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3 Cal.3d 398 (1970) 475 P.2d 880 90 Cal. Rptr. 608 JEFFERSON INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEW YORK et al., Petitioners, v. THE SUPERIOR COURT OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, Respondent; FONG HONG MAY, Real Party in Interest. Docket No. S.F. 22752. Supreme Court of California. In Bank. October 29, 1970. *400 COUNSEL Long & Levit, Bert W. Levit, Victor B. Levit, John B. Hook and Stephen H. Silver for Petitioners. No appearance for Respondent. Stark, Simon & Sparrowe, Stark, Stewart, Simon & Sparrowe, John F. Wells and V. James Jackl for Real Party in Interest. OPINION McCOMB, J. By this petition for a writ of mandate, petitioners (hereinafter referred to as "the insurers") seek to compel respondent court to set aside an order vacating an appraisal award. The matter is before us on an alternative writ issued by the Court of Appeal. Real party in interest (hereinafter referred to as "the insured") is the owner of a hotel building, which has a fair market value, excluding the value of the land, of $65,000. Prior to the fire loss which resulted in this litigation, the insured had acquired from the insurers fire insurance policies written in the California standard form prescribed by section 2071 of the Insurance Code. The policies contained an "average clause," providing for a proportionate reduction of any loss unless the building was insured to 70 percent of its "actual cash value."[1] The policies were written in the total amount of $45,000, which is approximately 70 percent of the fair market value of the building. *401 The parties agreed that the amount of the loss was $24,102.05 ($25,702.05, the cost of repairs, less $1,600 betterment). The insurers, however, refused to pay that amount, contending that the property was substantially underinsured according to the average clause. Their theory was that "actual cash value," as used in the policy, does not mean fair market value, but means the replacement cost of the building less depreciation. The replacement cost less a reasonable depreciation factor is approximately $170,000. The insured contended that the building was sufficiently insured, asserting that the "actual cash value" referred to in the policy means fair market value. Upon demand by the insurers, appraisers were appointed, pursuant to the statutory appraisal clause contained in the policy, for the purpose of having them determine the actual cash value of the building.[2] The appraisers, after some disagreement among themselves, accepted the insurers' contention that the term "actual cash value" means replacement cost less depreciation of the building, and determined on that basis that the actual cash value of the building was $169,547. One of the appraisers independently determined that the fair market value of the building was $65,000. From the appraisers' determination that the actual cash value was $169,547, the insurers offered to pay $10,154 as their proportion of the $24,102.05 loss sustained.[3] The insured rejected the offer and petitioned respondent court under section 1285 of the Code of Civil Procedure to vacate the appraisal award.[4] The evidence before respondent court established conclusively that the appraisers had determined as a matter of law that the issue before them was the "replacement cost less depreciation" of the building, and that in arriving at the value listed in their award as "cash value," they refused to consider income, location, or any other relevant factor tending to show *402 the fair market value of the property, despite the fact that such evidence was made available for their use. Based upon this showing, respondent court ordered that the award be vacated pursuant to section 1286.2, subdivisions (d) and (e), of the Code of Civil Procedure, thus finding by implication (1) that the appraisers had exceeded their powers by erroneously deciding a question of law (the meaning of "actual cash value"), which they had not been authorized to decide, and (2) that the insured had been substantially prejudiced by the refusal of the appraisers to consider material evidence. Respondent court, in ordering a second appraisal, directed that new appraisers "employ the standard definition of fair market value, which is synonymous with the `actual cash value' in said insurance policy, namely, the price that a willing buyer would pay a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to sell or buy." (1) Questions: First. Did the appraisers, in determining the "actual cash value" of the insured's building, properly use "replacement cost less depreciation"? No. "Actual cash value," as used in section 2071 of the Insurance Code, is synonymous with "fair market value." (See Martin v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 200 Cal. App.2d 459, 470 [19 Cal. Rptr. 364]; Hughes v. Potomac Ins. Co., 199 Cal. App.2d 239, 252-253 [18 Cal. Rptr. 650].) Thus, in Martin, the Court of Appeal, in construing the section, said: "The loss payable on an insurance policy is not the cost of the car to plaintiffs but its fair market value just prior to its destruction." (P. 470.) (2) It is clear that the Legislature did not intend the term "actual cash value" in the standard policy form, set forth in section 2071 of the Insurance Code, to mean replacement cost less depreciation. The term appears not only in the average clause, hereinabove referred to, but also in the insuring clause and must be given the same meaning in both. The latter clause insures "to the extent of the actual cash value of the property at the time of loss, but not exceeding the ... cost to repair or replace the property...." Since replacement cost less depreciation can never exceed replacement cost, it would not be logical to interpret this clause to mean "to the extent of the replacement cost less depreciation, but not exceeding the ... cost to repair or replace the property." (Italics added.) If "actual cash value" had been intended to mean replacement cost less depreciation, the Legislature would not have used "the cost to ... replace the property" as a limiting factor, and would have specified as a limiting factor only the cost to repair the property. *403 (3a) Second. Did respondent court act properly in vacating the appraisal award because the appraisers based the award on a misconception of the law? Yes. Although arbitrators are frequently, by the terms of the agreement providing for arbitration, particularly in construction contracts, given broad powers (see, e.g., Olivera v. Modiano-Schneider, Inc., 205 Cal. App.2d 9, 11 [23 Cal. Rptr. 30], where the contract provided that any controversy or claims arising out of the contract were to be settled by arbitration), appraisers generally have more limited powers. (4) As stated in Hughes v. Potomac Ins. Co., supra, 199 Cal. App.2d 239, 253 [9]: "The function of appraisers is to determine the amount of damage resulting to various items submitted for their consideration. It is certainly not their function to resolve questions of coverage and interpret provisions of the policy." (3b) Thus, in the present case the appraisers were authorized to determine only a question of fact, namely, the actual cash value of the insured building. (5) Since the evidence shows that the appraisers misinterpreted the meaning of "actual cash value" and therefore failed to decide the factual issue submitted to them, the insured properly invoked the jurisdiction of respondent court to vacate the award and order a rehearing. (Cf. Allen v. Interinsurance Exchange, 275 Cal. App.2d 636, 642, 644 [80 Cal. Rptr. 247].) As stated in Meat Cutters Local No. 439 v. Olson Bros., Inc., 186 Cal. App.2d 200, 204 [6] [8 Cal. Rptr. 789]: "... it is in the determination of whether a decided issue was properly before the arbitrator or an issue before him was not decided, that the agreement or order of submission falls under the scrutiny of the court." (Italics added.) (6) Where an appraisal award is based upon a misconception of the law, this fact may be proved to the court by extrinsic evidence, including a declaration of one of the appraisers. The declaration of an appraiser is properly received to show what the appraisers considered the issue to be, for the purpose of determining whether they exceeded their powers by making an error of law. (See Sapp. v. Barenfeld, 34 Cal.2d 515, 523 [212 P.2d 233]; Allen v. Interinsurance Exchange, supra, 275 Cal. App.2d 636, 642-643.) The alternative writ is discharged, and the petition for a peremptory writ is denied. Wright, C.J., Peters, J., Tobriner, J., Mosk, J., Burke, J., and Sullivan, J., concurred. NOTES [1] The "average clause" limits the liability of the insurers, as follows: "[T]his company shall be liable for no greater proportion of such loss than the amount of insurance specified in such item bears to the percentage specified in the first page of this policy [70%] of the actual cash value of the property...." (Italics added.) [2] The appraisal clause in the policies is in the required statutory language of section 2071 of the Insurance Code, as follows: "In case the insured and this company shall fail to agree as to the actual cash value or the amount of loss, then, on the written demand of either, each shall select a competent and disinterested appraiser and notify the other of the appraiser selected within 20 days of such demand. The appraisers shall first select a competent and disinterested umpire.... The appraisers shall then appraise the loss, stating separately actual cash value and loss to each item; and, failing to agree, shall submit their differences, only, to the umpire. An award in writing, so itemized, of any two when filed with this company shall determine the amount of actual cash value and loss...." [3] The figure of $10,154 is arrived at by taking the ratio of the $45,000 policy limit to 70 percent of the actual cash value, and applying that fraction to the amount of the loss. [4] By section 1280 of the Code of Civil Procedure, enforcement procedures respecting arbitration have been made applicable to appraisals. | Mid | [
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Why I support prevailing wage A recent article in my local paper stated that Pennsylvania's Department of Labor and Industry (L&I) has discretionary authority to use area union wage rates as the prevailing wage for a given project. This is a common misconception about the prevailing wage law. What this statement fails to recognize is that non-union contractors and subcontractors are encouraged to submit their wage data to L&I for determining prevailing wage rates, but typically choose not to do so. The secretary of L&I determines prevailing wage rates using wage data voluntarily submitted by contractors and subcontractors (whether union or non-union) from local projects and paid to workers in those local areas. However, while collective bargaining agreements are regularly submitted to the department for use in rate calculations, non-union contractors choose not to submit their wage data and forfeit the opportunity to affect the wage rate calculation. Pennsylvania's Prevailing Wage Act is championed by many as preserving decent wages for tradesmen in the highly competitive public works arena, as well as guaranteeing competence, skill and quality for tax dollars spent. The act ensures that projects impacting public safety are done right. A system that rewards the lowest bidders without regard to any labor cost guidelines will naturally favor employers who pay substandard wages in order to win the bid over competitors. This can result in fly-by-night contractors who employ low-paid, unskilled or out-of-state workers. The result would be the loss of jobs for local, highly skilled and experienced workers. According to U.S. Census information, wages and benefits paid to construction workers typically account for no more than 24 percent of a project's total cost. Materials, engineering, design, the bidding process, and a contractor's profit margin make up the rest. In the past 10 years, the rising cost of construction materials alone has outpaced construction wages by nearly 25 percent. It amazes me that so many go after the little guy at the bottom of the project ladder while so few direct their efforts toward the many other costs involved in a project. It has been projected that CEOs will soon make more than they did before the recession began, while the wages of the middle class have remained stagnant. Without prevailing wage, many middle-class, working Pennsylvanians would have even less money available to support the local economy than they do now. And that is why I will continue to work to keep provisions of the prevailing wage law intact to protect Pennsylvania workers and taxpayers. Mundy represents the 120th Legislative District and serves as Democratic chairman of the House Finance Committee. Like what you're reading? Subscribe to Chester County's free newsletter to catch every headline | High | [
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Would making a simple IR repeater be as simple as using an IR reviver diode, IR LED, transistor and power? And would it be responsive enough to not interfere with the remote that it controlling it? My cable box is in a bad spot but it's not completely isolated from the remote beam so it would be still occasionally getting light from the remote in addition to the repeater. I could find a way to deal with that obviously but it would be nice if I didn't need to. | Mid | [
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Q: C# Correct managed code from C++ I have to use this external functions "GetOpenedFiles" (more info to: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/shell/OpenedFileFinder.aspx) into my C# application. I don't know as I can write a wrapper of this function: void GetOpenedFiles(LPCWSTR lpPath, OF_TYPE Filter, OF_CALLBACK CallBackProc, UINT_PTR pUserContext); ORIGINAL C++ CODE (OpenFilefinder.h) enum OF_TYPE { FILES_ONLY = 1, MODULES_ONLY = 2, ALL_TYPES = 3 }; struct OF_INFO_t { DWORD dwPID; LPCWSTR lpFile; HANDLE hFile; }; typedef void (CALLBACK* OF_CALLBACK)(OF_INFO_t OpenedFileInf0, UINT_PTR uUserContext ); extern "C" __declspec(dllexport) void ShowOpenedFiles( LPCWSTR lpPath ); extern "C" __declspec(dllexport) void GetOpenedFiles( LPCWSTR lpPath, OF_TYPE Filter, OF_CALLBACK CallBackProc, UINT_PTR pUserContext ); MY C# APPLICATION: public enum OF_TYPE : int { FILES_ONLY = 1, MODULES_ONLY = 2, ALL_TYPES = 3 } public struct OF_INFO_t { ?????? dwPID; ?????? lpFile; ?????? hFile; } [DllImport("OpenFileFinder.dll", EntryPoint = "GetOpenedFiles")] static extern void GetOpenedFiles(??????? lpPath, OF_TYPE filter, ????? CallBackProc, ????? pUserContext); How can I use this dll function correctly in my C# app? EDIT: This is my latest snippet, but never invoke callback function: namespace Open64 { class Program { public Program() { GetOpenedFiles("C:\\", OF_TYPE.ALL_TYPES, CallbackFunction, UIntPtr.Zero); } //void GetOpenedFiles(LPCWSTR lpPath, OF_TYPE Filter, OF_CALLBACK CallBackProc, UINT_PTR pUserContext); public enum OF_TYPE : int { FILES_ONLY = 1, MODULES_ONLY = 2, ALL_TYPES = 3 } public struct OF_INFO_t { Int32 dwPID; String lpFile; IntPtr hFile; } public delegate void CallbackFunctionDef(OF_INFO_t info, IntPtr context); [DllImport("OpenFileFinder.dll", EntryPoint = "GetOpenedFiles")] static extern void GetOpenedFiles(string lpPath, OF_TYPE filter, CallbackFunctionDef CallBackProc, UIntPtr pUserContext); public void CallbackFunction(OF_INFO_t info, IntPtr context) { Console.WriteLine("asd"); } [STAThread] static void Main() { new Program(); } } } A: This is how you would marshal the following types: DWORD => Int32 LPCWSTR => String HANDLE => IntPtr UINT_PTR => UIntPtr A: public struct OF_INFO_t { Int32 dwPID; String lpFile; IntPtr hFile; } public delegate void CallbackFunctionDef(OF_INFO_t info, UIntPtr context); [DllImport("OpenFileFinder.dll", EntryPoint = "GetOpenedFiles")] static extern void GetOpenedFiles(string lpPath, OF_TYPE filter, CallbackFunctionDef CallBackProc, UIntPtr pUserContext); EDIT: Here's the complete program class Program { public Program() { GetOpenedFiles("C:\\", OF_TYPE.ALL_TYPES, CallbackFunction, UIntPtr.Zero); Console.ReadKey(); } //void GetOpenedFiles(LPCWSTR lpPath, OF_TYPE Filter, OF_CALLBACK CallBackProc, UINT_PTR pUserContext); public enum OF_TYPE : int { FILES_ONLY = 1, MODULES_ONLY = 2, ALL_TYPES = 3 } [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential,CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)] public struct OF_INFO_t { public Int32 dwPID; public String lpFile; public IntPtr hFile; } public delegate void CallbackFunctionDef(OF_INFO_t info, IntPtr context); [DllImport("OpenFileFinder.dll", CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, EntryPoint = "GetOpenedFiles")] static extern void GetOpenedFiles(string lpPath, OF_TYPE filter, CallbackFunctionDef CallBackProc, UIntPtr pUserContext); public void CallbackFunction(OF_INFO_t info, IntPtr context) { //List the files Console.WriteLine(info.lpFile); } [STAThread] static void Main() { new Program(); } } | Mid | [
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Background ========== Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of liver cancer \[[@B1]\] and various therapeutic options have been developed by focusing on the specific tumour stage and hepatic functional reserve \[[@B2]-[@B9]\]. A variety of transarterial treatments have been provided to cases at relatively advanced stages \[[@B3]\], and these treatments were roughly divided into the following three groups: tran-sarterial chemoembolization (TACE), transarterial oily chemoembolization (TOCE) and transarterial chemotherapy (TAC), based on the likelihood of deteriorating hepatic reserve. TACE involves hepatic arterial injections of chemotherapeutic agents combined with embolizing materials. TOCE is solely an arterial administration of a combination of chemotherapeutic agents and oily contrast medium of lipiodol ultra fluid (Laboratory Guerbet, Aulnay-sous-Bois, France), while in TAC, chemotherapeutic agents alone are infused through the hepatic artery. Although TACE is only a transarterial procedure, for which therapeutic efficacy has been proved in randomised prospective controlled studies, the deterioration of hepatic reserve is estimated at 20%--58%, mainly because of ischaemic damage to the nontumourous background liver \[[@B10],[@B11]\], inferring a higher risk of unfavourable reduction in hepatic reserve function in cases with poor hepatic reserve. Therefore, to develop a safe and efficient transarterial therapeutic procedure in such cases, other effective means of performing TOCE, TAC, and TOCE + TAC have been tested \[[@B5],[@B12]-[@B15]\]. TACE and TOCE were recently compared in a randomised phase III trial using zinostatin stimalamer dissolved in lipiodol \[[@B12]\] with subsequent arterial embolization (TACE) or without embolization (TOCE). Interestingly, the results showed no improvement in survival rates by performing embolization and TOCE represented to be a therapeutic option for HCC patients with low hepatic reserve. However, two major concerns with TOCE are: 1) the method of combining water-based chemotherapeutic agents with oily lipiodol in a stable formulation; and 2) that TOCE is unable to target wide area of the liver as it reduces the hepatic arterial flow, although tentative, that may result in hepatic failure. For first concern, Miriplatin, a third-generation platinum derivative with lipophilic moiety that forms a suspension with lipiodol, was recently developed and approved for clinical use in Japan as a novel chemotherapeutic agent for HCC \[[@B16]-[@B21]\] with promising results \[[@B22]-[@B24]\]. For second concern, as TAC requires no embolization, that can be injected in wide area and its anti-tumour effect has been reported in several studies \[[@B5],[@B13]-[@B15]\], followed by the promising results from a multicentre phase II study in patients with unresectable HCC using cisplatin (CDDP), a first-generation platinum agent, in which the response rate was recorded as 33.8% \[[@B13]\], it might be effective to treat wide area of the liver with poor hepatic reserve function. In addition, the first-pass kinetics \[[@B25]\] of CDDP by TAC contribute to the anti-tumor effect and decrease the adverse systemic events \[[@B5]\]. Since highly concentrated CDDP powder for TAC (DDP-H, IA-call^®^; Nippon Kayaku Co., Ltd) is available in Japan, TAC is now widely used in Japan to treat multiple small tumours or patients with poor hepatic reserve \[[@B5],[@B13],[@B26]\]. Based on these results and the advances in the development of new chemotherapeutics, it is reasonable to consider the combination therapy of CDDP-TAC with miriplatin-TOCE to treat advanced stage HCC with poor hepatic reserve function safely and effectively. Therefore, in this study we conducted a phase I dose-escalation study on DDP-H-TAC followed by miriplatin-TOCE to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) in unresectable HCC. The safety issue with regard to the combination of two platinum-based chemotherapeutic agents will be discussed by referencing the pharmacokinetics of platinum. Methods ======= Patient selection ----------------- Patients with HCC were considered eligible for the study if they fulfilled the following criteria: 20--80 years of age; at least one measurable tumour blush on angiography; histologically and/or clinically diagnosed HCC; no other therapeutic treatment was found to be effective or appropriate to their condition, according to the Japanese guidelines for HCC treatment; an Eastern Cooperative Oncology performance status of 0--2; adequate hepatic function (Child--Pugh, score ≤7; total bilirubin, ≤3.0 mg/dl; albumin, ≥3.0 g/dl); adequate haematological function (neutrophils, ≥1,500/mm^3^; platelets, ≥50,000/mm^3^; haemoglobin, ≥8.0 g/dl); adequate renal function (creatinine clearance, ≥50 ml/min adjusted for 1.73 m^2^ of body surface area); serum amylase, ≤324 IU/dl and an interval of 4 weeks or more since previous therapy. All nodules were radiologically diagnosed as HCC when they satisfied at least one of the following criteria based on CT or MRI: typical haemodynamics of classical HCC (substantial enhancement during arterial phase followed by a washout with 'corona-like' peripheral enhancement in equilibrium phase) and similar characteristics of coexisting nodules that had been diagnosed as HCC. All eligible HCC cases were recurrent with a history of CDDP administration in eight patients. Patients with the following characteristics were considered ineligible: massive pleural effusion and/or ascites refractory to treatment; active cancer other than HCC; active infectious disease; active haemorrhagic state; severe mental disorder; hepatic encephalopathy; history of allergic reaction to iodine phase contrast and/or platinum agents; ongoing interferon therapy and difficulty with oral food intake. This study was approved by the institutional review board of Niigata University Hospital and was registered with the University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN-CTR 000003541). Written informed consent was obtained from all patients and the study protocol conformed to the ethical guidance of the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki. Method of administration ------------------------ CDDP powder, DDP-H (Nippon Kayaku Co., Ltd. Tokyo, Japan), was solubilised in saline at a concentration of 100 mg/70 ml immediately before use and infused into the entire liver through the proper hepatic artery at a rate of 126 ml/h, providing in total 35 mg/m^2^. This was followed by TOCE with miriplatin, prepared according to the instructions, through the nutrient vessels of the target tumour using a maximal dose showing corresponding drainage portal veins up to a volume of 6 ml. If no DLT was recorded, the same regimen was carried out by increasing DDP-H by 15 mg/m^2^, based on the modified Fibonacci method in which DLT is defined as adverse events of grade ≥3 in nonhaematological or grade ≥4 in haematological toxicity, according to the NCI-CTCAE version 4.0. If any of the three patients showed as having DLT, three more patients were enrolled. MTD was judged to have been exceeded when two patients showed DLT. MTD was defined as the maximum dose where no more than two of the six patients experienced DLT. If two or more cases were already suffering from DLT at the initial dose of 35 mg/m^2^, this dose was reduced by 10 mg/m^2^ to 15 mg/m^2^. Evaluation of anti-tumour effects --------------------------------- Anti-tumour response was evaluated from CT images obtained before and 3 months after treatment. Evaluation was performed in accordance with the modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) guideline, a new response evaluation criteria in solid tumours \[[@B27]\]. The tumour markers of AFP and DCP were followed at appropriate time periods for each patient. Platinum pharmacokinetics ------------------------- Total plasma platinum concentration was measured and pharmacokinetic evaluation performed for all patients. Plasma samples were collected in heparinised tubes at 24 h and 7 days following the administration of DDP-H and miriplatin. As reference, 50 mg/m^2^ (80 mg/body) of CDDP in liquid form was administered through the proper hepatic artery for the entire liver at a rate of 1 mg/min, and the concentration was quantified before the administration and at 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2, 4, 12 and 24 h after administration. Plasma platinum concentration was measured by atomic absorption spectrometry (Nac Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan). Results ======= Patient characteristics ----------------------- A total of nine eligible patients were enrolled in this study from July to October 2010 and divided into three groups; none of the three patients from each group developed DLT at DDP-H dose levels of 35 (level 1), 50 (level 2) and 65 (level 3) mg/m^2^. Patient characteristics before treatment are summarised in Table [1](#T1){ref-type="table"}. Performance status was 0 in eight patients and 1 in one patient (case 1). The aetiology of liver cirrhosis was HBV infection (*n =* 1), HCV infection (*n* = 4), alcoholic abuse (*n* = 3) and autoimmune hepatitis (*n* = 1). Residual liver function was relatively good with a median Child--Pugh score of 6, eight patients in grade A and one in grade B, and no marked renal dysfunction was observed. All patients had a history of HCC treatment; eight patients, other than case 3, had a history of DDP-H-TAC followed by epirubicin-TOCE. ###### Patient characteristics **Group** **Level 1** **Level 2** **Level 3** -------------------------------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- ------ ------ ------ ------- ------- ------- **Age (years)** 80 62 80 78 61 80 63 79 80 **Gender (M, Male/F, Female)** M M M M M M M F F **Performance status** 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 **HBV infection** \- \- \- \- \- \- \+ \- \- **HCV infection** \+ \+ \- \- \- \+ \- \+ \- **Alcohol** \- \- \+ \+ \+ \- \- \- \- **Autoimmune hepatitis** \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \- \+ **Child-Pugh Score** 6 6 5 6 6 7 5 6 6 **Recurrence (Y, Yes/N, No)** Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y **Interval to previous therapy (M)** 6 8 6 23 10 21 13 19 3 **Previous therapy** TACE TAC TACE TACE TAC TACE TAC TACE TACE **History of CDDP Administration** Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y **Number of tumors** 3 2 1 \>5 \>5 4 4 \>5 \>5 **Maximum tumor size (mm)** 15 15 14 20 10 34 24 10 30 **Vascular invasion (Y, Yes/N, No)** N N N N N N N N N **Metastasis (Y, Yes/N, No)** N N N N N N N N N **Stage (UICC)** II II I II II II II II II **Tumor location (PAMLC)** PA ML ML AM ML M P A PA **BSA (m**^**2**^**)** 1.486 1.6 1.457 1.5 1.72 1.68 1.415 1.538 1.538 **Ccr (ml/min)** 68 118 75 89 121 92 83 95 85 **CDDP (mg/body)** 52 56 51 75 86 84 92 100 100 **Miriplatin (mg/body)** 86 18 80 120 60 60 74 100 120 TACE, transarterial chemoembolization; TAC, transarterial chemotherapy. Tumour location: P, posterior segment; A, anterior segment; M, medial segment; L, lateral segment; C, caudal segment. BSA, body surface area; Ccr, creatinine clearance. The total dose of DDP-H administered was 51, 52 and 56 mg/body at level 1; 75, 84 and 86 mg/body at level 2 and 92, 100 and 100 mg/body at level 3. Total dose of miriplatin administered was 18, 80 and 86 mg at level 1; 60, 60 and 120 mg at level 2 and 74, 100 and 120 mg at level 3. All nine patients were assessed for toxicity of CDDP combined with miriplatin and for the pharmacokinetics of plasma platinum concentration. One patient underwent radio frequency ablation (RFA) before response evaluation, and thus eight patients were assessed for anti-tumour response. Toxicity -------- Haematological and nonhaematological toxicity in all patients was evaluated using NCI-CTCAE (National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events) version 4.0, summarised in Table [2](#T2){ref-type="table"}. No grade ≥3 in nonhaematological or grade ≥4 in haematological toxicity was observed. One patient (case 4 in the level 2 group) developed grade 3 neutropenia (reduced from 3000/mm^2^ to 1710/mm^2^, 6 weeks after injection) and subsequently recovered over 2 weeks. All three groups showed a grade 2 increase in aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase (cases 3, 5, 6 and 9) and grade 1--2 hypoalbuminaemia (cases 1, 2, 5, 7 and 9). No marked increase was noted in creatinine, except in case 7, which showed a transient increase of 1.13 times higher than baseline level 4 days after the administration of 65 mg/m^2^ CDDP combined with 74 mg/body miriplatin. The most frequent adverse event was grade 1 monophasic fever, which was observed in cases 1, 4, 8 and 9 receiving 86, 120, 100 and 120 mg/body of miriplatin, respectively. Therefore, in this clinical study, the MTD of CDDP in combination with miriplatin was determined as 65 mg/m^2^, which is the maximum dose for DDP-H-TAC monotherapy. ###### Haematological and nonhaematological toxicity **Level 1** **Level 2** **Level 3** --------------------------------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- **Hematological toxicity (grade)** **1** **2** **3** **4** **1** **2** **3** **4** **1** **2** **3** **4** **White blood cell decreased** 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 **Neutrophil count decreased** 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 **Platelet count decreased** 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 **Anemia** 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 **Nonhematological toxicity (grade)** **1** **2** **3** **4** **1** **2** **3** **4** **1** **2** **3** **4** **AST increased** 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 **ALT increased** 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 **Blood bilirubin increased** 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 **INR increased** 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 **Hypoalbuminemia** 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 **Creatinine increased** 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 **Anorexia** 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 **Nausea** 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 **Vomiting** 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 **Fever** 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 **Diarrhea** 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 **Fatigue** 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 **Alopecia** 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 **Urticaria** 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 **Abdominal pain** 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 4.0 was applied to evaluate toxicity. Pharmacokinetics of platinum ---------------------------- To examine whether additional miriplatin following DDP-H administration further increases plasma platinum concentration, plasma samples were collected for pharmacokinetic studies from all nine patients at appropriate time periods after the administration of these agents. Since total platinum concentration in peripheral plasma during and after TAC in a control case, using 50 mg/m^2^ of CDDP administered through the hepatic artery, peaked at the end of TAC and gradually decreased over the following 2 days (Figure [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}), the plasma platinum concentration was evaluated at the end of DDP-H-TAC and miriplatin-TOCE and 24 h and 7 days after the initiation of DDP-H-TAC. At the end of DDP-H-TAC, median Cmax for level 1, 2 and 3 groups was 2000, 2933 and 4233 ng/ml, respectively. No further increase was detected following the administration of miriplatin: the plasma platinum concentration gradually decreased over 7 days to 310, 456 and 580 ng/ml in level 1, 2 and 3 groups, respectively. These results indicate that the concentration of platinum in the plasma showed no substantial increase with the addition of miriplatin to CDDP administration, as expected. {#F1} Anti-tumour effects ------------------- Relatively good tumour control was recorded in one patient (case 3 in the level 1 group) who underwent RFA before response evaluation. Therefore, anti-tumour response was assessed in eight patients using computed tomography (CT) and tumour markers. Changes in the HCC diameter and levels of α-fetoprotein (AFP) and des-γ-carboxy prothrombin (DCP) following treatment are summarised in Table [3](#T3){ref-type="table"} and Figure [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}. With a median follow-up period of 120, 87 and 83 days for level 1, 2 and 3 groups, respectively, case 9 in the level 3 group showed a partial response (PR) to therapy. Cases 1, 4, 6 and 8 showed stable disease response, while cases 2, 5 and 7 showed progressive disease response (Table [3](#T3){ref-type="table"}). These changes were consistent with the changes recorded by the tumour markers (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}). One patient (case 9) with multiple HCC in both lobes (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}a--d), who showed resistance to previous treatment with DDP-H-TAC and epirubicin-TACE, evidenced a PR response following combination therapy of 65 mg/m^2^ of DDP-H-TAC and miriplatin-TOCE (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}e--h). Significant reduction in HCC size in the right lobe was seen on right hepatic angiography (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}a, e). A representative tumour in S6 showed no enhancement by CT during arterial portography (white arrow in Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}b), and significant enhancement in the early phase of CT hepatic arteriography was followed by 'corona-like' staining, which is a typical enhancement pattern seen in classical HCC (white arrowheads in Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}c, d) before treatment. Two months following treatment, the remaining lipiodol (black arrow in Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}f) and a marked decrease in tumour enhancement in the area were seen (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}g, h). ###### Anti-tumour effects: clinical efficacy **Antitumor response** **Level 1** **Level 2** **Level 3** ------------------------------- ------------- ---------------- ------------- **CR** 0 0 0 **PR** 0 0 1, (Case 9) **SD** 1, (Case 1) 2, (Case 4, 6) 1, (Case 8) **PD** 1, (Case 2) 1 (Case 5) 1, (Case 7) **Not evaluable** 1, (Case 3) 0 0 **DCR (%)** 50 66.7 66.7 **Period of follow up (day)** **Median** 120 87 83 **Range** 50-213 24-140 54-84 Modified Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors guidelines were followed to evaluate anti-tumour effects. CR, complete response; PR, partial response; SD, stable disease; PD, progressive disease; DCR, disease control rate. {#F2} {#F3} Discussion ========== Treatment for HCC was determined along with tumour stage and hepatic functional reserve, with only 30% of HCC cases being an indication of curative therapies such as surgical resection and RFA \[[@B2],[@B6]\]. TACE and sorafenib have recently been reported to show a definite survival advantage in advanced cases \[[@B3],[@B4],[@B6]-[@B8],[@B28]\]. Unfortunately, however, the application of TACE or sorafenib is strictly restricted by other factors, mainly hepatic functional reserve. TACE requires a Child--Pugh score of 5--9, grade A--B, for hepatic function as it involves arterial embolization and may not be completed in a patient with major arterioportal shunts or portal vein tumour thrombosis. Sorafenib is contraindicated in patients with the exceptions of Child--Pugh score of 5--6, grade A or with brain metastases \[[@B2]\]. In contrast, TOCE and TAC can be provided over a broad range of cases as these are performed without arterial embolization and their efficacy has been reported \[[@B5],[@B13]-[@B15],[@B26]\]. Among various chemotherapeutic agents such as epirubicin \[[@B15]\] and mitomycin C \[[@B5]\], which carry a 15%--20% response rate, platinum agents appear to be the most promising as CDDP-TAC achieved a response rate of 33.8% in a multicentre phase II study enrolling unresectable HCC cases \[[@B13]\]. To investigate the highly effective and less toxic combination of TOCE and TAC, this study focused on safety issues associated with the concomitant use of two platinum agents. Miriplatin is a third-generation platinum agent with amphipathic properties that forms a stable suspension with lipiodol and gradually releases active derivatives *in situ*, which circumvents systematic release and toxicity \[[@B18]\]. Treatment in few HCC cases has shown cross-resistance with different generations of platinum agents \[[@B16],[@B21],[@B29]\]. In a rat model, miriplatin exhibited higher anti-tumour activity and lower hepatic toxicity than CDDP-lipiodol \[[@B16]\], and promising results have been reported in HCC patients \[[@B22]-[@B24]\]. On the other hand, clearance of platinum compounds following short-term intravenous infusion of cisplatin was reported as triphasic (distribution half-life, 13 min; elimination half-life, 43 min and terminal half-life, 5.4 days). The short distribution half-life suggests that TAC easily exceeds tissue distribution speed and saturates the target liver on the basis of concentration rather than the total amount of the drug administered. Accordingly, DDP-H is currently the most suitable form of platinum agent for TAC by providing the highest concentration available. The combination of DDP-H-TAC and miriplatin-TOCE supports the hypothesis that higher the free platinum concentration in the target liver, lesser the systemic spill over and more sustained delivery achieved by a less cross-resistant agent leads to marked tumour response and less toxicity (both systemic and hepatic), leading to improvement in survival rates. Conclusions =========== In conclusion, in this study, no DLT was recorded following the combined administration of DDP-H and miriplatin at a maximum dose of 65 mg/m^2^ and 120 mg/body, respectively. These are the maximum doses recommended for each monotherapy individually, indicating that the MTD of DDP-H and miriplatin in combination therapy is the maximum monotherapy dose. No evidence of systemic platinum release from miriplatin-TOCE was recorded, as expected. Reflecting a possible higher disease control rate and PR response, a phase II randomised prospective study is now ongoing to investigate the efficacy of this combined therapy in a larger cohort. Competing interests =================== The authors declare that they do not have a current financial arrangement or affiliation with any organisation that may have a direct interest in their work. Author's contributions ====================== KK wrote manuscript and performed research. TS designed a research and wrote manuscript. YT, MT, MI, HK, and SY performed research including the angiography. TY analysed data. MN and YA designed and analysed all data. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Disclosure ========== The authors declare that they do not have a current financial arrangement or affiliation with any organisation that may have a direct interest in their work. Pre-publication history ======================= The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here: <http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-230X/12/127/prepub> Acknowledgements ================ This study was supported by a grant from the Niigata University Medical and Dental Hospital (Clinical research support project/2012) to T.S. | Mid | [
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Q: Reading data from 32-bit Access db using 64-bit R System specs: 64-bit OS (Win7), 64-bit R (3.3.3), 32-bit MS Access (2016). I have data in a 32-bit .accdb file and I want to read it into R. I tried this: con <- odbc::dbConnect(odbc::odbc(), dsn="MS Access Database") but saw the following error: Error: nanodbc/nanodbc.cpp:950: IM014: [Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] The specified DSN contains an architecture mismatch between the Driver and Application Web search indicated that the bit difference between R and the database is the culprit. The default ODBC manager in Windows doesn't include drivers for MS Access (or rather, it seems to, but attempting to manage them using that tool gives you an architecture error). Following other advice, I used the ODBC manager for 32-bit programs (c:\windows\sysWOW64\odbcad32.exe) to create a new DSN with a new name for MS Access files, and then called this DSN: con <- odbc::dbConnect(odbc::odbc(), dsn="MSAccess32") I got the same error, however, and suspect there is something I don't understand about what this error means. Is there a known workaround for the problem? A: The access file itself knows nothing about bitness, its only about the client application and the bitness of the odbc driver: If your R is 64 bit, you need the 64bit ODBC driver for access and therefore also use the odbc manager for 64bit, which is C:\Windows\System32\odbcad32.exe (in Win7 64bit). While if your R is 32bit, you need the 32bit ODBC driver, located at C:\Windows\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe. You can download the required Access Database Engine 2010 Redistributable from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=13255 So, download the 64 bit Access Database driver, create a 64bit DSN entry and you should be fine. | High | [
0.6619385342789591,
35,
17.875
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Robotic surgery for gastric cancer. Laparoscopic gastrectomy is a widely used minimally invasive surgery for gastric cancer. However, skillful techniques are required to perform lymph node dissection using straight shaped forceps, particularly for D2 dissection. Robotic surgery using the da Vinci surgical system is anticipated to be a powerful tool for performing difficult techniques using high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) images and the EndoWrist equipped with seven degrees of freedom. Attempts are being made to apply robotic surgery in gastrectomy procedures mainly in Japan, South Korea, and Europe. Although definite superiority to laparoscopic gastrectomy is yet to be proven, robotic surgery has been reported to have a shorter learning curve and offer more precise dissection for total gastrectomy. Hence, its oncological efficacy needs to be verified in a clinical trial. | High | [
0.7085714285714281,
31,
12.75
] |
699 F.Supp. 508 (1988) L.J., An Infant, By and Through His Next Friend, Lydia Kaye DARR, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Ruth MASSINGA, etc., et al., Defendants. Civ. No. JH-84-4409. United States District Court, D. Maryland. September 27, 1988. *509 William L. Grimm, Ethel Zelenske, and the Legal Aid Bureau, Inc., Baltimore, Md., Carol R. Golubock, and the Children's Defense Fund, Washington, D.C., Nevett Steele, Jr., Ward B. Coe, III, and Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, Baltimore, Md., for plaintiffs. J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen. of Maryland, Catherine M. Schultz and Mark J. Davis, Asst. Attys. Gen., Baltimore, Md., for defendants. MEMORANDUM JOSEPH C. HOWARD, District Judge. Pending before the court is this civil rights class action brought by foster children in the care and custody of the Baltimore City Department of Social Services ("BCDSS"). Named as defendants are Ruth Massinga, Secretary of Maryland's Department of Human Resources, BCDSS, and various foster-care officials. These children allege that the defendants' administration of the foster care system in Baltimore City violates their rights under federal statutory law, Titles IV-E and IV-B of the Social Security Act, and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The class seeks equitable relief in the form of an affirmative injunction that would require reforms of the foster care system. In addition to these equitable claims, some named class representatives seek monetary damages for harms allegedly suffered while in the defendants' care. The immediate matter under consideration is whether a consent decree proposed by the parties as settlement of the equitable claims is fair and adequate and thereby merits the court's approval.[1] After the proposed decree was submitted on April 26, 1988, the court met with the parties, directed that notice be provided the class members and interested persons, held a hearing at which those provided notice were invited to present objections or comments, and met with foster care workers to learn their views of the decree. After completion of these measures and careful study of the decree, the court approves the decree for the reasons provided below. *510 I. The history of this action is long and arduous. Since the complaint was filed in December, 1984, the court has issued over seventy orders and held a dozen status conferences with the parties. The docket, now seventeen pages long, lists over two hundred entries. On January 2, 1987, the court granted a motion to intervene that had been filed the previous November by two additional proposed class representatives. That same day the court certified a class composed of all children who are, have been, or will be placed in foster homes by the BCDSS and are or will be placed in the custody of the BCDSS through voluntary placement or court order. On February 6, after conducting extensive discovery, including a random sampling of BCDSS foster care case records, the plaintiffs filed a motion for a preliminary injunction. A hearing on the motion was held over a period of two weeks commencing on April 2, 1987. Some 91 separate items of evidence were introduced, and the court heard from 12 witnesses. Among the items of evidence were the preliminary results of plaintiffs' random sampling of case records, contained in several thick looseleaf binders. The witnesses included an expert on the research methodology used in conducting the plaintiffs' study.[2] The court also heard the testimony of relatives and experts regarding the cases of sixteen children who had been severely neglected and abused while in defendants' care and custody. The court found overwhelming evidence of serious systematic deficiencies in Baltimore's foster care program such that foster children would suffer irreparable harm if immediate injunctive relief were not granted and, in a Memorandum and Order issued July 27, 1987, granted plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction.[3] Specifically, among its findings, the court determined that there was a lack of satisfactory foster homes; that the defendants failed to remove children from homes where physical and emotional abuse and neglect were threatened; that homes were licensed where foster parents were unable to care properly for the children; that "exceptions" were granted allowing clearly inadequate homes to remain open; that the system for providing medical care to foster children was inadequate to ensure continuous and informed treatment; and that the defendants had substantially failed to undertake the improvements recommended by an internal study produced by the "Harris Task Force." As preliminary injunctive relief, the defendants were ordered to (1) review the status of each foster home where there had been a report of maltreatment; (2) visit each child in a BCDSS foster home on a monthly basis; (3) visit each child who had been the subject of a report of maltreatment on a weekly basis; (4) assign sufficient staff and resources to ensure appropriate medical care was rendered and medical histories were obtained and provided to those rendering medical care to each child; and (5) provide a written copy of any complaint of maltreatment of a foster child to the juvenile court and the child's attorney. On February 1, 1988, the Fourth Circuit affirmed this court's decision to grant plaintiffs a preliminary injunction. See L.J. By and Through Darr v. Massinga, *511 838 F.2d 118 (4th Cir.1988).[4] Thereafter, the parties engaged in extensive settlement negotiations. On April 26, 1988, approximately two and a half months prior to trial, the parties submitted the proposed settlement of plaintiffs' equitable claims now before the court. The consent decree that embodies the settlement retains substantially those measures ordered by the court as preliminary injunctive relief. It also seeks to make substantial improvements in several aspects of the foster care system including placing limits on the number of cases a worker may be responsible for, improving the system for providing medical treatment to foster children, providing assistance to natural parents that would allow children to remain with them thereby avoiding foster care where possible, and providing for a continuum of appropriate foster care placements including the recruitment of new foster homes. Different improvements are to be implemented at different times; however, all improvements are to be made within two years. After preliminary study of the decree and meeting with the parties, the court determined that the decree was within the range of reasonableness and approved a "Notice of Proposed Settlement of Class Action" on May 19, 1988. II. Under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(e), notice of settlement of a class action "shall be given to all members of the class in such manner as the court directs." The court directed that the approved notice of settlement, which contained a detailed summary of the proposed decree, be sent to all foster parents, all relatives with whom children had been placed by BCDSS, and all biological parents of children who had been placed in foster homes or with relatives on or before June 8, 1988. The Court also ordered that the notice be posted at any BCDSS office frequented by foster parents or by the natural parents of foster children. The full notice of settlement also was mailed to the heads of organizations known to represent foster children or known to have an interest in foster care issues.[5] In addition to the mailing and posting of the full notice, a court-approved abbreviated notice was published five times in four daily newspapers.[6] The notices informed interested parties that they could object to the decree at a hearing held on July 18, 1988. Those interested in testifying at the hearing were told to submit written statements to the court by July 8; however, at the hearing all were invited to testify regardless of whether that requirement had been met. At the hearing, a total of ten people testified. These included foster parents, natural parents, a spokesman for a union which represents some foster care workers, a former foster child, and the husband of a foster care worker. None of those who testified objected to the decree. The foster parents expressed concern about the system for providing medical services to foster children. The former foster child told the court that she had been abused and molested while she was in the defendants' care, and she asked the court to implement the decree as soon as possible. The union representative expressed concern with some provisions and omissions of the decree; however, he said that the union's foster care worker members generally supported the decree. Both the union representative and the foster care worker's husband urged the court to meet privately with the foster care *512 workers, who did not wish to express any criticisms publicly. So that the court could hear the views of the people who would implement the decree on a day-to-day basis, an off the record meeting with foster care workers was held on August 3, 1988, with counsel present. During that meeting, the workers expressed several concerns. In particular, the foster care workers stated that they often travel hundreds of miles per month and asked that transportation aides be employed by BCDSS to assist them. They also said that a pool of temporary foster care workers should be available to assist when a worker is ill or on vacation. The foster care workers also asked that they be assured a role in the implementation and monitoring of the decree. III. The court's approval of a proposed settlement is required in order to protect the interest of absent class members. Piambino v. Bailey, 610 F.2d 1306, 1327 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1011, 101 S.Ct. 568, 66 L.Ed.2d 469 (1980); Grunin v. International House of Pancakes, 513 F.2d 114, 123 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 864, 96 S.Ct. 124, 46 L.Ed.2d 93 (1975). Accordingly, the Fourth Circuit has admonished that the district court is not "to give the settlement `mere boilerplate approval'" that is "`unsupported by evaluation of the facts or analysis of the law.'" Flinn v. FMC Corporation, 528 F.2d 1169, 1173 (4th Cir.1975), cert. denied, 424 U.S. 967, 96 S.Ct. 1462, 47 L.Ed.2d 734 (1976) (quoting, Protective Committee For Independent Stockholders of TMT Ferry, Inc. v. Anderson, 390 U.S. 414, 434, 88 S.Ct. 1157, 1168, 20 L.Ed.2d 1, reh. denied, 391 U.S. 909, 88 S.Ct. 1649, 20 L.Ed.2d 425 (1968)). The court "must independently and objectively analyze the evidence and circumstances before it in order to determine whether the settlement is in the best interest of those whose claims will be extinguished." 2 H. Newberg, Newberg on Class Actions, § 11.40 at 451 (2nd ed. 1985). Approval will be given only where a proposed settlement is determined to be "fair, reasonable and adequate." In re Mid-Atlantic Toyota Antitrust Litigation, 605 F.Supp. 440, 442 (D.Md.1984) (quoting, Manual on Complex Litigation, § 1.46 at 56-57 (5th ed. 1982)); Washington v. Keller, 479 F.Supp. 569, 572 (D.Md. 1979). In making that determination, this court has followed the bifurcated analysis set forth by Judge C. Stanley Blair in In re Montgomery County Real Estate Antitrust Litigation, 83 F.R.D. 305, 315-317 (D.Md.1979). See also, In re Mid-Atlantic Toyota Antitrust Litigation, supra, 605 F.Supp. at 442-43. "That analysis includes separate inquiries on the `fairness' and the `adequacy' of the proposed settlement." Id. at 443. Regarding fairness, Judge Blair stated: The factors tending to reveal the `fairness' of a settlement are those which indicate the presence or absence of collusion among the parties. Because of the danger of counsel's compromising a suit for an inadequate amount for the sake of insuring a fee, the court is obliged to ascertain that the settlement was reached as a result of good-faith bargaining at arm's length. The good faith of the parties is reflected in such factors as the posture of the case at the time settlement is proposed, the extent of discovery that has been conducted, the circumstances surrounding the negotiations and the experience of counsel. (citations omitted). In re Montgomery County Real Estate Antitrust Litigation, supra, 83 F.R.D. at 315. When inquiring into adequacy, "the court must weigh the likelihood of the plaintiffs' recovery on the merits against the amount offered in settlement." Id. at 315-316. Specifically, Judge Blair noted that: [C]ourts should weigh the amount tendered to the plaintiffs against such factors as (1) the relative strength of the plaintiffs' case on the merits; (2) the existence of any difficulties of proof or strong defenses the plaintiffs are likely to encounter if the case goes to trial; (3) the anticipated duration and expense of *513 additional litigation; (4) the solvency of the defendants and the likelihood of recovering on a litigated judgment; and (5) the degree of opposition to the settlement. (citations omitted). Id. at 316. In Flinn v. FMC Corporation, supra, the Fourth Circuit further noted that "[t]he fact that all discovery has been completed and the cause is ready for trial is important, since it ordinarily assures sufficient development of the facts to permit a reasonable judgment on the possible merits of the case." (footnote omitted). 528 F.2d at 1173. IV. This case represents perhaps the most hotly and thoroughly contested litigation the undersigned has experienced in twenty years as a judge. Exhaustive discovery efforts were undertaken by both sides. As described earlier, the court has entered over seventy orders in this case and there are over two hundred entries on the docket. The court concludes that the settlement reached in this action was the result of good faith bargaining at arms' length. Serious settlement negotiations commenced only after plaintiffs had completed a substantial random sampling of defendants' case files as the major item of their discovery; after the court had granted a preliminary injunction following an evidentiary hearing that lasted twelve days; and after the Fourth Circuit had affirmed the injunction. See, L.J. by and through Darr v. Massinga, supra, 838 F.2d at 122. Discovery as to plaintiffs' equitable claims is now complete. Settlement negotiations took place over a period of six weeks and included several half-day and full-day sessions. During these negotiations and throughout this litigation, plaintiffs have been represented by a dedicated, highly skilled, and very experienced team of attorneys. Two members of this team, including William L. Grimm, Esquire, who served as lead counsel, came from the Baltimore office of the Legal Aid Bureau, which represents the great majority of Baltimore's foster children in the juvenile courts. Carol R. Golubock, Esquire, of the Children's Defense Fund, has extensive experience in class litigation concerning child welfare law in federal courts. In addition, Nevett Steele, Jr., Esquire, and Ward B. Coe, III, Esquire, partners in the firm of Whiteford, Taylor and Preston, participated in representing the plaintiffs. Both have excellent qualifications and extensive experience in federal litigation, including class action litigation, before this court. Finally, the question of attorneys' fees was addressed separately from the negotiations concerning the terms of the decree. The discussion of fees was undertaken by a different group of lawyers and concluded well after the submission of the proposed consent decree. Under these circumstances, the court concludes that the settlement was reached in an appropriate manner and is the product of arms'-length bargaining. V. Had this action gone to trial, it is very likely that the plaintiffs would have succeeded. For the reasons stated in its Memorandum and Order of July 27, 1987, this court already has determined that success by the plaintiffs would be the likely outcome of a trial on the merits. No viable defenses to plaintiffs' claims for equitable relief are apparent. In deciding whether the proposed consent decree is adequate, the court must weigh this likelihood of plaintiffs' success on the merits against the quality of the relief afforded by the decree. In re Montgomery County Real Estate Antitrust Litigation, supra, 83 F.R.D. at 316. Any settlement of this action must afford the plaintiffs relief that is at least comparable to what they could have received following trial on the merits. The court's ability to make an independent assessment of the adequacy of the settlement in this case rests on substantial knowledge of the problems facing Baltimore's foster care system. This knowledge was acquired through study of the pleadings, meetings with the parties, conducting the settlement hearing, meeting with case workers, and, primarily, through *514 the twelve-day-long preliminary injunction hearing at which hundreds of pages of documents were entered into evidence. Evidence presented during the preliminary injunction hearing revealed that many current foster homes are inadequate, and that there is a severe shortage of foster parents. As a result of the shortage of foster homes, defendants have been willing to grant exceptions allowing homes that should have been closed to remain open; have allowed some people to become or remain foster parents who should not have been; and have appeared reluctant to remove children from homes even when there should have been concern for their safety. Accordingly, had judgment on the merits been rendered and the court been charged with fashioning appropriate relief, it would have insisted that a diligent effort be made to recruit new homes. Specific numbers of new foster homes might have been ordered opened by specific dates. Paragraph 11 of the proposed consent decree addresses recruitment of new foster homes. It does not state specifically what efforts will be made nor estimate how many homes will be opened. Paragraph 11 provides: Defendants shall maintain a foster home recruitment unit in Baltimore City Department of Social Services. The unit shall develop and implement a sustained recruitment plan, and shall issue periodic reports on the status of its recruitment efforts. The court's concern regarding paragraph 11 were heightened by published news accounts of the decree in which defendant Ruth Massinga, Secretary of the Department of Human Resources, was quoted as suggesting that, under the terms of the decree, children could be left in the homes of their natural parents if space in the foster care system was not available. Naturally, the criteria for deciding when a child is to be removed from the home should focus on the well-being of the child. If the safety of the child requires that a child be removed from the natural parents, space must be available in foster care. Any settlement that provides otherwise is simply inadequate to protect these children and unworthy of the court's approval. Read in its entirety the proposed decree does appear to provide that foster care placements will be made available for all children who need them. Indeed, paragraph 9 provides in part, that "defendants shall establish and maintain a continuum of foster care placements reasonably calculated to ensure that there are appropriate foster care placements for all children who come into foster care." During two conferences and in a lengthy letter, the court sought clarification and interpretation of the decree from the parties as to these issues. Defendants responded in their memorandum in support of the decree submitted on July 11, 1988 and at the settlement hearing held on July 18, 1988. In their memorandum and at the hearing, defendants stressed that the decree represents a balance between efforts toward family preservation (aimed at keeping children with their natural parents where possible) and efforts to provide additional foster care placements. Specifically, defendants' memorandum declares that: ... [F]ederal law mandates equivalent efforts in family preservation and foster care initiatives and defendants believe that these programs complement each other. Thus, the decree contains provisions with respect to each of these complementary programs. Foster home recruitment and services will be enhanced significantly under the decree. Specifically, recruitment efforts have been and continue to be extensive. Similarly, significant funding has been obtained to provide intensive family services to prevent children from coming into foster care. Reunification services are also recognized under the decree. In sum, the Consent Decree adequately addresses the need to provide for foster care placements along a continuum of appropriate placements, including the recruitment of regular foster homes, and simultaneously addresses the need to keep, where appropriate, children from entering the foster care system.... *515 Defendants' Memorandum in Support of defendants' Motion for Approval of the Consent Decree, pages 9 and 10 (citations omitted). See also transcripts of settlement hearing held July 18, 1988, page 88. Defendants' memorandum relies on the accompanying affidavits of Philip C. Holmes, Director of the Office of Child Welfare Services of the Social Services Administration of the Maryland Department of Human Resources, and Regina M. Bernard, Director of the Office of Family and Child Development of the Social Services Administration of the Maryland Department of Human Resources. Mr. Holmes avers that the Department of Human Resources "will continue to intensify efforts to recruit foster parents," and that the Department of Human Resources and the Baltimore City Department of Social Services "both have aggressive campaigns to solicit applications from new families." Efforts to recruit new foster homes include increases in the board rates paid to foster parents and an aggressive public relations campaign.