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Terrusnolides A-D, new butenolides with anti-inflammatory activities from an endophytic Aspergillus from Tripterygium wilfordii. Terrusnolides A-D (1-4), four butenolides were isolated from an endophytic Aspergillus from Tripterygium wilfordii. The structures of 1-4 were established by comprehensive spectroscopic analyses and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculation. It is interesting that 1 was a butenolide derived by a triple decarboxylation, while 2-4 were the metabolites with 4-benzyl-3-phenyl-5H-furan-2-one motif possessing an isopentene group fused to the benzene ring. In vitro anti-inflammatory effects of these isolates were evaluated in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages. 1-4 exhibited excellent inhibitory effects on the production of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and nitric oxide (NO) in LPS-induced macrophages, comparable with the positive control (indomethacin). Those results indicated that, terrusnolides A-D might serve as new potential natural remedies for the treatment of inflammation.

Taiwanese bizmen seek organic products THIS year’s Taiwan Trade and Investment Delegation will gear in creating potential business partners in organic products, a business leader said. Mindanao Business Council (MBC) executive director Rolando Torres said organic products will be the one of the four industries to be business-matched during the investment meeting on October 19, 2018 at Apo View Hotel. The organic edible products include variants of multi-grain flakes and OTER multi-cereal milk, yam and nuts, organic juices, and even ketchup and organic vinegar. Cheng Yuan Organic Corporation and Hong Kong View Enterprise Ltd. Taiwan branch will be the companies attending for the organic product business match. Torres said this organic product industry will help strengthen the local efforts in supporting farm-to-table initiatives. “Maganda yung potential on farm-to-table restaurants. Of course, offering organic products, so magandang ma-explore ‘yun (There is a potential in farm-to-table restaurants. It would be good to explore on organic products),” Torres said in an interview. Torres said the Taiwanese investors are gaining interest here because of the government's efforts on investment promotions. “Well, they (the Taiwanese) were very vocal about it that it was the president and the president’s intensified effort in investments here in Mindanao. And the expectations were met. That prompted them to hold another meeting in October,” Torres said in an interview. SunStar website welcomes friendly debate, but comments posted on this site do not necessarily reflect the views of the SunStar management and its affiliates. SunStar reserves the right to delete, reproduce or modify comments posted here without notice. Posts that are inappropriate will automatically be deleted. Forum rules: Do not use obscenity. Some words have been banned. Stick to the topic. Do not veer away from the discussion. Be coherent. Do not shout or use CAPITAL LETTERS!

Product Description High-Quality Stuffed Mink Trophy Part of the Mustelidae family, the American Mink is highly prized for it's fur. There are only two species living today, the European Mink and the American Mink. The European Mink always has a white patch on its upper lip, but the American Mink sometimes does not. They are distant relatives of the weasel, otter, and ferret. Bring out the raw nature of this wily weasel in your living room, fireplace setting, game room, or bedroom and it's sure to get the conversation started. Featuring a full size American Mink in full detail. Available in different poses to choose from. We also do custom orders. Just call for more details. We proudly carry a life-time guarantee with all our work. Taxidermy is the incredible art of providing top quality workmanship to sports enthusiasts through wild game tanning and mounting. Because we use only the finest materials available for our craft, and because we use only the premier tanners in the country, our work is second to none. The best quality leather tan we can possibly give you in a mount, combined with our skillful expertise assures you that your trophy will last generations. It is sure to be a conversation starter. The stock picture is not the actual package you will receive. Because Mother Nature blessed each animal differently, no two trophies will be the same. Feel free to browse our collection of other animals. Dimensions Dimensions No Typically Ships Via FedEx/UPS/USPS Shipping Cost Free Shipping - Curbside/Tailgate Delivery Free Shipping Requirements Free Curbside/Tailgate Shipping within the Contiguous 48 States Availability Usually ships in 3 - 6 business days when in stock - call/email for availability

// // ViewController.swift // RSSReader // // Created by susieyy on 2014/06/03. // Copyright (c) 2014年 susieyy. All rights reserved. // import UIKit class ViewController: UITableViewController, MWFeedParserDelegate { var items = [MWFeedItem]() override func viewDidLoad() { super.viewDidLoad() // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib. } override func viewWillAppear(animated: Bool) { super.viewWillAppear(animated) request() } override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() { super.didReceiveMemoryWarning() // Dispose of any resources that can be recreated. } func request() { let URL = NSURL(string: "https://www.wantedly.com/projects.xml") let feedParser = MWFeedParser(feedURL: URL); feedParser.delegate = self feedParser.parse() } func feedParserDidStart(parser: MWFeedParser) { SVProgressHUD.show() self.items = [MWFeedItem]() } func feedParserDidFinish(parser: MWFeedParser) { SVProgressHUD.dismiss() self.tableView.reloadData() } func feedParser(parser: MWFeedParser, didParseFeedInfo info: MWFeedInfo) { println(info) self.title = info.title } func feedParser(parser: MWFeedParser, didParseFeedItem item: MWFeedItem) { println(item) self.items.append(item) } override func tableView(tableView: UITableView, heightForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> CGFloat { return 100 } override func numberOfSectionsInTableView(tableView: UITableView) -> Int { return 1 } override func tableView(tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int { return self.items.count } override func tableView(tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) -> UITableViewCell { let cell = UITableViewCell(style: UITableViewCellStyle.Default, reuseIdentifier: "FeedCell") self.configureCell(cell, atIndexPath: indexPath) return cell } override func tableView(tableView: UITableView, didSelectRowAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) { let item = self.items[indexPath.row] as MWFeedItem let con = KINWebBrowserViewController() let URL = NSURL(string: item.link) con.loadURL(URL) self.navigationController?.pushViewController(con, animated: true) } func configureCell(cell: UITableViewCell, atIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath) { let item = self.items[indexPath.row] as MWFeedItem cell.textLabel?.text = item.title cell.textLabel?.font = UIFont.systemFontOfSize(14.0) cell.textLabel?.numberOfLines = 0 let projectURL = item.link.componentsSeparatedByString("?")[0] let imgURL: NSURL? = NSURL(string: projectURL + "/cover_image?style=200x200#") cell.imageView?.contentMode = UIViewContentMode.ScaleAspectFit cell.imageView?.setImageWithURL(imgURL, placeholderImage: UIImage(named: "logo.png")) } }

Introduction ============ The ability to silence a single target gene with minimal toxicity and few off-target effects (OTEs) would offer the medical community new tools to combat a wide variety of diseases. Several hybridization-based technologies have been tested over the past 30 years that utilize synthetic oligonucleotides to suppress expression of a specific target gene. In broad terms, these technologies are based on a gene being targeted either by small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) which exploit the natural cellular RNA interference machinery^[@bib1],[@bib2]^ or by an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) that can function *via* a variety of mechanisms, including RNase H-mediated cleavage of RNA, steric hindrance of mRNA translation, splice site switching, and miRNA antagonists.^[@bib3],[@bib4],[@bib5]^ ASOs and siRNAs have struggled to produce commercially viable therapeutics, in spite of initial excitement and large-scale investment^[@bib6]^ presenting an opportunity for alternative gene-silencing technologies. U1 Adaptors are a recently invented gene-silencing technology that exploits the natural ability of the U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (snRNP) splicing factor to inhibit gene-specific polyA site activity of the target gene, a regulated nuclear pre-mRNA processing step obligatory for nearly all RNA Polymerase II genes.^[@bib7],[@bib8],[@bib9],[@bib10],[@bib11],[@bib12]^ A U1 Adaptor is a synthetic oligonucleotide (typically 28--33 nucleotides) comprised of a 5′ target domain (TD), which binds to the target pre-mRNA, and a 3′ U1 domain (U1D), which binds to the 5′-end of the U1 small nuclear RNA subunit of U1 snRNP.^[@bib7],[@bib8]^ Tethering of the U1 snRNP to a target pre-mRNA blocks maturation leading to reduced levels of mature mRNA. The U1D sequence is common to all U1 Adaptors and is defined by the U1 snRNP; design and chemical modification patterns have already been optimized.^[@bib7]^ In contrast, the TD sequence is target-specific and hence unique to each U1 Adaptor. Like all other gene knockdown technologies, empiric testing is required for site selection and optimization. Extensive medicinal chemistry studies have been done in ASO and siRNA systems to find chemical modifications that improve nuclease stability, enhance potency, and reduce OTEs.^[@bib3],[@bib5],[@bib13],[@bib14],[@bib15],[@bib16],[@bib17]^ Unlike siRNAs or RNase H-mediated ASOs, U1 Adaptors do not interact or function with any cellular enzymes (such as RNase H, Dicer, Argonaut 2, etc.) and thus can be made entirely using modified components, such as 2′-O-Methyl RNA (2′OMe) or locked nucleic acids (LNAs), with or without phosphorothioate (PS)-modified internucleotide linkages.^[@bib7]^ All oligonucleotide-based silencing technologies have associated toxicities and U1 Adaptors are no exception, as evidenced by a recent report that showed significant OTEs when used at high doses.^[@bib18]^ In a previous report, use of U1 Adaptors at a lower dose gave effective and specific silencing with few OTEs.^[@bib7]^ Here, we present the first report of *in vivo* use of U1 Adaptors by targeting two human genes to suppress growth of human melanoma cells in a mouse xenograft model system. The antiapoptotic human B-cell lymphoma 2 (*BCL2*) gene has been a frequent target in studies using ASO and RNA interference technologies^[@bib19],[@bib20],[@bib21],[@bib22],[@bib23],[@bib24]^ and plays a role in many cancers, including melanoma^[@bib25],[@bib26],[@bib27],[@bib28],[@bib29]^ that has extraordinary intrinsic resistance to apoptotic cell death commonly induced by anticancer drugs, in part due to elevated levels of BCL2.^[@bib28],[@bib29]^ We chose a human melanoma xenograft mouse system for its proven track record in predicting efficacy in clinical trials as evidenced by riluzole that has gone on to show efficacy in phase 0 and 2 human trials.^[@bib30]^ Our second target, the metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 (*GRM1*) gene has only recently been established as an important factor in melanoma as well as other cancers.^[@bib31],[@bib32],[@bib33]^ Using our novel tumor-specific dendrimer delivery vehicle, we demonstrate that very low doses of anti-*BCL2* or anti-*GRM1* U1 Adaptors are sufficient to reduce growth/progression of human melanoma xenografts with little apparent toxicity. These results offer proof-of-concept that U1 Adaptors are an effective gene-silencing therapeutic platform that can suppress tumor growth using doses far lower than expected based on published experience using other oligonucleotide-based methods.^[@bib34]^ These results also lay a foundation for exploiting U1 Adaptors to target other genes as well as a wide variety of other human disorders. Results ======= U1 Adaptor silencing of *BCL2 in vitro* --------------------------------------- Twelve anti-human-*BCL2* U1 Adaptors were screened for functional potency in C8161 melanoma cells (**Supplementary Figure S1a,b**). Two U1 Adaptors, BCL2-A and BCL2-B showed strong activity in reducing *BCL2* mRNA levels (**Supplementary Figure S1b,c**) and were used in subsequent studies. LNA- and 2′OMe-modified variants of BCL2-A were compared for activity in C8161 cells (**[Figure 1a](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}**, **Supplementary Figure S2a**) and the LNA-modified variant BCL2-A~L2~ showed the highest silencing activity at both the protein (western immunoblots) and mRNA (reverse transcription-quantitative PCR) levels (**[Figure 1b](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}** lanes 5--6, **Supplementary Figure S2b**). To demonstrate that the silencing activity of BCL2-A~L2~ is mediated *via* a U1 Adaptor mechanism, C8161 cells were transfected with matching control U1 Adaptors having either the inactivated TD or U1D by mutation or by unlinking the TD and U1D into two separate molecules called "half-Adaptors" (**[Figure 1a](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}**). In all cases, these negative controls failed to reduce BCL2 protein (**[Figure 1b](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}**) or mRNA (**Supplementary Figure S2b**) levels, strongly supporting a U1 Adaptor-based silencing mechanism, e.g., one where the U1 Adaptor oligonucleotide must tether the target pre-mRNA to the U1 snRNP. Modification of BCL2-A with three PS linkages at each end to improve exonuclease resistance (BCL2-A~ps~) or a fluorescent label (Cy3-BCL2-A) did not alter potency compared with the parent compound (**Supplementary Figure S2c**). Development of a tumor-targeting dendrimer nanoparticle ------------------------------------------------------- The cyclic RGD pentapeptide (RGD) was chosen as a tumor-targeting ligand because it is small, easy to conjugate, and specifically binds the α5β3 splice variant of an integrin cell surface receptor that is overexpressed in a wide variety of cancer cells, including C8161.^[@bib35],[@bib36]^ The particle was based on a generation 5 (G5) polypropyleneimine (PPI) dendrimer that was previously used to successfully deliver nucleic acid cargos in mouse xenograft models of human tumors.^[@bib37],[@bib38],[@bib39],[@bib40],[@bib41]^ As RGD binds to its receptor with much higher affinity as a dimer,^[@bib42],[@bib43]^ the RGD targeting ligand was coupled to the PPI G5 dendrimer in a final 2:1 molar ratio to give RGD-G5 (**[Figure 1c](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}**). Transfection of C8161 cells *in vitro* with a BCL2-A:RGD-G5 complex demonstrated that RGD-G5 was active as a delivery vehicle, having potency comparable to transfection of BCL2-A with the cationic lipid reagent Lipofectamine 2000 (LF2000) (**[Figure 1d](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}**, **Supplementary Figure S3a--c**). Surprisingly, an anti-*BCL2* Dicer-substrate siRNA that was effective using LF2000 transfection did not suppress *BCL2* mRNA levels when used with the RGD-G5 dendrimer, suggesting this delivery vehicle is not compatible with siRNA class reagents (**[Figure 1d](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}**). Use of RGD to PPI G5 coupling ratios of 4:1 and 8:1 resulted in reduced efficacy *in vitro* (**Supplementary Figure S4**). BCL2-A is active *in vivo* and uses a U1 Adaptor mechanism ---------------------------------------------------------- Mice bearing established C8161 subcutaneous xenografts were administered BCL2-A:RGD-G5 or control complexes in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) *via* intravenous (iv) tail vein injection. Pilot studies (data not shown) established that effective tumor suppression could be achieved using 1.7 µg of the U1 Adaptor and a 1:1.3 Adaptor:RGD-G5 stoichiometry. Dynamic light scattering measurements indicated the particle size of the injected complex (\~3.2 µmol/l U1 Adaptor and \~4 µmol/l RGD-G5 in 1x PBS) was 193 nm with a polydispersion index = 0.18 with little difference in size for different U1 Adaptor sequences (**Supplementary Figure S5**). Mice were given biweekly injections of various formulations for 3 weeks and the tumors were evaluated (**[Figure 2a](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}**). Tumor-bearing treatment group 2 (TG2) mice that were dosed with a 1.7 µg BCL2-A:2.4 µg RGD-G5 complex (68 µg Adaptor/kg) per injection exhibited \~70% tumor reduction compared with TG1, the vehicle control group (*P* = 0.004). No significant tumor suppression was seen with the two control U1 Adaptor cohorts, which were treated with either a TD-mutant BCL2-A (TG3) or a U1D-mutant BCL2-A (TG4). Thus disruption of either the TD or the U1D resulted in loss of activity, strongly arguing for a U1 Adaptor mechanism of action. The TG6 mice were dosed with a 1.7 µg BCL2-A:2.4 µg G5 complex, where G5 matches the RGD-G5 vehicle but lacks the RGD ligand. This cohort did not show reduction in tumor mass, demonstrating the importance of the targeting ligand. Use of a fivefold lower dose (0.34 µg BCL2-A:0.48 µg RGD-G5 complex) resulted in no inhibition of tumor growth (TG5), establishing that \>0.34 µg Adaptor/dose was needed for tumor suppression. Protein and RNA extracted from tumors of day 22 TG1-4 mice demonstrated that only the BCL2-A:RGD-G5--treated mice had reduced BCL2 protein (**[Figure 2b](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}**) and mRNA (**Supplementary Figure S6a**). Others have shown that therapeutic-based BCL2 silencing in xenograft mice by either ASOs or siRNAs increases the rate of apoptosis.^[@bib19],[@bib20],[@bib21],[@bib23]^ Immunohistochemical analysis shown in **[Figure 2c](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}** demonstrated that BCL2-A--treated, but not the control animals, showed an increased number of positive, activated Caspase 3 stained cells. Furthermore, immunohistochemical analysis using the cell proliferation marker, Ki67, showed that BCL2-A--treated, but not the control animals, had a reduced number of actively proliferating cells (**[Figure 2d](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}**). Both visual and histopathological inspection of several organs including liver, kidney, spleen, heart, brain, and lung from the TG1-TG6 mice showed no evidence for tissue damage or toxicity (data not shown). None of the mice exhibited overt signs of toxicity such as lethargy, not eating or drinking, loss of body weight or ulceration of the transplanted tumor. While the above data support that BCL2-A\'s tumor suppression activity is likely to be mediated through reducing *BCL2* mRNA levels, it did not rule out a possible contribution of an extracellular mechanism such as impaired tumor vascularization, a possible side effect of RGD targeting.^[@bib35],[@bib36],[@bib42],[@bib43]^ This was addressed by showing that C8161 cells transfected with BCL2-A:RGD-G5 *ex vivo* before implantation led to significant tumor suppression (**[Figure 2e](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}**). The results of this *ex vivo* experiment strongly suggest that tumor suppression detected *in vivo* is primarily if not completely mediated through an intracellular mechanism and also demonstrate a long-lasting effect as the single *ex vivo* transfection of BCL2-A led to tumor suppression persisting at least through 23 days *in vivo*. C8161 cells transfected with RGD-G5:Adaptor complexes all had a similar doubling time and apoptosis rate (data not shown) independent of whether the Adaptor was capable of silencing BCL2 indicating *in vitro* results do not always predict *in vivo* activities. Two chemically modified variants of BCL2-A were studied (BCL2-A~ps~ with terminal PS modification and BCL2-A~L2~ with LNA residues in the TD) in an attempt to increase potency *in vivo* (**[Figure 3a](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}**). Although BCL2-A~ps~ (TG9) gave significant tumor suppression as compared with the vehicle control (TG7), it was less active than BCL2-A (TG8). BCL2-A~L2~ (TG13) showed tumor suppression equal to BCL2-A, an observation that contrasts with its superior activity *in vitro*, further demonstrating that *in vitro* results do not always translate to similar outcomes *in vivo*. Others have also found unpredictable behavior of LNA backbone modifications.^[@bib16],[@bib17]^ The other data in **[Figure 3a,b](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}** demonstrated that a 2:1 RGD:PPIG5 coupling ratio was superior to a 4:1 ratio (compare TG8 with TG10); further, a 1:4 Adaptor:RGD-G5 stoichiometry was less effective than a 1:1.3 stoichiometry (compare TG16 with TG18); a minimally effective dose for BCL2-A was 0.85 µg/injection (34 µg Adaptor/kg). To further support that *BCL2* is indeed the therapeutic target and that the observed tumor suppression was not due to sequence-specific OTEs, we analyzed a second anti-*BCL2* Adaptor (BCL2-B) which targets a different site of the *BCL2* gene. BCL2-B also was effective in reducing tumor mass, albeit with lower potency than BCL2-A (**[Figure. 3c](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}**), and used a U1 Adaptor mechanism as single domain mutant BCL2-B Adaptors were not active *in vivo* (**[Figure 3d](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}**). Notably, **[Figure 3d](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}** used an (RGD)~x2~-containing G5 PAMAM dendrimer (RGD-PAMAM-G5) in place of the PPI core found in RGD-G5 as we wanted to demonstrate that our results were not dependent on a particular class of dendrimer. Indeed a head-head comparison of RGD-G5 and RGD-PAMAM-G5 found they had comparable tumor suppression activity *in vivo* (**Supplementary Figure S6b**). Dynamic light scattering measurements indicated the particle size of the injected complex (\~3.2 µmol/l U1 Adaptor and \~4 µmol/l RGD-PAMAM-G5 in 1x PBS) was 200 nm with a polydispersion index = 0.147 with little difference in size for different U1 Adaptor sequences (**Supplementary Figure S4c**). We also demonstrated that BCL2-A\'s tumor suppression activity is not peculiar to C8161 xenografts as BCL2-A also suppressed UACC903 xenograft tumor growth (**Supplementary Figure S6c**). As compared with C8161, UACC903 is a more aggressive and genotypically distinct melanoma that harbors a V600E *B-RAF* mutation found in 70% of all melanomas (C8161 has a wild-type *B-RAF*).^44,45^ Anti-*GRM1* Adaptors also suppress melanoma tumor growth at low dose -------------------------------------------------------------------- Ectopic expression of *GRM1* in melanocytes is sufficient to induce melanocytic cell transformation *in vitro* and spontaneous melanoma development *in vivo*; short hairpin RNA-based silencing of *GRM1* inhibited tumor cell growth *in vitro* and *in vivo*.^[@bib31],[@bib46]^ Screening anti-human--*GRM1* Adaptors in C8161 cells *in vitro* identified three candidate U1 Adaptors that reduced human GRM1 at the protein (**[Figure 4a,b](#fig4){ref-type="fig"}**) and mRNA (**Supplementary Figure S7a--d**) levels. Treatment of C8161 xenograft mice with these anti-*GRM1* U1 Adaptors decreased tumor growth and reduced *GRM1* protein levels in day 21 excised xenograft tumors compared with the vehicle control (**[Figure 4c](#fig4){ref-type="fig"}**). To demonstrate mechanism of action, the two most potent anti-*GRM1* Adaptors (GRM1-A~ps~ and GRM1-B~ps~) underwent additional analysis as follows, GRM1-B~ps~ uses a U1 Adaptor mechanism as repeating the GRM1-B~ps~ treatment with matching TD-mutant or U1D-mutant control U1 Adaptors gave no tumor suppression (**[Figure 4d](#fig4){ref-type="fig"}**) and no reduction of *GRM1* at the protein and mRNA levels as compared with RGD-G5--treated (vehicle only) control mice (**[Figure 4e](#fig4){ref-type="fig"}**). TD and U1D mutant Adaptor control xenograft experiments for GRM1-A~ps~ also demonstrated that the reduced tumor volumes were again mediated by a U1 Adaptor mechanism (**[Figure 5a](#fig5){ref-type="fig"}**). Tumor suppression was lost when RGD was replaced with RAD, a well-validated inactive sequence variant of RGD that fails to bind integrin receptors, once again demonstrating that tumor targeting is required. Finally, testing the variant RGD-G5/SPDP vehicle that has a short 10 Å non-PEG--containing linker (in contrast to the 50 Å PEG-linker employed in the original RGD-G5 dendrimer) showed significant reduction in tumor volume, demonstrating that RGD-G5\'s linker length and composition were not critical for activity. It was previously shown that short hairpin RNA-based silencing of *GRM1* in human melanoma cell xenografts leads to reduced levels of phosphorylated AKT (pAKT).^[@bib46],[@bib47]^ Excised GRM1-A~ps~ U1 Adaptor-treated day 17 tumor samples also showed decreased levels of pAKT (**Supplementary Figure S8**). Immunohistochemical analysis of the excised day 17 tumors from the anti-*GRM1* U1 Adaptor-treated xenografts demonstrated increased activated Caspase 3 and decreased Ki67 staining (**[Figure 5b,c](#fig5){ref-type="fig"}**), similar to the previous observation using anti-*BCL2* U1 Adaptors. Both GRM1-A~ps~ and GRM1-B~ps~ U1 Adaptors were also able to suppress tumor progression of UACC903 xenografts, broadening their scope of action to melanoma with mutated B-RAF (**Supplementary Figure S9a**). In contrast to previous observations using BCL2-A, the presence of PS end-modifications on the anti-*GRM1* U1 Adaptors resulted in superior *in vivo* activity compared with the same oligonucleotides with phosphodiester end linkages (**Supplementary Figure S9b**). No toxicity or immune stimulation was observed in U1 Adaptor-treated C57BL6 mice -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was important to examine the effects of U1 Adaptor administration in immune-competent mice (C57BL6) to directly assess whether the U1 Adaptor antitumor effects could in part be based on stimulation of the innate immune system, a complication observed using other gene-silencing therapeutics.^[@bib48],[@bib49],[@bib50]^ Although a variety of receptors will recognize various forms of DNA and RNA, no receptors are known that recognize 2′OMe RNA or LNA residues, making it unlikely that the U1 Adaptors employed in the present study would trigger immune activation. BCL2-A and GRM1-A~ps~ U1 Adaptor:RGD-G5 complexes were injected into C57BL6 mice; interleukin-12 (IL-12) and interferon-α (IFN-α) levels were measured 4 hours post-injection. Baseline levels of both cytokines were seen for all mice except those in the positive control cohort which were administered poly(I:C), a known toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) agonist (**[Figure 6a](#fig6){ref-type="fig"}** and **Supplementary Figure S10**).^[@bib51]^ In a similarly designed but independent experiment, baseline levels of IL-12 and interferon-α were also observed 24 hours post-injection (**Supplementary Figure S11a,b**). C57BL6 mice were given the standard 3-week U1 Adaptor treatment regimen (68 µg Adaptor/kg; two times/week) and serum levels of alkaline phosphatase and alanine transaminase were measured to assess for evidence of hepatic injury; both enzymes remained at basal levels throughout the study period (**[Figure 6b,c](#fig6){ref-type="fig"}**). These same serum samples also contained basal levels of IL-12 and IFN-α levels indicative of no immune stimulation even after 3 weeks of biweekly treatments (data not shown). Six organs from the same mice (liver, kidneys, spleen, heart, brain, and lungs) were excised, stained, and analyzed by the Rutgers-UMDNJ Molecular Histopathological Facility Core. No tissue damage was detected and only rare foci of inflammatory cells were seen in all organ samples. Thus no evidence for toxicity was found for any treatment group. Discussion ========== U1 Adaptors were previously shown to be effective triggers of gene silencing in mammalian cells *in vitro* but their applicability for *in vivo* use was heretofore untested. The present study offers proof-of-concept that U1 Adaptors can be effective in suppressing expression of targeted genes and slow tumor growth *in vivo* when combined with a suitable delivery vehicle. Success was observed using the same xenograft mouse system and human cell lines (C8161 and UACC903) that proved predictive for riluzole in preclinical studies that later went on to show efficacy in phase 0 and 2 human trials.^[@bib30]^ The broad utility of the U1 Adaptor approach is underscored by the fact we successfully targeted two genotypically different melanoma cell lines (BRAF wild-type and BRAF V600E mutant) and two different cancer-implicated genes, *BCL2* and *GRM1*. The technology also proved robust as our very first *in vivo* experiment and all subsequent experiments, encompassing \~108 treatment groups totaling over 800 mice, exhibited a very high potency for both genes, suppressing tumor progression at doses as low as 34--68 µg Adaptor/kg. U1 Adaptors have two distinct functional domains, both of which must be present on the same oligonucleotide to function *via* a U1 snRNP-based mechanism of action. Suitable negative controls for mechanism of action include use of full-length U1 Adaptors with mutations in either the TD or the U1D or half-Adaptors (isolated TD or U1D) to show that both functional domains must reside on the same molecule.^[@bib7]^ The present study employed all of these mechanistic controls and demonstrated that an intact U1 Adaptor oligonucleotide with functional (*i.e.,* non-mutated) sequences in both the TD and U1D is required to achieve tumor suppression and a gene suppression effect. These controls further support a U1 mechanism of action in both the *in vitro* and *in vivo* studies. Tumor growth can be suppressed by a variety of routes including downregulation of necessary oncogenes, nutritional starvation (disruption of vascular supply), direct chemical cytotoxicity, or immune activation. In the present study, we found evidence for induction of apoptosis and reduced cell division only in tumor-bearing animals treated with intact (non-mutated) anti-*BCL2* or anti-*GRM1* U1 Adaptors, which correlated with reduction of BCL2 or GRM1 levels in the tumor tissue. Treated animals showed no evidence for either general chemical toxicity from the administered compounds or immune activation. Further, tumor cells treated *ex vivo* with the U1 Adaptors before implantation showed marked growth retardation in animals that never received iv dosing of the U1 Adaptor:RGD-G5 complex, making it unlikely that disrupted vascularization contributed to tumor suppression. U1 Adaptors are large, highly charged synthetic nucleic acids with a molecular weight of around 11,000 daltons. Molecules of this type do not readily enter most cell types without assistance, so use of an appropriate delivery vehicle is crucial to the success. The need for efficient delivery, one of the primary challenges of the oligonucleotide therapeutic field, continues to inspire production of an ever-widening variety of delivery systems ranging from cationic lipid or polymer-based nanoplexes, to antibody-protein fusion systems, to encapsulation of the oligonucleotide drug in exosomes or bacterial minicells. With the exception of delivery to liver,^[@bib34],[@bib52],[@bib53]^ efficacious siRNA-based targeting using low microgram doses is usually not possible with systemic iv dosing and typically is only seen with local administration (e.g., direct intraocular or intratumoral injection). Use of dendrimers to deliver therapeutic oligonucleotides is relatively under-explored, although a recent report successfully used a PAMAM dendrimer to deliver therapeutic doses of multiple Dicer-substrate siRNAs at single digit microgram levels in a humanized mouse model of HIV1.^[@bib54]^ Although the PPI dendrimer-based system employed here was useful in this proof-of-concept study and exhibited no detectable toxicity, it is clearly prudent to explore the compatibility of other delivery systems with U1 Adaptors. It is important to acknowledge the contribution of ligand targeting for the success we observed using the present dendrimer-based systems. The low-dose efficacy achieved here required the RGD targeting ligand and tumor suppression was lost when the RGD ligand was either omitted from the vehicle or substituted with the related but inactive RAD variant. To date, most reports targeting *BCL2* with siRNAs and ASOs in tumor-bearing mice have involved injection of a naked oligonucleotide, precluding comparison with the work presented here. Systemic injection in tumor-bearing mice of 10 mg doses of a naked anti-*BCL2* ASO was efficacious leading to phase 3 trials that ultimately failed due to poor efficacy.^[@bib2],[@bib27]^ Systemic injection of a naked anti-*BCL2* siRNA at 200 µg/kg daily for 24 days led to tumor suppression in human Panc1 (pancreatic) mouse xenografts.^[@bib22],[@bib23]^ Of particular interest was a dual functional siRNA that suppressed *BCL2 via* an RNA interference mechanism while activating RIG-1 expression and an immune response through a 5′ end triphosphate group with a combined efficacy at 50 µg doses delivered on days 3, 6, and 9 in a mouse melanoma model in C57BL6 mice.^[@bib55]^ However, the complex chemistry needed to produce triphosphate siRNAs may preclude the scale-up needed for clinical studies. While the RGD ligand used here was chosen for its simplicity and prior success when used at very low doses to image human tumors growing in mice,^[@bib56]^ there are many other tumor-targeting ligands that may prove superior. Although concern has been raised about the nonspecific effects of RGD when used at high doses,^[@bib43]^ this may be largely alleviated at far lower doses such as the ones reported here. The achievement of proof-of-concept paves the way for future studies including exploration of pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties as well as expanded dose response studies and the use of other delivery systems/targeting ligands. Previous *in vitro* work found that, unlike siRNAs where the most potent siRNA in a pool appears to dominate the functional response,^[@bib57],[@bib58]^ the combined use of several U1 Adaptors against the same target increased the level of gene suppression.^[@bib7]^ The use of multiple U1 Adaptors against the same target may permit even lower dosing to be used, which could be beneficial if dose-related toxicity or other OTEs were found in a different system. Further, considering that clinical responses are not durable and relapse is a near-certainty for most cancers using monotherapy, the possibility of simultaneous multi-gene targeting with multiple U1 Adaptors to achieve higher levels of tumor cell apoptosis and longer lasting tumor suppression is an attractive option. Combinational therapy combining U1 Adaptors and small molecule chemotherapeutic agents is also expected to provide enhanced therapeutic benefit, an approach already shown to be successful for siRNAs^[@bib23]^ and ASOs.^[@bib21],[@bib24],[@bib27]^ Materials and Methods ===================== *Xenografts in immunodeficient nude mice.* All animal studies were approved by the Institutional Review Board for the Animal Care and Facilities Committee of Rutgers University. Male nude mice (5 weeks old) were purchased from Taconic (Hudson, NY). Human melanoma cells, C8161 or UACC903, were injected into the dorsal area at 10^6^ cells per site. Unless indicated, all treatment groups comprised 10 mice. Tumors were measured weekly with a Vernier caliper and tumor volume (V; cubed centimeters) was calculated by using the equation *V* = *d *^2^*x*·*D*/2, where *d* (centimeters) and *D* (centimeters) are the smallest and largest perpendicular diameters. Once tumors reached ≈10 mm^3^, the animals were divided randomly into treatment groups so that the mean difference in tumor size between each group was \<10%. Mice were killed after \~3 weeks (for C8161) or \~5 weeks (for UACC903) corresponding to when the tumor volume in the vehicle-treated group had reached the maximum size permitted by the institutional review board. The tumor xenografts were excised for further histological and molecular analyses. *P* values were calculated using Student\'s two-tailed *t*-test. *Preparation and analysis of RNA, proteins, and source of oligonucleotides.* RNA and protein levels from transfected cells and excised tumors from xenografts were determined by western blotting and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR as previously described,^[@bib7],[@bib31]^ except for the immunoprecipitation (IP) western blot (described below). The quantitative PCR primers, siRNAs, and gene-specific U1 Adaptors were manufactured by Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT, Coralville, IA) except for the LNA-containing Adaptors, which were purchased from Exiqon (Vedbaek, Denmark). The Control U1 Adaptor used is a 2′OMe-modified oligonucleotide not complementary to human transcripts 5′-GUCAGAAAUACA CAAUACCUGCCAGGUAAGUAU derived from a reporter transcript described in ref. ^[@bib7]^. Poly(I:C) (VacciGrade) was purchased from Invivogen (San Diego, CA). *IPs and western blots.* IP of protein from excised tumors was done as follows with all steps done at 4 °C. Protein G beads (catalog 17-0618-01; GE Healthcare, Pittsburgh, PA) were prepared by washing 3x in TNET (20 mmol/l Tris pH 7.4, 150 mmol/l NaCl, 1 mmol/l EDTA, 1% triton X-100), followed by 1 hour TNET + 1 mg/ml bovine serum albumin, followed by three washes in TNET and resuspended as a 50% slurry in TNET. Each IP sample contained 500 µg of tumor protein diluted to 300 µl with TNET containing protease cocktail inhibitors II, III, and IV (Calbiochem catalog nos. 524625, 539134, and 524628; Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany) diluted as per the manufacturer\'s instructions. To each IP sample in **[Figure 2b](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}**; lanes 3--6, was added 8 µl anti-BCL2 antibody (Invitrogen catalog 13-8800; Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA) and 1 µl antitubulin antibody (catalog AB-2/DM1A; Abcam, Cambridge, MA), except for lane 2 that had only antitubulin antibody. After gentle rocking for 4 hours, 20 µl protein G bead slurry (10 µl packed beads) was added and the sample gently rocked for four more hours. The beads were gently pelleted, the supernatant aspirated and the beads washed three times in TNET with a 5-minute rocking/wash. After removing the last of the supernatant, the beads were resuspended in laemmli loading buffer, heated and analyzed by 12% western blot. The upper half of the membrane was probed with antitubulin antibody. To avoid interference with the mouse light chain signal that migrates close to the BCL2 band, the lower half of the membrane was probed with anti-BCL2 from rabbit (SAB4300340; Sigma-Aldrich, St Louis, MO). *Immunohistochemistry.* The Tissue Analytical Services at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey performed all the immunohistochemical staining of excised tumor xenografts to detect changes in the number of apoptotic and proliferating cells using the well-known activated Caspase 3 and Ki-67 markers, respectively. The number of stained cells was quantified with a digital Aperio ScanScopeGL system and ImageScope software (v 10.1.3.2028) (Aperio Technologies, Vista, CA) according to the manufacturer\'s protocol with modifications as described.^[@bib59]^ *Immune response and liver enzyme assays.* IL-12 and IFN-α levels in mouse serum samples were measured using specific ELISA kits from Invitrogen (Life Technologies) and PBL Interferon Source (Piscataway, NJ), respectively. The activities of alanine transaminase and alkaline phosphatase in mice serum were determined using the MaxDiscovery ALT enzymatic assay kit and MaxDiscovery AP enzymatic assay kit (Bioo Scientific, Austin, TX) according to the manufacturer\'s instructions. *Statistics.* The number of mice used for each experiment was determined with the help from the Biometrics Facility Core at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey. *P* values were determined using unpaired Student\'s two-tailed *t*-test. Xenograft experiments comprised 10 mice/group except in a few cases where 5--8 mice/group were used. With 10 mice per group, a 35% treatment difference between control and tested group can be detected with 80% power at an α-level of 5% (two-sided test). A *P* value of \<0.05 was considered significant. *Preparation of RGD-G5 nanoparticles.* PPIG5 (SyMO-Chem, Eindhoven, Netherlands) was diluted to a 10 mmol/l stock in water using HCl to bring the pH to 7.0 and stored in aliquots at −80 °C. cRGD and cRAD (Peptides International, Louisville, KY), and the SM(PEG)~12~ and LC-SPDP linkers (Thermo Scientific Pierce, Rockford, IL) were resuspended and stored as per the manufacturer\'s instructions. Conjugation to make RGD-G5 was as follows: 24 µl of 200 mmol/l SM(PEG)~12~ in DMSO was added to 6.1 ml of 0.25 mmol/l PPIG5 in aqueous buffer containing 50 mmol/l KCl, and incubated for 1 hour at room temperature, (SM(PEG)~12~ was threefold excess over PPIG5). Glycine was then added to a final 3 mmol/l concentration to neutralize any unreacted SM(PEG)~12~ and after 30 minutes the solution brought to 40 mmol/l Tris pH 6.8 and a sixfold excess cRGD added to a final 1.5 mmol/l concentration. After 1 hour of conjugation, excess cysteine was added to neutralize any unreacted groups and the sample extensively dialyzed 48 hours with three changes of buffer against 30 mmol/l Hepes pH 7.9. The final sample was 200 µmol/l RGD-G5 in 30 mmol/l Hepes pH 7.9 and was stored in aliquots at −80 °C. Multiple freeze thawing (\>20) had no detectable effect on activity. *Preparation of RGD-G5/SPDP, a short, non-PEG--containing linker version of RGD-G5.* RGD-G5/SPDP was prepared as follows: 8 ml of 0.25 mmol/l PPIG5 in 10 mmol/l Hepes pH 7.9, 1 mmol/l EDTA, and 1.5 mmol/l LC-SPDP (added last) was incubated for 2 hours at room temperature. After overnight dialysis with two changes of buffer against 10 mmol/l Hepes pH 7.9, 1 mmol/l EDTA, a pyridine 2-thione release assay was done as per the manufacturer\'s instructions to determine the conjugation efficiency. Then 500 µl of 5 mg/ml cRGD freshly dissolved in 3% acetic acid was added to 7.3 ml of the activated PPIG5 and the reaction proceeded overnight at 4 °C. After overnight dialysis with two changes of buffer against 10 mmol/l Hepes pH 7.9, 1 mmol/l EDTA, a pyridine 2-thione release assay was done and the final samples stored in aliquots at −80 °C. *Dynamic light scattering.* Particle size of the injected formulation at standard dose either a 1.7 µg (3.2 µmol/l) U1 Adaptor:2.4 µg (4 µmol/l) RGD-G5 complex in 1x PBS or a 1.7 µg (3.2 µmol/l) U1 Adaptor:8 µg (4 µmol/l) RGD-PAMAM-G5 complex in 1x PBS was determined by a DLS apparatus (Malvern Zetasizer; Malvern Instruments, Westborough, MA). Several dilutions of the sample were analyzed by automatic measurement setting comprised of the average of runs, each run having 30 measurements of 5 seconds per measurement. *Preparation of RGD-PAMAM-G4 and RGD-PAMAM-G5.* PAMAM-G4 and PAMAM-G5 (Dendritech, Midland, MI) were diluted to a 2 mmol/l stock in water using HCl to bring the pH to 7.0 and stored in aliquots at −20 °C. RGD-PAMAM-G4 was prepared as follows: 1 ml of 0.2 mmol/l PAMAM-G4 in 25 mmol/l Hepes pH 7.9, 1 mmol/l EDTA, 150 mmol/l NaCl, and 1.2 mmol/l LC-SPDP (added last) was incubated for 2 hours at room temperature. After overnight dialysis with two changes of buffer against 25 mmol/l Tris pH 8.0, 1 mmol/l EDTA, and 150 mmol/l NaCl, a pyridine 2-thione release assay was done as per the manufacturer\'s instructions to determine the LC-SPDP conjugation efficiency. Then 23.2 µl of 25 mg/ml cRGD freshly dissolved in 3% acetic acid was added to 1.3 ml of the activated PAMAM-G4 and the reaction allowed to proceed overnight at 4 °C. A pyridine 2-thione release assay was done to measure cRGD coupling efficiency. After overnight dialysis with two changes of buffer against 1x PBS, the final samples were stored in aliquots at −80 °C. The same protocol was used to prepare RGD-PAMAM-G5. *Calculation of the RGD:PPIG5 ratio.* The number of RGD\'s linked to PPIG5 was determined in several ways. First, the colorimetric bicinchoninic acid protein assay (Thermo Scientific Pierce) that measures reduction of Cu^2+^ to Cu^1+^ by the RGD peptide was used. Second, RGD-G5 and RGD-G5/SPDP underwent MALDI-MS analysis using as a matrix 2,4,6-Trihydroxyacetophenone (THAP) in 50% acetonitrile in 50 mg/ml ammonium acetate. Third, the LC-SPDP linker used to make RGD-G5/SPDP permits conjugation efficiency by monitoring pyridine 2-thione release at 343 nm as per the manufacturer\'s instructions. All of these methods led to close agreement that an average of two RGD\'s were coupled to each PPIG5. *Cell culture and transfection.* C8161 and UACC903 cells were grown in RPMI medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and antibiotics. Cationic lipid-based transfection with LF2000 was done as previously described.^[@bib7]^ Transfection with RGD-G5 dendrimer was done as follows. For a 6-well plate, a 0.2 ml transfection mix containing 1x PBS pH 7.2 was prepared. RGD-G5 was diluted into 180 µl PBS and then the Dicer-substrate siRNA or U1 Adaptor was added to give a final volume of 0.2 ml in 1x PBS, and the solution gently mixed. After 5 minutes at room temperature, the RGD-G5:oligonucleotide complexes were added to cells that had been overlaid with 1.8 ml of fresh growth media. For larger or smaller scale transfections, the transfection mix was scaled accordingly. After the indicated time, cells were harvested and protein and/or RNA was extracted. [**SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL**](#sup1){ref-type="supplementary-material"} **Figure S1.** *In vitro* silencing activity of anti-*BCL2* U1 Adaptors. **Figure S2.** *In vitro* silencing activity of variants of the BCL2-A Adaptor. **Figure S3.** *In vitro* dose response silencing activity of the BCL2-A Adaptor complexed with the RGD-G5 nanoparticle. **Figure S4.** *In vitro* silencing activity of various dendrimer:BCL2-A Adaptor complexes. **Figure S5.** Particle size of various dendrimer:BCL2-A Adaptor complexes. **Figure S6.** Analysis of BCL2-A activity in C8161 and UACC903 xenografts. **Figure S7.** *In vitro* silencing activity of anti-*GRM1* U1 Adaptors and matching controls. **Figure S8.** Western blot analysis to assess the level of pAKT versus AKT in day 17 tumors from anti-*GRM1* U1 Adaptor-treated mice. **Figure S9.** The anti-*GRM1* Adaptors suppress growth of UACC903 xenografts and terminal PS bonds in the Adaptors are needed for full activity. **Figure S10.** U1 Adaptor treatment does not elicit an immune response at 4 hours. **Figure S11.** U1 Adaptor treatment does not elicit an immune response at 24 hours. This work was done in Piscataway, New Jersey; Hillsborough, New Jersey; and Coralville, Iowa. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health SBIR grants R43CA153842 to R.G. and S.C. and 5R44GM085863-03 to M.A.B, and an National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences center grant ES005022. This work was also supported by grants to S.I.G. and S.C. from the QED Proof-of-Concept Program (University City Science Center) and the Busch Biomedical Research Program. We also thank the Rutgers University Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) fellowship program and Aresty Center for supporting the undergraduate research performed by N.H.Z., C.J., N.R.P., S.Z., C.M., and S.A.S. We thank members of the Gunderson and Chen labs, the Rutgers University/University of Medicine and Dentistry New Jersey RNA community, the IDT Molecular Genetics & Biophysics group for advice and comments during the course of this work and Li Gu of the Kathryn Uhrich lab for instructing us on use of their Malvern Zetasizer instrument. S.I.G. and R.G. declare competing financial interests due to part ownership of Silagene Inc. M.A.B. and K.A.L. are employed by Integrated DNA Technologies, Inc., (IDT) which offers oligonucleotides for sale similar to some of the compounds described in the manuscript. IDT is, however, not a publicly traded company and neither author personally owns any shares/equity in IDT. The other authors declared no conflict of interest. **Supplementary material** {#sup1} ========================== ###### Click here for additional data file. {#fig1} {ref-type="fig"}** with the following complexes: RGD-G5 as the vehicle control, BCL2-A/TDmt:RGD-G5 as an inactive Adaptor control, or BCL2-A:RGD-G5. After 24 hours, cells were prepared and 1 million cells were subcutaneously implanted into each flank of each mouse. Tumor growth was then monitored for 23 days when the experiment was terminated. \*\*\**P* \< 0.0001 when the tumor volumes of BCL2-A:RGD-G5 were compared with the RGD-G5 vehicle controls. MW, molecular weight.](mtna201324f2){#fig2} {ref-type="fig"}**. Except for the indicated differences, these tumor suppression experiments and statistics are as described in **[Figure 2a](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}**. The left and right panels are from experiments done at different times. Treatments of TG10 mice matched those of TG8 except the RGD-G5 vehicle had a 4:1 rather than 2:1 RGD:G5 ratio. The bracket is the *P* value of TG10 versus TG8. All other *P* values (\*\*\**P* \< 0.0001 and \*\**P* \< 0.001) were calculated as compared with either the TG7 vehicle control (left panel) or the TG11 vehicle control (right panel). (**b**) Dose response studies for treatment of C8161 xenografts. Except for the indicated differences, these tumor suppression experiments, statistical analysis, and symbols are as in **[Figures 2a](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}** and **[3a](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}**. The bracket is the TG18 versus TG16 *P* value that shows a significant reduction in efficacy when using 3x more RGD-G5 vehicle than U1 Adaptor. All other *P* values (\*\*\**P* \< 0.0001 and \*\**P* \< 0.001) were calculated as compared with the TG14 vehicle control. (**c**) Shows the tumor suppression activity of BCL2-B in C8161 xenografts as compared with BCL2-A. Except for the indicated differences, these experiments are as described in **[Figures 2a](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}** and **[3a](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}**. (**d**) Shown are the design and sequences of the BCL2-B and matching control U1 Adaptors and their *in vivo* tumor suppression activities in C8161 xenograft mice. Except for the indicated differences and the use of 8 µg (0.2 nmol) RGD-PAMAM-G5 nanoparticle in place of 2.4 µg (0.2 nmol) RGD-G5, these experiments and symbols are as described in **[Figures 2a](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}** and **[3a](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}** and the *P* values calculated as compared with the vehicle only control. In **c** and **d**, \*\*\**P* \< 0.0001 and \*\**P* \< 0.001 when compared with the corresponding vehicle control.](mtna201324f3){#fig3} {ref-type="fig"}** except C8161 lysates were prepared at 72 hours post-transfection and 50 µg/lane were separated by 8% SDS-PAGE. The transfection and western blots were repeated three times with similar results. (**c**) Shown are the *in vivo* tumor suppression activities of the anti-*GRM1* U1 Adaptors in C8161 xenograft mice. Except for the indicated differences, these experiments are as described in **[Figures 2a](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}** and **[3a](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}** and the *P* values calculated as compared with the vehicle only control. The insert is a western blot of excised day 21 tumor samples with amounts of total tumor protein loaded per lane indicated (note, unlike **[Figure 2b](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}** for *BCL2* where IP-western blot performed, this is a regular western blot). Lanes 1 and 2 contained less protein to show the dose response of the western blot signals. Tubulin was used to show equal loading. (**d**) The design and sequences of the GRM1-B~ps~ and matching control U1 Adaptors and their *in vivo* tumor suppression activities in C8161 xenograft mice. Except for the indicated differences, these experiments are as described in **[Figures 2a](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}** and **[3a](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}** and the *P* value calculated as compared with the vehicle only control. In **c** and **d**, \*\*\**P* \< 0.0001 when compared with the corresponding vehicle control. (**e**) To assess *GRM1* expression, protein and RNA were extracted from excised (as shown in **d**) day 17 tumors and analyzed by RT-qPCR (upper panel) or western blot (lower panel). The experiments were done three times with similar results. GAPDH, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase; RT-qPCR, reverse transcription-quantitative PCR; TD, target domain; U1D, U1 domain.](mtna201324f4){#fig4} {ref-type="fig"}** and **[3a](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}** and the *P* values calculated as compared with the vehicle only control. Treatments for the GRM1-A~ps~:RAD-G5 group matches that of the GRM1-A~ps~:RGD-G5 group except the RGD peptide was replaced with an RAD peptide that has lost binding to the receptor. Treatments for the GRM1-A~ps~:RAD-G5-SPDP linker group matches that of the GRM1-A~ps~:RGD-G5 group except the former nanoparticle had a far shorter linker and non-PEGylated chemistry as described in the text and Materials and Methods section. (**b**,**c**) IHC of excised day 17 tumor samples from **[Figure 5a](#fig5){ref-type="fig"}** mice to assess levels of (**b**) activated Caspase 3 as a measure of apoptosis and (**c**) Ki67 as a measure of proliferation. Symbols and quantitation are as described in **[Figure 2c,d](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}**. In **a**--**c**, \*\*\*P \< 0.0001 when compared with the corresponding vehicle control. IHC, immunohistochemistry; TD, target domain; U1D, U1 domain.](mtna201324f5){#fig5} ![**U1 Adaptor treatment does not elicit immune responses or increase liver enzyme activity in C57BL6 mice**. (**a**) C57BL6 male mice (five mice/group) underwent a single tail vein injection with the standard dose of 1.7 µg Adaptor:2.4 µg RGD-G5 complex or just 2.4 µg RGD-G5 vehicle alone. The first group was not injected. Poly(I:C) was injected as a positive control.^[@bib51]^ At 4 hours post-injection, blood was drawn and IL-12 levels were measured as well as IFN-α levels (**Supplementary Figure S10**). (**b**,**c**) C57BL6 male mice (five mice/group) underwent 3 weeks of standard U1 Adaptor treatment as described in **[Figure 2a](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}** with two times/week dosing with a 1.7 µg Adaptor:2.4 µg RGD-G5 complex or just 2.4 µg RGD-G5 vehicle alone. The first group of mice was not injected. At 48 hours after the final injection, blood was drawn and levels of the (**b**) ALT and (**c**) AP liver enzymes were measured. ALT, alanine transaminase; AP, alkaline phosphatase; IFN-α, interferon-α IL, interleukin.](mtna201324f6){#fig6}

Pre-operative and post-operative psychiatric manifestations in patients with supratentorial meningiomas. In the present study, we have tried to delineate the nature of psychiatric abnormalities caused by supratentorial meningiomas and the effect of surgery on them. We have tried to find the patient and tumor characters influencing the psychiatric abnormalities and their post-operative outcome. This is a prospective study conducted on patients with supratentorial meningiomas, admitted and operated in neurosurgery department, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, India, from July 2006 to July 2009. We have included fifty-seven patients aged between 15 and 65 years with a clinico-radiological diagnosis of supratentorial meningioma in our study. We later confirmed the diagnosis by histopathological examination of the tumor. We have evaluated the patients for psychiatric manifestations before and after surgery and also analyzed the various clinical and radiological factors influencing the psychiatric status. We have enrolled 57 patients into the study. Frontal group had 22 patients (38.6%), parietal group had 10 patients (17.5%), temporal group had 10 patients (17.5%), occipital group had 6 patients (10.5%), and suprasellar group had 9 patients (15.8%). Twenty patients (35.1%) presented with psychiatric symptoms. The frequency of psychiatric symptoms was highest in the temporal group (60%) followed by the frontal group (45.5%). Frontal convexity meningiomas presented predominantly with depression, basifrontal and sphenoid wing meningiomas presented with mania or depressive symptoms, Suprasellar lesions and temporal convexity lesions presented with organic delusional disorder. Basifrontal meningiomas also caused organic personality disorders. The frequency of psychiatric symptoms was much higher in meningiomas with volume greater than 35cc compared to the smaller ones, in the frontal group. None of the patients developed new psychiatric symptoms after surgery. Among the twenty patients with psychiatric symptoms, 3 (15%) didnot improve, 8 (40%) improved partly and 9 (45%) improved completely. Meningiomas, although extra-axial, cause significant psychiatric symptoms up to 35.1%. Frontal and temporal group of meningiomas have the highest frequency of psychiatric symptoms. The frequency of psychiatric symptoms was significantly higher in meningiomas with volume greater than 35cc compared to the smaller ones, in the frontal group. Surgical excision of meningiomas ameliorates the psychiatric symptoms, either completely or partly, in the majority of the patients.

