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St. John's Cross Were it not for the writing of Adamnan, the 9th Abbot of Iona, very little would have been known regarding St. Columba. His text, 'The Life of St. Columba' is one of the most complete pieces of biographical material from that time.
Columba was born on the 4th of December 521 at Gartan in the district of Donegal, Ireland.
After taking his monastic vows at Glasnevin, Dublin, he founded the monastery of Derry in 545. He also preached the length and breadth of Ireland, attacking paganism where it flourished and solidifying the faith in other areas.
More than 300 churches are ascribed to Columba, two of the most noteworthy being Durrow and Kells.
Why would Columba want to leave Ireland? One story, widely believed is that Columba had a major disagreement with Diarmid, king of Ireland over a small handmade book of psalms.
In 563, Columba and twelve followers left Ireland and sailed for Scotland, after visiting kinsmen at the Scottish Dalriada, Columba landed on Iona.
The first few years of Columba’s life on Iona were spent, preparing the land, training followers and getting the community in shape.
The Columban church, now established did not rest on it’s laurels, Columba and two followers, St. Kenneth and St. Comgall travelled to the court of King Brude of the Picts at Inverness. In the conversion of Brude to Christianity, Columba at one stroke had created peace between the tribes and paved the way for the expansion of the church into Scotland.
Columba died in June 598 and was interred in a common grave, he was 77 years old.
In subsequent centuries, Iona was the burial ground of choice for many kings, princes, and ecclesiastics.
The church also fell prey to numerous and deadly attacks by marauding Danes, several times bearing witness to the slaughter of both monks and congregations.
Time passed, the church remained but power and influence had shifted elsewhere, particularly after the death of Malcolm Canmore in the 11th century and the Church of Rome donning the mantle of faith which had rested for so long in a little church on a tiny isle off the southwestern tip of Mull.
In 1603 Iona passed into the hands of the Duke of Argyll, and remains to this day.
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What to play if you loved Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2?
We have selected a variety of games to recommend based on you loving Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2. You can explore them, and find recommendations based on them as well.
Based on the themes and genres of Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, we recommend checking these top 50 game lists.
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What it is A debt security that obligates the issuer to repay the bond's principal on its specified maturity date. Typically, a bond pays a fixed rate of interest. A fund that pools the money of many investors and invests in many different bonds, selected according to the fund's investing objective and strategy. Most mutual funds are open-end mutual funds, meaning the number of shares varies with demand and the amount of money invested in the fund. A fund that, like a mutual fund, pools the money of many investors and invests in many bonds. Typically, a bond ETF invests in the securities included in a specific bond index, and is traded on an exchange. A fund that pools the money of many investors. A UIT invests in a fixed portfolio of bonds and holds them without buying or selling until the trust's expiration date, usually the bonds' maturity date. A UIT typically holds one specific type of bond--for example, municipal bonds. A fund that pools the assets of many investors. Unlike an open-end mutual fund, a closed-end bond fund is created by an initial public offering (IPO), has a fixed number of shares, and is typically traded on a major exchange, such as the New York Stock Exchange.
Fixed interest payments Typically, yes, though floating-rate bonds also exist. Interest may be paid monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or at maturity, depending on the bond. No No Yes No. Payments typically made monthly or quarterly.
Price stability Yes, if held to maturity and there is no default by the issuer. No, if sold before maturity; price may be affected by changes in interest rates or the bond's credit rating. No. Share price is determined at end of each trading day, based on net asset value of the fund's investments, which may be affected by interest rates, bond credit ratings, manager's selection of individual securities and maturities, and level of fund redemptions. No. Share price is determined throughout the day by supply and demand, much as a stock's is. Yes, if held to trust's termination date. No, if sold early; may be affected by changes in interest rates or credit ratings of individual bonds. No. Price of shares is determined throughout the day by supply and demand, much as a stock's price is. Price is typically lower than its NAV, but may also be higher.
Fixed number of shares? Not applicable. Issuer may issue additional bonds or call existing bonds. No No Yes (called "units") Yes, at time of initial public offering. However, fund may also offer existing shareholders the right to buy additional shares.
Issuer would only redeem shares by buying them on the open market Somewhat liquid, depending on provisions of trust. Trust will typically buy back investors' units at approximate current NAV. Fund company does not redeem shares, which are bought and sold on the open market.
May or may not be easy to find a ready buyer.
Diversification does not guarantee a profit or ensure against a loss. The prospectus for a mutual fund, exchange-traded fund, or unit investment trust contains information about investment objectives, fees, and expenses.
1. Neither SIPC protection, nor protection in excess of that provided by SIPC, covers a decline in the value of your assets due to market loss.
2. Subject to a maximum aggregate of $400 million.
3. Named safest bank in North America by Global Finance magazine (2009, 2010, 2011) with one of the highest credit ratings of any financial institution (Moody's Aa3, Standard and Poor's AA-, Fitch AA).
Broadridge Investor Communication Solutions, Inc. does not provide investment, tax, or legal advice. The information presented here is not specific to any individual's personal circumstances.To the extent that this material concerns tax matters, it is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, by a taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed by law. Each taxpayer should seek independent advice from a tax professional based on his or her individual circumstances.These materials are provided for general information and educational purposes based upon publicly available information from sources believed to be reliable—we cannot assure the accuracy or completeness of these materials. The information in these materials may change at any time and without notice.
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The Back to the Future franchise is a comedic science fiction adventure film series written by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, directed by Zemeckis, produced by Amblin Entertainment, and distributed by Universal Pictures. Starting with Back to the Future, the films follow the adventures of a high school student, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), and an eccentric scientist, Dr. Emmett L. Brown (Christopher Lloyd), as they use a DeLorean time machine to time travel to different periods in the history of Hill Valley, California.
The first film was the highest-grossing film of 1985 and became an international phenomenon, leading to the second and third films which were back to back film productions, released in 1989 and 1990, respectively. Though the two sequels did not perform quite as well at the box office as the first film, the trilogy remains immensely popular after a quarter of a century and has yielded such spin-offs as an animated television series and a motion-simulation ride at the Universal Studios Theme Parks in Universal City, California; Orlando, Florida (now closed), and Osaka, Japan, as well as a Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, iPad, PS3 and Wii video game. The film's visual effects were done by Industrial Light and Magic. All together, the trilogy was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one (Best Sound Editing).
Seventeen year old Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time from 1985 to 1955 in a time machine built from a DeLorean by eccentric scientist Emmett "Doc" Brown, when attacked by Libyans from whom Brown stole the plutonium which gives the flux capacitor the 1.21 gigawatts needed for time travel. Upon arriving in 1955, Marty inadvertently causes his mother Lorraine to fall in love with him, rather than with his father George McFly, beginning a paradox that would cause Marty to disappear from existence. With no additional plutonium to power the time machine, Marty must find the 1955 version of Doc Brown to help him reunite his parents and return to 1985. The efforts of Biff Tannen, George's bully and future employer, further complicates Marty's situation, until Marty successfully causes his parents to fall in love and simultaneously convinces George to finally stand up to Biff. Returning to the future via a 1.21 gigawatt lightning strike that jumpstarts the machine, Marty discovers a vastly improved future for the McFly family, as Biff is now their auto detailer rather than George's boss. Despite Doc's insistence on not knowing details of the future, a note Marty leaves in his pocket in the past saves him from being killed by the terrorists. However, in the film's final moments, Doc Brown appears in a modified version of the Delorean, and tells Marty that he must travel to the future to undo some situation caused by Marty's kids.
The series continues as Doc Brown travels with Marty to the year 2015 where he has discovered Marty's family is in ruins. Marty buys a sports almanac containing the outcomes of 50 years worth (1950–2000) of sporting events. However, Doc catches him and throws the almanac in the trash, where the aged Biff Tannen finds it. While Marty and Doc are at Marty's future house, Old Biff steals the DeLorean time machine and gives the book to his younger self just before he goes to the dance at the end of the first movie. When Doc and Marty return to 1985, they find that Biff has used the almanac's knowledge for financial gain, which allows him to turn Courthouse Square into a 27 story casino, take over Hill Valley, get away with the murder of Marty's father, and later marry Marty's mother. Marty learns that Biff was given the book by old Biff on November 12, 1955, so he and Doc go back to that date in order to steal the almanac from Biff before he can use it to destroy their lives. They accomplish this in a complex fashion, often crossing their own past-selves' paths. When the duo are about to travel back to 1985, a lightning bolt strikes the DeLorean and activates the time circuits, sending Doc back to 1885 and leaving Marty stranded once again in 1955.
After finding out that Doc Brown is trapped in 1885, Marty sets out to find the 1955 Doc to help him fix the DeLorean (which has been waiting for him in a mineshaft for 70 years) and restore it to working order. Learning that Doc gets shot in 1885 by Biff's Great-Grandfather, Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen, Marty travels back in time to save Doc (who has become a blacksmith) and bring him back to the future. Unfortunately, an arrow has ripped a hole in the fuel line, emptying the gas tank and rendering the DeLorean engine useless. Furthermore, Doc falls in love with schoolteacher Clara Clayton, and considers staying in 1885. Marty must convince Doc to come back with him and find a way to get back to his time before it's too late. After several dramatic action scenes involving a speeding locomotive, Marty returns to 1985 in the restored DeLorean. It appears on a train track as planned, and Marty jumps out just in time to see the DeLorean time machine destroyed by a modern train. He worries that Doc has been lost in the past forever, when suddenly Doc Brown appears in a new time machine, modeled after a locomotive. He introduces Marty to Clara (to whom he is now married) and his two sons, Jules and Verne. When Marty asks if Doc and his family are going to the future, Doc replies that he's "already been there." The locomotive flies across the sky and disappears, ending the trilogy.
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0.934539 |
My aunt has a small swimming pool. If someone has ejaculated in her pool, will the chlorine in her pool suffice to purify the pool?
My aunt has a small swimming pool. If someone has ejaculated in her pool, will the chlorine in her pool suffice to purify the pool? I ask because she old and has arthritis and cannot drain her pool and refill it. If someone swims in this pool, is it necessary to take a ghusl afterwards?
If the surface area of the pool is 20.9 sq.m or more it would be considered as a big pool of water. Hence, it would only become impure once the colour, taste or smell of the water changes. If the pool is circular the diameter should be 5.16 meters or more.
If the pool is less than the above given meters the water would be impure. Using chlorine and chemicals would not make the water pure. Hence, any person who swims in the impure water would need to clean himself thereafter. The method of cleaning the pool would be to add pure water into the pool until the water begins to overflow. Once the water begins to overflow the pool would be pure.
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0.958331 |
Why can a system of linear equations be represented as a linear combination of vectors? def close(self): ... Generated on: 2016-08-20. Create "gold" from lead (or other substances) Limits at infinity by rationalizing Why doesn't Rey sell BB8?
Note that the result is a valid HTML tree, but it may not be a well-formed XML tree. if 'evil' in attrib: ... For normal byte encodings, the tostring() function automatically adds a declaration as needed that reflects the encoding of the returned string. Topology and the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics How do I space quads evenly?
It supports one-step parsing as well as step-by-step parsing using an event-driven API (currently only for XML). The documentation of ElementTree says nothing about only accepting byte strings. Does Erebos lose indestructible when he becomes a creature? Instead use open('file.xml').read().
Invariants of higher genus curves Can Tex make a footnote to the footnote of a footnote? So string_data.encode('utf-8') should be string_data.decode('utf-8') assuming string_data is actually an utf-8 string. For example: import xml.etree.cElementTree as etree parser = etree.XMLParser(encoding="utf-8") targetTree = etree.parse( "./targetPageID.xml", parser=parser ) pageIds = targetTree.find("categorymembers") print "pageIds:",etree.tostring(pageIds) You can refer to this page for the XMLParser method (Section Doctype information The use of the libxml2 parsers makes some additional information available at the API level.
Other keyword arguments: encoding - override the document encoding target - a parser target object that will receive the parse events (see The target parser interface) schema - an XMLSchema to If so, is there a reference procedure somewhere? print('%s: %d' % (elem.tag, len(elem))) # processing ... What makes ElementTree think so?
All other read-buffer compatible objects pass back a reference to the raw internal data representation. What Are Overlap Integrals? It was too obvious. .tostring() has optional argument 'encoding' which is probably set to ascii by default, so adding encoding='utf-8' works. iterwalk A second extension over ElementTree is the iterwalk() function.
f, events=("start", "end"), tag="element") >>> for action, elem in context: ... Why don't you connect unused hot and neutral wires to "complete the circuit"? Is there a word for an atomic unit of flour? Isn't that more expensive than an elevated system?
share|improve this answer edited Jun 20 '14 at 23:34 Mike Akers 6,742104664 answered Sep 10 '12 at 10:30 Lukas Graf 11k22549 this doesn't change anything, unfortunately –pistacchio Sep 10 Tenant claims they paid rent in cash and that it was stolen from a mailbox. Not the answer you're looking for? Not the answer you're looking for?
element What element to remove. ElementTree allows you to place an Element in two different trees at the same time. Returns: An Element instance.
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0.999808 |
Discrete math is an important branch of mathematics which deals with only discrete (not continuous) values. Discrete objects are usually defined by integers, while continuous objects by real numbers. Discrete math can be explained as a branch of mathematics concerned with the countable sets (A countable set has same cardinality as subsets of natural numbers; it includes rational numbers, but does not include real numbers). In short, the main goal of studying discrete math is the study of discrete objects.
Why Discrete Math is Important?
1) Discrete math plays an important role in college-level and higher mathematics. Discrete calculus and abstract algebra are considered to be the main part of mathematics at college level.
2) Discrete math is more related to real world. Unlike geometry, algebra, trigonometry etc., discrete math enables students to explore interesting real-world applications of mathematics.
3) Discrete math concentrates on proofs and mathematical reasoning. Discrete math promotes creativity and flexibility in thinking out of the box. It would have relatively less number of formulae to memorize.
4) Discrete math is important since it concentrates on fundamental concepts and their application in many different ways.
Set theory studies sets. The countable sets are dealt under discrete mathematics.
Combinatorics is the study the patterns of combining and arranging discrete structures. Enumerative combinatorics and analytic combinatorics are two kinds of combinatorics. Design theory (combinatorics design study), order theory (study of partially-ordered sets) and partition theory (study of integer partitions) are also considered to be the parts of combinatorics.
It deals with discrete math related to computing. It is mostly based on mathematical logic and graph theory.
The quantification of information is studied under information theory which is closely connected to coding theory.
The logical formulas are studied under logic or logical mathematics. These are the discrete structures or graph structures.
Graph theory deals with networks and graphs. This is the prime subject that is studied in discrete mathematics.
It is a branch of probability that concerns with the events that happen in countable sample spaces.
Discrete or abstract algebra includes Boolean algebra (programming and logic gates), relational algebra (database), modern algebra (discrete groups, fields and rings and fields).
Discrete geometry is a branch of geometry that deals with properties of discrete collections of geometrical objects.
The discrete branches of topology include topological graph theory, topological combinatorics, discrete topological space, computational topology and finite topological space.
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0.999732 |
Do you know a good egg when you see one?
1. The diet the chickens were fed.
2. How the chickens were raised.
3. How fresh the eggs are.
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0.9999 |
The shooting at Pulse nightclub in downtown Orlando is a pivotal moment in U.S. gay history and underscores the importance of gay bars to the culture, experts say.
"It comes at a time where LGBTQ people have been facing discrimination and hate language in this country and internationally," said Chris Rudisill, executive director of the Stonewall National Museum & Archives in Wilton Manors and Fort Lauderdale.
"We cannot deny this happened on a Latin Night. The victims were mostly LGBT Hispanic and people of color. It will play a role in how our equality moves forward."
The nightclub setting is central to gay people because it allows "a relaxation of the subconscious," said Scott Stowell, a bartender at Savoy in Orlando. "When you walk in, you're not on guard. You don't second-guess hugging someone or holding their hand."
In a Facebook essay, Stowell writes, "After this tragedy, I think it's even more important to be OUT AND PROUD!"
Rudsill said, "The bar becomes our sanctuary, especially when we're young. The bar was where I found a family. It's where I could be myself around other people. That's an important part of LGBT people, an important fact about how discrimination has affected us and how we relate to other people in public."
LGBT historian Warren Blumenfeld of Amherst, Mass., provided a quick history: Gay and lesbian bars developed in the late 1930s and grew in the 1940s and '50s. Yet patrons faced the risks of police raids and being reported on and losing their jobs. In the 1960s, gay people started fighting back. The 1969 riots against a police raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York helped spur the gay liberation movement.
Less known is a 1973 attack at the UpStairs Lounge in New Orleans, where an arsonist threw a Molotov cocktail and killed 32 people. The Pulse attack, the biggest mass killing of gay people in U.S. history, has received wide coverage.
"With the advancement of social media and the Internet, this will be seen as being one of the major incidents in homophobia in the United States," Blumenfeld said. "We need to see the interconnections. This was a homophobic and racist hate crime. We still have very far to go in countering the hatred within the larger society. We have a long way to go in achieving our rights."
Rudisill says the Stonewall riots united people, and the Pulse attack is doing the same in advancing talk about LGBT rights and violence.
"We cannot deny there are so many murders of transgender people every year," he said.
An analysis of FBI data finds LGBT people are the minority most likely to be targeted in hate crimes, The New York Times reports.
The Orlando massacre will be seen as a Stonewall rebellion for straight allies, said Tony Varona, academic dean and law professor at American University in Washington.
"For many straight people, the Orlando massacre has served as a jarring wake-up call to the oppression that still exists against gays in America," said Varona, a member of the Stonewall museum board. "That rude awakening has resulted in a shift of consciousness among our straight neighbors that we're only now seeing the beginnings of, and that will result in fundamental and lasting change. The Orlando massacre victims did not die in vain."
Varona predicted the Pulse shooting will affect anti-LGBT legislation, such as "bathroom bills" aimed at transgender people.
"I can't help but think that the Orlando massacre has placed these hateful bills and statutes in their proper context as acts of hate and harassment against LGBT Americans," he said, "that not only strip us of our dignity and personhood but that also contribute to a toxic atmosphere that puts our very lives in grave danger."
Gay activists say they are encouraged by the way Orlando and other communities responded with vigils and memorials.
"People are coming together and saying enough is enough," said Blumenfeld, also a Stonewall museum board member. "The murder of Matthew Shepard in 1998 was a tipping point. The U.S. media grabbed on to it, and we saw real action in terms of anti-bullying measures in the schools."
The media are doing the same with the faces of Pulse victims, he added.
Despite the sorrow, Rudisill said he felt empowered.
"Our community does get stronger. We have faced a lot of challenges," he said. "Our community will not go back in the closet. We need to remain unified with our allies and celebrate who we are."
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0.999976 |
Cook up your best ever promotion with this 7-piece measuring set.
• A kitchen measuring set made out of BPA-free plastic.
• Includes a 2 cup container with ounce and liter markings, 1/3 cup, 1/4 cup, 1 tablespoon, 1/2 tablespoon, 1 teaspoon, and 1/2 teaspoon.
• Also includes a lid for the 2 cup container that allows you to strain, pour, or close the container for storage.
• Set stores inside of itself for convenience when not in use.
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0.992607 |
New knowledge, invention, know-how and ways of doing things can provide a business with a competitive advantage so long as others don't discover them.
What proves a health claim?
Since the 1990s, the world of finance has seen a renaissance that has driven the economy to record heights. However, companies that are not monetizing their intangibles to raise capital likely are missing it.
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0.956529 |
10 best open source geographic projects.
geobuf - A compact binary encoding for geographic data.
Geobuf is a compact binary encoding for geographic data.Think of this as an attempt to design a simple, modern Shapefile successor that works seamlessly with GeoJSON. Unlike Mapbox Vector Tiles, it aims for lossless compression of datasets — without tiling, projecting coordinates, flattening geometries or stripping properties.
cardboard - tile indexed geo database interface.
geo-viewport - Turns bounding boxes / extents into centerpoint & zoom combos for static maps.
Turns bounding boxes / extents into centerpoint & zoom combos for static maps.Works in node.js and browsers, via browserify or a script tag.
Return an array xyz of [x,y,z] coordinates in meters from lat and lon.Optionally supply an elevation in meters.
Return an array xyz of [x,y,z] coordinates in meters from lat, lon and alt where lat and lon are in degrees.
pyEarth is a lightweight 3D visualization of the Earth implemented with pyQt and OpenGL: it is the 3D counterpart of pyGISS. A few shapefiles are available for testing in the 'pyEarth/shapefiles' folder (world countries, US).
A Geographic Information System (GIS) software is a software designed to import, analyze and visualize geographic data. PyGISS is a lightweight GIS software implemented both in tkinter and pyQt. Users can display maps using any type of projection and create objects either by importing an Excel file containing GPS coordinates, or with a Drag & Drop system. The standard version implements PyGISS in less than 100 lines of code.
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0.984088 |
What Shopify is all about?
One of the major factors that contribute to the success of online stores is design. The store needs to have an impressive design which would leave an impression on its visitors. Shopify has some rather amazing designs.
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0.999999 |
What is the area of a circle with radius 57 mm?
Here is the answer to questions like: how to find the area of a circle with radius 57 mm?
Area = π . r2 = 3.14 × 572 = 10210 square mm.
Area = π . (d/2)2 = 3.14 × (114/2)2 = 3.14 × (57)2 = 10210 square mm.
Area = C2/(4π) = 358.12/4π = 128235.61/(4 × 3.14) = 128235.61/(12.56) = 10210 square mm.
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0.987969 |
Or answer this question: what's one thing you want to start learning?
Happy New Year, everyone! May your 2019 be filled with met deadlines, fixed bugs and smooth product releases. I'm currently taking my first steps into mobile development with Flutter, and damn, it's such a fun framework.
Hoping to release my first app this year!
Thanks for adding this to my "what to look out for" list!
It's impressive to have so much power with their custom widgets, and interesting architecture using Dart (also something I've not heard of)! Count me as also being excited about your Flutter post!
I look forward to reading your thoughts on Flutter, it seems to be a rising force.
I'll write some proper posts about Flutter here soon, but my first impression after using it for around a week is: "app development the way it should be".
The thing is, I have no experience making apps any other way, but everything just seems to work perfectly with Flutter. It is certainly has it's cons, but they are undoubtedly worth it for the speed and simplicity you get with Flutter. It's the best framework I've ever used, period.
Flutter is indeed such a fun filled.Makes building apps a breeze.Am also learning built two simple apps so far.Looking forward to reading your thoughts here on your experience with it.
Hi Raheem.Flutter is indeed such a fun filled.Makes building apps a breeze.Am also learning built two simple apps so far.Looking forward to reading your thoughts here on your experience with it.
I'm Mark, a UI engineer / frontend developer in the Seattle area. I love connecting with people and forming communities, and I'm interested in learning more about progressive web apps (PWA) in 2019!
Nice to meet you Mark! As someone who wants to learn more about using React for building web applications, what are some of your personal favorite advantages about React that other web frameworks do not offer?
Take it with a grain of salt, because I haven't looked at Angular in 2 years, and I haven't used Vue at all.
Thanks for the response and your comments on the advantages about React!
I think those are all very good points and I feel similar regarding what React offers versus Angular and Vue. I have learned about so many people on Twitter who get really good at developing with React over a very short period of time, and they end up creating beautiful and interesting web applications and land amazing job opportunities.
I also consider myself a UI / frontend developer! I liked your points on using React in this comment thread. I currently live in Las Vegas, but I'm curious about React opportunities in Seattle?
There are tons! Seattle is a thriving market for web/JS opportunities. Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook are all using React (and growing), and there are plenty of medium sized companies around too.
Downside: we're becoming the next San Francisco and it's getting really expensive to live in/afford this area.
Hi, I'm absolute beginner at programming aiming to become a frontend developer, started coding couple of weeks ago. Currently learning JS, found myself here when stuck with swapping array in deconstructing assignment but thanks to Sarah post I was able to solve the challenge. Its great to be here.
Great to have you, beginners welcome!
Hey there, Hopes it going well! I'm also on the same path of learning to become a frontend developer. Goodluck my friend!
Yea going on great thanks and u? Learning JS atm but kinda taking forever. Mind sharing resources you are using to learn programming??
Good too, haha yeah it feels like that but, hey one day at a time.
And also started; freecodecamp.org a few day's ago.
challenges when i'm at work.
Also, started reading this yesterday.
Hope that helps, I'd also check out the codeNewbie podcast and Learnwithme podcast.
Yes it does, been using freecodecamp since I started coding, once came across theodinproject but was thinking of finishing he freecodecamp curriculum before starting odinproject. Honestly admire your learning style ability to combine multiple resources at a time. I hope one day I'll get to your level lol. Thanks for sharing and sorry for late reply.
Hello all! I want to start learning how to build desktop apps. I think Electron is going to be the easiest way, but maybe I'll learn how to make native apps.
Hello everyone! Allow me to with all of you a Happy New Year 2019!
I have been following this community for some time and I really enjoyed reading a lot of amazing articles and stories.
Now, a new year... time to join and contribute something back, hopefully.
As far as new challenges go... I plan to do a deep dive into Scala at work.
What brought me here? I just recently bought a house and ran into one of the "2 unit tests. 0 integration tests." situation gifs that @ThePraticalDev posts. I saw a fancy dev.to link in the Twitter bio and short URLs intrigue me (easily amused I guess). After reading the about page I figured I'd give it a try.
I'm a frontend developer working in the Portland area. I started learning flutter and dart. It's a really exciting language/framework. Happy to keep learning!
Congratulations on your new house! I'm on the path on becoming a frontend developer myself, do you have any tips? and also have a Happy New Year!
Wow, I think you just hit the spot, I actually wanted to start with Ionic but since I barely knew a thing about html and CSS I focused more on that, I will definitely check those books out too and thank you! I may dedicate more time again to both studies and checking Ionic out even though I don't know much.
I was firstly surprised at the amazing loading speed of this site (Good job, I'm sure you have already heard this appreciation many times😁), and then many posts are informative and of high quality, like it!
I work for a server vendor thus my primary experience are in computer architecture and low level programming. I'm also interested in the general topics of computer science and software engineering.
I didn't know what a Firmware Engineer was (but I had an idea) until now that I googled it, it looks very cool :D even though I barely know something about assembly, and don't worry for example I'm a Spanish speaker and I'm pretty sure a lot of people also have broken English here and there.
And yes, firmware is a confusing term. In different contexts, it may mean the BIOS to be executed on a x86 CPU, or the ROM(stored in flash) code to be executed on a "Embedded" CPU(like ARM or MIPS these days). Firmware can be found in our laptops, phones, camera, HDD/SSD, and even SD cards.
Hello everyone, happy new year! 안녕하세요, 새해 복 많이 받으세요!
I wanted to a community to join while I'm on my path to becoming a developer. I am attending an online Java class this semester and want to self-learn HTML/CSS and Python as well.
Hi Everyone! I'm Vibhaas and I found dev.to quite by accident, and it's awesome - I can't believe I never heard of it before!
Check out my profile if you want to, though it's not very interesting currently.
I also am thinking of blogging here on dev.to, though I am new to it and quite nervous, so advice will be appreciated!
ONE FUN FACT ABOUT ME: I started coding when I was only seven - I wish I had taken it more seriously then, though!
I used to be a Control and Automation Engineer with good coding skills, but now I am an Offshore Installation Manager whose coding skills have almost disappeared.
I am trying to get back to coding as a hobby, and my aim is to develop LV2 audio plugins for my guitar board (Mod 2 Duo). I think it is going to be a long journey.
Hello! Happy New Year! I trust that everyone is off to a good start?
I'm new here, musician and beginner to intermediate front-end developer who enjoys working in React.
Hoping to meet more awesome people to learn and grow with! At the moment I'm building up a portfolio and looking for junior level job opportunities!!
Excited to be a member here!
Hello, this is my first time on here. I am a computer programmer/developer and been working in Software Development for the last 8 years or so.
Now a days, I am trying to teach me some electron app development and I am also trying to learn some react so I can make a good looking application , that people can use and enjoy. Hope to work with people and share great ideas here on this space.
Hi all! I am a data analyst & student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I am also a fan of Seattle sports and support the Visual Snow Initiative! I am studying Economics, and enjoy data analysis and software development.
One thing I would like to start learning is React Native, as I want to be able to design cross-platform applications, and React Native is the most interesting tool to me that allows me to do cross-platform development.
I swore I wrote a welcome post once but I can't seem to find it!!
aspiring developer, father, fiance, son, maker, and Network/Service Technician for a local school district.
I began Python development in a college class almost two years ago, but I just didn't stick with it. I had to much going on at the time to continue coding, but now I am back into it and determined to stick with it this time.
I am going to document my journey through Python and programming in general on my website that I am going to build with Python. I will provide some links to that as soon as I have it set up, it is currently in the works.
I found the site while listening to a Free Code Camp podcast with Ali Spittel and thought I would like to give it a try as my site is likely to be a blog/portfolio/CV website.
I'm glad to be here and hope to meet some amazing new people and tell you all about my journey, I hope that at least helps one person in their travels!
I'm studying computer science for 5 years now (in my country we have special schools where you start at the age of 14) and this year I'm going to study bioinformatics (BSc program).
Programming (mostly C#) has become a big part of my life but I've never taken part of a community like this.
My goal for 2019 is to get into ML, data analysis and data visualization with python.
Want to learn how to market myself as a developer and also technical things which will be on my plate for 2019.
Hello, I glad the discussion i had on twitter landed me here. I am learning front end technologies and I love to contribute to open source projects. That is why I ended up here, would like to connect and contribute.
Hello! Am learning and working as a front-end software developer, Learning more about programming and algorithms in general.
I'm stuck at a place where I'm trying to reignite the fire, that same fire that keeps me up for two days straight of coding, or well Learning.
Am searching here for that fire.
I just joined this community last week. I stumbled upon this community while surfing react's website support page. Family relocated from Chicago to San Diego in summer of 2017, took sabbatical, but now looking for job.
I'm currently learning the MERN stack and brushing up on C# as I come from a ASP.NET (VB.NET) background. Having tons of fun learning all the new stuff and am absorbing everything I can to get a job using new tech.
Stressed a bit because I feel like there is so much more to being a developer than there was in the 14+ years at my prior company. Anyone else in the same boat? It'll all work out, though, I'm sure! In the meantime, I'll be stalking the community here to learn more. Thanks!
Hi All! I am Surya and I work as a Software Developer in the Bay Area.
Twitter brought me here to dev.to. I am not sure what I plan to learn this year, but some topics I am interested in, are distributed systems and microservices architectures. Looking forward to learn more this year! And wishing all a Happy 2019!
I'm a fronted engineer with almost 4 years of professional experience. I was brought here through my goals of connecting more with the dev community and sharing more technical knowledge. I am currently working on learning more about React performance and implementing automated web accessibility checks into my workplace.
Hi! 👋🏻 I'm an iOS developer in Phoenix. I don't get a chance to go to meet ups or conferences, so online developer communities are where I go to try and learn new tricks and help out where I can. I've been toying with iOS development for 6 years, at my current job for almost 3. And I'm always happy to help anyone with Swift or iOS development questions in areas that I can do so.
Hello, I decided to start throwing my dev thoughts up on here for 2019. Something a little more refined than stream of consciousness, but not as refined as a medium post. I like this site and I want to help people and learn at the same time.
Find someone to mentor in frontend dev and design.
Learn more about web components.
Hello everyone, I'm Benoît, my current work position is frontend lead @ Maisons du Monde (a furniture and homeware company). We're using Vue x Nuxt for SSR purposes (yey googlebot is happy now). We started migrating to Apollo GraphQL and querying data is now so easy peezy.
This year my personal goal is to build a native app (React Native ? NativeScript ? Flutter ? I don't know yet).
At last joined dev.to just to learn more about ReactJS or more specifically frontend frameworks with ASP.NET Core. Working on ASP.NET MVC5 and Core in my day to day work. By the way, last whole year was working on React Native.
I'm a software engineer based in Edinburgh who writes mostly Python, but I've been spending a lot of time tinkering with Rust recently, and am experienced in lots of languages!
In 2019 one of my missions is to get better at sharing my knowledge and experiences with the community by writing consistent high-quality blog posts (I haven't written public blogs before now)!
I'm hoping to release at least one open source project this year too.
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Fascism & Jingoism in North America?
How did jingoists, fascists, ethnic separatists, racists, and neo-Nazis come to infect North American society and government?
Could somebody please provide some answers and solutions to the problems mentioned in the previous statement?
These aren't new phenomenon in American life. Fascism goes back at least to the industrial revolution in the US and the rise of capitalists like J.D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford, DuPont, Harriman and others. All these industrialists and bankers were sympathetic toward fascism because of the repressive nature of fascism towards unions and the working class. Henry Ford, for example, wrote a book called The International Jew and was a friend of Adolph Hitler. Such things as jingoism, racism, ethnic rivalries and nationalism have existed long before fascism, but fascism utitlizes and propagates these things to build support for their agenda. They can't simply go to the working class and say that they want to make the rich a lot richer and the poor, poorer or that they really work for the interests of corporations. They can't build a popular movement that way. Therefore, they have to work on people's fears, prejudices and animosities to mask their real goals. In the 1930s during the Great Depression this country was near to revolution and there was enough pressure by unions that reforms like Social Security, unemployment compensation, sick pay, paid vacations etc. were allowed to pass. The problem today is that we have a bunch of reactionaries in power who want to turn back the clock and abolish all these very hard won gains by the working class.
J.D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford, DuPont, Harriman and others, actually included former Heavyweight Boxing champ, George Herbert Walker, his son-in-law, Prescott Bush, and second generation steel industrialist millionaire Frizt Thyssen.
These guys wern't just sympathetic toward fascism, they created, built up and profitted from fascism.
In his tell all book written just before his capture and incarceration by the Nazis he'd turned on, "I paid Hitler", Fritz Thyssen tells of steel he was getting from his "American Friends". They were aquiring it from jewish suppliers and shipping it to Germany via Britain. The steel was helping to prop up the desperately unresourced Nazi War Machine. Frizt Laughed about what the look on the Jews faces would have been if they'd known about the steel's final destination.
In the early 1940s, the US Government finally stopped looking the other way and started acting on these millionaires' treason. They actually seized several companies owned by Walker and Bush at the time. A scan of one of the vesting orders can be viewed here.
Prescott Walker later went on to be a US Senator. His son the head of the CIA, and then the President, and then his Grandson took the Presidency in 2000, under highly dubious circumstances.
Now go back and read all the links. They're interesting and they took a long time to gather.
Thanx for stripping the inks indymedia!
These comments have taken hours to come up on the page, and the links were all stripped from the first one.
An earlier mindless comment on Kurt Cobain in another thread came up instantly.
Is someone trying to keep this message silent?
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How much gold is there in a gold medal?
Gold was not the top prize awarded to winners of sporting events. In the 1896 Olympics, the winner of the games won a silver medal.
If you have watched sportspeople stepping up on that podium, proudly showing off the gold medal after years of hard work and that made you swell with pride, you are not alone. If you have then wondered if the gold medal is actually made of gold, you are, once again, not alone. The gold medal is gold in colour but are the organisers of sporting events rich enough to dispense hundreds of real gold medals? If not, what exactly is it made of?
To begin with, gold was not the top prize awarded to winners of sporting events. In the 1896 Olympics, the winner of the games won a silver medal. Silver was more precious than gold. It was in the 1908 London Olympics that gold was introduced as the first prize, silver went to the second that was followed by bronze.
The last solid gold medals were handed out at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games. From thereon, it was made a rule that all gold medals should have at least 6 gm of gold and needed to be made of 92.5% silver.
The size of the medals varies from one game to another, but the aforementioned measurements are a constant. So, the gold medal is made of 1.45% gold, 6% bronze and 92.5% silver. The silver is made of silver and the bronze medals are made of bronze.
In hindsight it makes sense as gold is an expensive element. As of today, 10 g of 24 carat gold will set you back by more than Rs 31,000 in Delhi. So, it becomes a very expensive proposition for the hosting cities to make these medals.
The Commonwealth Games gold medals are also gold plated. The 1998 Kuala Lumpur games had a solid pewter core that was embellished in gold. The 2002 Manchester games had a sterling silver core that was plated in 22 carat gold.
The FIFA World Cup trophy, on the other hand, is made of 18 carat gold and has a base of the mineral, malachite. The 6.1-kg trophy is the second one in the history of the games. The former trophy was called the Jules Rimet Trophy that was made of sterling silver and was gold plated.
There have been instances of athletes selling off their medals. Currently auctioning an Olympic gold medal could fetch one a price of $20,000 to $50,000 as mentioned by an auctioneer, according to Money. However, scrapping it could fetch one around $577.
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While the days of Samsung's S Voice has come to a complete and definite end now, Samsung has made a completely new Digital Assistant called Bixby, integrated and released with its Samsung Galaxy S8.
The digital assistant is quite new right now. While it is integrated and works amazingly with Samsung apps, only a handful of third-party apps like Uber and YouTube support it right now. Truth be told, this AI, seems to have incredible potential, closely resembling and possibly surpassing Google Assistant's AI's learning prowess.
Packed with innovative features, check out Samsung's new innovation in the field of Digital Assistants, in this post on Bixby: Samsung S8's Trump Card.
Although the debut of Bixby, was rumored from a long time, with its purchase of Viv, an artificial intelligence setup, which played an important part in the initial days of development of Apple's Siri, things became a lot "clearer".
What is the Bixby Exactly?
Bixby is a touch and voice activated Digital Assistant in the Samsung Galaxy S8, (also can be downloaded in some other Samsung phones using Nougat) integrated with Samsung applications in the Galaxy S8 like Samsung Pay, Samsung Browser and Samsung's Personal Information Manager (PIM) software.
You can summon Bixby by pressing a specific physical button, located just below the volume control. You can press the button anytime, including when you are using an app to summon Bixby to help you or use the wake phrase "Bixby". Once activated, it is both voice and touch controlled.
According to Samsung, Bixby is a multi-nodal intelligence service, which in simpler terms mean that it applies foresight by completing its actions based on the app you are using (more on that in the later section).
Partly developed by Viv, it also offers third party app developers to tap into Viv's capacities quite easily and gives natural language based interfaces in apps and services such as custom commands so that third-party app support for Bixby arrives fast.
There is a lot of quite amazing things that Bixby can do as well as quite a lot that it can't, for now at least. For example, if you ask it the date of birth of a celebrity, chances are it can't tell you.
The thing is as with all digital assistants, they use machine learning; that is the more you use it, the better they get. So, it will take Bixby some time to be on par with its competitors like Siri and Google.
How much time? That is impossible to say, considering S8 is available only for pre-order now. Also, the Samsung Galaxy S8 also has Google Assistant so you can switch between the two assistants, until Bixby gets better.
As per Kate Beaumont, director of commercial strategy, product and planning at Samsung, Bixby, right now, is just the first stage and that that it will be in constant development. She also said that they would be building on integrating Bixby with third party apps throughout the year. She shared her plan to release a tool in SDK so that third party app developers can provide their apps with support for Bixby.
Bixby is quite advanced and you can use it to search for pictures or videos according to your preference just like in Google Photos or by Google Assistant.
Bixby now also answer your queries based on the context, a feature that is not present in its competitors.
An example is that suppose you are working on Google Maps, and wish to send your location or some other location information to some contact. Just ask Bixby to "send this to a contact" and Bixby will understand you are talking about sending the location in the map to the selected contact.
Also, with Bixby vision, integrated with the Samsung camera, you can use Bixby to scan a location, place, or spot in a picture. You can also use it to scan objects like bottles, phones, laptops, cars etc. It can also read QR and bar codes with ease.
Samsung also is trying to create an open AI platform with its Bixby. For example according to Samsung Electronics Vice-President Rhee In-Jong while Galaxy smartphone users need separate apps to do separate tasks like ordering a Pizza or calling for an Uber, Bixby enables you to perform all these tasks just by voice commands without having to move through the apps.
Anyways, what really enthralls me is of Bixby's superior intelligence.
It can scan, understand objects that you show it through Bixby vision, show you similar images or provide you link to buy it at the best price online.
When you show it a place, say a restaurant, it actually understands and shows you how to book seats online whilst simultaneously providing reviews of the place too.
If you have a definite cuisine preference or like to visit a certain chain of restaurant, Bixby will remember that and suggest you restaurants serving similar cuisine or of that chain near you if you go to someplace else.
Also, if you call someone regularly at a specific time, Bixby will remind you to call that person at that time if you don't or forget to.
Also, if you have set a reminder to Bixby, to remind you to buy some grocery or maybe some computer peripheral, it will use your GPS and when you are near or passing by the shop, it will remind you.
