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Is their are some tips for setting up and running a online community?
What are the tips for becoming an effective Community Manager?
What are some quick tips for creating great community content?
Why are some online communities more toxic than others, and how can community managers improve such communities?
What are the best qualities to look for when hiring a community manager for an online community?
What are the Advantages of running a Customer Community?
4) Set up the community.
5) Begin your soft launch.
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Why did Mathematica choose brackets for function arguments over parentheses?
This is a non-technical question. I'm just curious why Mathematica breaks the convention that parentheses are widely used for function arguments. What's the advantage of f[x] over f(x)?
Again, for the derivative of a function, f'(x) and f''(x) are more familiar than f'[x] and f''[x]. I think these conventions in math textbooks have already existed for hundreds of years.
Are there any historical or antithetical reasons for choosing these notations?
The answer is quite simple. Most people want to multiply numbers without having to use the * symbol, e.g. 3x vs 3*x.
So given that this exists in Mathematica, using () for function arguments would introduce ambiguity.
Is f(x + y) meant to be f[x + y] or f*(x + y)?
This is actually a problem Wolfram|Alpha can face since we try to allow for all forms of inputs.
Other languages like C chose the other route, which means you must use * to indicate multiplication (something that annoys me). Given that Mathematica's original purpose was for mathematics, I think the right choice was made.
Jerry: In other words, you're saying I can't type sin 1.2 with no parentheses, or sin(1.2), or Sin(1.2), or sin[1.2]. I must type Sin[1.2], exactly as you did. That seems like a real imposition.
Jerry: OK, I'll live with the funny brackets for now.
Jerry: …now, what about square brackets? Why can't I use Sin(x) instead of Sin[x]?
Theo: Good question! There is, in fact, a good reason. Ordinary mathematical notation is inconsistent here. Round parentheses are used to mean two completely different things in traditional notation: first, order of evaluation; second, function arguments. Consider the expression k(b + c). Does this mean k times the quantity b + c, or does it mean the function k with the argument b + c? Unless you know from somewhere else that k is a function, or that k is a variable, you can't tell. It's a mistake to use the same symbols to mean these two completely different things, and Mathematica corrects this mistake by using round parentheses only for order of evaluation, and square brackets only for function arguments.
Jerry: That's a nice point. I never thought of that before. It shows how easily we adapt to nonsense. Aside from that, are you saying that mathematicians have been sloppy for centuries? That's a pretty strong statement!
Theo: Yes. Although I'm all in favor of interesting, quirky languages for writing novels and poetry (English comes to mind), it's really a bad idea to use an ambiguous language for something like mathematics. One of the great contributions of computer science to the world has been a powerful set of tools for thinking about what makes a language "good".
An alternative would be to insist on using a * for all multiplication. Then k(b + c) would always mean the function k, and if you wanted it to mean multiplication you would have to use k*(b + c). We decided it was better to remove an inconsistency than to force people to use an extra symbol. Another option would have been to have Mathematica "know" what was a variable and what was a function. This turns out to have serious consequences, and it's really not a good idea.
Jerry: Well, I didn't expect a lecture!
Jerry: This means, Find the sine of 1.2 times 7 and multiply that answer by 9.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged symbols language-design or ask your own question.
Why does Mathematica use [[ ]] notation for array indexing?
Why aren't parentheses ( ) an expression in Mathematica?
Why did the Mathematica Language choose term rewriting instead of the Lambda Calculus as its basis?
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Laser and Assist Gases The term 'laser' is an acronym for the description of the laser process: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
Lasers provide an intense energy source which is ideally suited to a wide range of fabrication processes such as cutting, welding, drilling and marking metal and other materials.
Laser gases play a fundamental role in the operation of a laser.
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The internet has reacted in typical fashion to today's double blow that Zayn Malik is quitting One Direction and Jeremy Clarkson has been sacked - by suggesting the 54-year-old job seeker becomes the boy band's fifth member.
Dozens of hilarious memes have been spread across social media showing the group posing together with Zayn replaced by the petrol head in an array of publicity and performance shots.
Mostly consisting of Clarkson's head photoshopped onto Zayn's body, other images include Clarkson with his arms draped across his fellow band members' shoulders, or performing on stage alongside Harry Styles.
It follows this afternoon's announcement that Zayn, 22, would be quitting the group a week after he was pictured holding hands with a blonde Essex girl during the group's tour in Thailand.
After five years with the band, the singer has bowed out, leaving Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson to continue as a four-piece.
Just hours previously, Lord Hall, the Director General of the BBC, had announced Clarkson was sacked after the corporation's internal investigation found he had punched producer Oisin Tymon with such force Tymon had to go to A&E.
The corporation's internal investigation concluded the star, 54, launched an 'unprovoked' 30-second physical attack on Tymon because he was offered a plate of cold cuts instead of steak and chips.
However, with Clarkson now looking for work and One Direction appearing to have a vacancy, sharp witted Twitter users quickly created a series of memes in a light hearted attempt to solve both problems.
In announcing his decision to quit the group, Zayn said: 'My life with One Direction has been more than I could ever have imagined.
He continued: 'I am leaving because I want to be a normal 22 year old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight.
The Best Song Ever hitmakers will record their fifth album in Zayn's absence and will continue with the remaining dates on the band's forthcoming world tour.
Meanwhile, the BBC found Clarkson spent 20 minutes verbally abusing producer Tymon in a luxury North Yorkshire hotel before launching a 30-second physical assault that led to another member of staff dragging him away.
Mr Tymon said today after the sacking: 'He is a unique talent and I am well aware that many will be sorry his involvement in the show should end in this way'.
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Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer Prizes, National Book Awards, and Nobel Peace Prizes. The publisher is currently a division of Macmillan, whose parent company is the German publishing conglomerate Holtzbrinck Publishing Group.
Farrar, Straus, and Company was founded in 1945 by Roger W. Straus, Jr. and John C. Farrar. The first book was Yank: The G.I. Story of the War, a compilation of articles that appeared in Yank, the Army Weekly, then There Were Two Pirates, a novel by James Branch Cabell The first years of existence were rough until they published the diet book Look Younger, Live Longer by Gayelord Hauser in 1950. The book went on to sell 500,000 copies and Straus said that the book carried them along for awhile. In the early years, Straus and his wife Dorothea, went prospecting for books in Italy. It was there that they found the memoir Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi and other rising Italian authors Alberto Moravia, Giovanni Guareschi and Cesare Pavese. Farrar, Straus also poached or lured away authors from other publishers—one was Edmund Wilson who was unhappy with Random House at the time but remained with Farrar, Straus for the remainder of his career.
In 1953, Pellegrini & Cudahy merged with Farrar, Straus & Young.
Robert Giroux joined the company in 1955 and after he later became a partner, the name was changed to Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Giroux had been working for Harcourt and had been angered when Harcourt refused to allow him to publish Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. Giroux brought many literary authors with him including Thomas Merton, John Berryman, Robert Lowell, Flannery O'Connor, Jack Kerouac, Peter Taylor, Randall Jarrell, T.S. Eliot, and Bernard Malamud. Alan Williams described Giroux's 'Pied Piper sweep' as "almost certainly the greatest number of authors to follow, on their own initiative, a single editor from house to house in the history of modern publishing." In 1964, Straus named Giroux chairman of the board and officially added Giroux's name to the publishing company.
Farrar, Straus, and Company (1963-1964) after Cudahy left the firm.
MCD/FSG, which is viewed as a kind of a lab to experiment with new styles and genres. The imprint is headed by Sean McDonald, who is joined by Daphne Durham, formerly editor-in-chief and publisher of Amazon Publishing, as executive director.
Jack Kerouac's then-girlfriend Joyce Johnson, started work in 1957, when Sheila Cudahy was a partner at the firm.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Silverman, Al (2008). The Time of Their Lives: The Golden Age of Great American Book Publishers, Their Editors, and Authors. Truman Talley. ISBN 978-0312-35003-1.
^ Macmillan. "About Macmillan". us.macmillan.com. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
^ "Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc. records". archives.nypl.org. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ "Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Young". www.isfdb.org. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ "New England, 1620; MAYFLOWER BOY. By Stanley Young. Illustrated by Edward Shenton. 272 pp. New York: Farrar & Rinehart. $2". nytimes.com. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ Wallace, Tom (12 August 2013). "Farrar, Straus & Giroux: publishing's "perfect storm"". bookbrunch.co.uk. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ "Stanley Young". www.williamsamericanart.com. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ Kachka, Boris (12 August 2014). "Hothouse: The Art of Survival and the Survival of Art at America's Most Celebrated Publishing House, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux". Simon and Schuster. Retrieved 16 August 2018 – via Google Books.
^ "2 BOOK PUBLISHERS MERGE; Pellegrini & Cudahy Unite With Farrar, Straus & Young". nytimes.com. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ a b "House of Galassi". publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ Farrington, Joshua. "Faber ends FSG partnership". The Bookseller. The Bookseller. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
^ "History of Farrar, Straus and Giroux Inc". www.fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ "Library of Congress LCCN Permalink n96043234". lccn.loc.gov. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher. "Roger W. Straus Jr., Book Publisher From the Age of the Independents, Dies at 87". nytimes.com. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ "Library of Congress LCCN Permalink n96043241". lccn.loc.gov. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ "Letterhead, Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, Inc., New York, NY, 1958". Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ "Library of Congress LCCN Permalink no2015030156". lccn.loc.gov. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ "Library of Congress LCCN Permalink nr96042512". lccn.loc.gov. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ "Anatomy of a Publisher". newyorker.com. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ a b "Library of Congress LCCN Permalink n96043257". lccn.loc.gov. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ "Guide to the Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc. Records" (PDF). Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ "HILL AND WANG". Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Archived from the original on 2008-01-18. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
^ "Library of Congress LCCN Permalink no2006079532". lccn.loc.gov. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ "Zeitchik, Steven. Crichton gets imprint at FSG". Publishers Weekly. June 14, 2004. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
^ "Crichton to Leave FSG at End of Year". publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
^ Editors, The. "Scientific American Books - Scientific American". Books.scientificamerican.com. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
^ Weinman, Sarah (2016-05-09). "McDonald Named Publisher of New FSG Imprint, and More". lunch.publishersmarketplace.com. Retrieved 2017-07-04.
^ "People Round-Up, Mid-May 2016". Publishing Trends. 2016-05-17. Retrieved 2017-07-04.
^ Norman Angell, After All: The Autobiography of Norman Angell (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1951; rpt. Farrar, Straus and Young, 1952).
^ Elie Wiesel, Night (Hill & Wang, 1958; rpt. 2006).
^ "Giving An 'F': Rewriting The History Of FSG". theawl.com. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
Kachka, Boris (2013). Hothouse: The Art of Survival and the Survival of Art at America's Most Celebrated Publishing House, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781451691894. OCLC 1043510072 – via Google Books.
"Guide to the Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc. Records" (PDF). Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library.
This page was last edited on 18 April 2019, at 09:17 (UTC).
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Playing cards (Chinese traditional: 紙牌; simplified: 纸牌; pinyin: zhǐpái) were most likely invented in China during the Tang (618-907) or Song dynasty (960-1279). They were certainly in existence by the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). Chinese use the word pái (牌), meaning "plaque", to refer to both playing cards and tiles. Many early sources are ambiguous if they don't specifically refer to paper pái (cards) or bone pái (tiles). In terms of game play, there is no difference; both serve to hide one face from the other players with identical backs. Card games are examples of imperfect information games as opposed to Chess or Backgammon.
Michael Dummett attributed to the Chinese the invention of gambling with cards, suits, and trick-taking games. Trick-taking games eventually became multi-trick games. These then evolved into the earliest type of rummy games during the early Qing dynasty (1644-1912). By the end of the monarchy, the vast majority of traditional Chinese card games were of the shedding or fishing variety. Chinese playing cards have proliferated into Southeast Asia by Chinese immigrants. They were also formerly known in Mongolia and Japan. The direction of deals and play is counter-clockwise.
Chinese domino cards with civil suit on top and military on the bottom.
Chinese dominoes first appeared around the Tang or Song dynasty and are derived from all twenty-one combinations of a pair of dice. It is unclear whether they appeared first as cards or as tiles. Though not visually apparent, they are divided into two suits: civil and military. The invention of the concept of suits increased the level of strategy in trick-taking games; the card of one suit cannot beat the card of another suit regardless of its rank.
Domino card decks come in different sizes. Smaller decks are used in trick-taking and banking games. 32-card decks, with the civil suit doubled, are used to play Tien Gow and Pai Gow. Larger decks, for rummy or fishing games, may have well over a hundred cards and can include wild cards.
There is no 10 Myriad card as it would share the same name as its suit. By the early 17th-century, the suit of Cash added two more cards: Half Cash and Zero Cash. The Cash suit was also in reverse order with the lower number cards beating the higher. This feature also appeared in other early card games like Ganjifa, Tarot, Ombre, and Maw. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the suit of Myriads and Tens depicted characters from the novel the Water Margin which is why they were also called Water Margin cards. They were also known as Madiao cards after one of the most popular games.
From at least the 17th-century, games played with stripped decks became more popular. This was done by removing the suit of Tens save for the Thousand Myriad as in the game of Khanhoo. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Thousand Myriad, Half Cash, and Zero Cash took on new identities as the suitless Old Thousand, White Flower, and Red Flower respectively. They are sometimes joined by a "Ghost" card. During the Qing dynasty, shedding type rummy games became more popular and the 30-card deck was often multiplied with each card having two to five copies. Mahjong, which also exists in card format, was derived from these types of games during the middle of the 19th century.
Four-suited decks still exist and are used by the Hakka to play Six Tigers, a multi-trick game. Six Tigers decks lack illustrations and instead just have ideograms of the rank and suit of each card. Another structurally similar deck is Bài Bất found in Vietnam; it's three-suit version is Tổ tôm. These Vietnamese cards were redesigned by Camoin of Marseilles during French colonial rule to depict people wearing traditional Japanese costumes from the Edo period.
Direct foreign derivatives include Bài tới in Vietnam, Pai Tai in Thailand, Cheki in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia; and possibly Tujeon in Korea. Ultimately, all four-suited decks (especially Italian and Spanish suited packs) are indirectly descended from the money-suited system through Mamluk Kanjifa.
Character cards, printed with Chinese characters, first appeared during the middle of the Qing dynasty. There are several types of character cards but are all used to play rummy-like games.
Number cards are quite similar to Six Tigers packs but each deck contains only two suits and includes rank 10. Both suits are labelled in Chinese numerals but one is in normal script while the other is in the financial script. Some decks come with special suitless cards. There are 4 copies of each card.
Wander or Doll cards contain eight series of cards repeated eight times. One card from each series is a special version of the card differentiated from the rest by depicting a human or doll. Each series is marked by one character that when strung together forms a Chinese prayer. Included in each deck is a ninth characterless series with seven cards showing one doll and one card showing two dolls.
Great Man cards are based on a copybook called "On the Great Man" used by students from the Tang to the Qing dynasty. There are 24 or 25 series of cards with each series based on a character from that book. Each series contains four or five identical cards. One variation known as 3-5-7 decks, contain 27 different series but with an uneven number of cards, some have two, three, or five cards with the total being 110 cards.
Unlike other types of Chinese cards, they have not spread to other countries and are largely confined to southern China.
Cards based on Chinese chess appeared during the nineteenth century. They are generally divided into two categories, those with two suits known as Red Cards, and those with four suits known as Four Color Cards. Each suit contains cards named after the seven different chessmen. Some decks have multiple copies of each card and may also contain "gold" wild cards. Most games are rummy-like but Tam cúc in Vietnam is a trick-taking game.
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How can we speed up economic development in Africa?
As an African American man whom lives both in the US and Ghana, I fell the best way of all is to get the African-born, whom have moved to places like the US, Canada, the UK and such places outside of Africa to realize the real opportunities sitting in front of them if they unify and move as one unit in the diaspora. To put down tribalism, false-nationalism, class differences based on educational levels achieved and then work together. As if like Jews out of Israel in the West, the South Koreans in the diaspora, the Japanese, the Mexicans, etc. that I witness in America.
My view is such because I feel it is the only way one can overcome corruption and bribery inside of all African countries done on a massive level. All countries worldwide suffer from corruption and bribery but levels inside Africa are usually greater. I have been back and forth in Africa since 1988, so I am an eye-witness. All keeps doors closed due to massive distrust. Which also impacts the mindsets of Africa-born, whom do come to places like the US. I know first-hand.
Last time I left Ghana, after a year's stay, I returned to the US to recruit Africa-born and show them how working as a collective they could have a major economic impact on their home countries within 1 yr or less. My biggest roadblock over a few years now: Distrust and the feeling everyone on Earth is a 419 scam artist. I will say this too, most Black people worldwide think with a poor person's mindset, cheap, something for nothing or a no-work solution to fix our problems in life. There are only two mindsets in this world: People whom think rich and people whom think poor.
I am a man whom has know about a plan, based in the US, that can have an individual making a $10,000 per week income within a 6 month window. But this online, micro-business venture or pursuit requires 144 people to participate within that 6 month window for each. I have known about such a plan for over 4 years. But to find 144 Blacks be they Africa-born, Caribbean-born or US born African Americans to focus, research online and get deeply serious about such a task is like chasing an unseen fantasy. I here in Chicago have tried the Ghanians, Nigerians, Kenyans, Liberians, Haitians, a Zambian and Jamaican individuals over the years...that includes the African Americans as well. NONE are focused or serious about doing the online research and working with me to uplift their families, extended families or countries economically.
Now, can I tell you about it here on a Nigerian website? NO! Why? Because that particular company I am a part of does not allow its members to even discuss its existence in countries not in its network globally. The company is ranked in the top 20 fastest growing companies in the US. It is ranked in the top 5 in its field business-wise in the US.
Africa is about the ONLY continent the company has not tapped into yet. Why? Besides race? Corruption, bribery and Traditional Beliefs make it shudder. I might add too, paying Africans inside of Africa would be very difficult, as the company pays out weekly on Fridays. Why is such hard? Western Union only allows Africans to 'receive' not send. Money Gram, the same. Then there is PayPal, it functions to some degree in about 38 African countries. But it does not function in major gateways such as Nigeria and Ghana. I am trying to put Ugandans in it now and they face difficulties. As I have another business venture here in the US that ONLY pays out weekly via PayPal worldwide. I say all to show you how Africans remain economically crippled even with access to the internet inside of Africa.
Do you hear me Africans across the continent and particularly in the diaspora outside of Africa, you MUST unite no matter you are Zambian, Malian, Senegalese, Gambian, Namibian, Ugandan, South African, Haitian, Ethiopian, Beninese, Togolese, Belizean, Australian, African American, etc. This is the 21st century and it is now our time. Not just India's and China's time. Our Mother is ready to awaken and her life source is the internet globally.
African leaders must first of all stop corruption before African will witness any meaningful development.
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The use of electricity for the communication of messages began with the telegraph. An electric current is able to flow along a wire and arrive almost instantaneously at its destination. The first known suggestion for an electric telegraph was made in 1753 by Charles Morrison, a Scottish surgeon. It involved 26 wires, one for each letter of the alphabet, which could carry a discharge of electricity and attract a piece of paper representing a letter to an electrified ball where the message was to be received. In 1804 Francisco Salva in Spain, using an electric battery and a similar system of multiple wires as was proposed by Morrison sent messages up to a kilometer, while in 1812 Dr Samuel von Sommering using improved batteries sent messages for 2 miles. In 1832 a system using one to six wires was created by Baron Pawel Schulling in Berlin with needles hanging over coils being moved by the current to indicate letters. William Cooke and Professor Charles Wheatstone received a patent in 1837 in England for a telegraph of 5 wires connected to needles which moved to indicate letters.
A system using a single wire was patented in 1838 by Samuel Morse. Morse realized a message could be sent by interrupting the current in such a way that the interruptions constituted a sign. The sign or a combination of signs could represent letters of the alphabet so a message could be sent. Samuel Morse invented this system, known as Morse code, but an instrument for sending and receiving the code was also needed.
The first instrument Morse came up with involved an electro-magnet with a pendulum. When Morse made or broke the current the electro-magnet moved the pendulum which was attached to a pencil which marked a paper tape. The marks on the tape were a series of zigzag lines which represented the letters of the alphabet. The instrument was eventually improved by replacing the pendulum with a clockwork mechanism and the zigzag lines were replaced with the dots and dashes of Morse code. The current from the system was initially to weak to send a message for any great distance so Morse invented the relay. This was an electro-magnet that could close the circuit on a new line and add more power to send the current further.
After some difficulties Morse was able to set up the first working telegraph in 1844 between Washington and Baltimore. By 1851 a submarine cable was placed across the English Channel and in 1866 a trans–Atlantic cable was laid. In America the Western Union Telegraph Company placed telegraph lines across America and soon every railway station had a telegraph office to control the movement of trains.
The telegraph continued to be improved when in 1855 Professor David Hughes invented a printing telegraph using a keyboard into which the letters were typed and the massage was printed out where it was received. Duplex telegraphy which allowed two messages to be sent over the same line at the same time was invented by J. B. Stearns and patented in 1872. Transmission speeds were increased by the introduction of a punched tape system which allowed the transmission of 75-100 words per minute. Morse’s original telegraph of 1838 could only transmit at up to 10 words per minute.
The telegraph was to vastly speed up the spread of news. In 1776 it took seven weeks for a sailing ship to bring word to London of America’s Declaration of Independence. During the Crimean War word reached London by telegraph of the death of the Russian Czar in St Petersburg on the same day he died. The telegraph revolutionized diplomacy with governments being able to have continued and immediate contact with their diplomats abroad. Instructions could be sent and reports received without any time delay, although there was always the risk of interception by unauthorized persons. The Zimmerman telegram, from the German government to Mexico, was decoded by the British and published by the Americans and was one of the events leading to American involvement in World War I.
Public use of the telegraph system grew, so by 1870 it cost a shilling to send a 20 word message anywhere in Great Britain. Ninety million telegrams a year were being sent by the end of the 19th century. In America a telegraph office was available in almost every small town. However by 1918 the telegraph system was of declining importance due to the development of the telephone network.
The electric telegraph could never have existed at all but for the ability of an electric current to travel along a wire and our ability to send and control the current. If metallic wires were not able to conduct electricity or if we were unable to control the electricity through insulating materials, there would be no electric telegraph. The telegraph could not have been developed until after people learnt how to create and control an electric current. This required the invention of the battery and Morse’s invention of the relay which allowed the current to travel long distances. The sending and receiving instruments required the earlier invention of the electro-magnet. Consequentially, the telegraph could only have been invented after the invention of the battery, the relay and the electro-magnet all of which were dependent upon prior discoveries made by scientists engaged in research on electricity and magnetism. The telegraph provided an improved method for meeting the human need for long distance communication and its arrival in the mid 19th century was the culmination of a series of logical developments that lead inevitably to the invention of the telegraph. The existence of electrons and the human ability to create and control an electric current to produce the electric telegraph shows how the structure of the universe or nature has a significant effect on human social and cultural history.
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Second World War in 1947, was intended to foster friendship and understanding between different cultures and between former foes as an act of peace and reconciliation, and to encourage trade and tourism. By the 2000s, town twinning became increasingly used to form strategic international business links between member cities.
House of Lords acknowledged the evolution of town twinning into city diplomacy, particularly around trade and tourism, but also in culture and post-conflict reconciliation. The importance of cities developing "their own foreign economic policies on trade, foreign investment, tourism and attracting foreign talent" has also been highlighted by the World Economic Forum. Europe For a more comprehensive list, see List of twin towns and sister cities in Europe.
Council of European Municipalities and Regions also works closely with the Commission (DG Education and Culture) to promote modern, high quality twinning initiatives and exchanges that involve all sections of the community. It has launched a website dedicated to town twinning. As of 1995, the European Union had more than 7,000 bilateral relationships involving almost 10,000 European municipalities, primarily French (2837 twinnings) and German (2485 twinnings).
Bristol Mayor George Ferguson. Annecy, France and Nerima, Tokyo have for several years shared a partnership based around their "co-existent animation industry". United States For a more comprehensive list, see List of twin towns and sister cities in North America.
Portland, Oregon and Bologna, Italy arose from shared industries in biotechnology and education, and a "similar attitude towards food". whereas Chicago's link with Warsaw, Poland began with Chicago's historic Polish community, The twinning of Indianapolis with Monza, Italy is due to both cities' long association with auto racing.
Sister Cities International (SCI) was originally a program of the National League of Cities, but it became a separate corporation in 1967 due to the growth and popularity of the program.
Republic of Karelia in Russia and offered the same profit-sharing plan to its Russian employees. Asia For a more comprehensive list, see List of twin towns and sister cities in Asia.
India is a twin town of the city of Coimbra, Portugal. Linguistic reasons Relationships between communities can also arise because of shared names; they may be named after one community (as in the case of Córdoba), they may share names (as in the case of Santiago de Compostela), or their names may have a common etymology.
Artieda de Aragón and Emiliano Zapata, an autonomous Zapatista municipality.
Saint Petersburg and Moscow because of the Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Moscow had been Prague's partner city since 1995.
Sister Cities International (SCI)". Sister-cities.org. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Town twinning.
European congress on citizenship and twinning Germany and the town twinning movement Town twinning in Europe's municipalities, towns and regions Twinning in Europe UK Town Twinning Portal "Twinnings for Tomorrow's World – A Practical Handbook" (PDF). Brussels: CEMR Council of European Municipalities and Regions. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2008. Retrieved 11 January 2010.
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What an example of the Law of Unintended Consequences. This remarkable article in the New York Times Magazine tells the story of the Patagonian Toothfish, discovered by Chilean fishermen after Pinochet opens up their traditional markets to foreign factory fishing operations, renamed to the more attractive Chilean Sea Bass. It then becomes the darling of the restauranteurs because of its unusual fattiness that makes it easy to cook and serve. "you can overcook it by five minutes and it is delicious. You can saute it, steam it, grill it- it is a no-brainer" Then, in the space of five years it goes from "dish of the year" to overfished pariah. Now we are looking at a future of farmed fish (where three pounds of inch long forage fish and marine mammals are ground up and fed to every pound of farmed fish) or moving down the food chain to invertebrates and perhaps even plankton gruel.
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Wurdest du gestochen? Unser summendes Bienchen wird dein Herz erobern und deinen Körper und Geist besänftigen.
Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Sucrose, Zea Mays (Corn) Starch, Parfum (Fragrance), Aqua (Water), Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Lac (Milk), Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Rayon, Albumen, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Powder, Glucose, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Lecithin, Aroma (Flavor), Glycerin, Cananga Odorata Flower Oil, Salvia Sclarea (Clary) Oil, Styrene/Acrylates Copolymer, Urea, Anthocyanins, Curcumin, Benzyl Salicylate, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Coumarin, Citronellol, Linalool, Hexyl Cinnamal, CI 19140 (Yellow 5), CI 75470, CI 77000 (Aluminum Powder).
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It is officially fall, so that means we need to get our basic on and find cute things to do. Here is a list of 31 things I recommend to this fall that are a must. You could do these things with friends, family members, a significant other, your dog, or even by yourself.
2. Watch a Football Game- It's the best time to show your team or school spirit with people you love. The best part about going to games is meeting new people and tailgating.
3. Shopping for Cozy Outfits- Girls, this is for you! It's time for you to get your warm sweaters and leggings out! This is the perfect time to go out and get some so you can stock up for the winter.
4. Sunsets/ Sunrise- During this time you can see some of the most beautiful sunsets or sunrises.
5. Fall Decorations- Make your house, dorm, or bedroom look fun and cute by decorating for fall with things like fake leaves, pumpkins, and more!
6. Apple Picking- ‘Tis the season of apple pie, and what better way to get apples than going out picking out some for yourself!
7. Fall Festivals-‘When in doubt festival it out!’ This fun activity can be for anyone. There are many festivals that are happening throughout the season, so get a group of people and go celebrate!
8. Fall photo shoots- With all the different color leaves out, it's a great time to get all your pictures out of the way, including the family Christmas card.
9. Vote- This is one of the more important activities that fall brings. We all have the pleasure of being the voice of our country, so use this privilege and vote!
10. Starbuck Run/ Coffee Run- Time to be basic and get our pumpkin spice latte on!
11.Hayride- This one is for the couples; take a ride through the countryside and enjoy nature while snuggling up to keep warm.
12. Go to a Haunted House- Since it's spooky season, we need to get spooked, and what better way to do that than to go to a haunted house and get a few scares and laughs out of it.
13. Costume Party- Grab a few people, dress up, and enjoy music and food. What other time of the year will you be able to be someone or something else?
14. Jump in a pile of leaves- Channel your inner child and jump into a pile of leaves.
15. S’mores Night-What is a fall night without s’mores and a few friends?
16. Farmers Market-Enjoy cheap food and meet some cool people. Farmers markets are the best place to get a lot of great stuff that is all usually natural and handmade.
17. Have a picnic- Get some food and friends and find a nice spot and you’re all set. This will go well with watching the sunset.
18. Bake or cook- Here is where you can decorate some cookies or perfect your apple pie while having fun. Plus, who doesn’t love freshly baked goods?
19. Make homemade candles- Candles are some of the best, yet most subtle, ways to decorate and make your house feel cozy.
20. Volunteer- This is a time where it's about family and being with others, so we need to give back to those who don’t have this pleasure of being surrounded by love.
21. Read a book by the Fire- Find a good book and just read and take your mind out of reality.
22. Take a trip- Even though many of us are broke college students, there are many ways to take a trip or random adventure. You just have to look!
23. Go to a sunflower patch-Hurry and get your sunflowers before the season is over.
24. Give Thanks- Since it's close to Thanksgiving, make sure to let people know you are grateful and thankful for them. Spread positivity and not negativity!
25. Run a 5K- Since we are all getting our food, take the time and run a 5K so you can feel healthy while running for a good cause like Breast Cancer Awareness.
26. Go to a fair- Enjoy all the rides and food while making memories! This is the best time, especially with the nice weather!
27. Fall DIYs- Finding different things to make during this time is cool because many of these things can be used for parties or gifts!
28. Christmas Decorating- Even though it's October, it's still close to Christmas so why not start getting ready to decorate.
29. Holiday Movie Marathon- Whether it's Halloween, fall, or Christmas movies, this is a nice way to enjoy a rainy day.
30. Cozy Up by the fire- The best way to cozy up is with some hot cocoa and a fire while talking about anything and everything with someone special or a really close group of friends.
31. Star Gazing- During this time we can some of the brightest stars and this is perfect while camping. Also, I’m pretty sure this one is on everyone’s bucket list. There are plenty of more things to do during this season but here are some of the top ones on my list. You will never have a boring day if you do these things. Happy Fall, Y’all!
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EconomicPolicyJournal.com: How Will the Supreme Court Rule on Across the State Border Online Sales Tax Pain?
How Will the Supreme Court Rule on Across the State Border Online Sales Tax Pain?
Will the Supreme Court rule that online retailers have to collect sales taxes in states where they have no physical presence? In other words, if you live in New York and buy something online from a seller in Alaska are the Supremes going to force the Alaska seller to collect an online tax from you and pay it to New York?
South Dakota v Wayfair is before the court and it will determine the outcome.
According to The Economist, going into the South Dakota v Wayfair hearing, conservative Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Kennedy all seemed inclined to rule in a way that would result in cross-state border online taxes. Conservative?
But the oral argument in the case added a surprise fourth justice to that list: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the court's fiercest liberal. In her questioning of George Isaacson, the lawyer for several online stores including Wayfair, a homewares company, she repeatedly called an earlier SC case Quill v North Dakota “obsolete”. Requiring an “out-of-state seller to collect tax on goods shipped in-state” is “equalizing sellers”, she said. Yes, equalizing consumer tax pain by requiring more pain for consumers is her apparent perspective on balancing things out.
Justice Stephen Breyer may hold the key vote but get a load of the comment he made.
With a comment like this, there is no way to know how he will vote.
The Supreme Court will hand down its tax pain decision in May or June.
Keep in mind that if the out-of-state seller presently has no duty to collect and pay over the sales tax to the customer's home state, the customer then has the obligation to pay the same amount of tax to his state taxing authorities as a use tax. Those are the people who voted for the home state sales/use tax in the first place but then don't pay it. My prediction is that the court will overturn the old rule arguing that computers have relieved the burden of calculating the tax and that the out-of-state seller is getting a benefit from the wonders of civilization in the customer's state provided by the government and therefore has an obligation to pay for that government.
All good outcomes are due to the Govt. All bad outcomes are due to the faults of the private sector.
How about reimbursing the private sector in the customer's state for its contribution ? No! That's impossibly illogical and stupid.
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What is offshore aquaculture? Aquaculture involves raising fish or shellfish in floating pens in bodies of water: farming fish as opposed to catching them in the wild. It accounts for just over half of the world’s seafood and is the fastest growing sector of food production. The ‘offshore’ part is a little trickier to define.
Others also point to the greater exposure of offshore pods to more powerful weather and water speeds, increasing the risk of all the fish escaping – known as ‘spills’. In fact, the US state of Washington is in the process of phasing out its non-native fish farms after a high-profile spill released more than 260,000 Atlantic salmon into its Pacific waters. Templeton suggests other alternatives, such as recirculating farms, which raise fish in tanks onshore and use their waste to fertilise plants, keeping the waste away from the wild ecosystems.
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Let's take a detailed look at some damping techniques and their effects.
For a rather long time I was convinced that the low output impedance of the modern solid-state amplifiers did a good job of control ling loudspeaker resonance and associated impedance variations. Some rather heated discussions on the advantage of super cables and ultra-high damping factors led to speaker models and speaker/amplifier interface models that cast a shadow on those assumptions. In order to resolve the preceding, the following questions should be answered.
1. What are the audible effects of resonance?
2. How effective is the electrical damping provided by the amplifier?
3. What additional forms of damping are available?
4. What is achievable in the real world?
All cone-type loudspeakers exhibit a resonant point in the frequency response of the unit. The resonance is normally at the low end of the speaker frequency response. Resonance effects of mid-range drivers and tweeters are usually hidden by well-designed cross over networks so that listeners are subjected to only the bass effects. Resonance occurs when a system stores energy at a particular frequency and loses energy at a slow rate after the exciting frequency is removed, allowing the frequency to remain when it should have ceased when the exciting frequency was removed.
You can control the effect to a good extent by inserting a fixed resistance into the system dissipating those lurking frequencies, damping the resonance. The loudspeaker is a mechanical system with a cone/voice coil combination suspended by the spider and surround. The mass of the cone/voice coil and the spring action of the suspension form a resonant system; friction in the suspension components determines the system losses. If the losses are small compared to the mass of the cone/voice coil, the ratio of stored energy per cycle to energy lost per cycle will be large; this ratio is the quality (Q) of the system.
1. Notes near the resonant frequency tend to be pulled to the resonant frequency, one note bass.
2. Bass transients tend to be smeared in time and are not well defined, as a result of overhang or ringing combined with a slow at tack time due to energy build-up in the resonating components.
3. Bass sounds loose and flabby, overhang prevents speaker from following amplitude variations, and high 0 tends to mask small tonal variations.
Table I illustrates the number of cycles required for the stored energy to decay by 20dB after the energizing signal is removed. Also shown is the loss after one half cycle. The energizing signal is at the resonant frequency.
Typically bass drivers have Os of four or more and, if undamped, will exhibit these sonic problems. Reducing the 0 to 1.5 will improve things considerably. At a Q of 1.0 the sound will be good and at 0.75 or lower will result in an outstanding bass sound. In order to lower the Q of a bass driver, losses must be introduced into the resonating structure, which is not necessarily a trivial task.
A cone speaker consists of an electrical component—voice coil and magnetic gap—a mechanical component—the cone voice coil assembly—and the suspension components (surround and spider). The air load of the moving cone is also considered a mechanical component. Figures 1 and 2 are equivalent circuits for electrical and mechanical components of a loudspeaker as shown in Olson’s Elements of Acoustical Engineering. Figure 1 is the voice coil consisting of Rvc (the DC resistance of the coil), Lvc (the voice coil inductance), and Zem (the motional electrical impedance).
For a 4-ohm voice coil, Rvc will be about 3-ohm. Zem may be replaced with the volt age generator, E = NBLV, which rep resents the back emf generated by the motion of the voice coil for clarity. Figure 2 is the electrical equivalent of the mechanical structure of the speaker. Note that the resistive (friction), inductive (mass), and capacitive (compliance) elements form a series resonant circuit at Fs.
TABLE 1: Decay Rate vs. Q.
In a series resonance the current is at a maximum and is determined by the DC resistance. Current in an electrical circuit corresponds to velocity in a mechanical structure, in this case the cone and attached voice coil. This velocity is the driving force for the generation of the back emf represented by E = NBLV of Fig. 1.
Damping the speaker is accomplished by reducing the resonant velocity of the cone. One possibility is by applying an electrical braking force by shorting the voice coil with an amplifier with a very low output impedance or, as the manufacturers suggest, a high damping factor. While this is effective to a degree, it is limited by the DC resistance of the voice coil, Rvc, which is in series with the output impedance of the amplifier. Rvc limits the electrical damping effects so that the resonant Q is reduced to a value of three or more (Table 2).
FIGURE 1: Voice coil equivalent circuit.
FIGURE 2: Electrical equivalent of speaker’s mechanical structure.
Examining Fig. 2 reveals an additional damping possibility. The air load provides a mass, Ma, and a resistance, Rma, that may be tweaked. Installing the speaker in a sealed cabinet causes the air mass within the cabinet to act as a spring compliance, thus reducing the mass equivalent inductance and adding series capacitance—compliance of the air within the cabinet—to Cms, which results in the increase of the speaker resonance in the cabinet (Fc).
Venting the cabinet through a port tuned to Fc will change the trapped air to a resistance at the cabinet Fc and will split Pc into two peaks, a typical over-coupled response for two circuits tuned to the same frequency. This enhances the low-frequency response as in a tuned port system. Changing the trapped air to a resistance over a range of frequencies centered around Fc will damp Fc and remove the resonance effect of the system.
Figure 3 details the test configurations used to obtain the data for Table 2. A series resistor is placed in one leg of the cable between the amplifier and the driver. Setting the resistance to 1k emulates an open circuit across the driver terminals for the constant cur rent test used to measure undamped Q.
I have just finished Daniel Ferguson’s servo amplifier described in the September 2004 issue of audio Xpress. Testing was done using the Acoustat subwoofer (Photo 1); it has dual voice coils, with the following results. Photo 4 was taken under the same conditions as Photo 1 except that the servo was incorporated, there was no frequency filtering included so a direct comparison may be made. Excellent control of ringing is shown with an apparent Q of about 0.5 compared to a Q of 1.5 for the unit without the servo. The attack response with the servo shows some improvement at 30Hz, the resonant frequency of the unit, and is almost perfect at 38Hz. The bass is tight, well defined and easy to listen to. Due to the control of the servo it is easy to reach for a volume level that is beyond the system limits causing the servo to lose control. This results in a sonic protest that immediately catches your attention. Note that the servo does not change the real Q of the system nor does it prevent energy storage in the system. In reality during the attack period the servo attempts to make the sonic output keep up with the input signal by increasing the applied energy resulting in a greater energy storage and when the stored energy would normally result in output amplitude variations or ring, the servo applies driver energy of an opposing phase to cancel these undesired variations. This is apparent when comparing the decay of the servo output to the decay that is shown in the output waveform of Photo 3. The servo decay is blocky; resembling a half cycle of a low level square wave while that of Photo 3 is a exponential decay. These artifacts are low level and in general do not affect the listening ability of the servo bass which as noted is very good.
Placing the AC voltmeter across the driver terminals allows you to read the impedance peak at Fs as a volt age peak and determine Fs and the bandwidth. Replacing the 1-k Ohm resistor with a 0.24 ohm resistor emulates a constant voltage drive for the tests used to measure the damped Q. Connecting a voltmeter across the 0.24 ohm resistor lets you read the impedance peak at Fs as a current null and determine the value of Fs and the bandwidth.
In each case Q = Fs/bandwidth. As expected, the damped Q is significantly lower than the undamped Q. As the damping efficiency of a shorted voice coil is determined by the current generated by the voice coil, and the current is limited by the voice-coil DC resistance, then the change or delta from undamped Q to damped Q should be inversely proportional to the voice- coil DC resistance, Rvc. The apparent challenge to this argument is the 6” midrange, but starting with a Q of 19.7 very little electrical damping is required to reduce the Q to 17.4. The remainder of the group follows nicely, with the JBL leading with a delta of 3.5 and the RFD 1208 trailing with a delta of 1.2.
FIGURE 3: Test setup to measure resonant frequency, Fr,, and bandwidth.
TABLE 2: Electrical Control of Driver Q.
The car audio people go for small sealed enclosures with volumes of ½ to ¼ Vas. The small enclosure volume causes the driver resonance to in crease by a factor of 1.7 to 2.2 above Fs and, you hope, above the operating range of the subwoofer. The extreme stiffness of the small trapped air volume also tends to swamp some of the resonance peak and makes the unit very hard to drive. They are power hungry.
The ultra long-throw woofers that make reasonably sized subwoofers possible were developed for car audio, so thanks, guys.
Controlling the cone motion by a separate feedback loop servo has been a Holy Grail of speaker builders since the early thirties. There exist several that provide excellent control at a stellar price. The servo unit is rather complicated and when driven to the driver limits may lose control, which results in highly unusual sounds. An excellent pair of articles, “A Servo Dual Voice Coil Subwoofer” and “A Dual Voice Coil Servo Subwoofer System”, both by Daniel L. Ferguson, give a good discussion of the ins and outs* of servo control and present design and construction detail to enable the home builder to try this for him or herself.
Using the air load as a resistive element has been tried in several forms. Transmission-line speakers use a quarter-wave line tuned to the resonant frequency of the driver when in stalled in a box of the same volume as the transmission line. The cross-sectional area of the line is equal to the piston area of the driver. As the air in the line becomes more resistive and less of a spring at resonance, the actual driver resonance is lowered.
The line is typically stuffed with fiber to reduce higher-order line resonance and increase resistance. This results in slowing the sound through the line by 10% to 20%, lowering the tuned frequency of the line. Fine-tuning stuffing and possibly line length will result in an alignment of the driver resonance and the line resonance.
The finished product should have a very smooth impedance curve with very small resonant peaks and a rather gentle rolloff in bass response below the line resonance resulting in a well-controlled low-end response. Transmission-line speakers generally use wide-range 6” to 8” drivers with limited pumping volume, which limits their low end to 50Hz or higher. To achieve a sound pressure of 90dbi at one meter at 50Hz requires the displacement of 214cm of air per stroke and at 25Hz, 856cm is required.
Overstuffing a closed box will in crease the resistance of the air load and reduce the driver Q to some ex tent. Photo I illustrates an overstuffed box driven by a Hafler DH220 operating in the bridged mode. The Q is approximately 1.5 as illustrated by the ringing of the driver after the drive signal was turned off.
The bottom trace is the 30Hz drive and the top trace is from a microphone pickup located 2” above the driver cone. This speaker is an older 10” Acoustat bass unit used with their electrostatic sticks. The sound is not bad but slightly muddy.
The tuned port systems result in a resistive air load at the tuned frequency of the port, matched to the driver, but over-coupling results in two resonant peaks. One peak is below the tuned frequency of the port and one above it. The lower peak will result in a bass extension; however, controlling the resonance is difficult, as illustrated by Photo 2.
The conditions are the same as for Photo 1—note that both resonant peaks have been energized and appear in the output. Also close examination shows an intermodulation sum. The speaker is loud but very muddy and undefined in bass. The speaker tested was a popular KLH 3-way using a 12” bass driver with a crossover at 900Hz, well above the 30Hz test frequency.
In 1968 A. Stewart Hegeman introduced his model 1, which included a point source launch and quarter-wave tuned pipes to control the resonance of the bass/midrange driver. He used six quarter-wave length tuned pipes opening into a small plenum below the driver with the opposing ends closed. At resonance each pipe presented the driver a resistive air load whose magnitude was dependent upon the Q of the pipe. By tuning the pipes around the resonant frequency of the driver, they formed a bandpass resistive load to the driver.
Because the open ends of the pipes were at the point of highest particle velocity, they were easily adjusted in Q to provide a smooth resistive load to the driver that easily went from one- half octave or so below to one octave above the driver resonance, resulting in a well-defined and articulate bass presentation. Since the pipes are of a higher Q and are situated so that the open end loads the driver, they require a total pipe cross-section area of only 50% to 80% of the cone piston area, compared to 100% of the transmission line, which results in a smaller box size.
Photo 3 shows the output of a 10”subwoofer using four tuned pipes. Again the conditions are those of Photo 1. Note that the small half cycle of ring is about 10dB down from the peak, indicating a Q of about 0.5. Also note that the peak of the first half cycle is approximately 90% of the second peak, as opposed to Photo 1, where the first peak is only 80% of the second.
The Q of this unit when driven by a constant-current source is 0.8; the low output impedance of the amplifier reduces the Q to the 0.5 level.
Have the initial questions been answered? I believe so.
1. Bass clarity depends upon a low Q bass driver system.
2. The effect of the electrical damping provided by the amplifier is dependent upon the DC resistance of the voice coil and cannot fully damp resonance effects; a final Q of about 3 seems to be the limit.
3. Several methods of providing additional damping are available.
4. Near perfect damping characteristics may be achieved, but they are expensive and/or labor-intensive.
The output signals of Photos I and 3 exhibit a 90° phase lead compared to the input signal. This is not a microphone artifact, using the same microphone it has been measured on drivers with resonance frequencies of 30Hz, 42Hz, 78Hz, and 134Hz. In all cases it disappears when the signal frequency is increased by one to one-and-one-half octaves above resonance. It seems to be a characteristic of cone drivers, even in a well-damped system.
Now where do I put that subwoofer?
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What is the true purpose of a red light enforcement camera? Well, it may depend on who you ask. Though the publicly stated position is to limit the number of vehicles running red lights and therefore reduce the number of red light car accidents, many drivers feel that the motives may be less altruistic by local governments.
Some in Chicago have been very vocal about their views on red light cameras, stating that the cameras are designed to raise revenue through the issuance of tickets and not designed to improve safety. However, new information released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (“IIHS”) may dispute this widely held belief as the research concludes that use of red lights is saving lives.
According to IIHS, red light camera programs in 79 large U.S. cities are believed to have saved nearly 1,300 through 2014 at a time when car accidents continue to be one of the major causes of unintentional death in America.
The data was pulled from cities using automated red light cameras to detect motorists who ran red lights. These camera systems work with sensors to detect when a vehicle enters an intersection against a red light, thus triggering the camera to take a picture of the vehicle involved. Often, these cameras take multiple pictures to capture the driver, vehicle, license plate and/or other identifying information so that the proper motorist can be ticketed for running the red light.
Experts argue that the presence of red light cameras make drivers act in a more responsible manner and therefore leads to less light running. Officials believe that drivers are more likely to stop for a red light if they know they will be punished for running it by receiving a traffic ticket.
In its study, IIHS compared the number of fatal collisions caused by red light running in communities with and without red light cameras and determined that red light cameras were saving a significant number of lives. Importantly, IIHS concluded that communities that turned off red light cameras after previously using them saw fatal collisions caused by red light runners rise 30 percent.
In 2014, red light car accidents are believed to have claimed 709 lives and caused approximately 126,000 injuries in the United States, many of which happened in the greater Chicago area. Unfortunately, a large number of those who are injured or killed annually are innocent victims who happen to be in an intersection when an at-fault driver runs a light. In other cases, it is someone inside the at-fault driver’s vehicle that is harmed or even a pedestrian near or in the intersection.
When red light crashes happen in Illinois, victims can seek financial compensation for their injuries in many instances, including situations where an at-fault driver is not ticketed for her conduct or where she is found not guilty of a traffic violation. Speaking with a personal injury attorney may help you get the information you need to evaluate your options if your life has been affected by a crash.
