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Background {#Sec1}
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Endometrial cancer (EC) is the 5th most common form of female cancer in the USA, with 61,380 new cases diagnosed in 2017, and responsible for 10,920 deaths over the same year \[[@CR1]\]. According to the FIGO 2009 classification, 80% of EC are diagnosed in stages I-II, with 5-year survival rates of 89.6% in stage I, decreasing to 78.3% in stage II, 61.9% in stage III, and 21.1% in stage IV \[[@CR2]\]. Although EC diagnosed in early stages is potentially curative with surgery followed by adjuvant radiotherapy +/− chemotherapy, about 15% of these patients present an increased risk of cancer progression \[[@CR3]\]. This risk is assessed by the ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO risk stratification, based on tumour characteristics \[[@CR4], [@CR5]\].
However, the impact of other factors, such as systemic inflammation, is gaining importance as an indicator of poor prognostic in cancer patients \[[@CR6], [@CR7]\]. The interest of this host-dependent response, expressed through prognostic ratios composed of circulating white blood cells, lies mainly on circulating neutrophils, which have been studied as neutrophil-to-lymphocytes ratio (NLR) \[[@CR8], [@CR9]\]. Nonetheless, the role of other subpopulations of leukocytes, such as eosinophils, has been largely overlooked in tumour progression \[[@CR10]\]. Although some reports dating from the 1950s already suggested the role of circulating eosinophils as a biomarker of tumour persistence or recurrence after radiotherapy, recent studies confirm that eosinophils act as an important modulator and effector of both innate and adaptive immune response \[[@CR11]--[@CR15]\]. Eosinophils link two different mechanisms of host defence: against allergens and against malignancies, as they secret cytokines, which guide CD8 (+) T cells and enhance their infiltration into the tumour, and induce the barrier permeability \[[@CR16]--[@CR19]\]. Recently, a high level of blood eosinophils was associated with better survival in metastatic melanoma \[[@CR20]\].
Nonetheless, their role in cancer progression remains controversial as they may be considered as tumour-associated tissue eosinophilia (TATE) or as tumour-associated blood eosinophilia (TABE) \[[@CR16], [@CR21], [@CR22]\]. Classically, TATE is more often reported in the literature and generally considered as a favourable prognosticator, while TABE is usually described as a consequence of tumour necrosis in advanced disease, hence related to poorer outcomes \[[@CR23], [@CR24]\]. Some authors suggest that the release of damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) during tumour necrosis causes immunosuppression in tumour microenvironment and recruits diverse inflammatory cells, including circulating eosinophils, which limit the biologic activity of DAMPs \[[@CR25], [@CR26]\]. This mechanism may clarify why TATE has been long associated with an improved prognosis and may be the reason for the inverse association between atopic disease and the risk of cancer \[[@CR27], [@CR28]\].
The aim of the present study was to explore the impact of the level of pre-treatment circulating eosinophils and lymphocytes, expressed as ratios, on survival outcomes in EC patients.
Methods {#Sec2}
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After the Institutional Review Board approval, a review of our department's database of patients with EC treated at our institution with external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) and/or High Dose Rate Brachytherapy (HDR-BT) in a period of five years was conducted. All patients included signed the informed consent for treatment and data processing.
Patients' characteristics {#Sec3}
-------------------------
The data of 163 patients diagnosed with histologically confirmed EC and treated with postoperative radiotherapy at our centre from January 2011 to December 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. All patients underwent hysterectomy as a first treatment, with laparoscopic pelvic paraaortic lymphadenectomy in 107 cases (81.7%), and had pre-treatment blood test results done within 3 months before surgery. Patients diagnosed with acute or chronic infections, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), any type of immunodeficiency, other active malignancies, haematological disorders, steroid or anti-inflammatory treatment for any reason, were excluded. The median age at diagnosis was 65 years (y), mean 64.79, range 41--90. The most frequent histology was endometrioid carcinoma (73.3%). The disease stage was classified as non-advanced (stage I-II) in 98 patients (74.8%).
The combination of EBRT and HDR-BT was administered to 88 patients (65.2%), with a mean dose of 53.4 Gray (Gy) (range 21--75). Only 43 patients (32.8%) were treated exclusively with HDR-BT (mean dose 10.0 Gy, range 7--20). All patients were stratified into six risk groups according to ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO anatomopathological features \[[@CR4]\]. Patients' characteristics are detailed in Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type="table"}.Table 1Characteristics of all patients included in the study (*n* = 163), comparison of these characteristics according to ELR (cut-off ≥ 0.1) and ENLR (cut-off ≥ 0.5)Patients' characteristicsAll patients included (*n* = 163, % of total)ELR \< 0.1 *n* = 117 (%)ELR ≥ 0.1 *n* = 46 (%)*p*-value\*ENLR \< 0.5 *n* = 118 (%)ENLR ≥0.5 *n* = 45 (%)*p*-value\*Age at diagnosis (years): \< 65 years:74 (45.4%)4 (73.0%)20 (27.0).75753 (71.6%)21 (28.4%).410 ≥ 65 years:89 (54.6%)63 (70.8%)26 (29.2)65 (73.0%)24 (27.0%)FIGO 2009 stage at diagnosis: • IA4 (26.0%)34 (7.1%)9 (0.9%).07033 (76.7%)10 (23.3%).136 • IB54 (33.2%)33 (61.1%)21(38.9%)35 64.8%)19 (35.2%) • II24 (14.0%)19 (79.2%)5 (20.8%)18 (75.0%)6 (25.0%) • IIIA9 (5.5%)4 (44.4%)5 (55.6%)5 (55.6%)4 (44.4%) • IIIB00000 • IIIC115 (9.2%)13 (86.7%)2 (13.3%)14 (93.3%)1 (6.7%) • IIIC27 (4.3%)7(100%)07 (100%)0 • IVA9 (5.5%)6 (66.7%)3 (33.3%)5 (55.6%)4 (44.4%) • IVB2 (1.2%)1 (50%)1 (50%)1 (50.0%)1 (50.0%)Patients in advanced stage (FIGO I-II vs. FIGO III-IV) (n,%): No (FIGO I-II)121(74.2%)85 (70.2%)36(29.8%).46185 (70.2%)36 (29.8%).299 Yes (FIGO III-IV)42 (25.8%)32 (76.2%)10(23.8%)33 (78.6%)9 (21.4%)Tumour grade (n,%): 136 (22.1%)24 (66.7%)12(33.3%).73626 (72.2%)10 (27.8%).772 261 (37.4%)45 (73.8%)16(26.2%)46 (75.4%)15 (24.6%) 366 (40.5%)48 (72.7%)18(27.3%)46 (69.7%)20 (30.3%)Patients with tumour grade 3 vs. tumour grade 1--2 (n,%): Grade 1--297 (59.5%)66 (68.0%)31(32.0%).86572 (74.2%)25 (25.8%).593 Grade 366 (40.5%)46 (69.7%)20(30.3%)46 (69.7%)20 (30.3%)Tumour histology (n,%): Endometrioid119 (73%)85 (71.4%)34(28.6%).30587 (73.1%)32 (26.9%).424 Serous-papillary14 (8.6%)12 (85.7%)2 (14.3%)10 (71.4%)4 (28.6%) Clear cell5 (3.1%)5 (100%)05 (100%)0 Squamous6 (3.7%)3 (50.0%)3 (50.0%)3 (50.0%)3 (50.0%) Villoglandular2 (1.2%)1 (50.0%)1 (50.0%)1 (50.0%)1 (50.0%) Sarcoma (not LMS or carcinosarcoma)2 (1.2%)2 (100%)02 (100%)0 Leiomyosarcoma3 (1.8%)1 (33.3%)2 (66.7%)1 (33.3%)2 (66.7%) Carcinosarcoma12 (7.4%)8 (66.7%)4 (33.3%)9 (75.0%)3 (25.0%)Lymphadenectomy (n,%): No29 (17.8%)19 (65.6%)10(34.5%).40919 (65.5%)10 (34.5%).361 Yes134 (82.2%)98 (73.1%)36(26.9%)99 (73.9%)35 (26.1%)ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO (ESMO 2015) risk groups (n,%): 1 - Low28 (17.2%)21 (75.0%)7 (25.0%).77521 (75.0%)7 (25.0%).440 2 - Intermediate31 (19.0%)20 (64.5%)11(35.5%)21 (67.7%)10 (32.3%) 3- High-Intermediate13 (8.0%)9 (69.2%)4 (30.8%)8 (61.5%)5 (38.5%) 4 - High75 (46.0%)57 (76.0%)18(24.0%)59 (78.7%)16 (21.3%) 5 - Advanced14 (8.6%)9 (64.3%)5 (35.7%)8 (57.1%)6 (42.9%) 6 - Metastatic2 (1.2%)1 (50.0%)1 (50.0%)1 (50.0%)1 (50.0%)Patients in high-risk groups according to ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO risk classification (n,%): Low (risk group 1--3)72 (44.2%)47 (65.3%)25(34.7%).49650 (69.4%)22 (30.6%).484 High (risk group 4--6)91 (55.8%)65 (71.4%)26(28.6%)68 (74.7%)23 (25.3%)Brachytherapy exclusive (n,%): No110 (67.5%)75 (68.2%)35(31.8%).14277 (70.0%)33 (30.0%).325 Yes53 (32.5%)42 (79.2%)11(20.8%)41 (77.4%)12 (22.6%)Chemotherapy (n,%): No104 (63.8%)72 (69.2%)32(30.8%).33771 (68.3%)33 (31.7%).118 Yes59 (36.2%)45 (76.3%)14(23.7%)47 (79.7%)12 (20.3%)\* *X2 test* or *T-student test*
Follow-up results {#Sec4}
-----------------
The follow up (FU) was performed, as suggested by ESMO guidelines, every 3--4 months for the first 2 years, and then every 6 months for the next 3 years.
Systemic inflammation biomarkers {#Sec5}
--------------------------------
The level of eosinophils in pre-treatment blood tests was analysed. We created two groups using a 0.1 cut-off according to the best receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve value: patients with absolute eosinophil count (AEC) ≥ 0.1 (*n* = 112) vs. AEC \< 0.1 (*n* = 19), and we evaluated the influence of high AEC on patients' survival outcomes.
Afterwards, we described two new systemic inflammatory biomarkers, expressed as follows: Eosinophil-to-Lymphocytes Ratio (ELR) and Eosinophil\*Neutrophil-to-Lymphocytes Ratio (ELR multiplied by the absolute neutrophil count, ENLR), and we analysed their impact on overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS). Additionally, we evaluated the same ratios based on post-treatment blood tests.
Statistical analysis {#Sec6}
--------------------
All statistical tests were two-sided and statistical significance was defined as *p* \< 0.05. Summarized data are presented as numbers and percentages unless otherwise stated.
The primary endpoint was OS and the secondary endpoint was PFS. Predefined subgroup analysis was conducted based on the ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO risk stratification, which subsequently was converted into a binary variable by creating a low (groups 1--3) and a high-risk cohort (groups 4--5).
Afterwards, the study population was subdivided into two groups, based on the cut-offs for ELR and ENLR, separately. Both ELR and ENLR were defined as binary variables by finding the cut-off value from a ROC curve. The binary variables' balance across prognostic characteristics was assessed using Chi-square test (X2 test). Frequencies were compared using Fisher's exact test for categorical variables. Kaplan Meier's curves were displayed to evaluate the prognostic value of ELR and ENLR for OS and PFS. Survival outcomes were calculated from the date of surgery to the event occurrence, which is progression or cancer-related death in the case of PFS, or any death in the case of OS. If no event occurred, patients were censored at the time they were last known to be event free. All survival outcomes were analysed using Log rank test (LR), Breslow test (BR) was additionally applied.
The univariate and multivariate Cox regression models were used to assess the prognostic effect of inflammatory biomarkers and included binary variables: ELR (≥ 0.1 vs. \< 0.1), ENLR (≥ 0.5 vs. \< 0.5), age (≥ 65y vs. \< 65y), ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO high-risk (groups 4--6) vs. low-risk (groups 1--3), high grade (grade 3 vs. grade 1--2), advanced FIGO 2009 stage (stage III-IV vs. stage I-II), endometrioid histology (vs. other tumour histology). All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS v. 23.
Results {#Sec7}
=======
Survival outcomes of the entire cohort {#Sec8}
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All survival outcomes were expressed in months. After a median follow-up of 54.8 (range 24.6--58.4), progression was observed in 36 patients (22.1%). There was no exclusive local recurrence and only one patient developed exclusive regional recurrence (progression in pelvic node). Both local and regional recurrence, were observed in 10.7% of patients (*n* = 14), while 17.6% (*n* = 23) presented distant metastasis. Median PFS for the entire cohort was of 23.1 (range 0.2--62.2). At the moment of data collection, 21 deaths were reported (12.33%), 20 of them were related to cancer (12.27%). All details concerning the survival outcomes according to the ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO risk groups are included in Table [2](#Tab2){ref-type="table"}.Table 2Patients's status at the end of the study according to ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO modified risk assessment (ESMO 2015)ESMO 2015 risk groupStatus of patients at the end of the study (n = 163)Alive (no evidence of disease)Disease progressionCancer-related deathNon cancer related deathTotal127 (20.8%)1 (8.33%)0028 (17.2%)230 (23.1%)001 (100%)31 (19.0%)311 (8.4%)02 (10%)013 (8.0%)457 (43.8%)7 (58.33%)11 (55%)075 (46.0%)55 (3.9%)4 (33.33)5 (25%)014 (8.6%)6002 (10%)02 (1.2%)Total130 (100%)12 (100%)20 (100%)1 (100%)163 (100%)
ELR {#Sec9}
---
The mean value of ELR was 0.08 (SD 0.065, range 0.0--0.31, median 0.063). Using the cut-off of 0.1 according to the ROC with the Area Under Curve (AUC) of 0.61, we divided the entire cohort into two groups: ELR ≥ 0.1 (*n* = 46) and ELR \< 0.1 (*n* = 117). Patients' characteristics of the two comparative groups are included in Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type="table"}.
OS in the group with ELR ≥ 0.1 was 50.7 months (IC 95% 43.8--57.6) vs. 62.3 months (IC 95% 59.0--65.5) in the group with ELR \< 0.1 (LR *p* = 0.004, X2 = 6.3; BR *p* = 0.026, X2 = 4.9), HR 2.9, *p* = 0.017 (Fig. [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}).Fig. 1Overall survival of patients with endometrial cancer (*n* = 163) according to the Eosinophil-to-Lymphocytes Ratio (ELR, cut-off ≥ 0.1), *p* = 0.004
Eleven events were reported in the high ELR group (23.9% of patients) vs. 10 events (8.6%) in the low ELR group (LR: p = 0.01, X2 = 6.5; BR: p = 0.026, X2 = 4.9).
Regarding the data of the entire cohort, PFS of patients according to ELR level was not significantly different (LR *p* = 0.095, BR *p* = 0.08). However, the number of events was higher in patients with ELR ≥ 0.1 (14 events vs. 22 events, which meant 30.4% vs. 18.8% patients with progression, respectively).
ELR was not correlated with patient's age (*p* = 0.90), FIGO stage at diagnosis (*p* = 0.77), tumour histology (*p* = 0.94) or tumour grade (*p* = 0.86).
ENLR {#Sec10}
----
The mean value of ENLR was 0.448 (SD 0.59, range 0--5.54, median 0.31). Using the cut-off of 0.5 (ROC curve AUC = 0.621), we divided the entire cohort into two groups: ENLR ≥0.5 (*n* = 45) and ENLR \< 0.5 (*n* = 118). Patients' characteristics of the two comparative groups are included in Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type="table"}.
Median OS in the group with ENLR ≥ 0.5 was 49.8 months (IC 95% 43.8--55.8) vs. 61.9 months (IC 95% 58.6--65.2) in the group with ENLR \< 0.5 (LR: *p* = 0.01, X2 = 6.6; BR: *p* = 0.026, X2 = 4.9, HR = 3.0, *p* = 0.015, Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}). Ten events were reported in the high ENLR group (which meant 22.2% of patients) vs. 11 events (9.3%) in the low ENLR group.Fig. 2Overall survival of patients with endometrial cancer (*n* = 163) according to the Eosinophil\*Neutrophil-to-Lymphocytes Ratio (ENLR, cut-off ≥ 0.5), *p* = 0.010
Median PFS according to ENLR level was not significantly different (LR: *p* = 0.1, BR: *p* = 0.09).
ENLR \< 0.5 was not correlated with patients' age (*p* = 0.81), FIGO stage at diagnosis (*p* = 0.22), tumour histology (*p* = 0.63) or tumour grade (*p* = 0.59).
ELR and ENLR as independent prognostic factors {#Sec11}
----------------------------------------------
On univariate analysis, worse OS was associated with ELR ≥ 0.1 (HR = 2.9, *p* = 0.017), ENLR ≥ 0.5 (HR 3.0, *p* = 0.015), ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO high-risk (HR = 4.7, *p* = 0.014), tumour grade 3 (HR = 8.1, *p* = 0.001) and advanced stage (HR = 3.4, *p* = 0.007), while endometrioid histology was associated with better prognosis (HR = 0.3, *p* = 0.003). Age ≥ 65 years did not reach significance, *p* = 0.055 (Table [3](#Tab3){ref-type="table"}). All variables included in univariate analysis were evaluated in all patients using X2 tests (Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type="table"}, Additional file [1](#MOESM1){ref-type="media"}: Figure S1, Additional file [2](#MOESM2){ref-type="media"}: Figure S2, Additional file [3](#MOESM3){ref-type="media"}: Figure S3, Additional file [4](#MOESM4){ref-type="media"}: Figure S4, and Additional file [5](#MOESM5){ref-type="media"}: Figure S5).Table 3Impact of ELR and ENLR on overall survival (OS): Kaplan Meier survival analysis, univariate and multivariate Cox regression (models for ELR and ENLR, respectively), *n* = 163VariablesKaplan-Meier survival analysisUNIVARIATE Cox regressionMULTIVARIATE Cox regression for ELR ≥ 0.1 modelMULTIVARIATE Cox regression for ENLR ≥0.5 modelX2*p*-valueHR (IC 95%)*p*-valueHR (IC 95%)*p*-valueHR (IC 95%)*p*-valueAge ≥ 65 years (vs. \< 65 years)3.9**0.047**2.6 (0.98--6.7)0.0552.8 (1.0--8.2)0.0592.8 (1.03--7.8)**0.043**FIGO advanced stage III (vs. stage I-II)8.3**0.004**3.4 (1.4--8.4)**0.007**3.1 (0.9--9.8)0.0602.8 (0.9--8.5)0.065Tumour grade 3 (vs. grade 1--2)15.8**0.000**8.1 (2.4--27.4)**0.001**6.8 (1.9--24.7)**0.003**5.8 (1.6--21.2)**0.007**Endometroid histology (vs. other histology)10.1**0.001**0.3 (0.1--0.63)**0.003**0.4 (0.1--1.1)0.0680.4 (0.14--1.2)0.099ESMO-ESTRO-ESGO High Risk groups 4--6 (vs. groups 1--3)7.4**0.007**4.7 (1.4--15.8)**0.014**1.2 (0.2--6.5)0.8561.3 (0.2--6.9)0.770ELR ≥ 0.1 (vs. \< 0.1)6.3**0.004**2.9 (1.2--6.8)**0.017**4.9 (1.9--12.4)**0.001**----ENLR ≥ 0.5 (vs. \< 0.5)6.6**0.010**3.0 (1.2--7.3)**0.015**----3.9 (1.6--9.8)**0.003**All entries in boldface reflect *p*-values \< 0.05
On multivariate analysis, carried out separately for ELR and ENLR, the impact of variables used in univariate analysis on the principal endpoint (OS) was evaluated. Three variables reached statistical significance: ELR ≥ 0.1 (HR = 4.9, *p* = 0.001), ENLR ≥0.5 (HR = 3.9, *p* = 0.003), and tumour grade 3 (*p* = 0.003 in ELR model and *p* = 0.007 in ENLR model). Age ≥ 65 was statistically significant only in ENLR model (*p* = 0.043) (Table [3](#Tab3){ref-type="table"}).
Subgroups according to ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO modified risk assessment {#Sec12}
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According to the ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO risk classification, all patients were allocated to six different risk groups (Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type="table"}). Thus, we divided the entire cohort into two groups: low-risk (groups 1--3) and high-risk cohort (groups 4--6).
In the high-risk cohort (*n* = 91), 34.6% of patients with ELR ≥ 0.1 died and OS was of 44.9 months (IC 95% 35.9--53.9) vs. 59.6 months (54.7--64.5) in the low ELR group with 13.8% of patients dead at the end of the study (LR: *p* = 0.009, X2 = 6.8, BR: *p* = 0.015, X2 = 5.9, Additional file [6](#MOESM6){ref-type="media"}: Figure S6). PFS was not significantly different between the two groups (*p* = 0.10).
Patients in the ENLR ≥ 0.5 cohort showed a worse OS of 45.5 months (IC 95%, 36.2--54.9) vs. 59.0 months in ENLR \< 0.5 (IC 95%, 54.1--64.0, LR: *p* = 0.020, X2 = 5.4, BR: *p* = 0.047, X2 = 3.9, Additional file [7](#MOESM7){ref-type="media"}: Figure S7). PFS was not significantly different between the two groups (*p* = 0.18).
In the low-risk cohort (*n* = 72), patients with ELR ≥ 0.1 (*n* = 25) and patients with ENLR ≥ 0.5 (*n* = 22) failed to show statistically significant differences regarding OS and PFS.
Absolute eosinophil count (AEC) {#Sec13}
-------------------------------
Pre-treatment blood eosinophilia, defined as an absolute eosinophils count ≥ 0.65 × 10^9^/L, was detected in our cohort only in 6 patients (4.6%), all of them alive and with no evidence of disease progression at the moment of data collection. The mean value of AEC was 0.1 (SD 0.13, range 0--0.8, median 0.152). There were no statistical differences in OS (55.6 months vs. 61.35 months, *p* = 0.154, X2 = 2.04) nor PFS (*p* = 0.772, X2 = 0.08) between the group with AEC ≥ 0.1 and the one with AEC \< 0.1.
Leucocytosis, neutrophilia and NLR {#Sec14}
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Patients that presented a high level of circulating WBC (leukocytes \> 11,000 × 10^9^/L or neutrophils \> 7000 × 10^9^/L) or NLR ≥ 2.4 (cut-off according to ROC curve, AUC 0.516) at cancer diagnosis did not show statistical difference in OS compared to patients with lower levels (*p* = 0.51, *p* = 0.23 and *p* = 0.63, respectively).
Discussion {#Sec15}
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Systemic inflammation is a recognised feature of cancer progression, and inflammatory biomarkers are a key subject of research on anti-tumour response. However, the role of eosinophils in this field has long been ignored. Even though tumour-associated blood eosinophilia is described in a wide range of tumours \[[@CR11], [@CR12], [@CR27]\], and is easily diagnosed, this finding is not so frequent in clinical practice, and only accounts for 1--7% of all eosinophilia's diagnoses \[[@CR21], [@CR29]\]. In accordance with these reports, we concluded that eosinophilia at cancer diagnosis was really infrequent in our cohort and had no impact on survival outcome. We hypothesise that it is not eosinophils alone, but the ratios between circulating eosinophils and lymphocytes, that may reflect the host's immunosuppression status at cancer diagnosis, and may help to achieve a more precise risk stratification of patients diagnosed with EC.
Here, we describe new eosinophil-based prognostic ratios, expressed as a relationship between different subtypes of WBC. To our best knowledge, we are the first to propose these ratios as prognostic biomarkers in malignant tumours and to apply inflammatory biomarkers as a tool to refine the ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO risk stratification in EC.
We focused our study on EC because, in spite of its generally favourable prognosis, recent studies claim that the survival outcomes depend on factors beyond the classically established risk indicators \[[@CR30]\]. Moreover, the scientific evidence of the inflammatory biomarkers in EC is significantly lower than in other malignancies \[[@CR7]--[@CR9]\].
Our study is based on a uniformly treated cohort that includes patients of all FIGO stages if they underwent hysterectomy as a first treatment. According to the ESMO guidelines, a complete macroscopic cytoreduction is recommended even for advanced disease, while systematic pelvic lymphadenectomy should not be performed routinely, hence lymphadenectomy was performed only in 80% of patients in our study \[[@CR4]\]. Most patients with EC usually present a low recurrence risk, but in our study 55.8% of patients (*n* = 91) belonged to the high-risk group, which may be explained by the reference status of our institution, where patients with high-risk factors are usually addressed. Although distant relapses often account for only one-third of recurrences in the literature, they were observed in 63.9% of all relapses in our cohort \[[@CR4], [@CR30]\]. As most EC relapses occur within 3 years after the primary treatment, we considered that our median FU of 55.9 months (range 52.4--59.4) was long enough \[[@CR4]\].
Due to the correlation between ELR and ENLR, two multivariate analysis models were evaluated: one for ELR ≥ 0.1 (*p* = 0.001, HR = 4.9, IC 95%, 1.9--12.4) and one for ENLR ≥ 0.5 (*p* = 0.003, HR = 3.9, IC 95%, 1.6--9.8). Holding the other covariates constant, higher values of ELR and ENLR were strongly associated with an increased risk of death and were independent indicators of poorer overall survival. Contrarily, ratios based on post-treatment blood tests had no impact on patients' prognosis.
Similarly, pre-treatment ELR and ENLR showed an impact on OS and PFS in the high-risk group, but not in the low-risk group (*p* = 0.21 and *p* = 0.18, respectively), in which a limited number of events was observed.
On univariate analysis of the entire cohort, the variable age ≥ 65y only trended toward significance (*p* = 0.055) but was maintained in multivariate analysis as a clinically important factor, and was significantly associated with worse OS in ENLR Cox model. In the high-risk patients (groups 4--6), age ≥ 65y was an indicator of poor survival (*p* = 0.014 in univariate analysis) and was proven to be an independent prognostic factor in both Cox regression models \[Table [4](#Tab4){ref-type="table"}\]. By contrast, FIGO advanced stage and endometrioid histology were not significant prognosticators in the univariate analysis of high-risk patients.Table 4Impact of ELR and ENLR on overall survival (OS): Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, univariate and multivariate Cox regression (models for ELR and ENLR, respectively) in high-risk patients (ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO groups 4--6, *n* = 91)VariablesKaplan-Meier survival analysisUNIVARIATE Cox regressionMULTIVARIATE Cox regression for ELR ≥ 0.1 modelMULTIVARIATE Cox regression for ENLR ≥0.5 modelX2*p*-valueHR (IC 95%)*p*-valueHR (IC 95%)*p*-valueHR (IC 95%)*p*-valueAge ≥ 65 years (vs. \< 65 years)6.9**0.008**3.7 (1.3--10.5)**0.014**3.2 (1.03--10.3)**0.045**3.2 (1.1--9.7)**0.038**FIGO advanced stage III (vs. stage I-II)2.20.1352.1 (0.8--5.7)0.1432.6 (0.8--8.6)0.1092.5 (0.8--7.7)0.104Tumour grade 3 (vs. grade 1--2)6.7**0.010**5.6 (1.3--24.5)**0.022**6.9 (1.5--31.6)**0.013**5.8 (1.3--26.3)**0.023**Endometroid histology (vs. other histology)1.70.1940.5 (0.2--1.4)0.2020.5 (0.2--1.5)0.1950.5 (0.2--1.6)0.257ELR ≥ 0.1 (vs. \< 0.1)3.9**0.047**3.3 (1.3--8.7)**0.014**4.6 (1.7--12.5)**0.002**----ENLR ≥0.5 (vs. \< 0.5)5.4**0.020**3.0 (1.1--7.7)**0.026**----3.9 (1.6--9.8)**0.011**All entries in boldface reflect *p*-values \< 0.05
ENLR was described in order to demonstrate the importance of the relation between eosinophils and lymphocytes. Subsequently, we observed that the impact on OS was constant and not influenced by the neutrophil count. As both eosinophil-based ratios have proved to be independent prognostic factors for OS, while NLR has not, we concluded that the relation between eosinophils and lymphocytes was not affected by the presence of neutrophils, which may be interpreted as a superiority of eosinophil-based ratios over NLR and Platelet-to-Lymphocytes Ratio (PLR) (Additional file [8](#MOESM8){ref-type="media"}: Figure S8).
Our study presents some limitations, being a retrospective single institution cohort with a relatively small number of patients, which may produce potential confounding biases. However, almost all studies that deal with systemic inflammation biomarkers are of retrospective nature \[[@CR7]--[@CR9], [@CR29], [@CR30]\]. Confirming the cut-off points for ELR and ENLR in a larger cohort, preferably in a multicentre study, would be important for any future investigation.
In our opinion, the most important potential bias in the application of the biomarkers of systemic inflammation in clinical practice is the short life span of the WBC in systemic circulation. Consequently, it is difficult to completely rule out a potential influence of some temporary acute immunological changes, such as asymptomatic infections, on the systemic inflammatory response.
We are convinced that our investigation may contribute to a new stratification of EC and to further immunotherapy research that aim at the eosinophilic-mediate anti-tumour response.
Conclusions {#Sec16}
===========
Our study presents a new concept of the role of eosinophils in cancer progression that may be used as a novel prognostic tool for EC stratification. Increased values of eosinophil-related ratios based on pre-treatment blood tests are associated with worse OS in all EC patients and in high-risk patients of the ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO modified risk assessment. Impact of ELR and ENLR on PFS did not achieve statistical significance.
According to these results, the described ratios are of interest for EC prognosis and should be considered in the pre-treatment analysis. To our best knowledge, this is the first report that describes and analyses eosinophil-related ratios as prognostic indicators in cancer patients.
Additional files
================
{#Sec17}
Additional file 1:**Figure S1.** Overall survival according to FIGO stage (*n* = 163). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis (*p* = 0.004 Log Rank, *p* = 0.013 Breslow test). (DOCX 64 kb) Additional file 2:**Figure S2.** Overall survival according to tumour grade (*n* = 163). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis (*p* = 0.001 Log Rank, *p* = 0.023 Breslow test). (DOCX 70 kb) Additional file 3:**Figure S3.** Overall survival according to ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO risk assessment (*n* = 163): high-risk (groups 1--3) vs. low-risk (groups 4--6). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis (*p* = 0.007 Log Rank, *p* = 0.005 Breslow test). (DOCX 77 kb) Additional file 4:**Figure S4.** Overall survival according to tumour histology (n = 163): endometrioid vs. non endometrioid (*p* = 0.001 Log Rank, *p* = 0.004 Breslow test). (DOCX 66 kb) Additional file 5:**Figure S5.** Overall survival according to patients' age at diagnosis (n = 163). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis (*p* = 0.047 Log Rank, *p* = 0.036 Breslow test). (DOCX 70 kb) Additional file 6:**Figure S6.** Overall survival of patients in High Risk (risk groups 4--6 of ESMO 2015 classification) stratified by Eosinophil-to-Lymphocytes Ratio (ELR) according to cut-off 0.1. (DOCX 65 kb) Additional file 7:**Figure S7.** Overall survival of patients in High Risk (Risk groups 4--6 of ESMO 2015 classification) stratified by Eosinophil\*Neutrophil-to-Lymphocytes Ratio (ENLR) according to cut-off 0.5. (DOCX 65 kb) Additional file 8:**Figure S8.** ROC curves for ELR, ENLR, NLR and Platelet--to-Lymphocytes Ratio (PLR). (DOCX 81 kb)
AUC
: Area Under Curve
BR
: Breslow test
DAMPs
: Damage-associated molecular patterns
EBRT
: External Beam Radiotherapy
EC
: Endometrial Cancer
ELR
: Eosinophil-to-Lymphocytes Ratio
ENLR
: Eosinophil\*Neutrophil-to-Lymphocytes Ratio
ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO
: European Society for Medical Oncology, European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology, European Society of Gynaecological Oncology
FIGO
: International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics
Gy
: Gray
HDR-BT
: High Dose Rate Brachytherapy
HIV
: Human Immunodeficiency Virus
HR
: Hazard Ratio
LR
: Log rank test
NLR
: Neutrophil-to-Lymphocytes ratio
OS
: Overall Survival
PFS
: Progression Free Survival
TABE
: Tumour-associated blood eosinophilia
TATE
: Tumour-associated tissue eosinophilia
X2
: Chi-square test
y
: Years
This work was supported by a grant from the University of Barcelona.
Funding {#FPar1}
=======
There was no specific funding for this study.
Availability of data and materials {#FPar2}
==================================
The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available as supplementary material.
This article was principally written by KH, with review contributions from AB. Both authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript. Some preliminary results of this study were presented last year at the 36th ESTRO Annual Meeting held in Vienna and at the 55th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Clinical Oncology in Yokohama, Japan.
Ethics approval and consent to participate {#FPar4}
==========================================
Our study was approved by the Ethical Committee of Hospital Clinic de Barcelona. All patients included in the study signed the informed consent for treatment, data processing and publication.
Competing interest {#FPar3}
==================
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Publisher's Note {#FPar5}
================
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
|
Ralph Lauren present their Varick jeans in a flattering deep indigo shade. Wear with a blouse and blazer to create a preppy daytime look. Styled with a figure hugging super skinny shape and made from soft cotton blend denim with added stretch. Features include five pocket styling and a button and zip fly fastening. |
Q:
webBrowser component throws exception occasionally codenameone
I used WebBrowser component to view the url that occasionally throws following exception and the webBrowser is not displayed if there is an exception. What is the issue here? My code is at the end. thanks
Received exception: Unknown host
java.lang.Throwable: Unknown host
at javafx.scene.web.WebEngine$LoadWorker.describeError(WebEngine.java:1402)
at javafx.scene.web.WebEngine$LoadWorker.dispatchLoadEvent(WebEngine.java:1341)
at javafx.scene.web.WebEngine$LoadWorker.access$1100(WebEngine.java:1219)
at javafx.scene.web.WebEngine$PageLoadListener.dispatchLoadEvent(WebEngine.java:1206)
at com.sun.webkit.WebPage.fireLoadEvent(WebPage.java:2387)
at com.sun.webkit.WebPage.fwkFireLoadEvent(WebPage.java:2231)
at com.sun.webkit.network.URLLoader.twkDidFail(Native Method)
at com.sun.webkit.network.URLLoader.notifyDidFail(URLLoader.java:843)
at com.sun.webkit.network.URLLoader.lambda$didFail$93(URLLoader.java:826)
at com.sun.webkit.network.URLLoader$$Lambda$168/1472224915.run(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.javafx.application.PlatformImpl.lambda$null$164(PlatformImpl.java:292)
at com.sun.javafx.application.PlatformImpl$$Lambda$64/2085765319.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at com.sun.javafx.application.PlatformImpl.lambda$runLater$165(PlatformImpl.java:291)
at com.sun.javafx.application.PlatformImpl$$Lambda$63/817822539.run(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.glass.ui.InvokeLaterDispatcher$Future.run(InvokeLaterDispatcher.java:95)
at com.sun.glass.ui.win.WinApplication._runLoop(Native Method)
at com.sun.glass.ui.win.WinApplication.lambda$null$141(WinApplication.java:102)
at com.sun.glass.ui.win.WinApplication$$Lambda$55/1412924864.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
My code:
InfiniteProgress ip = new InfiniteProgress();
f.addComponent(BorderLayout.NORTH, ip);
WebBrowser view = new WebBrowser() {
@Override
public void onStart(String url) {
System.out.println("del ip");
f.removeComponent(ip);
}
};
view.setURL("https://docs.google.com/gview?embedded=true&url=" + pdfUrlSelected);
f.addComponent(BorderLayout.CENTER, view);
f.revalidate();
A:
That generally means your web connection or DNS is problematic.
If the host isn't found networking can't really proceed.
|
Ionic core-shell dendrimers with an octacationic core as noncovalent supports for homogeneous catalysts.
Ionic core-shell dendrimers with an octacationic core have been applied as noncovalent supports for homogeneous catalysts. Catalytically active arylpalladium complexes, which bear a tethered sulfato group, were noncovalently attached to the ionic core-shell dendritic supports via a straightforward ion-exchange reaction under mild conditions. Diagnostic shifts in (1)H NMR and Overhauser contacts show that the sulfato groups of the catalysts are located close to the octacationic core of the dendritic support in the resulting assemblies. The location of the catalytic Pd(II) sites has been varied via two strategies: by increasing the dendrimer generation and/or by shortening of the sulfato tether. In addition, a metallodendritic assembly was prepared, which bears an alternative shell of apolar dodecyl groups. Both the dendrimer size and the nature of the dendritic shell have no influence on the binding properties of the dendritic supports, i.e., the octacationic dendrimers of generations 1-3 form discrete 1:8 assemblies with the arylpalladium complexes. The structural aspects and the nature of the metallodendritic assemblies have been studied by means of pulse gradient spin-echo NMR diffusion methods, Overhauser spectroscopy, and electron microscopy (TEM). These techniques showed that the dendritic supports and arylpalladium complexes are strongly associated in solution to give unimolecular assemblies of nanoscopic dimensions. Membrane dialysis can recover these metallodendritic assemblies due to their nanoscopic size. The catalytic performances of the metallodendritic assemblies are comparable, but slightly lower than the performance of the unsupported catalyst. |
<?php
namespace Fisharebest\Localization\Script;
/**
* Class ScriptKhoj - Representation of the Khojki script.
*
* @author Greg Roach <[email protected]>
* @copyright (c) 2019 Greg Roach
* @license GPLv3+
*/
class ScriptKhoj extends AbstractScript implements ScriptInterface
{
public function code()
{
return 'Khoj';
}
public function number()
{
return '322';
}
public function unicodeName()
{
return 'Khojki';
}
}
|
Q:
how to extract data using awk or grep from git log?
I have to extract commit message as well as the corresponding files changed from git log.
Basically, I have BUC IDs given in my commit message. So, for certain set of files I want to get BUC IDs.
Output of my command: git log --dirstat
commit bcc9d8be62b6ac9b8dc02c0bf56d0f433df59466
Author:
Date: Tue Sep 5 12:08:04 2017 +0530
BUC:BUC3565-EPIC14 | Review Page Manage permission and junit
Change-Id: Ice73d25f77d9f6c4afe647e35bdf9ec280dd7dcf
31.3% manager/src/main/java/com/ericsson/cm/manager/web/listner/
68.6% manager/src/test/java/com/ericsson/cm/manager/web/listners/
commit ab70d068b2bcea4060028a3457551cd1cc35a1f1
Author:
Date: Tue Sep 5 11:30:29 2017 +0530
BUC:BUC12345 MADE some changes
Change-Id: I7e6733afaf8064c1279e5b217c8d4fba469fd061
59.0% webui/servermanagement/src/servermanagement/regions/left/
40.9% webui/servermanagement/src/servermanagement/regions/main/
Now I want to get BUC ID for only changes made in webui/.
How can I achieve that?
A:
The command will delete blank lines from output, filter by webui and print 2 lines before the webui match.
git log --dirstat | grep -ve '^$' | grep webui -B 2
|
Exploiting the Ground-Level Explosion Hoax
Instead, photos and videos from several angles
clearly showed that the collapse initiated at the fire and impact floors
and the collapse progressed from the initiating floors downward,
until the dust clouds obscured the view of the towers.
(p 146/196)
Obviously, a controlled demolition can be engineered
to destroy a building in any order desired.
NIST exploits a common misconception that demolitions
must proceed from the ground up.
NIST's reply works hand-in-glove with productions like
9/11 Eyewitness
to exploit the distraction of ground-level explosions. |
A Probabilistic Method for Image Enhancement With Simultaneous Illumination and Reflectance Estimation.
In this paper, a new probabilistic method for image enhancement is presented based on a simultaneous estimation of illumination and reflectance in the linear domain. We show that the linear domain model can better represent prior information for better estimation of reflectance and illumination than the logarithmic domain. A maximum a posteriori (MAP) formulation is employed with priors of both illumination and reflectance. To estimate illumination and reflectance effectively, an alternating direction method of multipliers is adopted to solve the MAP problem. The experimental results show the satisfactory performance of the proposed method to obtain reflectance and illumination with visually pleasing enhanced results and a promising convergence rate. Compared with other testing methods, the proposed method yields comparable or better results on both subjective and objective assessments. |
This invention relates to alarm clocks and particularly to a novel microcomputer-controlled solid-state alarm clock having a 10-key input keyboard for setting time, date, and the alarm times of two independently operating alarms that may be set to operate at any desired time at any day or days of the week.
The alarm clock of the invention is controlled by a microcomputer system, such as the F8 Microcomputer System manufactured by Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation. The Fairchild F8 Microcomputer System is a versatile family of components comprising a central processing unit to which is added associated components, such as program storage units, memory interfaces, peripheral input/output units, and memories, in accordance with the requirements of the user. The solid state alarm clock of the invention utilizes a 3850 central processing unit, a 3861 peripheral input/output unit, a 3853 memory interface, and a 2708 erasable PROM, all interconnected through a control line bus and the system 8-bit data bus. The CPU is operated by a two-megahertz crystal operated clock and the associated read-only memory is programmed so that the input/output ports of the system will accept the necessary input data and produce output displays of real time, alarm times, month and date, days of the week, and furthermore controls the audible alarm circuitry. |
Brain involvement in myotonic dystrophies: neuroimaging and neuropsychological comparative study in DM1 and DM2.
The objective of this study was to determine the degree of brain involvement in a cohort of myotonic dystrophy type 1 and type 2 (DM1, DM2) patients by brain studies and functional tests and to compare the results of the two groups. DM1, DM2 are multisystemic disorders due to polynucleotide expansions. Previous studies on brain involvement by neuroimaging and functional methods have led to contradictory results. Fifty molecularly defined DM1 patients and 14 DM2 patients, were recruited for the study. Age at recruitment, age at disease onset, disease duration and educational level were recorded. Neuromuscular assessment was done by MIRS. An extensive neuropsychological battery was performed in 48/50 DM1 and in a control group of 44 healthy matched subjects. Forty six of 50 DM1 and 12/14 DM2 underwent brain MRI; 21/50 DM1 and 9/14 DM2 underwent brain perfusion SPECT, with semiquantitative analysis of the results. MRI images were classified by ARWMC (age-related white matter changes) score, in order to quantify recurrence, localization and patterns of distribution of white matter hyperintense lesions (WMHLs) in our two cohorts. MRI results were matched to SPECT and to neuropsychological results. Thirty-seven of 46 DM1 and 10/12 DM2 had abnormal MRI imaging, showing scattered supratentorial, bilateral, symmetrical focal or diffuse WMHLs. A typical temporo-insular diffuse subcortical pattern was seen in DM1 subjects only, with no correlation with cognitive involvement. Major cognitive involvement was seen in the case of diffuse frontal lesions. A relationship with CTG expansion size was documented for DM1 subjects. SPECT showed minimal hypoperfusion in the posterior cortex planes in DM1 and, to a lesser extent, in DM2. Very mild degrees of involvement in the DM2 cohort were seen. Neuroimaging and functional investigations confirmed a more severe involvement of the brain in DM1 compared to DM2. A temporo-insular diffuse lesional pattern, specific for DM1, was found on MRI. This confirms greater expansion size as a risk factor for more extensive brain involvement in DM1. |
543 F.Supp. 431 (1982)
In the Matter of the Complaint of AMF as Owner of LAURIE, seeking exoneration from or limitation of liability.
No. 82 Civ. 76 (WK).
United States District Court, S. D. New York.
July 21, 1982.
Haight, Gardner, Poor & Havens by David P. H. Watson, New York City, for plaintiff AMF.
Schneider, Kleinick & Weitz, P.C. by Brian J. Shoot, Ian Gura, New York City, for claimant Merryl Wilson.
*432 MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
WHITMAN KNAPP, District Judge.
On March 9, 1980, while traveling northwest along the Main Channel of the Port of Miami, an area also known as Government Cut, David Richardson's 23-foot pleasure boat struck a wake allegedly caused by another pleasure vessel, the LAURIE, owned by AMF (hereinafter the "Owner"). As a result of this incident, one of Richardson's passengers Mrs. Merryl Wilson claims to have sustained severe and permanent back injuries.
On June 26, 1981, Mrs. Wilson filed a complaint in New York Supreme Court, New York County, against both Richardson and the Owner claiming that her injuries were caused by the negligent operation of the two pleasure boats, and seeking damages in the sum of two million five hundred thousand dollars (the "state court action").[1] A summons and complaint were served on the Owner on or about July 9, 1981. Shortly thereafter, Richardson filed a cross-claim against the Owner seeking "indemnity and/or contribution" for any liability assessed against him as a result of Mrs. Wilson's state court action.
Less than six months after service on it of the state court summons and complaint, the Owner filed with this court a complaint seeking exoneration from or limitation of liability pursuant to 46 U.S.C. §§ 183-185, 188. This complaint alleges that the accident was not caused by any negligence on the part of the Owner, who should therefore be exonerated from liability. It further alleges that the accident occurred without the Owner's privity or knowledge, that the net value of the LAURIE does not exceed $396,000, and that the Owner is therefore entitled to limit its liability to that amount.
On February 8, 1982, we entered an order approving the Owner's stipulation of value; staying until determination of the action before us further prosecution of any and all actions commenced or to be commenced against the LAURIE in respect to claims arising from the March 9, 1980 incident; and directing the Clerk of the Court to notify all persons asserting such claims to file them in this action on or before April 5, 1982. To date, only Merryl Wilson has filed such a claim. The possibility nevertheless remains that Richardson might apply for leave to file a belated claim, and that such leave might be granted. Supplemental Rule F(4), F.R.Civ.P. No one has suggested any other potential claims against the LAURIE.
At a pre-trial conference held before us on April 13, 1982, counsel for Mrs. Wilson asked that we lift the injunction against prosecution of her state court action. Accepting this as an oral motion, we directed the parties to brief the issue. For reasons and on the terms set forth below, we conclude that Mrs. Wilson should be permitted to try her claim in state court.
The considerations which should guide our discretion in dealing with the instant application seem to us to have been laid out by the Supreme Court in Langnes v. Green (1931) 282 U.S. 531, 51 S.Ct. 243, 75 L.Ed. 520. The Court there opened its discussion of applicable guidelines with the following observation (at 541):
"The term `discretion' denotes the absence of a hard and fast rule. When invoked as a guide to judicial action it means a sound discretion, that is to say, a discretion exercised not arbitrarily or wilfully, but with regard to what is right and equitable under the circumstances and the law, and directed by the reason and conscience of the judge to a just result." (Citation omitted.)
The Court went on to specify the two basic values that should be protected: 1) the right of the claimant to a jury trial whenever possible; and 2) the right of the shipowner to the full protection of the limitation of liability statute against personal judgments totaling more than the value of his interest *433 in the vessel. See also In re Moran Transp. Corp. (2d Cir. 1950) 185 F.2d 386, cert. denied (1951) 340 U.S. 953, 71 S.Ct. 573, 95 L.Ed. 687; In re Red Star Barge Line, Inc. (2d Cir. 1947) 160 F.2d 436.
The problem which Langnes thus enjoins us to solve is how to protect the legitimate rights of the LAURIE's Owner with the least possible interference with those of Mrs. Wilson. It is clear in the first place that (unless this court intervenes to fragment the litigation), there will be only one law suit concerning the incident that gave rise to Mrs. Wilson's alleged injury. The Owner is threatened with no other claims. However, that single law suit could itself give rise to separate claims against the Owner totaling more than the value of the LAURIE.
The complaint in the state court action demands $2,500,000 in damages. Let us arbitrarily assume that the state jury were to fix Mrs. Wilson's damages at $2,000,000; find her free of contributory negligence; and find Richardson and the LAURIE to have been equally at fault. Let us further assume that, having entered judgment in the amount of $2,000,000 against both Richardson and the Owner, Mrs. Wilson were to levy on the LAURIE, succeed in selling it for $400,000, and then actually collect $1,500,000 from Richardson. On this set of assumptions, the Owner having lost the ship would nevertheless be faced with an unsatisfied judgment in the amount of $100,000 in Mrs. Wilson's hands; and an unsatisfied claim over of $500,000 by Richardson.[2] This is precisely the result that the limitation of liability act was designed to avoid.
It is apparent, however, that these supposed dangers could only arise after Mrs. Wilson had obtained a judgment in the state court action. The LAURIE's Owner would therefore be fully protected were we to continue in effect as to all other actions the stay entered in our order of February 8, 1982; permit the state court action to proceed, for the moment unfettered, in that court; but stay entry of judgment and consequent enforcement of any recovery there secured against the Owner whether on Wilson's direct claim or on Richardson's cross-claim pending resolution in this court of the Owner's right to limit its liability.
This procedure vindicates Mrs. Wilson's right to a jury trial, and saves her the expense and inconvenience of litigating the same alleged incident in two separate forums. Yet, it also provides the Owner with all the protection the statute intends it to enjoy since it is protected from recovery in excess of the value of the LAURIE. This court would be free, in the event of further proceedings here, to take such action as implementation of the limitation of liability act might dictate.
We shall modify Paragraph 5 of our February 8, 1982 Order accordingly. Further, as the Court suggested in Langnes, we shall retain jurisdiction to protect the Owner from any unanticipated developments. Should it develop after verdict has been achieved that any party or parties' right for post-verdict relief (either by appeal or otherwise) were compromised by inability to enter judgment, such party or parties (Wilson, Richardson and/or the Owner) could move for further modification of our order. We could then fashion relief which would allow the parties fully to exploit their state remedies without interfering with any federal rights we are charged with vindicating.
Let the Owner submit a proposed order on five days' notice. Should no order be received in Chambers on or before July 28, 1982, we shall ourselves fashion appropriate relief.
SO ORDERED.
NOTES
[1] This was Mrs. Wilson's third action with respect to the March 9, 1980 incident. She had previously brought two actions, naming only Richardson, in New York Supreme Court, each of which she appears to have voluntarily discontinued.
[2] Section 1402 of New York's Civil Practice Law and Rules provides that the "amount of contribution to which a person is entitled shall be the excess paid by him over and above his equitable share of the judgment recovered by the injured party...." (Emphasis supplied.) On the facts supposed, Richardson could accordingly enforce any claim against the Owner only to the extent of monies actually paid by him to Mrs. Wilson in excess of his equitable (50%) share of the $2,000,000 judgment secured.
|
Rianna Valdes
Rianna Tei Valdes (born 3 September 1996) is an American tennis player.
Valdes has a career-high WTA singles ranking of 498, achieved on 11 May 2015. She also has a career-high WTA doubles ranking of 434, set on 25 November 2019.
Valdes won her first ITF title at the 2019 Thoreau Tennis Open in the doubles draw partnering Angela Kulikov.
She played college tennis at the University of Southern California.
ITF finals
Doubles (1–1)
References
External links
Category:1996 births
Category:Living people
Category:American female tennis players
Category:Sportspeople from Boca Raton, Florida
Category:USC Trojans women's tennis players
Category:Tennis people from Florida |
In many ways, Rust has always been something of a digital social experiment: What happens when people are thrown together in a primitive, isolated environment, with no rules beyond "survive?" (Answer: It's Lord of the Flies, every single time.) Back in March, the experiment got a little deeper (and the uproar, a little louder) when the game was updated to arbitrarily assign unchangeable faces and skin tones to players, and now an even more sensitive bit of anatomy has been adjusted in a manner that will likely please some players more than others.
The hot tip came from Reddit, of course, (via PCGamesN), in the form of a video showing the effects of different Steam IDs on penis size. The actual workings of the system remain a closely-guarded mystery, but Rust creator Garry Newman confirmed that the report is accurate. "Like tallness, face, head size, jaw definition, race, and limb size, penises are also randomized," he said. And, like those other features, it's tied to your Steam ID and cannot be changed; if you come up short, so to speak, you're just going to have to deal with it. Maybe buy a big pickup truck or something.
Despite the many variations in "features," everyone in Rust shares one common attribute: They're all dudes. That may change in the not-too-distant future, however, as Facepunch revealed in its latest blog post that it has begun the process of adding a female model to the game. But don't get too wound up over the prospect of being trapped on an island filled with naked swimsuit models.
"We really don’t want to make the female model unrealistic in the sense of her being aesthetically idealized," Tom—presumably Facepunch artist Thomas Butters—wrote. "In the same way that our male models aren’t perfect specimens of the male body, neither should the female be. No huge boobs nor four-inch waists here."
That's as it should be, and as it has to be, really. Unlike the ESRB, I don't have a problem with nudity in videogames, but a game filled with male schlubs and female supermodels would look pretty weird. Butters added that in-game testing of the female model could begin as soon as next week. |
Q:
$a, b, c$ form a geometric sequence and $\log_c a, \log_ b c, \log_a b$ form an arithmetic sequence.
The common difference of the arithmetic sequence can be expressed as $\frac mn$, where $m$ and $n$ are relatively prime positive integers. Find $m+n.$
So far, I rearranged the sequences to be
1: $a$, $ar$, $ar^2$
2: $\log_c a, \log_c a + d, \log_c a + 2d$
I plugged in a, ar and ar^2 to the corresponding a, b, and c in the log sequence.
Then, I don't know what to do!
A:
Solution
We have to constrain that, $a,b,c$ are all positive numbers which do not equal $1$. According to the assumption conditions, we have $$b^2=ac,\tag1$$and$$2\log_b c=\log_a b+\log_c a.\tag2$$
From $(1)$, $b=\sqrt{ac}$. Put it into $(2)$ and apply the base-changing formula. Thus, $$\frac{4\ln c}{\ln a +\ln c}=\frac{\ln a+\ln c}{2\ln a}+\frac{\ln a}{\ln c}.\tag3$$Denote $t=\dfrac{\ln a}{\ln c}.$ Then,we can obtain the equation$$2t^3+3t^2-6t+1=(t-1)(2t^2+5t-1)=0.\tag4$$
By solving it,we have the roots $$t_1=1,t_2=\frac{-5-\sqrt{33}}{4},t_3=\frac{-5+\sqrt{33}}{4}.$$ On the other hand,let the common difference be $d$,then $$d=\log_c-\log_c a=\frac{\ln c}{\ln b}-\frac{\ln a}{\ln c}=\frac{2-t^2-t}{t+1}\tag5.$$
If $t=t_1=1$, then $d=0$. In this case, $a=b=c$,which is trivial;
If $t=t_2$ or $t_3$, then $t^2=\dfrac{1-5t}{2}$.Thus, $d=\dfrac{2-t^2-t}{t+1}=\dfrac{3(t+1)}{2(t+1)}=\dfrac{3}{2}$.
Summing up the above, it follows that $d=0$ or $d=\dfrac{3}{2}.$ We are done.
|
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure 10 – FUCK THA POLICE
Not gonna lie: I stood up and clapped at this moment. I loved this whole god damn episode, but fuck me, this sold me 100 percent on “Battle Tendency.” JoJo taking out a Tommy gun and blasting a vampire on a cold night in New York and telling the vamp to go fuck himself for murdering Speedwagon? Yes. YES. YES! Do with me what you will, Joseph Joestar. I am ready.
I’m someone who doesn’t like to raise his expectations sky high before watching something, for various reasons, but I couldn’t help but get hyped up for “Battle Tendency.” So many people have extolled its greatness on Twitter and elsewhere — would it pay off? Well, I can’t speak for the arc as a whole, but based on the first episode, yes, there is plenty of reason to be excited.
The first thing to notice, clearly, is that Joseph Joestar is a different breed of Joestar altogether. Jonathan Joestar is the gentleman bruiser, a polite, gentle young man who resorts to violence only when it’s absolutely necessary. (Of course, being JoJo, it often is absolutely necessary.) Joseph, meanwhile, seems to be more a man of the streets, wild and impulsive, but also smart and in tune with the world in his own way. I find it interesting that the episode goes out of its way to point out that Joseph was raised in Britain, since his behavior seems more in line with the hot-headed American type characters we so often see in anime. But, of course, a hot-headed British badass is fine, too.
And, of course, because it’s 1930s America, segregation is in full force and the cops are racist assholes. (Quick question for anyone who knows more history than me: Would a place that fancy have let Smokey eat in 1930s New York? I doubt that would be the case. My understanding is that appealing to pure economics (“As long as he pays, he eats.”) didn’t happen so often. You were either the “right” type of person, or your money was no good, no matter how much of it you had. But maybe it was different in certain places in New York? Or perhaps the owner is just a nice guy — or he’s truly driven by profit, which is why he’s cool with the Mafia being all over the place, too. Anyway, enough of that tangent! Just a curiosity on my part.) I like seeing that the Joestar crew are firmly anti-racist and not in a way that’s condescending or done to show what great, AMAZING people they are for being so good to the black man. Joseph is just one dude helping another out of a jam. It’s cool.
Also, name alert — Smokey is almost certainly named for Motown legend Smokey Robinson. Will he be the new Speedwagon figure? I like his pluck, and you definitely need a normal sort of fellow to stand around and be amazed about how FUCKING BANANAS the heroes and villains are. And another thing: I’m actually going to be sad that Erina will likely disappear from the story soon! Wow, it took just a single episode for my whole opinion of her to turn around. Evolving into a badass grandma who I could ABSOLUTELY see as a steely mob boss will do that for a gal. And Speedwagon as an oil baron? Capitalism hasn’t been this moe since Kaiji!
Erina, you are the coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooolest~
Look, people, I’m going to drop any pretense of coherency. There is just too much I enjoyed about this episode. JoJo caving in the face of racist asshole cop. JoJo using the ripple to break the other cop’s finger with a BOTTLE CAP and swigging the drink down afterward. The flashback to the plane hijacking. JoJo predicting every move of the Mafia henchman and then fearlessly destroying the leader. JOJO TOTING A FUCKING TOMMY GUN WITH HIM AND BLASTING A VAMPIRE. (Yes, I know I mentioned that already, but it’s so great that it has to be mentioned again.) And, perhaps most of all, the fact that this is turning into more of a globetrotting adventure. It’s like the evolution from Uncharted to the second game, where it has the grand, globe-spanning setting it probably should have had in the first place. I can’t wait for Joseph to hightail it to Mexico!
One more fun thing before I go, though! There is an amusing anachronism in this episode: In this flashback, Joseph Joestar of the early 1930s is reading a magazine/comic with a Get Smart-based ad on the back. For all of you who are unaware, Get Smart was a 1965-70 comedy series that satirized the secret agent genre that had exploded with the James Bond flicks. It was created by Mel Brooks (yes, that Mel Brooks) and Buck Henry and starred Don Adams, whom I am sure is most well known to you all as the voice of Inspector Gadget. But that’s not all!
Yes, the ad on this episode is based on an actual Get Smart ad! My peek at the manga reveals Joseph was reading a Superman comic, so SOMEONE on the JoJo anime staff is either a Get Smart fan, really into old American advertisements or possibly both! This has no real bearing on anything; I just thought it an interesting detail that caught my eye during the course of the episode.
I have a hard time believing that Straits is gonna be our main bad guy this time around. There’s gotta be a Dio OR THE DIO waiting somewhere in the wings. I might even be disappointed a bit if this is not the case.
Yeah, I don’t think Straits is dead by a long shot (bullets don’t kill vampires!), but I’d bet on that vampire (?) frozen among the masks in Mexico being the main villain, with Straits as an upper-tier mid-boss.
I fucking adored this episode with one caveat: that scene of Jojo drinking his soda should have been accompanied by the music from those infamous 90′s Diet Coke adverts (yeah, I know it hadn’t been invented yet, but whatever!). Just a little something for the ladies.
As someone who has read this part of the manga relatively recently and knew exactly what was going to happen, this adaptation was above and beyond anything my wildest dreams could have conjured. David Production is taking an already-awesome manga and improving on it in every way.
Especially all the artistic flourishes that they took with the lighting and color and texture to give it a very modern-art feel. It’s like they saw Araki’s super-fabulous art and thought, “this isn’t NEARLY fabulous enough.” So they turned it up to twelve and made it even more eye-poppingly stylin’. Not to mention that Part 2 already dialed up the level of JoJo poses from where it was in Part 1, and seeing them brought to life in the anime was delightfully giggle-inducing.