While Google Assistant, can also change your phone settings, since Bixby is made by Samsung, it can control your phone settings and controls at a greater depth. You can use Bixby to turn your cellular hotspot on or to notch the brightness up; the latter can also be performed by Google Assistant. You can also use it to create folders for your photos or videos. No other assistant has this feature as they don't get to meddle this far with the phone settings.
It can also translate text - be it some document, or text in front of your phone camera.
The secret to Bixby's amazing AI is the system actually writes it's own code. In contrast to any other similar system, It is a profound and monumental giant leap forward.
Bixby uses a patented exponential self learning system as opposed to the linear programmed systems currently used by systems like Siri, Echo and Cortana. What this means is that the technology in use by Bixby is orders of magnitude more powerful because Bixby's operational software requires just a few lines of seed code to establish the domain, ontology and taxonomy to operate on a word or phrase.
In the old paradigm each task or skill in Siri, Echo and Cortana needed to be hard coded by the developer and siloed in to itself, with little connection to the entire custom lexicon of domains custom programmed. This means that these systems are limited to how fast and how large they can scale. Ultimately each silo can contact though related ontologies and taxonomies but it is highly inefficient. At some point the lexicon of words and phrases will become a very large task to maintain and update. Bixby solves this rather large problem with simplicity for both the system and the developer.
Specimen of the developer console identifying domain intent programming.
Bixby's team calls this new paradigm the "Dynamically evolving cognitive architecture system". There is limited public information on the system and I can not address any private information I may have access to.
However the patent, "Dynamically evolving cognitive architecture system based on third-party developers" published on December 24th, 2014 offers an incredible insight on the future.
This Bixby patent is a landmark advance for Intelligent Agents and the resulting Voice First devices and uses case that will be developed on the platform. The process for adding new domain experience is a simple process in the developer app.
To define a new intent, the domain is established by programming a horizontal flow chart that helps to define ontology and taxonomy with in the entire system. The results are lines of code that will forever be dynamically changing and connecting as more domains of intent are established. Bixby literally programs itself. This is process is related to self modifying code that has been around since the 1960s from assembly language to Cobol. However the process that Bixby uses is radically more advanced.
The limitations we have all come to know with Siri, Echo and Cortana and the Chat Bots released with Facebook M are tied to the limitations of extending new intent domains and connecting new ontologies and taxonomies. Not only does each intent domain need to be programmed, from decoding a word or phrase, but these silos of intents need to some how connect when more complex sentences are created.
"(Siri/Alexa) I want to pick up a Pizza on the way to my girl friend's house and I would like to find a perfect wine to pick up along the way. Also would like to bring her flowers."
Siri and Alexa can not understand the intent of this paragraph, nor can it connect to the six domains and many ontologies to produce a useful result. Bixby could learn this in a few minutes and constantly connect with new intent domains by expanding the ontological references each domain represents.
Vivs Labs CEO Dag Kittlaus also said that the Bixby Digital Assistant wont just be limited to your phone but will work with most Samsung home appliances that you use.
For example you can ask your refrigerator to turn the AC temperature down! Basically Bixby can make your Samsung home appliances a potential remote control for other Samsung home appliances.
How does Bixby fare against the other AI?
Is Samsung's Bixby better than Apple's Siri or Google Assistant?
How good is its voice recognition.
So far, by the information on Bixby, it seems that the AI will be pretty decent but by how much and whether it will be sufficient to sidetrack Google Now/Google Assistant for Bixby remains a mystery.
Point to be noted is that the "connected technology" which Samsung aims to provide with its Bixby in the Galaxy S8 is already out. You can do all that using Siri with the Home App, though the integration of Apple with other home appliances isn't quite strong.
Even Google Now provides a better home ecosystem connection with your Google Assistant. This will become a major plus point for Samsung when implemented. Samsung, being one of the biggest sellers for home appliances have the most potential to make Bixby, the best Digital Assistant there is.
Samsung Galaxy S7 users, who are trying out the final Nougat Beta have already got a completely different UI by Samsung called Samsung Experience. TouchWiz had previously been riddled with bloatware that earned TouchWiz its bad name. However those with Nougat in the S7 can actually use Bixby!
Yes! That's right. You don't have to wait for Bixby's release with the Galaxy S8.
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Why is the Open Loop Gain of the Ideal Operational Amplifier Infinitely Large?
(1) the actual open loop gain of the operational amplifier is more than 100 thousand, very large, therefore, the open loop gain of the actual operational amplifier is thought to be infinitely large, and thus the virtual earth is derived.
(2) the derived virtual earth only aims at the reverse phase amplifier.
I see in the book that the open loop gain of the operational amplifier is infinite, which makes the closed-loop gain not restricted by the open loop gain but only depend on the external components when we design the circuit. That is to get the stability of the closed-loop gain at the expense of the large open loop gain.
(3) the derived virtual ground directs at operational amplifiers in negative feedback connection not only at reverse phase amplifiers. There is no virtual ground for positive feedback.
(4) it is easy to understand that, suppose that the gain is very small, the difference value between the output voltage and the voltage at both ends of the amplifier is relatively large. If a negative feedback state is connected, the voltage at both ends of the operational amplifier will be inconsistent, which causes the magnification error.
2) have negative feedback circuits.
Let's start with the first point. we know that the output voltage of the op amp is Vo, equal to that Vid, the difference value between the positive phase input end voltage and the reverse phase input end voltage, multiplies A, the open loop gain of the amplifier. Vo = Vid * A = (VI+ - VI-) * A (1)the output voltage of the operational amplifier is a finite value because in practice it will not exceed the power supply voltage. In this case, if A is large, (VI+ - VI -) must be small; if (VI+ - VI -) is small to some degree, then we can actually view this as 0, and then we can get VI+ = VI-, that is, the voltage of the in-phase input terminal is equal to the voltage of the reverse phase input, as if it was connected together, which we call "virtual short circuit".
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Should I use my health insurance after I've been in a wreck?
Yes, you should use your health insurance to pay for injuries you got in the motor vehicle collision.
Many times hospitals and doctor's offices are reluctant to take your insurance card and make a claim. One reason for that is that insurance companies never pay the full amount of the bill. The hospital and your doctor's office would rather collect the full amount from you rather than a partial amount from your health insurance.
Nevertheless, you should always insist that the hospital and doctor take your insurance card and make a claim on your own health insurance policy.
You or your employer pays for your health insurance and there's no reason why you should not use it. The fact that your need for medical care arose out of a motor vehicle collision which may have been the fault of the other driver is of no consequence whatsoever. You should always claim all benefits available under your health insurance policy.
More than likely, you will also be collecting from other sources such as the medical payment provision of your own insurance policy and the liability insurance carrier which insured the negligent party which caused your injuries.
The fact that you can collect these bills from other sources has nothing to do with your right to collect from your own insurance company.
You should always make claims under your health insurance policy and be sure your insurance company pays all that you're entitled to under the terms of your policy.
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When someone says "Las Vegas," what comes to mind?
Perhaps the Las Vegas Strip? Or do you first think about the movie "The Hangover" and all its craziness?
Most people have the same general thoughts when they hear Las Vegas. Especially for those who have never visited Las Vegas, this city may seem like it's party central. But there is much more to Las Vegas than what meets the eye. I will point out 3 reasons, why you should consider visiting Las Vegas at least once in your lifetime.
How can one resist entering the Las Vegas Strip that consists of bright neon lights, and luxurious hotels and casinos? In Las Vegas, there are about 76 hotels/casinos, and about half of them are directly on the Las Vegas Strip. People from all over the world come to visit Las Vegas, and majority will stay at one of the many hotels/casinos on the strip.
Some iconic hotel/casinos in the Las Vegas Strip are the Bellagio, the Stratosphere, and the most recent, City Center. The Bellagio is known for its "dancing fountain/dancing water." Outside of its building is a body of water that has linked fountains that "dance" to different songs every 30 minutes. The Stratosphere is known for being the tallest freestanding observation tower in the United States, standing at 1,149 ft high. The Stratosphere is also known for its thrilling rides at the absolute top, and its program to be able to bungee jump off the top of the building. As for City Center, it is one of the recent additions, opening in 2009, and it is known for being absolutely luxurious and futuristic. City Center consists of 3 other hotel/casinos and building filled with famous brand stores. These buildings would circle around a color-changing fountain, and the valet wraps around that; so it's common to see expensive cars rolling in. City Center was designed to look more like a sculpture rather than the usual casino look. It's filled with sculptures, like giant playing cards spilling out from the poker tables.
There are more things than just the Las Vegas Strip, including interesting museums.
In the Luxor hotel/casino, there lies the Bodies and the Titanic museums. For all the medical students, or anyone interested in the anatomy of the human body, the Bodies museum is a great place to go. The Bodies museum displays preserved full bodies and parts of actual bodies. The Titanic museum, contains many saved artifacts from the actual Titanic. This includes the stairway from the Titanic, which was very similar to the one that Jack and Rose were on in the movie, "Titanic."
Other museum that can be found in Las Vegas are: the Mob museum, which is filled with pictures as well as artifacts from mobsters back in the day; the Neon museum, which is a lot that is filled with all the old neon signs from previous casinos that gets turned back on at night; and the Hall of Pinballs which contains over 200 vintage pinball machines.
Las Vegas is known for their 24-hour international buffets, but you probably didn't know that Las Vegas has a Buffet of Buffets wristband pass. For $59.99, you can purchase a wristband that allows you to eat at 6 exquisite buffets for 24 hours, (all you can eat!) For one whole day, you can visit any of the 6 buffets and eat all you want. Great idea for the ultimate cheat day.
Besides that, there is also the Level 107 Lounge which is located 107th level of the Stratosphere. It's an elegant and classy restaurant that allows you to look at Las Vegas from way up high as you enjoy a romantic dinner. The best part is that it slowly rotates, so in one sitting you get a full 360 degree view of Las Vegas.
If you're not into something classy or if the Buffet of Buffets is just too much for you, then the Heart Attack Grill is another interesting place to eat (if not, at least take a quick peek) in Las Vegas. The Heart Attack Grill is a burger joint that serves ridiculously huge burgers, burgers that go up to 10-12 patties high. The Heart Attack Grill is also hospital themed and the waitresses and waiters are dressed as nurses. One interesting fact about the Heart Attack Grill is that if you are over 350 pounds, you get to eat for free.
Although this is definitely not all there is in Las Vegas, these were just some of the attention-getting places that may interest you enough to visit Las Vegas. Las Vegas is not just party central, nor is it only focused on its huge gambling industry. Las Vegas can be a perfect getaway, or at least a perfect stress-reliever! Over 41 million people visit each year, so why not visit and see what's so great about Las Vegas?
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Media captionBarack Obama: "I have never been more hopeful"
America's first black president secured more than the 270 votes in the electoral college needed to win.
In his victory speech before supporters in Chicago, Mr Obama said he would talk to Mr Romney about "where we can work together to move this country forward".
Mr Obama prevailed despite lingering dissatisfaction with the economy and a hard-fought challenge by Mr Romney.
His Democrats also retained their majority in the Senate, which they have held since 2007.
The Republicans kept control of the House of Representatives, which analysts say will likely result in more of the gridlock that characterised Mr Obama's first term, with the House and the president at loggerheads on most legislation.
In his address, the president challenged his opponents, asking them to work with him.
With only Florida's 29 electoral votes still undecided, Mr Obama won 303 electoral votes to Mr Romney's 206.
The popular vote, which is symbolically and politically important but not decisive in the race, remains very close.
Mr Obama congratulated Mr Romney and Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan on their hard-fought campaign.
"We have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America the best is yet to come," he said.
Mr Obama said he was returning to the White House "more determined, and more inspired than ever about the work there is to do, and the future that lies ahead".
He pledged to work with Republican leaders in Congress to reduce the government's budget deficit, fix the tax code and reform the immigration system.
"We are an American family and we rise and fall together as one nation," he said.
In Boston, where his campaign was based, Mr Romney congratulated the president and said he and Mr Ryan had "left everything on the field" and had given their all in the campaign.
Thomas L Friedman of the New York Times writes: "No one can know for sure what complex emotional chemistry tipped this election Obama's way… it came down to a majority of Americans believing that whatever his faults, Obama was trying his hardest to fix what ails the country."
Dan Balz of the Washington Post says: "Tuesday's election produced an uncertain mandate, although Obama will attempt to claim one. Obama offered a plan, but not one that deals directly with some of the problems he will have to confront immediately."
A Wall Street Journal opinion piece read: "[Obama] said little during the campaign about his first term and even less about his plans for a second. Instead his strategy was to portray Mitt Romney as a plutocrat… it worked with brutal efficiency - the definition of winning ugly."
Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times writes: "If we're lucky, we will find that we elected a different Obama from the one who won four years ago - not just a grayer Obama but a wiser one too."
Referring to the struggling economy, Mr Romney said now was not the time for "partisan bickering and political posturing", and that Republicans and Democrats must "put people before politics".
"I so wish that I had been able to fulfil your hopes to lead the country in a different direction but the nation chose another leader and so I join with you to earnestly pray for [Mr Obama] and for this great nation," he said.
Under the US constitution, each state is given a number of electoral votes in rough proportion to its population. The candidate who wins 270 electoral votes - by prevailing in the mostly winner-takes-all state contests - becomes president.
On Tuesday, the president held the White House by assembling solid Democratic states and a number of important swing states such as Colorado, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia and Wisconsin. His narrow victory in Ohio, a critical Mid-Western swing state, sealed the victory.
In a referendum, Puerto Ricans voted in favour of becoming the 51st US state, if Congress approves the move.
Mr Romney won North Carolina and Indiana, both of which Mr Obama won in 2008, as well as the solid Republican states.
Peston: Does US election matter to us?
But he was unable to win in Ohio or other states needed to breach the 270 threshold.
Also on Tuesday's ballot were 11 state governorships, a third of the seats in the 100-member US Senate and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives.
Mr Obama's victory came despite lingering high unemployment - 7.9% on election day - and tepid economic growth.
But voters gave him credit for his 2009 rescue of the US car industry among other policy accomplishments, and rewarded him for ordering the commando mission that killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan last year.
He and Mr Romney, as well as their respective allies, have spent more than $2bn (£1.25bn) - largely on adverts in swing states.
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Energy production, its storage, and consumption constitute the basis for all the fundamental biological processes of living cells.
According to the sources of energy, two classes of cellular energy conversions can be described: photosynthesis and respiration.
Photosynthesis is the process during which special photosynthetic bacteria, algae, and all higher plants are able to convert the electromagnetic energy of sunlight into stable chemical energy stored in organic compounds.
Plants use atoms originating from inorganic sources such as carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide, hydrogen and oxygen from water, and build them into sugars, amino-acids, nucleotides and fatty acids, using solar energy.
In the first stage, two types of protein systems, photosystem I and photosystem II, capture light photons with their chlorophyll pigments in order to produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and NADPH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate), the specialized molecules which serve as energy carriers.
During this reaction, light splits water molecules and oxygen gas (O2) is released as a waste product.
In the second stage, the energy carrier molecules are used to produce sugars from carbon dioxide gas (CO2) and water (H20).
The sugars are then used as a source of chemical energy, and for the generation of other larger molecules necessary for the plant cell metabolism.
What does Cellular respiration mean?
The sugars and organic molecules produced by plants during photosynthesis are used by almost all living organisms as a chemical energy source to sustain life, growth, and reproduction.
In the presence of atmospheric oxygen, a cell is capable of extracting energy from organic compounds by binding their carbon to oxygen and producing carbon dioxide and water, in a process called respiration. In mammals, respiration occurs in mitochondria.
What are the stages of Cellular respiration?
In glycolysis, glucose, a six carbon sugar, is catalysed into two molecules of pyruvate, a three carbon sugar, ATP, and into small electron donor molecules such as NADH and FADH (flavin adenine dinucleotide).
Each of the two molecules of pyruvate is converted into acetyl CoA, a two carbon molecule bound to coenzyme A, generating carbon dioxide and the electron donor molecule NADH.
The acetyl CoA , with a four molecule carbon, undergoes a series of reactions producing ATP, NADH, FADH, while carbon dioxide is released.
The electron donor molecules, NADH and FADH, generated in the previous steps, transfer their electrons to oxygen via the respiratory chain located on the inner mitochondrial membrane. Energy is then released and used to pump protons out of the mitochondrial matrix into the intermembrane space of the mitochondria, creating an electrochemical gradient of protons. ATP synthase, an enzyme located in the mitochondrial membrane uses the energy within this gradient to produce ATP. At the end of the respiratory chain, oxygen accepts electrons and protons to generate water (H2O).
Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are two energy conversion mechanisms used by living cells to convert light and chemical energy respectively, into useful organic compounds important for their metabolic reactions.
Both photosynthesis and cellular respiration ultimately generate ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the energy unit of the cell.
Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are complementary processes, both involved in the life cycle of living beings on earth. Oxygen and organic molecules produced by photosynthetic organisms using sunlight energy, are used by animals in cellular respiration, releasing carbon dioxide and water. The carbon dioxide and water are then reabsorbed during photosynthesis to generate again oxygen and organic compounds in the never ending life cycle.
Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are two vital energy conversion mechanisms used by living cells to obtain and generate energy in the ultimate form of ATP, the cellular energetic unit important for all metabolic processes.
Photosynthesis occurs at the very bottom of the food chain, in algae, photosynthetic bacteria, and plants, capturing sun energy and using carbon dioxide and water to produce ATP, organic molecules and oxygen.
The organic molecules and released oxygen are then used by nearly all other cells through respiration to produce ATP, carbon dioxide and water, which are reused by photosynthetic organisms.
Lyne Chahine holds a Master’s Degree in Biomedical Sciences from the Free University of Brussels in Belgium, and a Master’s Degree in Cellular and Molecular Physiopathology from the Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France.
+ Guo R, Gu J, Wu M, Yang M. Amazing structure of respirasome: unveiling the secrets of cell respiration. Protein & Cell. 2016;7(12):854-865. doi:10.1007/s13238-016-0329-7.
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When do you need to ask permission to take someone’s photo? I’m going to put legal issues aside as they differ from place to place, suffice to say that you need to be aware of what they are, particularly when traveling abroad. I have met photographers who will always try to seek permission from their subjects and others who swear they never will. However, from my perspective, there is no simple answer to when consent is required.
To make this question a little easier to answer, let’s look at the types of photos you may take that include people.
I usually have an idea of where I am going to be tackling a photography session. One of the first photos I take is a wide-angle establishing shot. The establisher is often just a personal record of where I have been, although good lighting will often lead to a fantastic photo in its own right. As this picture is a wide angle of a street, there will invariably be people in the frame. I have rarely been worried about permission in these instances. There are too many people to ask, and people rarely appear to notice a photographers presence.
I use a wide-angle lens for portraits, and appreciate the slightly exaggerated headshot these lenses create. This style of shooting means I am very up close and personal with the subject. In these instances, permission needs to be sought. Often, I will not talk to my subject at all, a nod at the camera suffices for a question, and a returning smile indicates they are happy having their image captured. While communication is minimal before capturing this style of photo, afterward I will share the image and try to find out a little more about the person.
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Are the doctrines of karma and reincarnation an essential part of Buddhism?
The understanding of karma is part of Buddhism. Karma, in very simple terms, is cause and result. It is not reward and punishment. Reincarnation belongs to the law of karma. With this understanding, you know that if you have done good then somewhere there will be a good result and if you have done bad things then the result will be bad. Karma, or action and result, means that if you want to improve anything, yourself or something else, then you have to work on the improvement yourself - this is Buddhism. I think an understanding of karma is still useful even for those who do not totally accept it.
Does the Buddhist view of karma mean that the whole of your life is pre-determined, leaving you no choice?
Some people look at it like that but that is not quite correct. Up to now - when and where you were born, who your parents are, your brothers and sisters - things like that are all caused by actions in your past life or lives and you are now experiencing the result. But it is also said that you do have some choice to plan for your future - both for next year and the next life. Your future depends on what you do right now. Right now you are planting the seed - that is the cause - and you will experience the result later. And if you plant a potato seed now it will not grow into an apple tree The result, the future, is in our hands; our actions now will create a result. The law of karma does not mean that you just sink into a sleep, thinking, "There Is no point. All I can do is wait for the result". Our present human life carries the experience of the result of our past actions, but at the same time we are creating our own future. If you see it in this way, everything is not pre-determined by karma, because we are also creating our own, new karma. One thing I keep on saying is, ""Doesn't matter what you did, what matters is what you do now so that you can make your future better".
Some people are disturbed by the idea of karma. If a disaster happens, like a sickness, or death of a child, it is seen as 'punishment' for something they have done wrong, Can you comment on that?
I think that people who use the idea of karma like this, either do not understand karma properly or are misusing the meaning of karma to make excuses. What is happening does not depend on whether you believe in karma or not; things will still happen in your life, good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant, but I think a better understanding of karma will enable you to deal with everything more easily. Without understanding, dealing properly with painful things is much more difficult, and you just say, "This must be something to with really bad past life actions and therefore there is nothing I can do about it. This suffering is my punishment", I think with a better understanding, you will not use the idea of karma like this, as a kind of careless excuse. A better understanding will help you to experience everything - good and bad - In a more positive way. It will help you to make your personal garbage into good compost!
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The pentacyclic triterpenoid ursolic acid (UA) and its isomer oleanolic acid (OA) are ubiquitous in food and plant medicine, and thus are easily exposed to the population through natural contact or intentional use. Although they have diverse health benefits, reported cardiovascular protective activity is contentious. In this study, the effect of UA and OA on platelet aggregation was examined on the basis that alteration of platelet activity is a potential process contributing to cardiovascular events. Treatment of UA enhanced platelet aggregation induced by thrombin or ADP, which was concentration-dependent in a range of 5–50 μM. Quite comparable results were obtained with OA, in which OA-treated platelets also exhibited an exaggerated response to either thrombin or ADP. UA treatment potentiated aggregation of whole blood, while OA failed to increase aggregation by thrombin. UA and OA did not affect plasma coagulation assessed by measuring prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time. These results indicate that both UA and OA are capable of making platelets susceptible to aggregatory stimuli, and platelets rather than clotting factors are the primary target of them in proaggregatory activity. These compounds need to be used with caution, especially in the population with a predisposition to cardiovascular events.
Ursolic acid (UA) and its isomer oleanolic acid (OA) are pentacyclic triterpenoids that are common in the plant kingdom. They have similar structures ( Fig. 1 ) and share distributional similarity in the natural world, often occurring together ( Liu, 1995 ; Pollier and Goossens, 2012 ), especially in important medicinal plants such as Fructus Ligustrum lucidum ( Xia , 2011a ; Zha , 2010 ) and Fructus Forsythiae ( Zha , 2010 ) used in traditional East Asian medicine, and Ocimum sanctum Linn (Holy Basil) used in Ayurvedic medicine ( Sarkar , 2012 ). UA and OA are also abundant in food seasonings, such as rosemary ( Jager , 2009 ), sage ( Horiuchi , 2007 ), and olive oil ( Andrikopoulos , 2002 ). Hence, people can be readily exposed to UA and OA naturally or intentionally.
The similarity of UA and OA includes various biological activities ( Liu, 1995 ; Pollier and Goossens, 2012 ). Initially, a hepatoprotective effect was identified for them. Diverse pharmacological activities reported since include anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, and antimicrobial effects ( Liu, 1995 , 2005 ; Ikeda , 2008 ). Despite their benefits, UA and OA have some detrimental characteristics. UA exhibits anti-inflammatory effect in cells with established inflammation, but can be pro-inflammatory in normal cells ( Ikeda , 2008 ). Similarly, OA is hepatoprotective at low doses, but it can induce cholestasis and hepatotoxicity at high doses ( Liu, 2005 ).
Both UA and OA possess cardiovascular protective effects. They are effective against chemically-induced dysrhythmia ( Somova , 2004 ) and protect cardiac cells from ischemic damage in a rat model of myocardial ischemia ( Wang , 2009 ; Radhiga , 2012 ). They exhibit vasorelaxant activity in isolated blood vessels ( Aguirre-Crespo , 2006 ; Rodriguez-Rodriguez , 2008 ) and are capable of reducing blood pressure in hypertension animal models ( Somova , 2003 ). However, recent studies involving the circulatory system have been more equivocal. UA reportedly accelerates atherosclerotic plaque formation in vivo ( Messner , 2011 ), contrary to another study showing the protective effect of UA against diabetes-accelerated atherosclerosis ( Ullevig , 2011 ). OA directly elicits aggregation of isolated platelets ( Liu , 2013 ), a process that is critically involved in the initiation of cardiovascular events ( Liu , 2013 ), although other studies addressed the antiplatelet effect of UA and OA and anticoagulant activity of OA ( Jin , 2004a ; Jin , 2004b ; Babalola , 2013 ). These inconsistent reports therefore prompted the present study.
Platelet aggregation is crucial in hemostasis under normal physiological conditions. Abnormal activation or hyperaggregation of platelets caused by xenobiotics including drugs, food and environmental toxicants, readily leads to thrombosis. Such altered platelet function is involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and inflammation, which ultimately contributes to the development of acute coronary syndrome (ACS), stroke, and the ischemic complications of peripheral vascular disease. Therefore, xenobiotics enhancing platelet activity are regarded as risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, and anti-platelet therapy is a general approach to prevent and manage them ( Liu , 2013 ).
In the present study, the biological activity of UA and OA was examined in an isolated platelet system to clarify their effects on platelet function.
UA and OA were purchased from Abcam (Cambridge, UK). Adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and collagen were from Chrono-log (Havertown, PA, USA). Thrombin, sodium pyruvate, β-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide reduced disodium salt hydrate (NADH), menadione and dipyridamole were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA). Hematologic reagents for prothrombin time (PT) and activated thromboplastin time (aPTT) assays were purchased from Fisher Diagnostics (Middletown, VA, USA). Heparin was obtained from Choongwae Pharma (Seoul, Korea). All other chemicals used were of the highest purity available and were purchased from standard suppliers.
All animal experiments were conducted in accordance with protocols approved by the Ethics Committee of Animal Service Center, Dongguk University. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (6–7 weeks of age) purchased from Daehan Biolink (Eumseong, Korea) were acclimated for 1 week before experiments. The laboratory animal facility was maintained at a constant temperature and humidity with a 12-h light/dark cycle. Food and water were provided ad libitum .
Washed platelets (WP) were prepared as described previously ( Liu , 2013 ). Briefly, blood was collected from the abdominal aorta of rats anesthetized with ether using acid-citrate-dextrose (ACD; 85 mM trisodium citrate, 66.6 mM citric acid, and 111 mM glucose) as an anticoagulant (ACD: blood =1:6). After centrifugation at 250× g for 15 min, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) was obtained from the supernatant. Platelets were centrifuged at 500× g for 10 min, and washed once with a buffer comprised of 138 mM NaCl, 2.8 mM KCl, 0.8 mM MgCl 2 , 0.8 mM NaH 2 PO 4 , 10 mM HEPES, and 5 mM EDTA (pH 7.4) by suspension and centrifugation. WP were prepared by resuspending the platelet pellets in suspension buffer solution (138 mM NaCl, 2.8 mM KCl, 0.8 mM MgCl 2 , 0.8 mM NaH 2 PO 4 , 10 mM HEPES, 5.6 mM dextrose, and 1mM CaCl 2 , pH 7.4). The number of cells was adjusted to 2×10 8 cells/ml.
Platelet aggregation experiments were performed using a four-channel aggregometer (Chrono-log) as described previously ( Liu , 2013 ). WP were treated with the indicated concentrations of UA or OA for 5 min, and were stimulated with either thrombin, ADP, or collagen. Aggregation was assessed by measuring the changes in light transmission with the aggregometer.
Blood was collected from the abdominal aorta of ether-anesthetized rats using 3.2% sodium citrate as an anticoagulant (sodium citrate:blood=1:9) and diluted with normal saline (1:1). Blood was incubated with UA or OA for 5 min and was stimulated with thrombin. Aggregation was assessed by measuring the impedance change with a whole blood aggregometer (Chrono-log).
Plasma coagulability was tested by measuring prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) using a Coagulator2 analyzer (Behnk Elektronik, Norderstedt, Germany) with thromboplastin-D or CaCl 2 and APTT-XL re-agents (Fisher Diagnostics) respectively, according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Cytotoxicity of UA and OA were evaluated by LDH release assay as previously described ( Oh , 2014 ). WP were treated with 50 μM UA or OA, or 250 μM menadione, a positive control, and centrifuged at 13,000 g for 1 min. Resultant supernatant was used for LDH activity assay. Supernatant 20 μl was added to a 200 μl aliquot of working reagent containing 0.2 mM NADH and 2.5 mM sodium pyruvate in wells of 96-well plates. The decrease in absorbance at 340 nm was measured for 3 min with a SpectraMax M3 microplate reader (Molecular Devices, Sunnyvale, CA, USA). Relative LDH activity was calculated from the slope of decreasing absorbance. LDH activities measured from 1% Triton X-100-treated WP were regarded as 100% release.
The mean and standard error (SE) of the mean were calculated for all experimental groups. The data were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) or the Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Bonferroni correction to determine significant differences from the control. Statistical analyses were performed using SigmaStat Version 3.5 (Systat Software, San Jose, CA). In all cases, p <0.05 indicated significance.
To test the effects of UA and OA on platelet aggregation, aggregatory responses to platelet agonists were assessed in UA-or OA-exposed WP. UA and OA were confirmed not to change platelet shape on an aggregometer, suggesting that they do not aggregate platelets directly (data not shown). Platelets were incubated with 5, 25, or 50 μM UA for 5 min and aggregation was elicited by the addition of 0.06–0.08 U/ml thrombin, which is a concentration that induced an intermediate extent of aggregation determined using an aggregometer. UA treatment enhanced platelet aggregation by thrombin, which was concentration-dependent and statistically significant in the tested range ( Fig. 2A left panel and 2B gray bars ). Similar results were obtained with ADP. UA also increased platelet aggregation by 4–10 μM ADP in the same concentration ranges, although the extent of potentiation was weaker than that in thrombin experiments ( Fig. 2A, right panel ; 2B, black bars ). Quite comparable effects were observed with OA. OA potentiated the aggregation response of platelets to thrombin or ADP ( Fig. 3 ). Such effect was concentration-dependent in the same range as UA and was statistically significant. In addition to thrombin and ADP, collagen was used to induce aggregation. However, UA and OA had no effect on collagen-induced platelet aggregation (data not shown), suggesting that a platelet effect may vary depending on aggregatory stimuli. To confirm whether the effect on platelet aggregation is related with cytotoxicity, LDH release, a marker of cytotoxicity, was assessed in WP treated with UA or OA at the highest concentration 50 μM. However, significant LDH release was not detected, suggesting that pro-aggregatory activity of them has nothing to do with cytotoxicity ( Fig. 4 ).
Aggregation-enhancing effects of UA and OA were tested in whole blood, which is more complicated, but which is a closer system to the in vivo condition than WP. UA or OA was used to pretreat whole blood for 5 min and whole blood aggregation was induced with 0.6–0.7 U/ml thrombin. Similar to WP, whole blood treated with 50 μM UA also exhibited an exaggerated response to thrombin which was statistically significant ( Fig. 5 ). However, the effect of OA was minimal in whole blood. A positive control, dipyridamole effectively and significantly inhibited whole blood aggregation ( Fig. 4 gray bar ).
As another major player in blood clotting and thrombosis, coagulation factors were tested for their activities in the presence of UA or OA. PT and aPTT represented the activities of the extrinsic pathway and the intrinsic pathway in the coagulation cascade, respectively. Blood plasma was incubated with UA and OA for 5 min, and PT and aPTT were measured. No significant change was detected in PT and aPTT using up to 50 μM UA or OA, indicating little, if any, effect on plasma coagulation ( Table 1 ).
This study investigated the effect of triterpenoids UA and OA on platelets. UA and OA made platelets susceptible to pro-aggregatory stimuli. Platelets play a primary role in a hemostasis through aggregation. However, primed platelets readily form thrombus and thereby contribute to the development of diverse cardiovascular diseases ( Michelson, 2010 ). It is plausible that UA and OA may be causative factors in cardiovascular diseases by favoring platelet aggregation. Although the specific mechanism is elusive and clinical validation remains to be assessed, it is worth stressing that these compounds need to be used with caution, especially in the population with a predisposition to cardiovascular events.
Studies regarding the effect of UA and OA on the function of platelets have yielded equivocal findings. Jin (2004a and 2004b) and Babalola (2013) reported antiaggregatory effects of UA and OA, whereas Lee et al. (2007) observed aggregation-inducing activity of OA. The half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC 50 ) reported previously was unusually high in the studies reporting aggregation inhibitory effect. Babalola (2013) reported IC 50 at mM levels and Jin (2004a and 2004b) reported values at high μM to mM levels. Most of all, it is hard to expect physiological relevancy if the effective concentration is high. Indeed, Babalola (2013) also held the view that the antiplatelet activity of UA or OA was too weak to exert a practical effect. A comparably high concentration was used presently to reproduce previous studies. However, the solubility of UA or OA was too poor to be applied to platelets and such high concentrations were not feasible for measurements using the turbidimetric aggregometer (data not shown). UA or OA is practically insoluble in aqueous solution. Dimethylsulfoxide was used as a vehicle in our study. However, the solubility of UA and OA does not exceed several tens mM, even in organic solvent ( Jin , 1997 ) and it is not possible to apply them in the mM range to WP considering the influence of organic solvent on platelet activity. In another study, OA supplied at 50 to 200 μM directly induced aggregation of rabbit platelets within 10 min without addition of any agonists ( Lee , 2007 ). However, such direct aggregation was not observed in this study (data not shown). Instead, OA made platelets sensitive to stimuli. There seems to be no major difference in experimental methods except species difference of platelets source between the present and a previous ( Lee , 2007 ) study. Lee et al. (2007) tested rabbit platelets, while rats were used for this study. Further study will be needed for a full understanding of the discrepancy.
UA and OA were effective at higher than 10 μM in this experiments. There are a limited number of studies reporting blood level of UA and OA. The peak plasma concentration (C max ) was 3404.6 ± 748.8 ng/ml (= approximately 7.5 μM) in humans given an injection of UA at an average dose of 98 mg/m 2 body surface area (an average is 1.7 m 2 for adult males) ( Xia , 2011b ). In a study using an oral dose of 10 mg/kg bodyweight UA in rats, the C max was found to be 1.10 ± 0.31 μg/ml (= approximately 2.4 μM) ( Chen , 2011 ). These levels in blood plasma are not quite different from the concentration used in this study, and therefore the effective concentration of UA may be a clinically relevant level. In case of OA, relatively lower levels were detected in blood plasma. The C max was 12.12 ± 6.84 ng/ml (= approximately 0.027 μM) in humans taking a single 40 mg dose of the OA capsule orally ( Song , 2006 ). It was 132.0 ± 122.0 ng/ml (= approximately 0.29 μM) in rats orally administered at a dose of 50 mg/kg ( Jeong , 2007 ). Plasma OA levels reported are lower than the concentration used in this study. However, clinical exposure to UA or OA can be more extensive than administered doses in these studies. UA and OA are very widely distributed in food products and herbs. There are a large number of rich sources for them including an apple and Ayurvedic herbs such as Holy Basil. For example, a common spice herb rosemary contains 2.95 g/100 g UA and the content of OA is 3.1 g/100 g dry weight in olive leaves ( Jager , 2009 ). Such high content in food raises the possibility of longer and extensive exposure to UA or OA, which implies that a daily intake of UA or OA may be larger than doses in kinetic studies described above and thus the plasma concentration can be higher than the reported levels. Taken together, the concentrations of UA and OA in this study are not irrelevant clinically.
Currently, the mechanism how UA and OA contribute to platelet aggregation is elusive. Both UA and OA enhanced aggregation induced by thrombin or ADP, but not by collagen. Thrombin, ADP and collagen have their own distinct ways of activating platelets. The former two stimulate phospholipase Cβ through G protein-coupled receptors protease-activated receptors (PAR) and P2Y receptors respectively, while collagen triggers phospholipase Cγ2 activation via platelet receptor glycoprotein IV and generate downstream signals ( Offermanns, 2006 ). Accordingly, UA and OA appear to affect specific signaling pathways rather than to exert non-specific activity, and G protein/phospholipase Cβ-mediated signals by thrombin and ADP receptors might be the targets for UA and OA.
The effects of UA and OA on coagulation were examined by measuring PT and aPTT. However, neither compound affected plasma clotting, suggesting that platelets, rather than clotting factors, are a major target in whole blood and that the hyperaggregation of whole blood is mainly caused by the influence on platelets ( Fig. 4 ). This is consistent with previous studies reporting little or negligible effect of UA or OA ( Lee and Han, 2003 ; Allouche , 2010 ), although a conflicting observation was reported ( Lee , 2012 ).
Whole blood is generally regarded as being more similar to the in vivo situation than isolated platelets ( Liu , 2013 ), although it is hard to interpret the results from whole blood because of the complexity of its composition. In a whole blood study, OA failed to potentiate aggregation unexpectedly, while UA was effective as was in WP experiments ( Fig. 4 ). Ineffectiveness may be ascribed to a rapid metabolism in whole blood or uneven distribution in other cells than platelets and, thus, less exposure to platelets. Another possibility is the insensitivity of whole blood aggregometry. In general, whole blood aggregometry that relies on impedance measurement is less sensitive in detecting microaggregates compared with turbidimetric platelet aggregometer. Although both impedance and optical aggregometry are validated platelet function tests, these two methods do not always produce the same results ( Ingerman-Wojenski , 1983 ; Dyszkiewicz-Korpanty , 2007 ). Impedance aggregometry is considered a less sensitive technique for detecting mild aggregation compared with optical method because formation of aggregates in the sample will have no effect on the measured impedance unless the aggregates attach to the electrodes, and a small number of attached platelets is unlikely to have a significant impact on the measured impedance of the circuit ( Jarvis, 2004 ). Accordingly, aggregation in the whole blood aggregometer indicates the formation of substantial macroaggregates ( Jarvis, 2004 ). Therefore, potentiation of platelet aggregation by OA may not be detected in whole blood, even though OA favors the formation of small aggregates. Along with structural similarity, UA and OA have diverse biological activities in common ( Liu, 1995 ; Pollier and Goossens, 2012 ). Therefore, it is not strange that both UA and OA exhibit similar activity on platelet aggregation. However, detailed mechanism underlying such effect may be different each other, as shown in the whole blood experiments.
UA and OA have been generally considered to be safe and beneficial phytochemicals ( Liu, 1995 ; Somova , 2003 ; Somova , 2004 ), but the results of our experiments, together with previous reports ( Lee and Han, 2003 ; Lee , 2007 ; Allouche , 2010 ; Messner , 2011 ), raise the question regarding cardiovascular toxicity. The detailed mechanisms have not yet been revealed, nor have the conditions and the reasons for their opposing activities. Further study is warranted to ensure the safe use of UA, OA, and their derivatives.
This work was supported by the GRRC program of Gyeonggi province (GRRC-DONGGUK2013-B01, Development of new health supplements/therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases).
Chemical structures of ursolic acid and oleanolic acid.
Effect of ursolic acid (UA) on platelet aggregation. Platelets were incubated with UA for 5 min and aggregation was induced either by 0.06-0.08 U/ml thrombin or 4–10 μM ADP. Representative tracings of UA-treated platelet aggregation are presented in (A). The bar graph in (B) indicates the fold increase in aggregation compared to the control. All values are mean ± standard error (n=4 for thrombin experiment and 7 for ADP experiment). * indicates a statistically significant difference from control (p<0.05).
Effect of oleanolic acid (OA) on platelet aggregation. Following 5 min treatment of OA, platelet aggregation was induced by 0.06–0.08 U/ml thrombin or 4–10 μM ADP. (A) Representative tracings of OA-treated platelet aggregation. (B) The fold-increase of aggregation compared to the control. All values are mean ± standard error (n=3 for thrombin experiment and 4 for ADP experiment). * indicates a statistically significant difference from control (p<0.05).
Cytotoxicity of ursolic acid (UA) and oleanolic acid (OA) on platelets. Platelets were treated with 50 μM UA or OA, and the cytotoxicity was assessed by measuring the activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) released. For a positive control, 250 μM menadione was treated to platelets. All values are mean ± standard error (n=3). *Indicates a statistically significant difference from control (p<0.05).