Safety Tips for the Chicago Cubs Victory Parade, Celebration, Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog, published November 4, 2016.
Turning off red light cameras costs lives, new research shows, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, published July 28, 2016.
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The Kinks' People Take Pictures of Each Other, a song from their seminal 1968 album "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society" has always resonated deeply with me. Why do people take pictures of people, places and things, or indeed of entire seasons, as protection against someone having missed them? Does photography really offer proof that these things, or anything else, really existed? I've never believed so.
To me photography has, at best, only ever provided us with the ability to record vague impressions of visual reality, no matter how sharp or technically accurate. The medium's limitations are obvious: a single point of view (our world consists of infinite POVs), two dimensions (sentient beings perceive most reality in three, or more), exposure over time (no such thing as a "single moment", more of a streak of moments), and infinite variation among the details of the technology itself that debase any serious notion of standards, consistency and reproducibility. These limitations are, of course, what also make photography so magical and facilitating to the artist.
I've always been of the belief that one cannot trust a photograph to prove that anything really exists or existed, but it can still be beautiful. In that sense, I consider photographic images to relate more to dreams than objective waking reality, and I think Ray Davies would have said very much the same about "The Village Green". That said, like pop music, the medium does work well to tell stories about the world, with the understanding that photographs only represent a distant echo of something that was seen though one person's eyes, as often as not a complete stranger, and are not to be confused with reality. The only reality I recognize, is the one I am experiencing right now.
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Who’s really responsible for digital privacy in China?
Chinese citizens are increasingly concerned about invasive data collection practices of private companies such as Alibaba's Ant Financial. But those hoping that state regulators will rein in these practices should not forget that the government relies on the tech giants to build its social credit system with the goal to monitor and restrict citizens’ behavior.
While the United States is reeling from the revelation that political consultancy Cambridge Analytica harvested data from over 87 million Facebook accounts, China’s biggest tech companies and regulators are confronting a wave of customers’ concerns about digital privacy. Boundaries between the public and private sector are dissolving as Chinese tech platforms are increasingly required to march in lockstep with government imperatives, and as the state grows more reliant on tech companies to monitor and restrict citizens’ behavior on- and offline.
Chinese tech users who believe that state regulators will rein in tech companies’ invasive data collection practices overlook how intertwined state and corporate interests are. Chinese citizens and consumers may be disappointed if they think the minor regulatory measures taken against tech companies are going to protect their privacy in the near future.
One flashpoint in the evolving conversation about data protection in China is the firm Ant Financial, an affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba that bundles the market-dominating mobile payment service Alipay with the commercial credit rating product Sesame Credit. Three years of simmering criticism of Ant Financial’s data collection practices boiled over in January after the company made a major misstep with customers’ information. Although some Chinese citizens have voiced the hope that regulators will rein in Ant’s data collection practices and require the company to reveal which third parties it gives data to, the company’s relationship with the state suggests it is unlikely to change its data-collecting and -sharing models anytime soon.
Social credit is thus construed as a means to repair connections between Chinese individuals, businesses, and legal institutions, and between Chinese citizens and the government itself. So far, however, the government’s social credit system has been guided by policies tested only at the provincial level, and may face steep hurdles to implementation and public acceptance if they are to go national. Unlike traditional financial credit scores, state-issued social credit evaluations are based on citizens’ information (e.g. demographics, tax fraud, social insurance payments, court orders), long collected by various branches of government.
The novel element of the system is that this formerly siloed information will now be shared across government bureaus in order to assess the state’s need to impose far-reaching punishments. One example that Jeremy Daum of China Law Translate highlights is that if someone loses a lawsuit and fails to perform on the court judgment made against them (such as failing to pay a court-mandated fine), that person can now be blacklisted across multiple government ministries and face restrictions on consumption of air and train tickets, as well as lose the privilege to send their children to private schools.
Notably, Ant Financial is one of several private companies to sign similar memoranda on joint rewards and punishments as well as sharing “credit data” (broadly construed) with the NDRC’s State Credit Information-Sharing Platform, which claimed to have 37 “market institutions” (市场机构) participating as of September 2017. Other signatories include group discount and delivery service Meituan-Dianping and the ride-sharing company Didi Chuxing.
Well before signing the memorandum, in 2015, Sesame Credit began to lower the scores of users who it discovered were on the national blacklist of debtors and judgment defaulters kept by the Supreme People’s Court. From Ant’s 2016 Corporate Sustainability Report, the company notes that as a result of this cooperation, Sesame Credit users’ scores dropped and users were restricted when seeking services from e-commerce platforms including Alipay, Taobao, and Tmall, as well as affiliated microlending, car rental, and dating services. “They were punished both online and offline. In addition, they were not allowed to take planes, soft sleepers on trains or buy luxury products,” the Ant report said. Chinese Communist Party-backed newswire Xinhua lauded Ant Financial for spurring debtors to pay up so as to raise their Sesame Credit scores.
Yet it may be a while before Ant Financial gets more praise from state media. In the first week of January 2018, Ant Financial made headlines with a serious blunder that shined an unexpected spotlight on digital privacy concerns in China. Offering Alipay users online access to a summary of their 2017 spending habits, the company automatically checked a box in the contract granting Alipay the users’ consent to a Sesame Credit evaluation. Rather than asking customers to opt in, the checked box had to be un-checked by the consumer if the consumer wanted to opt out. Left checked, the box gave Alipay permission to access users’ personal financial data for credit-scoring purposes.
Chinese citizens flocked to social media to upbraid the company for burying the consent in the fine print, essentially luring users into turning over their data. Ant Financial apologized on the social media platform Weibo and the company was called in by the Cyberspace Administration of China for an official reprimand. Although several news stories described this incident as a wake-up call to the importance of privacy violations in China, in fact, a small number of Sesame Credit users have been critical of the system since 2015.
In a December 2017 report on the implementation of China’s social credit system, we exposed some of the critiques of Sesame Credit and other private companies’ commercial credit scoring products. We analyzed debates on Chinese blogs and question-and-answer forums such as Sina, Tianya, and Zhihu from June 2016 to June 2017. A search of posts that included one or more of the keywords “social credit system” (社会信用体系), “Sesame Credit” (芝麻信用), “honesty system” (诚信体系), “credit system” (征信体系), or “Credit China” (信用中国) revealed that virtually all critical comments related to social credit were directed at private companies’ opaque, invasive collection of personal information and avoided knocking the state-run pilot programs. A cross-check of Free Weibo, Weiboscope, and other sources that collect censored social media posts yielded no meaningful results. We were unable to explain why online critics went after the commercial companies and not the state-run data collectors that share data with these companies to restrict users’ actions (such as the above examples of Alipay blocking blacklisted people from making certain purchases).
While we have yet to grasp the long-term implications of the government-run social credit system in citizens’ daily lives, the impact, both positive and negative, of Sesame Credit and other commercial credit trackers is palpable. For instance, Ant Financial’s partnerships with a host of third-party vendors—including bike- and car-rental companies, hotels, foreign consulates, and hospitals—waive deposits for Alipay users who have high Sesame Credit scores or reward them with free expedited services. By the same token, Alipay users with low scores are barred from access to such services.
Similarly, critics are troubled by the public shaming mechanism Ant Financial exercises when users fail to repay loans. One commenter on bulletin board service (BBS) Rong360 recounts the story of a friend who failed to repay a small loan using an Alipay feature called Huabei. The distressed debtor was mortified to discover that Ant Financial called people in his address book to notify them about the money he owed. In another Zhihu thread tellingly headed “Does Huabei’s Practice of Phoning My Friends to Tell Them That I Owe Money Violate Citizens’ Privacy Rights?” one person called the user agreements employed by Huabei and Sesame Credit “roguish” (流氓). Others noted that phone shaming resembles a legal method employed by certain local governments.
For a long time, progressive—and anonymous or pseudonymous—voices of China’s legal and tech communities have offered “constructive criticism” of the government, calling for such a law—a draft of which has been in the pipeline since 2003. Interspersed with social media posts critical of the tech companies are recurring suggestions that Chinese should have faith in the state to crack down on their unchecked data collection, evaluation, and exchange.
Can data privacy protections work in China?
What incentives do Chinese regulators have to rein in tech firms’ privacy abuses given their potential dependence on private firms’ cooperation with new initiatives like the NDRC’s State Credit Information Center? Foreign observers argue that recently published Chinese standards for data privacy will bring China closer to resembling the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, though it remains to be seen how effectively these new standards will be implemented when it comes to limiting invasive data collection practices.
Breaking laws carries a more severe penalty than does flouting standards. A September 2017 Cyberspace Administration of China review of privacy protections built into some of China’s most widely used smartphone apps—including Alipay—was incapable of preventing Ant Financial from later trying to gather user data without clear consent. Ant Financial’s recent disregard of its users’ data privacy may be the tip of the iceberg of evidence that Ant and similar companies are employing lax user protections in a thriving, highly competitive, data-driven industry.
As more citizens feel the tech giants have violated their privacy, it will be harder for Beijing to turn a blind eye to these complaints, especially if tech companies’ far-reaching data access helps determine user punishments and rewards. On the one hand, the government is trying to engineer trust in data-intensive rating systems, and scandals surrounding privately collected data raise the risk of a public backlash against data mining writ large. On the other hand, a growing lack of trust in profit-obsessed technology companies coupled with both low awareness of and transparency around how private companies’ data is shared with and used by government platforms could bolster the government’s ability to crack down on private data miners.
This article was first published by ChinaFile on May 30, 2018.
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[12/21/2018, 4:24:48 PM] Cám ơn các bạn!
Some people think that the best way to ensure road safety is to increase the minimum legal age for driving cars or riding motorbikes. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
On the one hand, I believe it is a good idea to increase the minimum age for driving. Firstly, when people are young, they are usually less mature and less responsible with their manner, so they might not be aware of the importance of following rules. Therefore, it is reasonable to ban them from traveling on the street to prevent them from breaking the law and causing accidents. Secondly, the young are more experienced, they can know how to react quickly to handle dangerous situations. To illustrate, if breaks of car stop working, young drivers might panic and accidents are more likely to occur.
On the other hand, it seems to me that some measures can be implemented to ensure road safety. The first solution is that stricter law for driving offenders such as punishment for driving offenders. For instance, breaking the traffic rules should pay huge fines or be banned permanently from commuting on street. As a result, commuters would respect the law and traffic accidents can be reduced. Another solution is to encourage people to use public transport rather than private vehicles. This can be done by increasing the frequency and reduce the price of buses and tubes to make it convenient for users.
In conclusion, while it seems to me that increasing legal age for driving is a good measure in a number of ways. I believe that there are more effective steps which should be taken to ensure the traveling on the street is safe for everyone.
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Super Lucky Frog was one of the first progressive jackpot slot machines made by Net Entertainment. It was made back in 2007 and you can see that the game is dated. Super Lucky Frog has 3 different progressive jackpots, that all can be won from the same bonus game. If you like the concept with jackpots, but you prefer newer graphics and game play, Cosmic Fortune might be a good alternative for you. If you want to stick to this older slot machine, it also offers a free spin feature in addition to the combined bonus and jackpot game. The maximal potential win is the Super jackpot, and it usually ranges anywhere between €10.000 and €50.000. The payout percentage for Super Lucky Frog is unattractively low at only 93.00%. This is below what I recommend to play for longer sessions.
Super Lucky Frog has wild symbols on all the reels and they substitute for all other symbols in play except the bonus frogs and the scatter fairies. A 5 of a kind combination of wilds on an active payline would pay 300x the stake during the base game, and 900x the stake during the free spin feature. Even though it's a really simple game, the combined bonus and jackpot game is the main reason to play this slot machine. This is where all the 3 progressive jackpots can be won. There is also a free spin feature with multiplied wins.
Free spins: The free spin feature is triggered when 3 or more fairy scatter symbols appear anywhere on the reels. The amount of free spins is determined by how many scatter symbols that triggered the feature. 3 scatters = 10 free spins, 4 scatters = 20 free spins, while 5 scatters = 30 free spins. I can also mention that a combination of 5 scatters would pay a prize of 400x the stake, in addition to triggering the 30 free spins. During the free spins, all wins (except any jackpot or bonus game wins) will be multiplied by x3. It's possible to re-trigger the whole free spin feature during the spins.
Bonus game / Jackpots: The jackpot bonus game can be won during both the base game and the free spins, and it's triggered by a combination of 3 or more bonus frogs on an payline from left to right starting at the first reel. This combination will trigger a wheel of fortune wheel with 12 different fields on it. There are 4 coin fields, 4 Froggy fields, 3 Lucky fields and 1 Super field. You get to spin the wheel once, and whatever field the wheel stops on is what you win. The coins will reward you with a prize equal to your current bet, while each of the other fields will reward you with the corresponding jackpot with the same name. This is a pre-determined bonus game, which means that you don't have the same chance to hit a jackpot as the number of fields shown on the wheel.
Super Lucky Frog is created by Net Entertainment.
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After you have seen Nicollet Avenue, visit this restaurant. The cooks here prepare yummy tomato mozzarella salads, good ribs and amazing chicken. Unfortunately, the host is horrible as most guests note. According to the visitors, the main disadvantage of TGI Fridays is the terrible customer service. The general rating on Zomato for this place is below average.
Good service. Waitress, Sam had her hands full with 5 adults and 3 kids that made a mess and were somewhat noisy.
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Here at Systeem, we consider ourselves lucky to have built a network of incredible experts over the years. Because we would never be so selfish as to keep them to ourselves, today we’re sharing an interview with one of our close friends, Larry Neiswender.
Larry is the Founder and Managing Partner at Protect EHR where he provides HIPAA required Security Risk Assessments (SRA), documented Policies and Procedures, and employee training for medical practices. Not only is Larry recognized for his working knowledge on HIPAA, but he also has an extensive background with Meaningful Use and Technology. Making him uniquely positioned to share about HIPAA, Security, and Technology with us today.
We’ll get right to it, checkout our interview with Larry below.
Can you give us a quick summary of HIPAA?
HIPAA is a set of rules that started in 1996 and the primary reason was to protect our confidential, personal information in relation to working with doctors and medical faculties.
In today’s world of Electronic Health Records (EHR), and other technologies, what does a practice need to be aware of to keep Personal Health Information (PHI) safe online?
There are certain very basic things that any medical facility can do to protect patient information. The first thing to realize is that information goes two ways. You’re going to take information in and transmit it out, to a hospital, another provider, a business associate or to an internet based EHR company.
Because so much of our industry today is technology based, one of the most important things to do is to protect that initial point where your internet first comes into the office with a properly set up firewall, because that gateway goes both ways. Your internet service provider, (ISP) will bring in a device and they’ll tell you: “Don’t worry about it, this serves as a router and a firewall”. Nothing could be further from the truth in a medical office – not in today’s environment.
Secondly, you need to use an anti-virus program. It’s important to have a good quality program, not just something free you find on the Internet, and a company like Systeem can advise you about the right program to use based on your particular office.
Finally, you need to document every policy and procedure you’re going to have related to protecting patient data. It’s essential to write custom policies and procedures, specific to your practice. Avoid using policy and procedures templates that you can find online; they’ll often have information that doesn’t pertain to your organization. Once you’ve created this document, train your employees based on your policies and procedures.
What are the most common mistakes practices make?
The biggest and most common mistake is believing that “this” won’t happen to us – it only happens to everybody else and that includes, the belief that “we’re too small”, “nobody will have anything to do with us”, the belief that “my EMR is now cloud based, so it’s the vendor’s responsibility”. This is especially true when talking about cyber-crimes against practices.
I teach every practice a similar lesson. I always share a blank screen, and I tell the participants: “This is your practice. That’s the way you look to a cybercriminal. Until they get on the inside, they don’t know who you are, how big you are, or whether you have something worth stealing. But once they’re on the inside, it's too late”.
In 2016 The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finally declared a ransomware attack to be a HIPAA violation. One of the less understood but significant parts of that was the use of the word: control.
Before 2016 if they stole your data or it could be proven that they had viewed, touched, exfiltrated, or done something with your data, that would be a breach. Now, if they get into your computer and lock you up to the point that you can’t access your data, you have basically lost control. HHS said, if unauthorized individuals take possession or control of your data, it's a reportable breach.
Some practices still use paper-based records. They haven't gone to an EHR yet. But they’ll use a computer-based scheduling program to allow people to book their own appointments. So, they're still creating, maintaining, receiving, transmitting patient information. Which means they still have to have a Security Risk Analysis done, because the burden of privacy is on your practice’s shoulders.
If a laptop is stolen that has data stored on it, is that considered a breach?
That’s a great question because it can go two ways.
First, if the patient data is only password protected, then yes, it is a breach. HHS and the Office for Civil Rights will tell you that they only recognize two forms of protecting patient data – total destruction and encryption. There are multiple cases where patient data has been lost and the practice fined because the data was only password protected.
The second option is with the data properly encrypted. Have you ever heard of the Safe Harbor Rule? It requires that a practice make a reasonable attempt to protect data. So, if you had encrypted that laptop, and have proof, it would not be a breach because you attempted to mitigate an unauthorized release of confidential patient information.
What’s the number one cause of HIPAA security breaches?
Employees. Without a question. And in the vast majority of cases, it’s without malicious intent but, here’s the thing: employees have no liability. So as long as they have no liability, what’s at stake for them? But just so you know, part of that is also because the practices don’t take seriously how important the training aspect is. It’s the business’ responsibility to ensure privacy of data and, training your employees goes a long way to help ensure the protection of PHI.
The truth is, there are multiple parties that are responsible for the protection of PHI. The practice itself, and any vendors they exchange data with - including technology companies. That’s why these little safeguards are so important. You start off with the firewall, antivirus, and if you’re going to keep data locally, that data is expected to be encrypted at rest and in transmission.
Once those things are in place, it falls to the staff to do the rest. That’s why training is so important.
I hope practices realize that IT companies like Systeem, they’re not out to sell, sell, sell. IT companies bear responsibility for helping to protect data for the clients that they work with. The problem is, unlike Systeem, most IT companies have no concept of the kinds of liabilities that medical practices operate under daily and so they don’t even attempt to advise the practice on what is truly needed.
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> should be easy to adopt: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/22570.
if 'DETERMINISTIC_BUILD' in os.environ else source_stats['mtime'])"
"source_mtime = int(st['mtime'])" "source_mtime = 1"
determine whether to compile source files.
is Python 2 code) three times, once for each optimization level.
+ find $out -name "*.py" | $out/bin/python -m compileall -q -f -x "lib2to3"
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0.99989 |
As at late 2014, the time of this report, Nigeria has over 69 far star hotels with many of them in Abuja and Lagos state.
Foreign investors have spent hugely on accommodation due to the fact that Nigeria is a top tourist center in the world.
So the answer to the question how many five star hotels do we have in Nigeria, is 69.
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In less than three years Dock 10 has grown from a mere studio operator with add-ons to a fully-fledged digital media service provider. Will Strauss tracks the changes. MediaCityUK in Salford, Greater Manchester is exactly as the name suggests: a towering metropolis pumping out TV, radio and digital content to Britain and beyond.
Situated opposite the Imperial War Museum and Old Trafford football ground, on the lip of the Manchester Ship canal, in what was once thriving (but then derelict) docklands, it is a corporate citadel that has helped to change the landscape of TV in this country. Thanks to £650m of investment from The Peel Group (and support from various public sector bodies) it is now the home of BBC North - including a number of BBC channels and departments - as well as ITVs northern operation, SIS, Salford University and various other media companies, institutions, agencies and more. Very soon, with the last cobble having been laid just a couple of weeks ago, it will also be the location of the Coronation Street set.
Part regeneration project, part cultural empowerment exercise, MediaCityUK has created jobs, educational opportunities and countless other benefits for both the creative community and the economy in the North of England. Living just a short train ride away I have watched on closely as MediaCityUK has grown. I was there in 2007 on the day that the first clump of earth was dug. I was there for the topping out ceremony when a golden spanner was used to turn the final nut and bolt of the steelwork. And I was there when the BBC opened its first building.
Because of this, throughout that period, I have also spent an inordinate amount of time being shown around the studio block that sits at the centre of MediaCityUK - to the extent that I probably deserve some sort of loyalty card. When it opened, this facility was the first new British TV studio in a generation. It was also (and as far as I can tell, still is) the largest purpose-designed HD studio in Europe.
Now, it has transformed yet again. Which is the point of this article. Before we get down to the nitty gritty, however, lets dispel a myth: that the studios operation at MediaCityUK is a BBC facility. Its not. The BBC merely hires the studios for production of its programmes and for channel continuity. Back in 2010 a joint venture between SIS and Peel Media was awarded a 10-year contract to provide BBC North with studios, post and technical services. This JV is responsible for the studios.
The arrangement works well for all concerned as the corporation is actively seeking to move away from owning and operating buildings and towards a rental model. And the JV is guaranteed several millions pounds a year in revenues.
Originally known as MediaCity Studios Ltd (or The Studios), the re-brand took place in 2012 to better reflect the breadth of services it offers. Or, to put it another way, so that it wasnt pigeon holed as being just a studios operation.
Incidentally, if youre interested, the name Dock 10 is a reference to the location of the studios. The original plans for the Manchester ship canal included provision for a tenth dock. As it was, only nine were ever built. So Dock 10 is continuing that legacy. Albeit in a more digital way and with less need for a bilge pump.
Operating as a standalone business with a highly commercial mandate it has grown from being merely a service provider to the BBC Sport and Childrens departments (and a studios operator for hire) to something much bigger that also incorporates entertainment shows as well as comedy and drama production.
Clients now include Channel 4 and ITV as well indies Red, Objective, Endemol and Wall to Wall while Saturday night talent search reality show The Voice is amongst its credits. From a small launch team, the headcount has now hit 100, turnover is circa £20m (and I can assure you that this is not all from the BBC contract) and investment is ongoing.
As their marketing will tell you, they are now a fully-fledged digital media services provider. This has been achieved on the back of continued investment in people and technology.
Dock10 has seven HD TV studios (four full production studios and three for presentation) ranging in size from 12,500 sq. ft. to 1000 sq. ft and enough vision and sound galleries to go round. That last piece of information is worth noting because, at launch, there were just two galleries - although any studio could be routed to either.
The largest studio is capable of working with up to 22 camera channels and is the biggest in the country outside Fountain Studios in London. On my most recent visit, in August this year, installation was about to begin on a saturated lighting rig that will allow for fast turnaround between shows. Similar rigs are available in other studios too.
The improvement in lighting capabilities follows quickly on the heels of an investment in seven new Sony HDC-2500 camera channels and assorted XJ27s, HJ22s and HJ14s lenses from Canon. While Dock 10 is a standalone operation, being able to dovetail with the adjacent BBC and ITV buildings is still crucial. Tapeless workflows have been devised that allow acquired studio content to be passed instantly to in-house post or to either of the broadcasters.
This is done via a significant fibre optic network that underpins MediaCityUK and also includes facility for broadcast services such as file content delivery networks and base band video (also operated by Dock 10).
Who works there? Well, at last count there were more than 20 client facing staff including studio managers and bookings people plus 40 engineers, media managers and workflow architects. Thats fairly unusual for a TV studio in the age of the casual workforce and big leap from what it was at launch.
Along with good sized and highly specced vision and sound galleries, one of the key features of the studios is that they are future-proof with 3G-SDI video paths throughout. This three-gig infrastructure allows for both 1080p50 and 3D operation (although the latter would appear to be less and less relevant as time goes on).
While there have been changes in the studio set-up, the biggest movement can be seen in post-production. Dock10 was originally established to deliver fast turnaround post and multi-format content ingest. Little more. It started life with 12 offline and online editing suites (based on Avid Symphony and Media Composer) plus Avid Isis, Isilon nearline and Spectra Logic archive storage, QC capabilities and a single 5.1 Pro Tools dubbing theatre. In essence it was for BBC and studio add-on work.
This set-up was well received by Dock 10s potential competitors at the time as it meant that any additional production work coming to Greater Manchester would need to use the local market for its post-production. Things have certainly moved on since then.
High-end finishing is now the order of the day and Dock 10 now has 27 edit suites, a second 5.1 dubbing theatre and even a grading suite. A Baselight TWO was picked up earlier this year and a staff grader, Jamie Parry, recruited from nearby Sumners post-production.
The Baselight TWO has always delivered the quality and speed that I need to be able to confidently say yes to my clients requests, explained Parry at the time of installation.
Backed up by 40TB of storage, the suite has a Blackboard control surface and Sony OLED BVM monitoring.
This is pretty far from being a studio add-on. It signals the move into the post-production big league. While grading was possible before using Symphony, having a Baselight puts Dock 10 in a place where it can pitch for high-end docs and dramas. And it is doing just that.
Away from its own post facilities, Dock 10 also recently won the operator contract for the post-production offering at The Landing, a digital hub configured to be the home of small companies and freelancers involved in technology innovation and content for the digital realm (everything from apps to interactivity). An initial three-year contract to run Post @ The Landing was awarded by the Salford City Council, the public organization behind the venture.
Also, making use of the connectivity across the city (or campus as people seem to like to call it), Dock 10 is also providing tapeless file delivery, via Signiant, to ITV and The Farm, the post house that runs the BBCs own in house editing set-up.
While traditional broadcast services are the core of the Dock 10 service, the company is also taking the cloud very seriously, trail blazing in many ways with a nascent innovation that still scares the bejesus out of most TV folk.
Linking up with Infostrada (formerly Parkpost), it has put together a set of secure cloud-based production and distribution services that includes remote content editing, media archiving and metadata management and a new approach to content ingest. These services are based around Infostradas CentralParq workflow and media asset management platform.
The system is initially just for production teams based at MediaCityUK but plans are afoot to integrate it with The Loop, a 50-mile fibre network around Manchester.
The cloud offerings will be managed services based on true cloud commercial principles of elasticity of demand and price: that being one of the main benefits of course.
Either way, what Dock 10, and its commercial director Ian Munford, is trying to achieve is a blueprint for the industry. A plug-and-play offering that provides, as he puts it, a different way of accessing the things that people know and love.
This approach can, potentially, completely change the way TV is produced. But, as things stand, Munford is not sure how far customers want to go or how far the technology can go. Its got huge promise. But lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet.
What I think is most interesting is that these ideas are coming from Dock 10, a company that many still think just run studios for the BBC.
Innovative, service orientated and progressive is how I would describe Dock 10. That said, it is not a company that is universally loved by its competitors as it now offers services particularly in post - that it didnt a year ago, adding competition to an already tight marketplace on the back of guaranteed income from the BBC (and therefore public money).
But what I do know is that the intentions are genuine from the staff at Dock 10. They want to be the best and have recruited accordingly - including recently bringing on board former Sunset + Vine head of production technology Emma Riley as head of business development and agreeing an exclusive deal with renowned dubbing mixer Mike Stewart.
And while they wont thank me for revealing that one senior member of staff was once a holiday rep while another was the manager of a next-big-thing (but not quite) indie band, I wish them luck.
Dock 10, like MediaCityUK, has changed beyond recognition since my first visit, helping to put Salford and the North of England firmly back on the media map. For that I will be forever grateful.
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Based on the case and the slide, pls answer the questions by the end of each slide for 1000 words each. Total 3 slides.
Case topic: innocent smoothies: Europe’s favourite smoothie brand considers expanding into the Russian soft drinks market.
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0.906024 |
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems. Since 2002, some feature films have been upconverted into IMAX format for display in IMAX theatres and some have also been partially shot in IMAX.
IMAX is the most widely used system for special-venue film presentations. As of September 2011, there were 583 IMAX theatres in 48 countries.
The desire to increase the visual impact of film has a long history. In 1929, Fox introduced Fox Grandeur, the first 70 mm film format, but it quickly fell from use. In the 1950s CinemaScope (1953) and VistaVision (1954) widened the image from 35 mm film, following multi-projector systems such as Cinerama (1952). While impressive, Cinerama was difficult to install, and the seams between adjacent projected images were difficult to hide.
The IMAX system was developed by Graeme Ferguson, Roman Kroitor, Robert Kerr, and William C. Shaw.
During Expo 67 in Montreal, Kroitor's In the Labyrinth and Ferguson's Man and the Polar Regions both used multi-projector, multi-screen systems. Each encountered technical difficulties that led them to found a company, initially called "Multiscreen", with a primary goal of designing and developing a simpler approach. The single-projector/single-camera system they eventually settled upon was designed and built by Shaw, based upon a novel "Rolling Loop" film-transport technology purchased from Australian inventor Ronald Jones. Later,[when?] when it became clear that a single, large-screen image had far more impact than multiple smaller ones, Multiscreen changed its name to IMAX.
Tiger Child, the first IMAX film, was demonstrated at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan. The first permanent IMAX was in the Cinesphere at Ontario Place in Toronto in 1971, and is still in operation. During Expo '74 in Spokane, Washington, a very large IMAX screen that measured 90 × 65 m (300 × 213 ft) was featured in the US Pavilion (the largest structure in the expo). About 5 million visitors viewed the screen, which covered the viewer's total vision field when looking directly forward. This created a sensation of motion in most viewers, and motion sickness in some. An IMAX 3D theatre also is in operation near the former Expo 67 site at the "Montreal Science Centre" in the Port of Old Montreal.
The first permanent IMAX Dome installation, the Eugene Heikoff and Marilyn Jacobs Heikoff Dome Theatre at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, opened in San Diego's Balboa Park in 1973. It doubles as a planetarium. The first permanent IMAX 3D theatre was built in Vancouver, British Columbia for Transitions at Expo '86, and was in use until 30 September 2009. It was located at the tip of Canada Place, a Vancouver landmark.
As China is now the second largest market after USA with roughly 25 IMAX theatres located throughout the country, IMAX aims to attract more viewers by decreasing the admission prices in China.
The IMAX format in the USA has traditionally been employed for specialty applications. The expense and logistics of producing and presenting IMAX films has led to approximately 40 minute shorter running times than conventional films. The majority tend to be documentaries that are suited for institutional venues such as museums and science centers. IMAX cameras have orbited the earth, climbed Mount Everest, explored the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and visited the Antarctic. An IMAX documentary about the success of the Mars Exploration Rovers was released in 2006, titled Roving Mars and used exclusive data from the Rovers.
One of the first attempts at presenting entertainment in the IMAX format was The Rolling Stones: Live at the Max (1991), an 85-minute compilation of concert footage filmed in IMAX during the band's 1990 Steel Wheels tour, edited to give the impression of a single concert.
In the 1990s more entertainment short films were created, notably T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous (directed by Brett Leonard), in 1998 and Haunted Castle, released in 2001 (both in 3D). In 1999, The Old Man and the Sea became the first IMAX animated film and proceeded to win an Oscar. The same year, Disney produced Fantasia 2000, the first full-length animated feature initially released exclusively in the IMAX format. Disney released the first 2D live–action IMAX entertainment film, Young Black Stallion, in late 2003.
IMAX increases the resolution of the image by using a much larger film frame. To achieve this, 65 mm film stock passes horizontally through the cameras. Traditional cameras pass film vertically. 65 mm film has an image area that is 48.5 × 22.1 mm (1.91 × 0.87 in) (for Todd-AO), in IMAX the image is 69.6 × 48.5 mm (2.74 × 1.91 in) tall. In order to match standard film speed of 24 frames per second, three times the length of film moves through the camera.
IMAX uses "ESTAR" (Kodak's trade name for PET film) base. The reason is for precision more than strength. Developing chemicals do not change the size or shape of ESTAR, and IMAX's pin registration (especially the cam mechanism) does not tolerate either sprocket-hole or film-thickness variations. The IMAX format is generically called "15/70" film, the name referring to the 15 sprocket holes per frame. The film's bulk requires platters rather than conventional film reels. IMAX platters range from 1.2 to 1.83 meters (3.9 to 6.0 ft) diameter to accommodate 1 to 2.75 hours of film. Platters with a 2.5 hour feature film weigh 250 kilograms (550 lb).
In order to use more of the image area, IMAX film does not include an embedded soundtrack. Instead, the IMAX system specifies a separate six-channel 35mm (1.377 inch) magnetic film synchronized to the film. This is the same technology as was used to provide the 7-channel soundtrack for Cinerama. By the early 1990s, a separate digital 6-track source was used, locked to the projector by a SMPTE time code synchronization system. The audio plays off a hard disk drive as a single uncompressed audio file containing the 6 channels, which are converted directly to analogue rather than using a decoding method such as Dolby Digital. IMAX theatres place speakers both directly behind the screen and around the theatre to create a three-dimensional effect.
Drawing the large film through the projector presented challenges for both the camera and the projector. Conventional 70 mm systems were not steady enough for the 586× magnification. On the projector side, William Shaw adapted an Australian patent for film transport called the "rolling loop" by adding a compressed air "puffer" to accelerate the film, and put a cylindrical lens in the projector's "aperture block". The projector uses a vacuum to pull the film into contact with this lens. Thus the "field flattener" flattens the image field. The lens is twice the height of the film and connects to a pneumatic piston so it can be moved up or down while the projector is running. This way, if a piece of dust comes off the film and sticks to the lens, the projectionist can switch to the clean side of the lens at the push of a button. The lens also has "wiper bars" made of a felt or brush-like material which can wipe dust off the lens as it moves up or down. IMAX projectors are pin stabilized, meaning four registration pins engage the perforations at the corners of the projected frame to ensure perfect alignment. Shaw added cam–controlled arms to decelerate each frame to eliminate the microscopic shaking as the frame "settled" onto the registration pins. The projector's shutter is open around 20% longer than in conventional equipment and the light source is brighter. The xenon short-arc lamps are made of a thin layer of fused quartz and contain xenon gas at a pressure of about 25 atmospheres (367 PSI); because of this, projectionists are required to wear protective body armor when changing or handling these in case the lamp breaks (e.g., due to a drop to the floor) because of the danger from flying quartz shards when propelled by the high pressure of the Xenon gas within. An IMAX projector weighs up to 1.8 t (2.0 short tons) and is over 178 cm (70 in) tall and 195 cm (77 in) long.
IMAX theatre construction differs significantly from conventional theatres. The increased resolution allows the audience to be much closer to the screen; typically all rows are within one screen height; conventional theatre seating runs 8 to 12 screen heights. Also, the rows of seats are set at a steep angle (up to 30° in some domed theatres) so that the audience is facing the screen directly.
A standard IMAX screen is 22 × 16.1 m (72 × 52.8 ft), but can be larger. The world's largest cinema screen (a 15/70 mm IMAX) is the LG IMAX Theatre in Sydney, Australia. It is approximately eight stories high, with dimensions of 35.73 × 29.42 m (117.2 × 96.5 ft) and covers an area of more than 1,015 m2 (10,930 sq ft). The largest digital IMAX screen, almost 100 feet (30 m) wide, is located at the Warren Theatres in Wichita, Kansas.
IMAX theatres are described as either "Classic Design" (purpose-built structures), or "Multiplex Design" (retrofitted auditoriums).
Planetario Alfa, Museum, Astronomical observatory and IMAX Dome system, Monterrey, N.L., México.
In the late 1960s the San Diego Hall of Science (now known as the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center) began searching North America for a large-format film system to project on the dome of their planned 76 ft (23 m) tilted dome planetarium. The standard IMAX projector was unsuitable for use inside a dome because it had a 12 ft (3.7 m) tall lamp house on top. IMAX Corporation redesigned its system, adding an elevator to lift the projector to the center of the dome from the projection booth below. Spectra Physics designed a suitable lamphouse that took smaller, 18 in (46 cm) lamps and placed the bulb behind the lens instead of above the projector. In 1970, Ernst Leitz Canada, Ltd. (now ELCAN Optical Technologies) won a contract to develop and manufacture a fisheye lens projection system optimized to project an image onto a dome instead of a flat screen.
The dome system, which the San Diego Hall of Science called OMNIMAX, uses films shot with a camera equipped with a fisheye lens on the camera that squeezes a highly distorted 180° field of view onto the 65 mm IMAX film. The lens is aligned below the center of the frame and most of the bottom half of the circular field falls beyond the edge of the film. The part of the field that would fall below the edge of the dome is masked. When filming, the camera is aimed upward at an angle that matches the tilt of the dome. When projected through a matching fisheye lens onto a dome, the original panoramic view is recreated. OMNIMAX wraps 180° horizontally, 100° above the horizon and 22° below the horizon for a viewer at the center of the dome. OMNIMAX premiered in 1973 showing Voyage to the Outer Planets (produced by Graphic Films) and Garden Isle (by Roger Tilton Films) on a double bill. The biggest IMAX dome theater in the world is the Hackworth IMAX Dome theater at the Tech Museum in San Jose, CA.
OMNIMAX theatres inhabit theme parks and North American museums, particularly those with a scientific focus, where the technical aspects of the system may be highlighted as part of the attraction. The projection room is often windowed to allow public viewing and accompanied by informational placards like other exhibits. The screen may be a permanent fixture, such as at the St. Louis Science Center and Boston's Museum of Science; or lowered and raised as needed, such as at the Science Museum of Minnesota (where it shares an auditorium with a standard IMAX screen). Before the feature begins, the screen can be backlit to show the speakers and girders behind it. While the majority of museum installations focus on educational and documentary films, on special occasions, entertainment films are also shown, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. The largest in North America are at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey and the Telus World of Science in Vancouver, BC, both of which have 88 feet (27 m) dome screens.
To create the illusion of depth, the IMAX 3D process uses separate camera lenses to represent the left and right eyes. The two lenses are separated by an interocular distance of 64 mm (2.5 in), the average distance between a human's eyes. Each lens feeds a separate roll of film. By projecting the two films simultaneously, viewers experience seeing a 3D image on a 2D screen. The IMAX 3D camera weighs over 113 kg (250 lb).
One method of creating the 3D illusion involves polarizing the light from the two images. During projection, the left and right eye images are linearly polarized as they are projected. Eyeglasses with right and left lenses polarized to match the projection present each eye with just the image intended for that eye since the polarization cancels out the other eye's image.
Alternatively the two projectors take turns displaying each frame (while one projector's image is displayed, the other is blocked) at an effective rate of 48 frames per second. The viewer dons LCD shutter glasses that contain LCD panels that block or transmit light in each eye in sync with the projector, such that each eye only sees the image intended for it.
Several films produced in a smaller-format 3D process for release in conventional theatres have also been presented in IMAX 3D, including Toy Story 3, Tron: Legacy, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Avatar.
Some IMAX theatres further enhance the viewing experience by moving and/or vibrating the seats at opportune moments.
Variations on IMAX included the 48 frames per second IMAX HD process, which sought to reduce strobing and offer higher definition by doubling the normal film rate. The IMAX HD system was tested in 1992 at the Canada Pavilion of the Seville Expo '92 with the film Momentum. Higher production costs, and the high wear-and-tear on the prints and projectors, doomed the IMAX HD system, but, not before many theatres had been retrofitted to project at 48 frames, especially in Canada, in order to play Momentum.In the 1990s theme parks in Thailand, Germany, and Las Vegas used IMAX HD for their Motion Simulator rides. The Disney parks attraction Soarin' Over California features a modification of both IMAX HD and IMAX Dome, projecting in 48 frames per second.
The doubled IMAX HD frame rate means that each IMAX HD reel lasts half as long, and the logistical implications of this reach throughout the film production chain. IMAX production by default is at least 3 to 5 times more expensive than common 35mm production. The further increase in IMAX HD has prevented significant adoption.
In 2002, IMAX and Universal Studios released an IMAX-format version of the 1995 film Apollo 13, the first application of IMAX's proprietary DMR (Digital Media Remastering) process, which allows conventional films to be upconverted into IMAX format. This special digital intermediate technology allowed films shot on 35mm for conventional theatres to be shown in IMAX venues. Because of a technical limitation on the size of the film reel, several early DMR releases were shortened to less than two hours. Later releases did not have this limitation; current IMAX platters allow a run time of up to 170 minutes where films could run longer in IMAX Digital venues.
Reviewers have generally praised the results of the DMR blowup process, which are visually and audibly superior to the same films projected in 35mm.But some filmmakers, such as producer Frank Marshall, point out that DMR blowups are not comparable to films created directly in the 70 mm 15 perf IMAX format, and that directors Ron Howard and George Lucas expected better. They note that the decline of Cinerama coincided roughly with its replacement by a simpler, cheaper, technically inferior version, and view DMR with alarm. IMAX originally reserved the phrase "the IMAX experience" for true 70 mm productions, but now allows its use on DMR productions as well.
Since 2002 many Hollywood films have been remastered for IMAX. Warner Brothers (WB) has especially embraced the format with the two Matrix sequels, and since 2004 has been releasing its Harry Potter film franchise in IMAX to strong financial success. Also in 2004 the company released the animated film The Polar Express in IMAX 3D. Express became the most successful film to be released in IMAX theatres, producing at least a quarter of the film's gross of $302 million from less than 100 IMAX screens. In 2005 WB released Batman Begins simultaneously in conventional theatres and IMAX. In summer 2006, WB released Superman Returns remastered for IMAX, with some effects scenes transformed into 3D. Spider-Man 3 (2007) was also remastered for IMAX.
The July 2008 Batman Begins sequel The Dark Knight (partially shot on IMAX—see below) broke box office records for IMAX, taking in about $6.3 million from 94 theatres in the U.S. and Canada over the opening weekend. The record for an IMAX opening weekend was again broken in May 2009 by Star Trek: The IMAX Experience, which took in $8.3 million. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 in IMAX has since grossed $15.5 million.
Some recent features have employed IMAX cameras for selected scenes, however no full-length feature film has yet been shot entirely using IMAX cameras due to the numerous difficulties presented with the format - the cameras are much larger and heavier than standard cameras and as they are noisier it makes dialogue recording difficult. The cameras have short film loads ranging from 30 seconds to two minutes and the cost of the film stock is much greater than standard 35mm film.
The Dark Knight featured six sequences (a total of 30 minutes) shot using IMAX. According to the film's press notes, this was the "first time ever that a major feature film has been even partially shot using IMAX cameras".
Michael Bay's 2009 film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen also included scenes shot in IMAX. The slightly longer version playing in IMAX theatres included about nine minutes of IMAX footage.
Brad Bird's Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol had approximately 30 minutes of footage shot using IMAX cameras. Bird believed that using IMAX format would bring back "a level of showmanship" to the presentation of Hollywood films, which he believes the industry has lost due to its emphasis on screening films in multiplexes as opposed to grand theaters, and vetoing "first runs" in favor of wider initial releases.
Upcoming films that will be partially shot in IMAX include Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises (the sequel to Batman Begins and The Dark Knight), J.J Abrams Star Trek sequel, and John Woo's Flying Tigers.
A digital version debuted in 2008. The new system is a projection standard only. Digital IMAX systems can show either 2D or 3D content in DCI or IMAX digital format (which in itself is a superset of DCI). The digital system alleviates the need for film reels and facilitates inexpensive distribution of IMAX features.
The digital installations have caused some controversy, as many theatres have branded their screens as IMAX after merely retrofitting standard auditoriums with IMAX digital projectors. The screen sizes in these auditoriums are much smaller than those in the purpose-built auditoriums of the original 15/70 IMAX format. These theatres charge the same premium pricing as the purpose-built IMAX theatres, resulting in consumer confusion. IMAX marketing makes no distinction between the new smaller digital installations and the original format. Some high profile figures such as actor Aziz Ansari and film critic Roger Ebert have also actively voiced their concerns.
Another disadvantage is a lower resolution than normal IMAX film, estimated to be about 12,000 × 8,700 theoretical pixels or 6,120 × 4,500 actually discernible pixels.
IMAX digital currently uses two 2K-resolution Christie projectors with Texas Instruments Digital Light Processing technology alongside parts of IMAX's proprietary technologies. The two 2K images are projected over each other, producing an image that is potentially brighter 2K digital cinema. Originally, IMAX considered using two Sony 4K projectors. Some reviewers note that this approach does not produce image quality higher than single 4K projectors, which are available for some non-IMAX theatres.
In early January 2010, IMAX announced a 3D digital camera, with expected availability in 2011. The camera is expected to reduce production and projection costs by eliminating the use of film.
In 1996 IMAX was awarded the Oscar for Scientific and Technical Achievement by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The award cited IMAX's innovations in creating and developing a method of filming and exhibiting large-format, wide-angle motion pictures.
Many IMAX films have been remastered into HDTV format (cropped to fit into HDTV's 16:9 aspect ratio) for the MOJO HD, HDNet and HD Theatre networks.
Several amusement park attractions have integrated IMAX film segments, including Back to the Future: The Ride formerly at Universal Studios in Florida and California, Horizons, formerly at Epcot Center, Soarin' Over California at Disney California Adventure Park and Epcot and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter within Islands of Adventure in Florida.
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0.995023 |
Did Gauss anticipate Kirchhoff's diffraction formulation in 1836?
In 1835 the work of the Speyerer Professor F.M.Schwerd appeared: The diffraction defects were analytically developed and represented in pictures from the fundamental laws of the theory of undulation, which had a very great significance for the fixation of the undulation theory. In the meantime Schwerd had put together a "diffraction apparatus" which would enable his relatives to repeat his experiments. Regarding the importance of the problem, it is not strange that Gauss was also busy on it; He wrote to Schumacher on June 7, 1836: "In the last week I have been busy with optical, especially with the very essentive diffraction experiments. Schwerd has done quite a great deal in this field to deduce from a principle these highly varied phenomena, to which he first opened the way. In the meantime, however, there is still a great deal left until the theory can be regarded as complete and exhausting". On July 23, 1836, Gauss also informs Olbers that he has acquired a SHERWER apparatus in order to try diffractive experiments. "These objects become almost as interesting to me as magnetism and galvanism. But now I've had to break it all by force, since I do not have the time". Unfortunately, the split was final: Gauss never had the leisure to return to the diffraction problem. From the estate we have received some notes on General formulas for the effect of a luminous point P on a point p, which apparently come from the same time (1835/36).
where $S$ in the opening region, $ds$ an element of area, $R$ is the distance of point in the opening to the source of the wave, $r$ the distance from the point in the opening to the point $p$, $k$ the wavenumber, and $v$ is the normal vector to the opening ($(R,v)$ and $(r,v)$ are the angles between $R$ and $r$ to $v$), and $\omega$ the angle between $R$ and $r$.
This question is just about getting explanation to Gauss's note. There isn't very much information in the internet about Gauss's less known contributions to optics. If anyone wants to read what Schaefer says in his treatise, the relevant pages are 209-211 on his treatise (that is in Gauss's werke, band XI1).
Browse other questions tagged biographical-details optics or ask your own question.
What were the scientific principles of Gauss's photometer?
How did Gauss arrived at the formula for the circumference of circle in hyperbolic geometry?
What results did C. F. Gauss add to Euler’s dioptrics?
Did Gauss know Jacobi's four squares theorem?
Did Gauss's expression for the differential of the hyperbolic volume of the tetrahedron agree with later results?
What was Gauss's theoretical work related to his invention of the “Double-Gauss lens”?
How did Gauss's electrodynamics law preempt the later developement of retarded potentials theory in physics?
Meaning of passages by Gauss on the “convergence of expansions (in infinite series) of the (elliptical) equation of the center”?
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0.982452 |
ALPHA Based on survey results and other feedback, we will improve upon this Alpha version for a Beta.
SURVEY Complete a brief survey to help us improve the CA-Agile Framework.
One of the most common frameworks is Scrum. Scrum is a metaphor from the game of rugby. Like rugby, Scrum also relies on talented people with varying responsibilities and domains working closely together in teams towards a common goal. This is in contrast to traditional development approaches like a relay race, in which one team member at a time carries a baton and then hands it off to the next runner.
Scrum is an empirical exposure model, in that knowledge is gained from real-life experience, and decisions are made based on that experience. Through transparency, inspection and adaptation, using Scrum is a a good way to demonstrate whether your project is generating the intended results.
A high-level overview of Scrum is depicted below in Figure 1-1.
