cover up completely and look like a mummy, wrapped in the duvet or the light goes on and you jump out of bed, grap a t-shirt and follow it round the room waiting until it lands. (have discovered over the years -that the best way to kill a mosquito is to whack it with a t-shirt, as hard as possible when it lands on the wall or ceiling.)
Last night was the worst.It was hot, so the quilt was not completely covering every inch of flesh, and I woke up to hear Zuzzzzzzz, jumped out of bed, then realised I had been bitten all across my chest, my arms, fingers and shoulders - at least 6 bites. And to make matters worse I couldn't see the mozzie, so I lay there with the light on for over an hour waiting for it.Finally gave up and went back to sleep.
4 comments:
For once there is something to be thankful for from the first frosts of the season - no more mozzies!!
I have never understood why they will suck every drop from me yet not touch my other half.
I took the mozzie nets down from the living room window the other day in fact, not that they were doing anything as the kittens had ripped a kitten sized hole in it so they could use the window as a shortcut to bed.
We used to have the annual mozzie experience on our holiday at Carnac, until we found the campsite was just behind a storm drain (which in Carnac are two metres wide and over a metre deep and there was a bridge over it to get to the campsite) and we used to get bitten badly. We don't use that campsite anymore and use one away from the marshy area someway up a hill. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
When: Friday, August 30th @6pm MDT
Where: BB&T Field - Winston-Salem, NC
TV: ACC Network
Radio: Aggie Sports Network
Last Time Out: Utah State last played the Demon Deacons in September of 2017, losing 46-10 in Winston-Salem.
Welcome to college football.
It’s back, it’s beautiful, and it’s beginning with a bang.
The Utah State Aggies will begin their much anticipated 2019-20 campaign with a trip to North Carolina to take on the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest.
We at the MWCConnection are just as excited as you are for football to begin again, especially Mountain West football; so let’s get right to it and take a look at what this matchup has to offer:
OFFENSE:
How will the offense look with a multitude of new faces in the receiving corps?
If you didn’t already know, Jordan Love tossed the rock pretty well last year; it helped that he had solid talent at his disposal. His top four receiving targets are gone from last year, however, so now we’ll see if the stats Love put up can be repeated with a new group of guys. It’s hard to imagine that Love wouldn’t be able to produce like he did last year. Filling the role of top receiver this year is … well, we’re not sure yet. Savon Scarver, Jordan Nathan, and Siaosi Mariner are the starting receivers for Game 1, but seeing who can really come out and be that top dog consistently will be something we’ll just have to see as the season progresses.
Look for a higher frequency of quick passes and screens while the OL attempts to gel and become a cohesive unit. It’s not exactly the best type of gameplan for someone with Love’s talent, but resorting to that type of scheme isn’t the worst thing in the world when you’ve got speedy receivers and a lightning bolt in the backfield in RB Gerold Bright. Just a little open space and these guys can score from anywhere.
What impact will an almost entirely new Offensive Line have?
It was the biggest area of concern over the offseason, and for good reason. How will the offensive line fare with four brand new starters? LT Alfred Edwards returns with his big frame (6”7’, 310 lbs) and will be the anchor on this unit. The right side of the line will be the biggest point of interest (and concern) here, as both RT Andy Koch and RG Karter Shaw are redshirt freshmen. The Demon Deacons have talent on their defensive line, and there’s no doubt Wake DC Lyle Hemphill will look to exploit the lack of experience on the Aggies OL. Football is won and lost in the trenches; the protection for Jordan Love and company will be the most important factor in the outcome of this game.
How do the Aggies combat the Wake defense?
The two biggest names to be on the lookout for are DE Carlos Basham Jr. and DB Essang Bassey. These guys, especially Bassey, have talent that can take them pro. Basham Jr. is a stud with good run stop ability. If he can develop a better skill set to rush the QB, he could be one of the best unknown commodities in the country. The OL will have their hands full with him and other talented players like LBs Justin Strnad and Ryan Smenda Jr.
Bassey highlights a Demon Deacons secondary that’s mostly underclassmen, most notably at the safety spots. Wake’s depth chart lists Coby Davis, a redshirt sophomore, as the starting Free Safety and Nasir Greer, a sophomore, as the starting Strong Safety. Greer has the experience here as he made 41 total tackles last year (2 for a loss) and registered a pick-six vs Duke. If Jordan Love can take advantage of an inexperienced FS, there are a plethora of big plays to be had. It (once again) comes down to the offensive line and if they can give Love the time of day to make his reads and hit his targets.
DEFENSE:
How dominant can the defensive line be?
The linebacking corps features All-American David Woodward, but it’s the line that’s the richest with talent on defense. DE Tipa Galeai and DT Devon Anderson are the notable names here, but don’t forget about big guys Christopher ‘Unga or Fua Leilua either. This will be a dominant d-line that can make a quarterback’s day into a nightmare very quickly. Wake has a big and experienced offensive line to protect QB Jamie Newman, it features three seniors (1 graduate, 2 redshirt), so it won’t be easy for the big guys up front to cause disruption and make the stops they need to make. They’ve got the talent alone, so now it’s simply left to be seen if they can shake off the offseason rust and get after it in the trenches.
How will the Secondary look with some new starters along with some old faces?
The best news here is that S Shaq Bond is back and starting Week 1. Bond suffered a bad leg injury late last season but has come back and is right where he was as a starter. He won’t be the only returning starter, as there’s also DB DJ Williams, a player who’s getting some hype in his own right after a great first year (42 total tackles, four INTs) after transferring from Independence CC.
The biggest question marks are about the players who will be playing alongside Bond and Williams. According to the USU depth chart, Troy Lefeged Jr. is the starting safety and Cameron Haney is at corner. They both have experience: Lefeged Jr. is a JUCO transfer who started and Haney got good field time and made plays last year highlighted by seven deflected passes.
How do the Aggies combat the Wake offense?
It all starts with recently-announced starting QB Jamie Newman. He’s not new to the game, as he split time with Sam Hartman last season. Newman, however, dominated the spring and took the job for himself. He showed that he could make plays last year (nine TD passes in six games), and if he can limit interceptions (four INTs) he’ll be solid, if not better.
The Aggies catch a break by not having to deal with all-around talent Greg Dortch, who left school early to pursue the NFL. He now plays for the Jets, but Wake still has talent they can play with. The biggest name to look out for is WR Scotty Washington; the redshirt senior is very talented as long as he’s healthy. The Deacs also return WR Sage Surratt, the #2 receiving option from 2018. Surratt can be here and gone in a flash so, along with Washington, the Aggies defense will need to keep these guys locked down if they want to win.
Finally, there’s RB Cade Carney. He’s a playmaker who avoids losing yardage. He’ll need to keep that skill up as he runs up against an Aggies defensive front full of big bodies ready to stuff the run and make a play. He’s a solid weapon in the backfield that can keep the Aggie defense distracted and get Newman some open receivers. Utah State and new defensive coordinator Justin Ena will have to play it smart.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Repeating what was said earlier: this game comes down to line play. Both squads have new starters on their offensive lines that will have to go up against talented defensive lines. Whoever’s big guys can win that battle on a consistent basis will give their team the best chance to come out victorious.
Most projections have this game as quite close, and it’s not hard to see why. There’s production to replace on both teams, so the first team to come out and mesh quickly will have a definitive advantage. It’s time to see what Jordan Love can do, especially now that he’s got so much uncertainty around him: new protection, a new weapons arsenal, and a new coaching staff. The defense is chock-full of talented players, if not a little thin at linebacker.
If this game comes down to the wire and the Aggies can put themselves In position for some late game heroics, give me the Aggies senior kicker from Germany, Dominik Eberle, to beat the buzzer and finalize the upset.
Final Score Prediction: Utah State 30, Wake Forest 27
What are your thoughts on the upcoming game? Tell us what you think in the comments!
Follow Alex on Twitter @thesportswizard and follow the MWC Connection @MWCConnection! | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
What is the space complexity of moving one stack/queue to another stack/queue?
I'm trying to understand the space complexity of moving elements from one stack to another stack.
I found this article on leetcode but there are some discrepancies.
Let's say if we move stack1 (1-2-3) to another stack2 by doing pop() and push() three times, do we consider O(1) extra space since we delete one element from stack1 and create an element in stack2 thus no extra space is used? Or we consider it as O(n) space complexity due to we created a stack2 same size as stack1(but stack1 is gone..)?
Thanks in advance!
A:
That depends on how your stack is implemented. That is, what is the backing store?
If the stack is implemented as an array, then the stack will be initialized with some default capacity, and a current count of 0. Something like:
s = int[10];
count = 0;
When you push something onto the stack, the item is added and the count is incremented to 1. If you try to push more items than the array will hold, then the array is extended. (Actually, probably a new array is allocated and the existing contents copied to it.)
When you pop something, count is reduced by 1, and s[count] is returned. But the array allocation is not changed.
So if the stack is implemented as an array, then copying from one stack to another will require O(n) extra space. At least temporarily.
If the stack is implemented as a linked list:
head > node > node > node ...
Then typically pop just returns head, and the new head is the node that head previously pointed to. In this case, the memory occupied by the stack is reduced with each pop. Of course, adding to the new stack increases the memory allocation by the same amount. So if the stack is implemented as a linked list, then copying from one stack to another is O(1) extra space.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Background
==========
Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a group of disorders characterized by narrowing or occlusion of the arteries resulting in gradual reduction of blood supply to the limbs. PAD may be asymptomatic until it reaches an advanced stage \[[@B1]\] Diabetic peripheral arterial disease is the main cause of lower limb amputation in patients with diabetes. Patients with diabetic peripathic arterial disease are at high risk of increased morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases. Factors, such as age and the duration of the disease, will increase its incidence and risk of death, and uncontrolled infection often leads to amputation \[[@B2],[@B3]\] worldwide and that patients with diabetes are at excess risk of developing PAD, the implications of the problem are enormous \[[@B4]\].
The Hoorn study found that the prevalence of ABI \< 0.9 in individuals with normal glucose tolerance was 7% and increased to 20.9% in patients with diabetes, while a pilot study found a prevalence of asymptomatic PAD of 33% \[[@B5],[@B6]\].
In the Rochester study, the cumulative incidence of PAD was 15% 10 years after the diagnosis of DM, which increased to 45% 20 years later \[[@B7]\]. Patients with diabetes have increased risk of lower-extremity amputations in comparison with non-diabetic subjects and the severity of PAD in DM assessed angiographically has been associated with major amputations \[[@B8],[@B9]\]. The 5-year mortality in patients with diabetes and critical limb ischaemia is 30% \[[@B10]\].
The aims in the management of the patients with diabetic peripathic arterial disease are to improve symptoms and to prevent cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Since traditional medicine conservative treatment has poor effects and vascular bypass surgery often causes large trauma, new treatments such as percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) and luminal stenting surgery have emerged in recent years. Both of these are endovascular treatments. Classically, the indications for a PTA in diabetic peripheral arterial disease are disabling claudication affecting quality of life after medical therapy has failed to improve symptoms, and critical limb ischaemia symptoms. With smaller surgical trauma and certain curative effect, these procedures have become the hotspots in the field of treatment of diabetic peripheral arterial disease.
From 2007 to 2011, endovascular treatments were used in 119 lower extremities of 81 patients with diabetes. The results showed that the treatment had good therapeutic effects.
Methods
=======
Patients
--------
From October 2007 to September 2011, 81 hospitalized patients with diabetic lower extremity arterial disease were chosen for the study. The patients had a indication, for example intermittent limping, rest pain and ischemic ulcer. Among them were 48 males and 33 females with ages ranging from 46 to 82 years old. The duration of diabetes varied from 6 to 26 years and the duration of diabetic peripheral arterial disease varied from 2 to 21 years. Patients were diagnosed with diabetic peripheral arterial disease as their lower extremity arterial ultrasound examination showed different degrees of segmental stenosis and block as well as foot lesions. A total of 43 patients were complicated with 59 diabetic foot ulcers, and they were segregated according to the Wagner classification \[[@B11]\]: 14 at level 1, 24 at level 2, 17 at level 3, and 4 at level 4.
There were 13 patients who also had cerebrovascular disease, 17 patients who also had coronary heart disease, 21 patients who also had hypertension, 15 patients who also had coronary heart disease and hypertension simultaneously, and 15 patients who also had peripheral neuropathy. All of their digital subtraction angiography (DSA) showed segmental stenosis (\>50%) or short segmental lesions. All patients in the observation group received percutaneous transluminal angioplasty or luminal stenting surgery, and all were treated successfully. All patients were screened for the absence of anemia, chronic cor pulmonale, and other diseases which can cause hemodynamic changes.
Statements
----------
We confirmed that our study was approved by ethics committee of Qilu Hospital of Shandong University. We confirmed that informed consent was obtained from all study participants for our inclusion in our study.
Therapeutic method
------------------
The blood sugar of patients were controlled in a stable range after some diet and drug therapy (Blood-fasting sugar 3.9 mmoL/L-6.1 mmoL/L). The groups were treated with improving microcirculation drugs (e.g., Ligustrazine Hydrochloride for injection, Xingding solution and Sodium Aescinate for injection), neurotrophic drugs (e.g., Mecobalamin tablets), and local dressing.
The surgical operation was performed using a large x-ray machine (Siemens, Germany). Eleven patients selected the antegrade puncture, 67 patients opted for the contralateral femoral artery puncture, and 3 patients chose the humerus artery puncture. By adopting the Seldinger puncture technology, intubation was placed into a cobra catheter or a pig tail artery catheter and directed to the ipsilateral lower extremity artery. Then, a step-by-step DSA was used to take angiography for each segmental artery separately.
For patients with segmental stenosis or short segmental lesions in the superficial femoral artery or femoral profound artery, a 0.035 inch stiff type guidewire was used to reach the lesion part. A long balloon with a diameter of 4--6 mm was used to expand the artery with a pressure of 6--10 atm. If the stenosis is more serious or if the artery retracted after expansion, it was placed in a self-expandable stent of an appropriate model (Cordis, USA). For patients with infrapopliteal artery stenosis, a 0.014 inch stiff type guidewire was used. This was designed for tibial and peroneal artery disease. A deep long balloon with a major axis of 120 mm was used to get through all infrapopliteal arteries, including the most distant plantar arteries (Figures [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}, [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}, [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"} and [4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}).
{#F1}
{#F2}
{#F3}
{#F4}
To prevent postoperative arterial thrombosis, a regular anticoagulant therapy was adopted: Clopidogrel Hydrogensulfate Tablets 50 mg, every day × 1, per os for six months; Bayaspirin 100 mg, every day × 1, for long-term use. In addition, symptomatic supportive treatment, such as blood sugar control, infection prevention, improving microcirculation, and local dressing, should be provided after surgery. Six months later, another vascular color Doppler ultrasound examination was performed.
Evaluation indexes
------------------
Clinical symptoms, vascular ultrasonic changes, and foot ulcer healing conditions were observed and evaluated. The following observations have been concluded: a) Clinical symptoms changes included skin color, pain, temperature sensation, and pulsation of foot dorsal artery; b) The lower extremity vascular color Doppler ultrasound examination showed the changes in arterial diameter; c) The size, secretion, and wound granulomas condition were observed separately at 10, 30, and 60 days after the surgery.
Statistical methods
-------------------
For this study, SPSS 11.0 statistics software analysis technology was adopted. The research was made with a two-factor factorial design. The result can be analyzed with variance analysis.
Results
=======
In the observation group, 81 patients received the PTA surgery. Out of the 81 patients, 35 added a self-expandable stent (Cordis Company) after balloon expanded. This resulted to a success rate of 100%.
For patients in the observation group, the skin temperature increased after treatment. The blood supply improved significantly. The pulsation of the foot dorsal artery was strengthened. The numbness and pain symptoms were moderated significantly. In all, its short-term effects were satisfactory.
The vascular ultrasound results of the observation group showed that the vascular diameters have increased significantly compared with the data taken before treatment as well as compared with the control group. It had an efficiency rate of 100% (Table [1](#T1){ref-type="table"}).
######
Comparison of diameter changes at the narrowest point of the lower extremity artery under vascular color Doppler ultrasound examination before and after treatment
**Time of therapy** **Arteria cruralis(mm)** **Popliteal artery(mm)** **Arteria dorsalis pedis(mm)**
--------------------- -------------------------- -------------------------- -------------------------------- ------------- ------------- -----------
prior treatment 7.11 ± 0.14 7.12 ± 0.15 5.14 ± 0.36 5.11 ± 0.26 1.22 ± 0.11 1.21±0.32
post treatment 7.68 ± 0.11 7.66 ± 0.41 5.70 ± 0.45 5.67 ± 0.42 1.75 ± 0.19 1.82±0.43
In the observation group, ten days after the treatment, level 1 patients under the Wagner classification had the following results: 5 bloody vesicles in 14 limbs healed completely, 4 in 9 superficial ulcerations healed, and 5 had improved surrounding skin color and narrowed ulcer surface. For level 2 patients, the inflammation was reduced in 24 limbs. The purulent secretions were significantly reduced as well, and ulcers started to grow granulation tissues. For level 3 patients, the surrounding skin began to grow and purulent secretions and vomica were reduced in 17 limbs. For level 4 patients, wet and dry gangrene wounds were reduced and some necrotic tissues dropped off in 4 limbs. Thirty days after the treatment, the patients from levels 1 and 2 had their ulcers healed completely. For the patients from level 3, 14 ulcers healed, other ulcers no longer produced purulent secretions, the vomica became shallow, and the ulcer surface was reduced significantly. For the patients from level 4, the ulcer surface was reduced significantly, necrotic tissues dropped off, and new granulation tissues started to grow. Sixty days after treatment, all ulcers healed without any amputation.
Complications and follow-up
---------------------------
The observation group had no complications, such as acute occlusion or distal vascular embolization. Four patients broke their anterior tibial artery or peroneal artery during the surgery, but the swelling and pain disappeared after application of cold compress, physical therapy, and Hirudoid ointment treatment. During the follow-up within one year to three and a half years, all patients did not get serious ischemia symptoms in their lower extremities. The patients who received infrapopliteal artery balloon expansion surgery had a patency rate of more than 80%. Moreover, the limb ulcer had already healed, and the clinical symptoms had disappeared. None of the patients received amputation surgery.
Discussion
==========
In the world, due to changes in the structure of people's diet, the incidence of diabetes has increased gradually and so has incidences of lower extremity disability caused by diabetic peripheral arterial disease. The Framingham study showed that there was a 3.5- and 8.6-fold excess risk among men and women, respectively, of developing PAD in patients with DM \[[@B12]\].
Diabetic peripheral arterial disease is a characteristic of arteriosclerosis of the lower extremity arteries. It often involves several arteries of the double lower extremities \[[@B13],[@B14]\]. Patients with diabetic peripathic arterial disease commonly show involvement of the arteries below the knee, especially at the tibial and peroneal arteries, and involvement of the profunda femoris \[[@B10]\]. It is multi-seasonally distributed and most prevalent in the tibial and peroneal arteries of the calf, including anterior tibial artery, posterior tibial artery and peroneal artery.
Life style modifications are the first mode of therapy, and most of the studies have shown physical exercise improves exercise tolerance at least a doubling in walking distance \[[@B15]\]. There is no conclusive evidence to suggest that optimal glycaemic control lowers the risk of PAD \[[@B16]\]. The management of dyslipidaemia in patients with diabetic peripheral arterial disease is warranted and the primary aim is LDL-cholesterol levels \< 2.6 mmol⁄ l \[[@B17]\].
Due to the small diameter and the multi-branching of the arteries, the conventional treatment method of bypass surgery often has little effect on the stenosis or blockage. Furthermore, there was a high rate of postoperative restenosis and reblock, which is why the long-term outcome is not very satisfactory.
Therefore, with the constant updating of the treatment technology and equipment, the application of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and luminal stenting surgery in the treatment of diabetes mellitus have caught the attention of surgeons at home and abroad. These techniques can radically improve the treatment of diabetic lower extremity arterial disease \[[@B18],[@B19]\].
Since 2005, our department has carried out clinical research on endovascular treatment for diabetic peripheral arterial disease. Up until now, 81 patients have been treated. This study is currently in progress. The results showed that the clinical symptoms, vascular ultrasonic, and foot ulcer healing conditions of the observation group had significantly improved after the treatment. In contrast, the clinical symptoms, vascular ultrasonic, and foot ulcer healing conditions of the control group had no significant improvement after the treatment. There were no significant differences between the two groups before the treatment. Even if the observation group had a significant improvement compared with the control group after the treatment, all the above information showed only that endovascular treatment has a satisfactory short-term effect for diabetic lower extremity arterial disease. However, due to the limitation of the short follow-up time and the inadequate number of patients, the long-term efficacy of endovascular treatment remains unclear. It requires a long-term accumulation of information from a large sample.
Through this research, it can be concluded that endovascular treatment for diabetic peripheral arterial disease has many advantages: a) It has smaller chances of trauma and a faster recovery speed. It can also provide an immediate effect after the treatment; b) It has a high success rate and a low mortality rate. The current success rate of interventional therapy is up to 100%, while mortality rate is almost 0; c) It has a high rate of limb salvage. The diabetic foot ulcers caused by hypoxia-ischemia of patients who have undergone interventional treatment will gradually heal with the recanalization of blood vessels. As a result, the limb salvage rate was significantly higher than before; d) It is a kind of repeatable treatment. With a repeatable balloon dilatation, the restenosis of the lesion can be re-expanded with the same safety and effectiveness to improve the rate to save ischemic limbs; e) The intervention requires only local anesthesia, which has less side effects and is more suitable for elderly and frail patients \[[@B20]\].
One reported that patients with DM develop more symptomatic forms of PAD such as intermittent claudication, foot ulcers and critical limb ischaemia symptoms \[[@B21]\]. But in the follow-up, we found that patients who received infrapopliteal artery balloon expansion surgery have high restenosis rate, but the limb ulcer have healed, and the clinical symptoms have disappeared. Thus, the endovascular treatment for diabetic peripheral arterial disease could rapidly improve the blood supply and provide time for the foot ulcer and sectional toe wound to heal. With the gradual formation of restenosis, the collateral compensatory circulation was also gradually established, thereby greatly increasing the limb-salvage rate. These are the clinical significance and value of the endovascular treatment for diabetic peripheral arterial disease.
Because in the small diameter intravascular stent can lead to the early thrombosis and late lumen lost, thus affecting support long-term patency rate. It still have considerable controversy for whether the infrapopliteal arteries stented. At present scholars do not recommend the infrapopliteal arteries conventional implant the drug-uncoated stents, and bare metal stents is limited to postoperative failure cases of balloon expansion as a remedial method. With the new technology and new method development, some surgeon try to have drug-coated stents in the infrapopliteal arteries. Our groups of patients of infrapopliteal arteries had a good treatment effect after balloon expansion and no vascular rupture cases, so there is no implant any stents.
Conclusions
===========
Diabetic peripheral arterial disease is the main cause of lower limb amputation in patients with diabetes. We summarized the technique and evaluated the clinical effects of blood vessel intervention operation on diabetic peripheral artery disease. 81 cases of the observation group were treated by balloon PTA. We draw a conclusion that PTA is a feasible technique for diabetic peripheral artery disease. The endovascular treatment has a significant clinical effect in treating diabetic peripheral arterial disease. It can obviously improve the limb-salvage rate and the quality of life of the patients. With its smaller chances of trauma, higher safety, and fewer complications, it has great clinical significance in treating diabetic peripheral arterial disease. Although its short-term effects is satisfactory, the long-term effects is necessary for follow up.
Competing interests
===================
The authors declared no competing interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
Authors' contributions
======================
NF-Sun carried out the studies of Clinical trials and drafted the manuscript. YL-Tian participated collect and organize of data. L Xu performed the statistical analysis. AL-Tian and SY-Hu conceived of the study, and participated in its design and coordination and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Pre-publication history
=======================
The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here:
<http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2482/13/32/prepub>
Acknowledgements
================
We thank Professor Qingyi Meng for his assistance in evaluating the study participants and we thank the study participants for their involvement.
Funding
=======
This work was supported by The Independent Innovation Foundation of Shandong University (No. 2011JC016), The Found of China Postdoctoral Science (No. 20100481271), The Found of Natural Science of ShanDong Province (**No**.ZR2012CM002). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Phenotypic characterisation of pro-inflammatory monocytes and dendritic cells in peripheral arterial disease.
Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory process involving antigen-presenting cells like monocytes and dendritic cells (DC). The aim of this study was to perform a phenotypic characterisation of these cell types in patients with different degrees of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Sixty patients with PAD [N= 30 intermittent claudication (IC), N= 30 critical limb ischemia (CLI)] and 30 controls were included. Peripheral blood leucocytes were analysed from peripheral blood by flow cytometry using different gating strategies to directly identify and analyse monocytes, myeloid DC, (mDC) and plasmacytoid DC (pDC). PAD patients showed a significantly higher proportion of proinflammatory CD14++CD16+ monocytes (p<0.0001) compared with healthy individuals. We found an increased number of mDC/ml and a reduced number of pDC/ml (both p<0.01) in PAD patients, leading to a shift in the mDC/pDC ratio (p<0.01). As compared to patients with intermittent claudication, CLI patients presented a reduced expression of HLA-DR (p<0.01), CD86 and CD40 on both mDCs and pDCs (p<0.01). Peripheral blood monocytes show a proinflammatory phenotype in PAD patients compared to controls. In contrast, CLI patients show a reduced expression of proinflammatory markers. We hypothesise that severe ischaemia and/or prolonged inflammation in CLI might lead to a paradoxical attenuation in the proinflammatory membrane pattern of circulating mononuclear cells, possibly hindering an adequate regulatory function of mDCs and pDCs and favouring the progression of disease. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a non-contact power supply system and a power supply device.
Background Information
A power supply system of an electric vehicle that supplies power in a non-contact manner from a power supply device provided on the ground to an electric vehicle, in which a vehicle detection unit for determining whether or not the electric vehicle has entered a chargeable area is provided in the power supply device, and communication is established with the electric vehicle and the power supply device by wireless communication after the sensor detects that the electric vehicle has entered a chargeable area, to supply power from a power supply unit of the power supply device to a power reception unit of the electric vehicle has been disclosed. (See, e.g., International Publication No. 2012-042902). | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
211 B.R. 88 (1997)
In re INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES, INC., Debtor.
Bankruptcy No. 96-03950-6J1.
United States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Florida, Orlando Division.
June 6, 1997.
*89 *90 ORDER DENYING EMERGENCY MOTION TO VACATE OR MODIFY ORDER AUTHORIZING GUERNSEY LITIGATION AND FOR A PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION AGAINST THE UNSECURED CREDITORS COMMITTEE
KAREN S. JENNEMANN, Bankruptcy Judge.
This case came on for hearing on April 1, 1997, on the emergency motion filed by Charles J. Givens, Jr. ("Givens"), first, to vacate or modify this Court's prior order authorizing the creditors' committee (the "Committee") to pursue claims against Givens and other defendants before the Royal Court of Guernsey (the "Guernsey Court") and, second, to enjoin the Committee from pursuing avoidance claims against Givens in any forum other than before this Court (the "Motion") (Doc. No. 262). The Motion raises numerous legal issues all questioning the validity of the Committee's action in pursuing claims against Givens and other third parties to avoid transfers of property of the debtor, International Administrative Services, Inc. (the "Debtor"), to various accounts located in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a small island located in the English Channel which is a British crown dependency ("Guernsey"). After reviewing the pleadings, the arguments of the parties, and the case law, the Motion is denied.
Background. The Debtor is in the business of providing financial products and services to consumers which are designed to help consumers manage their finances and to assist them in making future financial decisions. In exchange for monthly dues, each of the Debtor's several thousand members receives a monthly magazine entitled "Success Insight" and each has access to IAS's financial hotline which is staffed by financial advisors trained to answer member questions.
Givens is the sole shareholder of the Debtor. He formed the Debtor, formerly known as the Charles J. Givens Organization, Inc., in 1986 and served as an officer and director of the Debtor until some time in 1992. He is a dynamic speaker and, during the early years of the Debtor's operations, travelled the country presenting seminars and proclaiming the Debtor's message of financial planning to consumers. After he resigned his management role in 1992, a series of officers and directors managed IAS' operations. The Debtor ultimately filed a voluntary petition seeking to reorganize its financial affairs under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code on June 21, 1996 (Doc. No. 1). The Debtor has acted as a debtor-in-possession managing its operations during the Chapter 11 case.