Effect of ursolic acid (UA) and oleanolic acid (OA) on thrombin-induced whole blood aggregation. After treatment with 50 μM UA or OA for 5 min, aggregation of whole blood was initiated by the addition of 0.6–0.7 U/ml thrombin. Dipyridamole (Dip) at 100 μM was used as a negative control. Values are mean ± standard error (n=4). *Indicates a statistically significant difference from control (p<0.05).
Values are expressed as mean ± standard error (n=3). Heparin (0.4 IU/μl) was used as a negative control. PT: prothrombin time, aPTT: activated partial thromboplastin time. * Indicates a statistically significant difference from control (p<0.05).
M Kim , CH Han , and MY Lee , “Enhancement of Platelet Aggregation by Ursolic Acid and Oleanolic Acid”, Biomolecules & Therapeutics, vol. 3, no. 3, May 2014.
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0.878516 |
The International Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) collegiate American football bowl game played in Toronto from 2007 through 2010. During its run, it was the only post-season bowl game played outside the United States, the first such game since the Bacardi Bowl, played in Cuba on January 1, 1937. Each of the four times the game was contested pitted teams from the Big East and Mid-American Conferences, with the Big East winning all four matchups.
In 2004, a partnership led by the city of Toronto bid to host a bowl game in Toronto, to help the city recover from its loss of tourism dollars due to the 2003 SARS outbreak. The NCAA sanctioned the new Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego, instead; Toronto re-launched its bid in 2005 and was successful, playing its first game at the end of the 2006 season.
The bowl signed agreements with two Division I conferences to provide teams: The Big East Conference, a BCS conference, and the Mid-American Conference. Both conferences are composed of schools in the American Midwest and Northeast, with the exception of Big East school South Florida. One Big East member, Cincinnati, is a former member of the MAC (conversely, the MAC had one former Big East member during the game's tenure – Temple, who later rejoined the Big East).
The 2009 International Bowl was notable in that the Buffalo Bulls (champions of the Mid-American Conference) appeared in the first bowl game in the history of the school. The Bulls turned down their only other bowl invitation, the 1958 Tangerine Bowl, as the black players on the team were not going to be permitted to play.
After the bowl could not renew its contract with the BCS member Big East Conference, officials decided to cease the contest. It was hoped that the bowl could be revived later on, but the Big East's contract with the new Pinstripe Bowl complicated matters. The MAC's tie in was inherited by the Humanitarian Bowl.
In all four editions of the International Bowl, the Big East representative defeated the MAC representative, with only the first game decided by fewer than 18 points.
The International Bowl was played at Rogers Centre. It was the first football game of significance to be played in Canada under American football rules since Simon Fraser University's football team left the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics in 2001, and joined CIS, where Canadian universities play under Canadian football rules.
The winner of the International Bowl was presented with a trophy similar in design to the International Bowl logo. A Canadian maple leaf formed the back of the trophy, with a small crystal football set offset to the right. The name of the winning team was placed on a plaque attached to the lower part of the trophy.
ESPN carried the International Bowl across its family of networks for the entirety of the bowl's history. Since the game was in Canada, the network chose to use its Canadian-born commentators or ones that had some connection to Canadian football. Toronto native John Saunders called the game for its first three playings, while CFL Hall of Famer Doug Flutie was a color commentator three times and Nepean, Ontario native Jesse Palmer was there for two of the games. With the exception of the inaugural playing, a Canadian served as the sideline reporter; Ontario natives Stacey Dales and David Amber were part of the festivities.
Looking at the University of Cincinnati band from Windows restaurant.
Looking at the fifty-yard line.
WMU defends against the Cincinnati shotgun.
Rogers Centre video scoreboard follows the play.
WMU band at half time.
WMU band cheers Broncos from the stands.
Concrete is exposed beyond the end zones and side lines because the field was shortened and narrowed from Canadian football to American football dimensions.
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0.99824 |
I've been reading over some other questions regarding Accutane and diabetes, and although you say that Accutane does not cause diabetes, I don't think that's true. My 19 year old boyfriend was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes a little over a month ago, and he had taking Accutane for six months prior to that. He is active and doesn't maintain a poor diet so I don't understand how he could just get diabetes. Obviously, there must be some type of connection because other people have had similar experiences. Can you please give me some answers regarding the possible cause of his diabetes?
I understand your concern. People have lots of concerns about the cause of diabetes. The scientific method allows us to ask questions, and get answers, sometimes even surprising answers. We have the ability to study large populations, thanks to computers and look at large numbers of people, literally millions. In that group some develop diabetes and most do not. We are able to look at lots of questions, drugs, vaccines etc. -- many take the drugs or get the vaccines -- few get diabetes. The question is risk, do more get diabetes than one would expect. We know the proportion in the group as a whole, what is the proportion with diabetes. This application of science has not demonstrated a risk for Accutane. You have to do it this way in order to truly assess risk.
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0.998963 |
Atletico Madrid made it back to back clean sheets in all competitions for the first time this season after a convincing 2-0 win over Getafe.
The hosts headed into the game four places above Atletico after a run of four games without defeat which included three wins, whilst Atletico were without a win in their previous two La Liga encounters, but it was indeed the visitors who took an early lead.
A fearsome strike from Thomas Lemar from around 35 yards out cannoned off the crossbar and, rather unfortunately for David Soria in the Getafe goal, rebounded off his back and trickled into the goal in what will go down as an own goal - though he wouldn't have known much about it.
Despite going behind, Getafe were edging possession and still creating chances, however on the hour mark Lemar got his goal after a lovely flowing move from Atletico. He received the ball from Koke and rounded the keeper before tucking the ball home to double his side's lead.
After Getafe went down to ten men following Ivan Alejo's red card, Atletico were able to comfortably see the game out and take all three points back to Madrid. Here is a breakdown of events.
Starting XI: Soria (5); Suarez (5), Bruno (6), Cabrera (6), Antunes (7); Portillo (6), Arambarri (6), Dakonam (6), Ndiaye (5); Rodriguez (6), Molina (5).
Substitutes: Alejo (3), Guardiola (5), Cristoforo (6).
It's been Simeone's worst start to a La Liga season as manager of Atletico and he more than anyone was keen for his side to put in a convincing performance on Saturday, which they duly did.
Getafe were a team in form heading into the clash, but Atletico reduced them to very few clear cut chances and controlled the game for large parts.
Once they went two goals ahead, they never looked like surrendering the lead and were able to see the game out comfortably to get just their second league win of the season.
If you were being critical you could argue they should've created more in front of gaol given the attacking talent they have, however Simeone's priority would have been to get a win of any sort so a 2-0 win away from home marks a good days work for his side.
Starting XI: Oblak (8); Juanfran (7), Gimenez (7), Hernandez (7), Luis (8); Koke (7), Rodri (7), Saul (6), Lemar (9*); Costa (6), Griezmann (7).
Substitutes: Partey (6), Godin (6), Correa (6).
STAR MAN - After a difficult start to the season, Thomas Lemar had an outstanding game.
Despite Atleti's opening goal going down as an own goal, it was made purely by a piece of brilliance by Lemar. His powerful strike from outside the area was just inches from flying into the top corner, however it came crashing off the crossbar and deflected in off the keeper.
After being denied of his first goal for his new club in the first half, there was no taking Atleti's second goal from him after Lemar neatly rounded the keeper and tucked the ball home. He proved to be a real threat all over the pitch in a performance which will excite the Atletico fans a lot.
And there we go! Thomas Lemar scores and finally it's his! A very, very well worked goal by Atleti who pass out from their own defense. Very, very good!
Best game from Thomas Lemar this season as well. Haven't been impressed with him until this game.
WORST PLAYER - By his standards, Diego Costa had a very quiet game. He got very little service from his teammates in the first half and struggled to leave his mark on the match in the second half.
He got his first real chance of the game in the 75th minute and it was a golden opportunity, however he struck it straight at the keeper who parried it away with ease.
He hasn't scored a La Liga goal so far this season and his drought continues after what was an underwhelming performance from the Spaniard.
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How to make your own Enigma Machine?
Hi, I've got an old typewriter that still works wonderfully. Now, not being a big typewriter 'enthusiast', I still have a fair amount of fun using one. It's a manual typewriter, and I was wondering if it would be possible to get a separate set of arms made, with symbols corresponding to the keys. Essentially, my very own Enigma Machine, except it's my own code. Think any of you guys can help me out?
You're describing a simple substitution cipher, not a proper Enigma Machine (look it up on Wikipedia). The simplest solution would be to detach the letter blocks from the arms and reattach them randomly.
If you are more ambitious, you could make molds of the letter blocks, make a new set (maybe by carving non-letter symbols onto blanks), and attach your new set in place of the originals.
If you are extremely ambitious, you could create CAD (.stl) files for a set of replacement letter/symbol blocks, and print them off using a 3D printer.
I know it's not a REAL enigma machine. Also, you can't detach the letters from the arms, it's one whole arm.
It's a single cast piece? On my old manual, the letter blocks are press fit onto the arms. I'm sure different manufacturers did it differently, of course.
Here's a link to a site that describes building a working replica in great detail. There are several other sites as well. Google "enigma replica" for more details.
They are extremely complicated and parts must be precise to work right so it's a very difficult project even for an experienced machinist.
If you're just wanting to get a way to code messages there are computer simulators that work in a similar way.
Holy freaking....well, you know the rest. I love the "3D technology" note at the bottom. This is the kind of project that 3D printing was made for!
Wow. That's one hell of a project,.
I keep meaning to write "why is a raven like a writing desk" on a piece of paper, shove it into a copy of Murder On The Orient Express, and hide that inside a cryptographic device ... producing the oft-mentioned "riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an Enigma."
Winston is rolling in his grave.
A real enigma machine uses a keyboard to cause a set of rotors to move in a prescribed manner, circuits made up inside the rotors link to cause a bank of lamps to light up with the letter, in code.
If all you want is seemingly random letters, put sticky labels on the keys in a different order to the QWERTY layout.
Oh and that address explains how it works as well.
No doubt you may be able to use parts from the typewriter machine.
1. You need to find out how it worked and understand it.
2. You will need the mechanical facilities and skills to manufacture gears, small wheels etc.
3. there are web based simulations around of the enigma machine.
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0.922319 |
First note that I have retired. I no longer maintain an office at Georgia Tech. Look at my address above! I do answer email. This is the best way to contact me when I am at home. When I travel, my email is different.
What follows is a collection of things that please me. I list them in no particular order, give a brief description of what they are about, and provide a contact point to access more details.
1. A New Interest: ��It is true that I have published a work of fiction titled Gathering Moss. Publication date was January, 2008. Some of the action in the book takes place on the campus of Georgia Tech, some at the University of Alabama, and some at the University of Montana. There are both science and mathematics in the book. The technical parts are written to be accessible to the general reading public. Is it a surprise that a person who has spent a life in mathematics would write a book of fiction? I say no. One can look at the process of engaging a person in the pleasure of science, mathematics, or fiction as a continuation of the old Southern tradition of story-telling. After all, a good lecture tells a story; and a good story-teller creates the narrative to fit the intended audience.
2. No More Same Old Calculus: Before I retired, Professor George Cain and I made a common observation: most students entering Georgia Tech have already had the calculus. Because they think they already know the calculus, they often fail to note that the college course expects a deeper understanding of the concepts. Or, the students are bored because their high school calculus was such a good course. Cain and I wanted to make the materials fresh and exciting. Our decision was to present the notions of calculus in a multidimensional setting at the outset. This would take more time than typical in a second year calculus course because we would constantly go back to re-look at the one dimensional setting from this multidimensional perspective. Where could we find a text? Can you guess?
3. Asynchronous Studies in Undergraduate Partial Differential Equations: Georgia Tech now offers graduate programs in engineering where the materials stream over the web for students scattered all over the country. I participated in this program for several summers after I retired. The last time was during summer, 2006. There were streaming lectures, class notes, detailed calculations, and a bulletin board for class discussions. Some of these materials are accessible from my web site.
4. Notes for a course in Partial Differential Equations: In the Winter of 2003, I was commissioned to write a set of notes for studies in classical linear partial differential equations and to publish these notes on the web site for Maple Waterloo Software, Inc. These notes are available at this site with minor modifications from what appears at the Maple site. The modifications occur as small changes are made to the text or to the models, and as additions are created to amplify these ideas.
5. An Introduction to the Mathematics of Biology: Unsuspecting students often are surprised that mathematics could be so important in Biology. Even professionals are likely to think that the mathematics of biology is statistics. Yes, statistics is important in biology. There is also modeling. A good mathematical model for a biological phenomenon can illustrate what is observed in life, can predict outcomes, and can give directions for biological research. During the years before Professor Edward Yeargers and I retired, we joined with Professor Ron Shonkwiler in teaching an undergraduate course in mathematical biology. A text came out of our joint efforts. You will find that I keep all the Maple syntax current, as well as provide a list of errors we have found after printing.
6. Studies in the First Two Years of Undergraduate Mathematics: As students are introduced to the concepts of undergraduate mathematics, they often wish to see applications of the ideas. The models presented in this section have evolved through teaching, as well as through discussions with faculty at Georgia Tech and other universities. These studies are made available with the hope that students will find the models give insight, and that other faculty will use them in methods which seem appropriate.
7. An Introduction to the Linear Algebra of Infinite Dimensional Spaces: Graduate students in Mathematics and in several engineering disciplines include in their studies the notions of Hilbert Spaces. It was a course that I taught often at Georgia Tech and, consequently, developed a set of notes. The notes are pretty compact. They serve as an introduction to studies in more general infinite dimensional spaces.
8. An Introduction to the Use of Maple for Applications: I am asked fairly often about how to accomplish different type tasks with Maple. I created some materials that can be used to get an introduction to the use of Maple for classroom instruction and for analyzing applications from a variety of sources.
9. First Order Differential Equations with Periodic Forcing Functions: In this Maple worksheet, we consider solutions Y for the differential equation Y '(t) = A Y(t) + F(t). In case A is a number and F is a real valued function, students in an introductory calculus course often can make a solution for the equation. If A is a matrix, students in an introductory ordinary differential equations course likely can formulate a solution if F is vector valued. The interest here is a view for how to handle this problem for A in a class of differential operators. We review all three situations in this expository discussion. Our principal interest is in periodic solutions in case F is periodic. The pleasure is in putting the three settings into one context.
10. MAA Short Course, March 2002: At a joint regional meeting of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematics Association of America, Professor Ron Shonkwiler, Professor Edward Yeargers, and I presented a short course on An Introduction to the Mathematics of Biology. Notes for the course are posted on this web site.
11. Maple Conference, Summer 2006: The Maple document located at this site was the basis of a presentation at the Maple Conference in July, 2006. The paper was co-authored with Don Jones .� Using the diffusion equation with periodic endpoint boundary conditions, the paper illustrates how to compute both the periodic solution and the particular solution for a partial differential equation with specified initial conditions. With three dimensional graphics and with animations, the coalescence of the particular solution to the periodic solution can be observed. A similar analysis is made for the wave equation with periodic endpoint boundary conditions. Also, techniques are shown for using Maple to compute numerical solutions for these equations.
12. Connections: Often I get email inquiries from both sides of the Atlantic asking from where my family comes. Usually, the author of the message wants to know if we are related. I am fortunate to have several cousins interested in making these connections. I am the second son of Joseph Wheeler Herod.
THIS PAGE IS NOT A PUBLICATION OF THE GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND THE GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY HAS NOT EDITED OR EXAMINEDTHE CONTENT. THE AUTHOR OF THE PAGE IS SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENT.
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The Audi Quattro is a famous and historically significant road and rally car produced by the German automaker Audi. Notably, it was the first four-wheel drive grand tourer since 1966's Jensen FF.
It is considered one of the most significant rally cars of all time, and was one of the first to take advantage of the then-recently changed rules which allowed the use of all-wheel-drive in competition racing. Many critics doubted the viability of all-wheel drive racers, thinking them to be too heavy and complex, yet the Quattro was an instant success, winning a rally on its first outing. It won competition after competition for the next two years.
Officially, the model name was simply "Quattro", although the graphics on the car, confusingly, refer to the four-wheel drive system and use a lowercase "q". The word "quattro" with the lowercase "q" is used to refer to either the Audi AWD system, or any AWD version of an Audi automobile. To avoid confusion, it is also commonly referred to as the Ur-Quattro (the "Ur-" prefix is a German augmentative used, in this case, to mean "original" and is also applied to the first generation of Audi's S4 and S6 sport sedans, as in "UrS4" and "UrS6").
Adding further complexity to the issue is the fact that, within the last decade, Audi has retroactively changed all references to the model to lowercase (as can be seen on the official website's historical gallery), to match its current branding scheme and copyright. While Audi now states that "quattro" must always be written fully in the lower case, all original documentation, promotional materials and press released during the model's actual production period use the uppercase format, which is still the usage of choice for hobbyists and writers not affiliated with Audi.
Audi released the original Quattro in 1980, making it both the first car to feature Audi's quattro four-wheel drive system (hence its name) and the first to mate four wheel drive with a turbocharged engine.
The powerplant was originally a 2.1 L (2144 cc), SOHC, 10 valve straight-5 producing 203 PS (149 kW); this was eventually modified to a 2.2 L (2226 cc) 10 valve straight-5 and then to a 2.2 L (2226 cc) 20v DOHC straight-5 setup producing 223 PS (164 kW). Audi Quattros are often referred to among owners and enthusiasts by their engine codes, to differentiate between the earlier and later versions: the earliest (2144 cc 10v) being the WR engine, the 2226 cc 10v being the MB engine and the later 20v being the RR engine. Hence, Quattro models may be referred to as either the WR Quattro, MB Quattro, and RR or "20v" Quattro, respectively.
Total road car production is 11,452 vehicles over the period 1980–1991 and through this 11 year production span there were no major changes in the visual design of the vehicle. For the 1983 model-year the dash was switched from an analog instrument cluster to a green digital LCD display (later changed for 1988 to an orange LCD display). The interior was redesigned in 1985 and featured a whole new dash layout, new steering wheel design and new centre console design, the switches around the instrument panel were also redesigned at this time.
Externally, overall styling received very little modification during its production run. Originally, the car had a flat fronted grill featuring four separate lenses, one for each of the low and high beam units. This was altered for the 1983 model year and replaced with combined units featuring a single lens, but housing twin reflectors. This was changed again, for the 1985 model year, in what has become known as the 'facelift model' and included such alterations as a new sloping front grill, headlights, and trim and badging changes. The RR 20v Quattro also featured a new three spoke steering wheel design.
Sales of the Quattro in North America began with the 1983 model year, which were constructed concurrently, and were of the same design as, the European 1982 models (they did not include the minor cosmetic changes of the European 1983 model) and continued through 1986. Total sales in the USA were 664.
The initial 2.1 L (2144 cc) engine for US models included minor component and ECU changes, including lowered turbocharger boost pressure, which lowered power production to 172 PS (127 kW).
The Audi Sport Quattro was a Quattro program car developed for Group B rallying homologation in 1984, and sold as a production car in limited numbers — it featured a 2.1 L (2133 cc) 20v DOHC engine slightly smaller than that of the Audi Quattro but capable of producing approximately 355 PS (257 kW). The vehicle also featured a different body shell comprising wider arches, wider wheels (eight inches as compared to the Quattro's seven inch wide wheel rim), the steeper windscreen rake of the Audi 80 (requested by the Audi Sport rally team drivers for improved visibility) and, most noticeably, a 320 mm shorter wheelbase. It was followed by the more powerful Audi Sport Quattro S1 in 1985.
The Quattro is also famous for being a career highlight of one of the pre-eminent women in rally racing, Michèle Mouton.
In 2004, Sports Car International named this car number four on the list of Top Sports Cars of the 1980s.
While the Quattro drive system is used in VWs and Skodas, Audi is the only manufacturer licenced to use the name.
Audi Sport Quattro designer calls his iconic creation "ugly"
This page was last edited on 24 November 2010, at 23:22.
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To delegate is, literally or figuratively, to send another in one's place, an idea that is reflected in the word's origin; it is a descendant of Latin legare, meaning "to send as an emissary." Other English words that can be traced back to legare include legate ("an emissary usually having official status"), legacy, colleague, and relegate. (The related Latin noun legatus refers to an ambassador, deputy, or provincial governor.) The noun delegate, meaning "a person acting for another," was in use in English by the 15th century, with the verb first appearing in the 16th century.
Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of the verb delegate: de _ u _ _.
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0.919396 |
Identify each of the following as a Physical or Chemical Change.
1. A piece of wood burns to form ash.
2. Water evaporates into steam.
3. A piece of cork is cut in half.
4. A bicycle chain rusts.
5. Food is digested in the stomach.
6. Water is absorbed by a paper towel.
7. Hydrochloric Acid reacts with zinc.
9. A tire is inflated with air.
water into sugar and oxygen.
11. Salt dissolves in water.
12. Eggs turn into an omelet.
15. Turning brownie mix into brownies.
changes to define both in your own words.
Physical vs chemical Change wksht.
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0.951799 |
Is fair-chase hunting fair if there is no chase?
That's the debate raging right now after video of a brown bear hunt in the Katmai National Preserve surfaced recently.
The video shows a group of hunters killing a brown bear that seemed, by most accounts, completely habituated to the presence of humans. As the hunters approached, there was no flight-or-fight response in the bear. In fact the bear walked right past the hunters before it was shot, first by an arrow and then by a rifle.
The reaction to this video from the anti-hunting community was predictable: killing animals for sport is wrong and this is just another example of the cruelty of humans.
The reaction from Alaska's large hunting community, however, has been more interesting.
Some, hoping to avoid another black eye for hunters, are calling for a ban on hunting in areas where the bears have been habituated to people. Others are calling for a ban on bear-viewing in areas where it is legal to hunt.
Most, however, are asking that age old question "Can't we all get along?"
That grand experiment by state and federal agencies in and around Katmai to share the resource (brown bears) between consumptive users (hunters) and non-consumptive users (bear viewers) has failed. And it has failed because there is no such thing as a non-consumptive user group.
As the video shows, it doesn't matter if you use a Remington or a Nikon to shoot bears in the wild, you will affect them in some way.
Hunters should agree it's unethical to take advantage of human-conditioned bears, like the ones in that video. But the ethics of changing bear behavior by observing them, especially in areas open to hunting, also should be questioned.
These bears have learned to view humans as non-threatening because humans have set aside areas of land where it is illegal to threaten them. On the outskirts of this safe zone, however, humans are giving bears mixed messages.
Some human groups fly in, walk around and take home nothing but snapshots. Others take home bear hides and skulls.
Bears are highly intelligent, but they still can't read maps. And, obviously, they have yet to decipher the political affiliation or intention of humans just by looking at them.
The bear hunters in that video did nothing illegal by killing that bear. The bear-viewers and fishermen who conditioned these bears over the years also did nothing illegal.
But neither group should walk away from this situation with a clear conscience.
If hunters want to continue their hunting heritage, they should avoid areas where conflicts with bear-viewing groups are likely.
If bear-viewing guides want to continue offering quality experiences, they should do it in areas closed to hunting.
Thankfully, in Alaska, there is enough land to accommodate many user groups.
For thousands of years in Alaska, bears have shown common sense around people. Now, it's time for us to do the same around them.
No one is winning this battle between user groups. And the bears are the ones getting killed unfairly in the cross-fire.
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Why MFT mount on a S35 sensor?
I am pretty happy with the XT3, though I'd love if they did a similar setup to the A7S2 or GH5S. 4K sensor with 10mp for increased low light performance. A fairly clean 12,800 iso would be awesome. Something like that with 4k 60p and internal prores would be cool.
For adapting! And JVC had that neat feature where you put a M43 lens on and it just uses a M43 crop the sensor, or you could put a S35 lens on and use the whole thing. Very flexible. To be honest, though, I'd go for any mount that you can get an EF lens onto.
The only real downside to higher MP is more rolling shutter, if the processor isn't upgraded as well. High MP with downscaling is great for low light. I'm sure all near-future Z Cam products will have 4k60 ProRes in addition to H.265. I don't think they'll have 4k120 though, they seemed to imply that was a unique feature for the E2.
It will be interesting to see if Canon makes a decent cinema camera. Their latest photo cameras have been disappointing for video to say the least. It would be quite forgivable in my eyes if they came out with a good low budget RF video camera, as a complement to the R and RP.
Anything further developments along the lines of the XC body would depend on how well the 10/15 sold. I doubt they would do significant new development other than updating the electronics if sales were low. I have never actually seen an XC physically, so I suspect that they did not sell too many of them.
Most of the XC-style posts are referencing the long-term rumor about an XC-style camera with interchangeable lens mount: https://www.canonrumors.com/patent-canon-xc-style-camera-with-interchangeable-lenses/ - there have also been quite a few rumors about a cinema camera unlike anything Canon has done before plus a rumor today that said to expect an “exciting” new cinema camera, possible ahead of NAB in April"
So, if there is an "XC-style cinema camera," it will probably be an APS-C RF mount camera that is a stop-gap where the C100 Mark II used to sit - somewhere between mirrorless/DSLR video and the C200/C300.
Since we have the C200 and pretty soon a new C300 to choose from, I think it would be smart to make a more mirrorless-like mini cinema camera.
Knowing Canon, I just feel very doubtful they'll be giving out 10-bit 4K 422 to SD in C100 in 2019 (maybe 2023... ha!).
Adding a wide angle T2.9 zoom to complete out their MKX zoom range would be nice.
But yeah, also say some T1.4 (or at least T2 or faster) primes in their MK range for mirrorless mounts would be nice. As at the moment there doesn't exist any cinema prime lenses for mirrorless mounts with interchangeable mounts (aside from Veydra, who might have sunk?).
I agree about IBIS. Making a tiny camera and then having to pack a gimbal, shoulder rig, or tripod to go with it sure takes away a lot of the advantages of making it small and light.
The XC10 is an invisible camera. People who bought it don't talk online about their C-cameras and that's what the XC10/15 is. XC10 footage is as good as C300 footage for most shots, so as long as you're using it within its design limitations then you could be seeing the footage from it every day and not have a clue.
Canon said they sold more of them than expected and they are seen on Hollywood sets recording BTS and interviews.
Interesting observations and it would probably sell well. They practiced a bit with the XC10/15 so should know how to combine the C100, the XC10/15, and their lenses for a good product. If it was an RF mount then they'd have to make sure that an adapter was available and worked well. That form-factor really lends itself to people using the 18-35 f1.8 and other similar lenses, so EF support would be mandatory - no-one buying a C50 would want to re-buy all their lenses. The EF-M mount might be the better alternative.
The EF to RF mount adapters (Canon has three different ones) are all excellent. I use all EF glass on my EOS R right now and the adapter stays on the camera and honestly feels as solid as a native EF mount. Autofocus seems just as snappy as a native EF mount as well. Very much looking forward to the adapter that has the variable ND in it that's supposed to be shipping in the next couple of weeks.
Canon has a done a great job with adapters for the RF Mount so I don't see any problem putting the RF Mount on new cinema or video cameras at all. Could even ship with an adapter to start (like the RP and R do now) - but it's a much better long-term solution to go with the RF Mount. I doubt I'll buy another EF video camera with a Super35 sensor due to the lack of solid lenses for that format. At least with the RF you have the potential for speedboosters and many more true Super35 lenses.
Is it easy to find APSC to M43 adapters though? Seems like a big advantage to a bigger sensor is you can use longer lenses with less crop.
Low rolling shutter is definitely nice too although its lower on the GH5 and even more so the GH5S than the Z cam. The A7S2 still seems to be the low light king, which is why it seems like the low MP 4k sensors seem to be the best way to go.
Yes, Nikon along with Fujifilm (just purchased a Fujifilm camera btw!) are the two new players I'd love to see enter the digital cinema market with their take on a C100/C300/FS5/FS7/EVA1 level camera.
The MFT mount has one of the lowest flange distances of any mount, so you can adapt almost any lens onto it. With EF the distance is much larger and so there are a bunch of lenses you can't adapt to EF. it won't matter to most people, but if you happen to fall desperately in love with any of the lenses in that in-between range then it rules out the whole camera because of the mount.
So yeah an M43 mount does make sense.
I'm sure I've read about in the past about companies trying this before?
But the problem is the costs to do this well on a small scale are so high, that if you're pushing up near in cost to say a secondhand FS7/UMP, then it becomes pointless. As a person would just buy a mainstream camera instead.
Is called the "Panasonic EVA1"
Yes the EVA-1 was really close. I like that camera and have used it on quite a few jobs. Codec-wise and image wise, it's incredible. Would love something a bit smaller with a modern mount (for adapters/speedboosters) and a useable screen.
Was mindboggling that Panasonic gave the cold shoulder to their own Micro Four Thirds mount.
Maybe even the battery from the GFX series?
Would be a good idea, means Fujifilm doesn't have to invent a new battery style for their cameras. Keeps the number of SKUs down.
It is an underrated feature! I just purchased a camera today largely because it was cheap and had a selfie screen.
Because MFT is the most versatile and open mount available.
My guess is it will happen, but not in 2019! Still far too soon.
The issue is the form factor as much as the price in the example that I gave of the Pocket 4K.
You could enhance that product and arguably actually make it even smaller or at the very least a different shape to make it less problematic for a gimbal.
The move for someone into a much larger form factor like an FS7/UMP entails everything else getting bigger in terms of tripod, power etc so it then becomes a different overall proposition.
This also follows on with the lenses as well of course by retaining the MFT mount so it can use small native lenses but also of course adapt pretty much everything else on to it.
I suppose the real test of this is if BM announced a more Z Cam E2 style version of the Pocket4K at NAB with the additions I'm looking at for £3-3.5K would it get a few orders?
I think it might do.
You never know, maybe they will !
"APS-C to MFT" adapters do not exist, in the sense there is no generic "APS-C mount".
Rather you have "Nikon F to MFT" or "Canon EF to MFT" or etc adapters to MFT, which would all work just the same even with an APS-C sensor behind the MFT mount.
Yeah I was just using APSC to refur to all s35 sensors as their is no standard mount like m43, unfortunately.
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Instructions: Find the personal pronouns. Tell if they are intensive, reflexive, or possessive, and if they have an antecedent, name it.
1. I want you yourself to come tomorrow.
I want you yourself to come tomorrow.
2. The decision itself is yours to make.
The decision itself is yours to make.
3. She gave herself up to the police.
She gave herself up to the police.
4. My brother gave me his pet snake.
My brother gave me his pet snake.
5. You can tie your shoe by yourself.
You can tie your shoe by yourself.
-- You is the antecedent for your and yourself.
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0.998306 |
How much is Bobbi Ray Carter Worth?
Bobbi Ray Carter net worth and salary: Bobbi Ray Carter is an American television host who has a net worth of $8 million dollars. Bobbi Ray Carter was born in Quonset, Rhode Island, and was originally focused on a career in the theater. She began her professional performing career touring Europe in a Broadway musical review. After returning to the United States, she began working as a host for the Home Shopping Network. She hosted her first show in 1983, and over the years, has become one of HSN's most popular hosts. She was given the nickname, "Bubblin' Bobbi Ray", due to her outgoing personality. She hosts a number of shopping shows for the network, the majority of which are focused on fashion and beauty. Some of her shows include, "The Andrew Lessman Variety Show", "Serious Skincare", "Serena Williams Signature Statement", "Yellowbox Footwear Premiere", "Marilyn Miglin", "Kyle Richards Fashions", "Spring Home Solutions", and "Diane Gilman Fashions".
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0.977744 |
Obtain a rapid burst of Cre expression in mammalian cells with footprint-free delivery of Cre mRNA in nonintegrating, virus-like particles. Cre RNA lentiviral particles (RLPs) contain no viral genome and are generated using a novel packaging technology that loads multiple biologically active mRNAs per particle. RLPs have been shown to mediate transient protein expression at high efficiency for in vitro and in vivo applications involving cell lines, primary cells, stem cells, tissues, and organisms.
Popular methods for Cre recombinase-based genome editing present tradeoffs. Transient transfection of a plasmid or mRNA limits the scope of Cre activity, minimizing the likelihood of unwanted effects associated with persistent Cre expression, but is associated with cellular toxicity, is unsuitable for in vivo applications, and is only feasible for cells that can be readily transfected. Transduction of the Cre gene sequence on a viral vector enables Cre expression in a broader range of cell types and can be applied to in vivo studies, but is associated with random genomic integration, may require activation and/or selection of target cells, and may result in undesirable persistence of Cre expression.
Cre recombinase RLPs enable researchers to overcome the above limitations and express Cre more rapidly and efficiently in mammalian cells by delivering nonviral Cre mRNA in lentivirus-derived packaging in the absence of a viral genome. In vitro studies involving RLP-mediated delivery of a luciferase reporter demonstrated that reporter expression was maximal at 4–24 hours post application and had declined rapidly at 30 hours. By contrast, expression of luciferase delivered via transfection was undetectable until 8 hours and peaked at 24 hours, while expression via lentiviral integration was undetectable until 24 hours. In an in vivo study involving a loxP mouse line (ROSA26-YFP), local injection of Cre RLPs into muscle yielded a zone of reporter gene expression that was comparable in size to a zone generated via injection of purified Cre lentivirus (Prel et al. 2015).
Cre RLPs (RNA lentiviral particles) consist of biologically active Cre recombinase mRNAs packaged into nonintegrating, virus-like particles, and are used to mediate a transient burst of Cre expression for a wide array of in vitro and in vivo applications involving Cre-Lox recombination. Footprint-free Cre delivery via RLPs avoids the risks of random genomic integration and persistent Cre expression associated with viral transduction, and the cellular toxicity and target-cell limitations attributed to RNA or plasmid-based transfection. Cre RLPs are generated using a novel packaging technology that employs a phage RNA-binding protein to load multiple mature mRNA molecules per particle. RLPs have been demonstrated to yield robust Cre expression with high efficiency in cell lines, primary cells, stem cells, tissues, and organisms.
Dose-dependent, RLP-mediated expression of ZsGreen1 observed over time.The indicated volumes of CRE-ZsGreen1 RLPs were applied to TE671 LoxP-LacZ cells in a 12-well format, and ZsGreen1 expression at the indicated time points was monitored by fluorescence microscopy. At 6 hours post application, ZsGreen1 expression was detectable in each cell population and varied according to the amount of RLPs applied. For each RLP dosage tested, ZsGreen1 expression was highest at 24 hours and greatly reduced at 48 hours post application.
Kinetics of Cre recombinase activity compared for RLP-, lentivirus-, and gesicle-mediated delivery.�To compare the kinetics of Cre recombinase activity using various delivery methods, Cre was expressed in TE671 LoxP-LacZ cells via application of RLPs, lentivirus, or gesicles (cell-derived nanovesicles carrying Cre protein), respectively, in 2-fold serial dilutions. Cells from each treatment were harvested and lysed at the indicated time points (8, 24, and 48 hours, respectively), and the expression of the LacZ reporter was assayed over a 1-hour period using the Luminescent Beta-galactosidase Detection Kit II (Cat. # 631712). For each delivery method, the MOI corresponding to the highest treatment concentration is indicated in the graphs corresponding to the 8-hour timepoint. In contrast with viral delivery, application of Cre RLPs (Cre RNA) and Cre gesicles (Cre protein) yielded detectable Cre recombinase activity after 8 hours, with Cre gesicles providing the fastest response. For viral delivery, Cre activity was detectable after 24 hours, but at a low level relative to the other methods. At 48 hours, cumulative Cre activity was comparable for the three delivery methods.
A copy of the RLP-CRE-ZsGreen1-11 product License Agreement can be found by clicking here.
Cre-ZsGreen1 RLPs (RNA lentiviral particles) consist of biologically active Cre recombinase and ZsGreen1 mRNAs packaged into nonintegrating, virus-like particles, and are used to mediate a transient burst of Cre and fluorescent protein expression for a wide array of in vitro and in vivo applications involving Cre-Lox recombination. Footprint-free Cre delivery via RLPs avoids the risks of random genomic integration and persistent Cre expression associated with viral transduction, and the cellular toxicity and target-cell limitations attributed to RNA or plasmid-based transfection. Cre-ZsGreen1 RLPs are generated using a novel packaging technology that employs a phage RNA-binding protein to load multiple mature mRNA molecules per particle. RLPs have been demonstrated to yield robust Cre and ZsGreen1 expression with high efficiency in cell lines, primary cells, stem cells, tissues, and organisms.
Transient Cre expression in a wide array of in vitro and in vivo systems, including cell lines, primary cells, stem cells, mouse models, etc.
Prel, A. et al. Highly efficient in vitro and in vivo delivery of functional RNAs using new versatile MS2-chimeric retrovirus-like particles. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev. 2:15039 (2015).
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Because so many variables affect what you'll pay for college—including the type of school your child attends, your eligibility for financial aid, the kind of financial aid the school offers and the school's sticker price—it's critical to start the college search by looking at the universe of colleges and not limit yourself to just private or just public schools. To help you compare your options side by side, Kiplinger presents a combined ranking of colleges, as well as separate rankings for the best values in private universities, private liberal arts colleges and public colleges.
You've given a salary figure for each school on the list. Is that number used to calculate a school's rank?
No. The figures, which show the median earnings of workers who started at a particular college 10 years earlier and who received federal financial aid, come from the U.S. Department of Education. The data don't consider whether the workers graduated from college or went on to graduate school. Because of the limitations of this data, we don't include salary figures in calculating each school's rank on our list.
Schools such as Northeastern and Worcester Polytechnic Institute have appeared in your ranking for years but are no longer listed. What happened?
In our continuing effort to provide the most accurate and complete data available, we have excluded schools that didn't supply us with all the data we need to calculate their ranking. Here are the schools, listed in alphabetical order: Allegheny College, American Jewish University, Assumption College, Concordia College, Hofstra University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Stephens College, Stevens Institute of Technology, Wagner College and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Private schools typically offer more generous financial aid packages than public colleges and score better on quality measures, such as test scores of incoming freshmen and graduation rates.
Shouldn't all 50 states be represented in the rankings? My state's schools don't appear on any of the lists.
One year. Costs reflect the amount each institution charges and the average amount of financial aid offered for one academic year.
Our rankings focus on traditional four-year schools with broad-based curricula and on-campus student housing. Schools that offer great value but focus on specific or narrow academic programs, such as the military academies, are excluded. By the same token, we exclude specialized schools, such as teacher's colleges, schools of law and schools of medicine. Another exception is Cornell University, best known as a member of the Ivy League. Four of Cornell's colleges are part of the privately endowed university, which we consider as a private institution in our rankings. But three of Cornell's Cornell's undergraduate colleges are land-grant state schools. These schools have been omitted from our rankings because the majority of schools at Cornell are part of the privately endowed university. We have, however, included several schools in the City University of New York (CUNY) system. For many years, schools in the CUNY system were not eligible for our list because we consider the cost of room and board in our rankings, and the CUNY system offered only limited housing. The CUNY system has since beefed up housing on some of its campuses. All of the CUNY schools in our rankings offer on-campus housing.
To account for their different missions and to better compare apples to apples, we group private institutions into two categories. One list ranks private liberal arts colleges, which primarily offer bachelor of arts degrees; the other ranks private universities, which educate both graduate and undergraduate students and award a greater number of master's master's degrees and PhDs than liberal arts colleges.
Unlike other college rankings, ours are based entirely on measurable criteria, such as student-faculty ratios, admission rates, on-time graduation rates, sticker price and financial aid. Neither our opinion nor anyone else's else's affects the calculations.
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Is a blood sugar reading of 150 3 hrs. after a meal considered too high?
It depends on what you ate. Pizza, for example, can cause an elevated blood sugar several hours after you ate it because the fat slows the absorbtion of the starches in it. In general, though, what's considered normal is a reading below 140 2 hours after you eat, so yours would be considered a reading on the high side given that it was 150 3 hours after you ate (so it was likely higher than that at the 2 hour point). Blood sugars rise even in normal people after they eat, but normally peak 1-2 hours after eating, then quickly return to normal. If you continue to get readings like that, consider a trip to your doctor to find out what's going on and you may want to test what your fasting levels are (first thing in the morning before eating or drinking anything) as well as 1 and 2 hours after meals. HTH.
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veer off the main line.
Our mission is to better our community by providing sustainably-sourced, world class craft beer in a gathering place where everyone feels at home.
We create artisanal products that reflect the beauty and history of our place. And we create a space where everyone can enjoy the good, the refreshing, and the tasteful.
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How to invest using static or fixed allocation for your portfolio.
Strategic Allocation is dividing your money into categories that do not change over time, or changes slowly. A Strategic Allocation is sometimes called "static allocation," "passive allocation," or "buy-and-hold." For example, some investors use a static allocation of 60% stocks and 40% bonds for their assets.
Can be low cost if you use index funds or ETFs.