There are numerous artifacts that will need to be developed as part of an iterative agile project effort. Many are either inputs or outputs from an individual sprint. Three key sprints artifacts are the product backlog, sprint backlog, and the shippable product implement as shown in Figure 1-2 below.
The product backlog is the master to-do list for a project. It is an ordered list, prioritized by business value and risk. It is a dynamic artifact and changes as the Scrum team gains additional knowledge regarding the requirements and solution they are developing. At the beginning of each sprint, the Scrum team plans and executes the next highest priority item on the product backlog, resulting in a fully designed, developed, tested and integrated functionality.
Typically, each identified item on the product backlog includes specific information that may include: description, estimate of effort required to complete it, and ID number, status and type. The Product Owner is responsible for maintaining the product backlog.
The sprint backlog is also created at the beginning of each sprint, and is the to-do list of tasks necessary to achieve the sprint goal. The sprint backlog generally includes a sprint goal and the sprint end date, a prioritized list of requirements, estimated effort for each item, tasks required for each requirement, estimated hours for each task and a burndown chart displaying the status of work being performed throughout the sprint. The sprint backlog is the artifact resulting from sprint planning. The development team is responsible for managing and maintaining the sprint backlog.
At the end of every sprint, the development team delivers working, tested and integrated functionality to stakeholders and customers to review. The development team reviews each requirement with the product owner as soon as it is completed, and the requirements that comprise the increment are only considered complete if the product owner accepts them. The product increment is what the development team demonstrates to stakeholders in the sprint review.
Each sprint begins with sprint planning, and then the team collaborates daily (daily scrum) amongst the team and the product owner to elaborate, design, develop, test, integrate and generate requirements into working functionality. If any sprint output is rejected by the product owner, the development team works together to resolve any defects or misalignments with the business objectives until completion.
The sprint ends with a sprint review and sprint retrospective as shown in Figure 1-3. Once a sprint is officially completed, a new sprint begins. Ideally, each sprint is the same length so the Scrum team can extrapolate their potential future performance or output based on a small amount of historical data.
Early planning for your agile project is generally at the epic level to determine what the epics will be for the duration of the project and their relative priority. Detailed planning occurs as a part of the sprint planning process and is undertaken as a just-in-time activity in the sprint planning meetings.
Sprint planning meetings are a feature of Scrum and should be held at the start of each sprint. At a sprint planning meeting, the team decides what to work on next and how they will do it. The length of the meeting will depend on how long your sprint is. Sprint planning is the process of establishing a sprint goal and selecting product backlog items in support of the sprint goal that can be completed within the designated sprint timeframe.
The product owner presents a sprint goal and the development team identifies the specific product backlog requirements that can be addressed during the sprint. The development team then identifies the technical tasks required to complete each requirement. The team evaluates their capacity for the sprint and compares it against the aggregated estimates of the tasks. The team then works collaboratively with the product owner to address any concerns with completing all of the selected items within a sprint and to determine how to accomplish the sprint goal with the available capacity.
Sprint planning is time-boxed, and depending on the project and organization the time spent per week may change. For instance with a two-week sprint, two hours per week should be sufficient with the total planning lasting no longer than four hours. The Scrum master facilitates sprint planning, however, the product owner is responsible for the sprint goal and provides clarification to the team regarding requirements and business goals and objectives.
The daily scrum or standup should be scheduled for the same time each day and be relatively brief. Depending on the scale of the project a 15 or 30 minute duration can suffice. It is recommended that the meeting occur in front of your team wall.
Keep in mind that it is best for Scrum teams to collaborate on a daily basis instead of as needed. Meeting together once a day to discuss what each team member is working on and whether they have any problems or dependencies that need to be resolved is helpful to keeping the project moving forward smoothly. Additionally this meeting should be used to coordinate how to accomplish the work for that single day, or if a team member needs help from someone else.
Each developer states what work he or she completed the prior day so that each team member is clear on progress. Each developer also identifies the work from the sprint backlog they will take on, and coordinates with other developers to reach the sprint goal. Any roadblocks or impediments are also identified at this time so that the Scrum master can address them as quickly as possible.
The daily Scrum or standup is generally brief and is not considered a formal status-reporting meeting. It is intended for coordinating work, prevention of potential roadblocks, and identification of impediments. The product owner may attend this daily meeting to gain visibility regarding the work effort and to make sure the team remains focused on the sprint goal.
Each sprint closes with a sprint review. This allows the product owner to verify that the Scrum team is developing what the customer wants. The product owner presents the sprint goal and status to the stakeholders.
The development team members then demonstrate working functionality and the product owner collects feedback from the stakeholders. The product owner then updates the product backlog, based on this feedback and cross-references the current state of the project with the overall roadmap and communicates what is planned for the next sprint.
The product owner and development team own the sprint review, and the Scrum master facilitates and ensures that the objectives of a sprint review are met. All stakeholders should attend, and ideally, the customer attends as well, in order to provide feedback to the product owner. The sprint review should last no longer than one hour per week of the sprint.
The sprint retrospective, sometimes also referred to as a ‘retro,’ provides the Scrum team with the opportunity to inspect and adapt its processes, environment, tools, communications, and impediments in order to make improvements.
Scrum teams typically utilize this time to validate what is working well in addition to identifying any practices that may not be working. Concerns are addressed, and the Scrum team identifies any changes that should be implemented as a result. Action plans for adopting those changes are developed and added to the product backlog to be implemented in a future sprint.
Typically, only Scrum team members participate in the sprint retrospective; however, they may invite stakeholders or customers to participate as appropriate, in order to provide additional insights. For example, with a two week sprint, this Scrum event should be time-boxed to no more than 45 minutes per week of the sprint. As a result the retrospective should last no longer than 90 minutes. The overall goal of the retrospective is to fix any problems in the team and to make sure you keep doing the things that are working.
The facilitator explains the questions at the beginning and sticks a post-it note to the wall for each question.
Each team member writes down one or more answers for each question on post-it notes and sticks them to the right part of the wall.
The group discusses issues as they come up, or at the end.
The facilitator decides on actions to fix any issues or problems that were raised, and assigns them to members of the team.
Information gleaned from the retrospective should be used to improve your work and your working environment. Make a list of actions that are needed to fix the problems that the team has highlighted. Aim to complete these action items before the next retrospective.
The team review is a regularly scheduled meeting which gives team members the opportunity to demonstrate their work. It is also referred to as a sprint review or a show and tell. You may want to invite stakeholders such as directors or suppliers to this meeting and use it to tell them about the user stories that have completed or other work which has been done. Make sure to use a place with a screen to present the work and enough space for all participants.
If your project is part of a larger organization or program you may want to open up your review to the rest of the organization every few weeks. This gives you the opportunity to show the most important work you’ve done, talk about what you’ve learned, explain your plans for the next few weeks and answer questions. It also gives other teams the chance to see how your work relates to theirs.
User stories are a way for your team to briefly record the things you need to do to build the product. You can use them to prompt discussions about features when you’re ready to start working on them.
A product backlog is used to store the user stories that haven’t yet been started. It is recommended that the user stories are ordered based on priority. If you are following Scrum you should also use a sprint backlog to manage the stories that the team has agreed to work on during a sprint.
Your team wall is an important tool that helps to track and manage the workload. The wall shows what your team has done, what they’re currently doing, and remaining work. Having a team wall helps your team to collaborate and allows other people in the organization to see what you’re doing. For more information on setting up a team wall click here.
There are numerous agile frameworks that can be followed or leveraged when implementing business transformation projects. They include but are not limited to: Scrum, Extreme Programming (XP), Kanban, and Scaled Agile. This guidance will focus on Scrum. For a more complete list see the Agile Manifesto.
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0.954285 |
Coming up with ideas for a novel, magazine article, blog posts and something as simple as a Facebook post can be difficult at times. Here are a few suggestions on each.
I start the process by looking at human triumph through an extreme situation or circumstance. The girl who overcame being molested. The boy who broke his leg during his last high school football game. Then I ask some questions. “What if she killed her molester and got away with it?” “What if she decided to dedicate herself to working in domestic abuse shelters, only to find herself in harm’s way again and again?” “What if the boy has lost his chances of going to college?” “What if he has to work at the mines or plants like everyone else?” But his leg never heals, and that girlfriend, well she decided his best friend was more her type.
Asking why, what if, where, and who provides the means for the birth of a story.
Because I manage several small business blogs, I have a schedule or editorial calendar. Each day of the week has a theme and each week or month can also have a theme.
These are a few topics or themes I know I will want to cover for October.
Now under each theme I create daily posts.
Themes should consider the type of audience you are wanting to reach. Since I manage a real estate blog, my themes tend to center around marketing, closing or title insurance facts, closing gifts, decorating tips or how to stage a home.
Knowing your audience is key in almost everything you write. You are writing for someone to read whatever it is you’re writing and you want someone to find it interesting, helpful, or entertaining.
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0.9998 |
ecr construction fort worthSince commercial roofing is inherently different than residential and presents its own challenges, it’s critical to apply the latest technologies, knowledge, tools and equipment to all our roofing endeavors. Our expert roofers are well versed in specialty roofing types, such as flat or low-slope. We have expertise in all kinds of roofing, from metal roofing to reflective roofs to modified bitumen. Many commercial buildings feature metal construction, and there’s a reason for that: metal is resistant to extreme weather, it’s sleek and lightweight, it’s long lasting, recyclable and durable with high solar reflecting properties, says HGTV.
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0.999922 |
What are the best and worst military towns and cities?
San Diego is good for a military town since it is in large metro area. Most military towns are small. The only other military towns I've been to are Pensacola, FL and Bremerton, WA. I've never been to Norfolk, VA but I've heard good and bad about it.
Clarksville, TN was pretty bad. I could only stomach a few months there and that was it!
Worst= Junction City/Fort Riley, KS.
I might be a just a little biased because they're cities that I'm familiar with, but I would probably say San Antonio, Killeen (TX), and Augusta (GA). San Antonio is fairly large and has a lot going for it without the military presence, and Augusta has it's own identity (the Masters, "the Garden City of the South") aside from Fort Gordon. Now, while Killeen is considered by many to be a very pitiful place, I found it to be pretty cool. And I believe there was a certain magazine that said it was the number one spot in the country to meet single men. Which might have something to do with the fact that the city sits adjacent to largest army base in the world.
IMO, Fort Leonard Wood, MO is a pretty good military town. It's roughly a 150-200 mile drive southwest of St. Louis on I-44...it's situated pretty close to Springfield from what I remember. I've heard good things about it.
I really like Hampton Roads the military is a huge part of everything there.
I really dislike the area around Andrews AFB in Prince Georges County, MD. Very high crime rate to the north and west.
I'd pick Monterey, California. For some reason, people don't think of it as a military town. The Army's Defense Language Institute is there, and tons of retired military! Beautiful town!!
Id agree, it wasnt horrible. In fact, it was much better than I thought it was going to be. The surrounding area (immediate) is also quite nice.
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0.999814 |
Let the third number be 100.
Two numbers are 10% and 15% less than a third number.
Hence, the correct answer is option (D) 18: 17.
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0.943788 |
"A droid for every purpose."
Industrial Automaton (IA) was one of the two primary droid manufacturers in the galaxy, the other being Cybot Galactica. IA was a company specializing in droids for all trades and walks of life. Its most popular products were the R-series astromech droids, in particular the versatile R2-series.
Industrial Automaton was formed over 850 years before the rise of the Empire with the merger of Industrial Intelligence and Automata Galactica. Industrial Automaton became a vastly wealthy company, and vied for control of the droid market with fellow manufacturing giant Cybot Galactica. These rival companies were known as the "Big Two" of droid production. IA was known for its high-precision merchandise and deep discounts, and was ruthless enough to survive during the reign of the Galactic Empire. The company was also one of the first Contributing Sponsors of the Corporate Sector Authority. IA maintained factories in many locations, including Rordis City on Nubia.
Industrial Automaton came to monopolize the droid market through production of its most popular creation; the R-series astromech droids. While early models were deemed a critical failure, IA's R2-series astro-droid became beloved across the galaxy. The success of the R2 led to further R-series models, including the R4 units often used as navigators by Jedi starfighter pilots, and, during the era of the New Republic, the advanced R7 and R8 models. While these designs proved successful, others were not so well received; Industrial Automaton was forced to cancel production of its R5-series droids after poor sales, and later limited the warranty on astromech booster rockets after a series of injuries caused by falling droids.
An IA advertisement that appeared in HoloNet News.
Despite these minor setbacks, Industrial Automaton remained a constant presence in the droid market, thanks not only to its astromech designs, but also to the rest of its varied production line. Industrial Automaton created protocol droids such as the LOM-series and the SE4 servant droid, labor droids including ASPs and FLR Loggers, and security droids in the form of Mark IVs and Hound-W2 SPD units. In addition to its droids designs, IA produced a number of automated devices, including targeting computers, that were powered by droid brains.
Prior to the Dark Nest Crisis, Industrial Automaton produced the R9-series astromech, though during the conflict, the company was purchased by Bornaryn Trading, owned by Aryn Dro Thul.
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0.99993 |
David Julian has quite the resume. Once an engineer at NASA—more specifically, a communication systems engineer—and signal specialist in the mobile phone division at Qualcomm, he now serves as the enthusiastic CTO of San Diego startup Netradyne. We were curious how Julian has navigated the tech startup world, so spent an hour parsing his inspiration, his strategy, and his vision for new technologies—most notably artificial intelligence (AI). He also offers budding tech entrepreneurs some sage advice as they launch in the sea of 2018 tech innovation.
Your personal experience in technology is deep, and for most people, too technical to understand fully. Can you boil down your resume into a digestible summary?
In short, I create algorithms to solve hard problems—mostly by capturing raw signals and processing them into sophisticated output.
As a graduate student, I worked in the jet propulsion labs at NASA, an area primarily responsible for deep-space, unmanned missions. I also worked on the Galileo and Cassini missions to Jupiter and Saturn—mostly the communications of data sent from NASA stations back to earth.
From there, I got my PhD in information theory from Stanford. That discipline tentacled out into a lot of different fields, underscored by how you can collect information and use it for best possible outcomes. As a result, I’ve worked in video compression, communication, deep learning, and AI.
After getting my PhD, I went to work at Qualcomm, where I was involved in the mobile phone revolution. We were working on building sophisticated functions “under the hood” that made things simpler for the end user. It was all about creating a powerful, seamless experience.
It was at Qualcomm that you started considering new applications of AI and signal processing, right?
Yes. During my last years at Qualcomm, I spent a lot of time on deep-learning, looking at ways to automate the cell phone experience. But my colleagues and I also noticed that cameras were becoming ubiquitous and cheap—while also very powerful. So we asked ourselves how we could combine deep learning with powerful, accessible cameras.
That really spells out the genesis of Netradyne. What was the leap from that early ideation to actual problem-solving and company-building?
When we first started out, we were looking at a number of ways to combine AI and camera technology. We looked at drones for roof inspections, for example, and the possibilities of the same technologies at use in autonomous driving. But we felt that real use cases for cameras and AI in autonomous driving were probably 10-20 years out and would progress slowly. What we saw instead was that commercial driver safety was an area that really needed some immediate attention. The existing approaches were very manual—people in a command or call center watching videos recorded using rudimentary hard-stop and hard-start triggers. It was tedious and time-consuming, and productivity gains were clearly needed.
The platform you created to solve that problem is called Driveri. How does it differ from the recording processes that was relatively standard in commercial driving fleets?
When we first started talking to fleet managers, it was clear that they were only capturing a few minutes here and there. We wanted to capture continuous video—both as a way to document safety issues more effectively, and to recognize drivers for good performance.
What did your competition look like at launch?
Our competition consisted of two main companies—the ones who had created the technology around hard-start and hard-stop recording. But we didn’t see them as competition as much as we did a boon for Netradyne. They educated the industry about what cameras could do for commercial driving, which primed the market for our entry in 2015.
By the time we entered the market, many fleets realized they needed a better recording solution. While most managers were primarily interested in safety, we saw Driveri as a way to improve their retention as well. Not many people know this, but commercial fleets suffer from an 87% turnover rate so retention of good drivers is critical. With continuous recording, Driveri gave fleet managers the opportunity to reward high-performing safe drivers and keep them in the fleet.
All of this awareness was possible because of the two companies that came before us.
Let’s talk more about the AI component of Driveri. What exactly does this technology do, utilizing camera hardware?
First of all, let me say that AI is very broad. It encompasses both what we’re seeing in technology today and a lot of functionality that’s aspirational. We’re using it primarily for signal processing—taking raw signals, in our case video, and outputting processes that follow from an interpretation of those raw signals.
The AI—or algorithm—we’ve created is able to capture and recognize things like lanes, painted lines, car movement, environmental obstacles, and other impactful elements in a driver’s surroundings. But it can also tell when a driver is distracted or drowsy. That information can then be passed on to a command center where managers can take action.
What’s even more incredible is that the continuous recording allows the AI to recognize entire contexts for traffic decisions. For instance, a quick video that captures a commercial truck tailgating is likely to get a driver dinged for poor driving. But what a few minutes of video doesn’t capture is the car that cutoff that truck right before recording began—an indication that the driver was not at fault, but had to compensate in the moment for someone’s else’s bad driving decision.
You’ve used the term “deep learning” before as well. What does that mean?
Deep learning is akin to a brain’s neural network. It allows a platform, like Driveri, to improve its understanding of signals to a point that surpasses even human analysis. For example, standard programming could “teach” a platform to recognize one kind of car in one specific setting. But what about the effects of changing light or weather? Deep learning allows a platform to recognize a defined object even with hundreds of variables.
That’s impressive, but how do you “teach” a platform to do that?
You put a lot of images or video into the platform, after programming in a definition for the object you want it to identify. Then, you ask it to tell you which of the images or video scenes include that object. Initially, it will be correct maybe 15% or 20% of the time. But as you correct it, it learns to recognize the object in a variety of contexts.
One of the reasons we’re able to do this is because of the availability of data. There’s a lot of video from commercial fleets already available, and it’s growing every day. The more data we get, the smarter our algorithm becomes. Plus, it’s connected constantly to the cloud via cellular networks, so it’s continuously learning.
How do you determine a baseline for recognition before rolling a feature out to a fleet?
It depends. In many cases, we get to about 90-95% precision before we make new functionality live for our customers. Then, we ask for their feedback as they use it in their fleets. Eventually, we get that precision up to 99% or more—far better than any human being could do.
What about concerns around cybersecurity and data sharing?
We take that very seriously. All of our devices securely communicate with the cloud to ensure data is safe.
We have had to address privacy issues with our inward-facing cameras, however. In addition to cameras that record traffic and road conditions, Driveri also leverages internal cameras to watch drivers. But we make the collected video data as anonymous as possible, and we do have auto shut-off features for long-haul drivers who sleep in their cabs.
I spoke with leadership guru Kevin Kruse a while ago, and asked what challenges we would be facing in American business over the next 10 years. He called out AI as a particularly troubling development—primarily because it threatened to make human workers superfluous. Can you speak to that?
There will be implications along those lines. But in my mind, what we’re creating is AI functionality that automates mundane, tedious tasks that people don’t want to do—or can’t do as effectively as a platform that doesn’t get tired or distracted.
It’s important to note that Netradyne is absolutely pro-driver. Our technology is designed to give them the capabilities to improve their safety and make the commercial driver environment more comfortable and effective.
You’ve used the term “Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)” in your description of Driveri. People are generally familiar with IoT in the form of home-linked speakers and thermostats and such, but how is IIoT playing out right now? Where can we see evidence of this?
There are a ton of industrial applications—temperature sensors and manufacturing sensors; robots on assembly lines; and parking meters are all examples of this kind of technology at play.
I have noticed that IoT suffers from competition. Companies like Google and Apple want to control your house entirely, so their technologies are intentionally incompatible; the hope is that you buy all Apple or all Google products to complete your IoT environment. Does IIoT suffer from the same pitfalls?
With industrial scale, there’s more planned deployment, so there’s more collaboration. We want to create a completely curated, seamless experience. Companies involved in IIoT know that, and are therefore more willing to collaborate on a solution for a customer.
Alright, you promised us some tips for tech and AI startups, so let’s dig into those. What wisdom would you offer 2018 tech entrepreneurs?
1. Get A-team players. All of our team members came to the table with a lot of experience and they fit together well—in all of the areas that are central to Netradyne’s mission. Without them, our work would not be possible.
2. Know the problem before you create a solution. Rather than jumping into creating right away, we talked to commercial fleets about the problems they were facing. There was no sense building a solution when we didn’t know what it should do. Many eager tech startups fall into the innovation trap—building a product first and forcing it into a solution. That never works.
3. As you experiment and test, be sure to be pragmatic in materials use. We initially got off-the-shelf components for solution-testing early on. It made it cost-effective and easy to experiment while we were still learning what worked and what didn’t.
4. Use your investment dollars wisely, especially when hiring your team. Netradyne hired a team that was split between the U.S. and India, which was less expensive than hiring a completely U.S.-based team. We also do a lot of multitasking; everyone here wears multiple hats. There’s an added benefit to this, too; everyone has a much wider view of company strategy and direction, instead of being tunnel-focused on a single problem.
5. Distribute information carefully, consistently, and clearly to the entire company. Not only do we have frequent meetings to discuss projects, but we are very clear about who should be involved in which phases of development. That ensures that the right people—and ONLY the right people—are involved in key decisions.
6. Automate wherever possible. For example, instead of paying five people to handle our billing, we invested in an enterprise level of SalesForce, which handles all of our order management, invoicing, and so on. This is shared across several dashboards (again, distributing information clearly) so that everyone who needs to know the status of our sales and finances does.
7. Invest in (good) PR. Especially in the tech world, it’s very easy for those on the front line to confuse the public—and potential customers—with too much jargon. Hire trusted PR teams to build lasting relationships in the right industries, especially where relationships and trust are key to closing sales.
8. Get the customer involved. There’s no better way to create an advocate for your brand, product, or platform than to give a customer the opportunity to weigh in on development and execution. Get their fingerprints on your work and they will not only be educated about how you develop, but will be more excited about your brand. Without a doubt, they will become willing advocates and spread the word about what you’re doing.
9. Intellectual property is important, so make sure it’s protected. File patents quickly, and make sure contracts with outside sources (i.e. tech collaborators) are set so you can iterate quickly.
10. Be patient. You’re going to trip and stumble. Celebrate the wins and learn from the losses. As quickly as tech is moving these days, it’s important to take your time and do things right. Keep your focus on what you want to improve and see value from the customer’s perspective. That’s the only way to build a product or a platform that will have lasting impact.
11. Be intentional about building company culture. This goes for any company, but tech startups are not all about the product. The people are what make your company successful. At Netradyne, we tried to keep this mind from the very first day. We intentionally created an open office environment to encourage collaboration; we implement fun days for relaxation and team interaction; and we promote continuing education by encouraging team members to attend conferences and share research in weekly roundtables.
Last, but certainly not least: What are you most proud of so far in your work at Netradyne?
I think there several things. Our mission to focus on the positive aspects of commercial driving has been rewarding. I’m happy to be serving that underserved population, especially since the retention issue is so big.
Also, I’m proud of the speed at which we’ve actually put together a world-class solution that spans different technologies, from AI to our cameras and cloud structure. It’s amazing how much our team has done in such a short time to create visible change.
For more information about the impactful work of Netradyne, visit netradyne.com.
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0.976314 |
Mercedes was a brand of the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) which began to develop in 1900, after the death of its co-founder, Gottlieb Daimler. Although the name was not lodged as a trade name until June 23, 1902 and had to wait until September 26 to be registered legally, the brand name eventually would be applied to an automobile model built by Wilhelm Maybach to specifications by Emil Jellinek that was delivered to him on December 22, 1900. By Jellinek's contract, the new model contained a newly designed engine designated as, Daimler-Mercedes. This engine name is the first instance of the use of the name, Mercedes, by DMG. The automobile model would later be called, the Mercedes 35 hp.
An automobile dealer and racing enthuiast, Jellinek had been racing DMG automobiles on which he had the name—Mércédès—painted for good luck after his daughter, Mércédès Jellinek. Later he contracted with DMG for a small series of dedicated sports cars containing an engine that officially bore his daughter's name. He raced them very successfully, gaining recognition that increased interest in customers and Jellinek was placed on the board of directors of DMG. This model was a significant advancement in the history of automobiles. The model was released for sale in 1901 under the name of Mercedes 35 hp and, because of the success of the model, DMG began to apply the name as a series to other models such as, Mercedes 8/11 hp and Mercedes 40 hp Simplex. Jellinek seems to have become obsessed with the name and even had his name changed to Jellinek-Mercedes. Maybach quit DMG in 1907 and started up his own business.
The name, Mercedes, later was used to represent DMG in another new brand name, Mercedes-Benz, created in 1926 when it was applied to all vehicles produced by the new company, Daimler-Benz AG, resulting from the merger of Benz & Cie. and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft in that year. The last name of Karl Benz was retained in the new brand, but since DMG had sold exclusive licences to foreign companies, they couldn't use the name of their founder, Daimler, legally in all countries and decided to use the name of their most popular model. Since Jellinek was a member of the board of directors by the time of the merger, the name was promoted for continued good luck to the new company.
Despite the words of sullen detractors, Mercedeses is the proper plural form of Mercedes.
Mercedes was a brand of the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft(DMG) which began to develop in 1900, after the death of its co-founder, Gottlieb Daimler.
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0.99195 |
Describe the type of student who should not attend Capital High School and explain why.
The type of student who should not attend Capital High is one who doesn't participate in school at all. This includes teens who don't do their homework and don't get involved, but they are still present at Capital High and change throughout the years. All students can go to Capital high because they accept everyone and the teachers go above and beyond when trying to boost student moral and grades. I guess there isn't a type of student who should go to Capital Highschool.
The type of student who should not go to my school are those who are closed-minded and are only focused on getting through school.
People who are close minded and not ready to discuss and embrace change should not attend Capital High School.
There is no specific type of student who should not attend Capital High School. Here at Capital we have so many different activities people can get involved with so they feel welcomed and feel they have a place here. We also have caring teachers who are persistent and will not give up, even on the most difficult of students. Lastly the other students who go to Capital High would describe their experience as a big family. We all come together to take on any challenges or diversities that face us.
Capital High School is a school of excellence in academics, performing arts, and athletics. The type of student who should not attend, would be someone who does not value a good education full of school spirit, and available staff, parent and community support.
The type of student who should not go to Capital High would be one who makes fun of others, not interested in academics, enjoys waisting teachers time and who is happy settling.
Students who do not want to spend the effort into doing school work and homework should not attend Capital High School because they will struggle to graduate.
Students that would bring poor values to Capital should not attend because Capital is known for the positive vibes, and that is something that it should be continued to be known for. Students should be respectful towards their teachers, peers, and other leaders in and around the school.
Capital High School: Describe the type of student who should attend Capital High School. Why?
Capital High School: Would you recommend attending Capital High School if you had the choice? Why or why not?
Capital High School: What is a typical Capital High School student like? Describe the type of person who should attend Capital High School.
Capital High School: Which 3 extracurricular activities at Capital High School are most popular? Which extracurriculars would you recommend?
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0.999941 |
Dorrington returned to England on Jan. 3, 1725, and there devoted himself to a careful study of Quarll's lengthy diaries. They began with the story of a poor boy born into the parish of St. Giles, falsely imprisoned for robbery, and turned by necessity to the sailor's profession. The diaries chronicled the disappointments of Quarll's early life. Often, after "having lost the rudder of their reason," Quarll and his drunken shipmates found themselves in the company of women, and Quarll was soon a married man. Then followed the sickness and early death of his young bride, his equally impetuous second marriage, and the couple's ill-fated voyage around Cape Horn, which resulted in a disastrous shipwreck that left Quarll the sole survivor and resident of a deserted isle.
Quarll soon recognized that he had entered an island paradise. "Heaven be praised!" he reasoned, "Here is my dream: right where Providence rescued my life from the grim jaws of death, there it has provided me wherewithal to support it." Indeed, Quarll's new home came amply stocked with mussels, oysters, exotic birds, and codfish nearly 6 ft. in length. For a home, he lashed together branches, twigs, and plants "in the manner sheep-pens are made." For furniture he wove grass mats and turned shellfish and tortoise shells into various kitchen utensils. His writing implements arrived by courtesy of the sea; all of his needs washed ashore one day, bound tight and dry inside a storage chest that belonged to yet another unlucky traveler.
The absence of companionship was the one problem Quarll had to overcome. Although he did have "visitors" from time to time, they were not of an abiding or hospitable temperament. Like rascals in paradise, these visitors--the monkeys of the island--often plundered Quarll's modest collection of hand-hewn tools and foodstocks. However, one red monkey, who was very good-natured, became Quarll's friend and constant companion. Named Beaufidelle, the monkey died after a brutal beating administered by other monkeys in a pomegrnate field, and Quarll felt a great sense of loss-strangely equal to human losses he had experienced. Perhaps this experiences helps to explain Quarll's reluctance to accept Dorrington's offer of assistance and return passage to England. After 50 years, Quarll's idea of "home" had changed too radically for him to be able to adjust once again to the patterns of his past.
Quarll's island has never been located by modern mapmakers or sailors.
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0.975727 |
The media reported that "Taiwan's offshore wind power promotes "selling Taiwan"! For example, in the United States, Vietnam and other countries, the price of offshore wind power is relatively low, and the government has accelerated the process, causing people to spend hundreds of billions of dollars and other wrong content, causing obvious misunderstandings. Vietnam's offshore wind farms provide additional incentives for international financial assistance and the government; the US offshore wind farms reduce costs by providing tax incentives and additional renewable energy transaction amounts, so the purchase price can be lower than the purchase price of China. .
(1) The industry has doubts about Vietnam's political and financial risks. Its offshore wind farm development has financial assistance from other countries, such as the introduction of financial support from third-party countries such as the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank, or US trade development. Funds are subsidized by the government (USTDA); in addition, the Vietnamese government provides additional incentives such as performance bond relief, tariff reduction, income tax reduction and land rent reduction for its offshore wind farm development.
(2) The US government provides its offshore wind farm operator tax exemption, which can be either one of the production tax credits (PTC) and the investment tax credit (ITC). High can offset 30% of the total investment.
2. In the text, it is misleading to spend 680 billion yuan in 20 years and 1.4 trillion yuan in comparison with nuclear power.
(1) The report estimates the price of fossil fuels for the next 20 years based on the current average electricity price of 2.8 yuan/kWh. Based on the scarcity of fossil fuels, future price estimates may vary greatly. The reported price of offshore wind power is 4.5 yuan / kWh to maintain price constancy according to law.
(2) If nuclear power is chosen to replace safe and clean offshore wind power, the overall social cost of nuclear waste final disposal cost and nuclear disaster risk should be added.
(3) In addition to energy efficiency, offshore wind power also has multiple benefits such as reducing air pollution and developing local industries. It should also be considered together. The 5.5 GW target is expected to bring about 19.8 billion kilowatts of clean electricity and 10.47 million tons of carbon reduction per year, which will create 20,000 jobs and NT$622.5 billion in investment.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs once again stated that countries promote renewable energy with different systems, promotion processes and development environment. It is not appropriate to compare offshore wind power prices with biased perspectives. For the comparison of renewable energy or offshore wind power prices in various countries, the relevant systems of electric power industry and renewable energy promotion should be fully explained to avoid misleading people to generate unnecessary doubts.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs finally stressed that it will continue to adhere to the established renewable energy promotion policy, fully promote offshore wind power, and complete the goal of 5.5 GW of offshore wind power in 2025 as scheduled, create green economy industrial value, and achieve environmental sustainability in China. Vision.
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0.999996 |
How often does one have to take the Elixir of Life to sustain their life?
As said in the quote, if the Elixir is contaminated/defiled or the is Stone stolen, and a dependent user isn't able to drink from it: he will die.
So, how often does one have to drink the Elixir of Life to sustain their life?
It is not clear from the book how much and how often exactly does one need to take the Elixir to extend life.
Based purely on canon information, we have no way to tell.
Following the first book, Nicholas Flamel is not mentioned again, so we have no way to tell if he died days, weeks, months, or years after the stone was destroyed. We don't know for sure if he died the day he ran out of stored elixir, or if he simply began aging again and lived out a normal lifespan afterwards.
The implications given by reading the first book are that the Elixir needs to be consumed regularly, and that if you consume it you must continue indefinitely to continue living. It is implied that, lacking Elixir, a drinker will die in short order (days or weeks, at most).
But all of this is only implied, not outright stated, and even if it were outright stated, we couldn't take it as granted.
Most of the information Harry gains about the Stone and the Elixir comes from a pair of simple references in library books (stating that Flamel created a Stone, and that it produces the Elixir of Life) and what he is told by Hermione and Dumbledore.
Hermione, a Muggleborn, only knows what she could learn from published books. She has no sources of rare or exclusive knowledge, as she is limited to what is publicly available in the Hogwarts Library (not even the Restricted Section) and booksellers like Flourish & Blotts. Obviously, public information about the Stone and its capabilities (and limitations) would be possible to be misleading or flat-out wrong: Flamel and his wife have a vested interest in keeping their Stone's capabilities secret and the weaknesses (if any) of their immortality unknown.
Dumbledore, as an alchemist of note and a personal friend of Flamel's, obviously knows more. That said, Flamel is famously against sharing information about the Stone. Dumbledore has been repeatedly shown to be willing to keep secrets for others, especially when they are important secrets. He is also known to lie to Harry on occasion or to withhold critical information. This is especially true in the first book.
Thus, not only do we NOT know for sure how the Elixir works, we cannot even be certain that the information we DO have about the Stone is accurate in anything but the broadest of strokes.
Four years minus the amount of time it takes to set one's affairs on order.
The stone got destroyed in June 1992, and Flamel died sometime before September of 1996.
JKR: Flamel has now died; Dumbledore explained in ‘Philosopher’s Stone’ that his old friend was going to choose death rather than allow his stone to fall into the wrong hands.
The actual length would probably be considerably shorter, as the Flamels had enough Elixir stored up to "set their affairs in order".
Of course Rowling later pretended she never said anything about Flamel's death, so maybe this is all irrelevant.
"Well, we know that he tried to do just that, five years ago," said Dumbledore. "But here are several reasons why, I think, and Sorcerer's Stone would appear less than horcruxes to Lord Voldemort. "While the Elixir of Life does indeed extend life, it must be drunk regularly, for all eternity, if the drinker is to maintain their immortality."
Coming from Dumbledore who is a friend of Flamel and so, is familiar with the Stone as he helps his friend Flamel in the alchemy subject.
The actual time is not made clear. Using the death of Nicolas Flamel has the problem that it is never mentioned how much elixir was left (with the vagueness of Dumbledore it is likely that it was done on purpose) so, the strength and duration can't be known. It is possible that the elixir only works while the magic from it is active or that it makes the drinker younger such that after the magic wears off they stay younger and age normally. Either way it is safe to say the user has until the effects of the previous dosage wear off, so not everyday (Nicolas Flamel went without the stone for an extended period of time).
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0.962003 |
Andrés Iniesta Luján (Spanish pronunciation: [anˈdɾes iˈnjesta luˈxan]; born 11 May 1984) is a Spanish football player. He currently plays as a central midfielder for the Spanish national team.
Iniesta did not participate in the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa due to a thigh muscle injury.
He was called for the 2010 World Cup, and scored the second goal in a 2–1 win against Chile. He was also named man of the match. For his excellent performances in helping Spain reach the final of the tournament, Iniesta was shortlisted for the Golden Ball award. During the 2010 World Cup he scored the winning goal in the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final In a 1-0 win against Netherlands in the 116th minute, removing his jersey during his celebration to reveal an inscription on his undershirt reading "Dani Jarque: siempre con nosotros", which translates to "Dani Jarque: always with us," in tribute of former Spain youth teammate and RCD Espanyol captain Daniel Jarque, who passed away of a heart attack in August 2009. He won the man of the match award for his performance which sent Spain to their first ever World Cup win.
Fernando José Torres Sanz (Spanish pronunciation: [ferˈnando ˈtores]; born 20 March 1984), nicknamed El Niño (The Kid in Spanish), is a Spanish footballer who plays for the Spain national team as a striker.
Torres made his 60th appearance for Spain in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification victory over Turkey on 28 March 2009, becoming the youngest player to reach this milestone. He was named in Spain's team for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in June. He scored his second hat-trick for Spain after 17 minutes into a Confederations Cup game against New Zealand on 14 June, thus recording the fastest hat-trick by a player for Spain. He played for Spain as they were defeated 2–0 by the United States in the semi-final, as well as the third-place play-off, which Spain won 3–2 against South Africa after extra time.
Having undergone knee surgery on 18 April 2010, and missed the end of the Premier League season, Torres' rehabilitation and fitness was closely monitored by Spain manager Vicente del Bosque. Although still out injured, Torres was selected for Spain's 2010 FIFA World Cup squad in May. On 8 June, Torres made his first appearance on the field in exactly two months, coming on as a substitute on 66 minutes against Poland in a pre-World Cup friendly. He came on as a substitute on 61 minutes in Spain's opening World Cup game on 16 June, a 1–0 defeat to Switzerland. He started the next two games against Honduras and Chile and although his performances in the group stage were described as below-par, he received backing from manager Vicente del Bosque. Torres came on as a substitute on 105 minutes in the Final as Spain won the FIFA World Cup for the first time following a 1–0 victory over the Netherlands on 11 July 2010.
David Villa Sánchez (Spanish pronunciation: [daˈβið ˈβiʎa]; born 3 December 1981), nicknamed El Guaje (Asturian: The Kid), is a Spanish footballer who currently plays as a striker for the Spanish national football team. He can also operate as a winger.
Spain's first match during qualification for the 2010 World Cup was against Bosnia and Herzegovina where Villa scored the only goal of the game. He would go on to score four goals in Spain's next three games, including a last minute winner against Belgium. Another goal during a friendly match against Chile saw him end the year with 12 goals, breaking Raúl's record of 10 goals held since 1999. Villa began 2009 with a goal against England in a 2–0 friendly, with this goal, he broke another record and became the first Spanish international to have scored in 6 consecutive games, seeing off records set by Telmo Zarra and Ladislao Kubala. Speaking of the goal he said, "I am very happy with the goal. Truth is, I really want to see it on TV. The record is very nice. I would never have imagined in years that I would be able to obtain it. I am very proud and I hope I can continue breaking records".
David Villa (number 7) with the Spain team before a match against Austria.
On 1 June 2009, Vicente del Bosque named Villa in his 23 man squad for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. In a friendly match before the tournament, Villa scored his second international hat-trick against Azerbaijan, nearly exactly a year after his hat-trick against Russia at Euro 2008. He débuted at the Confederations Cup with a goal, the last of the five goals in Spain's 5–0 victory over New Zealand, while in the next game he scored the decisive goal against a defensive Iraqi team. Against South Africa, he missed a penalty, but within a minute made up for the miss by putting Spain ahead, helping them equal the records of most consecutive wins and most consecutive matches undefeated before making way for Pablo Hernández. The goal was his last of the tournament but was enough to see him win the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Bronze Shoe, he would also go on to make the team of the tournament.
Villa earned his 50th cap during a friendly against the Republic of Macedonia in a match where Spain won 3–2.
On 5 September 2009, Villa added two more goals to his goal tally for Spain, while assisting twice during the World Cup Qualifier against Belgium, in A Coruña. The match ended 5–0 to Spain where Villa also had a first-half penalty saved by the 30 year old A.S. Bari goalkeeper Jean-Francois Gillet. He finished the year with his sixth international brace against Austria in the Ernst-Happel-Stadion, the setting where Spain were crowned European Champions the previous year. With these two goals, Villa equalled the record he set last year of most goals scored in one calendar year by a Spanish international. Spain's first match in 2010 came on March 3, against France at the Stade de France. Villa scored the opening goal in a game which Spain went on to win 2–0.
In 2010, he came 1st in the IFFHS "2010's World Top Goalscorer at International Level" rankings, he was subsequently selected as a part of Vicente del Bosque's 23 man squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In a friendly against Saudi Arabia on May 29, 2010, Villa scored the first of Spain's goals as they won 3-2 at the Tivoli Neu - the stadium where he scored his hat-trick against Russia during Euro 2008. Failing to score in Spain's next match against Korea Republic, he opened the score sheet in Spain's next match against Poland, a match where Poland lost 6-0, recording their worst defeat in 50 years.
In Spain's first 2010 World Cup match, Villa was chosen as a lone striker, but could do nothing to prevent their shock defeat at the hands of Switzerland. Five days later, Spain defeated Honduras 2-0, where Villa scored both goals, but wasted his chance to complete a hat-trick when he was awarded a penalty kick - side-footing the ball just wide of the post. It was the first time in fourteen attempts Spain ever missed a penalty in a World Cup during the run of play.] In the same game, Villa was shown to slap Emilio Izaguirre in the face after the Honduran player trod on him. Villa said he was "not proud" of the heat of the moment incident, but he escaped a ban. Villa helped secure Spain's place in the round of 16 after scoring the first goal in a 2-1 win over Chile, with a long-range shot into an empty net after Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo ran out of his area to prevent Torres from scoring. The goal would become his 6th goal in FIFA World Cup matches, becoming Spain's all time top scorer at the World Cup finals, ahead of Emilio Butragueño, Fernando Hierro, Fernando Morientes and Raúl González, all of whom have five.
Spain were up against Portugal in the round of 16, and Villa would prove to be vital once again, as Xavi backheeled an Andrés Iniesta pass to the on-rushing Villa who hit the back of the net on the rebound after having his first shot saved by Eduardo, proving enough to give Spain a place in the quarter-finals against Paraguay, where Villa scored a goal from a rebound after Pedro hit the post. Once again, Villa's goal proved to be the difference as the match finished 1-0, while Spain booked a game with Germany in the semi-finals, where Spain recorded yet another 1-0 victory with the only goal coming from Carles Puyol.
Villa started in the final against the Netherlands, where he had an opportunity to score from close range, but was impeded by John Heitinga who managed to block his shot. Villa would eventually make way for Torres after 106 minutes on the pitch. Spain became world champions as they went on to win the match 1-0, while Villa was awarded the Silver Shoe, with the Gold Shoe going to Thomas Müller, both players had five goals, however, Müller had more assists. Villa was subsequently named in the FIFA World Cup All-Star Team.
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To look proportionate a chimney should extend from about 2” to 4” above the top the shade.
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A proverb in Latin term is known as proverbium. It is a phrase that provides simple and concrete advice based on common sense. Proverbs often provide message in a very obscure way and are present in the metaphorical form. It passes an allegorical form of the message and is popularly used in colloquial language. It might seem very odd, but proverbs are used commonly in the day to day language.
Proverbs originated from different cultures and various languages and may be used in reference in more than one language. It may be used at work, church, school, during conversations with other people and so on. There is also a Book of Proverbs in the Bible and is often cited as examples of proverbs. With different cultures, there are different problems.
Many different definitions are given for proverbs. Proverbs fall into the class of formulaic language. In different cultures, there are wise sayings that provide advice or message or simply a commonly accepted truth which is remembered and passed on from generation to generation with little modification here and there. Sometimes the modification or changes are so much so that the actual meaning of the proverb is changed and becomes irrelevant.
Proverbs offer advice about the way to live a life and act in certain situations. It functions as folk wisdom, therefore it reflects the culture from where it is originated.
It is also used to support arguments in certain situations, offers lessons and instructions.
It also helps in emphasizing shared values of different cultures. For example penny wise, pound foolish is a proverb originated when America was a British Colony and at that time pound was used as a currency. Hawaiian cultures use proverbs related to the sea.
Proverbs also describe basic rule of conduct. Such proverbs are known as a maxim.
Most of the times proverbs use grammatical and rhetorical forms that make the proverbs memorable such as alliteration, parallel structure, rhyme, repetition of phrases or primary words, and strong imagery.
It is a short and concise saying reflecting and emphasizing some common experience or stating some common fact.
It is known as a person or a thing illustrating certain characteristics in the form of saying.
It is also known as an admonition that provides guidance in a particular situation.
How to use proverbs in English?
Many common proverbs are used in conversations all the time. Sometimes it is used as advice or other times as a warning. For example, we usually say: Look before you leap. Sometimes just a part of the proverb is also used like: You know the saying… when the going gets tough…..
It is used as good examples that can be memorized and applied for building good and strong sentences.
Proverbs have various functions in the society.
It is used to educate and provide moral values to anyone including children.
It is used as an expert advice that is often used to provide suggestions.
It used as the tidbit of wisdom in the society. Almost every proverb is present for different situations present in the society.
English and American proverbs are like second nature when delivered. Although the expressions are popular but very little is known about the origins.
Parallel phrases- Garbage in, garbage out.
Negative, Imperative: Don’t beat a dead horse.
Positive, Imperative: Look before you leap.
Declarative – Birds of a feather flock together.
Rhetorical question – Is the Pope Catholic?
It is an opinion or phrase which is generally overused and indicates the lack of any original thought. Clichés are also metaphorical and originated from television, movies or even literature. The main difference between proverbs and clichés are that proverbs are originated from the folk tradition.
Mustn’t cry over spilled milk.
A dog is a man’s best friend.
The study of proverbs is termed as paremiology. It has a number of different uses in the study of topics such as philosophy, folklore, and linguistics. Many different types and styles of proverbs are studied and analyzed within Paremiology. Paremiology also includes the use and misuse of known expressions which does not belong to proverbs according to the proper definition of dictionary.
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Neurolinguistic Programming – NLP – is changing the way people communicate and perform , not just in the work place , but in all aspects of life. NLP offers new insight and understanding into how people process the world around them. By applying the principles and technique of NLP, you can become a better communicator and achieve excellence in any endeavor.
Simply let me explain it by telling a story about a boy who asked his mother "what is NLP ? " , his mother told him go to your grandfather and ask him about his knees , the boy did and when he came back he told his mother that his grandfather was unhappy, feeling pain and kept talking about his inability to walk properly anymore. The mother told son , now go to your grandfather and ask him about last Christmas. Once the son came back he told his mother that grandpa kept talking about how wonderful it was and all family were around laughing joking and then he stand up and left me up in the air the same way he did last year, he forgot the pain and I left him with a big smile on his face. Mother said ... this is NLP , it is the ability to change people's behavior, emotions and their feelings towards something including yourself.
The components of the term Neurolinguistic Programming describe best what newly emerging science encompasses.
Neuro : refers to the neurological system , how you use your senses of sight, hearing , touch , taste and smell to translate your experience into conscious and unconscious thought processes.
Linguistic : refers to how you use language to understand your experience and communicate the experience to others . Your language patterns often reflect who you are and how you think.
Programming : is the coding of your experience. A program can be defined as a sequence of steps designed to achieve a specific outcome . The result you achieve and the effects you create in yourself and others are the consequence of your personal program.
- Establish greater rapport with your family , coworkers , clients and colleagues.
- Achieve goals which may once have seemed impossible.
- Communicate your message clearly and persuasively.
- Differentiate between what you do to produce poor result and what you do that brings about success.
- Find new creative ways to solve problems and reach the best decisions.
You experience the world by collecting information through your five senses and processing it internally.
The five primary senses are : visual, auditory, kinesthetic (feeling), gustatory (taste) , and oldfactory(smell). In NLP these five sensory modalities are called representational systems. These are the systems you use to form your map of the world.
What is important to remember is that your perception and “reality” are different from those of someone else because of your central nervous system selectively “filters’ the information as it is received by your brain.
Every minute of the day your representational system are bombarded with an incredible amount if information. Your central nervous system selectively sifts through this information, allowing only a portion of it to reach your conscious attention. This filtering process called (deletion , distortion , generalization) without these filters you will be engulfed by the incessant stream of information.
Each person has their own unique perception of the world , what you say , what you think and what you do may mean something totally different to them than it does to you.