Committee Appointment and Investigation. On July 29, 1996, the United States Trustee appointed the Committee to represent the interests of creditors (Doc. No. 42). *91 Shortly thereafter, the Debtor and the Committee agreed that, due to the complex relationship between the Debtor and Givens, the Debtor would relinquish to the Committee its right and duty to pursue any fraudulent transfer or other avoidance claim against Givens or any other third party. On September 20, 1996, an order was entered approving this agreement (Doc. No. 95). As such, the Committee essentially is acting as a trustee on behalf of the estate in pursuing the Debtor's avoidance claims. 11 U.S.C. § 1107 (1997).
In accordance with their legal duty to recover all available assets, the Committee conducted a comprehensive investigation into the extremely complex web of financial transactions between the Debtor and insiders of the Debtor including Givens, numerous corporate affiliates of the Debtor, and various other third parties. As a result of this investigation, the Committee identified substantial funds transferred from the Debtor's accounts into various financial accounts located in Guernsey (the "Guernsey Funds"). Givens may claim some interest in these funds. The Committee claims, but certainly has not proven, that the Guernsey Funds belong to the Debtor and were fraudulently transferred by Givens and other third parties. The Committee concluded that a legal action in Guernsey was necessary to freeze assets located in Guernsey and to attempt to recover such assets for the benefit of the estate.
Committee's Motion. On January 16, 1997, the Committee filed the Emergency Motion for Authorization to Institute Proceedings in Guernsey, to File Affidavit, to Give Undertakings and to File Under Seal (the "Committee's Motion") (Doc. No. 207A). Because Givens or his associates previously had refused to cooperate with the Committee and deliberately had interfered with the Committee's investigation by destroying documents, the Committee was concerned that, if Givens were given notice of the Committee's Motion, Givens or his associates would transfer the Guernsey Funds from Guernsey. Accordingly, the Committee requested that the hearing on the Committee's Motion be held without notice to Givens or other third parties.
In light of the representations made by Committee's counsel, the Court granted the Committee's request. The pleadings were sealed, and a hearing on the Committee's Motion was held on January 17, 1997. Representatives of the Debtor, the Committee, and the United States Trustee were present. No notice of the hearing was provided to Givens or the other defendants. The proceeding was transcribed and is part of the official record of this case.
At the hearing, the Committee requested permission to file an action before the Guernsey Court to pursue certain legal remedies uniquely available under Guernsey law. Specifically, the laws of Guernsey permit the Guernsey Court to freeze assets located in its jurisdiction pending resolution of the competing claims, to permit discovery from third parties, and to provide for the seizure of records. The Committee also estimated that the Guernsey Court would require a bond of approximately $35,000 to cover the costs of the defendants and the reasonable expenses incurred by third parties. The Committee requested that the Debtor directly pay this cost. The Debtor consented to the payment of this amount and, indeed, supported the relief requested in the Committee's Motion. Lastly, the Committee anticipated the need to file an affidavit with the Guernsey Court reciting the conclusions reached during the Committee's financial investigation. A proposed, but unsigned, version of such an affidavit was attached to the Committee's Motion.
After the hearing, the Court granted the Committee's Motion and entered an Order Granting Motion for Authorization to Institute Proceedings in Guernsey ("Order Authorizing Guernsey Action") (Doc. No. 208A). The Court further specifically found that, based upon the allegations in the Committee's Motion, a substantial risk existed that the records and funds sought to be obtained by the Committee would "disappear if notice of the Emergency Motion or this Order were known to the prospective defendants in Guernsey."
The Order Authorizing the Guernsey Action permitted the Committee to file an action in Guernsey to attempt to freeze and *92 locate assets of this Chapter 11 estate utilizing the laws of Guernsey and to take whatever actions were necessary or appropriate under Guernsey law to pursue those claims, including the payment of necessary fees and the filing of a supporting affidavit. The Order Authorizing the Guernsey Action did not seize the assets of Givens or any other party and did not direct the Guernsey Court to take any such action but merely authorized the Committee to proceed in a foreign jurisdiction to obtain relief over property which is located in that foreign jurisdiction and which allegedly belongs to this Debtor.[1]
Guernsey Order. On January 22, 1997, the Guernsey Court issued an order against Givens and seven other defendants: 1) Montrain Services Limited; 2) Eurokredit Finance BV; 3) Paul Mason; 4) Fort Group Holdings Limited; 5) Island Management Finance Limited; 6) Regent Nominees Limited; and 7) Sloane Nominees Limited (collectively, including Givens, the "Guernsey Defendants"). Besides Givens, only one of the seven defendants, Island Management Finance Limited ("IMF"), has any contact with the United States, or has participated in this chapter 11 case.
The order of the Guernsey Court (the "Guernsey Order") prohibits Givens as well as some of the other Guernsey Defendants from removing or transferring any assets from Guernsey (Paragraph 1.1). The Guernsey Order does not purport to restrict the Guernsey Defendants' use of property located anywhere outside of Guernsey. The Guernsey Order further permits the release of any restricted funds for the payment of reasonable attorneys' fees and other business expenses provided reasonable attorneys' fees and other business expenses provided that the defendant discloses the source of the funds (Paragraph 6.2). Lastly, the Guernsey Order is subject to variance or discharge upon the request of any party and upon 24 hours written-notice to the Committee's advocates in Guernsey (Paragraph 9). In sum, the Guernsey Order freezes assets of Givens located in Guernsey until the issues are judicially resolved or an emergency request for a variance is made.[2]
Givens' Motion. On April 1, 1997, Givens filed the instant Motion requesting this Court to vacate or modify the Order Authorizing Guernsey Action and to enjoin the Committee from continuing with the action pending in Guernsey against Givens and from instituting any new proceedings against Givens before any court other than this Court. In support of his Motion, Givens raises numerous legal arguments. However, succinctly stated, Given's primary contention is that this Court is the only appropriate forum to resolve the Committee's claims. He also argues that the Order Authorizing the Guernsey Action is analogous to an order seizing his property. As such, Givens argues that his constitutional due process rights were violated because the order was entered without notice to him and an opportunity to be heard prior to the seizure.
Although Givens has raised many subsidiary issues, for the purpose of ruling on his Motion, the primary issue is whether this Court erred, for any reason, in deferring jurisdiction to the Guernsey Court to allow the Committee to institute a legal action against the Guernsey Defendants, including Givens, in Guernsey. If the Court did not err, the next issue is whether Givens, an interest holder of the Debtor who has transferred *93 property of the Debtor to Guernsey is entitled to prevent the Committee, who, in turn, is charged with pursuing actions to avoid fraudulent transfers, from filing actions against him in Guernsey.
The facts involved are unusual. No case was located which directly addressed the propriety of a shareholder trying to stop a creditor's committee from pursuing assets of the debtor's estate located in a foreign country. Rather, the cases cited by the parties or otherwise reviewed all addressed the ability of a bankruptcy court to exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction. No case involved the issue of a bankruptcy court voluntarily ceding jurisdiction to an appropriate foreign court at the request of a creditors' committee searching for assets of a chapter 11 debtor. As such, the case law is only minimally helpful. The majority of the issues raised by Givens' Motion appear to be issues of first impression.
Extraterritorial Jurisdiction of the Bankruptcy Court. A bankruptcy court clearly has some degree of extraterritorial jurisdiction over property of a debtor's estate. Section 541 of the Bankruptcy Code provides that property of the estate is comprised of property "wherever located and by whomever held." 11 U.S.C. § 541 (1997). Congress intended § 541 to be as inclusive as possible and all encompassing. Lawrence P. King et al, Collier on Bankruptcy ¶ 541.01 (15th ed.1997). Therefore, property of the debtor that is located outside of the United States constitutes property of the estate, and the bankruptcy court may exercise jurisdiction over such property. Deak & Co. v. Soedjono (In re Deak), 63 B.R. 422, 426 (Bankr.S.D.N.Y.1986).
However, practical limitations exist to this broad definition of property of the estate at least in connection with the enforcement of jurisdiction over property located in foreign countries. Ved P. Nanda and Ralph B. Lake, ed., The Law of Transnational Business Transaction § 11.04 (1996). A trustee or debtor-in-possession cannot exercise control over assets in a foreign jurisdiction that are property of the estate without first obtaining recognition and permission from the court of the foreign jurisdiction in which the assets are located. Id. Whether such permission is possible will depend upon the law of the foreign jurisdiction. Id. Therefore, although an American bankruptcy court may have the authority under the law of the United States to exercise in rem jurisdiction over property of a debtor's estate located in a foreign country, the bankruptcy court practically lacks the power to enforce such jurisdiction without the recognition and assistance of the courts in the foreign country.
Accordingly, when property is beyond the jurisdictional reach of the court, as is the case with the Guernsey Funds, the bankruptcy court has no practical control directly over the property. The bankruptcy court retains the power to exercise in personam jurisdiction only over parties who have sufficient minimum contacts with this country. In re A & W Publishers, Inc., 39 B.R. 666, 667 (S.D.N.Y.1984) ("a minimum contacts test applies in bankruptcy to protect foreign corporations [persons] against being subject to jurisdiction in this country without due process of law"). A bankruptcy court which has sufficient in personam jurisdiction over a party can direct that person to transfer or return property located in a foreign country to the United States. Deak, 63 B.R. at 422, 430-435. However, if no in personam jurisdiction exists, the bankruptcy court is precluded from exercising control over property of the estate located in a foreign country without the assistance of the foreign courts.
In this case, the Court has in personam jurisdiction over Givens and perhaps one of the other Guernsey Defendants, IMF. However, as to the remaining six defendants who have not appeared in this Chapter 11 case and who have no known contacts with the United States, the Court lacks the ability to require them to return property located in Guernsey which may be part of this Debtor's estate or to otherwise direct their actions.
Concurrent Jurisdiction. Courts in every country are authorized to resolve issues relating to property located within their territorial jurisdiction. However, occasionally, courts of two or more nations legitimately may have jurisdiction to decide an issue involving conduct that falls within the reach of *94 their prescribed jurisdictional powers. In re Maxwell Communication Corp., 170 B.R. 800, 815 (Bankr.S.D.N.Y.1994). In that instance, the courts have concurrent, not exclusive, jurisdiction.
Here, this Court clearly has jurisdiction over Givens, the Debtor, possibly IMF, and all parties in interest involved in this Chapter 11 case. This Court also has jurisdiction over property of the Debtor's estate, wherever located, including, arguably, the Guernsey Funds. Similarly, the Guernsey Court also has jurisdiction over the Guernsey Funds. Therefore, both this Court and the Guernsey Court have concurrent jurisdiction over the Guernsey Funds. No direct or binding authority exists to guide this Court in determining the preferred forum; however, both the standard of reasonableness, as articulated by the Bankruptcy Court in the Maxwell decision, and the criteria set forth in Section 304(c) of the Bankruptcy Code offer some assistance in deciding which court is the better court to hear the Committee's claims.
When concurrent jurisdiction exists, both courts should evaluate the interests of the competing parties applying a standard of reasonableness. Maxwell, 170 B.R. at 815. The reasonableness inquiry turns on a number of factors that include:
(a) the extent to which the activity takes place within the territory or has substantial, direct and foreseeable effect upon or in the territory;
(b) the connections between the regulating nation and the person principally responsible for the activity to be regulated, or between the nation and those whom the regulation is designed to protect;
(c) the character of the activity to be regulated, the importance of the regulation to the regulating nation, the extent to which other nations regulate such activities, and the degree to which the desirability of such regulation is generally accepted;
(d) the existence of justified expectations that might be protected or hurt by the regulation;
(e) the importance of the regulation to the international, political, legal or economic system;
(f) the extent to which the regulation is consistent with the traditions of the international system;
(g) the extent to which another nation may have an interest in regulating the activity; and
(h) the likelihood of conflict with another nation.
Id., citing, Restatement of Foreign Relations § 403.
If the interest of one country is greater, the second country should consider deferring jurisdiction to the other. Restatement of Foreign Relations § 403. In keeping with this principle, § 305(a) of the Bankruptcy Code allows a bankruptcy court to dismiss an ancillary proceeding if a foreign proceeding is pending and the factors set forth in § 304(c) warrant such relief. Lawrence P. King, ed., Collier on Bankruptcy ¶ 304.08 (15th ed.1997). Similar to the standard of reasonableness discussed above, Section 304(c) of the Bankruptcy Code outlines several guidelines for the bankruptcy court to consider when faced with an ancillary proceeding filed in this country which is related to a proceeding pending in a foreign country:
[T]he court shall be guided by what will best assure an economical and expedient administration of such estate, consistent with-
(1) just treatment of all holders of claims against or interests in such estate;
(2) protection of claim holders in the United States against prejudice and inconvenience in the processing of claims in such foreign proceeding;
(3) prevention of preferential or fraudulent dispositions of property of such estate;
(4) distribution of proceeds of such estate substantially in accordance with the order prescribed by this title;
(5) comity; and
(6) if appropriate, the provision of an opportunity for a fresh start for the *95 individual that such foreign proceeding concerns.
11 U.S.C. § 304 (1997) (emphasis added)
Applying, by analogy, these guidelines, the Guernsey Court is the better forum to exercise jurisdiction over the Guernsey Funds. The money is located in Guernsey. Although no significant national or international principle is at issue, Guernsey has a greater interest in regulating entities doing business and conducting other financial activities on its shores than does this Court. Givens or entities controlled by him chose to transfer the funds of the Debtor to Guernsey. Givens, not the Committee, selected the forum by choosing to transfer the Guernsey Funds to a foreign country.[3]
Moreover, the deferral of jurisdiction by this Court to the Guernsey Court would allow for the most economic and expedient administration of the estate as envisioned in § 304 of the Bankruptcy Code. The Committee has asserted that the Guernsey Funds are held by foreign entities over whom this Court has no in personam jurisdiction but over whom the Guernsey Court can exercise both in rem and in personam jurisdiction. Only the Guernsey Court can enter a final order as to the Guernsey Funds[4] as well as to the Guernsey Defendants. To bifurcate the proceeding between the parties over whom this Court lacks jurisdiction and Givens, over whom it has in personam jurisdiction, would only result in duplicative proceedings, a waste of judicial energy, and an increase in the cost of the litigation to the parties. Guernsey can finally resolve the issues; this Court cannot. The Guernsey Court is the most efficient and economical court to resolve the Committee's claims.
The doctrine of comity, one of the factors set forth in Section 304(c) of the Bankruptcy Code, also dictates that Guernsey is the preferred forum. No law has effect of itself beyond the limits of the sovereignty from which its authority is derived. Hilton v. Guyot, 159 U.S. 113, 16 S.Ct. 139, 40 L.Ed. 95 (1895). Instead, the doctrine of comity requires a court to refrain from exercising jurisdiction under certain circumstances in deference to the laws and interests of another country. Sequihua v. Texaco, Inc., 847 F.Supp. 61, 63 (S.D.Tex.1994).
Comity in the legal sense, is neither a matter of absolute obligation on the one hand, nor of mere courtesy and good will upon the other. But it is the recognition which one nation allows within its territory to the legislative, executive and judicial acts of another nation, having due regard both to the international duty and convenience, and to the rights of its own citizens or of other persons who are under the protections of its laws.
Hilton, 159 U.S. at 163-64, 16 S.Ct. at 143.
Here, Guernsey has a significant interest in regulating business activities and parties conducting financial transactions within its territorial boundaries. This Court should honor the interest of Guernsey, if possible, and defer jurisdiction to the Guernsey Court to resolve the issues directly relating to property located on its shores. The principles of comity weigh in favor of this Court allowing the Guernsey Court to proceed.
Lastly, the doctrine of forum non conveniens does not prevent the Guernsey Court from resolving the Committee's claims. Under this doctrine, the central focus is, as the name connotes, convenience. Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno, 454 U.S. 235, 249, 102 S.Ct. 252, 262-63, 70 L.Ed.2d 419 (1981). Convenience to the parties and the witnesses is *96 paramount. Abstention typically is appropriate if the plaintiff's chosen forum would impose a heavy burden on a defendant and if the plaintiff cannot offer any specific reasons supporting the choice of forum. Id. at 250, 102 S.Ct. at 263. The fact that the forum is outside of the United States is irrelevant as long as requisite procedural safeguards exist. Id. The alternative forum need not offer the same benefits as the American system. Id.
In this case, the forum in Guernsey admittedly is not convenient either to the Committee or to Givens. However, the Committee can offer a very good reason for choosing the Guernsey Court. The Guernsey Funds are located in that jurisdiction. Guernsey is the only forum in which the Committee can obtain jurisdiction over all eight of the Guernsey Defendants. Moreover, fairness dictates that Givens, who knowingly transferred the funds at issue to Guernsey, should travel to Guernsey to assert a claim to those funds. As such, the additional inconvenience caused to Givens is immaterial in light of the fact that the Committee, in an attempt to gain complete relief, had little choice in the selection of the forum.[5]
Givens argues that deferral of jurisdiction by this Court to the Guernsey Court somehow violates his federal, statutory, and constitutional rights. However, he fails to provide any basis for this sweeping argument. To the extent that Givens is subject to the jurisdiction of the Guernsey Court, it is solely due to his own actions in transferring the Guernsey Funds. To extend Givens' argument to its logical extension, Givens is contending that American citizens can participate in international transactions and defraud citizens of foreign countries indiscriminately but can only be sued in the United States. Such a conclusion is contrary to any notion of international comity.
Moreover, Givens has failed to establish that the law of Guernsey fails to provide sufficient procedural safeguards to protect his interest. Guernsey, as a dependency of the British Crown, has laws that are similar, although certainly not identical, to those of the United States. The one order entered by the Guernsey Court indicates that the Guernsey Defendants can receive an emergency hearing to vary or discharge the terms of the Guernsey Order upon 24 hours written notice to the Committee. This type of relief indicates that the procedures, although different from the United States, are sufficiently fair and reasonable to support the Committee's choice of forum. Accordingly, for all of these reasons, this Court has reviewed and again concludes that the proper forum to resolve the Committee's claims is the Guernsey Court.
Due Process. Givens next argues that the Order Authorizing the Guernsey Action should be vacated because his constitutional rights to due process were violated. Specifically, Givens argues that he was not provided with any notice of the hearing on the Committee's Motion or an opportunity to be heard prior to the entry of the Guernsey Order.
Givens' argument initially fails because he was not deprived of any property interest or right as a result of the Order Authorizing the Guernsey Action. The effect of this order was to authorize the Committee to file an action in Guernsey and to allow them to file the necessary pleadings and pay the necessary fees. The Order Authorizing the Guernsey Action did not seize Givens' property or direct the Guernsey Court to take any action. As such, the Order Authorizing the Guernsey Action did not deprive Givens of his right to due process.
However, for the purpose of discussion, the Court will assume that the effect of the order granting the Committee's Motion indirectly did result in the entry of the *97 Guernsey Order, albeit by the Guernsey Court, which froze assets of the Guernsey Defendants located in Guernsey. Prior to depriving a party of an interest in property, notice and a hearing generally are required before property may be seized. However, exceptions are allowed when the moving party can show exigent or extraordinary circumstances. U.S. v. James Daniel Good Real Property, 510 U.S. 43, 114 S.Ct. 492, 126 L.Ed.2d 490 (1993); Calero-Toledo. v. Pearson Yacht Leasing Co., 416 U.S. 663, 678, 94 S.Ct. 2080, 2089, 40 L.Ed.2d 452 (1974). The postponement of a hearing is appropriate if circumstances justify a special need for prompt action. Calero-Toledo, 416 U.S. at 678, 94 S.Ct. at 2089, citing, Fuentes v. Shevin, 407 U.S. 67, 91-92, 92 S.Ct. 1983, 1999-2000, 32 L.Ed.2d 556 (1972). Further, when only property rights are involved, it is sufficient that at some stage there is the opportunity for a hearing and a judicial determination. Mitchell v. W.T. Grant Co., 416 U.S. 600, 612, 94 S.Ct. 1895, 1902, 40 L.Ed.2d 406 (1974). If an opportunity is subsequently given for the ultimate judicial determination of liability, then mere postponement of a hearing is not a denial of due process. Id. at 611, 94 S.Ct. at 1902.
In this case, the Court determined that sufficient exigent and extraordinary circumstances existed to justify a hearing on the Committee's Motion without notice to Givens. Specifically, the Committee demonstrated a pattern of lack of cooperation by Givens during their investigation as well as asserted that Givens had deliberately destroyed necessary financial documents. The Committee legitimately was concerned that if notice of the hearing were given to the Guernsey Defendants more documents would be destroyed and the Guernsey Funds transferred. The Court concluded that the Committee's concerns were valid and proceeded with the hearing.
As such, the pleadings were sealed until the Guernsey Order was entered which froze, but did not seize, the assets of the Guernsey Defendants located in Guernsey. The Guernsey Court merely preserved the status quo until a final judicial determination of the Committee's claims is reached. The provisions of the Guernsey Order provided that the Guernsey Defendants could request an emergency hearing to vary the terms of the order upon 24 hours notice to the Committee. Givens can obtain such a hearing within 24 hours before the tribunal who actually froze the assets, the Guernsey Court. To date, Givens has failed to exercise this ability.
Due process considerations provide that a party is not entitled to notice of a hearing to freeze assets if sufficient exigent circumstances are present. In this case, sufficient extraordinary circumstances were demonstrated by the Committee. However, because no prior notice was given, Givens is entitled to an opportunity for a hearing and a judicial determination on the legitimacy of the freezing by the court entering the applicable order. If the opportunity for such a hearing is provided, postponement of a hearing is not a denial of a party's due process. Givens has had an opportunity to raise any concerns regarding the Guernsey Order. He has not exercised that right. As such, he cannot complain that his due process rights were violated even assuming American constitutional law standards were applicable.
Applicability of the Rosen Opinion. Givens also argues that the Eleventh Circuit's decision in Rosen v. Cascade International, Inc., 21 F.3d 1520 (11th Cir.1994), requires a modification of the Order Authorizing Guernsey Action. The facts of Rosen are easily distinguishable from the facts of this dispute. In Rosen, the plaintiff was seeking a money judgment, and the district court entered an order granting the plaintiff's application for a preliminary injunction freezing the debtor's assets until the dispute was resolved. Here, the Committee is not seeking a money judgment but equitable relief. The Committee contends that the Guernsey Funds belong to the Debtor, not the Guernsey Defendants, and seeks to avoid the fraudulent transfer. As such, Rosen on its face does not apply.
Further, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Rosen merely stated that federal courts cannot fashion new pre-judgment seizure remedies but instead must rely upon the attachment and seizure remedies of the applicable forum. In this case, the applicable forum is Guernsey. The pre-judgment procedures *98 of that forum were properly followed. The decision of Rosen simply is not applicable in resolving the issues raised by Givens' Motion.
Conclusion. Upon reexamination, this Court again has determined that the Guernsey Court is better suited to resolve the Committee's claims to the Guernsey Funds. The Court reaches this conclusion with the full awareness of the unusual nature of its decision to defer jurisdiction over significant issues raised in this chapter 11 case to a court in a distant locale. Certainly, no order previously issued by this Court was designed to predispose the Guernsey Court in any way. Rather, this Court is once again merely deferring to the Guernsey Court to apply its own procedures in resolving the dispute between the parties.
However, to the extent that future issues arise which raise unique issues of American law, this Court, acting in the spirit of comity and cooperation, is more than willing to assist her sister court in Guernsey, if asked. Moreover, if, as the litigation progresses, the Guernsey Court independently determines it appropriate to return some or all of the pending issues to the United States, this Court would willingly consent.
To date, the Guernsey Court has acted fairly and reasonably, and neither this Court nor the Guernsey Court has taken any action to deprive Givens of his constitutional rights to due process or any other procedural claim to which he is entitled. As such, the Order Authorizing the Guernsey Action was properly entered. No modification or vacation of the prior order is necessary. Givens has failed to establish any basis to enjoin the Committee from pursuing avoidance claims against him in Guernsey.
Accordingly, it is ORDERED that the Motion is denied.
NOTES
[1] Subsequently, the Committee discovered additional assets of the Debtor transferred by Givens or other third parties to a second foreign locale the Isle of Man. On March 31, 1997, the Committee filed a second similar motion, the Emergency Motion for Authorization to Institute Substantive Proceedings in Guernsey, to Institute Proceedings in the Isle of Man, to File Affidavit, to Give Undertakings, and to File this Motion Under Seal (Doc. No. 391). On April 8, 1997, an order was entered granting this second motion (Doc. No. 394). The reasons why the Court granted the second motion of the Committee are identical to the reasons why the Court granted the Committee's first motion and why Givens' instant Motion is denied.
[2] Givens alleges that the Guernsey Order violates his right to free speech. However, the only provision of the Guernsey Order which affects Givens' right to communicate with third parties is paragraph 8.2 which provides that the Guernsey Defendants must keep the existence and content of the Guernsey Order confidential. Givens is free to talk to anyone about anything other than the reasonable confidentiality limitation contained in the Guernsey Order.
[3] Givens argues that he does not have sufficient minimum contacts with Guernsey. If that is the case, Givens can raise the lack of jurisdiction to the Guernsey Court which is capable of deciding the issue. If Givens is correct, the Guernsey litigation can proceed against the remaining seven Guernsey Defendants.
[4] The bankruptcy court has original but not exclusive jurisdiction over fraudulent transfer claims. 28 U.S.C. § 544. Although such claims may be litigated in the bankruptcy court, the parties also can litigate the claims in a court with concurrent jurisdiction. See, Tabas v. Gigi Advertising Partnership (In re Kaufman & Roberts, Inc.) 188 B.R. 309, 314 (Bankr.S.D.Fla.1995). Therefore, fraudulent transfer claims may be pursued in the alternative forum or in an adversary proceeding in the bankruptcy court. Id. With respect to the fraudulent transfers claims asserted against Givens, it is clear that this court has original but not exclusive jurisdiction. 28 U.S.C. § 1344 (1997).
[5] Similarly, the "first to file" rule does not preclude deferral of jurisdiction to the Guernsey Court. This judicial rule was established to provide that the first forum selected by any of the parties, including the plaintiff, was determinative of the forum for all related issues between the parties. However, the rule is discretionary, not binding. Therefore, even though the Committee previously has filed an adversary proceeding against Givens (but none of the other Guernsey Defendants) in connection with this Chapter 11 case, for the reasons discussed above, the better forum to finally and completely resolve the Committee's issues is the Guernsey Court. See, Tingley Systems, Inc. v. Bay State HMO Management, Inc., 833 F.Supp. 882, 887 (M.D.Fla.1993).
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Chris Williams (football manager)
Chris Williams is an Australian former soccer manager.
He was appointed by the Tonga Football Federation in November 2010.
Williams was appointed as U17 coach for the nation and his team lost all four of their games, conceded 46 goals in the process at the 2011 OFC U-17 Championship which included a 17-0 loss to New Caledonia. Prior to the competition Williams had written that the Tonga Football Federation had forgotten to withdraw from the competition and rather than be fined $NZ 50,000 by the OFC, they allowed Williams to take a team to the tournament.
He was also put in of the Tonga national football team during their 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign in 2011. In November 2011, his Tonga team became the first team in international football to lose to American Samoa, Tonga finished second in a group of four with four points.
References
Category:Living people
Category:1986 births
Category:Australian soccer coaches
Category:Expatriate football managers in Tonga
Category:Tonga national football team managers | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
What could be the causes of weights not changing during backpropagation?
I'm currently working on a Dueling-Double DQN model, and I noticed that though the loss (mse of Q values between training and target networks) seems to be decreasing, the distribution of weights in the network almost didn't change, while the biases varies a lot during training, resulting in Q values update.
basic setup:
hidden layers: 2
input nodes(state space): 80
hidden nodes: 256
output nodes(action space): 3
optimizer: adam
activation: relu
Since I'm using relu as activation function so I suppose gradient vanishing is not the reason, what other reason could cause the behaviour? Is there any direction for hyperparameter tuning since grid search costs a lot of time. Thanks.
A:
Since I'm using relu as activation function so I suppose gradient
vanishing is not the reason, what other reason could cause the
behaviour?