[7] With these clarifications in mind, it is the opinion of the court that, if properly implemented, the consent decree will result in substantial and needed improvements in Baltimore's foster care system, and is adequate to protect the interests of these plaintiffs.[8] Indeed, the decree appears to represent an innovative approach aimed at keeping children with their parents, where possible, coupled with efforts to provide additional and varied placement where placement in foster care is required. Under the "Intensive Family Services" program provided for by the decree a social worker is made available during a period of ninety days for as many hours as necessary to alleviate a family crisis threatening removal of a child from the parents' home. See Affidavit of Regina M. Bernard; Consent Decree, par. 15. During this period, a variety of services are made available to the parents that will help them to better care for the child. Consent Decree, par. 15. A similar program is also to be initiated to facilitate quick reunification in some cases where the child is removed *516 from the home. Id. par. 17. Among the variety of placements that will be provided, in addition to the recruitment of new regular foster homes, are emergency shelter care placements and specialized foster care placements for children with specialized needs. Id. par. 9. In its order of July 27, 1987 granting preliminary injunctive relief, the court included various remedial measures intended to provide increased protection to foster children until a full hearing on the merits could be held. The court's confidence in the settlement is strengthened by the inclusion of several of these measures as part of the decree. These include requirements that each foster home be visited once a month; that, if an abuse or neglect complaint is received regarding a home, visits be made once a week, id., par. 22-24; copies of the abuse or neglect report be provided to the child's attorney, id., par. 30; and that some major improvements be made in the system for providing health care to foster children. Id., par. 21A-F. Most important in assessing the adequacy of the settlement proposed in this action is the great degree to which the decree provides plaintiffs with substantially all the equitable relief they requested from the court in their complaint. The relief provided under the terms of the decree is comprehensive in scope and includes provisions that strengthen requirements for education of foster children, id., par. 19; require certain information about foster children to be provided to their foster parents, id., par. 14; increases foster care stipends, id., par. 10; and provides for training of foster parents and foster care workers, id., par. 6, 7, and 13. Importantly, the decree requires substantial decreases in the work load of foster care workers by providing low maximum case loads for workers, id., par. 5. The preliminary injunction hearing revealed serious deficiencies in the system for providing health care to foster children. Specifically, the court found that incomplete medical histories were provided to medical care professionals and that treatment rendered to foster children was episodic rather than continuous. Accordingly, as preliminary injunctive relief, the court required defendants to assign sufficient staff and resources to ensure that proper medical histories are obtained and that appropriate medical care is provided foster children. The decree amplifies and expands on the court's preliminary injunctive relief, id., par. 21. It requires that an initial health care screening take place within twenty-four hours of the child's placement in foster care; that a comprehensive health assessment be completed within sixty days of placement; and that complete medical histories containing specific information be obtained and provided to physicians. Defendants are responsible for ensuring that treatment for any diagnosed problems is promptly provided. Foster children placed in the homes of relatives are not expressly mentioned in the plaintiffs' prayers for relief. At the time plaintiffs' amended complaint was filed with the court, plaintiffs' counsel were unaware that this group of foster children was treated far differently from other foster children. Indeed, at the time of the preliminary injunction hearing, it appeared that foster children placed with relatives were not considered nor included as part of the foster care system. Children placed with relatives were not counted in the foster care system inventory and their caretakers did not receive foster care benefits. According to defendants, approximately 1,100 children are placed with their relatives.[9] At this time, most of the provisions of the decree will not be applied to them; instead a study by an impartial consultant will be undertaken in which the status of each child placed with a relative will be assessed. Id., Par. 27A. The plaintiffs may request additional relief for these children when the impartial assessment is completed. Id., par. 28. The decree, however, does provide for the immediate implementation of certain basic protections for children placed with relatives, including the development of case plans; six and eighteen-month *517 reviews by persons outside the BCDSS, and bimonthly home visits to ensure compliance with health and safety standards. Id., Par. 25-28. In addition, relatives providing care to foster children will be encouraged to apply for licensure as foster parents. Id., Par. 25D. Care being provided to these children also will be evaluated by means of contacts with their teachers and medical case providers. Id., Par. 27B. Although the court required a thorough notice to the class, there were no outright objections lodged against the decree. Both the Foster Care Review Board and foster care workers, however, did express some reservations. In a letter to the court dated July 14, 1988, the chairperson of the State Foster Care Review Board[10] expressed particular concern about the lack of foster homes. Joan L. Graham wrote that the lack of homes "keeps the placement of children at a crisis level, results in inappropriate, short term placements and multiple placements for some children." As noted earlier, the court shares the Board's concern that more be done to recruit adequate foster homes. In deciding that the decree adequately protects this class of children, the court relies on defendants' assurances and interpretation of the decree as requiring vigorous efforts to recruit new homes.[11] At the settlement hearing addressing the adequacy of the consent decree and later during a conference with the court, foster care workers expressed strong reservations about whether the terms of the decree could be implemented from a practical standpoint. They emphasized that they will be charged with the responsibility of implementing the decree on a day-to-day basis, and, without the benefit of additional resources, they doubted they could carry out the decree's terms. Specifically, the foster care workers noted that they are often required to travel hundreds of miles in a month in order to meet their obligations. They also must take on additional obligations when a co-worker is sick or on vacation. It is the apparent consensus among foster care workers that they will be unable to make the additional visits to foster homes and foster children required by the decree without additional resources. Accordingly, the workers asked the court to amend the decree to require their superiors to provide transportation aides and a pool of temporary substitute workers. The transportation aides could assist workers in meeting requirements to visit foster homes and also assist in transporting children and foster parents to medical and other appointments. A pool of temporary or substitute case workers could take over cases assigned to workers who are unable to be at work without the necessity of over-burdening other regular workers. Noting that the suggestions of the foster care workers had substantial practical merits, the court wrote the parties and asked if transportation aides and a pool of temporary workers might be agreed upon as a means of properly implementing the decree. In response, both parties informed the court that these measures had been a subject of the negotiations that produced the decree. It was determined in those negotiations, however, that the specific measures adopted in order to achieve the requirements of the decree were to be left to the judgment of the defendants, at least at this early stage. Furthermore, during the meeting with foster care workers, counsel for the plaintiffs emphasized that, if the requirements *518 of the decree could not be met by case workers, the defendants would be required to reduce the case load ratios of children to foster care workers below the maximum ratios allowed by the decree. In this way, the work load would be lessened to allow the foster care workers to better meet their obligations under the decree. The foster care workers also asked that they be allowed to participate in the implementation and monitoring of the decree. Specifically, they requested to receive the reports required every six months from the BCDSS and the Department of Human Resources that set forth the steps taken to achieve compliance with the decree, and requested that they be given an opportunity to be heard. During its August 3rd meeting with foster care workers, the court was impressed by their commitment to foster children and their strong desire that the foster care system be improved. Moreover, since these workers will implement the decree on a day-to-day basis, their views may be worth hearing in the future. Accordingly, as part of its enforcement powers, the court will order that defendants deliver the six month reports to the foster care workers. Should they wish to be heard after receiving a report, the court would seriously consider such a request at that time. VI For the reasons stated above, the court finds that the consent decree submitted by the parties on April 26, 1988 is fair, reasonable, adequate and deserving of approval. The court closes with a personal note and word of caution. I have now been a judge for twenty years. During this time much human tragedy has passed before me; however, none has so deeply touched me as the plight of these children. I believe that vigorous enforcement of this decree is essential, and I will do all within my power to see that its provisions are fully implemented. ADDENDUM A: CONSENT DECREE CONSENT DECREE This Decree is made and entered into by and between all of the named plaintiffs, L.J., O.S., M.S., C.S., P.G., R.K., and S.J., and the certified class of persons whom plaintiffs represent as set forth in the January 16, 1987 Order of this Court (hereafter described in Attachment A and collectively referred to as "plaintiffs") and all defendants. WHEREAS, on or about December 5, 1984, plaintiffs commenced an action in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland (hereinafter "the Court" or "this Court") and thereafter filed a first amended complaint, and plaintiffs R.K. and S.J. filed a motion to intervene, which was granted herein on or about January 21, 1987; WHEREAS, plaintiffs' complaint, amended complaint, and complaint in intervention make certain allegations and seek certain relief with respect to the foster family care program administered by the State of Maryland, particularly as that program is administered by the Baltimore City Department of Social Services; WHEREAS, defendants deny all of the allegations of the complaint, amended complaint, and complaint in intervention, particularly all legal contentions that any defendant has ever violated any State or federal law in the conduct of the family foster care program; WHEREAS, plaintiffs allege that children who are committed by the juvenile court to the defendants' care and custody and who are placed with their relatives are entitled to the same protections as children placed with non-relatives, and defendants dispute that the same protections apply to these children; WHEREAS, defendants have taken and continue to take substantial positive actions to improve the quality of care and services provided to foster care children; and WHEREAS, in an effort to avoid further litigation, plaintiffs and defendants believe that settlement of this matter and entry of this Consent Decree is in the public interest, without any admission of liability by any defendant for any purpose, to settle *519 and resolve all claims for declaratory relief and equitable relief, including injunctive relief, raised in the complaint, amended complaint, and complaint in intervention, and all matters addressed in this Decree. NOW, THEREFORE, it is hereby ORDERED, ADJUDGED, and DECREED as follows: JURISDICTION 1. This Court has jurisdiction of the subject matter of this Consent Decree. In the event of subsequent litigation relating to the matters in this litigation other than in an action to enforce this Decree, defendants retain and have the right to contest jurisdiction, venue, and/or assert any other defenses. PARTIES 2. The provisions of this Consent Decree shall apply to and be binding upon the parties to this civil action, and upon their employees, heirs, successors-in-interest, and assigns. 3. The undersigned representatives of the plaintiffs and defendants certify that they are fully authorized subject to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to enter into and to execute the terms and conditions of this Consent Decree and to legally bind the parties, including all members of the certified plaintiff class. 4. The parties agree that the defendants' obligation to give notice of this Consent Decree to the plaintiff class is restricted to giving notice to their undersigned counsel by their signing and receipt of this Decree, receipt of which is hereby acknowledged. In addition, defendants will send out notice of this Consent Decree to all foster parents, to all relatives with whom DSS has placed children, to all parents known to defendants as having children in foster care or placed with relatives and to the organizations listed in Attachment B. ASSIGNMENT OF CASEWORKERS AND CASES 5. Within two years of the date of the entry of this Decree: (a) continuing care caseworkers in the Baltimore City Department of Social Services (hereinafter "DSS") who are responsible for children in foster care, other than those aftercare workers responsible for children for whom a recission order has been requested, shall have average caseloads of no more than 20 children and their biological families; (b) intake caseworkers in DSS who are responsible for a caseload of children in foster care shall have average caseloads of no more than 14 children and their biological families; (c) DSS caseworkers who are responsible for the supervision of foster family homes shall have an average caseload of no more than 40 foster families; (d) immediate supervisors of DSS foster family care workers shall have an average of no more than six caseworkers under their supervision; and (e) the standard with respect to the transfer of cases when a worker leaves DSS or transfers to another unit shall be as follows: When a worker leaves or transfers to another unit, the supervisor shall reassign cases, except for priority cases, to other workers within five working days. The supervisor may, based on the needs of the unit, retain a priority case or reassign it. Priority cases will include those in which a child requires a new placement; a child has medical needs or imminent appointments; a child has impending juvenile court or administrative review; or a child is the subject of a report of maltreatment. There shall be a conference between the supervisor and the new worker within 10 working days of reassignment. If possible, the former worker shall attend the conference. The topics to be discussed at this conference shall include, among other things, a discussion of any immediate unmet needs of the child, therapy and evaluations in progress, and existing service agreements. CREDENTIALS AND TRAINING OF CASEWORKERS 6. Defendants shall continue their current policy that no DSS caseworker without *520 at least a B.S. or a B.A. degree shall have responsibility for supervising the continuing care of children in foster family homes. 7. A. Within two years of the date of entry of this Decree, all caseworkers shall receive at least four days of orientation and training relating to the substantive aspects of the caseworker's responsibilities within 60 days of beginning employment as a DSS caseworker. Such training will take into account the level of prior child welfare experience and the need for additional training for those with limited or no prior training. Such training will include casework skills; interviewing; developing service agreements and case plans; working with families; and the structure and law governing child welfare. B. Within two years of the date of entry of this Decree, all caseworkers shall receive annually 20 hours of training relating to the substantive aspects of the caseworker's responsibilities. This training shall begin for each caseworker during his or her second year of employment. SPECIALIZED SUPPORT UNIT 8. Within six months of the entry of this Decree, defendants shall establish within DSS a specialized unit to assist caseworkers and supervisors to manage effectively cases that require specialized experience and/or knowledge in areas such as assisting children or parents who need services for drug and alcohol abuse; special educational needs; developmental disabilities; mental health or other specialized health care needs; or the development of independent living skills. This unit shall assist workers in identifying, locating and obtaining resources or services for drug and alcohol abuse; special educational needs; developmental disabilities; mental health or other specialized health care needs; or the development of independent living skills. The responsibilities of this unit do not include direct case responsibility or the providing of direct services. FOSTER PLACEMENT RESOURCES 9. Within two years of the entry of this Decree and to the extent within their control, defendants shall establish and maintain a continuum of foster care placements reasonably calculated to ensure that there are appropriate foster care placements for all children who come into care. The continuum shall include regular foster homes, specialized homes, emergency shelter homes, emergency shelters, group homes and therapeutic foster homes as defined in COMAR. (Therapeutic foster homes are homes in which foster parents receive a salary and other services in addition to the foster care board rate.) In addition, defendants shall seek annually sufficient funds through their budget requests or elsewhere (i) to purchase special services for children in foster care needed to prevent their institutionalization, and (ii) to assure stipends to emergency shelter care homes even in months in which no children are being cared for. 10. Defendants shall continue their past practice of seeking through the budget process increases in the rate of reimbursement paid to foster families by including such increases in their budget requests and advocating for their appropriation with the goal of reaching by State Fiscal Year 1991 a rate of no less than the amount determined by the United States Department of Agriculture as necessary to care adequately for children in urban areas of the southern region of the country. 11. Defendants shall maintain a foster home recruitment unit in DSS. The unit shall develop and implement a sustained recruitment plan, and shall issue periodic reports on the status of its recruitment efforts. 12. Within one year of entry of this Decree, defendants shall require as a condition of licensure that all new foster parents complete a course of pre-service training of at least 12 hours. The training shall cover an appropriate curriculum, including applicable DSS regulations; the role of the foster parents and the child's caseworkers; the special needs of foster children; the need to work with natural parents; appropriate disciplining methods and alternatives to corporal punishment; the importance of utilizing medical, dental, educational, and *521 other community services; and the legal rights of foster parents, children and natural parents. 13. Defendants shall require foster parents to participate in at least six hours of foster parent training a year. One year after entry of this Decree, no foster parent's license may be renewed unless one of the foster parents in the home has received the required training. Defendants shall seek through the budget process and advocate for their appropriation funds to pay foster parents a reasonable sum in consideration of their attendance at required training including reasonable transportation and child care expenses. INFORMATION ON FOSTER CHILDREN 14. Before a child is placed in a foster home, DSS shall provide the foster parents necessary information about the child including the reason for the child's coming into care initially and, if applicable, the reason for the current placement; medical, psychological or behavioral problems that the child may have of which the agency has knowledge and any on-going treatment the child is receiving for any such problems of which the agency has knowledge. In addition, DSS shall make reasonable efforts to provide foster parents with the child's recent grade and attendance record in school. If an emergency placement is necessary, defendants shall provide the information to the foster parent within ten working days of placement. PERMANENCY AND INTENSIVE FAMILY SERVICES 15. A. Except in emergency situations where a child faces a substantial risk of harm and where services cannot prevent the removal of the child, reasonable efforts will be made by the appropriate DSS personnel prior to placement of a child in foster care to prevent or eliminate the need for removal of the child from his or her home. Such reasonable efforts to prevent or eliminate the need for placement or to reunify a child who has been placed shall include, where appropriate in the worker's professional judgment, the provision or securing of family counseling services, drugs and alcohol abuse services, day care, parenting education services and assistance provided under the federal Emergency Assistance to Families with Children program to the extent allowed by law. Services and assistance shall be provided in a duration and intensity reasonably assured of meeting their goal. B. Defendants shall seek through the budget process and advocate for their appropriation sufficient funds to provide a program of intensive family services the goal of which shall be to reduce the number of children who need to be removed from their biological homes. C. A case plan for each child in foster care shall set forth the services and assistance that have been provided to prevent or eliminate the need for removal from the home and the reasons those efforts did not succeed. 16. In all cases in which the goal is to return a foster child to his or her biological home, defendants shall make reasonable efforts to facilitate weekly visits between the parent and child, unless the juvenile court orders otherwise, or DSS finds that such visits are not in the child's best interest. Before permanent reunification, overnight and weekend visits should be provided if appropriate. 17. A. In each case in which the case plan is the child's return home, DSS shall enter into a service agreement with the biological parent of the child within 60 days of the child's placement unless the parent is unavailable or unwilling to agree. The agreement shall set forth the current barriers to the child's return home, the steps the parent must take in order to have the child returned to him or her, the timelines for completion of these steps, the services, if any, the caseworker and DSS will provide to the parent (for example, referral to alcohol abuse counseling) and the timelines within which any services will be provided. B. Defendants shall continue to follow the guidelines for workers on when a permanency plan shall be changed from return home. Such guidelines require that the *522 case plan goal be changed promptly when the parent fails continuously to fulfill terms agreed to in the service agreement and/or when the parent has not maintained regular visitation or other contact with the child. 18. A petition for termination of parental rights shall be filed on behalf of each child for whom the goal is adoption within 120 days of the DSS establishing such a goal. EDUCATION 19. A. Within five working days of being placed in nonemergent foster care, a child of school age shall be attending school (if school is in session), unless school attendance within five working days is unattainable for reasons outside the control of DSS. In such cases, DSS will make all reasonable efforts to obtain school attendance as soon as practicable. B. If a child's caseworker has reason to believe that a foster child may be educationally handicapped and is not receiving special educational services, the worker shall promptly notify the local educational agency and request a screening for that child in writing. The child's caseworker shall be responsible for: (1) providing, when requested, all evaluations of the child contained in DSS files; (2) attending meetings on behalf of the foster child relating to identification, evaluation and placement of the child in a special educational program, where possible; (3) providing the address of the biological parents to the local education agency if contained in DSS files; and (4) facilitating appointments for evaluation of the child relating to the special educational decision-making process. C. Within two years of the entry of the Decree, all caseworkers shall receive training with respect to the special education screening, evaluation, assessment and individualized education plan process. Thereafter, the worker shall notify the child's attorney if these services are not provided in a timely fashion. D. If DSS holds guardianship with the right to consent to adoption or long-term care short of adoption of a child and that child is educationally handicapped or is suspected of being educationally handicapped, the child's caseworker shall provide the local education agency with appropriate documentation of the child's legal status so that the school can apply for the appointment of a parent surrogate. EXPLANATION OF RIGHTS 20. Within six months of entry of this Decree, defendants shall prepare a handbook describing the rights and responsibilities of foster children, biological parents and foster parents. Defendants shall provide a draft of the handbook to plaintiffs' counsel. Defendants shall consider, but need not adopt, any suggestions plaintiffs' counsel report to defendants within 30 days of receipt of the draft handbook. Thereafter, the defendants shall cause the handbook to be reproduced and distributed to all current foster children, where age appropriate, their biological parents and all current foster parents. The handbook shall be provided to all new foster children, where age appropriate, their biological parents, and all new foster parents. HEALTH CARE 21. A. Defendants shall develop and maintain a medical care system reasonably calculated to provide comprehensive health care services to foster care children in a continual and coordinating manner in accordance with their needs. B. All foster children shall have an initial health care screening if possible before placement in an out-of-home care setting, but in any event, no later than 24 hours following placement. C. All foster children shall be referred for a comprehensive health assessment within 30 days of entering placement. The assessment shall be completed within 60 days of entering placement. This assessment shall address the child's medical, emotional and developmental needs. The results of this assessment will be made available to the child's health care provider(s). *523 The provider(s) selected by DSS to provide health care for the child shall be reasonably calculated to meet the child's specific needs identified by the assessment. D. All foster children shall have periodic medical, dental and developmental examinations in accordance with the schedules or protocols of the EPSDT. If needs are identified at the periodic examinations that were not identified previously, the provider(s) selected by DSS shall be reasonably calculated to meet these additional needs. E. For each child in foster care the defendants shall develop and use an abbreviated health care record (e.g., medical passport), which shall accompany the child through the out-of-home care system and upon his or her return home, adoption or emancipation. An abbreviated health care record shall require the following information: the medical facilities where the child usually receives care, the child's condition at placement as documented by his or her physician, and the child's immunization record, allergies/adverse reactions, chronic health problems and present medications. The foster parents of the child shall be provided with the health passport completed to the extent possible at the time of a child's replacement or if an initial placement within 5 days of placement. Copies of the forms contained in the passport shall be included in the child's case record and shall be reviewed by a supervisor at least every 6 months. F. Within two years of entry of this Decree, defendants shall establish and maintain a health services management unit within DSS. This unit shall be staffed by one or more health professionals who are trained and experienced in child health care. CASEWORKER VISITS WITH FOSTER CHILDREN 22. Each child in a foster family home shall be visited by their assigned caseworker or his or her substitute at least once every month. The purpose of the visit is to assess the quality of care being provided to the child and the child's adjustment to the foster home, foster parents, other persons present in the home, and school. The interview shall be of sufficient duration and privacy to evaluate the child's adjustment to placement in the foster home. The caseworker shall indicate the date and summarize the results of each visit in the child's case record. Where indicated, the case-worker, based on his or her professional judgment, shall visit or contact the child more frequently. During the first three months a child is placed or replaced, the caseworker shall visit or contact the child more frequently when in his or her professional judgment such is appropriate. 23. If an abuse or neglect complaint is filed pertaining to a foster family home, the assigned caseworker(s) shall visit the home at least once a week until the complaint is ruled out. 24. If an abuse or neglect complaint is not ruled out, the caseworkers shall visit the home at least once a week until the children are removed from the home or until the juvenile court orders otherwise or the child's attorney and DSS agree otherwise. PLACEMENT WITH RELATIVES 25. A. A child committed by the juvenile court to DSS may be placed with his or her relative(s). B. Such a child shall be provided a case plan and 6-month administrative and 18-month juvenile court reviews of his or her placement. DSS shall request that the Foster Care Review Board conduct the 6-month administrative reviews. C. Within six months of the date of entry of this Decree, each child placed with a relative shall be visited by a caseworker no less frequently than once every two months. D. A relative with whom a child committed to DSS has been placed may apply for a license as a foster family home. DSS shall inform the relative of the benefits of and requirements for licensure. 26. A. Within one year of the date of the entry of this Decree, DSS shall complete an inventory of each relative placement to determine whether each home *524 meets basic health and sanitary standards such as the existence of adequate heat, light, water, cooking and refrigeration facilities, toilet facilities and smoke detectors, and the absence of exposed wiring, rodent or insect infestation, broken windows, doors or steps, and holes in walls or ceilings. If the DSS employee or agent conducting the inventory observes evidence of any threat to the child's health or safety, the DSS employee or agent, if other than the child's worker, shall report that evidence to the child's worker. The results of the inventory shall be made available to plaintiffs' attorneys upon the issuance of a protective order. B. In addition, defendants will seek the necessary statutory authority to conduct criminal background investigations for relative caretakers and others known to be in the household. After such approval is obtained, DSS shall conduct such investigations for existing and prospective caretakers and others known to be in the household. C. Within six months of the entry of this Decree, DSS shall determine if a home meets basic health and sanitary standards within 30 days of placement. 27. A. Within one year of the entry of this Decree, an assessment shall be made of the health and educational status of each child placed with a relative. The assessment shall be completed by an impartial consultant selected through the State procurement process. The selection of the consultant shall be made by an evaluation committee or review panel. One member of the committee or panel shall be mutually acceptable to the parties. B. The consultant shall oversee the gathering of data for the assessment. The assessment shall include contacts with the child's education provider and medical provider. The consultant shall determine generally the child's educational and medical status and the existence, if any, of unmet needs of the child. The child's caseworker shall make reasonable efforts to facilitate the child's obtaining educational and medical services sufficient to address the identified unmet needs. A report of the assessment result in regard to each child shall be made available on a quarterly basis to plaintiffs' attorneys upon the issuance of a protective order. 28. Within 30 days of receipt of the final consultant's report, plaintiffs may file objections pursuant to ¶ 35 of this Decree, including a statement of why children placed with relatives are entitled to additional protections. REPORTS OF ABUSE AND NEGLECT 29. Whenever a DSS employee has reason to suspect that the abuse or neglect of a child in foster care or a child placed with a relative has occurred, the DSS employee shall notify the protective service unit of DSS. Children who are the subject of an abuse report shall be visited within 24 hours of the receipt of a complaint by either a protective services worker or staff of the police department. Children who are the subject of a neglect report shall be visited within five days. 30. Whenever there is a report of abuse or neglect of a child in a foster family home or a child placed with a relative, DSS shall notify the attorney for the child in a foster family home and, within six months of the entry of this Decree, the attorney for the child placed with a relative, if it knows of any, the child's biological parents unless psychologically contraindicated or their whereabouts or identity is unknown, and such other persons as are required to be notified by State law. Notification to the child's attorney and/or biological parents shall be within five working days of receipt of a report. A copy of the report shall be provided to the child's attorney. The completed disposition of the complaint shall be submitted to the child's attorney within five working days of its completion. SCOPE AND APPLICATION OF DECREE 31. This Decree shall apply only to those children certified as members of the plaintiff class. This Decree creates no rights in favor of any other person and creates no obligations or duties on the part of defendants with respect to any programs *525 other than the DSS foster family care program and the DSS services to extended families with children program. A violation of this Consent Decree shall not create a new, independent private cause of action for damages for anyone. Nothing set forth in this paragraph shall bar the Court's contempt power for violation of the Decree. REPORTING, MONITORING AND ENFORCEMENT 32. If the Court ever finds that any defendant, or any successor of any defendant, has failed to satisfy his, her or its obligation under this Decree, the Court shall not order any extraordinary relief (including the imposition of a fine or imprisonment) against or respecting that defendant or against any defendant (either to punish a defendant for alleged non-compliance or to stimulate future compliance) unless the Court first finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant(s) failed to meet his, her, their or its obligations due to some fault or lack of good faith on the part of the defendant(s). 33. Beginning six months following the entry of this Decree and at six-month intervals thereafter, defendants shall file with the Court a report setting forth the steps they have taken to achieve compliance with this Decree. A copy of the report shall be served on plaintiffs' attorneys of record. The report shall include the following data from a six month period ending no earlier than two months before the date of the report: a. the number of DSS foster care, continuing care and intake caseworkers; the number of immediate supervisors of such caseworkers; and the number of average cases for continuing care workers and for intake workers; b. the number of DSS foster home caseworkers, the number of immediate supervisors of such caseworkers; and the number of average cases; c. the number of restricted and general foster homes approved; d. the number of children's and home caseworkers who have been hired; e. schedule of the rates of reimbursement available to foster parents; f. the number of emergency foster homes and the number of children who can be served by each home; g. effective July 1, 1988, the number of current foster parents who have completed the requisite pre-service and/or continuing training; h. the number of foster children receiving aftercare services who are placed with a relative, the number of foster children who are placed with a relative in a restricted foster home, and the number of children who are committed by the juvenile court to DSS and who are placed in a relative home, which home is not a licensed foster care home; i. the number of complaints of abuse and/or neglect of children in foster homes received and the disposition of such complaints; j. commencing with the second semiannual report, the number of complaints of abuse and/or neglect of children placed with relatives received and the disposition of such complaints; k. the number of children entering foster care and the date of his or her first medical assessment in regard to each such child; l. the number of children for whom a goal of return home has been established; the number for whom a plan of adoption has been established; the number for whom a petition to terminate parental rights has been filed; and the number for whom such petitions have been granted; m. a report on expenditures for support services and reunification funds as of the most recent end of fiscal year or mid-fiscal year; n. the number of foster homes reassessed; o. a summary of the quality assurance forms used by DSS as described in a letter dated April 5, 1988 from Mark J. Davis to *526 William L. Grimm attached hereto as Attachment C; and p. the number of workers who have attended training and the nature of the training provided. 34. A. Any time after the expiration of two years following the entry of this Decree, defendants may file a final report showing implementation of and compliance with this Decree. B. Until the defendants file their final report, defendants shall file a semiannual report in the format set forth in paragraph 33. Defendants' obligation to report to the Court shall conclude once the final report has been filed with the Court. 35. Plaintiffs may file any objections to defendants' reports within 30 days of the filing of the report, after which the Court may decide to hold a hearing on the matter, assuming strict compliance with the terms of ¶ 36, infra. RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES 36. A. Before any party may bring any matter before the Court with respect to any problem arising under this Decree, including any alleged non-compliance, the parties must confer and attempt to resolve the problem. If plaintiffs' attorneys present a dispute arising under this Decree involving an individual class member, plaintiffs' attorneys may inspect the file of that child, the child's parents, and the child's foster parent(s) upon obtaining a protective order. The parties agree to cooperate in obtaining the necessary protective order. Nothing set forth in this paragraph shall limit the rights of discovery of an attorney appointed for a child by the juvenile court in that proceeding. B. The Court shall not entertain any alleged dispute in which the movant does not certify that good faith efforts have been made to attempt to resolve the dispute. This certificate shall include the date, place, time and participants in any conference to resolve the matter. CLAIMS OF INDIVIDUAL PLAINTIFFS 37. The claims of plaintiff R.R. are hereby dismissed with full prejudice. 38. With respect to the individual damage claims of the other individual plaintiffs, with the exception of plaintiffs-intervenors R.K. and S.J. for whom no individual damage claims have been made, this Decree does not resolve these individual damage claims. ATTORNEYS' FEES AND COSTS 39. The parties agree to continue to negotiate in good faith the settlement of plaintiffs' claims for attorneys' fees and costs until July 30, 1988. If settlement is not reached by that date, the plaintiffs may file a petition for an award of attorneys' fees and costs with the Court for its consideration or for referral to a magistrate. Plaintiffs agree not to file any such petition during the negotiations up to and including July 30, 1988. CONTINUING JURISDICTION 40. The parties agree that the Court shall retain jurisdiction over this case until the terms of this Consent Decree are fully implemented for the purposes of (i) assuring implementation and (ii) allowing any party to apply at any time for an order seeking interpretation, implementation, enforcement, or modification of this Decree. THE PLAINTIFFS, BY THEIR COUNSEL, AND THE DEFENDANTS BY SECRETARY MASSINGA AND THEIR COUNSEL ENTER INTO THIS CONSENT DECREE AND SUBMIT IT TO THE COURT THAT IT MAY BE APPROVED AND ENTERED AS AN ORDER OF COURT. *527 For the plaintiffs: For the Defendants: (s) William L. Grimm (s) Ruth Massinga Legal Aid Bureau, Inc. Secretary, Department of Candler Building Human Resources 714 East Pratt Street J. Joseph Curran, Jr. Baltimore, Maryland 21202 Attorney General of Maryland (301) 539-5340 (s) Catherine M. Shultz (s) Carol R. Golubock Assistant Attorney General Children's Defense Fund The Munsey Building, 2nd floor 122 C Street, N.W. 7 North Calvert Street Washington, D.C. 20001 Baltimore, Maryland 21202 (202) 628-8787 (301) 576-6317 (s) Mark J. Davis (s) Nevett Steele, Jr. Assistant Attorney General Whiteford, Taylor & Preston 311 West Saratoga Street 7 St. Paul Street, Suite 1400 Baltimore, Maryland 21201 Baltimore, Maryland 21202 (301) 333-0019 (301) 347-8700 Counsel for defendants. APPROVED AND ENTERED on this 27th day of September, 1988. (s) Joseph C. Howard United States District Judge ATTACHMENT A L.J. v. Massinga Class Members All children who are, have been and may possible again, or will be placed in foster homes by the Baltimore City Department of Social Services and are or will be placed in the custody of the Baltimore City Department of Social Services pursuant to: (a) an authorization or order of emergency shelter care granted to the Baltimore City Department of Social Services by an intake officer or by the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Division of Juvenile Causes, under the provisions of Md.Cts. & Jud.Proc.Code Ann. § 3-815, or (b) in order of commitment, care, or custody granted to the Baltimore City Department of Social Services by the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Division for Juvenile Causes, under Md.Cts. & Jud.Proc.Code Ann. § 3-820, or (c) an order of guardianship with the right to consent to adoption or long-term care short of adoption granted to the Baltimore City Department of Social Services by the Circuit Court for Baltimore City under Md.Fam.Law Code Ann. § 5-301 et seq., or former Md.Ann.Code Art. 16, §§ 67 et seq., or (d) a voluntary foster care agreement between their natural parents or legal guardians and the Baltimore City Department of Social Services. ATTACHMENT B L.J. v. Massinga Consent Decree List of Organizations to Receive Notice Clinton Bamberger, Esq. University of Maryland School of Law Clinical Law Office 510 West Baltimore Street Baltimore, Maryland XXXXX-XXXX Stephen Ney, Esq. Maryland Disability Law Center 2510 St. Paul Street Baltimore, Maryland 21218 Sheila K. Sachs, President Bar Association of Baltimore City 111 North Calvert Street Room 627, Courthouse East *528 Baltimore, Maryland 21202 James Wiggins, President Monumental City Bar Association Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse Room 401 Baltimore, Maryland 21202 Pamela Anne Bresnahan, President Women's Bar Association of Maryland 28th Floor 401 East Pratt Street Baltimore, Maryland 21202 Anne Pecora, Esq. University of Baltimore School of Law Clinical Law Office Suite 101 1420 North Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland 21201 John Michener Maryland Volunteer Lawyer Service 520 West Fayette Street Suite 130 Baltimore, Maryland 21201 ATTACHMENT C THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Saratoga State Center Suite 1015 311 W. Saratoga Street Baltimore, Maryland 21201 (301) 333-0019 April 5, 1988 William L. Grimm, Esq. Legal Aid Bureau, Inc. 7th Floor 714 E. Pratt Street Baltimore, Maryland XXXXX-XXXX Re: L.J. v. Massinga Quality Assurance Report Summaries Dear Bill: This letter supersedes my letter to you of March 29, 1988 on the contents of Quality Assurance Report Summaries to be provided to plaintiffs in accordance with paragraph 32(o) of the Consent Decree. DSS continues to use forms D-885 and D-887 to review a child's case record and a foster home record, respectively. Monthly summaries of the information gathered from the files will be provided to plaintiffs from these forms or forms reasonably in accordance with them. DSS has yet to modify the form to reflect the Health Care provisions of the Consent Decree. However, it expects to do so and will track compliance with the following requirements: 1. That foster children have an initial screening no later than 24 hours following a placement; 2. That foster children be referred for a comprehensive health assessment within 30 days of entering placement and that the assessment be completed within 60 days; 3. That foster parents be provided with a child's health passport within five days of initial placement or at the time of a child's placement; 4. That copies of forms contained in the passport be included in the child's case records and be reviewed by a supervisor every six months; and 5. That foster children have periodic medical, dental and developmental examinations in accordance with the schedules or protocols of the EPSDT. Very truly yours, /s/ Mark Davis Mark J. Davis Assistant Attorney General MJD089:jas cc: Carol R. Golubock, Esq. Jeanne D. Hitchcock, Esq. Catherine M. Shultz, Esq. Nevett Steele, Jr., Esq. Ethel Zelenske, Esq. ADDENDUM B: MEMORANDUM AND ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR A PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION DATED JULY 27, 1987 MEMORANDUM AND ORDER This is a class action by foster care children who allege that defendants' administration *529 of the foster care system in the City of Baltimore violates plaintiffs' rights under federal statutory law, Titles IV-E and IV-B of the Social Security Act, and the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The class representatives also seek monetary damages for the harms allegedly suffered while in the care and custody of the defendants. Pending before the Court are plaintiffs' motions for (1) a preliminary injunction (2) sanctions based upon defendants' failure to respond factually to plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction and (3) a default judgment. A hearing on the motions was held from April 2 to April 15, 1987, the parties submitted post-hearing briefs by May 22, 1987. Some 91 separate items of evidence were introduced and the Court heard from 12 witnesses. Among the items of evidence were seven looseleaf binders including scores of documents. For the reasons which follow, the motions will be granted. I. MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION In their motion for a preliminary injunction and accompanying memorandum plaintiffs allege, inter alia, that, before and after the filing of this action in December 1984, "some [foster] children continue to receive brutal treatment in foster homes in which they are placed by the defendants," and "substantial numbers of children do not receive basic medical care and treatment for disease and disabilities." Plaintiffs contend that the continued acts and omissions by the defendants violate plaintiffs' rights under the Constitution and federal foster care law. This Court is asked to order the defendants to administer the Baltimore foster care system in compliance with federal statutory and constitutional law by enjoining plaintiffs from allowing inadequate homes to remain in the foster care system; failing to provide proper medical care; and by requiring prompt reporting of complaints of abuse and neglect to the appropriate authorities. In defendants' response to plaintiffs' motion, defendants contend that they have acted vigorously to make substantial improvements in the Baltimore foster care; that plaintiffs cannot demonstrate that defendants acted with deliberate indifference to plaintiffs' rights; and that plaintiffs' proof reveals, at most, isolated incidents of past exposure to harm. Defendants support their opposition with thirteen documents purporting to demonstrate improvements they have made or are attempting to make in the foster care program. The contentions advanced by plaintiffs concerning irreparable harm to foster children can be grouped into four categories: (a) instances of neglect and abuse revealed through random case sampling; (b) inadequate medical care; (c) absence of protection afforded Code 517 children; and (d) failure to undertake adequate and effective measures to address deficiencies in the system in the Baltimore City Foster Care Program revealed by the Harris Task Force in September 1984. The Court will discuss plaintiffs' motion within the above categories. (A) Instances of Neglect and Abuse Revealed Through Random Case Sampling Plaintiffs base their allegations of widespread, systematic omissions and failures by defendants, in part, on a study undertaken at their request by Dr. Trudy Festinger. Dr. Festinger chairs the Department of Research of the School of Social Work at New York University and has studied how caseworkers assess adoptive applicants, foster care agreements between departments of social services and foster parents nationally, and the effectiveness of court supervision of children in foster care. Dr. Festinger has published ten studies and lectured about foster care issues and research methodology. She serves on the New York State Board of Social Welfare. *530 Plaintiffs' study was accomplished through the review of individual foster care case records maintained by the defendants. Dr. Festinger reviewed files and the foster care policies of the Baltimore City Department of Social Services (BCDSS) to formulate the study. She also selected and trained casereaders and on-site supervisors and monitored the case reading. The case reading focused on children who had been placed in foster care from January 1, 1983 to April 30, 1986. Two criteria determined which files were read: (1) the child could not have been placed in care out-of-state nor in a purchase care facility during the relevant time period; and (2) a child had to have been placed in a foster home for at least 60 days. The four thousand (4,000) children represented by the Legal Aid Bureau in Child in Need of Assistance (CINA) proceedings were the universe from which the files to be read were selected. Eight hundred and ninety seven (897) names were randomly selected from the universe. Through information from the Baltimore City Juvenile Circuit Court, the Attorney General, the Baltimore City Foster Care Review Board, BCDSS and the Legal Aid Bureau, each randomly drawn name was checked against the study criteria, approximately one-quarter met the criteria. Plaintiffs' casereaders read 149 of the 224 cases that met the sampling criteria (¼ of 897). Dr. Festinger concluded that her opinion could reasonably be based on that number. Casereaders extracted only information found in the child's record. They recorded any documented concern, suspicion, or complaint of child maltreatment, casereader judgments were not recorded. The readers used a 69 page questionnaire containing 77 questions to be answered for each case. The casereading instruments provided uniform summaries of the readers' observations. Criticisms of Plaintiffs' Study Defendants' witness Roger White, Ph.D., Associate Professor at John Hopkins School of Public Health in the Department of Maternal and Child Health, was qualified as an expert in statistics and the use of random sampling techniques in social sciences and child welfare studies. Dr. White's criticism of the plaintiffs' sampling methodology, included: (1) uncertainty as to the sampling frame; (2) the lack of an explanation why only 149 of the 230 "total end sample" were the basis for Dr. Festinger's conclusions; (3) the lack of operational definitions for such terms as "emotional abuse" and "sexual abuse"; (4) alleged inaccuracies in computation of random sample (i.e., the sample should have been about 500 names not 230); and (5) concern about the reliability of the completed case reading instruments. After considering these criticisms, the Court finds that the plaintiffs' study is sufficiently sound for the purposes of this motion. The sampling frame was foster children represented by the Legal Aid Bureau in CINA proceedings. The 149 cases used as a basis for Dr. Festinger's opinions had been analyzed in time to be utilized at the hearing. There is no evidence of significant statistical bias in the sample. Approximately 220 cases were to be examined because that is the number of cases that met the sample criteria. With respect to "operational definitions", plaintiffs' casereaders merely recorded expressions of concern found in defendants' own records about each child. As to the reliability of the completed instruments, the Court observes that during training every case was double-read and, after training, every tenth case was double-read. The Court's examination of the compiled instruments indicates that they were completed accurately. Moreover, defendants' expert recognizes Dr. Festinger as an expert in the field of social research and has acknowledged that she is "a very appropriately-acclaimed individual;" he has also cited Dr. Festinger in his own work.[1] *531 In light of the soundness of plaintiffs' methodology, * * * the Court concludes that plaintiffs' study is a reliable evidentiary basis for the Court's findings. Results of Sampling Of the 149 cases read, 42 indicated maltreatment in the foster home. From this finding, Dr. Festinger projected that 282 children per thousand might be maltreated. Dr. Festinger further commented that if only 14 of the 149 children had actually been maltreated, then 94 children per thousand were likely to have been maltreated during the study period. As of the hearing, plaintiffs had conducted an intensive review of 18 of the 42 cases in which maltreatment was indicated during the most recent sampling period of May 1, 1985 through April 30, 1986. Plaintiffs believe that the most probative indicators of the current status of the foster care program are these 18 cases. The 18 cases depict a pattern of physical, sexual and emotional abuses inflicted upon children in the custody of BCDSS. The additional 24 cases are less recent and plaintiffs had not examined them in detail at the time of the hearing. For these additional 24 cases, plaintiffs introduced portions of the casereading instruments where maltreatment was recorded. The Court's review of the submitted documentation on these additional 24 children indicates that maltreatment is likely to have occurred in at least two-thirds of the cases. Instances of Maltreatment Not Developed By Random Sampling Plaintiffs also offered evidence of maltreatment or neglect of 16 other children who came to the attention of the Legal Aid Bureau immediately before the filing of the motion for preliminary injunction. Largely uncontroverted testimony from treating physicians, some parents, and documentation submitted to the Court revealed children who had suffered continuous sexual and physical abuse or neglect in foster homes; children who had been placed in homes which defendants knew were inadequate; and cases where reports of abuse were not promptly or adequately investigated to prevent further placements of other children in those homes. The tragic consequences of these deficiencies include sexual abuse of young girls by their foster fathers and a child who contracted gonorrhea of the throat after sexual abuse by the adult son of a foster parent in an unlicensed foster home.[2] In eight cases, defendants failed to assure that medical treatment prescribed by physicians and basic education were provided. Findings of Fact The Court makes the following enumerated findings of fact as to plaintiffs' sampling and the 16 additional cases not developed through sampling: 1. Dr. Festinger is an expert in the field of social research methodology, foster care systems and child welfare policy. 