And then Taku Iwasaki’s music came in and melded perfectly together with the wacked-out art style and crazy action and it was just… yes.
Oh right, and also cool things happened in this episode, but I already knew about those from the manga. I will try to refrain talking about the plot because I’ll probably spoil something by mistake.
What I will say is that by this point in the manga, I thought Joseph was a pretty cool guy. But every chapter I’ve read so far has raised the bar on his character even further into the clouds. So believe me when I say, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
Just… everything about this adaptation takes the over-the-top manga and makes it even more balls-to-the-wall ridiculous and I am running out of colorful adjectives and I cannot wait to see what happens when things get even more… well… bizarre.
Yep, it’s not the most well animated show, but the art really makes it stand out. It reminds me a lot of the recent Lupin III TV series like that: Even when it was poorly animated, I still loved looking at it because the art was so unique.
“There is an amusing anachronism in this episode: In this flashback, Joseph Joestar of the 1920s is reading a magazine/comic with a Get Smart-based ad”
So it doesnt seem anachronistic to you, that he is reading a comic at all ? Whatever its contents ? Surely there werent any mass-produced comics in the 20′s, all they had then were newspaper strips and the like.
” It was created by Mel Brooks (yes, that Mel Brooks)”
It is very surprising that Mel Brooks, for once, made something that was merely average, and not shit, like most his other stuff is. Zeus, Mel Brooks is a shitty comic/writer.
I’m still not sure where the hell that Tommy Gun came from, but it’s a little difficult to care at this point. Joseph’s introduction is everything I hoped it would be, and can’t wait to see everything else he does get into the anime.
I also find it interesting that more people have enjoyed the Smokey Robinson reference than those who have complained about there being a black character named “Smokey Brown”. I thought for sure that would have been a major complaint.
A giant man must have giant pockets. That’s my explanation for the Tommy gun, and I’m sticking to it!
As for Smokey, did this episode ever make reference to his last name? Maybe the narrator mentioned it … I honestly don’t recall. But just calling him Smokey is an obvious reference to Smokey Robinson, so I didn’t mind it much.
Actually, one thing I do recall about America is that in 1929 they had the Wall Street crash, causing the biggest depression in American history. Things were so bad I don’t think life would be like how it was portrayed in the anime, but then it does lend credence to the restaurant serving anyone as long as they pay, they were desperate times.
As long as they were in the company of Whitey, black folks could eat in non-black establishments in New York. There wasn’t an official “No black folks allowed” policy, but being in the company of a white person made the difference between their soup being either mostly lentils or mostly assorted dubious juices.
Racism in New York was actually one of the most interesting segments of my Race and Ethnicity class.
On the episode itself, the whole thing made me incredibly happy from start to finish.
So yeah, I finally watched it (or finally caught up to Jojo). And yes, I’m still looping the last minute or so with Joseph Joestar, in Gintoki’s (Tomokazu Sugita) voice, pulling out the Tommy Gun and basically about to screw Straits over. Probably. I might need help for this, someone stop me from looping this scene |
To make it easy to find the pattern you are looking for click on a picture below to go to the project details. We only have the projects that are currently completed, but we will add more and eventually have all of them here for you to navigate through.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Pattern #51 Cabled-Cuff Mittens
Hey Everybody! It is Em!
Today I will be talking about Pattern #51, the Cabled-Cuff Mittens.
Would you like to know a secret... I have been dreading making these mittens.
I'm not a fan of the provisional cast-on. I just really like to avoid crochet. My better half, Brittany, is a crocheting expert. Me? I am lucky if I am able to chain something. I'm just not made to crochet. Trust me.
So because of my fear of crocheting, I have avoided anything that requires a provisional cast on. I'll sit and make excuses, but I will not touch that evil hook!!! Well, my friend Sarah really wants some cabled-cuffed mittens. Since Sarah is such a great person, I decided to cave in and attempt to make these mittens.
To my surprise, the provisional cast on is actually...SIMPLE!!! Once I was able to figure out HOW to make a chain (which took the longest to master because I suck at crocheting) it took no time. All I had to do was pick up stitches from this little chain. My friend Viki showed me a trick on how to pick up stitches. I found it to be a lot easier to do her way because the material was so tiny.
This is how you pick up, Viki's way:
1) Stick your needle into the crochet material
2) Wrap the yarn around
3) Pull it through with your fingers.
Yes, I know, pulling it through with your fingers may seem somewhat amateur to some, but let me tell you...It made a lot more sense to me.
Then comes the grafting. In all honesty, I hate this stitch. My friend Zoe has taught it to me several times and I still epically fail at it. I would YouTube this. You can find a great Kitchner's stitch tutorial if you click here! Also, I really love Debbie Stoller's instructions that you can find in "Stitch n Bitch Superstar Knitting: Go Beyond the Basics." You can purchase it online here.
If you want to avoid the graft, you can do a 3 needle bind off. However, I do not advise using this for mittens. You see, if one does a 3 needle bind off, there will be a nice seam. For example, below is a yellow hat that I made using the 3 needle bind off.
As you can see there is a seam. This seam is a nice one and, because it is a hat, one will not feel that seam. However, when one grafts there is no seam, as seen below:
My ONE complaint about this pattern is the actual mitten is kinda roomy inside. The cuff is nice and tight, but the space between the thumb and the end of the cabled part is a little baggy.
I ended up decreasing by 5 stitches. Even though it didn't seem like a lot (the original pattern calls for 40 stitches) it sure is! |
Q:
reverse map-projection: how to get lat/lon coordinates from projected coordinates
I have a set of lat/lon coords which I can project using, for example, Mollweide projection.
library(mapproj)
set.seed(0)
n <- 100
s <- data.frame(lon = rnorm(n, 0, 60),
lat = rnorm(n, 0, 40))
p <- mapproject(s$lon, s$lat, proj="mollweide", par=NULL,
orientation=c(90,200,0))
# plot projected coors
plot(p$x, p$y, type="n", asp=1/1, bty="n")
map.grid(c(-180, 180, -90, 90), nx=20, ny=20,
font=1, col=grey(.6), labels=F)
points(p$x, p$y, pch="x", cex = .8)
# a point to reverse project
points(1,0, pch=16, col="red", cex=2)
Now, I have a scenario where I need to do some calculations on the projected coordinates and reverse project the results back to lat/lon coords. For example, how can I reverse project the red point [1,0]?
Any ideas how that can be done?
A:
I don't know if there's a reason you need to use mapproject to project in the fist place. If you can use spTransform instead, then this becomes easier because you can also use spTransform to reverse the same process.
Assuming that you do need to use mapproject, we can still use spTransform to convert points from your projected coordinate system into lat-long coordinates, but a little more fiddling is required to deal with the non-standard format of the mapproject projections I.e. the points are normalised to lie between -1 to 1 latitude and -2 to 2 longitude. In more standard map projections the lat/long are expressed in distances (usually meters).
So, first we can use spTransform to find out the conversion factors we need to convert the normalised mapproject coordinates into actual distances:
library(rgdal)
my.points = data.frame(x=c(0,180),y=c(90,0))
my.points = SpatialPoints(my.points, CRS('+proj=longlat'))
my.points = spTransform(my.points, CRS('+proj=moll'))
# SpatialPoints:
# x y
# [1,] 0 9020048
# [2,] 18040096 0
# Coordinate Reference System (CRS) arguments: +proj=moll +ellps=WGS84
Now we can use these references to convert from normalised mapproject coordinates into distances in meters:
my.points = data.frame(x=p$x * 18040096/2 , y=p$y * 9020048)
my.points = SpatialPoints(my.points, CRS('+proj=moll'))
And reproject these into lat/long geographic coordinates:
my.points = as.data.frame(spTransform(my.points, CRS('+proj=longlat')))
Finally we need to rotate these points by longitude, to undo the rotation that was performed in mapproject.
my.points$x = my.points$x + 200
my.points$x[my.points$x > 180] = my.points$x[my.points$x > 180] - 360
And lets check that it worked:
head(my.points)
# x y
# 1 75.77725 31.274368
# 2 -19.57400 -31.071065
# 3 79.78795 -24.639597
# 4 76.34576 1.863212
# 5 24.87848 -45.215432
# 6 -92.39700 23.068752
head(s)
# lon lat
# 1 75.77726 31.274367
# 2 -19.57400 -31.071065
# 3 79.78796 -24.639596
# 4 76.34576 1.863212
# 5 24.87849 -45.215431
# 6 -92.39700 23.068751
|
Co-evolution of the branch site and SR proteins in eukaryotes.
Serine-arginine-rich (SR) proteins are essential for splicing in metazoans but are absent in yeast. By contrast, many fungi have SR protein homologs with variable arginine-rich regions analogous to the arginine-serine-rich (RS) domain in metazoans. The density of RS repeats in these regions correlates with the conservation of the branch site signal, providing evidence for an ancestral origin of SR proteins and indicating that the SR proteins and the branch site co-evolved. |
Effects of gonadectomy on immunoreactivity for choline acetyltransferase in the cortex, hippocampus, and basal forebrain of adult male rats.
Androgens are known to affect cognitive and mnemonic aspects of spatial processing. The cholinergic system is thought to play an important role in cognition and memory, but little is known about the interaction between androgen and cholinergic neurons. The present study focused on the effects of testosterone on the cholinergic neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex, the posterior parietal cortex, the hippocampus, and the basal forebrain including the medial septum, i.e., regions related to spatial processing. We examined choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) immunoreactivity in three groups of adult male rats: sham-operated (Sham), 28-day gonadectomized (GDX), and 28-day gonadectomized with immediate implantation of testosterone propionate (GDX+TP). Comparison of the Sham and GDX+TP groups demonstrated that the GDX group had significantly decreased cell counts of ChAT-immunoreactive neurons in anterior cingulate cortex layer II/III, posterior parietal cortex layer II/III, and the medial septum, but not in the other basal forebrain subregions examined (the horizontal part of the diagonal band of Broca and the substantia innominata). The GDX group also had significantly reduced hippocampal ChAT-immunoreactive fiber pixel density. The GDX+TP group maintained ChAT-immunoreactive cell counts in the anterior cingulate cortex, posterior parietal cortex, and medial septum equivalent to those in the Sham group. Less than 1% of identified cells showed colocalization of immunoreactivity for ChAT and androgen receptor in the cell bodies of the cortex and basal forebrain. Our observations demonstrate that the presence or absence of testosterone for 4 weeks influenced the cholinergic population region-specifically in the adult rat brain. |
disable_query_log;
#
# Check if server has support for loading plugin
#
if (`SELECT @@have_dynamic_loading != 'YES'`) {
--skip The connection_control plugin requires dynamic loading
}
#
# Check if the variable PLUGIN_AUTH is set
#
if (!$PLUGIN_AUTH) {
--skip The connection_control plugin requires the environment variable \$PLUGIN_AUTH to be set (normally done by mtr)
}
enable_query_log;
|
Q:
MySQL Group by conditioning
Is there a way to only group by certain rows when a specific value is set?
i.e. I have the following table:
USERNO | FIRSTNAME | NAME | CUSTOMER | YEAR
1 | Jon | Snow | 0 | 2014
2 | Williams | Spear | 1 | 2015
1 | John | Snow | 1 | 2015
3 | Sam | Wells | 0 | 2014
3 | Sam | Wells | 0 | 2013
When CUSTOMER is 1, it should group by USERNO. So I want the following result:
USERNO | FIRSTNAME | NAME | CUSTOMER | YEAR
1 | Jon | Snow | 1 | 2014
2 | Williams | Spear | 1 | 2015
3 | Sam | Wells | 0 | 2014
3 | Sam | Wells | 0 | 2013
Is this possible?
Thanks in advance!
A:
You can use UNION for getting this type of results like this:
SELECT *
FROM tablename
WHERE CUSTOMER != 1
UNION
SELECT *
FROM tablename
WHERE CUSTOMER = 1
GROUP BY USERNO;
OR You can also use CASE but you have to specify the ELSE part to group records when condition is not satisfied:
SELECT *
FROM tablename
GROUP BY CASE WHEN CUSTOMER = 1 THEN USERNO ELSE columnname END;
OR You can use GROUP_CONCAT like this if you want your results to be grouped as a COMMA delimited list:
SELECT
GROUP_CONCAT(DISTINCT CAST(USERNO) AS CHAR),
GROUP_CONCAT(DISTINCT CAST(FIRSTNAME) AS CHAR),
GROUP_CONCAT(DISTINCT CAST(NAME) AS CHAR),
CUSTOMER,
GROUP_CONCAT(DISTINCT CAST(YEAR) AS CHAR)
FROM tablename
GROUP BY CUSTOMER;
|
Cults, rituals and underground movements were explored in Zal Batmanglij's unjustly overlooked "Sound Of My Voice," and this year he returns to the Sundance Film Festival with collaborator Brit Marling for "The East," another picture exploring those similar themes. And following its premiere in Park City over the weekend, Fox Searchlight is using the buzz to drop the first teaser trailer for what looks like an equally gripping experience.
Cults, rituals and underground movements were explored in Zal Batmanglij's unjustly overlooked "Sound Of My Voice," and this year he returns to the Sundance Film Festival with collaborator Brit Marling for "The East," another picture exploring those similar themes. And following its premiere in Park City over the weekend, Fox Searchlight is using the buzz to drop the first teaser trailer for what looks like an equally gripping experience.
Starring Marling, Ellen Page, Alexander Skarsgard and Patricia Clarkson, the film centers on a young woman who works for a private intelligence firm who is tasked with infiltrating an anarchist collective. And once she does, she soon finds herself in over her head, and caught up in their campaigns and covert operations, and begins to question her own motives. Our review out of Sundance called it a "stylish thriller" that also serves as "a terrific companion piece for anyone who enjoyed 'Sound Of My Voice.'" This teaser doesn't give too much away, but sets everything up for what looks like a pretty white knuckle little ride.
No release date yet, but "The East" is expected to hit theaters later this year. |
define([
"dojo/_base/lang",
"./_base",
"dijit/_WidgetBase",
"dojo/query" // dojo.query
], function(lang,dd,Widget,Query){
return dd.Inline = lang.extend(function(args, node){
this.create(args, node);
},
Widget.prototype,
{
context: null,
render: function(/*Object|dojox/dtl/Context?*/ context){
this.context = context || this.context;
this.postMixInProperties();
Query("*", this.domNode).orphan();
this.domNode.innerHTML = this.template.render(this.context);
},
declaredClass: "dojox.dtl.Inline",
buildRendering: function(){
var div = this.domNode = document.createElement("div");
var node = this.srcNodeRef;
if(node.parentNode){
node.parentNode.replaceChild(div, node);
}
this.template = new dd.Template(lang.trim(node.text), true);
this.render();
},
postMixInProperties: function(){
this.context = (this.context.get === dd._Context.prototype.get) ? this.context : new dd._Context(this.context);
}
});
}); |
Tag: Tolkien
Per the quote above, and the message in the foreword, it’s not incredibly hard to figure that Tolkien was not fond of allegory and especially its application to his work. While the times might indicate that the War of the Ring has some pretty strong parallels to some of the recent events of the time (namely World War II), Tolkien and his followers have strongly protested this idea, and said they had nothing to do with each other. And others have connected his work to religious texts, namely the Bible (Frodo as Jesus, Melkor as Lucifer, etc.), which would (and likely has been refuted by his fans).
Unfortunately for Tolkien and many of his fans, that’s not really the way literary criticism and allegory works. The intent of the author is not necessarily considered when reviewing texts and parallels with other texts. Even if Dante Alighieri had not planned on making his own epic journey through Hell laden with images of his political rivals, the parallels between his depictions of members of society and his expulsion and dissatisfaction with how Florence was conducting itself were not invisible, and connections can be made.
So it is with Tolkien. Allegory doesn’t require the author to have written the text with allegory in mind. And as it is, many writers write things with parallels that are discovered after the fact and that were completely unintentional. Unfortunately for Tolkien, his Catholic upbringing and fellowship with writers like C.S. Lewis allow there to be a solid injection of hidden meanings and ideals thrown into the mix.
While I don’t necessarily subscribe to the idea of religious allegory, the makings are there. As previously mentioned, there are characters who bear resemblances to Biblical figures – Frodo carries the ring (sins of the world) and he alone is capable of making the sacrifice necessary to destroy it; Melkor was an Ainur (essentially angel) and corrupted many Maiar (lesser angels) to follow him, including Sauron and the balrogs; other examples that elude me.
There are plenty of unintentional allegories that exist in the world. You don’t have to look much further than this year: “Warcraft,” the fantasy movie based on the strategy game series, has been linked by some Redditors to the Syrian refugee crisis despite preceding the crisis by decades. And even if Tolkien is sincere in saying no allegory is meant to exist within The Lord of the Rings, it exists.
And even if it can be vehemently ripped apart and destroyed, the story is good enough stand alone; in fact, if the reason Tolkien was and Tolkienites are so vehemently against the trilogy as being described as allegory was/is to establish it as a root text for future allegories, I’ll gladly support it.
To be honest, the first time I read The Lord of the Rings, I didn’t think that it could be allegorical of anything at all. It was a highly fictional world with Elves and Dwarves and Magical Rings that are just too imaginative to be part of the real world. To me, Lord of the Rings was nothing more than the product of Tolkien’s fantastic imagination and dedication towards creating such a detailed world. All I saw was a writers’ great enthusiasm towards the concept of this imaginary world in which all the creatures from the fairy tales we all have read live together.
To be fair, I was 15 at the time so I’m not surprised to see how my recent readings of this series has completely changed its meaning – not going to lie, I enjoyed my first reading far more than my recent ones, just because I was able to immerse myself into this fantastical world and almost become a part of the story. In recent readings, however, I have been much more aware of what is actually happening in the story and have often connected aspects of it to the real world. By doing so, I did cut out on some of the fun of reading it, but my recent readings of the series have been far more memorable, just because they now feel a little more realistic.
In the foreword, Tolkien bluntly states that “The prime motive was the desire of a tale-teller to try his hand at a really long story that would hold the attention of readers, amuse them, delightthem, and at times maybe excite them or deeply move them.” In short, THIS BOOK IS NOT ALLEGORICAL OF ANYTHING – And my first reading of this book is representative of exactly this. As the story progressed, I went along with Frodo and Sam on their quest and felt the same things as they would have felt – the book most definitely held the attention of its readers. What really strengthens this idea that Lord of the Rings is purely fictional is that Tolkien just didn’t stop at this book, but wrote almost 12 more books on the history and lore of Middle Earth. He was just trying his best to make a complete fictional world.
However, at this point it’s just difficult for me to think that this book (and all the books preceding or following it) does not pull from the events around Tolkien in his time. The overlaying themes of good versus evil is something that was (and is) highly prominent at the time given that this book was written shortly after the first World War and was followed by the second World War. The number of parallels that can be drawn between the book and the state of the world at that time make it very difficult to agree with the fact that this book was written as pure fiction. Sure, the book is not a direct allegory of real events such as George Orwell’s Animal Farm, in which it is clear that each character represents a person in the real world, but it is most definitely not pure fiction.
Looking at the allegorical aspects of Lord of the Rings and Tolkien’s comments about how the book was not intended to be allegorical of the war, one question that came to my mind was that can anything be pure fiction? Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings during a time of great social and political turmoil and it is hard to think that those ideas were not part of his subconscious while writing the book. It is extremely difficult not to include aspects of the real world in writing and almost impossible to not be influenced by what is going on around you. In my public speaking course, we have been talking about informative speeches and how it is necessary to be unbiased in such speeches. During our discussions, I realized that it is really difficult not to include any of your own opinions to be part of your speech in one way or another. In the same way, I’m certain that Tolkien definitely had some opinions on the state of the world at that time, and at some point some of these ideas were bound to bleed into his writing. Perhaps, this is why he states that the book was not intended to be an allegory, but the ideas presented in the book are highly applicable to the real world and this is just a result of some of his own opinions being reflected in his writing. Taking a look at another ‘fictional’ series, Harry Potter once again deals with highly imaginative topics such as wizards and fantastic beasts. However, it is quite often debated that this series too has some allegorical aspects with respect to religion. Similarly, in The Lord of the Rings, themes that are shared with christianity are seen throughout the book, and I think it’s very possible that his interactions with C.S. Lewis could have been a contributing factor to that. After all, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe is full of references to the Bible.
In the end, I agree with Tolkien on the statement that The Lord of the Rings was not written as an Allegory to the second World War, Christianity, or any of the many other ideas and themes that this book parallels. It was written as an attempt to entertain and excite readers and it does exactly that. However it is nearly impossible to write any work without being influenced by the culture and society around you and The Lord of the Rings is a result of the events happening around the time it was written, blending into it. However, this actually doesn’t take away from the book but in fact, adds to it. By adding aspects to it that are representative of the real world, readers are able to connect with the book at a deeper level as they are familiar with the concepts being dealt with. It allows the readers to relate to the events taking place in the book and in some ways enhances their experience as the delve deeper into the world that the author has created for them.
A lot of my fellow posters have been talking about Braid, which is a fantastic puzzle-platformer that absolutely deserves to be talked about. However, I thought that I should change it up a bit and instead talk about the other game that we’ve played in this class so far: LOTRO, or Lord of the Rings Online.
LOTRO is an MMORPG, or a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. As such, many (but not all) see role-playing as an important component of playing these types of games. While I don’t necessarily get into the social aspect of role-playing (as can be seen most commonly on the role-playing required servers of LOTRO), I do think that creating a character who is an interesting, complete individual in and of themselves is an integral part of enjoying RPGs. Therefore, as a thought exercise, I would like to introduce all of you to my Elven Loremaster, Silumni.
Here she is. Isn’t she great?
In all seriousness, creating a complete character in LOTRO is a bit harder to do than in other RPGs that I have played, such as Bioware’s Dragon Age series or even Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls series, simply because those games gave me dialogue choices that help me cement my character’s personality traits and even parts of their backstories without me having to really devote time outside of the game to thinking about my character, something that LOTRO does not do. This doesn’t necessarily make LOTRO bad for role-playing; it just means that creating a whole character is a bit more front-heavy. I can’t just figure it out as I go.
Because of this, a lot of the character choices I made for Silumni were made in the character starting screen. For example, her name is not actually related to Tolkien’s works at all (mostly because any interesting Tolkien-related names have already been used by the thousands of players who have come before me). Instead, “Silumni” is the Sylvan word for animal-according to one site on the internet, at least. Since I knew I wanted Silumni to be a pet-based Loremaster, this seemed fitting for her character. I also chose to have her be from Rivendell, which is surrounded by nature. This helped me create a character who loved nature and the animals found within it more than even Radagast the Brown, if such a thing were even possible.
I from this point on, I tried to make my in-game choices show Silumni’s love of nature. For example, the Elven hair choices in this game are surprisingly varied, given how long this game has been out. I purposely avoided the more “cultivated” hair options-the ones that included hair decorations or intricate braiding. Instead, I gave her the roughest-looking hair I could find, since she would be almost exclusively hanging around animals who wouldn’t really care about the state of her hair. I also made her an “Explorer,” a crafting vocation focused on going out into nature to find natural resources. This also allowed me to craft the absolutely beautiful armor you can see on her in the picture.
Honestly, that’s about all I have when it comes to Silumni’s character. I still need to give her an interesting personality, even if I won’t necessarily use it when questing. I know that her character isn’t totally loyal to Tolkien’s works, but I really wanted to give her a unique personality, and I didn’t want to be limited to the fairly strict limitations Tolkien puts on his elves. What do you guys think? Do you have any helpful comments on where I should take her personality, or is there any constructive commentary you could offer me? Thanks for reading!
“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.” Among those quotes that send shivers trailing down my spine, few have had as lasting an impact as these words, spoken by the wizard Gandalf in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring. The same lines, barely altered, appear in the wildly successful film adaptation of the novel. The raw power and beauty of Gandalf’s speech seem an inseparable part of the Lord of the Rings experience, yet not all storytelling mediums are equal where emotional attachment is concerned.
In the gaming world of Lord of the Rings Online, though the creators gave a valiant attempt at staying faithful to the book, an observant player realizes quickly that some things simply cannot transfer from page to computer screen. This fact is seen clearly in the Midgewater Marshes, a key stop in both Frodo’s quest and the player’s. While the consistent presence of physical action in the game’s rendition of the marshes engages the player’s thirst for adventure, both the novel and the film provide the audience with an enduring emotional connection, stemming from a persistent atmosphere of loneliness, a setting which highlights the plight of travelers in the marshes, and the use of central characters filled with a haunting fear of the unknown. While the memories of virtual victories eventually grow faint, the passions excited by novels and films grab hold of the audience and refuse to let go, ensuring that the magic of the stories, as well as the lessons they teach, will never fade with the passage of time.
In the game, the first item that the player notices is the convenient map residing in the top right-hand corner of the computer screen. Whenever the player doubts his sense of direction in an area akin to the Midgewater Marshes, he can simply look to the map and follow an unambiguous little arrow towards his quest’s goal. If moused over, it will even reveal how far away the goal lies. The dense fog becomes all but irrelevant, for the player’s eyes watch the arrow, not the ground before his feet.
In contrast, the novel depicts Frodo and his companions slogging through the marshy waters alone and arrowless, forever wondering where and when their dangerous travels will come to an end. How can a gamer develop a sense of Frodo’s terror when the player can never be lost? One is never truly alone, for one can always turn to the handy arrow and make off swiftly towards home. This lack of fear and loneliness prevents the player from truly appreciating how it feels to wander the spider-infested marshes alone, despite the fact that his avatar traverses those same bogs. The action is the same, yet the feeling is vastly different. The game is forever leading you gently by the hand, while the novel and its cinematic counterpart drag you blindfolded into the gloom of the unknown.
If it is clear that the game’s helpful features bar it from evoking raw emotion, how then does the novel differ? The secret lies within Tolkien’s ability to not only relay the action, as the game does, but to relay the setting, the atmosphere, and the characters’ endless interpretations of the two. As the hobbits struggle to follow Aragorn through the bug-infested marshes, Tolkien provides the reader with a glimpse of their agony by commenting that “the hobbits [are] nearly frantic” as they hear the eerie cries of the swamp beasts, the Neekerbreekers. He describes their exceedingly unpleasant night, a sleepless one thanks to these unseen, yet not unheard monsters. This fear of the unknown permeates the Midgewater section of the novel, giving the reader a taste of how it feels to be alone and hunted in such a dismal place.
Here one discovers the true difference between the player’s avatar and the hobbits of the book. In the game, you play the part of a hero, a hunter. You blaze a trail through the marshes, destroying hordes of Neekerbreekers and taking trophies from the fallen beasts. You fear nothing, and why would you? Forever helpful, the game supplies a detailed analysis of your opponents’ strengths, even color coding them based on the probable victor of a theoretical battle.
In the novel, the likelihood of success versus defeat is not so clear. There, Frodo and his companions are not the hunters, but the cornered prey. They struggle to travel through the shadows, desperate to avoid the eyes of the Black Riders and their power-hungry master. No helpful floating names identify the whereabouts of their enemies; no color coded rings attempt to gauge their power. Thus, the reader experiences the terror of the hunted in a way that the player cannot hope to comprehend, for one medium provides an intricate world of fear and uncertainty, while the other merely depicts the action, like a rough pencil sketch devoid of color.
Like its written companion, the film is also able to draw out emotions in its audience that are beyond the scope of the online universe. While briefly touching on the fear of the hobbits, the cinematic version of the marsh scene elects to focus on the guide, Aragorn, and the pain he feels for a love left behind. As the hobbits attempt to sleep amidst the cries of nighttime animals, the ranger softly sings the tale of an elf maiden who fell in love with a mortal, letting his voice carry through the lonely darkness of the swamp. Though his young charges do not know it, the haunting song, which ends in the maiden’s death, reflects Aragorn’s own love for the elf Arwen, as well as his fear that their love will destroy her.
Enhanced by the gloom of the surrounding marshes, the mixture of heartbreak and longing exuded by Aragorn grows to fill the audience, as well, and thus the pain of a single man becomes the pain of an entire crowd. This miracle of empathy simply cannot exist in the game world, where both written and visible emotions are brushed aside by the importance of the central adventure. Amidst the endless stream of quests to be fulfilled, the player cannot waste precious time on a woeful tale of lost love, nor a quiet song in the nighttime of the marsh. Though the powerful scene fits perfectly into the fabric of the movie, filling its viewers with both love and despair, it has no place in the realm of gaming, where emotions are a frivolity distracting from a player’s ultimate goal.
Though computer games currently lack the potential for emotional investment, this by no means suggests that the Lord of the Rings game is irrelevant to Tolkien’s fantasy world. Rather, the game was simply not engineered for the same purposes as its written and filmed counterparts. Whereas these forms of storytelling reach one’s imagination by means of the heart, the game is meant to feed on a player’s desire for adventure, entrancing one’s mind with events that are visually rather than emotionally stimulating. The online universe calls to those who desire battles and balrogs, not subtlety and suspense. The very reason the game cannot compare to the novel or film is the reason why it succeeds brilliantly in fulfilling its own purpose: to entertain, engage, and challenge its players.
While one may lament for marshes drained of their mystery or beautifully written characters depicted as static NPCs, you cannot deny that the game achieves the goal for which it was created. It brings the player into Tolkien’s world and weaves him into the story, filling him with excitement, anticipation, and a thirst for what lies ahead. Where the game falls short, where plot becomes side note and battle becomes routine, the novel and film are there to pick up the slack, adding life and color to supplement the game’s limited storytelling abilities. If the game were an outline, written in dull greys and blacks, the others would be vibrant dyes; whereas the game alone would be a poor excuse for the real story, the mixture of all three creates a tale that is beautiful to behold.
In the end, though, why does any of it matter? Whether boxed, leather-bound, or projected on a screen, are they all not just different forms of entertainment? Not quite. Though games, books, and movies all have a component of pleasure, the latter two occasionally provide a more permanent benefit. Of course, the flash of swords and the cry of an angry cave troll, whether heard or imagined, will always bring excitement. Without the thrills, who would pay for the ticket or purchase the book? Yet every once in a while, a novel or film comes along, and it does not just amuse—it teaches.
Like the words of Gandalf resonating in the reader’s mind, or Aragorn’s soft voice echoing in the darkness of the theater, the story begins to take on a life of its own, entrancing the audience with joy and fear, love and hatred. Aragorn’s pain becomes the pain of all who have ever loved; Frodo’s fear belongs to any who have ever felt afraid. When Frodo laments over his bad fortune, wishing that evil had never touched his doorstep, Gandalf’s famous next words are spoken not only to him, but to us: “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
Suddenly, the story is real, and the battle is our own. We feel Gandalf’s words in our very bones, and they return to us, lovingly, whenever we feel despair looming near. While the crashing excitement of adventure must always fade into silence, the softer passions of the novel remain attached to the heart like a living organism, a symbiotic being that retains life while we do the same. And long after the last pages have been turned, Tolkien’s words remain, echoing like a song in the night, growing soft, but never quite fading away.
I realize there’s no blog due today, but I just got done with a bunch of homework and I decided I needed a break. So I drew out the map of Faerie Land. Or rather, how I perceived Faerie Land when reading Spenser’s The Faerie Queene.
I realize its kind of empty, but that’s because that’s all of Faerie Land that I have read…so far. This was physically and emotionally exhausting. I have a whole new respect for Tolkien.
Usually when or if one boasts in an academic setting (school) it has to do with how much they’ve done and/or how well they’ve done it. If you’re going to seek praise from your professors, it’s usually by saying something insightful, or turning in some impressive, hard wrought work, or displaying your breadth of knowledge on a subject by incorporating things learned from outside of class.
Today after class I made a point of going up to my professor and informing him that I had earned 7 gold and 9 Sapphire Shards. In Lord of the Rings Online. And I was damn proud of it.
Things weren’t always like this. There was a time when I didn’t even know what Sapphire Shards were, or why they mattered. Let me take you on a journey back in time…
It’s August 27th, and I’m attending my first Worlds of Wordcraft class. I find out that we’ll be playing Lord of the Rings Online. I’m pretty excited, since I’m a Tolkien fan. Despite that it still takes me a week or two before I get around to buying and installing the game.
Fast forward. I’ve installed the game, and I’ve started playing. I’ll spend an hour or two, maybe once or twice a week. Once I get past the intro area I start playing a little more, but still at staggered intervals. I might play for a a good chunk of a Saturday, go up a few levels, and then not play again for a week or even two.
And this goes on for a good month and a half. Then comes fall break, and everything changes. 4 days, 3 gold, 5 levels, and countless boars slain. Late nights spilling over into early mornings, sleeping through the afternoon. I played LOTRO pretty much every day. I didn’t mean to. At first I just intended to do as I always had, play a lot in one day, then not a play again for a while, and spend the rest of my break studying for a midterm I had on Tuesday, and writing most of an essay I had due on Wednesday. Then, I don’t know what happened, but somehow I found myself drawn to the game, unable to stop playing for hours on end. I fit the mmo gamer stereotype: no (or very limited) social contact, only taking breaks for food, sleep, and going to the bathroom. Well, maybe I didn’t go that far; I watched tv, hung out some with people in my dorm, etc. But I never did get around to my studying or essay writing. So I found myself not sleeping, late Monday night/early Monday morning, feverishly studying for the exam I was about to have in a few hours, crashing after class, and waking up in time to write a relatively poor essay in time to hand in on Wednesday.
Then later that same night I was back on LOTRO, questing, selling, neck cramping. And today I was boasting to my professor about how much gold I made and how I had hoarded some valuable crafting items (Sapphire Shards).
So, what can we learn from all this? Clearly the only logical conclusion is this: LOTRO is a highly addictive substance that ruins lives, tanks GPAs, and should be made illegal in the United States.
…
Or just that it can be highly engaging, simulating many aspects of real life in a fantastic world, and it provides its players a very real sense of fulfillment for completing certain tasks or reaching certain milestones. And that I need to work on my self control, or I’m going to fail my classes.
While I’m certain that I’ll be able to better regulate my LOTRO intake in the future, this experience has given me a new appreciation for the depth of the game and how engrossing it can be. I also have a new understanding of how some people can get sucked into it and, without proper self control, let it impact their lives in a negative way. I do believe however, in the correct quantity, playing LOTRO or other games can be a really enjoyable and enriching experience, and can open up a whole new world to explore with real people to meet and and interact with.
My first experiences with Lord of the Rings Online have been rather boring. I have not yet gotten to the Epic Book 1 quests but I did complete the Prologue Quests. Just like any other game, LOTRO uses the prologue quests to get the player acclimated to the game. For some people this is certainly helpful but for others it is just boring and tedious. I have very little experience with MMO’s, but even I found myself paying very little attention to what I was doing during the Prologue Quests. The quests themselves did not provide all that much action or excitement. I found myself leading my character around to various people and talking to them about things I didn’t care about. I was bored most of the time with the tedious and repetitive tasks I was presented with. Even when I strayed from the quests to go kill some wolves, the game could only keep me entertained for so long. I want instant gratification and excitement from a game and the Prologue Quests did not provide this for me.
The quests were clearly designed to introduce the story behind the game as well as the controls and various aspects to the game. As a player, I had read the LOTR book and watched the movie. I had a pretty good idea of where I was and what was going on. Also, my experience with gaming made it very easy to figure out how to play the game with very minimal help from the game itself. I found myself being forced to do various activities with my character that I didn’t want to do. I understood the concepts of learning skills, using skills, attacking enemies, talking to characters and so on and so forth. Undoubtedly the prologue serves a role of great importance to new and inexperienced games, but for me it just proved to be tedious. I wanted to complete the prologue quests and get them out of the way. Granted they did not take any more than an hour, but still they left me with a bad first impression of the game.
As for the quests and their relation to Tolkien’s world, I think there are many similarities. The most obvious of these similarities are the races, the characters, and the landscape in which you play. All these are taken directly from Tolkien because after all the game is based on Tolkien’s work. A further similarity can be drawn to the Hobbit Prologue Quests. Here the player begins in the shire just as Tolkien’s story begins with Bilbo Baggins in the shire. The game play itself begins to shift away from Tolkien’s world as the action begins. Tolkien must begin his writing by describing all the various aspects of the new world he is depicting. In the game however, the character is instantly immersed into the landscape and everything can be seen through the gamers’ eyes. There is no need for words or descriptions as a constant visual is provided. The player is instantly in control and can do as he or she chooses. The player is not being influenced and directed by Tolkien’s words, but now rather the player is in control and making a story for himself.
Another interesting comparison between Tolkien’s world and LOTRO is the way in which both initially develop. Tolkien describes the world he has created with his words. Any reader would be totally unfamiliar with Middle Earth and its inhabitants, so Tolkien must devote many words to describing these things. In a similar way, the designers of LOTRO assume that a new gamer has no idea what he or she is doing. So the designers put the Prologue Quests in to familiarize a new player with what the game has in store for them. Both “introductions”, although very different, are also similar in that they both try to create comfort and familiarity with something that may be new or unusual.
Perhaps it is because I just don’t like MMO’s in general, but I did not enjoy my first experiences with LOTRO. While doing the Prologue Quests I just wanted to be fully immersed in the game. I wanted instant satisfaction and a chance to win but with LOTRO this is not possible. It is a long, winding road to the top and I do not think this is a road I want to travel. I enjoy games that I can become good at and win at quickly. I do not like having to put extensive time and effort into games to become good at them. I especially do not like this when it comes to games like LOTRO where time and effort are more important than skill. Judging by the Prologue Quests and my prior knowledge of what MMO’s are I know it will take a lot of time and game play to improve my character. This is not my type of game and it is not something I can see myself playing much beyond what is needed for class. |
Q:
What is the benefit of using out/ref versus returning?
I'm making a game using XNA framework, so I use a lot functions that operate on vectors. (especially Vector2 (64bit struct)). What bothers me is that most of the methods are defined with ref and out parameters. Here is an example:
void Min(ref Vector2 value1, ref Vector2 value2, out Vector2 result)
which looks a bit strange too me. There is also another Min which is more obvious
public static Vector2 Min(Vector2 value1, Vector2 value2);
Basically, almost all the functions have overloads with refs and outs. Similar, other APIs.
What is the benefit of this design? XNA is optimized for performance, could it be a result? Say, Quaternion requires 128b where passing by ref less.
EDIT:
Here is a test code:
public class Game1 : Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game
{
GraphicsDeviceManager graphics;
SpriteBatch spriteBatch;
private Vector2 vec1 = new Vector2(1, 2);
private Vector2 vec2 = new Vector2(2, 3);
private Vector2 min;
private string timeRefOut1;
private string timeRefOut2;
private SpriteFont font;
public Game1()
{
graphics = new GraphicsDeviceManager(this);
Content.RootDirectory = "Content";
refOut1();
refOut2();
}
private Vector2 refOut1()
{
Vector2 min = Vector2.Min(vec1, vec2);
return min;
}
private Vector2 refOut2()
{
Vector2.Min(ref vec1, ref vec2, out min);
return min;
}
protected override void Initialize()
{
const int len = 100000000;
Stopwatch stopWatch = new Stopwatch();
stopWatch.Start();
for (int i = 0; i < len; i++)
{
refOut1();
}
stopWatch.Stop();
timeRefOut1 = stopWatch.ElapsedMilliseconds.ToString();
stopWatch.Reset();
stopWatch.Start();
for (int i = 0; i < len; i++)
{
refOut2();
}
stopWatch.Stop();
timeRefOut2 = stopWatch.ElapsedMilliseconds.ToString();
base.Initialize();
}
protected override void LoadContent()
{
spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice);
font = Content.Load<SpriteFont>("SpriteFont1");
}
protected override void Update(GameTime gameTime)
{
if (GamePad.GetState(PlayerIndex.One).Buttons.Back == ButtonState.Pressed)
this.Exit();
base.Update(gameTime);
}
protected override void Draw(GameTime gameTime)
{
GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue);
spriteBatch.Begin();
spriteBatch.DrawString(font, timeRefOut1, new Vector2(200, 200), Color.White);
spriteBatch.DrawString(font, timeRefOut2, new Vector2(200, 300), Color.White);
spriteBatch.End();
// TODO: Add your drawing code here
base.Draw(gameTime);
}
}
The results:
refOut1 2200
refOut2 1400
Win 7 64bit, .Net 4. XNA 4.0
Also IL code
.method public hidebysig static void Min(valuetype Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2& value1,
valuetype Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2& value2,
[out] valuetype Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2& result) cil managed
{
// Code size 69 (0x45)
.maxstack 3
IL_0000: ldarg.2
IL_0001: ldarg.0
IL_0002: ldfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::X
IL_0007: ldarg.1
IL_0008: ldfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::X
IL_000d: blt.s IL_0017
IL_000f: ldarg.1
IL_0010: ldfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::X
IL_0015: br.s IL_001d
IL_0017: ldarg.0
IL_0018: ldfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::X
IL_001d: stfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::X
IL_0022: ldarg.2
IL_0023: ldarg.0
IL_0024: ldfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::Y
IL_0029: ldarg.1
IL_002a: ldfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::Y
IL_002f: blt.s IL_0039
IL_0031: ldarg.1
IL_0032: ldfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::Y
IL_0037: br.s IL_003f
IL_0039: ldarg.0
IL_003a: ldfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::Y
IL_003f: stfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::Y
IL_0044: ret
} // end of method Vector2::Min
and
.method public hidebysig static valuetype Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2
Min(valuetype Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2 value1,
valuetype Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2 value2) cil managed
{
// Code size 80 (0x50)
.maxstack 3
.locals init (valuetype Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2 V_0)
IL_0000: ldloca.s V_0
IL_0002: ldarga.s value1
IL_0004: ldfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::X
IL_0009: ldarga.s value2
IL_000b: ldfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::X
IL_0010: blt.s IL_001b
IL_0012: ldarga.s value2
IL_0014: ldfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::X
IL_0019: br.s IL_0022
IL_001b: ldarga.s value1
IL_001d: ldfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::X
IL_0022: stfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::X
IL_0027: ldloca.s V_0
IL_0029: ldarga.s value1
IL_002b: ldfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::Y
IL_0030: ldarga.s value2
IL_0032: ldfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::Y
IL_0037: blt.s IL_0042
IL_0039: ldarga.s value2
IL_003b: ldfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::Y
IL_0040: br.s IL_0049
IL_0042: ldarga.s value1
IL_0044: ldfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::Y
IL_0049: stfld float32 Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2::Y
IL_004e: ldloc.0
IL_004f: ret
} // end of method Vector2::Min
Seems overhead is caused by temp Vector. Also I tried 1GHz WP 7.5 device:
1979
1677
Number of ticks for an order of magnitude smaller number of iterations.
A:
Vector2 is a struct, which means that when it's returned as a value a copy is returned, rather than returning a reference to an existing structure. By using ref/out parameters you can avoid this copy so that the Vector created in the Min method is the exact vector in your result variable.
It's one of those micro optimization that normally would be discouraged, but in the game world it's done often enough, and in environments where performance matters enough, that it's worth the slightly less readable option.
A:
Another difference on top of the performance efficience mentioned by Servy is the ability to have multiple "return" values: instead of returning them the usual way, you list them as ref/var parameters.
|
---
abstract: |
Nonlocal Lotka-Volterra models have the property that solutions concentrate as Dirac masses in the limit of small diffusion. Is it possible to describe the dynamics of the limiting concentration points and of the weights of the Dirac masses? What is the long time asymptotics of these Dirac masses? Can several Dirac masses co-exist?
We will explain how these questions relate to the so-called ”constrained Hamilton-Jacobi equation” and how a form of canonical equation can be established. This equation has been established assuming smoothness. Here we build a framework where smooth solutions exist and thus the full theory can be developed rigorously. We also show that our form of canonical equation comes with a structure of gradient flow.
Numerical simulations show that the trajectories can exhibit unexpected dynamics well explained by this equation.
Our motivation comes from population adaptive evolution a branch of mathematical ecology which models darwinian evolution.
author:
- 'Alexander Lorz[^1]'
- 'Sepideh Mirrahimi [^2]'
- 'Beno\^ it Perthame [^3]'
title: '**Dirac mass dynamics in a multidimensional nonlocal parabolic equation**'
---
Motivation {#sec:motivation}
==========
The nonlocal Lotka-Volterra parabolic equations arise in several areas such as ecology, adaptative dynamics and as limits of stochastic individual based models in the limit of infinite population. The simplest example assumes global interactions between individuals with a trait $x$ and reads $$\label{para}
{\partial}_t n_{\epsilon}- {\epsilon}\Delta n_{\epsilon}= \frac{n_{\epsilon}}{{\epsilon}} R \big(x, I_{\epsilon}(t) \big), \qquad t>0, \; x \in {\mathbb{R}}^d,$$ with a nonlinearity driven by the integral term $$\label{paraI}
I_{\epsilon}(t) = \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} \psi(x) n_{\epsilon}(t,x) dx.$$ Another and more interesting example is with local interactions $$\begin{aligned}
\label{localc}
{\partial}_t n_{\epsilon}(t,x) = \frac{1}{{\epsilon}}n_{\epsilon}(t,x) \left(r(x)- \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} C(x,y)n_{\epsilon}(t,y) \,dy\right) + {\epsilon}{\Delta}n_{\epsilon}(t,x).\end{aligned}$$ We denote by $n_{\epsilon}^0\geq 0$ the initial data.
These are called ’mutation-competition’ models because the Laplace term is used for modeling mutations in the population. Competition is taken into account in the second model by the competition kernel $C(x,y)\geq 0$ and in the first model by saying that $R$ can be negative for $I_{\epsilon}$ large enough (it a measure of how the total population influences birth and death rates). Such models can be derived from stochastic individual based models in the limit of large populations, [@RC.JH:05; @NC.RF.SM:06; @NC.RF.SM:08]. There is a large literature on the subject, in terms of modeling and analysis, we just refer the interested reader to [@OD:04; @OD.PJ.SM.BP:05; @M.P.B.M:10; @Raoulphd].\
We have already normalized the model with a small positive parameter ${\varepsilon}$ since it is our goal to study the behaviour of the solution as ${\varepsilon}\to 0$. The interesting qualitative outcome is that solutions concentrate as Dirac masses $$n_{\epsilon}(t,x) \approx \bar \rho(t) \delta \big(x- \bar x (t)\big).$$ For equation , we can give an intuitive explanation; in this limit, we expect that the relation $n(t,x) R \big(x, I(t) \big)=0$ holds. In dimension 1 and for $x \mapsto R(x,I)$ monotonic, there is a single point $x=X(I)$ where $R$ will not vanish and, consequently, where $n$ will not vanish. A priori control of the total mass on $n$ from below implies the result with $\bar x (t)= X(I(t))$.
In several studies, we have established these singular limits with weak assumptions [@GB.SM.BP:09; @GB.BP:08]. A main new concept arises in this limit, the [*constrained Hamilton-Jacobi*]{} equation introduced in [@OD.PJ.SM.BP:05] which occurs by some kind of real phase WKB ansatz (as for fronts propagations in [@WF.PS:86; @LE.PS:89; @GB.LE.PS:90]) $$\label{wkb}
n_{\epsilon}(t,x) = e^{u_{\epsilon}(t,x)/{\epsilon}}.$$ Here we have in mind the simple example of Dirac masses approximated by gaussians $$\delta(x-\bar x) \approx {\frac}{1}{\sqrt{2\pi {\epsilon}}} e^{-|x-\bar x|^2/2{\epsilon}}= e^{(-|x-\bar x|^2- {\epsilon}ln(2 \pi{\epsilon}))/2{\epsilon}}$$ It is much easier to describe the limit of $-|x-\bar x|^2- {\epsilon}ln(2 \pi{\epsilon})$! Dirac concentration points are understood as maximum points of $u_{\epsilon}(t,x)$ in . As it is well understood, these Hamilton-Jacobi equations develop singularities in finite time [@GB:94; @LE:98; @Lionsbook:82] which is a major technical difficulty both for proving the limit and for analyzing properties of the concentration points $\bar x (t)$.\
This method in [@OD.PJ.SM.BP:05] of using ${\epsilon}\ln (n_{\epsilon})$ to prove concentration has been followed in several subsequent studies. For long time asymptotics (and not ${\epsilon}\to 0$ but the two issues are connected as we explain in section \[sec:senm\]) it was introduced in [@LD.PJ.SM.GR:08] and used in [@Raoul2009; @Raoulphd]. More recently in [@NC.PJ:10] the authors come back on the Hamilton-Jacobi equation and prove that it makes sense still with weak assumptions for several nonlocal quantities $I_k=\int \psi_k n_{\epsilon}(t,x)dx$ which can be characterized in the limit.\
Here we take the counterpart and develop a framework where we can prove smoothness of the various quantities arising in the theory. This opens up the possibility to address many questions that seem impossible to attain directly\
$\bullet$ Do the Dirac concentrations points appear spontaneously at their optimal location or do they move regularly?\
$\bullet$ In the later case, is there a differential equation on the concentration point $\bar x(t)$? It follows from regularity that we can establish a form of the so-called [*canonical equation*]{} in the language of adaptive dynamics [@OD:04; @UD.RL:96]. This equation has been established [*assuming*]{} smoothness in [@OD.PJ.SM.BP:05], in our framework it holds true.\
$\bullet$ In higher dimensions, why is a single Dirac mass naturally sustained (and not the hypersurface $R(\cdot,I)=0$ for instance)? The canonical equation enforces constraints on the dynamics which give the explanation.\
$\bullet$ What is the long time behaviour of the concentration points $\bar x(t)$? A simple route is that the canonical equation comes with the structure of a gradient flow.\
We develop the theory separately for the simpler case of global interactions model and or the global interaction model . For global interactions we rely on assumptions stated in section \[sec:gca\] and we give all the details of the proofs in the three subsequent sections. We illustrate the results with numerical simulations that are presented in section \[sec:numerics\]. We give several extensions afterwards; in section \[sec:extension\] we treat the case with non-constant diffusion, and finally the case of local interactions in section \[sec:localcompetition\].
A simple example: no mutations {#sec:senm}
==============================
The Laplace term in the asymptotic analysis of and is at the origin of several assumptions and technicalities. In order to explain our analysis in a simpler framework, we begin with the case of the two equations without mutations set for $t>0$, $x \in {\mathbb{R}}^d$, $$\label{paranm}
{\partial}_t n= {n} R \big(x, I(t) \big), \qquad I(t)= \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} \psi(x) n(t,x) dx.$$ $$\begin{aligned}
\label{localcnm}
{\partial}_t n(t,x) = n(t,x) \left(r(x)- \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} C(x,y)n(t,y) \,dy\right):= n(t,x) R \big(x, I(t,x) \big).\end{aligned}$$ Also, we give a formal analysis, that shows the main ideas and avoids writing a list of assumptions; those of the section \[sec:gca\] and \[sec:localcompetition\] are enough for our purpose.
In both cases one can easily see the situation of interest for us. The models admit a continuous family of singular, Dirac masses, steady states parametrized by $y\in {\mathbb{R}}^d$ and the question is to study their stability and, when unstable, how the dynamics can generate a moving Dirac mass.
The Dirac steady states are given by $$\bar n(x;y)= \underline \rho(y) \delta (x-y).$$ The total population size $ \underline \rho(y)$ is defined in both models by the constraint $$R \big(y, \underline I(y) \big) =0,$$ with respectively for and $$\underline I(y))= \psi(y) \underline \rho(y), \qquad \text{resp. } \; \underline I(y)= \underline \rho(y) C(y,y) .$$ A monotonicity assumption in $I$ for model , namely $R_I(x,I)<0$ shows uniqueness of $\underline I(y)$ for a given $y$. In case of it is necessary that $r(y)>0$ for the positivity of $ \underline \rho(y) $.\
In both models a ’strong’ perturbation in measures is stable, i.e. only on the weight; for $n^0=\rho^0 \delta (x-y)$, the solution is obviously $n(t,x)= \rho(t) \delta (x-y)$ with $${\frac}d{dt} \rho(t)= \rho(t) R\big(y, \psi(y) \rho(t)\big), \qquad \text{resp. } \; {\frac}d{dt} \rho(t)= \rho(t) [r(y)- \rho(t) C(y,y)],$$ and $$\rho(t) \underset{t \to \infty}{\longrightarrow} \; \underline \rho(y).$$ This simple remark explains why, giving $I$ now, the hypersurface $\{x, \; R(x,I)=0\}$ is a natural candidate for the location of a possible Dirac curve (see the introduction).\
Apart from this stable one dimensional manifold, the Dirac steady states are usually unstable by perturbation in the weak topology. A way to quantify this instability is to follow the lines of [@OD.PJ.SM.BP:05] and consider at $t=0$ an exponentially concentrated initial data $$n^0(x)= e^{u^0_{\epsilon}(x)/{\epsilon}} \underset{{\epsilon}\to 0}{\longrightarrow} \; \underline \rho( \bar x^0) \delta (x- \bar x^0).$$ It is convenient to restrict our attention to $u^0_{\epsilon}$ uniformly concave, having in mind the gaussian case mentioned in the introduction. Then, ${\epsilon}$ measures the deviation from the initial Dirac state and to see motion it is necessary to consider long times as $t/{\epsilon}$ or, equivalently, rescale the equation as $${\epsilon}\; {\partial}_t n_{\epsilon}= {n_{\epsilon}} R \big(x, I_{\epsilon}(t,x) \big),$$ and our goal is to prove that $$n_{\epsilon}(t,x) \underset{{\epsilon}\to 0}{\longrightarrow} \bar n(t,x)= \bar \rho(t) \delta \big(x- \bar x(t) \big).$$
Also the deviation to a Dirac state turns out to stay at the same size for all times and we can better analyze this phenomena using the WKB ansatz . Indeed, $u_{\epsilon}$ satisfies the equation $${\partial}_t u_{\epsilon}= R \big(x, I_{\epsilon}(t,x) \big).$$ As used by [@LD.PJ.SM.GR:08], because $u^0$ is concave, assuming $x \mapsto R(x, I_{\epsilon}(t,x))$ is also concave (this only relies on assumptions on the data), we conclude that $u_{\epsilon}(t,\cdot)$ is also concave and thus has a [*unique*]{} maximum point $\bar x_{\epsilon}(t)$. The Laplace formula shows that, with $\bar x(t)$ the strong limit of $\bar x_{\epsilon}(t)$, $${\frac}{n_{\epsilon}(t,x)}{\int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d}n_{\epsilon}(t,x) dx} \underset{{\epsilon}\to 0}{\longrightarrow} \delta \big(x- \bar x(t) \big).$$
With some functional analysis, we are able to pass to the strong limit in $I_{\varepsilon}$ and $u_{\epsilon}$. Despite its nonlinearity, we find the same limiting equation, $$\label{hjnm}
{\partial}_t u = R \big(x, I(t,x) \big), \qquad u(t=0)= u^0.$$ Still following the idea introduced in [@OD.PJ.SM.BP:05], we may see $I(t,x)$ or $\rho(t)$ as a Lagrange multiplier for the constraint $$\label{constraintnm}
\max_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} u(t,x)= 0 = u\big(t, \bar x(t)\big),$$ which follows from the a priori bound $0<\rho(t) \leq \rho_M< \infty$. The mathematical justification of these developments is rather easy here. For model it uses a $BV$ estimate proved in [@GB.BP:07]. For model one has to justify persistence (that is $\rho_{\epsilon}$ stays uniformly positive) and strong convergence of $\rho_{\epsilon}(t)$. All this work is detailed below with the additional Laplace terms.
The constraint allows us to recover the ’fast’ dynamics of $I(t)$ and $\rho(t)$. Indeed, combined with , it yields $$\label{levelsetnm}
R \big( \bar x(t), I(t) \big)=0, \qquad \text{resp. } \; R \big( \bar x(t), I(t, \bar x(t)) \big)=0.$$ Assuming regularity on the data, $u(t,x)$ is three times differentiable and the constraint also gives $$\nabla u\big(t, \bar x(t)\big) =0.$$ Differentiating in $t$, we establish the analogue of the canonical equations in [@UD.RL:96] (see also [@NC.RF.GB:01; @OD.PJ.SM.BP:05; @Raoul2009; @SM.lisbon]) $$\label{cenm}
\dot{ \bar x }(t)= \left( -D^2u \big(t, \bar x(t)\big) \right)^{-1}. D_x R\big(\bar x(t),\bar I(t, \bar x(t)) \big), \quad \bar x(0)= \bar x^0,$$ (in the case of model , this means the derivative with respect to $x$ in both places). Inverting $I$ from the identities gives an autonomous equation.\
This differential equation has the structure of a gradient flow and this makes easy to analyze its long time behaviour, that is equivalent to know what are the stable Dirac states for the weak topology; the so-called Evolutionary attractor or Convergence Stable Strategy in the language of adaptive dynamics [@OD:04; @Raoul2009]. Eventhough this is less visible, it also carries regularity on the Lagrange multiplier $\rho(t)$ which helps for the functional analytic work in the case with mutations. Another use of is to explain why, generically, only one pointwise Dirac mass can be sustained; as we explained earlier, the equation on $\dot{ \bar x }(t)$ also gives the global unknown $I(t)$ by coupling with and this constraint is very strong. See section \[sec:numerics\] for an example.\
To conclude this quick presentation, we notice that the time scale (in ${\epsilon}$ here) has to be precisely adapted to the specific initial state under consideration. The initial state itself also has to be ’exponentially’ concentrated along with our construction; this is the only way to observe the regular motion of the Dirac concentration point. This is certainly implicitly used in several works where such a behaviour is displayed, at least numerically. Of course, there are many other ways to concentrate the initial state with a ’tail’ covering the full space so as to allow that any trait $x$ can emerge; these are not covered by the present analysis.
Global competition: assumptions and main results {#sec:gca}
=================================================
As used by [@LD.PJ.SM.GR:08], concavity assumptions on the function $u_{\epsilon}$ in are enough to ensure concentration of $n_{\epsilon}(t, \cdot)$ as a [*single*]{} Dirac mass. We follow this line and make the necessary assumptions.
