Studies of the biomechanics and neural control of feeding behavior in the marine mollusk Aplysia californica have clarified the mechanisms of motivated behavior, learning, neuromodulation, the neuromuscular transform, and multifunctionality. Consummatory feeding behaviors in Aplysia are mediated by a muscular structure, the buccal mass. Studies of the buccal mass have demonstrated that multifunctionality - the ability of the same periphery and neural controller to generate qualitatively different behaviors - emerges from the interaction of neural control and biomechanics. These studies demonstrate that biomechanical context can change the functions of motor neurons and interneurons during behavior. Moreover, feeding behavior in Aplysia uses neuromechanical equilibrium points for control. These studies demonstrate that adaptive behavior emerges from the interaction of the dynamics of the nervous system, the biomechanics of the body, and the dynamics of the environment.
The mechanisms of multifunctionality are the focus of this article.
Figure 1: A schematic illustration of the anatomy of the buccal mass of Aplysia. Drawing by Richard F. Drushel.
The buccal mass of Aplysia is a structure consisting of muscle and cartilage that the animal uses for feeding and egg laying. A schematic illustration of the buccal mass is shown in Figure 1. The tongue-like central structure consists of a thin, cartilaginous sheet (referred to as the "radula" or rasper) covered with fine, backward facing teeth, whose opening and closing are controlled by a series of muscles associated with the odontophore (tooth carrier). The odontophore is a cartilaginous structure that provides support for the radula.
Figure 2: A schematic illustration of the musculature of the odontophore of Aplysia. Drawing by Richard F. Drushel.
The muscles of the odontophore that mediate opening and closing are illustrated schematically in Figure 2. Each of the intrinsic muscles of the buccal mass is labeled with an "I", followed by a number. The horse-shoe shaped I4 muscle makes up the majority of the bulk of the odontophore, and contains within it cartilaginous structures known as "bolsters" that stiffen it and constrain its motion. The radula is continuous with the radular stalk. When the radular stalk is pulled towards the radular surface by the I7 muscles, the radular halves open; when the radular stalk is pushed away from the radular surface by activation of the I4 muscle, the radular surface is pulled downwards and closes together tightly. The I5 muscle (also known as the accessory radula closer or ARC muscle) can assist closing. The small muscles around the circumference of the collostylar cap are referred to as I8, I9 and I10. The muscle that forms the back surface of the odontophore (viewed from the jaws), which has been partially dissected away in the top panel of Figure 2, is known as I6.
Surrounding the radula and odontophore (the grasper) are muscles whose activation can move the grasper towards the jaws (this movement is referred to as protraction) or towards the esophagus (this movement is referred to as retraction). The I2 muscle is a thin, sheet-like muscle whose activation can protract the grasper towards the jaws ( Figure 1). The thin I1 muscle surrounds the thicker bands of the I3 muscle, which in turn overlay a circular lumen of cartilage that is referred to as the jaws ( Figure 1). When the I1/I3/jaw complex is activated, if the grasper is in its resting position, the grasper retracts towards the esophagus.
At the base of the grasper are a series of interdigitating fibers that connect the I4 and I6 muscles of the odontophore with the I3 and I2 muscles. These fibers are referred to collectively as the "hinge" (although the structure is not rigid) because the grasper can rotate about these fibers as it is protracted, and activation of the hinge can contribute to retraction.
The buccal mass is suspended within the head of Aplysia by thin extrinsic muscles ("E" for extrinsic, followed by a number; muscles E1 - E6) that can rotate the entire buccal mass dorsally and ventrally, and from side to side, and contribute to the efficiency of feeding behavior.
By combining protraction and retraction with opening and closing, an Aplysia can use its buccal mass to attempt to grasp edible material (biting), to ingest material that it has succeeded in grasping (swallowing), and to remove inedible material from the buccal cavity (rejection).
A variety of techniques have been used to relate the anatomy of the buccal mass to its function. Some of these techniques may be of general interest for the analysis of other soft tissue structures (for example, tongues, trunks or tentacles) which have been collectively termed (by William Kier and Kathleen Smith) muscular hydrostats. Studying these structures is especially challenging because there are fewer constraints on their degrees of freedom, but very interesting, since they are capable of complex dexterous movements.
Initial studies on the anatomy of the buccal mass were done as part of studies of the anatomy of Aplysia by the great naturalist Georges Cuvier (1803) and by Nellie B. Eales (1921). H. H. Howells published a more detailed description of the functional anatomy of the buccal mass of Aplysia punctata in 1942. Initial studies of the buccal ganglia, the collection of nerve cells controlling the buccal mass, were published by Daniel Gardner in 1971, and initial descriptions of the movements of the buccal mass during biting, swallowing and rejection were published by Irving Kupfermann in 1974 as part of his study of Aplysia feeding as a model for motivated behavior.
The functional anatomical studies of Howells led him to propose that contraction of I1 and I2, as well as the dorsal extrinsic muscle E1, pulled the entire buccal mass forwards. Forward rotation of the odontophore was due to the contraction of the muscles I6 and I4, which also induced opening of the radular halves. Retraction was due to contraction of the I3 muscles, as well as extrinsic muscle E2, aided by the I5 muscle. Subsequently, studies by Colin Evans and colleagues in 1996 demonstrated that activation of the I7 muscle induced the radular halves to open.
Elizabeth Cropper and colleagues recorded extracellularly from the I5 (ARC) muscle while videotaping biting, swallowing and rejection behavior in 1990, and demonstrated that the muscle was differentially activated in the three behaviors.
Douglas W. Morton and Hillel J. Chiel recorded extracellularly from the nerve innervating the radula/odontophore (radula nerve, RN) and from one of the nerves innervating the I1/I3/jaw complex (buccal nerve 2, BN2) in 1993 while videotaping biting, swallowing and rejection behavior.
They observed that ingestive behaviors (biting and swallowing) are mediated by protracting the grasper with the radular halves open, and then retracting them with the radular halves closed. They showed that ingestive behaviors could be recognized by activation of the I1/I3/jaw complex (mediating retraction) at the same time as the I4 muscle is activated (mediating closure).
During egestive behavior (rejection), they observed that the radula protracted closed, pushing inedible material out of the mouth, and then retracted open. They demonstrated that egestive behavior could be recognized by activation of the I4 muscle (closing) prior to activation of the I1/I3/jaw complex (retraction). They showed that these shifts in the phase of opening/closing relative to protraction/retraction could be observed both in intact, behaving animals and in a semi-intact preparation in vitro. These criteria have been widely used by other investigators to distinguish ingestive and egestive behavior in reduced preparations and in isolated ganglia.
Figure 3: Frame of video taken of transilluminated juvenile Aplysia during peak swallowing retraction by Richard F. Drushel. Left panel: Side view. Right panel: Top view.
To visualize the entire buccal mass during feeding in an intact animal, Richard F. Drushel and colleagues obtained perpendicular lateral and dorsal views of transilluminated juvenile Aplysia during swallowing in 1997 ( Figure 3). This study, in addition to other neurophysiological and lesion studies done by Itay Hurwitz and colleagues in 1996, supported the hypothesis that contraction of the I2 muscle was crucial for protraction. The study also provided evidence for movement of the radular stalk into the I4 muscle during opening, and movement of the radular stalk out of the I4 muscle during closing. The internal rotations of the entire buccal mass were consistent with activation patterns of the extrinsic muscles that had been measured by Hillel J. Chiel and colleagues in 1986.
Irina Orekhova and colleagues used sonometric measurements of the surface of the radula to examine its movements in response to activation of the motor neurons (B15 and B16) that had previously been shown (by Joshua L. Cohen and colleagues in 1978) to control the I5 (ARC) muscle. They showed that the motor neuron for the I4 muscle (B8) caused clear closing movements. In contrast, the effects of activating the B15 and B16 motor neurons were more complex, producing relatively small closing movements and strong inward movements. Moreover, the strength of closing was dependent on the prior position of the radula.
Figure 4: A picture of the special apparatus for imaging intact, behaving Aplysia during feeding behavior in a whole body 2 Tesla MRI machine. Photograph by David M. Neustadter.
David M. Neustadter and colleagues developed a novel apparatus that allowed them to record magnetic resonance images (MRI) of the buccal mass during feeding behavior in a whole body MRI machine ( Figure 4). The apparatus provided 1 mm spatial resolution for buccal masses that were approximately 20 mm in each linear dimension, and could record approximately three images per second, which provided sufficient temporal resolution for feeding behaviors, which range in duration from three to ten seconds. To ensure that images were obtained through the sagittal plane of the animal, interleaved orthogonal images (i.e., axial and coronal images) were obtained at lower spatial and temporal resolution. The feeding behavior of Aplysia appeared to be completely normal during the imaging process. MRI images served as the basis for detailed modeling of the buccal mass and analysis of its biomechanics during biting, swallowing and rejection (see below).
In addition to the experimental techniques described above, insight into the function of the buccal mass has been obtained by developing a series of increasingly sophisticated quantitative models. These computer simulated models have made experimentally testable predictions. Two main classes of models have been developed: kinematic models, i.e., models that represent the geometric relationship between elements of the buccal mass, and kinetic models, i.e., models that represent the forces among the muscles of the buccal mass.
Figure 5: A frame of the first kinematic model created by David M. Neustadter. The radula is fully protracted, and protrudes through the jaw line (light blue line). Model rendered into 3D by Victor Lin.
A sequence of kinematic models of the buccal have been constructed. The initial model ( Figure 5) assumed that the grasper had a fixed spherical shape, the I3 was represented as a series of six isovolumetric tori, and the I2 was represented as a simple hemisphere. The overall shape of the model was compared with transilluminated shapes measured in vivo during swallowing. The model corresponded well to the shape observed during protraction, but was a poor fit otherwise, suggesting that the grasper changed shape during the retraction phase of swallowing. Models based on changing grasper shapes generated significantly better fits throughout the feeding cycles. Models based on the MRI data generated excellent fits (within a symmetric difference error of about 10%) to actual coronal and axial images obtained in vivo, which were not used to generate the parameters of the model (images from the most detailed kinematic model are shown below).
Figure 6: A frame of the kinetic model created by Gregory P. Sutton and Valerie Novakovic. The model is shown in cross-section. The grasper has an ellipsoidal shape in this frame of the model and is beginning to protract. Note that the change in grasper shape has elongated the I2 muscle.
A sequence of kinetic models of the buccal mass have also been constructed. Sung-Nien Yu and colleagues analyzed the force/frequency, length/tension, and force/velocity properties of the I2 muscle, and constructed both Hill-type and Huxley-type (crossbridge based) models. The initial kinetic model, constructed by Gregory P. Sutton and colleagues, used the same mechanical components as the initial kinematic model. Its kinetic parameters were set by the biomechanical studies of I2, and by Sutton's analysis of the biomechanical properties of the hinge muscle. More recently, a kinetic model constructed by Valerie Novakovic and Sutton ( Figure 6) incorporates a grasper whose shape changes from spherical (corresponding to the shape of the grasper when it is open) to ellipsoidal (corresponding to the shape of the grasper when it is closed).
Analysis of the kinetic model, and experimental tests of some of its predictions, suggest that the mechanics of the buccal mass can be understood as a first order, quasi-static system. The mechanics are primarily first order, i.e, forces depend on velocities and positions but not on acceleration, because movements are slow and the mass is small, so that inertial forces (the product of mass and acceleration) are negligible compared to muscle forces. Even when an animal generates high forces (e.g., on resistant seaweed), it does so slowly. Because the muscle forces change slowly relative to the resonant frequency of the buccal mass, the system reaches its equilibrium state so quickly that a quasi-static analysis is possible. In a static system, the forces acting on the system must be in equilibrium. In a quasi-static system, slowly changing muscle forces move the equilibrium state of the system, and it is the motion of this equilibrium state that results in motion of the system.
Analysis of the kinetic model of the buccal mass has also shown that the balance of forces within the buccal mass creates neuromechanical equilibrium points that determine the current and future state of the system. As the balance of forces changes due to changes in neural activation, the changes in the shapes of the muscles themselves, or external loading (i.e., from seaweed), the location of an equilibrium point may shift. Moreover, as some muscles are activated and others relax, new equilibrium points may be created. Finally, during some behaviors, the control may shift the system to either side of an unstable neuromechanical equilibrium point, so that the system moves from the basin of attraction of one stable equilibrium point to that of another stable equilibrium point.
How can the same neural circuit and the same peripheral structures be used to generate multiple behaviors? A multifunctional engineered device (e.g., a Swiss Army knife) consists of several devices with single functions (e.g., knife, scissors, awl), which can only be used one at a time. In contrast, multifunctional biological devices (e.g., the human hand) can flexibly switch among multiple different uses of degrees of freedom (e.g., typing, pounding on a table, or unscrewing a jar), and can sometimes blend different functions (e.g., grasping and pulling). The detailed analysis of the biomechanics and neural control of the buccal mass of Aplysia has provided insights into the neuromechanics of multifunctionality.
Figure 7: Peak retraction during swallowing. Top shows mid-sagittal view of an intact, behaving animal's buccal mass using MRI. Bottom shows three-dimensional kinematic model of the same frame. Data obtained and model developed by David M. Neustadter.
Figure 8: Schematic summary of muscle activity during swallowing and its variants.
Aplysia generate swallowing responses once they have grasped edible food. The grasper is protracted open to reposition it further forward on food. The grasper then closes, and very strongly retracts, pulling the food deeply into the buccal cavity (see Figure 7). Thus, swallowing is characterized by a relatively weak protraction, and a strong retraction (see Figure 8, top panel). Opening occurs during protraction, and closing occurs during retraction.
Hui Ye and colleagues demonstrated that swallowing of a polyethylene tube (or of a rigid tube-shaped seaweed stipe) occurs in two forms: a smaller amplitude form (Type A) and a larger amplitude form (Type B).
During Type A swallows, the functions of the muscles are straightforward: activation of the I2 muscle protracts the grasper, activation of the I4 muscle closes the grasper, and activation of the I3 muscle retracts the grasper ( Figure 8, middle panel).