Biases can directly move the output of your network no a non-zero mean level of Q value, when your problem is designed such that Q values are positively or negatively biased.
Moreover, I read a couple of opinions that adding bias weights is not a good option in neural network Q learning, since they introduce the bias in estimates, making NN outputs dependent. (This is not a solid recommendation though.)
The reason why other weigths do not change a lot is that learning your Q value is very noisy and any change in weights is pointless.
Is there any direction for hyperparameter tuning since grid search
costs a lot of time.
Approaches exist. You can for example use a general purpose optimization method to tune hyperparameters to maximize the NN convergence (maximization of Q value). I believe some form of gradient descent can be an option with some limitations.
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The unprecedented growth in "legal highs" has led to 348 new types of synthetic drugs appearing in more than 90 countries in every region of the world, the UN drug agency has reported.
The UN office on drugs and crime said the majority of the new psychoactive substances had emerged only in the past five years and the actual number available may be significantly higher than the 348 officially reported so far.
Nearly 100 new substances have emerged in the last year alone, in further evidence of the establishment of a new global market.
The UN special report said the fact that legal highs were no longer restricted to niche markets but available worldwide was a particularly worrying development.
The agency said the evidence from almost all regions was that synthetic drugs were gaining popularity among young people.
In parts of Central and South America, the use of amphetamine-type substances was more popular than cannabis or cocaine among some age groups. In North America and Europe, certain legal highs were more widely used than traditional illicit drugs among younger age groups.
The only figures so far published for the use of legal highs in Europe date from 2011. The global market is growing so rapidly that they are likely to be far higher now. They showed that 4.8% of 15- to 24-year-olds – 2.9 million people – had experimented with new substances that imitate the effects of illicit drugs. The highest rates were reported in Ireland, at 16.3%, Poland at 9%, Latvia at 8.8% and the UK at 8.2%.
The UN said the global market for legal highs was very dynamic and a number of the new substances were transient. "Therefore, the fact that certain new psychoactive substances are present does not mean that they have an established market."
The UN experts said that so far none of the 348 new substances reported globally in 94 countries by the end of 2013 were under international control.
"However, in 2014, the United Kingdom requested the international control of mephedrone, a potentially fatal recreational substance, under the 1971 UN convention on psychotropic substances," they added.
The special report says that data on drug use shows that the British ban on mephedrone, which was marketed as "meow meow", and its classification as a class B substance, did lead to a small decline in its use – from 1.4% to 1.1% of people aged 16 to 59 – but it still remained popular in London clubs.
The UN report showed that designer drugs that imitated the effects of cannabis were the most popular with the number of synthetic cannabinoids, as they are called, soaring from 60 in mid-2012 to 110 in 2013.
They also reported evidence from almost all regions of the world that tablets sold as ecstasy or methamphetamine contained not just the touted ingredients; they also increasingly comprised chemical cocktails that posed unforeseen public health challenges.
"Emergency services may therefore find themselves unable to identify life-threatening substances and powerless to administer the proper treatment to users," the UN report added. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
VIPs from across Gosport were there to see Bay House School’s sports complex – which is open to the whole community.
Former Pompey footballer Darren Anderton opened Bay House School's new sports hall. He is pictured with representatives from the developers, Gosport MP Caroline Dinenage and headteacher Ian Potter with the winning team of the 5 a-side contest, Gosport FC Veterans ''Picture by: Malcolm Wells (160129-7026)
Headteacher Ian Potter put the wheels in motion for a state-of-the-art sports hall to replace the old dilapidated building when he arrived at the Gomer Lane school in 2002.
He said: ‘I’ve been working on this for nearly 15 years.
‘Unfortunately the recession of 2008 scuppered our plans and we lost our developers.
‘But when we became an academy we made a bid for funding and were eventually given £2.8m by the government.
I think it’s amazing
Darren Anderton
‘And through donations, fundraising and being entrepreneurial we made it up to the £3.5m it cost to build.’
The new sports hall, which is opposite the school, has six courts and a flood-lit astro turf pitch.
Mr Potter added: ‘In education there is almost too much emphasis placed on academic outcomes.
‘But we know if we’re going to prepare pupils for a healthy adulthood we need to develop their interest in lifelong sport and exercise.
‘It’s very important in terms of their mental and physical wellbeing.
‘As a headteacher I want to educate the whole person.
‘This is marvellous for the whole community.’
The opening of the sports hall was marked by a football tournament which Bay House only narrowly lost to the Gosport veterans’ team.
Former Pompey and England star Darren watched with excitement and said he was proud to have been asked to celebrate the opening of the sports hall.
‘I think it’s amazing – it’s a great concept for the kids and for the area as well’, he said.
‘It’s a wonderful thing to get kids in here playing sport, getting them off the streets.
‘It hasn’t been easy for the school to get this far. There have been a few bumps on the way for them.
‘Fair play to them for keeping going and making it.’
As well as the tournament there was musical entertainment from pupils.
The two companies behind the build, Rund Partnership and The Construction Partnership, each gave the school £5,000 towards new equipment. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Starz To Launch Final Season Of ‘Spartacus’ On Jan. 25
Starzdecided in June to the end the run of its Spartacus franchise after this season and now has set a date for the debut of its final installment, Spartacus: War Of The Damned: Friday, January 25 at 9 PM. Liam McIntyre returns as the lead for the third season, which begins after the defeat of Roman commander Gaius Claudius Glaber as Spartacus and his legion of rebellion slaves expands. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
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I just got my linograph BG, WOW! It's really cool. I had to use it right away and wanted the cool ribbon in there. I discovered the brown twill in my stash, it was left over from a set of recipe cards I had gotten as a gift. I also had this pack of mini marbles from a clearance bin. See, don't throw anything away! You can stamp with it. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
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Phixr - Online Photo EditorТоррент трекер Кинозал.ТВFun photo Making siteImage Mosaic GeneratorThis exclusive free web application is brand new. Unforunately it is only available from December 2008 to February 2009, so make sure you tell your friends about it now! :) All images used in the construction of images mosaics are fetched from Flickr and copyright of their respective owners. The Image Mosaic Generator was created by Peter, you can contact the author by sending an email.Editor de fotos y efectos fotográficos en línea, editar imágenes con BeFunkyiPiccyfeyaannika on InstagramFood Cheese Burger Props/Addons To Your Photos, Photo Layer Add-OnsVisitor # Users: HOW TO: Click on the photograph (above) near the location for prop to appear (imagine the prop image as a rectangle, the mouse click will represent the top left corner) to fill the X & Y cooridinates for the placement of props. You can also manually change the X & Y values (larger number for X makes prop move further from left edge, larger Y number makes the prop move further down). Rotating is done with values, negative numbers rotate counter-clockwise and positive numbers go clockwise (you will have to readjust X & Y values manually as rotating offsets eveything). Choose from more props (near bottom). When you save your image you will be able to add another prop along with the current prop (multiple effect additions, unlimited amount of saves but all saves overwrite each other but you can download each step and reupload a previous step) or you may revert back to your original uploaded photograph. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
Is there any point in drawing an UML class diagram in functional programming?
I have been asked on a school project to show the UML diagrams I used - if I did -
to realise the project. But the project I was working on was in C and has been functionally programmed.
Thus I want to justify that using a class diagram when not using object oriented langage was pointless, but I am afraid that this is not true and haven't been able to confirm this hypothesis. It seems pointless to me but I'd like to know if it is the case, since may be thinking the code in a OOP way could help understanding how it works.
Is there any benefits regarding the way to think and build a functionnal program in using a class diagram ?
A:
Of course, yes. The use of class diagram is not so extensive as in classical OOP, where very often having a class diagram means only automatic coding routine is left, but still it is very useful for:
Planning of data structures (We still should understand data and their interconnections)
Creating the hierarchy of methods. (Grouping of methods up to their data and tasks)
Tying together methods and some special data. (What method works with what classes of data)
If the language supports OOP, you can use a class diagram translating it into code.
And even if you haven't any OOP features supported, you can always profit from at least the first point.
Really, the only possible use of the class diagram, that is forbidden by functional programming, is creation of methods with side effects on instances. And that is not much connected to the class diagrams. On the contrary, class diagrams are not mentioned for modelling of that. Rather the Composite Structure Diagrams are.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Another Unlikely Supporter For Donald Trump
Charles Evers, brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, recently endorsed Donald Trump. NPR's Rachel Martin speaks to him about why.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Donald Trump has upended all the conventional wisdom about how president primary seasons unfold. Republican voters have been turning out in record numbers to cast their ballots. Trump has gained endorsements from some unexpected supporters like Chris Christie and also our next guest.
His name is Charles Evers. He's the brother of Medgar Evers, the civil rights leader who was murdered in 1963 for his efforts to overturn segregation and fight for voting rights.
Charles Evers is himself a longtime civil rights activist. He's been a Republican for decades. And this past week, he endorsed Donald Trump. Mr. Evers joins me now on the line. Welcome to the program.
CHARLES EVERS: Thank you very much. Good morning.
MARTIN: Good morning.
I will start by just asking you to make your case. Why is Donald Trump the candidate for you?
EVERS: (Laughter) First of all, I think he's the best candidate. Number one, he's independent. Number two, he speaks on what he thinks and not what some other politician may tell them. I like him as a person. He's a self-made man, and he doesn't have to take donations from Charles Evers, other people. Once he get elected, he won't owe me a thing.
MARTIN: You like that he's...
EVERS: I love that.
MARTIN: ...Financially independent. And you say he won't be beholden to special interests.
EVERS: Right.
MARTIN: Let me ask you about some of the rhetoric that he's used that has gotten a lot of criticism.
EVERS: Yeah.
MARTIN: Most recently, he found himself in a situation during a TV interview where he did not explicitly denounce support from David Duke who's the former grand wizard of the KKK.
EVERS: Right.
MARTIN: It took him some time. Eventually, Trump did unequivocally denounce him and his support. How did you see all of that unfold? How did that sit with you as a longtime civil rights activist?
EVERS: It didn't bother me at all because he's running for president of the United States - the president of everybody, including the David Dukes. And I have no problem with it, frankly, because David's just one man. He's out there by himself. And most people now have gotten away from that. Look how far we've come since Medgar's death 50-something years ago. So you know, we have to stop living in the past and live in the present and the future.
MARTIN: Do you think he is a unifier?
EVERS: I hope so. Is President Obama a unifier? Will Hillary Clinton be a unifier?
MARTIN: Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama - you don't see them as having that capacity?
EVERS: What I'm saying is that - I'm saying - did they unify? They tried. I know President Obama tried, but he couldn't.
MARTIN: May I ask - did you vote for Barack Obama?
EVERS: Oh, yes. Yes, ma'am. Yes.
MARTIN: Have you been disappointed?
EVERS: Not really because, after all, he's the president of all the people, as I said earlier. You know, he can only do so much. He's done well. I'm proud of him - the health program he's gotten through and his stand for equality. But I'd hoped he could have done more.
But knowing that his hands are tied, to a point, because he doesn't have the majority of the people on his side now - he won with 52 percent of the vote, yes, but that was then. And he lost a lot of support since then for different reasons, but I'm still with him. I think he's good. I'm an independent Republican.
MARTIN: May I ask - what is one policy change - as someone who voted for Barack Obama and now is supporting Donald Trump, what's the policy issue - the policy change - you would most like a potential President Trump to address?
EVERS: I don't know. I want him to be president of all the people equally. That's all I want everybody to do.
MARTIN: You don't think Marco Rubio could do that? You don't think Ted Cruz can do that?
EVERS: I like Trump - just that simple.
MARTIN: Civil rights activist Charles Evers. He is a supporter of Donald Trump.
Thank you so much for talking with us and sharing your views, Mr. Evers.
EVERS: You're quite welcome. Thank you.
Copyright © 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Abbey Farmhouse, Montacute
Abbey Farmhouse is a detached house in Montacute, Somerset, England, which incorporates the gateway of the medieval Montacute Priory. It was built in the 16th century and has been designated as a Grade I listed building.
After the dissolution of the monasteries the property became a farmhouse, but by 1633 it was 'almost desolate'. By 1782 it was a revitalised farm, remaining part of the Phelips estate until 1918.
There are of walled gardens, which have been laid out since 1963.
A long distance public footpath, the Monarch's Way runs along the course of a Roman (or earlier) trackway immediately in front of the building. This path leads to Ham Hill Country Park via fields and woodland
See also
List of Grade I listed buildings in South Somerset
References
Category:Buildings and structures completed in the 16th century
Category:Grade I listed buildings in South Somerset
Category:Grade I listed houses in Somerset
Category:16th-century architecture in the United Kingdom
Category:Farmhouses in England | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
Use unique user number in Google Forms
I want to send my clients in my database an e-mail with a request to fill in a Google form to research their needs for our service in the future.
Every client has an unique ID already (for example EX0258, EA1405, EZ2815). I need a way how I can add this unique number in the spreadsheet that they will fill in. Of course, I can ask them to provide them by themselves, but this can cause mistakes in the information.
What I am looking for is a unique URL for each user that provides the Google Form Spreadsheet with that unqiue user ID. I hope you understand my question and that you can help me out with it.
A:
If you have the id ready to go from your db you can do it via Google Forms, but it seems the process cannot be automated (see https://support.google.com/docs/answer/160000?hl=en)
If you are open to a 3rd party solution, you could do this with Cloud Snippets via cloudward.com. You could just include the id as a parameter like this:
your_domain_here.com/page_name.html?unique_id=ABCD1234
The code would look something like this:
<# start form for google spreadsheet "Your Spreadsheet Name";#>
<input type="text" <# your_column_name #> value="<#[url.unique_id]#>">
<input type="text" <# your_column_name2 #>>
<# end form #>
The unique ID in the snippet above would be ABCD1234
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
If you’re in any way connected to the greater Elite: Dangerous community, you perhaps are familiar with the name of Michael aka CMDR Michael Holyland, a 15-year-old who had gone through six years of debilitating illness that medical treatments had failed to help. On June 7th, Michael was laid to rest after finally succumbing to his illness; however, his final week was one of support and love from Frontier Developments and the Elite: Dangerous community, as explained in an open letter from one of his relatives.
It all started with a tweet sent by the family member, blogger Mathew James Westhorpe, who shared pictures of Michael enjoying Elite: Dangerous despite his illness swelling his face to the point of impeding his vision. Community Manager Page Harvey reached out to Mathew and visited Michael at his hospital room with some Elite swag including a signed poster from the dev team and several in-game goodies.
That would have been altruistic enough, but Michael received even more support. From authors to David Braben to members of the Elite community, Michael was given messages of support and well-wishes, and numerous times he was invited to in-game group actions. Bolstered by this support network, Michael began streaming his Elite activities, which became an attraction for many players and devs of the game. He was even gifted Elite: Dangerous audiobooks in lieu of a visit to Frontier’s offices, which was made impossible due to breathing issues caused by his illness.
Then, Frontier’s Zac Antonaci launched a bold plan: to have an audiobook story set in the Elite: Dangerous world made just for him, with his character as the central hero. The personalized audiobook, written by author Drew Wagar and fully voice acted and mixed, was completed in an astonishing three days and played to Michael. The following day, Michael died.
“His end was unjust and tragic, but because of the heroic kindness of a videogame community, his last week of life was filled with an unexpected amount of happiness. For that, I am immensely grateful and I want to offer my eternal gratitude to everyone who contributed to that, from the players who stood ready to meet Michael online and those who took the time to send him an ‘o7’, to the Frontier staff and associates who gave so much of their time, compassion and creative energy.”
It was one of Michael’s wishes to have his personal audiobook shared with the Elite: Dangerous community, and Westhorpe mentions in his blog that he is working with Zac and his contacts on a way to best make that happen. For now, we want to extend our condolences to Michael’s family, and thank Westhorpe for penning the blog that shared his nephew’s story with the gaming world. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27587801.post5169540903467012876..comments2019-02-13T05:50:54.247-05:00Comments on Chevrolet 5th and 6th Gen Camaro: Camaro stop delivery order for ignition key [email protected]:blogger.com,1999:blog-27587801.post-75299882945317276782014-07-10T08:05:31.277-04:002014-07-10T08:05:31.277-04:00Our key was replaced with the plain key and the or...Our key was replaced with the plain key and the original fob with the flip out key removed. That is fine. However, the fob now has an unsightly side where the original key used to be. Also it seems silly to have that much weight for a fob when it does not even include the key [email protected] | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
...and worst of all, Trevor, who everyone who hasn't played GTA thinks what GTA is about; a maniac for the sake of being a maniac.
This is a huge cop out by Rockstar and is very cheap. To top it off, I feel Trevor is pretty much insulting to the GTA fans to say "yep, this is what this game is now lulz" along with the simple fact, playing a maniac who is a maniac is just not fun. Well, maybe it is if you are 10 years old, but is that the crowd Rockstar wants. You wouldn't think so since Michael has to deal with family issues and go to therapy sessions.
You fail to realise your opinion is that of the minority, I believe most gta fans are quite fond of Trevor so I don't really think it's that much of an insult to gta fans. Added to the fact that for some people gta is indeed being a maniac for the sake of being a maniac, that's the beauty of gta.. you can play it however you damn well please. I personally very much enjoy playing with Trevor and just being an all out maniac, I think he's one of the best characters in any of the GTA games. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen and Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh worked a satellite camp together in Mississippi on Wednesday. After the camp, Dan Mullen posted this to his twitter account…..
Spending time with @CoachJim4UM and the Michigan football coaches today brought back some good memories. #HailState pic.twitter.com/5SBt6A7A4G — Dan Mullen™ (@CoachDanMullen) June 8, 2016
Harbaugh is not one to take a shot without responding so it will be interesting to see when and how he comes back at Mullen. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
A questions concerning a 100W valve head and cabs
I aquired a little while back a custom Hiwatt 100W all valve head from an old bassist that has toured with them for many years using custom cabs and EV speakers. I am and have been looking for cabs that I can use with my newly aquired head but need to ask a question (I have searched and not found an answer)
What would be ideal specs for a cab (I cant afford custom made, got to go for the mass produced) for a 100W valve head? It is switchable between 8 and 16 ohms, but I havnt seen any 16ohm cabs. I'm currently borrowing Hartke 1x15 and 4x10 (rated 350W I think?) cabs but they fart at anything above the volume being at 7. I know they are cheap cabs, is this why they are farting?
I know John Entwistle used to run Sunn 2x15's off his Hiwatt 100 heads, but I cant find any of those anywhere
Unfortunatly I'm not in a position where I can try out bass cabs, Music shops don't stock anything bass orientated (other than hartke and behringer it seems) and my head is too heavy to carry in to london (24Kg, not to mention they're a bit arsy if you actualy want to try something)
So, as far as I can work out, I need sensitive cabs to get the volume from my low power amp, yeah? something like 100Db@1W/M?
but what about wattage? If the cabs are rated too high I'm told they'll just fart, yet the Hartke are rated at 350W and are fine untill I get above 7 on the volume and they seem to be pushed too hard, so do I go for more than 350W?
Oh and selling it to buy something else is not an option, it sounds like heaven and was owned by someone who I have looked up to since I started playing bass so Im not selling it to buy a 1kW head
Realistically, with the volume at 7 you are entering the distortion territory for the amp so no cab is going to solve that issue. The farting is a consequence of running 100W.
As far as cabs go, if you get cabs that are rated for more watts (over 200W each), you will be able to turn your amp up to 10 and go all day without hurting your cabs. Some of the modern cabs that are rated 300W and up for example sound "better" with more power but I think it has more to do with the headroom than the actual wattage. FWIW, I've run my Aguilar GS410, rated at 700W with a 130W MM HD130 and it sounded great. Not loud enough for many things but great tone.
A note about Entwistle and others from that era: If you look at pics from the mid to late 60's you'll notice those guys didn't just use one 100W amp plus cabs but a wall of them, effectively compensating for the lack of wattage with more speakers.
IMO, 100W is good for small gigs or a real buzzy hard rock tone. Your best bet is getting a modern 215 or even a 610/810 just so you can push the air.
Realistically, with the volume at 7 you are entering the distortion territory for the amp so no cab is going to solve that issue. The farting is a consequence of running 100W.
As far as cabs go, if you get cabs that are rated for more watts (over 200W each), you will be able to turn your amp up to 10 and go all day without hurting your cabs. Some of the modern cabs that are rated 300W and up for example sound "better" with more power but I think it has more to do with the headroom than the actual wattage. FWIW, I've run my Aguilar GS410, rated at 700W with a 130W MM HD130 and it sounded great. Not loud enough for many things but great tone.
A note about Entwistle and others from that era: If you look at pics from the mid to late 60's you'll notice those guys didn't just use one 100W amp plus cabs but a wall of them, effectively compensating for the lack of wattage with more speakers.
IMO, 100W is good for small gigs or a real buzzy hard rock tone. Your best bet is getting a modern 215 or even a 610/810 just so you can push the air.
BTW, are you sure it's a bass amp and not a guitar amp?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I know they had walls of amps back then, but lack of money and space in the van won't let that happen untill I'm signed
The hartke cabs were loud enough for what I do, just about, and I know they're not the most sensitive cabs out there. Most venues I play have a PA to back me up anyway.
Its definatly a bass head, I got it from a bassist of a long running metal band (incidently, its numberd "4" so he must have used to use atleast 4 of them) and it says 100 Bass on the front
all the 2x15 cabs Ive seen are 4Ohm so I'd have to do it in seperate 1x15 cabs if I went that way. As for 6x10, Ive looked at these too, these are all 6Ohm... Do you think I could run that from a 8 Ohm output? The bloke who we're working with for our EP said it would just make the head run a bit hot?? not only that but the watts of the cabs really goes up with multiple speaker cabs.
The Warwick 6x10 is 900W max (the 4x10 is 100DB/w/m so I assume this would be about the same) Could I get it re-wired so Im running 3 speakers on each output of my head? or would that make no difference? Or again, maybe 2 two 4x10 cabs rated at 350W each would be better?
I think James meant that you can typically get the same power at 8 ohms as 4 due to the output transformer impedance matching. Hopefully all tube amp owners know not to run higher impedance loads than the amp's rating.
I won't comment on the cabinet choice, but I do know something about farting. See if the Hiwatt head has a preamp or line out jack on the back. If so, run this to an external power amp. It should make T.O.F. (threshold of farting) just a bad memory.
Old Hiwatt bass amps are going to be at LEAST thirty years old and likely isn't any operational literature for them, because there wasn't any written in the first place. 'Back in the day' tube amps and their operation were still pretty common knowledge. They're not anymore.
Where did I say "Ignore common sense and factory limits if it suits you" in my post??!?
Click to expand...
Proper operation of tube amps runs contrary to what most bass players consider to be common sense. Solid state amp run best at rated imedance or HIGHER, any amp with an output transformer needs a speaker load equal or LOWER for safe operation. I doubt there are ANY published factory limits, especially that explicitly state HOW to hook up cabinets to the amp.
*My* amp runs at either 4 or 8 ohms. I run 2x 4ohm cabs in series (8 ohm load) and have the same output as if I had 2x 8ohm cabs in parallel (4 ohm load)
Click to expand...
Most Hiwatts have switchable output impedance from 16 to 8 to 4 ohms with a plug on the back, but he's already confused as to how to properly hook cabs to the amp. Since the taps are already there for equal power at the selectable impedance, there are lots more options that don't require potentially VERY dangerous series speaker cabling.
Relax, James. I didn't mean to single you out. He's obviously gotten some bad info somewhere from the looks of this:
Dell said:
all the 2x15 cabs Ive seen are 4Ohm so I'd have to do it in seperate 1x15 cabs if I went that way. As for 6x10, Ive looked at these too, these are all 6Ohm... Do you think I could run that from a 8 Ohm output? The bloke who we're working with for our EP said it would just make the head run a bit hot?? not only that but the watts of the cabs really goes up with multiple speaker cabs.
Click to expand...
...because running a 6 ohm cab off an 8 ohm tapped amp output, decreases power and makes the amp run COOLER and put out less power, not hotter. Whoever gave him that advice is thinking like the Hiwatt is a typical solid state amp.
Replying to that with what you said makes it look like you're endorsing his previous misinformation. Series wiring togther two cabs is going to result in a HIGHER net impedance and a higher probability of damage to the amp. Hiwatts run their tubes at nearly their operational limits, and a higher than expected speaker impedance WILL cause serious damage. I only wanted to underscore the danger.
Entwistle NEVER used Hiwatts with Sunn 2x15s, he used Hiwatt 4x12s & occasionally Hiwatt 4x15s with them.
But yeah, congradulations, i'm extremely jealous of you!!!!
Click to expand...
Either way, I can't find those cabs in this country either
The amp repair man phoned up hiwatt to ask for a wiring diagram and they said they had nothing from the original company and wasn't aware they ever made custom amps for this person I got it off.
Anyway, thankyou for you input. Looks like the closest thing I can get to that 70's thing is with the Eden 2x15 8Ohm cab I mentioned above and look at getting another cab later. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
Managing code with using #define
I have several source and header files that contains code that should be compiled dependent on the same option. That option might be set with
#define myOption
To be visible this option in all my files I need to put it in place where all files could see it. I see only one way - place this option in special header file and include it to all source and header files. Is there any other way to solve my problem? What is the best practices with code organisation?
UPD
In comments I found option that header file that contains myOption might be stdafx.h. But this is not good practice as far I can see because in CPP projects with enabled precompile header I can have for example some units with C code with turned off precompiled header.
A:
As @Paranaix mention you can provide preprocessor definition for compiler as command line argument like -DmyOption. Let suppose you use Visual Studio, you can open project properties->C/C++->Preprocessor->Preprocessor Definitions and place myOption in that list. It automatically add -DmyOption argument for compiler. So every source file in your project now can check that option.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
To the Editor:On Oct. 6, I went to our Jersey City National Wholesale Liquidators store on Rt. 440 to inquire about buying 125 folding chairs for the Cluster Soup Kitchen located at Our Lady of the Assumption in Bayonne. The manager Mr. Lord Andaya went out of his way to check the store stock and checked with his warehouse. He told me he would order them from his warehouse and have them available by the following week.
Seems simple enough, but it seemed impossible for the Wal-Mart store in Bayonne. According to their manager, it would have taken six to eight weeks or longer for them to order and there was no guarantee they’d be able to get them at all. Amazing. It seems the big box store can’t fill an order for 125 chairs, when a store like National Wholesale was willing and able to take the order and actually get them within the week.
We would like to thank the Golden Ages from Assumption Church, Joe Doria, and Karen Shaneen for donating the money to buy the chairs for the Cluster Soup Kitchen, which were desperately needed. We’d also like to thank Karen Shaneen for purchasing the tables for the Soup Kitchen. Due to their generosity, the new tables and chairs for our guests of the Soup Kitchen are now being used for them to enjoy their meals more comfortably.
It’s a shame that a world-known store like Wal-Mart is not capable of helping our community and our soup kitchen. Their inability to take an order or try to help us with our request was disappointing.
Once again, thanks, Mr. Andaya and National Wholesale Liquidators for such prompt service. You’ve done what Wal-Mart couldn’t. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Intrapericardial aneurysm of the left atrial appendix.
Aneurysms of the left atrium or its appendage are uncommon. Some occur with an intact pericardium and others are associated with a pericardial defect. The majority of patients are asymptomatic, but dysrhythmias and systemic embolism may occur. The condition should be suspected after chest radiography but can only be confirmed by angiocardiography. Resection is advised with cardiopulmonary bypass standing by. A patient with an intrapericardial aneurysm of the appendage correctly diagnosed by angiocardiography and successfully treated by simple excision is described. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
How does the c++ sizeof operator calculate size?
I created a class X having only 2 public functions (constructor and destructor), and using sizeof operator the class size is coming to be 1.
When I add a private data member of type char to the above class declaration, the size is still 1.
Finally I add an integer type to it as a class data member, and now the size is 8 bytes.
Kindly explain to me the how a class size is calculated.
A:
First, realise that functions that are not virtual have no effect on the size of a class.
The size of an instance of any class is at least 1 byte, even if the class is empty, so that different objects will have different addresses.
Adding a char ensures that different objects will have different addresses, so the compiler doesn't artificially add one to the size. The size is then sizeof(char) = 1.
