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Two films about cancer in one week. Also a Canadian-Bollywood hybrid and three films not available to us for preview. That’s OK. It leaves more space for my latest picks for films to see at the Vancouver International Film Festival. 50/50: While I applaud Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, his long-time pal from Point Grey High school, for getting this film made, I find it just a bit too light. The subject is cancer after all. The story is their friend Will Reiser’s battle to survive the disease and it starts as a buddy comedy, becomes a romantic comedy and has only a few moments of the terror that must surely have also been there. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, in his usual nice-guy mode, plays the patient and Rogen plays his wise-cracking best friend. Cancer can help you pick up girls, he suggests, and his views on a girlfriend’s sexual duties are from the stone age. Typical modern comedy stuff. RESTLESS: A second film about cancer this week. Well, not as directly. It’s Gus Van Sant’s quirky romance between a terminally-ill cancer patient (Mia Wasikowska, who starred in the most recent Alice in Wonderland) and a damaged young man (Henry Hopper, Dennis’ son). They meet crashing funerals, both playfully looking at death. BREAKAWAY: A Canadian spin on the story we saw in Bend it Like Beckham. There’s even an overlap. The distinguished Indian actor, Anupam Kher, plays the father in both films. This time he forbids his son playing hockey. The son secretly defies him, forms an all Sikh team to take on the biggest white team around and gets Rob Lowe to coach. WHAT’S YOUR NUMBER: The funny Anna Faris, who grew up in Seattle, joins the raunchy women’s comedy movement. She plays a woman who decides to re-visit 20 former lovers to see if one of them is actually Mr. Right. “Hilarious” or a standard romantic comedy with few laughs, depending on who you believe. I haven’t seen it. (Oakridge, Scotiabank and suburban theatres). And here are my latest VIFF recommendations. WAKING THE GREEN TIGER: This is a must see if you’re into and concerned about environmental issues. It has an important story to tell and it also helps that the cinematography, the editing and the writing are all excellent. Vancouver documentary maker Gary Marcuse shows a protest forming in China over a dam building project, and by extension sees an environmental movement building. Some 13 dams were planned for the Nu River and promoted to the local farmers and villagers as progress. Activists showed them what happened on another river, where villages had to move and people are now scavengers. On a third river, a dam was stopped with the help of a new environmental law, a first and a turning point in China. The film explains its importance by showing in detail what came before: Chairman Mao’s dictum to tame nature. There’s great archival footage of masses of people sent out to cut trees, fill in lakes or kill birds, all campaigns that had disastrous consequences. I wonder how much is really changing and had a bit of trouble at point keeping the three rivers straight, but those are minor gripes about a very good film. It plays on two afternoons (Saturday and the last Tuesday) and gets a World Premiere, late on Friday the 7th.

Incorporation of influenza A virus genome segments does not absolutely require wild-type sequences. The efficient incorporation of influenza virus genome segments into virions is mediated by cis-acting regions at both ends of the viral RNAs. It was shown previously that nt 16-26 at the 3' end of the non-structural (NS) viral RNA of influenza A virus are important for efficient virion incorporation and that nt 27-56 also contribute to this process. To understand further the signalling requirements for genome packaging, this study performed linker-scanning mutagenesis in the latter region and found that nt 27-35 made an appreciable contribution to the efficient incorporation of the NS segment. An NS vRNA library was then generated composed of an RNA population with randomized nucleotides at positions 16-35 such that the virus could select the sequences it required for virion incorporation. The sequences selected differed from the wild-type sequence and no conserved nucleotides were selected. The ability of non-wild-type sequences to function in this manner indicates that the incorporation of influenza A virus genome segments does not absolutely require specific sequences.

Lithium batteries which employ Li as the negative active material can constitute high-voltage battery systems by combining with an appropriate positive active material, and the energy density, especially weight efficiency (Wh/kg), can be improved. For this reason, various types of lithium batteries are put into practical use in a large volume as small, light-weight power sources for portable equipment. In addition to lithium primary batteries which need to be replaced after end of discharge, lithium secondary batteries which can be renewed for continued use have been developed and are becoming commercially practical. Since metallic Li reacts with water generating hydrogen, non-aqueous electrolyte such as liquid organic electrolyte obtained by dissolving a certain kind of Li salt into a dehydrated aprotic organic solvent or solid polymer electrolyte is generally used as the electrolyte in lithium batteries. If metallic Li can be used as it is as a negative electrode material for a secondary battery as in a primary battery, the negative electrode potential becomes the least noble making it possible to construct a high-voltage battery system and providing advantage from the standpoint of energy density. However, metallic Li negative electrode suffers the problem of causing active dendritic or mossy crystals of metallic Li to deposit on the negative electrode surface during charge, which penetrate the separator and tend to cause internal short circuit with the positive electrode, thus making it unable to achieve a long cycle life. Furthermore, the deposited dendritic or mossy crystals of metallic Li react with the solvent in the organic electrolyte making it inactive, thus making the battery unrenewable by charge and resulting in a relative decrease of the capacity. It was therefore necessary in designing and manufacturing batteries to load a large quantity of the negative active material in anticipation of such a decrease of capacity, indicating that it is not necessarily a good negative electrode material appropriate for realizing a high capacity. In order to suppress such deposition of dendritic or mossy crystals during charge, alloys of Li with aluminum or with Wood's metal which is a fusible alloy have been tried as a negative electrode material. A negative electrode comprising such metals as can make alloys with Li or Li alloys containing at least one of such metals shows a relatively high capacity in the initial cycles of charge-discharge. However, through repetition of alloying with Li due to charge and detachment of Li due to discharge, a phase different from the original one is caused though keeping the original crystal structure of the skeleton alloy, or a change into a crystal structure which is different from the original skeleton alloy tended to be caused. Through such a phenomenon, crystal grains of the metal of the alloy acting as the host material of Li active material undergo swelling and shrinking, and as the charge-discharge cycles the progresses, cracks take place in the crystal grains of the metal or alloy as the host material resulting in the grains becoming fine. Such phenomenon of the grains becoming fine causes an increase in the ohmic resistance among grains of the negative electrode material, and deterioration of the charge-discharge characteristic due to an increase in the resistance polarization during charge and discharge. Consequently, the use of a negative electrode material comprising a Li alloy is currently limited to the negative electrode material for lithium secondary batteries for applications such as memory backup which is not always subjected to a deep discharge. On the other hand, a system in which a carbon material such as graphite capable of repeating absorption and desorption of lithium ions (Li.sup.+) with charge and discharge is employed as the host material in the negative electrode material has been recently commercialized under the name of lithium-ion secondary batteries. As the positive electrode material, lithium cobaltate (LiCoO.sub.2), lithium nickelate (LiNiO.sub.2), or spinel-type lithium manganese oxide (LiMn.sub.2 O.sub.4), which are all capable of repeating desorption and absorption of lithium ions (Li.sup.+) with charge and discharge, are used similarly to the negative electrode. As the lithium-ion secondary batteries have a long cycle life, increasingly more of them are being used in small and light weight power sources for portable telephones, camcorders, and notebook type personal computers. The capacity (mAh) and energy density (mWh.multidot.g.sup.-1) of lithium-ion secondary batteries have a close interrelationship primarily with the capacity density (mAh.multidot.g.sup.-1) of the carbon material used as the host material of Li.sup.+ of the negative electrode. As is well known, carbon has a wide range of forms from crystalline graphite to amorphous carbon and its characteristic as a negative electrode material is heavily dependent on its physical properties. As an example, use in a negative electrode of graphitic carbon material made from a material generally referred to as graphitizable carbon or soft carbon is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. Sho 60-182670 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. Hei 4-155776. When using graphite, the theoretical capacity of its carbon material is calculated to be 372 mAh.multidot.g.sup.-1 from Eqn. (1). ##STR1## When using a graphite group carbon material in the negative electrode, a capacity close to the theoretical capacity is obtained and, as the charge-discharge potential is approximately equal to the dissolution and deposition potential of metallic Li and is extremely flat, a lithium-ion battery having a high capacity and with a stable voltage can be realized. However, graphite group material with a high degree of crystallization has a drawback of decomposing organic solvent of the liquid electrolyte. In contrast to this, use of an amorphous or low-crystallization carbon material generally referred to as non-graphitizable carbon or hard carbon in the negative electrode is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. Sho 61-111907 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. Sho 62-90863. In these cases, though the flatness of the discharge voltage as a lithium-ion secondary battery is inferior, it has the features of suppressing decomposition of organic solvent of the electrolyte and at the same time achieving a high capacity in excess of the theoretical capacity of graphite or graphitic carbon materials of 372 mAh.multidot.g.sup.-1. In order to achieve a high capacity of a carbon material for negative electrode in a lithium-ion secondary battery, it is necessary that a large quantity of Li be absorbed by insertion into the carbon material in the initial charge and that a large discharge capacity be taken out in the initial discharge. Usually, however, the above-mentioned initial discharge capacity is smaller than the initial charge capacity with some inactive irreversible capacity existing due to dead lithium absorbed and fixed within the carbon material without contributing to subsequent discharge. Though conventional soft carbon is suitable for achieving a higher capacity, it also suffers a serious drawback of having a large irreversible capacity. Lithium-ion secondary batteries suffer a problem of the liquid organic electrolyte being decomposed or internal short-circuit caused when subjected to over charge. The greater the irreversible capacity of the carbon material of the negative electrode is, the more tho positive electrode is over charged and decomposes liquid organic electrolyte. Accordingly, when constructing a battery, it is necessary to increase the positive electrode capacity in the amount equal to the irreversible capacity of the negative electrode in order to suppress over charge. This increment of the positive electrode capacity equal to the irreversible capacity of the negative electrode is an inefficient portion which cannot contribute to subsequent discharge and is a limiting factor in achieving a higher capacity. Consequently, it is an extremely significant requirement that the negative electrode material to obtain a high-capacity lithium-ion secondary battery should have a characteristic of absorbing a large quantity of lithium in the initial charge while having a small irreversible capacity.

Last month, Leigh Corfman came forward with her story of being sexually assaulted by Roy Moore in 1979, when she was just 14 years old. On Monday, she appeared on Today to share more about what happened in an emotional interview. Corfman describes being taken to Moore’s house, where he laid blankets on the floor and proceeded to “seduce” her. Corfman’s language about the encounter tries to account for her age at the time, and her understanding then of what was happening. “I wouldn’t exactly call it a date. I would say it was a meet. At 14, I was not dating. At 14, I was not able to make those kind of choices,” she says. After Moore removed most of her clothes, he left briefly, then returned in his underwear. Corfman says he touched her over her underclothes and tried to direct her to touch him. At that point, she pulled away, and said she had to leave. When asked if she was aware of being molested or assaulted, Corfman says that those words were not in her vocabulary at the time. It sounds as though she tried to contextualize the experience through her understanding of adult romance. “I had been reading Harlequin romances for years, at that point. I was expecting candlelight and roses, what I got was very different,” she explains. Corfman says that right after the experience she told three friends, and they all counseled her that seeing an older man was a bad idea. The next time Moore called, she made an excuse and didn’t go to meet him. Corfman says it took her years to get her confidence in herself back and she felt guilty for what happened. She says it took decades to let that go. When asked why it has taken her so long to come forward, Corfman says she did tell people. Family and friends were aware of Moore’s assault of her. She says she was afraid of being a single parent with small children and coming forward, but had considered it many times. When the Washington Post sought her out, Corfman says she had to “make a decision.” She agreed to speak if they found others—and they did. Meanwhile, Kellyanne Conway went on Fox and Friends Monday to imply that although Roy Moore appears to be a serial abuser of children, Republicans really, really need his vote for Trump’s tax plan. Conway won’t say yes, she just answers, “I’m telling you that we want the votes in the senate to get this tax bill through.” Then she veers off to say Al Franken should be on the “ashpile,” presumably without Moore by his side. Conway is willing to say that there are “no plans” for the president to go down to Alabama and openly stan for Roy Moore. But he’s not doing much to take a strong stance against sexual assault of children, either.

Porous structure optimisation of flash-calcined metakaolin/fly ash geopolymer foam concrete Abstract This study reports the production and characterisation of geopolymer foam concrete (GFC). This material is foreseen for use as a self-bearing insulation material. In order to identify an optimal paste composition, eight mixtures were made and are presented in a ternary diagram (dry extract of alkaline solution, flash-calcined metakaolin (MK) and fly ash (FA)). The characterisation of these pastes (initial setting time (IST), shrinkage and compressive strength) indicated an optimal composition corresponding to 25% of activator, 62.5% of MK and 12.5% of FA. The GFCs were then produced by inserting variable amounts of H2O2 (1, 1.5 and 2%) into the geopolymer paste. The fresh GFC porous structure was stabilised with surfactant. The GFCs produced had low densities (225 < < 506 kg/m3) associated with low thermal conductivities (0.07 < < 0.12 W/(m.K)) and acceptable compressive strength (0.5 < Rc < 1.85 MPa, for samples cured at 20 °C). A significant influence of the surfactant content on the porous structure was demonstrated. The lower surfactant content led to a porous structure made of larger bubbles separated by wider matrix walls promoting GFC compressive strength.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares of ZTE Corp (0763.HK) surged nearly 24 percent on Thursday after China’s No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker cleared the last hurdle to lifting a U.S. ban on component supplies. ZTE’s shares in Shenzhen (000063.SZ) also rose the daily limit of 10 percent. The United States said on Wednesday that it signed an agreement with ZTE that paves way for the Chinese tech company to resume operations after a nearly three-month ban on doing business with American suppliers.

Vascular anatomy and tissue osmolality in the filiform and fungiform papillae of the cat's tongue. The vascular anatomy of the filiform and fungiform papillae of the feline tongue was studied by i.a. injection of India ink. Vascular loops of various appearances were found in the types of papillae studied, i.e. the large and the small filiform papillae and the fungiform ones. Such hairpin loops may function as countercurrent exchangers and to test this hypothesis tissue osmolality was determined in the papillae, while exposing them to various isotonic electrolyte solutions. The large filiform papillae with a vascular arrangement similar to that of intestinal villi exhibited a marked osmolar gradient from tip to base when exposed to a solution containing both glucose and sodium. If sodium and/or glucose was excluded from the solution, tissue osmolality was significantly decreased. This was also the case when the chloride ions of the solution was substituted with sulphate. The small filiform papillae are only provided with one or a few capillary loops. They exhibited a less marked osmolar gradient than the large ones and one of the different electrolyte solutions decreased the gradient. In the fungiform papillae a tissue hyperosmolality at the tip was also demonstrated. It is proposed that the papillary epithelium is provided with active transport mechanism(s) and that the papillary vessels function as countercurrent multipliers. The functional importance of these mechanisms are tentatively discussed.

I have lots of this adorable “kids by the sea” and seagull fabric. I’ve already made some pillowcases with some and I thought it would make a darling apron. I also used some of this fabric to make a bag. McCalls P342 I’m finding I get smoother curves when I cut out my patterns with a rotary cutter. I resisted this for so many years because I thought it was dangerous, but I can’t dispute the result. This pattern came out exactly like the photograph on the cover of the pattern. The directions were straightforward and easy to follow. I do recommend that you have another pair of hands to help you finish it up. You need someone to help you fit the back so it closes cleanly and also the shoulder strap. Also the pocket gets pinned to the front so you can have it in a comfortable and usable place. Decades of Style This apron was a big hit at my store when I had it. Because the apron cut on the bias, it is very complimentary to the figure. I made one of these reversible aprons in two batik fabrics. My dear friend Diane Ruby, from Reno, Nevada made me one for Christmas. I love this one also. Another cute apron pattern from Decades of Style is the 1940’s Apron from Val’s Kitchen Advertisements

Optimization of pH as a Strategy to Improve Enzymatic Saccharification of Wheat Straw for Enhancing Bioethanol Production : In this work, wheat straw (WS) was used as a lignocellulosic substrate to investigate the influence of pH on enzymatic saccharification. The optimum enzymatic hydrolysis occurred at pH range 5.8 6.0, instead of 4.8 - 5.0 as has been widely reported in research. Two enzymes cocktails, Celluclast® 1.5L with Novozymes 188, Cellic® CTec2 and endo-1, 4--Xylanase, were used for the pH investigation over a pH range of 3.0 7.0. The highest concentration of total reduced sugar was found at pH 6.0 for all the different enzymes used in this study. The total reduced sugar produced from the enzymatic saccharification at pH 6.0 was found to be 7.0, 7.4 and 10.8 (g L -1 ) for Celluclast® 1.5L with Novozymes 188, endo-1, 4--Xylanase and Cellic® CTec2, respectively. By increasing the pH from 4.8 to 6.0, the total reduced sugar yield increased by 25% for Celluclast® 1.5L with Novozymes 188 and endo-1, 4--Xylanase and 21% for Cellic® CTec2. The results from this study indicate that WS hydrolysis can be improved significantly by elevating the pH at which the reaction occurs to the range of 5.8 to 6.0. Abstract In this work, wheat straw (WS) was used as a lignocellulosic substrate to investigate the influence of pH on enzymatic saccharification. The optimum enzymatic hydrolysis occurred at pH range 5.8 6.0, instead of 4.8 - 5.0 as has been widely reported in research. Two enzymes cocktails, Celluclast® 1.5L with Novozymes 188, Cellic® CTec2 and endo-1, 4--Xylanase, were used for the pH investigation over a pH range of 3.0 7.0. The highest concentration of total reduced sugar was found at pH 6.0 for all the different enzymes used in this study. The total reduced sugar produced from the enzymatic saccharification at pH 6.0 was found to be 7.0, 7.4 and 10.8 (g L -1 ) for Celluclast® 1.5L with Novozymes 188, endo-1, 4--Xylanase and Cellic® CTec2, respectively. By increasing the pH from 4.8 to 6.0, the total reduced sugar yield increased by 25% for Celluclast® 1.5L with Novozymes 188 and endo-1, 4--Xylanase and 21% for Cellic® CTec2. The results from this study indicate that WS hydrolysis can be improved significantly by elevating the pH at which the reaction occurs to the range of 5.8 to 6.0. 1. pH's of the suspensions (buffer solutions and WS) after adding enzyme were adjusted to the original pH values (3.00, 3.50, 4.00, and so on). This made the suspension hold substantial amount of buffer capacity (in other words, comming back to the buffer solution with enough buffer capacity), which means that real pH changes (after time went on) were screened by the buffer solutions. Do the author ensure that the pH changes after 72 hrs reflected the real change in pH ? Author respond: The authors would express their gratitude to the reviewer for his/her time taken in improving the paper. The authors have checked during the research work the pH changes after 72 hours and it reflect the real change in pH. 2. The authors did not describe why the optimized pH ranges for WS are shifted for higher values than those for pure cellulosic substrates. Authors respond: The authors included the reason in the conclusion (Paragraph 3): (Reducing the acidity in lignocellulosic substrates enzymatic hydrolysis might have an effect on reducing lignin inhibition of the activity of the enzyme, by reducing the lignin absorption of enzymes or affecting the lignin-cellulose binding and interaction by affecting the electrostatic charge of the lignocellulose, changing the pH could also have an effect on the lignin-derived phenols). Minor corrections: 1. The font size of sub-titles can make the reader confused. For example, the font (or its size) of "Raw wheat straw composition using HPLC" and "Sugar analysis" should be differ from "Analytical methods". Authors respond: The font of titles and subtitles were changed and underline was added to the Analytical method and the sugar analysis was removed. 2. Please double check if any period mark or comma should be added in line 32 in Introduction Environmental degradation and the universal need for energy has raised the demand for clean, easily available and renewable energy sources to replace fossil fuel. The use of conventional fossil fuels as a major energy source has increased greenhouse gas emissions leading to global warming (,. Among the renewable energy sources, bioethanol has been of great interest in recent decades. There are many raw materials which can be used as resources for bio-ethanol production such as; molasses, corn and sugarcane. With the rising debate of food versus fuel, lignocellulosic waste present a very good raw material for bioethanol production (,. Bioethanol fuel production from lignocellulosic waste obtained from crops, wood and agricultural residues represent a promising resource for a sustainable bioethanol fuel production due to the low cost and large quantity available worldwide (,. Among the variety of lignocellulosic materials, agricultural residues such as wheat straw (WS) stands as an important candidate for large scale bioethanol production. This can be attributed to its sustainability, abundance and the large content of cellulose contrasted with a low lignin content (). According to statistics, WS which is a by-product from wheat production is one of the largest biomass feedstock in the world with a total production of approximately 690 kilotons in 2009, reaching 730 million tons in 2014 (). As a result, WS serves as a main appropriate lignocellulosic feedstock for bioenergy in the 21 st century. 2 WS cells mainly consist of three different polymers namely cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin (de Assis ). The bioconversion of lignocellulosic to cellulosic biofuel via a reduced sugar (fermentable sugars) platform involves three key steps. The first step is pre-treatment, followed by enzymatic saccharification or catalytic conversion of reduced sugar and finally fermentation, the last step in the ethanol production line (). Enzymatic saccharification has been considered as a fundamental and the highest cost step in bioconversion of lignocelluloses. Few studies have been carried out using lignocellulosic substrates (instead of standard cellulose substrates) to find the optimum pH value for enzymatic hydrolysis (). The majority of studies conducted on the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocelluloses using Trichoderma reesei (i.e Celluclast® 1.5L) were performed at pH 4.8 and at a temperatures around 50 °C. These conditions were considered as the optimum condition for hydrolysis based on laboratory enzyme activities using model substrates, i.e., pure cellulose (). The condition used for lignocelluloses enzymatic hydrolysis with endo-1, 4--Xylanase are quite similar to those commonly reported for Celluclast® 1.5L with Novozymes 188, which include a temperature of 50 °C and pH 4.8-5.0 (,. Similarly, although the recommended pH range for Cellic Cellic® CTec2 by Sigma Aldrich (Novozymes) is 5.0 -5.5, pH 4.8 or 5.0 is the most commonly reported in the literature (,. Celluclast® 1.5L with Novozymes 188 and Cellic Cellic® CTec2 are among the most used enzymes for cellulose hydrolysis, whiles endo-1, 4--Xylanase is for hemicellulose hydrolysis (, Oladi and Aita, 2018,,. Lignocellulosic substrates differ from pure cellulosic substrates in terms of physical and chemical compositions and structures. The presence of the hydrophobic lignin is considered a vital factor which inhibits the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose (Rajput and Visvanathan, 2018). The mechanism by which lignin alters the hydrolysis process depends on the adsorption of cellulase on to lignin rather than cellulose via ionic bond interactions, hydrogen bond interactions and hydrophobic interactions (). To solve this problem some researchers have modified the lignin surface using acid groups such as carboxylic and sulfonic to increase the hydrophilicity of the lignin (). This reduces the non-productive (non-specific) binding to cellulase which limits the yield of cellulose hydrolysis during the biochemical reaction of the lignocellulosic biomass (). Lignin is considered as a phenolic polymer with three main hydroxycinnamoyl alcohols: sinapyl, coniferyl and p-coumaryl alcohols. During the pre-treatment, these alcohols might be polymerized to guaiacyl, syringyl and p-hydroxyphenyl moieties (Bonawitz and Chapple, 2010). Both cellulases and hemicellulases are affected by lignin-derived phenols during enzymatic hydrolysis (dos ). Moreover, the exposed lignin present in the lignocellulosic biomass after pre-treatment affects the enzymes by absorbing them (). Many binding mechanisms between enzymes and lignin have been suggested related to hydrophobic, electrostatic and carbohydrate interactions (Sammond et 3 al., 2014). pH is an important factor as it alters the surface hydrophobicity by inducing a surface charge, this can also affect electrostatic interaction between lignin and cellulose. (). The aim of the research in this paper was to investigate the optimal pH range for different commercial enzyme cocktails that gives maximal lignocellulosic saccharfication during the enzymatic hydrolysis for the WS as a lignocelluloses substrates instead of the pure cellulosic substrate. The optimum pH for pure cellulosic substrate is established to be 4.8 which is also widely used as the optimum pH for lignocellulosic substrates during enzymatic hydrolysis. This study highlights that the optimum pH for pure cellulosic substrate (i.e whatman filter paper) is not necessarily the optimum pH for lignocellulosic materials during enzymatic hydrolysis. Raw material preparation To remove the surface dirt the WS was washed with distilled water several times until the residue colour become white. The washed WS was then dissected into smaller parts using a knife blender (Luvele Power-Plus Blender | 2200w, UK) and milled using a laboratory ceramic desk grinder (Waldner, Biotech GMBH). The milled straw was then sieved (AS-200 control, Retsch GmbH) to get uniform particle sizes within a range more than 2000 to less than 250 m and dried at 35 C ± (2 °C) in a drying cabinet for 24 hrs. The moisture content was determined according to NREL protocol and found to be in the range of 8-10 % (). Enzymatic hydrolysis assay The dried WS biomass was enzymatically hydrolysed to release monomeric sugars from cellulosic materials. This was achieved using 1g of dried WS in 50 mL of buffer solution (sodium citrate 0.05 M) allowing a total working volume of 50 mL. Prior to hydrolysis, 0.02% w/w sodium azide was added to the samples, before addition of the enzyme, to inhibit the microbial growth as this may consume the monomeric sugar produced and 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 4 inhibit the enzyme's activity (da Costa, ). The samples were incubated for 60 minutes at (50 C, 200 rpm) in a laboratory shaker/incubator (Orbital incubator SI 500, Stuart, UK). The hydrolysis proceeded under mild conditions (50 C, 200 rpm) in the shaker/incubator for 94 hrs. The pH of the buffer solution was adjusted between 3.0 -7.0 using 1M sodium hydroxide and 1M hydrochloric acid. To investigate the pH effect on different enzymes, a cocktail of Celluclast® 1.5 L with an activity loading of 15 FPU g -1 DM and Novozyme 188 with an activity loading of 30 CBU g -1 DM was used. Additionally, xylanase enzyme with an activity loading of 1540 U g -1 DM was used for the pH investigation. The commercial cellulose enzyme cocktail Cellic® CTec2 with an activity loading of 15 FPU g -1 DM was also selected for these experiments. The enzymatic hydrolysis was carried for 94 hrs, but it was found that after 72 hrs the total reduced sugar yield did not change, therefore 72 hrs was used as the end of the hydrolysis instead of 94 hrs. Aliquots of the hydrolysate were withdrawn every 24 hrs from the hydrolysis to check the total reduced sugar residue. These aliquots were boiled for 5 minutes to stop the enzymes activity and were then centrifuged (centrifuge 5702, Eppendorf, UK) at 4500 rpm for 5 minutes. The supernatants were sampled for total reduced sugar analysis using 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) reagent as described below. All the hydrolysis experiments were carried out in triplicate to ensure reproducibility. Analytical methods The raw WS carbohydrate composition, reduced sugar yield and carbohydrate composition in different WS samples were determined with the help of standard laboratory analytical procedure. The details of the analysis are as follows: Raw wheat straw composition using HPLC The carbohydrate composition of raw WS was determined by the NREL standard protocol (). Oven-dried WS (0.3 g) was hydrolyzed with 3 mL of 72 % sulfuric acid for 60 minutes at 30 C in a water bath. The samples were then diluted with 84 mL of deionized water to an acid concentration of 4 % and autoclaved for another 60 minutes at 121 C. The hydrolysis liquor was neutralized using solid calcium carbonate to pH (5.0 -6.0) and centrifuged for 10 minutes at 4400 rpm. The supernatant was filtered by passing through a 2 m filter paper and collected for the determination of the carbohydrates and lignin composition. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC, Nexera-1, Shimadzu) with a UV detection at 280 nm was used to determine the carbohydrates composition. The instrument was equipped with a Shodex sugar SP0810 column, the separation was carried out at 80 C. Deionized water was used as an eluent in a flow rate of 0.6 mL minute -1 with 20 m injected sample volume. The WS composition was 41 % cellulose, 33 % hemicellulose, 18 % lignin and 8% others. Sugar analysis- Total reduced sugar yield using UV/Visible The DNS method was used to measure the reduced sugar yield, by mixing 3 mL of DNS reagent and 1 mL of sodium citrate buffer (0.05M) with 0.5 mL of hydrolysate 5 supernatants. This mixture was submerged into a boiling water bath for 5 minutes then cooled to room temperature in a water-ice bath. 1.5 mL of sodium citrate buffer (0.05 M) and 3 mL of DNS reagent was used as a blank. All analyses were carried out in triplicate using Bibby Scientific™ 7305 Model UV/Visible Spectrophotometer at 540 nm wavelength. A calibration curve was obtained for glucose as it is the major product from WS. The calibration curve equation is Y = 0.3098 X + 0.0618 with R 2 = 0.9957, where Y represents absorbance and X represents the total reduced sugar concentration (1mg/0.5mL). Composition analysis using GC-MS The sugar extracted at the end of hydrolysis was centrifuged at 4400 rpm for 5 minutes and filtered through 0.2 m filter paper. The samples were then evaporated to dryness, treated with 300 L of methoxyamine hydrochloride solution in pyridine at a concentration of 20 mg mL -1 and incubated at 37 C for 90 minutes. Aliquots equal to 300L of n-Methyl-n-(trimethylsilyl) trifluoroacetamide (MSTFA) were added and incubated for another 60 minutes at the same temperature. The reduced sugar was then analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) using an Agilent 6890 plus GC with a 5973N MS, (Agilent Technologies, Palo Alto, CA, USA) equipped with a Restek column (30 m 0.25 mm 0.25 m, RxI-5MS, Bellafonte, PA, USA). The GC oven temperature was kept constant for 1 minute at 70 °C and gradually increased at a fixed rate of 5 °C minute -1 until 320 °C. The injection port and transfer line temperatures were 260 °C and 280 °C, respectively. The carrier gas (helium) flow rate was 1 mL minute -1. The injection volume was 1.0 L with a split injection ratio of 50:1. The data were recorded in the mass range of 50 -500 m/z and the results were specified by comparison (cross match) with standards sugars (). The average results of duplicate runs were reported. Results and Discussions pH evaluation before and after enzyme addition The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of changing the pH during the enzyme hydrolysis, therefore pH values were measured before and after addition of the enzymes. The measured pH values are reported in Table 1 for both before and after addition of the enzymes to the suspension (buffer solution and WS). Since the pH value increased as a result of adding the enzymes, the pH of the solutions were adjusted back to the original pH values, this is reported as pH-adjusted in Table 1. The results reported in Table 1 are the average of three replicates for each enzymes and pH-value. It was found that at low pH values, the change was higher after adding the enzymes than at high pH values due to the low acidity of the enzymes (pH 6.0-6.5). The highest increase in the pH value was noticed after adding the Ctec 2 to the pH 3 solution, with the pH value increasing from 3.0 to 3.61. Whiles the lowest change occurs after adding the Cellic® CTec2 to the solution with pH 7.0, the increase was very low and was neglected. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 Table 1: Measured pH values before and after addition of the enzymes and adjusted pH value at the end of enzymatic hydrolysis Due to the importance of the pH value, the pH at the start (0 hr) and at the end (72 hrs) of the enzymatic hydrolysis are shown in Figure 1 (a-c), for Celluclast® 1.5L with Novozymes 188, endo-1, 4--Xylanase and Cellic® CTec2 respectively. The experiments were repeated three times with the average results presented graphically in Figure 1. Figure 1(a) shows that for Celluclast® 1.5 l with Novozymes 188 there was a minor increase in pH at the end of the enzymatic hydrolysis. The difference in pH values were less than 0.17% at the maximum difference. On the other hand with endo-1, 4--Xylanase (Figure 1 (b)) there was an increase of 0.26% at the end of the enzymatic hydrolysis. A negligible change was observed after pH 4.0, and for pH 5.0 -7.0, the pH value remained the same. The greatest change was seen for Cellic® CTec2 as shown in Figure 1 (c). Between pH 3.0 -4.8, there was an increase in pH at the end of the enzymatic hydrolysis. The highest increase was found at pH 3.0 where the pH increased from 3.0 at (0 hr) to 3.41 at (72 hrs). This means that there was approximately 13% increase in the pH value at the end of hydrolysis. Although both endo-1, 4--Xylanase and Ctec 2 show the highest difference in pH value at pH 3.0, 3.5 and pH 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5 respectively, the difference is not very high and is within the error bar. Therefore, the adjusted pH value at (0 hr) and the final pH measured at each different pH point studied show no significant difference and can be assumed to be the same. 6.15 ± 0.02 6.15 ± 0.02 6.13 ± 0.03 6.01 ± 0.01 6.00 ± 0.01 5.99 ± 0.01 6.30 6.43 ± 0.04 6.40 ± 0.02 6.39 ± 0.02 6.30 ± 0.01 6.29 ± 0.01 6.29 ± 0.01 6.50 6.60 ± 0.02 6.59 ± 0.01 6.55 ± 0.02 6.49 ± 0.01 6.51 ± 0.01 6.49 ± 0.01 6.70 7.10 ± 0.02 6.77 ± 0.01 6.75 ± 0.03 7.00 ± 0.01 6.69 ± 0.01 7.00 ± 0.01 7.00 7.20 ± 0.03 7.05 ± 0.01 7.03 ± 0.01 6.99 ± 0.01 7.00 ± 0.01 7.03 ± 0.01 Influence of WS particle size on reduced sugar yield WS particle size is a fundamental parameter that effects biomass digestion efficiency. It has been suggested that grinding the WS to a fine size, breaks down the lignin as well as increasing the surface area of the sample which gives the enzymes more accessibility and facilitates the biomass digestion. The WS was ground using a ceramic disk and sieved to get different particle sizes ranging from less than 250 to more than 2000 m. Then the range of samples with different particle size was subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis at pH 4.8 using (Celluclast® 1.5L + Novozymes 188, endo-1, 4--Xylanase and Cellic® CTec2) for 94 hrs respectively. The hydrolysis was carried out for 24 hrs longer than the normal 72 hrs to ensure reaction completion. The reduced sugar yield was found to increase with smaller particle size as shown in Table 2. Grinding the WS to reduce the particle size increased the surface area and reduced the degree of crystallinity which gives more accessibility for enzymes and therefore increases the total reduced sugar yield (). The total reduced sugar yield increased rapidly with time up to about 50 hrs then it begins to level out. After 72 hrs, there was no significant increase in the total reduced sugar yield. It can clearly be seen that higher reduced sugar yield was obtained from the finest particle size for all the enzymes. Therefore the sample which gave the highest reduced sugar yield (less than 250 m) at pH 4.8 was chosen to study the pH effect on total reduced sugar yield during enzymatic hydrolysis. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 Table 2: Influence of different particle size on total reduced sugar yield (g L -1 ) at pH 4.8. Influence of pH on WS enzymatic hydrolysis using Celluclast® 1.5L with Novozymes 188 Using the smallest particle size (less than 250 m) 1 g of WS was enzymatically hydrolyzed using 50 mL of various pH (3.0 -7.0) solutions at 50 C and 200 rpm. Celluclast® 1.5L with Novozymes 188 was subjected to pH study since they are widely used for lignocellulosic enzymatic hydrolysis (,. The total reduced sugar yield was obtained using the DNS method and plotted against the pH at the end of hydrolysis (72 hrs) as shown in Figure 2. Total reduced sugar produced (g L -1 ) Influence of pH on WS enzymatic hydrolysis using endo-1, 4--Xylanase The experiment was repeated using the same conditions for the endo-1, 4--Xylanase enzyme as shown in Figure 4. Similarly to the previous enzyme cocktail, pH 4.8 -5.0 is currently the preferred value for enzymatic hydrolysis (). It can be seen that there was a detectable increase in total reduced sugar yield efficiency from 3.1 -7.4 (g L -1 ) in the pH range of 3.0 -6.0 with the optimum range being pH 5.7 -6.0 instead of 4.8 as widely used by researchers. Figure 5 shows a similar trend in the change of total reduced sugar yield with time by using endo-1, 4--Xylanase. The total reduced sugar yield increased from 5.5 (g L -1 ) to 7.4 (g L -1 ) at pH 4.8 and 6.0, respectively. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 Influence of pH on WS enzymatic hydrolysis using Cellic Cellic® CTec2 Cellulase Cellic® CTec2 is a commercial enzyme cocktail which was also subjected to the optimum pH investigation. The WS was enzymatically hydrolyzed under the same experimental conditions as for the previous enzymes (Celluclast® 1.5L with Novozymes 188 and endo-1, 4--Xylanase). Figure shows the total reduced sugar yield plotted against the pH value at the end of enzymatic hydrolysis (72 hrs). By increasing the pH from 4.8 to 6.0, the total reduced sugar yield increased from 8.5 (g L -1 ) to 10.8 (g L -1 (. The total reduced sugar yield for both pH 4.8 and 6.0 was also monitored with time during the hydrolysis, and the results are shown in Figure 7. The total reduced sugars yield from pH 4.8 and 6.0 behave similarly with time. The gap between the reduced sugar concentration was almost constant at 2.2 (g L -1 ) during the hydrolysis. Therefore, it is recommended to use pH 6.0 to achieve high reduced sugar yield from WS. In summary, all the enzymes used in this study show an improvement after changing the pH. Figure 8 illustrates the total reduced sugar yield after enzymatic hydrolysis for the enzymes at pH 4.8 and 6.0. By changing the pH of the solution from 4.8 to 6.0, Celluclast® 1.5L with Novozymes 188 and endo-1, 4--Xylanase show an increase in the total reduced sugar yield from 5.2 (g L -1 ) to 7.0 (g L -1 ) and 5.5 (g L -1 ) to 7.4 (g L -1 ) respectively. In the case of Cellic Ctec 2, the total reduced sugar increased from 8.5 (g L -1 ) to 10.8 (g L -1 ). Conclusion The results of the present study indicate the optimum pH for enzymatic hydrolysis using different enzymes (Celluclast® 1.5L with Novozymes 188, endo-1, 4--Xylanase and Cellic® CTec2) is different from the range pH 4.8 -5.0 used in most studies. The enzymatic hydrolysis was carried out for 94 hrs in the beginning, however, since there was no change in the reduced sugar yield after 72 hrs, here was no need to continue with enzymatic hydrolysis and the enzymatic hydrolysis was stopped after 72 hrs. The results obtained from this study indicate that the optimum pH for WS as a lignocellulosic substrate is higher than pH 4.8 which is exclusively used by almost all the existing literature. The enzymes activity test based on using pure cellulose substrate (Whatman paper) at pH 4.8 as an optimum pH suggested by cellulase manufacturers is not necessarily the same optimum value for lignocellulosic (i.e. WS) substrate. Reducing the acidity in lignocellulosic substrates enzymatic hydrolysis might have an effect on reducing lignin inhibition of the activity of the enzyme, by reducing the lignin absorption of enzymes or affecting the lignin-cellulose binding and interaction by affecting the electrostatic charge of the lignocellulose, changing the pH could also have an effect on the lignin-derived phenols. All the enzymes which were used in this study show a significant improvement in total reduced sugar yield after changing the pH from 4.8 to 6.0, both Celluclast® 1.5L with Novozymes 188, endo-1, 4--Xylanase shows an increase of (25%) while Ctec 2 shows an increase of (21%). Based on the results presented in this study, it is recommended that future work on enzymatic hydrolysis of WS as a lignocellulose substrate be conducted at a pH range of 5.8 -6.0.

. The aim of this prospective study was to determine the frequency of nosocomial urinary tract infections (UTI) and risk factors in intensive care unit patients. A total of 110 patients were included in the study, and UTI developed in 39.1% of them. The mean age of patients with UTI (53.6+/-20.0 yrs) was found higher than the patients without UTI (39.7+/-22.2 yrs), (p<0.01), whereas there was no gender associated difference between these two groups (p>0.01). No patient had developed symptoms suggesting UTI. All of the UTI has developed in patients with urinary catheter. Infections occurred in 72.2% of the patients with catheter lasting for seven days or more, and 24.3% of those lasting less than seven days (p<0.001). The UTI development rate was found as 31.3% in the patients who had been using antibiotics, while this ratio was 50% in those who had not used antibiotics (p<0.05). Pyuria was detected in 86.1% and 17.9% of the patients with and without UTI, respectively (p<0.001). Detection of bacteria in urine by the examination of Gram stained preparations, and the tests of peripheral blood leucocyte counting and CRP levels were not found sensitive and specific for nosocomial UTI. The prevalence of UTI increased gradually by the duration of hospitalization. The most frequently isolated microorganisms were found as Candida (27.2%), Escherichia coil (27.2%) and staphylococci (12.9%). Since nosocomial UTI which are important causes of morbidity in intensive care unit patients, are difficult to diagnose and treat, more efforts should be used for preventive measures.

Application of analytic hierarchy process for selection of heat transfer meters At the present time, the process of super-viscous oil deposits development is of current interest among the oil companies. The production of super-viscous oil in the Republic of Tatarstan is carried out using the steam-assisted gravity method. The article proposes a method for solving the problem of selecting a heat meter devices on sites of the Ashalchi field for the production of super-viscous oil. Analytic hierarchy process was used and the parameters required for the optimal selection of heat meters have been determined in the course of investigations. Based on these parameters, a hierarchy for the heat metering unit and a pairwise comparison matrix for the main criteria of the flowmeters have been made. As a result of the analysis, the optimal flowmeter in terms of the chosen criteria has been selected. Introduction In order to make management decisions and predict possible results, the decision-maker is faced with a complex system of mutually dependent components (resources, desired goals or source material, devices or groups of devices, etc.) that need to be analyzed. To solve decision-making problems, various mathematical tools of the systems approach are used in various fields. In particular, the universal analytic hierarchy process is now widely used, which interactively allows finding such an alternative that predicts the solution of the problem in the best way. This method (Analytic Hierarchy Process) was proposed by the American scientist Thomas Saaty in 1970, which is rapidly-growing and widely used for comparing objects and solving practical problems of complex control systems.. In order to use this method, it is necessary to systematize large amounts of information; namely, it is necessary to consider several solutions, select a suitable criterion, and determine conditions for problem solving. The analytic hierarchy process can be presented as the most reasonable solution in a challenging environment of multi-criteria problems with hierarchical structures that include tangible and intangible factors, in contrast to the approach based on linear logic elements. The principle of the method is to divide the problem into simple components by building multi-level hierarchy that combines all the required components, to analyze source data at each level of processing and to compare it. As a result, we get numerical values of the various hierarchy elements interaction, based on which the alternative option is preferred. The main objective of the hierarchy is to evaluate the higher levels at the stage of interaction between different levels of the hierarchy under consideration, and to exclude direct dependence on elements at these levels. Problem statement Let us review the analytic hierarchy process application when selecting heat meter devices used in the production of super-viscous oil at the Ashalchi field. The Ashalchi field experimental program has been developed since 2006. The analysis of various thermal treatments for the development of super-viscous oil deposits shows that the most reliable results are obtained when using steam-assisted gravity technology, which includes processes: combination of gravity drainage and steam drive. Based on foreign experience of horizontal wells used for the production of heavy high-viscosity oil, TATNEFT has developed its own technology with the use of paired horizontal wells at a distance of 5-6 m, strictly one above one another. The steam-assisted gravity effect is achieved through a pair of horizontal wells, the upper of which is designed for injecting steam, and the lower for selecting super-viscous oil. Paired horizontal wells are used to drill areas of deposits with an oil-saturated thickness of more than 10-12 meters. Areas of deposits with an oil-saturated thickness of less than 10 meters are drilled with horizontal wells to have a cyclic steam effect. Saturated vapor is used as a heat-transfer medium on exposure to the steam-assisted gravity. When injecting into the reservoir, the vapor goes up to the roof, making a high-temperature "chamber" and heating the viscous oil. The mechanism of steam drive is that due to the low density of vapor compared to other phases, the "steam chamber" expands upwards and sideward. Discharge vapor runs to the upper part of the reservoir. At the boundary of the "steam chamber", the vapor is condensed in the process of thermal energy transfer to the environment, and the heated oil is driven out by the condensed vapor and flows down under its own weight in the top-down direction. The "steam chamber" space expands as long as the movable oil and condensed vapor are taken from its base. Thus, the increase in reservoir recovery in the process of steam injection is achieved by reducing the oil viscosity, which helps to improve the reservoir coverage. Oil is always in contact with a high-temperature "steam chamber", i.e. heat losses are minimal, which makes this method profitable from an economic point of view. The steam used for injection is generated by several boiler plants. The original working substance for steam generation in boiler plants is water, and the original energy carrier is natural gas. The steam is the main heat-transfer medium in this production technology, a special place is taken by means of its metering and flow rate control of the steam injected into injection wells. The energy efficiency of this technology is largely determined by the measurement accuracy, which depends on both the metering principle and the quality of the steam flowmeter. Measuring steam flow rate is a very specific task. It is primarily determined by the parameters of the heat-transfer medium in the steam pipelines: by high temperatures and pressure. The vortex flow meters are the most common among the available devices for measuring the flow rate of heat-transfer fluid. Theory Suppose we have a number of alternatives (solutions): 1, 2, k. Each of the alternatives is evaluated by a list of criteria: 1, 2, n. The criteria are compared in pairs. The result can be represented as an antisymmetric matrix. The matrix element a (i,j) is the intensity of hierarchy element i relative to the hierarchy element j. For pairwise comparison, the author of the Saaty method proposed a special rating scale consisting of five main and four intermediate judgments: equal superiority -1; moderate superiority -3; Then a matrix is made. In the process of filling the matrix, if element i is more important than element j, then the cell (i, j) corresponding to row i and column j is filled with an integer, and the cell (j, i) corresponding to row j and column i is filled with a reciprocal number (fraction). In addition, pairwise comparison of options for each criterion is performed in the same way as it was done for the criteria, and the corresponding tables are filled in. For each table, the consistency of local priorities is checked by measuring three characteristics. Let us review three types of vortex flow meters that are most frequently used in the Ashalchi field. It is necessary to select the optimal flowmeter in the cost-efficiency ratio and to determine the parameters for the most appropriate option. Experimental results Let us build a hierarchy for the heat metering unit from the top through intermediate criteria to the lower level ( Figure 1). Figure 1. Hierarchy for the heat metering unit We perform a comparative analysis of each criterion in pairs, using a special rating scale consisting of five main definitions and four intermediate definitions (Table 1). The relative superiority scale contains the reciprocal values 1/3, 1/5, 1/7, 1/9 and intermediate values 1/8, 1/6, 1/4, 1/2. Since the factors are compared twice with each other in a sequential search of all possible pairs, only the part lying below or above the diagonal is filled in to make up the matrix. Heat metering unit We build a symmetric pairwise comparison matrix ( Table 2). Let`s measure parameters: standardized priority vector, maximum Eigen value, consistency index. The value of the native factor w*is determined by the formula:, ( where -coefficients of the symmetric pairwise comparison matrix j=0...n; n -dimension of the symmetric matrix. The standardized priority vector is determined by the formula:. ( The maximum eigenvalue of the considered symmetric matrix ( This condition is met: 8.08>7. The consistency index is calculated using the formula: Given that Ic<0.2, the discrepancy between the real and ideal comparison schemes is within the allowed range, so the consistency condition is met. At the next stage of solving the problem of choosing a flowmeter, we make up pairwise comparison matrix of parameters according to the reviewed criterion (Table 3-9). 6 We check if condition is met. Given that 3.01>3, the condition is met. The consistency index is determined by the formula Discussion of results We have made pairwise comparison matrices for alternative levels. We have determined native factors, standardized vectors, and Eigen values and confirmed the consistency of the matrices. Next, we need to synthesize the final solutions. To do this, we evaluate the standardized vectors with the selected weights of the criteria. As a result, we get the expression: The values obtained from the selection of heat flowmeters using the analytic hierarchy process are shown in the Bar chart ( Figure 2). Summary and conclusions Result analysis shows that the element of the standardized vector X1=0.219 has the maximum score. This means that the flowmeter of the first option is the most appropriate in terms of the set of reviewed criteria. We suggest the appropriate solution to the problem of choosing flow meters for heat metering, which allows efficient generation of a system of automation tools.

MISSING: Linda Scott, from Bulwell. Police are growing concerned about a missing 59-year-old woman from Bulwell. Linda Scott has not been seen since she left her Bulwell home at 4pm on Wednesday, March 23. Linda is white, around 5ft 3ins tall and of a large build. Her greying hair is short, but longer than in the image. She has tattoos of flowers on her left hand and forearm. She was wearing a black and white tunic-style top, black leggings and a dark, hooded top. A police spokesman said she has links to Nottingham city centre, Sneinton and St Ann’s. Anybody who has seen or heard from Lisa should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Frequency of a mutated CCR-5 allele (delta32) among Italian healthy donors and individuals at risk of parenteral HIV infection. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of a truncated allele of the CCR-5 gene (delta32) in Italy, and address its possible role in parenteral HIV transmission, as well as its influence in HIV-associated disease progression. In 371 unrelated seronegative healthy blood donors the delta32 allele frequency was 0.047; this figure was significantly different from those reported in northern America and northern Europe populations. However, delta32 allele frequency in healthy individuals did not differ significantly from that found in 54 seronegative drug users (0.065), 98 seronegative hemophiliacs (0.051), and 81 seropositive hemophiliacs (0.049). Although in seropositive hemophiliacs the wt/delta32 heterozygous genotype was associated with a trend to a slower decline in CD4+ cell counts, its presence did not seem to influence disease progression, as comparable delta32 allele frequency frequencies were found among progressing (0.042) and nonprogressing (0.111) patients. These data do not seem to support a protective role of the delta32 allele in preventing HIV infection through the parenteral route, or in influencing the natural history of the disease in this particular risk category, although the delta32 heterozygous state was associated with lower plasma viremia levels. On the other hand, the finding of non-syncytium-inducing HIV strains in the majority of delta32 heterozygous seropositive patients suggests that its presence could not be a major factor in driving a switch toward more cytopathic, T-tropic HIV strains through selective pressure in coreceptor usage.

Development of an acetone detection method using 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine impregnated porous glass Acetone has been attracting attention as a human biogas, and it can be detected in the breath of diabetic patients. Therefore, a method for easily measuring the trace amounts of acetone is essential. By focusing on 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH), which was used in a detection tube, we tried to detect acetone using a sensor element that was produced by impregnating the reagent into porous glass with a large surface area. Our research illustrated that the absorption peak of acetone-DNPH was shifted to a 14 nm longer wavelength than that of DNPH and showed that its molar absorption coefficient at 363 nm was approximately 1.86 times that of DNPH. Based on these results, we attempted to detect acetone using spectral analyses of the sensor element, and successfully detected acetone from sub-parts per million (ppm) concentrations to 10ppm after an exposure time of 1 h.

The relationship between being satisfied with one's health, good health practices and personal symptoms of ill health. The focus of this study was satisfaction with health and its relationship to good health practices, symptoms and current use of medication. A self-administered questionnaire was circulated to employees of a railroad company. 3,639 males aged 18 to 54 (41.4 +/- 7.61) were selected. Seven good health practices each scored 1 were not smoking including quitting, not drinking or drinking less than six days a week, exercise more than two days per week, body mass index (BMI) being 20 to 28, total nightly sleeping time between six and nine hours, having breakfast everyday, and not eating between meals. Each score was summed up as health practice index (HPI). We also asked about health satisfaction for the past year, subjective symptoms over the last two to three months, and present medication history. HPI increased significantly in the group aged 45 to 54, this group being satisfied with their health. A decrease in the percentage of eating between meals in the under 35 group, inappropriate BMI in the 45 to 54 group, and regular exercise in the group aged 50 or older was recognized. Health satisfaction was predicted using symptoms, present medication, age and health practice. Standardized discriminant coefficients of symptoms and present medication were 0.672 and 0.610, and they were more associated to health satisfaction than health practice.

This newly renovated office space is a highly visible property right along Woburn Center's commercial stretch. The space is located on the first floor of a multifamily with its own private entrance and includes both on and off street parking. Approximately 600sqft is well appointed with an open area for work stations, large glassed off conference room, small private office, and ½ bathroom. Perfect professional space for attorney, real estate office, insurance agency or similar practice.

Donald Trump has reportedly forced out his chief strategist, Steve Bannon, for getting in the way of his ego. But as long as Trump remains in the presidency, hate has a home at the White House. Capping the worst week of his terrible and unpopular presidency, Donald Trump is forcing out top strategist Steve Bannon. According to reports, Trump is not removing Bannon due to his extensive history promoting racism or xenophobia but because his ego clashed with Trump and often overshadowed him. Reporting from earlier in the year indicated that Trump was very upset at the number people who said Bannon was in control, and referred to “President Bannon.” A Time magazine cover also reflected the popular notion. Trump tweeted in response: “I call my own shots.” News of Bannon’s removal came in the same week Trump embarrassed the nation by embracing white supremacists after a terrorist attack in Charlottesville, Virginia, killed a woman. Bannon was brought on as chairman of Trump’s presidential campaign after Paul Manafort was removed after newspaper reports of under the table business practices, among other things. Before working for Trump, Bannon ran the white supremacist website, Breitbart, where he described it as a “platform for the alt-right,” the anti-immigrant, sexist, racist political movement that has become the mainstream within the Republican Party. At Breitbart, Bannon steered editorial coverage to emphasize and sensationalize racist material, including a vertical of the site labeled “black crime.” Instead of turning off Trump, this work reflected areas of shared interest between the then-candidate and the smear artist posing as a journalist. Like Bannon, Trump has used slurs like “rapist” to refer to immigrants, and has again and again expressed public sympathy for the ideology of Nazis and white supremacists. He even equated George Washington with the pro-slavery, treasonous Confederacy. Bannon’s departure does not change the fundamentally racist posture of the administration. As long as Donald Trump remains, racism and hate continue to reside in the Oval Office. Getting rid of Bannon simply rearranges the furniture, nothing more.

Using 3D Matching for Picking and Placing on UR Robot Due to conventional industrial robot moving has been known that programing is either tedious or simplex and operating platform requires a pure environment without unnecessary distractions from other objects. This paper presents a novel method which using shape based 3Dmatching technology for picking and placing object by UR robot. This method is able to help the robot catch a specified object in any complex environment. To do this, we need only one camera and the targets' 3D CAD model. There are many efforts was indeed carried out in order to improve the control accuracy, first, the 3D coordinates of the interested points should be high-resolution calculated with the images that areprovided by the camera and we use a special method to optimize internal and external camera parameters when calibrating the camera, Then, A 3D-matching-operator is used to search for the specific objects in the real-time images based on the given 3D model, which is realized by projects the edges of the 3D object model that was used to create the 3D shape model into the image coordinate system and return projected edges. Finally, the coordinates of the 3D object model is obtained in the PTU coordinate system through the integration of a PTU and a Laser range finder, and a transformational matrix is obtained for calculate the coordinates of the targets on UR robots base coordinate system. Based on this technology, users only simply need to import a 3D CAD model and click on the image of the workplace to define the end point, the robot will exceed the procedure of pick and place automatically.

Telemonitoring in patients with heart failure. To the Editor: In their article on the Telemonitoring to Improve Heart Failure Outcomes (Tele-HF) trial (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00303212), Chaudhry et al. (Dec. 9 issue)1 report neutral effectiveness of remote telemonitoring in patients with heart failure, in contrast to the results of a previous meta-analysis.2 Most studies have focused on patient-reported data. The risk is information overload for and noncompliance by health care professionals. In the present study, 14% of the patients did not use the intervention, and 45% of the patients did not adhere to the intervention. The World Health Organization3 has identified patient-centered care4 as a core component in quality health care in the 21st century, and we suggest that patient-centered care will increase the effectiveness of telemonitoring. Telemonitoring needs to focus on patients self-care instead of reporting data.5 Given the progressive nature of chronic heart failure and the need for extensive management of the illness, it is important that professionals and patients develop a partnership to achieve commonly agreed-on goals. How was this partnership achieved in the Tele-HF study? We suggest that modern mobile-phone technology can advance person-centered telemonitoring.

The pitch control system of a conventional wind turbine generally includes an emergency pitch control capability to protect the wind turbine from an overspeed condition in the event of loss of AC control power or initiation of an emergency shutdown. Upon detection of a dip or loss of AC power (e.g., from a loss of grid power), the system activates to pitch the blades to a position to slow or stop the hub. Known emergency pitch control systems utilize a backup battery bank of, for example, 4 to 8 batteries assigned to each blade pitch drive for this purpose. U.S. Pat. No. 7,740,448 describes a battery backup pitch control system wherein energy stored in a DC link capacitor is first used to operate the pitch control system in the event of a loss or dip in AC input power. A charged backup battery maintains charge on the DC link as voltage drops during operation of the emergency system. A diode is used in the circuit to prevent uncontrolled charging of the backup battery when DC link voltage is higher than battery voltage. A fuse prevents damage to the battery in the event of a short circuit on the DC link. U.S. Pat. No. 7,642,748 describes a system for charging a string of backup batteries connected in series in the emergency pitch control system of a wind turbine. A battery charger is coupled in parallel to each respective battery for independent and charge profiles customized to specific battery requirements. For systems wherein multiple chargers are assigned to respective batteries within a ban, such as the system in the U.S. Pat. No. 7,642,748 discussed above, certain battery failure modes may result in damage to the chargers. One such mode is a reverse polarity condition that occurs when the battery fails in an open circuit or high impedance failure mode and an emergency pitch operation is performed. In this instance, the voltage applied on the bad battery and its respective charger will be reversed, with this reversed polarity voltage being the sum of the remaining batteries in the bank. The other mode occurs when a battery in the bank opens transiently when the bank is connected to the pitch drive motor. The energy stored in the motor windings will cause a large transient current that will damage the charger. The present invention provides a system to protect the battery chargers from the failure modes discussed above.

LONDON — There is fresh hope that a probe missing for 11 years may have been found on the Red Planet. The UK Space Agency sparked optimism after scheduling a press conference to give an update about the craft for Friday, Jan. 16. Beagle 2 was due to land on Mars on Dec. 25 2003, however after it was ejected from the Mars Express orbiter on Dec. 19 it wasn't heard from again and for all these years it has been presumed lost. The mission was led by the late Professor Colin Pillinger, who was an expert in interplanetary science at The Open University. Professor Colin Pillinger on Thursday, Dec. 25, 2003. Several attempts were made to find the probe, which was due to set down in Isidis Planitia, a plain located inside a big impact basin on the planet. A report by the UK team responsible for Beagle 2 found that a thinner than expected atmosphere could have affected the landing. The Space Agency is tight lipped about what's in the update, but since the press conference was announced there's been much speculation in the British media that the craft has been found. The Guardian quoted sources at the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRise) camera project team at the University of Arizona who said the remains of the lost lander might have been spotted. Meanwhile, The Times quoted a senior space scientist who said they had seen images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that showed an object about the "right shape and in about the right place" as the lander. Launched in 2005, HiRise is a camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which sends back high-resolution images of the Red Planet's surface.

JERUSALEM — President Trump’s statement that the United States should recognize the Golan Heights as part of Israel was widely welcomed by Israelis on Friday but also triggered criticism that he was interfering in a close election campaign to help Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The White House endorsement of Israeli sovereignty over the plateau, which was seized from Syria in 1967, fulfills a request from Netanyahu and came less than three weeks before Israeli voters decide on April 9 whether to reelect their longtime leader for a fifth term. But the decision adds to the list of wins that Netanyahu has been touting, including U.S. steps to scrap its participation in the nuclear deal with Iran and the transfer of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem which it recognized as Israel’s capital. The timing is particularly favorable for Netanyahu, as his political opponents have been trumpeting more corruption allegations against him. His main election opponents in the Blue and White Party, headed by former army chief of staff Benny Gantz and Netanyahu’s longtime rival Yair Lapid, have called for an investigation into allegations that the prime minister made $4.3 million in connection with an Israeli submarine contract with a German firm. The Israeli attorney general has already announced his intention to indict Netanyahu in three other corruption cases, pending a hearing in which the prime minister can offer a defense. Netanyahu has not been named as a suspect in the submarine case, known as Case 3000, but his close aides and personal lawyer have. Netanyahu has strongly denied any wrongdoing in connection with the four cases and on Friday instructed his lawyers to sue Gantz and Lapid for libel. Raviv Drucker of Israeli Channel 13 called Trump’s statement “a clear attempt to help Netanyahu.” Drucker said that Netanyahu’s Likud Party also indicated that more “gifts” are expected from Trump, adding that he will “go out of his way” next week when Netanyahu visits Washington to help him. The latest polls show the Likud Party and Blue and White Party battling it out for first place in the elections. Israel Hayom newspaper on Friday projected Blue and White would win 30 seats in the 120-seat parliament, compared with 26 for Likud. The ultimate test will be which leader is able to assemble a governing coalition from various parties. He said that Israeli voters are less attuned to the damage that Netanyahu is doing to the relationship with the U.S. Democratic Party by tying himself so closely to Trump. Polls have shown a slide in support for Israel among young liberals in particular and veteran Democrats formed a new group - the Democratic Majority for Israel - earlier this year to counter claims the party is not behind Israel. The United States has been accused of putting its thumb on the scale in previous U.S. elections, including in 1996 by backing Ehud Barak, whose bid for reelection still failed. However, Trump and his policies have resonated with Israelis. But Israelis are now pondering what the Trump administration may ask from Netanyahu in return, especially since a long-awaited White House peace plan for the Middle East is expected after the elections. Rhynhold said Trump likely takes the attitude “if I do you a favor, you do me a favor” and the favor expected of Netanyahu would be to back the peace plan. But that plan could involve setting up a Palestinian state with a role for militant groups like Hamas. Israeli politicians have been wary of the price for the Trump administration's pro-Israel moves. “With all the joy of American recognition of the Golan Heights, it is essential to say: The ‘Golan in exchange for Hamastan’ deal is a danger to Jewish settlements and to Israel,” Rhynhold said. Just over half of the population on the Golan Heights are Arabic speaking Druze who live alongside Israelis who have settled there since it was captured in the 1967 war. The elevation of the plain makes it highly strategic, with Syria using as a shelling position during the conflict. Israel’s 1981 annexation of the territory was not recognized by the United Nations or the rest of the international community. “The Golan Heights are either Israeli or Syria,” tweeted Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. “America should never support giving an inch of territory to the barbaric war criminal Assad,” she said, referencing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Syria, along with its allies Iran and Russia, has slammed the U.S. move. Ruth Eglash in Jerusalem and Anne Gearan in Washington contributed to this report.

