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Q:
Angular Ag-grid cellRendererFramework - Modification in Component not reflected in grid rowData
I have an editable grid in the app.component where one of the columns is a CellRendererFramework:
createColumnDefs() {
return [
{ headerName: 'First Name', field: 'firstName', editable: true },
{ headerName: 'Last Name', field: 'lastName', editable: true },
{ headerName: 'Email', field: 'email', editable: true },
{ headerName: 'Admins', field: 'admins', cellRendererFramework: ComboBoxComponent },
];
}
The component is defined as follows:
import { Component, OnInit } from '@angular/core';
import { User, DataService } from './data.service';
import { ICellRendererAngularComp } from 'ag-grid-angular';
@Component({
selector: 'app-combo-box',
templateUrl: './combo-box.component.html',
styleUrls: ['./combo-box.component.css']
})
export class ComboBoxComponent implements OnInit, ICellRendererAngularComp {
users: User[] = [];
admins: any;
constructor(private dataservice: DataService) {}
ngOnInit() {
this.users = this.dataservice.getAdminUsers();
}
refresh(params: any): boolean {
return false;
}
public params: any;
agInit(params: any): void {
this.params = params;
this.admins = this.params.value;
}
public getFollows(){
return this.admins;
}
onChange(evt){
this.admins = evt.value;
}
}
The template 'combo-box.component.html' is a material select with multi select option enabled.
<mat-form-field> <mat-select multiple [(value)]="admins" (selectionChange)="onChange($event)">
<mat-option *ngFor="let user of users | async" [value]="user.firstName">{{user.firstName}}</mat-option> </mat-select> </mat-form-field>
I should be able to change the data in the multi select and then on the clic of an external button, I should save the grid data. The problem I am facing is whenever I change the multi select option and then try to save, it always shows the multiselect's value that was bound initially.
So basically, any change in the ComboBoxComponent is not changing the rowData. Hence I am not able to save back the grid data after modification.
What am I missing?
I am using Ag-grid version: 17.1.0
Angular: 6.0.3
A:
The reason is, as your ComboBoxComponent implements ICellRendererAngularComp and as you have given colDef { headerName: 'Admins', field: 'admins', cellRendererFramework: ComboBoxComponent }, it is a cell renderer, not cell editor. Its purpose is just to display the data.
If you want to make changes to rowData, you would have to create custom editor and provide it as cellEditorFramework.
Have a look at this example plunk: ag-grid angular custom editor component
As you can see, the field mood has custom renderer as well as custom editor to make the changes.
{
headerName: "Mood",
field: "mood",
cellRendererFramework: MoodRendererComponent,
cellEditorFramework: MoodEditorComponent,
editable: true,
width: 300
}
Also notice that MoodEditorComponent implements ICellEditorAngularComp.
For more reference, ag-grid Editor Components
|
/*
* JBoss, Home of Professional Open Source
* Copyright 2010, Red Hat, Inc. and/or its affiliates, and individual
* contributors by the @authors tag. See the copyright.txt in the
* distribution for a full listing of individual contributors.
*
* 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 org.jboss.weld.tests.interceptors.injectionWithExclusions;
import jakarta.ejb.Stateless;
import jakarta.inject.Inject;
import jakarta.interceptor.ExcludeDefaultInterceptors;
import jakarta.interceptor.Interceptors;
/**
* @author Marius Bogoevici
*/
@Stateless
@ExcludeDefaultInterceptors
@Interceptors({EjbInterceptor.class, EjbInterceptor2.class})
public class SimpleImpl implements Simple {
@Inject
Helper helper;
public Helper getHelper() {
return helper;
}
@Interceptors({EjbInterceptor3.class, EjbInterceptor4.class})
public void doSomething() {
}
}
|
Ultrasonic imaging of the coronary arteries in open-chest humans: evaluation of coronary atherosclerotic lesions during cardiac surgery.
We explored techniques that would allow the surgeon to localize coronary artery lesions demonstrated angiographically or to supplement angiographic information in patients who are undergoing coronary artery bypass procedures by intraoperative scanning of the coronary arteries using ultrasound. A 9-MHz electronically focused water-path ultrasound scanner was first used to image the coronary arteries in three anesthetized, open-chest sheep. In a subsequent study, 10 human subjects undergoing cardiac surgery for valve replacement who had normal coronary angiograms were scanned during heart surgery to provide images of normal coronary arteries. The ultrasound probe was sterilized with gas and placed directly on the beating heart by the surgeon. In the third phase of this study, 21 patients with coronary artery disease were scanned and the ultrasonic appearance of their imaged coronary lesions was compared to independently interpreted angiographic estimates of percent obstruction, with close correlation (r = 0.91). The ultrasound scan could be used to identify lesions in vessels beyond proximal occlusions, which are not visualized well angiographically, and could localize the site of lesions to determine placement of saphenous vein bypass grafts. This new technique may provide a method for evaluating coronary atherosclerotic lesions during coronary artery surgery and aid decisions regarding placement of saphenous vein grafts. |
Quantum teleportation provides a means to transport an unknown quantum state from one location to another over arbitrary distances. Since originally being proposed in 1993[@b1], the study on quantum teleportation has aroused great interest. Its experimental realizations in various different ways have been reported. For instance, the best known methods have been implemented using photon polarization and optical techniques[@b2][@b3], by means of squeezed states of light[@b4], by applying nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques[@b5], and by a hybrid technique[@b6][@b7]. Teleportation has also been accomplished between photons and a single atomic ensemble[@b8][@b9], between distant atomic objects[@b10][@b11][@b12][@b13], and in a chip-based superconducting circuit architecture[@b14]. Quantum teleportation is essential for large-scale quantum communication[@b15][@b16][@b17] and distributed quantum networks[@b18]. It has proven to be a useful tool for realizing universal quantum logic gates in quantum computing and general quantum information manipulation[@b19]. However, all protocols for accomplishing quantum teleportation require non-local correlations, or Einstein--Podolsky--Rosen (EPR) entanglement, between systems shared by the sender and receiver.
On the other hand, non-separable correlations among two or more different degrees of freedom from the same classical optical beam, have been discussed[@b20][@b21][@b22][@b23][@b24][@b25][@b26][@b27][@b28][@b29][@b30][@b31][@b32]. The violation of Bell\'s inequality or GHZ theorem for such a non-separable correlation has been demonstrated experimentally[@b20][@b21][@b22][@b23][@b24][@b25]. Thus, a non-separable classical correlation is called "nonquantum entanglement" or "classical entanglement"[@b25][@b26][@b27][@b28][@b29][@b30]. Such a classical entanglement has been applied to resolve basic issues in polarization optics[@b25], simulate quantum walks, et al.[@b27]. The investigations have shown that quantum optical procedures requiring entanglement without non-locality can actually be achieved in classical optics regime[@b25][@b26][@b27][@b28][@b29][@b30][@b31][@b32]. Recently, some discussions on the non-local classical optical correlation of two coherent light beams have been done[@b33][@b34][@b35][@b36]. Some studies, which have attempted to simulate the quantum teleportation by classical optics, have been performed[@b29][@b30][@b31]. However, the classical correspondence on the true meaning of quantum teleportation, which is based on the classical EPR correlation state, has not been achieved. In this work, we present a new method to construct a non-local classical EPR correlation state by using two incoherent light beams and implement a classical analogy on the true meaning of quantum teleportation.
Results and Discussion
======================
Non-local classical optical correlation
---------------------------------------
Initially two independent light beams, *E*~1~ and *E*~2~ with different wavelengths, are considered and pass through a 50/50 beam splitter (BS) as shown in [Fig. 1](#f1){ref-type="fig"}. The fields of two light beams satisfy complete incoherent condition and . Here and *t* represent coordinates of space and time. After the BS and a half-wave plate (HWP) in one output of the BS, two new outputs with and can be obtained, where and refer to the horizontal and vertical polarization components, respectively. In order to analyze the correlation properties between and , a half-wave plate (HWP) and a polarizing beam splitter (PBS) are introduced in each path. They function to rotate angles of the light beam and separate and polarized light. Here *θ~a~* and *θ~b~* represent polarization rotated angles in two paths, respectively. After the HWP and PBS, two polarized beams become four beams. Their fields are described by *E~ah~*, *E~av~*, *E~bh~* and *E~bv~*, respectively, which can be modulated by *θ~a~* and *θ~b~*.
Now we perform the famous Clauser--Horne--Shimony--Holt (CHSH) test in our system as shown in [Fig. 1](#f1){ref-type="fig"}. The correlation function is defined in the following form[@b20]:where *P~HH~* = *N~HH~* (*θ~a~*,*θ~b~*)/*N~Total~*, *P~VV~* = *N~VV~* (*θ~a~*,*θ~b~*)/*N~Total~*, *P~HV~* = *N~HV~* (*θ~a~*,*θ~b~*)/*N~Total~*, and *P~VH~* = *N~VH~* (*θ~a~*,*θ~b~*)/*N~Total~* are normalized correlated probabilities when polarizations of each beam are measured, and *N~Total~* = *N~HH~* (*θ~a~*,*θ~b~*) + *N~VV~* (*θ~a~*,*θ~b~*) + *N~HV~* (*θ~a~*,*θ~b~*) + *N~VH~* (*θ~a~*,*θ~b~*). In our experiment, such correlated probabilities can be represented by the first order correlation of electric fields through *N~IJ~* (*θ~a~*,*θ~b~*) (I(J) represents H or V):In the experiment the fields of output lights are not directly measured. However, the first-order field correlation can be obtained through measuring the difference of light intensities at two export positions on Mach-Zehnder interferometer, because . Here *I*~1~ and *I*~2~ represent the light intensities at two export positions of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer and Δ*I* is the difference between them. More information about the measurement method for the first-order field correlation is provided in the Methods section.
[Figure 2](#f2){ref-type="fig"} shows experimental results for the correlation functions *C*(*θ~a~*,*θ~b~*) as a function of polarization rotated angle *θ~a~* at some certain *θ~b~*. Here two laser beams (continuous wave mode) with different wavelengths, 532 *nm* and 632.8 *nm*, are used. Their intensities are taken as 2 mW. The circle dots and solid lines represent the experimental measurements and theoretical results, respectively. It can be seen that the experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical calculations. After we have obtained *C*(*θ~a~*,*θ~b~*), the CHSH formulation of Bell\'s measurement is used to quantify such correlation. The CHSH measurement isIt is well known that the local realism theories give \|*B*\| \< 2. However, from the experimental results marked by dashed lines in [Fig. 2](#f2){ref-type="fig"}, *B* = 2.597 ± 0.012 \> 2 is obtained as *θ~a~* = *π*/4, *θ~b~* = 0, and . The presented experiment yields the strongest violation of Bell\'s inequalities.
Any of the four EPR-Bell states can be constructed by adjusting polarization and phase factor via HWP in the above experimental setup. This is highly similar to the production of polarization-entangled photon pairs from spontaneous down-conversion of nonlinear crystals[@b37]. For example, the output fields and shown in [Fig. 1](#f1){ref-type="fig"} correspond to the following symmetric Bell-state:Here we use the notation \|*h*)*~i~*(\|*v*)*~i~*) to express a classical state[@b29][@b31]. That is to say, if polarization is measured in one beam, the information of polarization can be "determined" in another beam due to the first-order field correlation, and vice versa. This means that a classical correlation state has been constructed. Because the correlation between two beams is independent on the separation between them, such a correlation is non-local and can be regarded as a classical analogy of EPR entangled state in quantum mechanics. The problem is whether or not some unique phenomena such as quantum teleportation can be realized by applying such a classical EPR correlation state, which is similar to the case in quantum information process.
Classical analogy of quantum teleportation based on non-local classical correlation
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In order to study the classical analogy of quantum teleportation, the experimental setup shown in [Fig. 3](#f3){ref-type="fig"} is considered. The experimental generation of EPR correlation states and Bell-state measurement are two key parts in the teleportation scheme. In this scheme, above classical EPR correlation states are used as the source. A three-photon scheme is referred to for the Bell-state measurement as described by D. Bouwmeester et. al.[@b2]. This system features the antisymmetric state obtained from four Bell-states. Thus, the antisymmetric Bell-state is used in our teleportation scheme: . This corresponds to and in our classical EPR system, which are shared by Alice and Bob, for example. If Alice want to teleport an initial state \|*ψ~c~*) = *c*~1~ \|*h*) + *c*~2~ \|*v*) to Bob, she needs perform a joint Bell-state measurement on the initial state and . In the experiments, the field corresponding to the initial state \|*ψ~c~*) is expressed as: , where , *c*~1~ and *c*~2~ satisfy \|*c*~1~\|^2^ + \|*c*~2~\|^2^ = 1. When *c*~1~ and *c*~2~ are considered real, corresponds to the linear polarization case. Whereas, when *c*~1~ and *c*~2~ are complex, it is in correspondence to the circular polarization case. We first consider linear polarization case, in which *c*~1~ and *c*~2~ can be expressed by the direction angle of polarization *θ*: *c*~1~ = cos *θ* and *c*~2~ = sin *θ*. Thus, *θ* will be the teleported information.
In order to perform a joint Bell-state measurement on the initial state and , an optical element group is constructed that includes a BS and two HWPs as shown in [Fig. 3](#f3){ref-type="fig"}. There are two output ports of the BS, in which one is the sum of two input fields, and the other is the difference of the two. Two HWPs are placed at the output port of the difference. The functions of two HWPs are to realize interchange between and polarizations, and add a *π* phase for the component of polarization field. For such an optical element group, if the input ports are in the Bell-states, it is easy to demonstrate by the correlation measurement of the first-order field that only the output of the antisymmetric state is not zero, and the outputs of three symmetric states all are zero (see Methods section). This is similar to the scheme of the Bell measurements in Ref. [@b2]. Referring back to the previous example, and considering synchronicity of Alice\'s and Bob\' measurements, Alice obtains the information *E~ac~* as and enter the optical element group, and then sends it to Bob through the classical channel. Here *E~ac~* represents the amplitude of field without any polarization information (see [Supplementary](#s1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Owing to lack of technique to measure fields, we had to send the beam to Bob in the experiment. Next, we show that Bob can only use the coherence property of the field rather than the polarization information, and such a process is corresponded to the method used in Ref. [@b2].
After Bob receives the information that Alice sent, he will perform the correlation measurement of the first-order field by using the information and in order to obtain the teleported material. This is because there is a strong correlation between *E~ac~* and (see [Supplementary](#s1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). For example, as passes through a rotated PBS, it will be orthogonally decomposed into *E*~//~ and as shown in [Fig. 3](#f3){ref-type="fig"}. Our theoretical calculations show that \|〈*E~ac~E*~//~〉\|^2^ = cos^2^ (*θ* − *ϕ*) and , which are the correlation of field without polarization (see [Supplementary](#s1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Here *ϕ* represents the rotated angle of the PBS, and is taken as 0° when the polarization of transmission fields is horizontal. From these relations, it is not difficult to find that *θ* and *ϕ* are in one-to-one correspondence. If Bob has obtained the maximum of the first-order correlation between *E~ac~* and *E~//~* for a polarization direction, the corresponding *ϕ* for such a polarization direction is the teleported information *θ* (see [Supplementary](#s1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).
In the experiment, the first-order correlations between *E~ac~* and *E~//~* () are measured by the difference of light intensities, which is similar to the above method for testing CHSH formulation. [Figure 4](#f4){ref-type="fig"} displays the experimental results for the first-order correlation degree, Δ*I* = *I*~1~ − *I*~2~, as a function of the angle *ϕ*. [Figure 4(a) and (b)](#f4){ref-type="fig"} correspond to the case with *θ* = 0 for *E*~//~ and , respectively, whereas the corresponding results for *θ* = *π*/4 are plotted in [Fig. 4(c) and (d)](#f4){ref-type="fig"}. From [Fig. 4(a)](#f4){ref-type="fig"}, the maximum of the first-order correlation appears at *ϕ* = 0, which is in agreement with *θ* = 0. At the same time, the minimum of the first-order correlation is also found at an orthogonal direction as shown in [Fig. 4(b)](#f4){ref-type="fig"}, which validates realization of the teleportation process. Similarly, as *θ* = *π*/4, Bob has measured the maximum of the first-order correlation at *ϕ* = *π*/4 and the minimum also appears at its orthogonal direction ([Fig. 4(c) and (d)](#f4){ref-type="fig"}). In fact, the above design is suitable for any linear polarization state. The corresponding experiment to teleport a circular polarized initial state was also performed by using the above scheme, similar teleportation process has been realized (see [Supplementary](#s1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). In the teleportation process, it is not necessary for Alice to know where Bob is, the initial polarization state can be unknown to anyone not only Alice. Furthermore, the transfer of information from Alice to Bob can happen over arbitrary distances. These properties for the teleportation in the presented scheme completely agree with those described by D. Bouwmeester et. al., which this work\' results focus on[@b2]. Discovery of other schemes for quantum teleportation by using classical optics warrants further study.
Conclusions
===========
We have demonstrated experimentally the non-local classical optical correlation from the Bell\'s measurement used in tests of quantum non-locality. Based on such a classical EPR correlation, a classical analogy has been implemented to the true meaning of quantum teleportation. The presented results indicate that some non-local phenomena in quantum machines can be realized in classical optical signal processing. Thus, this study opens a new way to obtain the quantum information process in the classical optical communication network. It not only provokes deep thought on some basic physical problems such as essence of entanglement and correlation, but also shows potential application in classical and quantum information processes.
Methods
=======
Measurement method for the first-order field correlation
--------------------------------------------------------
In general, the polarization-entangled photon pairs can be produced from spontaneous down-conversion of the nonlinear crystal. In such a process, the photon states for and polarizations are generated with a certain probability at the same time, which the entangled properties can be measured by the coincidence counts. Based on the coherence of light field, we can construct the corresponding non-local classical EPR correlation states as described by Eq.(4), which the correlated properties can be shown by the first-order field correlation. Basically, the measure of the first-order field correlation can be realized by synchronous local measurements and doesn\'t require direct contact. However, in the experiment it is difficult to obtain the first-order field correlation by directly measuring fields. In addition, the synchronization is very hard to achieve. So, we take the following method, that is, take and for example and do the following Hadamard transformation:thenwhere Re{X} represents the real part of X. From the experimental setup in [Fig.1](#f1){ref-type="fig"}, we can find From complete incoherent condition and ,it is easy to find the following relation:ThenThat is, the first-order field correlation can be measured by the difference of light intensities and this method is also effective in other measurements of experiments. The above process can be realized by the beam splitter as shown in [Figure 5](#f5){ref-type="fig"}. In the experiment, the same polarization for the light beams is required.
Realization of Bell-state measurement for classical optical entangled states
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bell-state measurement is a key part in the teleportation scheme. In our teleportation scheme, we perform the Bell-state measurement referring to three-photon scheme described in Ref. [@b2] as shown in [Figure 6](#f6){ref-type="fig"}. The marks *π*/2 and *π*/4 in [Figure 6](#f6){ref-type="fig"} represent the angle between the axis of HWP and the horizontal direction. The functions of two HWPs are to realize interchange between and polarizations, add a *π* phase for the component of polarization field. The Jones matrix for the BS is taken in the following form:Two HWPs are put at the output port of the difference. If the input ports are in four Bell-states, the results by the correlation measurement of the first-order field are given in the [table 1](#t1){ref-type="table"}.
Taking the antisymmetric state as an example, in the following we give a demonstration on such a result. The antisymmetric Bell state isThe corresponding field isAfter passing through the BS, they becomeConsider the output of the difference, perform interchange between and polarizations and add a *π* phase for the component of polarization field by the HWPs, we haveFrom the complete incoherent condition and the correlation measurement of the first-order field for two components in Eq.(14), we have:Similarly, consider three symmetric states passing through the above optical element group, we find that all outputs are zero. Here the effect of polarization is considered in the correlation measurement of the first-order field.
Author Contributions
====================
Theoretical method is presented by Y.S., the corresponding experiments are performed by X.S. Thus, Y.S. and X.S. contributed equally to this work. In doing the experiments, X.S. get the help of H.Q., X.Z. and Z.Y., the idea and physical analysis are given by X.Z. All authors reviewed the manuscript.
Supplementary Material {#s1}
======================
###### Supplementary Information
Supplementary Information
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11274042 and 61421001).
{#f1}
{#f2}
{ref-type="fig"}. Alice and Bob share an ancillary classical entangled states marked by and . Alice performs a joint Bell-state measurement on and the initial state marked by . After Alice has sent the measured result *E~ac~* as classical information to Bob, Bob performs the correlation measurement of the first-order field by using and *E~ac~*. *E*~\|\|~ and represent the transmission and reflection parts as passes through a rotated PBS, Δ*I* is the difference of the light intensities at two export positions.](srep09175-f3){#f3}
{#f4}
{#f5}
{#f6}
###### The results for Bell-state measurement
Bell-state Classical field E~a~ Classical field E~b~ The first-order field correlation
------------ ---------------------- ---------------------- -----------------------------------
\|*φ*~+~) 0
\|*φ*~−~) 0
\|*ψ*~+~) 0
\|*ψ*~−~) 1
[^1]: These authors contributed equally to this work.
|
The Rangers have decided to bump lefty Drew Smyly to the bullpen, the club informed reporters including Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (via Twitter). A replacement starter has yet to be named.
It’s not surprising to hear this news, as the club strongly hinted a change would be made after another exceedingly rough outing from Smyly, who turns 30 tomorrow. There had been some suggestion that an ankle injury might lead to an injured-list placement, but the Rangers decided instead to slide him into a relief role for the time being.
Smyly has simply been tagged this year. Through 45 innings, he has coughed up 15 home runs and carries a 44:31 K/BB ratio. Opposing hitters are spitting on pitches out of the zone (22.4% chase rate) and destroying those in it (43.1% hard-hit rate). Though Statcast indicates he has been a bit unfortunate (.419 wOBA-against versus .385 xwOBA-against), it’s scant consolation.
This decision hints at the tough questions facing the Rangers, who’ve run out to a 36-30 record that seems tough to sustain. The rotation has received a bit of a boost from Adrian Sampson and Ariel Jurado, but it’s hard to count on either to provide even solid results the rest of the way. Even assuming those two can keep up reasonably useful production, and there aren’t any injuries, there’s a need for at least one additional rotation piece behind Mike Minor and Lance Lynn.
It’s also rough news for Smyly, who had hoped to be in the midst of a return to his prior form at this stage of the season. He missed all of 2017 and 2018 owing to serious elbow problems that resulted in Tommy John surgery. He’ll be a free agent again at season’s end. |
But despite the craze, some said that the supermoon had appeared quite similar to other full moons in the past and was fairly "imperceptible," Universe Today reports. In fact, according to a report, the closest full moon in 2017 will only be 0.02 percent farther away than November's supermoon.
What is a supermoon?
A supermoon occurs when the moon is at its closest point of approach in its orbit around the world. According to NASA, the term supermoon became popular in recent years, referring to a new or full moon that is within 90 percent of its closest approach to the planet, which makes it appear 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter in the sky.
Since the moon's orbit is elliptical, one side (perigee) is about 30,000 mils closer to Earth than the other (apogee). When the Earth, sun and the moon line up as the moon orbits the Earth (syzygy), and the moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun (perigee-syzygy), a perigee moon or supermoon occurs.
The Nov. 14 full moon will be the closest since 1948, and the next time the full moon will come this close again will be on Nov. 25, 2034.
The November supermoon is also called Beaver Moon, as it arrives at the time of year when hunters are said to be setting traps on the swamps before they froze over to make sure they will have enough furs to cover up for the winter.
Where to see it
Stargazers could catch the supermoon on Nov. 14 at 8:52 a.m. EST. To get a better view of the moon, it is recommended to go to the top floor of a building during dusk, facing east. |
Q:
How To exclude helper objects from intersection check by raycaster in threejs?
I have a threejs scene with intersection checking on objects. I'm adding every scene object to the array which is then checked by the raycaster.
var intersects = raycaster.intersectObjects( scene.children );
I then check the color of an object and change it on contact with the mouse pointer.
INTERSECTED.material.emissive.setHex( 0xff0000 );
If I add a helper object, like CameraHelper or GridHelper, to the scene I get constant errors because .getHex .setHex is not possible with the helper objects.
Is it possible to exclude the helper objects from this check and how would I do this?
It has to be something like scene.children - scene.helpers but I cannot come up with a way to do this.
Thanks for the help.
A:
Create an array of objects that you want Raycaster to process.
var objects = [];
objects.push( mesh1 );
objects.push( mesh2 );
---
var intersects = raycaster.intersectObjects( objects, recursiveFlag );
three.js r.73
|
Q:
static in a web application
I want to generate a very short Unique ID, in my web app, that can be used to handle sessions. Sessions, as in users connecting to eachother's session, with this ID.
But how can I keep track of these IDs? Basically, I want to generate a short ID, check if it is already in use, and create a new if it is.
Could I simply have a static class, that has a collection of these IDs? Are there other smarter, better ways to do this?
I would like to avoid using a database for this, if possible.
A:
Generally, static variables, apart from the places may be declared, will stay alive during application lifetime. An application lifetime ended after processing the last request and a specific time (configurable in web.config) as idle. As a result, you can define your variable to store Short-IDS whenever you are convenient.
However, there are a number of tools and well-known third-parties which are candidate to choose. MemCache is one of the major facilities which deserve your notice as it is been used widely in giant applications such as Facebook and others.
Based on how you want to arrange your software architecture you may prefer your own written facilities or use third-parties. Most considerable advantage of the third-parties is the fact that they are industry-standard and well-tested in different situations which has taken best practices while writing your own functions give that power to you to write minimum codes with better and more desirable responses as well as ability to debug which can not be ignored in such situations.
|
TRACY MCGRADY WORE A PE OF HIS ADIDAS T-MAC 5 “TORONTO”
Former NBA superstar TRACY McGRADY, wore a special never seen before edition of his adidas T-Mac 5 during the Celebrity All-Star game on Friday.
The sneaker features an obvious colorway that was an ode to his former team and the host city’s team the Raptors, the shoe featured a purple reptile embossed leather upper with deep red, grey, and black accents. |
Use of ultrathin shell microcapsules of hepatocytes in bioartificial liver-assist device.
We previously encapsulated hepatocytes in ultrathin shell microcapsules and showed them to have enhanced differentiated functions over cells cultured in monolayer. Here we have used these microencapsulated hepatocytes in a bioartificial liver-assisted device (BLAD) with a rat hepatectomy model. Primary rat hepatocytes were encapsulated in 150- to 200-microm microcapsules, using an electrostatic droplet generator. The microencapsulated hepatocytes exhibited good in vitro urea synthesis activity in plasma from rats with fulminant hepatic failure (FHF). The ex vivo hemoperfusion was conducted in FHF rats by perfusing plasma at a rate of 1-2 mL/min through 1.5-2 x 10(8) encapsulated hepatocytes packed into a packed-bed bioreactor. Hemoperfusion with the bioreactor was initiated 5 h after operative induction of liver failure and continued for 7 h. The BLAD-treated rats showed improvements over the control groups in survival time and metabolic indicators, including ammonia and total bilirubin levels. Furthermore, expanded bed adsorption (EBA) detoxification technology using Streamline-SP resin was explored to complement the bioreactor with microencapsulated hepatocytes. In vitro experiments indicated that serum ammonia could be specifically removed in dose-dependent manner, whereas the total serum proteins were unaffected by the resin. In ex vivo experiments, hemoperfusion with the resin was initiated 3 h after operative induction of liver failure and continued for 7 h. The resin-treated rats showed obvious serum ammonia removal with no observable total blood protein and blood cell adsorption. Therefore, Streamline-SP resin can potentially be integrated into a BLAD for improved efficacy. |
1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention constitutes an improvement over prior water cut monitors in that it provides oil, water and gas volume flow rates. In particular, a three phase flow water cut monitor is used in series with a volume flow meter and corrects the flow meter by using the water cut monitor three phase flow fluid data.
2. The Prior Art
There are a great many application where a three phase volume flow meter, which does not require separation of the fluids, will be of significant economic value. Gas (and therefore 3-phase flow) is present to some extent in virtually all live crude oil handling operations. Particular problems can arise in some situations, such as in offshore, unmanned, primary wellhead production situations where no gas is expected initially. Gas will eventually be produced as it comes out of solution with the water and oil in crude oil due to pipeline pressure drops and with aging of the reservoir. It is important to monitor the production of this gas as well as the rate of increase in gas production. |
).
42
Suppose 7*l = 4*i + 11*l - 96, -78 = -3*i - l. Suppose 3*r - c - i - 27 = 0, -5*c = -r + 4. What is the remainder when 264 is divided by r?
17
Let m = 79 - 27. Suppose 165*r - 164*r = 4*x - 26, -4*x = r - 14. What is the remainder when m is divided by x?
2
What is the remainder when 1770/20*(-1456)/(-12) is divided by 131?
127
Let q(l) = 8*l**2 - 6*l + 3. Let s(t) = 2*t + 8. Let x be s(-5). Let d(r) = 2*r**2 + 2*r - 1. Let y be d(x). Calculate the remainder when q(y) is divided by 12.
9
Suppose 21*x - 16*x + 5*v = 105, v = -4*x + 72. Calculate the remainder when 166 is divided by x.
13
Suppose 2260 = -10*w + 2320. Let n = -28 + 57. Calculate the remainder when n is divided by w.
5
Calculate the remainder when 339 is divided by ((-12)/(-15))/(28/(-10)) + 1744/28.
29
Suppose 0 = 3*j + 747 + 981. Let l = j + 597. Calculate the remainder when 227 is divided by l.
17
Let g be 1411/(-332)*(-2 + -1 - (1 - 0)). Let k = 286 + -166. Suppose 12*r + k = g*r. What is the remainder when 92 is divided by r?
20
Let b be 1/((-1)/(-203)*(6 - 5)). Suppose -307 = -3*q + b. Calculate the remainder when q is divided by 37.
22
Suppose -4*k - 210 = 2*l, 3*l - 38 = 4*k + 167. Let q = k - -72. Calculate the remainder when 5 + -2 + -2 + 57 is divided by q.
18
Let x = 467 - 410. Let r(v) = -7 - 6*v + 5*v**3 - 4*v**3 + 27*v**2 + 0*v**3 - 31*v**2. Calculate the remainder when x is divided by r(6).
28
Suppose -3*h + 46 + 26 = 0. Let f(n) = 7*n - 25. Let z be f(4). Suppose -z*v = -72 - h. Calculate the remainder when v is divided by 12.
8
Let u(z) = -101*z + 432. What is the remainder when 192 is divided by u(4)?
24
Let k(w) = -2*w**2 - 26*w + 9. What is the remainder when 194 is divided by k(-11)?
35
Suppose 2*i = 71 - 11. What is the remainder when i is divided by 8/3 - 5936/(-1113)?
6
Let v = -16 - -19. Let w(k) = 24 - 13*k**3 - 15*k**2 - 7*k**2 + 12*k**3 - v - k. Calculate the remainder when 170 is divided by w(-22).
41
Let q(l) = -l**2 + l + 7. Let n be q(-2). Calculate the remainder when -1*744/(-48)*(n + 5) is divided by 12.
9
Suppose 4*r - 21 + 13 = 0. Suppose -2*n = -5*v - 3, 2*v + 1 = -n - r. What is the remainder when 63 is divided by ((-28)/(-8) + -4)*(n + -67)?
29
Suppose 0 = 4*t - 25 - 47. Suppose 16*f = t*f - 96. What is the remainder when 526 is divided by f?
46
Suppose 2*w = -4*c - 293 - 21, c - 2*w + 66 = 0. Let j = -2410 + 2491. Let n = c + j. What is the remainder when 47 is divided by n?
2
What is the remainder when 6915 is divided by (-15)/21 + 1320/35?
33
Let j(k) = 1745*k - 18791. What is the remainder when j(11) is divided by 3?
2
Let y = -2878 + 3206. What is the remainder when y is divided by 55?
53
Let b = 2205 - 2146. Calculate the remainder when b is divided by ((-126)/15)/((-2)/5).
17
Let w(b) = -b**3 + 10 + 2*b**2 + 4*b**2 - 6*b + 3 + 2*b**3. What is the remainder when 142 is divided by w(-7)?
4
Let x = -158 + 160. Suppose i = -2*c + 266, 0 = -0*c + x*c - 4. What is the remainder when i is divided by 33?
31
Let s(q) = 853*q - 5573. Calculate the remainder when s(8) is divided by 146.
83
Suppose -4*a - s - 1028 = -4316, -2*a = -6*s - 1644. Calculate the remainder when a is divided by 55.
52
Suppose 3*d = -2*w + 4*d + 7, -w - 2*d + 6 = 0. Suppose 0 = -3*u - 3*f + 48, w*f = -5*u + 51 + 30. Calculate the remainder when 134 is divided by u.
15
Suppose 58*m - 8149 = -223*m. What is the remainder when 692 is divided by m?
25
Let b(d) = -d**2 - d + 1128. What is the remainder when 944 is divided by b(31)?
128
Let u = -5 - -32. Suppose o + 18 = 2*b, -3*b = -6*b + 2*o + u. Suppose 12*s - 48 = b*s. What is the remainder when s is divided by 13?
3
Calculate the remainder when 3 + 42/(-15) - ((-3279)/5 + 12) is divided by 43.
42
Suppose -j = -9*j - 112. Let u(z) = z**3 + 13*z**2 - 19*z - 48. Suppose -b - 5*h + 101 = -h, 16 = 4*h. Calculate the remainder when b is divided by u(j).
19
Suppose 0 = -68*q + 7475 + 15577. Calculate the remainder when q is divided by 49.
45
Suppose -222 + 214 = -2*k. Suppose -k*v - 7*i + 11 = -6*i, -2*v + 4*i + 28 = 0. What is the remainder when 49 is divided by v?
1
Let y be (-3*382/(-18))/(7/21). Let v = y + -125. Let t = -30 + v. Calculate the remainder when 104 is divided by t.
32
Let d = -43 + 73. Suppose -35*m = -142*m + 2435 - 402. What is the remainder when d is divided by m?
11
Let r = -310 + 565. Let o = r - 242. Calculate the remainder when ((-94)/8)/(3/(-12)) is divided by o.
8
Suppose 4*c + 21 = h - 6, -4*h - 2*c + 144 = 0. Let r(y) = -y**3 + 36*y**2 - 31*y - 44. Calculate the remainder when r(h) is divided by 27.
15
Let u = 203 - 96. Suppose -16*g + 85 = -11. What is the remainder when u is divided by g?
5
Let s(z) = z**3 - 53*z**2 - 1372*z + 36. What is the remainder when 17915 is divided by s(-19)?
107
What is the remainder when 198 is divided by ((-124)/(-20) - 8)/((-24)/680)?
45
Suppose -601 = -3*m - 4. Suppose -2114*q - 15867 = -2501*q. What is the remainder when m is divided by q?
35
Let i(q) = -19*q - 306. Let u be i(-14). What is the remainder when ((-332)/(-415))/(1/u*-1) is divided by 7?
4
Suppose 0 = -6*b + 50 - 14. Suppose b*l - 228 = -3906. Calculate the remainder when 16/(-96) - -1*l/(-6) is divided by 26.
24
Let w(s) = -3*s**2 - 60*s + 50. Let i be w(-21). Let d(l) = -2*l**3 - 26*l**2 - 7*l - 17. What is the remainder when d(i) is divided by 16?
10
Let d(f) = 3*f**3 + 4*f**2 - 89*f + 228. What is the remainder when d(7) is divided by 82?
10
Suppose 6258 - 978 = 8*u. Suppose 5*o = -5*x + u, 2*o + 69 - 324 = x. Calculate the remainder when o is divided by 26.
25
Let b(w) = -w**2 - 22*w - 38. Let c be b(-19). Let d(v) = -v**2 + 20*v - 5. Calculate the remainder when 41 is divided by d(c).
13
What is the remainder when 63/(39/3 + 49 + -61) is divided by 8?
7
Let t(m) = -m**2 - 13*m + 26. Let n be t(-15). Let w(c) = 5*c + 44. Calculate the remainder when 138 is divided by w(n).
18
Let x be (-5007)/(-12) - ((-2)/(-8))/1. Let f(m) = 152*m**2 - m. Let d be f(-1). Suppose -5*v + d = -x. What is the remainder when v is divided by 29?
27
Suppose 0*q - 21 = -3*q. Suppose 2*t + 39 = 3*o - 14, -3*t + 63 = 3*o. Calculate the remainder when o is divided by q.
5
Suppose 0 = -10*j + 211 + 4519. Calculate the remainder when j is divided by 148.
29
Let q = 43 + -3. What is the remainder when 28365/976*128/24 is divided by q?
35
Let q(r) = r**2 + 60*r + 791. Suppose 0 = 6*o - o - 2*a + 42, 54 = -5*o - a. Let y = 28 + o. Calculate the remainder when q(-17) is divided by y.
6
Let w(x) = 16*x + 1070. Calculate the remainder when w(-39) is divided by 213.
20
Suppose 0 = -67*d - 107*d + 1044. Let q = 18 + -41. Calculate the remainder when d*4/(-8) - q is divided by 6.
2
Let x(v) be the second derivative of v**4/12 + 3*v**2/2 - 25*v. Let o(g) = g**3 - 16*g**2 + 3*g - 15. Calculate the remainder when o(16) is divided by x(-2).
5
Let v be (-1)/(1*-1) - 912/(-24). Suppose -6*j + 285 + v = 0. What is the remainder when j is divided by 7?
5
Let c = -4 + -1. Let t(k) = -k**3 - 5*k**2 - 2*k - 4. Suppose 2*r = -5*o + 131, 5*o = -4*r + 498 - 371. Calculate the remainder when o is divided by t(c).
3
Let a = -2342 + 2375. Calculate the remainder when (-1054)/(-8)*2 - 1/2 is divided by a.
32
Suppose i - 142 = -3*o, 5*o - i = 3*i + 248. Let h = o - 11. What is the remainder when h is divided by -1*(48/(-3) - 3)?
18
Let x(j) = -j**3 - 9*j**2 - 11*j + 1. Let m be x(-8). Let n = 45 - m. Let b(k) = -43*k**2 + 1289*k + 105. What is the remainder when b(30) is divided by n?
15
Suppose -4*g - 240 = 6*g. Let n be ((-126)/28)/(2/g - 0). Suppose -4*i + 30 = 5*p - 42, -5*p = -3*i + n. What is the remainder when i is divided by 7?
4
Suppose 0 = 8*f + 35 + 117. Let a = f + 28. What is the remainder when a is divided by (0 - -1)*(0 + 3)?
0
Let y = 12494 - 10934. Calculate the remainder when y is divided by 58.
52
Let v = -20 - -50. Calculate the remainder when v is divided by ((-252)/(-144))/(2/8).
2
Let u(p) = 2*p**3 - 5*p**2 + 3*p + 1. Suppose 87*d - 1651 - 984 = 932. Calculate the remainder when d is divided by u(3).
3
Suppose -4702 = 16*s - 41*s - 702. What is the remainder when s is divided by 51?
7
Let h(t) = -12*t - 31. Let n be h(-3). Suppose 2*c - n = 2*m + m, -4*m = 4. Let g = 3 - 0. Calculate the remainder when g is divided by c.
0
|
Q:
List the open sets containing the positive number $6$
Let $T$ be the class of subsets of $\mathbb N$ consisting of the empty set. All subsets of $\mathbb N$ of the form $E_n = \{n,n+1,n+2,\dots\}$ with $n$ being an element of $\mathbb N$.
List the open sets containing the positive number $6$.
I am sorry for the bad formatting. I am still learning how to do that. This problem seems like a really easy one but I keep getting stuck for some reason. I was thinking that it’ll just be $\{n\leq 6\leq k\}$ where $n,k\in\mathbb N$ and $n>0$. Thank you in advance!
A:
Assuming the space is $X=\Bbb N$ with the topology $\mathcal{T}$ generated by all sets $E_n$ (we only need to add $\emptyset$ to get a topology, so we're almost there; maybe this is what the first two sentences meant to say, namely that $\mathcal{T}=\{\emptyset\} \cup \{E_n| n\in \Bbb N\}$? ).
Then $E_0=\Bbb N, E_1,E_2,E_3,E_4,E_5,E_6$ is a complete list of all open sets that contain $6$ in $\mathcal{T}$.
|
Iraq war veteran reunited with former bomb sniffing dog
May 1, 2014, 12:30 AM|Jason Boss adopted Cici, his former bomb sniffing dog partner, when he found out she would be retiring. They reunited at Chicago's O'Hare Airport Wednesday after being apart for two years. |
Maybe it was inevitable that one of the new massive open online courses would crash. After all, MOOCs are being launched with considerable speed, not to mention hype. But MOOC advocates might have preferred the collapse of a course other than the one that was suspended this weekend, one week into instruction: "Fundamentals of Online Education: Planning and Application."
Technology and design problems are largely to blame for the course's problems. And many students are angry that a course about online education -- let alone one offered by the Georgia Institute of Technology -- wouldn't have figured out the tech issues in advance, or been able to respond quickly once they became evident. Many of the problems related to the course's use of Google Docs to sign up for group discussions.
Among the comments on blogs and Twitter: "Wowzers, 40,000 students signed up for # foemooc considering google spreadsheets limit of 50 simultaneous editors ... not a good choice!" and "Egads, this group thing in # foemooc is a giant clusterf* # k."