Then you add an int, which (probably) adds 4 bytes on your platform. The compiler then decides to pad the class so it will be aligned for performance/CPU-requirements reasons, and adds 3 empty bytes so that the size is now 1 + 3 + 4 = 8. It probably adds the padding before the int member so that it will be aligned on a 4 byte boundary, but it's not required to unless your CPU requires it.
You can read about padding on the Wikipedia page.
A:
There are many factors that decide the size of an object of a class in C++. These factors are:
Size of all non-static data members
Order of data members
Byte alignment or byte padding
Size of its immediate base class
The existence of virtual function(s) (Dynamic polymorphism using virtual functions).
Compiler being used
Mode of inheritance (virtual inheritance)
You can find more here http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial/size_of_class_object.html
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Five years ago I had the misfortune of beginning a relationship one week before Valentine’s day. Long hours and many glasses of wine were consumed trying to develop the perfect strategy to court this new woman, and this most saccharine of holidays was proving to be an obstacle. Should I be assertive and make plans with her for the night? Should I assume that we’d be together that evening? Should I assume the contrary? Would presents be involved? If so, of what sort? According to friends’ counsel, my decision would hinge on the message I wanted to communicate. That is, how interested did I want to appear to this woman? The answer to this type of question has long been debated. When trying to establish a relationship is it better to play hard to get or is it better to wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve?
Psychologists have had little to say on this matter for quite some time. Some seminal data suggests that honesty is the best policy. If you like him, tell him. After all, it feels good to be liked by others, so to win his heart you should aim to be the source of such feelings. Shower the object of your desire with attention and gifts. Make it clear that you’re into him.
But pop culture tells us otherwise. In the words of Vince Vaughn, “If you call too soon you might scare off a beautiful baby who’s ready to party”. Indeed, one of the principle tenets of the burgeoning pick-up artist business is to mildly insult your prospective partner – “neg” her. Let her know that you could truly do without her.
Of course, Hollywood scripts and the subjective musings of sex-crazed twenty somethings do not a theory make. But new research into the science of decision making has begun to reveal why playing hard to get might be a viable relationship-building strategy after all. Turns out, across many domains, people are drawn to uncertainty. When we are unsure of an important outcome (like whether he will ever call) we, quite naturally, think about it. Did she lose my number? Maybe he’s just very busy this week. I probably shouldn’t have mentioned my credit card debt. And perhaps the more a potential positive outcome (a date) is on our mind, the more we come to value and desire that outcome. The longer we stare at that phone and wonder, the more desperately we want it to ring.
Erin Whitchurch, Tim Wilson and Dan Gilbert sought to test this possibility in a recent study published in the journal Psychological Science. They showed female college students the Facebook profiles of four men who they were told had previously looked at, and rated, their own profile. The women were then either told that these were pictures of men who liked them the most, men who rated them as average, or that they were either men who liked them most or rated them as average. Previous research suggests that the women should be most attracted to those men who they know like them. These men were a sure bet for positive reinforcement, and who doesn’t like that? However, the authors’ uncertainty hypothesis predicted that women should be most attracted to those whose feelings they weren’t so sure about.
Indeed, the results confirmed their hypothesis. The women liked these mystery men even more than the men who they knew liked them. Why? Over the course of the 15 minute study the women reported thinking significantly more about them. And when thoughts continuously pop into our heads people tend to construct explanations for why this occurs. If I can’t get this guy off my mind, I must really like him. So, the best strategy to pique the man or woman of your dreams might be to keep your feelings in the dark. Let them guess.
The catch is that this strategy only works if your target actually likes you. Indeed, the more people tend to think about the possibility of uncertain negative outcomes (what is the biopsy going to show?) the worse they come to feel about that outcome. So think of playing hard to get as a kind of relationship litmus test. If he likes you already, then being distant will only make his heart grow fonder. But if you don’t ever hear back, then you can be confident that it wasn’t meant to be.
I wasn’t privy to this cutting edge research five years ago as I pondered how to deal with the impending holiday. A few days of waffling back and forth and I ended up going out to a mediocre bistro with my parents. A road less traveled, surely, and certainly not a decision that screams “I’m interested”. But my mom gave me pink-hearted socks, so not all was lost. And I ended up marrying the girl.
Are you a scientist? Have you recently read a peer-reviewed paper that you want to write about? Then contact Mind Matters co-editor Gareth Cook, a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist at the Boston Globe, where he edits the Sunday Ideas section. He can be reached at garethideas AT gmail.com
Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at www.springernature.com/us). Scientific American maintains a strict policy of editorial independence in reporting developments in science to our readers. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
External and internal facial features modulate processing of vertical but not horizontal spatial relations.
Some years ago an asymmetry was reported for the inversion effect for horizontal (H) and vertical (V) relational face manipulations (Goffaux & Rossion, 2007). Subsequent research examined whether a specific disruption of long-range relations underlies the H/V inversion asymmetry (Sekunova & Barton, 2008). Here, we tested how detection of changes in interocular distance (H) and eye height (V) depends on cardinal internal features and external feature surround. Results replicated the H/V inversion asymmetry. Moreover, we found very different face cue dependencies for both change types. Performance and inversion effects did not depend on the presence of other face cues for detecting H changes. In contrast, accuracy for detecting V changes strongly depended on internal and external features, showing cumulative improvement when more cues were added. Inversion effects were generally large, and larger with external feature surround. The cue independence in detecting H relational changes indicates specialized local processing tightly tuned to the eyes region, while the strong cue dependency in detecting V relational changes indicates a global mechanism of cue integration across different face regions. These findings suggest that the H/V asymmetry of the inversion effect rests on an H/V anisotropy of face cue dependency, since only the global V mechanism suffers from disruption of cue integration as the major effect of face inversion. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Menu
review
Who knew? Did you know? I’d heard that Austin was the place-to-be in Texas. I am here to tell you that given my recent work trips to H-Town there are restaurants here that could rival anywhere else.
You want a list? Boom. Here is it.
Number 1 with a bullet – Uchi. You’re still sitting there? You haven’t made a reservation and started driving yet? I see I’m going to have to list out some reasons for you to get going. How about the fact that they’re serving foie nigiri – which may be the single most delicious bite of food I’ve ever had. It’s seared foie gras on a little quinoa bed and it is roll-your-eyes-up-into-your-head-and-moan good. Ooh, I just closed my eyes picturing it. I go to Uchi with my friend MC and we always get the Brussels sprouts. I don’t usually like Brussels sprouts, but I love this dish. Caramelized and crisp little morsels in a sweet chili sauce… I strongly urge you to try them even if you think you don’t like Brussels sprouts. We’ve had the walu walu which is oak-grilled escolar (fish) with candied citrus and yuzu. Delish. We’ve had the bacon tataki which, come on, is delish. But last time I was in town we tried the jar jar duck. You need to try it too. Not only is it delectable, it is also a little bit theatrical. It arrives at your table in a cloudy jar, and when the lid is unscrewed, the applewood smoke wafts out. Stir that baby up and tuck in. You can end your meal with the peanut butter semifreddo or the fried milk; but I am partial to the lemon gelato with pistachios and white balsamic. It strikes the perfect end note for me as I blissfully roll out.
Uchi is a higher end restaurant and I have dropped a pretty penny there. If you’re looking for amazing food that is not as hard on your wallet, head to BRC. BRC or Big Red erm… Rooster… is a gastropub that has a great neighborhood feel to it. I adore their velvety red wallpaper. They also have one of the best deviled eggs I’ve ever eaten. You’re really not going to beat a deviled egg that has bacon jam and a fried oyster on top. You’re just not. Their whole menu is decadent. Think not only fried oysters and bacon jam, but foie gras topped burgers, short ribs on salad, honey roasted cauliflower with sherry vinegar. If you’re not stuffed (and even if you are) please do not leave without ordering the red velvet cheesecake. Brought in from a related bakery Petite Sweets, this is not a mere piece of red velvet cake topped with regular cheesecake. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure how they do it. It just looks like deep, red, full-on cheesecake through and through. If you’re a good little reader, I will post a pic of the crimson deliciousness which I am clearly not describing well at all.
I can rattle off a few more gems so that this post doesn’t drone on and on… though it’ll be tough to keep it short. Visit Pollo Brava for some dirt cheap but incredibly tasty Peruvian food. The Lomo Saltado is very good. It is excellent when doused with aji amarillo sauce. This chain boasts the only Lucuma (Peruvian fruit) flavored desserts in Houston. Our office catered Gatlin’s BBQ for “Go Texan” Day. I was in BBQ heaven feasting on their baby back ribs, homemade spicy sausage and pink ring smoked brisket. The accompaniments of fresh bread, pickles, onions, jalapenos and ranch style beans hit the spot. This might be my favorite BBQ, and it’s easy to see why they’ve won so many awards. It might have been even tastier because I was wearing cowboy boots when I ate lunch. Go Texan! Underbelly is the relatively new hotness boasting a new daily menu chock full of local and organic ingredients. Particularly memorable was the fresh baked bread with green onion butter and the Korean braised goat & dumplings. Finally, I’ll end with the surprising choice of Flemings Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar in Upper Kirby. A group of officemates and I went there because we had an “in” with a co-owner and sommelier. In a town that is rife with steak joints I was surprised to have one of the best steaks I can remember. I ordered the tomahawk chop which doesn’t seem to be on the regular menu, and I had them prepare it extra crusty. I honestly don’t remember what the extra treatment was called having been plied with lots of good red wine by Sam, our “in”. All I know is that the char was fantastic, and it truly melted in my mouth.
So that, dear reader, is my ode to Houston. I am excited to come down here every so often because MC always has a fun new place to take me to, be it upscale or divey. Who cares though right? As long as the food is delicious!
Did you notice how I totally avoided the several year gap between blog posts? I am a sneaky kitten. With any luck I can bust out more frequent posts for your reading enjoyment. Anything for you. Xx
Ending the evening with Red Velvet Cheesecake. You know you want some.
Happy Birthday to me! Man, I really love my birthday. I’m happy from the moment I wake up and I revel in the birthday wishes that pour in online, on the phone, by text and from my friends and co-workers that I see. How can you not be happy on a day when everyone wishes you and calls to tell you they love you?!
Celebrate, celebrate, celebrate!
In a happy coincidence my boss has the same birthday as me. Even better, he thinks it’s totally cool that we share the day and we walk around all day annoying our team by constantly reminding them that February 3rd is the best day of the year. They roll their eyes and we laugh like crazy. If you’re rolling your eyes now, you’re obviously not born on February 3rd.
Well the boss and I obviously had to celebrate the momentous day by going out to lunch. A group of us went to The Elm Street Oyster House in Greenwich. I’d never been there before and had heard good things so I was eager to try it for myself. We walked to the restaurant located just off of Greenwich Avenue, on Elm Street. It’s not a very big place. You enter the restaurant on one side with a bar with exposed brick face and lots of lovely dark wood, which I love. Cross over to the dining room and you’ll find white walls with bold colorful artwork and lots of light pouring in from the large windows.
Obviously seafood was what we were in the mood for. Upon first glance the menu seemed imaginative though a little on the expensive side considering what I would expect to pay for lunch. This is, after all, Greenwich.
I chose shrimp cocktail for an appetizer, and for my entrée I had the Maryland Crab Cakes & Zucchini Fritter with Sautéed Spinach. The shrimp cocktail was quite good… good size and not ice cold. The cocktail sauce was of the ubiquitous red variety, I don’t know if it was homemade, but I’m a fan of the bottled stuff so I was happy. I wanted to love the crab cakes – but I didn’t. They were made with flaked crab, rather than lump meat. To be honest I have yet to find a crab cake that is really rave-worthy. The potato zucchini fritter was clever in thought, though I don’t think it quite hit the mark either. It might have been better with a crispier texture.
I had mild plate envy looking at what one of my co-workers ordered. He got the Lump Crab Salad Sandwich with melted Jack cheese, mesquite fries and corn relish. It looked really delicious and he seemed to really enjoy it, but I was aiming for something a little healthier or at least not covered in cheese. (I had a training appointment scheduled at the gym that evening and so guilt helped me make my selection.)
All in all it was a pleasant meal, but I didn’t find the need to tell anyone about it, which is usually a good indication of an exceptional dining experience for me.
So birthday lunch didn’t set off fireworks, but I am looking forward to birthday weekend plans. And before the day ends I’m pretty sure that my boss and I can come up with a dozen reasons why Aquarians rule or why February 3rd should be a national holiday. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
Assining values to class variables
I'll try to keep this simple.
class MyClass {
private int x = 3;
}
vs.
class MyClass {
private int x;
public MyClass() {
x = 3;
}
}
What's the difference between the two and how do these differences come into play?
Thanks in advance.
A:
class MyClass {
private int x = 3;
}
is same as
class MyClass {
private int x;
MyClass() { // default constructor based on the class access modifier
x = 3;
}
}
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
The Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets are heading home from China, their roles as unwitting participants in a geopolitical drama that neither team had any role in starting or escalating now over.
The Nets beat the Lakers 91-77 in Shenzhen, China on Saturday, capping a two-game preseason series in China that was overshadowed by the fallout from a tweet on the protests in the country about Hong Kong by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey. The league has played preseason games in China every year since 2007, with the exception of the lockout-shortened season in 2011. Now it’s unclear if the fractured relationship can be mended for the series to continue next year.
“The guys went over there to play and they don’t want to let those fans down that want to see them play,” National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts said in an interview from New York between the two games. “It’s totally not what anyone expected, but they were there and prepared to play.”
So they played.
Saturday’s game had a feel very similar to Thursday in Shanghai , when Chinese officials did not permit the teams and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to hold pregame or postgame media sessions inside the arena. This time, it was the call of the NBA and the teams to not hold news conferences — a decision made without consulting the Chinese, and it wasn’t clear if government officials would have slapped the same restrictions on the NBA for the matchup in Shenzhen anyway.
There were posts on the Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo suggesting fans boycott the game, though that apparently did not materialize. Many fans arrived in Shenzhen wearing jerseys, though some taped over the NBA logo in a show of protest.
Wang Yiwei, 24, wore a Cleveland Cavaliers jersey with James’ name and number on the back. He applied a Chinese flag sticker over the NBA logo.
“I don’t have any opportunity to watch him playing in the United States,” Wang said. “So it would be my once-in-a-lifetime chance to watch his match tonight. The NBA controversy came out right before the match and I have mixed feelings right now.”
The NBA and its players have been criticized by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. for playing the games and for not saying more about China’s human rights record. Journalist and entrepreneur Bill Bishop, who writes and publishes a newsletter about China called Sinocism, appeared to defend the decision to keep the teams quiet by asking on Twitter “what can they or their players say that won’t make things worse on either side?”
That was a sentiment some shared in the U.S. as well. Golden State’s Draymond Green said it wouldn’t be wise for him to comment on specifics of the China-Hong Kong matter because he did not understand every nuance, a stance that Warriors coach Steve Kerr also expressed in recent days.
“I think it would be naive of me to say, ‘Oh, I think it’ll all be fine and blow over,'” Roberts said. “I wish I could say that with some confidence, but I can’t. It certainly stunned me that the government would take the position that it took. Having said that, the one thing I don’t allow myself to forget is the Chinese people love basketball. They absolutely love basketball.”
This rift involving China and the NBA began Oct. 4, when Morey tweeted an image that said “Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong.” Chinese officials — and, apparently, even former Rockets star Yao Ming — took offense to Morey using Twitter to express support for anti-government protesters.
Yao is now the president of the Chinese Basketball Association, which suspended its ties to the Rockets over the tweet. Events in China promoting the Lakers-Nets series were canceled, NBA media partner Tencent said it was evaluating its plans to cover the league, and China state broadcaster CCTV did not air either preseason game — despite the fact they would have likely drawn massive viewership in the basketball-crazed country.
Other Chinese corporations suspended their relationships, at least for now, with the NBA as well as part of the fallout. The NBA is not the first major corporation to deal with criticism from China over political differences. Mercedes-Benz, Delta Air Lines, hotel operator Marriott, fashion brand Zara and others also have found themselves in conflicts with China in recent years.
In most cases, those firms snuffed out the issues with an apology. The NBA has not gone that route, instead supporting Morey’s right to expression. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Bulgaria former presidential advisor with grim predictions about local economy
Date: 27.11.2008
The upcoming several months are going to be a test for Bulgaria's economic and political future, according to the Bulgarian economy expert Professor Dimitar Ivanov, who spoke on Wednesday at a round table about he global financial crisis, organized by the municipality of Sofia.
Ivanov predicted a 4% decline of the country's economic growth and a sharp decline in all business sectors.
The decline was going to be the mots noticeable in the sectors of construction, real estate, finances, tourism, which currently constitute 60% of Bulgaria's Gross Domestic Product.
"The business activity in the country is collapsing. And we have a Prime Minister, who, to be honest, meets each proposal coming from the Opposition with his unprecedented formula of "Hello actors from the circus," the Professor stated.
The financial crisis will have a duration of several year, Ivanov further explained, citing the official forecast of the International Monetary Fund, showing that the global economy is entering recession to last all through 2009.
The Professor, who is a former economy advisor the Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov, pointed out that foreign banks in Bulgaria were at greater danger of bankruptcy than even the ones in the US.
We've tried to make the information on this web site as accurate as possible,
but it is provided 'as is' and we accept no responsibility for any loss, injury or
inconvenience sustained by anyone resulting from this information. You should verify
critical information (like visas, health and safety, customs and transportation)
with the relevant authorities before you travel. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
358 Mich. 338 (1960)
100 N.W.2d 713
SULLIVAN
v.
EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION.
Docket No. 48, Calendar No. 47,914.
Supreme Court of Michigan.
Decided January 4, 1960.
*339 Roman V. Ceglowski, for plaintiff.
KAVANAGH, J.
Claimant was employed by defendant Ceco Steel Products Corporation as a laborer from August 2, 1950, to August 9, 1957. Monday, August 12th, was his next work day. On this day he advised the employer that he had some personal business "downtown" and that he was taking 1/2 day off to take care of this business. While "downtown" he met some friends and began to drink, eventually becoming intoxicated, was arrested and was sent to the Detroit house of correction for a 30-day period. He was released on Saturday, September 7th, from this sentence. On Thursday, August 15th, the employer received a telephone call from claimant's wife stating that the claimant was arrested for drunkenness and was incarcerated in the Detroit house of correction. On the following Friday claimant's wife picked up his check. She continued to call the employer 1 or 2 times each week thereafter while the claimant was in jail.
Claimant applied to his employer for a resumption of work either on Tuesday, September 10th, as alleged by the claimant, or on Thursday, September 12th, as testified to by the employer's witness. He was not reinstated. He had been removed from the payroll as a "voluntary quit" as of August 15, 1957.
On September 16, 1957, claimant filed a claim for unemployment benefits and the claim was denied. It was alleged he was disqualified under the provisions of the Michigan employment security act[*], section 29, subd (1) (a) (1) (CLS 1956, § 421.29 [Stat Ann 1957 Cum Supp § 17.531]), because his separation *340 was considered voluntary and in no way attributable to his employer. It was conceded that the employer received notice from the wife of the claimant on the fourth day of his absence from work, which is within the terms of the contract between the company and the union that in order not to be considered as a "voluntary quit" an employee is to give notice within 4 days.
A request for redetermination was filed by claimant, and prior determination affirmed by the commission on November 12, 1957. The referee who heard the case on November 25, 1957, affirmed the redetermination issued by the commission. The decision of the referee was affirmed by the appeal board on February 18, 1958. The decision of the appeal board was in turn affirmed by the late Joseph A. Moynihan, judge of the Wayne county circuit court, from which decision claimant appeals.
Section 29 of the Michigan employment security act (CLS 1956, § 421.29 [Stat Ann 1957 Cum Supp § 17.531]) provides, in part, as follows:
"(1) An individual shall be disqualified for benefits:
"(a) For the duration of his unemployment in all cases where the individual has: (1) Left his work voluntarily without good cause attributable to the employer or employing unit, or (2) has been discharged for misconduct connected with his work or for intoxication while at work."
The sole question before this Court is: May an employee who is discharged by his employer because of his forced absence from work, occasioned by his incarceration for being drunk, properly be disqualified for benefits under section 29, subd (1) (a) (1) of the employment security act on the theory that he left his work voluntarily without good cause attributable to his employer?
*341 A similar question was before this Court in the case of Thomas v. Employment Security Commission, 356 Mich 665. The majority opinion in that case, written by Chief Justice DETHMERS, controls the fact situation presented to us here. No service would be rendered the bench and bar in restating the legal reasoning and the citation of authorities referred to in the Thomas opinion. It should be sufficient to quote a part of the last paragraph, which reads as follows (p 670):
"There appears to have been nothing voluntary about this so far as claimant was concerned. On the contrary, at that juncture he was present at a place where he did not wish to be, jail, and, perforce, absent from the place where he did wish to be, his place of work."
Section 29 of the act is the disqualification section. Under subsection (1) (a) (2) thereof it specifically mentions discharge for misconduct connected with work or for intoxication while at work.
The legislature did not make provision for disqualification under the facts in this case. It is not the proper function of this Court to amend the statute to broaden or extend the disqualifications fixed by plain language by the legislature. Whether such a disqualification ought to be inserted in the act is an argument that should be presented to the legislature and not to this Court.
The order affirming the determination of the appeal board by the circuit judge is hereby reversed. Judgment may be entered in accordance with this opinion. Costs in favor of appellant.
DETHMERS, C.J., and SMITH, BLACK, and EDWARDS, JJ., concurred with KAVANAGH, J.
CARR, J. (dissenting).
The question at issue in this case is whether the plaintiff is entitled to unemployment *342 compensation under the provisions of the Michigan statute.[*] The employment security commission denied benefits. The referee before whom proofs were taken affirmed such action, and the employment security appeal board upheld the factual findings and legal conclusions of the referee. On appeal to the circuit court of Wayne county judgment was entered in accordance with the action of the appeal board.
The facts and legal questions at issue appear in the following excerpt from the opinion of the referee.
"Claimant was hired as a warehouse laborer by the Ceco Steel Products Corporation on August 2, 1950. He continued in this employment through August 9, 1957. Monday, August 12th, was his next work day. Work was available for the claimant. However, the claimant was absent on that day and in the next succeeding days. On Thursday, August 15th, the employer received a telephone advice from claimant's wife stating that the claimant was arrested for drunkenness and was incarcerated in the Detroit house of correction. Claimant's wife continued to call the employer 1 or 2 times in each week thereafter while the claimant was in jail.
"Claimant was found guilty of the charge of drunkenness and was sent to the Detroit house of correction for a 30-day period. However, he was given off 3 days for good behavior and was released on Saturday, September 7, 1957. Claimant applied to the employer for a resumption of work either on Tuesday, September 10th, as alleged by the claimant, or on Thursday, September 12th, as testified to by the employer's witness. He was not reinstated. He had been removed from the payroll as a voluntary quit as of August 15, 1957, because of said absence.
*343 "Claimant admitted that he had been arrested on Monday, August 12th, for being in a drunken stupor and had been confined at the Detroit house of correction through September 7, 1957. Claimant stated that he reported for a reinstatement on the job on Tuesday, September 10th, and was informed that he had been laid off. He has not been reinstated in said employment since.
"FINDINGS, REASONS AND CONCLUSIONS
"The question in this case deals with claimant's separation from work. The issue involves the terms of section 29 (1) (a) of the act. It is therein provided that an individual shall be disqualified for benefits for the duration of his unemployment (1) if he leaves his work voluntarily without good cause attributable to the employer, or (2) if he is discharged for misconduct connected with his work.
"A separation from work because of incarceration is generally held to constitute a voluntary leaving of the work, on the theory that the commission of the offense which leads to an arrest and a conviction, and an incarceration, was the voluntary act of the individual. Hence, the termination of the employment is the result of a voluntary act of the worker.
"In the instant case, the claimant voluntarily imbibed excessively in alcoholic spirits and was convicted of drunkenness, as a misdemeanor, a public offense. He was absent from work because of incarceration resulting from such conviction. On the basis of this record, the redetermination as issued by the commission must be sustained."
In view of the situation presented on this record, is plaintiff entitled to receive benefits from the unemployment reserves established under the statute? In determining the matter it is significant that the legislature in the declaration of policy, set forth in section 2 of the act, expressly declared that such reserves should be used "for the benefit of persons *344 unemployed through no fault of their own." In a comparatively recent decision the Pennsylvania court in Ault Unemployment Compensation Case, 188 Pa Super 260 (146 A2d 729), commented with reference to the nature and purpose of the unemployment reserve fund, saying in part (pp 263, 264):
"Every covered employee in this Commonwealth has an interest in the unemployment compensation fund, which is to protect him in case of unemployment through no fault of his own. The unemployment compensation authorities have a duty to every covered employed person to protect the fund against claims of those not entitled to payment out of it. They, likewise, have a duty to every unemployed person covered by the law to see that such person receives from the fund that to which he is entitled.
"An unemployment case is not a law suit between the employer and the employee, although it has sometimes mistakenly been considered as such. An unemployment compensation case is a claim by the unemployed person against the unemployment compensation fund.
"It is the duty of the referee and the board to determine all the facts those which favor the claimant, and those which would protect the fund from any improper or illegal payment to the claimant. Gagliardi Unemployment Compensation Case (1958) 186 Pa Super 142 (141 A2d 410)."
We are confronted here with a situation in which an employee voluntarily became intoxicated, was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to 30 days in the Detroit house of correction. He was thus removed from his employment as the result of voluntary conduct on his part. Under such circumstances it cannot be said that he became unemployed through no fault of his own. Quite naturally the employer, learning what had occurred, discharged him. That plaintiff's absence from his work interfered, at least *345 to some extent, with the employer's business is a matter of inference. It was misconduct of an employee affecting his work, at least to some extent, and bearing on his right to unemployment benefits, a problem discussed in Ault Unemployment Compensation Case, supra, and also in Shanor Unemployment Compensation Case, 188 Pa Super 301 (146 A2d 336). That an employer is entitled to discharge an employee indulging in conduct of such nature is not open to question.
It is provided in section 29, subd (1) (a) of the Michigan statute (CLS 1956, § 421.29 [Stat Ann 1957 Cum Supp § 17.531]) that an employee is disqualified for benefits:
"(a) For the duration of his unemployment in all cases where the individual has: (1) Left his work voluntarily without good cause attributable to the employer or employing unit, or (2) has been discharged for misconduct connected with his work or for intoxication while at work."
In the case at bar plaintiff was properly discharged as a result of his voluntary action which rendered it impossible for him to continue with his employment during the period of his incarceration. As noted, his employer was justified in discharging him. What plaintiff did amounted to his leaving his employment voluntarily and without fault on the part of his employer. To some extent at least it constituted a detriment to the employer's business. Under the circumstances plaintiff is not entitled to benefits from the reserve fund created to help those who are unemployed through no fault of their own.
The general policy and purpose of the Michigan statute, and authorities from other States, were discussed and cited in the minority opinion in Thomas v. Employment Security Commission, 356 Mich 665, 670. It is unnecessary to repeat what was there said. *346 In the present proceeding the employment security commission, the referee, the appeal board, and the circuit judge reviewing the matter on certiorari correctly determined the question involved. Under the law and the facts disclosed by the proofs, plaintiff is not entitled to benefits from the unemployment reserve fund.
The judgment of the circuit court should be affirmed.
KELLY and VOELKER, JJ., concurred with CARR, J.
NOTES
[*] CL 1948 and CLS 1956, § 421.1 et seq. (Stat Ann 1950 Rev and Stat Ann 1957 Cum Supp § 17.501 et seq.).
[*] PA 1936 (Ex Sess), No 1, as amended (CL 1948 and CLS 1956, § 421.1 et seq. [Stat Ann 1950 Rev and Stat Ann 1957 Cum Supp, § 17.501 et seq.]).
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Customer Reviews
I assumed that buying this chandelier would include a chain and ceiling plate. It did not, so I had to get them elsewhere. The chandelier looks okay, but the vases were a little wobbly and hard to get level (some of them tilted after screwing them in, so I had to bend the metal to make it sit right). For the price, I thought it would've been made a little better. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
HPMA copolymer-anticancer drug-OV-TL16 antibody conjugates. 3. The effect of free and polymer-bound adriamycin on the expression of some genes in the OVCAR-3 human ovarian carcinoma cell line.