During Type B swallows, the I2 muscle is activated more strongly, inducing a stronger protraction ( Figure 8, bottom panel). As a consequence, a cylindrical piece of stiff food is held by the tip of the radular cleft rather than resting within the cleft (as it does in a Type A swallow). When the I4 muscle is activated, it not only closes the radula, but induces the food to rotate ventrally and to translate into the buccal cavity, so that the I4 muscle now functions both as a closer and as a retractor. Because the odontophore is more strongly protracted, the hinge is stretched. Retraction is initiated by activating the hinge, after which activating the I3 muscle completes retraction. During Type A swallows, the hinge is not stretched; as a consequence, in the context of a Type A swallow, activating the motor neuron for the hinge has no effect. In contrast, during a Type B swallow, activating the hinge motor neuron plays a critical role during retraction. Thus, the function of motor neurons depends on their biomechanical context.
Using the kinetic model, it is possible to analyze the dynamics of swallowing. As I2 is activated, it protracts the grasper, stretching the hinge, which generates antagonistic forces. Furthermore, as I2 contracts, its mechanical advantage and the amount of force it can generate both fall. Thus, as I2 protracts the grasper, the forces it can generate decrease, whereas the forces from the hinge antagonizing its protractive force increase. Where the protractive I2 force and the antagonistic hinge force become equal defines a stable mechanical equilibrium point, and this correctly predicts the extent of protraction.
At the end of protraction, activation of I2 shuts off, and the I3 muscle is activated. The I3 muscle generates retractive force, which is balanced by the passive forces in I2. The closed shape of the grasper acts to stretch the I3 muscle, enhancing its ability to exert retractive forces. The point where the I3 muscle force balances the antagonistic passive I2 force defines a different stable equilibrium point, which correctly predicts the extent of retraction.
Figure 9: Schematic summary of muscle activity during rejection and its variants.
Aplysia generate rejection responses when they ingest inedible material, or when food that they are attempting to swallow is too large or too tough. Rejection responses can be reliably induced using a uniform polyethylene tube. At the onset of rejection, the grasper closes on the inedible material, and protracts, pushing the material out of the buccal cavity. The grasper then opens and retracts, leaving the inedible material behind. Thus, rejection is characterized by both a strong protraction and a strong retraction. In contrast to biting and swallowing, closing occurs during protraction, and opening occurs during retraction ( Figure 9, top).
The kinetic model predicted that closing at the onset of protraction would lead to mechanical reconfiguration, i.e., the change in shape of the grasper would lead to a change in the positions and length of I2. In particular, the closing of the grasper causes the overall grasper shape to elongate, which in turn stretches the thin I2 muscle that surrounds the grasper (this can be seen schematically by comparing the I2 in Figure 5 and Figure 6). As a consequence, I2's protraction equilibrium point moves more anteriorly. In vitro tests of this prediction demonstrated that closing the halves of the radula significantly enhanced the ability of the I2 muscle to protract the grasper.
Rejection of a polyethylene tube also occurs in two forms: a smaller amplitude form (Type A) and a larger amplitude form (Type B). The major difference between the two types of rejection is that the larger amplitude protraction of a Type B rejection is associated with rotation about the hinge ( Figure 9, middle and bottom).
In both forms of rejection, there must be a delay before the I3 muscle is activated, because otherwise contraction of the jaw lumen will force the halves of the radula closed, and inedible material would be pulled back into the buccal cavity. Because the protraction phase has a larger amplitude in Type B rejections, the delay until the onset of activation of the I3 muscle must be longer. Thus, for both forms of rejection, the hinge initiates the retraction phase, and then after a delay, activation of the I3 muscle completes retraction.
Figure 10: Schematic summary of muscle activity during biting.
Aplysia generate biting responses when they sense the presence of food (due to chemical and tactile sensations). A bite is an attempt to grasp food. At the onset of a bite, the grasper opens and protracts strongly; before the peak of protraction, the grasper closes, and then weakly retracts. Thus, biting is characterized by a strong protraction and a weak retraction. Opening occurs during protraction, and closing occurs during retraction ( Figure 10, top).
In vivo MRI measurements show that near the peak of protraction, the length of I2 becomes very short. As a consequence, I2's ability to exert force declines, both because of its length/tension property, and because it loses mechanical advantage. At the same time, as the grasper protracts, the hinge is stretched, generating forces that antagonize I2. The kinetic model shows that the mechanical equilibrium point defined by the I2 and hinge forces falls short of the peak protraction of biting. Because the grasper must protract open during a bite, it has a spherical shape, and so does not act to lengthen I2.
What generates the strong protraction observed during biting? The original kinematic model ( Figure 5) suggested that the posterior part of I3, which at the peak of protraction is posterior to the midpoint of the grasper, could act to further protract the grasper. The kinetic model demonstrated that, in this configuration, the forces in I3 and the antagonistic forces in the hinge defined a stable mechanical equilibrium point positioned at the peak protraction of biting. In other words, neural control could exploit the unstable equilibrium point created when the center of I3 is above the center of the grasper, and by pushing the system into the basin of attraction of the anterior equilibrium point, create a strong protraction.
What generates the weak retraction observed during biting? Prior to the peak of protraction, the grasper closes, changing its shape, reducing the mechanical advantage of the I3 muscle. The reduction in the I3 forces and the large antagonistic hinge forces combine to generate a mechanical equilibrium point whose position corresponds to the position of the grasper during the retraction phase of biting ( Figure 10, bottom).
Part of the flexibility of multifunctional systems comes from their ability to rapidly switch among different behaviors. Thus, when Aplysia have strongly protracted the radula in attempt to grasp food (bite), and succeed in grasping it, the immediately succeeding retraction is much stronger, similar to that seen during swallowing. This response is referred to as a bite/swallow.
Similarly, if Aplysia encounter inedible material, such as a polyethylene tube, they will initially swallow it, and then reject it. Before rejection behavior is observed, intermediate behaviors, in which the tube moves in and then out, are often observed, along with corresponding intermediate patterns of neural activity, in which the grasper is closed during both protraction and retraction.
Itay Hurwitz and Abraham Susswein showed that Aplysia oculifera respond to increased mechanical loading by generating slower, larger amplitude swallows. If the load increased very rapidly, animals would cut the food, suggesting a mode in which they clamped the food between the jaws and sharply pulled back with the grasper while tearing the food.
If Aplysia encounter algae growing on a flat substrate, they will switch to a grazing behavior, similar to that of the pond snail Lymnaea, in which they will press the surface of the radula against the substrate and rasp material off of it.
The feeding behavior of Aplysia is not stereotyped, but highly variable, as was shown by Charles C. Horn and colleagues in 2004 using chronic extracellular recording in intact, feeding animals. Vladimir Brezina and colleagues have suggested that cycle-to-cycle variability may enhance feeding efficiency in the face of uncertain and changing mechanical loads.
The ability to rapidly switch among different motor patterns and to generate motor "blends" is similar to that observed in the motor systems of vertebrates. For example, the turtle can use its hindlimbs for walking, swimming, and scratching, and Paul S. G. Stein and colleagues have observed patterns that blend components of these different motor responses.
The studies of multifunctionality in Aplysia have several implication for neural control.
First, it is clear that muscles do not have single functions. Rather, groups of muscles work together to form muscular coalitions that generate different behavioral components in different contexts. It is likely that this observation applies beyond Aplysia, and even beyond soft-bodied animals, to all organisms that have excess degrees of freedom in their periphery that can be exploited in multiple ways to generate complex movements.
Second, the behavioral significance of motor neuron activity depends on biomechanical context. For example, the motor neuron for I4, B8, can act as a closer during Type A swallows, and as a closer and retractor during Type B swallows. Activity in the motor neuron for the hinge, B7, has no effect during Type A swallows, because the hinge is not stretched. Activity in neuron B7 contributes to retraction during Type B swallows, as well as in both variants of rejection, because the hinge is stretched. But B7 also contributes to the protraction and ventral rotation of inedible food during a Type B rejection, because protraction and rotation of a closed grasper affects the movements of the inedible material.
Third, mechanical reconfiguration leads to another form of interaction between motor neurons: neuromechanical modulation, the ability of one set of motor neurons to alter the effectiveness of another set of motor neurons. Unlike central neuromodulation, in which release of a neurotransmitter changes the responsiveness of a neuron to other inputs, neuromechanical modulation works through the biomechanics of the periphery. Activity in the B8 motor neurons induces the grasper to close; this in turn stretches the I2 muscle, changing the effectiveness of the motor neurons for the I2 muscle (B31, B32, B61, B62).
Fourth, neuromechanical equilibrium points are crucial for control of feeding movements in Aplysia. The equilibrium points can be clearly defined by a quasi-static analysis. A similar analysis is likely to apply to slow movements in a wide variety of organisms, clarifying the control variables for the nervous system.
Fifth, the functions of interneurons within the pattern generator for feeding must be understood within a biomechanical context. For example, Hurwitz and colleagues showed that the axons of the key interneurons that initiate all feeding responses, B31 and B32, project to the I2 muscle. Although the somas of B31 and B32 are inexcitable, whenever sufficient synaptic input induces them to generate plateau potentials, the axons are excited. As a consequence of this linkage, protraction is the obligatory first phase of all feeding responses. Another example is provided by the studies of Jian Jing and Klaudisusz R. Weiss. They showed that cerebral buccal interneurons play a crucial role in shifting the timing of closing relative to protraction/retraction, which underlies the shift from ingestive to egestive behaviors. Interneuron B20 activates the B8 motor neuron, inducing I4 to close during protraction, and thus plays a crucial role in generating egestion. Interneuron B40 activates B8 during retraction, and thus plays a crucial role in generating ingestive behaviors.
Figure 11: Schematic summary of I2 and I3 activity during swallowing, rejection and biting.
Sixth, the timing, duration, and intensity of interneuronal activity may allow a neuron to contribute to different biomechanical functions in different behavioral contexts. The timing of the end of activity in the I2 protractor motor neuron and the onset of activity in the I3 muscle play crucial and distinct roles in biting, swallowing, and rejection ( Figure 11). During biting, I2 is on for long enough that the grasper moves far anterior relative to the posterior of I3, so that activation of I3 prior to the relaxation of the I2 muscle could contribute to protraction. Thus, in biting, I3 is activated before I2 has turned off. During swallowing, protraction is weak, I2 is on for a much shorter period, and I3 can be activated almost immediately after I2 turns off to induce a retraction. During rejection, at the onset of retraction the open grasper is within the lumen of the I1/I3/jaw muscle complex, and so activation of I3 must be delayed. Neurons B4/B5 make widespread inhibitory connections to the motor neurons of I3, so if they are active, they can delay the onset of activity in I3. Eduardo Warman and Chiel showed that, in intact, behaving animals, the B4/B5 neurons are almost inactive during biting (allowing overlap of activity in I2 and I3), moderately active during swallowing (inducing I3 to become active right after I2 shuts off), and intensely active during rejection (delaying I3 activity for some time after I2 has shut off). Hui Ye and colleagues showed that activating or inactivating B4/B5 could increase or decrease the delay to the onset of activity in the I3 motor neurons. Understanding the role of B4/B5 thus requires an understanding of its activity within the biomechanics of the buccal mass.
Figure 12: Frame from video of soft gripper showing it protracted and gripping a tube.
Another way of testing the hypothesis that the function of the I3 muscle could depend on context, inducing retraction when the grasper is posterior to its midpoint, and inducing protraction when the grasper is anterior to its midpoint ( Figure 12), is to construct a physical model. Elizabeth Mangan and colleagues constructed a soft robot gripping device using pneumatic actuators, and showed that if the grasper was at the center of the device, activating the rings surrounding the central grasper from rear to front could protract the grasper, whereas activating the rings from front to rear could retract the grasper. The novel gripper may be useful for robotics applications that require handling soft, irregular materials.
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What's the thinking behind the swathe of lawsuits coming out of the Golden State?
The Trump Administration has had a hard go of it since Donald was elected president. Everything the president tries to do is met with opposition and criticism. The Left Coast has been instrumental in clanging the call to arms bell of resistance. While Washington State was the first to sue the administration, outraged over Trump’s travel bans, California brought about 24 lawsuits in 2017 in 17 different categories.
The controversial DACA or Dreamers legislation was another target for the state. The lawsuit claims it is a violation of the Fifth Amendment. Californians say that more than 220,000 state residents would be affected.
The state is practically overrun with undocumented immigrants. Perhaps the most significant reason officials are against the wall stems more from the advantages of cheap farm labor than from any real contention with their claim the wall violates the constitution.
During his campaign, Trump promised immigration reform, but the left will have none of it. California sued the administration on the new sanctuary law that withholds federal grants to states that do not comply with the immigration policies and choose to remain sanctuary states. The Golden State currently receives about $28 million per year in grants to fight crime, mental health care and drug enforcement.
The state of opportunity and movie stars is also a state of poor and unemployed, so naturally, the plan to repeal Obamacare did not go over well. A lawsuit was filed in May to halt the administration’s attempts.
Other lawsuits were filed on environmental acts, the birth control block, student loans, and oil and gas taxes. Instead of spending so much time, and the people’s taxes, on lawsuits, state officials should take a good look inward and address some of their own many failing policies. The “land of opportunity” has turned into a land of greed and corruption.
Choose your battles. Not everything the president suggests is automatically a bad idea. One would think, for example, Californians would be overwhelmingly supportive of a border wall and stricter immigration laws.
With the new year approaching, we can’t help but wonder how many other frivolous lawsuits state officials will waste the tax payer’s money on while ignoring their own deteriorating state.
Those responsible for abetting and/or committing violations of federal statutes should be incarcerated. Whether it involves illegal aliens (“dreamers” are here illegally), drug laws (federal prohibitions on marijuana), violations of oaths of office (e.g., Lois Lerner). Those who fail to prosecute violators are as responsible as the violators themselves.
I am reminded of a corrupt 3rd-world nation that that calamities just seem to seek out. And the tent cities on LA streets don’t look too good….