We start with assumptions on $\psi$: $$\label{aspsi}
0<\psi_m\leq \psi \leq \psi_M < \infty, \qquad \psi \in W^{2,\infty}({\mathbb{R}}^d) .$$
The assumptions on $R\in C^2$ are that there is a constant $ I_M>0$ such that (fixing the origin in $x$ appropriately) $$\label{asrmax}
\max_{x \in {\mathbb{R}}^d} R(x,I_M) = 0 = R(0,I_M) ,$$ $$\label{asr}
-\underline{K}_1 |x|^2 \leq R(x,I) \leq \overline{K}_0 -\overline{K}_1 |x|^2, \qquad \text{for }\; 0\leq I \leq I_M ,$$ $$\label{asrD2}
- 2\underline{K}_1 \leq D^2 R(x,I) \leq - 2\overline{K}_1 < 0 \text{ as symmetric matrices for }\, 0\leq I \leq I_M,$$ $$\label{asrDi}
- \underline{K}_2\leq {\displaystyle}{\frac{{\partial}R}{{\partial}I} \leq - \overline{K}_2}, \qquad \Delta (\psi R) \geq - K_3.$$ At some point we will also need that (uniformly in $0\leq I \leq I_M$) $$\label{asrD3}
D^3R(\cdot,I) \in L^\infty({\mathbb{R}}^d).$$
Next the initial data $n_{\epsilon}^0$ has to be chosen compatible with the assumptions on $R$ and $\psi$. We require that there is a constant $I^0$ such that $$\label{asI}
0<I^0\leq I_{\epsilon}(0) := \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} \psi(x) n_{\epsilon}^0(x) dx< I_M,$$ that we can write $$n_{\epsilon}^0=e^{u_{\epsilon}^0/{\epsilon}}, \qquad \text{with }\; u_{\epsilon}^0 \in C^2({\mathbb{R}}^d) \quad (\text{uniformly in } {\epsilon}),$$ and we assume uniform concavity on $u^{\epsilon}$ too. Namely, there are positive constants $\underline{L}_0, \overline{L}_0,\underline{L}_1, \overline{L}_1$ such that $$\label{asu}
-\underline{L}_0 -\underline{L}_1 |x|^2 \leq u_{\epsilon}^0(x) \leq \overline{L}_0 - \overline{L}_1 |x|^2 ,$$ $$\label{asuD2}
-2\underline{L}_1 \leq D^2u_{\epsilon}^0 \leq - 2\overline{L}_1 .$$ For Theorems \[th.cano\] and \[th.long\] we also need that $$\label{asuD3}
D^3u_{\epsilon}^0 \in L^\infty({\mathbb{R}}^d) \quad \text{componentwise uniformly in }{\epsilon},$$ $$\label{asuIni}
n_{\epsilon}^0(x) \underset{{\epsilon}\to 0}{\longrightarrow} \bar{\rho}^0 \; \delta \big(x-\bar x^0\big) \text{ weakly in the sense of measures.}$$
Next we need to restrict the class of initial data to fit with $R$ through some compatibility conditions $$\label{asru}
4 \overline{L}_1^2 \leq \overline{K}_1 \leq \underline{K}_1 \leq 4 \underline{L}_1^2.$$
In the concavity framework of these assumptions, we are going to prove the following
\[th.conv\] Assume [aspsi]{}-[asrDi]{}, [asI]{}-[asuD2]{} and [asru]{}. Then for all $T>0$, there is a ${\epsilon}_0>0$ such that for ${\epsilon}< {\epsilon}_0$ and $t \in [0,T]$, the solution $n_{\epsilon}$ to satisfies, $$\begin{aligned}
\label{h}
&0< \rho_m \leq \rho_{\epsilon}(t):=\int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} n_{\epsilon}\,dx \leq \rho_M+C{\epsilon}^2,\qquad 0< I_m \leq I_{\epsilon}(t) \leq I_M+C{\epsilon}^2 \quad \text{a.e.}\end{aligned}$$ for some constant $\rho_m$, $I_m$. Moreover, $I_{\varepsilon}$ is uniformly bounded in $BV({\mathbb{R}}^+)$ and after extraction of a subsequence $I_{\epsilon}$ $$\label{limI}
I_{\epsilon}(t) \underset{{\epsilon}\to 0}{\longrightarrow} \bar I(t)\quad \text{ in } L_{loc}^1({\mathbb{R}}^+), \quad I_m \leq \bar I(t) \leq I_M \quad \text{a.e.},$$ and $ \bar I(t) $ is non-decreasing. We also have weakly in the sense of measures for a subsequence $n_{\epsilon}$ $$\label{limN}
n_{\epsilon}(t,x) \underset{{\epsilon}\to 0}{\longrightarrow} \bar \rho(t) \; \delta \big(x-\bar x (t)\big).$$ Finally, the pair $\big(\bar x(t), \bar I(t) \big)$ also satisfies $$\label{eq.R0}
R\big(\bar x(t),\bar I(t) \big)=0 \quad \text{a.e.}$$
In particular, there can be an initial layer on $I_{\epsilon}$ that makes a possible rapid variation of $I_{\epsilon}$ at $t\approx 0$ so that the limit satisfies $R(\bar x^0, I(0^+))=0$, a relation that might not hold true, even with $O({\epsilon})$, at the level of $n_{\epsilon}$.
\[th.cano\] Assume [aspsi]{}–[asru]{}. Then, $\bar x (\cdot)$ belongs to\
$W^{1,\infty}({\mathbb{R}}^+; {\mathbb{R}}^d)$ and satisfies $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.cano}
\dot{ \bar x }(t)= \left( -D^2u \big(t, \bar x(t)\big) \right)^{-1}. \nabla_x R\big(\bar x(t),\bar I(t) \big), \quad \bar x(0)=\bar{x}^0,\end{aligned}$$ with $u(t,x)$ a $C^2$-function given below in [eq.u]{}, $D^3u \in L^\infty({\mathbb{R}}^d)$, and initial data $\bar{x}^0$ given in [asuIni]{}. Furthermore, we have $\bar I(t) \in W^{1,\infty}({\mathbb{R}}^+)$.
We insist that the Lipschitz continuity at $t=0$ is with the value $I(0)= \lim_{t \to 0^+} I(t) \neq \lim_{{\epsilon}\to 0} I_{\epsilon}^0$; the equality might hold if the initial data is well-prepared.
\[th.long\] With the assumptions [aspsi]{}- [asru]{}, equation has a structure of gradient flow, the limit $\bar I(t)$ is increasing and $$\label{limt}
\bar I(t) \underset{t\to \infty}{\longrightarrow} I_M, \quad \bar{x}(t) \underset{t\to \infty}{\longrightarrow} \bar{x}_\infty=0.$$ Finally, the limit is identified by ${\nabla}R(\bar{x}_\infty=0, I_M)=0$ (according to ).
It is an open question to know if the full sequence converges. This is to say if the solution to the Hamilton-Jacobi equation is unique. The only uniqueness case in [@GB.BP:07] assumes a very particular form of $R(\cdot, \cdot)$.
A-priori bounds on $\rho_{\epsilon}$, $I_{\epsilon}$ and their limits {#se.rho}
=====================================================================
Here, we establish the first statements of Theorem \[th.conv\]. As in [@GB.SM.BP:09] we can show with [asrmax]{} and [asrDi]{} that $I_{\epsilon}\leq I_M + C {\epsilon}^2$. With [aspsi]{} (the bounds on $\psi$), we also have that $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.rho}
\rho_{\epsilon}(t) \leq I_M/ \psi_m + C {\epsilon}^2.\end{aligned}$$
To achieve the lower bound away from $0$ is more difficult. We multiply the equation [para]{} by $\psi$ and integrate over ${\mathbb{R}}^d$, to arrive at $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.I_ep}
{\frac{d}{dt}}I_{\epsilon}(t) = \frac{1}{{\epsilon}}\int \psi R n_{\epsilon}\,dx + {\epsilon}\int n_{\epsilon}{\Delta}\psi \,dx.\end{aligned}$$ We define ${\displaystyle}{J_{\epsilon}(t):=\frac{1}{{\epsilon}}\int \psi R n_{\epsilon}\,dx}$ and calculate its time derivative $$\begin{aligned}
{\frac{d}{dt}}J_{\epsilon}(t) = \frac{1}{{\epsilon}}\int \psi R \left(\frac{1}{{\epsilon}} R n_{\epsilon}+ {\epsilon}{\Delta}n_{\epsilon}\right)\,dx+ \frac{1}{{\epsilon}} \int \psi n_{\epsilon}\frac{{\partial}R}{{\partial}I}\left(J_{\epsilon}+ {\epsilon}\int n_{\epsilon}\Delta\psi \,dy \right)\,dx.\end{aligned}$$ So we estimate it from below using [aspsi]{}, [asrDi]{} and [eq.rho]{} by $$\begin{aligned}
{\frac{d}{dt}}J_{\epsilon}(t) \geq -C + \frac{1}{{\epsilon}}J_{\epsilon}\left(t \right) \int \psi n_{\epsilon}\frac{{\partial}R}{{\partial}I}\,dx,\end{aligned}$$ and we may bound the negative part of $J_{\epsilon}$ by $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.J}
{\frac{d}{dt}}(J_{\epsilon}(t))_- \leq C - \frac{\overline{K}_2}{{\epsilon}} I_{\epsilon}(t) (J_{\epsilon}(t))_- .\end{aligned}$$ Now for ${\epsilon}$ small enough, we can estimate $I_{\epsilon}(t)$ as $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.I_below}
I_{\epsilon}(t) &= I_{\epsilon}(0) + \int_0^t \dot{I_{\epsilon}}(s)\,ds = I_{\epsilon}(0) + \int_0^t J_{\epsilon}(s)\,ds + O({\epsilon})
\geq I^0/2 - \int_0^t (J_{\epsilon}(s))_- \,ds,\end{aligned}$$ and plugging this in the estimate leads to $$\begin{aligned}
{\frac{d}{dt}}(J_{\epsilon}(t))_- \leq C - \frac{\overline{K}_2}{{\epsilon}}\left( I^0/2 - \int_0^t (J_{\epsilon}(s))_- \,ds \right) (J_{\epsilon}(t))_- .\end{aligned}$$ Now for $T>0$ fixed. If there exists $T'\leq T$ such that $\int_0^{T'} (J_{\epsilon}(s))_- \,ds = I^0/4$, then we have $$\begin{aligned}
{\frac{d}{dt}}(J_{\epsilon}(t))_- \leq C - \frac{\overline{K}_2}{{\epsilon}}{\frac}{ I^0}{4} (J_{\epsilon}(t))_- , \qquad 0\leq t\leq T'.\end{aligned}$$ Thus we obtain $$\begin{aligned}
(J_{\epsilon}(t))_- \leq (J_{\epsilon}(t=0))_- e^{-\overline{K}_2I^0t/(4{\epsilon})} + \frac{4C{\epsilon}}{\overline{K}_2I^0} \left(1-e^{-\overline{K}_2I^0t/(4{\epsilon})} \right).\end{aligned}$$ Then for ${\epsilon}<{\epsilon}_0(T)$ small enough, we conclude that such a $T'$ does not exist [*i.e.*]{} $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.bvfirst}
\int_0^{T} (J_{\epsilon}(s))_- \,ds \leq I^0/4.\end{aligned}$$
So from [eq.I\_below]{}, we obtain $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.I_below1}
I_{\epsilon}(t) & \geq I^0/4, \qquad (J_{\epsilon}(t))_- \underset{{\epsilon}\to 0}{\longrightarrow} 0 \qquad \text{ a. e. in }[0,T].\end{aligned}$$ This also gives the lower bound $\rho_m \leq \rho_{\epsilon}(t)$ with $\rho_m := I^0/(4\psi_M)$.\
Finally, the estimate and the $L^\infty$ bounds on $I_{\epsilon}(t)$ give us a local BV bound, which will eventually allow us to extract a convergent subsequence for which [limI]{} holds. The obtained limit function $\bar I(t)$ is non-decreasing because in the limit the right-hand side of [eq.I\_ep]{} is almost everywhere non-negative.
Estimates on $u_{\epsilon}$ and its limit $u$
=============================================
In this section we introduce the major ingredient in our study, the function $u_{\epsilon}:= {\epsilon}\ln(n_{\epsilon})$. We calculate $$\begin{aligned}
{\partial}_t n_{\epsilon}= n_{\epsilon}{\partial}_t u_{\epsilon}/{\epsilon}, \quad {\nabla}n_{\epsilon}= n_{\epsilon}{\nabla}u_{\epsilon}/{\epsilon}, \quad \Delta n_{\epsilon}= n_{\epsilon}\Delta u_{\epsilon}/{\epsilon}+n_{\epsilon}|{\nabla}u_{\epsilon}|^2/{\epsilon}^2.\end{aligned}$$ Plugging this in [para]{}, we obtain that $u_{\epsilon}$ satisfies the Hamilton-Jacobi equation
$$\label{eq.u_ep}
\left\{
\begin{array}{l}
{\partial}_t u_{\epsilon}= |{\nabla}u_{\epsilon}|^2 + R(x,I_{\epsilon}(t)) + {\epsilon}\Delta u_{\epsilon}, \qquad x \in {\mathbb{R}}^d, \; t \geq 0,
\\[2mm]
u_{\epsilon}(t=0)= {\epsilon}\ln(n^0_{\epsilon}):=u_{\epsilon}^0.
\end{array}
\right.$$
Our study of the concentration effect relies mainly on the asymptotic analysis of the family $u_{\epsilon}$ and in particular on its uniform regularity. We will pass to the (classical) limit in , and this relies on the
\[le.u\] With the assumptions of Theorem \[th.conv\], we have for $t\geq 0$, $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.le.u}
-\underline{L}_0 -\underline{L}_1 |x|^2 -{\epsilon}2d\underline{L}_1t \leq u_{\epsilon}(t,x) \leq \overline{L}_0 -\overline{L}_1 |x|^2 +\left( \overline{K}_0 + 2 d {\epsilon}\overline{L}_1\right)t ,\end{aligned}$$ $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.le.D2u}
-2\underline{L}_1 \leq D^2u_{\epsilon}(t,x) \leq -2\overline{L}_1 .\end{aligned}$$
This Lemma relies on a welknown (and widely used) fact that the Hamilton-Jacobi equations have a regime of regular solutions with concavity assumptions, [@GB:94; @Lionsbook:82].
Quadratic estimates on $u_{\epsilon}$ {#se.quad}
-------------------------------------
First we achieve an upper bound, defining $\overline{u}_{\epsilon}(t,x):= \overline{L}_0 -\overline{L}_1 |x|^2 + C_0({\epsilon})t$ with $C_0({\epsilon}) := \overline{K}_0 + 2 d {\epsilon}\overline{L}_1$, we obtain thanks to [asr]{}, [asu]{} and [asru]{} that $\overline{u}_{\epsilon}(t=0) \geq u_{\epsilon}^0$ and $$\begin{aligned}
{\partial}_t \overline{u}_{\epsilon}- |{\nabla}\overline{u}_{\epsilon}|^2 - R(x,I_{\epsilon}) - {\epsilon}\Delta \overline{u}_{\epsilon}\geq C_0({\epsilon}) - 4 \overline{L}_1^2 |x|^2 - \overline{K}_0 +\overline{K}_1 |x|^2 - 2 d {\epsilon}\overline{L}_1\geq 0 .\end{aligned}$$ Next for the lower bound, we define $\underline{u}_{\epsilon}(t,x):= -\underline{L}_0 -\underline{L}_1 |x|^2 -{\epsilon}C_1t $ with $C_1 := 2d\underline{L}_1$, we have
$\underline{u}_{\epsilon}(t=0) \leq u_{\epsilon}^0$ and $$\begin{aligned}
{\partial}_t \underline{u}_{\epsilon}- |{\nabla}\underline{u}_{\epsilon}|^2 - R(x,I_{\epsilon}) - {\epsilon}\Delta \underline{u}_{\epsilon}\leq -{\epsilon}C_1 -4\underline{L}_1^2 |x|^2 + \underline{K}_1 |x|^2 + {\epsilon}2d\underline{L}_1 \leq 0.\end{aligned}$$
This concludes the proof of the first part of Lemma \[le.u\] [*i.e.*]{} inequality \[eq.le.u\].
Bounds on $D^2u_{\epsilon}$ {#se.reg}
---------------------------
We show that the semi-convexity and the concavity of the initial data is preserved by equation [eq.u\_ep]{}. For a unit vector $\xi$, we use the notation $u_\xi := \nabla_{\xi} u_{\epsilon}$ and $u_{\xi\xi} := \nabla^2_{\xi\xi} u_{\epsilon}$ to obtain $$\begin{aligned}
&u_{\xi t} = R_\xi(x,I) +2{\nabla}u \cdot {\nabla}u_\xi + {\epsilon}\Delta u_\xi,\\
&u_{\xi\xi t} = R_{\xi\xi}(x,I) + 2{\nabla}u_\xi \cdot {\nabla}u_\xi+2{\nabla}u \cdot {\nabla}u_{\xi\xi} + {\epsilon}\Delta u_{\xi\xi}.\end{aligned}$$ The first step is to obtain a lower bound on the second derivative [*i.e.*]{} semi-convexity. It can be obtained in the same way as in [@GB.BP:08]: Using $|{\nabla}u_\xi| \geq |u_{\xi\xi}|$ and the definition $\underline{w}(t,x) := \min_\xi u_{\xi\xi}(t,x)$ leads to the inequality $$\begin{aligned}
{\partial}_t \underline{w} \geq -2\underline{K}_1+ 2\underline{w}^2 +2{\nabla}u \cdot {\nabla}\underline{w} + {\epsilon}\Delta \underline{w}.\end{aligned}$$ By a comparison principle and assumptions [asuD2]{}, [asru]{}, we obtain $$\begin{aligned}
\underline{w}\geq -2\underline{L}_1.\end{aligned}$$
At every point $(t,x) \in {\mathbb{R}}^+\times{\mathbb{R}}^d$, we can choose an orthonormal basis such that $D^2u_{\epsilon}(t,x)$ is diagonal because every symmetric matrix can be diagonalized by an orthogonal matrix. So we can estimate the mixed second derivatives in terms of $u_{\xi\xi}$. Especially we have $|{\nabla}u_\xi|= |u_{\xi\xi}|$.
This enables us to show concavity in the next step. We start from the definition $\overline{w}(t,x) := \max_\xi u_{\xi\xi}(t,x)$ and the inequality $$\begin{aligned}
{\partial}_t \overline{w} \leq -2\overline{K}_1+ 2\overline{w}^2 +2{\nabla}u \cdot {\nabla}\overline{w} + {\epsilon}\Delta \overline{w}.\end{aligned}$$ By a comparison principle and assumptions [asuD2]{}, [asru]{}, we obtain $$\begin{aligned}
\overline{w}\leq -2\overline{L}_1.\end{aligned}$$
From the space regularity gained and [asuD2]{}, we obtain ${\nabla}u_{\epsilon}$ locally uniformly bounded and thus from [eq.u\_ep]{} for ${\epsilon}<{\epsilon}_0 $ that ${\partial}_t u_{\epsilon}$ is locally uniformly bounded.
Passing to the limit {#se.limit}
--------------------
From the regularity obtained in section \[se.reg\], it follows that we can extract a subsequence such that, for all $T>0$, $$\begin{aligned}
u_{\epsilon}(t,x)\underset{{\epsilon}\to 0}{\longrightarrow}u(t,x) \text{ strongly in } L^\infty \left(0,T;W_{loc}^{1,\infty}({\mathbb{R}}^d)\right),\end{aligned}$$ $$\begin{aligned}
u_{\epsilon}(t,x) \underset{{\epsilon}\to 0}{\xrightharpoonup{\quad} } u(t,x) \text{ weakly-* in } L^\infty\left(0,T;W_{loc}^{2,\infty}({\mathbb{R}}^d)\right)\cap W^{1,\infty}\left(0,T;L_{loc}^{\infty}({\mathbb{R}}^d)\right),\end{aligned}$$ and $$\label{eq:concavity_u}
-\underline{L}_0 -\underline{L}_1 |x|^2 \leq u(t,x) \leq \overline{L}_0 - \overline{L}_1 |x|^2 + \overline{K}_0t,\quad
-2\underline{L}_1 \leq D^2u(t,x) \leq -2\overline{L}_1 \quad \text{ a.e.}$$ $$\label{eq:lipschitz_u}
u\in W^{1,\infty}_{\rm loc} ({\mathbb{R}}^+ \times {\mathbb{R}}^d).$$ Notice that the uniform $W_{loc}^{2,\infty}({\mathbb{R}}^d)$ regularity also allows to differentiate the equation in time, and find $${\frac}{{\partial}^2}{{\partial}t^2} u = {\frac}{{\partial}}{{\partial}I} R\big(x,I(t)\big) {\frac}{dI(t)}{dt}+ 2 {\nabla}u. [{\nabla}R(x,I(t))+ D^2u .{\nabla}u] .$$ This is not enough to have $C^1$ regularity on $u$.
We also obtain that $u$ satisfies in the viscosity sense (modified as in [@GB.BP:07; @GB.BP:08]) the equation $$\label{eq.u}
\left\{
\begin{array}{l}
{\frac}{{\partial}}{{\partial}t} u = R\big(x,I(t)\big) + |{\nabla}u|^2,
\\[4mm]
\max_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} u(t,x)=0.
\end{array}
\right.$$ The constraint that the maximum vanishes is achieved, as in [@GB.SM.BP:09], from the a priori bounds on $I_{\epsilon}$ and .
In particular $u$ is strictly concave, therefore it has exactly one maximum. This proves [limN]{} [*i.e.*]{} $n$ stays monomorphic and characterizes the Dirac location by $$\label{eq.diraclocation}
\max_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} u(t,x)=0= u\big(t, \bar x (t) \big).$$ Moreover, as in [@GB.BP:08] we can achieve [eq.R0]{} at each Lebesgue point of $I(t)$.
This completes the proof of Theorem \[th.conv\].
Canonical equation, time asymptotic {#se.proLi}
===================================
With the additional assumptions [asrD3]{} and [asuD3]{}, we can write our form of the canonical equation and show long-time behavior. To do so, we first show that the third derivative is bounded. This allows us to establish rigorously the canonical equation while it was only formally given in [@OD.PJ.SM.BP:05; @GB.BP:08]. From this equation, we obtain regularity on $\bar x$ and $\bar I$. For long-time behavior we show that $\bar I$ is strictly increasing as long as ${\nabla}R\big(\bar x,\bar I\big)\neq 0$ and this is based on the gradient flow structure of the equation.
Bounds on third derivatives of $u_{\epsilon}$ {#se.thder}
---------------------------------------------
For the unit vectors $\xi$ and $\eta$, we use the notation $u_\xi := \nabla_{\xi} u_{\epsilon}$, $u_{\xi\eta} := \nabla^2_{\xi\eta} u_{\epsilon}$ and $u_{\xi\xi\eta} := \nabla^3_{\xi\xi\eta} u_{\epsilon}$ to derive $$\begin{aligned}
{\partial}_t u_{\xi\xi\eta} = 4 {\nabla}u_{\xi\eta}\cdot {\nabla}u_\xi + 2 {\nabla}u_\eta \cdot {\nabla}u_{\xi\xi} + 2 {\nabla}u \cdot {\nabla}u_{\xi\xi\eta}+R_{\xi\xi\eta} + {\epsilon}\Delta u_{\xi\xi\eta}.\end{aligned}$$ Again we can can fix a point $(t,x)$ and choose an orthonormal basis such that $D^2\left({\nabla}_\eta u_{\epsilon}(t,x)\right)$ is diagonal. Let us define $$\begin{aligned}
M_1(t) := \max_{x,\xi,\eta} u_{\xi\xi\eta} (t,x).\end{aligned}$$ Since $-u_{\xi\xi\eta} (t,x) = {\nabla}_{-\eta} u_{\xi\xi} (t,x)$, we have ${\displaystyle}{M_1(t) = \max_{x,\xi,\eta} \left|u_{\xi\xi\eta} (t,x)\right|}$. So with the maximum principle we obtain $$\begin{aligned}
{\frac}{d}{dt} M_1 \leq 4dM_1\|D^2u_{\epsilon}\|_\infty +2dM_1\|D^2u_{\epsilon}\|_\infty + R_{\xi\xi\eta}.\end{aligned}$$ Assumption [asuD3]{} gives us a bound on $M_1(t=0)$. So we obtain a $L^\infty$-bound on the third derivative uniform in ${\epsilon}$.
Maximum points of $u_{\epsilon}$ {#se.regMax}
--------------------------------
Now we wish to establish the canonical equation. We denote the maximum point of $u_{\epsilon}(t,\cdot)$ by $\bar x_{\epsilon}(t)$.
Since $u_{\epsilon}\in C^2$, at maximum points we have ${\nabla}u_{\epsilon}(t,\bar{x}_{\epsilon}(t))=0$ and thus $$\begin{aligned}
{\frac{d}{dt}}{\nabla}u_{\epsilon}\big(t,\bar{x}_{\epsilon}(t)\big)=0.\end{aligned}$$ The chain rule gives $$\begin{aligned}
\frac{{\partial}}{{\partial}t} {\nabla}u_{\epsilon}\big(t,\bar{x}_{\epsilon}(t)\big)+ D_x^2 u_{\epsilon}\big(t,\bar{x}_{\epsilon}(t)\big)\dot{\bar{x}}_{\epsilon}(t)=0,\end{aligned}$$ and using the equation [eq.u\_ep]{}, it follows further that, for almost every $t$, $$\begin{aligned}
D_x^2 u_{\epsilon}\big(t,\bar{x}_{\epsilon}(t)\big)\dot{\bar{x}}_{\epsilon}(t)=-\frac{{\partial}}{{\partial}t} {\nabla}u_{\epsilon}\big(t,\bar{x}_{\epsilon}(t)\big)=-{\nabla}_x R\big(\bar{x}_{\epsilon}(t),I_{\epsilon}(t)\big) - {\epsilon}\Delta {\nabla}_x u_{\epsilon}.\end{aligned}$$ Due to the uniform in ${\epsilon}$ bound on $D^3u_{\epsilon}$ and $R\in C^2$, we can pass to the limit in this equation and arrive at $$\begin{aligned}
\dot{ \bar x }(t)= \left( -D^2u \big(\bar x(t), t \big) \right)^{-1}. \nabla_x R\big(\bar x(t),\bar I(t) \big) \quad a.e.\end{aligned}$$
But we can obtain further regularity in the limit and obtain the equations in the classical sense. We first notice that, from $R\big(\bar x(t),\bar I(t) \big)=0$ and the assumptions [asr]{}, $\bar x (t)$ is bounded in $L^{\infty}({\mathbb{R}}^+)$. So we obtain that $\bar x (t)$ is bounded in $W^{1,\infty}({\mathbb{R}}^+)$. Because $I \mapsto R(\cdot,I)$ is invertible, it follows that $\bar I (t)$ is bounded in $W^{1,\infty}({\mathbb{R}}^+)$; more precisely we may differentiate the relation [eq.R0]{} (because $R\in C^2$) and find a differential equation on $I(t)$ that will be used later: $$\dot{ \bar x }(t) \cdot {\nabla}_x R + \dot{ \bar I }(t){\nabla}_I R =0.$$
This completes the proof of Theorem \[th.cano\].
Long-time behaviour {#se.long}
-------------------
It remains to prove the long time behaviour stated in Theorem \[th.long\].
We start from the canonical equation $${\frac}d {dt} \bar x(t)= (-D^2 u)^{-1} \nabla R\big(\bar x(t),\bar I(t)\big),$$ and use some kind of gradient flow structure. We calculate $$\begin{aligned}
{\frac}d {dt}R\big(\bar x(t),\bar I(t)\big) &= \nabla R\big(\bar x(t),\bar I(t)\big) {\frac}d {dt} \bar x(t)+ R_I \big(\bar x(t),\bar I(t)\big) {\frac}{d\bar I} {dt} \\
&=\nabla R\big(\bar x(t),\bar I(t)\big)(-D^2 u)^{-1} \nabla R\big(\bar x(t),\bar I(t)\big) + R_I \big(\bar x(t),\bar I(t)\big) {\frac}{d \bar I} {dt} .\end{aligned}$$
Now we also know from [eq.R0]{} that the left hand side vanishes. Then, we obtain $${\frac}{d} {d t}\bar I(t)= {\frac}{-1}{R_I \big(\bar x(t),\bar I(t)\big)}\nabla R\big(\bar x(t),\bar I(t)\big)(-D^2 u)^{-1} \nabla R\big(\bar x(t),\bar I(t)\big) \geq 0.$$ The inequality is strict as long as $\bar I(t) < I_M$. Consequently, we recover that $\bar I(t)$ is non-decreasing, as $t \to \infty$, $\bar I(t)$ converges, and subsequences of $\bar x(t)$ converge also (recall that $\bar x (t)$ is bounded). But we discover that the only possible limits are such that $\nabla R(\bar x_\infty, I_\infty)= 0$. With relation [eq.R0]{}, assumptions [asrmax]{} and [asrDi]{} this identifies the limit as announced in Theorem \[th.long\].
Numerics {#sec:numerics}
========
The canonical equation is not self-contained because the effect of mutations appears through the matrix $(-D^2u)^{-1}$. Nevertheless it can be used to explain several effects. The purpose of this section is firstly to illustrate how it acts on the dynamics, secondly to see the effect of ${\epsilon}$ being not exactly zero, and thirdly to explain why it is generic, in high dimensions as well as in one dimension [@GB.BP:08] that pointwise Dirac masses (and not on curves) can exist.\
We first illustrate the fact that a isotropic approximation of a Dirac mass will give rise to different dynamics than an anisotropic. This anisotropy is measured with $u$ and we choose two initial data. In the first case $-D^2u^0$ is ”far” from the identity matrix and in the second case it is isotropic: $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.iniasy}
n_0(x,y)=C_{\text{mass}} \exp(-(x-.7)^2/{\epsilon}-5(y-.7)^2/{\epsilon}),\end{aligned}$$ $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.inisy}
n_0(x,y)=C_{\text{mass}} \exp(-2.4(x-.7)^2/{\epsilon}-2.4(y-.7)^2/{\epsilon}).\end{aligned}$$
We also choose a growth rate $R$ with gradient along the diagonal: $$\begin{aligned}
R(x,y,I)=2- I-(x+y).\end{aligned}$$ Here although, we start with initial data centered on the diagonal and ${\nabla}R$ pointing along the diagonal to the origin, the concentration point leaves the diagonal with the anisotropic initial data (cf. Figure \[fi.asymIni\] (a)). The isotropic initial data moves along the diagonal as expected by symmetry reasons (cf. Figure \[fi.asymIni\] (b)).
The numerics has been performed in Matlab with parameters as follows. The three plots correspond to $t$ = 0, 40 and 80 in units of $dt$: ${\epsilon}$ is chosen to be $0.005$ and $C_{\text{mass}}$ such that the initial mass in the computational domain is equal to $0.3$. The equation is solved by an implicit-explicit finite-difference method on square grid consisting of $100 \times 100$ points (time step $dt= 0.01$).\
The second example is to illustrate the role of the parameter ${\epsilon}$ for symmetric initial data: $$\begin{aligned}
n_0(x,y)=C_{\text{mass}} \exp(-(x-.3)^2/{\epsilon}-(y-.3)^2/{\epsilon}),\end{aligned}$$ $$\begin{aligned}
R(x,y,I(t))=0.9-I+5(y-.3)_+^2+2.3(x-.3)\quad \text{ with } I(t):= \int n(t,x)\,dx.\end{aligned}$$ In this example, we start with symmetric initial data centered on the line $y = 0.3$ and the gradient of $R$ along this line ($y=0.3$) is $(1,0)$. Hence, the canonical equation in the limit ${\epsilon}=0$ predicts a motion in the $x$ direction on this line. One however observes in Figure \[fi.playR\] that the maximum point leaves this line because ${\epsilon}$ does not vanish. Notice that $R\equiv 0$ below the line $y=0.3$.
In this computation, performed with Matlab, ${\epsilon}$ is chosen to be $0.004$, $C_{\text{mass}}$ such that the initial mass in the computational domain is equal to $0.3$ and square grid consisting of $150 \times 150$ points (time step $dt= 8.8889\cdot10^{-4}$).\
![ This figure illustrates the effect of ${\epsilon}$ being not exactly zero. The dynamics of the density $n$ with symmetric initial data is plotted for $t$ = 0, 160 and 220 in units of $dt$ and the limiting behavior is a motion along the axis $y=0.3$ . []{data-label="fi.playR"}](playR3Picsbenoit.eps){width="45.00000%"}
With our third example we wish to illustrate that, except in particular symmetric geometries, only a single Dirac mass can be sustained by our Lotka-Volterra equations. We place initially two symmetric deltas on the $x$ and the $y$-axis: $$\begin{aligned}
n_0(x,y)=C_{\text{mass}} \left[ \exp\left(-\frac{2.4}{{\epsilon}}\left((x-.25\sqrt{2})^2+ y^2\right)\right)+\exp\left(-\frac{2.4}{{\epsilon}}\left((y-.25\sqrt{2})^2 +x^2\right)\right)\right],\end{aligned}$$ We seek for asymmetry in the growth rate $R$ under the form $$\begin{aligned}
R(x,y, I)=3-1.5 I+5.6(y^2+R_e x^2).\end{aligned}$$ In the special case $R_e=1$, all isolines of $R$ are circles then the two concentration points just move symmetrically to the origin cf. \[fi.R\_asy\_sy\] (b). However, if we choose $R_e=1.1$ [*i.e.*]{} all isolines of $R$ are ellipses then one of the two concentration points disappears cf. Figure \[fi.R\_asy\_sy\] (a). The intuition behind is that the canonical equation [eq.cano]{} should hold for the two points. However the constraint [eq.R0]{} given by $\rho(t)$ is the same for the two points and this is a contradiction. One of the two points has to disappear right away.
The numerics is performed with ${\epsilon}= 0.003$ and $C_{\text{mass}}$ such that the initial mass in the computational domain is equal to $0.3$. The equation is solved by an implicit-explicit finite-difference method on square grid consisting of $100 \times 100$ points (time step $dt= 0.001$).
Extension: non-constant diffusion {#sec:extension}
=================================
Our results can be extended to include a diffusion coefficient depending on $x$. This leads to the equation $$\label{parab}
{\partial}_t n_{\epsilon}- {\epsilon}{\nabla}\cdot \left( b(x) {\nabla}n_{\epsilon}\right)= \frac{n_{\epsilon}}{{\epsilon}} R \big(x, I_{\epsilon}(t) \big), \qquad t>0, \; x \in {\mathbb{R}}^d.$$ Our assumptions on $b$ are that there are positive constants $b_m$, $b_M$, $B_1$, $B_2$ and $B_3$ such that $$\begin{aligned}
\label{asb}
b_m\leq b\leq b_M, \qquad |{\nabla}b(x)| \leq B_1 \frac{1}{1 + |x|}, \qquad \left|Tr(D^2b(x))\right| \leq B_2 \frac{1}{(1 + |x|)^2}, \qquad \left|D^3b\right| \leq B_3.\end{aligned}$$
Our assumptions on the initial data and on $R$ are the same, as before [aspsi]{}–[asuIni]{}. However, we have to supplement the assumption [asrDi]{} to take $b$ into account: $$\label{asrDi1}
{\nabla}b \cdot {\nabla}(\psi R) \geq - K_3.$$ These assumptions will in the following allow us to obtain a gradient bound $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.u_epgrad}
|{\nabla}u_{\epsilon}(t,x) | \leq C_{{\nabla}u} (1 + |x|).\end{aligned}$$ This bound enables us to formulate the compatibility conditions which replace [asu]{}: we need $$\begin{aligned}
\label{asK}
B_2C_{{\nabla}u}^2-2\overline{K}_1 <0\end{aligned}$$ and define $$\begin{aligned}
\overline{K}_b:=\frac{2B_1-\sqrt{4B_1^2 - 2 b_M\left(B_2C_{{\nabla}u}^2-2\overline{K}_1\right)}}{b_M},\end{aligned}$$ $$\begin{aligned}
\underline{K}_b:=\frac{-2B_1-\sqrt{4B_1^2 + 2 b_m\left(B_2C_{{\nabla}u}^2+2\underline{K}_1\right)}}{b_m},\end{aligned}$$ to require $$\label{asuD2b}
-\underline{K}_b \leq D^2u_{\epsilon}^0 \leq -\overline{K}_b,$$ $$\label{asrub}
4 b_M \overline{L}_1^2 \leq \overline{K}_1 \leq \underline{K}_1 \leq 4 b_m \underline{L}_1^2.$$
Our goal is to prove the following
\[th.convb\] Assume [aspsi]{}-[asrDi]{}, [asu]{}, [asb]{}, [asrDi1]{}, [asK]{}, [asuD2b]{} and [asrub]{}. Then the solution $n_{\epsilon}$ to satisfies for all $T>0$, for ${\epsilon}$ small enough and $t \in [0,T]$ $$\begin{aligned}
\label{hb}
&0< \rho_m \leq \rho_{\epsilon}(t) \leq \rho_M+C{\epsilon}^2,\qquad I_m \leq I_{\epsilon}(t) \leq I_M+C{\epsilon}^2 \quad \text{a.e.}\end{aligned}$$ Moreover, there is a subsequence $I_{\epsilon}$ such that $$\label{limIb}
I_{\epsilon}(t) \underset{{\epsilon}\to 0}{\longrightarrow} \bar I(t)\quad \text{ in } L_{loc}^1({\mathbb{R}}^+), \quad I_m \leq \bar I(t) \leq I_M \quad \text{a.e.},$$ and $ \bar I(t) $ is non-decreasing. Furthermore, we have weakly in the sense of measures for a subsequence $n_{\epsilon}$ $$\label{limNb}
n_{\epsilon}(t,x) \underset{{\epsilon}\to 0}{\longrightarrow} \bar \rho(t) \; \delta \big(x-\bar x (t)\big),$$ and the pair $\big(\bar x(t), \bar I(t) \big)$ also satisfies $$\label{eq.R0b}
R\big(\bar x(t),\bar I(t) \big)=0 \quad \text{a.e.}$$
\[th.canob\]
With the assumptions [aspsi]{}-[asu]{}, [asuD3]{}, [asuIni]{}, [asb]{}, [asrDi1]{}, [asK]{}, [asuD2b]{} and [asrub]{}, $\bar x$ is a $W^{1,\infty}({\mathbb{R}}^+)$-function satisfying $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.canob}
\dot{ \bar x }(t)= \left( -D^2u \big(t,\bar x(t) \big) \right)^{-1}. \nabla_x R\big(\bar x(t),\bar I(t) \big), \quad \bar x(0)=\bar{x}^0, \end{aligned}$$ with $u(t,x)$ a $C^2$-function given below in [eq.ub]{}, $D^3u \in L^\infty({\mathbb{R}}^d)$, and initial data $\bar{x}^0$ given in [asuIni]{}. Furthermore, we have $\bar I(t) \in W^{1,\infty}({\mathbb{R}}^+)$.
The end of this section is devoted to the proof of these Theorems. The a priori bounds [hb]{}, [limIb]{} on $\rho_{\epsilon}$ and $I_{\epsilon}$ can be established as before.
As before we study the function $u_{\epsilon}:= {\epsilon}\ln(n_{\epsilon})$. We obtain that $u_{\epsilon}$ satisfies the Hamilton-Jacobi equation $$\label{eq.u_epb}
\left\{
\begin{array}{l}
{\partial}_t u_{\epsilon}= R \big(x, I_{\epsilon}(t) \big) +b|{\nabla}u_{\epsilon}|^2+{\epsilon}{\nabla}b \cdot {\nabla}u_{\epsilon}+ {\epsilon}b\Delta u_{\epsilon}, \qquad t>0, \; x \in {\mathbb{R}}^d,\\
u_{\epsilon}(t=0)= {\epsilon}\ln(n^0_{\epsilon}).
\end{array}
\right.$$ In order to adapt our method to this equation we need a bound on the gradient of $u_{\epsilon}$. We achieve this following arguments in [@PL:85; @GB.SM.BP:09]:
#### gradient bound
Let us define $v(t,x)$ by $u_{\epsilon}= K_v - v^2$ where we choose $K_v$ large enough to have $v >\delta >0$ on $[0,T]$ uniform in ${\epsilon}$. We calculate $$\begin{aligned}
{\nabla}u_{\epsilon}= -2 v {\nabla}v \quad \text{ and } \quad{\Delta}u_{\epsilon}= -2 v {\Delta}v -2 |{\nabla}v|^2\end{aligned}$$ and obtain from [eq.u\_epb]{} $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.v}
-2v {\partial}_t v = R + 4b v^2 |{\nabla}v|^2 -2 {\epsilon}{\nabla}b \cdot v {\nabla}v - 2{\epsilon}v b {\Delta}v - 2 {\epsilon}b |{\nabla}v|^2 .\end{aligned}$$ Dividing by $-2v$, taking the derivative with respect to $x_i$ and defining $p := {\nabla}v$, we have $$\begin{gathered}
{\partial}_t p_i = -\left(\frac{R}{2v}\right)_{x_i}-2 p_i b |p|^2 - 2 v b_{x_i} |p|^2 - 4vb p \cdot {\nabla}p_i + {\epsilon}{\nabla}b_{x_i} \cdot p + {\epsilon}{\nabla}b \cdot {\nabla}p_i \\+ {\epsilon}b_{x_i} {\Delta}v + {\epsilon}b {\Delta}p_i + {\epsilon}\frac{b_{x_i} }{v} |p|^2 - {\epsilon}\frac{b }{v^2} |p|^2 p_i + 2{\epsilon}\frac{b }{v} p \cdot {\nabla}p_i.\end{gathered}$$ Multiplying [eq.v]{} by ${\displaystyle}{\frac{b_{x_i}}{2bv}}$ and adding to the equation above, we obtain $$\begin{gathered}
{\partial}_t \left(p_i - \frac{b_{x_i}v}{b}\right) = -\left(\frac{R}{2v}\right)_{x_i}-2 p_i b |p|^2 - 2 v b_{x_i} |p|^2 - 4vb p \cdot {\nabla}p_i + {\epsilon}{\nabla}b_{x_i} \cdot p + {\epsilon}{\nabla}b \cdot {\nabla}p_i \\ + {\epsilon}b {\Delta}p_i + {\epsilon}\frac{b_{x_i} }{v} |p|^2 - {\epsilon}\frac{b }{v^2} |p|^2 p_i + 2{\epsilon}\frac{b }{v} p \cdot {\nabla}p_i + \frac{b_{x_i}R}{2bv} +2b_{x_i}v|p|^2-{\epsilon}\frac{b_{x_i}}{b} {\nabla}b \cdot p-{\epsilon}\frac{b_{x_i}}{v}|p|^2.\end{gathered}$$ Now we define $$\begin{aligned}
M_b(t):= \max_{i,x}\left[(p_i)_-, (p_i)_+\right] \geq 0.\end{aligned}$$ For $\max_{i,x}(p_i)_- \leq \max_{i,x}(p_i)_+$, we have $$\begin{gathered}
{\partial}_t \left(M_b - \frac{b_{x_i}v}{b}\right) \leq C-2 b_m M_b^3 + 2 |v| |b_{x_i}| d^2 M_b^2 + {\epsilon}d \left| {\nabla}b_{x_i}\right| M_b \\ + {\epsilon}\frac{|b_{x_i} |}{\delta} d^2M_b^2 +C +2|b_{x_i}||v| d^2 M_b^2+{\epsilon}\frac{|b_{x_i}|}{b_m}d |{\nabla}b| M_b +{\epsilon}\frac{|b_{x_i}|}{\delta}d^2 M_b^2.\end{gathered}$$ Since ${\displaystyle}{\frac{b_{x_i}v}{b}}$ is bounded, we have $M_b$ bounded from above.
For $\max_{i,x}(p_i)_- > \max_{i,x}(p_i)_+$, we show similarly a bound on $M_b$ and therefore achieve [eq.u\_epgrad]{}.
To prove the concavity and semi-convexity results, we only give formal arguments for the limit case. To adapt the argument for the ${\epsilon}$-case is purely technical:
For a unit vector $\xi$, we define $u_{\xi}:= {\nabla}_\xi u_{\epsilon}$ and $u_{\xi\xi}: ={\nabla}_{\xi\xi} u_{\epsilon}$ to obtain $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.ub_xi}
{\partial}_t u_\xi = R_{\xi}+b_\xi |{\nabla}u|^2 + 2 b {\nabla}u \cdot {\nabla}u_\xi ,\end{aligned}$$ and $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.ub_xixi}
{\partial}_t u_{\xi\xi} = R_{\xi\xi}+b_{\xi\xi} |{\nabla}u|^2 + 4 b_\xi {\nabla}u \cdot {\nabla}u_\xi+2 b {\nabla}u \cdot {\nabla}u_{\xi\xi} +2 b | {\nabla}u_{\xi}|^2 .\end{aligned}$$ With the definition $\overline{w}(t,x) := \max_\xi u_{\xi\xi}(t,x)$ and assumptions [asb]{} we have $$\begin{aligned}
{\partial}_t \overline{w} \leq -2\overline{K}_1+B_2C_{{\nabla}u}^2 + 4 B_1 |\overline{w}| +2 b {\nabla}u \cdot {\nabla}\overline{w} +2 b_M \overline{w}^2.\end{aligned}$$ With assumption [asK]{}, $0$ is a supersolution to $$\begin{aligned}
{\partial}_t \overline{w}^* = -2\overline{K}_1+B_2C_{{\nabla}u}^2 - 4 B_1 \overline{w}^* +2 b {\nabla}u \cdot {\nabla}\overline{w}^* +2 b_M (\overline{w}^*)^2,\end{aligned}$$ so we know from assumption [asuD2b]{} that $\overline{w} \leq 0$. Therefore it follows further that $$\begin{aligned}
\overline{w} \leq \overline{K}_b
.\end{aligned}$$
For the lower bound, we use the definition $\underline{w}(t,x) := \min_\xi u_{\xi\xi}(t,x)$ and the inequality $$\begin{aligned}
{\partial}_t \underline{w} \geq -2\underline{K}_1-B_2C_{{\nabla}u}^2 - 4 B_1 |\underline{w}| +2 b {\nabla}u \cdot {\nabla}\underline{w} +2 b_m \underline{w}^2.\end{aligned}$$ Since we already know that $\underline{w} \leq 0$, we obtain $$\begin{aligned}
\underline{w} \geq \underline{K}_b.\end{aligned}$$ We can achieve this at the ${\epsilon}$-level using the equation $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.ub_xiep}
{\partial}_t u_\xi = R_{\xi}+b_\xi |{\nabla}u|^2 + 2 b {\nabla}u \cdot {\nabla}u_\xi +{\epsilon}{\nabla}b_\xi \cdot {\nabla}u + {\epsilon}{\nabla}b \cdot {\nabla}u_\xi + {\epsilon}b_\xi {\Delta}u + {\epsilon}b \Delta u_\xi,\end{aligned}$$ and $$\begin{gathered}
\label{eq.ub_xixiep}
{\partial}_t u_{\xi\xi} = R_{\xi\xi}+b_{\xi\xi} |{\nabla}u|^2 + 4 b_\xi {\nabla}u \cdot {\nabla}u_\xi+2 b {\nabla}u \cdot {\nabla}u_{\xi\xi} +2 b | {\nabla}u_{\xi}|^2 \\+{\epsilon}{\nabla}b_{\xi\xi}\cdot {\nabla}u + 2 {\epsilon}{\nabla}b_\xi\cdot {\nabla}u_\xi +{\epsilon}{\nabla}b \cdot {\nabla}u_{\xi\xi}+ {\epsilon}b_{\xi\xi} {\Delta}u+ 2{\epsilon}b_\xi {\Delta}u_\xi + {\epsilon}b {\Delta}u_{\xi\xi}.\end{gathered}$$ Now we define $$\begin{aligned}
f:=\frac{2b_\xi}{b} \text{ and } g:=\frac{bb_{\xi\xi}-2b_\xi^2}{b^2},\end{aligned}$$ multiply [eq.ub\_xiep]{} by $f$, substract it from [eq.ub\_xixiep]{}, multiply [eq.u\_epb]{} by $g$, substract it to obtain $$\begin{gathered}
{\partial}_t (u_{\xi\xi}-fu_\xi-gu) = R_{\xi\xi} +2 b {\nabla}u \cdot {\nabla}u_{\xi\xi} +2 b | {\nabla}u_{\xi}|^2 +{\epsilon}{\nabla}b_{\xi\xi}\cdot {\nabla}u\\ + 2 {\epsilon}{\nabla}b_\xi {\nabla}u_\xi + {\epsilon}{\nabla}b \cdot {\nabla}u_{\xi\xi} + {\epsilon}b {\Delta}u_{\xi\xi} - f R_{\xi} -{\epsilon}f {\nabla}b_\xi \cdot {\nabla}u-{\epsilon}f {\nabla}b \cdot {\nabla}u_\xi-gR-{\epsilon}g{\nabla}b \cdot {\nabla}u.\end{gathered}$$ The remaining steps can be done similar as before. For the Hamilton-Jacobi-equation on $u$, we obtain the variant $$\label{eq.ub}
\left\{
\begin{array}{l}
{\partial}_t u = R \big(x, \bar I(t) \big) +b(x) \; |{\nabla}u|^2,
\\[2mm]
{\displaystyle}\max_{x \in {\mathbb{R}}^d} u(t,x)= 0, \qquad \forall t \geq 0.
\end{array}
\right.$$
Local competition {#sec:localcompetition}
=================
The other class of models we handle are populations with localized competition kernel $C(x,y) \geq 0$, that is $$\begin{aligned}
\label{para'}
{\partial}_t n_{\epsilon}(t,x) = \frac{1}{{\epsilon}}n_{\epsilon}(t,x) \left(r(x)- \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} C(x,y)n_{\epsilon}(t,y) \,dy\right) + {\epsilon}{\Delta}n_{\epsilon}(t,x).\end{aligned}$$ The term $r(x)$ is the intra-specific growth rate (and has a priori no sign) and the integral term models an additional contribution to the death rate due to competition between different traits. Notice that the choice $C(x,y)= \psi(y) \Phi(x)$ will reduce this model to a particular case of those in . This class of model is also very standard, see [@RC.JH:05; @GM.MG:05; @NC.RF.SM:06; @NC.RF.SM:08; @Raoulphd] and the references therein.\
For the initial data, we assume as before [asu]{}–[asuIni]{}. Concerning $r(x)$ and $C(x,y)$ we assume $C^1$ regularity and that there are constants $\rho_M>0$, $\underline{K}'_1>0$... such that $$\begin{aligned}
\label{ascbasic}
C(x,x) >0 \qquad \forall x \in {\mathbb{R}}^d,\end{aligned}$$ $$\begin{aligned}
\label{asco}
\int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d}\int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d}n(x)C(x,y)n(y) \,dy dx \geq \frac{1}{\rho_M} \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d}n(x) \,dx \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d}r(x)n(x) \,dx \qquad \forall n \in L^1_+({\mathbb{R}}^d).\end{aligned}$$ This assumption is weaker than easier conditions of the type $$C(x,y) \geq \frac{1}{\rho_M} r(x) \quad \text{or } \; C(x,y) \geq \frac{1}{2 \rho_M} [r(x) +r(y)] .$$ Because it is restricted to positive functions, it is a pointwise positivity condition on $C(x,y)$ in opposition to the positivity as operator that occurs for the entropy method in [@PJ.GR:09].
Then, we make again concavity assumptions. Namely that concavity on $r$ is strong enough to compensate for concavity in $C$ $$\label{asr'}
-\underline{K}'_1 |x|^2 \leq r(x)-\sup_y C(x,y) \rho_{M} \leq r(x) \leq \overline{K}'_0 -\overline{K}'_1 |x|^2,$$ $$\label{asrD2'}
- 2\underline{K}'_1 \leq D^2r(x)-\sup_y\big(D^2C(x,y)\big)_+\rho_{M} \leq D^2r(x)+\sup_y\big(D^2C(x,y)\big)_-\rho_{M} \leq - 2\overline{K}'_1 ,$$ as symmetric matrices, where the positive and negative parts are taken componentwise. As for regularity, we will use $$\label{asrD3'}
D^3r-\sup_y\big(D^3C(\cdot,y)\big)_+\rho_{M}, \qquad D^3r +\sup_y\big(D^3C(\cdot,y)\big)_-\rho_{M} \in L^\infty({\mathbb{R}}^d).$$
The initial data is still supposed to concentrate at a point $\bar x^0$ following [asu]{}–[asuIni]{}. But because persistence, i.e. that $n_{\varepsilon}$ does not vanish, is more complicated to control, we need two new conditions $$\label{rx0}
r(\bar x^0)> 0,$$ $$\label{ascompuo}
\int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} n_{\epsilon}(t,x) dx \leq \rho^0_{M}.$$ We also need a compatibility condition with $R$ $$\label{asru'}
4 \overline{L}_1^2 \leq \overline{K}'_1 \leq \underline{K}'_1 \leq 4 \underline{L}_1^2 .$$
The interpretation of our assumptions is that the intra-specific growth rate $r$ dominates strongly the competition kernel. This avoids the branching patterns that are usual in this kind of models [@GM.MG:05; @SG.VV.PA:06; @BP.SG:07; @Raoulphd]. Our concavity assumptions also implies that there is no continuous solution $N$ to the steady state equation without mutations $N(x) \left(r(x)- \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} C(x,y) N(y) \,dy\right) =0$. This makes a difference with the entropy method used in [@PJ.GR:09] as well as the positivity condition on the kernel that, compared to , also involves $r(x)$.
Our goal is to prove the following results
\[th.conv’\] With the assumptions [ascbasic]{}–[asrD2’]{} and [asu]{}, [ascompuo]{}–[asru’]{}, the solution $n_{\epsilon}$ to satisfies, $$\begin{aligned}
\label{h'}
&0\leq \rho_{\epsilon}(t):= \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} n_{\epsilon}(t,x) dx \leq \rho_{M}\quad \text{a.e.}\end{aligned}$$ and there is a subsequence such that $$\label{limI'}
\rho_{\epsilon}(t) \underset{{\epsilon}\to 0}{\xrightharpoonup{\quad}} \bar \rho(t)\quad \text{ in weak-}\star \; L^\infty({\mathbb{R}}^+), \qquad 0 \leq \bar \rho(t) \leq \rho_{M}\quad \text{a.e.}$$ Furthermore, we have weakly in the sense of measures for a subsequence $n_{\epsilon}$ $$\label{limN'}
n_{\epsilon}(t,x) \underset{{\epsilon}\to 0}{\xrightharpoonup{\quad}} \bar \rho(t) \; \delta \big(x-\bar x (t)\big), \qquad {\frac}{n_{\epsilon}(t,x) }{\int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} n_{\epsilon}(t,x) dx} \underset{{\epsilon}\to 0}{\xrightharpoonup{\quad}} \delta \big(x-\bar x (t)\big),$$ and the pair $\big(\bar x(t), \bar \rho(t) \big)$ also satisfies $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.R0'}
\bar \rho(t) \big[ r\big(\bar x(t)\big)-\bar \rho(t)C\big(\bar x(t),\bar x(t)\big) \big] \geq 0.\end{aligned}$$
With the assumptions of Theorem \[th.conv’\], we do not know if $\rho_{\epsilon}$ converges strongly because we do not have the equivalent of the $BV$ quantity in Theorem \[th.conv\]. We can only prove it with stronger assumptions. This is stated in the
\[th.cano’\] We assume [asu]{}–[asuIni]{} and [asco]{}–[asru’]{}. Then, for the function $C^2$-function $u(t,x)$ given below in [eq.u’ex]{} with $D_x^3u \in L^\infty_{\rm loc} \big({\mathbb{R}}^+; L^\infty({\mathbb{R}}^d) \big)$, $\bar x \in W^{1,\infty}({\mathbb{R}}^+)$ satisfies $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.cano'}
\dot{\bar x}(t) = \left(-D^2u\big(t,\bar x(t)\big)\right)^{-1} \cdot \left[{\nabla}_x r\big(\bar x(t)\big) - \bar \rho(t) {\nabla}_x C\big(\bar x(t),\bar x(t)\big) \right],\end{aligned}$$ with initial data $\bar{x}^0$ given in [asuIni]{}. Furthermore, $\rho_{\epsilon}$ converges strongly and we have $\bar \rho(t) \in W^{1,\infty}({\mathbb{R}}^+)$, $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.R0''}
r\big(\bar x(t)\big)-\bar \rho(t)C\big(\bar x(t),\bar x(t)\big)=0 ,\end{aligned}$$ $$\label{limrho}
r\big(\bar x(t)\big) \geq r(\bar x^0) e^{-Kt}, \qquad \bar \rho(t) \geq \rho^0e^{-Kt} .$$
We may find some kind of gradient flow structure for the canonical equation when $C(x,y)$ is symmetric and obtain
\[th.compltb\] We make the assumptions of Theorem \[th.cano’\], $C(x,y)=C(y,x)$ and $$\begin{aligned}
\label{comp:logconcave}
x \mapsto \Phi(x):= \ln r(x) - \ln C(x,x) \quad \text{ is strictly concave in the set } \; \{ r>0\} .\end{aligned}$$ Then, as $t \to \infty$, $\bar \rho(t) \to \bar \rho_\infty >0$, $ \bar x(t) \to \bar x_\infty$ and $ \bar x_\infty$ is the maximum point of $\Phi$.
A-priori bounds on $\rho_{\epsilon}$ {#sec:comp_apb}
------------------------------------
The main new difficulty with the competition model comes from a priori bounds on the total population. In particular it is not known if there are $BV$ quantities proving that $\rho_{\epsilon}(t)$ converges strongly. Even non extinction is not longer automatic.
One side of the inequality [h’]{} is given by $n_{\epsilon}\geq 0$, for the other side we integrate [para’]{} over ${\mathbb{R}}^d$ and use to write $$\begin{aligned}
{\frac}{d}{d t} \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} n_{\epsilon}(t,x)\,dx &= \frac{1}{{\epsilon}} \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} n_{\epsilon}(t,x) r(x)\,dx- \frac{1}{{\epsilon}} \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d}\int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} n_{\epsilon}(t,x) C(x,y)n_{\epsilon}(t,y) \,dydx \\
& \geq \frac{1}{{\epsilon}} \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} n_{\epsilon}(t,x) r(x)\,dx\left[ 1 - \frac{\int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} n_{\epsilon}(t,x)\,dx }{\rho_M} \right],\end{aligned}$$ therefore (and even though $r$ can change sign) we conclude thanks to [ascompuo]{} $$\begin{aligned}
\int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} n_{\epsilon}(t,x)\,dx \leq \rho_{M}.\end{aligned}$$
Passing to the limit {#passing-to-the-limit}
--------------------
The proofs of the remaining parts of Theorems are close to those already written before. We only give the main differences here. They rely again on the WKB ansatz $u_{\epsilon}:= {\epsilon}\ln(n_{\epsilon})$. We obtain as before that $u_{\epsilon}$ satisfies the Hamilton-Jacobi equation $$\label{eq.u_ep'}
\left\{
\begin{array}{l}
{\frac}{{\partial}}{{\partial}t} u_{\epsilon}(t,x) = r(x) -{\displaystyle}{ \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d}C(x,y)n_{\epsilon}(t,y) \,dy } + |{\nabla}u_{\epsilon}|^2 + {\epsilon}{\Delta}u_{\epsilon}, \qquad t>0, \; x \in {\mathbb{R}}^d,\\
u_{\epsilon}(t=0)= u^0_{\epsilon}.
\end{array}
\right.$$
Similarly to Lemma \[le.u\] we can prove the
\[le.u’\] With the assumptions of Theorem \[th.conv’\], we have for all $t\geq 0$ $$\begin{aligned}
-\underline{L}_0 -\underline{L}_1 |x|^2 -{\epsilon}2d\underline{L}_1t \leq u_{\epsilon}(t,x) \leq \overline{L}_0 -\overline{L}_1 |x|^2 +\left( \overline{K}_0' + 2 d {\epsilon}\overline{L}_1\right)t ,\end{aligned}$$ $$\begin{aligned}
-2\underline{L}_1 \leq D^2u_{\epsilon}(t,x) \leq -2\overline{L}_1.\end{aligned}$$
[[**Proof**]{}. ]{}The first line holds because the right (resp. left) hand side of the inequality is a super (resp. sub) solution thanks to assumption and using the control of $n_{\varepsilon}$ by $\rho_M$. For the second line, the upper and lower bound use the maximum principle on the equation for $D^2u_{\varepsilon}$ and the compatibility conditions as in section \[se.reg\]. [[ ]{}]{}
From the regularity obtained, it follows that we can extract a subsequence such that $u_{\epsilon}(t,x)\underset{{\epsilon}\to 0}{\longrightarrow}u(t,x)$, locally uniformly as in section \[se.limit\]. We also obtain from Lemma \[le.u’\] $$\label{ub'}
-\underline{L}_0 -\underline{L}_1 |x|^2 \leq u(t,x) \leq \overline{L}_0 - \overline{L}_1 |x|^2+\overline{K}'_0t,\qquad
-2\underline{L}_1 \leq D^2u(t,x) \leq - 2\overline{L}_1\quad \text{ a.e.}$$ and that $u$ satisfies, in the viscosity sense (modified as in [@GB.BP:07; @GB.BP:08; @GB.SM.BP:09]), the equation $$\label{eq.u'}
\left\{
\begin{array}{l}
{\frac}{{\partial}}{{\partial}t} u = r(x) -\bar{\rho}(t)C\big(x,\bar x(t)\big)+ |{\nabla}u|^2,
\\[2mm]
\max_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} u(t,x)\leq 0.