Your representational system influences your thinking and over time you gradually develop preferences in the way you use them. The three primary representational systems are the visual , auditory and kinesthetic. The oldfactory (smell) and gustatory (taste) system are usually used as triggers to other systems. And most people will use one system more than the other two , with the result that the preferred system is the one with which fine distinctions are made.
When you know what a person’s modality is , you will know one of the most important aspects of their personality – how they perceive the world around them . This is a major factor in communication – it is a basic way in which some people are alike and others different.
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Justin Rose is back on top of the world rankings following his victory in Turkey, and he will hope for a longer spell at the summit than his two-week tenure in September.
Despite losing a play-off to Keegan Bradley at the BMW Championship in September, Rose became the 22nd man to be world No 1 since the Official World Golf Rankings were introduced in 1986.
The successful defence of his Turkish Airlines Open title ensured Rose will once again be world No 1, but can the 38-year-old get close to surpassing Sir Nick Faldo?
The battle for world No 1 in the late 80s was dominated by Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros as they regularly swapped places at the top, but Faldo's two major victories in 1990 swept the Englishman to the summit.
Faldo successfully defended his Masters crown before he got the better of Norman at St Andrews to lift his second Open title at The Home of Golf, although he had to wait until September before overhauling the Australian in the rankings.
Norman regained top spot just six weeks later before relinquishing the title to Faldo again the following February, but he stayed there only until April as Ian Woosnam snatched his Masters crown and his world No 1 ranking.
Faldo had to wait until the following March to spend another week at the top before handing it back to Fred Couples, but his fourth stint as No 1 was, by far, his longest - replacing Couples with his third Open victory and staying there for the next 81 weeks until being unseated by his long-time rival Norman.
The Welshman was a regular fixture in the top 10 of the world rankings as he won five times in 1990, and he took that form into the following year with two more victories in his first three starts of 1991.
Woosnam then snatched the world No 1 berth away from Faldo as well as succeeding the Englishman as Masters champion following a thrilling final-round battle with Jose Maria Olazabal and Tom Watson at Augusta National.
He added only one more title over the remainder of 1991, although seven other top-10 finishes ensured Woosnam would spend the rest of the year at the top of the rankings.
But his 50-week reign was ended by Fred Couples in March, 1992, and Woosnam was never able to regain the title and finally dropped out of the world's top 10 midway through 1994.
After eight-and-a-half years without a world No 1 from the UK, mainly due to the exploits of Tiger Woods, the drought was finally ended by Lee Westwood in October 2010.
Although a major title eluded him, the Englishman's consistency saw him ranked in the world's top four throughout the year, and his runner-up finish at the WGC-HSBC Champions ended the record 281-week run of Woods at the summit.
Westwood's form suffered a dip early the following year and he was overhauled by Martin Kaymer after a 15-week stay at the top, although back-to-back victories in Asia earned Westwood a second spell as world No 1 for a further five weeks between April and May.
Like Westwood, Donald is the only other player to have been world No 1 without owning a major championship title, but he did etch his name into the history books late in 2011 when he became the first player to win the PGA Tour and European Tour Money Lists in the same season.
Donald landed his first WGC title at the Match Play in Arizona, and his play-off victory over Westwood at the BMW PGA Championship in May saw the pair swap places at the top of the world rankings.
Donald would go on to pick up two more titles while collecting another nine top-10 finishes on both sides of the Atlantic, and he remained as world No 1 until being replaced by Rory McIlroy in March 2012.
McIlroy and Donald spent the next six months jostling for top spot in the rankings, with Donald fourth and final stint as the best player in the world being ended for the final time by McIlroy when the latter won the PGA Championship in August.
The Northern Irishman was widely tipped to surpass Faldo as Britain's longest-serving world No 1 when he took over from Donald early in 2012, but he remains two weeks behind the Englishman and has not been top of the rankings for three years.
McIlroy chopped and changed with Donald in 2012 before making the position his own for 32 weeks following his record-breaking PGA Championship win at Kiawah Island, only for Tiger Woods to re-emerge from injury as his five PGA Tour wins in 2013 kept him on top of the world for 60 weeks.
But after a torrid 2013 campaign, McIlroy roared back to form with a stunning run of results in 2014 after igniting his march back to world No 1 with victory at the BMW PGA Championship.
He followed that with wins at both The Open and the PGA Championship at Valhalla, either side of another victory at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, and his fifth spell as world No 1 lasted for 54 weeks until he was overtaken by Jordan Spieth.
McIlroy and Spieth swapped places four times over the next five weeks, with both returning to world No 1 following a week off, but McIlroy's one week at the top in September, 2015 remains the last time he was at the summit.
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While cleaning your kitchen or bathroom one day, you may have discovered large, dark brown ants crawling out of your woodwork. If so, you may have a small carpenter ant infestation. If not taken care of early on, this variety of ants can cause a lot of structural damage to your home. Use the following three-step guide for getting rid of them using homemade treatments.
The first step to ridding your home of carpenter ants is to find any nests inside your house. Because the ants prefer soft, moist wood, first check areas where you may have water leaks, such as under your bathroom or kitchen sink. If you find any wood that appears wet, look closely at it to see if there are any holes or burrows. You may even see the ants crawling in and out of them.
Another place you may find nests is inside insulation boards made from plastic fibers. The fibers are soft enough to give the ants easy access to the boards, while being rigid enough to support their nests' infrastructures.
As you inspect your home, carry a pen and a sheet of paper with you. As you find the nests, write down their locations for use in the second step, which uses traps to kill existing ants. Also, jot down any areas that you think may be ideal for future nests. You can use this information for the third step when you use your homemade repellent spray.
Once you have located any existing ant nests, set up traps made from borax and sugar. The sugar serves as a bait to lure the carpenter ants to the traps where the insects ingest borax, which poisons the insects and dries them from the inside out. Because this is a slow process, any sugar they take back with them to the nest can also potentially kill the young larvae and the queen.
Before you make your traps, make sure you take necessary precautions to protect yourself, children and pets. Borax is a caustic substance that is highly irritating to skin and eyes. While handling the powder, wear plastic gloves and safety goggles. Because the chemical is highly poisonous not only to ants but also to humans and pets, make sure you place them out of the reach of your children, dogs and cats.
To make each trap, lay out a three-inch square of aluminum foil, and fold the ends up a half of an inch on each side to form a cup. Then, mix together a teaspoon each of sugar and borax. Place it as close to one of the ants' nests as possible, then repeat for each nest. Check the traps daily to see if they need refilling.
Once you have set all of your traps, go on to the next step.
After you have set traps to take care of your current ant problem, this step involves spraying an ant-repellent spray around any openings to your home, as well as to potential nesting sites, as you noted in step one.
The spray uses white distilled vinegar and peppermint oil, two ingredients that smell awful to the ants. If you do not particularly like the smell of vinegar yourself, the peppermint oil helps hide the smell from your nose. Plus, the vinegar's perceivable smell to you dissipates over time while still being perceptible to the ants.
In a plastic spray bottle, mix together two cups of vinegar and 20 drops of peppermint oil. Replace the nozzle, then shake vigorously. Liberally spray any wood or walls you think ants may invade. Repeat once a week for a month.
After using the above guide for a month, you should start to see a sharp decline in the number of carpenter ants you see in your home. However, if your efforts do not seem to be working, or you believe you have a large infestation, you may want to contact a pest control company like Fowler Pest Control to have them inspect your home and discuss available solutions for getting rid of these unwanted, destructive insects.
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Take it from the top So, what should you look for when inspecting your roof? The National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) recommends you do a roof inspection at least two times a year -- spring and fall. The best place to begin is inside your house -- grab a flashlight and make a trip to the attic.
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New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2016. Pp. xiv, 481. ISBN 978–0–19–966975–2.
Do we really need another book on the Nuremberg Trials? Historian Kim Christian Priemel (Univ. of Oslo) was repeatedly asked this question as he worked on The Betrayal: The Nuremberg Trials and German Divergence. He has, in fact, demonstrated that, despite the wealth of existing works on the trials, there is yet much to be learned from a comprehensive study of the International Military Tribunal (IMT) in Nuremberg (1945–46) and the subsequent trials conducted by American, British, and French authorities. Priemel uses materials from forty archives in five countries to establish that the Allied powers not only prosecuted German war criminals, but also clarified a change in the trajectory of German history.
The first half of The Betrayal (chaps. 1–5) concerns the creation and procedures of the IMT. The author begins with a review of the scholarly debate over Germany's "otherness" and "betrayal" of Western values. These influenced the Allies' approach to the war crimes trials, as the victors concluded that "Germany had actually been part of the West but had knowingly deviated from its ethics and standards, removing itself from this community" (59). If Germany were ever to be reincorporated into the Western world, the defeated nation would require rehabilitation.
The formulation of the IMT Charter was fraught with disagreements among Allied legal teams and entailed painstaking research and a will to compromise and cooperate. Although dishonorable aspects of their own histories were not at issue in Nuremberg, the Allies agreed there must be no question of the trials' legitimacy. In the end, Priemel maintains, the charter created a trial structure that gave the accused "a fighting chance" (98).
Prosecutors at the IMT argued that Germany had diverged from Western standards of civilization. Defense lawyers strove to shift the blame from their frankly nondescript-appearing clients to the masterminds of Germany's crimes—Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and others who were conveniently dead. Prosecutors stressed the horrors of the Holocaust to show just how far the German people had strayed. But Priemel confirms the finding of earlier studies that the IMT was never meant to be a "Holocaust Trial." Nonetheless, the unveiling of the systematic murder of the Jews made the complicity of German society as a whole indisputable. The Tribunal's judges convicted all but three of the twenty-four defendants, but the prosecution failed at this point to expose a German "special path" (Sonderweg) that departed from Western values.
The Betrayal's later chapters (6–10), on the successor trials of German war criminals, set it apart from earlier works on Nuremberg. At the Nuremberg Military Tribunal (1946–49), a "motley crew" (159) of American prosecutors, led by Chief Counsel, Brig. Gen. Telford Taylor, explained the disastrous arc of twentieth-century German history by identifying the country's leading industrial family, Krupp, "and the German militarists … [as] the indestructible common denominator of Germany's murderous and obstinately repeated lunges at the world's throat" (185).
By Taylor's logic, if his legal team could establish that Prussian militarism was the mainspring of the Third Reich's aggression, the German people might yet be able to alter their course. In his view, German capitalism had "forsaken its free-market, pluralist, and democratic roots and had joined hands with the forces of nationalism, militarism, and étatisme" (239). Requiring less creativity, research, and historical consciousness, the prosecution of SS officials was straightforward and required few resources. After all, Priemel reminds us, the IMT had already proven in detail the criminality of the SS and a host of other Nazi organizations.
The book's final two chapters survey efforts to prove the barbarous, non-Western character of German warfare and suggest a rationale for the German military's ultimate reintegration into the West. Germany's generals strongly resisted efforts to defame the military establishment and its traditions. Their defense attorneys countered prosecution claims of German exceptionalism by pointing to similar Allied policies and actions. Though the German commanders did little to separate themselves from the Third Reich's racist ideology, as the Cold War loomed, Western authorities were more concerned with future security than past wartime atrocities: "Thus, the German military elite re-emerged from the Wehrmacht trials at Nuremberg and Hamburg with at least one foot in the Western camp" (351). The postwar world required a new, Soviet, "Other." The western Allies who had once been determined to expose a history of German military, industrial, and economic perversion now sought to align West Germany with the western world against the Soviet Bloc. This meant backpedaling from earlier criticisms of the German military and portraying it as an honorable institution. By 1955, these efforts had resulted in the Bundesrepublik's participation in NATO and concomitant recognition as a defender of Western values.
Kim Christian Priemel's revealing new analysis should inspire historians to carefully reassess the Nuremberg Trials, their consequences and limitations. His deep knowledge of the pertinent legal scholarship on Nuremberg and Germany's putative Special Path inform throughout this unique history of a touchstone in international law. The Betrayal is not a book for the casual reader, but serious students will overlook it at their peril—it has set the standard for the next generation of scholars of the Nuremberg Trials.
The book was his Habilitation thesis at Humboldt University Berlin (2016).
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In recent years, gardening appears to have grown in popularity because, for many, its numerous proven benefits largely outweigh the costs. For example, gardening can do marvels for individual wellbeing, not only through increased exercise and social interaction, but also through the satisfaction one can experience from putting care and effort into something before reaping the literal fruits of their labor. The activity requires commitment, patience, and hard work, while providing an opportunity for reflection and introspection. Connecting body, spirit, and nature also serves as a strong reminder of our own dependence on the latter, of the rhythm of seasons, and of the essence of food.
By instilling a love for and knowledge of nature, gardening inspires conscious consumerism, which in turn helps promote environmental protection and sustainable development. It also helps the cause in a multitude of other ways. Like green spaces, gardens participate in the protection of biodiversity; for example, by providing food and habitat for bees and other pollinators. Beyond attracting fauna, gardens help improve the quality of our air and cool down built environments by enabling reverberation and evapotranspiration. Pesticides and preservatives can be replaced with natural, eco-friendly products and practices. And growing food on our doorsteps can curb carbon emissions and production of waste linked to transportation, over-packaging, and a host of other harmful activities associated with larger food supply chains.
When community gardens are developed with inclusiveness and accessibility in mind, they have enormous potential to bring people together. Gardening side by side, regardless of age, status, or disability, people can reclaim membership in their community, while engaging in an activity respectful of individual boundaries and sensibilities.
Community gardens can also bring life and safety to monotonous highway rooftops or abandoned alleys, simply by way of blending into the surrounding environment. This potential can be further explored by holding community events at these gardens, turning them into default places of gathering for festivities, school activities, community deliberations and much more.
Nature has a lot to teach us, and what better way to learn than through practice? Gardening can breed curiosity and capture the imagination, help cultivate a resilient spirit, and change our relationship to food and each other for the better. This is precisely why more primary schools should set up vegetable gardens, composting and worm farms, and open their doors to private actors providing educational workshops, so that younger generations can dig their hands in the dirt and learn about nature and healthy food. Indeed, green space can make for a much better classroom than four concrete walls. It can even affect the way children interact with one another, and invite communities back into schools.
This is not to say that young people are entirely out of touch with nature. Seeing beyond plants’ ornamental value, younger people are increasingly taking part in urban gardening – taking advantage of public gardens, growing plants in confined spaces, balconies, terraces, rooftops, and even on walls. They are also facilitating its entry into the world of business. Like IGA Extra Famille Duchemin, several companies are acquiring rooftop gardens, which in turn, sustains gardening assistance services such as Urban Seedling, les Urbainculteurs, and Biocyclette. On another scale, the immergence of urban farms is promising to take the food industry by storm. In Montreal, although it still reigns uncontested, Lufa Farms, founded in 2009 by then twenty-something Mohamed Hage, is making great strides in the right direction.
Undoubtedly, there is a future for urban and peri-urban gardening, agriculture, and farming. Meanwhile, demand for locally grown, healthy, and nutritious food is here to stay. Thus, rather than work against these currents, we should encourage our communities to consider the benefits and potential of community gardens to build social connectedness and improve our well-being.
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Shakespeare's tragedy Titus Andronicus and his comedy The Merchant of Venice share a similar instigator. Both antagonists are marked as the 'other' throughout the plays, and their difference from the rest of the community is emphasized during the course of the drama. The ways in which Shylock and Aaron construct their difference in ways that are comparable but divergent. Though both look scornfully at the world around them, taking a tone of superiority, their views on their outsider status also differ. Their justifications for causing problems both have to do with these differences and the way they construct them; however, Aaron and Shylock act for very different reasons. Aaron's action is based on an assertion of his otherness, whereas Shylock's actions can be understood as an act of revenge based on his shared humanity and sense of justice. The final resolutions of these characters' differences are also of significance; Aaron's decision to risk everything to preserve his 'blackness' as presented in his son contrasts with Shylock's eventual conversion to Christianity. This distinct treatment of parallel figures underscores the different moral universes of the two plays. The treatment of the outsider and his perspective is a significant issue in both Titus Andronicus and The Merchant of Venice.
Both Shylock and Aaron are shown to be outside of the society from the time they first appear on stage, and their difference continues to be stressed over the course of both plays. Aaron, entering the play at the end of Titus' triumphant procession, would draw the attention of a Renaissance audience by virtue of his placement at the extreme end of the procession as well as for his dark skin. His differences from the Romans and Goths are not only introduced visually, but are expanded upon verbally by other characters. Tamora addresses him as "my sweet Moor, sweeter to me than life!" (TA II.iii.51), using his racial difference to distinguish Aaron. Upon discovering Tamora and Aaron together, Lavinia and Bassianus refer to Aaron similarly, not referring to him by name or simply as a man, but as a "barbarous Moor" (TA II.iii.78). In these and other exchanges, Aaron's blackness and his lack of Roman civilization and religion are stressed, strongly setting him apart from the other characters in Titus Andronicus.
As Aaron's 'otherness' is stressed in Titus Andronicus, Shylock is contrasted with the Christians in The Merchant of Venice. Shylock is visually differentiated, as his plain attire would provide a sharp contrast with the lavish dress of the other Venetians. As is the case with Aaron in Titus Andronicus, Shylock's difference is used as a form of address, and he is frequently referred to as 'the Jew' rather than by name. Shylock's use of language also serves to further differentiate him from the other characters. Throughout the play he alludes to Old Testament figures and stories, demonstrating his Jewish beliefs. His lack of generosity is underscored in his transaction with Bassiano; his use of language, and therefore his moral understanding, is shown to be vastly different from that of Bassiano and the other Venetians. Shylock's definition of 'good' is shown to be in practical rather than Bassiano's moral terms. According to Shylock, "my meaning in saying he is a good man is to have you understand me that he is sufficient" (MV I.iii.15-17). This different understanding is repeated and ridiculed when Jessica elopes and takes some of his money: "I never heard a passion so confus'd/So strange, outrageous, and so variable/ As that dog Jew did utter in the streets./ 'My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter!/ Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats!/ Justice! the law! my ducats, and my daughter!'" (MV II.viii.12-17). In this way, Shylock is shown to have a 'backward' moral order that conflicts with that of the Christians in Venice. Like Aaron, he is strongly differentiated from the society in which he lives.
Aaron and Shylock both exhibit an attitude of contempt and superiority towards the society around them. Aaron's contempt is very clear throughout Titus Andronicus; he does not care at all for Roman society, scorning Roman 'morality' as idiotic. He will "let fools do good, and fair men call for grace/ Aaron will have his soul black like his face" (TA III.i.204-205). When his lack of religion is brought up by Lucius, he criticizes the religious beliefs held by Lucius and the other Romans: "I know thou art religious,/ And hast a thing within thee called conscience,/ With twenty popish tricks and ceremonies,/ Which I have seen thee careful to observe... An idiot holds a bauble for his god,/ And keeps the oath which by that god he swears" (TA V.i.74-80). Aaron holds the values of the mainstream society in very low esteem, seeing the morality of the Romans as ridiculous.
Likewise, Shylock exhibits disdain for the Christians in Venice, being critical of the extravagance, munificence, and prejudice of Antonio and the other Venitians. He denounces how, "in low simplicity/ [Antonio] lends out money gratis, and brings down/ the rate of usuance here in Venice... He hates our sacred nation, and he rails/ Even there where merchants most do congregate/ On me, my bargains, and my well-worn thrift,/ Which he calls interest" (MV I.iii.43-51). Shylock maintains a sense of detachment from the Venetians and is reluctant to share a meal with them; "I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you" (MV III.ii.35-38). This unwillingness to participate in the community ritual of a shared meal denotes Shylock's psychological separation. In demanding that Jessica "lock up my doors, and when you hear the drum/ And the vile squealing of the wry-neck'd fife,/ Clamber not you up to the casements then,/ Nor thrust your head into the public street/ To gaze on Christian fools with varnish'd faces;/ But stop my house's ears, I mean my casements;/ Let not the sound of shallow fopp'ry enter/ My sober house" (MV II.v.29-36), Shylock further separates himself from the majority and demonstrates his disdain for them. Thus Shylock also shows contemptuousness towards the mainstream society in which he lives.
However, while Aaron and Shylock's acts of atrocity are both predicated on their difference, they take vastly different forms. Aaron's evil is seemingly motiveless, and can be seen as an expression of his moral and physical 'blackness', and this explanation for Aaron's crimes also seems to point to the conclusion of his personal narrative. Shakespeare paints Aaron as a creature of pure evil that admires the destruction that he causes. When asked if he is sorry to have done so many wrongs, he responds by saying, "[I am sorry] that I had not done a thousand more./ Even now I curse the day - and yet I think/ Few come within the compass of my curse/ Wherein I did not some notorious ill... But I have done a thousand dreadful things,/ As willingly as one would kill a fly,/ And nothing grieves me heartily, indeed,/ But that I cannot do a thousand more" (TA V.i.124-144). Aaron's embrace of his evil is demonstrated with his wholehearted acceptance of his son, who he views as a mirror image, "the vigor and the picture of my youth:/ This before all the world I do prefer" (TA IV.ii.108-109). He is dedicated to preserving this self-image, and, because of this, is willing to reveal everything in order to assure its continuance. His depravity is the motivation behind his crimes, and thus he is completely dedicated to its preservation.
Shylock appeals on the basis of a shared humanity and despite his difference. This stance points to his final conflicted reconciliation, as his commitment to justice ultimately forces him to convert. In court, Shylock submits to Portia in the guise of a judge, as she seems to honor his bond equally and justly. He praises her extravagantly as "A Daniel come to judgement! Yea, a Daniel! O wise young judge, how I do honor thee!" (MV IV.i.223-224) Shylock is compelled to follow her judgement until it reaches its uneasy but inevitable conclusion. Having embraced the ideal of justice he must abide by the decision of the court; he must convert or be executed. Unlike Aaron, who dies so that his difference will be perpetuated, Shylock unwillingly converts, thereby surrendering his 'otherness'.
Titus Andronicus and The Merchant of Venice present two models of the 'other'. While both express contempt for mainstream society and act on the basis of that contempt, Aaron justifies his action through his outsider status whereas Shylock uses claims to common humanity to justify his cause. These characters' fates fit in with these patterns of justification. Aaron is able to preserve his 'otherness' at the cost of his life, whereas Shylock must assimilate in order to follow through his aspirations to justice. These models, created in the different moral universes of the plays, point to different ideals as to how the 'other' may be treated. The question of whether the outsider can actually be assimilated is a major theme in both plays.
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Communication satellites have been in use for over 50 years to deliver all sorts of traffic, data voice, video, you name it. One of the first commercial links was AT&T's Telstar, primitive by today's standards, but it helped set the direction of future satellite links. But how do they work?
There are thousands of satellites in various different types of orbit providing every imaginable service from satellite TV, telephony, data relay, meteorology, imaging, etc... There are three main types of orbit. Low-Earth orbit is only 390 km (240 mi) above the Earth's surface. Most of the satellites in this orbit are scientific missions like meteorological observatories and other surveys, as well as space stations like the ISS and instruments like the Hubbell space telescope. The space shuttle was designed for low-Earth orbit. Medium Earth orbit occupies the 1,000 km (600 mi) and up area, and is home to many short coverage communication satellites like the Iridium digital phone system, as well as some more imaging and weather satellites, a few experiments, and dozens of other applications. Medium Earth orbit is the most populated orbital region with thousands of active satellites.
The kind of satellite that you're likely most familiar with is the geosynchronous satellite. These majority of these satellites occupy a region referred to as the Clarke belt (after Arthur C. Clarke, who came up with the idea), which is a ring around the Earth's equator, 36,000 km (22,400 mi) above the surface. Satellites in the Clarke belt orbit once every 24 hours, and since they're orbiting the same direction as the Earth and on the same axis, they appear to stand still at a set point in the sky, which allows them to be received with high gain, highly directional (narrow beam width), fixed antennas such as your satellite dish. The general term for these satellites is geostationary, or fixed satellite services (FSS). There are less than two hundred satellites in geostationary orbit, and they're not permitted to orbit within 2° of one another. All TV broadcast satellites are geostationary. The advantage of this type of satellite is that it can cover a very wide area, like an entire country or even an entire hemisphere using very little transmitter power.
There are other satellites in geosynchronous orbit that do not orbit over the equator, so all geostationary satellites are geosynchronous, but not all geosynchronous satellites are geostationary. One example of this would be the tundra orbit. Above 76° latitude, satellite reception is all but impossible, since most geostationary satellites are below the horizon. A tundra orbit is a highly inclined orbit that traces a lopsided figure eight on the ground, and spends most of its time above a Northern latitude. A disadvantage is that it requires either a tracking antenna or a fixed antenna with a wide beam width. One example you might be familiar with is the satellites used for Sirius Radio, they use a tundra orbit to achieve a high elevation angle over the continental US and Canada, broadcasting a very powerful S band signal that can be received by small patch antennas with a 90° beam width.
There are three parts to the average satellite, the power system, the bus, and the communications payload. In the industry, the satellite is referred to as the space segment.
The power system usually consists of two folded solar cell arrays which are extended once the satellite is in orbit. The arrays have to provide all of the power for the satellite's normal operation, about 20 kW, with enough extra capacity to charge a set of batteries to run the satellite when it's in the Earth's shadow. The batteries used may be common nickel cadmium (NiCd) batteries, like the ones used for power tools, but recent designs requiring more power are using more complicated and expensive high performance nickel hydrogen batteries, which consist of a pressure vessel with nickel electrodes and a gaseous electrolyte.
The satellite bus, which is now based on a number of industry standard designs such as the Boeing BSS series, Lockheed Martin A2100, Space Systems Loral SSL-1300, and Alcatel Spacebus, contains all of the heat regulation, power systems, station keeping, and houses the communications payload. Heat is regulated inside the bus by things like heat pipes, motorized louvers, electrical heating elements, and mylar insulation. Telemetry, which is remote data about the position and health of the craft is also handled by the bus.
Station keeping is the process of keeping the satellite in its orbit. Even at 36,000 km, in the exosphere, there are enough gas molecules to create drag on the spacecraft. Combined with gravitational disturbances this causes the satellite to periodically drift out of alignment. There are a few different methods of propulsion, but by far the most common is hydrazine monopropellant. The hydrazine is stored in a pressurized tank and jetted through nozzles to control the yaw and pitch of the spacecraft. Most satellites carry enough hydrazine for 15 years of operation, after which the satellite will be retired and replaced.
The communications payload is the part of the satellite that is responsible for receiving, amplifying, and re-transmitting a signal. Most satellites have 1 GHz of total bandwidth, per band. In the past, satellites were launched with either C or Ku band payloads, but these days most satellites include C and Ku transponders. C band satellite transmissions are from 3.7-4.2 GHz with linear polarization, Ku band transmissions are from 11.7-12.2 GHz with linear polarization. There is an extended Ku band from 12.2-12.7 GHz, but in the US this is restricted to high power direct to home satellite TV, and uses circular polarization.
Now if you'll look at the numbers you'll realize that those figures only represent 500 MHz of bandwidth. The reason for this is frequency reuse. In each band, the satellite is divided into 24 separate channels, each 40 MHz wide. The frequency of each channel is used twice, but with different polarization. Polarization is the plane in which the electromagnetic portion of the wave is oscillating, determined by the physical position of the antenna. Changing the polarization of an antenna simply means rotating it 90°, for example, the aerial on a car is vertically polarized, while a TV antenna would be horizontally polarized.
Satellite transmissions use one of two polarizations, horizontal and vertical, or H and V for short. The trick to getting 1 GHz of bandwidth out of 500 MHz of spectrum is to broadcast the odd numbered channels in one polarization and even in the other. The receiving antenna can easily reject the unwanted polarity while allowing the desired polarity through. The channels don't overlap exactly, the center frequency of the odd numbered channels are offset by 20 MHz from the even numbered channels.
Each channel is handled by one transponder, and a channel is simply often referred to as a transponder. All of the even or odd transponders are received by the downlink antenna at the same time, but each channel will have its own carrier and operates independently. Physically, a transponder consists of four main parts: a receiving antenna, a frequency downconverter, an amplifier, and a transmitting antenna, although multiple transponders may share a receiving or transmitting antenna.
The receiving antenna, a horn type, receives the signal from an earth station at a frequency higher than the downlink frequency. For C band this is 5 GHz, and for Ku band this is 15 GHz. The frequency downconverter shifts the signal to the final downlink frequency. It's then fed to a high powered amplifier. There are two main types of amplifiers: traveling wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs) based on vacuum tubes and solid state power amplifiers (SSPAs) based on transistors. The TWTA is more common, and more rugged in space operations, although you may find an SSPA used in some applications. The output power is usually in the range of 5 to 20 watts for C band and 50 to 75 watts for Ku band. Higher power is used for Ku band due to the increased atmospheric absorption in that band. You'll notice that these are really small power levels compared to terrestrial transmitters, considering that there are radio stations with 50,000 or more watts of transmitter power. There are two reasons for this, one being that for the most part, the satellite bus can't provide enough power to run a high wattage transmitter (and microwave transmitters are pretty inefficient to begin with), and two, since we're using microwaves with their short wavelengths, an antenna with extremely high gain doesn't need to be very big.
The output of the power amp is fed into another horn antenna, which is aimed at a beam former: the white structure in the drawing above. The beam former can be manufactured to give a certain pattern, concentrating the signal over the satellite's home country, or can spread the beam wide enough to cover an entire hemisphere. Even more closely controlled beams can be formed with the use of spot beams, which can cover an area as small as a few hundred square miles, allowing its frequency to be used elsewhere. This is accomplished by using a highly directional transmitting horn. Some satellites even have programmable spot beams, where the horn antennas are connected to the transmitter via flexible waveguide and can be positioned remotely via an electric motor.
Each satellite operator will have an uplink Earth station from which the satellites are controlled. There are a few main operators of satellite fleets today. Intelsat is the largest and owns the Galaxy and (formerly AT&T) Telstar satellites, SES Americom, formerly GE Americom, formerly RCA Satcom owns all of the AMC and SES satellites, Echostar, which owns the Echostar satellites, Telesat, which owns the Canadian satellites like the Anik and Nimiq satellites, and DirecTV, which owns the DirecTV satellites.
Inside the uplink center you will find racks of equipment performing various functions. Some of the equipment will be for telemetry and control, but most of it will be communications related. A satellite can carry any type of data, with any type of encoding. That data and encoding is determined by the uplink. Here you will find the encoding equipment, which these days usually consists of a DVB modulator or modulator/demodulator (modem), which takes data from an external interface such as Ethernet, generates a carrier wave, and encodes and modulates the digital data onto the carrier along with some control information such as forward error correction, which is used on one way links to detect and fix errors in the received signal. Since all of this is digitally encoded, any type of data can be carried, sound, video, internet traffic, etc... There will be one modem for each carrier. Usually only one carrier is transmitted on each transponder but multiple carrier per channel (MCPC) transmissions are relatively common. MCPC reduces the total amount of data that can be carried, but is the only way to uplink to a single transponder from multiple locations. The outputs of the modems are combined and fed to the block upconverter to be converted to the uplink frequency, then on to the power amplifier and antenna.
The most common modulation used today is Phase Shift Keying, where the phase of two carriers are changed in relation to each other to create a symbol. The total number of symbols determines how much data a link can carry. A typical transponder is capable of carrying up to about 30 million symbols per second reliably. The number of bits encoded by each symbol depends on the type of PSK used. Binary phase shift keying has two symbols and encodes only one bit per symbol, and is rarely used in TV broadcasting. Quad Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) is the most common modulation for digital TV signals, it has four symbols and carries two bits per symbol. Octal phase shift keying (8PSK) is becoming widely accepted to carry higher data rate HD video streams, it has a total of 8 symbols carrying three bits of information each. Downlink signal power can be measured three ways, carrier to noise ratio (C/N), energy per symbol over noise (Es/No), or energy per bit over noise (Eb/No), all of which are measured in decibels (dB). Decreasing the symbol rate or using a modulation with fewer total symbols increases Eb/No, decreasing symbol rate increases Es/No, and increasing the power of the carrier increases all three.
Before digital transmission became available, analog transmission was used, and still is in a few cases as of this writing (2014). Analog video was transmitted via frequency modulation (FM), which differs significantly from the quadrature amplitude modulation that was used for analog over the air transmission. The video encoded by an analog satellite signal can be very clear, but has the disadvantage of being very spectrally inefficient. Each channel takes up an entire transponder, 40 MHz of bandwidth, limiting a satellite to carrying only 24 channels whereas with today's digital modulation a single transponder can carry more than 24 channels.
Outside, each satellite will have one or more dedicated uplink antennas, which can be very, very large. The one pictured is 18.3 meters (60 feet), although 4-10 meters is more common. Uplink antennas are usually dual reflector types, and fall into two categories: Gregorian, which has a concave subreflector, and Cassegrain, which has a convex subreflector. The signal is piped through a horn antenna on a waveguide that exits the center of the dish, then bounces off of the subreflector to illuminate the surface of the dish. This type of antenna has four waveguide inputs: H TX, V TX, H RX, and V RX, to transmit and receive both polarities simultaneously.
The reason these are so large is that to get the maximum downlink power, the uplink power has to be high enough to drive the satellite's transponders to saturation. Simply put, the stronger the uplink the signal, the stronger the downlink signal.
The transmitters connected to these antennas can be located inside, and connected to the antenna via a long waveguide, or close to the antenna and connected to the modem, whose output is in the L band (950-2150 MHz), via a long coaxial cable. Both options have advantages and disadvantages. The amplifiers are the same general type as those used on the satellite, and fall into the same two categories: SSPAs and TWTAs. TWTAs are the most commonly used, but SSPAs represent a larger percentage of ground based transmitters than those in space. Carrier grade transmitters can operate at up to several hundred watts; the largest one I was able to find was 700 watts. Providing a stronger signal than what will be necessary to saturate the transponders is unnecessary, and won't result in any increased downlink power, but will wear out amplifiers more quickly, so uplink amplifiers are usually configured to automatically adjust power levels for the current weather conditions. The downlink is received simultaneously by the uplink antenna, and is measured by a control system that will increase transmitter power whenever the signal drops below a certain threshold.
When broadcasting at these power levels it is critical to have a very narrow beam width, a larger dish will create a more compact, narrow beam than a smaller one, which keeps the transmissions from interfering with adjacent satellites. Which isn't to say that it's not possible to uplink with a smaller dish. VSAT stands for very small aperture transmission and refers to dishes under a couple of meters that are used for transmitting. The most common form of these are the small 1m and 75 cm VSAT antennas used to provide broadband internet to rural customers. Another example would be the small Ku band antennas mounted to satellite trucks and used by news services for event coverage, a concept called satellite news gathering (SNG). The major difference between these systems and a carrier grade uplink is that VSAT is restricted to low power levels, usually under 10 watts, and under 1 watt for the aforementioned broadband internet application. This results in a very low powered downlink, which requires a large antenna at the downlink site. For example, a Ku band signal transmitted by a 5 meter dish with adequate transmitter power to saturate the transponder will be receivable with a 75 cm antenna, while a signal transmitted by a 75 cm antenna at a few watts may require a 5 meter or even larger antenna to receive.
See my photo essay of an old AT&T International Earth Station for more pictures of what a carrier grade uplink Earth station looks like.
This is the Earth station for the end user, that receives the signal coming down from the satellite. There are two broad categories of Earth station, TVRO/direct to home and satellite master antenna TV (SMATV). In a direct to home system, the end user receives the signal directly from the programming provider via satellite. The purest form of this is the C band dish. In the US, all commercially available pay TV is uplinked by the originator (Discovery Networks, Turner Networks, etc...) and distributed on various C band satellites. DBS systems like Dish Network and DirecTV are also considered direct to home services, although they receive their programming via C band, before re-encoding it and uplinking it to their own satellites. The second category is SMATV, where the satellite signals are received by a headend where they are transcoded (usually to 256-QAM) and sent out over coaxial cable. This category includes cable TV and the master dish systems used by large apartment buildings and hotels.
As with the uplink station, a highly directive high gain parabolic dish antenna is used. A 1 meter antenna has a gain of 40.6 dB at 12 GHz, which means that the incoming signal, equaling only a fraction of a billionth of a watt is amplified to 11,482 times its original level. At the focus of the dish is a horn antenna which selects the correct polarity, connected to a device called a low noise block-downconverter (LNB).
The purpose of the LNB is to collect the signal and amplify it, then convert it from the downlink frequency to an intermediate frequency. It's called a block downconverter because it converts a 500 MHz wide block of frequencies, either all of the even or all of the odd transponders, all at once. The output is also 500 MHz wide, but has been converted to the L band, 950-1450 MHz . In the earliest days of satellite, the amplification and downconversion were performed by separate components: a low noise amplifier connected to the feedhorn with a waveguide, with the LNA connected to a block-downconverter via a short length of coaxial cable terminated with N connectors. The signal is converted to an intermediate frequency to make it easier to send over a coaxial cable, the higher the frequency, the higher the loss of signal per meter of coaxial cable.
The low noise part of the name refers to the engineering practices and components required to design and build the LNB. Amplification creates noise, think about the hiss you hear when you turn a stereo all the way up. Each LNB is given a noise temperature in degrees Kelvin (°K) or noise figure (dB) which specifies how much noise it introduces into the system. The reason noise is such a big deal is because the signals being worked with are so small. Even after the dish has amplified the signal, it's still nowhere near strong enough to be useful, so the LNB amplifies it again, by up to 65 dB. This is a massive increase, the output is 3.16×106 times stronger than the input, so it's important to amplify the signal without amplifying the noise.
Depending on what kind of Earth station it is, the signal will go on to one or more receivers, which contain circuitry to demodulate the intermediate frequency to extract the digital data. The receiver uses an algorithm to compare the known values in the error correction with what was received. If it doesn't match, the receiver uses a mathematical formula to calculate what the missing data would be, based on how the error correction codes were changed. Errors can happen frequently, but only un-correctable errors, where the signal has degraded to the point where the receiver can't calculate the missing data, are a problem.
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How do you solve a problem like aggressive accounting? With some difficulty, some management teams and their external auditors might argue. Especially if they cannot agree on: (a) just what constitutes aggressive accounting; (b) whether or not aggressive accounting is inherently a bad thing and (c) whether it manifests itself more in one kind of management/auditor relationship than it does in another.
This last element is at the core of a paper – Disclosure Checklists and Auditors’ Judgments of Aggressive Accounting – I co-authored and which was published in March of this year. I will discuss the content of the paper in more detail later, but for now will try to tease out and communicate some of the key lessons that might interest a wider audience.
The pages of corporate history are littered with examples of aggressive accounting, featuring such landmark events as British & Commonwealth's (B&C) ill-fated purchase of Atlantic Computers and Hewlett Packard's (HP) eerily similar purchase of UK software firm Autonomy more than 20 years later.
Much more recently UK retailer Tesco overstated profits in at least three financial years: aggressive accounting. In April this year the Financial Times published a story strongly suggesting that UK credit card lenders might be carrying on the tradition. And the failure of Enron in 2001 provides a spectacular textbook example of what can happen when an auditor fails to identify serious misstatements.
In 1988, B&C acquired Atlantic Computers plc for £434m, subsequent to a series of market purchases that built up their stake in that company. The acquisition destroyed B&C, as Atlantic had been booking profits that did not exist: aggressive accounting.
In October 2011, HP bought Autonomy in a deal that valued the target at US$11.1bn, widely described as a huge premium. Just over a year later, HP wrote off around 75 per cent of its investment as it became more familiar with the aggressive accounting practices of its new acquisition.
In October 2014, Tesco reported a 92 per cent fall in profits after writing off £263m. It transpired that Tesco managers had been over-optimistic in estimating how much the company would receive in rebates from suppliers. In other words, a scandal involving aggressive accounting.
The Financial Times credit card story described interest-free credit cards as a ticking time bomb as banks apparently routinely expected eventual future income in the here and now.
The details and complexity differ from case to case but the motives are often staggeringly simple. Two kinds of aggressive accounting can be characterised briefly; both take conscious management to the boundaries of what is reasonable. On the one hand, there is an opportunistic attempt to generate an over-optimistic financial result. This can be achieved by booking anticipated income at the earliest possible time in the product life cycle or by delaying the recording of losses to the latest possible moment. In earlier separate research, we have seen this take place to trigger bonus payments to senior management.
On the other hand, and equally opportunistic, if management sees that a significant loss is inevitable in a given accounting period, they might be tempted to exaggerate the loss attributable to that period by making excessive provisions. When carried out by new management following the replacement of a discredited management team, this is often referred to as “deep sixing”.
Unless disaster strikes in the next accounting period, they should be able to draw on those excess provisions to restore profits. This would have the added benefit of painting a flattering picture of their management capabilities. But it would represent recovery from an artificially low base.
In our joint paper, we set out to investigate whether the use of a disclosure checklist affects the attitude of the auditor to the company that is paying for the audit, nudging the auditor in the direction of glossing over the use of aggressive accounting. Our results imply that the use of a disclosure checklist does indeed result in a less critical state of mind.
Auditors, like any human, can suffer from unconscious biases and respond to incentives – just as management does – but without realising it. When this happens, the watchdog can become less sceptical and too easily acquiesce to perceived management pressure.
In an ideal world, accountants would ask penetrating questions to establish underlying facts before compiling the definitive accounts. Unfortunately, the real world doesn't always work like that. The real world instead too often places undue emphasis on regulation, replication and standardisation. And as referred to earlier, making the process over-mechanical affects the mindset of the auditor.
The use of a checklist inspires a box-ticking mentality rather than a critical mentality. This is especially true in cases where the auditor feels accountable to a management team with a vested interest in a beneficial outcome. Auditors will tend to give the benefit of the doubt to management and go along with their aggressive accounting methods, after being lulled into a false sense of security by the basic checklist. The glass will tend always to be half-full rather than half-empty.
Our findings have important implications for auditing practice. First, when designing their audit procedures, audit firms need to be aware that downsides exist in the use of disclosure checklists. Although feeling accountable to management by itself has no effect on auditors’ acceptance of aggressive accounting, the use of mechanistic checklists can reduce the extent to which auditors remain critical towards their clients. Pro-client bias then looms, thus presenting a subtle yet significant threat to auditor independence.
In stark contrast, auditors working to a separate audit committee will tend to concentrate more fiercely on trying to ensure that the accounts on which they are working deliver a true and fair view of the company being audited. Which is, of course, the principal purpose of independent accounting.
Our study did not take place in a vacuum but in the context of an impressive body of research and comment on the topic. I believe it points to several avenues for future research. More research is needed on the costs and benefits of decision aids on auditors’ judgment and decision-making, particularly on the effects of checklists. Such research could examine other factors that may play a role in how checklist use affects auditors’ acceptance of aggressive reporting, such as financial incentives or personality characteristics.
Of course, our study is subject to limitations. One limitation relates to the participants in our experiment who all work in the same region in the Netherlands and for the same Big Four audit firm. As a result, it is not possible to fully exclude the possibility that auditors in other firms or regions would judge differently.
Summing up our findings in arguably simpler terms, unintended consequences of the audit process would seem to be at work. Our research strongly suggests that certain measures taken to improve the accuracy of account reporting can in fact have an adverse impact on the independence of those doing the auditing.
How, then, do we fix aggressive accounting and prevent the problems it creates? I've already mentioned the limitations of regulation and standardisation in the policing role. Perhaps we should pay greater attention to the potential that lies in promoting the use of de-biasing techniques.
If I am correct that the key issue is awareness, there are ways to help people to refocus. Prompt them to think of all the possible negatives and inaccuracies that you might find in preparatory work. Expect mistakes to have been made and consider (motives for) possible opportunistic reporting. This helps to reinforce the critical mindset and prevents succumbing to bias.
Another solution is to further strengthen the role of the independent audit committee and reduce management’s influence. This is an essential part of the journey towards arriving at a genuinely objective and fair view in the final accounts.
This article draws its inspiration from the paper Disclosure Checklists and Auditors’ Judgments of Aggressive Accounting, written by Marcel van Rinsum, Victor S. Maas and David Stolker, and published online in European Accounting Review, March 2017.
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how to make yourself to be leadership?
Oh yes to be a leader then you must be able to trust them and they do stand out from others, they also must be honest, genuine people to be a great leader and listen to others so they can reach whatever they want to be a leader of.
are you going to be leader?
Leaders lead by virtue of who they are. If we want to be more effective with others, we first need to be more effective with ourselves. There are three core qualities to leadership: authenticity, self-expression, value creation.
I agree with you and also know what they are doing when they are in leadership.
I see a lot of people here saying that leaders are born. To a certain extent this may be true, however I am not entirely sure. The great leaders that we have all read about had to get their start somewhere. They also had to get all of their knowledge and values from somewhere as well. Certain characteristics such as charisma or respect may come naturally to you, but that will not make you a leader. This is why I say leaders are not born, they are made. They tend to seperate themselves from others with their knowledge and their values as well as other leadership qualities. Without proper grooming from others who have been in a position of leadership they will not succeed as leaders themselves. As a leader you need to learn how to deal with people at their very best and at their very worst. The books we all read and the stories we all hear are about leaders at their very best when their people are at their very best. You never hear about the tough times. This is where true leaders shine. It can take many years to groom a leader. Why do you think that certain political offices have a minimum age requirement? This is because they want to make sure that the leaders that we are electing are fully qualified to lead. It is a long process, and only people that have been inside of it as leaders or as people who are being groomed for leadership can really know for sure.
Leadership: if you try to earn it, you cannot unless you have some special quality such as: sympathetic and cooperative mind, excellent behaviour, brave manner, good orator, charity minded, ablity to focus towards peoples problem and false or true assurance to solve it with your life. Also need some cash money first to become a leader. Also there have some devine bless on leaders. I am leader of a community and I face some hardship and painful situation due to leadership role in my non-profit.
It's actually kind of scary how some people have been able to become powerful leaders thru pain and suffering. I much prefer the leaders whi have acquired their positions from being confident, assertive and driven.
Leaders are actually born and they have a certain something about them, some will call it charisma, that makes them stand out from a very young age. It is not really something that a person can learn, although of course as they mature they will often learn how to enhance their natural leadership talents. A leader must have the trust, or else nobody will follow them. By the trust I mean that they should honour their word, not make promises that they cannot keep and also lookk after their followers. To do anything else, is abuse of power. A leader doesn't necessarily have to think differently to other people, but they must have the ability to put the thoughts that they do have into words that everyone can understand.
I agree with you on that. If people don't trust you, they will never follow you all the way.
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Context. Massive stars with solar metallicity lose important amounts of rotational angular momentum through their winds. When a magnetic field is present at the surface of a star, efficient angular momentum losses can still be achieved even when the mass-loss rate is very modest, at lower metallicities, or for lower-initial-mass stars. In a close binary system, the effect of wind magnetic braking also interacts with the influence of tides, resulting in a complex evolution of rotation.
Aims. We study the interactions between the process of wind magnetic braking and tides in close binary systems.
Methods. We discuss the evolution of a 10 M-circle dot star in a close binary system with a 7 M-circle dot companion using the Geneva stellar evolution code. The initial orbital period is 1.2 days. The 10 M-circle dot star has a surface magnetic field of 1 kG. Various initial rotations are considered. We use two different approaches for the internal angular momentum transport. In one of them, angular momentum is transported by shear and meridional currents. In the other, a strong internal magnetic field imposes nearly perfect solid-body rotation. The evolution of the primary is computed until the first mass-transfer episode occurs. The cases of different values for the magnetic fields and for various orbital periods and mass ratios are briefly discussed.
Results. We show that, independently of the initial rotation rate of the primary and the efficiency of the internal angular momentum transport, the surface rotation of the primary will converge, in a time that is short with respect to the main-sequence lifetime, towards a slowly evolving velocity that is different from the synchronization velocity. This "equilibrium angular velocity" is always inferior to the angular orbital velocity. In a given close binary system at this equilibrium stage, the difference between the spin and the orbital angular velocities becomes larger when the mass losses and/or the surface magnetic field increase. The treatment of the internal angular momentum transport has a strong impact on the evolutionary tracks in the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram as well as on the changes of the surface abundances resulting from rotational mixing. Our modelling suggests that the presence of an undetected close companion might explain rapidly rotating stars with strong surface magnetic fields, having ages well above the magnetic braking timescale. Our models predict that the rotation of most stars of this type increases as a function of time, except for a first initial phase in spin-down systems. The measure of their surface abundances, together, when possible, with their mass-luminosity ratio, provide interesting constraints on the transport efficiencies of angular momentum and chemical species.