4E-BPs require non-canonical 4E-binding motifs and a lateral surface of eIF4E to repress translation eIF4E-binding proteins (4E-BPs) are a widespread class of translational regulators that share a canonical (C) eIF4E-binding motif (4E-BM) with eIF4G. Consequently, 4E-BPs compete with eIF4G for binding to the dorsal surface on eIF4E to inhibit translation initiation. Some 4E-BPs contain non-canonical 4E-BMs (NC 4E-BMs), but the contribution of these motifs to the repressive mechanismand whether these motifs are present in all 4E-BPsremains unknown. Here, we show that the three annotated Drosophila melanogaster 4E-BPs contain NC 4E-BMs. These motifs bind to a lateral surface on eIF4E that is not used by eIF4G. This distinct molecular recognition mode is exploited by 4E-BPs to dock onto eIF4EeIF4G complexes and effectively displace eIF4G from the dorsal surface of eIF4E. Our data reveal a hitherto unrecognized role for the NC4E-BMs and the lateral surface of eIF4E in 4E-BP-mediated translational repression, and suggest that bipartite 4E-BP mimics might represent efficient therapeutic tools to dampen translation during oncogenic transformation. T he regulation of protein synthesis at the initiation step is a widespread and reversible mechanism to control gene expression in eukaryotes 1,2. During translation initiation, the small ribosomal subunit is recruited to mRNA by the eukaryotic initiation factor 4F (eIF4F) complex, which comprises the cap-binding protein eIF4E, the scaffolding protein eIF4G and the DEAD-box RNA helicase eIF4A. The eIF4E protein recognizes the mRNA m 7 GpppN cap structure and interacts with eIF4G, which promotes translation initiation via the recruitment of the 43S pre-initiation complex 1. eIF4G binds eIF4E through a conserved motif (or canonical eIF4E-binding motif, C 4E-BM) of sequence TyrX 4 LeuF, where F is hydrophobic, and X is any amino acid. The assembly of the eIF4F complex is regulated by a diverse group of eIF4E-binding proteins (4E-BPs), which share a similar C TyrX 4 LeuF motif with eIF4G. Therefore, 4E-BPs bind to the same surface on eIF4E, sterically blocking its interaction with eIF4G and preventing translation initiation. The association of 4E-BPs with eIF4E is reversible and regulated by phosphorylation. Unphosphorylated or hypophosphorylated 4E-BPs exhibit a high affinity for eIF4E and repress translation, whereas hyperphosphorylated 4E-BPs lose their affinity for eIF4E 2,8,9. At a functional level, 4E-BPs play essential roles in the control of translation during development and regulate neuronal plasticity by repressing translation at a global or message-specific level. Through their inhibitory effect on translation, 4E-BPs negatively regulate cell proliferation and act as tumor suppressors 9,11. However, the 4E-BP anti-oncogenic function is compromised in many tumors, resulting in increased eIF4E activity and protein synthesis, which is required for tumorigenic transformation 9. Consequently, a detailed molecular understanding of the interaction between eIF4E and 4E-BPs is crucial to design or improve drugs that may be useful in pathological conditions in which eIF4E activity and global translation are upregulated 9,15,16. The C motifs of eIF4G and 4E-BPs adopt similar a-helical structures on binding to a conserved patch of hydrophobic residues on the dorsal side of the eIF4E cap-binding pocket 5,7,17. Additional surfaces on eIF4E also contribute to the interaction with eIF4G as well as with a subset of 4E-BPs by binding to residues that are carboxy terminal to the C motifs, which contain NC 4E-BMs. To date, NC motifs have only been identified and characterized in eIF4G, vertebrate 4E-BP1-3 and D. melanogaster CUP 17,19,. The NC motifs of 4E-BPs are not conserved between orthologous proteins across the animal kingdom. Therefore, it is not known whether all 4E-BPs contain NC motifs. Functionally, NC motifs have been proposed to play an auxiliary role by cooperating with their cognate C motifs to increase the binding affinity for eIF4E 17,19,20,22. The protein CUP is an insect-specific 4E-BP that controls the translation of maternal messenger RNAs during oogenesis and embryogenesis 21,. The crystal structure of Dm eIF4E bound to a CUP peptide containing the C and NC 4E-BMs revealed that both motifs adopt an a-helical conformation and contact two orthogonal surfaces on eIF4E 27. The C 4E-BM binds to the conserved dorsal surface of eIF4E, as observed for the C motifs of eIF4G and 4E-BP1,2. The NC motif docks in an antiparallel fashion onto a lateral and conserved surface of eIF4E 27. A comparison of the Dm eIF4E-CUP complex with the structure of yeast eIF4E in complex with a fragment of eIF4G indicates that the NC motif of CUP and yeast eIF4G bind to partially overlapping surfaces on the lateral side of eIF4E 17,27. Consequently, NC motifs could also contribute to the steric incompatibility with eIF4G and participate in the competition process. However, the contribution of NC motifs to the ability of 4E-BPs to displace eIF4G has not yet been elucidated. To shed light on the role of NC motifs in 4E-BP-mediated translational repression, we investigated whether different Dm 4E-BPs contain NC motifs and how these motifs contribute to the displacement of eIF4G from eIF4E. We show that similar to CUP, Thor (ortholog of 4E-BP1-3) and 4E-T (4E-transporter) bind to eIF4E through a bipartite sequence that contains a C motif and a NC motif. The newly identified NC motifs in Thor and 4E-T share no sequence similarity with their vertebrate counterparts or with CUP. Nevertheless, these motifs share an overlapping lateral binding surface on eIF4E with the NC motif of CUP, which is required for the binding of 4E-BPs but not of eIF4G. The binding to an eIF4E surface that is not used by eIF4G allows 4E-BPs to dock onto preexisting eIF4E-eIF4G complexes to begin to displace eIF4G from the dorsal surface. Our data reveal a hitherto unrecognized diversity of NC motifs and establish the relevance of these motifs in the mechanism by which 4E-BPs repress translation. More generally, our data indicate that bipartite 4E-BP mimics have a competitive advantage over eIF4G and might represent potent repressors for the treatment of malignancies, in which eIF4E activity is upregulated. Results 4E-BPs bind to a lateral surface of eIF4E. To gain insight into the binding mode of different 4E-BPs to eIF4E, we compared the interaction of Dm CUP, Thor and 4E-T with Dm eIF4E (Fig. 1a). In coimmunoprecipitation and pull-down assays, we confirmed that all the proteins interacted with endogenous eIF4E in Dm Schneider (S2) cells ( Supplementary Fig. 1a-e). Dm CUP interacts with eIF4E through C and NC motifs 27. In particular, the CUP residues Tyr327, Leu332, Met333 and Arg336 in the C motif interact with residues on the dorsal surface of eIF4E, including Trp106 and Leu167 (Fig. 1b,c and Supplementary Fig. 2a,b). In addition, the CUP residues Leu364, Leu368, Met371 and Ile373 in the NC motif contact a eIF4E lateral surface that is centered at residues Ile96 and Ile112 (Fig. 1b,d and Supplementary Fig. 2a,b) 27. To determine whether Thor, 4E-T and eIF4G also recognize the lateral surface of eIF4E, we substituted residues Ile96 and Ile112 with Ala (eIF4E mutant II-AA) and performed coimmunoprecipitation assays in S2 cells. As a control, we used an eIF4E mutant with a Trp106Ala substitution (W106A) on the dorsal binding surface, because this substitution abolishes the binding of CUP and eIF4G to eIF4E 21,28,29. As expected, the W106A substitution strongly reduced the binding of eIF4E to endogenous eIF4G and to all three of the 4E-BPs ( Fig. 1e-g, lanes 7). By contrast, the II-AA mutations disrupted the association of eIF4E with CUP, Thor and 4E-T but not with eIF4G ( Fig. 1e-g, lanes 8). Thus, in contrast to eIF4G, 4E-BPs recognize and depend on the lateral surface to efficiently bind to eIF4E in cell lysates, in which eIF4G (or other 4E-BPs) is also present. Identification of NC 4E-BMs in Thor and 4E-T. The immunoprecipitation assays shown in Fig. 1e-g indicate that similar to CUP, Thor and 4E-T contain NC motifs that interact with the lateral binding surface of eIF4E. In human 4E-BP1,2, the NC IPGVTS/T motif (located C-terminally to the C motif), increases the binding affinity of the proteins for eIF4E by approximately three orders of magnitude 19,22. However, the IPGVTS/T motif is not conserved across the animal kingdom ( Supplementary Fig. 2c). Nevertheless, several hydrophobic residues are present in the corresponding region in Dm Thor (residues Pro76-Pro84; Supplementary Fig. 2c). To determine whether the Thor residues 76-84 constitute a NC 4E-BMs, we substituted Cys78, Leu79 and Leu80 with alanine (NC*) or deleted the motif (DNC, Supplementary Table 1). In the coimmunoprecipitation assays, the deletion of the Thor residues 76-84 abolished the interaction with eIF4E (Fig. 2a, lane 12), whereas the alanine substitutions decreased the eIF4E binding ( Supplementary Fig. 1d, lane 9, NC*). By contrast, the substitution of the flanking residues Arg81, Gly82 and Thr83 by alanine was ineffective (Fig. 2a, lane 10). As a control, amino-acid substitutions in the C motif (C*, Supplementary Table 1) also disrupted the interaction with eIF4E ( Fig. 2a and Supplementary Fig. 1d). Thus, the interaction of Thor with eIF4E requires both a C and a downstream NC motif in cell lysates. In human 4E-T, sequences downstream of the C motif also contribute to the interaction with eIF4E 30. Again, these sequences are not conserved in insects ( Supplementary Fig. 2d). Nevertheless, based on the observation that in CUP and Thor, the NC motifs are located B15-29 residues from the C motifs, are hydrophobic and, in the case of CUP, exhibit helical propensity, we inspected the Dm 4E-T sequence for motifs that fulfill these criteria. We identified a region in the insect 4E-T (residues 32-43) that could contain a potential NC motif and is located at a similar position as is the motif in the human protein ( Supplementary Fig. 2d). In the coimmunoprecipitation assays, alanine substitutions or deletions of various residues in this motif (Supplementary Table 1) caused a drastic reduction in the 4E-T binding to eIF4E (Fig. 2b, lanes 10 and 11, and Supplementary Fig. 1e), similar to the disruption of the C motif (C*, Fig. 2b, lane 9, and Supplementary Fig. 2d). Thus, a NC 4E-BMs is also present in the Dm 4E-T that is conserved in Drosophila species. 4E-BPs and eIF4G display similar affinities for eIF4E. Next, we compared the binding efficiencies of the minimal eIF4E-binding regions of the 4E-BPs (C NC, Supplementary Table 1) in pulldown assays. These regions were expressed with an aminoterminal MBP-tag and a C-terminal GB1-tag 31. In parallel, we analyzed the minimal eIF4E-binding fragment of eIF4G (residues 578-650), which includes the C motif and the SDVVL motif that was identified in Hs eIF4G (corresponding to Dm VKNVSI, Supplementary Fig. 2e), which plays an auxiliary function in stabilizing the eIF4G interaction with eIF4E 23. The bipartite C NC regions of the three 4E-BPs and the eIF4G fragment pulled down the purified eIF4E at comparable levels (Fig. 2c). -84 NC 4E-T 4E-T 1,010 C 10-16 738 32-43 NC 1,117 C 327-333 363-375 NC 4E-T CUP 979 ARTICLE To obtain information on the affinities and thermodynamic parameters, we performed isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) experiments. The bipartite regions of all three of the 4E-BPs and eIF4G exhibited comparable binding affinities for eIF4E, with dissociation constants (K D s) in the nanomolar range (Table 1 and Supplementary Fig. 3). The K D values obtained for Dm Thor and eIF4G are comparable to those that have been reported for the human proteins 5,19,22,23,32. Notably, although the binding of all proteins to eIF4E is enthalpically driven, the entropic penalties differ between these proteins, suggesting differences in the binding mechanisms. In particular, the interaction between CUP and eIF4E displayed the highest entropic penalty, which is indicative of a lower degree of conformational freedom in the bound state. Thus, CUP may undergo larger disorder-to-order transitions on binding, which is consistent with the formation of two a-helices 27. 4E-T and Thor exhibited lower entropic penalties, suggesting a more dynamic conformation in the bound state. To understand the contribution of the NC 4E-BMs to the affinity of 4E-BPs for eIF4E, we analyzed the binding of 4E-BP peptides containing only the C motifs or the complementary sequences comprising the linker (L) region between the two motifs and the NC motif (L NC, Supplementary Fig. 4 and Supplementary Table 1). The affinities of the C motifs in isolation were one to three orders of magnitude lower than the C NC peptides, indicating that the NC motifs contribute significantly to the overall affinity. Interestingly, the C motifs of all three 4E-BPs exhibited significant differences in binding affinities, with the affinity of the 4E-T peptide being approximately one and two orders of magnitude higher than those of the CUP and Thor peptides, respectively (Table 1 and Supplementary Fig. 4). The differences between 4E-BPs were more pronounced for the L NC peptides, because only the CUP peptide interacted with eIF4E at detectable levels. The binding of the CUP peptide (L NC) was enthalpically driven, with a K D comparable to that of the C motif. These results indicate a similar contribution to the energetics of binding by the C and NC motifs of CUP. Finally, we determined the affinities of the bipartite peptides (C NC) for the eIF4E II-AA mutant. The affinities of CUP and Thor peptides were reduced by one and two orders of magnitude, respectively (Table 1 and Supplementary Fig. 5). In contrast, 4E-T binding was not significantly affected perhaps reflecting the higher affinity of its C 4E-BM. Similarly, the mutations in the lateral surface of eIF4E did not affect eIF4G binding. We conclude that although 4E-BPs and eIF4G display similar affinities for eIF4E, they use different binding modes. These differences can be mainly attributed to the linker regions and the NC motifs, consistent with their sequence diversity, although differences in affinities for the C motifs were also detected. Moreover, the results of the ITC experiments also indicate that the affinity of 4E-BPs for eIF4E results from synergistic effects between the C and NC motifs. 4E-BP NC motifs are sufficient to bind eIF4E. To further analyze the binding modes of the 4E-BPs and eIF4G to eIF4E, we performed pull-down assays with recombinant proteins that were expressed in Escherichia coli. In contrast to the experiments in cell lysates, the in vitro pull-down assays allowed us to investigate the interactions of the individual proteins in the absence of other 4E-BPs, which could compete for binding and could obscure the interpretation of the results. We tested recombinant fragments of eIF4G, CUP and 4E-T and full-length Thor for binding to either the eIF4E wild-type (WT) or II-AA mutant (that is, with a disrupted lateral surface). eIF4G and the 4E-BPs pulled down The inputs (1%) and immunoprecipitates (30%) were analyzed by WB using anti-GFP and anti-eIF4E antibodies. The original WBs can be found in Supplementary Fig. 8. (c) MBP pull down showing the interaction of His 6 -tagged eIF4E (residues 69-248, trunc) with MBP-tagged 4E-BP C NC fragments (see Supplementary Table 1) and eIF4G (residues 578-650). All the fragments contained, in addition, a C-terminal GB1 tag. The input samples (10%) and bound fractions (15%) were analyzed using SDS-PAGE followed by Coomassie blue staining. The size markers (kDa) are shown to the right of each panel. One possible explanation for this difference is that cell lysates contain eIF4G, which blocks the dorsal surface of eIF4E, leaving only the lateral surface available for 4E-BPs. If the lateral surface is in addition mutated, then 4E-BPs may not be able to interact with eIF4E and displace bound eIF4G (see below). The interaction of eIF4G and 4E-BPs with the eIF4E II-AA mutant is most likely mediated by their C motifs that bind to the dorsal surface of eIF4E. To confirm this assumption, we introduced mutations in the C motifs (C* mutants, Supplementary Table 1). Substitutions in the C motif of eIF4G abolished its interaction with either WT or mutant eIF4E (Fig. 3a, lanes 11 and 12). By contrast, the equivalent substitutions in the C motifs of 4E-BPs did not prevent their binding to eIF4E, reflecting a truly bipartite-binding mode ( Substitutions in the NC motifs (NC*) did not prevent the interaction of 4E-BPs with either WT or mutant eIF4E, most likely because the C motifs are sufficient for binding (Fig. 3b, lanes 14 and 15; Fig. 3c,d, lanes 17 and 18). The interaction of the three 4E-BPs with WT eIF4E was strongly reduced when the two motifs were mutated (C NC*, Fig. 3b, lane 16, Fig. 3c,d, lanes 19). Remarkably, some residual binding to eIF4E was observed. These results suggest that the linker regions between the motifs in CUP and 4E-T and additional residues in Thor (which was full length) contact eIF4E and contribute to the interaction. The results obtained for the Thor NC* and C NC* mutants were confirmed using a mutant with a deleted NC motif (DNC, Supplementary Fig. 6a). Collectively, our results indicate that 4E-BPs interact with eIF4E using a bipartite-binding mode and recognize a lateral surface on eIF4E that is not used by eIF4G. Two main observations support these conclusions. First, mutations in the C motifs abolish the interaction of eIF4G but not of 4E-BPs with eIF4E. Second, mutations on the lateral surface of eIF4E abolish or reduce the binding of 4E-BPs to eIF4E when their binding to the dorsal surface is also compromised. Our results further indicate that the eIF4G residues downstream of the C motif, including the VKNVSI motif, do not use the binding surface centered at residues Ile96 and Ile112 and are not sufficient for binding to eIF4E when the C motif is mutated, which is in agreement with the proposed auxiliary role of these sequences 23. Finally, it is important to note that although mutations in the C motifs of Thor and 4E-T do not disrupt binding to eIF4E, a deletion of the C motif prevents binding (L NC peptides, see ITC experiments). These results suggest that mutations in the C motifs of these proteins do not completely abolish binding to the eIF4E dorsal surface, or that the formation of an a-helical structure (which is likely maintained in the mutants) is indirectly required to facilitate the binding of the linker region and NC motifs. 4E-BPs use the eIF4E lateral surface to compete with eIF4G. The observation that 4E-BPs can bind to the eIF4E II-AA mutant in vitro (that is, in the absence of competition) but not in cell lysates (that is, in the presence of eIF4G) suggests that 4E-BPs are not able to compete with eIF4G for binding to eIF4E when the lateral binding surface is disrupted. To further investigate the role of the lateral binding surface of eIF4E in the competition mechanism, we performed competition assays using preassembled eIF4E-eIF4G complexes containing either eIF4E WT or the II-AA mutant and GST-tagged eIF4G (residues 578-650). eIF4G formed stable complexes both with WT and mutant eIF4E (Fig. 4a-c, lanes 4 and 5, respectively). These preassembled eIF4E-eIF4G complexes were challenged with increasing amounts of peptides containing the C and NC (C NC) motifs of 4E-BPs or the same eIF4G fragment. Proteins that were associated with eIF4E were recovered by eIF4E pulldown assays. The CUP, 4E-T and Thor C NC peptides displaced eIF4G from the complex and associated with eIF4E ( Fig. 4a-c, lanes 7-10 versus 6, Supplementary Figs 6b-d and 7a-c). The CUP and 4E-T peptides were able to effectively displace eIF4G when present at Thus, binding to the lateral surface is required for 4E-BPs to effectively compete with eIF4G. In agreement with this conclusion, peptides containing only the 4E-BP C motifs did not displace eIF4G from eIF4E, although they were tested at the highest molar concentration (Fig. 4a-c, lanes 11 versus 10 and Supplementary Fig. 7a-c). In striking contrast to the 4E-BP peptides, the eIF4G peptide hardly competed with GST-eIF4G for binding to eIF4E, irrespective of whether eIF4E was WT or mutated (Fig. 4d, lanes 5-11, Supplementary Figs 6b and 7d). Mechanistically, our results indicate that 4E-BPs are more efficient competitors than is eIF4G and must bind to the lateral surface of eIF4E to effectively displace eIF4G from preassembled eIF4E-eIF4G complexes. 4E-BPs use the NC motifs to compete with eIF4G. Given that binding of 4E-BPs to the lateral surface of eIF4E is required for competition with eIF4G and that peptides containing only the 4E-BP C motifs cannot compete with eIF4G (Fig. 4), we next investigated the requirement for NC motifs. To this end, we performed competition assays using preassembled eIF4E-eIF4G complexes and excess 4E-BP peptides lacking either the C or NC motifs. The WT CUP C NC peptide interacted with eIF4E and efficiently displaced preassembled eIF4G (Fig. 5a, lane 9 versus 6). Peptides containing either the C or the NC motifs of CUP did not compete with eIF4G (Fig. 5a, lanes 7 and 8), although these peptides bind to eIF4E in the absence of eIF4G (Fig. 5b, lanes 6 and 7), which is in agreement with the ITC experiments. Similar results were obtained for Thor. Notably, deleting the non-canonical motif in the context of full-length Thor was sufficient to abolish its ability to compete with eIF4G (Fig. 5c, lane 10 versus 7), although in the absence of eIF4G this deletion mutant interacted with eIF4E ( Supplementary Fig. 6a, lanes 17 and 18). Mutations in the canonical motif also abolished competition, as expected (Fig. 5c, lane 9). We conclude that 4E-BPs require both canonical and non-canonical motifs to compete with eIF4G for eIF4E binding. Thus, the non-canonical motifs play an essential role in the competition mechanism. 4E-BPs exhibit a kinetic competitive advantage over eIF4G. Given that the 4E-BPs and eIF4G display similar affinities for eIF4E, the differences in the ability to efficiently displace prebound eIF4G in competition assays are likely explained by the binding kinetics and the bipartite-binding mode. To obtain additional information on the ability of 4E-BPs to compete with eIF4G, we challenged preassembled eIF4E-eIF4G complexes with five-to tenfold molar excess of 4E-BP and eIF4G peptides and monitored the amount of eIF4G remaining bound to eIF4E over time. In the absence of competitors, eIF4G remained bound to eIF4E, as expected (Fig. 5d, lane 4). In the presence of a tenfold molar excess of eIF4G peptide, we observed a 50% dissociation of prebound eIF4G after 4 h at 4°C (Fig. 5d and Supplementary Fig. 7e). In the presence of a fivefold molar excess of CUP and 4E-T peptides (C NC), we observed a 50% eIF4G dissociation in 2.5±0.5 and 22 min, respectively, whereas the half-life of the eIF4E-eIF4G complexes in the presence of tenfold molar excess of Thor was 37±9 min. (Fig. 5e-g, and Supplementary Fig. 7f). The simplest explanation of these results is that the bipartite-binding mode and the binding to an eIF4E surface that is not used by eIF4G confer on 4E-BPs a kinetic competitive advantage because they can bind preassembled eIF4E-eIF4G complexes without the need for prior eIF4G dissociation. Supplementary Fig. 7a-d (n 2). Asterisks indicated a contaminant protein. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5790 ARTICLE eIF4G competes with 4E-BPs bound to the eIF4E II-AA mutant. Next, we asked whether eIF4G could compete with 4E-BPs when their binding to the lateral surface of eIF4E was disrupted. For this purpose, preassembled complexes containing eIF4E (WT or II-AA mutant) bound to GST-4E-BP fragments were challenged with excess amounts of MBP-eIF4G (residues 578-650). Proteins that were bound to eIF4E were recovered via eIF4E pull down. MBP-eIF4G did not displace CUP, Thor, 4E-T or eIF4G bound to WT eIF4E (Fig. 6a, lane 6 versus 5, and Fig. 6b, lanes 8, 10 and 14). In contrast, MBP-eIF4G partially displaced CUP (Fig. 6a, lane 8 versus 7) and completely displaced full-length Thor (Fig. 6b, lane 12 versus 11) bound to the eIF4E II-AA mutant. These observations indicate that eIF4G can compete with 4E-BPs for binding to eIF4E only when their interaction with the lateral surface of eIF4E is impaired. Thus, the dissociation of 4E-BPs from the lateral surface of eIF4E (for instance, on phosphorylation) may be sufficient for their dissociation from eIF4E to allow eIF4G to resume translation (Fig. 6c). The non-canonical motifs mediate translational repression. To determine the role of non-canonical motifs in translational repression, we tested whether 4E-BPs repressed the expression of a firefly luciferase (F-Luc) reporter when coexpressed in S2 cells. A short uncapped and unadenylated RNA served as a transfection control (control RNA). To rule out the possibility that the inhibition of F-Luc expression resulted from changes in the F-Luc mRNA levels, we analyzed these levels by northern blotting and determined translation efficiencies (Fig. 7a,b). The CUP N-terminal fragment or full-length Thor inhibited the expression of the F-Luc reporter in a dose-dependent manner (Fig. 7a-d). 4E-T caused mRNA degradation when overexpressed and was excluded from the analysis (C.I. and E.I., unpublished results). Mutations in either the canonical or non-canonical motifs as well as the combined mutations suppressed CUP-and Thor-mediated repression (Fig. 7a,b). The mutant proteins were expressed at levels that were comparable to the highest tested level for the WT protein (Fig. 7c,d, WB). Thus, both the canonical and non-canonical motifs are required for Thor and CUP to repress translation in a cellular context, which is in agreement with the competition assays. The non-canonical motifs regulate eIF4E localization. 4E-BPs are nucleocytoplasmic shuttling proteins that transport eIF4E to the nucleus 26,. Although eIF4E nuclear functions are not clearly understood, the nuclear retention/import of eIF4E could contribute to the efficient inhibition of cap-dependent translation. In addition, human 4E-T can also induce the accumulation of eIF4E in mRNA processing bodies or P-bodies 36. To determine whether the non-canonical motifs contribute to the regulation of eIF4E subcellular distribution mediated by 4E-BPs, we analyzed the localization of endogenous eIF4E by immunofluorescence in S2 cells expressing WT or mutant 4E-BPs (Fig. 8). At a steady-state, CUP and Thor distributed evenly throughout the cytoplasm (Fig. 8a,e). By contrast, 4E-T accumulated in cytoplasmic foci, which correspond to P-bodies as judged by the colocalization with the P-body marker Trailer hitch ( Fig. 8i and Supplementary Fig. 7g). Endogenous eIF4E was also evenly distributed in the cytoplasm in cells overexpressing WT CUP and Thor as well as the mutant versions of these proteins (Fig. 8a-h, middle panels). In contrast, in cells expressing 4E-T, eIF4E was detected in P-bodies (Fig. 8i). Thus, 4E-T can drag eIF4E into P-bodies. Accordingly, the number of eIF4E-positive P-bodies was reduced in cells overexpressing 4E-T mutants (C*, NC*, C NC*; Fig. 8j-l), although the mutants still localized to P-bodies. Thus, both the canonical and non-canonical motifs of 4E-T are required to induce the accumulation of eIF4E in P-bodies. Next, we treated S2 cells with Leptomycin B (LMB), a drug that inhibits nuclear export by CRM1, which has been shown to export 4E-BPs 26,33,37. The LMB treatment induced the nuclear accumulation of CUP and 4E-T proteins (Fig. 8m,u) and a partial nuclear accumulation of Thor (Fig. 8q). Concomitantly, endogenous eIF4E accumulated in the nucleus (Fig. 8m,q,u, middle panels). eIF4E nuclear accumulation was dependent on binding to the 4E-BPs because this accumulation was strongly reduced in cells expressing the 4E-BP mutants ( Fig. 8n-p,r-t,vx). None of the 4E-BPs required binding to eIF4E to translocate to the nucleus in the LMB-treated cells (Fig. 8m-x, left panels). Taken together, our data indicates that both the canonical and non-canonical motifs are required for 4E-BPs to regulate eIF4E subcellular distribution. Discussion In this study, we show that similar to CUP, Thor and 4E-T employ a bipartite interface that is composed of canonical and non-canonical motifs to bind to the dorsal and lateral surfaces of eIF4E, respectively. While the dorsal binding surface of eIF4E is also used by eIF4G 5,7,17, the lateral binding surface is only used by 4E-BPs and is required for 4E-BPs to displace eIF4G from preassembled eIF4E-eIF4G complexes. Based on these results, we propose that the lateral surface of eIF4E provides an exclusive docking surface for 4E-BPs on eIF4E-eIF4G complexes. After docking, 4E-BPs can begin to displace eIF4G by establishing interactions with the eIF4E dorsal surface via their own canonical motifs, further stabilizing their association with eIF4E (Fig. 6c). The ability to bind laterally to the side of eIF4E that is not used by eIF4G enable 4E-BPs to displace eIF4G even when their binding affinities are similar and under conditions in which 4E-BPs are not in great excess compared with eIF4G. Indeed, by docking to preassembled eIF4E-eIF4G complexes, the 4E-BPs increase their local concentration and can rapidly dissociate bound eIF4G, inhibiting ongoing translation. Our model also provides one possible explanation for why eIF4G is a poor competitor compared with 4E-BPs. Indeed, eIF4G will not bind eIF4E unless the prebound eIF4G or 4E-BPs dissociate. In this The eIF4E-bound proteins were pulled down using Strep-Tactin beads and analyzed as described in a. (d-g) Purified eIF4E-eIF4G complexes (1 mM) containing SHN-eIF4E (full length) and GST-eIF4G (residues 578-650) prebound to Strep-Tactin beads were incubated with a 10-fold molar excess of eIF4G (residues 578-650, d) and Thor (g) or a fivefold molar excess of CUP (e) and 4E-T (f) peptides fused C terminally to GB1. The 4E-BP peptides contained the C NC motifs. Proteins bound to eIF4E were recovered at the indicated time points. In all of the panels, the competitor proteins are labeled in blue and highlighted by blue, dashed boxes. The black, dashed boxes mark the position of preassembled GST-eIF4G. Quantification of the dissociation assays is shown in Supplementary Fig. 7e,f. Each experiment was repeated at least twice. ARTICLE context, it will be of interest to determine the contribution of the canonical and non-canonical motifs to the association (K on ) and dissociation (K off ) rate constants of 4E-BP proteins. How can eIF4G bind back to eIF4E to resume translation? We show that eIF4G can displace 4E-BPs when their binding to the lateral surface of eIF4E is impaired. Although in our studies this interaction was impaired by mutations, in vivo this impairment could be achieved by posttranslational modifications such as phosphorylation. Indeed, it is well established that the phosphorylation of 4E-BPs reduces their affinity for eIF4E 2,8. Thus, it will be of interest to dissect the impact of phosphorylation on the interaction of 4E-BPs with either the lateral or dorsal surfaces of eIF4E. Owing to their lack of conservation, it has remained unclear whether non-canonical motifs are present in all 4E-BPs. Our data indicate that the non-canonical motifs are intrinsic to the ability of 4E-BPs to compete with eIF4G and thus are likely to be present in all 4E-BPs that repress translation. At the functional level, non-canonical motifs have been proposed to play an auxiliary role and have been mainly implicated in the regulation of the affinity of eIF4E for the mRNA cap structure through allosteric effects 7,17,27,28,38. Specifically, the binding of the 4E-BP1,2 non-canonical motifs to eIF4E increases the affinity for the cap structure 19,22,38. Here, we show that the noncanonical motifs are essential, not auxiliary, for 4E-BP function in inhibiting translation. Given the diversity of non-canonical motifs and their different modes of interaction with eIF4E, it is possible that their binding to the lateral surface of eIF4E modulates the affinity for the cap in different ways, thereby mediating different effects. For example, by increasing the affinity of eIF4E for the cap structure, 4E-BPs may stabilize translationally repressed mRNA targets as observed for CUP 39. Alternatively, by decreasing the affinity of eIF4E for the mRNA cap, 4E-BPs may destabilize the repressed mRNA target through decapping and subsequent decay. In summary, our current understanding of 4E-BPs role in translational repression is predominantly based on the study of the low-molecular-weight 4E-BPs of the 4E-BP1-3 family. The identification of additional, high-molecular-weight 4E-BPs together with the characterization of their interaction mode with eIF4E reveals an unexpected sequence diversity of the eIF4Ebinding regions and of the functional mechanisms. The functional diversity of 4E-BPs is further enhanced by the presence of additional domains in the high-molecular-weight 4E-BPs. These additional domains link eIF4E binding with other cellular processes, such as mRNA decay, as described for CUP and 4E-T 36,39. Understanding the molecular basis for the interaction of diverse 4E-BPs with eIF4E will provide valuable insight into the variety of mechanisms that are employed by these proteins to regulate gene expression. These studies promise to uncover novel therapeutic strategies to selectively target dysregulated translation in cancer. Methods DNA constructs. The plasmids expressing the luciferase reporters, control RNA and GFP-or HA-tagged eIF4E, eIF4G, Tral and CUP (WT or mutated) have been previously described. The plasmids expressing HA-Thor-V5 and GFP-Thor were obtained by inserting the corresponding DNA into the EcoRV and XhoI sites of the pAc5.1-lN-HA or pAc5.1-GFP vectors, respectively. A plasmid expressing HA-4E-T was obtained by inserting the corresponding DNA (CG32016 isoform B) (c) Competition model: eIF4E (blue circle) contains a dorsal and a lateral surface that bind to the C and NC motifs of 4E-BPs (shown in orange), respectively. The dorsal surface also binds to the canonical motif of eIF4G (shown in green). The eIF4E lateral binding surface provides a docking site for the non-canonical motifs of 4E-BPs when eIF4G is bound to the dorsal surface of eIF4E via its canonical motif. After docking, 4E-BPs displace eIF4G from the dorsal surface of eIF4E and repress translation. Phosphorylation (P) of 4E-BPs destabilizes their association with eIF4E. Therefore, eIF4G can bind to eIF4E and translation resumes. In humans, 4E-BP1-3 the phosphorylation sites are located in the linker region between the 4E-BMs and in the sequences N-terminal to the canonical motif (not shown). Dephosphorylation of 4E-BPs is required for binding to eIF4E. Symbols are as in Fig. 3e. into the EcoRI and NotI restriction sites of the pAc5.1-lN-HA vector. For expression in E. coli, the DNA encoding Thor (full length) and 4E-T (residues 1-58) was inserted into the XhoI-MfeI and AflII-NotI sites, respectively of the pnEA-NvM vector 43 (which provides an N-terminal MBP tag followed by a TEV protease cleavage site). A DNA fragment coding eIF4G (residues 578-650) was inserted into the XhoI and BamHI restriction sites of the pnEA-NvM or pnEA-NvG (which provides an N-terminal GST tag) vector 43. A DNA fragment encoding full-length Dm eIF4E was inserted into the NdeI-BamHI restriction sites of the pnEK-NvH vector (which provides an N-terminal hexa-histidine (His 6 ) tag) or the pnEK-NvSHN vector (which provides an N-terminal Strep-NusA-His-tag). The DNA fragments encoding CUP, Thor and 4E-T minimal eIF4E-binding fragments (C NC), the individual canonical (C) and non-canonical motifs (NC, in the case of CUP), and the L NC peptides were cloned into the NdeI-NheI restriction sites of the pnEA-NpM vector with an N-terminal MBP tag followed by an HRV3C protease cleavage site 43. The DNA encoding the B1 domain of immunoglobulin-binding protein G (GB1) 31 was inserted C terminally into the described fragments by site-directed insertion using the QuikChange mutagenesis kit (Stratagene). The DNA encoding a truncated eIF4E protein (residues 69-248) was cloned into the NdeI-NheI restriction sites of the pnEA-NpH vector (which provides an N-terminal His 6 -tag followed by a HRV3C protease cleavage site) 43. All the mutants were generated by site-directed mutagenesis using the QuikChange mutagenesis kit (Stratagene) and the oligonucleotide sequences provided in Supplementary Table 3. All the constructs and mutations were confirmed by sequencing and are listed in Supplementary Table 1. The plasmids expressing full-length His 6 -eIF4E and GST-CUP (residues 311-440) were kindly provided by F. Bono 27. Coimmunoprecipitation assays and western blotting. The coimmunoprecipitations assays were performed as previously described 41. For the pull downs using m 7 GTP beads, 25 ml of immobilized g-aminophenyl-m 7 GTP (C 10 -spacer-Jena Bioscience) beads was added to the cell lysates and the mixtures were rotated for 1 h at 4°C. The beads were washed three times with NET buffer (50 mM Tris (pH 7.4), 150 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA and 0.1% Triton X-100). The bound proteins were eluted with 2 SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) sample buffer and analyzed by western blotting (WB). All of the WB experiments were developed with the ECL western blotting detection system (GE Healthcare) as recommended by the manufacturer. The antibodies used in this study are listed in Supplementary Table 2. Protein expression and purification. Unless indicated otherwise, all the proteins were expressed in E. coli BL21 Star (DE3) cells (Invitrogen) that were grown in LB medium overnight at 20°C. The lysis buffers were supplemented with DNaseI (5 mg ml 1 ), lysozyme (1 mg ml 1 ) and protease inhibitor cocktail (Roche). The truncated His 6 -eIF4E (residues 69-248) that was used in the ITC experiments and in Figs 2c and 5b was purified in lysis buffer containing 50 mM HEPES (pH 7.2), 300 mM NaCl, 20 mM imidazole and 2 mM b-mercaptoethanol using Ni 2 -affinity chromatography (HisTrap HP 5 ml, GE Healthcare) and eluted with a gradient of 20-500 mM imidazole. After the cleavage of the His 6 -tag with HRV3C protease (homemade), the protein was further purified using a heparin column (HiTrap Heparin HP 5 ml, GE Healthcare), followed by size exclusion chromatography (Superdex 75 16/60, GE Healthcare) in 20 mM Na-phosphate (pH 7.0), 300 mM NaCl and 2 mM dithiothreitol (DTT). To obtain the preassembled eIF4E-eIF4G complexes used in Figs 4 and 5d-g, full-length eIF4E (WT or the II-AA mutant) containing an N-terminal SNH-tag was coexpressed with an N-terminal GST-tagged eIF4G (residues 578-650). The cells were lysed by sonication in lysis buffer containing 50 mM HEPES (pH 7.2), 300 mM NaCl and 2 mM DTT. The complexes were purified from the cleared lysates using Protino Glutathione Agarose 4B beads (Machery-Nagel). The complex was further purified using a heparin column (HiTrap Heparin HP 5 ml, GE Healthcare) and a For the ITC measurements and the competition assays shown in Figs 4 and 5d-g, the 4E-BP peptides corresponding to the canonical (C) motifs, the combined (C NC) motifs or L NC were expressed with an HRV3C cleavable N-terminal MBP-tag and a non-cleavable C-terminal GB1 domain. The cells were lysed by sonication in lysis buffer containing 50 mM HEPES (pH 7.2), 300 mM NaCl and 2 mM DTT. The proteins were purified from the cleared lysates using amylose resin (New England Biolabs) followed by the cleavage of the MBP tag with HRV3C protease overnight at 4°C. The proteins were further purified by size exclusion chromatography (Superdex 75 16/60, GE Healthcare) in 20 mM Na-phosphate (pH 7.0), 300 mM NaCl and 2 mM DTT. For the eIF4G fragment (residues 578-650) the MBP was removed after cleavage with TEV protease through an additional anion exchange chromatography (HiTrap Q HP 5 ml, GE Healthcare) before the final gel filtration. Protein pull-down assays. For the pull-down assays shown in Fig. 3 and Supplementary Fig. 6a, the full-length His 6 -or SHN-tagged eIF4E (WT or II-AA mutant) was coexpressed with GST or MBP-tagged protein fragments, including CUP (residues 311-440), Thor (full length), 4E-T (residues 1-58) or eIF4G (residues 578-650) in E. coli BL21 (DE3) STAR cells in autoinducing medium 44 overnight at 20°C. The cells were resuspended in lysis buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 100 mM NaCl, 1 mM DTT) supplemented with EDTA-free protease inhibitor (Roche) and lysed by sonication. The cleared lysates were incubated for 1 h with 20 ml of Protino Glutathione Agarose 4B beads (Macherey-Nagel) or amylose resin (New England Biolabs). The beads were washed three times with lysis buffer, and the bound proteins were eluted with lysis buffer containing 25 mM L-glutathione or 25 mM maltose for 15 min. The proteins were analyzed by 10-15% SDS-PAGE followed by Coomassie blue staining. In Fig. 2c, eIF4G (residues 578-650) and the C NC peptides of CUP, Thor and 4E-T were expressed with a N-terminal MBP and a C-terminal GB1 tag. The bacterial cells were resuspended in 5 ml of lysis buffer containing 50 mM HEPES (pH 7.2), 200 mM NaCl and 2 mM DTT and lysed by sonication. Purified eIF4E (residues 69-248) was added to the cleared lysates (40-80 ml), adjusted to 0.3 ml with lysis buffer and incubated with 30 mL of amylose resin for 1 h at 4°C. The beads were washed three times with lysis buffer and eluted with 64 ml of the same buffer containing 25 mM maltose. The proteins were analyzed by 15% SDS-PAGE followed by Coomassie blue staining. Competition assays. For the competition assays shown in Figs 5a,c and 6a,b, complexes containing SHN-or MBP-tagged eIF4E (WT or II-AA mutant) bound to GST-eIF4G (residues 578-650), GST-Thor (full length), GST-4E-T (residues 1-58) or GST-CUP were obtained by coexpressing the corresponding proteins in E. coli BL21 (DE3) STAR cells (30 ml culture). The cells were resuspended in lysis buffer (5 ml) that was supplemented with EDTA-free protease inhibitor (Roche) and 1 mg ml 1 lysozyme and lysed by sonication. The cleared lysates were incubated with 400 ml of Protino Glutathione Agarose 4B (Macherey-Nagel) for 1 h. The beads were washed three times with lysis buffer, and the proteins were eluted after 10 min of incubation with lysis buffer containing 25 mM L-glutathione. The protein complexes were stored at 20°C or used in competition assays. The purified recombinant complexes were mixed with excess amounts of the indicated purified competitor proteins (Fig. 5c) or with bacterial lysates expressing the competitor proteins (Figs 5a and 6) and incubated for 30 min at 4°C. After incubation, 20 ml of immobilized g-Aminophenyl-m 7 GTP or Strep-Tactin Sepharose (IBA), were added to the samples and incubated for another 40 min at 4°C. The beads were washed three times with lysis buffer and eluted with lysis buffer containing 2.5 mM desthiobiotin (Strep-Tactin Sepharose) or with 20 ml of SDS-PAGE loading buffer (Aminophenyl-m 7 GTP beads). The proteins were analyzed by 10-15% SDS-PAGE followed by staining with Coomassie blue staining. For the titration experiments shown in Fig. 4, 2 mM of purified complexes containing SHN-eIF4E (WT or II-AA mutant) bound to GST-eIF4G (residues 578-650) were incubated with increasing amounts (2-20 mM) of purified competitor proteins for 20 min at 4°C. The eIF4E-bound proteins were recovered via Strep-Tactin Sepharose pull down and eluted with lysis buffer containing 2.5 mM desthiobiotin. The proteins were analyzed by 15% SDS-PAGE followed by staining with Coomassie blue staining. In the 'kinetic assays' shown in Fig. 5d-g, the purified complexes containing SHN-eIF4E and GST-eIF4G (578-650; 1 mM) were incubated with Strep-Tactin beads for 20 min. The prebound complex was then challenged with 5 mM (CUP and 4E-T) or 10 mM (Thor and eIF4G) of competitor proteins for the indicated time points. The eIF4E-associated proteins were pulled down, eluted and analyzed as described above. ITC analysis. The ITC experiments were performed using a VP-ITC microcalorimeter (MicroCal) at 20°C. The solution of eIF4E (residues 69-248, WT or mutant: 1-20 mM) in the calorimetric cell was titrated with tenfold concentrated solutions of GB1-stabilized peptides corresponding to 4E-BPs C NC (10 mM), C (50 mM), L NC (100 mM CUP, 200 mM Thor and 4E-T) or eIF4G (residues 578-650, 20 mM) that were dissolved in the same buffer (20 mM Na-phosphate (pH 7.0) and 150 mM NaCl). The titration experiments consisted of an initial injection of 2 ml followed by 28 injections of 10 ml at an interval of 240 s. Each binding experiment was repeated twice. The thermodynamic parameters were estimated using a one-site binding model (Origin version 7.0), whereby the datapoint of the first injection was removed for the analysis 45. Translation repression assays. S2 cells were transfected in 6-well plates using Effectene transfection reagent (Qiagen) according to the manufacturers protocol. The transfection mixtures contained: 0.1 mg of F-Luc reporter plasmid (F-Luc-V5), 0.3 mg of control RNA reporter, and increasing amounts of plasmids expressing HA-CUP (fragment 1-402; 0.05-0.2 mg) and HA-Thor (full length, 0.1-0.5 mg). The plasmids expressing the corresponding mutants or the HA peptide control were transfected at the highest concentration. In all the experiments, the cells were collected three days after transfection. The F-Luc activity was measured using the Dual-Luciferase reporter assay system (Promega). The northern blotting was performed as previously described 42. The F-Luc mRNA levels were determined by northern blotting and were normalized to those of the control RNA. The normalized F-Luc mRNA levels were then used to normalize the F-Luc activity, to obtain translation efficiencies. Immunofluorescence. S2 cells expressing HA-tagged versions of CUP, Thor and 4E-T or the indicated mutants were treated with Leptomycin B (100 nM; Sigma) or methanol as a control for 12 h. After the LMB treatment, the cells were allowed to adhere to poly-D-lysine-coated coverslips for 15 min and were fixed with 2% paraformaldehyde for 10 min. The cells were then permeabilized with 0.1% Triton X-100 in PBS (10 min) and stained with affinity-purified monoclonal anti-HA (Covance 1:1,000) and polyclonal anti-eIF4E (1:2,000) antibodies in PBS containing 1% BSA for 1 h. Alexa Fluor 594-labeled goat anti-rabbit and 488-labeled anti-mouse antibodies (Invitrogen) were used at dilutions of 1:1,000 and 1:2,000, respectively. The cells were mounted using Fluoromount-G (Southern Biotech). The images were acquired at room temperature using a confocal microscope (TCS SP2; Leica) that was fitted with a Plan-Apochromat 100 NA 1.40 oil immersion objective and a series of three photomultipliers (Hamamatsu Photonics) controlled with the Leica confocal software (version 2.61). The images were prepared using Photoshop (Adobe).