Second batch and third batch crumpets with a little homemade, cultured, unsalted butter.
So, I've been playing with ideas for making gluten free crumpets. Some months ago I made my first attempt. They were disappointing, but edible, made with a thick rice and tapioca batter; I forget the details, but I probably have notes somewhere. Since then I have been reading recipes for crumpets, thinking about how they are made with wheat, and how they might work without gluten. Some things just seem to need gluten more than others.
Then there are my own constraints: what do I want in the recipe, am I happy with lots of starch, or do I want to reduce the starches? There is an earlier question: is this to be an every day recipe or one for special occasions? If it is for special occasions, a treat, then lots of starches may be alright. Who is going to be eating it? If it is me, then milk and butter are ok, if I'm making it for my daughter, or some particular friends there will be no dairy.
What about the nutrients? If I want a quick recipe and the nutrient values are not so important it might be alright to use baking soda or bakers yeast. But if I want to make as many of the potential nutrients available as possible I'll stick to a cultured leaven: usually a sourdough cultured from rice, buckwheat, millet or quinoa, or perhaps another variation of a naturally cultured leaven. This will allow the enzymes, bacteria, and yeasts to make the flour much more digestible. Apart from these constraints, I want a product that looks, tastes and feels right.
So, back to the crumpets. I want crumpets that I can eat frequently, for breakfast or a quick lunch. I'd like to be able to make a big batch and freeze most of it for other times. So, I began with a mix of freshly milled brown rice flour and buckwheat flour. To make the most nutrients available I chose to ferment. Fermenting rice, because it is a little gritty, is better fermented for longer. To get a softer texture I used whole milk and water. The fats and proteins of the milk help with this. So, 200g freshly milled brown rice was mixed with 100g whole milk and100g water along with 50g brown rice and 50g quinoa starters. I allowed 12 hours fermentation.
At the end of the 12 hours I added a further 50g milk, 50g water, one egg (about 50g without the shell). Then I mixed 100g freshly milled buckwheat flour to the liquid, and set it aside for nearly an hour - long enough to get the buckwheat fermenting. After preparing the frying pan (a lidded chef's pan) and egg rings with a little butter (the butter I had on hand was home made, cultured butter). With the pan heated to a bit more than a medium heat, I began cooking: one large spoon of batter to each ring. I kept the heat a little lower than it might have been because I wanted the leaven to be able to work in the increasing heat, rather than kill the bacteria and yeasts too quickly. This would allow more bubbles to develop in the crumpets.
The first batch of crumpets were a little flatter than I was hoping for, so I ensured the pan was just a little hotter for the next batch. The second batch rose better, but were still not as 'holey' as I want. So, my next move was to take the remaining 1/3 of the batter and make a quick adjustment. In my reading I noticed that many recipes use yeast as well as bicarbonate of soda or baking powder. The aim is to increase the gas in the batter and create more holes in the crumpets.
The first batch were too flat, so I adjusted the temperature. I should have made a smaller first batch to get the temperature right.
The second batch were still not as good as I had hope for, but they had the right characteristics, especially the full depth holes that are the hallmark crumb of the humble crumpet.
The third batch were not crumpets! They were lovely, light, and airy. They rose well, very well. The crumb is delicate and exceptionally light. They are tasty, but not overpowering. This is the basis for an excellent large pan muffin.
What next? I'll look at adjusting the flour for the crumpets, perhaps a just a little tapioca, perhaps a slightly different rice flour to get the texture I want in a crumpet. The bicarbonate of soda may work when there is gluten to contain it, but without gluten it is not the ingredient of choice.