2. The Court's review of the casereading instruments indicates that the casereading instruments were completed accurately. 3. Plaintiffs' random sampling study of children in the custody and care of defendants is a sufficient basis for determining whether systemic problems exist in the Baltimore foster care program. *532 4. From the Court's review of the case records of the cited 18 children, it is evident that the expressed concerns about the conditions in the foster home and treatment of each child were well-founded in 15 cases. Indeed, in some cases the state of the foster home and treatment of the child were cause for grave concern. 5. The concerns expressed in the additional 24 cases were consistent with those of the 18 cases of most recent origin. 6. When the 18 cases of most recent origin are considered together with the additional 24 cases, the number of cases where expressed concerns were well founded very likely exceeds 30. 7. Where the concerns expressed are all well-founded and verified, the children were at risk of harm to their emotional and physical well being. 8. The number of children at risk out of the sample of 149 is sufficient to indicate that deficiencies exist throughout the foster care system as administered by the BCDSS. 9. The sample reveals that existing deficiencies include the failure to remove children from homes where physical and emotional abuse and neglect are threatened; the licensing of foster homes where foster parents are unable to care properly for the children; the granting of "exceptions" that allow homes to remain open when they are clearly inadequate or a risk to the children in them; the lack of appropriate numbers of satisfactory homes; and the over-reliance on physical evidence of abuse and questioning of children when abuse reports are investigated. 10. There is a great likelihood that many children in the foster care administered by BCDSS are at risk of suffering irreparable harm. 11. The additional 16 cases of abuse and neglect that were not developed through random sampling cannot be dismissed as "anecdotal." Indeed, while the Court does not rely on these cases in concluding that systemic deficiencies exist, these cases corroborate the deficiencies identified through plaintiff's study. 12. In most of these 16 cases, the situations placing these children at risk were not resolved or confirmed until two months before or after, the filing of plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. (B) Inadequate Medical Care To support their allegations that foster care children receive inadequate health care, plaintiffs offered the testimony of two medical experts. Dr. Archie Golden is an expert in pediatrics and the administration of health programs for children, he has been the medical director of the Chesapeake Health Plan[3] ("CHP") for over six years. Dr. Charles Shubin is an expert in the field of pediatrics and the diagnosis of child abuse and neglect. Drs. Golden and Shubin have extensive experience treating foster care children in the custody of BCDSS. The testimony of Drs. Shubin and Golden established that foster children were often abused or neglected in their natural homes and are generally in greater need of health care than other children. Foster children have numerous mental health or psycho-social problems and typically suffer from chronic illnesses; approximately 29% have eye problems; and some 28% of foster children do not have up-to-date immunizations. Foster children often receive treatment for one episode of an illness in one facility and visit another for a subsequent episode of the same illness; thus, there is no continuity of information and records about the child's health treatment and a lower quality of care results. Findings of Fact as to Medical Care The Court makes the following enumerated findings of fact about medical care provided foster care children: *533 1. Of the 2,600 to 2,800 children in BCDSS foster care today, 600 are enrolled in CHP. While most of the remaining children do not qualify for CHP enrollment, up to 400 children eligible to participate in CHP are not enrolled. 2. Although many children do not remain in foster care longer than 30 days, and there are no reliable statistics about the number of children who do not appear for medical appointments, it is apparent from the testimony of Drs. Shubin and Golden that a major problem in rendering health care to long term foster children is their failure to appear at medical appointments. CHP has articulated this concern to BCDSS, but BCDSS has failed to respond adequately. 3. Physicians treating foster children are often provided incomplete medical histories and must rely on the child being treated or an older sibling for such information. 4. The lack of an adequate medical history impairs effective medical treatment and exposes a foster child to such risks as redundant vaccinations or immunization with vaccines to which they may be allergic. 5. Sometimes natural parent hostility toward BCDSS increases the physician's ability to obtain a complete medical history, and physicians also encounter difficulties obtaining medical histories of children since entering foster care. 6. Defendants' present system of providing necessary medical care to foster children is inadequate to ensure continuous and informed treatment for those children. (C) Absence of Protection Afforded Code 517 Children In 1983, defendants created the "Code 517" category of foster children. Although defendants are legally responsible for these children, they are placed in unlicensed homes. The caretakers in these homes, often relatives, are either unwilling to assume approved foster parent status or unable to meet foster home standards. Code 517 children are not provided services by the Division of Foster Care Services; their cases are not reviewed by the Foster Care Review Board; they are not subject to the review required by Federal law as are other foster children, there are no foster care payments for these children, and they are not considered by defendants to be in foster care. Suspected abuse or neglect in "Code 517" homes is not reported as foster home abuse. As of the commencement of the hearing, there were 312 children who were committed by the Courts to BCDSS and placed in the Code 517 category. No evidence of neglect or abuse was presented as to this class of children. While plaintiffs' suggestion of likely harm to these children from nonsupervision is credible, there is no basis for a finding of systemic abuse or neglect. (D) The Harris Task Force and Purported Improvements Sometime before filing suit in 1984, plaintiffs supplied defendants with a copy of the original complaint in this case. In response, defendants established the "Harris Task Force" to conduct a review of the foster care system in Baltimore City. The Task Force conducted interviews of several senior staff members at BCDSS. The Task Force also conducted a random review of 15 foster care cases including ten involving reports of suspected abuse. Based on these interviews and this random sample, the Task Force identified a number of "systematic problems" and suggested corrective action.[4] Defendants purport to have undertaken a number of improvements in the Baltimore foster care system based, in part, on the findings of the Harris Task Force. The Harris Task Force found the following "major systematic problems" in the *534 BCDSS foster care program (1) the purpose of family care was not well-defined leading, for example, to the placement in foster homes of children whose needs could not be met within a private home setting; (2) payments to foster families were unrealistically low; (3) there were not enough homes, and there was "no concerted effort to recruit foster homes"; (4) licensing of foster homes was inadequate: a lower standard is applied to restricted homes than regular homes, and licensing is based on inadequate information; (5) "serious gaps" in the training provided to foster families, BCDSS case workers and their supervisors; (6) BCDSS files contained inadequate information about medical histories, foster parents and education; (7) the "agency's organizational structure is conducive to chaos"; (8) some caseworkers and supervisors lacked necessary training; (9) more strict enforcement of policies requiring investigation of abuse and neglect complaints was necessary; (10) the Department of Human Resources (DHR) needed to improve monitoring of BCDSS to ensure the adequacy of services; (11) substantial increases in staff size were necessary to reduce ratios of cases handled by foster care workers; (12) poor morale among BCDSS staff; (13) need for a pre-placement diagnostic facility to place children on an emergency basis and identify their problems; (14) need for an automated system to monitor foster care cases; (15) a lack of coordination between BCDSS and agencies outside the city when children were placed outside the city; (16) a policy classification was required for nonlegally responsible custodians who requested a foster care license or payments; and (17) poor relationships among BCDSS caseworkers, BCDSS Legal Services, and the Juvenile Courts with respect to child placement decisions. The findings of the report are uncontroverted. However, defendants contend that they have attempted to improve foster care in Baltimore. Among the major efforts defendants have undertaken are (1) review of all BCDSS foster homes; (2) training for foster care workers; (3) recruitment of new foster parents; (4) increases in foster care board rates; (5) training of foster parents; (6) additional foster care staff to reduce the ratios of caseworker to children to 1 to 20; (7) clarification of lines of authority within the DSS; (8) recruitment of better qualified social workers; (9) medical screening of all children before their placement; (10) development and distribution of a foster care manual and revised policies; and (11) initiation of an intensive family services program. Findings of Fact as to Purported Improvements Undertaken Pursuant to the Harris Task Force The Court makes the following enumerated findings of fact as to the significance and effectiveness of defendants' purported improvements undertaken pursuant to the Harris Task Force: 1. Many of the most essential of defendants' efforts to improve foster care in Baltimore have been incomplete and ineffective. 2. As recommended by the Harris Task Force, defendants undertook a review of all BCDSS foster homes. This review, defendants contend, "was initiated to determine whether foster children were at risk in their placements." As a result of that review, 444 homes were closed in 1985, and 189 were closed in 1986. Defendants contend that as a result of the closings, the pool of BCDSS foster homes is safer now than at the time of the Harris Task Force report. However, during cross-examination of Secretary Massinga, it was established that the homes closed were primarily those of elderly foster parents who no longer wanted to be registered as foster homes and no longer had foster children in their homes. 3. During 1985 and 1986, only 53 additional regular or unrestricted foster homes were recruited and opened by defendants. Furthermore, when the hearing commenced, defendants had only one person working solely on recruitment of foster homes. 4. The "Intensive Family Services Unit" at BCDSS, set forth as a recent improvement in foster care, was disbanded in 1986. 5. The Harris Task Force recommended that foster care workers receive training. *535 Defendants have proffered a document entitled "Training Sessions for BCDSS Foster Care Workers: 1984-1986." During cross-examination it was revealed that this document was not what it purported to be, and defendants were unable to offer any reliable evidence of training provided to foster care workers. 6. The Harris Task Force recommended that DHR "improve its foster care quality control review system." DSS has devised a system for case record reviews to evaluate the quality of services provided to foster care children. However, from January until October, 1986, no quality assurance reviews of foster care records took place. 7. At the hearing defendants highlighted several policies implemented to protect children in foster care; the plaintiffs presented evidence that those policies are violated. Violated were the policies requiring that an investigation of an abuse report be commenced within 24 hours of its receipt; that no further placements be made in a foster home that is the subject of a report of suspected abuse until completion of an investigation; and that all children be removed from a home where a finding of abuse is "indicated." 8. Defendants have yet to reduce the ratio of workers to children to 1 to 20. 9. Given defendants' incomplete and ineffective responses to the systemic problems identified by the Harris Task Force in 1984, it is likely that these problems still exist and that significant numbers of foster children are at risk of irreparable physical and emotional harm. 10. Given defendants' ineffective and incomplete responses to the problems identified by the Harris Task Force and the ineffective implementation of their own child protection policies, it cannot be assumed that the recent increased funding of some programs will resolve systemic foster care problems. Discussion of the Legal Standard for Determining the Propriety of Preliminary Injunctive Relief The standard for determining whether a party is entitled to preliminary injunctive relief is the "balance-of-hardship" test of Blackwelder Furniture Co. v. Seilig, 550 F.2d 189, 196 (4th Cir.1977). "This test requires a `flexible interplay' among four factors: the likelihood of irreparable harm to the plaintiff if the preliminary injunction is denied; the likelihood of harm to the defendant if the requested relief is granted; the likelihood that the plaintiff will succeed on the merits; and the public interest." Federal Leasing v. Underwriters at Lloyd's, 650 F.2d 495, 499 (4th Cir.1981). Under Blackwelder the first consideration is the "likelihood of irreparable harm to the plaintiff, as balanced against the likelihood of harm to the defendant." Federal Leasing, 650 F.2d at 499 (citing Blackwelder, 550 F.2d at 196). "If that balance is struck in favor of plaintiff, it is enough that grave or serious questions are presented; and plaintiff need not show likelihood of success." Blackwelder, 550 F.2d at 196. See also Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith v. Bradley, 756 F.2d 1048, 1054-1055 (4th Cir.1985); Federal Leasing, 650 F.2d at 499; Johnson v. Bergland, 586 F.2d 993, 995 (4th Cir.1978). The public interest should always be considered. Blackwelder, 550 F.2d at 196. The violation of a constitutional right constitutes per se irreparable injury. Johnson v. Bergland, supra, 586 F.2d at 995. Accordingly, "if plaintiffs are able to demonstrate a loss of constitutional rights, they will have met the irreparable injury requirement." Greater Baltimore Bd. of Realtors v. Hughes, 596 F.Supp. 906, 924 (D.Md.1984). See also 11 C. Wright and A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure, § 2948 (1973). In Lynch v. King, 550 F.Supp. 325 (D.Mass.1982), aff'd sub nom., Lynch v. Dukakis, 719 F.2d 504 (1st Cir.1983) plaintiffs foster care children brought a class action alleging that Massachusetts' foster care system violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 601 et seq. and regulations promulgated by the Secretary of the Department of Human Resources. *536 Although plaintiffs brought their action in 1978 plaintiffs did not move for a preliminary injunction until 1981. The evidence in Lynch addressed defendant's compliance with § 608(f) of Title IV-A of the Social Security Act, § 671(a) of Title IV-E and § 627(a) of Title IV-B which require the development and implementation of a case plan for each child to assure appropriate care and a periodic review of the status of each child to determine the appropriateness of placements. The Court found the evidence sufficient to establish noncompliance; however, it acknowledged "certain weaknesses" in plaintiffs' proof. 550 F.Supp. at 337. In granting plaintiffs a preliminary injunction the Court stated that "[t]hese flaws are not fatal to plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction," because the defendants, "as the parties having greater access to and control of relevant evidence, have offered little proof to rebut the powerful inference that case plans and periodic review are not being provided in significant numbers of cases involving children in foster care." Id. The Court also found that defendants' apparent failure to comply with the Social Security Act was likely to cause plaintiffs irreparable harm and observed "[t]he physical and emotional damage threatening these children, should it occur, could never be undone." 550 F.Supp. at 338. In balancing this harm against that likely to be suffered by the defendants should an injunction be granted, the Court quoted defendants' characterization of their hardship as follows: The defendants' interest consists in freedom from a burdensome judicial order that will disrupt the management of [DSS], including delivery of the very services plaintiffs seek. For a court to intrude in the present case is to risk demoralizing agency personnel and engendering cynicism in an improving administration; to substitute judicial judgment for that of trained professionals and a legalistic atmosphere for a therapeutic one; to risk a confrontation with the state legislature; to risk stripping funds from crucial programs in order to pay for others receiving judicial attention; to risk forcing the state to give up badly needed federal funds, rather than comply with a far more costly judicial order. Id. at 339. In weighing those concerns, the Court agreed that "it is essential for federal courts to be ever sensitive to these considerations" and that "[e]very federal judge must be concerned about the prospect of issuing relief that unduly hampers the day-to-day administration of a state agency." Id. Nevertheless, "concerns of federalism ... are present in any case in which a class of plaintiffs seeks the aid of a federal court in securing state compliance with federal law." Id. In concluding that concerns of federalism were outweighed by the prospect of harm to the foster children, the court held that the need for judicial sensitivity to these concerns does not justify abdication of judicial responsibility. Id. Here, Congressand not any courtcreated requirements it thought essential to protect the welfare of foster children. The Commonwealth voluntarily undertook to fulfill those requirements as a condition of receiving federal money. Plaintiffs filed suit to enforce those requirements because they believed it would serve their best interests to do so.... In granting preliminary relief to plaintiffs, this court does not substitute its judgment for that of state officials. It instead gives realization to the will of Congress and protection requested by those Congress intended to protect. Indeed, if the court chose to deny relief on the grounds urged by defendants, that denial would reflect a judgment that the wisdom of Congress and desires of plaintiffs should go unheeded because the Commonwealth knows better than any of them how to serve plaintiffs' interests. This court is not free to make such a judgment. 550 F.Supp. at 339-340. Concerning the impact of a preliminary injunction on the public interest the District Judge added: Congress imposed these requirements in the belief that they were essential to assure the proper care of children in the foster care system. The evidence confirms *537 that failure to satisfy the Congressional conditions may result in grave harm to foster children. Guided by the Congressional determination of the public interest in this context, I conclude that the public interest will be furthered by awarding a remedy calculated to ensure that Massachusetts' foster care system conforms to the dictates of the Social Security Act. 550 F.Supp. at 340. As preliminary injunctive relief, the Court ordered that the caseload ratio of foster care workers to children be reduced to 1:20; that each child's case receive a periodic review every six months; that a written case plan be formulated for each child; and that a foster care worker be assigned to each case within 24 hours of its receipt. Id. at 355-357. Failure to comply with the order would result in a termination of federal funds. In the instant case, the defendants contend that their interests will be impaired by a preliminary injunction; however, none of these interests outweighs the harm likely to befall plaintiffs should no injunction be issued. Defendants argue that the interests underlying principles of federalism preclude the imposition of an injunction. Bloodgood v. Garraghty, 783 F.2d 470, 475 (4th Cir.1986), is cited for the proposition that it is an abuse of discretion for a federal court to grant injunctive relief against state officials who have not been found to have violated the law or have shown any intention to violate the law. In addition, defendants argue that the interests of the Maryland state courts require this Court to abstain from deciding the motion for preliminary injunction and cite Pennzoil Co. v. Texaco, 481 U.S. 1, 107 S.Ct. 1519, 95 L.Ed. 2d 1 (1987); Moore v. Sims, 442 U.S. 415, 99 S.Ct. 2371, 60 L.Ed.2d 994 (1979); Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971); and Cox v. Planning Dist. I Community Mental, Etc., 669 F.2d 940 (4th Cir.1982). This Court agrees that sensitivity to the concerns of federalism are required when a federal court considers enjoining state officials. To this end, any relief granted should be tailored to correct ongoing harm in a way that is not overly intrusive. In granting injunctive relief this Court does not substitute its will for that of state officials. Rather, the Court seeks to enforce the will of Congress as expressed in the foster care provisions of the Social Security Act and to protect plaintiffs' constitutional rights. Plaintiffs have made a showing of threatened irreparable injury. Therefore, the Fourth Circuit's holding in Bloodgood does not bar an injunction in the instant case; neither is relief barred by the abstention doctrine. Abstention to accommodate adjudication by the state courts "is the exception, not the rule." Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States, 424 U.S. 800, 813, 96 S.Ct. 1236, 1244, 47 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976). Abstention is appropriate when a question of federal constitutional law may be mooted by a state court determination of state law, Railroad Commission of Texas v. Pullman Co., 312 U.S. 496, 61 S.Ct. 643, 85 L.Ed. 971 (1941); where unsettled questions of state law affecting important state policy concerns are presented and federal jurisdiction would impair the establishment of a consistent policy, Burford v. Sun Oil Co., 319 U.S. 315, 63 S.Ct. 1098, 87 L.Ed. 1424 (1943); and where federal jurisdiction is sought to restrain a state court proceeding. Younger v. Harris, supra. Here the Court seeks to enforce a federal statute embodying a federal policy to which defendants committed themselves through their acceptance of federal funds. Also at issue is the right to protection guaranteed plaintiffs by the federal constitution. There are no unsettled questions of state law before the Court, nor is any pending state court proceeding to be restrained. Moreover, it is federal policy which is not being served. This case is, therefore, distinguishable from cases where abstention is appropriate. See, e.g., Pennzoil Co. v. Texaco, supra (federal injunction directly interfered with the execution of a state judgment and challenged the process by which the judgment was obtained in state court); Moore v. Sims, supra (federal court should have abstained in light of a *538 pending state court proceeding on the matter); Younger v. Harris, supra (federal court improperly enjoined a state court proceeding); Cox, supra (abstention appropriate where unsettled question of state law was at issue). Although the injunction granted herein might not be extremely long in duration, the harm threatening foster children and the express will of Congress that proper care be extended to these children, indicate that the public interest would be served by the granting of a preliminary injunction.[5] Plaintiffs have offered sufficient evidence to establish the existence of serious systemic deficiencies in the Baltimore foster care system. These deficiencies include the failure to implement policies to protect children in foster care; the lack of an effective effort to recruit new foster homes; the licensing of questionable homes; the granting of exceptions allowing homes that should be closed to remain open; and the incomplete medical histories of children in foster care. As a result of these deficiencies, foster children are threatened with and are likely to suffer severe physical and emotional injury. Furthermore, plaintiffs' constitutional right to protection while in defendants' custody is in jeopardy.[6] Accordingly, plaintiffs are entitled to a preliminary injunction. Blackwelder, supra, at 196. Likelihood of Prevailing on the Merits Although the Court is required to inquire no further, the issues before the Court are of such magnitude and public importance that the Court will address the plaintiffs' likelihood of success on the merits. Plaintiffs have stated claims under Title IV-B and IV-E of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 620 et seq. and 670 et seq. The defendants have accepted funds under these programs and do not dispute that they are obligated to adhere to funding requirements. The federal foster care and adoption assistance program, Title IV-E, requires that defendants "be responsible for establishing and maintaining standards for foster family homes ... which are reasonably in accord with recommended standards of national organizations concerned with standards for such ... homes." 42 U.S.C. § 671(a)(10). These should include "standards relat[ing] to admission policies, safety, sanitation, and protection of civil rights...." Id. Title IV-E and IV-B require defendants to provide for the development of a case plan for each child for the purpose of "assuring that the child receives proper care" and "that services are provided to the parents, child, and foster parents in order to improve the conditions in the parents' home...." 42 U.S.C. § 675(1). The term "proper care" as used in the Social Security Act has been interpreted to include necessary medical and educational services. See, Gary W. v. Louisiana, 437 F.Supp. 1209 (E.D.La.1976). Titles IV-E and IV-B *539 also require a case review system to determine the "appropriateness of the placement." 42 U.S.C. § 675(5)(B). Systemic problems in the Baltimore foster care program have been revealed by the findings of plaintiffs' study and the Harris Task Force. Given the magnitude of these problems as revealed by the evidence received during the two week hearing, it appears unlikely that defendants will be able to prove they are in compliance with Title IV-E and IV-B. Plaintiffs also claim that their Fourteenth Amendment right to protection is being violated by defendants. In Jensen v. Conrad, 747 F.2d 185 (4th Cir.1984), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1052, 105 S.Ct. 1754, 84 L.Ed.2d 818 (1985), the Court provided guidance for determining whether an individual has a "special relationship" with the state such that a constitutional duty of protection exists. Specifically, the Court enumerated three considerations: "(1) Whether the victim or the perpetrator was in legal custody at the time of the incident, or had been in legal custody prior to the incident ... (2) Whether the state has expressly stated its desire to provide affirmative protection to a particular class or specific individuals ... [and] (3) Whether the state knew of the claimants' plight...." 747 F.2d at 194-195. n. 11. Applying these factors, the Court finds plaintiffs have demonstrated the existence of a "special relationship" with defendants such that plaintiffs are owed an affirmative duty of protection by defendants. Here defendants undertook to provide plaintiffs with proper care and defendants have known, or had reason to know, of systemic deficiencies since the Harris Task Force report. Most importantly, plaintiffs are vulnerable children in the custody of defendants. Children in similar circumstances have been held to have a right to protection. In Estate of Bailey by Oare v. County of York, 768 F.2d 503 (3d Cir.1985), a civil rights complaint was brought against a county welfare agency by the father of a five-year-old girl who was beaten to death by her mother and mother's boyfriend. The welfare agency had previously determined that the child had been abused and agreed to return the child to the mother only upon the condition that the boyfriend be denied access to the child. The complaint alleged that the agency returned the child to the mother without conducting an independent investigation to determine whether the child's mother and the mother's boyfriend were living together. 768 F.2d at 505. Following the Jensen analysis, the Court determined that a "special relationship" had existed between the child and the agency sufficient to state a claim based on a duty to protect. Id. at 510-511. See also Doe v. New York City Department of Social Services, 649 F.2d 134 (2nd Cir.1981), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 864, 104 S.Ct. 195, 78 L.Ed.2d 171 (1983) (Court held that an agency that placed a child in foster care could be liable for the child's sexual abuse by her foster parent if the agency had failed to supervise adequately the child's placement.). Having determined that plaintiffs have a "special relationship" with defendants such that an affirmative duty to protect exists, this Court must determine whether plaintiffs are required to show that defendants have acted with "deliberate indifference" to that right. Regardless of whether "deliberate indifference" must be proven, the evidence in this case shows that, at least since the Harris Task Force report, defendants have been aware of serious deficiencies in the system and their tragic consequences. For example, the evidence shows that one major problem with the system is the lack of satisfactory foster homes. Yet as of the hearing, only one person worked solely on recruiting homes for BCDSS. Moreover, only 53 new nonrestrictive homes were opened in 1985 and 1986. In order to compensate for the lack of homes, defendants have placed children in homes that are unsatisfactory and are reluctant to close homes where maltreatment is either suspected or confirmed. The defendants' duty to protect and the systemic nature of the BCDSS failure to *540 perform that duty create a clear likelihood of plaintiffs' success on the merits. * * * * * * Therefore, it is this 27th day of July, 1987, by the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, ORDERED: As to plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction, 1. That plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction BE, and the same hereby IS, GRANTED. 2. That defendants shall submit to the Court within 20 days, a plan for a review of each foster home in which a report of maltreatment has been made and in which foster children continue to reside to ensure that such home meets licensing standards reasonably in accord with those recommended by nationally recognized professional organizations. 3. That defendants shall monitor each child in a DSS foster family home by, at least, monthly visits to the child to ensure that the child is receiving proper care and the foster home continues to meet licensing standards. Where there has been a report of maltreatment of the child and the child remains in the home, the child shall be visited at least weekly. 4. That defendants shall assign sufficient staff and resources to ensure that available medical histories are obtained and provided to children's medical and other service providers, including foster parents, to ensure that appropriate medical preventive care, services, treatment and diagnoses and other care are promptly and appropriately provided in accord with approved medical standards. 5. That defendants shall provide a written copy of any complaint of maltreatment of a foster child to the juvenile court and the child's attorney within five days of its receipt and shall provide to the juvenile court and the child's attorney a written report of any action taken on the complaint within five days of its disposition by the agency. (s) Joseph C. Howard United States District Judge DATED: July 27, 1987 NOTES [1] The full decree is attached as Addendum A to this Memorandum. [2] For a detailed review of the methodology used in plaintiffs' random sampling see the court's Memorandum and Order dated July 27, 1987, attached to this opinion as Addendum B. [3] The court also granted plaintiffs' motions for sanctions due to certain conduct of defendants' attorneys. Specifically, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ. P. 37(b)(2)(A) and 16(f), the court ordered it taken as established that defendants "fail to protect effectively children in foster homes where there is reason to know that such children are at risk of harm to their physical and emotional well-being." Having deemed these facts admitted, the court found plaintiffs also entitled to preliminary injunction on this alternative basis. The court's Memorandum and Order dated July 27, 1987 has been attached to this memorandum as Addendum B. That memorandum has been edited to eliminate the court's detailed discussion of its basis for imposing sanctions because those facts do not serve as part of the basis for the court's determination of whether the decree is fair and adequate. [4] In the same opinion, the Fourth Circuit also affirmed this court's ruling that the defendants were not entitled to qualified immunity as to plaintiffs' claims for damages. 838 F.2d at 123-124. On that issue, defendants have petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari. [5] The Legal Aid Bureau of Maryland, whose lawyers serve as lead counsel to the class plaintiffs in this action, provides legal services to and represents the great majority of Baltimore's foster children in the juvenile court. The notice also was mailed to the Office of the Superintendent of the Baltimore City Public School, the State's Attorney for Baltimore City, the Baltimore City Juvenile Court judge and masters and to organizations that provide medical care to foster children. [6] The Baltimore Sun, The Baltimore Evening Sun, The Afro-American and The Daily Record. [7] Specifically, in this regard, Mr. Holmes states in his affidavit that: I am aware of the Court's special concerns about foster home recruitment. It must be remembered that family foster care is not the only, and often not even most appropriate, out-of-home placement for children, particularly those increasing numbers with severe emotional and behavioral problems. DHR has and will continue to intensify efforts to recruit foster parents. Providing child care for working foster parents is an effective recruitment tool. DHR and BCDSS both have aggressive campaigns to solicit applications from new families. DHR has contracted with Vanita Enterprises, Inc., a media consulting firm, to devise and implement a recruitment campaign, which began April 15, 1988, and includes: regular and frequent public service announcements on 12 television and 32 radio stations with Tim and Daphne Reid, Brooks Robinson, John Minor, Rev. Sidney Daniels and Alex Williams; two foster/adoptive care olympic events scheduled in August, 1988; direct mail to Maryland teachers and ministers; and corporate sponsorship of paid network spots. Preliminary results include 195 inquiries from parents interested in becoming foster or adoptive parents. BCDSS' own efforts have resulted in 43 new foster homes from January 1 through May 31, 1988 out of a total of 168 applications. Recruitment activities have included: paid ads on WBGR-AM, public service announcements on the major television stations, recruitment booths at city fairs, hospitals, the Social Security Administration and the General Motor plant, subway posters, articles in selected employee newsletters and a speakers's bureau to community groups and churches. [8] The defendants' memorandum furnished in support of the decree, the affidavits of Mr. Holmes and Ms. Bernard, and the presentation of defendants' counsel made during the settlement hearing of July 18, 1988, provide valuable details as to what measures defendants will undertake in order to meet the requirements set forth in the decree. The court has not asked that the decree be amended to recite specific efforts that will be made by defendants to meet the requirements of the decree. It was the intent of the parties to allow the defendants flexibility in implementation of the decree's provisions. Nevertheless, in evaluating the decree, the court relies on the parties' representations as to specific measures that will be undertaken and may later utilize those representations as a standard through which good faith in carrying out the terms of the decree will be measured. Accordingly, the court fully expects the defendants to undertake those specific measures revealed to the court or to undertake measures comparable to them. The court is confident that defendants will make every effort to do so. [9] In a letter to the court dated July 14, 1988, the Foster Care Review Board estimated that as many as 2,000 children are placed with relatives. [10] There are 24 citizen Foster Care Review Boards in Baltimore City with seven members each. The Boards provide independent citizen input as to whether BCDSS plans for each child in foster care is appropriate. [11] The Board also expressed concern about proper training of foster care workers; that provisions be made for children placed with relatives; and that visits to foster homes be meaningful. The court believes the decree's provisions for training of foster care workers are adequate. The provisions implemented immediately for children placed with relatives are also adequate pending the earlier described independent assessment of the status of those children. Lastly, if the visits to homes cannot be carried out with the maximum ratios of children-to-workers provided by the decree, the defendants will be required to reduce the workers' case loads below the maximum ratios. [1] Defendants' expert undertook a study of the population of children in foster care in Baltimore which was similar in many ways to that conducted by Dr. Festinger. In that study defendants expert examined the health status of foster children. The methodology used was a random sampling of foster care records from which were excluded the files for children who were placed in group or institutional care; children who remained in foster care for less than 30 days; and children whose case records could not be located. From those case records that met his sample criteria, defendants' expert concluded that scant information is kept as children's medical history; that a concerted effort needed to be made by BCDSS to insure that such information is available for use; that BCDSS needed to improve the adequacy of attention to health needs; and that there had to be sufficient personnel and budgetary resources necessary to attend to the health needs of children. [2] See Appendix 2 for additional summary of these 16 cases. [Editor's Note: Appendix 2 was omitted from publication.] [3] The CHP was established as a private health maintenance organization in 1976 to provide for the health needs of foster children. A health maintenance organization for foster children was desirable because they usually have special health needs and a history of noncontinuous or episodic care. [4] Although defendants attack the validity of the methodology used by plaintiffs in their random sampling, defendants do not take issue with the Harris Task Force's findings of systemic deficiencies based on a review of fifteen foster care cases. [5] At the hearing, defendants also contended that a preliminary injunction was inappropriate because trial of this matter is scheduled for November. The trial date is, however, tentative at best. Neither defendants nor plaintiffs were able to complete discovery within the time allowed by the current Scheduling Order in this case. In requesting an extension of the discovery deadline, defendants contend that they are unable to commence discovery until plaintiffs' discovery is completed. Following the completion of discovery, a period for filing and ruling on additional motions is anticipated. In the unlikely event that trial is able to go forward in November, it would last all month. The need for post-trial briefs on an issue of this gravity might consume December, and, because of the voluminous amounts of documents likely to be introduced into evidence, the Court would probably require until late April or early May to issue a ruling. Defendants suggest that a preliminary injunction is unnecessary because policies and programs which they are implementing should satisfy plaintiffs' concerns. However, this argument carries little weight in light of defendants' failure to effectively implement current programs and policies. [6] Plaintiffs have demonstrated systemic deficiencies in the foster care system with direct personal injuries traceable to defendants' conduct. Accordingly, the Court need not address defendants' reliance on Allen v. Wright, 468 U.S. 737, 104 S.Ct. 3315, 82 L.Ed.2d 556 (1984) for the proposition that no real controversy exists, and that plaintiffs here prosecute a mere "generalized grievance." | Mid | [
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Q: How can we identify the change in Assignments. Is it based on time frame (USPTO update once in a 6 months) or if there is some legal status changes A US patent is assigned when it is sold to another person. However, I have seen few cases where the assignment was recorded a little later than the public announcement of the transfer (such as a company selling one of its divisions to another company). For example, US patent 6479448 was assigned to Unilever which sold North American laundry division to The Sun Products Corp. The assignment database shows its last transaction on 09/14/2016. Further, The Sun Products Corp sold off its division to Henkel (in September 2016). This latter transaction has not been shown in the assignments database until recently. Why does the recordal of these assignments occur some time after the assignment? A: The answer is that public recordation of a patent assignment is not required for the assignment to be a valid transfer of ownership. See, e.g., this discussion in the Manual for Patent Examination Procedure: Recordation of the assignment provides legal notice to the public of the assignment. It should be noted that recording of the assignment is merely a ministerial act; it is not an Office determination of the validity of the assignment document or the effect of the assignment document on the ownership of the patent property. Why then are assignments recorded at all? The answer is partly that under Section 261 of the Patent Act, an earlier assignment recorded within three months from its date of execution (or otherwise before any later assignment) voids any later competing assignment of the same patents to a buyer who had no actual knowledge of the earlier assignment, even when the later buyer paid a lot of money: An interest that constitutes an assignment, grant or conveyance shall be void as against any subsequent purchaser or mortgagee for a valuable consideration, without notice, unless it is recorded in the Patent and Trademark Office within three months from its date or prior to the date of such subsequent purchase or mortgage. Patents in this sense are treated like real property. The recording act for patents is an example of a "race-notice with grace" rule of priority, and each state has its own slightly different rule of priority in recordation. Patents, being a creation of federal law, are governed by a federal statute. The other part of the answer is that some patent owners prefer to keep confidential the full extent of their patent ownership for strategic reasons. If a transferee of the patent rights isn't worried about the prior owner fraudulently trying to sell the same patents to another buyer, then she may wait or avoid recording the assignment to conceal her ownership (and whatever strategic information that might convey) from the public. Partly as a consequence of this, gaining freedom to operate can be quite difficult for a business seeking to clear patent rights! | Mid | [
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SAPHO syndrome or psoriatic arthritis? A familial case study. To discuss the relationships between SAPHO (synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis and osteitis) syndrome and the group of spondylarthropathies. Few reports of familial SAPHO have been published. We describe three children, two sisters and one brother, whose clinical and radiological presentation was in accordance with SAPHO syndrome. Two children developed psoriasis, and one child palmoplantar pustulosis. Both sacroiliac and sternoclavicular joints were involved in these three cases. Some features in our observations are also common to psoriatic arthritis. No association was found with HLA antigens, but a history of trauma preceding the onset of symptoms was present in all three children. We can consider that SAPHO is nosologically related to spondylarthropathies. Psoriatic arthritis could be the missing link between SAPHO and spondylarthropathies. It is likely that both genetic and environmental factors are involved. | High | [
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Q: Como fazer uma Label receber um texto do banco Olá sei que a pergunta é muito simples, mas estou com uma dificuldade, tenho um radio button e gostaria que o texto dele fosse recebido de um banco de dados SQL Server através de um SELECT. Estou utilizando o Entity Framework. Por favor deixem exemplos. A: Você pode usar a propriedade Checked para setar o valor do seu radioButton, mas é preciso saber o tipo de dado que esta vindo do seu banco. A propriedade Checked espera um booleano como valor, então caso você esteja armazenado uma string(varchar) no seu banco, você pode converter a string da seguinte forma. radioButton1.Checked = Convert.ToBoolean(dt.Rows["PerguntaUM"]); contanto que seu valor sejá Yes ou False. No caso do texto basta você usar a propriedade Text. radioButton1.Text = dt.Rows["PerguntaUM"].ToString(); | Mid | [
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Q: How to AppleScript the launching of sound.profPane? I have this script tell application "System Preferences" activate set the current pane to pane id "com.apple.preference.sound" reveal anchor "Output" of pane id "com.apple.preference.sound" end tell The problem is that it first goes to the general configuration, with all those icons, only then, it focuses on sound. This create a quick and annoying flicker. I am only interested in the sound pane. Is there nay way I can write a script that'll show JUST the sound pane without that flickering? thanks! A: You can just use the reveal command directly: tell application "System Preferences" activate reveal anchor "output" of pane id "com.apple.preference.sound" end tell If you are using UI scripting, the activate command can also be left out: tell application "System Preferences" reveal anchor "output" of pane id "com.apple.preference.sound" end tell tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences" tell table 1 of scroll area 1 of tab group 1 of window 1 if selected of row 1 then set selected of row 2 to true else set selected of row 1 to true end if end tell end tell | Mid | [
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David Peter Lafayette Hunter David Peter Lafayette Hunter MC (24 November 1919 – 5 September 2001) was a Royal Marines officer who was prisoner of war captive in Colditz Castle during the Second World War. He later served as the commanding officer of 40 Commando, and was a recipient of the Military Cross. Early life David Peter Lafayette Hunter was born at Minnis Hall, Stelling Minnis, Kent on 24 November 1919. He was the third son of Major Edgar Lafayette Hunter MC and Dorothy Thompson. He was educated at Shrewsbury. Military career Hunter joined the Royal Marines in 1937 and passed out at Deal, Kent, just before the outbreak of World War II. On 2 Feb 1940 he was made probationary Lieutenant. He was posted to the heavy cruiser patrolling waters around Iceland. The Norfolk was bombed whilst at Scapa Flow on 16 March 1940 and sent to the Clyde for repair. Hunter was redeployed to Chatham, where he was selected for the Calais force as part of the BEF. Calais Hunter was part of Captain Darby Courtice's company of 85 Royal Marines which landed at Calais shortly after midnight on 25 May 1940. With one other officer, Lt Hugh Bruce, they were charged with helping French marines to defend the ancient citadel at the centre of the town. There they were attacked by the full might of XIX Panzer Corps and, by early evening, were surrounded and out of ammunition. Hunter was later mentioned in dispatches for his "courage and devotion to duty" in racing up and down the beach to keep his unit's machinegun supplied with ammunition. They had fought with such vigour that the official German record read, "The enemy gives the impression of being fresh, and seems to have received reinforcements after two days of heavy fighting." Despite their efforts, within two days Calais had been surrendered to the Germans, and the British troops, including Hunter, taken prisoner. Prisoner of war The captured troops were marched through northern France, the Ardennes and Trier to Mainz. From there, they were moved on to Laufen camp in Bavaria, then transferred to Tittmoning. The Royal Marines officers were moved to Marlag und Milag Nord part of Stalag X-B at Sandbostel, where they soon started planning their escape. Bruce, Hunter's fellow Marine officer, was imprisoned with him and, over the winter of 1941–42, the two men became firm friends. With a number of colleagues they conceived, designed and built by hand a masterpiece of British engineering – a 251-yard-long tunnel, complete with rest bay, electric lighting and air flow system, as well as a signalling device to warn of the approach of sentries. Over 100 tons of soil was excavated and concealed under a hut. On 7 April 1942 Hunter, Bruce and 10 other officers made their escape. After 12 days on the run, Bruce and Hunter were captured near Flensburg, within a few hundred yards of the Danish border. After a brief spell back at Sandbostel, the pair escaped, this time by jumping aboard a prison lorry, but were recaptured at Hamburg railway station by the German police. They were transferred to Stalag VIII-B in Lamsdorf, Silesia, a prison camp for "other ranks". Their stay lasted only a few months. Hunter was found dangling from a window within inches of a snarling guard dog, and two of Hunter's colleagues were also caught escaping. The miscreants were summarily banished to Colditz Castle. Colditz In early August 1942 Bruce and Hunter arrived at Colditz Castle (then prisoner of war camp Oflag IV-C), where fellow persistent escapees were highly engaged in planning more escapes, and Hunter was soon involved in the various projects. The three Royal Marine officers (Capt Courtice, their company commander at Calais, was also at Colditz) had a reputation for bravery and good humour, and Hunter was noted as being particularly outspoken, a persistent nuisance to his captors and equally amusing to his colleagues. He once stole the cap of the German officer who was expounding on the merits of Wagner during a musical evening. Another incident even made the Germans laugh when, late for a roll-call, he called languidly from a castle window to the parade below "I'll come down and join you all in a minute". In October 1943 Mike Sinclair was caught during the daring Franz Josef escape. Although Sinclair had surrendered, he was shot at close range by a German officer. Hunter, along with many other witnesses, believed his friend to be dead and shouted "German murderers!". He was subsequently sentenced at a court martial to two months in Graudenz military prison. Forty years later, some 30 officers and their wives made a return visit to Colditz, and Hunter was seen by millions of television viewers standing in the courtyard and taking off the Commandant's "Call to Appell" at the top of his voice. Despite the many notable escape attempts from Colditz, Hunter remained in Colditz until release on 16 April 1945. Post war Following release he underwent a brief re-training period. He was appointed temporary captain 25 February 1946. Hunter was appointed officer commanding Royal Marines in Berlin. This was not a sensitive posting, and Hunter was soon returned to Britain. He was next posted to the aircraft carrier, . Detecting a poor level of morale aboard, he and Donald Douglas, a former prisoner of the Japanese, determined to confront the ship's captain and insist on reasonable treatment. On entering the captain's cabin, Hunter declared "Look, Sir, we're here to tell you that we've both been b******d about as PoWs and we're not having any of it in peacetime!". Douglas was aghast, but to his surprise the captain replied, "All right, I hear you. Dismiss!". The ship's captain later confided to them "Lucky for you on the first day we met that I was reading a book on how to deal with ex-PoWs, or your fate might have been different." Subsequent postings took him to Egypt, Aqaba, Hong Kong and, in 1950, Malaya. He was made Officer in Charge Cameron Highlands Jungle Operation, protecting planters from Communist guerillas during the Malayan Emergency. Not long after arriving, he was asked to take a Mr Justice Brown on a jungle patrol with 45 Commando. Whilst advancing up a hill at Ringlet they encountered six bandits, one of whom threw a grenade at the soldiers whilst they made their escape. In an act he later described as a "mental aberration", Hunter calmly covered the grenade with his hat and held it while his comrades ran to safety. Fortunately the grenade failed to detonate. Later, to Hunter's astonishment, he was awarded the Military Cross for his "vigour, determination and outstanding skill" in conducting operations against the bandits. He was promoted to major on 14 January 1955. In 1956 he became Amphibious Staff officer, 3 Commando Brigade at Suez. There followed postings to the RN Staff College, Greenwich, and at Amphibious Warfare HQ, London, followed by a six-month Joint Training Course with the US Marines in San Diego. In 1961 his promotion to lieutenant colonel was confirmed. and he took command of 40 Commando until 1963. Based in Singapore, he was frequently employed in Borneo during the confrontation with the Indonesians following the Brunei Revolt of 1962. After a series of staff appointments, Hunter retired from the Royal Marines 3 March 1967. Civilian Life Hunter married WAAF officer, Barbara Lewis, in Brentford late in 1945. They had two sons. Following his retirement from the Marines, Hunter and his family emigrated to Freeport, Bahamas. In 1967 Hunter joined the real estate company of McPherson & Brown. Barbara died in 1971 and, in 1974 Hunter subsequently remarried to Suzanne Twiston-Davies, a journalist with the BBC. In 1981, he and colleague, Hilary Jones, bought McPherson & Brown, changing its name to Churchill & Jones. In 1997 Hunter led Churchill & Jones into obtaining the franchise for the Northern Bahamas of RE/MAX, the international real estate conglomerate. David Peter Lafayette Hunter died on 5 September 2001. Notes Sources Extracted from the obituary of Lt-Col David Hunter, The Daily Telegraph, 7 September 2001 Category:1919 births Category:People educated at Shrewsbury School Category:Royal Marines officers Category:Royal Marines personnel of World War II Category:World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Category:Prisoners of war held at Colditz Castle Category:Recipients of the Military Cross Category:2001 deaths | Mid | [
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JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it. Data from: Genomic collinearity and the genetic architecture of floral differences between the homoploid hybrid species I. nelsonii and one of its progenitors, I. hexagona Taylor SJ, Rojas LD, Ho S, Martin NH Date Published: August 23, 2012 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.6cn04 Files in this package Content in the Dryad Digital Repository is offered "as is." By downloading files, you agree to the Dryad Terms of Service. To the extent possible under law, the authors have waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this data. Title data for dryad Downloaded 27 times Description Data file includes individual genotypes at the mapped loci in the first tab and individual phenotypes for the floral traits in the second tab. Individuals are in the same order in each tab. AbstractHybrid speciation represents a relatively rapid form of diversification. Early models of homoploid hybrid speciation suggested that reproductive isolation between the hybrid species and progenitors primarily resulted from karyotypic differences between the species. However, genic incompatibilities and ecological divergence may also be responsible for isolation. Iris nelsonii is an example of a homoploid hybrid species that is likely isolated from its progenitors primarily by strong prezygotic isolation, including habitat divergence, floral isolation, and post-pollination prezygotic barriers. Here, we used linkage mapping and QTL mapping approaches to investigate genomic collinearity and the genetic architecture of floral differences between I. nelsonii and one of its progenitor species I. hexagona. The linkage map produced from this cross is highly collinear with another linkage map produced between I. fulva and I. brevicaulis (the two other species shown to have contributed to the genomic makeup of I. nelsonii), suggesting that karyotypic differences do not contribute substantially to isolation in this homoploid hybrid species. Similar to other studies of the genetic architecture of floral characteristics, at least one QTL was found that explained >20% variance in each color trait, while minor QTLs were detected for each morphological trait. These QTLs will serve as hypotheses for regions under selection by pollinators. | Mid | [
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <!-- NewPage --> <html lang="fr"> <head> <!-- Generated by javadoc (version 1.7.0_80) on Mon Jan 25 12:13:33 CST 2016 --> <title>All Classes (library API)</title> <meta name="date" content="2016-01-25"> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" title="Style"> </head> <body> <h1 class="bar">All Classes</h1> <div class="indexContainer"> <ul> <li><a href="com/mypopsy/maps/StaticMap.html" title="class in com.mypopsy.maps">StaticMap</a></li> <li><a href="com/mypopsy/maps/StaticMap.Format.html" title="enum in com.mypopsy.maps">StaticMap.Format</a></li> <li><a href="com/mypopsy/maps/StaticMap.GeoPoint.html" title="class in com.mypopsy.maps">StaticMap.GeoPoint</a></li> <li><a href="com/mypopsy/maps/StaticMap.Marker.html" title="class in com.mypopsy.maps">StaticMap.Marker</a></li> <li><a href="com/mypopsy/maps/StaticMap.Marker.Style.html" title="class in com.mypopsy.maps">StaticMap.Marker.Style</a></li> <li><a href="com/mypopsy/maps/StaticMap.Marker.Style.Builder.html" title="class in com.mypopsy.maps">StaticMap.Marker.Style.Builder</a></li> <li><a href="com/mypopsy/maps/StaticMap.Marker.Style.Size.html" title="enum in com.mypopsy.maps">StaticMap.Marker.Style.Size</a></li> <li><a href="com/mypopsy/maps/StaticMap.MarkerGroup.html" title="class in com.mypopsy.maps">StaticMap.MarkerGroup</a></li> <li><a href="com/mypopsy/maps/StaticMap.Path.html" title="class in com.mypopsy.maps">StaticMap.Path</a></li> <li><a href="com/mypopsy/maps/StaticMap.Path.Style.html" title="class in com.mypopsy.maps">StaticMap.Path.Style</a></li> <li><a href="com/mypopsy/maps/StaticMap.Path.Style.Builder.html" title="class in com.mypopsy.maps">StaticMap.Path.Style.Builder</a></li> <li><a href="com/mypopsy/maps/StaticMap.Type.html" title="enum in com.mypopsy.maps">StaticMap.Type</a></li> </ul> </div> </body> </html> | Low | [
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I had a consuming ambition to possess a miller's thumb. I believe I have never since wanted anything more desperately than I wante...d my right thumb to be flattened as my father's had become, during his earlier years of a miller's life.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL » I really don't think this war will end soon. We are completely aware of the difficulties, no food or fuel, the danger, but we want... to be stronger than all that. With each child, we are fighting back with our love of life.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL » European society has always been divided into classes in a way that American society never has been. A European writer considers h...imself to be part of an old and honorable tradition--of intellectual activity, of letters--and his choice of a vocation does not cause him any uneasy wonder as to whether or not it will cost him all his friends. But this tradition does not exist in America.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL » When a man of sense happens to be in that disagreeable situation in which he is obliged to ask himself more than once, What shall ...I do? he will answer himself, Nothing. When his reason points out to him no good way, he will stop short, and wait for light. A little busy mind runs on at all events, must be doing; and, like a blind horse, fears no dangers, because he sees none. Il faut scavoir s'ennuïer.*LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL » The reputation of generosity is to be purchased pretty cheap; it does not depend so much upon a man's general expense, as it does ...upon his giving handsomely where it is proper to give at all. A man, for instance, who should give a servant four shillings, would pass for covetous, while he who gave him a crown, would be reckoned generous; so that the difference of those two opposite characters, turns upon one shilling.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL » | Mid | [