# ALSO BY SIGRID NUNEZ A Feather on the Breath of God Naked Sleeper Mitz: The Marmoset of Bloomsbury For Rouenna The Last of Her Kind Salvation City Sempre Susan: A Memoir of Susan Sontag RIVERHEAD BOOKS Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) LLC 375 Hudson Street New York, New York 10014 Copyright © 2018 by Sigrid Nunez Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader. Epigraph from _The Little Virtues_ by Natalia Ginzburg, translated by Dick Davis, reprinted by permission of Arcade Publishing, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Nunez, Sigrid, author. Title: The friend / Sigrid Nunez. Description: New York : Riverhead Books, 2018. Identifiers: LCCN 2017011191 (print) | LCCN 2017016355 (ebook) | ISBN 9780735219465 (ebook) | ISBN 9780735219441 Subjects: LCSH: Human-animal relationships—Fiction. | Female friendship—Fiction. Classification: LCC PS3564.U485 (ebook) | LCC PS3564.U485 F75 2018 (print) | DDC 813/.54—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017011191 p. cm. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Version_1 # CONTENTS _Also by Sigrid Nunez_ _Title Page_ _Copyright_ _Epigraph_ PART ONE PART TWO PART THREE PART FOUR PART FIVE PART SIX PART SEVEN PART EIGHT PART NINE PART TEN PART ELEVEN PART TWELVE _Acknowledgments_ _About the Author_ You have to realize that you cannot hope to console yourself for your grief by writing. Natalia Ginzburg, "My Vocation" — You will see a large chest, standing in the middle of the floor, and upon it a dog seated, with a pair of eyes as large as teacups. But you need not be at all afraid of him. Hans Christian Andersen, "The Tinderbox" — The question any novel is really trying to answer is, Is life worth living? Nicholson Baker, "The Art of Fiction No. 212," _The Paris Review_ # PART ONE During the 1980s, in California, a large number of Cambodian women went to their doctors with the same complaint: they could not see. The women were all war refugees. Before fleeing their homeland, they had witnessed the atrocities for which the Khmer Rouge, which had been in power from 1975 to 1979, was well known. Many of the women had been raped or tortured or otherwise brutalized. Most had seen family members murdered in front of them. One woman, who never again saw her husband and three children after soldiers came and took them away, said that she had lost her sight after having cried every day for four years. She was not the only one who appeared to have cried herself blind. Others suffered from blurred or partial vision, their eyes troubled by shadows and pains. The doctors who examined the women—about a hundred and fifty in all—found that their eyes were normal. Further tests showed that their brains were normal as well. If the women were telling the truth—and there were some who doubted this, who thought the women might be malingering because they wanted attention or were hoping to collect disability—the only explanation was psychosomatic blindness. In other words, the women's minds, forced to take in so much horror and unable to take more, had managed to turn out the lights. • • • This was the last thing you and I talked about while you were still alive. After, only your email with a list of books you thought might be helpful to me in my research. And, because it was the season, best wishes for the new year. • • • There were two errors in your obituary. The date you moved from London to New York: off by one year. Misspelling of the maiden name of Wife One. Small errors, which were later corrected, but which we all knew would have annoyed the hell out of you. But at your memorial I overheard something that would have amused you: I wish I could pray. What's stopping you? _He_ is. _Would have, would have_. The dead dwell in the conditional, tense of the unreal. But there is also the extraordinary sense that you have become omniscient, that nothing we do or think or feel can be kept from you. The extraordinary sense that you are reading these words, that you know what they'll say even before I write them. • • • It's true that if you cry hard enough for long enough you can end up with blurred vision. I was lying down, it was the middle of the day, but I was in bed. All the crying had given me a headache, I'd had a throbbing headache for days. I got up and went to look out the window. It was winter yet, it was cold by the window, there was a draft. But it felt good—as it felt good to press my forehead against the icy glass. I kept blinking, but my eyes wouldn't clear. I thought of the women who'd cried themselves blind. I blinked and blinked, fear rising. Then I saw you. You were wearing your brown vintage bomber jacket, the one that was too tight—and looked only better on you for that—and your hair was dark and thick and long. Which is how I knew that we had to be back in time. Way back. Almost thirty years. Where were you going? Nowhere in particular. No errand, no appointment. Just strolling along, hands in pockets, savoring the street. It was your thing. _If I can't walk, I can't write._ You would work in the morning, and at a certain point, which always came, when it seemed you were incapable of writing a simple sentence, you would go out and walk for miles. Cursed were the days when bad weather prevented this (which rarely happened, though, because you didn't mind cold or rain, only a real storm could thwart you). When you came back you would sit down again to work, trying to hold on to the rhythm that had been established while walking. And the better you succeeded at that, the better the writing. Because it's all about the rhythm, you said. Good sentences start with a beat. • • • You posted an essay, "How to Be a Flâneur," on the custom of urban strolling and loitering and its place in literary culture. You caught some flak for questioning whether there could really be such a thing as a flâneuse. You didn't think it was possible for a woman to wander the streets in the same spirit and manner as a man. A female pedestrian was subject to constant disruptions: stares, comments, catcalls, gropes. A woman was raised to be always on guard: Was this guy walking too close? Was that guy following her? How, then, could she ever relax enough to experience the loss of sense of self, the joy of pure being that was the ideal of true flânerie? You concluded that, for women, the equivalent was probably shopping—specifically, the kind of browsing people do when they're not looking to buy something. I didn't think you were wrong about any of this. I've known plenty of women who brace themselves whenever they leave the house, even a few who try to avoid leaving the house. Of course, a woman has only to wait until she's a certain age, when she becomes invisible, and—problem solved. And note how you used the word _women_ when what you really meant was young women. Lately I've done a lot of walking but no writing. I missed my deadline. Was given a compassionate extension. Missed that deadline, too. Now the editor thinks I'm malingering. • • • I was not the only one who made the mistake of thinking that, because it was something you talked about a lot, it was something you wouldn't do. And after all, you were not the unhappiest person we knew. You were not the most depressed (think of G, of D, or T-R). You were not even—strange as it now sounds to say—the most suicidal. Because of the timing, so near the start of the year, it was possible to think that it had been a resolution. • • • One of those times when you talked about it, you said that what would stop you was your students. Naturally, you were concerned about the effect such an example might have on them. Nevertheless, we thought nothing of it when you quit teaching last year, even though we knew that you liked teaching and that you needed the money. Another time you said that, for a person who had reached a certain age, it could be a rational decision, a perfectly sound choice, a solution even. Unlike when a young person commits suicide, which could never be anything but a mistake. • • • Once, you cracked us up with the line _I think I'd prefer a novella of a life._ • • • Stevie Smith calling Death the only god who must come when he's called tickled you pink, as did the various ways people have said that were it not for suicide they could not go on. • • • Walking with Samuel Beckett one fine spring morning, a friend of his asked, Doesn't a day like this make you glad to be alive? I wouldn't go as far as that, Beckett said. • • • And weren't you the one who told us that Ted Bundy once manned a phone for a suicide prevention center? Ted Bundy. Hi. My name is Ted and I'm here to listen. Talk to me. • • • That there was to be a memorial took us by surprise. We who had heard you say that you would never want any such thing, the very idea was repugnant to you. Did Wife Three simply choose to ignore this? Was it because you'd failed to put it in writing? Like most suicides, you did not leave a note. I have never understood why it is called a _note_. There must be some who don't keep it short. In German they call it an _Abschiedsbrief_ : a farewell letter. (Better.) • • • Your wish to be cremated had been respected, at least, and there was no funeral, no sitting shivah. The obituary stressed your atheism. _Between religion and knowledge, he said, a person must choose knowledge._ What a preposterous thing for anyone who knows anything about Jewish history to say, one comment read. • • • By the time the memorial took place the shock had worn off. People distracted themselves with speculation about what it would be like to have all the wives in one room. Not to mention the girlfriends (all of whom, the joke went, wouldn't fit in one room). Except for the slideshow loop, with its hammering reminder of lost beauty, lost youth, it was not very different from other literary gatherings. People mingling at the reception were heard talking about money, literary prizes as reparations, and the latest _die, author, die_ review. Decorum in this instance meant no tears. People used the opportunity to network and catch up. Gossip and head-shaking over Wife Two's oversharing in memoriam piece (and now the rumor that she's turning it into a book). Wife Three, it must be said, looked radiant, though it was a cold radiance like that of a blade. Treat me like an object of pity, her bearing announced, hint that I was somehow to blame, and I will cut you. I was touched when she asked me how my writing was going. Can't wait to read it, she said untruthfully. I'm not sure I'm going to finish it, I said. Oh, but you know he would have wanted you to finish. ( _Would have_.) That disconcerting habit she has of slowly shaking her head while speaking, as if simultaneously denying every word she says. Someone semi-famous approached. Before turning away she said, Is it okay if I call you? I left early. On my way out I heard someone say, I hope there are more people than this at _my_ memorial. And: Now he's officially a dead white male. Is it true that the literary world is mined with hatred, a battlefield rimmed with snipers where jealousies and rivalries are always being played out? asked the NPR interviewer of the distinguished author. Who allowed that it was. There's a lot of envy and enmity, the author said. And he tried to explain: It's like a sinking raft that too many people are trying to get onto. So any push you can deliver makes the raft a little higher for you. If reading really does increase empathy, as we are constantly being told that it does, it appears that writing takes some away. • • • At a conference once, you startled the packed audience by saying, Where do all you people get the idea that being a writer is a wonderful thing? Not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness, Simenon said writing was. Georges Simenon, who wrote hundreds of novels under his own name, hundreds more under two dozen pen names, and who, at the time of his retirement, was the bestselling author in the world. Now, that's a lot of unhappiness. Who boasted of having fucked no fewer than ten thousand women, many if not most of them prostitutes, and who called himself a feminist. Who had for a literary mentor none less than Colette and for a mistress none less than Josephine Baker, though he was said to have ended that affair because it interfered too much with work, slowing that year's novel production down to a lousy twelve. Who, asked what had made him a novelist, replied, My hatred for my mother. (That's a lot of hatred.) Simenon the flâneur: All my books have come to me while walking. He had a daughter, who was psychotically in love with him. When she was a little girl she asked for a wedding ring, which he gave her. She had the ring enlarged to fit her finger as she grew. When she was twenty-five, she shot herself. Q. Where does a young Parisienne get a gun? A. From a gunsmith she read about in one of Papa's novels. • • • One day, in 1974, in the same university classroom where I sometimes teach, a poet announced to the workshop she was teaching that semester: I may not be here next week. Later, at home, she put on her mother's old fur coat and, with a glass of vodka in hand, shut herself in her garage. The mother's old fur coat is the kind of detail writing teachers like to point out to students, one of those telling details—like how Simenon's daughter got her gun—that are found in abundance in life but are mostly absent from student fiction. The poet got into her car, a vintage 1967 tomato-red Cougar, and turned on the ignition. • • • In the first writing course I ever taught, after I'd emphasized the importance of detail, a student raised his hand and said, I totally disagree. If you want a lot of details, you should watch television. A comment I would come to see was not really as dumb as it seemed. The same student also accused me (his words were _writers like you_ ) of trying to scare other people by making writing seem much harder than it was. Why would we want to do that? I asked. Oh come on, he said. Isn't it obvious? The pie is only so large. • • • My own first writing teacher used to tell her students that if there was anything else they could do with their lives instead of becoming writers, any other profession, they should do it. • • • Last night, in the Union Square station, a man was playing "La Vie en Rose" on a flute, _molto giocoso_. Lately I've become vulnerable to earworms, and sure enough the song, in the flutist's peppy rendition, has been pestering me all day. They say the way to get rid of an earworm is to listen a couple of times to the whole song through. I listened to the most famous version, by Edith Piaf, of course, who wrote the lyrics and first performed the song in 1945. Now it's the Little Sparrow's strange, bleating, soul-of-France voice that won't stop. Also in the Union Square station, a man with a sign: Homeless Toothless Diabethee. That's a good one, a commuter said as he tossed change into the man's paper cup. • • • Sometimes when I'm on the computer a window pops up: Are you writing a book? • • • What does Wife Three want to talk to me about? I am not as curious as you might expect. If there had been a letter or some message from you, surely I'd be in possession of it by now. She may be planning some other kind of memorial, a collection of written remembrances, say, and if that's the case she will again be doing something you said you did not want. I dread the meeting, not because I dislike her (I don't), but because I don't want to be part of any of these rites. And I don't want to talk about you. Our relationship was a somewhat unusual one, not always easy for others to grasp. I never asked, and so never knew, what you told any of your wives about us. I was always grateful that, though Wife Three was never my friend like Wife One, at least she was not my enemy like Wife Two. It was not her fault that your marriage entailed adjustments to your friendships, that is what marriages do. You and I were closest when you were between wives, periods that never lasted long, because you were, to an almost pathological degree, incapable of being alone. You once told me that, with few exceptions, such as when you were traveling on business, on book tour for example (and not always even then), you hadn't slept a night alone in forty years. Between wives, there was always some girlfriend. Between girlfriends there were one-night stands. (There were also what you liked to call drive-bys, but those did not involve sleep.) A pause here to confess, not without shame: I never heard the news that you'd fallen in love without experiencing a pang, nor could I suppress a surge of joy each time I heard that you were breaking up with someone. I don't want to talk about you, or to hear others talk about you. It's a cliché, of course: we talk about the dead in order to remember them, in order to keep them, in the only way we can, alive. But I have found that the more people say about you, for example those who spoke at the memorial—people who loved you, people who knew you well, people who are very good with words—the further you seem to slip away, the more like a hologram you become. • • • I am relieved that at least I am not invited to your house. (It is still _your_ _house_.) Not that I have any particularly strong associations with the place, having been there only two or three times in the several years that it was your home. I do remember well my first visit, not long after you'd moved in, when I got a tour of the brownstone, admiring its built-in bookcases and handsome rugs laid over aged walnut floors, and being reminded how essentially bourgeois contemporary writers are. Once, over a superb dinner at another writer's house, someone brought up Flaubert's famous rule about living like a bourgeois and thinking like a demigod, though I've never seen how that wild man's own life could be said much to resemble that of any ordinary bourgeois. Nowadays (the table agreed) the feckless bohemian had all but ceased to exist, replaced by the hipster known for his knowingness, his consumer savvy, his palate and other cultivated tastes. And fair or not, asserted our host, opening a third bottle of wine, many writers today admitted to feelings of embarrassment and even shame about what they do. You who had moved there decades before the boom were disheartened to see Brooklyn become a brand and wondered at the fact that your own neighborhood had become as hard to write about as it was to write about the sixties counterculture: no matter how earnest one set out to be, the ink of parody seeped through. As famous as Flaubert's words are Virginia Woolf's: _One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well._ Point taken. But the starving artist wasn't always a myth, and how many thinkers have lived like paupers, or gone to paupers' graves. Woolf names Flaubert with Keats as men of genius who suffered fiercely because of the world's indifference to them. But what do you suppose Flaubert would have made of her—he who said all female artists are sluts? Both created characters who take their own lives, as would Woolf herself. • • • There was a time—quite a long time, it was—when you and I saw each other almost every day. But in the past few years we might have been living in different countries instead of only different boroughs, staying in touch regularly but mainly through email. In all of last year we met more often by chance, at a party or a reading or some other event, than by plan. So why am I so afraid to set foot in your house? It would undo me, I think, to glimpse some familiar piece of clothing, or a certain book or photograph, or to catch a hint of your smell. And I don't want to be undone like that, oh my God, not with your widow standing by. • • • Are you writing a book? Are you writing a book? Click here to learn how to get published. Lately, since I started writing this, a new message has been popping up. Alone? Scared? Depressed? Call 24 Hour Suicide Hotline. • • • The only animal that commits suicide is also the only animal that weeps. Though I've heard that stags brought to bay, exhausted from the hunt, with no escape from the hounds, sometimes shed tears. Crying elephants have also been reported, and of course people will tell you anything about their cats and dogs. According to scientists, animal tears are tears of stress, not to be confused with those of an emotional human being. In humans, the chemical makeup of emotional tears is different from that of tears that form in order to cleanse or lubricate the eye, say because of some irritant. It is known that the release of these chemicals can be beneficial to the weeper, which helps explain why people so often find that they feel better after they've had a good cry, and also, perhaps, the reason for the enduring popularity of the tearjerker. Laurence Olivier was said to have been frustrated because, unlike many other actors, he could not make tears on demand. It would be interesting to know about the chemical composition of the tears produced by an actor and to which of the two types they belong. In folklore and in other fictions, human tears, like human semen and human blood, can have magic properties. At the end of the story of Rapunzel, when, after years of separation and misery, she and the prince find each other again and embrace, her tears flow into his eyes and miraculously restore the sight he had lost at the hands of the witch. • • • One of the many legends about Edith Piaf also concerns a miraculous restoration of sight. The keratitis that blinded her for several years as a child was said to have been cured after some prostitutes who worked in her grandmother's brothel, which happened also to be little Edith's home at the time, took her on a pilgrimage to honor St. Thérèse of Lisieux. This might be just another fairy tale, but it is a fact that Jean Cocteau once described Piaf as having, when she sang, "the eyes of a blind person struck by a miracle, the eyes of a clairvoyant." • • • _But for two days, I went blind. . . . What had I seen? I shall never know._ Words of a poet describing an episode from her childhood, a period marked by violence and squalor. Louise Bogan. Who also said: _I must have experienced violence from birth._ • • • I thought I knew the Grimm story by heart, but I had forgotten that the prince tries to commit suicide. He believes the witch when she tells him he'll never see Rapunzel again, and throws himself from her tower. My memory was that the witch blinded him with her nails—and she does threaten that the cat that got his pretty bird will scratch his eyes out, too. But it's because he jumps that the prince loses his sight. There are thorns where he lands, which pierce his eyes. But even as a child I thought the witch had a right to be angry. A promise is a promise, and it wasn't like she'd tricked the parents into giving up their child. She took good care of Rapunzel, protecting her from the big bad world. It didn't seem altogether fair that the first handsome young man to happen by could take her away. • • • During the period in my childhood when my favorite reading was fairy tales, I had a neighbor who was blind. Though a grown man, he still lived with his parents. His eyes were always hidden behind large dark glasses. It confused me that a blind person would need to protect his eyes from the light. What could be seen of the rest of his face was rugged and handsome, like TV's Rifleman. He might have been a movie star, or a secret agent, but in the story I wrote about him he was a wounded prince, and mine were the tears that saved him. — "I hope this place is all right. It was so nice of you to come all this way." The trip, as she knows, took less than thirty minutes, but she is a gracious woman, Wife Three. And "this place" is a charming European-style café, just around the corner from your brownstone. (It is still _your brownstone_.) A perfect setting, I thought when I entered and saw her at a table by the window—not using an electronic device like everyone else who was there alone (and even some who weren't), but instead contemplating the street—for such an elegant, pretty woman. _She's the kind of woman who knows fifty ways to tie a scarf_ was one of the first things you ever told us about her. It's not so much that she doesn't look sixty as that she makes being attractive at sixty look easy. I remember how surprised we all were when you first started seeing her, a widow nearly your own age. We were thinking, of course, of Wife Two, and of others who were even younger, and how, given your proclivities, it was only a matter of time before there'd be someone younger than your daughter. We agreed that it must have been the battles of your second marriage, which you used to say had aged you ten years, that drove you into the arms of a middle-aged woman. But even as I admire her—the freshly cut and colored hair, the makeup, the hands beautifully manicured as I know the hidden feet are beautifully pedicured—I am unable to suppress a certain thought, the very same thought I had when I saw her at the memorial event and found myself remembering a news story about a couple whose child had vanished while the family was on vacation. Days had passed, the child was still missing, there were no leads, and the shadow of a doubt had fallen on the parents themselves. They were photographed coming out of a police station, an ordinary-looking couple whose faces left no impression. What stayed with me was the fact that the woman was wearing lipstick and jewelry: a necklace—a locket, I think—and a pair of large hoop earrings. That, at such a moment, a person would trouble to put on makeup and jewelry astonished me. I would have expected her to look like a homeless person. And now again, in the café, I think: She is the wife, she found the body. But here, as at the memorial, she has made every effort to look not just presentable, not just pulled together, but her best: face, dress, fingertips, roots—all meticulously attended to. It's not criticism I feel, only awe. She was different: one of the few people in your life who wasn't in one way or another connected to the literary or academic worlds. She had worked as a management consultant at the same Manhattan firm since graduating from business school. But hey, she reads more than I do, you used to tell people, in a way that made us cringe. From the beginning, polite but distant toward me, content to accept me as one of your oldest friends while herself remaining only my acquaintance. Better this by far than the mad jealousy of Wife Two, who demanded that you stop having anything to do with me or any other woman from your past. Our friendship in particular irked her; she called it an incestuous relationship. Why "incestuous"? I asked. You shrugged and said she meant that we were too close. She never would believe we weren't fucking. Once, when we were on the phone, I said something that made you laugh. In the background I heard her complain that she was trying to read. When you ignored her and kept laughing, she became incensed. She chucked the book at your head. You said no. You would agree to see me less often, but refused to drop me completely. For a while you put up with the rages, the flying objects, the screaming and weeping, the neighbors' complaints. And then you lied. For years we met on the sly, as if we really were secret lovers. Crazy making. Her hostility never waned. If our paths crossed in public, she would look daggers at me. Even at the memorial, she looked daggers at me. Her daughter—your daughter—wasn't there. I heard someone say she was in Brazil, on a research project, something to do with some endangered—bird, I think it was. Much unhappiness between you and your estranged only child, even less forgiving of adultery than her mom was. She doesn't understand, you said. She's ashamed of me. (What made you think she didn't understand?) But not a drop of resentment in Wife Two's in memoriam piece. You were the light and love of her life, she'd said, the best thing that ever happened to her. And now, they say, she's writing a book about her marriage to you. _A novelization_. Wherein perhaps I'll learn whether you ever told her that, in fact, we did fuck. Once. Years ago. Long before she met you. Barely out of school yourself, you had just started teaching. I was not the only one of your students to become your friend, and it was in that same class that we both met Wife One. You were the department's youngest instructor, its wunderkind, and its Romeo. You thought any attempt to banish love from the classroom was futile. A great teacher was a seducer, you said, and there were times when he must also be a heartbreaker. That I did not really understand what you were talking about did not make it less exciting. What I did understand was that I craved knowledge, and that you had the power to transmit it to me. Our friendship went on beyond the school year, and that summer—the same period when you began courting Wife One—we became inseparable. One day you startled me by saying we should fuck. Given your reputation, this should not have been a surprise. But enough time had passed that I was no longer anxiously waiting for you to pounce. Now came this blunt proposal, and I didn't know what to think. I asked, stupidly, why. Which gave you a good laugh. Because, you said, touching my hair, we should _find that out about each other_. I don't think it ever occurred to either of us that I might refuse. Among all my desires at the time—and you could call it the most ardent time of my life—one of the strongest was to put my full trust in someone; in some man. Later, I was mortified when you pronounced it a mistake for us to try to be more than friends. For a while, I faked illness. For a while longer, I pretended to be out of town. And then I really did become ill, and I blamed you, and I cursed you, and I did not believe you could be my friend. But when finally we saw each other again, instead of the painful awkwardness I'd feared, something—a certain tension, a distraction I hadn't even been wholly aware of before—was gone. This was, of course, precisely what you'd been hoping for. Now, even as you completed your conquest of Wife One, our friendship grew. It would outlast all my other friendships. It would bring me intense happiness. And I felt lucky: I had suffered, but unlike others I never got my heart broken. ( _Didn't_ you? a therapist once goaded me. Wife Two was not the only one who found something unhealthy about our relationship, nor was the therapist the only one to wonder if it hadn't been a factor in my remaining single all these years.) • • • Wife One. An undeniably true and passionate love. But not, on your side, a faithful one. Before it was over she had a breakdown. It is not an exaggeration to say she was never the same. But then neither were you. I remember how it tore you up when she came out of the hospital and immediately found someone else. When she remarried you swore _you_ never would. There followed a decade of affairs, most of them short-lived, but a few all but indistinguishable from marriage. Not one do I recall that did not end in betrayal. I don't like men who leave behind them a trail of weeping women, said W. H. Auden. Who would have hated you. • • • Wife Three. I remember your telling us that she was a rock. ( _My_ rock, you said.) Oldest of nine children, who as a girl had had large responsibilities thrust upon her when her mother developed a disabling illness and her father struggled to hold down two jobs. About her first marriage I knew only that her husband had died in a mountain-climbing accident and that they had a child: a son. This is the first time she and I have ever been alone together. Because I have only ever known her to be reserved, I am surprised at how talkative she is today, the espresso loosening her tongue like wine. She does that thing with her head, shaking it back and forth as she speaks, slowly back and forth—is she trying to hypnotize me? She seems nervous, though her voice is soft and calm. You were not the first person in her life to commit suicide, she says. "My grandfather shot himself. I was just a little girl when it happened and I have no memory of him. But his death was very much a part of my childhood. My parents never talked about it, but it was always there, a cloud hanging over the house, the spider in the corner, the goblin under the bed. He was my paternal grandfather, and it had been drilled into me that I should never, ever ask my father about him. After I grew up I did finally get my mother to open up a bit. She said his suicide was a total shock. There was no note, and nobody who knew him could come up with a single reason for him to do such a thing. He'd never shown signs of being depressed, let alone suicidal. Somehow the mystery made it worse for my father, who for a long time kept insisting there must have been foul play. My mother said he seemed to be more angry with his father for not explaining himself than for taking his life. Apparently, he expected reason from a suicide." You, on the other hand, had always suffered from depression. And never worse, she says, than in those six months last year, when you could hardly get out of bed in the morning and didn't write a word. What was strange, though, was that you'd gotten over that crisis and, since the summer, at least, had been in good spirits. For one thing, she says, the long drought was over and, after many false starts, you were finally launched on something that excited you. You were at your desk every morning, and most days you reported that the writing had gone well. You were reading a lot, the way you always did when you were working on a novel. And you were physically active again. One of the things that made you so depressed last year, she explains, was that you'd hurt your back moving some boxes and couldn't exercise for weeks. Even walking was painful. And you remember his mantra, she says: If I can't walk, I can't write. But that injury had finally healed, and you were back to your long walks and running in the park. "He was back to socializing, too, catching up with all the people he'd been avoiding while he was depressed. And you know that he got a dog?" You had, in fact, emailed me about the dog that you found early one morning when you were out running. Standing on an overhang, silhouetted against the sky: the biggest dog you'd ever seen. A harlequin Great Dane. No collar or tags, which made you think that, purebred though it was, it might have been abandoned. You did everything possible to find its owner and when that failed you decided to keep it. Your wife was appalled. She's not a dog person to begin with, you said, and Dino is a lot of dog. Thirty-four inches from shoulder to paw. A hundred and eighty pounds. Attached was a photo: the two of you, cheek to jowl, the massive head at first glance looking like a pony's. Later you decided against the name Dino. He was too dignified for a name like that, you said. What did I think of Chance? Chauncy? Diego? Watson? Rolfe? Arlo? Alfie? Any of those names sounded fine to me. In the end you called him Apollo. Wife Three asks if I knew a certain friend of yours who'd committed suicide just months before you did. We never met, I say. Though you had told me about him. "Well, that poor man was in terrible health. He had emphysema, cancer, angina, and diabetes—his quality of life was frankly rotten." You, on the other hand, had been in excellent health. The heart and muscle tone of a much younger man, according to your doctor. A pause here, a near inaudible sigh as she turns her head to the window, eyes raking the street as if the answer she is looking for is surely going to appear; is just running a bit late. "My point is, though he may have had his ups and downs and didn't enjoy growing older any more than the rest of us do, he really did seem to be thriving." When I don't say anything—what should I say?—she goes on: "I think it was a mistake for him to stop teaching. Not just because it was something he loved but because it gave his life a structure that I know was good for him. Though I also know he wasn't as happy teaching as he used to be. In fact, he was always complaining. Teaching had become too demoralizing, he said, especially for a writer." My phone pings. The message is nothing urgent, but I note the time with a ripple of anxiety. It's not that I have somewhere else I have to be, I've made no other plans for today. But it's been half an hour, our cups are drained, and I still don't know what I'm doing here. I keep waiting for her to bring up a particular subject, one that's delicate to begin with and that I'd find even harder to discuss because I have no idea what she thinks or even how much she knows. I can think of several good reasons for you to have kept her in the dark about, for example, the group of students who complained about being addressed as "dear." I thought the students had handled things well. They sent their letter to you, and only to you. You probably thought it was charming, they wrote. Demeaning was what it was. Inappropriate. You should stop. Which you did, but not without sulking. A perfectly harmless habit, you'd been doing it for—how many years? Ever since you started teaching. And in all that time, not a single peep from anyone. And now everyone—every woman in the class (and, like most writing classes, this one was mostly women)—had signed the letter. Of course you felt ganged up on. How petty, didn't I agree? Didn't I see how absurd and petty the whole business was? If only they'd get this worked up over their own word choices! One of those rare times that we fought. Me: Just because no one ever said anything didn't mean no one objected. You: Well, if they didn't _say_ anything, they didn't _object_ , did they? Stupidly (I admit this was careless), I brought up the famous poet who'd taught in the same program many years before, and who, when selecting students competing for a place in his class, required the women to be interviewed in person, so that he could choose them on the basis of their looks. _And got away with it._ I thought your head would explode. Talk about invidious comparisons! How dare I suggest that you'd ever done anything like that. Sorry. But what you had done, over the years, was conduct a series of romances with students and former students. You never saw anything wrong with this. ( _If I thought it was wrong, I wouldn't do it._ ) Besides, there was no rule against it. Which was as it should be, you said. The classroom was the most erotic place in the world. To deny this was puerile. Read George Steiner. Read _Lessons of the Masters_. I read George Steiner, who had been one of your own teachers, revered, beloved. I read _Lessons of the Masters_ , and I quote: _Eroticism, covert or declared, fantasized or enacted, is inwoven in teaching . . . This elemental fact has been trivialized by a fixation on sexual harassment._ Unsaid: I was a hypocrite. We both knew I used to be thrilled when you called me dear. And allow you to point out: In no few cases, it was the student who seduced you. But I remember there was one woman, early on, a foreign student, who'd rebuffed your advances and later accused you of punishing her by giving her an A minus instead of the A she deserved. As it turned out, this particular student made a habit of challenging grades, and the committee that investigated the complaint determined that the A minus was, if anything, suspiciously generous. Still: though romantic relations between teachers and students were not officially forbidden, your behavior showed a lack of propriety and of sound moral judgment and could not be tolerated. A warning. Which you ignored. And got away with it. It took years for you to change. Meaning, it took age. You had just turned fifty. You had put on twenty pounds, which you would lose again, but not for some time. You arrived at the bar already tipsy, got totally smashed, spilled your guts. I wished you would stop. I hated it when you talked about women. It wasn't jealousy, not anymore, and I swear I'd long since made my peace with this side of you. What I hated was feeling embarrassed for you. You knew there was nothing I could do, but you had to show me the wound anyway. Even if it required indecent exposure. She is nineteen and a half—still young enough for "and a half" to mean something. She doesn't love you, which you can bear (which, to be honest, you even prefer). What you can't bear is that she doesn't want you. Sometimes she fakes desire, though never wholeheartedly. Mostly she is too lazy to do even that. The truth is, she doesn't care about the sex. She isn't with you for the sex. The sex that she does care about, you know perfectly well, she gets somewhere else. By now it has become a pattern: young women who are willing to fuck you but who share none of the desire that drives you to them. What drives them instead is narcissism, the thrill of bringing an older man in a position of authority to his knees. Nineteen-and-a-half has your heart on a string. Tug, tug, this way—no, that way, professor. You liked to say (quoting someone, I think) that young women are the most powerful people in the world. I don't know about that, but we all know what kind of power is being referred to. Promiscuity had always been second nature to you (your father before you, it seems, had been the same). And given your looks, your gift for words, your BBC accent and confident style, you had no trouble attracting the women you were attracted to. The intensity of your romantic life was not merely helpful but essential to your work, you said. Balzac lamenting after a night of passion that he'd just lost a book, Flaubert's insistence that orgasm was a drain on a man's creative juices—that to choose the work over the life meant as much sexual abstinence as a man could endure—these were interesting stories but, at bottom, silliness. If such fears were grounded, monks would be the most creative people on earth, you said. And after all, plenty of great writers were also great womanizers, or at least known to have potent sex drives. You write for two people said Hemingway, you said. First for yourself, then for the woman you love. You yourself never wrote better than during those periods when you were having lots of good sex, you said. With you, the beginning of an affair often coincided with a spell of productivity. It was one of your excuses for cheating. I was blocked and I had a deadline, you once told me. Not even half joking. All the trouble your womanizing brought into your life was well worth it, you said. Of course you never seriously considered changing. That change must come—and without your having any say in the matter, either—was something you appeared not to have worried overmuch about. One day, in a hotel bathroom, you receive a jolt. A full-length mirror positioned directly across from the shower door. Nothing _too_ hideous for a middle-aged man. But, in the glare of the vanity lights, truth won't be denied. That is not a body to turn any woman on. A power has been taken away, it can never be given back again. It felt, you said, like a kind of castration. But that's what age is, isn't it? Slo-mo castration. (Am I quoting you here? Did I get this from one of your books?) The pursuit of women was so much a part of your life, you could scarcely imagine doing without it. Who would you be, without it? Someone else. _No one._ Not that you were ready to give up. For one thing, there were always whores. And the bedding of students was by no means at an end. After all, it wasn't as if you didn't already know that, to the young, even a man of thirty is over the hill. But not till now had you had to be content with couplings in which the other submitted—submitted completely—completely without desire. Another mirror: _Disgrace_ , by J. M. Coetzee. One of your—our—favorite books, by one of our favorite writers. David Lurie: same age, same job, same proclivities. Same crisis. At the beginning of the novel he describes what he sees as the older man's inescapable fate: to be the kind of john prostitutes shudder at _as one shudders at a cockroach in a washbasin in the middle of the night_. In the bar, drunk, maudlin now, you tell me how you went to kiss your baby and she shrank from you. I got a neck cramp, she said. Why don't you stop seeing her, I say—mechanically, knowing full well that you are incapable of sparing yourself far worse humiliation. David Lurie is so appalled by his degraded state—no longer sexually attractive but still squirming with lust—that he finds himself musing about actual castration, the possibility that one might get a doctor to do it, or even, with the help of a textbook, do it oneself. For would that really be any more disgusting than the antics of a dirty old man? Instead, he forces himself on one of his students, a cannonball dive into disgrace that will be his undoing. This was a book that you read with your skin. But you were luckier than Professor Lurie. You never knew disgrace. Embarrassment, often. Sometimes shame. But never true, irremediable disgrace. Wife One had a theory. There are two kinds of womanizer, she said. There's the kind that loves women and the kind that hates them. You were the first kind, she said. She believed that women tended to be more forgiving, more understanding and even protective of your kind. Less likely when wronged to want revenge. Of course, it helps if the man is an artist, she said, or has some other type of noble calling. Or is some kind of outlaw was my thought. That type above all. Q. What is it that makes a womanizer one type or the other? A. His mother, of course. But you made a prediction: If I go on teaching, sooner or later I will come to grief. I feared so too. You were one of several Lurian friends I've known: reckless, priapic men risking careers, livelihoods, marriages—everything. (As to _why_ , the stakes being what they are, the only explanation I've ever been able to come up with is: because that's how men are.) How much of all this does Wife Three know? How much does she care? I have no idea and no desire to find out. As if I had spoken my thoughts, she says, "Let me tell you why I wanted to talk to you." At these words for some reason my heart starts to pound. "It's about the dog." "The dog?" "Yes. I wanted to ask if you would take him." "Take him?" "Give him a home." It is just about the last thing I was expecting her to say. I feel equally relieved and annoyed. I can't do that, I tell her. There are no dogs allowed in my apartment building. She gives me a doubtful look, then asks if I'd ever told you that. I don't know, I say. I don't remember. After a pause, she asks me if I know the story of how you got the dog. For some reason I shake my head. I let her tell the story I already know. When you decided you wanted to keep the dog, you and she had a big fight. A beautiful animal—and how could she not feel sorry for the poor thing, being abandoned like that? But she didn't like dogs, she never had, and this dog—he's not a bad dog, in fact he's a very good dog, but he takes up a lot of space. She told you she refused to share any responsibility for it—for example, when you had to go out of town. "I begged him to find someone else to take him, which is when your name came up." "It did?" "Yes." "But he never said anything to me." "That's because he really wanted to keep the dog. And in the end he wore me down. But your name came up a few times. She lives alone, she doesn't have a partner or any kids or pets, she works mostly at home, and she loves animals—that's what he said." "He said that?" "I wouldn't make it up." "No, I didn't mean—I'm just surprised. As I say, he never said anything to me, and I never even met the dog. It's true, I love animals, but I've never had a dog. Just cats, I'm a cat person. But in any case, I can't take him. It's in my lease." "So you said." A tremor in her voice. "Well. I don't know what I'm expected to do." Her shoulders sag. She has been through a lot. There must be plenty of people who'd want a beautiful purebred dog, I say. "You think? Maybe if he was a puppy. But, you know, most people who want a dog already have one." Isn't there someone in her family who could take him, I ask. A question that seems to irritate her. "My son and his wife just had a baby. They can't have a gigantic strange dog in their house." As for her stepdaughter: impossible. "She spends so much time in the field, she doesn't even have a permanent address." "I'm sure there must be someone," I say. "Let me ask around." But in fact I'm not hopeful. She's right: Those who want a dog already have one. And everyone I can think of who doesn't have a dog has at least one cat. "And you definitely can't keep him?" I ask, leaving unsaid my very strong opinion that this is clearly what should happen. "I've considered it," she says, to my ears unconvincingly. "For one thing, it wouldn't be forever. The life span of a Great Dane is short, maybe six to eight years, and according to the vet Apollo is already about five. But the truth is, I never wanted him, and I especially don't want him now. If I ended up keeping him, I know I'd resent it. And I don't want to live with that. To always have that feeling, complicating my already complicated feelings about—" About you, she means but does not say. "It would be too much." I nod to show that I understand. "Also, I was planning to retire soon," she says. "And now that I'm on my own I think I'd like to travel more. I don't want to be tied down by a dog I never wanted in the first place." I nod again. I really do understand. Someone had suggested that she look into dog sanctuaries, but all the ones she contacted had long waiting lists. It pained her to think how you would feel about her giving your beloved dog away to a stranger, or taking him to the pound. "But I might have to. He can't spend the rest of his life in a kennel. Among other things, it's costing a fortune." "You put him in a kennel?" "I put him in a kennel," she says, bristling at my tone, "because I didn't know what else to do. You can't explain death to a dog. He didn't understand that Daddy was never coming home again. He waited by the door day and night. For a while he wouldn't even eat, I was afraid he'd starve to death. But the worst part was, every once in a while, he'd make this noise, this howling, or wailing, or whatever it was. Not loud, but strange, like a ghost or some other weird thing. It went on and on. I'd try to distract him with a treat, but he'd turn his head away. Once, he even growled at me. He did it sometimes at night. It would wake me up, and then I couldn't get back to sleep. I'd lie there listening to him until I thought I'd go mad. Every time I managed to pull myself together, I'd see him waiting there by the door, or he'd start keening like that, and I'd fall apart again. I had to get him out of the house. And now that he's been gone, it would be cruel to bring him back. I can't imagine him ever being happy in that house again." I think of the story of Hachik the Akita, who used to go to Tokyo's Shibuya Station to meet the train that brought his master home from work every day—until one day the man died suddenly and Hachikō waited in vain. But the next day, and every day after that, for nearly ten years, the dog appeared at the station to meet the train at the usual hour. No one could explain death to Hachikō. They could only make a legend of him, erecting a statue in his honor, still singing his praises today, almost a hundred years later. Incredibly, Hachikō does not hold the record. Fido, a dog from a town near Florence, Italy, waited every day for _fourteen_ years for his dead master (air raid, Second World War) at the bus stop where he used to arrive home from work. And before Hachikō there was Greyfriars Bobby, a Skye terrier who spent every night of the last fourteen years of _his_ life at the grave of _his_ master, who'd died in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1858. It is interesting that people have always taken such behavior as examples of extreme loyalty rather than extreme stupidity or some other mental defect. I myself doubt reports from China of a certain dog said to have drowned itself out of bereavement. But stories like these are one of the main reasons I have always preferred cats. "What about if you took him just for a while? Even that would be a big help. The landlord can't object if the dog's only visiting." It's not just the landlord, I explain. My apartment is _tiny_. A dog that size wouldn't have room to turn around. "Oh, but he's a guard dog. He needs exercise, of course, but not anywhere near as much as other breeds. Even off a leash he won't go far from your side. And you'll see, he's very obedient. He knows all the commands. He doesn't bark when he's not supposed to. He doesn't destroy things. He doesn't have accidents. He knows to stay off the bed." "I'm sure that's all true, but—" "He had a checkup just a few months ago. He's in good health except for some arthritis, which is very common in big dogs his age. Needless to say he's had all his shots. Oh, I know it's a lot to ask, but I really want to get the poor thing out of that damned kennel! If I bring him home, though, I swear he'll spend the rest of his life waiting by the door. And he deserves better than that, don't you think?" Yes, I think, my heart breaking. You can't explain death. And love deserves better than that. # PART TWO Mostly he ignores me. He might as well live here alone. He makes eye contact at times, but instantly looks away again. His large hazel eyes are strikingly human; they remind me of yours. I remember once, when I had to go out of town, I left my cat with a boyfriend. He was no cat lover, but later he told me how much he'd liked having her because, he said, I missed you, and having her was like having a part of you here. Having your dog is like having a part of you here. His expression doesn't change. It's the expression I imagine in the eyes of Greyfriars Bobby as he lay on his master's grave. I have yet to see him wag his tail. (His tail isn't docked, but his ears have been cropped—sadly unevenly, leaving one a little smaller than the other. He has also been neutered.) _He knows to stay off the bed._ If he climbs on the furniture, said Wife Three, all you have to do is say _Down._ Since he moved in with me, he has spent most of his time on the bed. The first day, after sniffing around the apartment—but in a listless way, without any real interest or curiosity—he climbed onto the bed and collapsed in a heap. _Down_ died in my throat. I waited until it was time to go to sleep. Earlier he had eaten his bowl of kibble and allowed himself to be walked, but again without seeming to care or even notice what was happening outside. Not even the sight of another dog could rouse him. (He, on the other hand, never fails to draw attention. It will take getting used to, this feeling of being a spectacle, the constant photo-snapping, the frequent interruption: How much does he weigh? How much does he eat? Have you tried riding him?) He walks with head lowered, like a beast of burden. Back home, he went straight to the bedroom and threw himself on the bed. _The exhaustion of mourning_ was my thought. For I am convinced that he has figured it out. He is smarter than those other dogs. He knows that you are gone for good. He knows that he is never going back to the brownstone. Sometimes he lies stretched full out, facing the wall. After a week I feel more like his jailer than his caretaker. The first night, at the sound of his name, he lifted his block of a head, swiveled it over his shoulder, and eyed me sideways. When I approached the bed, my intention to displace him no doubt clear, he did the unthinkable: he growled. People have expressed astonishment at the fact that I wasn't afraid. Didn't I think he might do more than growl next time. No. I never thought that. But I did think of a twist on the old joke Where does a five-hundred-pound gorilla sleep? It wasn't quite true what I'd told Wife Three, about never having had a dog. More than once I've shared a household with a person who owned a dog. In one case the dog was a mixed breed, half Great Dane, half German shepherd. So I was not entirely unfamiliar with dogs, with big dogs, or with this particular breed. I was aware, of course, of the passion the species has for our own, even if they don't all take it as far as Hachikō and his kind. Who doesn't know that the dog is the epitome of devotion? But it's this devotion to humans, so instinctual that it's given freely even to persons who are unworthy of it, that has made me prefer cats. Give me a pet that can get along without me. It was entirely true what I'd told Wife Three about the size of my apartment: barely five hundred square feet. Two nearly equal-sized rooms, a kitchenette, a bathroom so narrow that Apollo enters and backs out of it like a stall. In the bedroom closet I keep an air mattress that I bought a few years ago when my sister came to visit. When I wake it's the middle of the night. The blinds are open, the moon is high, and by the ample streaming light I can make out his big bright eyes and juicy black plum of a nose. I lie still, on my back, in the pungent fog of his breath. What seems like a long time goes by. Every few seconds a drop from his tongue splashes my face. Finally he places one of his massive paws, the size of a man's fist, in the center of my chest and lets it rest there: a heavy weight (think of a castle door knocker). I don't speak, I don't move or reach out to pet him. He must be able to feel my heart. I have the appalling thought that he might decide to lay his whole weight on me, recalling a news item about a camel that killed its keeper by biting, kicking, and sitting on top of him, and how rescuers had to use a rope tied to a pickup to pull the beast off. At last the paw lifts. Next, the nose, thrust in the crook of my neck. It tickles insanely, but I control myself. He snuffles all around my head and neck then along the entire outline of my body, sometimes nudging me hard, as though to get at something underneath me. At last, with a violent sneeze, he gets back on the bed, and we both go back to sleep. It happens every night: for a few minutes I become an object of intense fascination. But during the day, he is in his own world and he mostly ignores me. What's it all about? I am reminded of a cat I once had that would never let me cuddle her or hold her on my lap; but at night, as soon as I was asleep, she would perch on my hip and sleep there. Also true: the prohibition against dogs in my building. I remember when I signed the lease I didn't think anything of this. I was moving in with two cats; the last thing on my mind was getting a puppy. The landlord lives in Florida; I have never met him. The super lives in the building next door, which is owned by the same landlord. Hector is originally from Mexico. As it turned out, he was in Mexico, for his brother's wedding, the day I brought Apollo home. On the very day he returned, he ran into us as we were going out for a walk. I rushed to explain: the owner had died suddenly, there was no one else but me to take his dog, who was staying only temporarily. An explanation that seemed to me far more plausible than that I'd do something to risk losing a rent-stabilized Manhattan apartment that, for more than thirty years, even during times when I was living out of town—because of a teaching job, say—I'd taken great care to hold on to. You cannot keep that animal here, Hector said. Not even temporary. A friend had told me about the law: If a tenant keeps a dog in an apartment for a period of three months, during which time the landlord does not take action to evict the tenant, then the tenant may keep the dog and cannot be evicted for doing so. Which sounded dubious to me. But it is, in fact, the law regarding dogs in apartments in New York City. Stipulation: The presence of the dog must be open and not hidden. Needless to say, there was no possibility of keeping this dog hidden. I walk him several times a day. He has become a neighborhood wonder. So far no one who lives in the building has complained, though no few startled at first sight of him, some even timidly backing away, and after one woman refused to squeeze into the small elevator with us, I decided we should always take the stairs. (Galumphing down the five flights he is a comical sight, the only time he ever looks ungraceful.) If he were a barker, surely complaints would be many. But he is remarkably—disturbingly—quiet. At first I worried about the howling that Wife Three had told me about, but I have yet to hear it. I wonder if this is because he made a connection between howling and being banished to the kennel. Which may be a stretch, but that he doesn't howl anymore is one reason I believe he's given up hope of ever seeing you again. • • • You cannot keep that animal here. (Always _that animal_ ; sometimes I wonder if he even knows it's a dog.) I have to report. • • • I didn't think Wife Three was lying when she told me Apollo was trained to stay off the bed. She had made the assumption that he would adapt to a complete change in his surroundings without himself changing. I was not at all surprised when this turned out to be wrong. I knew a cat whose owner had to give it up when her son became allergic to cat scurf. The cat was passed from household to household (mine was one of them) while a permanent home was sought. It survived two or three moves all right, but one more move and it was no longer the same creature. It was a mess—a mess no one was willing to live with and so the original owner had it put down. • • • They don't commit suicide. They don't weep. But they can and do fall to pieces. They can and do have their hearts broken. They can and do lose their minds. • • • One night I come home to find my desk chair on its side and most of what had been sitting on the desk scattered. He has chewed through a whole pile of papers. (I would honestly be able to tell my students, The dog ate your homework.) I'd gone out for drinks after class with another teacher, and we had lingered. I was gone about five hours, the longest I'd ever left him alone. The spongy guts of a couch pillow litter the floor. The fat paperback of the Knausgaard volume I'd left on the coffee table is in shreds. • • • All you have to do is connect with Great Dane groups online, people tell me, and you'll find someone to take him. But if you get evicted you won't find another apartment you can afford, not in this town. You might have trouble finding a place anywhere, with that roommate. I keep having fantasies like episodes from _Lassie_ or _Rin Tin Tin_. Apollo foils burglars during attempted break-in. Apollo braves flames to rescue trapped tenants. Apollo saves super's little girl from would-be molester. When you gonna get rid of that animal. He cannot stay here. I got to report. Hector is not a bad person, but his patience is thin. And he doesn't have to say it: he could lose his job. • • • The friend who is most sympathetic about my situation assures me that it can take quite some time for a New York landlord to evict a tenant. It's not like you'll be put out in the street overnight, he says. • • • There's a certain kind of person who, having read this far, is anxiously wondering: Does something bad happen to the dog? • • • Googling reveals that Great Danes are known as the Apollo of dogs. I'm not sure if that's why you chose the name or if it was a coincidence, but at some point you probably learned this fact, probably the same way I did. I would also learn, in time, that Apollo is not an uncommon choice as a name for a dog or other pet. Other facts: The breed's precise origins are not known. Its closest relation is thought to be the mastiff. And nothing Danish about it: _Great Dane_ , it seems, was used by a misinformed eighteenth-century French naturalist named Buffon. In the English-speaking world the name stuck, while in Germany, the country with which the breed is most closely associated, it's the Deutsche Dogge, or German mastiff. Otto von Bismarck adored the Dogge; the Red Baron von Richthofen used to take his up in his two-seat plane. First bred for hunting wild boar, later as a guard dog. And yet, though of a size that can reach over two hundred pounds and over seven feet tall standing on hind legs, known not for ferocity or aggression but rather for sweetness, calm, and emotional vulnerability. (Another, more homey epithet is "the gentle giant.") The Apollo of all the dogs. After the one known as the most Greek of all the gods. I like the name. But even if I hated it, I wouldn't change it. Even though I know that when I say it and he responds— _if_ he responds—it's more likely to my voice and tone than to the word itself. Sometimes I find myself wondering, absurdly, what his "real" name is. In fact, he might have had several names in his life. And what, after all, is in a dog's name? If we never named a pet it would mean nothing to them, but for us it would leave a gap. She doesn't have a name, someone says of an adopted stray, we just call her Kitty. A name, for all that. I like that, well before T. S. Eliot expressed himself on the matter, Samuel Butler stated that the severest test of the imagination was naming a cat. And your own LOL-inspiring thought: Wouldn't it be easier if we just named all the cats Password? • • • I know people who strongly object to pet-naming. They are of the same ilk as those who dislike the very idea of calling an animal a _pet_. _Owner_ they don't much like, either; _master_ makes them see red. What irks these people is the notion of dominion: the dominion over animals that humankind has claimed as a God-given right since Adam, and which, in their eyes, has always amounted to nothing less than enslavement. When I said I preferred cats to dogs, I didn't mean that I liked cats better. I like the two species about equally. But aside from being unsettled by canine devotion, I, like many other people, balk at the idea of dominating an animal. And there's no getting around the fact that, even if you find calling dog owners slave masters ridiculous, dogs, like other domesticated animals, have been bred to be dominated by people, to be used by people, to do what people want. But not cats. Everyone knows the first thing Adam did with the animals that the Lord formed out of the freshly created earth—the first sign of his dominion over them—was to give each one a name. And until Adam assigned them their names, some say, the animals did not exist. • • • There is a story by Ursula K. Le Guin in which a woman, not named but unmistakably Adam's partner Eve, undertakes to undo Adam's deed: she persuades all the animals to part with the names they've been given. (The cats claim never to have accepted the names in the first place.) Once all have been unnamed, she can feel the difference: the downing of a wall, the closing of a distance that had existed between the animals and herself, a new sense of oneness and equality with them. Without names to separate them, no more telling hunter from hunted, eater from food. The inevitable next step is for Eve to give back to Adam the name he and his father gave her, to leave Adam and join all the others who, by accepting namelessness, have freed themselves from domination. For Eve alone, though, the act entails another renunciation, that of the language she shared with Adam. But then, one of her reasons for doing what she did in the first place, she says, was that talk was getting them nowhere. • • • He must have had obedience training early on, Wife Three said the vet said. Judging by his behavior, he'd been socialized both to people and other dogs. There were no signs of serious abuse. On the other hand, those ears: entrusted to some butcher who'd not only left them uneven but cropped each one too much. Those pointy little ears on his enormous head made him look less regal, and also meaner than he was, and were only one of several things that would have disqualified him from being a show dog. Who could say how he'd come to be in the park, clean, well fed, without collar or tags? Such a dog would not have run away from its owner unless something highly unusual had happened, said the vet. Yet not only had no one claimed him, no one had reported ever even having seen him before. Meaning he might have come from somewhere farther away. Stolen? Perhaps. That there seemed to be no record of his existence hardly surprised the vet. There were plenty of dogs whose owners never bothered to apply for a license, or, in the case of purebreds, register with the AKC. Maybe the owner had lost his job and could no longer afford the food and vet bills. Hard to believe that someone who'd had him all his life would end up throwing him out to fend for himself. But: it happens more often than you might think, said the vet. Or say he had indeed been stolen, and the owner, on learning he'd been found, had had second thoughts. Life was easier without him, let someone else take care of him now! Again, the vet had seen it before. (So had I: Years ago my sister and her husband bought a second home, in the country. The sellers, who were moving to Florida, had an ancient mutt. A part of the family since he was a pup, they introduced him. When my sister and her husband went to move in, they were met by the dog, left behind, alone in the empty house.) Maybe Apollo's owner had died, and it was whoever then came into possession of him who threw him out. Most likely we'll never know where he came from. But here's what you said. The moment when you looked up and saw him, majestic against the summer sky—that moment was so thrilling and so uncanny that you could almost believe he'd been magicked there. Conjured by a witch, like one of the giant dogs in the Andersen tale. # PART THREE Rather than write about what you know, you told us, write about what you _see_. Assume that you know very little and that you'll never know much until you learn how to see. Keep a notebook to record things that you see, for example when you're out in the street. I stopped keeping any kind of notebook or journal a long time ago. These days what I seem to see a lot when I'm out in the street is homeless people, or people who look so destitute I assume they're homeless. It's not unusual now to see such a person with a cell phone, though. And, unless I'm mistaken, more and more have pets. On Broadway, at Astor Place, I see a dog all by itself surrounded by belongings: a full backpack, a few paperbacks, a thermos, bedding, _an alarm clock_ , and some styrofoam food containers. It's the human absence that makes the scene so unbearably poignant. I see a drunk who's pissed himself sprawled in a doorway. I Am the Architect of My Own Destiny, his T-shirt says. Nearby, a panhandler with a handmade sign: I used to be somebody. In a bookstore: a man goes from table to table, laying a hand on this book then that one without examining any one of them further. I follow him for a while, curious to see which book this method tells him to buy. But he leaves the store empty-handed. Here is something I did not see but would have seen if I'd rounded the street corner just minutes sooner: a person jumping from the window of an office building. By the time I got there the body had been covered up. All I was able to find out later was that it was a woman in her late fifties. Just before noon on a fine fall day, on a densely crowded block. How did she judge it, I wonder, so as not to hit anyone? Or was she just . . . were we all just . . . lucky. Graffiti on Philosophy Hall: The examined life ain't worth it either. • • • A literary awards ceremony at a private club on the Upper East Side. I emerge from the subway at Fifth Avenue. The club is six blocks away. I see two people who've also just come up from the subway: a woman who looks to be in her sixties accompanied by a man about half that age. They could be going any of a million places in that neighborhood, but it occurs to me that they're headed where I'm headed. Which turns out to be correct. What was it about them? I can't say. It's an enigma to me that people in the literary world should be so identifiable. Like the time I passed three men in a booth in a restaurant in Chelsea and pegged them even before I heard one say, That's the great thing about writing for _The New Yorker_. • • • In the mail, an advance reading copy of a novel and a letter from the editor: I hope you'll find this debut novel as deceptively profound as I did. • • • Lecture notes. _All writers are monsters._ Henry de Montherlant. _Writers are always selling somebody out._ _[Writing]_ _is_ _an aggressive, even a hostile act . . . the tactic of a secret bully._ Joan Didion. _Every journalist . . . knows . . . what he does is morally indefensible._ Janet Malcolm. _Any writer worth his salt knows that only a small proportion of literature does more than partly compensate people for the damage they have suffered in learning to read._ Rebecca West. _There seems to be no remedy for the vice of literature; those afflicted persist in the habit despite the fact that there is no longer any pleasure to be derived from it._ W. G. Sebald. Whenever he saw his books in a store, he felt like he'd gotten away with something, said John Updike. Who also expressed the opinion that a nice person wouldn't become a writer. The problem of self-doubt. The problem of shame. The problem of self-loathing. You once put it like this: When I get so fed up with something I'm writing that I decide to quit, and then, later, I find myself irresistibly drawn back to it, I always think: _Like a dog to its_ _vomit_. If someone asks me what I teach, one of my colleagues says, why is it that I can never say "writing" without feeling embarrassed. • • • Office hours. The student refers to a certain fact about his life and says, But you already knew that. No, I say, I didn't. He looks annoyed. What do you mean? Didn't you read my story? I explain that I never automatically assume a work of fiction is autobiographical. When I ask him why he thinks I should have known that he was writing about himself, he looks puzzled and says, Who else would I be writing about? • • • A friend of mine who is working on a memoir says, I hate the idea of writing as some kind of catharsis, because it seems like that can't possibly produce a good book. • • • You cannot hope to console yourself for your grief by writing, warns Natalia Ginzburg. Turn then to Isak Dinesen, who believed that you could make any sorrow bearable by putting it into a story or telling a story about it. • • • _I suppose that I did for myself what_ _psychoanalysts do for their patients. I expressed some very long_ _felt and deeply felt emotion. And in expressing it I_ _explained it and then laid it to rest._ Woolf is talking about writing about her mother, thoughts of whom had obsessed her between the ages of thirteen (her age when her mother died) and forty-four, when, _in a great, apparently_ _involuntary rush_ , she wrote _To the Lighthouse_. After which the obsession ceased: _I no longer hear her voice; I do not see her._ Q. Does the effectiveness of catharsis depend on the _quality_ of the writing? And if a person finds catharsis by writing a book, does it matter whether or not the book is any good? My friend is also writing about her mother. Writers love quoting Milosz: _When a writer is born into a family, the family is finished._ After I put my mother in a novel she never forgave me. Rather than, say, Toni Morrison, who called basing a character on a real person an infringement of copyright _._ A person owns his life, she says. It's not for another to use it for fiction. • • • In a book I am reading the author talks about word people versus fist people. As if words could not also be fists. Aren't often fists. • • • A major theme in the work of Christa Wolf is the fear that writing about someone is a way of killing that person. Transforming someone's life into a story is like turning that person into a pillar of salt. In an autobiographical novel, she describes a recurring childhood dream in which she kills mother and father by writing about them. The shame of being a writer haunted her all her life. • • • I wonder how many psychoanalysts actually do for their patients what Woolf did for herself. I bet not many. • • • They can debunk Freud's ideas all they want, you said. But no one can say the man wasn't a great writer. Was Freud even a real person? I once heard a student ask. It was a psychoanalyst, of course, who came up with the term _writer's block_. Edmund Bergler was, like Freud, an Austrian Jew, and he was a follower of Freudian theory. According to Wikipedia, he believed that masochism was the root cause of all other human neuroses, that the only thing worse than man's inhumanity to man was man's inhumanity to himself. (But a woman writer has a double dose, said Edna O'Brien: the masochism of the woman _and_ that of the artist.) • • • The invitation was to teach a writing workshop at a treatment center for victims of human trafficking. The person who asked was someone I knew, or rather, used to know: we had been friends in college. Back then she, too, wanted to be a writer. Instead she became a psychologist. For the past ten years she'd been working at the treatment center, which was connected to a large psychiatric hospital a short bus ride from Manhattan. The women she worked with had responded well to art therapy (I would later see some of their drawings and find them highly disturbing). She thought writing might be even more helpful, as it appeared to have been very helpful to other trauma victims, such as war veterans with PTSD. I wanted to do it. As a community service, as a favor to an old friend, and as a writer. I thought of the baroquely pierced and tattooed young woman I'd met some months earlier, in a workshop I'd taught at a summer writers' conference. It was a fiction workshop, though what she was writing was closer to memoir—call it autofiction, self-fiction, reality fiction, whatever—the first-person story of Larette, a sex-trafficked girl. Her writing was good for three main reasons: a lack of sentimentality, a lack of self-pity, and a sense of humor. (If the last sounds unlikely, try to think of a good book that, no matter how dark the subject, does not include something comic. It's because a person has a sense of humor that we feel we can trust them, says Milan Kundera.) One of those life histories that had to be _toned down_ to avoid straining belief. (Readers would be amazed how often writers do this.) She had spent two years in a residential recovery home, fighting drug addiction, shame, and the temptation to flee back to her pimp, whose name was tattooed in three different places on her body. Later, she enrolled in a community college, where she took her first writing course. Like many people I've met, she believes that writing saved her life. About writing as self-help you were always skeptical. You liked quoting Flannery O'Connor: Only those with a gift should be writing for public consumption. But how rare to meet a person who thinks what they're writing is meant to stay private. And how common to meet one who thinks what they're writing entitles them not just to public consumption but to fame. You thought people were on the wrong track. You thought that what they were searching for—self-expression, community, connection—would more likely be found elsewhere. Collective singing and dancing. Quilting bees. That's where people would have turned in the past, you said. Writing was too hard! Not for nothing did Henry James say anyone who wants to be a writer must inscribe on his banner the one word _loneliness_. Frustration and humiliation, Philip Roth said writing was. He compared it to baseball: _You fail two-thirds of the time_. That was the reality, you said. But in our graphomaniac age, the reality had gotten lost. Now everyone writes just like everyone poops, and at the word _gift_ many want to reach for a gun. The rise of self-publishing was a catastrophe, you said. It was the death of literature. Which meant the death of culture. And Garrison Keillor was right, you said: When everyone's a writer, no one is. (Though, in fact, this was exactly the kind of statement you used to warn us to be on guard against: _sounds_ good, but if you press on it, it falls apart.) None of this was as new as it might sound. _To write and have something published is less and less something special. Why not me, too? everyone asks._ Wrote French critic Sainte-Beuve. In 1839. Not that you discouraged me from teaching at the VOT center. I imagine it could be very depressing, you said, but it won't be uninteresting. In fact, it was your idea that I should write about it. • • • The women at the center were encouraged to keep journals. Or, as my friend the psychologist put it, to journal. The journals were meant to be private, she said. Some of the women had been alarmed by the thought that someone might read what they'd written, and she'd had to assure them this wouldn't happen. They could write whatever they wished, with perfect freedom, knowing no one else would read it. Not even she would read it. She suggested that those for whom English was a second language write in their native tongue. Some women were careful to hide their journals when they weren't using them. Others carried their journals always with them. But a few insisted on destroying whatever they'd written immediately or soon after they'd written it. And that was fine, too, she told them. The women were asked to write every day for at least fifteen minutes, quickly, not stopping to ponder too long or let themselves be distracted. They wrote in longhand, in notebooks provided by the center (my friend believes in studies that show longhand is better for concentration and that a lined page is more welcoming than a blank screen for receiving intimacies and secrets). Of course, there were some who refused to journal. The same women who get angry with me for expecting them to revisit bad experiences, she said. You have to understand what these women have been through. For most of them the abuse didn't begin with the trafficking. ( _I must have experienced violence from birth_.) Some were deliberately put in harm's way—in some cases out-and-out sold—by members of their own family. And just because they're not being abused anymore doesn't mean they're not still hurting. At some point I always ask them what they think would be the best thing that could happen to them, and I can't tell you how many say, I think the best thing for me would be to die. But there was a group of women who took happily to journaling, often writing for much longer than fifteen minutes a day. My friend wanted to give these women a chance to be in a workshop, a safe place where they could not only write but share their writing with one another and an instructor. Among those who'd signed up, she said, I could count on a certain level of English, though not every one was a native speaker. Even the native speakers, however, had expressed worries about their writing ability and were particularly concerned about spelling and grammar. She had told the women that, as in their journals, they should pay no attention to spelling and grammar. So it's important that you ignore those errors, she told me. I know that won't be easy for you, but these women have enough problems with self-esteem, and we don't want to inhibit them. I thought of a poem by Adrienne Rich that includes lines written by a student in the open admissions program in the City College of New York. _People suffer highly in poverty. . . . Some of the suffering are:_ My friend showed me examples of the artwork the women had done: headless bodies, houses in flames, men with the mouths of ferocious animals, naked children stabbed in the genitals or through the heart. She had me listen to tapes of testimony some of the women had given, and the drawings came alive. I keep calling them women, she said. But we see many who are still girls. And those are some of the most tragic cases. We have a fourteen-year-old who was rescued last month from a house where she'd been kept chained to a cot in the basement. When the sexual abuse is compounded by captivity—that's when the damage is most severe. At the moment this girl is unable to speak. There's nothing wrong with her vocal organs—not that doctors can find, anyway—but she insists on remaining mute. We see this kind of psychosomatic symptom from time to time: mutism, blindness, paralysis. My friend wanted me to watch a Swedish film called _Lilya 4-Ever_. In fact I had already seen it, years ago, when it first came out. At the time, I didn't know that it was based on a true story. I didn't know much of anything about it; I had decided to see it one day on the spur of the moment because I had liked an earlier film by the same director and because it was playing close by. It is more than possible that if I had known what to expect I might never have gone to see _Lilya 4-Ever_. As it was, the experience was indelible: even more than a decade later, there was no need for me to see it again. Lilya is a sixteen-year-old girl living with her mother in a bleak housing project somewhere in the former Soviet Union. She believes that she and her mother and the mother's boyfriend are all about to emigrate to the US, but when the time comes Lilya is left behind. Then a heartless aunt takes over the apartment where Lilya has been living, forcing her to move into what is no more than a filthy hole. Abandoned, moneyless, Lilya skids into prostitution. From the people around her, Lilya has learned to expect only cruelty and betrayal. The exception is Volodya, a boy a few years younger than Lilya who is much abused by his drunken father. Volodya loves Lilya, who befriends and shelters him after his father throws him out. Together the two waifs share a few happy moments. But, for the most part, Lilya's life is grim. Hope arrives in the form of a handsome, soft-voiced young Swede named Andrei. He tells Lilya, who falls instantly in love with him, that, with his help, she can move to Sweden and start a new life. She jumps at the chance, in spite of what this will mean for Volodya, who in fact responds to the departure of his only friend in the world by killing himself. Volodya continues to appear in the film in the form of an angel. Lilya arrives in Sweden, alone (Andrei has promised to join her later), and is met at the airport by the man she's been told will take her under his wing. The man drives her to her new home, a tower apartment high above the street, and locks her in. Rapunzel, Rapunzel. He is the first to rape her. Lilya's new life has begun. Now day after day she is delivered into the hands of clients—a broad range of ages and types—none of whom allows either her obvious youth or the obvious fact that she is acting against her will to interfere with his lust. On the contrary, everyone behaves as if sex slavery is what Lilya has been put on this earth for. The first time she tries to escape, Lilya is caught and beaten. The second time, she finds herself on an expressway bridge. Though help in the form of a policewoman is near, Lilya panics and jumps. • • • After she jumped, the girl on whose life and death _Lilya 4-Ever_ was based was found to have on her body some letters she'd written. This was how her story came to be known. • • • When I saw the film, alone, at my small neighborhood art house, it was a weekday afternoon. Only a handful of people were in the audience. I remember, after it was over, having to wait so that I could compose myself before leaving the theater. It was a humiliating feeling. Several rows ahead of me sat another woman who'd come to the theater alone and who was now sobbing. When I finally left she was sitting there still, still sobbing. I felt humiliated for her, too. • • • According to my friend, _Lilya 4-Ever_ has often been shown to humanitarian and human rights groups and in schools in areas where girls are known to be especially vulnerable to traffickers. _Not brutal enough_ was the response from a group of Moldovan prostitutes who were asked to watch the film. Even more shocking, to me, was hearing the director say that he believed that God took care of Lilya (like Volodya, after her death she appears on-screen as an angel), that without this belief he could not have made the film. I think I would have killed myself, he said. And what does this mean he thinks that those who are without such belief, those who not for one minute trust that God takes care of the Lilyas of the world, should do? My friend said, For people who have themselves been victims of inequality and exploitation, like the people trapped in Lilya's slum, there might be some understanding for the way they mistreat one another. There might even be forgiveness, she said. But the depraved behavior of all those privileged members of the prosperous Nordic welfare state—this is harder to accept. • • • I once saw a photograph in a magazine: a long line of men snaking outside a shack being used by some teen prostitutes. I don't remember what part of the world it was. I do remember that there was nothing about the men to suggest anything out of the ordinary. Several of them are smoking cigarettes. This one is looking at his watch, that one is studying the sky, another is reading a newspaper. Overall, an air of patient boredom. They might have been waiting for a bus, or for their turn at the DMV. • • • My friend told me about another case. Again, doctors could find no injury or disease that would have prevented the patient from speaking like any normal person. But she would not speak. When it was suggested that she start journaling, she was enthusiastic. In a week she had filled a whole stack of notebooks. She wrote in an astonishingly cramped script, the tiniest letters imaginable, my friend said. Just watching her scribbling away was frightening. Her hand ballooned, her fingers blistered and bled, but she wouldn't—couldn't—stop. We never knew what she was writing because she didn't share it with us, my friend said. But I wouldn't be surprised if it was mostly repetition and nonsense. Fortunately, we were able to give her medication that helped her stop the maniacal writing and start speaking again. • • • According to Larette, she, too, had gone through a period of mutism. Whenever she tried to speak her throat would close painfully, as if invisible hands were choking her. _I would try very hard, in spite of the pain, but the most I could manage was a dry squeak, like an asthmatic mouse, which made people laugh. I was so ashamed that I stopped trying. When I wanted to communicate I'd use writing or some kind of sign language or silently mouth the words. Still, my throat hurt all the time._ In therapy, she remembers an incident that she hadn't thought about in many years. This involved her grandmother, about whom she tried to think as little as possible. When Larette was ten, her mother was stabbed to death by a boyfriend. There being no father in the picture, she was placed in the care of her grandmother. Larette referred to this woman, an increasingly desperate meth addict, as "my first slaveholder." _She was the first one to sell me to men. I remember we were sitting at the kitchen table, and she got up and went to the fridge. She opened the freezer and took out a Popsicle, which she unwrapped and broke in two. I remember it was cherry, my favorite flavor. She popped one stick in my mouth. Lemme show you, hon. She put the other one in her own mouth and went to work on it._ This was one of several memories Larette had doubts about including in her book. She was afraid it would sound too made-up. She kept deleting it, then putting it back in, then deleting it again. • • • I know another woman, a writer, who has at times made her living as a sex worker. She is against the latest thinking that says every prostitute must be seen as a VOT. She wants a firm line drawn between a slave and a free and willing worker like herself. Brothel raids, john stings, and public john shaming fire her outrage. God save us from the white knights, she says. Why is it so hard to believe that we don't all need, or want, rescuing? But then, hasn't it always been impossible for society to accept that what a woman does with her body is strictly her own business. A story this woman likes to tell concerns the French actress Arletty, who in 1945 was convicted of treason because, during the Occupation, she'd had an affair with a German officer. In her defense she said, My heart is French but my ass is international. (Actually, my friend prefers a different, more succinct version of Arletty's famous quip: My ass is not France.) My friend the sex worker says she is amazed how naïve most women are. They have no idea that most men have had sex with a prostitute, their own fathers and brothers, boyfriends and husbands among them. I have heard Larette say the same thing—as I have heard men say they are doubtful of men who claim never to have paid for sex. In a recent television documentary, a former prostitute who worked out of a suburban motel explains that Monday mornings were her busiest times: apparently nothing was so good for business as a weekend spent with the wife and kids. I once asked my friend if she enjoyed being a sex worker. I was pretty sure she'd say yes. But she looked at me as if she hadn't heard me right. I do it for the money, she said. There's nothing to _enjoy_. If I could make a living off writing, I wouldn't do it at all. It's easier than teaching, she said. • • • I had to promise not to use anything the women in the workshop wrote. But my friend the psychologist agreed to let me write about her and the work she did. You, in your generous way, pitched the idea to an editor you happened to have lunch with. Soon I had a contract and a deadline. • • • Not long after we had graduated from college, my friend published some stories. The magazines they appeared in were small but prestigious, the kind of literary quarterlies that got serious attention. One of the stories won a prize, and later that year she was nominated for, and subsequently granted, a much bigger prize given annually to promising young writers. I want to know why she stopped writing. It wasn't exactly a decision, she said. It was just something that happened. I'd started writing a novel and was having trouble concentrating, and someone I knew suggested that I try meditation. That's how I got into Buddhism. I spent a month at a retreat upstate learning how to meditate, and I've been doing it ever since. I know there've been plenty of writers who were into Buddhism—and who _doesn't_ practice some kind of meditation or yoga these days? And I know there are people who say that meditation helped their careers. But from the time I started studying Buddhism I found it at odds with wanting to be a writer. To clarify, though, I didn't ever stop writing. There was no need for me to do that. I journal, for one thing—in fact, I consider journaling a kind of meditation—and I write poetry. The things I see in my job every day are very disturbing, and I've found that poetry helps. Not that I ever write about my job. My poems tend to be about the beauty of the world—about nature, mostly. It isn't very good poetry, I know that, and I have no desire to share it. For me, writing poetry is like prayer, and prayer isn't something you have to share with other people. It wasn't that I wanted to withdraw completely from the world. I wasn't about to become a Buddhist nun or anything like that. But as I say I started having doubts about becoming a writer. I didn't see how I could reconcile a literary career with the goal of freedom from attachment. Soon after I finished the Buddhist retreat I did a residency at an artists' colony—I was hoping to get back on track with the novel. I remember looking at the other people there, some of whom were just starting out like me and some of whom were already established, and thinking about what it took—besides talent, of course—to succeed. You had to have ambition, serious ambition, and if you wanted to do really good work you had to be driven. You had to want to surpass what others had done. You had to believe that what you were doing was incredibly serious and important. And all this seemed to me in conflict with learning to sit still. To let go. And even though writing isn't supposed to be a competition, I could see that most of the time writers believed that it was. While I was at the artists' colony, one of the writers there got an advance so huge it was reported in the _Times_. That night at dinner he said, There go my last two friends. He was joking, of course, but I have noticed that whenever a writer hits it big a lot of effort seems to go into trying to bring that person down. Also, it seemed like money was in the front of everyone's mind. I didn't get that. Who on earth becomes a writer for the money? I remember my first writing class, the teacher said: If you're going to be a writer, the first thing you have to do is take a vow of poverty. And no one in the room batted an eye. It seemed to me that everyone I knew who was a writer—which back then meant pretty much everyone I knew—was in a state of chronic frustration. People were constantly getting worked up over who got what and who got left out and how horribly unfair the whole business was. It was very confusing. Why did it have to be like that? Why were the men all so arrogant, and why were so many of them sexual predators? Why were the women all so angry and depressed? Really, it was hard not to feel sorry for everyone. Whenever I'd go to a reading I couldn't help feeling embarrassed for the author. I'd ask myself did I wish that was me up there, and the honest answer was hell no. And it wasn't just me. You could feel it in the rest of the audience, that same discomfort. And I remember thinking, This is what Baudelaire was talking about when he said that art was prostitution. Meanwhile I was still struggling with the novel. And then one day I said to myself, Say you don't write this book. Weren't there a zillion other people willing to bring novels into the world? Weren't there, in fact, already too many novels? Did I honestly think mine would be missed? And could I justify doing something with my life, my one wild and precious life, that I knew, undone, would not be missed? Around this time I happened to hear some writer talking on the radio. I can't remember who it was, but for me it might as well have been God. I remember him saying that if in all the next year not a single work of fiction was published, instead of the staggering number of stories and novels we knew would be published, the effect on the world would be essentially the same. Not true, of course, because I suppose there'd be a significant effect on the economy. But I knew what he was saying, and I felt as if he were saying it to me. Which is when I said to myself, You must change your life. Not that I didn't have regrets. There were plenty of times when I had the very lousy feeling that I was just a quitter, too lazy or too cowardly to live up to my own dream. But if I needed proof that I'd made the right decision, I just had to look at my own reading. I used to be the most passionate bookworm, but over the years I've become less and less interested in reading, especially fiction. Maybe it has to do with the realities I see every day, but I started to feel bored with stories about made-up people living made-up lives full of made-up problems. For a while I kept up. I'd buy a book that everyone was calling a masterpiece, or the Great American Novel or whatever, and half the time I wouldn't finish it. Or if I did finish it, I wouldn't remember it. Most of the time I'd forget a book almost as soon as I closed it. Then it got to the point where I pretty much stopped reading any fiction at all, and I realized I didn't miss it. What if she hadn't stopped writing fiction herself, I asked. Did she think she would still have lost interest in reading it? I don't know, she said. I just know I'm much happier doing what I'm doing now than I would ever be doing what you're doing. • • • Maybe it was a compliment that she felt she could say all this to me without worrying about hurting my feelings. • • • The student who graduates from a writing program and goes on to . . . renounce writing. You and I were familiar with the type. There seemed to be one in every class, and we always wondered: Why was it so often the one with the most promise? (Exactly the case of Wife One.) • • • Write about an object. Write about something that is, or was, important to you. The object can be anything. Describe the object, then write about why it's important to you. One woman wrote about cigarettes. Her best friend, she called them. She'd started smoking when she was eight. I would never have survived my life without them, she said. I would rather smoke than do just about anything. Another woman wrote about a knife she had used to defend herself. She was not the only one to write about some kind of weapon. But about half the women wrote about a doll. All but one of the dolls came to a bad end. They were lost or broken or in one way or another destroyed. The one doll to escape such a fate was now hidden away in a secret place from where the writer hoped someday to retrieve her. That was all the woman would say. She shook her head when I reminded her that she was supposed to describe the object. If she did that she might draw down evil, she said. The doll would come to harm, she would never see it again. • • • Week after week, reading the women's stories on the bus ride home, they began to seem like one big story, like the same story told over and over. Someone is always being beaten, someone is always in pain. Someone is always being treated like a slave. A thing. _Some of the suffering are:_ The same nouns: knife, belt, rope, bottle, fist, scar, bruise, blood. The same verbs: force, beat, whip, burn, choke, starve, scream. Write a fairy tale. For some, a chance to fantasize revenge. Again, always a tale of violence and humiliation. Always the same vocabulary. No writing is ever wasted, you used to say. Even if something doesn't work out and you end up throwing it away, as a writer you always learn something. Here is what I learned: Simone Weil was right. _Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring._ • • • This was the last thing you and I talked about while you were still alive. After, only your email with a list of books you thought might be helpful to me in my research. And, because it was the season, best wishes for the new year. # PART FOUR It sounded so unlikely: a memoir about a love affair between a man and a dog. The man: J. R. Ackerley (1896–1967), British author and literary editor of the BBC magazine _The Listener._ The dog: Queenie, a German shepherd. Acquired at the age of eighteen months by Ackerley, at the time a middle-aged bachelor with a formidable history of sexual promiscuity who'd given up hope of ever finding a partner. The book: _My Dog Tulip_. The change of name suggested by an editor who saw a problem with "Queenie" because Ackerley was known to be gay. Naturally, it was from you that I first heard about Ackerley. A volume of his letters had just been published. Well worth reading, you said, like everything he wrote. But it was his memoirs that you called indispensable. Find the right tone and you can write about anything: I was reminded often of this dictum while reading the book. "More than you want to know about what goes in or comes out of a dog's vagina, bladder and anus," warns one customer review. In fact, most of _My Dog Tulip_ is about what Ackerley calls her heats. Though at times the reader can't help feeling it's inevitable and so might as well brace for it, no act of bestiality occurs. But to say the relationship was not intimate would be a lie. Ackerley himself admitted that he sometimes touched a sympathetic hand to the burning vulva the frustrated dog kept thrusting at him. Consider rereading, how risky it is, especially when the book is one that you loved. Always the chance that it won't hold up, that you might, for whatever reason, not love it as much. When this happens, and to me it happens all the time (and more and more as I get older), the effect is so disheartening that I now open old favorites warily. The prose style is just as fine, the wit as sharp, the story, if anything, even more compelling than I remembered. But something has changed. The second time, I don't find the author as likable. I find him even somewhat dislikable. His hostility toward women—had I missed that, or just forgotten it? _Women are dangerous, especially women of the working class. . . . They stop at nothing and they never let go._ True, Ackerley has little affection for humans in general. But the misogyny is clear. Women are bad _because_ they are women. An exception is made for Miss Canvey, the competent and compassionate vet who immediately diagnoses the cause of Tulip's behavioral problems as a matter of the heart: _She's in love with you, that's obvious._ As is the fact that he's in love with her. But, obvious as this might be, I am bewildered by his treatment of her. Tulip's behavioral problems are severe. A holy terror of a dog, badly trained, nervous and excitable to the point of hysteria, unsociable. She barks relentlessly, and she bites. Her behavior is so bad that it damages Ackerley's relationships with people. Friends are dismayed that he won't do more to discipline her. He blames "the disturbances of her psyche" on her first home, where she was left too much alone and sometimes beaten. But he himself often succumbs to berating and striking her, even though he knows such punishment can only confuse her. Frustration, rage, violence (his words). The pattern seems inescapable. When Tulip has a litter, intensifying the chaos already reigning in the Ackerley household, he sometimes cuffs the pups. Hard not to conclude that, with better training, Tulip would have been a happier dog, and Ackerley's own life (to say nothing of his neighbors') would have been much improved. But he is another one who balks at domination. Fixed in his head is the idea that Tulip must enjoy a full canine life. Meaning she must be allowed to hunt and eat rabbits, she must experience sex and motherhood. But, even after one litter, he can't bring himself to have her spayed: _How can I tamper with such a beautiful beast?_ Despite twinges of conscience, he is able to care less about the fates of the mongrel pups for which he knows he won't find good homes. The beloved's needs are all. Her heats not only turn both their lives upside down, they create havoc for his entire London district, given the large number of dogs that, like Tulip herself _even in heat_ , go outdoors unleashed. Page after page on the torments of her sexual frustration. Ackerley shares her pain, it breaks his heart. Season after season they suffer together. Still he won't have her spayed. His descriptions of this part of Tulip's existence are so harrowing that I wanted to scream: How can you _not_ tamper with her? Much as you admired the work, I recall, you were repulsed by the life. A life in which a person's most significant relationship is with a dog—what could be sadder, you said. But, to me, it seemed that Ackerley had experienced to the fullest the kind of mutual unconditional love that everyone craves but most people never know. (How many have found their Tulip? asks Auden.) A fifteen-year marriage, the happiest years of his life, Ackerley said. And when the agonies of her last illness forced him to have her destroyed: _I would have immolated myself as a suttee._ Instead he carried on. He wrote, he drank. Six slow dark years. He drank and drank, and died. • • • Man and dog. Did it really all begin, as animal experts think, with nursing mothers taking orphaned wolf cubs to their breasts to suckle along with their babies? And doesn't this fit nicely with the myth of the twin founders of Rome? Romulus and Remus, abandoned at birth, warmed and suckled by a she-wolf. • • • A pause here to wonder why we call a womanizer a wolf. Given that the wolf is known for being a loyal, monogamous mate and devoted parent. • • • I like that the Aborigines say dogs make people human. Also (though I can't remember who said it): The thing that keeps me from becoming a complete misanthrope is seeing how much dogs love men. • • • Oversensitive to smells in general and squeamish about the human body, Ackerley was not put off by any scent of Tulip's, not even from her anal glands, and saw prettiness even in the way she took a shit. He writes less about her excretory habits than about her sex life. But that's still quite a lot. And it's the details. . . . "Liquids and Solids" that chapter is called. Though I always walk Apollo on a leash, I worry, just as Ackerley did, that a dog doing its business in the street—especially a big dog—could get hit by a car. Unfortunately, Apollo often squats a dangerous distance from the curb. I cannot, like Ackerley, solve the problem by letting Apollo use the sidewalk, even if, unlike Ackerley, I am always diligent in cleaning up the mess. My solution, whenever Apollo positions himself far enough from the curb to be in harm's way, is to position myself between him and oncoming traffic. It's true that now I've only put myself in harm's way, but I figure, I hope not too innocently, that a driver will take greater care to avoid hitting a human being. Manhattan drivers are not a patient lot. Many an inconvenienced one has cursed me. But there are others, I know, who would've slowed down anyway, as so many pedestrians do, to stare. In "How to Be a Flâneur," you said you did not consider a long walk with a dog genuine flânerie because it was not the same as aimless wandering, and being responsible for a dog prevented a person from falling into abstraction. These days I spend so much time walking Apollo I can't imagine going out just to walk by myself. What prevents me from falling into abstraction, though, or doing much thinking at all, is the way he draws attention. I don't welcome strangers' attention at any time, but although Apollo shows no sign of being bothered by the lack of privacy when he takes a shit I find these moments especially trying. Worst of all is being watched while I'm cleaning up after him, which seems to give a certain type of person a charge. People comment on the size of his turds as if I were not standing right there with pail and shovel (in themselves the cause of much glee, though I was actually quite pleased with myself for coming up with the idea of using a child's sand pail, lined with a plastic bag, and a small garden trowel). I feel sorry for you, someone says (grinning). Or: I love dogs but I could never do what you're doing. A few people have chided me for having such a dog at all: Big dogs don't belong in the city! I think it's cruel, said one woman. Keeping a dog that size cooped up in an apartment. Oh, but we're just down for the day, I sang back at her. We fly home to the mansion tomorrow. (Yes, of course, there are also nice people, above all other dog owners, any number of people who either mind their own business or say nice, friendly, intelligent things. But we all know niceness is never as interesting to write, or read, about.) Liquids: When I see the gallons pouring out I'm grateful that he doesn't lift his leg like most male dogs; instead of a hubcap he might drench a window. Solids: enough said. And there's something _between_ liquids and solids, the curse of large breeds. I have to mop his face several times a day. I call it swabbing the decks. • • • Rather than take him to his old vet, which would've meant finding a way to transport him to Brooklyn, I find one within walking distance of home. He is good with Apollo, but I am wary of him, the sort of man who speaks to women as if they are idiots and to older women as if they are deaf idiots. When I tell him that Apollo never plays with other dogs, not even at the dog park, he says, Well, he's not so young anymore, is he. I'm sure you don't run and jump around the way you used to, either. He shrugs when he hears the whole story. People throw pets out all the time, he says. It's the dogs who'd die for the owners, not vice versa. (Obviously he has not read Ackerley.) Doesn't the divorce rate tell us just how much the loyalty of a human being is worth? he says in a tone I find disquieting. Someone once told me that many vets tend to be irritable because their profession exposes them to a particularly wide swath of human silliness—much of it, no doubt, in the form of anthropomorphism. I remember one who rolled his eyes when I said that my cat purred all the time so he must be happy. Purring is just a noise they make, it does not mean they're _happy_ , he snapped. This one tells me bluntly that although Apollo is in pretty good shape for his age he won't be long-lived. And given his arthritis, he says, believe me he wouldn't want to be. Whatever you do, don't let him gain weight. He shakes his head at the botched ear job and points out what else makes him a less-than-perfect specimen of the breed: chest and shoulders too broad in relation to hindquarters; neck not quite pure white, and not quite the right distribution of black patches elsewhere on the body; eyes a little too close; jaws a little too wide; legs on the thick side. Powerfully built but stocky overall, lacking true elegance. He has no trouble believing that the dog is in mourning for his previous owner and that his emotions have been exacerbated by too many changes in his environment. (How would _you_ feel? he asks roughly, as if this were a thought I would never have arrived at by myself.) I tell him about the howling, and about the awful new symptom that seems to have replaced it: Now and then Apollo is seized by a kind of fit. He looks all around as if befuddled. Then, tail clamped between legs, he crouches as close to the floor as possible without actually lying down. It's as if he's trying to make himself as small as he can. Then the shakes begin. For periods that last from a few minutes to as long as half an hour, he cowers and shivers uncontrollably. Anyone would say he thinks something terrible is about to happen to him, I tell the vet, keeping to myself that these attacks are so disturbing to watch that they sometimes bring me to tears. There are drugs to treat canine anxiety and depression, but this vet is no fan of them. It can take weeks for a drug to become effective, he says, and often it turns out not to be effective at all. Let's leave that as a last resort, he says. For now, don't ever leave him alone too long, and be sure you talk to him. Exercise him as much as possible. You might also try massage, if he'll let you. Just don't expect him to change into Mr. Happy Dog. He may never recover, no matter what you do. And you'll never know why. It's not just that you don't know his history. People think dogs are simple, and we like to believe we know what goes on in their heads. But in fact we're finding out that dogs are a lot more mysterious and complicated than we ever thought, and unless they develop our language we'll never know them at all. Which goes for any animal, of course. He's a good dog, but I have to warn you, he says. You're a little lady, he must outweigh you by eighty pounds. (This was flattering.) The way to deal with these large powerful breeds is to keep them from knowing the truth, which is that you can't really make them do anything they don't want to do. As if Apollo doesn't already know that. More than once when we've been out walking he's decided we've walked enough. He stops and sits or lies down on the ground, and nothing I do can get him up again. I'm less angry with him than with the people who stop to watch and sometimes laugh. Once, a man, thinking to help, stood some distance away, patting his leg and whistling. Like rolling thunder came the response, new to my ears, and so menacing that the man and several other people nearby quickly crossed the street. Whoever trained him made him understand that humans are the alphas, the vet says, and you don't want him to start thinking otherwise. You don't want him getting it into his head that he's the alpha. When he leans against you, the way Danes do, stand your ground, don't let him knock you over. Get him to lie on his back, spend a little time rubbing his chest. And for God's sake, get yourself back on the bed and him on the floor. You train a dog by keeping him _down._ My expression when I hear this clearly exasperates him. _He's a good dog_ , he repeats, quite loudly this time. Don't turn him into a bad one. A bad dog can easily turn into a dangerous one. By the time he finishes examining Apollo and lecturing me, I like Grumpy Vet better. Though not so much his parting remark: Remember, the last thing you want is for him to start thinking you're his bitch. • • • Now that I have Apollo I often think of Beau, the Dane-shepherd cross that belonged to the boyfriend I lived with when I was in my early twenties. Still a puppy when I first met him, he grew up to be almost but not quite as tall as a Dane and with many of a Dane's traits but with a shepherd's nerves and aggression. Big, unneutered, and very dominant, he hit the street like someone looking for a fight (and often, alas, finding one). Our apartment was in a dicey neighborhood, but so long as Beau was behind it we didn't always bother to lock the door. I would take him with me to a friend's place two miles away, stay until one or two in the morning, then walk back home along dark and empty streets. Beau knew about the potential danger, you could see it in his tension, his hypervigilance; he was like a fur soldier; he was _cocked_ , like a soldier's gun. More than once he terrified the wits out of some guy loitering on a corner, or in a building doorway. (I should say that few people I knew living in that part of town in those years had not been the victim of a mugging, or a burglary, or worse.) There was something undeniably thrilling about Beau's rumbling barks and growls, the stance he took between me and whatever he saw as a threat (which included any strange man who so much as looked at me), the knowledge that he would defend me—to the death if he had to. It was all part of why I loved him. Also, back then, I _liked_ the way we attracted attention. But things are different now. The city has calmed down, the streets are safe, and I don't walk around late at night anymore anyway. At one or two in the morning I am asleep. I don't need protection. I don't need a badass dog to defend me. I don't want Apollo ever to feel that he has to bark or growl at anyone. I don't want him to worry. I don't want him to be anxious. I want him to feel that we are both perfectly safe, no matter where we go. I don't want him to be my bodyguard. I don't want him to be my gun. I want him to chill. I want him to be Mr. Happy Dog. • • • He missed you, the woman who lives in the apartment above mine says. Coming home from school, I ran into her at the elevator. Meaning: Apollo is howling again. • • • He has to forget you. He has to forget you and fall in love with me. That's what has to happen. # PART FIVE "Did you read about the Tibetan mastiffs?" I had indeed read the article in the _Times_ , and I say so, but the woman's need to vent is too great: she tells the story anyway. Only a few years ago, in China, the Tibetan mastiff was a status symbol, a luxury item priced at the equivalent of an average of $200,000 with some puppies said to sell for more than a million. As the mania peaked, more and more dogs were produced by grasping breeders. Then the mania died. Worth too little, eating too much, the huge and sometimes hard to control dogs were no longer wanted. What came next: Mass abandonment. Dogs packed into transport trucks, where they suffered horribly and many died. The slaughterhouse. Truly, not a story I needed to hear twice. The woman is someone we often meet when she's out walking her own two dogs, gentle mutts, mother and daughter. From the news story she goes into her screed—it too is something she's shared with me before—about the evils of dog breeding. Mutts are what nature intended, mutts are what should exist. But what've we got instead? Idiot collies, neurotic shepherds, murderous Rottweilers, deaf Dalmatians, and Labs so calm you could shoot a gun at them and they wouldn't suspect danger. Fur vegetables, cripples, morons, sociopaths, dogs with bones too thin or flesh too fat. _That's_ what you get when you breed dogs for the traits _people_ want them to have. It should be a crime. (I thought this woman was crazy when she told me about pointers that freeze in point posture and then can't get out, but this grotesquerie turns out to be fact.) I shudder to think what it'll be like fifty or a hundred years from now, says the woman, looking very dark indeed. But by then, she adds, the whole earth will have been destroyed. And, perhaps consoled by this thought, she takes her mutts and moves on. I am left thinking about the mastiffs. Besides their great bulk and a mane that makes them look part lion, they are known for being fiercely protective and loyal to their masters. So what does a dog bred for those traits feel when its master lets it be herded onto one of those transport trucks? Does a dog understand betrayal? I think probably not. I think the main thing on the mastiff's mind, all the way to the slaughterhouse, is Who will protect Master now? A digression. About animal suffering, what do we really know? There is evidence that dogs and other animals have a higher tolerance for pain than humans do. But their true capacity for suffering—like the true measure of their intelligence—must remain a mystery. Ackerley believed that being so emotionally involved with people and trying forever to please them made a dog's life chronically anxious and stressed. But did they get headaches? he wondered, not even that much about them being known. Another question: Why do people often find animal suffering harder to accept than the suffering of other human beings? Take Robert Graves, writing about the Somme: _The number of dead horses and mules shocked me; human corpses were all very well, but it seemed wrong for animals to be dragged into the war like this._ Why, of all the terrible memories of his ordeal as a POW in Japan during World War Two, was Olympic athlete and US Army airman Louis Zamperini most haunted by the memory of a guard torturing a duck? Of course, in each of these cases the suffering was caused by human behavior, in the case of the duck an act of pure sadism. But aren't animals always at our mercy, and doesn't the pity we feel for them have to do with our understanding that the animal itself has no way of knowing the reason for its pain (a fact that makes some people insist that animals must suffer even worse than humans do). I believe the intensity of the pity you feel for an animal has to do with how it evokes pity for yourself. I believe we must all retain, throughout our whole lives, a powerful memory of those early moments of life, a time when we were as much animal as human, the overwhelming feelings of helplessness and vulnerability and mute fear, and the yearning for the protection that our instinct tells us is there, if we could just cry loudly enough. Innocence is something we humans pass through and leave behind, unable to return. But animals live and die in that state, and seeing innocence violated in the form of cruelty to a mere duck can seem like the most barbaric act in the world. I know people who are outraged by this sentiment, calling it cynical, misanthropic, and perverse. But I believe the day when we are no longer capable of feeling it will be a terrible day for every living being, that our downward slide into violence and barbarity will be only that much quicker. • • • When people ask me why I stopped having cats I don't always give the true answer, which has to do with how the ones I did have died. Suffered and died. All pet owners go through this. Your pet is sick, obviously sick, but what is it, what's wrong? It can't say. The intolerable thought that your dog, who believes you are God, believes you have the power to stop the pain, but for some reason (did he somehow displease you?) refuse to do so. The poet Rilke once reported seeing a dying dog give its mistress a look full of reproach. Later, he gave this experience to the narrator of a novel: _He was convinced I could have prevented it. It was now clear that he had always overrated me. And there was no time left to explain it to him. He continued to gaze at me, surprised and solitary, until it was over._ The suspicion that your cat, proud independent stoic that she is, is hiding just how bad things really are. The trip to the vet, the diagnosis, well, that at least, at last. Surgery, drugs. (Stop spitting out those goddamn pills!) Hope. Then doubts. How do I know if she's in pain, and how much pain? Am I being selfish? Would she rather be dead? Over the years, I've been there, several times, too many times, holding a cat that, the vet assures me, will go gently. My mother, who has been there too, said, The little honey lay in my arms the whole time, right up to the end, purring. (I know: that's just a noise they make.) Shortly after one of my last two cats died (in my arms, but not purring)—a cat I'd lived with for twenty years, longer than I've lived with any person—the surviving cat got sick. She paced the apartment, unable to rest, not for a single minute. Imagine: a sleepless cat. She wanted to eat, she tried to eat, but she couldn't. Her voice had changed, always now the same troubled and insistent mewing: Help me, why won't you help me. The ultrasound revealed a mass. We could operate, said the vet, a soft young woman in assuringly rose-colored scrubs. But consider her age. I did, as well as how much she was already suffering, and the fact that, at nineteen, she might not survive an operation. The other option, said the vet, is to put her to sleep. How Ackerley loathed that "dishonest" euphemism. But his word— _destroyed—_ has always sounded odd to me when used for a sentient being. And neither he nor anyone else ever uses the honest _kill._ I had my dog Tulip _killed._ I took my cat to the vet to be _killed._ It would be better to have the poor thing _killed._ There's no hope, she needs to be _killed._ If we can't find them homes, they'll all be _killed._ Do you want to be with her? Of course. Two injections, the vet explained. The first one is to calm her. . . . The first injection was problematic. Something about dehydration and how that affected the veins. And now the cat, who until that moment had kept herself very still, grew alert. She stretched out a paw and touched my wrist. She lifted her head, wobbly on its frail stalk of a neck, and gave me a disbelieving stare. I'm not saying this is what she said, I'm saying this is what I heard: Wait, you're making a mistake. I didn't say I wanted you to _kill_ me, I said I wanted you to make me feel better. The vet was clearly flustered now. Before I could say a word, she scooped up the cat and headed for the door: I'll be right back. We were in a large, busy hospital with many different wards. I had no idea where she'd gone. Ten minutes later she returned. She placed the cat on the table, dead. _Do you want to be with her? Of course._ The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them: What have you done _._ • • • I have heard of a study according to which cats, unlike many other animal species, do not forgive. (Like writers, perhaps, who, according to an editor I know, never forget a slight.) • • • Maybe the guilt was worse because, of all the cats I'd had, this one had been my least favorite, the one who always remained aloof, the one who would not let me cuddle her or hold her on my lap but who waited till I was asleep before sneaking onto my hip. Now she became the one I could not stop thinking about. I would find a cat hair or whisker somewhere in the apartment and hear again the hoarse, frantic mewing of her last days. No, I did not want another cat. I did not want ever again to watch another cat die, suffer and die. Not to mention that other anxiety: If I did get a cat, what would happen to it if I died first? • • • Thus was I saved, perhaps, from becoming an old cat lady. I am glad that, in the age of the internet, which has revived the ancient worship of cats as gods, the label is losing its stigma. I was once told by a medical resident that he'd been taught on his psychiatric rotation that owning multiple cats could be a sign of mental illness. Thinking of the horrific instances of animal hoarding I'd heard about, I thought it was good that the psychiatric profession had its ear to this particular ground. But when I asked him _how many_ cats were said to put a person over the line, he said _three._ • • • Given a dog's extraordinary powers of smell, I know that, even though it's been years, Apollo is aware that this house was once feline territory. I want to know: What does he think about that? • • • There is a Hungarian film called _White God_ , in which the dogs of Budapest rise up against the oppressor. Like all uprisings, this one has a leader. This is Hagen, the beloved mixed-breed pet of a girl named Lili. His ordeals begin when Lili's father refuses to pay the tax imposed on anyone in possession of a dog that isn't a purebred. Thrown out in the street, Hagen tries to find his way back to Lili (who meanwhile is doing all she can to find him), but is thwarted, first by dogcatchers, then by a brute who, using the cruelest methods, trains Hagen to fight. It is after he's killed another dog, Hagen's first time in the ring, that he understands not only what he's done but what has been done to him. He escapes his trainer but is soon trapped by dogcatchers and hauled off to the pound, where he is slated to be destroyed. But again Hagen escapes, at the same time liberating a large number of other dogs who follow on his heels as he tears through the streets. The pack of running—in some cases attacking—dogs are joined by more dogs, dogs from every corner of the city: Hagen has raised a canine army. One by one his enemies are sought out and viciously killed. By now, though, the once gentle Hagen has been so transformed that when he finally meets Lili again, in the courtyard of the slaughterhouse where her father works as a meat inspector, he bares his teeth and snarls. She is a human being, after all—and her father, who started this war, is there with her. Ranged about Hagen are the members of his army, every one prepared to strike. The frightened Lili remembers how Hagen used to like when she played to him on her horn (her instrument in the school orchestra), and the soothing effect it had on him. She takes the horn from her backpack and begins to play. Hagen is calmed and lies down. Then all the other dogs grow quiet and lie down too. Lili plays on, prolonging the moment of peace. It is not a happy ending, because we know, of course, that the dogs are doomed. But they have had their revenge. • • • It's easy to see why many people—including myself, before a high school English teacher set me straight—believe that someone once said, Music soothes the savage beast. Music has charms to soothe a savage _breast_ is what the playwright William Congreve actually wrote. But it's part of our mythology: a wild or angry animal calmed or tamed by music. Which makes sense, given all we know about how music can affect the spirits of a human being. In _White God_ , right before a dog is put to death, it is placed in a room with a TV showing the old Tom and Jerry cartoon _The Cat Concerto_ , in which Tom plays Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. I don't know if playing music really can soothe a dog's breast, but on the internet I find it among suggestions for dealing with canine depression. (Are you writing a book? Are you depressed? Are you looking for a pet? Is your pet depressed?) But what kind of music? I once had a rabbit that I let run loose in the house. In the living room was a stereo whose two large speakers sat on the floor. Whenever music was put on, the rabbit would make his way to a speaker and plant himself there. Usually he'd just lie still, listening, or maybe he'd start to groom his ears. But if I played Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze," he would get up and cavort around the room. What kind of music? Cheerful? Mellow? Fast, or slow? The Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2? How about some Schubert? (Oh, maybe not Schubert, whose pen, in the words of Arvo Pärt, was fifty percent ink, fifty percent tears.) How about Miles Davis's _Bitches Brew_? (I know this is all moronically anthropomorphic, but sometimes that is the form love takes.) I play him Miles Davis. I play him Bach and Arvo Pärt. I play him Prince, Adele, and Frank Sinatra. And Mozart, lots of Mozart. None of which appears to affect him at all. I don't think he's listening. If he is, I don't think he cares. Then I remember reading about an experiment in which a group of monkeys that were given a choice between listening to Mozart and listening to rock and roll chose Mozart, but when given a choice between Mozart and silence chose silence. • • • _White God_ was inspired partly by the novel _Disgrace_. After losing his teaching position, David Lurie abandons his life in Cape Town. He retreats to a village on the Eastern Cape where his daughter Lucy has a small subsistance farm, and where he will end up working at an animal shelter. On the fate of the multitude of unwanted dogs, Lucy reflects: They do us the honor of treating us like gods, and we respond by treating them like things. • • • A letter from my building's management office saying that it has been brought to their attention that I am in violation of my lease. The dog must be removed from the premises immediately, or— • • • Does something bad happen to the dog? # PART SIX The problem with this story, a student I'll call Carter says about a story by a student I'll call Jane, is that the protagonist isn't like a character in a story. She's more like a person in real life. Twice, he says it, because my mind has wandered, and I have to ask him to repeat himself. You're saying the character is too real? I ask, though I know this is what Carter is saying. The character in question is a girl with red hair and green eyes who bonds with a girl with blond hair and blue eyes only to discover that the guy the blonde has just dumped is the same person as the redhead's new boyfriend. The color of the boyfriend's eyes and hair are not specified, but he is described as tall. Later, another student, whom I'll call Viv, will say she wants to know if the girlfriend is also tall. Why is that important? I ask, masking my exasperation (as much cannot be said for Viv, who hates being asked to explain anything and replies testily, Can't I just ask?). There are things I'd like to know too. For example, why, when these two girls want to talk, do they keep getting into their cars and driving to each other's houses? Why do they never use their phones, not even to text to find out first if the other one is home? Why do they not know things about each other that they could easily have learned from Facebook? It is one of the great bafflements of student fiction. I have read that college students can spend up to ten hours a day on social media. But for the people they write about—also mostly college students—the internet barely exists. _Cell phones do not belong in fiction_ , an editor once scolded in the margin of one of my manuscripts, and ever since—more than two decades now—I have wondered at the disconnect between tech-filled life and techless story. If anyone could shed light on the matter, I once thought, it would be the students. But they have not been much help. The most interesting response came from a grad student who happened to be the mother of a five-year-old. Whenever she reads him a story, she said, her son keeps interrupting: When do they go to the bathroom? Mommy, when do they go to the bathroom? There are things we do all the time in real life that we don't put in our stories: point taken. But no one spends ten hours a day going to the bathroom. Think of Kurt Vonnegut's complaint that novels that leave out technology misrepresent life as badly as Victorians misrepresented life by leaving out sex. But that is another mystery. _Nothing in their heads and nothing between their legs_ is how one teacher I know describes the characters in workshop stories. This teacher is someone who's been at it much longer than I have and is about to retire. He tells me it wasn't always so. I remember when there was plenty of sex, he says, a lot of it pretty kinky. Now everyone's afraid of offending someone, triggering something. We should be grateful, though. Nowadays you could get in trouble for discussing sex in class. I know another man, a teacher at an all-women's college, who got in trouble for including Your First Sexual Experience on a list of suggested writing prompts, prompting some women to file a complaint. According to the dean, what the teacher had done could be—well, had been—considered a form of sexual harassment. I have taken my school's required online course, Sexual Misconduct Training, and had my eyes opened to the fact that any oral or written reference to sexual behavior including suggestive jokes or cartoons, or casual conversation about one's own or any other person's sex life, comes under the heading Sexual Misconduct. There did not seem to be any exception for a writing workshop. I worried about having assigned a story that included a scene of autoerotic asphyxiation, but it went right over my students' heads. I enlightened them, then worried that perhaps I should not have done that. Though I confess I only skimmed most of the course material, I was surprised when I came to the final Test Your Knowledge part ("No one will see the results except the test taker"), and got two of the ten questions wrong. It was suggested that I go back and read the relevant sections again, more carefully. But why bother, since I now knew that, yes, I _was_ required to report immediately any knowledge I might have of a teacher dating a student, and that although _not_ required I was _strongly advised_ to report a colleague for telling an off-color joke, even if the joke didn't personally offend me. What I'm saying, says Carter, is that I know this girl. I can tell you exactly what she looks like. How's that? The only thing I could tell you about what this girl looks like is what Jane has stated: color of eyes, color of hair—the usual student way of describing a character, as if a story is a piece of ID like a driver's license. So common is this that I've come to think the students must feel that saying too much about a character is rude, an invasion of privacy, and that it's best to be as discreet—that is, nondescript—as possible. A student writing about Carter, for example, would put in that his eyes are brown but leave out the tattoo of barbed wire circling his neck, or the way he keeps rubbing the wrist that is sore from hours of making espresso drinks at the campus Starbucks. They would mention his curly brown hair but not that it is almost always, no matter how warm the day, covered by a black watch cap. They would probably even leave out the silver-dollar-sized ear gauges, which I can never look at without wincing. I can tell you everything about her, Carter says. To me, the main character is as thin and gray as this strand of hair I just brushed from my sleeve. But to Carter, the problem is not that she's too vague, but that she's all too familiar. It is his perennial critique: What's the point in writing stories about the kind of people you meet every day in real life? Dangerous, Flannery O'Connor called letting students criticize one another's manuscripts: the blind leading the blind. Carter's own literary ambition is to be the next George R. R. Martin. His novel in progress depicts epic clashes between imaginary kingdoms waging never-ending war in pursuit of power, dominance, and revenge. Unlike his idol, though, he can't be taken to task for scenes of sexual violence. There is no rape or incest in his pages. There is no sex at all, and women are hardly mentioned. When people in class express doubts about a novel that doesn't include any significant female characters, Carter shrugs and says nothing. But alone in my office he tells me that, in fact, there are women in his novel. And there is sex, he says. Loads of it. Most of it violent. There is rape. There is gang rape. There is incest. I delete all that for the workshop, he says. He rolls his eyes when I ask him why. Are you kidding? You know how people would react. I mean, like, the women? I could get kicked out of school. When I say I'm sure no such thing would happen, he is not convinced. Today he is wearing his black watch cap (oh what is he watching?) low on his brow, which gives him a Cro-Magnon look. His stretched lobes make his ears resemble the floppy ears of one of his fictional half-humans. Well, I'm not taking any chances, he says. But trust me, it's all in there. All the rough stuff, he adds. Which triggers something in me. Which he notices. But if _you_ wanted to see it, he says, I'd show you. I don't think that's necessary, I stammer, and he gives me a knowing smirk. • • • Most of my students do it. Some of my fellow teachers do it. People who work in publishing do it. All are more likely to do it if the writer is a woman. But when did it start, this habit of referring to writers you've never met by first name. • • • A book festival event in Brooklyn. I catch the 2 train at Fourteenth Street. The car is full. I see two middle-aged people, a man and a woman, seated near me, but not close enough for me to hear their conversation. Body language suggests that they are friends, or colleagues, rather than a couple. Something tells me they are on their way to the same place I am. A half hour later, at Atlantic Avenue, they get off with me. It's a Saturday night, the huge station is packed, I soon lose sight of them. The event is in a hall several blocks from the station. When I get there I go straight to the bar, and there they are, the man and woman from the 2 train, in line just ahead of me. • • • This semester I share an office with another teacher. She is a new hire, in fact this is her first time teaching. As it happens, only a few years ago this young woman was a student of mine. Same program, same school. She sometimes does meditation in the office, and the air is suffused with the mimosa or orange-blossom scent of the candles she burns. Because we teach on different days we don't usually see each other, but we keep in touch through messages and notes, and she sometimes thoughtfully leaves me a treat, a cookie or a chocolate bar or a packet of smoked almonds. Once, for my birthday, she filled the office with flowers. While she was still a student this woman achieved quite a coup, selling her MFA thesis, a first novel, before it was half finished, along with a second novel before it was even a gleam in her eye. Even before the first book was published she began winning prizes, and after receiving, in quick succession, every literary prize that exists for outstanding promise—a total of almost half a million dollars—she began to be known among us as O.P. As expected, when it was published, the first novel received excellent reviews. But in spite of this, and in spite of its picking up yet another literary prize, the book did not sell. In our small world O.P. remains famous, she is "that girl who gets everything." But in the wider world, even among those who pay attention to new fiction, two years after its debut neither the book's name nor the author's is likely to ring a bell. Hardly a new story, and hardly the end of the world. But try telling O.P., who for two years now hasn't been able to write at all. She had thought teaching might help, or at least give her something useful to do. As a student, though introverted, she had radiated confidence. But as a teacher she is overwhelmed. She is about the same age as most of her students and even younger than some. She is fully aware how her inexperience shows, how lacking she is in projecting authority. She has a high, thin, naturally quavery voice and a tendency, when anxious, to flush. She is bitter about her female students, who she senses have it in for her, and from whom she constantly gets the who-do-you-think-you-are vibe women often give off to other women, in particular striving and ambitious women. Among the male students, three have already come on to her. One is so successful at undressing her with his eyes that she finds herself sitting in class with her arms crossed over her breasts. Worse, she finds herself intensely attracted to him. She sometimes has panic attacks before class. Hence the meditation, sometimes supplemented with benzodiazepine. O.P. is tormented by the fear not only that she'll never write again but that her whole life is a lie. Everything she has accomplished so far has been the result of some mistake. Why anyone had wanted to publish her—why anyone thought she could teach—baffling! As for that second novel, no matter how many extensions the publisher grants, she knows she'll never pull it off. O.P. lives in terror of being exposed: she is not just a failure, she is a fraud. _And would everyone please stop calling her O.P.!