Those comments weren't coming from random undergraduates. As a number of students noted, much of the class seemed to be made up of professors, teachers and experts on online education (including Inside Higher Ed readers who forwarded information about the course to us) and many of these students expected a professional experience. They reacted with a mix of anger and humor to the implosion of the course, tweeting " 'Fundamentals of Online Education' MOOC, broke down in the first week. Cue scathing declarations of symbolism" and "Any one else find it ironic that the Fundamentals in Online Education # coursera class fell apart after one week?"
The course instructor -- Fatimah Wirth -- sent an e-mail to the 41,000 students over the weekend saying in its entirety: "We want all students to have the highest quality learning experience. For this reason, we are temporarily suspending the 'Fundamentals of Online Education: Planning and Application' course in order to make improvements. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause. We will inform you when the course will be reoffered."
While some of the online commentary from students requested more explanation, most seemed to understand that the group forums Wirth had said were vital to the course were crashing, with some information entered by some students accidentally erased by others, and some students unable to enter the forums at all. Several said that Wirth seemed to be trying to salvage the course without an adequate technology infrastructure. Further irony: The course promised to teach students how to deal with these issues in their own online offerings. The course description said that "you will explore online learning pedagogy, online course design, privacy and copyright issues, online assessments, managing an online class, web tools and Learning Management Systems."
Wirth did not respond to an e-mail message seeking details about what happened. Neither did Coursera. I have a Georgia Tech spokesman who says he's going to try to get something for me to add. -sj
Some students posted detailed descriptions of what went wrong on blogs. The blog Online Learning Insights featured a course review called "How NOT to Design a MOOC: The Disaster at Coursera and How to Fix It." The post described problems participating in group discussions, a lack of clarity about the objectives of the group discussion and a general lack of information for frustrated students. Quoting from e-mail messages sent to students, the post notes lack of access to parts of the Google Docs created for the course, and a situation in which the group work became chaotic.
"Group work can provide meaningful learning, in the right context with the support of a sound instructional strategy," the post says. "The example here from the class, 'Fundamentals of Online Education: Planning and Application' demonstrates why a sound strategy is needed, and what happens when one is lacking. MOOCs require a unique instructional strategy, one that is different from small online courses. What exactly the strategy to follow is under discussion. It is through the courses such as this one that institutions can learn what works and does not. I give the instructor credit for trying something new, and investing the time and energy she has done which is considerable."
Several students reported that the forums were designed for small groups, but had no apparent limits on the number who could join, so theoretically small groups quickly became large, unworkable groups, resulting in tons of e-mail notifications and little understanding of what to do.
The blog How People Learn Online noted that the course illustrated that when things go wrong on a MOOC, they go wrong in front of a larger group than even experienced professors have ever faced at one time.
"The course abruptly ended with an e-mail today," the post said. "It must have been very difficult for the instructor to try to continue to repair the issues with 40,000 students participating. This is a hard lesson to learn I imagine – MOOC design and traditional online course design are very different. I don’t think they were ready for the amplification of troubles and the cascading effects of what might be a minor issue in a traditional online course. There will be quite a few disappointed students. I have had technical glitches and have made poor design courses in the first run of many online courses over the years. But I never had to endure the crash and burn of a course that was taught in the open with so many witnesses. My sympathies are with the instructor…."
(Note: This article has been updated from an earlier version to clarify some facts.) |
Q:
Model-binding an object from the repository by several keys
Suppose the following route:
{region}/{storehouse}/{controller}/{action}
These two parameters region and storehouse altogether identify a single entity - a Storehouse. Thus, a bunch of controllers are being called in the context of some storehouse.
And I'd like to write actions like this:
public ActionResult SomeAction(Storehouse storehouse, ...)
Here I can read your thoughts: "Write custom model binder, man". I do. However, the question is
How to avoid magic strings within custom model binder?
Here is my current code:
public class StorehouseModelBinder : IModelBinder
{
readonly IStorehouseRepository repository;
public StorehouseModelBinder(IStorehouseRepository repository)
{
this.repository = repository;
}
public object BindModel(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext)
{
var region = bindingContext.ValueProvider.GetValue("region").AttemptedValue;
var storehouse = bindingContext.ValueProvider.GetValue("storehouse").AttemptedValue;
return repository.GetByKey(region, storehouse);
}
}
If there was a single key, bindingContext.ModelName could be used...
Probably, there is another way to supply all the actions with a Storehouse object, i.e. declaring it as a property of the controller and populating it in the Controller.Initialize.
A:
I've ended up with another approach. Model binding is not an appropriate mechanism for my purpose. Action Filter is the way to go!
Names are not the same as in the question, but treat Site as Storehouse.
public class ProvideCurrentSiteFilter: IActionFilter
{
readonly ISiteContext siteContext;
public ProvideCurrentSiteFilter(ISiteContext siteContext)
{
this.siteContext = siteContext;
}
void IActionFilter.OnActionExecuted(ActionExecutedContext filterContext)
{
}
void IActionFilter.OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
filterContext.ActionParameters["currentSite"] = siteContext.CurrentSite;
}
}
ISiteContext realization analyzes HttpContext.Current and pulls an object from Site Repository. Using HttpContext.Current is not too elegant, agree. However, everything goes through IoC, so testability doesn't suffer.
There is an action filter attribute named ProvideCurrentSiteAttribute which uses ProvideCurrentSiteFilter. So, my action method looks like that:
[ProvideCurrentSite]
public ActionResult Menu(Site currentSite)
{
}
|
Two prominent reporters who were recently laid off from digital media outlets are forming a new advocacy group to raise awareness about Big Tech’s impact on the journalism industry.
John Stanton, a longtime congressional correspondent and former BuzzFeed News Washington bureau chief, and Laura Bassett, a former culture and political reporter for nearly 10 years at HuffPost, have teamed up to launch a new initiative called the Save Journalism Project. The two have firsthand experience with the troubled state of the news industry: Stanton was laid off from BuzzFeed News during a round of layoffs that affected 200 people companywide this winter and helped spur a unionization drive among the news staff. Bassett lost her job in similar fashion in January after HuffPost laid off 20 employees as part of larger cuts at its parent company, Verizon Media.
This year has been one of the worst in recent memory for journalism jobs. Across the industry, thousands have lost their jobs, from BuzzFeed News, Vice, CNN, and others across the country at local publications. Media organizations have been imperiled by crashing advertising revenues as Facebook and Google vacuum up available ad dollars.
Their new project will be set up as a nonprofit, according to Eddie Vale, a Democratic consultant whose firm is helping launch the effort. Vale pitched Bassett on the idea, and the two of them brought in Stanton. Vale said initial funding had been secured from “someone who doesn’t want to be public so Google and Facebook don’t go after them,” and the group plans to continue to fundraise. So far, the pair have coauthored testimony given to the Senate Judiciary Committee highlighting the tech giants’ impact on the news industry — “since being laid off, we’ve made it our mission to understand how the digital marketplace works and how Big Tech is killing the journalism industry,” they wrote — flown a plane above Google’s I/O conference, and authored op-eds.
A key part of their goal is to get journalists, who aren’t known for showing a keen interest in the business side of their publications or for engaging in advocacy themselves, to take an active role in defending the future of their jobs. In an interview, Stanton said they were “trying to educate the public and members of Congress and also start encouraging our colleagues to speak up.”
“Reporters are not generally super interested in speaking about their own problems and about things that affect them directly because they feel like it becomes a conflict of interest, and in certain ways that’s true,” Stanton said. “But when the future of the free press is being pretty seriously endangered by something, I think it’s incumbent upon us to stand up for ourselves.”
Like many reporters, Bassett said she had “never really had to pay attention to the financial side of journalism.”
But “after getting laid off, I started to become really interested in why all of these amazing news publishers were sort of going under, having to lay off staff, why we were losing local newspapers. It’s a tragedy, it’s really bad for democracy.”
Their effort comes at a time of increased scrutiny of the tech industry on the part of the federal government, as well as Congress, as public concern mounts over repeated privacy scandals, technology companies’ role in spreading misinformation, and their dominance over certain industries. The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission reportedly made a deal to divide potential antitrust investigations between them; Apple and Google will fall under the purview of the DOJ, while the FTC took Facebook and Amazon. The House Judiciary Committee announced it would “conduct a top-to-bottom review of the market power held by giant tech platforms.”
The Save Journalism Project’s founders are hoping to steer the public conversation around the negative effects of Big Tech toward its impact on journalism.
Stanton, who lives in New Orleans, mentioned examples like that city’s local paper, the Times-Picayune, which laid off its entire staff last month. Around the country, Stanton said, “local reporters are so overtaxed. They’re doing as good a job as they can but there’s not enough of them.”
At the moment, Stanton and Bassett are more focused on warning the public and the industry about the issue than on proposing solutions.
“I do think that everyone is starting to see a need to break up and regulate these companies or something along those lines,” Bassett said. “And with regards to how they’re going to make journalism viable again, I don’t frankly know...I think right now we’re starting with just getting this conversation out into the public and making people aware of exactly what’s going on. I do hope at some point we graduate into saying, ‘here’s a list of policy proposals, here’s exactly what needs to happen.’”
Stanton and Bassett plan to interview elected officials, candidates, and colleagues in the media about the industry’s crisis, and started with conducting on-camera interviews with Reps. Mark DeSaulnier and Ruben Gallego. They plan to circulate a letter with which media companies can sign on to their cause. And their first official event will be at the annual Congressional Baseball Game, where they plan to distribute a physical newspaper laying out the problems on their agenda.
“The DC press corps is a really powerful constituency within our industry,” Stanton said. “If we can get our colleagues [there] to start talking about this it will help more broadly.” |
Q:
How can I flatten every n rows in matrix using Matlab?
I can easily flatten an entire matrix into one row using reshape(M,1,[]). However, this time I want to flatten every n rows into one row. Thus, if we start with 100 rows and n=10, we will end up with 10 rows.
e.g.
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
10 11 12
with n=2 changes into
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12
Is there a simple way to do this?
A:
Suppose your original matrix is m, then:
reshape(m',[6 2])'
produces the required output. I'll leave it to you to generalise to other cases; comment or post again if that causes you problems.
|
Q:
problem with arabic ( م ) character in .htaccess RewriteRule
I have problem with ( م ) arabic character in .htaccess RewriteRule .
The problem is :
when I open url localhost/site/cat/مرئيات I get error page like this :
But when I change it to localhost/site/cat/برئيات by changing the ( م ) character or delete it, It work fine like this :
Other arabic character is work fine so where is the wrong in my case?
My .htaccess file content:
Options None
Options FollowSymLinks
AddDefaultCharset UTF-8
AddType 'text/html; charset=UTF-8' .html
AddCharset UTF-8 .html
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^cat/(.*)/?$ cat.php?title=$1 [NC,L]
Please help and thanks.
A:
I managed to make it work on my localhost by changing the rewriterule to the following:
RewriteRule ^cat/([^/.]+)$ cat.php?title=$1 [QSA,L]
So it matches any character other than "/" or ".". I'm not quite sure why it didn't accept your version though.
Make sure to delete your cache before refreshing!
|
// SPDX-License-Identifier: MPL-2.0
// Copyright © 2020 Skyline Team and Contributors (https://github.com/skyline-emu/)
#pragma once
#include <array>
#include <common.h>
#include "engine.h"
namespace skyline {
namespace constant {
constexpr u32 GpfifoRegisterCount = 0x40; //!< The number of GPFIFO registers
}
namespace gpu::engine {
/**
* @brief The GPFIFO engine handles managing macros and semaphores
* @url https://github.com/NVIDIA/open-gpu-doc/blob/ab27fc22db5de0d02a4cabe08e555663b62db4d4/manuals/volta/gv100/dev_pbdma.ref.txt
*/
class GPFIFO : public Engine {
private:
/**
* @brief This holds the GPFIFO engine's registers
* @url https://github.com/NVIDIA/open-gpu-doc/blob/ab27fc22db5de0d02a4cabe08e555663b62db4d4/classes/host/clb06f.h#L65
*/
#pragma pack(push, 1)
union Registers {
std::array<u32, constant::GpfifoRegisterCount> raw;
enum class SemaphoreOperation : u8 {
Acquire = 1,
Release = 2,
AcqGeq = 4,
AcqAnd = 8,
Reduction = 16
};
enum class SemaphoreAcquireSwitch : u8 {
Disabled = 0,
Enabled = 1
};
enum class SemaphoreReleaseWfi : u8 {
En = 0,
Dis = 1
};
enum class SemaphoreReleaseSize : u8 {
SixteenBytes = 0,
FourBytes = 1
};
enum class SemaphoreReduction : u8 {
Min = 0,
Max = 1,
Xor = 2,
And = 3,
Or = 4,
Add = 5,
Inc = 6,
Dec = 7
};
enum class SemaphoreFormat : u8 {
Signed = 0,
Unsigned = 1
};
enum class MemOpTlbInvalidatePdb : u8 {
One = 0,
All = 1
};
enum class SyncpointOperation : u8 {
Wait = 0,
Incr = 1
};
enum class SyncpointWaitSwitch : u8 {
Dis = 0,
En = 1
};
enum class WfiScope : u8 {
CurrentScgType = 0,
All = 1
};
enum class YieldOp : u8 {
Nop = 0,
PbdmaTimeslice = 1,
RunlistTimeslice = 2,
Tsg = 3
};
struct {
struct {
u16 nvClass : 16;
u8 engine : 5;
u16 _pad_ : 11;
} setObject;
u32 illegal;
u32 nop;
u32 _pad0_;
struct {
struct {
u32 offsetUpper : 8;
u32 _pad0_ : 24;
};
struct {
u8 _pad1_ : 2;
u32 offsetLower : 30;
};
u32 payload;
struct {
SemaphoreOperation operation : 5;
u8 _pad2_ : 7;
SemaphoreAcquireSwitch acquireSwitch : 1;
u8 _pad3_ : 7;
SemaphoreReleaseWfi releaseWfi : 1;
u8 _pad4_ : 3;
SemaphoreReleaseSize releaseSize : 1;
u8 _pad5_ : 2;
SemaphoreReduction reduction : 4;
SemaphoreFormat format : 1;
};
} semaphore;
u32 nonStallInterrupt;
u32 fbFlush;
u32 _pad1_[2];
u32 memOpC;
u32 memOpD;
u32 _pad2_[6];
u32 setReference;
u32 _pad3_[7];
struct {
u32 payload;
struct {
SyncpointOperation operation : 1;
u8 _pad0_ : 3;
SyncpointWaitSwitch waitSwitch : 1;
u8 _pad1_ : 3;
u16 index : 12;
u16 _pad2_ : 12;
};
} syncpoint;
struct {
WfiScope scope : 1;
u32 _pad_ : 31;
} wfi;
u32 crcCheck;
struct {
YieldOp op : 2;
u32 _pad_ : 30;
} yield;
};
} registers{};
static_assert(sizeof(Registers) == (constant::GpfifoRegisterCount * sizeof(u32)));
#pragma pack(pop)
public:
GPFIFO(const DeviceState &state) : Engine(state) {}
void CallMethod(MethodParams params) {
state.logger->Debug("Called method in GPFIFO: 0x{:X} args: 0x{:X}", params.method, params.argument);
registers.raw[params.method] = params.argument;
};
};
}
} |
/* -*- Mode: C++; tab-width: 4; indent-tabs-mode: nil; c-basic-offset: 4 -*- */
/*
* This file is part of the LibreOffice project.
*
* This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
* License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
* file, You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
*
* This file incorporates work covered by the following license notice:
*
* Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
* contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed
* with this work for additional information regarding copyright
* ownership. The ASF licenses this file to you 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 .
*/
#pragma once
#include <connectiondependent.hxx>
#include <com/sun/star/sdb/tools/XDataSourceMetaData.hpp>
#include <cppuhelper/implbase.hxx>
#include <memory>
namespace sdbtools
{
// DataSourceMetaData
typedef ::cppu::WeakImplHelper< css::sdb::tools::XDataSourceMetaData
> DataSourceMetaData_Base;
/** default implementation for XDataSourceMetaData
*/
class DataSourceMetaData :public DataSourceMetaData_Base
,public ConnectionDependentComponent
{
public:
/** constructs the instance
@param _rContext
the component's context
@param _rxConnection
the connection to work with. Will be held weak. Must not be <NULL/>.
@throws css::lang::NullPointerException
if _rxConnection is <NULL/>
*/
DataSourceMetaData(
const css::uno::Reference< css::uno::XComponentContext >& _rContext,
const css::uno::Reference< css::sdbc::XConnection >& _rxConnection
);
// XDataSourceMetaData
virtual sal_Bool SAL_CALL supportsQueriesInFrom() override;
protected:
virtual ~DataSourceMetaData() override;
private:
DataSourceMetaData( const DataSourceMetaData& ) = delete;
DataSourceMetaData& operator=( const DataSourceMetaData& ) = delete;
};
} // namespace sdbtools
/* vim:set shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4 expandtab: */
|
Q:
Angular: with filter
I have:
<select name="club" id="club" ng-model="currentUser.club_id" ng-options="club.id as club.name for club in clubs | filter:{ country_id: currentUser.country_id }" required></select>
I'm happy with that, except that since I filter the clubs list, there are cases where <select> has no <option>, which implies that the required attribute makes the form unsubmittable.
I could do
<select ng-required="(clubs | filter:{ country_id: currentUser.country_id }).length"></select>
but I though maybe there is a more elegant way to do that. Something like:
<select ng-required="$element.options.length"></select>
Is my intuition correct? What's the way to do that?
A:
You can simply try
ng-repeat="item in filtered = (items | filter:filterExpr)"
and then use
filtered.length
This works for ng-options too !
Hope this was helpful
Reference Filter Length
|
Headlines
2012 NHL Draft preview: Pacific Division
With three teams from the Pacific Division making the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs and a fourth missing by just six points, there's not much that separates the five teams in the division.
The difference could be success at the 2012 NHL Draft; a raw product found in June could emerge as a polished star by October.
The Stanley Cup champion Kings showed just how important building through the draft was -- Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Quick, team captain Dustin Brown and top-line center Anze Kopitar all were drafted and developed by the Kings.
The Coyotes, who advanced to the Western Conference Finals, have used the draft to build a core of up-and-coming young defensemen, and the Ducks, Sharks and Stars are aiming to see their success at the draft lead to on-ice NHL victories.
They'll have their chance when the teams meet in Pittsburgh for the 2012 NHL Draft, June 22-23.
All five teams have first-round picks, but the Kings could lose theirs -- the Columbus Blue Jackets have the option of taking the Kings pick this year or next from the Jeff Carter trade. The Jackets don't have to inform the NHL of their decision until two picks prior to the Kings' selection.
Here's a look at the five Pacific Division teams as they prepare for the draft:
A rough season for the Ducks resulted in coach Randy Carlyle being fired, replaced by Bruce Boudreau. The team was 7-13-4 when Carlyle was let go. It finished strong under Boudreau (27-23-8) but still finished 13th in the Western Conference, 15 points out of a playoff spot.
However, the cupboard is far from bare, and with a full training camp to implement Boudreau's game plan, the Ducks could see rapid improvement. Adding a top-end talent with the sixth pick in the draft only could accelerate that turnaround.
Strengths: The Ducks' top line of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan is among the most talented in the League. Goaltender Jonas Hiller made a full recovery from the vertigo-like symptoms that short-circuited the second half of his 2010-11 season to start a League-high 73 games. Cam Fowler, a steal at No. 12 in the 2010 draft, continues to improve.
Weaknesses: There's a big drop-off in scoring after the first line; if Teemu Selanne retires, there will be that much less. They also need to find a backup for Hiller, either through organizational depth or free agency.
Biggest need: Secondary scoring is a must. Selanne, Saku Koivu and Jason Blake started the season on the second line, but all three are at least 37 years old. Selanne's return is questionable, and Blake definitely won't be back. The Ducks' biggest scorer outside the top line and Selanne was Andrew Cogliano's 13 goals. With their first pick, expect the Ducks to target one of the top-end forwards available with the hope he can step into a top-six role.
In the first season under coach Glen Gulutzan, the Stars got off to a strong start and even led the division as late as March 29. But a five-game losing streak to end the season scuttled their playoff hopes.
There wasn't a lot of hope entering the season following the loss of top center Brad Richards, but additions like Michael Ryder and Sheldon Souray helped, as did a career season from goaltender Kari Lehtonen. With the teams so closely bunched together, the Stars easily could find their way back to the postseason.
Strengths: With Jamie Benn and Loui Eriksson, the Stars have two of the better young power forwards in the League. Benn made his first All-Star team last season, and Eriksson has scored at least 25 goals in four straight seasons. A healthy Lehtonen was outstanding, and the defense in front of him was more than just solid.
Weaknesses: It's a question of consistency -- the Stars had three different five-game winless skids and four win streaks of at least four games. A better handle in Year 2 with Gulutzan could change that. They also need to add more skill to their bottom-six forward group.
Biggest need: The defense is solid, but lacks an offensive element. With the depth of this year's class of defensemen, they could find that player there. Free agency or trade also is an option.
WEAR WHAT THE DRAFTEES WEAR
The Sharks got off to a slow start but recovered to finish seventh in the Western Conference. But after back-to-back trips to the conference finals, their stay in the postseason was a short one.
It looks like GM Doug Wilson will keep his core intact, including coach Todd McLellan. The talent at forward, while aging, remains at a high level. Not having Martin Havlat for half the season hurt; better health from a few key players could see them improve greatly next season.
Strengths: Their top two lines may be getting a bit older, but led by Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, they still can get it done. Joe Pavelski has emerged from his "Little Joe" status to be a prime-time player. Ryane Clowe, when healthy, can be a top power forward. Their top two defensive pairings are a solid mix of puck-moving skill and defensive grit. Brent Burns especially should be better with a full season in San Jose under his belt.
Weaknesses: After the top line, there's not much in the way of scoring options. They also need to improve a penalty-kill unit that finished 29th in the NHL in 2011-12. With key players Thornton, Marleau, Havlat and Dan Boyle all 31 or older, they need to get younger at the skill positions.
Biggest need: After trading top prospect Charlie Coyle last year and having just one first-round pick since 2008, they just need to add more talent to the organizational prospect pool.
The Coyotes emerged at the top of the tough Pacific Division thanks to their outstanding defense and goalie Mike Smith. With coach Dave Tippett leading the way, the Coyotes again were greater than the sum of their parts.
Re-signing team captain Shane Doan is priority No. 1 for GM Don Maloney. He also hopes one of the team's young crop of blue-line prospects can step forward to add depth and youth at the position.
Strengths: Smith emerged as the team's most important player and backstopped a team that was fifth in the regular season in goals-against average while finishing 28th in shots-allowed per game. Mikkel Boedker, a 2008 first-round pick, emerged as a breakout star in the playoffs, and should be able to carry that into next season. Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson also had a tremendous postseason.
2012 NHL DRAFT
The best-ever draft picks, from 1 to 30
By John Kreiser - NHL.com Columnist Who was the best-ever No. 1 draft pick? What about the best fourth pick? Or the 18th? NHL.com weighs in with our opinion of the best ever, No. 1 to No. 30. READ MORE ›
After an up-and-down regular season, the Kings flipped the switch in the playoffs and won the franchise's first Stanley Cup.
However, there's little time to rest, with the draft and free agency just around the corner. Whether they have their first-round pick or not, the Kings have done well at the draft in the past and that won't change this year.
Strengths: The Stanley Cup champs are loaded with big, strong, skilled forwards, a solid defense and a brick wall for a goaltender. After a slow start, defenseman Drew Doughty was the best defenseman in the postseason. Dustin Brown showcased his leadership skills in the late-season push for a playoff spot and it carried all the through the postseason. With a full training camp for coach Darryl Sutter, the Kings should at least have a more consistent regular season in 2012-13.
Weaknesses: The Kings were 29th in the League in scoring in the regular season, and while the acquisition of Jeff Carter helped that, a more consistent scoring effort from the team's forwards is needed. Carryover exhaustion from the longest season most of these players ever have endured also could be a problem.
Biggest need: More top-end skill. Dustin Penner had a solid playoff but a subpar regular season, and is an unrestricted free agent. If he doesn't return, the Kings will have to look at closely in free agency or the trade market for another top-six forward. |
Mitutoyo, at its factory at Miyazaki in Japan, has a long tradition in the manufacture of gauge blocks. Two materials are used, alloy steel and ceramic, both providing outstanding quality and durability. Steel is the orignal, and still the most popular material used in the manufacture of gauge blocks. Steel blocks are the most economical choice and have a long working life if used and maintained carefully. Ceramic blocks are the natural choice where extreme wear resistance and easy maintenance are the principal requirements.
Made of high quality alloy steel, carefully heat treated and stress relieved for high stability and precision lapped for good wringing properties. Slightly rounded edges.
Each gauge block is marked with an identification number. Gauge block hardness is 800 HV (64 HRC) for high wear resistance.
Mitutoyo gauge blocks are graded according to national or international standards during manufacture under the most stringent quality control procedures. Every block is well within the accuracy limits of the tolerance grade assigned.
Tolerance Grade 1: For calibrating and setting test gauges, reference gauges, and for adjusting length measuring instruments as well as for accurate testing in quality control.
Free Delivery on all orders over £100 that are delivered to the UK mainland (as defined by TNT).
Not all items are in stock and we would suggest calling our sales team on 01162 530 346 to confirm lead-times. Whilst we will do our best, any lead-times shown in the price section are only a suggestion and are subject to change.
H Roberts & Sons (D.I.) Ltd standard delivery charge is £9.95 across all UK mainland orders on a 'standard next day delivery'.
H Roberts guarantees that the Products and/or Services will be free from defects in materials and/or workmanship for a period of 12 months from:- (i) in the case of Services, the date of completion of the performance of the Services; and/or (ii) in the case of Products, the date of delivery of the Products to the Buyer. |
Fabrics and curtains
We also supply a full range of curtain trimmings, tassels, tie-backs and pelmets and to complete the scheme there are curtain poles, finials and tracks from which to choose.With a full making up service carried out by our skilled staff and we are able to fix poles and tracks and to professionally hang your new curtains.
Special Offers
At Richard Cook Furnishers you will always find a bargain in our special offers, to see what is currently on offer view our special offers page > |
Chris Carterhttp://news.stlpublicradio.org
enOn the Trail: Slay's 'vigorous defense' of stadium ordinance called into questionhttp://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/trail-slays-vigorous-defense-stadium-ordinance-called-question
<p>You don’t have to try that hard to get St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay to express effusive support for a new football stadium on his city’s riverfront.</p><p>With the St. Louis Rams potentially bolting to the Los Angeles area, Slay joined with Gov. Jay Nixon and numerous labor unions in backing the roughly $1 billion stadium. For the Democratic mayor, the project would not only provide steady work for thousands of people – it would revitalize a rather drab part of St. Louis’ riverfront.Sun, 03 May 2015 22:56:34 +0000Jason Rosenbaum45523 at http://news.stlpublicradio.orgOn the Trail: Slay's 'vigorous defense' of stadium ordinance called into questionShadow Of Clay And Carter Dynasties Looms Over Peters, Carter Race For State House Seathttp://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/shadow-clay-and-carter-dynasties-looms-over-peters-carter-race-state-house-seat
<p></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5;">On a slightly overcast day in St. Louis’ </span>Penrose<span style="line-height: 1.5;"> neighborhood, state Rep. Joshua Peters briskly moved from brick bungalow to brick bungalow to get the word out about his re-election campaign. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5;"> </span></p>Mon, 28 Jul 2014 03:04:24 +0000Jason Rosenbaum38337 at http://news.stlpublicradio.orgShadow Of Clay And Carter Dynasties Looms Over Peters, Carter Race For State House SeatChris Carter Joins St. Louis Board Of Aldermenhttp://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/chris-carter-joins-st-louis-board-aldermen
<p>The St. Louis Board of Aldermen is back at full strength.</p><p>Former state Representative Chris Carter took the oath of office Friday at City Hall. Carter won a<a href="http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/mo-state-rep-carter-will-fill-late-uncle-s-seat-board-aldermen-0"> special election</a> last week to finish the term of his late uncle, Ald. Gregory Carter, who died <a href="http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/st-louis-alderman-gregory-carter-killed-crash">in a tractor trailer accident</a> in August.</p>Fri, 26 Oct 2012 21:22:45 +0000Rachel Lippmann5816 at http://news.stlpublicradio.orgChris Carter Joins St. Louis Board Of AldermenMo. State Rep. Carter Will Fill Late Uncle’s Seat On Board Of Aldermenhttp://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/mo-state-rep-carter-will-fill-late-uncle-s-seat-board-aldermen-0
<p></p><p>State Rep. Chris Carter won a special election on Tuesday to fill the seat left open on the St. Louis Board of Aldermen after his uncle, Alderman Greg Carter, died in a traffic accident two months ago.</p><p>Carter said it’s a bitter sweet victory and his first order of business is to tackle what he views as a cycle of joblessness and crime in his ward. </p>Wed, 17 Oct 2012 03:44:34 +0000Tim Lloyd5467 at http://news.stlpublicradio.orgMo. State Rep. Carter Will Fill Late Uncle’s Seat On Board Of Aldermen |
My Perfectly Imperfect Academic Journey
Hello colleagues. Have you read the interview with Annamaria Pinter, a specialist in English education for young learners and one of the plenary speakers at the JALT 2016, which was published in the previous issue of TLT?
Her insightful remarks on the challenges that teachers for young learners face in professional development provoked candid conversation on this topic on the JALT TYL SIG Facebook site. As a way to develop the discussion further, we asked Chiyuki Yanase, a school owner and university lecturer, to share her unique experiences in professional development.
Anne Lamott (1995) said, “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people” (p. 28). This has been my mantra for my academic journey from an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) at public primary schools to a part-time lecturer at the tertiary level. This journey has broadened my opportunities for professional and personal development, and granted me the opportunity to have a brand new objective and position; a researcher who inquires and shares her findings in classrooms.
It began while I was studying for a Master’s degree in TESOL, specializing in Teaching Young Learners (TYL) as well as working as an ALT for the board of education in Kunitachi city in Tokyo. In 2014, having heard about my teaching background and unique position as an ALT at public primary schools, one of my tutors on the Master’s program (at Aston University, U.K.) was interested, and visited one of the primary schools I worked at. She was conducting research with some co-authors to investigate the current trend of hiring, and the working conditions, of English teachers at primary schools globally. Through her observation of my class, she thought my unique position as an ALT/ teacher-trainer might make an interesting contribution to her book, LETs and NESTs: Voices, Views and Vignettes (Copland, Garton, and Mann, 2016). Then she suggested that I write about my personal perspective towards team-teaching in primary education by writing a teaching journal for a month. At first, it was a rather overwhelming offer due to my thesis writing and busy working conditions. Then, Lamott’s mantra kicked in and my daughter echoed this wisdom by saying, “Mum, you are perfectly imperfect and I don’t mind it at all.” Thanks to my daughter, taking this offer was one of the best decisions I ever made. Although the research project put me in an awful state of panic, it was still the best because it reminded me of the numerous benefits of keeping a teaching journal as a tool to reflect on what I do in the classroom. It also broadened my career options: I became a researcher as well as a teacher.
While participating in my tutor’s research study, I managed to complete my thesis. In March 2015, I graduated with distinction and was awarded a Master’s degree in TESOL, specializing in young learners. I decided to focus on young learners in my MA program due to the belief that providing outstanding quality of education to children may create a more eco-friendly, diverse, yet connected world. I had no regrets about my decision, however, it can be argued that the current research and academic field might not see teachers for young learners as competent researchers and counterparts (A. Pinter, personal communication, November 26, 2016). I experienced this upsetting trend first-hand through my own job hunting process.
University positions generally require qualifications, publications, and experience. At the beginning of my job hunting, I naively thought that I met all of these requirements. On the contrary, a candidate for a teaching position at the tertiary level is expected to already have some teaching experience at universities. Teaching in a different context is not considered to be sufficient. My setbacks were not only a lack of teaching experience at the tertiary level but also the lower perceived status of my qualification. In fact, in post-interview e-mails, my lack of teaching experience was cited as reason for rejection. This trend of disapproval of the pedagogical skills of teachers for young learners was one of the most upsetting misconceptions I have experienced in education. A TESOL qualification in any specialized area requires the ability to demonstrate skills as a teacher-researcher. In my opinion, challenging the quality of pedagogical or research skills of the holder of such a qualification means to question the TESOL qualification itself.
Fortunately, with the connections I had built in my past during my professional development and their faith in my pedagogical and English language teaching skills, in 2015 I was offered a position at a university. I had two listening classes for freshmen students in the Global Communications department and enjoyed some life-changing moments with these students. Space doesn’t allow for a more detailed discussion of this, however, this teaching experience at a university enabled me to see my new role in education (teacher-researcher) and propelled me to seek more positions at the tertiary level for the following academic year.
Thanks to the professionals at the tertiary level who saw my potential and passion towards English language teaching, I had offers from four universities in Tokyo for the following academic year, 2016. Lamott’s quote also played a significant role in times of disappointment in keeping my head high and maintaining my faith in the pedagogical skills I had learned from teaching in various classrooms and the theoretical knowledge I had attained from the TESOL program. I have no doubt that my former ALT career and 20 + years of teaching experience have also enabled me to do my current job at universities.
From my personal perspective, a teacher is a facilitator who provides a space for the learners and supports them to develop skills and acquire knowledge collaboratively via assigned tasks. Thus, in terms of teaching approaches and philosophy, a part-time teaching position at tertiary level is no different from that of primary school. Freshmen students in university have more sophisticated social skills and cognition than younger students. Yet, in terms of character, each one of them is as unique and intriguing as the children I have met in my past. Regarding their potential, I see no difference between freshmen students and young learners.
There are, however, differences between my previous work and the current work, especially at Oberin University, where I now work twice a week. One of the differences is the diversity of my colleagues with regard to nationality, educational background, teaching philosophy, teaching approach, and working history. The teachers’ room seems like a feasible micro model for a future society in Japan. The more experienced teachers help newcomers generously. This generosity and acceptance from my colleagues has empowered me to conduct the best possible classes for my learners. I would love to see the transformation of my country from a small island to a member of a global society as demonstrated in the teachers’ room. The current work also offers me more liberty in terms of course design, working conditions and time to do research projects. In fact, I am currently involved in five ongoing projects with other professionals in different settings.
In conclusion, there is a serious lack of research and publications in the TYL field (A. Pinter, personal communication, November 26, 2016). In order to develop a more child-centered collaborative learning environment in every classroom for young learners, more professionals need to join the academic circle and actively share the voices of learners and educators. For the reasons I have stated above, it is time to open the door to more teachers for young learners with TESOL. In addition, hiring teachers from various pedagogical backgrounds who approach work differently might help students to see the world from multiple perspectives.
Chiyuki Yanase is a language school owner and a lecturer at several universities in Tokyo. She has been teaching English for young learners for over 20 years and holds a Master of Social Science degree in Teaching English for Young Learners from Aston University. She has presented at various conferences and published several articles on team-teaching, learner autonomy and teacher development. Her research focuses on collaborative learning and literacy development of young learners.
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To access the latest JALT Publications, please visit the JALT website and log in (Note: You will need to be a current JALT member).
All material published more than six months ago is openly accessible on this site.
To submit an article or other material to The Language Teacher, JALT Journal, or the Postconference Publication, please see the "Submission Guidelines" listed under each publication. |
Q:
Selenium with PHP firefox browser issues
I have a selenium-server-standalone-2.42.2.jar running on my ubuntu system with firefox 35 version. I am using phpwebdriver.As I run my Selenium script it open up the firefox browser and ends there.
My script is:
<?php
require_once "phpwebdriver/WebDriver.php";
$webdriver = new WebDriver("localhost", "4444");
$webdriver->connect("firefox");
$webdriver->get("http://google.com");
$element = $webdriver->findElementBy(LocatorStrategy::name, "q");
if ($element) {
$element->sendKeys(array("php webdriver" ) );
$element->submit();
}
//$webdriver->close();
?>
When I run this script it opens the firefox and stops there and at last it throws me this error. I don't know how to resolve it.
stdClass Object
(
[status] => 13
[sessionId] =>
[value] => stdClass Object
(
[message] => POST /session//element
Build info: version: '2.42.2', revision: '6a6995d', time: '2014-06-03 17:42:03'
System info: host: 'zaptech', ip: '127.0.1.1', os.name: 'Linux', os.arch: 'amd64', os.version: '4.2.0-27-generic', java.version: '1.7.0_121'
Driver info: driver.version: unknown
[localizedMessage] => POST /session//element
Build info: version: '2.42.2', revision: '6a6995d', time: '2014-06-03 17:42:03'
System info: host: 'zaptech', ip: '127.0.1.1', os.name: 'Linux', os.arch: 'amd64', os.version: '4.2.0-27-generic', java.version: '1.7.0_121'
Driver info: driver.version: unknown
[suppressed] => Array
(
)
[cause] =>
[supportUrl] =>
[systemInformation] => System info: host: 'zaptech', ip: '127.0.1.1', os.name: 'Linux', os.arch: 'amd64', os.version: '4.2.0-27-generic', java.version: '1.7.0_121'
[class] => org.openqa.selenium.UnsupportedCommandException
[additionalInformation] =>
Driver info: driver.version: unknown
[hCode] => 1436132011
[stackTrace] => Array
(
[0] =>
[1] =>
[2] =>
[3] =>
[4] =>
[5] =>
[6] =>
[7] =>
[8] =>
[9] =>
[10] =>
[11] =>
[12] =>
[13] =>
[14] =>
[15] =>
[16] =>
[17] =>
[18] =>
)
)
[state] => unhandled error
[class] => org.openqa.selenium.remote.Response
[hCode] => 1502000244
)
PHP Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'WebDriverException' with message '13' in /var/www/html/selenium/wdtest/phpwebdriver/WebDriverBase.php:130
Stack trace:
#0 /var/www/html/selenium/wdtest/phpwebdriver/WebDriverBase.php(170): WebDriverBase->handleResponse(Object(stdClass))
#1 /var/www/html/selenium/wdtest/index.php(24): WebDriverBase->findElementBy('name', 'q')
#2 {main}
thrown in /var/www/html/selenium/wdtest/phpwebdriver/WebDriverBase.php on line 130
What I am missing like? Or Maybe browser compatibilty issues?
A:
i had the same problem while running tests on Firefox. browser has opened but unable
to locate the URL in browser and given error. tried many ways but no help. finally
i added all the jar files to library as how we do in eclipse using build path > libraries.
it is working fine and I'm able to run my tests. using Firefox 35.
Also upgrade your selenimum jar file version to (2.45).
Hope it helps!!!
|
Biomechanical study of lumbar spinal stability after osteoplastic laminectomy.
The biomechanical stability of the lumbar spine after two surgical procedures of total facetectomy and osteoplastic laminectomy was investigated using fresh-frozen human cadaveric lumbar spine specimens. Six pure moments in flexion-extension, right-left bending, and right-left twisting were applied and intervertebral motions were recorded using an optoelectronic motion measurement system. Neutral zone (NZ) and range of motion (ROM) under three conditions of intact, total facetectomy, and osteoplastic laminectomy were analyzed statistically to determine comparative biomechanical potential for instability. Results of NZ showed no changes in any direction with respect to the intact behavior after the two procedures. Also, in lateral bending, there were no significant increases in ROM after the two procedures. However, flexion-extension ROM increased significantly (+33%, p < 0.05) after the total facetectomy, but not after osteoplastic laminectomy. Axial rotation ROM increased remarkably after the total facetectomy (+113%, p < 0.05), but only moderately (+57%, p < 0.05) after the osteoplastic laminectomy. The osteoplastic laminectomy, which preserves the spinous process as well as the facet joints, maintains greater spinal stability than the total facetectomy. |
The strategy of a global decentralized network was described in the programme of activities in preparation for the International Year that our team sent to the Director-General on 7 May 1998, with the help of the Task Force established for the Year.
By the time of the 30th General Conference in November 1999, the Member States were prepared to play a leading role in the International Year. More than 100 countries spoke to the culture of peace in the plenary debate on (see synopsis in Annex VIII), many speaking about the International Year. It was necessary to follow up on their commitments.
A manual for national focal points for the International Year was developed and sent on 21-27 October 1999 to National Commissions for UNESCO, UNESCO field offices and UN Resident Coordinators with the request to develop partnerships with the civil society in their countries. At the heart of the manual was a national partnership agreement form based on the one developed with the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee and sent to international NGOs.
One team member, Ms Jeanne Gruson, was engaged full time just to maintain relations with the national focal points (National Commissions and UNESCO field offices) during the Year and to help them use the manual and develop partnerships with the civil society. The effectiveness of this approach is indicated by newsletter entries on the IYCP Website during the Year 2000 from over 100 countries and the summary of activities during the first six months by UNESCO field offices prepared for the UNESCO Executive Board (Annex IX). Unfortunately, the Executive Board never knew the extent of the activities because much of the summary of field office activities was cut from the document that was forwarded to them by the UNESCO Central Services.