I really cant understand this dream. I dreamed of my male friend and I was at a party. He started getting mad at me about something I said and went out the back. I followed him outside and he went somewhere down a street. The party was outside to and outside everyone was naked. I found him down one of the streets and he was naked to. He went back in the house and kept looking at me with an angry look. when he went inside he was clothed.


1 in 4 women will experience a miscarriage. Miscarriage is defined as pregnancy loss prior to 20 weeks gestation. The Miscarriage App is a mobile application which addresses all aspects of miscarriage.

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The Miscarriage App is also beneficial for care providers, birth professionals such as doulas and childbirth educators, midwives, nurses, and doctors as well as friends and family. The Miscarriage App has sections on how to support women through miscarriage and help them navigate through those options. Doulas, childbirth educators, nurses, doctors and other clinicians have used this app when comforting their clients/patients.

Once downloaded, you will have continuous access to information on miscarriage**.

Topics within The Miscarriage App include:
•	Miscarriage Definitions
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**The Miscarriage App and all the information contained herein, is not intended for medical treatment and is for INFORMATION ONLY. The Miscarriage App should not replace a doctor or pharmacist, please consult your doctor before utilizing information contained in The Miscarriage App. The Miscarriage App is intended for reference and educational purposes only.

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The Miscarriage App is based off of the book, It's Not Just a Heavy Period; The Miscarriage Handbook by Elizabeth Petrucelli.