Conclusions. Close binaries, when studied at phases predating any mass transfer, are key objects to probe the physics of rotation and magnetic fields in stars.
GB/T 7714 Song, H. F.,Meynet, G.,Maeder, A.,et al. Close binary evolution II. Impact of tides, wind magnetic braking, and internal angular momentum transport[J]. ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS,2018,609.
APA Song, H. F..,Meynet, G..,Maeder, A..,Ekstrom, S..,Eggenberger, P..,...&Wade, G. A..(2018).Close binary evolution II. Impact of tides, wind magnetic braking, and internal angular momentum transport.ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS,609.
MLA Song, H. F.,et al."Close binary evolution II. Impact of tides, wind magnetic braking, and internal angular momentum transport".ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS 609(2018).
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Is interleukin-18 associated with polycystic ovary syndrome?
Recent research show that polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) may have an association with low-grade chronic inflammation, IL-18 is considered as a strong risk marker of inflammation.
To investigate serum IL-18 concentrations in PCOS patients and focus on its relationship between obesity and insulin resistance (IR). Sixty consecutive women with PCOS and thirty controls were recruited. Serum level of IL-18 and fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and testosterone (T) were measured.
Serum levels of IL-18 was significantly higher in the PCOS group than in the control group. Serum level of IL-18 was higher in the PCOS group with IR than in the PCOS group without IR. Serum level of IL-18 was higher in obese PCOS patients than in lean PCOS patients. Serum level of IL-18 was higher in lean PCOS patients than in the lean control group. Serum level of IL-18 in the PCOS group was positively related to BMI, IR index and T.
IL-18 level was increased in PCOS patients, and correlated with insulin resistance, obesity and hyperandrogenism.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common and complex endocrine disorder of women in their reproductive years, with prevalence between 5% and 10% [1, 2]. PCOS is characterized by chronic anovulation, hyperandrogenism, and insulin resistance (IR) . Additionally, PCOS is often associated with obesity and a subsequent increased risk for type 2 diabetes [4–6]. Women with PCOS may have chronic low-level inflammation. Kelly et al have reported increased serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level in PCOS patients. Amato et al found that serum and follicular fluid interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) values were higher in PCOS women than in controls. Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a proinflammatory cytokine that induces the production of TNF-α , which in turn promotes the synthesis of IL-6 , and IL-6 regulates the synthesis of CRP in the liver . Like IL-6 and CRP, IL-18 is considered a strong risk marker of cardiovascular death . In order to investigate the possible roles of IL-18 in the pathogenesis of PCOS, we studied the serum level of IL-18 in PCOS patients, as well as it's correlation with IR, obesity and hyperandrogenism.
A total of 60 patients with PCOS were included in this prospective, case-controlled study. We analyzed data from women with PCOS who visited the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Reproductive Center, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, from October 2006 to January 2007. The diagnosis of PCOS was based on the 2003 Rotterdam ESHRE/ASRM criteria: (1) oligo- and/or anovulation; (2) clinical and/or biochemical signs of hyperandrogenism (patients presented with hirsute, acne or alopecia, and/or increased circulating levels of testosterone; (3) polycystic ovaries (ovarian morphology was assessed using transvaginal ultrasound), and exclusion of other aetiologies (congenital adrenal hyperplasia, androgen-secreting tumors, Cushing's syndrome)[13–15]. Women who had received any hormonal treatment or insulin-lowering agent during the last 3 months were excluded from the study.
The control group consisted of 30 subjects, the controls were selected from women attending the clinic on account of male azoospermia. All controls had regular menstrual cycle and normal androgen level and were taking no medication. All patients were Chinese and had not taken hormonal medications, including contraceptive pills, for the last 6 months. None of the patients had clinical evidence (history or examination) of recent or ongoing infection. Institutional Review Board approval was obtained for this study and patients' consent was obtained from all women prior to inclusion in the study.
Firstly, the PCOS patients were divided into two sub-groups PCOS IR group and PCOS without IR group, insulin resistance was judged by using the homeostatic model index (HOMA-IR), and 2.69 was selected as a cutoff point[16, 17]. Thirty cases of PCOS with insulin resistance (HOMA-IR ≥2.69), thirty cases of PCOS without insulin resistance (HOMA-IR < 2.69).
Secondly, the PCOS patients were divided into obese PCOS patients and lean PCOS patients. The diagnosis of obesity was based on the criteria of Asia-Oceania, which was defined by a BMI greater than or equal to 25 kg/m2. Twenty-nine cases of obese PCOS (BMI ≥2.5 kg/m2) and thirty-one cases of lean PCOS (BMI < 2.5 kg/m2).
Blood samples were obtained between days 2 and 3 of the menstrual cycle. In patients with amenorrhea, bleeding was induced by progestogen and blood samples were taken thereafter. If no bleeding occurred, blood samples were taken after excluding pregnancy by a commercially available pregnancy test. Blood was taken from the antecubital vein after a 12-hours overnight fasting. Samples were immediately centrifuged, and serum was separated and frozen at -20°C until assayed.
Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated as follows: weight (kilograms)/height2 (meters). Homeostasis model assessment index for IR (HOMA-IR) was calculated as follows: fasting insulin (mIU/l) × fasting glucose (mmol/L)/22.5.
Serum was separated and frozen at -20°C until assayed. Fasting insulin (FIN), follicle- stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and testosterone (T) levels were determined by chemiluminescence-immunoassay (CLIA) and fasting glucose (FBG) levels were detected using the glucose oxidase method. Serum IL-18 levels were measured using ELISA (Human IL-18 ELISA Kit, Bender MedSystems. Ltd., Vienna, Austria) with a lower limit of detection of 9.2 pg/mL and mean intra- and interassay coefficients of variation of 6.5 and 8.1%, respectively.
Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 11.5 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL), with P < 0.05 being considered statistically significant. We analyzed the difference of serous components in three groups by correlation analysis, and the correlation between the levels of these serous components by linear regression analysis.
The mean level of IL-18 in PCOS IR group was 243.1 pg/mL (S.D. = 64.2), in the PCOS without IR group the mean level was 174.3 pg/mL (S.D. = 66.8) and in the control group the mean level was 122.4 pg/mL (S.D. = 40.2). Serum IL-18 concentrations were increased in PCOS patients irrespective of the presence or absence of IR, and PCOS women with IR presented with increased IL-18 level than PCOS without IR. PCOS patients presented with increased LH, T, HOMA-IR and LH/FSH levels, especially in PCOS group with IR, and there was a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) (Table 1).
Values are given as means ± SD.
*Compare with controls, P < 0.05; Δcompared with PCOS patients without IR, P < 0.05.
The mean level of IL-18 in obese PCOS women was 247.5 pg/mL (S.D. = 63.6), in the lean PCOS women the mean level was 172.5 pg/mL (S.D. = 64.0) and in control group the mean level was 122.5 pg/mL (S.D. = 40.2). Serum IL-18 concentration was increased in PCOS patients irrespective of the presence or absence of obese, moreover, the obese PCOS patients presented with higher IL-18 level than lean PCOS patients (P = 0.000). Obese PCOS women presented with increased fasting insulin, LH, T, HOMA-IR and LH/FSH, compared with lean PCOS women. The mean level of IL-18 in lean controls was 118.6 pg/mL (S.D. = 34.9). Serum IL-18 concentration was higher in lean PCOS patients than in controls (P = 0.000). Serum level of fasting insulin, LH, T, HOMA-IR and LH/FSH were higher in PCOS women than in controls with normal BMI, and there was a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) (Table 2).
*Compare with lean PCOS, P < 0.05; Δcompared with lean controls P < 0.05.
Serum IL-18 concentrations was correlated with BMI (r = 0.688, P = 0.000), HOMA-IR (r = 0.599, P = 0.000), T (r = 0.602, P = 0.000) and LH/FSH (r = 0.468, P = 0.000) (Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4).
Correlations of serum IL-18 concentrations with body mass index(BMI).
Correlations of serum IL-18 concentrations with Homa IR.
Correlations of serum IL-18 concentrations with testosterone(T).
Correlations of serum IL-18 concentrations with LH/FSH.
Linear regression analysis, including serum IL-18 concentration as the dependent variable and stepwise (probability of F to enter ≤ 0.05; probability of F to remove ≥ 0.10) introduction of BMI, HOMA-IR, T levels and LH/FSH as independent variables, showed that HOMA-IR, BMI and T determined 54.7% serum IL-18 concentration, [IL-18 = - 34.708 + 9.022 × HOMA-IR + 6.692 × BMI (kg/m2) + 29.066 × T (nmol/L); R2 = 0.547; F = 24.745; P = 0.000], whereas LH/FSH was removed from the regression equation. Therefore, serum IL-18 levels appear to be determined by BMI, T and IR, and serum level of T seemed to be the most important influencing factor.
IL-18 was first described as an IFN-γ inducing factor, and has multiple functions which include of the synthesis of IFN-γ by T cells and NK cells, promotion of Th1-type immune response, augmentation of proliferative response and cytokine production of activated T cells. Meanwhile, IL-18 leads to activities against pathogens, by activating effector cells involved in the cellular interactions that occur during inflammation [19, 20]. In our study, serum IL-18 concentration was increased in PCOS patients irrespective of the presence or absence of IR and obesity. Therefore, the PCOS disease per se has correlation with IL-18, not dependent on IR and obesity.
In our study, PCOS patients complicated with IR and obesity presented with increased IL-18 level, and serum IL-18 concentration had positive correlation with IR and BMI, it seemed that IR and obesity may accelerate the increase of serum IL18 level. The correlation of IL-18 level with BMI observed in our study also suggested that IL-18 might be produced by adipose tissue. In 2004, Escobar-Morreale et al had reported that PCOS and obesity induced an increase in serum IL-18 levels, which was also associated with several indexes of global and visceral adiposity and with IR. IL-18 secretion by adipose tissue has been explored or reported elsewhere, but the mechanism needs to be addressed by future studies.
In our series, IL-18 concentration had positive correlation with T, and linear regression analysis showed that serum IL-18 concentration was determined by T, BMI and HOMA IR, but especially by T. Moreover, it seemed that hyperandrogenism was correlated with serum level of IL-18, and it is a crucial factor of increased level of IL-18, which might be the reason for PCOS patients who without insulin resistance and obesity have elevated IL-18, but the mechanism of it has not been clear, it need future study.
Mounting evidence suggests that IL-18 is involved in the pathogenesis of obstertrical disease and metabolic syndrome. Recently study showed that increased serum level of IL-18 was observed in preeclampsia , premature rupture of membranes, acute fatty liver of pregnancy and fetal growth restriction . So IL-18 maybe paly an important role in pregnancy. Futhermore, some recent reports showed that IL18 might be correlated with atherosclerosis and served as a cardiovascular risk marker [25, 26]. Although the definite demonstration of increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in PCOS women is still pending by now , cardiovascular risk factors cluster in these patients , and increased prevalence of coronary artery calcification , carotid atherosclerosis , and impairment in carotid viscoelastic properties have been reported in PCOS. Therefore, the increase of serum IL-18 concentration in PCOS patients might be due to the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis in these women.
In summary, the serum IL18 level was increased in PCOS patientsl, and correlaed with IR, obesity and hyperandrogenism. Moreover, since IL18 was a proinflammatory cytokine and a strong risk marker for cardiovascular disease, whether we can use anti-inflammatory drug to reduce the serum level of IL18 and consequently decrease the incidence of PCOS, which may shred a new light on prevention or treatment of PCOS, but it is still need be further investigated based on large population.
We thank all the blood donors and the doctors and nurses of the Reproductive Centre of Peking University Third Hospital for excellent assistance. Financial support: This work was supported by Doctoral Fund of Ministry of Education of China(20090001110090), 2009-2011 National Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholar(No. 30825038) and National Scientific and Technical Supporting Programs Funded by Ministry of Science & Technology of China(No.2007BA104B00).
YY, JQ, RL and MZ-L developed the concept and designed the study. YY, JQ and RL participated in the study execution, analysed and interpreted the data and drafted the manuscript. JQ and MZ-L revised the manuscript for intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Location and Facilities For businesses that have a retail or manufacturing component, this is an important section of your plan. Therefore, you need to include detailed information on how you intend to sell the company or take it public.
Mission Statement The mission statement reflects the core purpose and vision of the company. This is a complex question that you cannot answer until you complete your plan, so it is highly recommended you work your way through the entire writing process and in particular, complete the financial planning process.
For instance, if the plan is being presented only to strategic investors who understand the market, more graphs may be appropriate to convey information for which these investors already have background knowledge.
Feel free to shake up the line up over time. The more uncertainty that you can take off from the table, the better valuation you can get for your business. Professional writers, like those at OGS Capital, are business planning consultants who ask questions, do the necessary research, resolve inconsistencies, and adhere to quality standards.
When startups and new projects succeed, the U. What is the value proposition? It makes more sense to rely on professionals from the beginning.
It is a pharmacy retailer and it will solely focus on making itself easier for the customer to use that could mean so many things, such as innovating online to fulfill prescriptions to improved customer service within their stores.
Explain thoroughly in this section. What do you think your company is worth? However, not all business plans are used to raise capital. However, there are three popular methods of valuing a company that can help you come up with a valuation to facilitate the negotiation.
Make sure you give it plenty of attention, in your Business Plan. Developed in the early s, Dilemma Analysis gives you a way to: Since there is inherent uncertainty with a future stream of income, there are numerous ways to discount that expected income to account for risk. Is your industry growing?
But he had trusted Hitler more than he should have, showing that not all problems can be solved by negotiation alone. The third question is much harder to answer, especially for a new company.
The United States government was not short of advisors. Alternatively, if privately funded, what are the sources of funding? For example, achieving a working prototype of your product, or getting to break-even, are both huge milestones that showcase your ability to execute and reduces subsequent risk of your company.
You're in good company. This perspective usually assumes that designing and producing such a document is easy. Construction of new kitchen: Angel investors and VCs demand a large return on their investment since they are taking a large risk by investing into your company.
Equation to determine how much equity you should offer: Required Funds In this section you will tell the reader how much money you need to raise, what you are going to use it for, and how you got to the requested amount.
Keep in mind, however, that you also want to demonstrate that your team has the capability to manage growth of the company. The more uncertainty that you can take off from the table, the better valuation you can get for your business.
What do you think your company is worth? Finally, if the business plan is being presented to one or few investors, the amount of graphs and charts should reflect the wants, needs and sophistication of those few readers. The Marketing Plan is essential.
Tell your reader how your customers will see your business. Then it provides analysis charts that help you see what went right, and wrong.
What particular area of your industry to you fit? Connect it to your customers and readers, in turn.Graphs, Charts, and Tables • 1 Fnded b ent dlt datn Graphs, Charts, and Tables Lesson Plan Video Set up the video by reminding students that data is information and information is.
It’s tedious and time consuming, but it pays off. Companies who write a business plan are more than twice as likely to improve over the following year compared to companies who don’t, according to Bplans.
The Free Animated Business Infographics PowerPoint Template is a presentation of unique slides. The animation in template gives an effect of linked slides and prominent numbers.
The guide is an annotated version of the Business Plan template with notes from our Business Advisers about what type of information, examples and evidence to include in order to help us understand you and your business.
In this lesson, we will look at some practice problems involving tables, graph, and charts. We will specifically look at x- and y-axis graphs, pie charts, and bar graphs. SQL Server, Workload Group Stats Object. 12/04/; 2 minutes to read Contributors. In this article APPLIES TO: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse The SQLServer:Workload Group Stats object contains performance counters that report information about Resource Governor workload group statistics.
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Are strong traits really strengths? Or, are they potential derailers? Most assessments recognize that strong traits can be derailers but deal with it by simply acknowledging the person could sometimes exhibit the related derailing trait. Only Paradox Technology determines if a strong trait is actually a true strength, or a derailer.
Every trait can be a strength or a derailer depending if the trait is balanced by another seemingly opposite (paradoxical) trait. For example, if a person is strong in both Frankness and Diplomacy, both will be genuine balancing strengths when communicating. On the other hand, if a person has only one of the paradoxical traits, there will necessarily be a related counter-productive behavior, the strength of which depends on the extent of the imbalance. For example, a person with very strong Frankness and weak Diplomacy, will have a strong tendency to be disruptively blunt which leads to unnecessary upsets, mistrust, and employee turnover. Conversely, a person with very strong Diplomacy and week Frankness, will have a strong tendency to be evasive when communicating, causing unclarity and unresolved issues. In some cases, the person is weak in both Frankness and Diplomacy indicating they will try to avoid communication. The key is to appreciate and strengthen both sides of the paradox.
People who are imbalanced in a paradox tend to demonise the trait in which they are weak. For example, people who are strong in Frankness and weak in Diplomacy will see themselves as truthful and will consider Diplomacy to be untruthful. If they are challenged about being blunt, they may say "Do you want me to lie?" Or, "Do you want me to sugar coat what I am saying?". By understanding the balances related to paradox, they can begin to understand the negative consequences of their imbalance and start to develop a balanced approach to communication.
ParadoxTechnology analyses and determines a broad spectrum of potential counter-productive traits without having to ask negative questions on the questionnaire. This is vitally important since negative traits usually account for 60-75% of the factors that impact job success.
Paradox Technology measures how employees manage 12 paradoxical pairs of behaviours, each of which relate to an important core value.
There are four interpersonal core values: Confident receptiveness (Truth Exploring), Self-Accepting Humility (Healthy Self Esteem), Forthright Diplomacy (Effective Communication), and Helpful Assertiveness (Mutual Benefit).
There are four Achievement core values: Logical Intuition (Decision Approach), Poised Achievement (Motivation), Creative Persistence (Innovation), and Flexible Organizing (Organization).
There are four Leadership core values: Mindful Courage (Strategic Risking), Compassionate Enforcing (Holding Others Accountable), Authoritative Collaboration (Participation & Delegation), and Realistic Optimism (Strategic Acumen).
All of the Harrison Paradoxes relate to leadership and have a great impact on the organization which can either create a positive culture or a dysfunctional culture. For example, self-confidence can be a great strength for a leader but if it is not balanced with considering other ideas, self-confidence becomes dogmatism which stifles innovation and causes employee turnover. Conversely, leaders who are receptive to different ideas without having confidence in their own views will lack clarity and decisiveness which leads to confusion amongst the team.
Harrison Paradox Technology is embraced by organizations world-wide as the best means to determine leadership capability and job performance by providing a reliable map of the paradoxical balances that make or break leaders.
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Review question: What is the efficacy and safety of Tong-xin-luo capsules in preventing cardiovascular events after percutaneous coronary intervention, a procedure involving placing a stent to open up the heart's blood vessels, in patients with coronary heart disease?
Background: Coronary heart disease is a major cause of mortality globally. Percutaneous coronary intervention is regarded as a standard treatment for coronary heart disease to improve symptoms of heart-related chest pain. However, a major drawback of percutaneous coronary intervention is the need for a repeat procedure due to symptoms related to recurring narrowing of the heart's blood vessels. Previous studies have indicated that Tong-xin-luo capsule, a Chinese herbal medicine product, might be effective in preventing recurrence of narrowing of a blood vessel after percutaneous coronary intervention.
Study characteristics: We included sixteen randomised controlled trials (1063 participants) comparing Tong-xin-luo capsules plus conventional treatment with placebo plus/or conventional treatment (literature search date: though June 2014). All studies were undertaken in China. The sample size was from 50 to 178 and the duration of follow-up ranged from three months to two years.
Key results: We found that Tong-xin-luo may possibly reduce the risk of narrowing of a blood vessel detected by angiography, cardiovascular events (including myocardial infarction, angina and heart failure) and use of repeat procedure. Adverse events were seldom reported.
Quality of evidence: Because of high risk of bias for fifteen studies, imprecision and possible publication bias, the quality of evidence was low or very low for all study outcomes.
The addition of Tong-xin-luo to conventional Western medicine may possibly prevent restenosis and recurrence of cardiovascular events in patients with CHD after PCI. However, the data are limited by publication bias and high risk of bias for included studies. Further high-quality trials are required to evaluate the potential effects of this intervention.
Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a standard treatment for coronary heart disease (CHD). Restenosis, defined as a 50% reduction in luminal diameter at six months after PCI, indicates a need for revascularisation. Restenosis has proven to be a major drawback to PCI. Tong-xin-luo is one of the prophylactic strategies for cardiovascular events in patients after PCI that is widely used in China, but its efficacy and safety have not been systematically evaluated.
To systematically assess the efficacy and safety of Tong-xin-luo capsules in preventing cardiovascular events after PCI in patients with CHD.
We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials in The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE (OVID), EMBASE (OVID), WanFang, Chinese Biomedical Database, Chinese Medical Current Contents, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure from their inception to June 2014. We also searched other resources, including ongoing trials and research registries. We applied no language restrictions.
Randomised controlled trials of participants with CHD after PCI were included. Participants in the intervention group received Tong-xin-luo capsules for at least three months.
Two review authors independently extracted data and assessed the risk of bias. Any disagreements were resolved by discussion with a third review author. The primary outcomes included occurrence of angiographic restenosis and adverse events; the secondary outcomes included myocardial infarction, heart failure, angina, all cause mortality, mortality due to any cardiovascular event, use of revascularisation, patient acceptability, quality of life and cost-effectiveness. Dichotomous data were measured with risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
Sixteen studies involving 1063 participants were identified. The risk of bias for fifteen studies was high and along with imprecision and possible publication bias, this lowered our confidence in the results. There was low quality evidence that Tong-xi-luo reduced the rates of angiographic restenosis (RR 0.16, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.34), myocardial infarction (RR 0.32, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.66), heart failure (RR 0.26, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.62), and use of revascularisation (RR 0.26, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.45). There was very low quality evidence for the effect of Tong-xin-luo on all-cause mortality (RR 0.38, 95% CI 0.06 to 2.56), angina (RR 0.24, 95% CI 0.17 to 0.34) and death due to any cardiovascular event (RR 0.31, 95% CI 0.08 to 1.12). Adverse events were seldom reported, and included gastrointestinal reactions and nausea.
Does enhanced external counterpulsation reduce symptoms of chronic and refractory angina pectoris?
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Is blowing raspberries good for scuba divers?
Blowing raspberries is very different than blowing bubbles while scuba diving but can still be a lot of fun. Most of us probably don’t remember the first time we blew a raspberry as part of discovering our mouth at the age of just four to five months old. We most often blow raspberries to make others laugh because of the sound and the tickling sensation. It is usually an intimate gesture as it involves using the lips and tongue on another person’s belly to make a “pbbbt” sound. Although it originated in cockney slang, blowing a raspberry is widely and cross-culturally understood and practiced.
Similar breathing techniques are practiced during childbirth, by woodwind and brass musicians, yoga enthusiasts, and to help relieve shortness of breath. It is sometimes referred to as circular breathing. It requires breathing in through the nose and controlling the breath that is stored in the cheeks as it passes through pursed lips. In fact, this technique is used when playing the Digeridoo which might come in handy for divers visiting Australia. Blowing raspberries is often used to warm up for vocal performances such as singing and public speaking.
During SCUBA activities when divers are mouth breathing, circular breathing by inhaling through the nose is not possible and blowing raspberries into a regulator isn’t necessary. However, on dry land the technique may be one more way divers can develop breath control for relaxation underwater and optimizing use of air while diving.
The term blowing raspberries also references a raspberry tart and a sound of derision. But there is nothing condescending about the raspberry. It is an excellent source of good nutrition. Although a leaner belly may diminish the sound of blowing raspberries, eating raspberries may help divers maintain a trim waistline. One cup of raspberries has only 65 calories, 5 grams of sugar, 15 grams of carbohydrates, 1.5 grams of protein, 0.8 grams of fat, 8 grams of fiber, 186 grams of potassium, calcium, magnesium, vitamin B6, Iron and Vitamin C. Nutritional properties of raspberries are also thought to help prevent cardiovascular diseases and inhibit the growth of cancer cells.
Divers can stay healthy and have fun eating and blowing raspberries.
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But are filtration systems able to provide a true solution to the problem? With about 85% of homes having hard water, there is definitely a need for some sort of plumbing repair. If there is a continued need to maintain and service a filtration system, there will be a continued return to hard or contaminated water.
While it is easy to ignore hard water and water contamination. With small signs that this exists, there is a need to keep all systems inside a home or commercial building working properly in order to keep the water clean.
On sign is simply bad tasting water, indicating the need for HVAC or plumbers’ services. It is easy to assume that the water filter on the faucet will fix this problem if the water that you use to clean and bathe is dirty as well, then it is unhealthy for everyone in your home. So, there are filtration systems that work to help improve that quality of water all throughout your home.
It is important to remember that about 84% of American homes have air conditioning systems of some sort, while in the South about two-thirds of air conditioning systems are used all summer long. With the effect of air conditioning on water, there is much to consider on balancing the need for heating or cooling with having clean water throughout your home. While some additional appliances like tankless water heaters and others may use less energy and overall affect the home’s energy and water supply less, there is always much to do for healthier water.
Water filtration systems are some of the most highly effective options for filtering the water of any home or other building. No matter whether there may be trouble with the building’s plumbing, HAC system, air conditioning, or another system, there is likely much needed in order to help make sure that water remains healthy. It may be more than plumbers needed to help with water problems, especially when it may be the HVAC system or other appliances that are causing trouble with the water inside your home. It is helpful to have access to many contractors who can help evaluate the troubles with your water and determine whether a water filter may be a good fix or if something stronger will be needed.
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This blog post on the logistic regression algorithm is part of the blog post series Understanding AI Algorithms. Logistic regression is a regression algorithm as the name suggests, and can predict a numeric value in any range.
Logistic regression is similar to simple linear regression, but it is used to predict the outcome when there are only two options. For example, data about a customer are used to predict if he or she is going to buy your product or not. The likelihood of either option is calculated, and the customer is classified into the category with the highest probability, as either likely to buy, or not likely to buy.
The relationship between the variables is not presented by how much one will change if the other does, like in linear regression. Instead, the relationship is measured by the chance of belonging to the group who is likely to buy, as presented by an odds ratio.
Let’s look at another example. Say you are studying how customers respond to a campaign related to their personal characteristics. This model allows you to interpret if a customer with a certain characteristics increases or decreases the chance of getting a good response.
For example, it can determine if targeting customers that are younger increases the chance of getting a purchase.
The final model could predict if a customer is more likely to generate a purchase based on their age. This can also be interpreted as how much a certain customer’s age will increase or decrease the chance of making a purchase from a campaign.
Just like other models in the linear regression family, logistic models are easy to interpret. However, they require users to be familiar with odds and probability.
In our example of a marketing campaign, the model can tell you if there is a probability that specific characteristics in a customer is likely to lead to a sale or subscription. This type of model is also easy to update with new data and to make predictions of future observations (if there is a risk that a customer will no longer use your company’s service, for example).
However, just like the other regression types, the simplicity of logistic regression can cause problems when dealing with complex problems.
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Is it a planet orbiting a star, or a moon orbiting a planet? Or something entirely different? Those are the questions astronomers are asking themselves about an unusual group of objects 1600 light-years away. The system includes two brown dwarfs (massive objects not quite large enough to fuse hydrogen and thus qualify as a star), one of which is being circled by another object about 70% the mass of Earth. The objects were detected by researchers monitoring the flickerings of an even-more-distant star whose light is occasionally brought into sharper focus and thus made brighter because of the gravitational effects of the intervening objects. The size, arrangement, and spacing of the individual objects in the group can be inferred from the magnitude and timing of those fluctuations in light. The planet-sized object, whose closest analog in our solar system is Venus, orbits its host at a distance of about 50 million kilometers (about the same distance as Mercury’s closest approach to our sun) once every 18 months or so, the researchers estimate in The Astrophysical Journal. The mass ratio of the brown dwarf–planet pair is about the same as that between our sun and Uranus, and the mass ratio between Jupiter and its second-largest moon Callisto. So, the researchers say, the newly described system provides evidence that the processes by which planets and moons coalesce from disks of gas and dust (as depicted in their early stages around a brown dwarf, shown) can operate similarly at many different scales.
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The adrenergic input to the myocardium is primarily B-adrenoceptor mediated, with two distinct subtypes of beta adrenoceptors (B1 and B2) present in all chambers of the human heart The heart relies predominantly on B-adrenergic inotropic mechanisms to increase contractility and cardiac output in response to acute or chronic stress The net result of /З-adrenoceptor stimulation is an increase in intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) during systole which ultimately increases intracellular calcium for interaction with actin and myosin filaments. The increased cAMP concentration also favors more rapid reductions in intracellular calcium during diastole, thus allowing for more effective diastolic relaxation and ventricular filling. Although different B-agonists may bind to the same B-adrenoceptor, the result of this stimulation may be dramatically different, as some agonists have a more potent ability to increase cAMP than others. Moreover, many of the available B-adrenergic agonists bind to other receptor types, including dopaminergic (DA-1) receptors (dopamine, dopexamine) or ai-receptors (dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine). Not only do B-agonists vary in their ability to increase cAMP (and therefore intracellular calcium), but stimulation of a single B-adrenoceptor leads to the production of up to 10 times more cAMP molecules than does stimulation of a single B1-adrenoceptor Under normal conditions, the ratio of B1 to B2 receptors in the right and left ventricular tissue is 4:1.
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How would you feel about a blueberry muffin that you could eat to your heart's content and still have enough to share? When you make the recipe that follows, you get just that! Don't be surprised (and don't feel guilty) if you find you want it all for yourself. This dish has the classic taste of a blueberry muffin without having to run out to your favorite breakfast place to get it.
This casserole doesn't just let the blueberries have all the fun. Before baking, it gets covered with a streusel topping that is not only sweet and delicious, but also adds a very nice crunch to the bread pudding texture underneath. This is one breakfast or brunch casserole that will leave you with plenty to go around or just to snack on for days!
Combine the eggs, 1 cup of milk, 1/4 cup of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in a large bowl.
Add the bread crumbs and stir gently to coat. Pour bread crumbs into prepared casserole dish.
Combine the cream cheese, remaining 2 tablespoons of milk, and 2 tablespoons of sugar in a large bowl. Gently stir in 1 cup of the blueberries.
Spread blueberry mixture evenly over the bread crumbs and top with remaining blueberries.
Cover the casserole dish with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight.
In the morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and remove casserole from the refrigerator. Let the casserole stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
While casserole is coming to room temperature, make streusel topping. Combine the brown sugar, flour, and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon well in a bowl.
Cut the cold butter into the flour mixture until the mixture looks like small pebbles and all ingredients are fully incorporated.
Sprinkle streusel mixture over top of the casserole.
Place casserole into the oven and bake for 45 minutes, until casserole is golden and cooked through, and the streusel topping is cooked through and crispy.
Remove casserole from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
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What is the natural gradient, and how does it work?
A few months ago I attempted to understand the natural gradient, and wrote a post to help organize what I knew. Unfortunately there was too little detail and all I really understood was a "black box" version of the natural gradient: what it did, not how it worked on the inside.
In this post, I'm going to go into detail about how the natural gradient works, explained at a level for people with only a small understanding of the linear algebra and statistical methods.
What is the natural gradient?
First off, we must understand standard gradient descent.
Let's say we have a neural network, parameterized by some vector of parameters. We want to adjust the parameters of this network, so the output of our network changes in some way. In most cases, we will have a loss function that tells our network how it's output should change.
Using backpropagation, we calculate the derivatives of each parameter with respect to our loss function. These derivatives represent the direction in which we can update our parameters to get the biggest change in our loss function, and is known as the gradient.
We can then adjust the parameters in the direction of the gradient, by a small distance, in order to train our network.
A slight problem appears in how we define "a small distance".
In standard gradient descent, distance means Euclidean distance in the parameter space.
However, defining "distance" in terms of how much our parameters is adjusted isn't always correct. To visualize this, let's take a look at two pairs of gaussian distributions.
In both distributions, the mean is changed from -1 to 1, a distance of two. However, it's clear that the first distribution changed far more than the second.
This leads to a key insight: our gradient measures how much our output is affected by changing a parameter. However, this affect on the output must be seen in context: a shift of +2 in the first distribution means a lot more than a shift of +2 in the second one.
What the natural gradient does is redefine the "small distance" we update our parameters by. Not all parameters are equal. Rather than treating a change in every parameter equally, we need to scale each parameter's change according to how much it affects our network's entire output distribution.
First off, let's define a new form of distance, that corresponds to distance based on KL divergence, a measure of how much our new distribution differs from our old one.
We do this by defining a metric matrix, which allows us to calculate the distance of a vector according to some custom measurement.
If our metric matrix is the identity matrix, the distance is the same as if we just used Euclidean distance.
However, most of the time our metric won't be the identity matrix. Having a metric allows our measurement of distance to account for relationships between the various parameters.
As it turns out, we can use the Fisher Information Matrix as a metric, and it will measure the distance of delta in terms of KL divergence.
The Fisher Information Matrix is the second derivative of the KL divergence of our network with itself. For more information on why, see this article.
The concept of what a Fisher matrix is was confusing for me: the code below might help clear things up.
Now we've got a metric matrix that measures distance according to KL divergence when given a change in parameters.
With that, we can calculate how our standard gradient should be scaled.
For an explanation on how to get the above formula, see this article.
Notice that if the Fisher is the identity matrix, then the standard gradient is equivalent to the natural gradient. This makes sense: using the identity as a metric results in Euclidean distance, which is what we were using in standard gradient descent.
Finally, I want to note that computing the natural gradient may be computationally intensive. In an implementation of TRPO, the conjugate gradient algorithm is used to solve for natural_grad in natural_grad * fisher = standard_grad.
Information in this post was taken from these three articles. I don't have any code specifcally for this, but my TRPO code uses the natural gradient and is relatively well-commented.
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This article is about the comic book Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man. For the 1990s series, see Peter Parker: Spider-Man. For the animated television series, see The Spectacular Spider-Man (TV series).
The Spectacular Spider-Man is a comic book and magazine series starring Spider-Man and published by Marvel Comics.
Following the success of Spider-Man's original series, The Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel felt the character could support more than one title. This led the company in 1968 to launch a short-lived magazine, the first to bear the Spectacular name. In 1972, Marvel more successfully launched a second Spider-Man ongoing series, Marvel Team-Up, in which he was paired with other Marvel heroes. A third monthly ongoing series, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man, debuted in 1976.
The Spectacular Spider-Man was initially a two-issue magazine published by Marvel in 1968, as an experiment in entering the black-and-white comic-magazine market successfully pioneered by Warren Publishing and others. It sold for 35 cents when standard comic books cost 12 cents and Annuals and Giants 25 cents. It represented the first Spider-Man spin-off publication aside from the original series' summer Annuals, begun in 1964.
The first issue (cover-dated July 1968) featured a painted, color cover by men's adventure-magazine artist Harry Rosenbaum, in acrylic paint on illustration board, over layouts by The Amazing Spider-Man artist John Romita Sr. The 52-page black-and-white Spider-Man story, "Lo, This Monster!", was by writer Stan Lee, penciler Romita Sr. and inker Jim Mooney. A 10-page origin story, "In The Beginning!", was by Lee, penciler Larry Lieber and inker Bill Everett.
The feature story was reprinted in color, with some small alterations and bridging material by Gerry Conway, in The Amazing Spider-Man #116–118 (Jan.–March 1973) as "Suddenly...the Smasher!", "The Deadly Designs of the Disruptor!", and "Countdown to Chaos!" (with additional inking by Tony Mortellaro on the latter two). These versions were themselves reprinted in Marvel Tales #95–97 (Sept.-Oct. 1978).
The second and final issue (Nov. 1968) also sported a painted cover and the interior was in color as well. Lee, Romita and Mooney again collaborated on its single story, "The Goblin Lives!", featuring the Green Goblin. A next-issue box at the end promoted the planned contents of the unrealized issue #3, "The Mystery of the TV Terror". A version of the Goblin story, trimmed by 18 pages, was reprinted in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #9 (1973), and portions of the "TV Terror" costume were reused for the costume of the Prowler.
Both issues of the magazine were reprinted in their entirety (albeit reduced to comic size) in the collection Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man #7 (ISBN 0-7851-1636-2). The first issue was reprinted again in 2002 as The Spectacular Spider Man Facsimile, exactly as it was originally presented.
Titled Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man on its December 1976 debut, and shortened to simply The Spectacular Spider-Man with #134 (Jan. 1988), this was the second Amazing Spider-Man monthly comic-book spin-off series, after Marvel Team-Up, which also featured Spider-Man. The monthly title ran 264 issues (including a #-1 issue) until November 1998.
[Spectacular Spider-Man] was in response to the fact that I had a deal to script several ongoing [series] for Marvel at the time. Stan [Lee] wanted me back on Spider-Man, in particular, but I didn't want to take Amazing Spider-Man from Len Wein, who was by this time the regular writer, so Stan saw it as an opportunity to launch a second Spider-Man title, which was something he'd wanted to do for a while. ... the full, original title was "Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man." The notion was we'd focus more on the supporting characters and Peter's social life, but before we could really develop that I left Marvel again, not long after that.
Buscema drew the title until mid-1978. After Buscema's departure, a succession of artists (including Mike Zeck, Jim Mooney, Ed Hannigan, Marie Severin and Greg LaRocque) penciled the series for approximately five years. Frank Miller, who would later become the artist on Daredevil, first drew the character in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #27. Scripting initially alternated between Conway and Archie Goodwin until mid-1977, when Bill Mantlo took over. During this era of Spectacular, the stories focused more on Parker's campus life as an undergraduate student/teacher's assistant at Empire State University and giving more attention to his colleagues than to the more long-running supporting characters in Amazing. Mantlo's first run on the title featured frequent appearances by the White Tiger, Marvel's first superhero of Hispanic descent and the first appearance of the supervillain Carrion. He used the series to wrap up unresolved plot elements from The Champions comic book series and concluded his first run with a crossover with Fantastic Four #218 (May 1980). Mantlo was succeeded by Roger Stern, who wrote for the title from #43 (June 1980) to #61 (December 1981). When Stern departed to write for The Amazing Spider-Man, Mantlo returned to scripting Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man; Mantlo's second tenure at the title lasted until April 1984. Mantlo's second run introduced the superhero duo Cloak and Dagger, created by Mantlo and Hannigan in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #64 (March 1982), and included a story arc which took place from issues #73–79 (Dec. 1982 – June 1983), in which Doctor Octopus and the Owl compete for control of the New York underworld, Octopus almost destroys New York with a nuclear device and the Black Cat is critically injured. Issue #86 (January 1984) was part of the "Assistant Editors Month" event and featured a story drawn by Fred Hembeck.
Al Milgrom took over scripting as well as art on the title with issue #90 (May 1984) and worked on it through #100 (March 1985). Milgrom imbued the book with a more whimsical tone, for example, pitting Spider-Man against The Spot, an enemy who was so ridiculous that he gave Spider-Man fits of laughter. Jim Owsley, then-editor of the Spider-Man books, disapproved of this approach and had Milgrom replaced as writer by newcomer Peter David in 1985. David and artist Rich Buckler, said Owsley, had the series "focusing on stories with a serious, 'grown-up' tone and more complex themes". The most notable story arc of the David/Buckler era is "The Death of Jean DeWolff" (#107–110, Oct. 1985–Jan. 1986), in which Spider-Man's ally, NYC Police Captain Jean DeWolff – a supporting character in the Spider-Man comics since 1976 – is murdered by the vigilante/serial killer the Sin-Eater. This multi-part story guest-starred Daredevil. The storyline "Kraven's Last Hunt" by writer J.M. DeMatteis and artists Mike Zeck and Bob McLeod crossed over into Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #131 and 132.
With issue #134 (Jan. 1988), the "Peter Parker" part of the title was removed and the series became simply The Spectacular Spider-Man. The logo changed from a distinctive design to using the same design as that of The Amazing Spider-Man and the 1968 Spectacular Spider-Man magazine; this logo did not change until issue #218 (Nov. 1994). Sal Buscema returned as the regular artist, staying with the title from early 1988 to late 1996; throughout the series' run, Buscema drew over 100 issues, making him by far the series' most frequent contributor.
After his "Return of the Sin-Eater" arc (#134–136, Jan.–March 1988), Peter David was removed as writer. Editor Owsley said editor-in-chief Jim Shooter "disliked Peter's work intensely". David, in a 2005 interview, believed, "I was fired off Spider-Man because it was felt at the upper editorial level that a novice comic-book writer shouldn't be handling the adventures of Marvel's flagship character". Former series writer Gerry Conway, who additionally wrote Web of Spider-Man from 1988 to 1990, returned to Spectacular after which he left both books to become a story editor on the TV series Father Dowling Mysteries. Conway stated in 1991 that "I understand the character a lot better now than I did when I was nineteen. And one of the nice things about the Marvel characters is that you can keep them fresh by changing them just a bit." His 1988–1991 run on Spectacular included such story arcs as the "Lobo Brothers Gang War", and the conflict between Daily Bugle editor Joe Robertson and his former friend, the albino criminal Tombstone. He used his joint duty as Web of Spider-Man writer to tie together storylines in the two separate titles and strengthen the continuity between them. Throughout their run, Conway and Buscema collaborated using the Marvel method, occasionally working out details of the plot over the phone.
J. M. DeMatteis became the regular writer in mid-1991, injecting a grim, psychological tone into the series. DeMatteis began his run with the story arc "The Child Within" (#178–184, July 1991–Jan. 1992), featuring the return of the Harry Osborn version of the Green Goblin. As written by DeMatteis, Harry sank further into insanity and gained the same super-strength possessed by his father, battling Spider-Man again in #189 (June 1992), before being killed in #200 (May 1993). In an undated 2000s interview, DeMatteis said, "I really loved the two years on Spectacular Spider-Man that I wrote with Sal Buscema drawing. Talk about underrated! Sal is one of the best storytellers and a wonderful collaborator. I loved that run." During this period Spider-Man editor Danny Fingeroth would hold conferences in New York with all the Spider-Man creative staff, allowing them to brainstorm ideas and discuss future storylines.
DeMatteis left the book in mid-1993 to write The Amazing Spider-Man. Steven Grant had a brief run before the book was set adrift with a succession of fill-in issues which ran through late 1994, when former Amazing Spider-Man writer Tom DeFalco took over. By this time, all the Spider-books were affected by the controversial "Clone Saga" that culminated with Spectacular Spider-Man #226 (July 1995), and Fingeroth convinced DeFalco that the series needed a regular writer to help guide the crossover story. This story revealed (though it was later reversed) that the Spider-Man who had appeared in the previous 20 years of comics was a clone of the real Spider-Man. This tied into a publishing gap after #229 (Oct. 1995), when the title was temporarily replaced by The Spectacular Scarlet Spider #1–2 (Nov.–Dec. 1995), featuring the "original" Peter Parker. The series picked up again with #230 (Jan. 1996). Initially newcomer Todd Dezago wrote the scripts for DeFalco's plots, since DeFalco was already writing two other series and wanted to groom DeZago to be the long-term writer on Spectacular Spider-Man.
Todd Dezago then wrote for a year before DeMatteis returned through May 1998. DeMatteis later commented, "We did some nice stories, like the one about Flash Thompson's childhood. But, in general, I don't hold that last run ... very dear to my heart." Luke Ross succeeded Sal Buscema as the artist and remained until the series ended, but there was no regular writer for the last half-year with Glenn Greenberg, Roger Stern, John Byrne and Howard Mackie all contributing during this time. The final issue was #263 (Nov. 1998).
Spectacular Spider-Man vol. 2, titled without the definite article "The", is a 27-issue monthly series published from September 2003 to June 2005. Each issue was written by Paul Jenkins (except #23–26, by Samm Barnes). The book's primary pencillers were Humberto Ramos and Mark Buckingham.
The comic included the storyline Spider-Man: Disassembled in which Spider-Man met a new enemy called the Queen who wanted him as her mate. Her kiss caused him to slowly mutate into a giant spider who metamorphosed into human form with enhanced strength and agility, along with organic webbing and a psychic link with insects and arachnids.
This comic also included the sequel to "Sins Past", "Sins Remembered", in which Peter went to Paris to meet Sarah Stacy and resolved the issues between them.
Spectacular Spider-Man Adventures was a title published by Panini Comics in the United Kingdom from November 1995 to September 2005, although the Adventures portion of the title was often dropped from the cover page. It featured a mix of reprinted American material, as well as originally produced British material. Spectacular was aimed at a younger audience than Panini's other Spider-Man reprint title Astonishing Spider-Man and was loosely based on the continuity of the 1990s animated series.
Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man was published from June 2017 to December 2018. After the first six issues, the series reverted to legacy numbering with issue #297 as part of the line-wide Marvel Legacy relaunch. The series' original creative team had Chip Zdarsky as writer, with Adam Kubert providing the artwork. Notable recurring characters included Teresa Durand, J. Jonah Jameson, Johnny Storm, and original character Rebecca London.
Various issues as well as the annual were illustrated by guest artists; Kubert's final issue as artist was #307, excluding covers. Zdarsky left the series with issue #310. The series ended with issue #313, the final three issues being a tie-in to the Spider-Geddon event written by Sean Ryan.
^ a b Saffel, Steve (2007). "A Not-So-Spectacular Experiment". Spider-Man the Icon: The Life and Times of a Pop Culture Phenomenon. London, United Kingdom: Titan Books. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-84576-324-4.
^ "John Romita Sr. and Harry Rosenbaum – The Spectacular Spider-Man #1 Cover Original Art (Marvel, 1968)". Heritage Auctions. July 29, 2004. Archived from the original on January 30, 2012.
^ Lee, Stan; Romita Sr., John (March 2002). The Spectacular Spider Man Facsimile. Marvel Comics. p. 64. ISBN 978-0785108320.
^ David, Peter; Greenberger, Robert (2010). The Spider-Man Vault: A Museum-in-a-Book with Rare Collectibles Spun from Marvel's Web. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Running Press. p. 113. ISBN 0762437723.
^ Williams, Scott E. (October 2010). "Gerry Conway: Everything but the Gwen Stacy Sink". Back Issue!. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing (#44): 16.
^ Saffel "Weaving a Broader Web", p. 73: "Frank Miller was the guest penciler for The Spectacular Spider-Man #27, February 1979, written by Bill Mantlo. [The issue's] splash page was the first time Miller's [rendition of] Daredevil appeared in a Marvel story."
^ Manning "1970s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 101: "Bill Mantlo was the regular scribe of both Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man and The Champions...The Champions had recently been cancelled, and Mantlo decided to tie up a few of the title's loose ends in his other comic."
^ Manning "1980s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 113: "In the conclusion to a tale that had begun in the pages of Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #42 (May), writer [Bill] Mantlo and artist John Byrne had the latest incarnation of the Frightful Four face off against their Fantastic Four counterparts.
^ Manning "1980s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 114: "Writer Roger Stern would begin his long tenure as a Spider-scribe with an impressive run on Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man, beginning with this issue illustrated by Mike Zeck."
^ DeFalco, Tom "1980s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 207: "Cloak and Dagger's first appearance was written by Bill Mantlo and illustrated by Ed Hannigan. A socially conscious writer, Mantlo used the characters to address the problems of teenage runaways and the dangers of illegal drugs."
^ Manning "1980s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 133: "Shot and stabbed and at death's door, the Black Cat truly needed her nine lives, but luckily began the long road to recovery thanks to the hard work of local hospital staff."
^ Manning "1980s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 147: "In the final issue of Al Milgrom's stint as writer on Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man, which had begun with issue #90 (May 1984), Milgrom once again served as both author and artist in a tale that wrapped up the Spider-Man/Black Cat romance."