Presentation of one million Manifesto signatures from Japan. Left to right: Director-General Koichiro Matsura, UNESCO Club representatives Junichiro Iwama and Kaori Kabishima
The extensive involvement of UNESCO National Commissions was especially important for the success of the Year. A summary of their activity as of March 15, 2001 provided information about the activities of 155 National Commissions. An earlier report on June 21, 2000 included printed publications from the National Commissions of Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Germany, Haiti, Iran, Maurice, Namibia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republique Democratique du Congo, Swaziland and Vietnam. Our office in Paris developed close working relations with other National Commissions in Algeria, Benin, Canada, Cape Verde, France, Guinea Bissau, India, Italy, Jamaica, Madagascar, Morocco, Mozambique, Netherlands Antilles, Norway, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Spain, Tchad, Tonga, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe. Detailed projects for funding were presented to the UNESCO Programme of Participation from Antigua/Barbuda, Australia, Azerbaijan, Botswana, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Emerats Arabes Unis, Gambia, India, Indonesia, Lesotho, Liberia, Mauritania, Namibia, Nicaragua, Peru, Republique Democratique du Congo, Saint Lucia, Tchad and Trinidad and Tobago. Special dossiers were provided for Brazil where the National Commission was not active but there were major engagements by national and regional parliaments and from the United Kingdom where Tony Blair recognized the United Nations Association as playing the leading role. |
Q:
BigQuery bq SSL issue
I have a BigQuery job running periodically. It was running fine so far. Now I am getting the following error. And when I directly tried executing the bq commands in the terminal it does not result in the same error response consistently. Sometimes it works fine.
The bash command used is:
bq query --project_id=$BQ_PROJECT_ID --nouse_legacy_sql --format=json --quiet $MAX_TIME_QUERY
And it raises the following error:
BigQuery error in query operation: Cannot contact server. Please try again.
Traceback: Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/bigquery_client.py", line 681, in BuildApiClient
_, discovery_document = http.request(discovery_url)
File "/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/third_party/oauth2client_4_0/transport.py", line 160, in new_request
credentials._refresh(orig_request_method)
File "/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/third_party/oauth2client_4_0/client.py", line 762, in _refresh
self._do_refresh_request(http)
File "/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/third_party/oauth2client_4_0/client.py", line 781, in _do_refresh_request
body=body, headers=headers)
File "/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/third_party/oauth2client_4_0/transport.py", line 283, in request
connection_type=connection_type)
File "/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/third_party/httplib2/init.py", line 1626, in request
(response, content) = self._request(conn, authority, uri, request_uri, method, body, headers, redirections, cachekey)
File "/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/third_party/httplib2/init.py", line 1368, in _request
(response, content) = self._conn_request(conn, request_uri, method, body, headers)
File "/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/third_party/httplib2/init.py", line 1288, in _conn_request
conn.connect()
File "/google-cloud-sdk/platform/bq/third_party/httplib2/init.py", line 1082, in connect
raise SSLHandshakeError(e)
SSLHandshakeError: [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed (_ssl.c:661)
I am using this within docker container (google/cloud-sdk:206.0.0-alpine). Also the same container when run on my mac laptop it works fine. When I check the same on a linux server it fails.
A:
Upgrading to google/cloud-sdk:250.0.0-alpine version resolved the problem. I did not figure out the root cause for this problem but upgrading helped to fix it.
|
The present invention relates to a disk array device and a technique for controlling the same and, more particularly, to a technique effectively applied to a controlling method of replication of a storage unit system that can be connected to a plurality of different kinds of networks.
The inventors of the present invention have examined a conventional disk array device and a technique for controlling it and consequently understood as follows.
Recently, there has been a rapid increase in quantity of data to be handled in a computer system. To efficiently utilize and manage such vast data, there has been developed a technique which connects a plurality of disk array devices (hereinafter “storage unit systems”) and an information processing apparatus to each other through a dedicated network (Storage Area Network, which is hereinafter abbreviated as “SAN”) so that high-speed and vast data access to the storage unit systems can be realized. In order to realize high-speed data transfer by connecting the storage unit systems and the information processing apparatus to each other, generally the network is built up using a communication instrument that complies with a fiber channel protocol.
Meanwhile, there has been developed a network system referred to as a network attached storage (NAS), which connects a plurality of storage unit systems and an information processing apparatus to each other through a network that uses a transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) so that the storage unit systems can be accessed at a file level. In the NAS, a device having a file system function is connected to the storage unit system, so that it is possible for the information processing apparatus to gain access at a file level. See Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-351703. |
Sucks about the foot. I had an inflamed left plantar fascia a while ago. My doctor had me massage it, put on a painkiller/anti inflammatory patch, and I did some rolling on a tennis ball to get it better. The tennis ball rolling hurt like hell while I did it but felt great afterwards.
I've been messing around with a "new" concept, working out under a time limit with the goal of improving the # of sets performed in future sessions or increasing the total rep #. During the workout I'll do 2-3 different exercises for antagonist muscle groups and superset two at a time for a given time period, with the most time out of the 45 minutes being given to the main muscle groups I'm trying to work. It's high intensity, high volume work.
I'd like to see the results of that. sounds quite a bit like Staley's EDT (escalating density) and other variations on it. I have used Bryce's 20/50 "Have It All" w/ antagonist movements, and it worked well for me in terms of both strength and work capacity. I'd love to see your take on this intersting to see your take on this.
Tim
I was thinking about that 50 rhythm squat routine the other day. I realize I do my best jumping when I essentially go into at most a quarter squat (although it's more like a quarter squat RDL). If I go deeper I tend to land short. So I'm less surprised that it would work for vertical than I was before...if you are training to explode out of the same stance you use to jump the furthest, it makes sense it would help vertical and horizontal jump distance.
thus far (3 weeks), my vertical has gone up about 3" to 32" still nowhere close to where I want to get (unlimited vertical ;) ) but its definitely a marked improvement, also i've been stretching my hip flexors like he suggested and it does feel a lot better when I jump
i would try doing floor drills to warm up the hips rather than stretch them out, he suggests static stretching the hip flexors specifically because they're generally tight on most people/athletes. but you probably meant dynamic stretching anyways and im warning you about nothing
OK so it's been quite some time since I posted on here, coincidentally it's been some time since I actually worked out. I started up again today. Here's what I'm looking at for a "quick" rebuilding plan for GPP/athleticism.
This workout I'll do 3x a week.
-Complex 1; Warm-up I
With a 135# barbell I do 2 deadlifts, 2 shrugs, 2 hang cleans, 2 front squats and repeat 5 times. (Note: 135# is a weight thats light for me for those exercises)
--Complex 2; Warm-up II
With a 50# dumbbell I do 2 db swings, followed by 2 goblet squats and repeat 3 times.
---Warm-up III; Lie on the floor and roll your hip from side to side, this is me just trying to raise my awareness of my hip position to make sure it's correct during lifts.
----Get a sip of water, put on your favorite tune, psyche up, jump around and get ready for the legs to throb with effort.
Leg "Rehab"-The Hard Part;
-A set of 20 reps doing front squats with a weight I normally do about 8-10 reps with. (Note: increase by 5lbs each session)
Rest 1 song length (~3 minutes).
--A set of 20 reps doing romanian deadlifts with a weight that I normally can do about 8-10 reps with. (Note: increase by 5lbs each session)
Rest 1 song length (~3 minutes).
---2 sets of calf raises with a heavy dumbbell in one hand for 15+ reps; a set is completed when you've done the same amount of reps with the dumbbell in each hand. (Note: increase by 5lbs each week)
The "Easy" Part;
Keep the weights light-moderate here. This is a cycle, complete it 3 times.
-Forwards Lunges, while holding a plate overhead during the lunge, do this in front of a mirror to make sure you keep proper posture.
--Reverse Lunges, you're going to plant your foot as far back as you safely can here in an attempt to stretch/work your glutes, use a 8-10 rep weight. Make sure your knees/feet aren't caving in, if so use a lighter weight.
---Step-ups with a dumbbell in the hand opposite the leg you're using.
----Squats with a dumbbell in each hand, however, one is being held down between your legs the other above your head. The one above your head should be probably 50% lighter than the one in between your legs. Switch after 6-8 reps.
Upper body rehab coming tomorrow when I come up with something in the gym.
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31C3: The Perl Jam: Exploiting a 20 Year-old Vulnerability [video] - _ak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gweDBQ-9LuQ
======
CoconutPilot
This is the perfect video to show why you don't do live demos (starting around
15:30). Record the demo beforehand to a video (swf or similar) and play that
back.
|
For years, the mythical creature has eluded scientists, leaving little to no trace of its existence. A woman in Cuero, Texas named Phylis Canion claims she discovered one outside of her ranch. Actually, her and some of her neighbors found three 40 pound bodies in July, keeping it hidden until now. The animal is described as having big ears, large fanged teeth and grayish-blue, mostly hairless skin. Could this strange animal be a chupacabra?
Canion thinks so. She based her opinion on her twenty-six dead chickens who was drained of blood. Her animals weren't the only ones to fall prey to this alleged mythical creature.
Veterinarian Travis Schaar of the Main Street Animal Hospital in nearby Victoria believes what she calls a chupacabra is probably a strange breed of dog, a canine with a thirst for blood. He doesn't deny the possibility of it being a chupacabra, but states that it could just be a mutated litter of dogs.
Canion saved the head of the dead animal and plans on getting to the bottom of its ancestry through DNA testing. Its final resting place will be on her wall along with the heads of other exotic animals she collected during the four years she lived in Africa. In the meantime, you can purchase a t-shirt that reads "2007, The Summer of the Chupacabra, Cuero, Texas," accompanied by a caricature of the creature for $5. |
In vivo voltage-sensitive dye imaging of the insular cortex in nerve-injured rats.
The insular cortex (IC) is a pain-related brain region that receives various types of sensory input and processes the emotional aspects of pain. The present study was conducted to investigate spatiotemporal patterns related to neuroplastic changes in the IC after nerve injury using voltage-sensitive dye imaging. The tibial and sural nerves of rats were injured under pentobarbital anesthesia. To observe optical signals in the IC, rats were re-anesthetized with urethane 7days after injury, and a craniectomy was performed to allow for optical imaging. Optical signals of the IC were elicited by peripheral electrical stimulation. Neuropathic rats showed a significantly higher optical intensity following 5.0mA electrical stimulation compared to sham-injured rats. A larger area of activation was observed by 1.25 and 2.5mA electrical stimulation compared to sham-injured rats. The activated areas tended to be larger, and the peak amplitudes of optical signals increased with increasing stimulation intensity in both groups. These results suggest that the elevated responsiveness of the IC to peripheral stimulation is related to neuropathic pain, and that neuroplastic changes are likely to be involved in the IC after nerve injury. |
In paging systems, subscribers receive page messages, or pages, that have been sent by users of the paging system. Generally, pages only go to the subscribers that they are intended for, and likewise, subscribers only get the pages that are intended for them.
A unique use of paging systems arises when third party subscribers, or message monitoring users, wish to obtain pages that are intended for others. One example of a message monitoring user that may wish to receive another's pages is a law enforcement agency.
In prior art systems, when law enforcement agencies wish to be message monitoring users, they are supplied with duplicate pagers so that when a page is sent to a user that they wish to monitor, the law enforcement agency also receives the page. This approach requires the law enforcement agency to maintain a number of operational pagers, one for each user being monitored. This also requires the law enforcement agency to be within the reception area of the target user so that the duplicate pager used for monitoring purposes can receive the monitored page.
In addition to law enforcement agencies, various private users may also have the need to monitor messages intended for receipt by others. Two specific examples of potential private message monitoring users that are not currently being serviced by the paging industry are employers and parents.
Many employers supply their employees with employer owned pagers for business use. The employer may need to monitor the use of these pagers to ensure that business is conducted appropriately, or to ensure that company owned pagers are not being misused. Parents or legal guardians are another example of a group of potential message monitoring users that have not been serviced by the paging industry. Parents may desire the ability to monitor the activities and pages of their children, and yet there are currently no message monitoring services available to parents.
Adapting the current law enforcement solution to private parties such as parents is not entirely feasible, because parents would not be likely to carry a duplicate pager for each child. Even if parents were to carry duplicate pagers in order to monitor multiple children, with existing prior art systems the parent would have to stay within the reception area of the children in order to receive the pages. Moreover, if all of the children being monitored are not within the same reception area, the parent cannot simultaneously monitor all children.
Paging systems currently known in the art lack a mechanism for a single user to conveniently monitor pages sent to multiple other users. As a result, when a message monitoring user is interested in monitoring multiple other users, the message monitoring user carries multiple duplicate pagers, and is confined to the reception area of the user being monitored.
What is needed is a method and apparatus for allowing a message monitoring user to conveniently receive copies of page messages intended for multiple other users. Also what is needed is a method and apparatus which provides for a message monitoring user to conveniently specify which users are to be monitored. Also what is needed is a method and apparatus to allow a message monitoring user to receive page messages intended for others even when the message monitoring user is outside of the page delivery range of the monitored parties. |
The impact of multiple sclerosis on the identity of mothers in Italy.
This paper reports on one of the themes that emerged from the analysis of the study, regarding the perceived influence of multiple sclerosis (MS) on the identity of mothers in the socio-cultural context of Italy. In-depth interviews were conducted with 16 women at various stages of MS, with follow up interviews with seven of the women. Phenomenology guided the methodology and the analysis was conducted using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Through the research the value of motherhood to the women who participated emerged. The findings illustrated how many strove to maintain control of their MS, which led to some making comparisons of themselves and other mothers and feeling different. Some women described how they adjusted their roles and found strength in being mothers but others spoke of their feelings of loss. Most women described living in the moment, appreciating the present and living each day as it came. Another significant experience was fear of stigma, both realized in the form of "pity" from others, and the perceived and actual associated stigma for their families. This contributed to why some women were reluctant to disclose their condition. The mothers who took part in this study differed in how they perceived their disabled identity. Although this study was conducted in the socio-cultural setting of Italy, the findings have implications for professionals working with disabled mothers and women with MS in Italy and beyond; including recognizing the value associated with fully identifying oneself as a mother, rather than solely focusing on doing mothering tasks. Implications for Rehabilitation Professionals need to be mindful of the value of motherhood for women with multiple sclerosis. Professionals should support women who feel like they are battling with maintaining control of their multiple sclerosis, who may be adjusting their identity as mothers; recognizing that they may be influenced by the stage of their multiple sclerosis and whether they were diagnosed before or after having their children. Women can have feelings of loss related to their ability to fully participate in their children's lives and professionals should work with women to help them identify the value of their mothering role not only in physically participating in activities but also in being emotionally and physically present as a mother. |
AEMO has just doubled its forecast for EV uptake in Australia
April 19, 2018
ReNew Economy, 19 April 2018
The Australian Energy market Operator has effectively doubled its forecast uptake for electric vehicles in Australia, suggesting that within two decades they could account of more than half of Australia’s car fleet.
This graph above was included in a presentation made to a key working group just a few weeks ago, and highlights the difference between forecasts made at the time of its annual Electricity Statement of Opportunities last September, and its update last month.
The changes are reflected across all three scenarios – weak, neutral and strong – which I guess are based on the availability and cost of EV models, the price of oil, and the consumer shift to distributed energy – rooftop solar, battery storage, and EVs.
The most remarkable difference is in the “strong” scenario. Just six months ago, AEMO was predicting 15,000GWh of consumption from the grid from EVs. Now it is looking at nearly 30,000GWh.
That’s around 15% of total demand on the Australia grid, and to extrapolate the significance of that number from previous predictions, it could mean that AEMO is expecting half the cars on the road in 2037 will be electric.
This latest update of nearly 30,000GWh suggests that AEMO is now expecting 10 million EVs on the road by 2037 – an average of 500,000 a year between now and then. That would represent more than half the current small car fleet of 18.8 million vehicles.
This is fascinating – both for the implications for the transport sector, and for the electricity sector.
AEMO cares about the uptake of EVs because it represents what is known as the “last load” for the electricity market. In other words, it is about the only thing that will add to demand in the future, apart from population growth.
AEMO needs to understand the uptake both to ensure it has enough supply to meet that demand, to ensure that not all EVs are trying to charge at the same time, and to explore opportunities to use the EV batteries as a service to the grid, to help meet peak demand rather than worsening it.
A week ago Morgan Stanley analysts released a report that suggested if every Australian internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle to electric, the incremental load would be in the order of 50TWh (50,000Gwh), or 26% of current total demand.
Morgan Stanley noted that the AEMO had previously settled on a “last load” forecast for 2025 of around 2TWh, based on a 4% take up rate of EVs.
The Morgan Stanley analysts noted that even if 50% of new vehicles sales were EVs (Australia’s new car market is about 1.2 million a year), it would take 30 years for the current fleet of 18.8 million vehicles to convert to EVs.
Now, it seems, AEMO appears to be embracing that sort of scenario, which makes sense, because once the cost of EVs matches that of petrol cars, it will be difficult to think of a rational reason not to go electric.
Indeed, at last week’s Smart Energy Conference, the Beyond Zero Emissions Group was repeating its forecast that the sector could go 100% EVs by 2030, once that transition point on purchasing price had been passed.
And that could happen within a few years, although Australian consumers still suffer from a lack of options – the Tesla Model 3 will not be available for at least another year, the new Nissan Leaf model may not be here until 2019, and only Hyundai’s Ioniqu and Kona may appear this year.
At low levels of uptake, however, there will be little difference to demand on the grid.
Christopher Munnings, from the CSIRO, told the same session at the conference that one million EVs over five years – or about 20% of the new car market – would lift electricity demand by around 1.3%. |
Q:
Return filenames from a list of files
So I have a list of file names which I wish to pull to then put each one into an array.
Here is an example of the list I will be attempting to pull data from:
-------------
PENDING: (fs) gm_construct.bsp
PENDING: (fs) gm_flatgrass.bsp
...
Would a regular expression be able to parse through this list and just pull these bits:
gm_construct
gm_flatgrass
for example?
each entry would then need to be pushed into an array.
Would this expression also be able to run through a list much longer than this and also handle different prefixes like:
ttt_terrortown
A:
In the end a friend came up with a little regex to do what I wanted. Might not be as simple as other answers, but it's the one I'm personally going to use, and works fine for my use case.
preg_match_all("/(?<=fs\)).*?(?=\.bsp)/", $maps, $map_list);
This did the trick for me. Splits each file name up into an array which I can then iterate through.
|
Constitution draft torn in London
CHIRAN SHARMA, LONDON: At a time when lawmakers in Nepal are busy collecting public feedback on the draft of the new constitution, a group here tore apart the preliminary draft in.. |
Q:
Determine which callback responsible of triggering an event in Rails? after_save or before_destroy triggered the callback?
I have an ActiveRecord class Appointment:
class Appointment < ActiveRecord::Base
after_save :send_notifications
before_destroy :send_notifications
protected:
def send_notifications
if destroyed?
logger.info "Destroyed"
else
logger.info "Confirmed"
end
end
end
Now the problem is that I'm trying to find a way to determine which callback responsible of triggering send_notification? the after_save or before_destroy? is there anyway to know how like if destroyed? I used here for demonstration ?
Thanks in advance
Eki
A:
I'm not sure you can tell at this stage whether you're going to be destroying or saving the object.
You could invoke the callbacks slightly differently to capture that information though. For example:
after_save do |appointment|
appointment.send_notifications(:saving)
end
before_destroy do |appointment|
appointment.send_notifications(:destroying)
end
protected
def send_notifications(because)
if because == :destroying
log.info("Destroyed")
else
log.info("Confirmed")
end
end
|
Essentials is simply unlimited talk, text and data.T-Mobile's latest unlimited plan cuts out the extras
T-Mobile's new Essentials plan, advertised at just $30 per line for a family of four, includes unlimited talk, text and data in the US. It's geared towards customers that just want the "basics" -- T-Mobile's other unlimited plans include mobile hotspots, Netflix and more for $40 or more per line for a family of four.
There's a caveat, however: "Without autopay, it's $5 more per line. During times and places with heavy network demand, Essentials customers may notice slower speeds than other customers." Basically, this means customers on the Essentials plan will be the first of T-Mobile's unlimited customers to have their data throttled.
The competition isn't over yet...'Dota 2' veteran gamers steamrolled by AI team in exhibition match
Last weekend, an all-bot roster of OpenAI Five took on a team of Dota 2 casters and ex-pro players that individually rank among some of the best in the world. OpenAI Five won the best-of-three exhibition match convincingly, and the only reason the human team took a game was thanks to a little help from the audience.
Not peppermint, peanut butter or Pop-tart.Android P is for Pie
Android 9.0 has officially arrived. You'll get an over-the-air update for the new platform very, very soon if you have a Pixel, since it's rolling out to Google's devices now. If you have a non-Pixel phone, though, you'll likely have to wait a few more months to get the software upgrade, even if you're already using its beta version. Devices that were part of the Android P beta program (that includes phones from Sony, Xiaomi, HMD Global, Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus and Essential) and "qualifying" Android One devices should have the update by the end of the fall. Sadly those digital wellbeing tricks (which are some of the most noticeable new features) are still in beta for now.
Pricing is staying at $10/month and MoviePass is suspending surge pricing.MoviePass slashes plan to three movies per month
After borrowing emergency funds to keep the lights on and toying with a price increase, MoviePass is limiting how many movies you can see each month. You won't be able to see a movie every day with your plan after August 15th. Instead, you can only grab tickets for three flicks a month, and get up to $5 off tickets beyond that. MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe told the Wall Street Journal that the move will slash the company's cash burn rate by over 60 percent. Will that be enough?
People are going under the knife for that #nofilter look.Selfie filters are driving new cosmetic surgery trends
Doctors have noticed a new trend: People want to change their body to look like their edited selfies. Specifically, they're referring to photos of themselves taken with apps like Snapchat and Facetune that apply filters to instantly touch-up their appearance. The trend was described by researchers in the Boston University School of Medicine's Department of Dermatology.
This specific application ("Snapchat dysmorphia") isn't just about wishing to appear more like your spiffed-up selfies: It's wanting cosmetic surgery to look better in future pics, too. "This is an alarming trend because those filtered selfies often present an unattainable look and are blurring the line of reality and fantasy for these patients," the report outlined.
The Big PictureAuctioning a Russian spy camera disguised as... a camera
A "completely ridiculous" for-real spy camera hides another shooter in the side -- it was one of 25 intriguing (and rare) USSR-era cameras.
Sadly though, none of us will ever be that cool.Ford Mustang Bullitt review: almost Steve McQueen cool
Ford has made a special-edition Mustang at a premium price, and it's sure to appease film and car fans. The design, more powerful engine and the chance to pretend you're Steve McQueen make it worth the price for these folks. According to Roberto Baldwin, everyone else might be better suited with the Mustang GT.
A breakup months in the making.Facebook, Apple and YouTube dump Alex Jones
Although things seem to have come to a head just recently, the battle between the InfoWars creator and tech firms has actually been brewing for months. While Twitter says that InfoWars is not currently in violation of its policies and its app is still available on iTunes and Google Play, the network and its leader, Alex Jones, were shown the door by YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Facebook.
But wait, there's more...
The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't Subscribe.
Craving even more? Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter.
Have a suggestion on how we can improve The Morning After? Send us a note. |
Friday, February 29, 2008
Sitting down at the table, having your picture taken with a tyrant such as Raul Castro, for example, lends the status of the office and the status of our country to him. He gains a lot from it by saying, look at me, I’m now recognized by the President of the United States.
Except, of course, him. Bush has personally met with the leaders of human rights-abusing countries like Russia, China, Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, the latter of whom likes to boil his political opponents alive. And there are all kinds of pictures.
And not only has Bush taken pictures, he's openly supported such tyrants, even when it angers the population of that country.
The Bush administration’s continued backing of President Pervez Musharraf, despite the overwhelming rejection of his party by voters this month, is fueling a new level of frustration in Pakistan with the United States.
That support has rankled the public, politicians and journalists here, inciting deep anger at what is perceived as American meddling and the refusal of Washington to embrace the new, democratically elected government. John D. Negroponte, the deputy secretary of state, said Thursday during a Senate panel hearing that the United States would maintain its close ties to Mr. Musharraf.
Pakistanis say the Bush administration is grossly misjudging the political mood in Pakistan and squandering an opportunity to win support from the Pakistani public for its fight against terrorism. The opposition parties that won the Feb. 18 parliamentary elections say they are moderate and pro-American. By working with them, analysts say, Washington could gain a vital, new ally.
Bush obviously feels very at home with tyrants, especially those who don't listen to their citizens, crush dissent and pursue their own agendas. Curious, no?
I guess Bush is also opposed to his looking in the mirror.
...incidentally, nothing can help Barack Obama more than having this President make political attacks against him. If I were Obama I'd run an ad just showing Bush making the attacks over and over. You could be looking at a landslide if Mr. 19% keeps this up. |
Forget to Test for Radon in January?
Health departments across the country urged residents to test their homes for radon gas, the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers throughout January. Remember that you can have your home tested any month of the year.
Lungs
Health officials estimate that radon is responsible for more than 21,000 lung cancer deaths each year in the United States. Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas formed from the natural decay of uranium and is found in rock, soil and water.
Although radon in outdoor air poses a relatively low risk to human health, it can enter homes from the surrounding soil and become a health hazard inside buildings.
Radon is an invisible gas that has no smell and people often don’t know when this silent killer is in their homes. That is why testing for radon and reducing elevated levels is so important. It saves lives and could potentially save yours and the lives of your loved ones.
Many say that testing in the winter months is best due to the increased time spent in the home during this season compared to others. Testing homes for radon is simple and inexpensive. Typically between $100-$185.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends that homes with radon levels at or above 4.0 pCi/L be fixed. Homeowners should consider reducing their potential lung cancer risk by fixing homes with radon levels between 2 pCi/L and 4 pCi/L.
Smokers exposed to radon have a much higher risk for developing lung cancer. Radon problems can be corrected by qualified radon contractors, with costs typically ranging between $600 and $1,500 depending on the type of system and company. A homeowner should hire a qualified radon mitigation contractor to decrease airborne radon levels.
Throughout the year concerned homeowners can schedule their radon test by calling (816) 565-1991 or (855) 565-1991. The price for a local radon monitoring service which takes 48 hours for results is around $125. |
Ashford Emmanuel Inkumsah
Ashford Emmanuel Inkumsah was a Ghanaian chemist and politician. He served in various ministerial portfolios during the first republic. He served as the first deputy speaker of parliament from 1965 to 1966.
Early life and education
Inkumsah was born in 1900 at Sekondi, in the Western Region, Gold Coast (now Ghana). His father was a traditional priest at Ahanta who converted to Methodism. He started schooling at the Sekondi Methodist School and continued at Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast graduating in 1921.
Career and politics
In January 1922 he was employed by Messrs. Miller Brothers Limited, Kumasi as an abstract clerk. In June 1922 he joined Messrs. F. & A. Swanzy Transport for six months as a stenographer typist. He was later moved to Swanzy Trading Company where he worked as a stenographer typist until 1927 when he returned to Sekondi. In Sekondi, he worked with a firm of general merchants; Pickerings & Bethod, for two and a half years. Inkumsah trained as a pharmacist from 1931 to 1934 and in December 1934 he opened his own business; the Asfordinks Drug Store in Sekondi.
While in Sekondi, he joined the Sekondi town council and remained a member of the council for ten years. In 1949 he joined Nkrumah's Convention People's Party (CPP) at its inception. Two years later he was elected a member of parliament for the Shama Ahanta constituency on the ticket of the CPP. He was re-elected in the various parliamentary elections that were held before and after the first republic until the overthrow of the Nkrumah government. He was appointed Minister for Labour in 1951 and in 1959 he was appointed Minister for Housing. A year later he was appointed Minister for Interior. In 1961 he was made Minister for Health and in 1963 he was appointed Minister for Information and broadcasting. He served in this capacity until 1965 when he was appointed Minister for Interior and the first deputy speaker of the 1965 parliament which lasted until 21 February 1966.
Personal life
Inkumsah was married to the late Florence Inkumsah. His hobbies included shooting.
References
Category:1900 births
Category:1976 deaths
Category:Ghanaian MPs 1951–1954
Category:Ghanaian MPs 1954–1956
Category:Ghanaian MPs 1956–1965
Category:Ghanaian MPs 1965–1966
Category:Interior ministers of Ghana
Category:Health ministers of Ghana
Category:Labour ministers of Ghana
Category:Mfantsipim School alumni
Category:Convention People's Party (Ghana) politicians |
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The ShoppersChoice.com family of brands are all about inspiring customers to discover products that will enhance their lifestyle, freeing up time to enjoy the people and activities that matter most. Opened originally as a single brick and mortar store in 1998, our family of brands now includes ShoppersChoice.com, BBQGuys.com, GasLogGuys.com, and UltimatePatio.com. Our home is in Louisiana. We barbecue in the bayous and lounge in the luxurious courtyards of New Orleans. Our goal is to provide great products backed by world-class customer service from real people. Call us with any questions - we're here to help. |
1. Introduction
===============
*Mycobacterium tuberculosis* is counted with justification among the most dangerous and successful microorganisms in today's world, especially in developing countries which have become the reservoir of resistant strains (the most burdened countries are in South Africa and East Asia) \[[@B1-molecules-19-00651]\]. These strains are causing the biggest number of problems connected to tuberculosis (TB) treatment \[[@B2-molecules-19-00651]\]. The main problem is resistance. It can be divided into three groups. The first one is called multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and these microbes are resistant to all first-line antituberculotic drugs (pyrazinamide - PZA, isoniazid - INH, rifampicin - RIF, ethambutol - ETH, streptomycin - STR). The second group is more treacherous. This type of resistance is called extensively or extremely drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) with the resistance to the first-line anti-TB agents isoniazid and rifampicin together with the resistance to any fluoroquinolone used in the therapy and to at least one of three injectable second-line antituberculotic drugs (amikacin, kanamycin or capreomycin) \[[@B3-molecules-19-00651]\]. The last and the latest category was the most dreaded and was called totally drug-resistant TB (TDR-TB) and the first case was recorded in India \[[@B4-molecules-19-00651]\]. These mycobacterial strains were resistant to all current known therapy. Nowadays, this group has disappeared with the approval of bedaquiline for therapy of resistant forms of tuberculosis. Another problem is connected with the HIV pandemic. These two infectious diseases are influencing each other in a synergic way so this has resulted in efforts to develop new anti-tubercular agents.
This work deals with a microwave-assisted synthesis of pyrazinamide analogues with potential antimycobacterial activity. It is caused by the fact that pyrazinamide is counted among the first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs used in current therapy. Its unique ability to kill the dormant forms of *Mycobacterium tuberculosis* is crucial in shortening the time needed for the treatment, so PZA has sterilizing activity especially in combination with rifampicin \[[@B5-molecules-19-00651]\].
PZA itself has multiple mechanisms of action. The first described was the activation of this prodrug *via* the enzyme pyrazinamidase (EC 3.5.1.19) to form pyrazinoic acid (POA). This metabolite causes a lowering of the inner compartment pH in mycobacterial cells. This leads to inhibition of membrane transport and then to cellular death \[[@B6-molecules-19-00651],[@B7-molecules-19-00651],[@B8-molecules-19-00651]\]. The gene encoding this enzyme is called *pncA* gene and its mutation is responsible for the origin of mycobacterial resistance to PZA \[[@B9-molecules-19-00651]\].
The second mechanism of action is connected with fatty acid synthase I (FAS I) (EC 2.3.1.85). It is suggested that the disruption of metabolism can be caused by inhibition of the cell membrane synthesis, which is essential for the survival of *Mycobacteria*, but this mechanism was mainly rejected for PZA itself by Boshoff because there is only low inhibition \[[@B10-molecules-19-00651]\]. On the other hand, the PZA analogues such as 5‑chloropyrazinamide, esters of pyrazinoic acid and esters of 5‑chloropyrazinoic acid were proven to act in this way \[[@B11-molecules-19-00651],[@B12-molecules-19-00651],[@B13-molecules-19-00651]\].
Recent research has suggested a novel mechanism of action of PZA - inhibition of *trans*-translation. This process is vital for survival and virulence of *Mycobacteria* and its inhibition leads to blockage of the proteosynthetic apparatus in ribosomes and to cellular death. These assumptions were proven by Zhang *et al.* \[[@B14-molecules-19-00651]\].
Although PZA is the first-line antituberculotic drug, it was found that this molecule has exhibited other interesting biological activities such as antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral and antineoplastic effects \[[@B15-molecules-19-00651],[@B16-molecules-19-00651],[@B17-molecules-19-00651],[@B18-molecules-19-00651],[@B19-molecules-19-00651],[@B20-molecules-19-00651]\].
There is another application of PZA derivatives that can be used in agriculture. The most successful pyrazine derivative diquat-dibromide (6,7-dihydrodipyrido\[1,2-a:2\',1\'-c\]pyrazinediium-dibromide), a non-selective, contact herbicide, which has been used to control many submerged and floating aquatic macrophytes, was found to interfere with the photosynthetic process by releasing strong oxidizers that rapidly disrupt and inactivate cells and cellular functions (at present banned in many EU countries) \[[@B21-molecules-19-00651]\]. Many structural variations of pyrazine compounds with herbicidal properties can be found in the patent literature \[[@B22-molecules-19-00651],[@B23-molecules-19-00651],[@B24-molecules-19-00651],[@B25-molecules-19-00651]\]. However, several pyrazine derivatives were also described as inhibitors of Hill reaction which inhibit photosynthetic electron transport (PET) in photosystem (PS) 2 \[[@B18-molecules-19-00651],[@B26-molecules-19-00651]\]. The site of action of these PET inhibitors in the photosynthetic apparatus was situated predominantly on the donor side of PS2, in the section between oxygen evolving complex and intermediate D^·^, *i.e.*, tyrosine radical (Tyr~D~•) occurring on the 161^st^ position in D~2~ protein. Consequently, these compounds can be considered as PS2 herbicides which could have ultimately adverse effect on plant growth. In general, the PET-inhibiting effectiveness of pyrazine derivatives depends on compound lipophilicity and σ Hammett constants of individual substituents. Hosseini *et al.* studied the electronic and structural descriptors, which are the main factors for the cytotoxicity in the series of substituted *N*-phenylpyrazine-2-carboxamides \[[@B27-molecules-19-00651]\].
This study is focused on preparation of *N*-substituted structural and functional derivative of PZA (5-chloro-6-methylpyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile) that was treated with ring-substituted benzylamines using the advantages of a microwave reactor. It should be stressed that this type of syntheses has become popular due to its higher yields, shorter reaction times or solvent savings in comparison with conventional organic syntheses \[[@B28-molecules-19-00651]\]. One of the main advantages is the heating. It is uniform through the volume of the sample and the microwaves usually interact with molecules themselves not vessel sides. Another benefit is connected with the temperature reached by the solvent used. The final temperature is usually far higher than the standard boiling point of the solvent when using over- pressurized systems. It is reached and bypassed in seconds. Improved heating usually leads to higher yields and shorter reaction times. There is one limitation for choosing the conditions. It is the polarity of the solvent when the non-polar solvents cannot be used in the way the polar ones can be. If the polar solvent is used in the reaction, there is a direct coupling of microwaves with molecules. More polar solvents have greater ability to interact with microwave radiation. Using the solvents with low polarity (low absorbers) leads to longer times of heating and reaction. On the contrary, if the reagents themselves are polar it could lower the disadvantages of non-polar solvents. Finally there are new approaches to microwave accelerated methods using ionic liquids or solid phase reactions (adsorption on mineral oxides, phase transfer catalysis, neat reactions) \[[@B29-molecules-19-00651]\]. Microwave assisted condensation in polar solvent is used in this work to accelerate the aminodehalogenation reaction. The conditions for the synthesis were proven experimentally. Antimycobacterial activity of the all prepared compounds was determined and compounds were evaluated also in relation to inhibition of photosynthetic electron transport (PET) in spinach (*Spinacia oleracea* L.) chloroplasts. The structure-activity relationships between the chemical structure and *in vitro* biological activities of evaluated compounds are discussed.
2. Results and Discussion
=========================
2.1. Chemistry
--------------
The starting compound 5-chloro-6-methylpyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile and the final compounds **1**--**15** were synthesized according to the general procedure shown in [Scheme 1](#molecules-19-00651-f006){ref-type="scheme"}. The aminodehalogenation reaction of this starting compound and ring-substituted benzylamines yielded a series of 15 secondary amines of which 14 were novel. 5-(Benzylamino)-6-methylpyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile (**6**) was previously synthesised by Takematsu *et al.* and the reported melting point was 118--119 °C \[[@B30-molecules-19-00651]\]. The compound we obtained melted at 128.7--130.7 °C. This difference can be caused by the mode of crystallization. All reactions were done using microwave reactor with focused field and yields were in the range between 17% and 62%. Lower yields were caused by the purification using preparative chromatography and recrystallization. It is also known that 3-nitro substitution, for which the yield was the lowest, is counted among the electron-withdrawing groups reducing the basicity of the amine nitrogen. Obtained analytical data were fully consistent with the proposed structures. [Table 1](#molecules-19-00651-t001){ref-type="table"} shows the substituents and other data of the synthesized compounds.
![Synthesis of starting compound \[[@B30-molecules-19-00651]\] and microwave assisted aminodehalogenation reaction resulting in a series of compounds **1**--**15**.](molecules-19-00651-g006){#molecules-19-00651-f006}
molecules-19-00651-t001_Table 1
######
Experimentally determined values of lipophilicity log *k*, calculated values of log *P*, electronic Hammett's σ parameters and π parameters, 50% inhibition concentration IC~50~ \[μmol/L\] values related to PET inhibition in spinach chloroplasts in comparison with 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU) standard and *in vitro* antimycobacterial activity against *M. tuberculosis* H37Rv (minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) \[μg/mL\]) of compounds **1**--**15** compared to pyrazinamide (PZA) and isoniazid (INH) standards.
Compound R log *P* log *k* σ π IC~50~ \[μmol/L\] MIC *M.tuberculosis* H37Rv \[μg/mL\]
---------- ------------ --------- --------- ------- --------- ------------------- --------------------------------------
1 2-CH~3~ 3.41 0.4668 −0.17 0.1674 114.0 \>100
2 3-CF~3~ 3.84 0.5369 0.43 0.2375 37.7 12.5
3 3,4-Cl 4.04 0.7538 0.60 0.4544 16.4 6.25
4 4-CH~3~ 3.41 0.5157 −0.17 0.2163 104.7 25
5 4-OCH~3~ 2.8 0.2820 −0.27 −0.0174 464.6 \>100
6 H 2.92 0.2994 0 0 \- 25
7 4-NH~2~ 2.12 −0.2014 −0.15 −0.5008 \- 25
8 3-Cl 3.48 0.5172 0.37 0.2178 57.4 12.5
9 2-Cl 3.48 0.4663 0.22 0.1669 79.0 6.25
10 2-F 3.08 0.3042 0.06 0.0048 195.6 12.5
11 4-CF~3~ 3.84 0.5626 0.51 0.2632 39.6 6.25
12 2-CF~3~ 3.84 0.4865 0.51 0.1871 71.6 12.5
13 2,4-OCH~3~ 2.67 0.3699 −0.55 0.0705 \- 25
14 3-NO~2~ 2.71 0.1808 0.71 −0.1186 487.4 12.5
15 4-Cl 3.48 0.5384 0.23 0.2390 86.5 12.5
PZA \- 12.5
INH \- 1.5625
DCMU 1.9 \-
π = log *k*~(substituted)~ -- log *k*~(unsubstituted).~
2.2. Calculated and Experimentally Set Lipophilicity
----------------------------------------------------
Lipophilicity is one of the most important factors that can affect the biological effect of the compound. It is connected with the membrane transport and other biological processes and it is also connected with solubility in the media. This physical-chemical property can be set experimentally. In this work we have used the Reversed Phase - High Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC) methodology for measuring the capacity factors *k* with the calculation of log *k* that can be correlated to calculated values of lipophilicity log *P* (resp. Clog *P*). These calculations were carried out by using PC program CS ChemBioDraw Ultra 13.0. The results of these measurements are shown in the [Table 1](#molecules-19-00651-t001){ref-type="table"}.
The lowest lipophilicity was shown by compound **7** (R = 4-NH~2~) and on the contrary, compound **3** (R = 3,4-Cl) was the most lipophilic compound of this series. Lipophilicity, based on log *k* values, increased for substituents in the benzyl part of the molecule as follows: 4-NH~2~ \< 3-NO~2~ \< 4-OCH~3~ \< H \< 2-F \< 2,4-OCH~3~ \< 2-Cl \< 2-CH~3~ \< 2-CF~3~ \< 4-CH~3~ \< 3-Cl \< 3-CF~3~ \< 4-Cl \< 4-CF~3~ \< 3,4-Cl
The dependence of the measured log *k* parameters on the calculated log *P* values showed an approximate linearity, which is shown in [Figure 1](#molecules-19-00651-f001){ref-type="fig"}, and the corresponding correlation can be expressed by the following regression equation:
{#molecules-19-00651-f001}
2.3. Biological Assays
----------------------
### 2.3.1. Antimycobacterial *In Vitro* Screening
All prepared compounds were tested against four strains of *Mycobacterium*. These were *M. tuberculosis* and three non-tuberculosis strains. The most active substances against *M. tuberculosis* were compounds **3**, **9** and **11**. Their activity expressed as minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) was 6.25 µg/mL and the activities of standards were 12.5 µg/mL for PZA and 1.5625 µg/mL for INH. Nearly the whole series showed activity against *M. tuberculosis* H37Rv, which was in the range from 25 to 6.25 µg/mL, but compounds **11** and **12** were also active against other strains and both of them were active against *M. avium* 152. These strains are usually resistant or unsusceptible to pyrazinamide. This is the reason why INH was chosen as second standard. Obtained results can be compared with other synthesised compounds and a comparison can be drawn between more mycobacterial strains not only *M. tuberculosis*.