The effect of an N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide (HPMA) copolymer-Adriamycin-OV-TLl6 antibody conjugate [P(GFLG)-ADR-Ab] on OVCAR-3 human ovarian carcinoma cells was studied. A nontargeted HPMA copolymer-ADR conjugate (P(GFLG)-ADR) and free ADR were the controls. The IC(50) doses were 0.65, 3.0, and 65 microM for free ADR, targeted P(GFLG)-ADR-Ab conjugate, and nontargeted P(GFLG)-ADR conjugate, respectively. These differences reflect the different mechanisms of cell entry of the compounds evaluated. Free ADR and HPMA copolymer-ADR conjugates had different impacts on the expression of MDR1, MRP, c-fos, c-jun, and bcl-2 genes which encode the P-glycoprotein (MDR1) and the multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP) efflux pumps, and play an important role in cell death signaling pathways (c-fos, c-jun, and bcl-2). Whereas high doses of free ADR induced MDR1 gene expression, HPMA copolymer-bound ADR appeared to be without effect. On the contrary, expression of the MRP gene was not influenced by free ADR, whereas HPMA copolymer-ADR conjugates seemed to suppress the gene expression in a concentration-dependent manner. There were differences in the expression of c-fos, c-jun, and bcl-2 genes after the incubation of OVCAR-3 cells with free and HPMA copolymer-bound ADR indicating differences in activation of cell death signaling pathways. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Automobiles and other vehicles provide a significant portion of transportation for commercial, government, and private entities. Vehicles, such as autonomous vehicles, drive on roadways, parking lots, and other areas when transporting passengers or objects from one location to another. An example application of autonomous vehicles is operating as a taxi or shuttle service that picks up one or more passengers in response to a transportation request. When operating as a taxi or shuttle service, the autonomous vehicle drives to a pickup location such that a passenger requesting the service can enter the vehicle. The vehicle then drives to a destination and allows the passenger to exit the vehicle. Before picking up another passenger, it is preferable that the vehicle interior is clean for the next passenger. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Introduction {#sec1}
============
Apart from mutations, all somatic cells in an organism nominally contain the same genetic instruction set.[@bib1] However, early in differentiation, gene expression varies according to position and nascent tissue morphogenesis, even for cells of the same nominal lineage. For example, although epithelial cells are recognizable morphologically and functionally, there are substantial differences in behavior between epithelial cells lining the upper airways and those lining the alveolae.[@bib2] Furthermore, these different parts of the tissue not only differentially express proteins, but are also contact and interact with different cell types. This is critically important for carrying out the specialized functions of differentiated tissue.
Cellular metabolism {#sec1.1}
-------------------
Metabolism is the essence of all live cells, which includes the basal metabolism needed to maintain basic critical cell functions, cell division proliferating, migration, and tissue-specific functions. These processes all require input of oxidizable matter from external sources both to generate energy (catabolism) and to provide building blocks for macromolecular synthesis (anabolism). Mammals are capable of only a limited subset of all metabolic processes, and rely to a significant extent on absorbing nutrients needed for biosynthesis, for example the essential amino acids and fatty acids. Even where the genes are present for synthesizing precursors, cells often will utilize exogenous molecules rather than synthesize them, as the energy costs are much lower, but which requires regulation of modes of transport, including specific transporters as well as pinocytosis.
The hydrolysis of ATP, and to a lesser extent GTP, is needed to drive thermodynamically unfavorable reactions, including maintaining membrane potentials and synthesis of macromolecules and their precursors, as well as for activating the small metabolites which are otherwise (fortunately) quite unreactive. The latter includes ATP + X- \> AMP-X (e.g. aminoacylation in protein synthesis) + PPi, A/G/U/CTP + Y - \> Y - A/G/U/CDP + PPi (production of activated sugars for glycosylation).
Cancer cells in a tumor need to survive, divide, and eventually metastasize. Survival, i.e. remaining viable without cell division still requires energy. Ultimately, this energy derives from the uptake and oxidation of exogenous nutrients, which can be used to replenish internal stores. Some cells are able to store molecules that can provide energy and/or carbon for precursors, which include fats in the form of lipid droplets[@bib3], [@bib4], [@bib5], [@bib6], [@bib7] and glycogen.[@bib8], [@bib9], [@bib10], [@bib11], [@bib12] Cells are also constantly recycling macromolecules, but such repair processes cannot be used for net growth, and also require energy both for breaking down proteins (cf proteasomal degradation) and for (re)making new bonds.
Autophagy has been of interest as a recycling mechanism that can be help cancer cells survive under conditions of extreme nutrient deprivation,[@bib13]^,^[@bib14] but net proliferation cannot be supported as the total biomass does not increase. That is, in the absence of exogenous nutrients, any internal stores will eventually deplete, and the cells will be unable to support cell maintenance and membrane potentials, and thus undergo necrosis. The same considerations apply to cell division, as without exogenous nutrients to produce biomass, the cells would have to become smaller on each division until eventually they become non-functional, a kind of metabolic "black holes". As part of an ecosystem, cancer cells may temporarily outcompete other stromal cells, which may die and release a balanced array of nutrients into the interstitial fluid, but absent the net input of exogenous nutrients to the tumor ecosystem as a whole, the system becomes self-limiting.
A longer term strategy for cancer cells instead, is to metastasize to other locations that have a richer source of nutrients, or to send out signals that induce cell breakdown elsewhere (such as muscle and adipose) and replenish the system with essential supplies (cf. cachexia[@bib5]^,^[@bib6]^,^[@bib15], [@bib16], [@bib17]). This is also ultimately self-limiting when the supply of whole organismal nutrients cannot keep up with the demands of the proliferating cancer.
What is needed to produce a new cell? {#sec1.2}
-------------------------------------
Eukaryotic cells are roughly 70% water, and the remaining 30% of solutes comprises primarily organic compounds-the various ions such as chloride, phosphate, sulfate, potassium calcium and magnesium account for 1--2% of the mass. The largest component of the biomass is protein, which is present at roughly 200 mg/mL in cells depending on size,[@bib18] or ca. 1.8 M in peptide units, and accounts for ca. 60--65% of the biomass by weight. The remainder of the biomass by weight comprises lipids, nucleic acids and complex carbohydrates, which vary from cell type to cell type and according to their metabolic state.[@bib19]^,^[@bib20] A diploid human cell contains 6.4 10^9^ nucleotides or 3.2 pg and ca. 15 pg ribonucleotides as RNA. For an epithelial cell of volume 2 pL, there would be 350--400 pg protein and ca. 100 pg of lipids and complex carbohydrates. Nucleic acids then account for only about 3% of the biomass. Small metabolites comprise ca. 3% of the biomass.[@bib19] Thus the macromolecular biomass collectively substantially outweighs the total amount of "small molecule" metabolites.
30 cell divisions will increase the cancer cell number 10^9^ fold, producing a new mass of 1--2 gm, with the synthesis of 0.3--0.6 g biomass. This is equivalent to approximately 3--4 mmol peptides. As 4 ATP equivalents are needed to form each peptide bond, the energy requirement for the protein component would be 12--16 mmol ATP, assuming all of the amino acids are transported the medium. Roughly half of the amino acids are essential so must be transported; the other 50% may be transported or synthesized de novo (see below). De novo synthesis requires uptake of carbon and nitrogen. Although the nucleotide content is low, the ATP requirement for complete synthesis of the nucleotides is relatively high.[@bib21] Lipids are also demanding in their carbon and energy requirements, and under conditions of poor availability of oxidizable substrates needed to generate energy, scavenging from the local environment is an alternative (see below).
Although it is common practice in areas such as microbial metabolism to measure the biomass, this is rarely done for cancer cells or tissues, which is puzzling given that the mass balance of carbon (and nitrogen) mass from different sources that end up in these different components is an important aspect of cell function and dynamics. Recently solid state NMR was applied to extracts of cells grown on ^13^C glucose, which enabled discrimination into generalized groups of molecules (e.g. protein, lipid, carbohydrate) in HeLa cells.[@bib22] This approach has the advantage of not requiring extensive separations into fine biochemical classes, at the cost of biochemical resolution, and there are some technical issues with quantification in CP-MAS NMR. Alternatives are to separate the major classes of macromolecules in cells, such as the nucleic acids,[@bib23] proteins[@bib24] and complex carbohydrates, and analyze the subunits after hydrolysis for total ^13^C (or ^15^N) as well as enrichment using high resolution NMR and/or mass spectrometry. Crucially, important volatile metabolites such as CO~2~ and NH~3~ are not often accounted for, which might be important on a molar basis via oxidative decarboxylation and deamidation reactions.
In this review we will briefly cover background basics of nutrient supply and transformations through metabolic networks, kinetics, and how pathways can be probed and quantified using Stable Isotope Resolved Metabolomics (SIRM), with recent examples relevant to the altered metabolism found inside the tumor microenvironment. We have recently reviewed labeling schemes and the MS and NMR-based analytical approaches for determining isotopomer and isotopologue distributions by stable isotope resolved metabolomics (SIRM) studies in different systems[@bib25], [@bib26], [@bib27], [@bib28]
Metabolic networks {#sec1.3}
------------------
Although pathways such as glycolysis are often drawn in isolation on metabolic charts, they are in practice embedded within complex networks, such that even local changes in activity can greatly impact flow through different parts of an extensive network. Consider a simple subnetwork as in [Fig. 1](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}. Glucose enters the cell via the glucose transporters, and is then phosphorylated to G6P, which has several possible immediate fates, e.g. the oxidative branch of the pentose phosphate pathway, glycogen synthesis and glycolysis. Many other intermediates of the Embden-Meyerhof pathway have several possible fates, including the non-oxidative branch of the PPP (F6P, GAP), hexosamine pathway (F6P), lipid synthesis (DHAP) serine/glycine synthesis (3PGA) and lactic fermentation/Ala or Krebs cycle (pyruvate), involving separate compartments. Other nutrients can also enter the glycolytic pathway via glycogenolysis, and other hexoses such as galactose[@bib29] and fructose.[@bib30], [@bib31], [@bib32]Figure 1Metabolic subnetwork centered on glucose metabolism. Double headed arrows represent reversible reactions catalyzed by the same enzyme; two arrows represent reactions catalyzed by different enzymes. Enzyme names are in red. G6P: glucose-6-phosphate; F6P fructose-6-phosphate; F1,6BP fructose-1,6-bisphosphate; GAP glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate; DHAP dihydroxyacetone phosphate; 1,3bisPG 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate; 2PGA 2-phosphogycerate; PEP phosphoenolpyruvate; Pyr pyruvate; OAA oxaloacetate; AcCoA acetyl CoA; Lac lactate; Ru5P ribose-5-phosphate; GSH reduced glutathione; GALK galactose 1 kinase; GALT galcaose-1-phosphate uridyltransferase; HK hexokinase; G6Pase glucose-6-phosphatase; PGI phosphoglucose isomerase; PFK1 phosphofructokinase 1; FBPase fructose 1,6 bisphosphatase; ALD aldolase; GAPDH glyceraldehyde-3- phosphate dehydrogenase; PGK phosphoglycerate kinase; PGM phosphoglycerate mutase; ENO enolase; PK pyruvate kinase; LDH lactate dehydrogenase; ALT alanine aminotransferase; PC pyruvate carboxylase; PDH pyruvate dehydrogenase; GOT glutamate oxaloacetate aminotransferase; PPPox oxidative branch of the pentose phosphate pathway; PPPnx non-oxidative branch of the pentose phosphate pathway.Figure 1
Metabolic flux {#sec1.4}
--------------
The flux through glycolysis is determined by multiple factors, which include the *active* protein expression levels of the various enzymes, substrate availability, product levels, allosteric effector levels, and posttranslational modifications that modulate the activity.
Consider a simple Michaelis--Menten enzyme that catalyzes the interconversion of substrate S and product P (a so-called "uni--uni" reaction):$$S + E\overset{\text{k}_{\text{s}}}{\Leftrightarrow}ES\overset{\text{k}_{2}}{\underset{\text{k}_{-2}}{\Leftrightarrow}}EP\overset{\text{k}_{\text{p}}}{\Leftrightarrow}E + P$$K~s~ and K~p~ are the apparent dissociation constants for the substrate and product, respectively and k~2~, k~-2~ represent the rate constants for the chemical reaction in the enzyme active site. At steady state, the instantaneous flux, J, is given by:here e~t~ is the total enzyme concentration = e + es + ep and s, p, e, es, ep are the free concentrations of S, P, E, ES and EP. k~2~e~t~ may also be written as *V*~max~.
Eq. [(1B)](#fd1B){ref-type="disp-formula"} and [Fig. 2](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}A shows that the flux is a hyperbolic function of the free concentration of the substrate, s but is also subject to inhibition by the product (increases the apparent K~m~ for S) and also demonstrates how the sign of the flux changes as the ratio of s/p varies with respect to the overall equilibrium constant K~eq~ = \<p\>/\<s\>, as expressed via the term \[1-p/sK~eq~\]. As [Fig. 2](#fig2){ref-type="fig"} shows, the net flux, J, can be positive, negative or zero (i.e. at equilibrium).Figure 2Flux simulations for a reversible enzyme. J is the flux calculated as a function of substrate concentration s from different concentrations of product p (0, 10, 50 μM) from Eq. [(1A)](#fd1A){ref-type="disp-formula"}, [(1B)](#fd1B){ref-type="disp-formula"}, [(1C)](#fd1C){ref-type="disp-formula"}, [(1D)](#fd1D){ref-type="disp-formula"} using the following values: K~S~ = 5 μM, K~p~ = 10 μM, k~2~ = 5 s^−1^ k~-2~ = 3 s^−1^. K~eq~ = 3.33333. es is the corresponding concentration of the ES complex calculated according to Eq. [(1D)](#fd1D){ref-type="disp-formula"}. **(A)**. Net flux for *p* = 0,10,20 μM (e~t~ = 1). **(B)**. es for *p* = 0,10,20 μM (e~t~ = 1).Figure 2
The net flux is linearly dependent on the total *active* enzyme concentration, and further on the intrinsic catalytic properties of the enzyme, e.g. k~cat~ and the K~m~ values. The enzyme concentration is determined by the balance between the rates of synthesis and degradation of the protein, which are themselves subject to regulation by numerous factors including gene expression, mRNA stability, oxidative stress, aminoacyl tRNA availability and ribosome number, as well as many others. Furthermore, the enzyme concentration can vary greatly in different parts of the cell ("compartmentation"), as can substrate and product concentrations. An allosteric effector (i.e. a compound that does not directly compete for S or P) may alter either or both K~m~ and k~cat~, positively or negatively, unlike a competitive inhibitor, which can only increase the K~m~.
The majority of metabolic studies allow the reactions to occur in vivo, followed by quenching and extraction of the metabolites for quantitative analysis. This immediately destroys all information about compartmentation and relevant pool sizes, posing significant difficulties for flux analysis in eukaryotic cells or tissues. Furthermore, the form of Eq. [(1B)](#fd1B){ref-type="disp-formula"} is deceptively simple, because it is written in terms of free substrate and product concentration. However, neither "free" nor "concentration" is usually measured in extracts, rather what is obtained is the total substrate abundance, which is the sum of the free substrate and that bound to all the proteins that bind it, or s~t~ = s+Σesi. The actual substrate concentration in the relevant compartment that contains the enzymes is generally unknown. For low abundance enzymes and high abundance substrate, s~t~ ≈ s. However, for some central pathways, the enzyme concentrations can be high and even comparable to the substrate concentration.[@bib33]^,^[@bib34] In that case, the flux in terms of total substrate concentration and free product concentration is given by:
At steady state, the flux through a linear pathway is identical at each point in the pathway. However the reality is more complicated as there are usually multiple branch points in metabolic networks. Furthermore, pathway flux is more likely to be measured as consumption at the start of the pathway and/or production at the end. The following simple scheme ([Scheme 1](#sch1){ref-type="fig"}) shows how this can be misleading.[@bib35]Scheme 1Simple branched kinetic pathway. k~i~ are rate constants for the interconversions. The rate of G consumption then is --dg/dt = k~1~ g where lower case *g* genotes concentration of the metabolite G. Expressions for the rates of production of A, C and Lac are developed in the text.Scheme 1
This branched pathway shows that there are two sources of Lac, namely G and B, and not all of G or B ends up in Lac as some is converted to A and C. To determine the various contributing sources and sinks, tracer methodology is needed, such as via the use of stable isotope-enriched precursors,.[@bib28] For this scheme, if G is isotopically enriched, the enrichment in Lac will determined by the relative rate of utilization of G and B, as described in [Scheme 1](#sch1){ref-type="fig"}, as follows:
Steady state is maintained if g exceeds the transporter K~m~ value, or is supplied at a rate equal to that of its utilization.
Here l~o~ represents the extracellular concentration of Lac, that might be easily measured, and Eq. [(2A)](#fd2A){ref-type="disp-formula"} describes the total rate of extracellular lactate production. Suppose the system were supplied with isotope enriched G, i.e. G\*, then the rate of production of Lac~o~\* would be:
The fraction enrichment, f in the extracellular lactate (Lac~o~) would then be
For changes in lo between two time points, *f* = 1/{1 + k~6~ (k~2~ + k~5~)b/k~1~k~2~g\*}. This function approaches unity when k~1~g\*\>\>k~6~b.
The fraction of lactate produced from G that is consumed, using a tracer, would be
In the limit that the glucose utilization is a linear function of time
This function approaches unity only when both k~5~ and k~7~ are small.
Relationship to glycolytic flux {#sec1.5}
-------------------------------
Despite the above difficulties, the rate of glycolysis is important to determine in the analysis of carbohydrate metabolism, and there are several approaches to determining this flux.[@bib36] The Embden-Meyerhof pathway (EMP) describes the conversion of intracellular glucose to pyruvate, which has numerous possible fates depending on the cellular state and conditions. Although the EMP is usually written as a linear pathway, in practice it is embedded in a more complex network of reactions, such that many of the intermediates have alternative fates ([Fig. 1](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}). For example, G6P is also the entry point into the oxidative branch of the pentose phosphate pathway as well as glycogenesis after isomerization to G1P. Furthermore, the Leloir pathway may convert lactose-derived galactose to G1P and G6P.[@bib29] F6P is the entry point into hexosamine synthesis, as well as being an intermediate in the non-oxidative branch of the PPP. DHAP, a product of the aldolase reaction, generally equilibrates with GAP via TIM (TPI), but is also the precursor to the glycerol subunit of the glycerolipids. Fructokinase converts fructose to F1P which via aldolase B produces DHAP and glyceraldehyde[@bib30]^,^[@bib31] and thence to lactate and/or glycogen.[@bib37] 3PGA is the starting point for the serine--glycine pathway, and pyruvate may be transaminated to Ala, reduced to lactate (fermentation), oxidatively decarboxylated and condensed with CoA to make AcCoA via pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH), or carboxylated via pyruvate carboxylase (PC). The key concept is that is rare for all of the glucose to be converted to lactate, so measurement of lactate production alone is not a direct measurement of glycolysis. Indeed, pyruvate can and is also made from other carbon sources via malic enzymes (which has three isoforms), such that glycolysis will be overestimated. Similarly, glucose uptake rates alone will also overestimate the glycolytic flux or -dg/dt \> F~EMP~ \> dlac/dt.
Glycolytic flux is also estimated from the rate of proton extrusion, or ECAR.[@bib38] This is usually equated with the release of lactate, which generally occurs as a lactate-proton symport via the monocarboxylate transporters.[@bib38] If -- and only if -- the symport of lactate and protons has a stoichiometry of 1:1, then the ECAR is a measure of the lactate release. However, as stated above the rate of lactate release is not a direct measure of the EMP. Furthermore the source of protons in the cytosol and those extruded into the extracellular space (which is the ECAR) is complex. Even simple considerations of lactic fermentation indicate that the stoichiometry of proton production by the EMP and export is not necessarily integral. The numbers of protons produced by the EMP is pH-dependent, and the LDH reaction itself consumes protons.[@bib39] This is further complicated if glycogenolysis is also occurring.[@bib40] Indeed, lactate/proton symport is not the only source of extracellular acidification, as other transporters and carbonic anhydrases among others can also contribute.[@bib41]^,^[@bib42] To determine the absolute rate of proton release (rather than pH changes) requires accounting for the buffer capacity of the medium. An alternative approach is to measure the release of ^3^H to water from \[5-^3^H\] glucose which occurs late in glycolysis (via the enolase-catalyzed reaction).[@bib36] However, ^3^H would also be lost at the first triose step as GAP and DHAP are interconverted via TIM, and the stoichiometry will also depend on how much DHAP is also removed from glycolysis as glycerol-3-phosphate (cf. [Fig. 1](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}).
In summary, determining absolute, or even relative intracellular fluxes, requires a model for analyzing the experimental data. [Scheme 1](#sch1){ref-type="fig"} is an example of a very simplified model, which shows that in the presence of reversible reaction and multiple inputs and outputs, as in glycolysis, pathway fluxes can be difficult to determine without appropriate network modeling using tracers.
Determining enzyme, substrate and modulator concentrations-compartmentation {#sec1.6}
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is common for different isoforms of enzymes to be located in different compartments, which means that they will be exposed to different concentrations of substrate, products, and allosteric modulators, as well as potentially having different levels of expression and intrinsic catalytic properties (cf Eq. [(1A)](#fd1A){ref-type="disp-formula"}, [(1B)](#fd1B){ref-type="disp-formula"}, [(1C)](#fd1C){ref-type="disp-formula"}, [(1D)](#fd1D){ref-type="disp-formula"}). As previously stated, the absolute amounts of a given enzyme present in a given compartment depend on the rate of gene expression, mRNA stability, rate of translation, protein stability, and transport into the destined compartment. Substrate and product levels then depend on the activity of the enzymes and any transport processes between compartments.
Examples that are important in cancer metabolism are GOT1,2, IDH1,2,3, ACO1,2 (thus 2OG and citrate can be interconverted in the cytoplasm as well as in the mitochondrial matrix); ME1,2,3; which are found in either the cytosol or in the mitochondria, and may be involved in cycling metabolites across the mitochondrial membrane for which there are no direct transporters (cf. NADH and the Asp/malate shuttle)[@bib43] or NADPH-dependent hydride shuttle across the mitochondrial membranes via IDH1 and 2.[@bib44]
The amounts of substrates and enzymes that are determined in most metabolic studies however result from extraction of cells or tissues and therefore are averaged over all compartments.
The tumor microenvironment and nutrient sources {#sec2}
===============================================
Although much of our understanding of cancer cell proliferation and survival has been learned from cell culture,[@bib45], [@bib46], [@bib47], [@bib48], [@bib49], [@bib50], [@bib51] there are many limitations of this model.[@bib35]^,^[@bib52], [@bib53], [@bib54] In addition to the lack of cell--cell interactions, the absence of stroma, and a full extracellular matrix, the nutrient supply is also usually very different from what is found in actual diseased tissues (cf. [Fig. 3](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}).Figure 3Tumor microenvironment and metabolism. Cancer cells compete with stromal cells for nutrients supplied by the blood, especially glucose, oxygen and lipids, and excrete compounds such as PD-L1 lactate and protons that are immunosuppressive, and which induce changes in macrophage polarization and thence TILs. Cancer cells may also engulf ECM and debris by macropinocyosis to fuel growth and survival (see text). CAF cancer associated fibroblast; TAM tumor associated macrophage; TIL tumor infiltrating lymphocyte; CA cancer cell. ECM + IF extracellular matrix + interstitial fluid.Figure 3
[Table 1](#tbl1){ref-type="table"} summarizes the metabolite composition of three commonly used cell culture media, in comparison with adult humans.Table 1Composition of common cell culture media and human blood.Table 1CompoundRPMI1640[a](#tbl1fna){ref-type="table-fn"}DMEM[b](#tbl1fnb){ref-type="table-fn"}Hams F12[c](#tbl1fnc){ref-type="table-fn"}Adult blood[d](#tbl1fnd){ref-type="table-fn"}Glycine0.1330.400.10.25 ± 0.06[l]{.smallcaps}-Alanine000.10.2--0.6[l]{.smallcaps}-Arginine[f](#tbl1fnf){ref-type="table-fn"}1.150.41.00.11 ± 0.03[l]{.smallcaps}-Asparagine0.37900.10.04 ± 0.02[l]{.smallcaps}-Aspartic acid0.15000.010.02 ± 0.01[l]{.smallcaps}-Cystine0.2080.200.1 ± 0.03[l]{.smallcaps}-Cysteine000.20.03--0.3[l]{.smallcaps}-Glutamic Acid0.13600.10.05--0.15[l]{.smallcaps}-Glutamine2.05410.6 ± 0.1[l]{.smallcaps}-Histidine[e](#tbl1fne){ref-type="table-fn"}0.09680.20.0740.09 ± 0.01[l]{.smallcaps}-Hydroxyproline0.153000.015 ± 0.01[l]{.smallcaps}-Isoleucine[e](#tbl1fne){ref-type="table-fn"}0.3820.80.030.07 ± 0.01[l]{.smallcaps}-Leucine[e](#tbl1fne){ref-type="table-fn"}0.3820.80.10.16 ± 0.03[l]{.smallcaps}-Lysine[e](#tbl1fne){ref-type="table-fn"}0.2740.80.20.18 ± 0.03[l]{.smallcaps}-Methionine[e](#tbl1fne){ref-type="table-fn"}0.1010.20.0320.03 ± 0.06[l]{.smallcaps}-Phenylalanine[e](#tbl1fne){ref-type="table-fn"}0.09090.40.030.06 ± 0.02[l]{.smallcaps}-Proline0.17400.030.18 ± 0.05[l]{.smallcaps}-Serine0.2860.40.10.15 ± 0.03[l]{.smallcaps}-Threonine[e](#tbl1fne){ref-type="table-fn"}0.1680.80.10.13 ± 0.03[l]{.smallcaps}-Tryptophan[e](#tbl1fne){ref-type="table-fn"}0.02450.0780.010.055 ± 0.03[l]{.smallcaps}-Tyrosine[f](#tbl1fnf){ref-type="table-fn"}0.1110.40.030.07 ± 0.04[l]{.smallcaps}-Valine[e](#tbl1fne){ref-type="table-fn"}0.1710.80.10.2 ± 0.06[d]{.smallcaps} Glucose11.125104 (3--6)[d]{.smallcaps}-Fructose0000.03--0.06[g](#tbl1fng){ref-type="table-fn"}[d]{.smallcaps}-Galactose0000.03--0.12[l]{.smallcaps}-lactate0001--2pyruvate0/0.10/0.10.02--0.25Acetate0000.04 ± 0.023-OHbutyrate0000.04 ± 0.03GSH0.00326000.001--1HCO~3~^-^23.81441425[^1][^2][^3][^4][^5][^6][^7][^8]
In many cancer cell studies, the media are supplemented with 10% FBS, which is the only source of exogenous lipids to the cells, unless explicitly stripped and replaced by defined lipid composition. As FBS is variable in composition, some studies have used dialyzed serum, which depletes all of the small metabolites, so that the concentrations in the culture medium are 10% lower. However, the concentrations of amino acids, glucose and bicarbonate differ greatly from one medium to another, and differ also from the concentrations observed in adult human blood, which is itself variable ([Table 1](#tbl1){ref-type="table"}). The media do not contain lipids, most of which are insoluble in water, so are supplied by the FBS, mainly as fatty acids bound to serum albumin. It has been reported that some proliferating cells obtain most of their fatty acids from exogenous sources[@bib56]^,^[@bib57] rather than from synthesis, though other cancer cells upregulate fatty acid synthase.[@bib58]^,^[@bib59] The cholesterol concentration in human adult blood is 4--6 mM (bound to lipoproteins), and total palmitate is around 1 mM.[@bib55] To control the levels of these important nutrients, charcoal and solvent stripping may be needed.[@bib60] Further, many cell culture experiments are carried out at ca. 20% oxygen and 5% CO~2~, neither of which are typical for most tissues. The oxygen concentration in solid tumors can drop below 1% in some parts. It is perhaps not surprising that differences are observed between different culture systems, both at the nutrient level,[@bib61] and the responses engendered by a 3D environment.[@bib62]
It is also crucial to keep in mind, that although some nutrients are present at low concentrations in blood, the blood represents a very large constantly replenishable reservoir-even at 20 μM Asp the total amount in 5 L blood is 100 μmol, which is enough to make protein and nucleic acids for ca. 10^9^ cells, or a \>1 cm^3^ tumor. The major issue is more likely the rate of delivery within a solid tumor, which may be a significant factor in the rate of tumor growth.