_ Useless to remind her that identical doubts have bedeviled other writers for all time, including, and perhaps even especially, some of the greatest. Useless to quote Kafka on _The Metamorphosis_ : "Imperfect almost to its very marrow." Another teacher, who's at school on the same days as O.P., reports sometimes hearing her weeping behind her closed door, once because she was hopelessly struggling to write a simple two-page student thesis report. The day I sit in on one of her classes for a required department observation, I see how the student to whom she has confessed being attracted gazes at her with a tenderly gloating expression. I do not put in my observation report what I believe is the case, that she has started having an affair with this student. If I'm lucky she won't confide in me, she won't seek my advice. I can see this happening one day: I'll be in a certain place, maybe a store that sells beauty products, or some kind of salon, or the bathroom of a home where I happen to be a guest. I'll get a whiff of a particular scent, mimosa or orange blossom, but I won't remember the candles O.P. used to burn in our office, and so I'll be bewildered by my response: a tremor of alarm, as if I'd just telepathically learned that someone I know is in trouble. • • • Across from the office I share with O.P. is the office of this year's Distinguished Visiting Writer, but he is never there. He does not hold office hours and has instructed the program secretary to forward mail to his home rather than use his school mail slot. When he comes in to teach he goes straight to his workshop classroom. Few of his colleagues ever cross paths with him, and when they do he looks right through the person as if they're not there. Before the semester began he instructed the chair to inform faculty that he does not do book blurbs. He himself informed students on the first day of class: I don't do letters of recommendation. _Don't even ask._ When you heard this, you were indignant: I should've told _him_ that back when he asked me to write him a letter for the Guggenheim. Soon after the semester begins, he gives a reading at a Barnes & Noble. The fact that the audience is sparse does not discourage him; he reads for the good part of an hour. During the Q&A, when someone asks why his book, whose form is highly unconventional, is called a novel, he responds, It's a novel because I say it is. During the signing, a woman urges him to write another book as quickly as possible. Because, you know, she says earnestly, there's nothing out there. In Barnes & Noble. • • • In the news: Thirty-two million adult Americans can't read. The potential audience for poetry has shrunk by two-thirds since 1992. A "rent-burdened" woman worrying how she's going to survive in New York City decides to try writing a novel ("and that's going well"). # PART SEVEN Wife One lives abroad. She had flown to New York for the memorial event, and one night before she flew home she and I went out to dinner. "I know it's worse for you," she said kindly. "We were married, but that was so long ago. And after it was over, nothing. No friendship, no contact, nothing. That's how it had to be. And I'll be honest, at first I thought I wouldn't even go to the memorial. But then I thought, you know, closure. Whatever that means." When it's suicide, someone at the memorial said, there can be no closure. "But you," she said. "You two were such good friends for so long. How I used to envy that. I used to think, if only he and I hadn't fallen in love, then _we_ could have had a friendship like that!" But there'd been no resisting, had there. A love so potent it might have been the effect of a spell. One of those grand passions given only to some to experience, the rest to hear tell and dream about. Even now it has the force of legend for me: beautiful, terrible, doomed. I remember when being near the two of you was like being near a furnace. And I remember thinking, when things went wrong, that one or the other of you was going to end up dead. You yourself said it sometimes felt like you were doing something forbidden, even criminal. And she, raised Catholic, was convinced that such idolizing love had to be a sin. And, of course, in the end it was this that drove Wife Two to despair: not all your womanizing but the belief that such love doesn't come twice in a life, that whatever you felt for her could not equal what you'd felt for Wife One, who, she would always fear, still had your heart. If only we hadn't fallen in love: she said it over and over. "I was just thinking about it on the cab ride here. Remember how we worshipped him? How we were all his little groupies? What did they call us back then?" "A literary Manson family." "Oh God, yes. Ugh. How could I forget." Remember how we hung on your every word and ran out and bought every book or album you mentioned. Remember how everything we wrote was some pathetic imitation of you. Remember how you had us believing that one day you'd win the Nobel Prize. _Now he's just another dead white male._ He did all right, I said. He did better than most writers. "But I hear the last couple of years he didn't write much." No. "Did he seem that depressed? Did he talk about it? I'm not just asking, it's been keeping me up nights. Why did he quit teaching?" I recite your various gripes, which were not much different from those heard every day from other teachers: how even students from top schools didn't know a good sentence from a bad one, how nobody in publishing seemed to care how anything was written anymore, how books were dying, literature was dying, and the prestige of the writer had sunk so low that the biggest mystery of all was why everyone and their grandmother was turning to authorship as just the ticket to glory. I tell her about your loss of conviction in the purpose of fiction—today, when no novel, no matter how brilliantly written or full of ideas, was going to have any meaningful effect on society, when it was impossible even to imagine anything like what had led Abraham Lincoln to say, meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe, in 1862, So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war. If Abraham Lincoln really did say that. That's when I remember the interview. How strange to have forgotten it, even for a time. The interview, which it now occurs to me was probably your last, for the inaugural issue of a midwestern literary journal. The interview in which you made a prediction that there would be a wave of suicides among writers. And when do you see this happening? Soon. I remember being surprised that you hadn't mentioned that interview, which I might have missed altogether if another friend hadn't forwarded it to me. _I didn't mention it because I was embarrassed. It occurred to me later how it would sound—melodramatic, self-pitying. I'd had a few drinks._ I remember the interviewer asked the usual question about audience, whether you wrote with a particular reader in mind. Which set you off about the relationship between writer and reader and how much that relationship had changed. As a young writer you'd been told, Never assume your reader isn't as intelligent as you are. Advice you'd taken to heart. You wrote with that reader in mind, you said, someone as smart as—or why not even smarter than!—yourself. Someone intellectually curious, who had the habit of reading, who loved books as much as you did. Who loved fiction. And then, with the internet, had come the possibility of reading the responses of actual readers, among whom you were pleased to find some who did indeed match, more or less, the reader in your head. But there were others—not just one or two but quite a number when you added them up—who had misread, or misunderstood, in some cases quite seriously, what you'd said. Troubling enough when the reader was someone who'd hated the book, but that was far from always the case. Like other writers, you now found yourself regularly damned or praised for things that had never occurred to you, things you had never expressed and never would express, things that represented pretty much the opposite of what you actually believed. All this, you said, had thrown you for a loop. Because, although you knew you were supposed to be glad for each and every copy of a book that was sold, and you knew you were supposed to feel grateful for any reader, who after all might have chosen to read any one of millions of other books instead of yours, you honestly found it hard to be happy about a reader who got things all wrong, you honestly would just as soon a reader like that ignore your book and go read something else. But hasn't it always been this way? No doubt. But in the past the writer didn't have to know, the problem wasn't right there in your face. But what about "Trust the tale not the teller," and how the critic's job is to save the work from the writer? By "critic," you know, Lawrence did not mean self-appointed. I would love to see the consumer review that saved a book from its author. Well, if I could just play devil's advocate here: Let's say I invite someone to dinner and cook them a fabulous beef stew and they gobble it up and say, Wow, yum, that's the best lamb stew I ever had! So what? Isn't the main thing that they enjoyed it? Oh, were we talking about dinner? Well, let me say this: I don't take it lightly if when I write the word _beef_ someone chooses to read _lamb_. People talking about a book as if it were just another thing, like a dish, or a product like an electronic device or a pair of shoes, to be rated for consumer satisfaction—that was just the goddamn trouble, you said. Even those aspiring writers your students seemed never to judge a book on how well it fulfilled the author's intentions but solely on whether it was the kind of book that they liked. And so you got papers stating things like "I hate Joyce, he's so full of himself," or "I don't see why I should have to read about white people problems." You got customer reviews full of umbrage, suggesting that if a book didn't affirm what the reader already felt—what they could identify with, what they could relate to—the author had no business writing the book at all. Those hilarious stories that people loved, and loved to share—the book clubber who said, When I read a novel I want someone to die in it; the complaint against Anne Frank's diary, in which nothing much happens and then the story just breaks off—did not make _you_ laugh. Oh, you knew that a lot of people, including other writers, would accuse you of being precious. Some would say that, after all, the one sure way for an artist to know his work had failed was if everyone "got" it. But the truth was, you had become so dismayed by the ubiquity of careless reading that something had happened that you had thought never could happen: you had started not to care whether people read you or not. And though you knew your publisher would spit in your eye for saying so, you were inclined to agree with whoever it was who said that no truly good book would find more than three thousand readers. "Oh dear," says Wife One. Near the end of the interview, you got on the subject of mentors and teaching and blasted the new rules forbidding romance between professors and students. What a load of crap, this notion of making the university a safe place. Think of all the wonderful things in life that could never have happened—all the great things that would never have been created or discovered or even imagined—if the top priority had been to make everyone feel _safe_. Who'd want to live in such a world? "Oh dear, oh dear." The only part of the interview I hadn't heard before was the part about the suicides. _I'd had a few drinks. I asked to see the interview before it ran and was told yes of course, but then the prick never sent it._ I tell Wife One about the episode with the women students who would not be called _dear_. Something I don't tell her, and which is another thing I'd forgotten but that has just now come back: on the day of the interview you were upset, and you told me why. You suspected that your agent had submitted your last novel to the publisher without having read it. _I'm glad to hear that magazine is folding. It was a shitty little magazine._ "This is what's been keeping me up nights," says Wife One. "Something I read, about how, among people who try to kill themselves and survive, almost all say they regretted it. Like jumpers who say that as soon as they hit the air they knew they'd made a mistake, they didn't really want to die." I've heard this too, but also another story, from another era, about what coroners supposedly learned from the corpses of people who drowned themselves in, I believe it was, the Seine. Those whose reason for wanting to die was love had tried to scramble back out of the water. Those whose reason was financial ruin had sunk like stones. Getting old. We know this must have been the hardest thing, much harder for you even than for other people. A man who once could have had any woman he wanted. Who had groupies hanging on his every word and believing he could win the Nobel Prize. Even if it was just a bunch of silly, infatuated girls like us. We had begun to draw attention. Two women bent over their entrées, holding hands, dabbing at their eyes with their napkins. • • • Later, when she gets her first look at Apollo, on Skype, she says, "Holy shit! I can't believe they dumped a monster like that on you. No wonder no one wants him." I wince. I cannot bear to hear Apollo called unwanted. I remember Wife Three shrugging off my suggestion that there must be many people who'd want such a beautiful dog: Maybe if he was a puppy. "And I don't see how he could've expected you to adopt him if it meant losing your home." "I'm sure either I never told him I couldn't have a dog or he forgot." "But the fact that he didn't ask, never even ran it by you as if you had no say in the matter. I can't imagine what he was thinking." But I can. For I have imagined it many times: how, among all the other questions certain to have come to you, was what will happen to the dog. I know of another suicide, among whose last things was taking her dog to the pound. A farewell that does not bear thinking about. Not that you put it in writing: like most suicides, you put nothing in writing. Nor did you change anything in the will you had made out years before. But you made sure your wife knew. _She lives alone, she doesn't have a partner or any kids or pets, she works mostly at home, and she loves animals—that's what he said._ Maybe at some point you did consider discussing it with me, maybe you were even planning to do so. But then. Suicides often choose their moment at random, I'm told, in a mood of it's now or never, when even a pause to scribble farewell could mean time to lose one's nerve. (He who hesitates is not lost _._ ) Maybe you were afraid that if we were actually to have that conversation—what would happen to your dog in the event of your death—I might guess, or at least suspect, what you were contemplating. When I tell Wife One how old Apollo is, a senior dog of a short-lived breed that the vet gave maybe two more years, she says, "That makes it even worse. Maybe if he was a puppy I could understand. But what are you supposed to do with an old dog that size? How are you going to take care of him if he becomes infirm?" This thought, with all its dire implications, has of course already occurred to me. "I don't know," she says. "I feel like there's something mad about this whole situation." Ah. Since I first heard about your death, haven't I often felt like someone living with one foot in madness. Early on, there were times when I would find myself somewhere without remembering how I got there, when I'd leave home on some errand only to forget what it was. I went to school one day minus the lecture notes I could not teach without. I mixed up doctors' appointments and showed up at the wrong office. Why were the students staring at me? Had I said something nonsensical, or repeated something I'd just said five minutes ago? Or was I imagining that they were staring at all. A Hallmark sympathy card from the department secretary—hideous, touching—makes me cry for an hour. By the time Apollo came to live with me such incidents had become less frequent. But there lingers over all the fog of the unreal. At times it's as if I truly am in a fairy tale. When people say, What are you going to do when you get evicted, you can't just sit around waiting for a miracle, I think, But that is what I'm waiting for! I'm in one of those stories where a person is put to a test, one of those fables where someone encounters a stranger—could be human, could be beast—who is in need of help. If the person refuses to help he is dealt a harsh punishment. If the person is kind to the one in need—often a rich, royal, or powerful being in disguise—he reaps a reward, more often than not the love of the being whose exalted identity has now been revealed. I like the story of Greta Garbo watching Cocteau's film _Beauty and the Beast_. What she was heard to cry out at the end, when the spell is broken and the Beast appears in the princely form of actor Jean Marais: Give me back my beautiful beast! Sometimes a dog figures in this kind of story. Like the Islamic tale about a prostitute who brings water to a dog dying of thirst and by this act so pleases God that she is forgiven all her sins and allowed to enter heaven. "It's not his fault he's not a cute little puppy. It's not his fault he's so big. And it might sound crazy, but I have this feeling that if I don't keep him something bad will happen. If he has to move one more time, he could develop so many problems he'll end up having to be put down. And I can't let that happen. I have to save him." Wife One says, "Who are we talking about." Is this the madness at the heart of it? Do I believe that if I am good to him, if I act selflessly and make sacrifices for him, do I believe that if I love Apollo—beautiful, aging, melancholy Apollo—I will wake one morning to find him gone and you in his place, back from the land of the dead? — Now that Hector has reported me to the landlord he feels bad. Whenever he sees me he looks abashed. I'm sorry, he says, but you know, you know— I know you had to do your job. He's a good dog, he says. He seems touched that Apollo allows his head to be stroked, as if he thinks Apollo must know what Hector has done. You have a place to go? Not yet, but something will turn up, I tell him with a blitheness I don't have to fake: my life has become so unreal that I barely skimmed the second notice from the building management office before throwing it away. It's a shame, Hector says. Such a beautiful animal. I'm very sorry. It's not your fault. To prove that I don't blame him, I plan to give him a bigger tip this Christmas than I gave him last year. • • • I can't tell for sure whether Apollo likes to be massaged or is just tolerating it. But I keep it up, getting him to lie first on one side then on the other, pausing for a chest rub in between. The chest rub is what he seems to like best. He doesn't like having his paws touched, though the brat in me keeps trying. He has grown used to his new home, and to me. Except when I have to be at school, I don't leave him alone. Apart, he is always on my mind and I am anxious to get back to him. He greets me at the door (has he been by the door the whole time?), but with a drowning look that says it hasn't been easy, the waiting. (How good is his memory? If very good, as dogs' memories are said to be, what grief being locked up alone might bring him. And—heart-shredding thought—is it still for _you_ that he waits by the door?) His tail moves side to side, a wag for sure, but a wistful one. Never happy tail, the furious whipping back and forth for which Great Danes are known (to the extent that injuries to the tail and damage to household objects are common: the reason many owners choose docking). The air mattress is back in the closet. Not end of story. He has never again growled at me, and when I say _Down_ I don't usually have to say it twice. Still, the bed is where he wants to be, especially at night. (I tried getting him to consider the air mattress a dog bed but it didn't work.) Despite what the vet had said, I didn't see the necessity of banishing him from the bed completely. After all, plenty of people allow their dogs on the bed. Some even place a special blanket at the foot of the bed for the dog to sleep on. If Apollo was a toy poodle curled up on a special blanket at the foot of the bed, it would be nothing extraordinary. Why is it different when the dog is the size of a man and stretched out with his head on his own pillow? I acknowledge that it is. But let me say this: When you're lying in bed full of night thoughts, such as why did your friend have to die and how much longer will it be before you lose the roof over your head, having a huge warm body pressed along the length of your spine is an amazing comfort. _He knows all the commands._ One night after a long bad day—lost cell phone, listless class, failed attempt to get back to writing—Apollo stirs, starts leaving the bed, and I find myself saying, _Stay_. • • • Certain friends, I've noticed, are avoiding me, I can't help thinking at least partly because they're afraid some day soon I'll show up at their door with Apollo and a suitcase. • • • The friend who is most sympathetic about my situation calls to ask how I am. I tell him about trying music and massage to treat Apollo's depression, and he asks if I've considered a therapist. I tell him I'm skeptical about pet shrinks, and he says, That's not what I meant. • • • End of semester. I tell my family I can't travel to be with them this Christmas. During the monthlong break before teaching resumes, I'll hardly ever have to be apart from Apollo. Even in coldest weather, we go out and we walk and walk. We like cold weather. We like the city in winter. More room on the sidewalks. Fewer gawkers. And when it's freezing Apollo isn't as likely to stop for one of his rests. • • • Final warning from the building management office. It occurs to me I might try talking to the landlord. Who's to say the man's a heartless prick and not the very soul of compassion? Why not a Christmas miracle! At the very least I could beg him for time. I call the managing agent and ask for the landlord's number in Florida. We don't give out that number, he says. • • • Twelve authors—six men and six women—have posed nude for a photo wall calendar. The email invitation urges me not to miss this exclusive offer: a limited edition of copies signed by each author now available for presale. Jolted to recall a panel discussion at which someone raised the topic of dignity and its diminished place in the literary world. Watch, you said, it'll be nude author photos next. How you sat with a face of stone while everyone else in the room laughed. • • • New Year's Eve. I stay home and watch, hardly for the first time, _It's a Wonderful Life_. I don't open the bottle of champagne that a student has sent to thank me for writing a letter of recommendation for the thirty-plus MFA programs she is applying to this year. • • • The friend who is most sympathetic about my situation organizes an intervention. The following week: a barrage of calls and messages from various people, some of whom I haven't heard from in years. They don't want to see me lose my home. They want me to come to my senses before it's too late. I need a better way to cope with my feelings of loss and guilt. I need bereavement therapy. Here are some names. I should think about medication. Here's what worked for them. There are books. There are websites. There are support groups. Healing won't come from withdrawing into a fantasy world, isolating myself, spending all my time with a dog. There is such a thing as pathological grief. There is the magical thinking of pathological grief, which is a kind of dementia. Which in their collective opinion is what I have. Generous offers of all kinds are made, though no one volunteers to take the dog. Then Wife Two, of all people, does just that: I have a little grandson who adores dogs. He'll be thrilled with one big enough to ride. • • • That would have solved everything, says Wife One. I say you would never forgive me. And was it not suspicious, Wife Two even making such an offer. "What do you mean? I thought she was just trying to help." "Help? This woman who's always hated me, almost as much as she hates you. I would never trust her. Just remember what that marriage was like: all rage and bitterness and resentment. I wouldn't trust Apollo anywhere near her." _Women are dangerous, they stop at nothing and they_ _never let go._ Wife One thinks I'm being paranoid. But in fact it's far from unheard of: people taking out their revenge against some person on that person's helpless child or pet. _You would never forgive me._ "So what are you going to do? You can't just sit around waiting for a miracle." But that is what I am waiting for. # PART EIGHT Advice often given to writers: read your drafts out loud. Advice I am usually too lazy to follow. But I will try anything these days that might keep me longer at my desk. I pick up the pages I've just printed out and start reading. Behind me I hear Apollo, who has been sleeping behind the couch, heave himself to his feet. He trots to the desk (we are about eye to eye when I'm sitting) and stares at me as if I'm doing something remarkable. Or maybe, though we've had one long walk already today, he wants to go out again. When I reach the bottom of the page I pause, thinking. Apollo pokes me with his nose. He barks, very low, just once. He takes a step forward, a step to the right, a step back, all the while cocking his head from side to side: his way of saying WTF. He wants me to keep reading! True or not, that's what I do. But soon I stop. Read your sentences out loud, goes the advice, and you'll hear what doesn't sound right, what doesn't work. I hear, I hear. What doesn't sound right, what doesn't work. _I hear_. No different from when I read the sentences to myself. I fold my arms on the desk and hide my face in them. Poke. _Woof_. I turn my head. Apollo's gaze is deep, his mismatched ears look sharp as razors. He licks my face and does the cha-cha thing again. He wags his tail, and for the thousandth time I think how frustrating it must be for a dog: the endless trouble of making yourself understood to a human. I move from chair to couch, Apollo watching, forehead creased. Once I'm settled, he comes and sits down in front of me. Eye to eye. What do dogs think when they see someone cry? Bred to be comforters, they comfort us. But how puzzling human unhappiness must be to them. We who can fill our dishes any time and with as much food as we like, who can go outside whenever we wish, and run free—we who have no master constantly needing to be pleased, or obeyed—WTF? From the stack of books on the coffee table, I pick up Rilke's _Letters to a Young Poet_ , an assigned book for one of my courses. I open it and start reading out loud. After a few pages Apollo assumes the half-open-mouthed smile seen all the time on other dogs' faces but with worrying infrequency on his. As I keep reading he lowers himself to the floor, covering my feet and pressing against my shins. He relaxes his head onto his paws, tipping his eyes at me each time I turn a page. The position of his ears shifts in response to my vocal inflections. I am reminded of my pet rabbit hunched by the stereo speaker. But Apollo never appeared to enjoy the music I played for him, was never soothed—not by music, not by massage—as he appears to be soothed now. So I read on—as clearly and with as much expression as I would to someone who could understand every word. And I too find it soothing: the lyrical prose in my mouth, the great warm gently heaving weight on my legs and feet. I know this little book well: ten letters addressed to a student who'd written to ask Rilke for advice when Rilke himself was just twenty-seven years old. Letter eight contains his famous vision of the Beauty and the Beast myth: _Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love._ Words often quoted, or paraphrased, including recently in an epigraph to the film _White God_ : Everything terrible is something that needs our love. Beware irony, ignore criticism, look to what is simple, study the small and humble things of the world, do what is difficult precisely because it is difficult, do not search for answers but rather love the questions, do not run away from sadness or depression for these might be the very conditions necessary to your work. Seek solitude, above all seek solitude. I have read Rilke's advice so often I know it by heart. When I read the letters for the first time—at around the same age as Rilke when he wrote them—I felt that they had been written as much to me as to their addressee, that all this wonderful advice was meant for any person who wished to become a writer. But now, though the writing might strike me as more beautiful than ever, I cannot read it without uneasiness. I cannot forget my own students, who do not feel at all what the Young Poet must have felt when he received them in the first decade of the last century. They do not feel what we felt when you assigned this book to us, three-quarters of a century later, along with Rilke's autobiographical novel, _The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge_. They do not feel that Rilke is speaking to them. On the contrary: they accuse him of excluding them. They say it's a lie that writing is a religion requiring the devotion of a priest. They say it's ridiculous. When I tell them the myth about Rilke's death, how it came to be said that the onset of his fatal disease occurred after he pricked his hand on the thorn of a rose—that flower that obsessed him and was such a significant symbol in his work—they groan, and one student can't stop laughing. There was a time when young writers—at least the ones we knew—believed that Rilke's world was eternal. I agree with my students that that world has vanished. But at their age it would not have occurred to me that it _could_ vanish, let alone in my lifetime. Nothing brings more anxiety than Rilke's avowal that a person who feels he can live without writing shouldn't be writing at all. _Must_ I write? is the question he commands the student to ask himself _in the most silent hour of your night._ If you were forbidden to write, would you die? (Words taken to heart by Lady Gaga, or at least to biceps, which is where she had them, in their original German, tattooed.) _We must love one another or die_ is how another poet once ended a stanza of what was to become one of the world's most famous poems. But the author of "September 1, 1939" came to despise that poem and was so bothered by the obvious falsehood in that particular line that, before allowing the poem to be reprinted in an anthology, he insisted it be revised: We must love one another _and_ die. And later still, qualmish still, correction notwithstanding, he renounced the whole poem—irremediably corrupted, to his mind—altogether. I think of this story about Auden. I think about how there was a time when you and I believed that writing was the best thing we could ever hope to do with our lives. ( _The best vocation in the world_. Natalia Ginzburg.) I think about how you had started telling your students that if there was anything else they could do with their lives instead of becoming writers, any other profession, they should do it. • • • It was around this time last year: I was cleaning out closets. From a top shelf I pulled down boxes of photographs and clippings and papers, among them your old letters. I had forgotten how many there were, from those days before email. It seems that I was often seeking advice. _You want to know what you should write about. You're afraid that whatever you write will be trivial, or just another version of something that's already been said. But remember, there is at least one book in you that cannot be written by anyone else but you. My advice is to dig deep and find it._ • • • He too left trails of weeping women. But of the two types of womanizer, most definitely the kind that loves women. It was only women, Rilke said, that he could talk to. Only women that he could understand and be himself around (so long as he didn't have to be around too long). And few men have found so many women willing to love, protect, and forgive them. Once again I come upon his famous definition of love: _two solitudes that protect and border and greet each other._ What does that even mean? writes a student in her final paper. It's just _words_. It has nothing to do with _real life_ , which is where love _actually happens_. The exasperated, hostile tone so often to be found in student papers. In real life, he could not be a husband to his wife, whom he left about a year after their marriage. He could not be a father to his daughter. Rilke, who found such richness and meaning in the experience of childhood, and who wrote so many beautiful words about children, neglected his only child. Which did not stop her from dedicating her life to his work and his memory. Then, aged seventy-one, she killed herself. Rilke, who loved dogs and looked hard at them and shared a boundless communion with them. Who once found in the imploring look of an ugly, heavily pregnant stray that he encountered outside a café in Spain _everything that probes beyond the solitary soul_ _and goes God knows where—into the future or into that_ _which passeth understanding._ He fed her the lump of sugar from his coffee, which, he later wrote, was like reading mass together. Rilke, in whose work Apollo is a recurring figure. • • • The book is short, it can be read aloud in about two hours. But soon Apollo has dropped off, like a child at whose bedside a mother has been reading and waiting for precisely this moment to tiptoe away. I'm not tiptoeing anywhere. Pinned beneath his weight, my feet have gone numb. I wiggle them and he wakes. Without getting up he seeks my hand, still holding the little book, and he licks it. Now we are both up, heading for the kitchen. I pour him some kibble—it's that time—and while he eats I get ready to take him out. • • • I might have dismissed the incident as something out of my anthropomorphic fancy, but the very next day this happens: I'm sitting on the couch with my laptop when Apollo comes up and starts sniffing the books on the coffee table. His giant jaws open and close around the new paperback copy of the Knausgaard book that I bought to replace the one he destroyed. Oh, not _again_! But before I can take it away, he gently places the book by my side. • • • I've heard of therapy dogs, of course. Dogs trained to work in hospitals, nursing homes, disaster areas, and the like, their purpose to bring comfort and cheer in hopes of lightening whatever suffering humans might be going through. I know such dogs have been around a long time, also that they are now often used to help children with emotional or learning difficulties. To improve speech and literacy skills, children in schools and libraries are being encouraged to read aloud to dogs. Excellent results have been reported, with children who read to dogs said to progress significantly better than children who read to other humans. Many of the listeners are said to appear to enjoy themselves, showing signs of alertness and curiosity. But an analysis of the full benefits to canines of being read to by humans is not something my research turns up. It occurs to me that someone used to read to Apollo. Not that I think he was a trained certified therapy dog. (Would such a valuable animal end up a stray?) But I believe that someone must have read aloud to him—or if not _to_ him at least while he was present—and that his memory of that experience is a happy one. Maybe it was just that whoever did the reading was someone he loved. (Was it you? Not to her knowledge, says Wife Three. Never in her presence, at any rate.) Or maybe, though not a professional therapy dog, Apollo had nevertheless been expected to help someone by listening to that person read, a responsibility he took seriously and for which he was praised and rewarded. It's in the nature of many dogs to do some kind of work, training manuals say ( _assigned a task, dogs showing signs of boredom or depression_ _often perk up_ ), but people almost never give them enough—if anything—to do. Or maybe Apollo is a canine genius who has figured something out about me and books. Maybe he understands that, when I'm not feeling so great, losing myself in a book is the best thing I could do. Maybe this is something his phenomenal nose tells him. If, as studies show, a dog's nose is capable of detecting cancer, it would not be surprising if it could also detect changes caused by the relief of stress, or by the experience of mental stimulation or pleasure. If some dogs can predict seizures in people, as we know has occurred, how strange would it be for one to predict a looming fit of the blues? In fact, the more I live with Apollo, the more convinced I am that Grumpy Vet was right: we humans don't know the half of how dogs' brains work. They may well, in their mute, unfathomable way, know us better than we know them. In any case, the image is irresistible: an avalanche of despair and, like the Saint Bernard coming through the snow with a mini barrel of brandy, Apollo fetches a book. Even if we know Saint Bernards never really did that. There was a time when it would have been clearer to me whether reading Rilke's letters to a young poet to a dog was a sign of mental unbalance. I decide to make reading aloud part of our routine. Knowing how this might look to others, though, I don't tell anyone. But then there's a lot in these pages I've never told anyone. It is curious how the act of writing leads to confession. Not that it doesn't also lead to lying your head off. • • • Like Rilke, Flannery O'Connor wrote a series of letters to a stranger who wrote to her one day out of the blue. In the collection of O'Connor's letters published after her death, this particular correspondent, who'd asked to remain anonymous, is called A. At thirty-two she is two years older than O'Connor, who is nevertheless more than up to shouldering the role of mentor. The letters to A., written over a period of nine years, are filled with thoughts about literature and religion and what it means to be a writer and a believer in the Catholic Church. She talks freely about her fiction writing, and when A. sends her some of her own fiction the response is encouraging. A. has a gift for story writing, O'Connor says, judging one particular story to be "just about perfect." When A. appears to be suffering from a block, O'Connor is quick to blame the devil. For the serious Catholic O'Connor, the devil is not a metaphor. Though in time the two women arrange to meet, they will not do so often. Meanwhile, on paper, the friendship thrives, bringing them close enough for O'Connor to call A. her "adopted kin." Overjoyed when A. decides to join the Church, she agrees to be her confirmation sponsor. But in the end the devil won. A. loses her faith. She leaves the Church. Though she produces work in several genres, she publishes nothing. At seventy-five, thirty-four years after O'Connor's death from lupus at the age of thirty-nine, Hazel Elizabeth Hester, known as Betty, shoots herself to death. • • • If O'Connor had been my mentor, if she'd been writing to me, I might have asked her this: What exactly did Simone Weil mean when she said, When you have to make a decision in life, about what you should do, do what will cost you the most. • • • Do what is difficult because it is difficult. Do what will cost you the most. Who _were_ these people? • • • If writing _wasn't_ painful, O'Connor says, it would not be worth doing. Turn then to Virginia Woolf, who said that putting feelings into words _takes the pain away_. Making a scene come right, making a character come together: there was no greater pleasure, she said. — First faculty meeting of the semester. Should students be allowed to read assigned books on their cell phones. The majority is firm: other electronic devices, okay, but for God's sake not cell phones. But where's the logic, argues O.P. If all we're talking about is screen size. Isn't that like saying they can't read printed books in pocket editions? No, that's different, the majority agrees. Though fifteen minutes later no one has succeeded in articulating exactly how so. • • • Office hours. Student A is frustrated that the program requires so many reading courses: I don't want to read what other people write, I want people to read what I write. Student B is concerned that so much of the assigned reading includes books that failed to make money or are now out of print. Shouldn't we be studying more successful writers? • • • It happens fairly often: I hear from a former student that she's had a baby. The book she'd been working on has had to be put aside. Maybe when the child is a little older she can get back to it, she says. Then, when the child is a little older—usually around two—she has another baby. • • • They keep coming. Announcements of opportunities to study writing paired with some other activity. You can write and enjoy gourmet food, write and taste wines, write and hike in the mountains, write and sail on a cruise ship, write and lose weight, write and kick your addiction, write and learn to knit, cook, bake, speak French or Italian, et cetera. Today, a flyer for a literary festival: _Who says writing_ _and relaxation don't mix? Enjoy the perfect getaway: a writing_ _workshop spa retreat._ (Mani-Pedi-Story, O.P. quips.) • • • At the bookstore. A friend's most recent novel, published last year, is now out in paperback. Chagrined to realize that not only have I still not read it, I had forgotten all about it. • • • At the eye doctor's. A middle-aged woman with dyed-black hair the exact shade of her leather jacket enters the waiting room. I have a familiar feeling about her and almost cry Aha! when I see the logo of _The New_ _York Review of Books_ on her tote bag. She sits down and pulls out an issue of—the _London Review of_ _Books_. • • • Academic joke making the rounds: Professor A: Have you read that book? Professor B: Read it? I haven't even taught it yet. • • • In the faculty club. Another teacher and I drink gin and amuse ourselves speculating: in the event of a school shooting, which of our students would we or would we not take a bullet for. • • • Sometimes in the banner, other times in a right-hand window, or waiting, a surprise to be revealed as I scroll down the screen: James Patterson. James Patterson, the bestselling author in the world, who has placed, consecutively, more than twenty times at number one on the _New York Times_ bestseller list. Who, apparently of a modesty as vast as his success, believes equal success to be within easy reach of, well, anyone. Or at least anyone possessing ninety dollars for the twenty-two video lessons plus exercises he's offering, thirty-day money-back guarantee. _Stop reading this and start writing._ James Patterson, one of the world's richest authors, net worth $700 million (probably more now). _Focus on the story not the sentence._ His image: elderly, kindly, relaxed. A normal guy, bespectacled, in a dark blue sweater. _Defeat the blank page!_ Sometimes shown writing on a legal pad (never a computer) _. What are you_ _waiting for? You too can write a bestseller._ James Patterson. Always popping up, urging, coaxing, promising the world. Like the devil. • • • Are you kidding? says a friend who raises goats on a farm upstate and makes award-winning chèvre. Writer's block was the best thing that ever happened to me. • • • The anniversary of your death. I want to mark the event but don't know quite how. Not for the first time I go online and watch a video of you giving a reading. I have never seen Apollo respond to a screen, and that includes television (his eyes don't appear to focus on any screen image, not even if it's another dog). If I let him listen, I think he would recognize your voice. What stops me from finding out for sure is the thought that this might be cruel. He may be my dog now ( _my dog!_ ), but I don't believe he's forgotten you. What might hearing your voice do to him? How can he understand? What if he thinks you're trapped inside there? A story about Judy Garland's children watching _The Wizard of Oz_ for the first time. She happened to be away, working abroad, when the children and their nanny sat down to watch the movie, which was playing that day on TV. Though she was well past the age when she'd played Dorothy (sixteen), the children knew their own mother. So that's where she was! Carried off to the witch by the flying monkeys! In an emotional state that does not bear thinking about, the children burst into tears. • • • In the post office. A young woman accompanied by a spotted mutt enters and gets in line. A clerk behind the counter says, No dogs allowed in here, miss. He's a service dog, the young woman says. That's a service dog? says the clerk. _Yes_ , snaps the woman with such fierceness that the clerk responds cautiously. I was just asking, miss. I mean, I don't see any badge or sign. The customer standing in front of the woman turns around, eyes her, eyes the mutt, and turns back, shaking his head. The woman draws herself up. She scalds us all with a look. How dare you. This dog is my emotional support companion. _How dare you question his right_ _to be here._ What makes this odd scene even odder is that the dog is missing a hind leg. • • • Watching Apollo sleep. The peaceful rise and fall of his flank. His belly is full, he is warm and dry, he has had a four-mile walk today. As usual when he hunched in the street to do his business I guarded him from passing cars. And, in the park, when a texting jogger bore down on us, Apollo barked and blocked his path before he could run into me. I have played several rounds of tug-of-war with him today, I have talked to him, and sung to him, and read him some poetry. I have trimmed his nails and brushed every inch of his coat. Now, watching him sleep, I feel a surge of contentment. There follows another, deeper feeling, singular and mysterious, yet at the same time perfectly familiar. I don't know why it takes a full minute for me to name it. What are we, Apollo and I, if not two solitudes that protect and border and greet each other? It is good to have things settled. Miracle or no miracle, whatever happens, nothing is going to separate us. # PART NINE Everyone I know is writing a book, the therapist tells me unnecessarily. I meet a lot of writers, and I can tell you writer's block is pretty common. But I'm not there to talk about writer's block. If I weren't so anxious to be on my way I would explain. Usually when a writer sees that someone else has just published a big piece in a major publication on the very topic they've been working on, they feel dismay. I felt relief. (Well, okay, then, said the editor, sounding relieved himself: I guess you're off the hook.) To draw me out, the therapist asks what I did for the holidays. When I tell him he says gently (he says everything gently), Sounds like that's one of the ways your loss has affected you: not wanting to be with other people. Hating to be with other people, I don't say. Terrified of being with other people. But the truth is, even if I hadn't been worried about leaving Apollo I'd have wanted to be alone. _Strays_ is what a writer I recently read calls those who, for one reason or another, and despite whatever they might have wanted earlier in life, never really become a part of life, not in the way most people do. They may have serious relationships, they may have friends, even a sizable circle, they may spend large portions of their time in the company of others. But they never marry and they never have children. On holidays, they join some family or other group. This goes on year after year, until they finally find it in themselves to admit that they'd really rather just stay home. But you must see a lot of people like that, I say to the therapist. Actually, he says, I don't. • • • A moment here to retrieve something from the past. For two years when I was in college I earned pocket money working for a couples therapist. The entire job consisted of typing up the transcripts of the therapist's sessions. This was not to help in the treatment of clients but because the therapist was planning to write a book. The couples were mostly middle-aged, and all were married. (The therapist disliked the term _marriage counselor_ , calling it fusty.) Listening to the tapes was often depressing. I remember wondering how the therapist could stand her job, especially after I learned that, in a high number of cases, the couples were not able even with therapy to reconcile their differences and ended up getting divorced. But this was sometimes the point, said the therapist: to help two people let go. The therapist herself was strikingly glam, slim and tall and a killer dresser (stiletto boots, cinched sweater dresses), who, at forty, had two divorces behind her. As far as I knew, her clients were kept in the dark about her personal life, but I always wondered whether her marital history might have given at least some of them pause. And I remember thinking that, whatever Tolstoy had to say about unhappy families, unhappy couples were all unhappy in the same way. Just about every husband had been caught cheating or was suspected of cheating. (More than once it was during a session that a man came clean about his infidelities, and it was during a session that one man confessed to his wife that he was in love with another—man.) In general the women complained of feeling unwanted, underappreciated, and—apparently worst of all—unlistened to. The men saw their wives as some version of the Grimms' Fisherman's Wife: always nagging, never content. Again and again I was struck by the evidence that, for husband and wife, the same word did not always have the same meaning. The same words would come up all the time, and I would type them: _love_ , _sex_ , _marriage_ , _listen_ , _need_ , _help_ , _support_ , _trust_ , _equal_ , _fair_ , _respect_ , _care_ , _share_ , _want_ , _money_ , _work_. I would type the words, and I would listen to the couple talk, and I could tell that the same word meant this to him and that to her. I heard several men object to the use of the word _adultery_ to define sleeping with someone outside of the marriage. Adultery is when you make it a habit, insisted one. He doesn't help me, a wife said. And when her husband reeled off a list of errands he'd done for her only that past week: I said _help_! she shrieked. I said _help_! One other thing I picked up on, listening to all those sessions: the therapist changed her voice slightly depending on whom she was addressing. Always subtle but always there, a difference in pitch or something, hard to describe. Perhaps all in my head. But if I had to, I'd say she was more on the side of the men. • • • I should have known the therapist would want me to stay for the full hour. When I tell him I've left Apollo tied up outside, he says, Next time, why don't you bring him in? _Next time?_ That was the deal. The therapist would give me what I wanted, and in return I'd come back. At least for a couple more sessions, he says. • • • Sitting in the therapist's office, Apollo at my side, I can't help smiling. It's like we're in couples therapy. Except that we get along. One time, a woman passing us in the street shot me this: Better a dog for a husband than a husband who's a dog, I always say. _Always?_ When I was in my twenties, out walking Beau, I sometimes got lewd comments from men. That dog your old man? You sleep with that dog? You fuck that dog, lady? I bet you let him eat you. I find it unsettling when another woman in the street calls Apollo sexy and tells me she's jealous. You're a lucky, lucky woman, she says. • • • When the certificate arrives, I waft it under Apollo's nose before sticking it under a magnet on the refrigerator door. You do realize, says Wife One, that you're committing fraud. Even if it is for a good cause. I am aware of the righteous anger of those in genuine need of animal support toward the growing number of people passing off ordinary—and in some cases exotic—pets as service animals. I've heard about the skunk in the college dorm, the iguana in the restaurant, the pig on the airplane. I promise that I will not take Apollo anywhere he would not normally be allowed. After making a copy of the certificate to send to the building management agent, I will leave it and the badge from the National Service Animal Registry at home. As for the therapist, he had no reservations about putting in writing that I was suffering from depression and anxiety aggravated by bereavement, that the dog was providing essential emotional support the loss of which was likely to cause harm to my mental health and might even be life threatening. Wife One thinks it's funny: Because the truth is, in this case it's the animal who can't deal, and you're his emotional support human. • • • Now I am forced to talk. If nothing else, to explain why I don't want to talk. Still true: I don't want to talk about you, or to hear others talk about you. I want to quote Wittgenstein on the unspeakable and the necessity for silence. Even if quoting philosophers out of context was something you told us not to do. Philosophical statements aren't _old sayings_ , you said. A pause here to wonder at Wittgenstein, three of whose four brothers killed themselves, and who often thought about killing himself too. Who, like Kafka, is said to have received the news of his terminal illness with relief, but whose words at the actual hour of death bring to mind George Bailey: Tell them I've had a wonderful life! Do I talk to Apollo, the shrink asks. Well, yes. To encourage bonding, it is recommended that people talk to their dogs. Which seems to come naturally (though my guess is people are now doing it less and less, thanks to our attention-devouring devices). I once heard a stranger in agitated conversation with her pug: And I suppose it's all _my_ fault again, isn't it? At which, I swear, the dog rolled its eyes. Yes, I talk to Apollo. But not about you. That's the thing: I don't have to tell _him_. ( _Dogs are the best mourners in the world, as everyone knows_. Joy Williams.) And just because there are other people who've lost someone to suicide doesn't mean that what I'm feeling is something that can be shared. I did once sit through a radio program on the subject of suicide loss. Listeners were invited to call in and comment. All the usual word-stones were cast: sinful, spiteful, cowardly, vengeful, irresponsible. Sick. No one doubted that the suicide had been in the wrong. A right to commit suicide simply did not exist. Monsters of selfishness and self-pity, suicides were. Such ingratitude for the precious gift of life. And although they might hate themselves, it was not themselves suicides wished to destroy so much as the family and friends they left behind. None of this was helpful. But neither were the dozen or so books on suicide that I read this past year. I did learn some interesting things. For example, that certain ancient sages held that voluntary death, though generally to be condemned, could be morally acceptable, even honorable, as an escape from unbearable pain, melancholy, or disgrace—or even just plain old boredom. That later thinkers have suggested that, despite Christianity's absolute prohibition against committing suicide (though nowhere in the entire Bible is there any explicit condemnation of it), Christ himself could be said to have done just that. That in Western countries the volume of suicide notes reached a peak during the eighteenth century, when they were usually intended to appear, alongside other public announcements, in the newspapers. And this kicker: Writing in the first person is a known sign of suicide risk. What was helpful: words of a woman I knew years ago, when we happened to be working at the same magazine. Out of the blue, when they were young and newly wed, her husband had made her a widow. One day we were planning our future, she said, the next day he was gone. At first I thought I owed it to him to do everything possible to try to understand. But I came to believe this was wrong. He had chosen silence. His death was a mystery. In the end I decided I should leave him his silence. His mystery. • • • I talk about my feeling of living with one foot in madness, the distortions of reality, the fog that descends at certain moments, unsettling as amnesia. (What am I doing in this classroom? Why, in _this_ mirror, does my face look so weird? _I_ wrote that? What could I have meant?) I talk about how, no matter how much I sleep, I'm exhausted. About the number of times I bump into something, or drop something, or trip over my own feet. Stepping off the curb into the path of a car that would have struck me if someone standing by hadn't jerked me back. The days when I don't eat, the days when I eat nothing but junk. Absurd fears: What if there's a gas leak and the building blows up? Losing or misplacing stuff. Forgetting to do my taxes. These are all symptoms of bereavement, the therapist tells me unnecessarily. Doctor Obvious. But you know, Apollo, I say after my fourth or fifth session, I think I really am beginning to feel a little better. • • • Another thing about Wittgenstein. According to the physicist Freeman Dyson, who attended Wittgenstein's lectures at Cambridge in 1946, if a woman dared to appear in the lecture room he would remain silent until she got the message and left. _I get stupider and stupider every day_ , Dyson once overheard the philosopher mutter repeatedly under his breath. About women, at any rate. Tempted to put too much faith in the great male mind, remember this: It looked at cats and declared them gods. It looked at women and asked, Are they human? And, once that hard nut had been cracked: But do they have souls? • • • It's not that I can't say how I feel. It's very simple. I miss you. I miss you every day. I miss you very much. • • • Another pause, this time to wonder what _Wittgenstein_ meant by "a wonderful life"? And to feel for his sister Gretl: three brothers _and_ a husband who suicided. • • • I tell the therapist about those uncanny moments, after I first heard the news, when I believed there'd been a mistake. You were gone but not dead. More like you were just missing. Like you'd decided to play some horrid juvenile trick on us. You were missing, not dead. Meaning you could come back. You could come back, and if you could come back, of course you would. Akin to that brief period years ago when I believed it was just stress or fatigue or some odd phase I was going through, and once whatever the trouble was had passed my looks would come back. Later I found myself often recalling a scene, the final scene, from the movie _Houdini_. I'm talking about the old fifties version, with Tony Curtis, which I saw on TV when I was a teen. He who had become world famous for his spectacular escapes dies while attempting to break out of the water tank in which he's been submerged upside down with his feet locked in stocks. The Chinese Water Torture Cell trick he'd pulled off before, but this time, unknown to spectators, he is weak and in pain from a ruptured appendix. Dying, the master magician promises his wife: If there's any way, I'll come back. Which gave me goose bumps then and still has the power to move me. Even if I know that the real Houdini died in a hospital bed, and that his last words were _I'm tired of fighting_. • • • I drag up another memory. This time I'm much younger: a child. Birthday party at the house of a friend, a large slate-gray Victorian, to me a creepy castle. Hide-and-seek. I am It. I finish counting and uncover my eyes. It is late afternoon, it is winter, and all the lights have been turned off for the game. Filled just minutes ago with bright boisterous life, the house is now a tomb. I was told that the first ones to leave their hiding places to investigate found me sprawled facedown on the carpet. Too much excitement, too much ice cream and cake: the grown-ups got it wrong, the way grown-ups will get children's troubles wrong. And I, frightened to the core, and not having the words, didn't even try to enlighten them. But I never forgot. The tired phrase _deathly still_ can bring it all back in a flash. The year before, my grandfather had vanished. Followed shortly by our elementary school principal. Nothing that was said to explain these vanishing acts was very convincing. But that there was something nasty involved, some unspeakable thing about which lips must stay sealed—this was clear. The horror sank in. They weren't hiding, the other kids; they were gone. Vanished into that same darkness, never to return. Only I— _It_ —remained. Alone alone alone. The room swam before my eyes. I threw up before I fainted. • • • Remembering just now that Gretl Wittgenstein's father-in-law also took his own life. • • • Do I dream about you? Dutifully I describe it: Wading through deep snow, struggling to catch up with someone far ahead, a figure in a dark coat, like a triangular tear in the vast white blanket. I call your name. You spin around, start semaphoring with your arms. But I don't understand. Are you telling me to hurry up, or warning me to stop and turn back? Agony of uncertainty. End of dream. Or, I say (for some absurd reason apologetically), at least that's all I remember. I talk about the times I see you. Each time my heart turns over. But why should it be that almost always the person I mistake for you is someone who looks like you not at the age when you died but at some other stage of your life. Once, on campus, I nearly shout for joy at the sight of someone who looks like you when you and I first met. • • • I confess to sudden rages. Walking in Midtown, rush hour's peak, people streaming in both directions, I find myself seething, ready to kill. Who are all these fucking people, and how is it fair, how is it even possible that all of them, these perfectly ordinary people, should be alive, when _you_ — The therapist interrupts to point out that you made a choice. It's true that I keep forgetting this. Because very often it seems to me that it's not what happened, that it wasn't a choice at all, no act of free will, but rather some freak accident that befell you. Which, I suppose, is not inaccurate, self-homicide being unquestionably against the natural order of things. _Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life and thou no breath at all?_ weeps King Lear. _Thou_ being his daughter Cordelia. At times I can barely contain my anger at students. How can you be an English major and not know that you don't put a period after a question mark? Why do even graduate students not know the difference between a novel and a memoir, and why do they keep referring to full-length books as "pieces"? I want to hit the student whose excuse for not doing that week's assigned reading of fifty pages is that she had jury duty. I delete without answering the questionnaire from someone who is considering taking my class. (Number one: _Are you overconcerned with things like punctuation and grammar?_ ) • • • All that anger, says the therapist. Yet none directed at _you_. No anger, no blame. Is this because I think suicide can be justifiable? Plato thought so. Seneca thought so. But what do _I_ think? Why do I think you did it? _Because you were trapped upside down in a tankful of water._ _Because you were weak and in pain._ _Because you were tired of fighting._ • • • Once, I spend most of the hour not saying anything. Each time I start to speak I break down. After a few tries, I give up and sit there sobbing until it's time to go. I wanted to talk about the time you and I met up in Berlin. I'd been living there that year, on a fellowship. You were passing through: the German translation of your latest book had just been published. So we had a long weekend together. You wanted to visit the grave site of the writer Heinrich von Kleist, the very place where, in 1811, at the age of thirty-four, he shot himself. I knew the story. How Kleist, who suffered all his life from despair, had for a long time wanted to die. But not alone. The idea of a suicide pact had always turned him on. His dream lover: a woman whose heart's desire would be to die with him. Henriette Vogel was not the first woman he approached, but it was she who, diagnosed with terminal cancer at the age of thirty-one, rapturously accepted his proposal of a romantic murder-suicide. After shooting her in the left breast, Kleist shot himself in the mouth. The man's job. Both appear to have expected the experience to be an orgasmic one. A witness reported having seen them the night before, relaxed and dining in merry spirits. And although the two were Christians, they appear also to have expected that death would transport them to a better world, an eternity of bliss among angels—no fears of the eternal torture said to await equally the violent against others and the violent against themselves. Vogel, who was married, asked in a last letter to her husband not to be separated from Kleist in death. They were buried where they fell, a shady green slope on the lake known as the Kleiner Wannsee. Like many burial grounds, this one was peaceful. I would return to it often by myself. (The site has since been renovated, but I've never been back.) Almost always I found a fresh flower resting on Kleist's tombstone, even in winter. I had loved his work ever since reading it for the first time in college, and it pleased me to be at his resting place. To think of the Brothers Grimm walking there. Rilke on the very spot, writing verses in his notebook. Crossing the Wannsee bridge that day, we saw two swans mating. Not the graceful sight one might have thought—the female looked in serious danger of being drowned. In any case, it was hard to imagine their comical flapping efforts succeeding. But not long after, on a walkway under the bridge, I found their nest, surprisingly close to shore. Here, too, I would often return. Usually, I'd find one—the female, I assumed—either curled sleeping or sitting on the nest, while the other floated nearby. Sometimes I watched them working together, enlarging the nest with twigs and rushes until it resembled a giant Mexican hat. It is common knowledge that swans mate for life. A less well-known fact is that they sometimes cheat. I myself discovered that one of this pair—the male, I assumed—habitually visited another swan, in a different part of the lake. Though I never saw any eggs in the nest, I was hoping in due time to see some cygnets. But then one day the nest was gone. I have no idea what happened to it. The swans began building a new nest, but before long it too vanished. The swans in Wannsee often appeared toward the end of the day, their feathers taking on the changing colors of the sunset. Rose-tinted swans, swans as pink as flamingos, as blue as violets, swans the deep purple of twilight, night swans. Birds out of a dream, a reminder of the beauty of the world. Of heaven. He must have been a monster, we agreed. Using his poetic powers to talk a meek, incurably sick woman into letting herself be shot. But what about her? She was dying anyway. Suicide by proxy, while hastening her death, almost certainly spared her much suffering. But enabling another person to commit murder and self-murder—in this case someone who, though in despair, was still young, and who might have lived and continued to create literature of genius for many more years—how justify that? If Kleist had never found a death buddy—if, like others before her, this woman had refused his mad request—who knows what might have happened? Or not happened. In fact, the more I think about it, the more it seems to me that Madame Vogel has a lot to answer for. What kind of love was this? Did it not even occur to her to try and save him? • • • Now wondering why I wrote "Of heaven" when I don't believe such a place exists. • • • For those who don't want to go it alone, the internet is a godsend. Perfect strangers, sometimes living far apart, find each other online and arrange a date. A man from Norway flies to New Zealand where he and another man jump from a cliff. A man and a woman book separate rooms at a lakeside resort and are later found handcuffed and drowned together. In Japan, where the trend for group suicide is especially strong, carloads of corpses keep turning up. But the favorite suicide site in Japan remains the famous Aokigahara Forest, at the foot of Mount Fuji, where neither trail signs saying things like _You are not alone_ and _Think of your parents_ nor phones connected to hotlines have succeeded in ousting it from its place as one of the top suicide destinations in the world. Vying with the Golden Gate Bridge, number one spot in the US. • • • Berlin. I remember you were in excellent spirits. In one of those flukes of publishing (which, according to you, was now mostly flukes), your book, which had sold poorly back home, was a bestseller in Europe. So you were given the royal treatment on that tour. You were delighted to be in Germany, known for its serious readers (as you kept saying), and particularly in Berlin, one of your favorite cities, like Paris an ideal walking city, rich in the tradition of flânerie. I remember how happy I was when I heard you were coming. I'd been missing you a lot. And, partly because this was one of those rare times when you were single, and partly because we were far from home—visitors abroad who were often assumed, naturally enough, to be husband and wife—it sometimes felt as if that's what we were: a couple. A couple on vacation. At any rate, I remember feeling especially close to you that weekend and sadly bereft when you left. • • • All of this is branded in memory and was much on my mind as I sat in the therapist's office. But I could not talk about it because I could not stop crying. • • • Now asking myself why, in spite of reflection, I let "Of heaven" stand. • • • He thinks I'm in love with you. He thinks I've always been in love with you. This he tells me in a voice that's different from his usual gentle one, not exactly ungentle but a touch impatient if I'm not mistaken. Or maybe just urgent. This complicates the bereavement process, he explains. I am mourning you as a lover would. As a wife would. Maybe it will help you to write about it, he says the last time I see him. And maybe it won't. • • • I had forgotten how painful it is to remember, writes one of my students. And she is only eighteen years old. • • • It is Hector who brings the news, ringing my bell one late afternoon. The building management agent has advised the landlord that it's not worth the trouble of contesting my request to keep Apollo as a support animal, especially since there have been no complaints about him from other tenants. (A friend points out that now that I have the certificate I could probably get away with having a dog in my apartment as long as I live there, even after Apollo has passed. Probably, but I have promised myself not to pull this trick more than once. And besides, I can't bear to think of Apollo _passed_ , Apollo _replaced_.) Hector is grinning from ear to ear. I am damp-eyed with relief. I think this calls for a celebration, I say. And as it happens I still have that bottle of champagne my student gave me. # PART TEN Anyone forced to contemplate an aging pet is like the poet Gavin Ewart wishing that his fourteen-year-old convalescent cat might get to have just one more summer before _that last fated hateful journey to the vet._ I see the gray hairs on Apollo's muzzle and the redness rimming his eyes, I see how stiffly he walks some days, how it sometimes takes two efforts for him to get to his feet, and I ache. The list of things the vet gives me to watch out for, common signs of disease and deterioration in senior dogs, makes me quail. ( _How are you going to take care of him if he becomes infirm?_ ) In the six months between checkups, his arthritis has gotten worse. One miracle is not enough. That disaster has been averted, that we are spared separation or eviction—I'm sorry, but it's not enough. Now I am like the Fisherman's Wife: I want more. And not just another summer, or two or three or four. I want Apollo to live as long as I do. Anything less is unfair. And why, in the end, that _inevitable_ trip to the vet? Why can't he die at home, in his sleep, peacefully, like a good dog deserves? Why, having saved him, must I now watch him suffer—suffer and die—and then be left alone, without him? I think he knows when I'm having such thoughts. If he's nearby, he will turn his attention to me, almost as if to distract me. • • • It is widely believed that although animals don't know that one day they'll die, many of them do know when they're actually dying. So at what point does a dying animal become aware of what's happening? Could it possibly be a long time before? And how do animals respond to aging? Are they completely puzzled, or do they somehow intuit what the signs mean? Are these foolish questions? I acknowledge that they are. And yet they preoccupy me. • • • Apollo has a favorite toy, a bright red tug toy made of hard rubber. I like the mock monster-dog noises he makes when we play tug-of-war. But most of the fun for him seems to be in letting me win. (I remain ignorant as to how aware he is or is not of his own strength; I've certainly never seen him use anything like the full force of it.) Other toys don't interest him, though I keep buying new ones—as I keep taking him to the dog park, even though I've lost hope of seeing him play there. He is no more interested in other dogs than he is in other people. And this continues to bother me. _Why won't you play? So many nice friendly dogs at the park!_ But why should this matter? I guess it's like a parent wanting their kid to be, if not wildly popular, at least not a loner. I'd be so happy to see him make friends with just one other dog, maybe even fall in love. Just because he's been neutered doesn't mean he can't have special feelings for another dog, does it? We often run into a stunning silver Italian mastiff named Bella. (Anthropomorphism, I've decided, is inescapable, and though I might try to hide it I no longer fight it.) On the much admired trait of canine loyalty, the writer Karl Kraus has pointed out that it's to people that dogs are loyal, not to other dogs. And so: maybe not the best example of the virtue. In fact, very often, dogs hate other dogs, even their own blood. I saw it again just this morning. Two leashed dogs catch sight of each other and instantly start lunging and snarling. _Motherfucker. I hate you. Goddamn you. I'll bite your fucking nose off, you stinking piece of shit. I'll kill you. Lucky for you I'm on this leash, or I'd tear your fucking balls off._ All but choking themselves to death as they strain to get at each other. Apollo is not like that. I have never seen him insult or attack or bully another dog. In spite of all he's been through, he has remained kind, he has kept his—humanity, I want to say (what word _should_ I say?). One time we pass a stoop with a cat sitting at about the same level as Apollo's head. The cat jumps up, goes horseshoe, and spits in his face. Apollo turns the other cheek: a paw shoots out and swipes it. For an instant I fear for the cat, but Apollo keeps walking. He doesn't want trouble. He wants peace. • • • Even in old age, he is a creature of such arresting beauty that he regularly draws gasps. To think what he was like in his prime. It's not uncommon to wish to have known what a person you've come to love was like before you met them. It hurts, almost, not to have known what a beloved was like as a child. I have felt this way about every man I've ever been in love with, and about many close friends as well, and now it's how I feel about Apollo. Not to have known him as a frisky young dog, to have missed his entire puppyhood! I don't feel just sad, I feel cheated. Not even a photo to show what he was like. I have to make do with looking at harlequin Great Dane puppies in books, or online. An activity to which I confess I have devoted some hours. It's happened just once. Walking in SoHo, I run into another person walking a harlequin Dane. Both humans are thrilled, but the dogs look right past each other. • • • Something bad happens to the dog: a lesson learned early, from childhood books. The animals in those stories often die, often in bad ways. Old Yeller. The red pony. And even when they don't die, even when they're not just alive but happy at the end, they suffer, often badly, often they are put through hell. Black Beauty. Flicka. White Fang. Buck. The autobiography of Beautiful Joe, based on the life of a real dog and abounding in scenes of cruelty, begins with his brute owner slicing off Joe's ears and tail with an ax. No doubt like many other readers, I remember crying over these books (never so hard as over poor Joe), yet never regretting having read them. Is there anything more compelling than a story about a child and an animal who bond? When I first knew I wanted to write, I was sure this was what I would write about. But I never did. When people are very young they see animals as equals, even as kin. That humans are different, unique and superior to all other species—this they have to be taught. Children fantasize about a world populated solely by nonhumans. I liked to pretend that I was some kind of animal, a cat or a rabbit or a horse. I would try to communicate through animal sounds rather than speech and refused to eat with my hands. At times I kept this up for so long and with such conviction that it became cause for parental concern. A game, but at the core of it something dead serious, a trace of which has been carried into adulthood: the wish not to be part of the human race. • • • Something bad happens to the dog in Milan Kundera's novel _The Unbearable Lightness of Being_. The dog is given as a pup by the main protagonist, Tomas, to his wife, Tereza—for the very same reason, we are told, that he married Tereza: to make up for the pain and humiliation his incorrigible womanizing causes her. Though female, the pup is whimsically named after a male character in another novel: Anna Karenina's husband. Karenin the dog hates change, loves being in the country, where he makes friends with a pig, and, after developing terminal cancer, is put to sleep. Kundera has his own interpretation of Genesis 1:26. _True human goodness can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power._ Let it be seen, then, how the human race treats those that have been placed at its mercy. And put to this moral test, _mankind has suffered . . . a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it._ Karenin and Tereza are devoted to each other. Reflecting on their pure and selfless bond, Tereza concludes that such love is, if not bigger, nevertheless better than the corrupt, fraught, eternally disappointing and compromised thing she has always had with Tomas. _Idyllic_ is how Kundera describes human relationships with animals. Idyllic because animals were not expelled with us from Paradise. There they remain, untroubled by such complications as the separation of body and soul, and it's through our love and friendship with them that we are able to reconnect to Paradise, albeit by just a thread. Others go further. Dogs are not merely untouched by evil. They are celestial beings, angels incarnate, furry guardian spirits sent to watch over and help people live. Like the deification of cats, this belief is all over the internet, and growing. It makes you wonder. About people, I mean. • • • Something very bad happens to a lot of dogs in _Disgrace_. The question persists, why won't David Lurie save the one, a mutt that has clearly come to love him and for which he, in turn, feels a special affection. Why can't that dog—a good dog, crippled but still young, and apparently sensitive to music—be spared the fate of all the other unwanted dogs destroyed at the animal welfare clinic? Why, instead of keeping this one dog, does Lurie insist on sacrificing it? Remember Agent Starling in _The Silence of the Lambs_ telling Hannibal Lecter how, as a little girl living on her uncle's ranch, she had desperately wanted to save the lambs from the spring slaughter. How she picked up one lamb and tried to run away. _I thought if I could save just one . . . but he was heavy. So heavy._ In the end, like Lurie, she could not save an animal marked for death. Not even one. — We know they think, but do dogs have opinions? Kundera makes much of the fact that, unlike us, animals don't feel disgust. I'm not so sure about this (not even cats?), but that dogs are not critical or judgmental is undeniably a big part of what endears them to us. (This is what made educators think having kids with reading problems read aloud to dogs was such a great idea. Also, perhaps, why performers like Laurie Anderson and Yo-Yo Ma have reported looking out at their concert audience and fantasizing that it's all dogs.) Gratitude: I don't believe people are imagining it when they attribute this feeling to their rescue dog. I often feel that Apollo is grateful toward me. I want to know if he looks forward to things. _She'll be home soon. Can't wait to eat! Tomorrow is another day._ Even more, I want to know how he remembers the past. Does he have yearnings? Regrets? Sweet, sweet memories? Bittersweet ones? With senses as keen as theirs, why couldn't dogs have Proustian moments? Why couldn't they have eureka moments, epiphanies, and so on? In the beginning I sometimes caught him staring at me only to turn away when I looked back. Now he often rests his block of a head on my knees and tips his eyes at me with a speaking expression. What do you talk to him about? the shrink wanted to know. Mostly I seem to ask questions. What's up, pup? Did you have a nice nap? Were you chasing something in your sleep? Do you want to go out? Are you hungry? Are you happy? Does your arthritis hurt? Why won't you play with other dogs? _Are_ you an angel? Do you want me to read to you? Do you want me to sing? Who loves you? Do you love me? Will you love me forever? Do you wanna dance? Am I the best person you've ever had? Can you tell I've been drinking? Do these jeans make me look fat? _If we could talk to the animals_ , goes the song. Meaning, if they could talk to us. But of course that would ruin everything. • • • Your whole house smells of dog, says someone who comes to visit. I say I'll take care of it. Which I do by never inviting that person to visit again. • • • One night I wake to find Apollo by the bed, apparently trying with his teeth to draw back over me the blanket I must have thrown off in my sleep. When I tell people about this they don't believe it. They say I must have dreamed it. Which I agree is possible. But really I'm thinking they're just jealous. • • • At a book party. A woman I've never met before giggles and says, Aren't you the one who's in love with a dog? Am I? Have I taken a dog husband as Ackerley took a dog wife? Will his death be the saddest day of my life? Will I too want to immolate myself as a suttee? No. But I too have found myself so eager to get home to him that I have jumped in a cab rather than take the train. I too sing with joy at the thought of seeing him, and for sure, this love is not like any love I've ever felt before. • • • A recurring anxiety: Someone claiming to be Apollo's owner finally shows up, someone with a crazy but convincing tale of how the two of them got separated, and now I'm expected to give him up. • • • Reminded here that I only recently learned that the term _puppy love_ refers to the feeling a person might have _for_ a puppy. Nothing to do, as I'd thought, with a puppy's feelings for a person. • • • Reading Ackerley, I noticed that he sometimes uses the word _person_ when referring to a dog. At first I thought this was a mistake. But, considering that he was one of the most careful writers in the world, I'd say this is unlikely. • • • Now reminded of a friend of mine who told me that, for years, he thought the expression was _It's a doggy-dog world_ and was never quite sure what it meant. • • • When they see you with a dog, people tell you dog stories. A man in a business suit strokes Apollo's head as he tells me how his mother decided one day to abandon a dog she'd had for years. She brought the dog to a bus station and left it in its carrier under a bench. When the man found out, he tracked the dog down to a shelter. He called the shelter to say he'd take the dog, but at the moment he was across the country finishing up law school. The shelter promised to hold the dog, but before he could get there the dog died. He was told that it had simply stopped eating. I just don't get it, the man tells me. The dog had been grossly fat because his mother used to feed him doughnuts, he says, but he was also still young and cute and totally adoptable. No way she needed to dump him like that. Though it had happened years ago, he was still trying to understand why his mother would've done such a thing. Because she wanted to hurt someone, I don't say. • • • A public radio producer invites me to contribute a piece about a book, which can be any book I feel strongly about and would recommend to listeners, she says. In fact, I am familiar with this series, having heard other writers reading on the air their pieces about their favorite books. I choose _The Oxford Book of Death_. Not only because it's a book I really do think everyone should read, but also because I happen to be rereading it, with particular attention to the chapters "Suicide" and "Animals." I write the requested five hundred words, praising the anthology's selection of extracts from ancient to present times on every aspect of the subject, from "Definitions" to "Last Words." I say how fascinating I found all this writing about death to be, how paradoxically entertaining and full of life the whole book was. I spend a lot of time on the piece, grateful for the little assignment, to be writing something, anything. I finish it and send it off, but there is no response, and I never hear from the producer again. • • • In the news: An experimental therapy being practiced at some animal shelters: having volunteers read aloud to abused and traumatized dogs. Interview with a professional dancer who, as a young boy, a victim of persistent bullying, went mute. Death of author Michael Herr. Whose obituary reveals that in the last years of his life he had become a devout Buddhist, and stopped writing. • • • From _The Oxford Book of Death_ : Nabokov's syllogism. _Other men die; but I am not another; therefore I'll not die._ _"The one experience I shall never describe," I said to Vita yesterday_ , journaled Virginia Woolf. Fifteen years before the undescribable took place. • • • In writing workshops, many stories begin with someone getting up in the morning. Much less often does a story end with someone going to bed. More likely a story will end with a death. In fact, many student stories either begin or end at a funeral. And when a student wants to convey a character's stream of thoughts, they almost always set the character in motion. They put him or her into some kind of transportation, usually a car or a plane. As if they could only imagine someone thinking if that person is also moving through space. Q. Why did you send this character on a trip to India when that has nothing to do with the rest of the story? A. I wanted to show him worrying a lot. • • • Last words. _So this is how the story ends_ , my friend in the AIDS hospice said. Eyes wide with wonder, like a child's. # PART ELEVEN How should the story end? For some time now I have imagined it ending like this. A woman alone in her apartment one morning, getting ready to go out. One of those early spring days with equal periods of sun and clouds. Chance of a shower, late. The woman has been awake since first light. _What time is it now?_ Eight o'clock. _What did the woman do between the time she woke up and eight?_ For about half an hour she lay in bed trying to fall back to sleep. _Does the woman suffer from that particular kind of insomnia: frequent waking, inability to stay asleep?_ Yes. _Is there some little trick she tries when this happens to get back to sleep?_ Counting backward from a thousand. Naming, in alphabetical order, all the states. This morning, though, neither worked. _So she got up. And then—?_ Made coffee. One espresso brewed in a single-cup moka pot that she acquired only recently and that she has found she likes better than the French press she'd been using before and that about a month ago she accidentally broke. In general, she enjoys this morning ritual. Brewing and drinking the coffee while listening to the news on the radio. _What news did the woman hear?_ In fact, this morning she is preoccupied and hasn't really been listening. _Did she eat anything?_ Half a banana sliced into a cup of plain yogurt mixed with some raisins and walnuts. _What did she do after breakfast?_ Checked email. Responded to one message, an inquiry from the college bookstore about some books she'd ordered for a course. Confirmed a dentist appointment. Took a shower and began to get dressed. But she keeps wavering because of the kind of day it is. Will a sweater be too warm? Will her raincoat be too light? Should she take an umbrella? What about a hat? Gloves? _Where is the woman off to this morning?_ To visit an old friend who's been in the hospital. _What does she finally decide to wear?_ Jeans and a cardigan over a turtleneck. Her hooded raincoat. _How does the woman get to her friend's house?_ She takes the subway from Manhattan to Brooklyn. _Does she stop anywhere on the way?_ At a florist near the train station in Manhattan, where she buys some daffodils. _And when she gets off at her stop, does she go straight to her friend's house?_ Yes. See her now approaching his brownstone. _Does the friend she is visiting also live alone?_ No, he lives with his wife. Who isn't home this morning because she's at work. But there's a dog. Hear him bark at the sound of the doorbell. The door opens and the man steps out, greeting the woman with a hug. The man is dressed—by coincidence—just as she is under her raincoat: blue jeans, black turtleneck, gray cardigan. They hold each other tightly for a few moments as the dog, a miniature dachshund, barks and leaps at them. Now they are settled in the living room, drinking the tea the man has made for them. A small plate holding a few shortbread cookies remains untouched. The daffodils have been placed in a small crystal vase in a sunny spot on the windowsill where they glow with a neon brightness that (the woman can't help thinking) makes them look fake. One of the stems has bent, and the flower hangs down as if ashamed, or shy of the spotlight. Now it can be seen that the man has the paleness and gauntness of a convalescent. His voice is strained, as if it's an effort to speak above a whisper. There is stress in the air as of something about to burst or break. The dog senses this and for that reason is unable to relax, though he lies very still in his wicker basket. The man speaks, and the dog, hearing his name, beats his tail. "I wanted to thank you again for taking care of Jip." "Oh, he was no trouble," says the woman. "I liked having him. It was like having a furry bit of you there." "Ha," goes the man, and the woman says, "I was just glad to be able to help." "And you were a _big_ help," the man assures her. "Jip's a good boy, but he's spoiled and needs a lot of attention. And my poor wife had enough to deal with." A pause. The man lowers his voice. "By the way, I meant to ask, what exactly did she tell you?" "That she was on a business trip and her flight was delayed because of a storm in Denver. That she tried calling you from the airport but there was no answer. Then the flight was canceled and she took a cab home, and when she got there she saw the note to the cleaning lady warning her not to come in. And to call 911." The man does not look at the woman as she speaks. He stares at the daffodils on the windowsill, squinting as if their brightness hurts his eyes. When she stops speaking he waits, as if expecting more, and when there is no more he says, "If a student put that in a story I'd say, That's too easy." At that moment a cloud blots the sun and the room darkens. The woman has a surge of panic, alarmed at the stinging threat of tears. "I had it all worked out," the man says. "I'd taken Jip to the kennel. The cleaning lady was scheduled to come the next morning." "But how are you now?" asks the woman a bit too loudly, making the dog startle. "How do you feel?" "Disgraced." The woman starts to protest but the man cuts her off. "It's true. I feel humiliated. But that's a common response." I know, the woman doesn't say. I've been reading up on suicide. "But that's not all I feel," the man says, lifting his chin. "Turns out I'm nothing special. I'm like most failed suicides: happy to have survived." At a loss the woman says, "Well, that's good to hear!" "I keep wondering, though, why I don't feel _more_ ," the man goes on. "A lot of the time I feel hazy, or numb, like it all happened fifty years ago—or never even at all. But that's partly the medication." The cloud has moved on and the light pours in again. "You must be glad to be home," says the woman. The man pauses. "I'm certainly glad to be out of the hospital. It felt more like months than a couple of weeks. There really isn't a whole lot to do on a psych ward. What made it even worse was that I couldn't read, my concentration was shot, I'd forget each sentence as soon as I got to the end of it. And because I didn't want people to know what happened, I couldn't exactly have visitors. By the way, you're still the only one outside the family who knows the whole story. For now I want to keep it that way." The woman nods. "Not that it was a totally negative experience," he adds. "And I kept reminding myself: When something bad happens to a writer, no matter how terrible, there's always a silver lining." "Oh?" says the woman, sitting up straight. "Does that mean you're going to write about it?" "That's certainly possible." "As fiction, or memoir?" "I have no idea. It's too soon. I'd need to get some distance from it." "And are you writing now? Have you been able to write?" "Well, in fact, that was something I wanted to tell you about. We had a little workshop on the ward! Part of group therapy. There was this woman, a recreational therapist as they're called. She had us write poetry instead of prose—because we didn't have lots of time, she said, but no doubt also for other reasons. And she had everyone read what they wrote out loud. No analysis, no criticism. Just sharing, you know. Everyone wrote the most appalling stuff and everyone else gushed over it. All this dreadful poetry that _wasn't_ poetry—you can imagine the sort of thing. Voices trembling and cracking, some taking forever to get through it. And everyone was completely in earnest, you could tell how much it meant to them to have a chance to spill their guts and see that they could move people to tears. And oh, were there ever tears. And every poem got a round of applause. It was very strange. In all my years of teaching I've never come close to the kind of emotion I felt in that room. It was very moving, very strange." "It's hard for me even to imagine you in that situation." "Believe me, the irony was not lost on me. At first I thought I didn't want any part of it, just like I didn't want any part of the coloring books they kept encouraging us to use—not just to pass the time but because coloring is supposed to reduce anxiety. But that was problematic because they all knew I was a writer and a writing teacher and I would've looked like the most awful snob. And as I say, life on the ward was so boring. I couldn't read, and I refused to go on any outings—I was terrified of running into some person I knew and having to explain what I was doing at the movies or a museum with a nurse and a gaggle of nutcases. If nothing else, the workshop was a distraction, a way to kill some time. And then, to be completely honest, there was the therapist. She wasn't gorgeous but she was young and she was kind of hot, and you know me. I wanted her attention. I might have been a mental patient, and old enough to be her gramps, but still I wanted to impress her. Really, I wanted to fuck her—not that there was any hope of that. Anyway, I hadn't written poetry since I was in college, and there was something quite wonderful about turning back to it after all those years. I'll remember that round of applause till I die. And the big surprise is, I've kept it up." "You're writing poetry?" The woman feels another surge of panic as she thinks maybe she'll be asked to read some of this poetry. Or, worse, sit and listen to him read it to her. "Oh, nothing that I'd show anyone at this point," the man says. "But right now it's easier for me to be working on short things. The idea of writing anything longer frankly scares the hell out of me. Going back to the book I was working on—like a dog to its vomit! But enough about me. What have you been up to?" She tells the man about a new course she's teaching. Life and Story. Fiction as autobiography, autobiography as fiction. Writers like Proust, Isherwood, Duras, Knausgaard. "Good luck getting the little fuckers to read Proust! And what about the piece you were working on? Did you finish?" "No, I dropped it." "Oh no! Why?" The woman shrugs. "It didn't work out. Partly because I kept feeling guilty, like I was using the people I was writing about. I can't explain exactly why I felt that way, but I did. And you know how it is with guilt, it's like smoke and fire: you don't feel it for nothing." "But that's nonsense," says the man. "Everything is material for the writer, it just depends on _how_ you use it. Would I have encouraged you to write something I thought was wrong?" "No. But the truth is that when you suggested that I write about those women you weren't thinking about them but about me. It was something that would be good for me. I would get published, I would get read, I would get paid." "Yes, that's what writers do, it's called journalism. But you can't tell me there weren't other good reasons." "Maybe, but it doesn't matter. Because the truth is, I couldn't do it. I mean literally. I would write something like 'Oksana is a twenty-two-year-old woman with a pale round face, high cheekbones, and blond-streaked hair who speaks with a light Russian accent.' Then I would read what I wrote and feel nauseated. And I could not go on. The words would not come. I'd done all this research. I had all these notes. And I'd sit there and ask myself, what was I hoping to do with all this evidence of violence and cruelty, this catalog of atrocious details? Organize it into some engaging narrative? And if I did that, if I managed to find the precise words and the right tone—if I got the full true filthy horror of it down, in good clean prose—what would it mean? At the very least, I thought, writing should help _me_ , the writer, understand better, but I knew this was wishful thinking. Writing wasn't going to bring me any closer to understanding the kind of evil I was confronted with. And it wasn't going to do anything for the victims—that sad fact was also inescapable. The only thing I could say for sure, and which I believe is true in general for projects like this, was that the important person involved is always the writer. And I started to feel there was something not just selfish but cruel—cold-blooded, if you will—about what I was doing. I hated the forensic attitude that seems to be a requirement of the genre." "Then maybe it would work better if you tried turning it into fiction," the man says. The woman flinches. "Even worse. Making vivid, interesting characters out of those girls and women? Mythologizing and novelizing their suffering? _No._ " The man gives an exaggerated sigh. "I know this argument, and I don't buy it. If everyone felt the way you do, the world would remain ignorant about things it has every good reason to know. Writers have to bear witness, it's their vocation. Some would say the writer _has_ no higher calling than to bear witness to injustice and suffering." "I've been thinking a lot about this since Svetlana Alexievich won the Nobel," says the woman. "The world is full of victims, says Alexievich. Ordinary people who experience horrific events but who are never heard and who end up forgotten. Her goal as a writer, she says, is to give these people words. But she doesn't believe it can be _done_ through fiction. We're not living in the world of Chekhov anymore, she says, and fiction just isn't very good at getting at our reality. We need _documentary_ fiction, stories cut from ordinary, individual life. No invention. No authorial point of view. She calls her books novels in voices. I've also heard them called evidence novels. Most of her narrators are women. She thinks women make better narrators because they examine their lives and feelings in ways men usually don't, more intensely and—why are you smiling?" "I was just thinking about the argument that men should stop writing altogether." "Alexievich doesn't say that. But she does argue that if you want to get at the depths of human experience and emotions you need to let women speak." "But silence the writer herself." "Right. The goal is to have those who actually live the suffering also do the witnessing, with the writer's role restricted to empowering them." "It's become entrenched, hasn't it. This idea that what writers do is essentially shameful and that we're all somehow suspect characters. When I was teaching I noticed that, each year, my students' opinion of writers seemed to have sunk a little lower. But what does it mean when people who want to be writers see writers in such a negative light? Can you imagine a dance student feeling that way about the New York City Ballet? Or young athletes despising Olympic champions?" "No. But dancers and athletes aren't seen as privileged, and writers are. To become a professional writer in our society you have to be privileged to begin with, and the feeling is that privileged people shouldn't be writing anymore—not unless they can find a way not to write about themselves, because that only furthers the agenda of white supremacy and the patriarchy. You scoff, but you can't deny that writing is an elitist, egotistic activity. You do it to get attention and to advance yourself in the world, you don't do it to make the world a more just place. Of course there's going to be some shame attached to it." "I like what Martin Amis said: deploring egotism in novelists is like deploring violence in boxers. There was a time when everyone understood this. And there was a time when young writers believed that writing was a _vocation_ —like being a nun or a priest, as Edna O'Brien said. Remember?" "Yes, as I also remember Elizabeth Bishop saying there's nothing more embarrassing than being a poet. The problem of self-loathing isn't new. What's new is the idea that it's the people with the history of greatest injustice who have the greatest right to be heard, and that the time has come for the arts not just to make room for them but to be dominated by them." "It's kind of a double bind, though, isn't it. The privileged shouldn't write about themselves, because that furthers the agenda of the imperialist white patriarchy. But they also shouldn't write about other groups, because that would be cultural appropriation." "That's why I find Alexievich so interesting. If you're going to put an oppressed group to literary use, you need to find a way to let them speak and keep yourself out of it. The reason people now cringe at the idea that you have to be gifted in order to write is that it leaves too many voices out. Alexievich makes it possible for people to be heard, to get their stories told, whether they can write beautiful sentences or not. Another suggestion is that if you write about an oppressed group you should donate your fee to some cause that helps them." "Which defeats the purpose if you need to make a living. In fact, under those rules, only the rich could afford to write whatever they wanted! Well, for me, the only serious question is whether Alexievich's brand of nonfiction fiction produces work that's as good as fiction fiction. I myself am inclined to agree with people like Doris Lessing, who thought imagination does the better job of getting at the truth. And I don't buy this idea that fiction is no longer up to portraying reality. I'd say the problem lies elsewhere. That was another thing I noticed about the students: how self-righteous they've become, how intolerant they are of any weakness or flaw in a writer's character. And I'm not talking about blatant racism or misogyny. I'm talking about any tiny sign of insensitivity or bias, any proof of psychological trouble, neurosis, narcissism, obsessiveness, bad habits—any eccentricity. If a writer didn't come across as the kind of person they'd want to have for a friend, which invariably meant someone progressive and clean-living, fuck 'em. I once had an entire class agree that it didn't matter how great a writer Nabokov was, a man like that—a snob and a pervert, as they saw him—shouldn't be on anyone's reading list. A novelist, like any good citizen, has to conform, and the idea that a person could write exactly what they wanted regardless of anyone else's opinion was unthinkable to them. Of course literature can't do its job in a culture like that. It upsets me how writing has become so politicized, but my students are more than okay with this. In fact, some of them want to be writers precisely _because_ of this. And if you object to any of it, if you try talking to them about, say, art for art's sake, they cover their ears, they accuse you of profsplaining. That's why I've decided not to go back to teaching. Not to be too self-pitying, but when one is so at odds with the culture and its themes of the moment, what's the point." And not to be too cruel, she doesn't say, but you will not be missed. "Anyway, I'm sorry you gave up on that piece," he says. "You know I wanted you to finish it." "To be honest," says the woman, "there was another reason. I got distracted. I started writing something else." "What about?" "About you." "Me! How bizarre. What on earth made you decide to write about me?" "Well, I didn't exactly plan it. It was around Christmas, and I happened to watch that movie _It's a Wonderful Life._ I'm sure you've seen it." "Many times." "And you know how it goes. Jimmy Stewart—George Bailey—is stopped from taking his own life by an angel who shows him what a great loss to the world it would've been had he never existed. I was sitting there watching with Jip—I had Jip in my lap—and of course I thought about you. I mean, I was always thinking about you after I heard what happened, wondering if you were going to be all right." (Here the man's gaze is again drawn to the flowers on the windowsill.) "I was thinking about what a close call it was. And I forgot all about the movie and started imagining what it would've been like if _you_ hadn't been stopped. After all, it was sheer luck—or maybe _you_ have a guardian angel. In any case, I could not stop thinking about it. What if you hadn't been found in time? And I knew that's what I needed to be writing about." If the man was pale before, he is now as white as paper. "Am I hearing you right? Please say no." "I'm sorry," the woman says. "I should have said that it's fiction. I disguised everyone." "Oh, give me a break. You think I don't know what that means? _You changed my name._ " "Actually, I didn't use names. I unnamed everyone. Except for the dog." "Jip? Jip's in it, too?" "Well, not exactly Jip. There's a dog. He's an important character. And he has a name: Apollo." "Rather a grand name for a miniature dachshund, don't you think?" "He's not a dachshund anymore. As I said, it's fiction, everything's different. Well, not everything. For example, I kept the detail about your finding him in the park. But you know how it works. You take some things from life, you make other things up, you tell a lot of half-lies and half-truths. So Jip becomes a Great Dane. And I made you an Englishman." The man groans. "Couldn't you at least have made me Italian?" The woman laughs. "Here's what I learned from Christopher Isherwood about turning a real person into a fictional character. It's like when you fall in love, he says. The fictional character is like the beloved: always extraordinary, never just another person. So you leave out the details about how that person is just like every other human being. Instead, you take what you find exciting or intriguing about them, the special things that made you want to write about them in the first place, and you exaggerate those. I know everyone wants to be Italian. But ever since I've known you you've always seemed like a Brit to me." "And did you decide to make me a goy while you were at it?" The woman laughs again. "No. But I did make you a bit more of a womanizer than you really are." "Just a bit?" "Ah. You're upset." "You must have known I would be." "I did. I admit that I did. When do people ever like it when you write about them? But I had to do something. As I said, from the minute I heard what had happened I could not stop thinking about it. So I did what you do if you're a writer and you're obsessed about something: you turn it into a story that you hope will lay it to rest, or at least help you figure out what it means. Even if we know from experience that this pretty much never actually works." "Yes, I know, you don't have to tell me all this. _And writers really are like vampires_ , you don't have to tell me that either, I'm sure it's something I once told you. Again, the irony is not lost on me. But as you can see you've given me quite a shock. I don't know what to think. What have you done? Right now I can tell you it feels like a betrayal. Absolutely a betrayal. And after the conversation we just had, I do have to ask: What makes _me_ fair game? And you could at least have waited. Christ. There I am in the hospital, at the lowest moment of my entire life, and you're at the computer churning out pages. Not a very pretty picture. No. In fact, it strikes me as downright sleazy. What kind of friend—oh shame on you. Words fail you, I see. I'm amazed that you can even look me in the face. And did I hear you right, about a dog? The _dog_ is a major character? Please say nothing bad happens to the dog." DEFEAT THE BLANK PAGE! # PART TWELVE This is the life, eh? Sunshine, not too hot, nice breeze, birdsong. Now, I know you like the sun, or you wouldn't be lying in it, you'd be up here on the shady porch with me. In fact, that sun must feel awfully good on your old bones. And you probably find the ocean breeze as refreshing as I do. Whenever it blows our way you lift your head to sniff, and I know your three hundred million odor receptors are picking up far more than the salty tang coming through my measly six million. It's hard for a person to smell more than one thing at a time. When I hear someone describe a wine as having a heavy black-pepper aroma followed by hints of raspberry and blackberry, I know they're full of shit. Show me the human that can smell a raspberry from a blackberry, even without having to go through pepper first. But _your_ nose, on the other hand, tens of thousands of times as sensitive as mine, according to dog science—able to smell one rotten apple in two million barrels—now that's a whole other organ. More amazing yet that you can tell apart the countless different scents hitting you at all times from every direction. A power like that makes _every_ dog Wonder Dog. But talk about too much information. A power like that would drive any human being insane. Thinking back to when you used to wake me in the middle of the night, inhaling every inch of me as I lay on the floor. Searching for data. Who was I and what might I have up my sleeve. You still sniff me all the time, but never with the same kind of investigative fervor. According to science, you can smell not only what I had for breakfast today but also yesterday's dinner; when I last washed the shorts and T-shirt I'm wearing and whether or not I used bleach; where these sandals have taken me lately, and the fact that I've changed my brand of sunscreen. All of this would be a piece of cake for you. But now that I know what dogs can do, nothing would surprise me. The woman we often meet walking her mother and daughter mutts says dogs can tell time. When I come home from work, she says, I look up and see my girls at the window while I'm still a block away. They can tell from the level of my scent in the air. I think it's fair to say that, thanks to your superior gift, you can read me better than I can read you. Hormones and pheromones keep you updated. My anxiety about classes starting up again in a week. My open wounds. My hidden fears. My loneliness. My rage. My never-ending grief. You can smell all that. What else. A fraction of malignant cells not yet detectable to medicine? Plaques and tangles silently forming in my brain, heralds of dementia? It's been surmised that a canine companion could know that its person is pregnant before that person herself knows. Ditto a person dying. Not that your sense of smell is what it used to be. Age has surely dulled it, as happens to people too. And look at that nose: once a ripe dripping black plum, now crusty and gray like a used coal. I was saying: hot sun, cool breeze—these I'm pretty sure you like. But what about the birdsong. There's a feeder in the yard, and birds are abundant. We hear chickadees, sparrows, finches, and robins throughout the day—except for certain hours when, mysteriously, every one falls silent as if they'd all gone off to church. I like bird sounds, even the monotonous woe-is-me of the mourning doves and the screechy cries of jays, crows, and gulls. But you, indifferent to man-made music of any sort, what effect does nature's music have on you? I've known people who don't at all appreciate birdsong, who even find it annoying. A story about the conductor Serge Koussevitzky complaining about being woken up mornings at Tanglewood by _all those birds singing out of tune._ Sometimes a bird catches your eye—as pigeons in the city sometimes do—flying low through the air or hopping on the lawn, but never tempting you to the chase. Squirrels, rabbits, and chipmunks also appear, some daring to get quite close, but none needing to fear. The neighbor's tom, black and white like you, observes you through slitted eyes from the edge of the lawn, telegraphing that he's unimpressed. Once, a strange-looking dog streaked by, furtive and swift, there and gone so fast that I might have hallucinated it. Only later did it hit me: that was no dog but a fox. I wonder if you've ever chased any creature in your life. Seems to me you must have. The instinct must be there. Boar hunting, after all, is in your genes. Not that I'm not glad we're all peaceable kingdom here. I wouldn't have it any other way. Just remembered my old boyfriend training Beau to sit still for a full minute with a pet mouse on his head. I _have_ seen you snap at flies and other insects, to my worry including stinging ones. And you once ate an enormous spider before I could stop you. Or maybe it was the mouse being trained to sit with a dog under its butt. The other constant sound here is the surf, which I like to think is as restful for you as it is for me. The first time we went down to the beach I wondered if you'd ever seen the ocean before, or gone swimming, or walked on sand. (The size of your footprints I imagine giving some people pause.) Luckily, the beach is just minutes away. We go only when the sun is low, early morning or dusk. Short as it is, the walk's not always easy for you. You go slowly, ever more slowly— _hobble_ is the word I'm dodging here. I'm afraid that one day we'll get down there all right but then you won't be able to make it back. In the city a short time ago a scary thing happened. It was scorching, the first really bad day of the season, and we were headed for the shade of the park. But before we could get there, and though we hadn't gone far, you stopped, you buckled and sank to the concrete, clearly distressed. I nearly panicked, thought I was going to lose you right then right there. How kind people were. Someone dashed into a coffee bar and came back with a bowl of cold water, which you drank greedily without getting up. Then a woman passing by stopped, took out an umbrella, and stood holding it open to shield you from the sun; it's okay if I'm late for work, she said. A man driving by offered us a ride, but I knew you'd have trouble climbing into the backseat, and by then thankfully you'd revived and we were able to walk home. Now every time I walk you my heart is in my throat. But you must walk, the vet says. You must get at least some exercise every day. The medication is working, he tells me. The pain relievers and anti-inflammatories ensure that, though you may not always be totally comfortable, you are not in agony. Which could change, of course, and _that_ is an agony to _me_. Because how will I know. Haunted by Ackerley's description of Queenie at the end: _She began to turn her face to the wall, to turn her back to me._ That was the moment, the sign he took to mean he should have her—killed. You'll let me know, won't you. Remember, I'm only human, I'm nowhere near as sharp as you are. I'll need a sign when it gets to be too much. I don't see it as tampering with nature, playing God, or, as some would have it, interfering with a being's spiritual journey, its passage to the bardo. I see it as a blessing. I want for you what I'd want for myself. And I'll be there, of course. I'll be with you on that last journey to the vet. I thought the moment had come yesterday, when you left your breakfast untouched. I broke off a piece of my own breakfast bread, which you ate from my hand. ( _Like reading mass together._ ) By evening, though, your appetite had returned. So let's think no more about it. Let's look to this day, and only this day. This gift of a perfect summer morning. _One more summer._ At least you got that. One more summer to lie stretched out and contented in the sun. And at least I get to say good-bye. Am I talking to you, or to myself? I confess the line has gotten blurred. The weeks before we came here were so hard. It's been some time since you could make it comfortably up and down five flights of stairs, and so we'd started taking the elevator. This was mostly fine with the neighbors. By now they're used to seeing us, and only one person, a retired nurse whose husband died of leukemia last year, has questioned your designation as a therapy animal. But even she has commented on how well mannered you are, the way you scrunch your body so as not to take up too much of the elevator's tight space. And other tenants, much like people we meet all the time, are plainly delighted when they see you, charmed in the way people often are by any type of gentle giant. But the increasingly pungent odor of your coat, the stench of your breath and ropy drool—particularly in that close space, now suffocating in the heat—were harder and harder to ignore. And then: the dreaded inevitable. In the elevator, in the hallway, in the carpeted lobby. Hardly a day passed without an accident. And nowhere was the problem worse than in the apartment. Jesus, it smells like a stable, said a delivery man. Someone else said zoo. Hector, God bless him, said nothing. Three rugs, the couch, and the bed had to go. I got a second rubber air mattress, and we started sleeping side by side on the two mattresses on the floor. I did my best, vigorously mopping and scrubbing, going through several bottles of Lysol a week. But the job began to seem herculean, and the odor never really went away. It has permeated the wood floors, the bookshelves. It's in all my clothes—the way cigarette smoke was when I was in my twenties—and, I sometimes fear, in my skin and hair. It's bad but not _that_ bad, said the person who's always been most sympathetic about my situation. What you need to do is get away for a while, let the place air out. Just when I was about to despair, he came to our rescue. My mom had to go into a nursing home, he said. She's got this cottage on Long Island where she used to spend summers. We just sold it, but the new owners don't take possession till after Labor Day. They're planning to gut the place and completely renovate it, so it won't really matter what damage the dog does. And he can be outdoors a lot of the time anyway. I didn't get out there much myself this summer. I've got to work, and I hate being a weekender, especially in August, traffic's such a bitch. Anyway, it's only two more weeks, and you need it more than I do. Your life will be so much easier there, you'll see. While you're gone, if you want, I'll see what I can do about your apartment. My hero. Even chauffeured us here in his SUV. Getting you into the SUV without hurting you was one more hurdle. Hector came up with a makeshift ramp: an old door that had been stashed in the building basement. No stairs for us to worry about here, just two little steps to the porch. And no need for a car. I can bike the six miles to town to do grocery shopping. A week from today, when we have to leave, our friend will come in his SUV and drive us home. The first night here there was a spectacular storm. We cowered together under a roof that sounded like it was being strafed. Rain all night, and in the morning calm. It was like some membrane had been peeled away to reveal a whole new world, bright and clean. You could almost hear Schubert's "Ave Maria." You could almost smell the blue. And every day since has been glorious. On the beach, usually around dusk, we sometimes see another pair: a young man, shirtless, caramel tan, ice-blond hair— a real beach boy—and his Weimaraner. We watch the dog plunge into the water to fetch the stick the man keeps throwing for him. The man has an arm. Far, far out sails the stick. Far, far out swims the dog, again and again, breasting wave after wave, tireless. A thrilling sight. How deliriously happy he seems, how triumphant, racing back to drop the stick at the man's feet. I can't suppress a throb of envy as I watch these two strong young creatures play. But that's me. _You_ watch with your habitual calm. You know nothing of envy. No yearnings, or nostalgia. No regrets. You really are a different species. I thought the time would pass more slowly, given how idle I've been. Reading Elmore Leonard, binge-watching _Game of Thrones_ , doing some prep for teaching—that's about it. Living on sandwiches, mostly, and too lazy even to make them, pick up two a day from the deli, some fruit from the farm stand, enough. Hour after hour I have sat on this porch, just thinking. For example, about the therapist—remember him? I've been thinking about some things he said. Suicide is contagious. One of the strongest predictors of suicide is knowing a suicide. Of course I knew where he was going. Doctor Obvious. I remember telling him about my dream, the man in the dark coat, in the snow. Was he beckoning—hurry up, hurry hurry—or was he warning me away? I was thinking about this because I had that same dream again a few nights ago. Only this time, instead of an empty field of snow, it was some kind of battleground we were on. Bombs exploding, soldiers aiming and firing. And this time it was a full-blown nightmare. It's common clinical practice to ask a person who's talking suicide to describe how they would go about it. The more specific the plan, the louder the alarm. Now, if it was me ready to say good-bye cruel world, I'd be in just the right place. Throw myself in the ocean, swim away from shore as far as I could. Which would not be far. I am such a bad swimmer I've never been in water over my head. But didn't I hear that drowning is the worst way to die? I'm sure I read this somewhere. Question is, how do they know? The one experience she would never describe. _Say—Sea—Take me._ Is the poet talking about Love, or Death? Nothing has changed. It's still very simple. I miss him. I miss him every day. I miss him very much. But how would it be if that feeling was gone? I would not want that to happen. I told the shrink: It would not make me happy at all not to miss him anymore. You can't hurry love, as the song goes. You can't hurry grief, either. I have this idea that he did what others before him have been known to do: convinced himself that those he left behind would be all right. We'd be in shock for a while, and then we'd grieve for a while, and then we'd get over it, as people do. The world doesn't end, life always moves on, and we too would move on, doing whatever we had to do. And if that's what _he_ had to do in order not to suffer, on top of everything else, the pain of guilt, that's all right with me. That's all right with me. Sure I worried that writing about it might be a mistake. You write a thing down because you're hoping to get a hold on it. You write about experiences partly to understand what they mean, partly not to lose them to time. To oblivion. But there's always the danger of the opposite happening. Losing the memory of the experience itself to the memory of writing about it. Like people whose memories of places they've traveled to are in fact only memories of the pictures they took there. In the end, writing and photography probably destroy more of the past than they ever preserve of it. So it could happen: by writing about someone lost—or even just talking too much about them—you might be burying them for good. The thing is, even now, I still can't say for certain whether or not I was in love with him. I've been in love no few times, and never any doubt about it. But him— Well, what does it matter now. Who can say. What is love? It's like a mystic's attempt to define faith that I remember reading somewhere: _It's not this, it's not that. It's like this, but it's not this. It's like that, but it's not that._ But it's not true that nothing's changed. Not that I'd use words like _healing_ or _recovery_ or _closure_ , but I am aware of something different. Something that feels like a preparation, maybe. Not there yet but on the verge of some release. A letting go. Text message: _How are you? Your apt now shipshape!_ My hero. Now I'm thinking about the woman whose house this is. Was. A woman I've never met. Except for the bare essentials, the three little rooms have been cleared out. Left behind, probably by mistake: a silver-framed black-and-white photograph hanging on the bedroom wall. A couple, no doubt she and her husband, standing by a car. (Why did people back then always pose for pictures standing by a car?) He in his US Army uniform, she in the style of the day: big shoulders, victory rolls, Minnie Mouse pumps. Handsome/pretty. Young. Just kids. I know that he died more than a decade ago. It seems she'd been managing very well alone until last year, when everything started failing at once. From an energetic swimmer and gardener and crack crossword-puzzle solver she's become all but helpless. No legs, no eyes, no ears, no teeth, no wind. Almost no memory. Less and less mind. When did she plant the roses. In full magnificent bloom now, the red and the white. A fragrance to make you go, _Aaah_. I think how much they must have pleased her, year after year, and made her proud. And it's not the thought that she must miss them, but that she's no longer capable of missing them, that makes me sad. What we miss—what we lose and what we mourn—isn't it this that makes us who, deep down, we truly are. To say nothing of what we wanted in life but never got to have. Definitely true past a certain age. And that age younger than people might like to think. I see the sun has knocked you out. But let's not overdo it, eh. It's supposed to go up to ninety today. Maybe I should get you some water. And while I'm at it a nice tall glass of iced tea for myself. Oh, look at that. Butterflies. A whole swarm of them, floating like a small white cloud across the lawn. I don't think I've ever seen so many flying together like that, though it's not unusual to see them in pairs. Cabbage whites, I think. Too far to tell if there are black dots on the wings. They should watch out for you, o eater of insects. One snap of those jaws would take out most of them. But there they go, heading right for you, as if you were no more than a giant rock lying in the grass. They shower you like confetti, and you—not a twitch! Oh, what a sound. What could that gull have seen to make it cry out like that? The butterflies are in the air again, moving off, in the direction of the shore. I want to call your name, but the word dies in my throat. _Oh, my friend, my friend!_ # ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you, Joy Harris. Thank you, Sarah McGrath. I am also grateful to the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, and Hedgebrook for their generous support. An excerpt of this book appeared in _The Paris Review_. Thank you, Lorin Stein. # ABOUT THE AUTHOR © Marion Ettlinger **Sigrid Nunez** is the author of the novels _Salvation City_ , _The Last of Her Kind_ , _A Feather on the Breath of God_ , and _For Rouenna_ , among others. She is also the author of _Sempre Susan: A Memoir of Susan Sontag_. She has been the recipient of several awards, including a Whiting Award, the Rome Prize in Literature, and a Berlin Prize Fellowship. Nunez lives in New York City. sigridnunez.com # _What's next on your reading list?_ [Discover your next great read!](http://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/prhebooklanding/isbn/9780735219465/display/1) * * * Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author. Sign up now. ## Contents 1. Cover 2. Also by Sigrid Nunez 3. Title Page 4. Copyright 5. Contents 6. Epigraph 7. PART ONE 8. PART TWO 9. PART THREE 10. PART FOUR 11. PART FIVE 12. PART SIX 13. PART SEVEN 14. PART EIGHT 15. PART NINE 16. PART TEN 17. PART ELEVEN 18. PART TWELVE 19. Acknowledgments 20. About the Author 1. Contents 2. Cover 3. Start 1. i 2. ii 3. iii 4. iv 5. v 6. vi 7. vii 8. viii 9. ix 10. x 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. 100. 101. 102. 103. 104. 105. 106. 107. 108. 109. 110. 111. 112. 113. 114. 115. 116. 117. 118. 119. 120. 121. 122. 123. 124. 125. 126. 127. 128. 129. 130. 131. 132. 133. 134. 135. 136. 137. 138. 139. 140. 141. 142. 143. 144. 145. 146. 147. 148. 149. 150. 151. 152. 153. 154. 155. 156. 157. 158. 159. 160. 161. 162. 163. 164. 165. 166. 167. 168. 169. 170. 171. 172. 173. 174. 175. 176. 177. 178. 179. 180. 181. 182. 183. 184. 185. 186. 187. 188. 189. 190. 191. 192. 193. 194. 195. 196. 197. 198. 199. 200. 201. 202. 203. 204. 205. 206. 207. 208. 209. 210. 211. 212. 213. 214. 215. 216. 217. 218. 219. 220. 221. 222. 223.