As shown in [Figure 2](#molecules-19-00651-f002){ref-type="fig"}, dependence of antimycobacterial activity on lipophilicity expressed by π constant (log *k*) as well as on the σ constant of the R substituent was observed. The most active compounds (MIC = 6.25 µg/mL) were **3** (R = 3,4-Cl), **9** (R = 2-Cl) and **11** (R = 4-CF~3~) and were mentioned above. All of these compounds are situated in the right upper quadrant of the Craig's plot. Further groups are represented by compounds **2** (R = 3-CF~3~), **8** (R = 3-Cl), **10** (R = 2-F), **12** (R = 2-CF~3~), **14** (R = 3-NO~2~) and **15** (R = 4-Cl) showing moderate activity with MIC = 12.5 µg/mL and compounds **4** (R = 4-CH~3~), **6** (R = H), **7** (R = 4-NH~2~) and **13** (R = 2,4-OCH~3~) with MIC = 25 µg/mL. Low antimycobacterial activity with MIC \>100 µg/mL was exhibited by compounds **1** (R = 2-CH~3~) and **5** (R = 4‑OCH~3~). It can be stated that the activity is more dependent on π constant than on σ constant. On the other hand this dependence is not unambiguous. However, it is clear that the lipophilicity is important for antimycobacterial activity and the most suitable ring substituents are electron-withdrawing groups such as halogen or trifluoromethyl moieties.
{#molecules-19-00651-f002}
### 2.3.2. Antimycobacterial *In Vitro* Screening Against *M. smegmatis*
This evaluation was performed against fast-growing *Mycobacterium smegmatis* using isoniazid and ciprofloxacin as standards. None of the compounds showed activity against this mycobacterial strain. This may be caused by the fact that this fast-growing mycobacterium is less susceptible to antibiotic treatment.
### 2.3.3. Antifungal and Antibacterial *In Vitro* Screening
This evaluation was performed in order to obtain results for antifungal and antibacterial activity against eight fungal strains and eight bacterial strains. None of the prepared compounds showed antibacterial activity against the tested strains. On the contrary, compounds **7** (MIC = 500 µmol/L), **10** (MIC = 500 µmol/L) and **12** (MIC = 125 µmol/L) exhibited activity against *Trichophyton mentagrophytes* but in comparison to standards, this activity was negligible. It can be also caused by the bigger susceptibility of this fungal strain being evaluated.
### 2.3.4. Herbicidal Activity of Prepared Compounds
The studied compounds inhibited photosynthetic electron transport in spinach chloroplasts ([Table 1](#molecules-19-00651-t001){ref-type="table"}). The PET inhibiting activity of studied compounds **1**--**15** expressed by IC~50~ value varied from 16.4 μmol/L (**3**) to 487.0 μmol/L (**14**). The inhibitory activity of the most active compounds **3** was 8.6 times lower than that of the standard DCMU (IC~50~ = 1.9 μmol/L), a well-known PS2 herbicide. Compounds **6** (R = H), **7** (R = 4-NH~2~) and **13** (R = 2,4-OCH~3~) were inactive and IC~50~ values related to PET inhibition could not be determined. It can be stated that the inhibitory activity increases linearly with increasing lipophilicity of the compounds based on the dependence of PET inhibiting activity of studied dicarbonitriles **1**--**15** on log *P* ([Figure 3](#molecules-19-00651-f003){ref-type="fig"}A) and log *k* ([Figure 3](#molecules-19-00651-f003){ref-type="fig"}B).
{#molecules-19-00651-f003}
Also if compound **14** (R = 3-NO~2~) was excluded, the dependence of PET inhibiting activity on the Hammett constant σ of R substituent showed again linear dependence ([Figure 4](#molecules-19-00651-f004){ref-type="fig"}). A linear increase of PET-inhibiting activity was observed in the range of σ from -0.15 (**7**; R = 4-NH~2~) to 0.6 (**3**; R = 3,4-Cl).
{#molecules-19-00651-f004}
The correlation between log (1/IC~50~) \[mol/L\] and log *P* or between log (1/IC~50~) \[mol/L\] and σ constant of R substituent could be expressed by the following equations:
The use of both the above mentioned descriptors (log *P* and σ) in a multilinear correlation did not improve the results of statistical analysis:
Similarly, better results of statistical analysis were obtained for the correlation between log (1/IC~50~) \[mol/L\] and log *k* than for multilinear correlation using two descriptors (log *k* and σ).
pI
50
= 2.703 (±0.414) + 2.835 (±0.816) log
k
r = 0.934, s = 0.144, F = 61.8, n = 11
pI
50
= 2.997 × (± 0.331) + 2.034 × (± 0.738) log
k
\+ 0.481 (0.303) σ
r = 0.976 s = 0.093 F = 80.2 n = 11
These results indicate that lipophilicity of the compound is determining for PET-inhibiting activity of the studied *N*-substituted 5-amino-6-methylpyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitriles. Lee *et al.* focused on the search for the minimum structural requirements for herbicidal evaluation of 5-(R^1^)-6-(R^2^)-*N*-(R^3^-phenyl)-pyrazine-2-carboxamide analogues as a new class of potent herbicides in a previous paper \[[@B31-molecules-19-00651]\]. Based on IC~50~ values of 19 pyrazine derivatives related to PET inhibition in spinach chloroplasts which were published by Dolezal *et al.* \[[@B15-molecules-19-00651]\], Lee derived and discussed quantitatively 3D-QSARs models between the substituents (R^1^--R^3^) changes of the analogues and their herbicidal activity using comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) and comparative molecular similarity indice analysis (CoMSIA) methods. It was predicted that the herbicidal activity increases when large steric substituents were introduced to one part of the *ortho*- and *meta*- positions on the *N*-phenyl ring as R^3^- substituent and small steric substituents on the other part. The same 19 pyrazine derivatives with herbicidal activity were also subjected to the two dimensional quantitative structure activity relationships studies using Vlife Molecular Design 3.0 module which contains various combinations of thermodynamic, electronic, topological and spatial descriptors \[[@B32-molecules-19-00651]\]. It was found that decreasing of number of hydrogen bond acceptor atoms and reduction the any atoms (single, double or triple bonded) separated from any oxygen atom by a seven bond distance in a molecule could be helpful for designing more potent herbicidal agents.
Because the studied *N*-substituted 5-amino-6-methylpyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitriles were found to inhibit the Hill reaction, they can be considered as photosystem 2 (PS2) inhibitors, *i.e.*, PS2 herbicides which ultimately adversely affect growth of weeds as well as agricultural plants. The PS2 inhibitors can act on the donor and/or the acceptor side of PS2. Using EPR spectroscopy it was found that *N*-phenylpyrazine-2-carboxamides interacted with the D^·^ intermediate which is situated at 161^st^ position in D~2~ protein occurring on the donor side of PS2. Due to interaction of these pyrazine derivatives with this part of PS2, the photosynthetic electron transport from the oxygen evolving complex to the reaction centre of PS2 was impaired and consequently, the electron transport between PS2 and PS1 was inhibited \[[@B33-molecules-19-00651]\]. Use of an artificial electron-donor, 1,5-diphenylcarbazide (DPC), acting in the Z^·^/D^·^ intermediate is suitable to estimate whether the studied PET inhibitor acts only on the donor or also on the acceptor side of PS2. Complete restoration of PET after DPC addition to chloroplasts activity of which was inhibited by an inhibitor, indicates that PET between the core of PS2 (P680) and the secondary quinone acceptor Q~B~ was not affected by this inhibitor. Consequently, its site of inhibitory action is situated on the donor side of PS2. However, upon addition of DPC to the studied dicarbonitriles only partial restoration of PET was observed (up to 85% of the control) and therefore it could be assumed that the studied compounds block PET not only by interaction with proteins occurring in the section between the oxygen evolving complex (OEC) and the Z^·^/D^·^ intermediate but to PET inhibition contributes also their interaction with some constituents of photosynthetic apparatus on the acceptor side of PS2. Similar results were obtained previously with 5-*tert*-butyl-*N*-(3-hydroxy-4-chlorophenyl)pyrazine-2-carboxamide and 5-*tert*-butyl-6-chloro-*N-*(3-fluorophenyl)pyrazine-2-carboxamide \[[@B33-molecules-19-00651]\].
Compounds **1**--**15** affected the chlorophyll *a* (Chl*a*) fluorescence in spinach chloroplasts. As shown in [Figure 5](#molecules-19-00651-f005){ref-type="fig"}, the intensity of the Chl*a* emission band at 686 nm belonging to the pigment--protein complexes in photosystem 2 decreased in the presence of compound **3** \[[@B34-molecules-19-00651]\]. This finding indicates a perturbation of the Chl*a*--protein complexes in the thylakoid membrane caused by the tested compound. Similar Chl*a* fluorescence decrease in spinach chloroplasts was observed previously with several PET inhibitors, *i.e.*, *N-*benzylpyrazine-2-carboxamides \[[@B35-molecules-19-00651]\], ring-substituted 3-hydroxynaphthalene-2-carboxanilides \[[@B36-molecules-19-00651]\] and 1-hydroxynaphthalene-2-carboxanilides \[[@B37-molecules-19-00651]\], 2-hydroxynaphthalene-1-carboxanilides \[[@B38-molecules-19-00651]\] and ring-substituted 4-arylamino-7-chloroquinolinium chlorides \[[@B39-molecules-19-00651]\].
{#molecules-19-00651-f005}
3. Experimental
===============
3.1. General
------------
All the chemicals used for preparation of starting compound and final products were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) and were reagent or higher grade of purity. Starting compound was prepared according to proven methodology of conventional organic synthesis. The final aminodehalogenation reactions were performed in CEM Discover microwave reactor with focused field (CEM Corporation, Matthews, NC, USA) connected to the Explorer 24 autosampler (CEM Corporation) and this equipment was running under CEM's Synergy™ software for monitoring the progress of reactions. The reaction progress was checked by Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) (Alugram^®^ Sil G/UV254, Machery-Nagel, Postfach, Germany) using 254 nm wavelength UV detection. All the obtained products were purified by crystallization or by preparative flash chromatography (CombiFlash^®^ Rf, Teledyne Isco Inc., Lincoln, NE, USA), using gradient elution with hexane (LacheNer, Neratovice, Czech Republic) and ethyl acetate (Penta, Prague, Czech Republic) as mobile phases. Silica gel (0.040--0.063 nm, Merck, Darmstadt, Germany) was used as the stationary phase. NMR spectra were recorded on Varian Mercury--VxBB 300 (299.95 MHz for ^1^H and 75.43 MHz for ^13^C) or Varian VNMR S500 (499.87 MHz for ^1^H and 125.71 MHz for ^13^C) spectrometers (Varian Corporation, Palo Alto, CA, USA). Chemical shifts were reported in ppm (δ) and were applied indirectly to tetramethylsilane as a signal of solvent (2.49 for ^1^H and 39.7 for ^13^C in DMSO-*d*~6~). Infrared spectra were recorded with spectrometer FT-IR Nicolet 6700 (Thermo Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) using attenuated total reflectance (ATR) methodology. Melting points were assessed by SMP3 Stuart Scientific (Bibby Scientific Ltd., Staffordshire, UK) and were uncorrected. Elemental analyses were measured with EA 1110 CHNS Analyzer (Fisons Instruments S. p. A., Carlo Erba, Milano, Italy). Calculation of electronic Hammett's σ parameters was carried out on the software ACD/Percepta ver. 2012 (Advanced Chemistry Development, Inc., Toronto, ON, Canada).
3.2. Starting Compound and Final Products Synthesis
---------------------------------------------------
The starting compound 5-chloro-6-methylpyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile was synthesized in a two-step reaction according to the reported methodology \[[@B30-molecules-19-00651]\]. The first step was a condensation reaction between diaminomaleonitrile (0.025 mol) and pyruvic acid (0.025 mol), which were dissolved in methanol (60 mL), and hydrochloric acid (10 mL, 15%) was added dropwise. It takes two hours to react at room temperature. After the evaporation of two thirds of the solvent, hot water (80 mL) was added and then the rest of methanol was evaporated *in vacuo*. The whole mixture was cooled to 5 °C to initiate the crystallization. The product was collected by suction, dried overnight and subsequently chlorinated with phosphoryl chloride. Product (0.015 mol) was again dissolved in POCl~3~ (0.060 mol) and cooled to 0 °C. Pyridine (0.020 mol) was added dropwise and after the termination of the exothermic reaction, the mixture was heated to 90 °C for 2 h. Excess POCl~3~ was evaporated *in vacuo* and the rest of product was extracted into toluene three or four times, the toluene was evaporated and then the crude product was recrystallized from chloroform. The starting compound (1.12 mmol) was finally treated with 15 variously ring-substituted benzylamines (2.24 mmol) and all these aminodehalogenation reactions took place in the microwave reactor. The conditions used for microwave syntheses were as follows---150 °C, 30 min, 120 W, methanol as a solvent, pyridine as a base and were set experimentally. The reaction was monitored by TLC using hexane/ethyl acetate 2:1 mixture as mobile phase. The final compounds were purified using flash column chromatography with gradient elution using a hexane/ethyl acetate system and if necessary recrystallization from a mixture of ethanol and water.
3.3. Analytical Data of the Prepared Compounds
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*5-Methyl-6-\[(2-methylbenzyl)amino\]pyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile* (**1**). Light orange crystalline solid. Yield 47.9%; M.p. 152.1--152.9 °C; IR (ATR-Ge, cm^−1^): 3381~m~ (-NH-), 2226~m~ (-CN), 1570~vs~, 1521~s~, 1403~vs~, 1349~m~ (arom.); ^1^H-NMR (500 MHz) δ 8.61 (1H, bs, NH), 7.25--7.10 (4H, m, H3\', H4\', H5\', H6\'), 4.56 (2H, s, NCH~2~), 2.47 (3H, s, CH~3~), 2.33 (3H, s, CH~3~); ^13^C-NMR (125 MHz) δ 152.9, 147.5, 136.0, 135.6, 130.2, 130.1, 127.5, 127.2, 125.9, 117.4, 115.7, 114.8, 42.5, 21.3, 19.0; Elemental analysis: calc. for C~15~H~13~N~5~ (MW 263.12): 68.42% C, 4.98% H, 26.60% N; found 68.22% C, 5.17% H, 26.44% N.
*5-Methyl-6-{\[3-(trifluoromethyl)benzyl\]amino}pyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile* (**2**). Yellow-orange crystalline solid. Yield 51.6%; M.p. 158.5--159.7 °C (decomp.); IR (ATR-Ge, cm^−1^): 3377~m~ (-NH-), 2227~m~ (-CN), 1570~vs~, 1521~s~, 1402~vs~, 1353~m~, 1324~vs~ (arom.), 1128~vs~ (-C-F); ^1^H-NMR (300 MHz) δ 8.75 (1H, bs, NH), 7.77--7.60 (1H, m, H2\'), 7.68--7.50 (3H, m, H4\', H5\', H6\'), 4.69 (2H, d, *J* = 4.6 Hz, NCH~2~), 2.46 (3H, s, CH~3~); ^13^C-NMR (75 MHz) δ 152.9, 147.7, 139.6, 131.8, 130.0, 129.6, 129.2 (q, *J* = 31.5 Hz), 124.5 (q, *J* = 4.0 Hz), 124.4 (q, *J* = 272.3 Hz), 124.0 (q, *J* = 4.0 Hz), 117.7, 115.6, 114.8, 44.0, 21.2; Elemental analysis: calc. for C~15~H~10~F~3~N~5~ (MW 317.27): 56.78% C, 3.18% H, 22.07% N; found 56.59% C, 3.30% H, 21.93% N.
*5-\[(3,4-Dichlorobenzyl)amino\]-6-methylpyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile* (**3**). Light yellow crystalline solid. Yield 60.9%; M.p. 154.4--156.2 °C; IR (ATR-Ge, cm^−1^): 3329~m~ (-NH-), 2227~m~ (-CN), 1568~vs~, 1516~s~, 1466~m~, 1402~vs~ (arom.); ^1^H-NMR (300 MHz) δ 8.69 (1H, bs, NH), 7.61 (1H, d, *J* = 1.9 Hz, H2\'), 7.57 (1H, d, *J* = 8.2 Hz, H5\'), 7.33 (1H, dd, *J* = 8.2 Hz, *J* = 1.9 Hz, H6\'), 4.59 (2H, s, NCH~2~), 2.46 (3H, s, CH~3~); ^13^C-NMR (75 MHz) δ 152.8, 147.8, 139.4, 131.1, 130.6, 130.0, 129.8, 129.6, 127.9, 117.8, 115.6, 114.8, 43.3, 21.2; Elemental analysis: calc. for C~14~H~9~Cl~2~N~5~ (MW 318.16): 52.85% C, 2.85% H, 22.01% N; found 52.71% C, 3.05% H, 21.88% N.
*5-Methyl-6-\[(4-methylbenzyl)amino\]pyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile* (**4**). Light yellow crystalline solid. Yield 60.5%; M.p. 140.8--142.3 °C; IR (ATR-Ge, cm^−1^): 3370~s~ (-NH-), 2223~m~ (-CN), 1576~vs~, 1519~s~, 1438~m~, 1400~vs~, 1351~s~ (arom.); ^1^H-NMR (300 MHz) δ 8.68 (1H, bs, NH), 7.24--7.18 (2H, m, AA\', BB\', H2\', H6\'), 7.14--7.09 (2H, m, AA\', BB\', H3\', H5\'), 4.55 (2H, bs, NCH~2~), 2.44 (3H, s, CH~3~), 2.26 (3H, s, CH~3~); ^13^C-NMR (75 MHz) δ 152.8, 147.5, 136.4, 135.0, 130.1, 128.1, 127.5, 117.3, 115.7, 114.9, 44.1, 21.2, 20.8; Elemental analysis: calc. for C~15~H~13~N~5~ (MW 263.30): 68.42% C, 4.98% H, 26.60% N; found 68.30% C, 5.17% H, 26.43% N.
*5-\[(4-Methoxybenzyl)amino\]-6-methylpyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile* (**5**). Ochre crystalline solid. Yield 61.3%; M.p. 153.0--154.2 °C (decomp.); IR (ATR-Ge, cm^−1^): 3345~m~ (-NH-), 2948~w~ (-OCH~3~), 2223~m~ (-CN), 1585~s~, 1570~vs~, 1511~vs~, 1462~m~, 1403~vs~ (arom.); ^1^H-NMR (300 MHz) δ 8.66 (1H, bs, NH), 7.29--7.23 (2H, m, AA\', BB\', H2\', H6\'), 6.90--6.84 (2H, m, AA\', BB\', H3\', H5\'), 4.52 (2H, bs, NCH~2~), 3.71 (3H, s, OCH~3~), 2.43 (3H, s, CH~3~); ^13^C-NMR (75 MHz) δ 158.6, 152.8, 147.4, 130.1, 129.9, 129.0, 117.3, 115.7, 114.9, 113.9, 55.2, 43.8, 21.2; Elemental analysis: calc. for C~15~H~13~N~5~O (MW 279.30): 64.51% C, 4.69% H, 25.07% N; found 64.35% C, 4.81% H, 24.84% N.
*5-(Benzylamino)-6-methylpyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile* (**6**) \[[@B30-molecules-19-00651]\]. Yellow-orange crystalline solid. Yield 53.3%; M.p. 128.7--130.7 °C (described in the literature 118--119 °C); IR (ATR-Ge, cm^−1^): 3404~m~ (‑NH-), 2228~m~ (-CN), 1564~vs~, 1508~vs~, 1454~m~, 1400~vs~, 1357s (arom.); ^1^H-NMR (300 MHz) δ 8.72 (1H, bs, NH), 7.37--7.20 (5H, m, H2\', H3\', H4\', H5\', H6\'), 4.61 (2H, d, *J* = 3.3 Hz, NCH~2~), 2.45 (3H, s, CH~3~); ^13^C-NMR (75 MHz) δ 152.9, 147.5, 138.1, 130.1, 128.5, 127.5, 127.2, 117.4, 115.7, 114.9, 44.3, 21.2; Elemental analysis: calc. for C~14~H~11~N~5~ (MW 249.27): 67.46% C, 4.45% H, 28.10% N; found 67.21% C, 4.63% H, 27.95% N.
*5-\[(4-Aminobenzyl)amino\]-6-methylpyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile* (**7**). Brown crystalline solid. Yield 37.2%; M.p. 154.9--156.5 °C; IR (ATR-Ge, cm^−1^): 3413~m~ (-NH~2~), 3376~m~ (-NH-), 2234~m~ (-CN), 1572~vs~, 1519~vs~, 1440~m~, 1402~vs~, 1352~s~ (arom.); ^1^H-NMR (300 MHz) δ 8.54 (1H, bs, NH), 7.04--6.94 (2H, m, AA\', BB\', H2\', H6\'), 6.54--6.45 (2H, m, AA\', BB\', H3\', H5\'), 4.97 (2H, bs, NH~2~), 4.41 (2H, d, *J* = 3.8 Hz, NCH~2~), 2.41 (3H, s, CH~3~); ^13^C-NMR (75 MHz) δ 152.7, 148.0, 147.3, 130.2, 128.7, 124.7, 117.0, 115.8, 114.9, 113.9, 44.2, 21.2; Elemental analysis: calc. for C~14~H~12~N~6~ (MW 264.29): 63.62% C, 4.58% H, 31.80% N; found 63.48% C, 4.45% H, 31.65% N.
*5-\[(3-Chlorobenzyl)amino\]-6-methylpyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile* (**8**). Yellow crystalline solid. Yield 60.2%; M.p. 151.0--151.8 °C; IR (ATR-Ge, cm^−1^): 3306~m~ (-NH-), 2248~m~ (-CN), 1567~vs~, 1513~vs~, 1468~m~, 1401~vs~, 1351~s~ (arom.); ^1^H-NMR (300 MHz) δ 8.70 (1H, t, *J* = 5.9 Hz, NH), 7.43--7.39 (1H, m, H2\'), 7.38--7.27 (3H, m, H4\', H5\', H6\'), 4.61 (2H, d, *J* = 5.9 Hz, NCH~2~), 2.46 (3H, s, CH~3~); ^13^C-NMR (75 MHz) δ 152.9, 147.7, 140.7, 133.2, 130.4, 130.0, 127.4, 127.2, 126.2, 117.7, 115.6, 114.9, 43.8, 21.2; Elemental analysis: calc. for C~14~H~10~ClN~5~ (MW 283.72): 59.27% C, 3.55% H, 24.68% N; found 59.08% C, 3.71% H, 24.57% N.
*5-\[(2-Chlorobenzyl)amino\]-6-methylpyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile* (**9**). Dark orange crystalline solid. Yield 24.7%; M.p. decomp.; IR (ATR-Ge, cm^−1^): 3381~m~ (-NH-), 2227~m~ (-CN), 1570~vs~, 1521~s~, 1474~m~, 1440~m~, 1401~s~, 1351~s~ (arom.); ^1^H-NMR (300 MHz) δ 8.68 (1H, bs, NH), 7.51--7.24 (4H, m, H3\', H4\', H5\', H6\'), 4.66 (2H, s, NCH~2~), 2.49 (3H, s, CH~3~); ^13^C-NMR (75 MHz) δ 153.0, 147.7, 134.9, 132.3, 130.0, 129.4, 129.1, 128.9, 127.4, 117.8, 115.6, 114.8, 42.4, 21.2; Elemental analysis: calc. for C~14~H~10~ClN~5~ (MW 283.72): 59.27% C, 3.55% H, 24.68% N; found 59.08% C, 3.68% H, 24.90% N.
*5-\[(2-Fluorobenzyl)amino\]-6-methylpyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile* (**10**). Dark yellow crystalline solid. Yield 60.8%; M.p. 134.8--136.3 °C; IR (ATR-Ge, cm^−1^): 3377~m~ (-NH-), 2231~m~ (-CN), 1573~vs~, 1523~s~, 1491~m~, 1402~s~, 1354~s~ (arom.); ^1^H-NMR (300 MHz) δ 8.68 (1H, t, *J* = 5.3 Hz, NH), 7.42--7.10 (4H, m, H3\', H4\', H5\', H6\'), 4.63 (2H, d, *J* = 5.3 Hz, NCH~2~), 2.46 (3H, s, CH~3~); ^13^C-NMR (75 MHz) δ 160.0 (d, *J* = 244.8 Hz), 152.9, 147.6, 129.8 (d, *J* = 20.4 Hz), 129.8, 129.4 (d, *J* = 8.3 Hz), 124.6 (d, *J* = 17.8 Hz), 124.5 (d, *J* = 6.6 Hz), 117.7, 115.5 (d, *J* = 9.2 Hz), 115.2, 114.8, 38.3, 21.2; Elemental analysis: calc. for C~14~H~10~FN~5~ (MW 267.26): 62.92% C, 3.77% H, 26.20% N; found 62.71% C, 3.59% H, 26.38% N.
*5-Methyl-6-{\[4-(trifluoromethyl)benzyl\]amino}pyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile* (**11**). Light yellow crystalline solid. Yield 38.3%; M.p. 148.4--149.6 °C; IR (ATR-Ge, cm^−1^): 3397~m~ (-NH-), 2232~m~ (-CN), 1570~vs~, 1520~s~, 1422~m~, 1399~s~, 1324~vs~ (arom.), 1114~vs~ (-C-F); ^1^H-NMR (300 MHz) δ 8.54 (1H, t, *J* = 5.3 Hz, NH), 7.71--7.64 (2H, m, AA\', BB\', H2\', H6\'), 7.38--7.52 (2H, m, AA\', BB\', H3\', H5\'), 4.69 (2H, d, *J* = 5.3 Hz, NCH~2~), 2.51 (3H, s, CH~3~); ^13^C-NMR (75 MHz) δ 152.9, 147.7, 143.1, 130.0, 128.2, 127.9 (q, *J* = 31.5 Hz), 125.4 (q, *J* = 3.7 Hz), 124.5 (q, *J* = 272.0 Hz), 117.8, 115.6, 114.8, 44.0, 21.2; Elemental analysis: calc. for C~15~H~10~F~3~N~5~ (MW 317.27): 56.78% C, 3.18% H, 22.07% N; found 56.59% C, 2.99% H, 21.91% N.
*5-Methyl-6-{\[2-(trifluoromethyl)benzyl\]amino}pyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile* (**12**). Yellow-orange crystalline solid. Yield 49.1%; M.p. 157.8--159.4 °C (decomp.); IR (ATR-Ge, cm^−1^): 3408~m~ (-NH-), 2230~m~ (-CN), 1569~vs~, 1522~s~, 1430~m~, 1409~s~, 1398~s~, 1368~s~, 1314~vs~ (arom.), 1114~vs~ (-C-F); ^1^H-NMR (300 MHz) δ 8.76 (1H, bs, NH), 7.77--7.71 (1H, m, H3\'), 7.64--7.43 (3H, m, H4\', H5\', H6\'), 4.77 (2H, bs, NCH~2~), 2.51 (3H, s, CH~3~); ^13^C-NMR (75 MHz) δ 153.0, 147.7, 136.3, 132.9, 130.0, 128.3, 127.8, 126.4 (q, *J* = 30.3 Hz), 126.1 (q, *J* = 6.0 Hz), 124.7 (q, *J* = 274.0 Hz), 118.0, 115.5, 114.7, 41.1, 21.2; Elemental analysis: calc. for C~15~H~10~F~3~N~5~ (MW 317.27): 56.78% C, 3.18% H, 22.07% N; found 56.62% C, 3.08% H, 22.00% N.
*5-\[(2,4-Dimethoxybenzyl)amino\]-6-methylpyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile* (**13**). Ochre crystalline solid. Yield 62.3%; M.p. 151.6--152.9 °C; IR (ATR-Ge, cm^−1^): 3336~m~ (-NH-), 2924~w~ (-OCH~3~), 2224~m~ (-CN), 1609~s~, 1574~vs~, 1509~vs~, 1467~m~, 1440~s~, 1405~vs~ (arom.); ^1^H-NMR (300 MHz) δ 8.45 (1H, t, *J* = 5.7 Hz, NH), 7.07 (1H, d, *J* = 8.2 Hz, H6\'), 6.55 (1H, d, *J* = 2.5 Hz, H3\'), 6.43 (1H, dd, *J* = 8.2 Hz, *J* = 2.5 Hz, H5\'), 4.47 (2H, d, *J* = 5.7 Hz, NCH~2~), 3.80 (3H, s, OCH~3~), 3.72 (3H, s, OCH~3~), 2.44 (3H, s, CH~3~); ^13^C-NMR (75 MHz) δ 160.1, 158.1, 153.0, 147.4, 130.2, 128.8, 117.3, 117.2, 115.8, 114.9, 104.6, 98.5, 55.7, 55.4, 39.5, 21.3; Elemental analysis: calc. for C~16~H~15~N~5~O~2~ (MW 309.32): 62.13% C, 4.89% H, 22.64% N; found 62.36% C, 5.01% H, 22.52% N.
*5-Methyl-6-\[(3-nitrobenzyl)amino\]pyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile* (**14**). Orange-red crystalline solid. Yield 17.2%; M.p. decomp.; IR (ATR-Ge, cm^−1^): 3394~m~ (-NH-), 2231~m~ (-CN), 1571~vs~, 1547~m~, 1524~vs~, 1478~m~, 1430~m~, 1396~s~, 1366~s~, 1348~vs~ (arom.); ^1^H-NMR (300 MHz) δ 8.79 (1H, t, *J* = 5.8 Hz, NH), 8.23 (1H, s, H2\'), 8.11 (1H, d, *J* = 7.8 Hz, H4\'), 7.81 (1H, d, *J* = 7.8 Hz, H6\'), 7.62 (1H, t, *J* = 7.8 Hz, H5\'), 4.73 (2H, d, *J* = 5.8 Hz, NCH~2~), 2.47 (3H, s, CH~3~); ^13^C-NMR (75 MHz) δ 152.9, 148.0, 147.8, 140.6, 134.4, 130.0, 130.0, 122.5, 122.3, 117.9, 115.6, 114.8, 43.8, 21.2; Elemental analysis: calc. for C~14~H~10~N~6~O~2~ (MW 294.27): 57.14% C, 3.43% H, 28.56% N; found 56.93% C, 3.64% H, 28.56% N.
*5-\[(4-Chlorobenzyl)amino\]-6-methylpyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile* (**15**). Brown crystalline solid. Yield 30.8%; M.p. 152.8--154.8 °C (decomp.); IR (ATR-Ge, cm^−1^): 3378~m~ (-NH-), 2230~m~ (-CN), 1570~vs~, 1521~s~, 1487~m~, 1441~m~, 1403~s~, 1347~s~ (arom.), 804~s~ (-C-Cl); ^1^H-NMR (500 MHz) δ 8.42 (1H, bs, NH), 7.39--7.33 (4H, m, H2\', H3\', H5\', H6\'), 4.59 (2H, s, NCH~2~), 2.45 (3H, s, CH~3~); ^13^C-NMR (125 MHz) δ 152.8, 147.6, 137.2, 131.8, 130.0, 129.4, 128.5, 117.6, 115.6, 114.8, 43.7, 21.2; Elemental analysis: calc. for C~14~H~10~ClN~5~ (MW 283.72): 59.27% C, 3.55% H, 24.68% N; found 59.16% C, 3.65% H, 24.62% N.
3.4. Lipophilicity HPLC Determination and Calculations
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Experimental lipophilicity parameter log *k* was ascertained using an Agilent Technologies 1200 SL HPLC system with a SL G1315C Diode-Array Detector, ZORBAX XDB-C18 5 μm, 4 × 4 mm, Part No. 7995118-504 chromatographic pre-column and ZORBAX Eclipse XDB-C18 5 μm, 4.6 × 250 mm, Part No. 7995118-585 column (Agilent Technologies Inc., Colorado Springs, CO, USA). The separation process was controlled by Agilent ChemStation, version B.04.02 extended by spectral module (Agilent Technologies Inc.). A solution of MeOH (HPLC grade, 70%) and H~2~O (HPLC-Milli-Q Grade, 30%) was used as mobile phase. The total flow of the column was 1.0 mL/min, injection 20 μL, column temperature 30 °C. Detection wavelength λ= 210 nm and monitor wavelength λ= 270 nm were chosen for this measurement. The KI methanol solution was used for the dead time (TD) determination. Retention times (TR) of synthesized compounds were measured in minutes. The capacity factors *k* were calculated using Microsoft Excel according to formula *k* = (TR − TD)/TD, where TR is the retention time of the solute and TD denotes the dead time obtained *via* an unretained analyte. Log *k*, calculated from the capacity factor *k*, is used as the lipophilicity index converted to log *P* scale. Values of log *P* and Clog *P* were calculated with the PC programme CS ChemBioDraw Ultra 13.0 (CambridgeSoft, Cambridge, MA, USA).
3.5. Biological Assays
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### 3.5.1. Antimycobacterial *In Vitro* Screening
Mycobacterial screening was performed against four mycobacterial stems (*M. tuberculosis* H37Rv CNCTC My 331/88, *M. kansasii* CNCTC My 235/80, *M. avium ssp. avium* CNCTC My 80/72, *M. avium* CNCTC My 152/73 (Czech National Collection of Type Cultures, National Institute of Public Health, Prague, Czech Republic)) using isoniazid and pyrazinamide (Sigma-Aldrich) as standards. Culturing medium was Sula's semisynthetic medium (Trios, Prague, Czech Republic) with pH 6.0. Tested compounds were dissolved in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and diluted with medium to final concentrations 100, 50, 25, 12.5, 6.25, 3.125 and 1.5625 μg/mL. The method used for this assay was microdilution broth panel method. The final concentration of DMSO did not exceed 1% (v/v) and did not affect the growth of *Mycobacteria*. The cultures were grown in Sula's medium at 37 °C in humid dark atmosphere. The antimycobacterial activity was determined using Alamar Blue colouring after 14 days, resp. 6 days against *M. kansasii,* of incubation as MIC (µg/mL). This evaluation was done in cooperation with Department of Clinical Microbiology, University Hospital in Hradec Kralove, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic.
### 3.5.2. Antimycobacterial *In Vitro* Screening Against *M. smegmatis*
This assay was focused on the activity against fast growing *Mycobacterium smegmatis* MC2155 (CIT Collection, Cork Institute of Technology, Cork, Ireland). The method used there was also microdilution broth panel method and as the medium was used Middlebrook 7H9 Broth with 10% of OADC supplement (Sigma-Aldrich). Tested compounds were dissolved in DMSO and medium and the final concentrations were set as 1000, 500, 250, 125, 62.5, 31.25, 15.625 and 7.8125 µg/mL. The final concentration of DMSO did not exceed 2% (v/v) and did not affect the growth of *M. smegmatis*. The standards used for determination of activity were isoniazid and ciprofloxacin. MIC was read after 48 h of incubation at 37 °C, addition of Alamar Blue stain was followed by 12 h of additional incubation with this reagent. This screening was performed under the patronage of the Department of Biological Sciences, Cork Institute of Technology, Cork, Ireland.
### 3.5.3. Antifungal and Antibacterial *In Vitro* Screenings
Antibacterial evaluation was made using the microdilution broth method in plates M27A-M1 (200+10) against eight bacterial stems from the Czech Collection of Microorganisms (Brno, Czech Republic) or clinical isolates from Department of Clinical Microbiology, University Hospital in Hradec Kralove (Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic) (*Staphylococcus aureus* CCM 4516/08, *Staphylococcus aureus* H 5996/08 methicillin resistant, *Staphylococcus epidermidis* H 6966/08, *Enterococcus* sp. J14365/08, *Escherichia coli* CCM 4517, *Klebsiella pneumoniae* D 11750/08, *Klebsiella pneumoniae* J 14368/05 ESBL positive, *Pseudomonas aeruginosa* CCM 1961). Mueller Hinton broth was used for the cultivation that was done in humid atmosphere at 35 °C. The readings were made after 24 and 48 h and MIC was set as 80% inhibition of control. The standards were neomycin, bacitracin, penicillin G, ciprofloxacin and phenoxymethylpenicillin and tested products were dissolved in DMSO (final concentration of DMSO did not exceed 1% (v/v)) \[[@B40-molecules-19-00651]\].
Antifungal evaluation was also accomplished with microdilution broth method. On the contrary, there was used RPMI 1640 broth with glutamine as medium and conditions were humid and dark atmosphere, pH 7.0 (buffered with 3-morpholinopropane-1-sulfonic acid) and 35 °C. Eight fungal strains were used (*Candida albicans* ATCC 44859, *Candida tropicalis* 156, *Candida krusei* E28, *Candida glabrata* 20/I, *Trichosporon asahii* 1188, *Aspergillus fumigatus* 231, *Absidia corymbifera* 272, *Trichophyton mentagrophytes* 445) together with 4 antimycotic standards amphotericin B, voriconazole, nystatin and fluconazole. The MIC was set as 80% inhibition of control and readings were made after 24 and 48 h (50% IC, 72 and 120 h for fibrous fungi) and tested compounds were also dissolved in DMSO (final concentration of DMSO in medium did not exceed 2.5% (v/v)) \[[@B41-molecules-19-00651]\].
### 3.5.4. Study of the Inhibition of Oxygen Evolution Rate in Spinach Chloroplasts
Chloroplasts were prepared from spinach (*Spinacia oleracea* L.) according to Masarovicova and Kralova \[[@B42-molecules-19-00651]\]. The inhibition of photosynthetic electron transport (PET) in spinach chloroplasts was determined spectrophotometrically (Genesys 6, Thermo Scientific, Madison, WI, USA) using an artificial electron acceptor 2,6-dichlorophenol-indophenol (DCPIP) according to Kralova *et al.* \[[@B43-molecules-19-00651]\] and the rate of photosynthetic electron transport (PET) was monitored as a photo-reduction of DCPIP. The measurements were carried out in a phosphate buffer (0.02 mol/L, pH 7.2) containing sucrose (0.4 mol/L), MgCl~2~ (0.005 mol/L) and NaCl (0.015 mol/L). The chlorophyll content was 30 mg/L in these experiments and the samples were irradiated (\~100 W/m^2^) from a 10 cm distance with halogen lamp (250 W) using a 4 cm water filter to prevent warming of the samples (suspension temperature 4 °C). The studied compounds were dissolved in DMSO due to their limited water solubility. The applied DMSO concentration (up to 4% (v/v)) did not affect the photochemical activity in spinach chloroplasts (PET). The inhibitory efficiency of the studied compounds was expressed as the IC~50~ values, *i.e.*, molar concentration of the compounds causing 50% decrease in the oxygen evolution relative to the untreated control. The comparable IC~50~ value for a selective herbicide 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (Diurone^®^, DCMU) was about 1.9 μmol/L \[[@B44-molecules-19-00651]\].
### 3.5.5. Study of Fluorescence of Chlorophyll *a* in Spinach Chloroplasts
The fluorescence emission spectra of chlorophyll *a* (Chl*a*) in spinach chloroplasts were recorded on fluorescence spectrophotometer F-2000 (Hitachi, Tokyo, Japan) using excitation wavelength λ~ex~ = 436 nm for monitoring fluorescence of Chl*a*, excitation slit 20 nm and emission slit 10 nm. The samples were kept in the dark 2 min before measuring. The phosphate buffer used for dilution of the chloroplast suspension was the same as described above. Due to low aqueous solubility the compounds were added to a chloroplast suspension in DMSO solution. The DMSO concentration in all samples was the same as in the control (10% (v/v)). The chlorophyll concentration in chloroplast suspension was 10 mg/L.
4. Conclusions
==============
A series of 15 pyrazinamide derivatives (14 of them novel) was synthesized by aminodehalogenation reactions focusing on microwave assisted synthesis. All the final compounds were characterized with IR, NMR and other analytical data and then subjected to *in vitro* evaluation in order to discover their potential antimycobacterial, antifungal, antibacterial and herbicidal activities.
The lipophilicity was measured using RP-HPLC methodology and also calculated or predicted with the PC program CS ChemBioDraw Ultra 13.0. These values were compared and the dependence between log *k* and log *P* was linear.
In antimycobacterial screening compounds **3** (R = 3,4-Cl), **9** (R = 2-Cl) and **11** (R = 4-CF~3~) showed good activity against wild strain *M. tuberculosis* H37Rv (MIC = 6.25 µg/mL) compared to the standards pyrazinamide (MIC = 12.5 µg/mL) and isoniazid (MIC = 1.56 µg/mL). Compounds **11** (R = 4-CF~3~) and **12** (R = 2-CF~3~) were active against the non-tuberculosis strains *M. kansasii* and *M. avium* as well. Although the majority of synthesized compounds were active, there is no clear dependence between lipophilicity and antimycobacterial activity, but it can be stated that the most potent substances were also from the group of most lipophilic compounds and the most favourable substitutions are the electron-withdrawing groups such as chlorine or trifluoromethyl. Activity against fast growing *Mycobacteria* was also determined but no active substances were identified.