Downtown Newark is getting another luxury residential tower, an $80 million project that would bring 256 units to the Brick City, according to developer Strategic Development Partners. The building, named Vibe, will be made up of 60 percent one-bedroom, 20 percent two-bedroom and 20 percent studio apartments. It is slated for the intersection of Halsey and William streets in the Living Downtown Redevelopment Area, Strategic Development Partners said in a news release. “Vibe will offer a technology-rich environment with abundant lifestyle amenities for millennials, who prefer the energy and convenience of cities like Newark,” Anthony V. Bastardi, Strategic Development Partners’ chairman and CEO, said in a prepared statement. “The location — just minutes from diverse dining options, world-class cultural events, sports and transportation — will make Vibe an enviable address.” The building will join residential construction projects in the city that include One Theater Square and One Rector Street, the first market-rate residential towers in the city in more than 50 years. “Vibe represents a significant investment in Newark by a talented and experienced team of redevelopment professionals,” Mayor Ras Baraka said in a statement. “It is yet another exciting sign that this city is a highly desirable location.” The property will include two restaurants on the ground level, the developer said, joining a number of other new Newark eateries in the area. Amenities for residents will include a rooftop pool and spa, outdoor dining area, fitness center and on-site parking for 156 vehicles, as well as a coffee bar and rooftop lounge. “We have incorporated resort-style amenities into every detail of Vibe,” Barbara A. Hillier, principal with venture partner Studio Hillier. “Residents will enjoy light and airy living spaces, as well as a menu of highly desired social and recreational opportunities.” The developer said the project represents the closest new residential development to the Prudential Center, and will sit within walking distance of several other downtown landmarks and minutes from Newark Penn Station. “This technology-rich environment, coupled with other first-class amenities, distinguishes Vibe as a leading player in Newark’s hottest residential market,” Adrienne Albert, CEO of The Marketing Directors, another venture partner, said in a statement. “This is especially important to millennials, who prefer the convenience of living in the city, with access to cultural and sporting events, as well as transportation, recreational amenities and the latest technologies. Vibe has it all.” The building’s website will be online soon at VibeNewark.com.

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA Present: Judges Kelsey, Haley and Beales Argued at Chesapeake, Virginia STEVEN ALLEN RIDDICK MEMORANDUM OPINION ∗ BY v. Record No. 1102-07-1 JUDGE JAMES W. HALEY, JR. MAY 13, 2008 COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF HAMPTON Christopher W. Hutton, Judge Charles E. Haden for appellant. Rosemary V. Bourne, Assistant Attorney General (Robert F. McDonnell, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee. I. INTRODUCTION Steven Allen Riddick appeals his conviction for first-degree murder in the death of Veronica Collins-Goss from the Circuit Court of the City of Hampton. Riddick argues the circuit court erred in (1) admitting statements Collins-Goss made to others that she was pregnant and that Riddick was the father, (2) permitting his probation officer to testify during the guilt phase of the trial, and (3) failing to strike the first-degree murder charge. We affirm the circuit court. II. FACTS Under settled principles, we review the evidence in the “light most favorable” to the Commonwealth. Commonwealth v. Hudson, 265 Va. 505, 514, 578 S.E.2d 781, 786 (2003). That principle requires us to “discard the evidence of the accused in conflict with that of the Commonwealth, and regard as true all the credible evidence favorable to the Commonwealth and all fair inferences to be drawn therefrom.” Parks v. Commonwealth, 221 Va. 492, 498, 270 ∗ Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, this opinion is not designated for publication. S.E.2d 755, 759 (1980) (emphasis and citation omitted). So viewed, the evidence at trial established as follows. In the evening of September 8, 2003, Collins-Goss returned to her apartment alone around 10:00 p.m. Thereafter, an argument began in her apartment. Khaira Blandford, who lived below Collins-Goss, “heard a loud argument, two people arguing, a female voice and a male’s voice arguing, screaming, things being thrown around.” Blandford stated as the argument intensified, someone turned on loud music, which made the voices more difficult to understand. At one point and in spite of the loud music, Blandford heard Collins-Goss scream “don’t hurt me, don’t hurt my baby, don’t hurt your baby, don’t you want your baby.” While Blandford initially did not take any action in response to the argument, she became alarmed and called the police after she “heard an extremely loud thump, as though something had been thrown against the wall.” Due to the impact, “the pictures and the clock in my roommate’s room fell off the wall and boxes fell out of the closet.” The police arrived approximately ten to fifteen minutes later. They knocked on Collins-Goss’ apartment, but no one answered. The police then waited in their car outside the building for fifteen to twenty minutes, but since it appeared to them no one was in the apartment, departed. Blandford knocked on Collins-Goss’ door twice the next day, but received no answer. At approximately 2:20 a.m. on September 9, 2003, Officer John D’Busk encountered Riddick walking in an industrial area of Suffolk, Virginia in the rain and heavy wind. D’Busk approached Riddick and asked him why he was there. Riddick stated he had been traveling with a friend in his friend’s car, but the car had broken down and the two of them had separated to find assistance. Riddick indicated the left front tire was flat. At Riddick’s request, D’Busk took him to a nearby pay phone. D’Busk then began searching for the vehicle, which he had obtained a description of from Riddick, and found a vehicle matching the description. The car also had a -2- flat left front tire. D’Busk contacted another officer in the area to bring Riddick to the car to identify it. When Riddick arrived, he denied it was the right car and, in contradiction of his earlier statement, claimed the car he spoke of did not have a flat tire. He stated his friend was driving the car, but could not tell D’Busk the name of his friend. Riddick then stated it was not his friend who was driving, but his friend’s girlfriend and that her name was Monique. The car was registered to Collins-Goss. D’Busk offered Riddick a seat in his patrol car given the inclement weather, which Riddick accepted. As D’Busk continued to examine the car, Officer Gaines, who transported Riddick to the scene, saw Riddick take something from his pocket and throw it in his boot. Gaines removed Riddick from the car and frisked him. Gaines took car keys from Riddick’s boot. D’Busk asked Riddick whether they were the keys to the car, and Riddick stated the car belonged to his friend. D’Busk asked whether it belonged to his friend or his friend’s girlfriend, and Riddick said he meant to say the girlfriend. The keys opened the car. The officers later freed Riddick when they could not contact Collins-Goss and the vehicle did not register as stolen. Collins-Goss’ body was discovered in her apartment late in the evening of September 10, 2003, by two police officers. They gained entry to the apartment after having a maintenance worker unlock it. Dr. Wendy Gunther performed an autopsy on Collins-Goss. Her testimony revealed that the victim had suffered multiple injuries. These included blackened eyes, a split lip, and a broken nose. Her death was caused by “blunt impact . . . trauma” to the rear and side of her head, resulting in bleeding into and swelling of the brain. This trauma was consistent with being struck by an iron. In addition, though not a cause of death, physical evidence demonstrated that the victim had also been strangled. -3-  Betty Jane Blankenship, who is a scientist working in DNA testing, testified blood taken from the crime scene matched the DNA profile of Riddick. Riddick’s DNA was found in a blood stain on a hamper. It was also located in fingernail clippings taken from Collins-Goss. Blankenship testified that given the number of samples tested where Riddick’s DNA appeared, Riddick was the only person in the world whose DNA could produce the matches. Blankenship further testified Riddick’s DNA from Collins-Goss’ fingernail clippings likely arrived there soon before she died since a simple hand washing would have eliminated the DNA. Police arrested Riddick on September 12, 2003. Riddick denied responsibility for Collins-Goss’ death during questioning. An examination of Riddick’s body by police pursuant to a search warrant revealed multiple recent wounds. Detective Curtis Crouch stated Riddick “had multiple scratches on different and various parts of his body.” The scratches appeared on the neck, torso, and legs. Crouch further stated Riddick “had one particular wound that was to one of his fingers that was still oozing. It was not scabbed over.” Riddick volunteered to Crouch that the injuries occurred during a recent incarceration. Collins-Goss had told her mother, Thelma Graham, and two friends, Melissa Grubb and Anisha Brown, that she was pregnant by Riddick. All three testified to this at trial. The autopsy confirmed Collins-Goss was pregnant. Riddick’s probation officer also testified. Riddick told him on July 16, 2003, and September 10, 2003, that his address was the same as Collins-Goss’ apartment. An agent of the apartment complex where Collins-Goss lived testified her apartment was leased to both her and Riddick. A grand jury indicted Riddick for murder on February 2, 2004. Riddick was tried before a jury, which found him guilty of first-degree murder on September 28, 2006. On September 29, -4- 2006, the jury recommended Riddick receive a sentence of fifty years incarceration. The court imposed this sentence. Riddick now appeals. III. ANALYSIS “On appeal, we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, granting to it all reasonable inferences fairly deducible therefrom.” Martin v. Commonwealth, 4 Va. App. 438, 443, 358 S.E.2d 415, 418 (1987). We presume the decision of the circuit court to be correct. Davis v. Commonwealth, 39 Va. App. 96, 99, 570 S.E.2d 875, 876-77 (2002). This Court will “affirm the conviction unless it is plainly wrong or without evidence to support it.” Shackleford v. Commonwealth, 262 Va. 196, 209, 547 S.E.2d 899, 906 (2001). A. Whether the Circuit Court Erred in Admitting Hearsay that Collins-Goss Was Pregnant by Riddick Riddick first claims the circuit court erred in admitting hearsay statements made by Collins-Goss that she was pregnant and that Riddick was the father. Riddick claims this violated his rights under the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution. He further argues the court should have prohibited the testimony because it did not come within the state-of-mind exception to hearsay. In Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 68 (2004), the Supreme Court held that when the prosecution seeks to admit testimonial hearsay, “the Sixth Amendment demands what the common law required: unavailability and a prior opportunity for cross-examination.” The Court held testimonial evidence includes “prior testimony at a preliminary hearing, before a grand jury, or at a former trial; and to police interrogations.” Id. The Court chose not to address whether nontestimonial hearsay receives Sixth Amendment protection. Id. at 61. In Davis v. Washington, 547 U.S. 813, 821 (2006), the Supreme Court made clear that only testimonial statements implicate the Sixth Amendment. In another portion of the opinion relevant to this appeal, the Court stated that “statements made unwittingly to a Government informant” and -5- “statements from one prisoner to another” “were clearly nontestimonial.” Id. at 825. Relying on these cases, our Supreme Court recently wrote that “the question whether admission of a hearsay statement . . . violates the Confrontation Clause turns on whether the statement is ‘testimonial’ in nature.” Magruder v. Commonwealth, 275 Va. 283, 294-95, 657 S.E.2d 113, 118 (2008). The statements at issue in this case, which were casual remarks from Collins-Goss that she was pregnant and that Riddick was the father, were clearly nontestimonial under these cases. They, therefore, do not receive Confrontation Clause protection. Indeed, Riddick concedes on brief the statements are nontestimonial. Riddick’s counsel stated at oral argument he was unaware of the Supreme Court’s holding in Davis at the time he wrote his brief, but conceded its strength. We apply Davis, as we are bound to do. We next consider whether the statements were admissible under the state-of-mind exception to the hearsay rule. The Supreme Court of Virginia has held regarding this exception: Generally, statements made by a crime victim that show the victim’s state of mind are admissible as an exception to the hearsay rule, provided the statements are relevant and probative of some material issue in the case. Evidence is relevant if it tends to prove or disprove, or is pertinent to, matters in issue. Clay v. Commonwealth, 262 Va. 253, 257, 546 S.E.2d 728, 730 (2001) (citations omitted). “The key to the admissibility of evidence showing a victim’s state of mind is thus its relevance to a material issue in the case. Relevance exists when the evidence has a ‘logical tendency, however slight, to prove a fact at issue in a case.’” Hodges v. Commonwealth, 272 Va. 418, 436-37, 634 S.E.2d 680, 690 (2006) (quoting Winston v. Commonwealth, 268 Va. 564, 596, 604 S.E.2d 21, 39 (2004) (citations omitted), cert. denied, 546 U.S. 850 (2005)). We review the circuit court’s decision only for an abuse of discretion. Schneider v. Commonwealth, 47 Va. App. 609, 613-14, 625 S.E.2d 688, 690 (2006). -6-  We conclude the circuit court did not abuse its discretion since the statements at issue here fall within the state-of-mind exception because they tend to prove the identity of Collins-Goss’ attacker. Riddick has not contested the admissibility of the testimony of Khaira Blandford that Collins-Goss stated “don’t hurt me, don’t hurt my baby, don’t hurt your baby, don’t you want your baby.” The person Collins-Goss believed to be the father of her unborn child represents key evidence in establishing the identity of her assailant. The hearsay testimony that Collins-Goss believed Riddick to be the father strongly tends to establish Riddick as the attacker. It is thus relevant “to a material issue in the case” and admissible. 1 Hodges, 272 Va. at 436, 634 S.E.2d at 690. B. Whether the Circuit Court Erred in Permitting Riddick’s Probation Officer to Testify Riddick next contends the circuit court erred by allowing his probation officer to testify. Riddick argues the presence of the probation officer unfairly portrayed him as someone likely to commit crime. We hold that assuming without deciding Riddick’s argument has merit, at this point in our analysis any error in this regard was harmless as the Commonwealth presented overwhelming evidence of Riddick’s guilt. The Supreme Court of Virginia has adopted the test of the United States Supreme Court for determining non-constitutional harmless error. Billips v. Commonwealth, 274 Va. 805, 810, 652 S.E.2d 99, 102 (2007). That test has been stated as follows: 1 As noted, Riddick argues the statements made by Collins-Goss were not within the state-of-mind exception to the hearsay rule. Accordingly, we addressed and rejected that argument. In addition, however, the Collins-Goss statements can be characterized as not hearsay at all. Rather, the statements could be relevant circumstantial evidence of her state of mind, but, not being offered as to the truth of the matter asserted, that is, that she was, in fact, pregnant and Riddick was, in fact, the father, not hearsay and thus admissible. See Hodges v. Commonwealth, 45 Va. App. 735, 756, 613 S.E.2d 834, 844 (2005), aff’d in part, rev’d in part, 272 Va. 418, 428-29, 634 S.E.2d 680, 685 (2006); 2 McCormick on Evidence § 274 (6th ed. 2006). -7-  “If, when all is said and done, the conviction is sure that the error did not influence the jury, or had but slight effect, the verdict and the judgment should stand . . . . But if one cannot say, with fair assurance, after pondering all that happened without stripping the erroneous action from the whole, that the judgment was not substantially swayed by the error, it is impossible to conclude that substantial rights were not affected. . . . If so, or if one is left in grave doubt, the conviction cannot stand.” Clay, 262 Va. at 260, 546 S.E.2d at 731-32 (quoting Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 764-65 (1946)). “Under this standard, non-constitutional error is harmless if other evidence of guilt is so ‘overwhelming’ and the error so insignificant by comparison that we can conclude the error ‘failed to have any “substantial influence” on the verdict.’” Schwartz v. Schwartz, 46 Va. App. 145, 159, 616 S.E.2d 59, 66 (2005) (quoting United States v. Lane, 474 U.S. 438, 450 (1986)). The Commonwealth has the burden of showing harmless error. Jones v. Commonwealth, 50 Va. App. 437, 446, 650 S.E.2d 859, 864 (2007). The Commonwealth presented overwhelming evidence of Riddick’s guilt. As noted above, Collins-Goss’ neighbor heard her say shortly before her death that her assailant was the father of her unborn child. The testimony of Graham, Brown, and Grubb agreed that Collins-Goss regarded Riddick as the father. Riddick’s DNA was found under Collins-Goss’ fingernails, even though had Collins-Goss simply washed her hands between the time it got there and her death it likely would have been removed. Riddick’s DNA was also located in a blood stain on a hamper in Collins-Goss’ apartment. When Officer Crouch photographed Riddick’s body shortly past midnight on September 13, 2003, he observed multiple scratches on his body, including a wound that had yet to scab. Finally, when the police encountered Riddick in the early hours of September 10, 2003, only a couple hours after the attack on Collins-Goss, Riddick had keys to Collins-Goss’ car but claimed it belonged to someone else and further provided police with inconsistent statements. The fact finder could consider this evidence of guilt. -8- Rollston v. Commonwealth, 11 Va. App. 535, 548, 399 S.E.2d 823, 831 (1991). Thus, we find that assuming the circuit court committed error, it was plainly harmless. C. Whether the Circuit Court Erred in Declining to Strike the First-Degree Murder Charge Finally, Riddick contends the circuit court erred in denying his motion to strike the first-degree murder charge. He makes two arguments under this heading. First, he contends the evidence failed to show he acted with the premeditation required for a first-degree murder conviction. Second, he argues the Commonwealth failed to exclude every reasonable hypothesis of his innocence and, therefore, urges us to dismiss his conviction. Having already found the Commonwealth presented overwhelming evidence of Riddick’s guilt, we evaluate only the first argument. When reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence from a jury verdict, we inquire only whether “‘reasonable jurors could have made the choices that the jury did make. We let the decision stand unless we conclude no rational juror could have reached that decision.’” Pryor v. Commonwealth, 50 Va. App. 42, 54, 646 S.E.2d 21, 27 (2007) (quoting Pease v. Commonwealth, 39 Va. App. 342, 355, 573 S.E.2d 272, 278 (2002) (en banc), aff’d, 266 Va. 397, 588 S.E.2d 149 (2003)). The question is simply if “‘after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.’” Maxwell v. Commonwealth, 275 Va. 437, 442, 657 S.E.2d 499, 502 (2008) (quoting Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979)). As relevant here, the Code requires that to prove a first-degree murder charge the Commonwealth must prove a “willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing.” Code § 18.2-32. ‘“The test of murder is malice. Every malicious killing is murder either in the first or second degree -- the former if deliberate and premeditated, and the latter if not.’” Wooden v. Commonwealth, 222 Va. 758, 762, 284 S.E.2d 811, 814 (1981) (quoting Jacobs v. -9- Commonwealth, 132 Va. 681, 686, 111 S.E. 90, 92 (1922)). The law gives “a prima facie presumption of malice arising from the mere fact of a homicide, but there is no presumption therefrom of deliberation and premeditation.” Bradshaw v. Commonwealth, 174 Va. 391, 398, 4 S.E.2d 752, 755 (1939). The Commonwealth has the burden of demonstrating premeditation, and the defendant has the burden of showing factors reducing the offense below murder. Painter v. Commonwealth, 210 Va. 360, 364, 171 S.E.2d 166, 170 (1969). Premeditation involves “a specific intent to kill.” Rhodes v. Commonwealth, 238 Va. 480, 485, 384 S.E.2d 95, 98 (1989). A person may form this intent only a moment before committing murder. Coles v. Commonwealth, 270 Va. 585, 590, 621 S.E.2d 109, 112 (2005), cert. denied, 127 S. Ct. 441 (2006). “It is the will and purpose to kill, not necessarily the interval of time, which determine the grade of the offense.” Akers v. Commonwealth, 216 Va. 40, 48, 216 S.E.2d 28, 33 (1975). The question of whether a defendant killed with premeditation is committed to the jury. Smith v. Commonwealth, 220 Va. 696, 701, 261 S.E.2d 550, 553 (1980). Factors the jury may consider include “the brutality of the attack, and whether more than one blow was struck; the disparity in size and strength between the defendant and the victim; the concealment of the victim’s body; and the defendant’s lack of remorse and efforts to avoid detection.” Epperly v. Commonwealth, 224 Va. 214, 232, 294 S.E.2d 882, 892 (1982) (citations omitted). Motive is “often most persuasive.” Id. at 214, 294 S.E.2d at 893. It is appropriate to consider how these factors combine. Id. As long as a reasonable jury could have reached the same conclusion as the jury below, we will affirm. Hudson, 265 Va. at 513, 578 S.E.2d at 785. We conclude a reasonable jury could have found Riddick underwent the necessary premeditation to commit first-degree murder. Indeed, each of the Epperly factors weighs in favor of premeditation except for concealing the body and motive. First, the attack was quite - 10 - brutal. Collins-Goss died from being beaten in the head. Her injuries were consistent with being hit in the face with an iron. She suffered two black eyes, a split lip, and a broken nose. She also showed evidence of having been strangled, along with numerous other minor injuries. Second, Riddick attacked a pregnant woman. Third, Riddick failed to demonstrate remorse. He denied responsibility when questioned by police. Finally, Riddick attempted to avoid detection by telling the police Collins-Goss’ car belonged to someone else even though he had the keys to it. Taken together, these factors permitted the jury to find Riddick formed a premeditated intent to kill. For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court. Affirmed. - 11 - 

Dame Kiri among new faces at Downton Abbey Downton Abbey will play host to a number of new faces in season four, including New Zealand soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa as well as a drunk, a gentleman with 'history' and the show's first black character. A new character arrives ... Jessica Brown Findlay as Lady Sybil and Allen Leech as Tom Branson in Downton Abbey The show will also introduce a black character in the coming season as part of a storyline about race relations in the 1920s. Casting notes were sent out to actors' agents last month for the role of musician Jack Ross. The description given for Ross is “Male, 25-30. A musician (singer) at an exclusive club in the 20s. He's black and very handsome. A real man (not a boy) with charm and charisma. The first Christmas special we did of Downton, it was pretty Christmassy. It was the proposal, which was very nice. But that isn't particularly the tradition of these Christmas shows here. In a way, they're supposed to be more dramatic than an ordinary episode of the series. “Overall he should be a very attractive man with a certain wow factor.” Ross is expected to be a key character in the fourth series, and should add to the musical mix as “ideally be able to sing brilliantly”. Executive producer Gareth Neame said "Downton Abbey has seen many great characters visit the house over the years and we couldn't be more thrilled to welcome the new faces that will be joining the regular cast of Downton in series four. Oscar winner Shirley MacLaine, will also reprise her role as Martha Levinson, the Dowager's nemesis and mother to Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) for the feature-length Christmas special at the end of season four. Levinson was introduced in the first episodes of season three and was a big hit with fans. Two major characters will depart over the course of season three, with another destined to disappear between seasons. Siobhan Finnerman, the actress who fans have grown to love (or to love to hate) as scheming maid Sarah O'Brien, will not return for season four. Finnerman, 47, told Britain's Daily Mirror: “I'm not doing any more. O'Brien is a thoroughly despicable human being - that was great to play.” The actress has landed a role in new series The Syndicate, in which she will play a nurse who wins a share of a multimillion-pound Lottery jackpot. “It is nice to play someone the audience is willing on,” Finnerman said. “Watching the first episode, I was delighted to see how many times I smiled. It's great for the story that starts to unfold. And there's no wig and no corsets, which is good.” She may not have entirely untangled the corset strings, however, as a spokesperson for Downton Abbey said of the departure: "O'Brien is leaving to do something else, but the door for her character is open." The foundations for O'Brien's exit are laid in the show's Christmas special and come swiftly on the heels of those of Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay) halfway through season three (in an episode to air this Sunday in Australia), as well as Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens). Stevens has a role in the forthcoming Julian Assange biopic The Fifth Estate, while Findlay has a role in new British series Labyrinth. The three actors' departures will carry varying degrees of finality, giving weight to comments Fellowes made in an interview with The New York Times regarding writing characters out of the series. “When an actor playing a servant wants to leave, there isn't really a problem,” Fellowes said. “[The character] gets another job. With members of the family, once they're not prepared to come back for any episodes at all, then it means death. “So we didn't have any option, really. I was as sorry as everyone else.” Fellowes acknowledges that the potentially depressing nature of the Christmas special is always likely to be a surprise for international markets.

Thursday, September 5, 2013 11 more days 11 more days hasta la campa. I´m not sure how to feel about that. On one hand, it is going to be awesome in Chile and we will be more free to do what we want and we´ll be teaching actual investigators. But on the other hand, I can still barely squeeze out enough Spanish to have a conversation with Mexicans but Chileans talk ridiculously fast. Right now I don´t feel ready at all but from what I hear, the last week completely changes that. I´m excited to be at the point and I can already feel myself getting there. This week went as usual. Lots of studying, lots of teaching, lots of uncomfortable situations and lots of new Spanish vocabulary. I am proud to say that I can now, with enough thinking, conjugate almost any verb into the future, preterit, imperfect, command and conditional form. Everyday we play soccer. There are about 3 or 4 other teams (made up of districts) that play against us. It´s indoor soccer and we switch which team is on either when someone makes a goal or after four minutes. Two of the teams are made up of Latinos. And in case you don´t know, every Latino can play soccer as if that is all he does. That isn´t a blanket statement either. Every single Latino that we have played against is better that any gringo here. But that doesn´t stop us from trying and it just makes us better. After playing with the Latinos for a while, we will play a gringo team and destroy them. I´m not very good at all, but I´m definitely getting better. Last Pday we were playing a game and one of the elders in our district went in for a header but missed the ball and got someones elbow instead. It doesn´t sound that bad but he was bleeding like none other. He went into the Doctor and they didn´t have much so they poured water on his head (because they had nothing anti bacterial) then proceeded to give him two stitches without numbing. They took it out and re did it because they didn´t do it right. He´s fine now but it´s just a funny story. I´ve been saying that our district is the best, but this week we got proof of that. Some of the teachers have been asking us to give pep talks to other districts. We also have people who constantly tell us that they wish they were put with us. Tomorrow we are having Christmas. We are building a Christmas tree out of palm leaves and we are doing a secret Santa and we are going to sing Christmas songs instead of hymns all day. I´m not sure where the idea came from but i´m excited. Alright, that's all for now. till next week! Elder Thompson a murder of parrots a sad bus top The sisters all took this pose in front of the temple so I thought I would join them.

Q: Union query removing blank rows I'm trying to union two different results but I'm not sure how to remove the blank values. The paid_date and check_date are sometimes different. What do I need to do to modify the code? I've tried doing MAX but didn't seem to work. Thanks. Results: What I want: WITH PAID AS ( SELECT PIDATE ,SUM(PAY) AS PAID ,ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY PAYDATE DESC) AS ROW_NUM FROM CLAIM WHERE PAY<>0 GROUP BY PAYDATE ) ,TOTAL_PAID AS ( SELECT CONVERT(DATE,CONVERT(VARCHAR(10),PAYDATE)) AS PAID_DATE ,FORMAT(PAID,'C','EN-US') AS PAID FROM PAID WHERE ROW_NUM <= 10 ) ,CHECKS AS ( SELECT DISTINCT CHECK_DATE ,SUM(PAYMENT) AS PAYMENT ,ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY CHECK_DATE DESC) AS ROW_NUM FROM CR GROUP BY CHECK_DATE ) ,TOTAL_CHECKS AS ( SELECT CONVERT(DATE,CONVERT(VARCHAR(10),CHECK_DATE)) AS CHECK_DATE ,FORMAT(PAYMENT,'C','EN-US') AS PAYMENT FROM CHECKS WHERE ROW_NUM <= 10 ) ,FINAL AS ( SELECT PAID_DATE ,PAID ,'' AS CHECK_DATE ,'' AS PAYMENT FROM TOTAL_PAID UNION ALL SELECT '' AS PAID_DATE ,'' AS PAID ,CHECK_DATE ,PAYMENT FROM TOTAL_CHECKS ) SELECT * FROM FINAL A: In this scenario, you must not use union. you must use join instead. Try join two sequence on paid_date = check_date and select proper field from each set.

Sumatriptan overuse in episodic cluster headache: lack of adverse events, rebound syndromes, drug dependence and tachyphylaxis. This observational study was designed to examine the pattern of sumatriptan use in patients with cluster headache using more than the recommended daily dose of subcutaneously injected (s.c.) sumatriptan. Thirteen patients suffering from episodic cluster headache were asked to record the characteristics of their attacks and drug intake for 1 year. All reported a high daily frequency of attacks (more than 3 per day) and the related overuse of s.c. sumatriptan. The results show that the overall incidence of adverse events among patients receiving sumatriptan injections for the treatment of cluster headache is low. The extended administration of this drug in episodic cluster headache did not result in tolerance problems or tachyphylaxis. Only 4 patients experienced minor adverse events and recovered more slowly than the others. They suffered from migraine without aura and cluster headache, and showed a family history of migraine. Even though they must be viewed with caution, due to the observational nature of the study and the low number of patients included, these results suggest that the profile of sumatriptan may differ in cluster headache compared with migraine.

Mediastinal Bronchogenic Cysts: Demonstration of Fluid-Fluid Level in Bronchoscopic US Imaging. We report the findings for 2 patients with a fluid-fluid level seen on endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) images of bronchogenic cysts. The EBUS images demonstrated a well-circumscribed cyst with a fluid-fluid level showing an anechoic upper part and a relatively hyperechoic lower part. A fluid-fluid level on EBUS imaging of a bronchogenic cyst, which can help confirm the cystic nature of the lesion, has not been previously reported. EBUS-based confirmation of these cysts using fluid-fluid levels may help avoid unnecessary aspiration of the lesions.

The hydroxylamine OXANOH and its reaction product, the nitroxide OXANO., act as complementary inhibitors of lipid peroxidation. The effects of the nitroxide 2-ethyl-2,5,5-trimethyl-3-oxazolidinoxyl (OXANO.) and the corresponding hydroxylamine 2-ethyl-1-hydroxy-2,5,5-trimethyl-3-oxazolidine (OXANOH) on in vitro lipid peroxidation in rat liver microsomes and reconstituted lipid vesicles were investigated, and compared with those of some commonly used spin trapping agents. OXANO. and OXANOH (10-100 microM) inhibited iron-dependent lipid peroxidation, as did the spin trapping agents (10-100 mM). OXANO. mainly inhibited the rate of peroxidation, but caused only a small delay in the time of onset. OXANOH exerted its effect by delaying the onset of peroxidation in an antioxidant fashion, and also by inhibiting the rate. Higher concentrations of both substances were required to inhibit t-butylhydroperoxide-dependent lipid peroxidation. OXANO. was found to oxidize the ferrous-ADP complex required for initiation of peroxidation, and this is probably the basis of the inhibitory effect of this compound. Since the reaction of OXANO. tends to produce OXANOH and vice versa, either one could inhibit all reactions of lipid peroxidation.

Former inmate reveals existence of 'black jail' BEIJING - "Black jails" run by security companies to intercept or confine "deviant petitioners" have not yet been swept out of the capital, according to Beijing police who said they recently dismantled one such jail in Changping district. ​ A courtyard house in Lingshang village, Beiqijia township of Changping, which illegally kept dozens of deviant petitioners, has been closed down. [Photo / China Daily]​ ​ Wang Wenjie, a publicity official with the municipal public security bureau, told China Daily on Tuesday that police in Changping caught several suspects who were running the illegal detention house after a released petitioner gave them information. Police also rescued several petitioners detained there, Wang said. The police officer, however, did not reveal how many suspects were detained or if the black jail, which was located somewhere in Lingshang village, Beiqijia township of Changping, had been closed down. "All I can say is that the black jail is one individual case," Wang said, indicating there is no other illegal detention house in the city. The issue of black jails shocked the nation last year when media reported that a local government had paid security companies to intercept and lock up - normally by force - "deviant petitioners". Under the law, people from all over the country with grievances against governments can come to the capital to present their case to the State Bureau for Letters and Calls. In September, Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau detained Zhang Jun, chairman of Anyuanding Security Service Company, and Zhang Jie, general manager of the company, for "illegally detaining people and illegal business operations". The company started business in 2004. In 2008 it began to help liaison officers from local governments in Beijing who wanted to stop people from petitioning, according to the police investigation. China's latest version of Regulations on Letters and Visits does not define "deviant petitioners", but states if the letter-writer or visitor violates the laws or administrative regulations on processions and demonstrations, the public security body shall take necessary measures and impose an administrative penalty. The Beijing News reported on Tuesday that information from a petitioner surnamed Zhou, who was released from the "black jail" in early July, led to the police operation. Zhou, from Yancheng city, in East China's Jiangsu province, said as soon as she walked out of a government office in Beijing on July 4, several men blocked her way and dragged her into a minivan. The men confiscated Zhou's mobile phone and drove her for an hour to a courtyard of three houses measuring about 60 square meters, the report said. "There was no bed in my room. Elderly people and babies were sitting or lying on the ground," Zhou was quoted as saying. "It was hot, humid and airless." She added that about 50 people from different places were detained in the courtyard with her. The houses were heavily guarded and it was "difficult to run away". Zhou was released four days later for good behavior, but she said some people had been held there for months. In last year's Anyuanding case, police took most "deviant petitioners" in Beijing to Majialou reception and rescue center, from where the petitioners were taken away by hired security personnel to black jails or sent home. An owner of a grocery store near the Majialou center, surnamed Li, told China Daily she saw many petitioners being treated roughly. "I once saw a petitioner pushed down from a truck. He almost had his leg run over," Li said. Yu Jianrong, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the black jail case in Changping will not be the last one in Beijing. "There is a chain of interests behind the control of petitioners," Yu said. "The security company wants to make money from it, and the local government needs help from outside to maintain stability and fulfill their obligations." Yu said only when the "system of maintaining social stability changes can the issue of black jails be eliminated completely". BEIJING — Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has met citizens in Beijing petitioning for redress over unpaid wages, home demolitions and land grabs, state media said Wednesday — the first such meeting in six decades. Wen’s visit to the State Bureau for Letters and Calls — where petitioners go to file complaints with authorities — highlighted the mounting anger felt by many Chinese living in a one-party state that enforces its will by diktat. It was the first such trip by a premier since communist China was founded in 1949, the reports said, and it received widespread coverage in print and broadcast media. But amid rising levels of public protest across China, Wen’s conversations with unhappy citizens were slammed by Human Rights Watch as a political show. Under a system dating from imperial times, Chinese people can petition government authorities in Beijing or provincial capitals over injustices or unresolved disputes such as illegal land grabs or police misconduct. However, many of the millions of petitioners each year complain of official indifference to their concerns and occasionally lash out in frustration, while others report being detained by authorities in so-called “black jails”. The premier — sometimes called “Grandpa Wen” for his down-to-earth style — said during Monday’s visit that as long as petitioners’ complaints were “reasonable”, they would be resolved. “We should use the power in our hands to serve the interests of the people, helping them to tackle difficulties in a responsible way,” Wen said, shaking hands with those filling in forms and queuing to submit their papers. “Land is the lifeline of farmers,” Wen said. The government is gearing up for its annual session of parliament, which will begin in early March, and Wen’s visit to the petition office signals a government conscious of public anger. Land disputes have become China’s most volatile social problem as officials and developers seek to cash in on the nation’s property boom, sometimes forcing people out of their homes without proper compensation. One family are locked in a standoff with police at their Beijing clothing shop, threatening to set themselves on fire after they were told the shop would be demolished to make way for a new subway line. Some have used the Internet to rally support for their causes as the web, used by more than 450 million people in China, offers an outlet to expose abuses in a country where traditional media are heavily censored. President Hu Jintao came under pressure last week during a state visit to the United States to do better on human rights, with President Barack Obama saying the “universal rights of every human being” had to be upheld. Hu admitted “a lot” needed to be done in China in terms of human rights but emphasised that “different national circumstances” had to be considered. Human Rights Watch criticised Wen’s visit as a carefully orchestrated move that “will be widely propagated to Chinese citizens through state media with the explicit message that the Chinese Communist Party leadership cares”. “The fact is that the system is broken and that petitioners are far too often subject to abuses even greater than those which prompted them to petition in the first place,” the New York-based group said in a statement. HRW said the fact that millions of people file petitions each year was “proof positive of the lack of true rule of law in China”. Since year 2003, thousands of Chinese petitioners have been held for days, and months in what is commonly known as black jails. (An Alleyway in Hell-Human Rights Watch) These can be found anywhere from a state owned hotel, to a nursing home, to any common building you may find. Their purpose: to detain petitioners who come to Beijing or other provincial capitals seeking rectification for their complaints that were not resolved at lower levels of government. These secret and unlawful detention camps were created and used by local and provincial officials to detain innocent people and to put them through abuse in all forms. In black jails, petitioners are physically and psychologically abused, deprived of food, water, sleep, and medical care, in the aim of teaching them a lesson. These people, ranging from minors petitioning in the place of their parents, to the elderly population, are enclosed in sometimes-small and unsanitary spaces for several months and subjected to theft, blackmail and no communication with family or courts. There is constant surveillance and arbitrary beatings occurring for no reason at all, and upon an injury are not even allowed to se a doctor. What have these people done to deserve such nauseating treatment? (Hartley) The underground system of black jails are run by officials all over China, right under the nose of the Chinese government, or so it seems. In past UN human rights council of China’s human rights record in June 2009, they completely denied the existence of black jails. The principal of black jails contradict the Chinese governments previous statements. They continually announce the fact that China respects all the rights and freedoms of its people. In 2004, they said at a UN conference, “The state respects and preserves human rights.” In 2008, they launched a “People First” policy promoting human rights. In 2009, they announced the “National Human Rights Action Plan” stating “The Chinese government unswervingly pushes forward the cause of human rights in China.” (An Alleyway in Hell-Human Rights Watch) The situation is just a little bit fishy. Chinese and foreign journalists who have visited black jails, as well as academic researchers try to prove the facility’s existence. In essence, the detainees are petitioners coming from rural areas to Beijing or other capitals to find help from the government. They come for compensation for abuses to human rights or other laws such as: illegal land being stolen by higher officials, police torture, and other forms of corruption. These citizens are exercising their legal right to complain about these wrongdoings, however, the plot thickens. The government officials employ plainclothes thugs, commonly known as “retrievers” to intercept and abduct them. The black jails are the symbol of failure of China’s petitioning system. This system, known in the past as “letters-and-visits practice” began during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). This system mean that citizens could bring appeals for justice to central governments in Beijing or other official cities and seek compensation. (An Alleyway in Hell-Human Rights Watch) Chinese scholars noticed a similarity between black jails and the Shourong Qiansong system abolished in 2003, which is suspect, since black jails began operation in that same year. The Shourong Qiansong was a detention system that started around the 1980s that legally gave permission to police to detain “undesirables” lacking official ID papers. (An Alleyway in Hell-Human Rights Watch) In other words, government officials and police had the power they needed to arrest anyone from petitioners to beggars if it suited them. Extralegal detention camps also target violators of the one child policy and followers of the Falungong movement. The Falungong movement is one of many systems of belief and practices that was outlawed by the government in 1999. Falungong petitioners have been subjected to torture, beatings, forced labor, organ harvesting, psychiatric abuses, and illegal imprisonment, in places similar to, if not black jails. (Beaumont) Provincial and municipal level officials developed the perfect system in order to catch the petitioners: the intercept, abduct and detain system. Officials hire thugs as guards, who call themselves “retrievers”. Retrievers often recognize their province’s most frequent petitioners on sight. Even if these innocent people lie about where they are from, their accent gives them away. Retrievers often dress scrubby as if they too are petitioning in order to fool them. Former detainees say that black jails are commonly found behind or under government ministry buildings, hotels, nursing homes, mental hospitals, drug rehabilitation centers, and even residential buildings, among others. (Hartley) To passersby a black jail does not look suspicious. One woman said that his was a simple bungalow, which from the outside wouldn’t raise any suspicions. (Screams for help at China’s secret “Black Jails”) The black jail managers, usually letters and visits officials working in Beijing, hire guards and pay the hotel or institution in question to use the establishment. Daily payments are generally withing the range of 150 yuan to 300 yuan ($22-44 US). The rooms are then converted into temporary cells, fully equipped with iron bars and doors. There are also fenced in outdoor areas. In other parts of the building, there will be temporary offices for the retrievers and guards, as well as another area where new detainees are stripped of their ID, money, cell phones, and any other valuables. These facilities are all organized specifically to restrict detainee’s freedom of movement by using locked doors, barred windows, no access to communication, and 24 hour surveillance by the guards who are often armed with guns and clubs. As far as researchers are concerned, the only difference between black jail and real jail is that the detainees in black jail are actually innocent. (An Alleyway in Hell-Human Rights Watch) Seven to fifty black jails exist. Tracking them is very difficult because they are secretive and operate on a temporary “as needed” basis. Former detainees have brought journalists to their black jails, only to find them empty and abandoned. Local governments running black jails have relationships with police to ensure no interference by anyone of high power. Police actually play an active role in abuses against petitioners as they “turn a blind eye to retaliatory violence.” Beijing police sometimes double as retrievers. Police frequently believe that “petitioners are disruptive to the stability of the country”, probably because they are all complaining about all the corruption from police and higher officials. One detainee from Jiangsu province told Human Rights Watch that the municipal police showed up at the black jail he was being held at, made a “report”, but then abruptly departed and never freed him. Another said that when he contacted the police for assistance, they explained that they have no power to intervene in the black jail facilities “[Your detention] is the desire of upper levels [of government], and if you have opinions about that when this is over, consult the city government authorities or the mayor to solve. Anything that happens inside [black jails] we can’t go to investigate and [we] can’t solve any of your problems.” (An Alleyway in Hell-Human Rights Watch) During important dates on the Chinese Communist Party’s calendar, police forces prevent petitioners from reaching major cities while the ministry of public security “urges police to mobilize all of their resources” in order to prevent petitioners already in the city from reaching central government offices and “disturbing the social harmony and stability” of China’s celebrations. There are many different variations on the concept of black jails. One was called “Re-education through labor” where police impose custodial sentences up to three years while depriving detainees of any due process of law. Another was “house arrest” arbitrary detention at home that restricted and monitored Internet and phone use, along with 24-hour surveillance by security guards. The most common was the “Study classes”. After the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), government officials and security forces routinely detained individuals suspected of anti-government sentiments and put them in facilities described as “study classes” however, they are far from that. These people were taken there without formal arrest or trial, and they were generally people targeted by the Chinese government because they were exposing official corruption. Study classes were devoted to educating petitioners about their alleged wrongdoings: basically turning the law around and tell them that they were doing something against the law. Zhang Jianping, a human rights activist said of study classes “These black jails are clearly against the law. But local officials call them legal study classes, and that shows how they treat the law as just a tool for abusing rights.” (An Alleyway in Hell-Human Rights Watch) Sometimes, the detainees must sign contracts stating they will never petition again in order to be freed. This is an act of deliberately stripping an innocent human being of their legal right. Others said they were forced to sign papers upon release from black jail which stated that they had not been detained but instead participated in a “study class” of their own free will! Here is a list of all the human rights violations involved in the black jail process: illegal abductions, physical violence, rape, denial of access to medical care, food and sleep deprivation, threats and mental assaults, theft, and extortion. It seems that with the elimination of black jails, there would be the elimination of more than one human rights abuse. Within the first four months of 2009, 15 detainees died an unnatural death. (An Alleyway in Hell-Human Rights Watch) There were cases where people were having convulsion and spitting out blood, however the guards said that they did not care. One person said that they told him that he could die in the black jails for all that they care. There are also violations of children’s rights. One fifteen-year-old girl went to petition in the place of her grandmother and instead ended up in a black jail. Several former prisoners said that the guards also threaten detainees saying that if they petition in the future they can break your legs, get you locked up for 3 years in real jail, or they will kill your family. These underground facilities are responsible for countless deaths, illnesses, and family separations and should be stopped as soon as possible. Little is known about black jails, so in consequence, nothing is done about them. Awareness must be raised about the subject in order to start coming down on the black jails system. What should be done? Human rights groups and the United Nations should continue asking the Chinese government to stop denying the existence of black jails. This assures that those operating black jails will go unpunished. It would also be wise to create a separate police force form the general Beijing police and have them go investigate and report on black jails, the detainees, and their conditions. These police should be backed by the inner Chinese government and should have the power to close them down. The government should also establish an independent commission to examine and evaluate the adequacy of their “letters and visits” petitioning system. These individuals should find a way for the system to effectively and efficiently address the citizen’s problems. By improving the system, black jails will become used less and less. (An Alleyway in Hell-Human Rights Watch) Finally, we should raise awareness about black jails since it is a topic known to few people. We can only hope that the Chinese government recognizes these human rights violations and assist the citizens of their country. How much harder would it be for India to launch an Democratic Naxal type campaign against the Communist government? There is so much descent in China that if it was properly channeled it can be used to bring down the government.

Structural and functional characterization of the C-terminal catalytic domain of SSV1 integrase. The spindle-shaped virus SSV1 of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus shibatae encodes an integrase (SSV1 Int). Here, the crystal structure of the C-terminal catalytic domain of SSV1 Int is reported. This is the first structural study of an archaeal tyrosine recombinase. Structural comparison shows that the C-terminal domain of SSV1 Int possesses a core fold similar to those of tyrosine recombinases of both bacterial and eukaryal origin, apart from the lack of a conserved helix corresponding to αI of Cre, indicating conservation of these enzymes among all three domains of life. Five of the six catalytic residues cluster around a basic cleft on the surface of the structure and the nucleophile Tyr314 is located on a flexible loop that stretches away from the central cleft, supporting the possibility that SSV1 Int cleaves the target DNA in a trans mode. Biochemical analysis suggests that the N-terminal domain is responsible for the dimerization of SSV1 Int. The C-terminal domain is capable of DNA cleavage and ligation, but at efficiencies significantly lower than those of the full-length protein. In addition, neither the N-terminal domain alone nor the C-terminal domain alone shows a strong sequence preference in DNA binding. Therefore, recognition of the core-type sequence and efficient catalysis by SSV1 Int presumably requires covalent linkage and interdomain communication between the two domains.

REVIEW: Amnesia: The Dark Descent Friday, June 1st, 2012 Share this page We are proudly a Play-Asia Partner SUPPORT OPRAINFALL BY TURNING OFF ADBLOCK Ads support the website by covering server and domain costs. We're just a group of gamers here, like you, doing what we love to do: playing video games and bringing y'all niche goodness. So, if you like what we do and want to help us out, make an exception by turning off AdBlock for our website. In return, we promise to keep intrusive ads, such as pop-ups, off oprainfall. Thanks, everyone! Oh, Amnesia: The Dark Descent. I love you for what you do and hate that you do it so well. Amnesia is a psychological horror game for PC and Mac, available on Steam and Onlive. If your computer can’t run it, than buy it through Onlive as it relies on your internet connection, rather than your computer specs. The game is created by Frictional Games, who also made the Penumbra series as-well. The game is the only horror game that I’ve played that has scared me to the point that I stopped playing to calm myself. Resident Evil and Dead Space never came close to that. Frictional, as an independent developer doesn’t make millions of dollars. If Amnesia didn’t sell very well than they would be forced out of business. Luckily the game was met with such high critical success, and strong word of mouth, that it sold well beyond their expectations. The game has become somewhat of a test of courage among the video game community; many people even post their ‘freak outs’ on youtube. People unfamiliar with the game would probably think that a game couldn’t be that scary. In my opinion they are wrong . You play as Daniel, a young man who finds himself in an old run down castle unsure of how he got there, or who he even is. Right at the start of the game you find a letter written by yourself, addressed to yourself. You have forcefully given yourself amnesia and you’re tasked to kill the lord of the manor: Alexander Brennenburg. You’re not told why you have to kill him, but decide to explore the mansion in hopes of finding out. The story itself is passable and certainly better than Resident Evil. It reminds me of H.P. Lovecraft in a good way. You’ll find various notes around the castle that unveils its dark secrets. You’ll also have flashbacks too; you can still move around in the flashbacks as they are done by voice only. The game is entirely in first person, which for a horror game is preferred. Third person dampers the immersion in horror games because you know very well that you’re controlling another person. You control your body with the directional pad, press shift to run and space to jump. Unlike, say, older Zeldas where a press of the button will swing your sword; you have to use the mouse and move it fully in order to achieve the same result. Say you want to hit something, you would take the mouse and move it from left to right like your own arm. This heightens immersion because you’ll be manipulating things closer to how you would in real life, than on a 360 or ps3 controller. Outside of “puzzle important” items, you’ll have three items that are necessary to your survival. The tinder box, the lamp/oil, and your health restorer. The health restorer isn’t that important because you’ll pretty much die from most monster attacks. The weakest monster can kill you in a few hits, so if you’re in such a situation you’re probably already dead. Tinder boxes light up torches and the lamp is….well an oil lamp. You carry it around and it illuminates your surroundings. Tinder boxes are plentiful if you ration them, but oil is harder to come by. Light is a resource in this game as it’s the only thing that keeps you from going insane. When you’re in the light, your sanity slowly starts coming back but monsters can see you easier. Low sanity makes monsters easier to see you and blurs your vision. There are some small sanity effects but I won’t spoil them. The puzzles mostly involve finding an item and using it on a machine to start it up again. Puzzle hints are told through notes you find near the puzzle, so don’t skip on reading the text or you’ll be lost. The puzzles aren’t too hard but if you’re stuck on them, your immersion will drop and so will your feelings of fear. There is no way to fight monsters so you must run and hide from them. You hide in the darkness and avoid looking at them to escape from them. If you look at them they find you easier, so you have to look away and hope they don’t find you. This creates intense terror, in a way that mowing down zombies in Resident Evil or Dead Space does not. It’s hard to feel scared by anything knowing full well that you can not only kill it, but kill it and 20 others just like it in a few minutes with your rocket launcher. I Don’t feel scared I feel excited when playing Resident Evil and that just shouldn’t be the case at all. The monsters don’t appear very frequently, but because of their immortality and strength they are a huge threat. In other games, zombies and necromorphs appear far too frequently to feel like a threat. Most of the time you’ll only vaguely see the monsters lurking in the shadows or hear it howling in the distance. You’ll never know just exactly where they are or how close they are to finding you unless you get too close. There is one area of the game that is most assuredly not scary; but after being told what its intention is you’ll not want to stay in for long. The area is brightly light, has a fountain, and has calm relaxing music playing. If you enable the developer commentary (which you shouldn’t on your first play-through), you’ll find out that it exists to keep you from getting used to the terror of the game. If you’re exposed to terror for long periods of time, then it will slowly lose its effect. However,he most relaxing area of the game is perhaps the most devious of all! Will you venture into the mist, not knowing what may lurk inside? Music is one of the most important parts of the game as it has a significant impact on the atmosphere. The relaxing area has soft music playing with sounds of water flowing, reducing the tension. The sounds of the monsters moaning in the distance raises your heart rate, and makes you fear turning around the next corner. The music mostly encompasses the sounds of wind blowing, or the sounds of your own(and others…) footsteps. When you’re chased by a monster, you’ll hear intense music playing along with the screams of the beast and your own heavily beating heart. The only major criticisms of the game that I have, is that it does its job too well and it’s a bit too short. If you’re immersed in the game and let it sink its hooks in you, you may quit playing it due to fear. It’s also only about 8 hours long give or take, which is short but understandable for an indie game. If my strongest criticism is that that it does its job too well and I desperately want more of it; I believe that’s more of an issue with the games industry than the game. VERDICT The horror genre has in recent years become a sub-genre of the shooter; with resident evil and dead space being the most prolific. Silent hill seems to be the last well known horror franchise that tries to be scary and that saddens me. The AAA horror games that come out, should be so scary and come out frequently enough that Amnesia shouldn’t be seen as the light at the end of the laughing stock of a tunnel that horror is today. But, that is exactly what it is. The feeling of fear is unique to each person though, what scares me might not scare you. If you’re not scared by Amnesia and are scared by Resident Evil, I don’t think you’re wrong in feeling that way. I personally believe the game is the best at what it does and puts most AAA horror games to shame. It is well worth the price of admission. I’d skip the game if you have a heart condition though. The game recommends playing in the dark with headphones on…which you may soon regret.

Chris & Producer Dan are joined by Comedian & Celtic Fan Chris Jones for the triumphant return of the podcast for it's long awaited second series. The guys discuss all things Bhoys, including domestic domination, European woes and of course, the Glasgow derby. Chris tells us all about his awful introduction to football, the joys of the Scottish Football pyramid and how there's no such thing as too much Buckfast. Some of the regular features are back, including Unbelieavable Jeff, and the most difficult football quiz on the internet, The Hotseat. Also, listen out for the moment when three men thought that opening packs of football stickers on the air could possibly be passed off as 'entertainment'.