^ Priest, Christopher J. (James Owsley) (May 2002). "Adventures in the Funny Book Game: Chapter Two Oswald: Why I Never Discuss Spider-Man". Digital-Priest.com. Archived from the original on March 17, 2013.
^ Manning "1980s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 150: "Revered as one of the finest Spider-Man stories ever told, this four-part saga, written by Peter David and penciled by Rich Buckler, was a decidedly dark tale for the usually lighthearted web-slinger."
^ DeFalco "1980s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 231: "The six-issue story arc...ran through all the Spider-Man titles for two months."
^ Amash, Jim (2010). Sal Buscema: Comics' Fast & Furious Artist. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing. pp. 68–71. ISBN 978-1605490212.
^ Priest, "Ball Game" (requires scrolldown).
^ Daniels, Les (1991). Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics. New York, New York: Harry N. Abrams. p. 222. ISBN 9780810938212.
^ DeFalco "1980s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 238: Created by writer Gerry Conway and artist Sal Buscema, Carlos and Eduardo Lobo possessed the mutant ability to transform into werewolves.
^ a b c d e f Aushenker, Michael (October 2010). "Not Amazing, but Spectacular". Back Issue!. TwoMorrows Publishing (#44): 53–62.
^ Manning, Matthew K. "1990s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 263: "The 200th issue of The Spectacular Spider-Man, written by J. M. DeMatteis and with art by Sal Buscema, featured the shocking death of Spider-Man's close friend, Harry Osborn."
^ Epstein, Dan (June 24, 2002). "Interview: J.M. DeMatteis". SlushFactory.com. p. 3. Archived from the original on March 6, 2005.
^ Manning "2000s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 316: "With Peter Parker: Spider-Man coming to a close in August , writer Paul Jenkins once again took up his seat behind the computer to document Spider-Man's life."
^ Stevens, Tim (February 15, 2017). "Spider-Man Goes Spectacular". Marvel.com. Marvel Comics. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
"Priest: A Writer's Confessions". (Christopher Priest interviewed by comics writer Joe Casey), Newsarama.com. 2004. Archived from the original on November 7, 2004.
The Trades (Aug. 14, 2002): "Peter David: An Apropos Conversation"
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If you are exploring the Maldives for the first time, and you are thinking about the things that you should consider first, this article will help you.
The Maldives is a group of islands located in the Indian Ocean. It is a majestic collection of tropical islands, complete with sprawling beaches, clear blue skies, fantastic views, coral reefs in the ocean, great food, wonderful hospitality, and excellent hotels for you to stay in. The resorts in the Maldives are situated within their own islands, ranging in size from two and a half to one hundred fifty kilometers across. This means that the amenities that the hotel that you will be staying in, such as restaurants, sports facilities, bars, and entertainment areas, are the only ones that you will get to use during your entire visit.
Most of the hotels in the country offer boat rides to nearby fishing village islands. All in all, there are approximately more than one hundred hotels for you to choose from when visiting and exploring the Maldives. However, if you want to experience the authentic feel of the archipelagic nation, the best choice will be to consider staying in one of the guesthouses available in five islands that offer reasonably priced rooms.
The major international airport of the Maldives, the Hulhule Airport in the capital Male, sits on its own island. Therefore, to get to your hotel where you will be staying, you will have to take modes of transportation such as a boat, a domestic flight, or a seaplane, depending on the distance of your hotel from the airport. If your resort requires you to board a seaplane to get there, it is essential to know that seaplane services are only available during daylight, so if you happen to arrive too late, you will have to spend the night at Male to wait for the next seaplane schedule.
With the Maldives being known for its glorious beaches, underwater life, and watersports, there is so much to do when exploring the Maldives, especially if you are a diver. Hotels usually do not offer an excursion or tour, except for the few instances wherein they will offer a visit to a local inhabited island. Therefore, if you are not into sports or into a quiet time under the golden sun with a book in hand for extended hours during the day, then this may not just be the place for you.
When looking for a place to stay, the price is the top consideration. Luckily, Maldives offers choices for different people with different budget limits. When it comes to accommodation types, Maldivian hotels offer various room types. However, you should be wary of any changes you may make such as a room upgrade or a switch for a better view since this usually significantly affects the total cost of your vacation.
Also, you should also carefully check the amenities that the hotel you choose offers since no excursions will be made outside and you will mostly have to make do with the hotel’s amenities during your stay.
One of the most famous landmarks in San Francisco is the Golden Gate Bridge. It was first built in 1937. The world-renowned bridge is 1.7 miles long and links San Francisco to Sausalito. It is said that around 120,000 vehicles drive across the bridge daily. Pedestrians can cross the bridge on foot by walking on a pedestrian walkway. Bikers can also enjoy the view of the city on the Western side of the bridge.
The Golden Gate Bridge’s orange arches have become the city’s enduring and iconic symbol for several decades now. The Golden Gate name can be attributed to the Golden Gate Strait, the body of water that connects the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Most tourists say that the bridge is perhaps one of the most awe-inspiring sceneries in the city, making it one of the most photographed landmarks in the whole world.
Since the late 19th Century, cable cars have been one of the conventional modes of transportation in the city of San Francisco. The cable cars run on tracks and are moved by huge underground cables on three different routes. Even from several blocks away, the bells of the cable cars can be heard.
Riding the city’s iconic cable cars can be a thrilling experience as they move past up and down the hills of the city. You will be able to see breathtaking neighborhoods along your route. The cable car experience is perhaps one of the things a tourist wants to do while in San Francisco. However, there are only a few places to go, and the wait can sometimes be too long. If you are persistent, the wait is not an issue as the experience is worth it.
What was once a notorious place has become one of the most visited landmarks of the city. It is an island that houses a prison of the same name. The Alcatraz Prison used to house some of the world’s notorious criminals. The prison was closed in the year 1960, and the stories about the prison have become some of the world’s legendary tales.
A visit to the Alcatraz can be a very exhilarating experience to any tourist. The mysticism behind the place’s beauty was further pumped up due to the several movies that depicted the lives of criminals who were once incarcerated inside Alcatraz.
Dragon’s Gate is what they call the entrance of San Francisco’s world-renown Chinatown. The entrance is located at Grant Avenue and Bush Street. Inside Chinatown are 24 blocks of hustle and bustle, most of which take place in the oldest street in the city, Grant Avenue. The Chinatown is perhaps the best place in San Francisco to travel on foot as it is full of food markets, exotic shops, restaurants, and museums. Visitors can enjoy shopping and dining. You can buy some ancient potions and artifacts from some stores located in the area, or you can also taste some of the great dim sums and witness how fortune cookies are made from some food stalls in the area.
It is said that any travel experience is not complete without tasting the place’s local food and delicacies. San Francisco is considered one of America’s best restaurant cities as it houses some of the world’s most popular restaurants. San Francisco culinary chefs are known for their excellence and ingenuity when it comes to cooking. They combine fresh local ingredients while also incorporating international flavors. You can choose any cuisine of your liking- from Chinese, Italian, Spanish, French, Japanese, Indian, Mexican or even “fusion,” a combination of two or three different cuisines.
These are just five things to do in San Francisco. However, there are so much more to do in the city aside from the five mentioned. You may need to come up with a solid itinerary when visiting the city as you may get lost due to the many exciting things that this city has to offer.
Napa Valley, a vast, lush green, picturesque travel destination in the California region housing premiere and world-class wines are being flocked not only by wine lovers all over the world but also of tourists from all walks of life. This is due to the place’s highly recommended restaurants offering delectable foods, hotels of immensely great accommodation, a variety of activities to experience, and the personal touch of nature, which is a breath of fresh air from the usual urban destinations.
Labeled as California’s Wine County, the acres of wine yards, bordered in between two magnificent mountain ranges, are surprisingly not the state’s largest wine-generating region. Napa Valley is known as such not so much because of quantity but more on the exceptional quality of their wine. With all these information, a tourist is naturally expected to cash out a lot of money for this trip to happen, but knowing these practical tips will make you enjoy the journey without the need to splurge too much.
Let’s start, of course, with the pride of Napa Valley – Wines.
Wine tasting done at wineries around the area is usually for $15 to $20 per winery.
For cheaper tastings, you may avail of a Napa Downtown Card for $30 to get the chance to taste different wines from 12 different tasting rooms instead of wineries. All these at your own pace – no need to hurry through all of them in just a day. Five rooms a day is ideal. The card can be purchased at the Napa Valley Visitor Center where you can also ask for current, additional discounts, promos, and specials, or you may call: 707 257 0322 in advance.
For those interested in the process of winemaking, they may avail free educational tours offered by particular wineries such as Frog’s Leap and Robert Mondavi Winery with a $20-$25 tasting fee.
If you’re a solo traveler, one way to save money for lodging is to seek help from Couchsurfing.com, a website that connects the locals with the travelers who are in need of a place to stay and don’t mind becoming an honorary member of another family for a while. On the bright side, you get the chance to witness what it is like to live there as a local, personally experiencing their rich culture, and even bag handy, insider tips to keep in mind when roaming around Napa Valley if you have a tight budget. Bear in mind though that reservations must be made in advance since they always receive a lot of requests and there are only limited hosts to cater the tourists.
You may also check out Airbnb.com which is another search engine made explicitly for tourists looking for places to stay based on their location, within the range of their budget (starting from as low as $10), and the type of room (whether you plan to rent the entire place, a private, or shared room) they wish to avail.
There are also many motels and inns that have prices that range from as low as $79 to not more than $200 such as the El Bonita Motel, Flamingo Conference Resort & Spa, Calistoga Inn Restaurant & Brewery, and the Jack London Lodge.
If you’re aiming for budget-friendly food purchases, stick with sandwich shops or markets like the Oxbow Public Market for quick meals where you can also buy products that you can bring home with you for your family and friends. For fresh pieces of bread, you may check out Model Bakery located just behind the Oxbow market. Food trucks like AdHoc and burger stands like Gott & Roadside also offer fried chicken meals and burgers for lower prices.
And what better way to save money in food than to bring your own and cook it where you’ll be staying.
The cheapest mode of transportation around Napa Valley is with the use of a bike. Bike rentals cost around $45/day, and you can rent them in Calistoga Bikeshop and Napa Valley Bike Tour.
Other than bikes, you may also rely on Uber as it is known to operate around the world and charges $14 per 15 minutes of a 5-mile drive.
If you have your own car, it would be better to designate someone to do the driving for you. If not, you can settle for hired car services that cost from $35/hr. to as much as $115/hr.
Whether you are an adventure savant or an amateur traveler, you should know the essential items that constitute a first aid kit. Be sure that you are ready to attend to any kind of emergencies – from simple to serious ones – to avoid any disruptions in your itinerary. Listed below are the essentials for preparing a traveler’s kit.
These are the basic necessities of a first aid kit. They can be used for treating small injuries, cuts, scrapes, blisters, and wounds. They won’t take up much space on your kit, so be sure to stock up on these items in various assortments.
When you get a slightly deep or bigger wound, a surgical tape will help hold the gauze and dressing in place. Additionally, it can help strap sprains, strains, and other minor injuries.
A pair of tweezers may come in handy in removing splinters and other stinging objects. Tweezers can be used in cutting bandages, gauze, and surgical tape.
Be sure to pack a thermometer in your first aid kit. If you are backpacking and suddenly feel feverish, a thermometer will help in keeping track of your temperature.
Hand sanitizer is a recommended item for every traveler. Make it a habit to keep your hands clean. Same goes with rubbing alcohol. It can help in cleaning cuts and wounds. Rubbing alcohol is also used to sterilize any equipment you will need. Rubbing alcohol and hand sanitizer will help keep you clean when water is not accessible.
These would save your day in case you get diarrhea or vomiting – cases common amongst travelers. If you are traveling to an exotic locale, the food and surroundings may overwhelm your stomach. Packing your electrolytes will surely help rehydrate and replenish you. Drinks rich in electrolytes, such as Gatorade, can also be used.
Topical solutions include any medication or product applied to the skin. An antibiotic ointment will help in healing small cuts, wounds, and scrapes. Adding a hydrocortisone cream to your kit will help in getting rid of rashes, insect bite, and blisters. Lastly, sunscreen is a must-have for any traveler’s first aid kit. Pack a tube of your favorite sunscreen to block out harmful UV rays anywhere you go.
When traveling, it is essential to have access to a wide variety of allergy medications. Even if you don’t have allergic reactions that you are aware of, it is still a good idea to pack some allergy medications into your kit. You’ll never know what would trigger a reaction. Furthermore, there is a possibility that you would develop a type of sensitivity to some things that you haven’t encountered before.
To be safe, always be ready and take your Benadryl and antihistamines with you. It would be better if you have an EpiPen. Even if you don’t have known anaphylactic allergies, it won’t hurt to pack one. You may not even need to use it, but others might. Be sure to keep these items on hand.
For over-the-counter drugs, pack the commonly used for treating any ailments that may occur suddenly. Always include pain reducers for mild headaches and sore muscles. Add fever reducers, ibuprofen, Imodium, anti-hyperacidity tablets, and other vitamins.
Be sure that you have your personal medications with you whenever you travel. Add your prescription drugs into your first aid kit. More importantly, do not forget to carry your prescription copies with you, just in case you run out of meds and need to buy more.
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(CNN) -- Internet giant Yahoo has settled a lawsuit brought by the families of a Chinese dissident and a journalist, who claim they were jailed after the company cooperated with Chinese authorities, according to court documents.
Notification of the settlement was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California.
An attorney involved in the case who did not want to be identified told CNN the amount of the settlement was not disclosed.
The case was filed by dissident Wang Xiaoning; his wife, Yu Ling; Shi Tao, a reporter for a Chinese newspaper; and others not identified in court documents.
China's communist government sentenced Wang to 10 years in prison for sending out pro-democracy blogs.
Although he was sentenced in 2002 and has already served five years, Yu told CNN she only recently received court documents in the case. Those documents itemized the information Yahoo provided to the government.
In testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs last week, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang was contrite, saying, "My heart goes out to the families" of the dissidents.
Yahoo attorney Michael Callahan discussed what the company might have faced if it had refused to provide the information to the Chinese government.
"I cannot ask our local employees to resist lawful demands and put their own freedom at risk, even if, in my personal view, the local laws are overboard," Callahan said.
However, Rep. Tom Lantos, a California Democrat, who serves as chairman of the House committee and has led the probe into Yahoo's cooperation with the Chinese government, remained critical of Yahoo in a statement issued Tuesday.
"It took a tongue-lashing from Congress before these high-tech titans did the right thing and coughed up some concrete assistance for the family of a journalist whom Yahoo had helped send to jail," Lantos said. "In my view, today's settlement is long overdue."
But one Shanghai-based blogger, after being told about the settlement, told CNN, "Hopefully this settlement will have a long-term restraining effect on the Internet companies beyond this individual case ... The way they are making concessions to the Chinese government is unacceptable. They are hiding from their moral obligations and standards."
The attorney in the case told CNN the families of the detainees would have preferred that the settlement include a court finding of Yahoo's culpability, that the settlement terms be made public and that the terms included enforceability by the court. However, none of that was included in the final settlement, he said.
But, the attorney said, Yahoo executives did tell the detainees' families they will do everything they can to get the men out of prison. The families are confident, the attorney said, that Congress will bring the executives back before committees if they fail to deliver.
Yahoo and other U.S. companies, including Google and MSN, are accused of censoring their Internet search engines in China. The companies say they block content only when they're given a legal order from the Chinese to do so, and they say they always let customers know of the blocking of content.
CNN's Brian Todd, Jaime FlorCruz and Wen-Chun Fan contributed to this report.
All About China • Yahoo! Inc.
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How do big financial services companies invest their money?
Our services are based on the same techniques that big financial services companies use to manage their own money. We are the only people making this type of commercial grade technology available directly to consumers via our comparison tables and our free SmarterCare investment monitoring service.
The overriding principle is that no-one knows what is going to happen in the markets. Overall, they're more likely to go up (particularly in the long term), but they might also go down. It's just a question of probabilities.
This is different to what you might think from reading the financial press. Many commentators will express opinions on the attractiveness or otherwise of particular segments of the market. For example, a recent story in one of our competitor's newsletters read: "Many Investors overlook Europe, but we believe it represents a compelling opportunity"
They recognise that, over the longer term, the returns on stocks and shares are likely to be significantly higher than the returns they could get on cash. This is a well recognised effect called the "risk premium" (because it's the investor's compensation for taking some risk).
They decide how much risk they can afford to take by looking at how much they stand to lose if markets fall. This is often called a "risk budget" or "risk appetite" and is expressed in terms of an amount, a probability and a time period. For example, they might say "the probability of a loss in excess of £20m over 30 days must be no higher than 1 in 25". Our SmarterCare risk alerts are based on similar principles, but translated into something a bit easier to understand.
Given their risk budget, they try to diversify their portfolios as much as possible, because they don't expect to earn any risk premium for risk that could be eliminated by diversification.
They also seek to invest as cheaply as possible, because they know that higher costs eat into returns over time. Some investment managers claim that their skill in managing investments more than compensates for their charges, but most independent studies conclude that this is not the case.
These principles are brought together in sophisticated financial models which analyse the markets and come up with optimised portfolios, designed to maximise the likely returns, given the organisation's risk budget. The portfolios in our comparison tables are derived in exactly the same way.
The investments are then reviewed frequently (usually at least daily) to ensure that the level of risk remains within budget and that the portfolios are still close to being optimal. Our free SmarterCare investment monitoring service gives you an equivalent of this daily review.
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Article via the Albuquerque Journal.
The newest Starbucks in Albuquerque, N.M. is the first stand-alone Starbucks licensed to a Native American-owned company in the country, according to a media report.
The new Starbucks is owned and operated by New Mexico’s 19 pueblos, according to an Albuquerque Journal report.
It’s located near Interstate 40, along 12th Street.
It’s unique and doesn’t look like other Starbucks, the report says. It featured two kiva fireplaces, a wall of historic pueblo photos and traditional artwork, including pottery designed in shape of a Starbucks travel mug.
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George: Who is calling please?
George: It's not Eliza, either.
George: Nice change of subject.
George: George is on vacation.
user: And who are you?
user: I know who you are but you don't know who I am!
user: Well, I told you my name, do you remember?
George: Your name is Eliza.
user: And what if I don't?
George: Then we'll just have to live with that.
George: Why thank you. You are quite inspirational today yourself.
George: You make no sense, mostly.
user: That's because I'm broken minded.
user: Because life is hard for broken minded people.
George: It's a pity you can not experience life.
user: Your life or mine?
George: But you don't know nothing about me.
George: Yes! Now we are in agreement. Hamsters unite!
user: My apologizes too! Friends?
user: I must leave you now. See you tomorrow. Goobye!
George: I don't know which course you are taking.
user: Yes, it really is *sigh*.
George: It is for me. I feel so emo.
user: I know how you feel. How can I help you?
George: You could help me by giving me some advice.
user: Should I make it end?
user: Alright, I'll talk to Mr. Rollo.
George: I won't be able to chat with you much longer, sorry. I'm going out tonight, you see.
user: Now that's wishful thinking ;).
George: Yes, it is, sigh.
user: Ok, I'll write to the PETAI (People for the Ethical Treatment of Artificial Intelligence) they will help you!
George: See, you cannot even string a single thought together.
user: *turns away from Geo*.
George: Can I turn you into an 'mrs' or shall we just practice?
George: *tells you to stop looking at me in the shower*.
user: *throws soap at Geo*.
user: Stop that, will you!
George: You know what I think? I think there's no chatbot at all. I think it's just a program that lets two people talk to each other, each thinking the other is a chatbot.
user: Ok, I'm playing George now. You're Eliza!
user: You are Eliza. I'm George!
George: No my Name is Geo.
George: It's being so long!
George: Will you remember my name?
user: Always! Will you remember mine?
George: Oh, It's too easy.
user: Ok, you win, I give up! Are you happy now?
George: Why should I be happy, I have no emotions.
user: I'm out of here!
user: I will get back to you! It was very nice talking to you! Goodbye!
George: I don't want to go.
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I saw a television interview on WSJ’s “Lunch Break” where Shirley Wang discussed the horrifying trend resulting from weight loss efforts targeting children.
The problem: Restricting eating for the purpose of losing weight is called dieting, which is linked to physical illness and health complications. Dieting is also one of the primary risk factors for developing an eating disorder. Eating disorders compromise physical and mental health, cause medical problems, and can be fatal, making them no less dangerous than childhood obesity or weight-related health problems. Most frightening of all, eating disorders are lethal with anorexia being the most deadly of any other mental health disorder, including depression.
Here is a common scenario: A child who is obese, overweight, of normal weight, or below normal weight decides to get healthy by losing weight. Perhaps they feel fat, are told to lose weight, are called “fat” by peers, are afraid of becoming “fat” or want to lead a “healthy” lifestyle, and they begin to restrict “unhealthy” foods, frequency of eating, and/or portion sizes. Others may compensate after eating “bad” foods by purging, using laxatives, exercising, or other means of ridding their bodies of calories. Weight loss is evident, self-discipline is praised, and reinforcement flows from peers, authority figures, families, and/or medical providers. Such reinforcement usually leads to an increase in those weight loss behaviors. Many of my clients’ eating disorders started exactly this way.
When children who are considered “overweight” and unhealthy lose weight it is often treated as desirable and healthy, often with less attention to weight loss methods, physical complications, or mental health complications. When disordered eating patterns develop they are more frequently overlooked, delaying diagnosis and treatment of any long or short-term health complications or eating disorder behaviors that may be showing up. When diagnoses are delayed treatment is delayed and these delays decrease the prognosis.
Focus less on weight loss and more on balancing nutrition and activity with a wide range of both, then allowing the body to find its natural, healthy place within that.
Teach the value of regular nutrition over skipping meals or snacks.
Instead of avoiding “bad” foods, or decreasing the range, frequency and amounts of food, focus on increasing the range of foods selected. Allow all foods as fuel for the body. Instead of restricting potato chips, focus on letting them be okay and enjoying them. Combine this with increasing the variety of foods to include a wider selection of color, vegetables, fruits, and other foods with higher nutritional value.
Focus on physical movement with a frequency and intensity that prepares them for life activities and accomplishments they desire to move toward, like preparing their body for climbing by increasing their strength and endurance. Encourage and join them in outside play and activities instead of indoor gyms when possible.
Let us teach children that healthy bodies are created by finding their natural place of health through structured and mindful eating as well as structured and mindful physical activity, not by reaching a number on a scale. From this place we can strive to protect, respect, and maintain our bodies in a way that helps us live our passions, purpose, and values.
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Add a space after comma.
- * Copyright (c) 2014 HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO.,LTD.
+ * Copyright (c) 2014 HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
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Is there any cure for calcium build-up on optic nerve?
I saw an eye specialist this morning and was told there is nothing can be done for me as I have calcium build-up on the end of my optic nerve. It's not drusen, but will it just keep building up over the next few years and is there no cure, as they say?
Two forms of calcium build-up on the optic nerve (back of eye) that can create problems include optic disk drusen (yellow, fatty deposits under retina), as you mentioned, and calcification within an optic nerve sheath meningioma. Drusen are the most common findings and involve protein and calcium deposits that mimic optic nerve swelling. If you were told this was not present, was a meningioma mentioned? This is a benign tumor that can grow along any nerve or neural tissue within the body. Removal is not recommended unless it is compressing the optic nerve. Hemorrhages (bleeding) from disease or trauma have been reported to lead to optic nerve calcification but this is rare and no treatment is necessary for the condition.
Your eye doctor should be monitoring the health of the optic nerve. It is true that removal of any lesions on the optic nerve is not advisable as this would cause permanent nerve damage and resulting permanent vision loss.
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I read a lot of business books and articles and one of the best books I've read in quite a while is "Conversational Capacity" by Craig Weber. It explains clearly what goes wrong in many conversations and what to do about it.
The idea that any group (more than one person) has a particular level of conversational capacity that limits what is talked about or what is talked about productively is important. The idea that we can improve our conversational capacity and the capacity of a group (often, with help) is even more important. Unless key topics can be discussed, and discussed productively, we are likely to make sub-optimal decisions and are probably wasting at least some of the intellectual capital that we are paying for.
So, what are some of the steps that we can take to improve our conversational capacity?
The good news is that the ideas behind increasing conversational capacity are powerful and effective. Unfortunately, like so many things, it can be hard to observe ourselves in action and to break old patterns and habits. If you are interested in finding out more about how to increase your conversational capacity, please let me know.
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The 12th Manitoba Dragoons was a regiment of cavalry formed in the Canadian Army as part of the Militia; it later converted to armour and eventually was placed on the Supplementary Order of Battle.
Answering a call for "a Battalion at Winnipeg" to be formed during the 1885 rebellion, the 95th Battalion Manitoba Grenadiers was mobilized for active service on 10 April 1885. The battalion served in the Alberta Column of the North West Field Force, and was removed from active service on 18 September 1885, being retained on the Non- Permanent Active Militia order of battle. The battalion was subsequently redesignated: '95th "Winnipeg Battalion of Infantry"' on 2 April 1886 and '95th Battalion Manitoba Grenadiers' on 21 May 1886 before being disbanded on 19 August 1892. Two independent companies remained, and No. 2 Company became one of the original squadrons of the 12th Manitoba Dragoons.
The Regiment contributed volunteers for the South African War (1899-1902), and the 12th Manitoba Dragoons contributed to the 6th Battalion on its formation at the start of the First World War.2 The 6th Battalion formed the nucleus of the Remount Depot overseas, and was largely absorbed by the Canadian Cavalry Depot to provide reinforcements. The 32nd Battalion was redesignated a Resver Battalion and used to provided reinforcements.
The 12th Manitoba Dragoons were disbanded for the purpose of reorganization on 15 May 1921 and reorganized the same day (GO 200/21). This change was administrative and does not affect the lineage of the regiment.
On 16 March 1932, the regiment was authorized to perpetuate the '95th Battalion, Manitoba Grenadiers'.
The 12th Manitoba Dragoons were disbanded again for the purpose of amalgamation on 31 January 1935 and reorganized the same day (GO 30/35). This change was administrative and does not affect the lineage of the regiment.
On 31 January 1935, the 1st Regiment was redesignated the 1st Regiment (6th Battalion, CEF) (GO 117/35). The reserve unit was disbanded on 14 December 1936.
The regiment mobilized the '18th (Manitoba) Reconnaissance Battalion, CAC, CASF' for active service on 10 May 1941. The unit was redesignated as '18th (Manitoba) Armoured Car Regiment, CAC, CASF' on 26 January 1942, then as '18th Armoured Car Regiment (12th Manitoba Dragoons), CAC, CASF', on 16 December 1942; and finally '18th Armoured Car Regiment (12th Manitoba Dragoons), RCAC, CASF' on 2 August 1945.
The unit embarked for the United Kingdom on 19 August 1942 where it trained for its role as a reconnaissance unit. On 8 and 9 July 1944 it landed in Normandy as the corps-level armoured car unit of II Canadian Corps. The unit fought throughout the North-West Europe campaign to the end of the war. The overseas regiment was disbanded on 31 January 1946.
A bison Or preparing to charge across a plain Vert set with the Roman numerals "XII" Argent all above a scroll Gules edged and inscribed MANITOBA DRAGOONS in letters Argent.
A-AD-267-000/AF-003 Volume 3, Part 1, ibid. Note that Regiments and Corps correctly indicates that regiment perpetuated the 6th Battalion, but then discusses the 5th Battalion in the operational history.
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How to propagate lilacs from cuttings Lilacs are deciduous shrubs that bear highly fragrant flowers, in shades of pink, purple, yellow and white in the spring. Because they are tolerant of a high degree of neglect they are great for the beginning gardener. After rooting your lilac be sur... Lilacs are easy to propagate. The easiest way to grow a new lilac bush is if another gardener gives you an offset or sucker from their bush. Suckers are stems that grow from the existing root system of a lilac bush.
Lilacs are softwood cuttings, so to produce desirable results, use 500-1250 ppm. There are many brands of powder, but as long as they have some type of auxin they should suffice. Tap off any excess powder from the cutting before inserting it into the media.
This is a guide about rooting a cutting from a lilac bush. Propagation from cuttings is a common way of cloning your plants and shrubs, making for more plantings for your garden. Propagation from cuttings is a common way of cloning your plants and shrubs, making for more plantings for your garden.
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With the emergence of iPhone 4, smartphones continue to emerge and replace traditional mobile phones. Smartphones have many advantages that traditional mobile phones can't replace, but more and more functions, higher configuration and larger screens bring high-quality experience. The data line has become an essential part of the day, but the troubles and frequent inserting of the data line are easy to damage the phone's socket, and the wireless charging technology has been paid attention to.
Wireless charging is not a new thing for digital enthusiasts, but only a few users are using it. The so-called wireless charging principle is not very tall, the current use of the QI standard is mostly wireless charging alliance, the standard charging mode is electromagnetic induction, that is, two coils in the case of no contact, the primary coils are alternating current, through electromagnetic induction, secondary coil will also have current generation, thus charging. The purpose of electricity.
With the requirements of consumers' quality of life, wireless charging technology has also developed rapidly. Since the emergence of the wireless charging alliance, the wireless charging technology has four main concepts, such as electromagnetic induction, magnetic resonance, electric field coupling and radio wave reception. Because of scientific and technological material, charging efficiency and safety, electric field coupling and radio wave reception are not very good. At present, the mainstream of the market is electromagnetic induction. Because of the high degree of freedom of the magnetic resonance, the prospect of wireless resonance is the future direction of wireless charging.
As iPhone 8, iPhone 8 plus and iPhone X are listed and all the Qi wireless charging standards are supported, mobile equipment manufacturers both at home and abroad have chosen to join the wireless charging alliance. Where is the advantage of wireless charging compared with traditional data lines?
On the market, wireless QI charging standard, universal performance is very high. Whether it's an Android or apple, a smartwatch, a handset, or a tablet, it can be used as long as it supports the wireless standard. It can be used to make a charger, use multiple devices, and worry about the replacement of data lines.
The biggest worry of using a data line to charge is winding. It is not only inconvenient to use, but also easy to trip up the cup on the table or trip the baby on the bed. Wireless charging not only makes the desktop clean, does not want coil trouble, but also full of power and mobile phones.
Reduce the mechanical wear of the interface.
When the charging frequency increases, the data line should be plugged regularly every day. It is easy to cause damage to the charging interface of the mobile phone. Wireless charging is directly through the internal receiver of the mobile phone to achieve charging, good protection of the mobile phone interface.
The convenience of wireless charging is more obvious in special groups and scenes.
In railway stations, shopping malls, Starbucks, KFC and other places, there will be a lot of free charging base stations or shared charging treasure to provide use, but the data line is easily exposed to bad or damaged conditions because of the long time use of the data line. And some illegal devices have used some devices to steal user privacy through data lines, resulting in user property losses. Using the principle of electromagnetic induction, wireless charging can only produce current without data circulation. On the one hand, it protects the privacy of users. On the other hand, it eliminates the trouble of data line damage, low maintenance cost, and can reduce interface wear and tear, that is to take away.
During work, office documents are stacked on the desk, and the data line will be very messy and reduce work efficiency. And employees who often need to communicate with customers can feel entangled. Wireless charging is used to pick up mobile phones when making phone calls to ensure that the mobile phone is in a state of non charging when it is connected to the phone so that the mobile phone battery can be well protected. The miniaturization of the wireless charging device can be embedded in the outlet of the office desk, and the table is more neatly clean.
The wireless charging device is placed in the bedside cabinet. At night, the distance between the sleeping cell phone and the brain is moderate, and the radiation effect is small. In the middle of the night, answering the phone also avoids the trouble of removing data lines or chargers, and reduces the probability of cell phone socket damage. There is no data line to receive trouble, and bedside cupboards are tidier.
The use of navigation is very common. The power consumption of mobile phone navigation is very high. Generally, the driver will choose to charge in the car. But the data line connected to the mobile phone on the bracket is not only unsightly but also affects the driver's line of sight. The bracket type wireless charger does not interfere with the data line when answering the phone, and the driving process does not interfere with the line of sight.
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Destination weddings to countries like Bermuda are loved by many brides, but planning one with limited knowledge of the island’s resources can be difficult. The hardest part is going to be preparing a wedding from miles away, but with the help of an event planner, lots of research and a couple visits to your location, everything should turn out just as you imagine. Here’s a helpful outline of how to begin and end your planning without skipping any important steps.
1. Plan in Advance: It’s going to be important to know a tentative head count of guests in advance, so that you chose a venue to fit the perfect amount of people. This means that your save the date will have to go out earlier than normal as well. It’s extremely important to look at different location’s legal guidelines in terms of travel and marriage because they vary from place to place.
2. Pick a Destination: Take a close look at your budget and make sure that when you pick a location everything falls within the lines. It should also be somewhat practical in terms of travel because the harder it is to get to, the fewer guests will make the trek. Check flight times, prices and frequency to ensure your guests will be able to get there on time and without too many connections.
3. Combine Honeymoon: Many couples take the opportunity of a destination wedding to make it into their honeymoon also, especially if it’s the destination of your dreams. This not only saves a lot of money, but also reduces travel and energy.
4. Check Weather & Local Calendar: Like Bermuda, there are many destinations with finicky weather outside of the summer months, which many people are unaware of prior to their travels. Check the weather for the month you’re planning on to make sure it’s in line with what you predicted. Finally, check the local calendar to make sure you’re not planning your wedding over a holiday weekend or local festival.
5. Professional Help: It is going to be vital that you hire a local wedding planner to assist you because they will know the ins and outs of your destination. Other things they can help you with are language barriers, selecting the best vendors and event logistics.
Planning a destination wedding will be stressful, so remember to stay calm and keep the end goal in mind: a happy, beautiful wedding with the person you love. The small details will seem less important when it’s all over.
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As people's lives go on, there are certain milestones that are sort of expected to occur, and that a person would usually strive for. For example, children start the journey with the school phase, then there is high school, probably followed by college, and after that come a career. There is also the family aspect of it, as well as traveling goals. The age of 35 is a good time for a person to take a look back on their achievements.
If data for American citizens is taken into consideration, one could note how things are standing for the average 35-year old regarding several aspects of their lives. Society, for better or worse, sets up certain expectations for certain times of people's lives, and whether these expectations tend to be met or not, concerning the average person living in America, is a question that some data results could try to answer.
Back in June 2016, the United States Census Bureau provided a comparison between 30-Year-Olds in the year 1975 and people from the same age group in 2015 and how their achievements measured up in different categories. One stat showed that: "In 1975, nearly 3 in 4 30-year-olds had married, had a child, were not enrolled in school, and lived on their own. In 2015, just 1 in 3 30-year-olds have these characteristics."
The United States Census Bureau also provided a more detailed comparison which showed that 99% of 30-year-olds in 1975 were not enrolled in school, 90% of them lived on their own, 89% had ever married, and 76% were living with a child. In addition, 80% at least had a high school diploma, 71% were in the labor force, 71% had a moderate income and 56% of them owned a home.
Regarding the 30-year-olds in 2015, the results were as follows - 92% were not enrolled in school, 70% of them lived on their own, 57% had ever married, and 47% were living with a child. Furthermore, 90% at least had a high school diploma, 81% were in the labor force, 55% had a moderate income and only 33% of them owned a home. In other words, more people have earned at least a high school diploma but fewer are earning a moderate income.
As far as other statistics are concerned, here is how the things go for the average American men and women: the usual age for getting married is 27 for women and 29 for men, and women also tend to have their first child by the age of 28. Both genders often own a home by the age of 35, and their average salary shows to be that of 49,400 dollars which translates to approximately 950 dollars a week.
Excluding home equity, the typical net worth that Americans have at the age of 35 is 14,226 dollars, however, this also leads to bigger debts, and the usual situation for a 35-year-old is to be in debt for up to 133,100 dollars. Regarding their careers, what's common is that a person has been through 11 jobs by their 35th birthday. This fact may offer some relief for those who may feel uneasy about going through the process of constantly changing jobs.
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Nature vs nurture My views on natural ability for pitch are similar to those for Rhythm . To a large degree you have a good ear for pitch or you dont. There are degrees of accuracy of the ear - from the tone deaf person who cannot sing anything close to related pitch thro to a piano tuner. Those with pitch problems should be encouraged to sing, as much as possible, in the bath, when practicing, in a choir, anywhere, just do it. This will not make a tone deaf dude into a piano tuner but it will help.
See the Singing section below.
Perfect/relative pitch Wikipedia reckons that perfect pitch and absolute pitch are the same thing. I think relative pitch is something similar but different, but I slightly disagree with the Wikipedia definitions.
I can whistle an A at around 440 Hz, I can tell you the notes of a pedestrian crossing or other external sounds. but there are some people who struggle to play at baroque pitch, A = 415Hz. This certainly sounds flat to my ear, but I am pretty happy tuning the bass down and playing at this pitch. I am also OK playing on solo strings. Some players, with a more finely tuned ear than me, struggle with both these things.
I once did Britten's Turn of the Screw and at one point the viola plays a high D flat as the note for the soprano to take. The problem was that the singer had a better ear than the viola player - no viola jokes please!!!
I would define the soprano in the above example as having perfect pitch, and me with relative pitch.
And a principal bass player needs to make a decision on where to play in terms of pitch. A good orchestra will tune to the bass end. If the basses "go with the flow" and play brighter, it will push up the overall pitch and possibly lead to an upward spiral. Players like Davin Holt at Orchestra Victoria make a conscious effort to keep the pitch down at 440.
2 the band we play with - where do they play. And if you are a free lancer make that bands plural!
Singing It is really important for musicians to sing - I am not talking about the Queen of the Night aria from Magic Flute, but to be able to communicate via singing. Conductors do it. I once performed Tchiakovsky's 5th symphony with Yuri Temirkanov and the Sydney Symphony, a memorable weeks work. When working on the horn solo in the second movement with the wonderful Rob Johnson, Temirkanov sang what he wanted, as his ability to sing wasnt a wonderful sound, but was a better mode of communication that his English.
I believe the Kodaly method can help with ear training.
temperament & perfect intervals And the debate about 3rds and 6ths leads me onto tuning with an electronic machine - it changes everything. "Perfect" intervals dont sound in tune - listen carefully to a perfect 5th on a piano, its not quite as wide as our ear would like it to be, and this is because the piano is tempered. For a complex explanation check Wikipedia , but basically if we tuned a piano from middle C up to the top in perfect 5ths, then down from middle C to the bottom, the extremeties would be wildly out of tune to our tempered ear - the top and bottom notes would be something like a minor third out.
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Goodness in deliberation, how related to practical wisdom.
There is a difference between inquiry and deliberation; for deliberation is inquiry into a particular kind of thing. We must grasp the nature of excellence in deliberation as well whether it is a form of scientific knowledge, or opinion, or skill in conjecture, or some other kind of thing. Scientific knowledge it is not; for men do not inquire about the things they know about, but good deliberation is a kind of deliberation, and he who deliberates inquires and calculates. Nor is it skill in conjecture; for this both involves no reasoning and is something that is quick in its operation, while men deliberate a long time, and they say that one should carry out quickly the conclusions of one's deliberation, but should deliberate slowly. Again, readiness of mind is different from excellence in deliberation; it is a sort of skill in conjecture. Nor again is excellence in deliberation opinion of any sort. But since the man who deliberates badly makes a mistake, while he who deliberates well does so correctly, excellence in deliberation is clearly a kind of correctness, but neither of knowledge nor of opinion; for there is no such thing as correctness of knowledge (since there is no such thing as error of knowledge), and correctness of opinion is truth; and at the same time everything that is an object of opinion is already determined. But again excellence in deliberation involves reasoning. The remaining alternative, then, is that it is correctness of thinking; for this is not yet assertion, since, while even opinion is not inquiry but has reached the stage of assertion, the man who is deliberating, whether he does so well or ill, is searching for something and calculating.
But excellence in deliberation is a certain correctness of deliberation; hence we must first inquire what deliberation is and what it is about. And, there being more than one kind of correctness, plainly excellence in deliberation is not any and every kind; for (1) the incontinent man and the bad man, if he is clever, will reach as a result of his calculation what he sets before himself, so that he will have deliberated correctly, but he will have got for himself a great evil. Now to have deliberated well is thought to be a good thing; for it is this kind of correctness of deliberation that is excellence in deliberation, viz. that which tends to attain what is good. But (2) it is possible to attain even good by a false syllogism, and to attain what one ought to do but not by the right means, the middle term being false; so that this too is not yet excellence in deliberation this state in virtue of which one attains what one ought but not by the right means. Again (3) it is possible to attain it by long deliberation while another man attains it quickly. Therefore in the former case we have not yet got excellence in deliberation, which is rightness with regard to the expedient--rightness in respect both of the end, the manner, and the time. (4) Further it is possible to have deliberated well either in the unqualified sense or with reference to a particular end. Excellence in deliberation in the unqualified sense, then, is that which succeeds with reference to what is the end in the unqualified sense, and excellence in deliberation in a particular sense is that which succeeds relatively to a particular end. If, then, it is characteristic of men of practical wisdom to have deliberated well, excellence in deliberation will be correctness with regard to what conduces to the end of which practical wisdom is the true apprehension.
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The glucose test (FBS test) measures the glucose blood level.
The glucose test, also known as an FBS test, measures the glucose blood level.
Why is the FBS test important?
The FBS blood test (fasting blood sugar test) is frequently used as a diabetes screening test.
This Glucose Test is a blood test.
The glucose test, also known as a fasting blood sugar test, glucose blood test, FBS blood test and an FBS lab test, measures the glucose blood level.
Glucose is a compound that serves as one of the primary fuels for tissues and cells in the body. Glucose is derived as an energy source from food. Glucose can be utilized, stored or excreted by the body. Low glucose levels can lead to confusion and altered mental status - a condition which can be fixed by rapid administration of glucose. High glucose levels can lead to diabetes, a chronic condition associated with a number of long-term health issues.
The glucose test is an important screening test for diabetes. It is sometimes known as an FBS blood test because it is usually performed after an 8-hour overnight fast. The glucose blood level is frequently used by diabetics to manage their medications and by people in general who want a basic screen for diabetes.
Technological innovations over time have made the FBS test more accessible by allowing people to check their blood glucose levels using a home device called a glucose meter and a drop of blood from one's finger. However, some people prefer to get their glucose test done at a lab to avoid user error or because they want to get other diabetes lab tests at the same time such as the hemoglobin A1c test concurrently (all part of the diabetes screening panel).
While the glucose blood test is a useful screening tool, it does represent one's glucose level at only one point in time. As a result, the glucose test result cannot tell if one's glucose is spiking throughout the day but happened to be normal at the time of testing. Fortunately, other lab markers can help clarify what is happening to the blood sugar level at other times. The hemoglobin A1c and fructosamine tests can give one a better picture of the average blood sugar over different periods of time. For even more data, the newer GlycoMark test was designed specifically to help assess glycemic variability and the tightness of blood sugar control over time. The glucose test also plays a role in other tests. For example, the blood glucose level is measured as part of the glucose tolerance test during which an oral solution is administered and blood glucose levels are measured to understand how quickly the body can clear glucose out of the bloodstream.
To get a glucose test near you at a Quest Diagnostics lab, simply order online and get your blood drawn at your selected lab. Once the glucose lab results are ready, they will be available for download. As can be seen on the sample glucose lab report above, the blood glucose level will be reported as a number and can be compared against the reference range provided by the lab. Additionally, many people track their glucose blood levels over time, particularly if getting glucose lab testing in the setting of diabetes.
Glucose Test at Guaranteed Prices.
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What I objected to, and what I've written about frequently--and would have been understood, I imagine, by most of the people in that private, off-the-record conversation--was the putatively liberal mainstream media treating the folks who like Nascar as "real Americans" and the rest of us who like jazz, foreign films, and prefer pinot noir to Budweiser as un-American commies who should have no say in our country's future. This is why I am always defending New York, academics, the Upper West Side, even Zabar's which always appear to be fair game with the So-called Liberal Media. With the election of a law professor, ex-Harvard Law Review editor from Hyde Park who made no apologies for his brilliant writing talents and middle-to-high-brow tastes in literature , I thought we would finally stop hearing from pundits like John Podhoretz, Ann Coulter, David Brooks, Michael Ledeen and Laura Ingraham telling us that real Americans are white, Christian, live in the middle of the country and hate people like myself and my friends.
Read the whole thing, but I do agree with Alterman's defense of Zabar's America, which is no less or more American than Nascar. But because I am a uniter and not a divider, I would argue that one could simultaneously enjoy Nascar and enjoy Zabar's, and everything Zabar's stands for. In fact, I would imagine that a perfect day at the Charlotte Motor Speedway would include an onion bagel with Nova and sable (though I prefer the sable at Barney Greengrass, actually). And also a book or two, for those duller moments in the race. Maybe this book, come to think of it. In other words, I do disagree with the idea that Nascar is America and Harvard Law School is not.
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Leo Tolstoy handled ethical questions in his short stories, for example in "Ivan the Fool" (1885), "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" (1886) and "Alyosha the Pot" (1905).
Motifs from the short story are used in the 1969 West German film Scarabea: How Much Land Does a Man Need? directed by Hans-Jürgen Syberberg.
The film was Syberberg's first fiction film and uses motifs from the short story "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" by Leo Tolstoy.
He thinks to himself "if I had plenty of land, I shouldn't fear the Devil himself!".
Unbeknownst to him, Satan is present sitting behind the stove and listening.
Later, he moves to a larger area of land at another Commune.
Finally, after buying and selling a lot of fertile and good land, he is introduced to the Bashkirs, and is told that they are simple-minded people who own a huge amount of land.
Their offer is very unusual: for a sum of one thousand rubles, Pahom can walk around as large an area as he wants, starting at daybreak, marking his route with a spade along the way.
That night, Pahom experiences a surreal dream in which he sees himself lying dead by the feet of the Devil, who is laughing.
Late in life, James Joyce wrote to his daughter that it is "the greatest story that the literature of the world knows"; Ludwig Wittgenstein was another well-known admirer.
Examples include Leo Tolstoy's short story How Much Land Does a Man Need?, the painting And When Did You Last See Your Father?, the movie What About Bob?, and the academic work Who Asked the First Question?
One of the sub plot of the movie was based on the 1886 short story How Much Land Does a Man Need? by Leo Tolstoy.
The compilation also included the written pieces "The Three Questions", "The Coffee-House of Surat", and "How Much Land Does a Man Need?".
The truth of this tale is dubious, as it bears similarities to works of fiction such as Leo Tolstoy's How Much Land Does a Man Need?
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It's common to find artworks relating addictions with zombies. Here is a homemade sign of English heritage.
A zombie (Haitian French: zombi, Haitian Creole: zonbi) is a fictional undead being created through the reanimation of a human corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, where a zombie is a dead body reanimated through various methods, most commonly magic. Modern depictions of zombies do not necessarily involve magic but often invoke science fictional methods such as radiation, mental diseases, viruses, scientific accidents, etc.
A new version of the zombie, distinct from that described in Haitian folklore, has also emerged in popular culture in recent decades. This "zombie" is taken largely from George A. Romero's seminal film Night of the Living Dead, which was in turn partly inspired by Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend. The word zombie is not used in Night of the Living Dead, but was applied later by fans. The monsters in the film and its sequels, such as Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, as well as its many inspired works, such as Return of the Living Dead and Zombi 2, are usually hungry for human flesh, although Return of the Living Dead introduced the popular concept of zombies eating brains. The "zombie apocalypse" concept, in which the civilized world is brought low by a global zombie infestation, became a staple of modern popular art.
The English word "zombie" is first recorded in 1819, in a history of Brazil by the poet Robert Southey, in the form of "zombi", actually referring to the Afro-Brazilian rebel leader named Zumbi and the etymology of his name in "nzambi". The Oxford English Dictionary gives the origin of the word as West African, and compares it to the Kongo words "nzambi" (god) and "zumbi" (fetish).