A strategic allocation does not take full advantage of changes in economic conditions. For example, if interest rates are rising (affecting bond prices) or if the economy is in recession (affecting stock prices), a strategic portfolio will continue to hold the same assets.
Strategic allocations may drop in value quickly if the stock market falls. For example, several strategic allocations dropped by over 40% during 2008-2009.
1. Choose a Strategic Allocation "portfolio recipe."
Rebalancing is buying or selling a portion of each asset so that the percentage allocation returns to the original allocation specified in the portfolio recipe. Since you are using a fixed allocation, you will not need to rebalance more often than quarterly. A portfolio-oriented brokerage can be useful for rebalancing, since they charge a flat fee each time you rebalance your portfolio, no matter how many buys or sells that requires.
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We extend generative stochastic networks to supervised learning of representations. In particular, we introduce a hybrid training objective considering a generative and discriminative cost function governed by a trade-off parameter λ. We use a new variant of network training involving noise injection, i.e. walkback training, to jointly optimize multiple network layers. Neither additional regularization constraints, such as 1, 2 norms or dropout variants, nor pooling- or convolutional layers were added. Nevertheless, we are able to obtain state-of-the-art performance on the MNIST dataset, without using permutation invariant digits and outperform baseline models on sub-variants of the MNIST and rectangles dataset significantly.
The figure shows a GSN Markov chain for input Xt+0 and target Yt+0 with backprop-able stochastic units.
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How to setup affiliate marketing for my website?
I work for an ecommerce company and would like to setup some sort of affiliate marketing similar to Amazon.
1. If someone was referred to our site and they made a purchase we would pay out.
2. If we referred a user to someone else's page and they made a purchase we would get paid.
I looked into http://www.commissionfactory.com/ but wasn't sure if that would meet my needs. Does anyone have any recommendations?
There are not any very effective free solutions that I'm aware of, and hopefully someone can add one here so I do become aware.
However, if you're interested in controlling your affiliate program, than Hasoffers is a great product with a low entry cost. You can also look into the popular affiliate networks, such as Neverblue advertising and Commission Junction.
Also, look at your competitors affiliate programs and see what they are using.
From what I have found none of my competitors are using affiliate marketing so it would be nice to get in early. I didn't think it would be free, I figured there would be some cost involved. I just talked to Hasoffers and they seemed to be pretty impressive I might give them a try.
If you give me a few of your direct competitors I will do a search to see if they have any inbound affiliate links to their website.
I am personally not aware of any "two way" affiliate programs, but for setting up an affiliate program for your site (pay people for referrals), Ray had some good suggestions for places to start.
1) Depending on your ecommerce platform, you might be able to find low cost affilaite plugins. For example, I know that Magento has several available. The downside to something like this is that you need to build a network of affiliates yourself. If you go with one of the affiliate networks you have an army for affiliates that can choose to list your products.
2) Try to make sure that whatever affiliate program you use has a way to mark a customer as coming to your site first (a cookie on your site). When we set up an affiliate program what would happen is that someone would go through the order order process then when they got to checkout they jump off the site for a minute to go find a coupon. When they returned they would have the affiliate ID of the coupon site, so that site would earn a commission even though they were really not the referrer.
We use a company called Awin (Affiliate Window) in the UK and they are very good.
As far as I am aware there is no two way affiliates, but the easiest way round it is, to set your self up as a publisher and advertiser.
Its quite easy to do, and you could be up and running as an a publisher in minutes.
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As a gamer myself, though admittedly not the best, I have a fondness for the benefits of video game play. However, there are many times when video game play becomes an issue or an addiction. My goal is to provide you with is three-fold, 1) to provide you with current research on video gaming, 2) delve into the effects video games are having on your individual, family, peer, and school/work experiences, and 3) help you to promote healthy, lasting changes.
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Vaccination coverage was generally higher among those reporting having at least one physician contact in the past year compared with those who had not visited a physician in the past year, regardless of whether the respondent had health insurance, and vaccination coverage generally increased with increasing physician contacts. Hepatitis A vaccination coverage among persons aged ≥19 years and travelers aged ≥19 years; hepatitis B vaccination coverage among travelers aged ≥19 years, persons with chronic liver conditions aged ≥19 years, persons with diabetes aged ≥19 years, persons with diabetes aged 19-59 years; and persons with diabetes aged ≥60 years; herpes zoster vaccination coverage among persons 60-64 years; and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage among females who reported first HPV dose at 19-26 years did not differ by number of physician contacts.
Among adults who had health insurance and reported having had ≥10 physician contacts within the past year, 18.2%–90.8% reported not receiving vaccinations that either are recommended for all persons or are recommended for those with some specific indication (not receiving influenza vaccination, 38.5% [aged ≥19 years], 51.9% [aged 19–49 years], 41.7% [aged 50–64 years], 18.2% [aged ≥65 years]; not receiving pneumococcal vaccination, 61.8% [increased risk, aged 19–64 years], 27.9% [aged ≥65 years]; not receiving tetanus, 31.3% [aged ≥19 years], 27.5% [aged 19-49 years], 29.4 [aged 50-64 years], 38.2 [aged ≥65 years]; not receiving tetanus, diphtheria, or acellular pertussis [Tdap], 69.8% [aged ≥19 years], 64.8% [aged 19–64 years], 81.0% [aged ≥65 years]; hepatitis A, 90.8% [aged ≥19 years], 83.1% [travelers aged ≥19 years]; hepatitis B, 74.2% [aged ≥19 years], 58.6% [aged 19-49 years], 66.9% [travelers aged ≥19 years], 65.5% [persons aged ≥19 years with chronic liver conditions], 83.1% [aged ≥19 years with diabetes], 78.5% [adults aged 19–59 with diabetes], 85.6% [adults aged ≥60 years with diabetes]; herpes zoster, 68.0% [adults aged ≥60 years], 76.4% [60-64 years], 65.2% [≥65 years]; and HPV, 57.4% [women aged 19–26 years]).
Among adults with health insurance and at least one physician contact, influenza vaccination coverage was lower among adults aged 19-49 years compared with adults aged 50-64 years and ≥65 years, while among adults with health insurance and no physician contacts, influenza vaccination coverage was lower among adults aged 19-49 years compared with adults ≥65 years. Among adults with health insurance regardless of number of physician contacts, pneumococcal vaccination coverage was lower among adults aged 19-64 years at increased risk compared with adults aged ≥65 years, and compared with adults aged 19-49 years, tetanus vaccination coverage was lower among adults aged ≥65 years, while Tdap coverage was lower among adults aged ≥65 years compared with adults aged 19-64 years. Among adults with health insurance and at least one physician contact, hepatitis B vaccination coverage among adults with diabetes aged ≥60 years was lower compared with coverage among adults aged 19-59 years with diabetes, and herpes zoster coverage among adults aged ≥65 years was higher compared with coverage among adults aged 60-64 years.
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For the British soldier and courtier, see Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport (British Army officer).
Admiral Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport, KB (2 December 1726 – 2 May 1814) was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars, and the brother of Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood.
Hood entered the navy in January 1741 and was appointed Lieutenant in HMS Bridgewater in 1746. He was promoted to Commander in 1756 and served as flag captain for Rear Admiral Sir Charles Saunders, first on HMS Prince in the Mediterranean (the flagship of Rear-Admiral Saunders, under whom Hood had served as a lieutenant), then on the frigate HMS Minerva.
In the Seven Years' War Hood fought at the Battle of Quiberon Bay on 20 November 1759, and in 1761 Minerva recaptured after a long struggle, the 60-gun HMS Warwick of equal force, which had been captured by the French in 1756. For the remainder of the war, from 1761 to 1763, he was captain of HMS Africa in the Mediterranean.
From this time forward Hood was in continuous employment afloat and ashore. In 1778 he was appointed to HMS Robust and fought at the First Battle of Ushant on 22 July. In the court-martial of Admiral Augustus Keppel that followed the battle, although adverse popular feeling was aroused by the course which Hood took in Keppel's defence, his conduct does not seem to have injured his professional career.
In 1780 Hood was promoted to Rear Admiral of the White, and succeeded Kempenfeldt as one of Howe's flag-officers. In the American Revolutionary War, in HMS Queen, he took part in Howe's relief of Gibraltar in 1782.
Hood served in the House of Commons for a time. Promoted vice-admiral in 1787, he became K.B. in the following year, and on the occasion of the Spanish armament in 1790 flew his flag again for a short time. On 22 October 1790 he was a member of the court that acquitted William Bligh of losing his ship HMS Bounty. On the outbreak of war with France in 1793 he went to sea again. In the War of the First Coalition, on 1 June 1794, in HMS Royal George (100), he was third in command to Admiral Lord Howe at the battle of the Glorious First of June. For his exploits in this battle he was elevated to the Irish peerage as Baron Bridport and received the large Naval Gold Medal and chain.
Henceforth Hood was practically in independent command. On 23 June 1795, with his flag in Royal George, he fought the inconclusive Battle of Groix against the French under Rear Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse off the Île de Groix and captured three ships. He was much criticized in the navy for his failure to win a more decisive victory. However the British public considered the battle a great victory and his peerage was made English and he was promoted to Vice-Admiral of Great Britain.
From 1795 until Hood's retirement in 1800, he was commander of the Channel Fleet. In 1796 and 1797 he directed the war from HMS London, rarely hoisting his flag afloat save at such critical times as that of the Irish expedition in 1797. He was about to put to sea when the Spithead fleet mutinied. He succeeded at first in pacifying the crew of his flagship, who had no personal grudge against their admiral, but a few days later the mutiny broke out afresh, and this time was uncontrollable. For a whole week the mutineers were supreme, and it was only by the greatest exertions of the old Lord Howe that order was then restored and the men returned to duty. After the mutiny had been suppressed, Hood took the fleet to sea as commander-in-chief in name as well as in fact, and from 1798 he personally directed the blockade of Brest, which grew stricter and stricter as time went on. In 1800 he was relieved by John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent.
In reward for Hood's fine record his peerage was made a viscounty. He spent the remaining years of his life in retirement and died on 2 May 1814. The viscountcy in the English peerage died with him; the Irish barony passed to the younger branch of his brother's family, for whom the viscountcy was re-created in 1868.
Hood's cousin once removed, also named Alexander Hood (1758–1798), was a captain in the Royal Navy, famous for a duel between his ship Mars and the French Hercule.
^ a b c d One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bridport, Alexander Hood, Viscount" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 560–561.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport.
This page was last edited on 24 March 2019, at 05:51 (UTC).
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The table below provides the rank of each State's reported rate of crime as compared to the 50 States and the District of Columbia. 1 = the highest reported crime rate and 51 = the lowest. Going from one year to the next a higher number means, that compared to other States, the relative crime rate is increasing and a lower number means that the relative level of crime is decreasing. The Index category represents the total number of crimes, and since most crimes involve property crime it is weighted towards these types of crime.
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Did you know that you can find 300,000 items in the typical American home? For the crafter, this can be like a horror movie as you look around your home and realize that your crafts are taking over! Many people are moving from craft closets to craft rooms due to their abundant supplies of crafts, which is why more and more are thinking of the best organization products. If you choose to organize your crafting materials, there are many pieces of furniture that can allow you to do so, such as a white cube organizer to store your crafts.
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↻ DuckTales: Solving Mysteries and Rewriting History! library ⇂ Kindle Ebook Author Rob Renzetti ∜ This original in world novel details Scrooge s epic adventures and was written by Scrooge himself, who may or may not be the most reliable narrator Good thing Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby are around to fact check his journal entries and infuse the truth into his tall tales This hilarious middle grade novel features everything from tips on mastering the Money Pit Dive to ways of keeping Scrooge s Lucky Number One Dime safe Includes 160 pages of hilarious journal entries, full color images, and a double sided poster that fans will simply love.Rob Renzetti is the creator of the Nickelodeon series My Life As a Teenage Robot He has worked as a producer, director, storyboard artist, and writer on shows such as Gravity Falls, My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, Dexter s Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Foster s Home for Imaginary Friends, and Family Guy Rob co wrote the 1 New York Times best selling Book Journal 3.Rachel Vine is a Los Angeles based film and TV writer who has worked on over a dozen animated series Her most recent writing credits include Rainbow Brite, Wander Over Yonder, DuckTales, Doc McStuffins, and My Little Pony Equestria Girls, among others. Niki Foley, a Philadelphia native and New York City transplant, has been working as a character designer and illustrator for animation and comics since 2006 Her credits include television shows such as Blaze and the Monster Machines, Word Girl, and Team Umizoomi Niki has also illustrated several Step Into Reading and Little Golden Books Currently, Niki works as a character designer and research artist for Blaze and the Monster Machines, and lives in Queens, NY, where she devotes her spare time to eating as much brunch as humanly possible. DuckTales Doodles Doodle Book Zack Giallongo is a teacher, podcaster, and cartoonist with several books under his belt including Star Wars Doodles, The Strike Back, Ewoks Shadows of Endor, the Stratford Zoo Midnight Revue series, original graphic novel, Broxo, which was New York Times bestseller He forages for food in sometimes quite brisk landscapes England List characters Wikipedia Main Scrooge McDuck voiced by Alan Young Movie, Remastered David Tennant series richest duck world, distinguished citizen Duckburg, Calisota, main protagonist originally created Carl Barks story Christmas on Bear Mountain DuckTales Characters TV Tropes Duckburg s world Once famous adventurer has seemingly retired, but arrival nephew Donald great nephews Huey, Dewey Louie resparked old ambitions Disney Wiki FANDOM powered Wikia Feature films February Black Panther released to universal acclaim March A Wrinkle Time negative reviews April Avengers Infinity War May Solo Story mixed June Fill print ad Fill Voiced Orlando Brown, seventh grader at X Middle School seriesHe member Safety Patrol His middle name revealed during Special episode, it kept secret throughout Rank Em Private Detective Shows Rediscover s like Miami Vice Hill Street Blues told stories police officers detectives line duty, private eyes seemed have much fun corralling criminals Disney Books Official Site Publishing Worldwide sumptuous, colorful, remarkable celebration Mary Poppins her many incarnations, colorful lavish showcase varied art creative Pitch ridiculous Scooby Doo crossover Page Apr , Fallout Vegas Mystery Gang are travelling group couriers mystery solvers, using combination luck, intellect, talking Cyberdog deal their problems as they search enigmatic Courier Platinum Chip Movies Discover Movies Series or movie portal where you can discover new movies Series create your watchlists best Nintendo Switch games Business Insider major hits Super Mario Legend Zelda franchises, some console an American animated television Scott M Gimple ABC and, later, Toon DisneyA parody popular dramas s, centered reformed juvenile delinquent, Cornelius partner, Ingrid Third, members SchoolThe aimed preteens, also skewed older audience its つ Good ◹ El último cliente (Inspectora Cristina Molen nº 1) to read online ⏄ Book By Jacinto Rey ⏹DuckTales Solving Mysteries Rewriting History Rob Renzetti, Rachel Vine, Niki Foley FREE shipping qualifying offers This novel details epic adventures written himself Robert Robert Germanic given name, from Proto Hr i fame berhta bright Compare Old Dutch Robrecht High German Hrodebert compound Hruod fame, glory berht It use surname After becoming widely used Continental Europe entered French form Robert, English cognate Jenny Wakeman XJ Teenage Robot Jennifer Jenny designation Robotic Global Response Unit heroine My Life She state robotic protector Earth, armed advanced weaponry devices disposal, wishes live life normal teenager El Poder de la Palabra epdlp El Power Word Economy Globe Mail debate drug halo status Dr Magee, Eileen Denovan Wright, Sara Whynot, moderated Atlantic Bureau Chief, Jessica LeederDec Halifax, NS Crew Little Pony Friendship Magic partial list crew, mainly artists divided into credited uncredited people People categorized earliest appearance latest credit sequence, listed only once who no longer Gravity Falls, Oregon Gravity Falls Oregon, mysterious, sleepy, small town eastern there supernatural occurrences founded Quentin Trembley, attempt cover up said be Nathaniel Northwest Stan Pines lives runs Shack My Western Animation Animated that premiered Nickelodeon later aired previously unaired episodes Nicktoons Network th show Renzetti adapted Oh Yeah Cartoons short Neighbour show, takes place Minutes creator As RobotHe worked producer, director, storyboard artist, writer shows such Magic, Dexter Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Foster Home Imaginary Friends, Family GuyRob co wrote selling Journal Trivia Joseph, were top most boys names US years, royal houses EuropeRobert kings, dukes, other rulers noblemen In Italy Second World War, Roberto, briefly acquired meaning derived from, referring Report Canada authoritative source breaking business news depth analysis Stay informed national markets, economic policy, policy DuckTales: Solving Mysteries and Rewriting History!
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People who refuse to vaccinate are now among the top 10 health threats the world faces in 2019.
The anti-vaxxer movement is said to be to blame for the numerous outbreaks of measles and other diseases that had previously been fought by herd immunisation and vaccines.
In the US, in particular, the number of people who choose not to vaccinate continues to climb.
All over the world, measles outbreaks are now a serious issue thanks to people who choose to not vaccinate their children, despite all expert evidence of them saving lives.
WHO refers to the threat as "vaccine hesitancy" and says it "threatens to reverse progress made in tackling vaccine-preventable diseases".
"Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways of avoiding disease - it currently prevents 2-3 million deaths a year, and a further 1.5 million could be avoided if global coverage of vaccinations improved," WHO says on its website.
According to WHO, about 21 million lives have been saved since 2000 thanks to the MMR vaccine, for example.
WHO says anti-vaxxers are directly to blame for measles outbreaks all over the globe. There has been a 30 per cent increase in cases globally, including in countries that were very close to eliminating the disease completely.
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A volcano is a vent or chimney which transfers molten rock (known as magma) from depth to the Earth's surface through eruptions. Magma erupting from a volcano is called lava. Lava builds up around the vent and forms a cone.
A volcano is currently active if it is erupting lava, releasing gas or generating seismic activity. An active volcano is labelled dormant if it has not erupted for a long time but could erupt again in the future. When a volcano has been dormant for more than 10 000 years, it is considered extinct. Volcanoes can remain inactive, or dormant, for hundreds or thousands of years before erupting again. During this time, they can become covered by vegetation, making them difficult to identify.
How explosive a volcanic eruption is depends on how easily magma can flow or trap gas. If magma is able to trap a large amount of gas, it can produce explosive eruptions.
Shield volcanoes have a broad, flattened dome-like shape created by layers of hot and runny lava flowing over its surface and cooling. When magma is very hot and runny, gases can escape easily. Eruptions of this type of magma are gentle, with large amounts of magma reaching the surface to form vast lava flows.
Because the lava flows easily, it can move down gradual slopes over great distances from the volcanic vents. The lava flows are slow enough for humans to outrun or outwalk them. This type of magma ranges in temperature between 800 °C and 1200 °C and is called basaltic magma.
Examples of shield volcanoes in the Asia-Pacific region include Taveuni Volcano in Fiji, Dunedin Volcano in New Zealand and Tweed Volcano in Australia.
Also known as strato-volcanoes, composite volcanoes are formed from explosive eruptions. These eruptions create steep sided cones.
When magma is slightly cooler it is viscous (thick and sticky), which makes it harder for gas bubbles to expand and escape. The magma in these eruptions has higher silica content than the magma that forms shield volcanoes. When there is high concentration of silica in lava, the silica molecules link together by sharing oxygen atoms. These bonds are very strong and make the liquid magma act more like a solid.
Examples of composite volcanoes in the Asia-Pacific region include Mayon and Pinatubo volcanoes in the Philippines, Tambora, Merapi and Sinabung volcanoes in Indonesia and Mount Ruapehu and Mount Taranaki in New Zealand.
These volcanos erupt so explosively that little material builds up near the vent. Eruptions partly or entirely empty the underlying magma chamber which leaves the region around the vent unsupported, causing it to sink or collapse under its own weight. The resulting basin-shaped depression is roughly circular and is usually several kilometres or more in diameter. The lava erupted from caldera volcanoes is very viscous and generally the coolest with temperatures ranging from 650 °C to 800 °C and is called rhyolitic magma. Although caldera volcanoes are rare, they are the most dangerous. Volcanic hazards from this type of eruption include widespread ash fall, large pyroclastic surges and tsunami from caldera collapse.
Examples of caldera volcanoes in the Asia-Pacific region include Rabaul Volcano in Papua New Guinea and Krakatoa Volcano in Indonesia.
Volcanic hazards include explosions, lava flows, bombs or ballistics, ash or tephra, pyroclastic flows, pyroclastic surges, mudflows or lahars, landslides, earthquakes, ground deformation, tsunami, air shocks, lightning, poisonous gas and glacial outburst flooding known as jökulhlaups. Each hazard has a different consequence, although not all occur in all eruptions or in association with all volcanoes.
Volcanic eruptions are measured using a simple descriptive index known as the Volcano Explosivity Index (VEI) which ranges from zero (non-explosive) to eight (catastrophically explosive). The index combines the amount of material ejected (by volume) with the height of the eruption column and the duration of the eruption.
Volcanic activity frequently occurs at the boundaries of the Earth's tectonic plates. The movement of these plates plays a significant role in the type of volcano formed, which influences its shape.
Areas of the Earth where plates move away from each other are called spreading or divergent plate margins. In these areas, volcanic eruptions are usually gentle extrusions of basaltic lava. Most of these eruptions occur underwater where magma rises from great depth below to fill the space created by seafloor spreading. This occurs at a rate of about 10 centimetres a year.
At subducting plate margins, one plate is pushed under a neighbouring plate as they squeeze together. In these margins, wet sediment and seawater is forced down in addition to the old, weathered plate. The addition of this sediment and seawater creates andesitic lava and more violent eruptions containing ash. These volcanoes form classic cone shapes.
from passive rising of melt from shallow depths that is not actually anomalously hot.
Sometimes volcanoes can be two types. Iceland is an example of a volcano that falls into two categories. It is a spreading plate margin volcano as well as a hotspot volcano.
Active volcanoes generally occur close to the major tectonic plate boundaries. They are rare in Australia because there are no plate boundaries on this continent. However, there are two active volcanoes located 4000 kilometres south west of Perth in the Australian Antarctic Territory: Heard Island and the nearby McDonald Islands.
The other active volcanoes nearest Australia are in Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Gas-rich sticky magmas dominate the Asia Pacific, making composite volcanoes and calderas the most common varieties in the region. These types of volcanoes severely threaten lives, property, agricultural lands and lifelines throughout south east Asia and the Australian region.
Evidence for volcanism throughout geological time can be found in every Australia state and territory, with extensive volcanism down the east coast during the past 60 million years. This volcanic activity can be divided into areas where large amounts of lava flowed from dykes and pipes over a wide area and others where volcanism was produced from either a single central vent or a cluster of vents.
It is thought that the central volcanoes were produced as the Australian continent moved over a hot spot in the underlying mantle which melted through the plate to form the volcano. As the continent moved northward, the stationary hot spot formed volcanoes further to the south on the continent. As a result, the rocks of central volcanoes down the east coast become younger as you move southward.
Understanding how volcanoes work and how their eruptions can be predicted is essential for the well-being and preservation of people who inhabit volcanically vulnerable areas. Eruptions can occur without any preceding signals, making them extremely difficult to predict. However, sometimes there are useful clues for judging when a volcano is likely to erupt.
A volcano's eruptive history can provide some clues. However, because only a small number of the world's volcanoes have a known history it is extremely difficult to predict future eruptions, particularly for certain types of volcanoes. Scientists use the repose period, or the time between eruptions, to indicate the expected size and strength of an eruption. Consistently long repose periods may indicate that a volcano's eruptions are usually large and explosive. However, sometimes there is no clear relationship in the length of time between eruptions and the nature of the eruptions.
Earthquake activity around a volcano can provide valuable information. An eruption can be preceded by hundreds of small earthquakes know as earthquake swarms. Earthquakes also can indicate that magma is moving beneath a volcano. However, eruptions can occur with no perceivable change in seismic activity.
Small changes in the shape of a volcano such as bulging may indicate that magma is rising. Accurately measuring the summit and slopes of a volcano is one of the most important tools used for forecasting an eruption. Temperature changes in surface lakes or the groundwater near a volcano also can be a valuable early detection tool, although not all large changes in temperature are related to volcanic eruptions.
Gases emitted at, or near a volcano may show that a magma chamber is refilling or that a new type of magma is rising from depth. Changes in the volume or type of volcanic gases produced also may be an indicator of magma activity.
Volcanic ash clouds can damage aircraft engines but ash is not visible by radar, the main navigation aid for aircraft. There are nine Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres around the world which use satellites to help track volcanic ash clouds and provide warnings for aircraft. The Bureau of Meteorology operates Australia's Ash Advisory Centre.
On average, one or two eruptions each year worldwide originate from volcanoes with no previous historical activity or after being dormant for thousands of years. The most violent eruptions occur after long periods of inactivity. Eruptions from these types of volcanoes represent some of the worst natural disasters.
The interior of many volcanoes stay hot for a long time. This heat can warm underground water in the vicinity of the volcano. The heated water then reaches the surface to form geysers, fumaroles, bubbling mud pools and hot springs. They also create occurrences of sulphur and other mineral deposits.
There is a volcanic province in southeast Australia called the Newer Volcanics Province, which is a collection of volcanoes (almost 400) covering a 15 000 square kilometre area. The most recent eruptions were around 5000 years ago at Mount Schank and Mount Gambier. The area is considered dormant, which means it is not currently active, but could become active at any time.
There are also active volcanoes located 4000 kilometres south west of Perth on the Australian territories of Heard Island and McDonald Islands. There have been several eruptions in recent years, however, these eruptions have not affected mainland Australia.
volcanic hazard and impact analysis.
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Multan (Urdu: ?) ( ), also known as city of saints, is a city of Punjab, Pakistan. It is Pakistans fifth largest city by population and has an area of 133 square kilometres (51 sq mi). The city is located on the banks of the Chenab River in the geographic center of the country.
Multan is known as the City of Sufis or City of Saints and Madinat-ul-Auliya because of the large number of shrines and Sufi saints from the city. The city is blanketed with bazaars, mosques, shrines, and ornate tombs. It is the birthplace of Fariduddin Ganjshakar (popularly known as "Baba Farid"), recognized as the first major poet of the Punjabi language. Multan is located in a bend created by five rivers of central Pakistan. The Sutlej River separates it from Bahawalpur and the Chenab River from Muzaffar Garh.One of the oldest Cities in the world dating back 6000 years, The city has grown to become an influential political and economical center for the country, with a dry port and excellent transport links. Multan is famous for its crops: wheat, cotton and sugar cane, mangoes, citrus, guavas, and pomegranates.
Multan is one of the oldest cities not only in the Asian subcontinent but also in the world dating back 6000 years when it was known as Maloha, a cultural and trade hub between Central Asia, South Asia and Persia. According to Hindu legends, it was the capital of the Trigarta Kingdom at the time of the Mahabharata war, ruled by the Katoch Dynasty. Multan has had various names over the years. According to Hindu mythology, it was originally called Kashtpur (Kashyapapura) after a Hindu sage named Kashyapa, which is also the Gotra used by the Katoch dynasty. Other names were Hanspur (Hamsapura), Bagpur (Vegapura), Sanb or Sanahpur (Sambapura). It has been postulated that the current name is derived from the Sanskrit name Mulasthana named after a Sun Temple. Multan has frequently been a site of conflict due to its location on a major invasion route between South Asia and Central Asia. It was conquered by Alexander the Great in 326 BC.
In the mid-5th century CE, the city was attacked by a group of Hephthalite nomads led by Toramana.
Multan was conquered along with Sindh by Muhammad bin Qasim, from the local ruler Chach of Alor circa 712 AD.Following bin Qasims conquest, the city was securely under Muslim rule, although it was in effect an independent state and most of the subjects were non-Muslim.
In 965 CE, Multan was conquered by Halam b. Shayban, an Ismaili dai. Soon after, Multan was attacked by Mahmud of Ghazni, destabilizing the Ismaili state. Mahmud of Ghazni invaded Multan in 1005 CE, conducting a series of campaigns during which the Ismailis of Multan were massacred. In an effort to gain his allegiance, the Fatimid Ismaili Imam-caliph al-Hakim dispatched an envoy to Mahmud two years later. This attempt appeared to be unsuccessful and the Ghaznawids continued to attack other Ismaili strongholds in Sindh to suppress any resurgence of the community in the region. In 1032CE Mahmuds very own vizier, Hasanak was executed for having accepted a cloak from the Imam-caliph on suspicions that he had become an adherent of the Ismaili faith. Mahmuds purges of the region led several scholars including Stern to believe that the Ghaznawid purges of the region drove out Ismailism from the area, however recently discovered letters dating to 1083 and 1088 demonstrate continued Ismaili activity in the region, as the Imam-caliph Mustansir dispatched new dais to replace those who were killed in the attacks.
Multans location at the entrance to the sub-continent resulted in it being invaded by a long series of conquerors on their way to Delhi. Timur, Babur and many others passed through the city, leaving much destruction in their wake. This violence continued as when Muhammad of Ghor attacked the city and drove out the remaining Ismailis whom he deemed to be heretics, in stark contrast to his predecessor, the Ghurid Sultan Ala al-Din who welcomed numerous envoys from the Ismaili state of Alamut and according to the historian Juzjani, gave them "great reverence" Following annexation to Mughal empire in 1557 CE, at the beginning of emperor Akbars rule; Multan enjoyed 200 years of peace, and became known as Dar al-Aman (Abode of Peace). Akbar was known as a wise ruler, setting reasonable taxes, creating effective government and being tolerant of religious differences.
Multan witnessed difficult times as Mughal rule declined in early 1700s, starting after death of emperor Aurangzeb in 1707. The last Naib Subahdars appointed by Farrukhsiyar at Multan were Khan Zaman Khan Ali Asghar ibn Kartalab Khan Bahadur Shahi Qazi Ghulam Mustafa and then Aqidat Khan ibn Ameer Khan. In 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani—who was born in Multan—rose to power. This counts as beginning of Durrani Empire. He captured Multan in 1752.
In 1758, the Marathas under Raghunathrao captured Multan along with Lahore, Attock, Peshawar and Kashmir.
The city was re-captured by Durrani in 1760. However, after death of Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1772, the influence of Durrani empire declined sharply in mere fifty years. Starting at late in 1700s, Multan was ruled locally by the Pashtun Sadozai and Khogyani aka Khakwani chieftains.
In 1817, Maharaja Ranjit Singh sent a body of troops to Multan under the command of Diwan Bhiwani Das to receive from Nawab Muzaffar Khan the tribute he owed to the Sikh Darbar. In 1818, Kharak Singh and Hindu Commander Diwan Misr Chand armies lay around Multan without making much initial headway. Maharaja Ranjit Singh sent a large cannon named Zamzama . Though in name Armies was commanded by Prince Kharak Singh however it was the military genius of Diwan Misr Chand which captured Multan Fort.
Muzzafar Khan urged the Majority Muslim population of Multan to fight a holy war against Sikhs and Hindus, however the tactics of Muzzafar Khan failed miserably as Sikh armies were able to suppress the religious revolt of Multan population. In the battle Diwan Misr Chand led Sikh armies to a decisive victory over Durrani General of Multan Nawab Muzaffar Khan. Muzzafar Khan and seven of his sons were killed before the Multan fort finally fell on 2 March 1818. The death of Durrani General Nawab Muzzafar Khan brought the death of Muslim rule in Multan. After the defeat of Muslims in 1818, Multan came under Muslims only when British Empire divided India into two Portion and gave Muslim majority areas to Muslims in 1947. Kharak Singh left Jodh Singh Ramgarhia with 600 men to guard the fort of Multan. The Sikhs thereafter ruled Punjab until 1849, when it was lost in the Second Anglo-Sikh War.. Sardar Karan Narains son was awarded the title Rai Bahadur and knighted by the British Raj for switching to their side. After the Anglo-Sikh Wars, Multan was made part of the British Raj. The British built some rail routes to the city, but its industrial capacity was never developed. Muhammad Basher Ahmed Amretsri was revolted many time against British Government and died there.Choudy Ayzed Habib Arain and choudry Israr are the grandson of him. The predominantly Muslim population supported Muslim League and Pakistan Movement. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the minority Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India while the Muslim refugees from India settled in Multan. It initially lacked industry, hospitals and universities. Since then, there has been some industrial growth, and the citys population is continually growing. But the old city continues to be in a dilapidated state, and many monuments wear the effects of the warfare that has visited the city.
The city of Multan is located in Punjab. The nearest major cities are Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur. The area around the city is a flat, alluvial plain and is ideal for agriculture, with many citrus and mango farms. There are many canals that cut across the Multan District, providing water from nearby farms. This makes the land very fertile. However land close to the Chenab River is usually flooded in the monsoon season.
Multan features an arid climate (Koppen climate classification BWh) with very hot summers and mild winters. The city witnesses some of the most extreme weather in the country. The highest recorded temperature is approximately 54 °C (129 °F), and the lowest recorded temperature is approximately ?1 °C (30 °F). The average rainfall is roughly 186 millimetres (7.3 in). Dust storms are a common occurrence within the city.
Multan is a commercial and industrial centre, as it is connected with the rest of the country through rail and air including the other industrial hubs such as Lahore, Karachi, Gujranwala, Quetta and Faisalabad. Industries include fertilizer, cosmetics, glass manufacturing, cotton production and processing, large textile units, flour mills, sugar and oil mills and large-scale power generation projects. It is famous for its handicrafts (carpets and ceramics) and cottage industries. Roughly 1,900 acres (7.7 km2) of the city is forested. Trees grown in the area are Kikar, Shisham and mulberry.
There is a saying in Persian that Multan is the City of Saints, Sufis and Beggars (Gard, Garma, Gada o Goristan). It is one of the main cities in the southern Punjab province of Pakistan. The city has been a focal point for many religions, in particular becoming a central abode for Sufism, the mystical side of Islam. It has attracted Sufi saints from far places of the globe. Today, Multan is known as the City of Sufis. Multan is one of the oldest cities in South Asia, with many tombs, shrines, temples, cathedrals and mausoleums, as well as a historical fort. Multan is now a combination of old and the new Pakistan culture.
There is a big hustle bustle in the old city and comforts of a five-star hotel and fine dining. The old city has bazaars selling mystical artifacts, perfumes, arts, and crafts. There are elaborately decorated shrines of the Sufi saints, tombs of travelers and important people in the old city of Multan.
The prime attractions of Multan are its mausoleums of Sufi saints. The Mausoleum of Sheikh Baha-ud-Din Zakariya, as well as the Mausoleum of Shah Rukn-e-Alam are the prime attractions. Their lofty domes oare visible from miles and dominate the skyline. Another popular shrine is the Mausoleum of Shams-ud-Din, commonly known as Shah Shamsuddin Sabzwari, located about half a mile to the east of the Multan Fort, on the high bank of the old bed of the Ravi River.
Another famous mausoleum of a warrior Sufi saint and poet Hazrat Hafiz Muhammad Jamal Multani (1747–1811 AD) is near Aam Khas garden outside Daulat Gate.
There are other mausoleums in the city that gather a great deal of attention. The Nuagaza tombs are shrines to martyrs and warriors who fought in wars centuries ago, some dating back 1,300 years. The Multan Museum has a vast collection of coins, medals, postage stamps of the former State of Bahawalpur, manuscripts, documented inscriptions, wood carvings, camel-skin paintings, historical models and stone carvings of the Islamic and pre-Islamic periods.
Multan old mosques that were once considered as the jewels of the city. Some have been dated to over 1,000 years ago and have been recognized as some of the oldest mosques in southeast Asia. The legend goes that the first mosque ever built in Multan was the Jamia Mosque which was constructed on the orders of General Mohammed Qasim, who conquered Multan in 712A D. Ruins of this mosque were visible till 1954 at Qasim Bella; however, due to repeated floods, the structure was lost. Sawi Mosque is supposed to be the oldest mosque which exists today, though in deteriorating state; there are glazed blue tiles from the era when it was built that dates the mosque to several centuries ago. The second oldest mosque in Multan is Mohammad Khan Wali Mosque. It is an excellent condition, in the busiest Chowck Bazar. It was built by Nawab Ali Mohammad Khan Khakwani in 1757 when he was the governor of Multan in the time of Alamgir II. The mosque is provided with a reservoir for ablutions, baths, and a large hall for prayers.
Multan has traditionally been a melting pot of distinct ethnic groups due to its location at the intersection of all four of Pakistans main provinces and due to its historical significance as a centre of learning and culture. As a result, Multan consists of Punjabi, Baloch, Pashtun, Sindhi, Haryanvi and Urdu speaking people.
Multan is home of the Faysal Bank T20 Cup team: Multan Tigers. The city government inaugurated the new Multan Cricket Stadium, replacing Ibn-e-Qasim Bagh Stadium which was the lone one used for football and cricket matches. The inauguration of the new stadium has allowed the city to offer Test day/night matches as well as other national sports such as hockey, badminton and football. The stadium is home to the Multan Cricket Association. Other sports grounds include Divisional Sports Ground and the Pakistan Cricket Board owned Government College Cricket Ground.
Multan is full of bazaars, mosques, shrines and plenty of places to have food. Restaurants serve array of cuisines including Pakistani, continental, fast, Arabic, BBQ and Chinese foods. Restaurants in Multan range from multinational chains like KFC, Subway, Pizza Hut, Hardees, and Burger King to local places like Shahjahan Grill, Bundu Khan, MUX Lounge, and Restaurant Zanzibar. Some famous cuisines of the city are the Multani mutton chops and a special dessert named "Sohan halwa".
Two special sweet rotis, very common and famous among Multani families, are doli roti and busri.
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Show two coins and a broken rubber band.
The coins are an American penny and a dime that have small holes pierced through them.
Thread the penny and dime on the rubber band and have a spectator hold the two ends of the band so the coins are trapped in the center.
You then pull on the coins and let them snap back so they spin and bounce on the band. When they stop spinning only the penny is on the rubber band and the dime is found in your hand.
It was seemingly plucked off the rubber band in a magical and impossible manner.
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Let's take a look at the level of service you provide as a business.
* 1. My company tests and measures everything to ensure customer satisfaction?
* 2. We survey our clients regularly to determine how we can better serve them?
* 3. We analyse our mistakes as both a company and as individuals and learn from them?
* 4. We strive for excellence plus one percent?
* 5. We believe that servicing the client is as important or even more important than making the sale?
* 6. We choose our clients to fit our way of doing business?
* 7. We are certain of the needs of our clients and base our company on those needs?
* 8. Our direction and people can change instantly to meet our customers needs?
* 9. I would gladly give up or postpone a sale to meet my customer service agenda?
* 10. Our company continuously under promises and over delivers?
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Advantages of Tankless Water Heaters There are lots of reasons which can lead to anyone looking for a water heater, all you need to establish is that you find the best or one which can work in your favour, to ascertain this, there is a lot that you have to do, you need to know the various types of heaters, furthermore, you have to know of all that will ensure you do end up knowing everything there is to know about every type of water heater. You will find that some of the types include conventional tanks, with these, you will find that water is always heated, meaning that at no given time will you lack to find water which you can use, more so, you are assured that it can be something which would work in your favour if you do require to have heated water at all times, thus saving on time. Furthermore, there are the hybrid water heaters, with these, they do not store heated water like the conventional tanks, however, they ascertain that you can attain hot water at all times by running the water via electrical heating elements, all this will ascertain that you can save on energy since unlike conventional tanks which are always running, this runs and heats water only when you need it, thus being able to ascertain that you will have heated water when you need it.
Another type which most can consider as the best is the tankless water heater, with this, as the name proposes, you do not need to have a tank, therefore, you are assured that you can end up knowing of all that will work in your favour, furthermore, you will be able to save on space if you are in a congested area.
Another advantage of using the tankless water heater is that you do end up saving on electricity, this will mean that you can reallocate these funds to serve other bills, furthermore, you are assured that you can end up knowing of everything which would ascertain that you will be assuaged and that the tank will be able to fulfil the needs you have, meaning that, you can have water at all times. By conducting all this, you will discover that an assessment is wise, you will get to know of the available types of water heaters and also know of the one who can end up working in your favour, apart from this, you are assured that you can attain all the data that you might be looking for, meaning that, you can save money, time and also attain a quality product in the process.
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The Gattilusi (singular Gattilusio) were a powerful Genoese family who controlled a number of possessions in the northern Aegean from 1355 until the mid 15th century. Anthony Luttrell has pointed out that this family had developed close connections to the Byzantine ruling house of the Palaiologos—"four successive generations of Gattilusio married into the Palaiologos family, two to emperors' daughters, one to an emperor, and one to a despot who later became an emperor"—which could explain their repeated involvement in Byzantine affairs.