--- abstract: 'For a simple model of mutually interacting qubits it is shown how the errors induced by mutual interactions can be eliminated using concatenated coding. The model is solved exactly for arbitrary interaction strength, for two well-known codes, one and two levels deep: this allows one to see under which circumstances error amplitudes add coherently or incoherently. For deeper concatenation, approximate results are derived which make it possible to calculate an approximate “threshold” value for the product of interaction strength and free evolution time, below which the failure probability for an encoded qubit decreases exponentially with the depth of the encoding. The results suggest that concatenated coding could fully handle the errors arising from mutual interactions, at no extra cost, in terms of resources needed, from what would be required to deal with random environmental errors.' address: 'Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701' author: - 'Julio Gea-Banacloche' title: Error correction for mutually interacting qubits --- \#1[|\#1]{} \#1[\#1|]{} \#1[\#1]{} Introduction and model ====================== In previous papers [@myself1; @myself2] I have discussed how unwanted mutual interactions between qubits can be a source of error in a quantum computer (or quantum memory register) and studied some of the characteristic features of this type of error. It was found in [@myself1] that, if the characteristic interaction energy is $\hbar\delta$, the fidelity ${\cal F}$ of the register decreases with time $t$ and with the total number of qubits $N$ as $${\cal F} \sim e^{-N(\delta t)^2} \label{zeroa}$$ Equation (\[zeroa\]) suggests that $(\delta t)^2$ can be interpreted as a sort of failure probability per qubit. In [@myself2] it was shown that the general scaling (\[zeroa\]) with $t$ holds even when the register is being acted on by “gates” such as one might use in the course of a quantum computation: that is, the error accumulates quasi-coherently in time, and there is no “quantum Zeno effect” associated with normal gate operation. (This suggests, in particular, that it is not necessary to simulate a full computation to estimate the magnitude of this effect; instead, it should be enough to calculate the survival probability of an appropriate initial state of the register under the action of the appropriate Hamiltonian [@garg].) Mutual interactions are Hamiltonian and hence, in principle, reversible, and there exists, in fact, a variety of special techniques for eliminating, or greatly reducing, these errors: in particular, techniques similar to, and inspired by, the use of refocusing pulses in magnetic resonance [@lloyd; @cory]. Nonetheless, it is worthwhile to look at the question of how well these errors could be eliminated by the use of ordinary error-correction methods based on quantum error-correcting codes [@preskill; @knill1], and in particular on concatenated coding, if only because one would like to be able to make an informed choice between various available methods. Moreover, although pulse methods could in principle be used to deal with certain kinds of environmental noise, it seems very likely that, in large-scale implementations of quantum computers, error-correcting codes will have to be used, in any event, to deal with at least some of these random environmental errors. Assuming, then, that these codes would already be in place, it is natural to ask how much one could get from them. While there is no question that the present theory of quantum error-correction codes covers mutually interacting qubits as a special case, this is not a case that is often explicitly discussed, and, in particular, it is not immediately clear whether, in order to obtain a threshold estimate for these kinds of errors one should add them coherently (adding error amplitudes) or incoherently (adding error probabilities). This is one of the issues explored in this paper, for the two best-known quantum error-correcting codes: the 5-qubit and 7-qubit codes, and their concatenated forms. The conclusion, at least for the kind of interaction Hamiltonian assumed, is that these codes could fully handle the errors arising from mutual interactions, almost certainly at no extra cost in terms of resources needed (e.g., depth of concatenation). This is an encouraging result which may not have been immediately obvious before. The interaction to be considered here is one that results in pure phase shifts, conditioned on the relative state of neighboring qubits, according to a Hamiltonian $$H = \sum_{n=1}^{N-1} \hbar\delta \sigma_{zn}\sigma_{z,n+1} \label{one}$$ Examples of physical systems leading to interactions of this form have been discussed in previous publications [@myself1; @myself2]; in [@myself2] it has also been shown that, for instance, changing $\sigma_z$ to $\sigma_x$ (bit errors instead or phase errors) does not modify substantially the scaling (\[zeroa\]). In order to simplify the calculation, the (unrealistic) assumption is made that the qubits are divided into physical blocks, each of length $N_c$, which do not interact with each other; that is, the interaction Hamiltonian is applied separately to each such block. The blocks are intended to represent the “logical” qubits in a computer encoded for error correction. When the code is concatenated, the decoupling assumption is applied at the lowest (deepest) level: For instance, for a code concatenated once, a logical qubit is made of $N_c\times N_c$ physical qubits, and it is assumed that the $N_c$ lowest-level blocks do not interact with each other. While unrealistic, it is expected that this approximation should not modify the results very much, based on the numerical calculations made using a similar “decoupling of registers” approximation in ref. [@myself2]. In the following Section, the action of this Hamiltonian on a register encoded for error correction is analyzed, and then in Section III the analysis is extended to a concatenated code. The goal is to derive an expression for the “failure probability” per qubit, that is to say, the probability that the evolution under the Hamiltonian (\[one\]) may lead to a state which cannot be recovered by the error-correction protocol. Section II shows a few general features of this failure probability, such as its dependence on the initial state considered, and the way some error amplitudes add coherently and some do not, depending on the code considered. These results pave the way for the more complicated situation discussed in Section III. It is to be noted that the failure probability is calculated here for arbitrarily large interaction strength, for up to two-level-deep concatenated codes. Results for simple distance 3 codes =================================== Distance 3 codes can correct any of the three basic one-qubit errors represented by the three Pauli matrices $\sigma_x$, $\sigma_y$, and $\sigma_z$. They will typically fail whenever two errors happen simultaneously in the same logical block. The Hamiltonian (\[one\]) causes two phase errors in each physical block every time it is applied, but the actual damage it does to an encoded state turns out to depend on the code used, and on the state it acts upon. Two examples are considered in this section. The evolution operator resulting from (\[one\]) is, for a single logical block, $$U(t) = \prod_{n=1}^{N_c-1} \left(\cos\delta t + i \sigma_{zn}\sigma_{z,n+1} \sin\delta t\right) \label{two}$$ since the Pauli matrices for different qubits commute. Thus, a simple perturbative estimate of the failure probability would be as follows: if it is assumed that each term of the form $\sigma_{zn}\sigma_{z,n+1}$ leads to a distinct (orthogonal) uncorrectible error, there are $N_c-1$ such terms in (\[two\]), and the sum of the squares of their amplitudes is $$\begin{aligned} P_{pert}(t) &&= (N_c-1)\left(\cos^2 \delta t\right)^{N_c-1} \sin^2 \delta t \nonumber\\ &&\simeq (N_c-1) (\delta t)^2 \label{three}\end{aligned}$$ for sufficiently small interaction strength and time $\delta t$. As it turns out, this expression is not, in general, correct, even for small $\delta t$, because of two assumptions: that all terms of the form $\sigma_{zn}\sigma_{z,n+1}$ lead invariably to fatal (uncorrectible) errors, and that the different errors are orthogonal. This is explored in detail in what follows. The 7-qubit code ---------------- Consider the 7-qubit code introduced by Steane [@steane]: \[four\] $$\begin{aligned} \ket{0_L} = {1\over\sqrt 8} \bigl(&&\ket{0000000}+ \ket{0001111} + \ket{0110011} \nonumber \\ &&+ \ket{0111100}+ \ket{1010101} + \ket{1011010} \nonumber \\ &&+\ket{1100110} + \ket{1101001} \bigr) \label{foura} \end{aligned}$$ $$\begin{aligned} \ket{1_L} = {1\over\sqrt 8} \bigl(&&\ket{1111111}+ \ket{1110000} + \ket{1001100} \nonumber \\ &&+\ket{1000011} + \ket{0101010} + \ket{0100101} \nonumber \\ &&+ \ket{0011001} + \ket{0010110} \bigr) \label{fourb} \end{aligned}$$ Because the code is non-degenerate, all 7 states of the form $\sigma_{zn}\ket{0_L}$ (with $n=1,\dots,7$) are orthogonal to each other and to $\ket{0_L}$. Altogether, then, these eight states form an orthogonal basis of the space spanned by the eight kets appearing in (\[foura\]). But then, since any combination of products of $\sigma_{zn}$ acting on $\ket{0_L}$ does nothing but to change the relative signs in the superposition of these eight kets, it follows that it can always be written as a superposition of “one-error” states: $$U(t)\ket{0_L} = C_0\ket{0_L} + \sum_{n=1}^7 \sigma_{zn} \ket{0_L} \label{five}$$ and this is always correctible. A similar reasoning applies to the state $\ket{1_L}$, which means that, if the initial state of the system is either $\ket{0_L}$ or $\ket{1_L}$, the evolution operator (\[two\]) does not introduce any fatal errors at all. On the other hand, the initial state of the system is much more likely to be a coherent superposition of $\ket{0_L}$ and $\ket{1_L}$, and for such states the situation is different, because, although error correction will restore $\ket{0_L}$ and $\ket{1_L}$ separately, it will also introduce a phase difference between them. The following useful relations can be easily established from the explicit forms (\[four\]): \[six\] $$\begin{aligned} \sigma_{z1}\sigma_{z2}\ket{0_L} = \sigma_{z5}\sigma_{z6}\ket{0_L} &&= -\sigma_{z3}\ket{0_L} \nonumber \\ \sigma_{z2}\sigma_{z3}\ket{0_L} = \sigma_{z4}\sigma_{z5}\ket{0_L} = \sigma_{z6}\sigma_{z7}\ket{0_L} &&= -\sigma_{z1}\ket{0_L} \nonumber \\ \sigma_{z3}\sigma_{z4}\ket{0_L} &&= -\sigma_{z7}\ket{0_L} \label{sixa} \end{aligned}$$ $$\begin{aligned} \sigma_{z1}\sigma_{z2}\ket{1_L} = \sigma_{z5}\sigma_{z6}\ket{1_L} &&= \sigma_{z3}\ket{1_L} \nonumber \\ \sigma_{z2}\sigma_{z3}\ket{1_L} = \sigma_{z4}\sigma_{z5}\ket{1_L} = \sigma_{z6}\sigma_{z7}\ket{1_L} &&= \sigma_{z1}\ket{1_L} \nonumber \\ \sigma_{z3}\sigma_{z4}\ket{1_L} &&= \sigma_{z7}\ket{1_L} \label{sixb} \end{aligned}$$ and it is easily seen from this that when error correction is applied to the state $\sigma_{zn}\sigma_{z,n+1} (\alpha\ket{0_L}+\beta\ket{1_L})$, the result will be the state $(-\alpha\ket{0_L}+\beta\ket{1_L})$, that is, a state with the wrong relative phase. Equations (\[six\]) also show that the assumption that different $\sigma_{zn}\sigma_{z,n+1}$ lead to orthogonal error states is incorrect: for instance, $\sigma_{z1}\sigma_{z2}$ and $\sigma_{z5}\sigma_{z6}$ lead to the same error state. Using Eqs. (\[six\]) it is straightforward to derive the correct form of the approximate failure probability for small $\delta t$. When only the terms of first order in $\delta t$ are kept in the expression (\[two\]), acting on a general state $\alpha\ket{0_L}+\beta\ket{1_L}$, one obtains $$\delta t\,(3\sigma_{z1}+2\sigma_{z3}+\sigma_{z7})(-\alpha\ket{0_L}+\beta\ket{1_L}) \label{seven}$$ which means that the probability that after error correction one might end up with the state $-\alpha\ket{0_L}+\beta\ket{1_L}$ is $(3^2+2^2+1^2)(\delta t)^2 = 14 (\delta t)^2$. One might directly call this the failure probability (since the state $-\alpha\ket{0_L}+\beta\ket{1_L}$ is generally not equal to the initial state $\alpha\ket{0_L}+\beta\ket{1_L}$) or define the failure probability as including explicitly the square of the overlap between the initial and the final state (see Eq. (\[deffailprob\]), below, for the precise definition), in which case one finds $$P \simeq 14 (\delta t)^2 \left(1-\left(|\alpha|^2-|\beta|^2\right)^2 \right) \label{eight}$$ where the $\simeq$ sign is a reminder that this is only valid for small $\delta t$. The failure probability (\[eight\]) is largest for the symmetric linear superpositions $(\ket{0_L}\pm\ket{1_L})/\sqrt{2}$. Note how it is different from the result (\[three\]) (for $N_c=7$), obtained under the assumption that the errors generated by different $\sigma_{zn}\sigma_{z,n+1}$ were all orthogonal, and it is also not equal to the same expression with $N_c-1$ replaced by $(N_c-1)^2$, which would correspond to a “worst case scenario” in which all the different errors added coherently. The coefficient $14$ falls instead in between the two extremes of 6 $(N_c-1)$ and 36 ($(N_c-1)^2$). The definition of the failure probability $P$ used above is $$P=1-\left|\bra{\Psi_0}U(t)\ket{\Psi_0}\right|^2 - \sum_{n=1}^{N_c} \left|\bra{\Psi_0}\sigma_{z,n}U(t)\ket{\Psi_0}\right|^2 \label{deffailprob}$$ that is, one minus the total probability that, after a time $t$, the system may be found in either the original state $\ket{\Psi_0}$, or one of the $N_c$ correctible states $\sigma_{z,n}\ket{\Psi_0}$ (there are, of course, other correctible states, of the form $\sigma_{x,n}\ket{\Psi_0}$ and $\sigma_{y,n}\ket{\Psi_0}$, but they cannot be accessed by this interaction operator). Using this definition it is relatively straightforward to calculate $P$ exactly for arbitrarily large $\delta t$. The following relation is useful: \[ten\] $$\bra{0_L} \sigma_{z,n_1},\ldots, \sigma_{z,n_k} U \ket{0_L} = (-1)^k\bra{1_L} \sigma_{z,n_1},\ldots, \sigma_{z,n_k} U \ket{1_L} \label{tena}$$ $$\bra{0_L} \sigma_{z,n_1},\ldots, \sigma_{z,n_k} U \ket{1_L} = 0 \label{tenb}$$ where $k=0,\ldots, 7$. This follows directly from the fact that $U$ involves always the product of an even number of $\sigma_z$ operators, and that the code words used in $\ket{0_L}$ are the complementaries of the ones used in $\ket{1_L}$. For future use it is convenient to define \[ten1\] $$f_0 = \left| \bra{0_L} U \ket{0_L} \right|^2 = \left| \bra{1_L} U \ket{1_L} \right|^2 \label{ten1a}$$ $$f_1 = \sum_{n=1}^7\left| \bra{0_L} \sigma_{z,n} U \ket{0_L} \right|^2 = \sum_{n=1}^7 \left| \bra{1_L} U \ket{1_L} \right|^2 \label{ten1b}$$ Direct calculation then yields $$f_0 = 1-f_1 = \cos^2(\delta t) \cos^2(2\delta t) \cos^2(3 \delta t) \label{ten2}$$ and $$P(t) = f_1 \left(1-\left(|\alpha|^2-|\beta|^2\right)^2 \right) \label{eleven}$$ and it is easy to verify that (\[eight\]) is the lowest-order term in the expansion of (\[eleven\]) in powers of $\delta t$. The failure probability (\[eleven\]) for the case $|\alpha|=|\beta|$ is plotted in Figure 1 (solid line) as a function of $\delta t$, from $\delta t = 0$ to $\pi/2$. From $0$ to $\pi$, the curve is symmetric about $\pi/2$, as is to be expected from the form of the evolution operator (\[two\]). The 5-qubit code ---------------- In 1996 Laflamme et al. [@laflamme] introduced a 5-qubit code which can correct general one-qubit errors. A possible encoding is \[twelve\] $$\begin{aligned} \ket{0_L} = {1\over\sqrt 8} \bigl(&&-\ket{00000}+ \ket{01111} - \ket{10011} + \ket{11100} \nonumber \\ &&+ \ket{10101} + \ket{11010} +\ket{00110} + \ket{01001} \bigr) \label{twelvea} \end{aligned}$$ $$\begin{aligned} \ket{1_L} = {1\over\sqrt 8} \bigl(&&-\ket{11111}+ \ket{10000} + \ket{01100} -\ket{00011} \nonumber \\ &&- \ket{01010} - \ket{00101} + \ket{11001} + \ket{10110} \bigr) \label{twelveb} \end{aligned}$$ The codewords can be obtained from the 7-qubit code by deleting any two qubits (in this case, the first two), but the pattern of signs is nontrivial. Note that the logical 0 and 1 states are still superpositions of eight basis vectors each (where the basis vectors are simultaneous eigenstates of all the $\sigma_{z,n}$); hence, the ten one-error states $\sigma_{z,n}\ket{0_L}$ and $\sigma_{z,n}\ket{1_L}$, plus the two no-error states $\ket{0_L}$ and $\ket{1_L}$ are not enough to span the space resulting from all the possible combinations of the 16 basis kets. As a result, there are now no states which exhibit fully correctible evolution (unlike the $\ket{0_L}$ and $\ket{1_L}$ did for the 7-qubit code). However, we still have the phenomenon of non-orthogonal errors. In particular, we find that \[thirteen\] $$\sigma_{z2}\sigma_{z3}\ket{0_L} = \sigma_{z4}\sigma_{z5}\ket{0_L} \label{thirteena}$$ $$\sigma_{z2}\sigma_{z3}\ket{1_L} = \sigma_{z4}\sigma_{z5}\ket{1_L} \label{thirteenb}$$ and neither of these expressions is equivalent to a linear combination of single-qubit errors acting on $\ket{0_L}$ or $\ket{1_L}$; in fact, they are orthogonal to all such states, and to the no-error states $\ket{0_L}$ and $\ket{1_L}$ as well. The calculation of $P(t)$, as given by the definition (\[deffailprob\]) is a little more involved, although the results (\[ten\]) still hold. Defining as before \[thirteen1\] $$f_0 = \left| \bra{0_L} U \ket{0_L} \right|^2 = \left| \bra{1_L} U \ket{1_L} \right|^2 \label{thirteen1a}$$ $$f_1 = \sum_{n=1}^5\left| \bra{0_L} \sigma_{z,n} U \ket{0_L} \right|^2 = \sum_{n=1}^5 \left| \bra{1_L} U \ket{1_L} \right|^2 \label{thirteen1b}$$ one finds, thanks to Eqs. (\[ten\]), that $P(t)$ can still be written as $$P(t) = 1-f_0 - f_1 \left(|\alpha|^2-|\beta|^2\right)^2 \label{thirteen2}$$ but this time, unlike for the 7-qubit code, one does not have $f_0=1-f_1$. Instead, \[thirteen3\] $$f_0 = \cos^4(\delta t) \cos^2(2\delta t) \label{thirteen3a}$$ $$f_1 = \sin^2(\delta t) \left(1+\cos^2(\delta t) \cos^2(2 \delta t) \right) \label{thirteen3b}$$ The failure probability (\[thirteen2\]) for the case $|\alpha|=|\beta|$ is plotted in Figure 2 (solid line) as a function of $\delta t$, from $\delta t = 0$ to $\pi/2$. For small values of $\delta t$ Eq. (\[thirteen2\]) reduces to $$P \simeq (\delta t)^2 \left[6-2 \left(|\alpha|^2-|\beta|^2\right)^2 \right] \label{fifteen}$$ The reason $f_0\ne 1-f_1$ for the 5-qubit code is that, as mentioned above, the states $\ket{0_L}$ and $\sigma_{z,n}\ket{0_L}$ do not form a complete basis of the space spanned by the eight kets which make up $\ket{0_L}$. For the 7-qubit code, instead, they do, and, since the operator $U$ acts entirely within that space (when the initial state is $\ket{0_L}$), any part of $U\ket{0_L}$ which is not accounted for by the original state $\ket{0_L}$ has to show up in one of the $\sigma_{z,n}\ket{0_L}$ (and the same for the initial state $\ket{1_L}$). Concatenated codes ================== A relatively straightforward way to obtain a code that can correct more than one-qubit errors is to concatenate a one-error correcting code, in principle, as many times (or levels deep) as necessary [@preskill; @knill1]. In a code concatenated once, each logical qubit consits of $N_c$ blocks of $N_c$ (lower-level) qubits each. This code can protect against general errors in any three lower-level qubits, and also against many other combinations of multiple lower-level errors. The minimum number of lower-level errors required to cause the code to fail is four, two in one upper level block (causing that whole block to fail) and two in a different one. In this section I look first at the 7-qubit and 5-qubit codes concatenated once. A physical (lowest-level) qubit will be identified by two indices, $n$ and $m$, running from $1$ to $N_c$: the first index denotes the upper-level block it belongs to, and the second index the qubit’s position within that block. With the assumption that different blocks do not interact, the time-evolution operator (\[two\]) becomes $$U(t) = \prod_{n=1}^{N_c}\prod_{m=1}^{N_c-1} \left(\cos\delta t + i \sigma_{nm}\sigma_{n,m+1} \sin\delta t\right) \label{seventeen}$$ From now on, for simplicity, the subscript $z$ on $\sigma_z$ will be dropped, as only $\sigma_z$ is used. The 7-qubit code ---------------- If all the errors generated by the individual terms in (\[seventeen\]) were orthogonal, it would be a relatively simple matter to calculate the probability of an uncorrectible error to lowest order. It would be given by the terms of the form $\sigma_{n_1m_1} \sigma_{n_1,m_1+1}\sigma_{n_2m_2}\sigma_{n_2,m_2+1}$, with $n_1\ne n_2$ and $m_1, m_2$ arbitrary. There are $C(N_c,2)$ ways to choose the indices $n_1$ and $n_2$, and for each choice there are $(N_c-1)^2$ different ways to choose $m_1, m_2$, so there is a total of $${N_c\choose2} \left(N_c-1 \right)^2 \label{eighteen}$$ terms in (\[seventeen\]) which contribute to the failure probability in lowest order, and all these terms are proportional to $(\delta t)^4$ (after squaring the probability amplitudes). However, as has been shown already in the previous section, not all the terms enumerated in (\[eighteen\]) are mutually orthogonal. For the 7-qubit code, according to (\[six\]), there are two sets of values for $m_1$ (one set of three values, and one set of two values) which result in identical states. When the equivalent choices for $m_2$ are factored in and added, and the probability amplitudes of the corresponding states are squared, one finds, instead of the factor $(N_c-1)^2 = 36$ in (\[eighteen\]), a factor $$(3^2+2^2+1^2)(3^2+2^2+1^2) = 14^2 = 196 \label{nineteen}$$ As a result, to lowest order, the failure probability for this two-level code is given by $$\begin{aligned} P^{(2)} &&\simeq 196 {7\choose2} (\delta t)^4 \left(1-\left(|\alpha|^2-|\beta|^2\right)^2 \right) \nonumber \\ &&= 4116 \, (\delta t)^4 \left(1-\left(|\alpha|^2-|\beta|^2\right)^2 \right) \label{twenty}\end{aligned}$$ for a state $\alpha\ket{0_L}+\beta\ket{1_L}$. The dependence on $\alpha$ and $\beta$ exhibited by (\[twenty\]) may not be not immediately obvious at this point (it will be derived later), but it shows that, for the concatenated code also, the individual states $\ket{0_L}$ and $\ket{1_L}$ are fully correctible. Note that the maximum error probability $P_{max}^{(2)}$ for the once-concatenated code, according to (\[twenty\]), is related to the corresponding one for the plain code, (\[eight\]), by the formula $$P_{max}^{(2)} = {7\choose2} \left(P_{max}^{(1)}\right)^2 \label{twenty1}$$ and the right-hand side of (\[twenty1\]) is simply the probability that two blocks might fail [*independently*]{}, times the number of ways to choose two blocks. This is because, to this order (recall that these are only approximate results for small $\delta t$), errors across different blocks are orthogonal, ie., they add incoherently. This can also be seen from Equation (\[nineteen\]): within each block there is some coherent addition of error amplitudes (which results in the terms $3^2$ and $2^2$), but then the total error probabilities for each block are simply multiplied. This is an important result which generalizes to higher orders, as discussed later in this Section (subsection C). The key point is that all the errors which would cause a particular block to fail are orthogonal to all the errors that would cause a [*different*]{} block to fail, [*to lowest order*]{}. This is because to lowest order all it takes is two errors in one block to cause that block to fail, and because the original code is nondegenerate, which means that all expectation values of the form $\bra{\xi_L}\sigma_i\sigma_j\ket{\eta_L}$ (where $\eta, \xi = 0,1$) within the same block are zero. Equation (\[twenty1\]) does not, however, hold for arbitrarily large $\delta t$, when multiple (more than two) errors within the same block need to be taken into account. For a code concatenated only once it is still possible, albeit very cumbersome, to derive this failure probability for arbitrary $\delta t$. The definition (\[deffailprob\]) has to be changed to $$P=1-\left|\bra{\Psi_0}U(t)\ket{\Psi_0}\right|^2 - \sum_n \left|\bra{\Psi_0}A_nU(t)\ket{\Psi_0}\right|^2 \label{twentyone}$$ where the $\{A_n\}$ represent a maximal set of correctible error operators leading to orthogonal states. The difficulty is that now, unlike in the previous Section, not all possible correctible errors lead to orthogonal states. For instance, any number of errors within one single block are now correctible, but certainly not all of these lead to orthogonal states. Thus, even though we started out with a nondegenerate code, [*the concatenated code is degenerate*]{} [@gottesman]. As far as I can tell, the set $\{A_n\}$ in (\[twentyone\]) must be constructed by inspection. For the 7-qubit code, concatenated once, I find that the maximum number of correctible errors acting on a single block and leading to orthogonal states is 15, which can be chosen to be $$\begin{aligned} \sigma_{nm}\qquad (m=1,\ldots,7) \nonumber \\ \sigma_{n1}\sigma_{nm} \qquad (m=2,\ldots,7) \nonumber \\ \sigma_{n2}\sigma_{n3} \nonumber \\ \sigma_{n1}\sigma_{n4}\sigma_{n5} \label{twentytwo}\end{aligned}$$ Of these, the first 7 are, of course, fully correctible at the lower level, whereas the others, upon correction at the lower level, lead to what look like “block” phase errors at the higher level. The single-block errors (\[twentytwo\]) can be combined in a large number of ways among the different blocks to yield other, orthogonal, correctible errors. Fortunately, however, the actual number of such combinations which make a nonvanishing contribution to (\[twentyone\]) is relatively small. To see this, divide the error operators acting on a single block into those involving an even number of $\sigma$’s (denoted as $E_n$ if they act on the $n$-th block) and those involving an odd number of $\sigma$’s (denoted as $O_n$). Then, for a general multiblock error of the form $A=E_{n_1}\ldots E_{n_k}O_{m_1}\ldots O_{m_k}$, Eqs. (\[ten\]) for a single block imply that the expectation value $$\bra{0_L}O_{n_1}\ldots O_{n_k}E_{m_1}\ldots E_{m_l}U\ket{0_L} \label{twentythree}$$ will only be nonzero if the corresponding combination $\bra{0_L}\sigma_{n_1}\ldots\sigma_{n_k}\ket{0_L}$ is nonzero for the single, non-concatenated, code. The same is true for the state $\ket{1_L}$, and there are no cross-terms between $\ket{0_L}$ and $\ket{1_L}$ (also as a direct consequence of the single-block Eqs. (\[ten\])). Thus, to evaluate (\[twentyone\]), it is sufficient to identify the combinations of numbers $\{n_1,\ldots,n_k\}$ which lead to a nonzero $\bra{0_L}\sigma_{n_1}\ldots\sigma_{n_k}\ket{0_L}$ for the 7-qubit code, and put odd errors, chosen from the list (\[twentytwo\]), in the blocks $n_1,\ldots,n_k$, augmented perhaps with even errors, always chosen from the list (\[twentytwo\]), in any other blocks, provided, of course, that the total error be correctible. This quickly reduces the total of different possibilities to a manageable number: for instance, since an even error in one block would cause that block to fail, one cannot have even errors in more than one block at a time. For reference, for the 7-qubit code, the sets of values of $n_1,\ldots,n_k$ to be used are: $(1,2,3)$, $(1,4,5)$, $(1,6,7)$, $(2,4,6)$, $(2,5,7)$, $(3,4,7)$, $(3,5,6)$, the complementary set ($(4,5,6,7)$, $(2,3,6,7)$, and so on), and the set $(1,2,3,4,5,6,7)$. Then, possible error operators $A_n$ to be used in (\[twentyone\]) might be products such as such as $\sigma_{1,m_1}\sigma_{2,m_2}\sigma_{3,m_3}$, or $\sigma_{1,m_1}\sigma_{2,m_2}\sigma_{3,m_3}\sigma_{4,1}\sigma_{4,m_4}$, or $\sigma_{n,1}\sigma_{n,m}$. In terms of the functions $f_0$, $f_1$ defined in (\[ten1\]), the term(s) $\sum_{m_1,m_2,m_3} |\bra{0_L} \sigma_{1,m_1}\sigma_{2,m_2}\sigma_{3,m_3}\ket{0_L}|^2$ contribute a term $f_0^4 f_1^3$ to the expression (\[twentyone\]); the term $\sum_{m_1,m_2,m_3,m_4} |\bra{0_L} \sigma_{1,m_1}\sigma_{2,m_2}\sigma_{3,m_3}\sigma_{4,1}\sigma_{4,m_4}\ket{0_L}|^2$ contributes a term $f_0^3 f_1^4$ (since the product of two $\sigma$’s in the same block is equivalent, except for a sign, to a single $\sigma$ acting on the appropriate state, cf. Eqs. (\[six\])), and so on. Collecting all the terms, and keeping track carefully of which ones have opposite signs in the states $\ket{0_L}$ and the states $\ket{1_L}$, one finds $$P^{(2)}(t) = \left(1-f_0^7-7f_0^6 f_1 - 28 f_0^4 f_1^3 - 7 f_0^3 f_1^4 - 21 f_0^2 f_1^5 \right) \left(1-\left(|\alpha|^2-|\beta|^2\right)^2 \right) \label{twentyfour}$$ with $f_0$ and $f_1$ given by (\[ten2\]), which does reduce to (\[twenty\]) for small $\delta t$. The exact result (\[twentyfour\]) is plotted as a function of $\delta t$ in Figure 1 (dashed line), for $|\alpha|=|\beta|$. It is, perhaps, remarkable that it does not look all that different from the single-encoding result (\[eleven\]), except in the very small $\delta t$ region. It is also clear that Eq. (\[twenty1\]) does not hold for large $\delta t$, which means that for large $\delta t$ we do see the effects of errors across different blocks adding coherently. The 5-qubit code ---------------- For the 5-qubit code, one again has to identify the appropriate maximal set of error operators leading to orthogonal errors. For a single block, one finds the following set of 15: $$\begin{aligned} \sigma_{nm}\qquad (m=1,\ldots,5) \nonumber \\ \sigma_{n1}\sigma_{nm} \qquad (m=2,\ldots,5) \nonumber \\ \sigma_{n2}\sigma_{nm} \qquad (m=3,\ldots,5) \nonumber \\ \sigma_{n1}\sigma_{n2}\sigma_{nm} \qquad (m=3,\ldots,5) \label{twentyfive}\end{aligned}$$ As in the previous subsection, it is found that only certain combinations of odd errors across different blocks lead to nonzero contributions to (\[twentyone\]). These turn out to be much fewer than before, being limited to $n_1,\ldots,n_k = (1,2,5), (1,3,4)$, and $(2,3,4,5)$. The result, valid for arbitrarily large $\delta t$, turns out to be now $$\begin{aligned} P^{(2)}(t) = 1 &&-(f_0^5+5f_0^4(1-f_0)+f_1^4 + 4f_0f_1^3(1-f_1)) \nonumber \\ &&-(4f_0f_1^3+6f_0^2 f_1^2-8f_0^2 f_1^3)\left(|\alpha|^2-|\beta|^2\right)^2 \label{twentysix}\end{aligned}$$ with $f_0$ and $f_1$ given by Eqs. (\[thirteen3\]). The factors of $1-f_0$ appearing in (\[twentysix\]) come from the sum of the single-block expectation values squared of $\sigma_{1}\sigma_{m}$, $m=2,\ldots,5$ and $\sigma_{2}\sigma_{m}$, $m=3,\ldots,5$; these seven error operators, acting on the singly encoded $\ket{0_L}$ or $\ket{1_L}$, generate the seven orthogonal states necessary to complete a basis of the space spanned by the 8 kets appearing in (\[twelve\]). The factors of $1-f_1$ come from the sum of the single-block expectation values squared of $\sigma_{1}\sigma_{2}\sigma_{m}$, $m=3,\ldots,5$: these 3 error operators turn out to be the complement of the 5 ones appearing in the definition (\[thirteenb\]) of $f_1$. The limit of (\[twentysix\]) for small $\delta t$ is $$P^{(2)}(t) \simeq (\delta t)^4 \left[360 - 24 \left(|\alpha|^2-|\beta|^2\right)^2\right] \label{thirty}$$ As usual, the failure probability is largest for the symmetric superposition state $(\ket{0_L}\pm\ket{1_L})/\sqrt{2}$. The corresponding coefficient, $360$, can be obtained also from the simple arguments used to derive the result (\[twenty\]) in the previous subsection: it equals $C(5,2)(2^2+1^2+1^2)^2$, where the $2^2$ stands for the amplitude square of the sum of the two error terms which lead to identical errors, as shown in Eq. (\[thirteen\]) (and the two $1^2$ stand for the other two orthogonal errors). The exact result (\[twentysix\]) is plotted in Figure 2 (dashed line) as a function of $\delta t$, for $|\alpha|=|\beta|$. In this case, unlike for the 7-qubit code, the difference with the single-encoding formula (solid line, equation (\[thirteen2\])) is substantial; the twice-encoded qubit has a substantially smaller failure probability for most values of $\delta t$. The failure probability actually goes to zero at $\delta = \pi/2$, where Eq. (\[seventeen\]) yields $U = i\prod_{n=1}^5 \sigma_{n1} \sigma_{n5}$. Upon inspection, it is found to be a peculiarity of the concatenated (two-levels deep) 5-qubit code that $$\prod_{n=1}^5 \sigma_{n1} \sigma_{n5} \left(\alpha \ket{0_L} + \beta \ket{1_L} \right) = \sigma_{11} \sigma_{15} \sigma_{22} \sigma_{32} \sigma_{42} \sigma_{52} \left(\alpha \ket{0_L} + \beta \ket{1_L} \right) \label{thirty2}$$ and the state on the right-hand side of (\[thirty2\]) is fully correctible, since it amounts to only one block failing. Results for arbitrarily deep concatenation ------------------------------------------ Clearly, the exact calculation of $P^{(n)}$ for a code concatenated $n$ levels deep, with $n > 2$, becomes much too cumbersome to be feasible. However, the results in the previous subsections show that the leading term in $\delta t$ can be calculated using relatively simple arguments. Consider, for instance, a code concatenated three levels deep. It will fail if at least two of the high-level qubits fail, but these high-level qubits are themselves two-level deep codes. One can choose the two highest-level qubits that fail in any of $C(N_c,2)$ ways, and for each of them the number of terms in the expansion of the evolution operator which lead to a qubit failure are those computed for the previous level. So, for the 7-qubit code, we can immediately iterate (\[twenty\]) to get $$\begin{aligned} P^{(3)}_{max} &&\simeq {7\choose2} \left(4116 (\delta t)^4 \right)^2 \nonumber \\ &&\simeq {7\choose2} \left(P^{(2)}_{max} \right)^2 \label{thirtyone}\end{aligned}$$ where the subscript “max” indicates that we are looking at the failure probability for the state that maximizes it (the linear combination $(\ket{0_L}\pm\ket{1_L})/\sqrt{2}$), and Eq. (\[eight\]) has been used for $P^{(1)}$. Equation (\[thirtyone\]) contains the essence of a recursion relation which yields the failure probability at the $n$-th level of concatenation ($n\ge 2$) as $$P^{(n)}_{max} \simeq {7\choose2}^{-1} \left({7\choose2} P^{(1)}_{max}\right)^{2^{n-1}} \label{thirtytwo}$$ Figure 3 shows the approximate $P^{(n)}$, calculated from (\[thirtytwo\]), for $n=1,\ldots,4$ (solid lines), and also the exact results (\[eleven\]) and (\[twentyfour\]), for comparison. Based on these examples, it would seem that Equation (\[thirtytwo\]) overestimates the failure probability, which would make it a somewhat conservative estimate As encoding depth $n$ increases, the failure probability (\[thirtytwo\]) will, for a given $\delta t$ increase or decrease depending on whether $C(7,2) P^{(1)}_{max}$ is greater than or less than one. This yields the “threshold” value for $(\delta t)^2$, below which virtually error-free operation can be achieved for sufficiently deep encoding. Using (\[eight\]), one finds the condition: $$(\delta t)^2 < {1\over 21\cdot 14} = 3.4\times 10^{-3} \label{thirtythree}$$ (Figure 3 shows this as the point where all the curves cross.) This threshold (\[thirtythree\]) is comparable to some estimates for the correction of independent, random errors by concatenate codes, if one thinks of $(\delta t)^2$ as a sort of failure probability for a single physical qubit. As pointed out in the Introduction, this is a natural interpretation (in spite of the fact that two physical qubits at a time are modified by this interaction), because of the result (\[zeroa\]). A similar calculation yields the threshold result for the 5-qubit code (using (\[fifteen\]) and C(5,2)=10): $$(\delta t)^2 < {1\over 10\cdot 6} = 1.7\times 10^{-2} \label{thirtyfour}$$ Discussion ========== The results in the previous section suggest that, in principle, the correction of even rather large undesired interactions between the qubits does not require special methods or resources beyond those needed to control independent, random errors arising from the interaction of the qubits with the environment. This observation is based, first, on the fact that estimates of the threshold for fault-tolerant computation with independent environmental errors tend to be rather more restrictive than either (\[thirtythree\]) or (\[thirtyfour\]) [@preskill; @knill1]; and, second, on the fact that for most proposed quantum computing systems the unwanted interactions betwen qubits would easily satisfy the threshold conditions (\[thirtythree\]) or (\[thirtyfour\]), provided that the time in between error corrections is not excessive. As an example, consider a system of nuclear spins, in a solid, for instance (such as in the proposal by Kane [@kane]), separated by $\sim 150$ Å, and interacting via the magnetic dipole-dipole interaction, which would naturally lead to a Hamiltonian like (\[one\]). For such a system $\delta$ may be estimated as $$\delta \sim {\mu_0 \mu_N^2 \over 4 \pi \hbar d^3} \sim 10^{-2} \hbox{s}^{-1} \label{thirtyfive}$$ Here $\mu_N$ is the nuclear magneton. Without error correction $\delta t$ becomes already of the order of 1 after 100 s, and long calculations are impossible. But assume that one uses error correction and that complete error correction of an $n$-order encoded qubit requires a time $t = c_n \tau_{gate} $, where the time needed to perform an elementary logic gate for this system is about $\tau_{gate} = 10^{-5}$ s. Then the threshold is easily reached unless $c_n$ is exceptionally large, which would make error correction generally impossible anyway (a large $c_n$ would mean essentially that the computer architecture does not allow for a large degree of parallelism when correcting errors across different qubits). Of course, the results presented here have been obtained only for a specific kind of interaction Hamiltonian and a specific geometry, and would need to be modified for other cases (e.g., two-dimensional geometries, with more nearest-neighbors per qubit, or to include non-nearest neighbor interactions). There is also the simplifying assumption made from the outset, of neglecting interactions beween qubits in different blocks. These complications might require recalculations for specific physical systems and hardware configurations, but I do not expect them to change substantially the threshold estimates of the previous Section. For instance, for the kind of “linear” geometry considered here, including interactions between the last qubit of one block and the first one of the next block would not modify the failure probability to lowest order, since a single two-qubit error which straddles two blocks does not cause either block to fail; hence, to make any one block fail, more of these errors are required than of the kind of “internal” errors considered in this paper. The key result of Section III concerning the incoherent addition of failure probabilities for different blocks, to lowest order, should be quite general: it depends only on the base code being a nondegenerate distance 3 code and the interaction Hamiltonian being a sum of pairwise products of elementary error operators for individual qubits. The most important “real-life” complication which has been ignored here is, rather, the fact that, in practice, error correction will not be a clean and purely mathematical operation, but a physical one, involving interacting systems and therefore itself subject to error. The theory of fault-tolerant error correction has shown that even when this is accounted for it should still be possible to achieve “almost” perfect error correction, provided that the error rate per gate is below a certain threshold, but it is here where one finds the (possibly) very small error thresholds which constitute the main challenge for large-scale quantum computing. I am grateful to R. Laflamme and D. A. Meyer for comments. This research has been sponsored by the National Science Foundation and by the Army Research Office. J. Gea-Banacloche, Phys. Rev. A [**57**]{}, R1 (1998). J. Gea-Banacloche, Phys. Rev. A [**60**]{}, 185 (1999). This was done, for instance, by Garg, Phys. Rev. Lett. [**77**]{}, 964 (1996) See, for instance, L. Viola and S. Lloyd, Phys. Rev. A [**58**]{}, 2733 (1998) D. G. Cory, A. F. Fahmy and T. F. Havel, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.  USA [**94**]{}, 1634 (1997); N. A. Gershenfeld and I. L. Chuang, Science [**275**]{}, 350 (1997). J. Preskill, Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. A [**454**]{}, 385 (1998). E. Knill, R. Laflamme and W. H. Zurek, Science [**279**]{}, 342 (1998). A. M. Steane, Phys. Rev. Lett. [**77**]{}, 793 (1996). See also A. R. Calderbank and P. W. Shor, Phys. Rev. A [**54**]{}, 1098 (1996). R. Laflamme, C. Miquel, J. P. Paz, and W. H. Zurek, Phys. Rev. Lett. [**77**]{}, 198 (1996). D. 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--- abstract: 'In a series of papers Amati, Ciafaloni and Veneziano and ’t Hooft conjectured that black holes occur in the collision of two light particles at planckian energies. In this talk based on [@AVV] we discuss a possible scenario for such a process by using the Chandrasekhar-Ferrari-Xanthopoulos duality between the Kerr black hole solution and colliding plane gravitational waves.' author: - 'I.Ya. Aref’eva [^1], K.S. Viswanathan [^2] and I.V.Volovich[^3]' date: $~$ title: On Black Hole Creation in Planckian Energy Scattering --- Introduction ============ An idea by M.A.Markov [@Mar; @Mar95], see also [@MF], that black holes can be considered as elementary particles becomes nowadays a common place in quantum gravity [@Haw] and superstring theory [@Sen; @Wit; @Hall]. If black holes are particles then one can ask about creation and annihilation of black holes in scattering processes of ordinary particles with very high energies. Amati, Ciafaloni and Veneziano [@1] and ’t Hooft [@2] made a conjecture that black holes will occur in the collision of two light particles at Planck energies with small impact parameters. In this talk based on [@AVV] we discuss the following possible mechanism of black holes creation $$\mbox {{\bf Particles }}~\to ~ \mbox {{\bf gravitational waves}}~\to ~ \mbox {{\bf Black Holes}}$$ Ultra-relativistic particles generate plane gravitational waves then these plane gravitational waves collide and produce a singularity or a black hole. We are going to discuss some issues concerning quantum mechanical description of black hole creation in the scattering processes of particles. Note that black holes cannot be incorporated into the theory if we consider quantum field theory in Minkowski space-time. It is difficult to perform calculations for such a process in a realistic situation. We shall discuss here an idealized picture. Any gravitational wave far away from sources can be considered as a plane wave. We assume that plane waves already have been produced by ultrarelativistic particles and then consider analytically the process of black hole formation under interaction of these plane waves. We discuss the semiclassical transition amplitude for the process of creation of black hole in the collision of two plane waves in the semiclassical approximation. For this purpose use a classical discribtion of the process $$\mbox {{\bf gravitational waves}}~\to ~ \mbox {{\bf Black Holes}}$$ Classical collision of plane gravitational waves has been the subject of numerous investigations, see for example [@SKP; @CX; @FI; @Gr], and it has a remarkably rich structure. Here we are going to use the Chandrasekhar-Ferrari-Xanthopoulos duality between colliding plane gravitational waves and the Kerr black hole solution. One has two dimensionless parameters in a scattering process at Planck energies[@1; @2]. If $E$ is the energy in the center of mass frame, then one defines the Planckian energy regime to be $GE^{2}/\hbar\geq 1$, where $G$ is the Newton constant. This means that one can treat the process semiclassically. The other dimensionless parameter is $GE/b$, where $b$ is the impact parameter. If one takes $GE/b\ll1$ , one can use the eikonal approximation. The elastic scattering amplitude $A(s,t)$ in the eikonal approximation was found in [@1; @2]. Fabbrichesi, Pettorino, Veneziano and Vilkovisky (FPVV) [@7] gave the representation $$A(s,t) \sim s \int d^{2}b~ e^{iqb} e^{iI_{cl}(s,b)}.$$ Here $s$ and $t$ are the Mandelstam variables, $q^{2}=-t$. $I_{cl}(s,b)$ was taken to be the value of the boundary term for the gravitational action calculated on the sum of two Aichelburg-Sexl shock waves, $$I_{cl}(s,b)=G s \log b^2.$$ This corresponds to a linearization of the problem and one cannot see in such an approximation black hole formation. It is tempting to suggest that one can use the FPVV approach [@7] and the formula of type (1) even for small impact parameters to calculate the phase of the transition amplitude from a state containing two particles to a state containing a black hole. In such a case $I_{cl}(s,b)$ could be the value of the gravitational action for a solution of Einstein equation corresponding to an interior of the Kerr black hole created in the collision of plane gravitational waves. The parameters $s$ and $b$ in this case could be expressed in terms of the mass and angular momentum of the Kerr black hole. Black Hole Transition Amplitude ================================ We discuss here some issues concerning quantum mechanical description of black hole creation in the scattering processes of particles. Let us note first that black holes cannot be incorporated into the theory if we consider quantum field theory in Minkowski space-time. In fact it is obvious from Einstein equation $$R_{\mu \nu }-\frac{1}{2}g_{\mu \nu}R=8\pi GT_{\mu \nu} \label{2.1}$$ that if one has matter, i.e. a nonvanishing $T_{\mu \nu}$ then one has a nontrivial gravitational field. This means that one has to start with a region of space-time which is flat only in some approximation. Then, in the process of collision, one gets a strong gravitational field including perhaps black holes and/or singularities. Let us clarify the meaning of the transition amplitude from a state describing particles to a state containing black holes, $$<\mbox {Black holes}|\mbox{Particles in almost Minkowski space-time}>.$$ By analogy with the definition of transition amplitude in quantum mechanics this transition amplitude can be characterized by values of the metric and others fields in two given moments of time (or by data on two given Cauchy surfaces, say $\Sigma '$ and $\Sigma ''$). Our starting point is the quantum-mechanical Feynman transition amplitude between definite configurations of the three-metric $h_{ij}'$ and field $\Phi '$ on an initial spacelike surface $\Sigma ' $ and a configuration $h_{ij}''$ and $\Phi ''$ on a final surface $\Sigma '' $. This is $$<h'',\phi '', \Sigma ''|h', \phi ' , \Sigma '>= \int ~~ e^{\frac{i}{\hbar}S[g,\Phi]} {}~{\cal D}\Phi {\cal D}g, \label {3}$$ where the integral is over all four-geometries and field configurations which match given values on two spacelike surfaces, i.e. $$\Phi |_{\Sigma '}=\phi ',~ g |_{\Sigma '}=h ' \label {4}$$ $$\Phi |_{\Sigma ''}=\phi '',~ g |_{\Sigma ''}=h '' \label {5}$$ In this paper we shall consider the transition amplitude in the semiclassical approximation and we don’t discuss here the introduction of ghosts and the definition of the measure $Dg$. We are interested in the process of black hole creation. Therefore we specify the initial configuration $h' $ and $\phi ' $ on $\Sigma '$ as configuration of gravitational and matter fields in Minkowski spacetime and we specify the final configuration $h''$ and $\phi ''$ on $\Sigma ''$ as describing a black hole. So, $\Sigma '$ [*is a partial Cauchy surface with asymptotically simple past in a strongly asymptotically predictable space-time and* ]{} $\Sigma ''$ [*is a partial Cauchy surface containing black hole(s), i.e. $\Sigma ''-J^{-}({\cal T}^{+})$ is non empty*]{}. To explain these let us recall some necessary notions from the theory of black holes [@HE; @Wa]. Black holes are conventionally defined in asymptotically flat space-times by the existence of an event horizon $H$. The horizon $H$ is the boundary $\dot {J}^{-}({\cal I}^{+})$ of the causal past $J^{-}({\cal I}^{+})$ of future null infinity ${\cal I}^{+}$, i.e. it is the boundary of the set of events in space-time from which one can escape to infinity in the future direction. The [*black hole region* ]{} $B$ is $$B=M-J^{-}({\cal I}^{+})$$ and [*the event horizon*]{} $$H=\dot {J}^{-}({\cal T}^{+}).$$ Consider a space that is asymptotically flat in the sense of being [*weakly asymptotically simple and empty*]{}, that is, near future and past null infinities it has a conformal structure like that of Minkowski space-time. One assumes that space-time is [*future asymptotically predictable*]{}, i.e. there is a surface ${\cal S}$ in spacetime that serves as a Cauchy surface for a region extending to future null infinity. This means that there are no “naked singularities” (a singularity that can be seen from infinity) to the future of the surface ${\cal S}$. This gives a formulation of Penrose’s cosmic censorship conjecture. A space-time $(M, g_{\mu \nu})$ is [*asymptotically simple*]{} if there exists a smooth manifold $\tilde {M}$ with metric $\tilde {g}_{\mu\nu}$, boundary ${\cal T}$, and a scalar function $\Omega $ regular everywhere on $\tilde {M}$ such that \(i) $~~\tilde {M}-{\cal I}$ is conformal to $M$ with $\tilde {g}_{\mu\nu}= \Omega ^{2} g_{\mu\nu}$, \(ii) $~\Omega >0$ in $\tilde {M}-{\cal T}$ and $\Omega =0$ on ${\cal I}$ with $\nabla _{\mu }\Omega \neq 0$ on ${\cal I}$, \(iii) Every null geodesic on $\tilde {M}$ contains, if maximally extended, two end points on ${\cal I}$. If $M$ satisfies the Einstein vacuum equations near ${\cal I}$ then ${\cal I}$ is null. ${\cal I}$ consists of two disjoint pieces ${\cal I} ^{+}$ (future null infinity) and ${\cal I}^{-}$ (past null infinity) each topologically is $\approx R$x$S^{2}$. A space-time $M$ is [*weakly asymptotically simple*]{} if there exists an asymptotically simple $M_{0}$ with corresponding $\tilde{M}_{0}$ such that for some open subset K of $\tilde{M}_{0}$ including ${\cal I}$, the region $M_{0}\cup K$ is isometric to an open subset of $M$. This allows $M$ to have more infinities than just ${\cal I}$. The domain of dependence $D^{+}(\Sigma)$ ($D^{-}(\Sigma)$) of a set $\Sigma$ is defined as the set of all points $p\in M$ such that every past (future) inextendible non-spacelike curve through $p$ intersects $\Sigma$. A space like hypersurface which no non-spacelike curve intersects more than once is called a partial Cauchy surface. Define $D(\Sigma) =D^{+}(\Sigma)\cup D^{-}(\Sigma)$. A partial Cauchy surface $\Sigma$ is said to be a global Cauchy surface if $D(\Sigma)=M$. Let $\Sigma $ be a partial Cauchy surface in a weakly asymptotically simple and empty space-time $(M,g)$. The space-time $(M,g)$ is (future) [ *asymptotically predictable from*]{} $\Sigma$ if ${\cal I}^{+}$ is contained in the closure of $D^{+}(\Sigma)$ in $\tilde{M}_{0}$. If, also, $J^{+}(\Sigma) \cap \bar{J^{-}}({\cal I}^{+},\bar{M})$ is contained in $D^{+}(\Sigma)$ then the space-time $(M,g)$ is called strongly asymptotically predictable from $\Sigma$. In such a space there exist a family $\Sigma (\tau)$, $0<\tau<\infty$, of spacelike surfaces homeomorphic to $\Sigma$ which cover $D^{+}(\Sigma)-\Sigma$ and intersects ${\cal I}^{+}$. One could regard them as surfaces of constant time. A [*black hole on the surface*]{} $\Sigma (\tau)$ is a connected component of the set $$B(\tau)=\Sigma (\tau)- J^{-}({\cal I}^{+},\bar{M}).$$ One is interested primarily in black holes which form from an initially non-singular state. Such a state can be described by using the partial Cauchy surface $\Sigma$ which has an [*asymptotically simple past*]{}, i.e. the causal past $J^{-}({\Sigma})$ is isometric to the region $J^{-}(\cal I)$ of some asymptotically simple and empty space-time with a Cauchy surface ${\cal I}$. Then $\Sigma$ has the topology $R^{3}$. In the case considered one has a space-time $(M,g_{\mu\nu})$ which is weakly asymptotically simple and empty and strongly asymptotically predictable . $\Sigma ' $ is a partial Cauchy surface with asymptotically simple past, $\Sigma ' \sim R^{3}$. $\Sigma ''=\Sigma (\tau '') $ contains a black hole, i.e. $\Sigma '' -$ $J^{-}({\cal I} ^{+}, \bar{M})$ is nonempty. In particular, if one has the condition $\Sigma ' \cap \bar {J}^{-}({\cal I})$ is homeomorphic to $R^{3}$ (an open set with compact closure) then $\Sigma ''$ also satisfies this condition. Strictly speaking one cannot apply the standard definition of black holes to the case of plane gravitational waves and we need a generalization.One defines a black hole in terms of the event horizon, $\dot {J}^{-}({\cal I} ^{+})$. However this definition depends on the whole future behaviour of the metric. There is a different sort of horizon which depends only on the properties of space-time on the surface $\Sigma (\tau) $ [@HE]. Any point in the black hole region bounded by $r=2m$ in the Kruskal diagram represents a [*trapped surface*]{} (which is a two-dimensional sphere in space-time) in that both the outgoing and ingoing families of null geodesics emitted from this point converge and hence no light ray comes out of this region. A generalization of the definition of black holes in terms of trapped horizon has been considered in [@MT; @Hay]. A generalization of the standard definition of black holes to the case of nonvanishing cosmological constant was considered by Gibbons and Hawking \[15\]. We discussed the transition amplitude (propagator) between definite [*configurations*]{} of fields, $<h'',\phi '', \Sigma ''|h', \phi ' , \Sigma '>$. The transition amplitude from [*a state*]{} described by the wave function $\Psi ^{in}[h', \phi ']$ to a state $\Psi ^{out}[h'', \phi '']$ reads $$<\Psi ^{out}|\Psi ^{in}>= \label {7}$$ $$\int \bar{\Psi }^{out}[h'', \phi ''] <h'',\phi '', \Sigma ''|h' ,\phi ' , \Sigma '>\Psi ^{in}[h' ,\phi '] {\cal D}h'{\cal D}\phi '{\cal D}h''{\cal D}\phi ''.$$ One can take for example the state $\Psi ^{in}= \Psi ^{in}_{p_{1}p _{2}}[h', \phi ']$ as a Gaussian distribution describing a state of particles with momenta $p_{1}$ and $ p_{2}$ and take $\Psi ^{out}$ as a wave function describing a state of black hole. Recently Barvinski, Frolov and Zelnikov have suggested an expression for the wave function of the ground state of a black hole [@Frolov]. Boundary term in Gravitational Action and Semiclassical Expansion ================================================================== In this section we discuss an approximation scheme for calculating the transition amplitude following the FPVV approach [@7]. The gravitational action with the boundary term has the form [@York] $$S[g]=-\frac{1}{16\pi G}\int_{V} R\sqrt{-g}d^4x - \frac{1}{8\pi G}\int_{\partial V} K\sqrt{h}d^3x \label {3.1}$$ Here $V$ is a domain in space-time with the space-like boundary $\partial V$, $h$ is the first fundamental form and $K$ is the trace of the second fundamental form of $\partial V$. The case of null surfaces was considered in [@Isr]. We shall write a representation of the boundary term suitable for quantum consideration. The action is $$S[g]=-\frac{1}{16\pi G}\left(\int_{V} d^{4}x \sqrt{-g}~ R (g)+ \int _{V}d^{4}x \sqrt{-g}~\nabla _{\mu}f^{\mu}(g)\right), \label {3.2}$$ where $$\label {3.3} f^{\mu}(g)=g^{\alpha\beta}g^{\mu \nu} \partial_{\nu} g_{\alpha\beta}- g^{\mu\alpha}g^{\beta \nu}\partial_{\nu}g_{\alpha\beta}.$$ Supposing that the boundary is described by equation $$\sigma (x) =0 \label {3.10}$$ one gets the action in the form $$\label {3.11'} S[ g]=-\frac{1}{16\pi G}(\int _{V}d^{4}x \sqrt{-g}~ R (g)+ \int _{V}d^{4}x \sqrt{-g_{cl}}~\delta (\sigma (x))~ f^{\mu}\nabla_{\mu}\sigma ).$$ The linearization of the action (\[3.2\]) leads to the action in the FPVV form [@7]. Let us show that the presence of the boundary term in the action (\[3.2\]) is necessary for the selfconsistency of the semiclassical expansion. To perform semiclassical expansion, one expands the metric $g$ around a classical solution $g_{cl}$ of the Einstein equation so that $g=g_{cl}+\delta g$, $$S[g]=S[g_{cl}+\delta g]=S[g_{cl}]+S'[g_{cl}]\delta g +\frac{1}{2}S''[g_{cl}](\delta g)^{2}+..., \label {3.3'}$$ where $g_{cl}$ matches the given Cauchy data on surfaces $\Sigma '$ and $\Sigma ''$, i.e. $$g _{cl}~|_{\Sigma '}=h ' ,~~\label {3.4} g _{cl}~|_{\Sigma ''}=h ''$$ In this case $\delta g|_{\Sigma '}=\delta g|_{\Sigma ''}=0$, but we cannot guarantee that $\nabla\delta g|_{\Sigma '}=\nabla\delta g|_{\Sigma ''}=0$. To ensure that terms linear in $\nabla\delta g$ drop out from expression (\[3.3’\]) (otherwise we cannot perform semiclassical expansion) one has to integrate by parts. One has $$S[ g +\delta g]=-\frac{1}{16\pi G}\left(\int d^{4}x \sqrt{-g }~R (g )+ \int d^{4}x \sqrt{-g }~\nabla _{\mu}f^{\mu}(g )) + \right. \label {3.8}$$ $$+\left. \int d^{4}x \sqrt{-g }~(g^{\mu \nu} \nabla ^{2}\delta g_{\mu \nu} -\nabla ^{\mu}\nabla ^{\nu}\delta g_{\mu \nu})+ \nabla _{\mu}( g^{\alpha\beta}\partial^{\mu}\delta g_{\alpha\beta } -g^{\mu\alpha}\partial ^{\beta}\delta g_{\alpha\beta })\right)$$ $$+~ second ~~order~~terms.$$ In eq.(3.8) we have dropped the subscript $cl$ from $g_{cl}$. The linear terms coming from the Hilbert-Einstein action can be put in the form $$\label {3.9} g^{\mu \nu} g^{\alpha\beta}\nabla _{\alpha} \nabla _{\beta}\delta g_{\mu \nu} -\nabla ^{\mu}\nabla ^{\nu}\delta g_{\mu \nu}= \nabla _{\mu}( g^{\alpha\beta}\nabla^{\mu}\delta g_{\alpha\beta } -g^{\mu\alpha}\nabla ^{\beta}\delta g_{\alpha\beta })$$ Notice that on the RHS of the last relation covariant derivatives can be replaced by partial derivatives because on the boundary $\delta g =0$. Therefore one finds that terms linear in $\delta \partial g $ coming from Hilbert-Einstein action cancel similar terms coming from full divergence and the action (\[3\]) admits the expansion (\[3.3’\]). Taking into account that the value of the Hilbert-Einstein action on the classical solution is equal to zero, one finds that the full action for a solution of Einstein equation is reduced to the second term in (\[3.8\]) which can be reduced to a boundary term. The transition amplitude (\[3\]) in semiclassical approximation is $$<h'',\Sigma ''|h' ,\Sigma '>={\cal Z} \exp {\frac{i}{\hbar }S_{cl}} \label {3.12}$$ where $$\label {3.11} S[ g_{cl}]=-\frac{1}{16\pi G}\int d^{4}x \sqrt{-g_{cl}}~\delta (\sigma (x))~ f^{\mu}\nabla_{\mu}\sigma ,$$ $f$ is given by equation (\[3.3\]) and $${\cal Z}=(\frac{\pi}{\det S''(g_{cl})})^{1/2}$$ We assume here that there is only one solution of classical equation of motion with given boundary conditions. Colliding Plane Gravitational Waves ==================================== There exists a well known class of plane-fronted gravitational waves with the metric $$ds^{2}=2dudv +h(u,X,Y)du^{2}-dX^{2}-dY^{2} \label{o}$$ where $u$ and $v$ are null coordinates . In particular the gravitational field of a particle moving with the speed of light is given by the Axelburg-Sexl solution. The metric has the form $$ds^{2}=2dudv + E\log(X^2+Y^2)\delta(u)du^{2}-dX^{2}-dY^{2} \label{oo}$$ and describes a shock wave. It is difficult to find a solution which describes two sources. An approximate solution of equation (\[2.1\]) for two particles as the sum of solutions each of which describes one particle was considered by FPVV[@7]. This approximation describes well the scattering amplitude for large impact parameter, but does not describe non-linear interaction of shock waves which is dominant in the region of small impact parameter. To analyze non-linear effects we will, instead of dealing with shock waves, take a simple solution of Einstein equation, namely we will take plane gravitational waves. In some respects one can consider plane wave as an approximation to more complicated gravitational waves, in particular shock waves. This solution in some sense can be interpreted as an approximation for a solution of Einstein equation in the presence of two moving particles. Collision of two ultrarelativistic black holes was considered by D’Eath [@DE]. If our particles are gravitons then there are no sources corresponding to matter fields in Einstein equations. Note also that plane gravitational waves are produced by domain walls, see [@4]. (15,10)(-5,-7) (-2.5,2.5)[(1,0)[5.0]{}]{} (-2.5,2.5)(0.25,0.0)[21]{} (-5.0,-5.0)[(1,1)[10.0]{} ]{} (-4.5,-4.5)[(1,1)[2.0]{} ]{} (4.5,-4.5)[(-1,1)[2.0]{} ]{} (5.0,-5.0)[(-1,1)[10.0]{} ]{} (-10.0,-5.0)[(1,1)[7.5]{}]{} (-10.0,-5.0)[(1,1)[7.0]{}]{} (10.0,-5.0)[(-1,1)[7.5]{}]{} (0.0,0.0)(0.0,0.5)[5]{}[(0,1)[0.3]{}]{} (0.5,0.5)(0.0,0.5)[4]{}[(0,1)[0.3]{}]{} (1.0,1.0)(0.0,0.5)[3]{}[(0,1)[0.3]{}]{} (1.5,1.5)(0.0,0.5)[2]{}[(0,1)[0.3]{}]{} (2.0,2.0)(0.0,0.5)[1]{}[(0,1)[0.3]{}]{} (-0.5,0.5)(0.0,0.5)[4]{}[(0,1)[0.3]{}]{} (-1.0,1.0)(0.0,0.5)[3]{}[(0,1)[0.3]{}]{} (-1.5,1.5)(0.0,0.5)[2]{}[(0,1)[0.3]{}]{} (-2.0,2.0)(0.0,0.5)[1]{}[(0,1)[0.3]{}]{} (5.5,4.0) (-5.5,4.0) (-4.5,-2.0) (3.5,-2.0) (0.0,-5.5) (-0.5,1.2) A particular class of [*plane waves*]{} is defined to be plane-fronted waves in which the field components are the same at every point of the wave surface. This condition requires that $h(u,X,Y)$ is a function with a quadratic dependence on $X$ and $Y$. One can then remove the dependence of $h$ on $X$ and $Y$ altogether by a coordinate change. Solutions of Einstein equations describing [*collision* ]{} of plane gravitational waves were first obtained by Szekeres and Khan and Penrose [@SKP]. Chandrasekhar, Ferrari and Xanthopoulos [@CX; @FI] have developed a powerful method for obtaining such solutions by using a remarkable analogy (“duality”) with stationary axisymmetric case which can be reduced to the investigation of the Ernst equation. For a review see the Griffiths book [@Gr]. We will use the coordinates $(u,v,x,y)$. We assume that throughout space-time there exists a pair of commuting space-like Killing vectors $\xi _{1}=\partial _{x}$, $\xi _{2}=\partial _{y}$ . The Szekeres line element has the form $$ds^{2}=2e^{-N}dudv -e^{-U}(e^{V}\cosh Wdx^{2}- 2\sinh W dxdy+e^{-V}\cosh Wdy^{2}), \label{4.3}$$ Here $N,U,V$ and $W$ are functions of $u$ and $v$ only. We illustrate in Fig.1 the two-dimensional geometry of plane waves. Space-time is divided into four regions. The region [**I**]{} is the flat background before the arrival of the plane waves. The null hypersurfaces $u=0,$ and $v=0$ are the past wave fronts of the incoming plane waves 1 and 2. The metric in region [**I**]{} is Minkowski. Regions [**II**]{} and [**III**]{} represent incoming plane waves which interact in region [**IV**]{}. Colliding plane gravitational waves can produce singularities or Cauchy horizons in the interaction region [@MT; @CX; @Yu1; @KH; @Hay]. The solution is undetermined across a Cauchy horizon [@CX; @Yu2; @Hay; @HEr] into the future. We shall discuss two simplest extensions. In particular, one can get an interior of the Schwarzschild solution in the interaction region [**IV**]{}.There are two types of colliding plane waves solutions corresponding to the Schwarzschild metric. The first one creates the interior of the black hole with the usual curvature singularity. In this case incoming plane waves have curvature singularities already before collision. In the context of the Planck energy scattering it seems more natural that we don’t have curvature singularities already for free plane gravitational waves. Therefore we will be discussing mainly another type of solutions one gets in the interaction region, namely, the interior of the Schwarzschild white hole. The maximal analytic extension of this solution across its Killing-Cauchy horizon leads to creation of a covering space of the Schwarzschild black hole out of collision between two plane gravitational waves. An alternative interpretation of this solution is the creation of the usual Schwarzschild black hole out of the collision between two plane gravitational waves propagating in a cylindrical universe. There exists also a time-reversed extension [@Hay] including the covering space of the Schwarzschild exterior and part of black hole, and giving two receding plane waves with flat space between. We will interpret this as scattering of plane waves on the virtual black hole. Vacuum Einstein equations for the metric (\[4.3\]) give a system of differential equations for functions $U$, $V$, $N$ and $W$. One of these equations can be integrated to give (see [@AVV] for details) $$e^{-U} =f(u)+g(v), \label{4.12'}$$ where $f(u)$ and $g(v)$ are arbitrary functions. We fix a gauge by using $f=f(u)$ and $g=g(v)$ as new coordinates instead of $u$ and $v$ and then we change variables from $f$ and $g$ to $\mu $ and $\eta$ such that $$f+g= (1-\mu ^{2})^{1/2} (1-\eta ^{2})^{1/2},~~f-g=-\mu\eta . \label{4.13}$$ By introducing the complex valued function $$Z=\chi +i\lambda, \label{4.12}$$ where $$\chi =e^{-V}/ \cosh W , ~~ \lambda = e^{-V}\tanh W . \label{4.11}$$ one can reduce the system of differential equations for functions $U$, $V$, $N$ and $W$ to the Ernst equation on $Z$. In particular, this procedure gives the following solution of the vacuum Einstein equations $$ds^{2}= X( \frac{d \eta ^{2}}{1-\eta ^{2}}-\frac{d \mu ^{2}}{1-\mu ^{2}})- (1-\mu ^{2})^{1/2}(1-\eta ^{2})^{1/2}[\chi dy^{2}+\frac{1}{\chi} (dx-\lambda dy)^{2}], \label{43.9}$$ where $$\chi = (1-\mu ^{2})^{1/2}(1-\eta ^{2})^{1/2} \frac{X}{Y} \label{43.8}$$ $$\lambda = \frac{2q}{p}[\frac{1}{1+p }- \frac{(1-\eta ^{2})(1-p\mu)}{1-p ^{2}\mu ^{2}-q^{2}\eta ^{2}} ] \label{43.8'}$$ and $$X= (1-p\mu) ^{2}+q^{2}\eta ^{2},~~~Y= 1-p ^{2}\mu ^{2}-q^{2}\eta ^{2}, \label{43.10}$$ $p$ and $q$ satysfy $$E= p \mu +iq \eta . \label{43.5}$$ Now let us take $$p=-\frac{(m^{2}-a^{2})^{1/2}}{m}, ~~ q= \frac{a}{m}, ~ m\geq a \label{43.11}$$ and introduce the new coordinates $(t,r,\theta , \phi )$ instead of $(\mu, \eta ,x,y)$ by putting $$\mu =\frac{r-m}{(m^{2}-a^{2})^{1/2}}, ~~ \eta =\cos \theta \label{43.12}$$ $$t= -\sqrt{2} m(x-\frac{2q}{p(1+p)}),~~ \phi =\frac{\sqrt{2} m} {(m^{2}-a^{2})^{1/2}}y \label{4.13'}$$ Then the metric (\[43.9\]) will take the form of the Kerr solution $$2m^{2}ds^{2}= (1-\frac{2mr}{\rho ^{2}})dt ^{2}-\frac{4amr}{\rho ^{2}} \sin ^{2}\theta dt d\phi - (r^{2}+ a ^{2}-\frac{2a^{2}mr}{\rho ^{2}})\sin ^{2}\theta d\phi ^{2} -\rho ^{2}(\frac{1}{\Delta} dr^{2} + d \theta ^{2}) , \label{43.14}$$ where $$\rho ^{2}= r^{2}+ a ^{2} \cos ^{2 }\theta, ~~\Delta= r^{2}-2mr+ a ^{2} \label{43.15}$$ The coordinates must satisfy the inequality $|\eta|<\mu\leq 1$. This implies that $-(m^{2}-a^{2})\sin ^{2}\theta <\Delta \leq 0 $, which means the region of the Kerr spacetime that is inside the ergosphere. To describe the colliding plane gravitational waves producing the interior of the ergosphere in the Kerr spacetime it is convenient to rewrite the metric (\[43.9\]) in terms of the $(u',v')$ coordinates related with $(\eta ,\mu )$ by the following relations $$ \label {43.16} \eta =\sin (u'-v'),~~\mu =\sin (u'+v'),$$ These $(u',v')$ are related to $(u,v)$ in (\[4.3\]) by $u=\sin u'$, $v=\sin v'$. For simplicity of notations we will omit $'$ in (\[43.16\]). We have $$ds^{2}= 4X(u,v)dudv-\Omega (u,v)[\chi (u,v)dy^{2}+\frac{1}{\chi (u,v)} (dx-\lambda (u,v) dy)^{2}], \label{43.17}$$ where $$ \label {43.18} X(u,v)=(1-p\sin (u+v))^{2}+q^{2}\sin ^{2}(u-v),~~\Omega (u,v)= \cos(u+v)\cos(u-v),$$ $$ \label {43.19} \lambda (u,v)=\frac{2q}{1+p}\frac{1-\sin (u+v) }{Y(u,v)}((p+1)\sin ^{2}(u-v)+ p\sin (u+v)-1)$$ $$ \label {43.20} Y(u,v)=1-p^{2}\sin ^{2}(u+v)-q^{2}\sin ^{2}(u-v).$$ In (\[43.17\]) $$0<u<\pi/2,~~0<v<\pi/2,~~v+u<\pi/2 \label{43.21}$$ To extend the metric (\[43.17\]) outside of region (\[43.21\]) one uses the Penrose-Khan trick and substitutes in (\[43.17\]) $$ \label {43.22} u\to u\theta (u),~~v\to v\theta (v),$$ $$\theta (x)=\left\{ \begin{array}{cc} 1, ~& x>0 \\ 0, ~& x<0 \end{array} \right. \label{6.3}$$ Fig.1 illustrates this metric. The region [**I**]{} ($u<0,~~v<0$) is Minkowskian. Regions [**II**]{} and [**III**]{} contain the approaching plane waves with the following metrics $$ \label {43.23} (ds^{II})^{2}= 4X(u)dudv-\Omega (u)[\chi (u) dy^{2}+\frac{1}{\chi (u)} (dx-\lambda (u)dy)^{2}],$$ $$ \label {43.24} (ds^{III})^{2}= 4X(v)dudv-\Omega (v)[\chi (v) dy^{2}+\frac{1}{\chi (v)} (dx-\lambda (v)dy)^{2}],$$ where $$ \label {43.25} X(u)=(1-2p\sin u)+\sin ^{2}u,~~\Omega (u) =\cos^{2}u,$$ $$ \label {43.26} \lambda (u)=2q(\sin u -\frac{1}{1+p})$$ In (\[43.23\]) $$u<\pi/2,~~v<0, \label{43.27}$$ and in (\[43.24\]) $$u<0,~~v<\pi/2, \label{43.28}$$ The region [**IV**]{} is the interaction region with metric (\[43.17\]). Semiclassical Transition Amplitude ================================== (8,10)(-5,-5) (-2.5,2.5)[(1,0)[5.0]{}]{} (-2.5,2.5)(0.25,0.0)[21]{} (-5.0,-5.0)[(1,1)[10.0]{} ]{} (5.0,-5.0)[(-1,1)[10.0]{} ]{} (-10.0,-5.0)[(1,1)[7.5]{}]{} (-10.0,-5.0)[(1,1)[7.0]{}]{} (-10.0,-4.0)[(1,0)[20.0]{}]{} (-4.5,1.0)[(1,0)[9.0]{}]{} (10.0,-5.0)[(-1,1)[7.5]{}]{} (5.5,4.0) (-5.5,4.0) (-5.5,1.2) (4.5,1.0) (-0.5,1.2) (2.5,1.2) (-2.8,1.2) (-10.5,-3.0) (10.5,-4.0) (6.5,-3.8) (-6.5,-3.8) (-8.5,-2.0) (-1.5,-2.0) (7.5,-2.0) (0.5,-2.0) (-4.5,-2.0) (3.5,-2.0) (0.0,-5.5) In this section we study the transition amplitude $$ \label {5.1} <2pw, WH|2pw>$$ from a state $|2pw>$ of two plane gravitational waves to a state $|2pw,WH>$ containing white-hole and two plane gravitational waves. Analogous calculations may be performed for the transition amplitude $$ \label {5.2} <2pw|2pw>$$ from two plane gravitational waves back to two plane gravitational waves and for the amplitude $$ \label {5.3} <BH|2pw>$$ for a process 2 plane waves $\to$ black holes. We can consider these two amplitudes as amplitudes of two independent channels. To find these transition amplitudes in the semiclassical approximation according to (\[3.12\]), we have to evaluate the boundary term for the classical solution interpolating between two plane gravitational initial state and an appropriate final state. Let us start considering the transition (\[5.1\]). The corresponding classical solution is shown in Fig.2. In this case the initial Cauchy surface $\Sigma '$ crosses regions [**I**]{},[**II**]{} and [**III**]{} and the final surface crosses regions [**II**]{},[**IV**]{} and [**III**]{}. For the surfaces $\Sigma '$ and $\Sigma ''$ shown in Fig.2 equation (\[3.10\]) reads $$\Sigma ': \sigma = u+v-w'_{0} =0, ~w'_{0}\leq 0 \label{7.1}$$ $$\Sigma '': \sigma = u+v-w''_{0}=0, ~0<w''_{0}\leq \pi /2 \label{7.2}$$ In this case the other parts of the boundary defining the boundary term are given by equations $$B_{2}: ~u-\pi/2 =0, ~w'_{0}-\pi /2 \leq v\leq w''_{0}-\pi /2;~~ B_{2}': ~u=0,~ ~w'_{0}-\pi /2 \leq v\leq 0 \label{7.3}$$ $$B_{3}: ~v-\pi/2 =0, ~w'_{0}-\pi /2 \leq u\leq w''_{0}-\pi /2;~~ B_{3}': ~v=0,~ ~w'_{0}-\pi /2 \leq u\leq 0 \label{7.4}$$ To calculate the phase factor let us give expressions for $f^{\mu}$ on the boundary. In Minkowski space we have $f^{\mu}=0$. In all regions $f^{x}=f^{y}=0$, moreover $$f^{u}|_{II}=0, ~~~f^{v}|_{III}=0 \label{7.5}$$ So the value of the action (\[3.11\]) for the two plane waves solution (\[43.23\]), (\[43.24\]) is reduced to the sum of two terms each of which represents a contribution from the Cauchy surface $\Sigma '$ and $\Sigma ''$, respectively, $$S(g_{cl}^{(2pw)})=S^{\Sigma '}+S^{\Sigma ''}, \label{7.6}$$ where $$S^{\Sigma '}= S'_{2}+S'_{3},~~S^{\Sigma ''}= S''_{2}+S''_{3}+ S''_{4}, \label{7.7}$$ see Fig.2. So $$ \label {7.71} <2pw|2pw, WH>={\cal Z}\exp \{\frac{i}{\hbar }(S'_{2}+S'_{3} -S''_{2}-S''_{3}- S''_{4})\}$$ here ${\cal Z}$ is the one-loop contribution. Taking into account the special form of the metric one can write $f^{w}$ in regions [**II**]{}, [**III**]{} and [**IV**]{} respectively in the following form $$\sqrt {-g}f^{w}|_{II}=\Omega (u)\partial _{u}\ln [X(u)\Omega ^{2}(u)] \label{7.8}$$ $$\sqrt {-g}f^{w}|_{III}=\Omega (v)\partial _{v}\ln [X(v)\Omega ^{2}(v)] \label{7.9}$$ $$\sqrt {-g}f^{w}|_{IV}=\Omega (w,z)\partial _{w}\ln [X(w,z)\Omega ^{2}(w,z)] \label{7.10}$$ $$w=u+v, ~~z=v-u.$$ The representation (\[7.8\]) was obtained in the following way. Metric (\[43.17\]) in $(w,z,x,y)$ coordinates admits the representation $$g_{\mu\nu}=\left ( \begin{array}{cc} g_{\alpha \beta} ~& 0 \\ 0 ~& g_{ij} \end{array} \right ). \label{7.101}$$ with the diagonal matrix $g_{\alpha \beta}$, $$g_{\alpha \beta}=\left ( \begin{array}{cc} g_{ww} ~& 0 \\ 0 ~&g_{zz} \end{array} \right ). , ~~g_{ww}=-g_{zz}=X \label{7.102}$$ and $g_{ij}$ of the form $$g_{ij}=\Omega \tilde {g_{ij}} \label{7.103}$$ where $$\label{7.104} \tilde {g_{ij}} = \left ( \begin{array}{cc} \frac{1}{\chi} & -\frac{\lambda}{\chi} \\ \frac{\lambda}{\chi}& \chi +\frac{\lambda ^{2}}{\chi} \end{array} \right ).$$ being an element of the group $SL(2)$. From equation (\[3.3\]) it follows $$ \label {7.105} f^{w}=g^{ww}(g^{zz}\partial _{w} g_{ww}+g^{ij}\partial _{w} g_{ij})$$ Taking into account that the trace $tr\tilde {g}^{-1}\partial\tilde {g}=0$ for the group $SL(2)$, we get $$ \label {7.106} f^{w}=g^{ww}(g^{zz}\partial _{w} g_{ww}+2\Omega ^{-1}\partial _{w} \Omega ),$$ from which follows the representation (\[7.10\]). We have to compute the value of the boundary term in the action on the plane wave solution. Because the plane wave metric does not depend on $x$ and $y$ coordinates we have to introduce a cut-off $L$ in these directions. Simple calculations give $$S_{2}'=-\frac{1}{16\pi G}\int^{L/2}_{-L/2} dx\int^{L/2}_{-L/2} dy \int ^{0}_{\pi/2}du\int ^{w'_{0}}_{w'_{0}-\pi /2} dv \delta (u+v -w_{0}')\Omega (u)\partial _{u}\ln [X(u)\Omega ^{2}(u)] \label{7.11}$$ $$=-\frac{1}{16\pi G}L^{2}\int ^{0}_{\pi/2}du\cos ^{2}u\partial _{u}[\ln ((1-p\sin u )^{2}+ q^{2}\sin ^{2}u)\cos ^{4}u]$$ $$=-\frac{2L^{2}}{16\pi G}(\int ^{0}_{1}du \frac{(1-u^{2})(u-p)}{1-2up +u^{2}}-4\int ^{0}_{1}udu)$$ $$=-\frac{L^{2}}{16\pi G}(-3-2p+2q^{2}\ln 2(1-p)+4pq \arctan \frac{q}{1-p})$$ and $$S_{2}''=-S'_{2}+\bar {S}''_{2}, \label{7.12}$$ where $$ \label {7.121} \bar {S}''_{2}= \frac{L^{2}}{16\pi G} \int ^{0}_{w''_{0}}du\cos ^{2}u\partial _{u}[\ln ((1-p\sin u )^{2}+ q^{2}\sin ^{2}u)\cos ^{4}u]$$ $$=\frac{L^{2}}{16\pi G}[-3\sin ^{2}w''_{0}-2p\sin w''_{0}+2q^{2}\ln ( \sin ^{2}w''_{0}-2p\sin w''_{0}+1)+4pq \arctan \frac{q\sin w''_{0}} {1-p\sin w''_{0}}]$$ One can take the box $L^{2}$ in the $x-y$ plane and consider the periodic boundary conditions. If $g_{\mu \nu}$ is a solution of the vacuum Einstein equations then $\tilde {g}_{\mu \nu}$$= \frac{c}{L^{2}}g_{\mu \nu}$ is also a solution. $c$ is some constant of dimension of square of the length, in particular, we can take $c=m^{2}$. If we take metric $\tilde {g}_{\mu \nu}$ in our computations of the transition amplitude then $L^{2}$ in (\[7.11\]) and (\[7.121\]) disappears. The part of the boundary which cross the white hole region gives the following contribution $$S''_{4}=-\frac{1}{16\pi G}\int^{L/2}_{-L/2} dx\int^{L/2}_{-L/2} dy \int ^{w'_{0}}_{-w'_{0}}dz\Omega (w,z)\partial _{w}\ln [X(w,z)\Omega ^{2}(w,z)] \label{7.13}$$ $$=-\frac{L^{2}}{16\pi G}\int ^{-w''_{0}}_{w''_{0}}dz [\frac{-2p(1-p\sin w''_{0})\cos ^{2}w''_{0} \cos z}{(1-p\sin w''_{0})^{2}+q^{2}\sin ^{2}z }-2\sin w''_{0}\cos z ]$$ Now let us consider the special case when $ w''_{0}=\pi/2$. In this case we do not have plane waves in the final state but only a white hole. Then only the second term in the RHS of (\[7.13\]) survives and we get $$S^{\Sigma ''}= S''_{4}=\frac{L^{2}}{4\pi G}.$$ Therefore the amplitude describing the transition from two plane waves to white hole in the semiclassical approximation is given by $$ \label {7.15} <WH|2pw>={\cal Z}\exp \{\frac{i}{ \hbar }(S'_{2}+S'_{3} - S''_{4})\}=$$ $${\cal Z}\exp \{-\frac{iL^{2}}{8\pi G \hbar }[ -1-2p+2q^{2}\ln 2(1-p)+4pq \arctan \frac{q}{1-p}]\}$$ To get the semiclassical answer for the transition amplitude $<2pw|2pw>$ we have to consider the classical solution which describes the metric extended as shown in Fig.4. We see from equations (\[7.11\]) that $S'_{2}$ does not depend on $w_{0}'$ and therefore for the transition amplitude describing the elastic scattering of two plane waves the phase factors is zero, and $$ \label {7.16} <2pw|2pw>={\cal Z}$$ In this section we have computed only the phases of transition amplitudes. However they contain a nontrivial information about our processes because we different channels available and there would be a quantum mechanical interference between them. $$~$$ [**CONCLUSION**]{} $$~$$ We have considered a possible mechanism for black hole creation in the collision of two light particles at planckian energies. Many questions deserve further study. In particular there is an important question of how to relate the momenta of colliding particles with characteristics of colliding plane waves. It is known that a plane wave does not lead to polarization of vacuum [@Gibb]. It was shown that a plane wave is an exact string background [@AK; @NWi; @THo; @Tse] and there is a duality with extreme black hole [@Rena]. One can conjecture that a dilaton gravity analogue of the CFX duality between colliding plane waves and non-extremal black holes discussed in this paper could lead to a corresponding string duality. $$~$$ [**ACKNOWLEDGMENT**]{} $$~$$ This work has been supported in part by an operating grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. I.A. and I.V. thank the Department of Physics for kind hospitality during their stay at Simon Fraser University. I.A. and I.V. are supported in part also by International Science Foundation under the grant M1L300. 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Microbiological assessment of the ultraviolet screening effect of sunscreen preparations. The purpose of this study was the development of a microbiological method for the assessment of the ultraviolet (UV) screening effect of sunscreen preparations and determination of their sun protection factor. The method is based on the lethal effect of UV radiation on Escherichia coli (E. coli ) and the protective ability of sunscreens. The time of UV exposure required for the reduction of the E. coli viable count by 90% (decimal reduction time, DRT) was used as the photoprotection assessment parameter. The method was tested by assessing the effect of selected experimental variables on the DRT. The suitability of the method as a quality control tool for sunscreen preparations was then checked by assessing the influence of selected formulation variables on the photoprotective effect of a series of o/w emulsion formulations with different compositions. The method proved valid for detecting changes in the photoprotective effect of a market sunscreen product as a result of modifying experimental conditions. It also proved valid for ranking market sunscreen products according to their UV screening effect. Equally important, the method could successfully detect changes in the photoprotective effect of sunscreen test formulations as a function of the concentration and type of the sunscreen agents.