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Q: Conditional Max in Excel Power Query M language? I am facing the issue of reusing neat Excel formula for MAXIFs in Power Query M language. The formula itself consists of several conditions regarding columns in Table2 and a value of interest (VOI) in Table1 (both being Excel table objects). formula in Table1: =MAXIFS(Table2[columnA],Table2[columnB],"criteriaB1",Table2[columnC],[@[VOI]],Table2[columnA],"<="&MINIFS(Table2[columnA],Table2[columnB],"criteriaB2",Table2[columnC],[@[VOI]]) (I will divide the formulas into lines to make reading easier) =MAXIFS(Table2[columnA], Table2[columnB],"criteriaB1", Table2[columnC],[@[VOI]], Table2[columnA],"<="&MINIFS(Table2[columnA], Table2[columnB],"criteriaB2", Table2[columnC],[@[VOI]]) So far I've been trying merging Table1 with Table2, grouping by some of the columns but as result I receive chunks of data that I can't/don't know how utilize in next steps. I simply cannot see the complete landscape of the procedure in Power Query M language. Any help would be appreciated. A: The corresponding idea would be to take a maximum over a filtered table. For example, the MINIFS part would look roughly like this: MinA = List.Min( Table.SelectRows( Table2, each [ColumnB] = "criteriaB2" and [ColumnC] = "VOI" )[ColumnA] ) It gets a bit trickier since you need to pass the current row value of Table1[VOI] into the second condition but it's still doable and might look something like this: AddMinAColumnToTable1 = Table.AddColumn( Table1, "MinA", (Tab1Row) => List.Min( Table.SelectRows( Table2, each [ColumnB] = "criteriaB2" and [ColumnC] = Tab1Row[VOI] )[ColumnA] ) ) I recommend reading this blog post for a better understanding of the each and (_) => constructions. | High | [
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package cn.iocoder.springboot.lab03.kafkademo.consumer; import cn.iocoder.springboot.lab03.kafkademo.message.Demo02Message; import org.slf4j.Logger; import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory; import org.springframework.kafka.annotation.KafkaListener; import org.springframework.stereotype.Component; import java.util.List; @Component public class Demo02Consumer { private Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(getClass()); @KafkaListener(topics = Demo02Message.TOPIC, groupId = "demo02-consumer-group-" + Demo02Message.TOPIC) public void onMessage(List<Demo02Message> messages) { logger.info("[onMessage][线程编号:{} 消息数量：{}]", Thread.currentThread().getId(), messages.size()); } } | Mid | [
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Q: HTML code in Javascript fails I need to add an HTML anchor in my code. The fist code works fine but does not include the anchor tag that I need. But the second one fails: This works fine, does not include : <script type='text/javascript'>//<![CDATA[ $('#Quantity').keyup(function () { var textualValue = $(this).val(); var numericValue = parseInt(textualValue, 10); if (!isNaN(numericValue)) { modifyDOMWithNumber(numericValue); } else { modifyDOMWithNumber(0); } }); function modifyDOMWithNumber(number) { var ul = $('ul#ListToAlter').empty(); var item; for (var i = 1; i <= number; i++) { item = $("<li>"); if (i == 1) { item.text("Options for your 1st $Name"); }else if(i == 2) { item.text("Options for your 2nd $Name"); }else if(i == 3) { item.text("Options for your 3rd $Name"); } else { item.text("Options for your number " + i + "th $Name"); } ul.append(item); } } //]]> </script> This fails, does include : <script type='text/javascript'>//<![CDATA[ $('#Quantity').keyup(function () { var textualValue = $(this).val(); var numericValue = parseInt(textualValue, 10); if (!isNaN(numericValue)) { modifyDOMWithNumber(numericValue); } else { modifyDOMWithNumber(0); } }); function modifyDOMWithNumber(number) { var ul = $('ul#ListToAlter').empty(); var item; for (var i = 1; i <= number; i++) { item = $("<li>"); if (i == 1) { item.html("<a>Options for your 1st $Name</a>"); }else if(i == 2) { item.html("<a>Options for your 2nd $Name</a>"); }else if(i == 3) { item.html("<a>Options for your 3rd $Name</a>"); } else { item.html("<a>Options for your number " + i + "th $Name</a>"); } ul.append(item); } } //]]> </script> A: Use item.html("<a> what ever html text</a>") instead of item.text("<a> xxxx </a>"). Also note that in the code that fails, the for loop is missing, so i won't be defined. A: The second piece of code, using item.html("<a>Options for your 1st $Name</a>"); probably works fine. But you are not inclusing an href attribute for the <a> element, which causes some browsers to not decorate the text as a link. In order for it to be decorated as a link (underline, characteristic color etc), you could replace it with: item.html("<a href=\"\">Options for your 1st $Name</a>"); See, also, this short demo. | Low | [
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Mama Sanninos feels like an old-school, red-sauce Italian joint Kitsch covers the walls at Mama Sanninos, with family portraits co-mingling with vintage alcohol posters, festive seasonal hangings and shots of Italy. Hand-written signs list specials, and the scent of garlic hangs in the air as the chef prepares those specials, as well as platters of spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna and veal Parmigiana. The restaurant feels like an old-school, red-sauce Italian joint, a relic and holdover from the days when immigrants from that country ran restaurants on every corner of northwest Denver -- even if Mama Sanninos has only inhabited this Arvada strip mall for six years. But while the restaurant's history is just beginning, owner Jimmy Sannino has been in the business for over five decades, and his family was an integral part of the northwest Denver Italian culture, running 3 Sons for forty years. I headed to Arvada for this week's review, trying the recipes that have been in Sannino's family for generations -- while also getting a good feel for the neighbors who have adopted this spot as their own. | Mid | [
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IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE April 20, 2010 Session STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JERRY LEN ANGUS Direct Appeal from the Criminal Court for Davidson County No. 2007-C-2624 Mark J. Fishburn, Judge No. M2009-01151-CCA-R3-CD - Filed December 1, 2010 Defendant, Jerry Len Angus, was indicted in a seventeen-count indictment by the Davidson County Grand Jury for three counts of official misconduct in violation of Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-16-402, nine counts of sexual battery by an authority figure in violation of Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-527, four counts of statutory rape in violation of Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13- 506, and one count of rape in violation of Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-503. Defendant was convicted by a jury of three counts of official misconduct, one count of attempt to commit sexual battery, a lesser-included offense of the charged offense of sexual battery, one count of sexual battery, and two counts of attempt to commit statutory rape, a lesser-included offense of statutory rape. The jury did not consider eight counts of the indictment as the trial court granted judgments of acquittal at the close of the State’s proof, and Defendant was acquitted by the jury of the remaining two counts. Defendant filed a motion for new trial, and following a hearing, the trial court vacated his conviction for official misconduct in Count 1 of the indictment for insufficiency of the evidence. The court granted a mistrial as to Defendant’s conviction for attempted sexual battery in Count 4, his conviction for official misconduct in Count 8, and his conviction for sexual battery in Count 11. In an amended order, the trial court also vacated Defendant’s conviction for official misconduct in Count 3 of the indictment. On appeal, Defendant asserts that the trial court’s polling of the jury was improper and that he is entitled to a new trial. Finding no error, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgments of the Criminal Court Affirmed THOMAS T. WOODALL, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which DAVID H. WELLES and JOHN EVERETT WILLIAMS, JJ., joined. John S. Colley, III, Columbia, Tennessee, for the appellant, Jerry Len Angus. Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Brent C. Cherry, Assistant Attorney General; Victor S. (Torry) Johnson, III, District Attorney General; J.W. Hupp, Assistant District Attorney General; and Brian Holmgren, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, the State of Tennessee. OPINION The sole issue raised in this appeal is whether the two counts of attempt to commit statutory rape for which Defendant stands convicted should be vacated for lack of unanimity in the jury’s verdict. Defendant alleges that his due process rights were violated by the procedure employed by the trial court in polling the jury after the verdict was announced. A summary of the facts leading to the convictions is not necessary to address the issue raised on appeal. The record shows that following deliberations, the jury returned to the courtroom, and the trial court read the jury’s verdict and sua sponte polled the jury. Defense counsel then requested individual polling because, according to him, “[Juror] Ms. Davis several times did not hold her hand up or only did it at the Court’s prompting.” During the individual polling by the trial court, it became apparent that another juror, Ms. Febo, did not agree, in part, with the verdict. Juror Febo stated as to Count 4 of the indictment, “My vote was different, but I vote guilty.” The trial court sent the jury out and discussed the jury polling with counsel for Defendant and the State. The jury was brought back into the courtroom, and the trial court addressed the jury as follows: First of all, I’m going to start count four individual polling of the jurors over again. On an individual poll, each of you have to announce in open court for the record when I call your name whether or not the verdict, which I will read to you, is the verdict – is your verdict, is your individual verdict for each count. I need to hear that individually and independently by each of you. If any of you have confusion about what I’m asking, communicate with the Court. I’ve been – it’s been represented that a verdict has been reached, I have taken the verdict based on the show of hands, but the law allows for individual polling. As of right now, your discussions and deliberations are over with. It is my responsibility to ensure both sides that a unanimous verdict has in fact been reached. I know you all have been under a lot of stress over a span of three different days working on an extremely difficult situation and I know that probably all of you are tired and nerves frazzled -2- and everything, so if that’s not your verdict, I just need to know whatever it is so that I can then address that particular issue. The court then resumed individual polling, and as to Count 4, charging Defendant with attempt to commit sexual battery by an authority figure, juror Davis indicated that she had voted guilty, but denied that guilty was her individual verdict. As to Count 5, charging Defendant with sexual battery, to which the jury had returned a verdict of not guilty, juror Davis again indicated that this was not her individual verdict. As to Count 8, all jurors affirmed the guilty verdict. As to Count 11, charging sexual battery, juror Davis again denied that her individual verdict was guilty. As to Counts 12 and 13, charging Defendant with statutory rape, all jurors affirmed the verdicts of guilty to the lesser-included offense of attempt to commit statutory rape. As to Count 17, charging rape, all of the jurors affirmed the not guilty verdict. During the individual polling, juror Febo affirmed her individual verdict as to all of the above counts. After the trial court completed the individual polling, however, juror Febo indicated that she disagreed with some of the jury’s verdicts. She stated, “What I wanted to say was, in some of them, I didn’t agree, I didn’t – my vote was not guilty, but because nobody felt the same way that I did, I had to vote guilty. There was no other way.” Specifically, juror Febo told the trial court that as to Count 4, she did not agree with the jury’s guilty verdict. The trial court again sent the jury out and addressed the issue with counsel. Counsel for Defendant made a motion for mistrial, which the trial court denied. When the jury was brought back in, the trial court once again individually polled jurors Febo and Davis only as to Counts 4, 5, 8, 11, 12, 13, and 17, and both jurors affirmed the verdicts of the jury. Analysis Defendant contends, as to the two counts of attempted statutory rape for which he stands convicted, that “he did not receive a fair trial on these counts, nor was the verdict unanimous.” Defendant asserts that he is entitled to a new trial on Counts 12 and 13. The State contends that because Defendant failed to object at trial or raise the issue of the impropriety of the trial court’s polling procedure in his motion for new trial, the issue is waived. The State further asserts that because Defendant failed to provide a transcript or other record of the hearing on Defendant’s motion for new trial, this Court must presume the trial court’s ruling is correct. Generally, where a party fails to include an issue in its motion for new trial, the issue is waived. Tenn. R. App. P. 3(e); see State v. Walker, 910 S.W.2d 381, 386 (Tenn. 1995). Also, it is the duty of the accused to provide a record which conveys a fair, accurate and -3- complete account of what transpired with regard to the issues which form the basis of the appeal. Tenn. R. App. P. 24(b); see State v. Taylor, 992 S.W.2d 941, 944 (Tenn. 1999). The record before us does not contain a transcript of the hearing on Defendant’s motion for new trial, and the transcript from the reading of the jury verdict and subsequent polling shows that defense counsel failed to object specifically to the polling procedure employed by the trial court. However, defense counsel moved the trial court to declare a mistrial after the court sent the jury out for the second time. Furthermore, in his motion for new trial, Defendant contends that the jury polling procedure employed by the trial court was improper. The motion states as grounds for a new trial, “[o]nce jurors announce the delivered verdict was not theirs, the only two options available to the Court are (1) a mistrial on those counts or (2) instructing the jury to continue its deliberations to a unanimous verdict. This Court did neither.” Tenn. R. App. P. 24(b) permits an appellant to file less than a complete transcript if the determination of the issues it intends to raise will not require the appellate court to review the entire transcript. We conclude that a transcript of the trial court’s hearing on Defendant’s motion for new trial is not necessary to determine the issue raised in this appeal. The record before us does contain a transcript of the trial proceedings as well as Defendant’s motion for new trial and the trial court’s order and amended order. We will, therefore, address this issue on the merits. Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 31(e) provides “After a verdict is returned but before the verdict is recorded, the court shall – on a party’s request or on the court’s own initiative – poll the jurors individually. If the poll indicates that there is not unanimous concurrence in the verdict, the court may discharge the jury or direct the jury to retire for further deliberations.” Following the federal rule for guidance, a panel of this Court addressed the issue of jury polling, as an issue of first impression, in State v. Clayton, 131 S.W.3d 475 (Tenn. Crim. App. 2003): An examination of the application of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 31(d) reveals that a trial court’s method of polling the jury is subject to an abuse of discretion standard. Additionally, federal courts have also noted that Rule 31(d) “invests that trial judge with a measure of discretion in assessing the impact of a dissenting vote during a jury poll, and the reasonable exercise of this discretion should be accorded proper deference by a reviewing court.” **** -4- Additionally, . . . ., it rests within the trial court’s discretion to determine the manner of polling the jury. . . . Thus, it stands to reason that the trial court’s determination of whether a juror’s answer to the jury poll is equivocal is within the trial court’s discretion. Id. at 478-79 (citations omitted). In that case, the trial court observed one juror’s hesitation “for about five seconds” before her affirmation of the jury verdict. This Court concluded that the trial court did not interpret the juror’s hesitation as her disagreement with the jury verdict. This Court further concluded, “[w]e discern no reason why the trial court, once satisfied with the unanimity of the verdict, should have conducted further inquiries.” Id. at 479. In this case, two members of the jury did more than hesitate. As the trial court observed in its order, “Ms. Febo and Ms. Davis voiced their disagreement with the verdict on several occasions before ultimately agreeing to the verdicts announced.” The court further explained, The court had the opportunity to observe both jurors during the lengthy verdict process. The court observed the comments made towards Ms. Febo by another juror when she dissented from the verdict. The court also noted both jurors were shaking their heads when the original verdict was read and during individual polling. It is also not lost on the court that staff had to intervene with the jury when they were sent out the first time because of angry name-calling. Finally, the court recalls the general defeated demeanor of both jurors of having surrendered their individual convictions when they ultimately concurred with the announced verdict (heads down, somber voice and suddenly reticent attitude). The court concluded, as to Counts 4, 5, 8, and 11, that both the repetitive polling and limiting the third polling to the two jurors in question could have compromised the integrity of the verdict process and “could have given the unintended effect of the court expressing its dissatisfaction with their dissent and giving them the opportunity to correct their misapprehension with the verdict.” Therefore, the court ruled that the jury’s verdicts as to Counts 4, 5, 8, and 11 were not unanimous and, accordingly, declared a mistrial as to those counts. The court also vacated Defendant’s conviction in Count 3, as it was dependent upon a guilty verdict in Count 4. The trial court granted a new trial as to all of those counts. Defendant contends that because of the lack of unanimity in the jury’s verdicts as to the above counts, his convictions should be vacated in Counts 12 and 13 as well. The State -5- argues that the record does not support a finding that the jury’s verdict as to Counts 12 and 13 was anything less than unanimous. We agree. The record shows that when individually polled, jurors Febo and Davis both affirmed the jury’s verdict of guilty as to these two counts. There is nothing in the record to suggest that any of the jurors exhibited any disagreement with the verdict in Counts 12 and 13. Furthermore, the trial court, in its order, did not find any of the above indicators of juror dissent as to those counts. Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court did not err by declining to grant a new trial as to Counts 12 and 13. CONCLUSION Based on our review of the record, the judgments of the trial court are affirmed. _________________________________ THOMAS T. WOODALL, JUDGE -6- | Low | [
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Federal authorities charged a woman Monday with sending a threatening letter to the home of Sen. Susan Collins Susan Margaret CollinsSenate GOP aims to confirm Trump court pick by Oct. 29: report The Hill's Campaign Report: GOP set to ask SCOTUS to limit mail-in voting Senate GOP sees early Supreme Court vote as political booster shot MORE (R-Maine) in October. An affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Bangor and reviewed by The Associated Press says Suzanne Muscara mailed starch to the senator's husband, Thomas Daffron, with a letter that claimed to have been coated with "ricin residue." The 37-year-old from Burlington, Maine, was reportedly arrested on Friday. ADVERTISEMENT The unsigned letter, which claimed Collins "betrayed the people of Maine," was sent shortly after the Republican senator's vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh Brett Michael KavanaughOvernight Health Care: US coronavirus deaths hit 200,000 | Ginsburg's death puts future of ObamaCare at risk | Federal panel delays vote on initial COVID-19 vaccine distribution Senate GOP sees early Supreme Court vote as political booster shot Trump says he'll make Supreme Court pick on Saturday MORE amid allegations of sexual assault. Kavanaugh has denied the accusations. Muscara, who is set to appear in court on Monday, faces up to 10 years in prison, according to the AP. Collins's spokeswoman Annie Clark released a statement Monday commending authorities on the arrest. "Senator Collins and Mr. Daffron greatly appreciate the extraordinary efforts made by state and federal law enforcement agencies which culminated in an arrest in this case,” she said. | Mid | [
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Ever woke up in the morning and the first thought that comes to your mind is, “I just don’t want to get out of bed….groan….. 😥 ?” Or this, “Arrrgh, I have to face the same old things today…..groan….,” and you hide yourselves further under the covers and refuse to budge? Despite the fact that you may be late for work or late in getting your kids to school? 🙄 At this point, it is very hard to try and motivate ourselves because we are already stuck in the rut. So, what I am going to point out here are some simple ways that you can apply while you ARE NOT IN THE RUT YET because they are meant to be preventive measures. For me, it is imperative that I do this because everyday, day in and day out, it has been more or less the same type of tasks that I face for the last 8 years that I have been a full time homemaker. Sometimes, the monotony of it all can really get to me… Now, on the term “homemaker” – I am going to loosely define that as someone (mostly ladies; well, men, too, are included if they are involved in this and I applaud them indeed! 😀 ) who manages and cares for the household, turning it into a cosy home and sanctuary where her family can take refuge in. This will include full-time stay-at-home moms like me, working wives, single moms, work-from-home moms and new wives, okay? Try and adopt some of the ways mentioned below :- 1) when you go to bed at night, you should be in a positive frame of mind, with a good thought. If you fall asleep with the last thought being negative like, “Oh boy, tomorrow is Monday, it’s going to be the blues for me…,”, you are going to wake up the next day definitely feeling depressed and you are going to be stuck in bed for sure! 2) similarly, when you wake up, try to have a positive first thought, like, “Today is going to be a wonderful and beautiful day!” Do this even if you are going to be facing an onslaught of heavy workload that day, and I can bet you with this start up in the morning, you are in a better condition to face your new day. 😀 3) you can do positive affirmations like, “I am happy, I am healthy, I am prosperous,” in the morning and throughout the day because they will help to “prompt” your mood for the day. 4) remember that it doesn’t pay for you to be in a bad mood once you wake up. Have you noticed how come things can go even more wrong just when you are in a bad mood? Especially when you are angry? So, say no to bad moods and crankiness! 5) try to plaster a smile on your face! Now, I said “plaster” because when you are in a lousy mood, there is no way you can even bring yourself to feel like smiling. So, what you have to do is to force your mouth to smile, even if you have to bring up your two forefingers to the edges of your lips and lift them up into a semblance of a smile! 😆 Hahaha! Isn’t this fun? It may feel ridiculous to you doing that, but trust me, it works after a few minutes, cos somehow, your mood is not as down as before and that smile of yours may just turn genuine! Or you will be uplifted by your own laughter, laughing at your silly antics! By the way, keep smiling as much as you can during the day. 😀 6) promise yourself a reward for the end of the day if you have tried your best to have a good day. I have different little rewards just for myself every day…..going to the mamak stall for a nice cup of lime tea (teh O ice limau), or just putting up my tired legs and watch a good movie, or just having some quiet time to myself “vegetating” my brain, i.e. just not doing any thinking. 7 ) it helps a lot to laugh during the day. I alway believe that, “Laughter is the BEST medicine” because when we laugh, our brain produces endorphins, a feel-good hormone. Watch a sit-com, or read some jokes, or better still tell some jokes to someone and make them laugh instead! 😆 8 ) our body has auras which can accumulate negative energies during the day and over a period, the auras can become dull and heavy, thus making us feel lethargic, dull and sluggish. I like to call this condition “being in the Twilight Zone” because that is precisely how I would feel. The remedy is easy and all you need to do is a salt bath to clean your auras. There are other ways that I can think of to help energise our life but I will stop here at 8, because I am hungry and I need to go have my dinner now – my brain is screaming for food and refuse to think anymore! 😆 🙄 Late one night, I had a strong craving for cakes and I decided to bake a carrot cake at midnight! 🙄 Well, it was a Saturday night and my husband and kids were all staying up late anyway….and so, this was a real treat for them, a slice of carrot cake for supper! I had some leftover cream cheese in my refrigerator and I decided to use all of it and somehow, I messed up with the measurements for making the cheese topping, and I ended up with a frosting that was a tad too watery…but…. it sure tasted great with the cake anyway. 😆 This recipe is really easy to follow and it only took me 20 minutes to prepare the cake batter from scratch all by myself and without any little assistants (hehe, my kids) helping out in the kitchen. I’m not very good with baking cakes and so, I was very happy with the results here. 😀 First, the oven is preheated to 180 degrees Celcius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit. While the oven is going, grease and flour a 8-inch or 10-inch round or square cake pan. Then, prepare the batter as follows – Wholemeal Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients – 1 1/2 cups oil 2 cups brown sugar 2 tsps cinnamon powder 4 eggs, beaten lightly 1 tsp vanilla 2 cups wholemeal flour 1 tsp salt 3 cups finely grated carrots 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda or soda bicarbonate Method – Mix the first five ingredients thoroughly in a large bowl. Then add in the rest of the ingredients one by one until they are all incorporated. Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake in the preheated oven for approximately 50 minutes, or when the top of the cake is golden in colour and the cake is tested for doneness when an inserted toothpick into the centre of the cake turns out dry (without any batter sticking onto it). While the cake is baking, prepare the Cream Cheese Frosting … Cream Cheese Frosting – Ingredients – 1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature 230 gm or 8 oz of soft Philadelphia Cream Cheese, at room temperature 2 cups or 230 gms of icing/Confectioners’ sugar, sifted zest of 1 lemon 1 tsp vanilla extract Method – Beat cream cheese and butter with a hand mixer until smooth and well incorporated. Add in the icing sugar bit by bit, then the lemon zest and vanilla – make sure to mix thoroughly. Frost this onto a completely cooled cake. Bon Appetit! 😀 Note – Because I was using wholemeal flour, the cake’s texture is a bit heavy but if you prefer a softer cake, use plain flour and for a “more moist” cake, add in 1/2 cup of well drained and crushed canned pineapple with the wet ingredients for the cake and bake a few minutes longer. You can also add 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts or raisins, too, if you like. I didn’t put any in this recipe here because my family doesn’t really like them in their cakes. I was reading the The Star newspapers some time back and came across a very interesting article on some tips to help us develop the habit of staying positive. Contrary to what we think, optimism is not an inborn trait. Optimism, being a state of mind, can be worked on and improved. Optimism is not only essential when striving to realise our goals and ambitions, but it also improves our performance. It is powerful and contagious because when one is optimistic, we have a positive and confident feel to us and this energy can be felt by people around us, be it at home or at work. 😀 The picture above was printed in The Saturday Post, Pakistan and was painted by an artist named Hassan. He drew this artwork to show the value of optimism in life. He said, “People have lots of bad things going on in life, which are shown by the rough patched building. It is a rough building which you can say is totally dead, as you can feel by looking at the texture on the walls. The best part of life is that there is always a ray of hope, and that is shown by the candle. So my concept is that you have to think positively and extract positive elements of life to live beyond the bad things going on in your surroundings. In a nutshell, optimism in life is the key to success for sure!” How true! Sir Winston Churchill said in 1954, “I am an optimist! It does not seem to be much use being anything else.” According to research, optimistic people smile 38 percent more than the pessimists, so try to see the bright side of life’s little mishaps. Of course, there are grave occasions where seeing the funny side is clearly inappropriate. Here are some of the recommended tips to be an optimist :- * say something positive and good everyday. It can be anything like praising your children, pets, or the lady that is selling noodles at the coffee shop. * be courteous. Always say “please” and “thank you” for integrity is a highly valued trait that we should have as our base character to go in line with optimism. So is being trustworthy, kind, respectful and grateful. * be realistic and frank about our mistakes. Apologise to people we may have treated poorly. * when things go wrong, take it on the chin and move on. Identify and implement the key learning points from the failure, but do not dwell on the situation. Sir Winston Chruchill summed up the qualities of the optimistic leader eloquently when he said, “An optimist is someone who sees opportunity in every disaster. A pessimist is someone who sees disaster at every opportunity.” Like this: What better way to unwind from a busy schedule or destress than listening to our favourite songs, especially retro songs that bring back fond memories…..just let go and tune out whatever is happening out there, …. relax and enjoy the music. This week, the Malaysians got hit by 2 pieces of bad news – a 41 % immediate increase in the price of petrol and a 18 % hike in electricity tariffs starting on the 1st of next month. Needless to say, these will trigger a chain reaction in everything getting more expensive soon. In fact, the transportation companies for goods are already asking for a 40 % to 60 % increase in their charges. Just do a simple math calculation and we get a pretty grim picture of things to come. 😯 🙄 As a homemaker who oversees the household/utilities, family and food expenses, this means I will have to be more frugal to adjust to the higher cost of living, while making sure that my family can still have a happy, comfortable and healthy lifestyle. Sigh….I am not happy this week and so are most Malaysians … never mind, it’s time for me to switch off these problems just for a short while, relax, listen to some of my favourite retro songs and things will surely seem brighter tomorrow …. 😆 A mountain of pork chops on a bed of fried potatoes, topped with sauteed onions, garnished with sliced cucumbers Good evening and Happy Friday, dear friends 😀 As promised earlier, here is the recipe for my family’s favourite Pork Chops which are served with fried potatoes and sauteed onions. My children, like most kids, just love potatoes cooked in anyway and because of that, I usually serve this type of pork chops in this style. The pork chop recipe is very easy to follow and requires just a few ingredients but it is very delicious, and although there is no sauce, the pork chops go very well with white rice, too. I usually make a large batch of these and the leftovers are eaten with bread as sandwiches or “pork burgers” (with sliced cucumbers and tomatoes) the next day. I first had a taste of these pork chops 30 years ago at my then boyfriend’s (now my husband 😀 ) house when his mother cooked them for dinner. Hence, this is another yummy recipe learned from my late mother-in-law. Easy Yummy Chinese Pork Chops Ingredients – 1 kg boneless pork chops or pork tenderloin 1 kg potatoes 1/2 kg big onions Marinade to be mixed together in a large bowl – 6 tbsps soy sauce 4 tbsps oyster sauce 3 tbsps dark or thick soy sauce 1 tbsp sesame oil 3 tbsps sugar 3 tbsps rice wine, or any wine 1 tbsp salt 1 tsp pepper 4 tbsps cornstarch Method – 1) Slice pork into 1 cm thickness and use a mallet to tenderise both sides of the pork slices. 2) Put the pork slices into the marinade, rub them together thoroughly with your fingers.Set them aside (the longer the better). 3) The first thing to cook is the potatoes – they are cleaned, peeled, cut into slices or wedges and then deep fried until golden brown. Lay cooked potatoes onto the bottom of a large platter. 4) In a non-stick pan (I recommend using this because the pork chops will caramelise, which may stick to the bottom of a normal wok/pan and get burnt, not to mention that washing the wok/pan is harder)…..heat up some oil, enough to cover the bottom. 5) Cook the pork chops by frying them over medium high heat for 3 minutes on the first side, and 2 minutes on the other side. ( *** Warning – there is likely some oil spattering and you are recommended to use a pair of long chopsticks or tongs to cook the pork chops and during cooking, be sure to cover your pan/wok to minimise oil spatter around your stove 💡 ) 6) Set cooked pork chops on top of the potatoes. 7) Next, saute sliced big onions in the leftover oil from cooking the pork chops until they are soft and a bit golden brown. Adding a tsp of salt will enhance the taste and caramelisation of the onions. 8 ) Top the pork chops with the sauteed onions and garnish with some sliced cucumbers. The cucumbers act as a cooling food to balance the heatiness of the fried pork chops and onions. | Mid | [
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/m/jorge_de_la_rosa Reader Comments and Retorts Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments. Lets see... 3.31 ERA overall, 134 ERA+. On his OWN TEAM you have Jhoulys Chacin who has a better ERA+ (144) and has thrown more innings (183 1/3 vs 165 2/3). He is having a fine year, but Cy Young? No. Yeah. De la Rosa has had a terrific season that deserves recognition, and is a great story in that he's coming back from missing a year and a half after TJ surgery. But unfortunately, the only manner in which these conversations tend to take place is in the context of postseason awards. The front end of the Rockies rotation, with de la Rosa, Chacin and Chatwood, is in very good shape. Too bad they can't find a fifth starter who would be a decent AAA pitcher. I came in here to make the same point as #1. Good season, not even the best one on his own team. Also, man, the Rockies must have it rough to have 2 ace pitching seasons and still not even sniff the playoffs. Heck, they've gotten average SP from Nicasio (95 ERA+) and Chatwood has been excellent in about 100 innings. And on top of that they've scored the 2nd most runs in the NL. Yeesh. Yeah. De la Rosa has had a terrific season that deserves recognition, and is a great story in that he's coming back from missing a year and a half after TJ surgery. Agreed. If you go into this article with the thought that there's no way he's better than Kershaw so the entire premise of this article is stupid you're missing the point. The point is that he's having a very good year and not a lot of people probably know about it. I sure didn't. The point is that he's having a very good year and not a lot of people probably know about it. I sure didn't. If that was the point, then he should have said that. Instead, he said something really stupid -- so stupid that the point he presumably intended to make got lost in the shuffle. And criticizing him for it is fair game. It's possible to praise somebody's performance without going off your rocker and claiming they should win the Cy Young or MVP. I think Ringolsby covers the Rockies or something and just wants to give a shout out here. He's not advocating actually giving him the award, just to acknowledge he might be worthy of some down ballot votes. Thumbs up on the platypus, vaginas and the way a sunset's light shimmers off the water when the wind picks up just enough to crest the waves on the ocean. Keep up the good work! As I've said in other threads, I totally get why people peg stuff to awards discussions. That said, I supposed you'd be a lot less open to criticism if you said something more like: "Hey, I bet you wouldn't have guessed in a million years that X guy could show up on some ballots for Y award. But we're down to a couple weeks left in the season and he's got a pretty reasonable case for being in the pack. Sure he's not as good as A or B or C, but he's not actually all that far behind. That's pretty impressive!" But yeah, the generous assumption is that people basically mean this when they write columns like this. Gomes has basically supplanted Santana as the starting Catcher. I wonder when they will move Santana out from catcher permanently. Another way to go would be to trade high on Gomes. A bit bold perhaps, especially since Santana has always seemed like more of a DH than a catcher. The emergence of Gomes seems to fit in nearly. But perhaps a team out there is squinting enough to see a middle-class man's Buster Posey. I would hold onto both of them, mix & match with C and 1B - maybe they can both play 160 games if you juggle it properly. Yeah I suppose it's not a "problem" as it stands now. Kind of like the Twins flipping Mauer and Doumit between C and DH. Except with a much better version of Doumit. It's not like relegating Giambi to the bench is hurting the team. My, how times have changed. If someone had put up numbers like this a decade ago at Coors, I might have agreed that the performance was transcendant...mainly because absolutely no one could put up numbers like that at Coors Field a decade ago when the park was in full effect. Greg Maddux had a career ERA of 5.19 at Coors, and he was the most extreme groundball pitcher in the league, the one least likely to be hurt by the park. It was almost impossible BITD to get consistently good pitching there. I guess the humidor has really changed things more than I thought if pitchers can put up these kind of numbers nowadays. I guess the humidor has really changed things more than I thought if pitchers can put up these kind of numbers nowadays. The humidor has changed things, but not that much. Coors Field is still the best hitters' park in captivity, by a wide margin. What has changed far more than the humidor effect is the league-wide run environment. Run scoring NL-wide and MLB-wide is nothing close to what it was 10 years ago, let alone at the 1999-2000 scoring peak. Run scoring in 2013 is well below the long-term historical norm; it's just about equivalent to the levels of the very early 1980s. | Low | [
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Written by ©Heather Christenson (flickr: Crackbonkers). Sunshine was found by an employee at my vet clinic, she had been hanging around an apartment complex. She was very thin and very obviously pregnant so she took her in. They were unable to find a foster home to raise the kittens. A friend of mine that works there decided to see if I had an interest in fostering Sunshine and the kittens as I had been starting to look for another cat to add to our household. We lost our 19 year old cat and our diabetic cat last year and our remaining kitty has been pretty lonely, they were all very close. We do have 6 dogs though, so we really wanted to find a kitten or cat that would work well with our crazy household. Raising a litter of kittens with the dogs sounded like a great idea to find the right personality to fit in. So the current plan is to keep a kitten or two and find homes for everyone. The hard part is that Sunshine is a very young mom, probably 8 months old. Shes a sweetheart, but doesn't take mothering too seriously. She is too young to be a mom and she's obviously never been in a house before, this has not been easy for her. But the positive side of that is that she absolutely has no problem with the dogs hanging out with the kittens, so that's been great to have that early socialization. Kittens are 4 weeks old now, it's been quite fun watching them grow, not something I've done before. Their names are Isis (dilute torti), Brahma (light dilute), Budda (darker dilute), Dio (long hair orange), and Pax and Ra (short hair orange). Getting bigger all the time! Photos courtesy of ©Heather Christenson from Oregon (flickr: Crackbonkers, Heather's blog). Check out more photos and stories of Sunshine's kittens here. | High | [
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Q: MS SQL 2012 remove repeated characters from only Right and Left I need stripe repeated characters from left and right only. From: ,,,,2000001,2000002,2000003,2000004,2000005,2000006,,,,, To: 2000001,2000002,2000003,2000004,2000005,2000006 A: Cheat with trim: REPLACE(RTRIM(LTRIM(REPLACE(fld, ',', ' '))), ' ', ',') | Mid | [
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Interleukin-1 receptor immunoreactivity in sympathetic vascular and non-vascular neurons in guinea-pig coeliac ganglion. Immunoreactivity (IR) for the interleukin-1 receptor type I (IL1RI) was examined in sympathetic neurons in guinea-pig coeliac ganglion using multiple-labelling immunofluorescence. IL1RI-IR was present in 8% of sympathetic neurons in untreated preparations. The proportion of neurons with IL1RI-IR increased significantly after incubation in interleukin-6 (200 ng/ml) for 2-4 h (16-26% neurons), or after incubation for 4 h without cytokine (16%), with interleukin-1beta (IL1beta, 200 ng/ml; 18%) or tumour necrosis factor-alpha (200 ng/ml; 16%). This increase occurred predominantly in neuropeptide Y-IR, vasoconstrictor neurons. IL1RI-IR also was present in varicose axons, some of which projected from the gut, and in vascular smooth muscle cells and endothelium. These potential binding sites for the proinflammatory cytokine, IL1beta, on vasoconstrictor neurons and blood vessels may modulate sympathetic regulation of intestinal blood flow in inflammatory conditions. | Mid | [
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Unless you're an eight-year-old just getting acquainted with them, you probably made up your mind about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles long, long ago. After all, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's heroes in a half-shell debuted thirty years ago, when their cheeky action adventures had the foresight to spoof the '80s even while they were happening. Well, they're back on the big screen again for a fifth go-round after three nineties live-action films and a 2007 CGI-animated one-off. The new picture, titled simply Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, blends live-action (most of the settings and all of the humans) with CGI (most of the action and all of the non-human characters). And you're either really excited to see them again (and, if so, may I just say, "Cowabunga, dude") or have already turned to something more interesting, like the real estate listings. So that leaves it to me to describe the reboot by Jonathan Liebesman, a Hollywood go-to-guy for mid-range horror pictures and actioners no one else wants (Wrath of the Titans, anyone?). Look, despite the looming presence of crap-maestro Michael Bay as producer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles isn't so terrible. It fits the brief, as it were, with some variations on the concept that don't challenge the fundamentals, four of which are in the title. So the TMNT—Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello—study ninjitsu under a similarly mutated rat named Splinter (to whom an unbilled Tony Shalhoub gives voice) and make their debut as vigilantes battling back the criminal Foot Clan. This gets the attention of fluff-piece reporter April O'Neil (Megan Fox), who aspires to serious journalism and turns out to have all sorts of history with the people and creatures currently making news: industrialist Eric Sachs (William Fichtner), the Turtles, and Splinter. Pulling the strings of the Foot Clan is Shredder (Tohoru Masamune), a big guy in a robotic samurai suit who seems to have escaped from one of Bay's Transformers flicks. O'Neil's surprising ties to the Turtles may rankle purists, but to be fair, this isn't War and Peace. It's a movie with a nunchuk-wielding reptile standing over six feet tall, drooling over pizza, and making boner jokes about Megan Fox. So we can be choosy about what we complain about. To be fair to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it's aimed squarely at action-loving tykes, and they'll duly love it. The script is an unironic throwback to '80s action movies (okay, some irony when they make Batman cracks), and though the blank Fox is less a star than a placeholder, her foil is Will Arnett as a funny cameraman. Most of the one-liners are pretty lame, but kids won't agree, and they'll be held rapt by the head-spinning (3D, if you want it) action, from acrobatic fights to an insane chase down a snowy mountain and a climax over Times Square ripped wholesale from The Amazing Spider-Man. And what does it all amount to? Nothing more than a seemingly self-descriptive bit of scripting uttered by Arnett: "Froth. It's nice." | Mid | [
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Google’s parent company Alphabet has overtaken Apple to become the most cash-rich company in the world. The Financial Times reports that as of the second quarter of this year, Alphabet holds $117 billion in liquid reserves, compared to $102 billion, net of debt, for Apple. Despite the obvious benefits of hoarding so much cash, earning the title of “Cash Kings” might not give much cause for celebration. As the FT notes, such a conspicuous display of wealth could increase pressure from shareholders who’d like to see the company spend more of its money on share buybacks or dividends, and could lead to increased scrutiny from regulators concerned with Google’s dominance. Google and its parent company have been hit with €8.2 billion (around $9.05 billion) in antitrust fines by the EU in the past two years, and the company is also facing heavy scrutiny by US lawmakers. But Microsoft is the most valuable company overall Apple played a significant role in the change in leadership by actively reducing its liquidity. Since 2017, the iPhone manufacturer’s reserves have fallen by $61 billion from its $163 billion peak, with Apple taking advantage of US tax reforms to repatriate overseas reserves and pay it out to investors. Meanwhile, Alphabet’s cash reserves have risen by $20 billion over the same period, despite heavy investment in real estate as the company buys up space for offices and data centers. The cash title aside, obtaining the title of “most valuable company” remains elusive for Alphabet. Apple was first to hit the milestone in August last year, but since then its market cap has slipped. Apple has now been overtaken by both Amazon and Microsoft, the latter of which is the only company to currently have a market cap above 1 trillion dollars. | Low | [
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Q: How to get a dictionary with Linq where keys are met more than once? Assuming an object such as: class A { string Country; string Region; } And an IEnumerable<A> such as: "Denmark", "Arhus" "Denmark", "Bornholm" "Denmark", "Frederiksborg" "Denmark", "Fyn" "Denmark", "Copenhagen" "Denmark", "Nordjylland" "France", "Alsace" "France", "Aquitaine" "France", "Auvergne" "France", "Basse-Normandie" "France", "Bourgogne" "France", "Bretagne" "France", "Centre" "France", "Champagne-Ardenne" "France", "Corse" etc... How can I obtain an IDictionary<string, IEnumerable<string>> res with Linq where res['Country'] would return an IEnumerable<string> of the corresponding regions ? A: ToLookup should give you exactly what you want. var lookup = data.ToLookup(a => a.Country, a=> a.Region); Technically it's immutable, and as such doesn't implement IDictionary. If it's essential that you implement that interface then you'll need to convert the lookup to a dictionary: var dictionary = lookup.ToDictionary(group => group.Key, group => group.AsEnumerable()); A: IDictionary<string, IEnumerable<string>> dictionary = list.GroupBy(r => r.Country) .ToDictionary(grp => grp.Key, grp => grp.Select(t => t.Region)); | Mid | [
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click to enlarge Image via Wikimedia Commons Since the November election of President Donald J. Trump, a lot of scary vibes have been set loose on the Republic, none more so than the heightened profile of hate groups cheering the 45th President on from the sidelines.One usual suspect experiencing a shot of energy from the Trump Presidency is the Klu Klux Klan—-and they're planning a big membership push right here in Ohio.That's the upshot of a pretty startling Columbus Dispatch piece that ran last week. Kicking off with an interview with Amanda Lee, a North Carolina woman who acts as the national imperial commander for a Klan faction known as the Loyal White Knights, the piece predicts an uptick in hate group affiliation in the coming year."We have people all over Ohio already. There is a large membership of Loyal White Knights there," the Klan leader told the paper. "When things start going wrong, it's time for us to start retaliating. It's time for us to get active."Lee didn't offer up specifics about the group's membership in the Buckeye State, but the Southern Poverty Law Center backs up the claim, noting the Klan has "a significant Ohio presence," the paper reports.Ohio does, it seem, have a higher rate of race-related incidents. The paper reports Ohio notched 416 reported hate-crime incidents in 2015, "which put the state's rate of 4.3 incidents per 100,000 population higher than the national average." In the last year, Cleveland has seen its own instances of race related violence, including some right after the election. Of course, it's irresponsible to assume every Trump voter is a racist. But, as an activist quoted in this recentpiece notes, "Every racist that I know—and I know a lot of racists—every racist that I know voted for Donald Trump." | Mid | [
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Q: Haskell scraping with http-conduit problems I've been trying to write my first "real" haskell program, which is intended to eventually scrape information about movies from pages of the form http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekly/chart/?yr=2012&wk=52&p=.htm. The first step I made towards doing this was to create a function that was able to query the weekly information from between two dates. The code I came up with does not work, and the error message is a bit beyond my current haskell abilities. The code: import Network.HTTP.Conduit import Data.Time.Clock import Data.Time.Calendar.WeekDate import Data.Time.Calendar (Day, addDays, fromGregorian) import Control.Monad.Trans.Resource (runResourceT) import qualified Data.ByteString.Char8 as C import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as L import qualified Data.ByteString as S curDate :: IO Day curDate = fmap utctDay getCurrentTime dayToWkYr :: Day -> (S.ByteString, S.ByteString) dayToWkYr day = (C.pack (show year), C.pack (show week)) where (year, week, _) = toWeekDate day mkDateList :: Day -> Day -> [Day] -> [Day] mkDateList start end lst | start == end = lst | otherwise = mkDateList (addWk start) end (start:lst) where addWk = addDays 7 getMovies' :: Manager -> [Day] -> [Response L.ByteString] -> [Response L.ByteString] getMovies' manager (d:ds) results = runResourceT $ do let (year, week) = dayToWkYr d initreq <- parseUrl "http://boxofficemojo.com/weekly/chart/" let request = initreq { queryString = "?yr=" `S.append` year `S.append` "&wk=" `S.append` week} response <- httpLbs request manager getMovies' manager ds (response:results) getMovies' _ [] results = results The error: scraper.hs:27:37: Couldn't match type `[]' with `IO' When using functional dependencies to combine Control.Monad.Trans.Control.MonadBaseControl [] [], arising from the dependency `m -> b' in the instance declaration in `Control.Monad.Trans.Control' Control.Monad.Trans.Control.MonadBaseControl IO [], arising from a use of `runResourceT' at scraper.hs:27:37-48 In the expression: runResourceT In the expression: runResourceT $ do { let (year, week) = dayToWkYr d; initreq <- parseUrl "http://boxofficemojo.com/weekly/chart/"; let request = ...; response <- httpLbs request manager; .... } scraper.hs:33:5: Couldn't match type `[]' with `Control.Monad.Trans.Resource.ResourceT []' Expected type: Control.Monad.Trans.Resource.ResourceT [] (Response L.ByteString) Actual type: [Response L.ByteString] In the return type of a call of getMovies' In a stmt of a 'do' block: getMovies' manager ds (response : results) In the second argument of `($)', namely `do { let (year, week) = dayToWkYr d; initreq <- parseUrl "http://boxofficemojo.com/weekly/chart/"; let request = ...; response <- httpLbs request manager; .... }' If anyone could shed any light on what I am doing wrong, I would be very grateful! A: I'm by no means a haskell expert, but this is what I changed to make it compile. The problem lies in the function getMovies'. First the return type should be IO [Response L.ByteString]. The second problem lies in your handling of the conduit Resource Monad, the function runResourceT returns whatever you have done in your conduit stream, which in your case should be the return value from httpLbs request manager. So you need to move the recursive call to getMovies' out from the Resource monad. getMovies' :: Manager -> [Day] -> [Response L.ByteString] -> IO [Response L.ByteString] getMovies' manager (d:ds) results = do response <- runResourceT $ do -- we get the response here instead let (year, week) = dayToWkYr d initreq <- parseUrl "http://boxofficemojo.com/weekly/chart/" let request = initreq { queryString = "?yr=" `S.append` year `S.append` "&wk=" `S.append` week} httpLbs request manager getMovies' manager ds (response:results) getMovies' _ [] results = return results -- wrap results in the IO monad. | Low | [
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Mechanisms of Surface Precipitation and Dissolution of Barite: A Morphology Approach. Barite (BaSO4) was synthesized at normal pressure and room temperature by mixing sodium sulfate and barium chloride solutions by gentle flow (0.5 ml/min.). The well-formed rectangular and rhombohedral crystals with smooth faces formed from solutions with low degrees of supersaturation. Most precipitates became single crystals. We employed the scanning electron microscope (SEM) to observe barite dissolution by chemical agent diethylenetrinitrilopentaacetic acid. Molecular modeling was used to assist the interpretation of the surface reaction. A kinetic model for the pit growth (initial dissolution) on the surface was evaluated. With SEM microanalysis of barite and kinetic model of pit growth, important surface phenomena and mechanisms of dissolution can be hypothesized. Surface phenomena and composition are very important in barite dissolution. Experimental results suggest that the initial dissolution starts on the two lowest energy surfaces: (001) and (210), and that the etch pits are elongated in one direction on the (210) surface and formed cavities on the (001) surface. The simulated surface structures by molecular modeling can aid the interpretation the pit formation on those selected surfaces. Copyright 1999 Academic Press. | Mid | [
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Boris Johnson has today urged the government to push forward with a no-deal Brexit in his Telegraph column, saying it is “far the best option”. The foreign secretary joins a number of his Conservative colleagues who believe falling back on WTO rules would be more beneficial to Britain than striking a deal with the European Union. He said: “Yes it will be tough, and yes, it will mean we will need a very different approach. But it is absolutely essential now that we in the UK recover our courage and self belief.” So how tough is he actually talking? Well, Channel 4’s Economics Correspondent Helia Ebrahimi has delivered a damning assessment of life outside the EU on WTO terms in a clip that first aired last year and is now gaining viral traction on social media. Her frank analysis puts to bed any claims that the country would benefit economically under a no deal scenario. You can watch it in full below: Anyone who still advocates for trading on WTO rules should watch this. pic.twitter.com/cqhdCJuiMJ — Jamken22 (@Jamken22) March 31, 2019 | Mid | [
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Kids Eat Free On Your Schedule With The #BPKidsCard We tried to make the drive from Calgary to Vancouver straight through with our kids once. It’s a 10 hour drive between our new and old homes, and while it’s a long day for adults, it’s doable. With kids? Well, like I said, we’ve tried it once and have never done it since. Now, the drive is broken up somewhere between the Shuswap and Okanagan. The two five hour drives mean we can take more breaks along the way turning the road trip into an adventure instead of an ordeal. We can visit lakes, walk through abandoned railway tunnels, catch Pokemon at historic sites, and just turn a long drive into a fun day trip. After a week in Vancouver, however, I was eager to get home. I wanted to go straight to Salmon Arm, but the boys were hungry and I knew just the place to quickly calm my troops before heading back out on the road. The Boston Pizza in Merritt is a favorite for us. It’s half way from half way. By staying in Vancouver until early afternoon, I knew we would hit the Nicola Valley in time for dinner before crashing in our Sicamous hotel for bed. It’s filled with activities and games. They offer pizza, pasta, burgers, (the three main food groups my kids always seek out on menus), and they offer fresh cut veggies. That last item is a big one for me. My friends marvel that my kids will eat vegetables, but they do. They love red peppers, cucumbers, and sometimes carrots. A burger with veggies for Charlie, a pizza with veggies for Z, and the smiles abounded while we took 45 minutes off the road, coloured, quizzed, and noshed. My boys filled, we hit the road and pressed on through the dusk to crash on our beds before finishing the trip the next day. I’ve done it straight, just stopping for gas, but now I look forward to the breaks along the way. I seek out a lake never seen, a scenic route not taken, a Boston Pizza where everyone can have what they want, and we can get back on the road quickly. Looking for a way to celebrate back to school or take a gorgeous weekend road trip as summer wanes and fall wakes? Take along a Boston Pizza Kids Card and have a “kids eat free night” on your schedule. For a minimum $5 donation, theBoston Pizza Kids Cards are available in store and at BostonPizza.com until October 2, 2016 and can be redeemed until June 30, 2017. On their own they’re good for 5 free kid meals (a $35 value!) but, as an extra bonus, if you register your Kids Card on your MyBP account you will receive a sixth free kids meal! Each Boston Pizza Kids Card gets you free road trip meals and helps great charities like the JDRF. Through donations from the Boston Pizza Foundation Future Prospects, the JDRF funded a youth ambassador program which provides mentorship to young people living with type 1 diabetes. That simple $5 donation = 1 hour with a role model for a kid in need. You know I’m down with that kind of support to T1D kids. Other charities benefiting from the $890 000 raised through the Boston Pizza Kids Cardscampaign last year were Big Brothers Big Sisters, Kids Help Phone, Live Different, and the Rick Hansen Foundation. More than $22M in donation has been raised to date and, each year, Boston Pizza Foundation Future Prospects provides more than 200 000 hours of guidance and inspiration for kids. | Mid | [