No interesting results were observed in antibacterial and antifungal screenings. Three compounds (**7** (R = 4-NH~2~), **10** (R = 2-F), and **15** (R = 4-Cl)) showed insignificant activity against the fungus *Trichophyton mentagrophytes*, which was found to be worse compared to the standards. The rest of substances showed no *in vitro* antibacterial or antifungal activity.
On the contrary, *N*-substituted 5-amino-6-methylpyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitriles were found to inhibit the Hill reaction in spinach chloroplasts which indicated that these compounds act as PS2 inhibitors.The IC~50~ values related to PET inhibition varied in the investigated set in the range from 16.4 μmol/L (**3**; R = 3,4-Cl) to 487.0 μmol/L (**14**; R = 3-NO~2~). The lipophilicity of the compounds was determinant for PET‑inhibiting activity. The site of inhibitory action of studied compounds in the photosynthetic apparatus is situated both on the donor and on the acceptor side of PS2. Perturbation of the Chl*a*-protein complexes in the thylakoid membranes caused by the tested compounds was documented by a decrease of the Chl*a* emission band intensity at 686 nm belonging to the pigment‑protein complexes in photosystem 2.
Based on the obtained results it can be assumed that the antifungal and antibacterial activities of studied compounds are not directly dependent on lipophilicity. This conclusion cannot be applied for the herbicidal activity because there is a linear dependence between activity and lipophilicity. Dependence between antimycobacterial activity and the benzyl substituents was found. This reliance was expressed by the lipophilicity parameter log *k* resp. π constant and showed the importance of the ring-substituted benzyl moiety.
The publication is co-financed by the European Social Fund and the state budget of the Czech Republic. Project No. CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0235, the title of the project: TEAB. This study was also supported by the Ministry of Health of Czech Republic (IGA NZ 13346), Grant Agency of Charles University B-CH/710312, the Slovak Grant Agency VEGA, Grant No. 1/0612/11, by the Project APVV-0061-11 and by Sanofi-Aventis Pharma Slovakia. The authors also wish to thank Ida Dufkova for performing and evaluating the antifungal and antibacterial assays and Barbora Servusova and Jan Zitko for English revisions.
*Sample Availability*: Samples of the compounds are available from the authors.
######
Click here for additional data file.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
|
In recent years, movements of construction of a wireless communication network using a flying object such as a satellite and a balloon have been active. The wireless communication network using a flying object has an advantage that, in comparison with a communication network constructed on a surface of the ground, a base station is unlikely to encounter a disaster, for example, by constructing the base station on a flying object, and thereby disaster-resistant property is improved. Further, the wireless communication network using a flying object also has an advantage that a cost for construction such as installation of wiring facilities can be reduced. It is predicted that users of such a wireless communication network using a flying object increase, and with an increase of the users, it is supposed that frequency bands of radio waves used in the wireless communication network are tight. Therefore, as wireless communication used in the wireless communication network using a flying object, attention is paid to free space optics (FSO) using an optical frequency band expected to become markedly broadband, instead of microwaves that are currently mainstream.
In order to achieve a large-capacity free space optics system, a speeding-up technique of a bit rate of a transmission signal light and a wavelength division multiplexing technique are required. Further, in a free space optics system, since a signal light is propagated for a long distance between a flying object in midair and the ground, attenuation of the signal light during the propagation is large, and therefore a high-sensitive reception device is required. For the reception device, a technique common to an optical fiber communication technique, specifically, an optical transmission/reception technique using a single mode fiber (SMF) is applied. The reason why the single mode fiber is used in a free space optics system is that an optical transmission/reception technique such as a low-noise and high-gain direct optical amplification technique, a high-sensitive digital coherent reception technique, a high bit-rate transmission/reception technique, and a dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technique can be used.
In a free space optics system using a single mode fiber, it is necessary for a signal light (laser light) propagated in a free space to enter (be coupled with) a core having a small core diameter in the single mode fiber. Therefore, in a free space optics system between a flying object in midair such as an artificial satellite, and a ground station, in order to condense sufficient optical power, a reception device needs to include a telescope having a large aperture diameter. Herein, an aperture of the telescope is equal to or more than several times a spatial coherence radius of a signal light (laser light) propagated in the atmosphere, and therefore the signal light is likely to be affected by turbulence of the atmosphere such as wind. In other words, when passing through a portion where a local fluctuation of a refractive index of the atmosphere caused by a turbulence phenomenon and a thermal phenomenon occurs, a signal light is refracted and the signal light is deflected due to the refraction. Therefore, a disturbance of a beam spot of a signal light condensed by a telescope increases. In this manner, an intensity of a signal light that enters a reception device largely varies due to a disturbance of a beam spot, and therefore, in a free space optics system, a problem that stable communication is difficult occurs. In particular, when a large attenuation (fade) of a signal light due to a large intensity variation occurs, an error or lack of reception data is caused. Therefore, in a free space optics system, a problem that an overhead of forward error correction (FEC) increases and a problem that retransmission processing becomes necessary occur. Such problems cause a decrease in an effective throughput of a free space optics system.
As described above, in a free space optics system, due to a disturbance of a wave-front to which a signal light is subjected during atmospheric propagation, a problem that communication becomes unstable may occur. A large number of techniques for solving such the problem have been proposed heretofore.
A reception device disclosed in PTL 1 (Japanese Translation of PCT International Application Publication No. 2013-535871) includes a light condensing unit, a wavelength demultiplexer, a plurality of optical detectors, and a signal processing unit. The reception device is configured to collect light on a plurality of individual fiber end faces from the wavelength demultiplexer and converge a signal light to a single output fiber to be input to the optical detector by using a fiber bundle or the like that is gradually thinner. By such a configuration, in the reception device, stable fiber coupling is achieved even against a disturbance of a beam spot. Further, PTL 1 also discloses a configuration in which a core diameter is decreased to a diameter equal to that of a single mode fiber in a tapered shape, and thereby a coupled signal light is converged on a core of the single mode fiber and connection to an optical component adapted to a next-stage single mode fiber is made possible.
A communication device that constructs a free space optics system disclosed in PTL 2 (Japanese Registered Patent Publication No. 4701454) includes a light condensing unit, a fiber bundle, a plurality of optical receivers, a plurality of optical transmitters, and a transmission/reception control unit. The communication device is configured to transmit a signal light from the same position as a light condensing position of a signal light received from an opposite device. By this configuration, regardless of deflection of a light condensing system due to an atmospheric fluctuation and a peripheral temperature change, in the opposite device side, a signal light from the communication device is condensed to a signal light emission point.
NPL 1 (“Next-generation Extremely Large Optical Infrared Telescope Planning Instructions”) discloses an adaptive optics (AO) technique that measures and corrects distortion of a wave-front of a signal light. In the technique, a wave-front of a reception light distorted due to an atmospheric fluctuation is observed by a wave-front sensor and a wave-front correction element using a micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) or the like is controlled by using the observation result. |
Internal load of aluminum and the central nervous system function of aluminum welders.
Because the brain is the recognized target organ for aluminum toxicity, internal aluminum load and central nervous system functions were investigated among aluminum welders in a shipyard. Seventeen male welders with a mean age of 37 (range 24-48) years and a history of about four years of metal inert-gas welding on aluminum were the subjects. Aluminum in serum (S-Al) and urine (U-Al) was analyzed with graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Central nervous system functions were examined with neuropsychological tests, symptom and mood questionnaires, quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG), and P300 evoked responses. The mean S-Al concentration was 0.21 (range 0.03-0.64) mumol.l-1 and the mean U-Al was 2.8 (range 0.9-6.1) mumol.l-1. Although the welders performed normally on the neuropsychological tests, there was a negative association between all four memory tests and U-Al and a positive association between the variability of visual reaction times and S-Al. In the QEEG, the amount of delta and theta activity in the frontal region correlated positively and the amount of alpha activity in the frontal region correlated negatively with S-Al. The S-Al and U-Al measurements indicated increased internal loads of aluminum in most of the welders. This finding is compatible with slowly eliminated aluminum from tissues. The neuropsychological assessment suggested disturbing effects of aluminum on short-term memory, learning, and attention. In the QEEG, a corresponding exposure-effect relationship was found for activity in the frontal region. Further studies are needed on the possibility that exposure to aluminum welding fumes causes harm to human health. |
from statsmodels.tools._testing import PytestTester
test = PytestTester()
|
Q:
YUI Uploader - How to tell when all files have been uploaded?
I'm using the YUI 2 Uploader to upload some files. My users will be uploading more than one file, so I want to use YUI Uploader's 'file queue'. That is all working successfully. I disable the uploader when the files are uploading, so people can't add new files to the queue once they start uploading the files.
I want to do something (in JavaScript) when all the files have been uploaded. The YUI Uploader has signals for when certain files are uploaded, but not when all files in the queue have been uploaded. Is there some way to detect when all the files have been uploaded?
A:
Keep an object (or array) of files & in the uploadComplete handler remove whichever file just finished. If there are none left call your upload finalize function.
Example implementation here, http://tivac.com/upload/upload.js It has some bugs but solves this particular problem.
|
Letter to the editor: Casino salary coverage neglects whole picture
I was surprised to see the article concerning salaries of casino CEOs, in particular the lack of the many other responsibilities the CEO of Prairie Meadows has undertaken for community betterment.
There was no mention of the many sponsorships Prairie Meadows does throughout the community to help nonprofits fulfill their missions. There was no mention of the many hours the CEO and his leadership team spend attending events representing that very sponsorship money. There was no mention of the entire business he is in charge of, such as the hotel, restaurants and racing and the many meetings he attends to assure to our community everything is working as it should be. There is no mention of the many hours spent attending board meetings that the leadership does each year. There is no mention of the many employees that he is responsible for.
When looking at salaries of CEOs, one should take a look at the whole picture and understand that each organization represents a different method of leadership, hours spent and needs. The number in a salary does not always represent the hours spent.
- Loretta J. Sieman, West Des Moines
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Letter to the editor: Casino salary coverage neglects whole picture
I was surprised to see the article concerning salaries of casino CEOs, in particular the lack of the many other responsibilities the CEO of Prairie Meadows has undertaken for community betterment. |
This statement confirms the overall pay budget (how much AXA has available to spend on salaries) and framework (how AXA will spend that money) for 2018. These details are negotiated between AXA and Unite and apply to employees in all roles at Levels 6-9 in AXA Insurance and Corporate Centre.
Overall budget
This year’s talks have concluded with an offer of an increase in the total pay budget of 3% for employees in Levels 3-9. Any pay increases will take effect from 1 April 2018.
Levels 6-9 Pay Framework
Pay awards will be made to employees in these roles based on your performance rating and where your salary is positioned in the pay range.
Position in salary range
(vs. midpoint)
95% & below
95% – 105%
105% & above
Performance
Rating
Outstanding
4.75%
3.75%
2.75%
Excellent
4.25%
3.25%
2.25%
Successful
4.00%
3.00%
2.00%
Partially Successful
2.00%
1.50%
1.00%
Unsuccessful
0.00%
0.00%
0.00%
Levels 3-5 Pay Approach
Senior managers will have full discretion to set pay awards within the overall budget for employees in Level 3-5 roles. Your performance and current salary against the pay ranges will be part of the decision making.
Other adjustments
AXA UK’s minimum salary will be increased to £15,925 but other pay ranges are unchanged, although AXA UK’s approach to pay ranges and pay families is currently under review.
There are some local pay arrangements, like the AXA Insurance Claims Development Framework, which are managed outside of this process. |
Post-dilution haemodiafiltration and low-flux haemodialysis have dissimilar effects on platelets: a side study of CONTRAST.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Platelet (PLT) dysfunction, which is a well-known phenomenon in advanced chronic renal failure, corresponds positively with CVD in these patients. The accumulation of retained uraemic toxins might play an important role in this respect. During haemodialysis (HD), both an increase in the expression of the platelet (PLT) cell surface molecule P-selectin (CD62p) and the release of intra-granular substances, such as platelet factor 4 (PF4) and ss-thromboglobulin (BTG), have been described. As the removal of uraemic toxins is superior during haemodiafiltration (HDF), this form of treatment may have quite another impact on PLTs than HD. Nineteen chronic HD patients who were treated with low-flux HD for at least 2 months were included in the Dutch CONvective TRAnsport STudy (CONTRAST). After randomization, 10 patients continued low-flux HD and 9 patients switched to post-dilution HDF. The present study describes various parameters of PLT activation and degranulation at baseline (during HD) and after 3 months (during HDF) in the latter group of patients. At both time points, multiple blood samples were drawn. During the first 30 min of treatment, differences over the extracorporeal circuit (ECC) were calculated by taking samples from both afferent (arterial) and efferent (venous) lines. Correlations between various parameters were calculated in the total group of patients after 3 months. Immediately after the start of HD, PLT counts dropped over the ECC. During HDF, PLT counts decreased even more and reached a nadir at t30. CD62p expression increased early during HD and returned to baseline thereafter. During HDF, these changes were more pronounced and more protracted. With respect to degranulation, rather dissimilar results were obtained. During HD, both PF4 and BTG increased over time, whereas during HDF, PF4 increased but BTG did not change. Haemoconcentration and transmembrane pressure (TMP) within the dialyser were, respectively, approximately 10 and 3x higher during HDF than during HD. There was a striking correlation between the changes in haemoconcentration and the changes in both PLT counts and CD62p over the ECC. PLT activation, as measured by the expression of CD62p, was more pronounced and more protracted during HDF than during HD. During HDF, PLTs were trapped abundantly within the ECC, not only after first passage, but also thereafter. The degranulation product BTG increased during HD, but did not change during HDF. These observations may well be explained by the greater haemoconcentration and/or higher TMP during HDF on the one hand, and superior convective transport at the other. Whether the potential harmful effects of enhanced PLT activation are counterbalanced by the beneficial effects of an increased convective transport of degranulation products remains to be established. |
---
abstract: 'When the heaviest elementary particle known today, the top quark, was discovered in 1995 by the CDF and D0 collaborations at the Fermilab Tevatron collider, a large program to study this particle in details has started. In this article, an overview of the status of top quark physics at the Tevatron is presented. In particular, recent results on top quark production, properties and searches using top quarks are discussed.'
author:
- |
Yvonne Peters$^1$ [^1]\
1- University of Manchester - School of Physics and Astronomy\
Oxford Road, Manchester - UK
title: Top Quark Physics at the Tevatron
---
Introduction
============
With a mass of $m_t=173.2\pm0.6 {\rm (stat)} \pm 0.8 {\rm
(syst)}$ GeV [@topmassaverage], the top quark is the heaviest known elementary particle today. Its most notable properties are the high mass and its very short lifetime, providing a unique environment to study a bare quark. The top quark is believed to play a special role in electroweak symmetry breaking and provide a window to physics beyond the standard model (SM).
Since its discovery in 1995 [@cdftopdiscovery; @d0topdiscovery] by the CDF and D0 Collaborations at the Fermilab Tevatron collider, a large program to study the top quark in great detail has been initiated at the Tevatron. To understand whether the observed particle is indeed the top quark as predicted by theory and to use it for searches of physics beyond the SM (BSM), it is essential to precisely determine the production mechanisms and the properties and confront the results with SM predictions. Deviations of the different quantities from their prediction could be indications for BSM. Additionally, direct searches for new physics are performed in the top sector.
As of today, two particle accelerators provide collisions with enough energy to produce top quarks: the Tevatron at Fermilab and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The Tevatron collider is a proton-antiproton collider. From 1992 to 1996, Run I of the Tevatron was ongoing, providing $p\bar{p}$ collisions at 1.8 TeV energy. In 2001, Run II with a collision energy of 1.96 TeV started, lasting until September 30th, 2011, and providing approximately 10.5 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity for each experiment. The LHC is a $pp$ collider with currently a center of mass energy of 7 TeV, that started its operation in 2010. About 5 fb$^{-1}$ of collision data has been provided in 2011. Due to its high center of mass energy, the production cross section of top quark pairs at LHC is about a factor 20 higher than at the Tevatron [@atlasdiscovery; @cmsdiscovery].
The large datasets enable us to perform high precision measurements of top quark production and properties, to study many properties for the first time and to perform sensitive searches for new physics. In this article, an overview of top quark physics at the Tevatron will be provided. About half of the collected Run II dataset have been studied until now.
Top Quark Production
====================
Top quarks can be produced in pairs via the strong interation or singly via electroweak interaction. Both interaction modes have been studied at the Tevatron. In the following recent results of $t\bar{t}$ and single top cross sections will be discussed.
Top Quark Pair Production
-------------------------
At the Tevatron, top quarks are produced to about 85% via $q\bar{q}$ annihilation and about 15% through gluon-gluon fusion. The predicted inclusive $t\bar{t}$ cross section ($\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$) from SM calculations are of $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}=
6.41\pm0.51$ pb [@ttbarpred1] and $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}= 7.46 \pm
0.48$ pb [@ttbarpred2] at approximate next to next to leading order (NNLO) quantum chromodynamics (QCD).
The decay of the top quark in the SM is to almost 100% into a $b$-quark and a $W$ boson. We classify different final states of the $t\bar{t}$ pairs according to the decay of the two $W$-bosons from top and antitop quark. The main channels we consider for analyses are the the dilepton final state (5%), lepton+jets final state (30%), and the all hadronic final state (46%), where either both $W$-bosons decay leptonically into an electron or muon, just one decays leptonically, or none. Channels where at least one $W$-boson decays into a hadronically decaying tau-lepton are considered separately as $\tau$+lepton or $\tau$+jets final states, as the identification of taus is experimentally more challenging. The golden channel at the Tevatron is the lepton+jets final state, consisting of events with exactly one isolated electron or muon, at least four jets and large missing transverse energy, combines a good ratio of signal to background with large statistics and a clear signature. Events in the dilepton channel have two isolated leptons (electrons or muon), at least two jets and high missing transverse energy to account for the two undetected neutrinos. The dilepton final state is very pure, but suffers from low statistics. Furthermore, the existence of two neutrinos complicates the reconstruction of the full event kinematics. In the all-hadronic final state the full event can be reconstructed, but the channel suffers from high backgrounds due to QCD mutlijet production.
The inclusive $t\bar{t}$ cross section has been measured in lepton+jets, dilepton, all hadronic, $\tau$+lepton, $\tau$+jets and missing energy plus jets final states. The main tools to separate $t\bar{t}$ signal from background exploit $b$-jet identification and the kinematic and topological differences of signal compared to background. The $b$-jet identification [@bjettagging] relies usually on properties of the secondary vertex from $B$-hadron decay or on tracks displaced with respect to the primary vertex. An example of both tools, $b$-jet identification and topological information, being used recently is the $t\bar{t}$ cross section measurement in the lepton+jets final state. At D0 for example, $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$ has been measured in lepton+jets using three different methods [@ljetsd0xsec] using 5.3 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity. The first is a counting method using $b$-jet identification, where events with three jets and at least four jets are further separated into events with zero, one or at least two identified $b$-jets. Simultaneously the heavy flavor $k$ factor [^2] of the dominant $W$+jets background is fitted in order to reduce the systematic uncertainty. We measure $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}=8.13^{+1.02}_{-0.90}$ (stat+syst) pb with this method for a top quark mass of $172.5$ GeV. The second method uses no $b$-jet identification but purely relies on the kinematic and topological differences of signal and background. A multivariate discriminant is constructed from several variables showing discrimination between $t\bar{t}$ signal and $W$+jets background. Using kinematic information D0 extracts $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}=7.68^{+0.71}_{-0.64}$ (stat+syst) pb. The third method is a “combined” technique where kinematic information is used together with $b$-jet identification. First, the events are split into events with two, three or at least four jets and are further devided into events with zero, one and at least two $b$-tagged jets. For events where the background content is still relatively large a mutlivariate discriminant is formed, which separates signal from $W$+jets background. Using the combined method we extract $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}=7.78^{+0.77}_{-0.64}$ (stat+syst) pb. All results are limited by systematic uncertainties, and are in good agreement with theory predictions. The main systematic uncertainties are the uncertainty from the luminosity calculation, $b$-jet identification and jet energy scale. The CDF Collaboration uses similar methods, and also additionally employed the method to normalize the measured $t\bar{t}$ cross section to the cross section of $Z$ production, which is known theoretically to about 2% precision. This way, the dominant uncertainty from luminosity can be reduced. Using 4.6 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity, CDF measures $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}= 7.82 \pm 0.38 {\rm (stat)} \pm 0.37 {\rm
(syst)} \pm 0.15 {\rm (Z~theory)}$ pb for a mass of 172.5 GeV in the lepton+jets final state [@ljetscdfxsec].
For many models of physics beyond the SM, the measured inclusive $t\bar{t}$ cross section in the different final states could differ from the theory prediction. Therefore, it is important to extract $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$ in the various final states and compare the results between each other and with theory prediction. Figure \[xseccombis\] shows the most recent results for $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$ in various final states, measured by CDF and D0. All results are in good agreement with theory predictions as well as between each other.
{height="55mm"} {height="55mm"}
Single Top Quark Production
---------------------------
Single top quark production happens via the electroweak interaction and occurs via the $s$-channel, $t$-channel and $Wt$-channel. The latter has a negligible cross section at the Tevatron. In 2009, single top quark prodution was observed for the first time by CDF and D0 [@cdfsingletop; @d0singletop], where the $s+t$ channel cross section ($\sigma_{s+t}$) was measured using up to 3.2 fb$^{-1}$ and 2.3 fb$^{-1}$ of data, respectively. Even though the cross section of the $s+t$-channel is only about a factor of two smaller than $t\bar{t}$ production, its signature is very similar to $W$+jets events, and therefore advanced multivariate techniques have to be employed to distinguish single top signal from background. In particular, boosted decision trees, neural networks and Bayesian neural networks as well as matrix element techniques have been used, and the result of the different methods have been combined. Recently, the D0 collaboration updated the measurement of the single top $s+t$-channel cross section using 5.4 fb$^{-1}$ of data, extracting $\sigma_{s+t}=3.43^{+0.73}_{-0.74}$ (stat+syst) pb [@singletopupdate].
Since BSM could affect the contributions to $s$- and $t$-channel differently, it is important to also measure these two production modes individually. Both collaborations therefore also perform two dimensional measurements, where the $s$- and $t$-channel cross sections are measured simultaneously [@cdffullsingletop; @d0fullsingletop]. Recently, D0 reported first observation of $t$-channel single top production [@tchannelobservation] using 5.4 fb$^{-1}$, obtaining $\sigma_{t}=2.90\pm0.50$ (stat+syst) pb.
Top Quark Properties
====================
In order to understand the top quark in detail and to use it for BSM searches, its properties have to be measured precisely. The large datasets collected at the Tevatron enable the measurement of several properties with high precision, while others can be studies for the first time. In this section, a selection of recent results are discussed, in particular the top quark mass, the top antitop mass difference, the helicity of the $W$-boson in top decays, $t\bar{t}$ spin correlations and the $t\bar{t}$ forward backward asymmetry.
Top Quark Mass
--------------
The top quark mass, $m_t$, is a free parameter in the SM. Together with the $W$-boson mass, it sets constraints on the SM Higgs boson.
With the goal to measure the top quark mass with high precision, several techniques have been developed. The simplest method is the template method, where top quark mass dependent templates are constructed and fitted to the data. In lepton+jets events, the full event kinematics can be reconstructed by using kinematic fitting techniques that constrain the invariant mass of the charged lepton and the neutrino from the leptonic $W$-boson decay to the known $W$-boson mass. In dileptonic final states, the kinematics are underconstrained by the two neutrinos, and additional integration over the unknown quantities is necessary. Several methods exist for this integration, as for example matrix weighting or neutrino weighting techniques. In the full hadronic final state, the kinematics of the event is fully known and the main complication arises form the large background and the large number of possible permutations of jets to match the top and antitop quarks.
The second and most precise technique to measure the top quark mass is the Matrix Element (ME) method. The full kinematic information of each event is extracted by calculating per-event signal probabilities $P_{sig}(x;m_t)$ and background probablities $P_{bkg}(x)$, where $x$ are the momenta of the final state partons. Each probability is calculated by integration over the leading order (LO) matrix element for $t\bar{t}$ production or background, folded with parton distribution functions and transfer functions. The transfer functions describe the transition of the parton momenta as used in the leading order matrix element into the measured momenta $x$. The top quark mass is obtained by maximizing the likelihood constructed of a product of the per-event probabilities. Finally, ensemble tests are performed, as the use of only leading order matrix element and approximations in the calculation of the background probabilities requires the method to be be calibrated. A third commonly used method is an approximation of the ME method and is called ideogram technique. Instead of using matrix elements, per-event probabilities are calculated using kinematic fitters.
Additionally to these techniques, a variety of different methods has been explored at the Tevatron, as for example the extraction of $m_t$ using the transverse momenta of the lepton or using secondary vertex information. All of these methods are still very limited by statistical uncertainties, but have the advantage of different systematic uncertainties being important. These different methods will be more interesting with much larger datasets.
The largest systematic uncertainty on the top quark mass using the three described methods arises from the jet energy scale (JES). In the lepton+jets and all hadronic final states, the JES can be fitted in-situ by constraining the invariant mass of the two jets from the $W$-boson to the known $W$-boson mass. In dilepton final states, the in-situ JES fit can not be performed, but recently CDF performed a simultaneous measurement of $m_t$ in the diletpon and lepton+jets channel, where the fitted JES from the lepton+jets final state can be applied to the jets in the dilepton channel [@dilepmasscdf].
During the life of the Tevatron, the various techniques have been developed, improved and used to measure the top quark mass with high precision. Recent measurements of $m_t$ using template techniques are performed by CDF in the alljets ($m_t=172.5 \pm 2.0 {\rm
(stat+syst)}$ GeV [@alljetsmasscdf] using 5.8 fb$^{-1}$), dilepton ($m_t=170.3 \pm 3.7 {\rm (stat+syst)}$ GeV [@dilepmasscdf] using 5.6 fb$^{-1}$) and +jets ($m_t=172.3 \pm 2.6 {\rm (stat+syst)}$ GeV [@metjetsmasscdf] using 5.7 fb$^{-1}$) channels. New results using the ME method are a measurement from D0 in the dileptonic final state ($m_t=174.0 \pm 3.0 {\rm (stat+syst)}$ GeV [@dilepmassd0] using 5.4 fb$^{-1}$) and the lepton+jets final sate ($m_t=174.9 \pm 1.5 {\rm (stat+syst)}$ GeV [@ljetsmassd0]) as well as a measurement in the lepton+jets channel by CDF ( ($m_t=173.0 \pm 1.2 {\rm
(stat+syst)}$ GeV [@ljetsmemasscdf] using 5.6 fb$^{-1}$), the latter being the single most precise measurement of the top quark mass to date. A combination of all top quark mass measurements at the Tevatron has been done, resulting in $m_t=173.18 \pm 0.56 {\rm (stat)} \pm 0.76 {\rm
(syst)}$ GeV [@topmassaverage]. The relative precision of 0.6% exceeds initial Tevatron expectations. The measured top quark mass is dominated by systematic uncertainties, where the main sources come from the differences of the JES for different jet flavors and uncertainties on the signal modeling. The latter include uncertainties on initial and final state radiation, color reconnections, and next-to-leading order (NLO) versus LO Monte Carlo (MC) generators. In Fig. \[masscombiplots\] (left) the different Tevatron top quark mass measurements and the combination are shown.
{height="55mm"} {height="55mm"}
The direct meausrements of $m_t$ rely heavily on Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, either for the construction of the templates or the calibration. Currently used MC simulations are performed in LO QCD, with higher order effects being simulated through parton showers at modified leading logarithms level. The top quark mass is a convention dependent parameter beyond LO QCD. Therefore it is important to know how the result of direct top quark mass measurements can be interpreted in terms of renormalization conventions. Currently, it is still under theoretical investigations how the measured top quark mass from MC and the top quark pole or ${\overline {MS}}$ mass are related. The D0 Collaboration has recently performed a determination of the top quark mass from the measurement of $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}$, by comparing the measured $t\bar{t}$ cross section to inclusive cross section calculations versus top quark mass. This allows an unambiguous interpretation of the extracted top quark mass in the pole or ${\overline {MS}}$ mass scheme [@d0massfromxsec]. Using the pole mass for inclusive cross section calculations D0 extracted a pole mass of, for example, $m_t=167.5^{+5.2}_{-4.7}$ GeV for the cross section calculation from Ref. [@ttbarpred2]. Performing the same extraction, but using a calculation in the ${\overline {MS}}$ mass scheme yields about 7 GeV smaller values for $m_t$.
Top Antitop Mass Difference
---------------------------
The CPT theorem requires the particles and their antiparticles to have equal masses. Thus, in direct top quark mass measurements the top and antitop quark are assumed to be of identical mass. Recently, the D0 and CDF Collaborations have performed measurements of the top antitop quark mass difference by dropping the assumption of both being of equal mass, and therefore testing the CPT theorem in the top quark sector. By extending the event probabilities $P_{sig}(x;m_t)$ to $P_{sig}(x;m_t, m_{\bar{t}})$, the D0 Collaboration performed the first measurement of the mass difference between a bare quark and its antiquark using the ME method on 1 fb$^{-1}$ of data in the lepton+jets final state [@firstmassdiffd0]. This measurement was updated on 3.6 fb$^{-1}$, yielding $m_t-m_{\bar{t}}=0.8 \pm 1.8 {\rm (stat)} \pm 0.5 {\rm
(syst)}$ GeV [@massdiffd0], which is consistent with the SM. The CDF collaboration performed the mass difference measurement using a template technique in the lepton+jets channel using 5.6 fb$^{-1}$ of data, resulting in $m_t-m_{\bar{t}}=-3.3 \pm 1.4 {\rm (stat)} \pm 1.0 {\rm
(syst)}$ GeV [@massdiffcdf].
$W$-Boson Helicity in Top Quark Decays
--------------------------------------
In the SM, $W$-bosons couple purely left-handed to fermions, and therefore constrain the relative orientation of the spin of the $b$-quark and the $W$ boson from the top quark decay. In NNLO QCD, the fractions of negative ($f_{-}$), zero ($f_0$) and positive ($f_{+}$) helicity of the $W$-boson are predicted to be $f_{-}=0.685\pm0.005$, $f_0=0.311\pm0.005$ and $f_{+}=0.0017\pm0.0001$ [@nnloheli]. Deviations of these values could indicate new physics contributions. The $W$-boson helicity fractions have been measured by CDF and D0 in the leptin+jets and dilepton final states using template or ME techniques. In the template method, the angle $\theta^{*}$ between the down-type decay product of the $W$-boson and the top quark in the $W$-boson rest frame is measured, and the cosine of this angle is fitted to data. To keep the analysis as model-independent as possible, the fractions $f_0$ and $f_{+}$ are fitted simultaneously, only constraining the sum of all three fractions to be one. The CDF collaboration also uses the ME method to measure the $W$-boson helicity, where the per-event signal probabilities $P_{sig}$ are calculated as function of $f_0$ and $f_{+}$. Recently, a combination f the CDF and D0 measurements has been performed, combining a D0 measurement in the dilepton and lepton+jets channel using 5.4 fb$^{-1}$, a CDF measurement in the lepton+jets final state using 2.7 fb$^{-1}$, and a CDF analysis in the dilepton final state using 5.1 fb$^{-1}$ [@whelitevcombi]. Fitting $f_0$ and $f_{+}$, the combination yields $f_0=0.732 \pm 0.063 {\rm (stat)} \pm 0.052 {\rm (syst)}$ and $f_{+}=-0.039 \pm 0.034 {\rm (stat)} \pm 0.030 {\rm (syst)}$, in good agreement with the SM prediction. Furthermore, the CDF collaboration updated the measurement in the dilepton final state using 5.1 fb$^{-1}$, additionally improving the sensitivity by applying $b$-jet identification. This result is not yet included in the Tevatron combination and yields $f_0=0.71^{+0.18}_{-0.17} {\rm (stat)} \pm
0.06 {\rm (syst)}$ and $f_{+}=-0.07 \pm 0.09 {\rm (stat)} \pm 0.04 {\rm (syst)}$ [@cdfdilepnew].
$t\bar{t}$ Spin Correlations
----------------------------
While the top quarks are produced unpolarized at hadron colliders, the spins of the top and antitop quarks are expected to be correlated. Due to the top quark’s short lifetime, the information of the spin of the top quark is preserved in its decay products, enabling the measurement of the spin correlation of the top and antitop quark in $t\bar{t}$ events. Recently, $t\bar{t}$ spin correlations has been measured using a template and ME based method.
The template based methods are based on the fact that the doubly differential cross section, $1/\sigma \times d^2
\sigma /(d \cos \theta_1 d \cos \theta_2)$ can be written as $1/4
\times
(1-C \cos \theta_1 \cos \theta_2)$, where $C$ is the spin correlation strength, and $\theta_1$ ($\theta_2$) is the angle of the down-type fermion from the $W^{+}$ ($W^{-}$) boson or top (antitop) quark decay in the top (antitop) quark rest frame with respect to a quantization axis. Common choices are the helicity basis, where the quantization axis is the flight direction of the top (antitop) quark in the $t\bar{t}$ rest frame, the beam basis, where the quantization axis is the beam axis, and the off-diagonal basis, which yields the helicity axis for ultra-high energy and the beam axis at threshold. The SM prediction for the spin correlation strength $C$ depends on the collision energy and the choice of quantization axis, and is $C=0.78$ for the Tevatron in the beam basis at NLO [@bernreutherspin]. The spin correlation strength $C$ can be presented as the number of events where top and antitop have the same spin direction minus the number of events with opposite spin direction, normalized to the total number of $t\bar{t}$ events, multiplied with a factor representing the analyzing power of the down-type fermion used to calculate the angles. The latter factor is one for leptons and down-type quarks from the $W$-boson decay at LO QCD, and smaller for up-type quarks and the $b$-quark from top quark decay. Since it is experimentally challenging to distinguish up-type from down-type quarks, the dilepton channel is best to perform the measurement of $t\bar{t}$ spin correlations. Both, CDF and D0 Collaborations have performed a measurement of $C$ by fitting templates for $C=0$ and the SM value of $C$ of the distribution $\cos
\theta_1 \cos \theta_2$ to data. Using 2.8 fb$^{-1}$ at CDF and 5.4 fb$^{-1}$ at D0, the measurement of $C$ in the beam basis yields $C=0.32^{+0.55}_{-0.78} {\rm (stat+syst)}$ [@cdfdilepspin] and $C=0.10 \pm 0.45 {\rm (stat+syst)}$ [@d0dilepspin], in agreement with SM prediction. Similar to these two analyses in the dilepton final state, CDF performed the first extraction of $t\bar{t}$ spin correlations by fitting templates of equal and opposite $t\bar{t}$ helicity to data. The measured quantity is then translated into $C$. Using a dataset of 4.3 fb$^{-1}$, CDF measured $C=0.72 \pm 0.64
{\rm (stat)} \pm 0.26 {\rm (syst)}$ in the beam basis [@cdfljetsspin].
The D0 collaboration also explored the measurement of $t\bar{t}$ spin correlations using a ME based method. Per-event signal probabilities $P_{sig}(H)$ are calculated using matrix elements that include spin correlations ($H=c$) and do not include spin correlations ($H=u$), and are translated into a discriminant $R=P_{sig}(H=c)/[P_{sig}(H=c)+P_{sig}(H=u)]$ [@melnikovschulze]. By applying this technique to the same D0 dataset of 5.4 fb$^{-1}$ of dilepton events as for the template based method, a 30% improved sensitivity can be obtained, resulting in $C=0.57 \pm 0.31 {\rm
(stat+syst)}$ [@d0dilepmespin]. Recently, the matrix element-based method has been extended to the lepton+jets final state using 5.3 fb$^{-1}$ of D0 data, and by combining the measurement in dilepton and lepton+jets events first evidence for spin correlation was reported recently, as $C=0.66 \pm 0.23 {\rm (stat+syst)}$ [@d0ljetsdilepmespin]. All Tevatron measurements are in agreement with the NLO SM prediction, and all are still limited by statistics.
$t\bar{t}$ Asymmetry
--------------------
At LO QCD, $t\bar{t}$ production is forward backward symmetric in quark antiquark annihilation processes. At higher order, interferences between diagrams that are symmetric and antisymmetric under the exchange of top and antitop cause a preferred direction of the top and antitop quarks and therefore an asymmetry. In particular, at NLO, the leading contribution arises from the the interference between tree level and box diagrams, which yield a positive asymmetry, where the top quark is preferentially emitted in the direction of the incoming quark. A deviation from the SM prediction could indicate physics beyond the SM.
At the Tevatron, where the $t\bar{t}$ production is dominted by the interaction of a valence quark and a valence antiquark and therefore the (anti)quark direction almost always coincides with the direction of the incoming (anti)proton, the measurement of the forward backward charge asymmetry is conceptionally easy. The asymmetry is defined in terms of the difference between the rapidity of the top and antitop quarks, $\Delta y$. The assignment of the final state particles to top and antitop quarks is determined by applying kinematic fitting techniques to the fully reconstructed $t\bar{t}$ events in the lepton+jets and dilepton final states. The charge of the lepton(s) is used to determine which combination of final state objects belongs to the top and which to the antitop quark. The asymmetry is defined as $A_{fb}=[N(\Delta y >0) - N(\Delta y<0)]/[N(\Delta y >0) +
N(\Delta y<0)]$, where $N(\Delta y >0)$ and $N(\Delta y <0)$ are the number of events with rapidity difference larger and smaller zero. Alternatively, the asymmetry can be extracted from the rapidity of the lepton(s) only. This has the advantages that no complete reconstruction of the top and antitop quarks and their decays is required and that the directions of the charged leptons can be measured with good resolution, while the disadvantage is that the direction of the lepton is not fully correlated to the top quark direction, resulting in a loss of sensitivity. In order to compare to theory predictions, the measured $t\bar{t}$ forward backward asymmetries are corrected for acceptance and resolution effects to obtain the inclusive generated asymmetry. The correction is done using a $4 \times 4$ matrix-inversion at CDF and with regularized unfolding at D0.
Recently, the CDF collaboration measured an inclusive generated asymmetry of $A_{fb}=0.158\pm 0.074$ using 5.3 fb$^{-1}$ of data in the lepton+jets channel [@ljetsasymcdf], and $A_{fb}=0.420 \pm 0.158$ in the dilepton final state with 5.1 fb$^{-1}$ of data [@dilepasymcdf]. The combination of these two measurements results in $A_{fb}=0.201\pm 0.067$ [@dilepljetsasymcdf]. The D0 measurement with 5.4 fb$^{-1}$ of data in the lepton+jets channel yields $A_{fb}=0.196 \pm 0.060 {\rm (stat)}^{+0.018}_{-0.026} {\rm
(syst)}$ [@ljetsasymd0]. The results are summarized together with a selection of theory predictions in Fig. \[masscombiplots\] (right). All results are still dominated by statistical uncertainties. Comparing the measurement to various theoretical predictions [@asymtheomix] and the prediction of [@mcnlo] MC shows about a two sigma deviation towards higher values of the measurements compared to the prediction. It is not yet clear whether this deviation comes from new physics contributions or modeling of the SM or anything else, causing a strong interest in the asymmetry measurements. Various tests to check the MC modeling have been performed, as for example a test performed by the D0 Collaboration to check the sensitivity to the modeling of the transverse momentum of the $t\bar{t}$ system, $p_T(t\bar{t})$. This test showed that the asymmetry predicted by several MC generators is indeed sensitive to $p_T(t\bar{t})$, which will require further investigations in the future.
Besides the inclusive measurement, it is interesting to investigate the dependence of the asymmetry on various variables, as for example the rapidity or the invariant mass of the top antitop quarks, $m_{t\bar{t}}$. CDF and D0 investigated the $m_{t\bar{t}}$ dependence by measuring $A_{fb}$ for regions of $m_{t\bar{t}}<450$ GeV and $m_{t\bar{t}}>450$ GeV. While in D0 data, no significant dependence was observed [@ljetsasymd0], an excess of about three sigma standard deviation from the prediction was observed by the CDF collaboration for $m_{t\bar{t}}>450$ GeV [@ljetsasymcdf].
Searches in the Top Quark Sector
================================
Besides precision measurements many sensitive direct searches for physics beyond the SM are performed in the top quark sector. Several models have been explored in $t\bar{t}$ or single top final states with different methods, as for example classic bump searches or using multivariate analysis techniques. For example, searches for $b'$ [@bprimecdf], $t'$ [@tprimecdf; @tprimed0], $Z'$ [@zprimecdf; @zprimed0], $W'$ [@wprimecdf; @wprimed0], charged Higgs bosons [@hpluscdf; @hplusd0], Higgs bosons in association with a $t\bar{t}$ pair [@tthcdf; @tthd0], flavor changing neutral currents [@fcnccdf; @fcncd0] and boosted top quarks [@boostedtopcdf] have been performed. Some of these searches are still the best limits to date.
Conclusion and Outlook
======================
Recent measurements of top quark production and properties by the CDF and D0 Collaborations have been discussed. About 10.5 fb$^{-1}$ of data have been collected by the CDF and D0 collaborations in Run II of the Tevatron, which ended on September 30th, 2011. About half of this dataset has been analyzed so far. The Tevatron experiments plan to analyse the final dataset for those measurement which are complementary or competitive to the LHC results, including the top quark mass measurement, the measurement of the forward-backward charge asymmetry and $t\bar{t}$ spin correlations.