Apologetics application paper The losses were particularly heavy in Grand Rapids, Holland, and Chicago. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name. We need to learn to see things from His perspective. The only European religion with high priests is the Satanist one. Last year it was the Tiktalik fossil, considered a link between fish and land-based air breathing reptiles. Most alarming was the prospect that Stek, Van Til, and colleagues would influence a whole generation of future church leaders and educators, who would take an evolutionary view of origins into the pulpits and Christian secondary schools. One reasons from present clues or evidence back to a sequence of causes. In its Report 39 for Synodthe committee agreed with only one dissenting voice that the "practice of excluding women from ecclesiastical office cannot be conclusively defended on biblical grounds. Almost all people at all times have agreed in theory that human beings ought to be honest and kind and helpful to one another. What is "the lie" that is talked about here in verse 9 and 11? The year was a fateful one in Apologetics application paper intellectual life of the CRC. This means that the earliest branches of the tree are not knowable. The Canadian Reformed federation is today a 15,member denomination totaling 48 churches. Analyzes the balance between the holiness of God and the love of God in the spiritual life of the Bible-believing Christian. True believers then repent 1 John 1: It was intended as a Christian answer to The Communist Manifesto of and the Humanist Manifesto documents of and Human studies are often difficult to reproduce. Schilder raised doctrinal concerns but his broader purpose was to warn the GKN against modernist theology. The problem stems from an existential subjective view of the world that has filtered into the church from secular society, but also from the teachings of heretical wolves who have taught an entire generation of churchgoers completely unbiblical methods of discernment or to get rid of any discernment altogether. Astrophysics leads us even farther from our ideal method. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Christian Huissen, warned about slipping denominational loyalties among the new crop of Calvin Seminary graduates. They can take comfort in the fact that in one of the most outstanding ministers in the denomination, emeritus professor Lewis Smedes of Fuller Theological Seminary, published an article in Perspectives, successor to the Reformed Journal, in which he urged the CRCNA to accept in good standing "Christian homosexual persons De Vries in the s allowed for human civilization to be at least 50, years old, but he held to the historicity of Adam and Eve. Eastern Canada and Quinte were unusually calm compared to the other six classes. Argues that the historical as opposed to literalist or figurative view of Genesis as historically true is fundamental to the Christian faith. The canonical method used for the table can be debated. Most serious of all, Calvin College became embroiled in the "Sacred Seven" controversy and the largely unrelated "Seminary Situation" came to a head. Even if you use a quarter inch screen you will get mostly coconut meat in your milk. Four of those released were known as conservatives and two as progressives. Those of us who are Christians are "sinners saved by grace" Eph. At any time in its history one could have plausibly said that certain facts would never be explained, but later they were. When a theory repeatedly makes incorrect predictions, one can question its validity. The position of the CRCNA was staked out clearly by Synodwhich declared that "homosexualism--as explicit homosexual practice--must be condemned as incompatible with obedience to the will of God as revealed in the Holy Scripture. This procedure has led us to avoid a number of illusions common in the literature. First, we must make definite that we are in no way talking about any kind of theocracy. He describes the conflict with secular humanism as a battle in which "these two religions, Christianity and humanism, stand over against each other as totalities. Very gingerly, the threesome chided Stob for downplaying the historic Reformed doctrine of the antithesis in favor a syncretistic, platonic philosophy. Swierenga, Research Professor, A. Indeed, giving a strong positive case for a Christian worldview will automatically eliminate other views. The closed door prompted at least six female graduates of the Seminary to leave the CRCNA for ordination in other denominations, which by counted more than 20, women in the ranks of the clergy, plus in Canada. I am convinced," he continued in his resignation letter to the Godwin Heights congregation, that the CRCNA "has departed from the truth and harbors heresy and worldliness as well as confirmed liberals! The last holdout is the oldest body, the Orthodox Reformed federation, which the United Reformed has "urged to merge" since Yesterday we proposed a preliminary definition of apologetics as the formulation of a persuasive case for Christianity as a whole, by a Christian who views their religion as a revelation from God. We closed by distinguishing between two key apologetical aims: persuading unbelievers and persuading. I hope you have found this site to be useful. If you have any corrections, additions, or comments, please contact ultimedescente.com note that I am not able to respond to all requests. You may move up to the Master's level for this program if you already have a Bachelor's degree. A second Master's degree is now available. Speak to an advisor at 1. If you’re a working teacher looking to enhance your professional practice, become a specialist or consultant, or move into school administration, Liberty. Welcome Welcome to VirtualSalt, a site containing resources for learners of all kinds, and at all levels, from home schoolers, middle school, high school, college and university students, and people who want to find some useful information. POSTED 25 OCTOBER, Approximate date: C.E. Time period: transition of Paul’s ministry work from the Eastern to Western Mediterranean Author: the Apostle Paul with Tertius (secretary) Location of author: Corinth/Achaia or Cenchrea Target audience and their location: Jewish and non-Jewish Believers in Rome reproduced from A .

Description Paradise at the Ocean. This luxurious 5 bedroom 5.5 bath Stajo built estate in Ocean Hammock is a dream home in a high-end community that's home to a Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course.Spanning over 5400 SF, this magnificent waterfront residence graced by travertine floors,soaring ceilings, and wall-to-wall windows is a haven for gazing at the Atlantic Ocean from multiple vantage points.The grand entryway boasts a sweeping wooden staircase, elevator, large rec room, fitness gym,laundry room, outdoor heated pool and spa, and summer kitchen.The 2-story great room with extended windows is the focal point of the main level, accompanied by an elegant dining room, a gourmet chefs kitchen, a oversized breakfast bar, fireplace,and a master sized guest suite.The 3-story divine master suite present School Ratings & Info Description Paradise at the Ocean. This luxurious 5 bedroom 5.5 bath Stajo built estate in Ocean Hammock is a dream home in a high-end community that's home to a Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course.Spanning over 5400 SF, this magnificent waterfront residence graced by travertine floors,soaring ceilings, and wall-to-wall windows is a haven for gazing at the Atlantic Ocean from multiple vantage points.The grand entryway boasts a sweeping wooden staircase, elevator, large rec room, fitness gym,laundry room, outdoor heated pool and spa, and summer kitchen.The 2-story great room with extended windows is the focal point of the main level, accompanied by an elegant dining room, a gourmet chefs kitchen, a oversized breakfast bar, fireplace,and a master sized guest suite.The 3-story divine master suite present 38 Ocean Ridge Blvd N Palm Coast, FL 32137 Property Description Paradise at the Ocean. This luxurious 5 bedroom 5.5 bath Stajo built estate in Ocean Hammock is a dream home in a high-end community that's home to a Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course.Spanning over 5400 SF, this magnificent waterfront residence graced by travertine floors,soaring ceilings, and wall-to-wall windows is a haven for gazing at the Atlantic Ocean from multiple vantage points.The grand entryway boasts a sweeping wooden staircase, elevator, large rec room, fitness gym,laundry room, outdoor heated pool and spa, and summer kitchen.The 2-story great room with extended windows is the focal point of the main level, accompanied by an elegant dining room, a gourmet chefs kitchen, a oversized breakfast bar, fireplace,and a master sized guest suite.The 3-story divine master suite present

We thought it would be easy. Oh, yes, it would be simple. Just put on our formals and drive out to West Bend. When we almost got there, I noticed that my phone said that we were in a flash flood warning area...if only we had noticed such obvious attempts at foreshadowing. When we arrived at the park, we stepped outside to find it hot and humid. Really hot and really humid, especially in formal attire. Dedehawk quickly learned that there were bugs. Lots and lots of bugs. Bassoon strode up the first steep trail we found (pictured below) to survey. When he arrived at the top, it was a shock: instead of just being a hill, with the crest at the top of the trail, it seemed more like a plateau, spreading out in all directions, with copious amounts of trees and dense underbrush spread around to endanger our well-being. Bassoon came back down the hill and the three of us set off down the ATV path again. We heard the first sounds of distant thunder. It wasn't raining yet, though! The day could still be saved. We came to the lake pictured in the satellite photos. First, we took one side, but when we found that the underbrush and trees grew denser, we'd have to take the other instead, even though the original side was less steep. On the way past the lake, it started to rain. Just a little drizzle. The trail past the lake stopped, but we didn't. The closer we got to the geohash, the more it started raining. The thunder got louder, stronger, and closer. It seemed as though we were getting the brunt of the storm in that tiny park. The terrain kept getting steeper and steeper, and it quickly seemed as though it would become a mudslide if the rain kept up. We kept pushing north, trying to get the coordinates to match up. But we finally reached a ravine filled with green plant life that was impassable. The storm was getting stronger, the rain was a downpour now, and the thunder was shaking everything. It was a miracle we weren't struck by lighting. Getting back was a little more interesting than getting there. Everything was slippery. You could see where the streams of water were slowly eroding away the hills, nature's best effort to grind up new gravel. We finally reached the trail by the lake again. It was still pouring, and the thunder was still getting louder. When we reached the ATV tracks, we huddled together in the endless torrent of water. All of our formal clothes were completely soaked. As we walked back into the gravel parking lot, we saw that it was completely flooded, with muddy runoff draining into the forest. When we reached the van, it was a hectic scramble to assemble all of the damageable electronics in a dry seat where they could dry themselves off. The heat was turned on full blast, which was kinda odd, considering it was the summer. We opened the back of the van to assemble for our obligatory group photo, seen below. We were completely soaked. Kuderererer and Bassoon removed their suits and left them to dry in back. Socks were rung out and shoes were taken off. Overall, it was a very wet adventure. Although we didn't reach the hash, it was a lot of fun to try to, although it didn't feel like it at the time. The most important things that we learned today were to always check the radar before you go geohashing, and to heed the warnings your phone tells you before heading out into the wilderness.

The pleasant Embassy Suites By Hilton El Paso is a 3-star property placed 7 km from Magoffin Home State Historic Site. Embassy Suites By Hilton El Paso has been welcoming guests to its non-smoking rooms since 1976. More details The excellent 3-star Hampton Inn & Suites El Paso West features 24-hour front desk, free shuttle service and laundry. Since 2008 the hotel has been hosting guests in a 4-story traditional building. More details The comfortable Homewood Suites By Hilton El Paso Airport is a 3-star hotel in El Paso offering a picnic area, a swimming pool and a golf course. Homewood Suites By Hilton El Paso Airport has been welcoming guests to its non-smoking rooms since 2008. More details The comfortable Doubletree By Hilton El Paso Downtown Hotel offers a fashionable accommodation in the center of El Paso. Residing in a 17-story contemporary building, the hotel was renovated in 2009. More details Featuring a nightclub, a golf course and a Jacuzzi, the 3-star Best Western Plus El Paso Airport Hotel & Conference Center offers 132 non-smoking guestrooms. This pleasant hotel dates from 1963 and was refurbished in 2011. More details The traditional Hyatt Place El Paso Airport Hotel offers free self parking, a safety deposit box and an elevator. Since 1996 the hotel has been hosting guests in a 6-story innovative building. More details City Guide: El Paso El Paso is the main crossing on the Rio Grande. Back in the day El Paso was the second oldest settlement in the United States, and today it still serves for trade exchanges on the Rio Grande. This business shaped it towards a place dominated by noisy railroads and the giant Fort Bliss military base, but its dramatic setting puts it at the top of any travel list. Your travel to El Paso can be easier with Booked.net. We have collected all hotels in El Paso with maps, photos and secure forms. Be it a room in cheap hotel in El Paso to one appointed with luxuries, check out them all at our website. El Paso lies on the interstate location between Texas, New Mexico, and Chihuahua and is set against the backdrop of the Franklin Mountains cascading into the Chihuahuan Desert. Such sharp geographic tapestry makes El Paso more like New Mexico and distinct from softness of the Southwest United States. Read more City Guide: El Paso El Paso is the main crossing on the Rio Grande. Back in the day El Paso was the second oldest settlement in the United States, and today it still serves for trade exchanges on the Rio Grande. This business shaped it towards a place dominated by noisy railroads and the giant Fort Bliss military base, but its dramatic setting puts it at the top of any travel list. Your travel to El Paso can be easier with Booked.net. We have collected all hotels in El Paso with maps, photos and secure forms. Be it a room in cheap hotel in El Paso to one appointed with luxuries, check out them all at our website. El Paso lies on the interstate location between Texas, New Mexico, and Chihuahua and is set against the backdrop of the Franklin Mountains cascading into the Chihuahuan Desert. Such sharp geographic tapestry makes El Paso more like New Mexico and distinct from softness of the Southwest United States. New Mexico is best seen from July to September when winds carry moisture from the Pacific, the Gulf of Carolina, and the Gulf of Mexico into the region causing heavy rain. Generally, El Paso has a warm climate with very hot summers and dry winters thanks to mountain ranges. As the mountains slope into a vast canyon, the Spanish who came to the area in the 16th century regarded it as an ideal route from south to north and established there a city. It soon became known as the "Camino Real" and served for trade route for 300 years. The 17th century brought Catholic missionaries, and the Mexicans took over the area in 1821. After the Mexican-American War this land was ceded to the United States. The railroad arrived in 1881 and El Paso became packed with casinos, restaurants and other attractions. - El Paso Zoo, a home to more than 600 animals of over 250 species - El Paso Museum of Art exhibits a collection dedicated to art of the Southwest - Hueco Tanks State Historic Site, occupies more than 860 acres of the land named for the large rock basins or "huecos''

Jimmy Buffett'sFrightening FallCaught on Tape 1/26/2011 2:30 PM PST Jimmy Buffettplummeted off the stage in Australia last night and crashed HARD into the concrete floor -- and the devastating accident was all captured on tape ... and obtained by TMZ. The footage shows Buffett casually strolling towards the front of the stage when he clearly misjudges the end ... and literally steps off the edge. Moments after Buffett hit the ground, security rushed to the singer's aid. As we first reported, Jimmy appeared to be knocked unconscious for 10-15 minutes after the fall -- and suffered a nasty gash on his head. Jimmy was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital in Sydney and is in stable condition. UPDATE: According to Buffett's website he is "doing well and will be released tomorrow."

Control, or Lack of It: Summer CSA 2011 – Week 2 In organic farming, there are certain things we can try to control and a much greater number of things we cannot. After last week’s hail, high winds, and 2.5 inch downpour – control is on my mind. We can control the varieties of vegetables we plant (Vulcan or Magenta Lettuce); who we hire; how weed-free we keep our fields; how much to harvest at a given time, etc. What we can’t control is weather and other living pest beings with their own wills, free or not. The centrality of weather to the everyday life of a farmer is something difficult to grasp unless you spend each of your days in the pursuit of growing food. For most non-farmers, weather generally influences proper attire for a given day and suggests a range of possible activities. A rainy day means an umbrella and indoor activities. Hot means flip-flops and a dip in the pool if you’re lucky. A frost warning in late May? Simply a strange, perhaps noteworthy occurrence that means pulling your covers around you just a little tighter at night. For a farmer, these weather issues result in anxiety and attempts to control what we can, and deep breathing to accept what we cannot. That late May hard freeze had Mike and I in the fields with head lamps working until 10:45 at night, pulling huge plastic tarps over our strawberries, in an attempt to keep the flowers (i.e. future berries) from being damaged. (Every ten minutes one of us would run back towards the house until the baby monitor would catch a signal, assuring us Zea was okay in her crib.) A series of rainy days can mean relief after days of moving irrigation pipe. Or at the wrong time, too much rain can mean huge delays in transplanting crops into the ground. And despite my farmer buddy’s phone call last Wednesday, where he told me, “There’s no way, NO WAY we can get bad hail damage twice in a season!”, hail ripped through our farm again last week. The result of high winds and hail? Ripped, bruised, shredded leaves. Thousands of dollars of crop damage and the knowledge that our crops’ abilities to ward off disease for the rest of the season has been compromised. Talk about a bummer. What was just a regular, gray post-storm morning for most folks last week, was a slow, depressing morning of walking through the fields and assessing what what was lost. A depressing morning of calling restaurants who’d ordered food and saying, sorry, don’t have it. A slow morning, where we tried not to think about all the hours and hours of labor made moot. So what’s a farmer to do? The way I see it, there are two choices: you can get angry about the situation, or you can tell yourself, ‘It is what it is’ and move on. Mike and I consistently choose the latter. I always remind myself that things can always be worse. I remind myself that that’s why diversity in CSA is so important. I try not to get angry about what I can’t control, and move on, working to control what I can. Sounds a lot like life, doesn’t it? Even if you aren’t a farmer, the idea of not being able to control everything you’d like, is something you’re surely familiar with. So even if the centrality of weather to a farmer isn’t something you understand first-hand, you can understand its ramifications. Weather issues = those frustrating things in life we wish we could control, but can’t. In your box this week, you’ll see the evidence of that hail most on your chard. It’s perhaps the ugliest chard we’ve ever sent out, but since chard is eaten cooked, looks really shouldn’t matter much. Luckily the hail didn’t reach our Pioneer Road fields, so the salad mix and spinach is in good shape. The lettuce is the only other thing in your box that you might see evidence of the hail. Prioritize eating your lettuce before your salad mix, as the hail damage will shorten the storage time of the head lettuce. New in your box this week is rainbow chard, scallions (or green onions if you prefer that name) and kohlrabi. Kohlrabi are best eaten raw. They taste a lot like broccoli and are great shaved onto sandwiches, chopped into salads, or eaten as snack sticks dipped in your favorite salad dressing. Regular members are also receiving mustard greens. These are spicy and are best eaten cooked. Mustard greens show up most in southern cooking recipes and in Indian curry recipes. See this week’s recipes.

514 P.2d 328 (1973) Ella M. HAGEMAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. The FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF DENVER, a national banking institution, et al., Defendants-Appellees. No. 72-190. Colorado Court of Appeals, Div. II. July 17, 1973. Rehearing Denied August 8, 1973. Certiorari Denied October 9, 1973. *329 Yegge, Hall & Evans, Edward H. Widmann, Denver, for plaintiff-appellant. Hughes & Dorsey, Richard S. Kitchen, Sr., Denver, for defendant-appellee, The First National Bank of Denver. Carl M. Shinn, Lamar, for defendants-appellees, Mrs. Helen H. Downing, William V. Hageman, Eldridge V. Hageman, William V. Hageman, Executor of the Estate of Silas V. Hageman a/k/a S. V. Hageman, Deceased. Gorsuch, Kirgis, Campbell, Walker & Grover, Leonard M. Campbell, Denver, guardian ad litem for grandchildren of William V. Hageman. Selected for Official Publication. DWYER, Judge. Plaintiff, Ella M. Hageman, brought this action against the trustee, First National Bank of Denver, and the trust beneficiaries of a revocable inter vivos trust created by her deceased husband, Silas V. Hageman. She sought a decree setting aside the trust to the extent necessary to permit her to receive the distributive share she would have received if the trust assets had been included as part of the probate estate. The case was tried on stipulated facts and exhibits and the trial court entered judgment in favor of the trustee. Plaintiff has appealed. We affirm. Silas V. Hageman died May 14, 1966. He was survived by his widow, plaintiff Ella M. Hageman, and by three children of a prior marriage. During his lifetime, decedent created a revocable inter vivos trust which provided that upon his death 40% of the trust income would be paid to the plaintiff with the remainder of the income added to the trust corpus, and that upon plaintiff's death, the corpus would be distributed equally to the three children. At the time of his death, the corpus of the trust had the value of approximately $246,000. The value of the assets in his probate estate was approximately $35,000. The decedent's will was filed for probate, and subsequently plaintiff filed an election under C.R.S.1963, 153-5-4(1) to take and receive one-half of decedent's estate. Most of the probate estate was consumed in payment of debts and taxes. Under the terms of the trust, the decedent retained the rights to (1) revoke the trust in whole or in part; (2) amend the trust agreement; (3) withdraw any property deposited in trust or add to the trust corpus; (4) control all investments made by the trustee; (5) receive all trust income during his lifetime. By operation of the trust, assets which would otherwise be part of the decedent's probate estate, passed to the trustee to be held for the benefit of the beneficiaries. The effect was to defeat the surviving spouse's right to receive one-half of the estate if the decedent died intestate, and to defeat her right to elect to take against the will and receive one-half of the estate if the decedent died testate. Plaintiff contends that the transfer of the property to the trustee, where decedent retained all the incidents of beneficial ownership and control over the property until his death, is illusory and a fraud upon her statutory right to receive a distributive share of the property. C.R.S.1963, 153-5-4(1) provides in part: "Notwithstanding the provisions of a testator's will, his surviving spouse shall have the option to take and receive onehalf of the testator's estate ...." This right of a surviving spouse applies to property of which the husband dies seized and possessed. If by a will, the husband attempts to dispose of his property in a manner adverse to the interest of the wife, she has the right to elect to take against the will and receive one-half of the husband's estate. However, as stated by our *330 Supreme Court in Richard v. James, 133 Colo. 180, 292 P.2d 977: "There no longer remains a question of doubt of the power of a husband to convey his property during his lifetime to whomsoever he sees fit; even though it has the effect of depriving the wife of all right to inherit any part thereof, provided the transaction is bona fide and not merely colorable. This is true even though the express purpose of the conveyor is to deprive another of his right of inheritance. If the deed is genuine it cannot be said to be invalid." In Denver National Bank v. Von Brecht, 137 Colo. 88, 322 P.2d 667, it was held that where a settlor of an inter vivos trust reserved to himself the income of the trust estate, the right to revoke or amend the trust, and the right to disapprove of certain investments, the trust was valid and nontestamentary. Here the settlor, in creating the inter vivos trust, transferred title to property owned by him, and his interest therein passed immediately to the trustee and a valid trust was established. The rights retained by the settlor in the trust did not defeat the trust nor the resulting exclusion of the trust property from the settlor's probate estate. At the time of the decedent's death, the title to the trust property was in the trustee, and therefore the property was distributable only under the trust instrument. Plaintiff also contends that, since decedent's name remained on certain shares of bank stock as nominee and since the stock was not transferred on the stock books of the bank until after his death, transfer of the stock to the trust was incomplete, and the stock should not be included as assets of the trust. The title to stock is transferred by delivery of the certificate endorsed or assigned in the usual manner. Wright v. Keene, 82 Mont. 603, 268 P. 545, 60 A.L.R. 109. As between the parties, the delivery of the certificate endorsed in blank passes title to the stock. Early v. Richardson, 280 U.S. 496, 50 S.Ct. 176, 74 L.Ed. 575. Entry of the transaction on the stock books of the bank is not required for the transfer of title. Johnston v. Laflin, 103 U.S. 800, 26 L.Ed. 532. Accordingly, the delivery of shares of stock to the trustee, endorsed in blank, transferred title of the stock to the trustee. Judgment affirmed. ENOCH and SMITH, JJ., concur.