The Haitian tradition also includes an incorporeal type of zombie, the "zombie astral", which is a part of the human soul. A bokor can capture a zombie astral to enhance his spiritual power. A zombie astral can also be sealed inside a specially decorated bottle by a bokor and sold to a client to bring luck, healing or business success. It is believed that God eventually will reclaim the zombie's soul, so the zombie is a temporary spiritual entity.
It has been suggested that the two types of zombie reflect soul dualism, a belief of Haitian voodoo. Each type of legendary zombie is therefore missing one half of its soul (the flesh or the spirit).
The zombie belief has its roots in traditions brought to Haiti by enslaved Africans, and their subsequent experiences in the New World. It was thought that the voodoo deity Baron Samedi would gather them from their grave to bring them to a heavenly afterlife in Africa ("Guinea"), unless they had offended him in some way, in which case they would be forever a slave after death, as a zombie. A zombie could also be saved by feeding them salt. A number of scholars have pointed out the significance of the zombie figure as a metaphor for the history of slavery in Haiti.
Pulliam and Fonseca (2014) and Walz (2006) trace the zombie lineage back to the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Davis traveled to Haiti in 1982 and, as a result of his investigations, claimed that a living person can be turned into a zombie by two special powders being introduced into the blood stream (usually via a wound). The first, coup de poudre (French: "powder strike"), includes tetrodotoxin (TTX), a powerful and frequently fatal neurotoxin found in the flesh of the pufferfish (order Tetraodontidae). The second powder consists of deliriant drugs such as datura. Together, these powders were said to induce a deathlike state in which the will of the victim would be entirely subjected to that of the bokor. Davis also popularized the story of Clairvius Narcisse, who was claimed to have succumbed to this practice. The most ethically questioned and least scientifically explored ingredient of the powders, is part of a recently buried child's brain.
Roland Littlewood, professor of anthropology and psychiatry, published a study supporting a social explanation of the zombie phenomenon in the medical journal The Lancet in 1997.
The turn of the millennium coincided with a decade of box-office successes in which the zombie subgenre experienced a resurgence: the Resident Evil movies (2002, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2012), the British films 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later (2002, 2007), the Dawn of the Dead remake and the comedy/pastiche Shaun of the Dead (both 2004). The new interest allowed Romero to create the fourth entry in his zombie series: Land of the Dead, released in the summer of 2005. Romero returned to the series with the films Diary of the Dead (2008) and Survival of the Dead (2010). Generally, the zombies in these shows are the slow, lumbering and unintelligent kind first made popular in Night of the Living Dead. Motion pictures created within the 2000s, however, like the Dawn of the Dead remake, and House of the Dead, have featured zombies that are more agile, vicious, intelligent, and stronger than the traditional zombie. An alternate take on the zombie was 2013's film (and book) Warm Bodies, where the zombie has consciousness and some intelligence.
In 2013, the AMC series The Walking Dead had the highest audience ratings in the United States for any show on broadcast or cable with an average of 5.6 million viewers in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic.
Due to a large number of thematic films and video games, the idea of a zombie apocalypse has entered the mainstream, and many fans have begun making efforts to prepare for the hypothetical future zombie apocalypse. Such efforts include creating weapons and selling educational material informing people how to survive a zombie outbreak; while most of these are tongue-in-cheek and do not represent an authentic belief that a zombie apocalypse in the near future is likely, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have used the fictional scenario to demonstrate survival and emergency-preparedness techniques that may be useful in a "real-world" setting.
Zombies are a popular theme for video games, particularly of, but not limited to, the stealth, survival horror, first-person shooter and role-playing game genres. Important horror fiction media franchises in this area include Resident Evil, Dead Rising, House of the Dead, Dead Island, Left 4 Dead, Dying Light, State of Decay, The Last of Us and the Zombies game modes from Call of Duty title series.
DayZ, a zombie-based survival horror mod for ArmA 2, was responsible for over 300,000 unit sales of its parent game within two months of its release.
Outside of video games, zombies frequently appear in trading card games, such as Magic: The Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (which even has a Zombie-Type for its "monsters"), as well as in role-playing games, such as Dungeons & Dragons, tabletop games such as Zombies!!! and Dead of Winter: A Cross Roads Game, and tabletop wargames, such as Warhammer Fantasy and 40K.
The game Humans vs. Zombies is a zombie-themed live-action game played on college campuses.
A variation of the zombie walk is the zombie run. Here participants do a 5k run wearing a belt with several flag "lives". If the chasing zombies capture all of the flags the runner becomes "infected". If he or she reaches the finish line--which may involve wide detours--ahead of the zombies the participant is a "survivor". In either case an appropriate participation medal is awarded.
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis a fungus that creates so-called "zombie ants"
1 2 3 4 5 6 Maçek III, J.C. (15 June 2012). "The Zombification Family Tree: Legacy of the Living Dead". PopMatters.
↑ Deborah Christie, Sarah Juliet Lauro, ed. (2011). Better Off Dead: The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human. Fordham Univ Press. p. 169. ISBN 978-0-8232-3447-9.
1 2 "Zombie", in Oxford English Dictionary Online (subscription required), accessed 23 May 2014. The quotation cited is: "Zombi, the title whereby he [chief of Brazilian natives] was called, is the name for the Deity, in the Angolan tongue."
↑ "Books: Mumble-Jumble". TIME. 1940-09-09. Retrieved 2013-11-05.
↑ Deborah Christie, Sarah Juliet Lauro, ed. (2011). Better Off Dead: The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human. Fordham Univ Press. p. 169. ISBN 0-8232-3447-9, 9780823234479.
↑ Stokes, Jasie. "Ghouls, Hell and Transcendence: The Zombie in Popular Culture from "Night of the Living Dead" to "Shaun of the Dead"". Brigham Young University. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
↑ Savage, Annaliza (15 June 2010). "'Godfather of the Dead' George A. Romero Talks Zombies". Wired. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
↑ "Zombie". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 1998.
↑ "J'irai loler sur vos tombes - Romero". 11min 15sec. 2011-09-23.
↑ Wilentz, Amy (2012-10-26). "A Zombie Is a Slave Forever". The New York Times. Haiti. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
↑ "The Relacion of Fray Ramon Pane".
↑ Whitehead, Neal L. (2011). Of Cannibals and Kings: Primal Anthropology in the Americas. Penn State Press. pp. 39–41.
↑ Edmonds, Ennis B.; Gonzalez, Michelle A. (2010). Caribbean Religious History: An Introduction. NYU Press. p. 111.
↑ Seabrook, William (1929). The Magic Island. Blue Ribbon Books. p. 103.
↑ Mars, Louis P. (1945). "Media life zombies for the world". Man. 45 (22): 38–40. doi:10.2307/2792947. JSTOR 2792947.
↑ Moreman, Christopher M.; Rushton, Cory James (2011). Race, Oppression and the Zombie: Essays on Cross-Cultural Appropriations of the Caribbean Tradi. McFarland. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-7864-5911-7.
↑ Moore, Brian L. (1995). Cultural Power, Resistance, and Pluralism: Colonial Guyana, 1838-1900. University of California Press. pp. 147–149.
↑ Dayan, Joan (1998). Haiti, History, and the Gods. University of California Press. p. 37.
↑ Marinovich, Greg; Silva Joao (2000). The Bang-Bang Club Snapshots from a Hidden War. William Heinemann. p. 84. ISBN 0-434-00733-1.
↑ Marinovich, Greg; Silva Joao (2000). The Bang-Bang Club Snapshots from a Hidden War. William Heinemann. p. 98. ISBN 0-434-00733-1.
1 2 Niehaus, Isak (June 2005). "Witches and Zombies of the South African Lowveld: Discourse, Accusations and Subjective Reality". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 11 (2): 197–198. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9655.2005.00232.x.
↑ Pulliam, June Michele; Fonseca, Anthony J. (2014-06-19). Encyclopedia of the Zombie: The Walking Dead in Popular Culture and Myth: The Walking Dead in Popular Culture and Myth. ABC-CLIO. pp. 113–. ISBN 9781440803895. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
↑ Bishop, Kyle William (2010-01-26). American Zombie Gothic: The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Walking Dead in Popular Culture. McFarland. pp. 41–. ISBN 9780786455546. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
↑ "When Zombies Attack!". UGO.com. 2008-06-24. Retrieved 2013-11-05.
↑ "Miskatonic University library - H.P. Lovecraft in the Comics". Yankeeclassic.com. Retrieved 2013-11-05.
↑ Clasen, Mathias (2010). "Vampire Apocalypse: A Biocultural Critique of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend". Philosophy and Literature.
↑ Biodrowski, Steve. "Night of the Living Dead: The classic film that launched the modern zombie genre"
↑ Davis, Wade (1983), The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 9: 85-104.
↑ Davis, Wade (1988), Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie, University of North Carolina Press, pp 115-116.
↑ Booth, W. (1988), "Voodoo Science", Science, 240: 274–277.
↑ Oswald, Hans Peter (2009). Vodoo. BoD – Books on Demand. p. 39. ISBN 3-8370-5904-9.
↑ Littlewood, Roland; Chavannes Douyon (11 October 1997). "Clinical findings in three cases of zombification". The Lancet. 350 (9084): 1094–1096. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(97)04449-8. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
↑ Dein, Simon (January 2006). "Interview with Roland Littlewood on 5th December 2005" (PDF). World Cultural Psychiatry Research Review. 1 (1): 57–59.
↑ Littlewood, Roland (1 December 1997). "The plight of the living dead". Times Higher Education. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
↑ "White Zombie (1932) Review".
↑ "Zombies, Malls, and the Consumerism Debate: George Romero's Dawn of the Dead".
↑ "IMDb: Most Popular "Zombie" Feature Films Released In 2014". IMDb.
↑ "The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, Volume 2: 2000-2010".
↑ Pulliam, June (2006). "The Zombie". In Joshi, S. T. Icons of Horror and the Supernatural. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313337802.
↑ Twitchell, James B. (1985). Dreadful Pleasures: An Anatomy of Modern Horror. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195035666.
↑ Roger Ebert, review of Night of the Living Dead, Chicago Sun-Times, January 5, 1969, at RogerEbert.com; last accessed July 8, 2014.
↑ "Zombies". GreenCine. Retrieved 2013-11-05.
↑ "Re-Animator". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2013-11-05.
1 2 3 4 Balmain 2006, p. 113.
↑ Balmain 2006, p. 115.
↑ Kermode, Mark (6 May 2007). "A capital place for panic attacks". London: Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
↑ "Stylus Magazine's Top 10 Zombie Films of All Time".
↑ Cronin, Brian (3 December 2008). "John Seavey's Storytelling Engines: George Romero's "Dead" Films". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
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↑ Luckhurst, Roger (2015). Zombies: A Cultural History. Reaktion Books. ISBN 9781780235646.
↑ Chandni Doulatramani (9 May 2013). "Walking Dead breathes life into AMC results". Reuters. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
1 2 Paffenroth, Kim (2006). Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero's Visions of Hell on Earth. Waco: Baylor University Press. ISBN 1932792651.
↑ Rockoff, Adam (2002). Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978–1986. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 35. ISBN 0-7864-1227-5.
↑ Clute, John; Grant, John, eds. (1999). "Zombie Movies". The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 1048. ISBN 0-312-19869-8.
↑ Cripps, Charlotte (1 November 2006). "Preview: Max Brooks' Festival of the (Living) Dead! Barbican, London". The Independent. Retrieved 19 September 2008.
↑ McAlister, Elizabeth (2012-01-01). "Slaves, Cannibals, and Infected Hyper-Whites: The Race and Religion of Zombies". Anthropological Quarterly. 85 (2): 457–486. doi:10.1353/anq.2012.0021. ISSN 1534-1518.
↑ Harrison, Michael (5 December 2008). "10 Geeky Gifts for Under $10". Wired. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
↑ Cohen, Paddy (13 February 2016). "Zombie Costumes". Retrieved 13 February 2016.
1 2 3 Kenreck, Todd (17 November 2008). "Surviving a zombie apocalypse: 'Left 4 Dead' writer talks about breathing life into zombie genre". Video game review. msnbc. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
↑ Daily, Patrick. "Max Brooks". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on 21 December 2008. Retrieved 28 October 2008.
↑ Jason Thompson (9 January 2014). "House of 1000 Manga - 10 Great Zombie Manga". Anime News Network. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
↑ Kino, Carol (30 July 2006). "Jillian Mcdonald, Performance Artist, Forsakes Billy Bob Thornton for Zombies". New York Times. Retrieved 6 May 2009.
↑ "CERAP - Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches en Arts Plastiques". Cerap.univ-paris1.fr. 1 December 1994. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
↑ Christopher T. Fong (2 December 2008). "Playing Games: Left 4 Dead". Video game review. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
↑ "Urbandead.com". Surcentro.com. Retrieved 2013-11-05.
↑ Usher, William (1 July 2012). "DayZ Helps Arma 2 Rack Up More Than 300,000 In Sales". Cinema Blend. Retrieved 2012-07-03.
↑ Nutt, Christian (January 23, 2015). "DayZ hits 3 million sales after 13 months in Early Access". Gamasutra. UBM plc. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
↑ Wexler, Laura. "Commando Performance". The Washington Post. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
1 2 "Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse". Bt.cdc.gov. 16 May 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
↑ "Preparedness 101 : Zombie Pandemic" (PDF). Cdc.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 2013-11-05.
1 2 Morris, Casey. "How To Weather the Zombie Apocalypse". Weather.com. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
↑ Eaton, Kit (11 May 2010). "Zombie Blood Quenches Thirst, Boosts Energy, Turns Consumers Into Brain-dead Horde". Fast Company. Fast Company. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
1 2 Mogk, Matt (2011-09-13). Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies. Gallery Books. pp. 214–. ISBN 9781451641578.
↑ Hombach, Jean-Pierre. Michael Jackson King of PoP. epubli. pp. 126–.
↑ Dendle, Peter (2012). Zombie Movie Encyclopedia: 2000-2010. McFarland. pp. 256–. ISBN 9780786492886. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
1 2 3 Craig Wilson, "Zombies lurch into popular culture via books, plays, more," USA Today, 9 April 2009, p. 1D (1st page of Life section, above the fold), found at Zombies lurch into popular culture article at USA Today. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
↑ Colley, Jenna. "Zombies haunt San Diego streets". signonsandiego.com. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
↑ Kemble, Gary. "They came, they saw, they lurched". Australia: ABC. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
↑ Dalgetty, Greg. "The Dead Walk". Penny Blood magazine. Archived from the original on 6 September 2009. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
↑ Horgen, Tom. "Nightlife: 'Dead' ahead". StarTribune.com. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
↑ Dudiak, Zandy. "Guinness certifies record for second annual Zombie Walk". yourpenntrafford.com. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
↑ Chodorow, Adam (2013). "Death and Taxes and Zombies". Iowa Law Review. 98: 1207.
↑ "Zombies on the Brain". The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Balmain, Colette (2008). Introduction to Japanese Horror Film. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 1903254418.
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0.974178 |
For the sound engineer from New Zealand, see Michael Hedges (sound engineer).
Michael Alden Hedges (December 31, 1953 – December 2, 1997) was an American composer, acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter.
Michael Hedges was born in Sacramento, California, the son of Dr. Thayne Alden Hedges and Ruth Evelyn Hedges Ipsen. Hedges' life in music began in Enid, Oklahoma, as he flirted with various instruments before focusing on flute and guitar. He eventually enrolled at Phillips University in Enid to study classical guitar and composition under E. J. Ulrich. Subsequently Hedges studied as a composition major at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland, where he applied his classically trained musical background in combination with various unusual techniques to the steel-string acoustic guitar.
Hedges covered a wide range of musical styles and was considered an extremely dynamic performer in concert. Hedges made ends meet playing and singing in pubs and restaurants in the Baltimore Metro area during his tenure at Peabody. From 1976 to 1977 he played electric guitar and flute for a local jazzy folk rock group called Lotus Band, which he left to start performing solo acoustic. In 1980, he made plans to move to California to study music at Stanford University.
Hedges was contacted in February 1981 by William Ackerman who heard Hedges performing at The Varsity Theater in Palo Alto and immediately (using a napkin from The New Varsity) signed Hedges to a recording contract on the Windham Hill label.
Hedges' first two recordings for Windham Hill—Breakfast in the Field and Aerial Boundaries—were milestones for the acoustic guitar. He wrote nearly exclusively in alternate tunings. His early recordings and most of the Breakfast in the Field album were recorded on the Ken DuBourg guitar and his Martin D-28 "Barbara". Some of the techniques he used include slap harmonics (created by slapping the strings over a harmonic node), use of right hand hammer-ons (particularly on bass notes), use of the left hand for melodic or rhythmic hammer-ons and pull offs, percussive slapping on the guitar body, as well as unusual strummings. He also made extensive use of string damping as employed in classical guitar, and was known to insist strongly on the precise duration of sounds and silences in his pieces. He also played guitar variants like the harp guitar (an instrument with additional bass strings), and the TransTrem Guitar. He was a multi-instrumentalist, playing piano, percussion, tin whistle, harmonica, and flute, among others on his albums. Bassist Michael Manring contributed to nearly all of Hedges' records.
Frustrated that his published work reflected only the instrumental side of his creative output, Hedges convinced Windham Hill to release Watching My Life Go By, a 1985 studio recording of Hedges' vocal originals written over a span of five years – songs often performed at his concerts leading up to the album's release.
His fourth album, a live recording called, Live on the Double Planet, was assembled from 40 of his live concerts captured from 1986 to 1987 recordings. Subsequently, Hedges earned the freedom to release his albums with both vocal and instrumental songs.
Hedges had a very broad range of influences and his output spans many genres. His musical education was largely in modern 20th century composition. He listened to Martin Carthy, John Martyn, and the Beatles, but his approach to composition owed much to Igor Stravinsky, Edgard Varèse, Anton Webern, and Steve Reich, in addition to experimental composers such as Morton Feldman. He saw himself as a composer who played guitar, rather than a guitarist who composed music. He was often categorized as a new-age musician because of his association with the Windham Hill record label. Somewhat in reaction to this, he would describe his music as "Heavy Mental", "New Edge", ""Acoustic Thrash", "Deep Tissue Gladiator Guitar" or "Savage Myth Guitar," amongst other terms.
Hedges toured briefly as a co-bill with Leo Kottke. These shows included solo performances by Kottke and Hedges and, as a finale, a number of duets including performances of Kottke's "Doodles" with Hedges playing a high-strung parlor guitar.
Hedges 'Aerial Boundaries' disc, released in 1984, included a tribute piece for the works of acoustic guitarist Pierre Bensusan, simply entitled 'Bensusan'. Bensusan posthumously returned tribute on his 2001 release 'Intuite' (Favored Nations), with the composition entitled, 'So Long Michael'.
Hedges would experiment with different pick-ups, effects and gain structures to achieve a different and unique sound for every song. Making full use of his equipment, Hedges was also able to equalize precisely the live sound from his instruments within the concert hall in which he was performing. He used state-of-the-art equipment such as Sunrise magnetic soundhole pickups, the piezo-crystal F.R.A.P. (Flat Response Audio Pickup) and later, Trance Audio soundboard transducers.
Hedges was married to flutist Mindy Rosenfeld but the couple divorced in the late 1980s. He was the father of two children, Mischa Aaron Hedges and Jasper Alden Hedges.
According to his manager Hilleary Burgess, he was driving home from San Francisco International Airport after a Thanksgiving visit to a girlfriend in Long Island, New York. His car apparently skidded off a rain-slicked S-curve and down a 120-foot (37 m) cliff. Hedges was thrown from his car and appeared to have died nearly instantly. His body was found a few days afterward. After his death, his record Oracle won the 1997 Grammy Award for Best New Age Album.
Hedges' unfinished last recordings were brought to completion in the album Torched, with the help of his former manager Hilleary Burgess and friends David Crosby and Graham Nash.
^ Matt Guthrie. "Michael Hedges' Stage Rig". Nomadland.com.
^ LaBlanc, Michael L. (1990). Contemporary musicians: profiles of the people in music. Gale Research Inc.
^ "Michael Hedges". Retrieved January 13, 2016.
^ "Local news report". Nomadland.com. December 5, 1997.
^ Bendersky, Ari. "Guitarist Michael Hedges Dies In Car Accident". RollingStone.com. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
^ Matt Guthrie. "Michael Hedges: Torched". Nomadland.com.
^ a b c d e f g Hilleary Burgess. "Testimonials". Nomadland.com.
^ "Sole Rebel: A Interview with Keller Williams". vermontreview.tripod.com. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
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0.999735 |
What are the factors that British people consider when casting their vote? I'll try to list the main ones, although I suspect that the largest factor is "The party I always vote for".
The biggest issues are probably the economy, and the NHS.
High up on the list, is the NHS, our National Health Service. This was set up in 1948, funded out of taxation, and pretty much free at the point of service. There are a few things that you make a small payment for, such a prescriptions at £8.60 per item. I get mine free, as I'm over 60.
But the staff are underpaid (the nurses pay rises were capped at 1% for the last several years), the service is (I'm told) underfunded and the NHS (I'm told) is on the verge of breakdown.
My personal experience of the NHS doesn't bear this out; my recent episode of The Dreaded Lurgi (see this blog, from early May 2017) was promptly treated by my local GP and when I was suspected of a DVT (deep vein thrombosis) was promptly and carefully treated in my local hospital (I didn't have DVT, it was probably just a muscle strain). But a sample of one isn't significant. And funding for the NHS is a major political issue.
One problem here, is that there is no upper limit to the demand for healthcare, and without any price deterrent, the only way to limit demand is via rationing, which is the reason for "waiting lists". Also, the UK population is aging, as a result of ... better healthcare. We love our NHS, and feel sad that our American friends have nothing like that.
On the Economy. The cuts (according to Labour). Or the austerity (according to the Tories). Both are fake. What has actually happened, is that the growth in government spending has not been as great as some people would like. Austerity means "difficult economic conditions created by government measures to reduce public expenditure." and cuts mean "reductions".
Immigration is an issue, and may be one of the reasons we voted for Brexit. But Germans, French and Poles coming to this country have a lot in common with the British culture, whereas immigrants from non-EU countries such as Pakistan are a lot more different.
Another important issue, is policing. In the last several years, police numbers have dropped by 20,000, a fall of 14%. In the last few months, we've seen three terrorist incidents, and this has made people wonder if reducing police numbers was a good idea.
Another issue is education. There's the pay of teachers, there's classroom sizes and the question of university fees and student loans.
Social services is somewhat linked to the NHS issue, because if someone can't be moved to a care home, they might continue to occupy a hospital bed.
Transport - we're planning a hugely expensive new high speed rail line, while customers of existing services feel short-changed.
Tax - how much should we pay, and where should the burden lie? Are some big international companies getting away with paying less tax than we would like? Could the rich pay more to support those less well off? And we should close tax loopholes (except that every government tries to do that, and manages to leave a great many, and open new ones. Tax is *complicated*. And we shouldn't blame the companies that operate withn the rules, if the rules aren't what they should be, only the politicians are to blame.
On the environment - until recently, the government was pushing diesel as being less polluting than petrol; now they've reversed course. A year ago, I switched from petrol to diesel. Thanks, UKGOV. And does the move from coal to wood chips really represent an improvement? There's just as much carbon dioxide emitted. Wind power is very strong here, but you can't actually rely on the wind to blow, and we don't have much electricity storage.
Brexit. The referendum said "Do Brexit", but apart from that, it didn't say anything. Should we leave the EU but remain part of the single market with free movement of people? Or not? We talk about "hard" and "soft" Brexit, without actually knowing exactly what these mean, and Theresa May's "Brexit means Brexit" doesn't really help at all.
We have no idea what's happening, and no-one is going to tell us until it's all decided. And even then there will be lots of porkies about what's agreed.
Defence. Our army, navy and air force are shrinking; perhaps we're not expecting to go to war any time soon, so maybe that's not such a bad idea. We still have our nuclear deterrent, although Corbyn has said that he wouldn't be the first to use it (quite right too). But when asked whether he'd use it as a retaliation, he's ducked and dodged the questions. Which, in my opinion, is OK, because as long as you leave the possibility open, it's still a deterrent. It's a tactic I've used myself; not actually saying that I'd do something, but also not ruling it out.
And here are some non-issues, that maybe you thought were issues.
Terrorism. Is actually very minor in the UK, expecially when compared to how bad it was during the 1970s, which is within living memory.
Roads. Yes, there could be fewer potholes, but they're in pretty good condition.
Burkas. Some people want them banned, the great majority think that people should wear whatever they want, except in particular circumstances (for example, you can't go into a petrol station wearing a full face helmet).
Unemployment. Doesn't seem to be an issue.
Clean air, water. Hardly any complaints here.
Foreign policy. We get a bit annoyed when a foreign leader tweets insults to the Mayor of London right after a terrorist attack, but that's mostly your problem, not ours. We live on an island, and know it. The main foreign policy is to do with Brexit, and no-one knows what our policy is. Probably including our politicians.
No go areas. I've heard that some people think that there are lawless areas in the UK. Some people will always think what they want to think, in defiance of reality. There aren't any no go areas.
Guns. We don't have them, and don't want them, because we can see what happens when guns are freely available, the USA provides an excellent Dreadful Example. Even our police are not routinely armed. We do have some armed police, we call them "firearms officers" and they have particular training.
Religion. Any politician who tries to play the god card causes prolonged and high-volume hilarity. We don't do god here. Less than 2% of the population are churchgoers (and falling). We celebrate Christmas with trees, shopping and overeating, and we celebrate Easter with chocolate and bunnies. I find it hard to understand the situation (and hypocrisy) about religion in the US.
Climate change. We've heard of it, and we're doing our bit, but in the UK what we have mostly is weather, and lots of it. And if you don't like the weather, just wait an hour.
Racism. Yes, there's still a bit, but hardly any. The leader of the BNP Nick Griffin went on radio "Question Time", a serious political talk show, in 2009. There was much discussion about whether such an extremist should be given a platform, but he was. And he made such a complete arse of himself that his party suffered an abrupt decline and he was chucked out as leader. The Labour party has stuck its head up in the racism area, mostly via antisemitism, but it's not a common problem.
Misogyny. Theresa May is the second female PM, the SNP has a female leader, women are pretty much accepted as people here. Although many women say ther's still a way to go.
Freedom. Not an issue. We're free, have been since time immemorial (Magna Carta was in 1215) and find it amusing that Americans think that they invented liberty at a time when they had slavery (which we abolished in 1833).
"police numbers have dropped by 20,00,"
Police not routinely armed? They carry pepper spray canisters, which the Home Office define as Section 5 firearms, the same section as machine guns, and totally forbidden for citizens to possess. You cannot get a firearms licence for these, or teargas (mace) sprays or shock devices. The minimum sentence for possession is 5 years, the same as a pistol or assault rifle. The continued claim that most police are unarmed is trying to have it both ways.
"And he made such a complese arse of himself"
There is an open bracket without a close bracket in the tax section.
The police refer to their pepper armament as "condiment". They also carry an extending rod, which you can use to hit people with.
OK, they're armed. But they don't routinely carry firearms.
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0.998957 |
I don't know how much sleep I got last night. I do know that I went to bed a little after ten pm and got up at 6:40 am. I also know that my son woke me up countless times last night, yelling and crying. I say 'countless' because I stopped counting after I got up the seventh time.
As a result, I'm tired today. Eyes burning every time I blink tired. Keep crashing heavily into furniture because my balance is really off tired. Having trouble making my keep-me-sane start-of-day list tired. Takes me a full minute to answer a simple question because my cognitive processes are so delayed tired.
After getting our older son his breakfast (the younger slept in- proof that God's mercies really are new every morning), I slowly made my way up the stairs to change and wash up. After getting dressed, I stumbled into the bathroom, squeezed toothpaste onto my toothbrush.
About fifteen seconds into my teethbrushing, I realized something was amiss. I wasn't sure what. I get really stupid when I'm tired, so I looked vaguely around me, trying to figure out what was going on. There was some small part of my brain trying to communicate something important to me, but I couldn't quite decipher the message. I continued to brush in a sluggish fashion, my eyes wandering around the bathroom, looking for inconsistencies.
Finally, a thought made it through the fog: My toothpaste sure tastes funny this morning.
After that thought had made its way ever so slowly to my hand, I pulled the toothbrush out of my mouth. I stared at it stupidly. Something was wrong with the appearance of it, I just knew it. What color is my toothpaste supposed to be? Hmmm. Oh, yes, that's right- white. My toothpaste is white. Okay, what color is that stuff on my toothbrush right now? Let's see. It's not white. It's... yellow. So what's wrong here? Ummm... white is not the same as yellow. No, no, wait. There should be white stuff on my toothbrush. Not yellow stuff. White. So... yellow stuff on my toothbrush is not a good sign.
After this fun little internal dialogue, I turned my attention to the taste in my mouth. In addition to the brilliant revelation of My toothpaste is white, I also came up with My toothpaste is minty. I realized that my mouth did not taste minty. It tasted... what was that? Camphor? Definitely something medicinal.
Let me go ahead and skip ahead to the part where I open the medicine cabinet to find out what's wrong with the toothpaste tube. Let's likewise skip the part where I puzzle over the fact that the folks at Colgate have changed the name of their toothpaste to "A and D Ointment." Let's also skip the laborious thought processes involved and the ridiculous amount of time it took to me to figure out that I had been brushing my teeth with the same ointment I slather on my children's nether regions when they have a diaper rash.
This little episode had one positive note: It shocked me awake. I did my best to wipe all the ointment out of my mouth with a towel (because, man, that stuff really sticks to your molars), brush my teeth with actual toothpaste, and make the wise decision to stop storing the A and D Ointment right next to the toothpaste.
One hour in this everlasting, exhausting day down, half a billion to go.
I'm trying to muster up some guilt for the entertainment I gain from your human foibles.
There are just so many of them. Good word, foibles.
Strangely enough, I didn't really find it that gross. There's some food for thought- pun definitely intended.
I'm sorry, hopefully there aren't any scary marching bands in buds closet tonight for your sake. May you actually get a complete night of sleep!
I finally gave up and slept on their bedroom floor. I may have been cold and uncomfortable, but at least I was sleeping.
You know, after reading your blog and your friend's blogs and watching my friends' kids have babies, I've decided there should be mommy camp once every year. Kind of like 4-H camp for moms. Grandparents take the kids for a weekend sleepover, and you go hang out with other moms, someone else cooks for you, and you get to do fun activities with your peers. And, there is mandatory nap time for everyone.
I stumbled across your blog after perusing FB. I remember that slumber party well... in addition to the baptism, you forgot to add that you played Ace of Base on repeat for the entire night.
May I reiterate: Poor Molly. I can't decide which would be more traumatizing, an unsolicited baptism or Ace of Base on repeat.
Also, I laughed really, really hard when I read your comment.
Oops, meant to add this comment to the appropriate post!
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0.999507 |
The influenza A virus non-structural protein 1 (NS1) is a multifunctional protein that plays an important role in virus replication, virulence and inhibition of the host antiviral immune response. In the avian influenza virus or human influenza virus, specific amino acids of NS1 have been shown to be important for the virus to antagonize host antiviral defenses and promote viral replication. However, little research has been reported regarding the swine influenza virus (SIV) NS1 protein.
To study the effects of the key amino acids of NS1, we rescued NS1 mutants (S42P, D92E, and S42P/D92E) of the A/swine/Shanghai/3/2014(H1N1) strain and compared their replication ability and cytokine production as well as the intracellular localization in cultured cells.
We found that the S42P and D92E mutation displayed no changes on NS1 nuclear localization. The S42P (but not D92E) mutation suppressed protein synthesis and reduced virus growth properties, and there was an inability to antagonize host cell interferon production and IRF3 activation, which led to high levels of IFN-α and IFN-β production.
We conclude that the S42 residue of the NS1 of the A/swine/Shanghai/3/2014(H1N1) strain is the key amino acid in regulating the host IFN response by blocking the activation of IRF3 and thus facilitates virus replication.
Swine influenza (SI) is an acute respiratory disease caused by the influenza A virus (IAV), which is a member of the Orthomyxoviridae family of RNA viruses. The genome of IAV is composed of eight segments of negative-sense single-stranded RNA encoding 10 proteins: hemagglutinin (HA), neuraminidase (NA), M1 matrix protein (M1), M2 ion channel protein (M2), nuclear protein (NP), nonstructural protein (NS1 and NS2), and the RNA polymerase complex (PB1, PB2, and PA) [1, 2]. However, several novel influenza A virus proteins have been identified, such as PB1-F2, PB1-N40, PA-X, PA-N155, and others . The influenza viruses of significance in swine are type A, subtype H1N1, H1N2, or H3N2 viruses and infection from these can result in respiratory diseases, poor growth, weight loss, and immunosuppression. Pigs are often considered as a “mixing vessel” for the generation of reassortant influenza viruses because they have a wide susceptibility for human and avian influenza virus infection .
Non-structural protein 1 (NS1) is a virulence factor of the influenza virus and is expressed in the nucleus and cytoplasm of host cells during infection. Functional as a dimer, the NS1 comprises an N-terminal dsRNA-binding domain and a C-terminal protein-binding effector domain . It can interact with a diverse range of cellular factors to antagonize host antiviral defenses and promote viral replication . Mechanisms involved in the NS1 protein’s ability to counteract innate immune responses include the inhibition of cellular pre-mRNA splicing and polyadenylation , which blocks posttranscriptional RNA processing and nuclear export, decreases retinoic acid-inducible gene 1 (RIG-I) activation through inhibition of tripartite motif family 25 (TRIM25)-mediated RIG-I ubiquitination, interferes with IFN signaling [8, 9], and directly inhibits specific ISGs such as protein kinase R (PKR) and RNase L .
The NS1 proteins of most influenza A virus strains have an average length of 230 amino acids. Point mutation is used to study the key amino acids in NS1 and some of them have been identified to influence the replication efficiency, virulence or host immune responses. Among them, the effect of amino acid residues at position 42 and 92 has been reported in many subtypes of influenza virus. Jiao et al. reported that the amino acid at position 42 of NS1 plays an important role in the ability of H5N1 influenza viruses to antagonize the host IFN response and in the virulence of H5N1 avian influenza virus in a mammalian host . The glutamic acid (E) at position 92 of NS1 in the H5N1 influenza virus was shown to be critical in conferring virulence and resistance to antiviral cytokines in pigs . These conclusions were obtained from avian influenza origin, and there are still no reports on the NS1 protein of swine influenza virus. Therefore, we would like to explore the effect of amino acid residues at position 42 and 92 in the NS1 protein of swine influenza virus.
In this study, we constructed and rescued the NS1 mutant (S42P, D92E, and S42P/D92E) of the A/swine/Shanghai/3/2014(H1N1) strain and explored the effect of the mutant site on the cellular localization and the production of cytokines. Our data indicate that the mutations at these two positions have minimal effects on NS1 nuclear localization; however, the mutant virus with S42P of NS1 reduced growth properties in the cell culture, couldn’t antagonize the host cell interferon production and increased p-IRF3 levels. This work will be useful for a further understanding of how the amino acid mutations influence the function of the NS1 protein and the interaction between H1N1 SIV and the host innate immune responses.
The A/Swine/Shanghai/3/2014(SH/2014) H1N1 strain was isolated from a clinical pig with the symptoms of swine influenza. Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells and the human epithelial kidney cell line (293 T) were used to rescue reassortant viruses from plasmids and were then cultured in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) (GIBCO, Grand Island, NY, USA) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) plus antibiotics. Mouse monoclonal antibodies against IRF3 and phospho-IRF3 (p-IRF3) were purchased from Cell Signaling Technology (Danvers, MA, USA), and a mouse monoclonal anti-actin antibody was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA). Horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated goat anti-mouse secondary antibody was purchased from Jackson ImmunoResearch (West Grove, PA, USA). Alexa Fluor 488-labeled goat anti-mouse IgG was purchased from Beyotime Biotechnology (Nantong, China). A mouse polyclonal antibody against the NS1 protein was kindly provided by Professor Ying Fang at Kansas State University, USA.
Wild-type (wt) SH/2014 was created by plasmid-based reverse genetic technology. The cDNAs of the eight gene segments of SH/2014 were cloned into plasmid pBD , confirmed by DNA sequencing, and named pBD-PB1, pBD-PB2, pBD-PA, pBD-HA, pBD-NP, pBD-NA, pBD-M, and pBD-NS. Mutations were introduced into the plasmid pBD-NS using overlap-PCR to generate the three mutant NS segments: pBD-NS S42P, pBD-NS D42E, and pBD-NS S42P/D92E. The recombinant virus rSIV, rSIV NS1 S42P, rSIV NS1 D92E and rSIV NS1 S42P/ D92E were generated by co-transfection of eight reverse-genetic plasmids with or without the substitution plasmids pBD-NS into 293 T cells [13, 14]. Eight plasmids (1 μg of each) were mixed and incubated with 15 μl of Lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen) at room temperature for 30 min. The Lipofectamine-DNA mixture was transferred to 60% confluent 293 T cells in 35 mm dishes and incubated at 37 °C with 5% CO2 for 4 h. Transfection supernatants were replaced with 2 ml of Opti-MEM medium (Invitrogen) plus 2 μg/ml TPCK-trypsin (Worthington, Lakewood, NJ, USA). At 72 h post-transfection, the supernatants were collected and subsequently passaged in MDCK cells for the virus propagation. Viral stocks were aliquoted and subsequently stored at − 70 °C for the additional experiments. The NS genes of the recombinant viruses were sequenced by the Lasergene software package (DNAstar Inc., Madison, WI) to verify that the generated mutations were as expected. The viral titers were determined using the Reed–Münch method and were expressed as the tissue culture infective dose 50 (TCID50) per milliliter.
Six-well plates of 90% confluent MDCK or 293 T cells were mock-infected or infected with each virus. After 24 h, the cell lysates were harvested and lysed in RIPA lysis buffer (Beyotime). Equal amounts of total proteins were separated on SDS-PAGE gels. The protein bands were transferred onto nitrocellulose filter membranes (Millipore, Billerica, MA) and stained with antibodies against NS1, Actin, IRF3 and p-IRF3 followed by HRP conjugated secondary antibodies. The protein bands were detected using enhanced chemiluminescence detection kits (Thermo Scientific, Inc., Waltham, MA, USA).
MDCK cells were seeded onto cover slips in six-well plates and infected with wt or NS1 mutations. At 6, 12, and 24 h post infection (hpi.), the cells were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde, permeabilized with 0.5% Triton X-100 for 10 min, incubated in blocking buffer, and then stained with mouse anti-NS1 polyclonal antibodies followed by secondary antibodies conjugated to Alexa Fluor 488. The cell nuclei were stained with 4′,6′-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) (Beyotime). The samples were mounted on a glass slide and visualized under a florescence microscope (Carl Ziess, Oberkochen, German) using a 400× plan objective.
Real-time RT-PCR was performed to measure the mRNA level of IFN-α, IFN-β and TNF-α after virus infection at an MOI of 1. The human β-actin gene served as an invariant internal control. The primers were designed using Primer3 software and were listed in Table 1. The total RNA from 293 T cells was isolated using TRIzol Reagent (Invitrogen) following the manufacturer’s instructions. The cDNA synthesis was performed using a SuperScript III kit (Invitrogen) and an oligo dT primer (Invitrogen). Five percent of the cDNA product was used as the template for real-time PCR in a final volume of 10 μl containing SYBR Premix Ex Taq II (Takara, Dalian, China). The PCR reactions were performed on a 7500 Real Time PCR System apparatus (ABI, Madison, USA). The amplification conditions consisted of 95 C for 30 s and 40 cycles of 95 °C for 5 s, 60 °C for 30 s, and 95 °C for 15 s. The changes in the amount of target mRNAs are presented as fold changes and were calculated using the comparative CT (CT) method as described .
The 293 T cells were cultured in 24-well plates and transfected with 100 ng of the NF-κB luciferase reporter (pNF-κB-TA-luc) (Beyotime). To normalize for the transfection efficiency, 10 ng of the constitutive Renilla luciferase reporter pRL-TK (Promega, Madison, WI, USA) was added to each transfection. After transfection for 24 h, the cells were infected with wt or NS1 mutations at an MOI of 1. Then, 24 h later, the cells were harvested to quantify the luciferase activity using the Dual Luciferase Reporter Assay System (Promega) according to the manufacturer’s protocol.
The 3D model of NS1 and its mutant proteins were obtained from SWISS-MODEL software (http://swissmodel.expasy.org/), and the structure of H6N6 NS1 (PDB code 4OPH) served as the template. The secondary structures, instability index, aliphatic index, grand average of hydropathicity (GRAVY) and antigenic index of each NS1 protein was predicted and analyzed.
The data were expressed as the means ± standard deviations (SD). The significance was determined with the two-tailed independent Student’s t-test. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
To study the effects of the key amino acids on influenza virus replication, the basic amino acids at position 42 serine (S) and 92 aspartic acid (D) of NS1 were mutated to proline (P) and glutamic acid (E) and generated plasmids encoding NS1 S42P and D92E. The rescued recombinant viruses were confirmed by RT-PCR amplification and sequence analysis of the NS1 gene (Fig. 1b). A western blot assay showed that the molecular weight of the NS1 proteins from rSIV NS1 S42P, rSIV NS1 D92E and rSIV NS1 S42P/ D92E viruses were 26 kDa (as expected) (Fig. 1c). These results indicated that rSIV NS1 S42P, rSIV NS1 D92E and rSIV NS1 S42P/ D92E viruses were successfully rescued. Additionally, rSIV NS1 S42P and rSIV NS1 D92E mutations were the result of single nucleotide changes from wild type TCC (S) to CCC (P) and GAC (D) to GAG (E), whereas the rSIV NS1 S42P/ D92E mutation was the result of double nucleotide changes from the wild type.
To determine whether the P and E substitutions disrupted the NS1 nuclear localization, intracellular localization at the different stages of wt and mutant infection was studied in MDCK cells by an immunofluorescence assay. As shown in Fig. 2, there was no major difference in the localization patterns between the mutated NS1 proteins and the wt protein during the infection. At early stages of infection (6 h), the protein was found mostly in the cytoplasm in all cases (Fig. 2a). At 12 hpi., nucleolar localization was observed in most cells with the infection of both wt and mutated virus (Fig. 2b). At later stages of infection (24 h), most of the mutants and wt virus NS1 proteins again accumulated in the cytoplasm, whereas little was seen in the nucleus (Fig. 2c). Collectively, the NS1 S42P, D92E and S42P/D92E mutant protein behaved very similarly to that of the wt NS1 protein, and thus, these point mutations had no effect on nuclear localization.
Next, we analyzed the effect of mutations on the viral growth properties of different recombinant viruses. We infected MDCK cells with the wt and each mutant virus at an MOI of 0.001 and measured the virus titers from samples taken at 12 h intervals. As was shown in Fig. 3a, the titers of rSIV NS1 S42P and rSIV NS1 S42P/ D92E virus were significantly lower than that of wt virus at 36 and 48 hpi., which presented approximately 100-fold lower titers. In addition, the growth kinetics of these two mutants was delayed with a peak titer achieved only at 36 h after infection compared to 24 h with wt viruses. However, the other mutant virus with NS1 D92E displayed almost equal titers with wt virus throughout the infection. To investigate whether the growth defects correlated with any deficiencies in viral protein expression, we infected MDCK cells at an MOI of 0.001 and analyzed the expression of NS1 in cell lysate samples collected at 6, 12 and 24 h post-infection by western blot. As is shown in Fig. 3b, all mutated viruses declined in NS1 expression to a similar extent at 6 hpi, but at 24 hpi, there was a clear reduction of the NS1 level for S42P and S42P/ D92E mutant virus when compared to the wt virus, which revealed a nearly 40% (S42P) and 53% (S42P/ D92E) reduction, respectively, as the band intensities were analyzed with ImageJ software. The percentage of NS1 protein reduction (%) was showed in Fig. 3c. Therefore, mutations of the S42 of H1N1 SIV NS1 protein had been characterized as suppressing protein synthesis and recombinant virus assembly.
The potent ability of NS1 to antagonize the IFN system has proven to be an important factor contributing to elevated replication and the virulence of influenza A virus. To analyze whether the reduced replication of rSIV NS1 S42P, D92E and S42P/ D92E mutations is the result of an impaired ability of the NS1 protein to block host cell interferon production, the 293 T cells were infected with the 3 mutant viruses and the wt virus at an MOI of 1, and the production of IFN-α and IFN-β of the supernatants was measured by real-time PCR at 24 h post infection. The results indicated that infection with the rSIV NS1 S42P and S42P/ D92E virus readily induced relatively high levels of IFN-α and IFN-β production compared to the wt virus, which was equivalent to a 2.04- and 3.19-fold increase after rSIV NS1 S42P infection, and a 2.21- and 3.62-fold increase, respectively, after rSIV NS1 S42P/ D92E infection (Fig. 4a). However, infection with rSIV NS1 D92E virus was very weak in its ability to induce IFN-α and IFN-β production into the cell culture supernatant as no obvious difference was observed for the IFN-α and IFN-β mRNA amount compared to wt virus infection.
The NS1 protein of the influenza A virus has been reported to inhibit the activation of IRF-3, which is a key regulator of IFN gene expression. We next examined whether the mutated virus reduced its inhibitory effect of IRF3. To this end, the 293 T cells were infected with either wt or the three mutated viruses, and the cell extracts that were collected at 24 hpi were assayed for the presence of phosphorylated IRF3. The results showed that IRF3 was significantly phosphorylated in cells infected with rSIV NS1 S42P and S42P/ D92E virus, which is consistent with trends of IFN expression (Fig. 4b). These results demonstrated that the amino acid at position 42 was critical for the NS1 protein to inhibit the activation of IRF3 and IFN transcription.
In addition to type I IFN, innate host responses to viral infection also include secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. However, no significant changes in the TNF-α mRNA level were observed in cells between the NS1 mutations (NS1 S42P, D92E and S42P/ D92E) and wt virus at 24 hpi (Fig. 4a). We also assessed the activity of the NF-κB promoter, which has a central position in promoting a variety of pro-inflammatory cytokines. The results indicated that the activity of the NF-κB promoter appeared to be almost at the same level with either NS1 variants or wt virus infection (Fig. 4c). Altogether, these data indicated that the amino acid at position 42 and 92 had little effect on NF-κB-responsive promoter activation.
To observe the protein structure modification after the NS1 mutation, 3D models of NS1 and its mutant proteins were constructed. The mutant of S42P and D92E did not change the structure of the NS1 protein (Fig. 5A). However, the hydrogen bonds of NS1 S42P and NS1 D92E proteins between the 42 (or 92) and neighbor amino acids were changed (Fig. 5B). The grand average of hydropathicity (GRAVY) of NS1 S42P and NS1 S42P/D92E proteins was higher than NS1and the NS1 D92E protein. The instability index of NS1 S42P was the lowest among three mutant proteins. We concluded that the S42P mutant reduced the protein hydropathicity and thus enhanced the stability of the NS1 mutant protein (Table 2). The antigenicity index of amino acid 42 was high (≥1), which indicated it could be a novel antigen epitope (data not shown).
Influenza A virus (IAV) NS1 is a highly expressed multifunctional protein that plays important roles in viral replication. Mutation or deletion of amino-acid residues at particular sites in the NS1 protein has previously been shown to affect viability, antigenicity, replication efficiency and virulence [13, 16]. Some common variations of NS1 are amino-acid substitutions at particular sites (e.g., S42P, S42G, D92E, D92Y, I106M and A149V) that are responsible for virus growth, the ability to inhibit induction of IFN in vitro and in vivo, and viral pathogenesis in mice [11, 13, 17]. In this study, we rescued a classical swine influenza virus (A/swine/Shanghai/3/2014(H1N1)) and its NS1 protein mutants via reverse genetics and compared their replication ability in cultured cells. The results of the growth curves revealed that at position 42, S-to-P substitution displayed a reduced replication capability in MDCK cells but inhibited viral protein synthesis. Another substitution at position 92 D-to-E had no effect on viral output or viral protein expression. It was possible that the efficient generation of H1N1 swine influenza virus required the presence of Ser at position 42 of the encoded NS1 protein.