The Gattilusi family was founded by two brothers, Francesco and Niccolò Gattilusi, who were the nephew of Oberto Gattilusi. The name of their father is not known, although based on the heraldic evidence of their inscriptions, Anthony Luttrell argues that their mother was a member of the Doria family. Francesco gained the favor of Byzantine Emperor John V Palaiologos by helping him oust a rival to the throne, John VI Kantakouzenos, in 1354. As reward, Gattilusio was given lordship of the island of Lesbos (and its stronghold, Mytilene) from July 1355, as well as the hand in marriage of the emperor's sister, Maria. The Gattilusi possessions grew to include, among others, the islands of Imbros, Samothrace, Lemnos and Thasos, and the mainland city of Aenos (modern Enez in Turkey). From this position, they were heavily involved in the mining and marketing of alum, useful in textile production and a profitable trade controlled by the Genoese.
After the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Gattilusi briefly retained control of their possessions under Ottoman suzerainty, but were forced out within a few years. In 1456, the Ottomans appointed a native Greek historian, Michael Critobulus, as governor of Imbros, and likewise removed the Gattilusi from power in the remainder of their possessions, with the exception of Lesbos, which they were permitted to retain in return for an annual payment of 4,000 gold pieces. The lord of Lesbos, Domenico Gattilusio, was strangled and briefly succeeded by his brother Niccolò, before an Ottoman fleet captured the island in September 1462, sending Niccolò as prisoner to Constantinople (where he was later executed) and putting an end to the family's power.
Kenneth M. Setton (1976). The Papacy and the Levant, 1204-1571: Volume I, The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. American Philosophical Society. ISBN 0-87169-114-0.
Kenneth M. Setton (1978). The Papacy and the Levant, 1204-1571: Volume II, The Fifteenth Century. American Philosophical Society. ISBN 0-87169-127-2.
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Is it better to use a weed barrier in a garden bed, or mulch to keep down weeds?
Fabric Weed Barrier Or Mulch?
Is it better to use a weed barrier in a flower bed, or mulch to keep down weeds? We live in southeastern Nebraska.
There is no definite answer to this. I personally don't like the fabric weed barrier as weed control in flower beds for various reasons. I know though that for many people it might be the best solution.
Spreading plants like ground cover e.g. Geraniums, Campanula, Aubretia or Ajugas are restricted in their growth. They just can't do their thing and keep spreading along the ground.
The soil tends to get hard underneath the weed fabric.
Feeding plants is difficult. You have to lift the fabric to do that.
Moving or transplanting is difficult.
If not watched carefully plants can get choked as they grow. You have to keep cutting the fabric to prevent that.
Needs to be covered with stones, pebbeles or bark mulch.
It is difficult to keep the fabric covered on slopes. The stones or mulch slides down and exposes the fabric. Bigger, crushed or broken stones (not round pebbeles!) are better for covering on slopes.
Watering on slopes with the weed fabric is nearly impossible.
Hardly any weed growth in the beginning. Although with the years you get some growth because of decaying plant debris on the fabric.
Soil does not dry out as quickly. Moisture is preserved in the ground.
An organic mulch like bark is always the more natural way to prevent weeds. Remember that in nature soil is never uncovered. You either have plant growth or a cover of organic matter like leaves. The soil is never bare and if it is it is never for long! Weeds will start to grow very quickly on bare soil.
My recommendation would be to use an organic mulch for a flower bed. Have the bed weed free and cover it with bark mulch about 4 inches deep. Top up the bark once a year. You will have a very fertile soil, few weeds and happy plants. Moisture is also well conserved in the ground and because of the decaying organic matter your soil will improve over time.
An alternative to that would be to use a biodegradable paper mulch sheet. This will break down after a season. You can lightly cover it with bark mulch for the looks. This will reduce the amount of bark you will need for covering the soil. The following season the plants should be doing the task of covering the ground and keeping the weeds down. You can top up the mulch if needed.
If you plan to grow mainly shrubs and are not really a keen gardener use the weed barrier cloth. Make sure that the bed is well raked and smooth. Cover it with the weed barrier and peg it down. Cut a cross into the fabric where you want to plant. This way you can fold it back around the base of the plant after planting. It also makes it easy to give the plant more room by cutting more of the fabric later on.
Yeah, I do agree with the point author has shared about the usage of weed barriers. The main issue that I have noticed is that it always tend to choke the growth of the plant and it is a hard part to feed the plants.
I have a tenant who just laid down a roll of tyvek on a 16 by 15 foot area, then covered the tyvek with much. I had recently removed a concrete patio from this area per city codes as I was over the impervious surface ratio for my property. He dcid not ask my permission to do this and when i told him that the tyvek defeats the purpose of removing the concrete, he lied & said he had put holes in it every 6 inches so the water would drain into the ground below. What do you think the tyvek & mulch will do to this area?
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The achilles tendon is the largest tendon in the body. It connects the muscles in the back of the lower leg to the heel bone (the calcaneus) and must withstand large forces during sporting exercises and pivoting. There are two main types of injuries that affect the achilles tendon: 1) overuse and inflammation, called achilles tendonitis, and 2) a tear of the tendon.
Achilles tendonitis often occurs when an individual rapidly increases the intensity of training or starts new types of training when the body is not fully conditioned. The patient may experience mild pain after exercise that gradually worsens. Mild swelling, morning tenderness, and stiffness may also occur, but may improve with use. Severe episodes of pain along the length of the tendon several hours after exercise may also be experienced.
Because other symptoms may be present, it is best to see a doctor for full evaluation of an achilles injury. Treatment depends on severity and typically involves rest and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) to relieve pain and inflammation. A brace may be needed to relieve the stress on the tendon and to support the ankle, and bandages may be applied to restrict joint movement.
Surgery is sometimes an option to repair any tears and remove any inflamed or fibrous tissues. Recovery generally includes rehabilitation to avoid future weakness in the ankle.
The achilles tendon may tear if it is overstretched, usually while playing sports. The tear may be partial or complete and most commonly occurs just above the heel bone. A snap or crack sound may be heard at the time of injury. Pain and swelling near the heel and an inability to bend the foot downward or walk normally are signs that the tendon may be ruptured.
Surgery is typically needed for a complete rupture. After surgery, the ankle will be kept stable in a cast or walking boot for up to 12 weeks. A torn ligament may also be managed non-surgically with a below-knee cast, which allows the ends of the torn tendon to heal on their own. This nonsurgical approach may take longer to heal, and there is a higher chance that the tendon could re-rupture. Surgery offers a better chance of full recovery and is often the treatment of choice for active people who wish to resume sports.
Ligaments are tough, non-stretchable fibers that hold bones together. A tear to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) of your knee joint is among the most common sport-related injuries. The ACL connects the thighbone to the shinbone and prevents the thighbone from moving too far forward over the knee joint. This ligament also helps stabilize the shinbone from rotating out of the knee joint.
The ACL can tear when it’s stretched beyond its normal range. This typically happens by sudden twisting movements, slowing down from running, or landing from a jump. The patient may hear a popping sound at the time of injury and the knee may give way and begin to swell and hurt.
Because the ACL is not capable of healing itself (ligaments, unlike muscles, do not have their own blood supply), it can only be reconstructed surgically — it cannot simply be repaired. Less active people may choose to treat a torn ligament non-surgically with a rehabilitation program focusing on muscle strengthening and lifestyle changes. Surgical reconstruction, however, helps many people recover full function after an ACL tear.
After ACL reconstruction, performing rehabilitative exercises may gradually return full flexibility and stability to the knee. Building strength in the thigh and calf muscles to support the reconstructed knee is a primary goal of rehabilitation. The patient may need to use a knee brace for a short time, and it is important not to return to full activity too soon to prevent re-injury.
A bursa is a fluid-filled space that acts as a cushion between tendons, bone, and skin and helps joints move with ease. There are over 150 bursae in your body, and several are found around the outer area of the hip, near the portion of the thighbone called the greater trochanter. Bursitis occurs when a bursa becomes inflamed, and when the bursae around the hip joint are inflamed it is common to feel pain in the hip.
Inflammation of a bursa is caused by repetitive-use injuries, prolonged pressure, lumbar spine diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, or infection. It can affect anyone at any age, but is most common in women and the middle-aged. The main symptom is aching pain over the part of the outer hip. The pain worsens with movement or pressure and may travel down the outside of the thigh toward the knee. Pain caused by pressure at night can make sleeping very difficult.
Your doctor will be able to diagnose bursitis after physically examining the specific area causing pain and tenderness. An X-ray may be taken to rule out other causes.
Initial treatment of bursitis involves resting, immobilizing the area, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) to reduce inflammation and relieve pain. Exercise and physical therapy, especially for the hip and lower back, can be helpful to strengthen the surrounding muscles and help prevent further episodes. If these measures don’t relieve the pain, a doctor may recommend an injection of corticosteroids around the bursa, which usually brings rapid pain relief. Surgery to remove the damaged bursa may be an option in severe cases.
The lower back is made up of five lumbar bones (vertebrae), all of which are separated by spinal discs composed of a gel-like substance and covered with cartilage. These discs act as shock absorbers and help your entire spinal column move. The vertebrae themselves can be felt when you touch your back, and all the muscles that stabilize the spine attach to these bony points. The spinal canal, which holds the spinal cord and the nerves that branch off, runs the length of the spinal column. Because the lower back supports the majority of the body’s weight, it is very common to experience pain that comes from the muscles, the nerves, or the spine itself.
Strains and sprains can occur for many reasons, and may not be caused by any single event. Using improper lifting techniques, being overweight, and having poor posture can cause enough strain on the structures of the lower back to cause injury. Individuals are particularly at risk if they have a job that requires heavy lifting, they don’t exercise, or if they have a history of osteoporosis or arthritis.
Most people find that low back pain improves with simple, at-home measures that include rest and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) or acetaminophen to relieve pain. Sometimes, stronger muscle relaxants and narcotics are used for a short period. Prolonged bed rest (longer than two or three days) is not recommended and may actually worsen the problem.
It is important to gradually resume activity after the first couple of days of rest. Other methods of care include applying heat or cold packs, massage therapy, ultrasound, electrical stimulation, and traction and reduction (physically maneuvering the bones). Injection with local anesthetics or corticosteroids is also an option for short-term pain relief. With all causes of low back pain, one of the most important ways to improve the condition is through strengthening and conditioning.
Surgery for low back pain is an option when nonsurgical options have been unsuccessful. The most commonly performed back operation is spinal fusion, which limits movement of the most painful part of the back. Surgery is considered successful when pain is reduced; however, recovery can take longer than a year. Furthermore, it is rare for people to have complete recovery from pain. Surgery is not the right answer for everyone, and a doctor can best discuss the benefits and limitations of surgery for with patients.
In part due to the “C” shape of the meniscus, tears occur in a number of different locations. Flap, transverse, torn horn, and bucket handle rank among the most common tears.
In order to diagnose you properly, your doctor will consider your symptoms, ask you about your activity leading up to the injury, and examine your knee carefully. Because meniscus injuries can also be accompanied by injuries to the other soft tissue in the knee, your doctor will want to look at the big picture. In addition to examining your knee in specific positions and manipulating its movement, your doctor will likely want you to have X-rays (to check for fractures) or an MRI.
Just about everyone experiences muscle cramps in their lifetime. They often occur when you’re exercising, although they can happen while sitting or sleeping, as well. They are very common in endurance athletes and other people who perform strenuous activities. Athletes most often experience muscle cramps in the preseason of their sport, when their bodies are not yet conditioned. The most commonly affected muscles are the calf, the hamstring, and quadriceps.
Regular flexibility exercises can also help prevent cramps from starting. Flexibility exercises are best done before and after you work out to stretch muscle groups that are prone to cramping.
You may experience dull, aching pain around the front of the kneecap where it connects to the lower end of the thighbone. The pain may worsen when going up or down stairs, squatting, or kneeling.
Treatment of patellofemoral pain depends on the underlying cause. The most important way to improve your condition is rest and rehabilitation. In some cases, surgery can correct the underlying condition and improve support to the knee. Arthroscopy can be performed to remove small fragments of kneecap cartilage. Realigning the kneecap is also an alternative, done by opening the knee and reducing the abnormal pressures on the cartilage.
The term shin splints refers to the pain that develops along the inside of your shin (the tibia bone). Also known as medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS), it commonly affects runners, aerobic dancers, and people in military boot camp because it is an exercise-related overuse injury. In such injuries, your repeated movements during exercise cause muscle fatigue. This fatigue leads to additional forces applied to the tissue (called the fascia) that attaches muscles to the bone. The muscles that attach to the tibia, which include the soleus muscle (ankle flexor) and the flexor digitorum longus (toe flexors), are what actually hurt during MTSS. Injury to the bone itself does not cause pain.
Stress fractures are tiny cracks in a bone caused by the overuse and the repetition of movements during exercise. When your muscles are fatigued, they become unable to absorb additional shock during exercise and transfer the overload of stress to the bone. This constant process causes tiny “micro cracks” in the bone.
Stress fractures are most common in the weight-bearing bones of the lower legs. They result from increasing the amount and intensity of activity or from an impact on unfamiliar surfaces. For example, a tennis player who changes from a soft to hard court may experience a stress fracture. Athletes participating in tennis, basketball, track and field, and gymnastics are most susceptible to stress fractures, especially if they are not resting enough between training sessions.
The most common signs and symptoms include swelling and pain that decreases with rest and increases with activity. Also, there may be a spot that feels tender or painful when pressure is applied. A stress fracture is sometimes mistaken for a shin splint. However, stress fractures are more serious.
The most important factor in managing your pain and healing the fracture is rest, which may be needed for 4 to 12 weeks. You may also have to modify other daily activities during these weeks. The next step, rehabilitation, includes a program of muscle strengthening and generalized conditioning. If pain persists, careful use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) may be helpful. However, these medications may limit bone repair and therefore should be used cautiously. In most cases, stress fractures can be managed with these conservative measures. However, more severe fractures may require surgery to fix and prevent further injury to the bone, as well as to ensure proper healing. Recovery from this kind of surgery is approximately six months.
The rotator cuff is a combination of muscles and tendons at the top of the upper arm that helps stabilize the shoulder joint and move the arm (both lift and rotation). The “cuff” of muscles attaches to the scapula (shoulder blade) with a tendon connected to the front and side of the humerus bone (upper arm). This network of muscles and tendons gives the shoulder more mobility than any other joint in the body.
In order to diagnose you properly, your doctor will consider your symptoms and examine your shoulder and neck to ensure that your pain isn’t caused by a pinched nerve, arthritis, or another condition. You will be asked to perform a few simple movements so that your doctor can measure your range of motion. Your doctor may also require you to have X-rays, an MRI, or an ultrasound.
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0.99523 |
As the CEO of a location data and developer tools startup, you might expect me to tell you that these changes are bad.
Instead, I'm here to tell you that these changes are unequivocally good for end users, and while they're bad for many apps and companies in the space, they're also good for "good actor" apps and companies in the space. Allow me to explain.
iOS 11 changes system indicators and permission prompts related to background location.
On iOS 11, the system displays a blue double-height status bar (the "blue bar") when an app uses the standard location service in the background. Previously, the system displayed only a solid arrow in the status bar.
Update: In an unusual reversal, Apple added a showsBackgroundLocationIndicator property to CLLocationManager in iOS 11 beta 5 that determines whether the blue bar is displayed. This property is NO by default.
The standard location service is most commonly used in the background by navigation or fitness apps, but is also used in the background by apps like Moves and Foursquare. This change will likely force apps like Moves and Foursquare to stop using the standard location service in the background, lest users revoke permissions or uninstall these apps entirely.
However, the system will NOT display the blue bar for low-power location services like the region monitoring service (geofences and beacons), the visits service, and the significant location change service. Instead, the system will display a hollow arrow in the status bar when these services request a location, and temporarily display a solid arrow in the status bar when these services receive a location. Apple is encouraging developers to use these services, not to "beat the system" with their own solutions using the standard location service.
In addition to changing system indicators related to background location, iOS 11 also changes permission prompts.
iOS offers two types of location permissions, "always" (background) permissions and "when in use" (foreground) permissions. On iOS 11, apps that request "always" location permissions must also give users the option to select "when in use" location permissions. Previously, apps like Uber could request only "always" permissions, with no option for "when in use" permissions. Apple is encouraging developers to make a compelling case for background location access, lest users only grant foreground access.
You can learn more about these changes in this WWDC video.
Whereas iOS 11 changes system indicators and permission prompts, Android O adds new background execution limits that throttle the delivery of background location updates.
On Android O, apps using the fused location provider (the Android equivalent of the iOS standard location service) only receive background location updates a few times per hour. In addition, apps can only perform background wi-fi and Bluetooth scans a few times per hour. Previously, there were no restrictions other than Doze Mode and App Standby.
Like on iOS 11, low-power background services like geofencing are mostly NOT affected. Apps can still receive geofencing events every few minutes. Again, Google is encouraging developers to use these services, not to "beat the system" with their own solutions.
You can learn more about these changes in this Google I/O video.
These changes are unequivocally good for end users, and while they're bad for many apps and companies in the space, they're also good for "good actor" apps and companies in the space.
With these changes, end users will get more transparency, more flexibility, and better battery life.
What will developers get? They'll still get to build great product experiences powered by background location, provided that they follow the rules.
However, only "good actor" apps that deliver real value to the end user apps will get background location permissions. "Bad actor" apps that do not deliver value to the end user, or that attempt to "beat the system," will not.
When only "good actor" apps get background location permissions, end user trust will increase. And as trust increases, more end users will be willing to grant background location permissions, ushering in a new wave of product experiences powered by background location.
At Radar, part of our mission has always been to help companies build better products and services with location. In the location data space, delivering value to the end user is the winning strategy.
Need to support iOS 11 or Android O? Radar has you covered.
Version 1.2 of the Radar SDK improves battery efficiency, avoids the blue bar on iOS 11, and avoids background execution limits on Android O. Upgrading requires no code changes and should only take a few minutes.
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0.997418 |
A thermodynamic system is a group of contents (material and/or radiative). Its properties may be described by thermodynamic state variables such as temperature, entropy, internal energy, and pressure.
The simplest state of a thermodynamic system is a state of thermodynamic equilibrium, as opposed to a non-equilibrium state.
where is a relaxation time of a corresponding variables. It is convenient to consider the initial value are equal to zero.
The first term on the right hand side of the equation presents a stream of thermal energy into the system; the last term -- a stream of energy into the system coming with the stream of particles of substances that can be positive or negative, is chemical potential of substance . The middle term in (1) depicts energy dissipation (entropy production) due to the relaxation of internal variables . In the case of chemically reacting substances, which was investigated by Prigogine, the internal variables appear to be measures of incompleteness of chemical reactions, that is measures of how much the considered system with chemical reactions is out of equilibrium. The theory can be generalized, to consider any deviation from the equilibrium state as an internal variable, so that we consider the set of internal variables in equation (1) to consist of the quantities defining not only degrees of completeness of all chemical reactions occurring in the system, but also the structure of the system, gradients of temperature, difference of concentrations of substances and so on.
↑ Bailyn, M. (1994). A Survey of Thermodynamics, American Institute of Physics Press, New York, ISBN 0-88318-797-3, p. 20.
↑ Tisza, L. (1966). Generalized Thermodynamics, M.I.T Press, Cambridge MA, p. 119.
↑ Bailyn, M. (1994). A Survey of Thermodynamics, American Institute of Physics Press, New York, ISBN 0-88318-797-3, p. 22.
↑ Eu, B.C. (2002). Generalized Thermodynamics. The Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes and Generalized Hydrodynamics, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, ISBN 1-4020-0788-4.
↑ Tisza, L. (1966), pp. 109, 112.
↑ Callen, H.B. (1960/1985), pp. 15, 17.
↑ Tschoegl, N.W. (2000), p. 5.
↑ Prigogine, I., Defay, R. (1950/1954). Chemical Thermodynamics, Longmans, Green & Co, London, p. 66.
↑ Tisza, L. (1966). Generalized Thermodynamics, M.I.T Press, Cambridge MA, pp. 112–113.
↑ Guggenheim, E.A. (1949/1967). Thermodynamics. An Advanced Treatment for Chemists and Physicists, (1st edition 1949) 5th edition 1967, North-Holland, Amsterdam, p. 14.
↑ Münster, A. (1970). Classical Thermodynamics, translated by E.S. Halberstadt, Wiley–Interscience, London, pp. 6–7.
↑ Haase, R. (1971). Survey of Fundamental Laws, chapter 1 of Thermodynamics, pages 1–97 of volume 1, ed. W. Jost, of Physical Chemistry. An Advanced Treatise, ed. H. Eyring, D. Henderson, W. Jost, Academic Press, New York, lcn 73–117081, p. 3.
↑ Tschoegl, N.W. (2000). Fundamentals of Equilibrium and Steady-State Thermodynamics, Elsevier, Amsterdam, ISBN 0-444-50426-5, p. 5.
↑ Silbey, R.J., Alberty, R.A., Bawendi, M.G. (1955/2005). Physical Chemistry, fourth edition, Wiley, Hoboken NJ, p. 4.
↑ Callen, H.B. (1960/1985). Thermodynamics and an Introduction to Thermostatistics, (1st edition 1960) 2nd edition 1985, Wiley, New York, ISBN 0-471-86256-8, p. 17.
↑ ter Haar, D., Wergeland, H. (1966). Elements of Thermodynamics, Addison-Wesley Publishing, Reading MA, p. 43.
↑ I.M.Kolesnikov; V.A.Vinokurov; S.I.Kolesnikov (2001). Thermodynamics of Spontaneous and Non-Spontaneous Processes. Nova science Publishers. p. 136. ISBN 978-1-56072-904-4.
↑ "A System and Its Surroundings". ChemWiki. University of California - Davis. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
↑ "Hyperphysics". The Department of Physics and Astronomy of Georgia State University. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
↑ Bryan Sanctuary. "Open, Closed and Isolated Systems in Physical Chemistry". Foundations of Quantum Mechanics and Physical Chemistry. McGill University (Montreal). Retrieved 9 May 2012.
↑ Material and Energy Balances for Engineers and Environmentalists (PDF). Imperial College Press. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 August 2009. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
↑ Bailyn, M. (1994). A Survey of Thermodynamics, American Institute of Physics Press, New York, ISBN 0-88318-797-3, pp. 19–23.
↑ Prigogine, I. (1955/1961/1967). Introduction to Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes. 3rd edition, Wiley Interscience, New York.
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0.966685 |
A growing number of studies seek to identify predictors of broad-scale patterns in human cultural diversity, but three sources of non-independence in human cultural variables can bias the results of cross-cultural studies. First, related cultures tend to have many traits in common, regardless of whether those traits are functionally linked. Second, societies in geographical proximity will share many aspects of culture, environment and demography. Third, many cultural traits covary, leading to spurious relationships between traits. Here, we demonstrate tractable methods for dealing with all three sources of bias. We use cross-cultural analyses of proposed associations between human cultural traits and parasite load to illustrate the potential problems of failing to correct for these three forms of statistical non-independence. Associations between parasite stress and sociosexuality, authoritarianism, democracy and language diversity are weak or absent once relatedness and proximity are taken into account, and parasite load has no more power to explain variation in traditionalism, religiosity and collectivism than other measures of biodiversity, climate or population size do. Without correction for statistical non-independence and covariation in cross-cultural analyses, we risk misinterpreting associations between culture and environment.
The search for meaningful predictors of variation in human cultural traits and the diversity of human societies has a long history [1,2]. Modern analyses of broad-scale cultural diversity use an array of statistical analyses to extract patterns from global data, such as the effect of primary productivity on hunter–gatherer populations , the interaction between agricultural practises and religious beliefs and the influence of rivers on language diversity . However, many such analyses fail to account for one or more sources of statistical non-independence inherent in large observational datasets, which can lead to spurious relationships between traits and environments. Non-independence violates fundamental statistical assumptions and can lead to inflated degrees of freedom, incorrect parameter estimates, and the false impression of direct, causal relationships between variables that are only indirectly or incidentally linked. We can consider the problems of statistical non-independence in cross-cultural studies in three broad categories: phylogenetic non-independence, spatial autocorrelation and covariation among variables.
Human populations are related by descent, so closely related societies share many cultural traits that they have inherited from their shared ancestors. Societies that share a more recent common ancestor are likely to be more similar in many aspects of culture, including religious beliefs, material culture and social norms, than they are to more distantly related societies [6–8].
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0.999688 |
(CNN) - A Colorado judge sentenced Chris Watts on Monday to three consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole in the killings of his pregnant wife and two young daughters.
Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke is describing how Chris Watts killed his wife and two daughters at the sentencing hearing for the Colorado man charged with first-degree murder in their deaths.
Family members of Shanann Watts are giving powerful victim impact statements to open the sentencing hearing for Chris Watts.
Watts, 33, pleaded guilty this month to first-degree murder and other charges in the deaths of his wife, 34-year-old Shanann, and their daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3.
He listened to emotional statements Monday from Shanann Watts' mother, father and brother with his head down, not making eye contact with anyone who spoke.
Watts will also have an opportunity to make a statement at today's hearing, though it's unclear if he will do so.
A Colorado man who pleaded for his family's return before being charged with killing his daughters and pregnant wife will not face the death penalty. He could, however, spend the rest of his life behind bars after he is sentenced Monday.
In exchange for Watts' pleas, he will not face the death penalty, Rourke said. Shanann Watts' family was OK with taking the option off the table, he said.
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0.934346 |
Why so many women are losing their hair, and what to do if it’s happening to you.
While thinning hair and hair loss used to be a worry more commonly associated with men, in this day and age, hair loss in women is becoming shockingly more prevalent.
Heredity or genetic influences on the hair follicle are the most common causes of hair loss in both men and women. While genes passed down to you from your parents play a big role in hair loss they are not guaranteed to make you lose your hair. Obviously, if most of the people in your family, whether on your mother’s or father’s side, are losing hair, then you have an increased chance of also losing hair. That said, some scientific evidence suggest that about 20 percent of people exhibiting genetic hair loss don’t have any known family members with the condition.
The health of your hair is a barometer of your overall health, meaning that there are many health factors that can influence your hair cycle. For example, surgery requiring anesthesia can disrupt the hair cycle, as can a high fever, specifically a temperature greater than 101 degrees Fahrenheit.
In addition, numerous other general health factors can be important, such as pregnancy and postpartum depression, menopause, diabetes, or polycystic ovary syndrome. Someone going through any serious illness such a cancer treatment, thyroid issues, and any autoimmune disease such as Lupus cause hair loss. The most important health influences are often the ones that occurred approximately four to 16 weeks before the hair loss even became noticeable.
Published research has shown that your hair needs a plentiful supply of protein, energy-producing molecules (glucose), and certain vitamins and minerals for optimal growth to occur. As the hair follicle is a nonessential tissue and, therefore, one of the last tissues to receive nutritional substances (or one of the first to have them reduced), any long-term deficiencies may lead to hair loss.
Protein deficiency can be a frequent cause of hair loss, because protein helps the body build hair fibers, which consist of 80 to 95 percent protein (this is especially relevant for vegetarians). For those who eat infrequently, the amount of energy available at your hair-growth site may be deficient, causing the fair to fall out prematurely. The most common nutritionally related hair loss occurs while dieting. Severe weight loss due to dieting or substantial weight gain can often cause a temporary increase in hair shedding (telogen effluvium) due to metabolic changes in the body. Eating three meals a day is important, as is the intake of protein, such as red meat, fish, and chicken. Vitamins and supplements may be required for those not eating well.
Stress can affect your hair cycle, and losing your hair can also cause a lot of stress! Under most circumstances, as with many other hair-loss causes, increased hair shedding occurs between four and 16 weeks after the trigger has occurred. Yet most people attribute an increase in hair shedding to what happened yesterday or last week, not a couple months ago. Although it can be difficult to pinpoint a specific stress episode as the cause of hair loss, there is evidence that acute and chronic stress may precipitate hair loss conditions such as genetic hair loss, telogen effuvium (hair shedding), alopecia areata (patchy hair loss), and trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling). Being stressed can also result in a bad diet and lack of sleep, also causing hair and scalp issues. Finding a way to deal with stress is vitally important. Whether it is exercising, meditation, or simply finding a quiet place to relax.
Taking certain medications can cause hair loss in some people while the same medicine may not cause hair loss in others. Stopping a certain medication can also cause hair loss in some, but not in others. In addition, certain medications can cause hair loss the first time they are taken, but not subsequent times (once the body adjusts to the medicine, the hair loss stops), or they don’t cause hair loss the first time but do subsequent times (possibly due to the medicine accumulating in the body).
It’s difficult to categorically say that one particular medicine causes hair loss and another doesn’t, as medicines can react differently in different people. However, some of the medications most commonly reported to cause hair loss are: chemotherapy medications, antidepressants, thyroid medicines, oral contraceptive pills, and cholesterol medicines. The hair-loss condition often caused by medications is called telogen effluvium. It may be a good idea to ask your doctor if there are alternative medications that do not have such side effects.
Hormones control hair growth to a large extent, and there are many hormonal irregularities that can affect the hair cycle. Often these produce other symptoms that can indicate their presence, although even if there is an absence of any other symptom, it does not rule out that a hormonal factor is present. Men using anabolic steroids (either for medical or recreational purposes) may experience increased hair loss. For women, hormonal influences on their hair may be indicated by irregular menstrual cycles, polycystic ovarian syndrome, an over-active or under-active thyroid, menopause, pregnancy, and postpartum depression. Hormonal problems can contribute to certain hair loss conditions, in particular, heredity hair loss and telogen effluvium (hair shedding).
Although not technically hair loss from the scalp, losing hair through breakage (traction alopecia) can cause hair thinning and slow growth. Breakage can occur due to chemical over-processing and/or incorrect styling, drying, or brushing techniques. For example, using a dryer that is too hot can cause the hair to burn, often so much so that you can smell it burning as you dry. Vigorous brushing can also cause the hair to break. Aggressive chemicals on the scalp caused by perming, bleaching, or relaxing the hair can cause cicatricial (scarring) alopecia.
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0.999604 |
Design for a 4-story multi-family apartment complex in Philadelphia, PA. The façade features a unique blend of brown brick, and several textures & colors of both metal & bamboo-inspired façade paneling. The geometric patterns help to break down the overall massing of the building & really create some visual interest for this corner block. Units feature open floor plans, 1-3 bedrooms each, private outdoor balconies, and access to a shared roof deck with additional greenspace.
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0.999999 |
What is the food called? if I can find it online, I can try to find the ingredients to put in the review generator. The ingredients look okay at first glance.
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0.62549 |
Location of Aurora in DuPage County and Kane County, Illinois.
Aurora, a suburb of Chicago, is a city in DuPage, Kane, Kendall, and Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located primarily in DuPage and Kane counties, it is an outer suburb of Chicago and the second most populous city in the state, and the 114th most populous city in the country. The population was 197,899 at the 2010 census, and was estimated to have increased to 200,965 by 2017.
Once a mid-sized manufacturing city, Aurora has grown since the 1960s. Founded within Kane County, Aurora's city limits and population have expanded into DuPage, Will, and Kendall counties. Between 2000 and 2003, the U.S. Census Bureau ranked Aurora as the 34th fastest-growing city in the United States. From 2000 to 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau ranked the city as the 46th fastest growing city with a population of over 100,000.
In 1908, Aurora adopted the nickname "City of Lights", because in 1881 it was one of the first cities in the United States to implement an all-electric street lighting system. Aurora's historic downtown is located on the Fox River, and centered on Stolp Island. The city is divided into three regions, the West Side, on the west side of the Fox River, the East Side, between the eastern bank of the Fox River and the Kane/DuPage County line, and the Far East Side/Fox Valley, which is from the County Line to the city's eastern border with Naperville.
The Aurora area has some significant architecture, including structures by Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Bruce Goff and George Grant Elmslie. Aurora is also home to a large collection of Sears Catalog Homes (over 50 homes) and Lustron all-steel homes (seven homes). The Hollywood Casino Aurora, a dockside gaming facility with 53,000 square feet (4,900 m2) and 1,200 gaming positions, is located along the river in downtown Aurora.
Before European settlers arrived, there was a Native American village in what is today downtown Aurora, on the banks of the Fox River. In 1834, following the Black Hawk War, the McCarty brothers arrived. They initially owned land on both sides of the river, but sold their lands to the Lake brothers on the west side. The Lake brothers opened a mill on the opposite side of the river. The McCartys lived and operated their mill on the east side. A post office was established in 1837, officially creating Aurora.
Aurora was originally two villages: East Aurora, incorporated in 1845, on the east side of the river, and West Aurora, formally organized on the west side of the river in 1854. In 1857, the two towns joined officially, incorporated as the city of Aurora. As representatives could not agree which side of the river should house the public buildings, most public buildings were built on or around Stolp Island in the middle of the river.
As the city grew, it attracted numerous factories and jobs. In 1856, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad located its roundhouse and locomotive shop in Aurora, becoming the town's largest employer, a rank it held until the 1960s. Railroad restructuring in the railroad industry resulted in a loss of jobs as the number of railroads reduced and they dropped lines for passenger traffic. Aurora at one time had regularly scheduled passenger trains to Chicago.
The heavy industries on the East side provided employment for generations of European immigrants, who came from Ireland, Great Britain, Scandinavia, Luxembourg, Germany, France, and Italy. Aurora became the economic center of the Fox Valley region. The combination of these three factors—a highly industrialized town, a sizable river that divided it, and the Burlington railroad's shops—accounted for much of the dynamics of Aurora's political, economic, and social history. The city openly supported abolitionism before the American Civil War. Mexican migrants began arriving after the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Socially, the town was progressive in its attitude toward education, religion, welfare, and women. The first free public school district in Illinois was established in 1851 here and the city established a high school for girls in 1855.
The city developed as a manufacturing powerhouse and continued until the early 1970s, when the railroad shops closed. Soon many other factories and industrial areas relocated or went out of business. By 1980, there were few industrial areas operating in the city, and unemployment soared to 16%. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, development began of the Far East side along the Eola Road and Route 59 areas. While this was financially beneficial to the city, it drew off retail businesses and manufacturing from downtown and the industrial sectors of the near East and West Sides, respectively, weakening them. In the mid-1980s crime rates soared and street gangs started to form.
During this time Aurora became a much more culturally diverse city. The Latino population began to grow rapidly in the city in the 1980s. In the late 1980s, several business and industrial parks were established on the city's outskirts. In 1993, the Hollywood Casino was built downtown, which helped bring the first redevelopment to the downtown area in nearly twenty years. In the late 1990s, more development began in the rural areas and towns outside Aurora. Subdivisions sprouted up around the city, and Aurora's population soared.
Today, Aurora is a culturally diverse city of around 200,000 residents. Historic areas downtown are being redeveloped, and new developments are being built all over the city.
Aurora is at 41°45′50″N 88°17′24″W / 41.76389°N 88.29000°W / 41.76389; -88.29000 (41.7637855, −88.2901352).
According to the 2010 census, Aurora has an area of 45.799 square miles (118.62 km2), of which 44.94 square miles (116.39 km2) (or 98.12%) is land and 0.859 square miles (2.22 km2) (or 1.88%) is water.
The West Side, which is west of the Fox River.
The East Side, which spans the region east of the Fox River, stopping at the DuPage County line.
Fox Valley, also referred to as the Far East Side, is the portion of Aurora east of the Dupage County line. Its name is deceptive because it is actually the part of the city farthest from the Fox River and its valley. The area acquired its name because of its proximity to the Westfield Fox Valley Mall and Fox Valley Villages, one of the first housing developments to be constructed after the mall.
The annual precipitation for Aurora is about 40 inches. The record high for Aurora is 111 °F (44 °C), on July 14, 1936. The record low is −31 °F (−35 °C), on January 16, 2009. The average high temperature for Aurora in July is 83.5 °F (28.6 °C), the average January low is 12.6 °F (−10.8 °C).
On July 17–18, 1996, a major flood struck Aurora, with 16.9 inches (430 mm) of rain in a 24-hour period, which is an Illinois state record, and the second highest ever nationally. Flooding occurred in almost every low-lying area in the city, and in neighborhoods bordering the Fox River, causing major damage in some neighborhoods. The flooding was just as bad in Blackberry Creek, on Aurora's far west side.
Aurora has not been struck by any major tornadoes in recent history, although they occur in Northern Illinois annually. In 1906, a tornado went through the Aurora Driving Park, a large recreation/amusement park and race track where the Riddle Highlands neighborhood and Northgate shopping center is today. The tornado hit during the afternoon performance of the Ringling Brothers "Greatest Show on Earth" circus, when the park was crowded. It killed 2 people and injured 22, but the grandstand was still filled for the evening performance. Weak tornadoes struck the city in 1954, 1958, 1960, and 1991. In 1990, the supercell thunderstorm that produced the deadly Plainfield Tornado passed over the city, dropping golf ball sized hail and causing wind damage. Less than ten minutes after passing through Aurora, the storm produced an F5 tornado, which touched down in nearby Oswego, less than 5 miles from downtown. The tornado then traveled through Plainfield and Joliet, killing 29 people.
The city can receive heavy snowfall and experiences blizzards periodically.
Aurora was hit with one of the strongest earthquakes ever to strike Illinois, a M 5.1, on May 26, 1909. It put cracks through chimneys and could be felt 500,000 sq mi (1,300,000 km2) around.
As of the American Community Survey of 2016, there were 200,907 people, 61,831 households, and 46,131 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,389.5 inhabitants per square mile (1,694.8/km2). There were 66,447 housing units at an average density of 1,451.8 per square mile (560.5/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 56.5% White, 10.2% African American, 0.4% Native American, 7.7% Asian American, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 22.4% from other races, and 2.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 42.7% of the population.
There were 61,831 households out of which 46.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.4% were married couples living together, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.4% were non-families. 19.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.12 and the average family size was 3.63 as of the 2010 census.
In the city, the population was spread out with 30.1% under the age of 18, 10.1% from 18 to 24, 30.5% from 25 to 44, 21.5% from 45 to 64, and 7.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32.0 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $63,967, and the median income for a family was $72,696. For full-time workers, males had a median income of $48,296 versus $37,823 for females. The per capita income for the city was $26,989. About 11.1% of families and 14.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.6% of those under age 18 and 8.8% of those age 65 or over.
Aurora is on the edge of the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor. The city has a long tradition of manufacturing as does much of Chicago metropolitan area. Prominent manufacturers, past and present include Lyon Workspace Products, The Aurora Silverplate Manufacturing Company, Barber-Greene Company, the Chicago Corset Company, the Aurora Brewing Company, Stephens-Adamson Company, Caterpillar Inc., Allsteel Metals, National Metalwares, and Western Wheeled Scraper Works (later Austin-Western Inc.). The most prominent employer and industry was the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad (later Burlington Northern) which was headquartered in Aurora. The CB&Q Roundhouse is still standing, and is now the popular restaurant originally called Walter Payton's Roundhouse; after the Payton estate ended its involvement in 2009 it became known as America's Historic Roundhouse, and after a 2011 change in ownership, it is now known as Two Brothers Roundhouse.
Formed in 1987, the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (AACVB) is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to aggressively promoting and marketing the area as a premier overnight destination. The AACVB'S goal is to enhance the economic and environmental well-being of a region comprising ten communities: Aurora, Batavia, Big Rock, Hinckley, Montgomery, North Aurora, Plano, Sandwich, Sugar Grove, and Yorkville.
Aurora's downtown is full of architectural landmarks and historic places. It includes a major Hindu temple, the Sri Venkateswara Swami Temple of Greater Chicago. Aurora also has its own zoo, Phillips Park Zoo, in Phillips Park.
The Paramount Theatre under renovation, downtown Aurora.
Downtown Aurora is home to the Paramount Theatre, a large live performance theater on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Hollywood Casino. There is also the Leland Tower, a former hotel which was the tallest building in Illinois outside of Chicago and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The largest collection of commercial buildings by Prairie School architect George Grant Elmslie is here. The main building of Aurora Public Library and a branch campus of Waubonsee Community College are also located downtown.
Downtown Alive, a festival that includes live music and a variety of food booths, is held on three weekends (Friday and Saturday night) in the summer; Blues on the Fox (featuring national blues artists) is held on the Friday and Saturday of Father's Day weekend. Roughly 8,000–13,000 people attend. The quarterly AuroraArtWalk is hosted by the Cultural Creatives—a grassroots team of local artist, property owners, patrons, and the City of Aurora. The Riverfront Playhouse is a not-for-profit theater that has held a storefront location in downtown Aurora since 1978.