\end{array}
\right.$$ The constraint is now relaxed to an inequality because we know that the total mass is bounded but we do not control the mass from below at this stage. In the framework of Theorem \[th.cano’\], we prove later on that the constraint is always an equality (see ).
It might be that $ \bar \rho(t)$ vanishes and then $\bar x (t)$ does not matter here, nevertheless we still have $$\label{eq.liconstraint}
\max_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} u(t,x) = u\big(t, \bar x(t)\big).$$
Using the control and this Hamilton-Jacobi equation we obtain [limN’]{} with the same arguments as in Section \[se.limit\]. The new difficulty is that $\rho(t)$ might vanish in particular when the constraint is strict $\max_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} u(t,x) < 0$, an option that we will discard later. Because of that, we also obtain the restriction on times in [eq.R0’]{} which can be completed as (in the viscosity sense) $$\label{eq.R=0}
{\frac}{d}{d t} u \big(t,\bar x(t)\big) = r\big(\bar x(t)\big)-\bar \rho(t)C\big(\bar x(t),\bar x(t)\big).$$
We also have, as in section \[sec:comp\_apb\], $${\epsilon}\; {\frac}{d}{d t} \rho_{\epsilon}(t) = \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} n_{\epsilon}(t,x) r(x)\,dx- \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d}\int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} n_{\epsilon}(t,x) C(x,y)n_{\epsilon}(t,y) \,dydx.$$ Passing to the weak limit (integration by parts and using boundedness of $\rho_{\epsilon}$), we find that $$\label{comp:weakl}
\bar \rho(t) r\big( \bar x (t)\big) =\text{ w-lim} \int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d}\int_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} n_{\epsilon}(t,x) C(x,y)n_{\epsilon}(t,y) \,dydx \geq \bar \rho(t)^2 C\big( \bar x (t),\bar x (t)\big).$$ This proves and concludes the proof of Theorem \[th.conv’\].
Form of the canonical equation
------------------------------
We continue with the proof of Theorem \[th.cano’\] and we begin with the derivation of [eq.cano’]{}.\
The third derivative of $u_{\varepsilon}$ is bounded using assumption [asrD3’]{} and following the same arguments in Section \[se.thder\]. Then similarly to Section \[se.regMax\], we have the regularity $D^3_x u \in L^\infty\big((0,T)\times {\mathbb{R}}^d\big)$ for all $T>0$, ${\frac}{{\partial}}{{\partial}t} u$ and $D^3_{txx} u \in L_{\rm loc}^\infty\big({\mathbb{R}}^+\times {\mathbb{R}}^d\big)$.\
The canonical equation [eq.cano’]{} is established a.e. as in section \[se.regMax\] using the maximum points of $u_{\epsilon}$ and passing to the limit. From [h’]{}, [eq.cano’]{} and [ub’]{}, we next obtain that $|{\frac}{d}{dt}\bar x (t)|$ is uniformly bounded.
Persistence
-----------
Now we prove that $u\big(t,\bar x(t)\big)=0$ for all $t\geq 0$ and that $\bar \rho(t)>0$ a.e. $t$. We cannot obtain this directly and thus we begin with proving $r(\bar x(t))> 0$. We prove indeed the first part of the inequality [limrho]{}.\
We prove this by contradiction. We suppose that $t_0$ is the first point such that $r(\bar x(t_0))=0$. We notice that $\bar x(t)$ being lipschitzian and using assumption [rx0]{}, for all $t<t_0$, we have $r(\bar x(t))>0$. Therefore with assumption [asr’]{} we deduce that $\bar x(t)$ remains bounded for $t\in [0,t_0]$. Using [eq.cano’]{} and [ub’]{} we have $$\begin{aligned}
\nonumber
{\frac}{d}{dt}r(\bar x(t)) &=\nabla_x r(\bar x(t))\cdot \dot{\bar x}(t)\\\nonumber
&=\nabla_x r(\bar x(t))\cdot\left(-D^2u\big(t,\bar x(t)\big)\right)^{-1} \cdot \left[{\nabla}_x r\big(\bar x(t)\big) - \bar \rho(t) {\nabla}_x C\big(\bar x(t),\bar x(t)\big) \right]\\\nonumber
&\geq -\bar \rho(t) |\nabla_x r(\bar x(t))||{\nabla}_x C\big(\bar x(t),\bar x(t)\big)|.\end{aligned}$$ Consequently, using [eq.R0’]{}, we obtain $${\frac}{d}{dt}r(\bar x(t))\geq -r(\bar x(t)) |\nabla_x r(\bar x(t))|{\frac}{|{\nabla}_x C\big(\bar x(t),\bar x(t)\big)|}{C\big(\bar x(t),\bar x(t)\big)}.$$ Moreover we know that $\bar x(t)$ remains bounded for $t\in [0,t_0]$ and thus we have ${\displaystyle}{\inf_{t\in [0,t_0]}C(\bar x(t), \bar x(t)) \geq \eta_2> 0}$. We conclude that, for $K$ a positive constant, $${\frac}{d}{dt}r(\bar x(t)) \geq -Kr(\bar x(t)), \qquad \text{for }\;0\leq t\leq t_0.$$ Starting with $r(\bar x^0)>0$ according to [rx0]{}, this inequality is in contradiction with $r(\bar x(t_0))=0$. Therefore for all $t>0$ we have $r(\bar x(t))>0$ and thus this inequality is true for all $t>0$. Thereby we obtain the first part of . From the latter and using again [(\[asr’\])]{}, we also deduce that $\bar x(t)$ remains bounded for all $t>0$.\
Next we use [eq.R0’]{}, and the positivity of $r(\bar x(t))$ to obtain $$u(t,\bar x(t)) -u^0(\bar x^0)=\int r(\bar x(t))-\bar \rho(t)C(\bar x(t),\bar x(t))dt \geq \mathbf{1}_{\bar \rho(t)=0}r(\bar x(t)) \geq 0.$$ We deduce, using [asuIni]{}, that $u(t,\bar x(t))=0$ for all $t\geq 0$. Thus the equation on $u$ is in fact $$\label{eq.u'ex}
\left\{
\begin{array}{l}
{\frac}{{\partial}}{{\partial}t} u = r(x) -\bar{\rho}(t)C\big(x,\bar x(t)\big)+ |{\nabla}u|^2,
\\[2mm]
\max_{{\mathbb{R}}^d} u(t,x) = 0.
\end{array}
\right.$$
This identity also proves the identity and thus that holds as an equality, which is equivalent to say that the weak limit of $\rho_{\epsilon}(t)$ is in fact a strong limit.\
We may now use to conclude that $\bar \rho (t)$ is also bounded in $W^{1,\infty}({\mathbb{R}}^+)$. To do so, we first differentiate [eq.R0”]{} and find again some kind of gradient flow structure $$\begin{aligned}
{\nabla}r\big(\bar x(t)\big)\cdot\dot{\bar x}(t)-\dot{\bar \rho}(t)C\big(\bar x(t),\bar x(t)\big)-\bar \rho(t)\left[{\nabla}_x C\big(\bar x(t),\bar x(t)\big)+{\nabla}_y C\big(\bar x(t),\bar x(t)\big)\right]\dot{\bar x}(t)=0.\end{aligned}$$ With [eq.cano’]{}, it follows that $$\begin{aligned}
\label{comp:gradflow}
\dot{\bar x}(t)\cdot\left(-D^2u\right)\cdot \dot{\bar x}(t) = \dot{\bar \rho}(t)C\big(\bar x(t),\bar x(t)\big)+\bar \rho(t) {\nabla}_y C\big(\bar x(t),\bar x(t)\big)\dot{\bar x}(t).\end{aligned}$$ From the uniform bounds proved before, there is a constant $\eta_3$ such that $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq.K'}
\frac{ {\nabla}_y C\big(\bar x(t),\bar x(t)\big)\cdot \dot{\bar x}(t)}{C\big(\bar x(t),\bar x(t)\big)} \leq \eta_3.\end{aligned}$$ Using the latter and [ub’]{} we conclude that, for $K$ a positive constant, $$\dot{\bar \rho}(t)\geq -K\bar \rho(t).$$ Thus we obtain [limrho]{}. This completes the proof of Theorem \[th.cano’\].
Long time behavior
------------------
It remains to prove Theorem \[th.compltb\]. Assuming that $C(x,y)$ is symmetric, we can find a quantity which is non-decreasing in time, which replaces the quantity $\bar I$ in section \[se.long\]. We compute, from the relation , $$\begin{aligned}
{\frac{d}{dt}}\left[\bar{\rho}^2(t)C\big(\bar x(t),\bar x(t)\big)\right]\left(2\bar{\rho}(t)\right)^{-1}& = \dot{\bar \rho}(t) C\big(\bar x(t),\bar x(t)\big) + \bar{\rho}(t) ({\nabla}_y C) \dot{\bar x}(t) \nonumber
\\
& = \dot{\bar x}(t)\cdot\left(-D^2u\right)\cdot \dot{\bar x}(t) \geq 0.\label{comp:gradflow2}\end{aligned}$$
As $t$ tends to infinity, we may consider a subsequence $t_n$ such that $\bar \rho(t_n) \to \bar \rho_\infty$, $ \bar x(t_n) \to \bar x_\infty$. From , we may also assume $\dot{ \bar x}(t_n) \to 0$. Therefore $$\nabla r( \bar x_\infty) = \bar \rho_\infty \nabla_x C(\bar x_\infty,\bar x_\infty), \qquad r( \bar x_\infty) = \bar \rho_\infty C(\bar x_\infty,\bar x_\infty).$$
From these relations, we first conclude that $\bar \rho_\infty$ is positive because $r$ is concave and its gradient only vanishes at a point where $r$ is positive.
Then we combine the relations and conclude that $${\frac}{\nabla r( \bar x_\infty)}{r( \bar x_\infty)} ={\frac}{\nabla_x C(\bar x_\infty,\bar x_\infty)}{ C(\bar x_\infty,\bar x_\infty)}.$$ The assumption then concludes on the uniqueness of such a point $\bar x_\infty$ and thus on the convergence of $\bar x(t)$. [[ ]{}]{}
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[^1]: Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP), Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA, UK. Email: [email protected]
[^2]: UPMC, CNRS UMR 7598, Laboratoire Jacques-Louis Lions, F-75005, Paris. Email: [email protected]
[^3]: and Institut Universitaire de France. Email: [email protected]
|
United States Court of Appeals
FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
___________
No. 99-1879
___________
Sharlette Petrik, *
*
Appellant, *
*
v. *
*
State of Minnesota; James Morrow; * Appeal from the United States
Ellen Maas; Marc Al; Dyanna Oian; * District Court for the District
Anoka County District Court; Anoka- * of Minnesota.
Metro Regional Treatment Center; City *
of Columbia Heights; Richard Schmidt; * [UNPUBLISHED]
Steven Vaughn; Michael McGee; *
Columbia Heights Police Officers, Doe *
1 and Doe 2, *
*
Appellees. *
___________
Submitted: December 16, 1999
Filed: December 23, 1999
___________
Before McMILLIAN and FAGG, Circuit Judges, and BOGUE,* District Judge.
___________
PER CURIAM.
*
The Honorable Andrew W. Bogue, United States District Judge for the District
of South Dakota, sitting by designation.
Sharlette Petrik appeals the district court's orders in this civil rights action
dismissing the state parties on Eleventh Amendment grounds, dismissing the court
parties based on judicial immunity, and granting summary judgment in favor of the city
parties sued by Petrik. Having reviewed the record and the parties' briefs, we conclude
Petrik is not entitled to relief. We agree with the district court's analysis that a
Minnesota statute which provides that persons perceived publicly to be intoxicated may
be delivered to a detoxification facility (instead of jail) is constitutional. We also agree
with the district court that the statute was correctly applied to Petrik based on
undisputed evidence she was publicly intoxicated, and the police officers had ample
reason to believe she was a danger to herself because of her intoxicated condition. We
thus conclude the district court correctly granted dismissals and summary judgment,
and we affirm for the reasons stated in the district court's orders without further
discussion. We also conclude the district court correctly dismissed Petrik's state law
claims. See 8th Cir. R. 47B.
A true copy.
Attest:
CLERK, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT.
-2-
|
The detection of pathogenic microorganisms in biological fluids should be performed in the shortest possible time, in particular in the case of septicemia for which the mortality remains high in spite of the broad range of antibiotics which are available to doctors. The presence of biologically active agents such as a microorganism in a patient's body fluid, especially blood, is generally determined using blood culture bottles. A small quantity of blood is injected through an enclosing rubber septum into a sterile bottle containing a culture medium, and the bottle is then incubated at 37° C. and monitored for microorganism growth.
Instruments currently exist on the market in the U.S. that detect the growth of a microorganism in a biological sample. One such instrument is the BacT/ALERT® 3D instrument of the present assignee bioMérieux, Inc. The instrument receives a blood culture bottle containing a blood sample, e.g., from a human patient. The instrument incubates the bottle and periodically during incubation an optical detection unit in the incubator analyzes a colorimetric sensor incorporated into the bottle to detect whether microbial growth has occurred within the bottle. The optical detection unit, bottles, and sensors are described in the patent literature, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,945,060; 5,094,955; 5,162,229; 5,164,796; 5,217,876; 5,795,773; and 5,856,175, the entire content of each of which is incorporated by reference herein. Other prior art of interest relating generally to the detection of microorganisms in a biological sample includes the following patents: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,770,394, 5,518,923; 5,498,543, 5,432,061, 5,371,016, 5,397,709, 5,344,417 and its continuation U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,374,264, 6,709,857; and 7,211,430, the entire content of each of which is incorporated by reference herein. |
This page has been archived and is being provided for reference purposes only. The page is no longer being updated, and therefore, links on the page may be invalid.
Phosphorus Leaching Differs in Dairy Manures
By Ann Perry
May 28, 2009
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have found that solid dairy manure is better than commercial fertilizer in mitigating the amount of phosphorus that can accumulate in water percolating through the soil. But using liquid dairy manure can make it worse.
These findings could help farmers in the semiarid western United States protect local watersheds from agricultural pollutants. Idaho is now the second-largest milk producer in the western United States, and farmers there are using substantial amounts of dairy manure for fertilizing irrigated crop fields. Phosphorus can fuel the excessive growth of algae and other plant matter in freshwater ecosystems.
ARS soil scientists David Tarkalson and April Leytem used manure they obtained from two dairy farms in Idaho to study phosphorus leaching in the fine sandy loam soils typically found in the region. In laboratory tests they amended 24 soil columns with either liquid dairy manure, solid dairy manure or monoammonium phosphate (MAP), a commercial fertilizer.
Then the researchers "irrigated" the soil columns 13 times over nine weeks and collected the leachate-the liquid that drained out of the soil, carrying substances picked up along the way-from each irrigation event. The leachate was analyzed for total organic carbon and total phosphorus. After the irrigation testing, they also analyzed the soil in each column for phosphorus, carbon, calcium, iron and manganese.
Tarkalson and Leytem found that the largest quantities of phosphorus moved through soils that had been amended with liquid manure. They also found that the phosphorus in MAP was more mobile in the soil than phosphorus in the solid manures.
The scientists also observed that liquid manure and solid manure differed significantly in their carbon compound makeup, which may contribute to the resulting variations in the manure leachates. Other factors may also play a part in the dynamics of phosphorus leaching, including microbial activity and metal content in the soil and the ability of clay particles in the soil to attract and hold onto phosphorus.
Tarkalson and Leytem work at the ARS Northwest Irrigation and Soils Research Laboratory in Kimberly, Idaho.
ARS is the principal intramural scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. |
package codes.biscuit.skyblockaddons.tweaker;
import net.minecraftforge.common.ForgeVersion;
import net.minecraftforge.fml.relauncher.IFMLLoadingPlugin;
import java.util.Map;
@IFMLLoadingPlugin.MCVersion(ForgeVersion.mcVersion)
public class SkyblockAddonsLoadingPlugin implements IFMLLoadingPlugin {
@Override
public String[] getASMTransformerClass() {
return new String[]{SkyblockAddonsTransformer.class.getName()};
}
@Override
public String getModContainerClass() {
return null;
}
@Override
public String getSetupClass() {
return null;
}
@Override
public void injectData(Map<String, Object> data) {}
@Override
public String getAccessTransformerClass() {
return null;
}
}
|
Efficient light trapping and broadband absorption of the solar spectrum in nanopillar arrays decorated with deep-subwavelength sidewall features.
Silicon nanopillar (NP) arrays are known to exhibit efficient light trapping and broadband absorption of solar radiation. In this study, we consider the effect of deep subwavelength sidewall scalloping (DSSS) on the broadband absorption of the arrays. Practically, the formation of DSSS is a side effect of top-down dry etching of NP arrays of several microns height. We use finite-difference time-domain electromagnetic calculations to show that the presence of DSSS can result in efficient excitation of optical modes in both the arrays and the underlying substrates. We demonstrate a broadband absorption enhancement of >10% in a DSSS-NP array with an underlying substrate. Finally, we use device calculations to examine the effect of DSSS on the electrical performance of a photovoltaic cell, as the main concern is the degradation of the open-circuit voltage due to surface recombination (DSSS results in higher surface-to-volume ratio). We show that the effect of DSSS on open-circuit voltage is negligible. Finally, deep-subwavelength sidewall features offer a new, interesting photon management strategy towards absorption enhancement. |
Video introduction to this article. (If the video is deleted by Youtube you can find it also here in Bitchute.)
The Epstein Pedoscandal Mossad Timeline shows in detail how Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were working for the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad.
The timeline generated many comments at Unz.com but surprisingly most of them dealt whether Epstein was a pedophile or not. This despite the overwhelming evidence of pedophilia.
Many have also totally missed – or are afraid to notice – the big picture: Israeli intelligence agencies and especially Mossad seem to be running pedophile rings that blackmail Western political, business and scientific leaders.
Furthermore, it seems that Ghislaine Maxwell was and still is the master mind behind many of these pedophile rings.
One of the reasons Epstein and Ghislaine were able to continue sex trafficking with impunity for so long was the appearance that Epstein was a victim of jealous people and overzealous police. Many people thought that Epstein had only had sex with a 17-year old girl who had lied about her age.
This excuse worked well because in Florida the age of consent is 18 while in most other American states it is 16.
Epstein was able to play the martyr by not only claiming that unscrupulous girls had lied their age but also by implying that the age of consent is too high anyway in Florida.
This was also one reason why in New Mexico where Epstein had his Zorro Ranch the officials refused to register him as a sex offender. In New Mexico the age of consent was 16 until in 2018 it was raised to 18.
Furthermore, unlike in many other states, in New Mexico the courts recognize a mistake of age defense.
New Mexico courts recognize a mistake of age defense. The mistake of age defense is basically ”I thought she was 17.” However, this is no guarantee that this defense will work in court. Moreover, the mistake of age is the creation of judges in the absence of a direct statute addressing the defense. State lawmakers may pass a law overriding the courts on this issue at any time. (LegalMatch)
In reality the Epstein-Ghislaine case is not whether it is wrong for an adult to have sex with a 17 year old. Instead it is about many other things such as prostitution, grooming, pedophilia and the exploitation of children.
This all is connected to global politics involving sex trafficking, drug and arms trade, money laundering, Ponzi schemes, spy networks and blackmailing for Mossad.
Epstein’s victims were caught in a web of international spy network that used them as pawns for blackmail operations. The younger the girls were, the more leverage Israel would have over politicians, billionaires and scientists. Thus Epstein and Ghislaine tried to also recruit girls who were well under the age of 16.
What is more, they personally enjoyed having sex with these very young girls. Both Epstein and Ghislaine seem to have been pedophiles who were attracted to prepubescent girls and boys, i.e. small children.
Pedophilia is defined as:
Pedophilia (alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children.[1][2] (Wikipedia)
Note that in order to be a pedophile it is enough to have merely occasional sexual attraction to prepubescent, i.e. sexually immature children who have not yet developed secondary sex characteristics, such as breasts.
Julie Brown from Miami Herald notes that Courtney Wild was only 14 when she was recruited into Epstein’s sex ring.
Wild still had braces on her teeth when she was introduced to him in 2002 at the age of 14. She was fair, petite and slender, blonde and blue-eyed. (emphasis added. Miami Herald)
Julie Brown also notes that Epstein preferred girls who were not only white [and non-Jewish] but also appeared prepubescent.
Wild, who later helped recruit other girls, said Epstein preferred girls who were white, appeared prepubescent and those who were easy to manipulate into going further each time. (Emphasis added. Miami Herald)
For Epstein and Ghislaine it was important that the girls at the very least looked like small children. This is obviously why they preferred girls who were under 16.
Courtney Wild told the police that she brought Epstein over 70 girls and they were all under 16.
By the time I was 16, I had probably brought him 70 to 80 girls who were all 14 and 15 years old… (Emphasis added. Miami Herald)
Some girls were even younger. According to the police many were 13 year old.
The girls — mostly 13 to 16 — were lured to his pink waterfront mansion by Wild and other girls, who went to malls, house parties and other places where girls congregated, and told recruits that they could earn $200 to $300 to give a man — Epstein — a massage, according to an unredacted copy of the Palm Beach police investigation obtained by the Herald. (Emphasis added. Miami Herald)
It is also important to note that even 13 was not the minimum age for Epstein and Ghislaine. In fact, there was no limit to how young the girls could be. Both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell emphasized that the younger the better.
Eventually, she said Maxwell trained her to recruit new girls for Epstein. “Jeffrey was very particular in the kind of girls he wanted. First off, the younger the better.” Epstein said that to her, Giuffre claimed, and “Maxwell said that too. During the training and telling me how to do it, she said ‘You always have to go for the youngest-looking ones.’” (Emphasis added. The Daily Beast)
It seems the primary purpose was not even blackmail since especially Epstein was having sex with these young girls all the time. On some days Epstein was having sex several times a day.
Sex games were more important for Epstein than work. Obviously, he was extremely attracted to these young girls.
Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, 54, was accused of assembling a large, cult-like network of underage girls — with the help of young female recruiters — to coerce into having sex acts behind the walls of his opulent waterfront mansion as often as three times a day, the Town of Palm Beach police found. (Emphasis added. Miami Herald)
In six months, I never saw him do a day’s work,” Ransome told The Telegraph. ”I never saw him work. He was literally sexually abusing us all day long. (Emphasis added. Business Insider)
Ghislaine also seemed to be obsessed with sex. Just like her father, Robert Maxwell she was rumored to be interested in unconventional sex which includes also sex with young children.
As she [Ghislaine] posed for the pics, which ran in a publication meant to promote Sotheby’s vintage fashion collection, she allegedly let slip comments that hinted at a twisted double life. “She didn’t talk about Epstein, but during the shoot she did tell a story about how she just hosted a dinner party for a number of young girls, and she put dildos at each place setting,” the source said. “Ghislaine then described how during the dinner two guests, who were a couple, began demonstrating how to do the perfect fellatio on a man for all at the table. She was laughing about it.” … “A friend of mine has a whole theory about her, that Epstein was like her father Robert Maxwell, who himself is believed to have had some strange sexual practices.” (Page Six)
The Epstein Mossad-Timeline shows how Ghislaine was most probably trained by Mossad to use sex to gather information. That training would not have been too difficult for her since she was hypersexual. Many even considered her a nymphomaniac.
In fact, even many Israeli Jews – who usually have much fewer sexual taboos than puritan English and Americans – were shocked by her raunchy sexuality.
Flirtatious indeed: I understand from a mutual friend that after school she travelled to Israel and visited a kibbutz; she was immediately ostracised by the other girls for making a rather-too-obvious beeline for the Adonis-like lifeguard at the kibbutz pool. Very quickly she got her way, as she would with much in her life. (Tatler. Emphasis added.)
Even Ghislaine’s friend were sometimes shocked by her open sexuality that so often contrasted with her otherwise lady-like behavior and position in high society.
Ghislaine was, added Mason, ‘fantastically entertaining’ and ‘saucy’ – the paper said that she talked openly about sex. In fact, said another acquaintance who saw her often at parties, she was ‘obsessed by sex. She’s Sphinx-like, mysterious. The last time I saw her, five, 10 years ago, I said what are you up to? And she said “I’m selling this product – stainless-steel mini dumb-bells – that you put up your fanny. For exercising your vaginal muscles, exercise your pelvic floor, learn the Singapore Grip. I’m giving seminars in LA and they all turn up and I tell them, this is how you keep your man.”’ (Tatler. Emphasis added.)
Epstein and Ghislaine were both hypersexual. All kind of sex interested them. Little girls were just part of the menu. Or more specifically, the best – and most profitable – part.
Epstein and Ghislaine were so attracted to young girls that nothing seemed to satisfy them. Perhaps this is why Epstein and Ghislaine created the highly risky sexual pyramid scheme. The girls were offered two alternatives: Either satisfy Epstein and Ghislaine sexually or get more girls to satisfy them.
In this way Epstein and Ghislaine were able to recruit literally hundreds of young girls. However, some of these girls went to the police and the sexual pyramid scheme collapsed.
When Epstein got out of jail in 2009 he had half-learned his lesson: American girls are too risky.
Now Epstein and Ghislaine would only concentrate on East European girls with the help of their Jewish-Ukrainian friend Peter Listerman.
One of the lesser-known shadowy figures linked to Jeffrey Epstein and his sex ring of teenage girls and young women is Ukrainian-born Peter Listerman, who has worked as a businessman and television presenter but is most known for his “match-making” abilities. What match-making really means is that Listerman procures women, often underage, for the jet-set society to use for sexual purposes. His “clients” include Russian oligarchs and American businessmen and seems to have also included Jeffrey Epstein. (Citizen Truth)
Listerman has such a bad reputation that he is shunned even in Ukraine!
Tatiana Savchenko, who founded the first modeling school in Odessa, Ukraine explained to the Daily Beast the lengths she had to go to keep Listerman from getting his hands on young women and trafficking them for sex work. She claimed that he would frequently approach her students and attempt to lure them with promises of a luxurious lifestyle, and that “It took a lot of work to keep him from tricking our teen models in his traps.” (Citizen Truth)
Both Epstein and Listerman were attracted to very young girls. Neither even tried to hide it much. In fact, Epstein was quite open about his attraction to tweens.
Just three months ago, as federal prosecutors were closing in with new charges, Mr. Epstein had a conversation with R. Couri Hay, a publicist, about continuing to improve his reputation. Mr. Epstein asserted that what he was convicted of did not constitute pedophilia, said Mr. Hay, who declined to represent him. The girls he had sex with were “tweens and teens,” Mr. Epstein told him. (The New York Times)
But what is a tween?
Preadolescent is generally defined as those ranging from age 10 to 13 years.[4][6] … While known as preadolescent in psychology, the terms preteen, preteenager or tween are common in everyday use. (Wikipedia)
Epstein was right, of course. What he was convicted of in 2007 did not constitute pedophilia. However, that is precisely one reason why people are so outraged!
Epstein and Ghislaine did not see any problem of recruiting, grooming and having sex also with tweens. And apparently neither did the Justice Department and the FBI led by Robert Mueller!
But it gets even worse. As pointed out in the Epstein Pedoscandal Mossad Timeline, it seems that Epstein and Ghislaine were after even younger girls.
In 2003 Epstein financed Jean-Luc Brunell’s(?) and Jeff Fuller’s(J) new modelling agency MC2 that seemed to have worked with Peter Listerman.
MC2 obviously refers to the famous Einstein equation E = MC2, the energy-mass equivalence. Equally obviously, E equals Epstein, the energy, whereas the girls equal MC2, the mass energized by Epstein.
Brunell is generally known as the sleaziest man in model business who has long faced accusations that girls were drugged and raped in his employ. Already in the 80s he was the subject of a famous 60 Minutes expose on sexual abuse in the modeling industry
Despite all this – or for the very reason – Epstein invested in MC2 and became particularly close to its founders Brunel and Fuller.
The agency operates in New York, Miami and Tel Aviv. It’s in practice half-Israeli.
Many call Israel the capital of human trafficking and organ harvesting.
MC2 concentrates on importing East European girls to Israel and America. The younger the better.
Brunel seems to have given 12-year old triplets to Epstein as a birthday present.
’Jeffrey bragged after he met them that they were 12-year-olds and flown over from France because they’re really poor over there, and their parents needed the money or whatever the case is and they were absolutely free to stay and flew out,’ Giuffre said. She said she saw the three girls with her own eyes and that Epstein had repeatedly described to her how the girls had massaged him and performed oral sex on him. They were flown back to France the next day.
It seems that even tweens were not young enough for Epstein.
According to court papers in 2005 Brunel called Epstein and left a message that “he is sending him a 16-year-old Russian girl for purposes of sex”. However, the written message says something even worse.
The message, filed as an exhibit in the case, was written on an office message pad, partly in code, and read: “He [Brunel] has a teacher for you to teach you how to speak Russian. She is 2×8 years old not blonde. Lessons are free and you can have your 1st today if you call.” (New York Post)
Does it mean that two eight year olds are involved? Or does 2 x 8 mean to sex 8 year old? (2=to, x=sex)
Why would the lessons be free and why is it relevant that the ”teacher” is not a blond?
There is no denying that Epstein and Ghislaine sexualised even small children. This became clear in 2005 when police raided Epstein’s Palm Peach mansion.
In one photo that was hanging on the wall a small six or seven year old girl was bending over in a tiny dress. Police blurred out the photo in the video taken during the raid.
Despite all this only the Russian Television was actively trying to expose Epstein and Ghislaine.
RT aired this video already nine years ago!
The description on the video is even more revealing. It even mentions the 12-year old triplets.
The American TV networks were actively suppressing the story for years.
The American media has also been trying to cover up the fact that Jeffrey Epstein was most probably murdered in his cell. He had to be silenced.
But it gets even worse.
This hung on Ghislaine’s home wall.
The so called artwork seems to be full of pedophile symbols.
The quality of the photos taken at Ghislaine’s home are so good that even more symbols have been found in her artwork.
For some reason the mainstream media has not picked up on this pedophilia angle. No mainstream media journalist has even tried to ask why would Ghislaine have such art and symbols on her home wall.
This despite the fact that Ghislaine is most probably an Israeli superspy just like was her father, Robert Maxwell. She probably has been trained to use sex – including pedophilia – as a tool for blackmail and manipulation.
At the time in Israel females molesting little boys was not even considered rape.
Nor have mainstream journalists asked where was Ghislaine when Madeline McCann was abducted.
That would not be an unreasonable question since one of the E-Fit images looks a lot like Ghislaine.
Furthermore, two of the E-Fit images (1A, 1B) look like the Podesta brothers. John Podesta was White House Chief of Staff to Bill Clinton and the Chairman of the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.
Ghislaine and Epstein were close to the Clintons and the Podesta brothers have been directly linked also to Pizzagate.
Was Ghislaine helping to run also Pizzagate and other pedophile rings for Mossad?
At least she seems to be perfectly trained to do just that. First, her own hypersexuality, family background and possible training by Mossad made it easy for her to master mind the pedophilia ring she run with Epstein.
Second, Ghislaine and Epstein had all the apparel to help run also other pedophile rings: Lolita express airplanes and helicopters, Zorro Ranch in New Mexico and luxury mansions in New York, Palm Peach and Paris.
Even more importantly they had their own island in the Virgin Islands.
In the 90s Epstein bought Little St. James island from the Virgin islands. It had a mansion which Epstein expanded.
Soon locals started to call it the Pedophile Island.
The island seems to have tunnels with several underground entrances.
The island also has a strange temple.
We Are Change’s Luke Rudkowski and the Dollar Vigilante’s Jeff Berwick secretly visited the island but were soon chased out.
Ghislaine has a Helicopter Pilot License and often transported quests to the island.
On the weekends in the 1990s, Maxwell would have her Rollerblades FedExed to Epstein’s island in the Caribbean, and said she got her helicopter’s license so she could transport anyone she liked without pilots knowing who they were. Maxwell also said the island had been completely wired for video; the friend thought that she and Epstein were videotaping everyone on the island as an insurance policy, as blackmail. A source close to Maxwell says she spoke glibly and confidently about getting girls to sexually service Epstein, saying this was simply what he wanted, and describing the way she’d drive around to spas and trailer parks in Florida to recruit them. She would claim she had a phone job for them, “and you’ll make lots of money, meet everyone, and I’ll change your life.” … Maxwell had one other thing to tell this woman: “When I asked what she thought of the underage girls, she looked at me and said, ‘they’re nothing, these girls. They are trash.’” (Emphasis added. Vanity Fair)
Ghislaine was naturally using Epstein’s helicopters. Some of them shared their FAA tail number with a US contractor, Dyncorp. That would have helped Ghislaine and Epstein to fly drugs and children.
FAA records and Epstein’s pilot’s flight manifest indicate that Epstein’s Bell helicopter used the same tail number of N474AW. This was the same tail number used until 2006 by State Department contractor Dyncorp for counter-insurgency operations in Latin America. The congruence of Epstein’s Bell N474AW and Dincorp’s Bronco N474AW is noteworthy. In 2002, the year Epstein’s aircraft fleet stands accused of flying underage teen girls, some between the ages of 12 and 15, coincided with Dyncorp’s trafficking in underage females between the ages of 12 and 15 from Kosovo and Bosnia in the Balkans. One Dyncorp whistleblower reported to The Washington Times’s Insight magazine’s Kelly O’Meara in 2002 the following on one Dyncorp employee in Bosnia: [he] owned a girl who couldn’t have been more than 14 years old. It’s a sick sight anyway to see any grown man [having sex] with a child, but to see some 45-year-old man who weights 400 pounds with a little girl, it just makes you sick.” Tail number N474AW has been shared between Epstein’s Bell helicopter like the one in this photo. (Emphasis added. Political Bull Pen)
DynCorp’s pedophilia ring became internationally infamous with the release of the movie Whistleblower.
Helicopters can always be seen. However, Ghislaine also has a license to operate submarines!
In 2012 – three years after Epstein got out of jail – Maxwell founded The TerraMar Project,[51] a nonprofit organization that advocated protecting ocean waters.
She gave a lecture for TerraMar at the University of Texas at Dallas and a TED talk, at TEDx Charlottesville in 2014.[52] Maxwell accompanied Stuart Beck(J), a 2013 TerraMar board member, to two United Nations meetings to discuss the project.[17] (Wikipedia)
In 2014, a United Nations event featured Maxwell as a speaker. According to her bio in the program, Maxwell’s “web-based non-profit” aimed “to protect the Oceans by empowering a global community of ocean citizens.” It further described Maxwell as “a private helicopter pilot and an Emergency Medical Technician and a qualified ROV and Deepworker submarine pilot.” A former Coast Guard officer, Borgerson was also a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, which featured Borgerson and Maxwell as speakers during one 2014 talk titled “Governing the Ocean Commons: Growing Challenges, New Approaches.” Friends of Maxwell, according to The New York Times, said Borgerson became her boyfriend. Maxwell had allegedly described Borgerson as a “Navy SEAL” to her pals. Maxwell’s dubious charity also roped in the Clinton Global Initiative, the now-defunct networking platform for the Clinton Foundation. In the fall of 2013, CGI named TerraMar as one of the “commitments to action” at their annual meeting. (Emphasis added. Daily Beast)
Did the Pedophile Island have an underground submarine base? Was it a part of global pedophile network?
And was the Ocean Citizens project an attempt to escape national jurisdictions and thus gain at least a partial immunity from police investigations and prosecutions?
Interestingly, as late as 2016 Epstein bought also the nearby Great St. James Island. He started to build on the island without permits.
There were rumors that he was building underground. For some reason the mainstream media has had no interest in this second island.
Why is the mainstream media not interested in Ghislaine’s many links to pedophilia?
Perhaps because Ghislaine has so many powerful friends. The photo of the pedophile artwork on Ghislaine’s wall was taken 13 March 2007 during a party at Ghislaine’s New York townhouse. The guest list included a curious combination of elite Jews, aristocratic Brits and American WASPs.
The party was in Ghislaine’s huge 7000-square-foot townhouse. It is located in the most opulent and prestigious neighborhood of America, the Upper East Side, New York on East 65th Street just off Park Avenue. Epstein’s townhouse was only 10 blocks away.
There are reports from reliable sources that the townhouse was sold in 2000 to Ghislaine by Lynn Forester de Rothschild. The very same woman who had introduced Epstein and Ghislaine to Alan Dershowits and the Clintons in the 90s.
The Manhattan property, which is close to Epstein’s mansion, is owned by Lynn Forester de Rothschild, wife of British financier Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. (See The Times and the original article.)
According to Business Insider Forester sold the townhouse to Ghislaine for less than half the price.
Forester sold the mansion for about $8.5 million less than its assessed market value, which was more than $13.4 million.
Was this a pay-off to Ghislaine from the King of Jews, the Rothschilds for services rendered?
It probably is also relevant that at the time of the sale of the townhouse the Prime Minister of Israel was Ehud Barak. In the 80s he had been the head of Aman, the Israeli Military Intelligence Agency. As the Epstein Pedoscandal Mossad Timeline revealed, both Epstein and Ghislaine worked for the Israeli intelligence agencies already in the 80s during the Iran-Contra operation.
Note that it was around year 2000 that Epstein and Ghislaine started the pedophile operation in earnest. In the 80s and 90s blackmail operations were a side show but now it became the main show involving hundreds of young girls.
Sexual blackmail – especially involving little children – can be an extremely efficient way to influence key politicians and even military officials. A successful blackmail operation can achieve more than several army divisions. No wonder Barak was so close to Epstein and Ghislaine.
Furthermore, in 2000 the president of Israel was Moshe Katsev who was sexually harassing and even raping his female subordinates. Later Katsev would be convicted of rape.
It was also in 2000 when the Israeli Vice-Consul of Rio de Janeiro, Arie Scher and Hebrew language Professor George Schteinberg were running a pedophile ring for Israeli tourists. When the Brasilian police started to investigate the Israeli consulate Scher managed to flee back to Israel.
In Israel Scher was not prosecuted. Instead in 2005 he was promoted to Consul of Canberra, the capital of Australia. A spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, Mark Regev explained:
He [Arie Scher] was a young and single man at the time [in Brazil]. Now he is married and he’s six years older and there is no reason why he shouldn’t make an excellent diplomatic appointment in Australia.
Australia refused to let Scher enter the country.
The most shocking part of the Arie/Aryeh Scher story is that the mainstream media was not interested. Either the stories have been scrubbed from the internet or no stories were ever written by mainstream journalists except one short story by BBC in 2000 and one even smaller story by The Sydney Morning Herald in 2005. Even more surprisingly Youtube does not seem to have any videos about the Scher case.
No wonder Barak was absolutely convinced that the Western mainstream media would never dare to criticize Israel and its intelligence agencies. Not even when Mossad was running pedophile rings.
It was probably the Israeli leaders Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak and Moshe Katsev together with the ultra-Zionist Mega Group who made sure Epstein and especially the Maxwell family had not only immunity from prosecution but also all the blackmail apparel necessary including luxury townhouses, airplanes, yachts, submarines, ranch and a private island. All, of course, bugged to the hilt.
Here the pedophile artwork at Ghislaine’s New York townhouse can be seen behind Lillian von Staufenberg who in March 2007 together with Ghislaine and Hamish Bowles organized a dinner party in honor of Allegra Hicks. This at a time when Epstein had already been charged with abusing young girls.
Why would Ghislaine have such a suspicious artwork on her wall knowing that it would probably be photographed during the parties?
Why would Ghislaine and her quests take such a huge risk? Or was it a sign meant to be seen? Was Ghislaine flaunting her power?
Ghislaine and her quests seemed to be absolutely sure that the mainstream media would not dare to ask embarrassing questions.
They were right, of course. The mainstream media knows its place.
However, occasionally some courageous mainstream journalist or editor does try to give hints. Some have even reported on Ghislaine’s hyper-sexual reputation and her orgies. It is just that the stories have mostly been scrubbed from the internet.
Fortunately, Whitney Webb from Mintpress has found many of the scrubbed stories. Some of them mention the Mossad connection and others note the orgies. For example, in 2003 a British newspaper, The Evening Standard reported a revealing rumor.
Salacious reports have crossed the Atlantic about Ghislaine hosting bizarre parties at her house to which she invites a dozen or so young girls, then brandishes a whip and teaches them how to improve their sexual techniques.
It seems that Ghislaine was not only a madame to Epstein but also to the ruling elite. This would both explain her popularity and the fact that the media – and especially the American media – dares not to criticize her too much. Not even after her boyfriend Epstein was charged with sex trafficking minors!
Ghislaine’s friends are just too powerful. After the March 2007 party the British Daily Mail newspaper was amazed how Ghislaine could still have attracted such creme de la creme of the highest elite. Even more amazingly, the elite was practically swooning over her.
The night before the party, the hostess [Ghislaine] had been inundated with calls from disgruntled socialites, irked that they hadn’t received an invitation. The hostess greeted their objections with her customary charm, but remained unmoved. As always, her list had been carefully edited, and she intended it to stay that way. Among the select few were Hollywood star Matthew Modine, Kennedy family member Mrs Anthony Radziwill, Peggy Siegel, PR consultant to the stars, and Julie Janklow, heir to a literary dynasty. There was a Rockefeller on the list, as well as the inevitable countesses, billionaires and New York luminaries.
The guests at the party included also Renee Rockefeller who is married to Mark Rockefeller, the son of ex-Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and nephew of David Rockefeller.
David Rockefeller lived at 146 East on the same 65th Street in the Upper East Side as Ghislaine. They were practically neighbors. Ghislaine would have to walk only two minutes to visit David.
David liked to pose for photos in his Beetle Room next to his favorite Picasso painting depicting a nude child ”prostitute”.
David was often visited by his close friend Jacob Rothschild, the patriarch of the Rothschild family.
The very same family that got Ghislaine her luxury townhouse next door.
As shown by the Epstein Pedoscandal Mossad Timeline both Epstein and Ghislaine continued to move in the highest circles long after Epstein got out of jail. In fact, only last year Ghislaine was invited to a secret writers’ retreat hosted by the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos.
Not only billionaires but also royalty kept in close contact with Ghislaine.
Prince Andrew was recently interviewed by the BBC about his relationship with Epstein, Ghislaine and their sex slave Virginia Roberts.
Amazingly, Andrew claimed she has no recollection of Epstein’s and Ghislaine’s sex slave, Virginia Roberts. This despite the fact that they were photographed together!
Hardly anybody believes Andrew. The queen had no choice but to sack his own son.
Andrew got sacked because he was caught in a lie.
Andrew claimed he could not have had sex with the 17-year old Virginia in 2001 because he had stayed with the British consul general.
The problem is the consul general does not recall Andrew staying with him.
Curiously, most of the mainstream media has forgotten that it was Ghislaine who recruited and manipulated Virginia Roberts to become a sex slave.
Even the BBC forgot this crucial fact despite Andrew mentioning Ghislaine many times during the interview.
Time and again, the Prince invoked his friendship with Maxwell, 57, daughter of disgraced media tycoon Robert Maxwell, as the reason he came into paedophile Epstein’s orbit. Asked when he last saw Maxwell, Andrew said his last contact was ’earlier this year, funnily enough’, when she ’was here doing some rally’. (Daily Mail)
Andrew claimed to have met Ghislaine last spring. In fact, they met in June just after US prosecutors reopened the case against Epstein.
The Duke of York held a meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell in London two weeks after US prosecutors announced they wanted to reopen their investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. … The meeting took place on or about June 5, the day before Ms Maxwell took part in a four-day charity motoring rally from London to Monte Carlo.
Did Ghislaine demand that Andrew help make sure that the her own parallel case would not be reopened?
After meeting Andrew she literally disappeared from the face of the earth.
The ex-socialite has not been seen since although rumours have placed her in Brazil, France, the American mid-West and even the UK. ‘No one knows where she is,’ a lawyer for one of Epstein’s victims said last night. ‘She’s done the greatest disappearing act known to man – or woman.’ (Daily Mail)
Shockingly, during the BBC interview Prince Andrew mentioned Ghislaine many times and seemed to be proud of their friendship. Despite this the interviewer did not dare to ask questions about their relationship.
Was this a message to all: Leave Ghislaine alone.
Ghislaine is obviously protected not only by the royal family but also by the whole ruling elite. No wonder that she has the Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card.
Ghislaine also tries to protect other Epstein associates.
Prince Andrew is now afraid to go to the US.
Five women who accuse Jeffrey Epstein of abusing them say Prince Andrew witnessed how people were given massages at the sex offender’s homes. The lawyer for the women has told BBC Panorama he plans to serve subpoenas to force the Duke of York to testify as a witness in all five cases. He says the prince could have important information about sex trafficking. (BBC)
The BBC has now finally zoomed in on Ghislaine.
Another Epstein victim, Sarah Ransome told Panorama Ghislaine Maxwell, one of Prince Andrew’s oldest friends, worked hand in hand with Epstein. ”Ghislaine controlled the girls. She was like the Madam,” she said. ”She was like the nuts and bolts of the sex trafficking operation and she would always visit Jeffrey on the island to make sure the girls were doing what they were supposed to be doing. ”She knew what Jeffrey liked. She worked and helped maintain Jeffrey’s standard by intimidation, by intimidating the girls, so this was very much a joint effort.” Ms Maxwell could not be reached for comment but has previously denied any involvement in or knowledge of Epstein’s abuse. (BBC)
But the American media is still not interested in Ghislaine.
What the American mainstream media always willfully forgets is that Ghislaine Maxwell is the key person and mastermind behind the whole pedo sex trafficking operation.
The key role of Ghislaine is not surprising. After all, her father was an Israeli super spy, Robert Maxwell.
But perhaps this is the very reason why the American media is not interested.
For years Ghislaine has been at the center of a vast pedophile sex trafficking network. But still to this day the American police has never dared to even interview her.
She simply knows too much. |
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android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
android:orientation="vertical">
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android:id="@+id/toolbar"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
app:popupTheme="@style/AppTheme.ToolbarPopupOverlay"/>
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app:clipBorderWidth="5dp" ： 裁剪框边框宽度
app:clipType="circle" ： 裁剪框类型为圆形
app:mHorizontalPadding="30dp" ：裁剪框距离左右边距为30dp
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android:layout_weight="1"
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app:clipType="rectangle"
app:mHorizontalPadding="30dp"/>
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android:id="@+id/rl_bottom"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="60dp"
android:background="?attr/colorPrimary">
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android:id="@+id/tv_cancel"
android:layout_width="80dp"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
android:layout_alignTop="@+id/tv_ok"
android:gravity="center_vertical|start"
android:paddingEnd="0dp"
android:paddingLeft="15dp"
android:paddingRight="0dp"
android:paddingStart="15dp"
android:text="取消"
android:textColor="#ffffff"
android:textSize="16sp"/>
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android:id="@+id/tv_ok"
android:layout_width="80dp"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_alignParentEnd="true"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:layout_centerVertical="true"
android:gravity="center_vertical|end"
android:paddingEnd="15dp"
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android:text="选取"
android:textColor="#ffffff"
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Indecent Proposal (disambiguation)
Indecent Proposal is a 1993 American film based on the novel by Jack Engelhard.
Indecent Proposal may also refer to:
Indecent Proposal (novel), by Jack Engelhard
Indecent Proposal (album), by Timbaland & Magoo |
JACKSON PAINE
The Australian Institute of Building held their annual awards ceremony in Brisbane on Saturday night, as the brightest talents in construction around the country were recognised.
The AIB Professional Excellence in … [Read more...]
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Griffith Journalism
The Source News is produced by Griffith School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science Journalism Media Centre. In addition to our online news site, The Source News is also produced as a weekly radio program broadcast on Global Digital (July – Nov). Griffith Communication and Journalism |
An error occurred in the first paragraph of the results section of this paper (*BMJ* 2018*;*362:k2562, doi:10.1136/bmj.k2562). The text should have stated that "Between 2010 and 2016, life expectancy increased by only 0.19 years for American women (from 81.21 years to 81.40 years) and by only 0.04 years for American men (from 76.36 \[not 73.36 as published\] to 76.40 years)."
|
The ancient Persian calendar may be the most metal of all calendars, with months like “Month Of Wolf Killing”, “Month Of The Nameless God”, and “The Terrible One”. (h/t squareallworthy)
A Bayesian analysis of antidepressant efficacy.
funeral-disease on how old names are vs. how old we think they are. People with what we think of “old person names” like Mildred and Gladys are in their 90s or 100s by now; ordinary 70 year olds are more likely to have names like Carol or Sandra that we think of as 40-ish. Our idea of how old names are seems to be 20 or 30 years behind the time – why did they get set in stone a generation ago?
MIT and the private sector invest $50 million into an effort they say will produce a working fusion plant within 15 years.
Washington Post: How Twelve Experts Would End Inequality If They Ran America.
In my post on the Dark Ages, I hacked together some really simple graphs showing that western European cultural production plummeted during the 500 – 1000 AD period. Now Anatoly Karlin, Emil Kierkegaard, and Gwern have the much better and more complete version.
You’ve heard of Pig Latin and Dog Latin, but did you know there was also Botanical Latin?
Latest social psych effect to get questioned: the Pygmalion effect, where telling teachers that certain students are smart really increases the students’ performance. In retrospect, this was always kind of dumb.
A Cellular Basis Of Human Intelligence: “Here, we find that high IQ scores and large temporal cortical thickness associate with larger, more complex dendrites of human pyramidal neurons…these findings provide the first evidence that human intelligence is associated with neuronal complexity…”.
Daily Nous shows a 2011 survey on Who Philosophers Are Less Willing To Hire. Expected bias against conservatives is certainly there, but did you know that 20% of philosophers were be unwilling to hire transgender people? The prejudice against transgender people in philosophy was almost as strong as the prejudice against Republicans. I am seriously shocked by this.
Blogger at the World Bank is extremely unimpressed with GiveDirectly’s analysis of the impact of their cash transfer program; when spillover effects are treated correctly it is not clear it had any positive impact. And GiveWell (which is not the same organization as GiveDirectly, but does help fund them) responds, mostly saying they are waiting for a better study this November which should help clarify the issue.
The FAA has banned flight sharing apps (aka “Uber for planes”), but Congress is considering overruling them and permitting the service.
Learning Others’ Political Views Reduces The Ability To Assess And Use Their Expertise In Nonpolitical Domains -ie if you learn your plumber disagrees with you about politics, you’re less likely to trust his plumbing.
Japan Has Found A Semi-Infinite Deposite Of Rare Earth Minerals. Good news for business which will now be able to make high-tech components without having to beg China, bad news for mathematicians who are going to have to come up with a theory of what “semi-infinite” means.
One Step For Animals is a charity and associated shiny professional-looking website that makes the “eat less chicken for animal rights” argument.
I still think most of those predictive text jokes are fake, but the fake predictive text interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson is a work of art regardless of its authenticity.
Is Alex Tabarrok The Most Honest Economist In Academia?. “The libertarian went looking for the reason for entrepreneurial decline. The answer went against everything he believed. He published the results anyway.” In a functional society, this story would have all the oomph of “man adopts puppy, does not drown it”. Tabarrok’s own commentary here.
And the winner of the 2018 European Tree Of The Year award is…a cork tree in Alentejo, Portugal! Read more about it here, or browse the archive of past winners and finalists.
SB 827, the bill that would force cities to allow high-density housing near transit stops, is dead, through proponents are cautiously optimistic that maybe one day something like it might eventually get some support, or something.
Potential Reporting Bias In Neuroimaging Studies Of Sex Differences. Studies of brain sex differences are more likely to be published if they do show such differences. Doubt that grand political narratives are involved here beyond the tendency for every field to have a bias towards reporting positive results.
Researchers claim (study, popular article) that a Southeast Asian tribe which subsists off pearl diving has evolved anatomical adaptations that make them better at holding their breath.
A claim that the Iraqi elections have been tainted by fake sex tapes intended to discredit female candidates. Not sure if this is true since I can’t find it on a reputable site and a lot of the people involved are blaming Israel (which is kind of a red flag for Middle Eastern fake news). If so, would disconfirm my prediction that fake video software isn’t going to be geopolitically important. Sort of related: the CIA considered making a fake Saddam gay sex tape.
Wikipedia had a sudden transition between a pre-2007 period of rapid growth and a post-2007 period of slow decline. Why? Everything useful already written? Bad decisions about community norms? Or “a more general set of social dynamics at work that we do not think existing research explains in a satisfying way”?
Federal prison system cracks down on…prisoners ordering books. [Update: Feds cancel policy after outrage]
The average American thinks the average company makes a 36% profit – it actually makes about 8%. The AEI speculates that a lot of “raise the minimum wage, the companies can just take the losses out of the buckets of cash the greedy owners are hoarding for themselves” type of arguments come from this misunderstanding.
Yet another California secession movement has started gathering signatures for the ballot.
Friend of the blog Sarah Constantin has started the Longevity Research Institute, an anti-aging nonprofit. Currently they’re focusing on mouse studies of promising anti-aging agents. They also have a blog with Sarah’s assessment of some existing longevity strategies.
Related-ish: anti-aging researcher Aubrey de Grey discovered a new lower-bound in a decades-old unsolved math problem in his spare time.
NPR: When Teens Cyberbully Themselves. “Researchers found that 9 percent of the teens had bullied themselves online”. Also: “She set up ghost accounts on Instagram and posted mean comments about herself, saying things like, ‘I think you’re creepy and gay’ and ‘Don’t sit next to me again,’…She said these things because she feared being mocked by her peers [and] thought their teasing wouldn’t be so bad if she beat them to the punch”.
VC firm Bessemer’s anti-portfolio lists all their worst mistakes and missed opportunities, eg investing in Facebook. “Jeremy Levine spent a weekend at a corporate retreat in the summer of 2004 dodging persistent Harvard undergrad Eduardo Saverin’s rabid pitch. Finally, cornered in a lunch line, Jeremy delivered some sage advice ‘Kid, haven’t you heard of Friendster? Move on. It’s over!'”
Alyssa Vance: Massachusetts transit authority takes bold step of firing contractor that went way behind schedule and over budget for their mass transit project; puts fear of God into other contractors who agree to complete project for less than original cost.
Iowa passes “most restrictive in the US” anti-abortion law outlawing abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected (usually six weeks, plausibly before many people know they’re pregnant). Likely (and desired by legislators) result is Supreme Court challenge that tests/redefines boundaries of Roe v. Wade.
Hotel Concierge, everyone’s favorite Tumblr cultural commentator who is definitely not secretly The Last Psychiatrist, has another magnum opus out – Shame And Society. My favorite excerpt: “Make no mistake, the performative sadness is not consequent to the pursuit of hedonism; it is a justification.” Deserves a lot closer reading and more discussion than I probably have the time and energy to give it.
Pharma’s Broken Business Model – pharma’s rate of return on research has been steadily declining for the past (at least) twenty-five years, so that it’s now lower than the cost of capital and will be negative by 2020. “Pharma as we know it will shrink out of existence, and no, there is nothing we can do to stop it.”
Liberalism Of The Month for May is Ordoliberalism, an economic philosophy that dominated post-war Germany and “emphasizes the need for the state to ensure that the free market produces results close to its theoretical potential”. That sounds pretty attractive to me, but for some reason it seems to get bogged down in stuff about trade unionism that doesn’t seem to clearly follow.
Trends in the share of population who are not having sex.
QZ has a big article out on how an economic reanalysis shows the consensus was wrong and China was taking our manufacturing jobs all along (with automation having a much smaller role). Still haven’t gotten a chance to look into it in depth, curious what the economists here think.
Is Kanye West’s newfound support for Donald Trump a performance art piece? I know nothing about the music scene and have no intuitions in this area, so somebody else is going to have to tell me if this is at all plausible.
AskReddit: some meteor flashes can look like the entire sky just switches color to become white or green for a few seconds.
The New York Times wedding section covered friend of the blog Patri Friedman’s wedding to Brit Benjamin. |
Two Heavenly Blue Eyes
Two Heavenly Blue Eyes or Two Sky Blue Eyes (German:Zwei himmelblaue Augen) is a 1932 German film directed by Johannes Meyer and starring Charlotte Ander, Hermann Thimig and Theo Lingen.
The film's sets were designed by the art directors Willi Herrmann and Herbert O. Phillips.
Cast
Charlotte Ander as Sie
Hermann Thimig as Er
Theo Lingen as Mr. Bottlekeeper
Ida Wüst as Mrs. Thomas, seine Schwester
Eva Schmid-Kayser as Ellen, ihre Tochter
Sigi Hofer as Schnorrberger
Julius Falkenstein as Gerichtsvollzieher Maschke
Luigi Bernauer as Der Barsänger
Karl Junge-Swinburne as Der Hoteldirektor
Bruno Steinwald as Der Bardirektor
References
Bibliography
Willibald Eser. Theo Lingen, Komiker aus Versehen. Langen Müller, 1986.
External links
Category:1932 films
Category:German films
Category:Films of the Weimar Republic
Category:German-language films
Category:Films directed by Johannes Meyer
Category:Films scored by Fred Raymond
Category:German black-and-white films
Category:German musical comedy films
Category:1930s musical comedy films |
package org.drools.compiler.integrationtests;
import org.junit.After;
import org.junit.Assert;
import org.junit.Assume;
import org.junit.Test;
import org.kie.api.io.ResourceType;
import org.kie.internal.builder.KnowledgeBuilder;
import org.kie.internal.builder.KnowledgeBuilderFactory;
import org.kie.internal.io.ResourceFactory;
public class SwitchOverStringTest {
private static final String FUNCTION_WITH_SWITCH_OVER_STRING = "function void theTest(String input) {\n" +
" switch(input) {\n" +
" case \"Hello World\" :" +
" System.out.println(\"yep\");\n" +
" break;\n" +
" default :\n" +
" System.out.println(\"uh\");\n" +
" break;\n" +
" }\n" +
"}";
@After
public void cleanUp() {
System.clearProperty("drools.dialect.java.compiler.lnglevel");
}
@Test
public void testCompileSwitchOverStringWithLngLevel17() {
double javaVersion = Double.valueOf(System.getProperty("java.specification.version"));
Assume.assumeTrue("Test only makes sense on Java 7+.", javaVersion >= 1.7);
System.setProperty("drools.dialect.java.compiler.lnglevel", "1.7");
KnowledgeBuilder kbuilder = KnowledgeBuilderFactory.newKnowledgeBuilder();
kbuilder.add(ResourceFactory.newByteArrayResource(FUNCTION_WITH_SWITCH_OVER_STRING.getBytes()), ResourceType.DRL);
Assert.assertFalse("Compilation error(s) occurred!", kbuilder.hasErrors());
}
@Test
public void testShouldFailToCompileSwitchOverStringWithLngLevel16() {
System.setProperty("drools.dialect.java.compiler.lnglevel", "1.6");
KnowledgeBuilder kbuilder = KnowledgeBuilderFactory.newKnowledgeBuilder();
kbuilder.add(ResourceFactory.newByteArrayResource(FUNCTION_WITH_SWITCH_OVER_STRING.getBytes()), ResourceType.DRL);
Assert.assertTrue("Compilation error(s) expected!", kbuilder.hasErrors());
}
}
|
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President Trump has cried wolf so many times on the "crisis" at the border that one could be forgiven for dismissing his latest warnings. But even if the situation at the border is not a full-fledged crisis, as his administration claims, there's no denying that a new rush of Central American asylum seekers has created a serious problem there.
However, Trump's proposed remedies — shutting down the border and/or forcing Mexico to warehouse the desperate families — will cost America dearly, both in dollars and in a national sense of humanity.
There is, however, an innovative and simple fix that won't cost American taxpayers a dime, will ensure that these folks won't just disappear into the dark night if allowed in, and will give authorities more time to investigate their asylum claims: Hand migrants temporary work visas right off the bat — but — make renewal dependent on them showing up for scheduled asylum hearings.