Acknowledgments
===============
I would like to thank my collaborators from the CDF and D0 collaborations for their help in preparing the presentation and this article. I also thank the staffs at Fermilab and collaborating institutions, and acknowledge the support from STFC.
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[^1]: on behalf of the CDF and D0 Collaborations
[^2]: The heavy flavor $k$ factor defines ratio of the NLO over LO $W$+heavy flavor cross sections
|
Up to 8,300 new student beds will arrive on campus within 15 years as SF State accelerates its transition from being a commuter campus towards a residential campus, SF State officials announced Monday.
More than 70 people witnessed the public unveiling of the first pieces of a plan set to redevelop the campus by 2035. Lacking a written report, most of the plan’s juicy details were instead provided by paid consultants, PowerPoint slides and architectural drawings.
“I think the cost of commuting is going to escalate,” said President Leslie E. Wong in an interview following the Future State presentation. “The availability of housing will make it easier and more affordable for students to attend San Francisco State.”
Monday’s presentation provided a sneak peek for members of the public into how campus officials plan to redevelop the campus as the university goes forward with increasing its full-time student enrollment by 20 percent by 2035 – from 20,000 to 25,000 full-time students.
While many elements of the old 2007 master plan will carry over, including the enrollment increase, the new plan includes a more aggressive housing element, according to the presentation.
Between 4,000-8,000 additional student beds are set to double or triple the current stock, resulting in up to 12,400 total student beds. Faculty and staff housing will take a massive leap from 120 units to 680 units. And there’s a curveball – a proposal to include 1,000 units of market-rate housing behind Stonestown Galleria alongside a private developer is in the works.
Jackie Foley, president of Associated Students, said in an interview that although more student housing is needed, certain segments of the student population should not be chosen over others.
“A huge majority of our students are transfer students who commute,” she said. “We cannot forget about that population.”
The parking garage will be demolished under plans proposed via architectural drawings, and replaced with a new campus recreation area.
Given the massive changes proposed for SF State, only a handful of students showed at the 1 p.m. unveiling, while only a few more students stopped by the Cesar Chavez center to look over the pictures displayed.
Biochemistry major Katie Vaccaro said SF State needs more school spirit and believes additional student housing may do the trick.
“Student housing is where I met most of my friends,” Vaccaro said. “It’s hard to meet people in classes, you’re not really talking to each other unless you join an organization or something.”
Monday’s public presentation comes months after two Future State events sought out opinions of the campus community following last semester, with the first one in May and another in late July. Opinions from both meetings culminated in the plan released on Monday. The top request for the process, according to SF State, was the campus community wanting more affordable student housing and employee housing.
But Foley, who spoke at the meeting, said the university’s outreach about Monday’s unveiling could have been better.
“I wish the meeting was marketed more,” Foley said. “I was told about it pretty last minute.”
Now that feelers have been put out for the new plan, Fall semester will see the beginning of the new master plan’s environmental review. Drawings and reports will be finalized as SF State prepares to publish the first draft of the master plan during Spring 2018.
“I’m hoping you’ll be patient when the density of traffic goes up, a little bit, as we start crafting the future of San Francisco State,” President Wong said during the presentation. |
"'Previously on "Hannibal"...'" "I can't be with you." "You're becoming." "The dragon is your higher self." "There's a family out there who don't know he's coming." "They're not my family, and I'm not letting them die." "You are." " What did you say to him?" " "Save yourself." "Kill them all."" "Then I gave him your home address." "How's the wife?" "I look at my wife and I see her dead." "I see Mrs Leeds and Mrs Jacobi lying where Molly should be." "Do you see yourself killing her?" "Yes." "Over and over." "It's hard to predict when brittle materials will break." "Hannibal gave you three years to build a family, confident that he would find a way to take them from you." "And he has." "What's he going to take from you?" "Is it important to you that he take something from me?" "Hannibal has agency in the world." "Hannibal has no intention of seeing me dead by any other hand than his own." "And only then, if he can eat me." "He's in no position to eat me now." "If you play you pay." 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"It is for you." "The seals are being opened, Jack." "The lamb is becoming a lion." ""For the great day of his wrath is come;" "and who shall be able to stand?"" "I'll still be standing." "Is your conscience clear?" "As clear as yours." "Righteousness is what you and Will have in common." ""In righteousness, the Lamb doth judge and make war."" "War against the Great Red Dragon." "He's not the Dragon, you are." "The Devil himself bound in the pit." "Then that makes you God, Jack." "Yes, it does." "All gods demand sacrifices." "We don't have anything else." "Eight people dead in a month." "We can't play the long game." "You know and I know it's the best way to bait him." "Got me on the hook, now you're dangling me to catch a bigger fish." "It was your suggestion." "And you're thrilled you didn't have to make it." "You once fooled yourselves into believing you were in control of what was happening." "Are you still under that delusion?" "The Dragon has a certain abstract curiosity about me." "All psychopaths are narcissists, they love to read about themselves." "If you were smart, Jack, you would use Freddie Lounds." "She will need to interview you, Will." "Take your picture." "I'm in it now." "Can't go home as long as he's loose." "So, I really bad-mouth the Red Dragon in TattleCrime." "Give him a shot at me." "It's gotta be a really good shot." "What about the set-up?" "Something open." "Someplace where he can get close to me." "It feels like a trap to me." "And it'll feel like a trap to him." "Unless you have a professional voice who will legitimise what you're saying." "Someone to hide the wire of the snare?" "Are you volunteering?" "No." "I'd have to be a fool." "Since your commitment, you have written some brilliant articles for The Northern Medical Journal of Psychiatry." "Thank you, Frederick." "I just finished your most recent piece." "Extraordinary stuff!" " A particularly good one." " It may be my favourite." "I have seen a lot of hostility." "But this was quantifiably bitchy!" "Do you think I am your nemesis?" "No." "Nemesis?" "No." " You refuted my entire book." " It didn't hold up to scrutiny." "Of course it didn't, I was lying!" "On your behalf!" "To save your life!" "You refuted your insanity defence." "I went out on a limb for you and you climbed up there and sawed it off!" ""Wood burns because it has the proper stuff in it;" ""and a man becomes famous because he has the proper stuff in him."" "You don't have the proper stuff, Frederick." "I am a best-selling author." "The journals only still publish your writing for the freak value of your by-line." "The attention given to you is dwindling since you have been overshadowed by another creature." "That book is writing itself." "I think I'll call it The Dragon Slayer." "All I need is the ending." "Fate has a habit of not letting us choose our own endings, Frederick." "This is the ending fate has chosen for you." "Your teeth will go and your strength." "Nobody will be afraid of you anymore." "After Dr Bloom's reign, you will be out in the ward." "The young ones will push you around and use you for sex." "All you'll get to read is what you write on the wall." "You have seen the old ones." "They cry when they do not like the stewed apricots." "Oh..." "I'm just going to leave an extra copy of my book right over here." "Thank you, Frederick." "I've personalised it for you." "Are you here to remonstrate me with "I told you so"?" "That's not why I'm here." "She's here because we need someone who's less concerned about the truth than the best story." "Dr Chilton, lay out your theories and Will will aggravate them for the record." "You're making statements no investigator would ever make and no straight newspaper would credit." "You're not a straight newspaper." "You sell T-shirts that say:" ""The Tooth Fairy Is A One-Night Stand."" "I can get you one, if you like." "You small or medium?" "Small, I bet." "They aren't selling so well since you started calling him "The Dragon"." "The killer's objection to the name "The Tooth Fairy" is likely grounded in the homosexual implication of the word "fairy"." "Tedious, I know, but if you really want to piss him off, that's what you should call him." "Very well. "Tooth Fairy" it is." "The Tooth Fairy's actions indicate a projective delusion compensating for intolerable feelings of inadequacy." "Smashing mirrors ties these feelings to his appearance..." "And not only is the Tooth Fairy insane, he is ugly and impotent." "There's a strong bonding of aggressive and sexual drives that occurs in sadists at an early age..." "He's a vicious, perverted, sexual failure." "An animal." "The savage acts aimed primarily at the women, performed in the presence of families, are clearly strikes at a maternal figure..." "The Tooth Fairy is the product of an incestuous home." "This is the child of a nightmare." "Will, I think we need a key shot of you here in your "Washington hideaway"." "I'd love something of you in a bathrobe, sitting at a desk, poring over this artist's conception of the Fairy." "I'll stand by the window." "Make sure you can see the fountain and the Capitol dome." "The Red Dragon needs to be able to find this place, if he wants to." "Frederick, would you like to be in the photograph?" "One for the dust jacket." "That's it, up." "There." "This whole procedure is way too passive for my taste." "We are playing games in the dark of the moon." "He thinks he can do anything." "Maybe he thinks he can stop." "If he can hold off until we catch him, maybe we can help him make it stop." "He almost killed your wife and son." "Hannibal almost killed them." "All right, pedestrian traffic falls off around 7:15." "You should go for a walk, say 8:30 or so." "He'll have to cross open ground to get close." " He'll want to get close." " I've got snipers on the roofs." "You'll be wearing body armour." "Seven out of eleven times, he's gone for the headshot, Jack." "Yeah..." "That's absurd." "That's not what I said at all." "Dr Lecter gave misleading answers in my interviews." "I will refute his refutations in my new book, "Blood And Chocolate"." "Supermarket tabloids love Hannibal Lecter more than alien abductions." "That is his demographic now." "We know who his fans are..." "Would you like a blanket?" "I'll get you a blanket." "Oh, my back hurts." "Oh, my skin." "Oh, did I get burned?" "Did I... did I get burned?" "Hope, dear God, I am not burned." "Burned?" "Burned..." "Burned." "No." "You just rest there." "What am I doing here?" "Atoning, Dr Chilton." "I have not seen your face." "I could not..." "I could not identify you." "I do not know what you look like." "Do you know who I am?" "No." "No." "I do not want to know, believe me." "According to you," "I'm a vicious, perverted, sexual failure." "An animal." "You know now, don't you?" "Yes." "Why did you lie, Dr Chilton?" "Do you understand what I'm doing?" "No." "No!" "But I think I have an opportunity to understand." "Then all my readers could understand, too." "Do you feel privileged?" "It is a privilege." "But I have to tell you, I am scared." "Man to man, I am scared." "And it is... it is very hard to, er... to concentrate when you are scared." "If you have got a great idea, you do not need to scare me for me to be impressed, OK?" ""Man to man."" "You use that phrase to imply frankness." "But you see, I am not a man." "I have become Other and More than a man." "Do you think God is in attendance here?" "Are you praying to him now?" "We pray to God mostly when we are scared." "And does God help you?" "No." "I don't know, I don't know." "I do not know." "I do..." "I do..." "I ought..." "I do not think about it after." " I ought to." " You ought to." "I ought to." "There are so many things that you ought to understand." "And in a little while, I will help you understand." "No, I do not want to see your face!" "When you turn around, you will open your eyes and look at me." "Or I will staple your eyelids to your forehead." "D?" "It's me." "If you make a sound, I will kill her." "I don't like surprises." "I bet you don't, either." "I tried to call you." "May I come in?" "I won't be long." "I asked my taxi to wait." "How are you feeling?" "OK." " Your office said you were sick." " The flu." "You shouldn't be here." "I brought you soup." "I..." "I didn't come just to give you soup, D." "I guess I'm guilty of liking you." "Demonstrably guilty." "And I know you like me, too." "I do." "I've learned that withdrawal can be a strategy to avoid pain." "I have a deep vein of cripple's anger in me." "While I can't get rid of it, I've made it work for me." "It's fuelled my independence." "I'm not so scarred by life that I'm incapable of love." "I hope you aren't, either." "Enjoy the soup." "Do you want to know what I am?" "More than anything." "I was afraid to ask." "Look." " Do you see now?" " Yes." " Do you see?" " Yes." "Do you see?" " Do you see?" " Yes." "Do you see?" "Yes!" "Do you... see?" "Yes!" "Do... you... see?" "God!" "Do you see?" "Please!" "No!" " No what?" " Not me." "Are you going to tell more lies about me, Dr Chilton?" " No, no, no..." " Why did you tell lies, Dr Chilton?" "It was the police who told me to." "They... they said it." "You quote Will Graham." "Graham... told the lies." "Graham!" "Will you tell the truth now about me?" "About my work?" "My Becoming?" "My Art, Dr Chilton?" "Is... this..." "Art?" "Art." "You said that I, who see more than you, am insane." "I, who has pushed the world so much further than you, am insane." "I have dared more than you." "I am the Dragon and you call me insane?" "Before me, you are a slug in the sun." "You are privy to a great Becoming, and you recognise nothing!" "It is in your nature to do one thing correctly, and before me you tremble." "Fear is not what you owe me." "You owe me... awe!" "For your journey home." "Ice." "You will need that." "But before we go," "I think we should tape for a little while." "Look straight down the lens." "Repeat after me." "Dr Chilton, you did very well." "You will let me go now?" "I will." "Although there is one way that I can help you better understand and remember." "I want to understand." "And I've got a very good memory." "Hand delivered." " May I open it privately?" " You may not." "Dr Chilton often offended me, so I certainly understand the sentiment." "Where's the other one?" "This one can provide you anything the other one can." "I'm sorry, Jack." "The tragedy of what's happened to Frederick has put me in an excellent humour." "Dr Chilton disappeared yesterday, under armed escort." "You pretended to burn Freddie Lounds in a wheelchair to flush me out." "What were you pretending to do with Frederick Chilton?" "He profiled the Dragon." "For Freddie Lounds." "We wanted to enrage him." "Congratulations." "You could've provided anything Dr Chilton could." "That would've been your lip I was tasting." "Again." "You publicly discredited Dr Chilton." "By refuting him, you orchestrated his end by proxy." "You orchestrated his end, Alana." "You saw the hole and let him roll right into it." "That's professional discourtesy." "'I have had a great privilege." "'I have seen with wonder and awe 'the strength of the Great Red Dragon." "'All that I said was lies from Will Graham." "'I have blasphemed against the Dragon." "'Even so, the Dragon is merciful." "'Because I was forced to lie, 'he will be more merciful to me than to you, Will Graham." "'Reach behind you and feel 'the small knobs on the top of your pelvis." "'Feel your spine between them." "'That is the precise spot where the Dragon will snap your spine." "'There is much for you to dread." "'From my own lips, you will learn a little more to dread.'" "Would you like to talk about what happened with Frederick Chilton?" "The divine punishment of a sinner mirrors the sin being punished." "Contrapasso." "You play, you pay." "Chilton languished, unrecognised, until "Hannibal the Cannibal."" "He wanted the world to know his face." "And now he doesn't have one." "Damned if I'll feel." "We are all making our way through the Inferno." "Dante's pilgrims." "No, we're not pilgrims." "We are pets." "And the Great Red Dragon kills pets first." "You put your hand on Dr Chilton's shoulder in the photograph." "Touch gives the world an emotional context." "The touch of others makes us who we are." "It builds trust." "I put my hand on his shoulder for authenticity." "To establish that he really told you those insults about the Dragon?" "Or maybe you wanted to put Dr Chilton at risk?" "Just a little?" "I wonder." "Do you have to wonder?" "No." "What did you think the Great Red Dragon would do?" "You were curious what would happen, that's apparent." "Is this what you were expecting?" "I can't say I am surprised." "Then you may as well have struck the match." "That's participation." "Hannibal Lecter does have agency in the world." "He has you." "He's trashed." "He did Chilton like it looked like you did Freddie Lounds." "Hannibal said he would in his own way." "Hannibal told him to." " You OK?" " Yeah, I'm OK." "I had the SWAT team." "Chilton said your name when they brought him into the ER." "He's trashed." "You ought to get ready for this." "Frederick, it's Will Graham." "I'm sorry this happened to you." "Can you understand what he's saying?" "He said..." ""You set me up." "You knew it." ""You put your hand on me in the picture like a pet."" "Did you see anything?" ""A black woman." "She's blind."" ""Reba." The Dragon said her name when he called Lecter." "We're here." "If I untie you and let you sit up, will you be good?" "I didn't know you cared this much about me." "I'm glad you feel that way, but you scared me with this." "I never hurt you." "I never wanted to." "Let's just be friends and have a good time and forget about this..." "Shut up." "I'm going to tell you something." "The most important thing that you will ever hear." ""Sermon-on-the-Mount" important." ""Ten-Commandments" important." "Got it?" " Yes, D. I don't..." " Shut up." "Some remarkable events have happened in Chicago and Buffalo." "Do you know what I'm talking about?" "No." "It's been on the news a lot." "Two groups of people were changed." "Leeds and Jacobi." "The police think that they were murdered." "You know now?" "Do you know what they call the Being that visited those people?" " The Tooth F..." " Think." "Answer correctly." "It's..." "Dragon something." "Dragon..." "Red Dragon." "I am the Dragon." |
Q:
"Uint32", "int16" and the like; are they standard c++?
I'm quite new to c++, but I've got the hang of the fundamentals. I've come across the use of "Uint32" (in various capitalizations) and similar data types when reading other's code, but I can't find any documentation mentioning them. I understand that "Uint32" is an unsigned int with 32 bits, but my compiler doesn't. I'm using visual c++ express, and it doesn't recognize any form of it from what I can tell.
Is there some compilers that reads those data types by default, or have these programmers declared them themselves as classes or #define constants?
I can see a point in using them to know exactly how long your integer will be, since the normal declaration seems to vary depending on the system. Is there any other pros or cons using them?
A:
Unix platforms define these types in stdint.h, this is the preferred method of ensuring type sizing when writing portable code.
Microsoft's platforms do not define this header, which is a problem when going cross-platform. If you're not using Boost Integer Library already, I recommend getting Paul Hsieh's portable stdint.h implementation of this header for use on Microsoft platforms.
Update: Visual Studio 2010 and later do define this header.
A:
The C99 header file stdint.h defines typedefs of this nature of the form uint32_t. As far as I know, standard C++ doesn't provide a cstdint version of this with the symbols in namespace std, but some compilers may, and you will typically be able to include the C99 header from C++ code anyways. The next version of C++ will provide the cstdint header.
You will often see code from other people who use non-standard forms of this theme, such as Uint32_t or Uint32 or uint32 etc. They typically just provide a single header that defines these types within the project. Probably this code was originally developed a long time ago, and they never bothered to sed replace the definitions out when C99 compilers became common.
A:
Visual c++ doesn't support the fixed-width integer types, because it doesn't include support for C99. Check out the answers to my question on this subject for various options you have for using them.
|
Share The EU's farming subsidies are illiberal, hypocritical and protectionist
The EU's farming subsidies are illiberal, hypocritical and protectionist Farming makes up 6% of EU's GDP, but receives nearly 40% of the entire EU budget
Farming makes up 6% of EU's GDP, but receives nearly 40% of the entire EU budget The CAP subsidises FTSE 250 corporations like Tate&Lyle at the expense of smaller farms
With the support of the Atlas Network, CapX is publishing a new series of essays on the theme of Illiberalism in Europe, looking at the different threats to liberal economies and societies across the continent, from populism to protectionism and corruption.
Richard Findlay is a farmer in the North York Moors National Park between York and Newcastle. As the Financial Times reported last year, Mr Findlay garners a profit of around £12,000 a year by grazing some seven hundred sheep. But even that £12,000 is quite a lot if one looks closer. Indeed, if it weren’t for subsidies delivered by the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), Mr Findlay would be facing a loss of £32,000. Simply put, this farm would not exist if it were not for Brussels.
But Mr Findlay is far from the only farmer keeping his business alive through subsidies – the same thing is happening all over Europe. In the UK, 61% of the average farm’s profit comes from the EU’s direct payment scheme. On farms specialising in livestock farming, more than 90% of what is called ‘profit’ comes from subsidies.
The Common Agricultural Policy has been one of the most controversial parts of the EU’s work for decades – and it has certainly been a bugbear for many Brexiteers, who have long argued that it symbolises everything wrong with the way the bloc works.
When it was established in 1962 the original purpose of CAP was to secure that there was enough food for Europeans on a continent that was still wrought from war – or, in more technical terms, to achieve “food sovereignty”. And yet, as Europe became a continent of peace and trade with the world increased, the arguments for food sovereignty began to look a bit thin. Nonetheless, CAP was going nowhere. Not only did it stay in place, it actually expanded. By the 1980s, CAP accounted for over two-thirds of the entire EU budget.
While the share of the overall budget has since gone down – to 38% under the current six-year budget – it is still the largest financial program of the union. In addition, despite having decreased in relative terms, CAP payments still increased in absolute numbers until 2013.
At 38% of the budget, European taxpayers send more than €58bn to farmers each year – a shocking amount if one considers that farmers only make up 3% of the EU’s total population and are responsible for no more than 6% of its GDP.
Indeed, while the original goal of CAP was to enable farmers to feed Europe after decades of conflict, now it’s Europe that is feeding farmers through its massive subsidies. Their businesses often only survive because they are effectively bailed out – unlike big financial institutions, these are not one-off bailouts, but day in, day out.
If all of this sounds like protectionism and an illiberal economic policy it’s because that’s exactly what it is. That much was also clear from the strongly expressed opposition to a recent free trade agreement with Latin American countries from French President Emmanuel Macron and his colleagues from Ireland, Belgium, and Poland – all countries where farmers are profiting much from CAP. Politicians across Europe are fond of telling us that farmers need “protection” from the scourge of cheap imports, as if consumers’ interest in cheaper food were of no consequence at all.
And it’s worth looking at just how high the costs to consumers is. Even Oxfam, not exactly famed for its opposition to government spending, calculated in 2006 that a British household had to pay an additional £832 a year for food because of CAP (it should be noted that another study for eastern and southern European countries that just entered the EU found a smaller inflationary effect on consumer prices). Most hit are, of course, low-income households, where higher prices on day-to-day goods have the greatest effect on their overall means.
Worse still, Brussels’ protectionism seems to explicitly favour big business over small and medium-sized farmers. The Heinrich-Böll Foundation, a think tank associated with the German Green Party, found that between 2003 and 2013, over 25% of farms in Europe went out of business. And indeed, it is mostly small farms that vanish, while bigger corporations get even bigger.
The figures certainly bear this out – more than 30% of the direct payments go to only 2% of recipients and 80% go to 20% of farm businesses. These are not even necessarily farmers, but include companies like Tate & Lyle, the British food and beverage supplier. You might not expect a company that is included in the FTSE 250 and had £2.7 billion of revenue last year to be in need of government help. Still, according to Farm Subsidy, they have received €896.2 million since 1999.
They are not the only ones. Nestle has received €625.9 million, the German sugar producer Südzucker has trousered €77.3 million despite taking in €7.7 billion of revenue, and the French producer of sugar, starch, and bioethanol, Tereos, despite revenues of €3.6 billion, was eligible for €355.8 million.
Perhaps even more surprising, Queen Elizabeth II’s country retreat in Norfolk, the Sandringham Estate, has received £700,000 annually, the Windsor Castle £300,000, and Prince Charles £100,000 thanks to CAP. Indeed, the Royals get about £1m a year in CAP subsidies. Is this really what the EU was designed for, to redistribute money from taxpayers to big companies and aristocrats?
But it gets worse. As has been well-documented, subsidising farms that would otherwise have gone out of business inevitably leads to oversupply. In the early stages of CAP this was perfectly depicted by the infamous “butter mountains,” where much more butter was produced than was actually needed.
Today the butter mountains have been replaced by less visible byproducts of overproduction. Excess European farm products, from milk to wheat, is sold to African countries for an extremely low price made possible by the subsidies. The prices are often so low that they make it impossible for African farmers to compete, driving those very farmers out of business and destroying their already meagre incomes.
A German documentary details how the perverse incentive structure works in the case of Senegal: local farmers are unable to compete with wheat imported from Germany – the local products are often three times as expensive as the imported goods. That is partly because African farmers have been unable yet to increase productivity to similar levels as in Europe, but also because German companies are able to sell their goods at low prices because of subsidies.
In one case, a Senegalese farmer had just found a new way to raise productivity significantly – and, ironically, his work on the innovative project was financed by foreign aid from the EU. Even with improved productivity, however, he was unable to find buyers for his goods, because they were still twice as expensive as the subsidised European equivalent. As the documentary correctly explains, “it’s absurd that the EU is sponsoring local produce on the one hand, but preventing it on the other through its own trade policy”. It’s no surprise that the EU has come in for criticism for this policy.
Of course, Europe is not alone in experiencing problems created by its own government-sponsored programs. In the 1980s, New Zealand, which was largely dependent on its agricultural exports, had a farm industry in which 40% of incomes came from subsidies. Overproduction happened there too – in one year, some six million lambs were rendered down because no one wanted them.
As well as overproduction, New Zealand’s heavily subsidised farmers also sparked outrage among their international competitors, who threatened to respond by imposing tariffs. The response of the then Labour government was radical: in 1984 it decided to cut all farm subsidies – yes, in their entirety. Unsurprisingly, farmers were up in arms and had to endure economic hardship in the years that followed – prices that had been kept artificially high thanks to subsidies quickly fell, as did the value of farmers’ land.
But after a while farmers adjusted. Now fully in charge of their own farming practices, they responded to the new-found self-responsibility and freedom. They used fewer pesticides and less water, meaning that ending subsidies was actually a boon to New Zealand’s environment.
What’s more, the farming sector started to diversify. Though defenders of CAP sometimes claim it supports an impressive breadth of products, New Zealand shows that niche areas can thrive without government intervention. Under the subsidy regime, New Zealand produced 35 products based on milk, today there are 2,200. The country’s wine industry has also gone from strength to strength.
Meanwhile, the incentives provided by an unfettered market have seen significant gains in productivity. Nor did the farms that previously relied on subsidies suddenly fail. In fact only 1% of farms actually went out of business in the years after the subsidies were cut off.
Writing back in 2002, the then head of New Zealand’s Federated Farmers, Tony St Clair, made the point clearly. Arguing for the EU to scrap the CAP, St Clair said that, far from destroying New Zealand’s farms, removing subsidies had “transformed the country’s agricultural sector into a world leader”.
Of course, the success of one country with a certain policy does not mean that the same policy will work anywhere else in the world – Europe and New Zealand are very different places. Nonetheless, a major rethink of the EU’s agricultural system is dearly needed, even though it will be a long way to go to make actual changes.
After all, while some of the dire consequences of CAP are well known, very little has been done to actually reform the system. This is not overly surprising if one considers that in the European Parliament, most members of the agricultural committee have ties to the industry.
As The Guardian reported last year. Europe’s farm lobby is one of the strongest and most cohesive forces in the political arena of the continent and any opposition, any questioning of CAP, will be met with fierce and comprehensive counter-attacks. One such example has been the outcry following the European Commission’s proposal to cut the CAP budget by 5% in the next long-term EU budget and to put a cap on subsidies for recipients – it is not clear yet what the result of this battle will be.
And yet, this is the time – and this is one of the issues where one should – courageously step up and argue for a fundamental rethink of a cronyist system that is long past its time (if there was ever a time for it). The Common Agricultural Policy hurts consumers and taxpayers; it puts small farmers in complete dependence of government welfare as they still lose out against their dominant competitors, who themselves are propped up even more by receiving hundreds of millions from their fellow citizens; it hurts farmers in developing countries who are unable to compete with subsidized goods that are dumped on their countries; and, indeed, it has led to the EU’s agricultural policy to take a life of its own which is in many regards inimical to liberal democratic principles.
The market would prove a way out of this disaster. It is high-time to get rid of what is surely the worst policy of all by the European Union.
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Kai Weiss is a Research and Outreach Officer at the Austrian Economics Center and a board member at the Hayek Institute
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Merry Christmas everyone! We know you haven't heard from us for a while (ok for a long time ) but it was for good reason!
Development has been going strong for several months with some new members joining and others digging even deeper in PCSX2 issues ironing them out. People who have been following our github already know how many hacks have been removed (yes, removed ) lately, with the DX11 renderer of GSdx quickly catching up to OpenGL accuracy levels thanks to several contributors. This large boost in progress was incited by gregory helping out the newcomers with his in-depth knowledge of GSdx, in between his baby's sleep sessions, so he deserves a big thank you from all of us. The core has also been improved, while several big PRs are also close to merging, making this an exciting time for PCSX2!
Thanks to the new (and old) guys giving their time and skills to breathe some life to PCSX2 and to everyone who still believe in us and appreciate this project! Have a nice one and keep playing! |
President Barack Obama’s Keystone veto threat Tuesday was the opening gambit in his fight with the new Republican majorities in Congress looking to derail his post-midterm momentum.
Worried White House aides spent the last few weeks working behind the scenes to make sure they had the votes to sustain a veto, rounding up enough Democrats willing to stand behind their lame-duck president and prevent him from being humiliated by an override.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest’s waiting only for the initial text of the bill approving the massive oil pipeline reflected confidence that they’d won this round.
A veto would come with political complications for Obama. Republicans are already pointing to the threat as more evidence of their narrative that he’s a dictatorial president who refuses to listen, even on an issue that has enormous support in public opinion polls. Supportive Democrats, though, say they’re eager to see the president dig in and concentrate more on fighting than compromising.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) setting Keystone as the first order of business for the new session, with fast passage through the House expected Friday, was part of a GOP attempt to undercut Obama quickly, and devastatingly, even before he got to his State of the Union address: He’d either have to concede on approving a project he has resisted and his base hates, or kick off his promised era of bipartisan cooperation with what would be only his third veto ever.
Without Senate Democrats in place to block bills from getting to the president’s desk, vetoes are expected to be a major element of the next two years on issues from Obamacare to environmental regulations to new Iran sanctions.
Tuesday’s action doesn’t mean Keystone won’t eventually be approved, perhaps in another form, or as part of a larger deal. But already, Earnest was hinting at a back-up plan that could keep construction from starting while Obama’s in office: A Nebraska court is still deliberating on the final proposed route for the pipeline, and Earnest said Tuesday that the State Department review process, already used to delay construction, could begin anew then.
For now, though, the GOP Keystone gambit appears to have failed — though Senate Democrats admit they’re not done counting votes, especially with amendments pending.
“We have not whipped, and I can’t say with any certainty until we do,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who’s doing double duty as whip and acting minority leader while Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) recuperates from injuries sustained while exercising at home last week.
Republicans, though, think they’ll benefit from the veto threat alone, given the issue’s popularity according to opinion polls.
The threat “must come as a shock to the American people who spoke loudly in November in favor of bipartisan accomplishments,” McConnell said in a statement Tuesday afternoon, while House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Obama is siding with “fringe extremists” in the party.
But GOP leaders finished Tuesday bearish on their chances.
“I wouldn’t think we’d get 67 votes to pass this. And it’s hard to imagine you’d have people vote to override the veto that didn’t vote for the bill originally,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of Senate leadership. “It may be an example that in the president’s view, his extreme environmental supporters are more important to him than his labor supporters.”
Go ahead and pass Keystone, Democratic consultant Steve Murphy warned Republicans, and go ahead and try to override a veto. Obama will look the better for it.
“He’s being decisive and that’s what voters want to see from him,” Murphy said. “They should pay attention to the law of unintended consequences. It’s going to show him strongly standing up for something where he disagrees with the majority in Congress.”
“It’s important to take a stand,” said Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) of Obama’s decision to come out against the pipeline. “It’s always better to come out early and signal where you are because then it lets everybody know exactly what’s going to happen. If you wait too long, people get committed.”
Obama and his aides are relying on math based on what happened when an identical bill went before Congress last year, but senators and aides said they don’t believe Democrats are inclined to shift.
There appears little chance that 13 Senate Democrats will join with the 54-member Republican caucus to override an expected presidential veto. Fourteen Democratic senators supported approval of the pipeline in November when the political argument was the strongest: Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) was desperate to show her congressional clout to save her reelection campaign.
She and four other Keystone-supporting Democrats are gone, leaving just nine supporters of Keystone in the Democratic caucus. Along with the 54 Republicans, that’s four short of a veto override unless a number of Democrats have a surprise change of heart.
In the House, 40 Democrats would have to back a historic Republican majority to override a veto. Thirty-one Democrats supported the pipeline last fall, including several retired or defeated moderate Democrats like Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, John Barrow of Georgia and Jim Matheson of Utah.
That means Republicans and the White House would have to battle over a handful of centrist Democrats in both chambers if it came down to a veto fight. For now, Democrats are confident they can hold the line.
“There’s support to sustain the veto,” said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). “I believe in the House or Senate — or both — that we would trip it up.”
Many potential changes being discussed in the Senate could upend previous whip counts.
In a letter sent to fellow Senate Democrats over the weekend, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) wrote of forcing the GOP into taking positions on Democratic proposals that they believe could hurt Republicans politically. Schumer’s now the point man on Democratic amendments to the Keystone bill that he argues will truly make it a jobs bill — requiring the pipeline to be built with American steel, banning the export of the oil outside the U.S., enacting investment in solar power, prevent states from allowing foreign companies to seize land via eminent domain and boosting spending on energy programs for low-income people.
If any of Schumer’s amendments — which Republicans do not believe will be approved — were attached to the bill, GOP support could decrease. Alternatively, if Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) are able to attach their bipartisan energy efficiency legislation, Keystone’s bipartisan credibility would surge, complicating both an Obama veto and Democratic support for sustaining one.
Stabenow expressed confidence Tuesday in Democrats’ ability to sustain a veto, but added a caveat: “If suddenly they wanted to do a totally different energy package, that’s the only caveat. If we were talking about long-term clean energy tax credits and things that actually really did create long-term jobs, that would be different.”
Earnest and other Democrats used the still-falling price of oil to justify the president’s continued opposition to Keystone, leading to Republican charges of politically motivated shortsightedness.
“What goes up must come down, and vice versa,” said North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, quoting the band Blood, Sweat and Tears as he walked out of an Oval Office meeting with Obama. “That’s what’s going to happen with oil. It’s not if, but when.” |
Bus Accident Injures Ten
Ten people were taken to local hospitals after an MTA bus driver swerved to avoid hitting a child and crashed into a fence in Edgemere on Sunday evening. Sources say that the youngster darted in front of the bus at Beach 44 Street and Beach Channel Drive at about 7:30 p.m. An MTA spokesperson told The Wave that the drive veered away from the boy, who had stepped off the curb in the middle of the block. The injuries were reportedly minor and all of the passengers who had minor injuries were treated and released, as was the unidentified driver of the bus. Photo by Benjamin Franklin. |
Difficult Times for the Command Post
ROCKFORD (WIFR) -- It's a local landmark filled with history, but as you told us on Facebook, it's looking for support from the community.
A smile and a hug, they're not things you usually get when you sit down for a meal, but at Rockford’s Command Post restaurant, it's the norm.
"Their spirit and how they are with the customers you can see it when you walk in the door, you feel welcome you feel at ease and comfortable being here,” said customer Delgracia York.
That's what's kept the Yorks coming in for the last decade, that and the history. Yolanda Weisensel opened the restaurant with her husband 16 years ago, in one of the former Camp Grant facilities, built during World War I and rebuilt during World War II.
One of the more interesting things here is a Thanksgiving napkin from Camp Grant's first Thanksgiving in 1917. It actually belonged to a veteran whose grandson sent in the picture after hearing about this museum on the internet."
Weisensel is now relying more heavily on donations, so this local landmark isn't lost.
"The economy has always done a lot of drastic change in our business, people don't know we're here,” Weisensel said.
Weisensel doesn't keep a profit. All the extra money goes back into the museum.
"It's just gotten to the point where I can't do it anymore so hopefully we can keep it open because it'd break my heart if I had to close it, said Weisensel.
Weisensel says she would like to see more veterans come in and anyone is welcome to stop by and take a tour. She says if you have a big group just call a head. She is now asking for a small donation of $3-$5.
The Command Post is located on Samuelson Road, between 11th Street and Falcon Road, near the airport. They're open from 7 a-m to 2 p-m Tuesday thru Saturday. Our thanks to John D. and Casey J. for suggesting the idea on the Pulse.
Online Public Information File
Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or fccinfo@fcc.gov. |
The drive system for a rotating apparatus (such as a centrifuge instrument) typically includes a shaft attached at one end to a motive force (e. g., an electric motor). The shaft supports a load somewhere along its length. One inherent property of such a drive system is load imbalance. Even a very small imbalance in the otherwise symmetrical mass distribution about the drive shaft can cause damaging vibrations. The magnitude of the imbalance places a load on the bearings.
This problem can be addressed by providing a degree of flexibility to the drive shaft. However, as this rotating apparatus accelerates to its operating speed the system passes through several critical speeds. A thin, elongate shaft rotating about its longitudinal axis possesses certain natural frequencies of vibration that become apparent at these critical speeds. Passage through a critical speed thus causes the drive system to vibrate, which in turn magnifies the load imposed on the bearings. This increase in load can significantly reduce the life of the bearing. In the example of a centrifuge instrument the vibration may also have a detrimental effect on the sample that is being processed within the rotor of the instrument.
Several methods have been proposed in the art to solve the problem of vibration generated during passage of a drive system of a rotating apparatus through a critical rotational speed. One solution is to attempt to damp the vibrations imposed on the system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,341 (Giebeler) is an example of a rotating system for use in a centrifuge instrument that restricts the deflection of the shaft, thus damping vibration.
Another solution, exemplified by the arrangement disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,426 (Meinke et al.), is to alter the physical properties of the drive system in a speed-dependent fashion. As a result, for a first portion of the speed regime of the apparatus, the stiffness of the system is such that the critical speed lies well beyond a predetermined speed threshold. However, once the speed threshold is crossed the stiffness of the system is dynamically altered such that the critical speed of the modified drive lies at a speed that is well below the predetermined threshold. Thus, as the apparatus accelerates through its fill speed regime to its operating speed the critical speeds associated with both the original and the modified drives are avoided. In an arrangement as shown in the Meinke et al. patent, springs, dampers and/or masses are actively coupled and uncoupled in response to the changes in the deflection of the shaft. This coupling and uncoupling has the effect of altering the critical rotational speeds.
Implementation of either of the above-described expedients usually requires a complex mechanism to effect the interaction between rotating and non-rotating parts of the drive system. In either case, technical difficulties can result. Therefore, in view of the foregoing it is believed advantageous to provide an arrangement of the type which dynamically alters the stiffness of the drive system, yet which does so without undue mechanical complexity. |
If you wish to have your item posted outside the USA eg EU, New Zealand, or other countries, please visit our Etsy Store, where you will find details of standard shipping charges to various countries, plus an option to contact us for additional shipping options, if not listed.
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From time to time customers have requested a bespoke cushion, maybe a larger version, or not so long, or maybe wider than our current cushion range and/or a customised cushion for a specific part of the body.
We are interested to receive your enquiries for a cushion to meet your specific requirements and look forward to hearing from you.
Please complete the form on our contact page and we will get back to you with more information.
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To order direct from our Etsy Store just click on the image of the item you want to purchase. |
Q:
Running regrex_replace on Variable in Hive
I am changing a date string in hive from 2017-02-21T11:28:36 to 2017-02-21 11:28:36 using the following command.
SELECT regexp_replace('2017-02-21T11:28:36', 'T', " ");
Output is coming correctly as 2017-02-21 11:28:36. Now my input date string is stored in READ_START_DATE variable.
hive>SET READ_START_DATE;
READ_START_DATE=2017-02-21T11:28:36
Now I am running This command
SELECT regexp_replace('${READ_START_DATE}', 'T', " ");
Output of this command is ${READ_S AR _DA E}
It make sense, but I need to run regrex_replace command on a variable. How can I do that ?
A:
${hiveconf:READ_START_DATE}
LanguageManual VariableSubstitution
hive> set READ_START_DATE=2017-02-21T11:28:36;
hive> select regexp_replace('${hiveconf:READ_START_DATE}', 'T', " ");
OK
_c0
2017-02-21 11:28:36
|
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!--
~ Copyright 2017-2020 Crown Copyright
~
~ 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.
-->
<web-app
metadata-complete="false"
version="3.1">
<display-name>Basic Demo Rest Api</display-name>
<!-- Copied from Gaffer rest api web.xml-->
<listener>
<listener-class>uk.gov.gchq.gaffer.rest.ServletLifecycleListener</listener-class>
</listener>
<servlet>
<servlet-name>Gaffer REST example v1</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer
</servlet-class>
<init-param>
<param-name>javax.ws.rs.Application</param-name>
<param-value>
uk.gov.gchq.gaffer.rest.application.ApplicationConfigV1
</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param>
<param-name>swagger.scanner.id</param-name>
<param-value>v1</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param>
<param-name>swagger.config.id</param-name>
<param-value>v1</param-value>
</init-param>
<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
<async-supported>true</async-supported>
</servlet>
<servlet>
<servlet-name>Gaffer REST example v2</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer
</servlet-class>
<init-param>
<param-name>javax.ws.rs.Application</param-name>
<param-value>
uk.gov.gchq.gaffer.rest.application.ApplicationConfigV2
</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param>
<param-name>swagger.scanner.id</param-name>
<param-value>v2</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param>
<param-name>swagger.config.id</param-name>
<param-value>v2</param-value>
</init-param>
<load-on-startup>2</load-on-startup>
<async-supported>true</async-supported>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>Gaffer REST example v1</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/v1/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>Gaffer REST example v2</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/v2/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>Gaffer REST example v2</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/latest/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
<filter>
<filter-name>OriginFilter</filter-name>
<filter-class>uk.gov.gchq.gaffer.rest.filter.OriginFilter</filter-class>
<async-supported>true</async-supported>
</filter>
<filter-mapping>
<filter-name>OriginFilter</filter-name>
<url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>
</web-app>
|
Amanda Love “The Barefoot Cook”
Amanda Love's Cooking
Delicious, Healthy Seasonal Recipes from the
"The Barefoot Cook"
Cleansing Spring Soup-Salad
This is one of my favorite things to make when I feel the need to eat lighter and cleanse. It is not only delicious, but also easy to digest. You will basically be putting your salad in the blender and blending it up till smooth and then drinking as if you were drinking a soup. I normally eat it cold, but you could also add hot liquid to make it hot or warm it up in a pan for a few minutes.