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Rogers Media uses cookies for personalization, to customize its online advertisements, and for other purposes. Learn more or change your cookie preferences. Rogers Media supports the Digital Advertising Alliance principles. By continuing to use our service, you agree to our use of cookies. We use cookies (why?) You can change cookie preferences. Continued site use signifies consent. Nationals’ Harper suffers left knee injury WASHINGTON — Bryce Harper injured his left knee when he slipped on a wet first base, a potentially devastating blow to the NL East-leading Washington Nationals. Manager Dusty Baker said Harper hyperextended his left knee and was scheduled to have an MRI on Sunday. "We just ask for prayers that it’s not serious," Baker said after his team’s 3-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants that was overshadowed by the injury to one of baseball’s top players. "He was in obvious pain, and he was praying and I was praying, too." Harper was limping but walking after the game. He was not made available to speak to reporters. Starter Edwin Jackson was upbeat that Harper was walking around. General manager Mike Rizzo is expected to provide an update on Sunday morning. "Fortunate that he’s up and walking," Jackson said. "He’s definitely one of those guys that you can’t replace on a team. It’s crazy but it’s definitely great to see him up in spirit and walking around and know that he won’t be significantly out for a period of time or just hurt period. He’s doing great." While running out a ground ball to the right side of the infield in the first inning, Harper avoided contact with first baseman Ryder Jones and his left foot slipped on the base. His leg buckled , he went airborne and fell to the ground as his helmet went flying. "I think (starter Jeff Samardzija) said he tried to extend the knee a little bit and try to catch the corner of the bag, and I think he might’ve slipped on the top," Jones said. "It was a little wet. It didn’t look good. I hope he’s all right. It’s just one of those freak plays where you kind of thought there would be a collision and there wasn’t and that might be part of it, too." Harper clutched at his left knee after going down and was attended to by trainers. The star outfielder put no weight on his left leg as he was helped off the field by hitting coach Rick Schu and head athletic trainer Paul Lessard. "He looked like he was in pretty good pain," Jones said. "You never want that to happen to a player. … Hopefully he’s all right." Baker said his first reaction was to think about last September, when catcher Wilson Ramos tore the ACL in his right knee on a noncontact play after a rain delay. Baker said he hopes that’s not the case with Harper. The game began just after 10 p.m. following a 3-hour rain delay. It was raining steadily when Harper’s injury happened. Major League Baseball was in control of weather decisions because it’s the Giants’ final trip to Washington this season. The series opener Friday was postponed after a lengthy rain delay to be a part of a day-night doubleheader Sunday, adding to baseball’s incentive of getting the game in Saturday. Baker refrained from criticizing the league, saying the teams "were kind of at the mercy of the schedule." But the game is unlikely to have an impact on the playoff race, as the Nationals lead the NL East by 14 1/2 games and the Giants are out of contention. At the most, it could have an effect on home-field advantage in October. Even though first baseman Ryan Zimmerman is having an All-Star season, Washington’s title hopes hinge largely on Harper’s health. The 2015 MVP is having another spectacular season, hitting .327 with 29 home runs and 87 RBIs while playing in 105 of the Nationals’ first 113 games. Harper didn’t last long in his 106th game and was replaced by Andrew Stevenson, who took over in centre field with Brian Goodwin moving to right. Despite many fans waiting out the delay, the stadium went eerily silent in the minutes after Harper’s injury. Because of a bevy of injuries, the Nationals have used 12 outfielders this season. They have been without Adam Eaton since late April because of a torn ACL in his left knee that ended his season, Jayson Werth since early June because of a bruised left foot and Michael Taylor since July with a right oblique strain. The Nationals are running away with the division despite those injuries and more to starters Stephen Strasburg and Joe Ross, relievers Shawn Kelley and Koda Glover and shortstop Trea Turner, but a long-term injury to Harper would be far more trouble to Washington’s post-season hopes. Harper is under contract through next season and can be a free agent in the winter of 2018. "The good thing is he’s young and strong," Baker said. "I’m very optimistic that he’ll be at least fine shortly." Almost Done! Please confirm the information below before signing up. {* #socialRegistrationForm_pubsports *} {* socialRegistration_firstName *}{* socialRegistration_lastName *}{* socialRegistration_emailAddress *}{* socialRegistration_displayName *} By checking this box, I confirm that I have read and understood each of the website terms of service and privacy policy and that I agree to be bound by them. | Low | [
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Isolation and structural characterization of a new non-phosphorylated lipoamino acid from Mycobacterium phlei. A new non-phosphorylated lipoamino acid was extracted from Mycobacterium phlei, strain IST. It is particularly sensitive to alkaline hydrolysis, and contains a lysine residue joined to a 1,2-diglyceride via an ester linkage. The FAB-positive mass spectrum shows the presence of various molecular species of which the most abundant contains a palmitic and a tuberculostearic acid residue. An analogue of this lipid was synthesized, 1,2-dipalmitoyl 3-lysyl glycerol. Both its chromatographic behavior (TLC), and the decomposition pathways of the MH+ ions, studied by FAB MS and MIKE spectroscopy, were identical to the natural product. | Mid | [
0.637254901960784,
32.5,
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Q: What is wrong with this timer? I am doing a timer to countdown fro 90 seconds all the way down to zero, however when i run it, it will run for 1 second and terminate, plz help! Point out what is wrong! package TestingFile; import javax.swing.*; import javax.swing.event.*; import java.awt.*; import java.awt.event.*; public class TestingATimer extends JFrame { private Timer timer; public int count = 90; public TestingATimer() { timer = new Timer(1000, new TimerListener()); timer.start(); } private class TimerListener implements ActionListener { public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent e) { if (count != 0) { count--; System.out.println(count + " seconds elapsed"); } } } public static void main (String [] args) { new TestingATimer (); } } A: The (Swing) Timer is likely using a daemon based thread. This means that once the main method exists, there is nothing keeping the JVM from terminating... From the Thread JavaDocs When a Java Virtual Machine starts up, there is usually a single non-daemon thread (which typically calls the method named main of some designated class). The Java Virtual Machine continues to execute threads until either of the following occurs: The exit method of class Runtime has been called and the security manager has permitted the exit operation to take place. All threads that are not daemon threads have died, either by returning from the call to the run method or by throwing an exception that propagates beyond the run method. So there is nothing stopping the JVM from terminating. The question is, why are you using a javax.swing.Timer without a GUI? What are you trying to achieve? Updated If you don't want to use a GUI, you will need to use a java.util.Timer, for example... import java.util.Timer; import java.util.TimerTask; public class Clock { private static Timer timer; public static void main(String[] args) { timer = new Timer(); timer.scheduleAtFixedRate(new TickTask(), 0, 1000); } public static class TickTask extends TimerTask { private boolean started = false; private long startTime = 0; @Override public void run() { if (!started) { started = true; startTime = System.currentTimeMillis(); } else { long dif = System.currentTimeMillis() - startTime; long seconds = dif / 1000; System.out.println(seconds); if (seconds >= 90) { timer.cancel(); } } } } } Otherwise you'll need to supply some kind GUI... import java.awt.Dimension; import java.awt.EventQueue; import java.awt.Graphics; import java.awt.Graphics2D; import java.awt.GridBagLayout; import java.awt.event.ActionEvent; import java.awt.event.ActionListener; import javax.swing.JFrame; import javax.swing.JLabel; import javax.swing.JPanel; import javax.swing.Timer; import javax.swing.UIManager; import javax.swing.UnsupportedLookAndFeelException; public class ClockGUI { public static void main(String[] args) { new ClockGUI(); } public ClockGUI() { EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() { @Override public void run() { try { UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName()); } catch (ClassNotFoundException | InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException | UnsupportedLookAndFeelException ex) { ex.printStackTrace(); } JFrame frame = new JFrame("Testing"); frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); frame.add(new TestPane()); frame.pack(); frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null); frame.setVisible(true); } }); } public class TestPane extends JPanel { private Timer timer; private JLabel clock; public TestPane() { setLayout(new GridBagLayout()); clock = new JLabel("..."); add(clock); timer = new Timer(1000, new ActionListener() { private boolean started = false; private long startTime = 0; @Override public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { if (!started) { started = true; startTime = System.currentTimeMillis(); } else { long dif = System.currentTimeMillis() - startTime; long seconds = dif / 1000; clock.setText(Long.toString(seconds)); if (seconds >= 90) { timer.stop(); } } } }); timer.start(); } } } | Low | [
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Q: Удаление записей из xml-файла с использованием ClientDataSet Доброго времени суток всем. Говорят, что жизнь без проблем скучна, но я бы хотел пожить без проблем хотя бы годик. Я работаю с xml файлом, и мне нужно удалить все записи. Мой код: if dm.ClientDataSet2.Active=false then dm.ClientDataSet2.Open; dm.ClientDataSet2.Edit; dm.ClientDataSet2.First; while not(dm.ClientDataSet2.RecordCount=0) do dm.ClientDataSet2.delete; dm.ClientDataSet2.SaveToFile(); dm.ClientDataSet2.MergeChangeLog; При первом нажатии кнопки ничего не происходит, при втором нажатии в файле остается часть записей, только с третьего раза файл полностью очищается. Подскажите, что тут не так? В коде, вроде, все нормально. A: А если попробовать while not dm.ClientDataSet2.IsEmpty do dm.ClientDataSet2.delete; И Next в цикле не нужно ставить, т.к. после удаления записи курсор переходит на следующую запись и если воткнуть еще и Next после удаления, то получится что удаляться будет каждая вторая запись Еще попробуйте удалить вот эту строку dm.ClientDataSet2.Edit; При удалении не нужно вставать в режим редактирования, достаточно открыть датасет. | High | [
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Yelp, Foursquare, and the Downsides of Mobile-First In an era where the “mobile-first” motto borders on dogma for tech companies, the virtues of the desktop internet often are overlooked. While Yelp continues to benefit from desktop search, mobile-first Foursquare has struggled to sustain the explosive growth it saw early on — partly because its influence on the web ecosystem remains relatively weak… | Low | [
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The current immunological paradigms surrounding filarial inflammation have evolved almost exclusively from studies of peripheral immune responses. In humans, examination of tissue at the actual site of disease activity, such as we now shown to be feasible for the study of filariasis, provides an unusual opportunity to examine pathogenetic mechanisms of the immune response to a human helminthic pathogen. Because there is no adequate animal model of bancroftian filariasis, biopsy tissue and peripheral blood from infected humans in a W. bancrofti endemic area of Brazil will be simultaneously studied. Patients will be initially classified into 3 groups based on clinical and current infections in order to carry out the following 3 specific experimental aims: 1) Determine the T-cell Receptor (TCR) repertoire at the site of disease by comparing TCR Vb repertoires in infected tissue and in blood of the same individual; 2) Determine the cytokines relevent to local disease by comparing levels of cytokines relevent to local disease by comparing levels of cytokine mRNA from biopsies in the different clinical groups; and 3) Examine the effect of total body worm burden from study subject with a clearing dose of macrofilaricide. Based on our substanstial published preliminary data, we believe that all W. bancrofti infected patients have disease irrespective of the presence of any overt clinical manifestations. Thus, the current polar polar classification of filariasis patients according to clinical or microfilaria status may not be appropriate for understanding local immunopathologic events in tissue. We hope, as a result of the proposed work, to be able to provide a relevent framework for staging and classifying disease in order to be able to develop targetted strategies for immunotherapeutic intervention. Moreover, the findings may be broadly applicable to local tissue reactions in other human helminths. | High | [
0.659574468085106,
31,
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Q: android - What do I need to keep to persist alarm after reboot? I am currently developing an android application where I need to setup persistent alarms that will fire on a specific date and time and show a notification. It works well but the system clears all alarms upon rebooting. From other questions I know that if I create a BroadcastReceiver forBOOT_COMPLETED I can rearm canceled alarms. My question is: What information about those alarms I need to keep in order to rearm them when needed? Some people say that I need to persist all the Intent extras and the fire datetime in order to recreate the PendingIntent upon rebooting. Others say that if I only persist the requestCode for the PendingIntent, after reboot I can use this code to get the canceled PendingIntent and rearm the alarm, because when the device reboots the PendingIntent's are just canceled instead of deleted. Which one is right way to do it? A: PendingIntents will not persist after reboot, so to be safe just restart your alarms in the BroadcastReceiver with all the intent extras that you make when you first initialized the alarm, and keep the requestcode the same. | High | [
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namespace egret3d { function _filterEmptyLine(string: string) { return string !== ""; } /** * 全局渲染状态组件。 */ @paper.singleton export class RenderState extends paper.BaseComponent { /** * @internal */ public readonly onGammaInputChanged: signals.Signal = new signals.Signal(); public version: string; public standardDerivativesEnabled: boolean; public textureFloatEnabled: boolean; public fragDepthEnabled: boolean; public textureFilterAnisotropic: EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic | null; public shaderTextureLOD: any; public maxTextures: uint; public maxVertexTextures: uint; public maxTextureSize: uint; public maxCubemapSize: uint; public maxRenderBufferize: uint; public maxVertexUniformVectors: uint; public maxAnisotropy: uint; public maxBoneCount: uint = 24; public maxPrecision: string = ""; public commonExtensions: string = ""; public vertexExtensions: string = ""; public fragmentExtensions: string = ""; public commonDefines: string = ""; public vertexDefines: string = ""; public fragmentDefines: string = ""; public readonly clearColor: Color = Color.create(); public readonly viewport: Rectangle = Rectangle.create(); public readonly defines: Defines = new Defines(); public readonly defaultCustomShaderChunks: Readonly<{ [key: string]: string }> = { custom_vertex: "", custom_begin_vertex: "", custom_end_vertex: "", custom_fragment: "", custom_begin_fragment: "", custom_end_fragment: "", }; /** * */ public readonly caches = { useLightMap: false, castShadows: false, receiveShadows: false, cullingMask: paper.Layer.Nothing, attributeCount: 0, boneCount: 0, egret2DOrderCount: 0, clockBuffer: new Float32Array(4), skyBoxTexture: null as (BaseTexture | null), }; public renderTarget: RenderTexture | null = null; public customShaderChunks: { [key: string]: string } | null = null; /** * */ public render: (camera: Camera, material?: Material, renderTarget?: RenderTexture) => void = null!; /** * */ public draw: (drawCall: DrawCall, material?: Material | null) => void = null!;//开发者一般不会手动调用,通常是后期渲染调用 private _logarithmicDepthBuffer: boolean = false; private _gammaInput: boolean = true; // private _gammaOutput: boolean = true; // private _gammaFactor: float = 1.0; private _toneMapping: ToneMapping = ToneMapping.None; // TODO move to caches protected readonly _stateEnables: ReadonlyArray<gltf.EnableState> = [gltf.EnableState.Blend, gltf.EnableState.CullFace, gltf.EnableState.DepthTest]; protected readonly _cacheStateEnable: { [key: string]: boolean | undefined } = {}; protected _getCommonExtensions() { let extensions = ""; // fragmentExtensions. if (this.standardDerivativesEnabled) { extensions += "#extension GL_OES_standard_derivatives : enable \n"; } if (this.fragDepthEnabled) { extensions += "#extension GL_EXT_frag_depth : enable \n"; } if (this.textureFloatEnabled) { extensions += "#extension GL_EXT_frag_depth : enable \n"; } this.fragmentExtensions = extensions; } protected _getCommonDefines() { let defines = ""; // commonDefines. defines += "precision " + this.maxPrecision + " float; \n"; defines += "precision " + this.maxPrecision + " int; \n"; this.commonDefines = defines; defines = ""; // vertexDefines this.vertexDefines = defines; defines = ""; // fragmentDefines defines += ShaderChunk.encodings_pars_fragment + " \n"; this.fragmentDefines = defines; } protected _getEncodingComponents(encoding: TextureEncoding) { switch (encoding) { case TextureEncoding.LinearEncoding: return ['Linear', '( value )']; case TextureEncoding.sRGBEncoding: return ['sRGB', '( value )']; case TextureEncoding.RGBEEncoding: return ['RGBE', '( value )']; case TextureEncoding.RGBM7Encoding: return ['RGBM', '( value, 7.0 )']; case TextureEncoding.RGBM16Encoding: return ['RGBM', '( value, 16.0 )']; case TextureEncoding.RGBDEncoding: return ['RGBD', '( value, 256.0 )']; case TextureEncoding.GammaEncoding: return ['Gamma', '( value, float( GAMMA_FACTOR ) )']; default: throw new Error('unsupported encoding: ' + encoding); } } protected _getToneMappingFunction(toneMapping: ToneMapping) { let toneMappingName = ""; switch (toneMapping) { case ToneMapping.LinearToneMapping: toneMappingName = 'Linear'; break; case ToneMapping.ReinhardToneMapping: toneMappingName = 'Reinhard'; break; case ToneMapping.Uncharted2ToneMapping: toneMappingName = 'Uncharted2'; break; case ToneMapping.CineonToneMapping: toneMappingName = 'OptimizedCineon'; break; default: throw new Error('Unsupported toneMapping: ' + toneMapping); } return `vec3 toneMapping( vec3 color ) { return ${toneMappingName}ToneMapping( color ); } \n`; } protected _getTexelEncodingFunction(functionName: string, encoding: TextureEncoding) { const components = this._getEncodingComponents(encoding); return 'vec4 ' + functionName + '( vec4 value ) { return LinearTo' + components[0] + components[1] + '; }'; } protected _getTexelDecodingFunction(functionName: string, encoding: TextureEncoding) { const finialEncoding = (this._gammaInput && encoding === TextureEncoding.LinearEncoding) ? TextureEncoding.GammaEncoding : encoding; const components = this._getEncodingComponents(finialEncoding); return 'vec4 ' + functionName + '( vec4 value ) { return ' + components[0] + 'ToLinear' + components[1] + '; }'; } /** * @internal */ public _updateDrawDefines(renderer: paper.BaseRenderer | null) { let useLightMap = false; let receiveShadows = false; let boneCount = 0; const defines = this.defines; const caches = this.caches; if (renderer) { useLightMap = renderer.constructor === MeshRenderer && (renderer as MeshRenderer).lightmapIndex >= 0; receiveShadows = caches.castShadows && renderer.receiveShadows; boneCount = renderer.constructor === SkinnedMeshRenderer ? Math.min(this.maxBoneCount, (renderer as SkinnedMeshRenderer).boneCount) : 0; } if (caches.useLightMap !== useLightMap) { if (useLightMap) { defines.addDefine(ShaderDefine.USE_LIGHTMAP); } else { defines.removeDefine(ShaderDefine.USE_LIGHTMAP); } caches.useLightMap = useLightMap; } if (caches.boneCount !== boneCount) { if (boneCount > 0) { defines.addDefine(ShaderDefine.USE_SKINNING); if (this.textureFloatEnabled) { defines.addDefine(ShaderDefine.BONE_TEXTURE); } else { defines.addDefine(ShaderDefine.MAX_BONES, boneCount); } } else { defines.removeDefine(ShaderDefine.USE_SKINNING); if (this.textureFloatEnabled) { defines.addDefine(ShaderDefine.BONE_TEXTURE); } else { defines.removeDefine(ShaderDefine.MAX_BONES); } } caches.boneCount = boneCount; } if (caches.receiveShadows !== receiveShadows) { if (receiveShadows) { defines.addDefine(ShaderDefine.USE_SHADOWMAP); defines.addDefine(ShaderDefine.SHADOWMAP_TYPE_PCF); } else { defines.removeDefine(ShaderDefine.USE_SHADOWMAP); defines.removeDefine(ShaderDefine.SHADOWMAP_TYPE_PCF); } caches.receiveShadows = receiveShadows; } } /** * @internal */ public _updateTextureDefines(mapName: string, texture: BaseTexture | null, defines: Defines | null = null) { defines = defines || this.defines; // const mapNameDefine = (egret3d as any).ShaderTextureDefine[mapName];//TODO if (mapNameDefine) { if (texture) { defines.addDefine(mapNameDefine); if (texture instanceof RenderTexture) { defines.addDefine(ShaderDefine.FLIP_V); } else { defines.removeDefine(ShaderDefine.FLIP_V); } } else { defines.removeDefine(mapNameDefine); defines.removeDefine(ShaderDefine.FLIP_V); } } // const decodingFunName = (egret3d as any).TextureDecodingFunction[mapName]; // TODO if (decodingFunName) { if (texture) { const decodingCode = this._getTexelDecodingFunction(decodingFunName, texture.gltfTexture.extensions.paper.encoding || TextureEncoding.LinearEncoding); const define = defines.addDefine(decodingFunName, decodingCode, ShaderDefineOrder.DecodingFun); if (define) { define.isCode = true; define.type = DefineLocation.Fragment; } } else { defines.removeDefine(decodingFunName, true); } } // if (mapName === ShaderUniformName.EnvMap) { const nameA = "envMapA"; const nameB = "envMapB"; if (texture) { const { mapping } = texture.gltfTexture.extensions.paper; let typeDefine = ShaderDefine.ENVMAP_TYPE_CUBE; const blendDefine = ShaderDefine.ENVMAP_BLENDING_MULTIPLY; // TODO let define: Define | null; switch (mapping) { case TextureUVMapping.Cube: default: typeDefine = ShaderDefine.ENVMAP_TYPE_CUBE; break; case TextureUVMapping.CubeUV: typeDefine = ShaderDefine.ENVMAP_TYPE_CUBE_UV; break; case TextureUVMapping.Equirectangular: typeDefine = ShaderDefine.ENVMAP_TYPE_EQUIREC; break; case TextureUVMapping.Spherical: typeDefine = ShaderDefine.ENVMAP_TYPE_SPHERE; break; } define = defines.addDefine(nameA, typeDefine); if (define) { define.type = DefineLocation.Fragment; } define = defines.addDefine(nameB, blendDefine); if (define) { define.type = DefineLocation.Fragment; } } else { defines.removeDefine(nameA, true); defines.removeDefine(nameB, true); } } } /** * @internal */ public getPrefixVertex(defines: string) { const prefixContext = [ this.commonExtensions, this.vertexExtensions, this.commonDefines, this.vertexDefines, defines, ShaderChunk.common_vert_def, "\n" ].filter(_filterEmptyLine).join("\n"); return prefixContext; } /** * @internal */ public getPrefixFragment(defines: string) { const prefixContext = [ this.commonExtensions, this.fragmentExtensions, this.commonDefines, this.fragmentDefines, defines, ShaderChunk.common_frag_def, "\n" ].filter(_filterEmptyLine).join("\n"); return prefixContext; } public initialize() { super.initialize(); (renderState as RenderState) = this; // const options = paper.Application.options as egret3d.RunOptions; this.toneMapping = ToneMapping.LinearToneMapping; this.gammaFactor = 2.0; this.gammaInput = options.gammaInput !== undefined ? options.gammaInput : false; this.gammaOutput = false; } /** * */ public updateRenderTarget(renderTarget: RenderTexture | null): void { } /** * */ public updateViewport(viewport: Rectangle) { } /** * */ public clearBuffer(bufferBit: gltf.BufferMask, clearColor?: Readonly<IColor>): void { } /** * */ public copyFramebufferToTexture(screenPostion: Vector2, target: BaseTexture, level: uint = 0): void { } /** * */ public clearState() { for (const key in this._cacheStateEnable) { delete this._cacheStateEnable[key]; } this.renderTarget = null; } /** * */ @paper.editor.property(paper.editor.EditType.CHECKBOX) public get logarithmicDepthBuffer(): boolean { return this._logarithmicDepthBuffer; } public set logarithmicDepthBuffer(value: boolean) { if (this._logarithmicDepthBuffer === value) { return; } const { defines, fragDepthEnabled } = this; if (value) { defines.addDefine(ShaderDefine.USE_LOGDEPTHBUF); if (fragDepthEnabled) { defines.addDefine(ShaderDefine.USE_LOGDEPTHBUF_EXT); } else { defines.removeDefine(ShaderDefine.USE_LOGDEPTHBUF_EXT); } } else { defines.removeDefine(ShaderDefine.USE_LOGDEPTHBUF); defines.removeDefine(ShaderDefine.USE_LOGDEPTHBUF_EXT); } } /** * */ @paper.editor.property(paper.editor.EditType.CHECKBOX) public get gammaInput(): boolean { return this._gammaInput; } public set gammaInput(value: boolean) { if (this._gammaInput === value) { return; } this._gammaInput = value; this._updateTextureDefines(ShaderUniformName.EnvMap, this.caches.skyBoxTexture); this.onGammaInputChanged.dispatch(); } /** * */ @paper.editor.property(paper.editor.EditType.CHECKBOX) public get gammaOutput(): boolean { return this._gammaOutput; } public set gammaOutput(value: boolean) { if (this._gammaOutput === value) { return; } const define = this.defines.addDefine("Gamma", this._getTexelEncodingFunction("linearToOutputTexel", value ? TextureEncoding.GammaEncoding : TextureEncoding.LinearEncoding), ShaderDefineOrder.EncodingFun); if (define) { define.isCode = true; define.type = DefineLocation.Fragment; } this._gammaOutput = value; } /** * */ @paper.editor.property(paper.editor.EditType.FLOAT, { step: 0.1 }) public get gammaFactor(): float { return this._gammaFactor; } public set gammaFactor(value: float) { if (value !== value || value < 1.0) { value = 1.0; } if (this._gammaFactor === value) { return; } const define = this.defines.addDefine(ShaderDefine.GAMMA_FACTOR, value, ShaderDefineOrder.GammaFactor); if (define) { define.type = DefineLocation.Fragment; } this._gammaFactor = value; } /** * */ @paper.editor.property(paper.editor.EditType.LIST, { listItems: paper.editor.getItemsFromEnum((egret3d as any).ToneMapping) }) // TODO public get toneMapping(): ToneMapping { return this._toneMapping; } public set toneMapping(value: ToneMapping) { if (this._toneMapping === value) { return; } const defineName = "ToneMapping"; const { defines } = this; if (value === ToneMapping.None) { defines.removeDefine(ShaderDefine.TONE_MAPPING); defines.removeDefine(ShaderChunk.tonemapping_pars_fragment); defines.removeDefine(defineName); } else { let define = defines.addDefine(ShaderDefine.TONE_MAPPING); if (define) { define.type = DefineLocation.Fragment; } define = defines.addDefine(ShaderChunk.tonemapping_pars_fragment); if (define) { define.isCode = true; define.type = DefineLocation.Fragment; } define = defines.addDefine(defineName, this._getToneMappingFunction(value)); if (define) { define.isCode = true; define.type = DefineLocation.Fragment; } } this._toneMapping = value; } /** * */ @paper.editor.property(paper.editor.EditType.CHECKBOX) public premultipliedAlpha: boolean = false; /** * */ @paper.editor.property(paper.editor.EditType.FLOAT, { minimum: 0.0, maximum: 10.0 }) public toneMappingExposure: float = 1.0; /** * */ @paper.editor.property(paper.editor.EditType.FLOAT, { minimum: 0.0, maximum: 10.0 }) public toneMappingWhitePoint: float = 1.0; } /** * 全局渲染状态组件实例。 */ export const renderState: RenderState = null!; } | Mid | [
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I'm Natasha Artemeva, graduate supervisor at the School of Linguistics and Language Studies. In both our graduate programs, Master's and PhD, we offer two fields of study: applied linguistics and discourse studies. This makes our program unique in North America because, in other universities, these fields of study often are or heard in different departments and in different faculties. We take a broad view of language in use from teaching and learning to analyzing written texts to analyzing oral texts. This allows us to combine both fields of study - the areas usually covered by Applied Linguistics and the areas usually covered by Discourse Studies. Our students have an opportunity to pursue one of the few or mix and match courses to pursue their own career goals. Come to our program and you will experience its uniqueness. Hi I'm Nina Doré. I'm a PhD candidate in the program. My background is actually in fine art. I came to the MA program with a very different background and big curiosity about language learning and language teaching. I completed the MA and I continued onto the PhD here as well because it's fantastic to be surrounded by people who who have a great interest in solving real-world problems. And I've been able to focus my studies on ASL teaching and learning American Sign Language - in part because the program the School of Linguistics and Language Studies offers fantastic language programs which I've been able to take. My name is Jenna klostermann and I'm a MA student in the discourse studies stream of the Department. I started into the program with a lot of ideas and speculation about language in power. I was happy to develop a toolkit and a theorized way of looking at language in use at particular interactions in particular contexts. While I've been focusing on the work that Canadian visual artists do, I've been happy to be in conversation with other classmates and colleagues who are looking at different issues. I hope you join us in the department | High | [
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// // NWEndpoint.cs: Bindings the Netowrk nw_endpoint_t API. // // Authors: // Miguel de Icaza ([email protected]) // // Copyrigh 2018 Microsoft Inc // #nullable enable using System; using System.Runtime.InteropServices; using System.Runtime.CompilerServices; using ObjCRuntime; using Foundation; using CoreFoundation; using OS_nw_protocol_definition=System.IntPtr; namespace Network { [TV (12,0), Mac (10,14), iOS (12,0)] [Watch (6,0)] public class NWProtocolDefinition : NativeObject { public NWProtocolDefinition (IntPtr handle, bool owns) : base (handle, owns) {} [DllImport (Constants.NetworkLibrary)] [return: MarshalAs (UnmanagedType.I1)] static extern bool nw_protocol_definition_is_equal (OS_nw_protocol_definition definition1, OS_nw_protocol_definition definition2); public bool Equals (object other) { if (other == null) return false; if (!(other is NWProtocolDefinition otherDefinition)) return false; return nw_protocol_definition_is_equal (GetCheckedHandle (), otherDefinition.Handle); } [DllImport (Constants.NetworkLibrary)] static extern OS_nw_protocol_definition nw_protocol_copy_ip_definition (); #if !XAMCORE_4_0 [Obsolete ("Use 'CreateIPDefinition' method instead.")] public static NWProtocolDefinition IPDefinition => new NWProtocolDefinition (nw_protocol_copy_ip_definition (), owns: true); #endif public static NWProtocolDefinition CreateIPDefinition () => new NWProtocolDefinition (nw_protocol_copy_ip_definition (), owns: true); [DllImport (Constants.NetworkLibrary)] static extern OS_nw_protocol_definition nw_protocol_copy_tcp_definition (); #if !XAMCORE_4_0 [Obsolete ("Use 'CreateTcpDefinition' method instead.")] public static NWProtocolDefinition TcpDefinition => new NWProtocolDefinition (nw_protocol_copy_tcp_definition (), owns: true); #endif public static NWProtocolDefinition CreateTcpDefinition () => new NWProtocolDefinition (nw_protocol_copy_tcp_definition (), owns: true); [DllImport (Constants.NetworkLibrary)] static extern OS_nw_protocol_definition nw_protocol_copy_udp_definition (); #if !XAMCORE_4_0 [Obsolete ("Use 'CreateUdpDefinition' method instead.")] public static NWProtocolDefinition UdpDefinition => new NWProtocolDefinition (nw_protocol_copy_udp_definition (), owns: true); #endif public static NWProtocolDefinition CreateUdpDefinition () => new NWProtocolDefinition (nw_protocol_copy_udp_definition (), owns: true); [DllImport (Constants.NetworkLibrary)] static extern OS_nw_protocol_definition nw_protocol_copy_tls_definition (); #if !XAMCORE_4_0 [Obsolete ("Use 'CreateTlsDefinition' method instead.")] public static NWProtocolDefinition TlsDefinition => new NWProtocolDefinition (nw_protocol_copy_tls_definition (), owns: true); #endif public static NWProtocolDefinition CreateTlsDefinition () => new NWProtocolDefinition (nw_protocol_copy_tls_definition (), owns: true); [TV (13,0), Mac (10,15), iOS (13,0), Watch (6,0)] [DllImport (Constants.NetworkLibrary)] static extern OS_nw_protocol_definition nw_protocol_copy_ws_definition (); #if !XAMCORE_4_0 [Obsolete ("Use 'CreateWebSocketDefinition' method instead.")] [TV (13,0), Mac (10,15), iOS (13,0), Watch (6,0)] public static NWProtocolDefinition WebSocketDefinition => new NWProtocolDefinition (nw_protocol_copy_ws_definition (), owns: true); #endif [TV (13,0), Mac (10,15), iOS (13,0), Watch (6,0)] public static NWProtocolDefinition CreateWebSocketDefinition () => new NWProtocolDefinition (nw_protocol_copy_ws_definition (), owns: true); [Watch (6,0), TV (13,0), Mac (10,15), iOS (13,0)] [DllImport (Constants.NetworkLibrary)] static extern unsafe OS_nw_protocol_definition nw_framer_create_definition (string identifier, NWFramerCreateFlags flags, ref BlockLiteral start_handler); delegate NWFramerStartResult nw_framer_create_definition_t (IntPtr block, IntPtr framer); static nw_framer_create_definition_t static_CreateFramerHandler = TrampolineCreateFramerHandler; [MonoPInvokeCallback (typeof (nw_framer_create_definition_t))] static NWFramerStartResult TrampolineCreateFramerHandler (IntPtr block, IntPtr framer) { // get and call, this is internal and we are trying to do all the magic in the call var del = BlockLiteral.GetTarget<Func<NWFramer,NWFramerStartResult>> (block); if (del != null) { var nwFramer = new NWFramer (framer, owns: true); return del (nwFramer); } return NWFramerStartResult.Unknown; } [Watch (6,0), TV (13,0), Mac (10,15), iOS (13,0)] [BindingImpl (BindingImplOptions.Optimizable)] public static NWProtocolDefinition CreateFramerDefinition (string identifier, NWFramerCreateFlags flags, Func<NWFramer, NWFramerStartResult> startCallback) { BlockLiteral block_handler = new BlockLiteral (); block_handler.SetupBlockUnsafe (static_CreateFramerHandler, startCallback); try { return new NWProtocolDefinition (nw_framer_create_definition (identifier, flags, ref block_handler), owns: true); } finally { block_handler.CleanupBlock (); } } } } | Low | [
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Friday, October 03, 2008 Strange timing for Commissioner's departure IT could have seemed to a passing overseas visitor as though political protest in Britain had achieved a fantastically speedy result. For six days, entering the Oval cricket ground which is the incongruous setting for the Jean Charles de Menezes inquest, one was likely to encounter a couple with a placard saying Sir Ian Blair must Go! And on the seventh day, it was the news vendors' placards which announced that Sir Ian, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, had gone. Not as a result of the protests of course, nor of the inquest, which is expected to have another three months to run. Tory London mayor Boris Johnson, having become chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, had made clear he wanted Sir Ian out, and though it is properly speaking the Home Secretary's prerogative to tell Britain's top police chief to go, on the day Boris Johnson took his chair, the Commissioner announced his resignation. He has until December 1 to clear his desk, and his deputy will temporarily take over. The news came through on the day after Detective Chief Inspector Jon Boutcher, a senior Anti-Terrorism squad officer in the control room at New Scotland Yard on July 22, 2005, the day Jean Charles de Menezes was killed, had given evidence. Answering questions from Michael Mansfield QC, acting for the de Menezes family, on how Jean Charles, wrongly identified as a terror suspect, was pursued into Stockwell umderground station by firearms officers, and shot dead, DCI Boutcher said the same thing could happen again. One question hanging over this affair from the start has been why police made no attempt to detain the subject near his home, which was under surveillance, and why - particularly if they believed he might be a suicide bomber - he was allowed instead to travel on public transport, and go down to the tube. Another concerns the false claims that Jean Charles had behaved suspiciously, and the Met's initial unwillingness to even admit they had killed the wrong man. Responding to questions from Michael Mansfield, DCI Boutcher claimed to have been told on the morning of the operation that surveillance officers had positively identified a "suspect" leaving flats in Scotia Road, Tulse Hill, although in fact the officer, "Frank" had only said the person leaving was worth a second look. Police records from the time show he was referred to only as an "unidentified male". In fact the failed suicide bomber Hussein Osman whom the police were supposedly after was nowhere near Scotia Road, or Stockwell . He had gone to Brighton, later taking the Euro-star to Paris, and was eventually detained in Rome. DCI Boutcher denied having known exactly where police units were during the operation. He also claimed not to have been aware that Jean Charles' wallet, containing his identification, was found on the seat next to which he was killed. With the TV news telling of Sir Ian Blair's resignation, we saw a clip of Sir Ian announcing at a press conference that day in 2005 that the police had killed a known terror suspect. It was as if the police had decided to kill a "terrorist", and then having killed an innocent man, they decided that he would have to do. People have been saying for some time that Blair, like his namesake in Downing Street at the time was a B-liar. That might have been good cause for the Commissioner to resign, despite the loyal backing he received from people in the Labour Party, and notably then Mayor, Ken Livingstone. But why now? Was his resignation anything to do with the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, or has that provided a misleading diversion from other causes? Jean Charles' relatives have issued the following statement:The Menezes family is shocked by the news of Sir Ian Blair's resignation, as it comes in the middle of the inquest into Jean's death.As head of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Ian Blair should have been ultimately accountable for the death of Jean Charles de Menezes. We believe he certainly bears responsibility for the lies told about Jean and the cover up by the police in the aftermath of the shooting. He even tried to stop the IPCC investigating our cousin's death. The lack of accountability of the country's most senior police officer is one of the most shocking aspects of this tragedy. For Sir Ian Blair to state that he has resigned 'not because of any failures or pressures of the office' therefore reinforces our belief that he and the Metropolitan Police still refuse to accept full responsibility for Jean's death. For the family, Sir Ian Blair resigning does not change anything. Our focus is on the inquest where we hope we can find out the whole truth about Jean's killing. We await the verdict and findings and hope it will bring us closer to justice and for steps to be taken to ensure that no other family has to suffer the anguish we have over the last three years.* Reactions to Blair's resignation show an unprecedented tangle of politics surrounding the Metropolitan Police command. Brian Paddick, a former deputy assistant commissioner who stood as Lib Dem candidate for mayor of London, said that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was also instrumental in Blair's departure. He told the BBC "On the day the mayor becomes the chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority he says boo and the commissioner jumps. "Not only that, it is actually only the Home Secretary that could force the commissioner to leave and therefore the Home Secretary could have turned round and said to Ian Blair and to the mayor: 'I'm sorry, you don't have the power, mayor, to do that. I want the commissioner to stay.' But she didn't; she allowed the commissioner to go." Paddick made his name as the most senior openly gay police officer, and for promoting a liberal policy on drug use - particularly cannabis - along with with his efforts to gain trust from young black people when he was commander responsible for policing in Lambeth. Ken Livingstone claimed that there had been a vendetta against Blair from the first day of his commissionership."The decisive voices were not those who criticised him from the left but those who want an end to what they call 'politically correct' - that is, non-racist – policing in London."http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/oct/03/blair.london The Blair resignation follows rows in the police force itself over accusations by leading black and Asian officers that racialism is still endemic among white colleagues. Meanwhile, back at the Oval, jury and observers were still mulling over responses by Detective Chief Inspector Boutcher to questions as to what went wrong in the operation which resulted in the death of Jean Charles de Meneses. "I am not sure anything did actually go wrong", replied DCI Boutcher. Asked then whether there was a real risk that it could happen again, the officer replied:"There is, Sir, yes." This is a Blair query re TV NEWS footage of his 22 July 2005 afternoon Stocwell Menezes events of earlier that day. My memory of Blair shown on TV that evening - given that he claims not to have known who had been killed etc., is that he commented "any death is unfortunate". I am not seeking to put him in a sympathetic light I am curious that he made this comment given that he claims not to have known what had actually gone down and that an innocent member of the public had been blown to bits. My memory is also that following on from his "any death is unfortunate" remark he was logically put under pressure to disclose who had been killed? It was then tyhat he said that it wa sall prt of an ever expanded anti terrorist op etc., - he sought to deflect the obvious - well who has been shot? to spin away from the actualy identity of the victim. In Radio4's The Media Show which looked at Blair he was criticised by the head of the Crime Reporters Association of spinning to the media and basically deceiving at that 22 July 2005 press conference - thsi is the Head of the CRA making the straight accusation. But I have seen no one to date take up his 22 July 2005 comment that "any death is unfortunate" at a time when he claims not to have known what had gone down. Police do not do sympathy plaudits when they engage in armed shoot outs - newspaper libraries have plently of reports that they propagandise such shoot outs to serve as a warning to others. | Mid | [
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Qassam Group, following its heavy attacks, aimed Wells Fargo as the second target and just moments ago made Wells Fargo website out of reach completely and disrupted that bank's customer service. Their attacks will continue until Anti-Islam offensive film is removed. The documents related to this attack can be seen here: | Low | [
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It happened! New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law a requirement that nurses earn a BSN within 10 years of initial licensure. This new law has many implications for RNs in New York as well as across the country. Why is New York so important? There are 297,331 RNs with a license in New York. That is 8% of all RNs in the U.S. This one state will set a precedent for others attempting to pass similar in your state. The push for BSN-prepared RNs has been around for a very long time! The American Nurses Association House of Delegates adopted a motion in 1964 supporting baccalaureate education as educational foundation for the registered nurse, and reconfirmed that position in 2000. The Institute of Medicine’s Future of Nursing Report calls for 80% of RNs to hold bachelor’s degrees by 2020, noting the need for higher education in RNs to take care of the higher complexity patients in our healthcare system. North Dakota did require a BSN until 2003, when it was overturned. As a small state with the only requirement for a bachelor’s degree, the nursing shortage had a negative effect on that requirement. However, now that New York has passed this into law, and with the support and work of the American Nurses Association, all the state action coalitions, AARP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this is not going away. This was the tipping point. Without getting into the research of why a BSN should be required, the legislation in New York noted several reasons. Supporting literature noted that because of increasing complexity of the American healthcare system, and rapidly expanding technology, the educational preparation of the RN must be expanded. It also stated that the nurse of the future must be prepared to partner with multiple disciplines as collaborator and manager of complex patients. If you stop and think about it, the RN is usually the least educated discipline on a multidisciplinary team. PTs, OTs, ST, Pharm Ds and social workers all are required to have bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degrees. Despite being the least educationally prepared, the RN often has one of the most important roles on the healthcare team. So, what does the bill say exactly? The bill, AO1842-B/SO 6768 states has two main parts. First, it creates a temporary nursing program evaluation commission to make recommendations on barriers to entry into nursing, availability and access to baccalaureate programs and other related issues. This report and its findings are due to the governor within 12 months. The second part, which is effective immediately, states that “in order to continue to maintain registration as a registered professional nurse in New York state, have attained a baccalaureate degree or higher in nursing within 10 years of initial licensure.” This specific section 3 takes effect 18 months after the act became law (Dec. 19, 2017). Current RNs, as well as those currently enrolled or pending acceptance into a program preparing registered nurses effective date of this act (which is Dec. 19, 2017) are grandfathered in. This means the provisions of the law shall not apply to them. No doubt nurses have many unanswered questions and many individuals feel the law doesn’t or won’t apply to them. I am sure the board for Registered Professional Nurses in New York will be publishing further clarity on this. What does this law mean for you? Licensure in New York: If you hold a license in New York, even if you are not working there, you are grandfathered in. However, for those who later enter the profession as an RN, if you want to be a traveler, or hold a license in New York, you will fall under this requirement. This requirement is that you obtained a bachelor’s degree or higher in nursing (the law states nursing) within 10 years of your initial licensure. For example: You are accepted into an ADN program for this next fall in Texas. You take your initial exam Texas to become an RN. For certain reasons, you decide to move to New York. Based on the current list of those exempt from BSN in 10, you are not grandfathered in. This means that your clock to get a BSN or higher started with your initial license. Legislation in your state: Many states have considered this legislation and were watching New York with great anticipation. With this bill’s passage into law in New York, you will see many more states move toward proposing legislation over the next few years. New Jersey also has pending legislation. Educational choices: There are many current options for matriculation in nursing, with different state partnerships between diploma, associate and bachelor’s programs. In preparation for this to go into effect, there will be more options not only in New York, but also across the country. There are many RN-to-BSN programs online as well, so I would expect to see these programs expand. Grandfathered: If you are grandfathered in because you are an RN, you still may want to consider going to get your BSN. As more hospitals look to hire BSN-prepared RNs, and as legislation requires BSN or higher, you may want to consider going back to school. Increasing your education always will give you more options. This bill did not happen overnight. It took more than 14 years of shepherding. I expect that we see our next state to add this requirement within the next few years. It is tough work passing legislation. Many colleagues, ANA-New York lobbyist and bill sponsors worked especially hard over the last year to see the successful passage of this bill. “The passage of this bill into law reflects years of working toward a true collaboration of direct-care nurses, associate and baccalaureate faculty, nurse managers and administrators, healthcare facilities and professional associations and consumer advocates,” said Karen Ballard, MA, RN, FAAN, past executive director of ANA New York. “In the end, it is a win for all RNs and our patients!” Courses related to ‘earning a bachelor’s degree in nursing’ WEB309: RN to BSN: Aligning Your Personality Characteristics with Your Career Goals (1 contact hr) With the recommendation that 80% of nurses hold a bachelor’s degree by 2020, many RN’s may be considering advancing their education. Have you considered what areas within nursing you might like to explore? Might certain personality characteristics help you enjoy some nursing specialties more than others? Is your dream to work in management, administration, education or research? Is your desire to avoid specific job duties such as management? Try to align your strengths and personality characteristics with a nursing role you might enjoy! Perhaps there is an area of nursing you haven’t considered as a possibility for you. As you decide to further your education, an analysis of research and individual personality characteristics may help you align your goals within nursing areas you might enjoy the most. WEB299: Progressing to School Successfully: Is Now the Time for a BSN? (1 contact hr) Technology changes. Healthcare changes. And nursing is changing. Advance forward in your career by progressing to school successfully! With the 2020 goal of 80% of nurses holding a bachelor’s degree, what is the current distribution of degrees within nursing? What information do you need to consider to help you pursue your BSN and to become a part of the 80%? Become informed and motivated with this webinar. CE171-60: Earning Degrees By Distance Education (1 contact hr) Advancing in the nursing profession, and in some cases even maintaining a current position, may require a return to academic education. Returning to school can be daunting for adult learners. Balancing work, family, and traditional classes feels like an impossible burden. These factors make distance education a viable, a desirable, and often the only alternative. This module will provide nurses with information about obtaining academic credentials through distance education. | High | [
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convert any infix epression/equation to postfix ` hey there guys .... i have to write java code that converts any infix expression/equation to postfix.... i have been searchiing internet to find some algorithms... but as of now ... i am only able to find algo that might do the simple algebraic conversion but not the trigonometric, log one... can anyone of u please tell me where can i find the algorithm to convert any expression/equation to postfix.... | High | [
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Main menu Monthly Archives: June 2016 It was a week when most of us are counting down to the next movie. Others are making plans to go to Vegas or one of the various cons that are on at the moment. Then like a bolt of lightning, we got hit by the news that Anton Yelchin was dead. A talent whose career was cut short by an accident at the age of only 27. Anton was tragically killed by being crushed between a car and a concrete mail post. A man whose career was on the upward path, a man whose Star Trek co stars heaped praise upon. Cruelly taken at so young an age. We have lost many Star Trek illumine over the past few years, sadly with Anton being so young his was completely unexpected. For my part I’d like to pay tribute to the man and his life. He was only 10 when he made his TV debut on “ER.” But even at that age his talent shone through. His character displayed maturity and stoicism in the way he dealt with his parents death. Ironically in a car crash. His eyes, which he used to great affect through out his career, wonderfully portrayed the pain and anguish caused by his parents death. It was a powerful tv debut. Anton was born Anton Viktorovich Yelchin on March 11, 1989 in Leningrad, Russian. Now Saint Petersburg, Russia. So yes he was a Russian playing a Russian and he deliberately rolled the V into W as Chekov. His parents, Irina Korina and Viktor Yelchin, were figure skaters who were celebrities as stars of the Leningrad Ice Ballet for 15 years. Being Jewish his family suffered political and religious persecution in Russia. Yelchin’s family moved to the United States in September 1989, when Anton was six months old. His age has never really been a fixture in his career. Star Trek not withstanding, where he played a teenager. In fact Only last week at the Annecy Animated Film Festival, director Guillermo del Toro unveiled Yelchin as the lead voice actor in his upcoming DreamWorks Animation series, “Trollhunters.” His characters age was 15. His boyish looks and voice allowed him to voice or play people far younger than he actually was. He has a stunning CV behind him, starting at the age of 9 in the independent film A Man is Mostly Water. He has also been in; A Time for Dancing,House of D, Curb Your Enthusiasm, the television series Huff and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. But film recognition came for the role of Bobby Garfield in Hearts in Atlantis (2001), where he won Best Performance in a Feature Film for Leading Young Actor at the 2002 Young Artist Awards. The lead in that film was non other than Anthony Hopkins. His next notable part was Zack Mazursky, a character based on real-life kidnap and murder victim Nicholas Markowitz. In the film Alpha Dog. USA Today’s review described the performance as “heartbreakingly endearing”. In fact when interviewed after the premiere, Markowitz’s mother praised Antons portrayal of her son. He continued working with a variety of roles, both on tv and in indie films until he crossed into the world of Star Trek with JJs 2009 film. In which as you know, he portrayed 17-year-old navigator Pavel Chekov. The same year he was In Terminator Salvation, in which he was cast as a teenage Kyle Reese. He reprised the role of Chekov in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and Star Trek Beyond (2016), he also played the lead in the thriller Odd Thomas. His next project was to be the aforementioned Troll production. In his career he had won 7 awards. Not one person who has worked with him has ever said a bad thing about him. The tributes flowed freely from friends and work colleagues. JJ you can see above, Zachary Wrote: ‘our dear friend. our comrade. our Anton. one of the most open and intellectually curious people i have ever had the pleasure to know. So enormously talented and generous of heart. wise beyond his years. and gone before his time. all love and strength to his family at this impossible time of grief.’ John Cho, who plays Sulu wrote on Twitter; ‘I loved Anton Yelchin so much. He was a true artist – curious, beautiful, courageous. He was a great pal and a great son. I’m in ruins,’ Other tweets swiftly followed. Zoe Saldana was hit by the news on landing in Cuba. Her rep gave a statement to E! News, ‘She is beyond devastated and first and foremost her heart and prayers are with the Yelchin family during this time’ Paramount also released a statement; ‘Paramount joins the world in mourning the untimely passing of Antony Yelchin. As a member of the family, he was beloved by so many and he will missed by all. We share our deepest condolences with his mother, father and family.’ The tributes from all corners of Star Trek flooded social media from TNG cast members, to TOS and so on. The entire Trek family was in a state of shock. Such a stunning talent taken at such a young age. Even if your not a fan of JJ Trek. You can’t deny his acting ability. I for one will miss his performances and I’m sure he will be honoured both at the premiere and in many other ways related to the new film. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office identified the cause of death as “blunt traumatic asphyxia,” and stated that there were “no obvious suspicious circumstances involved.”Federal regulators had previously determined that the shifting system on that Jeep model could confuse drivers and roll away unexpectedly; they had ordered a recall of that model in April. For us fans the best legacy we can give him is to honour his work and enjoy his last performance as Chekov. That’s a great tribute to an actor, enjoy the legacy they leave behind. Remember the man, his humour and his guile. The Star Trek cast in the sky will welcome him into the fold and we will be the better for knowing his amongst friends. | Mid | [
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The efficacy of 5% povidone-iodine for 3 minutes prior to cataract surgery. To evaluate the efficacy of 3 minutes of 5% povidone-iodine for skin and conjunctival antisepsis prior to cataract surgery as recommended by the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons. A prospective controlled study of 54 patients undergoing unilateral cataract surgery by phacoemulsification was undertaken. The eye undergoing surgery was prepared with 5% povidone-iodine for 3 minutes. The other eye served as control. Swabs were taken from both eyes prior to application of 5% povidone-iodine and 3 minutes after. Proportion of culture-positive swabs, mean number of species, and growth of isolates on culture were compared at different times and between the two groups. Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CoNS) was the main species isolated from culture-positive swabs. Use of 5% povidone-iodine for 3 minutes resulted in a statistically significant reduction in proportion of culture-positive swabs (87% vs 30%, p<0.001), mean number of species (0.96-/+0.47 vs 0.30-/+0.46, p<0.001), and growth of CoNS (heavy: 30% vs 0%, moderate: 23% vs 6%, light: 47% vs 94%, p=0.004). No such changes were observed in the control group. Use of 5% povidone-iodine for 3 minutes prior to cataract surgery achieves a significant reduction in organisms such as CoNS from lid and conjunctival flora. | High | [
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Q: Make defined step variation with fmincon function MATLAB I'm using the optimization toolbox "fmincon" of MATLAB, but I'm having the next problem: I have 6 parameters to vary, a couple of them most vary in even numbers, from 4 to 16 (this values can vary, but always will vary in even numbers). So let's define them like this: x1=[4:2:16]; x2=[4:2:16]; Another couple of variables must change between 300 and 1500, in steps of 100, I mean: x3=[300:100:1500]; x4=[300:100:1500]; The last couple just vary between 4 and 6, like these: x5=4:6; x6=4:6; The restriction of the parameters are these: x1<=x2 x3<=x4 x5<=x6 A very important thing here is that the variation that makes fmincon can't make little changes, I mean, the first value of x1 which is 4, can't be 4.0000000001, because in my objective function that changes will make no difference; and there is my problem, because the steps are too little, so the variation will make nothing, and the algorithm stops, saying that there's no variation of the objective function. I have set in the fmincon, DiffMinChange=1, and that works for the first iteration, and them, it starts to make too little steps. This is the initial configuration for fmincon: options1 = optimset('Display','iter',... 'Algorithm','sqp','PlotFcns',@optimplotfval,... 'MaxIter',400,'MaxFunEvals',2000,'DiffMinChange',1); The initial restrictions are: A=[1 -1 0 0 0 0;0 0 1 -1 0 0;0 0 0 0 1 -1]; b=[0;0;0]; To be more clear, what I'm looking for is make 3 ranges, lets defined like these: R1=[x1:2:x2]; R2=[x3:100:x4]; R3=[x5:x6]; EDIT 1: You may to know that each evaluating of the objective function will take about 2-3 hours. As you can see, finally what I'm looking for is the variation of an interval, for that reason the limit in the beginning can't be bigger than the limit in the top, otherwise the rank will be empty. A: I've been reading in a lot of forums, and I found a very interesting solution, I tried and actually it works pretty well. What I found is that there are some differences between the objective functions. What I been trying here is using fmincon, but this function only works for objective functions that changes in all the range, in other words, is differenciable in all the range. But here there is a difference because this function only works with some specific values, and the objective function will be the same if the variation is not significant; in other words, is not differenciable in all the range. What I found, is that there's a function in MATLAB called "patter search", and I tried and I got wonderfull results, It quite similar to fmincon, but it works different. I recomend it for this kind of problems. | Mid | [