Chronic infiltrates and persisting ulcerations on the arms and legs. A 12-year-old boy presented with a 1-month history of multiple, slightly pruritic, erythematous patches on his face (Figure 1). The lesions varied from 1 to 4.5 cm in diameter and were hypopigmented at the periphery. The center of each lesion was slightly infiltrated. The patches had been gradually enlarging despite treatment with topical steroids. Thermal, pain, and tactile sensations were intact at the lesion sites. There was no history of exposure to a contact allergen, and the patient was in good general health. The results of direct microscopic examination for fungal elements were negative. A cutaneous punch biopsy specimen was obtained (Figure 2 and Figure 3). What is your diagnosis?

Roadside Weeds of the Snowy Mountains, Australia Abstract Weeds are an increasing threat to the biodiversity of mountain regions worldwide, including in Australia. We reviewed 18 surveys of 401 sites conducted between 1986 and 2004 and examined the distribution and characteristics of common weeds on roadsides in the Snowy Mountains, Australia, to determine the range of natural habitats these weeds are found in, whether they are limited to disturbed sites, whether they are also common in other mountain regions including the Australian Alps, and whether they have invasive traits. There are only 8 common weeds in the Snowy Mountains: Acetosella vulgaris (also known as Rumex acetosella), Hypochaeris radicata, Trifolium repens, Taraxacum officinale, Agrostis capillaris, Dactylis glomerata, Anthoxanthum odoratum, and Achillea millefolium. They occur in areas disturbed by humans, such as along roadsides and around buildings and tracks, from the low-altitude montane zone to the high-altitude high subalpine/alpine zone. They also occur to varying extents in undisturbed native vegetation, reflecting their invasive capacity. These species are all perennial, with high vegetative and/or sexual reproduction, native to Europe, and are found growing on roadsides and in native vegetation in mountains in Europe, North America, South America, and New Zealand. Therefore, it appears that these plants are the usual suspects: common mountain weeds, which may be found worldwide at high altitude.