Sources of lactate and utilization {#sec2.1}
----------------------------------
It has been known for decades that lactate produced by various tissues in an organism can be taken up by other tissues for gluconeogenesis (e.g. liver and kidney via the Cori cycle[@bib63]) or for oxidation as an energy source under appropriate conditions (e.g. cardiomyocytes[@bib64]^,^[@bib65] and neurons[@bib66]^,^[@bib67]). More recently, lactate has been shown to be an important nutrient source for tumors.[@bib54]^,^[@bib68], [@bib69], [@bib70], [@bib71] The concentration of lactate in adult human blood is in the range 1--3 mM under resting conditions,[@bib72] and a substantial fraction of this lactate originates from lactic fermentation by the erythrocytes,[@bib73] which convert most of the readily available glucose to lactate via glycolysis, with loss of a small fraction of carbon as CO~2~ via the oxidative branch of the PPP (the rest is returned to glycolysis via the non oxidative branch) and is found in abundance in most tissues. The monocarboxylate transporters (MCT) are freely reversible, and lactate is symported with a proton.[@bib74]^,^[@bib75] Recently it has been suggested that this proton dependence may be important for determining the net flow of lactate in and out of tumors.[@bib76] Similarly, the interconversion of lactate and pyruvate is readily reversible via the activity of LDH, so the net production of extracellular lactate or intracellular pyruvate is governed by the disequilibrium activity ratios (cf Eq. [(1B)](#fd1B){ref-type="disp-formula"}):
There would be a net inward flow of lactate from the extracellular environment if Γ~MCT~ \< 1 which will occur if the extracellular space is more acidic than the cytoplasm (generally the case in tumors[@bib41]^,^[@bib77]) and/or the intracellular lactate concentration is lower than the (local) extracellular lactate. For example, a pH difference of 0.5 across the plasma membrane is equivalent to a proton ratio of 3.16 fold, which would support a net influx of lactate plus a proton, at an intracellular to extracellular lactate ratio of exactly 3.16. Similarly, there will be a net production of pyruvate from lactate if Γ~LDH~ \> K~eq~, which is ca. 2.5 E4 at pH 7[@bib78] which corresponds to a pH-independent equilibrium constant of 2.5 E11 M^−1^ favoring lactate. As the concentration ratio of free NAD^+^/NADH in cancer cells is maintained in the 700--1500 depending on cell type and presumably conditions[@bib79] there would be net net intracellular flux for pyruvate to lactate for lac/pyr ratios up to 11 to 5 at pH 7.5 or 36 to 17 at pH 7. Given the uncertainties in K~eq~ and compartmentation of NAD^+^/NADH ratios, this can be regarded as a poised system, and the net flux would need only modest changes in the lac/pyr ratio. For example, where thin tissue slices are incubated in the presence of physiological glucose concentrations, there is certainly a net excretion of glucose-derived lactate into the medium,[@bib80]^,^[@bib81] but this does not show which cells are the net exporter, nor whether this would remain so under continuing experimental conditions of low extracellular glucose and high lactate concentrations. Eventually, there will be a net influx of lactate plus H^+^ that will acidify the intracellular space, and for lactate to be used either for oxidation or for gluconeogenesis, must first be converted to pyruvate, which will consume NAD^+^ and generate NADH. The resulting pyruvate can also be transaminated to Ala, or once in the mitochondria, carboxylated to OAA via the ATP-dependent pyruvate carboxylase, which is upregulated in at least some tumors.[@bib54]^,^[@bib80]^,^[@bib82]^,^[@bib83] If the LDH activity is exclusively cytoplasmic, then the NADH would need to be reoxidized via the malate-aspartate shuttles even if the pyruvate were imported into the mitochondria for oxidation or for anaplerosis. The trinucleotide yield would be 14 ATP +1 GTP (cf. [Table 2](#tbl2){ref-type="table"}).Table 2Metabolic energy yields from different substrates. It is assumed that mitochondria produces 2.5 ATP/NADH and FADH2 produces 1.5 ATP. GTP is made in the substrate level phosphorylation via succinyl CoA synthetase.Table 2CompoundPathwayATP yieldCommentsGlycogenGlycogenolysis + lactic fermentation3/glucose subunitPhosphorolysis generates G1PGlucoseLactic fermentation2/glucose subunitGlycolysis2 + 33 for shuttles to respiring mitochondriaFructoseFructose cleavage to lactate2Fructokinase + glyceraldehyde kinaseGalactoseLactic fermentation2Glycolysis2 + 33 for shuttles to respiring mitochondriaPyruvateKrebs Cycle11.5 ATP + 1 GTPLactateKrebs Cycle14 ATP + 1 GTPNADH produced reoxidized via shuttleAcetateKrebs Cycle8 ATP + 1 GTP1 ATP used for activation of acetate to AcCoAPalmitateBeta-oxidation/Krebs Cycle106 ATP + 7 GTPGlutamine- \> OAAKrebs Cycle6.5 ATP + 1 GTPTransamination of Glu via GOT9 ATP + 1 GTPOxidative deamination of Glu via glutamate dehydrogenase
Alternatively, it has been suggested that there is a mitochondrial form of LDH (LDH B), which reoxidizes lactate intramitochondrially in cancer, that is used for making AcCoA for lipid biosynthesis[@bib71] (after shuttling out to the cytoplasm as citrate). The existence of a mitochondrial LDH in healthy cells has been a controversial suggestion for more than 60 years, as reviewed recently.[@bib84] In this scenario, the NADH produced by LDH would be reoxidized by the respiratory chain, again with an overall energy yield of 14 ATP +1 GTP.
Note that as these reactions are freely reversible, there will always be an exchange flux associated with the reactions, which appears to be very extensive in vivo according to DNP studies.[@bib85]^,^[@bib86]
Acetate {#sec2.2}
-------
There has been considerable interest recently in acetate both as a nutrient source, and for its involvement in protein acetylation.[@bib87], [@bib88], [@bib89], [@bib90], [@bib91], [@bib92], [@bib93], [@bib94], [@bib95], [@bib96] The abundance of acetate in adult plasma is approximately 20--60 μM ([Table 1](#tbl1){ref-type="table"}). Acetate is the shortest chain fatty acid that can undergo beta oxidation. To be utilized as an energy source, it must first be converted to AcCoA via the acetate thiokinases (or Acetate CoA synthetase, ACS1,2) in an ATP-consuming reaction. The energy yield from beta oxidation then is 8 ATP + 1 GTP. Alternatively, this is a cytoplasmic (and also nuclear[@bib91]) source of AcCoA that might be used for either fatty acid synthesis or protein acetylation.[@bib93] Recently it was shown that acetate enters the Krebs cycle in clear cell renal carcinomas in situ, whereas glucose was preferentially shunted to lactate, which is different to what was observed in NSCLC with ^13^C glucose tracing.[@bib97] Furthermore, acetate is also oxidized to a high extent in some tissues,[@bib98]^,^[@bib99] suggesting that this simple metabolite has multiple context-dependent fates.
Utilization and production of non-essential amino acids {#sec2.3}
-------------------------------------------------------
### Alanine {#sec2.3.1}
Alanine is readily available from blood, is an abundant amino acid (on average 200--500 μM in healthy adults, [Table 1](#tbl1){ref-type="table"}), and is readily converted to pyruvate by alanine aminotransferase, ALT (AST) using 2-oxoglutarate as the keto acid. This enzyme is highly expressed in gluconeogenic tissues (liver and kidney) though its isoforms are also expressed in many other tissues,[@bib100] including cancers, and in concert with GOT is able to shuttle amino groups between Glu/Asp/Ala. It behaves analogously to lactate in the Cori cycle, as well as being a potential intracellular reservoir for pyruvate, which has implications for in vivo studies using SIRM.
### Glutamine {#sec2.3.2}
Glutamine has received considerable attention, as many cancer cells in vitro show a very strong dependence on exogenous Gln for proliferation and survival.[@bib50]^,^[@bib101], [@bib102], [@bib103] In addition to being a proteinaceous amino acid, via glutaminolysis it is a major source of anaplerotic carbon in the Krebs cycle and also an important nitrogen donor for nucleotide[@bib23]^,^[@bib102] and amino sugar production[@bib104] as well as a major source of glutamate used for glutathione synthesis. [@bib50] Although Gln is the most abundant amino acid in blood ([Table 1](#tbl1){ref-type="table"}), recent studies have indicated that the degree of "addiction" to Gln in vivo for some tumors (e.g. KRas-driven lung adenocarcinomas) may be less than observed in cell culture[@bib52]; but this is not readily generalizable as several tissue types express glutamine synthetase (reviewed in[@bib105]). We have shown that glutaminase expression in human lung tumors is highly variable, though tissues do metabolize glutamine extensively.[@bib80]^,^[@bib106] Furthermore, the level of glutamine and glucose labeling among different breast cancer cell type, both in vitro and in mouse xenografts,[@bib45] suggesting again that metabolic phenotypes are cell and environment dependent.
### Serine and glycine {#sec2.3.3}
Serine and Gly are proteinaceous amino acids that are also used for making numerous other compounds, including the serine-containing lipids (e.g. PS and the sphingolipids) and Gly, which can be readily made from Ser, is used for purine biosynthesis, glutathione production and in 1-carbon metabolism ([Fig. 1](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}). Both are abundant in blood as well as common cell culture media ([Table 1](#tbl1){ref-type="table"}). However, some cells will synthesize their own serine and glycine whereas others will prefer to use exogenous sources, or both, which appears to depend on cell type and growth conditions and some cells show net efflux of glycine[@bib18]^,^[@bib48]^,^[@bib107], [@bib108], [@bib109], [@bib110], [@bib111], [@bib112], [@bib113], [@bib114], [@bib115]
### Aspartate and asparagine {#sec2.3.4}
Asp and Asn are non-essential amino acids needed for protein biosynthesis, and Asp is also the direct precursor of uracil, as well as being a nitrogen donor in nucleotide synthesis.[@bib21] Although Asp and Asn are non-essential amino acids, their concentration in blood is low ([Table 1](#tbl1){ref-type="table"}). In cell culture studies, where exogenous Asp is sometimes zero (e.g. in DMEM), cells must synthesize these amino acids to maintain proliferation. However it appears that cells make Asp even when there is an exogenous source, and do so using both glucose and glutamine carbon.[@bib23] Furthermore, production of Asp is essential for proliferation when mitochondria are fully functional.[@bib116] A corollary is that under hypoxia, cancer cells cannot make Asp (as the enzyme dihydroorotate dehydrogenase, DHODH is mitochondrial), and under those conditions must import exogenous Asp,[@bib117] which in tumors may be limiting.[@bib116]
Asp is also the precursor of Asn, via an ATP-dependent amidation reaction (the reverse reaction is catalyzed by asparaginase, which is not expressed in mammals). When mammalian cells are deprived of glutamine, exogenous Asn is used for protein synthesis and rescues cell survival and growth.[@bib118]^,^[@bib119] Similarly, the expression level of asparagine synthetase (ASNS) correlates with efficacy of asparaginase treatment in acute lymphoblastic leukemia.[@bib120] However, although Asn is usually not metabolized extensively, it does have other critical functions, including as an exchange factor for amino acid transport, especially Ser, Arg, and His[@bib121] which would be needed to support protein synthesis in proliferating cells.
Nutrients in the TME {#sec2.4}
--------------------
Tumor microenvironments are heterogeneous and variable in many ways.[@bib54]^,^[@bib77]^,^[@bib122], [@bib123], [@bib124], [@bib125], [@bib126], [@bib127] As a tumor grows, its internal vasculature and blood supply changes non-uniformly such that some parts of the tumor are very poorly vascularized whereas others may be relatively close to blood vessels. It must also be kept in mind that the microvasculature within tumors is generally of poor quality, with many bends and blind endings, leading to poor blood flow,[@bib128]^,^[@bib129] hypoxia[@bib130] and a depletion of essential nutrients for supporting cell growth and survival, such as glucose, Gln, lipids,[@bib127]^,^[@bib131], [@bib132], [@bib133] and essential amino acids (which by definition, must be taken up from the blood or extracellular space). Furthermore, the cancer cells excrete a variety of metabolites that may influence their local environment, such as protons,[@bib77] lactate which may be used by other cells in the tumor,[@bib127]^,^[@bib134]^,^[@bib135] glutamate (antiported with Cystine via x~c~^−^, needed for protein and glutathione synthesis)[@bib136] among other amino acids. This altered environment impacts the activities and responses of other cells in the tumor. The cancer cells may excrete PD-L1 which prevents T cell activation,[@bib137], [@bib138], [@bib139] the hypoxic and acidic environment[@bib140]^,^[@bib141] and lactate also immunosuppressive, and further promote pro-tumorigenic states of immune cells, such as the tumor associated macrophages (TAMs)[@bib142]^,^[@bib143] and fibroblasts (CAFs) (cf [Fig. 3](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}) which is associated with alerted metabolism.[@bib144]^,^[@bib145] For these reasons there has been increasing interest in establishing what are the most significant nutrient sources for different cancers under various conditions.
In addition to blood, other possible sources of nutrients are via the lymphatic system, the interstitial fluid (IF) and the extracellular matrix (ECM). The ECM not only provides a matrix for cell attachment but also determines cell migration. Its structure and composition vary from tissue to tissue, and may become modified in tumors.[@bib146] However, the major components are the fibers of collagen, which is associated with numerous other proteins including fibronectin, elastin and laminins. These are complemented by proteoglycans and hyaluronate.[@bib133] The ECM is thus a store of amino acids and sugars. Metabolic scavenging via e.g. macropinocytosis of the ECM may be an important mechanism for survival and growth of cancer cells.[@bib131]^,^[@bib147], [@bib148], [@bib149], [@bib150] In addition to macromolecules that can be engulfed, the interstitial fluid (IF), which derives from serum, also contains abundant small molecules that can be transported into tumor cells.[@bib132] However, the composition of the IF within tumors differs in specific ways from that in non-cancerous tissue or serum itself. Most notable was that the tumors studied not only reduced the glucose content of the blood flowing through the tumor, but also depleted it in the IF to very low values. Similarly the cholesterol levels were much lower in the IF than in serum. Cancer cells clearly deplete certain critical metabolites in the tumor microenvironment, which can impact the function of other cells within the tumor. It was recently reported that ovarian cancer cells promote membrane-cholesterol efflux and depletion of lipid rafts from macrophages, making them protumorigenic.[@bib151] The low concentration of glucose in parts of solid tumors poses an obvious problem for the Warburg effect, which has so dominated discussion of tumor metabolism in recent years. Nevertheless, ^13^C enriched metabolites do enter solid tumors and are transformed in both human subjects and animal models[@bib45]^,^[@bib52]^,^[@bib54]^,^[@bib68]^,^[@bib80]^,^[@bib97]^,^[@bib152], [@bib153], [@bib154]
In larger tumors, these and other factors also lead to regions of necrotic tissue, the remnants of which could be used as rich sources of nutrients by active cancer cells, such as via macropinocytosis[@bib131]^,^[@bib147], [@bib148], [@bib149], [@bib150] The cancer cells are also competing with other cells within the tumor including remaining untransformed epithelial cells, the endothelial cells of the vasculature, fibroblasts and several kinds of immune cells. The cancer cellularity of solid tumors can be very variable, ranging from a few percent of the total to \>90%, with consequences for the physical architecture of the tumor and the microenvironment.
Concluding remarks {#sec3}
==================
Metabolic adaptations to changing available nutrient sources in the context of competition is vital for cancer cell growth, survival, and metastasis. These processes have vastly different metabolic requirements, and cancer cells not only have a high demand for glucose and glutamine, but also excrete molecules that affect the phenotype of stromal cells. For example infiltrating macrophages and T lymphocytes inside solid tumors are in a different state than those in the non-diseased tissue.[@bib62]^,^[@bib144]^,^[@bib155], [@bib156], [@bib157], [@bib158] Furthermore, TILs[@bib159] and macrophages[@bib160] are not uniformly distributed throughout the tumor mass, and in some instances may be excluded from nests or islets of cancer cells.[@bib161] Given the different metabolic adaptations of the various cell types, it follows that the metabolic profiles must also be spatially heterogeneous.
Conclusions based on cell culture with established cell lines under standard growth conditions are likely to be misleading as metabolism by its very nature is plastic and condition-sensitive. Solid tumors are often highly heterogeneous both in terms of the distribution of cells, and the high variability in the relative number of cancer and immune cells from tumor to tumor and within a tumor. This is associated, especially in larger tumors, with poor vascularization and thus poor nutrient availability, which may lead to alternative strategies for survival within the hostile environment (largely of the cancer\'s own making). Conversely, such larger tumors may also be locally nutrient-rich due to sources from necrotic tissues. These mechanisms include selection of cells that have acquired metabolic advantages via substantial quantitative reprogramming and upregulation of various scavenging mechanisms. As the particular adaptations are both cell type genetic lesion dependent there may be several ways for cells to survive and ultimately metastasize. The particular nutrient requirements for cancer cell survival and proliferation under different conditions is still being determined. How they achieve this in vivo remains a challenging problem, that will need a combination of more realistic models as well as actual in vivo analyses.[@bib35]
Conflict of interest
====================
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This work was supported in part by the Carmen L Buck Chair in Oncology (to ANL), the Edith D. Gardner Chair in Cancer Research (to TWMF) and funding from NIH 1P01CA163223-01A1, 5P20GM121327 and P30CA177558.
Peer review under responsibility of Chongqing Medical University.
[^1]: \% arginine can be synthesized, but generally not at a sufficient rate.
[^2]: Invitrogen.
[^3]: Thermo-Fisher 11965.
[^4]: Sigma Aldrich.
[^5]: Fasted normal human adult blood.[@bib55]
[^6]: Essential amino acid.
[^7]: Tyrosine is contingent on its direct precursor, Phe.
[^8]: Much higher after meals containing high fructose corn syrup.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
[Myocardial infarct complicated by a posterior aneurysm of the left ventricle. Correction by resection and double coronary bypass. 1-year clinical and angiographic follow-up].
5 months after a posterior infarction, a man of 48 was found to have a posterior aneurysm with right coronary thrombosis and anterior inter-ventricular stenosis. A total treatment approach (resection of the aneurysm + double bypass graft) led to a stable clinical cure, which has been monitored one year later by ventriculography and coronary arteriography. The authors make the comment, however, that in this case surgery was more in the way of a safety measure than a necessity. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Sumaya M. Noush
About
Sumaya M. Noush counsels health care clients on strategic and operational matters including transactions, corporate governance and regulatory compliance. She helps her clients navigate the daily challenges of running their operations while identifying opportunities for growth in today’s rapidly evolving and highly competitive health care market. Sumaya is also well-versed in both clinical and research ethics and routinely advises clients on biomedical ethics and related legal standards.
Sumaya is an active contributor to the DBR on Data blog, where she regularly publishes material on a wide range of health care information privacy issues, including HIPAA enforcement efforts and government-issued cybersecurity guidance. Sumaya also authored the Illinois section of the American Health Lawyers Association’s current Health Care Fraud Law 50-State Survey. She currently serves on the 2019 Illinois Association of Healthcare Attorneys Membership Committee and Diversity & Inclusion Committee.
Provides a large health system continuous support with strategic post-acute care initiatives.
Served as lead associate on tax-exempt bond financing matters.
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Recognitions
2016 NCH Health Care Innovation Bright Spark Award, Northwest Community Healthcare
Health Law Fellow, Loyola University Chicago School of Law
CALI Award: Health Care Business & Finance, Loyola University Chicago School of Law
CALI Award: Health Law Legal Writing, Loyola University Chicago School of Law | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
RequireJS: how to add a prefix to path
I'm developing a SPA using Knockout.js V3 and RequireJS.
I have ko components written like this:
define(['text!settings.html'],
function( htmlString) {
'use strict';
function SettingsViewModel(params) {
...
}
// Return component definition
return {
viewModel: SettingsViewModel,
template: htmlString
};
});
Now i want to support localization and for that I have duplicated html for each supported language, so for example:
en/settings.html
de/settings.html
se/settings.html
I would like to let the user change a language and refresh the app with the new language, is it possible to instruct require text plugin to add the language prefix to all html, so when i write:
text!settings.html
it will actually load:
text!de/settings.html
A:
Eventually i went with a different solution, i just added a variable to the path:
define(['text!' + globals.bundlePath + 'settings.html']
This variable is initialized from session storage (and get's a default if nothing found) and so when a user changes language, i keep it in session storage and refresh the app, and that way the pages are now loaded with the new language.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
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The fight over fighting poverty: CCHD and the push for reform
Is the bishops’ work to empower the poor Catholic enough? An alliance of pro-life groups says it’s not.
It was the brainchild of a Chicago priest, Michael Dempsey, in the 1960s, and it has blossomed over the past 40 years into one of the most effective, sustained anti-poverty efforts ever attempted in the United States. In 2010 the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) is funding some 250 groups in the United States, wrestling with issues such as education, jobs, health care, violence, economic development, and access to public services.
Unlike traditional direct help to the poor through Catholic Charities offices and St. Vincent DePaul societies, the Campaign is aimed at the systemic roots of poverty by helping the poor help themselves. At least half the board members of every CCHD-funded organization must be low-income residents of the community where the work is going on.
"Across our nation, CCHD is needed now more than ever in these difficult economic times when so many families are suffering and poverty is growing," says Bishop Roger Morin, chairman of the U.S. bishops' subcommittee on the CCHD.
But since last fall the Campaign has been under continuous public criticism.
An alliance of some 20 pro-life organizations called Reform CCHD Now (RCN) launched a barrage of specific charges and called for Catholics to boycott the Campaign's 2009 November collection. CCHD has funded and continues to fund "groups that openly oppose the church's teachings," declared RCN, "including support for abortion rights, legalized prostitution, and gay marriage."
The effort continues through publications, online articles and blogs, mailings to priests and bishops, and frequent appearances of spokespersons on radio, TV, and YouTube.
The persistence had an effect: Six U.S. bishops refused to allow the 2009 CCHD collection to be taken up in their dioceses. John Carr, executive director of Justice, Peace, and Human Development for the bishops' conference, says he expects to see at least a 5 percent reduction in 2009 contributions, though he attributes it to a combination of the lingering effects of the recession as well as RCN activity. Still, the question of the long-range impact of the campaign against the Campaign remains.
The bishops' charity
Dempsey, a Chicago pastor, had no idea such a controversy would ever arise when he conceived the idea for the Campaign. He had gone door to door in his poverty-stricken parish and asked the people how the church could best serve them. Many indicated that more than charity, they needed the skills, encouragement, and support to address the societal injustices they faced on a daily basis.
When he became an auxiliary bishop of Chicago in 1968, Dempsey brought his experience and his vision with him to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. He called for a new national thrust to empower local self-help organizations to be funded by an annual nationwide collection. In the wake of the Second Vatican Council, with its call for the church to open its doors to "the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties" of the people of the world, "especially the poor," Dempsey's plan was adopted wholeheartedly by the bishops, and he was named the first director of the Campaign in 1970.
Though Dempsey died in 1974 at the age of 55, the Campaign from the start encountered a cheerful response from Catholic parishes. Today the yearly collection draws some of the largest contributions given to any Catholic collection, averaging more than $11 million a year, despite the recession. Seventy-five percent of the collection goes to the national office, which grants funds to applicants all over the county. The remaining 25 percent is given to dioceses to be distributed locally. All grants are screened at both the national and local level.
Many CCHD-funded organizations are in large metropolitan regions. For example, the Chinese Staff and Worker Association in New York City began receiving grants in the 1970s to assist badly paid immigrants laboring in Chinatown garment factories. Over the years the association has helped workers reclaim some $50 million in denied wages, created an independent restaurant workers union, and gained wage increases for all the state's tipped employees.
Other Campaign recipients are in rural areas. Since the Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (SOCM) in East Jackson, Tennessee received its first grant in 1974, the organization has won important battles to halt the spread of toxic waste from coal mining in the Cumberland Mountains.
On the offensive
The major members of the RCN alliance include the American Life League (ALL), an anti-abortion group founded in 1979, and Human Life International, created in 1981, both based in Virginia.
A newer voice is Texas-based Bellarmine Veritas Ministries, which calls itself a "Catholic grass-roots organizing ministry." Its founder, Rob Gaspar, was largely responsible for compiling the battery of accusations against CCHD in 2009, which other groups are disseminating, adding their own grievances as well.
Besides accusing some Campaign recipients of themselves flouting church guidelines by promoting abortion, same-sex marriage, or birth control or openly taking partisan political positions, many more are charged with being "partners with" or "associated with" or being "members of" other organizations holding positions contrary to the Catholic faith.
Frequently mentioned amid the charges is ACORN, the large community action network and longtime Campaign recipient. It became notorious in 2008 when it faced charges of embezzlement and voter fraud. Though cleared of wrongdoing, ACORN was investigated by CCHD at the time and cut off from funding that year and since.
Following Reform CCHD Now accusations, Carr and his staff investigated all the Campaign-supported organizations charged, and at least five have been defunded. For example, the Preble Resource Center in Portland, Maine, which serves the homeless, was ordered to return a $17,400 Campaign grant because it urged voters to vote no on a ballot measure to overturn the state's same-sex marriage law. Other organizations were exonerated of charges and a few are still undergoing scrutiny.
"We're trying to lift up a Catholic expression of Jesus' message to the world," Carr says. "But this kind of institutional funding is a complex enterprise. And when we've made mistakes in the past, we correct them."
These strong steps were welcomed by RCN, but they insist the guilty organizations represent only the tip of the iceberg. They identify 31 Campaign recipients that are publicly listed as members of the Center for Community Change, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that concentrates on poverty issues and provides training for community organizers. Though not funded by the Campaign, it was reported that the center had spoken favorably about reproduction rights and board members on its Generation Change project include advocates of gay rights or "radical" feminism.
Of special interest was the fact that Carr, the bishops' top Campaign overseer, was formerly the board chairman of the Center for Community Change. Carr responded that he has had no relationship with the center since 2005 and that during his chairmanship, the center never took any advocacy positions contrary to church teaching. Nevertheless, critics saw in these links an indication of how far the church is straying into enemy territory.
Deal Hudson, director of outreach to Catholics for George W. Bush's presidential campaigns, urged Belllarmine Veritas Ministries to call for the elimination of CCHD. "No amount of housecleaning is going to make this arm of the USCCB worthy of our donations," he wrote on his blog.
Michael Hichborn, lead researcher for the ALL, says the critics really aren't trying to bring down the Campaign. "We support the poor," he says, "but we think the facts show the Campaign is violating its mission. If the mission of the church is the salvation of souls, how is it accomplishing this when it's contributing to organizations acting in contradiction to the church? We're asking for openness and transparency."
The communications director for Human Life International and the RCN alliance, Stephen Phelan, says the relationship between CCHD recipients and secular organizations is undeniable. "It's not hard to find the links," he says. "We'll keep this up until we get results."
Guilt by association?
The Campaign for Human Development has responded to the charges mainly by denying that they are true.
It produced a document called For The Record: The Truth About CCHD Funding, which states, "All grant applicants are carefully screened and funds are provided only to projects with objectives and actions . . . fully in accord with the moral teaching of the Catholic Church." It will not consider "applications from organizations which promote or support abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, or any other affront to human life and dignity." The document acknowledges that several accused groups have been defunded, that some have been examined and found worthy, while still others have had their grants placed on hold.
"In this age of the Internet, institutional charity can be misunderstood or misinterpreted," says Carr. "So we're constantly reevaluating the organizations we support." He emphasized the Campaign's fidelity to Catholic social teaching with its commitment to the preferential option for the poor, subsidiarity (allowing the people who are being helped to make major organizational decisions), and solidarity (cooperating with disparate groups that have a voice in planning and organizing).
The For the Record document did not explain one very important characteristic of the CCHD operation: Namely, from the beginning Campaign-funded groups were encouraged to organize and work not in isolation but, if possible, in collaboration with other community groups.