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Our locally sourced Lube is essential for a smooth resistance. Your brake pads should have this lube applied to maximum life and proper tension levelsWhen you but both the brake pad and lube together, we give you a water bottle cage free!! an $8.99 value. | Low | [
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Molecular cloning, sequence analyses, and expression of complementary DNA encoding murine progesterone receptor. Progesterone receptors exist in two molecular forms commonly designated as "A" and "B" forms, the relative proportion of which can vary among species. In murine tissues, progesterone receptor exists predominantly as the "A" form which, in mammary glands, is also under developmental regulation [Shyamala et al. (1990) Endocrinology 126, 2882-2889]. Therefore, toward resolving the molecular mechanisms responsible for the predominance of the "A" form of progesterone receptor in murine tissues and its developmental regulation, we have isolated, sequenced, and expressed the complementary DNA corresponding to the mouse progesterone receptor. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed two in-frame ATG codons, such that the largest open reading frame beginning with the first codon could encode a polypeptide with an estimated molecular weight of 99,089, while the shorter open reading frame beginning with the second codon could produce a polypeptide with a calculated molecular weight of 81,829. The murine progesterone receptor had complete identity for the DNA binding domain of human and rabbit progesterone receptors and 99% homology with the chicken progesterone receptor; for the steroid binding domain, it had 96% homology with human and rabbit progesterone receptors and 86% homology with chicken progesterone receptors. Expression of the complete complementary DNA in Chinese hamster ovary cells yielded a protein which bound the synthetic progestin promegestone with an equilibrium dissociation constant of approximately 1 nM, and in Western blot analyses revealed both "A" and "B" forms of immunoreactive receptor. | High | [
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Synthesis and acid-base properties of an imidazole-containing nucleotide analog, 1-(2'-deoxy-β-D-ribofuranosyl)imidazole 5'-monophosphate (dImMP(2-)). Deletion of the substituted pyrimidine ring in purine-2'-deoxynucleoside 5'-monophosphates leads to the artificial nucleotide analog dImMP(2-). This analog can be incorporated into DNA to yield, upon addition of Ag(+) ions, a molecular wire. Here, we measured the acidity constants of H(2)(dImMP)(±) having one proton at N(3) and one at the PO(3)(2-) group by potentiometric pH titrations in aqueous solution. The micro acidity constants show that N(3) is somewhat more basic than PO(3)(2-) and, consequently, the (H·dImMP)(-) tautomer with the proton at N(3) dominates to ca. 75%. The calculated micro acidity constants are confirmed by (31)P- and (1)H-NMR chemical shifts. The assembled data allow many quantitative comparisons, e.g., the N(3)-protonated and thus positively charged imidazole residue facilitates deprotonation of the P(O)(2)(OH)(-) group by 0.3 pK units. Information on the intrinsic site basicities also allows predictions about metal-ion binding; e.g., Mg(2+) and Mn(2+) will primarily coordinate to the phosphate group, whereas Ni(2+) and Cu(2+) will preferably bind to N(3). Macrochelate formation for these metal ions is also predicted. The micro acidity constant for N(3)H(+) deprotonation in the (H·dImMP·H)(±) species (pk(a) 6.46) and the M(n+)-binding properties are of relevance for understanding the behavior of dImMP units present in DNA hairpins and metalated duplexes. | High | [
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a) This special issue, called “BE THE UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL,” puts YOU in control of THE MOST POWERFUL CHARACTER IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE. Will you fight crime and save the day? Or will you be a complete jerk and use her powers to tell everyone off? b) I’m serious: these are actual choices, and you have to make them RIGHT NOW? To be Squirrel Girl and fight crime, turn to c). To be Squirrel Girl and be a jerk instead, turn to e). c) Well, you’re in luck vis-a-vis crime-fighting, because Squirrel Girl is going to be facing off against SWARM, a bad guy made out of bees! And that’s not all. To learn more about the other bad guys she can face, turn to d)! But if INSTEAD you’d like to stop reading this and get excited about this book and maybe order it, please: feel free! d) Nice try, but we’ve got to keep SOME surprises for the book! You decide to definitely buy this comic and see who they are. THE END. e) What? No, why would you even want to be a jerk? Geez, man, maybe this ISN’T the comic for you. Turn to b) and answer better this time! | Low | [
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From solution-phase to solid-phase enyne metathesis: crossover in the relative performance of two commonly used ruthenium pre-catalysts. A crossover in the ability of two distinct ruthenium-based metathesis pre-catalysts to effect the synthesis of dialkenylboronic esters in solution and on the solid-phase was observed. Specifically, while the Grubbs 2nd generation pre-catalyst 3 affords a greater degree of conversion to product than the Hoveyda-Grubbs pre-catalyst 2 in a solution-phase enyne-metathesis reaction, this trend is reversed in the solid-phase variant. Systematic investigation showed this trend to be general, regardless of variations in the homoallylic alcohol and alkynylboronic ester components of the reaction, as well as in the type of solid support employed. Experiments to determine a mechanistic hypothesis for this trend highlighted the significance of the ruthenium remaining bound to the substrate after metathetic rearrangement and found the presence of phosphine ligand to be detrimental to the success of the solid-phase reaction. Therefore, these results suggest an expanded role for phosphine-free pre-catalysts, such as 2, in challenging solid-phase metathesis reactions. | Mid | [
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1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to a front-end part of a motor vehicle. 2. Description of the Related Art DE 10 2008 017 896 A1 discloses a front-end part of a motor vehicle with a front panel that has central and lateral air inlet openings disposed respectively in central and lateral regions of the front panel. A central air-guiding element is positioned behind the central air inlet opening of the front panel and a lateral air-guiding element is positioned behind at least one of the lateral air inlet openings of the front panel. An air scoop is arranged between the central air-guiding element and at least one lateral air-guiding element. The air scoop can be transferred between a pre-installation position and an installation position. The or each air scoop of DE 10 2008 017 896 A1 is folded away from the respective lateral air-guiding element when the respective air scoop is in the pre-installation position and is held by the central air-guiding element. The respective air scoop is folded over to transfer the respective air scoop from the pre-installation position into the installation position, and, in the installation position, can be connected to the respective lateral air-guiding element. An object of the invention is to provide a novel front-end part of a motor vehicle. | Low | [
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Q: SQL Server Management Studio - Shortcut for entering Dates? In SSMS, when editing a row of data in a table, you can press Ctrl+0 to enter a null in the current cell. Is there any shortcut for entering the current date in a cell? A: This page http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175917.aspx has the shortcut documentation for the SQL Table Editor. Under "Results Pane" it specifies the available shortcuts including "Enter null into a cell: CTRL+0". There are no other shortcuts listed that would do what you wish, so I would say you're out of luck with any easy out of the box trick. A: Well, you can add GetDate() as the default value of the column. Then, if you fill in the other fields in a new row, and do nothing in your date field, it will add the current date when saving the new row. EDIT: Another solution, if you are an AutoHotkey user (or want to be) is to create an application-specific hotkey that inserts the current date. FormatTime,CurrentDate,,M/d/yyyy #IfWinActive,Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio ^9::SendInput,%CurrentDate% return You can add {RIGHT} after %CurrentDate% to automatically move to the next cell. You can add h:mm or h:mm tt to the first line to include the current time. | High | [
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Subscribe Posts Tagged ‘sleep disorders’ As we get older we notice many changes to our bodies. The need for reading glasses being one of them. The other one being that we just do not sleep as well as we used to. Well these two issues may very well be connected. In a study done at University of Kansas by Dr. Patricia Turner M. D., “as the eye ages the pupil gets small and the lens absorbs more light. These two issues work together to decrease circadian photoreception” A fancy way of saying the eye is not as able to absorb different spectrums of light then it used to be. So the part of the eye that helps regulate our bodies just does not work as well. This inability to judge absorb adequate light can lead to problems such as insomnia depression, or other issues. So would I bring up this problem if I did not have an answer for you to help you. It appears according to this article that indoor lighting might be a contributor to the problem because it is not as bright and it is heavier on the blue spectrum of light. One thing that might help if you are having issues of insomnia or depression is to go outside. The light outside is brighter it has all the light spectrum so it will allow you to absorb more of the light you need. A second thing you can do is make sure your eyes are as healthy as can be. Go see an optometrist once a year. Lastly if your vision is poor and you seem to be having issues you might want to talk to your doctor about Melatonin supplements. It is always interesting how research seems to prove the ideas our mothers used to tell us. Like go outside and play, you will feel better and sleep better. | Mid | [
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Pages Wednesday, October 30, 2013 How would you like to get your ears pulled through these holes? Good grief! I'm not too crazy about this get-up. I've been chewing on the harness buckle every chance I get! I'm not going to stay in this outfit one minute longer than I have to. I let Mom know I'm not too happy about it. I told her I'm NOT posing for any more pictures! When I first got the dog food, Mom cut the top open so I could have a little sniff. Before ya know it, I had an overwhelming desire to inhale as much food as I could before Mom properly put the food on my plate. These crunchy nuggets are good! They're a bit bigger and more round than what I'm used to. Mom says she likes the size because I have to take the time to chew it better and I don't "woof" it down so fast. Whatever...I just like the taste! Can ya tell? Mom is big on reading the ingredients. Are you? She says that the first several ingredients have to be good for me or it's not going to find it's way to her pantry. Luckily, the ingredients (below) passed her test! Mom usually does a little research about the food she feeds me. The following info made my Mom feel comfortable feeding me this food. Hopefully, it will answer any questions you might have about it. Why did RachaelRay develop a grain-free recipe? Like you, RachaelRay wants the best for furry family members like her Isaboo. That's why she worked with a team of pet nutrition experts to create Nutrish® Zero Grain™, a pet food made with simple, natural ingredients that doesn't contain any grains, glutens or fillers. U.S. farm-raised turkey is always the number one ingredient, as it's easily digestible and may help to avoid an allergic response to food allergies. Carefully selected ingredients like whole potatoes, peas and tapioca are the easily digestible vegetable carbohydrates in Zero Grain. It's a natural and wholesome grain-free food that may be more allergy-friendly for your dog. Plus, Zero Grain is available where you currently shop for your family's groceries, and proceeds benefit Rachael's Rescue™ — an organization that helps animals in need. Why would I want to feed a grain-free food for my dog?Dogs' natural diets are low in grains. And while carbohydrates are an important part of their diet, they shouldn't be the staple of a healthy, balanced dog diet. That's why real meat is the number one ingredient in all RachaelRay Nutrish® foods for dogs. Some dogs also have grain and gluten allergies that can cause skin irritations or other problems. These dogs can benefit from a natural, grain-free and gluten-free diet like Nutrish® Zero Grain™, which removes the grain and gluten allergens. Nutrish® Zero Grain Turkey & Potato Recipe is a natural food that doesn't contain any grains, glutens, by-products, fillers or artificial ingredients, so it may be a more easily digestible and allergy-friendly option for your dog. How do I know RachaelRay Nutrish® Zero Grain™ is safe?RachaelRay Nutrish® foods are made by Ainsworth Pet Nutrition®. Like Rachael, we only want the best for our furry family members. That's why our commitment to safety surpasses anything in the marketplace today. In fact, we are the first pet food manufacturing company in the U.S. to receive a Facilities Food Safety audit rating of "Excellent" from the Safe Quality Foods (SQF) Level II auditing standard in accordance with the Global Food Safety Initiative. Ainsworth Triple Check System: Because we are so committed to pet food safety, we have instituted The Ainsworth Pet Nutrition Triple Check System™. This system allows us to guarantee the safety of our products from the moment we purchase ingredients to the time we ship our products out the door. The Ainsworth Pet Nutrition Triple Check System is just one of the many fundamental things we do every day to ensure we meet our customers' expectations of quality and safety. Check One – Our Commitment to Ingredient Safety: Check One begins with our long-term relationships with our local and domestic suppliers. Our family's team of sourcing experts have carefully chosen each and every one of these suppliers because, like us, they take pride in ensuring their ingredients are not only of the highest quality, but also safe for your pet's overall health and well-being. Check Two – Ensuring Product Accuracy: Check Two works across our entire operational system to ensure accuracy. Our team of experienced and dedicated employees continuously monitors and verifies every step of the production process to ensure precise nutrient and ingredient levels. In addition, our internal laboratory scientists test, analyze and monitor the production process to ensure no harmful toxins or contaminates are introduced from unknown or unanticipated sources. They also verify our Guaranteed Analysis to ensure the same consistency, high quality and nutrition levels exists in each and every bag. Check Three – Our 48-Hour Hold Before Release: Check Three is the final step we take before allowing any food to leave our facilities. Every product is held in our warehouse for 48 hours until safety testing is complete. This step confirms that there is no salmonella present and that nutritional values are accurate in accordance to regulatory and formula standards. How do I switch my dog from his regular food to Zero Grain™? It's easy to switch your pet to Nutrish® Zero Grain™! Slowly mix Zero Grain with his other food over a 5- to 10-day period until your dog is solely eating Nutrish Zero Grain. Once your dog is only eating Nutrish Zero Grain, keep in mind that feeding guidelines on the bag are a guide. Your dog's individual needs will vary based upon his size, his activity level and even his age. And overfeeding is a common source of digestive upset. Be sure to check your dog's weight and adjust feeding levels to maintain a healthy weight. And don't forget to see your vet regularly. I have eaten 3/4 of one bag so far and I'm giving Rachael Ray's new dog food two thumbs paws up! I'll share more about this dog food in November. Have any of you tried the NEW Rachael Ray Nutrish Zero Grain dog food yet? Follow by Email and Never Miss a Post! About Me I guess you could say I'm a late bloomer when it comes to owning a pet. With a nearly empty nest, my husband and I brought home our first little dog Parker on New Year's Day, 2013. He was only 3 months old! He has brought us so much love and joy! I started this blog so I can capture and remember little moments that we have with this sweet little pup. | Low | [
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india Updated: Nov 01, 2019 22:59 IST A biopic and a web series on former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa appeared to be heading for a legal row, with Deepa Jayakumar, the late AIADMK leader’s niece moving the Madras High Court on Friday to restrain the producers. Filmmakers AL Vijay and Telangana producer Vishnuvardhan Induri’s biopic features Bollywood star Kangana Ranaut reprising the AIADMK chief’s role. Deepa, daughter of Jayalalithaa’s brother, also sought to restrain Gowtham Menon from making a web series on Jayalalithaa’s life history on grounds that it might affect her privacy and that of her family. “If the biopic was made on Jayalalithaa, the makers could not avoid the petitioner’s part. In such a case, it may affect the privacy of the petitioner. Also, the petitioner is completely unaware of the screenplay, story, cast and dialogues which are to be used by the respondents to film their biopics and web series,” Deepa’s petition reads. She further charged the respondents, Vijay, Induri and Menon with already finalising the cast and crew. “Jayalalithaa is a great political icon. Before filming her personal and political life Jayalalithaa’s makers should have asked the petitioner’s opinion. However, the filmmakers have fixed the cast for playing Jayalalitha’s role. While Vijay fixed Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut, Gowtham Menon has picked Ramya Krishnan for web series. The filmmakers move shows that they want to go only for their monetary benefits and not concerned about individuals’ privacy,” the petition further pointed out. Deepa’s petition also alleged that the filmmakers could impose their views while filming her aunt’s biopic. “While the makers use their versions in the story, it may depict Jayalalithaa and petitioner’s personal and political privacy,” the petition further contended. Therefore, she sought direction to restrain the biopic and web series on the late Dravidian leader. The court has not set a date for hearing the plea. | Mid | [
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Cancer is a major burden to public health. Anticancer chemotherapy continues to be the most important adjuvant therapy to surgery, but multiple underlying cellular mechanisms complicate the treatment. Even when the treatment is initially effective, genomic instability causes the emergence of drug resistance, which is the most significant challenge in chemotherapy. Our previous research has shown that molecular nanofibers, formed by the self-assembly of innocuous monomers (e.g., D-peptides), selectively inhibit the growth of cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. This discovery promises novel anticancer agents that robustly target cancer cells while sparing normal cells. Particularly, enzyme-instructed molecular nanofibers inhibit several drug-resistant cancer cells (e.g., MES-SA/Dx5, SKOV3, and A2780cis) by mechanisms that differ fundamentally from those of conventional anticancer drugs that largely are based on ligand-receptor interactions. Thus, we propose to explore the enzyme-instructed molecular nanofibers of D-peptides as a paradigm-shifting approach that overcomes drug resistance in cancer. The central hypothesis of this research is that molecular nanofibers of D- peptides, spatiotemporally defined by enzymatic reactions, interact with multiple cellular proteins and interrupt multiple cellular processes to inhibit both drug sensitive and resistant cancer cells. The goal of this work is to elucidate how enzyme-instructed formation of molecular nanofibers of D-peptides inhibits cancer cells and ultimately to develop new nanomedicines to target drug-resistant cancer cells without harming normal cells. Specifically, this proposed research will (i) design and synthesize D-peptides for enzyme-instructed self- assembly to form molecular nanofibers (i.e., enzyme-instructed molecular nanofibers); (ii) evaluate the activity of the enzyme-instructed molecular nanofibers of D-peptides against drug-resistant cancer cells in cell culture;; (iii) identify the cellular location and protein targets of the molecular nanofibers of D-peptides and reveal the cellular processes perturbed by the molecular nanofibers of D-peptides; and (iv) evaluate the activity of the enzyme-instructed molecular nanofibers of D-peptides against drug-resistant cancer cells in ovarian cancer mouse models. This research explores the self-assembly of an underexplored molecular entity, D-peptides, thus providing a new platform for nanomedicine, based on enzyme reactions (rather than enzyme inhibition). We anticipate that this new approach will provide new molecules, novel technologies, and an unprecedented paradigm that will ultimately improve the survivorship of cancer patients. Public Health Relevance The overall goal of this work is to develop an innovative approach for creating molecular medicine to target cancer cells that are resistant to conventional chemotherapy without harming normal cells. Using enzymes to instruct the formation of nanoscale molecular assemblies (e.g., nanofibers) that kill cancer cells selectively, this approach will ultimately lead to a new paradigm of cancer therapy for the millions of people who will need anticancer treatment in the future, and thus improve health of the Nation. | High | [
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Q: Is this pronoun a dummy-it or referring to something? “D’you think he meant you to do it?” said Ron. “Sending you your father’s cloak and everything?” “Well, ” Hermione exploded, “if he did — I mean to say that’s terrible — you could have been killed.” “No, it isn’t,” said Harry thoughtfully. “He’s a funny man, Dumbledore. I think he sort of wanted to give me a chance. I think he knows more or less everything that goes on here, you know. I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try, and instead of stopping us, he just taught us enough to help. I don’t think it was an accident he let me find out how the mirror worked. It’s almost like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I could…” (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) Is ‘it’ refer to something preceding or is it a dummy-it and ‘like-‘ clause is the semantic subject? A: It's almost like is a fixed expression containing a dummy it. This expression is used to indicate that the following proposition seems like it's true without actually stating that it is true. It expresses a strong suspicion or speculation and can be used either when there is no evidence or when the existing evidence seems to make the proposition unlikely or false. In this case, the proposition is: [H]e thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I could... Harry is saying that this proposition seems to be true, but he doesn't know that it's true. He doesn't know what Dumbledore is thinking; he can only speculate. In this expression, the word like can be replaced with as if without changing the meaning. | Mid | [
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Some cliches never die and among the most enduring, on the eve of South Africa's historic World Cup, is of Uruguay as dirty so-and-sos. If those at the heart of the South American team's camp protest that the stereotype is passé and grossly unfair, it nevertheless retains the capacity to aggravate. Oscar Tabárez, the manager, certainly took the bait on the eve of the Group A opener with France at Cape Town's imposing 64,100-capacity Green Point Stadium. The question, when it came from a female Chinese TV reporter, hardly carried an assassin's menace. "Mr Tabárez," she said, in faltering English. "Your team got 48 yellow cards and four red cards in qualifying. Can you explain this?" Tabárez appeared slightly amused when the translation was relayed to him but his answer bristled with defiance. "I knew that this question was going to be asked," he said. "Every time, at a major tournament, we Uruguayans always get asked this. All of the squads have a number of yellow and red cards and I also refer you to our build-up game against Switzerland on 3 March, when we won 3-1. Switzerland had five yellow cards and we were given none. "We are talking about football here and I don't think it's right to interpret with a bias. We have been respectful of all of Fifa's fair play rules and when things don't go our way we have our options but we keep moving forward. Uruguay's ambition is to win but we want a fair game." Tabárez's team undoubtedly have steel but there is silk, too, in the form Diego Forlán and Luis Suárez, the exciting strike partnership. Then there is the 21-year-old midfield prodigy Nicolás Lodeiro of Ajax who, unfortunately, is not expected to start against France but could have an impact off the bench or in later games. Tabárez's mission is not only to guide his country into the knockout phase of the competition but to rebrand their football, to cut through the slurs. With some of the players at his disposal, he has a fighting chance, although it is one thing to behave like angels in a friendly against Switzerland and quite another to remain cool in the prickly heat of a major tournament. The eyes of the world will begin to scrutinise them tonight. As a footnote, the Chinese TV reporter is shaping up as an early media star of the tournament. Consider her question to Raymond Domenech, the France manager. "When a frog is put in boiling water, it doesn't feel the heat until it gets too hot," she said. "How warm is the water for you now?" | Mid | [
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2002 Junior League World Series The 2002 Junior League World Series took place from August 11–17 in Taylor, Michigan, United States. Cartersville, Georgia, USA defeated David, Panama in the championship game. Teams Results United States Pool International Pool Elimination Round References Category:Junior League World Series Junior League World Series | Mid | [
0.6553398058252421,
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56*h - 56*h + 32*h**2 in the form z*h**2 + t + u*h and give z. 126 Express -u - 68 + 1032317962*u**2 + 2*u**4 - 1032317962*u**2 in the form z*u**4 + k*u**2 + v + b*u**3 + p*u and give v. -68 Express (-1642*y - 3390*y + 7803*y)*(0*y + 2*y + 0*y) - 3*y**2 - 2*y**2 + 6*y**2 as a*y**2 + i + t*y and give a. 5543 Express (-2*s - s + 4*s)*(3 + 2 - 3)*(-107 - 96 + 26)*(s + 0*s - 5*s) as h*s + t*s**2 + a and give t. 1416 Express -2*i**3 + 150186*i - 75001*i + 27 - 75109*i + 2*i**2 as c + w*i + b*i**2 + r*i**3 and give b. 2 Express (-90*h + 34*h - 45*h)*(8 - 59 + 9) as p + m*h and give p. 0 Express (31 - 6*j**3 - 31)*(-2*j - 78*j - 46*j)*(-1 + 2 - 4) in the form v*j**4 + o*j**2 + z + f*j + y*j**3 and give v. -2268 Express (-2*i - i + 5*i)*(108 - 48 + 64 + (0 + 3 - 1)*(3 - 2 - 3))*((0 - i + 0)*(1 + 6 - 2) + 6*i - 2*i - i) in the form c*i + l + q*i**2 and give q. -480 Rearrange 374 - 374 - 1110*x + 3244*x to the form q + b*x and give b. 2134 Express (1 - 5 + 2)*(-3*w**3 + 218779 - 218781 + 630*w**3) as j*w + c + z*w**2 + v*w**3 and give v. -1254 Express (-33*d + 5*d**2 + 33*d)*((0 + 0 + 1)*(-2*d - 1 + 1) + (-1 - 2 - 5)*(-3 + 3 + 11*d)) as x*d**3 + b*d + u*d**2 + j and give x. -450 Rearrange (2 - 4447*k**2 - 84*k - 184*k + 4444*k**2)*(16 - 16 - 6*k)*(-3 + 3 + 2*k) to i*k**2 + d*k**3 + a*k + t*k**4 + n and give t. 36 Express (10715*g**2 - 5576*g**2 - 14782*g**2 - 16179*g**2)*(-1 + 1 - 3) in the form c + h*g + w*g**2 and give h. 0 Express (7*w**2 - 5*w + 5*w)*(-4434*w + 1 + 11645*w - 4726*w) as y*w**3 + a + h*w**2 + r*w and give a. 0 Express 3 + 218*b - 651*b - 3 + 332*b in the form v + c*b and give c. -101 Express (0 - 1 + 3)*((22 - 42 + 7)*(69*q + 35*q - 134*q) - 3*q + 2*q - 2*q) as f + p*q and give p. 774 Express -260*w**2 + 518*w**2 + 0 - 2*w + 158*w**3 - 260*w**2 + 4 as q*w**3 + y + n*w**2 + o*w and give o. -2 Rearrange -878*l + 627*l + 3113*l + 999*l + 2217*l to q + z*l and give z. 6078 Rearrange (3*f**3 + 0*f + 0*f)*(-7 + 19*f + 7 + (27 - 24 - 21)*(0*f + 0*f - 2*f)) to the form l*f**3 + i*f**4 + o*f**2 + x*f + c and give i. 165 Rearrange -2755*k - 1492*k + 1494*k - 666*k - 2711*k to v*k + a and give v. -6130 Express 9*o - 149 + 308 + 69*o**4 + o**2 - 19*o**4 + o**3 - 156 as k*o**3 + a*o + x*o**2 + b + y*o**4 and give y. 50 Rearrange m - 2*m + 5*m - 11445 + 447*m + 11445 + (3 - 5 + 1)*(2*m - m + 0*m) to y + x*m and give x. 450 Express (-78*w - 8*w - 16*w)*(-19*w + 32*w - 6*w) as k*w + s + c*w**2 and give c. -714 Rearrange -8*h**3 + h**3 - 14 + 4*h**3 + 3*h - 80 to the form f + z*h**2 + q*h**3 + d*h and give q. -3 Express 7037*t**2 - 98567 + 98567 as o*t**2 + y*t + s and give o. 7037 Express v**2 - 9*v + 3*v - 23 + 0 - 269 + 12 in the form i*v**2 + b*v + q and give b. -6 Rearrange 5*k - 499 + 2*k - 6*k + 527 - 3*k**2 - k**3 to t*k**2 + o + r*k + q*k**3 and give o. 28 Express (3*s**2 + 2*s**2 - 3*s**2)*(-4 + 1 + 0)*(3 + 2 + 0)*(1405*s + 6948 - 6948) as c + k*s**2 + b*s + o*s**3 and give o. -42150 Express -14*w + 25*w - 759*w**2 - 1245*w**2 - 11*w as z*w**2 + j*w + u and give j. 0 Express -804 + 6*z**2 - 795 + 1516 in the form x*z + b*z**2 + t and give t. -83 Express (2 + 2 - 10*u + 13*u)*(4 + 1 - 1)*(-107 - 7*u**2 - 113 + 216) as h*u**3 + g*u + n + q*u**2 and give q. -112 Express ((-1 + 2 - 3)*(-k + 0*k + 0*k) + 24*k - 1062 + 1062 + 2*k + k + 10 - 4*k)*(-2 - 2 + 9) as g + u*k and give u. 125 Express (2*w - 2 + 2)*(-26*w + 84 - 9 - 27) as m*w + f*w**2 + d and give f. -52 Express (-10*q**2 + 10*q**2 + 3*q**3)*(-151 - 23 - 30) as r*q + p*q**3 + h + n*q**2 and give p. -612 Rearrange (65*q**3 + q - 67*q**3 - 8*q)*(-548*q + 849*q + 1347*q + 83*q + 1211*q) to the form x*q**3 + a*q**2 + d*q + o + t*q**4 and give a. -20594 Rearrange (-1 - 17 - 1)*(4*f + 8*f + 3*f) - 1 - 2*f + 1 + (-f - 3*f - 4*f)*(2 + 1 - 5) to g*f + n and give n. 0 Rearrange 20 - 4 + 2*u**2 - 39 + (14 - 5 + 8)*(-u**2 - u**2 + 0*u**2) to the form f*u**2 + v + r*u and give f. -32 Express (608 + 606 - 23)*(1 + 0 - 2*b**2 + 1) + 20*b**2 + 33*b - 33*b - 2*b**2 - 2*b**2 + 6*b**2 as i*b**2 + u + y*b and give u. 2382 Rearrange -53*q + 2*q + q**3 + 6*q - 34*q**2 + 20*q to n*q**3 + u*q + i*q**2 + p and give u. -25 Rearrange 3*g**2 + 3*g + 685 + g**2 - 3*g**2 - 3*g**2 - 715 to the form k*g**2 + t*g + y and give k. -2 Express 802*h**2 - 17 - 3 - 783*h**2 - 2 as w*h + t*h**2 + r and give w. 0 Express -383*z**2 + 175*z**2 + 939*z**2 + (-2*z + 2 - 2)*(0 + 0 - z) as n + p*z + y*z**2 and give y. 733 Express 215 - 214 + 5*h - 67*h + 4*h - 54*h in the form r*h + j and give r. -112 Rearrange -85046*w**3 - 3*w**2 + 0*w**2 + 84083*w**3 to y*w**2 + h + f*w + u*w**3 and give y. -3 Express -1581*t - 854*t + 808*t - 771*t as r*t + i and give r. -2398 Rearrange (4877*v**2 + 3594*v**2 - 3575*v**2)*(0 + 0 + v) to the form r*v + d + q*v**3 + b*v**2 and give b. 0 Rearrange 0*b**4 + 18*b**2 + 3*b**4 - 38*b**2 + b**3 + 8*b**2 - 5*b + 2 + 65*b**2 to j*b**3 + x + r*b**2 + l*b + v*b**4 and give v. 3 Rearrange -37 - 37 + 74 + 9041*f + 2599*f to w*f + u and give w. 11640 Rearrange (-2*k + k + 3*k)*(260 + 212 + 137 - 2*k)*(k - k + 2*k) to c*k + f + m*k**3 + g*k**2 and give g. 2436 Rearrange (0*b - 2*b + 4*b)*(-1936*b + 1073*b + 1091*b)*(-2 - 1 + 5) to a + y*b + p*b**2 and give p. 912 Express -4*n + 30340013 + 0*n**2 + 0*n**2 - 6*n**3 - 30340083 in the form y + h*n**3 + g*n + w*n**2 and give y. -70 Express -5*u**2 + 297 + 27*u - 309 - 27*u in the form i*u + r + t*u**2 and give t. -5 Rearrange -42 - 20*s + 159 - 401 - 232 + 22*s + s**2 to x*s + w*s**2 + o and give x. 2 Express (-1 - 192*k**2 + 1 + 5*k**2 + 0)*(-24291*k - 245*k**2 + 24291*k) in the form g + u*k**2 + i*k + s*k**4 + y*k**3 and give s. 45815 Rearrange -38 - 454*v + 907*v + 4*v**2 + 2*v**3 - 10 - 455*v to the form f*v**2 + p + s*v + i*v**3 and give i. 2 Rearrange 95*g**3 - 17*g - 106*g**3 + 152*g**2 - 2 + 75*g - 57*g to the form o*g**3 + w + d*g + z*g**2 and give w. -2 Rearrange 7253 + t**2 - 17*t**3 - 42*t**3 + 13*t - 7252 to y*t**2 + x*t + z*t**3 + k and give y. 1 Rearrange 6898*p + 2602*p + 1475*p + 1815*p to the form d + g*p and give g. 12790 Rearrange (-98*v + 52 - 52)*(155*v**3 + 53 - 24 - 29) to the form g*v**4 + k*v + u*v**2 + n*v**3 + y and give y. 0 Rearrange -141*z**4 + 2*z**3 + 11*z**2 + 276*z**4 + 1 + 15*z - 13*z**2 - 128*z**4 + 6*z**2 to the form d*z**2 + l*z**4 + o*z**3 + x + u*z and give x. 1 Rearrange 0*m**2 - 9*m - 730*m**3 - 10*m + 3*m**2 - 9*m + 29*m to b + z*m**3 + g*m + a*m**2 and give a. 3 Express ((3 + h - 3)*(2 + 4 + 1) + 2*h + 0*h - 3*h)*(5 - 70 + 35 - 83) in the form p*h + n and give p. -678 Express -118*g - 1573 + 535 + 525 + 523 in the form s + d*g and give s. 10 Rearrange -109*o + 75*o - o**4 + o**3 + 35*o to g + v*o**3 + d*o**2 + a*o**4 + b*o and give a. -1 Express -17*n**2 + 18*n**2 + 440 - 154 + 32 + 4*n**3 in the form d + i*n**3 + g*n**2 + o*n and give g. 1 Rearrange 1540*c - 825*c + 12 - 824*c to t*c + p and give t. -109 Rearrange -323 + 1765*a - 1768*a - 51 - 28 to j*a + v and give j. -3 Rearrange -2 + 42*i**2 + 27*i**2 + 51*i**2 + 15*i - 13*i - 86*i**2 to f*i**2 + g*i + b and give g. 2 Express (40*i - 40*i + 4*i**3)*((-1 - 1 + 4)*(2*i - i - 8*i) - i + i + 4*i) in the form n + l*i**2 + v*i**3 + z*i**4 + a*i and give z. -40 Express 905 - 1758*u + 2*u**3 + 1757*u + 19*u**2 - 927 in the form g + j*u + z*u**2 + k*u**3 and give k. 2 Express -898229 + 3*f + 43*f**4 + 898231 - 3*f**2 + 5*f**2 as s*f**4 + a*f**3 + k*f**2 + q*f + y and give y. 2 Express -312 - 308 + 936 - 510*z - 316 in the form i + r*z and give r. -510 Express -226*b**2 - 196*b**4 + 65*b**4 + 66*b**4 - 2 + 66*b**4 - 4*b**3 - 1 as a*b**2 + x*b**3 + p*b**4 + n*b + c and give p. 1 Express 6476 + 15*o**4 + 7*o**2 - 6476 + (-o**2 + 2*o**2 - 2*o**2)*(-3*o**2 - 2*o**2 + 3*o**2) as y + t*o**3 + c*o**2 + a*o + l*o**4 and give c. 7 Express -30*r - 856 + 284 + 283 + 289 in the form b*r + t and give b. -30 Rearrange (127 + 77 + 48 - 23)*(9*v + 10*v**2 - 338 + 338) to r*v**2 + j*v + w and give r. 2290 Express -2176*p - 5175*p + 12586*p as k*p + g and give k. 5235 Rearrange -44*d**3 + 32*d + 316*d + d**2 + d**4 + 43*d**3 to the form k*d + z*d**3 + r + m*d**4 + f*d**2 and give z. -1 Rearrange 38*s**2 - 35*s**2 + 2 - 3*s**2 - 3*s + 12*s**3 to the form v*s**3 + g*s**2 + b + m*s and give v. 1 | Low | [
0.47268907563025203,
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Search canberratimes: Search in: A Newcastle boy with three mums challenges Abbott's stance on gay marriage Joanne McCarthy Orlando Burcham,11, with his mum Cordelia Troy, wrote to Tony Abbott about his mum, who is gay, asking why the PM is against gay marriage. Photo: Dean Osland Orlando Burcham is 11 years old, has three mums, wants to be prime minister one day, and is something of a global phenomenon after giving Tony Abbott a piece of his mind on the subject of gay marriage. The Prime Minister, according to the Cessnock primary school student, is wrong. Orlando wants to meet him to tell him so – boy to man. ‘‘He just doesn’t understand. If he’s Prime Minister, he should understand,’’ he said. Orlando Burcham's open letter to Tony Abbott asking the PM to reconsider his stance on gay marriage. Photo: Dean Osland Orlando’s letter to Mr Abbott and the reply he received last week went viral after his mother, Cessnock councillor and Liberal branch vice-president Cordelia Troy, put them on her Facebook page. Advertisement His harsh assessment of Mr Abbott’s opposition to gay marriage – ‘‘You were elected to represent our country, not yourself’’ – was lead the news item on Australian and international websites, including the prestigious US online site The Huffington Post. Orlando’s challenge to Mr Abbott – ‘‘Doesn’t our opinions matter to you? Just because you’re the Prime Minister, which by the way does not give you all the power’’ – became a rallying cry for Australian supporters of gay marriage. The Prime Minister's reply to Orlando Burcham. Photo: Dean Osland Any suggestion that Orlando’s mother, who flew to New York last year to marry wife Marissa, was behind the letter was scotched yesterday when Orlando calmly handled media interviews, and repeated that Mr Abbott needed to update his belief that marriage was restricted to a man and a woman. ‘‘He just didn’t think it through. That’s what he needs to do as Prime Minister – think things through,’’ Orlando said. As for Mr Abbott’s famous admission in 2010 that he felt ‘‘a bit threatened’’ by homosexuality, Orlando was dismissive. Orlando Burcham Photo: Dean Osland ‘‘I think that’s idiotic. How could you be threatened about it? ‘‘There’s no reason,’’ he said. He wrote the letter six weeks ago while his twin sister, Ocean, wrote a letter to a bus company praising a bus driver. Gay marriage was an important issue for him, because he was sad and angry his mother had to leave the country to wed, he said. He wrote it ‘‘because I’m supporting her and encouraging her to make changes’’. Ocean did not get a response from the bus company. However, Orlando received a signed letter from the Prime Minister, thanking him for his views, and noting that: ‘‘Ongoing dialogue between government and citizens keeps our democracy strong.’’ Orlando was happy for that ongoing dialogue to continue yesterday. ‘‘He’s an all-right Prime Minister, but I’m not entirely happy with his decisions,’’ he said. ‘‘His sister is gay. What kind of a brother is he?’’ Cr Troy said she was extremely proud of her ‘‘beautiful son’’ for raising ‘‘an issue that needs to be looked at’’. Orlando said he was happy to have three ‘‘mums’’ – Ms Troy, her wife Marissa, and his father’s wife. ‘‘It’s awesome,’’ he said, and gave a reason only an 11-year-old boy could get away with: ‘‘They’re very good cooks.’’ | High | [
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Sunnyside puts moratorium on dance hall license applications An attempt to re-open the Venus dance hall after a two-year hiatus prompted the Sunnyside City Council last night to impose a moratorium on all new applications for dance halls. Monday night's action follows a series of incidents over the past several weeks in which owners of the Venus hall, situated on Scoon Road next to Sunnyside RV Park, attempted to re-open the dance hall. Things came to a head recently when city code officials were going to allow the hall to re-open despite the fact that not all conditions were met. Martin and Peggy Beeler own the RV park and have told the city council about noise and drinking at the Venus hall in the past that led to several stops there by Sunnyside police. Last night, Peggy Beeler told council of an incident just the other night when a car without a muffler drove around the dance hall and RV park area at 2 a.m. To make things worse, the driver of the car got out and went to the bathroom right in front of the RV park. Beeler said there are families and children staying at the park. "That's not something you would want to see happen," she said. The complaints and ensuing discussion prompted the city to call for a moratorium on new dance halls. The issue, says City Manager Eric Swansen, is that existing code does not take into account neighboring property uses. For example, the existing buildings known as dance or "cabaret halls" are in places near industrial areas, such as the Sunnyside Eagles lodge. Venus hall, though, is in a residential area, impacting other residents besides the Beelers. Swansen said it's time for the city to take a step back and evaluate how to make sure dance halls are not placed in residential areas or areas that would be incompatible with existing uses. One idea under consideration is to impose conditional use permits that would make it necessary for an annual review of the dance hall use of a property. The moratorium is the third in less than year in Sunnyside, all imposed since Swansen became city manager. The other moratoriums were related to adult entertainment and new developments near the Sunnyside airport. The dance hall moratorium is effective until Oct. 19. Next step for the dance hall issue is the Sunnyside Planning Commission, which will consider the issue before forwarding an eventual recommendation on to council. | Mid | [
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As resorts fight for customers on the Strip in the flashiest ways imaginable, a different sort of competition quietly unfolds on loading docks at the back of the house. Glen Cooper of Republic Services recycles cardboard at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on Thursday. Traditional items like glass, paper and plastic are recycled from the hotel waste bins, while grease and linens are collected too. Last year, 42,000 gallons of grease were recycled in animal feed and biodiesel while 120,000 pounds of linen were donated to animal shelters. (Samantha Clemens/Las Vegas Review-Journal) As resorts fight for customers on the Strip in the flashiest ways imaginable, a different sort of competition quietly unfolds on loading docks at the back of the house. There, workers sift through bags of trash from the rooms, restaurants and casinos, culling and sorting reusable items from a shrinking stream of landfill waste. A recycling arms race has broken out among the city’s gaming giants, and the battle for green supremacy continues to grow. MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and Las Vegas Sands Corp. all have company-wide sustainability efforts and dedicated staff members who get paid to look for new ways to trim waste, cut water and power use and save money. Much of the focus lately has been on boosting recycling, and it goes far beyond the usual bins of paper, glass and aluminum. Thousands of tons of leftover food is fed to pigs at a valley farm or turned into compost. Used shampoo bottles and bars of soap are sent to impoverished countries. Old plastic room keys and loyalty club cards are turned into picture frames or siding. Wine corks are reprocessed into sandals. Empty beer and liquor bottles are crushed and reconstituted as decorative blocks. Partial rolls of toilet paper are recycled into new rolls of toilet paper. Caesars Entertainment is even launching a small pilot program to send cigarette butts to a recycler that wants the leftover tobacco and the plastic in the filters. MGM’s chief sustainability officer, Cindy Ortega, said the company has more than tripled its recycling rate since 2007 through a concerted effort that has touched every department and each of the company’s 62,000 employees worldwide. “It’s not easy being green. Kermit has it right,” she said. All three gaming companies will be rolling out new programs and touting their eco-friendly advances Friday as part of America Recycles Day, a nationwide event founded in 1997 to promote and celebrate recycling. A decade ago or so, recycling on the Strip “just wasn’t happening,” said Len Christopher, who heads up the recycling division of Republic Services of Southern Nevada, the valley’s trash company. “Now I have trouble coming up with a property that isn’t recycling.” The gaming companies aren’t doing these things out of the goodness of their hearts. There is real money in recycling. “Everything ties back to the bottom line,” said Lindsay Garcia, sustainability and public affairs manager for Caesars Entertainment. “We’re seeing astronomical savings with every program we roll out.” The resorts are also under increasing pressure from their customers to cut down on waste, especially on the convention side of the business. Companies searching for a place to hold their annual meetings now use the sustainability of the venue as one their selection criteria. Jeffrey Ruskowitz, a utility engineer for Caesars Entertainment, said the company’s sustainability program has sparked internal competition as individual properties try to out-recycle and out-conserve each other. As a result, the company as a whole reduced the total amount of waste it sent to landfills by roughly 25 percent last year and is on pace to push that so-called diversion rate even higher this year. Caesars’ long-term goal is to send at least half of all its waste to someplace other than a landfill by 2020. MGM Resorts expects to hit that number by next year and is at almost 44 percent now. Sands has already surpassed that with an average diversion rate of over 55 percent at The Venetian and Palazzo and almost 80 percent at the Sands Expo and Convention Center. And no one seems content to stop there. “I think 70 percent (company wide) is achievable,” Ortega said. Local environmental advocates are encouraged but said there is more to be done. “I think what the hotels are doing is good,” said Tara Pike-Nordstrom, recycling manager and sustainability coordinator for UNLV. “They need to bump up our image. I would like to go somewhere and tell people where I’m from and not have them say, ‘You’re from Las Vegas? You guys waste a lot.’” Jane Feldman is conservation chairwoman for the Sierra Club in Southern Nevada. As a next step, she would like to see more recycled materials stay in the valley instead of being shipped out of state or overseas. To make that happen, state and local leaders must find a way to attract what she called “remanufacturing companies” to set up shop here and start making products out of what we throw away. As it is now, the majority of the recyclable material collected on the Strip — and everywhere else for that matter — ends up on ships bound for China. “The joke we like to make is that we send it over there, and Wal-Mart is kind enough to make it into toys and send it back,” Christopher said. Contact Henry Brean at [email protected] or 702-383-0350. You can find him on Twitter at @RefriedBrean. | Mid | [
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Inauthentic: The Anxiety over Culture and Identity Inauthentic: The Anxiety over Culture and Identity Inauthentic: The Anxiety over Culture and Identity Synopsis Modern and contemporary cultures are increasingly marked by an anxiety over a perceived loss of authentic cultural identity. In this book, Vincent J. Cheng examines why we still cling to notions of authenticity in an increasingly globalized world that has exploded notions of authentic essence and absolute differences. Who is "authentic" and who is "other" in a given culture? Who can speak for the "other?" What do we mean by authenticity? These are critical questions that today's world--brought closer together and yet pulled farther apart by globalism and neocolonialism--has been unable to answer. Inauthentic compellingly probes these issues through revealing case studies on the pursuit of authenticity and identity. Each chapter explores the ways in which we construct "authenticity" in order to replace seemingly vacated identities, including: the place of minorities in academia; mixed-race dynamics; the popularity of Irish culture in America; the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland; Jewish American identity; the status of Jewish America in relation to Israel and Palestine; the cultural problems of international adoptions; and the rapidly changing nature of the Asian American population in the United States. Inauthentic combines the scholarly and the personal, informed argument and human interest. It will undoubtedly appeal to academic scholars, as well as to a broader reading audience. | Mid | [
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Battle for the A-9 highway The Battle for the A-9 highway was fought in March and April 2000 for the control of the Sri Lankan A-9 highway. Background The A-9 highway connected the Sri Lankan capital with the northern Jaffna peninsula. More importantly, the Elephant Pass military base, was the only land route for Jaffna. If the rebels were going to surround Elephant Pass they would have to take the north-south highway. Battle On March 27, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or Tamil Tigers, (LTTE), attacked the north-south highway. LTTE rebels attacked a coastal army base with a combined land and amphibious assault. The navy shot up the LTTE flotilla of small boats, but the ground attack continued. Heavy fighting continued into the night. On March 28, the LTTE offensive was closing in on a four-base government complex. By next morning those bases fell. Several SLA tanks were also captured. By March 30, the Tigers took another government base and managed to cut the A-9 highway. At this point, thousands of civilian refugees had fled the area. The air force had been hitting rebel columns caught in the open while the navy had prevented the rebels from landing reinforcements along the coast. By April 3, the LTTE continued to hold a four kilometer stretch of the A-9 highway. However, more army reinforcements were coming in by air and sea, air strikes and navy ships were also hitting the rebels hard, stalling the LTTE offensive. On April 11, the army managed, after two weeks of heavy fighting, to retake the A-9 highway and clear all rebel positions from it. On April 18, however, the LTTE renewed its offensive on the A-9. And the next day they cut the A-9 highway again. By the next day all remaining SLA troops were in retreat toward the Elephant Pass military base, which was coming under heavy rebel artillery fire. Thus the operation to take the highway was a success for the Tigers and this led to more success in the battle for Elephant Pass, which fell three days later. See also List of Sri Lankan Civil War battles References Category:Conflicts in 2000 Category:2000 in Sri Lanka Category:Battles of Eelam War III Category:March 2000 events in Asia Category:April 2000 events in Asia | High | [
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Share this: This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. Members of the Guatemalan Red Cross arrive at the children's shelter Virgen de la Asuncion after a fire at the facility killed at least 19 people, in San Jose Pinula on March 8, 2017. (Credit: Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty Images) Members of the Guatemalan Red Cross arrive at the children's shelter Virgen de la Asuncion after a fire at the facility killed at least 19 people, in San Jose Pinula on March 8, 2017. (Credit: Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty Images) Twenty-one people — mostly teenage girls — were killed after a fire tore through a youth home in San Jose Pinula, Guatemala, on Wednesday. The blaze started when some of the youths in the Virgen de la Asunción Safe Home set fire to a mattress on their way to breakfast, said Abner David Paredes Cruz, the attorney for Guatemala’s Human Rights office. Nineteen female residents of the home — all between the ages of 13 and 17 — were killed in the blaze, the country’s National Civil Police told CNN en Espanol. Video from the scene showed sobbing family members outside the home, banging on the doors, looking for loved ones. A cook at the home was also killed, along with one other person. It wasn’t immediately clear if the 21st victim was a resident of the youth home. The fire, which began around 9 a.m. injured 37 other minors, according to the Public Ministry; the National Civil Police said 11 of the victims were seriously injured. Support Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales pledged his support to the families of the victims and to those who had been injured, and said the director of the home has been fired. An investigation into the center has also been ordered. Guatemala’s attorney general, Thelma Aldana, had already threatened to shut down the home late last year when close to 40 teens escaped. General prosecutor Anabella Morfin said her office was working on “deinstitutionalizing” the center, by reducing the number of treated youths from 720 to 580. Care home The facility houses minors who have suffered physical, psychological and sexual violence, or who have mild disabilities. Some residents have been abandoned, addicted to drugs, or been victims of trafficking, the Guatemalan government said. Human rights groups criticized the home in the past, saying it was overcrowded and was lacking in specialized care for residents. “It’s a terrible event, what happened, and more terrible that this could be avoided,” Morfín said. ‘Just unimaginable’ Guatemala’s volunteer fire brigade posted a photo on social media that showed charred bodies partially covered with blankets spread across the floor. Some parents gathered at a morgue in Guatemala City. “I don’t know how this came to pass but this is just unimaginable … that my daughter would be incinerated. But I have faith in God that there will be justice,” Dacia Marcela Ramirez Soza told CNN. Sobbing, she said she was told at the youth home that her daughter died in the fire. She identified her body at the morgue. “It’s just not possible, this tragedy, and the violation of human rights … it’s sad,” Ramirez Soza said. Other parents feared their children were among the dead. “I am hurting as a mother because she does not deserve this. I gave her advice. I hope that it is not her,” Carolina Juarez, whose daughter was in the home, told AFP. Morfín said her office “has the duty to protect and represent children and adolescent and those vulnerable and that lack representation.” “We cannot recover those lives but we can analyze the system, make it transparent,” Secretary of Welfare Carlos Rodas said. “That it is not about egos, it is not about personalities,” he added. “These are boys and girls, teenagers.” | Mid | [
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Q: Why isn't the acceleration at the top point of a ball’s journey zero? When I shoot a ball vertically upward, its velocity is decreasing since there is a downward acceleration of about $9.8\,\mathrm{ms}^{-2}$. I have read that at the top most point, when $v = 0$, the acceleration is still $9.8\,\mathrm{ms}^{-2}$ in the downward direction where $v=0$. That is, the acceleration is still the same. But at the highest point, the ball is stationary, so it is not even moving. How can it accelerate? A: You throw the ball upwards with velocity $v$ and it returns to your hand with velocity $-v$. Let's draw a graph showing the velocity as a function of time: Acceleration is defined as: $$ a = \frac{dv}{dt} $$ so it is the gradient of the line in this graph. The velocity-time line is straight so the gradient is constant which means the acceleration is constant. The gradient is just the gravitational acceleration $9.81$ m/s$^2$. The point is that the gradient, and hence the acceleration, does not depend on $v$ at all. So it is the same value of $9.81$ m/s$^2$ when $v = 0$ just as it is at all other values of $v$. | High | [
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Effect of intrathecal glucocorticoids on the central glucocorticoid receptor in a rat nerve ligation model. Despite widespread use, the efficacy of neuraxial glucocorticoids for neuropathic pain is subject to debate. Since most glucocorticoid actions are mediated through its receptor, we explored the effects of intrathecal methylprednisolone acetate (MPA) on total glucocorticoid receptor (tGR) levels and activation of the glucocorticoid receptor (phosphorylated state=pGR) within the spinal dorsal horn (SDH) and dorsal root ganglion (DRG) in a spinal nerve ligation (SNL) model in rats. Rats received unilateral ligation of the L5/L6 spinal nerves and were treated with two intrathecal doses of either 400μg MPA or 0.9% saline with a 72-h interval. Plantar tactile thresholds were measured over time. Seven days after drug treatment, DRG and SDH were harvested to assess tGR and pGR levels using immunohistochemistry and qPCR. Allodynia, defined by lowered tactile withdrawal thresholds after SNL, was unaltered by intrathecal MPA. In saline controls, mRNA levels of tGR did not change after SNL in the DRGs or SDH. tGR and pGR protein levels in the SDH however, significantly increased on the ipsilateral side of SNL compared to the contralateral side and to naïve tissue. When treating rats with MPA, tGR mRNA levels were significantly reduced in the SDH compared to saline controls. tGR and pGR protein levels, however were not significantly lower compared to saline controls. In intrathecal MPA treated rats, tGR mRNA levels decreased after SNL. However this did not result in lower tGR and pGR protein levels compared to saline controls, and did not decrease ligation-induced mechanical hypersensitivity. Intrathecal MPA treatment after SNL did not result in lower tGR and pGR levels within the SDH and DRG compared to saline controls. In present study we did not differentiate between the various isoforms of the GR which might clarify this finding. | Mid | [
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1 of 2 Next » With just six days to go until the NHL Trade Deadline, it’s known that the New York Rangers will be heavy sellers and the Colorado Avalanche will be buyers. With that said, Joe Sakic and the Colorado front office should look to none other than Jeff Gorton and company. With the recent injuries to first string star goaltender Philipp Grubauer, forward Matt Calvert, and the potentially season ending loss of elite first-line winger Mikko Rantanen, the Avalanche are desperate to fill in those missing pieces. It just happens to be that the New York Rangers possess a plethora of players on the trade block that fulfill Colorado’s needs. With Chris Kreider, Ryan Strome, Jesper Fast, and Alexandar Georgiev. all valuable options, we must look at just how valuable shipping one off would be to the Rangers. Note: I will not be addressing rumors or assuming every player that may or may not be dealt by the Rangers, but rather looking at the possible pieces that can be sent to Colorado and only Colorado in exchange for a respectful return. Chris Kreider Chris Kreider is the biggest fish on the trading block right now. Every contender in the NHL wants to acquire someone like Kreider. The grit, speed, size, and all around skill is an incredible asset in the playoffs. Elliotte Friedman of TSN recently reported “All the contenders from Colorado to Boston to St. Louis to Pittsburgh are all believed to be interested in [Kreider]. … Teams don’t believe, right now, the Rangers have made him available, but they are waiting to see if they decide they can’t keep him, and they want to trade him, there is a ton of interest.” Despite reports that the Blueshirts and Kreider have begun contract discussions, such talks probably quieted down or fully ended when Tyler Toffoli, the Kings right winger, was shipped to Vancouver. The return for Los Angeles of Tim Schaller, a high end prospect, and a 2nd round pick plus a conditional fourth was an absolutely tremendous haul. No disrespect towards Toffoli who is a solid player and a Stanley Cup champion in his own right, but in my opinion, Kreider’s speed, size, skill, and veteran presence are so crucial to a contending team such as the Avalanche. RELATED PRODUCT New York Rangers Floral Button Up Shirt - L Buy Now! Sorry to any hopeful fans, but it makes absolutely zero sense to keep Chris Kreider anymore. When the Ranger’s chances of making a playoff push are slim to none, and with a likely tremendous haul by letting him go, it just seems like we need to say good bye once and for all to Kreids. celebrates a second period goal Ryan Strome The answer to why “Stromer” needs to be looked at as a possible trade asset is simple for three reasons. He is having a career year in which he is on pace for upwards of 70 points and that is large in thanks to playing alongside Artemi Panarin. Ryan Strome is a very good player, but not a 70 point player, and now is the time to sell high on the 26-year-old. Is Ryan Strome a solid player? Yes, but he is also a replaceable one. Up and down the lineup, without even including a possible asset from Colorado, there are guys that can fill that center spot with Panarin on the wing. Whether it’s Zibanejad, Chytil, or even Gregg Mckegg, there are viable options on the table. Ryan Strome is set to become a restricted free agent this offseason, and to be frank, resigning an average player who is going to ask upwards of $5 million a year, it just isn’t worth it. Jesper Fast #17 of the New York Rangers takes the puck + Jesper Fast Most of us love Jesper Fast for what his role on this team is. He’s a fiery, hard-working, do it all for the team kind of the guy. And this season, he has been rewarded by being put on the second line and also setting career high numbers. Unfortunately, his time might, and I mean might, be over on Broadway. A free agent after the season, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to see him as a part of the organizations future. He’s a checking line player–someone who sets the game’s tone and will go to every puck no matter who he’s matched up against. Now tell me, what does every playoff team looking for a run need? You guessed it, a checking line player–someone who sets the game’s tone and will go to every puck no matter who he’s matched up against. Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers tends net against the New York Islanders + Let me make myself very, very clear. Henrik Lundqvist is a Ranger and will be a New York Ranger until his contract expires at the end of next season. There is no trade or buyout happening anytime and the man will stay on Broadway until he retires. With that said, let’s talk about the goaltender who will most definitely not be wearing a Rangers sweater post deadline in Alexandar Georgiev. Any true hockey fan knows that to win in the playoffs a team must have a hot, reliable goaltender. And while the Avalanche have one of the most skilled lineups in the NHL, with Philip Grubauer out, backup Pavel Francouz is not the man Colorado needs between the pipes come April. To those who would like to counter saying that Francouz’ 2.51 GAA and 13-5-3 this season are really good numbers, you are absolutely right… while forgetting one whole important detail. He has appeared in a total of 25 NHL games and transitioning from a full-time backup to a playoff starter isn’t improbable, it’s essentially impossible. If Joe Sakic doesn’t go out and try heavily to trade for Alexander Georgiev, who has posted a career save percentage of .914 and a record of 32-29-6 while basically splitting starts with a Hall of Famer and playing behind an analytically historically bad defense in his first year, I think the Avalanche are slightly crazy. Alexandar Georgiev is a borderline starter in this league, and with Igor Shesterkin already crowned as the organization’s #1 net-minder, getting a deal to send Georgie over to the Av’s is a dream come true. Not only do the Rangers rid of a goaltending conundrum, but Jeff Gorton holds so much leverage here as Colorado is in such desperate need of a starting netminder. | Mid | [