Border apprehensions reached a high of 1.6 million in 2000 and have been falling ever since. Last year, apprehensions hit a grand total of 400,000 — about 90,000 more than the previous year to be sure, but nowhere close to "crisis" levels. And yet, Trump upped his rhetoric of a wall and started taking children away from migrant moms, some of whom have yet to be reunited.
But this year the uptick is significant. About 70,000 migrants were apprehended in February and around 100,000 in March alone. The vast majority are from Honduras, El Salvador, or Guatemala, where gang-related crime has reached epic proportions.
This rush is straining border facilities. In El Paso, border stations are 300 to 400 percent overcapacity, forcing authorities to cram migrants, chattel like, in makeshift holding pens, without beds or blankets. One pen was located under a bridge and constructed of barbed wire.
If Trump had used the billions of dollars he wants to spend on a useless border wall on personnel and immigration judges instead, things would not be so bad right now. But Trump is blaming the situation on "liberal courts" that last year, after the hue and cry over his child separation policy, barred his administration from keeping parents with kids in detention for more than 20 days. Hence, the administration argues, kids have become a "free ticket" into America for parents, and this is the main reason why more families — rather than single men or unaccompanied minors — are now showing up at the border.
To the extent that this is true, it's the administration's own fault. If it had not overplayed its hand and snatched infants from moms as a deterrence measure, the courts would never have had to step in. It's always been easier for parents with kids to gain admission in America. But the court ruling didn't just remove all ambiguity about the policy, it also publicized it.
However, the far bigger factor driving the rush isn't the greater ease of admission, but Trump's repeated threats to shutdown the border and scrap asylum. Although he can't do the latter without Congressional authorization, Central Americans are panicking that if they don't flee right now while they still have a chance, they'll get trapped in a dangerous situation without any exit options.
Whatever the cause of the problem, the question now is: How do we fix it?
For his part, Trump is doubling down on his threat to shut down the border. What would this entail? Basically, closing official border crossings and redeploying personnel along the border. But this would be insanity given that Mexico is America's third largest trading partner. Those crossings process half a trillion dollars worth of trade annually. About 6.3 million trucks go back-and-forth between the two countries every year, transporting everything from auto parts to fresh produce. Mexico sends over $26 billion in intermediate goods for final assembly to America every year. If these parts can't come, many American factories will have to shutter, jeopardizing nearly 5 million jobs. American consumers everywhere will face higher food prices. The country will run out of avocados in three weeks!
But the rub is that none of this would even deter Central Americans. These migrants aren't trying to sneak in illegally. They look for border agents to turn themselves in to and request asylum, something they have a legal right to do as per U.S. and international law. They'll go wherever the agents are. If there are more agents at ports, the migrants will go to the ports. If there are more between ports, then that's where they'll head.
Trump's other solution is to force migrants to wait in Mexico after filing their asylum claims, instead of releasing them into America. Mexico has been cooperating so far and is housing some 250 migrants in camps in Juarez and elsewhere. This is mainly because the number of migrants it is holding is not that large, and the country doesn't want to jeopardize ongoing trade negotiations. However, it's hard to imagine that it'll scale up the program without major bribes.
The Trump administration argues that when migrants are released, they disappear, never to be heard from again. But the Department of Justice's own figures show that 90 percent of asylum seekers do, in fact, show up for their asylum hearings for the very good reason that if they don't, they could lose their shot at ever gaining legal status.
If we want to boost compliance even more, creating MASHA visas could help.
This isn't a radical idea given how the asylum process already works. Right now, border patrol hands over anyone it apprehends who requests asylum to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE asks them if they have a "credible fear" of persecution, and if they answer in the affirmative, they are released but required to return in 45 days to a court for further questioning. Those whose fates aren't settled in 180 days, which is often the case given that right now there is a 855,000-immigration court backlog, can apply for a work permit pending a final resolution.
The administration claims that the border surge has overwhelmed the system so badly that border patrol is "catching and releasing" families and singles alike without any processing or a "credible fear" assessment by ICE. (Never mind that it evidently still has enough resources to fit these migrants with ankle monitors before release.) But restrictionists consider this a scandal and demand longer detentions even though it costs close to $319 per day to keep each migrant in semi-humane conditions.
The better strategy would be to hand the asylum seekers work permits right away — not 180 days later — and release them with the proviso that if they don't return for their hearing, they'd lose their visas. But if they do return, their visas would be renewed until the next hearing, and so on, until their cases are settled. It takes two years for the asylum process to play out right now, but so long as migrants keep showing up, even if takes longer to thoroughly investigate their situations, it wouldn't matter. At the end of it, if their petition is denied, they'll be deported, just as they are right now. But at least in the interim their upkeep wouldn't be taxpayers' headache.
This will no doubt irritate restrictionists who dislike immigrants on principle. They will argue that MASHA visas will turn asylum into even more of a guest worker program than it already is. Given that more guest worker programs for low-skilled migrants are the only real solution to unauthorized immigration, that would hardly be a bad thing. But this shouldn't bother those who merely want to boost compliance — not stick it to immigrants.
Everything Trump has tried in order to control the border has so far backfired. He equates more draconian measures with greater effectiveness. But there is no contradiction between humane immigration policies and workable border solutions. |
Early repolarization of surface ECG predicts fatal ventricular arrhythmias in patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy and symptomatic ventricular arrhythmias.
The clinical characteristics and prognostic value of early repolarization (ER) in patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C) and symptomatic ventricular arrhythmias remain unclear. We investigated the prevalence, clinical features, and cardiovascular outcomes of patients with symptomatic ARVD/C and ER. A total of 59 consecutive ARVD/C patients hospitalized for catheter ablation, presenting with and without J-point elevations of ≥0.1mV in at least 2 inferior leads or lateral leads were enrolled. Clinical characteristics, electrophysiological study, substrate mapping, catheter ablation, and future clinical outcomes in a prospective patient registry were investigated. ER was observed in 38 patients (64.4%). Among these patients, ER was found in the inferior leads in 18 patients (47.4%), in the lateral leads in 2 patients (5.3%), and in both inferior and lateral leads in 18 patients (47.4%). Patients exhibiting ER were commonly men, had lower right ventricular ejection fraction, had higher incidence of clinical ventricular fibrillation or aborted sudden cardiac death, had more defibrillator implantations, had higher the need of epicardial ablation, and had more major criteria according to the task force criteria. Significant higher incidence of induced ventricular fibrillation and shorter tachycardia cycle length of induced ventricular tachycardia were found during procedure. The recurrence rate of ventricular arrhythmias did not differ between patients with and without ER after catheter ablation. A high prevalence of electrocardiographic ER was found among symptomatic ARVD/C patients undergoing catheter ablation. ER in 12-lead ECG is associated with an increased risk of clinical fatal ventricular arrhythmias. |
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This application claims priority to Japanese Application No. 2010-189673 filed Aug. 26, 2010, the entire content of each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in this application.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circuit board, and specifically relates to a circuit board provided with a control circuit and an optical module.
2. Description of Related Art
In accordance with increase of the performance of computers, the speed of signals inputted into and outputted from a CPU (Central Processing Unit) mounted in a computer has been getting higher. Therefore, it is a problem how to take measures against attenuation of high-speed electric signals propagating on a circuit board and against generation of noise in the signals.
To solve this problem, in recent years, such a method has been considered that high-speed electric signals are inputted into and outputted from a CPU by executing electro-optical conversion with a photoelectric conversion module (referred to as an “optical module” hereinafter) and optical signals are propagated at high speeds. An optical module has a function of converting electric signals into optical signals and vice versa.
In a method for taking measures against attenuation of high-speed electric signals with this optical module, such a characteristic is utilized that attenuation of power of optical signals propagating within an optical fiber or an optical waveguide is considerably smaller than that of electric signals propagating on a circuit board. In other words, in part of a section in which high-speed electric signals inputted and outputted are transmitted, the electric signals are converted into optical signals with an optical module and transmitted, and thereby, attenuation of the high-speed signals on a circuit board is reduced. Moreover, in a method for taking measures against generation of noise in high-speed electric signals, such a characteristic is utilized that optical signals propagating within an optical fiber are not influenced by electromagnetic waves from outside.
Since signals inputted into and outputted from the CPU are electric signals, there is a need to propagate high-speed electric signals on a circuit board in a section between the optical module and the CPU. Therefore, in order to increase the effect of transmission of signals by conversion of high-speed electric signals into optical signals, there is a need to minimize attenuation of the electric signals and generation of noise in the electric signals on the circuit board. Accordingly, it is required to make the length of the section where transmission signals propagate in the form of electric signals on the circuit board as short as possible. [Patent Document 1] JP2010-67731A
However, the abovementioned optical module, in which an optical element and an optical-element driving IC are mounted on a transparent resin board, has a problem on heat radiation performance. An optical module, which executes photoelectric conversion, generally radiates heat when operating. To be specific, since an optical module has, for example, a configuration that a laser diode used as a light source element is driven by a driver IC, the optical module then consumes electric power and radiates heat. Accordingly, in order to sufficiently take advantage of the property of the laser diode, there is a need to cool by efficiently diffusing the radiated heat with a heat sink or the like.
On the other hand, since an optical module shown in FIG. 29 of JP2010-67731A has a light input/output part provided with a planar micro lens array on the upper face of a package, it is impossible to place a heat sink for cooling on the upper face of the optical module. Consequently, such a problem occurs that heat radiation in the optical module is limited to radiation by heat conduction from the lower face of the optical module to a circuit board, and moreover, it is impossible to sufficiently radiate heat because the material of the circuit board is usually resin.
Further, as mentioned before, there is a need to make the optical module as close as possible to the CPU in order to increase the effect of transmission of signals by conversion of high-speed electric signals of the CPU into optical signals, whereas such a problem occurs that the temperature of the optical module rises because of the influence of heat radiation of the CPU and exhausted heat by the CPU, and therefore, even the optical module provided with the heat sink cannot cool down if it is adjacent to the CPU. |
Q:
laravel how to update a field to a database
This is my code
$admin = Admin::find(25);
$admin->picture = $destination;
$admin->save();
but when I execute it, the picture field is keep NULL for example images/admin_20
the destination is a string to the location of the image.
I already tried ->update() but also nothing becomes saved.
could you help me please
Edit 1
the picture column in my database is varchar(255) utf8_unicode_ci
A:
Finally I found the problem, three days working to this silly mistake
the ID column in my database should have been id
|
/*
Does exactly what `prepopulated_fields = {"label" : ('name',)}`
would do, but does not URLify the value (since in this case, name is a slug field
but label is a title field).
*/
jQuery(function($) {
var target = $('div.inline-group');
var item = 'div.inline-related';
var labelSel = 'input[id*=-label]';
var nameSel = 'input[id*=-name]';
var init = function() {
$(target).find(item).each(function(i) {
var item = $(this);
item.find(labelSel).each(function() {
this._changed = item.find(nameSel).val() != $(this).val();
});
item.find(labelSel).change(function() {
this._changed = true;
});
item.find(nameSel).keyup(function() {
labelInput = item.find(labelSel);
if (!labelInput[0]._changed) {
labelInput.val($(this).val());
}
});
});
}
init();
// init again when "Add another" link is clicked
$('.add-row a').click(function() {
init();
})
}); |
Nike SB Blazer Mid Premium – Black / Ice Green
The saying “more than meets the eye” is best demonstrated on this pair of Nike SB Blazer Mid Premium which consist more than just of a black and ice green colorway. If you look close enough, you can see spiral patterns on the black leather upper on the Blazer Mids which also feature purple inner lining and laces. Aside from this deceiving design on the upper, the color of the swoosh, midsole and heel tab isn’t white as it appears to be, but in fact is ice green, best seen on the laces. In addition, the Twilight Zone theme is carried on to the tongue where the same spiral pattern is placed as well as on the insole. Now available at select Nike SB retailers including Gettry. |
In Ancient China there was a saying: "May you live in interesting times." It was considered to be as much a curse as anything.Sometimes the most difficult times are the most interesting, most challenging and often the most rewarding. They often test us by creating obstacles, and occasionally they bring out the best in us. It all depends on how you choose to see your challenges. Many people are held back from succeeding because they have a fear of failure.
The most successful among us are often those who have suffered the most failures but they did not see them as failures.They describe them as challenges or learning experiences. They expected them, faced them, overcame them and became successful because of them.What if you knew you could not fail, you could only learn more lessons?
The times we are living in are nothing, if not interesting.Interesting, however, can also feel overwhelming, confusing and paralyzing! We have so many decisions to make and we perceive that we have either too many, or not enough, choices.Wouldn’t it be nice to have an objective, professional partner to guide you through your interesting times? Wouldn't you like a nonjudgmental, skilled partner to help you to clarify your goals and negotiate your challenges?
Traditional talk therapy used to be the only option. Many of my clients report that they have been in therapy for years without much noticeable change in their situation, but today you have better, more effective choices.Most traditional therapy focuses on one problem area or issue at a time. It also primarily focuses on the past and analyzing the cause of the problem. Ten years ago, using a life coach was barely an option and now, life coaching has evolved to a whole new art form that can include hypnosis.
Hypno Coaching is the most direct way to move your life forward to the next level. We all have challenges in our lives where we feel temporarily unable to think clearly, make decisions, unable to find the energy to feel satisfied or feel joy. We just feel stuck! Coaching focuses on the client from the present and emphasizes moving forward. You learn to focus on what you want, not what you don’t want. You learn to focus on creating goals based on your core values and are coached toward reaching those goals. Coaching does not diagnose, treat or cure mental or emotional problems and is not a substitute for other professional help.Hypno Coaching works with the client as a whole being and helps them regain control of their life.No one would consider taking up a sport without using a coach to learn the skills, strategies and rules of the game to perform to the best of their ability.Life can be seen as a game in that there are challenges and rules and we all want to win. Coaches help you to develop strategies, skills and plans to accomplish your goals. The better your strategies and life skills, the more success you experience. Many of us want or need help to develop and refine our life skills so we can compete and excel in our lives. Hypno Coaching supports both personal and professional goals.
Unlike sports, the rules of life and relationships keep changing, requiring new strategies and different kinds of strengths to move forward.The blending of hypnosis, life coaching skills and Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), tools help you to achieve more than you ever thought possible. The results are easier, quicker and more effective than personal coaching or traditional therapy alone. It is the best remedy for feeling stuck! HypnoCoaching includes the use of both conscious and subconscious processes to help you transform your dreams into reality. The process includes helping you clarify your goals, create action plans, making commitments and overcoming obstacles toward achieving a successful and fulfilling life of your choice.
Often the most important parts of a HypnoCoach’s challenge are to help you imagine, picture and define what your fulfilled life is. If you can imagine it, you can have it! Hypno Coaching is more affordable than both traditional hypnosis and traditional therapy. After the initial consultation, Hypno Coaching is done on the phone, except when a face-to-face hypnosis session is needed. You don’t need to leave your home; you just need to make time, usually 30 minutes a week.Hypnosis CD’s are created for you and provided as part of the service. HypnoCoaching is appropriate for anyone who has experienced the inability to feel satisfied in his or her life, anyone in transition, or anyone who recognizes that what he or she has been doing so far to manage their life is not working for them.
Come join Fern Tausig at the Milford Library on Feb. 4, at 7 pm and ask all the questions you may have about Hypnosis or Hypno Coaching.
For a free phone consult about HypnoCoaching, call 203 283 4567 or email Fern at [email protected].
If you have tried EVERYTHING else to get relief from those negative emotions and the physical discomfort they have created, it’s time to tap those old feelings away. If you haven’t already heard about the amazing phenomenon of ‘tapping’, let me be the first to enlighten you! Although tapping is not new, it is only beginning to find its way into the mainstream of health and wellness modalities. Tapping, also known as EFT, Emotional Freedom Technique, has been one of the modalities used by hypnotists for a very long time. It is now also being used by therapists of all kinds, including chiropractors.
Why, because it works! It works on emotional, as well as, physical issues with amazing success. It is something you learn to do and then independently continue to enjoy its benefits.
So, what exactly is this EFT and how and why does it work? The theory that supports EFT is based on the Chinese system of Health that states that energy flows through our bodies along pathways called meridians. If the energy is blocked or disturbed for any reason, ranging from stress and trauma, to bacteria and toxins, it creates dis-ease which can evolve into disease at worst and negative feelings, at best. The Chinese use needles, massage and herbs to unblock or move the energy. Tapping is an acupressure technique that mimics those processes. EFT is a process that uses gentle tapping on the ends of specific meridians to alter the energy of the body. It is a process similar to rebooting your computer. The process is a combination of verbal statements and physical tapping. I have successfully used this technique with children who had nightmares and anxiety, as well as adults with migraines and emotional or physical distress of all kinds.
As a certified hypnotist and coach, I am dedicated to helping clients become their personal best and I always use the most effective technique to accomplish that end. I use EFT, however, with almost every client because it is effective in most situations. The results are always immediate. The issue to work on is measured on a scale of 1-10 of intensity and then measured again after tapping. It is the only therapy I know that has the benefit of immediate relief
You may wonder how you can use EFT. First observe where you are in your life. Look at the chronic physical or emotional discomfort you may feel in your body. Most people convert emotional distress into physical distress and don’t know how to release it... Listen to your self - talk, if it is negative, you can also change that with EFT.
If you would like more information on EFT, hypnosis or hypno-coaching, or if you would like to reserve a spot at this workshop you can contact Fern Tausig at [email protected] or www.myHealingHypnosis.com. You can also call 203-283-4567 for a free phone consult with Fern.
Request a
SPECIAL
WORKSHOP
For You and
Your Friends!
Quit Smoking!
Reduce Stress!
Lose Weight!
Improve
Self Esteem!
Past Life Regression
MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: We do not represent our services as any form of medical, behavioral or mental health care, and despite research to the contrary, by law, I may make no health benefit claims for our services. |
One of the best meteor showers of the year, the Geminids, will be peaking less than a week from now, on the night of December 13, 2013 (early morning of December 14, 2013). The exact peak of the prolific meteor shower will be right around 2 AM (local time) on the 14th — but anytime after midnight or so should be good.
The peak rate this year is expected to be somewhere right around 50-60 meteors an hour — providing the weather cooperates, of course. That said, the Moon will be in a relatively bright phase around the time of the peak, so the number visible during the absolute peak will be a bit lower. You can wait out the Moon though (in most locations) — for those on the East Coast, the Moon will set right around 3:30 AM. So anytime after that should be good.
As always with the Geminids, you can expect to see a number of super-bright “fireballs” — meteors that can really light up the night’s sky, sometimes even leaving behind long-persistent trails. While the Geminids meteor shower does put on its best show for those in the Northern Hemisphere, those in the Southern Hemisphere will get a pretty good show as well. Of course for those down under the closer to the equator/Northern Hemisphere that you are, the better.
The Geminids will appear to be originating out of the constellation Gemini, in the Eastern portion of the late night’s sky. Regardless of where you’re looking though, you’ll see meteors — so that’s nothing to think about too much.
For information on all of the great meteor showers of 2013, see: Meteor Showers 2013, Dates and Times, Geminids, Leonids, Ursids, Taurids, Perseids, Quadrantids, Etc.
To keep tabs on all celestial events, simply download this annual calendar of celestial events! (It’s a free PDF).
Some things to keep in mind when meteor watching:
• What you want is the darkest sky that you can find, preferably far away from city lights — dark, rural locations are the ideal.
• Try to get as comfortable as you can— a reclining chair, warm clothes, blankets, pillows, etc.
• A cup of warm coffee or hot chocolate tends to make the experience more enjoyable.
Image Credit: Meteor via Flickr CC |
@import 'yeticss'
body
border: 10px solid $gray-lighter
header
margin-top: 30px
|
Q:
libMobileGestalt copySystemVersionDictionaryValue: Could not lookup ReleaseType from system version dictionary
I have been testing prior to submission of an update... from iOS4, and have run into the following... 1) creating PDFs from my app. 2) appears to be inconsistent, as I can create new PDFs without issue in most cases. 3) the crash log indicates a crash at line 341 of ExportView, which I have configured so that the only item on the line is a CFRangeMake. Note in the console that there is a value, as the same value is used in several lines.
A few notes: using Xcode 4.6, target is iOS6, fully ARC, testing on new iPad.
Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!!
I've removed some of the crash log and console log to shorten this post! Apologies for it's length even now!
Methods for the strings to be applied to the PDF creation:
- (CFMutableAttributedStringRef) CreateAttributedString:(int*) dateLength
titleLength:(int*) titleLength
{
NSLog(@"Current EntryIndex: %d", _entryIndex);
NSLog(@"Current Entry: %@", _currentEntry); // current entry is set from the parent view controller via PrepareForSegue
NSDateFormatter * dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"MMMM dd, yyyy, h:mm aaa"];
NSString * dateString = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:_currentEntry.created];
*dateLength = [dateString length];
NSLog(@"DateString: %@", dateString);
NSLog(@"2nd DateLength: %d", *dateLength);
NSString *title = _entryTitle;
*titleLength = [title length];
NSString *bodyString = _entryText;
NSString *contentString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@\n\n%@\n%@", dateString, title, bodyString];
NSLog(@"TitleString: %@", title);
NSLog(@"BodyString: %@", bodyString);
NSLog(@"TitleLength: %d", *titleLength);
CFStringRef string = (__bridge CFStringRef)contentString;
CFMutableAttributedStringRef attributedContentString CFAttributedStringCreateMutable(kCFAllocatorDefault, 0);
CFAttributedStringReplaceString (attributedContentString,CFRangeMake(0, 0), string);
return attributedContentString;
}
- (void) SetTextFontName:(int)dateLength titleLength:(int)titleLength forAttributedString:(CFMutableAttributedStringRef) text
{
//date
CTFontDescriptorRef dateFontDescriptor = CTFontDescriptorCreateWithNameAndSize((__bridge CFStringRef)_entryDateTimeFontName, _entryDateTimeFontSize);
CTFontRef dateFont = CTFontCreateWithFontDescriptor(dateFontDescriptor, _entryDateTimeFontSize, NULL);
NSLog(@"Font entryDateTimeFontSize, line 329: %d", _entryDateTimeFontSize);
NSLog(@"DateFontDescriptor, line 329: %@", dateFontDescriptor);
CFAttributedStringSetAttribute(text, CFRangeMake(0, dateLength), kCTFontAttributeName, dateFont);
NSLog(@"DateLength... before crash: %d", dateLength);
NSLog(@"DateLength... crashing: %d", dateLength);
CFAttributedStringSetAttribute(text,
CFRangeMake(0, dateLength), // this is line 341...
kCTForegroundColorAttributeName,
_entryDateTimeColor.CGColor);
NSLog(@"Date length for line 332: %d", dateLength);
NSLog(@"Text for line 332: %@", text);
NSLog(@"Font name... font attributes line 332: %@", dateFont);
NSLog(@"Date length for line 333: %d", dateLength);
NSLog(@"Text for line 333: %@", text);
NSLog(@"Date color for line 333: %@", _entryDateTimeColor.CGColor);
CFRelease(dateFontDescriptor);
CFRelease(dateFont);
//title
CTTextAlignment alignment = kCTCenterTextAlignment;
CTParagraphStyleSetting _settings[] = {{kCTParagraphStyleSpecifierAlignment, sizeof(alignment), &alignment}};
CTParagraphStyleRef paragraphStyle = CTParagraphStyleCreate(_settings, sizeof(_settings) / sizeof(_settings[0]));
CFAttributedStringSetAttribute(text, CFRangeMake(dateLength, dateLength + titleLength), kCTParagraphStyleAttributeName, paragraphStyle);
CTFontDescriptorRef titleFontDescriptor = CTFontDescriptorCreateWithNameAndSize((__bridge CFStringRef)_entryTitleFontName, _entryTitleFontSize);
CTFontRef titleFont = CTFontCreateWithFontDescriptor(titleFontDescriptor,_entryTitleFontSize, NULL);
NSLog(@"TitleFontDescriptor: %@", titleFontDescriptor);
CFAttributedStringSetAttribute(text, CFRangeMake(dateLength, dateLength + titleLength), kCTFontAttributeName, titleFont);
CFAttributedStringSetAttribute(text, CFRangeMake(dateLength, dateLength + titleLength), kCTForegroundColorAttributeName, _entryTitleColor.CGColor);
NSLog(@"TitleColor: %@", _entryTitleColor);
NSLog(@"Titlecolor: %@", _entryTitleColor.CGColor);
CFRelease(titleFontDescriptor);
CFRelease(titleFont);
//content
CTFontDescriptorRef fontDescriptor = CTFontDescriptorCreateWithNameAndSize((__bridge CFStringRef)_entryTextFontName, _entryTextFontSize);
CTFontRef font = CTFontCreateWithFontDescriptor(fontDescriptor, _entryTextFontSize, NULL);
CFAttributedStringSetAttribute(text, CFRangeMake(dateLength + titleLength+2, CFAttributedStringGetLength(text) - dateLength - titleLength - 2), kCTFontAttributeName, font);
CFAttributedStringSetAttribute(text, CFRangeMake(dateLength + titleLength+2, CFAttributedStringGetLength(text) - dateLength - titleLength - 2), kCTForegroundColorAttributeName, _entryTextColor.CGColor);
CFRelease(fontDescriptor);
CFRelease(font);
}
Crash Log:
Incident Identifier: D5D15E15-8A4C-4850-B751-9F1D546F1F71
CrashReporter Key: 54bfdcf0248d463bc97ac986b7553405b3b0f8b9
Hardware Model: iPad3,4
Process: TabletJournal [9876]
Path: /var/mobile/Applications/109DCB8E-22D1-45E4-A347- 1B1F211F9044/TabletJournal.app/TabletJournal
Identifier: TabletJournal
Version: ??? (???)
Code Type: ARM (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [1]
Date/Time: 2013-03-20 15:42:11.412 +0100
OS Version: iOS 6.1.2 (10B146)
Report Version: 104
Exception Type: EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x000000000000defe
Crashed Thread: 0
Thread 0 name: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
Thread 0 Crashed:
0 CoreFoundation 0x3272b4e0 0x32693000 + 623840
1 CoreFoundation 0x3271bc2c 0x32693000 + 560172
2 CoreFoundation 0x3277043c 0x32693000 + 906300
3 CoreFoundation 0x32697b4e 0x32693000 + 19278
4 CoreFoundation 0x32705e5e 0x32693000 + 470622
5 TabletJournal 0x0005f3d8 -[ExportView SetTextFontName:titleLength:forAttributedString:] (ExportView.m:341)
6 TabletJournal 0x0005ed58 -[ExportView saveJournalToPDF:andName:] (ExportView.m:196)
7 TabletJournal 0x0005ec8a -[ExportView pdfButtonTapped:] (ExportView.m:179)
8 UIKit 0x3464f082 0x34561000 + 974978
9 UIKit 0x3464f036 0x34561000 + 974902
10 UIKit 0x3464f010 0x34561000 + 974864
11 UIKit 0x3464e8c6 0x34561000 + 972998
12 UIKit 0x3464edb4 0x34561000 + 974260
13 UIKit 0x345775f4 0x34561000 + 91636
14 UIKit 0x345648dc 0x34561000 + 14556
15 UIKit 0x345641ea 0x34561000 + 12778
16 GraphicsServices 0x362575f4 0x36251000 + 26100
17 GraphicsServices 0x36257222 0x36251000 + 25122
18 CoreFoundation 0x3272a3e4 0x32693000 + 619492
19 CoreFoundation 0x3272a386 0x32693000 + 619398
20 CoreFoundation 0x3272920a 0x32693000 + 614922
21 CoreFoundation 0x3269c238 0x32693000 + 37432
22 CoreFoundation 0x3269c0c4 0x32693000 + 37060
23 GraphicsServices 0x36256336 0x36251000 + 21302
24 UIKit 0x345b82b4 0x34561000 + 357044
25 TabletJournal 0x0002e35a main (main.m:22)
26 libdyld.dylib 0x3aa02b1c 0x3aa01000 + 6940
Thread 0 crashed with ARM Thread State (32-bit):
r0: 0x3ac440f0 r1: 0x00000000 r2: 0x00001200 r3: 0x3ac2ce44
r4: 0x00000000 r5: 0x1ea52580 r6: 0x3272b4d9 r7: 0x2fdd26c4
r8: 0x3ac47940 r9: 0x00000012 r10: 0x3acacd88 r11: 0x1ea52580
ip: 0x00010201 sp: 0x2fdd26c0 lr: 0x3271bc2f pc: 0x3272b4e0
cpsr: 0xa0000030
Console log... the important parts:
Mar 20 15:50:54 Marcs-iPad TabletJournal[9947] <Warning>: SettingsModel, entries: (
"<JournalEntry: 0x1e296310>",
"<JournalEntry: 0x1e24be00>")
Mar 20 15:50:54 Marcs-iPad TabletJournal[9947] <Warning>: Export Loading
Mar 20 15:50:55 Marcs-iPad TabletJournal[9947] <Warning>: Current EntryIndex: 1
Mar 20 15:50:55 Marcs-iPad TabletJournal[9947] <Warning>: Current Entry: <JournalEntry: 0x1e296310>
Mar 20 15:50:55 Marcs-iPad TabletJournal[9947] <Warning>: DateString: marzo 20, 2013, 3:41 PM
Mar 20 15:50:55 Marcs-iPad TabletJournal[9947] <Warning>: 2nd DateLength: 23
Mar 20 15:50:55 Marcs-iPad TabletJournal[9947] <Warning>: TitleString: Test2
Mar 20 15:50:55 Marcs-iPad TabletJournal[9947] <Warning>: BodyString: I’m here in the Istanbul airport again, for another 5-hour layover! Plane is suppose to take off at 2:50 pm! Next time, I’m going to make sure my layovers are not more than 2 hours. That’ll leave room for delays. I ate a small pizza at this “Italian” diner. It was actually pretty good. Later, I’ll have to compare it with real Italian pizza. I’m dead tired. Gotta get some caffeine! Got the caffeine! Yow! I should wake up in a few minutes! There are posters of Italia here and I’ve found a couple of places I’d like to see. Lago D’Orta di Piemonte, Galleria Borghese di Lazio- Roma, Pisa.
Mar 20 15:50:55 Marcs-iPad TabletJournal[9947] <Warning>: TitleLength: 5
Mar 20 15:50:55 Marcs-iPad TabletJournal[9947] <Warning>: Font entryDateTimeFontSize, line 329: 13
Mar 20 15:50:55 Marcs-iPad TabletJournal[9947] <Warning>: DateFontDescriptor, line 329:
CTFontDescriptor <attributes: <CFBasicHash 0x1d518f50 [0x3ac440f0]>{type = mutable dict, count = 2,
entries =>
1 : <CFString 0x3acad758 [0x3ac440f0]>{contents = "NSFontNameAttribute"} = <CFString 0x1e07a880 [0x3ac440f0]>{contents = "Copperplate"}
2 : <CFString 0x3acad8c8 [0x3ac440f0]>{contents = "NSFontSizeAttribute"} = <CFNumber 0x1d5cb1d0 [0x3ac440f0]>{value = +13.0000000000, type = kCFNumberFloat32Type}}
>
Mar 20 15:50:55 Marcs-iPad TabletJournal[9947] <Warning>: DateLength... before crash: 23
Mar 20 15:50:55 Marcs-iPad TabletJournal[9947] <Warning>: DateLength... crashing: 23
Mar 20 15:50:56 Marcs-iPad ReportCrash[9951] <Notice>: Formulating crash report for process TabletJournal[9947]
Mar 20 15:50:56 Marcs-iPad com.apple.launchd[1] (UIKitApplication:com.creativeappgroup.TabletJournalTM[0xe437][9947]) <Warning>: (UIKitApplication:com.creativeappgroup.TabletJournalTM[0xe437]) Job appears to have crashed: Trace/BPT trap: 5
Mar 20 15:50:56 Marcs-iPad ReportCrash[9951] <Error>: libMobileGestalt copySystemVersionDictionaryValue: Could not lookup ReleaseType from system version dictionary
Mar 20 15:50:56 Marcs-iPad backboardd[25] <Warning>: Application 'UIKitApplication:com.creativeappgroup.TabletJournalTM[0xe437]' exited abnormally with signal 5: Trace/BPT trap: 5
Mar 20 15:50:56 Marcs-iPad ReportCrash[9951] <Notice>: Saved crashreport to /var/mobile/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/TabletJournal_2013-03-20-155055_Marcs-iPad.plist using uid: 0 gid: 0, synthetic_euid: 501 egid: 0
A:
It turns out that the libModileGestalt had nothing do with the crashing. Found out via a tip on Apple forums that the CGColor was probably nil. After isolating and installing log statements before the actual call, that it was indeed the case. In fact, all of the colors... text, title and date were coming over as NULL. So, I've got the crashing to stop by installing a test and apply statement in the create PDF method. Now... to find out why the colors are not being passed over!
|
Acid production in chronic hemodialysis patients.
This study examines endogenous acid production in a group of stable chronic hemodialysis patients with no residual renal function who were admitted to the chronic hemodialysis unit of Mount Sinai Hospital. Net acid production was estimated by the change in body bicarbonate content, which occurs in the interdialytic period. The body bicarbonate content at any time was measured by multiplying the concentration of blood bicarbonate by the apparent bicarbonate space at that time. The apparent bicarbonate space was determined by the change in blood bicarbonate concentration induced by the intravenous administration of a known amount of sodium bicarbonate. Daily sulfuric acid production was also estimated from the reduction in body sulfate content during dialysis. The interdialytic net acid production was measured at approximately 28 mEq/d, a value much lower than that predicted from the protein catabolic rate. This reduced acid production can be explained by reduced sulfuric acid and organic acid production. The mechanism of reduced sulfuric acid production is unknown. Reduced organic acid production is explained partly by the absence of renal excretion of metabolizable organic anions, leaving only the nonmetabolizable fraction as the main source of acid in the interdialytic period. |
Summary Points {#sec001a}
==============
- Ebola hemorrhagic fever, or Ebola virus disease (EVD), has emerged in the last year as a global threat and humanitarian disaster for the affected countries of West Africa and has also come to the United States (US) and Europe.
- The treatment of the first and three subsequent US patients outside of Africa at Emory University provided a number of challenges, as well as strategic and tactical lessons that included detailed planning and team work across multiple academic and health care units, emphasizing biosafety, the importance of institutional communications, addressing unanticipated challenges such as waste management, and the logistics of working closely with governmental agencies and outside collaborators.
- In providing effective care for individuals, the value of mobilizing a diverse health and academic community to work collaboratively to addressing a global threat is emphasized. This includes dissemination of best practice information; providing education and training about EVD; expansion of new knowledge about the clinical course, complications, and pathogenesis of EVD; the creation of new institutional forums, and engagement in the broader policy and equity issues of contagious health threats.
Ebola hemorrhagic fever, or Ebola virus disease (EVD), is caused by a highly contagious group of enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses of the family Filoviridae. The disease has historically carried 53%--88% mortality \[[@pmed.1001857.ref001]--[@pmed.1001857.ref003]\]. In December 2013, what has now become the largest and most devastating Ebola outbreak ever recorded, caused by a new strain of the Zaire species (*Zaire ebolavirus*), began in Meliandou, Guinea, West Africa and soon enveloped neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia, with cases also in Nigeria, Senegal, and Mali \[[@pmed.1001857.ref001]--[@pmed.1001857.ref005]\]. WHO (World Health Organization)/CDC (United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) reports 27,550 cases and 11,235 deaths in the three principal countries as of June 28, 2015 \[[@pmed.1001857.ref006]\], which may be an underestimation of at least a factor of 2.
On August 2 and 5, 2014, two medical missionaries who developed EVD in late July while working at Eternal Love Winning Africa (ELWA) hospital in Liberia were evacuated from Monrovia by a specially designed air ambulance to Emory University Hospital (EUH) \[[@pmed.1001857.ref007]\]. Until August 2, 2014, EVD had not been seen or treated in humans outside of Africa. The initial call for help for these missionaries came to our institution on July 30 and would mobilize multiple resources at Emory University, in particular those of the academic medical center, EUH, Emory Healthcare, and the Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center, the faculty, nurses, staff, and leadership of these units, and our communications and other Emory University support teams. The successful treatment and discharge of these first two patients by August 21, 2014, was only the first chapter of the impact of this outbreak on Emory, the US, Europe, and the global community. At least 25 individuals have now been treated outside of Africa (US: 11, Europe: 14, with five deaths). The US, Europe, and the rest of the world can expect to continue to be touched by this epidemic and by future communicable disease outbreaks.
The strategic and tactical lessons and challenges presented by providing care for the first and subsequent US EVD patients at Emory University provide an opportunity to share lessons that may help others. Specific clinical and immunological features and diagnostic and detailed management issues of the patients at Emory are reported separately \[[@pmed.1001857.ref007]--[@pmed.1001857.ref011]\]. It is very important to acknowledge the tremendous inequity between EVD care available in our academic medical center versus sites in West Africa. This disparity, illustrated by this outbreak, will require much future work to address.
Background {#sec001}
==========
EUH is the flagship clinical care facility for Emory Healthcare, staffed by 1,221 Emory School of Medicine faculty physicians, with over 3,600 employees, 25,300 admissions, and 157,000 outpatient visits annually. The hospital has one of the highest case-mix indexes (a measure of complexity of illness treated) among the University Healthsystem Consortium (UHC)-ranked facilities. Emory had established strong programs in health care delivery, quality, infectious diseases (ID), infection control and biosafety, immunology, vaccines, and public health that were important to its ability to respond to this series of events.
The Serious Communicable Diseases Unit (SCDU) ([Fig 1](#pmed.1001857.g001){ref-type="fig"}, [Box 1](#pmed.1001857.box002){ref-type="boxed-text"}) of EUH is a special isolation unit. This unit was designed and constructed in 2002 following the 2001 anthrax bioterrorism event but was also created, given the global connectivity of Atlanta and its institutions, to address naturally acquired, highly communicable emerging infectious diseases such as EVD. The unit was built and set up in close collaboration with and with financial support from the adjacent CDC to provide care for CDC scientists and staff who have contracted highly communicable infectious diseases in laboratory settings or while traveling abroad.
{#pmed.1001857.g001}
Box 1. The SCDU {#sec002}
---------------
- The SCDU was designed ([Fig 1](#pmed.1001857.g001){ref-type="fig"}) to provide an extraordinarily high level of clinical isolation with more enhanced capacities than are normally provided to isolate patients in many hospital settings. The unit has a special outside entrance for emergency use and is separated from patient care areas in order to not impact other clinical services. It was the first of three such high-level civilian facilities in the US.
- The SCDU was constructed (purposely to provide rapid isolation, security, flexibility, and access to special resources) within the EUH clinical research unit. The clinical research unit has been in existence for some 60 years and supports clinical research through the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program. The SCDU offers on-call, highly trained staff operating under standardized, ready-to-go protocols for providing care for patients infected with highly communicable contagious diseases.
- While not necessary for treatment of EVD, the isolation rooms feature negative pressure air handling, 20 air changes per hour, with laminar flow and high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA)-filtering completed before the air is 100% exhausted outside of the hospital (no recirculation). General and intensive care can be provided. The SCDU was activated on two previous occasions. The first was in 2003 for a CDC worker with concern for having been infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong, China. The second was in 2005 for a CDC employee in Angola with potential Marburg virus hemorrhagic fever. While unit activation has been infrequent, intensive training in this unit to maintain a state of readiness has been continuous for well over a decade, including detailed preparation for transport of patients and the training of nurses and physicians.
- A virtual tour of the SCDU and videos addressing many of the most frequently asked questions, together with access to all SCDU policies and standard operating procedures (SOPs), are available on the Emory education web site: [www.emoryhealthcare.org/ebolaprep](http://www.emoryhealthcare.org/ebolaprep) \[[@pmed.1001857.ref011]\].
The ID program at EUH was built to provide expertise in hospital epidemiology, antimicrobial management, transplant infectious diseases, and clinical microbiology. For over a decade, Emory University was an active member of the NIH Research Centers of Excellence (RCE) in Biodefense and was the site for the biosafety training program for select pathogens of the Southeast Regional Center of Excellence for Emerging Infections and Biodefense (SERCEB) RCE. This particular program provided invaluable expertise, equipment, and support for the EVD effort. Emory ID and Emory Healthcare (EHC) also created the TravelWell clinic, an outpatient clinic available for assessment and evaluation of pre- and post-travelers and supporting major Atlanta corporations and the CDC. Emory's TravelWell is part of a 57-site worldwide travel network (GeoSentinel) with a 10-year database of 3,000 entries of those who either had returned ill following travel to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, or Nigeria or had just emigrated from one of those countries.
The Decision to Accept EVD Patients into the SCDU {#sec003}
=================================================
The request for medical care for the initial patients came from the missionary organizations Samaritan's Purse and Serving in Mission (SIM) USA and from the patients themselves. The decision was coordinated through the US State Department and the CDC. EUH and EHC leadership made the decision to accept the patients---a decision made quickly but not lightly. The decision was based on the need, confidence in the overall preparedness of EUH, and the more than a decade plus of training and preparation to address highly communicable diseases at EUH ([Box 2](#pmed.1001857.box003){ref-type="boxed-text"} and [Box 3](#pmed.1001857.box004){ref-type="boxed-text"}). Importantly, as an academic medical center and research institution, the decisions were also based upon what we might learn in treating these patients (e.g., advancing knowledge about human health) and how such knowledge could be applied to the current outbreak.
Box 2. SCDU Preparation and Operations {#sec004}
--------------------------------------
- The SCDU medical team is led by the SCDU director, an ID trained physician who has spearheaded for over a decade efforts in establishing the protocols, training, education, and operations of the unit in conjunction with the CDC. Three other faculty members of the Department of Medicine, four additional ID physicians, two pathologists, five medical technologists, and 21 critical care nurses also support the unit.
- An SCDU unit director, clinical nurse specialist, and team coordinator handle logistics, organize training sessions, determine supply needs, and establish nursing schedules. Nurses provide care in 4-hour stretches to minimize donning and doffing of personal protective equipment. The overall effort has directly involved over 125 staff and support personnel.
- During the care and treatment of EVD patients, there were daily communications between the SCDU medical team and the CDC's Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology (DHCPP), the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, and the Emergency Operations Center for Ebola established at CDC, and with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other US federal agencies, as well as frequent communications with other academic units, industry, and providers in West Africa.
- The primary focus of training was on biosafety for all individuals who provided direct care or handled body fluids. All of these individuals received mandatory education and training, followed by strict competency verification before medical or nursing staffs were permitted to provide care for these patients.
- Effective and assertive communication was central to the safety of the SCDU team. Use of the buddy system was an essential element of the focus on individual and colleague safety. Because communication was so important, the team developed rules to govern direct patient care communication as well as within daily team huddles. These rules were reviewed each morning during the daily huddle and served as a platform to empower all members of the team, regardless of role, to facilitate communication and to maintain strict SOPs.
Box 3. The SCDU Support Teams {#sec005}
-----------------------------
- The hospital support team was led by the CEO of EUH. The chief medical and nursing officers of EHC and EUH, and in particular the vice president of operations of EUH, were also heavily involved in leading the support efforts. During the care and treatment of the EVD patients, an operations team of key administrators and nursing and physician leadership met twice a day. Despite the extensive preplanning, opportunities to refine and improve both clinical and operations were noted, and all aspects of the hospital services were involved. Pharmacy, environmental services, engineering/facilities support, and pastoral care/counseling were especially important.
- Other ID faculty, including a pediatric ID specialist with experience in EVD, provided support for the frontline medical team. Periodic conference calls focused on support, therapeutic options in treating patients, and issues of postexposure prophylaxis, vaccines, surge planning, protocol development, and discussions of research as it related to EVD. To facilitate the necessary availability of SCDU dedicated ID providers, alternate faculty were recruited to cover the regular duties of the SCDU physicians. ID support also included contacting key national and international research leaders in EVD; evaluating, contacting, and obtaining, through outside groups, experimental vaccines and new drugs for Ebola; and communicating with the CDC, FDA, NIH, and other federal agencies, other university partners, and biotech/industry contacts, all of which were essential in the effort.
- The Emory Environmental Health and Safety Office (EHSO) was engaged immediately after the call for ongoing support. While clinical care settings are very different from those of labs, EHSO staff included individuals with expertise in training on Biosafety Level BSL 3 and 4 laboratory safety, which was helpful in translating to our clinical care situation. Conversations were conducted by EHSO with other national biosafety leaders in EVD. (See "[Biosafety](#sec007){ref-type="sec"}.")
- The SCDU team was also supported by the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Emory Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response focusing on the complexity of patient transport and emergency care. They worked closely before and during the event with Phoenix Air Group, the air ambulance transport service, and the Grady Hospital Ambulance service. Critical Care established a 24/7 Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) attending coverage for critical care management issues including airway management and line placement issues. Other subspecialties, such as renal medicine, were required on a case-by-case basis. The location of the SCDU away from other patient care units of EUH significantly reduced the impact on our other health care delivery and patient operations. DHCPP at CDC provided critical help to the unit for viral loads, specialized assays, and other support.
Special Challenges of Addressing EVD {#sec006}
====================================
Biosafety {#sec007}
---------
Different outside perspectives and guidance were initially provided about the level of biosafety needed for EVD. Ebola viruses have a very low infectious dose, 1--10 aerosolized organisms, in nonhuman primate models \[[@pmed.1001857.ref012]\] and can reach extremely high levels in blood (up to 10^10^ RNA copies per ml of serum \[[@pmed.1001857.ref013]\]), stool, sweat, and other body secretions. Exposure of health care workers to infected body fluids via emesis, sweat, urine, saliva, diarrhea, or blood is a significant concern. There was also initial concern that this strain was not behaving epidemiologically as expected and the personal protective equipment (PPE) guidelines in Africa were not fully effective in prevention of transmission. Further, we had to demonstrate our ability to safely manage these patients.
To achieve the lowest risk to health care personnel, the highest level of biosafety was initially employed. This included MAXAIR powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs), fluid-resistant body suits along with cover aprons, double gloves and shoe covers, and wiping down all surfaces with US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered disinfectants (no spraying) when doffing PPE. Other key biosafety SOPs developed were autoclaving within the unit for waste management, followed by disposal of regulated medical waste off-site after it had been autoclaved; decontamination; and handling of laboratory samples and waste. The consequences of transmission stressed the need for the highest level of biosafety.
The importance of the EHSO office in reinforcing the prior training of personnel and monitoring the clinical staff for consistency and adherence to biosafety from training sessions to practices in real-time clinical care cannot be overemphasized. This included how to "don and doff" impermeable fluid-resistant body suits, proper use of PAPRs, coordination of the disposal of waste, and the handling and transport of lab samples. EHSO also helped prepare and support the team psychologically, challenging them with spills and other incidents to practice remaining calm in the face of potential unexpected occurrences. Team engagement demonstrated the importance of melding the philosophies of clinical treatment/practice and biocontainment/biosafety. Feedback from frontline physicians, nurses, and hospital staff highlighted the contributions of EHSO to the effort and the value of the EHSO biodefense education and training expertise.
Waste Management {#sec008}
----------------
Waste management for EVD is a significant hurdle. EVD results in copious amounts of vomit and diarrhea with up to 10 liters of fluid lost by patients each day. Up to 40 large "bags" per day of regulated medical waste were generated by our first two patients. A large-capacity autoclave was mobilized, with postautoclaved waste stored in 32-gallon leak-proof rubber waste containers in the SCDU until removal and incineration. All waste in toilets was disinfected with an EPA-registered disinfectant before flushing. Importantly, no traces of Ebola RNA on \"high-touch surfaces\" such as beds and bathrooms were detected during active care or after patient discharge prior to terminal decontamination with vaporized hydrogen peroxide.
Communications {#sec009}
--------------
Guiding principles for communications included consistent messaging and protecting patient privacy while educating the public. Internal communications with a focus on transparency and education, within the bounds of confidentiality of medical information and protecting our patients' privacy, were vital. These included meetings with EUH hospital leadership and staff to address concerns, frequent emails and other communications with all faculty and staff at EHC and Emory, making sure instructions/checklists were in place, and facilitating the dissemination of protocols. To avoid unauthorized access to electronic medical records, a chart-warning flag was implemented. Confidentiality of medical information regulations were repeatedly stressed to all medical staff, residents, and fellows.
In external communications and interface with the media, the Emory communications teams tirelessly addressed media logistics, developed web and social media material, worked closely with governmental and nongovernmental external groups, developed talking points, and prepared the hospital and SCDU teams for communications venues. To maximize our preparedness and to address national concerns, press conferences and media interviews were conducted, and an EVD Questions and Answers document was developed and posted. The story exploded in broadcast print and social media. Over 84,000 media stories have been written linking Emory and Ebola. Emory communications created an Emory Healthcare Ebola Preparedness Protocols website ([www.emoryhealthcare.org/ebolaprep](http://www.emoryhealthcare.org/ebolaprep)) \[[@pmed.1001857.ref011]\] to make our clinical and biosafety protocols and other information widely available to the public. To date, 20,267 registrants have downloaded these educational materials.
Addressing a Surge of Cases of Possible Ebola {#sec010}
---------------------------------------------
The admissions heightened Ebola and other bio-threat concerns both locally and nationally. Questions about potential EVD patients began to occur immediately in our health care system and throughout the US. We developed and disseminated flow diagrams, algorithms, and SOPs \[[@pmed.1001857.ref011]\] for evaluating patients in emergency rooms and other health care provider settings where EVD was a consideration. CDC guidelines as they became available and current EVD articles were also disseminated. Our teams engaged local, regional, state, and national health care groups, and guidance was provided to questions about travelers from the region coming to Emory, to airlines flying to West Africa, and to multinational corporations based in West Africa. Travelers' diarrhea with fever and malaria are the problems most commonly encountered by travellers to West Africa. However, yellow fever along with Lassa fever, endemic in West Africa as well, can cause similar symptoms to those of Ebola. Typhoid and less frequently diseases such as dengue and other viral syndromes can cause such signs/symptoms, though not usually as severe. The intersection of the seasonal influenza epidemic with returning CDC workers from West Africa further amplified the evaluations of febrile episodes. Timely initial screening---with establishment of contact and droplet precautions early while the risk assessment, including an extensive travel history and the evaluation of exposure risk and symptoms, was continued---was emphasized. Policies and procedures for the continuing care of our discharged patients were also developed \[[@pmed.1001857.ref011]\].
Disseminating Knowledge: Education and Training {#sec011}
-----------------------------------------------
As noted, a highly trained group of faculty, nurses, biosafety support, and other providers staff the EUH SCDU. While no trainees (e.g., fellows, residents, or students) served on the direct care team, trainees benefitted from the experience of the unit and clinical experience with EVD through conferences and other education venues (e.g., Public Health Grand Rounds and ID seminars). An EVD "Micro Vignette" and other educational materials were developed for resident and fellow education. Further, ID and other specialty fellows have been integrated into the management planning for EVD patients, educated on the broader policies and procedures of the unit, are involved with the development of protocols for the management of Ebola patients who present to the Emergency Department (ED) or other clinical settings, and are educated about the collective experiences in treating the patients. In addition, a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) "Ebola at Emory: Patients to Populations" has been launched \[[@pmed.1001857.ref014]\], an EBOLA Academic Learning Community was established, and other efforts to educate and support graduate and undergraduate student activities were undertaken. Emory faculty and staff also actively participate in national education and training efforts, including multiple presentations at national meetings, engagement in training forums sponsored by the CDC and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), writing publications and communications, and conducting press conferences. Fifty-five US hospitals, including many in academic medical centers, have now been designated as Ebola treatment centers.
Generating New Knowledge {#sec012}
------------------------
Work was initiated to better understand EVD pathogenesis and therapeutic options \[[@pmed.1001857.ref007]--[@pmed.1001857.ref011],[@pmed.1001857.ref015]--[@pmed.1001857.ref019]\], including optimal patient management, fluid and electrolyte replacement, and dialysis \[[@pmed.1001857.ref007]--[@pmed.1001857.ref008]\]; evaluation of concomitant infections (e.g., malaria or Lassa fever); levels of EVD viremia, monitoring viral RNA in body sites \[[@pmed.1001857.ref019]\] and environmental samples; tracking EVD specific immune responses \[[@pmed.1001857.ref017]\]; evaluation of available investigational drugs and their safety, risks, and benefits; options for immune therapy (monoclonal antibodies \[mAbs\], convalescent sera) and available supplies; available investigational vaccines \[[@pmed.1001857.ref002],[@pmed.1001857.ref018]\], best practices in clinical operational management; and postexposure prophylaxis. In addition, the generation of new knowledge about EVD biosafety, infection control, and waste management has resulted from this event. These activities have now expanded as a broader institutional effort that includes new drug discovery for EVD, generation of human Ebola mAbs, expanded study of EVD glycobiology, focus on biomarkers as correlates of clinical EVD outcome, work on the ecology and the emergence of EVD and other tropical-associated zoonoses, clinical trials of Ebola vaccine, and modeling the spread and control of EVD in West Africa. This work required close coordination with and the support of the Emory Institutional Review Board (IRB), collaboration with the FDA, establishment of emergency investigational new drugs (INDs), and work with drug and biologic manufacturers and with multiple other governmental agencies. These and other EVD research and scholarly projects generated by the decision continue at Emory.
The event also led to broad faculty engagement across all parts of the institution through the creation of an Emory Ebola Task Force and Ebola Faculty and Community Discussion Forum \[[@pmed.1001857.ref020]\]. The Task Force includes leaders from across the campus and is directed at facilitating cross-cutting institutional initiatives such as EVD research, education and training activities, input into public policy issues around EVD, development of an institutional travel policy to West Africa, establishing procedures for trainee involvement in Ebola care, and the support of the humanitarian, research and control efforts in West Africa.
Conclusions {#sec013}
===========
EVD has arrived in North America and Europe and impacted us globally. Academic medical centers can be expected to be at the frontline to address EVD and other highly communicable infectious agents in the future. Our experience ([Box 4](#pmed.1001857.box005){ref-type="boxed-text"}) with EVD emphasized prepared infrastructure and coordination of clinical care, hospital and emergency operations, transportation, infection control, biocontainment, communications, and education and training initiatives. Unanticipated major challenges can be expected. The importance of detailed planning, preparedness, and team work across multiple academic and health care units, the emphasis on biosafety, key partnerships with environmental health and safety and institutional communications, and working closely with governmental agencies and outside collaborators to manage these threats is highlighted.
Box 4. Key Lessons and Recommendations {#sec014}
--------------------------------------
- Communicable infectious diseases will continue to be global threats to human health and have the potential to cause repeated humanitarian disasters.
- Our experience as an academic health center with EVD emphasized the importance of preparation, communications, and implementation: Coordination, detailed planning, and teamwork across governmental, nongovernmental, academic, and health care unitsPreparedness in training, biosafety, surveillance, and communications Environmental Health and Safety as a key support team memberEvaluation of provider competency in biosafety Donning and doffing of PPEWaste management protocolsDecontamination and containment protocolsSpecimen handling for diagnostic testingAn organizational structure to solve unanticipated challenges and the logistics of working closely togetherThe rapid dissemination of best practice informationProviding education forums and frequent educational communications (both internal and external) around disease transmission and riskConsistent messaging and protecting patient privacy while educating the publicExpanding new knowledge about the clinical course, complications and pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and preventionEngagement in the broader policy issues of global health care inequities
The institutional experience, while providing the opportunity to effectively care for these individuals, has led to best practice information and the education and training of others, created key academic, governmental, and community partnerships, expanded research programs in EVD, and resulted in the development and communication of new knowledge about this emerging disease. Mobilizing our diverse academic community to work collaboratively on this global problem is also an important long-term outcome.
The authors wish to thank and recognize the key contributions of Emory faculty and staff, the Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Emory University Hospital and Emory Healthcare, and especially the SCDU Team \[[@pmed.1001857.ref007]\], the SCD Unit Coordinator, Emory Healthcare Nursing Services, Emory Medical Laboratories, Emory University and Woodruff Health Sciences Center Communications and Public Affairs, Emory Environmental Health and Safety Office, the Emory Ebola Task Force and other key Emory leaders, the CDC and other US federal and Georgia partners, Samaritan's Purse and SIM USA, and the patients themselves in this effort. We also thank Dianne Watson for excellent administrative support.
**Provenance:** Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed
BSL
: biosafety level
CDC
: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
CTSA
: NIH Clinical and Translational Science Awards
DHCPP
: Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology
ED
: Emergency Department
EHC
: Emory Healthcare
EHSO
: Environmental Health and Safety Office
ELWA
: Eternal Love Winning Africa
EPA
: US Environmental Protection Agency
EUH
: Emory University Hospital
EVD
: Ebola virus disease
FDA
: US Food and Drug Administration
HEPA
: high-efficiency particulate air
ICU
: intensive care unit
HHS
: US Department of Health and Human Services
ID
: infectious diseases
IND
: investigational new drug
IRB
: Institutional Review Board
IV
: intravenous
mAbs
: monoclonal antibodies
MICU
: medical intensive care unit
MOOC
: Massive Open Online Course
NIH
: National Institutes of Health
PAPR
: powered air-purifying respirator
PPE
: personal protective equipment
RCE
: Research Centers of Excellence
SARS
: severe acute respiratory syndrome
SCDU
: Serious Communicable Disease Unit
SERCEB
: Southeast Regional Center of Excellence for Emerging Infections and Biodefence
SIM USA
: Serving in Mission USA
SOP
: standard operating procedure
UHC
: University Healthsystem Consortium; WHO, World Health Organization
[^1]: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
[^2]: Contributed to the writing of the manuscript: DSS BSR BDG NRF MMF CPL JTF. Wrote the first draft of the manuscript: DSS. Agree with the manuscript's results and conclusions: DSS BSR BDG NRF MMF CPL JTF. All authors have read, and confirm that they meet, ICMJE criteria for authorship.
|
"Delay is natural to a writer. He is like a surfer—he bides his time. Waits for the perfect wave on which to ride in. He waits for the surge (of emotion? of strength? of courage?) that will carry him along." (E.B. White, The Paris Review Interviews, 1969)
10.12.2010
Tomorrow marks the beginning of my 39th trip around the sun. Lots of you reading this have made many of these trips, and I'm hoping to learn a thing or two from your amazing journeys over the next few orbits. In fact, I have to say that what I feel most strongly about this impending arc across the solar system comes from what I have gotten from my interconnectedness with others. During the past 38 years, friends and family have entered and exited my life. Many have taken more than they have given in the immediate term, but I can't think of anybody who has not taught me an important lesson. I'm not a big believer in a cosmic orderer--at least not in any way that can't elude our best-formulated control schemes--but I do believe in the power of absorbing the lessons available to us.
This past year, the entrance of three young Sudanese Americans has transformed our house and our understanding of the world. At the start of the year, my partner and I faced the completion of a very long journey. When our friends opened their hearts and lives to their friend and his three young, lovely children, our dreams were transformed. By the time the year ended, we found ourselves constantly re-configuring mental models of our small community to make space for these children and everyone else in the village who wanted to help out. Even though we aren't the primary caretakers in these kids' lives (and probably not even secondary), we have found ourselves trying to become less selfish to help them and the many people taking on the extra parenting. The persistent pull of these kids helped pull me and my partner from the cascading traumas brought about by two floods, the forgotten death anniversary of my father, the end of a 17-year academic journey, the purchase of our first new house (and its subsequent remodeling), physical injury, and a cancer scare. When I was overwhelmed at times, my partner would remind me to think about these kids and the other kids in the world who live on the edges of war and colonialism. We know nothing of trouble.
It's easy to get caught up in my own goals as an academic. Sometimes, the game of success is the only game that I feel like I can win; hell, sometimes it's the only game I understand. It's only the persistent ethical draw of eleven years with my best friend and lover that pulls me out of an institutional orbit to see the larger picture of what we can mean to others, especially when the culture gives you no instructions on how to connect with the young and vulnerable when you aren't biologically connected. It's hard to love people when acts of love are interpreted as selfish at best, dangerous at worst. It helps to have a life partner who is an old pro at giving without leaving traces. Being there for friends and strangers means you have to be courageous. You can't give while looking over your shoulder. The blows will come, but love gives you strength and courage that help you ignore them.