The idea is to get lots of enzymes and veggies in your system in an easy to digest way. Salads traditionally take a long time to eat - all that chewing and crunching. A soup salad can be eaten much quicker and you can eat twice the amount as a regular salad, but in one sitting!
Spring is the ideal time to cleanse after the heavy, cold winter (not that we get much of a winter around these parts). But still, we tend to stay indoors more, not be as active and maybe eat a little heavier. This recipe will help shed those extra few pounds if eaten regularly and will also give you the extra benefit of giving you tons of energy! If you plan on doing a cleanse, this would be a great thing to incorporate into your cleanse as it will fill you up, but also cleanse your body at the same time.
Ingredients:
1 head of lettuce or 1 bunch of spinach or any other fresh greens of choice (winter greens don’t really make the best tasting soup salad)
1 carrot – cut into large chunks
1 celery rib – cut into large chunks
½ - 1 avocado
1 tomato – cut into chunks
½ cucumber
2-3 scallions – chopped into large chunks
1-2 Tablespoons organic, cold pressed, extra virgin Olive Oil
1-2 Tablespoons Umeboshi Plum Vinegar (or vinegar of choice)
1 Tablespoon Cumin
1 Tablespoon Coriander
¼ teaspoon cayeene (optional)
Dash of salt and pepper
1 clove of garlic (optional)
2-4 cups of water or veggie or chicken broth
½ - 1 cup yogurt or kefir (optional)
Instructions:
Simply place all ingredients in blender. It works a little better if you place the larger items in first and then the greens. Add water or broth, spices, oil and vinegar and blend. Adjust seasonings and blend till smooth and creamy. My soup salads always taste different depending on the veggies and spices I use. This is delicious eaten alone or with other dishes. Enjoy! |
Tagged
Was heading back from Freestyles and got the mad late night munchies mixing session. Headed to the studio to feed the craving. Little bit of house, nu disco, funk, progressive, struttin, and electro all rolled into one eatible package. Poured some Sriracha on it and polished it off in one sitting. |
Interest Rates and Financial Tips You Can Use When They Rise
Interest rates may have reached its end for US and Canada. Alongside is an imminent end of the bull market bond after 33 years in the economy.
A familiar pattern can be highly useful when joining the game of stocks: interest rates drop, bonds rise, and leads to the creation of a bull market. Lately, we’ve been seeing drops in bond prices, and rises in yields. These events are hints of the start of a bear market for bonds, and the rotation of soaring interest rates.
The cycle’s turnaround is a crucial and a significant event for individuals involved in the markets. Reversal of interest rate trends only happens three times in each person’s lifetime. Thus, it’s important to prepare for such events. Taking notes and creating strategies are the best moves one can take to be able to save their self from possible negative effects. Being cautious and aware of the situation can also help your business and portfolio to benefit from this trend.
Circumstances following the 2008 financial crisis led to a S&P 500 drop. After the crisis, banks all over the world have been printing money and have been following an “easy money” policy with the most minimal fear of inflation. On the other hand, while US and Europe undergo an anemic economic recovery rates, the Federal Reserve Board’s Open Market Committee (FOMC) showed hints indicating a start of reducing the quantitative easing (QE) program, which threatened North American equity markets. These events caused a 4.8% drop for the S&P 500 in just four days; the worst ever over a span of 20 months.
The Fed’s announcement was released last year in September. However, no tapering activities have begun just yet. Many believe it’s just a matter of time before the tapering starts.
Although, markets are anxious about the end of the Fed’s easy money policy and bond buying program, it’s true that a better economy will emerge once these changes occur. It’s good news; an economy that doesn’t rely on life support means a stronger economy, and for stock markets, it means improved profitability for businesses.
A safe, steady market may sound enticing. For years, we have been accustomed to this type of economy that provides stable and low interest rates. For instance, Canada has the same rates since September 8, 2010. While US rates haven’t shifted since December 16, 2008.
Recently, an upturn in bond yields had turn apparent. After 10 years, when the U.S. Treasury bond yields dropped to 1.43% last year, it resulted in a 2.98% yield rise on September 5, 2013. It’s the highest surge since early 2011. Many financial experts believe that once the 10-year yield rises to more than 3%, it will be the start of the trend reversal.
Together with the recovering global economies, these are clear signs that short-term interest rates will rise, too.
Therefore, instead of wasting time being afraid of the upcoming reversal trend, what we need to do is prepare for this change. We can profit from this reversal through careful planning.
The rise of interest rates will bring impact to your investment portfolio, real estate market and corporate profitability. Placing fitting strategies for each of these areas will be anyone’s best tool to adapt and gain profits from the cycle turn.
Interest Rates & Your Investment Portfolio
Reversal in trends would initially bring negative effects to markets. Rising interest rates may be taken as bearish signals for stocks. However, markets typically recover in just a few months, and returns could even improve because of better corporate profitability.
In 2007-2008, a bullish signal took place, which may happen again in the coming days. In 2009, a widening yield curve emerged, which can also be one of the bullish signals for stocks and the economy at this point. In September 20, 2013, the gap between US 2-year and 10-year Treasury yields expanded to 2.41%, or 241 basis points, which could be similar to a rising yield curve at 121 basis points last year.
We could be wrong, of course. The steeping yield curve last year could be short-lived, and can change when short term interests arise. But if the snowballing of yield rise end exceeds the short end rise, the growing yield curve may stay intact.
In 1897 and 1942, when rates reached a bottom after a long secular drop, it created a secular bull market in the stock market.
During 1897, interest rates reached a bottom after a 30-year drop. During the same time, a cycle of rising rates took place which clashed with the start of a secular bull market on Wall Street. These events lasted until the 1929 market crash, and the beginning of the Great Depression. All this happened again in 1942.
The change in the cycles requires you to have new strategies for your portfolio. You may hold on to short term maturities, and move to your GICs and bonds as they mature. This will allow you to invest the maturities at higher interest rates as they build up. Keeping the maturities short term will also help you avoid capital bond losses, which is quite inevitable in an environment with rising rates. The longer you keep maturity bonds, the higher the capital loss because of heightening rates.
Interest Rates & Real Estate Market
The real estate market tends to suffer from negative consequences when interest rates rise. When interest rates go up, mortgages become less affordable, causing a cool down on the activities of the housing sector, which eventually leads to decrease in prices.
Although, there have been a buying spree in the real estate market when buyers wanted to assure their mortgage rates before further rate increases occur, it may end shortly when a consistent rising trend starts. Activities in the mortgage and real estate market may begin to cool down as a result.
Since 1996, the real estate market has experienced a bull run, which is longer the most of the previous bull runs in the US. Therefore, this is the best time to reconsider your real estate holdings, and begin gaining profits from properties that have good appreciation. You may also want to assure your mortgage rates at the on-going low rates before the trend reversal heats up.
This is also the time to reduce mortgage debts because higher interest rates mean higher costs. During a trend reversal, real estate rates go lower, which means it’s not the best time to sell properties. You must be sure that you can afford mortgage rates even if rates rise above 3 to 4% and higher than their current rates. According to cbj.ca, “While the interest rate rises in store may be more muted, rates did rise 4.25% from June 30, 2004 to August 17, 2007 and they rose 3% from February 4, 1994 to July 6, 1995.”
Interest Rates & Corporate Profitability
A better economy means a better environment for businesses. It also means consumer spending rises, as well as abundance in businesses’ capital spending. These are good news for corporate profitability.
One side effect of an improving economy is rising interest rates. When rates go up, financing costs rise, where corporations with high debts suffer due to bigger financing costs. The time that bond yields rise, corporations will have to offer higher rates on their bonds to attract more investors – a painful event for corporations.
The best move is to reduce corporate debts that will help you prepare for a new environment with high rates. If you are planning to start a new venture, the earlier you kick off and the longer guarantees you have for your financing rates, it may allow you to have a more secured, lower rates for financing.
On a positive note, it’s a good step to have new ventures in a growing environment. It could be more profitable as it can make up for higher borrowing costs.
Study the changes that happened in the history of interest rate trends, and make modifications based from it. Use them for your business, investment and real estate portfolio. Eventually, the changes will pay dividends in the long run.
Interest Rates and Financial Tips You Can Use When They Rise was last modified: May 14th, 2018 by ferasantoonreports |
An aerial view of the Atibainha dam, part of the Cantareira reservoir, one of the main water reservoirs that supply the State of São Paulo. The water level there is at 6% of its total capacity as Brazil experiences its worst drought in 80 years |
Cucumber Lime Gin and Tonics
This weekend I had a party with close friends. One of those parties you have right before you get married. I hate the traditional name for it, so let’s just call it a b-party. A weekend-long extravaganza. Good food, good friends, and probably most importantly, good drinks.
I had one rule for this party. Ok, maybe a couple. No pen*ses, no sashes, no tiaras, no tutu skirts, no tacky, cliche, “traditional” things that people are “supposed” to do at these parties. Ok, forget the no pen*s thing…
Trust me, we were pure class. We had a Bottles & Brushes party. With a live model. A male model. A naked male model. And a BarcaLounger.
Let me tell you – you can’t have a room full of giggly girls with a naked man in the room without cocktails. The cocktails were important. They were essential. Practically mandatory.
I made two – the cucumber lime gin and tonics that are the title of this post, and a watermelon vodka spritzer that was a serious hit. Unfortunately, after too many gin and tonics, I forgot to photograph the watermelon spritzer. They were both perfect for the hot summer day – and the naked man lounging in the BarcaLounger (yes, he enjoyed a cocktail before he dropped his pants).
In a pitcher, squeeze the limes and combine with the cucumbers. Keep the leftover lime in the pitcher and combine with gin and tonic.
Watermelon Vodka Spritzer
juice of a seedless watermelon
5-6 mint leaves
2-3 limes
1 lemon
2-3 cups good quality vodka
2 cups soda water or tonic, if you prefer it a little sweeter
Juice the watermelon using a juicer, or by blending and straining out the pulpy chunks. In a pitcher, muddle the mint leaves in the juice of the lemons and limes. Pour in the juice, vodka, and soda or tonic. Stir to combine. |
The Fast Sword
The Fast Sword () is a 1971 Hong Kong action film directed by Huang Feng. The film stars Chang Yi and Wong Chung Shun.
The film was shown in France and Germany.
Plot
Chang Yi and his sister, Hon Seung Kam, live on their farm with their blind mother Wang Li. Their father was murdered by Wong Tung Shung. Seeking revenge when he learns his father's killer has returned, he finds himself arrested at attempting to avenge his father's death. Informing the officer who arrested him they join forces and finally bring the evil warlord to justice in an expensive fruit battle.
Cast
Chang Yi
Hon Seung Kam
Sammo Hung
Shih Chun
Wong Chung Shun
Miu Tin
Yee Yuen
Wang Lai
Lui Jun
Lee Ka Ting
External links
The Fast Sword at HKcinemamagic.com
Category:1971 films
Category:Hong Kong films
Category:1970s action films
Category:Mandarin-language films |
[Changes of infrared spectra for amino acids induced by low energy ions].
Low energy ions have been generated from implanter and gas arc discharge at normal pressure, and impacted on amino acids in solid state and in aqueous solution. The induced changes of infrared spectra have been investigated. It showed that ions generated by these two means have the same or similar damage effects, such as rearrangement of damaged molecules and deposition of external ions, and the damage effects are especially remarkable and various when ions attack molecules in solution. |
“The overall look of it might change a little bit,” Rodgers said Tuesday during his weekly radio show. “It might not be as flashy as some fans might expect or want. But there’s one very, very important stat to me, and that’s winning. There’s no substitute for it, and it might be ugly at times.”
Fine. As long as the Packers keep winning. So far, guys have stepped up to replace injured counterparts and that’s obviously going to have to keep happening. Rodgers seems to be remaining pretty cool about the whole situation, though.
“We’re going to be short-handed in some spots, but I like the way it’s shaping it up, I really do,” Rodgers said. “I feel like this is a team that has a chance to do some special things. We’re flying under the radar a little bit. We’re dealing with a lot of adversity with injuries. We’ve seen some guys go down with some significant injuries who are going to miss multiple weeks or even the season, and guys are stepping up and playing well.”
Maybe.
It happened in 2010. Rodgers didn’t have his best season then and neither did the Packers offense. Plus, they had a lot of injuries to key players.
They got really hot at just the right time, though. We can draw all the comparisons we want to that team, but the Packers have only played five games.
What’s for certain, is this team is young and it’s going to get better as the year goes on. And yeah, it might not look very pretty for a while.
Trying to be flashy lost us the Superbowl against Denver in 97-98. Being flashy in the regular season lost us the divisional playoff game in 11-12. Stick your hand in the mud, lay the ears back, and kill…however you can. ”We will accept nothing less than full victory” – General Dwight D Eisenhower
Too early to crown Capers. We shall see throughout the season. To be honest, for me, I will not get back onto the Capers bandwagon until our defense helps us win a playoff game. Do you not think that is fair?
Lacy is the man. I think im going to get a Lacy Jersey this weekend. I have waited so long to have a RB to root for that wasnt some castoff or some late rounder we were hoping to turn into a star.
If we can run the ball, and I think we can, we have a shot to stay in this thing until we get healthy. |
Arsenal FC, the Southern California team that produced U.S. national team captain Carlos Bocanegra, cleaned up in the 2008 CSL Premier League, winning two boys and one girls championship. The boys won the U-19 and U-16 divisions in the Southern California superleague, while the U-16 girls were the only team with a perfect record, finishing 11-0-0. For all the U-19, U-17 and U-16 boys and girls final standings ... |
Analysis of nucleation kinetics of poorly water-soluble drugs in presence of ultrasound and hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose during antisolvent precipitation.
In this paper, nucleation kinetics of four poorly water-soluble drugs namely, itraconazole (ITZ), griseofulvin (GF), ibuprofen (IBP) and sulfamethoxazole (SFMZ) when precipitated by liquid antisolvent precipitation using water as antisolvent is examined in order to identify thermodynamic and kinetic process parameters as well as material properties that affect nucleation rate and hence, the particle size. The nucleation rates have been estimated for precipitation with and without ultrasound and hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC). It is found that the nucleation rates increase significantly in presence of ultrasound and HPMC. Analysis of nucleation kinetics indicates that an increase in diffusivity due to ultrasound and a decrease in solid-liquid interfacial surface tension due to HPMC result in higher nucleation rates. Analysis also shows that reduction in interfacial surface tension due to HPMC is higher for a drug with lowest aqueous solubility (such as ITZ) as compared to drugs with higher aqueous solubility. It is also observed that it is easy to precipitate submicron particles of a drug with lowest aqueous solubility (such as ITZ) compared to drug molecules (such as SFMZ) with higher aqueous solubility in presence of HPMC. |
Q:
Reload in jQuery BootGrid not work
i have problem with reloading ajax data in bootgrid (http://www.jquery-bootgrid.com/)
i have successfully prepared grid to display at all, but if i add item to db, i want make reload of the grid.
my code is now this (shortened):
var grid;
$(document).ready(function() {
grid = initGrid();
});
function initGrid() {
var local_grid = $('#clients-grid').bootgrid({
"ajax": true,
"url": "/client/grid",
"formatters": {
"commands": function(column, row) {
return "<button type=\"button\" class=\"btn btn-default command-edit\" data-row-id=\"" + row.id + "\"><span class=\"glyphicon glyphicon-pencil\"></span></button> " +
"<button type=\"button\" class=\"btn btn-default command-delete\" data-row-id=\"" + row.id + "\"><span class=\"glyphicon glyphicon-trash\"></span></button> " +
"<button type=\"button\" class=\"btn btn-default command-mail\" data-row-id=\"" + row.id + "\"><span class=\"glyphicon glyphicon-envelope\"></span></button>";
},
"tooltips": function(column,row) {
return '<span type="button" class="content-popover" title="'+row.name+'" data-content="'+row.content+'">Najeďte myší pro zobrazení obsahu</span>';
},
"clientname": function(column,row) {
return row.name;
}
}
}).on("loaded.rs.jquery.bootgrid", function() {
$('.content-popover').popover({
trigger: 'hover',
html: true,
placement: 'right',
content: $(this).attr('data-content')
});
grid.find(".command-edit").on("click", function(e) {
editClient($(this).data('row-id'));
}).end().find(".command-delete").on("click", function(e) {
var id = $(this).data('row-id');
if (confirm('Opravdu smazat klienta s ID: '+$(this).data("row-id")+'?')) {
deleteClient($(this).data('row-id'));
}
}).end().find(".command-mail").on("click", function(e){
mailClient($(this).data('row-id'));
});
});
return local_grid;
}
so grid variable is in global and is accessible from everywhere..
but function reload documented here: http://www.jquery-bootgrid.com/Documentation#methods not working, and i have ajax parameter set on true
Any advice?
Thanks and sorry for my english
A:
Did you try:
$('#grid-data').bootgrid('reload');
For me the ajax request is loaded
|
Q:
MongoDb multiple sort
I am new to MongoDB and have been struggling on getting multiple sorts using java apis for a very long time now.
So my data is in the form of :
{
"id":1,
"name":"sam",
"timestamp":"2015-10-24 19:50:53"
}
I am trying to get the most recent 10 records based on the timestamp. Once I have that I want to sort the result based on name and timestamp.
This gives me the correct sorted outpt of recent 10 records :
.sort(new Document("timestamp", -1)).limit(10)
But if i add more sort parameters it sorts the entire resultset.
I am trying to get the recent 10 records and once I have the result I want to sort by timestamp in ascending order and then by name in case of tie.
A:
It seems, that what you are trying to do is impossible. As described in mongo docs sort is always executed before limit. So doing something like
.sort({timestamp: -1}).limit(10).sort({timestamp: 1, name: 1})
will just cause the first sort to be overwritten by the second sort.
This is just equivalent to
sort({timestamp: 1, name: 1}).limit(10)
So i think, that your best bet is to fetch 10 newest records from Mongo and then sort them again in Java code in order you need (timestamp ascending and name ascending).
|
Supergiant Games launched Bastion on the Xbox 360, and a PC release was soon to follow. Now the popular action-RPG is breaking new ground by running inside the Google Chrome browser--Chrome's languishing web store isn't just for Angry Birds and ports of crappy Flash games anymore. More importantly, Bastion heralds the launch of a little thing Google's calling the Native Client (cheekily abbreviated NaCl), an open source technology for running native code within the browser window.
With Native Client, developers can easily port apps to the web from their existing code. Native Client runs C and C++ code, enabling multi-threaded 2D and 3D performance within the protective bubble of the Chrome browser. And Bastion is just the beginning. Other developers, including Square Enix, are on board for Google's Native Client push, which stands to change the foundation of web app development from this point forward.
Native Client's potential is obvious: developers can write their apps and games in languages like HTML5 and JavaScript that they already use. That makes cross-platform development incredibly easy, since Chrome already runs on Windows, OS X, and Linux. Quake demonstrated the potential of this concept a couple years ago, but there's a big difference between tech demo and purchasable products. After all, Quake's been ported to watches before--that doesn't mean watches are the next big game platform.
We know why Native Client is significant; the how is more complicated. What did Google do to make it so easy to port games to the Chrome browser? The Native Client's structure helps us break down the working parts. As explained by Google's technical overview, there are three components of NaCl: the web-facing HTML/JavaScript elements, a client module for running native code, and an API bridge connecting the two.
HTML/JavaScript application: Provides the user interface and event handling mechanisms as well as the main HTML document; can perform computation as well. Pepper API: Enables the JavaScript code and the Native Client module to send messages to each other, and provides interfaces that allow Native Client modules to create and use browser resources. Native Client module: Typically, performs numerical computation and other compute-intensive tasks. Handles large-scale data manipulation. Also provides event handling APIs for apps such as games where the user interface is integrated into the code that is run natively.
Native Client has API restrictions in place and can never access the OS itself--everything's sandboxed within the browser, at an overhead cost of only 5 percent performance. The Native Client's language support and features for games are expanding in the future (for example, Bastion's initial release lacks gamepad support), but the plugin already supports some key functionality like OpenGL ES 2.0 3D.
Unity 3D is among NaCl's supporters, which may be as big a deal for Google as it is for Unity. The popular game development tool is potentially being opened up to an audience of 200 million Chrome browser users. Unity's JavaScript, C# and Python code can be readied for the Native Client with a simple checkbox in new versions of the game development tool. Unity's developers posted a blog in June 2011 talking about the cool possibilities of the Native Client, and it looks like they've fully gotten on board in the past six months.
The Native Client will give Chrome's web store a chance to remake itself with more sophisticated apps leading the charge; the lack of Bastion on the store's front page proves it's in need of a content curation makeover. More importantly, Native Client might make the concept of a web app store worthwhile again. As a content distribution center for Chrome OS, the app store never took off. Between HTML5's increasing flexibility and the Native Client, there's a bright future ahead for web apps.
There are a couple ways to try out the native client right now: the Native Client Examples app shows how some of the technology works, while Bastion shows that games are already completely playable in-browser. Mini Ninjas will be Square Enix's first game for Native Client and will launch within the next few weeks, following the release of Chrome beta 17. |
Q:
Weird compiler error: Cannot convert parameter from 'int' to 'int &&'
What on earth is going on here?
I'm trying to create a pair of an int and a string and I can create the pair if I use "magic values" but can't seem to pass in variables.
std::vector<std::pair<int, std::string> > num_text;
std::string text = "Smeg";
int num = 42;
// Works fine
num_text.push_back(std::make_pair<int, std::string>(42, std::string("Smeg")));
// Cannot convert parameter 2 from 'std::string' to 'std::string &&'
num_text.push_back(std::make_pair<int, std::string>(42, text));
// Cannot convert parameter 1 from 'int' to 'int &&'
num_text.push_back(std::make_pair<int, std::string>(num, std::string("Smeg")));
// Cannot convert parameter 1 from 'int' to 'int &&'
num_text.push_back(std::make_pair<int, std::string>(num, text));
// Works fine again
num_text.push_back(std::make_pair<int, std::string>(42, std::string("Smeg")));
I am using VS 2012 and have pasted in some code that was written in VS 2008. Can't imagine that would have anything to do with it but there was no problem in the original (2008) code.
I kind of feel a bit dumb for not being able to workout what is going on here but what can I say, I just don't get it.
A:
Reference says:
template< class T1, class T2 >
std::pair<T1,T2> make_pair( T1 t, T2 u ); (until C++11)
template< class T1, class T2 >
std::pair<V1,V2> make_pair( T1&& t, T2&& u ); (since C++11)
Note that the return type is different. It also says:
The deduced types V1 and V2 are std::decay::type and std::decay::type (the usual type transformations applied to arguments of functions passed by value) unless application of std::decay results in std::reference_wrapper for some type X, in which case the deduced type is X&.
So in fact, since 2008 (I mean Visual C++ 2008), the semantics of the function make_pair has changed. You could either remove the template parameters from std::make_pair and let it deduce the type, or use std::pair's constructor if you need to make pairs of specific type:
num_text.push_back(std::make_pair(num, text)); // deduced type
num_text.push_back(std::pair<int, std::string>(num, text)); // specific type
The reason for the compile error is that you have specified the types to be int (as T1) and std::string (as T2), and therefore the function expects T1 && and T2 &&. See this answer for why that's a problem.
A:
make_pair<T1,T2> does not make a pair of type pair<T1,T2>, but rather deduces a suitable pair of reference types from its arguments to allow perfect forwarding. It's specified as
template <class T1, class T2>
pair<V1, V2> make_pair(T1&& x, T2&& y);
for some suitable reference types V1 and V2. This only works if the argument types are deduced, so that && can decay to an lvalue reference if necessary. By specifying the template parameters explicitly, they are no longer deduced, and so the function arguments can only be rvalues.
The solution is to let the compiler deduce the types:
num_text.push_back(std::make_pair(42, std::string("Smeg"))); // Works fine
num_text.push_back(std::make_pair(42, text)); // Works fine
num_text.push_back(std::make_pair(num, std::string("Smeg"))); // Works fine
num_text.push_back(std::make_pair(num, text)); // Works fine
num_text.push_back(std::make_pair(42, std::string("Smeg"))); // Works fine again
If you need to make a pair of a particular type, don't use make_pair, just make a pair
// Works, but perhaps with more copying than you want.
num_text.push_back(std::pair<int, std::string>(num, text));
A:
make_pair is usually used without specifying the template parameters explicitly. This is how it is meant to be used:
num_text.push_back(std::make_pair(42, std::string("Smeg")));
num_text.push_back(std::make_pair(42, text));
num_text.push_back(std::make_pair(num, std::string("Smeg")));
num_text.push_back(std::make_pair(num, text));
num_text.push_back(std::make_pair(42, std::string("Smeg")));
Alternatively, if you want the exact type:
typedef decltype(num_text)::value_type value_type;
num_text.push_back(value_type(42, std::string("Smeg")));
num_text.push_back(value_type(42, text));
num_text.push_back(value_type(num, std::string("Smeg")));
num_text.push_back(value_type(num, text));
num_text.push_back(value_type(42, std::string("Smeg")));
|
À propos de l'objet
“…He was never more brilliant, more incisive or more ferocious when it came to depicting himself. In this he helped revive a genre, and Bacon’s Self-Portraits can now be seen as among the most pictorially inventive and psychologically revealing portraits of the Twentieth Century.” (Michael Peppiatt in Exh. Cat., Rome, Galleria Borghese, Caravaggio Bacon, 2009, p. 210) "The single head, fourteen inches by twelve, was from 1961 onwards the scene of some of Bacon's most ferocious investigations. Just as a gunshot sometimes leaves an after-echo or parallel report, so these small concentrated heads carry their ghosts within them." (John Russell, Francis Bacon, London, 1993, p. 99)\n“Confronted by Bacon’s paintings we are compelled by sensations. We are affected viscerally and physiologically, and they act on the nervous system before the intellect: we feel them before we analyze them, but they remain open to diverse modes of interpretation, resisting conformity with any one philosophical system.” (Martin Harrison, ‘Painting, Smudging,’ in Martin Harrison, Ed., Francis Bacon: New Studies, Germany, 2009, p. 166)\n“Of course we are not certain that the depths really do harbor something—but whatever it may be, we each of us have in us that brutal gesture, that hand movement that roughs up another person’s face in the hope of finding, in it and behind it, a thing that is hidden there.” (Milan Kundera, ‘The Painter’s Brutal Gesture’ in Bacon: Portraits and Self-Portraits, New York, 1996, p. 10)\n“Bacon’s portraits are the interrogation on the limits of the self. Up to what degree of distortion does an individual still remain himself? To what degree of distortion does a beloved being still remain a beloved being? For how long does a cherished face growing remote through illness, through madness, through hatred, through death still remain recognizable? Where lies the border beyond which a self ceases to be a self?” (Milan Kundera, ‘The Painter’s Brutal Gesture’ in Bacon: Portraits and Self-Portraits, New York, 1996, p. 12)\n \nThere will be time, there will be time\nTo prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;\n…\nAnd I have known the eyes already, known them all—\nThe eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,\nAnd when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,\nWhen I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,\nThen how should I begin\nTo spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?\nAnd how should I presume?\n \nT.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, 1915\n\nIn 1970, Francis Bacon found himself at the pinnacle of his personal and professional lives. Months before the opening of his groundbreaking career-defining retrospective at the Grand Palais in 1971, the artist was 61 years old and in the throes of his torrid, passionate love affair with George Dyer. The breathtaking creative fecundity of the years up to and including 1970 was owed predominantly to the impact of Bacon’s relationship with Dyer, which began in 1964 when Dyer broke into Bacon’s studio at 7 Reece Mews with the intent of burgling the place. Through the studio’s famous skylight, Dyer tumbled into Bacon’s life like a piercing ray of light, truly falling from above and forever altering the course of the artist’s work. Their relationship was marked by a polarity of extremes: ardent infatuation and enchanted desire, foiled by the progressive impatience Bacon felt towards the increasing aimlessness and erratic behavior that exacerbated his lover’s worsening alcoholism. This intensity of emotion resulted in paintings that wield the full force of Bacon’s vigor and pictorial authority, which reached its absolute crest in 1970—just one year before tragedy would strike Bacon once again, with Dyer’s death in 1971 driving him into a spiral of grief. The artist’s exhilarating 1970 diptych, Two Studies for a Self-Portrait, however, meets Bacon at a critical juncture before Dyer’s imminent death would consume him entirely. In these two portraits, we happen upon the artist caught in a transitional mental state, wrestling with the rapturous emotional depth and psychological complexity of his relationship with Dyer, all the while in the full swings of preparation for the most important milestone of his career.\n\nTwo Studies for a Self-Portrait is indisputably the singular icon of the artist’s legendary canon of self-portraiture, having graced the covers of Milan Kundera and France Borel’s definitive 1996 publication Francis Bacon: Portraits and Self-Portraits, and John Russell’s seminal 2001 monograph Francis Bacon. A treasure of inconceivable rarity, not only is this painting the lone work painted in 1970 ever to appear publicly for sale, but it is one of only three Self Portrait diptychs executed in Bacon’s famed 14 by 12-inch format. Exhibited only twice—first at the Grand Palais, and then in an exhibition of the artist’s Small Portrait Studies at Marlborough Fine Art in London in 1993, for which it was selected as the poster image—this unparalleled masterwork has remained out of the public eye in the same esteemed private collection for the past 46 years since having been acquired in the year of its creation. An exceptional work, therefore, that possesses an equally exceptional exhibition history, Two Studies for Self-Portrait was hand chosen by the artist for inclusion in the single most important exhibition in Bacon’s lifetime: the grand scale retrospective held at the Grand Palais in 1971 (an accolade only previously afforded to Pablo Picasso among living painters). Directly following this exhibition, the critic for Le Monde Michel Conil Lacoste, praised the “perfectly selected and installed masterworks”: “It’s more than a successful exhibition. Everything has come together for this retrospective, in preparation for the past two years, an event marked by exceptional signs: the power and the radical originality of a painter… the renewal he draws from an exploration of the human and the quotidian and the classical métier one thought was exhausted...” (Michel Conil Lacoste quoted in Exh. Cat., London, Tate Britain (and travelling), Francis Bacon, 2008, p. 36)\nCharged with sublime beauty and framed within an electric arena of brilliant color, these two portraits masterfully combine Bacon’s twisted, scraped, and gushed handling of paint with arresting intensity and consummate psychological depth. Exquisite pastel tones are entwined and offset by lush, electric swathes of orange, pink, and blue squeezed directly from the tube, further punctuated by alabaster accents that work to illuminate the entire painting. Alternating between thick smears of abstracted color and precise, naturalistic renderings of the artist’s own physiognomy, the present work sees the artist tussling with his own appearance. Here he oscillates between realism and the artifice of self-presentation; John Richardson remarked of Bacon’s faces, “Those strange revolving brushstrokes, that are so familiar from his pictures, would be rehearsed with Max Factor pancake make-up. He had a series of these Max Factor pots and he would take one and do a sort of smear across his face, and these are the smears that you see on so many of the faces of those early paintings.” (John Richardson quoted in Francis Bacon: Taking Reality by Surprise, London, 1996) Bravura brushwork and whipped impasto share the picture plane with elegant impressions of corduroy and torn cloth that imprint vigorous pattern onto the surface of the face; the striped passages weave around the curvature of Bacon’s head and extend seamlessly into his ruffled coiffure. In thrilling evidence is the artist’s distinctive forelocks of hair, those inimitable diagonal brushmarks which the esteemed French poet, and friend of Bacon’s, Michel Leiris described as “a reckless comma staunchly inscribed across his brow.” (Michel Leiris, Francis Bacon Full Face and in Profile, New York, 1983, p. 12)\n\nUnlike other examples of Bacon’s small-format portrait studies, Two Studies for a Self-Portrait does not convey an entirely mangled appearance: the savage brushstrokes and riotous color connote a dislocation of facial features, but the tenderness with which Bacon approaches his own face in this buoyant self-portrait evades utter disfigurement. Captured brusquely mid-motion, Bacon’s faces conjure a restlessness of inner thought and intense concentration, but avoid the bruised lacerations and wounded defacements that mark his more tragic self-portraits. With sumptuous inflections of paint, Bacon’s facial distortions interrogate the limits of the self. Amid the spectacular color and virtuoso brushwork, Bacon presents an ethereal and unearthly form of his visage that, while undoubtedly depicting the artist, is manifestly surreal. In the left panel, the artist’s right cheek is smeared with a single stroke of searing orange that swoops across his jawline, his entire visage reverberating with the velocity of the brush as if recovering from a blow to the face; in the right panel, the center of his head tremors with violent smudges. But, this is not a mark of pure brutality. While the pulpy arcs and swoops of oil paint rough up Bacon’s features, the artist’s insistence on chance, play, and radiant prismatic color invoke what Kundera refers to as ‘joyous despair’: a counter-balance between the artist’s serious confrontation with mortality and the intense desire and enchantment that these effusive pictures set forth. Two Studies for a Self-Portrait approaches the physical materiality of human existence in its insistence on the corporeality of flesh as real and concrete; Bacon expresses this pure, indisputable fact as enduringly in tandem with an inner, metaphysical essence. Kundera explains, “It is neither pessimism nor despair, it is only obvious fact, but a fact that is veiled by our membership in a collectivity that blinds us with its dreams, its excitements, its projects, its illusions, its struggles, its causes, its religions, its ideologies, its passions. And then one day the veil falls and we are left stranded with the body, at the body’s mercy…” (Milan Kundera, ‘The Painter’s Brutal Gesture’ in Bacon: Portraits and Self-Portraits, New York, 1996, p. 17) What makes the present work so special is its insistent disavowal of pessimism: Bacon accesses his own mortality while privileging the magical quality of dream, chance, and the imagination, which surpass the evanescence of the physical body.\nThe deeply striking instantaneity of the present work can be attributed greatly to the manner in which Bacon very deliberately painted the background. Bacon was a compulsive revisionist and very often traces of differently hued layers are visible underneath the final background coat. The individual panels of Two Studies for a Self-Portrait, however, reveal no such underpainting. Instead, the bright, flat lilac background follows closely the extemporaneous articulation of Bacon’s head and shoulders, leaving areas of grazed pigment that reveal the raw canvas beneath. Against this purposeful background, the interplay and great choreography of agitated brushstrokes in white, blue, and red posit this as a work of extraordinary elegance and vibrancy. The rich density of oils that comprise the facial forms are amplified in intensity against the flatness of the background and simplicity of his black jumper.\nCut off from the natural world by its searing, pungent tonal spectrum, Bacon’s palette occupies the realm of the imagination. With dropped eyelids perched against his muscular cheekbones as if closed, and lips tightly pursed in deep contemplation, Bacon’s heads appear to be captured in a liminal state of mental reflection. His severely introspective expressions coupled with the enchanting color palette indicate a dream-like state nestled within his subconscious psyche. Martin Harrison discusses this crucial connection between Bacon’s technique of turbulent smudges and its greater philosophical resonance. Harrison in fact quotes Gaston Bachelard to suggest the smudged features in Bacon’s portraits indicate a state of transition: “Gaston Bachelard discussed the phenomena of dreaming and transitional states thus: ‘if it is true that the psychology of the imagination neither can nor should work upon static figures—if it can only learn from images that are in the process of deformation, it will be agreed that this most amorphous of objects must be one of the most valued oneiric themes. For does it not give access to a world of shapes in movement and deformed by movement, and lend itself to constructions whose constant mutations bring the formal powers of dreaming fully into play?’” (Martin Harrison, ‘Painting, Smudging,’ in Martin Harrison, Ed., Francis Bacon: New Studies, Germany, 2009, p. 166)\nIf Bacon’s portraits are indeed meant to affect a level of sensation beyond the purely physiological, there is perhaps no more intimate an investigation of the artist’s psyche than Two Studies for a Self-Portrait. Bacon was quoted at length describing how he instinctually pushed paint around to get as close as possible to a “deep well from which things are drawn out, a reservoir of the unconscious.” (Francis Bacon quoted in Hugh Davies and Sally Yard, Francis Bacon, New York, 1986, p. 110) It is perhaps Milan Kundera, however, who best described Bacon’s painterly triumph in his introduction for the publication Bacon: Portraits and Self-Portraits, on whose cover the present work is featured. Kundera wrote: “Of course we are not certain that the depths really do harbor something—but whatever it may be, we each of us have in us that brutal gesture, that hand movement that roughs up another person’s face in the hope of finding, in it and behind it, a thing that is hidden there.” (Milan Kundera, ‘The Painter’s Brutal Gesture’ in Bacon: Portraits and Self-Portraits, New York, 1996, p. 10) When faced with his own image, Bacon turned to the brush as a tool by which to excavate and discover a hidden layer of meaning from within his nervous system. Bacon explicitly declared his disavowal of religion and any existence of a soul, maintaining the uniform conclusion that mind, nervous system, and body exist as one. While delicately imprinted, the parallel lines that score Bacon’s doubled heads appear as scratches across his face, marking a state of deformity that perhaps best visualizes Kundera’s concept of “the brutal gesture”: it is as if the viewer bears witness to the artist clawing at his own corporeal being to dig out his inner essential subconscious. As Bacon remarked, “When talking about the violence of paint, it’s nothing to do with the violence of war. It’s to do with an attempt to remake the violence of reality itself.” (Francis Bacon quoted in Hugh Davies and Sally Yard, Francis Bacon, New York, 1986, pp. 109-110) Rather than setting out to represent fact, Bacon’s self-portraiture approached distortion as a means by which to unlock what lies beneath the surface of appearance—a vehicle for observation into human nature.\nMoreover, what makes Two Studies for a Self-Portrait indelibly rare is that in comparison to the 21 single panels and 11 triptych self-portrait studies in the 14-by-12 inch format canvases, Bacon executed a total of only 3 self-portraits in this diptych format. The diptych remains a significant composition for Bacon’s portrait heads, presenting a duality of views that is particularly resonant in its binary composition. The single portrait head became Bacon’s principal subject in 1964, the year he first met George Dyer. In the early part of this year, Bacon commissioned John Deakin to photograph himself, and the other protagonists of his Bohemian Soho enclave, and in so doing was provided with an instant repository of visual cue cards to use as photographic source imagery for his studies. The proliferation of the diptych and triptych format can be attributed to the organization of the contact sheets Deakin provided to Bacon, which arranged each roll of film in four rows of three. This lateral sequencing allowed Bacon to explore not only the nuances of movement, but to probe multiple views of the same subject: a distinctly Cubist device used to Bacon’s advantage in order to depict an emotional, metaphysical complexity. Across these multiplied formats, his portraits—and subsequently, the essence of his subjects—develop before the eye like a photograph. Bacon seems to make the case against any singular perspective on the individual, instead privileging a layered understanding of the human psyche. John Russell described: “Bacon wrenched, reversed, abbreviated, jellified and generally reinvented the human image. The paint-structure was by turns brusque and sumptuous, lyrical and offhand, pulpy and marmoreal. Swerving, pouncing, colliding with itself, taking for granted the most bizarre conjunctions of impulse, it produced a multiple imagery which was quite new in painting.” (John Russell, Francis Bacon, New York, 1971, p. 168) Possessing the ability to catch a subject’s shifting position through both the double format, and the sweeping vertiginous brushstrokes within each panel, Bacon’s portrait studies present a revisionist take on the precepts of Analytical Cubism.\nTwo nights prior to the opening of Bacon’s retrospective exhibition at the Grand Palais, Dyer was found dead of an overdose in a bathroom at the Hôtel des Saints-Pères. Following Dyer’s passing, Bacon launched into a series of epic eulogies that would lead into his Black Triptychs, which bespeak the artist’s immeasurable loss and grief. Bacon’s Two Studies for a Self-Portrait arrived on the cusp of this significant emotional transition. In the mid-1960s, Bacon was given a book written by Michel Leiris, where he underlined the following passage: “For Baudelaire, beauty cannot come into being without the intervention of something accidental… What constitutes beauty is not the confrontation of opposites but the mutual antagonism of those opposites, and the active and vigorous manner in which they invade one another and emerge from the conflict marked as if by a wound or a depredation… We can call ‘beautiful’ only that which suggests the existence of an ideal order—supraterrestrial, harmonious and logical—and yet bears within itself, like the brand of an original sin, the drop of poison, the rogue element of incoherence, the grain of sand that will foul up the entire system… On the right-hand side, a beauty that is immortal, sovereign, sculptural; facing it, the element of the left, sinister in the strict sense, since the left stands for misfortune, and for accident, and for sin.” (Michel Leiris cited in John Russell, Francis Bacon, New York, 1971, p. 142-3) Just like Leiris, Bacon saw two sides of beauty: both the stable and the unstable, the passion and the tragedy. It is from the tension between opposites and the struggle for balance between two sides that one finds true beauty. By very nature of a process of doubling, the diptych literally and formally articulates for Bacon the power of image and counter-image in dialogue. In two parts, Bacon fragments his appearance into two alike yet unlike images, heightening a plurality of self that is without restrictions.\n\nThe ebullient hues and vortex of energy within his sweeping marks in Two Studies for a Self-Portrait relate Bacon’s painting to the outburst of color associated with the development of color field painting, post-painterly abstraction, and the ascendance of the brightly colored Pop Art in the 1960s. In the vivid fields of prismatic color that swerve into one another, Bacon’s faces evoke the deeply saturated chromatic intensity of Mark Rothko’s abstract sectionals from the early 1950s, while their Impressionist vigor and sense of motion recall the most accomplished of Claude Monet’s landscapes. Bacon’s iridescent palette in the present work recounts a heightened exuberance and magnificent imagination from a painter who staunchly opposed idealization, facing humanity for its overwhelming burden of traumas and pain. The bejeweled pinks, blues, and lavenders that erupt from Bacon’s doubled visage are notably present in Perry Ogden’s famed photographs of Bacon’s home and studio on 7 Reece Mews in London’s South Kensington neighborhood, where he moved in 1961 and remained until his death in 1992. As the artist scraped clean the radiant hues of his brush, reworking the layers of his intricate canvas surfaces, we can see the vestiges of his painterly process lining the interior of his studio. This irrepressibly effusive palette demonstrably held a privileged place in Bacon’s repertoire, appearing in a number of Self-Portraits from the late 60s. The 1960s also spawned a proliferation of Technicolor in the public mass media, where color photography, film, and magazines ascended to the status of the norm. Fascinated by color photography and color reproductions in books, Bacon reveled in the heightened artifice and falsified spectrum that the medium enabled: the rich kaleidoscopic color present in Two Studies for a Self-Portrait creates a sense of fiction that shears Bacon’s depiction from the natural world, emphasizing its distance from a photographic reality.\nAlready the subject of major international retrospectives and critical scholarship across the globe by the time he painted Two Studies for a Self-Portrait in 1970, Bacon was deeply aware of his prominent status. A man of 61, time inevitably had its cumulative effects on his appearance, and yet in this depiction, Bacon’s features remain remarkably akin to those of a much younger man. This painting does not possess the carved tangle of physiognomic forms or time weariness evident in future self-portraits from the immediate years following the death of George Dyer in 1971; instead, it emanates youthfulness, a tone further embellished by the lively color palette. Alert, tightly jawed, and smooth-skinned below the impastoed sense of movement, Bacon’s painted face belies the age of its author. This indisputably favorable portrayal of his own appearance reflects Bacon’s deep concern with self-presentation, a factor further elaborated by Michael Peppiatt: “… Bacon continued to take great care of his appearance as he grew older, dyeing his hair subtle shades of reddish brown and applying liberal amounts of ‘pancake’ makeup to his face, even though it had not become deeply lined.” (Michael Peppiatt, Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma, New York, 2009, p. 364) Successor to a genre of self-portraiture perfected by revered masters from Rembrandt to Picasso, Bacon was undoubtedly driven by an incessant compulsion to forge and carefully deliver a well-manicured personal mythology for the experience of his time.\nAs a genre, self-portraiture purportedly reveals the private side of a public profession; nowhere can this be understood with such forthright candor than in Bacon’s oeuvre as viewed in the light of Rembrandt’s legacy. Rembrandt was the very touchstone of Bacon’s inventiveness in these small scale canvases; the endless variety and successive permutations of his own visage, which meld into almost abstract dissolving matter towards the end of his life, cast Rembrandt’s late self-portraits as a striking parallel to, and even art historical blue-print for, the present work. Bacon believed Rembrandt’s self-portraits to be “formally the most extraordinary paintings. He altered painting in a way by the method by which he dealt with himself and perhaps he felt freer to deal with himself in this totally liberal way… One always has a greater involvement with oneself than with anybody else. No matter how much you may believe that you’re in love with somebody else, your love of somebody else is your love of yourself.” (Francis Bacon quoted in David Sylvester, Looking Back at Francis Bacon, London, 2000, p. 241) When viewed up close, Rembrandt’s heads seemingly disband into a mass of non-representational marks that were doubtless an inspiration to Bacon’s own savage expressivity. Like Rembrandt tallying his aged, lined and weary features with a congruent painterly treatment of disbanded corporeality, in the present work the vaporous dissolution of Bacon’s likeness tempers exigent facture with an intense yet reposed response to the concrete fact of mortality.\nUntil a certain point in history, portraiture was a means by which to reach an absolute representation of an individual—direct, unambiguous statements of a person’s character and statehood, categorized by identifiers of dress, ownership, and other iconographic markers. At the turn of Modernism, however, artists displayed their disbelief in this structured view of human personality, turning away from a monolithic view of human nature defined by power, and instead to a variable, contingent expression of individuals characterized by flaws and ambiguity. As Bacon’s likeness refracts like a prism throughout and across Two Studies for a Self-Portrait, the spectral mirror of his canvases reveal entirely uncharted emotional depths and psychosomatic complexities buried within the very philosophy of self-reflection.\nSigned, titled and dated 1970 on the reverse of each panel
medium
Oil on canvas, in two parts
creator
Francis Bacon
condition
This painting is in excellent condition. Please contact the Contemporary Art Department at (212) 606-7254 for the condition report prepared by Terrence Mahon. Both panels of this painting are framed together in a gilt wood frame under glass. In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion. NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
literature
Milan Kundera, Bacon: Portraits and Self-Portraits, London, 1996, pp. 180-181, illustrated in color and illustrated in color on the cover (right panel) John Russell, Francis Bacon, London, 2001, illustrated in color on the cover (detail of the right panel)
provenance
Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., London Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1970 |
There’s no hiding from Krampus! Buster finds this out the hard way as he’s kicked in the can! This page also features an appearance by Presto Perkins! Will Presto be able to help Buster and stop the rampage of Krampus?!! We’ll have to wait until next time dear readers!