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<?php if(!defined('MAC_ROOT')){ exit('Access Denied'); } if($method!='') { $m = be('get','m'); $f= $method; $s= substr($m,strpos($m,'.'),strlen($m)-strpos($m,'.')); $path = MAC_ROOT_TEMPLATE.'/label_'.$f.$s; if(file_exists($path)){ $tpl->P['cp'] = 'app'; $tpl->P['cn'] = $m.$tpl->P['pg']; echoPageCache($tpl->P['cp'],$tpl->P['cn']); $db = new AppDb($MAC['db']['server'],$MAC['db']['user'],$MAC['db']['pass'],$MAC['db']['name']); $tpl->H = loadFile($path); $tpl->mark(); $tpl->pageshow(); } else{ showErr('System','未找到指定自定义页面'); } } else { showErr('System','未找到指定系统模块'); } ?> | Low | [
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Having worked as a doorman in a Westport bar off and on for 12 years I know the evil that men can do. Educate your daughters and women in your life. Knowing our surroundings may come second nature to some but it's a skill that needs to be taught as well. | Mid | [
0.641148325358851,
33.5,
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[Brain catecholamines and the hypothalamo-hypophyseal-adrenocortical system in hereditary arterial hypertension]. Central catecholaminergic mechanisms regulating hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical system (HPAS) and arterial blood pressure (ABP) are closely related. In adult rats with inherited stress-induced arterial hypertension (ISIAH rats), response of the HPAS to emotional stress is diminished. At the same time, the level and metabolic rate of noradrenaline (NA) in many brain regions taking part in the HPAS and ABP control are decreased, and the number of alpha 1-adrenoceptors in the medulla is elevated. Age-dependent changes and interstrain differences in basal and stress-induced plasma corticosterone levels and brain noradrenaline were studied at the age from 2 up to 18 weeks in ISIAH rats and normotensive Wistar rats. It was found that the 4th week of life in the ISIAH rats is a critical period in the development of inherited hypertension. At this time, fast forming of the hypertension is accompanied by an increase in adrenocortical stress responsivity and a fall in the medulla and hypothalamic NA contents. A short-term augmentation of the brain NA synthesis on the 4th week by L-DOPA and carbidopa treatment in the ISIAH rats was followed by a normalization of the arterial pressure and pituitary-adrenocortical function in adult animals accompanied by restoration of hypothalamic and medulla NA levels and medulla alpha 1-adrenoceptor number. | Mid | [
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Dipyridamole test in angina pectoris: diagnostic value and pathophysiological implications. The value of the dipyridamole test (0.75 mg/kg i.v.) in the diagnosis of angina pectoris was studied in 54 patients with angina pectoris (35 with angina on effort associated or not associated with rest angina and 19 with angina only at rest) and in 12 control subjects. The test induced electrocardiographic signs of ischemia (positive test) in 74% of patients with angina on effort, while it was negative in all cases with angina only at rest and in control subjects. All anginal patients with normal coronary arteries or less than 50% stenosis had a negative test; a positive response was observed in 36, 79 and 60% of cases with one-, two-or three-vessel disease, respectively. Hemodynamic changes with a marked arteriolar vasodilatation were observed both in the negative and in the positive tests. In the positive tests no significant change of double product, blood pressure and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure occurred before ischemia appeared. The results of the study show that dipyridamole as a diagnostic test in angina pectoris has a high specificity but a lower sensitivity than exercise test. The hemodynamic and eletrocardiographic findings in the positive tests suggest that dipyridamole-induced ischemia is due to a flow maldistribution with selective subendocardial ischemia secondary to the coronary arteriolar dilatation caused by the drug. | High | [
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Q: symfony2 how do you create your own custom yml file to share globally? I am looking to create my own yml file to store some global settings and vars that I can re-use across my project. I have searched on here and found another answer however it does not work for me Set own parameters in symfony2 I'm looking to add the report_settings.yml file so that its automatically loaded across my project. this is what I have so far based #app/config/config.yml imports: - { resource: parameters.yml } - { resource: security.yml } - { resource: report_settings.yml } .. rest of config file -- and the file im trying to include looks like this #report_settings.yml something: something1: "test" It returns the following error FileLoaderLoadException: Cannot import resource "/var/www/pcPortal/app/config/report_settings.yml" from "/var/www/pcPortal/app/config/config.yml". and InvalidArgumentException: There is no extension able to load the configuration for "something" (in /var/www/pcPortal/app/config/report_settings.yml). Looked for namespace "something", found "framework", "security", "twig", "monolog", "swiftmailer", "assetic", "doctrine", "sensio_framework_extra", "jms_aop", "jms_di_extra", "jms_security_extra", "sj_query", "web_profiler", "sensio_distribution" From reading the error messages it looks like I have missed something out? Do I need to add some kind of extension? A: The simplest would be to put your config into the parameters section like: #report_settings.yml parameters: something.something1: "test" You could also process the config with your own extension see http://symfony.com/doc/master/book/service_container.html#importing-configuration-via-container-extensions | High | [
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Bioware's PAX East schedule is live, with weekend-long panels on Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises, developer signings and industry representatives discussing how to break into the games industry. This year's panels will include "Behind the Scenes: Getting A Job at Bioware," "From Relay to Relay: Exploring the Mass Effect Universe" and "Dragon Age Inquisition: The Open World of Thedas". A number of developers and staff from Bioware will be in attendance this year, including Mass Effect writer Cathleen Rootsaert, Dragon Age creative director Mike Laidlaw and community manager Jessica Merizan. Details of the full PAX 2014 schedule of panels, events, tournaments and other special sessions can be viewed in full here. You can view the BioWare schedule below. Events kick off at 10 a.m. on Friday, April 11 and end with the final round of the Omegathon on Sunday, April 13 at 6:30 p.m. Talks from industry personnel will be held throughout the day and night activities include the annual Game Show Night events and tournaments in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Super Smash Bros. Brawl among other titles. Tickets to the event are sold out. | Mid | [
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Scanning X-ray microradiography of a section of a carious lesion in dental enamel. A scanning X-ray microradiographic system is described with which it is possible to measure the X-ray absorption in a 1 mm X 1mm area of a section in about 27h at a resolution of 20 micrometers with a reproducibility of about +/- 1.5%. This system has advantages over photographic methods for certain quantitative investigations. The results can be presented in various forms including contour maps and half-tone pictures and this is illustrated with a radiograph of a section of a carious lesion in dental enamel. | High | [
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%Error: t/t_typedef_circ_bad.v:8:9: Typedef's type is circular: a_t 8 | typedef a_t b_t; | ^~~ %Error: Exiting due to | Low | [
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from __future__ import absolute_import from __future__ import division from __future__ import print_function from __future__ import unicode_literals import numpy as np # type: ignore import onnx from ..base import Base from . import expect class NonMaxSuppression(Base): @staticmethod def export_nonmaxsuppression_suppress_by_IOU(): # type: () -> None node = onnx.helper.make_node( 'NonMaxSuppression', inputs=['boxes', 'scores', 'max_output_boxes_per_class', 'iou_threshold', 'score_threshold'], outputs=['selected_indices'] ) boxes = np.array([[ [0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0], [0.0, 0.1, 1.0, 1.1], [0.0, -0.1, 1.0, 0.9], [0.0, 10.0, 1.0, 11.0], [0.0, 10.1, 1.0, 11.1], [0.0, 100.0, 1.0, 101.0] ]]).astype(np.float32) scores = np.array([[[0.9, 0.75, 0.6, 0.95, 0.5, 0.3]]]).astype(np.float32) max_output_boxes_per_class = np.array([3]).astype(np.int64) iou_threshold = np.array([0.5]).astype(np.float32) score_threshold = np.array([0.0]).astype(np.float32) selected_indices = np.array([[0, 0, 3], [0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 5]]).astype(np.int64) expect(node, inputs=[boxes, scores, max_output_boxes_per_class, iou_threshold, score_threshold], outputs=[selected_indices], name='test_nonmaxsuppression_suppress_by_IOU') @staticmethod def export_nonmaxsuppression_suppress_by_IOU_and_scores(): # type: () -> None node = onnx.helper.make_node( 'NonMaxSuppression', inputs=['boxes', 'scores', 'max_output_boxes_per_class', 'iou_threshold', 'score_threshold'], outputs=['selected_indices'] ) boxes = np.array([[ [0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0], [0.0, 0.1, 1.0, 1.1], [0.0, -0.1, 1.0, 0.9], [0.0, 10.0, 1.0, 11.0], [0.0, 10.1, 1.0, 11.1], [0.0, 100.0, 1.0, 101.0] ]]).astype(np.float32) scores = np.array([[[0.9, 0.75, 0.6, 0.95, 0.5, 0.3]]]).astype(np.float32) max_output_boxes_per_class = np.array([3]).astype(np.int64) iou_threshold = np.array([0.5]).astype(np.float32) score_threshold = np.array([0.4]).astype(np.float32) selected_indices = np.array([[0, 0, 3], [0, 0, 0]]).astype(np.int64) expect(node, inputs=[boxes, scores, max_output_boxes_per_class, iou_threshold, score_threshold], outputs=[selected_indices], name='test_nonmaxsuppression_suppress_by_IOU_and_scores') @staticmethod def export_nonmaxsuppression_flipped_coordinates(): # type: () -> None node = onnx.helper.make_node( 'NonMaxSuppression', inputs=['boxes', 'scores', 'max_output_boxes_per_class', 'iou_threshold', 'score_threshold'], outputs=['selected_indices'] ) boxes = np.array([[ [1.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0], [0.0, 0.1, 1.0, 1.1], [0.0, 0.9, 1.0, -0.1], [0.0, 10.0, 1.0, 11.0], [1.0, 10.1, 0.0, 11.1], [1.0, 101.0, 0.0, 100.0] ]]).astype(np.float32) scores = np.array([[[0.9, 0.75, 0.6, 0.95, 0.5, 0.3]]]).astype(np.float32) max_output_boxes_per_class = np.array([3]).astype(np.int64) iou_threshold = np.array([0.5]).astype(np.float32) score_threshold = np.array([0.0]).astype(np.float32) selected_indices = np.array([[0, 0, 3], [0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 5]]).astype(np.int64) expect(node, inputs=[boxes, scores, max_output_boxes_per_class, iou_threshold, score_threshold], outputs=[selected_indices], name='test_nonmaxsuppression_flipped_coordinates') @staticmethod def export_nonmaxsuppression_limit_output_size(): # type: () -> None node = onnx.helper.make_node( 'NonMaxSuppression', inputs=['boxes', 'scores', 'max_output_boxes_per_class', 'iou_threshold', 'score_threshold'], outputs=['selected_indices'] ) boxes = np.array([[ [0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0], [0.0, 0.1, 1.0, 1.1], [0.0, -0.1, 1.0, 0.9], [0.0, 10.0, 1.0, 11.0], [0.0, 10.1, 1.0, 11.1], [0.0, 100.0, 1.0, 101.0] ]]).astype(np.float32) scores = np.array([[[0.9, 0.75, 0.6, 0.95, 0.5, 0.3]]]).astype(np.float32) max_output_boxes_per_class = np.array([2]).astype(np.int64) iou_threshold = np.array([0.5]).astype(np.float32) score_threshold = np.array([0.0]).astype(np.float32) selected_indices = np.array([[0, 0, 3], [0, 0, 0]]).astype(np.int64) expect(node, inputs=[boxes, scores, max_output_boxes_per_class, iou_threshold, score_threshold], outputs=[selected_indices], name='test_nonmaxsuppression_limit_output_size') @staticmethod def export_nonmaxsuppression_single_box(): # type: () -> None node = onnx.helper.make_node( 'NonMaxSuppression', inputs=['boxes', 'scores', 'max_output_boxes_per_class', 'iou_threshold', 'score_threshold'], outputs=['selected_indices'] ) boxes = np.array([[ [0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0] ]]).astype(np.float32) scores = np.array([[[0.9]]]).astype(np.float32) max_output_boxes_per_class = np.array([3]).astype(np.int64) iou_threshold = np.array([0.5]).astype(np.float32) score_threshold = np.array([0.0]).astype(np.float32) selected_indices = np.array([[0, 0, 0]]).astype(np.int64) expect(node, inputs=[boxes, scores, max_output_boxes_per_class, iou_threshold, score_threshold], outputs=[selected_indices], name='test_nonmaxsuppression_single_box') @staticmethod def export_nonmaxsuppression_identical_boxes(): # type: () -> None node = onnx.helper.make_node( 'NonMaxSuppression', inputs=['boxes', 'scores', 'max_output_boxes_per_class', 'iou_threshold', 'score_threshold'], outputs=['selected_indices'] ) boxes = np.array([[ [0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0], [0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0], [0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0], [0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0], [0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0], [0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0], [0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0], [0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0], [0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0], [0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0] ]]).astype(np.float32) scores = np.array([[[0.9, 0.9, 0.9, 0.9, 0.9, 0.9, 0.9, 0.9, 0.9, 0.9]]]).astype(np.float32) max_output_boxes_per_class = np.array([3]).astype(np.int64) iou_threshold = np.array([0.5]).astype(np.float32) score_threshold = np.array([0.0]).astype(np.float32) selected_indices = np.array([[0, 0, 0]]).astype(np.int64) expect(node, inputs=[boxes, scores, max_output_boxes_per_class, iou_threshold, score_threshold], outputs=[selected_indices], name='test_nonmaxsuppression_identical_boxes') @staticmethod def export_nonmaxsuppression_center_point_box_format(): # type: () -> None node = onnx.helper.make_node( 'NonMaxSuppression', inputs=['boxes', 'scores', 'max_output_boxes_per_class', 'iou_threshold', 'score_threshold'], outputs=['selected_indices'], center_point_box=1 ) boxes = np.array([[ [0.5, 0.5, 1.0, 1.0], [0.5, 0.6, 1.0, 1.0], [0.5, 0.4, 1.0, 1.0], [0.5, 10.5, 1.0, 1.0], [0.5, 10.6, 1.0, 1.0], [0.5, 100.5, 1.0, 1.0] ]]).astype(np.float32) scores = np.array([[[0.9, 0.75, 0.6, 0.95, 0.5, 0.3]]]).astype(np.float32) max_output_boxes_per_class = np.array([3]).astype(np.int64) iou_threshold = np.array([0.5]).astype(np.float32) score_threshold = np.array([0.0]).astype(np.float32) selected_indices = np.array([[0, 0, 3], [0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 5]]).astype(np.int64) expect(node, inputs=[boxes, scores, max_output_boxes_per_class, iou_threshold, score_threshold], outputs=[selected_indices], name='test_nonmaxsuppression_center_point_box_format') @staticmethod def export_nonmaxsuppression_two_classes(): # type: () -> None node = onnx.helper.make_node( 'NonMaxSuppression', inputs=['boxes', 'scores', 'max_output_boxes_per_class', 'iou_threshold', 'score_threshold'], outputs=['selected_indices'] ) boxes = np.array([[ [0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0], [0.0, 0.1, 1.0, 1.1], [0.0, -0.1, 1.0, 0.9], [0.0, 10.0, 1.0, 11.0], [0.0, 10.1, 1.0, 11.1], [0.0, 100.0, 1.0, 101.0] ]]).astype(np.float32) scores = np.array([[[0.9, 0.75, 0.6, 0.95, 0.5, 0.3], [0.9, 0.75, 0.6, 0.95, 0.5, 0.3]]]).astype(np.float32) max_output_boxes_per_class = np.array([2]).astype(np.int64) iou_threshold = np.array([0.5]).astype(np.float32) score_threshold = np.array([0.0]).astype(np.float32) selected_indices = np.array([[0, 0, 3], [0, 0, 0], [0, 1, 3], [0, 1, 0]]).astype(np.int64) expect(node, inputs=[boxes, scores, max_output_boxes_per_class, iou_threshold, score_threshold], outputs=[selected_indices], name='test_nonmaxsuppression_two_classes') @staticmethod def export_nonmaxsuppression_two_batches(): # type: () -> None node = onnx.helper.make_node( 'NonMaxSuppression', inputs=['boxes', 'scores', 'max_output_boxes_per_class', 'iou_threshold', 'score_threshold'], outputs=['selected_indices'] ) boxes = np.array([[[0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0], [0.0, 0.1, 1.0, 1.1], [0.0, -0.1, 1.0, 0.9], [0.0, 10.0, 1.0, 11.0], [0.0, 10.1, 1.0, 11.1], [0.0, 100.0, 1.0, 101.0]], [[0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0], [0.0, 0.1, 1.0, 1.1], [0.0, -0.1, 1.0, 0.9], [0.0, 10.0, 1.0, 11.0], [0.0, 10.1, 1.0, 11.1], [0.0, 100.0, 1.0, 101.0]]]).astype(np.float32) scores = np.array([[[0.9, 0.75, 0.6, 0.95, 0.5, 0.3]], [[0.9, 0.75, 0.6, 0.95, 0.5, 0.3]]]).astype(np.float32) max_output_boxes_per_class = np.array([2]).astype(np.int64) iou_threshold = np.array([0.5]).astype(np.float32) score_threshold = np.array([0.0]).astype(np.float32) selected_indices = np.array([[0, 0, 3], [0, 0, 0], [1, 0, 3], [1, 0, 0]]).astype(np.int64) expect(node, inputs=[boxes, scores, max_output_boxes_per_class, iou_threshold, score_threshold], outputs=[selected_indices], name='test_nonmaxsuppression_two_batches') | Low | [
0.5239852398523981,
35.5,
32.25
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Larkspur Downtown Historic District Larkspur Downtown Historic District, known also as Old Downtown Larkspur, is a historic district along Magnolia Avenue in downtown Larkspur, Marin County, California. The district covers the "Old Downtown" area, along Magnolia Avenue from the Lark Creek Inn at 234 Magnolia Ave to the platform on the former railway, now a bicycle path. The avenue has been the commercial center of activity in Larkspur since the town was founded. In 1980, the Larkspur City Council designated it to be a local Historic District and rezoned it as an overlay H Zone. The historic district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. It was asserted that the district is significant because it still has the ambiance of a small California town in the 1900 - 1930 era. Contributing properties include the Larkspur City Hall (map code #9) the Lark Theater (map code #39) Blue Rock Hotel a bank (map code #30) the Silver Peso/Bob's Tavern (map code #15), the barber shop (map code #25) railroad station (map code #40) railroad buildings (map code #4l, 3-6) concrete railroad platform (map code #42) See also National Register of Historic Places listings in Marin County, California References Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California Category:Larkspur, California Category:History of Marin County, California Category:National Register of Historic Places in Marin County, California Category:Geography of Marin County, California | High | [
0.6854838709677411,
31.875,
14.625
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Saturday, May 1, 2010 It started out that I got a call from a preschool Mica's going to next year saying they never received my check to hold his spot. I wrote it a month before, and remember sending it. I drove to the preschool, filled out a new check and gave it to them. Then last Sunday I called to RSVP to a party Mica's going to. I talked to the mom, and even asked what his classmate wanted. Later this week the mom called, asking Daddy if Mica was coming to the party? It was like I never RSVP in the first place. I had a dentist appointment earlier this week, I went and they said I wasn't scheduled for that day. The next day I found the card in my purse that said I was scheduled for the time and day I showed up. Tonight I looked in Mica's t-ball roster and schedules. It's been in my trunk for a week. I'm listed as an assistant coach, and I never knew. The head coaches never said anything to me about being an assistant coach, I never received a t-shirt and hat like the assistant coaches are supposed to. Each practice I've shown up with my almost 2 year old Isaak, so it's not like I was a help. We get money back for volunteer time, and I don't know what to think. I'll be talking to the coaches tomorrow. Mica was pretending that Isaak was a shark, and was trying to knock him off of the swing set! Daddy grabbed Mica off, took him in the house, had a talk with him and gave him like the 2nd spanking in his life. We do not believe in spanking, unless the child is doing something that is in danger to himself or someone else. The other time Mica got spanked was when he ran out in the street when he was told to stay near by. I got cousin Evan and Isaak's plates in the mail. They are really cute! I'm making a doggy cake too! That should be fun! Their birthdays are so close to each other, that we decided to have them on one day. It just gets too hectic to have so many events. I got the plates printed at Birthday Express. I love how they have a customer service person pop up to help you! I know Hallmark has plates that you can print on too. I just happened to like the dog print on Birthday Express. In July I'll have to decide what to do for Mica's birthday in August. Neither site had robots or Transformers to print a personal photo on. I even checked out Factory Card Outlet, and they had nothing for Mica's interest. Birthday Express does have cool robot and Transformer things though. I like the robot better, just because I think I could make a cool robot cake. It would be hard trying to make a transformer cake. I may just do invites, thank you's, cake and grab bags with theme of a robot, and get plain colored plates. I'll see when the time comes. Disclaimer The opinions on this blog are my personal take on products and topics relating to motherhood. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide opinions on a variety of topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are my own. If I claim to show knowledge of certain topic or product I will only endorse products or services that I feel, based on my expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. If you have any questions about this blog, or want to get in contact with me please email me at: alissa4illustrationAThotmailDOTcom | Mid | [
0.542222222222222,
30.5,
25.75
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/* poppler-base-converter.cc: qt interface to poppler * Copyright (C) 2007, 2009, Albert Astals Cid <[email protected]> * Copyright (C) 2008, Pino Toscano <[email protected]> * * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) * any later version. * * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the * GNU General Public License for more details. * * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street - Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA. */ #include "poppler-qt4.h" #include "poppler-converter-private.h" #include <QtCore/QFile> namespace Poppler { BaseConverterPrivate::BaseConverterPrivate() : document(0), iodev(0), ownIodev(true) { } BaseConverterPrivate::~BaseConverterPrivate() { } QIODevice* BaseConverterPrivate::openDevice() { if (!iodev) { Q_ASSERT(!outputFileName.isEmpty()); QFile *f = new QFile(outputFileName); iodev = f; ownIodev = true; } Q_ASSERT(iodev); if (!iodev->isOpen()) { if (!iodev->open(QIODevice::WriteOnly)) { if (ownIodev) { delete iodev; iodev = 0; } else { return 0; } } } return iodev; } void BaseConverterPrivate::closeDevice() { if (ownIodev) { iodev->close(); delete iodev; iodev = 0; } } BaseConverter::BaseConverter(BaseConverterPrivate &dd) : d_ptr(&dd) { } BaseConverter::~BaseConverter() { delete d_ptr; } void BaseConverter::setOutputFileName(const QString &outputFileName) { Q_D(BaseConverter); d->outputFileName = outputFileName; } void BaseConverter::setOutputDevice(QIODevice *device) { Q_D(BaseConverter); d->iodev = device; d->ownIodev = false; } BaseConverter::Error BaseConverter::lastError() const { Q_D(const BaseConverter); return d->lastError; } } | Mid | [
0.5540540540540541,
41,
33
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Q: Template-like implementation shim in C# I've found myself in need of something like this: // This could just as well be a concrete class. // // It is an interface for the sake of this example. public interface Quark { void Do(); } public class Strange : Quark { public virtual void Do() { // Something is done } public void DoSpecificThing() { MessageBox.Show("Specific Thing!"); } } public class Charm : Quark { public virtual void Do() { // Something else is done } public void DoAnotherSpecificThing() { MessageBox.Show("Another Specific Thing!"); } } In another file: internal class ReUsableCode<BaseType> : BaseType // <- not allowed { public override void Do() { // Let's pretend this is around 2000 lines of // 90's-style Win32 message spaghetti. MessageBox.Show(base.GetType().ToString() + " did!"); base.Do(); } } public class LibraryStrange : ReUsableCode<Strange> { } public class LibraryCharm : ReUsableCode<Charm> { } In a function somewhere: LibraryStrange imStrange = new LibraryStrange(); LibraryCharm imCharmed = new LibraryCharm(); imStrange.Do(); imStrange.DoSpecificThing(); imCharmed.Do(); imCharmed.DoAnotherSpecificThing(); In C++, I'd just make a template that does precisely the above. This isn't possible in C#, for the reason above, and that multiple-inheritance is also disallowed. So, how might one re-use lexically identical implementations without copying and pasting, or forcing everything to inherit from a single base class? This is to reduce the maintenance effort required for a library of user controls that all inherit from things in System.Windows.Forms and also override WndProc in exactly the same way (the code is all copied and pasted, and I'm trying to eliminate or centralize it). Note: I don't do a substantial amount of C# work, so forgive me if this question seems elementary or abuses the terminology in this realm. A: The simplest solution I've come up with is to give up inheritance in favor of composition. Unfortunately it needs to generalize the "SpecificThing" concept. The problem lies exactly in the fact that SRP and ISP are being violated in your design and everything you'll come up with will be just hacks to avoid the problem instead of solving it! You write in the comments "The "base types" in question [...]" - and it's good to put that in quotes - these shouldn't be base types. The formulation is too general however and it's hard to point out explicitly what is wrong - everything seems wrong here. public interface Quark { void Do(); } public interface SpecificQuark : Quark { void DoSpecificThing(); } public class Strange : SpecificQuark { public virtual void Do() { // Something is done } public void DoSpecificThing() { Console.WriteLine("Specific Thing!"); } } public class Charm : SpecificQuark { public virtual void Do() { // Something else is done } public void DoSpecificThing() { Console.WriteLine("Another Specific Thing!"); } } class ReUsableCode<T> where T: SpecificQuark, new() { public T InnerQuark { get; private set; } public ReUsableCode() { this.InnerQuark = new T(); } public void Do() { // Let's pretend this is around 2000 lines of // 90's-style Win32 message spaghetti. Console.WriteLine(InnerQuark.GetType().ToString() + " did!"); this.InnerQuark.Do(); } } class LibraryStrange : ReUsableCode<Strange> { } class LibraryCharm : ReUsableCode<Charm> { } And then: LibraryStrange ls = new LibraryStrange(); LibraryCharm lc = new LibraryCharm(); ls.Do(); ls.InnerQuark.DoSpecificThing(); lc.Do(); lc.InnerQuark.DoSpecificThing(); | Mid | [
0.543859649122807,
23.25,
19.5
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Hello, and welcome to my first legacy challenge ever! I’ve been playing Sims 3 for a while, and recently bought a bunch of expansion packs during the Summer Steam Sale. So, to try them out, I’ve decided to finally give a legacy my best try. But let’s be honest, no one cares about me, the Sim-God of this world, the person you really want to meet is our founder. So without further ado, here she is: Sophia ManEater. Sophia had a sad childhood. She was abandoned at a young age by her father, and has grown up in and out of orphanages and foster homes. She’s grown very distrustful of men over the years, but also finds herself desperately seeking that solid, loving, family structure that she never had. She’s family-oriented, nurturing, flirty, and a good kisser. But she’s also got some major commitment issues. Her life goal is to raise 5 children from infancy through their teenage years, and she’s determined to do it all without any post-woohoo help from men. After aging out of the system as a young adult, Sophia decided to relocate herself to Isla Paradiso. Here she managed to buy the largest plot of land available to her, and construct a small home with funds she’s managed to accumulate over the years from inheritance and odd jobs. The house isn’t much, it barely looks like more than a trailer, just 3 small rooms, and an alchemy station out back. Here is an overhead view for reference of the layout. The kitchen is nothing fancy, she has no way of cooking, but she has a small table, a fridge for food, and a few seats to sit at while she eats her new diet of quick snacks. On the other hand, Sophia went all out on a luxurious 2-person bed for her bedroom, as well as a small dresser for some changes of clothes. After all, she needs a place to start her family, and the right clothes to trap a man to do it. In the back, there’s also a small, modest, bathroom where she can take care of her remaining need-bars. Nothing fancy, but she decided to get in the spirit of her new island home with a single decorated wall. Next time: We’ll finally get to hear from our founder herself, and see as she starts a career, and more importantly, starts looking for a suitable future baby-daddy. So… This is, as I said, my first legacy. And I was really inspired to start it after getting the Supernatural expansion pack during the Steam sale. I want to experience all the different occult types, and as a result each generation is going to be paired with a different occult type baby-daddy, and only children of that type will be eligible heiresses (yes, if you couldn’t tell from the name, this is going to be a matriarchy, also the idea of future vampire and werewolf ManEaters amuses me...). As a result, each generation should be a different type, with only Sophia here being human. Also, I’m going to follow legacy rules as best I can. No cheats. Due to expansion packs Sophia had a bit more money than standard after buying the big-lot, but other than that she’ll be left to fend on her own. I am, however, using one mod. Master Controller. BUT – I’m only using this mod to find Sophia a suitable baby-daddy. As Isla Paradiso is not Moonlight Falls, it took awhile for a man of her (occult) type to spawn, and I wanted to be sure she could track him down as soon as he did. Starting with gen 2 though there should be no need for any modding. Any suggestions or questions feel free to comment and ask. 🙂 | Mid | [
0.5489361702127661,
32.25,
26.5
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/* * The MIT License (MIT) * * Copyright (c) 2018 Roland Singer [[email protected]] * * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy * of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal * in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights * to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell * copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: * * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all * copies or substantial portions of the Software. * * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE * AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, * OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE * SOFTWARE. */ package grumble import ( "fmt" "time" ) // FlagMapItem holds the specific flag data. type FlagMapItem struct { Value interface{} IsDefault bool } // FlagMap holds all the parsed flag values. type FlagMap map[string]*FlagMapItem // copyMissingValues adds all missing values to the flags map. func (f FlagMap) copyMissingValues(m FlagMap, copyDefault bool) { for k, v := range m { if _, ok := f[k]; !ok { if !copyDefault && v.IsDefault { continue } f[k] = v } } } // String returns the given flag value as string. // Panics if not present. Flags must be registered. func (f FlagMap) String(long string) string { i := f[long] if i == nil { panic(fmt.Errorf("missing flag value: flag '%s' not registered", long)) } s, ok := i.Value.(string) if !ok { panic(fmt.Errorf("failed to assert flag '%s' to string", long)) } return s } // Bool returns the given flag value as boolean. // Panics if not present. Flags must be registered. func (f FlagMap) Bool(long string) bool { i := f[long] if i == nil { panic(fmt.Errorf("missing flag value: flag '%s' not registered", long)) } b, ok := i.Value.(bool) if !ok { panic(fmt.Errorf("failed to assert flag '%s' to bool", long)) } return b } // Int returns the given flag value as int. // Panics if not present. Flags must be registered. func (f FlagMap) Int(long string) int { i := f[long] if i == nil { panic(fmt.Errorf("missing flag value: flag '%s' not registered", long)) } v, ok := i.Value.(int) if !ok { panic(fmt.Errorf("failed to assert flag '%s' to int", long)) } return v } // Int64 returns the given flag value as int64. // Panics if not present. Flags must be registered. func (f FlagMap) Int64(long string) int64 { i := f[long] if i == nil { panic(fmt.Errorf("missing flag value: flag '%s' not registered", long)) } v, ok := i.Value.(int64) if !ok { panic(fmt.Errorf("failed to assert flag '%s' to int64", long)) } return v } // Uint returns the given flag value as uint. // Panics if not present. Flags must be registered. func (f FlagMap) Uint(long string) uint { i := f[long] if i == nil { panic(fmt.Errorf("missing flag value: flag '%s' not registered", long)) } v, ok := i.Value.(uint) if !ok { panic(fmt.Errorf("failed to assert flag '%s' to uint", long)) } return v } // Uint64 returns the given flag value as uint64. // Panics if not present. Flags must be registered. func (f FlagMap) Uint64(long string) uint64 { i := f[long] if i == nil { panic(fmt.Errorf("missing flag value: flag '%s' not registered", long)) } v, ok := i.Value.(uint64) if !ok { panic(fmt.Errorf("failed to assert flag '%s' to uint64", long)) } return v } // Float64 returns the given flag value as float64. // Panics if not present. Flags must be registered. func (f FlagMap) Float64(long string) float64 { i := f[long] if i == nil { panic(fmt.Errorf("missing flag value: flag '%s' not registered", long)) } v, ok := i.Value.(float64) if !ok { panic(fmt.Errorf("failed to assert flag '%s' to float64", long)) } return v } // Duration returns the given flag value as duration. // Panics if not present. Flags must be registered. func (f FlagMap) Duration(long string) time.Duration { i := f[long] if i == nil { panic(fmt.Errorf("missing flag value: flag '%s' not registered", long)) } v, ok := i.Value.(time.Duration) if !ok { panic(fmt.Errorf("failed to assert flag '%s' to duration", long)) } return v } | Low | [
0.48565573770491804,
29.625,
31.375
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How Do Temperature and Salinity Affect Relative Rates of Growth, Morphological Differentiation, and Time to Metamorphic Competence in Larvae of the Marine Gastropod Crepidula plana? The influence of environmental conditions on rates of larval growth has been documented many times for various marine mollusks. But the factors that influence rates of morphological and physiological differentiation, particularly the rate at which larvae within a population become competent to metamorphose, remain obscure. In four experiments, we reared larvae of the gastropod Crepidula plana at 29°C, 25°C, and 20°C at 30 ppt salinity, and in two other experiments, in salinities between 4-30 ppt at 25°C. Rates of shell growth and morphological differentiation, and rates of becoming competent within populations were recorded. Larvae were considered to be competent to metamorphose if they could be stimulated to metamorphose by exposure to a high concentration of KCl (20 mM above ambient). Larvae consistently became competent faster at higher temperatures, but in only one of four experiments did temperature also consistently increase the rates of growth and morphological differentiation. Larvae took longer to become competent when reared at lower salinities, but the effects were poorly predicted by the influence of salinity on rates of growth and morphological differentiation. Competent larvae could also not be recognized by shell length; many individuals were competent at shell lengths of 600-800 μm, while many other individuals were still not competent at sizes exceeding 1000 μm. At 29°C, many individuals became competent at smaller sizes than those reared at lower temperatures. Presence of gill filaments or shell brims also did not correlate with individual metamorphic competence. The data suggest that growth rate, rate of morphological differentiation, and time required for larvae of C. plana to become competent can be uncoupled markedly by shifts in rearing conditions. | High | [
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Q: Why do I get "syntax error near unexpected token `(' "? I want to go through many directories and remove all the files except some that meet certain criterion. I have the following bash script: #!/bin/bash for i in */ do cd $i rm !(*M.*) cd .. done However, when I run the script I get the following error: script1.sh: line 5: syntax error near unexpected token `(' script1.sh: line 5: ` rm !(*M.*)' What could be wrong? I'm using Ubuntu 14.04. Thanks for your help. A: I think you should enable extglob to use invert or negative wildcards: shopt -s extglob Note that you can keep this on all the time, it is not harmful. That said, you are not forced to use a loop in your code and can directly put in your script: rm */!(*M.*) You can visit this post for other solutions: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/78376/in-linux-how-to-delete-all-files-except-the-pattern-txt | High | [
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31.625,
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Q: how can install Horizon dashboard? I added Juno Openstack repository. How I can install Horizon only dashboard? I had tried sudo apt-get install horizon and there is error: E: Unable to locate package horizon. I had installed Horizon packages from link : https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/horizon. And all the same I have E: Unable to locate package horizon. A: For Installing Horizon dashboard and configure please try this link below Surely this will works.. [1] http://ubuntu-cloud-installer.readthedocs.org/en/latest/single-installer.guide.html [2] http://www.server-world.info/en/note?os=Ubuntu_14.04&p=openstack_icehouse&f=10 [3] https://answers.launchpad.net/horizon/+question/210533 | Mid | [
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27.25,
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While there’s still an abundance of superblocks and surface parking, downtown Bellevue’s skyline is has left suburbia far behind. Shown above is the nearly completed Bellevue Towers luxury condo project, with twin towers topping out at 450 feet. That’s just five feet shy of Seattle’s tallest residential tower, Olive8, and ten feet taller than 1521 Second. Designed by MulvannyG2 and GBD Architects, and developed by Gerding Edlen of Portland, the project consists of 539 condo units, 16,000 sf of retail, and 904 (!) parking stalls on eight (!) levels. The project is targeting a LEED Gold rating, and is expected to consume 30 percent less energy and water than the “industry standard.” (All those exposed balconies that work like heat fins aren’t going make achieving that energy efficiency goal any easier.) Bellevue Towers was made possible by downtown upzones that were a result of city planning efforts stretching back more than two decades. Over that time, the City’s desire to encourage more dense development has become reality, particularly in the most recent cycle. Needless to say, sales at Bellevue Towers have been below expectations. In the bottom left of the photo above is the Bellevue Transit Center. And check out all the special paving designed to emphasize pedestrian use. And yes, those are real people out there walking around. Like countless Amercian cities, most of the built environment in downtown Bellevue is still relatively alienating to the pedestrian. Given the nature of the bones, it’s a staggeringly massive undertaking to retrofit these places for people, and for the realities of life in the 21st Century. Kudos to Bellevue for taking on the challenge. Posted by dan bertolet on Saturday, November 22nd, 2008 at 10:35 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Bellevue has come a long way, but they are really missing how important walkablility is. I worked in Bellevue for years, and you don’t walk in Belleve – anywhere. Once those buildings are filled with people and their cars, I imagine the streets will be (more) clogged and I don’t envy the residents when they need to go out for a carton of milk. | Mid | [
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USA Today: Chip Kelly close to deal with Browns It wasn't quite as fast as Oregon's first touchdown in Thursday night's Fiesta Bowl, but it was fast no less. Chip Kelly is on the verge of agreeing to become the Cleveland Browns' new head coach, according to a report by NFL.com. Kelly was scheduled to meet with the Browns, Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills. It was clear the Browns were going to make a strong push, but if they're able to close the deal before Philly and Buffalo can even sit down across from Kelly, that would be quite the coup for a franchise looking to reinvent itself. New Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner are clearly enamored with Kelly's schemes that helped lead Oregon to a 46-7 record during his four-year tenure. There surely will be some tinkering with his offense, though the New England Patriots have run snippets of his up-tempo approach, and read-option looks have made their way to the NFL level over the past few seasons. If Kelly indeed signs with the Browns, it means Banner won a face-off with his former employer, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie. The Eagles are now in a delicate spot, because Kelly, Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter and Penn State's Bill O'Brien were among their top candidates. Koetter chose to remain with the Falcons, while O'Brien said Thursday night he will return to Happy Valley. The Eagles had met with O'Brien earlier in the day. | Mid | [
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The meaning of 'rural' in rural health: a review and case study from Brazil. Health disparities between rural and urban populations are an important global health concern, although ascertaining what constitutes a rural context is a complicated undertaking. This article summarises theoretical contributions that help to explain how uncritical use of rural classifications may interfere with epidemiological data and health policies. Bonfim, a community located in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, illustrates the discussion. Bonfim is classified as urban by the Brazilian census, although the community contains farmland, parkland and rural social groups such as family farmers and ecotourism employees. The (mis)classification of Bonfim as urban further complicates the meaning of rural, and thus also what is meant by rural health. Researchers have developed some new rurality indexes to overcome the rural-urban dichotomy and to help understand local scale health determinants. But the obstacles for large-scale studies and government decision-making are still many. 'Rural' is an epidemiological variable that unites in a single indicator diverse life aspects relevant for health purposes. Therefore, to facilitate allocation of health resources based on objective criteria, governments and policy makers must acknowledge the difficulty of defining what rural is and work to improve the definitions they use. | High | [
0.665024630541871,
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--- abstract: 'Compton scattering of a laser beam with a relativistic electron beam has been used to generate intense, highly polarized and nearly monoenergetic x-ray or gamma-ray beams at many facilities. The ability to predict the spatial, spectral and temporal characteristics of a Compton gamma-ray beam is crucial for the optimization of the operation of a Compton light source as well as for the applications utilizing the Compton beam. In this paper, we present two approaches, one based upon analytical calculations and the other based upon Monte Carlo simulations, to study the Compton scattering process for various electron and laser beam parameters as well as different gamma-beam collimation conditions. These approaches have been successfully applied to characterize Compton gamma-ray beams, after being benchmarked against experimental results at the High Intensity Gamma-ray Source (HI$\gamma$S) facility at Duke University.' author: - 'C. Sun[^1]' - 'Y. K. Wu' bibliography: - 'compton\_scattering.bib' title: Theoretical and simulation studies of characteristics of a Compton light source --- Introduction ============ Compton scattering of a laser beam with a relativistic electron beam has been successfully used to generate intense, highly polarized and nearly monoenergetic x-ray or gamma-ray beams with a tunable energy at many facilities [@H.R.Weller; @Nakano:2001xp; @2003SPIE.5197..241K]. These unique Compton photon beams have been used in a wide range of basic and application research fields from nuclear physics to astrophysics, from medical research to homeland security and industrial applications [@H.R.Weller]. The ability to predict the spectral, spatial and temporal characteristics of a Compton gamma-ray beam is crucial for the optimization of the gamma-ray beam production as well as for research applications utilizing the beam. While the theory of particle-particle (or electron-photon) Compton scattering, which is equivalent to the scattering between a monoenergetic electron beam and a monoenergetic laser beam with zero transverse sizes, is well documented in literature [@QED_landau; @CFT_landau; @Jackson], there remains a need to fully understand the characteristics of the gamma-ray beam produced by Compton scattering of a laser beam and an electron beam with specific spatial and energy distributions, i.e., the beam-beam scattering. Study of beam-beam Compton scattering has been recently reported in [@Hartemann:2005zz; @Brown:2004zz]. However, the algorithms used in these works are based upon the Thomson scattering cross section, i.e., an elastic scattering of electromagnetic radiation by a charged particle without the recoil effect. For scattering of a high energy electron beam and a laser beam, the recoil of the electron must be taken into account. The Compton scattering cross section has been used to study characteristics of Compton gamma-ray beams by Duke scientists in $1990$’s [@Vladimir; @Park_thesis]. However, the effects of incoming beam parameters, and the effects of gamma-beam collimation were not fully taken into account. In this paper, we present two different methods, a semi-analytical calculation and a Monte Carlo simulation, to study the Compton scattering process of a polarized (or unpolarized) laser beam with an unpolarized electron beam in the linear Compton scattering regime. Using these two methods, we are able to characterize a Compton gamma-ray beam with various laser and electron beam parameters, arbitrary collision angles, and different gamma-beam collimation conditions. This paper is organized as follows. In Section II, we first review the calculation of the Compton scattered photon energy for an arbitrary collision angle, and then introduce the scattering cross section in a Lorentz invariant form. Based upon this cross section, the spatial and spectral distributions as well as the polarization of a Compton gamma-ray beam are investigated in particle-particle scattering cases. In Section III, we discuss the beam-beam Compton scattering by considering effects of the incoming beam parameters as well as the effect of the gamma-ray beam collimation. Two methods, a semi-analytical calculation and a Monte Carlo simulation, are then presented. Based upon the algorithms of these methods, two computing codes, a numerical integration code and a Monte Carlo simulation code, have been developed at Duke University. The benchmarking results and applications of these two codes are presented in Section IV. The summary is given in Section V. Particle-particle scattering ============================ Scattered photon energy ------------------------ A review of the calculation of scattered photon energies in the particle-particle scattering case is in order. Figure \[electron\_lab\_frame\] shows the geometry of Compton scattering of an electron and a photon in a laboratory frame coordinate system $(x_e,y_e,z_e)$ in which the incident electron with a momentum $\vec{p}$ is moving along the $z_e$-direction. The incident photon with a momentum $\hbar\vec{k}$ ($\hbar$ is the Planck constant) is propagated along the direction with angles $(\theta_i, \phi_i)$. The collision occurs at the origin of the coordinate system. After the collision, the photon with a momentum $\hbar\vec{k}^\prime$ is scattered into the direction of $(\theta_f, \phi_f)$. ![\[electron\_lab\_frame\] Geometry of Compton scattering of an electron and a photon in a lab frame coordinate system $(x_e,y_e,z_e)$ in which the electron is incident along the $z_e$-direction. The incident photon is propagating along the direction given by the polar angle $\theta_i$ and azimuthal angle $\phi_i$. The collision occurs at the origin of the coordinate system. After the scattering, the scattered photon propagates in the direction given by the polar angle $\theta_f$ and azimuthal angle $\phi_f$. $\theta_p$ is the angle between the momenta of incident and scattered photons, $\vec{k}$ and $\vec{k^\prime}$. The electron after scattering is not shown in the figure.](electron_photon_scattering.eps){width="\columnwidth"} According to the conservation of the 4-momenta before and after scattering, we can have $$p+ k=p^\prime+ k^\prime, \label{conservation_law}$$ where $p=(E_e/c, \vec{p})$ and $k=(E_p/c,\hbar \vec{k})$ are the 4-momenta of the electron and photon before the scattering, respectively; $p^\prime=(E^\prime_e/c, \vec{p}^\prime)$ and $k^\prime=(E_g/c,\hbar \vec{k}^\prime)$ are their 4-momenta after the scattering; $E_e$ and $E_p$ are the energies of the electron and photon before the scattering; $E_e^\prime$ and $E_g$ are their energies after the scattering; and $c$ is the speed of light. Squaring both sides of Eq. (\[conservation\_law\]) and following some simple manipulations, we can obtain the scattered photon energy as follows, $$E_g = \frac{(1-\beta \cos\theta_i)E_p}{(1-\beta \cos\theta_f)+(1-\cos\theta_p)E_p/E_e}, \label{scatteredphotonenergy}$$ where $\beta = v/c$ is the speed of the incident electron relative to the speed of light, and $\theta_p$ is the angle between the momenta of the incident and scattered photons (Fig. \[electron\_lab\_frame\]). For a head-on collision, $\theta_i = \pi$ and $\theta_p = \pi-\theta_f$, Eq. (\[scatteredphotonenergy\]) can be simplified to $$E_g = \frac{(1+\beta)E_p}{(1-\beta\cos\theta_f)+(1+\cos\theta_f)E_p/E_e}. \label{energy_head_on}$$ Clearly, given the energies of the incident electron and photon, $E_e$ and $E_p$, the scattered photon energy $E_g$ only depends on the scattering angle $\theta_f$, independent of the azimuth angle $\phi_f$. The relation between the scattered photon energy $E_g$ and scattering angle $\theta_f$ is demonstrated in Fig. \[sim\_en\_sp\_dist\]. In this figure, the scattered photon energies $E_g$ are indicated by the quantities associated with the concentric circles in the observation plane, and the scattering angles $\theta_f$ are represented by the radii $R$ of the circles, i.e, $\theta_f = R/L$, where $L=60$ meters is the distance between the collision point and the observation plane. We can see that the scattered photons with higher energies are concentrated around the center ($\theta_f = 0$), while lower energy photons are distributed away from the center. Such a relation, in principle, allows the formation of a scattered photon beam with a small energy-spread using a simple geometrical collimation technique. ![\[sim\_en\_sp\_dist\]The relation between the scattered photon energy (in MeV) and scattering angle in an observation plane, which is $60$ meters downstream from the collision point. The scattered photons are produced by $800$ nm photons scattering with $500$ MeV electrons. Each concentric circle is an equi-energy contour curve of the energy distribution of scattered photons.](simp_en_sp_dist.eps){width="\columnwidth"} For a small scattering angle ($\theta_f\ll1$) and an ultra-relativistic electron ($\gamma\gg1$), Eq. ($\ref{energy_head_on}$) can be simplified to $$E_g \approx \frac{4\gamma^2E_p}{1+\gamma^2\theta_f^2+4\gamma^2 E_p/E_e}, \label{scatteredphotonenergy_headon}$$ where $\gamma = E_e/(mc^2)$ is the Lorentz factor of the electron and $mc^2$ is its rest energy. When the photon is scattered into the backward direction of the incident photon (i.e., $\theta_f = 0$, sometimes called backscattering), the scattered photon energy will reach the maximum value given by $$E_g^{max} = \frac{4\gamma^2E_p}{1+4\gamma^2 E_p/E_e}. \label{max_energy_compton}$$ Neglecting the recoil effect, i.e., $4\gamma^2 E_p/E_e\ll1$, Eq. (\[max\_energy\_compton\]) can be reduced to the result given by the *relativistic Thomson scattering* theory [@Brown:2004zz] $$E_g^{max} \approx 4\gamma^2E_p. \label{energy_thomson}$$ We can see that the incident photon energy $E_p$ is boosted by a factor of approximately $4\gamma^2$ after the backscattering. Therefore, the Compton scattering of photons with relativistic electrons can be used to produce high energy photons, i.e., gamma-ray photons. Under a set of conditions $\theta_i \approx \pi$ and $\theta_f\approx 0$, the uncertainties of the scattered photon energy $E_g$ due to the uncertainties of the variables ($E_e,~E_p,~\theta_f$ and $\theta_i$) in Eq. (\[scatteredphotonenergy\]) can be estimated [@Park_thesis; @Park_paper]. For example, the relative uncertainty of the scattered photon energy $\Delta E_g/E_g$ due to the uncertainty of the electron beam energy $\Delta E_e/E_e$ is given by taking the derivative of Eq. (\[scatteredphotonenergy\]) with respect to $E_e$, i.e., $$\frac{\Delta E_g}{ E_g} \approx 2(1-\frac{2\gamma^2E_p/E_e}{1+4\gamma^2E_p/E_e})\frac{\Delta E_e}{E_e}\approx 2 \frac{\Delta E_e}{E_e}.$$ Contributions to $\Delta E_g/E_g$ associated with other variables are summarized in Table \[depedences\]. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Variables Contributions Approximated contributions ------------ --------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ -- $E_e$ $2(1-\frac{2\gamma^2E_p/E_e}{1+4\gamma^2E_p/E_e})\frac{\Delta 2$\frac{\Delta E_e}{E_e}$ E_e}{E_e} $ $E_p$ $\frac{1}{1+4\gamma^2E_p/E_e}\frac{\Delta E_p}{E_p}$ $\frac{\Delta E_p}{E_p}$ $\theta_f$ $-\frac{\gamma^2}{1+4\gamma^2E_p/E_e}\Delta \theta_f^2$ $-\gamma^2\Delta \theta_f^2$ $\theta_i$ $-\frac{\beta}{4}\Delta \theta_i^2$ $-\frac{1}{4}\Delta \theta_i^2$ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : \[depedences\]Relative uncertainty of the scattered photon energy $\Delta E_g/ E_g$ due to the uncertainties of various variables in Eq. (\[scatteredphotonenergy\]) under assumptions of $\theta_i \approx \pi$ and $\theta_f\approx 0$. Scattering cross section ------------------------ ### Lorentz invariant form The general problem concerning the collision is to find the probabilities of final states for a given initial state of the system, i.e., the scattering cross section. Using Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) theory, the Compton scattering cross section in the Lorentz invariant form has been calculated in [@QED_landau; @Grozin_book; @Grozin_paper], and the result for unpolarized electrons scattering with polarized photons is given by $$\begin{aligned} \frac{\mathrm{d}\sigma}{\mathrm{d}Y\mathrm{d}\phi_f}&=&\frac{2 r^2_e}{X^2}\left\lbrace \left(\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}\right)^2+\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}+\frac{1}{4} \left(\frac{X}{Y}+\frac{Y}{X}\right)-(\xi_3+\xi^\prime_3)\left[\left(\frac{1}{X} -\frac{1}{Y}\right)^2+\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}\right]\right.\nonumber\\ &&\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\left.+\xi_1\xi^\prime_1\left(\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}+\frac{ 1}{2}\right)+\xi_2\xi^\prime_2\frac{1}{4}\left(\frac{X}{Y}+\frac{Y}{X} \right)\left(1+\frac{2}{X}-\frac{2}{Y}\right)+\xi_3\xi^\prime_3\left[\left(\frac {1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}\right)^2+\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}+\frac{1}{2}\right] \right\rbrace, \label{covariant_crosssection}\end{aligned}$$ where $r_e$ is the *classical electron radius*; $\phi_f$ is the azimuthal angle of the scattered photon; $\xi_{1,2,3}$ and $\xi^\prime_{1,2,3}$ are Stokes parameters describing the incident and scattered photon polarizations in their respective coordinate systems; $X$ and $Y$ are the Lorentz invariant variables defined as follows $$X = \frac{s-(mc)^2}{(mc)^2},~Y = \frac{(mc)^2-u}{(mc)^2}, \label{invariant_quantities}$$ where $s$ and $u$ are the *Mandelstam variables* [@QED_landau] given by $$s=(p+k)^2,~u=(p-k^\prime)^2.