The essentials of this provision can be summarized in three sentences: CCHD funds only organizations whose projects are in conformity with official Catholic teaching. These organizations may join in coalitions with other organizations to work on projects that are mutually agreeable and do not violate Catholic principles. They can do this even though these other organizations may hold positions on other matters that are not in conformity with Catholic teaching.
For example, a Campaign-funded community organization could work with other groups to improve public housing, even though these other groups also advocate artificial birth control. The views of these other groups on birth control do not compromise the housing position of the Campaign-funded organization.
RCN, therefore, can easily find allegedly incriminating evidence of collusion between Campaign grantees and groups that oppose church teaching. It's all right there on the Internet with terms such as "partners with" and "members of." The terms of the partnership or membership, however, are rarely spelled out.
"It's the nature of coalitions to work with groups that may not always pass the smell test or the Catholic Church test," says Msgr. John Moretta, a Los Angeles pastor who has a great deal of experience with CCHD organizations working for the rights of farmworkers. "A cooperating group with one of our organizations here is the Church of Scientology, and you can hardly find anyone farther from the Catholic Church than them."
Ralph McCloud, director of the national CCHD effort, defends such coalitions. "To effect change on a large-scale societal issue like immigration reform," he says, "you have to have others in with you. You need to create a critical mass. If you try to do it alone, you isolate yourself from the world." Through community organizing, he says, "We're building bridges that get at the roots of poverty."
McCloud mentions an exception to the coalition rule. If a high-profile, very visible priority of a coalition member is something vehemently opposed by the church, then a Campaign recipient ought not to be a part of that coalition. This would apply, says McCloud, to a coalition that included a member like Planned Parenthood.
Both Carr and McCloud cite the endorsements of the Campaign's work from Pope John Paul II and from Pope Benedict XVI, who wrote in his encyclical Caritas in Veritate, "Every Christian is called to practice charity. . . . This is the institutional path, the political path of charity, no less excellent and effective that the kind of charity which encounters the neighbor directly."
Fighting words
While such explanations of the Campaign's methodology are persuasive and reasonable to some, RCN members aren't convinced for several reasons.
First, there is ambiguity in what constitutes cooperation or support for a position contrary to church teaching.
For example, the CCHD-funded San Francisco Organizing Project (SFOP) became a major target of RCN groups when they learned that the project had actively promoted and cooperated in getting passed through the city council the Healthy Kids Program in 2006, which provided health insurance for children of families not otherwise covered. However, the program has links to the San Francisco Health Plan, which offers abortion coverage and birth control services. So, it was argued by RCN, SFOP was supporting both programs and should have opposed the Healthy Kids Program and the San Francisco Health Plan.
George Wesolek, director of CCHD operations for the San Francisco archdiocese, insists SFOP in no way endorsed abortion or birth control. "When you live in a diverse society," he says, "how can you make people's lives better if you're so limited in the public arena? You do the best you can to achieve the greatest good possible."
Even though funding for SFOP was ultimately upheld by Campaign officials and "strongly" endorsed by the archdiocese, ALL concluded in its analysis online that SFOP was "in direct violation of Catholic Church teaching and CCHD guidelines."
Second, there is a yawning chasm between the psychology and theology of the two sides.
In the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, the Campaign is based on the possibilities of good people working together for a better world. Its proponents welcome ecumenical, interfaith, and non-believer cooperation in the work to be done. The challenge is to help bring the kingdom of God that Jesus talked about a little closer to fulfillment. The danger here can be overweening self-confidence and dismissal of criticism.
Reporting to his fellow bishops in November, Bishop Morin of the bishops' CCHD subcommittee called the accusations "outrageous claims," and said that CCHDs opponents "simply are not in favor of the church's social teaching."
The RCN alliance, meanwhile, has as its first and uncompromising priority absolute fidelity to church teaching, especially regarding abortion and same-sex marriage. Its proponents are alarmed at "the culture of death" and tend to view the world as the place where sinful people work out the salvation of their souls through prayer and endurance.
Direct charity to the poor is commendable but cooperation with secular entities is regarded as courting disaster from this perspective. The danger here is an almost fundamentalist narrowness of vision and a tendency to label all opposing views under the heading of "radical activism." Judi Brown, president of ALL, for instance, called some speakers at the bishops' Social Ministry Gathering this year, "enemies of the body of Christ."
Third, the reform groups believe they are winning. They point to the handful of Campaign recipients that have been defunded, due in large part to their protests, and to others whose grants are on hold or under review pending a decision. They point to the bishops who refused to take up the CCHD collection in their dioceses last year and anticipate that more will join this year.
In an era when commentators like Glenn Beck urge those who belong to any church that speaks about "social justice" to get out immediately, and when Sarah Palin is applauded for lampooning community organizers, the RCN position can appear mainstream.
Campaign reform
In some dioceses CCHD guidelines are already being revamped. Msgr. William Burke, who oversees Campaign activity in the Baltimore archdiocese, says CCHD grantees there can participate in a coalition only if all the projects of the other members of the coalition conform to Catholic teaching. And should another coalition member unexpectedly take on a position that deviates from Catholicism, the Campaign grantee "must withdraw."
At the national level, too, it appears that a tightening up is on the way. In May, Morin and other members of the CCHD subcommittee wrote to all the U.S. bishops about the efforts to "review and strengthen" the program.
They promised, among other things, to "be more clear on the Catholic in the Catholic Campaign for Human Development" by making funding guidelines, grant-making processes, and contracts "better reflect our Catholic principles," to link CCHD activities to the bishops' priorities, "specifically defending human life and dignity, strengthening family life, and reflecting the . . . diversity of our church and nation," and to "consider a plan to give larger and fewer grants with the intent of improving CCHD's monitoring capacity."
Some Campaign veterans are uneasy about where all this is going. A seven-year member of the CCHD advisory board in Chicago, Karen Przypyszny, expresses concern about reported new directions for the kind of organizations that will be receiving local funds in the future. A movement toward encouraging right-to-life projects is underway, she says, as newly appointed members join the board and veteran members are sifted out.
"I'm absolutely supportive of start-of-life and end-of-life programs, but that's not the focus of the Campaign for Human Development," she says. "The Campaign is about the whole middle, about what happens in between. It's about living in this world and working in community, about jobs and schools." Przypyszny says she fears a shift could seriously cripple the Campaign's historical reason for existence.
But Carr emphasizes that the core values of CCHD are intact and will remain so. "It would be a mistake to think the priority for the poor will be narrowed or shifted in another direction," he says. "That's not going to happen. What we want to do is reassure Catholic donors that their dollars are going where they're supposed to go." In fact, he says, with the new changes, the Campaign will be "more flexible and innovative."
Risky business
Meanwhile, those on the front lines, the people working in communities with the help of Campaign funding, are somewhat on edge. Jeff Bartow, director of Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) in Chicago, got e-mails and phone calls last year from both the local and national Campaign offices. He was asked to respond to RCN charges that his organization was "encouraging birth control through comprehensive sex education."
SWOP, a 14-year-old community organization, joined forces in 2008 with a privately funded project called Elev8 to bring comprehensive health services into one of the neighborhood's public middle schools. The intent of on-site care was to bring together parents, children, school personnel, and medical professionals. In its promotional literature, Elev8 noted that comprehensive, age-specific sex education would be available for all students. That was the red flag to RCN.
Bartow replied to the inquiries by telling CCHD officials that his organization included as supporting members a variety of institutions including churches, a hospital, a motherhouse of Catholic sisters, and five public schools in the area. Elev8 was offering the same sex education program that is mandatory in all Chicago's public middle schools, he said. The program is required even in those public schools that are currently renting space from the archdiocese.
Bartow has not heard yet whether the Campaign was satisfied with his reply and would be funding SWOP in 2010, as it has for the previous five years. At risk is support for its work with immigration, housing foreclosures, predatory lending issues, and violence prevention, including the reduction of shootings in the area's most violent precincts by 67 percent. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Chemoprevention of colorectal cancer in ulcerative colitis.
Patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) are at greater risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC) than the general population. Both duration and extent of UC are important risk factors for CRC, as is the presence of primary sclerosing cholangitis, family history of CRC, and (in some studies) early age at diagnosis of UC. Efforts to reduce this risk have focused on colonoscopic surveillance as the best alternative to the more definitive, but less appealing, approach of prophylactic colectomy. However, spurred on by findings in the sporadic CRC literature, there has been a growing interest in a possible role for chemoprevention of CRC in patients with UC. Published evidence to date indicates that 5-aminosalicylic acid agents are protective against the development of dysplasia and CRC. Oral, but not topical, steroids also appear to be chemoprotective, but their chronic use cannot be recommended for this indication. Ursodeoxycholic acid has been shown to reduce the risk of neoplasia in UC patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis. Evidence suggests, but does not prove, that folic acid is chemopreventive in patients with UC. Further studies are needed to fully define the chemoprotective role of these and other agents. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Determination of wavefront structure for a Hartmann wavefront sensor using a phase-retrieval method.
We apply a phase retrieval algorithm to the intensity pattern of a Hartmann wavefront sensor to measure with enhanced accuracy the phase structure of a Hartmann hole array. It is shown that the rms wavefront error achieved by phase reconstruction is one order of magnitude smaller than the one obtained from a typical centroid algorithm. Experimental results are consistent with a phase measurement performed independently using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
What happens when you approach life itself with a sense of entitlement, rather than a sense of awe?
You get all the relationships wrong. With the natural world: its forces, its cycles, its creatures. With other people, places, and things. With your own self.
Since you feel you are entitled to all good things you can imagine, you are constantly functioning with lesser or greater levels of disappointment. You do not treasure what you have, but always crave more.
Since you are probably aware of the comparative deprivation of many, even if you make no conscious connection between their situation and yours, the natural injustice does affect you. You can make many choices here, from engaging in 'charity', to indulging hedonistically in things that stimulate your pleasure centers so you don't have to think. Diversions and distractions keep you from focusing on the truth of our situation.
In terms of natural law, ignorance is not an excuse. Just because you exist in the condition of privilege does not mean you exist outside of natural laws. Causes have effects, whether you are aware of them or not.
You may engage in rationalizations or justifications which all boil down to this: you are privileged, we are, because we deserve it, while others do not. Whether you bring forth religious justifications, nationalistic ones, historical ones that paint your people in a positive light as opposed to 'them', this engagement with illusion contaminates any efforts you may make to develop yourself, spiritually or otherwise.
In the realms of love and romance, your fantasy probably swirls around some variation of 'happily ever after', since this is what your sense of entitlement leads you to expect. If difficulties arise, you are unwilling to engage them. In fact, all efforts requiring time and patience are equally elusive: most often you want what you want and you want it now. This is the message being constantly beamed at you by the various media. All you desire is available to you. Now.
You are tied to matter, and this leaves you ignorant of the subtle treasures of heart and soul that lie beyond the realms of matter. Your things become idols. You covet them more and love them more than the truth. You comfort and console yourself with them, for the state of misery you are in is real, and unbearable otherwise.
You expect to be welcomed with open arms wherever you go, and you react with surprise and anger when this is not so. You believe that if you just say something, that makes it true. 'I am not a racist.' 'I am black on the inside, where it counts.' 'Race does not matter.' 'I have many black friends, so I know what it means to be black.'
You may believe that racial inequality is a thing of the past, and that the evils whites committed in the past have nothing to do with you now, or you may cite your own personal ancestry, and point out that your people had nothing to do with the past 500 years of slavery and oppression.
But injustice for many is injustice for all: it cuts both ways. You did not choose to be white and to live in the West. You do not want this privilege, and yet it is yours. You are aware that in the present equation, pleasures for you mean pain for others. Well, no matter how you feel about it, until you move to do something about it, real happiness will elude you. It doesn't matter if this seems fair to you; this is simply how it is.
Further, it is impossible for you to be truly happy living with excess while others try to live without enough. You have to give it back. And not in the form of pity or mercy or charity, which are evil things as long as vast systems persist which maintain inequality. Charity is simply another one of those diversions that makes you feel good for a second but does nothing to address the disease in the long-run.
The way to give it back is not to run screaming away from the land of plenty and play poor in 'the third world' either. Another illusion, and simply dishonest.
The only thing to do is to devote your excess beyond what you need to live to activities which will dismantle this system of privilege. It is unnatural for people to work against their own interests, but white privilege is not in anybody's interest. If the purpose of life were to accumulate material possessions in such excess that others literally die so that you may possess them, that would be one thing. But no one really thinks that is our purpose here.
Our prevailing religion entreats us to 'love another.' It does not teach that we should love some more and others less. There is a profound personal price to be paid for hypocrisy. And thus agrees that same religion.
To benefit, willingly or not, from an immoral system of privilege taints everything in your life with immorality. This is monstrous, but it is true.
This is a society of addiction, of violence, of abuse, of grotesque consumption. It maims and mangles everyone in it. Appearance becomes reality, because reality is unbearable for most.
NOTICE: All articles are the copyright property of the writers. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C., section 107, some material on this site is provided without permission from the copyright owner, only for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of federal copyright laws. Visit: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml for more details. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
Dapper.net error with SqlMapper.cs
I started a new project using vb.net and micro ORM DAPPER.NET . Over nuGet I integrated the dapper and dapper.simpleCRUD . My problem is appears when i want to execute some CRUD operations i have a problem with SqlMapper.cs .I do not know whay because I successfully integrated into the project a "dapper.simpleCRUD" extension . What am doing wrong??
I try manual to add SqlMapper.cs file and i get this:
A:
The IDE is simply presenting a confusing UI here. The problem is not that SqlMapper.cs is missing. Rather, some exception has happened (presumably a SQL error), and rather than simply show you the failure, the IDE is attempting to show you the original point where the error is detected as code. Which it doesn't have! Basically, ignore the request for SqlMapper.cs - that is just the IDE having a bad day. What you actually need to do here is to focus on finding the exception. That might be hidden in another window, or it might appear when you click one of the buttons. In the worst case, just run the code outside of the IDE - the IDE can't stick its nose in if it isn't running! You should eventually find the actual exception, which is probably either a ADO.NET connection failure, or invalid SQL being used.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
[Osmotic resistance of red blood cells membranes in Vermox and "AKbeta" vitamin complex treatment of experimental trichinosis in rats].
The aim was to examine the osmotic resistance dynamics in rats infected with Trichinella spiralis. Antioxidant "AKbeta" vitamin complex used together with Vermox, decreases the toxic effect of Vermox, thereby causes the stabilization of red blood cells membrane osmotic resistance parameters in rats. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
When Codee Baker, a 17-year-old cheerleader, showed up at the Floresville High School football stadium Wednesday evening, she was not spinning or tumbling or cheering.
She was thinking of the people she had lost: Karla Holcombe, a family friend who shared a birthday with her mother and used to watch her when she was little. Dennis and Sara Johnson, her elderly next-door neighbors. Haley Krueger, a shy 16-year-old sophomore she passed daily in her school hallways.
Texas mass shooting: Portraits of the fallen »
“I came here to honor the ones I lost,” Baker said as she entered the stadium with a long line of people clutching Bibles. “It’s just unbelievable that they’re gone.”
Clasping hands and bowing their heads in prayer, thousands of residents of small towns across south-central Texas packed the stadium Wednesday night to honor the 26 people who died Sunday when a gunman burst into the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, spraying bullets at the congregation.
One of them was Vice President Mike Pence, who attended with his wife and U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, along with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and two members of Congress from Texas.
“Words fail when saints and heroes fall,” Pence said. “We mourn with those who mourn and we grieve with those who grieve, but we do not grieve like those who have no hope. Our faith gives us hope. Heroes give us hope.”
The crowd stood and cheered as a cluster of churchgoers and bystanders who survived the massacre walked onto the football field. Among them was Stephen Willeford, the local plumber who grabbed a rifle and chased the gunman as he exited the church, and Johnnie Langendorff, who joined Willeford in a high-speed chase.
“Thank God there was a neighbor that helped save lives on the tragic day,” Abbott told the crowd to loud cheers. “We will not be overcome with evil. Together we will overcome evil with good.”
Many people who assembled in this small town 13 miles south of the scene of the massacre had a connection to the victims or those left behind. Some were connected through church or community bake sales. Others were classmates or taught children who had lost loved ones.
As Makayla Pew, 7, clambered across the bleachers, her parents, Jeff and Suzanne Pew, talked about their daughter’s classmate, Emily Garcia, who died at University Hospital in San Antonio.
Just a few days before the shooting, when the Pews went with others from the school on a field trip to the San Antonio aquarium, Emily’s mother, Joann Lookingbill Ward, had been the first person there to talk to them. Smiling, she had told them they could get a better deal on Groupon than from the cashiers.
Ward and two of her children died at the church.
“She was a good person,” Suzanne said.
“There’s a girl in my daughter’s class and she’ll never come back,” Jeff Pew said, shaking his head as he looked into the distance. “There’s just a vacant seat.”
Robin Stine, 61, was a longtime neighbor of the Holcombe family, which lost eight members in the shootings. She remembered when a local mother of a special-needs child couldn’t afford a new wheelchair. Bryan Holcombe, an associate pastor at the church, repaired her wheelchair free of charge.
“They were wonderful pillars of the community,” she said, eyes misting. “That man took out three generations of that a family of loving Christian people.”
Trusting in the Lord, and drawing strength from community, were recurring themes of the vigil.
“If the attacker’s desire was to silence their testimony of faith, he failed,” Pence said. “The witness of faith in that small church and that small town now echoes across the world.”
The crowd swayed as a singer with a guitar played “Good Good Father.”
“Oh, and I’ve seen many searching for answers far and wide,” men and women on the bleachers crooned. “But I know we’re all searching for answers only you provide. ‘Cause you know just what we need before we say a word.”
Across this rural area of rolling hills dotted with cow pastures and fields of hay bales, the community has rallied around the families who lost loved ones, offering prayers and hugs, dropping off plates of hot food, and chipping in to feed their horses, dogs, cats and goats.
One businessman from a town 80 miles away has offered to make custom caskets free of charge for each of the victims.
Still, some in the crowd hoped for another kind of action. John Nieto, 71, a veteran and retired teacher who had traveled to the vigil from San Antonio, said he hoped the community — and the country as a whole — could move beyond prayer and take action by passing new gun laws.
“I feel like I’m in a war zone,” he said, rattling off other recent massacres, from Orlando, Fla., to Las Vegas. “There’s too many guns. So many people died, and yet we’re not upset enough to change the laws. It’s madness.”
Jarvie is a special correspondent.
ALSO
Texas mass shooting: Portraits of the fallen
Texas church gunman once escaped from mental health center
In Texas, a good guy with a gun took on a bad guy with a gun, feeding both sides of the gun control debate
UPDATES:
8:50 p.m.: This story was updated with additional details of the vigil.
This story was originally published at 8:05 p.m. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Psychophysiological factors in myofascial pain.
The interaction of the body and mind in stress syndromes; the input from the mind which influences the neurological functions regulating physiological responses; and the metabolic changes that result are discussed. Treatment direction is based on clinical experience and previously published theories. The synergistic effect of psychological and physiological treatment in stress syndromes is mandatory for permanent reduction of the negative feedback loop. Coordination of treatment by the physician and therapist is optimum. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Kanye West
Kanye West has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump, because Trump referred to himself as “the greatest” presidential candidate of all time. West says that is infringing on his own “best” ranking.
“Everyone knows that I’m the greatest candidate, and by Donald Trump saying that he is, it tarnished my brand,” said West, who has filed the suit in Las Vegas, where he has multiple homes. “Based on his words, he has cost me money, and for that, he’s gotta pay. He’s gotta realize that you can’t just go around making claims.”
The suit, which West says is worth around $20 million, has been called “frivolous” and “completely fucking stupid” by Trump’s lawyers.
“We have reminded Mr. West that he is not, in fact, a presidential candidate, so it would be impossible for him to be the best,” said a lawyer for Trump. “As it turns out, he doesn’t really care about logic, he’s entirely driven by ego. We’ll look forward to seeing him in court.”
In an extremely bizarre turn of events, hip hop mogul and the internet’s favorite punching bag Kanye West has reportedly left his wife, Kim Kardashian, for her former step-father Caitlyn Jenner. According to reports, West and Jenner met during the filming of Jenner’s reality show, I Am Caitlyn, last year, and have been secretly meeting ever since.
Insiders report that Jenner and West have been secretly meeting in between her tapings of the latest episodes of her series, and that over time they have “fallen in love.”
“I am absolutely obsessed with Kanye, and with good reason. He’s gorgeous, talented, and he’s the only person in the world who I could honestly say is more self-absorbed than I am,” said Caitlyn Jenner. “It’s a shame; I never meant to wreck Kim’s marriage, but sometimes, love just blossoms.”
The usually mouthy West has remained mum on the subject of his new relationship, but his wife, Kim Kardashian, has reportedly been extremely vocal of her husband’s “misguided feelings.”
“Clearly it’s been awhile since he’s seen me naked, or else this wouldn’t be happening,” said Kardashian. “I don’t know how that is, since I literally just tweeted a nudie the other day. Hell, it was Facebook trending. How could he have missed it? I don’t understand. What does Caitlyn have that I don’t ha–…Oh, never mind.”
A short time ago, Kanye West announced that he was over $50 million dollars in debt, and now, he’s coming out with the truth about what has caused his extreme downfall in wealth.
“Kim’s damn Android game, man. That shit cost me a fortune, and I can’t kick it. I just can’t,” said Kanye. “I know I tweeted back in October that any game that charges real world money was horrible, but it’s my wife’s damn game. I had to try it. And now, here I am.”
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is a game available on the iTunes and Android app stores that allow people to pretend to be Kim, going on shopping sprees and doing all sort of extremely inane tasks. The game is free to download and play, but many of the game’s items need to be unlocked using real world money.
“I tried to stop playing, but I couldn’t,” said Kanye. “I needed to have the nicer car. Then I wanted all the fancy clothes. Then I wanted more new cars. The bigger house. All that shit, man, you gotta unlock it buy making in-app purchases. Before I knew it, I’d spent a million dollars.”
West says that over the last 6 months of playing the game, he’s spent more than $53 million dollars in real-world money on app purchases.
“I know I don’t say this as often as I should, but I need some serious fucking help,” said West.
Kanye West has reportedly just thrown his hat into a very diverse ring of candidates for the presidential elections. According to West, he couldn’t find a candidate in the field who was “deserving” or “cool” enough to become the next president, and that running himself was the only viable option.
“I backed Obama, because he’s my boy. He’s black, he’s a great speaker, and he’s black,” said West. “This year, there are no candidates who move me in the same way that Obama moved me. No one to get behind. No one black. That’s why I’m running myself.”
According to West, he will be running as an independent, although at this time he doesn’t have much of a platform.
“I don’t know much about the world, or the things happening in it, but I know that I can change all the bad things and make them good, just like I did to the music industry, just like I’ll keep doing with my family,” said West. When asked why he wasn’t just backing Ben Carson, who is an African-American candidate, West seemed confused. “I have no idea who you’re talking about. Is he the guy who used to cut open babies or something? Yeah, he’s a joke.”
Rapper and producer Kayne West says he did not realize it until recently, but his music did not get “good” until after a car accident that caused him to suffer a mild traumatic brain injury. In 2002, Kayne’s music was still relatively unpopular, when he was cut off in traffic, causing him to crash his rented Lexus into a fence.
Kayne says he thanks God for that night every waking day of his life. “God works in mysterious ways. My jaw was wired shut, which gave me a chance to shut up for a minute and hear what He was trying to tell me; and what He was trying to tell me is that I’m a God among men, and I should show the world how talented I am through new music, no matter how bad or retarded it may sound.”
The effects of the traumatic brain injury can clearly be heard in his subsequent tracks. Former friend Whoo Kid says, “Yeah he sounded a little slow, but people kept kissing his ass anyway, saying how brave he was. Boy got even cockier after that crash man. He still sounds a little slow, but that’s just part of his sound now.”
During the MTV VMAs, an award ceremony in its 32nd year that approximately 6 people may have cared to watch, producer, rapper, and Mr. Kardashian himself, Kanye West, announced that he would run for president during the 2020 elections.
“No one would make a better president than I would,” said West, presumably. “Hell, we’ve already had one black president. I could run in 2016, but I forgot those elections were happening, and I’m a little late. So I’ll run in 2020, and I’ll win. Plus, Kim will make one hell of a first lady, that’s for damn sure.”
According to political analysts, West has approximately a “0%” chance of ever becoming elected, whether he ran in 2016, 2020, or in 2040.
“Kanye West is already fading into obscurity, thank God,” said political analyst Mike Phisher. “He does these things to make himself stand out for a second, like interrupting Taylor Swift, having unhealthy obsessions with Beyonce, having really ugly babies and naming them odd-ball things. He’s not really a celebrity anymore, and by 2020 he’ll be completely forgotten. He’s kind of just the male version of his wife, Kim Kardashian. He has about as much chance being elected president as an illegal immigrant from Mexico. Besides, what party would want him? There is no ‘pretentious asshole’ party.”
West reportedly seems undeterred.
“I will certainly stand a better chance than most people, as I have tons of money to waste and can run easily spend enough to get noticed, not that there’s any way that I won’t still be in the spotlight,” said West. “Thing is, nobody is better than me at anything. I could be the next president, the next Pope, the shit don’t matter. Whatever I’m doing, I’m doing it better than anyone.”
A software designer has created the world’s first internet browser that will automatically detect and block any news or reference made to Kanye West, the rapper/producer/jerkoff whose antics always seem to make national headlines.
“Honestly, I was just so sick of reading his ridiculous quotes and seeing his ugly, asshole frown,” said engineer Marcus Day. “There are apps out there you can get to block this or that keyword or image, but they rarely work, because they focus on too many things to block. My browser blocks one thing, and one thing only – Kanye West.”
Day says that he began work on the browser a couple of years ago after Kanye interrupted Taylor Swift at the Grammy awards.
“I couldn’t believe this big dumb asshole comes running up on stage, ruining her moment,” said Day. “I don’t really care about Taylor Swift, but I do care about morons ruining things. If he was anyone else, he’d have been arrested for a stunt like that. Instead, nothing happens except that he gets more attention and some ridicule. It needs to stop.”
Days browser will automatically block any reference to West’s name, as well has his image, from appearing anywhere on the internet as you browse.
“Social media, especially, makes a big deal about him. It’s sickening. So now, you can download WestAway and surf the net happily, with no mention of Kanye West whatsoever,” said Day. “Also, if you use the browser for several years, and West finally is no longer relevant, the browser can easily be updated to block out any mention of the next obnoxious asshole who the media starts fellating.”
North West, daughter of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, has been the subject of much debate since her uncontrollable raging tantrum at the NYFW show in February, but scientists may have finally put the question to rest.
The theory that North West was a baby has been floating around for many months, but it was not until Samson Germaine, the head of the specialized North West Research Foundation, had the chance to observe her in person that it was confirmed.
“I suspected all along that the reason she was crying was because she was a baby. Many other suggestions floated around, ranging from Mr. West himself saying she was just standing up for him in the past to renowned behavioral psychologists pointing to her long-standing issues with anxiety from a turbulent stock portfolio.”
The theory was dismissed by his colleagues at first, but Germaine pressed on.
“I didn’t have much to go on other than a hunch, but I checked it out anyway. Sometimes you have to do things that way.”
Germaine says he followed the trio anywhere he legally could without “being too creepy,” until he overheard her father talking about changing her diaper.
“Well, when I heard that I thought: she’s certainly not elderly, and what other class of people wear diapers?”
After publishing his findings in a peer reviewed journal, the world immediately took to social media in disbelief, spreading the news almost within the hour. The mystery of why young North West cried at inopportune moments was finally solved, and the world rested a little easier.
Kim Kardashian has made no secret of her burning desire for another child. The mother of one apparently wants a sibling for North, in order to help the firstborn through the travails of having been named after a direction. However, the socialite has hit a major obstacle, in that a new law has been passed, requiring Kardashian to get a permit to have any further children.
“There has been much talk in the past of possible permit laws for any citizen to have children, with jail time for failing to comply,” said the creator of the bill, Jim Fountain. “I mean, you need a permit to go fishing, know what I’m saying? It’s been called impractical, which I understand, but with Kim it would just be far too irresponsible to allow her to have kids without qualification.”