Novel strain and temperature sensor network based on self-injection locked reflective semiconductor optical amplifier We propose a serialized sensor network using a reflected SOA (RSOA) as a low-cost and wideband source. The RSOA is self-injection locked by the FBG sensors with different center wavelengths. By reading the wavelength shifts, the number of sensors up to 32 can be monitored with the side mode suppression ratio of >27 dB within 4 km.

Generating grid chaotic attractors via switching function based on a third-order linear system This paper proposes a novel system for generating 1-D m-scroll, 2-D mn-grid multi-scroll, 3-D mnl-grid multi-scroll chaotic attractors (GMSCAs) via switching piecewise linear (PWL) function. First, a third-order linear system satisfying certain conditions is introduced as the original system. Then, by adding stair function, saturated function series and hysteresis function series to the third-order linear system, respectively, GMSCAs are generated along a certain line, or plane, or in the whole state space. Besides, some basic dynamical behaviors of the controlled system are investigated and numerical simulations are given to verify the effectiveness of this method.

Erectile response to type 5 phosphodiesterase inhibitor could be preserved with the addition of simvastatin to conventional insulin treatment in rat model of diabetes. Enhanced RhoA/Rho-kinase pathway plays anti-erectile role and is associated with reduced response to type 5 phosphodiesterase inhibitor (PDE5I) in diabetic animals. We tested whether adjunctive simvastatin to conventional insulin treatment would restore PDE5I-induced as well as basal erectile response in diabetic rat model of erectile dysfunction. Forty 8-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were equally divided into four groups, (n=10) i.e. the diabetic group (D), age-matched control (C), conventional insulin treatment (I) and adjunctive simvastatin to conventional insulin treatment (S). Following 10weeks of intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ, 35mg/kg), the group I and S received insulin (10U NPH/day) for 4weeks. Concurrently, group S received simvastatin (20mg/kg/day). Following 14weeks of diabetes induction, basal and PDE5I (intravenous mirodenafil 1mg/kg)-elicited erectile response were assessed during cavernous nerve electrostimulation. Then, penile tissues were processed for molecular assessment. Although group I failed to restore basal and PDE5I-induced erectile response, group S showed normalized erectile responses. Furthermore, group I showed improvement of only eNOS-related pathway, whereas group S effectively controlled both eNOS-related and RhoA/Rho-kinase pathway. Conclusively, adjunctive use of simvastatin to conventional insulin treatment showed more effectiveness in restoring erectile responses of diabetic rats by controlling the RhoA/Rho-kinase pathway than conventional insulin treatment alone.

The Balance-Scale Task Revisited: A Comparison of Statistical Models for Rule-Based and Information-Integration Theories of Proportional Reasoning We propose and test three statistical models for the analysis of childrens responses to the balance scale task, a seminal task to study proportional reasoning. We use a latent class modelling approach to formulate a rule-based latent class model (RB LCM) following from a rule-based perspective on proportional reasoning and a new statistical model, the Weighted Sum Model, following from an information-integration approach. Moreover, a hybrid LCM using item covariates is proposed, combining aspects of both a rule-based and information-integration perspective. These models are applied to two different datasets, a standard paper-and-pencil test dataset (N = 779), and a dataset collected within an online learning environment that included direct feedback, time-pressure, and a reward system (N = 808). For the paper-and-pencil dataset the RB LCM resulted in the best fit, whereas for the online dataset the hybrid LCM provided the best fit. The standard paper-and-pencil dataset yielded more evidence for distinct solution rules than the online data set in which quantitative item characteristics are more prominent in determining responses. These results shed new light on the discussion on sequential rule-based and information-integration perspectives of cognitive development. Introduction Two types of cognitive processing are often considered, and fiercely debated, in theoretical discussions of cognitive development: sequential rule-based processes (RB) versus informationintegration (InI) based processes. These two types of processing are also contrasted in other areas in (cognitive) psychology. For example, in the study of information-integration in category learning and in the study of explicit and implicit learning. Moreover, Pothos provides a discussion of the rules versus similarity distinction in cognition, and Kahneman provides an broad overview and examples of dual route models, explicit versus implicit, in psychology. In the study of cognitive development the balance-scale task is the primary battlefield for this debate and it is the focus of this article. Recent publications attest that this debate is still very much alive. Proponent of the RB perspective, initiated by Klahr and Siegler, state that the cognitive process consists in the sequential comparison of different features of the stimulus. Cognitive development is described as discontinuous jumps between stages characterized by qualitatively different rules, that correspond to the consideration of different stimulus features in different combinations. With age, children acquire new insights that result in the use of more complex rules. From the InI perspective, cognitive processing is based on integrating different features of the stimulus before making a decision. Knowledge in this perspective is considered graded and implicit in nature, and development is viewed as due to changes in the implicit weights of each dimension. The cognitive processes used by children on the balance-scale task are especially interesting because their development spans a long period of time. Young children demonstrate interesting types of (erroneous) thinking, and many adults fail to use proportional reasoning to answer balance scale problems correctly. Also, over age, a mixture of developmental patterns seems to occur, ranging from sudden transitions to continuous change (see for example Jansen and Van der Maas ). Many researchers developed computational models to investigate learning and development on the balance-scale task. Computational models from different research traditions have been proposed: production-rule models, decision-tree models, connectionist models [7,15, and ACT-R models. Although the current models all adopt some characteristics of both theoretical positions, there is still no consensus on the best cognitive processes underlying children's behavior in the balance-scale task. In our view, this lack of consensus is partly due to the lack of adequate statistical models for the analysis of empirical data. Computational models such as production rule models and connectionist models cannot easily be fitted to data, and the existing models within the RB framework cannot test hypotheses following from the InI perspective. The empirical status of process models differs form traditional descriptive models, and a direct evaluation of these models is difficult since their aims are different. In this paper we test empirical predictions that follow from both theoretical perspectives-discussed hereafter. Therefore we develop statistical models for the RB and InI perspective and a hybrid model that combines features of both theories. We apply these models to two different datasets, a paper-and-pencil dataset (N = 779) and a dataset collected within an online learning environment that includes direct feedback, time-pressure, and reward (N = 808). The Balance-Scale Task: Two Different Perspectives In the balance-scale task, children have to predict the movement of a balance-scale (see Fig 1), on which the number of blocks on each peg, and the distance between the blocks and the fulcrum are varied. Depending on the number of blocks and the distance between the blocks and the fulcrum on each arm, the beam tilts to one side or remains in balance. Thus, to succeed on the balance-scale task, a child has to identify the relevant task dimensions (number-ofblocks and distance) and to understand their multiplicative relation. To measure proportional reasoning with the balance-scale task, Siegler classified items into six item types. There are three simple item types: balance (B) items with an equal number of blocks placed at equal distances from the fulcrum; weight (W) items with a different number of blocks placed at equal distances from the fulcrum, and distance (D) items with the same number of blocks placed at different distances from the fulcrum. We also include weight-distance (WD) items, in which the largest weight is positioned at the largest distance, such that a focus on either weight (i.e. number of blocks) or distance leads to a correct answer. Next to these simple items, there are three conflict item types in which the weight and distance cues conflict: conflict-weight (CW) items, in which the scale tips to the side with the largest weight; conflict distance (CD) items, were the scale tips to the side with the largest distance and conflict-balance (CB) items where the scale stays in balance. Using these item types Siegler differentiated between a postulated series of rules that children might use to solve balance-scale items. A child using Rule I will only consider the number of blocks in the prediction of the movement and disregards the distances-the number of blocks is more dominant than the distance. A child using Rule II does include the distance dimension in the prediction, but only when the number of blocks on each side of the fulcrum is equal. A child using Rule III does know that both the number-of-blocks and the distance dimension are relevant but does not know how to integrate both dimensions. A child using this rule will guess or 'muddle through' when both dimensions are in conflict. A child using Rule IV compares the torques on each side resulting in correct responses on all problems. Some studies proposed alternative rules, the main example being the addition-rule (Rule III-ADD; [12,). Children who use the addition-rule compare the sums of the number of blocks and the distance of each side of the fulcrum and predict that the side with the largest sum goes down. Detection of this rule is possible because some conflict items are solvable with the addition rule whereas others are not (see Table 1). In this study, we consider conflict items of the type conflict-balance-addition (CBA), conflict-weight-addition (CWA) and conflict-distance-addition (CDA), next to conflict-balance (CB), conflict-distance (CD) and conflictweight (CW) items. The latter three cannot be solved with the addition rule, whereas the former can be. The BS Task: Rule-Based, Information-Integration and Hybrid Accounts In contrast to the RB perspective, according to the InI perspective children use a weighted integration of the number-of-blocks and distance between the blocks and the fulcrum, either based on a sum or a product for each side of the fulcrum and compare these integrations to select their response. Either the number-of-blocks or the distance dimension is more dominant, resulting in a higher weight for one of the dimensions. In this perspective, differences between children are due to the differences in the weights that they apply to either dimension in integrating information. In the statistical extension of the connectionist models introduced in this paper, the weighted integration is only based on the sums and not the products. Different empirical predictions: Individual Differences and Item Characteristics The RB and InI perspectives make different predictions about children's behavior in the balance-scale task. Here we discuss the main differences. A first prediction concerns the characterization of individual differences between children. According to the RB perspective, children can be classified into subgroups or classes associated with qualitatively different rules. For example, Jansen and Van der Maas found evidence in agreement with the RB model of Siegler, using latent class models. However, according to the InI perspective, these seemingly qualitative individual differences are due to quantitative differences in integration weights. A second distinctive prediction concerns responses to different items of the same type. According to the RB perspective, the response probability is solely dependent on the item type. Items of the same item type should have equal response probabilities. This assumption of item homogeneity applies to each rule. For instance, all conflict balance items should have equal response probabilities for all users of Rule I. In the InI perspective, differences in number of blocks and distances between items of the same item type influence the response probabilities. According to Ferretti and Butterfield, children are more likely to provide correct answers when the difference between the product of the number of blocks and distance, on each side of the scale is larger. Two studies reanalyzed data of Ferretti and Butterfield and concluded that this was only the case for items with extreme product differences. Therefore, supporters of the RB perspective have argued that item homogeneity holds. Statistical Models: Measuring Rules vs Information Integration As the RB and InI response mechanisms are latent (i.e., unobserved), a measurement model is required to test whether the observed patterns of responses correspond to expected responses following from the different mechanisms. The empirical detection of rules was first conducted by using rule-assessment-methodology (RAM; ). RAM was designed to classify children to a set of a-priori defined rules, based on their observed responses instead of their verbal explanations of balance-scale answers. RAM is a two-step procedure. First, based on the set of a-priori defined rules the expected responses to the items are determined for all rules. Second, children are classified to one of the rules based on the best match between their observed responses and the expected responses following from each rule. In this classification some deviation between the observed and expected response pattern is allowed. The degree of deviation allowed depends on the item set. In the InI approach, a comparable rule-assessment method is used. For some specific choice of weights, expected response patterns are calculated and children are classified as using these particular values based on their observed response pattern. Although RAM proved to be a valuable method for studying the cognitive processes of children on the balance-scale task, is has two important disadvantages. First, RAM is not based on a statistical model, and as such does not incorporate measurement error. Hence, RAM lacks a statistical test of the fit of the classification of children to rules. As a result, it is problematic to decide on the necessity of incorporating all the rules and to compare competing rule models statistically. Second, by using a priori defined rules one risks overlooking alternative rules and other response mechanisms. These limitations apply to some extent as well to the InI method of detecting integration rules used by. To overcome these problems latent class analyses (LCA; see McCutcheon, for an introduction) were introduced in the balance-scale literature. A latent class model (LCM) is a latent variable model, in which both the manifest (i.e., the item responses left, balance or right) and the latent (i.e., the rules) variables are categorical. Latent variable models are statistical measurement models, which allow for goodness of fit tests and statistical model comparison. It is best seen as a statistically advanced version of RAM. It is important to note that the rule model underlying RAM is in fact an instantiation of a restricted confirmatory LCM with fixed conditional probabilities. Recently demonstrated in a simulation study that the response probabilities of small classes (N = 20) are characterized by high standard errors. This lack of power due to small class probabilities is indeed problematic for parameter estimation in LCMs. Therefore the description and interpretation of small classes should be done with care. However, the simulation study also showed that the LCM correctly recovered the number of classes and the classification of subjects to classes, also for the small classes. To conclude, these difficulties do not outweigh the advantages of LCA over RAM. In the next section we describe the RB model and introduce a statistical InI model and a hybrid model based on predictions from both perspectives. Rule-Based Model. In the LCM, both the latent variable and the responses are categorical. Participants are assigned to a latent class, associated with a distinct rule or strategy, based on their observed responses on the balance-scale items-left side down, balance or right side down. Eq 1 describes the probability of a response vector r in a LCM: where r i denotes the response to item i and c denotes the latent class. The LCM consists of two parts: the prior (or latent class) probabilities, P(C = c), describing the estimated proportion of children in a given class c, and the conditional response probabilities, P(R i = r i jC = c), describing the probabilities of a response to each item given a class. In our formulation, these response probabilities are estimated using a multinomial logit formulation. The left response is used as the reference category resulting in two odds-ratios: left versus balance, log(p(L)/p(B)), and left versus right, log(p(L)/p(R)). The model described in Eq 1, is referred to as the exploratory model since no constraints are imposed on the response probabilities between different items. We also consider a second LCM, in which the response probabilities between items of the same type are not allowed to vary, following the item homogeneity assumption of the RB perspective. The response probabilities can be expressed using the following logit formulation: The response probabilities of all items, of one item type, are modeled as a function of a general intercept 0rc -per odds-ratio, per item type and per class. Hence, in this model, referred to as the item homogeneity model, the response probabilities are constrained to be equal over items of each item type and each latent class. Note that the item type index is missing in Eq 2 since the model is fitted separately to data of each item type. Information-Integration Model. For the InI approach a statistical model is missing. Here, we propose a new measurement model, the Weighted-Sum Model (WSM). According to the InI perspective individuals differ in two respects: a) in the dominance for either the number-of-blocks or the distance dimension and b) in the preference of balance responses. Given these two sources of individual differences the following model for the weighted-addition rule is proposed: If y p < C p Then LEFT If y p > C p Then RIGHT; Else BALANCE; where p expresses the persons dominance for either the number-of-blocks ( p >.5) or distance ( p <.5) dimension, and w i and d i are defined as respectively the difference between the number of blocks (weights) and distance on both sides. Based on p and a personal threshold, C p, the observed responses are derived. C p serves as a boundary between responding either left or right (jj > C p ) or balance (jj < C p ). A high C p implies a strong preference for the balance response. The parameters p and C p are estimated per child, based on the likelihood-function of the model (see S1 Text for a detailed description of the estimation procedure). Since this statistical model is estimated per child, no distributional assumptions about the model parameters are required. According to the InI theory, differences between children are gradual and the distributions of p and C p are assumed to be unimodal. A bi-or multimodal distribution of these parameters provides support for a mixture distribution representing qualitative differences between children, thereby resulting in a hybrid WSM. Hybrid Models. Furthermore, to bridge the gap between the RB and InI perspective, we extend the item homogeneity LCM with item covariates based on continuous item characteristics. This extension provides a formal measurement of the effect of quantitative item characteristics, such as the product-difference, on the response probabilities, combining the qualitative differences that follow from a RB perspective with quantitative item effects following from an InI perspective. In this LCM, the item heterogeneity model, a slope parameter 1rc is included allowing for differences in the response probabilities within items of the same item type based on some item characteristic x i. We focus on the most often used characteristic, the product-difference (PD), the differences between the product of the number of weights and the distance on each side of the fulcrum. To conclude, we present three measurement models: a LCM following from the RB perspective, a WSM following from an InI perspective and a hybrid LCM that combines both RB and InI effects. Method Participants The paper-and-pencil version of the balance-scale task was administered to 805 children. Responses to the first block and responses from children that did not understand the task or with missing responses (N = 26; hereafter the paper of Jansen and Van der Maas is referred to as JM) were discarded. On average children needed 10 minutes to complete the test (20 seconds per item). Further details on this data set can be found in JM. The Math Garden data set consists of data of 808 children who completed at least five blocks during the data collection period (between 2011-06-10 and 2011-08-12). In the Math Garden children practiced either during school or outside school hours, resulting in large differences in both the number of items made and in the amount of time spent playing the balance-scale game. On average these five blocks were completed within 8 days (SD = 10.5, range = 0-54). The responses on items of the first block were discarded since children had to get acquainted to the task. Table 2 shows the distribution of age of both the paper-and-pencil and the Math Garden dataset. Note that older children are somewhat underrepresented in the Math Garden dataset compared to the paper-and-pencil dataset. Materials Paper-and-Pencil. The paper-and-pencil version of the balance-scale task consisted of five items of the types W, D, CW, CDA and CBA (see S2 Text for the item characteristics). Before administration of the task, the experimenter explained that the pegs were placed at equal distances, that all the weights had the same weight, and showed that a pin prevented the scale from tipping. Subsequently, three example items were presented to familiarize the children with the format of the test. Math Garden. In the balance-scale game, children are asked to predict what would happen if the blocks under the balance are removed (see Fig 1). The three answer options are displayed below the item. The Math Garden game differs in three respects from the standard paper and pencil test. First, items are presented with a time-limit of twenty seconds. Second, children receive feedback on the accuracy of their response directly after responding. Third, children are The BS Task: Rule-Based, Information-Integration and Hybrid Accounts rewarded for correct responses and are punished for incorrect responses. The time-limit/pressure is an inherent aspect of the feedback system where size of reward/punishment is positively related to speed. If a child has no clue of an answer he or she may press the question mark button. These task elements are designed to keep the task challenging, and enable learning through feedback (see, for an extended description of the Math Garden system and its rationale). The original item set consisted of 260 items, divided in twenty blocks of thirteen items of different types. Ten item types are presented in Table 1. The remaining item types were items with weights on multiple pegs on one or two arms of the scale. We analyze responses to the four D, CW, CDA and CBA items to increase comparability with the paper-and-pencil and the Math Garden dataset (see S2 Text for the characteristics). In both datasets, for all item types, except CBA items, the quantitative item characteristic of interest was the product-difference. For CBA items we use weight-difference as an alternative (for CBA items the product-difference is zero by definition since the weight-and distance-differences are the same). Although the items were not explicitly constructed to test a quantitative effect, they exhibit sufficient variation in this item characteristic. For both datasets the responses were recoded such that the correct response is the left response for D, CW and CDA items, and such that the largest amount of pegs resides on the left side of the fulcrum for CBA items. Model Estimation and Comparison Following the approach of JM, we applied LCA in two consecutive steps. First, the responses per item type were investigated. The number of latent classes was determined (investigating qualitative individual differences) with exploratory LCA (the exploratory model). Thereafter, parameter restrictions, formulated in the item heterogeneity model and the item homogeneity model, were sequentially tested. Second, building on the results of this fitting procedure per item type, response to multiple item types were analyzed with the hybrid LCM (item heterogeneity model; formulated in Eq 3). This approach reduces the sparse data problem in LCA when analyzing a large set of variables since it limits the number of estimated parameters compared to exploratory model. Hence the power to detect different classes increases. Third, this item heterogeneity model-the hybrid LCM-is compared with the item homogeneity model-the rule-based model. For the LCM including all responses, we analyzed the posterior probabilities, P(C = cjR = r). These probabilities-based on the observed responses of a person and the estimated prior and conditional response probabilities-indicate the classification probabilities of a person to each class. The probabilities are related to the homogeneity of responses of subjects belonging to a certain class and the class separation. A high (maximum is one) posterior probability implies that the observed response pattern of a subject is well described by the estimated response probabilities of a latent class. A value of one divided by the number of classes indicates that the observed responses pattern cannot be clearly assigned to any latent class. The average (and standard deviation) of the posterior probabilities over subjects assigned to each class is presented. A high mean indicates that subjects can be clearly assigned to this class compared to the other classes. All RB and hybrid models were estimated with the depmixS4 package in R. For stable model estimation we scaled the product-difference, per item type, such that the mean equals zero. Twenty replications were used with random starting values to prevent solutions based on local optima. All presented models were stable. We used the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) for model selection since this fit measure provides a good balance between goodness-of-fit and parsimony. In addition, BIC-weights, P(BIC), are presented to facilitate the interpretation of BIC differences. BIC-weights are transformed values of the BIC differences to a probability scale representing the probability of each model being the best model given the data and the set of candidate models. For the estimation of the WSM only responses to the conflict items were analyzed since simple items can be solved without the integration of the two dimensions and therefore do not discriminate between differences in the integration strategy. Results To investigate whether children in the Math Garden version of the balance-scale task understood the task we first fitted the exploratory model to WD items. All children should succeed on these items. The LCM with two classes showed the best fit (see Table B in S3 Text). Responses of children assigned to the class with high probabilities (N = 667) of a correct response (on average 93% correct) were included in further analyses. Of the selected children, 603 played the task before the start of the study, and made on average 800 items (SD = 965, range = 1-7695). Subjects with missing responses were only excluded if the missing response corresponded to the investigated item type, resulting in a different number of children for each analysis. 566 children responded to all selected items. In the next section we compare the results of the exploratory model, item heterogeneity model and the item homogeneity model, per item type in the two datasets. LCM per Item Type Distance. For the JM dataset, the three class item homogeneity model was the best fitting model for D items. The observed response probabilities of each class are presented in Fig 2. The three classes resembled respectively children that provided balance responses (Rule I), provided the correct left responses (Rule II or more advance strategies), or predicted that the side with smallest distance goes down. See Table A in S3 Text for the goodness-of-fit statistics of all models. Although JM concluded that the responses of children were best described by four qualitatively different rules, the BIC indicated that the three-class model showed the best fit for the paper-and-pencil dataset. This difference results from a different model specification. JM analyzed direct response probabilities, whereas we used a logit transformation of the odds ratios (see Methods section). As a result some conditional probabilities of JM were zero and therefore these parameters did not contribute to the model fit, which is not possible in the logit model specification. For the Math Garden dataset, two classes were needed to describe the observed responses. The first class showed an average probability of the correct left response of.36, and the product-difference did not relate to the response probabilities (item homogeneity model). This class is described as guessing behavior. The second class showed a high probability of the correct response indicating that these children use a more advanced rule than Rule I. Furthermore, for this class the probability of a correct response was higher for items with a large product-difference (item heterogeneity model) indicated by an increase in the left-right and left-balance odds ratio. The first latent class found by JM, described as Rule I, was not found in the Math Garden dataset. Conflict-Weight. For the JM dataset, the three-class model showed the best fit. These latent classes resembled the classes found in JM, described as: a class of children with near perfect responses (Rule I, Rule II or Rule IV), a class of children using the addition rule and a class of children that perceived the distance dimension as the dominant dimension (DD). For each latent class the item homogeneity model resulted in the best fit, i.e., item responses were homogeneous across different product-difference values. For the Math Garden dataset, the two-class model showed the best fit. Moreover, the item heterogeneity model fitted better than the exploratory model and the item homogeneity model. The first class showed a low probability of the correct response. The second class showed an overall high probability of the correct response corresponding to Rule I, Rule II or Rule IV (the first class in the paper-and-pencil dataset). This indicated that children in the second class perceived the number of blocks as dominant whereas children in the first class perceived distance as dominant. The positive relation between the response probabilities and the product-difference of the item showed that responses of children improved with increasing product-differences. Conflict-Distance-Addition. The LCM for the JM dataset resembled the results of JM, and consisted of three classes resembling Rule I or Rule I, Rule III and Rule IV or an addition rule, respectively. Moreover, the item heterogeneity model resulted in the best fit for each latent class. These results correspond to the results of JM, since they also found that the response probabilities of CDA items could not be constrained over items that differed with respect to the product-difference. Even for children using Rule I or Rule II (class 1) the probability of the correct response increased as a function of the product-difference. In the Math Garden dataset, the two-class model showed the best fit. In the first class the item heterogeneity model and in the second class the item homogeneity model resulted in the best fit. The first class showed an average probability of the correct response of.5. Children in the second class showed a probability of the correct response of.9. Conflict-Balance-Addition. In the JM dataset, the four-class model showed the best fit, resembling the results of JM. Children in the first class had a high probability of the left response (the side with the largest number of blocks), resembling Rule I or Rule II. Moreover, the LCM with a negative effect of the weight-difference in the second latent class (Rule III) resulted in the best fit. For children in this class, the probability of a correct response was smaller for items with a large differences in the number of blocks between the sides of the fulcrum. The response probabilities of the third class are described by JM as produced by children who use Rule IV or the addition rule. For the Math Garden dataset, the two-class exploratory model showed the best fit. Hence, the variation in the observed response probabilities cannot be explained by the weight-differences of the items. Also, the LCM did not reveal a class of children with a high performance on CBA items. Conclusions. The LCMs based on the paper-and-pencil dataset replicated, in general, the class structure found by JM. In contrast, the models based on the Math Garden dataset deviated in number and description of the classes. In eight out of thirteen latent classes in the models for the paper-and-pencil dataset, the responses of children were best described by the rulebased item homogeneity model, but this model was the best model in only two out of eight latent classes of the models for the Math Garden dataset. In the majority of the classes in Math Garden dataset the item heterogeneity model appeared to be the best model. Mix of Item Types The following analyses concerned responses to multiple item types. We estimated a second set of hybrid and RB LCMs and applied the WSM to a selection of items of different item types. LCM. In the LCM it is assumed that the responses to items of the same type can be modeled as repeated measures, only allowing variations as a function of the product-or weight-difference of the items. This assumption is not met for the item types where the exploratory model showed the best fit in the previous analysis (see results of the CBA items in the Math Garden dataset). Therefore, in the Math Garden dataset responses to all D, CW, and CDA items and only the last CBA item were selected and in the paper-and-pencil dataset all responses were selected. Paper-and-Pencil Dataset. We estimated LCMs with one to ten latent classes. As can be seen in Table 3, the BIC and p(BIC) indicated that the LCM with nine classes showed the best fit. Furthermore, the RB LCM resulted in a better fit than the hybrid LCM (see Table 3). 17). The fourth class, representing the DD rule, was also found in the LCM results per item type. This class was probably not found by the analyses of a mix of item types by JM because of a lack of power. The higher power is achieved by a different item selection and the use of item covariates in the LCM. The sixth class, representing Rule IV, showed perfect performance on all items. The remaining two classes in JM were interpreted by JM as either Rule III or Rule III/ADD. The current analyses led to three extra classes rather than two, probably as a result of the higher power. The posterior probabilities of the LCM showed that the classification of children to rules was rather ambiguous for these remaining classes, indicated by the high variation and the overall low fit of respectively,.56 (SD =.15),.57 (SD =. 19) and.63 (SD =.19), for class 7, 8 and 9 (see Fig 4). Hence, the response probabilities cannot be reliable interpreted as governed by a distinct set of rules. Therefore, these classes are only loosely described as: a distance dominant class providing a lot of balance responses (class seven), a class providing left or right responses (eight) and a class that guessed between the left and balance response (nine). To conclude, in general, the results of JM are replicated with the new LCM. The gained power to detect individual differences resulted in two additional classes. The person fit indicated that subjects assigned to these latter classes showed a high response variability. Hence, the response patterns were difficult to interpret and could not be ascribed to a clear set of rules. Math Garden Dataset. For the Math Garden dataset, the fit of the sequence of LCMs indicated that four classes were needed to describe the responses, according to the BIC (Table 3). Fig 5 provides a description of the LCM. The first class (Weight Dominant) had a high probability of the correct response on CW and a low probability on CDA items. Furthermore, the high probability of the left response on the CBA items showed that subjects perceived the number-of-blocks dimension as more dominant. These response probabilities resembled to some extent Rule II. The second class showed high performance on all item types, except on the CBA item. Again, the high probability of the right response on the CBA item indicated that children in this class perceived the distance dimension as more dominant than the number-of-blocks dimension (for CBA items the right side is the side with the largest distance). In the third class the probability of a correct response was higher on CDA items than on CW items, and highest for D items. Moreover, the high probability of the right response on the CBA item indicated that the distance dimension is perceived as dominant. The forth class mostly resembled the third class, with the addition that the response probabilities for a balance response were considerably lower on CDA, CW and CBA items compared to the third classes. In general, Fig 5 shows that none of these classes resembled Rule I, Rule II, SDD or Rule IV, but rather resembled variations of Rule III. Also, distance-dominant classes were found that have not been reported earlier in paper-and-pencil versions of the balance-scale task. As indicated by the BIC-weight, the response probabilities depended on the product-difference of the item. The probability of the correct response is higher for items with a larger product-difference. Finally, the average posterior probabilities of the LCM, respectively.58 (SD = 23),.64 (SD = 11),.62 (SD =.19) and.59 (SD =.16) indicates that children could not be clearly ascribed to one of the four classes. The BS Task: Rule-Based, Information-Integration and Hybrid Accounts Conclusion. A comparison of the results of the LCM of both datasets show that large differences are present in the response mechanism. This is alluded by the better fit of the hybrid LCM in the Math Garden and the rule-based LCM in the paper-and-pencil dataset. Moreover, in the paper-and-pencil dataset the majority of children could be clearly ascribed to latent classes representing qualitative different rules, earlier described by Siegler and JM. In the Math Garden dataset the four classes did not resemble any earlier found strategies. Also, the overall lower posterior probabilities showed that differences between the children were more of a quantitative nature when tested in the Math Garden. Age and Practice Effects. JM already showed that large age differences are present between children classified to different classes in the paper-and-pen dataset. Using the latent class models introduced in the current paper, we investigated the relation between the dependent variable class membership in the best fitting latent class model (nine classes), and the independent variable age using multinomial regression models. Different models are compared based on the BIC. Results of the paper-and-pencil data again showed large age effects (BIC of model with and without age was respectively 2673 and 3113)). In the Math Garden dataset, age was not related to class membership (BIC of model with and without age was respectively 1140 and 1125). However, the class membership was related to the amount of practice (BIC of model with and without practice was respectively 1120 and 1125). Practice was defined as the log of the number of items made before the start of the data collection. We use the log function to transform the skewed distribution of the number of item made per child to a normal density. Fig 6 shows the predicted probability of a child being assigned to each class as a function of age for the paper-and-pencil data, and as a function of practice for the Math Garden data. In line with the previous results, large differences are found between both analyzed datasets. In the paper-and-pencil data a clear developmental change is highlighted by the age effect (further described by JM). In the Math Garden data the developmental pattern is solely based on the amount of practice. WSM. Fig 7 shows the distribution of the estimated and C parameters of the WSM based on responses to the four CW, CDA and CBA items. In the paper-and-pencil dataset the distribution of was clearly not unimodal, and deviated from a normal density as indicated by the Shapiro-Wilk test (D =.226, p <.001). The large peak at = 1 reflected that some children (N = 277, 36%) only responded to the number-of-blocks dimension, including children using Rule I and II. The smaller peak at = 0 indicated that only the distance dimension was reflected in the responses of 2.4% of the children (N = 19). Both values of indicate that these children did not integrate the information regarding both dimensions. Furthermore, the distribution around =.5 illustrated that the remaining children weighed both dimensions about equally in their responses. The distribution of C showed that 45% of the children already predicted that the scale would tip to a side when their integration of both dimensions resulted in a value just above zero (note that this does not mean they did not provide any balance answers). In the Math Garden dataset, the distribution of showed a different pattern-again the distribution deviated from a normal density (D =.145, p <.001). In contrast to the paper-andpencil dataset, the peak at = 1 was small (N = 23, 4.2%). The large distribution around =.5 showed that the majority of the children weighted both dimensions about equally. However, also a small peak at = 0 was found representing children who only took the distance-dimension into account (N = 34, 6.2%). The distribution of C resembled the distribution in the paper-and-pencil dataset. The majority of the children decided that the scale would tip if their outcome of the weighted integration of the differences between the arms was higher than zero. Conclusion. The distribution of and C indicated that also qualitative differences were present since differences between children cannot be described by an unimodal distribution. Moreover, as mentioned previously, a substantial group of children did not integrate information of both dimensions. Hence, a hybrid WSM model is needed to provide a description of the full range of individual differences. However, further developments of the WSM are needed to investigate this. The estimation of the WSM to responses of multiple subjects, and the formulation of the random parameters therein, should provide a test on distribution of these parameters, resulting in a formal test of the InI versus hybrid account. However, a visual inspection of the distribution of the model parameters over persons clearly indicates that a rule-based component is needed to fully explain the observed responses within the WSM framework. The BS Task: Rule-Based, Information-Integration and Hybrid Accounts Discussion The aim of the paper was to compare a RB and an InI perspective on the cognitive processes used by children to solve balance-scale items, using a new set of statistical models. According to the LCM analyses aspects of the InI perspective are required to describe the Math Garden data and the CDA items in the paper-and-pencil dataset. The results of the WSM, allowing for quantitative (continuous) differences between children in the preference of the number-of-blocks or distance dimension and the preference for balance responses, indicate that quantitative and qualitative differences show up in the inspection of the distribution of the estimated parameters. Hence, results of both statistical models support a hybrid account integrating RB and InI perspectives. Although we found additional classes in the paper-and-pencil dataset, the majority of children can be clearly assigned to one of the rules described by Siegler and Jansen and Van der Maas. None of the classes in the Math Garden dataset resembles any of these earlier proposed rules. The results indicate that children tested within Math Garden integrate the number-of-blocks and distance dimension to solve balance-scale problems. However, although some children did play the task intensively prior to this study, the LCM did not reveal any children with a perfect integration rule (RIV users). Additionally, whereas Siegler stated that the number-of-blocks dimension is the dominant dimension, both the LCMs and the WSM reveal that a subset of children perceive the distance dimension as dominant. In the Math Garden data, the response probabilities are related to differences in the product-difference between items, and to a much smaller extent in the paper-and-pencil dataset. This undercuts the conclusions by Jansen and Van der Maas and Van Rijn, Van Someren and Van der Maas that this item characteristic was only related to the response probabilities of items with extreme product-differences. Based on a latent-class regression modeling approach resulting in more power to detect an effect of the product-difference, our results indicate that items with a larger product-difference are easier than items with a small product-difference even for items with a reasonably small product-differences. Moreover, the magnitude of this effect differs between both datasets. Although in both datasets a hybrid account is evident to fully explain the responses of children, differences between both datasets are present as well. In the classical paper-and-pencil version of the task, collected under the standard task demands, cognitive processes are best described by a RB perspective, with the exception of the product-difference effect that follows from a InI perspective. Testing children within the Math Garden, with direct feedback, timepressure and a rewards system, seems to induce a different cognitive process, providing more evidence for elements of an InI perspective. Where the debate between the RB and InI perspectives in the field of proportional reasoning is concerned with the underlying mechanisms of one cognitive process (or a single response mechanism), the results of this study indicate that the characteristics hereof might depend on the task demands. Positioning the findings based on the Math Garden data alongside the findings of the paper-and-pencil dataset suggests that different response mechanisms are at play. This result sheds new light on the debate of RB and InI perspective in the balance-scale literature. This study was not designed to investigate and isolate the effect of task demands. Also, both age and amount of experience with the task of the tested children differs between both datasets, and have a different relation to the latent classes. Further research is needed to determine which factors influence the response mechanism of children. However, it is surprising that so far, the predictions following from both rule-based and information-integration perspectives on children's knowledge on the balance-scale task, have mainly been tested with only one type of empirical data: responses to a paper-and-pencil test and the computer analogue thereof. This is even more surprising since Ferretti already showed that rule assignments differ when children are asked to rebuild one side of the scale instead of predicting the movement. In other fields of cognitive psychology it is known that task demands influence the type of cognitive processes (or response mechanisms) that are activated or learned. For example, in category learning, differences in the type of task result in the use of qualitatively distinct learning systems, and task demands such as time-pressure and feedback have different effects on these distinct learning systems. Maddox, Bohil and Ing show that the performance on a rule-based learning task is impaired when subjects have a short period to process the feedback after a response, while this manipulation did not affect the performance of subjects using information-integration (or similarity) based learning processes. Therefore, we argue that the differences between the results of both datasets in the present study, are best understood by relating these differences to the differences in the task demands under which children are tested. Based on the described literature, it is expected that the influence of feedback, time-pressure and/or a reward system promotes the usage of different processes. This possible influence of task demands on the response mechanism and an appeal for the integration of RB and InI perspectives in a model of development is already made by Fischer : "under certain conditions of observation and degrees of abstraction, universal stages of cognitive organization can be observed; under others, important individual differences in developmental sequences occur." They conclude that: "What is needed is a view fully grounded in the fact that cognitive development appears diverse under some observational conditions and universal under others." This is also alluded to by McClelland, since he states that rule-like behavior can be induced by different testing situations. To make the RB perspective compatible with the current results, at least one of the available response mechanisms should be of a more quantitative (similarity-based) nature. The description of Rule III production model provides such a possibility. Siegler describes children using Rule III as "muddling" through. This strategy could include a mixture of implicit information integration strategies and a preference could be present for either the number-of-blocks or the distance dimension. Moreover, for these children the responses could be based on quantitative item characteristics resulting in the presence of for example a relation between the product-difference and the response probabilities. To make the InI approach compatible with the current results, it would be necessary to incorporate some qualitative rule-based effects, as found in the LCMs of both the paper-andpencil and Math Garden dataset. The work of Dandurand already combines RB effects in an InI approach by including an external learning module in which the model is 'taught' RIV-the correct rule where the difference is calculated between multiplication of the weights and distance on each side of the fulcrum. This approach is based on the assumption that children might also learn this rule in an educational setting from instruction instead of from their own experience, which makes it an explicit rule. Such an interpretation of RIV performance fits very well in a rule-based approach. Furthermore, Schaprio and McClelland also propose a combination of RB and InI processes. They state that: "It is possible that the best account will involve a mixture of explicit and implicit strategies." To describe the cognitive processes of children used on a proportional reasoning task like the balance-scale task, a model is required that incorporates both a RB and a InI account and specifies in what conditions the behavior is caused by which account. Hybrid models with components relying on rule-based and similarity-based processing of items have become the norm in modeling categorization learning, for example COVIS and Atrium. These models can serve as a valuable starting point for including multiple response modes based on different response mechanisms for development of proportional reasoning in general and balance-scale learning specifically under different task demands.

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary has begun building a second line of fence along its southern border with Serbia, a government spokesman said on Monday, a move likely to exacerbate criticism from some of the country’s European Union partners. The sun rises along the Hungary and Serbia border fence near the village of Asotthalom, Hungary, October 2, 2016 as Hungarians vote in a referendum on the European Union's migrant quotas. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s right-wing government considers migration to be one of the largest threats to the status quo in the EU. But officials in Brussels and some other EU centers are distressed by some of his go-it-alone policies. A European Parliament committee, for example, was due on Monday to discuss the state of fundamental rights in Hungary. Orban was also a rare EU leader to endorse U.S. President Donald Trump, who is seeking to built a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. A barbed-wire fence is already in place, erected in 2015, when Hungary was part of the main overland route for hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees, many fleeing the war in Syria. It effectively blocked that route to Germany, where many were heading, but Hungary has said a second fence would make the barrier more effective and hold back migrants while processing their asylum requests. Although the pressure on the border is far from the peak of the 2015 crisis, border patrols still prevent hundreds of illegal border crossings per day and escort back dozens of migrants who manage to break through, the government says. Poles for the second fence are already standing near the border station Kelebia, and construction materials have also been shipped to the border elsewhere. Orban’s chief of staff, Janos Lazar, last week said the government had earmarked 38 billion forints ($130 million) for the fence and containment camps to hold migrants. He said the second border fence, which will extend only to the Hungary-Serbia border for now, would be built as soon as the weather permitted and would be standing by the end of spring. Rights groups Hungarian Helsinki Committee and Human Rights Watch on Friday sent a complaint to EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos about current practices and proposed legal changes. “The European Commission should not stand by while Hungary makes a mockery of the right to seek asylum,” Human Rights Watch deputy director Benjamin Ward said. “Using transit zones as detention centers and forcing asylum seekers who are already inside Hungary back to the Serbian side of the razor-wire fence is abusive, pointless, and cruel.” The Hungarian government’s practice of allowing only 10 people in per day also creates a dangerous bottleneck along the Hungary-Serbia border in sometimes inhumane conditions, the rights groups added. The government rejected that in an emailed reply to Reuters. “Human Rights Watch... again tries to denigrate those serving at the border,” it said. “Hungary was among the first to honor the EU’s rules, protects the Schengen borders, stops, registers and separates refugees from economic migrants.” ($1 = 291.4700 forints)

A Scientometric Study on Neuroanatomy Literature The contributions of literature in the field of Neuroanatomy in MEDLINE database which covered in PubMed is discussed in this paper. The literature covered in the database all through the years i.e. 1980-2019 was taken into consideration for this study. MEDLINE concealed the maximum of 9350 records in the field of Neuroanatomy. The United States is the prime publisher in the field of Neuroanatomy literature as per this study. 96.33% of records covered in English language in this analysis. There is a fluctuation trend in the study of Relative Growth Rate (RGR) and also in Doubling time (Dt) when calculated by year-wise. A complete of 85.71% of papers is written by way of multi-authors. The ratio represents the single and multi-authors papers is 1:7 in the area of Neuroanatomy literature. It was determined that meager percent i.e. 0.46% of records represent nameless authorship. The year-wise Degree of Collaboration shows the ratio in-between 0.38 to 0.94 in the field of Neuroanatomy literature. The Co-Authorship Index (CAI) for greater than two authors papers was lower in the first, second, and third blocks and enriched in the fourth block in this study. The average Collaborative Co-efficient (CC) has been arrived at 0.55 which indicates huge wide variety of contributions became by multiple authors papers in the subject of Neuroanatomy literature. The total study exposed that the multi-authors papers are lead in the Neuroanatomy research. It additionally indicates that the collaboration in Neuroanatomy research is in a growing trend in current years.

Interaction between angiotensin II and nitric oxide in control of renal hemodynamics in conscious dogs. Recent in vitro studies have provided evidence that the vasoconstrictor actions of angiotensin II on afferent arterioles are enhanced by nitric oxide synthesis inhibition. Although these studies suggest that nitric oxide may play a role in protecting the afferent arterioles from angiotensin II-induced vasoconstriction, the importance of this interaction in the regulation of glomerular filtration rate and renal blood flow in the intact, conscious animal is not known. The objective of the present study was to determine the role of nitric oxide in modulating the renal hemodynamic and excretory effects of angiotensin II. Angiotensin II was infused at rates of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 micrograms.kg-1.min-1 intrarenally in conscious, chronically instrumented dogs in both the presence and absence of nitric oxide synthesis inhibition by continuous intrarenal infusion of NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (3 micrograms.kg-1.min-1). At a dose of 0.5 micrograms.kg-1.min-1, angiotensin II decreased renal plasma flow by 19%, while having no effect on glomerular filtration rate in control dogs. In contrast, angiotensin II decreased renal plasma flow by 54%, glomerular filtration rate by 40%, and increased renal vascular resistance by 125% in the presence of intrarenal nitric oxide synthesis blockade. At doses of 1.0 and 2.0 micrograms.kg-1.min-1, angiotensin II reduced renal plasma flow by 36 and 45%, glomerular filtration rate by 17 and 23%, and increased renal vascular resistance by 80 and 120%, respectively, in control dogs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A look at Governor Andrew Cuomo's campaign might not give the impression that he is running for re-election - despite a few appearances at parades and fairs, he simply hasn't had an official campaign schedule. The incumbent has kept his public appearances to a minimum since spring and all of them have been under the heading of official state business, including his recent trip to Israel. "Clearly, Cuomo the gubernatorial candidate is not campaigning," said CUNY professor of political science Douglas Muzzio. "His Israel trip was a campaign trip. It was political, but this is part of his behavior. He doesn't go to the typical political meetings, or go to the Democratic convention, he doesn't go anywhere outside of Albany. He doesn't need to campaign. And he has his surrogates do media. He doesn't do the dirty work." It's not surprising that Cuomo isn't on the campaign trail yet. During his run in 2010 he scattered a few appearances in late fall and waited to the last minute to endorse some of his fellow Democrats. As it was then, Cuomo's opposition this year is fairly limited. Once again, polls indicate he will win handily. It appears that his strategy is to project an image of a governor consumed with running the state. He scarcely acknowledges his little-known challengers. But this year Cuomo isn't running just for himself. In his deal for the Working Families Party support, he pledged to help Democrats win back control of the Senate. Senate Democrats insist that Cuomo has been stumping for them by proxy - in the person of his prefered lieutenant governor candidate, Kathy Hochul. "It has been very heartening to have Kathy Hochul campaigning with the Senate Democrats and with the broader women's equality initiative," Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told Gotham Gazette. "She has been a real asset. She is a really exciting candidate to begin with and she has bolstered the profiles of our candidates. To have them campaigning with the next lieutenant governor is a boost for all of us." Hochul has become the face of the Cuomo-created Women's Equality Party and pundits say her candidacy works on many political fronts. Hochul, who hails from Buffalo, replaces outgoing Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy, who has focused on the economic issues facing western New York. She has more conservative opinions on immigration and guns and has bipartisan appeal. She's also seen as a prominent female figure promising to join an administration that lacks prominent women and durign the campaign season she serves as a counterweight to Zephyr Teachout's insurgent Democratic primary challenge to Cuomo. Hochul's focus on the Women's Equality Agenda takes a package of legislation that is popular with voters and demonstrates major ideological differences over abortion rights not only between Cuomo and his Republican challenger Rob Astorino, but between the New York Democratic Party and Senate Republicans who have stood steadfast against the abortion plank of the legislation. "It really shows unity straight down the ticket," said Karen Scharff, executive director of Citizen Action and co-chair of the Working Families Party. "The fact that the Women's Equality Agenda is an election issue shows that Republicans are really out of touch with their constituents." The Hochul camp issued a statement to Gotham Gazette in response to questions about her campaigning with Senate Democrats: "I have traveled across the state to stand with candidates who support the Women's Equality Party to send a clear message that voices of women will be heard and counted this fall. We are bringing together the strength and power of our state's leaders and advocates to put the issue of women's equality front and center because women deserve nothing less than full equality." Hochul has appeared at Women's Equality events in Long Island with Democratic Senate candidates Adam Haber, Dave Denenberg, and Adrienne Esposito. She appeared at a similar event Upstate with incumbent Sens. Cecelia Tkaczyk and Terry Gipson, who face stiff Republican challenges this year. She's made two appearances this summer with Buffalo Sen. Ted O'Brien, who also faces a competitive race. Muzzio acknowledges the political sense of Hochul's campaigning and the work she's done on the campaign trail but wonders if anyone has noticed. "How visible is she really? It doesn't seem to be a very impactful campaign," he said. "A lieutenant governor candidate ain't the governor." In fact, Muzzio thinks that the Senate Democrats are doing Hochul a favor by introducing her to their constituents. Some Democrats fear that Hochul could lose to her primary challenger, Tim Wu, who has a prominent profile thanks to his work on net neutrality. Hochul has acknowledged her limited profile in certain areas of the state. She said as much during a campaign rally for John Liu, who is challenging incumbent Independent Democratic Sen. Tony Avella. When asked if her appearance counted as an endorsement of Liu, Hochul said: "I gotta tell you, I don't think my endorsement at this point means a lot to anybody. I'm just here standing with people who have stepped up early, agreed to make it happen." Democrats and the Independent Democratic Coalition (IDC) have agreed to work together to form a majority coalition in the fall, so Liu's candidacy, which has taken off, is a touchy subject for both parties. And yet, as a surrogate for the Cuomo campaign, Hochul has embraced the Senate Democrats in a way that Cuomo has gone out of his way to avoid. She also has presented a more liberal front than the governor. "This has been an aberration the last few years to have people elected as Democrats... acting as Republicans," said Hochul, referring to the Independent Democratic Coalition. "Yes, there were some accomplishments, but I'm always raising the bar." Hochul's liberal leanings could be a reflection of the Cuomo administration's new stance given the likelihood that Democrats will win control of the Senate this year, or it could be posturing given that Hochul is facing the possibility of a tough Democratic primary. Christina Greer, professor of political science at Fordham University, said that she expects Hochul will be a good foil against Republicans, but must first survive the Democratic primary. Cuomo has avoided addressing Teachout on the campaign trail - instead trying to knock her off the ballot over residency questions - but he has had to take policy positions to plant himself in a more liberal light which could in the end bolster Senate Democrats who share those positions. "This race is turning out to be more of a headache than he expected," said Greer. "He's had to think of ways to utilize [Hochul] in ways he didn't plan on when he selected her." It seems unlikely that Cuomo himself will actually campaign for Senate Democrats. Stewart-Cousins said she knows Cuomo supports the issues her conference wants to act on, such as the DREAM Act, campaign finance reform, and the minimum wage. "When he does come out I'm sure he'll be campaigning on the issues we support," she said. Muzzio is a bit more circumspect. "I'm sure there will be a few very staged, very scripted events where they can control the message that will expose the governor in no way," he said. Hochul downplays Cuomo's absence from the campaign trail. After a Women's Equality Party event at City Hall on Tuesday, she told Gotham Gazette that the governor has been focused on his trip to Israel and his announcements Upstate about economic development. "I guarantee you, you are you are going to see plenty of us in the coming weeks right before the election," she said.