No one likes the cold. Humans wear scarves, fur boots, quilted coats and woollen hats to keep the harshness of winter out while other creatures grow their own fur or line their bodies with a thick layer of blubber. There are those, too, who have a more subtle approach to dealing with extreme temperatures and, instead of sporting a protective coating of fur or fat, tame the cold by acting upon its actual source. As an example, various species of fish or bacteria who live in Arctic environments have evolved systems to keep ice crystals from developing further inside them or sometimes even in the surrounding extracellular medium. For what reason? Because ice crystals can damage cell membranes by puncturing them or causing them to rip, which is life threatening. One particular Arctic yeast known as Leucosporidium has developed a system that - in freezing conditions - hinders the growth of ice crystals by secreting a protein that binds to them and ultimately lowers their freezing point. This particular protein has been coined Leucosporidium ice-binding protein, or more simply LeIBP.
The first antifreeze proteins (AFPs) were isolated from Antarctic teleost fish in the 1970s by the American animal biologist Arthur DeVries. Since then, many other AFPs have surfaced in organisms as varied as insects, plants, bacteria, fungi, diatoms and algae and, nowadays, scientists prefer to talk about the more generic ice-binding proteins, or IBPs, to which antifreeze proteins belong. Besides anti-freeze properties, other IBPs include ice-nucleation proteins that actually promote the growth of ice crystals, or ice adhesion proteins whose role is to anchor something to ice crystals or even organise their structure. The role of IBPs is not limited to surviving extreme temperatures either: many organisms produce IBPs to gain access to nutrients for instance. As an illustration, one species of Antarctic bacterium uses IBPs to bind to ice in the upper regions of sea lakes where there is oxygen and sustenance, and various plant pathogens use IBPs to initiate the formation of ice crystals in the epithelia of fruit, thus literally digging a passageway to food.
To which category does the Arctic yeast's IBP belong? LeIBP is an ice-clinger; secreted into the extracellular medium by Leucosporidium, its role is to lower the environment's freezing point. How? An initial adsorption-inhibition model was introduced in the 1970s, which hypothesised that AFPs bind irreversibly to ice crystals thus forcing them to continue their growth between the adsorption sites - much in the way a cake mixture rises within the confined limits of a baking tin. As a result, the ice ends up curving, which has the concomitant effect of lowering the freezing point. This shift in the freezing point creates a temperature interval - known as the thermal hysteresis gap - which keeps the yeast's immediate vicinity in a delicately-balanced viable state where ice crystals neither grow nor melt. The model has since been refined and takes into account other parameters, such as the nature of growth on rough prism planes and the polymeric nature of IBPs.
The structure of LeIBP is similar to that of all known hyperactive antifreeze proteins, i.e. an association of three parallel beta strands twisted into a helical pattern - a structure also known as a beta helix. The active form of LeIBP seems to be as a homodimer where each subunit is barrel-like in form and provides an ice-binding platform that has a flat binding surface. Unlike other IBPs, a C-terminal tail protrudes from each LeIBP and seems to strengthen the interaction of the two subunits forming the homodimer. LeIBP is also glycosylated, and although glycosylation alone does not seem to be necessary for LeIBP activity, scientists believe that dimerization and LeIBP glycosylation are both physiologically relevant. It may be that glycosylation contributes to LeIBP folding and secretion.
How do LeIBPs actually dock to ice crystals? Though in many ways similar to other antifreeze proteins, LeIBP's ice-binding motif is more complex and diverse. This would explain why the Arctic yeast IBP is able to bind to a variety of basal and prism planes of ice crystal lattices and promotes a broad spectrum of interactions. Additional side chains can also reorient LeIBPs with respect to crystals, thus nurturing yet additional ways of clinging to ice. When LeIBP actually docks to nascent ice crystals, it undergoes no major conformational change, which implies that binding is probably achieved by way of a combination of parameters including hydrogen bonding, structural matching with the ice lattice and the inclusion of methyl entities and their effect within the ice lattice.
How IBPs preserve organisms from the drawbacks of freezing temperatures has quite naturally inspired the food industry. IBPs could enhance food shelf-life by postponing cell damage for instance. Transgenic fish and crops resistant to frost have been engineered, but there are concerns about their impact on the environment and human health. IBPs could also prove to be very useful in the cryopreservation of cells, tissues, embryos and organs but their underlying mechanisms are still too poorly understood, and the various tissues could still undergo damage or perhaps even necrosis. Other applications involve the creation of special materials whose morphology could be tailored using ice templates - such as porous carrier material for drug delivery or scaffolds for tissue engineering. The applications seem to be numerous. To date, however, the commercial application of IBPs is limited to ice cream to keep the texture smooth and - to end on a more poetic and seasonal note - to...the making of snow.
1.	Lee J.H., Park A.K, Do H., Park K.S., Moh S.H., Chi Y.M.


Some states, like Wisconsin, are asking state employees to contribute more to their pension plans, but others are just scrapping them.
The battle over public-sector unions is, at least in part, a battle over benefits: From Wisconsin to New Jersey, public-sector unions are among the last employees who can expect to retire with defined pension plans. Wisconsin, where a political showdown just resulted in reduced bargaining rights for public employees, is expected to release new estimates on state pensions next week, according to The New York Times. The state will likely ask employees to contribute more money to their plans and make other concessions.
But other states have an even more radical proposal: Get rid of pensions, which guarantee benefits, and replace them with 401(k)-type savings-and-investment plans. Earlier this week, Kansas lawmakers held a hearing on a bill to switch state employees hired after 2012 to a 401(k) system -- a move at least six states have already made and that Florida, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Virginia are also considering. Kansas Republicans praised the bill, arguing that the state's pension system, currently facing a $7.7 billion shortfall, is unaffordable and that public workers don't deserve benefits unavailable to most private-sector employees.
The shortfall in Kansas' pension, like those in most states, was largely the result of the worst decade in the history of the stock market. As recently as the year 2000, the state's pension was 88 percent funded, a level that the Pew Center on the States, which tracks state pensions, considered adequate. The Center for Economic and Policy Research calculates that 85 percent of the pension shortfalls in states in the past decade were caused by this historically low economic performance. The rest of the hole in Kansas' fund opened up after state legislators decided not to increase contributions when benefits were raised in the early 1990s. Clearly, state pensions, Kansas' among them, are not unaffordable under normal economic conditions.
Furthermore, switching future employees to a 401(k)-type plan won't decrease the current pension shortfall by a dime, given that it only encompasses benefits promised to current and past employees.
But the real problem with getting rid of pensions isn't that it won't close state budget gaps. Most important, it would eviscerate retirement security for some of the few remaining workers who have any. Whereas pension plans -- in which contributions are pooled and invested in relatively safe, slow-growing funds -- come with the state guarantee that a retired worker will maintain a certain income, individual retirement-savings plans come with inflated Wall Street management fees and no protection from a sudden market downturn. They put workers' livelihood in the hands of financial managers who, if the financial collapse is any indication, too often make risky bets for short-term gain.
Why are 401(k)-type plans such a bad idea for public and private employees alike? First, they're expensive. The exorbitant fees charged by firms that manage 401(k) accounts can cost workers a quarter or more of their retirement savings. Over a lifetime, these fees can add up to more than $70,000 in losses for the average worker. Fees are levied on employers' matching contributions as well. If states switch to 401(k)-type plans, these costs will be shouldered by taxpayers.
401(k)s also place the burden of the multitude of risks that come with saving for retirement entirely on the backs of workers. Those forced into individual-retirement plans risk losing their savings in a market crash, investing so conservatively that they ensure themselves anemic returns, contributing too little to their plans, outliving their savings, and more. Public employees already earn less than they would if they worked in the private sector. It seems particularly unfair to ask those who are already sacrificing in order to serve the public to shoulder the entire burden of providing for retirement, as well.
The other argument Republicans make -- that public workers don't deserve benefits that aren't available to many in the private sector -- is ludicrous on its face. Why should the misfortune of private-sector workers driven into risky, inefficient 401(k)-type retirement savings plans be extended to public employees, just for the sake of parity? The point should be to improve retirement for all instead of competing in a race to the bottom. State pension benefits are by and large modest: The average benefit in Kansas, for example, was a meager $14,213 per year in 2006. Shouldn't we be fighting to ensure that everyone has the possibility of a secure, dignified retirement, rather than trying to bring down some of the last workers who do?
In the wake of the worst recession in living memory, states and localities are facing a host of real budgetary issues. But let's all recognize that states switching to 401k-type plans won't solve a single one of them.