Wireless communication systems provide for radio communication links to be arranged within the system between a plurality of user terminals. Such user terminals may be mobile and may therefore be known as mobile stations.′ At least one other terminal, e.g. used in conjunction with mobile stations, may be a fixed terminal, e.g. a control terminal, base station, or access point. Such a system typically includes a system infrastructure which generally includes a network of various fixed installations such as base stations, which are in direct radio communication with the mobile stations. Each of the base stations operating in the system may have one or more transceivers which may, for example, serve mobile stations in a given local region or area, known as a ‘cell’ or ‘site’, by radio frequency (RF) communication. The mobile stations which are in direct communication with a particular base station are said to be served by the base station, and all radio communications to and from each mobile station within the system are made via respective serving base stations. Sites of neighbouring base stations in a wireless communication system may be offset from one another or may be overlapping. Wireless communication systems may operate according to an industry standard land mobile radio (LMR) protocol such as, for example, the Project 25 (P25) standard defined by the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International (APCO), the Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) standard, or other radio protocols. Communications in accordance with DMR, P25, or other standards may take place over physical channels in accordance with one or more of a TDMA (time division multiple access) protocol, a FDMA (frequency divisional multiple access), or CDMA (code division multiple access) protocol. Mobile stations in wireless communication systems such as DMR systems send and receive user communicated voice data (e.g., voice or audio alone or multiplexed with other data such as video or image data) and non-voice data (e.g., location data or sensor data, control signalling, etc.), herein referred to collectively as ‘traffic information’, in accordance with the designated protocol. Furthermore, LMR systems may operate in either a conventional or trunked configuration. In either configuration, a plurality of mobile stations may be partitioned into separate groups of mobile stations, such that mobile stations may selectively participate in individual (mobile station to mobile station) calls and also in group (mobile station to many mobile stations) calls. In a conventional system, each mobile station in a group is selected to a particular FDMA frequency for communications associated with that group. Thus, each group is served by one frequency (e.g., channel), and multiple groups may share the same single frequency (in which case, in some embodiments, group IDs may be present in the group data to distinguish between groups using the same shared frequency). In some systems, each conventional frequency may be further configured to carry multiple channels via a TDMA protocol, which allows for multiple concurrent calls on each frequency based on the configured ratio of the TDMA channels. In contrast, a trunked radio system and its mobile stations use a pool of traffic channels (e.g., FDMA or TDMA protocols operating on a plurality of available physical frequencies) for virtually an unlimited number of groups of mobile stations (e.g., talkgroups). Thus, all groups are served by all channels. The trunked radio system works to take advantage of the probability that not all groups need a traffic channel for communication at the same time. When a member of a group requests a call on a control or rest channel on which all of the mobile stations in the system idle awaiting new call notifications, in one embodiment, a call controller assigns a separate traffic channel for the requested group call, and all group members move from the assigned control or rest channel to the assigned traffic channel for the group call. In another embodiment, when a member of a group requests a call on a control or rest channel, the call controller may convert the control or rest channel on which the mobile stations were idling to a traffic channel for the call, and instruct all mobile stations that are not participating in the new call to move to a newly assigned control or rest channel selected from the pool of available channels. With a given number of channels, a much greater number of groups can be accommodated in a trunked system as compared with conventional radio systems. Group members for group calls conducted on conventional or trunked systems may be statically or dynamically defined. That is, in a first example, a user or administrator working on behalf of the user may indicate to the switching and/or radio network (perhaps at a call controller, push-to-talk (PTT) server, zone controller, or mobile management entity (MME), base station controller (BSC), mobile switching center (MSC), site controller, Push-to-Talk controller, or other network device) a list of participants of a group at the time of the call or in advance of the call. The group members (e.g., mobile stations) could be provisioned in the network by the user or an agent, and then provided some form of group identity, identifier, or address, for example. Then, at a future time, an originating user in a group may cause some signalling to be transmitted indicating that he or she wishes to establish a communication session (e.g., group call) with each of the pre-designated participants in the defined group. In another example, mobile stations may dynamically affiliate with a group (and also disassociate with the group) perhaps based on user input, and the switching and/or radio network may track group membership and route new group calls according to the current group membership. In some situations, a trunked radio system and a conventional radio systems may be used in a same or partially overlapping geographic area, and mobile stations operating in the area may be configured to operate on both systems. In order to detect a group or individual call across such disparate systems, a scan mechanism may be implemented at each mobile station in which the mobile station is configured to scan the conventional channels in the conventional radio system and the control or rest channel in the trunked system for new calls that the mobile station is interested in (e.g., individual calls directed to the mobile station and/or group calls to groups that the mobile station is subscribed to or otherwise interested in). Many scan systems implement a ‘carrier detect’ mechanism in which multiple channels are scanned to determine if a ‘valid’ signal is present on that channel. Once a carrier is detected, the signal may be further decoded to determine if it is a group or individual call that the mobile station is interested in receiving. One problem that has arisen in implementing such a scan system across trunked and conventional radio systems is that the control or rest channel of the trunked radio system is always transmitting (e.g., a carrier is always present). Accordingly, when a mobile station implements a scan across trunked and conventional radio systems, it must always stop on the control channel for a relatively significant period of time (e.g., 1-5 seconds depending on traffic on the control channel) to decode messages being transmitted on the control channel in order to determine if an individual or group call of interest to the mobile station is active in the trunked radio system. In the mean time, the mobile station may miss a start of an important call elsewhere on one of the conventional channels in the conventional radio system. Accordingly, what is needed is an improved method, device, and system for scanning across trunked and conventional radio systems.

TOPEKA, Kansas — The University of Kansas and Kansas State University have both delayed the start of classes until March 23, with online classes to follow and the possibility of continuing online-only for weeks after that due to the COVID-19 coronavirus. KU decided Wednesday night, and K-State put out a statement on Thursday morning. Meanwhile, top administrators at other public universities in the state made clear they may follow suit with their own campus shutdowns. The Kansas Board of Regents, which governs the state’s public universities, voted Wednesday night to allow each school to make its own decision about how to address the coronavirus — whether to extend spring break and switch to online classes. Most modifications to the academic calendar require Board of Regents approval. In an emergency meeting Wednesday night, the regents and the heads of KU, K-State and other schools weighed the costs and benefits of keeping students, many of whom are on spring break, from returning to campus for at least another two weeks. If Kansas colleges shut down their classrooms and go online to slow the spread of the virus, they would join more than 100 schools around the country that have sent students home. Among them: the University of Missouri, Harvard University, Syracuse University, Rice University and all the public colleges in Ohio. Lee Norman, the secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said there has been no community transmission of the coronavirus in the state. So far, Kansas has recorded a single confirmed case of the illness in Johnson County — a woman diagnosed after traveling to the northeastern U.S. But Norman warned officials during the meeting that people returning to campus from other states or countries could easily be carrying the virus. Norman suggested sending students home rather than risk infections from interactions in dorms, dining halls and off-campus hangouts, “We’re on a banana peel right now,” he told the board. “It would take one or a small cluster of people to come back and then to infect people around them.” “The safest thing to do,” he said, “is cancel classes.” The most likely plan, some university officials said, is extending their spring breaks by one week to give instructors and staff time to prepare materials for online teaching, then instructing students not to come back to campus. It would be better to be overly cautious than underprepared, KU Chancellor Doug Girod said. He noted that a couple of KU faculty have been exposed to the coronavirus at conferences and a family in Lawrence is under investigation for exposure. “I would argue we would hold profound liability in this situation,” he said. “If somebody dies on my campus, I’m going to get sued.” Girod said KU plans to reach out to the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce and city manager for collaboration on keeping students from congregating in businesses off campus. “The focus is to not let students lose progress towards a degree,” he said. K-State will try to reduce the risk of transmission the best it can, but not every student can leave the school, university president Richard Myers said Wednesday. That includes international students, people who live in off-campus housing and others who have no place to go. “It’s not going to work for all students,” Myers said. “We’re just trying to mitigate the risk the best we can. We know it’s not a 100% solution.” Especially at risk are older faculty and staff, who have a higher risk of being seriously ill if they contract the virus, he added. “A campus is not just students,” Myers said. K-State will open its dorms on Sunday for students who can't stay at home, but otherwise will hold off on classes for a week and when classes do resume on March 23, they'll be held online. Officials discussed whether to keep campuses shuttered for the rest of the semester, or just for a couple of weeks, with a re-evaluation and possible extension if more people test positive for coronavirus. Jay Golden, the president of Wichita State University, said the school might have to send students home early because its spring break begins March 23. Allison Garrett, president of Emporia State University, said student-athletes would continue with practice, and attendance at events would be limited to athletes and required staff. The school plans to resume normal operations for staff next week, although students will not be on campus. It plans to allow staff to work from home if needed. Other issues will be decided at the regents’ regular meeting on March 18, said board president and CEO Blake Flanders. Among them are credit for science labs, which are difficult to complete online. The board decided to let universities make their own decision because each school is so different, Flanders told the Kansas News Service after the meeting. While not every university has released a public plan, they have been discussing contingencies for weeks. “I'm not sure every element was set in stone,” he said, “but I think they have a really good idea about how they're going to move forward.” This story was updated at 8:15 a.m. March 12. Nomin Ujiyediin reports on criminal justice and social welfare for KCUR and the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter @NominUJ. The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link to ksnewsservice.org.

Saturday, April 26, 2014 Team Report: Siena Men Set To Compete For Crown Here's another in the "Team Report" series looking back at the just-concluded season with a crystal-ball look at what might happen in the upcoming season. Up now ... SIENA MEN2013-14 RECORD: 11-9 in MAAC play, 5th place; 20-18 overall. WHAT WENT RIGHT: Plenty, including a fifth-place finish after being picked in the coaches' preseason poll to finish 10th in the 11-team league. But early expectations were understandably low for a team that was going through considerable transition, including a change at the head coach position. But the new coach was MAAC veteran Jimmy Patsos, who resuscitated and rebuilt Loyola's program over the previous nine seasons. Patsos took a group of former role players and four contributing freshmen and got to 20 victories. Only 15 of those, though, were accomplished by the time Siena was eliminated in the MAAC's postseason tournament. The next five came when the Saints captured the championship of the College Basketball Insider's post-season tournament that included two games in the friendly confines of the school's on-campus Alumni Recreation Center, the first ones played there since 1997. The entire season was truly a blast from the past in terms of success, too, the program's first winning season since 2009-10. As would be expected from a young team with a veteran guiding hand at the helm in Patsos, Siena made noticeable improvements as the season went on. After a 2-7 start Siena went 18-11 the rest of the way. That included a 9-2 record in the final 11 games. And, that late string of success started after back-to-back losses -- at Marist on a buzzer-beating shot by the Red Foxes, and in triple OT against Canisius. Those could have been devastating. Instead, it seemed to revitalize the team. After that the Saints won their last four MAAC regular-season games to vault into the fifth spot in the final standings. Junior wing Rob Poole became as much a go-to player as the Saints had, averaging 14.6 points per game. Sophomore 6-foot-8 Brett Bisping was the league's most-improved player and one of its better big men (11.5 points, 6.5 rebounds), and frosh Marquis Wright was among the best point guards in the league (199 total assists) almost from his first day on the court. Freshman Lavon Long, versatile enough to play both forward spots (9.5, 4.9) was also a season-long starter and contributor. And, the team got important contributions from a variety of others. WHAT WENT WRONG: Expected things, like the slow start as chemistry developed within a group of so many new parts and roles. There were early growing pains, and some at midseason too, including two losses by four points (one of those in the triple OT setback vs. Canisius), one by one point (to Marist) and, yet, another OT loss (to Quinnipiac). It showed how close Siena was to being even better. There were other issues often related to being young. The team was over aggressive at times, exhibiting the need to play that way without committing fouls. Only 15 teams nationally were whistled for more than Siena's 22.5 fouls per game. And, freshman Long committed 148 fouls himself, more than any player nationally. But those issues lessened as the year went on, as the parts fit better together and as the young players got experience. At the end, Siena was the last team from the conference to have its season end. WHAT'S AHEAD: Good things for sure, as every scholarship player who saw significant time returns. And, the only seniors will be Poole and reserve guard Evan Hymes. Four freshmen were in the playing group, at times, this season and there's a strong group coming in including eligible transfer 6-5 swingman Patrick Cole, who averaged 10.3 ppg. as a freshman at Coppin State in 2012-13 and, in some of this season's practices, looked like Siena's best player on the court. Rising junior Ryan Oliver also grew into an off-the-bench/instant-offense role this season, rising soph guard Maurice White delivered effort plays off the bench and rising senior "big" Imoh Silas had some strong, albeit inconsistent, play (63 blocks). The talent level is reminiscent of Fran McCaffery's glory years when the team went to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments. Hard to outright predict another run like that, but the team is certainly poised for more success in the immediate future. It also doesn't hurt to have Patsos in place. He is among the league's best coaches (and, this scribe's choice for THE best). The only concern is that another strong season is likely to attract significant interest from the next level. REASONABLE EXPECTATION: No conference team has as many players returning. Of course, those players only took Siena to a fifth-place finish this past season. Patsos has already been delivering the message that if his cast thinks it can compete for the title merely because everyone returns ... well, that won't be done without the type of work that went into this past season. On paper, though, with the returnees as well as the addition of Cole, this does look like a team that should be predicted to finish no lower than third, probably second and with a reasonable chance to compete for the regular-season title. 9 comments: Don't think Patsos is going anyplace for a while even with a couple of MAAC titles. Fran McCaffery stayed 5 years and he was known as a "climber". Patsos has only been at 2 schools (Maryland and Loyola) in 22 years prior to Siena and only in one area (DC/Maryland). Very possible unless Maryland comes calling he's here for a very long time. No coach, as history shows, is going to stay at Siena if he has success and bigger schools come calling. Do the financial math. Doesn't take a genius to figure why coaches move from Siena, and other MAAC schools. Follow the money. I agree but Patsos isn't young and an up and comer" i.e. Hewitt gone in 3 years. I expect him for at least 5 years like McCaffery was. His career record isn't great (like Fran's was early in his career at Siena). But yes there is a limit you can pay in the MAAC. All the more reason Siena will be in the A10 as soon as they are invited. He's younger than McCaffery was when he was here. Plus, he's already been at the highest level, at Maryland, as an assistant. Another real good season and he'll be a very attractive candidate to move.As for A10 ... Don't hold your breath on that one.Don't forget ... It's not just a basketball move. Every program at the school would have to make the move.Plus, to be competitive, almost certainly have to lower academic standards. Not sure if that's part of Siena's philosophy.As for Patsos' career record ... How about taking a Loyola program that was just about the worst in the country the year before his arrival and, then, having the best record in the MAAC in his last two seasons there ... At a lacrosse school?You "expect" him to be here five years?How would you know that? McCaffery was actually about a month shy of 46 when he became Siena coach, and 46 1/2 when he coached his first game ... so, basically, the same age.You certainly can structure facts to suit your purpose ... But, how about this? Loyola had one winning season in the MAAC before Patsos got there. The program was in shambles, ranked 2nd from last among 340, or so, D-I schools, the year before he got hired.An admitted "lacrosse school." Players in the Balt/D.C. area were "ashamed" to have to settle for a Loyola scholarship (that's the word used by a former Loyola coach). Patsos not only had to build a team, but he had to revitalize an entire program. Which he did in pretty short order.He had five winning seasons in his nine, and another at .500 exactly. His last two seasons: 47-21, best record of any MAAC program. Then, to turn around Siena so quickly ... Saints almost universally predicted to finish 10th this past season, and rightly so. Fabulous coaching job turned things around quicker than expected.You think other schools haven't noticed?Plus, he's already had a lot of ACC experience as an assistant.Add all of that up.What part of that isn't attractive to the next level?And, what was Fran's coaching record before he got to Siena?It was 139-126, at far lower-level programs, and ones in much better shape when he took over than Loyola was when Patsos was hired.Nice to be optimistic about Patsos being here long term. But, in truth, you have no idea.For that matter, I'm not certain either.My best guess is based on him being a very attractive candidate elsewhere if Siena's 2014-15 is as good as everyone expects; and, that every single MAAC coach who has ever been offered a significantly better job elsewhere has moved on. Let's see ... Lehigh was 12-19 the year before Fran arrived there, and had every player of significance returning.UNC-G was 84-87 in the six years before Fran and, again, had a loaded roster returning when Fran was hired (if you bothered to research any of that).Loyola was the absolute worst D-I program in the country when Patsos was hired.That Fran had to play some guarantee games (2 or 3 annually) at UNC-G doesn't figure in this at all relative to NCAA appearances. All his teams at UNC-G/Lehigh had to do was win their respective leagues' automatic berths ... leagues far, far inferior to the MAAC.Yeah, Fran an assistant at ND, a "pretty big time" program.But, the ND staff got fired in Fran's last season there (1998-99).And, ND's program wasn't even close to Maryland's, which WON a national championship when Patsos was an assistant there.I'm not going to continue this debate with you since you really have no idea whatsoever about how high-major programs perceive Patsos and whether he's an attractive candidate to move on in the near future. Mike: As indicated ... debate time is over. Not going to allow derogatory, half-true comments in this forum.If you've got that much of a problem with what appears here, contact me privately via facebook or email.

Before Midnight (1925 film) Before Midnight is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by John G. Adolfi and starring William Russell, Barbara Bedford and Brinsley Shaw. Cast William Russell as Tom Galloway Barbara Bedford as Helen Saldivar Brinsley Shaw as Dobbs, valet Alan Roscoe as J. Dallas Durand Rex Lease as Julio Saldivar References Bibliography Munden, Kenneth White. The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1. University of California Press, 1997. External links Category:1925 films Category:1920s drama films Category:English-language films Category:American films Category:American silent feature films Category:American drama films Category:American black-and-white films Category:Films directed by John G. Adolfi

Intravesical hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulphate for bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis: long-term treatment results. Reconstruction of the glycosaminoglycan layer plays a role in the successful treatment of bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis (BPS/IC). Intravesical instillations of hyaluronic acid (HA) and chondroitin sulphate (CS) have given results in the short term. We hypothesise that these benefits continue in the longer term. With the aim of evaluating this therapy over a longer period we treated 12 BPS/IC patients refractory to other treatments with a combination of HA 1.6 % and CS 2.0 % over a period of 3 years assessing symptoms and quality of life using a visual analogue scale, 3-day voiding diaries and validated questionnaires. Improvements in bladder function were sustained for 3 years (mean number of daily voids decreased from 17.8 at baseline to 15.5 at 9 months and 11.9 at 3 years, and mean volume per void from 136.8 ml at baseline to 143.9 ml at 9 months and 180.9 ml at 3 years). Quality of life assessments confirmed these improvements. Intravesical instillations of HA and CS produced a sustained improvement of the symptomatology, up to 3 years, in patients with BPS/IC refractory to previous treatments. Further confirmation would be expected from larger controlled trials.

% runica() - Perform Independent Component Analysis (ICA) decomposition % of input data using the logistic infomax ICA algorithm of % Bell & Sejnowski (1995) with the natural gradient feature % of Amari, Cichocki & Yang, or optionally the extended-ICA % algorithm of Lee, Girolami & Sejnowski, with optional PCA % dimension reduction. Annealing based on weight changes is % used to automate the separation process. % Usage: % >> [weights,sphere] = runica(data); % train using defaults % else % >> [weights,sphere,compvars,bias,signs,lrates,activations] ... % = runica(data,'Key1',Value1',...); % Input: % data = input data (chans,frames*epochs). % Note that if data consists of multiple discontinuous epochs, % each epoch should be separately baseline-zero'd using % >> data = rmbase(data,frames,basevector); % % Optional keywords [argument]: % 'extended' = [N] perform tanh() "extended-ICA" with sign estimation % N training blocks. If N > 0, automatically estimate the % number of sub-Gaussian sources. If N < 0, fix number of % sub-Gaussian comps to -N [faster than N>0] (default|0 -> off) % 'pca' = [N] decompose a principal component (default -> 0=off) % subspace of the data. Value is the number of PCs to retain. % 'sphering' = ['on'/'off'] flag sphering of data (default -> 'on') % 'weights' = [W] initial weight matrix (default -> eye()) % (Note: if 'sphering' 'off', default -> spher()) % 'lrate' = [rate] initial ICA learning rate (<< 1) (default -> heuristic) % 'block' = [N] ICA block size (<< datalength) (default -> heuristic) % 'anneal' = annealing constant (0,1] (defaults -> 0.90, or 0.98, extended) % controls speed of convergence % 'annealdeg' = [N] degrees weight change for annealing (default -> 70) % 'stop' = [f] stop training when weight-change < this (default -> 1e-6 % if less than 33 channel and 1E-7 otherwise) % 'maxsteps' = [N] max number of ICA training steps (default -> 512) % 'bias' = ['on'/'off'] perform bias adjustment (default -> 'on') % 'momentum' = [0<f<1] training momentum (default -> 0) % 'specgram' = [srate loHz hiHz frames winframes] decompose a complex time/frequency % transform of the data - though not optimally. (Note: winframes must % divide frames) (defaults [srate 0 srate/2 size(data,2) size(data,2)]) % 'posact' = make all component activations net-positive(default 'off'} % Requires time and memory; posact() may be applied separately. % 'verbose' = give ascii messages ('on'/'off') (default -> 'on') % 'logfile' = [filename] save all message in a log file in addition to showing them % on screen (default -> none) % 'interrupt' = ['on'|'off'] draw interrupt figure. Default is off. % 'rndreset' = ['on'|'off'] reset the random seed. Default is off (although it % used to be on prior to 2015. This means that ICA will always return. % the same decomposition unless this option is set to 'on'. % % Outputs: [Note: RO means output in reverse order of projected mean variance % unless starting weight matrix passed ('weights' above)] % weights = ICA weight matrix (comps,chans) [RO] % sphere = data sphering matrix (chans,chans) = spher(data) % Note that unmixing_matrix = weights*sphere {if sphering off -> eye(chans)} % compvars = back-projected component variances [RO] % bias = vector of final (ncomps) online bias [RO] (default = zeros()) % signs = extended-ICA signs for components [RO] (default = ones()) % [ -1 = sub-Gaussian; 1 = super-Gaussian] % lrates = vector of learning rates used at each training step [RO] % activations = activation time courses of the output components (ncomps,frames*epochs) % % Authors: Scott Makeig with contributions from Tony Bell, Te-Won Lee, % Tzyy-Ping Jung, Sigurd Enghoff, Michael Zibulevsky, Delorme Arnaud, % CNL/The Salk Institute, La Jolla, 1996- % Uses: posact() % 'ncomps' = [N] number of ICA components to compute (default -> chans or 'pca' arg) % using rectangular ICA decomposition. This parameter may return % strange results. This is because the weight matrix is rectangular % instead of being square. Do not use except to try to fix the problem. % Reference (please cite): % % Makeig, S., Bell, A.J., Jung, T-P and Sejnowski, T.J., % "Independent component analysis of electroencephalographic data," % In: D. Touretzky, M. Mozer and M. Hasselmo (Eds). Advances in Neural % Information Processing Systems 8:145-151, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA (1996). % % Toolbox Citation: % % Makeig, Scott et al. "EEGLAB: ICA Toolbox for Psychophysiological Research". % WWW Site, Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, Institute of Neural % Computation, University of San Diego California % <www.sccn.ucsd.edu/eeglab/>, 2000. [World Wide Web Publication]. % % For more information: % http://www.sccn.ucsd.edu/eeglab/icafaq.html - FAQ on ICA/EEG % http://www.sccn.ucsd.edu/eeglab/icabib.html - mss. on ICA & biosignals % http://www.cnl.salk.edu/~tony/ica.html - math. mss. on ICA % Copyright (C) 1996 Scott Makeig et al, SCCN/INC/UCSD, [email protected] % % This file is part of EEGLAB, see http://www.eeglab.org % for the documentation and details. % % Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without % modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: % % 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, % this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. % % 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, % this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation % and/or other materials provided with the distribution. % % THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" % AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE % IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE % ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE % LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR % CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF % SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS % INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN % CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) % ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF % THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Edit history %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % runica() - by Scott Makeig with contributions from Tony Bell, Te-Won Lee % Tzyy-Ping Jung, Sigurd Enghoff, Michael Zibulevsky et al. % CNL / Salk Institute 1996-00 % 04-30-96 built from icatest.m and ~jung/.../wtwpwica.m -sm % 07-28-97 new runica(), adds bias (default on), momentum (default off), % extended-ICA (Lee & Sejnowski, 1997), cumulative angledelta % (until lrate drops), keywords, signcount for speeding extended-ICA % 10-07-97 put acos() outside verbose loop; verbose 'off' wasn't stopping -sm % 11-11-97 adjusted help msg -sm % 11-30-97 return eye(chans) if sphering 'off' or 'none' (undocumented option) -sm % 02-27-98 use pinv() instead of inv() to rank order comps if ncomps < chans -sm % 04-28-98 added 'posact' and 'pca' flags -sm % 07-16-98 reduced length of randperm() for kurtosis subset calc. -se & sm % 07-19-98 fixed typo in weights def. above -tl & sm % 12-21-99 added 'specgram' option suggested by Michael Zibulevsky, UNM -sm % 12-22-99 fixed rand() sizing inefficiency on suggestion of Mike Spratling, UK -sm % 01-11-00 fixed rand() sizing bug on suggestion of Jack Foucher, Strasbourg -sm % 12-18-00 test for existence of Sig Proc Tlbx function 'specgram'; improve % 'specgram' option arguments -sm % 01-25-02 reformated help & license -ad % 01-25-02 lowered default lrate and block -ad % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% function [weights,sphere,meanvar,bias,signs,lrates,data,y] = runica(data,varargin) % NB: Now optionally returns activations as variable 'data' -sm 7/05 if nargin < 1 help runica return end [chans frames] = size(data); % determine the data size urchans = chans; % remember original data channels datalength = frames; if chans<2 fprintf('\nrunica() - data size (%d,%d) too small.\n\n', chans,frames); return end % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Declare defaults used below %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % MAX_WEIGHT = 1e8; % guess that weights larger than this have blown up DEFAULT_STOP = 0.000001; % stop training if weight changes below this DEFAULT_ANNEALDEG = 60; % when angle change reaches this value, DEFAULT_ANNEALSTEP = 0.90; % anneal by multiplying lrate by this DEFAULT_EXTANNEAL = 0.98; % or this if extended-ICA DEFAULT_MAXSTEPS = 512; % ]top training after this many steps DEFAULT_MOMENTUM = 0.0; % default momentum weight DEFAULT_BLOWUP = 1000000000.0; % = learning rate has 'blown up' DEFAULT_BLOWUP_FAC = 0.8; % when lrate 'blows up,' anneal by this fac DEFAULT_RESTART_FAC = 0.9; % if weights blowup, restart with lrate % lower by this factor MIN_LRATE = 0.000001; % if weight blowups make lrate < this, quit MAX_LRATE = 0.1; % guard against uselessly high learning rate DEFAULT_LRATE = 0.00065/log(chans); % heuristic default - may need adjustment % for large or tiny data sets! % DEFAULT_BLOCK = floor(sqrt(frames/4)); % heuristic default DEFAULT_BLOCK = ceil(min(5*log(frames),0.3*frames)); % heuristic % - may need adjustment! % Extended-ICA option: DEFAULT_EXTENDED = 0; % default off DEFAULT_EXTBLOCKS = 1; % number of blocks per kurtosis calculation DEFAULT_NSUB = 1; % initial default number of assumed sub-Gaussians % for extended-ICA DEFAULT_EXTMOMENTUM = 0.5; % momentum term for computing extended-ICA kurtosis MAX_KURTSIZE = 6000; % max points to use in kurtosis calculation MIN_KURTSIZE = 2000; % minimum good kurtosis size (flag warning) SIGNCOUNT_THRESHOLD = 25; % raise extblocks when sign vector unchanged % after this many steps SIGNCOUNT_STEP = 2; % extblocks increment factor DEFAULT_SPHEREFLAG = 'on'; % use the sphere matrix as the default % starting weight matrix DEFAULT_INTERRUPT = 'off'; % figure interruption DEFAULT_PCAFLAG = 'off'; % don't use PCA reduction DEFAULT_POSACTFLAG = 'off'; % don't use posact(), to save space -sm 7/05 DEFAULT_VERBOSE = 1; % write ascii info to calling screen DEFAULT_BIASFLAG = 1; % default to using bias in the ICA update rule DEFAULT_RESETRANDOMSEED = true; % default to reset the random number generator to a 'random state' % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Set up keyword default values %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if nargout < 2, fprintf('runica() - needs at least two output arguments.\n'); return end epochs = 1; % do not care how many epochs in data pcaflag = DEFAULT_PCAFLAG; sphering = DEFAULT_SPHEREFLAG; % default flags posactflag = DEFAULT_POSACTFLAG; verbose = DEFAULT_VERBOSE; logfile = []; block = DEFAULT_BLOCK; % heuristic default - may need adjustment! lrate = DEFAULT_LRATE; annealdeg = DEFAULT_ANNEALDEG; annealstep = 0; % defaults declared below nochange = NaN; momentum = DEFAULT_MOMENTUM; maxsteps = DEFAULT_MAXSTEPS; weights = 0; % defaults defined below ncomps = chans; biasflag = DEFAULT_BIASFLAG; interrupt = DEFAULT_INTERRUPT; extended = DEFAULT_EXTENDED; extblocks = DEFAULT_EXTBLOCKS; kurtsize = MAX_KURTSIZE; signsbias = 0.02; % bias towards super-Gaussian components extmomentum= DEFAULT_EXTMOMENTUM; % exp. average the kurtosis estimates nsub = DEFAULT_NSUB; wts_blowup = 0; % flag =1 when weights too large wts_passed = 0; % flag weights passed as argument reset_randomseed = DEFAULT_RESETRANDOMSEED; % %%%%%%%%%% Collect keywords and values from argument list %%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if (nargin> 1 && rem(nargin,2) == 0) fprintf('runica(): Even number of input arguments???') return end for i = 1:2:length(varargin) % for each Keyword Keyword = varargin{i}; Value = varargin{i+1}; if ~ischar(Keyword) fprintf('runica(): keywords must be strings') return end Keyword = lower(Keyword); % convert upper or mixed case to lower if strcmp(Keyword,'weights') || strcmp(Keyword,'weight') if ischar(Value) fprintf(... 'runica(): weights value must be a weight matrix or sphere') return else weights = Value; wts_passed =1; end elseif strcmp(Keyword,'ncomps') if ischar(Value) fprintf('runica(): ncomps value must be an integer') return end if ncomps < urchans && ncomps ~= Value fprintf('runica(): Use either PCA or ICA dimension reduction'); return end fprintf('*****************************************************************************************'); fprintf('************** WARNING: NCOMPS OPTION OFTEN DOES NOT RETURN ACCURATE RESULTS ************'); fprintf('************** WARNING: IF YOU FIND THE PROBLEM, PLEASE LET US KNOW ************'); fprintf('*****************************************************************************************'); ncomps = Value; if ~ncomps, ncomps = chans; end elseif strcmp(Keyword,'pca') if ncomps < urchans && ncomps ~= Value fprintf('runica(): Use either PCA or ICA dimension reduction'); return end if ischar(Value) fprintf(... 'runica(): pca value should be the number of principal components to retain') return end pcaflag = 'on'; ncomps = Value; if ncomps > chans || ncomps < -1 fprintf('runica(): pca value must be in range [%d,%d]\n',-chans+1, chans) return end if ncomps < 0 ncomps = size(data,1)+ncomps; end chans = ncomps; elseif strcmp(Keyword,'interupt') || strcmp(Keyword,'interrupt') if ~ischar(Value) fprintf('runica(): interrupt value must be on or off') return else Value = lower(Value); if ~strcmp(Value,'on') && ~strcmp(Value,'off') fprintf('runica(): interrupt value must be on or off') return end interrupt = Value; end elseif strcmp(Keyword,'posact') if ~ischar(Value) fprintf('runica(): posact value must be on or off') return else Value = lower(Value); if ~strcmp(Value,'on') && ~strcmp(Value,'off'), fprintf('runica(): posact value must be on or off') return end posactflag = Value; end elseif strcmp(Keyword,'lrate') if ischar(Value) fprintf('runica(): lrate value must be a number') return end lrate = Value; if lrate>MAX_LRATE || lrate <0 fprintf('runica(): lrate value is out of bounds'); return end if ~lrate lrate = DEFAULT_LRATE; end elseif strcmp(Keyword,'block') || strcmp(Keyword,'blocksize') if ischar(Value) fprintf('runica(): block size value must be a number') return end block = floor(Value); if ~block block = DEFAULT_BLOCK; end elseif strcmp(Keyword,'stop') || strcmp(Keyword,'nochange') ... || strcmp(Keyword,'stopping') if ischar(Value) fprintf('runica(): stop wchange value must be a number') return end nochange = Value; elseif strcmp(Keyword,'logfile') if ~ischar(Value) fprintf('runica(): logfile value must be a string') return end logfile = Value; elseif strcmp(Keyword,'maxsteps') || strcmp(Keyword,'steps') if ischar(Value) fprintf('runica(): maxsteps value must be an integer') return end maxsteps = Value; if ~maxsteps maxsteps = DEFAULT_MAXSTEPS; end if maxsteps < 0 fprintf('runica(): maxsteps value (%d) must be a positive integer',maxsteps) return end elseif strcmp(Keyword,'anneal') || strcmp(Keyword,'annealstep') if ischar(Value) fprintf('runica(): anneal step value (%2.4f) must be a number (0,1)',Value) return end annealstep = Value; if annealstep <=0 || annealstep > 1 fprintf('runica(): anneal step value (%2.4f) must be (0,1]',annealstep) return end elseif strcmp(Keyword,'annealdeg') || strcmp(Keyword,'degrees') if ischar(Value) fprintf('runica(): annealdeg value must be a number') return end annealdeg = Value; if ~annealdeg annealdeg = DEFAULT_ANNEALDEG; elseif annealdeg > 180 || annealdeg < 0 fprintf('runica(): annealdeg (%3.1f) is out of bounds [0,180]',... annealdeg); return end elseif strcmp(Keyword,'momentum') if ischar(Value) fprintf('runica(): momentum value must be a number') return end momentum = Value; if momentum > 1.0 || momentum < 0 fprintf('runica(): momentum value is out of bounds [0,1]') return end elseif strcmp(Keyword,'sphering') || strcmp(Keyword,'sphereing') ... || strcmp(Keyword,'sphere') if ~ischar(Value) fprintf('runica(): sphering value must be on, off, or none') return else Value = lower(Value); if ~strcmp(Value,'on') && ~strcmp(Value,'off') && ~strcmp(Value,'none'), fprintf('runica(): sphering value must be on or off') return end sphering = Value; end elseif strcmp(Keyword,'bias') if ~ischar(Value) fprintf('runica(): bias value must be on or off') return else Value = lower(Value); if strcmp(Value,'on') biasflag = 1; elseif strcmp(Value,'off'), biasflag = 0; else fprintf('runica(): bias value must be on or off') return end end elseif strcmp(Keyword,'specgram') || strcmp(Keyword,'spec') if ~exist('specgram') < 2 % if ~exist or defined workspace variable fprintf(... 'runica(): MATLAB Sig. Proc. Toolbox function "specgram" not found.\n') return end if ischar(Value) fprintf('runica(): specgram argument must be a vector') return end srate = Value(1); if (srate < 0) fprintf('runica(): specgram srate (%4.1f) must be >=0',srate) return end if length(Value)>1 loHz = Value(2); if (loHz < 0 || loHz > srate/2) fprintf('runica(): specgram loHz must be >=0 and <= srate/2 (%4.1f)',srate/2) return end else loHz = 0; % default end if length(Value)>2 hiHz = Value(3); if (hiHz < loHz || hiHz > srate/2) fprintf('runica(): specgram hiHz must be >=loHz (%4.1f) and <= srate/2 (%4.1f)',loHz,srate/2) return end else hiHz = srate/2; % default end if length(Value)>3 Hzframes = Value(5); if (Hzframes<0 || Hzframes > size(data,2)) fprintf('runica(): specgram frames must be >=0 and <= data length (%d)',size(data,2)) return end else Hzframes = size(data,2); % default end if length(Value)>4 Hzwinlen = Value(4); if rem(Hzframes,Hzwinlen) % if winlen doesn't divide frames fprintf('runica(): specgram Hzinc must divide frames (%d)',Hzframes) return end else Hzwinlen = Hzframes; % default end Specgramflag = 1; % set flag to perform specgram() elseif strcmp(Keyword,'extended') || strcmp(Keyword,'extend') if ischar(Value) fprintf('runica(): extended value must be an integer (+/-)') return else extended = 1; % turn on extended-ICA extblocks = fix(Value); % number of blocks per kurt() compute if extblocks < 0 nsub = -1*fix(extblocks); % fix this many sub-Gauss comps elseif ~extblocks extended = 0; % turn extended-ICA off elseif kurtsize>frames % length of kurtosis calculation kurtsize = frames; if kurtsize < MIN_KURTSIZE fprintf(... 'runica() warning: kurtosis values inexact for << %d points.\n',... MIN_KURTSIZE); end end end elseif strcmp(Keyword,'verbose') if ~ischar(Value) fprintf('runica(): verbose flag value must be on or off') return elseif strcmp(Value,'on') verbose = 1; elseif strcmp(Value,'off') verbose = 0; else fprintf('runica(): verbose flag value must be on or off') return end elseif strcmp(Keyword,'rndreset') if ischar(Value) if strcmp(Value,'yes') reset_randomseed = true; elseif strcmp(Value,'no') reset_randomseed = false; else fprintf('runica(): not using the reset_randomseed flag, it should be ''yes'',''no'',0, or 1'); end else reset_randomseed = Value; end else fprintf('runica(): unknown flag') return end end % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Initialize weights, etc. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if ~annealstep if ~extended annealstep = DEFAULT_ANNEALSTEP; % defaults defined above else annealstep = DEFAULT_EXTANNEAL; % defaults defined above end end % else use annealstep from commandline if ~annealdeg annealdeg = DEFAULT_ANNEALDEG - momentum*90; % heuristic if annealdeg < 0 annealdeg = 0; end end if ncomps > chans || ncomps < 1 fprintf('runica(): number of components must be 1 to %d.\n',chans); return end % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Check keyword values %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if frames<chans fprintf('runica(): data length (%d) < data channels (%d)!\n',frames,chans) return elseif block < 2 fprintf('runica(): block size %d too small!\n',block) return elseif block > frames fprintf('runica(): block size exceeds data length!\n'); return elseif floor(epochs) ~= epochs fprintf('runica(): data length is not a multiple of the epoch length!\n'); return elseif nsub > ncomps fprintf('runica(): there can be at most %d sub-Gaussian components!\n',ncomps); return end if ~isempty(logfile) fid = fopen(logfile, 'w'); if fid == -1, error('Cannot open logfile for writing'); end else fid = []; end verb = verbose; if weights ~= 0 % initialize weights % starting weights are being passed to runica() from the commandline if chans>ncomps && weights ~=0 [r,c]=size(weights); if r~=ncomps || c~=chans fprintf('runica(): weight matrix must have %d rows, %d columns.\n', ... chans,ncomps); return; end end icaprintf(verb,fid,'Using starting weight matrix named in argument list ...\n'); end; % % adjust nochange if necessary % if isnan(nochange) if ncomps > 32 nochange = 1E-7; nochangeupdated = 1; % for fprinting purposes else nochangeupdated = 1; % for fprinting purposes nochange = DEFAULT_STOP; end else nochangeupdated = 0; end % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Process the data %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % icaprintf(verb,fid,'\nInput data size [%d,%d] = %d channels, %d frames/n', ... chans,frames,chans,frames); if strcmp(pcaflag,'on') icaprintf(verb,fid,'After PCA dimension reduction,\n finding '); else icaprintf(verb,fid,'Finding '); end if ~extended icaprintf(verb,fid,'%d ICA components using logistic ICA.\n',ncomps); else % if extended icaprintf(verb,fid,'%d ICA components using extended ICA.\n',ncomps); if extblocks > 0 icaprintf(verb,fid,'Kurtosis will be calculated initially every %d blocks using %d data points.\n',... extblocks, kurtsize); else icaprintf(verb,fid,'Kurtosis will not be calculated. Exactly %d sub-Gaussian components assumed.\n',nsub); end end icaprintf(verb,fid,'Decomposing %d frames per ICA weight ((%d)^2 = %d weights, %d frames)\n',... floor(frames/ncomps.^2),ncomps.^2,frames); icaprintf(verb,fid,'Initial learning rate will be %g, block size %d.\n',... lrate,block); if momentum>0, icaprintf(verb,fid,'Momentum will be %g.\n',momentum); end icaprintf(verb,fid,'Learning rate will be multiplied by %g whenever angledelta >= %g deg.\n', ... annealstep,annealdeg); if nochangeupdated icaprintf(verb,fid,'More than 32 channels: default stopping weight change 1E-7\n'); end icaprintf(verb,fid,'Training will end when wchange < %g or after %d steps.\n', nochange,maxsteps); if biasflag, icaprintf(verb,fid,'Online bias adjustment will be used.\n'); else icaprintf(verb,fid,'Online bias adjustment will not be used.\n'); end % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Remove overall row means of data %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % icaprintf(verb,fid,'Removing mean of each channel ...\n'); %BLGBLGBLG replaced % rowmeans = mean(data'); % data = data - rowmeans'*ones(1,frames); % subtract row means %BLGBLGBLG replacement starts rowmeans = mean(data,2)'; %BLG % data = data - rowmeans'*ones(1,frames); % subtract row means for iii=1:size(data,1) %avoids memory errors BLG data(iii,:)=data(iii,:)-rowmeans(iii); end %BLGBLGBLG replacement ends icaprintf(verb,fid,'Final training data range: %g to %g\n', min(min(data)),max(max(data))); % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Perform PCA reduction %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if strcmp(pcaflag,'on') icaprintf(verb,fid,'Reducing the data to %d principal dimensions...\n',ncomps); %BLGBLGBLG replaced %[eigenvectors,eigenvalues,data] = pcsquash(data,ncomps); % make data its projection onto the ncomps-dim principal subspace %BLGBLGBLG replacement starts %[eigenvectors,eigenvalues,data] = pcsquash(data,ncomps); % no need to re-subtract row-means, it was done a few lines above! PCdat2 = data'; % transpose data [PCn,PCp]=size(PCdat2); % now p chans,n time points PCdat2=PCdat2/PCn; PCout=data*PCdat2; clear PCdat2; [PCV,PCD] = eig(PCout); % get eigenvectors/eigenvalues [PCeigenval,PCindex] = sort(diag(PCD)); PCindex=rot90(rot90(PCindex)); PCEigenValues=rot90(rot90(PCeigenval))'; PCEigenVectors=PCV(:,PCindex); %PCCompressed = PCEigenVectors(:,1:ncomps)'*data; data = PCEigenVectors(:,1:ncomps)'*data; eigenvectors=PCEigenVectors; eigenvalues=PCEigenValues; %#ok<NASGU> clear PCn PCp PCout PCV PCD PCeigenval PCindex PCEigenValues PCEigenVectors %BLGBLGBLG replacement ends end % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Perform specgram transformation %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if exist('Specgramflag') == 1 % [P F T] = SPECGRAM(A,NFFT,Fs,WINDOW,NOVERLAP) % MATLAB Sig Proc Toolbox % Hzwinlen = fix(srate/Hzinc); % CHANGED FROM THIS 12/18/00 -sm Hzfftlen = 2^(ceil(log(Hzwinlen)/log(2))); % make FFT length next higher 2^k Hzoverlap = 0; % use sequential windows % % Get freqs and times from 1st channel analysis % [tmp,freqs,tms] = specgram(data(1,:),Hzfftlen,srate,Hzwinlen,Hzoverlap); fs = find(freqs>=loHz & freqs <= hiHz); icaprintf(verb,fid,'runica(): specified frequency range too narrow, exiting!\n'); specdata = reshape(tmp(fs,:),1,length(fs)*size(tmp,2)); specdata = [real(specdata) imag(specdata)]; % fprintf(' size(fs) = %d,%d\n',size(fs,1),size(fs,2)); % fprintf(' size(tmp) = %d,%d\n',size(tmp,1),size(tmp,2)); % % Loop through remaining channels % for ch=2:chans [tmp] = specgram(data(ch,:),Hzwinlen,srate,Hzwinlen,Hzoverlap); tmp = reshape((tmp(fs,:)),1,length(fs)*size(tmp,2)); specdata = [specdata;[real(tmp) imag(tmp)]]; % channels are rows end % % Print specgram confirmation and details % icaprintf(verb,fid,'Converted data to %d channels by %d=2*%dx%d points spectrogram data.\n',... chans,2*length(fs)*length(tms),length(fs),length(tms)); if length(fs) > 1 icaprintf(verb,fid,' Low Hz %g, high Hz %g, Hz incr %g, window length %d\n',freqs(fs(1)),freqs(fs(end)),freqs(fs(2))-freqs(fs(1)),Hzwinlen); else icaprintf(verb,fid,' Low Hz %g, high Hz %g, window length %d\n',freqs(fs(1)),freqs(fs(end)),Hzwinlen); end % % Replace data with specdata % data = specdata; datalength=size(data,2); end % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Perform sphering %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if strcmp(sphering,'on'), %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% icaprintf(verb,fid,'Computing the sphering matrix...\n'); sphere = 2.0*inv(sqrtm(double(cov(data')))); % find the "sphering" matrix = spher() if ~weights, icaprintf(verb,fid,'Starting weights are the identity matrix ...\n'); weights = eye(ncomps,chans); % begin with the identity matrix else % weights given on commandline icaprintf(verb,fid,'Using starting weights named on commandline ...\n'); end icaprintf(verb,fid,'Sphering the data ...\n'); data = sphere*data; % decorrelate the electrode signals by 'sphereing' them elseif strcmp(sphering,'off') %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% if ~weights % is starting weights not given icaprintf(verb,fid,'Using the sphering matrix as the starting weight matrix ...\n'); icaprintf(verb,fid,'Returning the identity matrix in variable "sphere" ...\n'); sphere = 2.0*inv(sqrtm(cov(data'))); % find the "sphering" matrix = spher() weights = eye(ncomps,chans)*sphere; % begin with the identity matrix sphere = eye(chans); % return the identity matrix else % weights ~= 0 icaprintf(verb,fid,'Using starting weights from commandline ...\n'); icaprintf(verb,fid,'Returning the identity matrix in variable "sphere" ...\n'); sphere = eye(chans); % return the identity matrix end elseif strcmp(sphering,'none') sphere = eye(chans,chans);% return the identity matrix if ~weights icaprintf(verb,fid,'Starting weights are the identity matrix ...\n'); icaprintf(verb,fid,'Returning the identity matrix in variable "sphere" ...\n'); weights = eye(ncomps,chans); % begin with the identity matrix else % weights ~= 0 icaprintf(verb,fid,'Using starting weights named on commandline ...\n'); icaprintf(verb,fid,'Returning the identity matrix in variable "sphere" ...\n'); end icaprintf(verb,fid,'Returned variable "sphere" will be the identity matrix.\n'); end % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Initialize ICA training %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % lastt=fix((datalength/block-1)*block+1); BI=block*eye(ncomps,ncomps); delta=zeros(1,chans*ncomps); changes = []; degconst = 180./pi; startweights = weights; prevweights = startweights; oldweights = startweights; prevwtchange = zeros(chans,ncomps); oldwtchange = zeros(chans,ncomps); lrates = zeros(1,maxsteps); onesrow = ones(1,block); bias = zeros(ncomps,1); signs = ones(1,ncomps); % initialize signs to nsub -1, rest +1 for k=1:nsub signs(k) = -1; end if extended && extblocks < 0, icaprintf(verb,fid,'Fixed extended-ICA sign assignments: '); for k=1:ncomps icaprintf(verb,fid,'%d ',signs(k)); end; icaprintf(verb,fid,'\n'); end signs = diag(signs); % make a diagonal matrix oldsigns = zeros(size(signs)); signcount = 0; % counter for same-signs signcounts = []; urextblocks = extblocks; % original value, for resets old_kk = zeros(1,ncomps); % for kurtosis momemtum % %%%%%%%% ICA training loop using the logistic sigmoid %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % icaprintf(verb,fid,'Beginning ICA training ...'); if extended, icaprintf(verb,fid,' first training step may be slow ...\n'); else icaprintf(verb,fid,'\n'); end step=0; laststep=0; blockno = 1; % running block counter for kurtosis interrupts warning('off', 'MATLAB:RandStream:ActivatingLegacyGenerators') if reset_randomseed rand('state',sum(100*clock)); % set the random number generator state to else rand('state', 0); end % a position dependent on the system clock warning('on', 'MATLAB:RandStream:ActivatingLegacyGenerators') % interrupt figure % --------------- if strcmpi(interrupt, 'on') fig = figure('visible', 'off'); supergui( fig, {1 1}, [], {'style' 'text' 'string' 'Press button to interrupt runica()' }, ... {'style' 'pushbutton' 'string' 'Interrupt' 'callback' 'setappdata(gcf, ''run'', 0);' } ); set(fig, 'visible', 'on'); setappdata(gcf, 'run', 1); if strcmpi(interrupt, 'on') drawnow; end end %% Compute ICA Weights if biasflag && extended while step < maxsteps, %%% ICA step = pass through all the data %%%%%%%%% timeperm=randperm(datalength); % shuffle data order at each step for t=1:block:lastt, %%%%%%%%% ICA Training Block %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% if strcmpi(interrupt, 'on') drawnow; flag = getappdata(fig, 'run'); if ~flag, if ~isempty(fid), fclose(fid); end close; error('USER ABORT'); end end %% promote data block (only) to double to keep u and weights double u=weights*double(data(:,timeperm(t:t+block-1))) + bias*onesrow; y=tanh(u); weights = weights + lrate*(BI-signs*y*u'-u*u')*weights; bias = bias + lrate*sum((-2*y)')'; % for tanh() nonlin. if momentum > 0 %%%%%%%%% Add momentum %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% weights = weights + momentum*prevwtchange; prevwtchange = weights-prevweights; prevweights = weights; end %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% if max(max(abs(weights))) > MAX_WEIGHT wts_blowup = 1; change = nochange; end if ~wts_blowup % %%%%%%%%%%% Extended-ICA kurtosis estimation %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %while step < maxsteps if extblocks > 0 && rem(blockno,extblocks) == 0, % recompute signs vector using kurtosis if kurtsize < frames % 12-22-99 rand() size suggestion by M. Spratling rp = fix(rand(1,kurtsize)*datalength); % pick random subset % Accout for the possibility of a 0 generation by rand ou = find(rp == 0); while ~isempty(ou) % 1-11-00 suggestion by J. Foucher rp(ou) = fix(rand(1,length(ou))*datalength); ou = find(rp == 0); end partact=weights*double(data(:,rp(1:kurtsize))); else % for small data sets, partact=weights*double(data); % use whole data end m2=mean(partact'.^2).^2; m4= mean(partact'.^4); kk= (m4./m2)-3.0; % kurtosis estimates if extmomentum kk = extmomentum*old_kk + (1.0-extmomentum)*kk; % use momentum old_kk = kk; end signs=diag(sign(kk+signsbias)); % pick component signs if signs == oldsigns, signcount = signcount+1; else signcount = 0; end oldsigns = signs; signcounts = [signcounts signcount]; if signcount >= SIGNCOUNT_THRESHOLD, extblocks = fix(extblocks * SIGNCOUNT_STEP);% make kurt() estimation signcount = 0; % less frequent if sign end % is not changing end % extblocks > 0 & . . . end % if extended & ~wts_blowup %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% blockno = blockno + 1; if wts_blowup break end end % for t=1:block:lastt %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% if ~wts_blowup oldwtchange = weights-oldweights; step=step+1; % %%%%%%% Compute and print weight and update angle changes %%%%%%%%% % lrates(1,step) = lrate; angledelta=0.; delta=reshape(oldwtchange,1,chans*ncomps); change=delta*delta'; end % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Restart if weights blow up %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if wts_blowup || isnan(change)|isinf(change), % if weights blow up, icaprintf(verb,fid,''); step = 0; % start again change = nochange; wts_blowup = 0; % re-initialize variables blockno = 1; lrate = lrate*DEFAULT_RESTART_FAC; % with lower learning rate weights = startweights; % and original weight matrix oldweights = startweights; change = nochange; oldwtchange = zeros(chans,ncomps); delta=zeros(1,chans*ncomps); olddelta = delta; extblocks = urextblocks; prevweights = startweights; prevwtchange = zeros(chans,ncomps); lrates = zeros(1,maxsteps); bias = zeros(ncomps,1); signs = ones(1,ncomps); % initialize signs to nsub -1, rest +1 for k=1:nsub signs(k) = -1; end signs = diag(signs); % make a diagonal matrix oldsigns = zeros(size(signs));; if lrate> MIN_LRATE r = rank(data); % determine if data rank is too low if r<ncomps icaprintf(verb,fid,'Data has rank %d. Cannot compute %d components.\n',... r,ncomps); return else icaprintf(verb,fid,... 'Lowering learning rate to %g and starting again.\n',lrate); end else icaprintf(verb,fid, ... 'runica(): QUITTING - weight matrix may not be invertible!\n'); return; end else % if weights in bounds % %%%%%%%%%%%%% Print weight update information %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if step> 2 angledelta=acos((delta*olddelta')/sqrt(change*oldchange)); end places = -floor(log10(nochange)); icaprintf(verb,fid,'step %d - lrate %5f, wchange %8.8f, angledelta %4.1f deg\n', ... step, lrate, change, degconst*angledelta); % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Save current values %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % changes = [changes change]; oldweights = weights; % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Anneal learning rate %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if degconst*angledelta > annealdeg, lrate = lrate*annealstep; % anneal learning rate olddelta = delta; % accumulate angledelta until oldchange = change; % annealdeg is reached elseif step == 1 % on first step only olddelta = delta; % initialize oldchange = change; end % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Apply stopping rule %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if step >2 && change < nochange, % apply stopping rule laststep=step; step=maxsteps; % stop when weights stabilize elseif change > DEFAULT_BLOWUP, % if weights blow up, lrate=lrate*DEFAULT_BLOWUP_FAC; % keep trying end; % with a smaller learning rate end; % end if weights in bounds end; % end while step < maxsteps (ICA Training) %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% end %% Compute ICA Weights if biasflag && ~extended while step < maxsteps, %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% timeperm=randperm(datalength); % shuffle data order at each step for t=1:block:lastt, %%%%%%%%% ICA Training Block %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% if strcmpi(interrupt, 'on') drawnow; flag = getappdata(fig, 'run'); if ~flag, if ~isempty(fid), fclose(fid); end close; error('USER ABORT'); end end u=weights*double(data(:,timeperm(t:t+block-1))) + bias*onesrow; y=1./(1+exp(-u)); weights = weights + lrate*(BI+(1-2*y)*u')*weights; bias = bias + lrate*sum((1-2*y)')'; % for logistic nonlin. % if momentum > 0 %%%%%%%%% Add momentum %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% weights = weights + momentum*prevwtchange; prevwtchange = weights-prevweights; prevweights = weights; end %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% if max(max(abs(weights))) > MAX_WEIGHT wts_blowup = 1; change = nochange; end blockno = blockno + 1; if wts_blowup break end end % for t=1:block:lastt %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% if ~wts_blowup oldwtchange = weights-oldweights; step=step+1; % %%%%%%% Compute and print weight and update angle changes %%%%%%%%% % lrates(1,step) = lrate; angledelta=0.; delta=reshape(oldwtchange,1,chans*ncomps); change=delta*delta'; end % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Restart if weights blow up %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if wts_blowup || isnan(change)|isinf(change), % if weights blow up, icaprintf(verb,fid,''); step = 0; % start again change = nochange; wts_blowup = 0; % re-initialize variables blockno = 1; lrate = lrate*DEFAULT_RESTART_FAC; % with lower learning rate weights = startweights; % and original weight matrix oldweights = startweights; change = nochange; oldwtchange = zeros(chans,ncomps); delta=zeros(1,chans*ncomps); olddelta = delta; extblocks = urextblocks; prevweights = startweights; prevwtchange = zeros(chans,ncomps); lrates = zeros(1,maxsteps); bias = zeros(ncomps,1); if lrate> MIN_LRATE r = rank(data); % determine if data rank is too low if r<ncomps icaprintf(verb,fid,'Data has rank %d. Cannot compute %d components.\n',r,ncomps); return else icaprintf(verb,fid,'Lowering learning rate to %g and starting again.\n',lrate); end else icaprintf(verb,fid,'runica(): QUITTING - weight matrix may not be invertible!\n'); return; end else % if weights in bounds % %%%%%%%%%%%%% Print weight update information %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if step> 2 angledelta=acos((delta*olddelta')/sqrt(change*oldchange)); end places = -floor(log10(nochange)); icaprintf(verb,fid,'step %d - lrate %5f, wchange %8.8f, angledelta %4.1f deg\n', ... step, lrate, change, degconst*angledelta); % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Save current values %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % changes = [changes change]; oldweights = weights; % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Anneal learning rate %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if degconst*angledelta > annealdeg, lrate = lrate*annealstep; % anneal learning rate olddelta = delta; % accumulate angledelta until oldchange = change; % annealdeg is reached elseif step == 1 % on first step only olddelta = delta; % initialize oldchange = change; end % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Apply stopping rule %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if step >2 && change < nochange, % apply stopping rule laststep=step; step=maxsteps; % stop when weights stabilize elseif change > DEFAULT_BLOWUP, % if weights blow up, lrate=lrate*DEFAULT_BLOWUP_FAC; % keep trying end; % with a smaller learning rate end; % end if weights in bounds end; % end while step < maxsteps (ICA Training) %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% end %% Compute ICA Weights if ~biasflag && extended while step < maxsteps, %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% timeperm=randperm(datalength); % shuffle data order at each step through data for t=1:block:lastt, %%%%%%%%% ICA Training Block %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% if strcmpi(interrupt, 'on') drawnow; flag = getappdata(fig, 'run'); if ~flag, if ~isempty(fid), fclose(fid); end close; error('USER ABORT'); end end u=weights*double(data(:,timeperm(t:t+block-1))); % promote block to dbl y=tanh(u); % weights = weights + lrate*(BI-signs*y*u'-u*u')*weights; if momentum > 0 %%%%%%%%% Add momentum %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% weights = weights + momentum*prevwtchange; prevwtchange = weights-prevweights; prevweights = weights; end %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% if max(max(abs(weights))) > MAX_WEIGHT wts_blowup = 1; change = nochange; end if ~wts_blowup % %%%%%%%%%%% Extended-ICA kurtosis estimation %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %while step < maxsteps if extblocks > 0 && rem(blockno,extblocks) == 0, % recompute signs vector using kurtosis if kurtsize < frames % 12-22-99 rand() size suggestion by M. Spratling rp = fix(rand(1,kurtsize)*datalength); % pick random subset % Accout for the possibility of a 0 generation by rand ou = find(rp == 0); while ~isempty(ou) % 1-11-00 suggestion by J. Foucher rp(ou) = fix(rand(1,length(ou))*datalength); ou = find(rp == 0); end partact=weights*double(data(:,rp(1:kurtsize))); else % for small data sets, partact=weights*double(data); % use whole data end m2=mean(partact'.^2).^2; m4= mean(partact'.^4); kk= (m4./m2)-3.0; % kurtosis estimates if extmomentum kk = extmomentum*old_kk + (1.0-extmomentum)*kk; % use momentum old_kk = kk; end signs=diag(sign(kk+signsbias)); % pick component signs if signs == oldsigns, signcount = signcount+1; else signcount = 0; end oldsigns = signs; signcounts = [signcounts signcount]; if signcount >= SIGNCOUNT_THRESHOLD, extblocks = fix(extblocks * SIGNCOUNT_STEP);% make kurt() estimation signcount = 0; % less frequent if sign end % is not changing end % extblocks > 0 & . . . end % if ~wts_blowup %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% blockno = blockno + 1; if wts_blowup break end end % for t=1:block:lastt %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% if ~wts_blowup oldwtchange = weights-oldweights; step=step+1; % %%%%%%% Compute and print weight and update angle changes %%%%%%%%% % lrates(1,step) = lrate; angledelta=0.; delta=reshape(oldwtchange,1,chans*ncomps); change=delta*delta'; end % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Restart if weights blow up %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if wts_blowup || isnan(change)|isinf(change), % if weights blow up, icaprintf(verb,fid,''); step = 0; % start again change = nochange; wts_blowup = 0; % re-initialize variables blockno = 1; lrate = lrate*DEFAULT_RESTART_FAC; % with lower learning rate weights = startweights; % and original weight matrix oldweights = startweights; change = nochange; oldwtchange = zeros(chans,ncomps); delta=zeros(1,chans*ncomps); olddelta = delta; extblocks = urextblocks; prevweights = startweights; prevwtchange = zeros(chans,ncomps); lrates = zeros(1,maxsteps); bias = zeros(ncomps,1); signs = ones(1,ncomps); % initialize signs to nsub -1, rest +1 for k=1:nsub signs(k) = -1; end signs = diag(signs); % make a diagonal matrix oldsigns = zeros(size(signs)); if lrate> MIN_LRATE r = rank(data); % find whether data rank is too low if r<ncomps icaprintf(verb,fid,'Data has rank %d. Cannot compute %d components.\n',... r,ncomps); return else icaprintf(verb,fid,... 'Lowering learning rate to %g and starting again.\n',lrate); end else icaprintf(verb,fid, ... 'runica(): QUITTING - weight matrix may not be invertible!\n'); return; end else % if weights in bounds % %%%%%%%%%%%%% Print weight update information %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if step> 2 angledelta=acos((delta*olddelta')/sqrt(change*oldchange)); end places = -floor(log10(nochange)); icaprintf(verb,fid,'step %d - lrate %5f, wchange %8.8f, angledelta %4.1f deg\n', ... step, lrate, change, degconst*angledelta); % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Save current values %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % changes = [changes change]; oldweights = weights; % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Anneal learning rate %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if degconst*angledelta > annealdeg, lrate = lrate*annealstep; % anneal learning rate olddelta = delta; % accumulate angledelta until oldchange = change; % annealdeg is reached elseif step == 1 % on first step only olddelta = delta; % initialize oldchange = change; end % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Apply stopping rule %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if step >2 && change < nochange, % apply stopping rule laststep=step; step=maxsteps; % stop when weights stabilize elseif change > DEFAULT_BLOWUP, % if weights blow up, lrate=lrate*DEFAULT_BLOWUP_FAC; % keep trying end; % with a smaller learning rate end; % end if weights in bounds end; % end while step < maxsteps (ICA Training) %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% end %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% Compute ICA Weights if ~biasflag && ~extended while step < maxsteps, %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% timeperm=randperm(datalength); % shuffle data order at each step for t=1:block:lastt, %%%%%%%%% ICA Training Block %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% if strcmpi(interrupt, 'on') drawnow; flag = getappdata(fig, 'run'); if ~flag, if ~isempty(fid), fclose(fid); end close; error('USER ABORT'); end end u=weights*double(data(:,timeperm(t:t+block-1))); y=1./(1+exp(-u)); % weights = weights + lrate*(BI+(1-2*y)*u')*weights; if momentum > 0 %%%%%%%%% Add momentum %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% weights = weights + momentum*prevwtchange; prevwtchange = weights-prevweights; prevweights = weights; end %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% if max(max(abs(weights))) > MAX_WEIGHT wts_blowup = 1; change = nochange; end blockno = blockno + 1; if wts_blowup break end end % for t=1:block:lastt %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% if ~wts_blowup oldwtchange = weights-oldweights; step=step+1; % %%%%%%% Compute and print weight and update angle changes %%%%%%%%% % lrates(1,step) = lrate; angledelta=0.; delta=reshape(oldwtchange,1,chans*ncomps); change=delta*delta'; end % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Restart if weights blow up %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if wts_blowup || isnan(change)|isinf(change), % if weights blow up, icaprintf(verb,fid,''); step = 0; % start again change = nochange; wts_blowup = 0; % re-initialize variables blockno = 1; lrate = lrate*DEFAULT_RESTART_FAC; % with lower learning rate weights = startweights; % and original weight matrix oldweights = startweights; change = nochange; oldwtchange = zeros(chans,ncomps); delta=zeros(1,chans*ncomps); olddelta = delta; extblocks = urextblocks; prevweights = startweights; prevwtchange = zeros(chans,ncomps); lrates = zeros(1,maxsteps); bias = zeros(ncomps,1); if lrate> MIN_LRATE r = rank(data); % find whether data rank is too low if r<ncomps icaprintf(verb,fid,'Data has rank %d. Cannot compute %d components.\n',... r,ncomps); return else icaprintf(verb,fid,... 'Lowering learning rate to %g and starting again.\n',lrate); end else icaprintf(verb,fid, ... 'runica(): QUITTING - weight matrix may not be invertible!\n'); return; end else % if weights in bounds % %%%%%%%%%%%%% Print weight update information %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if step> 2 angledelta=acos((delta*olddelta')/sqrt(change*oldchange)); end places = -floor(log10(nochange)); icaprintf(verb,fid,'step %d - lrate %5f, wchange %8.8f, angledelta %4.1f deg\n', ... step, lrate, change, degconst*angledelta); % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Save current values %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % changes = [changes change]; oldweights = weights; % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Anneal learning rate %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if degconst*angledelta > annealdeg, lrate = lrate*annealstep; % anneal learning rate olddelta = delta; % accumulate angledelta until oldchange = change; % annealdeg is reached elseif step == 1 % on first step only olddelta = delta; % initialize oldchange = change; end % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Apply stopping rule %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if step >2 && change < nochange, % apply stopping rule laststep=step; step=maxsteps; % stop when weights stabilize elseif change > DEFAULT_BLOWUP, % if weights blow up, lrate=lrate*DEFAULT_BLOWUP_FAC; % keep trying end; % with a smaller learning rate end; % end if weights in bounds end; % end while step < maxsteps (ICA Training) %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% end %% Finalize Computed Data for Output if strcmpi(interrupt, 'on') close(fig); end if ~laststep laststep = step; end lrates = lrates(1,1:laststep); % truncate lrate history vector % %%%%%%%%%%%%%% Orient components towards max positive activation %%%%%% % if nargout > 6 || strcmp(posactflag,'on') % make activations from sphered and pca'd data; -sm 7/05 % add back the row means removed from data before sphering if strcmp(pcaflag,'off') sr = sphere * rowmeans'; for r = 1:ncomps data(r,:) = data(r,:)+sr(r); % add back row means end data = weights*data; % OK in single else ser = sphere*eigenvectors(:,1:ncomps)'*rowmeans'; for r = 1:ncomps data(r,:) = data(r,:)+ser(r); % add back row means end data = weights*data; % OK in single end end % % NOTE: Now 'data' are the component activations = weights*sphere*raw_data % % %%%%%%%%%%%%%% If pcaflag, compose PCA and ICA matrices %%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if strcmp(pcaflag,'on') icaprintf(verb,fid,'Composing the eigenvector, weights, and sphere matrices\n'); icaprintf(verb,fid,' into a single rectangular weights matrix; sphere=eye(%d)\n'... ,chans); weights= weights*sphere*eigenvectors(:,1:ncomps)'; sphere = eye(urchans); end % %%%%%% Sort components in descending order of max projected variance %%%% % icaprintf(verb,fid,'Sorting components in descending order of mean projected variance ...\n'); % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Find mean variances %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % meanvar = zeros(ncomps,1); % size of the projections if ncomps == urchans % if weights are square . . . winv = inv(weights*sphere); else icaprintf(verb,fid,'Using pseudo-inverse of weight matrix to rank order component projections.\n'); winv = pinv(weights*sphere); end % % compute variances without backprojecting to save time and memory -sm 7/05 % meanvar = sum(winv.^2).*sum((data').^2)/((chans*frames)-1); % from Rey Ramirez 8/07 % %%%%%%%%%%%%%% Sort components by mean variance %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % [sortvar, windex] = sort(meanvar); windex = windex(ncomps:-1:1); % order large to small meanvar = meanvar(windex); % %%%%%%%%%%%% re-orient max(abs(activations)) to >=0 ('posact') %%%%%%%% % if strcmp(posactflag,'on') % default is now off to save processing and memory icaprintf(verb,fid,'Making the max(abs(activations)) positive ...\n'); [tmp ix] = max(abs(data')); % = max abs activations signsflipped = 0; for r=1:ncomps if sign(data(r,ix(r))) < 0 if nargout>6 % if activations are to be returned (only) data(r,:) = -1*data(r,:); % flip activations so max(abs()) is >= 0 end winv(:,r) = -1*winv(:,r); % flip component maps signsflipped = 1; end end if signsflipped == 1 weights = pinv(winv)*inv(sphere); % re-invert the component maps end % [data,winvout,weights] = posact(data,weights); % overwrite data with activations % changes signs of activations (now = data) and weights % to make activations (data) net rms-positive % can call this outside of runica() - though it is inefficient! end % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Filter data using final weights %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % if nargout>6, % if activations are to be returned icaprintf(verb,fid,'Permuting the activation wave forms ...\n'); data = data(windex,:); % data is now activations -sm 7/05 else clear data end weights = weights(windex,:);% reorder the weight matrix bias = bias(windex); % reorder them signs = diag(signs); % vectorize the signs matrix signs = signs(windex); % reorder them if ~isempty(fid), fclose(fid); end; % close logfile % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% end %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % return % printing functions % ------------------ function icaprintf(verb,fid, varargin); if verb if ~isempty(fid) fprintf(fid, varargin{:}); end; fprintf(varargin{:}); end