I apologize again for the delay with this week’s page, I hope you enjoyed it! I also hope you’re enjoying this humorous solo adventure of Buster! I hope to tell more solo adventures featuring different members of the Gang (yes I know Presto has shown up but this is Buster’s story!) Who would you like to see in a solo adventure next? Well that’s it for now! Thanks for reading and please spread the word (and vote for my comic in the links at the right of the blog) |
These Hello Kitty HK215 2 Honey eyeglasses are simply perfect for any growing princess. This full acetate frame has a silky honey finish that looks as sweet as candy. The arms are an orange hue with a Hello Kitty logo near the hinges and a quilted kitty pattern.
About the Brand
Hello Kitty eyeglasses are every bit as cute and playful as you'd expect. Utilizing prints of Kitty White, these glasses are the perfect accessory for any budding fashionista. |
As requested.
-----Original Message-----
From: Killen, Faith
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2001 8:53 AM
To: Colwell, Wes
Subject: Lavo Request
Importance: High |
Friday, December 01, 2017 1:00 am
Purdue at Maryland
Records: Purdue (6-2, 0-0 Big Ten); Maryland (6-2, 0-0)
When: 7 p.m. today
Where: Xfinity Center, College Park, Md.
TV: Big Ten Network
The skinny: The Boilermakers begin defense of their Big Ten championship with the earliest Big Ten Conference game in school history. ... Purdue won last year's only meeting Feb. 4 in College Park, 73-72 on a pair of Carsen Edwards free throws with 2.1 seconds left. The second win during a six-game winning streak propelled the Boilermakers to a 2017 conference title. ... Maryland will return to Mackey Arena on Jan. 31 to complete the home-and-home.
Looking back
• Purdue defeated 17th-ranked Louisville 66-57 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, improving the Boilers to 10-7 all time in the event.
• Purdue won its second straight game against a ranked team after routing No. 2 Arizona 89-64 in the Battle 4 Atlantis on Nov. 24.
• The Boilermakers started 1 of 16 from 3-point range against Louisville but made four of their last seven shots from deep to rally for the victory.
• Purdue shot 33.3 percent from the field, its lowest field goal percentage in a win since shooting 31.9 percent against Penn State on Jan. 18, 2014.
• Vince Edwards battled foul issues to score 15 points with seven rebounds. Dakota Mathias scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half, going 3 of 5 from deep in the final 20 minutes.
Inside numbers
296: Purdue coach Matt Painter needs four wins for 300 during his career.
10.6: Wins per year in Big Ten Conference play for Matt Painter; fifth-best in Big Ten history.
25: Blocks by Matt Haarms, the most by a freshman in the country (only two players have 25+).
10-7: Purdue's record in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, the best record among any conference school. |
Nigeria's independence day bomb blasts have become an issue in the country's presidential campaign with an investigation into one of the leading candidate's campaign manager and calls for the president's resignation.
Former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida's presidential campaign says President Goodluck Jonathan is engaged in a political witch hunt after the campaign's director was questioned about last Friday's bombing that killed 12 people.
President Jonathan says he knows the "unpatriotic elements" who sponsored the attack. But his campaign says the president is not interfering in the investigation. Dalhatu Sarki Tafida directs the Jonathan campaign.
"What would you do yourself or anybody? He came. He condemned," said Dalhatu Sarki Tafida. "And he said investigations would be carried out. And investigations are already going on. What else do you want him to do?"
Some northern politicians are calling for the president's resignation over his handling of the crisis. Tafida says that is an effort by some within the ruling party to take power by force.
"How can you start calling for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the president, to resign? What is the relevance of that? How do you start calling for impeachment, the same party? I think there is something fundamentally wrong," said Tafida.
Babangida deputy campaign director Kanti Bello says what is wrong is the president trying to intimidate his political opponents, likening the president to former military ruler Sani Abacha.
"Look, we have gone through this road earlier," said Bello. "Remember Abacha? Some people were taken, including Obasanjo, as coup plotters. Is this the way we are going in this democratic dispensation? It would be unfortunate for this country."
President Jonathan's candidacy disrupts an informal deal within the ruling party that says the next Nigerian leader should be from the north to complete what would have been the second term of the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua instead of continuing on with President Jonathan, who is from the south.
President Jonathan is from the oil-rich Niger Delta. So there has been some criticism of the speed with which he absolved Niger Delta militants of responsibility for the Abuja bombing, even though an e-mail attributed to the group warned of the blast before it happened.
"Maybe they had a plan for this between him and them," said Brigade. "Because if people on their own came out categorically to say that we are the people who carried out this kind of unfortunate issue and yet the president came out categorically to the media, to the whole world, to tell the whole world that they are not the people who carried out all these things, what kind of president do we have?"
Brigade says Babangida is far better prepared to handle security.
"General Ibrahim Badamsi Babangida will do better than Goodluck Jonathan looking at their background politically, militarily, and what have you," he said. "Because when you talk about the issue of a military background, when you talk about the issue of security, Babangida will do better looking at what is really going on in the country."
Jonathan supporter Moses Okpogode says it is not military experience alone that qualifies a president to handle security.
"General Ibrahim Babangida is a former military ruler and he has been in the security system for some time," said Okpogode. "But it is not him per se that can bring security to the country. Security structures in the country can also be overhauled by the correct president, President Goodluck Jonathan."
Okpogode says President Jonathan has a better sense of the problems underlying insecurity, especially in the Niger Delta.
"I think because of his understanding of the democratic dispensation, Goodluck Jonathan is in a better position to bring security to the country, especially in this period where even people in the Niger Delta see it that they could bring down the security situation if there person is not there as the president," he said.
The bombings put security at the top of this presidential campaign with Babangida saying there is an abysmal lack of governance as the Jonathan administration is overwhelmed by crises. President Jonathan says there were security lapses that contributed to the bombing but he is confident that those responsible for the violence will be brought to justice.
Manned deep space missions are still a long way off, but space agencies are already testing procedures, equipment and human stamina for operations in extreme environment conditions. Small groups of astronauts take turns in spending days in an underwater lab, off Florida’s southern coast, simulating future missions to some remote world. VOA’s George Putic reports.
Video
Manned deep space missions are still a long way off, but space agencies are already testing procedures, equipment and human stamina for operations in extreme environment conditions. Small groups of astronauts take turns in spending days in an underwater lab, off Florida’s southern coast, simulating future missions to some remote world. VOA’s George Putic reports.
Video
Fifty years ago, lawmakers approved, and U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed, the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The measure outlawed racial discrimination in voting, giving millions of blacks in many parts of the southern United States federal enforcement of the right to vote. Correspondent Chris Simkins introduces us to some civil rights leaders who were on the front lines in the struggle for voting rights.
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Billions of dollars of so-called ‘dirty money’ from the proceeds of crime - especially from Russia - are being laundered through the London property market, according to anti-corruption activists. As Henry Ridgwell reports from the British capital, the government has pledged to crack down on the practice.
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Ottawa, Illinois, is the hometown of W.D. Boyce, who founded the Boy Scouts of America in 1910. In Ottawa, where Scouting remains an important part of the legacy of the community, the end of the organization's ban on openly gay adult leaders was seen as inevitable. VOA's Kane Farabaugh reports.
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Artificial limbs, including the most complex of them – the human hand – are getting more life-like and useful due to constant advances in tiny hydraulic, pneumatic and electric motors called actuators. But now, as VOA’s George Putic reports, scientists in Germany say the future of the prosthetic hand may lie not in motors but in wires that can ‘remember’ their shape.
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A British pro-democracy group has accused Russia of abusing the global law enforcement agency Interpol by requesting the arrest and extradition of political opponents. A new report by the group notes such requests can mean the accused are unable to travel and are often unable to open bank accounts. VOA's Henry Ridgwell reports.
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Talks on a major new trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations are said to be nearing completion in Hawaii. Some trade experts say the "positive atmosphere" at the discussions could mean a deal is within reach, but there is still hard bargaining to be done over many issues and products, including U.S. drugs and Japanese rice. VOA's Jim Randle reports.
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Earth is in the midst of its sixth mass extinction. The last such event was caused by an asteroid 66 million years ago. It killed off the dinosaurs and practically everything else. So scientists are in a race against time to classify the estimated 11 million species alive today. So far only 2 million are described by science, and researchers are worried many will disappear before they even have a name. VOA’s Rosanne Skirble reports.
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Scientists have long been trying to develop an effective protection and cure for malaria - one of the deadliest diseases that affects people in tropical areas, especially children. As the World Health Organization announces plans to begin clinical trials of a promising new vaccine, scientists in South Africa report that they too are at an important threshold. George Putic reports, they are testing a compound that could be a single-dose cure for malaria.
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The latest issue of 'New York' magazine features 35 women who say they were drugged and raped by film and television celebrity Bill Cosby. The women are aged from 44 to 80 and come from different walks of life and races. The magazine interviewed each of them separately, but Zlatica Hoke reports their stories are similar.
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The United States is promising not to give up its fight against what Secretary of State John Kerry calls the “scourge” of modern slavery. Officials released the country’s annual human trafficking report Monday – a report that’s being met with some criticism. VOA’s National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin has more from the State Department.
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Abandoned more than 50 years ago, the underground streetcar station in Washington D.C.’s historic DuPont Circle district is about to be reborn. The plan calls for turning the spacious underground platforms - once meant to be a transportation hub, - into a unique space for art exhibitions, presentations, concerts and even a film set. Roman Mamonov has more from beneath the streets of the U.S. capital. Joy Wagner narrates his report.
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Greece has replaced Italy as the main gateway for migrants into Europe, with more than 100,000 arrivals in the first six months of 2015. Many want to move further into Europe and escape Greece’s economic crisis, but they face widespread dangers on the journey overland through the Balkans. VOA's Henry Ridgwell reports.
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After the closure of a major rubbish dump a week ago, the streets of Beirut are filling up with trash. Having failed to draw up a plan B, politicians are struggling to deal with the problem. John Owens has more for VOA from Beirut.
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A U.N. climate conference in December aims to produce an ambitious agreement to fight heat-trapping greenhouse gases. But many local governments are not waiting, and have drafted their own climate action plans. That’s the case with Paris — which is getting special attention, since it’s hosting the climate summit. Lisa Bryant takes a look for VOA at the transformation of the French capital into an eco-city. |
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had trouble remembering the name of the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, but he said today he supports what it’s doing.
“What’s it’s name? Viki-leaks? Like that?” Lula asked an audience in Brasilia, seeming to go off-text during a speech about infrastructure. “To WikiLeaks: my solidarity in disclosing these things and my protest on behalf of free speech.”
In the two minutes he discussed the website that has embarrassed the U.S. government by releasing a trove of secret diplomatic cables, Lula described the organization’s jailed founder, Julian Assange, as a champion for free expression. Assange was arrested in London this week on sexual-assault charges — accusations he has dismissed as a smear orchestrated by powerful critics. Lula echoed this interpretation.
“I don’t know if they put up signs like those from Westerns saying, ‘wanted dead or alive,’” Lula said. “The man was arrested and I’m not seeing any protest defending freedom of expression.”
Leaked cables dealing with Brazil have not so far caused much of an uproar. Several detail American diplomats’ irritation with what they called Brazilian officials’ reluctance to take tough public stands on terrorism.
“This sensitivity results, in part, from their fear of stigmatizing the large Muslim community of Brazil or prejudicing the area's image as a tourist destination,” then-U.S. Ambassador Clifford Sobel wrote in a 2008 message. “It is also a public posture designed to avoid being too closely linked to what is seen as the U.S.’ overly aggressive War on Terrorism.”
In a cable released this week, Sobel told Washington that Brazil’s defense minister, Nelson Jobim, revealed during a private breakfast that the then-secretary general of Brazil’s foreign ministry, Samuel Guimaraes, "'hates the United States' and is actively looking to create problems in the relationship.”
Another leaked cable relayed an anonymous Red Cross official’s raw appraisal of the unchecked violence in Rio de Janeiro’s slums, or favelas. “It is his assessment that the situation in many Rio favelas today is, for all practical purposes, a full-blown internal armed conflict, and not simply an urban crime problem,” Rio de Janeiro’s American consul general, Dennis Walter Hearne, wrote on Nov. 3, 2009. “He makes a compelling case.”
In his remarks today, Lula did not appear to address any of the leaked cables specifically but instead criticized the U.S. government’s public condemnation of WikiLeaks.
“Instead of blaming the person who disclosed it, blame the person who wrote this nonsense,” he said. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t have the scandal we now have.”
WikiLeaks: Making sense of the cable dump
Analysis: Could WikiLeaks start a war?
View from Afghanistan: WikiLeaks are an American conspiracy
View from Latin America: Hugo Chavez called "crazy" and other tales
View from Asia: Leaked cables could generate sympathy for US
View from Saudi Arabia: Saudi efforts to thwart Iran revealed
View from Iran: The "snake's head" reacts
View from Europe: Coverage focuses on gossip
View from Turkey: Cables hurt US-Turkey relations
View on Africa: US wants Mugabe out
Analysis: WikiLeaks will kill transparency |
Development of a standardized training course for laparoscopic procedures using Delphi methodology.
Content, evaluation, and certification of laparoscopic skills and procedure training lack uniformity among different hospitals in The Netherlands. Within the process of developing a new regional laparoscopic training curriculum, a uniform and transferrable curriculum was constructed for a series of laparoscopic procedures. The aim of this study was to determine regional expert consensus regarding the key steps for laparoscopic appendectomy and cholecystectomy using Delphi methodology. Lists of suggested key steps for laparoscopic appendectomy and cholecystectomy were created using surgical textbooks, available guidelines, and local practice. A total of 22 experts, working for teaching hospitals throughout the region, were asked to rate the suggested key steps for both procedures on a Likert scale from 1-5. Consensus was reached with Crohnbach's α ≥ 0.90. Of the 22 experts, 21 completed and returned the survey (95%). Data analysis already showed consensus after the first round of Delphi on the key steps for laparoscopic appendectomy (Crohnbach's α = 0.92) and laparoscopic cholecystectomy (Crohnbach's α = 0.90). After the second round, 15 proposed key steps for laparoscopic appendectomy and 30 proposed key steps for laparoscopic cholecystectomy were rated as important (≥4 by at least 80% of the expert panel). These key steps were used for the further development of the training curriculum. By using the Delphi methodology, regional consensus was reached on the key steps for laparoscopic appendectomy and cholecystectomy. These key steps are going to be used for standardized training and evaluation purposes in a new regional laparoscopic curriculum. |
Q:
Gitlab webhooks not working due to shell script permission
Using laravel 5.6. I'm trying to set up a webhook on gitlab, to make a git pull on push events. I've created a post route, added controller and method, that launches a shell script:
use Symfony\Component\Process\Process;
class WebhookController extends Controller
{
public function handle(Request $request) {
$root_path = base_path();
$process = Process::fromShellCommandline('cd ' . $root_path . '; ./deploy.sh');
$process->run(function($type, $buffer) {
echo $buffer;
});
}
}
Shell script itself contains just a one line:
#!/bin/sh
git pull
But in gitlab's request details, i see an error after a push:
error: cannot open .git/FETCH_HEAD: Permission denied
I already chmod 777 deploy.sh, but i guess it tries to launch that script from different user? If i launch the script from my user, it just works (i'm using ssh key without a password).
UPDATE
I did sudo chown -R $USER:www-data . - now it doesn't show an error with permissions, except the one:
Could not create directory '/var/www/.ssh'.
Host key verification failed.
fatal: Could not read from remote repository.
It's trying to make a git pull using www-data user (i checked with whoami), so it doesn't have a right ssh key, how can i switch to my USERNAME?
A:
SSH keys are linked to users and your process inside your Laravel app most likely doesn't run as the user you've added your ssh key to. It probably runs as the www-data user.
Try and create an ssh key for your www-data user and use the key as a "Deploy key" on Gitlab. Try sudo -u www-data ssh-keygen -t rsa to create the ssh key. Also check out this question.
To answer you last question about switching to your username: that would not be a good idea. That way your application can run anything that your user would be able to run, which is not a good idea. Rather create a separate ssh key for that user and give it limited access to your repository (i.e. only read/pull access).
|
To describe the ongoing story of the Russian attack on our election as “complicated” vastly understates its working parts. Since July 2016, when the linkage was first established between the infiltration of the Democratic National Committee servers and a Kremlin-connected hacker collective, there have been hundreds of bombshell news items describing the extent of what happened. In some cases, we have seen multiple stories dropping in a single day.
It’s understandable, then, that some observers might forget various details of how everything transpired, both before and after Election Day. One of those observers happens to be President Donald Trump, though his personal blind spot also involves deliberately misleading his Red Hat disciples about everything that went down.
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As Jacki Schechner from the bipartisan InvestigateRussia.org said on the Stephanie Miller Show recently, Trump doesn’t have a narrative of innocence. He doesn’t have a legitimate explanation for what really happened. His only defense at this point appears to be that the whole thing was a hoax, with the intelligence community acting in unison with the Democrats and “Crooked Hillary” to undermine Trump’s campaign, an assertion completely without evidence or serious reportorial corroboration.
Never does Trump explain why there were countless previously-undisclosed meetings with Russian operatives. He hasn’t explained why he lied throughout the campaign, telling his cult followers that he had no business in Russia when, in fact, we have evidence of Trump and his kids talking about a potential Trump Tower Moscow -- a deal that was in the works at the same time he was running for president.
His only narrative of innocence is that Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner met with a posse of Kremlin-linked Russians to apparently discuss “adoptions.” That cooked-up explanation is leading to possible obstruction of justice charges against Trump, who surely knew that it wasn’t a meeting about adoption policy -- Trump Jr.’s publicly-released emails with Rob Goldstone make that much clear. The president hasn’t explained why millions in Russian cash was funneled to his campaign via the National Rifle Association. By the way, the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee confirmed the connection between the NRA, Russia and Trump. Dozens of similar connections have gone unexplained by Trump.
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There’s one thing Trump seems to know for sure: President Obama didn’t do anything to stop the attack (which Trump incongruously calls a hoax). Over the weekend, Trump resurrected this line of attack:
The first thing Trump and his fanboys deliberately flushed down the memory hole is that Obama went public with the news of the attack before Election Day, even though the story initially broke in July 2016 but hadn’t been officially confirmed. Of course, many of us might not remember that Obama, along with Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, told us about the Russian attack on Oct. 7, 2016, because it was the same day the "Access Hollywood" tape was dropped in the press and the day in which WikiLeaks dumped John Podesta’s stolen emails, obliterating every news story that preceded it.
Regarding whether Obama acted or not, we learned later, after the election, that Obama’s national security team had devised a series of retaliatory measures, including further sanctions and the planned deployment of digital “bombs” planted inside Russia to be detonated if the attack worsened. Obama also booted the Russians from a pair of “spy nest” compounds in New York and Maryland. Obama further pledged we would strike back “at a time and place of our choosing.”
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The only thing Obama didn’t disclose prior to the election was the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia attacked us with the intention of helping Trump’s campaign. That said, Obama sought the cooperation of the congressional Republican leadership so that such a conclusion would be bipartisan. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to go along with the president. It’s worth noting, though, that two weeks ago, the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee and its chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., officially corroborated the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s efforts were in support of Trump. It’s also worth noting that Burr has voted with Trump’s agenda at every opportunity -- in other words, Burr’s not a “Never Trumper,” which lends even more gravity to his committee’s conclusion.
Should Obama have done more? Sure. Given that we were under attack, though, I’d like to think other undisclosed tactics were taken -- covert strikes that we will likely never know about. Or perhaps the publicly disclosed retaliatory plan was everything. Either way, we know that Obama devised and executed a counterattack, which Trump has grossly neglected in the face of Russian aggression, all apparently in order to convince Vladimir Putin to allow Trump’s tacky Trump Tower Moscow to be built. (Trump continues to profiteer off the presidency and American taxpayers.)
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The gigantic orange elephant in the room, therefore, is why Trump hasn’t done anything himself to stop Russia, knowing that Putin will likely continue his active measures to skew the midterms as well. Indeed, Trump continues to slow-walk additional sanctions while refusing even to verbally condemn Russia for its open hostilities against our discourse and our electoral process. Part of Trump’s motivation is obviously related to the fact that Russia helped Trump and the GOP last time: Why stop a good thing? The other, more treacherous, motivation has to do with Trump’s continued interest in derailing the investigation while maintaining his business ties to Russia.
Trump simply refuses to protect the nation, as well as the Constitution, against the Russian attack, while shamelessly and falsely attacking Obama for not doing anything -- even though Obama took significant and verifiable actions against Russia.
I’ve used the following extended metaphor before to describe how ludicrous this disconnect is, but it bears repeating. Imagine there’s a massive building on fire. Two fire companies are ordered to put out the blaze. One fire company shows up first but fails to put out the fire and is pulled from the scene. The second company shows up, but instead of battling the fire, it sits on the curb across the street denying the fire is even happening -- that the whole thing is a hoax inexplicably orchestrated by the first company. Later, the second company blames the first company for not doing anything about the fire, which it still claims never existed. That’s the insanity of this story. That’s the insanity of Donald Trump. That’s the collective delusion and ignorance of his base.
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Sure, it’s easy to lose the details in the face of the vastness and complexities of this attack. Trump is weaponizing the memory hole and the firehose of news for his own benefit, exploiting the short attention spans of his people and, indeed, far too much of the voting public. |
Drug-Coated Balloon Versus Drug-Eluting Stent for Small-Vessel Disease: The RESTORE SVD China Randomized Trial.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the angiographic efficacy and clinical outcomes of the Restore paclitaxel-coated balloon in a randomized trial designed to enable its approval with an indication for small-vessel disease (SVD). Higher rates of restenosis and stent thrombosis limit the effectiveness of drug-eluting stent (DES) treatment of SVD. Whether a drug-coated balloon (DCB)-only strategy is effective in de novo SVD is not yet established. In the noninferiority RESTORE SVD China trial, eligible patients with reference vessel diameter ≥2.25 and ≤2.75 mm were randomized to the Restore DCB or the RESOLUTE Integrity DES in a 1:1 ratio stratified by diabetes and number of lesions treated. Patients with RVD ≥2.00 and <2.25 mm were enrolled in a nested very small vessel registry. Angiographic and clinical follow-up were planned at 9 months and 1 year, respectively, in all patients. The study was powered for the primary endpoint of 9-month in-segment percentage diameter stenosis. Between August 2016 and June 2017, a total of 230 subjects at 12 sites were randomized to the DCB group (n = 116) or DES group (n = 114); 32 patients were treated with the DCB in the very small vessel cohort. Nine-month in-segment percentage diameter stenosis was 29.6 ± 2.0% with the DCB versus 24.1 ± 2.0% with the DES; the 1-sided 97.5% upper confidence limit of the difference was 10.9%, achieving noninferiority of the DCB compared with the DES (p for noninferiority < 0.001). The DCB and DES had comparable 1-year rates of target lesion failure (4.4% vs. 2.6%, p = 0.72). In this multicenter randomized trial, the Restore DCB was noninferior to the RESOLUTE DES for 9-month in-segment percentage diameter stenosis. (Assess the Efficacy and Safety of RESTORE Paclitaxel Eluting Balloon Versus RESOLUTE Zotarolimus Eluting Stent for the Treatment of Small Coronary Vessel Disease; NCT02946307). |
Could your bank get a mortgage?
In an effort to shore up the notion that a bank is “too big to fail”— which is in and of itself a ridiculous concept that anyone with half a brain ought to have a hard time believing—US regulators had adopted a new rule that will force America’s largest banks to have more assets in their coffers.
The new rule focuses on a bank’s supplementary leverage ratio. That’s a leverage ratio reflecting the amount of dept a company has on its balance sheet in relationship to its total assets. Currently that ratio is 3 percent but it’s been increased to 5 percent of equity at the bank holding company and 6 percent at their subsidiaries.
The change translates to an estimated hike of between $68 billion and $95 billion for our nation’s eight largest banks and include JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), and Wells Fargo (WFC), Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Bank of New York (BK), and State Street (STT).
While that amount might seem astronomical to the average bank customer, according to a Fortune.com story published earlier this week, “$68 billion is roughly a quarter of what the big banks will earn by the time the rule goes into effect.” That would be by January 2018.
Making sure we don’t have to endure another financial crisis, caused in part by our biggest banks and the financial industry, is a very good thing. But thinking that a bank, or any person, company, group, institution etc. is too big to fail is both pretty flawed and stupid thinking.
But don’t believe me. In 1786, Robert Burns said it best when he wrote these insightful words in a poem titled, To a Mouse: “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men Gang aft agley, An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, For promis’d joy!”
A 3 percent jump isn’t much to ask given that banks aren’t the kinds of simple institutions they were once upon a time when their primary focus was taking in customer deposits and then lending the monies out for things like car loans and mortgages. Today, however, banks are financial institutions rift with investment goals that focus more on their shareholders needs than the goals of those their everyday depositors.
Which brings me to this blog’s headline. ‘Could your bank get a mortgage?”
If corporations are people, that makes a bank a person. Right? I don’t know too many people who could walk into their bank today and qualify for a mortgage with only 5 percent down. |
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The criminal justice reform bill that the Senate passed on Tuesday is the biggest change to the federal criminal justice system in decades. But it is also, despite headlines describing it as “sweeping” and an “overhaul,” a very modest bill.
It’s right there in the name: It’s called the First Step Act, acknowledging that it’s, well, a first step. The bill doesn’t end the war on drugs or mass incarceration. It won’t stop law enforcement from locking up nonviolent drug offenders. It doesn’t legalize marijuana. It doesn’t even end mandatory minimums or reduce prison sentences across the board, and it in fact only tweaks both.
This isn’t to take away from the legislation or suggest that it wasn’t worth doing. Thousands of federal prison inmates will benefit from the bill. But it’s important to put the bill in a broader context — to not oversell its impact, and to acknowledge there’s still a lot more room to make America’s federal criminal justice system less punitive.
To that end, there are two things about the First Step Act to keep in mind: First, the changes are really modest tweaks. Second, it only affects the federal criminal justice system, not the state and local systems that make up a great majority of America’s criminal justice framework.
The First Step Act’s changes are fairly modest
The First Step Act makes what I would characterize as meaningful tweaks to the federal criminal justice system. It very slightly pulls back punitive mandatory minimum sentences, by, for example, letting judges give lower sentences in some circumstances, and relaxing a “three strikes” law to give 25 years instead of life in prison. It makes 2010 crack sentencing reforms, which eased crack sentences to bring them more in line with powder cocaine penalties, retroactive. It expands “good time credits” that well-behaved inmates can use to get out of prison a little earlier. It creates “earned time credits” that encourage inmates to take part in rehabilitative programs for an earlier release.
In total, the bill will let a few thousand inmates — probably around 6,000 to 7,000 — out of prison early once it’s enacted, and slightly shorten prison sentences in the future. That may sound like a lot, but keep in mind the federal prison system currently holds nearly 181,000 people, and 2.1 million people are in prison or jail in America.
As Stanford drug policy expert Keith Humphreys noted in the Washington Post, more than 1,700 people are released from prison every day already — so the bill in one sense equates to adding a few more days of typical releases to the year.
It’s not nothing. To the extent that a bill like this needed to get by a Republican-controlled House, Senate, and White House, and get at least some Democratic approval to pass, it’s a solid compromise.
And given that America incarcerates the most people out of any country in the world, and that the research shows that mass incarceration is ineffective and even counterproductive for crime-fighting, it’s a positive step in the right direction.
But it doesn’t touch the primary drivers of mass incarceration in America.
The First Step Act only affects the federal criminal justice system
As a federal bill, the First Step Act only directly affects the federal criminal justice system. This is a reality of federalism in the US: While federal legislation can try to incentivize state laws and systems to move in a certain direction, the federal government ultimately only sets policy and laws at the federal level.
This is an important caveat for criminal justice reform, because the federal system is a small (but significant) part of the overall criminal justice system.
Consider the numbers: According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, 87 percent of US prison inmates are held in state facilities (and most state inmates are in for violent, not drug, crimes). That doesn’t even account for local jails, where hundreds of thousands of people are held on a typical day in America. Just look at this chart from the Prison Policy Initiative, which shows both local jails and state prisons far outpacing the number of people incarcerated in federal prisons:
One way to think about this is what would happen if President Donald Trump used his pardon powers to their maximum potential — meaning he pardoned every single person in federal prison right now. That would push down America’s overall incarcerated population from about 2.1 million to about 1.9 million.
That would be a hefty reduction. But it also wouldn’t undo mass incarceration, as the US would still lead all but one country in incarceration: With an incarceration rate of around 593 per 100,000 people, only the small nation of El Salvador would come out ahead — and America would still dwarf the incarceration rates of other developed nations like Canada (114 per 100,000), Germany (76 per 100,000), and Japan (41 per 100,000).
Similarly, almost all police work is done at the local and state level. There are about 18,000 law enforcement agencies in America, only a dozen or so of which are federal agencies.
The federal government could encourage municipalities and states to reform their justice systems — through, for example, grants incentivizing less incarceration. That’s something that criminal justice reformers have pushed for in recent years, like the Brennan Center for Justice’s Reverse Mass Incarceration Act, which would provide funds to simultaneously cut incarceration and crime.
But these incentive programs seem to only work if municipalities and states actually want the policies that they encourage. For example, studies found that the 1994 federal crime law, which encouraged more incarceration, only led a handful of states, at best, to actually change their laws. In fact, many states had already moved toward mass incarceration before the federal law.
Criminal justice reform, then, is going to fall largely to municipalities and states, and a bill that might slightly cut incarceration on the federal level isn’t going to have a very big effect. (To this end, many cities and states are actually way ahead of the federal government when it comes to criminal justice reform, with many passing the kinds of sentencing reforms that the federal system has struggled to enact.)
That’s not to downplay the work of criminal justice reformers who are trying to reduce the size and burden of what amounts to a fairly large prison system at the federal level. But to understand the bill, it’s important to put its full impact on mass incarceration in the broader national context.
For more on mass incarceration, read Vox’s explainer.
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Q:
Are these sets of complex numbers equal?
Consider the following sets;
\begin{align}
&S = \left\{ {z \in \Bbb C: 1 \leq \lvert z\rvert\leq 8, \frac{3\pi}{4} \leq \lvert \arg(z)\rvert \leq \frac{3\pi}{2} }\right\}\\
&T = \left \{ { z \in \Bbb C: 1 \leq \lvert z\rvert\leq 8, \frac{11\pi}{4} \leq \lvert \arg(z)\rvert \leq \frac{7\pi}{2}}\right\}
\end{align}
In $T$, the bounds on the argument are simply $\frac{3\pi}{4} + 2\pi$ and $\frac{3\pi}{2} + 4\pi$. Are they equal sets or does this exclude $\operatorname{Arg}(z)$?
Edit: The second bound should be $\frac{7\pi}{2}$. That said, the bounds are now $\frac{3\pi}{4} + 2\pi$ and $\frac{3\pi}{2} + 2\pi$ respectively. Are the sets now equal?
A:
Hint: double check the second bound in $T$, is it $\frac{3\pi}{2} + 2\pi$?
In $T$ there appears to be some complex numbers whose argument is $2\pi$, i.e. on the positive real axis, are there such numbers in $S$?
edit: In response to your edit, so that we have $\frac{3\pi}{2} + 4\pi$, is the interval of the same size as the previous set? As I mentioned, check to see if you can find members in one set that aren't in the other
So as an example using the notation of your sets, $1\notin S$ since $\vert\text{arg}(z)\vert \neq 0 \pm 2n\pi,n\in \mathbb{Z}$ in the range given
but $1 \in T$ with $\text{arg}(z) = 2\pi$ so they are not equal
final edit: with your last edit then yes, the interval is identical as both endpoints differ by $+2\pi$
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Brachfeld, who is presently hard at work making a name for herself in the horror scene, has been cast as Mallory, a girl with self-destructive habits who is struggling to deal with both an abusive relationship and demonic possession. Known for such horror-filled film-capers as Evil Deeds 2, as well as underground indie classics like Return of the Ghostbusters, the vivacious Brachfeld has this to say about her career to date:
“A Colorado native, Arielle has had wonderful success in Los Angeles. She has carved out a place for herself in the horror community through lead and supporting roles in projects directed by James Wan (Saw, Insidious) and Mike Mendez (Grave Dancers, Mega Spider). Arielle has even been featured on TMZ as a scream queen. She also has an impressive portfolio as a model, having led campaigns for Adidas,
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On Sunday, March 28 -- a day with a lot of rain, wind, sleet and, fog -- John Oakberg, NK4N, of Sevierville, Tennessee, went out hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Mt LeConte. When he was about 1 mile up from Alum Cave Bluff, he came across Judy Potter, 57, of Atlanta who had broken her ankle while on the trail. Oakberg reached for his cell phone to call 911, but there was no coverage available. He then reached for his handheld transceiver and put out a call to any Amateur Radio operators who may be listening via some nearby VHF 2 meter repeaters.
Scott Wyrick, KD4CWB, of Seymour, Tennessee, told the ARRL that he was the first to respond to Oakberg's call. After he obtained the necessary information, Wyrick called the National Park Service dispatcher, requesting that they dispatch a rescue team. "John's signal was noisy into the machines, but two other stations -- Dean Webb, N4NLT, and Cleve Hayes, KB4UAL -- were able to copy him on the input frequencies," he told the ARRL. Wyrick lives in Sevier County, the same county where the National Park is located.
Webb, who was driving across Fort Loudoun Dam in Loudon County -- heard the emergency call calling for assistance on his mobile station on 146.940. "His signal was poor into the repeater and it was very scratchy," he told WATE, a television station in Knoxville, Tennessee. Webb and Hayes quickly set up a radio relay with Wyrick from John Oakberg on the mountain.
Hayes -- who was at his home in Knox County for the relay -- told WATE that he "could relay what [John Oakberg] was saying to Scott, who was on the phone to the National Park Service to get the information that they wanted, such as height, weight, age and does she have any medical issues."
Wyrick told the ARRL that the rescue team was able to reach Potter after a few hours, around 2 PM. They carried her to safety several miles down the mountainside, reaching the staging area set up in the parking lot at the base of the mountain approximately three hours later. Paramedics treated her on the scene, but she refused transport via ambulance and left by private vehicle with her freinds who took her to the Service County Medical Center for additional treatment. According to WATE, she is scheduled for surgery in Atlanta to pin and plate two broken bones in her left ankle.
"It hit a point where I was just in tears," Potter told WATE. "You can say you're going to be tough and get out of this, but you just get weary. And I think having somebody come an hour or two quicker and being able to get moving helped keep my spirits going. People all over the place that I don't even know helped me. Thank you!" -- Thanks to Scott Wyrick, KD4CWB, and WATE for the information |
Mariusz Muszalik
Mariusz Muszalik (born September 23, 1979 in Katowice) is a Polish footballer who currently plays for CKS Czeladź.
Career
Club
He was released from Piast Gliwice on 1 July 2011.
In July 2011, he joined Olimpia Elbląg on a one-year contract.
References
External links
Category:1979 births
Category:Living people
Category:Sportspeople from Katowice
Category:Polish footballers
Category:Ekstraklasa players
Category:Piast Gliwice players
Category:Odra Wodzisław players
Category:Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski players
Category:GKS Katowice players
Category:Olimpia Elbląg players
Category:Ruch Radzionków players
Category:Association football midfielders |