I have been a teacher for 15 years and have always known that the state schools I have worked in are not wealthy. When I was a young and enthusiastic student I spent a cool amount on stationery and ink in order to make worksheets in many colours, and I provided Post-it notes and highlighters to make my lessons engaging and interesting. Naively, I thought that when I became employed as a real member of staff, I would stop spending so much of my own money on my job – I was wrong. I landed in a culture of personal investment, with colleagues urging me to buy my own supplies and lead the way. With equipment unreliable or failing in our school, one even brought in her own overhead projector. As the years have gone by, I have spent a fortune on videos, DVDs, audio visual equipment, cameras, SD cards and tripods for my classes to use – not as additional supplies, but to be used as integral requirements in the subjects I am teaching. Sometimes I feel that I have no choice. I have been asked to teach units on moving image in rooms with no sound facilities. Rather than failing the students with sub-standard lessons, my conscience has sent me on a late night electrical treasure hunt in search of portable speakers to use the next day. I have colleagues who’ve spent hundreds of pounds on online subscriptions, and many of us buy our own textbooks to help get our heads around courses that are so tentative in their expectations because the powers that be haven’t really decided if they are worthy or still in flux. We are at the mercy of government changes to courses and the slippery climate of education. We are never standing on firm ground and what we invest in one year may gather dust in a stock cupboard the next. There were times, years ago, when I could have submitted my receipts to my school and claimed for my expenses. Now in a cash-strapped, deficit-driven culture of firm frugality, but with high expectations, I have to absorb this cost as part of my professional role. At the start of the year, we discussed as a school the fact that students frequently come ill-equipped for learning, and our senior leadership team decided we should give out equipment. We were given boxes of 10 pencils, which disappeared within weeks and were a laughable salve for this issue when the school has a clear pen-only policy. Pens aren’t that expensive, and I won’t let someone in my class miss out on learning if they don’t have one. But when I spend my own personal money and get through them at an alarming, never-to-be-seen-again rate, I can’t help thinking something is wrong. Challenging the leadership team gets us nowhere. They are dealing with much bigger issues and the nuts and bolts required to set up a student for good learning can be overlooked, even if this is not the intention. I know it’s not just my school. All the schools I have worked in have had similar expectations, although my current one has a pretty spectacular financial deficit. I work as an examiner in creative subjects. I see a wealth of work from different schools and know that having state-of-the-art technology does not mean the work produced will be the best. I would love to be in a situation where I do not have to struggle for what I need every time I plan a unit of work. I know challenges make for learning and creative thinking, but it would be nice not to battle with broken or missing equipment, or to have to pay for the shortfall myself. My colleagues feel the same. When we hear of people liberating supplies from the stationery cupboard for personal use, we joke about how we do the opposite. Even though my bank balance is suffering and I am starting to feel resentful, morally I am still torn. The upside of course is that I can be in control of what I create and make the resources exactly the way I want them. This is the choice I make. If I didn’t put my heart and soul into my materials I would have to do without and find other ways to teach using more dated, traditional techniques and front-led, hierarchical methods. This would probably mean that my students would not learn as much as they do, and my work would become theoretical and abstract, not involved and engaging. I know many of my students would find learning in these outmoded methods challenging, even though there is sometimes a place for them. In the kind of school I work in, the children are already viewed in a negative light by wider society. They do not come from a place of privilege but from a place of struggle and disengagement. If what I am doing can get them fired up about learning and show them that education is a pathway to change, I am going to give it my best effort. I just wish it wasn’t costing me so much money.

Two female soldiers filed a lawsuit yesterday arguing that they have the constitutional right to fight on the front lines in combat. U.S. Army reservists Jane Baldwin and Ellen Haring say that the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection if the law ensures that they cannot be discriminated against when it comes to combat duty. The military has already expanded some spots to women, but Baldwin and Haring are seeking full equality. They have named Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other military officials as the defendants in their case.

Musical distracters, personality type and cognitive performance in school children The aim of this study was to ascertain the nature of the interaction between the affective value of musical distraction, personality type and performance on the cognitive tasks of reading comprehension, free recall, mental arithmetic and verbal reasoning in children aged 1112 years. It was hypothesized that the cognitive performance of extraverts would be signifcantly poorer when in the presence of background music that has a negatively affective value than when in the presence of background music that has a positively affective value. It was predicted that the converse of this would be true of introverts and neurotic personality types. Although few signifcant results were found in support of the central hypothesis, several results supported theoretical assumptions and showed clear trends that warrant further investigation. Limitations of this study and both experimental and interpretational problems in this area are discussed.

FBI Says It Has A Warrant Requirement For Stingray Use; Has Exception Broad Enough To Ensure It Never Needs A Warrant from the the-warrant-that-wasn't-there dept As Mike covered here earlier, Sens. Grassley and Leahy are asking the FBI for more answers on its Stingray usage. Not that anyone should be holding their breath in anticipation of a response. The government's use of Stingray devices has been actively hidden from the public (and criminal defendants) for years. Local law enforcement's use has also been hidden, thanks to a bizarre set of non-disclosure agreements, both with the manufacturer (Harris) and the FBI itself. So, while we wait for the heavily-redacted responses to the senators' queries to eventually arrive at an undetermined point in the far future, let's take a closer look at what the FBI has actually gone on record with about its Stingray use. The good news (that actually isn't) is this: the FBI now has a warrant requirement for Stingray deployment. But there are (of course) exceptions. [W]e understand that the FBI’s new policy requires FBI agents to obtain a search warrant whenever a cell-site simulator is used as part of a FBI investigation or operation, unless one of several exceptions apply, including (among others): (1) cases that pose an imminent danger to public safety, (2) cases that involve a fugitive, or (3) cases in which the technology is used in public places or other locations at which the FBI deems there is no reasonable expectation of privacy. We have concerns about the scope of the exceptions. If and when the answers arrive, the numbers following these questions will be highly illuminating. 2. From January 1, 2010, to the effective date of the FBI’s new policy: a. How many times did the FBI use a cell-site simulator? b. In how many of these instances was the use of a cell-site simulator authorized by a search warrant? c. In how many of these instances was the use of the cell-site simulator authorized by some other form of legal process? Please identify the legal process used. d. In how many of these instances was the cell-site simulator used without any legal process? e. In how many of the instances referenced in Question 2(d) did the FBI use a cell-site simulator in a public place or other location in which the FBI deemed there is no reasonable expectation of privacy? A Stingray device is rarely deployed from the comfort of the suspect's living room. In fact, it's safe to say this never happens. What does happen is that Stingrays are deployed from vehicles on public streets or flown overhead in aircraft. It would probably be safe to say that there has not been a Stingray deployment thatoccur in a public place.So, there's really no need toseek a warrant. The FBI can point proudly to its new warrant requirement as evidence of its respect for privacy, just as long as no one asks if there are any exceptions. Grassley and Leahy, however,asked. And they have mastered the art of the understatement. They continue:The rule isby the exception.. There is no need for the FBI toseek a warrant for Stingray usage. If some weird situation does manage to crop up, it will probably involve some other exception (including ones that aren't listed here), and we're back to square one.Given the scope of the "public place" exception, the answers to (d) and (e) should be nearly identical. All that remains to be seen is how close those numbers are to 2(a). Filed Under: 4th amendment, doj, fbi, privacy, stingray, warrant

TURLOCK, Calif. - Sarah Palin spent only a few hours in Turlock. But the repercussions of her visit will last a long time, from the big money she drew to the debate over her appearance to a legal investigation into the non-profit foundation that signed her. California State University-Stanislaus officials said they couldn't be happier with her appearance at the 50th anniversary gala, bringing in more money than any other event in campus history. "I am really very pleased," university President Hamid Shirvani said Saturday. "It was an extraordinary event, unprecedented in the past five years I've been associated with the university, and according to many, unprecedented as long as they have been with the university." Stanislaus County Supervisor Vito Chiesa, who attended the gala, said the university achieved its goal. "I think they hit a home run for raising money," he said. Officials estimated net income at $200,000. "I didn't know what all the rancor was about before; she's there for a school and she turned it into an educational speech." But there remains plenty of rancor. The finances of the university's foundation remain under investigation by Attorney General Jerry Brown. And a lawsuit by the watchdog group CalAware, claiming the public university employees had more involvement in the event than officials claimed, continues. So does the effort of Sen. Leland Yee. The Democrat, who has championed laws requiring university foundation records to be made public, targeted Cal State-Stanislaus over the secrecy of Palin's speaking fee in her contract for the event. CalAware attorney Terry Francke said the fight isn't over, even though the event is. "We were not that interested in the honorarium but interested in how involved university officers were in the planning and execution of this event," Francke told the Los Angeles Times. "It's that point that goes to the question of whether the foundation should be as transparent as the university." Shirvani said, "We have nothing to worry about with any investigation or anything at all about the foundation. We didn't do anything that was wrong or illegal." At the same time, some alumni and donors were upset over Palin's appearance on campus. Some current faculty and students also complained, contending Palin didn't belong at the university's anniversary gala. Shirvani said the university hopes to reach out to some of those people by inviting a wide range of viewpoints to the school. "The concept of the university is to be exposed to social ideas," he said. "If you want to take bold steps, you invite people who have strong opinions and are controversial."

Read more articles by Press Association Don’t miss any action. Sign up for the free BN newsletter(s) here PROMOTER Frank Warren insists James DeGale will not walk away from boxing despite the Londoner hinting at retirement following his shock defeat to Caleb Truax. Truax, the 34-year-old American, was a 16-1 outsider to beat the former Olympic champion at London’s Copper Box Arena on Saturday night. But DeGale, who was taken to hospital after the bruising encounter following a suspected broken nose, was no match for Truax and lost on a majority decision. DeGale was making his comeback after nearly a year on the sidelines following shoulder surgery, and was expected to have despatched of Truax with a view to fighting long-term rival George Groves or Chris Eubank Jnr in an all-British mega fight next year. Devastated with my performance last night. Feel like Ive let everyone down – myself, my family, friends and fans. I dont want 2 be in any other position than No1 so going to take some time out 2 reflect and make some decisions goin forward.Thank u all for your love & support ???????? — James DeGale (@jamesdegale1) December 10, 2017 But the 31-year-old’s career now hangs in the balance after losing his IBF super-middleweight title with Eubank Jnr describing his performance as “shameful” and Groves urging his long-term rival to hang up his gloves. “I am devastated with my performance last night,” DeGale tweeted on Sunday. “I feel like I’ve let everyone down – myself, my family, friends and fans. I don’t want to be in any other position than No 1 so I am going to take some time out to reflect and make some decisions going forward.” DeGale’s tweet would appear to suggest the Londoner, who shot to prominence after winning Olympic gold at the 2008 Beijing Games, is considering his future in the ring. But Warren, who already has one eye on a rematch with Truax, believes DeGale will fight on. After all the trash talk & disrespectful comments @jamesdegale1 you go & put on a display like that!! All I can say is WOW!!! You have properly let down British Boxing #Shameful — Chris Eubank Jr (@ChrisEubankJr) December 9, 2017 “I don’t think he will retire,” Warren said. “You’ve got to be tough mentally, and if you had a bad day at the office, as James had, then you have got to push it to the back of your mind, learn from it, get back in the ring and show them what you are made of. “It is not like he is a washed-up fighter. He is only 31 and he is still a young man. Of course it is a setback – any loss is a setback for a champion if you lose your title – but champions come back and win and we have seen a lot of fighters do that over the years.” DeGale’s fourth defence of his title fell apart in the fifth round after Truax unleashed a number of fierce shots with his opponent up against the ropes. DeGale somehow survived the barrage, but headed to his corner bruised, bloodied and in deep trouble. Call it a day mate, you ain’t got it no more. — George Groves (@StGeorgeGroves) December 9, 2017 DeGale put up brave resistance to stay in the fight, but it was Truax who delivered the more telling shots, with two judges scoring the fight 115-112 and 116-112 in favour of the challenger. “James got his tactics wrong,” Warren added. “I know what I am going to say when I see him. He might not want to hear it, and he might tell me to p*** off and mind my own business, but you can only say what you think. “I went to the corner in the 10th round and said, ‘James, you are behind in this fight and you need to win these two rounds at least’. I jumped up in the last round and screamed at him: ‘James, you’ve got to knock him out.’ He looked at me quizzically. “He could have won the fight, but he let the other fella make it his by being the aggressor and coming forward and that caught the eye of the judges.”

The Community Harvest Project started with the intention of helping people on low incomes, or in financial hardship, afford simple food items and groceries. The project is the brainchild of the Katanning Community Resource Centre. If you can't afford to pay for something with money, you can offer to volunteer your time helping at the store to help pay for the goods you need. Jennifer Dowling is the Community Harvest Coordinator. Her motivation to be involved in such a project goes back many years. "When I was at university, these little shops sometimes got seconds and sometimes bought in, you know, bulk items and packaged them themselves, and it was a means of feeding yourself while you were on a low income." "But one of the wonderful things that actually came out of that, as well, was from the volunteers you would get extra life skills. "They'd teach you, say for example, if there were sheep flaps in the freezer and you didn't know what to do with sheep flaps, someone would show you how to render them down and make them into pies." It has taken many months to prepare the store for opening, with the help of community funding, hardware donations and many volunteers. Ms Dowling said this was a great start to the project. "From all indications, we're going to do well. It's going to be a wonderful thing." Although the store's primary purpose is to help those who need a hand up rather than a hand out, Ms Dowling said anyone could offer to volunteer. "We have a community garden at the Community Resource Centre as well. So if there is someone with a green thumb who wanted to help us grow some food as well that we could then put into Community Harvest, we'd more than welcome them to come on board and help out." "And they would still be entitled to a kilo of goods for every hour they volunteer." Ms Dowling was clear about the local business role of the Community Harvest Project and explained the store would always be happy to take donations from local shops such as butchers and grocers, but said there will also be other ways to donate. "It's certainly not designed to take away from any of the local businesses; it's actually designed to compliment and for an education for people in the community as well." "We're also looking at something called gleaning. I'll use my house as an example; I have an apricot tree and a plum tree and when they all come to fruit it all happens at one time. So what I could do is I could actually contact Community Harvest and say: 'I have this tree full of fruit, can someone come and get it?' And then that fruit could come back to Community Harvest."

Dubbing the charges as "baseless" and "cheap gimmick", Bansal said it was "an effort to vilify me" and went to the extent of saying that if any iota of charges were proved against him, he would quit Parliament for ever. Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha saw BJP members raising the issue as soon as the Houses met for the day at 11 AM, forcing adjournments till noon. The Lok Sabha again adjourned on the issue during Zero Hour till 2 PM amid uproar and clash between members of BJP and SP. While BJP wanted to press the shop allotment issue, the SP members wanted to raise the issue of alleged atrocities against party workers by the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh. The Rajya Sabha also adjourned again at 2 PM for an hour amid uproarious scenes. At one point, the SP members stormed the well and were seen aggressively asking their BJP counterparts to let them have their say. The saffron party members insisted that Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj should be allowed to speak first. After the House adjourned, BJP and SP members were seen engaged in heated exchanges with leaders of other parties intervening and asking them to calm down. Refusing to be on the backfoot, an emotional Bansal dismissed BJP's claim that it was a report of a magisterial enquiry or one by a commission of inquiry against him. "It was only the internal work of an officer ... who may have overstepped his responsibility," he said. Maintaining that he had written letters for allotment of some 8 feet by 8 feet shops allotted to poor street vendors, he asserted "make your own enquiry, have your own members in that committee or order a CBI probe. In fact, I too would want a CBI probe to get my name cleared." The Minister maintained that the enquiry "supposedly" took a year, but no one had approached him for seeking his version which is required under any probe. Alleging that the campaign against him was "politically motivated", he said that BJP member from Amritsar, Navjyot Singh Sidhu, wanted to shift to Chandigarh in the next Lok Sabha polls. "Sushmaji, you can also come to Chandigarh, then I will show", virtually challenging the senior BJP leader. Swaraj wanted to respond to Bansal's "challenge" but could not as SP members were keen on raising the issue of detention of their leader Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh. This led to pandemonium and the House was adjourned till 2 PM. "Even if there is a grain of truth in the charges against me, I will never look back towards Parliament", an assertive Bansal said, adding that the allegations amounted to a "joke" by those who are "unnerved" because of the coming corporation elections in November. Besides demanding Bansal's resignation, BJP members alleged that their party activists were attacked last week in Chandigarh when they were demanding CBI probe in the alleged multi-crore rupee fraud in allotment of small shops. Swaraj said a report on the allotment of small shops or booths had highlighted "glaring irregularities" in the process. She demanded that the CBI should probe the matter. After the first adjournment in the Lok Sabha, Bansal was seen talking to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, apparently explaining the issue. He was later seen speaking to Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee. In the Rajya Sabha, BJP members S S Ahluwalia and Rajiv Pratap Rudy tried to raise the Chandigarh shop allotment issue during Zero Hour. Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan, who was in the Chair, said the Rajya Sabha Chairman had not admitted the petition of the BJP member to raise the issue. But the BJP members were adamant and trooped into the Well following which Khan adjourned the House till noon. As soon as the House re-assembled for Question Hour at 2 PM, BJP members trooped into the well shouting slogans against corruption and demanding "the corrupt should resign". No question could be taken up with the BJP members refusing to relent even as Chairman Hamid Ansari asked them to give a notice for discussion on the issue if they wanted it. When pointed out that the BJP member had given a notice to raise it in Zero Hour, Ansari said the notice was given only at 1:58 pm today and it requires some time to take a decision. As the BJP members engaged in slogan shouting, Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah said, "They are not interested in welfare of the nation. It is very unfortunate." As the din continued, the Chairman adjourned the House till 3 pm. Earlier, when the Upper House met for the day, BJP members raised the issue forcing two adjournments before lunch.

Students Career Decision-Making During Online Learning: The Mediating Roles of Self-Efficacy in Vocational Education In the last decade, vocational education in Indonesia has experienced problems in making career decisions for students, which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this research aims to examine the role of self-efficacy and mediate digital literacy, social environment, and counselling guidance in influencing career decision-making. This is an ex-post-facto research design with data collected from a sample of 566 vocational education students in Indonesia through a questionnaire method distributed online using Google Form. The collected data was then analyzed using structural equation modelling (SEM) with path analysis and bootstrap methods. The results revealed that self-efficacy plays a vital role in mediating digital literacy and guiding students in career decision-making. On the other hand, digital literacy, guidance, and counselling have a significant direct effect on self-efficacy and career decision-making. Meanwhile, the social environment only has a significant direct effect on students career decision-making. The real role of all elements of vocational education in strengthening self-efficacy, growing digital literacy, monitoring social environment interactions, and providing counselling guidance to students is needed to increase optimism and the quality of career decision-making in vocational education.

Clearance of t-PA, PAI-1, and t-PA-PAI-1 complex in an isolated perfused rat liver system. The role of physiologic inhibitors of tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) in its clearance has not yet been defined. In this study, the clearance of t-PA, plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1), and t-PA-PAI-1 complex was determined in an isolated perfused rat liver system. The clearance of t-PA-PAI-1 complex was twice as fast as that of t-PA, whereas PAI-1 was cleared slowly. The half-lives for t-PA, determined by a two-compartmental pharmacokinetic model, were: alpha, 20.1 minutes, and beta, 120.0 minutes. The corresponding values for t-PA-PAI-1 complex were: alpha, 9.7 minutes, and beta, about 7 hours. The model microconstants were computed for t-PA and t-PA-PAI-1 complex and the marked difference between the "on" microconstants k12 for t-PA (0.026 +/- 0.001 min-1) and t-PA-PAI-1 complex (0.090 +/- 0.025 min-1) suggests that the effect on binding to liver cells is the most important factor in the faster clearance of t-PA-PAI-1 complex when compared with t-PA.

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Police are investigating a shooting in the Parkland neighborhood of Louisville that left one person dead. It was reported around 6:55 p.m. Thursday in the 1000 block of South 29th Street. That’s between Kentucky Street and Greenwood Avenue. Police confirmed a man in his late 20s to early 30s was shot multiple times. The victim was identified as Nathan Standard, 29, by Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Charles Eden on Friday. Emergency crews rushed Standard to University Hospital where he was in critical condition on Thursday evening, a Louisville Metro Police Department spokeswoman said. On Thursday night, LMPD confirmed Standard had died. The coroner’s report listed the time of death as 8:41 p.m., with gunshot wounds as the cause. Witnesses told police about a vehicle speeding away from the scene, MetroSafe said. Anyone with information on this crime should call LMPD’s anonymous tipline at 502-574-LMPD (5673).

Everton should feel let down by Wayne Rooney's recent off-the-field antics, according to the Sunday Supplement Everton should feel let down by Wayne Rooney’s off-the-field antics, according to the Sunday Supplement panel. Everton should feel let down by Wayne Rooney’s off-the-field antics, according to the Sunday Supplement panel. Everton should feel let down by Wayne Rooney's recent off-the-field antics, according to Dominic Fifield on the Sunday Supplement. The former England captain was charged with drink-driving after he was stopped by police in the early hours of Friday morning. The 31-year-old has now been charged and is due to appear at Stockport Magistrates' Court on Monday, September 18 - the day after he returns to Manchester United with Everton in the Premier League. This comes after a promising start to Rooney's Everton return with the striker on target in his first two league appearances this season after rejoining his boyhood club from United. And The Guardian's London Football Correspondent, Fifield, thinks Everton boss Ronald Koeman, who re-signed Rooney on a two-year deal in July, must be wondering what he's let himself in for. Ronald Koeman should feel let down by Rooney's off-the-field antics, according to The Guardian's Dominic Fifield "There's that self-destructive streak in him, there always has been," Fifield told the Sunday Supplement. "There is an irony that this is probably the first international break where we shouldn't be talking about Wayne Rooney and this has flared up. I'm sure this has prompted a fair amount of dismay at Everton, not least dismay within the Rooney household. "Ronald Koeman must now be wondering what he's let himself in for by bringing him back to Everton and it's just a sad story. "This is a player that looked as if he was revived, who was back at home but 53 days after re-joining Everton it's all gone wrong already. Now there's the prospect of a court appearance potentially 24 hours after his return to Manchester United. It's a mess but it's a self-inflicted mess." When asked if Everton should feel let down by Rooney, Fifield added: "They should do and I'm sure they do. Rooney was on target in his first two league appearances this season after rejoining Everton "They thought they were bringing back the consummate professional, the figure that had established himself at United as the club's record goalscorer, England captain and a man with 53 goals for his country. "They didn't think they were bringing back the tearaway teenager that there were issues with way back in 2003 and 2004 when they had him last time. They thought they were bringing back someone very different but during the first break Wayne has had in a very long time, this has happened. "It's a reminder that the self-destructive element is still there." It's not the first time that Rooney has hit the headlines for his misdemeanours off-the field and Fifield thinks Rooney, who announced his international retirement last week after scoring 53 goals in 119 appearances for England, could have achieved more were it not for his 'laddish' tendencies. Rooney's retired from international football last month "You do wonder what he might have achieved had he not had the laddish tendencies," Fifield added. "I don't think he was ever going to be the Lionel Messi or the Cristiano Ronaldo but I was lucky enough to be at the game against Arsenal when he scored that wonderful goal against David Seaman in the last minute. "He just took you off your seat and you thought this is a player that could tear it up for club and country. The records and the numbers are great. "The achievements of record goalscorer for club and country are fantastic, but could he have achieved more? Possibly."

Tools vendor Infragistics today released NetAdvantage for .NET 2007 Volume 2, its latest set of presentation components for Windows Forms and ASP.NET. The toolset includes a new gauge control, available for both WinForms and ASP.NET that adds business intelligence functionality to the product. The component can be used to make radial, linear or digital-style controls for dashboards and other applications. A beta version of the gauge shipped in the tool suite’s Vol. 1 release. Since then, Infragistics "added a bunch more styles and did some work as to the design time experience," says Andrew Flick, Infragistics product manager for rich clients. The gauge tool is the company's first foray into such components. "Gauges are one of the things that people would go out and buy, and we want to be the single tool vendor for everybody," Flick says, adding that the company is happy with its results. "In comparison [to established gauge providers such as Dundas] I think we’ve got a very nice gauge. … As far as meeting use cases, it’s there and beyond." Another feature in the ASP.NET suite focuses on search engine optimization. "It makes it easier for Web crawlers to scrape through the components," Flick says. Now included among the WinForms components is a PDF/XPS document export feature that can be used to generate reports; and improved support for reading and exporting Excel files. Pricing for the tools begins at $795.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a can type secondary battery, and more particularly to a can type secondary battery having a fixing unit which improves the safety of the secondary battery. 2. Description of the Prior Art As portable wireless appliances such as video cameras, portable phones, and portable computers have become more compact and lightweight with high-grade functions, various studies are being carried out in relation to secondary batteries which are used as power sources for such portable wireless appliances. Secondary batteries include Ni—Cd batteries, Ni-MH batteries, Ni—Zn batteries and lithium secondary batteries. Among other things, lithium secondary batteries are rechargeable batteries fabricated in a small size with high capacity. The lithium secondary batteries represent high operational voltage and high energy density per unit weight, so lithium secondary batteries are extensively used in advanced electronic technology fields. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a conventional can type lithium ion secondary battery. According to the conventional can type lithium ion secondary battery, an electrode assembly 112 including a second electrode plate 113, a first electrode plate 115 and a separator 114 is accommodated in a can 110 together with an electrolyte. An upper opening section 110a of the can 110 is sealed by means of a cap assembly 120. The cap assembly 120 includes a cap plate 140, an insulation plate 150, a terminal plate 160 and an electrode terminal 130. The cap assembly 120 is accommodated in an insulation case 170 and is coupled to the upper opening section 110a of the can 110 to seal the can 110. The cap plate 140 is a metal plate having a size and a shape corresponding to the upper opening section 110a of the can 110. The cap plate 140 has formed a first terminal hole 141 at its center having a predetermined size into which the electrode terminal 130 is insertable. A gasket tube 146 is coupled around the electrode terminal 130 in order to insulate the electrode terminal 130 from the cap plate 140 when the electrode terminal 130 is inserted into the first terminal hole 141. In addition, an electrolyte injection hole 142 having a predetermined size is formed at one side of the cap plate 140. After the cap assembly 120 has been assembled with the upper opening section 110a of the can 110, the electrolyte is injected into the can 110 through the electrolyte injection hole 142. Then, the electrolyte injection hole 142 is sealed by means of a sealing member. The electrode terminal 130 is connected to a first electrode tap 117 of the first electrode plate 115 or a second electrode tap 116 of the second electrode plate 113 in such a manner that the electrode terminal 130 may act as a first electrode terminal or a second electrode terminal. The first electrode plate 115 may be used as a positive electrode plate or a negative electrode plate. Additionally, the second electrode plate 113 may also be used as a negative electrode or a positive electrode plate. The insulation plate 150 may be made from insulative material substantially similar to the material used for a gasket and coupled to a bottom surface of the cap plate 140. The insulation plate 150 may be formed at a predetermined portion thereof with a second terminal hole 151, which corresponds to the first terminal hole 141 of the cap plate 140. The electrode terminal 130 may extend through the second terminal hole 151 of the insulation plate 150. In addition, the insulation plate 150 may have a bottom surface formed with a resting groove 152 having a size corresponding to a size of the terminal plate 160 in such a manner that the terminal plate 160 can be stably rested in the resting groove 152. The terminal plate 160 is made from a Ni-alloy and is coupled to the bottom surface of the insulation plate 150. The terminal plate 160 includes a third terminal hole 161 corresponding to the first terminal hole 141 of the cap plate 140. Since the electrode terminal 130 may extend through the third terminal hole 161 of the terminal plate 160 while being insulated from the terminal plate 160 by the gasket tube 146, the terminal plate 160 may be electrically insulated from the cap plate 140 and may be electrically connected to the electrode terminal 130. However, in such a lithium secondary battery, voltage may suddenly rise if an internal short circuit, an external short circuit or overcharge/over-discharge of the electrode assembly occurs. In this case, the lithium secondary battery may cease to function. In order to prevent the secondary battery from short circuiting, insulative tapes are attached not only to end portions of a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate of the electrode assembly, but also to a welding section of an electrode tap. In addition, the secondary battery is electrically connected to safety devices, such as a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) element, a thermal fuse and a protecting circuit. Such safety devices may shut off current when the voltage or temperature of the secondary battery suddenly rises, thereby preventing the secondary battery from being broken or damaged. If the lithium ion secondary battery is deformed due to external impact or external pressure applied thereto, the protective circuit or the protective device may not be able to prevent a short circuit between electrodes. According to a longitudinal compression evaluation method, which is one of the methods for evaluating the safety of the can-type secondary battery, the short circuit between the electrode plates within the can-type secondary battery is a problem. In a longitudinal compression test, which is one of the items for evaluating the safety of the can-type secondary battery, a compression jig is used to compress both lateral surfaces of the can-type secondary battery in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the can-type secondary battery. During the compression, the compression surfaces of the compression jig remain parallel to both lateral surfaces of the can-type secondary battery and the compression force is 13 kN. As the can-type secondary battery is compressed according to the longitudinal compression evaluation method, the first and second electrode plates are short-circuited and currents flow abruptly from the second electrode plate to the first electrode plate. As a result, excessive heat is generated by the first and second electrode plates' own resistance. The excessive heating may cause the second battery to explode. In addition, if the secondary battery is pressed in a longitudinal direction or if a downward external force is applied to the secondary battery from the upper end of the cap assembly, the terminal plate coupled to the bottom surface of the cap assembly may separate from the insulation plate and bend towards the electrode assembly, thereby causing a short circuit between the second electrode plate and the first electrode plate. Therefore, the safety of the secondary battery may be reduced.

1. Field of the Invention The invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for speech recognition and, more particularly, to a method and system for dynamic speech recognition using free-phone scoring. 2. Description of the Related Art Remote telephone access by a customer to confidential bank or credit card account information has become common. Typically, the customer enters an account number followed by a Personal Identification Number (PIN) via the telephone keypad. The application automatically accesses the specified account information and compares the entered PIN with that stored in the account. If there is a match between PINs, then the application allows the customer to proceed to access the account information. On the other hand, if the PINs do not match, then the application usually calls for human intervention, such as forwarding the call to an account representative. Often the PINs do not match because the customer has forgotten the PIN, and, therefore, the account representative must request a "secret password," such as the maiden name of the customer's mother, to identify the customer as having authorization to access the account. Such human intervention is costly, requiring a team of representatives waiting to intervene. Typical speech recognition systems are unsuitable for replacing such human intervention. Speech recognition systems usually include a database storing voice templates or models, which represent complete words or phrases. The system compares these templates or models, which are constructed from collected data samples, to the received spoken words. Consequently, the database must comprise all possible responses and, therefore, requires the collection and verification of a large number of data samples. Where the recognition system is employed in an application in which customer responses are limited, such a system may be acceptable. Where the recognition system is employed in an application in which customer responses are virtually unlimited, such a system is unacceptable. Thus, a need exists for an improved voice recognition system that does not require the collection and verification of a large number of data samples. Improvements have been made in the field of speech recognition systems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,608 to Bocchieri et al. (Bocchieri) is directed to an improved speech recognition system. In general, Bocchieri addresses the problem of requiring data collection and verification to create word templates by allowing a customer to enter anticipated responses into a computer. Once the customer enters anticipated responses via a keyboard, the computer creates a phonetic transcription of each entered word. Creating the phonetic transcription involves accessing a dictionary database, which contains common words and associated phonetic transcriptions, and determining whether the entered word and its associated phonetic transcription already exist. If the phonetic transcription does not exist, the computer proceeds to store the entered word with its associated phonetic transcription in a vocabulary lexicon database. Upon receiving a spoken word input, the computer constructs a subword model of the word comprising one or more sequences of subwords. Each subword comprises a series of phonemes. Each phoneme, in turn, represents a discrete sound. The computer compares the subword model to the phonetic transcriptions in the vocabulary lexicon database to determine whether the spoken input "matches" the entered anticipated response corresponding to the phonetic transcription. The system deems that a match has occurred by assigning a confidence recognition factor to the comparison of the subword model and the phonetic transcription and determining whether that confidence factor exceeds a predetermined confidence threshold value. However, the system cannot recognize spoken data if that data has not been previously entered. Thus, while Bocchieri allows easy customization of the system, the customer of the system must still have prior knowledge of all potentially received spoken data so that it can be entered via the keyboard into the system. Additionally, speech recognition systems must be reliable. Traditionally, the accuracy of speech recognition systems has been ensured by setting a high confidence threshold when comparing the subword model with the phonetic transcription. Such a high confidence threshold ensures that no erroneous access is allowed; however, often the high threshold causes the system to erroneously find no match and deny access to an authorized customer. Individualistic speech patterns and pronunciations and coarticulation error, which often results in the blending of phonemes, are some of the factors that contribute to these erroneous denials of access. These same factors contribute to erroneous allowance of access. Some speech recognition systems ensure reliability by taking advantage of these individualistic speech patterns and pronunciations. More specifically, these systems utilize voice transcriptions to create a trained subword model database. This trained subword model database comprises customer-dependent phonemes. While improving reliability, the systems are expensive in set-up and operation. Specifically, providing trained subword model databases requires pre-enrollment. Typically, training requires the customer to recite a few sentences containing words that comprise most, if not all, phonemes. The sentences are broken up into the phonemes for use in the customer-dependent subword database. Because the system involves training most or all phonemes, the system has the advantage that the secret password can be changed without retraining the system. The system, however, has the disadvantage of being costly to set up and operate. The added expense lies not only in the creation of each trained subword database, but also in the creation of the entire speech recognition system because a separate customer-dependent model must be created for each customer. Another type of speech recognition system that utilizes a trained subword model involves training only the secret password and the particular phonemes contained therein. This type of system is less costly to implement because a trained subword database containing all phonemes is not necessary. Instead, pre-enrollment involves training only the secret password. Because only the particular secret password is trained, however, any change to the password requires re-enrollment and re-training of the new password. Again, the system is costly to set up and operate. Thus, although systems using trained subword databases are reliable, they are somewhat impractical; the need for an improved voice recognition system, particularly one that does not require prior enrollment, remains unsatisfied. 3. Summary of the Invention These needs are satisfied by a method for recognizing a speech utterance as a predetermined unit of speech. The method comprises generating a free-phone model of the speech utterance and calculating a free-phone score representing the likelihood that the free-phone model accurately represents the speech utterance. The method also comprises determining whether the speech utterance matches the predetermined unit of speech based upon its score. In an alternative embodiment, the determination of whether the speech utterance matches the predetermined unit of speech is based upon both a word score and the free-phone score. A system for recognizing a speech utterance as a predetermined unit of speech is also provided.

Charles III (Spanish: Carlos; Italian: Carlo; 20 January 1716 – 14 December 1788) was King of Spain (1759–1788), after ruling Naples as Charles VII and Sicily as Charles V (1734–1759). He was the fifth son of Philip V of Spain, and the eldest son of Philip's second wife, Elisabeth Farnese. A proponent of enlightened absolutism, he succeeded to the Spanish throne on 10 August 1759, upon the death of his half-brother Ferdinand VI, who left no heirs. In 1731, the 15-year-old Charles became the Duke of Parma and Piacenza, as Charles I, following the death of his childless granduncle Antonio Farnese. In 1738 he married Princess Maria Amalia of Saxony, daughter of Augustus III of Poland and an educated, cultured woman who gave birth to 13 children, eight of whom reached adulthood. Charles and Maria Amalia resided in Naples for 19 years. As King of Spain, Charles III made far-reaching reforms such as promoting science and university research, facilitating trade and commerce, and modernising agriculture. He also tried to reduce the influence of the Church and avoided costly wars. His previous experience as King of Naples and Sicily proved valuable. He did not achieve complete control over the State's finances, and was sometimes obliged to borrow to meet expenses. Most of his reforms proved to be successful and his important legacy lives on to this day.[1] Historian Stanley Payne wrote that Charles III "was probably the most successful European ruler of his generation. He had provided firm, consistent, intelligent leadership. He had chosen capable ministers....[his] personal life had won the respect of the people."[2] Spanish imperial legacy [ edit ] In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht concluded the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14) and reduced the political and military power of Spain, which the House of Bourbon had ruled since 1700. Under the terms of the treaty, the Spanish Empire retained its American territories, but ceded to Habsburg Austria the Southern Netherlands, the kingdoms of Naples and Sardinia, the Duchy of Milan, and the State of Presidi. Moreover, the House of Savoy gained the Kingdom of Sicily, and the Kingdom of Great Britain gained the island of Menorca and the fortress at Gibraltar. In 1700, Charles' father, originally a French prince, became King of Spain as Philip V. For the remainder of his reign (1700–46), he continually attempted to regain the ceded territories. In 1714, after the death of the king's first wife, the Princess Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy, the Piacenzan Cardinal Giulio Alberoni successfully arranged the marriage between Philip and the ambitious Elisabeth Farnese, niece and stepdaughter of Francesco Farnese, Duke of Parma. Elisabeth and Philip married on 24 December 1714; she quickly proved a domineering consort, and influenced King Philip to make Cardinal Giulio Alberoni the Prime Minister of Spain in 1715. On 20 January 1716, Elisabeth gave birth to the Infante Charles of Spain at the Real Alcázar of Madrid. He was fourth in line to the Spanish throne, after three elder half-brothers: the Infante Luis, Prince of Asturias (who ruled briefly as Louis I of Spain before dying in 1724), the Infante Felipe (who died in 1719), and Ferdinand (the future Ferdinand VI). Because the Duke Francesco of Parma and his heir were childless, Elisabeth sought the duchies of Parma and Piacenza for Charles. She also sought for him the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, because Gian Gastone de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1671–1737) was also childless. He was a distant cousin of hers, related via her great-grandmother Margherita de' Medici, giving Charles a claim to the title through that lineage. Biography [ edit ] Early years [ edit ] Charles at nine years old The birth of Charles encouraged the Prime Minister Alberoni to start laying out grand plans for Europe. In 1717 he ordered the Spanish invasion of Sardinia. In 1718, Alberoni also ordered the invasion of Sicily, which was also ruled by the House of Savoy. In the same year Charles' first sister, Infanta Mariana Victoria was born on 31 March. In reaction to the Quadruple Alliance of 1718, the Duke of Savoy then joined the Alliance and went to war with Spain. This war led to the dismissal of Alberoni by Philip in 1719. The Treaty of The Hague of 1720 included the recognition of Charles as heir to the Italian Duchies of Parma and Piacenza. Charles' half-brother, Infante Philip Peter, died on 29 December 1719, putting Charles third in line to the throne after Louis and Ferdinand. He would retain his position behind these two until they died and he succeeded to the Spanish throne. His second full brother, Infante Philip of Spain, was born on 15 March 1720. Beginning in 1721, King Philip had been negotiating with the Duke of Orléans, the French regent, to arrange three Franco-Spanish marriages that could potentially ease tense relations. The young Louis XV of France would marry the three-year-old Infanta Mariana Victoria and thus she would become Queen of France; Charles' half brother Louis would marry the fourth surviving daughter of the regent, Louise Elisabeth. Charles himself would be engaged to Philippine Elisabeth who was the fifth surviving daughter of the Duke of Orléans. In 1726 Charles met Philippine Élisabeth for the first time; Elisabeth Farnese later wrote to the regent and his wife regarding their meeting: "I believe, that you will not be displeased to learn of her first interview with her little husband. They embraced very affectionately and kissed one another, and it appears to me that he does not displease her. Thus, since this evening they do not like to leave one another. She says a hundred pretty things; one would not credit the things that she says, unless one heard them. She has the mind of an angel, and my son is only too happy to possess her . . . She has charged me to tell you that she loves you with all her heart, and that she is quite content with her husband." And to the duchesse d'Orléans she writes: "I find her the most beautiful and most lovable child in the world. It is the most pleasing thing imaginable to see her with her little husband: how they caress one another and how they love one another already. They have a thousand little secrets to tell one another, and they cannot part for an instant."[3] Charles at 11 years old Out of these marriages only Louis and Louise Élisabeth would wed. Elisabeth Farnese looked for other potential brides for her eldest son. For this she looked to Austria, its principal opponent for influence on the Italian peninsula. She proposed to Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, that the Infante Charles marry the eight-year old Archduchess Maria Theresa and that her second surviving son, the Infante Philip, marry the seven-year old Archduchess Maria Anna. The alliance of Spain and Austria was signed on 30 April 1725, and included Spanish support for the Pragmatic Sanction, a document drafted by Emperor Charles in 1713 to assure support for Maria Theresa in the succession to the throne of the Habsburgs. The emperor also relinquished all claims to the Spanish throne, and promised to support Spain in its attempts to regain Gibraltar. The ensuing Anglo-Spanish War stopped the ambitions of Elisabeth Farnese, and the marriage plans were abandoned with the signing of the Treaty of Seville on 9 November 1729. Provisions of the treaty did allow the Infante Charles the right to occupy Parma, Piacenza and Tuscany by force if necessary. After the Treaty of Seville, Philip V disregarded its provisions and formed an alliance with France and Great Britain. Antonio Farnese, the Duke of Parma, died on 26 February 1731 without naming an heir; this was because the widow of Antonio, Enrichetta d'Este was thought to have been pregnant at the time of his death. The Duchess was examined by many doctors without any confirmation of pregnancy. As a result, the Second Treaty of Vienna on 22 July 1731 officially recognised the young Infante Charles as Duke of Parma and Piacenza. The duchy was occupied by Count Carlo Stampa, who served as the lieutenant of Parma for the young Charles. Charles was from then on known as HRH Don Charles of Spain (or Borbón), Duke of Parma and Piacenza, Infante of Spain. Since he was still a minor, his maternal grandmother, Dorothea Sophie of Neuburg, was named regent. Arrival in Italy [ edit ] After a solemn ceremony in Seville, Charles was given the épée d'or ("sword of gold") by his father; the sword had been given to Philip V of Spain by his grandfather Louis XIV of France before his departure to Spain in 1700. Charles left Spain on 20 October 1731 and traveled overland to Antibes; he then sailed to Tuscany, arriving at Livorno on 27 December 1731. His cousin Gian Gastone de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, was named his co-tutor and despite Charles being the second in line to inherited Tuscany, the Grand Duke still gave him a warm welcome. En route to Florence from Pisa, Charles was taken ill with smallpox.[4] Charles made a grand entrance to the Medici capital of Florence on 9 March 1732 with a retinue of 250 people. He stayed with his host at the ducal residence, the Palazzo Pitti.[4] Gian Gastone staged a fête in honour of the Patron Saint of Florence, St. John the Baptist, on 24 June. At this fête Gian Gastone named Charles his heir, giving him the title of Hereditary Prince of Tuscany, and Charles paid homage to the Florentine senate, as was the tradition for heirs to the Tuscan throne. When Emperor Charles VI heard about the ceremony, he was greatly enraged due to Gian Gastone not informing him, as he was technical overlord of Tuscany and the nomination thus should have been his. Despite the celebrations, Elisabeth Farnese urged her son to go on to Parma. This he did in October 1732, where he was greeted with much joy. On the front of the ducal palace in Parma was written Parma Resurget (Parma shall rise again). At the same time the play La venuta di Ascanio in Italia was created by Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni. It was later performed at the Farnese Theatre in the city.[5][6] Character and appearance [ edit ] Charles III of Spain Upon his arrival in the peninsula, Charles was not yet seventeen years old. He received the strict and structured education of a Spanish Infante; he was very pious and was often in awe of his domineering mother, who according to many contemporaries, he resembled greatly. The Alvise Giovanni Mocenigo, Doge of Venice and Ambassador of Venice to Naples declared[6] that "...he received an education removed from all studies and all applications in order to be able to govern himself" (...tenne sempre un'educazione lontanissima da ogni studio e da ogni applicazione per diventare da sé stesso capace di governo).[7] On the other hand, he was educated in printmaking (remaining an enthusiastic etcher), painting, and a wide range of physical activities, including a future favourite of his, hunting. Sir Horatio Mann, a British diplomat in Florence noted that he was greatly impressed at the fondness Charles had for the sport. His physical appearance was dominated by the Bourbon nose that he had inherited from his father's side of the family. He was described as "a brown boy, who has a lean face with a bulging nose", and was known for his happy and exuberant character.[8] Conquest of Naples and Sicily [ edit ] In 1733, the death of Augustus II, King of Poland, sparked a succession crisis in Poland. France supported one pretender, and Austria and Russia another. France and Savoy formed an alliance to acquire territory from Austria. Spain, which had allied with France in late 1733 (the Bourbon Compact), also entered the conflict. Charles' mother, as regent, saw the opportunity to regain the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, which Spain had lost in the Treaty of Utrecht. Charles of Bourbon near Naples (1734) On 20 January 1734, Charles, now 18, reached his majority, and was "free to govern and to manage in a manner independent its states".[9] He was also named commander of all Spanish troops in Italy, a position he shared with the Duke of Montemar. On 27 February, King Philip declared his intention to capture the Kingdom of Naples, claiming he would free it of "excessive violence by the Austrian Viceroy of Naples, oppression and tyranny".[10] Charles, now "Charles I of Parma", was to be in charge. Charles inspected the Spanish troops at Perugia, and marched toward Naples on 5 March. The army passed through the Papal States then ruled by Clement XII.[9] The Austrians, already fighting the French and Savoyard armies to retain Lombardy, had only limited resources for the defence of Naples, and were divided on how best to oppose the Spanish. The Emperor wanted to keep Naples, but most of the Neapolitan nobility were against him, and some conspired against his viceroy. They hoped that Philip would give the kingdom to Charles, who would be more likely to live and rule there, rather than having a viceroy and serve a foreign power. On 9 March the Spanish took Procida and Ischia, two islands in the Bay of Naples. A week later they defeated the Austrians at sea. On 31 March, his army closed in on the Austrians in Naples. The Spanish flanked defensive position of the Austrians under general Traun, and forced them to withdraw to Capua. This allowed Charles and his troops to advance onto the city of Naples itself. The Austrian viceroy, Giulio Borromeo Visconti, and the commander of his army, Giovanni Carafa, left some garrisons holding the city's fortresses, and withdrew to Apulia. There they awaited reinforcements sufficient to defeat the Spanish. The Spanish entered Naples and laid siege to the Austrian-held fortresses. During that interval, Charles received the compliments of the local nobility, and the city keys and the privilege book from a delegation of the city's elected officials.[11] Chronicles of the time reported that Naples was captured "with humanity" and that the combat was only due to a general climate of courtesy between the two armies, often under the eyes of the Neapolitans that approached with curiosity The Spanish took the Carmine Castle on 10 April; Castel Sant'Elmo fell on 27 April; the Castel dell'Ovo on 4 May; and finally the New Castle on 6 May. This all occurred even though Charles had no military experience, seldom wore uniforms, and could only with difficulty be persuaded to witness a review. Rule of Naples and Sicily [ edit ] Charles had his triumphant entrance to Naples on 10 May 1734, through the old city gate at Capuana surrounded by the councillors of the city along with a group of people who threw money to the locals. The procession went on through the streets and ended up at the Cathedral of Naples, where Charles received a blessing from the local archbishop, Cardinal Pignatelli. Charles took up residence at the Royal Palace, which had been built by his ancestor, Philip III of Spain. Two chroniclers of the era, the Florentine Bartolomeo Intieri and the Venetian Cesare Vignola, made conflicting reports on the view of the situation by Neapolitans. Intieri writes that the arrival was an historic event, and that the crowd screamed that "His Royal Highness is beautiful, that his face is as the one of San Gennaro on the statue that the representative".[12] On the contrary, Vignola wrote that "there were only some acclamations", and that the crowd applauded with "a lot of languors" and only "to incite those that threw the money to throw it in more abundance".[13] King Philip V wrote the following letter to Charles: Mi muy Claro y muy amado Hijo. Por relevantes razones, y poderosos indispensables motivos havia resuelto, que en el caso de que mis Reales Armas, que he embiado à Italia para hacer la guerra al Emperador, se apoderasen del Reyno de Nàpoles os hubiese de quedar en propriedad como si vos lo hubiesedes acquirido con vuestras proprias fuerzas, y haviendo sido servido Dios de mirar por la justa causa que me asiste, y facilidar con su poderoso auxilio el mas feliz logro: Declaro que es mi voluntad que dicha conquista os pertenezca como a su legitimo Soverano en la mas ampla forma que ser pueda: Y para que lo podais hacer constar donde y quando combenga he querido manifestaroslo por esta Carta firmada de mi mano, y refrendada de mi infrascrito Consegero y Secretario de Estado y del Despacho. My very illustrious and much-loved son. For important reasons and powerful, necessary motives I had resolved that, in the case that my royal forces, whom I have dispatched to Italy to make war with the Emperor, should take control of the kingdom of Naples, it should rest in your possession as though you had acquired it with your own forces. As God has seen fit, in observing my just cause, to assist me, and facilitate with his powerful aid the most happy victory: I declare that it is my will that the aforementioned conquest pertain to you as its legitimate sovereign in the strongest sense possible: and in order that you may claim this right when and where convenient I have seen fit to make it manifest through this letter signed by my hand, and ratified by my undersigned Counseller and Secretary of State and Office. The letter began with the words "To the King of Naples, My Son and My Brother".[14] Charles was unique in the fact that he was the first ruler of Naples to actually live there, after two centuries of viceroys. However, Austrian resistance had not yet been completely eliminated. The emperor had sent reinforcements to Naples directed by the Prince of Belmonte, which arrived at Bitonto. Spanish troops led by the Count of Montemar attacked the Austrians on 25 May 1734 at Bitonto, and achieved a decisive victory. Belmonte was captured after he fled to Bari, while other Austrian troops were able to escape to the sea. To celebrate the victory, Naples was illuminated for three nights, and on 30 May, the Duke of Montemar, Charles' army commander, was named the Duke of Bitonto.[15] Today there is an obelisk in the city of Bitonto commemorating the battle. After the fall of Reggio Calabria on 20 June, Charles also conquered the towns of L'Aquila (27 June) and Pescara (28 July). The last two Austrian fortresses were Gaeta and Capua. The Siege of Gaeta, which Charles observed, ended on 6 August. Three weeks later, the Duke of Montemar left the mainland for Sicily where they arrived in Palermo on 2 September 1734, beginning a conquest of the island's Austrian-held fortresses that ended in early 1735. Capua, the only remaining Austrian stronghold in Naples, was held by von Traun until 24 November 1734. In the kingdom, the independence from the Austrians was popular. In July 1734, the British consul Edward Allen wrote to the Duke of Newcastle: "It is a matter certainly of a profit for this city and this kingdom that the king there lives which means that if the money between, it not some sets off again, which produced itself in an important way with the Germans that had drained all the gold of the population and almost all the money to do big gifts to the Emperor".[16][clarification needed] In 1735, pursuant to the treaty ending the war, Charles formally ceded Parma to Emperor Charles VI in exchange for his recognition as King of Naples and Sicily. Relations with the Holy See [ edit ] During the early years of Charles' reign the Neapolitan court was engaged in a dispute with the Holy See. The Kingdom of Naples was an ancient fief of the Papal States. For this reason, Pope Clement XII considered himself the only one entitled to invest the king of Naples. He did not recognise Charles of Bourbon as a legitimate sovereign. Through the apostolic nuncio, the Pope let Charles know he did not consider valid the nomination received by him from Charles' father, the King of Spain. In response, a committee headed by the Tuscan lawyer Bernardo Tanucci in Naples concluded that papal investiture was not necessary because the crowning of a king could not be considered a sacrament. Tanucci also implemented a policy of substantially limiting the privileges of the clergy, whose vast possessions enjoyed tax exemption and their own jurisdiction. However, the Neapolitan government also made conciliatory gestures, such as forbidding the return home of the exiled historian Pietro Giannone, unwelcome to the ecclesiastical hierarchy.[17] The situation worsened when, in 1735, just a few days before the coronation of Charles, the Pope chose to accept the traditional offering of Hackney from the Emperor rather than from Charles. The "Hackney" was a white mare and a sum of money which the King of Naples offered the Pope as feudal homage every 29 June, feast of Saints Peter and Paul. The reason for this choice was that Charles had not yet been recognized as ruler of the Kingdom of Naples by a treaty of peace, and so the Emperor was still de jure King of Naples. In addition, receiving the Hackney from the Empire was common, while receiving it from a Bourbon was a novelty. The Pope, therefore, considered the first option a less dramatic gesture, and in doing so provoked the wrath of the religious Spanish infante. Meanwhile, Charles had landed in Sicily. Although the Bourbon conquest of the island was not complete, he was crowned King of the Two Sicilies ("utriusque Siciliae rex") on 3 July in the ancient Cathedral of Palermo, after having travelled overland to Palmi, and by sea from Palmi to Palermo. The coronation bypassed the authority of the Pope thanks to the apostolic legation of Sicily, a medieval privilege which ensured the island a special legal autonomy from the Church. Thus, the papal legate did not attend the ceremony as Charles would have wanted.[18] In March 1735 a new discord developed between Rome and Naples. In Rome, it was discovered that the Bourbons had confined Roman citizens in the basement of Palazzo Farnese, which was the personal property of the King Charles; people were brought there to impress them into the newborn Neapolitan army. Thousands of inhabitants in the town of Trastevere stormed the palace to liberate them. The riot then degenerated into pillage. Next, the crowd directed itself toward the embassy of Spain in Piazza di Spagna. During the clashes that followed, several Bourbon soldiers were killed including an officer. The disturbances spread to the town of Velletri where the population attacked Spanish troops on the road to Naples. The episode was perceived as a serious affront to the Bourbon court. Consequently, the Spanish and Neapolitan ambassadors left Rome, while apostolic nuncios were dismissed from Madrid and Naples. Regiments of Bourbon troops invaded the Papal States. The threat was such that some of the gates of Rome were barred and the civil guard was doubled. Velletri was occupied and forced to pay 8000 crowns for the occupation. Ostia was sacked, while Palestrina avoided the same fate by the payment of a ransom of 16000 crowns. The commission of cardinals to whom the case was assigned decided to send a delegation of prisoners of Trastevere and Velletri to Naples as reparations. The papal subjects were punished with just a few days in jail and then, after seeking royal pardon, were granted it.[18] The Neapolitan king subsequently managed to iron out his differences with the Pope, after long negotiations, through the mediation of its ambassador in Rome, Cardinal Acquaviva, the archbishop Giuseppe Spinelli and the chaplain Celestino Galiani. Agreement was achieved on 12 May 1738. After the death of Pope Clement in 1740, he was replaced by Pope Benedict XIV, who the following year allowed the creation of a concordat with the Kingdom of Naples. This allowed the taxation of certain property of the clergy, the reduction of the number of the ecclesiasticals and the limitation of their immunity and autonomy of justice via the creation of a mixed tribunal.[19][clarification needed] Choice of name [ edit ] Charles should have been remembered as Charles VII of Naples (some sources call him this), but he never officially used the number. He was known simply as Charles of Bourbon (Italian: Carlo di Borbone). No number was officially used to make the point that he was the first King of Naples to live there, and to mark the discontinuity between him and previous rulers named Charles, specifically his predecessor, Emperor Charles VI of Austria. In Sicily, he was known as Charles III of Sicily and of Jerusalem, using the ordinal III rather than V. The Sicilian people had not recognised Charles I of Naples (Charles d'Anjou) as their sovereign (they rebelled against him), nor Emperor Charles, whom they also disliked. Carolus Dei Gratia Rex utriusque Siciliae[20], & Hyerusalem, &c. Infans Hispaniarum, Dux Parmae, Placentiae, Castri, &c. Ac Magnus Princeps Haereditarius Hetruriae, &c.[21] Charles, by the Grace of God King of Naples, Sicily and of Jerusalem, etc. Infante of Spain, Duke of Parma, Piacenza and of Castro etc. Great Hereditary Prince of Tuscany. Peace with Austria and marriage [ edit ] A preliminary peace was concluded on 3 October 1735 with Austria. However, the peace was not finalised until three years later with the Treaty of Vienna (1738), ending the War of the Polish Succession. Naples and Sicily were ceded by Austria to Charles, who gave up Parma and Tuscany in return. (Charles had inherited Tuscany in 1737 on the death of Gian Gastone.) Tuscany went to Emperor Charles VI's son-in-law Francis Stephen, as compensation for ceding the Duchy of Lorraine to the deposed Polish King Stanislaus I. The treaty included the transfer to Naples of all the inherited goods of the House of Farnese. He took with him the collection of artwork, the archives and the ducal library, the cannons of the fort, and even the marble stairway of the ducal palace.[22] Charles' mother Elisabeth again began looking for potential brides for her son, now formally recognised as King of Naples and Sicily. It was impossible to get an Archduchess of Austria as a bride, so she looked to Poland, choosing Princess Maria Amalia of Saxony, a daughter of the newly elected Polish king Augustus III and his (ironically) Austrian wife Maria Josepha of Austria. Maria Josepha was a niece of Emperor Charles; the marriage was seen as the only alternative to an Austrian marriage. Maria Amalia was only 13 when she was informed of her proposed marriage. The marriage date was confirmed on 31 October 1737. Maria Amalia was married by proxy at Dresden in May 1738, with her brother Frederick Christian of Saxony representing Charles. This marriage was looked upon favourably by the Holy See and effectively ended its diplomatic disagreement with Charles. The couple met for the first time on 19 June 1738 at Portella, a village on the frontier of the kingdom near Fondi. At court, festivities lasted till 3 July. As part of the celebration, Charles created the Order of Saint Januarius — the most prestigious order of chivalry in the kingdom. He later had the Order of Charles III created in Spain on 19 September 1771. War of the Austrian Succession [ edit ] The peace between Charles and Austria was signed in Vienna in 1740. That year, Emperor Charles died leaving his Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary (along with many other lands) to his daughter Maria Theresa; he had hoped the many signatories to the Pragmatic Sanction would not interfere with this succession. However, this was not the case, and the War of the Austrian Succession broke out. France was allied with Spain and Prussia, all of whom were against Maria Theresa. Maria Theresa was supported by Great Britain, ruled by George II, and the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was then ruled by Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia. Charles had wanted to stay neutral during the conflict, but his father wanted him to join in and gather troops to aid the French. Charles arranged for 10,000 Spanish soldiers to go to Italy under the control of Duke of Castropignano, but they were obliged to retreat when British forces under Commodore William Martin threatened to bombard the port of Naples if they did not stay out of the conflict.[23] The decision to remain neutral was again revived and was poorly received by the French and his father in Spain. Charles' parents encouraged him to take arms as his brother Infante Felipe had done. After publishing a proclamation on 25 March 1744 reassuring its subjects, Charles took the command of an army against the Austrian armies of the prince of Lobkowitz, who were at that point marching for the Neapolitan border. In order to oppose the small but powerful pro-Austrian party in Naples, a new council was formed under the direction of Tanucci that resulted in the arrest of more than 800 people. In April Maria Theresa addressed the Neapolitans with a proclamation in which she promised pardons and other benefits for those who rose against the "usurpers", meaning the Bourbons.[24] The participation of Naples and Sicily in the conflict resulted, on 11 August in the decisive Battle of Velletri, where Neapolitan troops directed by Charles and the Duke of Castropignano, and Spanish troops under the Count of Pledges, defeated the Austrians of Lobkowitz, who retreated with heavy losses. The courage shown by Charles caused the King of Sardinia, his enemy, to write that "he revealed a worthy consistency of his blood and that he behaved gloriously".[25] The victory at Velletri assured Charles the right to give the title Duke of Parma to his younger brother Infante Felipe. This was recognised in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle signed in 1748; it was not until the next year that Infante Felipe would officially be the Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla. Impact of rule in Naples and Sicily [ edit ] In 1746, Philip V of Spain died in Madrid aged 62. The throne of Spain was inherited by Infante Ferdinand who reigned as Ferdinand VI of Spain. Ferdinand, who hated his stepmother, made her leave the Spanish court; this also meant that Elisabeth Farnese would not have as much influence over her son on the pretext that she was the queen of the realm. Charles left a lasting legacy on his kingdom, building widely and introducing reforms during his reign. He constructed a collection of palaces in and around Naples. Charles was in awe of the Palace of Versailles and the Royal Palace of Madrid in Spain (the latter being modelled on Versailles itself). He undertook and oversaw the construction of one of Europe's most lavish palaces, the Palace of Caserta (Reggia di Caserta). Construction ideas for the stunning palace started in 1751 when he was 35 years old. The site had previously been home to a small hunting lodge, as had Versailles, which he was fond of because it reminded him of San Ildefonso where the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso was located in Spain. Caserta was also much influenced by his wife, the very cultured Maria Amalia of Saxony. The site of the palace was also far away from the large volcano of Mount Vesuvius, which was a constant threat to the capital, as was the sea. Charles himself laid the foundation stone of the palace amid much festivity on his 36th birthday, 20 January 1752. Other buildings he had built in his kingdom were the Palace of Portici (Reggia di Portici), the Teatro di San Carlo—constructed in just 270 days—and the Palace of Capodimonte (Reggia di Capodimonte); he also had the Royal Palace of Naples renovated. He and his wife had the Capodimonte porcelain Factory constructed in the city. He also founded the Ercolanesi Academy and the Naples National Archaeological Museum, which still operates today. King Charles VII of Naples by Camillo Paderni , ca 1757. In Naples Charles began internal reforms that he later continued in Spain. The chief minister in Naples, Bernardo Tanucci, had a considerable influence over him. During his rule the Roman cities of Herculaneum (1738), Stabiae and Pompeii (1748) were re-discovered. The king encouraged their excavation and continued to be informed about findings even after moving to Spain. Camillo Paderni who was in charge of excavated items at the kings Palace in Portici was also the first to attempt in reading obtained scrolls from the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum.[26] Charles also encouraged the development of skilled craftsmen in Naples and Sicily, after centuries of foreign domination. Charles is recognized for having recreated the "Neapolitan nation", building an independent and sovereign kingdom.[27] He also instituted reforms that were more administrative, more social and more religious than the kingdom had seen for a long time. In 1746 the Inquisition was introduced in domains bought by the Cardinal Spinelli, though this was not popular and required intervention by Charles. Charles was the most popular king the Neapolitans had had for many years. He was very supportive of the people's needs, regardless of class, and has been hailed[28] as an Enlightenment king. Among the initiatives aimed at bringing the kingdom out of difficult economic conditions, Charles created the "commerce council" that negotiated with the Ottomans, Swedes, French and Dutch. He also founded an insurance company and took measures to protect the forests, and tried to start the extraction and exploitation of the natural resources. The Kingdom of Naples remained neutral during the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). The British Prime Minister, William Pitt wanted to create an Italian league where Naples and Sardinia would fight together against Austria, but Charles refused to participate. This choice was sharply criticised by the Neapolitan Ambassador in Turin, Domenico Caraccioli, who wrote: "The position of Italian matters is not more beautiful; but it is worsened by the fact that the King of Naples and the King of Sardinia, adding troops to larger forces of the others, could oppose itself to the plans of their neighbours; to defend itself against the dangers of the peace of the enemies themselves they were in a way united, but they are separated by their different systems of gouvernement."[29] With the Republic of Genoa in relations are stretched: Pasquale Paoli, general of Corsican pro-independence rebels, was an officer of the Neapolitan army and the Genoese one suspected that he received assistance of the kingdom of Naples. After Charles departed for Spain, Minister Tanucci presided over the Council of Regency that ruled until Ferdinand reached 16, the age of majority. Accession to the Spanish throne [ edit ] At the end of 1758, Charles' half brother Ferdinand VI was displaying the same symptoms of depression that their father used to suffer from. Ferdinand lost his devoted wife, Barbara of Portugal, in August 1758 and fell into deep mourning for her. He named Charles his heir presumptive on 10 December 1758 before leaving Madrid to stay at Villaviciosa de Odón, where he died on 10 August 1759. At that point, Charles was proclaimed King of Spain under the name of Charles III of Spain, respecting the third Treaty of Vienna, which stated he would not be able to join the Neapolitan and Sicilian territories to the Spanish throne. He was later given the title of Lord of the Two Sicilies. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, that Charles had not ratified, foresaw the eventuality of his accession to Spain; thus Naples and Sicily went to his brother Philip, Duke of Parma, while the possessions of the latter were divided between Maria Theresa (Parma and Guastalla) and the King of Sardinia (Plaisance). Determined to maintain the hold of his descendants on the court of Naples, Charles undertook lengthy diplomatic negotiations with Maria Theresa, and in 1758 the two signed the Fourth Treaty of Versailles, by which Austria formally renounced the Italian Duchies. Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia, however continued to pressure on the possible gain of Plaisance and even threatened to occupy it. Departure of Charles from Naples, 1759 In order to defend the Duchy of Parma from Charles Emmanuel's threats, Charles deployed troops on the borders of the Papal States. Thanks to the mediation of Louis XV, Charles Emmanuel renounced his claims to Plaisance in exchange for financial compensation. Charles thus assured the succession of one of his sons and, at the same time, reduced Charles Emmanuel's ambitions. According to Domenico Caracciolo, this was "a fatal blow to the hopes and designs of the king of Sardinia".[30] The eldest son of Charles, Infante Philip, Duke of Calabria, had learning difficulties and was thus taken out of the line of succession to any throne; he died in Portici where he had been born in 1747. The title of Prince of Asturias was given to Charles, the second-born. The right of succession to Naples and Sicily was reserved for his third son, Ferdinand; he would stay in Italy while his father was in Spain. Charles' formally abdicated the crowns of Naples and Sicily on 6 October 1759 in favor of Ferdinand. Charles left his son's education and care to a regency council which was composed of eight members. This council would govern the kingdom until the young king was 16 years old. Charles and his wife arrived in Barcelona on 7 October 1759. Ruler of Spain [ edit ] Royal monogram of Charles III Unlike his twenty years in the Italian Peninsula, which had been very fruitful, the era on mainland Spain is often regarded with less joy.[by whom?] Internal politics, as well as diplomatic relationships with other countries underwent complete reform. Charles represented a new type of ruler, who followed Enlightened absolutism. This was a form of absolute monarchy or despotism in which rulers embraced the principles of the Enlightenment, especially its emphasis upon rationality, and applied them to their territories. They tended to allow religious toleration, freedom of speech and the press, and the right to hold private property. Most fostered the arts, sciences, and education. Charles shared these ideals with other monarchs, including Maria Theresa of Austria, her son Joseph, and Catherine the Great of Russia. The principles of the Enlightenment were applied to his rule in Naples, and he intended to do the same in Spain though on a much larger scale. Charles went about his reform along with the help of the Marquis of Esquilache, Count of Aranda, Count of Campomanes, Count of Floridablanca, Ricardo Wall and the Genoan aristocrat Jerónimo Grimaldi. Thanks to these principles, Charles III decided to forbid bullfighting, a practice he regarded as brutal and uncivilized. The first crisis that Charles had to deal with was the death of his beloved wife Maria Amalia. She died unexpectedly at the Palace of Buen Retiro on the eastern outskirts of Madrid, aged 35, on 27 September 1760. She was buried at the El Escorial in the royal crypt. Conflicts [ edit ] Portrait of Charles III by Goya , 1786-1788 The traditional friendship with France brought about the idea that the power of Great Britain would decrease and that of Spain and France would do the opposite; this alliance was marked by a Family Compact signed on 15 August 1761 (called the "Treaty of Paris"). Charles had become deeply concerned that British success in the Seven Years War would destroy the balance of power, and they would soon seek to conquer the Spanish Empire as they had done the French. In early 1762, Spain entered the war. The major Spanish objectives to invade Portugal and capture Jamaica were both failures. Britain and Portugal not only repulsed the Spanish attack on Portugal, but captured the cities of Havana and Manila. Charles III wanted to keep fighting the following year, but he was persuaded by the French leadership to stop. The Treaty of Paris (1763) required Spain to cede Florida to Great Britain in exchange for the return of Havana and Manila. This was partly compensated by the acquisition of a portion of Louisiana given by France as a compensation for Spain's war losses. In the Falklands Crisis of 1770 the Spanish came close to war with Great Britain after expelling the British garrison of the Falkland Islands. However Spain was forced to back down when the British Royal Navy was mobilised and France declined to support Spain. Continuing territorial disputes with Portugal led to the First Treaty of San Ildefonso, on 1 October 1777, in which Spain got Colonia del Sacramento, in present-day Uruguay, and the Misiones Orientales, in present-day Brazil, but not the western regions of Brazil, and also the Treaty of El Pardo, on 11 March 1778, in which Spain again conceded that Portuguese Brazil had expanded far west of the longitude specified in the Treaty of Tordesillas, and in return Portugal ceded present-day Equatorial Guinea to Spain. The rivalry with Britain also led him to support the American revolutionaries in their War of Independence despite his misgivings about the example it would set for the Spanish Colonies. During the war, Spain recovered Menorca and British West Florida in military campaigns, but failed to regain Gibraltar. Spanish military operations in West Florida and on the Mississippi River helped the Thirteen Colonies secure their southern and western frontiers from British attack. The capture of Nassau in the Bahamas enabled Spain to also recover East Florida during peace negotiations. The Treaty of Paris of 1783 confirmed the recovery of the Floridas and Menorca, and restricted the actions of British commercial interests in Central America. Political policies [ edit ] His internal government was, on the whole, beneficial to the country. He began by compelling the people of Madrid to give up emptying their slops out of the windows, and when they objected he said they were like children who cried when their faces were washed. At the time of his accession to Spain, Charles named secretary to the Finances and Treasurer, Marquis of Esquillache and both realised many reforms. The Spanish Army and Navy were reorganised despite the losses from the Seven Years War. Charles also eliminated the tax on flour generally liberalised most commerce. Despite this action, it provoked the overlord to charge high prices because of the "monopolizers", speculating on the bad harvests of the previous years. On 23 March 1766, his attempt to force the madrileños to adopt French dress for public security reasons was the excuse for a riot (Motín de Esquilache) during which he did not display much personal courage. For a long time after, he remained at Aranjuez, leaving the government in the hands of his minister Count of Aranda. Not all his reforms were of this formal kind. The Count of Campomanes tried to show Charles that the true leaders of the revolt against Esquilache were the Jesuits. The wealth and power of the Jesuits was very large; and by the royal decree of 27 February 1767, known as the Pragmatic Penalty of 1767, the Jesuits were expelled from Spain, and all their possessions were confiscated. His quarrel with the Jesuits, and the memory of his with the Pope while he was King of Naples turned him towards a general policy of restriction of what he saw as the overgrown power of the Church. The number of reputedly idle clergy, and more particularly of the monastic orders, was reduced, and the Spanish Inquisition, though not abolished, was rendered torpid. In spite of his hostility to the Jesuits, his dislike of friars in general, and his jealousy of the Spanish Inquisition, he was a very sincere Roman Catholic. In the meantime, much antiquated legislation which tended to restrict trade and industry was abolished; roads, canals and drainage works were established. Many of his paternal ventures led to little more than waste of money, or the creation of hotbeds of jobbery; yet on the whole the country prospered. The result was largely due to the king, who even when he was ill-advised did at least work steadily at his task of government. Charles also sought to reform Spanish colonial policy, in order to make Spain's colonies more competitive with the plantations of the French Antilles (particularly the French colony of Saint-Domingue) and Portuguese Brazil. This resulted in the creation of the "Códigos Negros Españoles", or Spanish Black Codes. The Black Codes, which were partly based on the French Code Noir and 13th-century Castilian Siete Partidas, aimed to establish greater legal control over slaves in the Spanish colonies, in order to expand agricultural production. The first code was written for the city of Santo Domingo in 1768, while the second code was written for the recently acquired Spanish territory of Louisiana in 1769. The third code, which was named the "Código Negro Carolino" after Charles himself, divided the freed black and slave populations of Santo Domingo into strictly stratified socio-economic classes.[31] In Spain, he continued with his work trying to improve the services and facilities of his people. He created the Luxury Porcelain factory under the name of Real Fábrica del Buen Retiro in 1760; Crystal followed at the Real Fábrica de Cristales de La Granja and then there was the Real Fábrica de Platería Martínez in 1778. During his reign, the areas of Asturias and Catalonia industrialised quickly and produced much revenue for the Spanish economy. He then turned to the foreign economy looking towards his colonies in the Americas. In particular, he looked at the finances of the Philippines and encouraged commerce with the United States, starting in 1778. He also carried out a number of public works; he had the Imperial Canal of Aragon constructed, as well a number of routes that led to the capital of Madrid, which is located in the centre of Spain. Other cities were improved during his reign; Seville for example saw the introduction of many new structures such as hospitals and the Archivo General de Indias. In Madrid he was nicknamed the Best Mayor of Madrid, "el rey alcalde". Charles was responsible for granting the title "Royal University" to the University of Santo Tomás in Manila, which is the oldest in Asia. In the capital, he also had the famous Puerta de Alcalá constructed along with the statue of Alcachofa fountain, and moved and redesigned the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid. He had the present National Art Museum of Queen Sofia (named in honour of the present Queen of Spain, born Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark) built, as well as the renowned Museo del Prado. At Aranjuez he added wings to the palace. He created the Spanish Lottery and introduced Christmas cribs following Neapolitan models. During his reign, the movement to found "Economic Societies" (an early form of Chamber of Commerce) was born. The example of his actions and works was not without effect on other Spanish nobles. In his domestic life, King Charles was regular, and was a considerate master, though he had a somewhat caustic tongue and took a rather cynical view of humanity. He was passionately fond of hunting. During his later years he had some trouble with his eldest son and daughter-in-law. The Royal Palace of Madrid had undergone much alteration under his rule. It was in his reign that the huge Comedor de gala (Gala Dining room) was built during the years of 1765–1770; the room took the place of the old apartments of Queen Maria Amalia. He died in the palace on 14 December 1788. He was buried at the Pantheon of the Kings located at the Royal Monastery of El Escorial. Birth of a nation [ edit ] The Flag of Spain from 1785–1873; then again from 1875–1931. Under Charles' reign, Spain began to be recognised as a nation rather than a collection of kingdoms and territories with a common sovereign. His efforts resulted in creation of a National Anthem, a flag, and a capital city worthy of the name, and the construction of a network of coherent roads converging on Madrid. On 3 September 1770 Charles III declared that the Marcha Real was to be used in official ceremonies. It was Charles who chose the colours of the present flag of Spain; red and yellow. The flag of the military navy was introduced by the king on 28 May 1785. Until then, Spanish vessels sported the white flag of the Bourbons with the arms of the sovereign. This was replaced by Charles due to his concern that it looked too similar to the flags of other nations. The arms used by Charles while King of Spain were used until 1931 when his great great great grandson Alphonso XIII lost the crown, and the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed (there was also a brief interruption from 1873–5). Felipe VI of Spain, Spain's current monarch, is a direct male line descendant of the "rey alcalde". Juan Carlos I is a descendant of Charles by four of his great grandparents, and is also a descendent of Maria Theresa of Austria. Family [ edit ] Issue [ edit ] See Also Descendants of Charles III of Spain Ancestors [ edit ] Heraldry [ edit ] Heraldry of Charles III of Spain Coat of arms as Infante of Spain, Sovereign Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, and Grand Prince and Heir of Tuscany (1731–1735) [33] Coat of arms as Infante of Spain and King of Naples (1736–1759) [33] Coat of arms as Infante of Spain and King of Sicily (1736–1759) Coat of arms as King of Spain (1761–1788)[34] Sources [ edit ] Acton, Sir Harold (1956). The Bourbons of Naples, 1734–1825 . London: Methuen. Chávez, Thomas E. Spain and the Independence of the United States: An Intrinsic Gift , Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2002. , Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2002. Henderson, Nicholas. "Charles III of Spain: An Enlightened Despot," History Today , Nov 1968, Vol. 18 Issue 10, p673-682 and Issue 11, pp 760–768 , Nov 1968, Vol. 18 Issue 10, p673-682 and Issue 11, pp 760–768 Lynch, John (1989). Bourbon Spain, 1700–1808 . Oxford: Basil Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-14576-1. Petrie, Sir Charles (1971). King Charles III of Spain: An Enlightened Despot . London: Constable. ISBN 0-09-457270-4. Thomas, Robin L. Architecture and Statecraft: Charles of Bourbon's Naples, 1734-1759 (Penn State University Press; 2013) 223 pages