When building materials fail, who's to blame?
This summer, the world looked on in disbelief as fire consumed the 24-story Grenfell Tower residential high-rise in London. The building burned for more than 24 hours before firefighters could extinguish it in full. Reports have confirmed approximately 80 fatalities so far, but that number could still grow as inspectors continue to survey the site and identify victims.
An investigation into the fire's cause has centered on exterior cladding that was part of a renovation completed in May 2016, although the building’s lack of fire sprinklers has come under public scrutiny as well. Those panels, which contain the highly flammable polyethylene, are thought to have helped spread the flames after a refrigerator electrical fire on the fourth floor.
Polyethylene was also found in the pile of material that burned so hot under Interstate 85 in Atlanta in March that it collapsed a 350-foot section of highway. And it is because of that flammability that the panels' manufacturer, Arconic, formerly part of Alcoa, says they are not meant for use in high-rise construction. Yet they were installed at Grenfell and other towers.
Finding one person or company to hold liable when a building material has been improperly or unscrupulously specified or installed is often impossible — and given the increasingly collaborative nature of construction projects today, perhaps not advisable. According to Judah Lifschitz, principal and co-president at Shapiro Lifschitz & Schram, in Washington, DC, it’s likely that any party involved in the product's manufacture, sales, specification or installation would be at risk of being named in a lawsuit.
The material used on Grenfell Tower — and on more than 100 other UK high-rises — is prohibited for use higher than 40 feet above grade based on the International Building Code, which is in use or has been adopted in all U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The United Kingdom’s fire safety building code does not forbid its use, although it warns that using cladding composed of combustible materials could present a risk.
Arconic is already facing a lawsuit from a shareholder who claims that the company should not have sold the material for use in U.K. high-rises and that it made "false and misleading" statements when it did not reveal that business practice to stockholders. Company executives and U.K. sales representatives had previously discussed the panels' potential fire risk on the Grenfell Tower via email, Reuters reported. The company also provides fire-safety warnings about using combustible material at heights beyond what fire engine ladders can reach.
What has not been proven, however, is whether the panels' installation was faulty, which is a common assertion when it comes to construction-defects claims. Tests carried out by material testing company Building Research Establishment on behalf of the British government found that even when the material is correctly installed using appropriate fire breaks, it fails fire safety tests.
Who is accountable, and for what?
In such a case, claims against the architect would be that they specified the potentially dangerous material, Lifschitz said, although a defense could be that the material is regularly used within an appropriate standard of care. Even if the owner convinced the architect, engineer or designer to use an alternative material that presented a safety risk, whether known or unknown, he said, that would not alleviate the architect of his or her responsibility.
"If there's a fire and people die, you will still have liability unless you can show that this person died because they did something crazy and unreasonable," said Michael De Chiara, senior partner at construction law firm Zetlin & De Chiara, in New York.
Unless their contractor holds them to a different standard, design professionals such as engineers and architects are judged according to what is standard practice among their peers in a similar situation, sector and geographic location, said Josh Leavitt, principal and construction-law practice co-chair at Much Shelist, in Chicago.
Specialty engineers and designers could also be pulled into the legal fray if they had a hand in designing the faulty material in question. "The overall trend," Leavitt said, "has been to pass down responsibility to a specialty design contractor."
For the architect, it’s all about documentation. They should ensure specialty designers provide sealed drawings for the original design as well as those that include changes. And when it comes to value engineering, Leavitt said, the architect should include their objections to any changes in the project file.
The manufacturer could insist it never recommended the product be used in the way that caused the damage or fatalities in question. But it could still have liability if the sales staff exaggerated or made false claims about the material’s appropriate applications.
That the manufacturer put a warning label on something a court finds to be inherently dangerous might not protect the company from liability. "The manufacturer will have liability, but that might not be the deep pocket," De Chiara said. "At the end of the day, liability will be decided by whoever the fact finder is, and in the U.S., that's the judge and jury."
Testing a product isn't always a sure way of determining its long-term safety because the manufacturing process could change, he added. Materials sourced from outside of the U.S. could also present quality issues.
Attorney Jill Berman, partner at Rennert Vogel Mandler & Rodriguez, in Miami, said she would be hard-pressed to think of a situation in which the manufacturer would have liability, providing it was clear in explaining how the product should be used.
She cites the example of the installation of balcony railings on condo buildings in Florida. For years, many contractors used a non-waterproof, interior counterpart to the anchoring cement that secures the railing to the concrete balcony floor. The manufacturer wasn't at fault but the misuse of the material presented problems.
Where the contractor is concerned, the claim would most likely be that it should have known the material was the wrong one to use on the project, Leavitt said. Failing that, claims against the contractor would try to incorporate construction-related defects.
Although cladding has been at the forefront of the Grenfell discussion, the fact that there were no fire sprinklers in the building presents a glaring question as to whether claims that the exterior panels are solely to blame tell the entire story, Berman said.
In the U.S., many older buildings were grandfathered into code compliance after fire sprinklers were made mandatory in high-rise construction. And some owners have decided, for financial reasons, not to have those buildings retrofitted, she added.
"Are the authorities right to grandfather in buildings [built] before this requirement existed? Should we allow occupancy in a building like that? Should we require retrofits to buildings?" Berman asked. Making that decision requires acknowledging that there is a difference between property damage due to a lack of sprinklers and the life-safety hazard their omission presents.
"If I'm a building owner and have this cladding and don't have a sprinkler system, there is no greater notice than those videos [of the Grenfell fire]," Lifschitz said. "I am at risk if something happens. I better take action and get it fixed."


The Federal Government is under fire for granting a licence to a Canberra company exporting a weapons system destined for Saudi Arabia, a country plagued by allegations of human rights atrocities committed as part of the controversial conflict in neighbouring Yemen.
The ABC revealed this morning the Australian Government is providing tens of millions of dollars to Electro Optic Systems (EOS), which has designed a remotely operated vehicle-mounted platform that holds cannons, machine guns and missile launchers.
The ABC has seen confidential EOS board minutes which describe signing a Letter of Intent (LOI) for the sale of 500 remote weapons systems (RWS) units destined for the Saudi Ministry of Interior.
Following the ABC's report, Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne this morning told a Senate estimates hearing that a ban on the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia was under review.
During the same hearing, Senator Richard Di Natale repeatedly asked one of Defence's acting deputy secretaries, Tom Hamilton, whether there was any guarantee Australian weapons systems or component parts would not end up being used in the bloody conflict in Yemen.
Di Natale: Can you state categorically that those weapons will not be used in Yemen?
Hamilton: Senator I can state categorically that our assessment process is followed for each and every permit and that includes an assessment of the overriding risk that they will be used to commit human rights abuses.
Di Natale: I'm asking a specific question.
Hamilton: Senator if we assess that they would (be used to commit human rights abuses) we would not approve the permit.
Di Natale: Will they be used in Yemen?
Di Natale: I'm not interested in the process, I'm interested in an answer as to whether these weapons will be used in the conflict in Yemen. So you can't give me a no?
Di Natale: I don't want an answer on the process, I want an answer on whether these weapons will be used in Yemen. I mean I'm sure you're aware that according to a number of reports, indeed the UK House of Lords have said that these are highly likely to be the cause of significant civilian casualties in Yemen, the arms sales from the UK to Saudi Arabia, so I'm asking you for just a simple yes or no answer: Will these weapons be used in Yemen?
Hamilton: Senator, I refer you to my answer to my answer to your earlier question.
Photo Richard Di Natale says the Australian people cannot rely on our military products export licence system.
Senator Di Natale later said Australia could not rely on Defence's assessment process when granting export licences.
"If I had any confidence in your answer you would simply be able to say 'no, these weapons will not be used in the conflict in Yemen'. But you refuse to say that," he said.
"I don't rely on that process because you can't give me that commitment, and I don't think the Australian people could rely on that process."
The Government provided more than $36 million in financial assistance to EOS, and Defence Minister Christopher Pyne has spent years lobbying the Saudi Government on behalf of Australian defence companies — support acknowledged by EOS.
"Christopher Pyne MP has visited foreign capitals with me to provide assurance of Australia as a reliable defence partner and supplier to its allies," a statement from EOS chief executive Ben Greene last year noted.
"This effort and support is acknowledged."
Photo Defence Minister Christopher Pyne with Saudi's then-minister of the National Guard in 2016.
The ABC has seen confidential EOS board minutes which reveal the company agreed to provide the weapons systems for use by Saudi Arabia in lots of 20 units.
EOS has a business arrangement with US arms manufacturer Orbital ATK, via which the RWS is supplied to Saudi Arabia.
The Australian Government has approved the export of dozens of shipments of military items to Middle Eastern countries embroiled in the bloody Yemen war.
EOS's chief executive Mr Greene said the company provided their weapons system to "the USA", and declined to say whether the end user was Saudi Arabia.
He added: "Since you mention MOI, it is worth observing that in [Saudi Arabia] the mandate of MOI (Ministry of Interior) stops at the sovereign border, so by definition no defence items provided to MOI by anyone would be deployed to Yemen."
He said it was his understanding nothing produced by EOS would end up in Yemen.
"EOS has no involvement in Yemen, no equipment in Yemen, and we have no end-user of EOS equipment that is likely to deploy it to Yemen," he said.
The board minute also refers to EOS receiving funding in 2017 from an entity known as "PIC".
This is likely a reference to the Department of Defence's now defunct Priority Industry Capability Innovation Program, or PICIP.
A publicly available PICIP document reveals Defence provided EOS $3.7 million between 2013 and 2016 for the RWS system.
That is on top of the more than $33 million that the Australian Government's export credit agency, Efic (Export Finance and Insurance Corporation), provided to EOS last year in performance bonds connected to the RWS.
Last week the US House of Representatives voted to end American military assistance for Saudi Arabia and its allies fighting in Yemen.
On Saturday, a committee of the UK's House of Lords declared the British Government was on the wrong side of the law by selling arms to Saudi Arabia.
Photo A young survivor is carried away from the site of a Saudi-led air strike that killed eight of her family members in Yemen in 2017.
The ABC's story has prompted calls from Australian human rights groups, including Save The Children and the Medical Association for the Prevention of War (MAPW), for a total embargo on arms sales to countries involved in the Yemen war.
"Our government has abandoned any sense of ethical responsibility," said MAPW president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Susan Wareham.
"The failure to acknowledge the role of Australian weapons sales in perpetuating the human catastrophe in Yemen is unsustainable.
"All weapons trade with actors in Yemen must stop immediately."
Yemen has been in the grip of an increasingly complex civil war since 2011, as several competing factions fight for control of the Middle East's poorest country.
The Australian director of Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, said the Government needed to be more open about sales to Saudi Arabia.
"The Australian Government has been saying repeatedly: 'Trust us, we're abiding by the terms of the arms trade treaty, we're abiding by our human rights obligations'," Ms Pearson said.
"But the reality is we simply don't know, because there is no transparency.
"I think we'd like to [have] a bit more transparency about what weapons have been provided to Saudi Arabia, the quantities of equipment and how do we know that those weapons are not ending up on the battlefield in Yemen."
Former military officer and defence analyst Rodger Shanahan said the Government should always weigh the risk of selling defence items overseas.
"When you're exporting to an area — particularly (the) Middle East where there is a history of conflicts, and some of the nature of the conflicts can be quite murky — you have to be quite confident in yourself that materiel … that you export is not going to be used in conflicts where there might be some reputational damage suffered by Australian exporters," he said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Defence said all export applications considered by Defence were "subject to rigorous risk assessment processes that consider Australia's international obligations, including the Arms Trade Treaty, as well as considerations relating to foreign policy, human rights, national security and regional security".
"The Arms Trade Treaty assessment includes consideration of whether there is an overriding risk that the exported items could be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law or human rights law," the statement said.
EOS is an Australian defence and space technology company with ambitions to become the world leader in next-generation remote weapons systems.
It has spent years developing the Remote Weapons System, or RWS, with the US and Australian militaries.
Such systems are a collection of sensors, cameras and lasers set around a small cannon, heavy machine gun, missile launchers or a combination of all three.
They are built onto a swivelling mount that can be affixed to the roof of a military truck or the deck of a naval vessel and fired while the user is safely inside a vehicle.
It can find targets up to several kilometres away and once a target has been acquired, it can lock on and continue to fire with minimal human involvement.
Photo Oshkosh Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) fitted with the EOS R400 Dual RWS with M230LF 30mm cannon and 7.62mm machine gun.
In January last, EOS announced a $410 million deal to supply the RWS to an "overseas customer".
Both the Government and EOS declined to state who the customer was, saying it was not in Australia's national interest and due to commercial-in-confidence concerns.
In December, the ABC revealed that the customer was the United Arab Emirates.
At the time EOS said its equipment "has no role in Yemen" and that it was not the recipient of export licences that would allow it to export defence equipment to the UAE.
However, two days ago the UAE Armed Forces confirmed it was the customer at a press conference at the IDEX international arms fair in Abu Dhabi, and EOS released a statement confirming it was indeed selling to the UAE, and that deal was now worth $450 million.
"This announcement confirms EOS as the largest global provider of remote weapon systems," Dr Greene said in the statement.
Australia's defence exports to Saudi Arabia and the UAE are likely connected to a plan announced by then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in January last year to drastically increase defence sales over the next decade, called the Defence Export Strategy.
Australia will spend $200 million between now and 2028 as part of a plan to become the 10th largest arms exporter in the world. It is currently ranked 20th.
The strategy states the Middle East is a "priority market" for defence exports.