Officers responded to a family fight involving three women and two men at a residence on Crestview Drive at approximately 8 p.m. Nov. 23, according to a probable cause statement filed by the Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department in support of the arrest. Six children were also present in the home at the time. The argument and subsequent physical altercation triggered a female pitbull to begin attacking and biting individuals in the home, including a 38-year-old man, a 31-year-old woman and two children, ages 13 and 3, the report states. The pitbull had been caring for a new litter of puppies in a metal dog crate inside the home when she became agitated, broke out of the crate and began the attack, resulting in the four individuals being transported by ambulance to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George to be treated for their injuries. Two additional family members rode along in the ambulances but were not injured, Santa Clara-Ivins Police Public Information Officer Randy Hancey said Friday, clarifying earlier statements that six injured were transported. Animal control officers removed an adult male pitbull, the female pitbull and her litter of pups from the home, Hancey said, adding that he did not know if the male pitbull was involved in the attack. He said the pitbulls would be quarantined for a period of time as a matter of standard protocol. Management personnel at the Ivins Animal Shelter declined both comment and access to the dogs, referring St. George News to the Police Department. A 31-year-old woman involved in the fight has not been named in this report as she has not been arrested or charged as this report publishes. The 31-year-old woman and Navarro had previously lived at the Crestview Drive residence with Lopez, Montez and Campos, who currently live in the home. They had allegedly all been consuming large amounts of alcohol before the 31-year-old woman got into a fight with Montez and Campos, the arresting officer wrote in the sworn statement, but the statement did not specify what the dispute was about. When officers first arrived on scene, they saw Montez and the 31-year-old woman in the living room of the residence punching each other with closed fists, the report states. At some point, prior to officers arriving on scene, Lopez got involved in the fight, punched Navarro in the face and threatened Navarro’s life by stating he “was going to kill him,” according to the statement. “I also found Isaac to admit to not remembering much of the incident due to heavy alcohol consumption,” the officer wrote, adding that Montez and Lopez also said all six children were present during the altercation. “While at the residence, officers detected the smell of marijuana,” the report states. “During questioning, (Lopez) admitted the marijuana to be his and gave officers custody of the marijuana in a silver thermos.” On Wednesday, once officers had a chance to conduct interviews with everyone involved, Lopez, Navarro, Campos and Montez were arrested and booked into the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility. The Washington County Attorney’s Office filed an Information in 5th District Court accusing Lopez of three class A misdemeanor counts of drug possession, threat of violence and assault, along with six additional class A misdemeanor counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, class B misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and class C misdemeanor intoxication. Lopez has since been released from custody on $16,790 bail pending trial. His arraignment is scheduled for Dec. 1 before Judge G. Michael Westfall. According to court documents, since 2013, Lopez has been arrested in Utah on a variety of charges including disorderly conduct, criminal mischief for intentionally destroying property, drug-related charges and domestic violence in the presence of a child. The county attorney’s office has charged Navarro with class A misdemeanor assault, six class A misdemeanor counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, and class C misdemeanor intoxication. Navarro was also found to have three active warrants for his arrest issued by the Washington County 5th District Court relating to driving without a valid driver’s license. Campos has been charged with class B misdemeanor assault and six class B misdemeanor counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child. Campos appeared in Santa Clara Justice Court before Judge Ken Armstrong Thursday afternoon and pleaded not guilty to the charges. A pretrial conference for her case is scheduled for Jan. 26, 2018. While booking information shows Montez was arrested on eight class B misdemeanor counts for interfering with arrest, negligent child abuse and domestic violence in the presence of a child, court records do not indicate charges had officially been filed as this report is published. In a preliminary interview with Linda Montez she told St. George News she will defend the charges against her as her involvement was breaking up a fight between other people in her own home. Montez also said that the two dogs, Shadow and Nala, have no previous incidents of aggression. This is a developing story. This report is based on preliminary information provided by law enforcement or other emergency responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Free News Delivery by Email Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start! About the Author Kimberly Scott is a lifetime resident of Southern Utah. In 2013, Kimberly joined St. George News as a vital member of its editing, reporting and administrative team. She is passionate about engaging communities through writing and is dedicated to providing complete and accurate coverage of both anticipated and breaking news. Just for anyone info we are not from south of the border ok I’m a US citizen just like all you folks that like to run your mouths! So the story is lies that’s is not what happens at all ok I can say what happens but I’ll let my lawyer talk so for any ones comments Linda Montez, Isaac Lopez and Griselda Campos we are innocent and we all have lawyers and are gonna prove our innocence so stfu and mind your buisness

Q: Best way to duplicate Linux server My company has an old CentOS 5 system that we need to duplicate for testing. I'm running dd on 2 of the partitions which are small and saving them to /home, but the /home partition can't save to itself or another partition as there isn't enough room. /home is only about 7% full so copying all of its files to a tarball should be easy enough, but I'm wondering if there's a better way to do this. I can't bring the machine offline and I can't hook up a USB drive externally and copy to files that way so I have to either use SCP, dd or tar most likely. Any suggestions? Here's a quick breakdown of df -h Filesystem Size Used Left usage% Mount point /dev/sda2 97G 17G 75G 19% / /dev/sda1 99M 15M 80M 16% /boot tmpfs 2.0G 0 2.0G 0% /dev/shm /dev/sda3 352G 22G 312G 7% /home A: There are definitely "better" ways to do this, but how you go about doing this comes down to what resources you have available. I'll list a few different ways and you can decide which works best for you. To begin, copying data in /home to a tarball is pointless. You can't save it locally, which means that to do this, it will require a remote server that you can send the data to. Preferably, a server on the same network as this computer that is accessible via SSH. Frankly, making tarballs of the other partitions and putting them in /home is a waste of time. If you're looking to duplicate this server, what I would do is use dd to make an image of /dev/sda and send the data over SSH to another server. The two best ways of doing this are to either image another hard drive at the same time or save the image as a file. dd if=/dev/sda bs=4096 conv=notrunc,noerror,sync | ssh user@machine "dd of=/dev/sdX" This will clone the entire drive, including MBR (and therefore bootloader), all partitions, UUIDs, and data, sending it over SSH to another machine and imaging a drive of your choosing. The options I suggested do the following: notrunc or 'do not truncate' maintains data integrity by instructing dd not to truncate any data. noerror instructs dd to continue operation, ignoring all read errors. Default behavior for dd is to halt at any error. sync writes zeroes for read errors, so data offsets stay in sync. bs=4096 sets the block size to 4k, an optimal size for hard disk read/write efficiency and therefore, cloning speed. For this to work, the user you use log in with SSH as needs to either be root, or part of the disk group. /dev/sdaX should be mode 660, giving group read/write access. The default group owner should be disk. Alternatively, you can create an image that you can use to write directly to the disk. dd if=/dev/sda bs=4096 conv=notrunc,noerror,sync | ssh user@machine "dd of=/path/to/wherever/server.img" To write the image to a hard drive from the computer it is saved on, you can use the following command. dd if=/path/to/server.img bs=4096 conv=notrunc,noerror,sync of=/dev/sdX Lastly, if space is a concern, you can gzip the image before sending it over SSH. dd if=/dev/hda conv=sync,noerror bs=4096 | gzip -c | ssh user@machine "of=/path/to/wherever/server.img.gz" and writing it by gunzip -c /path/to/server.img.gz | dd of=/dev/sdX Lastly, if you want to pull individual files from the image without writing it to another drive, you can mount it. However, this won't work if it's compressed. You'll have to fdisk -lu /path/to/server.img to get the offset of the individual partitions. Once you do that, you need the starting sector of the partition you want to mount. For the sake of argument, let us say that the partition we want to access starts on sector 122441728. $ fdisk -lu server.img Disk server.img: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x86308630 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 63 114441469 57220703+ 83 Linux /dev/sda2 114442240 122441727 3999744 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/sda3 122441728 625141759 251350016 83 Linux You would then use mount -o ro,loop,offset=$((122441728 * 512)) server.img /mnt to mount the third partition to /mnt. Sources: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Disk_Cloning#Create_disk_image http://madduck.net/blog/2006.10.20:loop-mounting-partitions-from-a-disk-image/

[Elimination of succinate and acetate synthesis in recombinant Escherichia coli for D-lactate production]. When Escherichia coli CICIM B0013-030 (B0013, ack-pta, pps, pflB) was used for D-lactate production, succinate and acetate were the main byproducts (as much as 11.9 and 7.1% the amount of lactate respectively). In order to decrease the byproduct levels, we inactivated succinate and acetate synthesis in B0013-030. Two recombinant plasmids containing mutation cassettes of frdA::difGm and tdcDE::difGm respectively were constructed first. The mutation cassettes were used to delete the target genes on the chromosomal by Red recombination. Subsequently, the antibiotic resistance gene was excised from the chromosomal by Xer recombination. Thereby, mutants B0013-040B (B0013-030, frdA) and B0013-050B (B0013-040B, tdcDE) were produced. D-lactate producing abilities of the engineered strains were tested both in shake flasks and in bioreactors using two-phase fermentation (aerobic growth and anaerobic fermentation) with glucose as the sole carbon source. When fermentation was carried out in shake flasks, inactivation of frdA in B0013-030 to produce B0013-040B reduced succinate accumulation by 80.8%. When tested in a 7-liter bioreactor, B0013-040B accumulated 114.5 g/L D-lactate of over 99.9% optical purity. However, 1.0 g/L succinate and 5.4 g/L acetate still remained in the broth. Further inactivation of tdcD and tdcE genes in B0013-040B to produce B0013-050B decreased acetate and succinate accumulation to 0.4 g/L and 0.4 g/L respectively, and lactate titer was as much as 111.9 g/L (tested in the 7-liter bioreactor). In lightof the lower byproduct levels and high lactate production, strain B00 13-050B may prove useful for D-lactate production.

Here’s a case study in why the awakened man should never put himself into the compromised position of being married these days. This case is still winding its way through the vagina-worshiping court system, but it sounds a number of alarm bells to the man who would glean knowledge from its details. The press is having a field day with the Emmanuel Sanders divorce. We will look at it from a Red Pill perspective, yet another cautionary tale of what putting your scrotum into a legal vice grip yields when your bitch gets ready to flush you down the toilet. Here goes. (This is all just one man’s opinion, of course.) Their second baby hadn’t even been born yet, and already Denver Broncos Wide Receiver Emmanuel Sanders’ wife Gabriella was positioning herself for the kill. She was ready to cash in on his ass as her divorce lawyers had already begun writing up boilerplate legal screeds for the gynocentric, Anglo-American kangaroo courts. Gabriella served Sanders with divorce papers even before she squeezed out her annuity… er… child in the delivery room. In case you haven’t noticed, children are nothing more than meal tickets to women in modern day Anglo-America. Fathers and fathers’ rights be damned. If women think they can’t cash in on their children, they simply go kill them at the abortion clinic. But, being married to an NFL player obviously ensures a nice, consistent stream of child support cash enforced by legal indentured servitude. (Pay up or go to jail.) We are living smack dab in the middle of one of the most insane socioeconomic systems in the history of mankind. How much does she want? As reported by Meninist: Gabriella is looking to score big as she is asking the courts for custody of their two children, a restraining order against Sanders, and she wants a “disproportionate” share of their assets. Ironically, Sanders is scheduled to make $13.2 million (includes $10 Million dollar signing bonus) this year from his 3 year $33 million dollar contract. Disproportionate share, eh? Tell me again how women are not prostitutes and marriage is not legalized prostitution. Witness, once again White Knights and fembots, The Predatory Female in action. Gabriella timed the divorce perfectly. She filed for divorce right before she pushed out her 18-year annuity that Sanders fathered. But she doesn’t just want a fat child support check. Oh, no. She wants a fat slice of the bonus he no doubt busts his ass to earn. Sanders even reportedly said he was “blindsided” by the divorce. Ha. Yep, women will do that. They always hide their true feelings and emotions from men until they go for the jugular. This should come as absolutely no surprise to a regular reader of TNMM. Cynical as the truth may be, the truth is the truth. Women are financial predators of men, and in a society that has gone completely insane and let them frivorce rape with impunity, they’re cleaning out any men stupid enough to marry them. Laughably, she is citing his side chicks as a reason she should be able to cash in. (I want money for the sex I gave you rule applies again!) From celebrity gossip rag TMZ: The estranged wife of Denver Broncos WR Emmanuel Sanders has declared WAR on the NFL star — claiming he lied, cheated and spent THOUSANDS on chicks he was banging on the side. Umm…THOUSANDS to an NFL player is like dropping a $50 to the average working slob. It seems Sanders was another fool who soon parted with his money to pay for these girls rather than a PUA. A player on the field, and another Beta with more money than common sense when it comes to women. TMZ rages on: It’s all in ANGRY court docs filed by Gabriella Sanders — who blasts the father of her 2 children with a metaphorical bazooka right from the get go. “When he’s not playing football on the field, he ‘plays the field’ with numerous women whom he is or has committed adultery.” Big shocker. Knowing an NFL player will more often than not have multiple harems because women will lay down for rich and powerful men on command, nay throw themselves in front of his cock, she sets herself up as…you guessed it…the victim while she lends him enough rope to hang himself. Gabby lays out multiple marital “atrocities” allegedly committed by her husband – and claims he spent “thousands upon thousands of dollars on girlfriends and wasting the community estate, even purchasing a vehicle for one of his illicit affairs.” There is no doubt a personal investigator was used to follow Sanders around in order to gather information on him while she planned her frivorce rape lotto victory. Incidents like these remind me of the Incident at the Bank I have written about numerous times, in which two Anglobitches compared notes about how much money their vaginas had rewarded them in divorce court as they cashed out at a Latin American teller. My opinion of women was already pretty low at that point. But I was forced to downgrade my opinion after witnessing that cackling display. The long and short of it is only a fool marries an Anglobitch or a woman who has adapted to Anglo culture in today’s legal and social climate. That humble advice could have saved Sanders millions. Any other rich guys who I talk out of getting married, feel free to send me a nice contribution. I’ll take a fraction of what these hos will want out of you for my consulting fee. The story of the Scorpion and the Frog applies: Men should not be asking why they were frivorce raped by a creature whose entire nature is built on dissimulation and acting. What they should be asking is why they were stupid enough to fall for the ruse. Taking advantage of men for material and economic gain is in women’s nature. And America was insane to let these instincts return, unchecked. It’s all just a downward spiral from here. We’ll be on the sidelines keeping you advised of some of the more egregious frivorce rape lotto cases. These happen every day, it’s not like they’re uncommon. Ergo, women always want money for sex. All the pleasantries around the exchange and myths of “love” and “marriage” and “commitment” are just sophistry and dissimulation. Find a divorce case in which women don’t want monetary remuneration for services performed, even in the YouGoGrrl age, and you will have found the proverbial needle in the haystack. Help us grow by making a purchase from our Recommended Reading and Viewing page or our Politically Incorrect Apparel and Merchandise page or buy anything from Amazon using this link. You can also Sponsor The New Modern Man for as little as $1 a month. This article is the opinion of its author.

Editorial: The world is watching for quality In its long battle for international recognition, Taiwan has no greater asset than its hard-won democracy. More than anything, its democratic achievement is what distinguishes it from the authoritarian system in China. It is therefore crucial that this democracy be seen by the international community to be a functioning one worth protecting. With crackdowns on human-rights advocates, curtailed freedom of the press and threats of illegal use of force against another nation, Beijing continues to provide ample contrasts with Taiwan, and those differences are part of the means by which the latter can express its identity. But the determination of one's identity through differentiation can only accomplish so much. A nation cannot define who and what it is solely by focusing on what it is not. In fact, to find its true self, it must also make a statement about what it is. And what it is is much more than what differentiates it from China -- a democratic system versus an authoritarian regime -- and comes instead from how it has developed the gift of democracy. As such, next year's elections must be about more than the fact that elections can be held in the first place. Beyond process alone, it is the substance and quality of the elections that constitute the true health check of the nation and that provide it with the opportunity to underscore its value to the world. Hence the need for voters next year to be offered choices among contending politicians who have been cleared, through impartial investigations, of wrongdoing or corruption. Nothing could be more harmful to Taiwan's survival and ambitions for sovereignty than for the world to see that its people value their democracy so lightly as to bring a crook to power. Should the world come to the conclusion that Taiwanese opted to elect an individual who has openly lied about his powers while in office, it will no longer feel the obligation to protect that society from anti-democratic encroachment. After all, we cannot expect the rest of the world to care about Taiwan's democracy if its very people are incapable of seeing to it that it remains healthy and truly representative. Just as Taiwan's military allies need to see that it is willing to do what it must and acquire what it needs to defend its territory from military aggression, its diplomatic allies -- and in fact even those who side with Beijing -- need to see that Taiwanese are ready to do what they must to protect their precious democracy. Commitment to that principle -- the process itself as well as the quality of the choices given a people -- is just as important as commitment to national defense. Canada recently showed what it means to protect the quality of a democratic system by pushing for the investigation of high-level government corruption. The process ultimately led to the demise of prime minister Paul Martin's Liberal government. Regardless of whether the new Conservative government was the best thing for Canada, the country was mature enough to rid itself of elements whose presence was harmful to its democracy. Taiwan should follow that example and ensure that allegations of corruption involving the upper echelons of government are fully explored. The prosecutors' decision to appeal the ruling on former Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in the special funds scandal is a step in that direction.

Wes Jarvis Wesley Herbert Jarvis (born May 30, 1958 in Toronto, Ontario) is a former Canadian ice hockey player, and is a cousin of former NHLer Doug Jarvis. Hockey career As a youth, Jarvis played in the 1971 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Toronto. Selected by the Washington Capitals in the 1978 NHL Entry Draft, Jarvis also played for the Minnesota North Stars, Los Angeles Kings, and Toronto Maple Leafs. Jarvis was the winner of the 1978–79 Gary F. Longman Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the player voted to be most outstanding in his first season in the International Hockey League by the league coaches. During the 1982–83 season, Jarvis won the Phil Esposito Trophy, which is awarded to the leading scorer of the Central Hockey League for the regular season. His last season of professional hockey was in 1989–90 with the Newmarket Saints. Jarvis was the head coach of the Newmarket Hurricanes of the OPJHL and was an assistant coach with the Barrie Colts for three seasons. Personal life Now living in Ontario with his wife (Darlene) and four daughters (Darcie, Corie, Terrie and Leslie), Wes and former NHL teammate Mike Gartner own and run National Training Rinks, a hockey training and instruction facility. He is the uncle of Alex Foster. He is cousin with Doug Jarvis. References External links Profile at hockeydraftcentral.com Category:1958 births Category:Canadian ice hockey centres Category:Hershey Bears players Category:Living people Category:Los Angeles Kings players Category:Minnesota North Stars players Category:Sportspeople from Toronto Category:Sudbury Wolves players Category:Toronto Maple Leafs players Category:Washington Capitals draft picks Category:Washington Capitals players Category:Windsor Spitfires players

Furniture Wheels To make the furniture more and more beautiful, stylish and decorative, the furniture wheels are made with equal and similar color combinations. The furniture wheels are specific part of the furniture casters, which are made with furniture wheels, fitted in them. The frames of the these furniture casters are made with the comparatively strong, hard, and tough material, such as, the blue or black steel, aluminum or the hard plastic. But, sometimes, the furniture wheels are made with the different type of the material, such as, PVC plastic, the fiber glass, the synthetic or natural rubber and sometimes with bras. The different material to make the wheels makes the furniture casters more and more attractive to see. The PVC, fiberglass, synthetic or natural rubber made furniture wheels UK made in different colors to add beauty to the wheel casters and the furniture as well. The bras wheel casters and the furniture wheels are used in the high quality and luxury furniture as they may be polished again and again to give sparkling shine. Various types and kinds of the furniture wheels UK are in use for the different types of the furniture. For the heavy duty furniture wheels, the heavy duty wheel casters are used. The heavy duty furniture wheels for the heavy duty casters are also made with the material of similar quality and durability. Normally, the heavy duty furniture wheels are made for the racks and cupboards for the industrial and commercial usage. They are made with very strong and hard blue or black steel or aluminum in order to sustain the weight of even tones. The heavy duty furniture wheels for the industrial or commercial usage are made with steel or other hard metal as well. They are protected from the environmental rusting or the moisture with the coating of galvanization or any other type of electroplating treatment.

Staxel Reporter – Issue #30 Hey everybody, in this issue of the Staxel Reporter we’ll be talking about biomes and take a look at the new pets. Enjoy! Biomes Many of you will be excited to hear that we’ve recently begun work on adding different biomes to the Staxel world! Let’s take a look at what’s in the works. The forest biome is the first biome we started working on, and as we only recently started working on biomes it’s currently the only one that’s screenshot ready. Right now it doesn’t offer anything other than a pretty zone on your island, but we aim to give different biomes real purpose so in the future you might find cool stuff in there that you won’t find anywhere else! The next one in the works is likely going to be more of a wide open space, something along the lines of a meadow or a savannah. We’re very excited for the new biomes as it will be a great way to break up the island. Now, we need to do something about the ocean of flowers… We’ll definitely be posting pics when the next biome is ready so make sure you keep an eye on any of the following: New Pets The variety of pet breeds in Staxel has just grown! Before, at the end of the tutorial you could only recieve one type of breed for both cats and dogs. Now, however, you’re rewarded with a pet of a random breed! But who cares about what I’m saying? Let’s look at some cute pet pictures! D’awww, just look at these adorable dogs! The new breeds are bloodhounds, dalmation, and border collies. There may be more breeds in the future but these should do for now at least! Now let’s put the dogs safely away and bring out the cats. You have no idea how hard it was to get them to line up for this picture… does anyone have any antiseptic? Anyway, here they are! We’re hoping these extra breeds should help your pet feel a bit more unique to you. That about sums it up for the new pets. We’ll certainly be adding new pets in the future other than cats and dogs, so there’s more to look forward to in the pet department! That’s it for this issue of the Staxel Reporter. You can grab ‘Staxel – Sprout Edition’ at www.playstaxel.com/store. Thanks for reading! –EGadd

Q: calculus continuity function of unknown I am watching a video on Introduction of Continuity, and I am confused by this statement made by the professor: "when $x$ is lesser than $1$, it wants to be $ax - 4$, but I want, when $x$ is $1$, it to be $a\cdot 1 - 4 = 3$, which is equal to $a - 4 = 3$, which implies $a$ is $7$." Since $x$ is $1$, is satisfies the condition $x \geq 1$, and it should evaluate to $3(1)^2$ instead of $a(1)-4=3$. Can anyone explain? A: The problem we're trying to solve is: Find all values of $a$ such that $f$ is continuous everywhere. In particular, we need $f$ to be continuous at $x = 1$. By definition, this means that: $$ \lim_{x \to 1} f(x) = f(1) = 3 \cdot 1^2 = 3 $$ For the two-sided limit to equal some number (in this case, $3$), we at least need the two-sided limit to exist. To guarantee existence, each of the one-sided limits must also exist and match each other. So in particular, we know that: $$ \lim_{x \to 1^-} f(x) = 3 $$ But if $x$ is approaching $1$ from the left, then $x < 1$, so we know which piece of $f$ to use. This means that: $$ \lim_{x \to 1^-} (ax - 4) = 3 \iff a \cdot 1 - 4 = 3 \iff a = 7 $$

Q: HMAC-SHA1 in Rust I'm trying to apply HMAC-SHA1 in order to check some content but I'm unable to make it work. These are the tests I have: #[cfg(test)] mod tests { use crypto::hmac::Hmac; use crypto::mac::Mac; use crypto::sha1::Sha1; use std::str::from_utf8; const BODY_CONTENT: &'static str = r#"bodystring"#; const KEY: &[u8] = b"secret_key"; const COMPUTED_HMAC: &'static str = "97049623b0e5d20bf6beb5313d80600e3d6abe56"; #[test] fn test_hmac_sha1() { let mut mac= Hmac::new(Sha1::new(), KEY); mac.input(BODY_CONTENT.as_bytes()); let result = mac.result(); let code = result.code(); assert_eq!(COMPUTED_HMAC.as_bytes(), code); assert_eq!(COMPUTED_HMAC, from_utf8(&code).unwrap_or("failed")); } #[test] fn test_hmac_sha1_direct() { let hash = hmacsha1::hmac_sha1(KEY, BODY_CONTENT.as_bytes()); assert_eq!(COMPUTED_HMAC.as_bytes(), hash); assert_eq!(COMPUTED_HMAC, from_utf8(&hash).unwrap_or("failed")); } } I've used this website in order to get the COMPUTED_HMAC by using one string (BODY_CONTENT) and a secret key (KEY). As you can see, I'm trying to leverage both rust-crypto and hmac-sha1 crates and I obtain the same result with both of them. The thing is that this result doesn't match with what I get in the website (97049623b0e5d20bf6beb5313d80600e3d6abe56) and the tests fail. You may think that the website is wrong but that's not the case as I'm using it to validate some other hashes generated by Github (I'm working in a Github App) and it works. Then, obviously, I'm missing some step here but I'm unable to figure it out and I would really appreciate your help. A: The correct hash is returned, it's just not in the representation you expected. The hash is returned as raw bytes, not as bytes converted to ASCII hexadecimal digits. If we print the hash code array as hex, like this: println!("{:02x?}", code); then we can see that it matches your string: [97, 04, 96, 23, b0, e5, d2, 0b, f6, be, b5, 31, 3d, 80, 60, 0e, 3d, 6a, be, 56] // 97049623b0e5d20bf6beb5313d80600e3d6abe56 whereas the string "97049623b0e5d20bf6beb5313d80600e3d6abe56" looks like this: [39, 37, 30, 34, 39, 36, 32, 33, 62, 30, 65, 35, 64, 32, 30, 62, 66, 36, 62, 65, 62, 35, 33, 31, 33, 64, 38, 30, 36, 30, 30, 65, 33, 64, 36, 61, 62, 65, 35, 36] Using itertools, we can convert the former to the latter like this: assert_eq!( COMPUTED_HMAC, code.iter().format_with("", |byte, f| f(&format_args!("{:02x}", byte))).to_string());

Bernardo Villela is like a mallrat except at the movies. He is a writer, director, editor and film enthusiast who seeks to continue to explore and learn about cinema, chronicle the journey and share his findings. Day: April 26, 2012 So here’s another retroactive list from me. I think it’s safer to assume that this one is more tinged with nostalgia than the 1994 one. In this case, I believe a majority of the films included are ones I saw during or shortly after the year for the most part. Well, in terms of the American releases. Now, in 1987 I was five and six years old, meaning I was just starting my schooling. I believe most of the films I saw were video or HBO selections. I specified American films above because there are some great foreign titles, that need no disclaimer, which I discovered later on that were released in this year. As for the disclaimer: you see what my relative age was when the films came out or when I got to see them, therefore that is your grain of salt. Again, as I did before, I will stress that the way I assemble this list is usually based on its noteworthiness in my estimation and not necessarily its impeachable quality. However, I will discuss that a bit with each film that’s included. One thing that’s interesting to note is that this post serves a function as a replacement (and possible prelude) to a series I wanted to do this year. If you take 25 years of age as the youngest a film can be to be considered a classic then the film class of 1987 would be eligible this year. It’s interesting to examine what holds up and what doesn’t after all that time. Some personal entertainment-related milestones for the year include: my favorite thing in the world was ALF (such that I had a lunch box and much more) and if memory serves I was a year away from my first theater-going experience. For I seem to recall that being Bambi and per the IMDb the only re-release I would have memory of occurred in 1988. Also, I don’t think I watched the Super Bowl for another few years but I knew that the Giants had won. Without further ado, the list, which is in no particular order: 1. Blind Date Blind Date (TriStar Films) Of the 80s movies that made Kim Basinger a star, and for a time one of my favorite actresses, I’m not sure I like this more than something like My Stepmother is an Alien, however, both that and this are so hazy in my memory I can’t honestly tell how they hold up, but I remember adoring them at the time and it’s definitely a marker for the year. 2. Amazing Grace and Chuck Amazing Grace and Chuck (TriStar Pictures) In a paper I wrote about the 1980s I discussed this film at great length. It was a truncated repost on this site that I’ll start over, however, suffice it to say I think there are few films that are as resoundingly a product of their times than this is. I discovered it much later and love it. 3. Innerspace Innerspace (Warner Bros.) I’m not sure it’s possible to chronicle a year in 1980s without including a Joe Dante film. As is the case with a lot of films on this list I haven’t seen them in a while but I think this film, for quite some time, has been overlooked and dismissed unjustly. 4. Roxanne Roxanne (Columbia Pictures) This is one of Steve Martin’s best balancing acts between his comedic and dramatic talents. His put-down monologue is fantastic and I still quote: “It must be great to wake up in the morning and smell the coffee…in Brazil” often. 5. The Lost Boys The Lost Boys (Warner Bros.) I was a late-comer to the horror genre so I didn’t discover this film until later on. And as if to underline my point, few and far between are those who dislike this film, therefore when I can defend Joel Schumacher I do. You can knock some of his films but not all, not even close. 6. The Monster Squad The Monster Squad (TriStar Pictures) The rise to cult status of The Monster Squad is truly amazing and practically unprecedented and I’m a small part of the years later surge in its popularity. I saw it many years after its release on VHS and loved it. I now have it on DVD and I get why it’s adored and also why it flew under the radar in its initial release. 7. The Curse The Curse (Trans World Entertainment) As I’ve mentioned previously, few films exemplify the alchemy of horror better than this film. It’s got a lot going against it but it still works very, very well. 8. Hellraiser Hellraiser (New World Pictures) I was first introduced to this film in a horror class I took in college. It just keeps getting better with age like a fine wine. It also stands as one of two films that have gotten me literarily smitten with its writer, in this case Clive Barker. I immediately started chasing down his books after seeing this and Candyman in the class. 9. Baby Boom Baby Boom (United Artists) Here’s another I’ll admit is cloudy but I do remember watching it quite a bit on HBO back in the day, and I believe that many of the Diane Keaton films I saw were partially a result of this film. Not to mention that as silly as it may be it is also a sign of the times. Women still had some strides that needed making in terms of equality, and this was one of the films and/or shows that was broaching that subject. Perhaps, not the best or most serious but noteworthy nonetheless. 10. Hope and Glory Hope and Glory (Columbia Pictures) This is another film I discovered later on and it is also a film that is exponentially better on the big screen. I discovered it on video. I was fortunate enough to see it introduced by John Boorman at BAM Rose Cinemas in Brooklyn. The viewing was very memorable but I’ll be eternally thankful for the response he gave my question about casting a young lead. It helped me a great deal in preparing for an upcoming production. 11. Planes, Trains & Automobiles Planes, Trains & Automobiles (Paramount) This one is a favorite for so many. As I often say John Hughes created innumerable new templates for story that were used in film and television alike. This one is no exception, while many avoid the twist in the tale the framework has been re-used several times as has The Breakfast Club, Ferris Beuller’s Day Off, Sixteen Candles and so on. 12. Au Revoir Les Enfants Au revoir les enfants (Orion Classics) I can’t say I’m a completist with his work but I love Louis Malle. In this film he tells a very personal story and you can feel that throughout the film it’s really its most remarkable quality. 13. Empire of the Sun Empire of the Sun (Warner Bros.) I saw this film many years after its release. I saw it sometime in the summer of 2001. I remember the date specifically because after multiple viewings my opinion of Artificial Intelligence: A. I. had solidified and having had a Spielberg class and hearing things like “this is his most European film” but not being able to see it I was very anxious. Being properly prepared for it in all regards it blew me away. I love it. 14. Wall Street Wall Street (20th Century Fox) This film I remember viewing in a high school economics class the first time around. Now there was a slightly more cynical, realistic approach that the teacher employed when discussing it, and he had his motives for showing it but not only was it a victory for me against an attempt pedagogical indoctrination, but I still really enjoyed the film a great deal. That is not surprising as it was during Oliver Stone’s heyday.15. Throw Momma from the Train Throw Momma From the Train (Orion) This is another one I’m far removed from seeing but the premise is outlandish and it’s made to work thanks to the casting of Momma, but then you also have Billy Crystal and Danny Devito working together, so my childish sense of humor (which for the most part remains in tact) adores it.16. Overboard Overboard (MGM/UA) Amnesia it seems was big in the 80s, at least I think it was I can’t remember (I’m so sorry). It was an oft-used theme then it seems but this was the best take. There aren’t many great tandems anymore but this one was a match made in cinematic heaven regardless of material and cheesy posters. 17. The Grand Highway The Grand Highway (Miramax) This is a film I discovered quite some time later. I think it’s likely the most overlooked of them all. This film did get a US remake, which I discuss here. I think this is a really great film that more people should see. I wrote about the remake of this film and will re-post that series here. 18. Um Trem Para As Estrelas Um Trem Para As Estrelas (FilmDallas Pictures) Another staple on these lists, when I can find one, will be a Brazilian film. This was a pivotal time in Brazil politically as the country was making the always difficult transition from a dictatorial government to a democracy. That serves as the backdrop for this coming of age tale. The film also portraits Brazil’s vibrant pop music scene of the era with many performances by popular artists included. I remember I rented this from Movies Unlimited back when they had a physical location, and while deliberate in pacing I enjoyed it a great deal.19. Mio in the Land of Faraway Mio in the Land of Faraway (Miramax) A lot of funny things and parallels come to mind when there’s mention of this film. First, this seems to be my obligatory Christopher Lee title. Second, here’s Christian Bale’s second appearance on this list, in his neophyte, pre-bad press phase. It’s also strange in that it’s an all English-speaking cast enacting a foreign fairytale, similar to the The Neverending Story with much less press in the US. This one also only was released in the US in 1988. I really do like this film for the narrative, the lead performances, and because it’s good cheese. I can’t argue there’s none here.20. Pelle the Conqueror Pelle the Conqueror (Miramax) In my retroactive BAM days I placed this film as an ’87 release even though it made its splash globally the following year, seeing as how this list is in retrospect I’ll place it here. Not only is this a great film wherein Bille August burst on to the scene but it’s yet another great performance in the career of Max von Sydow. It’s also an incredibly moving film. 21. In a Glass Cage In a Glass Cage (Cinevista) If there was ever a director to which the term no-holds-barred applied without question it’s Augusti Villaronga. There are likely synopses that give away only what is necessary to discuss the film, I’d rather spoil nothing about this film except to say this film is not for the faint of heart or the queasy. Even if you’ve seen many films, few are this dark and disturbing. It relishes in making you uncomfortable. It’s likely not a film you’d want to see more than once but perhaps what’s most effective is that it pushes your buttons regardless of what’s happening. 22. Bad Bad (Epic Records) Two things straight off the bat: If I could’ve included Madonna I would have but “Open Your Heart” as a video came out in December 1986. As for what a music video is doing on this list, I had a short film in my 94 list and I did write (not yet reposted here) after Jackson’s passing about how his videos were more cinematic than most and in the 80s they were more story-based in general. It may not be quite the production that Thriller is but there’s no bothersome disclaimer at the front and this one was directed by Martin Scorsese so it has more than enough merit to it.23. La Bamba La Bamba (Columbia Pictures) I was, as were many of my classmates, quite literally obsessed with this movie and Richie Valens for quite a long time after it came out. 24. Ernest Goes to Camp Ernest Goes to Camp (Buena Vista Pictures) Writing a blurb for a Ernest movie is simple: either you like this character of the late Jim Varney or you don’t. I always liked him even though I saw this film later on.25. The Garbage Pail Kids Movie The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (Atlantic Releasing Corporation) Here’s a film that will fall under the memorable category. I fall neither in the cult following of this movie nor the rabid hatred thereof, but I have seen it twice and do recall it was the quest of a friend of mine’s in junior high to obtain this film. It may well have been the seed for my loathing of the concept of something being out of print.26. Masters of the Universe Masters of the Universe (The Cannon Group) Another big deal for me when I was young was He-Man. More so the animated series than this film. Now, I loved it at the time but I have since revisited most, if not all of the series, and the fish out of water approach to the movie while amusing is certainly not why we kids adored the show. It was Eternia and the characters and landscape there. It certainly wasn’t as the quote at the bottom of this poster states the Star Wars of the 80s, I think that was still Star Wars. 27. Dennis the Menace Dinosaur Hunter Dennis the Menace Dinosaur Hunter (LBS Communications) There are some things I really loved as a kid that I would come very close to forgetting and then through some nearly miraculous happenstance be reminded of in a very powerful way and my affection would be rekindled. The more notable cases are musical but this film fits that bill. It was a TV project that I know I’ve seen many times but each after nearly having forgotten it existed. I liked, and still do like, Dennis the Menace as a character and I was obsessed with dinosaurs so this film is one I’d naturally gravitate to. 28. Flowers in the Attic Flowers in the Attic (New World Pictures) Here’s one that I nearly forgot about as I used the IMDb to jog my memory and somehow I hadn’t voted on this one though I viewed it when I was a rather anal-retentive voter. I saw this film later on and it’s definitely a cult favorite. You either love it or loathe it but perhaps what’s most notable for me is that after having seen it I considered reading V.C. Andrews but when I discovered the author’s name had become and overly-exploited brand name posthumously, I shied away. Perhaps, with an even better interwebs than ever before, I’ll look into her again and see what she actually wrote and what is just attributed to the name. Thus concludes my journey through 1987 what year I’ll revisit next I know not but may it be as memorable as the first two. Email Subscription Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Blue-Cats MB-7 Mixer v3.0 Blue-Cats MB-7 Mixer v3.0 Blue Cat's MB-7 Mixer is a unique plug-in that splits the signal into several frequency bands and lets you mix and process them as if they were separate tracks. Each band proposes controls that can be found on a mixing console, and more: bypass, mute or solo each band separately to isolate frequencies you want to work on, adjust the gain, the "stereoness" and the position in the stereo field. When manipulating the stereo image, a master mono switch also lets you check mono compatibility. The plug-in can also operate as a multiband VST, VST3 and Audio Unit host: you can process each band independently with your favorite VST, VST3 or Audio Unit plug-ins! Up to four plug-ins can be loaded on each band, pre or post fader. Latency compensation, presets management, undo/redo integration, and individual plug-in bypass are included for optimal operation. The plug-in also proposes unique linking and grouping options thanks to our multi-instances technology. You can link bands together within a single instance or between several instances of the plug-in on different tracks. This lets a simple fader control as many bands on as many tracks as you want. This is particularly useful when adjusting the placement or the balance of several competing tracks. And as usual with Blue Cat Audio, the plug-in provides comprehensive visual feedback to let you know what's exactly going on: for each channel, monitor the spectrum, the in/out levels and the frequency response. Thanks to its advanced MIDI and automation input capabilities, when combined with our other plug-ins, Blue Cat's MB-7 Mixer is capable of advanced side-chaining features that really unveils its potential. Check out our MB-7 Mixer Tutorials for more details. If you are looking for a simpler plug-in to host VST, VST3 and Audio Unit plug-ins, please try Blue Cat's PatchWork. If you are looking for a multiband dynamics processor that can be combined to this plug-in for side chain effects, check out the Blue Cat's MB-5 Dynamix plug-in. Also, any Blue Cat Audio plug-in is compatible and can be hosted by this plug-in. V3.0 (2017/02/23) Brand new GUI design, with improved usability and touchscreen support. Favorite plug-ins and their settings can be saved to be quickly reloaded later from a menu. Unused channels for each hosted plug-in can now be muted (instead of default pass-thru). Load/save native VST, VST3 or AU preset files. Presets and parameters menus are now split in sub menus instead of a single list. Additional user VST path to locate VST plug-ins is now available. Missing VST & VST3 plug-ins are now automatically relocated. Copy/paste and save band settings (including plug-ins) as sub-presets. Map sub plug-ins parameters to automate them in host or control them with MIDI. Lock GUI state to prevent changes when loading presets. Band Controls Groups can now be identified by colors. Adjust contrast for spectrogram display. Spectrogram now keeps history when resized. Import spectrum curves for EQ compare & matching, and export EQ curves to share with other Blue Cat Audio plug-ins. Now supports retina displays on Mac (text and graphs using high resolution). Now compatible with most recent Audio Units (Waves for example). Changed demo limitations: up to 5 instances allowed, bypass time changed to half a second, and bypass parameter is not affected anymore. Fully compatible with previous versions of the plug-in. Dropped support for Windows XP and Mac OS X 10.6 and earlier.just installTeam V.R

ALPHA MALE: 4 Accessories You Need to Have You may think that the pocket square is too old-school for you. Think again. Women cover themselves in jewelry, carry fancy purses, wear scarves during all four seasons, and own a different belt to match each outfit. Men on the other hand are constantly struggling to add a little Tabasco sauce to their daily uniform. It's socially acceptable for a woman to wear all sorts of bling and blang, but a single misstep by an accessorizing male leads a style only acceptable to the cast of the Jersey Shore. There are 4 male accessories that with successful execution, can turn dull into dapper. Master these four and you're well on your way to mastering your look. Pocket Square For example, a well styled tie and pocket square can turn an everyday suit into a fashion masterpiece. In my opinion, a pocket square should accompany almost any suit and jacket combo. Pocket squares are daring – showing a level a confidence in dress. Watch Make sure you wear a watch that matches the quality of clothing you are wearing. There is no sense in pairing a $100 watch with a $5,000 suit. Choose a watch that compliments your outfit without screaming for attention. Socks A cool accessory for both the dressed and casual is a pair of well-thought out hosiery. You can wear socks that match your outfit…or completely clash with your outfit. It takes a confident man to pull off some hosiery, but that’s why you’re reading the article… You’re the man anyway, right? Jewelry Jewelry your thing? Only if you follow these 4 rules. 1. Earrings aren’t cool unless you’re a rapper. 2. Necklaces are great, but keep them under your shirt. (Also note – chest hair is not an accessory. Keep this under your shirt too). 3. If you’re going to wear a ring, make sure it’s a wedding ring, Stanley Cup ring, or Superbowl ring. All other rings should be kept at home. 4. Teeth grills, well you've got to love them, so they're in...not. Marc Streisand is president and owner of Marc Allen Fine Clothiers, and takes the custom clothing business very personally. Having enjoyed a successful career in the clothing industry since 1985, Marc brings his clients extensive specialized experience in menswear. Prior to taking over the Marc Allen store in March 2005, he cultivated his knowledge of luxury male attire in New York and his home state of New Jersey, where he began his vocation at Wallach's Specialty Stores. Nothing gives him greater pleasure, he says, than seeing raw cloth transformed into a custom outfit that can directly impact his customer's lifestyle.