$$ $X$ and $Y$ satisfy the inequalities [@QED_landau] $$\frac{X}{X+1} \leq Y \leq X. \label{inequality}$$ Since the scattering cross section of Eq. (\[covariant\_crosssection\]) is expressed in the Lorentz invariants, it can easily be expressed in terms of the collision parameters defined in any specific frame of reference. ### Polarization description in lab frame ![\[scattering plane\]Coordinate systems of Compton scattering of an electron and a photon in a laboratory frame. ($x_e,y_e,z_e$) is the coordinate system for the incident electron ($\vec{p}$) moving along the $z_e$-axis direction. For the head-on collision, the incident photon ($\vec{k}$) comes along the negative $z_e$-axis, and the scattered photon ($\vec{k}^\prime$) is moving along the direction given by the polar angle $\theta_f$ and azimuthal angle $\phi_f$. The momentum vectors $\vec{k}$ and $\vec{k}^\prime$ form the scattering plane. $(\tilde{x}, \tilde{y}, \tilde{z})$ is a right-hand coordinate system attached to the scattering plane. The $\tilde{z}$-axis is along the direction of $\vec{k}$; $\tilde{x}$-axis is perpendicular to the scatter plane; and $\tilde{y}$-axis is in the scattering plane. $(\tilde{x}^\prime, \tilde{y}^\prime, \tilde{z}^\prime)$ is another right-hand coordinate system attached to the scattering plane. The $\tilde{z}^\prime$-axis is along the direction of $\vec{k}^\prime$; $\tilde{x}^\prime$-axis is the same as the $\tilde{x}$-axis; and $\tilde{y}^\prime$-axis lies in the scattering plane.](scattering_plane.eps){width="\columnwidth"} In the laboratory frame, three right-hand coordinate systems are used in Eq. (\[covariant\_crosssection\]) to describe the motion and polarization of the incident electron $(x_e,y_e,z_e)$, the incident photon $(\tilde{x}, \tilde{y}, \tilde{z})$, and the scattered photon $(\tilde{x}^\prime, \tilde{y}^\prime,\tilde{z}^\prime)$ (Fig. \[scattering plane\]). The coordinate system $(x_e,y_e,z_e)$ is fixed in the lab frame, and its $z_e$-axis is along the incident direction of the electron. $(\tilde{x}, \tilde{y}, \tilde{z})$ and $(\tilde{x}^\prime, \tilde{y}^\prime, \tilde{z}^\prime)$ are the local coordinate systems attached to the scattering plane formed by the momenta of the incident and scattered photons, $\vec{k}$ and $\vec{k}^\prime$. For $(\tilde{x}, \tilde{y}, \tilde{z})$, the $\tilde{x}$-axis is perpendicular to the scattering plane; the $\tilde{y}$- and $\tilde{z}$-axes are in the scattering plane with the $\tilde{z}$-axis along the direction of $\vec{k}$. For $(\tilde{x}^\prime,\tilde{y}^\prime,\tilde{z}^\prime)$, the $\tilde{x}^\prime$-axis is the same as the $\tilde{x}$-axis for the incident photon, perpendicular to the scattering plane; and the $\tilde{z}^\prime$-axis is along the direction of $\vec{k}^\prime$. The Stokes parameters $\xi^{(\prime)}_{1,2,3}$ of the incident and scattered photons in Eq. (\[covariant\_crosssection\]) are defined in their local coordinate systems, respectively. The parameter $\xi^{(\prime)}_3$ describes the linear polarization of the photon along the $\tilde{x}^{(\prime)}$- or $\tilde{y}^{(\prime)}$-axis; the parameter $\xi_1^{(\prime)}$ describes the linear polarization along the direction at $\pm45^\circ$ angles relative to the $\tilde{x}^{(\prime)}$-axis; and the parameter $\xi_2^{(\prime)}$ represents the degree of circular polarization of the photon. The polarization of the photon is always defined in its local coordinate system with its momentum being one of the axes. For Compton scattering described by Eq. (\[covariant\_crosssection\]), these local coordinate systems $(\tilde{x}, \tilde{y}, \tilde{z})$ and $(\tilde{x}^\prime, \tilde{y}^\prime, \tilde{z}^\prime)$ are different for different scattering planes. However, for the cases that the photons and electrons collide nearly head on to produce high-energy photons with small scattering angles, it becomes possible to conveniently express in an approximate manner the polarization of the incident and scattered photons using a fixed coordinate system, for example, the lab-frame electron coordinate system $(x_e, y_e, z_e)$. Let us consider the incident photon with its $\tilde{z}$-axis approximately parallel to the negative $z_e$-axis. The Stokes parameter of the incident photon can be related to the degrees of polarization defined in the fixed electron coordinate system through the following equations [@CFT_landau; @ginzburg], $$\begin{aligned} \xi_1 &\approx& P_t \sin (2\tau-2\phi_f)), \nonumber\\ \xi_2 &\approx& P_c, \nonumber\\ \xi_3 &\approx& -P_t \cos (2\tau-2\phi_f)), \label{stokes_lab_initial_photon}\end{aligned}$$ where $P_t$ and $P_c$ are the degree of linear and circular polarizations of the incident photon defined in the coordinate system $(x_e,y_e,z_e)$, respectively; $\tau$ is the azimuthal angle of the linear polarization $P_t$ with respect to the $x_e$-axis; and $\phi_f$ is the azimuthal angle of the scattering plane. For Compton scattering involving an ultra-relativistic electron, scattered photons are concentrated in a small scattering angle ($\theta_f < 1/\gamma$). For these high-energy photons with small scattering angles, their $\tilde{z}^\prime$-axes are approximately parallel to the $z_e$-axis. Neglecting the polar angle (i.e. $\theta_f \ll 1$), the Stokes parameters of the scattered photon can be expressed approximately using a set of Stokes parameters defined in the fixed electron coordinate system as [@ginzburg], $$\begin{aligned} \xi^\prime_1&\approx&-\bar{\xi}^\prime_1\cos2\phi_f+\bar{\xi}^\prime_3\sin2\phi_f, \nonumber\\ ~\xi^\prime_2&\approx&\bar{\xi}^\prime_2,\nonumber\\ ~\xi^\prime_3&\approx&-\bar{\xi}^\prime_1\sin2\phi_f-\bar{\xi}^\prime_3\cos2\phi_f, \label{final_photon_stokes}\end{aligned}$$ where $\bar{\xi}'_{1,2,3}$ are the Stokes parameters defined in the coordinate system $(x_e, y_e, z_e)$. Spatial and energy distributions of scattered photons ----------------------------------------------------- Based upon Eqs. (\[covariant\_crosssection\]), (\[stokes\_lab\_initial\_photon\]) and (\[final\_photon\_stokes\]), we can calculate the spatial and energy distributions of a gamma-ray beam produced by Compton scattering of a monoenergetic electron and laser beams with zero transverse beam sizes, i.e., the particle-particle scattering. Let us consider Compton scattering of an unpolarized electron and a polarized laser photon without regard to their polarizations after the scattering. The differential cross section is obtained by setting $\xi^\prime_{1,2,3}$ to zero in Eq. (\[covariant\_crosssection\]) and multiplying the result by a factor of two for the summation over the polarizations of the scattered photons [@QED_landau]. Thus, the differential cross section is given by [@Park_paper] $$\begin{aligned} \frac{\mathrm{d}\sigma}{\mathrm{d}Y\mathrm{d}\phi_f} & = & \frac{4r^2_e}{X^2}\left\lbrace (1-\xi_3)\left[\left(\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}\right)^2+\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y} \right]\right.\nonumber\\ &&\left. +\frac{1}{4}\left(\frac{X}{Y}+\frac{Y}{X}\right)\right\rbrace . \label{angular_dif_crosssection}\end{aligned}$$ The total cross section can be obtained by integrating Eq. (\[angular\_dif\_crosssection\]) with respect to $Y$ and $\phi_f$, $$\begin{aligned} \sigma_{tot} &=& 2\pi r_e^2\frac{1}{X}\left\lbrace\left(1-\frac{4}{X}-\frac{8}{X^2} \right)\log(1+X)\right.\nonumber\\ &&\left.+\frac{1}{2} +\frac{8}{X}-\frac{1}{2(1+X)^2}\right\rbrace. \label{tot_scat_cross}\end{aligned}$$ Note that the Stokes parameter $\xi_3$ depends on $\phi_f$; however, after integration over $\phi_f$ the dependence vanishes. Neglecting the recoil effect ($X\ll1$), we can have $$\sigma_{tot} = \frac{8\pi r_e^2}{3}(1-X)\approx \frac{8\pi r_e^2}{3}, \label{total_cross_section}$$ which is just the *classical Thomson cross section*. ### Spatial distribution For a head-on collision ($\theta_i=\pi$) in a laboratory frame, according to Eq. (\[invariant\_quantities\]) the Lorentz invariant quantities $X$ and $Y$ are given by $$X = \frac{2\gamma E_p(1+\beta)}{mc^2},~Y=\frac{2\gamma E_g(1-\beta\cos\theta_f)}{mc^2}, \label{invariant_lab_frame}$$ and $$\mathrm{d}Y=2 \left(\frac{E_g}{mc^2}\right)^2\sin\theta_f\mathrm{d}\theta_f. \label{dy_domega}$$ Substituting $\mathrm{d}Y$ into Eq. (\[angular\_dif\_crosssection\]), the angular differential cross section is given by $$\begin{aligned} \frac{\mathrm{d}\sigma}{\mathrm{d}\Omega}\!\!\! &=& \!\!\!\frac{8r^2_e}{X^2}\!\!\left\lbrace \![1\!+\!P_t\cos(2\tau\!-\!\!2\phi_f)]\!\!\left[\left(\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y} \right)^2\!\!+\!\!\frac{1}{X}\!-\!\frac{1}{Y}\right]\right.\nonumber\\ &&\left.+\frac{1}{4}\left(\frac{X}{Y}+\frac{Y}{X}\right)\right\rbrace \left(\frac{E_g}{mc^2}\right)^2. \label{crosssection-1}\end{aligned}$$ where $\mathrm{d}\Omega = \sin\theta_f \mathrm{d}\theta_f \mathrm{d}\phi_f$ and $\xi_3$ has been expressed in terms of $P_t$ (Eq. (\[stokes\_lab\_initial\_photon\])). From Eq. (\[crosssection-1\]), we can see that the differential cross section depends on the azimuthal angle $\phi_f$ of the scattered photon through the term $P_t\cos(2\tau-2\phi_f)$. For a circularly polarized or unpolarized incident photon beam ($P_t = 0$), this dependency vanishes. Therefore, the distribution of scattered photons is azimuthally symmetric. However, for a linearly polarized incident photon beam ($P_t \neq 0$), the differential cross section is azimuthally modulated, and the gamma photon distribution is azimuthally asymmetric. Figs. \[cir\_dist\] and \[linear\_dist\] illustrate the spatial distributions of Compton gamma photons at a location $60$ meters downstream from the collision point for both circularly and linearly polarized incident photon beams. In these figures we can also see that the distribution of scattered photons peaks sharply along the direction of the incident electron beam. This demonstrates that the gamma-ray photons produced by Compton scattering of a relativistic electron beam and a laser beam are mostly scattered into the electron beam direction within a narrow cone. ------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- {width="3in"} {width="3in"} ------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- ------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- {width="3in"} {width="3in"} ------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- ### Energy distribution For a head-on collision in the laboratory frame, it can be shown that $$Y = X\frac{\beta E_e-E_g}{\beta E_e-E_p}.$$ Thus, $$\mathrm{d}Y = -X\frac{\mathrm{d} E_g}{\beta E_e-E_p}. \label{dy_dEg}$$ Substituting $\mathrm{d}Y$ in Eq. (\[angular\_dif\_crosssection\]) and integrating the result with respect to the azimuth angle $\phi_f$, we can obtain the energy distribution of scattered photons as follows $$\begin{aligned} \frac{\mathrm{d}\sigma}{\mathrm{d}E_g } & = &\frac{8 \pi r^2_e}{X(\beta E_e-E_p)} \left[\left(\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}\right)^2+\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y} \right.\nonumber\\ &&\left.+\frac{1}{4}\left(\frac{X}{Y}+\frac{Y}{X}\right)\right]. \label{crosssection-en}\end{aligned}$$ The energy spectrum calculated using Eq. (\[crosssection-en\]) is shown in Fig. \[sim\_en\_dist\]. The spectrum has a high energy cutoff edge which is determined by the incident electron and photon energies according to Eq. (\[max\_energy\_compton\]). In Fig. \[sim\_en\_dist\], we can see the spectral intensity has a maximum value at the scattering angle $\theta_f=0$, and a minimum value around the scattering angle $\theta_f = 1/\gamma$. The ratio between them is about $2$ when the recoil effect is negligible. This will be shown in the next section. ![\[sim\_en\_dist\]The computed energy distribution of Compton gamma-ray photons produced by a head-on collision of a $800$ nm laser beam with a $500$ MeV electron beam. The scaled scattering angle $\gamma\theta_f$ with the electron Lorentz factor versus the gamma-ray photon energy is also shown in the plot. The solid line represents the energy distribution of the gamma-ray photons, and the dash line represents the relation between the scaled scattering angle and photon energy.](simple_en_dist){width="\columnwidth"} Note that the energy spectrum shown in Fig. \[sim\_en\_dist\] is for a Compton gamma-ray beam without collimation. However, if the gamma-ray beam is collimated by a round aperture with a radius of $R$ and distance $L$ from the collision point, the energy spectrum will have a low energy cutoff edge, and its value can be calculated using Eq. (\[scatteredphotonenergy\_headon\]) with $\theta_f = R/L$. ### Observations for a small recoil effect For a small recoil effect ($X\ll1$), we can approximate Eqs. (\[crosssection-1\]) and (\[crosssection-en\]) to draw several useful conclusions. For convenience, we first define $$f(Y) = \left(\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}\right)^2+\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}+\frac{1}{4} \left(\frac{X}{Y}+\frac{Y}{X}\right). \label{f_term}$$ Using the inequality Eq. (\[inequality\]), it can be found that $$\frac{1}{4(1+X)} \leq f(Y) \leq \frac{2+X}{4},$$ approximately (with a negligible recoil effect, $X\ll1$), $$\frac{1}{4}\leq f(Y)\leq \frac{1}{2}.$$ Thus, the maximum and minimum spectral flux of the Compton gamma-ray beam are given by $$(\frac{\mathrm{d}\sigma}{\mathrm{d}E_g})_{max} = \frac{8 \pi r^2_e}{X(\beta E_e-E_p)}\frac{2+X}{4}, \label{maximum_spectrum_intensity}$$ and $$(\frac{\mathrm{d}\sigma}{\mathrm{d}E_g})_{min} = \frac{8 \pi r^2_e}{X(\beta E_e-E_p)}\frac{1}{4(1+X)}.$$ The ratio between them is $$\frac{(\mathrm{d}\sigma/\mathrm{d}E_g)_{max}}{(\mathrm{d}\sigma/\mathrm{d}E_g)_ {min}} = (2+X)(1+X)\approx 2,$$ which is shown in Fig. \[sim\_en\_dist\]. When $\theta_f = 0$, we can have $$E_g \approx 4\gamma^2E_p,~Y \approx X(1-X).$$ Substituting $Y$ in Eq. (\[f\_term\]), we have $f(Y) \approx 1/2$. Thus, the spectral flux has a maximum value around the scattering angle $\theta_f = 0$. When $\theta_f = 1/\gamma$, we can have $$E_g \approx 2\gamma^2E_p,~Y \approx X(1-\frac{X}{2}).$$ Substituting $Y$ into Eq. (\[f\_term\]), we have $f(Y)\approx 1/4$. Therefore, the spectral flux has a minimum value around the scattering angle $\theta_f = 1/\gamma$. These results are illustrated in Fig. \[sim\_en\_dist\]. Expressed in terms of the total scattering cross section of Eq. (\[total\_cross\_section\]), the fraction of scattered photons in the energy range $[E_g^{max}-\Delta E_g^{max}, E_g^{max}]$ can be found approximately as $$\frac{\Delta \sigma_{max}}{\sigma_{tot}} \approx \frac{3(2+X)}{4(1-X)}\frac{\Delta E_g^{max}}{E_g^{max}}\approx 1.5\frac{\Delta E_g^{max}}{E_g^{max}}.$$ This is a simple formula which can be used to estimate the portion of the total gamma-ray flux with a desirable energy spread $\Delta E_g^{max}$ after collimation. For a circularly polarized or unpolarized incident photon beam, according to Eq. (\[crosssection-1\]), it can also be calculated that the angular intensity of scattered gamma-ray photons at the scattering angle $\theta_f = 1/\gamma$ is about $1/8$ of the maximum intensity at the scattering angle $\theta_f = 0$, i.e., $$\frac{(\mathrm{d}\sigma/\mathrm{d}\Omega)_{\theta_f=1/\gamma}}{(\mathrm{d} \sigma/\mathrm{d}\Omega)_{\theta_f=0}}\approx\frac{1}{8}.$$ In addition, integrating Eq. (\[angular\_dif\_crosssection\]) over the entire solid angle of the cone with a half-opening angle of $1/\gamma$, i.e., integrating $Y$ over the range of $X(1-X/2) \leqslant Y \leqslant X(1-X)$ and $\phi_f$ over the range from $0$ to $2\pi$, we can have $$\sigma_1 = \int_0^{2\pi}\mathrm{d}\phi\int_0^{1/\gamma}\frac{\mathrm{d}\sigma}{\mathrm{d} \Omega}\sin\theta \mathrm{d}\theta\approx\frac{4\pi r_e^2}{3}=\frac{1}{2}\sigma_{tot}. \label{flux_in_cone}$$ Comparing Eq. (\[flux\_in\_cone\]) to the total cross section of Eq. (\[total\_cross\_section\]), we can conclude that about half of the total gamma-ray photons are scattered into the $1/\gamma$ cone. This can be explained by considering the Compton scattering in the electron rest frame. In this frame, the Compton scattering process is just like “dipole” radiation: the gamma-ray photons are scattered in all the directions, a half of the gamma photons is scattered into the forward direction, and the other half into the backward direction. When transformed to the laboratory frame, the gamma-ray photon scattered into the forward direction in the rest frame will be concentrated in the $1/\gamma$ cone in the laboratory frame. Polarization of scattered photons\[polarization\_study\] -------------------------------------------------------- For polarized photons scattering with unpolarized electrons without regard to the final electron polarization, the cross section is given by Eq. (\[covariant\_crosssection\]). Substituting $\xi_{1,2,3}$ and $\xi^\prime_{1,2,3}$ using Eqs. (\[stokes\_lab\_initial\_photon\]) and (\[final\_photon\_stokes\]), and assuming the linear polarization of the incident photon beam is along the $x_e$-axis, i.e., $\tau = 0$, we can get $$\frac{\mathrm{d}\sigma}{\mathrm{d}Y\mathrm{d}\phi_f}=\frac{2r^2_e}{X^2} \left(\Phi_0+\displaystyle\sum_{i=1}^3\Phi_i\bar{\xi}^\prime_i\right), \label{finalphoton-polar}$$ where $$\begin{aligned} \Phi_0&=&\left(\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}\right)^2+\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}+\frac{1} {4}\left(\frac{X}{Y}+\frac{Y}{X}\right)\nonumber\\ &&+\left[\left(\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}\right)^2+\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}\right] P_t\cos2\phi_f,\nonumber\\ \Phi_1&=&\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y} +1\right)^2P_t\sin4\phi_f\nonumber\\ &&+\left[\left(\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}\right)^2+\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}\right] \sin2\phi_f,\nonumber\\ \Phi_2&=&\frac{1}{4}\left(\frac{X}{Y}+\frac{Y}{X}\right)\left(\frac{2}{X}-\frac{ 2}{Y}+1\right)P_c,\nonumber\\ \Phi_3&=&-\left(\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}+\frac{1}{2} \right)P_t\sin^22\phi_f\nonumber\\ &&+\left[\left(\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}\right)^2+\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}+\frac{1} {2}\right]P_t\cos^22\phi_f\nonumber\\ &&+\left[\left(\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}\right)^2+\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}\right] \cos2\phi_f.\end{aligned}$$ It should be noted that the Stokes parameters $\bar{\xi}^\prime_{1,2,3}$ describe the polarization of the scattered photon selected by a detector, not the polarization of the photon itself [@QED_landau]. In order to distinguish them from the detected Stokes parameters $\bar{\xi}^\prime_{1,2,3}$, we denote the Stokes parameters of the scattered photon itself by $\xi^f_{1,2,3}$. According to the rules presented in section 65 of [@QED_landau], $\xi^f_{1,2,3}$ are given by $$\xi^f_i = \frac{\Phi_i}{\Phi_0},~~i=1,2,3.$$ Integrating Eq. (\[finalphoton-polar\]) over the azimuthal angle $\phi_f$ gives $$\frac{\mathrm{d}\sigma}{\mathrm{d}Y}=\frac{2r^2_e}{X^2}\left\lbrace \langle\Phi_0\rangle+\displaystyle\sum_{i=1}^3\langle\Phi_i\rangle\langle\bar{ \xi}^\prime_i\rangle\right\rbrace,$$ where $$\begin{aligned} \langle\Phi_0\rangle &=&2\pi\left[\left(\frac{1}{Y}-\frac{1}{Y}\right)^2+\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y} +\frac{1}{4}\left(\frac{X}{Y}+\frac{Y}{X}\right)\right],\nonumber\\ \langle\Phi_1\rangle&=&0,\nonumber\\ \langle\Phi_2\rangle&=&\frac{\pi}{2}\left(\frac{X}{Y}+\frac{Y}{X} \right)\left(\frac{2}{X}-\frac{2}{Y}+1\right)P_c,\nonumber\\ \langle\Phi_3\rangle&=&\pi\left(\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y}\right)^2P_t.\end{aligned}$$ Therefore, the averaged Stokes parameters of the scattered photons over the angle $\phi_f$ are given by $\langle\xi^f_i\rangle=\langle\Phi_i\rangle/\langle\Phi_0\rangle$, which depend on the incident photon polarization and variables $X$ and $Y$. For example, for 100% horizontally polarized ($P_t=1, P_c=0,\tau=0$) incident photons scattering with unpolarized electrons, the average Stokes parameters of the scattered photons are given by $$\begin{aligned} \!\!\!\!\langle\xi^f_1\rangle &=&\frac{\langle\Phi_1\rangle}{\langle\Phi_0\rangle}=0, ~~~~~~~~~~\langle\xi^f_2\rangle =\frac{\langle\Phi_2\rangle}{\langle\Phi_0\rangle}=0,\nonumber\\ \!\!\!\!\langle\xi^f_3\rangle &=&\frac{\langle\Phi_3\rangle}{\langle\Phi_0\rangle}=\frac{2(\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1 }{Y})^2}{4(\frac{1}{X}-\frac{1}{Y})^2+\frac{4}{X}-\frac{4}{Y}+\frac{X}{Y}+\frac{ Y}{X}}.\end{aligned}$$ Clearly, the scattered photons retain the polarization of the incident photons. $\langle\xi^f_3\rangle$ as a function of the scattered photon energy is shown in Fig. \[fig-stokes1\] for $800$ nm laser photons head-on colliding with $500$ MeV electrons. It can be seen that the average Stokes parameter $\langle\xi^f_3\rangle$ of scattered gamma-ray photons is almost equal to 1 around the maximum scattered photon energy as in this case the recoil effect is negligible. It means the scattered gamma-ray photons with the maximum energy are almost $100$% horizontally polarized. ![The average Stokes parameter $\langle\xi^f_3\rangle$ of Compton gamma-ray photons produced by a $100$% horizontally polarized ($P_t=1, P_c=0,\tau=0$) $800$ nm laser photons head-on colliding with an unpolarized $500$ MeV electrons. []{data-label="fig-stokes1"}](avestokes3_linear){width="\columnwidth"} Beam-beam scattering ==================== In the previous section we discussed the spatial and spectral distributions of a gamma-ray beam produced by Compton scattering of monoenergetic electron and laser beams with zero transverse beam sizes, i.e., particle-particle scattering. However, in the reality, the incoming electron and laser beams have finite spatial and energy distributions, which will change the distributions of the scattered gamma-ray beam. Therefore, there remains a need to understand the characteristics of a Compton gamma-ray beam produced by scattering of a laser beam and an electron beam with specific spatial and energy distributions, i.e., the beam-beam scattering. In this section, we discuss the beam-beam Compton scattering process. First, we derive a simple formula to calculate the total flux of the Compton gamma-ray beam. Then, we present two methods, a semi-analytical calculation and a Monte Carlo simulation, to study the spatial and spectral distributions of the gamma-ray beam. Based upon these methods, two computing codes, a numerical integration code and a Monte Carlo simulation code have been developed. These two codes have been benchmarked against the experimental results at High Intensity Gamma-ray Source (HI$\gamma$S) facility at Duke University. Geometry of beam-beam scattering -------------------------------- Figure \[lab\_laser\_frame\] shows Compton scattering of a pulsed electron beam and a pulsed laser beam in a laboratory frame. Two coordinate systems are used: $(x,y,z)$ for the electron-beam moving along the $z$-direction; the $(x_l,y_l,z_l)$ for the laser-beam propagating in the negative $z_l$-direction. These two coordinate systems share a common origin. The time $t=0$ is chosen for the instant when the centers of the electron beam and laser pulse arrive at the origin. The definition of these two coordinate systems allows the study of the Compton scattering process with an arbitrary collision angle, i.e, the angle between $z$-axis and negative $z_l$-axis. For a head-on collision, the collision angle equals $\pi$. In this case, the electron and laser coordinate systems coincide. In these coordinate systems, the electron and laser beams with Gaussian distributions in their phase spaces can be described by their respective intensity functions as follows [@Vladimir] $$\begin{aligned} f_e(x,y,z,x^\prime,y^\prime,p,t)\!\!\!&=&\!\!\!\frac{1}{ (2\pi)^3\varepsilon_x\varepsilon_y\sigma_p\sigma_z}\!\exp\!\left[-\frac{ \gamma_xx^2+2\alpha_xxx^\prime+\beta_xx^{\prime2}}{2\varepsilon_x}\!-\!\frac{ \gamma_yy^2+2\alpha_yyy^\prime+\beta_yy^{\prime2}}{2\varepsilon_y}\!-\!\frac{ (p-p_0)^2}{2\sigma^2_p}\!-\!\frac{(z-ct)^2}{2\sigma^2_z}\right],\nonumber\\ f_p(x_l,y_l,z_l,k,t)\!\!\!&=&\!\!\!\frac{1}{4\pi^2\sigma_l\sigma_k\sigma_w^2} \!\exp\!\left[-\frac{x_l^2+y_l^2}{2\sigma_w^2}-\frac{(z_l+ct)^2}{2\sigma_l^2} -\frac{(k-k_0)^2}{2\sigma^2_k}\right],~\sigma_w =\sqrt{\frac{\lambda \beta_0}{4\pi}\left(1+\frac{z_l^2}{\beta_0^2}\right)}, \label{electron-photon-dist}\end{aligned}$$ $p$ is the momentum of an electron, and $p_0$ is the centroid momentum of the electron beam; $x^\prime$ and $y^\prime$ are the angular divergences of the electron beam in the $x$- and $y$- directions, respectively; $\alpha_{x,y},\beta_{x,y}$ and $\gamma_{x,y}$ are Twiss parameters of the electron beam; $\sigma_p$, $\sigma_z$ and $\varepsilon_{x,y}$ are the electron beam momentum spread, RMS bunch length, and transverse emittance, respectively; $k$ and $\lambda$ are the wavenumber and wavelength of a laser photon, and $k_0$ is the centroid wavenumber of the laser beam; $\beta_0, \sigma_k$ and $\sigma_l$ are the Rayleigh range, the RMS energy spread and bunch length of the laser beam. Note that the waist of the laser beam is assumed to be at the origin of both coordinate systems. Total flux ---------- The number of collisions occurring during a time $\mathrm{d}t$ and inside a phase space volume $\mathrm{d}^3p~\mathrm{d}^3k~\mathrm{d}V$ is given by [@CFT_landau] $$\begin{aligned} \mathrm{d}N(\vec{r},\vec{p},\vec{k},t)&=&\sigma_{tot}(\vec{p},\vec{k})c(1-\vec{ \beta}\cdot\vec{k}/|\vec{k}|)n_e(\vec{r},\vec{p},t)\nonumber\\ &&\times n_p(\vec{r},\vec{k},t)\mathrm{d}^3p~\mathrm{d}^3k~\mathrm{d}V\mathrm{d}t, \label{collisions_rate}\end{aligned}$$ where $\sigma_{tot}(\vec{p},\vec{k})$ is the total Compton scattering cross section which is determined by the momenta of the incident electron and laser photon, $\vec{p}$ and $\hbar\vec{k}$; $\vec{\beta}=\vec{v}_e/c$ is the relative velocity of the incident electron; $n_e(\vec{r},\vec{p},t)= N_e f_e(\vec{r},\vec{p},t)$ and $n_p(\vec{r},\vec{k},t) = N_p f_p(\vec{r},\vec{k},t)$, where $f_e(\vec{r},\vec{p},t)$ and $f_p(\vec{r},\vec{k},t)$ are the phase space intensity functions of electron beam and laser pulse, and $N_e$ and $N_p$ are the total numbers of electrons and laser photons in their respective pulses. To calculate the total number of scattered gamma-ray photons produced by collision, Eq. (\[collisions\_rate\]) needs to be integrated for the entire phase space and the collision time, i.e., $$\begin{aligned} N_{tot} &=& \int \mathrm{d} N(\vec{r},\vec{p},\vec{k},t)\nonumber\\ &=& N_e N_p\int \sigma_{tot}(\vec{p},\vec{k})c(1-\beta\cos\theta_i)\nonumber\\ &&\times f_e(\vec{r},\vec{p},t)f_p(\vec{r},\vec{k},t)\mathrm{d}^3p~\mathrm{d}^3k~\mathrm{d} V\mathrm{d}t. \label{tot_flux_integration}\end{aligned}$$ where $\theta_i$ is the collision angle between the incident electron and laser photon. Assuming collisions occur at the waists of both beams $(\alpha_x =\alpha_y = 0, \sigma_w =\sqrt{\lambda \beta_0/(4\pi)} )$, the spatial and momentum phase space in the density functions can be separated, i.e, $f_e(\vec{r},\vec{p},t) = f_e(\vec{r},t)f_e(\vec{p})$ and $f_p(\vec{r},\vec{k},t) = f_p(\vec{r},t)f_p(\vec{k})$. Since the cross section $\sigma_{tot}(\vec{p},\vec{k})$ only depends on $\vec{p}$ and $\vec{k}$, we can have $$N_{tot} = N_e N_p\int \mathcal{L}_{sc} \sigma_{tot}(\vec{p},\vec{k}) f_e(\vec{p})f_p(\vec{k})\mathrm{d}^3p~\mathrm{d}^3k, \label{tot_flux_lumin}$$ where $$\mathcal{L}_{sc} = c (1-\beta\cos\theta_i) \int f_e(\vec{r},t)f_p(\vec{r},t)\mathrm{d}V\mathrm{d}t \label{luminosity_single}$$ is the single-collision luminosity defined as the number of scattering events produced per unit scattering cross section, which has dimensions of 1/area [@Chao:1999qt]. For a head-on collision ($\theta_i = \pi$) of a relativistic electron ($\beta \approx 1$) and a photon, the single-collision luminosity can be simplified to $$\mathcal{L}_{sc} = \frac{1}{2\pi\sqrt{\frac{\lambda\beta_0}{4\pi}+\beta_x\varepsilon_x}\sqrt{\frac{ \lambda\beta_0}{4\pi}+\beta_y\varepsilon_y}}.$$ Thus, Eq. (\[tot\_flux\_lumin\]) can be rewritten in a simple form $$N_{tot} = N_e N_p \mathcal{L}_{sc} \overline{\sigma_{tot}},$$ where $\overline{\sigma_{tot}}$ is the total Compton scattering cross section averaged over the momenta of the incident electrons and photons. Neglecting the energy spread of the electrons and photons, $\overline{\sigma_{tot}}$ can be approximated by $\sigma_{tot}$ of Eq. (\[tot\_scat\_cross\]), which can be further simplified to the *classical Thomson cross section* if the recoil effect is negligible. If the beam-beam collision rate is $f_0$, the gamma-ray flux is given by $$\frac{\mathrm{d}N_{tot}}{\mathrm{d}t} = N_e N_p \mathcal{L}_{sc} \overline{\sigma_{tot}} f_0.$$ Spatial and energy distributions: semi-analytical calculation ------------------------------------------------------------- To obtain the spatial and energy distributions of a Compton gamma-ray beam, the differential cross section should be used instead of the total cross section in Eq. (\[tot\_flux\_integration\]). In addition, two constraints need to be imposed during the integration of Eq. (\[tot\_flux\_integration\]) [@Vladimir; @Park_thesis]. ![\[collimator-geometry\]Geometric constraint for a scattered gamma-ray photon. The diagram only shows the projection of the constraint in the $x$-$z$ plane.](collimator_limitation.eps){width="\columnwidth"} First, let us consider the geometric constraint, which assures the gamma-ray photon generated at the location $\vec{r}$ can reach the location $\vec{r}_d$ shown in Fig. \[collimator-geometry\]. In terms of the position vector, this constraint is given by $$\frac{\vec{k}^\prime}{|\vec{k}^\prime|}=\frac{\vec{r}_d-\vec{r}}{|\vec{r}_d-\vec {r}|}, \label{geometray_constraint}$$ where $\vec{k}^\prime$ represents the momentum of the gamma-ray photon; $\vec{r} = (x,y,z)$ denotes the location of the collision; and $\vec{r}_d=(x_d,y_d,z_d)$ denotes the location where the scattered gamma-ray photon is detected. Due to the finite spatial distribution and angular divergence of the electron beam, a gamma-ray photon reaching the location $\vec{r}_d$ can be scattered from an electron at different collision points with different angular divergences. The constraint of Eq. (\[geometray\_constraint\]) projected in the x-z and y-z planes is given by $$\theta_x+x^\prime = \frac{x_d-x}{L}, ~\theta_y+y^\prime = \frac{y_d-y}{L}. \label{constraint_projected}$$ Here, $\theta_x$ and $\theta_y$ are the projections of the scattering angle $\theta_f$ in the x-z and y-z planes, i.e., $\theta_x = \theta_f\cos\phi_f$, $\theta_y = \theta_f\sin\phi_f$ and $\theta_f^2 = \theta_x^2+\theta_y^2$, where $\theta_f$ and $\phi_f$ are the angles defined in the electron coordinate system ($x_e,y_e,z_e$) in which the electron is incident along the $z_e$-direction (Fig. \[collimator-geometry\]). $x^\prime$ and $y^\prime$ are the angular divergences of the incident electron, i.e., the angles between the electron momentum and $z$-axis. $L$ is the distance between the collision point and the detection plane (or the collimation plane). Note that a far field detection (or collimation) has been assumed, i.e., $L\gg |\vec{r}|$ and $ L\approx |\vec{r}_d|$. The second constraint is the energy conservation. Due to the finite energy spread of the electron beam, the gamma-ray photon with an energy of $E_g$ can be produced by electrons with various energies and scattering angles. Mathematically, this constraint is given by $$\delta(\bar{E}_g-E_g), \label{energycondition}$$ where $$\bar{E}_g = \frac{4\bar{\gamma}^2E_p}{1+\bar{\gamma}^2\theta_f^2+4\bar{\gamma} E_p/mc^2}.$$ Imposing the geometric and energy constraints in Eq. (\[tot\_flux\_integration\]), the spatial and energy distributions of a Compton gamma-ray beam can be obtained by integrating all the individual scattering events, i.e., $$\begin{aligned} \frac{\mathrm{d}N(E_g,x_d,y_d)}{ \mathrm{d}\Omega_d \mathrm{d}E_g}&\approx&N_eN_p\int \frac{\mathrm{d}\sigma}{\mathrm{d}\Omega}\delta(\bar{E} _g-E_g)c(1+\beta)\nonumber\\ &&\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\times f_e(x,y,z,x^\prime,y^\prime,p,t)\nonumber\\ &&\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\!\times f_p(x,y,z,k,t)\mathrm{d}x^\prime\mathrm{d}y^\prime \mathrm{d}p\mathrm{d}k\mathrm{d}V\mathrm{d}t, \label{spatialenergydist}\end{aligned}$$ where $\mathrm{d}\Omega_d = \mathrm{d}x_d \mathrm{d}y_d/L^2$, and $\mathrm{d}\sigma/\mathrm{d}\Omega$ is the differential Compton scattering cross section. Note that a head-on collision between electron and laser beams has been assumed, and the density function $f_e(\vec{r},\vec{p},t)$ has been replaced with $f_e(x,y,z,x^\prime,y^\prime,p,t)$ of Eq. (\[electron-photon-dist\]) under the approximation $p_z\approx p$ for a relativistic electron beam. In addition, the integration $\int \cdots f_p(\vec{r},\vec{k},t)\mathrm{d}^3k$ is replaced with $\int \cdots f_p(x,y,z,k,t) \mathrm{d}k$, where $f_p(x,y,z,k,t)$ is defined in Eq. (\[electron-photon-dist\]). Integrations over $\mathrm{d}k_x$ and $\mathrm{d}k_y$ have been carried out since the differential cross section has a very weak dependency on $k_x$ and $k_y$ for a relativistic electron beam. Assuming head-on collisions for each individual scattering event ($\theta_i = \pi$ and $\mathrm{d}\sigma/\mathrm{d}\Omega$ is given by Eq. (\[crosssection-1\])), neglecting the angular divergences of the laser beam and replacing $x^\prime$ and $y^\prime$ with $\theta_x$ and $\theta_y$, we can integrate Eq. (\[spatialenergydist\]) over $\mathrm{d}V,\mathrm{d}t$ and $\mathrm{d}p$ to yield the following result (see Appendix \[append\]), $$\begin{aligned} \frac{\mathrm{d}N(E_g,x_d,y_d)}{\mathrm{d}E_g \mathrm{d}x_d \mathrm{d}y_d}&=&\frac{r_e^2L^2N_eN_p}{4\pi^3\hbar c\beta_0\sigma_\gamma\sigma_k}\int^{\infty}_0 \int^{\sqrt{4E_p/E_g}}_{-\sqrt{4E_p/E_g}}\int^{\theta_{xmax}}_{-\theta_{xmax}} \frac{1}{\sqrt{\zeta_x\zeta_y}\sigma_{\theta x}\sigma_{\theta y}}\frac{\gamma}{1+2\gamma E_p/mc^2}\nonumber \\ &&\times\left\lbrace\frac{1}{4}\left[\frac{4\gamma^2E_p}{ E_g(1+\gamma^2\theta_f^2)}+\frac{E_g(1+\gamma^2\theta_f^2)}{4\gamma^2E_p}\right] -2\cos^2(\tau-\phi_f)\frac{\gamma^2\theta_f^2}{(1+\gamma^2\theta_f^2)^2} \right\rbrace \nonumber\\ &&\times\exp\left[-\frac{(\theta_x-x_d/L)^2}{2\sigma_{\theta_x}^2}-\frac{ (\theta_y-y_d/L)^2}{2\sigma_{\theta_y}^2}-\frac{(\gamma-\gamma_0)^2}{ 2\sigma_\gamma^2}-\frac{(k-k_0)^2}{2\sigma_k^2}\right]\mathrm{d}\theta_x \mathrm{d}\theta_y \mathrm{d}k, \label{spatialenergydist3}\end{aligned}$$ where $$\begin{aligned} \xi_x = 1+(\alpha_x-\frac{\beta_x}{L})^2+\frac{2k\beta_x\varepsilon_x}{\beta_0}, ~\zeta_x =1+\frac{2k\beta_x\varepsilon_x}{\beta_0},~\sigma_{\theta x} = \sqrt{\frac{\varepsilon_x\xi_x}{\beta_x\zeta_x}},\nonumber\\ \xi_y = 1+(\alpha_y-\frac{\beta_y}{L})^2+\frac{2k\beta_y\varepsilon_y}{\beta_0}, ~\zeta_y =1+\frac{2k\beta_y\varepsilon_y}{\beta_0},~\sigma_{\theta y} = \sqrt{\frac{\varepsilon_y\xi_y}{\beta_y\zeta_y}},\nonumber\\ \theta_f = \sqrt{\theta_x^2+\theta_y^2},~\theta_{xmax} =\sqrt{ 4E_p/E_g-\theta_y^2},~\sigma_\gamma = \frac{\sigma_{E_e}}{mc^2},\nonumber\\ \gamma=\frac{2E_g E_p/mc^2}{4E_p-E_g\theta_f^2}\left(1+\sqrt{1+\frac{4E_p-E_g\theta_f^2}{ 4E_p^2E_g/(mc^2)^2}}\right), \end{aligned}$$ and $\sigma_{E_e}$ is the RMS energy spread of the electron beam. In a storage ring, the vertical emittance of the electron beam is typically much smaller than the horizontal emittance. For a Compton scattering occurring at a location with similar horizontal and vertical beta functions ($\beta_x \sim \beta_y$), the vertical divergence of the electron beam can be neglected. In addition, the photon energy spread of a laser beam is small, and its impact can also be neglected in many practical cases. Under these circumstances, the cross section term in Eq. (\[spatialenergydist3\]) has a weak dependence on $\theta_y$ ($\approx y_d/L$) and $k$ ($\approx k_0$). With the assumption of an unpolarized or circularly polarized laser beam, Eq. (\[spatialenergydist3\]) can be simplified further after integrating $\theta_y$ and $k$: $$\begin{aligned} \frac{\mathrm{d}N(E_g,x_d,y_d)}{\mathrm{d}E_g \mathrm{d}x_d\mathrm{d}y_d}&\approx& \frac{r_e^2 L^2N_eN_{p}}{2\pi^2 \hbar c \beta_0\sqrt{\zeta_x}\sigma_\gamma\sigma_{\theta x}} \int^{\theta_{xmax}}_{-\theta_{xmax}}\frac{\gamma}{1+2\gamma E_p/mc^2} \left\lbrace \frac{1}{4}\left[\frac{4\gamma^2 E_p}{E_g(1+\gamma^2\theta_f^2)}+ \frac{E_g(1+\gamma^2\theta_f^2)}{4\gamma^2 E_p}\right]\right.\nonumber\\ &&\left.-\frac{\gamma^2\theta_f^2}{(1+\gamma^2\theta_f^2)^2}\right\rbrace \times\exp\left[-\frac{(\theta_x-x_d/L)^2}{2\sigma_{\theta_x}^2}- \frac{(\gamma-\gamma_0)^2}{2\sigma_\gamma^2}\right] \mathrm{d}\theta_x, \label{dist_no_vertical}\end{aligned}$$ where $\theta_{xmax}=\sqrt{4E_p/E_g-(y_d/L)^2}$. The integrations with respect to $k, ~\theta_y$ and $\theta_x$ in Eq. (\[spatialenergydist3\]) or $\theta_x$ in Eq. (\[dist\_no\_vertical\]) must be carried out numerically. For this purpose, a numerical integration Compton scattering code (CCSC) in the C++ computing language has been developed to evaluate the integrals of Eqs. (\[spatialenergydist3\]) and (\[dist\_no\_vertical\]). With the detailed spatial and energy distributions of the Compton gamma-ray beam $\mathrm{d}N(E_g,x_d,y_d)/(\mathrm{d}E_g \mathrm{d}x_d\mathrm{d}y_d)$, the energy spectrum of the gamma-ray beam collimated by a round aperture with a radius of $R$ can be easily obtained by integrating $\mathrm{d}N(E_g,x_d,y_d)/(\mathrm{d}E_g \mathrm{d}x_d\mathrm{d}y_d)$ over the variables $x_d$ and $y_d$ for the entire opening aperture, i.e., $\sqrt{x_d^2+y_d^2}\leqslant R^2$. The transverse misalignment effect of the collimator on the gamma-ray beam distributions can be introduced by replacing $x_d$ and $y_d$ with $x_d+\Delta x$ and $y_d+\Delta y$ in Eq. (\[spatialenergydist3\]) or Eq. (\[dist\_no\_vertical\]), where $\Delta x$ and $\Delta y$ are the collimator offset errors in the horizontal and vertical directions, respectively. Spatial and energy distributions: Monte Carlo simulation -------------------------------------------------------- In the previous section, we have derived an analytical formula to study the spatial and energy distributions of a Compton gamma-ray beam. However, to simplify the calculation several approximations have been made: head-on collisions for each individual scattering event, a negligible angular divergence of the laser beam, and far field collimation. A completely different approach to study Compton scattering process is to use a Monte Carlo simulation. With this numerical technique, effects that cannot be easily included in an analytical method can be properly accounted for. For example, using a Monte Carlo simulation we can study the scattering process for an arbitrary collision angle. With this motivation, we developed a Monte Carlo Compton scattering code. In following, the algorithm of this code is presented. ### Simulation setup At the beginning of the collision, both the electron and laser pulses are located some distance away from the origin (Fig. \[lab\_laser\_frame\]), and two pulse centers arrive at the origin at the same time ($t=0$). The collision duration is divided into a number of time steps, and the time step number represents the time in the simulation. Due to a large number of electrons in the bunch, it is not practical to track each electron in the simulation. Therefore, the electron bunch is divided into a number of macro particles (for example, $10^6$) which are tracked in the simulation. The phase space coordinates of each macro particle are sampled at time $t=0$. For an electron beam with Gaussian distributions in phase space, the coordinates are sampled according to the electron beam Twiss parameters as follows [@CAIN; @chao_1] $$\begin{aligned} x(0) &=& \sqrt{2 u_1\varepsilon_x\beta_x }\cos\phi_1,\nonumber\\ x^\prime(0) &=&-\sqrt{2 u_1\varepsilon_x /\beta_x }(\alpha_x\cos\phi_1+\sin\phi_1),\nonumber\\ y(0) &=& \sqrt{2 u_2 \varepsilon_y \beta_y }\cos\phi_2,\nonumber\\ y^\prime(0) &=&-\sqrt{2 u_2 \varepsilon_y /\beta_y}(\alpha_y\cos\phi_2+\sin\phi_2),\nonumber\\ z(0) &=& \sigma_z r_1,\nonumber\\ E_e&=&E_0(1+\sigma_{E_e} r_2), \label{electron_parameters}\end{aligned}$$ where $u_{1,2}$ are random numbers generated using an exponential distribution with a unit mean parameter (i.e., $e^{-u_{1,2}}$), $r_{1,2}$ are random numbers generated according to a Gaussian distribution with a zero mean and unit standard deviation, and $\phi_{1,2}$ are uniformly distributed random numbers between $0$ and $2\pi$. The coordinates of macro particles at any other time ($t\neq0$) can then be obtained by transforming the coordinates given by Eq. (\[electron\_parameters\]). The Compton scattering is simulated according to the local intensity and momentum of the laser beam at the collision point. The intensity of the laser beam at the collision point $(x,y,z)$ in the electron-beam coordinate system can be calculated according to Eq. (\[electron-photon-dist\]) using the laser-beam coordinates $(x_l,y_l,z_l)$ transformed from $(x,y,z)$. The momentum direction $\hat{k}$ of the photon at the collision point $(x,y,z)$ can be calculated from the point of view of electromagnetic wave of the photon beam. For a Gaussian laser beam, its propagation phase $\psi(x_l,y_l,z_l)$ in the laser-beam coordinate system is given by [@CAIN; @AESiegman] $$\psi(x_l,y_l,z_l) =-ik_lz_l-ik_lz_l\frac{x_l^2+y_l^2}{2(\beta_0^2+z_l^2)};$$ the wavevector (the momentum of photon $\vec{k}_l$) is given by $\vec{k}_l = \bigtriangledown \psi(x_l,y_l,z_l)$. Thus, $$\hat{k}_l\approx-\frac{1}{\sqrt{1+c_1^2+c_2^2}}(c_1\hat{x}_l+c_2\hat{y}_l+\hat{z }_l), \label{local_vector}$$ where $$c_1 = \frac{x_l z_l}{\beta_0^2+z^2_l},~c_2 = \frac{y_l z_l}{\beta_0^2+z^2_l}.$$ The unit vector $\hat{k}_l$ expressed in the electron-beam coordinate system gives the momentum direction of the laser photon in this coordinate system. ### Simulation procedures At each time step, the Compton scattering process is simulated for each macro particle. The simulation proceeds in two stages. In the first stage, the scattering probability is calculated using the local intensity and momentum of the laser beam. According to this probability, the scattering event is sampled. If the scattering happens, a gamma-ray photon will be generated, and the simulation proceeds to the next stage. In the second stage, the energy and scattering angles (including the polar and azimuthal angles) of the gamma-ray photon are sampled according to the differential Compton scattering cross section. The detailed simulation procedures for these two stages are presented as follows. ### First stage: scattering event Since the energy and scattering angles of the gamma-ray photon are not the concern at this stage, the total scattering cross section is used to calculate the scattering probability. According to Eq. (\[collisions\_rate\]), the scattering probability $P(\vec{r},\vec{p},\vec{k},t)$ in the time step $\Delta t$ for the macro particle at the collision point $(x,y,z)$ is given by $$P(\vec{r},\vec{p},\vec{k},t) =\sigma_{tot}(\vec{p},\vec{k}) c(1-\vec{\beta}\cdot\vec{k}/|\vec{k}|)n_p(x,y,z,k,t)\Delta t, \label{collisions_prob}$$ where $n_p(x,y,z,k,t)$ and $\vec{k}$ are the local density and wavevector of the photon beam, respectively; $\sigma_{tot}(\vec{p},\vec{k})$ is the total scattering cross section given by Eq. (\[tot\_scat\_cross\]). According to the probability $P(\vec{r},\vec{p},\vec{k},t)$, the scattering event is sampled using the *rejection* method as follows [@penelope; @Nelson:1985ec]: first, a random number $r_3$ is uniformly generated in the range from $0$ to $1$; if $r_3\leq P(\vec{r},\vec{p},\vec{k},t)$, Compton scattering happens; otherwise the scattering does not happen, and the above sampling process is repeated for the next macro particle. ### Second stage: scattered photon energy and direction When a Compton scattering event happens, a gamma-ray photon is generated. The simulation proceeds to the next stage to determine the energy and scattering angles of the gamma-ray photon. For convenience, the sampling probability for generating gamma-ray photon parameters is calculated in the electron-rest frame coordinate system $(x_e^\prime,y_e^\prime,z_e^\prime)$ in which the electron is at rest and the laser photon is propagated along the $z_e^\prime$-axis direction. Since the momenta of macro particles and laser photons have been expressed in the electron-beam coordinate system ($x,y,z$) in the lab frame, we need to transform the momenta to those defined in the electron-rest frame coordinate system $(x_e^\prime, y_e^\prime, z_e^\prime)$. After transformations, the sampling probability for generating the scattered gamma-ray photon energy and direction will be calculated as follows. In the electron-rest frame coordinate system $(x_e^\prime, y_e^\prime, z_e^\prime)$, according to Eq. (\[scatteredphotonenergy\]) the scattered photon energy is given by $$\frac{1}{E_g^\prime} = \frac{1}{E_p^\prime}+\frac{1}{mc^2}(1-\cos\theta^\prime), \label{gamma_energy_rest_frame}$$ where $\theta^\prime$ is the scattering angle between the momenta of the scattered and incident photons; $E_g^\prime$ and $E_p^\prime$ are the energies of the scattered and incident photons, and $E_g^\prime$ is in the range of $$\frac{E_p^\prime}{1+2E_p^\prime/mc^2}\leq E_g^\prime \leq E_p^\prime. \label{omega_range}$$ In the electron-rest frame coordinate system, we can simplify the Lorentz invariant quantities $X$ and $Y$ of Eq. (\[angular\_dif\_crosssection\]) to $X = 2E_p^\prime/mc^2$ and $Y = 2E_g^\prime/mc^2$. As a result, the differential cross section is given by $$\begin{aligned} \frac{\mathrm{d}^2\sigma}{\mathrm{d}E_g^\prime \mathrm{d}\phi^\prime}\!\!\!&=&\!\!\!\frac{ mc^2 r_e^2}{2 E_p^{\prime2}}\!\!\left\lbrace \!\!\left[1+P_t \cos(2\tau^\prime\!-\!2\phi^\prime)\right]\!\!\left[\!\!\left(\frac{mc^2}{ E_p^\prime}\!-\!\frac{mc^2}{ E_g^\prime}\right)^2\right. \right.\nonumber\\ \!\!\!&&\left.\left.+2\left(\frac{mc^2}{E_p^\prime}-\frac{mc^2}{E_g^\prime} \right)\right]+\frac{E_p^\prime}{E_g^\prime} +\frac{E_g^\prime}{E_p^\prime}\right\rbrace, \label{cross_section}\end{aligned}$$ where $\tau^\prime$ is the azimuthal angle of the linear polarization direction of the incident photon beam defined in the system $(x_e^\prime, y_e^\prime, z_e^\prime)$, and $\phi^\prime$ is the azimuthal angle of the scattered photon. Note that the quantity $P_t$, the degree of linear polarization of the incident photon beam, is invariant under Lorentz transformations. The scattered photon energy $E_g^\prime$ and the azimuthal angle $\phi^\prime$ are sampled according to the differential cross section Eq. (\[cross\_section\]). Since Eq. (\[cross\_section\]) depends on both $E_g^\prime$ and $\phi^\prime$, the *composition and rejection* sampling method [@penelope; @Nelson:1985ec] is used to sample these two variables. To sample the scattered gamma-ray photon energy $E_g^\prime$, Eq. (\[cross\_section\]) needs to be summed over the azimuthal angle $\phi^\prime$ and written as $$\frac{\mathrm{d}\sigma}{\mathrm{d}E_g^\prime}=\pi r_e^2\frac{mc^2}{E_p^{\prime2}}(2+\frac{2E_p^\prime}{mc^2})f(E_g^\prime),$$ where $$\begin{aligned} f(E_g^\prime) &=& \frac{1}{2+2E_p^\prime/mc^2}\left[\left(\frac{mc^2}{E_p^\prime}-\frac{mc^2}{ E_g^\prime}\right)^2\right.\nonumber\\ &&+2\left(\frac{mc^2}{E_p^\prime}-\frac{mc^2}{E_g^\prime}\right) \left.+\frac{E_p^\prime}{E_g^\prime} +\frac{E_g^\prime}{E_p^\prime}\right],\end{aligned}$$ and $0\leq f(E_g^\prime)\leq 1$ for any $E_g^\prime$. Now, the scattered gamma-ray photon energy $E_g^\prime$ can be sampled according to $f(E_g^\prime)$ as follows: first, a uniform random number $E_g^\prime$ is generated in the range given by Eq. (\[omega\_range\]), and $r_4$ in the range from $0$ to $1$; if $r_4\leq f(E_g^\prime)$, $E_g^\prime$ is accepted, otherwise the above sampling process is repeated until $E_g^\prime$ is accepted. If $E_g^\prime$ is accepted, the scattering angle $\theta^\prime$ can be calculated using Eq. (\[gamma\_energy\_rest\_frame\]). After the scattered gamma-ray photon energy $E_g^\prime$ is determined, the azimuthal $\phi^\prime$ angle is sampled according to $$g(\phi^\prime) =\frac{\mathrm{d}^2\sigma}{\mathrm{d}E_g^\prime \mathrm{d}\phi^\prime} /\frac{\mathrm{d}\sigma}{\mathrm{d}E_g^\prime}.$$ After obtaining the gamma-ray photon energy $E_g^\prime$, and the angles $\theta^\prime$ and $\phi^\prime$ in the electron-rest frame coordinate system, we need to transform these parameters to those in the lab-frame coordinate system. In the meantime, the momentum of the scattered electron is also computed. This electron can still interact with the laser photon in following time steps, which allows to correctly model the multiple scattering process between the electrons and laser photons. Benchmark and applications of Compton scattering codes ====================================================== Based upon the algorithms discussed in Section III, we have developed two computer codes using the C$++$ programming language: the numerical integration Compton scattering code CCSC and the Monte Carlo Compton scattering code MCCMPT. Below, we briefly discuss the benchmark and applications of these two codes. Energy Distribution ------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ![\[CCSC\_MCCMPT\] Compton gamma-ray beam energy spectra generated using computer codes MCCMPT, CCSC and CAIN2.35. The stairs plot represents the spectrum simulated using the code MCCMPT, the dash line represents the spectrum calculated using the code CCSC, and the circles represent the one using the code CAIN2.35. The electron beam energy and RMS energy spread are $400$ MeV and $0.2$%, respectively. The electron beam horizontal emittance is $10$ nm-rad, and the vertical emittance is neglected. The laser wavelength is $600$ nm with negligible photon beam energy spread. The gamma-ray beam is collimated by an aperture with a radius of $12$ mm located $60$ meters downstream from the collision point. ](analytical_simulated_smooth "fig:"){width="\columnwidth"} ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ![\[CCSC\_Measured\] Comparison between the measured and calculated energy spectra of a Compton gamma-ray beam. The solid line represents the calculated spectrum using the CCSC code, and the circles represent the measured gamma-beam energy distribution after removing the escape peaks and Compton plateau using a spectrum unfolding technique. The gamma-ray beam is produced by Compton scattering of a $466$ MeV electron beam and a $790$ nm laser beam at the HI$\gamma$S facility. The RMS energy spread of the electron beam is $0.1$%, and horizontal and vertical emittance are $7.8$ and $1.0$ nm-rad, respectively. The collimator with an aperture radius of $12.7$ mm is placed $60$ meters downstream from the collision point.](5MeV_measured_analytical "fig:"){width="\columnwidth"} -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Compton scattering computer codes MCCMPT and CCSC have been benchmarked against a well known beam-beam colliding code CAIN2.35 developed at KEK for International Linear Collider [@CAIN]. The energy spectra of Compton gamma-ray beams generated using these three codes are shown in Fig. \[CCSC\_MCCMPT\]. We can see that these three codes can produce very close results. In terms of computing time, the codes CCSC, MCCMPT and CAIN2.35 took about $10$ minutes, $150$ minutes and $1200$ minutes to generate these spectra using a single-core machine, respectively. Compared to the multi-purpose beam-beam colliding code CAIN2.35, the dedicated Compton scattering codes CCSC and MCCMPT are much faster and easy to use. At the HI$\gamma$S facility, the Compton gamma-ray beam is usually measured using a high-purity Germanium (HPGe) detector. Due to the non-ideal response of the detector, the measured spectrum has a structure of a full energy peak, a single and double escape peaks, and a Compton plateau. To unfold the measured energy spectrum, a novel end-to-end spectrum reconstruction method has been recently developed [@c.sun_2]. The comparison of the measured gamma spectrum and calculated spectrum using the CCSC code is shown in Fig. \[CCSC\_Measured\]. A very good agreement between them is observed. Using the Monte Carlo simulation code, we can study the Compton scattering process with an arbitrary collision angle. The simulated spectra using MCCMPT are compared to those using CAIN$2.35$ in Fig. \[arb\_ang\]. Again, very good agreements are observed. It is clearly shown that the gamma-ray beam produced by a head-on collision of an electron and a laser beams has the highest energy and flux. With a 90 degree collision angle, the maximum energy of the gamma-ray beam is only half of that for a head-on collision. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ![\[arb\_ang\] Compton gamma beam energy spectra for different collision angles $90^\circ$, $100^\circ$, $120^\circ$, $135^\circ$ and $180^\circ$. These spectra are simulated using codes MCCMPT and CAIN2.35. The electron beam and laser beam parameters are the same as those in Fig. \[CCSC\_MCCMPT\]. The solid lines represent the spectra simulated using the code MCCMPT, and the circles represent the spectrum simulated using the code CAIN2.35.](spectra_collision_angle "fig:"){width="\columnwidth"} ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The energy spread of a Compton gamma-ray beam is mainly determined by the degree of the collimation of the gamma beam, energy spread and angular divergence of the electron beam [@c.sun_2]. The contributions of these parameters to the gamma-ray beam energy spread are summarized in Table \[depedences\]. In some literature [@PhysRevE.54.5657; @1983paac.conf...21S], a simple quadratic sum of individual contributions was used to estimate the energy spread of the Compton scattering gamma-ray beam. Since the electron beam angular divergence and the gamma-beam collimation introduce non-Gaussian broadening effects on the gamma-beam spectrum [@c.sun_2], causing the spectrum to have a long energy tail (Figs. \[CCSC\_MCCMPT\] and \[CCSC\_Measured\]), the energy spread of the gamma-ray beam cannot be given simply by the quadrature sum of different broadening mechanisms. The realistic gamma-ray beam energy spread needs to be calculated from its energy spectrum, which can be done using either the numerical integration code CCSC, or a Monte Carlo simulation code, MCCMPT or CAIN2.35. Spatial distribution -------------------- ----------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- {width="2in"} {width="2in"} {width="2in"} {width="2in"} ----------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- Figure \[simulated\_measured\_dist\] shows the spatial distribution of a gamma-ray beam simulated by the MCCMPT code for circularly and linear polarized incoming laser beams. For comparison, the measured spatial distributions of gamma-ray beams using the recently developed gamma-ray imaging system at HI$\gamma$S facility [@c.sun_3] are also shown in Fig. \[simulated\_measured\_dist\]. It can be seen that for a circularly polarized incoming laser beam, the distribution is azimuthally symmetric; for a linearly polarized incoming laser beam, the gamma-ray beam distribution is asymmetric, and is “pinched” along the direction of the laser beam polarization. More applications of using CCSC and MCCMPT codes to study characteristics of Compton gamma-ray beams can be found in [@c.sun_2; @c.sun_1; @c.sun_4]. \[conclusion\]Summary ===================== To study characteristics of a gamma-ray beam produced by Compton scattering of an electron beam and a laser beam, we have developed two algorithms: one based upon an analytical calculation and the other using a Monte Carlo simulation. According to these algorithms, two computer codes, a numerical integration code (CCSC) and a Monte Carlo simulation code (MCCMPT), have been developed at Duke University. These codes have been extensively benchmarked against a beam-beam colliding code CAIN2.35 developed at KEK and measurement results at the High Intensity Gamma-ray Source (HI$\gamma$S) facility at Duke University. Using these two codes, we are able to characterize Compton gamma-ray beams with various electron and laser beam parameters, arbitrary collision angles, and different gamma-beam collimation conditions. In this work, the nonlinear Compton scattering process is not considered, and the polarization of the electron beam is not taken into account. Although the polarization of the gamma-ray beam has been calculated in Section II, this calculation is limited to the particle-particle scattering case. Further studies will be carried out to address these issues. This work is supported in part by the US Department of Defense MFEL Program as administered by the AROSR under contract number FA9550-04-01-0086 and by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Physics under grant number DE-FG02-97ER41033. Spatial and energy distributions of a Compton gamma-ray beam\[append\] ====================================================================== The spatial and energy distributions of a Compton gamma-ray beam produced by a head-on collision of an electron beam and a photon beam is given by $$\frac{\mathrm{d}N(E_g,x_d,y_d)}{\mathrm{d}\Omega_d \mathrm{d}E_g}\approx \int \frac{\mathrm{d}\sigma}{\mathrm{d}\Omega}\delta(\bar{E}_g-E_g)c(1+\beta)n_e(x,y, z,x^\prime,y^\prime,p,t) n_p(x,y,z,k,t)\mathrm{d}x^\prime\mathrm{d}y^\prime\mathrm{d}p\mathrm{d}k\mathrm{ d}V\mathrm{d}t, \label{spatialenergydist_append}$$ where $\mathrm{d}\Omega_d = \mathrm{d}x_d \mathrm{d}y_d/L^2$; $n_e(x,y,z,x^\prime,y^\prime,p, t)$ and $n_p(x,y,z,k,t)$ are the density functions of the electron and photon beams given by Eq. (\[electron-photon-dist\]); $\mathrm{d}\sigma/\mathrm{d}\Omega$ is the differential cross section given by Eq. (\[crosssection-1\]). For head-on collisions, we can simplify the differential cross section to $$\frac{\mathrm{d}\sigma}{\mathrm{d}\Omega}=8 r_e^2\left\lbrace \frac{1}{4}\left[\frac{4\bar{\gamma}^2 E_p}{\bar{E_g}(1+\bar{\gamma}^2\theta_f^2)}+\frac{\bar{E_g}(1+\bar{\gamma} ^2\theta_f^2)}{4\bar{\gamma}^2 E_p}\right]-2\cos^2(\tau-\phi_f)\frac{\bar{\gamma}^2\theta_f^2}{(1+\bar{\gamma} ^2\theta_f^2)^2}\right\rbrace \left(\frac{\bar{E_g}}{4\bar{\gamma} E_p}\right)^2. \label{crosssection_headon_append}$$ Replacing $x^\prime$ and $y^\prime$ with $\theta_x$ and $\theta_y$ according to Eq. (\[constraint\_projected\]), and neglecting the angular divergence of the laser beam at the collision point, we can integrate Eq. (\[spatialenergydist\_append\]) over $\mathrm{d}V$ and $\mathrm{d}t$ and obtain $$\begin{aligned} \frac{\mathrm{d}N(E_g,x_d,y_d)}{\mathrm{d}E_g \mathrm{d}x_d \mathrm{d}y_d}&=&\frac{L^2N_e N_p}{(2\pi)^3\beta_0\sigma_p\sigma_k}\int\frac{k}{\sqrt{\zeta_x\zeta_y}}\frac{1} {\sigma_{\theta x}\sigma_{\theta_y}} \frac{\mathrm{d}\sigma}{\mathrm{d}\Omega}\delta(\bar{E} _g-E_g)(1+\beta)\nonumber\\ &&\times\exp\left[-\frac{(\theta_x-x_d/L)^2}{2\sigma_{\theta_x}^2}-\frac{ (\theta_y-y_d/L)^2}{2\sigma_{\theta_y}^2}-\frac{(p-p_0)^2}{2\sigma_p^2}-\frac{ (k-k_0)^2}{2\sigma_k^2}\right]\mathrm{d}\theta_x\mathrm{d}\theta_y\mathrm{d} p\mathrm{d}k, \label{spatialenergydist6}\end{aligned}$$ where $$\begin{aligned} \xi_x = 1+(\alpha_x-\frac{\beta_x}{L})^2+\frac{2k\beta_x\varepsilon_x}{\beta_0}, ~\zeta_x =1+\frac{2k\beta_x\varepsilon_x}{\beta_0},~\sigma_{\theta x} = \sqrt{\frac{\varepsilon_x\xi_x}{\beta_x\zeta_x}}, \nonumber\\ \xi_y = 1+(\alpha_y-\frac{\beta_y}{L})^2+\frac{2k\beta_y\varepsilon_y}{\beta_0}, ~\zeta_y =1+\frac{2k\beta_y\varepsilon_y}{\beta_0},~\sigma_{\theta y} =\sqrt{\frac{\varepsilon_y\xi_y}{\beta_y\zeta_y}},\nonumber\\ \theta_f = \sqrt{\theta_x^2+\theta_y^2},~\theta_x =\theta_f\cos\phi_f,~\theta_y =\theta_f\sin\phi_f.\end{aligned}$$ Next, we need to integrate the electron beam momentum $\mathrm{d}p$. It is convenient to change the momentum $p$ to the scaled electron beam energy variable $\bar{\gamma}=E_e/(mc^2)$, and rewrite the delta-function $\delta(\bar{E}_g-E_g)$ as $$\delta(\bar{E}_g-E_g)=\delta(\frac{4\bar{\gamma}^2E_p}{1+\bar{\gamma} ^2\theta_f^2+4\bar{\gamma} E_p/mc^2}-E_g)=-\delta(\bar{\gamma}-\gamma)\frac{(1+\gamma^2\theta_f^2+4\gamma E_p/mc^2)^2}{8\gamma E_p(1+2\gamma E_p/mc^2)}, \label{delta}$$ where $$\gamma=\frac{2E_g E_p/mc^2}{4E_p-E_g\theta_f^2}\left(1+\sqrt{1+\frac{4E_p-E_g\theta_f^2}{ 4E_p^2E_g/(mc^2)^2}}\right)$$ is the root of $$E_g=\frac{4\gamma^2E_p}{1+\gamma^2\theta_f^2+4\gamma E_p/mc^2}$$ with the condition of $0\leq\theta_f\leq\sqrt{\frac{4E_p}{E_g}}$. Substituting Eqs. (\[crosssection\_headon\_append\]), (\[delta\]) into Eq. (\[spatialenergydist6\]) and integrating $d\bar{\gamma}$, we can get $$\begin{aligned} \frac{\mathrm{d}N(E_g,x_d,y_d)}{\mathrm{d}E_g\mathrm{d}x_d\mathrm{d}y_d}&=&\frac {r_e^2L^2N_eN_p}{4\pi^3\hbar c\beta_0\sigma_\gamma\sigma_k}\int^{\infty}_0 \int^{\sqrt{4E_p/E_g}}_{-\sqrt{4E_p/E_g}}\int^{\theta_{xmax}}_{-\theta_{xmax}} \frac{1}{\sqrt{\zeta_x\zeta_y}\sigma_{\theta x}\sigma_{\theta y}}\frac{\gamma}{1+2\gamma E_p/mc^2}\nonumber \\ &&\times\left\lbrace\frac{1}{4}\left[\frac{4\gamma^2E_p}{ E_g(1+\gamma^2\theta_f^2)}+\frac{E_g(1+\gamma^2\theta_f^2)}{4\gamma^2E_p}\right] -2\cos^2(\tau-\phi_f)\frac{\gamma^2\theta_f^2}{(1+\gamma^2\theta_f^2)^2} \right\rbrace \nonumber\\ &&\times\exp\left[-\frac{(\theta_x-x_d/L)^2}{2\sigma_{\theta_x}^2}-\frac{ (\theta_y-y_d/L)^2}{2\sigma_{\theta_y}^2}-\frac{(\gamma-\gamma_0)^2}{ 2\sigma_\gamma^2}-\frac{(k-k_0)^2}{2\sigma_k^2}\right]\mathrm{d}\theta_x\mathrm{ d}\theta_y\mathrm{d}k, \label{spatialenergydist3_append}\end{aligned}$$ where $$\theta_{xmax}=\sqrt{4E_p/E_g-\theta_y^2}.$$ [^1]: Currently at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. | Mid | [
0.6487935656836461,
30.25,
16.375
] |
The influence of C18 fatty acids on the growth of fibroblasts of different degrees of transformation in culture. Normal human skin fibroblasts (HSF) and cells from 2 benign (3T3 and 3T6B) and 1 malignant (3T6D) fibroblast lines were grown in the presence of C18 fatty acids in the concentration range 0-100mg/1 culture medium. The culture medium consisted of 10% FBS and 90% DMEM, the cells were dosed with various concentrations of fatty acid in ethanol as carrier 24 hours post-trypsinisation, and the viability determined using Trypan Blue exclusion after a further 48 hours. The threshold between cytostatic and cytotoxic effects was considered to be that concentration of fatty acid which limited cell number to that of the controls at the end of the post-trypsinisation recovery period. All the fatty acids dosed exhibited growth limitation potential, to a greater or lesser extent, which varied depending on the degree of unsaturation of the molecule and transformation of the fibroblasts. While lipoperoxide levels increased with degree of unsaturation of the fatty acids, the stereoisomeric configuration of the unsaturations was not a significant factor. Eicosanoid production requires cis-configuration only, thus eicosanoids are unlikely to be involved. The lipoperoxide levels are more likely to reflect non-enzymic peroxidation of fatty acids released from membrane phosphoglycerides. | High | [
0.6616161616161611,
32.75,
16.75
] |
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