At times, the courage that comes from love has manifests as a willingness to grab opportunities. We're walking towards spending time in Africa next year. I'm hoping to help grow the arts community during a time of scarcity. Sport is hoping to continue and expand her work with vulnerable women. We're also looking at ways of aligning our professional careers more closely with our ethical bent. I want to be a better teacher. A better researcher. A better friend. A better person. These things all require an uncomfortable amount of truth-telling; something I'm not always willing to do. As a rhetorical scholar, I'm always aware of the means of persuasion, but this does little to help me change the world in deeply ethical ways. Sometimes you have to risk looking like a jackass to fulfill your calling. It's painful, but ultimately necessary.
Being more comfortable in my own skin has meant rubbing some people the wrong way, but it has also meant making deeper friendships. You can't please everybody, but that's O.K. Everybody who I have met in my life has played some sort of important role. As I take this trip around the sun again, know that I'm taking a little piece of you with me, that I'm trying to be a little less me and little more of those kids. You have all taught me something I needed to learn. If you have read this far, I'm sure that you have somehow helped me get to where I need to go in my journey. Thank you. |
According to former President Bill Clinton bugs could hold the answer to fighting the childhood obesity epidemic and to stemming the rising tide of Americans developing type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases related to poor nutrition.
Clinton did not tout bugs as a solution because they are an emerging, sustainable source of lean protein or a novel baking ingredient that can improve the health profile of popular items such as chips, cookies or snack bars as marketed by several startups. Rather, Clinton told attendees at the Partnership for a Healthier America’s Summit in Washington, DC, last week that bugs’ can help fend off preventable, diet-related diseases simply by providing a model for cooperation to achieve a shared goal.
Clinton said that he came to this conclusion in part by watching the not one, but two, ant farms that were given to him as gifts from his staff, and from Edward O. Wilson’s The Social Conquest of Earth.
Describing Wilson’s slim volume as “the most important political book that no one reads as a political book,” Clinton explained that Wilson argues that of all the species that inhabited earth, the most successful ones that ever lived, as defined by enduring multiple threats to their existence, are ants, termites, bees and people.
While these are ‘’not the biggest or strongest” of the species, Clinton said Wilson attributes their survival to their ability to find “ways to work together and solve common problems for stronger futures.”
And this is exactly what people need to do again to fight the obesity epidemic and other diet-related chronic diseases, Clinton said.
He acknowledged that this approach “is never as interesting as a knock-down, blood-on-the floor fight,” and is not as emotionally satisfying as “good old-fashioned name-calling,” or the tribalism that is growing in America, but, he said, “the truth is that in the world we live in, creative cooperation involving diverse partnerships with people who live different lives and know different things are the best mechanism for solving complex social problems.”
For support, he pointed to the agreement the Alliance for a Healthier Generation brokered with the American Beverage Association – to very different groups, with different individual goals – to reduce sugar consumption from drinks served in schools.
The arrangement resulted in a 90% reduction in calories from drinks in schools in part because it respected the individual needs of each partner.
“I never ask anybody to lose money, I say, because it’s not sustainable. I said, ‘Can you find a way to make money in a different way?’ And they did. They basically got all the full-sugar drinks out of the schools and went to fruit-flavored waters and smaller portions of milk, smaller portions of juice,” Clinton said.
He also lauded Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign, the Partnership for a Healthier America and all the companies that have made commitments to PHA for similarly working together to achieve a common goal of reducing childhood obesity.
And while he celebrated the successes these partnerships have reached so far, he asked companies and public health advocates at the Summit to take the next step.
“We can do this in a big way,” he said, noting, for example, “we are now working with the beverage industry to reduce total consumption of calories from beverages nationally by people of all ages everywhere by 20% by 2025.”
He also took a step back from the food, beverage and public health arena to note that legislators in Washington could also learn from this approach.
He explained: “When Michelle Obama asked our foundation to help with what she was doing, and I realized they were calling the campaign ‘Let’s Move’ – not ‘Move Away,’ ‘Let’s Move’ – I thought, maybe we should make that the national motto and put in on the Capitol and the White House: Do something. Do it.”
And while Clinton noted he could “make 50 jokes out this,” he said he wouldn’t because he didn’t want attendees to lose sight of the true message “that inclusion, diversity and creative cooperation lead to better results.”
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According to former President Bill Clinton bugs could hold the answer to fighting the childhood obesity epidemic and to stemming the rising tide of Americans developing type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases related to poor nutrition. |
Sydney Lea
Sydney Lea is an American poet, novelist, essayist, editor, and professor, and is the Poet Laureate of Vermont. His most recent book is A Little Wildness: Some Notes on Rambling (Storyline Press, 2006), and he has a ninth collection of poetry, Young of the Year, now out from Four Way Books. He has taught for the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program at Dartmouth College, and at Yale University, Wesleyan University, Vermont College, Middlebury College, Franklin University Switzerland, and the National Hungarian University. He founded New England Review in 1977 and edited it till 1989. His work has appeared in literary journals and magazines including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic, The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Virginia Quarterly Review. He is one of 25 poets featured in the highly influential 1996 anthology, Rebel Angels: 25 Poets of the New Formalism. He lives in Newbury, Vermont. His work "Mudtime" has been set as a long form song cycle for voice and string quartet by the composer Joseph Hallman which the poet described as "a high point of my term as poet laureate. It's been so refreshing and so different, a great shot in the arm.",. It was premiered in 2014 by Hallman's long term collaborator, Abigail Haynes-Lennox and the 802 Quartet at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Honors and awards
2011 appointed Poet Laureate of Vermont
2001 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Pursuit of a Wound
1998 Poets' Prize, for To the Bone: New and Selected Poems
1992 Fulbright Scholarship
1987 Guggenheim Fellowship
1985 Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship
Published works
Full-Length Poetry Collections
Novels
1st edition Scribner's 1989
Essay Collections
1st edition
Anthology Publications
Anthologies Edited
References
External links
Author's Website
"Interview With Poet Sydney Lea", Poetic Asides, August 11, 2009
Poems: "Mudtime In the County", Virginia quarterly Review, Autumn 1995
Poems: "Canary Weather", Virginia quarterly Review, Autumn 1995
Poems: "Children, Singing", The Atlantic, December 2003
Essay: "The Death Of A Hunting Dog", Sports Illustrated, December 02, 1991
Category:Poets Laureate of Vermont
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Living people
Category:Wesleyan University faculty
Category:Novelists from Vermont
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:American male novelists
Category:American essayists
Category:Guggenheim Fellows
Category:Fulbright Scholars
Category:Rockefeller Fellows
Category:The New Yorker people
Category:People from Newbury, Vermont
Category:20th-century American poets
Category:American male poets
Category:American male essayists
Category:Novelists from Connecticut |
Identical twins with mental retardation, dysarthria, progressive spastic paraplegia, and brachydactyly type E: a new syndrome or variant of Fitzsimmons-Guilbert syndrome?
We report on concordantly affected female identical twins with mental retardation, dysarthria, progressive spastic paraplegia, and brachydactyly type E. The most similar condition reported is the syndrome described by Fitzsimmons and Guilbert in uniovular twins characterized by progressive spastic paraplegia, dysarthria, brachydactyly type E, and cone-shaped epiphyses. During the last 11 years a report of only one other patient with this syndrome has been published; hence, its phenotypic delineation may be only partial. Although our patients might expand the phenotypic spectrum of this syndrome, they may represent a new disorder. |
This blog is for discussion of everything judicial: nominees, judges, the confirmation process, judicial philosophy, court decisions, constitutional issues, judicial activism. The views expressed here are those of the individual bloggers and do not necessarily represent the views of the Committee for Justice.
February 04, 2008
Judges – McCain's nominees and a pay raise
Here are two pieces on judges that are notable for their “Nixon goes to China” viewpoint.
Conservatives’ concerns about the type of judges John McCain would appoint as president have become prominent of late. And we too have some doubts. But consider today’s Wall Street Journal op-ed on judicial appointments by Professor Steven Calabresi – Chairman and co-founder of the conservative Federalist Society – and his similarly-minded colleague Professor John Mcginnis. The conservatives who care most about the appointment of constitutionalist judges greatly admire both men, so their view that “John McCain is the best option to preserve the ongoing restoration of constitutional government” carries a lot of credibility.
Calabresi and Mcginnis argue that
“[McCain] is by far the most electable Republican candidate remaining in the race, and based on his record is as likely to appoint judges committed to constitutionalism as Mitt Romney, a candidate for whom we also have great respect. . . . For other kinds of issues, it may be argued that it is better to lose with the perfect candidate than to win with an imperfect one. . . . The judiciary is different. . . . Even if a more perfect candidate were somehow elected in 2012, he would not be able to undo the damage, especially to the Supreme Court.”
The second piece evinces the breadth of support for giving federal judges a much needed pay raise. Even the liberal New York Timesis on board. Hours before the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a 29% pay raise at the end of last week, the Times editorialized that “the case for a substantial increase is a strong one,” especially in light of the nearly 25% decline in judges’ real wages since 1969. The Times cited Chief Justice Roberts’s observation that the decline “has left federal trial judges . . . earning about the same as (and in some cases less than) first-year lawyers at firms in major cities.” The House Judiciary Committee approved a similar bill in December. |
498 N.W.2d 413 (1993)
Hosien KALELL, Appellant,
v.
Rodney R. PETERSEN and Betty J. Petersen, Appellees.
No. 92-475.
Court of Appeals of Iowa.
February 2, 1993.
*414 Robert D. Houghton and Douglas R. Oelschlaeger of Shuttleworth & Ingersoll, P.C., Cedar Rapids, for appellant.
Brad J. Brady of Crawford, Sullivan, Read, Roemerman & Brady, P.C., Cedar Rapids, for appellees.
Heard by DONIELSON, P.J., and SACKETT, J., and KEEFE, Senior Judge.[*]
KEEFE, Senior Judge.
On June 15, 1987, Rodney Petersen began the process of removing a limb from a tree in his back yard. He tied a rope onto the limb and fastened the other end of the rope to his truck. While Petersen was pulling on the limb, Hosien Kalell entered Petersen's backyard unannounced and grabbed the rope that connected the limb to the truck. Thereafter, a portion of the limb broke loose from the tree and struck Kalell in the head.
Within minutes, Kalell was taken to the hospital. He developed a blood clot in his brain. Dr. James LaMorgese performed brain surgery upon Kalell to remove the blood clot. Kalell remained in the hospital until July 25, 1987. Dr. LaMorgese released him to return to work on December 1, 1987.
At the time of the accident, Kalell was sixty years old. He was employed as a manufacturer's representative for Kar Products. His net income from this employment was about $575 per month. Kalell testified that he planned to work until age seventy.
On December 17, 1987, Kalell filed suit against Rodney and Betty Petersen. Kalell alleged that, as a result of the Petersens' negligence in taking down the tree limb, he suffered permanent physical impairments and disabilities. The district court directed a verdict for Betty Petersen, and she is not a party to this appeal. After trial, the jury entered a verdict which assessed fifty percent of the fault to each party. Kalell's damages were found to be $59,856.41. He was thus awarded fifty percent of that amount, $29,928.21. After the district court entered judgment on the jury's verdict, Kalell filed a motion for new *415 trial on the issue of damages. The district court overruled the motion. Kalell now appeals.
Kalell contends that the trial court abused its discretion in two areas: (1) in overruling his motion for new trial on the ground the award of damages was insufficient and inadequate; and (2) in overruling his motion in limine to exclude evidence of his prior marriage dissolutions, bankruptcies, late filing of tax returns and expenditures of money on items other than medical charges or prosthetic devices. The court will consider these in the reverse order.
I. Motion in Limine.
Prior to trial Kalell filed a motion in limine addressing the four types of evidence mentioned above. The motion also addressed a fifth type of evidence concerning an Act of God. This motion was resisted by defendant. A hearing was held by the trial judge. The judge originally stated he would reserve ruling on prior dissolutions and bankruptcies until the evidence developed. He overruled the motion as it pertained to filing of late tax returns, other expenditures of money, and Act of God. Kalell's attorney insisted on receiving a clear ruling so he would know how to handle voir dire and his opening statement. The trial judge then stated he would make a clear-cut ruling and denied the entire motion.
In the case of Shawhan v. Polk County, the supreme court stated:
Plaintiffs objected to this evidence, raising the issues of whether it was relevant, see Iowa R.Evid. 401, 402, and if so whether its probative value was outweighed by the potential for unfair prejudice if allowed, see Iowa R.Evid. 403. We must decide whether the trial court abused its discretion in admitting this evidence and, if it did err, whether substantial rights of the plaintiffs were affected, see Iowa R.Evid. 103(a).
Evidence is relevant when it has "any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence." Iowa R.Evid. 401. However, even relevant evidence is not admissible "if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice." Iowa R.Evid. 403. Issues of relevancy and prejudice are matters normally left to the discretion of the trial court; we reverse the trial court only when we find a clear abuse of that discretion.
420 N.W.2d 808, 809 (Iowa 1988).
In the trial of this case, every item of damages, except special damages, was hotly contested by Petersen. Kalell's attorney either introduced or did not object to the introduction by Petersen of items covered by the motion in limine.
The general rule, as stated in State v. Harlow, 325 N.W.2d 90, 91 (Iowa 1982), is that the granting or rejecting of a motion in limine is not reversible error. The error occurs, if at all, when the matter is presented at trial. Id. An objection should then be made in order to preserve error. Id. The court further stated in Harlow:
We have recognized an exception to this rule, however, and have said a defendant need not renew his objections at trial if the prior ruling amounts to an unequivocal holding concerning the issue raised.
Id. See also Reyes v. Missouri Pacific Railroad Co., 589 F.2d 791, 793 (5th Cir. 1979); Berg v. Des Moines General Hospital Co., 456 N.W.2d 173, 177-178 (Iowa 1990).
Apparently no evidence of an Act of God was presented by either party. Thus, this issue is not significant to our determination and will not be considered further by this court.
At trial, Kalell presented evidence about his marriages, bankruptcy, failure to pay child support, and filing of late tax returnsthe matters which had been the subject of the motion in limine. Kalell introduced his tax returns for 1978 through 1987 as evidence of lost income and earning capacity. Kalell had not filed any of these returns prior to the accident, but filed them as late returns in 1988.
*416 Petersen argued the fact that the returns were filed late was relevant to the question of the accuracy of the returns. Petersen also argued that the evidence of Kalell's expenditures of money on items other than medical charges related to Kalell's claims that he was unable to participate in social events or enjoy life. During the trial Kalell failed to object to the introduction of evidence concerning any of the matters raised in the motion in limine.
We find the evidence comes under the exception in Harlow because the trial court made an unequivocal ruling to exclude the evidence. Kalell's introduction of the evidence and failure to object to such evidence was not a waiver of his objections under the motion in limine. But the evidence was also relevant and its probative value substantially outweighed the danger of prejudice against Kalell.
We conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion in allowing the evidence. We affirm on this issue.
II. Motion for New Trial.
Kalell next contends the trial court erred by refusing to grant a new trial based on his claims the award of damages was insufficient and inadequate. Again, we review for the trial court's abuse of discretion. See Kiner v. Reliance Insurance Co., 463 N.W.2d 9, 13 (Iowa 1990); Iowa R.App.P. 14(f)(3).
The jury found both plaintiff and defendant fifty percent negligent in this case. That issue was not appealed by either party. The jury awarded Kalell $59,856.41. His medical expenses were $37,388.14. Therefore, he received $22,468.27 for all elements of damage other than his medical bills. Kalell has not cited any cases where the Iowa courts reversed a verdict awarding that large an amount beyond special damages.
In Witte v. Vogt, the supreme court ruled:
An inadequate award merits a new trial as much as an excessive one. We review this question to correct an abuse of discretion. Thus, when the verdict is manifestly inadequate, we consider the refusal of the district court to grant a new trial an abuse of discretion that is subject to reversal. The question of whether damages in a particular case are inadequate turns on the particular facts of that case. If uncontroverted facts show that the amount of the verdict bears no reasonable relationship to the loss suffered, the verdict is inadequate.
443 N.W.2d 715, 716 (Iowa 1989) (citations omitted).
Also, in Cowan v. Flannery, the court stated:
It is not for us to invade the province of the jury. In fact a verdict will not be set aside or altered unless it is, (1) flagrantly excessive or inadequate; or (2) so out of reason as to shock the conscience or sense of justice; or (3) raises a presumption it is the result of passion, prejudice or other ulterior motives; or (4) is lacking in evidential support.
If the verdict has support in the evidence the others will hardly arise, if it lacks support they may all arise. The real question in most cases, and here, is the amount and sufficiency of evidence to support the award made. Certainly where the verdict is within a reasonable range as indicated by the evidence the courts should not interfere with what is primarily a jury question.
461 N.W.2d 155, 158 (Iowa 1990).
When we apply the principles set out in these cases, we find the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion for new trial. We find the jury verdict is sufficient and adequate.
One unusual element in this case must be addressed by the court. In Petersen's brief and in Kalell's oral argument to this court, we were informed that Kalell received payments in excess of $100,000 from nonparties to this action before trial. The $100,000 is subject to a right of subrogation by the payor from any award of damages to Kalell. Kalell's attorney argued to this court that we should consider this out-of-court payment as an indication the jury verdict was inadequate. The jury was not informed of these payments and no instructions *417 were given by the trial court as to their effect. Kalell's attorney admitted during argument that Kalell would have to receive a jury verdict in excess of $200,000 before he would receive any damages himself.
This argument is specious and improper. We will not consider any fact that is not in the trial record in deciding this case.
In summary, we conclude the trial court did not err in overruling plaintiff's motion in limine or allowing the introduction of evidence covered by said motion. Also, the trial court did not err in failing to grant a new trial based on an inadequate and insufficient jury verdict on damages. We affirm the trial court in all respects.
AFFIRMED.
DONIELSON, P.J., concurs.
SACKETT, J., specially concurs without opinion.
NOTES
[*] Senior Judge from the 1st Judicial District serving on this court by order of the Iowa Supreme Court.
|
Last week, the 2016 Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival (LAJFF) concluded its weeklong series of screenings here on the L.A. Westside. It’s always a special time when the LAJFF comes to town, because when else are you going to see Jews in Beverly Hills? I didn”t attend any movie screenings (I was too cheap to buy a ticket), but I did attend one of the after-parties, as it was held just a few blocks from where I live. The movie chosen by the Chosen to open the festival wasn”t technically a movie, but an episode of the hit Israeli TV series False Flag. In Israel, the series is titled Kfulim, or “Doubles.” The opening-night gala screening was cosponsored by the Consulate General of Israel.
At the after-party, I paced my drinking well enough to speak coherently with some of the attendees. I asked several of the people associated with the series to explain the name change. Why not call it Doubles here in the U.S.? I received basically the same answer every time I posed the question. In America, claiming that something is a “false flag” is the newest conspiracy craze. It’s a hot, trendy buzzword among American conspiracy buffs (including conspiracy “celebrities” like Jesse Ventura, Steven Seagal, and Exene Cervenka). After the Umpqua Community College mass shooting last year, the local sheriff who investigated the crime turned out to be a false flag enthusiast. Following the San Bernardino massacre last December, attorneys for the family of the killers suggested that it was all a false flag setup.
False flag mania has now reached the point where the producers of a massively popular, high-profile Israeli TV series think the term is hip and familiar enough to garner their show attention and success in the U.S. There was a small air of condescension among some of the people with whom I spoke, a sense of (and I”m paraphrasing here) “if the goyim want to believe every Muslim act of terror is a false flag, we might as well profit from it.” Truth be told, I share that condescension. I wrote disdainfully about false flag conspiracy theorizing over a year ago, and after my experience at the LAJFF after-party, I thought it might be edifying to revisit the topic.
First off, it’s important to get an understanding of the definition of “false flag” among the conspiracy-minded. Initially, the term had a fairly simple meaning. It’s an operation designed to hide the true identity of the perpetrators of a crime while at the same time framing an innocent person or entity. Soldiers from country A dress in the uniforms of country B and carry out atrocities to make country B look bad. That has happened, no question. In fact, it’s an age-old war tactic, although so is claiming that something was a false flag when it wasn”t (country B actually does commit an atrocity and tries to weasel out of it by claiming, “No, it was people from country A wearing our uniforms! We wuz framed”).
Thanks to a dynamic partnership between trolls and lunatics, “false flag” has transmogrified into something very different these days. Now it is used to refer to fake events, hoaxes that were completely staged. “Crimes” (mass shootings, bombings, etc.) that involve no actual crime and no real victims. The “perpetrators” are all conspirators and the victims are all “crisis actors.”
Not only did Sandy Hook never happen, there is no Sandy Hook. Obama faked a town called Newtown and a school called Sandy Hook. Thousands of average people were hired to portray residents, neighbors, students, and administrators, and every member of the media was bribed to play along. There was no gunman, no victims. And of course, not one of the pretenders”not even the small children”has ever betrayed the secret (because we all know that 6-year-olds are the world’s best secret-keepers). Bataclan never happened. The Boston Marathon bombing and the Brussels airport attack? Never happened. The Santa Barbara mass shooting? Aurora? Roanoke? Charleston? San Bernardino? Fake, fake, fake. Crisis actors and stage blood.
“False flaggots reach their conclusions first, and interpret the evidence to support what they”ve already decided to be true.”
I”ve had several prominent false flaggots tell me that I was an “inspiration” for this lunacy during my Holocaust revisionist years. “You”re the one who taught me, man, to, like, examine film clips and photos for tiny clues to expose hoaxes!” I hear that more times than I”d like to say, so permit me to set the record straight: If you think my work poring over documents and taking a magnifier to historical ruins is in any way equal to what false flag nutjobs do these days, you”ve completely missed the point of my work. Please stop giving me credit, and, while you”re at it, stop sending me so many damn friend requests.
As a way of trying to make karmic amends for any role I might have played in encouraging false flag mania, I”ll outline just a few reasons why this kind of thinking is sloppy, wrong, and counterproductive.
To begin with, none of the celebrated false flag experts can point to a single provable example of a thousand people staging a crime scene and keeping it secret. In a widely disseminated piece, found on just about every false flag site in existence, detailing 56 “government admitted” false flags, not one example involves actors pretending that a crime or war atrocity occurred. There is not one single example of a faked incident in which the victims were playacting. The closest thing on the list is the case of an Italian cop who cut his own jacket in order to claim he was stabbed (and this was not a “government” crime; the cop was prosecuted for lying). All of the other examples are of genuine crimes that were, in some cases, falsely blamed on an innocent person or entity. And some of those examples aren”t really false flags at all.
The list includes the Katyn Forest massacre. That wasn”t a “false flag.” The Soviets invaded the eastern half of Poland. They rounded up Polish nationals and killed them. They committed the crime as themselves, as Soviets; they didn”t pretend to be anyone else. When the Nazis discovered the bodies, the Soviets panicked and said, “We didn”t do it. The Germans found the bodies; they must”ve done it!” (In international law, this argument is known as the “He Who Smelt It” defense.) Saying “I didn”t do it” isn”t a “false flag”; the Soviets simply lied. The list also claims that the Reichstag fire was a “false flag.” That’s sheer pseudohistory. Very few historians still believe that the Nazis were behind the fire; most agree that communist agitator Marinus van der Lubbe was the sole arsonist.
If there’s zero proof for previous “playacted” mass crimes, there’s an equal paucity of evidence that they”re suddenly, for some reason, happening every month now. False flaggots are incompetent when it comes to evidence because they work backwards; they reach their conclusions first, and interpret the evidence to support what they”ve already decided to be true. This is the exact opposite of everything I tried to impart as a revisionist historian. Having decided in advance that an event is a false flag, they look for rationalizations, a way to claim that a particular piece of evidence supports their conclusion, even if the claim contradicts one they made a week ago.
With Sandy Hook, a false flag was declared because one of the grieving fathers didn”t seem “sad enough.” Conversely, with the Santa Barbara shooting, the proof of a false flag was that one of the grieving fathers was grieving too much! When Aurora’s James Holmes was captured alive, that was proof of a false flag (“how suspicious; normally those guys are killed or kill themselves”). When Sandy Hook’s Adam Lanza killed himself, that was proof of a false flag (“how convenient; now they don”t have to bring him to trial”). The lack of blood next to a Charlie Hebdo massacre victim was proof of a false flag (“there should be free-flowing blood!”), whereas the abundance of free-flowing blood in the aftermath of the Santa Barbara shooting was evidence of a false flag (“it’s red paint; real blood would have clotted instead of flowed!”). Santa Barbara shooter Elliot Rodger’s vast history of social-media posts was evidence of a false flag (“what 22-year-old has that many online videos?”), whereas Adam Lanza’s lack of social-media posts was proof of a false flag (“what 21-year-old has that few online videos?”).
Speaking of Lanza, another “proof” is that he was supposedly too small to adequately handle a firearm. The San Bernardino killer’s family attorney mirrored this sentiment when calling false flag in the case of female shooter Tashfeen Malik: “She’s probably about 90 pounds, so it’s unlikely she could even carry a weapon or wear some type of a vest or do any of this. It just doesn”t make sense for these two to be able to act like some kind of Bonnie and Clyde or something.”
Too petite to be like Bonnie Parker? Parker was 4-foot-10, 90 pounds. But what are facts to a false flaggot? After the Boston Marathon and Brussels airport bombings, flaggots claimed that scenes of victims with their clothing torn by the explosions were proof of a false flag. “Look at those pants”they look like they were shredded with scissors! Only a “sheeple” could believe that a bomb can blow off clothes but not the skin underneath.” Now, you can show a loon like that the footage of a man in China standing next to an exploding manhole and getting his clothes neatly blown off while his white undershirt stays intact, but they”ll just accuse you of being part of the conspiracy (hell, they”ll probably claim that the Chinese faked the manhole explosion just to trick “em). I have one false flaggot among my Facebook friends who used the “pants blown away” argument to declare the Brussels attack a fake, only”a month later”to post photos of what he agreed was a real terrorist attack, the ANC’s 1983 Church Street bombing in South Africa. And guess what? Those photos show a victim with his pants similarly blown away. |
A review of analgesic compounds used in food animals in the United States.
Extralabel drug use for pain relief in the United States is regulated under the Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act. Agents that may provide analgesia in livestock include local anesthetics, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, opioids, α2-agonists, and N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonists. The challenges associated with providing pain relief in food animals and the salient pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic features of the analgesic compounds that could potentially be used in livestock are reviewed. The potential use of novel agents such as bicarbonate, magnesium, ethanol, and gabapentin to augment analgesia is also discussed. |
Having reverted to an elementary for the 2005-06 school year, Ivywild School will have more space. Principal Libby Bailey
hopes to take advantage of that situation to enhance her school logistically while providing usage opportunities for the
neighborhood, she said in a recent interview.
The logistic move is to relocate all her grades to the main floor of the building. When the school had grades 6-8, there were also
kindergarten and first-grade classrooms on the lower floor.
“We're also trying to get a preschool,” added Bailey, who just completed her first year as Ivywild principal. “It will be at the
south end of the building and have its own entrance.”
Another goal is to convert the empty downstairs into a community center, creating adult uses for those classrooms. “Hopefully
we can have ESL (English as a Second Language), parenting classes and GED (general educational development),” she said.
Possible tenants for the center would be the Boys and Girls Club, City Parks, or the YMCA. A model for her plan includes the
intergenerational center, built into the side of West Middle School, which offers various classes, services and community
programs days and evenings.
“The overall push is to get more parents involved, so they'll feel comfortable coming to the building and become more active,”
Bailey said.
An in-depth District 11 study a year ago identified Ivywild as underutilized, and suggested that it be closed to save district
money. The Board of Education has since given Ivywild a reprieve, but Bailey agrees that her building ought to be “more viable,”
as she put it. Other potential benefits from her community center plans will be bringing more money into the school and
“improving the impression the community has of the Ivywild area,” she said. |
After weeks of rumours, it’s now official: Louis Beland-Goyette has joined the Halifax Wanderers.
The 24-year-old midfielder was one of Valour FC’s shining stars from a fairly rough 2019 campaign that saw them finish last place in the spring and fifth in the fall, and had even captained the Winnipeg-based side on occasion. Now under contract with the Halifax Wanderers, he’ll be suiting up against his old club later this year.
The former Montreal Impact man was a standout player in the Canadian Premier League‘s inaugural season, suiting up for for the Winnipeg-based outlet 23 times in all prior to picking up a knock against York9 FC on his birthday. The move is a significant coup for the Wanderers, with Beland-Goyette stating in an official Halifax Wanderers press release that the packed stadium atmosphere at Wanderers Grounds was a key draw for the league’s second-ever intra-league transfer:
The city, the stadium, and fans are wonderful. Halifax is one of the top places you want to play in the league. A big part of my decision was what I saw last year. It’s a passionate club with passionate fans and that’s what you want. I hope I can bring success to this club because the fans deserve it, so I hope to bring joy and passion for them. Louis Beland-Goyette
Having a full stadium located in downtown Halifax has provided what may be the league’s best atmosphere, and beyond helping convince the club’s newest signing to call it home, it even has Toronto FC players hoping for a trip to Halifax in the Canadian Championship.
The move will see Beland-Goyette reunited with companions Chrisnovic N’sa and Alessandro Riggi, both of whom he played alongside during his time with the Montreal Impact and its now-defunct USL affiliate, FC Montreal. The familiar faces were yet another draw to the east coast club for Beland-Goyette.
I was really happy for Chrisno that he got the chance to play so much, and Riggi and I played a lot for FC Montreal together and I love him as an attacking player. Louis Beland-Goyette
Riggi has stated that he wants to make the fans at Wanderers Grounds go ‘ooh’, and pairing him up alongside Louis Beland-Goyette sounds like a promising way to make that happen. All-in-all, it appears to be a great gain for Halifax Wanderers, and a great loss for Valour FC.
Halifax Wanderers head coach Stephen Hart is in the midst of a near-total squad overhaul, having parted ways with the majority of his squad after it limped to a last-place finish in 2019’s fall season. Hart has been quick to bring in new additions, which include the aforementioned Alessandro Riggi along with even more domestic talent in the form of Omar Kreim, Aboubacar Sissoko, and Ibrahima Sanoh.
The former Canadian national team coach had kept a close eye on Beland-Goyette throughout the inaugural campaign, and was evidently impressed with what he saw:
He had a very good season last year and he is clean on the ball. He keeps the ball moving and keeps a team in possession but also has the ability to hit creative passes long and short and I thought that was something we needed. Now we have a variety of options in how we can shape the midfield and we have depth and balance now. When we played Valour I like that he was always available for the ball and he is definitely one of the top midfielders in the league. Stephen Hart
Beland-Goyette becomes the twelfth signing for the east coast club ahead of the 2020 Canadian Premier League season. This offseason, Club President Derek Martin had stated that the Wanderers will find itself less rushed to make its signings, indicating that the rest of the maximum-23-player roster may not be filled out till closer to the season’s launch.
To that end, Jamaican international Alex Marshall has told Northern Tribune that he’ll be joining the Wanderers, though the club has yet to make any official announcement regarding the 21-year-old left winger. Hart hadn’t instilled his preferred tactical philosophies in the inaugural campaign, but it looks like 2020 will now see him able to deploy a much more attack-oriented side that ought to help reduce the number of draws the club obtained last season.
With Valour FC having only re-signed three players so far and rumours pouring in about potentially even more key players departing, head coach Rob Gale will likely find himself with even more roster spaces to fill after Beland-Goyette, though he recently stated that fans will see at least half of the inaugural roster returning.
Details of Louis Beland-Goyette’s contract with the Wanderers, including its length or financial compensation, was not disclosed by the club.
Source: Halifax Wanderers |
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"//providers/netcfglinks:onos-providers-netcfglinks",
]
osgi_jar_with_tests(
test_deps = TEST_ADAPTERS,
deps = COMPILE_DEPS,
)
onos_app(
app_name = "org.onosproject.netcfglinksprovider",
category = "Provider",
description = "Allows operator to prescribe information about known infrastructure links and " +
"their state using the network configuration subsystem. Such information takes precedence " +
"over information discovered through other link discovery providers.",
included_bundles = BUNDLES,
title = "Network Config Link Provider",
url = "http://onosproject.org",
)
|
The ability for tokens and cryptocurrencies to be interchanged with one another in a convenient manner without the complexity of going through exchanges will go a long way towards the mainstream adoption of the emerging technology.
Compared with the already established fiat ecosystem where currencies of different nations can be easily interchanged and applied almost without blinking an eye, different cryptocurrencies appear to still exist exclusively in their unique circles. This situation makes it cumbersome, since users are indirectly compelled to maintain several wallets simultaneously in other to function well within the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Fixing the bottlenecks
In a time where the digital world is evolving into Internet of Value (IoV), any development that encourages the easy transfer of value represents a move with the trend, and a campaign for effective communication.
In its present state, cryptofinance is experiencing a lot of technical bottlenecks primarily because of the absence of effective interaction between blockchains. As already mentioned above, these blockchains exist as exclusive entities which makes it difficult for value to be moved across them easily. This is one of the reasons why exchanges exist and provide an avenue for such interactions.
A blockchain for blockchains
The creation of Fusion as a blockchain that will enable interaction between other independent blockchains will eventually enhance the activities of the crypto ecosystem, while relieving exchanges of the unnecessary traffic that befall them most of the time.
This innovation is designed to to serve as a general infrastructure / backbone for the future world of cryptofinance by enabling cross-token / cross-chain abilities (Transactions, Smart Contracts, and other high level applications involving different tokens). This interaction solves the existing problems of interoperability, scalability and usability within the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
The inclusive cryptofinance platform that is created by Fusion will utilize distributed network nodes to control various types of tokens’ private keys and, in this way, it connects various values by establishing a control and management layer on top of all types of blockchains. At the same time, it becomes feasible to build cross blockchain smart contracts. In order to further expand
interoperability and scalability, Fusion will also provide interfaces for centralized organizations and off-chain data sources.
Enhancing relationships
Founded and led by DJ Qian, a superstar Chinese entrepreneur formerly behind Quantum and VeChain, Fusion will use token mechanisms and a foundation to continually foster all kinds of communities such as technical communities, college communities, user communities, investment communities, node participant communities, central organizations, and data source
Providers. Apparently, like the name implies, this innovation is primarily about connectivity and the enhancement of proper relationships and communication between independent entities of the same ecosystem.
This innovation adopts a hybrid Proof-Of-Stake (POS) and Proof-Of-Work consensus mechanism, making it way faster and more scalable in comparison to other solutions within the industry. |
So I’ve been noticeably absent from the blogging world. A lot has happened over the past couple months, I’ve been a busy girl! During my absence, I had always planned to “go back” to blogging. I figured that I would just put it on the back burner while I settled everything else in my life. Well, days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and you catch my drift. I finally made the decision to step back and fully focus all of my energy on my makeup artistry career.
While I’m sad to let this go, it almost feels like a weight has been lifted off me. While blogging is fun, it required hours of work. HOURS. A lot goes into a single post (probably anywhere from 2-5 hours). However, I am so thankful for all of the opportunities this little blog has brought to me! Just think- this blog started out as an idea. That’s it. I sat on the idea for a few months before taking the plunge. Now, I CRINGE when I read my earlier posts. Oh my gosh, it’s almost embarrassing. However, I leave them published as a reminder of how far I’ve come.
When I started this blog, I was working full time as an office manager for a doctor, only dreaming of calling myself a “makeup artist.” I started this blog before I started esthetics school. I started this blog before I obtained my esthetician license. I started this blog before I became a makeup artist.
This blog has truly been a labor of love, and it’s been with me since the beginning of my transformation. Thank you to everyone who has read and supported Peace Love and Glitter. It truly means a lot to me.
A lot of people assume that priming this skin consists of using a makeup primer underneath their makeup. It’s true that a good primer will help create a smoother surface and prolong your makeup wear time. However, the process of properly priming the skin starts BEFORE applying the actual makeup primer.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Good skincare and good makeup go together hand-in-hand. If your skin is properly prepped for makeup you will find that your makeup will look and perform so much better! The first step is to cleanse the face with a gentle cleanser. After that, applying moisturizer is crucial (that’s right, crucial). It helps replenish moisture in the skin, moisturized skin looks and feels much healthier than dehydrated skin. It also helps create a smooth surface for you makeup application.
When choosing a moisturizer, you want something that is suited for your skin type. The Olay Regenerist Wrinkle Revolution Complex is a great choice for any skin type. It’s anti-aging and also includes light reflecting properties that help brighten and lessen the appearance of wrinkles. It’s also lightweight, which is good news for those oily skin types! And the best part? This is a moisturizer AND a primer!
Olay says: Create a beautiful canvas for makeup with this cashmere-soft, skin-perfecting primer. The micro-filler formula with light-diffusing particles helps to reduce the look of pores and fine lines to instantly smooth the skin’s texture. Wear under foundation or alone for a velvety-smooth finish. This advanced skin-perfecting primer instantly smoothes skin texture while hydrating the skin to provide anti-aging benefits over time.
You also want to make sure that your eye area is prepped and primed for makeup application. You need a product specifically formulated for the under eye area because the skin around the eye is 16x thinner than the skin on the face. Moisturizers for the face aren’t meant to be used in that area. That’s where eye cream come in to save the day.
The Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Eye Cream is super gentle and hydrating. It also comes with a Lash Serum that instantly thickens the lashes, which also helps create a youthful appearance. What’s unique about this eye cream is that it’s formulated to treat all around the eye (360) AND the eyelid.
Olay says: Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Eye Cream & Lash Serum Duo combines a hydrating Eye Cream with a nourishing Lash Serum to provide smoother-looking lids, firmer skin and instantly thicker-looking lashes. You’ll see younger-looking eyes that are brighter and firmer in just one week. The first eye cream and lash serum product from Olay, this innovative duo is designed to treat lids, lines and lashes for a total eye transformation.
Both of these multitasking products are great for properly prepping the skin for makeup application!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone! I’ve been all about stepping out of my comfort zone this past week. For some reason, I was never into “Halloween” makeup up until this year. I was only into “pretty” makeup. Well, I had no idea what I was missing out on! Halloween makeup is FUN! I’ve had fun trying new techniques and working with new mediums. Luckily, since I work at a makeup store I get to wear my crazy looks to my workplace. Check out some of my creations!
The zipperface. After I finished the look I started making a jillion notes on what I would’ve done differently. But it still turned out pretty cool/gross. I used lash glue (Duo) to glue the 7in zipper to my face. I used a real zipper from the fabric store, I thought it looked better than the big silver costume zippers. Then I used liquid latex to smooth out the edges and applied concealer and foundation over it. I then used a combination of gel and liquid blood. I also used the red and black from my MUFE flash palette to create some dimension.
My glitter fairy/drag queen look. I really went all our for this, the blonde wig just pushed it to over the top. I used some unknown glitter from my kit, a bright pink, light lavender, and iridescent. I used different shades of pink and purple on my eyes and black to create the outer V. Giant lashes from the Halloween store. I used lash glue (Duo) to get the glitter to stick to my brows (drew over them with a white base (NYX Jumbo pencil in Milk), then filled in with pink and purple eyeshadow, then applied glue with an angle brush, then glitter with an angle brush). Used Too Faced Glitter Glue to get the glitter to stick to my lids and temples.
Another look for work, a “stitched doll.” I used a light foundation and contoured my face with a gray eyeshadow. Dramatic smokey eyes using black and grays. I used my giant Halloween lashes on the top and Red Cherry 747S on the lower lash line. I covered my lips in concealer and simply drew on the lines with black pencil liner.
Smashbox says: A CC cream that fades imperfections, evens complexion, and prevents future discoloration. Makeup with the benefits of skincare? Yes, please! This color-correcting cream is a game-changer with its proven ability to visibly lessen the appearance of dark spots, sun spots, and post-acne marks instantly and over time. The advanced, lightweight formula neutralizes and brightens skin for a more even complexion, while it primes, perfects, protects with SPF 30, moisturizes, and controls oil. CC the difference!
You know those days when you want to look put together, but you don’t necessarily want to put on a “full-face?” Maybe you just need to run to Target, or you’re just sitting around the house and you want a little something to help perk yourself up… whatever your reasons (I don’t judge). The Smashbox CC Cream has become my newest go-to for an easy, polished complexion.
It’s medium coverage, you could build a little with it but if you want more coverage I would suggest adding concealer and using a powder over it. I tried several different application techniques, but my preferred technique is using my Sephora #56 brush. I find that the dense brush helps give me more coverage while buffing it into my skin for a flawless finish. It has a satin finish, which I thought I wouldn’t like because of my oily skin. Surprisingly, it looks natural without being too shiny.
Since this is a CC cream, it claims to have ingredients that help get rid of dark spots (aka: sun/age spots, hyperpigmentation). While I certainly have issues with my skin, dark spots isn’t one of them. Therefore, I can’t say whether if helps correct it not. However, I did some research on some of the ingredients:
The most important ingredient in regards to preventing dark spots is the SPF. And whether you have dark spots or not, you should be wearing SPF everyday! SPF is your friend!
Overall
It lightweight and gives a good medium coverage. The satin finish doesn’t make my oily skin look shiny. I use it with a touch of concealer and find that it’s enough coverage for my every day look.
GLAMGLOW says: A reverse action undereye and orbital eye treatment. Non-Dry Tapwipe™ Bioactive Mud consists of powerful actives that help minimize puffiness, dark circles, and fine lines while brightening and hydrating the eyes. Natural high bioactivity materials and bentonites absorb toxins delivering high nutrients and minerals essential for ultrabright, amazing eyes. Simply tap-on to deliver the range of advanced active ingredients into the skin then wipe-off, leaving a micro layer of actives for extended results.
I remember when GLAMGLOW first came out last year. My initial thoughts: ERMAHGERD THAT’S EXPENSIVE. $70 for a mask is a little… shocking to say the least. The mask has been very popular (and I have to admit, I rather like the clearing treatment) so it was only natural that the brand come up with some followup products. That’s where the BRIGHTMUD Eye Treatment comes in.
This product provoked the same reaction from me… ahem, $69 for 12 treatments. They suggest doing it 2-3x/week. That’s about 1.5-2 months worth of treatments. But hey, if something works we’re willing to pay for it, right?
I opened one side of the package and noticed that there was quite a bit of product in there. I lightly tapped it on my lower orbital bone until it was completely covered. I still had quite a bit product left in the package (even without opening the second half). After about 10 seconds the activity level underneath my eye jumped to about a 9 (out of 10). It started to go down after about a minute. The muscle in my inner tear duct started to twitch, which I found strange. After the 3 minutes, my activity level was at a 2. I wiped away with a dry tissue.
I immediately noticed that my under-eye felt softer, so there definitely was some exfoliation. I really didn’t see a difference with my dark circles. As far as puffiness, I really don’t suffer from puffy eyes so I can’t speak about those claims. I’ve used this product 4 times now and I still don’t see any major differences. I like how I can feel some activity, but ultimately I haven’t noticed any changes.
Overall
If you’re someone with minimal eye “issues,” I’d say you can skip it. It’s kind of fun to try something new instead of the ‘ol eye creams, but I really just didn’t see any major results with it.
Josie says: An innovative 99%-natural creamy oil with an infinite number of uses such as hydrating skin, conditioning lips, and illuminating complexion. One creamy oil, infinite possibilities. This makeup-artist must-have delivers all the moisturizing benefits of argan oil in a portable, nongreasy, creamy oil form. The innovative formula starts as a cream and melts into an oil, making your complexion more luminous while tightening facial contours and preventing inflammation. Use it to hydrate and gently soothe undereyes, smooth flyaways, keep eyebrows in place, and condition lips. Mix it with powder blush or eye shadow to instantly transform it into a cream.
Happy Wednesday everyone! Can you believe we are halfway through October? Holy moly, I haven’t even decided what I’m going to be for Halloween yet! Usually I have it figured out by August. I guess I’ve been too consumed with work… does that mean I’m officially a grown up?
Well even though I’ve been busy I still find time to test out beauty products! It is, after all, part of my job too. This balm has all of the great properties of the original argan oil, but it’s in a cream form. I love love love the vitamin E and essential fatty acids in argan oil, but it can be a bit messy (I’ve even spilled the bottle on my counter before. Tragedy). So having this miracle oil in a balm form was definitely appealing to me.
Here are the “infinity” uses listed on Sephora.com: Deeply moisturize dry areas of the face. Soothe irritated skin caused by rosacea, wind, or sunburn. Soften elbows, heels, and other rough patches. Keep stray eyebrows in place. Smooth flyaways. Moisturize at night. Prevent razor burn and irritation. Prevent skin dehydration during airline travel. Apply as a lip conditioner before lipstick. Apply over lip stain for a silky finish. Lightly dab on eyelids before applying eye shadow. Apply before or after using cheek stain to improve blendability. Transform powder eye shadow or pigment into a cream by mixing with Infinity Cream. Mix with a powder luminizer to create a light, shimmery lip balm. Use as a subtle face highlighter to illuminate cheekbones, lips, and brow bones. Mix with a powder blush to create a silky cream blush or colored lip balm. Hydrate and plump dry, swollen undereyes. Apply to fingertips and toes to hydrate and soften cuticles. Quench skin post-sunburn.
That’s quite a list. I’ll admit, I haven’t tried EVERY single one of these, but I used it in all the ways that I usually use argan oil and I found myself very satisfied. The consistency is very unique, it starts out very creamy, like a typical lotion. But after you start to rub in and it warms up, the product turns into an oil. It’s feels similar to petroleum (NOTE that it’s petroleum free) but a bit creamier. It also has a slight citrus scent due to the tangerine peel oil.
My favorite use is for my hands, but it does leave a slightly greasy residue (especially if you use too much). I use a pearl sized amount and apply to just the backs of my hands. I also like to apply a TINY bit to my under eye area before concealer, it makes for a smooth application. This has been amazing for my lips, which have been peeling like crazy lately.
My least favorite uses: Hair. Even to smooth out flyaways, it’s just too greasy for me. I’ve tried mixing it with cosmetics (luminizers, blushes) and it’s too shiny. I can get away with it if it’s under my makeup (and I’ve only tried it under my eyes), but when it’s on top it looks greasy. As for using it with eyeshadow… well I don’t suggest it unless you want your eyeshadow to crease.
I’ve gotten some feedback from various clients who LOVE this product. Some say that it helps a lot with eczema. I’ve had a few people tell me that they use it like a shaving cream and it’s the only thing that works for them.
Overall
I love this all natural multipurpose balm because it has all the same great properties of argan oil PLUS some other amazing ingredients. It has a unique consistency, starting off like a lotion but turning into an oil after it warms up. It’s too greasy to use on my face and I don’t like the way it feels on my straight hair. Other than that, I use this anywhere that needs to be moisturized!
Smashbox says: Ditch your sharpener, but stay sharp! Inspired by Smashbox pros who sharpen before every use on set, this first-of-its-kind pencil has a sharpener inside the cap for a perfect tip–so you’ll always get a precise line.
When I first learned about this eyeliner, I heard all the usual stuff that I normally hear. “It’s amazing!” “Great color payoff!” “Lasts all day!” “It sharpens itself!” … wait, back up. That last part definitely made my ear perk up… it does what?!
It’s a retractable pencil that self sharpens. How cool is that? This is achieved by the magic that lives within kohl in the eyeliner. Ok not really, it’s because the cap twists off (instead of just pulling it off) and in turn, sharpens the tip. A simple but ingenious concept.
The liner comes in 7 colors, including a nice nude that looks lovely in the waterline. I have the matte brown (there’s also a copper brown). These guys are legit, a new liner favorite in my book. The kohl is very soft so it doesn’t take much pressure to get opaque color payoff. After applying, you do have a little time to smudge if you desire (about a minute until it sets). These don’t smudge out as much as some of my UD 24/7 liners, but you can still achieve some smoky-ness. Or you can use the tip to get a precise line. The color is a neutral brown, it doesn’t lean warm or cool on me. I get 8-9 hours wear time, 4-5 hours in the waterline.
I’ve been using the for about 2 weeks and I will admit I’m wondering when the product will run out. I mean, if it’s sharpening EVERY time I open it… it’s essentially shaving off a little bit of product… you get where I’m going with this. I don’t use it every day so I can’t really say how long it’s going to last me, but it’s just something to keep in mind.
Overall
The self sharpening tip makes them stand out from other retractable pencils. They are long wearing, waterproof, and pigmented. Since it essentially shaves off a bit of product each time I open it, I am concerned with the longevity of the pencil. I’m wondering if the having a precise tip every time means quickly running out of product.
September was a busy month. Two words: wedding season. Unfortunately my blog has suffered because of it, I only managed to post 10 times last month (sad face). But my other business has been going well, so yay for that!
I feel like I spend half of my life cleaning my kit. Okay, maybe not that much but it’s definitely time-consuming. I’ve been thinking about getting come Clean, I’ve heard it’s the HG of all brush shampoos. I also accidentally shattered some blushes, but I used my handy repressing skills to bring them back to life.
Formula X says: With our groundbreaking NO COMPROMISE technology, now you can finally have everything you want from a nail polish. A dazzling spectrum of over 200 shades and never-before-seen effects gives you the freedom to supercharge your creativity.
I’m excited to show you something NEW today! It’s the newest member to the nail polish world: Formula X. It features brand new nail technology that is exclusive to Sephora for the next 6 months. I’ve been hearing about this for months now so I was excited to FINALLY check it out!
So there is a system that you’re supposed to use with it. Unlike gel polish, you don’t HAVE to use it and there isn’t any curing light involved. However, they say that using the system is supposed to give you optimal results.
1) You start off with the cleanser. I believe that it’s mostly alcohol, but it also has witch hazel, vitamin E, and cucumber extract in it. You simply brush it on your nails and it dries within a minute.
2) You then apply the base coat, which provides a sticky surface to prime the nails. It is “infused with Okoumé AE extract, a rare ingredient found deep in African rainforests.” Whatever that means…
3) Now it’s time to apply your polish. Each color has been infused with “luminescent ingredient that enhances color and overall shine, it also features a fast-drying agent that gives you a smooth, flawless finish in no time.” It’s also a 3 free formula. Fahrenheit is a cool red, it photographed a bit brighter than it actually is. I found that I had pretty full coverage after one coat which makes me one impressed girl. Usually one coaters are thick and hard to apply, but this one goes on with ease. I did end up applying two coats to even out some of the slight streaky-ness (and the directions say to apply 1-2 coats).
Time for the fun part: the Xplosives top coat! These claim to be “a next generation graffiti art nail lacquer that fuses matte glitter particles in assorted shapes and sizes for a paint-splatter effect.” I imagine some indie brands have stuff like this, but I really haven’t seen any top coats like this for the mass market. You use a patting motion to apply these. The base isn’t thick at all so it’s easy to build it up if you wanted to. I find “paint splatter” to be the perfect description. Chaotic has black and white confetti glitter, but it’s not metallic at all. The particles are mostly round and vary in size, but there’s some hex and bar glitter in there too. I patted on one coat and I LOVE the way it turned out!
4) Lastly, you add the top coat. It has “patented formulation delivers invisible anti-chip technology and resistance to water and detergents.” It’s has a very glossy finish.
Dry time was about 10 minutes. Actually, it may have even been less, but that’s how long I sat still before I decided to go eat dinner. Lets backtrack: 5 coats of polish. 10 minutes to dry. That’s crazy talk.
Overall
The color Fahrenheit could easily be a one coater, it packs a lot of pigment without being too thick. Chaotic literally looks like a paint splatter on my nails, I love the effect. I can’t speak in terms of longevity yet, but so far I liked the easy application. The quick dry time is also a huge plus. I will be interested to see if using the entire “system” really makes a huge difference. |
The ink from Governor Mike Pence’s signature may still be wet on the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” but a small-town pizza shop in Indiana has become the first to publicly and officially announce its refusal to serve LGBT individuals under the new law.
One business gladly embraced the RFRA, which gave it a long-awaited chance to claim the right to discriminate based on the proprietor’s warped and limited world view.
“If a gay couple came in and wanted us to provide pizzas for their wedding, we would have to say no,” Crystal O’Connor of Memories Pizza in Walkerton explained to ABC57. O’Connor’s family, alleged Christians, have owned and operated Memories for nine years.
“We are a Christian establishment,” O’Connor said in defense of her bigotry, though she refuses to admit that by not serving LGBT individuals she is discriminating:
“We’re not discriminating against anyone, that’s just our belief and anyone has the right to believe in anything.”
She explained that the RFRA, legislation her family stands behind implicitly, simply allows people with religious beliefs like hers — that LGBT individuals do not deserve to be married — the freedom to deny service based on those beliefs. But it’s not discrimination:
“I do not think it’s targeting gays. I don’t think it’s discrimination. It’s supposed to help people that have a religious belief.”
Kevin O’Connor, Crystal’s father, feels persecuted by the backlash he and others like him face for their support of a bill whose author admits intent to discriminate against the LGBT community.
“That lifestyle is something they choose. I choose to be heterosexual. They choose to be homosexual. Why should I be beat over the head to go along with something they choose?” the elder O’Conner complained.
The O’Conners say that they would never stop a gay couple or a couple of another religion from eating at their establishment — but as for catering weddings, the answer is a clear “no.”
Indiana’s legalized discrimination is proving a very costly for the state as numerous businesses, cities, and states have elected to enact a very real (and very free-market) opposition to the bigoted legislation. Indiana has lost $40 million after Angie’s List canceled its expansion into the state. Annual gaming convention Gen Con is considering holding its event elsewhere — at a cost of around $50 million to local businesses.
Hate is expensive — a lesson that one pizza shop may learn very quickly.
Author: Valerie BeaumontValerie is a lifelong progressive activist, a mother, and a strong supporter of civil rights. She currently lives in Bloomington, Indiana with her son, her cats, and three well-fed goldfish. You may reach Valerie at [email protected] |
In CXTPTabClientWnd::OnMDIDestroy, the method always calls either ActivateNextItem or ActivateNextTopmostItem. So what happens if I have, for example, three documents opened and I hit the "x" on the tab of a window that is not the active MDI window?
CodeJock deactivates the active window and activates another window depending on the tab order. This seems wrong since clicking the "x" on an inactive window does not MDI activate that window (which happens to be one of the big benefits in our system to using MDI tabs).
To see this open three documents. We are using "new tabs on the left flag". Activate the doc that goes with the right-most tab. Now hit the "x" on the middle tab. The document associated with the left-most tab activates and the active document deactivates. Since the document being closed was not active, why pick another document to activate?
I "fixed" this by getting the active window and seeing if it is the one being closed. Only if it is do I activate another document. |
An Interactive Guide To Police Killings And The System That Excuses Them
Upon hearing the news that NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo, caught on film using an illegal chokehold and ignoring Eric Garner’s now-famous cry of “I can’t breathe,” would not be indicted, hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets in protest. Major New York thoroughfares were clogged for days with protesters chanting “black lives matter,” “shut it down,” and “the whole damn system is guilty as hell.”
Since then, more people have realized that it’s extremely rare for officers to face any kind of consequences for misconduct, let alone criminal charges. Actual convictions are even harder to come by. Some believe that’s starting to change, now that national attention has elevated certain cases and put pressure on local politicians. But once the protests subside and TV cameras depart, does the commitment to accountability last?
ThinkProgress compiled 22 high-profile police killings of the past year to monitor the fates of the police officers involved. Many cases are still under investigation — some more recent incidents are still fresh in the community’s memory, while others, like the deaths of Tamir Rice and Tanisha Anderson, have hung in limbo for nearly a year. Some cases involve clear aggression from police toward unarmed victims, others are more complicated encounters with mentally ill people acting erratically.
We’ve organized the cases by status below. Learn more by clicking on the faces of the victims:
Shocking video footage was often the reason these deaths were vaulted into the national media’s awareness. When an encounter was caught on video, it sometimes helped result in charges against the officer. For instance, body camera footage of the shooting of Samuel DuBose directly contradicted Officer Ray Tensing’s claim of self-defense, leading the prosecutor to declare the incident “without question, a murder.” A witness’ video also made a difference in the case of Walter Scott, whom police initially claimed tried to grab a Taser even though video showed Officer Michael Slager shoot him from several feet away as he fled.
But video doesn’t always lead to charges. Grand juries declined to indict Pantaleo for Garner’s death, or the officer caught on Walmart surveillance video shooting John Crawford III for holding a packaged toy gun. Sometimes only part of the encounter was filmed, leaving more questions than it answered — as in the case of Tony Robinson of Madison, Wisconsin. Still, without any video evidence, the public has mainly had to piece together what happened from the official police accounts, which almost always claim the officer acted in self-defense, and witness statements, which can be unreliable. |
A quarter of the young Kiwi women who took part in a nutritional survey
are lacking in a vitamin essential for brain health.
Of the respondents in the Adult Nutrition Survey, 23% of females aged 19
to 30 did not get enough vitamin B12, essential for healthy blood and brain
development.
The survey, funded by the Ministry of Health, was conducted by Otago
University and looked into the eating habits of 4721 Kiwis.
Animal products like fish, meat, milk and eggs were the usual sources of
B12, so vegans had a particularly raw deal, nutritional experts said.
Although red meat was the best source, B12 was also added to products like
Marmite and energy drinks.
"It is important for blood functions, so it matters most if you're a
young woman and pregnant," survey director and lecturer Dr Winsome Parnell
said.
"If it's not corrected in young women and they get pregnant, there's an
increased risk of congenital birth defects." |
Lake Geneva& Mont Blanc Express
Lake Geneva& Mont Blanc Express
Article excerpt
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Price includes Return Eurostar from London to Paris Connecting rail journeys Six nights' half board accommodation in Leysin, Switzerland Visits to Montreux & Chamonix Mont Blanc Journey on the Mont Blanc Express Journey on the rack railway to Rochers de Naye Journey on the GoldenPass line Journey on the Lotschberger Express Services of our Tour Manager Rail travel from your local area for PS49 Spring Gardens of Keukenhof & Floralia 15 April 2016 4 days from PS449 Visit two of Europe's most spectacular floral displays! For eight weeks of the year, Keukenhof Gardens opens its gates to visitors from around the world, who come to admire a picture perfect landscape filled with more than seven million flowers. … |
John and I are, on-purpose, living together in West Springfield. We’re in a third floor tenement with only a space heater for heat which worries his mother. But it has a claw foot tub which I love. Still no shower. The kitchen is huge with a sloping ceiling which make much of the space unusable. That’s okay. We only have a card table and two chairs to fill it.
The living room ceilings have the same attic slope. It’s cozy with his grandmother’s rattan porch furniture and a cabinet TV from his parents’ loft above the garage. Our brass bed is also out of the bat-poop loft along with a dusty dresser for John. My parents gave me the four drawer pine bureau from my childhood and a wicker rocker for which my mom made new turquoise paisley cushions.
Our first garbage day, we stroll the neighborhood and find a round mirror for above John’s dresser and a spider plant in a hanging basket for the living room window.
Since we don’t have a car, John takes the bus at the end of Elmdale Street to Springfield Community College where he is studying machine and tool design. I take the same bus to downtown Springfield where I work in the used book department of Johnson’s Bookstore. It doesn’t feel fair that he’s paying his rent with money he saved from his summer job driving a fork lift at the Breck Shampoo factory, and my wage, even as a new college grad, is so low, I have to work all year to pay my share.
But I like my job upstairs at Johnson’s. My favorite part is buying used books from customers. That means I don’t have to work the register which I hate because I’m always nervous that at closing time the cash drawer won’t reconcile with the tape because of a mistake I made making change. I’d much rather be in the back perusing the books customers want to sell. Little old ladies turn in brown paper bags full of romance novels for which we pay five cents a copy. Then they buy another grocery bag full of new romance for twenty-five cents apiece. There’s a mystery crowd, and a western crowd who do the same for their genre.