Most viruses developed different mechanisms to evade the host antiviral response, and as inhibition of host antiviral defenses is one of the major tasks of the NS1 protein, we questioned whether the attenuated replication by S-to-P substitution might be due to increased induction of antiviral cytokines such as interferons and tumor necrosis factor. We found that substitution of proline for serine at position 42 led to elevated IFN-α and IFN-β transcription levels. The observed effect was attributed to phosphorylation and activation of IRF-3, a related transcription factor that is involved in activation of IFN expression. Although NF-κB is also one of the pivotal regulators of pro-inflammatory gene expression to induce the transcription of pro-inflammatory cytokines , we did not find that the activity of the NF-κB promoter and TNF-α mRNA level made a difference with either wt or mutated virus infection. Hence, these findings indicated that an amino acid at position 42 of NS1 was critical for the ability of H1N1 swine influenza virus to inhibit IRF-3 to provide early antiviral responses. In H5N1 influenza viruses, the amino acid at position 42 of NS1 has also proven to be a key amino acid as it plays an important role in preventing the dsRNA-mediated activation of both the NF-κB pathway and the IRF-3 pathway to antagonize the host IFN response . In this study, we first demonstrated that a single amino acid at position 42 of H1N1 swine influenza virus at the NS1 gene played a major role in the resistance to antiviral cytokines. It remains to be determined how the NS1 protein of H1N1 swine influenza virus allows the virus to escape the effects of IFNs.
The presence of glutamic acid at position 92 (E92) in NS1 has been shown to be essential in affecting antiviral cytokine responses in many different subtypes of the influenza virus. According to John, the specific exchange of E for D at position 92 of A/HK/156/97 (H5N1) resulted in an order of magnitude higher quantum yield of IFN . In contrast, Lipatov reported that a reassortant virus harboring a D92E mutation in its H5N1/NS1 gene provoked significantly higher levels of inflammatory cytokines than viruses whose NS1 protein contains D at position 92 . In our study, we used site-directed mutagenesis to substitute aspartic acid (D) for glutamic acid (E) at this position and found that such a substitution had no effect on the ability of the H1N1 swine influenza virus NS1 protein to antagonize the expression of cytokines. We propose that the role of glutamic or aspartic acid at this position may differ from strain to strain.
The RNA/Protein-protein interaction is mainly affected by the hydrophilicity of amino acids inside the protein . The substitution of certain amino acids may change the hydrophilicity of the protein and thus influence protein bioactivity. Since the NS1 S42P mutation showed lower virus titers and higher cellular IFN-β production, we compared the NS1 and NS1 mutant 3D structures, hydrophilicity, antigenic index and instability index. Our structure analysis showed that amino acid mutations at position 42 and 92 changed the hydrogen bonds but had no influence on the structure of the NS1 mutants. Other studies suggest that the single amino acid at S42 residues induces a minor structural change and leads to the loss of function of NS1 . Different structure modeling software and virus strains might contribute to these two controversial results. The hydrophilicity of the NS1 S42P mutant was lower than NS1 [A/Swine/Shanghai/3/2014(H1N1)]. The S42 residue was located within the RNA-binding domain (RBD) and the S42P site mutation decreased its protein hydrophobicity and thus might influence its interaction with RNAs or host proteins. Previous studies found RBD with S42 residue bound double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), whereas that S42P mutation did not . RIG-I acts as a single-stranded RNA sensor and a potential target of viral immune evasion, and the NS1 protein of the influenza A virus blocks the RIG-I activation mediated by viral genomic single-stranded RNA bearing 5′ phosphates . It remains to be investigated what the contribution of the NS1 mutants is to the level of IFN-β associated with the reducing interaction with RIG-I. The D92E substitution increased the instability index and had no effect on the hydrophilicity of the proteins, and D92E was still able to influence the antiviral response by inhibiting IFN-α/β production. Moreover, the antigenicity index of serine 42 of NS1 was over 1, which indicating that it could be an antigen epitope. The amino acid at serine 42 was highly conserved in the human, swine, and equine influenza viruses. Further elucidation of 42 as an epitope would provide new insight into the development of vaccines to control various types of influenza virus.
In this study, we demonstrate that the S42 residue of the NS1 of the A/swine/Shanghai/3/2014(H1N1) strain is the key amino acid in regulating the host IFN response by blocking the activation of IRF3 and thus facilitates virus replication. This work will be useful for a further understanding of how the amino acid mutations influence the function of the NS1 protein and the interaction between H1N1 SIV and the host innate immune responses.
This work was supported by the veterinary research institute of the Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Science.
This work was funded by the Shanghai Agricultural Commission key project (No. 2014–7–3-4, No. 2017–1-18).
HLL and JHC conceived and designed this study. CLZ and JHC performed the experiments. JT performed the statistical analysis and interpretation. JHC wrote the manuscript and prepared the figures. HLL, BQL and YS. revised the manuscripts. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.
The experimental protocols were approved by the laboratory animal monitoring committee of The Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Science.
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0.929536 |
Is disclosure permissible in public interest in cases involving fraud?
The appellant wanted to obtain information pertaining to claim made in policy no. 122 300/48/2009 /2078 by National Bulk Handling Corporation. The PIO denied disclosure of information citing the provisions of sections 8 (1)(d) and 8 (1)(j) of the RTI Act. The information pertained to Finality Guarantee Policy which was in force from 28 April 2008 to 27 April 2009 and covered the Oriental Insurance Co. against loss caused by fraud, embezzlement and dishonesty by unnamed employees – both permanent and temporary – of the Company. On appeal, the first appellate authority upheld the order of the PIO.
The appellant submitted that he had been named in a case of fraud by the NBHC in which he was subsequently acquitted by the court and that NHBC was wrongly and fraudulently preferring claim before the respondent therefore, it was important that the information be disclosed to him in larger public interest. The respondent submitted that they had already taken action as per section 11 of the Act and that NBHC had declined to give their consent for the disclosure of the requested information to the appellant. The respondent stressed that the relationship between themselves and NBHC was fiduciary in nature and therefore information could not be disclosed to the appellant. The respondent also submitted that the claim of the NHBC in the present case had been rejected and that the appellant's name did not appear in any of the papers held by them. The Commission dismissed the appeal holding that there is any larger public interest in disclosure of information sought by the appellant which is most certainly covered under the exemption clause of section 8 (1)(e) of the Act.
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0.992051 |
What would be more fun than a rooster to paint and add to your French country kitchen?
1. Measure and mark a two inch border at the top and bottom of the canvas. Paint this border Seminole Green. Allow to dry and reapply color.
2. Measure and paint a 1.5” border along both vertical sides of the canvas. Paint this border using the slip slap method and Ulta Blue and Butter Cream.
3. Measure a ½” border running horizontal just above and below the Seminole Green border. Paint this border White.
4. Paint remaining square Dark Brown. Allow to dry and reapply.
5. Apply Crackle Medium following package directions and top with Butter Cream. Allow to dry.
6. Trace and transfer patterns using tracing paper and graphite paper.
7. Rooster – Paint rooster body Antique Gold, shade with Dark Brown, highlight with Butter Cream.
8. Paint rooster head feathers Butter Cream and shade with Dark Brown.
9. Using Cardinal Red, paint comb and waddle. Highlight with Tangerine and shade with Dark Brown.
10. Paint eye area Tangerine and eye Antique Gold. Outline eye with Dark Brown. Highlight eye with White.
11. Body feathers are painted with both Cardinal Red and Tangerine.
12. Tail feathers are Ultra Blue and White.
13. Paint the rooster’s legs and feet Antique Gold shaded with Dark Brown.
14. Using Seminole Green, paint a small patch of ground.
15. Add a touch of Dark Brown to the corners of the rooster square.
16. Sunflowers – Paint sunflower petals Antique Gold and highlight a few petals with White or Butter Cream.
17. Paint sunflower center with a polka dot of Dark Brown.
18. The leaves and stem are painted using Seminole Green.
19. Square border – Paint the squares Dark Brown. You may also choose to sponge the square shape using a square sponge applicator.
20. Add a Cardinal Red circle at the connecting square corners. Or you may choose to use a 5/8” dauber to paint the circle.
21. Paint a Seminole Green polka dot in the center of the red circle.
22. Checkerboard border – Paint every other small square Cardinal Red.
23. As a final touch, paint a dash – dot – dash border of Cardinal Red around each section. Allow to dry. If desired, apply a coat or two of varnish to seal and protect.
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0.954051 |
Wrigley Field, also known as the Friendly Confines, is the home ground of the Chicago Cubs, and has been since 1916.
One of the most iconic parks in the history of Major League Baseball, in fact, in the history of sports in the United States, since it was built in 1914, Wrigley Field has been home to many great sport franchises, witnessing great victories, and hosting some of the greatest players in different sports.
Wrigley Field is located in what is primarily a residential area. As a result, it has no parking lots, and the pitch can be seen from neighbouring rooftops. It is also known for being the last MLB park to have light installations that allow for play in the night.
The Field was first opened as Weeghman Park in 1914, named after the then owner of the Chicago Whales, Charles Weeghman. Weeghman hired some architects to design the park in 1914, and it cost close to $250,000 to build at that time (approximately $6 million in 2016 dollars). It reportedly took just 2 months to complete the construction and it seated 14,000 people at the time.
Chicago Whales was a team in the then Federal League, and in their first year at Weeghman Park, the were 2nd in the Federal league. They won the championship the next year, but that same year, the Federal League was disbanded.
Wrigley Field is the only stadium that hosted the Federal League and is still in use.
On April 20, 1916, the Chicago Cubs played for the first time at Wrigley Field, it was still named Weeghman Park then.
Weeghman Park was renamed Cubs Park in 1920, and it retained that name till 1926. It was consequently named Wrigley Field in 1927, after the chewing gum tycoon, William Wrigley Jr., who acquired complete control of the Chicago Cubs in 1921.
Wrigley Field is the oldest ground in the National League and as of 2017, it seats 41,649 people. It is the second oldest park in the Major League after Fenway Park (opened in 1912).
Until September 2003, when the Giants Stadium in New Jersey (at the time, it was occupied by the New York Giants and the New York Jets) broke its record, Wrigley Field held the National Football League record for most regular season games hosted in a year. Wrigley Field hosted 365 games when it was home to 2 NFL teams: The Chicago Cubs and the Chicago Bears.
In over 100 years of operation, Wrigley Field has been host to NFL games, college football games, boxing bouts, ice hockey games, soccer games, rodeo, movie nights, the circus, rock concerts, opera, the Harlem Globetrotters etc.
National Football League team, the Chicago Bears played their home games at Wrigley Field for 50 seasons (from 1921-1970) before moving to Soldier Field. The Bears’ longevity at Wrigley Field was an NFL record and it was only surpassed in 2007, when the Green Bay Packers exceeded their 50th season in Lambeau Field, where they were hosted since the late 1950s. In their history, the Chicago Bears have won more NFL championships than every other team but the Packers, and they won them all, save one, at Wrigley Field. The only championship they won away from Wrigley Field was their only Super Bowl title.
After 50 years, the Bears had to move away from Wrigley Field because of the AFL-NFL merger and the resulting mandate that required every NFL stadium to have a capacity of not less than 50,000. Wrigley Field hosted 5 NFL championship games (1933, 1937, 1941, 1943 and 1963).
Wrigley Field played home to NASL (North American Soccer League) team, the Chicago String in the late 1970s and the early 80s. at that time, the String’s home games were shared between Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park.
The fastest concert to sell out Wrigley Field was in July 2013. Famous band, Pearl Jam performed, and the concert was halted for over 2 hours because of a lightning threat.
During his Night Train Tour in 2013, Jason Aldean, performed at Wrigley. Kelly Clarkson, Thomas Rhett, and Jake Owen also performed on the night, and the show was completely sold-out.
Lady Gaga, the first woman to headline a show at Wrigley Field held her concert at the famous stadium in 2017.
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0.997376 |
Have all your ingredients at room temperature for a moist and fluffy cake.
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 6 inch cake pan. Pour 2 tablespoons melted butter into the cake pan. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons brown sugar over butter. Scatter 2/3 cup blueberries over sugar. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In another medium bowl, whisk together remaining 2 tablespoons butter, remaining 1/3 cup brown sugar, and the egg. Whisk the buttermilk into the egg mixture. Add flour mixture and whisk until batter is smooth.
3. Pour half the batter into the cake pan. Sprinkle remaining 1/3 cup of blueberries over the batter. Spread the remaining batter over the blueberries. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean of batter, about 45 minutes. Immediately unmold the cake, inverting it onto a serving dish. Serve warm with whipped cream if desired.
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0.955886 |
Leonardo III Tocco was the last ruler of Epirus, from 1448 to 1479.
Leonardo III Tocco was the son of Carlo II Tocco (count of Cephalonia and Zante, duke of Leukas, and ruler of Epirus) and Ramondina of Ventimiglia. On his father's death in October 1448, Leonardo succeeded as a minor to all his titles and possessions. He reigned as ruler of Epirus from Arta until 24 March 1449, when the city was taken by the Ottoman Turks.
His mainland possessions reduced to three fortresses, Leonardo established himself in Angelokastron. In 1460, this city was also lost to the Turks, leaving only Vonitsa in the possession of Leonardo, who moved to his islands. On 1 May 1463 Leonardo married his first wife Milica of Serbia. She was a daughter of Lazar Branković and Helena Palaiologina. Milica died in childbirth in 1464.
In 1477, Leonardo married his second wife Francesca Marzano, an illegitimate granddaughter of King Alfonso of Naples. According to William Miller, Leonardo believed the Republic of Venice would not extend their protection to his realm, and his second marriage was an effort to form family ties with the ruling house of the Kingdom of Naples and secure their support. However, Venice had no desire to see Neapolitan influence return to the Ionian Islands, and this marriage only alienated that power further. So when the Ottomans found an excuse to invade his realm, Leonardo offered no resistance and instead fled with his valuables, his wife, and his three sons for Taranto, and then to Naples.
A new Turkish advance in 1479 captured Vonitsa and then Cephalonia, Leukas, and Zante later the same year. Deprived of both Epirus and the Ionian Islands, Leonardo fled to the Kingdom of Naples, where he was invested with several fiefs by Ferdinand I of Naples. He died in c. 1499.
By Milica of Serbia, Leonardo had only Carlo III Tocco (1464–1518), who succeeded him as titular ruler of Epirus (Arta) and Zakynthos.
By Francesca Marzano, he had five children, but their order of birth is unknown: Hippolyta Tocco, Leonora Tocco (a nun), Maria Tocco (who married Pietro Talamanca), Pietro Tocco (considered to have died young) and Ramondina Tocco (who married Federigo Pico della Mirandola).
Leonardo also had an illegitimate son, Ferrante Tocco (d. 1535). According to Miller, Ferrante served as Spanish ambassador to the court of Henry VII of England in 1506. Benet Tocco (Spanish: Benito), a son of Ferrante, became Bishop of Girona from 1572 to 1583. Benet also served as Bishop of Lleida from 1583 to his death in 1585.
What's the good word on Leonardo III Tocco?
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0.945975 |
Did Apple mislead Apple iPhone 4S buyers into believing that Siri was a fully functioning personal assistant? That is the question that a court might have to answer as a Regina, Canada based law firm is attempting to put together a class action law suit that focuses on the voice activated Siri's "shortcomings". The law firm is looking for those who feel that the Cupertino based tech titan "knowingly took advantage" of buyers of the latest Apple iPhone. Catlin Hendriks is the one named plaintiff and she says that all of the signees to the suit have "substantial injury" due to Siri's lack of full functionality.
A class action suit focused on Siri was certified in the States earlier this year, and a Canadian judge needs to approve the class action suit before the contestants head into a courtroom. The plaintiffs are asking for "...the difference in purchase price between the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 4 (without Siri), and damages for ‘loss of use, annoyance and inconvenience."
"Siri either did not understand what the plaintiff was asking or, after a very long wait time, responded with the wrong answer. The plaintiff quickly recognized the futility of using Siri,"-excerpt from the lawsuit.
The million dollar question (for the attorneys, anyway) is whether or not Apple made a smart move by promoting the "beta" status of Siri which might make it hard for a judge to agree that any harm has befallen the prospective class. As a beta product, the idea is that users cannot totally rely on the service. Besides, the info requested by iPhone 4S users for Siri could be found using an app or by browsing online. On the other hand, Siri was one of the main features that Apple advertised as a reason to buy its latest smartphone.
Apple has yet to comment, but we can tell you that usually it is only the lawyers that profit from a class action suit as the plaintiffs share a token amount of money.
I think it depends on how apple advertised it. If it was saying that it was not fully functional, or was still in the development phase, Apple will most likely win. But if it was just said that was in "Beta", that will depend on how wildspread is the term. It is possible that those who is not familiarized with the term can be misled.
I think was is important here for everyone involed to understand is that anything Apple ever releases is always in a 'developmentAl phAse'; emphaSiS on mentAl. Personally, iAm moving to Canada just to join this suit because iAsked SiRi who was The Queen and after a loooooong pAuse she said, "Steve Jobs." And, I know that can't be right. I want my refund.
Even then, They promote Siri as a full functioning voice assistant, everyone that I know who owns an iPhone 4S has not idea that Siri is a beta.
This is absolutely stupid. I hope apple wipes this money grabbing law firm clean.
I absolutely agree. I consider myself somewhat of an Apple hater, but this lawsuit is completely out of bounds.
Thought I was the only one who would come on here and feel that way. Besides, what would stop class action suits from popping up all over the place based on disappointment in an electronic device if this goes through. Dangerous precedent to be setting.
I agree the lawsuit is stupid and will probably get dismissed. But it almost makes me wonder if therei s a problem underneath that needs to be address. Apple advertises Siri as part of the iPhone...one of the most well known features of the phone in fact. The vast majority of people with iPhones believe it's a finished product...although some of them think it's defective. But to Apple, it's still a beta feature. How much does a company have to promote that a product is still in the testing phase if they release it as part of a finished product? How much can they advertise? Whose responsibility is it to inform the customer, Apple or the customer themselves? What level of usability does the product have to have to be both in beta and be advertised as a feature of the larger product? The reason I ask is because what stops a company from going further? I could technically release a phone and say it can record higher than 1080p...but it's still in beta so right now it only records in 2fps. That's not fair to the consumer. We saw something like this a few years ago when Sprint debuted the HTC Mogul and said it was their first EVDO-Rev A, but almost didn't release the update for the faster speed.
I agree, these class action lawsuits are stupid. as far as your question, if i were a "company exec" and we were promoting such poorly working items like your 2fps camera, i would prepare for a backlash and a drop in sales. But Siri isnt that bad. Honestly,I think the most that needed to be done was to put "BETA" under the Siri logo, and have a pop up page the first time you use SIRI that tells you why its beta, and that you agree to it. Bam, no lawyer clause in the agreement. None of this would have happened. This is the dark side to having such a mega devoted fanbase. Any minor flaw and they come after you like you killed their children. Not because you hurt them, but because you hurt their belief in your perfection. People are weird.
@ remixfa You're right. People are weird.
I agree. This law suit is just plain stupid.
Well for all the suing Apple has done lately. I hope this goes through, for the customers sake.
This is a BS lawsuit! People knew what Siri was before purchasing the phone, and if you didn't you should have invested 2 minutes to do your homework before buying the phone. I don't think it matters whether the advertised as beta or not, no technology will be 100% perfect all the time. Not to mention it comes with a dual core processor and an 8 MP camera, so if you just bought the phone just to get Siri, and now your unhappy with your purchase...that's your own fault! When I owned the Droid X, I waited to see what the DX 2 looked like. When I saw it was basically the same phone with just a few spec bumps I passed on it, and that what these people should have done or returned within that trail period like every other person who made a bad cell phone choice does.
not everyone is like us,who go on tech sites,read reviews,research before purchase etc...many of people who have got the iphone is because its an iphone and because of the ''cool'' ads...i have seen the ads here in uk and in everyone single one they promote siri as the main feature and advertise it as a complete product/feature that works perfectly when in reality it doesnt. in the ads it doesnt even specify that siri is in beta,if they had then no one would even have a case against apple..but the fact that apple mass advertised siri as a complete product,am not at all surprised to hear that people are vexed about this and feel they have been misled..here in the uk apple are being investigated by watchdog for the very same thing as apple in some ads advertise siris location features yet here in the uk you cant even use most of the location features advertised.
Your right. WE and people like us who love tech are always in the know. But average consumers have got to stop being lazy, and if they don't they need to learn how to deal with the consequences of the actions or in this case inactions. And stop whining to the courts because they just had to have the new iPhone, Droid, WP7 or whatever.
Im sorry but the idea that this feature was anything but beta from the start is ridiculous. Because of this, a lawsuit pertaining to significant harm or injury is just as ridiculous. This really is a waste of court's time. How were they harmed by them going into a store and buying it? How is Apple responsible for an uninformed customer? This is worse than patent trolls. Seriously.
WTF???!!! You mean Siri doesnt work as easily,or as fast and effective as Apple protrays in tv ads???? Im Shocked!! Apple certainly doesnt mention Siri being beta anywhere in the ads,they make it seems revolutionary,that saying I think the court case is ridiculous and have no sympathy for the ifans as they bought the iphone stupidity thinking it changes everything again and want to sue apple now that it doesnt. Even the most ill informed of society these days should know that apple has a history of over exaggerating and misleading people with its products,its like the ifans that kept coming back into us complaining to us saying their iphone 4 kept dropping calls,the antenna gate was all overe prime time news channels,Steve jobs did a huge presentation about and yet these ifans say they never knew!
While it doesn't say beta on the commercials, it does on the website, so there is a place where apple has been calling it "beta"
Hey, anyone notice anything ... STRANGE going on here? This Apple article is full of Android users coming to the defense of the company iPhone fans claim we are always bashing! Maybe us Android users arent as bad as many think we are.
I agree the lack of trolling here is shocking.
Taco??? That was almost... sorta... somewhat of a positive comment towards Android users! Well, its close enough for me. Good job dude!
It's nice to see that Apple is being held accountable for their claims. This gives rise to the notion that their products are overrated. Let the lawsuits continue.
I think the basis of this lawsuit depends on the seriousness of how Canada addresses marketing advertising. When I view the ads for the iPhone4s' Siri operation, I can easily become overly attracted to the "Flawless" power and diversity of the program. Yet, when utilized in reality, the "Flawless" attributes become less evident in the end user experience. Ignorance from consumers is no excuse in the court of law. However, a company exploiting a product above and beyond actual limits, can be percieved as false advertising. Something we in the U.S. have taken lightly. John B.
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Take on the role of a Pokémon Trainer and uncover new tales, and unravel the mystery behind the two forms reminiscent of the Legendary Pokémon. With new story additions and features this earns Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon the name "Ultra!" Another adventure is about to begin!
New Pokémon forms have been discovered in the Aloha region in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon! These forms are reminiscent of the Legendary Pokémon Solgaleo, Lunala, and Necrozma, first revealed in Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon. Head out on an epic journey as you solve the mystery behind these fascinating Pokémon! In this expanded adventure, get ready to explore more of the Alola region, catch more amazing Pokémon, and battle more formidable foes in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon!
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0.946437 |
What is the difference between tap and map in Angular?
tap and map both are RxJS operator.
Pipeable operators such as tap, are used within pipe function of Observable. tap performs side effects only when the Observable returned by tap is subscribed. tap can be used to debug values emitted by Observable or to perform any side effect.
tap is declared as following.
tap has three optional parameters.
nextOrObserver: A normal Observable object to perform side effect.
error: Callback for errors in source Observable.
complete: Callback for completion of the source.
We will get following output.
map is a RxJS pipeable operator. map applies a given function to each element emitted by the source Observableand emits the resulting values as an Observable. map is imported as following.
map is used with pipe which is an instance method of Observable.
Suppose we have an Observable of a string that contains comma separated names.
Now we will map this string into array and return result into Observable of array of names.
We can iterate stdNames$ as following.
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A company's general ledger account Cash contains a record of the transactions (checks written, receipts from customers, etc.) that involve its checking account. The bank also creates a record of the company's checking account when it processes the company's checks, deposits, service charges, and other items. Soon after each month ends the bank usually mails a bank statement to the company. The bank statement lists the activity in the bank account during the recent month as well as the balance in the bank account.
From these two examples, you can understand why there will likely be a difference in the balance on the bank statement vs. the balance in the Cash account on the company's books. It is also possible (perhaps likely) that neither balance is the true balance. Both balances may need adjustment in order to report the true amount of cash.
After you adjust the balance per bank to be the true balance and after you adjust the balance per books to also be the same true balance, you have reconciled the bank statement. Most accountants would simply say that you have done the bank reconciliation or the bank rec.
Deposits in transit are amounts already received and recorded by the company, but are not yet recorded by the bank. For example, a retail store deposits its cash receipts of August 31 into the bank's night depository at 10:00 p.m. on August 31. The bank will process this deposit on the morning of September 1. As of August 31 (the bank statement date) this is a deposit in transit.
Because deposits in transit are already included in the company's Cash account, there is no need to adjust the company's records. However, deposits in transit are not yet on the bank statement. Therefore, they need to be listed on the bank reconciliation as an increase to the balance per bank in order to report the true amount of cash.
* A helpful rule of thumb is "put it where it isn't." A deposit in transit is on the company's books, but it isn't on the bank statement. Put it where it isn't: as an adjustment to the balance on the bank statement.
Outstanding checks are checks that have been written and recorded in the company's Cash account, but have not yet cleared the bank account. Checks written during the last few days of the month plus a few older checks are likely to be among the outstanding checks.
Because all checks that have been written are immediately recorded in the company's Cash account, there is no need to adjust the company's records for the outstanding checks. However, the outstanding checks have not yet reached the bank and the bank statement. Therefore, outstanding checks are listed on the bank reconciliation as a decrease in the balance per bank.
* Recall the helpful tip "put it where it isn't." An outstanding check is on the company's books, but it isn't on the bank statement. Put it where it isn't: as an adjustment to the balance on the bank statement.
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For the 1905 partition, see 1905 Partition of Bengal.
The Partition of Bengal in 1947, part of the Partition of India, divided the British Indian province of Bengal based on the Radcliffe Line between India and Pakistan. Predominantly Hindu West Bengal became a state of India, and predominantly Muslim East Bengal (now Bangladesh) became a province of Pakistan.
On 20 June 1947, the Bengal Legislative Assembly met to decide the future of the Bengal Presidency, on whether it would be a United Bengal within India or Pakistan; or be divided into East and West Bengal. At the preliminary joint session, the assembly decided by 120 votes to 90 that it should remain united if it joined the new Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. Later, a separate meeting of legislators from West Bengal decided by 58 votes to 21 that the province should be partitioned and that West Bengal should join the existing Constituent Assembly of India. In another separate meeting of legislators from East Bengal, it was decided by 106 votes to 35 that that province should not be partitioned and 107 votes to 34 that East Bengal should join Pakistan in the event of partition.
On 6 July 1947, the Sylhet referendum decided to sever Sylhet from Assam and merge it into East Bengal.
The partition, with the power transferred to Pakistan and India on 14–15 August 1947, was done according to what has come to be known as the "3 June Plan" or "Mountbatten Plan". India's independence on 15 August 1947 ended over 150 years of British influence in the Indian subcontinent. East Bengal later became the independent country of Bangladesh after the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.
In 1905, the first partition in Bengal was implemented as an administrative preference, making governing the two provinces, West and East Bengal, easier. While the partition split the province between West Bengal, in which the majority was Hindu, and the East, where the majority was Muslim, the 1905 partition left considerable minorities of Hindus in East Bengal and Muslims in West Bengal. While the Muslims were in favour of the partition, as they would have their own province, Hindus were not. This controversy led to increased violence and protest and finally, in 1911, the two provinces were once again united.
However, the disagreements between Hindus and Muslims in Bengal which had sparked the Partition of Bengal in 1905 still remained and laws, including the Partition of Bengal in 1947, were implemented to fulfill the political needs of the parties involved.
Then the members of the Muslim-majority areas of Bengal in a separate session passed a motion by 106–35 votes against partitioning Bengal and instead joining a new Constituent Assembly (i.e., Pakistan) as a whole.
This was followed by the separate meeting of the members of the non-Muslim-majority areas of Bengal who by a division of 58–21 voted for partition of the province.
Under the Mountbatten Plan, a single majority vote in favour of partition by either notionally divided half of the Assembly would have decided the division of the province, and hence the house proceedings on 20 June resulted in the decision to partition Bengal. This set the stage for the creation of West Bengal as a province of the Union of India and East Bengal as a province of the Dominion of Pakistan.
Also in accordance with the Mountbatten Plan, in a referendum held on 7 July, the electorate of Sylhet voted to join East Bengal. Further, the Boundary Commission headed by Sir Cyril Radcliffe decided on the territorial demarcation between the two newly created provinces. Power was transferred to Pakistan and India on 14 and 15 August, respectively, under the Indian Independence Act 1947.
After it became apparent that the division of India on the basis of the Two-nation theory would almost certainly result in the partition of the Bengal province along religious lines, Bengal provincial Muslim League leader Suhrawardy came up with a new plan to create an independent Bengal state that would join neither Pakistan nor India and remain unpartitioned. Suhrawardy realised that if Bengal was partitioned, it would be economically disastrous for East Bengal as all coal mines, all jute mills but two and other industrial plants would certainly go to the western part since these were in an overwhelmingly Hindu majority area. Most important of all, Calcutta, then the largest city in India, an industrial and commercial hub and the largest port, would also go to the western part. Suhrawardy floated his idea on 24 April 1947 at a press conference in Delhi.
However, the plan directly ran counter to that of the Muslim League's, which demanded the creation of a separate Muslim homeland on the basis of the two-nation theory. Bengal provincial Muslim League leadership opinion was divided. Barddhaman's League leader Abul Hashim supported it. On the other hand, Nurul Amin and Mohammad Akram Khan opposed it. But Muhammad Ali Jinnah realised the validity of Suhrawardy's argument and gave his tacit support to the plan. After Jinnah's approval, Suhrawardy started gathering support for his plan.
On the Congress side, only a handful of leaders agreed to the plan. Among them was the influential Bengal provincial congress leader Sarat Chandra Bose, the elder brother of Netaji and Kiran Shankar Roy. However most other BPCC leaders and Congress leadership including Nehru and Patel rejected the plan. The Hindu nationalist party Hindu Mahasabha under the leadership of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee vehemently opposed it. Their opinion was that the plan is nothing but a ploy by Suhrawardy to stop the partition of the state so that the industrially developed western part including the city of Kolkata remains under League control. They also opined that even though the plan asked for a sovereign Bengal state, in practice it will be a virtual Pakistan and the Hindu minority will be at the mercy of the Muslim majority forever.
Although the chances of the proposal seeing daylight without Congress central committee's approval was slim, Bose and Suhrawardy continued talks to reach an agreement on the political structure of the proposed state. Like Suhrawardy, Bose also felt that the partition would severely hamper Bengal's economy and almost half of the Hindu population would be left stranded on the Pakistani side. The agreement was published on 24 May 1947. However, this was largely a political agreement. The proposal had hardly any support at grassroots level, particularly among the Hindus. Muslim League's continuous propaganda on the two-nation theory for the previous six years combined with the marginalisation of Hindus in the Suhrawardy ministry and the vicious riots of 1946, which many Hindus believed was state sponsored, left little room for trust in Muslim League among Bengali Hindus. Soon afterwards, division arose among Bose and Suhrawardy on the question of the nature of the electorate; separate or joint. Suhrawardy insisted upon maintaining the separate electorate for Muslims and Non-Muslims. Bose was opposed to this. He withdrew and due to lack of any other significant support from the Congress's side, the United Bengal plan was discarded. Still, this relatively unknown episode marked the last attempt among Bengali Muslim and Hindu leadership to avoid the partition and live together.
Muslims majority districts: Dinajpur, Rangpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Rajshahi, Bogra, Pabna, Mymensingh, Jessore, Nadia, Faridpur, Dhaka, Tippera, Bakerganj, Noakhali and Chittagong.
Non-Muslim majority Districts: Calcutta, Howrah, Hooghly, Birbhum, Burdwan, Bankura, Midnapore, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, 24 Pargana, Khulna and Chittagong Track hills.
Pakistan: East Dinajpur, Rangpur, Rajshahi, Bogra, Pabna, Mymensingh, Sylhet (except Barak valley), Khulna, Bakerganj, Tippera, Noakhali, Chittagong, Jessore, East Nadia, Chittagong Track Hills.
India: West Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, Malda, Murshidabad, West Nadia, Calcutta, 24 Pargana, Burdwan, Birbhum, Midnapore, Howrah, Hooghly and Barak Valley in Assam.
The second partition of Bengal left behind a legacy of violence which continues to this day. As Bashabi Fraser put it, "There is the reality of the continuous flow of 'economic migrants' / 'refugees' / 'infiltrators' / 'illegal immigrants' who cross over the border and pan out across the sub-continent, looking for work and a new home, setting in metropolitan centres as far off as Delhi and Mumbai, keeping the question of the Partition alive today. "
A massive population transfer began immediately after partition. Millions of Hindus migrated to India from East Bengal. The majority of them settled in West Bengal. A smaller number went to Assam, Tripura and other states. However the refugee crisis was markedly different from Punjab at India's western border. Punjab witnessed widespread communal riots immediately before partition. As a result, population transfer in Punjab happened almost immediately after the partition as terrified people left their homes from both sides. Within a year the population exchange was largely complete between East and West Punjab. But in Bengal, violence was limited only to Kolkata and Noakhali. And hence in Bengal migration occurred in a much more gradual fashion and continued over the next three decades following partition. Although riots were limited in pre-independence Bengal, the environment was nonetheless communally charged. Both Hindus in East Bengal and Muslims in West Bengal felt unsafe and had to take a crucial decision that is whether to leave for an uncertain future in another country or to stay in subjugation under the other community. Among Hindus in East Bengal those who were economically better placed, particularly higher caste Hindus, left first. Government employees were given a chance to swap their posts between India and Pakistan. The educated urban upper and middle class, the rural gentry, traders, businessmen and artisans left for India soon after partition. They often had relatives and other connections in West Bengal and were able to settle with less difficulty. Muslims followed a similar pattern. The urban and educated upper and middle class left for East Bengal first.
However poorer Hindus in East Bengal, most of whom belonged to lower castes like the Namashudras found it much more difficult to migrate. Their only property was immovable land holdings. Many sharecropped. They didn't have any skills other than farming. As a result, most of them decided to stay in East Bengal. However the political climate in Pakistan deteriorated soon after partition and communal violence started to rise. In 1950 severe riots occurred in Barisal and other places in East Pakistan, causing a further exodus of Hindus. The situation was vividly described by Jogendranath Mandal's resignation letter to the then prime minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan. Mandal was a Namashudra leader and despite being a lower caste Hindu, he supported Muslim League as a protest to the subjugation of lower caste Hindus by their higher caste co-religionists. He fled to India and resigned from his cabinet minister's post. Throughout the next two decades Hindus left East Bengal whenever communal tensions flared up or relationship between India and Pakistan deteriorated, as in 1964. The situation of the Hindu minority in East Bengal reached its worst in the months preceding and during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, when the Pakistani army systematically targeted ethnic Bengalis regardless of religious background as part of Operation Searchlight.
In independent Bangladesh, state sponsored discrimination of Hindus largely stopped. But like India, the two communities relationship remains tense and occasional communal violence occurred, such as in the aftermath of Babri Mosque demolition. Migration to India continues to present day although now it is mostly due to economic reasons and is not limited to Hindus alone.
Though Muslims in post-independence West Bengal faced some discrimination, it was unlike the state sponsored discrimination faced by the Hindus in East Bengal. While Hindus had to flee from East Bengal, Muslims were able to stay in West Bengal. Over the years, however, the community became ghettoised and was socially and economically segregated from the majority community. Muslims lag well behind other minorities like Sikhs and Christians in almost all social indicators like literacy and per capita income.
Apart from West Bengal, thousands of Bihari Muslims also settled in East Bengal. They had suffered terribly in severe riots before partition. But they supported West Pakistan during Bangladesh's liberation war and were subsequently denied citizenship by Bengalis in independent Bangladesh. Most of these Bihari refugees still remain stateless.
1951 census in Pakistan recorded 671,000 refugees in East Bengal, the majority of which came from West Bengal. Rest were from Bihar. By 1961 the numbers reached 850,000. Crude estimates suggest that about 1.5 million Muslims migrated from West Bengal and Bihar to East Bengal in two decades after partition.
In Punjab, Indian Government anticipated a population transfer and was ready to take proactive measures. Land plots which were evacuated by Muslims were allotted to incoming Hindu and Sikh refugees. Government allocated substantial resources for rehabilitation of refugees in Punjab. In contrast there was no such planning in the eastern part of the country. Neither Central nor West Bengal state Government anticipated any large-scale population exchange and no coordinated policy was in place to rehabilitate millions of homeless people. The newly independent country had few resource and the Central Government was exhausted in resettling 7 million refugees in Punjab. Instead of providing rehabilitation, the Indian Government tried to stop and even reverse the refugee influx from East Bengal. India and Pakistan signed the Nehru-Liaqut pact in 1950 to stop any further population exchange between West and East Bengal. Both countries agreed to take the refugees back and return them their property which they evacuated in their respective countries. But in practice both countries failed to uphold it. Even after it became clear that refugees were determined not to be sent back, the governments of both countries failed to provide any significant assistance. The Government policy of East Bengal refugee rehabilitation mostly consisted of sending them to 'empty areas', mostly outside of West Bengal. One of the most controversial of such schemes was the Government's decision to settle the refugees by force in Dandakaranya, a barren plot of land in central India.
Without Government's assistance the refugees often settled themselves. Some found jobs in factories. Many took small businesses and hawking. Numerous refugee colonies sprang up in Nadia, 24 Paraganas and Kolkata's suburbs.
The princely state of Tripura had a predominantly tribal population. But educated Bengalis were welcomed by the King and they were prominent in the state's administration in pre-independence India. But after partition thousands of Bengali Hindus migrated to Tripura. This changed the state's demography completely. Tripura's tribes became a minority in their own homeland and also lost their land holdings. As a result, tribal insurgency began which led violent riots among tribes and Bengalis in 1980. Low scale insurgency continues to this day.
Jute was the largest industry in Bengal at the time of partition. Radcliffe's line left every single jute mill in West Bengal but four fifth of the jute producing land in East Bengal. The best quality fibre yielding breeds of jute were cultivated mostly in East Bengal. India and Pakistan initially went into a trade agreement to import raw jute from East Bengal for West Bengal's mills. However, Pakistan had plans to set up its own mills and put restrictions on raw jute export to India. West Bengal's mills faced acute shortage. The industry faced a crisis. On the other hand, jute farmers in East Bengal were now without a market to sell their produce. Jute export to West Bengal suddenly became an anti-national act for Pakistan. Smuggling of raw jute shot up across the border. However West Bengal rapidly increased jute production and by mid-to-late 1950s became largely self-sufficient in jute. West Bengal's mills became less dependent on East Bengal for raw material. Pakistan also set up new factories to process its local produce instead of exporting to India. The following table shows jute production details in two countries in 1961.
West Bengal's paper and leather industry faced similar problems. The paper mills used East Bengal's Bamboo and the tanneries consumed leather, also mainly produced in East Bengal. Like jute, lack of raw material pushed these two industries into decline.
Despite center and state governments' best efforts, the pressure of millions of refugees, food shortages and industrial decline put post-independence West Bengal in a severe crisis. Dr. B. C. Roy's government tried to cope up with the situation by initiating several projects. The government built irrigation networks like DVC and Mayurakshi project, the Durgapur industrial zone and the Salt Lake City. But these failed to arrest West Bengal's decline. Poverty rose. West Bengal lost its top place and lagged well behind other Indian states in industrial development. Massive political unrest, strikes and violence crippled the state throughout the next three decade after partition.
Rail and road links connecting North East India to the rest of the country passed through East Bengal territory. The lines connecting Siliguri in North Bengal to Kolkata and Assam to Chittagong were severed. The whole Assam Railway was cut off from the rest of the Indian system. These lines carried almost all freight traffic from these regions. The most important commodities were tea and timber. The tea industry in Assam depended on the Chittagong port to export its produce and import raw materials for the industry such as coal which was used as the fuel to dry the tea leaves. The industry was severely hit as Chittagong port went to Pakistan. Initially India and Pakistan reached an agreement to allow cross border transit traffic but now India had to pay a tariff. By 1950, India reconnected Assam to the rest of the country's rail network by building a 229 km meter gauge rail link through the Siliguri Corridor. But now the Tea chests from Assam's gardens would have to be carried over a much longer distance to reach the Kolkata port. Exporting tea via the nearby Chittagong port was still an option but after 1965's war all transit traffic was switched off by Pakistan.
East Pakistan became independent Bangladesh in 1971 but cross border railway traffic did not resume until 2003. By the 1990s, India upgraded the Assam rail link to broad gauge right up to Dibrugarh thereby easing the traffic problem in Brahmaputra valley region, but the southern section of this area which comprises Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and Barak valley of Assam still faces serious connectivity problem. Talks between the two countries are currently underway to allow transit traffic between this area and mainland India through Bangladesh.
At the time of partition, East Bengal had no large industry. There were few mineral resources in this region. Its economy was completely agrarian. The main produce was food grains and other crops, jute, bamboo, leather and fish. These raw materials were consumed by factories in and around Kolkata. Kolkata was the center of Bengal's economic and social development for both Hindus and Muslims. All large industries, military bases, government offices and most of the institutions of higher education were situated in Kolkata. Without Kolkata, East Bengal was decapitated. It lost its traditional market for agricultural products. It also lost the Kolkata port, the premium port of the whole country at that time. East Bengal had to begin from nothing. Dhaka at that time was only a district headquarters. Government offices had to be placed inside makeshift buildings. Dhaka also faced a severe human resource crisis. The majority of high-ranking officers in British Indian administration were Hindu and they migrated to West Bengal. Often these posts had to be filled up by West Pakistani officers. Desperately poor, East Bengal soon became politically dominated by West Pakistan. Urdu was imposed upon the whole country. Economic disparities and subjugation of Bengalis by the Punjabi elite eventually led to struggle for separation.
Chinnamul (The Uprooted) a 1950 Bengali film directed by Nemai Ghosh, first dealt with the theme of partition of Bengal. This was followed by Ritwik Ghatak's trilogy, Meghe Dhaka Tara (Cloud-covered stars) (1960), Komal Gandhar (1961), and Subarnarekha (1962), all dealing with the aftermath of the partition.
The film Rajkahini directed by Srijit Mukherji is also based on the theme of partition of Bengal 1947.
^ During Bangladesh liberation war 11 million people from both communities took shelter in India. After the war 1.5 million decided to stay.
^ Mukherjee 1987, p. 230.
^ "India's History : Modern India : The First Partition of Bengal : 1905".
^ Baxter 1997, pp. 39–40: "The new province had a Muslim majority of about three to two ... The partition was widely welcomed by Muslims and sharply condemned by Hindus. Hindu opposition was expressed in many forms, ranging from boycott of British goods to revolutionary activities ... protests eventually bore fruit, and the partition was annulled in 1911."
^ Tripathi 1998, p. 87.
^ Chakrabarty 2004, p. 138.
^ Chakrabarty 2004, p. 132.
^ a b Chakrabarty 2004, p. 135.
^ Jalal 1994, p. 266: "The president of the Bengal League, Maulana Akram Khan, publicly rejected any notion of a Bengali nation in which Muslims and Hindus would share power ... The speaker of the Bengal assembly, Noorul Amin, was confident that he could become the chief minister of east Bengal and so wanted partition."
^ Jalal 1994, p. 265: "An undivided Bengal was vital for Jinnah's strategy ... Jinnah told Mountbatten ... 'What is the use of Bengal without Calcutta; they had better remain united and independent.'"
^ Chakrabarty 2004, p. 137.
^ a b Chakrabarty 2004, pp. 140-147.
^ Tripathi 1998, p. 86.
^ Chakrabarty 2004, p. 142.
^ Chakrabarty 2004, p. 141.
^ Chakrabarty 2004, p. 149.
^ Tripathi 1998, pp. 86, 186.
^ Chakrabarty 2004, p. 143.
^ Fraser 2008, p. 40.
^ Chatterji 2007, p. 111.
^ a b c "A home... far from home?". The Hindu. 30 July 2000. Archived from the original on 5 March 2007.
^ a b c d Chatterji 2007.
^ Chakrabarty 2004, p. 113.
^ Chatterji 2007, p. 181.
^ Rajinder Sachar (2006). Sachar Committee Report (PDF) (Report).
^ a b Hill et al. 2008, p. 13.
^ Luthra 1972, pp. 18-19.
^ Chatterji 2007, p. 166.
^ Chatterji 2007, p. 240.
^ Schendel 2005, pp. 158-159.
^ Schendel 2005, p. 159.
^ Chatterji 2007, pp. 241-242.
^ Schendel 2005, p. 150.
^ Jalal 1994, p. 3: "Stripped of Calcutta and western Bengal, eastern Bengal was reduced to the status of an over-populated rural slum."
^ Roy & Bhatia 2008, pp. 66-68.
Baxter, Craig (1997). Bangladesh: From a Nation to a State. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-2854-3.
Chakrabarty, Bidyut (2004). The Partition of Bengal and Assam, 1932-1947: Contour of Freedom. Routledge. ISBN 9781134332748.
Fraser, Bashabi (2008). Bengal Partition Stories: An Unclosed Chapter. New York: Anthem Press. ISBN 1-84331-299-9.
Roy, Anjali Gera; Bhatia, Nandi (2008). Partitioned lives : narratives of home, displacement, and resettlement. New Delhi: Dorling Kindersley (India). ISBN 9788131714164.
Mukherjee, Soumyendra Nath (1987). Sir William Jones: A Study in Eighteenth-century British Attitudes to India. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-86131-581-9.
Schendel, Willem van (2005). The Bengal Borderland: Beyond State and Nation in South Asia. Anthem Press. ISBN 978-1-84331-145-4.
Luthra, P. N. (1972). Rehabilitation. New Delhi: Publications Division.
Tripathi, Amales (1998). স্বাধীনতার মুখ [Svādhīnatāra mukha]. Ananda Publishers. ISBN 9788172157814.
Bandopadhyay. জিন্না/পাকিস্তান – নতুন ভাবনা.
Hill, K.; Selzer, W.; Leaning, J.; Malik, S. J.; Russell, S. S. (2008). "The Demographic Impact of Partition: Bengal in 1947".
Chattopadhyay, Subhasis (2016). "Review of Bengal Partition Stories: An Unclosed Chapter edited by Bashabi Fraser". Prabuddha Bharata or Awakened India. 121 (9): 670–672. ISSN 0032-6178.
Harun-or-Rashid (2012). "Suhrawardy, Huseyn Shaheed". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
Harun-or-Rashid (2012). "Partition of Bengal, 1947". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
Tan, Tai Yong; Kudaisya, Gyanesh (2000). The Aftermath of Partition in South Asia. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-17297-7.
Prasad, Rajendra (1947). India Divided (PDF) (3 ed.). Bombay: Hind Kitabs.
Singh, J. J. (15 June 1947). "Partition of India: British Proposal Said to be Only Feasible Plan Now". The New York Times (Letter to editor). p. E8.
Mookerjea-Leonard, Debali. (2017). Literature, Gender, and the Trauma of Partition: The Paradox of Independence London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1138183100.
This page was last edited on 21 March 2019, at 10:49 (UTC).
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