A fixture of Downtown Aurora, the Waubonsee Community College Campus, which was formerly located on Stolp Island near the Paramount Theatre, recently[when?] closed. A new and greatly expanded campus was built on the western banks of the river, between the river and IL Route 31. The construction of the campus was part of a larger plan to redevelop the Downtown area, putting in parks and new walking paths, and making the area more inviting. The plan also included a pedestrian bridge to connect the banks of the river. Also in the works is a plan to modify or reconstruct the bridges to Stolp Island, which have not been maintained for nearly 60 years.
Coulter Opera House 1874 1899 This was Aurora's first major playhouse/opera house/theater. It has been adapted as the Fifth Third Bank, formerly Merchants Bank. The upper floors have been converted to the Coulter Court Residences, an affordable-housing development.
Aurora Coliseum / Fox Theater 1900 1915 Changed name to Fox Theater in 1910. Condemned by the city in 1930.
The Strand Theater 1915 1929 Burned down in 1929.
Coliseum Theater 1923 1951 Eighteen city blocks from the original Aurora Coliseum. Was converted into apartments and shops after 1951.
Sylvandell Dance Hall / Rialto Theater 1915 1928 Changed its name to the Rialto Theater in 1919. This was the most popular theater in Aurora, but it burned down in 1928. This was nicknamed the "Million Dollar Fire" because of owners Frank Thielen and Jules J. Rubens had spent much money in converting the dance hall to a high quality theater. It had a bowling alley in the basement. The Paramount was developed on the former site of the Rialto.
Tivoli Theater 1928 1981 Demolished soon after it was closed. The Tivoli was one of Aurora's the more popular theaters, and competed with the Paramount theater. It included a bowling alley.
Paramount Theatre 1931 This has endured the longest. It was built on the site of the old Rialto Theater. The Paramount underwent a complete renovation in the 1970s and another in the 2000s.
New Fox Theater 1935 1978 A third theater in Aurora for several decades. It is closed now, but the building still stands. It was incorporated into the Paramount productions in 2006.
Isle Theater 1938 1982 A smaller theater next to the Leland Hotel, the Isle was demolished in 1982. Its site has been developed as a park.
Wayne's World (1992) is a buddy film set in Aurora, with characters developed from a skit on the television show Saturday Night Live. One of the authors was from neighboring Naperville, Illinois and thought Aurora had the appropriate blue-collar feel desired. Most of the movie was filmed elsewhere, but some small sections were filmed on location in Aurora. One scene shows the local White Castle. The film's sequel, Wayne's World 2, is also set in Aurora.
The Aurora Islanders/Blues/Foxes, a minor league baseball franchise, played from 1910 to 1915 in the Illinois-Wisconsin League. Their most famous player was Casey Stengel, who played one season with the team before being bought by the Brooklyn Dodgers. Stengel batted .352 and was the batting champion of the league for 1911; he also led the league with 50 stolen bases and had 27 outfield assists. The team played in a stadium on the west side in the former Riverview Park. He became known as a manager of baseball teams.
Waubonsie Valley High School (IPSD—District 204) Soccer has won the Northern Illinois regional championship in this highly competitive region, for both boys and girls, almost every year since 1987. In 2007, the Waubonsie Valley High School girls' team won the state championship; it was ranked #1 of all high school girls' soccer teams in the United States after finishing with an undefeated season.
Aurora has numerous youth soccer clubs, most of which have teams represented in the top five percent of the Northern Illinois Soccer League. Several youth soccer players from Aurora have received college scholarships to major college soccer programs throughout the U.S. In addition, Aurora maintains several developmental advantages for soccer enthusiasts. Three high-quality indoor soccer venues allow year-round soccer training and competition for children and adults. Additionally, several area traveling soccer clubs, as well as high schools, boast coaches and trainers who have played soccer professionally or have been starting players for national teams. Some played for teams that won the World Cup. Supplementing the local soccer training regimen are professional soccer trainers from England, Brazil, The Netherlands, Scotland, and other countries. Several played in the Premier League and for the Brazil national team, and for the Argentina national team.
Fastpitch softball has been in Aurora since the 1930s. It gained popularity after World War II when the Aurora Sealmasters Men's team finished fifth in the nation in 1950. The Sealmasters won National Championships in 1959, 1961, 1965, and 1967, and World Championships in 1966 and 1968. The Sealmasters played their games at Stevens-Adamson Field, a significant fastpitch stadium on Ridgeway Avenue on the city's southwest side. The Sealmasters hosted many famous competitors from all over the United States, most notably Eddie Feigner and The King and His Court, as well as international opponents. There were many different and competitive men's leagues in Aurora from the 1960s through the mid-1990s. There are still a few leagues and teams playing to this day.
In golf, the Stonebridge Country Club, on Aurora's far northeast side, was home to the LPGA Tour's Kellogg-Keebler Classic from 2002–2004. Stonebridge also hosted the Ameritech Senior Open from 1991–1995 on the Senior PGA Tour.
Aurora University has Men's and Women's basketball, golf, tennis, track and field and cross country. It also has a men's football and baseball team, as well as women's softball and volleyball teams. Aurora University athletics are division III.
High school athletics are a major event in the city, as East and West Aurora High Schools have been rivals in all sports for over 100 years.
Aurora has long been a regional transportation hub. The city is the final stop of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe line of the Metra commuter rail system, allowing rail service into Chicago. The city also has a stop at the Rt. 59 station on the BNSF Line. This station is on the border with Naperville and each city maintains a parking lot on their respective side of the tracks. The BNSF Railroad owns and maintains a rail yard in Aurora, which they named Eola Yard.
Pace Suburban Bus operates local bus service within Aurora six days a week (no service on Sundays) and connects to cities such as Naperville, Geneva, Batavia, Oswego, and St. Charles. Metra trains and Pace buses stop at the Aurora Transportation Center. Greyhound buses used to stop there, but service was discontinued on September 7, 2011.
Aurora does not have a stop for Amtrak trains, as the old station closed in the 1980s. Aurora City Lines, the old city bus lines, was closed in the late 1980s in favor of regional bus service. Aurora also had an extensive streetcar system, operated by the Aurora, Elgin and Fox River Electric Company, that served most neighborhoods. Aurora was served by a number of interurban lines, the most prominent of which was the Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad which provided service into Chicago. The STAR Line would have a third station at Ferry Rd. north of the BNSF Line.
The Aurora Municipal Airport is a general aviation airport in Sugar Grove, Illinois, just outside Aurora. Although the airport is in Sugar Grove, it is owned and operated by the City of Aurora. The Aurora Airport is designed as a reliever airport for Chicago's O'Hare and Midway Airports and also handles a lot of international cargo. It is capable of landing Boeing 757 aircraft. In addition, the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center is on Aurora's west side.
Aurora has two hospitals, one on the west side, Presence Mercy Medical Center, and one in Fox Valley, Rush–Copley Medical Center.
There are other area hospitals, including Edward Hospital in Naperville, Delnor Hospital in Geneva, Central DuPage in Winfield and a Level 1 Trauma center at Good Samaritan in Downers Grove.
Aurora had three hospitals, St. Joseph Hospital, on the west side, St. Charles hospital, east of downtown, and Copley Memorial Hospital, on the east side. St Joseph and St, Charles hospitals have been converted into senior living centers, and the old Copley hospital, which was one of the largest hospitals in the area, sits vacant. The city of Aurora recently demolished the old smokestacks from the hospital, as they were starting to crumble.
Dreyer Medical Clinic and several other independent clinics and medical groups are spread throughout the city. The area surrounding Provena Mercy has evolved into a diverse healthcare district with services and offices.
The city is home to Aurora University, two branches of Waubonsee Community College, and a branch of Rasmussen College. According to the census of Aurora's population over the age of twenty-five, 26% hold a bachelor's degree.
Starting in the 1860s, Aurora was served by two main school systems, one on either side of the Fox River, which physically divides the city. In the mid-20th century, the district on the western side of the river expanded to include the students in the village of North Aurora, including the North Aurorans on the east side of the Fox. Additionally, in 1972, the Indian Prairie School District (IPSD) 204 was formed to serve the far eastern portion of Aurora within DuPage County. All three districts (Aurora Public Schools: West Side (District 129), Aurora Public Schools: East Side (District 131) and IPSD) have their headquarters and administrative offices within the Aurora city limits. As of 2005, there were at least forty public schools within Aurora city limits, serving residents of Aurora and neighboring communities.
Due to the city's size, these are not the only three school systems serving residents – some students in the far north end of the city (north of I88 in Kane County) attend Batavia public schools, some on the far southwest side attend Kaneland CUSD 302 schools (headquartered in Maple Park), and some students in the far south end of the city (a small corner of the Kane, Kendall and Will County portions) attend Oswego public schools. Four of the schools in Oswego CUSD 308, Wheatlands Elementary, Homestead Elementary, Wolf's Crossing Elementary, and Bednarcik Junior High are within Aurora's limits.
The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) is a state-funded residential magnet school for grades 10 to 12. While IMSA operates under public funds (and uses the site originally designated West Aurora High School North Campus), it is managed independently of Aurora's other public schools. Any Illinois student who meets admission requirements may apply to attend IMSA, tuition free.
Aurora is also home to other private schools. Within Aurora, there are three Roman Catholic High Schools, Aurora Central Catholic (Diocese of Rockford), Rosary, and Marmion Academy (Order of St. Benedict), and seven Catholic elementary schools operated by the Diocese of Rockford. Along with these three schools is Aurora Christian High School and Elementary School and Resurrection Lutheran School , a Pre-K-8 grade school of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Aurora is also home to Fox Valley Montessori School, one of the first Montessori schools established in Illinois in 1969, which offers a preschool and elementary program.
The above-named districts have forty-six public schools within the city limits of Aurora (seventeen for District #131, thirteen for District #129, eleven for District #204, four for Oswego District #308 and the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy).
The Aurora Public Library includes the main library, two branches, an express center, a support facility and a bookmobile. The library operations budget is $10 million and the staff numbers 85 full-time and 89 part-time employees. The library was funded in 1901 through a Carnegie grant. The Santori Public Library, the main library, was opened in June 2015, and offers a 3D printer and a digital media lab in addition to standard book and media services.
The Beacon-News is Aurora's oldest business, first published in 1846, and is part of the Tribune Publishing. The newspaper has two editions: the Aurora edition and the Kendall County edition. The Beacon-News has been recognized repeatedly by the Associated Press, Illinois Press Association, Northern Illinois Newspaper Association and the Chicago Headline Club as one of the best daily newspapers in Illinois.
In 2008, reported major crimes in Aurora were at their lowest level in nearly three decades. The Chief of Police attributed the drop to a number of factors but especially credited the hard work of the city's police officers and the increase in anti-gang priorities. Gang violence had reached a high in the 1990s, with the city averaging nearly 30 murders per year. In 2008, Aurora only had 2 murders. In July 2007, the Aurora Police Department and the FBI conducted "Operation First Degree Burn," a sweep that resulted in the successful arrest of 31 alleged Latin Kings gang members suspected of 22 murders dating back to the mid-1990s. Aurora has also adopted programs such as CeaseFire to reduce gang violence and prevent youths from joining gangs. Aurora had 7 murders in 2016.
Like other large Midwestern cities that once relied on manufacturing as an economic basis, Aurora has a large number of abandoned buildings and vacant lots, especially in older sections of the city. Efforts are ongoing to rehabilitate these areas.
Environmentally, Aurora has long dealt with pollution of the Fox River. The river was heavily polluted up until the 1970s by factories that had lined the river for over a century. Cleanup efforts have been successful with the help of state grants and volunteer efforts.
On September 26, 2014, a fire at an air traffic control edifice in Aurora (also known as the "Chicago Center") caused nearly 2000 airline flights to be grounded.
Brian Howard, an employee of Harris Corporation, was charged in the incident.
At approximately 1:30 PM on February 15, 2019, police responded to an active shooter situation in east Aurora to find that 45-year-old Gary Martin had opened fire on fellow employees at the Henry Pratt Company. Five officers and several civilians were injured in the ensuing standoff, after which police entered entered the building and neutralized Martin. In total, the incident left six dead (including the gunman) and numerous others wounded. It was the first major shooting in the town's history.
Goddess of Victory statue on Memorial Bridge, built c. 1931. In background is entrance to Hollywood Casino, c. 1993.
Stolp Island with Leland Tower from New York St. Bridge. Detail of Memorial Bridge figure Memory.
View of Stolp Island historic buildings from Downer Place with architectural details, such as these terracotta tiles.
Former main Aurora Public Library, remodeled c. 1969.
The Old Aurora Post Office, now home to the SciTech Museum.
Detail of unusual Mayan revival motif on the old Elk's Building, currently housing the Aurora Election Commission.
The carousel and food court at Fox Valley Mall, opened 1975.
Statue outside the Aurora Transportation Center, Aurora (Metra).
^ "Our Campaigns - Candidate - Richard C. Irvin". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
^ "Aurora (city), Illinois". State & County QuickFacts. U.S. Census Bureau. 8 July 2014. Archived from the original on 25 July 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
^ a b c "City and Town Population Totals, Incorporated Places 2010–2017 (PEPANNRES): Illinois". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
^ "Demographics". Seize the Future. 2014. Archived from the original on 17 September 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
^ "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places of 50,000 or More, Ranked by July 1, 2013 Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2013". U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division. May 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
^ "The fastest growing US cities: Cities ranked 1 to 100". The City Mayors Foundation. Archived from the original on 26 September 2011. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
^ "Table 1. Annual Estimates of the Population of Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2012 (CBSA-EST2012-01)". U.S. Census Bureau. June 2013. Archived from the original (CSV) on 1 April 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
^ Following Cleveland, Ohio, and Wabash, Indiana. "About Our City". City of Aurora, IL. 2011. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
^ a b "Aurora, IL". www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org. Archived from the original on 10 December 2008. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
^ a b Torp, K. "History of Aurora, Illinois". genealogytrails.com. Archived from the original on 9 July 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
^ "Aurora Township, Kane County, Illinois". Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois. Kane County Illinois Genealogy Trails. Archived from the original on 9 July 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
^ The Burlington Railroad ran passenger trains between Chicago and Aurora for over 100 years, since Aurora was an important suburb. See "Chicago-Aurora Centennial, 1864–1964" (Burlington Railroad, 1964).
^ "G001 – Geographic Identifiers – 2010 Census Summary File 1". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
^ "NCDC: U.S. Climate Normals". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14.
^ Lahmeyer, Jan (2003). "Historical demographical data of the urban centers: Illinois". Populstat.info. Archived from the original on 8 September 2008. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
^ "Population of Kane County (1850–1900)". Kane County, Illinois Genealogy Trails. 2010. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
^ "City of Aurora CAFR" (PDF). aurora-il.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 July 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
^ "Wayne's World (1992)". Archived from the original on 25 May 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2018 – via www.imdb.com.
^ "Greyhound drops Dixon from service". saukvalley.com. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
^ "Resurrection Lutheran Church & School".
^ "Santori Public Library". santorilibrary.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
^ "About The Beacon-News". Sun-Times Media Group. 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-05-27. Retrieved 2010-01-30.
^ a b c Working, Russell (2008-12-30). "Aurora murders at lowest level since 1987". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 21 April 2012. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
^ a b c "Aurora On Track For Another Crime Decline". Official website. City of Aurora, IL. 2009-12-30. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
^ Kimberly, James (2007-06-29). "31 indicted in 22 Aurora-area gang killings". Chicago Tribune. AccessMyLibrary. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
^ "Crime in Aurora, Illinois (IL): murders, rapes, robberies, assaults, burglaries, thefts, auto thefts, arson, law enforcement employees, police officers, crime map". www.city-data.com. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
^ "Illinois EPA Director presents $300,000 grant to Mayor of Aurora for watershed protection efforts". Illinois Government News Network. State of Illinois. 23 April 2007. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
^ "Man faces charges in FAA facility fire - CNN.com". CNN. 26 September 2014. Archived from the original on 27 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
^ "FBI: Contract worker set fire at FAA center, tried to kill himself". chicagotribune.com. 26 September 2014. Archived from the original on 26 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
^ "Chicago air traffic halted over fire at FAA facility". 26 September 2014. Archived from the original on 26 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
^ Aamer Madhani; Ben Mutzabaugh; William Spain & USA TODAY (26 September 2014). "Chicago flights grounded after fire at FAA radar facility". Archived from the original on 26 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
^ "Fire at air-traffic center disrupts 1,800 flights". Yahoo News. 27 September 2014. Archived from the original on 26 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
^ "Contract Employee Charged in Fire That Grounded Chicago Flights". ABC News. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
^ 21, Diario. "Diario 21 - El Periodico Plural del Estado - Principal". www.diario21.com.mx. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
^ a b 21, Diario. "Diario 21 - El Periodico Plural del Estado - Principal". www.diario21.com. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
^ 21, Diario. "Diario 21 - El Periodico Plural del Estado - Principal". www.diario21.com. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aurora, Illinois.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Aurora, Illinois.
Wikisource has the text of a 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article about Aurora, Illinois.
Aurora Fire Department history honoring its 150th anniversary, in 2006.
"Aurora, a city of Kane county, Ill." . The American Cyclopædia. 1879.
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On the one hand, the "dialogue of life and love" has produced extraordinary results in the century that has seen the emergence of the "ecumenical movement", the foundation of the World Council of Churches and the Catholic Church's commitment to the search for Christian unity formally and irrevocably assumed by the Second Vatican Council. Practically the whole of Christianity is in a process of advancing beyond the controversies and competition of the past, towards greater understanding, trust and solidarity. Pockets of mutual rejection and contention remain, but most of the world's Christians have come to recognise one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, united in a common baptism, and giving a common witness in serving the needs of suffering humanity.
On the other hand, after sixty years of steady achievements, the "dialogue of truth" aimed at overcoming the controversies that divided the churches in the first place, often seems to plod along without inspiring new excitement or expectations. Rightly, the churches continue to commit important human and financial resources to theological dialogue, because every serious ecumenical advance involves overcoming remaining substantial doctrinal differences. This dialogue continues in the 14 bilateral theological dialogues with other Christian bodies in which the Pontifical Council for promoting Christian Unity is involved, and in numerous other regional or multilateral meetings, conferences and studies. Add to this the many theological dialogues between the other Churches themselves, as well as international meetings organised by the World Council of Churches and the Global Christian Forum and other ecumenical associations.
The year that just passed, 2018, has brought new challenges and new promise to the ecumenical quest and to the Catholic involvement in promoting Christian unity. So, what happened in 2018 to make the ecumenical task more difficult? First, the Orthodox world is undergoing an upheaval that will test its cohesion for many years to come. The establishment by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of an independent Orthodox Church in the Ukraine has exacerbated long-standing tensions between Constantinople and the Patriarchate of Moscow, with serious consequences for the international Catholic-Orthodox dialogue commission. Beyond any political considerations involved, the fundamental point in question is whether the Ecumenical Patriarchate by itself has the authority to do what it has done. The Russian Church has roundly rejected that claim, even accusing Patriarch Batholomew of wanting to be a Pope over all of Orthodoxy. The Russian claim is that there is no universal primacy over the whole church, only independent local churches gathered in a communion of faith, grace and brotherhood. In Metropolitan Hilarion's words: "There is no other authority over a Local Orthodox Church other than the authority of God himself, the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ." One may conclude that the achievements of the International Catholic-Orthodox Theological Commission in recent decades on the role of primacy in the universal Church, as formulated in the Ravenna document (2007) and the Chieti document (2013) are far from received and accepted. Whether and how the Dialogue Commission can effectively and usefully continue its work in the present situation is now an impelling question. The challenge will be on the agenda of the meeting of the Coordinating Committee due to be held towards the end of the current year.
Another crucial test of ecumenical resolve in 2018 affected relations with the Protestant world. There was much discussion around the German Bishops' guidelines for admitting a Protestant married to a Catholic to Eucharistic Communion in some cases. The discussion is useful and can be a teaching moment regarding the important theological and pastoral principles involved. Normally the sacraments should only be administered to those in full communion with the celebrating Church, but the Church can also recognise that certain situations constitute a call on her to offer the means of holiness and salvation to other baptised Christians, not her own members. The recent discussion was not about whether it is possible to admit a Protestant to Catholic Communion in some circumstances. There are already clear guidelines for that possibility (Decree on Ecumenism (8 and 15), Decree on the Eastern Catholic Churches (26-30), The Ecumenical Directory (nos. 102 – 132) and the Code of Canon Law (c. 844). In the Catholic view there is always an element of "inconsistency" in intercommunion because it happens in spite of the sinfulness of division among Christians. In this sense it remains an exception and not the rule. Hence, the all-important requirement of a specific process of pastoral discernment in each case. The issue raised by the German Bishops was whether interchurch couples represent a particular situation in which intercommunion should be made more extensive. Should such couples be able to express the unity they already have in baptism and in the sacrament of marriage also at the altar?
Nearly 40 years ago, the particular need felt by such couples was well described in a letter from the English Association of Interchurch Families to the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops in preparation for the 1980 Synod on the Family: "Couples in mixed marriages feel their serious spiritual need at different stages of their married life. For some it comes very early on, as they set out to forge the unity of husband and wife in Christ. For some it comes when they receive the gift and the responsibility of children, and are called jointly to be the first teachers of the Christian faith to them. For some it comes with particular intensity when their children come to the point of receiving their own First Communion. Indeed at this point it is sometimes the children themselves who express their own deep need for both their parents , who together brought them to this point in their developing experience of life in Christ, to be with them at the altar when they receive Communion for the first time. However this need is first felt, it tends to grow and intensify, and to become a constant reality in the lives of parents and family…. Our Association therefore asks for an explicit statement from the Roman Catholic authorities that the serious spiritual need of interchurch couples and families constitutes a situation different from that of an individual's separation from the ministry of his (her) own Church, but nevertheless laying a claim on the pastoral responsibility of bishops".
The German bishops tried to respond to that pastoral need by encouraging a more generous application of the existing norms. Perhaps they were being mindful of what the saintly John Paul II wrote in Ut Unum Sint (no. 46) and repeated in Ecclesia de Eucharistia (also no. 46): "It is a source of joy to note that Catholic ministers are able, in certain particular cases, to administer the sacraments of the Eucharist, Penance and Anointing of the Sick to Christians who are not in full communion with the Catholic Church but who greatly desire to receive these sacraments, freely request them and manifest the faith which the Catholic Church professes with regard to these sacraments." Doubts about the substance of the Guidelines seemed to centre on the proposal to extend that possibility to a whole class of people rather than to individuals. Tying two of the necessary conditions for allowing intercommunion – namely 'Catholic faith' in the sacrament and a situation of "grave need" – to a category of people in the particular situation of interchurch marriages was perceived by some as a step too far. The debate which followed has been marked by polarisation between those "for" and those "against", often on the basis of pre-assumed attitudes that easily lose sight of the complex theological principles involved. Unfortunately, in the eyes of many ecumenical partners too the debate gave the impression of a new "closure" on the part of the Catholic Church. So, 2018 has seen new hurdles laid on the path of the search for Christian unity, both with the Orthodox and with the Protestant worlds.
For centuries the divided Christian Churches used their differences to affirm their identity over against one another. Consequently, the very idea of working together was practically unthinkable. Is it time to assume a different approach to “difference”? Perhaps it is time to accept that the only realistic future of ecumenism is along the path indicated by the late Prof. Placido Sgroi in a thought provoking essay : “The question lies, one more time, in the way the differences between the Churches are judged.” (“Verso un ecumenismo narrativo” in Quaderni di Studi Ecumenici, vol. 37, 2018.) Are these differences irreconcilable or do they complement one another? Sgroi is giving voice to something very similar to the “receptive ecumenism” advocated in particular by Prof. Paul Murray and actually employed by ARCIC III in its recent document, “Walking Together on the Way”.
What is being promoted is a new mindset in which legitimate differences of doctrinal formulation and liturgical and canonical tradition and practice are acknowledged and esteemed, and therefore seen not as a denial of what we are but as gifts that complement us, something which Vatican II already called for (cf. Unitiatis Redintegratio, 4,8). In Geneva at the World Council of Churches, Pope Francis reiterated that “our differences must not be excuses. Even now we can walk in the Spirit: we can pray, evangelise and serve together. This is possible and it is pleasing to God! Walking, praying and working together: this is the great path that we are called to follow today.” And again, in his most recent reference to relations with other Christians at Vespers in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls to mark the opening of the 2019 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, he carried this idea a step further. He issued a pressing invitation to evaluate positively what distinguishes other Christian communities: “It is a grave sin to belittle or despise the gifts that the Lord has given our brothers and sisters, and to think that God somehow holds them in less esteem. When we entertain such thoughts, we allow the very grace we have received to become a source of pride, injustice and division... we must acknowledge the value of the grace granted to other Christian communities” (18 Jan 2019). Pope Francis draws from this a serious ecumenical challenge: “As a result, we will want to partake of the gifts of others. A Christian people renewed and enriched by this exchange of gifts will be a people capable of journeying firmly and confidently on the path that leads to unity.” Are we at a turning point in the ecumenical quest?
Brian Farrell, LC, is an Irish Catholic bishop and currently Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
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How do you find all the zeros of #f(x) = 9x^4 – 17x^3 + 2x^2 – 3x + 33#?
Check that it has no rational zeros, then resort to a numerical method to find approximations.
By the rational root theorem, any rational zeros of #f(x)# can be expressed in the form #p/q# for integers #p, q# with #p# a divisor of the constant term #33# and #q# a divisor of the coefficient #9# of the leading term.
In addition, notice that if you invert the signs of the coefficients on the terms of odd degree, then all of the resulting coefficients are positive. Hence #f(x)# has no negative zeros.
We find that #f(x) > 0# for all of these values of #x#. So #f(x)# has no rational zeros.
It is possible to solve such a quartic algebraically, but it gets very messy and is not necessarily very useful.
You can use a numerical method such as Durand-Kerner to find good approximations to the two pairs of Complex zeros that it does have.
See https://socratic.org/s/av2PtWLY for an example finding approximations for the zeros of a quintic.
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It is rare to come across a traditional customer service team that is perfectly suited to the demands of social media. On social, agents become brand ambassadors and therefore need to possess all the skills that come with a public–facing role, on top of the skill sets needed to be a great agent over traditional channels like phone and email.
Be personable: During the interview process, assess whether this person can actually hold a conversation about a particular issue. Create a problem-solving scenario which involves a conversation back and forth; this can be the best way to judge how affable they are.
Be confident: Content on social media can vary greatly not only in topic but also action needed from the agent. Some messages might be answered easily, while others might require escalation to another department. Very likely, many of the mentions might not include actionable customer service issues at all. A great social customer service agent must have the confidence to trust their instincts to quickly assess the context of a message and then be able to take the appropriate action. This should be tested alongside the ‘personable’ actions.
Be curious: Whether recruiting internally or externally, it is essential that social customer service agents have the eagerness to not only learn new tools but also to know the industry inside-out. The best indicator for this is how well the potential social agent has up skilled themselves in previous roles, and are interested in developing the social customer care function.
Be articulate through writing: Social agents must be able to succinctly and effectively answer customer service queries. Good spelling and word choice is also important; minor errors can tarnish the brand’s appearance and damage credibility with the customer.
Be resilient: No matter the context, social agents must be able to react calmly, assess a situation and respond back to the customer. They must be able to show not only patience, but an ability to 'roll with the punches' by responding professionally in any scenario.
Have real empathy for the customer: Every action an agent takes must revolve around making the customer happy. Make sure potential employees have this focus and talk about the customer during the interview process through practical scenarios.
You are able to identify agents who already have both strong writing skills and a great rapport with customers.
The agents will already be familiar with your core contact center operations, allowing you to focus on social training.
Since social customer service is a relatively young field, there is currently a very small pool of agents that have social on their resume, giving outside recruitment little advantage.
All of this said, sometimes fresh minds bring fresh ideas. Companies should not be fearful of looking outside for external talent.
Companies sometimes think that only ‘Generation Y’ social media natives can be social agents—but we have seen great success in training agents of all ages in social media, and don’t see this as an obstacle to recruitment. Social media knowledge can be taught; the personality traits that make for a great agent are harder to find.
Before agents start posting from branded accounts, deliver training to establish the right social customer service processes. Training will not only prepare them for different situations, but will also empower agents to guide themselves through any social media eventuality. Even after agents begin responding on social, there should be ongoing training; social media is constantly changing, so agents must carry on learning and improving.
Regularly check the quality of responses.
Resource volumes appropriately; mistakes on social usually originate from overworked agents.
Be dynamic with social customer care.
Have an approval procedure in place for social media crises.
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0.992232 |
The Luxembourg National Data Protection Commission (Commission nationale pour la protection des donn�es, CNPD) has published a list of processing operations which require a mandatory data protection impact assessment in accordance with article 35 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
A DPIA represents a meaningful analysis of the impact of data processing on the data subjects concerned (processing which is required to be respectful of the privacy of such data subjects, in consonance with the fundamental principles of the GDPR).
What does a list of processing operations contain?
The list put forward by the CNPD does not consist of a comprehensive list of processing operations outside of which a DPIA would not be necessary � it is limited to those operations for which a data controller will necessarily need to perform a DPIA. The requirement for a DPIA in relation to operations not featured on the list will have to be assessed in accordance with the criteria of article 35, GDPR and the Guidelines on Data Protection Impact Assessment (WP248), issued by the Article 29 Working Party.
that consist of the systematic tracking of the geographic location of data subjects.
Certain of these operations also need to fulfil the criteria laid down in the guidelines issued by the European Data Protection Board.
The CNPD has also emphasised the obligations on the controller to: (i) perform the DPIA prior to any such processing being undertaken, and (ii) consult with the CNPD prior to processing which could result in a high risk to data subjects (in the absence of measures taken by the controller to mitigate the risk).
Under the GDPR, non-compliance with GDPR requirements could lead to fines imposed of up to 20million (EUR) or 4% of a group's worldwide turnover, whichever is greater. However for DPIAs this is in a lower category of up to 10million (EUR) or 2% of a group's worldwide turnover, whichever is greater. It is therefore important to comply with the requirements of the new legislation.
if areas of potential high risk are identified, recommend steps to mitigate that risk and consult with the CNPD.
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0.577408 |
Emil Jellinek, known after 1903 as Emil Jellinek-Mercedes (6 April 1853 – 21 January 1918) was a wealthy European automobile entrepreneur with Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft ('DMG'), responsible in 1900 for commissioning the first 'modern' car, the Mercedes 35hp. Jellinek created the Mercedes trademark in 1902, naming the cars after his daughter; the trademark developed into the term Mercedes-Benz, and is now among the largest car brands in the world. Jellinek lived in Vienna, Austria but later moved to Nice on the French Riviera, where he was the General Consul of Austria-Hungary.
Jellinek was born in Leipzig, Germany, the son of Dr Adolf Jellinek (sometimes known also as Aaron Jellinek). His father was a well-known Czech-Hungarian rabbi and intellectual in the Jewish collective around Leipzig and Vienna. Jellinek's mother, Rosalie Bettelheim (born 1832 in Budapest, died 1892 in Baden bei Wien), was an active rebbitzen. He had two brothers, both of whom achieved fame: Max Hermann Jellinek as a linguist, and Georg Jellinek as an international law teacher. His sisters were Charlotte and Pauline.
The family moved, shortly after Jellinek's birth, to Vienna. He found paying attention to school work difficult and dropped out of several schools including Sonderhausen. His parents were displeased with his performance, while Jellinek began to indulge in practical jokes. In 1870, when he was 17, his parents found him a job as a clerk in a Moravian railway company, Rot-Koestelec North-Western. Jellinek lasted two years at this company before being sacked when the management discovered that he had been organising train races late at night.
In 1872, when 19 years old, he moved to France. There, through his father's connections, Schmidl, the Austro-Hungarian Consul in Morocco, requested his services getting Jellinek diplomatic posts at Tangier and Tetouan successively. In Tetouan he met Rachel Goggmann Cenrobert, an African-born lady of French-Sephardi descent.
In 1874 he was called up for military service in Vienna but was declared unfit. He resumed his diplomatic career as Austrian vice-consul at Oran, Algeria and also began trading Algerian grown tobacco to Europe in partnership with Rachel's father.
He also worked as an inspector for the French Aigle insurance company and traveled to Vienna briefly in 1881 at the age of 28 to open one of its branch offices. Returning to Oran, he finally married Rachel, and their first two sons Adolph and Fernand were born there.
Two years later in 1884, Jellinek joined the insurance company full-time and moved with the family to Baden bei Wien, Austria, where they lived in the house of a wine dealer named Hanni. His first daughter, Mércédès Jellinek, was born in Baden on September 16, 1889; the name Mercédès means "favor", "kindness", "mercy", or "pardon" in Spanish. Rachel died 4 years later, and was buried in Nice. Even so, Jellinek came to believe the name Mercedes brought good fortune and called all his properties after it. One of his sons wrote: He was as superstitious as the ancient Romans.
Jellinek's insurance business and stock-market trading became very successful, and they started to spend the winters in Nice on the fashionable French Riviera, eventually moving there and establishing links with both international business people and the local aristocracy.
Helped by his diplomatic career, he became the Austrian Consul General in Nice and began selling automobiles, mainly French makes, to European aristocrats spending winter vacations in the region. Associated with the automobile business were Leon Desjoyeaux, from Nice, and C. L. “Charley” Lehmann, from Paris. He acquired a large mansion which he named Villa Mercedes to run the business from and by 1897 he was selling about 140 cars a year and started calling them Mercedes. The car business was by now more profitable than his insurance work.
It was in Nice that Jellinek became enthralled by the automobile, studying any information that he could gather about it and purchasing successively: a De Dion-Bouton, a Léon-Bollée Voiturette, both three-wheelers, and a four-seat Benz motorized-coach. Jellinek greatly admired automobile designer Wilhelm Maybach's work. He promised to buy a shipment of 36 automobiles for 550,000 goldmarks if Maybach could design a great race car for him following his specifications. The prototype was finished in December 1900 and, in 1901 went on to have a string of racing successes. Its engine was baptized Daimler-Mercedes.
In 1899 he married Madelaine Henriette Engler (Anaise Jellinek), and had four more children: Alain Didier, Guy, Rene and Andree (Maya).
Seeing an advertisement for a DMG car in the weekly magazine Fliegende Blätter, Jellinek, now aged 43, travelled to Cannstatt (near Stuttgart) in 1896 to find out more about the company, its factory, and the designers Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach. He placed an order for one of the Daimler cars and took delivery in October of that year.
The car, a Phoenix Double-Phaeton with 8 hp engine, could reach 24 km/h (15 mph). Maybach had designed the DMG-Phoenix engine, which featured four cylinders for the first time in a car, in 1894 when staying at Stuttgart's former Hermann Hotel.
DMG seemed a reliable enterprise, so Jellinek decided to start selling its cars. In 1898 he wrote to DMG requesting six more cars and to become a DMG main agent and distributor. In 1899 he sold 10 cars and in 1900 - 29. Among French car-makers such as Peugeot, Panhard & Levassor and other makers licensed to sell Daimler-engined vehicles in France there was a shortage of cars, and Jellinek benefited by being able to beat other suppliers' lengthy waiting-times.
Jellinek kept contacting DMG's designers with his ideas, some good but often with harangues such as: "Your manure wagon has just broken down on schedule", "Your car is a cocoon and I want the butterfly" or "Your engineers should be locked up in an insane asylum." This annoyed Daimler, but Maybach took notice of many of his suggestions.
Every year in March, the French Riviera celebrated a speed-week, attracting many members of the local high-society.
In 1899 Jellinek entered his cars in all of them. As the usage of pseudonyms was common, he called his race-team Mercedes and this was visibly written on the cars' chassis. Monsieur Mercedes became his personal alias and he became well known by it in the region.
Using the DMG-Phoenix, Jellinek easily won all the races, reaching 35 km/h (22 mph), but he was still not satisfied with the car.
Low center of gravity (lower engine).
75 km/h (45 mph). 35 hp (950 rpm). 300 to 1000 rpm (driver controlled).
Light high performance engine: 4 cylinders. Bore/stroke ratio: 116x140 mm. Displacement: 5918 cc. Cylinder heads part of the castings. Carburetor for each pair of cylinders. Controlled intake valves. Two camshafts.
Aluminium crankcase (pioneer), horizontally divided.
In 1899 DMG commissioned some engineers including Wilhelm Bauer, Wilhelm Werner and Hermann Braun, to investigate the possibility of using the Phoenix for sporting events as at that time car racing was the best way of generating publicity in Europe.
On March 30, 1900 Wilhelm Bauer decided spontaneously to enter the Nice-La Turbie hill climb but crashed fatally after hitting a rock on the first turn while avoiding spectators. This caused DMG to abandon racing.
Nonetheless, Jellinek came to an agreement with DMG on April 2, 1900 by promising the large sum of 550,000 Goldmark if Wilhelm Maybach would design a revolutionary sports car for him, to be called the Mercedes, of which 36 units had to be delivered before October 15. The deal also included an order for 36 standard DMG 8 hp cars. Jellinek also became a member of DMG's Board of Management and obtained the exclusive dealership for the new Mercedes for France, Austria, Hungary, Belgium and United States of America. Jellinek had some legal problems over the use of the Daimler name in France with Panhard Levassor who owned the Daimler licences for France, and the use of the Mercedes name put an end to that problem.
Long wheelbase and wide track to provide stability.
Engine to be better located on the car's chassis.
Electric ignition using the new Bosch system (in lieu of a gas heated glow tube).
The model would be officially called the Daimler-Mercedes which the DMG chairman accepted readily as it overcame the problem of the Daimler name in France being owned by Panhard & Levassor.
Over the next few months, Jellinek oversaw the development of the new car at first by daily telegrams and later by traveling to Stuttgart. He took delivery of the first one on December 22, 1900, at Nice's railway station – it had already been sold to the Baron Henri de Rothschild who had also raced cars in Nice.
In 1901, the car amazed the automobile world. Jellinek again won the Nice races, easily beating his opponents in all the capacity classes and reaching 60 km/h (37 mph). The director of the French Automobile Club, Paul Meyan, stated: "We have entered the Mercedes era", a sentiment echoed by newspapers worldwide.
The records set by the new Mercedes amazed the entire automobile world. DMG's sales shot up, filling its Stuttgart plant to full capacity and consolidating its future as a car making company. The number of employees steadily increased from 340 in 1900 to 2,200 in 1904. In 1902, on June 23, the company decided to use the Mercedes name as the trademark for its entire automobile production and officially registered it on September 26.
As well as shaving off his side-whiskers, the overjoyed Emil Jellinek, in Vienna in June 1903 at the age of 50, changed his name to Jellinek-Mercedes, commenting: "This is probably the first time that a father has taken his daughter's name". From then on, he signed himself E.J. Mercédès.
Jellinek and his enthusiastic associates were distributing DMG-Mercedes models worldwide, six hundred were sold by 1909, making millions for DMG. He supplied cars to all 150 members of Nice's Automobile Club and also supported racing teams all over Europe. His life was absorbed by the business, spending much time away from home, and sending many telegrams.
As the 1900s continued, his passion for the Mercedes began to fade. He tired of the special requests being made by his highly demanding aristocratic customers. He also became disillusioned by DMG's technical department which he called "those donkeys" and built his own large repair facilities at Nice behind Villa Mercedes. Wilhelm Maybach, his favorite designer, left DMG in 1907. He also so angered DMG's chairman that in 1908 he permanently cancelled Jellinek's original contract.
His diplomatic career continued and he was Austro-Hungarian Consulate General in successively Nice (1907), Mexico and Monaco. In 1909 when in Monte Carlo, Jellinek finally severed his commercial activities to concentrate on his consular work but did purchase some casinos in the region.
Just before war broke out in 1914 the Austrian government charged Jellinek for taxes on his French properties. The family then moved to Semmering, Austria. While being treated at a sanatorium in Bad Kissingen by Dr. Von Dapper, he ceded the Baden mansion to his family, writing: "(The Baden Villa) disturbs me terribly, I cannot sleep and that is detrimental to my health!"
When Austro-Hungary entered war on July 28, 1914, Jellinek and his family stopped speaking French outside their property. Later that year, they moved to Meran (France) but there, he was accused of espionage for Germany, supposedly hiding saboteurs in his Mediterranean yachts. At the same time, the Austrians suspected his wife Anaise.
Fleeing in 1917, they ended up in Geneva, in neutral Switzerland, where Emil Jellinek was temporarily arrested again. He stayed there until his death on January 21, 1918, at the age of 64. All his French properties were later forfeited. Since 1982, his remains have rested near Rachel's tomb, in Nice's Catholic Cemetery.