Then there are the treasures I wait for, antique children’s books with illustrations of 1920’s flapper fairies, snapdragons, and sleeping beauties. I buy almost everything I find in my genre at the employee discount before the books ever hit the floor.
Socially things aren’t the same as in college. I spend my day with two ex-librarians. Mrs. Olson, the manager, wears the proverbial steel bun and bifocals. Mrs. Gunn, her assistant, has short dark hair and a temperament that makes me wonder why her nickname is Honey. They sit side by side on high stools at their double desk doing I don’t know what while the part-timers and I wait on customers.
When it’s slow, we underlings chat while filing new books. On Mondays and Tuesdays white-haired Mrs. Stevens likes to give me recipes. Wednesdays and Fridays Reba tries to recruit me to her Order of the Eastern Star. My favorite day is Thursday because of Ernestine who has a quick laugh and a yellow Ticonderoga pencil tucked in her French twist. All are at least twice my age.
That’s why I am drawn to a young woman who rides my bus home every day. I overhear her talking to other passengers. I gather she works at Steigers Department Store. Her stop is before mine, and the rest of the way home, I always wish I had said something to her.
My landlord lives downstairs. When I hand his wife the rent check, she’s always friendly, but there’s no time to get to know her before one of her pre-schoolers yells, “Mommy.”
The woman on the first floor looks my age. I say hi one day when I’m parking an A&P shopping cart on the front porch that I use to bring home groceries and take laundry to the laundromat. I join Sandra, I think that’s her name, on the steps as she watches her boys ride Big Wheels on the side walk. But it’s hard to carry on a conversation over plastic tires grinding on concrete.
I miss Gretchen, my college roommate so much.
One night, John and I go out to a neighborhood bar to play pool. The downstairs is dimly lit and almost empty except for a few disheveled gents on bar stools. John and I step up a level to a small table under a florescent light. I am no match for John, and there’s nobody else to play against. I can’t wait to walk the few blocks home. The place reeks of cigarettes, stale beer, and loneliness.
Next morning Mrs. Gunn calls me to the desk. “One of the Johnsons would like you to help me buy posters since you have younger taste.” I stand next to her. She opens a large catalogue. “So which ones do you like?”
I point to a picture of a kitten dangling from a branch with the caption, Hang in there baby.She arches her left brow. “We already carry that.”
I point to a sailboat steering towards a blue horizon, its red striped spinnaker billowed with wind. Caption, The sky’s the limit!
Mrs. Gunn sips her cold coffee. “Okay, we’ll order one to try it out.”
I’m back at the register when Mrs. Gunn gives the nod for my afternoon break. I head downstairs to the basement for a quick cup of tea and the peanut butter sandwich I didn’t finish since I tried to squeeze a walk into my half hour lunch.
Oddly, Mrs. Olson is at the head of the stairs when I return to the second floor. A regular from the elderly romance crowd is waiting to check out, so I step around Mrs. Olson to help the customer.
Before I’ve finished ringing her up, Mrs. Olson is whisper shouting in my ear. I panic that I’m making a monetary mistake until my brain focuses on her words. “I won’t tolerate your impertinence.”
I step back and squint.
Mrs. Olson looks over her shoulder. “Honey, will you take care of this sale?”
As Honey strolls to the rescue, Mrs. Olson leads me to the desk. “What do you mean going for break out of turn?”
I stand stiffly beside her throne feeling the lash of each accusation: Who do you think you are? Inconsiderate! Can’t do whatever you want! Disrespect for authority!
Before I can explain, my eyes well with hurt, and frustration. I hate that I’m such an easy cry. Right now I hate dour Mrs. Olson and her sneaky sidekick, Mrs. Gunn. And I hate this dead end job.Mrs. Olson hands me a Kleenex aware of the customers who’ve emerged from the stacks. “No need for theatrics dear. Go to the break room until you’ve composed yourself.”
Does she see the irony in sending me back on break without a time limit?
I’m tempted to stay in the gray windowless room all afternoon. I’m tempted to quit, except I need the money, except that the youngest Mr. Johnson sees me through the window in the door and comes in. “So how do you like being a poster buyer?” He’s all smiles.
“Thank you very much.” All I can think to say.
“Well then, how would you like to dress our windows for Christmas?”
“You mean the front windows?
“Yeah, it’ll be lots of fun. The sky’s the limit.”
I can’t believe he uses that phrase. My shoulders relax.
“I’ll ask Mrs. Gunn to show you where we store the display materials.” My shoulders tense.
I manage to twist up a grin as I trudge back upstairs.
It’s New Year’s Eve by the time John and I are invited to our first party since I graduated. Actually the invitation was for him. To a kind of neighborhood reunion where he grew up. We take the Peter Pan bus to Hamp and walk past Smith College. It’s pitch black, no moon. A thin layer of snow on the sidewalk crunches under our boots. Our breath clouds as our words meet the cold.
I follow John up icy steps. “Whose apartment is this again?”
He rings the bell. “Davey Ketchum.” We hear music from the porch. “He’s in a band.” The door opens. “Johnny, long time no see.” A guy with shoulder length brown curls puts his acoustic guitar aside and grabs John in a bear hug. “So glad you could make it, man.” He reaches to pump my hand. “I’m Dave. Welcome.” Then back to John. “Osgood is here, Chalmers, Morgan, Margaret Richardson, Evie Winetraub, the whole crowd. Mingle, mingle. There’s food and booze in the kitchen.”
The house is crowded, and smells like pot. Every surface is sat on. We wind through the kitchen, and I grab my first Molson’s ale.
“Great to see you!” John is acknowledged by all as we make our way through the dining room to the living room.
Everyone offers a quick update. Rhonda: tall, brunette, black polyester pantsuit, graduated Brown, currently at Harvard Medical School. John whispers additional comments as we pass: showed me her underpants in pre-school. Rob: stocky, chinos and a blue button-down shirt, graduated University of Penn, currently psychology PHD program, Ohio Wesleyan. Additional comments: Not allowed to ride his bike to Vernon Street school or sled down Clarke’s hill. Tom Griswold: law school at Western New England. Additional comments: heaved a chunk of ice at me from the top of the playground snow bank and broke my nose. His dad, also a lawyer, sent lots of presents.
When it’s my turn to offer an update, I hesitate. What are the euphemisms for I’m shacking up with my boyfriend in a tenement? I’m paid minimum wage and friendless. What would John’s additional comments be? Picked her up in a college bar?
After midnight, and more Molsons, I’m sitting on a love seat in the foyer next to a girl with long blonde hair and tortoise shell glasses. She offers no update. Instead she listens, nods, and finally puts her arm around me. “You must be lonesome.”
I cry. I can’t help it. At last, someone who understands what it is to be out of college with no clue, no plan, no peers.
John finds me slobbering. His warm hand takes mine, and we return to the freezing darkness. At the time, I was so ashamed to have bared my plight to a stranger, to have spilled my tears without restraint. Why did someone else have to tell me I was lonely? Did I carry the same stench as those disheveled gents on the bar stools? Were they as desperate as I was for someone, anyone, to listen, to care?
One more thing, John’s comment about that girl on the love seat: she’s a pastor’s daughter.
Looking back, of course. God incarnate walked the frigid night of the soul and incarnates his people with his love for the lost. |
Possible counter effect in newborns of 1936A>G (I646V) polymorphism in the AKAP10 gene encoding A-kinase-anchoring protein 10.
Cyclic adenosine monophosphate/protein kinase A (PKA) is important in embryonic development. The human AKAP10 gene is polymorphic: 1936A>G results in changes to a PKA-binding domain and increased targeting to mitochondria. Previous studies found G1936 as 'deleterious' in adults, and this study investigates whether this holds true in preterm birth. Study group consisted of 80 preterm newborns (PTNs) born before the 38th gestation week. Control group consisted of 123 full-term healthy newborns born after the 37th gestation week with uncomplicated pregnancies. Genomic DNA was extracted from umbilical blood and AKAP10 genotypes were identified by PCR/restriction enzyme. Significant differences in frequencies of 1936A>G genotypes/alleles between both groups were found. PTNs had increased frequency (55%) of AA homozygotes (odds ratio, AA versus AG+GG: 2.63 (95% confidence interval: 1.33 to 5.20), P=0.006) after adjustments: mothers with previous PTNs, smoking, first pregnancy, first delivery and Cesarean section. Results suggest G1936 is preventative factor against preterm birth, in contrast with previously asserted negative effects in adults. |
Lagina Brothers are worthy of all praise and acclamation. The show is on the run with The Curse Of Oak Island Season 7 Episode 4 incoming. The upcoming fourth episode of Season 7 is titled ‘The Lucky Thirteen’. From the start, the show is set to find the hidden treasure at Oak Island in the midst of the ocean. And they are doing everything to make that dream come true.
Its been years since Rick and Marty Lagina, along with their team, are searching for the long-lost treasure. However, as things seem in this season, they are close to find all the wealth. Let’s have a look at all the updates.
As the search is going on, everyone is convinced that they are on the right path. And to get to the treasures, the exploration team is using much better equipment and applying advanced technology so they can reach the Money Pit in The Curse of Oak Island Season 7.
The Curse Of Oak Island Season 7 Episode 4: What will happen?
The previous episode of Oak Island ended with a promise that the team is quite close to find the flood tunnels. These tunnels would lead them to the much anticipated Money Pit. The fans are desperately waiting for the next episode to arrive as it would be the one for which everyone is waiting for.
Moreover, metal detector expert Gary Drayton also found a mysterious artifact. According to him, it may have a specific connection with the Founding Fathers.
New Theory In The Oak Island Season 7
As the show is moving ahead, the basic concept on which the exploration was going on, is changing. Recently, a new theory about the treasure hunt show came up. According to that, rather than a vessel, the team could be looking at a tunnel. The argument came up when soil samples were taken at 57 feet down came out as dry clay.
The team also found some swages that could be from the 14th century. This also shifted the experts’ basic thoughts that a ship lies beneath the swamp. However, with the strange structure, they could be looking at a tunnel.
The Curse Of Oak Island Season 7 Episode 4: Release Date
The next episode of The Curse Of Oak Island is scheduled to be out on November 26, 2019. The audience might get their answers about the hidden treasure buried under the island in this season. If not, they’ll get the idea of whether the treasure is actually there or not. For more updates on The Curse Of Oak Island Season 7, stay tuned. |
State of New York
Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Third Judicial Department
Decided and Entered: February 23, 2017 521725
________________________________
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF
NEW YORK,
Respondent,
v MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
AARON M. CURRENT,
Appellant.
________________________________
Calendar Date: January 17, 2017
Before: Peters, P.J., McCarthy, Egan Jr., Rose and Mulvey, JJ.
__________
Paul J. Connolly, Delmar, for appellant.
Karen Heggen, District Attorney, Ballston Spa (Gordon W.
Eddy of counsel), for respondent.
__________
Peters, P.J.
Appeal from an order of the County Court of Saratoga County
(Sypniewski, J.), entered August 11, 2015, which classified
defendant as a risk level three sex offender pursuant to the Sex
Offender Registration Act.
In April 2014, defendant pleaded guilty to rape in the
third degree, admitting that he had engaged in sexual intercourse
with a 15-year-old girl when he was 21 years old (see Penal Law
§ 130.25 [2]). In exchange, he was promised a 10-year period of
probation and a temporary no-contact order of protection was
issued in favor of the victim. While out on bail awaiting
sentencing, defendant was arrested and charged with criminal
contempt in the second degree for violating that order by having
social media contact with the victim, and he was released on an
-2- 521725
appearance ticket. Approximately one week later, defendant
absconded with the victim and they were later located at a hotel
in Georgia, where defendant was arrested on a warrant and
returned to New York. While in jail, defendant was arrested on
criminal contempt charges for violating an order of protection by
using another inmate to mail a letter to the victim while he was
incarcerated. Defendant later pleaded guilty to one count of
criminal contempt in the second degree in satisfaction of all
charges related to his violations of the orders of protection.
Upon his convictions, County Court sentenced defendant to two
consecutive one-year jail terms. In anticipation of his release,
the Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders prepared a risk
assessment instrument (hereinafter RAI) pursuant to the Sex
Offender Registration Act (see Correction Law art 6-C
[hereinafter SORA]) designating defendant as a presumptive risk
level three sex offender, which the People adopted. Following a
hearing, County Court classified defendant as a risk level three
sex offender, and he now appeals.
Initially, we agree with defendant that 10 points were
improperly assessed for risk factor 8, his "[a]ge at first sex
crime." The People submitted evidence that the victim had
recounted to police that her first sexual contact with defendant
had occurred in June 2011, when defendant was 19 years old and
she was 13 years old; defendant admitted that this incident had
occurred but claimed that the victim had been the aggressor. As
defendant pointed out at the SORA hearing, however, he was never
charged with or convicted of a crime consisting of that conduct.
Under the criminal history section of the RAI, 10 points may be
assessed under risk factor 8 where "[t]he offender committed a
sex offense, that subsequently resulted in an adjudication or
conviction for a sex crime, at age 20 or less" (Sex Offender
Registration Act: Risk Assessment Guidelines and Commentary,
Guidelines, factor 8 [2006] [emphasis added]). The commentary
similarly instructs, with regard to risk factor 8, that "criminal
convictions [and] youthful offender adjudications1 . . . are to
1
While the commentary to the guidelines includes juvenile
delinquency findings (see Sex Offender Registration Act: Risk
Assessment Guidelines and Commentary, at 6, 13 [2006]), this
-3- 521725
be considered in scoring this category, as well as [risk factors]
9 [number and nature of prior crimes] and 10 [recency of prior
felony or sex crime]" (Sex Offender Registration Act: Risk
Assessment Guidelines and Commentary, at 13 [2006] [emphases
added]). To that end, the commentary specifically indicates
that, for purposes of the criminal history section of the RAI,
"the term 'crime' includes criminal convictions [and] youthful
offender adjudications" and that "[c]onvictions for Penal Law
offenses and unclassified misdemeanors should be considered" (Sex
Offender Registration Act: Risk Assessment Guidelines and
Commentary, at 6 [2006]). The commentary further clarifies that,
"[w]here an offender has admitted committing an act of sexual
misconduct for which there has been no such judicial
determination, it should not be used in scoring his [or her]
criminal history" (Sex Offender Registration Act: Risk Assessment
Guidelines and Commentary, at 7 [2006]).
The People argue that defendant's age of 19 when he
committed his first sex offense is relevant to his risk of
recidivism because "those who offend at a young age are more
prone to reoffend" (Sex Offender Registration Act: Risk
Assessment Guidelines and Commentary, at 13 [2006]), regardless
of whether that offending misconduct resulted in a conviction.
The guidelines and commentary clearly provide, however, that the
assessment of points under risk factor 8 requires a criminal
conviction or adjudication (see Sex Offender Registration Act:
Risk Assessment Guidelines and Commentary, at 6-7, 13 [2006];
People v Robertson, 101 AD3d 1671, 1672 [2012]). This
interpretation of the word "crime" in the phrase "first sex
crime" under risk factor 8, as requiring a conviction or
adjudication, is consistent with the interpretation of the word
crime in the phrases "prior crimes" and "prior felony or sex
crime" under risk factors 9 and 10 (see People v Barney, 126 AD3d
1245, 1246 [2015], lv denied 25 NY3d 912 [2015]; People v Arroyo,
54 AD3d 1141, 1141 [2008], lv denied 11 NY3d 711 [2008]; see also
Court has recognized that points may not be assessed for criminal
history consisting of a juvenile delinquency adjudication (see
People v Updyke, 133 AD3d 1063, 1063-1064 [2015]; People v
Shaffer, 129 AD3d 54, 55 [2015]).
-4- 521725
Sex Offender Registration Act: Risk Assessment Guidelines and
Commentary, at 13-14 [2006]; compare People v Neuer, 86 AD3d 926,
926-927 [2011], lv denied 17 NY3d 716 [2011]). While proof of
the commission of a prior sex crime committed by an offender at
age 20 or under that did not result in a conviction or
adjudication may be relied upon to argue in favor of an upward
departure (see People v McCollum, 41 AD3d 1187, 1188 [2007], lv
denied 9 NY3d 807 [2007]; People v Heichel, 20 AD3d 934, 935
[2005]), the People did not request this alternative relief from
County Court at any point. Accordingly, 10 points should be
deducted from the RAI under risk factor 8.2
However, we are not persuaded that defendant was improperly
assessed 10 points for failure to accept responsibility under
risk factor 12. Following defendant's guilty plea to statutory
rape, which may constitute evidence of his acceptance of
responsibility, he repeatedly violated the orders of protection
2
We recognize that the commentary provides that, in
completing the RAI, the Board and the SORA court will often
utilize the defendant's case file and may rely on "any other
reliable source" including "the sex offender's admissions" and
the victim's statements"; they are "not limited to the crime[s]
of conviction but may consider [reliable sources] in determining
an offender's risk level" (Sex Offender Registration Act: Risk
Assessment Guidelines and Commentary, at 5 [2006]; see People v
Mingo, 12 NY3d 563, 572 [2009]). However, this Court has limited
its application of the latter principle to the assessment of
points in the RAI under "current offenses" and has not applied it
to the offender's "criminal history" (see People v Smith, 128
AD3d 1189, 1189-1190 [2015]; People v Tubbs, 124 AD3d 1094, 1094-
1095 [2015]; People v Snay, 122 AD3d 1012, 1013 [2014], lv denied
24 NY3d 916 [2015]; People v Clavette, 96 AD3d 1178, 1179-1180
[2012], lv denied 20 NY3d 851 [2012]; but see People v Slotman,
112 AD3d 1332, 1333 [2013]). This practice is consistent with
the rules governing statutory construction, that specific
provisions – such as those applicable to the criminal history
factors in the RAI requiring criminal convictions or
adjudications – govern over more general pronouncements (see
McKinneys Cons Laws of NY, Book 1, Statutes § 239 [b]).
-5- 521725
in place to protect the victim by making contact with her,
providing her with cell phones and absconding, taking her out of
state. In assessing defendant's failure to accept
responsibility, County Court reasonably relied upon this repeated
and flagrant postplea conduct, which it characterized as an "open
disregard" and "almost . . . an intentional defiance of court
orders regarding contact with the victim." These actions are
reflective of defendant's poor prospects for rehabilitation and
lack of remorse, as well as his "unwillingness to alter his
behavior" (Sex Offender Registration Act: Risk Assessment
Guidelines and Commentary, at 16 [2006]), which are relevant to
the genuineness of his acceptance of responsibility (see People v
Ford, 25 NY3d 939, 941 [2015]). Under these circumstances,
notwithstanding defendant's earlier guilty plea, the record
supports the court's "finding that defendant failed to genuinely
accept responsibility for his actions" (People v Lerch, 66 AD3d
1088, 1088 [2009], lv denied 13 NY3d 715 [2010]; accord People v
Benson, 132 AD3d 1030, 1031-1032 [2015], lv denied 26 NY3d 913
[2015]).
County Court also properly relied upon defendant's conduct
in sending correspondence to the victim in violation of the order
of protection in assessing points under risk factor 13 for
"conduct while confined." To the extent that the court, in its
oral ruling, may have also relied upon that jailhouse conduct in
assessing points for failure to accept responsibility under risk
factor 12, we find no error or prejudice given the numerous
independent grounds for the assessment of 10 points under risk
factor 12.
Accordingly, defendant's total score on the RAI is reduced
to 100, resulting in a presumptive classification as a risk level
two sex offender. While the People request that we remit the
matter to permit them an opportunity to advocate in favor of an
upward departure, they did not make this alternative request in
County Court in response to defendant's stated opposition to the
presumptive classification. Accordingly, the People failed to
preserve this claim and are not entitled to a second opportunity
to propound such argument (see People v Gillotti, 23 NY3d 841,
861 n 5 [2014]).
-6- 521725
McCarthy, Egan Jr., Rose and Mulvey, JJ., concur.
ORDERED that the order is reversed, on the law, without
costs, and defendant is classified as a risk level two sex
offender under the Sex Offender Registration Act.
ENTER:
Robert D. Mayberger
Clerk of the Court
|
IoT Chain x Blockchain Hunter Interview
Security is the Foundation of Value Transfer
The Internet of Things is already a billion-dollar industry that continues to grow rapidly. It has vast implications across many aspects of our lives including transportation, housing, energy, finance, medical care, and more. As we become more integrated with IoT devices, we need to be cognizant of the security risks of a connected world. IoT Chain mitigates these risks with their hybrid blockchain approach and is positioned to be a leader in secure IoT connectivity.
IoT Chain co-founder Peter (Lyu) Xinhao was recently interviewed by Blockchain Hunter on the merits of their innovative project. Xinhao is a blockchain technical expert who translated the first Chinese book on blockchain called “Mastering Bitcoin”. He also established the blockchain team at Xiaomi where he worked to solve data isolation problems in digital marketing. Xinhao believes the prosperity of the Internet is due to a steady stream of data from its users. He further believes the value attached to this data should be returned to the users and security is fundamental in properly realizing this value.
Interview by Blockchain Hunter
We talked with Xinhao about the development of IoT Chain including core concepts and fundamentals, device technology, and their competitive advantage. We hope you find the interview inspiring!
Core Concepts and Fundamentals
Blockchain Hunter: What does ITC do?
Xinhao: ITC is simply a “light operating system” for the Internet of Things, powered by blockchain technology and focused on security. There are two parts to our network. The first part is the on-chain, value-based layer. The second is the OS layer which facilitates device-chain interaction for the Internet of Things.
Blockchain Hunter: Do you think that ITC is more of a blockchain company or an IoT company?
Xinhao: We are more of a blockchain company at the moment, but that will shift after the launch of the main network. Many blockchain companies only focus on the development of their chain and then wait for others to join them. We actively plan and develop our chain for use cases that exist today such as smart travel, sharing economies, and more. We also directly invest in IoT companies ourselves.
Blockchain Hunter: The Internet of Things has shown its ability to integrate new technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence. How do you view the relationship between blockchain and the Internet of Things?
Xinhao: The blockchain is not a panacea, and the blockchain for IoT, both itself and its vision, will be limited by the development of IoT. From a technology standpoint, the current communication solutions have been adequate. We are focused on identity, data linking, and security.
Blockchain Hunter: Why start with security?
Xinhao: Security was what drove our use of blockchain technology for IoT. There two sets of rights for each IoT device. One is the right to control the device and the other is the right to the data generated. When transferring on-chain value on the network, we must guarantee user data sovereignty. However, we must first provide a safe environment to do so. By securing control of the equipment on the blockchain, data sovereignty can be realized. Users will increase their focus on data and privacy and find their devices useful rather than infringe on their rights. This fundamental shift will help support the purchase and use of more and more IoT devices.
Blockchain Hunter: So controlling rights are the rights to operate the device?
Xinhao: Yes. IoT devices are becoming like a sixth sense, reflecting on our identity. If hackers gained controlling rights or data access, we would have no security or secrets anymore. Our CEO Xie Zhuopeng has been in the IoT industry for more than three years. He found that most of the security issues plaguing IoT are caused by a centralized structure with control rights to a vast array of devices. Hackers could attack these centralized networks easily, and at low cost, which poses great threat to the system integrity, and in some cases, personal safety. If we use blockchain technology to return control rights to the user, there will be no centralized system to hack. In order to manipulate the network, hackers would need to control of a vast majority of nodes at a great expense.
Blockchain Hunter: How do you achieve user data sovereignty on your network?
Xinhao: There are two aspects of data sovereignty. First, data needs to be authorized for use by its creator. Second, if data produces value, the user should benefit from it. Users can choose which data they authorize for use. There could be third parties hosting the data between the user and its consumer, but the user only needs to care about which data is being used and not its specific usage scenario.
Depending on the data generated, each user will be given a corresponding token for each device. The user can confirm their identity through a private key and manage the corresponding revenue generated by their different devices through the wallet app. These device tokens will have other applications on the public chain as well.
Blockchain Hunter: You mentioned third parties hosting data. If there are central data brokers, won’t they become attack targets?
Xinhao: The data is not stored directly by the broker. Data analysis and resale is conducted in a secure environment. It will ensure that data is input and output in cipher-text without leaking the original data. We are currently working on enhancing the performance of this data processing.
Device Technology
Blockchain Hunter: You mentioned earlier that ITC is a “light operating system” for the Internet of Things. Why do you describe the operating system as “light”?
Xinhao: “Light” means that hardware performance requirements are low and it is easy to integrate with existing smart devices. Instead of restructuring the hardware completely, we are building a module for the chipset to make it compatible with the ITC network.
Blockchain Hunter: If smart devices want to join the network, do manufacturers need to integrate this hardware module?
Xinhao: There are two scenarios. First, we can cooperate with the manufacturer directly to add modules to their original hardware design to enable the communication. Alternatively, because ITC is an open platform, developers can create their own modules according to our APIs and SDK to access the network.
Blockchain Hunter: What is the cost of your chip-based solution?
Xinhao: The current cost is about 20 Yuan for a single device which will come down in time. This is inexpensive for applications like car sharing but is quite a lot for smart lighting products. We are continuing to investigate a variety of usage scenarios.
Blockchain Hunter: As more devices join the network, the amount of traffic on the blockchain will continue to increase. How do you plan on scaling the network?
Xinhao: We are using DAG technology to solve performance and scaling issues. While blockchains such as Ethereum are working on other solutions, DAG can improve performance on the main chain itself. Our goal is to create a truly decentralized DAG main network with excellent performance and security. We do not view competing DAG implementations as safe at this time.
Blockchain Hunter: In what ways do you think current DAG implementations are not safe?
Xinhao: Well known DAG projects such as Byteball and IOTA are not decentralized enough. IOTA is not truly open source, and from their whitepaper, we find it difficult to visualize a decentralized design. In order to improve processing speed, Byteball appointed fixed servers as consensus nodes. Witnesses cannot drift and are vulnerable to DDoS attacks. At a minimum, a node must be added with a drift mechanism and be able to meet the BFT (Byzantine Fault Tolerance) protocol so that it can remain safe when it is attacked.
Blockchain Hunter: So your main chain uses PBFT?
Xinhao: Yes, we are working on making the main chain decentralized using PBFT consensus. Some people think that the current PBFT protocol is similar to the licensing chain. This is due to bandwidth; to ensure efficiency, fewer nodes can participate in voting. However, there are already solutions to this, including the solution we are working on which is to increase the nodes while guaranteeing an efficient consensus. If we implement PBFT, we can guarantee that when there is an attack and only some nodes are working, the main chain can still recover. This is a safer structure.
Blockchain Hunter: How do you prove that your main chain is safe and efficient?
Xinhao: Security testing mainly depends on whether it is decentralized and can withstand DDoS and SYBIL attacks. This is obvious, but there is no unified standard for performance testing. Projects often say that there are millions or even tens of millions of data points on their public chain, but testing performance of a distributed network is not reliable in local, isolated environments and it lacks a unified standard. Take testing of a banking system for example. Although there may be millions of data points, there is no way to truly verify performance of the entire network. We are working to build a standard, using new technical methods to simulate the number of nodes, to baseline the performance of our network. Assuming each node has the same hashing power, we will be able to determine the upper transaction limit our network can eventually handle.
Competitive Advantage
Blockchain Hunter: You haven’t updated your Github for a long time. Where are you in development?
Xinhao: The DAG local network has been created. The next steps are to improve the DAG structure, do performance optimization, and work on the decentralized consensus of the main chain. It is expected that the main chain will be completed by the end of 2018 or early 2019. We decided to suspend updating Github for a while after the DAG test code was completed. The team is mainly focused on designing a safer consensus model. Less time was spent on main chain code development at this stage. More time was spent on research and comparison of concepts and mathematical proofs.
Blockchain Hunter: What is the difference between developing blockchain for yourself versus Xiaomi?
Xinhao: I started mining cryptocurrency at the end of 2013 and got to know Bitcoin and the blockchain. At the end of 2016, I worked on the blockchain team for Xiaomi to help solve data collaboration problems. Millions of Xiaomi users produce data that can be used for targeted advertising, risk management, finance, and more. Through the blockchain, the valve of data is extracted on the premise of protecting data privacy. Contrary to what you may think, I believe this actually protects the data valve of the enterprise. It is the data generated by the users that continuously makes the Internet more prosperous and artificial intelligence smarter. Sooner or later, organizations will be forced to return a portion of the value generated to the users.
Blockchain Hunter: Xiaomi’s innovations in the Internet of Things have done well. Why did you decide to leave?
Xinhao: I worked in big data which was separate from their IoT department. I left because I feel Xiaomi did not have development breakthroughs in 2017 and likely will not this year either. A big company like Xiaomi is conventional and they do not start a new project until they are sure that it will work. Xiaomi faces competition from JD.com, Huawei, and Tmall, and it may not be able to compete with them using this traditional approach. It became apparent that it would be difficult for them to develop in a way that returns data sovereignty to the users and this was a primary reason that I left.
Blockchain Hunter: We have also seen companies like IBM and Microsoft developing blockchain services. How can the ITC compete with them?
Xinhao: Big companies are launching their own blockchains in succession, but at present they are all promoting their own cloud services and simply adding blockchain modules into them. At this time, there is not much importance placed on their solutions. A more inclusive and open blockchain initiative is yet to be seen.
If the big companies do put energy and resources on the blockchain, it will be a good thing. They can promote the industry and let all the participants enjoy the more reasonable valve distribution and benefits brought on by the blockchain. We think that big companies have their own mission. Although blockchains are popular, they may have plans in other fields. It is difficult for them to use all their strength for a certain direction. This is also my original intention that drove me to leave Xiaomi and work on this.
Blockchain Hunter: How do you see the market competition in 2018?
Xinhao: 2018 will be a year of products launching. Only at this stage can we really all start to compete. At present, the market is still a vast ocean and not at the point where companies are gaining their major share. Every company in the IoT space can transfer their business model on to the blockchain. There will be competition and amalgamation, though we can look forward to better technical solutions and collaboration on common goals as well. |
Background {#Sec1}
==========
The surgical site infection (SSI) case was identified using the definition provided by the Center of Disease Control (CDC) United States of America (USA) which states that infection is regarded as SSI if it occurs within 30 days of the procedure and has at least one of the following sign and symptoms: purulent drainage from the wound, pain or tenderness, localized swelling, redness, malodor and fever \[[@CR1]\].
Among the obstetrical and gynecological surgeries, cesarean section is the most common which attributes to short time consequences like SSI that in turn increases maternal morbidity, prolongs hospital stay and increase medical costs \[[@CR2]\].
Approximately 18.5 million cesarean sections are performed yearly worldwide. About 40% of the countries have C/S rates \< 10%, about 10% have C/S rates between 10 and 15%, and approximately 50% have C/S rates of \> 15%. Majority of the countries that did 18.5 million C/S were from Africa (68.5%) and remaining (29.6%) were from Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Due to the worldwide continuous rise in the incidence of cesarean deliveries, the number of women with surgical site infection is expected to increase. The SSI after cesarean section causes physical, psychological and economic burden to the woman, her family and in the community \[[@CR3]\]. The rate of C/S in published series in different areas of Ethiopia ranges 14.23--27.6% \[[@CR4], [@CR5]\].
The maternal infection following delivery increases by eight-fold when delivered by cesarean section than vaginal delivery. Based on studies related to SSI following caesarean section, the proportion of the SSI ranges from 3 to 15% \[[@CR6]\].
Based on the surgical wound classification, cesarean section is a clean contaminated type of surgery where procedure- related chances of infection are less likely to occur, but infection after cesarean section is still a major problem in our setup. The majority of the problem arises from preventable causes, which, if addressed would significantly reduce rates of wound infection.
Identifying risk factors for post-cesarean surgical-site infections (SSIs) could contribute to a decrease in maternal morbidity.
Only one study has been done in Ethiopia to give a picture of a post-cesarean section SSI. Based on the findings of a study on the Surgical Site Infection done in Jimma University, Ethiopia 2010, the SSI among cesarean section cases was 66 (8.55%) \[[@CR7]\]. As infection continues to be a common postoperative complication in the study area, and no previous study has been done, there is a need to assess the magnitude and factors contributing to surgical site infection. Thus, this study aims to assess the magnitude and determinants of SSI following cesarean section.
Methods {#Sec2}
=======
Retrospective medical record review study was conducted among mothers underwent C/S from 2014 to 2016 at ACSH, Mekelle city to determine the magnitude and determinants of SSI following C/S delivery.
Mekelle is the capital city of Tigray region and the largest city in northern Ethiopia, at a distance of 783 km from Addis Ababa. It has a population of more than 323,000 among these populations, there are 110,788 females, 104,758 males, 26,536 under five, 60,998 women in reproductive age (15--49 years) and 78,770 \< 15 years age \[[@CR8]\]. Mekelle has one public referral hospital (ACSH) and three general hospitals namely (Mekelle Hospital, Quiha Hospital and Northern Command Hospital) which are public government hospitals.
ACSH commenced rendering its referral and non-referral services since 2008 to 8 million people in its catchment areas of the Tigray, Afar and Southeastern parts of Amhara Regional States and currently it provides antenatal, delivery and post natal services. It provides a broad range of medical services to both in and out patients of all age groups. As such, the Hospital can be designated as the most advanced medical facility, by all accounts, in the Northern part of the country and that it stands as the second largest hospital in the nation. It has a total capacity of about 500 inpatient beds in four major departments and other specialty units and 84 beds in obstetrics & gynecology department. The obstetrics & gynecology department has 51 staff (5 gynecologist, 7 residents, 18 midwifery and 21 nurses) and is also used as a teaching hospital for the College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University. Annually, ACSH has 2500 deliveries per year; of this, 660 are C/S deliveries \[[@CR9]\]. In ACSH, the medical doctors range from resident one up to senior gynecologist specialists. Routinely used antibiotics are Ceftriaxone (as prophylaxis & treatment), Ampicillin and Metronidazole.
The sample size was calculated using the single population proportion formula based on the following assumptions, 95% confidence interval with a 4% margin of error, the expected proportion of post C/S infection taken from a study done in Jimma university hospital which was (P) 8.5% \[[@CR7]\]$$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$ {\displaystyle \begin{array}{c}\mathrm{N}=\frac{{\left(\mathrm{Za}{/}_2\right)}^2\mathrm{P}\ \left(1\hbox{-} \mathrm{P}\right)=\mathrm{Za}{/}_2=1.96\kern0.5em \mathrm{at}\kern0.5em \mathrm{CI}\ \mathrm{of}\ 95\%}{{\mathrm{d}}^2}\\ {}\mathrm{N}=\frac{6(1.96)2\kern0.5em 0.85(0.915)\mathrm{N}=187}{(0.04)2}\end{array}} $$\end{document}$$
By adding 10% contingency for charts with incomplete information the final sample size was 206.
Sampling procedure {#Sec3}
------------------
Within the time of September 2014--January 2016, about 923 charts with C/S were found. Systematic sampling technique was used to select 206 charts with cesarean section from records since September 2014--January 2016 in ACSH. By dividing the source population to sample size the k^th^ has been calculated, which was 4. A random number was selected from 1 up to 4 with the lottery method; which was 2 as the first sample chart. The next sample was taken every k^th^ interval provided that for an incomplete chart, we consider the next to be included.
Charts of mothers who underwent cesarean section elsewhere, then referred to ACSH were excluded.
Data collection procedure and tool {#Sec4}
----------------------------------
The data were collected from medical records of the 206 selected charts by trained 2 BSc Nurses using structured check list. The checklist was adapted by reviewing different literature of similar studies done on the magnitude and determinant factors of SSI. In this study, socio-demographic characteristic as well as obstetric history, pre-operative and intra-operative, duration of hospital stay, maternal preexisting medical condition variables were considered. The pre-operative events include (Indication for c/s, Prophylaxis taken, Length of days stay in hospital) and intraoperative events included (type of C/S, duration of operation, estimated blood loss and type of incision).The data collection process was supervised by 1BSc nurse who has previous experience in data collection.
Data quality control {#Sec5}
--------------------
Data collectors and supervisor were carefully trained about the objective of the study, the meaning of each, alternative answers and blank spaces and when to skip as necessary. The checklist was also carefully designed and prepared in English language and was used for data collection. Before the actual data collection, the checklist was pre tested with 10% similar population at Mekelle hospital. Based on the pre-test, the checklist was assessed for its clarity, completion, and the time necessary. During the actual data collection, a supervisor was in place to oversee all activities, and the collected data were reviewed and checked for completeness and consistency by the principal investigator on a daily basis.
Data management and analysis {#Sec6}
----------------------------
Data were coded, entered, checked and cleaned using Epi info version 3.5.1 and exported to SPSS version 20 statistical software package for analysis. Descriptive statistics were computed to determine the proportion of post cesarean section wound infection. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression was also computed to assess statistical association between the outcome variable and independent variables. Factors that were ≤ 0.2 significant level in the bivariate logistic regression analysis were considered in the multivariable logistic regression analysis. Odds ratios with 95% Confidence Interval (CI) and *p* value (\< 0.05) were computed to assess the presence and degree of statistical association between dependent and independent variables.
Ethical considerations {#Sec7}
----------------------
Ethical clearance was obtained from Mekelle University College of Health Sciences, Research Review Committee, and written permission was obtained from the Medical Director of ACSH to support the research. All the information obtained from the medical record was held with confidentiality and used only for the intended purpose.
Results {#Sec8}
=======
Two-hundred six medical records were reviewed in this study. The finding of this thesis includes demographic data, patient's obstetric character**,** operation related factors, and the results of post cesarean section infection and factors that contributing to surgical site infection.
Socio demographic data {#Sec9}
----------------------
The mean age of study participants was 27 years [+]{.ul}standard deviation (SD) =5 and 175 (85%) of the study participant within the age group ranged 20--34. The minimum and maximum age of mothers was (15 & 45 years) respectively. Of the total study participants 139 (67.3%) of women who underwent C/S were from urban areas (Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type="table"}).Table 1Socio-demographic characteristics of the Women who underwent c/s in Ayder referral hospital, Mekelle, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, 2016 (*N*=206)VariablesCategoryPost c/s SSITotal (%)YesNoN%N%Age≤1900%7100.0%7(3.4%)20--341810.3%15789.7%175(85%)≥35625%1875.0%24(11.6%)ResidenceRural1420%5379.1%67(32.5%)Urban107.2%12992.8%139 (67.5%)EthnicityTigray2211.1%17688.9%198(96.1%)Amhara00%3100.0%3(1.5%)Afar240%360.0%5(2.4%)
Obstetric characteristic of respondents {#Sec10}
---------------------------------------
More than half 109 (52%) of study participant were multiparous and 8 (7.3%) of them was developed SSI. Almost all the study participants 196 (95.1%) had antenatal care (ANC) follow up & from those 20 (10.2%) were developed SSI. About 172 (83.5%) of study participants had no history of abortion. 44 (21%) of the participants had a history of previous C/S and 5 (11%) of them developed SSI (Table [2](#Tab2){ref-type="table"}).Table 2Distribution of indication for cesarean section among women who underwent c/sin Ayder referral hospital, Mekelle, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, 2016 (*N*=206)VariablesCategorySSITotal (%)YESNON%N%ParityPrimipara10(12.8%)68(87.2%)78(37.9)multi para8(7.3%)101(92.7%)109(52.9)Grand multi para6(31.6%)13(68.4%)19(9.2)ANC follow upYes20(10.2%)176(89.8%)196(95.1)No4(40.0%)6(60.0%)10(4.9)Gestational age at c/sPreterm2(11.1%)16(88.9%)18(8.8)Term21(12.4%)148(87.6%)169(82)Post term1(5.3%)18(94.7%)19(9.2)PROMYes12(37.5%)2062.5%32(16.0)No12(6.9%)16293.1%174(84.0)Prolonged laborYes17(25.8%)4974.2%66(32)No7(5.0%)133(95.0%)140(68)ChorioaminitiesYes8(66.7%)4(33.3%)12(5.8)No16(8.2%)178(91.8%)194(94.2)Previous c/sYes5(11.4%)39(88.6%)44(21.4)No19(11.7%)143(88.3%)162(78.6)History of abortionYes4(11.8%)30(88.2%)34(16.5)No20(11.6%)152(88.4%)172(83.5)
Indication for cesarean section {#Sec11}
-------------------------------
For 79 (38.2%) of the study participants, the indication for cesarean section was non-reassurance fetal heart beat (NRFHB). For 9 (4.3%), indication was post term (Fig. [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}).Fig. 1Distribution of indication for cesarean section among women who underwent surgery in Ayder comprehensive specialized hospital, Mekelle, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, 2016 (*N* = 206)
Operation related characteristics {#Sec12}
---------------------------------
Only 13 (6.3%) of the procedure was elective, and none of these participants developed SSI. About 192 (93.2%) of the study participant had less than 1000 ml intra operative blood loss and only 3% of the skin incision was longitudinal (Table [3](#Tab3){ref-type="table"}).Table 3Distribution of operation related characteristics among women who underwent C/S in Ayder referral hospital, Mekelle, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, 2016 (*N*= 206)VariablesCategorySSITotal (%)YESNON %N%Type of c/sElective0(0.0%)13(100.0%)13(6.3%)Non elective24(12.4%)169(87.6%)193(93.7%)Type of incisionLongitudinal0(0.0%)3(100.0%)3(1.5%)Transverse24(11.65%)179(86.89%)203(98.5%)Time taken for operation\<300(0.0%)2(100.0%)2(1%)30--6019(9.8%)174(90.2%)93(93.7%)\>605(45.5%)6(54.5%)11(5.3%)Amount of blood loss\<100020(10.4%)172(89.6%)192(93.2%)≥10004(28.6%)10(71.4%)14(6.8%)Length of stay≤718(9.4%)173(90.6%)191(92.7%)\>76(40.0%)9(60.0%)15(7.3%)
Qualification of persons performed cesarean section {#Sec13}
---------------------------------------------------
For 87 (42%) of women who underwent cesarean section, the procedure was performed by Resident two (R~2~) (second year resident in 4 year obstetrics and gynecology training program). Four cesarean sections (1.9%) were performed by senior specialists (obstetrics and gynecology specialist) (Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}).Fig. 2Qualification distribution of person who perform the procedure on women who underwent c/s in Ayder comprehensive specialized hospital, Mekelle, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, 2016(*N* = 206)
Magnitude SSI {#Sec14}
-------------
From the total of 206 study participants who underwent cesarean section in Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, 24 (11.7%) of them had post C/S infection (Fig. [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"}).Fig. 3Magnitude of post c/s infection among women who underwent c/s infection in Ayder comprehensive specialized hospital, Mekelle, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, 2016, (*N* = 206). Legend: With SSI {#d29e1522} and {#d29e1525} with no SSI
Preexisting medical condition {#Sec15}
-----------------------------
The minimum and maximum preoperative hemoglobin label was 8.2 mg/dl-16 mg/dl, respectively, with their mean 13 mg/dl &SD 1.4. About 183 (88.8%) of the study participant were non-reactive for HIV. More than 95% (203) of study participant had no history of diabetes mellitus (DM) (Table [4](#Tab4){ref-type="table"}).Table 4Frequency distribution of pre-existing medical condition of women who underwent c/s in Ayder referral hospital, Mekelle, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, 2016 (*N*=206)VariablesCategorySSIFrequencyPercent (%)YesNoN(%)N(%)AnemiaYes4(25%)12(75%)167.8%No20(10.5%)170(89.5%)19092.2%HypertensionYes3(16.7%)15(83.3%)188.7%No21(11%)167(89%)18891.3%DMYes2(66.7%)1(33.3%)31.5%No22(10.8%)181(89.2%)20398.5%HIVReactive5(41.7%)7(58.3%)125.8%Non-reactive22317(9.3%)166(90.7%)18388.8%Unknown status2(18%)9(82%)115.3%Immunosuppressive drugYes0(0%)2(100%)21%No24(11.8%)180(88.2%)20499%Pre op Hgb label\<11 mg/dl3(13%)20(87%)2311.2%11mg/dl21(11.5%)162(88.5%)18388.8%
Determinants of post caesarean section infection {#Sec16}
------------------------------------------------
### Bivariate logistic regression {#Sec17}
During bivariate logistic regression analysis, those variables which had ≤0.2 significance level were considered in multivariable logistic regression. Out of twenty-five independent variables, thirteen variables, namely age, residence, anemia, and ANC follow up. Parity, chorioaminities, PROM, prolonged labor, blood loss, length of hospital stay, DM, HIV and duration of operation had shown an association in bivariate analysis with *p*-value less than 0.2, and those variables were entered into multivariable analysis.
### Multivariable logistic regression {#Sec18}
After entering the 13 variables in the multivariable logistic regression analysis simultaneously, Rural setting, PROM, prolonged labor chorioaminities, HIV and blood loss had shown a significant association with *p* value\< 0.05.
Accordingly, women who were from rural area were 5.6 times more likely to develop post C/S infection than those from an urban area \[AOR = 5.666, 95%CI: (1.568--20.483, *p* = 008)\].
The odds of developing post c/s infection among women who had a history of PROM were 8.8 times higher than those who had not \[(AOR = 8.818, 95%CI: (21.71--35.816, *p* = 0.002)\].
Furthermore, women who had chorioaminities were sixteen times \[(AOR = 16.17, 95%CI: (28.50--91.819, *p* = 0.002)\] more likely to have post C/S infection.
Women who had prolonged labor were six times \[(AOR = 6.064, 95%CI: (1.676--21.949, *p* = 0.006)\] more likely to develop post C/S infection. Similarly, HIV positive women are seven times \[(AOR = 6.982, 95%CI: (1.382--35.269, *p* = 0.019)\] more likely to have post c/s infection than HIV negative women.
Finally, those women who had blood loss less than 1000 ml were almost 90% \[(AOR = 0.097,95% CI: (0.017--0.569, *p* = 0.01)\] less likely to have post C/S infection than those women who had blood loss greater than 1000 ml (Table [5](#Tab5){ref-type="table"}).Table 5Bivariate and Multivariable logistic regression analysis of post c/s infection among women underwent C/S in Ayder referral hospital, Mekelle, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, 2016 (*N*=206)VariableCategorySSICOR (95%CI)AOR (95% CI)YESNOResidenceRural14533.408( 1.424-8.152)\*5.666(1.568-20.483)\*\*Urban1012911ANC follow upYes201760.199(0.044-0.656)\*0.220(0.2-2.4)NO4611ParityPrimi10681.857(0.697-4.943)1.967(0.535-7.230)Multi810111Grand multi6135.827(1.745-19.459)\*9.554(1.519-60.075)\*\*PROMYes12208.1(3.211-20.432)\*8.818(2.171-35.816)\*\*No1216211Prolonged laborYes17496.592(2.577-16.861)\*6.064(1.676-21.949)\*\*No713311ChorioaminitiesYes8422.25(6.035-82.026)\*16.17(2.850-91.819)\*\*No1617811HIVReactive576.975(1.995-24.38)\*6.982(1.382-35.269)\*\*Non reactive1716611Unknown292.17(0.433-10.871)6.979(0.58-83.908)Blood loss\<1000221690.26(0.081-0.832)0.097(0.017-0.569)\*\*\>=100051011\**p*-value \<0.05 in bivariate analysis \*\**p*-value \<0.05 in multivariable analysis
Discussion {#Sec19}
==========
Medical records were reviewed to find out the magnitude and associated factors of post-cesarean section infection (S.S.I) on women who underwent C/S ACSH. A total of 206 (193 non-elective and 13 elective) were eligible for analysis.
This study indicated that 24 (11.7%) of the study participant had SSI. This figure is higher than the result reported from different studies which revealed that the rate of SSI in US hospitals was 4.1%, in New Zealand 5%, in Brazil 1.44%, China 0.7%, Pakistan 5.8%, Estonian university 6.2%, Saudi Arabia 4--2.4%, and in Nizwa, Oman 2.66%. This discrepancy could be due to the difference in socioeconomic status and health care delivery system \[[@CR10]--[@CR13], [@CR14]--[@CR17]\].
Similarly, in this study the magnitude of SSI has also shown higher from the studies conducted in England, Nigeria and Jimma which, the rate of post C/S infection was 9.6, 9.3 and 8.55% respectively \[[@CR7], [@CR18], [@CR19]\]. This variation might be due to the difference in study area and study participants. However, the results are approximately similar to those from studies conducted in Dhulikhel Hospital, Nepal and Tanzania in which the rates of post c/s infection were 12.6 and 10.9% respectively \[[@CR20], [@CR21]\].
This study found a number of factors associated with SSI following C/S. Women who had premature rupture of membrane are six times more likely to develop post C/S infection than those who had not. \[AOR = 6.064, CI: (1.676--21.949)\]. This finding is in line with the study conducted in US hospitals \[OR = 3.0; 95% CI, (3.24--3.5)\] and Nigeria (OR = 4.45) \[[@CR10], [@CR19]\]. This association could be due to the fetal membrane acting as a barrier to infection. However, when the fetal membrane is ruptured early, it loses its protective effect and microorganisms found in the vagina may easily migrate. This may expose the mother for SSI. This finding was also supported by other studies conducted in Brazil, China, Nepal and Sub-Saharan Africa \[[@CR9], [@CR13], [@CR20], [@CR22]\].
The other factor that showed significant association were women who had chorioaminities was sixteen times more likely to have SSI following c/s than those who had not. \[AOR = 16.17, 95%CI: (28.50--91.8190\] This is also consistent with a study conducted in an Estonian university hospital revealing that women who had chorioaminities were 8.8 times more likely to have post C/S infection (OR, 8.8; 95%CI, 1.1--69.6) \[[@CR15]\]. This variation might be related to socioeconomic difference between the countries. Another study conducted in Jimma as also shown significant association \[[@CR7]\].
In this study, a rural setting has shown significant association. Women from rural areas were five times more likely to have post C/S infection than those women from urban areas. \[(AOR = 5.666, 95% CI: 1.568--20.483)\]. This could be due limited access to hygienic materials and poorer hygiene for women living in rural areas when compared to those in urban areas. However, a study conducted in a US urban setting showed significant association with post C/S infection \[[@CR10]\].
This study also found that prolonged labor prior to surgery had shown a significant association with SSI following C/S. Women who had prolonged labor were six times more likely to have SSI than those who had not. Similar finding were also reported from a study conducted in New Zealand \[[@CR11]\]. This relationship between duration of labor and SSI may be due to increased exposure time where infection can be acquired and to the fact that as duration of labor increase, number of vaginal examinations also increased. Studies conducted in Brazil, China and Tanzania \[[@CR12], [@CR13], [@CR21]\] shown that post C/S infection had significant association with frequent vaginal examination.
The other factor that showed significant association was blood loss. Women with intra-operative blood loss of less than 1000 ml were 90% less likely to have SSI than those who had blood loss of more than 1000 ml \[(AOR = 0.097,95% CI: 0.017--0.569)\]. This finding is consistent with a study conducted in US revealing that women with excessive blood loss were 2.4 times \[(OR, 2.42; 95% CI, 2.34--2.49)\] more likely to develop post C/S infection \[[@CR10]\]. This finding is also supported by a study conducted in Jimma \[[@CR7]\]. This association could be due to excessive blood loss associated with poor control and tissue damage due to prolonged retraction, leading to use of extra sutures which may reduce local resistance mechanism.
Finally, the HIV status of women had shown a significant association. HIV positive women had about seven times more likely to have post C/S infection than those HIV negative women \[(AOR = 6.982, CI: 1.382--35.269)\]. However, other studies did not show its association.
In this study, the age of the mother, ANC follow up, parity, emergency C/S, skin incision, duration of operation, and skill of the person who performs the procedure had no significant association with post c/s infection. However, it is difficult to conclude that those variables are not totally important.
Conclusions {#Sec20}
===========
The magnitude of post C/S infection in this study is high. PROM, chorioaminities, prolonged labor, HIV status, residence and blood loss had shown significant association with post C/S infection.
In this study age of the mother, ANC follow up, parity, emergency c/s, skin incision, duration of operation, and skill of the person who perform the procedure had no significant association with post C/S infection. However, it is difficult to conclude that those variables are not totally important. A small sample was there to show statistical significance.
Based on the finding, the following recommendations are forwarded:❖ Increased awareness, development, and strict implementation of protocol should be done by all the health care professionals in order to minimize and prevent the infection rate after cesarean section❖ Post-operative antibiotics should be given to patients who underwent cesarean section, especially those who are at risk of post cesarean section infection i.e. sero positive, PROM, chorioaminities❖ Evaluate and improve pre, intra and post-operative care through further training and supervision involving more qualified person to decrease post caesarean section infection.❖ Infection prevention procedure in order to reduce the risk of wound infection should be followed appropriately❖ Further prospective study with a large sample size should be conducted.
ACSH
: Ayder comprehensive, specialized hospital
AOR
: Adjusted odds ratio
C/S
: Cesarean section
CI
: Confidence interval
DM
: Diabetes mellitus
OR
: Odds ratio
PROM
: Premature Rapture of Membrane
SSI
: Surgical site infection
I would like to say thank you to my friends and coworker for their support by providing constructive comments and sharing their experience during the process of doing this thesis.
My appreciation also goes to the supervisor and data collectors for their kind participation in this study.
Funding {#FPar1}
=======
This study benefited from neither source of funding nor sponsorship, either from the public, private or not-for-profit sectors. Availability of data and materials supporting the conclusions of this article are not included within the manuscript because of confidentiality.
Availability of data and materials {#FPar2}
==================================
We prefer not to share the data because of confidentiality.
TA Conceived and designed the study. TA, GB, KB, WT and BG analyzed and interpreted the data, and drafted the manuscript. TA Critically reviewed and revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final manuscript.
Ethics approval and consent to participate {#FPar3}
==========================================
Ethical clearance was obtained from the Mekelle University, College of health sciences, research and community service office, ethical review committee, and written permission was obtained from the Medical Director of ACSH to support the research. To obtain the participants' chart for review, permission was also obtained from the local administration of the study site. Participants chart identifiers was not recorded on the questioner and code was used by the data collector to separate one participants' data from the other. Participants' chart was handled in such a way that only data collectors were accessed and was not exposed to third person and report was made collectively. All the information obtained from the medical record was held with confidentiality and used only for the intended purpose. Authorizations were obtained from the institutional medical director and different authorities of the study sites like medical record room head and the staff members. The notification code number given to the Tittle was ERC 06187/2016.
Consent for publication {#FPar4}
=======================
Not applicable
Competing interests {#FPar5}
===================
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Publisher's Note {#FPar6}
================
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
|
Q:
Hodge Theory, intuition?
We have the following theorem of Hodge, as follows:
$$\dim \ker \Delta^p = \dim H^p(M) = b_p(M).$$My question is, what is the intuition behind this statement?
A:
Hodge theory is a vast subject, especially since Deligne and Griffiths revolutionized it and algebraized it around 1970 with the introduction of variations of Hodge structures and mixed Hodge structures, axiomatic approaches which found amazing applications in algebraic geometry.
At the most elementary level I would say that Hodge theory is a refinement of De Rham cohomology:
De Rham proved that classical singular cohomology $H^*_{sing}(M,\mathbb R)$ of a smooth compact manifold $M$ is the same as the cohomology $H^*_{deRham}(M)$ of the complex of smooth differential forms $\Omega^*(M)$.
This means that a cohomology class can be represented by a closed differential form.
But which one should one choose? Unfortunately there is no canonical choice.
Hodge theory furnishes a nice solution to this query: introduce a Riemannian structure on $M$ and then every cohomology class $c\in H^k_{deRham}(M)$ will contain one and ond only one closed harmonic form $\omega \in \Omega^k_{Harm}(M)$ representing it : $c=[\omega]$.
Harmonic here means annihilated by the Laplace-Beltrami operator $\Delta^k:\Omega^k(M)\to \Omega^k(M)$, an analogue for $k$-forms of the standard Laplace operator $\Delta=\Delta^0:C^\infty(M) \to C^\infty(M)$ for functions.
Hodge theory immediately allows you to prove the finite-dimensionality of $H^k_{deRham}(M)$ and also gets you Poincaré duality for free: $H^{n-p}_{deRham}(M)\simeq (H^{p}_{deRham}(M))^*$
The price to pay for Hodge theory is, however, some investment in the theory of elliptic operators, which some geometers ignorant of partial differential equations (like me) find hard going.
A:
I would say that the basic intuition is that a Riemannian metric defines an inner product on the space of differential forms, which can be used to define an adjoint operator to the exterior derivative. Nowconsider the adjoint $(d_{k-1})^*:\Omega^k\to\Omega^{k-1}$ of $d_{k-1}:\Omega^{k-1}\to\Omega^k$. If the spaces $\Omega^\ell$ were all finite dimensional, then $ker((d_{k-1})^*)$ would be the orthocomplement of $im(d_{k-1})$. Hence $ker((d_{k-1})^*)\cap ker(d_k)$ would be a complement to $im(d_{k-1})$ in $ker(d_k)$ and thus project isomorphically onto the cohomology space $H^k$. Hence you see that $ker((d_{k-1})^*)\cap ker(d_k)$ would have the same dimension as $H^k$.
Using adjointness again, it is easy to verify that (if things were finite dimensional) defining $\Delta_k=d_{k-1}\circ (d_{k-1})^*+(d_k)^*\circ d_k$ you get $ker(\Delta_k)+ker((d_{k-1})^*)\cap ker(d_k)$. (This is like $\Delta(\phi)=0$ implies $0=d\Delta(\phi)=dd^*d\phi=0$ (since $dd=0$) and using adjointness twice, one gets $d\phi=0$, and likewise for $d^*$.)
Using functional analysis/PDE theory as mentioned in the answer of @GeorgesElencwajg , one proves that this continues to hold on a compact manifold in spite of the fact that one deals with infinite dimensional spaces.
|
/*
* STM32 - TIM2 (General purpose timer) emulation.
*
* Copyright (c) 2016 Liviu Ionescu.
*
* This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
* it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
* the Free Software Foundation, either version 2 of the License, or
* (at your option) any later version.
*
* This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
* but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
* MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
* GNU General Public License for more details.