Q: ¿Como actualizar las propiedades de los elementos de una lista usando Linq? Buen día comunidad, hay un escenario común y no he visto alguna pregunta similar, por lo que compartiré la solución enseguida. Básicamente, tenemos una lista de elementos y queremos realizar la actualización de una propiedad en particular haciendo uso de Linq. using System; using System.Linq; using System.Collections.Generic; public class Program { public static void Main() { Console.WriteLine("¡Saludos Hermandad de SOes!"); List<Movil> lista = new List<Movil>(){ new Movil(){ Id = 1, Marca = "iPhone", Conexion = "LTE"}, new Movil(){ Id = 2, Marca = "Samsung", Conexion = "4G"}, new Movil(){ Id = 3, Marca = "Xiaomi", Conexion = "4G"} }; Console.WriteLine("Seleccionar todos los 4G"); var listaFiltrada = lista.Where(elemento=>elemento.Conexion.Equals("4G", StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase)); foreach(var item in listaFiltrada){ Console.WriteLine("{0} - {1} - {2}", item.Id, item.Marca, item.Conexion); } Console.WriteLine("Actualizando de 4G a LTE"); //Aqui quiero hacer uso de Linq en vez de usar un bucle for, foreach } public class Movil{ public int Id {get;set;} public string Marca {get;set;} public string Conexion {get;set;} } } A: En algunos casos puede ser necesario utilizar un .ToList() luego de usar .Select(), esto permite que el .Select() sea evaluado y se aplique la actualización. Si estás usando una lista como en el presente ejemplo, todo pinta fresh. using System; using System.Linq; using System.Collections.Generic; public class Program { public static void Main() { Console.WriteLine("¡Saludos Hermandad de SOes!"); List<Movil> lista = new List<Movil>(){ new Movil(){ Id = 1, Marca = "iPhone", Conexion = "LTE"}, new Movil(){ Id = 2, Marca = "Samsung", Conexion = "4G"}, new Movil(){ Id = 3, Marca = "Xiaomi", Conexion = "4G"} }; Console.WriteLine("Seleccionar todos los 4G"); var listaFiltrada = lista.Where(elemento=>elemento.Conexion.Equals("4G", StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase)); foreach(var item in listaFiltrada){ Console.WriteLine("{0} - {1} - {2}", item.Id, item.Marca, item.Conexion); } Console.WriteLine("Actualizando de 4G a LTE"); listaFiltrada = listaFiltrada.Select(x => { x.Conexion = "LTE"; return x; }).ToList(); foreach(var item in listaFiltrada){ Console.WriteLine("{0} - {1} - {2}", item.Id, item.Marca, item.Conexion); } } public class Movil{ public int Id {get;set;} public string Marca {get;set;} public string Conexion {get;set;} } } En caso desees actualizar varias propiedades: listaFiltrada = listaFiltrada .Select(x => { x.Conexion = "LTE"; x.Marca="WASD"; return x; });

Q: Making a fading trail in processing I have a circle that is moving across the screen, what i need is to be able to make that circle leave a line behind it that fades after a second or so. I'm using Processing. A: Can't speak for its efficiency but I imagine one way to do it would be to keep the old positions in an ArrayList? You can then draw lines between each point, as long as you push the current position each frame and remove the least recent. Hope it helps! PVector circlePosition; ArrayList<PVector> circleTrail; int trailSize = 10; void setup() { size(500, 500); circlePosition = new PVector(width*0.5, width*0.5); circleTrail = new ArrayList<PVector>(); } void draw() { background(255); int trailLength; circlePosition = new PVector(mouseX, mouseY); circleTrail.add(circlePosition); trailLength = circleTrail.size() - 2; println(trailLength); for (int i = 0; i < trailLength; i++) { PVector currentTrail = circleTrail.get(i); PVector previousTrail = circleTrail.get(i + 1); stroke(0, 255*i/trailLength); line( currentTrail.x, currentTrail.y, previousTrail.x, previousTrail.y ); } ellipse(circlePosition.x, circlePosition.y, 10, 10); if (trailLength >= trailSize) { circleTrail.remove(0); } } A: I also can't speak to the efficiency of my method, but the way I've done it is by drawing a rectangle over your entire sketch each time with an also set to a low value (like 25 or so). This results in the objects from previous draw() cycles looking 'faded'. For example: int i = 0; void setup(){ size(500,500); smooth(); noStroke(); background(255); } void draw(){ fill(255,25); rect(0,0,width,height); fill(0); ellipse(width/2 + i,height/2 + i,50,50); delay(100); i+=10; }

Can environmental variation generate positive indirect effects in a model of shared predation? Classic models of apparent competition predict negative indirect effects between prey with a shared enemy. If predator per capita growth rates are nonlinear, then endogenously generated periodic cycles are predicted to generate less negative or even positive indirect effects between prey. Here I determine how exogenous mechanisms such as environmental variation could modify indirect effects. I find that exogenous variation can have a broader range of effects on indirect interactions than endogenously generated cycles. Indirect effects are altered by environmental variation even in simple models for which the per capita growth rate of the predator species is a linear function of population densities. Temporal variation that affects the predator attack rate or the conversion efficiency can lead to large increases or decreases in the indirect effects between prey, dependent on how prey populations co-vary with the environmental variation. Positive indirect effects can occur when the period of environmental variation is close to the natural period of the biological system and shifts in subharmonic resonance occur with the addition of the second prey. Models that include nonlinear numerical responses generally lead to indirect effects that are sensitive to environmental variation in more parameters and across a wider range of frequencies.

The doctors and the staff of Palmetto Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, P.A. in Florence, SC are pleased that you are considering our practice for your care. We will be happy to assist you by providing the best treatment possible in a comfortable facility where the patient comes first. We have a dedicated team here to assist you from your first phone call through your final follow-up visit. As Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons with extensive experience and a longstanding history in the Pee Dee area, Dr. Ken Lowry, Dr. Doug Oliver and Dr. Michael Morgan have credentials that you can trust. All surgeons offer a full range of oral and maxillofacial procedures, including dental implants, corrective jaw surgery, wisdom teeth removal, and many other procedures

Original Pearl Beach Cottage 46 Beryl Boulevarde, PEARL BEACH Backing onto the Brisbane Water National Park, this 3 bedroom home amongst the trees sleeps 6 guests and has beautiful views from the large open living room. Enjoy the combustion fireplace in winter or a short stroll to the beach in the warmer months. The back yard has a grassed area and you can bring your fur family members although the yard is not fenced. There’s plenty of room to spread out with a combined lounge dining kitchen area and a second lounge area and second dining area in the sunroom. Linen is not provided at this property. It can be hired directly from: Central Coast Linen Hire on 0401 574 057 or [email protected] Pearl Beach is one of the Central Coasts most beautiful coastal suburbs. Set amongst the abundant bushlands of Bouddi and Brisbane Water National Parks. Located only 90 minutes from Sydney. Enjoy the beach, ocean bath, caf‚ and restaurant or one of the many surrounding bushwalks. Pearl Beach is a very quiet village and is not suitable for any parties or functions

1,564 views The clip Entering the castle from Scooby-Doo (2002) with Matthew Lillard No way.Shaggy.Scoob and me don't do castles.Why not?Paintings with eyes watching you, suits of armor you think is a statue......but there's a guy inside who follows you every time you turn around.How many times has that happened?Twelve.We're not gonna do it.That's right.Scooby?Did you hurt your paw?Would you do it for a Scooby Snack?Oh, boy!You'll be fearless?Fearless?Hong Kong Fuey, watch the fists of fury, would you, buddy!Here you go.Thank you.There's plenty more where that came from. Let's go before someone sees.Okay.You are not going to stay out here alone, are you?No, thank you.

The Amazon rainforest is burning to the ground at an unprecedented rate, but don’t despair. With just one “like” on Instagram, you can donate $1; for a follow or repost, you can plant a tree. Making a difference is as easy as tapping your thumb — or so a vast network of scammers on the platform would have you believe. Instagram accounts falsely promising some form of disaster aid in exchange for likes and followers may seem like obvious hoaxes to most users, but they’re working: Some scammers appear to be turning big profits by exploiting people’s goodwill and Instagram’s inability to regulate the hordes of bad actors among its 1 billion users. ASSOCIATED PRESS The Amazon has been burning for weeks. Scammers see the fires as an opportunity. The now-defunct Instagram page @PrayForTheAmazonia managed to hoodwink more than 90,000 users into following its account, which promoted a PayPal account and a fraudulent GoFundMe campaign that claimed to have “partnered with” Rainforest Trust, an environmental nonprofit.Rainforest Trust confirmed to HuffPost that it had no affiliation with the campaign, which received hundreds of donations totaling thousands of dollars before it was taken offline. In a statement, GoFundMe told HuffPost that “no funds were withdrawn, and all donors will be refunded” and noted that the campaign organizer has been permanently banned from the platform. Similar Instagram pages have claimed without evidence to have partnered with major organizations such as National Geographic and the Amazon Aid Foundation.One such account posted a screenshot purporting to show a direct message from Justin Bieber in which the pop star supposedly agrees to “personally donate $10,000” if the page, which is still active, can “reach 5k followers by the end of this year.” SUBSCRIBE AND FOLLOW Get the top stories emailed every day. Newsletters may offer personalized content or advertisements. Privacy Policy Newsletter Please enter a valid email address Thank you for signing up! You should receive an email to confirm your subscription shortly. There was a problem processing your signup; please try again later Twitter Facebook Instagram Flipboard None of the Instagram account owners HuffPost contacted agreed to be interviewed. Left to right: GoFundMe; Instagram; Instagram Left: People donate to a fraudulent GoFundMe campaign that was promoted on Instagram. Middle: An Instagram scammer account pledges donations for follows and reposts. Right: An Instagram post purports to show a message of support from Justin Bieber. The Amazon scam “violates our policies and we will remove accounts and content that promote it,” said Stephanie Otway, a spokesperson for Facebook, which owns Instagram. Instagram has become a home to the so-called “Tragedy Hustle” because, in many ways, it provides an ideal ecosystem for scams and disinformation to flourish without any real accountability. Whether they’re after money, clout or both, it takes relatively little effort for anonymous grifters to create legitimate-looking philanthropic accounts at times when people are seeking ways to support crisis victims, aid hungry refugees or fight raging wildfires. Opportunistic scammers will sometimes set up disaster relief pages with strategic hashtags and promotional tactics to lure in big audiences at just the right moment, then eventually pivot the accounts to personal or business profiles by changing the usernames and deleting the previous posts, while retaining the followings they deceptively accumulated. If the pages get taken down, there’s often nothing stopping them from starting over — which is exactly what the individual (or individuals) behind @PrayForTheAmazoniaappears to have done. Soon after it disappeared, @CureAmazonia popped up and started promoting the same GoFundMe campaign. It was taken offline at more than 10,000 followers, but it surely won’t be long before another account takes its place. For many large social media companies, deplatforming scammers is a cat-and-mouse game with no end in sight. Instagram Instagram scammer accounts claim they will donate money and plant trees in exchange for "likes." Instagram has become one of the major vehicles for spreading disinformation, according to a new report from the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, which points to a “lack of clear strategy for addressing the serious problems inherent in Instagram’s operating model.” Under growing pressure, the tech giant has taken steps to crack down on problematic accounts and to arm users with tools to identify suspicious activity. Business profiles on the site are required to publicly list their emails or phone numbers, for example, and users can check those accounts’ username histories. This can come in handy when evaluating the legitimacy of proclaimed aid pages. Some of the Amazon scam accounts used to operate under usernames relating to sports news, vegan diets, and other things that are completely unrelated to the Amazon. But of course, not all of Instagram’s usersare familiar with such tools, and the platform is still riddled with successful scammers and their unwitting victims. Some Instagram influencers have found ways to capitalize on the Amazon #activism, too, through self-promotion cloaked as genuine environmental concern. By using selective hashtags such as #SaveTheAmazon, they can divert masses of people searching for Amazon news to their own faux-outrage content. Instagram An influencer reprimands others for neglecting the Amazon fires in a post in which she promotes several fashion brands. Glasgow-based fashion blogger Sheri Scott was widely criticized after posting a photo of herself donning a number of tagged designer brands along with a caption accusing the media of neglecting the fires, Scottishnews outlets reported. This kind of sanctimonious scolding — shaming others for their apparent ignorance, silence or inaction surrounding a crisis — has become a sort of trend on social media and a way to effectively pat oneself on the back while getting likes for speaking out. “The Amazon Rainforest has been burning for 3 weeks straight and we’re only finding out about it now. Even #SaveSpidermanFromSony has been reported more by the media than #PrayforAmazonia and it’s absolutely shameful,” read Scott’s post, which included the hashtags #OutfitIdeas and #OrangeHair. “The world is pretty f**ked up right now and we all need to do what we can to make it right.” (Scott later edited her caption, apologizing for the “tone deaf” hashtags, then removed the post altogether.) Searching the hashtag #PrayForAmazonia on Instagram yields a collection of informative rainforest-related posts interspersed with pouty selfies, woodland photoshoots and a jarring number of wildfire-inspired makeup looks (with the cosmetic products prominently tagged). Adding a popular hashtag to a post — even if it’s unrelated to the content itself — can increase the post’s likelihood of being featured in Instagram’s public “Explore Tab,” which means increased exposure and ultimately, more likes. Influencers know this well. Instagram Instagram users use the hashtag #PrayForAmazonia to promote themselves and various brands. We’ve seen these kinds of things before. After the release of HBO’s drama miniseries “Chernobyl” in May, Instagram models showed up in Pripyat to take broody portraits at the site of the city’s catastrophic nuclear disaster.In June, Instagram accounts racked up massive followings by making empty promises to deliver meals to starving children in crisis-torn Sudan. And in July, when a 17-year-old girl’s gruesome murder went viral on social media, grifters swiftly flooded her Instagram profile with comments feigning sympathy while promising to share the (nonexistent) video of her killing in exchange for follows and likes. Instagram An Instagram scammer tries to capitalize on the murder of a teenage girl.

Self-assembled one-dimensional nanostructure arrays. A range of proposed devices relies on the electronic, optical or magnetic properties of one-dimensional (1D) chains of nanoparticles. Here, well-controlled 1D arrays have been formed by templating a spherical-morphology block copolymer within a narrow groove. Significantly, the domains are distorted into ellipses with aspect ratio and major axis orientation controlled by the groove width. This technique gives unprecedented control over the period, particle size, aspect ratio, and orientation of nanoparticles in 1D arrays, making it valuable for creating self-assembled masks for the fabrication of novel devices.

NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT __________ No. 14-4244 ___________ CATO CAPITAL LLC, a Connecticut Limited Liability Company, Appellant v. HEMISPHERX BIOPHARMA INC., a Delaware Corporation; THE SAGE GROUP, INC. ______________ APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE (D.C. Civ. Action No. 1-09-cv-00549) District Judge: Honorable Gregory M. Sleet ______________ Argued: July 16, 2015 ______________ Before: SMITH, GREENAWAY, JR., and SHWARTZ, Circuit Judges. (Filed: August 21, 2015) John L. Reed [ARGUED] DLA Piper 1201 North Market Street Suite 2100 Wilmington, DE 19801 Counsel for Appellant 1 James J. Black, III [ARGUED] Mark W. Drasnin, Esq. Black & Gerngross 1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard Suite 1575 Philadelphia, PA 19103 Christopher P. Simon, Esq. Cross & Simon 1105 North Market Street Suite 901 Wilmington, DE 19801 Counsel for Appellees ______________ OPINION ______________ GREENAWAY, JR., Circuit Judge. Plaintiff-Appellant Cato Capital, LLC (“Cato”) appeals from the final judgment entered by the District Court in favor of Defendant-Appellee Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. (“Hemispherx”) on Cato’s breach of contract claim. Cato, an investment bank, sued Hemispherx, a biopharmaceutical company and former client, to recover a placement fee after several companies invested millions of dollars in Hemispherx—notwithstanding the fact that: (1) Cato did not facilitate these investments, and (2) these transactions closed after Cato’s engagement with Hemispherx had expired. After a bench trial, the District Court held: (1) that Cato had not satisfied a condition precedent to payment under the 2 contract, and (2) that Cato was not entitled to payment under the contract because Cato did not cause the investments. See Cato Capital LLC v. Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc., 70 F. Supp. 3d 607 (D. Del. 2014). We agree that Cato did not satisfy a condition precedent to payment and will affirm the District Court.1 I. BACKGROUND A. Factual History 1. The Beginning of the Engagement In late 2008, Cato was introduced to Hemispherx by Hemispherx’s advisor, The Sage Group, Inc. (“Sage”). Hemispherx and Cato entered into a non-exclusive contract (“the Agreement”) whereby Cato would serve as Hemispherx’s “financial adviser and placement agent, in connection with facilitating debt and equity financings for [Hemispherx]” for a term beginning November 24, 2008 and ending March 24, 2009. JA 0094-95. The Agreement also provided for an additional eight-month period after the expiration of the term of the engagement (the “Tail Period”), during which time, if Hemispherx closed a transaction with any investor introduced to Hemispherx by Cato (a “Tail Period transaction”), Hemispherx would be obligated to pay Cato a “Placement Fee” under certain conditions. JA 0095.  This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. 1 Because Cato must succeed on both arguments on appeal in order to reverse the District Court’s judgment, and because we conclude that Cato did not fulfill a condition precedent to payment under the contract, we need not reach Cato’s causation argument. 3  Specifically, Paragraphs 2(b) and 2(c) of the Agreement required Cato to provide to Hemispherx two separate lists of potential investors (the “Cato Prospects”). They provided in relevant part: (b) Payment of Fees: All applicable fees shall be payable . . . with respect to any Transaction completed with any Cato Prospect during . . . (ii) the eight month period (the “Tail Period”) following the term of this Agreement. At the end of the term of this Agreement, Cato shall designate in writing to the Company all Cato Prospects. Cato will only be entitled to Placement Fees for Transactions during the Tail Period completed with any of the listed Cato Prospects or their affiliates. *** (c) . . . . Following the execution of this Agreement, Cato will immediately provide Company with a list of Cato Prospects which will be immediately reviewed by Company and once agreed, Cato Prospects will be attached to this agreement as appendix A. Id. (emphasis added). The day the Agreement was executed, Cato submitted a list of Cato Prospects (the “Paragraph 2(c) list”) for approval. Hemispherx approved the list and appended it to the Agreement. Days later, Cato sought and received approval for several additional prospects. The Cato Prospects included Hudson Bay Capital Management LP (“Hudson Bay”), Iroquois Capital (“Iroquois”), and Cranshire Capital LP (“Cranshire”). Within the next two weeks, Cato sent Iroquois, Cranshire, and Hudson Bay an email outlining a proposed transaction. Cato, however, failed to secure any suitable offers and had no further contact with these prospects. 4  2. Updated Prospects and the End of the Term On January 5, 2009, Cato submitted the names of additional investors for Hemispherx’s approval. Hemispherx, through Sage,2 approved the investors the next day and requested a “full list, updated,” of all Cato Prospects. Cato sent the requested list on January 7, 2009. The list included, inter alia, Iroquois, Hudson Bay, and Cranshire. On March 24, 2009, the term of the Agreement ended with Cato having failed to secure any funding for Hemispherx. Cato did not submit a Paragraph 2(b) list of Cato Prospects at that time. 3. The Tail Period In late April, Rodman and Renshaw Capital Group (“Rodman”) contacted Hemispherx because of the increased market interest in companies—like Hemispherx— with products capable of treating influenza. Rodman believed that Hemispherx could raise capital through an equity offering in this climate, and the two executed an engagement letter in early May. Soon thereafter, Hudson Bay, Cranshire, and Iroquois collectively invested $23.5 million in Hemispherx with Rodman acting as facilitator. On May 22, 2009, Cato sent Hemispherx a demand letter seeking fees for the transactions that Hemispherx had concluded with Hudson Bay, Iroquois, and Cranshire. Hemispherx refused to pay Cato because it had not submitted a Paragraph 2(b) list and had not facilitated these transactions. 2 Sage acted as Hemispherx’s intermediary for most communications with Cato. 5 B. Procedural History Cato filed suit in the District Court against Hemispherx alleging, inter alia, breach of contract, and against The Sage Group alleging fraud and intentional interference with a contractual relationship. After a three-day bench trial, the District Court ruled against Cato on all counts. Cato timely appealed only the breach of contract of claim, arguing: (1) that it substantially complied with Paragraph 2(b)’s requirement by sending the updated list of prospects in January 2009, and (2) that the Agreement entitles Cato to payment for any transaction consummated with a Cato Prospect during the Tail Period, regardless of whether Cato caused the transaction. II. ANALYSIS3 We review a district court’s findings of fact following a bench trial under the clearly erroneous standard and exercise plenary review over its conclusions of law. Gordon v. Lewistown Hosp., 423 F.3d 184, 201 (3d Cir. 2005). Under Delaware law,4 contract interpretation is a question of law. Rhone-Poulenc Basic Chems. Co. v. Am. Motorists Ins. Co., 616 A.2d 1192, 1195 (Del. 1992). Generally, whether a party can satisfy the doctrine of substantial compliance is a question of fact. See Standard Accident Ins. Co. v. Ponsell’s Drug Stores, Inc., 202 A.2d 271, 275 (Del. 1964). 3 The District Court had jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332, and this Court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. 4 The parties agree that Delaware law controls pursuant to Paragraph 3(d) of the Agreement’s Terms and Conditions. JA 0100. 6  A court interpreting a contract must effectuate the parties’ intent. See Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Am. Legacy Found., 903 A.2d 728, 739 (Del. 2006). “Where the contract language is clear and unambiguous,” the court must ascertain the parties’ intent “by giving the language its ordinary and usual meaning.” Nw. Nat’l Ins. Co. v. Esmark, Inc., 672 A.2d 41, 43 (Del. 1996). For the reasons below, we conclude: (1) that the Agreement unambiguously required Cato to submit a Paragraph 2(b) list in order to receive payment for Tail Period transactions, and (2) that Cato did not comply with this requirement. A. Condition Precedent The District Court correctly determined that compliance with Paragraph 2(b) is a condition precedent5 to payment to Cato for Tail Period transactions. Paragraph 2(b) of the Agreement provides that “[a]t the end of the term of this Agreement, Cato shall designate in writing to the Company all Cato Prospects,” and notes that “Cato will only be entitled to Placement Fees for Transactions during the Tail Period completed with any of the listed Cato Prospects.” JA 0095 (emphasis added). This language unambiguously conditions payment for Tail Period transactions on Cato’s submission of a list of Cato Prospects at the end of the term of the Agreement. See Global Energy Fin. LLC v. 5 “A condition precedent is ‘[a]n act or event, other than a lapse of time, that must exist or occur before a duty to perform something promised arises.’” AES P.R., L.P. v. Alstom Power, Inc., 429 F. Supp. 2d 713, 717 (D. Del. 2006) (alteration in original) (quoting Seaford Assocs. Ltd. P’ship v. Subway Real Estate Corp., No. Civ. A. 2248, 2003 WL 21254847, at *5 n.30 (Del. Ch. May 21, 2003)). 7 Peabody Energy Corp., No. 08C-10-129 RRC, 2010 WL 4056164, at *24 (Del. Super. Ct. Oct. 14, 2010) (“no particular words are necessary for the existence of a condition,” and any “phrase that conditions performance usually connote[s] an intent for a condition” (internal quotation marks omitted)). Thus, Hemispherx would only be obligated to pay Cato’s Placement Fee if Cato submitted a Paragraph 2(b) list. Cato does not challenge this determination on appeal and effectively concedes that it did not strictly comply with Paragraph 2(b) because it failed to submit a prospect list at the end of term in March 2009. Rather, Cato argues that it substantially complied with Paragraph 2(b) by submitting an “updated” prospect list in January. B. Substantial Compliance 1. The Agreement requires two separate prospect lists Contrary to Cato’s argument, the Agreement unambiguously requires two separate lists of Cato Prospects, and a single list submitted substantially before the end of the term cannot fulfill the requirements of both Paragraphs 2(b) and 2(c). Under Delaware law, a court must “give each provision and term effect, so as not to render any part of the contract mere surplusage.” Kuhn Constr., Inc. v. Diamond State Port Corp., 990 A.2d 393, 396-97 (Del. 2010). “Contractual interpretation operates under the assumption that parties never include superfluous verbiage in their agreement, and that each word should be given meaning and effect by the court.” Nama Holdings LLC v. World Mkt. Ctr. Venture, LLC, 948 A.2d 411, 419 (Del Ch. 2007). 8  Paragraph 2(c) of the Agreement required Cato, upon execution of the Agreement, to “immediately provide . . . a list of Cato Prospects” to be approved by Hemispherx and appended to the Agreement, while Paragraph 2(b) required Cato to “designate in writing . . . all Cato [P]rospects” “[a]t the end of the term of [the] Agreement” in order to receive payment for Tail Period transactions. JA 0095 (emphasis added). Thus, the Agreement contemplated two separate lists with two distinct purposes to be delivered at two different times pursuant to Paragraphs 2(b) and 2(c). Accordingly, each provision must be given independent effect. 2. Permitting a Paragraph 2(c) list to satisfy Paragraph 2(b) renders Paragraph 2(b) superfluous The District Court reasonably determined that the Cato Prospects list submitted in January 2009 was intended to fulfill the requirements of Paragraph 2(c) rather than Paragraph 2(b).6 Cato nevertheless argues that the January 2009 list provided actual notice of the prospects for which Cato would seek payment and thus rendered submission 6 It is undisputed that on November 24, 2008, the day the Agreement was executed, Cato submitted a list of prospects for Hemispherx’s approval pursuant to Paragraph 2(c). Approximately one week later Cato sought and received Hemispherx’s approval to include several additional prospects on this list. Then, on January 5, 2009, Cato again sought permission to add prospects to the list. The next day, Hemispherx approved the “new [t]argets” and requested a “full list, updated,” and Cato provided the updated list as requested. JA 0103. Under these circumstances, the District Court did not err in concluding that the January 2009 list—provided two and a half months before the end of the term—was intended to fulfill Paragraph 2(c) rather than Paragraph 2(b). This conclusion is buttressed by the fact that Cato noted in its demand letter to Hemispherx only that Cato had provided a “Section 2(c) . . . list [that was] reviewed and accepted by 9 of a Paragraph 2(b) list at the end of the term “redundant.” Appellant’s Br. at 13. However, Cato’s argument that submission of the Paragraph 2(c) list fulfilled the requirements of Paragraph 2(b) plainly renders Paragraph 2(b) of the Agreement superfluous—an “updated” Paragraph 2(c) list would always render submission of a Paragraph 2(b) list redundant. Accordingly, we reject Cato’s substantial compliance argument because it “would result in a conclusion that some terms [of the Agreement] are uselessly repetitive.” O’Brien v. Progressive N. Ins. Co., 785 A.2d 281, 287 (Del. 2001). In sum, Cato failed to comply with Paragraph 2(b) and thus is not entitled to payment for any Tail Period transactions. III. CONCLUSION For the foregoing reasons, we will affirm the District Court’s judgment. [Hemispherx].” JA 0124. It was not until the onset of litigation that Cato argued that the January 2009 list was intended to fulfill the requirements of Paragraph 2(b). 10 

Peres-Abbas in the Vatican: "We Don't Pray Together, But We Are Together to Pray" Father Lombardi and Father Pizzaballa Brief Journalists on Sunday's "Invocation for Peace" in the Vatican Gardens Pope Francis' belief in the power of prayer was understood in September 2013, when he organized a universal spiritual moment to prevent the situation in Syria from escalating into a world war. Now the Bishop of Rome is trying again, and asks the “Prince of Peace” directly for peace between Israel and Palestine that diplomatic-political strategies have, for so many years, failed to attain. And in this invocation he involves Presidents Mahmoud Abbas and Shimon Peres, guests whom two Sundays ago, during his visit to the Holy Land, he invited to his “home” in the Vatican for a prayer meeting. This initiative, re-christened “Invocation for Peace”, will be held in the evening of Pentecost Sunday, June 8. Briefing reporters at the Vatican Press Office, spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, together with the Custos of the Holy Land, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, shared details of this “greatly anticipated” event. The two heads of state will arrive in the Vatican at different times: Peres at 6:15 pm, Abbas – on his return from a trip to Egypt – at 6:30 pm. They will be received separately at the entrance of the St. Marta residence by the Pontiff, with whom they will have a brief conversation, first one and then the other, inside. Around 6:45 pm all three will meet in the residence hall where Patriarch Bartholomew will also be present, who will have arrived in Rome the previous evening, and will also be staying in the residence. In the morning, Bartholomew will celebrate Mass in the church of Saint Theodore of the Greek-Orthodox community. The Pope, the patriarch and the two presidents, will then go together in a minibus to the place of the meeting, "a very beautiful triangular lawn” between the Casina Pio IV building and the Vatican Museums, facing towards Saint Peter’s cupola. “It's a very interesting location,” said Father Lombardi, adding that it is surrounded by high hedges. Attending the meeting will be delegations (still to be formally confirmed), singers and the press. Once the four protagonists have taken their place –- the Pope in the center, Peres on his right and Abbas on his left, the Patriarch in a different chair -- the time for the "invocation for peace" will begin. There will be a musical opening, a briefing in English, and then three moments, in chronological order, of the three religions: first Judaism, then Christianity and finally Islam. Each of the “moments” will follow the same structure: first a thanksgiving for Creation, then a request for pardon, and finally the Invocation for Peace. The Jewish moment will have texts in Hebrew, the Christian in English, Italian and Arabic, and the Muslim in Arabic. After this “essential part” of the Invocation for Peace, three interventions will follow: first, the Holy Father, then President Peres and lastly President Abbas, “who will say the words they deem appropriate and their Invocation for Peace.” No one of the three will go into the the political situation of Israel and Palestine, explained the spokesmen. On the contrary, Father Pizzaballa stressed, the meeting is intended as “a pause in regard to politics.” The Custos remarked that “the Holy Father does not want to enter into political questions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which we all know, in fact, in all its little details." Instead, he wishes “to reopen a path that has been closed for some time,” “to make one dream” and to reawaken in everyone’s spirit the “desire for peace.” “No one has the presumption to think that after this meeting, peace will break out in the Holy Land,” specified the Franciscan. However, “the expectation is high: there is in everyone the hope that something will change because all are tired.” Returning to the unfolding of the evening, after the interventions of Francis, Abbas and Peres, the Invocation for Peace will be sealed by a joint shaking of hands and the gesture of planting an olive tree – symbol of peace – close to the chairs of the four protagonists. All the delegations (a maximum of 15-20 persons), will go over to greet the Pope, the two Presidents and Bartholomew, who will then go to the adjacent building of the Academy of Sciences for a private meeting, not followed by the television cameras. Once the conversation ends, the two Presidents will leave the Vatican immediately, and the Pope and Patriarch will return to Saint Martha’s. It will threfore be an unprecedented historic moment, not to be described as an “inter-religious prayer” between Jews, Christians and Muslims. The event will be an “Invocation for Peace that Palestinians and Israelis make to God,” specified Father Pizzaballa. Needless to say, it will not be “a liturgical moment,” given the impossibility of a joint act between the different religions. The most exact definition was given by the Custos of the Holy Land: “It will be a joint invocation, in which we don’t pray together but are together to pray.” Also attending the meeting will be Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Muslim leader Omar Abboud, both Argentines, and both longstanding friends of the Pope, who also wanted them with him in his pilgrimage in the Land of Jesus. Benedict XVI will not attend, explained Father Lombardi, but he will accompany the meeting with heartfelt prayer, “as will all those who realize the importance of this event.”

Q: Is there an Eclipse plugin to run system shell in the Console? Do you know of any Eclipse plugin to run a system shell in the included console? It would be awesome. Dolphin, KDE's file navigator, has this feature, you can press F4 and a console shows located on the directory you are standing. It would be awesome to have a similar feature on Eclipse, with the shell located on the directory of the project/file you are working on. Does this plugin exist? If not, would it be too complicated to code such a plugin? I have no idea about eclipse plugin development (yet). A: It exists, and it's built into Eclipse! Go to the Remote Systems view, and you'll see an entry for "Local". Right-click "Local Shells" and choose "Launch Shell." You can't launch it directly from the project navigator. But you can right-click in the navigator and choose "Show in Remote Systems view". From there you can right-click the parent folder and choose "Launch Shell." Aptana also has a Terminal view, and a command to open the selected file in the terminal. A: You don't need a plugin (including the Remote System View plugin), you can do this with the basic platform. You just create an external tool configuration. I've added an image to demonstrate. Orange Arrows: Use the external tool button on the toolbar and select External Tools Configuration.... Click on Program then up above click on the New launch configuration icon. Green Arrows: Use the Name field and name your new tool something clever like "Launch Shell". In the Location area enter a shell command e.g. /bin/bash. A more generic approach would be to use ${env_var:SHELL} which under the Mac (and I hope Linux) launches the default shell. Then in the Working Directory you can use the variable ${project_loc} to set the default directory to your current project location. This will mean that when you launch the tool, you have to make sure you have your cursor in an active project on the explorer or in an appropriate editor window. Under the Arguments area use -i for interactive mode. Blue arrows: Switch to the Build tab and uncheck Build before launch. Then switch to the Common tab and click to add your command to the favorites menu. Now click Apply and Close. Make sure the console view is showing (Window->Show View->Console). Click on a project in the Package or Project Explorer or click in an editor window that has code for a project of interest. Then click on the external tool icon and select Launch Shell, you now have an interactive shell window in the console view. In the lower left of the image you can see the tcsh shell in action. Windows Note: This also works in Windows but you use ${env_var:ComSpec} in the location field and you can leave the arguments field blank. A: Eclipse TCF team has just release terminal (SSH, Telnet, local) originally named TCF Terminal, then renamed to TM Terminal http://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/tcf-terminals Finally Windows and Linux all supported Support for Git Bash on Windows is resolved Bug 435014. This plugin is included into Enide Studio 2014 and Enide 2015. To access the terminal go to Window -> Show View -> Terminal or Ctrl+Alt+T

Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Verhoeven is often teased about his size, which is uncharacteristic for a keeper, by opposing fans. In one match against ADO Den Haag during the 2010–11 season, the home supporters showered him with chants of "Pizza!" when he touched the ball.

Q: How can a Visual Studio Code extension directly add key bindings Question How can a Visual Studio Code extension add key bindings to a workspace directly? Constraints All settings should be contained within the extension, so that any modifications by the extension are easy to find in 1 place, and uninstalling the extension will remove any modifications. Scenario I'm developing a VSCode extension which will need to listen for keystrokes. This question listens through the vscode.workspace.onDidChangeTextDocument event, but I found that route a little messy in comparison to just creating key bindings for what I'm listening to. I found a pretty elegant way to achieve what I want using key bindings, but the implementation is not scalable and not simply exportable for others to implement. Therefore I want to write an extension that totally encapsulates any key binding additions that are necessary. I did find the answer to this after a long night of research, so I just want to post the solution for others' benefit. A: https://code.visualstudio.com/api/references/contribution-points#contributes.keybindings This allows new keybindings to be declared right in the extension's package.json

Apollo 11 recreation training series A three-part, hands-on virtual training series using the Apollo 11 mission to develop lunar trajectories using STK Astrogator. And yes, Austin Claybrook led this, too, along with our superb training team. AGI at Apollopalooza Apollopalooza (noun) - a weeklong celebration for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing at Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver, Colorado. AGI senior research astrodynamicist, David Vallado, will be presenting at the museum on the history and future of lunar missions on Tuesday, July 16, at 3:30 pm local time. In the Denver area? Buy your tickets now

/* MIT License Copyright(c) 2018-2019 megai2 Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files(the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions : The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. */ #include "stdafx.h" template<class ElementType, class ProcImpl> d912pxy_pool_memcat<ElementType, ProcImpl>::d912pxy_pool_memcat() : d912pxy_pool<ElementType, ProcImpl>() { } template<class ElementType, class ProcImpl> d912pxy_pool_memcat<ElementType, ProcImpl>::~d912pxy_pool_memcat() { } template<class ElementType, class ProcImpl> void d912pxy_pool_memcat<ElementType, ProcImpl>::Init(UINT32 iBitIgnore, UINT32 iBitLimit, d912pxy_config_value limitCfg) { d912pxy_pool<ElementType, ProcImpl>::Init(); bitIgnore = iBitIgnore; bitLimit = iBitLimit; bitCnt = iBitLimit - iBitIgnore; maxMemoryInPool = 0; memoryInPool = 0; if (limitCfg != PXY_CFG_CNT) maxMemoryInPool = d912pxy_s.config.GetValueUI64(limitCfg) << 20; PXY_MALLOC(memTable, sizeof(void*)*bitCnt, d912pxy_ringbuffer<ElementType>**); PXY_MALLOC(this->rwMutex, sizeof(d912pxy_thread_lock)*bitCnt, d912pxy_thread_lock*); for (int i = 0; i != bitCnt; ++i) { memTable[i] = new d912pxy_ringbuffer<ElementType>(64, 2); this->rwMutex[i].Init(); } } template<class ElementType, class ProcImpl> void d912pxy_pool_memcat<ElementType, ProcImpl>::UnInit() { PXY_FREE(memTable); PXY_FREE(this->rwMutex); d912pxy_pool<ElementType, ProcImpl>::UnInit(); } template<class ElementType, class ProcImpl> d912pxy_ringbuffer<ElementType>* d912pxy_pool_memcat<ElementType, ProcImpl>::GetCatBuffer(UINT32 cat) { return memTable[cat]; } template<class ElementType, class ProcImpl> void d912pxy_pool_memcat<ElementType, ProcImpl>::PoolUnloadProc(ElementType val, UINT32 cat) { if (!IsPoolHaveFreeSpace()) { if (val->IsPersistentlyPooled()) return; val->NoteDeletion(GetTickCount()); d912pxy_s.thread.cleanup.Watch(val); } else { val->PoolPersistently(); } } template<class ElementType, class ProcImpl> UINT d912pxy_pool_memcat<ElementType, ProcImpl>::MemCatFromSize(UINT sz) { UINT64 iv = (sz >> bitIgnore) + 1 * ((sz & ((1 << (bitIgnore)) - 1)) != 0); if (!iv) return 0; UINT ret = 0; while (iv > (1ULL << ret)) { ++ret; } return ret; } template<class ElementType, class ProcImpl> UINT d912pxy_pool_memcat<ElementType, ProcImpl>::MemCatToSize(UINT cat) { return 1 << (cat + bitIgnore); } template<class ElementType, class ProcImpl> UINT d912pxy_pool_memcat<ElementType, ProcImpl>::IsPoolHaveFreeSpace() { return maxMemoryInPool > memoryInPool; } template<class ElementType, class ProcImpl> void d912pxy_pool_memcat<ElementType, ProcImpl>::AddMemoryToPool(INT sz) { memoryInPool += sz; } template<class ElementType, class ProcImpl> UINT32 d912pxy_pool_memcat<ElementType, ProcImpl>::GetMemoryInPoolMb() { return (UINT32)(memoryInPool >> 20); } template class d912pxy_pool_memcat<d912pxy_vstream*, d912pxy_vstream_pool*>; template class d912pxy_pool_memcat<d912pxy_upload_item*, d912pxy_upload_pool*>;

Q: What is the Best way to create a secure REST API with Zend? I have been looking on a lot of questions about REST API and security and found some interesting informations but there is still one thing I don't understand. So, I have a REST API developped with Zend Framework with basic authentication over an https channel (so if I understoud what I have read, the login/password are encrypted when they are sent). The purpose of this API is to be called by Android/iPhones apps and will only be available to people who have a login and a password SO, currently, to call the API, the login and password are always sent with the call and so, I check them at every call (the result is it makes a call to the database just for authentication at each call to the API). Is there some kind of session management (as in web developpement) to avoid that? Thank, A: REST API should be stateless, but you can use request signing using some secret key you obtain after first submission of username + password. In other words, do not send username and password every time, just use once, to obtain secret key. You may take a look at several APIs that sign the requests, eg. some implementing OAuth.

# # Copyright 2020 Centreon (http://www.centreon.com/) # # Centreon is a full-fledged industry-strength solution that meets # the needs in IT infrastructure and application monitoring for # service performance. # # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. # You may obtain a copy of the License at # # http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 # # Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software # distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, # WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and # limitations under the License. # package network::raisecom::snmp::mode::hardware; use base qw(centreon::plugins::templates::hardware); use strict; use warnings; sub set_system { my ($self, %options) = @_; $self->{regexp_threshold_numeric_check_section_option} = '^(temperature|fan.speed|voltage)$'; $self->{cb_hook2} = 'snmp_execute'; $self->{thresholds} = { fan => [ ['abnormal', 'CRITICAL'], ['normal', 'OK'] ] }; $self->{components_path} = 'network::raisecom::snmp::mode::components'; $self->{components_module} = ['fan', 'temperature', 'voltage']; } sub snmp_execute { my ($self, %options) = @_; $self->{snmp} = $options{snmp}; $self->{results} = $self->{snmp}->get_multiple_table(oids => $self->{request}); } sub new { my ($class, %options) = @_; my $self = $class->SUPER::new(package => __PACKAGE__, %options); bless $self, $class; $options{options}->add_options(arguments => {}); return $self; } 1; __END__ =head1 MODE Check hardware. =over 8 =item B<--component> Which component to check (Default: '.*'). Can be: 'temperature', 'fan', 'voltage'. =item B<--filter> Exclude some parts (comma seperated list) (Example: --filter=fan Can also exclude specific instance: --filter=fan,1 =item B<--no-component> Return an error if no compenents are checked. If total (with skipped) is 0. (Default: 'critical' returns). =item B<--threshold-overload> Set to overload default threshold values (syntax: section,[instance,]status,regexp) It used before default thresholds (order stays). Example: --threshold-overload='fan,WARNING,twoHour' =item B<--warning> Set warning threshold for temperatures, fan speed (syntax: type,instance,threshold) Example: --warning='temperature,.*,30' =item B<--critical> Set critical threshold for temperatures, fan speed (syntax: type,instance,threshold) Example: --critical='temperature,.*,40' =back =cut

Wyken Wyken, a suburb of Coventry, West Midlands, England, is situated between the areas of Stoke and Walsgrave, three miles northeast of Coventry city centre. The population of this Coventry Ward taken at the 2011 census was 16,818. It is a fairly large ward spreading as far as the Binley area. The majority of the houses in Wyken are terraced houses. The original parish ran close to the River Sowe and was mainly flat except for Wyken Heath and Wyken Knob near Stoke Heath. History The oldest building within Wyken is Saint Mary Magdalene's Church, located within Wyken Croft, which dates to the early 11th century. The village developed opposite the church and remained a small settlement until the 18th century at which point it began to expand. This original layout has since evolved as Wyken was incorporated into Coventry in 1932 resulting in boundary changes. Wyken became much larger than the original village and in the latest boundary change of 1993, Wyken received Coombe Fields from the parish of Rugby. Politics Since 1974, Wyken is a part of the Coventry North East Constituency. The Wyken Ward elects three councillors to Coventry City Council, all three of whom are Labour. Local legends The churchyard of St Mary Magdalene's church has been known to generations of residents as the site of a pirate grave dating to some time in the 19th century. The legend had it that to summon the spectre one had to run around the grave three times. This legend later evolved to running around the church itself three times followed by throwing a stone through the windows of the church, which led to the removal of the headstone by the vicar of the parish in the 1960s. It is also said to be the birthplace of St George in Caludon Castle, of which only one wall remains. Churches and schools St. Mary Magdalene's church is the oldest church in Coventry, being 900 years old; along with The Church of the Risen Christ only a few meters away, it forms one ministry (two buildings one church). Both are part of a group of Anglican parishes: the group also includes two other churches, The Church of the Holy Cross in Wyken and St. Michael's in Stoke. The secondary schools for the area are Caludon Castle School and Lyng Hall School. Notable residents Professional footballer Luke McCormick grew up in the district attending St John Fisher Catholic Primary School. Professional footballer Ian Evatt grew up in the area attending Caludon Castle. Actor Ron Cook grew up in the area attending Caludon Castle. MotoGP rider Cal Crutchlow grew up in Wyken. Professional darts player Mark McGeeney born in Wyken. Retired professional basketball player and owner of the Coventry Crusaders Robert "Dip" Donaldson previously lived in Wyken. Comedian and actor Guz Khan currently lives with his wife and children in this area. References External links British History Online: History of Wyken and Caludon Church Website Category:Suburbs of Coventry Category:Wards of Coventry

Google confirms Android 4.0 ICS is open source - twapi http://www.thinq.co.uk/2011/10/20/google-confirms-android-40-ics-open-source/ ====== joebadmo Android is Open Source in that Google dumps the source code into the open periodically. It's not developed in the open. Honeycomb's source was and never will be open. This is way farther on the 'open' side of the spectrum than any other major mobile OS. Is this, along with Android's open app marketplace, ability to install arbitrary third party software, and installability on any compatible device enough to warrant Google's marketing as 'open'? I say yes. ~~~ guelo > Honeycomb's source was and never will be open. Honeycomb will be in the git repo since it is what ICS was developed from. The question is if it will be specifically tagged. ------ martingordon Do we have a term to distinguish between the two different models of open source? The two models being the "development in public" model (Chrome, Firefox, Rails, etc) and the "release finished code" model (Android, most GPL components of closed source software, etc). ~~~ dmaz Cathedral and Bazaar works here ~~~ durin42 I'm not quite sure. Chromium (the open-source end of Chrome) is very much a cathedral in the sense of product direction, but is developed in the open. I can't come up with something that has the opposite pairing though (it'd be kind of strange). I'm all in favor of some pithy term for "source released under an open license but not developed in full view of the public." ~~~ elwin How about "write-closed" vs. "write-open"? Or more simply, "read-only open source". ~~~ nknight Fork-only might be more appropriate, since you're quite free to write to your copy. ------ parfe _Google's recalcitrance appears to stem from two issues: one is that Honeycomb is specifically designed for large-screen devices and Google is concerned that, if released, it would find its way onto unsuitable form factors; the other, hinted at by Google employees in the past, is that much of the code is a kludge unsuitable for publication._ I'm not sure why Google caught so much slack for keeping 3.0 closed source. I found these to be great reasons and instead of dealing with a bunch of HoneyComb/Android SUCKS reviews when someone put honeycomb on a small screen device google just weathered it out and released something with some quality. ~~~ MatthewPhillips That goes against the principle of open-source. The principle is that by releasing code to the public you will get contributions from others (an extra set of eyes) that will make the project overall better. But to accept this principle to have to also accept that some people will take your code and use it in ways that you don't approve. The hope/belief is that the good will float to the top. If you don't accept this premise then you don't really have an open-source project. I can't figure out why Android open sources its code, ever. They don't seem to care about contributions from the community, and they obviously don't want people using their code in ways they disapprove of. It seems that the major reason for open sourcing their code must be something else. What I keep coming back to is that it somehow protects them (in most cases) of patent violations. I've asked this in the past: what is Andy Rubin's open-source credentials? What open-source projects has he been involved in during his long and successful career? ~~~ km3k > They don't seem to care about contributions from the community Google accepts a lot of patches from the community. Many of the major custom ROMs regularly submit patches. Things aren't perfect at the moment since all this infrastructure was hosted at kernel.org and is still down, so I can't link you directly to examples of public patch submissions and code review, unfortunately. But I can tell you they used Gerrit for that code review. ~~~ telcodud AOSP source code is now back online: [http://groups.google.com/group/android- building/msg/c73c14f9...](http://groups.google.com/group/android- building/msg/c73c14f9b0dcd15a) ~~~ km3k That's correct. I should have mentioned that. Do you know if the gerrit code review website is back? I haven't been able to find a working URL for it. ~~~ telcodud FTA: There are a few limitations to be aware of: \- Our priority has been getting the main source code mirrors back online, so for the moment gitweb source browsing and Gerrit Code Review are still unavailable. ------ zobzu Something has to figure out that a product "IS" not open source AS LONG AS THE SOURCE IS NOT RELEASED. So no, right now, ICS is NOT open-source. It will be the day they release the source. Being open-source is not a design attribute. It's a process. ------ pingswept "Although the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich software development kit has been released, the source code is not yet out." I believe this is called "closed source." When I go to <http://source.android.com/>, the latest release is Android 2.3 ("Gingerbread"). Am I missing a repository somewhere, or is Google "happy claiming the kudos and moral high ground that comes with OSS without really delivering on it", as it's put later in this thread? (Edited to be less inflammatory) ~~~ Tyrannosaurs There's a difference between "making shit up" and pre-announcing. It's not unreasonable for them to hold back the source code until the first phone implementing the phone (the Galaxy Nexus) is available next month. ~~~ ajross It's not "unexpected" or "uncommon", maybe. I think it's entirely unreasonable for an entity calling itself an "open source project" to withhold code under development from the public. There's no project here. But it's still better than we got from Honeycomb (or Apple, or MS), so I guess beggars can't be choosers. ~~~ DannyBee Two of the original open source projects, emacs and GCC, did this for _many_ years. In fact, if you shared the source code of development versions, you were banned from the FTP server that contained it. ~~~ ajross That may be true (not sure abuot the banning thing, I've never heard that story), but you're sort of missing the difference in spirit. Certainly the FSF in its early days was eager and active in recruiting new developers, and merging code from the community. Read all the early Gnus Bulletins for lots of examples. If you wanted to see RMS's emacs source, all you had to do was ask and promise not to spread it around before he'd made a release. That policy may not have been a good idea in hindsight, but it certainly wasn't because of Stallman's desire to keep control over his "product". Google, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be much in the habit of letting people see their code simply because they want to contribute. ------ dman If the code is unfit for others to read why is it being shipped in production devices? ~~~ dabeeeenster Because the quality of the source code and the quality of the resultant binaries are two completely different things. ~~~ sovande The source code is used to produce the "resultant binaries" so unless you have a very strange definition of "quality" the OP has a very valid question. ~~~ zmmmmm > a very strange definition of "quality" Is it strange that, say, comments are stripped out of a binary? Or that the file names of the source files are not in there? These things are examples of aspects of quality that have no impact on the binary but make a big difference to the quality of the source. ------ radiant1 Sounds to me like a complete open sourced code is going to come to a decision when Google acquires Mototola Mobility... Will that be then end or a tweaked version for external developers? ------ playhard <http://opensource.apple.com/release/ios-50/> ~~~ X-Istence That is the source code for the open source stuff that Apple uses in their product, it is not the full OS itself.