A decade after his death, in 1926, amid the German post-war crisis, DMG merged with Benz to become the Daimler-Benz company with their automobiles called Mercedes-Benz. Daimler-Benz purchased Chrysler in 1998 and became DaimlerChrysler until August 2007, when Chrysler was sold off to Cerberus Capital Management. The company is now known as Daimler AG.
Mercedes exhibition room in the Champs-Élysées, Paris.
Grand hotels: Royal and Scribe in Nice and the Astoria, in Paris.
The Villa Mercedes in Nice. No. 57, Promenade des Anglais.
The Villa Mercedes II in Nice. No. 54, Promenade des Anglais. Bought in 1902.
Villa Jellinek-Mercedes, Wienerstrasse 39-45, in Baden (next to the original vineyard house). Purchasing it as a building plot in 1891, Jellinek built a large mansion, adding to it progressively from 1909 until it had 50 rooms, 8 bathrooms and 23 toilets. During the battle of Berlin in 1945 the villa was destroyed and only the garage as well as two rooms were left. Afterwards, the land was divided and sold and is now occupied by a gas station and a smaller building built in 1900.
Château Robert. An immense house located between Toulon and Nice. Officially it was Jellinek's private residence, though he spent most of the time in the Villa Mercedes of Nice.
^ Krebs, Michelle (2001-10-19). "Her Name Still Rings A Bell". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
^ "Merced in English - Spanish to English Translation". SpanishDict.
^ Schuon, Marshall (1991-03-10). "About Cars; The Answer Was Not Rolls-Royce". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
^ "Emil Jellinek & his daughter Mercedes". Mercedes-Benz international website. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
"My Father Mr. Mercedes". Jellinek-Mercedes, Guy (translated by Ruth Hassell). G.T. Foulis & Co. Ltd, 1966, 319 pp.
This page was last edited on 14 February 2019, at 17:26 (UTC).
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0.999983 |
KENNY Jackett praised Millwall's "energy and commitment" despite their 1-0 defeat to Hull City at The Den on Saturday.
David Meyler's first-minute goal consigned the Lions to a third straight league defeat but Jackett felt his side's performance had been an improvement on recent weeks.
"I felt we put a lot of pressure on a very good Hull team and we were unlucky to lose today," he said. "They have a lot of quality in their side and performance-wise I felt we did well.
"There was a lot for us to base things on going forward, barring the finishing. We have to make sure we play with that level of commitment and energy all the time.
"I haven't seen the table but I'm told results have been quite kind to us, so it's very tight. There are sixteen games left and if we can put pressure on sides like we did against Hull, we'll be a handful."
Is this headline a joke? Energy is great but if it ain't channelled properly it's wasted.
Attitude reflects leadership. Kenny is trying to focus on the positive after a disappointing defeat. You blame him for that?
As we all know, we need a striker who can convert in front of goal. But without the energy of the players and the crosses in the box, even a good striker won't help.
So good on you, Kenny, for focusing positive and keeping the hopes up for a top six finish.
Kenny Jackett is still the man!!!! Didn't understand Marquis starting up front on his own tho (although a few people on this site were asking for him to be given a run) . Poor kid did his best but wasn't at the races. Thought we looked better when Hulse came on, ok, he's no Chris Wood, but he puts himself about. IMO, we were unlucky to lose today against a side in third place. Ok, it's disappointing, but please keep things in perspective!
Kane ? A lost dream.
This is what happens when you start fannying around and not buy when you've got the money.
Now we're looking at loans presumably to 'be in contention for the play.offs'. What a crock of s***.
1. We tried to spend our money on Wood. When that didn't come through, I'm glad we didn't throw the dough away randomly. What options did we have? Considering the circumstances, maybe loans are our best options at the moment, till something good shows up.
2. Just being in contention of the playoffs should give us ALL butterflies in our stomachs, considering our expectations pre-season. Get real, folks! Look at what we're accomplishing this season!! I'm proud beyond words!
Please try and sign Kane. Keogh and Kane worked so well together last year and we will get a s*** load of goals with those 2 together COYL in KJ we trust.
Kenny comment reminds me of spackmans long list of text book excuses 'we can learn from this'...etc etc..which is worrying.
but all is not lost, we are desperately understaffed at the moment..but we wont go down, if we end up mid table but have a good go i'll be happy with that.
This is exactly the kind of headline and comment from the manager which is the reason that we are so bloody average and mediocre. Its the tolerance of these comments from fans and posters that makes us so bloody average and mediocre. I thought we were basically sh*t yesterday. What incentive and motivation does it give to this group of players if the manager still praises them after a sh*t performance? I think too many people are far to easily pleased and tolerant of AVERAGE...if that is what you are happy with then that is what you'll get. If that is what KJ is happy with, then that is what he will get. PLEASE DON'T COMPLAIN WHEN WE FINISH 19TH !!!! Trotter is an overrated, lazy sod, Wright is a better, more energetic player than Trotter every day of the week, yet Wright gets taken off and the ineffective Trotter remains a first choice player, this is absolutely beyond me. Lowry is more suited to playing rugby...I counted 16 times when he aimlessly punted the ball into the air, and we lost possession again. And I laughed at a comment 'Beevers made a mistake....s*** happens'.......well I hope the poster of this comment is ready for league 1...We are in the 2nd tier of the 'Best league in the world' and you'll accept a schoolboy backpass will you? Also what happened to the slick passing on the ground football? We have gone all Watford/Wimbledon again..just punt it in the air and hope we get it back. We all need to expect more from these players and the manager needs to let them know that even 10K or 15K a week wages, IS A LOT OF MONEY!!!!!
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0.999994 |
The gray squirrel is a medium sized, slender tree squirrel, distinguished from the fox squirrel by its grayer back, white under parts, silver edging of the tail, smaller size and more slender facial profile. The eyes are so located on the head that the squirrel has a 40 degree binocular vision and good lateral sight. This helps the squirrel judge distance and depth while jumping and traveling through the trees at high speed. Lifespan in the wild averages 6 years.
Gray squirrels usually live most of their lives in and around one nest tree, having a small home range, but may have a number of auxiliary nests in an area to move to as flea infestations become intolerable. They may also get into attics of homes, causing mild dismay to the other inhabitants. Gray squirrels are diurnal, rising at first light, foraging and feeding for awhile and napping through the heat of the afternoon, then foraging again in the late afternoon. They spend a lot of time on the ground, foraging and storing their loot. The big bushy tail serves as a balance in jumping, climbing and running among the tree branches, as well as signaling agitation and aggression. It is also an umbrella for shade in the sunlight and provides warmth in the winter. Gray squirrels are fairly social and live in loose colonies, recognize who “belongs”, and may den up together for warmth during cold weather. They do not hibernate during the winter, although they will become less active during inclement weather. Gray squirrels have many vocalizations and distinct body language to indicate such things as fear, stress, contentment, agitation and aggression.
Gray squirrels may have two litters a year. The first is born between February and April, the second between August and September.
Southern Canada south to Florida; generally east of the Great Plains.
A surprisingly high number of baby squirrel problems can be successfully resolved by reuniting to the baby with the mother squirrel. If you have found a baby squirrel in the past few hours and the animal is not injured and shows no evidence of fly egg packets or maggots, the mother squirrel should be given the chance to retrieve the baby. This can be accomplished by placing the baby in a small plastic container with holes punched in the bottom for drainage. Line the container with a small washcloth or paper towel and nail it to the tree under which the squirrel was found, 5 or 6 feet off the ground. The squirrel should be left in the container for 2 hours to allow the mother ample time to locate her missing young. The mother is not apt to return if people dogs or cats are nearby. No attempt should be made to feed the baby. A hungry baby will cry for its mother and its crying will help the mother locate her young. If the mother has not returned in a few hours, or if it is very cold bring the baby indoors and keep it warm (place container on a heating pad set to low). Do not leave the baby out after dusk, for any reason.
Please call our clinic with any questions or if the mother does not return.
Leave a section of the tree containing leaf or cavity nest in the yard as near as possible to the original tree location and clear the area of any activity, allowing the mother sufficient time to retrieve her young. squirrels usually have alternate nests. Observe from indoors. Watching this retrieval process will melt the hardest hearts. Squirrel mothers are about the most diligent and solicitous in the wildlife kingdom. Incredible acts of bravado have often been reported to us. One mother squirrel upon finding her nest tree downed by a tree service, approached within 10 feet of an operating chain saw to retrieve her young. Because of the interdependence of squirrels within a particular community, i.e., denning up in groups to keep from freezing to death in bitterly cold weather, every effort should be made to reunite the mother with her young.
If the mother is known to be dead or the baby squirrel is injured or the baby shows evidence of fly egg packets or maggots (see Enemies), please call the clinic to make arrangements to bring the baby in to the clinic where it can know the company of other squirrels, and it's diet can be carefully monitored and medical attention will be immediately available if problems should arise.
Trapping & removing squirrels is not always the solution to the problem. Removing the animal is illegal without the proper permits and only creates an open space for another animal. A trapped adult may also leave young behind to die of starvation in an inaccessible area. Focus on removing the attraction, not the animal.
Do not use poisons. They are inhumane and may be illegal. They can result in secondary poisoning to raptors, wild scavengers and neighborhood pets.
It is illegal to keep wild animals, even or a short time. They have specialized nutritional, housing and handling needs that you are unlikely to be able to provide. Inexperienced individuals who attempt to raise or treat them inevitably produce unhealthy, tame animals that cannot survive in their natural habitat.
Do not encourage squirrels by feeding them close to your house.
Do not allow spillage to accumulate outside birdfeeders.
Keep grills and barbeque pits clean. Even a small amount of food scraps may attract squirrels and other wild animals.
Trim tree limbs that allow access to your roof.
Install and maintain chimney caps before animals move into your chimney.
Use welded wire on the inside of attic vents to prevent access to the attic if the covers are removed.
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0.999261 |
Here is an easy way to get in some letter formation practice!
1) Cover the bottom of a box with paints, markers, or crayons. Allow to dry thoroughly.
2) Cover the bottom of the box with salt. Practice writing letters, numbers, spelling words, math facts, etc.
We used a pizza box to make ours, since I have access to clean ones (my mom has a pizza shop). You can see 10 other ways to use pizza boxes here.
This is great!! I have boxes and sand and now aI know what to use them for. Yay!!
What is the best way to store this? Pour the salt in a bag or leave it in the box?
I would pour the salt in a bag.
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0.875109 |
In the United States, all military aircraft display a serial number to identify individual aircraft. These numbers are located on the aircraft tail, so they are sometimes referred to unofficially as "tail numbers". On the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit bomber, lacking a tail, the number appears on the nose gear door. Individual agencies have each evolved their own system of serial number identification. Aircraft serials are part of the Aircraft Visual Identification System, which also includes the aircraft's tail code and Modex.
In 1908, the United States government purchased its first heavier than air aircraft. The aircraft, a Wright Model A, was used by the aviation section of the United States Army Signal Corps, and was issued with serial number 1. Subsequent aircraft were numbered in sequence.
In 1918, the aviation section of the Army Air Service became the United States Army Air Service (USAAS), but the sequence of numbers started in 1908 continued without change. In 1920, the USAAS became independent from the Signal Corps, and by 1921 the sequence had reached 68000. On 1 July 1921, a new serial system was introduced that was based on the United States Fiscal Year, which continues to the present day. For example, the first aircraft to be procured with fiscal year 1960 funds was a Boeing B-52H serialed 60-001.
In 1926, when the USAAS became the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC), the sequence continued unchanged.
In late June 1941, when the USAAC became the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), the sequence continued unchanged, and the displayed number, normally shown on the fixed vertical stabilizer's sides, usually omitted the first digit of the year of the contract issuance.
In 1947, when the USAAF became the United States Air Force (USAF), the sequence continued unchanged. Although USAF was independent from the Army, Army aircraft continued to be allocated in the same numeric sequence until 1967.
In 1967, the United States Army continued to use the fiscal year serials, but the numeric element was started at 15000 for each year. In 1971, the sequence was started at 20000, and was not restarted with each fiscal year.
In 1911, the United States Navy (USN) purchased its first aircraft, a Curtiss Triad pusher floatplane. The Navy allocated a prefix for each manufacturer, and the first aircraft was serialed A-1, with A allocated to Curtiss. Different letters were also allocated to the same manufacturer, but for different types of aircraft, for example Curtiss amphibians were allocated E. In early 1914, the system was changed to a two-letter type/sub-type system, with each having a sequence starting from 1. A was allocated for heavier-than-air types for example AB was a flying boat and AX was an amphibian. All surviving aircraft from the original system were reserialled.
In 1917, the individual number sequences were stopped, and a combined sequential numerical system was started at number 51. Prefix letters were retained for a short time, but in 1917 they were replaced with single letter A for aeroplane (another name for 'airplane'). The numbers were official designating numbers, but became known as Bureau Numbers (BuNos) due to their assignment by the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics. In 1930, the service ceased using the A prefix; the last such serial was A-9204.
In 1935, when the sequence reached 9999, the sequence was restarted at 0001. At the start of the 1940s, so many aircraft were purchased that surviving aircraft from the first sequence could be confused with second-series aircraft, and the sequence was stopped at 7303.
In 1940, the third sequence was started at 00001 (with five digits). When the third sequence reached 99999, it continued with six digits which continues to date.
In 1926, the United States Coast Guard purchased its own aircraft, and they were assigned one or two digit serial numbers. In 1934, the system was changed to a three-digit number with the first digit indicating an aircraft type. In 1936, this was changed again, and all aircraft (including those withdrawn from use) were allocated serials starting with V101. In 1945, the V prefix was removed and replaced with digit 1 to make four-digit serial numbers, which continues to the present. Since 1969, executive aircraft operated for the Secretary of the Treasury were assigned their own sequence beginning with 1.
The early Army aircraft had large black serials marked on the fin or rudder, and in 1917 it was usual to prefix the serial with SC for signal corps, or later AS for aerial service. Later, the prefixes were not always marked, and were eventually dropped. From 1942, the serial number was applied to the fin (or boom if a helicopter) — alternatively, the North American A-36 Apache usually had its serial showing on the fuselage instead — with the first digit of the fiscal year being omitted. The serial would not be allowed to be less than four digits (for example B-45 serial number 47-007 was marked 7007), but there was no upper limit (for example YP-59A 42-108783 was marked as 2108783).
When the original fiscal year of a serial became ten years earlier than the current fiscal year, the tail number was often prefixed with a zero, for example 0-16717 instead of 16717 for UH-1H fiscal serial 66-16717. This was for disambiguation purposes, to avoid confusion with tail numbers for later fiscal years. The practice was generally abandoned in the 1980s. The notion that it was O for Obsolete is a widespread myth.
In 1956, the fin serials were changed from a minimum of four digits to five digits and in 1957 all serials were limited to five digits (for example KC-135R 58-0001 is marked as 80001). The system is still in use. An aircraft in the first 10 units purchased in the fiscal year is often referred to as "Balls-(number)" - for example, NASA's B-52B, the oldest B-52 in service until its retirement, was known as Balls 8. Aircraft that use the tactical style of marking (EX: AF80 020 to the left and below the wing tail code)are also referred to as ‘balls’. This is a combination of the two consecutive zeros, one from the last digit in the build year and the other from the first digit in the aircraft number.
In 1969, camouflaged tactical aircraft were marked with modified presentation with the fiscal year followed by the last three digits of the serial number. Also, the letters AF were often added as a prefix or nearby.
Whatever the serial presentation on the fin, the full fiscal serial is always presented in a technical data block, which is normally on the port (left) side near the cockpit. Often a portion of the aircraft serial number is also painted on the aircraft nose (as is done with helicopters) or on the nose landing gear door (as is done on fighters and bombers) to help ground and air crew personnel speedily identify a certain aircraft as it approaches while taxiing into or out of parking spots or elsewhere around an airfield.
Each Navy and Marine Corps aircraft normally has its Bureau Number plus the type designation marked in small letters on the rear fuselage. Sometimes the last four digits of the serial are painted on the fuselage or vertical stabilizer fin. Sometimes the last three digits are used as the side codes also known as nose numbers or MODEXs (most commonly in the USN P-3C Orion and P-8A Poseidon fleet), but on most operational aircraft this is normally a squadron assigned code instead of a shortened serial number.
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Did Jules Verne influence “Dracula”?
Despite all the research I did on Dracula while writing my book The Gothic Wanderer, I never came across mention of Jules Verne’s 1893 novel Carpathian Castle, originally published in French as Le Château des Carpathes.
Consequently, when I recently came across mention of this novel and the assertion that it may have been a source for Stoker’s novel, I was eager to read it and see whether the theory was plausible, especially since I found no further statements to back up the assertion that The Carpathian Castle may have been a source.
An early cover of Jules Verne’s Carpathian Castle.
My final assessment is that Stoker probably never read the book or was familiar with it before writing Dracula. I admit I haven’t been able to locate when the book was translated into English, or whether Stoker could read French, but regardless, there are no passages in the novel that remotely appear to be similar to anything in Dracula. The only possibility is that Stoker could have decided to set his own novel in the Carpathian mountains after reading this book, but there is no other similarity. Yes, the book makes some references to supernatural creatures whom the locals fear, including vampires, fairies, and family ghosts, but there are no supernatural characters in the entire book; nor does the castle in any way resemble the castle in Dracula, and there is a total lack of pacing or narrative similarity between the two works. There are no multiple narrators as in Dracula—a technique that Stoker most likely took from Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White actually, a book Stoker greatly admired—and in short, The Carpathian Castle is downright boring.
The premise of The Carpathian Castle is fine enough, but I’ve found that Verne is often hit or miss in his books, at least for today’s reader. The only two of his books I actually enjoyed reading were A Journey to the Center of the Earth and Michael Strogoff. Other books I have found to be extremely slow-moving, including Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The Mysterious Island, and Robur the Conqueror, but The Carpathian Castle has to be the slowest since almost nothing happens throughout the entire book. The climax is also disappointing, although of course, it would have been more thrilling to Verne’s contemporaries, but we have seen the kind of thing Verne pulls off here so many times today that it seems old hat, although with all respect, Verne was a pioneer of his genre.
The castle near the village of Werst is believed to be abandoned until a Jewish peddler sells a telescope to a local farmer, who then is able to view smoke rising from the castle. This discovery results in two people trying to reach the castle, only to have calamity befall them, which is easily explained but makes them think it is supernatural. Then Count Franz de Télek passes through the town and hears the stories, including that the castle belongs to Baron Rodolphe de Gortz, who disappeared years ago and is believed dead. However, the count has seen the baron since his disappearance, and together, they were rivals for the affections of the beautiful Italian prima donna La Stilla. Ultimately, La Stilla died and the baron blamed the count for her death. The count decides to investigate, only to discover he can hear La Stilla singing in the castle, and then he sees her image. The end is predictable when it’s discovered her voice is a recording and he is viewing a holographic image.
Since the novel takes place in the late nineteenth century, these new inventions would have been surprising to Verne’s readers, but after we have seen plenty of illusions, notably the wizard’s various appearances in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (and I doubt L. Frank Baum read The Carpathian Castle either), such discoveries are no longer surprising to modern readers.
Verne’s story follows the Gothic subgenre of rational explanations for supernatural events that goes back to Ann Radcliffe’s novels a century earlier. However, he does seem to draw on some supernatural elements of Gothic novels, notably the Wandering Jew theme. It is notable that it is a Jewish peddler (a Wandering Jew figure) who sells the telescope through which the castle is discovered to be inhabited. This Jew is also describes as selling time and the weather (barometers and thermometers, and the footnote states “temps” in French is an untranslatable pun to mean “time and weather”). While these items are physical objects, they are in line with the Wandering Jew’s alleged ability to control the elements—Dracula himself, a literary descendant of the Wandering Jew, also has power over the elements in his ability to create a storm or mists when he arrives in England. That said, this character disappears from the book after the first incident so Stoker does not take the metaphor further.
The local innkeeper is also Jewish, but we are told he is not usurious like most Jews who are buying up Transylvania so that someday perhaps it will end up being the Promised Land for them (of course, Verne is writing decades before the state of Israel was established). There really is no point in this character being Jewish at all.
There’s really nothing else of interest in The Carpathian Castle. My copy (Ace Books, 1963) is 190 pages and it takes forever in it for the characters just to get to the castle. The story could have been half as long with what little plot there is.
If Stoker read The Carpathian Castle, perhaps the only influence it had was that he figured he could write a better novel; he wouldn’t be the first author to read a poor novel and be inspired to write a better one as a result, but unless some evidence appears, I think it’s safe to say that Dracula owes no debt to Verne’s novel.
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N. Karampatziakis, und P. Mineiro.
Representing examples in a way that is compatible with the underlying classifier can greatly enhance the performance of a learning system. In this paper we investigate scalable techniques for inducing discriminative features by taking advantage of simple second order structure in the data. We focus on multiclass classification and show that features extracted from the generalized eigenvectors of the class conditional second moments lead to classifiers with excellent empirical performance. Moreover, these features have attractive theoretical properties, such as inducing representations that are invariant to linear transformations of the input. We evaluate classifiers built from these features on three different tasks, obtaining state of the art results.
%0 Generic %1 karampatziakis2013discriminative %A Karampatziakis, Nikos %A Mineiro, Paul %D 2013 %K analysis eigenvector feature kallimachos %T Discriminative Features via Generalized Eigenvectors %U http://arxiv.org/abs/1310.1934 %X Representing examples in a way that is compatible with the underlying classifier can greatly enhance the performance of a learning system. In this paper we investigate scalable techniques for inducing discriminative features by taking advantage of simple second order structure in the data. We focus on multiclass classification and show that features extracted from the generalized eigenvectors of the class conditional second moments lead to classifiers with excellent empirical performance. Moreover, these features have attractive theoretical properties, such as inducing representations that are invariant to linear transformations of the input. We evaluate classifiers built from these features on three different tasks, obtaining state of the art results.
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0.999989 |
How do I ensure the best testing experience (when taking a proctored exam)?
We recommend using a computer/laptop you are comfortable with. Please close all programs that are not related to the proctoring experience to ensure nothing is stopping the program from running correctly. The fewer other devices sharing your internet connection the better, as it will ensure the best internet speed and quality.
We recommend using Google Chrome or Firefox as they run best with large programs like Software Secure.
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0.999969 |
Relieved from the pressure, the party is more likely to take steps to reduce the level of political polarisation.
Unlike the expectations, Turkey's governing Justice and Development (AK party) won a landslide victory in the November 1 election. It increased its votes by approximately 9 percent, hence significantly surpassing even its pre-June 7 election standing.
Numerically speaking, in the June election, the AK party lost around three million votes, which were rightly regarded as a major setback for the party. But in the November election, the party added approximately 4.6 million new voters into its fold. In another words, between the June 7 and November 1 elections, the party has increased its votes by one million each month, a spectacular achievement.
More importantly, this increase did not occur as a result of a certain segment of society flocking into the AK party's ranks and files in droves. Instead, the AK party has increased its votes all across Turkey.
It gained back a chunk of pious Kurds' votes which it lost to the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the June 7 elections. It also received a significant number of votes from Turkish nationalist Nationalist Action Party (MHP), and other small Islamist and nationalist parties.
It benefitted from the high electoral turnout and increased its votes among the youth. It is the winner in all seven geographic regions of Turkey, including the secularist stronghold Aegean and the Kurdish nationalist-dominated east and southeast Anatolia.
Relieved from the pressure of the elections and once again endowed with the feeling of confidence and security, the governing AK party is more likely to take steps to reduce the level of political polarisation in the country.
By any account, the AK party achieved a stunning victory and made a true comeback by almost replicating the 2011 general election's outcome in which it received 49.8 percent of the votes and which is regarded as the zenith of its power.
At this stage, it is vital to ask the following two questions: What accounts for such a stunning victory for the AK party? Second, what does it mean for Turkey and its most pressing issues?
Two factors are crucial to account for the party's success: The AK party's ability to learn and to draw lessons from its failures, and the voters' willingness to reconsider their decisions once the party undertook the necessary corrections.
As a relatively young party, founded in 2001, the AK party is a learning organisation. In the aftermath of the June 7 elections in which it received almost 41 percent of votes, 16 points ahead of its closest competitor, it was the only party that undertook the most significant level of soul-searching.
It convened many meetings with party officials, intellectuals, civil society organisations and ordinary people to denote the causes of its electoral loss. It was capable of conveying the message to the people that their message had been received by the party.
As a corollary, before the June 7 elections, the theme that was associated with the AK party and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the most was that if rewarded with the necessary super-majority, they would change Turkey's parliamentary political system into an executive presidency.
In addition, another factor that has been widely cited as a cause for the party's failure in June, was that Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu were striking different chords; hence the party was not able to deliver a clear and coherent message to the people. To some extent, it seemed that there was a dual leadership working at cross purposes.
Once the causes of the party's ills were identified, it then swiftly corrected both of these factors in the aftermath of the June elections. For instance, it dropped its intention to introduce the executive presidency from its agenda. People did not directly relate to this demand.
Instead, the AK party has focused on the stability, security, prosperity that a single-party government (in contrast to an unstable coalition government) could deliver for them.
These themes were directly touching people's lives and they resonated with them. The uncertainty and instability that ensued in the aftermath of the June election has only confirmed and strengthened the AK party's new theme and narrative.
Moreover, Erdogan and Davutoglu struck the same chord prior to the November 1 election.
These corrections were well-received by the voters. In fact, it is this propensity of the performance-focused voters to reconsider their decisions that is the guarantee for Turkey's democracy. It punishes when it feels that the party is straying away from the path and then rewards once it thinks that the party is back on track and doing the right things.
The combination of the existence of a learning organisation and performance-focused voters are the main determinants behind the AK party's victory on November 1.
There will be some level of reinvigoration in the Kurdish peace process, but not in its previous form or structure. Developments in Syria, particularly in the Kurdish part of Syria and the Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK) propensity to return to the conflict, have led the government to reconsider the previous premises of the peace process, and the means to achieve it.
In this regard, it is plausible to expect that the party will put the negotiating settlement scheme with the PKK on hold until some kind of clarification and common understanding emerges between the two sides in the Kurdish part of Syria.
During this time period, it is more likely that the AK party will aim to accommodate some of the Kurdish demands within a broader and more general democratisation programme, which will directly aim at the Kurdish citizens, rather than Kurdish political groups.
This method is unlikely to provide a solution to Turkey's Kurdish question in earnest. But as stated above, this is a transitional solution rather than long-lasting one.
Highly conciliatory political language adopted by the prime minister, the president, and the party officials since the announcement of the election results, testifies to the party's intentions.
Though language is important, actions are even more so. Therefore, the party needs to complement its language with political openings.
Galip Dalay is senior associate fellow on Turkey and Kurdish Affairs at Al Jazeera Centre for Studies, and research director at Al Sharq Forum.
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The 2019 AFC Asian Cup will be the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The United Arab Emirates was announced as the host for the tournament on 9 March 2015, with Iran being the only remaining bidder for the right to host the 2019 finals. It will be the second time that the United Arab Emirates hosts the tournament after the 1996 finals.
For the first time, the Asian Cup final tournament will be contested by 24 teams, having been expanded from the 16-team format that had been used since 2004. Under this new format, the finalists will contest a group stage consisting of six groups of four teams, followed by a knockout stage of 16 teams. The host nation will automatically qualify for the final tournament, while the remaining 23 places will be determined among the other 45 national teams through a qualifying competition, running from March 2015 to March 2018, in which the first two rounds also serve as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process for the AFC.
Australia will be the defending champions going into the tournament, having won the previous competition in 2015. The winner of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup will earn the right to participate in the 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup which is to be hosted by a yet to be determined AFC association after 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts, Qatar, lost the rights. As the 2021 Confederations Cup host country will have already qualified as hosts, if they win, the runner-up will qualify.
On 9 March 2015, AFC announced the hosts during an AFC Executive Committee meeting in Manama, Bahrain.
The 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification process will determine the 24 participating teams for the tournament. In 2014, a proposal to merge the preliminary qualification rounds of the FIFA World Cup with those of the AFC Asian Cup was ratified by the AFC Competitions Committee. The new qualification structure will take place in three stages, with the first two merging with the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. In the first round, the lowest ranked teams played home-and-away over two legs to reduce the total number of teams to 40. In the second round, the 40 teams were divided into eight groups of five to play home-and-away round-robin matches, where the eight group winners and the four best group runners-up will qualify for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals. In the third round, the next best 24 teams eliminated from second round will be divided into six groups of four and compete for the remaining slots of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.
The first qualifying round of the qualification took place on 12 March 2015, with the final match of the third round expected to take place on 27 March 2018.
The eight venues to host matches are Zayed Sports City Stadium, Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium and Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium and Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain, Zabeel Stadium and Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Stadium in Dubai, and Sharjah Stadium in Sharjah.
Zayed Sports City Stadium, one of three stadiums in Abu Dhabi, will stage both the opening match and the final. The match schedule itself will maximise the use of venues. At least five matches will be allocated to each venue, with every ground hosting at least one match in the knockout stage. The semi-finals will be played on different days in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. No city will host two matches on the same day – except in the final round of group stage matches when simultaneous kick-off is required. Unlike previous editions of the tournament, there will be no third/fourth place game.
Poor attendance records have been seen as a problem for the UAE in past tournaments, but Asian Cup officials are confident the tournament will attract significant numbers.
This page was last modified on 25 April 2016, at 18:13.
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Projectify is an open-source to-do list application for people who are serious about digitizing their responsibilities.
This project is open source. For more info about the site, see the ABOUT page. If you are interested in contributing to the project, check out the CONTRIBUTE page. Links are also in the nav bar at the top of the page.
Edit display name and password.
UPDATE(07/22/2017): TL;DR: MIT LICENSE FTW!!!
I decided a while back that I'd rather go with the short and sweet MIT license for this project. And after the long hiatus, I haven't seen evidence of anyone forking the repository or otherwise inplementing the project elsewhere, so I'm just going to change it now and be done with it.
UPDATE(07/03/2017): After way too much time off from this project, the SSL certificate was not being accepted by Chrome because Google stopped trusting certificates by StartCom, which is the type of cert we were using. We were finally able to install a cert signed by Let's Encrypt and we're back up and running.
The deploy process has been adjusted to use the GitHub repo to pull in changes, so the code running in production should always match the master branch going forward.
An issue has been fixed where creating a subtask with the completed box checked would result in an error. Next we will focus on adding tags without confusing them with contexts and adding roadblocks. Improving the layout will come after that.
UPDATE(05/18/2015): After the last update there were some issues preventing users from checking project completed checkbox. These have been fixed. Also the UI integration for syncing manually sorted tasks is finished. Now when you make changes a "changes pending" notice will display. A background sync job will pick it up and if successful the notice will disappear. If there are errors (loss of connection, for example), there will be an error notice to let you know.
UPDATE(05/14/2015): Now when you select filters on your main project list, these filters are saved in a cookie so when you refresh the page you don't have to hit those buttons every time. We've also made a few behind-the-scenes improvements that will make development a little faster and also made some layout changes that make the main project list a bit easier on the eyes and better about using the screen in a somewhat responsive way. The backend functionality for manually sorting your tasks has been implemented. Up next is the ui and event handler components of the manual sort feature. This should be done in the next few days.
UPDATE(04/01/2015): You can now add your own custom contexts to the list. Go to the "Add Task" page and click the '+' icon to get a textbox where you can enter your new context name. Press ENTER to save it to your list. Contexts you've added will have a remove button you can click to remove the context.
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A debt collector is calling me looking for a relative. Am I required to give them contact information for the relative?
No, you aren't required to give them information about your relative. And if they are revealing information about the debt to you, they may be breaking the law. Tell them you can't help them, ask them not to contact you again, and then let your relative know what's going on. Send the person who does owe the debt here to find out what to do!
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Child And Childhood both are the different terms and convey different meaning that is child can be defined as individual beneath the age of eighteen while the childhood is being termed as event or phase of the children (Bärnighausen and et.al., 2011). Rethinking childhood, generally analyse the belief, attitude and experiences of the childhood so that adults may have positive behaviour toward living with children. The present essay focuses on different approaches that result in constructing the childhood. Therefore, it also result in shaping the productive attitude and experience of the child. The essay will also critically evaluate the statement that is 'the child' or ’childhood’ that are socially constructed discourses. In addition to this, it also focuses on prominent modern theory of the childhood that support in shaping the attitude and experience of them.
What do critics mean when they say that accounts of 'the child' or 'childhood' are socially constructed discourses?
Childhood of children that is lived and experienced is different from one place to another. The term ‘childhood’ is considered as a state or phase of being a child (Hatch, 2010). In the contemporary scenario, the significance of childhood is increasing within the life course as it results in affecting adulthood of the children. Therefore, it is necessary for the adults and parents to focus on providing proper education and values to their children so that it may not affect their future. Herman and et.al (2009) has asserted that education in the childhood positively shapes the attitude and perception of the children and it support them in increasing their knowledge (Herman and et.al., 2009). However, with the help of primary and secondary education children enhance their knowledge and experience that further support them in their adulthood and lives. On the contrary basis, Taguchi (2010) stated that childhood get disappear when the parents are supportive in providing them education and schooling (Taguchi, 2010). Education plays a vital role in the life of children as with the help of education, children acquire knowledge and information regarding each and every aspect. With the help of proper education and schooling, children may also come to know about the diverse aspects and characteristics of the children.
In the present scenario, child development plays an important role that amends their knowledge and learning so that they may survive in the environment. Basically, there are different aspects that need to be considered while focusing on the theories of childhood. There are variant and diverse childhoods; different perspective on the childhood,. Children play active participation in the family and society that directly contribute in enhancing their lives etc (Jutte and et.al, 2010). On the other hand, the social constructionism is the approach that mainly focuses on share assumptions and anticipation about the reality. The main rationale behind social constructionism is to determine the ways and methods under which the individual or certain groups within society participate collaboratively to construct the idea on the childhood through measuring the sensed social reality. The social reality focuses that there are multiple and diverse childhood that provide different experience and knowledge to the children. Diverse childhood situation varies from place to place for instance; the childhood of developed western countries is differing from the poverty-stricken region. Childhood of western developed countries mainly concentrates on providing or rendering the education and learning so that they may enhance the children’s mental state and their perspective regarding the other children and their state (Blaise and Taylor, 2012). On the other hand, in the time period of poverty-stricken region, earlier children were expected to work as the labourer so that their family could easily survive in the world. With the changing scenario that is with the increase in western society and implementation of the different policies, it tends to focus on the development of the children and providing them childhood so that they may live as children. According to Shonkoff and Fisher (2013) with the socially constructed discourses, child and childhood, both the terms play a significant role in the society (Shonkoff and Fisher, 2013). Key vision of historical childhood was to use children as the key resource for performing the activities and services within the industries and it replaces them with the education. But the modern theory of childhood generally focuses on the development of children and childhood so that they may acquire immense knowledge.
As per the view of () the contemporary view of the child generally acknowledges the agency that is from the birth child demonstrate that it possess the competencies to understand and act. It also concentrates that children inherently possess extraordinary competence and abilities from the birth that support them in growth. However, agency and participation are considered as two essential characteristics that constitute the sociology of the childhood. The foremost characteristic include agency that perceive child, as an active agent construct their own and individual culture and features their own activities and practices (Share, 2009). Another new sociology of childhood focuses on participation. Within the UK, government actively enforce and participate in conserving the lives of child and their childhood through focusing on different acts such as the children act 1989 or agenda like every child matters etc. all the agenda and legislation framed by the UK government generally focuses on protecting the right of child and its childhood. According to the critics, the concept of social construction of childhood is different from societies to societies. Sociologist stated that children are biologically distinct from the adults. For instance, James (2010) has stated that in 19th Century in Britain before the occurrence of industrialization minor or children were seems as mini adults that perform activities as the child labourer and so same work as their parents used to do (James, 2010). However, after the industrialization Burt (2009) has also asserted that children has become dependent on their parents as the significance of education has been increased that overall develop their knowledge (Burt, 2009 ).
As per the view of Strandell (2010) in the contemporary environment children have no economical use as they have to engage in the studies and education to acquire the new skills and knowledge usually till the age of 16 as they are mainly dependent on their family members and parents (Strandell, 2010). However, in some societies children are consider as main source of income and possess economic use as in the early age they started to work. In these societies there is no conception of childhood for the child and so childhood is consider to be a societal construction.
The sociologist generally have different perspective over the modern psychologist that proposes the theory of childhood as well as child development. In the contemporary environment the early childhood education plays a vital role in the lives of child as it result in raising their knowledge as well as mindset so that they may easily enjoy their childhood. According to Schoorman (2011) in the ancient time period there were no government that frame or devise the policy or act that protect the right of child and childhood (Schoorman, 2011). Thus, the gradual extension of the mandatory schooling has decline the rate of child labour and have also changed the attitude and perception of children from an economic assets to the most important or valuable part that is necessary for family for their survival. In the past scenario, children are mainly consider as responsibility that intervenes their educations, health and diet. However, to improve the health and diet of the individual or children government has intervene different policies and agenda related with the early childhood education that concern with upbringing the well-being of children and their childhood. In addition to this, early childhood intervention also impact positively on developing and amending the emotional and behavioural outcome in the children. With the emergent of industrialization has impact the population as well as the lives of children. According to Taylor, Blaise and Giugni (2013) within the pre-industrial societies children mainly focuses on working in the industries and cottage craft (Taylor, Blaise and Giugni, 2013). Child labour was the ultimate outcome of the industrialization that was economical as it mainly contribute in the household income.
The impact and outcome of early childhood education was constructive as it result in enhancing the knowledge of children. However, it also impact in understanding the children as key resource that support the children as essential part that contribute in the overall development and shaping the behaviour and attitude of the children. According to Martini (2012) early childhood program also assist in cognitive development of the children that is advantageous to family as well as society as it result in uplifting the society (Martini, 2012 ).
Therefore, to overcome the socially-constructed discourses the author or sociologist have framed and focused on the modern theory of childhood. As in the present scenario the child development has gaining the significant pace and they are not focuses on the social constructivism. Child development is consider as a process or period under which child typically develop and grow from infancy to the mature and adult level. Under child development basically there are various aspects related with the child growth and development such as physical growth, cognitive growth as well as social growth (Rogers, 2010). The different theory related with childhood and their development include Erik Erikson and Piaget's theory. Erik Erikson focuses on the social theory that focuses that social relationship act as the driving forces in the development of an individual and children. However, this theory is consider as one of the most comprehensive in nature and that basically focuses on the development of child from their birth up to the old age. In addition to this, the theory also stated that there are eight interconnected phase of the children and childhood that need to be matured over the whole life cycle. The key stages of the child development include the stage of infant, toddler, preschooler, school age child, adolescent, young adult, middle age adult and older adult.
According to Jones (2009) the first stage is of infant the stage that focuses on the basic trust Vs mistrust (Jones, 2009). If the child is handled properly and carefully then child will develop optimum trust and confidence. However, in the situation if child may not experience trust then child may develop mistrust and insecurity. Another stage is toddler or early childhood year under which the child has possibility to build autonomy as at this stage they may acquire new skills and abilities. Third stage in the Erik Erikson model is preschooler that focuses on the initiative vs guilt as at this stage child has become active and in the move. They are basically active and very initiative in learning and gaining new things. However, at this stage children want to initiate for the learning for the purpose. However, at this stage when initiating for learning to attain the desired outcome and if they do not produce the desired outcome then child may feel guilt for the actions. As per the view of Kellett (2010) fourth stage is school age child under which they develop the competency of industry versus inferiority (Kellett, 2010). However, another stage is adolescent that generally focus on identity versus role confusion. As the adolescent generally struggle for their identity that what they are and what they want to perceive in their life. On the other hand if individual or child is unsuccessful at this stage then it may result in arising role confusion. Share (2009) has asserted that another stage in the Erik Erikson development model is of young adult that basically develop the feeling of love that is intimacy versus isolation (Share, 2009). The young adult often seek to attain companionship and love to develop intimacy and satisfied relationship with the other person. In the situation if they are unable to create intimacy it may result to occur the situation of isolation. Another stage focus on middle aged adult from the age group of 35 to 55 year. At this stage individual generally give importance to their career and work along with the family and friends. However, at this stage individual can also take greater responsibilities in establishing and guiding for the next generation. However, the last stage in the model focuses on late adult that develop the behaviour of integrity versus despair. The integrity is develop when the individual sees themselves in leading the successful lives. However, in the situation if individual is does not satisfied with their life then they may develop feeling of despair that results in leading the individual in depression.