*
* You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
* with this program; if not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
*/
#include <hw/cortexm/stm32/tim2.h>
#include <hw/cortexm/stm32/mcu.h>
#include <hw/cortexm/helper.h>
#include <hw/cortexm/svd.h>
// ----- Generated code -------------------------------------------------------
//
// ----- 8< ----- 8< ----- 8< ----- 8< ----- 8< ----- 8< ----- 8< -----
// DO NOT EDIT! Automatically generated!
static void stm32f103xx_tim2_create_objects(Object *obj, JSON_Object *svd, const char *name)
{
STM32TIM2State *state = STM32_TIM2_STATE(obj);
JSON_Object *periph = svd_get_peripheral_by_name(svd, name);
svd_add_peripheral_properties_and_children(obj, periph, svd);
// Registers.
state->u.f1.reg.cr1 = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "CR1");
state->u.f1.reg.cr2 = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "CR2");
state->u.f1.reg.smcr = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "SMCR");
state->u.f1.reg.dier = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "DIER");
state->u.f1.reg.sr = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "SR");
state->u.f1.reg.egr = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "EGR");
state->u.f1.reg.ccmr1_output = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "CCMR1_Output");
state->u.f1.reg.ccmr1_input = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "CCMR1_Input");
state->u.f1.reg.ccmr2_output = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "CCMR2_Output");
state->u.f1.reg.ccmr2_input = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "CCMR2_Input");
state->u.f1.reg.ccer = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "CCER");
state->u.f1.reg.cnt = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "CNT");
state->u.f1.reg.psc = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "PSC");
state->u.f1.reg.arr = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "ARR");
state->u.f1.reg.ccr1 = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "CCR1");
state->u.f1.reg.ccr2 = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "CCR2");
state->u.f1.reg.ccr3 = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "CCR3");
state->u.f1.reg.ccr4 = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "CCR4");
state->u.f1.reg.dcr = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "DCR");
state->u.f1.reg.dmar = cm_object_get_child_by_name(obj, "DMAR");
// CR1 bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.cr1.cen = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.cr1, "CEN");
state->u.f1.fld.cr1.udis = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.cr1, "UDIS");
state->u.f1.fld.cr1.urs = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.cr1, "URS");
state->u.f1.fld.cr1.opm = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.cr1, "OPM");
state->u.f1.fld.cr1.dir = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.cr1, "DIR");
state->u.f1.fld.cr1.cms = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.cr1, "CMS");
state->u.f1.fld.cr1.arpe = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.cr1, "ARPE");
state->u.f1.fld.cr1.ckd = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.cr1, "CKD");
// CR2 bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.cr2.ccds = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.cr2, "CCDS");
state->u.f1.fld.cr2.mms = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.cr2, "MMS");
state->u.f1.fld.cr2.ti1s = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.cr2, "TI1S");
// SMCR bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.smcr.sms = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.smcr, "SMS");
state->u.f1.fld.smcr.ts = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.smcr, "TS");
state->u.f1.fld.smcr.msm = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.smcr, "MSM");
state->u.f1.fld.smcr.etf = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.smcr, "ETF");
state->u.f1.fld.smcr.etps = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.smcr, "ETPS");
state->u.f1.fld.smcr.ece = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.smcr, "ECE");
state->u.f1.fld.smcr.etp = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.smcr, "ETP");
// DIER bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.dier.uie = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.dier, "UIE");
state->u.f1.fld.dier.cc1ie = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.dier, "CC1IE");
state->u.f1.fld.dier.cc2ie = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.dier, "CC2IE");
state->u.f1.fld.dier.cc3ie = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.dier, "CC3IE");
state->u.f1.fld.dier.cc4ie = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.dier, "CC4IE");
state->u.f1.fld.dier.tie = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.dier, "TIE");
state->u.f1.fld.dier.ude = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.dier, "UDE");
state->u.f1.fld.dier.cc1de = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.dier, "CC1DE");
state->u.f1.fld.dier.cc2de = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.dier, "CC2DE");
state->u.f1.fld.dier.cc3de = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.dier, "CC3DE");
state->u.f1.fld.dier.cc4de = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.dier, "CC4DE");
state->u.f1.fld.dier.tde = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.dier, "TDE");
// SR bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.sr.uif = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.sr, "UIF");
state->u.f1.fld.sr.cc1if = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.sr, "CC1IF");
state->u.f1.fld.sr.cc2if = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.sr, "CC2IF");
state->u.f1.fld.sr.cc3if = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.sr, "CC3IF");
state->u.f1.fld.sr.cc4if = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.sr, "CC4IF");
state->u.f1.fld.sr.tif = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.sr, "TIF");
state->u.f1.fld.sr.cc1of = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.sr, "CC1OF");
state->u.f1.fld.sr.cc2of = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.sr, "CC2OF");
state->u.f1.fld.sr.cc3of = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.sr, "CC3OF");
state->u.f1.fld.sr.cc4of = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.sr, "CC4OF");
// EGR bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.egr.ug = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.egr, "UG");
state->u.f1.fld.egr.cc1g = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.egr, "CC1G");
state->u.f1.fld.egr.cc2g = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.egr, "CC2G");
state->u.f1.fld.egr.cc3g = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.egr, "CC3G");
state->u.f1.fld.egr.cc4g = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.egr, "CC4G");
state->u.f1.fld.egr.tg = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.egr, "TG");
// CCMR1_Output bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr1_output.cc1s = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr1_output, "CC1S");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr1_output.oc1fe = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr1_output, "OC1FE");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr1_output.oc1pe = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr1_output, "OC1PE");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr1_output.oc1m = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr1_output, "OC1M");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr1_output.oc1ce = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr1_output, "OC1CE");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr1_output.cc2s = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr1_output, "CC2S");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr1_output.oc2fe = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr1_output, "OC2FE");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr1_output.oc2pe = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr1_output, "OC2PE");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr1_output.oc2m = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr1_output, "OC2M");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr1_output.oc2ce = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr1_output, "OC2CE");
// CCMR1_Input bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr1_input.cc1s = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr1_input, "CC1S");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr1_input.ic1psc = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr1_input, "IC1PSC");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr1_input.ic1f = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr1_input, "IC1F");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr1_input.cc2s = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr1_input, "CC2S");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr1_input.ic2psc = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr1_input, "IC2PSC");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr1_input.ic2f = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr1_input, "IC2F");
// CCMR2_Output bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr2_output.cc3s = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr2_output, "CC3S");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr2_output.oc3fe = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr2_output, "OC3FE");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr2_output.oc3pe = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr2_output, "OC3PE");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr2_output.oc3m = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr2_output, "OC3M");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr2_output.oc3ce = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr2_output, "OC3CE");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr2_output.cc4s = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr2_output, "CC4S");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr2_output.oc4fe = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr2_output, "OC4FE");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr2_output.oc4pe = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr2_output, "OC4PE");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr2_output.oc4m = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr2_output, "OC4M");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr2_output.o24ce = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr2_output, "O24CE");
// CCMR2_Input bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr2_input.cc3s = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr2_input, "CC3S");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr2_input.ic3psc = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr2_input, "IC3PSC");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr2_input.ic3f = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr2_input, "IC3F");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr2_input.cc4s = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr2_input, "CC4S");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr2_input.ic4psc = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr2_input, "IC4PSC");
state->u.f1.fld.ccmr2_input.ic4f = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccmr2_input, "IC4F");
// CCER bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.ccer.cc1e = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccer, "CC1E");
state->u.f1.fld.ccer.cc1p = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccer, "CC1P");
state->u.f1.fld.ccer.cc2e = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccer, "CC2E");
state->u.f1.fld.ccer.cc2p = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccer, "CC2P");
state->u.f1.fld.ccer.cc3e = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccer, "CC3E");
state->u.f1.fld.ccer.cc3p = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccer, "CC3P");
state->u.f1.fld.ccer.cc4e = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccer, "CC4E");
state->u.f1.fld.ccer.cc4p = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccer, "CC4P");
// CNT bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.cnt.cnt = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.cnt, "CNT");
// PSC bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.psc.psc = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.psc, "PSC");
// ARR bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.arr.arr = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.arr, "ARR");
// CCR1 bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.ccr1.ccr1 = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccr1, "CCR1");
// CCR2 bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.ccr2.ccr2 = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccr2, "CCR2");
// CCR3 bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.ccr3.ccr3 = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccr3, "CCR3");
// CCR4 bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.ccr4.ccr4 = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.ccr4, "CCR4");
// DCR bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.dcr.dba = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.dcr, "DBA");
state->u.f1.fld.dcr.dbl = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.dcr, "DBL");
// DMAR bitfields.
state->u.f1.fld.dmar.dmab = cm_object_get_child_by_name(state->u.f1.reg.dmar, "DMAB");
}
// ----- 8< ----- 8< ----- 8< ----- 8< ----- 8< ----- 8< ----- 8< -----
// ----- Private --------------------------------------------------------------
#if 0
static peripheral_register_t stm32_tim2_xxx_pre_write_callback(Object *reg,
Object *periph, uint32_t addr, uint32_t offset, unsigned size,
peripheral_register_t value, peripheral_register_t full_value)
{
STM32TIM2State *state = STM32_TIM2_STATE(periph);
peripheral_register_t prev_value = peripheral_register_get_raw_prev_value(reg);
// TODO: Add code to adjust the value (like applying some masks,
// for example prevent setting interrupts not enabled).
// Also process cleared/set by write 1/0 bits.
// The returned value will be stored in the register value.
return full_value;
}
static void stm32_tim2_xxx_post_write_callback(Object *reg, Object *periph,
uint32_t addr, uint32_t offset, unsigned size,
peripheral_register_t value, peripheral_register_t full_value)
{
STM32TIM2State *state = STM32_TIM2_STATE(periph);
peripheral_register_t prev_value = peripheral_register_get_raw_prev_value(reg);
// The new register value is full_value, the old one is prev_value.
// TODO: Add code to send the value to the consumer.
}
static peripheral_register_t stm32_tim2_xxx_pre_read_callback(Object *reg,
Object *periph, uint32_t addr, uint32_t offset, unsigned size)
{
STM32TIM2State *state = STM32_TIM2_STATE(periph);
peripheral_register_t value = 0;
// Add code to get the value from the producer, and return it.
// This value, possibly masked, will be stored in the register
// and returned when the register is read.
return value;
}
static void stm32_tim2_xxx_post_read_callback(Object *reg, Object *periph,
uint32_t addr, uint32_t offset, unsigned size)
{
STM32TIM2State *state = STM32_TIM2_STATE(periph);
peripheral_register_t value = peripheral_register_get_raw_value(reg);
// TODO: add code to perform the post read actions, like clearing some bits.
}
#endif
// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// TODO: remove this if the peripheral is always enabled.
static bool stm32_tim2_is_enabled(Object *obj)
{
STM32TIM2State *state = STM32_TIM2_STATE(obj);
if (register_bitfield_is_non_zero(state->enabling_bit)) {
return true; // Positive logic, bit == 1 means enabled.
}
// Not enabled
return false;
}
static void stm32_tim2_instance_init_callback(Object *obj)
{
qemu_log_function_name();
STM32TIM2State *state = STM32_TIM2_STATE(obj);
// Capabilities are not yet available.
// TODO: remove this if the peripheral is always enabled.
state->enabling_bit = NULL;
// TODO: Add code to initialise all members.
}
static void stm32_tim2_realize_callback(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
{
qemu_log_function_name();
// Call parent realize().
if (!cm_device_parent_realize(dev, errp, TYPE_STM32_TIM2)) {
return;
}
STM32MCUState *mcu = stm32_mcu_get();
CortexMState *cm_state = CORTEXM_MCU_STATE(mcu);
STM32TIM2State *state = STM32_TIM2_STATE(dev);
// First thing first: get capabilities from MCU, needed everywhere.
state->capabilities = mcu->capabilities;
// Also keep a local pointer, to access them easier.
const STM32Capabilities *capabilities = state->capabilities;
assert(capabilities != NULL);
Object *obj = OBJECT(dev);
const char *periph_name = "TIM2";
svd_set_peripheral_address_block(cm_state->svd_json, periph_name, obj);
peripheral_create_memory_region(obj);
// TODO: remove this if the peripheral is always enabled.
char enabling_bit_name[STM32_RCC_SIZEOF_ENABLING_BITFIELD];
switch (capabilities->family) {
case STM32_FAMILY_F1:
if (capabilities->f1.is_103xx ) {
stm32f103xx_tim2_create_objects(obj, cm_state->svd_json, periph_name);
// TODO: add actions.
// cm_object_property_set_str(state->u.f1.fld.xxx.fff, "GGG", "follows");
// cm_object_property_set_str(state->u.f1.fld.xxx.fff, "GGG", "cleared-by");
// TODO: add callbacks.
// peripheral_register_set_pre_read(state->f1.reg.xxx, &stm32_tim2_xxx_pre_read_callback);
// peripheral_register_set_post_read(state->f1.reg.xxx, &stm32_tim2_xxx_post_read_callback);
// peripheral_register_set_pre_read(state->f1.reg.xxx, &stm32_tim2_xxx_pret_read_callback);
// peripheral_register_set_post_write(state->f1.reg.xxx, &stm32_tim2_xxx_post_write_callback);
// TODO: add interrupts.
// TODO: remove this if the peripheral is always enabled.
snprintf(enabling_bit_name, sizeof(enabling_bit_name) - 1,
DEVICE_PATH_STM32_RCC "/AHB1ENR/TIM2EN");
} else {
assert(false);
}
break;
default:
assert(false);
break;
}
// TODO: remove this if the peripheral is always enabled.
state->enabling_bit = OBJECT(cm_device_by_name(enabling_bit_name));
peripheral_prepare_registers(obj);
}
static void stm32_tim2_reset_callback(DeviceState *dev)
{
qemu_log_function_name();
// Call parent reset(); this will reset all children registers.
cm_device_parent_reset(dev, TYPE_STM32_TIM2);
}
static void stm32_tim2_class_init_callback(ObjectClass *klass, void *data)
{
DeviceClass *dc = DEVICE_CLASS(klass);
dc->reset = stm32_tim2_reset_callback;
dc->realize = stm32_tim2_realize_callback;
// TODO: remove this if the peripheral is always enabled.
PeripheralClass *per_class = PERIPHERAL_CLASS(klass);
per_class->is_enabled = stm32_tim2_is_enabled;
}
static const TypeInfo stm32_tim2_type_info = {
.name = TYPE_STM32_TIM2,
.parent = TYPE_STM32_TIM2_PARENT,
.instance_init = stm32_tim2_instance_init_callback,
.instance_size = sizeof(STM32TIM2State),
.class_init = stm32_tim2_class_init_callback,
.class_size = sizeof(STM32TIM2Class) };
static void stm32_tim2_register_types(void)
{
type_register_static(&stm32_tim2_type_info);
}
type_init(stm32_tim2_register_types);
// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
Twins Reared Apart From Birth: Beyond The Secret Study
[Editor’s Note: This article is part of “Peer Review,” our commissioning project where research scientists write about topics in current film. Dr. Nancy L. Segal is an expert in twin studies, and founder and Director of the Twin Studies Center at California State University, Fullerton. Dr. Segal is also a Professor of Psychology. She writes about Tim Wardle’s THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS, which follows the lives of Robert Shafran, Eddy Galland, and David Kellman. The film is in theaters, distributed by NEON, and will be released onto VOD and Blu-ray on October 2, 2018.]
It is a study that does not go away.
It was fall 1982 when I arrived at the University of Minnesota as a post-doctoral fellow to work on the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart (MISTRA). By then, the MISTRA had gained considerable stature, drawing attention from national and international scholars, students, and journalists. But for a brief time during my early years in Minnesota, an older twin study was gaining attention once again. CBS’s newsmagazine program Sixty Minutes was preparing an exposé of psychoanalyst Dr. Peter Neubauer’s 1950s-1980s Child Development Center twin project. The program intended to show how and why a group of New York City child psychiatrists and psychologists decided to ‘play God’ by separating infant twins placed through the Louise Wise adoption agency, and track their development without informing the adoptive families that their children were twins. The Agency’s decision to separate twins came from psychiatrist Viola Bernard who advised them that separating twins was in the children’s best interest since it would avoid competition for parental attention. This view was not based on research. The investigative journalists assigned to the Sixty Minutes story wanted to know what the scientists hoped to learn from this unique study, the only one in the world to follow intentionally separated twins prospectively from birth. Ultimately, the planned television special never aired.
Scientists and journalists occasionally revisit this controversial study, most recently in two documentary films, Tim Wardle’s THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS and Lori Shinseki’s THE TWINNING REACTION, and a 20/20 ABC news program. This notorious twin study has gripped both the public and professionals, perhaps because the project was so unthinkable. It breached not just established research norms, but faith in scientific integrity and belief in the inviolability of family. It is a study that does not go away.
Twin Research: The Science Behind the Fascination
The striking resemblance and exceptional intimacy of genetically identical twins have engaged society for decades. This fascination explains, in part, why stories of their matched achievements in academics and athletics, similar tastes in friends and food, and extraordinary parallels in interests and occupations (even among twins reared apart from birth) have been the focus of books, films, plays, and social media. The 2016 Guinness World Records devoted a special two-page spread to the twin record holders for longest birth interval, longest separated pair, and oldest octuplet set, among other “dual” distinctions. When we encounter identical twins who look and act identically, it challenges general beliefs about personality and development.
Scientists have also been captivated by the striking similarities of identical twins and the relative differences between fraternal—non-identical—twins. In 1875, Sir Francis Galton of Great Britain conducted the first twin study. Though it wasn’t until the early 1920s that biological differences between fraternal and identical twins were known, Galton correctly surmised that there are two types of twins. He thought of them as look-alikes and non look-alikes. Through a letter writing campaign, Galton obtained detailed life history material on 80 sets of twins, of which the members of 35 pairs showed “close similarity” and 20 showed “great dissimilarity.” Contrasting these groups led Galton to his famous conclusion that “nature prevails enormously over nurture.” Today, the classic comparison of trait resemblance between identical (monozygotic or MZ) twins who share 100% of their genes and fraternal (dizygotic or DZ) twins who share on average 50% of their genes is being applied across diverse disciplines. The design is a simple, yet elegant approach to understanding factors affecting height, weight, intelligence, personality traits, religiosity, wage earnings, medical complaints, and mental disorders. While greater resemblance between identical than fraternal twins is consistent with genetic influence on a behavioral or physical characteristic, it does not prove it. Studying the rare pairs of identical twins reared apart from birth provides the best and most direct estimate of how much genes shape our different traits. Twins just have to act naturally to reveal a wealth of information.
Twin Studies in Historical Context
Twin studies were generally frowned upon from the 1950s through the 1970s. There are many historical events that explain their disfavor. They include the Nazi legacy (1933-1945) that supported the biological superiority of some populations over others and the horrific twin experiments conducted in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps; the 1964 Civil Rights Act that outlawed racial discrimination; and the women’s rights movement of the 1960s that promoted gender equality in educational and occupational settings. Research suggesting that genetic factors affect behavior was strongly rejected in light of these developments, in favor of environmental theories to explain trait development. Twin studies’ reputation was further damaged by controversy about the veracity of the 1943-1966 intelligence test findings of British researcher Sir Cyril Burt. His findings showed genetic effects, but there was doubt over the existence of his reared-apart twin sample and research staff. It should be noted, however, that Burt’s name has been largely cleared (although some may say that the case remains open) and that reports from five well-respected reared-apart twin studies, published in 1937, 1962, 1965, 1990/2007, and 1992 show very similar results.
While all this was happening, events in other regions paved the way for twin research’s amazing comeback in the late 1970s and early 1980s. There was increasing dissatisfaction in the scientific community with environmental explanations of behavior, from both human and non-human laboratories. It was becoming evident that there were biological constraints on what animals could learn. Chromosomal aberrations underlying medical conditions, such as Down syndrome, were being discovered. Biological views of language development and information-processing were gaining attention. Data from available twin and adoption studies of general intelligence were summarized, revealing greater resemblance between close relatives than less distant relatives or non-relatives. Then, in 1979, there was a widely publicized reunion between identical twins, Jim Lewis and Jim Springer, who met for the first time at age thirty-nine. Their similarities included their nail-biting habit, unusual headache syndrome, favorite vacation spot, love of woodworking, and penchant for showering their wives with love letters. University of Minnesota psychology professor Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr., brought them to his laboratory for several days of study.
The twins’ time in Minnesota was widely covered by the press, leading to the identification of other separated sets of twins, and eventually to the launching of the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart. When the study ended in 1999, 81 identical and 56 fraternal separated twin pairs had been studied. There are two key themes that emerged from that work: genetic influence is pervasive, affecting virtually every measured human trait, and shared environments do not make family members alike. The MISTRA transformed behavioral research as it transfixed both the professional and public imagination. A comprehensive account of the project is presented in my 2012 book, Born Together-Reared Apart: The Landmark Minnesota Twin Study.
Renewed attention to Peter Neubauer’s secret study does not threaten the value and validity of twin research. The International Society for Twin Studies, formed in 1974, is thriving and twins are prominent players in molecular-genetic and epigenetic studies of behavior and disease. The Neubauer study does encourage new thinking about investigator responsibilities and participant rights, coming as it does in our current climate of threats to individual identity by government agencies, private companies, and social media platforms. Most offensive is the unspeakable arrogance on the part of Neubauer and his associates who separated the twins for professional gain, the secrecy they maintained in the years that followed, and their lack of remorse when later confronted with that decision. In the 1950s and 1960s, biological and adoptive families were never put in touch—as they often are today—but that is an issue apart from the twins’ separate placement.
Rare family arrangements of scientific significance occasionally happen and researchers can study them with justification. Single parents, or families who cannot afford to raise two children, may choose to relinquish one or both babies. A number of newborn twins have been separated by hospitals that, in, error accidentally switched one twin with one non-twin infant. Twins have even been separated due to political circumstances such as emigration regulations and tax exemption policies. In 2001, I discovered pairs of young twins reared apart because of China’s One-Child Policy, leading to the abandonment of thousands of baby girls. Most of the adoptive parents were unaware that they were raising a singleton twin until their chance viewing of the other twin’s photograph posted on a website. I have been able to track separated twins’ development in real time but, unlike Neubauer, with the full consent of their families. My hope is that project and this article will help reunite other twins who may still be apart.
References:
Galton. F. (1975). The history of twins as a criterion of the relative powers of nature and nurture. Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 5, 391-406.
Segal, N.L. (2012). Born Together - Reared Apart: The Landmark Minnesota Twin Study.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. |
Endoventricular circular patch plasty for end-stage valvular cardiomyopathy.
We present here a case of end-stage non-ischemic valvular dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) associated with mitral regurgitation (MR). The patient underwent surgery where left ventricular volume reduction using endoventricular circular patch plasty (EVCPP) and mitral valve replacement (MVR) were performed. He has improved much after the operation and is now in New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class II. |
Q:
Hexadecimal string representation to floating number in python
From python documentation says that "the hexadecimal string 0x3.a7p10 represents the floating-point number (3 + 10./16 + 7./16**2) * 2.0**10, or 3740.0" so :
>>> float.fromhex('0x3.a7p10')
3740.0
then
>>> float.hex(3740.0)
'0x1.d380000000000p+11' (will give different presentation)
My question is how to convert '0x1.d380000000000p+11' in to floating number using calculation formula above and why classmethod float.hex and classmethod float.fromhex give different presentation.
Thankyou....
A:
'0x1.d380000000000p+11' means (1 + 13./16 + 3./16**2 + 8/16**3) * 2.0**11, which is equal to 3740.0. To convert this result, you can run float.fromhex('0x1.d380000000000p+11') which returns 3740.0 again.
float.hex gives you a normalized representation, which means that the factor in front of the 2**x is between 1 and 2. What the interpreter did, was shift the comma in the binary representation by one position: increase the exponent (from 10 to 11), and half the factor (0x3.a7 / 2 = 0x1.d38).
In general, in this normalized representation, the factor in front is between 1 and the base. For example, if you do print(2234.2e-34), you get 2.2342e-31. Here the leading factor is between 1 and 10 because e corresponds to 10**x.
|
England beat co-host Ukraine, 1-0, at Euro 2012 but it barely managed to earn a 1-1 with a late Frank Lampard penalty in their World Cup 2014 qualifier on Tuesday at Wembley
Stadium.
Ukraine had taken the lead on a goal by Evhen Konoplianka in the 39th minute and it looked like it would hold up, but England was awarded a penalty in the
85th minute on an Evhen Khacheridi handball.
Ukraine was all over England and could have been ahead by several goals in the first 10 minutes. Oleh Gusyev
hit the post with a deflection off Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Steven Gerrard cleared Ruslan Rotan's effort with goalkeeper Joe Hart
beaten. After that, it was almost all England with the exception of Konoplianka's goal.
England coach Roy Hodgson thought his team had played better on Tuesday than they
had against Ukraine in Donetsk.
"The first 15 minutes we weren't at our best," he said. "The next 75 minutes we dominated the game. The fact is we played against a very good Ukraine team
but I was very pleased with the way the players went about their task. We created chances and struck the post three times. We thoroughly deserved a point."
-- Defending champion Spain needed a goal in the 86th minute from Roberto Soldado to win at Georgia, 1-0, and extend it winning streak in qualifiers to 23 games.
-- Germany, also perfect in Euro 2012 qualifying, earned a 2-1 win over neighbor Austria on goals by Marco Reus and Mesut Ozil in Vienna. "Austria should have
equalized in the end," Germany coach Joachim Loew said.
-- Euro 2012 finalist Italy was unimpressive in a 2-0 win at home over lowly Malta. Missing star Mario
Balotelli, who had undergone eye surgery, the Azzurri needed a late own goal to put the game away.
FAMILIA COLOMBIANA.
The hottest player in the world is Atletico Madrid's Radamel Falcao, and his form has carried over to the Colombian national team. Falcao scored twice in
Colombia's 4-0 win over South American champion Uruguay on Friday, and he scored the winning goal as Colombia rallied from a goal down to beat Chile, 3-1, on the road in Santiago.
Falcao's form has been infectious as teammate Teo Gutierrez scored twice against Uruguay, and the third goal against Chile on a play set up by Falcao.
"We have a good understanding," Gutierrez said of his relationship with Falcao. "This is a very nice family."
None of the home teams won in South America on Tuesday. Perhaps the
biggest surprise was Venezeula's 2-0 win at Paraguay that left Paraguay in a tie for last place.
ASIAN SHOCKERS. Jordan produced the shock result of Asian
qualifying with a 2-1 win over Australia on second-half goals by Hassan Abdel-Fattah Mahmoud and Amer Deeb at the King
Abdullah Stadium in Amman. Almost as big an upset was Lebanon's 1-0 win over Iran.
The Socceroos qualified for the last two World Cups but already trail Japan by eight points in Group B.
The top two teams in each group qualify from the Asian finals while the two third-place teams meet in a playoff to determine who meets the team that finishes fifth in South America.
"The
disappointment is enormous," Australia coach Holger Osieck told Fox Sports. "We had a very, very poor first half. We didn't get into the game, our passing was a disaster, we never
could get into our normal rhythm. We played a lot of long balls and I don't know why that happened."
BRAZIL WATCH. Three days after the national
team was jeered by fans in Sao Paulo following its 1-0 win over South Africa, all is well in again Brazil. An 8-0 win will do that.
Neymar scored a hat trick in the friendly win over
China in Recife, a traditional bastion of support for the national team.
"That's the connection we have to have with the fans," right back Daniel Alves said. "We know
what we must improve but without them we can't improve. With their help, it's all going to be easier. The Brazil teams belongs to us all and if we have that connection the work with flow."
--------------------------------Friend Soccer America:FacebookFollow Soccer America:TwitterSign up:World Cup Watch
Mr. Kennedy, you forgot to mention one world power, the best team in Cpncacaf Mexico, who struggled to take a 1-0 win vs Costa Rica at home. Mexico has qualified with 2 games left to play, as the only Concacad team to do so and as 1st place in its group. Mexico has won every official Concavaf competition starting with all 6 in Gold Cup and 4 qualifiers. That's dominance. |
Q:
Different chirality in IIB (N=2, D=10) supergravity
In some papers on type IIB supergravity (N=2, D=10) the dilatino is taken to be of positive chirality.
In some other papers dilatino is choosen instead of negative chirality.
Is it possible to map one convention to the other?
What is the standard method?
A:
I think I can give you some hints to help you spot where the whole thing starts, though I do not know if this is something I am allowed to do (I mean not give a definite answer but rather some logical steps).
In any case.
In order to go from one convention to the other, you need to figure out what is going on.
Also, it would be a good thing to check that there is no typo in the paper. It is a common situation. One makes a typo and then they derive some important results, and in subsequent papers other authors carry the typo as they didn't check. It has happened before, it will happen again.
What do we know about type $IIB$ in $10d$?
It is a maximal supergravity in ten dimensions which cannot be (directly) obtained from d = 11. It contains 32 real supercharges in two
Majorana-Weyl spinors of the SAME chirality.
$\Gamma$-matrices
They are unique (up to a similarity transformation)
in even dimensions; for odd dimensions, there are two inequivalent representations.
For d=10,
$$\Gamma_{chiral} = \Gamma_0 \cdots \Gamma_9$$
and there is no other way to write it down, see i.e Polchinski vol 2, appendix.
So, it seems we can narrow down the confusion.
The $\gamma$-matrices are not causing -or better yet should not be causing- this chirality change. Now, it seems, that the change in chirality should be in the spinors. What I mean is that the left-chiral of one paper is the right-chiral of the other. At least this is what sounds reasonable in my head.
This might have to do with the conventions that each author is using.
And it makes sense, since there is no universal way of writing down SUSY. The conventions are very different from one paper to the other, so it has to do with how they write down the chiral supermultiplets.
Is there a consistent way to do it?
If I am correct in my above considerations, then by knowing both of the SUSY conventions that they used, you'll be able to figure out where they have a relative minus change or something like that.
I know that this does not answer fully your question, but I sincerely hope I helped. At least a bit. If not, apologies.
Cheers
|
Lactobacillus rhamnosus
Lactobacillus rhamnosus is a bacterium that originally was considered to be a subspecies of L. casei, but genetic research found it to be a species of its own. It is a short Gram-positive heterofermentative facultative anaerobic non-spore-forming rod that often appears in chains. Some strains of L. rhamnosus bacteria are being used as probiotics, and are particularly useful in treating female-related infections, most particularly very difficult to treat cases of bacterial vaginosis (or "BV"). The Lactobacillus rhamnosus and L. reuteri species are most commonly found in the healthy female genito-urinary tract and are most helpful to supplement in order to regain control over dysbiotic bacterial overgrowth during an active infection. L. rhamnosus sometimes is used in yogurt and dairy products such as fermented and unpasteurized milk and semi-hard cheese. While frequently considered a beneficial organism, L. rhamnosus may not be as beneficial to certain subsets of the population; in rare circumstances, especially those primarily involving weakened immune system or infants, it may cause endocarditis.
Genome
Lactobacillus rhamnosus has a wide variety of strains that have been isolated from many different environments including the vagina and gastrointestinal tract. L. rhamnosus strains have the capacity for strain-specific gene functions that are required to adapt to a large range of environments. Its core genome contains 2,164 genes, out of 4,711 genes in total (the pan-genome). The accessory genome is overtaken by genes encoding carbohydrate transport and metabolism, extracellular polysaccharides, biosynthesis, bacteriocin production, pili production, the CRISPR-cas system, the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) loci, and more than 100 transporter functions and mobile genetic elements such as phages, plasmid genes, and transposons.
The genome of the specific strain L. rhamnosus LRB, in this case, taken from a human baby tooth, consists of a circular chromosome of 2,934,954 bp with 46.78% GC content. This genome contains 2,749 total genes with 2,672 that are total protein-coding sequences. This sample did not contain any plasmids. The most extensively studied strain, L. rhamnosus GG, a gut isolate, consists of a genome of 3,010,111 bp. Therefore, the LRB genome is shorter than GG’s genome. LRB lacks the spaCBA gene cluster of GG and is not expected to produce functional pili (6). This difference may help explain why each strain lives in a different habitat.
Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (ATCC 53103)
Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (ATCC 53103) is a strain of L. rhamnosus that was isolated in 1983 from the intestinal tract of a healthy human being; filed for a patent on 17 April 1985, by Sherwood Gorbach and Barry Goldin, the 'GG' derives from the first letters of their surnames. The patent refers to a strain of "L. acidophilus GG" with American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) accession number 53103; later reclassified as a strain of L. rhamnosus. The patent claims the L. rhamnosus GG (ATCC 53103) strain is acid- and bile-stable, has a great avidity for human intestinal mucosal cells, and produces lactic acid. Since the discovery of the L. rhamnosus GG (ATCC 53103) strain, it has been studied extensively on its various health benefits and currently L. rhamnosus GG (ATCC 53103) strain is the world's most studied probiotic bacterium with more than 800 scientific studies.
The genome sequence of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (ATCC 53103) has been decoded in 2009.
History
In 1983, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG was isolated from the intestinal tract of a healthy human by Sherwood Gorbach and Barry Goldin.
Medical research and use
While Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (ATCC 53103) is able to survive the acid and bile of the stomach and intestine, is claimed to colonize the digestive tract, and to balance intestinal microflora, evidence suggests that Lactobacillus rhamnosus is likely a transient inhabitant, and not autochthonous. Regardless, it is considered a probiotic useful for the treatment of various maladies, as it works on many levels. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG binds to the gut mucosa.
Diarrhea
L. rhamnosus GG is beneficial in the prevention of rotavirus diarrhea in children. Prevention and treatment of various types of diarrhea have been shown in children and in adults. L. rhamnosus GG can be beneficial in the prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhea and nosocomial diarrhea and this has been recently supported by European guidelines. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG may reduce the risk of traveler's diarrhea.
Acute gastroenteritis
A position paper published by ESPGHAN Working Group for Probiotics and Prebiotics based on a systematic review and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) suggested that L. rhamnosus GG (low quality of evidence, strong recommendation) may be considered in the management of children with acute gastroenteritis in addition to rehydration therapy.
Atopic dermatitis, eczema
Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG has been found to be ineffective for treating eczema.
Risks
The use of L. rhamnosus GG for probiotic therapy has been linked with rare cases of sepsis in certain risk groups, primarily those with a weakened immune system and infants. Ingestion of GG is considered to be safe and data show a significant growth in the consumption of L. rhamnosus GG at the population level did not lead to an increase in Lactobacillus bacteraemia cases.
References
Further reading
External links
Type strain of Lactobacillus rhamnosus at BacDive - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase
Category:Digestive system
Category:Probiotics
Category:Lactobacillaceae
Category:Bacteria described in 1989 |
Ben Stiller's new NYC pad is ridiculously good-looking
It's a zoo out there, so Ben Stiller found himself a peaceful home above it all. For $15.3 million, the "Zoolander" and Focker film series actor snagged 3,400 square feet of pure Manhattan luxury overlooking the Hudson River.
While his walls of windows frame the sunset, Stiller's new home interior features an eat-in kitchen clad in walnut and Alabama white-vein marble. It includes a 78-bottle wine refrigerator and a Miele coffee station.
See exclusive photos of the stellar home:
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The apartment also has 3 eastern-facing bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms and walk-in closets.
All this in a West Village high-rise built in 2013, with a lavish community lap pool, a plunge pool and a hot tub, plus a gym offering steam, sauna and massage. |
High incidence of disability pension with a psychiatric diagnosis in western Sweden. A population-based study from 1980 to 1998.
Regional differences in Sweden in the prevalence of disability pension with a psychiatric diagnosis are unexplained, in spite of the significant impact on the population's health, rehabilitation systems, and the health care system. The purpose of this study was to describe the pattern of disability pensions with a psychiatric diagnosis and to analyze the impact of age and gender. We examined the incidence rates in one urban and one semi-rural region and compared these to national rates. The study sample was drawn from employed persons between 16-64 years of age who, because of their sickness insurance coverage, would be eligible to access disability pensions should it be necessary. Analysis of annual incidences and standardized morbidity ratios were made for 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, and 1998. Data on disability pension cases were collected from the National Social Insurance registers. In the urban region we found that the proportion of men and women clearly outnumbered the national average: approximately twice the number of persons between 16-64 years of age with a psychiatric diagnosis were receiving a disability pension. In the semi-rural region there were fewer men overall on disability pensions with psychiatric disorders, but in 1980, 1985, and 1995 women clearly outnumbered men. Access to psychiatric care, unemployment, alcohol dependence, and previous sickness absence are suggested as possible factors that might affect the rates of disability pension in different geographical settings. |
Talk Soft
FreeSWITCH is a powerful and versatile telephony platform that can scale from a softphone to a PBX and even to a carrier-class softswitch.
Open source projects have lowered the barrier to entry into telephony for hobbyists and businesses alike. The popular Asterisk PBX tool, for instance, is a high-functioning and low-budget telephony alternative that has proven disruptive in the world of business telephone systems [1]. Perhaps the most disruptive software of all, however, comes in the form of the scalable softswitch library called FreeSWITCH.
The FreeSWITCH website [2] says that it can be used as a "simple switching engine, a PBX, a media gateway, or a media server to host IVR applications."
True to that chameleon-like description, FreeSWITCH has appeared in production environments as a telco switch, in numerous business scenarios as a PBX, as a softphone for laptop users, and even as a voice routing engine for the OpenSim project.
Additionally, you can deploy FreeSWITCH as an application or use it as a library (libfreeswitch) that can be embedded in third-party software. This double identity is similar to the relationship between cURL (application) and libcurl (library).
FreeSWITCH has been used in some exotic scenarios; however, those new to telephony applications are best served starting out with FreeSWITCH in its default configuration as a SOHO PBX. Although you might find the numerous FreeSWITCH configuration files and settings overwhelming, in a short time, you will appreciate the power and flexibility of this versatile telephony tool.
Installing FreeSWITCH
As of this writing, the current, stable version of FreeSWITCH is 1.0.4, which can be downloaded from the project website [3], or you can use the Subversion repository to install the latest version. Unlike many projects, the SVN trunk is extremely stable, so it might be convenient for you simply to use the latest trunk.
In any case, the FreeSWITCH developers have made it very easy to update to the latest trunk, even if you have installed from the latest stable version. Some pre-compiled binaries are known to exist; however, I recommend compiling from source.
First, unpack and install the source. In this example, I will download into /usr/src and install from there:
FreeSWITCH comes with and can handle sound files at 8, 16, 32, and 48kHz sampling rates. Few, if any, telephony systems – open source or proprietary – can do the kinds of things FreeSWITCH can do with calls at multiple sampling rates.
The installation will take some time, so feel free to chain the commands together with the && operator.
When the process is complete, you will have a basic FreeSWITCH installation. Because it is handy to have the two main FreeSWITCH executable files available in the bin path, I use symlinks:
To launch the application, enter freeswitch, and use the fs_cli utility to access the command line of any FreeSWITCH server to which you have access, even if it is on another server. At first, you'll see quite a bit of debug/log information, but don't worry about errors or warnings at this point.
Your New Softswitch
The first basic command is version, which displays the version of Free-SWITCH you are running, including the SVN revision. The status command shows information about your instance of FreeSWITCH, including uptime and the number of currently active sessions. Another basic command is the self-descriptive help.
The i and o are next to the currently selected input and output devices. To change the input device, use the pa indev command with the device number,
pa indev #x
where x is the number of the input device. The output device can be changed with the pa outdev command. In my setup, I'll use device 4 as output and device 5 as input.
If you have the MOH (music on hold) files installed, this command will make a call to the MOH extension and send the MOH to the PortAudio output device:
pa call 9999
If you hear music, it was a successful call. If not, make sure the MOH files were installed properly. Hang up with the pa hangup command.
To make sure both input and output devices are working, do an echo test:
pa call 9996
Now when you speak into the input device, your voice should be echoed to the output device. The pa hangup command disconnects.
As you can see, it is possible to use Free-SWITCH and PortAudio to create a simple softphone. In this way, you will be able to use any codec that your FreeSWITCH installation supports – and there are some very high quality codecs available – without installing a softphone client.
Connecting a SIP Phone
The most common way to use Free-SWITCH is with a SIP phone. A physical handset is often called a hard phone, whereas a software-based phone is appropriately called a softphone. Numerous types of hard phones are available from manufacturers. Softphones come in both proprietary and FLOSS varieties. A popular free – but not open source – softphone is X-Lite from CounterPath [4], which is available for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. Even if your FreeSWITCH server runs on Linux, your softphones can run on any operating system, as long as they are SIP compliant.
Session Initiation Protocol
SIP is a TCP/IP-based Application Layer protocol used for multimedia sessions over the Internet. The text-based protocol is similar to HTTP, with requests and responses, header fields, encoding rules, and status codes. In addition to VoIP, SIP is used in instant messaging, online gaming, and distribution of streaming multimedia.
To begin, download X-Lite for your desktop or laptop operating system and perform a default install. (Installing a softphone on the same system that is running FreeSWITCH is not recommended; however, in many cases, it will work for the sake of testing.)
Now launch X-Lite and open the SIP Account Settings menu by clicking the Show Menu button. (The button is the small down-arrow at the top of the phone, just left of center.)
Only one SIP account is available in X-Lite, so click on it then click the Properties button. As shown in Figure 1, fill in the fields and use 1234 as the password for extension 1000.
Figure 1: The X-Lite SIP account configuration screen.
Next, clear out the Dialing plan field because it is not needed with FreeSWITCH. Now click OK then Close, and the phone will attempt to register. Figure 2 shows a successful registration.
Figure 2: A successfully registered X-Lite client.
To make a test call, dial 9999 and click the green button to send. In a few moments you should hear music on hold. Figure 3 shows a call in progress to extension 9999.
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Linux users didn't need the recent NSA eavesdropping scandal to convince them that securing communication was a good idea. Free software developers have been creating secure tools for years that offer similar functionalities to all of those popular but very leaky services with ridiculous names. |
Q:
Как закрыть все divы
Я новичек. Никак не могу разобраться, как закрыть один div если нажимаем на другую кнопку.
<body>
<a onclick="look('about'); return false;" href="#">ABOUT</a>
<a onclick="look('contacts'); return false;" href="#">CONTACTS</a>
<div style="display:none" id="about"><p>about</p></div>
<div style="display:none" id="contacts"><p>contacts</p></div>
<div><p>Постоянный див который не нужно закрывать</p></div>
<script>
function look(elemId) {
var elem = document.getElementById(elemId);
elem.style.display === "none" ?
elem.style.display = "block" : elem.style.display = "none";
}
</script>
</body>
A:
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<body>
<a onclick="look('about')" href="#">ABOUT</a>
<a onclick="look('contacts')" href="#">CONTACTS</a>
<div style="display:none" id="about">
<p>about</p>
</div>
<div style="display:none" id="contacts">
<p>contacts</p>
</div>
<div>
<p>Постоянный див который не нужно закрывать</p>
</div>
<script>
function look(elemId) {
$('#' + elemId).toggle();
$('#about, #contacts').not('#' + elemId).hide();
}
</script>
</body>
|
package org.jzy3d.plot3d.primitives.vbo.buffers;
import java.nio.IntBuffer;
import org.jzy3d.maths.BoundingBox3d;
public interface VBO<T> {
public T getVertices();
public void setVertices(T vertices);
public IntBuffer getIndices();
public void setIndices(IntBuffer indices);
public BoundingBox3d getBounds();
public void setBounds(BoundingBox3d bounds);
} |
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Q:
How to specify a default value for an argument for clap_app! macro?
I want to use clap_app! macro to define an argument which should have a default value. Unfortunately, there is nothing in the docs, and my naive attempt didn't work:
#[macro_use]
extern crate clap;
fn main() {
let matches = clap_app!(myapp =>
(@arg seconds: -u +takes_value +default_value("1.0") "Update time")
).get_matches();
println!("{}", matches.value_of("seconds").unwrap())
}
How can I specify a default value for an argument within clap_app! macro?
A:
This is currently impossible with number, https://github.com/kbknapp/clap-rs/issues/1035.
But it's should be:
(@arg seconds: -u +takes_value default_value[1.0] "Update time")
|
Rachel Maddow points out that Fox News violated their own debate qualification criteria by ignoring the fifth most recent poll and instead taking the sixth, with the result being a greater distinction between tenth and eleventh place, Kasich and Perry. |
Joseph Gordon-Levitt joined Christian Bale on the set Friday, Oct. 28. Levitt plays young special assignment cop John Blake in the film, and was spotted donning his police uniform in several new photographs.
Rumors had circulated that filming could include the Occupy Wall Street protests, though Friday's shoot reportedly took place outside the Trump Tour, which was temporarily transformed into Wayne Enterprises. Bale was spotted outside wearing a suit and tie as his average joe alter-ego, Bruce Wayne, while extras lined the streets dressed as reporters and photogs.
According to NJ.com, the cast will move production to Newark, New Jersey next week, filming one day inside City Hall. |
Q:
Horiztonal centered rotated text
Hello I am trying to create this in HTML + CSS.
I have everything working, except the horizontal alignement of the legend is wrong, and the whole legend is offset.
https://jsbin.com/cuzobijuqe/
.barometer-body>div {
float: left;
width: 12.5%;
height: 1.3em;
display: inline-block;
}
.barometer-body>div:nth-child(1) {
background-color: #CC0033;
}
.barometer-body>div:nth-child(2) {
background-color: #FF6633;
}
.barometer-body>div:nth-child(3) {
background-color: #F49819;
}
.barometer-body>div:nth-child(4) {
background-color: #FFCC00;
}
.barometer-body>div:nth-child(5) {
background-color: #FFFF66;
}
.barometer-body>div:nth-child(6) {
background-color: #99C667;
}
.barometer-body>div:nth-child(7) {
background-color: #349937;
}
.barometer-body>div:nth-child(8) {
background-color: #006633;
}
.barometer-legend>div {
width: 12.5%;
float: left;
font-size: 2em;
line-height: 12.5%;
display: inline-block;
transform: rotate(90deg);
transform-origin: left top 0;
}
<div class="barometer-body">
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
</div>
<div class="barometer-legend">
<div>One</div>
<div>Two</div>
<div>Three</div>
<div>Four</div>
<div>Five</div>
<div>Six</div>
<div>Seven</div>
<div>Eight</div>
</div>
What CSS method should I use for aligning the rotated text to the center position of it's associated segment?
EDIT: thanks to @ovokuro I have an almost perfect solution. I'm happy to use flexbox for this. However when I reduce the viewport, the alignment seems to switch to left rather than right which causes the text to look messy. How would I fix this?
A:
I think you could approach this layout using flexbox
updated as per comment (text not aligning on smaller screen sizes):
Replace text-align: right with justify-content: flex-end:
.barometer-legend > div {
display: flex;
justify-content: flex-end;
}
I have also added a media query to reduce the font-size on smaller screens.
.wrapper,
.barometer-body,
.barometer-legend {
display: flex;
}
.wrapper {
flex-direction: column;
}
.barometer-body {
border-radius: 2em;
overflow: hidden;
}
/* create space between body and legend */
.barometer-legend {
padding-top: 6%;
}
.barometer-body>div,
.barometer-legend>div {
flex: 1 0 12.5%;
width: 12.5%;
height: 1.3em;
}
.barometer-body>div:nth-child(1) {
background-color: #CC0033;
}
.barometer-body>div:nth-child(2) {
background-color: #FF6633;
}
.barometer-body>div:nth-child(3) {
background-color: #F49819;
}
.barometer-body>div:nth-child(4) {
background-color: #FFCC00;
}
.barometer-body>div:nth-child(5) {
background-color: #FFFF66;
}
.barometer-body>div:nth-child(6) {
background-color: #99C667;
}
.barometer-body>div:nth-child(7) {
background-color: #349937;
}
.barometer-body>div:nth-child(8) {
background-color: #006633;
}
.barometer-legend>div {
font-size: 2em;
transform: rotate(-90deg);
display: flex;
justify-content: flex-end;
}
@media (max-width: 600px) {
.barometer-legend div {
font-size: 1.5em
}
}
<div class="wrapper">
<div class="barometer-body">
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
</div>
<div class="barometer-legend">
<div>One</div>
<div>Two</div>
<div>Three</div>
<div>Four</div>
<div>Five</div>
<div>Six</div>
<div>Seven</div>
<div>Eight</div>
</div>
</div>
|
Google posts source for Ice Cream Sandwich
There were a few people in these forums who contended that Google had abandoned its commitment to “open source” with Honeycomb.
Before the first Ice Cream Sandwich device is available, Google has posted the source code, and the mod-ers can get busy with it. Device manufacturers can also get busy with it, and we should see some tablets with ICS installed in December, with phones following in January. It’s really a great time for Android. |
South Carolina Highway 2
South Carolina Highway 2 (SC 2) is a state highway in the U.S. state of South Carolina that runs between two portions of U.S. Highway 21/U.S. Highway 176/U.S. Highway 321 (US 21/US 176/US 321) in Lexington County. The southern of the highway are known as Frink Street while the northern of the highway are known as State Street.
Route description
SC 2 is a , two-lane road just southwest of Columbia, serving as a business route for Cayce. It begins at the US 21/US 176/US 321 concurrency heading northeast. It then takes a turn to the north and runs parallel to the Congaree River to its west. Shortly after passing US 1, the highway ends at US 378 in West Columbia. The highway runs by an elementary school, Brookland-Cayce High School, two shopping centers, and a park.
History
SC 2 is one of the original state highways. The original route went from the Georgia state line north of Mountain Rest heading east towards Greenville before turning southeast and ending in Charleston, spanning over . It was considered the state's "Main Street" in the 1920s and 1930s. The road began construction in 1923 and ended 11 years later in 1932. The road was re-designated as US 76, US 176 and US 178 in the 1940s and has been reduced to just under .
Major intersections
References
External links
002
Category:Transportation in Lexington County, South Carolina
Category:U.S. Route 76 |
“Empire” co-creator and executive producer Lee Daniels says he is "beyond embarrassed" by his initial public support for actor Jussie Smollett, who was charged with faking a hate crime attack. But he is not convinced Smollett is guilty.
Daniels told New York magazine's culture and entertainment website, Vulture, that when Smollett, who is black and gay, reported he was attacked Jan. 29 in downtown Chicago, he was inclined to believe the "Empire" actor. Smollett claimed two masked men hurled racial and homophobic slurs, placed a noose around his neck and poured bleach on him.
Authorities alleged that Smollett knew the men, Abimbola “Abel” and Olabinjo “Ola” Osundairo, and had arranged for them to pretend to attack him. Police believed he staged the attack because he was unhappy with his salary on "Empire" and wanted to gain public sympathy.
"I’m beyond embarrassed," Daniels said. "I think that when it happened, I had a flash of me running from bullies. I had a flash of my whole life, of my childhood, my youth, getting beaten."
Daniels, who had been among the first to voice his support for Smollett after he made the report, also said he is uncertain if Smollett staged the attack.
"I’m telling you that because I love him so much," Daniels said. "That’s the torture that I’m in right now, because it’s literally if it were to happen to your son and your child, how would you feel? You would feel, 'Please, God, please let there be that glimmer of hope that there is some truth in this story.' That’s why it’s been so painful. It was a flood of pain."
Daniels said he did not read any media coverage of the incident because he was "too busy putting out fires."
"We weren’t there. I can’t judge him," Daniels said. "That’s only for the f------ lady or man with that black robe and God."
The Oscar-nominated director said he had to distance himself from the case.
"I had to detach myself and stop calling him, because it was taking away the time I have for my kids, the time I have for my partner," Daniels said. "It was affecting my spirit and other shows, everything."
Smollett was arrested in February, but prosecutors dropped the charges in March. He has maintained his innocence and insists he was attacked.
Daniels has been clear that Smollett will not return to "Empire."
Fox announced in May that the show's recently announced sixth season will be its last. Asked if he believed that Smollett's case played a part, Daniels said, "Certainly, that played a major part."
He added: "But come on, man. I think that it’s been a good run. 'Empire' in its current iteration may be over, but 'Empire' is far from over." |
412 Ill. 446 (1952)
107 N.E.2d 692
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS et al., Appellants,
v.
ROTH, INCORPORATED, et al., Appellees.
No. 32238.
Supreme Court of Illinois.
Opinion filed May 22, 1952.
Rehearing denied September 15, 1952.
*447 IVAN A. ELLIOTT, Attorney General, of Springfield, (WILLIAM C. WINES, RAYMOND S. SARNOW, A. ZOLA GROVES, and JOHN T. COBURN, of counsel,) for appellants.
LEONARD H. LAWRENCE, (ALBERT E. JENNER, JR., and CHARLES J. O'LAUGHLIN, of counsel,) all of Chicago, for appellees.
Reversed and remanded.
Mr. JUSTICE MAXWELL delivered the opinion of the court:
This suit was instituted in the circuit court of Cook County by the People of the State of Illinois, as plaintiff, against seven defendants, proprietors of establishments variously referred to as night clubs and theater restaurants. Upon motion, Benjamin O. Cooper, Auditor of Public Accounts of the State of Illinois, was joined as plaintiff. Plaintiffs filed a motion to strike the answer of defendants and for judgment on the pleadings, and upon denial of the motion by the trial court plaintiffs elected to stand upon their motion and perfected their appeal directly to this court, the public revenue being involved.
The case at bar is a sequel to the decision of this court in two consolidated cases entitled "Byron Massell et al., Appellees, v. Richard J. Daley, Director of Revenue, et al., Appellants," and "Roth, Inc., et al., Appellees, v. Richard *448 J. Daley, Director of Revenue, et al., Appellants," and cited as Massell v. Daley, 404 Ill. 479.
Practically all the proceedings in these cases, hereinafter referred to as the consolidated cases, including the above opinion, are set out in haec verba in the pleadings in this suit. It appears therefrom that the defendants in this cause joined as plaintiffs in suits in equity under section 2a of an act which relates to the disposition of State funds paid under protest, (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1949, chap. 127, par. 172,) against certain State officials to restrain the collection of retailers' occupation taxes. The suits alleged that the plaintiffs were operating establishments which furnished entertainment and also dispensed food, beverages and liquors to their patrons. They there contended that they were engaged primarily in the business of furnishing entertainment and that services, in the form of entertainment, constituted 40 per cent of the total gross receipts realized from the sale of both such services and tangible personal property for consumption by their customers. Those suits were commenced in 1941 and a temporary injunction was entered enjoining certain State officials from paying or depositing into the State Treasury money paid by plaintiffs under protest. The money so paid in 1941 and from thence until December, 1948, amounted to 40 per cent of the "sales tax" upon the gross receipts of the plaintiffs. The funds thus accumulated by December 21, 1948, amounted to $91,912.97. In 1948 the plaintiffs amended their complaint, abandoning the right to apportionment between sales of tangible personal property and entertainment, and contending that their business was primarily that of furnishing entertainment, that the sale of food and drink was only incidental to their business, and that the whole of the business was nontaxable. The Attorney General filed a motion to dismiss the complaint as amended, which was overruled, and a decree was entered holding that the plaintiffs in that suit were not liable for said retailers' occupation *449 tax by their operation of their several places of business. The then Attorney General raised no objections to the decree. On December 21, 1948, the trial court entered an order directing the then State Treasurer to return to the plaintiffs sums aggregating the above amount. This order was consented to by the then Attorney General through one of his assistants. Following the entry of such decree and order, warrants were drawn on the protest fund, payable to the several plaintiffs in the aggregate sum of $91,912.97. The succeeding State officers perfected an appeal from that decree. Upon that appeal, this court, in its opinion in the consolidated cases, found that the decree was invalid and it was reversed. Massell v. Daley, 404 Ill. 479.
The plaintiff State, defendant in the consolidated cases, seeks judgment against the defendants, jointly and severally, in the amount of $91,912.97 in this action at law sounding in trespass on the case and trover. They allege that the defendants illegally procured and converted to their own use unlawfully issued State warrants and their proceeds, by joint consent to unlawful action, with the co-operation of former State officers, and by the pretended authority of the decree in the consolidated cases.
Two contentions of the defendants in the case at bar regarding the meaning of the language appearing in the Massell v. Daley opinion may be readily eliminated. First: when we held that the decree was "invalid," we held in clear and unmistakable language that the decree was void. If this court had meant "erroneous," as contended by the defendants, we would have so stated. There could be no plainer language than to say that the decree was entered by consent and did not constitute a judicial determination of the rights of the parties. If the purported decree did not constitute a judicial determination, then, obviously, it was not merely erroneous but was actually void. We pointed out in that case that the constitution prohibited the General Assembly from releasing an obligation due to *450 the State, (sec. 23, art. IV,) and that if the General Assembly could not release such obligations an administrative officer could not do so. (People ex rel. Ames v. Marx, 370 Ill. 264.) There seems no room for doubt that at the time the consent decree was entered releasing the taxpayers from all liability, at least a part of the amount involved was a valid obligation due the State. It will be presumed that both the taxpayers and the State officials knew that the officials had no authority to agree to a consent decree releasing the obligation due the State, and, under such circumstances, fraud is presumed, and such a decree is void ab initio. (Green v. Hutsonville Township High School Dist. 356 Ill. 216.) Second: the contention that the opinion in Massell v. Daley was authority for the proposition that the defendant taxpayers were liable only for a tax measured by their receipts from the sale of food and beverages and need not pay a tax measured by their receipts for entertainment is without merit. That issue was not before the court and could not have been before the court upon the pleadings. We there specifically stated, page 486: "The question of the right to recover the amounts provided in said decrees is not before the court and we express no opinion thereon."
The defendants contend that plaintiffs have no title to any of the tax-protest fund but that title to such fund was at all times in defendants and, consequently, an action in the nature of trover cannot lie. Apparently, this is based on the theory that the decree in the consolidated cases had not been reversed at the time the defendants received and cashed the warrants. This contention ignores the well-established rule that a void decree has no legal effect, and attempts to controvert the doctrine that where property has been delivered to a neutral depositary upon a condition that, if not fulfilled, it should be paid over to a third party, then the third party becomes entitled to it as of the time of the original deposit. (Clodfelter v. Van Fossan, *451 394 Ill. 29.) The protest fund remained in the hands of the State Treasurer and not in the general funds of the State, but when the decree in the consolidated cases was found to be void, the funds belonged in the general fund of the State and the State became entitled to them as of the time of the original deposits. Such a deposit only fails to become the property of the State when the taxpayer obtains a favorable adjudication in a protest injunction suit. The statute specifically requires that the money in the protest fund shall be held in the protest fund until "the final order or decree of the court," whereupon it shall be returned to the protesting taxpayer if that order is in his favor. In the case at bar, not only was the order permitting the taxpayers to recover not final, it was not a court order at all. It was not a judicial determination. There can be no doubt that the State had and retained a special title in the protested amount from the time of its deposit until it acquired full title by court order, or its special title was divested by a final, valid order in the protesting taxpayers' favor. This special title which the State is bound to retain permits this action of trover. Undoubtedly, it was the intention of the General Assembly that deposits paid under protest should, if taxpayers failed to recover their deposit legally, have the effect of taxes paid at the time of the deposits. It was the purpose of the act to give the taxpayer the benefit of credit for payment of his taxes as of the time of the deposit, if it should ultimately be decided that he owed the tax.
The defendants attempt to make a distinction between an action for the conversion of the warrants themselves and an action for the conversion of the proceeds of the warrants. While this is not strictly an action of trover, it is an action in the nature of trover, and we have held that trover will lie against one who has unlawfully obtained negotiable instruments and received the proceeds thereof. (Rauch v. Fort Dearborn Nat. Bank, 223 Ill. 507.) Technically, *452 this can be considered a conversion of the specific personal property, or it can be looked on as two successive conversions, the first being the conversion of the instrument, the second the conversion of the proceeds to the use of the wrongdoer. We are of the opinion that the complaint is broad enough to support an action either for the conversion of the warrants or of the proceeds. The facts are not in doubt as to the receiving of the several amounts by the respective defendants by the obtaining of the warrants and the taking and retaining of the proceeds.
The defendants allege that this is an action for the recovery and collection of "sales tax," and must fail because the statutory scheme, which is exclusive, was not followed. In view of our discussion above, it should be unnecessary to reiterate that this is a common-law action in the nature of trover to recover the proceeds of State warrants illegally acquired by the defendants. The reversal of the invalid consent decree did not determine the plaintiffs' claims for refund; an injunction operative from 1941 to 1948 precluded State action during that period; and the statutory period within which redetermination of taxes can be made has lapsed. The defendants' actions, under the spurious cloak of legality afforded them by the void decree, have denied the State all remedies save this one at common law. The action is not, and could not be, an action for the recovery or collection of "sales tax." It is an action to recover the value of property wrongfully converted to the defendants' use.
The only remaining question is whether the judgment should be entered jointly or severally. The plaintiffs contend that by joining with other defendants in the consolidated suits, their retention of one attorney and the co-operation of the defendants in a course of conduct that resulted in the illegal disbursement of said funds, made the defendants jointly liable. We fail to see that there is here such a joint liability. No conspiracy is shown to *453 make the defendants joint tort-feasors; there would appear to be no illegal intent which would make all responsible for the acts of one. It is true that the litigants in the consolidated cases proceeded in two separate actions to prosecute their claims. This they had a right to do, and they had a right to employ the same counsel if they saw fit. Each defendant was acting on his own behalf for the amount which each, respectively, claimed. The money was refunded by separate warrants, each such payment being separate and distinct. We conclude that there is no joint liability, but that the defendants are severally liable to plaintiffs for the amounts, respectively, illegally collected by them from the State.
The decree of the circuit court is reversed and the cause remanded, with directions to enter separate judgments against the defendants for the several sums set forth in the alternate prayer of plaintiffs' complaint.
Reversed and remanded, with directions.
|