Was Jesus crucified at the third hour? Yes: Mark 15:25 No: John 19:14-15. Which would you pick, and why?
Sometimes, hand-written copies of the same document will not entirely agree with each other. Copies of the Bible are not immune from this. This verse in John is a case in point.
"...'And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the third hour', as the correct books render it, and the copy itself that was written by the hand of the evangelist, which, by the divine grace, has been preserved in the most holy church of Ephesus, and is there adored by the faithful."
"trith, the third, is the reading of DL, four others, the Chron. Alex., Seuerus Antiochen., Ammonius, with others mentioned by Theophylact.
"Nonnus, who wrote in the fifth century, reads trith, the third. As in ancient times all the numbers were written in the manuscripts not at large but in numeral letters, it was easy for g three, to be mistaken for v six. The Codex Bezae has generally numeral letters instead of words. Bengel observes that he has found the letter g gamma, THREE, exceedingly like the v episemon, SIX, in some MSS. Episemon = greek 'st' combined, similar appearance to final form sigma with a nearly flat top. Similar appearance to upper case gamma. The major part of the best critics think that trith, the third, is the genuine reading."
It is therefore clear that the reading in John is disputed, with one reading making sense chronologically, and the other not.
Fortunately, the manuscript evidence for the Bible is beyond compare in the ancient world, and comfortably informs us that we can be confident that the substance of the message presented in our modern English translations is the same as the substance of the message presented by the original authors themselves.
Why didn't your god just make the people who made the hand-written copies get it right?
Seems like a no-brainer to me but I guess he must have had his mysterious reasons.
You mention the "original authors" too...I thought the author of the bible was god?
"Why didn't your god just make the people who made the hand-written copies get it right?"
"You mention the 'original authors' too...I thought the author of the bible was god?"
That's a laughably pathetic non-answer...even by your standards pal.


A brilliant debut mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide. After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.
Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, thelegendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.
You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.
I've never heard about this one until it became a trending topic on Yahoo!. Apparently, Robert Galbraith was just a pseudonym used by a really famous author because she wanted to experience publishing a book without all the expectations from the fans. Do you have any idea who this author is? She's really famous and her books were adopted into movies and are holding box office records of all time.
Back to the book, it's a breath of fresh air to be reading a different genre written by one of my favorite authors. So Cuckoo's Calling is obviously a detective novel which stars the war veteran, Cormoran Strike, who was commissioned by John Bristow to investigate his Lula Landry's death.
I decided to play Sherlock too and came up with suspects. I had several people who do have a motive to kill Lula.
JOHN BRISTOW - He's Lula's eldest brother who works in their family's company. He takes care of her contracts, the latest of which is a deal from Guy Some, and makes sure to get her the best deals. He might be motivated to kill her because his trust and salary don't meet up with how much Lula is earning. They were all adopted so it might be because he was jealous of the attention Lula gets.
GUY SOME - A thin black man who is a fashion designer and whom Lula considers as her brother. He commissioned Lula to model his latest collection and Lula signed a contract with him worth 5 million dollars. What better advert motive does he have other than as a profit to his business. It was found out that the dress Lula was wearing when she died sold out in the 24 hours after her death. It was said that Some, told the press that she was wearing his dress.
DERRICK WILSON - He's the security guard on duty the night of the incident. He disappeared a quarter of an hour with the alibi that he felt unwell and so he went to the bathroom. For all I know, he might be at the scene of the crime during that period, busy killing Lula.
FREDDIE BESTIGUI - He's a film producer who has the hots for Lula. He seemed to be enamored by Lula and he had offered to produce her a movie countless of times. Motive: Well, he might have propositioned Lula and when she didn't agree, he got mad, and accidentally pushed her in the balcony.
TONY LANDRY - He's Lula's uncle, the brother of her adoptive mother. From the very start, he has eagerly shown his disgust towards her specially when Lula got involved in various scandals. Might be that he wanted to protect the image of the family and got sick of Lula's antics that's why he decided to just end her.
EVAN DUFFIELD - He's Lula's on-and-off boyfriend. They got into a fight the night of the incident. He followed her home 15 minutes after she stormed out of the bar. But he went the other way when he saw the paparazzis at her residence. Could it be that he used that and Ciara Porter as alibi to hide the truth?
So one among the suspects listed above is the real killer. I won't give you any more details. You have to find it on your own.
What I love about this book is that I felt like I was listening to a storyteller instead of reading. I imagined someone reading the book to me as I silently follow the words with my eyes. Rowling has that magic touch. That's exactly how I felt when I read Harry Potter.
The intricate details of the plot and the character build-up is commendable. It really helped me enhanced my imagination. It was actually kind of like playing a movie in my head.
The characters were established really well. I like it that Cormoran was portrayed the war hero who is struggling to maintain a balance in his life after all that's he's been through. He's amputated. His girlfriend dumped him so he was forced to live in his office. He struggles to pay the rent of his office and he's oblivious to his father's money.
As of this writing, Rowling has already finished the sequel for this series. I hope it gets released soon.
This is a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling , the author of the Harry Potter series and The Casual Vacancy.
Rowling's sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael's Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the Harry Potter headmaster Albus Dumbledore.
As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. She recalls that: "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee." At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind," gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.
Rowling has said of her teenage years, in an interview with The New Yorker, "I wasn’t particularly happy. I think it’s a dreadful time of life." She had a difficult homelife; her mother was ill and she had a difficult relationship with her father (she is no longer on speaking terms with him). She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother had worked as a technician in the science department. Rowling said of her adolescence, "Hermione [a bookish, know-it-all Harry Potter character] is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of." Steve Eddy, who taught Rowling English when she first arrived, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books.