Another childhood development theory that is also consider as modern theory of childhood is of Piaget's. It is a prominent theory that generally focuses on the nature and development of the children (Blaise, 2012). The basic assumption of the Piaget's theory is that this theory generally focuses on development of children rather than other individuals. However, the theory also concentrate on the development despite of enhancing the learning. In addition to this, the main aim of the theory is to justify the procedure through which the infant and child grows and develop into the adult. The Piaget's generally observe the children at each and every stage and describe the actions so that they should construct their own ideas and knowledge from the experiences. The modern theory of childhood is very broad as it generally focuses from the birth through the adolescent age of the children as well as it also focus on understanding and including the concepts that are necessary in the moral and cognitive development of the individual.
Piaget's cognitive development generally focuses on the four stages of a child life that they carry on in their lives. The first stage is sensorimotor that begins from the birth up to the 2 years. Piaget under this phase or stage generally focuses on using the motor actions without using any symbols (Hatch, 2010). The children generally possess limited knowledge at this stage because they are generally use their hands movement as well as infants under this stage cannot predict the adult reaction. However, at this stage the amendment of cognitive knowledge increases at this stage.
According to James (2010) another stage in the theory include pre-operational stage that usually occurs during the age group of 2 to 7 years (James, 2010). At this stage the children generally start using the language as it also result in developing the imagination and memory of the children. At thus stage children get engaged in the understanding the relationship. In addition to this, another stage is concrete operational that is up to the age group of 7 to 11 years. Under this stage children often use the symbolic language and manipulation symbol for communicating with each other (Clarke, 2002). Furthermore, the last stage in the Piaget's theory is formal operational stage that continues up to adulthood as the adolescent and the adults generally uses and understand the symbols related with the thought and concepts. However, the author has also suggested that the modern theory of the childhood is essential in gaining adequate knowledge related with the different stages of the child and childhood that need to be consider by the family so that they should provide constructive childhood to their children (Schoorman, 2011).
Sensorimotor, starts from birth to 2 years. Under this stage the children generally understand the outside world and language through the senses sand individual actions. Another stage is Preoperational that starts from 2 years to 7 years. Under this stage of the childhood they often understand the words through language or images (Ruhm and Waldfogel, 2011). Third stage is concrete operational starts from 7 years to 12 years. Under this stage children often learn through logical thinking and language as children has attained the stage under which they speak the language to communicate their views (Martini, 2012). While, the last stage is formal operational that starts from 12 years to adulthood. Children under this stage understand the world through there thinking and applying scientific reasoning to understand them.
As per the view of Jones (2009) children development theory generally focuses on the assumptions about the children that is they mainly construct their own and individual knowledge with the certain response to experience (Jones, 2009). However, the theory also assume that child often learn and acquire different things by their own without any participation of the children or adult. In addition to this, the theory also have assumption that children do not require any rewards from the individual or adults as they are intrinsically motivated to acquire the learning. According to Blaise (2012) there are certain criticism of Piaget's theory is that they have renders their efforts in teaching the development of advanced concepts to the children that would be unsuccessful in the future scenario (Blaise, 2012). In addition to this, Herman and et.al (2009) has also asserted that Piaget has recognized that children does not possess any competency thus, infants and young children are more capable and competitive that result in the cognitive development that assist them to understand the behaviour of other individual (Herman and et.al., 2009). However, another criticism of the theory is that assist them to understand the behaviour of other individual. However, another criticism of the theory is that the theory only focuses on the social component for enabling the cognitive development within the children (Simatwa, 2010). Despite of this, another criticisms of Piaget's theory is that theory was effective at describing the cognitive development processes rather than explaining that how development operates in their lives.
From the above report it can be concluded that child and childhood both the terms are different from each other as child can be defined as individual beneath the age of eighteen while the childhood is being termed as event or phase of the children. Rethinking childhood, generally analyse the belief, attitude and experiences of the childhood so that adults may have positive behaviour toward living with children. Furthermore, the above essay writing report is focused on the different critical reviews regarding the social constructed discourses on the child and childhood. Lastly, the report has also focused on the Modern Theory Of Childhood that is Piaget's theory that generally focuses on the four stages of the childhood.
Blaise, M. and Taylor, A., 2012. Using queer theory to rethink gender equity in early childhood education. YC Young Children.
Blaise, M., 2012. Playing it straight: Uncovering gender discourse in the early childhood classroom. Routledge.
Burt, S. A., 2009. Rethinking environmental contributions to child and adolescent psychopathology: a meta-analysis of shared environmental influences. Psychological bulletin. 135(4). p.608.
Hatch, J. A., 2010. Rethinking the relationship between learning and development: Teaching for learning in early childhood classrooms. In The Educational Forum.
Herman, K. C. and et.al., 2009. Childhood depression: Rethinking the role of the school. Psychology in the Schools.
James, A. L., 2010. Competition or integration? The next step in childhood studies?. Childhood.
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BBC News | Your Money | Is carpetbagging dead?
Are building societies an endangered species?
It is a battle for survival. Under renewed attack from carpetbaggers, the UK's remaining building societies are fighting back and erecting new defences. BBC News Online's Andrew Yates asks: Is it the end of the road for windfalls?
It has all the elements of a good novel. High finance, fierce passions and pure greed intertwine in a race to get hold of hundreds of millions of pounds. As the story comes to a thundering conclusion, and tensions run high, the future of one of the country's oldest financial institutions hinges on the result of a knife-edge vote.
Welcome to the world of carpetbagging. No wonder it has become a national obsession!
The rather curious phrase, which immediately conjurs up images of visiting Allied Carpets on a Saturday afternoon, was in fact derived form the aftermath of the American Civil War when soldiers from the victorious North sought to profit from the defeated Southerners.
In the UK the term has come to describe speculators who pour money into building societies in the hope that they can reap rich rewards when the societies turn into banks.
Millions of people joined the gold rush, hoping to make a quick profit. And profits they made. Canny investors watched the money roll in as a succession of leading societies lost their mutual status and joined the brave new world of the stock market. For a minimal investment, members received pay-outs of as much as several thousand pounds.
However, as the craze gathered pace the carpetbaggers wanted more. Members joined the remaining building societies in droves in an effort to force them to convert.
Depending on which side of the fence you sit on, the villain or the hero of the piece is Michael Hardern. He has become a self-styled 'carpetbagger-in-chief'.
An eccentric former royal butler, who has campaigned for building society members to become members of the House of Lords, he has been instrumental in marshalling the carpetbagging campaign.
Whilst most people were preparing for a New Year's Eve party, Mr Hardern was busy tabling resolutions aimed at forcing six of the largest remaining societies to become banks. Meanwhile the Bradford & Bingley, the UK's second largest building society, is under attack from another carpetbagger, Stephen Major, a quantity surveyor from Northern Ireland.
Michael Hardern: "It is close to saying 'Give us �1,000 to subsidise somebody else's mortgage'"
The building societies are under siege - and they are mustering their defences ready for the titanic tustle ahead.
They have already had some success in repelling the carpetbaggers. The Portman, the Coventry and the Yorkshire Building Societies have managed to block the resolutions after Mr Hadern failed to get enough support from other members - partly because he did not study the membership rules closely enough.
The Brittania has also thrown out a resolution to convert, although Mr Hardern will still stand as a board candidate on the carpetbagging ticket.
But the building socieites movement will face its D-Day (or perhaps C-Day for carpetbagging) on 26 April. That is the date that Bradford & Bingley holds its annual general meeting and where members will have to vote on the controversial conversion resolution which could result in windfalls of around �1,000 for the society's 2.5m members.
Bradford & Bingley's management insists it is only an "opinion poll" and that it is not duty bound to act on the result. However, a strong majority in favour of conversion could put the it under intense pressure to give up its mutuality.
So can the building societies beat the carpetbaggers, or are mutuals an endangered species?
Mr Hardern is in a confident mood and is determined to fight on despite his recent set-backs. He told BBC News Online: "The (building society) memberships should be worth �1-2,000 and anybody who is a member....needs to sit tight. I think it is only a matter of time. The boards are digging in at the moment, but there is no guarantee that they are going to get their way. If the money is there I think the members are going to want it."
He added: "The caravan will move on to next fixture, which will probably be the Nationwide and the West Bromwich. At some time the ice will start cracking. I think it is quite wrong for boards to say that you cannot have your windfall. It is as close as you can get to saying give us �1,000 so we can subsidise somebody else's mortgage."
However, the building societies are not going to give in easily.
Five leading societies, including the Nationwide, Brittania, Yorkshire, Coventry and Cumberland force new members to donate any windfalls to charity.
Others, such as the Portman have stopped accepting new members. Meanwhile societies like Leeds & Holbeck have raised the minimum balance for savers to qualify for membership to �3,000.
John Gully, head of communications at Portman said: "Our board remain completely committed to continue to run Portman as a traditional building society because we believe that is best for our business as a whole, best for customers and best for staff."
The Save our Building Societies (SOBS) movement, which has won the backing of nine MPs, is also fighting a rear-guard action for the societies.
It plans to step up its campaign over the next few months to try to get the UK Government to make it more difficult for members to force demutualisation by raising the number of people required to put forward resolutions and preventing such resolutions being put forward every year.
Mr Goodall is even lobbying for societies to be given charitable status.
However he admits that there is only one sure-fire way to defeat the carpetbaggers - reduce the windfalls on offer so they are not worth bothering about.
"If the carrot is smaller then there will be less incentive for carpetbagging," Mr Goodall said.
It appears that the rich pickings available a few years ago have diminished. Birmingham Midshires members will only get around �400 following its acquisition by the Halifax.
In fact somebody who had invested say �3,000 in the stock market over the past 18 months, instead of locking it up in a building society savings account hoping for a windfall, would have made at least an extra �600.
Mr Gully said: "I think really that the heady days of several thousands of pounds are arguably long gone and if somebody wants to have a bet, they are better off going down the bookies really - and they will have a bit more fun as well. Looking at an account pass book for the next 20 years is probably less interesting than watching your horse come home first."
However some financial analysts believe building societies will have to convert, with or without pressure from rebel members.
Ken Murray, who runs Murray Financial, an investment fund set up to buy building societies, believes that competitive pressures and the recent spate of financial mergers will force more conversions.
"Bradford & Bingley, Brittania and Nationwide - they all have to convert. They are dealing with competitors which by the day are becoming larger and more efficient. There is no scope for any financial institution whatsoever to do nothing in this rapidly changing business environment."
"Rubbish," says the Building Societies Association (BSA).
Pam O'Keefe of the BSA told BBC News Online: "Building societies have lots of things on their side. For example Derbyshire Building Society competes head to head with the Halifax as people know it just as well in that area. What we have actually seen is people going back to the building societies."
If building societies did die out, the BSA believes it would lead to much higher borrowing costs.
Ms O'Keefe points out that recent research shows nine of 10 cheapest lenders are building societies. Nationwide customers with a �50,000 mortgage are currenlty paying �250 a year less in interest charges compared with customers at some of the societies that have converted into banks.
In other words carpetbagging could lead to short-term gain but long-term pain.
Whatever the consequences of conversion, carpetbaggers are not going to stop now.
Mr Hardern, who has personally made �6,000 and a lot of publicity from carpetbagging, believes the Bradford & Bingley vote will set the cat among the pigeons. "You have got two greedy sets of people and everybody wants something for themselves. The advantage is going to somebody else if members don't take their windfall. If they want to do that then that is fine but they should be asked."
The Internet, which allows carpetbaggers around the country to communicate much more easily, is also helping to fuel their campaign.
Building societies have already erected formidable barriers to carpetbaggers, but Mr Hardern claims he has another "ace up his sleeve". He is coy about just what he has in mind, but recommends that carpetbaggers and their families still join building societies, even if they have to sign their windfalls away.
Carpetbagging may not provide the lucrative opportunities it once did. Windfalls are waning. However it is far from dead. And there are already signs it is spreading to other financial sectors such as life assurance companies.
After all there are few things that concentrate the mind more than money.
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Entrepreneurship - What is It ?
Entrepreneurship is the practice of designing, launching and running a new company, which is often initially a small company. The people who make these companies are known as entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurship was described as the "capacity and willingness to develop, organize and manage a business enterprise alongside some of its dangers so as to make a profit". While definitions of entrepreneurship typically focus on the launching and running of businesses, due to the large risks involved with establishing a startup, a significant percentage of startup businesses must close due to "lack of funding, poor business decisions, an economic crisis, lack of market demand--or even a combination of all them.
Entrepreneurship is the act of becoming an entrepreneur, or even "an operator or director of a business enterprise who makes money at danger and initiative". Entrepreneurs act as supervisors and oversee the launch and expansion of a venture. Entrepreneurship is the process by which either an individual or a team identifies a business opportunity and acquires and deploys the essential resources needed for its manipulation.
Early 19th century French economist Jean-Baptiste Say provided a broad definition of entrepreneurship, stating that it "shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater return". Entrepreneurs create something fresh, something different--they change or transmute values. Regardless of the business size, large or little, they could partake in entrepreneurship opportunities. The opportunity needs four criteria.
First, there must be opportunities or scenarios to recombine tools to generate profit. Second, entrepreneurship requires differences between individuals, such as preferential access to specific people or the ability to recognize details about opportunities. Third, taking on risk is a necessary. The entrepreneurial process requires the organization of people and resources.
The entrepreneur is a element in microeconomics and the study of entrepreneurship reaches back to the job of Richard Cantillon and Adam Smith in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. But, entrepreneurship was largely ignored theoretically before the late 19th and early 20th centuries and empirically until a deep resurgence in economics and business since the late 1970s. In the 20th century, the understanding of entrepreneurship owes considerably to the work of economist Joseph Schumpeter in the 1930s and other Austrian economists like Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich von Hayek.
According to Schumpeter, an entrepreneur is a person who is willing and ready to convert a brand new idea or innovation into a successful innovation. Entrepreneurship employs what Schumpeter called "the gale of creative destruction" to substitute in whole or in part poor innovations across markets and industries, simultaneously creating new products including new business models. In this manner, creative destruction is mostly responsible for the dynamism of industries and long-run financial development.
The supposition that entrepreneurship leads to economic development is an interpretation of this residual in endogenous growth theory and as such is hotly debated in academic economics. An alternative explanation typified by Israel Kirzner implies that the majority of innovations could be more incremental improvements like the replacement of paper with plastic in the making of drinking straws.
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How did cinema enhance Gandhi's impact on the ordinary Indian? Let's consider four films – Kurmavatara (Kannada) (2011) by Girish Kasavalli, Babar Naam Gandhiji (2015), a Bengali feature film that marked the debut of Pavel, The Salt Stories (2007) a documentary by Lalit Vacchani and Ananth Narayan Mahadevan’s Gour Hari Dastaan – The Freedom File (2015) – which offer original and unique insights into the impact of Gandhi on the life of an ordinary man. Though not a visible presence as a character, ghost or even a ‘voice; in any, yet Gandhi’s presence is resurrected from history in these films by employing both fact and fiction.
In Hindu mythology, kurma, which means turtle, is the second avatar of Lord Vishnu(variously represented by ten avatars). Like the other avatars, Kurma is said to appear in times of crisis to restore the equilibrium of the cosmos. His iconography is either that of a tortoise or, more commonly, as half-human-half-tortoise. These figures are found in many Vaishnava temple ceilings or wall reliefs. The story of Kasaravalli’s film Kurmavatara takes seed of this mythological legend and produces it through the lens of a contemporary character and the changes that happen in his life. The film is based on a short story of the same name by Kannada poet and writer, Kum. Veerabhadrappa.
The story revolves around Rao, a government employee, and ageing widower, living with his son, daughter-in-law and grandson, who owing to his strong resemblance to Mahatma Gandhi, is picked up by a television producer to portray Gandhi’s role in a television serial. Rao resists the offer initially because neither had he acted before in his life nor was he a Gandhian; but is forced to accept the assignment by his son and daughter-in-law to help their son get admission in a good school. However, after having reluctantly agreed, he pours himself wholeheartedly into the character. His work in the serial makes him famous instantly. Fans begin crowding his home and the lifestyle of the lower-middle-class family improves drastically as the son and daughter-in-law cash-in on his new-found fame.
However, the most dramatic change occurs in Rao’s character as he begins reading on Gandhi and his ideology for a role he had never dreamt of performing. The serial turns his life around, as he starts examining his life and philosophy. As the fans keep growing, the humble Rao has to come to terms with the fact that simply ‘portraying’ Gandhi does not “make” him a modern-day Gandhi. The serial, thus, transforms his life into a journey that enriches him as an individual with a new perspective on life, family, and relationships.
Dr Shikaripura Krishnamurthy who played Rao, an ordinary man, who is asked overnight to step into the mighty feet of Mahatma Gandhi for the small screen, gave an outstanding performance – bereft of glamour or chutzpah, investing the character-within-the-serial with as much sincerity and authenticity as possible. A moving sub-plot explores this man’s warm and humane interaction with Kasturba(played by famous Kannada actor, Jayanthi) within the serial, and off the sets. The sub-plot shows Jayanthi empathising with the predicament of her co-actor who suddenly finds himself famous overnight owing to his portrayal of Gandhi, and endeavours to befriend him not as an actress or even a co-actor, but as a fellow human being.
The film is enriched by Kasaravalli’s signature low-key handling – no pomp and show, loud colours or music, but extremely realistic and natural performances by the entire cast. Kurmavatara was screened in 17 film festivals and won acclaim at Bangkok, New York and Vancouver. It won the Feature Film Award for the Best Kannada Film at the 59th National Film Awards. The cinematography is low-key and appears as if most of it is shot in natural light. Gandhi does not appear in the film but we discover him through the metamorphosis in Rao who portrays him for a short while but changes forever.
Nearly eight decades after the Dandi March, filmmaker Lalit Vachani made The Salt Stories, an interesting documentary raising questions about the contemporary relevance of the Salt March. Set in modern India, The Salt Stories is an 84-minute documentary, presented as a road movie that follows the trail of Mahatma Gandhi's salt march of 1930. The film puts the historic Dandi March into perspective by juxtaposing it against the reality of the poor being denied freedom by depriving them of basic needs like food, clothing and shelter. Has Gandhi’s non-violent means to attain a political end for the benefit of the entire country really brought freedom to their descendants, the poor and the oppressed? Or, has the Dandi March been reduced to a token for non-violence to be relegated to history textbooks? – are some questions the film seeks to ask.
The film introduces the viewers to Mohammed Bhai, standing in, what remains of his bangle factory, where the number of workers has dwindled to a handful after his machines and workshop were destroyed by Hindu fundamentalists during the riots. The team then sets off on a road journey to Dandi passing through rickety roads and small towns, talking to people on the way to find out if they knew who Gandhi was, or about the Dandi March.
One of the people we meet on the journey is, Ketanbhai, Dalit leader of Navagam village, who was forced to resign as upper- caste members refused to let him go on. 102-year-old Gordhanbhai Bakhta, the sole living survivor of the Dandi March, who passed away soon after, is also seen recalling and sharing his experiences.
Set against the backdrop of Gandhi's original journey, this road-movie makes caustic comments through its telling visuals and one-to-one interviews, on how the globalization of Gujarat equates Gandhi’s ‘salt’ to a metaphor on poverty, forced migration, joblessness and injustice. Secularism, as the film points out, is conspicuous by its absence. The film meanders through time and space – juxtaposing the present scenario, shot in colour, with the past, compiled with silent Black-and-White archival footage (courtesy: Gandhi Films Foundation in Mumbai). Such a presentation lends the film a unique stage to place a sense of history, time, place, people and events in perspective, while at the same time pitting old and new values against each other to provide an objective view of how relevant the Salt March is in today’s India.
During his teenage years, Gour Hari Das actively participated in the struggle for independence in Balasore, Orissa where he was growing up. He was enrolled in Gandhi’s vanar sena for younger freedom fighters. His job was to courier messages and letters between freedom fighters by running alongside rushing trains to hand over the letters. When he was 14, he was arrested and imprisoned for three months. “I read about Gour Hari Das in a tabloid. The headline screamed, “It took him 32 years to prove that he is a freedom fighter”. The irony was there for everyone to see. I probed further and tracked him down in a distant suburb of Mumbai…Dahisar,” says Ananth Narayan Mahadevan who directed the film and also co-produced it along with Bindiya and Sachin Khanolkar.
His story became interesting after an episode, around mid-seventies, when one day his son complained that he was refused admission under the freedom fighter’s ward’s quota as he could not produce proof that his father was a freedom fighter. It was then that it dawned on Gour Hari Das that he had not received the Tamra Patra which every freedom fighter is entitled to, as he had not really fought for any award. He was left speechless with shock when his son turned around and asked him, “Were you really a freedom fighter?” At that moment something ticked inside him and his fight for another ‘freedom’ began. He embarks on a journey to find proof that he was indeed, jailed for three months, that he really was a freedom fighter, that he was a genuine member of Gandhiji’s vanar sena and that he was a true Gandhian who did not believe in rewards for fighting for his country’s freedom.
Das wanted to get his own proof. It took 32 long years for him to be finally given the Tamra Patra – now by the Maharashtra CM himself. In his struggle, as the director, informs us, Das knocked on 321 doors, wrote 1043 letters to different officials, climbed 66000 steps, and pleaded 2300 times in Post-Independent India to prove that he was the freedom fighter who was once blessed by Mahatma Gandhi and even jailed for fighting against the British. During this turbulent journey, he visited government offices, influential politicians, ministers, media, jail officials and so on and was called 'fraud', 'thief', 'crazy', 'eccentric' by others. The struggle cost him 32 years of his life to get what he feels was justice.
The film revolves around Gour Hari Das. He is like a solid tree from which the branches of interesting characters emerge to add to his story. There are fictional interpolations to detail the struggle of Gour Hari Das and a fictionalised climax which ends the film. But these factors do not take away from the core message of the film – that the honesty Gandhi upheld endures albeit among a handful of Indians, for whom his teachings mould their entire life.
In Babar Naam Gandhiji, Gandhi assumes the form of a biological father, – for a street urchin named Kencho (snail) who was discarded in a dustbin by an old alcoholic and grew up in the dredges of Kolkata – after a policeman jokes about Gandhi being his biological father by showing him a currency note with Gandhi’s face printed on it. Kencho takes this seriously and his life changes forever.
“The story is not mine, it is Kencho’s story,” says the voice-over of Pavel (Parambrato Chatterjee) who runs an NGO for street children who attend his classes only because he arranges tiffin for them. Kencho is their leader, who not only uses his intelligence and shrewdness to fool people to part with their money but also teaches clever ways of extortion to other kids. He hardly attends Pavel’s classes but uses this young man as his bank. “I have faith in you,” this worldly-wise ten-year-old tells him.
Kencho is a friendly chap and enjoys the support of all the fellow beggars in the locality, though a couple of goons bash him up black and blue when he refuses to part with their demand for hafta. Yet even these goons rally behind him when he decides to join the big school in the neighbourhood in response to a teacher who insults him in his father’s (Gandhi) name!
The entire group of beggars take out a procession with their indigenous band, in support of Kenchu as he nervously marches towards the big school for his final interview. In fact, his first instalment fee is put together by a medley of street men, women and children who have saved from the “weekly” hafta; even the goons surrender their hafta to contribute to the target sum of Rs. 5000. And what does Kencho do? He upturns a sack of small coins in the principal’s cabin with the promise that “more will come when needed” from the same source. The smooth falsification of every single document needed for his admission test from birth certificate to ration card to age proof to the name of his father written in full as “Kenchodas Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi” and many more such small bits and pieces picked up from real life are portrayed on celluloid. These make Babar Naam Gandhi a film worth watching!
The life-changing story of Kencho is based on a string of lies, dishonest and corrupt practices – by individuals and institutions, including the police and high-nosed gentlemen, which are in fact, diametrically opposite to the Gandhian ideal of honesty and integrity. But for Kencho, these lies lead to a decent future and an honest way of life – and perhaps this is where the strength of the film lies.
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Justin and Paul went on one date; they threw axes! Justin asked for our help; he went in for a hug and got a pat on the back. What happened? Does Paul want to go on a second date?
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Why write about Roman Polanski's Macbeth (1971) as part of a series of books dedicated to the classics of the horror movie genre? Because, Rebekah Owens argues, just as Banquo in Polanski's film holds up a series of mirrors that reflect images of his successors that trace back to his own son Fleance, so subsequent milestones in the genre show their lineage to this work, their originator. Polanski had previously made Repulsion (1965) and Rosemary's Baby (1968), so he was fully aware of the conventions of the horror genre and this film provides clues to his own horror lexicon. This book demonstrates how Macbeth can be read as part of the British Folk tradition, strengthening the reading of the film as a horror movie in its own right through its links to The Wicker Man (1973), Blood on Satan's Claw (1971) and Witchfinder General (1968) then argues the case for its recognition as a horror movie even further, by connecting it to the later American horror classics, such as Halloween (1978). It also explores the popular associations made between the film and Polanski's own life, arguing that they endorse the view of the film as a horror. This book represents the first serious attempt to regard Polanski's Macbeth as a horror film in its own right, and not exclusively as one of a multitude of ongoing Shakespeare film adaptations.
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You and the family are going to have a magical vacation at Walt Disney World next year. July is a great time to see the parks. Also a great time to visit the water parks when the crowds show up. As for where to stay, all the resorts you mentioned are worth a visit. The only reason I would suggest Disney's Polynesian Resort and Spa above the others is the amazing pools. If both the parks and water parks get too much for you try the pools at Poly. The Nanea Volcano Pool features a 40-foot high volcano as well as a waterfall and a 142-foot tubular waterslide. My kids could not get enough of the waterslides. It was so much fun to watch them. Nearby is a children's wet-play area. The beach end of the pool requires no steps to enter or exit, and a specialized water wheelchair is available, allowing access directly into the pool.The Poly East Pool, also called the "quiet pool," offers deeper depths and more relaxation. I hope this assists you in deciding where to stay. Have a magical vacation.
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Google is making it easier for businesses to take advantage of the machine learning revolution with a new product for building models that predict the future. At the company's GCP Next conference... • Machine learning lessons: 5 companies share their mistakes. Usually, the price to pay for machine learning automation, or AutoML , is the loss of control to a black box kind of model.
Machine learning falls within AI, but uses algorithms to generate learnings from structured and unstructured data. It sifts through large data sets which might include images, text, voice, video, location and even facial recognition data. By analysing these data sets, ML identifies correlations, patterns and trends that can be used to make predictions.
• Machine learning lessons: 5 companies share their mistakes. Usually, the price to pay for machine learning automation, or AutoML , is the loss of control to a black box kind of model.
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Wednesday Review is back for the new year and to kick things off, I have a neat book about one of my favorite topics: The Cavern Club in Liverpool!
The book Cavern Club: The Inside Story was written by Debbie Greenburg. Debbie was a Cavern girl that saw the Beatles lunchtime shows in the early 1960's almost on a daily basis. She loved going to the Cavern and spent most of her time there. It didn't matter who was playing, if the Cavern was open, then Debbie was there.
In 1966, the owner of the Cavern Club, Ray McFall, went bankrupt and was unable to do the required by fire laws remodels that the Cavern needed to stay open. Debbie's father, Alf Geoghegan thought it would be a good idea to purchase the Cavern Club and so with Debbie enthusiasm, he did just that. The book is Debbie's story about how her father ran the Cavern Club in Liverpool from 1966-1970 and stories of things that happened along the way during that time.
If you are looking for stories of seeing the Beatles in concert at the Cavern, you aren't going to find it in this book. I was a bit disappointed that Debbie didn't go into more about her experience with the Beatles, but she does talk about it some. That just isn't the focus of the book.
However, this book has plenty of Beatles content to keep fans hooked until the end. Plus there was so much information about the Cavern that I never knew. During the time that the Beatles had the Apple Boutique in London, the Cavern Club had it's own boutique in Liverpool. I also didn't know that there was a recording studio located in the Cavern Club. I found it interesting that as early as 1967, Beatle fans from around the world were traveling to Liverpool and making the important trip to the Cavern Club. Alf saw that fans were wanting to take home a souvenir of their trip and he opened up a Cavern shop that sold t-shirts, necklaces, and other goodies that fans could buy. Thinking about how things are today, he was way ahead of his time.
The best part of the book is the story about when Debbie met Paul at the Cavern in 1968. There has been a lot of misunderstandings about this visit, and I remember arguing once with a fan who didn't believe it ever happened. I am glad that Debbie put the truth down in a book so that we don't have to guess about it any longer. A few things I didn't know about when Paul was there include the fact that Paul opened up the piano in the band room and played "Hey Jude." Also after the trip, Paul made a collect call to the Cavern from somewhere in the United States (he mentions Ohio?) and thanks Debbie for letting him stop by. While he was there, Paul gets a red Cavern Club t-shirt---the t-shirt that you see him wearing in photos in the 1970's. They still sell that shirt at the new Cavern--I bought one in 2013 for myself!
A sad day for Beatle fans everywhere--the day the Cavern Club was torn down.
In 1970 Alf decided it was in his best interest to sell the Cavern. Right before he sold the club, he got a letter stating that the city wanted to tear down the Cavern Club to use as a ventilation shaft for a new train system. If he paid 500 pounds, they would move it down farther along Mathew Street. According to Debbie, her Dad went to the new owner several times to talk about this matter. He told him how important it was to pay the money so that the Cavern didn't get torn down. The owner didn't seem to care and as we all know, the original Cavern was torn down and the new train system wasn't ever built. This is the first I have ever heard that the original Cavern didn't have to be torn down, and I thought it was an interesting twist.
Later, in 1982, Debbie got to see Paul again at his brother, Mike's wedding. Debbie's husband was hired to video tape the wedding and reception and Debbie came along to help. Mike had been a friend of her husband's for a long time. Debbie tells some great stories about the wedding reception and it made for a great end to her story.
I really recommend Cavern Club- the Inside Story because it gives insight to the Cavern after the Beatle years and it is a really fun book to read.
i like the story about the red Cavern tshirt and that you got one at the new place too! that's awesome.
I can believe it. Typical of PM to return to the Cavern in 1968 and play 'Hey Jude' impromptu. Roots have always been more important to him than the others - - in a sense GH found his roots in India. Maybe PM's lifelong attachment to Liverpool reflects his suppressed grief at the loss of his Mom - - though we don't need a psychological explanation: it's a charming loyal trait anyway, and I think it helped the lad keep grounded. Touch base. An electrician came to my house to do an annual electrics check last October: he was Liverpudlian and still lived there, and said he was sick of the mention of Beatles, though his wife was a fan. But he told me that he did some electrical work at a house in Speake, and the householder told him of a knock at the door years ago. It was PM 'and a mate' asking was it OK if they looked around, as he once lived there as a boy. Typical.
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0.935293 |
Survey BigData Analyzer consists of a suite of applications covering the entire process of gathering, modeling, and interpreting survey information for the purpose of discovering new market trends, customer preferences, and hidden patterns.
The data processed by the custom analysis service is displayed via the Data Reporting Dashboard.
The Survey Creator application allows content managers to create surveys for various areas of activity (retail industry, research activities etc.). All surveys are mobile-friendly and can be created using default templates or can be personalized with the help of custom templates.
The Survey Distribution System is a component which allows users to automatically distribute the created surveys.
The surveys can be shared on various channels, by email, social networking services (such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn), or by using QR codes, which is a good approach for mobile devices.
The data gathered from completed surveys is stored inside Apache Cassandra clusters, which are located in different areas for a better geographical span, as well as to improve server availability and failover. All the data collected from surveys is stored as structured data in Cassandra, thanks to this management system’s capability to handle very large amounts of data.
The Survey Analysis Service is able to perform real-time data analysis on the data stored in Apache Cassandra databases. Using the Apache Spark framework, the service is able to extract and prepare the data for visualization and predictive analytics.
The Data Access Layer is implemented via Spark Cassandra connectors. The service comes with Cassandra Storage Cluster support, allowing jobs to be distributed across multiple nodes. Additionally, the data integration engine is capable of running multiple processes in parallel by using a multi-threaded architecture, which results in low execution times.
The Data Reporting Dashboard shows the resulting information and statistics from the Survey Analysis Service. Based on the data processed by this service, the user can visualize and analyze data in order to create reports. Data analysts can then review the detailed information as a means for discovering patterns and trends.
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0.993688 |
How do I specify the image used for Facebook likes and shares using Websitebuilder?
If you want to specify what image is used when someone shares/posts/likes your website on Facebook you can add this snippet of code to the head tag: Make sure you have already added your image to the homepage and published it. Your picture will look best if it is square and at least 600 pixels wide.
You just need to change the URL in the code to the address of the published image you want to use.
2) After you publish go to the live page and place your mouse on the page, and right click. Select view page source from the menu.
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0.910045 |
The code on this page is provided as is. In case you spot a bug, please let me know. If you use some piece of code for your own work, please consider citing the corresponding article(s).
This python code implements the neural network based non-linear self-interference cancellation method desribed in , as well as a baseline polynomial non-linear self-interference canellation method for comparison purposes. The ZIP file also contains the measurements from a full-duplex testbed that are used as a dataset. A working installation of Keras is required to run the code. The default values in the code exactly reproduce (up to the randomness of the mini-batch learning procedure for the neural network) the results in .
LUT-LDPC is a collection of software tools that can be used to design and test LDPC decoders based on discrete message passing decoding using lookup tables (LUTs) [1,2]. It is mainly written in C++ and relies on the IT++ for abstracting basic linear algebra and signal processing operations. Consequently, the LUT decoders can easily be integrated into more complex communication systems including concatenated coding and/or modulation. The collection also includes LUT-LDPC-VHDL, which is is a software tool that uses the optimized LUTs designed by the LUT-LDPC software in order to generate VHDL code and simulation files for a fully-unrolled LDPC hardware decoder [3,4].
This software package contains VHDL code that implements all the metric sorters for successive cancellation list decoding of polar codes that we described in . Specifically, it contains implementations of a radix-2L sorter (full & pruned), a bitonic sorter (full & pruned), as well as a simplified bubble sorter.
This MATLAB code implements the EXIT-chart based LDPC code design method for the unequal power two-user Gaussian multiple access channel described in . A working installation of the CVX toolbox is required to run the code. The default values exactly reproduce the results for the first case of Table I in .
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0.951395 |
Methone, an egg in Saturn orbit?
What a funny little egg of a moon, so smooth! The bright stripe that covers the pointier end is a real feature, not just an artifact of image processing. There are subtler albedo variations across the rest of the moon, some of which may be real. The data are a bit messy, with lots of cosmic ray hits that must be painted out in order to produce a pretty view like the one Phil Stooke made above.
If you're not familiar with Methone, you're not alone; little is known about it. Methone is one of the smallest regular moons of Saturn, having a diameter of only about 3 kilometers. It was the first moon that Cassini discovered, very early in Cassini's mission at Saturn, in 2004. Other Cassini-discovered moons include Daphnis, which is within the A ring; Anthe and Pallene, which orbit very close to Methone in the space between Mimas and Enceladus; and Polydeuces, the trailing companion of Dione.
Distances in the Saturn system are large enough that it's pretty rare for Cassini to get within 5,000 kilometers of any body. But it's especially hard for Methone (and Anthe and Pallene, for that matter), because they are especially close to Saturn. They all orbit at about 200,000 kilometers from the planet. And that's about as close as Cassini gets to Saturn, at least right now. So opportunities for good imaging of these moons from Cassini can only occur during the very brief period on each orbit that Cassini is near its closest approach to Saturn -- a time when Cassini is also moving at its highest speed.
All of which is to explain why it's been almost eight years since Methone was discovered, and we've never yet had good pictures of it, until now. Like everything else seen for the first time in the Saturn system, Methone's appearance is a surprise. The thing is as smooth and round as an egg. Ordinarily, things in the solar system that are this small are not so round. Here are pictures of two asteroids visited by spacecraft whose diameters are in the same ballpark as Methone's: Steins (5 kilometers) and Gaspra (18 by 9 kilometers). They are decidedly non-round.
Global view of asteroid 2867 Steins as seen by Rosetta on September 5, 2008, processed by Daniel Machacek.
Methone is really shockingly round. Some of the other small moons that orbit near the rings have a smoothed appearance, but they all still have some craters or some topography. The smoothness probably results from these things collecting dust, a substance that there is a lot of in this part of the Saturn system, but it's kind of hard to understand what could make the dust slide around to fill every topographic low on this little world, covering it with what's essentially a global ocean of very puffy dust. I think the roundness tells us that whatever Methone is made of, that material behaves like a liquid -- it has no strength to hold any shape whatsoever. Maybe Methone is nothing but a big ball of dust. I wonder what it would be like up close? I'm trying to imagine it. I have no idea if this is realistic, but I'm imagining that if I approached it relatively slowly (at kilometers per hour rather than kilometers per second speed), my momentum might carry me right into and even through the moon. It'd be like encountering an orbiting dust storm rather than like landing on something solid.
Methone is undeniably round. If it were orbiting the Sun independently of Saturn, would it qualify for planethood? Certainly not, because it would fail the gravitational-sway test (it's too small for its gravity to exert control over any region of space). Still, it's interesting and surprising that a body so small can be so round.
This is an interesting moonlet. Is there anyway to use this image with another copy of it to make a stereo image or maybe segments of it, if other images are available to do so?
In part from NASA's article on Methone titled 'Cassini Spots Tiny Moon, Begins To Tilt Orbit' by Jia-Rui C. Cook at JPL: "... Cassini discovered Methone and two other small moons, Pallene and Anthe, between the orbits of Mimas and Enceladus between 2004 and 2007. The three tiny moons, called the Alkyonides group, are embedded in Saturn's E ring, and their surfaces are sprayed by ice particles originating from the jets of water ice, water vapor and organic compounds emanating from the south polar area of Enceladus. ..."
I think Emily has it right on the composition, basically a dust ball also now believed coated by Enceladus's water ice plume.
I like the way you wrote this article including imagining your journey to and through it.
I wonder if the absence of craters is a function of 1) the newness of the moon--not enough time to have been hit; or 2) its tiny size making it a harder target to hit; or 3) its tiny size and therefore relatively tiny ~weight~ making it easier to turn if struck, as opposed to sustaining breakage.
I see two craters, very faintly outlined, on the object. One just right of center and just below the upper limb; the other is just below and slightly left of the first. Contrast manipulation makes them a little easier to see. Their edges are very rounded, making me think that they have indeed been covered with dust or other fine-grained material.
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0.976431 |
Jon Huntsman for New York City mayor?
Yes, Jon Huntsman should definitely run for mayor of New York, because I never tire of watching Jon Huntsman get rejected by voters. The best part of a Jon Huntsman campaign is when his well-heeled supporters very sincerely and tragically argue that the fact that no one wants to vote for Jon Huntsman is a sign that the Republic itself is in peril. They would get so sad and melodramatic when he got 10 percent of the vote.
Trying to convince dad @JonHuntsman to run for mayor of NYC. Thoughts? #whynot?
Why not? I mean sure he has never lived in New York and has no connection to the city, but why not?
Of course, now that this idea is floating around, very rich and well-connected morons just might set about trying very hard to make it a reality. Jon Huntsman is a creature of the sort of oblivious center-right rich folk who bankrolled the hilarious failed New York campaigns of Harold Ford Jr. and Reshma Saujani. They would like very much to see another one of their class be the mayor of their city, after Bloomberg ends his term (if he ends his term). The Republicans have essentially no candidate. (I still wouldn't put it past Police Commissioner and professional harasser-of-minorities Ray Kelly to mount a run, but at the moment he's sounding disinclined to.) And Jon Huntsman is the sort of nationally prominent "independent" candidate all three major New York newspapers would love (the Daily News would love him the most, obviously, but the Post would love him because he is secretly not actually that moderate).
Jon Huntsman -- whose tax plan called for the complete elimination of taxes on capital gains and dividends, as well as the elimination of the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Reagan-era tax benefit for poor people that used to be the sole form of welfare that conservatives supported, and who also wholeheartedly supported the Paul Ryan plan to fix the deficit by eliminating Medicare and not making rich people pay taxes -- was of course beloved by the press and labeled a reasonable moderate when he ran for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. He was mistaken for a political moderate primarily because he does not believe that God created cavemen and dinosaurs at the same time, roughly 4,000 years ago. Huntsman, who supports the complete repeal of Dodd-Frank and is strictly antiabortion and anti-gay marriage and anti-healthcare reform and pro-gun, is now essentially a symbol of the dignity and sagacity of the "radical center," even though he is a conservative Republican.
So obviously New Yorkers would be thrilled to vote for this guy. I endorse this.
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