The text of the law listed a number of reasons for singling Kardashian out:
Calling her daughter North West is a low point for any mother
She’s famous for a sex tape and nothing more
She garnered public attention by balancing a champagne glass on her naked butt
She’s famous for a fucking sex tape!!!
The father would likely be Kanye West – I wouldn’t trust him with a burrito, let alone a child; it’s a wonder that no one has stepped in to prevent him being around North
Her claim to fame is a sex tape – seriously, what is the world coming to? Well, her sex tape I guess…
Kardashian herself is yet to comment, but husband Kanye released a clip on YouTube, in which he rambled about the injustice of the law.
“Kim is the greatest mother that ever lived, she’s got the greatest daddy right here, I’m a genius and that makes her genius by association. Haters are out there tryna get back at us for being so perfect.”
But he admitted that conception is unlikely in any case.
“While we fuckin, she says to me, she says ‘Imma let you finish’, and then she pulls away, and so I never get to finish. She thinks it’s funny. Seriously, woman. Maybe she shouldn’t have kids.”
Last week, hacker group Anonymous posted a strange video on YouTube, giving lengthy admonitions to rapper Kanye West. The six minute clip showed a man in a Guy Fawkes mask – as is usual in appearances made by members of the group – talking about West’s childish rants about Beck, Kim Kardashian’s naked photos, and the bad example they’re setting for the nation’s children, as well as their own. Many were surprised that Anonymous chose to target West, but the hackers have managed to top their own unpredictability. Earlier today, a video was released targeting Taylor Swift, giving an in-depth critique of her dating choices.
“You go on too many dates, Taylor,” said the masked figure, in a digitally altered voice. “But it’s your taste in boys that gets to us. You dated a Jonas brother, for God’s sake. We need not comment on that one.
“Then you dated Taylor Lautner. Firstly, he has the same name as you. No respectable human being dates someone who shares their name. Secondly, he’s Taylor fucking Lautner. Thirdly, he looks like an alpaca. Forthly, he’s Taylor fucking Lautner.”
The clip did not stop there, choosing to go on to bash John Mayer, calling him “a pretentious douche”.
But it wasn’t all bad. They made special mention of Jake Gyllenhaal, who they hailed as the best decision of her life, and lamented their break-up.
“Jake is something special. You showed wisdom in selecting him, proving to us that you do have at least some taste. Yes, he broke up with you via text, which was pretty shit of him, but, as you yourself say, your exes ‘will tell you I’m insane’.
“You effectively canceled out the merit you won by dating Jake, when you decided to couple with Harry Styles. He’s like twelve years old. He has stupid hairstyles. He looks like a lesbian. And he’s a member of One Direction. Now, we like One Direction as much as the next person, but would never be so shortsighted as to think a relationship with one of those guys could actually be healthy and positive. For God’s sake Taylor – you really have to up your game!”
Anonymous are expected to go after Adam Sandler next, explaining why all of his movies are a crime against moviegoers everywhere. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Attack of the flesh-eating bananas!
Latest Web hoax slanders America's most beloved fruit.
All Share Services
In a rumor sure to wreak chaos at the Chimp Channel, an e-mail passed along by thousands of credulous netizens has spread the false report that several shipments of Costa Rican bananas to the United States have been infected by the bacteria that cause necrotizing fasciitis, otherwise known as the “flesh-eating” disease.
According to the erroneous e-mail, signed by a nonexistent “Manheim Research Institute,” necrotizing fasciitis has “decimated the monkey population in Costa Rica.” Anonymous researchers at the “MRI” state that “the disease has been able to graft itself to the skin of fruits in the region,” most notably the banana.
Talk about “Bedtime for Bonzo” — something like this could spell the end for the Animal Planet channel. Jane Goodall could be forced into early retirement. And what will the knuckle draggers in George W. Bush’s campaign staff eat?
(OK, OK. That last bit’s unfair — to the primates.)
Necrotizing fasciitis is caused when certain forms of streptococcus bacteria infect the skin through a cut or a scratch. They attack the subcutaneous (soft) tissue and spread very quickly, leaving dead tissue in their wake. Left untreated, an infection can lead to amputation or death.
The e-mail says the federal government hasn’t issued a banana alert for fear of causing a panic. (That’s a job for others.) So the e-mail advises everyone to lay off the banana daiquiris and Jell-O pudding pops for two or three weeks, until the scare passes.
If you come down with a fever and a skin infection after noshing on a ‘naner, you’re supposed to get to an M.D. pronto. If you’re more than an hour from a medical center, the e-mail advises, “burn the flesh ahead of the infected area to help slow the spread of the infection.” Ouch!
Sure, that may look like a mosquito bite on your arm. But just in case, a bottle of lighter fluid and a box of matches will clean that sucker right up.
Before you fire up your Bunsen burner, check it out: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta says the report is a bunch of hooey that has been going around the Web since January.
Seems the usual route of transmission for flesh-eating bacteria is person to person, not banana to person or banana to monkey.
The CDC hasn’t been keeping tabs on how many phone calls it has received on the topic, but it does have a banana-rama hot line set up at (404) 371-5375. And its Web site includes information debunking the rumor.
Fallis says the CDC recorded about 800 cases of necrotizing fasciitis in 1998: “That sounds like a lot, until you compare it to several million cases of strep throat each year.”
Tim Debus, vice president of the International Banana Association, denounces the hoax as a case of Internet terrorism comparable to hacker attacks on popular Web sites. “When we first heard about it in January, it sounded too unbelievable to be believable,” says Debus. “But when you’re talking about a food product, people will err on the side of caution.” Go figure.
Debus says his trade organization doesn’t have figures indicating whether the prank has affected sales, but he reports that his office has gotten hundreds of inquiries about it in the past three months. And the e-mail is still showing up in people’s mailboxes. No one seems to know where the rumor started.
He says it’s a particularly insidious rumor considering the fact that Americans consume upward of 28 pounds of bananas per capita in a given year and that 98 percent of all U.S. households have purchased bananas in the past month. I guess America’s the original “Banana Republic.”
For David Mikkelson, who runs the respected Urban Legends Reference Pages with his wife, Barbara, it’s a typical Internet hoax. Among other popular ones out there: tampons are made with asbestos; KFC has been raising genetically altered chickens; and antiperspirants cause breast cancer.
“A common facet of these rumors is that people are willing to believe the most outrageous things about governments and large corporations,” says Mikkelson. “We always distrust the big guys, as if the little guys could never do this.”
Mikkelson’s fave involves the baby formula Enfalac. According to this particular hoax, when mixed with a drug found in dog food, it can cause a toddler’s stomach to explode. Supposedly, a child ate some dog food by accident after ingesting Enfalac, and blammo, baby go boom!
Of course, there’s no truth to it. But the more outrageous the story, the more difficult it is to forget.
Technically, most hoaxes and medical scares are not urban legends, as urban legends involve narratives that happen to “a friend of a friend,” but the Mikkelsons include them on their Web site anyway.
They must be doing something right; even the CDC’s Web site refers readers to Snopes.com for more info. But Mikkelson’s somewhat skeptical about the positive effects of debunking rumors. “When people read a newspaper story debunking a rumor about flesh-eating diseases and bananas, what they remember is ‘flesh-eating disease’ and ‘bananas,’” says Mikkelson. “They don’t remember that the story was telling them it wasn’t true.”
Damn. It’s enough to drive you bananas.
Stephen Lemons is a freelance journalist and regular contributor to Salon. He lives in Los Angeles.
Overdevelopment, Overpopulation, Overshoot
Overdevelopment, Overpopulation, Overshoot
Slide 13
Airplane Contrails: Globalized transportation networks, especially commercial aviation, are a major contributor of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Photo of contrails in the west London sky over the River Thames, London, England.
Previous
Next
R.J. Sangosti/Denver Post
Overdevelopment, Overpopulation, Overshoot
Fire: More frequent and more intense wildfires (such as this one in Colorado, USA) are another consequence of a warming planet. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Local Removalists Kagaru QLD
Expert Removalist You Can Trust For Your Big Or Small Relocation Throughout Kagaru
Looking for cost effective, reliable, and also expert office, home, or furnishings removals in Kagaru 4285? Then you have actually come to the ideal place! Whether you’re moving across the street or across town, we’re here to assist. You’ll enjoy relocating with us – it will certainly be much like removaling with your companions – if your companions were trained professional moving companies with years of experience, that is.
Relocating as well as moving can be frustrating if you do not meet the appropriate removalist in Melbourne. We are devoted to give our clients the greatest standard of service, far beyond exactly what you would certainly get out of the cheapest removalists. We want to provide genuine value, not simply an attractive price!
Being a professional removalist company in Kagaru we have the facilities as well as tools to bring you a superior moving service. Our staff are professionally trained as well as possess the proficiency to execute challenging jobs. Our fleet of vehicles are equipped to move your personal belongings safely.
There Are Numerous Reasons To Entrust Us With Your Removaling Needs, Including:
Our group of specialists are experienced in the Kagaru area and also the relocating sector
We can give services 7 days a week, for the ultimate convenience
Complete Options; Packaging & Unpacking, Storage, de-cluttering and even more.
Finest quality packaging product is made use of for all transfer to guarantee the security of your items.
Caring, Fit, Educated & Professional employees, incentivised for quality.
We have a large fleet of trucks of all different shapes and sizes appropriate for every move, as well as will do our best to accommodate for brief notice bookings.
Local House Removals
There’s no place like home. While most of us bask in familiar environments, as the leading removalists, we understand that building a ‘nest’ in a new location could fill us with numerous blended emotions. We aim to make this a favorable experience by helping our customers every step of the way – from preparing yourself, to getting there, to getting opted for all your self-storage as well as removalists requirements. Our knowledgeable team has the resources, experience and understanding making your relocation as fast as well as simple as possible, indicating you save time, money, and also trouble.
Furniture Removals
Are you seeking to move some furniture? We are the suitable solution for you. No matter how big or small your moving demands, our professional and handy movers are here to assist you. We can get your things moved quickly and also successfully with our large range of sizes and also removalist experts. Whether you are relocating a couple of little furniture pieces or your entire home, our furniture removal service technicians will certainly have you moved within the same day. We wish to save you time and money by giving a removalist option that is incomparable.
Office Removals
We know that removaling office has its very own special obstacles, from organising personnel and also creating workplace furniture layouts to the orderly transfer of IT equipment as well as office documents, every one of which need to be done with as little ‘down time’ as possible to make sure that your organisation is working once again in an instant.
We will guarantee that every workstation and counter is dismantled as well as re-configured effectively at the brand-new premises/office. From tiny nuts/screws to wires, heavy web server racks, board tables and various other goods, we offer to remove all of it. We supply a team to take down, reassemble, disconnect and reconnect any kind of workstations, computers or servers that need removaling. We make use of professional relocating crates, computer system bags and also a whole selection of purpose constructed relocation tools, which will substantially minimize the time of your relocation.
We supply a skilled project manager to work with your team to go through each action of the relocating procedure. There are numerous components that should be managed and also efficiently performed to make certain organisation continuity throughout the moving. Our team of removalists have the knowledge and experience to manage your workplace/ company moving. Not every removalist has the training or tools to cater to the distinct requirements of removaling your office. By calling us you can be sure of a safe and efficient office relocation with a very little difficulty.
Packing, Unpacking, Taking Down As well as Re-Assembly In Kagaru QLD
Packing for a relocation is an exhausting, apparently perpetual task. Who knew you had that much things? Let us take away the problem as well as complete the work in a whole lot less time. Our packing team and experienced, equipped with the ideal materials for the job and will certainly treat your belongings with the care they should have.
Whether it’s just packing, or simply unpacking, or both, you’ll benefit from our proficiency and efficiency in the removaling process the extra you capitalize on our optional removalist services as well as get us involved. You don’t should be senior, accident susceptible or careless to earn use our preparatory solutions – for a lot of our customers it has to do with getting the job done properly, gaining from people in the know for future reference, avoiding damages, as well as preserving the safety and integrity of costly essential furniture units and also appliances.
What Can You Expect On The Day Of The Relocation In Kagaru?
We know our customers want to know what to expect during the removaling process so they can prepare as necessary. We’re one of the few low-cost removalists that care for every aspect of the move. On the day of the move, you can expect:
Our removalist team will certainly message you on the day of the relocate to make certain everything goes inning accordance with plan.
The movers will certainly work carefully to fill your furniture and also possessions in our vehicle and protect every little thing with coverings and also straps.
The items will be carried to the location on schedule and also will certainly arrive when you anticipate them to.
Our removalists will certainly unload whatever and also place the items where you want them to be.
They will certainly reconstruct any taken apart furniture swiftly and make sure everything remains in move-in ready condition.
Once the work is completed to your fulfillment, you will get the invoice.
What Can Our Budget Removalists Help You With In Kagaru?
Spare yourself from the trouble of moving as well as encounter the new life ahead of you with a relaxed smile. We provide top quality services for all your removal needs. Whether it be home removal, furnishings removal, or office removal, our skilled removalists are happy to serve you. We pride ourselves on offering a higher degree of service as well as top quality compared to others. With our highly trained workers, our several years’ hands on experience, as well as our modern fleet of vehicles, we are able to deliver an unequaled removal as well as moving service at extremely affordable rates. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
What will be in the next season? The first episodes have ended favorably. Disagreements and disputes were changed by well-being in the end. But the plot of the second season promises to be saturated. There are lots adventures ahead of each hero. From now, the adventures will be overcome not by one but by friendly family. The plot is based on the relationship of the OBrien family. The heroes have complex interrelations. But life forced them to look at each other again and see the positive sides and come to terms. The mother is the key character here. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Description
Trivial Pursuit Genus Edition for Amstrad CPC by Domark on Tape. 1986 computer quiz based on the board game that got a rating of 91% in Amtix magazine. In case with inlay and instructions. Tested and working. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
Enabling Chrome Custom Tabs for Facebook login using Android SDK
I am using Facebook SDK version 4.11.0 in my app.
As per the steps outlined on the Official docs page, I have added following things inside manifest file to enable Chrome Custom Tabs.
<activity
android:name="com.facebook.FacebookActivity"
android:configChanges="keyboard|keyboardHidden|screenLayout|screenSize|orientation"
android:label="@string/app_name"
android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar" />
<activity
android:name="com.facebook.CustomTabActivity"
android:exported="true">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
<data android:scheme="@string/fb_login_protocol_scheme" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
<meta-data
android:name="com.facebook.sdk.ApplicationId"
android:value="@string/app_id" />
fb_login_protocol_scheme is added to strings.xml with value 'fb+app_id'
Authentication process is working fine without any issue.
Only concern is when I click on login button, the login dialog doesn't opens up in Chrome Custom Tabs but in the usual webview dialog format.
Is there something here missing to be added to the project to enable Chrome Custom Tabs?
A:
You can check why Chrome Custom Tabs doesn't work with this snippet:
private static final String CUSTOM_TABS_SERVICE_ACTION = "android.support.customtabs.action.CustomTabsService";
private static final String CHROME_PACKAGE = "com.android.chrome";
private boolean isCustomTabsAllowed(Context context) {
boolean isCustomTabsAllowed = true;
if (!isCustomTabsEnabled(context)) {
Log.d(TAG, "isCustomTabsEnabled false");
isCustomTabsAllowed = false;
}
if (!isChromeCustomTabsSupported(context)) {
Log.d(TAG, "isChromeCustomTabsSupported false");
isCustomTabsAllowed = false;
}
if (!Validate.hasCustomTabRedirectActivity(context)) {
Log.d(TAG, "hasCustomTabRedirectActivity false");
isCustomTabsAllowed = false;
}
return isCustomTabsAllowed;
}
private boolean isCustomTabsEnabled(Context context) {
final String appId = Utility.getMetadataApplicationId(context);
final Utility.FetchedAppSettings settings = Utility.getAppSettingsWithoutQuery(appId);
return settings != null && settings.getCustomTabsEnabled();
}
private boolean isChromeCustomTabsSupported(final Context context) {
Intent serviceIntent = new Intent(CUSTOM_TABS_SERVICE_ACTION);
serviceIntent.setPackage(CHROME_PACKAGE);
List<ResolveInfo> resolveInfos =
context.getPackageManager().queryIntentServices(serviceIntent, 0);
return !(resolveInfos == null || resolveInfos.isEmpty());
}
These are the methods called by the Facebook SDK before launch the Chrome Custom Tabs, so simply calling isCustomTabsAllowed you can understand what's wrong with your app.
If isCustomTabsEnabled is false there is some problem in the configuration of your app. Verify on Facebook console under App Review section that the app is live and available to the public.
If isChromeCustomTabsSupported is false probably you have an older version of Chrome that doesn't support the Chrome Custom Tabs, try to update to the last version of Chrome.
If hasCustomTabRedirectActivity is false there are some issues in the integration, verify that you correctly followed all the steps indicated in the guide. Also verify that the APP_ID is the same used in the string facebook_app_id otherwise the login dialog won't use the Chrome Custom Tabs.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
How Dakuten works with Romaji?
I was reading different hiragana charts and saw that "ち(chi)", applying dakuten it can be read as "dzi" or "ji".
Other hiragana words in dakuten also have different ways of pronunciation depending on the charts.
How does romaji works on dakuten?
As an example, I'm writing the word "ぢめん" on romaji, how do I write it? Dzimen? Jimen? Djimen?
Thanks!
A:
This is not a problem of dakuten in general, but is a problem specific to じ, ぢ, ず and づ. There is a bit complicated history regarding the pronunciations of these four characters, and they even have a special name, yotsugana. English Wikipedia has a dedicated article about this topic.
In short, the standard Japanese accent no longer retains the distinction between the sounds of じ vs ぢ, or ず vs づ. You can pronounce じ and ぢ either like dzi or like ji, and native Japanese speakers using the standard accent cannot even hear the difference. Please see this answer and this question for details.
Even though じ and ぢ share the same pronunciation, sometimes you want to distinguish the spelling of these two characters using Latin alphabet. Some romanization systems including 日本式 distinguish the romaji spelling of じ (zi) and ぢ (di). Hepburn system, which tries to approximate the sound as much as possible, does not distinguish the spelling of じ/ぢ (both ji), or ず/づ (both zu). If you want to write 地面 using the Hepburn system, it's "jimen".
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Identification of the Entner-Doudoroff pathway in an antibiotic-producing actinomycete species.
The metabolic network of the central carbon metabolism represents the backbone of cellular metabolism and provides the precursors and cofactors required for synthesis of secondary metabolites. It is therefore pivotal to map the operating metabolic network in the central carbon metabolism in order to design metabolic engineering strategies towards construction of more efficient producers of specific metabolites. In this context, methods that allow rapid and reliable mapping of the central carbon metabolism are valuable. In the present study, a (13)C labelling-based method was used to identify the primary metabolic pathways of the poorly characterized antibiotic-producing actinomycete Nonomuraea sp. ATCC 39727. Surprisingly, it was found that Nonomuraea sp. ATCC 39272 predominantly metabolizes glucose via the Entner-Doudoroff (ED) pathway. This represents the first time that the ED pathway has been recognized as the main catabolic pathway in an actinomycete. The Nonomuraea genes encoding the key enzymes of the ED pathway were subsequently identified, sequenced and functionally described. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
An article by Randy Wakeman comparing the actual pellet counts delivered by
shotgun chokes with different shot charges ... of pattern efficiency does not
change just because you change shells, payload, or gauge. ... An Improved
Cylinder pattern with a 1-1/8 ounce payload (190 pellets) puts about as manypellets into a 30 ...
Shotshell Breakdown. How It's Made: 12-Gauge Plastic Target Shotshell. Learn
more ... reduce the number of deformed pellets and recoil. Steel Shot: ... They
have thick sidewalls to prevent the pellets from contacting the shotgun bore
surface.
Aug 22, 2013 ... The Truth About Shotgun Ammo: 6 Questions Answered at Federal's High-Tech
.... The .410 not only puts fewer pellets on target than the 20-gauge, but the ...
where many hunters shoot 1-ounce loads with either gauge, so that ... | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Interaction of polyphemusin I and structural analogs with bacterial membranes, lipopolysaccharide, and lipid monolayers.
Three structural variants (PV5, PV7, and PV8) of the horseshoe crab cationic antimicrobial peptide polyphemusin I were designed with improved amphipathic profiles. Circular dichroism spectroscopy analysis indicated that in phosphate buffer polyphemusin I, PV7, and PV8 displayed the spectrum of a type II beta-turn-rich structure, but, like polyphemusin I, all three variants adopted a typical beta-sheet structure in an anionic lipid environment. Both polyphemusin I and variants were potent broad spectrum antimicrobials that were clearly bactericidal at their minimal inhibitory concentrations. The variants were moderately less active in vitro but more effective in animal models. Moreover, these variants exhibited delayed bacterial killing, whereas polyphemusin I killed Escherichia coli UB1005 within 5 min at 2.5 microg/mL. All the peptides showed similar abilities to bind to bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and permeabilize bacterial outer membranes. Consistent with this was the observation that all peptides significantly inhibited cytokine production by LPS-stimulated macrophages and penetrated polyanionic LPS monolayers to similar extents. None of the peptides had affinity for neutral lipids as evident from both tryptophan fluorescence spectroscopy and Langmuir monolayer analysis. As compared to polyphemusin I, all variants showed reduced ability to interact with anionic lipids, and the hemolytic activity of the variants was decreased by 2-4-fold. In contrast, polyphemusin I efficiently depolarized the cytoplasmic membrane of E. coli, as assessed using a membrane potential sensitive fluorescent dye 3,3-dipropylthiacarbocyanine (diSC(3)5) assay, but the variants showed a substantially delayed and decreased depolarizing ability. The coincident assessment of cell viability indicated that depolarization of the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane potential by polyphemusin I occurred prior to lethal damage to cells. Our data suggest that increase of amphipathicity of beta-sheet polyphemusin I generally resulted in variants with decreased activity for membranes. Interestingly, all variants showed an improved ability to protect mice both against infection by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and from endotoxaemia. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
How to handle query migration in MongoDB / Morphia?
I recently had to introduce a change in my data structure regarding the "users" collection which resulted in a migration from the following simplified example:
{
"name": "John",
"emails" : [ "[email protected]", "[email protected]" ]
}
to this:
{
"name": "John",
"emailAddresses" : [
{
"email" : "[email protected]",
"verified" : true
},
{
"email" : "[email protected]",
"verified" : true
}
]
}
So the "emails" field was changed from being a simple String array to an array of complex objects, each having a field "email" and "verified". In addition to that, it's name changed to "emailAddresses".
I am aware of how to migrate my data concerning loading and storage with changed data models using the annotations provided by Morphia such as @PostLoad or @NotSaved.
My problem arises with queries. Originally, I would query for users by their email address like this:
Query<User> q = dataStore.createQuery(User.class);
q.filter("emails", email);
User u = q.get();
I know that I simply have to adapt the query to the following to support my new data structure:
Query<User> q = dataStore.createQuery(User.class);
q.filter("emailAddresses.email", email);
User u = q.get();
That's fine. The problem is that some of the documents in my collection are still stored in the "old" way, and some are already stored in the "new" way. If I only use the "new" way, I am not going to be able to find older documents.
The question is:
How can I create a query that considers both old and new data
structures when (like in this example) querying by email address?
The best thing I could come up with so far is to use "or" queries and query for both fields with validation disabled (exception thrown otherwise):
Query<User> q = dataStore.createQuery(User.class);
q.disableValidation();
q.or(q.criteria("emails").equal(email), q.criteria("emailAddresses.email").equal(email));
User u = q.get();
However, this seems quite cumbersome and possibly bad for performance.
I was wondering if there is a better way to approach this problem?
A:
You don't have to use only the Morphia annotations. You can use the MongoDB command line to run update queries. You can do quite complex logic in JavaScript to lookup and transform documents to the new format. You can run it only on documents that still have the old 'emails' field if you have an index on that field and millions of documents
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Minimalism meets reality in SCARPA's trail running family. Born and bred in the Colorado Rockies and the Dolomites of Italy, these shoes deliver what we consider “functional minimalism”. Minimal uppers combine with the appropriate level of traction, support and cushioning underneath to deliver the perfect balance between weight and performance. Speed through rugged terrain with confidence – these shoes have everything you need, and nothing you don’t.
Vibram® XS Grip2
VIBRAM® XS Grip2 represents the natural evolution of VIBRAM® XS Grip, the compound used by many bouldering and difficulty world championship winners in the last 3 years. VIBRAM® XS Grip2 delivers measurably improved grip with adequate firmness for moderate edging, while maintaining consistent performance in all temperatures. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
I'm so glad that Sen. Al Franken is standing up against this merger. This is a bad move for democracy in so many ways, and he's pulling out all the stops to mobilize supporters. He sent out this email yesterday:
You might have seen in the news, on Twitter, or on Facebook recently that I'm opposing the NBC/Comcast merger in its current form. I wanted to write you today to explain why, and to ask for your help.
I have some experience in this industry, and I flat-out don't trust Comcast and NBC to operate in the best interest of consumers in Minnesota and around the country when it comes to this merger. Combining a company who provides programming and one who provides the pipes that carry said programming would almost certainly be a raw deal for consumers and independent content producers alike.
Click here to represent your opposition to this merger by supporting the vocal opposition (me) with a small, secure grassroots donation today!
I came to Washington to stand up to the lopsided influence of special interests on behalf of middle class Minnesota families, and opposing this merger is an opportunity to do just that. And as much as I don't trust Comcast and NBC to be honest brokers on this deal, I am trusting you to help me build support for my positions on issues like this one. And as usual, by 'support' I mean 'money.'
Online grassroots donations fuel our operation, and I need your help to keep it going strong -- click here to contribute, please.
I'm not afraid of standing up to these guys -- as I said it's why I ran for the Senate. But I also realize that given the recent Citizens United decision in the U.S. Supreme Court, corporations can now turn around and spend millions running ads telling voters I want to blow up their T.V. -- a patently untrue claim that they've got no research to support, by the way. But I don't need them on my side. I want you on my side.
If you're on my side on this one, please click here to help us build a massive grassroots machine to get our message out.
Fights like this one are more than worth having, they're essential to keeping our democracy representative of people instead of corporate entities. I realize that with a lot of my positions, I'm inviting special interest groups to spend a lot of money to defeat me down the road. As long as I have you standing with me, that's ok by me -- because corporations getting their way isn't some bad medicine consumers need to swallow -- we can stand, fight, and win.
Thanks for your time today, for all you've done, and all you'll do.
- Al | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Spontaneous bone healing of the large bone defects in the mandible.
Spontaneous healing of large bone defects in the mandibles of 33 patients was studied. Standard postoperative clinical and radiographic examinations were performed immediately after surgery and after 2, 6 and 12 months. They were analysed using a novel relative bone densitometry method and indexes of relative bone healing were established. Spontaneous bone regeneration occurred in all patients clinically, and the computer analysis of radiographs showed that the mean final bone density in the bone defects was 88% of the bone density of the surrounding healthy bone. In the cases of smaller defects (the greatest diameter on panoramic radiographs was 20-30 mm) the final bone density was 97%, while the larger defects finally healed with 84% of the bone density of the surrounding bone. Increased patient age had a negative influence on healing and the shape of the bone defects was more important for healing than their volume. Spontaneous bone healing occurred even in large bone defects in the mandible, therefore this simple treatment with low economic and biological costs should be the treatment of choice, taking into account the patient's age, surgical principles and time of rehabilitation. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
Regular expression replace in Textpad where search term spans multiple lines
Is it possible to do a regular expression search and replace in Textpad where the search term spans multiple lines.
e.g. document contains:
Hello
ab_c
D_EF
12_3
World
I would like to replace everything between "Hello" and "World" with a space.
I have tried searching for the regular expression:
Hello.*World
but this does not match (I assume due to the text spanning across multiple lines).
A:
Since Textpad seems to have only very limited regex support, I only got it done with three replaces:
Replace each newline (\n or \r\n) in your text with a unique pattern, e.g. ##NEWLINE##
Use the regex (Hello).*(World) and replace the match with \1 \2
(you can also just use Hello.*World and replace with Hello World)
Finally, revert step 1 by replacing all ##NEWLINE## with the actual newline
I suggest taking a look on Notepad++ which has better regex support, a lot of other features (especially for source code editing), and is open source / free software.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
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