The list of 25 individuals who've had the most impact on the exercise and sport science sector was compiled by the professional association, Exercise Sport Science Australia (ESSA). Professor Torode was included for her contribution to establishing ESSA's previous standards for exercise science and exercise physiology. This is in addition to having a major role in the assessment of many university courses through the national accreditation process. "It's a great honour to be selected among such prestigious individuals who have voluntarily contributed to the expanding field of exercise and sport science," Professor Torode said. "I'm very passionate about our discipline as I believe exercise and sport have the potential to improve or maintain an individual's health and well-being. "Through my contribution to the accreditation of university programs, I'm hopeful that Australian graduates of accredited courses will play a significant role in contributing to the positive mental and physical health of our community. Professor Torode, who has previously held senior positions at the University of Sydney and the Australian Catholic University, joined CSU in Bathurst in 2010. Head of the School of Exercise Science, Sport and Health, Professor Frank Marino, said, "This is not only a significant achievement but a well-deserved accolade for Associate Professor Margaret Torode. "She has given an incredible amount to the profession, not only in leadership of staff but also moving the profession from where it was to where it is today. "Due to professionals like Margaret, many of our graduates enjoy employment in a range of areas. "Simply, the profession would not be what it is today without the dedication, commitment and foresight by individuals such as Margaret." Associate Professor Margaret Torode is in the School of Exercise Science, Sport and Health at CSU in Bathurst. She is available for interviews on Monday 27 February and on Wednesday 29 February. Contact CSU Media.

Q: Why i am not able to Create the another dialog from one dialog? In My application i need to open one dialog. And on press of button on that dialog i want to open another dialog and do some action. Both the dialog are custom dialog. But while i do that i am not able to create the dialog... See below code: twsbiImageDialog = new Dialog(this,R.style.CustomDialogTheme); twsbiImageDialog.setContentView(R.layout.twsbi_logo_dialog); twsbiImageDialog.setCancelable(true); // To visit Website =================================== Button visitWebsiteButton = (Button) twsbiImageDialog.findViewById(R.id.visitWebsiteButton); visitWebsiteButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() { @Override public void onClick(View v) { twsbiImageDialog.dismiss(); Intent in = new Intent(FingerPaint.this,GoogleSite.class); startActivity(in); } }); // For About =================================== Button aboutButton = (Button) twsbiImageDialog.findViewById(R.id.aboutButton); aboutButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() { @Override public void onClick(View v) { twsbiImageDialog.dismiss(); //System.out.println("I Am here before Dialog"); aboutDialog = new Dialog(getApplicationContext(),R.style.CustomDialogTheme); aboutDialog.setContentView(R.layout.about_dialog); aboutDialog.setCancelable(true); Button okButton = (Button) aboutDialog.findViewById(R.id.okButton); okButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() { @Override public void onClick(View v) { aboutDialog.dismiss(); } }); aboutDialog.show(); //openAboutDialog(); } }); twsbiImageDialog.show(); And If i do like that i got the error like below: 12-05 11:43:21.568: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(545): FATAL EXCEPTION: main 12-05 11:43:21.568: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(545): android.view.WindowManager$BadTokenException: Unable to add window -- token null is not for an application 12-05 11:43:21.568: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(545): at android.view.ViewRoot.setView(ViewRoot.java:509) 12-05 11:43:21.568: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(545): at android.view.WindowManagerImpl.addView(WindowManagerImpl.java:177) 12-05 11:43:21.568: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(545): at android.view.WindowManagerImpl.addView(WindowManagerImpl.java:91) 12-05 11:43:21.568: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(545): at android.app.Dialog.show(Dialog.java:241) 12-05 11:43:21.568: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(545): at com.project.twsbi.FingerPaint$8.onClick(FingerPaint.java:546) 12-05 11:43:21.568: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(545): at android.view.View.performClick(View.java:2408) 12-05 11:43:21.568: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(545): at android.view.View$PerformClick.run(View.java:8816) 12-05 11:43:21.568: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(545): at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:587) 12-05 11:43:21.568: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(545): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:92) 12-05 11:43:21.568: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(545): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123) 12-05 11:43:21.568: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(545): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4627) 12-05 11:43:21.568: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(545): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method) 12-05 11:43:21.568: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(545): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:521) 12-05 11:43:21.568: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(545): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:868) 12-05 11:43:21.568: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(545): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:626) 12-05 11:43:21.568: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(545): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method) A: Use the current activity as context: aboutDialog = new Dialog(ActivityName.this,R.style.CustomDialogTheme);

A comparison of some of the pharmacokinetic parameters of three commercial sulphadiazine/trimethoprim combined preparations given orally to pigs. Three sulphadiazine/trimethoprim preparations were administered orally during feeding to pigs. Six male and six female pigs were used. Clinically important pharmacokinetic parameters of the two drugs in the three preparations were determined and compared. The plasma concentrations of sulphadiazine and trimethoprim increased rapidly in the pigs followed by a quite rapid decrease from 4 to 12 h after oral administration. The mean values of the absorption half-lives of sulphadiazine and trimethoprim were 0.9-1.6 h and 0.5-0.8 h, respectively. The corresponding values for the elimination half-lives of sulphadiazine and trimethoprim were 3.1-4.3 h and 3.4-6.0 h, respectively. There were no significant differences between the pharmacokinetic parameters of the two compounds in the three preparations with the exception of Tmax for sulphadiazine and t 1/2 beta for trimethoprim. Comparative bioavailability calculations showed no statistically significant differences between sulphadiazine and trimethoprim in the three preparations. The weight increase of the pigs during the experimental period (mean = 37.3-64.9 kg) did not cause differences in the kinetics of the two drugs which could have consequences for the use of the three combined preparations in clinical practice. No unacceptable or antibacterial residues of sulphadiazine or trimethoprim were found in the kidneys of pigs slaughtered at 5, 7 and 10 days after administration.

Q: Using java,browser is working in Windows 7,not with windows XP for opening component from GUI? I am trying to open one component details from my GUI.It is opening fine with Windows 7.But throwing error when I opened it from windows XP as with warning dialog "no default browser found".Can anyone help me? A: The error message seems pretty self-explanatory to me. You have not defined any default browser in your platform and therefore the system is unable to perform the action you request. Setting a default browser can be done with the following steps on WindowsXP: Open the control panel Choose Add/Remove programs On the left, press "Set program access and defaults" Choose your programs and press "OK"

Use of COMPARE analysis to discover functional analogues of bleomycin. Bleomycin was used as the reference compound in a COMPARE analysis to identify extracts in the National Cancer Institute's Natural Products Repository exhibiting cytotoxicity profiles similar to this antitumor agent. One of the extracts so identified was a CH(2)Cl(2)-methanol extract prepared from Gymnosporia trigyna, which effected relaxation of supercoiled pSP64 DNA in the presence of Cu(2+). Bioassay-guided fractionation using DNA strand-scission activity as an end point resulted in the isolation of four active principles. These were identified as syringaldehyde (1), (-)-syringaresinol (2), (+)-catechin (3), and (+)-epicatechin (4). Compounds 1 and 2 represent a new type of DNA strand-scission agent.

Q: Python ElementTree Copy Node with childs I have to merge multiple XML-Files into one. Furthermore the structure of the new file is different. This is my "old" structure: <a> <b> <c>1</c> <c></c> <c></c> <c></c> </b> <b> <c>1</c> <c></c> <c></c> <c></c> </b> <b> <c>2</c> <c></c> <c></c> <c></c> </b> </a> This should be the new one: <a> <1> <b> <c>1</c> <c></c> <c></c> <c></c> </b> <b> <c>1</c> <c></c> <c></c> <c></c> </b> </1> <2> <b> <c>2</c> <c></c> <c></c> <c></c> </b> </2> So I need a function which can copy a b-Element and it's childs. I dont want to use for-Loops for this. Or is that the right way? A: Are you sure you really need a copy? Would reorganizing the tree be sufficient? import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET list_of_files = ["tree1.xml", "tree2.xml", ...] new_tree = ET.Element("a") i = 1 for file in list_of_files: original_tree = ET.parse(file) sub_tree = ET.SubElement(new_tree, str(i)) i += 1 sub_tree.append (original_tree) new_tree.write("merged_tree.xml")

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?> <Keyboard xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:keyWidth="10%p"> <Row> <Key android:codes="q" android:keyEdgeFlags="left" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="z" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="e" android:popupKeyboard="@xml/dutch_popup_e" /> <Key android:codes="r" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="t" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="y" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="u" android:popupKeyboard="@xml/dutch_popup_u" /> <Key android:codes="i" android:popupKeyboard="@xml/dutch_popup_i" /> <Key android:codes="o" android:popupKeyboard="@xml/dutch_popup_o" /> <Key android:codes="p" android:keyEdgeFlags="right" android:popupCharacters="" /> </Row> <Row> <Key android:codes="a" android:keyEdgeFlags="left" android:popupKeyboard="@xml/dutch_popup_a" /> <Key android:codes="s" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="d" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="f" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="g" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="h" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="j" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="k" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="l" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="m" android:keyEdgeFlags="right" android:popupCharacters="" /> </Row> <Row> <Key android:codes="@integer/key_code_shift" android:keyWidth="20%p" android:isModifier="true" android:isSticky="true" android:keyEdgeFlags="left" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="w" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="x" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="c" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="v" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="b" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="n" android:popupCharacters="" /> <Key android:codes="@integer/key_code_delete" android:keyWidth="20%p" android:isRepeatable="true" android:keyEdgeFlags="right" android:popupCharacters="" /> </Row> </Keyboard>

SCADE – Cross-Platform Development with Swift - antfarm http://www.scade.io/ ====== diegoperini I wonder if it is really reliable to bootstrap a production quality app with this. Edge cases in platform APIs are still in a state that is harmful for a developer who uses cross platform tools like these. React Native or HTML5 based frameworks sort of cheat by using an additional VM layer on top.

1. Field The present disclosure relates to an organic light-emitting display device of which a manufacturing process is simplified and a method of manufacturing the same. 2. Description of the Related Technology A flat panel display device, such as an organic light-emitting display device or a liquid crystal display device, is fabricated on a substrate having a pattern including a thin film transistor (TFT), a capacitor, an interconnection line for connecting the TFT to the capacitor, and other components. In general, to form a micro pattern including a TFT or the like, a mask having the micro pattern is used to transfer the micro pattern on an array substrate on which a flat panel display device is to be fabricated. However, in the process of transferring a pattern by using a mask, first, a mask having a corresponding pattern needs to be prepared. Accordingly, the number of mask processes is increased and thus, manufacturing costs for the mask preparation also increase. Moreover, since a complicated process is performed as described above, the manufacturing process is complicated and the manufacturing time increases and thus, manufacturing costs increase. When a flat panel display device is manufactured by using a lower number of mask processes, various insulating layers, in particular, may overlap during the formation of a capacitor, and thus, signal transmittance by the capacitor may not smoothly occur. In the process of manufacturing a flat panel display device by using a lower number of mask processes, it is difficult to embody a structure in which a reflective film formed of silver (Ag) is inserted into a pixel electrode to increase light efficiency. Accordingly, there is a need to develop a novel structure for improving light efficiency.

Running Industry Bounces Back While they haven’t escaped the digital disruption that’s impacting all of physical retail, the run specialty channel appeared in better spirits at last week’s The Running Event in Austin. For the industry, the biggest benefit appears to be that inventories are in better shape after becoming elevated following the string of bankruptcies and related store closings from City Sports to Sports Authority, Luke’s Locker, MC Sports and others. “It’s still tough for retail out there, but a lot of stores are starting to stabilize,” said Lou Panaccione, co-founder and CEO of Oofos, at the event. “Over the last year or two, flat was the new up,” said Saucony President Pat O’Malley. “Now you have to be growing to be considered growing.” Some have also made adjustments, such as Fleet Feet Sports, which just delivered its first Black Friday that surpassed $1 million in sales across its network and saw comps online jump 36 percent on Cyber Monday. Joey Pointer, Fleet Feet’s CEO, credits efforts such as rolling out Fit ID, its new 3D scanning technology, to nearly all its stores with helping “make our stores stickier.” Dave Zimmer, owner of Fleet Feet Sports-Chicago, also believes cleaner inventory levels and the shake out at the store level, including the closing of some local run shops, have been beneficial overall to the channel. He added, however, “We still need to drive traffic. We need to bring energy to the stores.” Many of the sessions at The Running Event explored ways to drive engagement. At a breakfast session directly focused on digital engagement, Amanda Reiss, chief marketing officer at Saucony, “noted that while a recent study shows that while consumers are discovering 63 percent of new products via social media, brands are unfortunately not properly attributing sales to the channel as they should be, so there’s a disconnect when it comes to realizing the true impact the channel is having.” And while store traffic across retail may be down, the depth of information available on the internet is making consumers “much more qualified and targeted and ready to buy” once they get to the store. From a targeting standpoint, social media ”enables us to reach a qualified audience better than ever. You know who you are talking to and how to find them. There’s no demographic guessing games.” One platform expanding in appeal is Instagram, with visual communications particularly appealing to Millennials. Said Reiss, “Marketing is storytelling and Instagram is at the forefront of storytelling.” While social is causing some brands to develop media houses in-house, Reiss stated that “great content and storytelling is not about expensive content.” Much can be created via smartphones and having a physical presence such as a store that’s tied to a local community can be the strong foundation for generating content. Reiss said, “It’s more powerful to tell your own stories.” She also said videos are growing in importance although she advises keeping them “authentic and short” and likewise tap your ”passionate community” by playing up user-generated content. Reiss also underscored how running is well positioned to benefit from influencer marketing. She noted that Lululemon has partnerships with eight global yoga stars; over 75 professional athletics from soccer, climbing and other activities; and 1,500 local ambassadors that range from personal trainers to yoga instructors and running coaches. Saucony has used Molly Huddle, the American long-distance runner, as a brand advocate on social media. Finally, Reiss said store fronts can be used to share stories online, whether one about staff, the fit process or events to inspire and connect. Said Reiss, “Take advantage of the experience economy.” Saucony also brought out two social media experts to explore some digital acquisition and retention strategies. Amber Mac, president, Ambermac Media and author of the national bestselling business book, “Power Friending,” offered five digital marketing “trends, tips and tools.” All the points were influenced by the omnipresence of smartphones in daily lives as well as the soon-to-arrive immersion of connected households. She pointed to the popularity of voice assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa and Google while noting that a survey from Search Engine Land predicts that 50 percent of searches will come from voice by 2020. She said websites are going to have to be optimized to accommodate a “future of voice search.” Noting that 85 percent of videos played on Facebook have no sound, Mac highlighted the importance of silent videos. The practicality of silent videos is also evident when thinking about how smartphone users watch videos while waiting in grocery lines. She underscored the importance of captioning such videos. Mac also noted that according to Gartner, 85 percent of all customer interactions will be done by chatbots by 2020. Artificial intelligence (AI) promises to bring more relevancy and customization to chatbots to handle much more than simple questions, she added. Mac highlighted the effectiveness of “micro moments,” or mobile outreaches that require only a glance to identify and deliver quick information, as well as how videos in general can drive engagement. She noted while social platforms all work differently and attract unique audiences, much of development technology behind social engagement “is free” because they’re nearly all linked to smartphones. Michel Richeson, a social media and digital content expert, offered a number of tips around social media engagement. They include going “deep with your audience” by committing to providing a steady stream of quality content and “focusing on a message and telling a good story” rather than trying to “go viral” with a narrower outreach approach. Noting that social can be “messy,” he said marketers should be ready to continually adapt. Richeson also said a company needs to “stand for something” to give people reasons to buy their products, and that has to be evident in their social media outreach. He added, “I buy Yeti because of their YouTube channel, not because I need another cooler.” The overall goal should be to “create content so good that they’ll engage with you, share with you, and pay.” In a session entitled, “Health Profits from Healthy Runners,” Rick Muhr, Octane Fitness’ Commercial Zero Runner, underscored that while many running stores fret about missing digitally native Millennials, runners over the age of 45 are starting to leave the sport earlier than was traditional in the past due to injuries. Meb Keflezighi, the famed Olympian and International Marathon Champ who was also on the panel, said part of the problem is people are “too busy to stay fit.” They often only reserve a half hour to work out and miss the benefits of stretching before and after a run or getting proper sleep. He advises runners to get up earlier to find time for a proper workout. Said Keflezighi, “The goal is to have energy throughout the day.” Muhr said using the Zero Runner that replicates running but without any impact, as well as the ElliptiGO bike, can help reduce injuries from the pounding of running. Cross training and running on softer surfaces can also be beneficial. Having trainers or specialists on staff in a store to help runners improve their form and efficiency is the primary way to reduce injuries, Muhr contends. That’s followed on the training side by focusing on strengthening the core. But the overall basics of sleeping well, eating right, taking a day off and mixing in walking with running also needs to be continually reinforced. Indeed, Muhr believes technology such as running watches have been both a “blessing and a curse” because they tend to encourage runners to go too fast. Often, running at a slower pace helps improve speed in the long run. Muhr said, “We wouldn’t get on a weight bench in a gym and do 30 reps. The law of diminishing returns stops at 10. So we do three sets of 10. We should adapt that same philosophy for runners.” At another session, Steve Ginsburg of RAM Racing, known for its Hot Chocolate 15K/5K race series, and Fleet Feet Chicago’s Zimmer talked about their 2016 deal that saw Zimmer acquire Ginsburg’s Running Away location in Deerfield, IL and Ginsburg take over Zimmer’s racing business in the Chicago area. In the deal, the two agreed that it was challenging to run a race business without neglecting the retail side of the business. But the duo also stressed how races not only drive runners to stores to pick up race packets and provide exposure to stores, but “create energy around the store” and can underpin local communities, according to Zimmer. Discussing some recent challenges around race participation, Ginsburg admitted that the proven benefits of running health-wise may not be enough for Millennials to embrace races. But he believes the “personal stories they capture” and its charitable focus will hold appeal to the social and idealistic generation. Zimmer noted that running races raise about a half billion annually for charities, second only in the sports world to the PGA. Ginsburg believes the rise of adventure races, whether color runs, mud runs or obstacle runs, has been negative for the sport of running since they aren’t timed, don’t require training or coaching and aren’t leading to many consumers getting properly fit at a store. He added, “You can run anywhere, anytime for free with one caveat. You have to be fit properly for a pair of shoes.” In a keynote session, Walter Robb, former Whole Foods CEO, said the fast pace of change means store owners need to be constantly “thinking ahead of the curve.” Stores need to be on the social platforms many younger generations are on and not only provide rich digital content but quick home delivery and in-store pickup that are becoming expected online options. Promotions, he said, are necessary to blend a strong price/value relationship into the in-store experience but said they’re “always about having the right combination.” He’s an advocate of keeping deals out for a limited time and making them “fewer and deeper” in nature. He joked, “Getting 10 percent off is kind of like kissing your sister.” He wondered whether running stores could explore banding together in making buys, pointing to the benefit Whole Foods found from NCG (National Co+op Grocers) in the grocery channel. On the upside, running shops should continue to benefit by bringing new brands to the marketplace. He said, “You can be the nurturer of young brands. It’s hard for them to be attractive to the big retailers.” He also cited growth as important in supporting internal momentum in the business. Said Robb, “It’s exciting to open a new store. It’s exciting to open a new state. It’s exciting to go to a new community.” But his major underlying message was the importance of culture that involves making the right hires and supporting the local community. He said culture is “what you feel when you walk in the store” and it’s also “the petri dish through which your business happens.” Much of building culture comes from showing appreciation for and empowering your staff. Said Robb, “Look to cultivate, develop and create space for the creativity and talent of every single one of your team members. That’s where the magic of the business happens.”

Q: How to add background-image onto the first option of a dropdownlist I have the dropdownlist like this one : <asp:dropdownlist ID ="ddlgender" runat="server"> <asp:ListItem Text="--Please Select--" Value="0"></asp:ListItem> <asp:ListItem Text="Male" Value="1"></asp:ListItem> <asp:ListItem Text="Female" Value="2"></asp:ListItem> <asp:ListItem Text="Unknown" Value="3"></asp:ListItem> </asp:dropdownlist> I want to add small background image to the first option of the dropdownlist before the text : -- Please Select -- ; indicating user that the dropdownlist box must be selected before submitting the form. I have done this kind of stuff in textboxes with css which is very easy , but I dont know how to do it with dropdownlist. Any hint or suggestions are really really appreciated. Thanks Experts A: as far as i know unless you build a composite control you can't add images to select menus. however, this article may help you: http://v2.easy-designs.net/articles/replaceSelect/

President Barack Obama’s foreign policy is anchored in the belief that restraining American power and influence is preferred to a strong U.S. in the world, says a Pepperdine University political scientist. Robert G. Kaufman uses the Ronald Reagan question “Are we better off than we were eight years ago?” on Obama’s statecraft and answers in the negative. Kaufman says Obama’s policies are “gravely dangerous” in this exclusive video interview for The Daily Caller News Foundation. (RELATED: Cuban-American Filmmaker Warns America Is Morphing Into Communist Country) Kaufman says Obama: rejected American exceptionalism, diminished American power, demoralized our democratic allies, unleashed Russian President Vladimir Putin, enabled China’s adventurism, helped Iran — America’s foe — become a nuclear power, turned a blind eye to radical Islam and invited danger by conveying American weakness. The alternative, he says, was an American foreign policy built on clear, credible, capable strength. Kaufman’s book “Dangerous Doctrine: How Obama’s Grand Strategy Weakened America,” delves into all of these subjects in detail, as well as what brought him to the Washington, D.C. area recently when this interview was conducted at the Institute for World Politics. He also says former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may be the equivalent of the “best looking in the physics class,” but was secretary of state when she refused to put Boko Horam on the designated terrorist list, endangering the innocent victims of this group — prompting First Lay Michelle Obama to use the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. Kaufman ends this video with a surprising, bi-partisan criticism of Donald Trump. Mrs. Thomas does not necessarily support or endorse the products, services or positions promoted in any advertisement contained herein, and does not have control over or receive compensation from any advertiser. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

enrollment increased by 7.0 percent from 702 in 2014 to 751 in 2015. Total undergraduate enrollment for 2015 ... students in 2014 and 2015. Transition students from ATI in Autumn Semester 2015 increased 21.3 percent from ... 75 in 2014 to 91 in 2015 (with 4 additional in ENR). The number of new first-year students who ...

Effects of glycosaminoglycans on the glomerular changes induced by Adriamycin. Glycosaminoglycans can stimulate the synthesis of glomerular basement membrane (GBM) proteins by glomerular cells and correct biochemical alterations of the GBM. In this study we examine the effects of heparin and low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) on glomerular permeability to proteins and glomerular structure in Adriamycin-treated rats. One Adriamycin dose of 5 mg/kg body weight was administered i.v. to 38 female Wistar rats. Eleven animals were also treated with heparin (250 U) administered s.c. twice daily and 7 with LMWH 6 mg/kg body weight administered s.c. twice daily. Urine samples were collected before and 30 and 60 days after the beginning of treatment to quantify albumin excretion and to characterize urinary proteins by gel filtration and electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gels. Blood samples were also collected on day 60 from these rats to estimate renal permeability by gel filtration; the rats were then killed and the kidneys removed for histological analysis. Heparin administration caused a reduction in urinary albumin excretion and in the incidence of segmental glomerulosclerosis in Adriamycin-treated rats. However, heparin did not modify the selectivity of the GBM to proteins of different molecular weights. These data suggest that the effect of heparin on albuminuria may be due to changes in the negative GBM charges induced by this drug.

This was the title of a course during last year's Swanwick Writers' Summer School, which was meant to help me kick-start some momentum. Of course what actually happened was I spent the summer looking after a boyfriend with two broken hands, and by the time he was out of plaster we hit the winter and my chain of colds. So I've dug my notes out to try and make a belated start on Getting Stuff Done. The first part of the course dealt with how the unconscious mind works. There was a lot of cross-over with the Ways of Seeing course I was also taking, and I need to put the notes from that into action too since that's another thing that got put to one side. Basically, because of the way the brain filters things, we all see the world differently. We "delete" things that aren't important to what we're doing now, "distort" things to have meaning that isn't really there, and "generalise" about pretty much everything. This is all tied into the part of the brain called the reticular activating system, which is the bit that drives automatic functions. It's the reason you can perform an action you do every day (like taking the bus to work) and have little or no memory of it - most of it's done on auto-pilot, and the brain deletes the bits it doesn't need. The problem is this makes it very easy to drop into a mindset where writing isn't and won't get done. Something else has replaced it in importance (Minecraft! The brain prefers instant to delayed gratification) and so the RAS is focussed on that instead. Opportunities just aren't spotted - that spare twenty minutes is time to spend on Candy Crush instead of time to write. You aren't writing so the brain deletes things that might be helpful to writing because it's not important right now. This leads to distorted thoughts like "I never sell any stories" - but this is because they're not being written and sent out, not because they're not any good - and generalisation: "Everyone else is more successful than me." The way to deal with this is to have specific outsomes and goals in mind. This is so the brain knows where it's going and what it should be looking out for. The goal is what you're aiming for ("finish a novel") and the outcome what you get as a result ("buy a house with my whopping advance and royalties"). I know there's a lot of talk in writer circles at the moment about not having goals you can't control ("sell a novel") - because it's demoralising when you can't meet them. This is why having goals you can control as part of this is important - it's no good deciding on what you want but giving no thought to how you'll get there. The outcome is just to give the RAS something to aim at, so it spots the opportunities that will help you in that direction and keep you moving. Otherwise you could stall when you get to an outcome you meet unexpectedly, which is something I found when entering Writers of the Future. Although I wasn't thinking in these terms at the time, the goal was to write and submit to every quarter and the outcome was to win. The winning wasn't the point - my expectation was to build up an inventory of stories I could get rejected by WOTF and submit other places. And then I won first time, and ended up with one story I couldn't send anywhere else, and I stalled. On one hand, you could say that having a goal and outcome had the desired effect. On the other, I hadn't planned beyond the winning. Part of the method for setting up your goals is to have a timeline. Where do you need to be in six, nine, twelve months? During the course I decided I needed to have completed my novel in progress by the end of 2015 so I could have it ready for the 2016 round of open submission periods (if there were any) and start looking into submitting it. However shortly after starting the work I realised I didn't actually want to be writing a novel . So I scribbled out all those plans, and tried to decide what I wanted to do instead. And then stuff happened and here I am nine months later having got no further with anything. I still don't want to write a novel yet, but I've decided I do need to start small to avoid being overwhelmed. So the plan is, blog every Tuesday (twice a month about writing, once about jewellery, and once or twice about whatever), do the Flash Challenge every weekend except the one before late week. Now I've started on those, I'm going to go through the various drafts lying around and start finishing them, and also go through my reprints to see if I can get them out the door. Small steps, but as I get the momentum going I'm confident I can add larger goals. I have novellas to finish, poetry to write. Maybe I'll get to a novel eventually, but for the moment I'm happy to start with baby steps.

Solid Scent is a solid perfume, so there’s no worry about spilling it, and instead of being in a little jar or locket or other container you have to stick your fingers in, it’s in a tube. This provides for mess-free application and the small size makes it easy to carry- anywhere. Product Information Ingredients: Sweet Almond Oil, Grape Seed Oil, Candelilla Wax, Coconut Oil, Vitamin E, Fragrance. Size: Solid scent in a .15 oz oval tube.Other: Due to the nature of the ingredients, there is a chance that your product will melt in the heat, so if this occurs just stand it upright and allow to cool or stick it in the fridge to speed up the process. Storage and Shelf Life In optimal storage conditions, meaning, “a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight”, you can expect your unused, unopened OHWTO products to last at LEAST this long, if not longer: Solid Scents: 1 year Lip Balms: 9 months Bar Soaps: 1 year Cream Soaps: 1 year Snake Oil/National Treasure: 1 year Perfume Oils: 5 years Body Butters: 1 year Scrubs: 1 year Flower Balm/Cuticle Balms: 1 year Safety Precautions Just as with ANY bath/body product you haven’t used before, please test on a small area before applying all over, and don’t use it at all if you have any question whatsoever as to your own tolerances for the listed ingredients. Discontinue use if irritation occurs, keep out of eyes and don’t apply to broken skin or mucous membranes. About One Hand Washes the Other (OHWTO) Vegan-friendly bath & body products, handmade in small batches, with so much variety that there’s sure to be something for everyone!. Hand made in the USA. Weight 12.00 g Reviews There are no reviews yet. Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review. Product Enquiry Name Email address Enquiry ALL product descriptions and information is provided by the brand. Although we strive to provide you with an accurate portrayal of the product, please keep in mind many factors are subjective. What we have listed as ‘microglitter’ may be described by the customer as just a ‘glitter’ or ‘texture’; an ‘emerald green’ may be seen as a ‘rich teal’ by the customer. Our product swatches are picked carefully by our team, but please remember that swatches are also subjective to application technique and lighting. While every attempt is made to accurately portray all product colours, variations from what you see on your screen compared to what you see with your own eyes are inevitable due to individual monitor settings. If you are unsure as to if a product is suitable for you, we encourage you to contact us via the ‘Product Enquiry’ tab, we are more than happy to assist you wherever we can. We also encourage customers to view our review tab (if applicable), and to visit the site of the swatcher (linked at base of 'description' tab, if applicable). Most swatchers review their products, and their firsthand experience & product knowledge is valuable! Established in 2011 Femme Fatale is the leading Australian online boutique for handmade cosmetics & lacquer, plus additional beauty care items produced by small-scale businesses. We stock over 40 unique & vibrant artisan brands from around the world, with new products arriving each week.

Welcome to The Longcross Hotel Restaurant and Gardens Set in almost 4 acres of its own grounds and gardens, overlooking some 20 miles of the North Cornwall coast, perched high above Port Quin, between Port Isaac and Polzeath. The Longcross Hotel the perfect secluded location to enjoy a quiet relaxing break The Longcross is in the perfect secluded location to enjoy a quiet relaxing break yet is within easy striking distance of some of the area’s best attractions. Rock and the Camel Estuary with its associated sailing and watersports and easy ferry access to Padstow, the championship golf course at St. Enodoc, Daymer Bay and Polzeath surfing beaches, historic Port Isaac fishing village, local market town of Wadebridge with cycle hire for the Camel Trail to Padstow and the diverse Bodmin Moor are all within 20 minutes drive. The Longcross, named after the ancient stone standing at the East gate which once guided pilgrims to a nearby monastery at Roscarrock, is a converted Victorian gentlemen’s residence. Purchased by James and Sharon Bishop in January 2005 the hotel has been beautifully refurbished with all the rooms receiving brand new bathrooms and interior design. Some of the rooms have glorious sea-views and many have the generous proportions, high ceilings and detailed features so favoured by the Victorians.

Q: Erlang - Removing repeating tuples according to first value I am trying to create a function that will look into a list of tuples and remove the ones that have identical first elements. For example: rmvSameTpl([{2,1}, {2,1}, {3,1}, {2,1}]). should return [{2,1}, {3,1}]. The problem is my function always returns only the first tuple and as I'm a beginner I can't figure out why that is the case? -export([rmvSameTpl/1]). rmvSameTpl ([])-> []; rmvSameTpl ([Z])-> [Z]; rmvSameTpl ( [H|T] ) -> [H| [L || L<-rmvSameTpl(T), (element(1, H)) /= (element(1, T))] ]. Any help will be appreciated. A: Your approach has O(N^2) time complexity. There is obvious simple O(N*logN) solution: 1> lists:ukeysort(1, [{2,1}, {2,1}, {3,1}, {2,1}]). [{2,1},{3,1}] A: You are doing a wrong comparison in the last case: (element(1, H)) /= (element(1, T)) instead of (element(1, H)) /= (element(1, L)). It fails with an exception, since T is a list and not a tuple. But in Erlang list comprehensions, failing filters are treated as false, so [L || L<-rmvSameTpl(T), (element(1, H)) /= (element(1, T))] ends up being the empty list.

removed1.txt removed2.bin recursivedir/meh/* dir/ this file has spaces extra-spaces

Thursday, July 28, 2011 The disadvantage of tabling is that Republicans will insist that Boehner’s proposal had a chance in the Senate, and that Reid was simply afraid that it would pass. Of course, in the real world, voting to table something is exactly the same thing as voting to kill it. But alas, the above analysis by Suzy Khimm is just good reporting on looking-glass land, as seen in this pathetic Erick Erickson post (my emphasis): One week ago the entire conservative movement was unified behind Cut, Cap, and Balance as was both House and Senate GOP caucus — no small feat to be sure. Then, because Harry Reid denied CCB a vote through a procedural motion, John Boehner produces a crackpot plan that rips the conservative movement apart at the seams and after taking two stabs at it, still can’t get to the promised $1.2 trillion in cuts he initially claimed it would have. I'm not sure whether Erickson is irresponsibly misinformed or telling a deliberate lie, but Harry Reid did no such thing. Allowing a vote to table is allowing a vote. Indeed, Reid is under no obligation to bring up House-passed bills at all, and if he does bring them up they could easily be killed through the cloture procedure, which would at least give opponents an argument about a "procedural motion," albeit hardly a reasonable one given that it's the Republicans who have made it a 60-vote Senate. But a motion to table? That's pretty much what Republicans during the Bush presidency used to call an "up-or-down vote," before they (and, to be sure, the Democrats) flipped on or about January 20, 2009. And as I've been writing this, Harry Reid just announced that he'll hold the vote to table tonight if Boehner can get his bill through the House this evening.

Dinesh Chandra Goswami Dr. Dinesh Chandra Goswami is an Assamese writer and winner of the Sahitya Akademi's Bal Sahitya Puraskar for 2014. Early life Dinesh Chandra was born in Ulubari Sattra village of Nalbari district of Assam in 1949. He finished his education, MSc and PhD degree from Gauhati University. Towards the beginning of his career, in 1970, he was a lecturer in Physics. He later worked at various institutions such as CSIR, New Delhi and Regional Research Laboratory, Jorhat as a scientist. Besides Assamese he knows English and Hindi. Career as a writer He started writing a Children's column at the age of 11. His first book (Abhinava Abiskar) was published in 1975. He has published about seven novels, seven short story collections, one children's drama, forty-five popular science books, and various text books and guide books. Some of his significant works include novels such asJonakir Jilikani, " Sabdaa Nirontor Sabda", "Divya Upaban", "Atmajibonir Ditiyo Prayas",Tritonor Abhiyan (Drama), Abhinna Hriday (SHORT Stories), Kalpajagat (Short Stories) . He has been the Editor of various encyclopaedias, journals, and magazines. Awards He has won several awards including: three Asom Sahitya Sabha Awards Gopal Chandra Goswami Award – 1968 and 1972 Premdhar Dutta Award – 1980 National Award for Best S&T coverage in mass media by National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) – 1997 Honoured by the President of India for contribution to children's literature – 2007 Assam Publication Board award-2012 Bisan Lal Agarwal environment award-2013 Lifetime achievement award from the Publication Board, Assam - 2016 References Category:Living people Category:1949 births Category:5th Lok Sabha members Category:Lok Sabha members from Assam Category:People from Nalbari district Category:Assamese-language writers

Alpha for Youth #TRYALPHA Alpha for Youth is an incredible way of helping young people explore the meaning of life. Involving food, fun, discussion and fast moving talky bits, we highly recommend Alpha for young people alongside Rock Solid, Lumen or Mettle, and now with the new Film Series, it’s never been easier to get involved. Alpha is highly adaptable and can be used as part of your ongoing YFC Resources group, in a church context, in schools or colleges, in a coffee house or cinema!

Physiological responses and toxin production of Microcystis aeruginosa in short-term exposure to solar UV radiation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of short-term (hours) exposure to solar UV radiation (UVR, 280-400 nm) on the physiology of Microcystis aeruginosa. Three solar radiation treatments were implemented: (i) PAR (PAR, 400-700 nm), (ii) TUVA (PAR + UVAR, 315-700 nm) and (iii) TUVR (PAR + UVAR + UVBR, 280-700 nm). Differential responses of antioxidant enzymes and the reactive oxygen species (ROS) production to UVR were observed. Antioxidant enzymes were more active at high UVR doses. However, different responses were observed depending on the exposure to UVAR or UVBR and the dose level. No effects were observed on the biomass, ROS production or increased activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) compared to the control when UVR + PAR doses were lower than 9875 kJ m-2. For intermediate doses, UVR + PAR doses between 9875 and 10 275 kJ m-2, oxidative stress increased while resistance was imparted through SOD and CAT in the cells exposed to UVAR. Despite the increased antioxidant activity, biomass decrease and photosynthesis inhibition were observed, but no effects were observed with added exposure to UVBR. At the highest doses (UVR + PAR higher than 10 275 kJ m-2), the solar UVR caused decreased photosynthesis and biomass with only activation of CAT by UVBR and SOD and CAT by UVAR. In addition, for such doses, a significant decrease of microcystins (MCs, measured as MC-LR equivalents) was observed as a consequence of UVAR. This study facilitates our understanding of the SOD and CAT protection according to UVAR and UVBR doses and cellular damage and reinforces the importance of UVR as an environmental stressor. In addition, our results support the hypothesized antioxidant function of MCs.

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india Updated: May 03, 2019 18:10 IST Congress president Rahul Gandhi has made an emotional appeal to the voters of his Lok Sabha constituency, Amethi, ahead of the polling day and promised to give momentum to the development works allegedly “blocked” by the BJP government. In a letter written to the members of his “Amethi pariwar” (Amethi family), Gandhi said he drew strength from them to stand firmly, listen to the woes of people and raise their voice. “It is my promise to the people of Amethi that as soon as the Congress forms its government at the Centre, the schemes blocked by the BJP will be started. On May 6, vote in large numbers to bring back this member of the family,” the three-time MP from the seat said in the letter. The Congress president said his “Amethi pariwar” is aware that at the time of elections, those in the BJP start a “factory of lies” and run “rivers of cash” to draw voters, adding that the saffron party is not aware that Amethi’s strength is its honesty, integrity and simplicity. Comparing the ideology of the Congress with that of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he accused the latter of aiming to instal 15 to 20 industrialists as the owners of the government. “Under the Congress system, the people are the owners, while under the BJP system, it is Anil Ambani,” he said. Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesperson Anshu Awasthi said the letter would be posted on social media platforms and party workers would go door-to-door in Amethi with the message from the party president. Polling for the ongoing Lok Sabha election will be held in Amethi, a Gandhi family bastion, in the fifth phase on May 6. The Congress chief is pitted against Union minister and BJP candidate Smriti Irani, whom he had defeated in the 2014 polls by a margin of over one lakh votes.

define(function(require, exports, module) { require("jquery.jcrop-css"); require("jquery.jcrop"); var Notify = require('common/bootstrap-notify'); var ImageCrop = require('edusoho.imagecrop'); exports.run = function() { var $modal = $("#modal"); //构建副本 var imagecopy = $('#article-pic-crop').clone(); var imageCrop = new ImageCrop({ element: "#article-pic-crop", group: 'article', cropedWidth: 754, cropedHeight: 424 }); $('#article-pic-crop').on('load', function(){ imageCrop.get('img').destroy(); var control = $('#modal .controls')[0]; var $control = $(control); $control.prepend(imagecopy); console.log('load'); var newimageCrop = new ImageCrop({ element: "#article-pic-crop", group: 'article', cropedWidth: 754, cropedHeight: 424 }); newimageCrop.on("afterCrop", function(response){ var url = $("#upload-picture-crop-btn").data("gotoUrl"); $.post(url, {images: response}, function(data){ $modal.modal('hide'); $("#article-thumb-container").show(); $("#article-thumb-remove").show(); $("#article-thumb").val(data.large.file.uri); $("#article-originalThumb").val(data.origin.file.uri); $('#article-thumb-preview').attr('src',data.large.file.url); $("#article-thumb-container").html("<img class='img-responsive' src='"+data.large.file.url+"'>") }); }); $("#upload-picture-crop-btn").click(function(e) { e.stopPropagation(); var postData = { imgs: { large: [754, 424] }, deleteOriginFile: 0 }; newimageCrop.crop(postData); }); }); imageCrop.on("afterCrop", function(response){ var url = $("#upload-picture-crop-btn").data("gotoUrl"); $.post(url, {images: response}, function(data){ $modal.modal('hide'); $("#article-thumb-container").show(); $("#article-thumb-remove").show(); $("#article-thumb").val(data.large.file.uri); $("#article-originalThumb").val(data.origin.file.uri); $('#article-thumb-preview').attr('src',data.large.file.url); $("#article-thumb-container").html("<img class='img-responsive' src='"+data.large.file.url+"'>") }); }); $("#upload-picture-crop-btn").click(function(e) { e.stopPropagation(); var postData = { imgs: { large: [754, 424] }, deleteOriginFile: 0 }; imageCrop.crop(postData); }); }; });

Memory effects of arginine vasopressin (AVP) and [7-9] fragment of its peptide chain in rats. The effect of arginine vasopressin (AVP) and [7-9]-vasopressin on different memory types was examined in tests of active avoidance, passive avoidance and water maze after both intraventricular and subcutaneous injections. Results were compared with AVP and [7-9]AVP effects in open field and holeboard tests. Significant latency time elongation was observed after both icv and s.c. injections of AVP but not [7-9]AVP in the passive avoidance test. This effect was blocked by [beta-Mercapto-beta, beta-cyclopentanometyleno1-propionylo1-O-Et-Tyr2,Val4,Arg8]-vasopressin, an antagonist of V1 receptors. Injections of both peptides did not improve the performance in other performed tests including the open field test and the holeboard test. Therefore the results confirmed that AVP improves memory only in the passive avoidance test. This effect is probably mediated by central V1 receptors and is not induced by exploratory and locomotor activity impairment. Considering the above results together with the literature data, it seems that the most important fragment of AVP is [4-6] AVP.

Endothelin modulation of tissue plasminogen activator release from human vascular endothelial cells in culture. To clarify a possible involvement of the vasoconstrictive peptide endothelin in the regulation of endothelial cell-mediated fibrinolytic system, confluent cultures of vascular endothelial cells from human umbilical vein were incubated in serum-free medium in the presence of endothelin-1 at 100 nM and below, and tissue plasminogen activator antigen (t-PA:Ag) in the medium was determined by enzyme immunoassay. Endothelin-1 at 1 nM and above significantly decreased the release of t-PA:Ag from the endothelial cells after a 24 h incubation. The t-PA:Ag release was also decreased by either endothelin-2 or endothelin-3 at 10 nM. The activity of lactate dehydrogenase in the medium was not changed by endothelin-1 at 100 nM and below, suggesting that the peptide did not cause nonspecific cell damage. The decrease in the t-PA:Ag release induced by endothelin-1 occurred in the presence or absence of 8-bromo cyclic AMP, which is an active congener of cyclic AMP; 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, which is an inhibitor of phosphodiesterase; and forskolin, which is a stimulator of adenylate cyclase. These results strongly indicated that cyclic AMP which is known to down-regulate t-PA:Ag release was not involved in the endothelin-1 effect. However, endothelin-1 failed to decrease the t-PA:Ag release in the presence of either calcium ionophore A23187 or EGTA; the ionophore itself markedly decreased the release. The cytosolic calcium accumulation was significantly increased by endothelin-1. These results suggest that endothelin-1 decreases the release of t-PA:Ag from human endothelial cells through an excess accumulation of intracellular, especially cytosolic which would be mediated by an extracellular, calcium-dependent mechanism.

Amyloidosis in a patient with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease and tuberculosis: a case report. Autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease is an inherited disorder characterized by the development and growth of cysts in the kidneys. Urinary protein excretion is generally less than 1 g/day, and the association of the nephrotic syndrome with this condition is considered rare. A 39-year-old man with autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease and nephrotic-range proteiuria is described. During admission, he had general edema and a diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. The patient had hyperlipidemia, hypoalbuminemia, and 11.8 g/day proteinuria. The gingiva and rectum biopsies were performed in order to evaluate the etiology of nephrotic syndrome, and revealed AA amyloidosis thought to be secondary to pulmonary tuberculosis. We maintained the antituberculous treatment and began colchicine at a dose of 2 g/day and candesartan 8 mg/day. To our knowledge, this is the first autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease case with nephrotic syndrome due to amyloidosis secondary to pulmonary tuberculosis.

Q: Functional Equivalent to Python Statement Logic I'm trying to find the functional equivalent of logic statements in Python (e.g. and/or/not). I thought I had found them in the operator module, but the behavior is remarkable different. For example, the and statement does the behavior I want, whereas operator.and_ seems to requir an explicit type comparison, or else it throws a TypeError exception. >>> from operator import * >>> class A: pass ... >>> and_(A(), True) Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for &: 'instance' and 'bool' >>> A() and True True Is there something like the operator module, but containing functions that match the behavior of Python's statement logic exactly? A: The functions operator.and_ and operator.or_ are the equivalent of the bit-wise "and" function and "or" function, respectively. There are no functions representing the and and or operators in operator, but you can use the built-ins any() and all() instead. They will take a single sequence as argument, but you can simply pass a tuple of two entries to use them as binary operators. Note that it is impossible to match the logic of and and or exactly with any function you call. For example False and sys.stdout.write("Hello") will never print anything, while f(False, sys.stdout.write("Hello")) will always print the output, regardless how f() is defined. This is also the reason they are omitted from operator.

Are too-big-to-fail banks organized criminal conspiracies? And if so, shouldn't we seize their assets, just like we do to drug cartels? Let's examine their sorry record of deceit and deception that has surfaced in just the past two months: Loan Sharking You want to get really, really pissed off? Then read "Major Banks Aid in Payday Loans Banned by States" by Jessica Silver-Greenberg in the New York Times (2/23/13). In sickening detail, she describes how the largest banks in the United States are facilitating modern loansharking by working with Internet payday loan companies to escape anti-loansharking state laws. These payday firms extract enormous interest rates that often run over 500 percent a year. (Fifteen states prohibit payday loans entirely, and all states have usury limits ranging from 8 to 24 percent. See the list.) The big banks, however, don't make the loans. They hide behind the scenes to facilitate the transactions through automatic withdrawals from the victim's bank account to the loansharking payday companies. Without those services from the big banks, these Internet loansharks could not operate. Enabling the payday loansharks to evade the law is bad enough. But even more deplorable is why the big banks are involved in the first place. For the banks, it can be a lucrative partnership. At first blush, processing automatic withdrawals hardly seems like a source of profit. But many customers are already on shaky financial footing. The withdrawals often set off a cascade of fees from problems like overdrafts. Roughly 27 percentof payday loan borrowers say that the loans caused them to overdraw their accounts, according to a report released this month by the Pew Charitable Trusts. That fee income is coveted, given that financial regulations limiting fees on debit and credit cards have cost banks billions of dollars. Take a deep breath and consider what this means. Banks like JPMorgan Chase provide the banking services that allow Internet payday loansharks to exist in the first place, with the sole purpose of breaking the state laws against usury. Then Chase vultures the victims, who are often low-wage earners struggling to make ends meet, by extracting late fees from the victims' accounts. So impoverished single moms, for example, who needed to borrow money to make the rent, get worked over twice: First they get a loan at an interest rate that would make Tony Soprano blush. Then they get nailed with overdraft fees by their loansharking bank. For Subrina Baptiste, 33, an educational assistant in Brooklyn, the overdraft fees levied by Chase cannibalized her child support income. She said she applied for a $400 loan from Loanshoponline.com and a $700 loan from Advancemetoday.com in 2011. The loans, with annual interest rates of 730 percent and 584 percent respectively, skirt New York law. Ms. Baptiste said she asked Chase to revoke the automatic withdrawals in October 2011, but was told that she had to ask the lenders instead. In one month, her bank records show, the lenders tried to take money from her account at least six times. Chase charged her $812 in fees and deducted over $600 from her child-support payments to cover them. Let's be clear: JPMorgan Chase, the big bank that supposedly is run oh-so-well by Obama's favorite banker, Jamie Dimon, is aiding, abetting and profiting from screwing loanshark victims. What possible justification could anyone at Chase have for being involved in this slimy business? The answer is simple: profit. Dimon and company can't help themselves. They see a dollar in someone else's pocket, even a poor struggling single mom, and they figure out how to put it in their own. Of course, everyone at the top will play dumb, order an investigation and then if necessary, dump some lower-level schlep. More than likely, various government agencies will ask the bank to pay a fine, which will come from the corporate kitty, not the pockets of bank executives. And the banks will promise — cross their hearts — never again to commit that precise scam again. (Update: After the publication of Jessica Silver-Greenberg's devastating article, Jamie Dimon "vowed on Tuesday to change how the bank deals with Internet-based payday lenders that automatically withdraw payments from borrowers’ checking accounts," according to the New York Times. Dimon called the practices "terrible." In a statement, the bank said, it was “taking a thorough look at all of our policies related to these issues and plan to make meaningful changes.”) Money Laundering for the Mexican Drug Cartels and Rogue Nations HSBC, the giant British-based bank with a large American subsidiary, agreed on Dec. 11, 2012 to pay $1.9 billion in fines for laundering $881 million for Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and Colombia's Norte del Valle cartel. The operation was so blatant that "Mexican traffickers used boxes specifically designed to the dimensions of an HSBC Mexico teller's window to deposit cash on a daily basis," reports Reuters. They also facilitated "hundreds of millions more in transactions with sanctioned countries," according to the Justice Department. Our banks got nailed as well. "In the United States, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Wachovia Corp and Citigroup Inc have been cited for anti-money laundering lapses or sanctions violations," continues the Reuters report. My, my, JPMorgan Chase, the biggest bank in the U.S. sure does get around. And the penalty? A fine (paid by the HSBC shareholders, of course, that amounts to 5.5 weeks of the bank's earnings) and we promise – honest — never to do it again. Too Big to Indict? Wait, it gets worse. Why weren't criminal charges filed against the bank itself? After all, the bank overtly violated money laundering laws. This was no clerical error. The answer is simple: "Too big to Indict," screams the NYT editorial headline. You see federal authorities are worried that if they indict, the bank would fail, which in turn would lead to tens of thousands of lost jobs, just like what happened to Arthur Anderson after its Enron caper, or like the financial hurricane that followed the failure of Lehman Brothers. So if you're a small fish running $10,000 in drug money, you serve time. But if you're a big fish moving nearing a billion dollars, you can laugh all the way to your too-big-to-jail bank. Fleecing Distressed Homeowners The big banks, in collusion with hedge funds and the rating agencies, puffed up the housing bubble and then burst it. Nine million workers, due to no fault of their own, lost their jobs in a matter of months. Entire neighborhoods saw their home values crash. Tens of millions faced foreclosure. The big banks, which were bailed out and survived the crash, sought to foreclose on as many homes as possible, as fast as possible. Hey, that's where the money was. In doing so they resorted to many unsavory practices including illegal robo-signing of foreclosure documents. When nailed by the government, the big banks agreed to provide billions in aid for distressed homeowners. Were they finally forced to do the right thing? Not a chance. (See "Homeowners still face foreclosure despite billion in aid" NYT 2/22.) The big banks, despite what they say in their press statements, found a convenient loophole in the government settlement. The banks began forgiving second mortgages, and then foreclosing on the first mortgage. That's a cute maneuver because in a foreclosure, the bank rarely can collect on the second mortgage anyway. So they're giving away something of no value to distressed sellers and getting government credit for it. Just another day at the office for our favorite banksters. The Indictments Go On… I could write a book about all the ways in which banks and their hedge fund cousins have turned cheating into a way of life. (In fact, I just did: "How to Earn a Million Dollars an Hour: Why Hedge Funds Get Away With Siphoning off America's Wealth. Here's the AlterNet interview. ) JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs have been fined over a billion dollars for creating and selling mortgage-related securities that were designed to fail so their hedge fund buddies could make billions. And then we've got the recent LIBOR scandal where the biggest banks colluded to manipulate interest rates for fun and profit. It's not about good people or bad people running these banks and hedge funds. It's the very nature of these institutions. That's what they do. They make big money by doing what the rest of us would call cheating. As the record clearly shows, they cheat the second they get the chance. What kind of institution would loanshark, money launder, fix rates, game mortgage relief programs, and produce products designed to fail? Answer: An institution that should not exist. Nationalize Now and Create State Banks There are about 20 too-big-to fail banks which have been designated "systematically significant." These should be immediately nationalized. Shareholder value should be wiped out because these banks are repeatedly violating the law, including aiding and abetting criminal enterprises. All employees should be placed on the federal civil service scale, where the top salary is approximately $130,000. Can the government run banks? Yes, if we break up the big banks and turn them over to state governments so that each state would have at least one public bank. (North Dakota has a strong working model.) The larger states would have several public state banks. But never again would we allow banks to grow so large as to threaten our financial system and violate the public trust. Let FDIC regulate the state banks. They're actually good at it. (We'd also have to do something about the shadow banking industry — the large hedge funds and private equity firms. Eliminating their carried-interest tax loophole and slapping on a strong financial transaction tax would go a long way toward reining them in.) Won't the most talented bankers leave the industry? Hurray! It can't happen soon enough. It's time for the best and the brightest to rejoin the human race and help produce value for their fellow citizens. Let them become doctors, research scientists, teachers or even wealthy entrepreneurs who produce tangible goods and services that we want and need. What we don't need are more banksters. Isn't This Socialism? We already have socialism for rich financiers. They get to keep all of the upside of their shady machinations and we get to bail them out when they fail. This billionaire bailout society is now so entrenched that our nascent economic recovery of the last two years has been entirely captured by the top 1 percent. Meanwhile the rest of have received nothing. Nada. (See "Why Is the Entire Recovery Going to the Top One Percent?") I know, I know, people say, "Next time, just don't bail them out!" Meanwhile, they get to rip us off, day in and day out, until the next crash? No thanks. Put them out of business now. If you have a better idea, let's hear it.

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1. Related Application The present application is related to an application filed in Australia on Aug. 20, 1996 under serial number PO1893 and is incorporated herein by reference. 2. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to golf practice aids and more particularly pertains to a new golf putting practice device for practicing putting golf balls. 3. Description of the Prior Art The use of golf practice aids is known in the prior art. More specifically, golf practice aids heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements. Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,874; U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,124; U.S. Pat. No. 3,572,720; U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,796; U.S. Pat. No. 3,194,565; U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,659; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 198,459. In these respects, the golf putting practice device according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of practicing putting golf balls.

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