For indeed the unwritten rule informing this type of journalism is: if you want to get close to the 'defence' establishment, you better be close to the 'defence' establishment: ideologically, sympathetically, 'patriotically'.
So how do these articles compare?
The article repeatedly stresses the danger facing US carrier aircrews rather than the people under their bombs: 'Each time it launches one of its jets' the event is 'so dramatic and inherently dangerous'.
'"Every flight there is a risk out there," notes Lt Cdr "Mike," who at 35 is one of the veteran pilots on board. It starts with being catapulted off the deck, goes through the in-flight fuel top ups, which he notes "can be unpleasant," flying in close proximity to the tanker in bad weather or at night, and ends with the "controlled car crash" of recovering the jet onto the carrier.
'Mike, Top Gun pilot that he is', Urban opines, managed to land 'flawlessly' on the carrier.
There is apparently no space for a discussion of the morality or legality of the US effort, particularly in light of the catastrophic US 'interventions' in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere. And by the way, why is it the job of the US to bomb anyone, anywhere in the world without UN approval? And why should we believe the US imperial power is guided by moral motives?
By contrast, investigative journalist Patrick Cockburn comments in the London Review of Books this month: 'the [US] campaign has demonstrably failed to contain IS, which in May captured Ramadi in Iraq and Palmyra in Syria'.
Remarkably, the 10-minute video embedded in Urban's article is even more one-sided. It opens with a motivational propaganda speech by the carrier's chaplain on the US mission to 'stem the tide of tyranny and hatred'. It continues with a long description of the awesome size and power of the ship and its weapons, includes jokey interviews with the air crew on their superstitions and on how careful they are not to hit civilians, with officers confidently discussing progress made. The commanding officer is quoted as saying his bombers are 'working the Isis target a couple of bodies at a time'. The video concludes with a poignant prayer from the chaplain requesting that the 'Lord' protect US forces working so patiently to end human life a couple of corpses at a time.
Urban's piece on the US bombing campaign, then, is classic 'patriotic', wartime propaganda glorifying 'our' courageous fighting men and women – named and humanised for the reader - risking their lives to make the world a safer place. And of course they are winning.
The title of Urban's piece on the Russian bombing campaign is coldly factual – there is no indication that he is 'on board' with Russian forces. There is no propaganda video, or Top Gun-style picture, just a rather menacing photo of a Russian bomber without visible human occupants.
Unlike the US carrier piece, no attempt is made to describe the dangers, fears and discomforts facing Russian aircrews. There are no friendly discussions with Russian pilots and commanders – none are named, interviewed, humanised. There are no quotes from a chaplain saying prayers, or from a commander expressing confidence in final victory. Apart from a couple of comments from Putin, there are no quotes from Russian military sources at all. Urban prefers to reference the opinion of US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter, the 'independent' UK website Belingcat and a Free Syrian Army commander, all pro-Western.
In the US piece, the focus is on whether the air offensive is 'working' and 'achieving results', not on 'destruction'.
The Russian authorities are thus openly accused of dishonesty in describing their objectives: they are not, as claimed, targeting Islamic State - the enemy that Urban's BBC audience has been trained to unreservedly hate - but are working to 'strengthen the Assad regime and its forces', which the BBC audience has also been taught to hate.
'Typically US "precision" bombs have a circular error probable (the radius around the aiming point in which 50% or more will fall) of eight-to-12 metres. With unguided or dumb bombs that increases to 50-100m.
These deeply sceptical, critical comments on the Russian mission stand in stark contrast to the earlier unrelieved positivity and blithe acceptance of US military claims, notably the claim that the commanders 'are quite sure they are making progress'.
The same concern is the focus of the conclusion: Russia 'has deployed a military force to Syria swiftly, and it has brought enormous force to bear. But the human cost of this is becoming clearer'.
1. Is it conceivable that a BBC journalist would produce an article and video as 'on board' and positive about a Russian bombing campaign as Urban supplied on the US campaign?
2. Have we ever seen a piece from a BBC journalist as openly critical of US government dishonesty in regards to an ongoing military campaign - accusing it of lying about its real intentions and the true costs to civilians, of supporting known enemies - in the way of the second piece on the Russian campaign?
The answers matter because this kind of propaganda - repeated relentlessly across our broadcast media and newspapers - is effective in persuading large numbers of people to support one war after another, without end. After all, how can it be that so many can accept that Britain and the US should go on bombing distant countries year after year, creating unimaginable misery and chaos, much of it swept under the media carpet?
A good deal of the discredit goes to the 'diplomatic' and 'defence' editors of the BBC, ITV and newspapers - men and women apparently awarded jobs for life, regardless of their performance, with zero accountability (unless they fail to defer to elite interests). Their pro-Western, warmongering bias is often as naked as it is lethal to human life, and yet our political and media system is so structurally corrupt that it passes without 'mainstream' comment.


This position ensures that for vehicles leaving the detail shop that all approved reconditioning work (Inspection, Mechanical, Body and Detail) is completed and detailed to customer standards by inspecting vehicles upon notification that reconditioning work is completed.
Inspect completion and verify the quality of any and all reconditioning work approved and completed is in accordance with approved work, customer specifications and contract standards. Examine visually and by touch if necessary. Bring any incomplete and approved work to the manager's attention immediately.
Check wash bay steps by inspecting trunk jambs, looking for grease on hinges, bugs, fender wells and lower splash shields, etc.
Check interior cleaning steps by inspecting ashtrays, dashboards, panels, vinyl, windows, carpets and upholstery, and making sure debris is removed, etc.
Check buffing steps by verifying that dressing was properly applied to the engine and tires and that the vehicle was waxed, buffed and polished to appropriate standards.
Check final touch-up by inspecting windows, bumpers, moldings, wax, etc.
Reject vehicles not meeting standards and return to detail shop for redo. Generate appropriate reports and re-inspect problem vehicles to ensure quality standards are met.
Perform other duties as assigned by manager or supervisor, including driving vehicle into building and to proper clean car staging area, occasional sale day driving.
May be required to work overtime (more than 40 hours per week) as business needs dictate.
2-4 years' experience in a detail shop or re-conditioning work preferred, or as a quality control inspector preferred.
Valid Driver's License and safe driving record required. Ability to drive vehicles with standard and automatic transmission. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills required. Must be detail-oriented.
Regularly required to stand, walk, reach, talk and hear. Frequently required to stoop, kneel, crouch, bend, squat and climb. Ability to lift 1-15 pounds. Vision abilities required include close, distance and color vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.
Frequent exposure to wet and/or humid conditions. Occasional exposure to outdoor weather, moving mechanical parts, electrical shock hazard, fumes, dust and odors. Moderate noise level.


Two brothers face watching their critically-injured father die because their Jehovah's Witness mother refuses to give consent for a blood transfusion.
John Edwards, 57, was left fighting for his life after a car ploughed into him and is expected to have just days to live.
But despite doctors believing a transfusion is their best chance to save him, his wife Sheila refuses to give permission.
The Edwards are both devout Jehovah's Witnesses, a faith which bans its followers from receiving blood.
However, neither of their sons Jonathan, 36 and Tom, 29, share their beliefs.
A source close to the family said: 'Sheila is adamant that John must not have blood.
'She says giving him a transfusion would be like assaulting him - and he wouldn't want to live knowing he'd disobeyed his God.
'She's in a terrible state, constantly in tears at his bedside, but won't give in to requests from anyone.
John suffered terrible injuries to his left side after he was knocked down on Tuesday night.
He was rushed to hospital where doctors fought desperately to save his life.
But 61-year-old Sheila refused to let her dying husband have blood, claiming he had signed a form stating he did not want a transfusion.
Despite being unable to produce the document, medics have had to abide by her wishes as she is his next of kin.
Last night the Edwards' lodger, who refused to give her name, said the family was devastated by what had happened.
'There's no doubt that non-Jehovah's Witnesses would automatically have a blood transfusion in the same circumstances.
She went on to describe the accident, which happened just a short distance from the Edwards' house in Southall, West London.
She said: 'He was on foot and the car piled into him doing 60mph as it came around a corner. By chance, the police were on the same road when it took place. They breathalysed the driver and he was over the limit.
'Both John and Sheila are Jehovah's Witnesses but neither of their sons are.
'They have been married around 40 years. Both were brought up as Jehovah's Witnesses.
'They are very devoted to the religion and John's a highly-respected elder, who sometimes gives talks to the congregation.
John, a council worker, and Sheila, a retired languages teacher, attend the Northolt Kingdom Hall, in West London.
A spokesman for the Jehovah's Witnesses said: 'We express our sympathy towards the family.
'It is obviously a terrible tragedy, and we certainly feel for them, and understand that the hospital have been magnificent and doing all they can to provide care for this gentleman. We feel for them as well.
He declined to discuss details of the case, because of patient confidentiality.
In November, it emerged Jehovah's Witness Emma Gough, had died after giving birth to twins because she refused to have a blood transfusion.
The 22-year-old, from Shrewsbury, Shrops, had a developed a blood clot but her husband Anthony, 24, and other relatives refused to let her have potentially life-saving treatment.
All the family are Jehovah's Witnesses.
The faith's ban on blood is based on the Bible passage from Acts 15 verses 19-21.
There are around 130,000 Witnesses in the U.K.


Description: The Grand Bazaar is a hidden object game. Hi, I am the owner of a a few market stands in the city market. I want to make a small space where the customers will feel comfortable while shopping. I need to sell as many vegetables as possible and use the money I earn to buy the equipment I need to build my new market stand.. The Grand Bazaar is a Hidden Object Games.