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a diagnosis apparatus using XCT (X-ray computed tomography) and, more particularly, to a diagnosis apparatus for diagnosing a function of blood vessels by XCT. 2. Description of the Related Art A demand has arisen for diagnosing a function of blood vessels, in particular, a function of blood vessels in a brain. The blood vessels in a brain has a function called blood brain barriers, and prevent plasm in blood from directly permeating into the brain. However, the blood brain barrier may not function for some reasons, and plasm in the blood may directly permeate in the brain. In order to diagnose such a state, an apparatus for diagnosing a blood brain barrier (BBB) has been developed. Such an apparatus is disclosed in "Simplified, Noninvasive PEP Measurement of Blood-Barrier Permeability", "J comput Assist Tomogr, Vol. 11, No. 3, 1987", pp. 390-397. According to the apparatus in this paper, a radioactive material such as (68G) EDTA is used as a contrast medium, and a subject to which this contrast medium has been injected is scanned by a PET (Position Emission Tomography) device. Parameters associated with a function of a blood brain barrier are calculated in accordance with PET (positron emission tomography) data obtained by this scanning operation, and the parameters are monitored as functional images, and are used for diagnosis. In the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, a radioactive material is used as a contrast medium. The life of the radioactive material is short and, at most, about several hours. For this reason, the radioactive material serving as a contrast medium must be manufactured immediately before diagnosis. Therefore, an equipment (hot-labo) for manufacturing the contrast medium must be arranged in a diagnosis section. The PET device is used as a scanner to obtain PET data. However, this PET is a very expensive equipment, and has a problem that its space resolution is relatively low, i.e., 3 mm to 10 mm, and a noise is large.

Topological Chirality of Proteins A few rare instances are known in which conformational restriction on polypeptide folding patterns by disulfide cross-links results in topological chirality. We now show that, once the role played by covalently bound cofactors (prosthetic groups) in conjugated proteins is taken into account, topological chirality is in fact more common than previously realized. Iron-sulfur proteins are examples of native proteins in which covalently bound Fe& clusters induce topological chirality even in the absence of disulfide cross-links. Quinoproteins with covalently bound cofactors are now recognized to contain catenated substructures, and thus provide the Fist example of topological complexity in a native protein. The present study strongly suggests that topological chirality may be of wide Occurrence among the diverse classes of conjugated proteins. The constitutional formulae (primary structures) of proteins are given by molecular graphs.' With a few exceptions, to be described below, these graphs are reported to be planar.2 Hence, becausp nonplanarity is a necessary (though not sufficient) condition for topological chirality: it would appear that even though native proteins are made up of L-amino acids, and higher- order chiralities are imparted to secondary structures by the convolutions of the polypeptidechains, thegreat majorityof these chemically (and geometrically) chiral molecules are topologtcally

Premedication with Oral Midazolam in Childrenan Assessment of Psychomotor Function, Anxiolysis, Sedation and Pharmacokinetics We studied 30 children, aged 4 to 12 years, undergoing elective circumcision, premedicated with midazolam 0.5 mg.kg−1 and atropine 0.02 mg.kg−1 by mouth. A modified postbox test and the coding component of the Wechsler intelligence scale (WISC-R) was used to assess the preoperative effect of premedication on psychomotor function. Mood and sedation were also scored and related to serum midazolam concentrations. The children showed a significant decline in psychomotor performance 30 and 60 minutes after premedication when compared with their best unmedicated performance recorded the previous evening. This decline in psychomotor performance was only weakly associated with serum midazolam concentrations (r = 0.1). The postbox toy ratio is a suitable measurement of psychomotor performance in children because of its simplicity and ease of use in the clinical environment, although it may suffer the test-retest limitations of similar types of assessment. The sedative and anxiolytic effects of midazolam provide a quiet environment for a smooth induction of anaesthesia.

The team thought it would win last year. With eight seniors, Catholic entered the 2010 3A playoffs with no losses and just two ties, but the Cougars lost in the second round 1-0 to Weddington. "Last year we really thought we had a good chance to go all the way and we were disappointed," said junior goalkeeper Morgan Luckie after this year's title game. "So this year we knew it was going to be tough to get back (and) to try and have that same goal, but we did it." Seven of the eight seniors from last year's team were starters. Two players, freshmen Lindsey Tully and Cassie Ray, played in this year's championship game after starting the season on the junior varsity team. Tully started every playoff game. "We did it with a bunch of young players," said Hoilett "We did it with a bunch of players at different spots getting the job done for us." Hoilett said he was unsure how his young team - especially the defense - would play at the beginning of the year. "One thing we knew we had was goal scoring," he said. "I always knew we could score, so if we could keep ourselves in the game I always felt like we would be OK." Sophomore Jane Cline was the key scorer for Cougars, scoring both goals in the championship game against a Cardinal Gibbons team that had given up only five goals all season. Cline finished the season with 24 goals and 11 assists. The Cougar defense ended up being strong all year, especially in the playoffs. Anchored by Luckie, the Cougars had 12 shutouts in the regular season and only gave up two goals in the playoffs. "My defense is strong," said Luckie. "I wouldn't have been able to do it without them." The Cougars scored first in the championship game even though the Crusaders had control of the ball for most of the first 20 minutes. With 20 minutes left in the half, Cline took a pass from Tully at the top of the penalty area and scored low in the left side of the goal. Cardinal Gibbons evened the score just one minute into the second half with a goal by Christina Gibbons. But Hoilett wasn't worried. He felt his team had played more difficult games leading up to the championship. "I think we had a more difficult and trying test getting to this game than they did," he said. "Weddington and Marvin Ridge are two very difficult teams to play through, and I think it really tested our character as a team." The score stayed even for the next 31 minutes until Cline's shot from the right side deflected off Cardinal Gibbons goalie Kristin Twomey and into the net. "I was tearing up I was so happy," said Luckie about the goal. "I knew we were going to win it then." Eight minutes later - after Cardinal Gibbons had three corner kicks in the final 1:30 - the Cougars charged the field, hugging each other and celebrating the 2-1 win. They raised the championship trophy high over their heads. Cline was announced as the games' most valuable player. "I'm, like, overwhelmed. No words to explain what happened," said Cline. "I knew we had it. ... We could hold them off after we scored." With Cline, Luckie and a large chunk of the starting lineup coming back next year, the Cougars could have it again.

Conservative MP Heidi Allen as told the Commons of her &apos;anger&apos; at her party&apos;s £1 billion deal with the DUP. Speaking in Parliament today (June 29), the South Cambridgeshire MP argued that the Conservatives should have formed a minority government without an agreement with the 10 DUP MPs. She said she could "barely put into words my anger" at the two parties&apos; deal, expressing her "distaste" for using taxpayers&apos; funds to "garner political control". Mrs Allen warned her party "must change" by putting "people at the heart of everything we do". However she indicated she would not be voting against the Queen&apos;s Speech because the Labour Party&apos;s policies were a "Christmas list of free-for-alls" which would put jobs at risk. MPs voted for the Queen&apos;s Speech by 323 cotes to 309 - a majority of 14 - earlier this evening. Before her speech to MPs Mrs Allen had already taken to Twitter to ask whether the Conservative&apos;s deal with the DUP would mean funding for public sector pay, schools and social care would be reviewed. In Parliament Mrs Allen said she wants affordable housing, "decent" school funding, an NHS and social care system equipped to deal with the UK&apos;s ageing population, a country which wants to work with others, and a welfare state supporting the vulnerable. She said: "The heartbreaking thing is, I know we can and will deliver all of this. We want all of this but didn&apos;t demonstrate a positive vision for how we would deliver all this. "This party must change. We must put people at the heart of everything we do. "We must listen and build our policies from the ground up. "Be flexible, dynamic, modern, collaborative and, above all, compassionate - financial and economic competence is not enough. "I want a Conservative Party where people want to vote for us because they want to, not because they feel they have to." Mrs Allen said the country wants such a Conservative party, adding: "Right now, we&apos;re a long way away from that - but we have said we have listened and we will learn." She also said one of her goals as an MP has been to change how people feel about politicians, adding: "I want an honest, transparent, collaborative, respectful and positive kind of politics - so I can barely put into words my anger at the deal my party has done with the DUP. "We didn&apos;t need to do it." Mrs Allen said she could not fault the DUP for wanting the best for their residents nor their "tough" negotiating skills. She added: "I must put on record my distaste for the use of public funds to garner political control. "We should have run with a minority government and showed the country what mature, progressive politics looks like. "The only comfort I can take is knowing that people in Northern Ireland will benefit. "But this must never again be how this Government prioritises spending. This is not the way to begin that journey of change." Mrs Allen said she had thought "long and hard" about how to vote on this Queen&apos;s Speech, adding a backbencher&apos;s vote "must be earned". She said: "But the voice in my head shouting louder than this anger is the knowledge that although there is still so much we need to change, the Conservatives still remain the only party capable of leading and delivering what this country needs to prosper." "We must respond to the financial challenges in our schools and the NHS and fund them. "We must also be unafraid of looking at how we tax higher earners and, yes, the triple lock on pensions."

Many tools, for example small table saws, band saws, drill presses, and bench grinders may be mounted on a work bench or stand. These tools when so mounted can take up a considerable amount of the space available in a small work shop. Where space is limited there is often not enough space to work easily and safely if one or more such tools is in the shop. Prior tool supports are known for mounting a tool in a work shop. Wall brackets for tools are known which fix a tool on a wall so that the tool is secured to the wall and cannot move. This can result in the tool getting in the way when an individual is working in the area of the tool on tasks which do not require use of the tool. Furthermore brackets of this type are often tool specific and cannot be used with tools of various types. Stands which support tools above the floor are also known, one example being a stand for a drill press. These stands tend to take up floor space and are usually fixed in place or are heavy and difficult to move. As a result they can cause difficulties for individuals moving around in the work shop which can be inconvenient or dangerous. Portable tool supports are also known however these generally require that an individual set up the support and mount the tool on the support every time the tool is to be used, then remove of the tool from the support and transport the support and tool to another location for storage. This can be time consuming and inconvenient.

Here’s one way to think about America’s future in this century. The majority of babies now being born in the United States are of color. They’re Hispanic, black, Asian, Native American, mixed race. Donald Trump’s tenure as president is not likely to change that, no matter what the white supremacists among his supporters may hope. The question is — what will he do, as president of all Americans, to help kids of color get a good education, and have ample opportunity to come up through the ranks, adding their ideas and energy to an economy that is, increasingly, knowledge-based? If the answer is not much, or worse — be concerned. Because America will not benefit, as a global leader or as a society, from holding back the potential of half its future workforce. The more diversity there is among the people coming up with those innovations, the more likely they’ll address the needs and challenges of diverse communities, not just of middle class and affluent white guys. Top Silicon Valley companies are among the worst offenders — for many, African Americans make up just 1 percent of their skilled workforce. Apple is doing better — 6 percent of its skilled workforce is African American. Fully 25 percent is Asian. So as our nation’s first black president winds down his tenure with relatively high approval ratings, the question turns to how to help more African Americans become change-makers and leaders, at a time when a vocal portion of white Americans are already complaining about the non-whites who are taking "their" jobs and changing "their" country. Want to make American great again? Then look to someone like Joshua Johnson, 18, a freshmen at the University of Michigan, who’s already imagining ways to use his computer skills to empower more people. For Joshua, this isn’t an abstract idea. He’s got buddies back home on the South Side of Chicago who he knows to be smart and capable. They went to grade school together, but then Joshua went to a magnet school, and his friends stayed in the notoriously underfunded public schools in the area — and he says though he tried to convince them they could close the gap and do what he’d done, the gap kept getting wider. Now, some of his friends are already parents, at age 18. Others are in gangs. In Joshua’s neighborhood, Englewood, that skill is all too useful. There have been 53 homicides there in the past year alone — in three square miles with 30,000 people. Almost all are African American. One in five adults is unemployed, and half of families live beneath the poverty line. This is where some people — too many people — are quick to say, "it’s because they’re lazy," or "it’s their own fault; it’s black gang culture that keeps people down." That overlooks the web of systemic and historical reasons why it’s much more likely that an African American born into the lowest 25 percent by income in the United States, is unlikely to rise above it, compared to white Americans. It’s safe to say that systemically entrenched racism has something to do with it. And sure, sometimes someone like Joshua can study hard, rise above it, and become — as he has — the first person in the family to go to college. He says his mom pushed him, almost from birth, to think of himself as headed for college. Robert Scott knows how that goes. He says the matriarchs in his family, and a favorite African American female teacher, pushed him, too. He was an engineering student at the University of Michigan four decades ago and, after a long and successful career, including as a senior executive at Procter & Gamble, he’s back, trying to draw more African American kids into STEM fields. Scott, these days, is a genial, towering force of nature, aside from a cane he occasionally leans on to favor a bad hip. He jokes with the high school students who come in for STEM summer camps that they can call him “Grandpa,” and many are clearly fond of him. He does more than just make sure young African Americans learn their engineering and tech skills. He tries to prepare them to work, and lead, in a world that’s still far from colorblind. “If you don’t write anything else down, write this down,” he said to an auditorium of high school students in July 2016, shortly after shootings of unarmed African American men, and then, the shooting in Dallas of police by an African American ex-soldier. “You’ve been socialized, by definition. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just the way it is. The question is, how have you been socialized, and do you know? And can you move that socialization from unconscious to conscious, so that you know how you think, and then learn how to talk and exchange with others, to hear how they’ve been socialized, and what they think and believe, seeking first to understand, and then to be understood. That’s how you have constructive dialogue." Change has come slowly, and sometimes not in the right direction. The end of affirmative action policies at many campuses, including the University of Michigan, has reduced the percentage of students on campus who are African American. More broadly, African American families around the country are making less, on average, than they did 15 years ago, and also less as a percentage of what white households earn; black families' median income is about 60 percent that of white families'. Fewer than half of black households own their own home, compared to almost three-fourths of whites. And while the number of African Americans with college and advanced degrees has grown — it hasn’t grown as fast as white Americans getting the same degrees. In Detroit, as in predominantly African American districts of Chicago and beyond, inadequate funding for public schools has taken a heavy toll. Test scores are among the worst in the nation. More of that may be on the way, as Donald Trump’s pick for education secretary, billionaire Betsy DeVos, is an advocate of taking more money away from public schools, and giving it, in the form of vouchers, to private and religious schools. The Detroit public school system has already closed many of its schools, lost two-thirds of its students, and has driven some of its best teachers away, through pay cuts and by allowing non-certified teachers to be hired, and for those hiring teachers not to be able to offer higher salaries based on levels of experience or education. “I'm not sure what the legislature was thinking when they passed those laws. But it is a fact that that's what happened,” says Nick Collins, director of the University of Michigan’s Center for Educational Outreach. Collins says all this makes his job tougher, and the numbers suggest this is a national problem. But for all these problems — and they may get worse in places like Detroit, before they get better — there are some signs pointing in a more positive direction. The Obama Administration has earmarked $850 million over the next 10 years into trying to increase the number of African Americans in STEM studies and jobs, including leadership positions. And while just 15 African Americans have ever been CEOs of Fortune 500 companies — five of them are now — the percentage of African Americans in the “C-Suite,” CEO, CIO, CTO and so on — has doubled from 3 to 6 percent over the past 20 years. And as a new generation of African American digital natives rises, Carla Ogunrinde, a former Fortune 100 executive, now chair of the Information Technology Senior Management Forum, which helps mentor African-American senior managers and leaders, says she sees reason for hope.

Dynamical phase transition due to preferential cluster growth of collective emotions in online communities We consider a preferential cluster growth in a one-dimensional stochastic model describing the dynamics of a binary chain with long-range memory. The model is driven by data corresponding to emotional patterns observed during online communities' discussions. The system undergoes a dynamical phase transition. For low values of the preference exponent, both states are observed during the string evolution in the majority of simulated discussion threads. When the exponent crosses a critical value, in the majority of threads an ordered phase emerges, i.e. from a certain time moment only one state is represented. The transition becomes discontinuous in the thermodynamical limit when the discussions are infinitely long and even an infinitely small preference exponent leads to the ordering behavior in every discussion thread. Numerical simulations are in a good agreement with approximated analytical formula. I. INTRODUCTION It is well known (see e.g. ) that a one-dimensional (1D) system with short-range forces cannot undergo a phase transition at a nonzero temperature. The situation changes when the interaction range increases, e.g., the Ising chain displays a second order phase transition when spin interactions decay with the distance r as r −(1+) for < 1 and non-standard critical exponents are observed for 0.5 < < 1. Another example is the 1D longrange q-states Potts model in which, depending on the exponent and q-parameter, a first-order or a second-order phase transition is possible. Some properties of 1D spatial systems with long-range interactions can be mapped to N -step (long memory) Markov chains where transitional probabilities depend on a system history. Analytical and numerical solutions for the resulting time-dependent probability distributions were presented in for fixed values of the time horizon N. The formalism was extended in to an infiniterange memory that covers the whole history of a 1D random walker. In such a case, a dynamical phase transition takes place from the normal diffusion to a super-diffusive behavior. When the parameter describing the memory influence is small enough, the variance D L of a walker position scales with the walking time L as D L ∼ L. It increases however as D L ∼ L, > 1 when the memory influence parameter crosses a critical value. The results can explain the long-term behavior of coarse-grained DNA sequences, written texts and financial data. In this work, we consider a stochastic 1D model of preferential cluster growth where a special form of longmemory dynamics follows from recent observations of emotional patterns in online communities discussions. In fact, complex phenomena taking place during the information search and communication exchange over the Internet have been investigated by several authors using diverse methods of statistical physics, see e.g.. The studies are facilitated by an easy access to massive data sources. Information and opinion diffusion in online communities is frequently compared to epidemiological phenomena. Both processes, however, need separate approaches, what was shown e.g. in recent investigations of social contagion in online social networks that emerged during a political protest in Spain. Our model is based on a special collective phenomenon of emotional interactions reported in. Consecutive comments posted on blogs, the BBC Forum, IRC channels and the Digg website when represented by binary variables corresponding to posts' emotional valencies tend to group in clusters of a similar valence and the cluster growth rate can be well described by a sub-linear preferential rule. It follows a negative comment is more likely posted after a sequence of five negative messages than after four such posts. The persistent dynamics of this system has been confirmed by the Hurst exponent analysis in. The aim of this paper is to study the global behavior of this system from the point of view of dynamical phase transitions. We will investigate when during the course of time the process of preferential cluster growth leads to the emergence of a critical cluster that is followed by posts displaying always the same valence and what a fraction is of such an ordered phase in all posts. This paper is organized as follows. In Sec. II we describe observations of emotional clusters in massive data sets, in Sec. III we define a data-driven model for posts appearance and in Sec. IV we present numerical simulations showing a transition between a mostly disordered (hetero-emotional) and a mostly ordered (monoemotional) phase in a two-state case of such a model. The model extension to a three-state system is studied in Sec. V, and in Sec. VI we compare critical model parameters to data from selected online communities. II. PREFERENTIAL GROWTH OF EMOTIONAL CLUSTERS According to the behavior found in several online communities (BBC Forum, Digg, IRC, blog data) and presented in, the preferential growth mechanism is the main process responsible for forming emotional clusters. It is manifested by the power-law formula for conditional probability p(e|ne) that after n comments with the same emotion e the next comment will express a similar sentiment. The data (see Fig. 1) reveals the relation p(e|ne) = p(e|e)n where p(e|e) is the conditional probability that two consecutive messages have the same emotion e = −1, 0, 1 (negative, neutral, positive). For the description of automatic sentiment analysis applied for the data retrieval see [11,. The characteristic exponent represents the strength of the preferential process leading to the long-range attraction between posts of the same emotion. The probability of finding the cluster of size n is proportional to the factor C = p(e)p(e|e) n−1 responsible for appearance of the sequence of n consecutive messages. It should be also taken into account that the cluster of size n is defined as exactly n posts with mono-emotional expressions. Thus, to get the cluster distribution function one multiplies the factor C by probabilities 1 − p(e), 1−p(e|e)n corresponding to events that before and after the cluster users write comments with emotional states different from e. The analytical form of the normalization factor can be obtained only as an approximation. As a result, the distribution of the emotional clusters is represented by the function: dependent on only two parameters and p(e|e). III. MODEL DESCRIPTION Here we try to simulate the process of preferential cluster growth in an artificial environment. To make the problem simpler, we consider a two-state system, so only positive e = 1 or negative e = −1 messages can appear in this artificial discussion. Each thread has the same length L, not as in real data, where the thread distribution was close to a power-law relation (see Supporting Material in and ). The evolution rules of this two-state system are as follows: the emotion in the first message is randomly chosen with even probabilities p(e = 1) = p(e = −1) = 1/2 The conditional probability p(e|ne) of the next comment occurring with the same emotion e for Digg, BBC, blogs and IRC data. Symbols are data (blue triangles, red circles and white squares, for negative, positive and neutral clusters, respectively), and lines represent the fit to the preferential attraction relation p(e|ne) = p(e|e)n. the probability of emotion e in the next message is dependent on the discussion history. Information about this history is coded in size n of the recently observed emotional cluster. The cluster of size n is defined as a sub-chain of the length n of consecutive states with the same values as the valencies e The process of the cluster growth is based on the behavior observed in real data. The conditional probability that the cluster containing n consecutive messages with the same valency e increases its length to n + 1 is given by the equation: where x e is a constant dependent on the cluster valency e (it amplifies the cluster growth, and is equivalent to p(e|e)) while the exponent 0 < e < 1 describes a strength of interactions for the emotion e. In the numerical simulation in each time step we randomly choose a value between . If it is smaller than p e (n), then the cluster of the emotion e is continued; otherwise, the cluster is terminated, and the opposite emotion (−e) appears. if p e (n) = 1, then the cluster reaches its critical size n c, which means that starting from this moment the discussion will be permanently ordered and all next messages in this thread will possess the same emotion e. One can define T c as the time when the cluster of the critical size n c appears. The T c is the average over R realizations (threads); in almost all cases we use R = 10 4. IV. TWO-STATE SYSTEM If it is not otherwise stated we shall consider the simplest case x = x 1 = x −1 = 0.5 and −1 = 1 =. The the probabilities of both emotions when calculated in an unordered phase (before the critical cluster occurrence) are the same p(−1) = p = 0.5, and the distribution of the observed cluster lengths is very similar to the one observed in the real data. In Fig. 2, we present the cluster distribution in artificial threads. The line comes from the theoretical prediction based on preferential cluster growth, Eq. 1. After the transition time T c, i.e, when the critical cluster appears, the discussion changes to the monoemotional thread (MET). Starting from this moment, the probabilities p(−1) and p become 0 and 1 (or 1 and 0). This means that half of the threads are nearly whole positive, and half are nearly whole negative (if the threads are long enough). It is obvious that the average critical time T c should depend on the strength of emotional interactions, i.e, on the exponent. It is also obvious that T c has to be larger or equal to the critical size of the cluster T c ≥ n c (see Fig. 3). Values of T c are received from numerical simulations and n c from Eq. 2. Since for some threads the critical cluster is not observed at all, T c is not an appropriate observable, and a more convenient variable is a mean inverse of the critical time where R is the number of threads that were ordered during the simulation, which means that their critical times were smaller than the thread length. In Fig. 4 we present a relation between and. The left plot is in the linear scale and clearly displays the staircase shape of this dependence that follows from the integer values of T c (compare Fig. 3). The right plot presents in the log-linear scale a rapid decrease in for ≈ 0.15. The multi-steps shape for > 0.3 and a rapid decrease observed for 0.13 < < 0.2 are only weakly dependent on the system size L. We tested this behavior for different values of L; for clarity, we show only representative simulations for L = 10 6, L = 2 10 7 and L = 5 10 7. Of course, the length of the thread L influences the value when the order is observed for the first time. It is = 0.13 for a system of the size L = 510 7 and = 0.15 when L = 10 3. Probability P c that a certain post starts a critical cluster can be estimated under the assumption that in a single discussion thread only one critical cluster can appear However, the probability of finding a cluster with the critical size can be described by a relation similar to one presented in : where n c = 2 1 is the size of the critical cluster. There is a difference between Eq. 5 and an analytic calculation presented in (see also remarks in Sec. II) since here we consider the beginning and not the end of the critical cluster. The normalization constant in Eq. 5 was calculated numerically and is presented in Fig. 5. Since the upper limit in the above sum is n c, this normalization constant is different from that in Eq. 1. For ≪ 1 we get Combining Eqs. -, together we receive that well fits to the behavior of () received from the numerical simulations (see the right panel in Fig. 4). The value of ( = 1) is not obtained from Eq. 8 but may be easily calculated from a simple branching process as: (x = 0.5, ) = 2 n=nc n=2 1 2 n 1 n = 2 ln 2 − 1 = 0.386294 In the limit ≪ 1 Eq. 8 reduces to and we get (x, 0) = 0 Let us consider a discussion in thread of length L with affective interactions described by the characteristic exponent and let us define a fraction of discussions that are mono-emotional ordered (MET) from a certain moment in such a thread as r(, L) = R R. This value is also a probability of the MET occurrence before time t = L. It follows the value of r can be written as where the explicit form can be received by inserting into Eqs. 7 and 8. In the limit ≪ 1 we get from Results of numerical simulations and theory from Eq. 12 are presented in Fig. 6. As one could expect a fraction r of the MET phase in all threads increases with the exponent and with the thread length L. Moreover for longer threads the agreement between Eq. 12 and numerical simulations is better and the transition between the states r ≈ 0 and r ≈ 1 becomes steeper. In the thermodynamical limit L → ∞ this transition is discontinuous since lim L→∞ r( = 0, x, L) = 0 and lim L→∞ r( > 0, x, L) = 1 Let us define the critical value of the interaction strength as c = (r = 0.5). After a short algebra we get from For the symmetrical case x = 1/2 and L ≫ 1 (if it is not otherwise written we shall use these assumptions further ) we get a simpler relation that can be disentangled as: c ≈ − ln W −1 (ln/ ln(L/ ln)) where W −1 (.) is the lower branch of Lambert Wfunction. A quantitative measure of the system behavior near the transition point c is the slope that can be expressed as : For x = 1/2 Eq.19 can be written as an explicit function of the length L using the result. Relations and are presented at Fig.7 where we see good fit to corresponding numerical simulations. In the limit L → ∞ the critical value c (L) tends to zero while the slope (L) diverges to infinity what is a sign of a discontinuous transition in the thermodynamical limit. It should be stressed that for = 0 the MET phase does not exist, what is shown by Eq.13. V. THREE-STATE SYSTEM A natural extension of the two-state system is to add one more state, i.e., e ∈ {−1, 0, 1}. To compare properties of such systems with our previous results, we considered a symmetrical three-state model where x −1 = x 0 = x 1 = 0.5 and −1 = 0 = 1 with a symmetrical two-state model where x −1 = x 1 = 0.5 and −1 = 1. Values of the inverse of critical time as a function of the exponent are presented in Fig. 8. Since results for both systems lie on the same line, we can state that the number of possible emotional states does not influence a critical time needed for the emergence of MET. This observation can be explained as follows. The occurrence of MET needs a growth of a critical cluster of any emotion e. The growth process is dependent only on the conditional probability of cluster growth (Eq.2) that is insensitive to the number of possible emotional states. If initial probabilities p(e) of a spontaneous occurrence of every emotional state e are equal and clusters of every emotion posses the same growth parameters e and x e then an average time needed for the emergence of any critical cluster should be independent from the number of possible emotional states. Fig. 8 shows the results for an asymmetrical threestate system where x −1 = x 0 = x 1 = 0.33. We investigated models when one or two emotional states are random ( −1 = 0 or/and 0 = 0) and the preferential process appears only for the remaining emotional state. We observe that for a small value of < 0.25 all three considered curves collapsed. VI. REAL-WORLD DATA Let us consider the behavior of the proposed model for parameter values corresponding to a real exchange of messages. For the BBC Forum, the parameters are −1 = 0.051, 1 = 0.38, 0 = 0.45 (see Ref. ). In numerical simulation, the first messages were randomly chosen according to values of the emotional probabilities p = 0.16, p(−1) = 0.65, p = 0.19 calculated for this data set. Also the parameters x 0 = 0.2, x 1 = 0.27 and x −1 = 0.69 were taken from the BBC Forum as conditional probabilities p(e|e). It follows that the average time corresponding to the ordering phenomenon can be estimated as T BBC c ≈ 57000. This value is much larger than the average thread length observed in the BBC data. However since the BBC dataset contains in total N BBC = 2, 474, 781 comments, on average there were M BBC = N BBC * BBC ≈ 43 cases where the MET phase could appear and discussion participants were not able to present another emotion. A similar situation took place for the Digg data, where Digg = 9.910 −6 which corresponds to T Digg c ≈ 101, 000. Since N Digg = 1, 646, 153, M Digg ≈ 16. Both values M BBC and M Digg are much lower than the total numbers of the observed threads in both communities that were correspondingly N thread BBC = 97, 946 and N thread Digg = 129, 998. Thus although there are collective emotional interactions in above online communities, the majority of discussions threads are not pinned to a given emotion. VII. CONCLUSIONS We studied a specific long-memory stochastic process that represents a data driven binary model of emotional online discussions. Analytical and numerical calculations show that in the course of time persistent monoemotional threads can emerge from the clusters of a crit-ical size. Such threads exist as a majority phase above a critical value of the emotional interactions exponent c that value decays to zero when the discussion length tends to infinity. In this thermodynamical limit there is a discontinuous transition between a phase without mono-emotional threads and a phase when every thread is emotional ordered from a certain time moment T c. The value of T c is independent from the system size however there are discontinuous changes of T c for > 0.3. We received analytical forms for values of T c, c and a fraction r of the ordered threads. The extension of the model to a three-state dynamics does not change its main properties, e.g. the critical time T c depends in the same way on the emotional interaction exponent. Applying the results of our model to the BBC and Digg data provides an evidence that the monoemotional state could be present in a very small fraction of the observed discussion threads. Comparing our results to long memory Markov chains studied in we see that the preferential cluster growth process described by Eq.2 leads to a phase transition only in the thermodynamical limit L → ∞. For finite systems we observe a continuous increase of the MET phase with the strength of interactions (see Eq. 11 and Fig 6) even for → 0. Thus our model behaves differently as compared to the N -step Markov model where finite size effects do not preclude a dynamical phase transition. On the other hand in the thermodynamical limit our system displays a first order phase transition that was not observed in quoted studies.

IRELAND is digging in its heels over its refusal to reopen talks on Theresa May’s deal as Leo Varadkar prepares to travel to Brussels to seek help ahead of an increasingly likely no-deal Brexit. The Irish Taoiseach will meet with European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk for crisis talks to discuss “intensifying” preparations for no deal. Mr Varadkar is to outline the support he may need to mitigate the impact of a hard Brexit after Dublin this week revealed no deal could knock 4.25 percent from Ireland’s GDP. Contingency work for no deal "is intensifying both within the European Commission and across the member states", according to the Irish government. He will also use the opportunity to thank the EU institutions, and other member states, for their "continuing support" for Ireland, the Taoiseach’s office said. Mr Varadkar’s visit to the Belgian capital comes as Mrs May also prepares to make the trip in a last-ditch bid to secure further concessions on the contentious Irish border backstop element of her deal. Arlene Foster, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) which props up the Prime Minister’s minority Government, on Friday warned the EU it must “face up to reality” and revise the “toxic backstop”. The backstop arrangement is designed to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic if a future trade deal or technology does not present an alternative solution. But its inclusion in Mrs May’s Withdrawal Agreement - the legally binding element of her Brexit deal - has been a major sticking point in getting the deal through the Commons. It is opposed by the DUP who fear it would lead to Northern Ireland being cut off from the rest of the UK by a customs border in the Irish Sea. In a speech to members of her party in Kesh, County Fermanagh, Mrs Foster warned the EU are "tough negotiators" but they must now take a “pragmatic approach” to avoid no deal. She said: “It was a massive step forward for the Party to see a majority in Parliament also calling for such changes. “A clear message was sent to Brussels that the backstop is the problem. She added it was “quite disgraceful” to “exploit genuine fears” in Ireland that there could be a return to armed border posts along the politically sensitive frontier if a deal is not reached. She said: "No one is building border checkpoints. No one is sending troops to the border either. Such talk is foolish and careless." Mr Varadkar last week raised the prospect of soldiers being deployed to the border if Brexit goes “very wrong”. Asked to describe what the frontier could look like in a worst-case scenario, he said a hard border could “involve people in uniform and it may involve the need, for example, for cameras, physical infrastructure, possibly a police presence, or an army presence to back it up”. However the Irish government quickly rowed back on the remarks and insisted Dublin had no plans to deploy troops to the border. Barring an extension of Article 50, the process by which the UK leaves the EU, Britain is scheduled to quit the bloc on March 29, regardless of whether or not a deal is secured. Both Mrs May and EU leaders have insisted they will work to avoid a deal at all costs, but Brussels has already rejected MPs’ demands to renegotiate the backstop. Speaking this week, Commission boss Jean-Claude Juncker said the Brexit deal remains the “best and only deal possible”. He dismissed hopes of a time limit or unilateral exit mechanism on the backstop, arguing that it would not be a “safety net” if it “can just be removed at any time”. Mr Varadkar reiterated his government's stance on no deal during a phone call with Mrs May on Wednesday afternoon. In a statement following the call, the Irish government said: "The Taoiseach set out once again the unchanged Irish and EU position on the Withdrawal Agreement and the backstop, noting that the latest developments had reinforced the need for a backstop which is legally robust and workable in practice."

Entering his final season with the program’s all-time sack record, the defensive end now sits center stage on the field. Hang on for a minute...we're trying to find some more stories you might like. Close Trailing by seven points with a little over eight minutes left in the game, with a struggling offense facing one of the most feared defenses in the country, the 2-9 Florida Atlantic Owls needed a player to step up and make an impact. Treon Harris, quarterback for the No. 8 ranked Gators, received the second-down snap in the shotgun. Hoping to pick up a first down to mark the beginning of the end for the Owls, Harris rolled out to his right. Then-junior defensive end Trey Hendrickson jolted from 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage, on the opposite side of the field, and chased down Harris for a sack while simultaneously stripping him of the ball. It was Hendrickson’s second sack of the game, but one that symbolized much more. The ball bounced into the end zone where teammate and now-sophomore Ocie Rose dove on top of it for the game-tying touchdown, ultimately forcing overtime and proving that FAU, at its best, could compete with any team in the nation. The sack — which marked the Apopka, Florida native’s 16th of his collegiate career — tied him for the program record and signified that Hendrickson wasn’t just beating up on his Conference USA foes, but that he could stand out among the best players in the country. “I had a high rush and from that rush I saw that [Harris] was coming out of the pocket,” Hendrickson said while remembering the play. “When he came out of the pocket, it was basically just a foot race from there on, and once the sack happened I just watched the ball roll into the end zone and Ocie came up with it. It was pretty nuts.” One week later, the criminal justice major collected four more sacks in the team’s final game of the season, placing him in sole possession of the program record. He finished the season with 13 1/2 sacks, the second most in the nation behind Pennsylvania State University defensive end Carl Nassib. With one more full season left to build on his record, the hype surrounding Hendrickson is as high as ever. On July 5, the defensive end was named to the Bednarik Award watch list for college defensive player of the year. Fifteen days later, Conference USA coaches dubbed him the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Hendrickson remains undeterred by the noise around him, much like he does game in, game out. Prior to each Saturday, the pass rusher prefers isolation to get his mind right. He touches the turf to get a feel for what it’s going to be like when he puts his hand in the dirt. He visualizes plays and his surroundings, imagining a third-and-long, making a move and, based on film from the game preparation, pictures himself bursting through and making a big play. With the added national attention, nothing has changed in Hendrickson’s routine. “I think it’s important to go through every preseason as hard as you can and prepare the same way,” he said. “I haven’t earned anything yet. Coaches put me in the right position last year to make plays for them and I owe a lot to Brandin [Bryant] and Trevon [Coley], next to them opening up holes for me to make plays.” Head coach Charlie Partridge has no doubt that his star defensive end will be ready. He remembers sending Hendrickson a congratulatory text for making it onto the watch list. “His response to me,” Partridge said, “was ‘Coach, all I care about is this football team having success.’ That tells me that Trey is in a place that he cares so much about the team, the [recognition] has a chance to take care of itself, so he’s in a very good place.” Last season Hendrickson put so much focus into the team’s success that he didn’t know he had tied the program’s single-season sack record until a reporter asked him to describe the feeling during last October’s Shula Bowl postgame press conference. “I just went game to game last year, I don’t count sacks, I don’t count stats. I just go into every game like it’s my last,” Hendrickson said. “I’m not really concerned with personal statistics, I go into every game wanting to win.” “Next year I’m excited to work with Ray Ellis and Shalom [Ogbonda] the same way I worked with Brandin and Tre[von],” he continued. “It’s a long season ahead of me so I’m not worried about anything.” Hendrickson didn’t always have hype around him. A two-star recruit out of Apopka High School, the defensive end recorded nine tackles and 1 1/2 sacks during his freshman campaign. The following year, the sophomore became a mainstay of the defensive line and recorded five sacks. Then in his junior season, the defensive end erupted onto the scene. “We always really did feel that Trey could be a dominant player once he got consistent with his technique,” Partridge said. “Some of the pass rush decisions that he really started to improve on — because pass rush is really reaction and his decisions are programmed reactions — really improved and he’s always played hard.” Now with such high expectations, the senior has a new responsibility — being a senior leader. “I’m excited,” he said. “I’ve gotten a lot of tools over the years and when you play at a high level you gain the respect of other people, so when I talk people will listen.” Incoming freshman Leighton McCarthy, who holds Wekiva High School’s season record for sacks (20), is ready to listen. After signing with the Owls in February, he expressed his excitement “to pick [Hendrickson’s] brain” and see what he can learn from the Preseason Defensive Conference Player of the Year. “Every freshman goes through growing pains, me probably a little bit more than the others,” Hendrickson said. “But with coach Partridge, he gave me tools and ways to become a better man and become a better leader and I had a choice to listen or not listen. I chose to listen and he made me a better person and a better player for it.” Partridge notices the growth. “He’s matured so much as a person,” Partridge said. “He has come so far in how he carries himself off the field, and I’m extremely proud of him, and that has led to his distractions going away and he can focus on being a great student and great football player … This year we expect another great year out of Trey and he knows that.” This year will be unlike any previous one the defensive end has encountered. Hendrickson has a sack record to build on, young players to teach and NFL scouts to impress, all while trying to turn around a team fresh off consecutive three-win seasons. “It gives me a lot to play for,” he said. “Every game I have an opportunity to build on it and I’m excited to get it rolling … Everybody has goals to go to the [NFL] and I think if I do the right thing on and off the field everything else should take care of itself.” Brendan Feeney is the sports editor of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @feeney42.

A Co Louth feud, which saw one man beaten and stabbed in a bath last weekend, involves two organised crime gangs, and has led to a sharp increase in violence in Drogheda and in jails in recent months. One of the gangs involved is linked to three murders. It has also been the target of a major inquiry by the Criminal Assets Bureau. Violence between the gangs flared seriously over the past week, with arson attacks, a pipe-bomb attack and an abduction in which a young man was beaten and stabbed. Previously, one man was shot, not fatally, as the battle for drugs territory, worsened by personal hatred, intensified over the last six months, The Irish Times has been told. One senior figure was jailed recently, but the violence worsened afterwards. In the last week there have been eight incidents in Moneymore and Cement Road in Drogheda. Gang members from both sides also live elsewhere in Co Louth and Co Meath, prompting attacks in two other counties recently. This week Garda units have moved to tackle the Drogheda outbreaks. Last Sunday night gardaí burst into a house on the Moneymore estate and found a young man stripped, beaten and stabbed in a bathroom. He had been abducted a short time earlier by members of the rival gang. They put a gun to his head and beat him with a hammer or axe. Gardaí say the attack was a very serious one, and they were fearful the abducted man was about to be murdered by his captors. That abduction followed an arson attack that destroyed a car 24 hours earlier in another feud attack. Following the rescue gardaí and the fire brigade had to deal with a car that was set on fire with gas cylinders inside. The Army’s bomb disposal unit dealt with a pipe-bomb placed in a car belonging to one gang member on Sunday. Despite the extra Garda presence, a house on Rathmullen Road was attacked with a petrol bomb. The man rescued from the house on Sunday night is a close associate of a jailed senior criminal who leads one of that feuding gangs. Some members of that gang are suspected of killing Willie Maughan (35) and Latvian national Anastasija (Anna) Varslavane (21). They were last seen in Gormanston, Co Meath, on the afternoon of Sunday, April 14th, 2015. Gardaí believe they were killed and their bodies disposed of because a senior gang member feared the couple were about to go to the Garda and link him to the gun murder of Benny Whitehouse in Balbriggan in 2014.

A third of the world’s population earns $2.50 or less a day. This disparity takes my breath away, but there’s a flip side to it: That’s a market of more than five billion dollars a day. Add the next segment ($5 a day), and you see that the poorest people in the world spend more than ten billion dollars to live their lives. Part 1: The bottom is important. Almost a third of the world’s population earns $2.50 or less a day. The enormity of this disparity takes my breath away, but there’s an interesting flip side to it: That’s a market of more than five billion dollars a day. Add the next segment ($5 a day) and it’s easy to see that every single day, the poorest people in the world spend more than ten billion dollars to live their lives. Most of that money is spent on traditional items purchased in traditional ways. Kerosene. Rice. Basic medicines if you can afford them or if death is the only alternative. And almost all of these purchases are inefficient. There’s lack of information, high costs because of a lack of choice, and most of all, a lack of innovation. There are two significant impacts here: first, the inefficiency is a tax on the people who can least afford it. Second, the side effects of poor products are dangerous. Kerosene kills, and so does dirty water. Part 2: The bottom is an opportunity (for both buyer or seller). Change the world? Sure. Because capitalism and markets scale. If you can make money selling someone a safer item, you’ll make more. And more. Until you’ve sold all you can. At the same time, you’ve enriched the purchaser, who bought something of her own free will because it made things better. Not only that, but engaging in the marketplace empowers the purchaser. If you’ve got a wagon full of rice as food aid, you can just dump it in the town square and drive away. You have all the power. But if you have to sell something in order to succeed, it moves the power from the seller to buyer. Quality and service and engagement have to continually improve or the buyer moves on. The cell phone, for example, has revolutionized the life of billions in the developing world. If you have a cell phone, you can determine the best price for the wheat you want to sell. You can find out if the part for your tractor has come in without spending two days to walk to town to find out. And you can be alerted to weather… etc. Productivity booms. There’s no way the cell phone could have taken off as quickly or efficiently as a form of aid, but once someone started engaging with this market, the volume was so huge it just scaled. And the market now competes to be ever more efficient. And here’s the kicker: If you’re a tenth-generation subsistence farmer, your point of view is different from someone working in an R&D lab in Palo Alto. The Moral Economy of the Peasant makes this argument quite clearly. Imagine standing in water up to your chin. The only thing you’re prepared to focus on is whether or not the water is going to rise four more inches. Your penchant for risk is close to zero. One mistake and the game is over. As a result, it’s extremely difficult to sell innovation to this consumer. The line around the block to get into the Apple store is just an insane concept in this community. A promise from a marketer is meaningless, because the marketer isn’t part of the town, the marketer will move away, the marketer is, of course, a liar. Let me add one more easily overlooked point: Western-style consumers have been taught from birth the power of the package. We see the new nano or the new Porsche or the new convertible note on a venture deal and we can easily do the math: [new thing] + [me] = [happier]. We’ve been taught that an object can make our lives better, that a purchase can make us happier, that the color of the Tiffany’s box or the ringing of a phone might/will bring us joy. That’s just not true for someone who hasn’t bought a new kind consumer good in a year or two or three or maybe ever. As a result, stores in the developing world tend to be stocked with the classic, the tried and true, because people buy refills of previous purchases, not the new. No subsistence farmer walks to a store or stall saying, “I wonder what’s new today? I wonder if there’s a new way for me to solve my problems?” Every day, people in the West say that very thing as they engage in shopping as a hobby. You can’t simply put something new in front of a person in this market and expect them to buy it, no matter how great, no matter how well packaged, no matter how well sold. So you see the paradox. A new product and approach and innovation could dramatically improve the life and income of a billion people, but those people have been conditioned to ignore the very tools that are a reflex of marketers that might sell it to them. Fear of loss is greater than fear of gain. Advertising is inefficient and ineffective. And the worldview of the shopper is that they’re not a shopper. They’re in search of refills. The answer, it turns out, is in connecting and leading Tribes. It lies in engaging directly and experientially with individuals, not getting distribution in front of markets. Figure out how to use direct selling in just one village, and then do it in ten, and then in a hundred. The broad, mass market approach of a Western marketer is foolish because there is no mass market in places where villages are the market. This gentleman is a swami, a leader in his village. He owns a d.light lantern. Why? He could fit all his worldly positions into a rollaboard, and yet he owns a solar lantern, the first man in his village to buy one. For him, at least this one time, he liked the way it felt to be seen as a leader, to go first, to do an experiment. Perhaps his followers contributed enough that the purchase didn’t feel risky. Perhaps the person he bought it from was a friend or was somehow trusted. It doesn’t really matter, other than understanding that he’s rare. After he got the lantern, he set it up in front of his house. Every night for six months, his followers would meet on his front yard to talk, to connect and yes, to wonder how long it would be before the lantern would burn out. Six months later, the jury is still out. One day, months or years from now, the lantern will be seen as obvious and trusted and a safe purchase. But it won’t happen as fast as it would happen in Buffalo or Paris. The imperative is simple: find the early adopters, embrace them, adore them, support them, don’t go away, don’t let them down. And then be patient yet persistent. Mass market acceptance is rare. Viral connections based on experience are the only reliable way to spread new ideas in communities that aren’t traditionally focused on the cult of the new. This raises the bar for customer service and exceptional longevity, value and design. It means that the only way to successfully engage this market is with relentless focus on the conversations that tribe leaders and early adopters choose to have with their peers. All the tools of the Western mass market are useless here. Seth Godin has written twelve books that have been translated into more than thirty languages. Every one has been a bestseller. His latest book, LINCHPIN, hit the Amazon top 10 on the first day it was published and became a New York Times bestseller. His company, Squidoo.com, is ranked among the top 125 sites in the U.S. (by traffic) by Quantcast. Follow him at SethGodin.com or on Twitter @ThisIsSethsBlog.

The serological response of chickens to Australian lentogenic strains of Newcastle disease virus. SUMMARY: Australian lentogenic Newcastle disease viruses were evaluated as uninactivated vaccines in Australian chickens, the response being evaluated by the production of haemagglutination-inhibition (HI) antibodies. Two viruses, V4 and PM9, induced high levels of antibody and were readily transmissible between chickens by contact exposure. Three other viruses were poorly immunogenic and poorly transmissible. Chickens vaccinated intramuscularly with the V4 strain produced higher HI antibody titres than chickens vaccinated by the orotracheal, intranasal and intraocular routes. HI antibody titres in chickens vaccinated with the V4 strain reached peak levels 3 to 5 weeks after vaccination and waned considerably during the next 2 to 4 weeks. However, low levels of HI antibody persisted for at least 36 weeks after vaccination. Intramuscular vaccination with the V4 strain of one-day-old chicks lacking maternal antibody to Newcastle disease virus resulted in 4270% mortality and the survivors developed very high titres of HI antibody. Similar chickens inoculated orotracheally showed signs of depression and developed high titres of HI antibody, but there were no mortalities. Chickens 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-weeks-old and lacking maternally derived HI antibody to Newcastle disease virus suffered no adverse reaction to intramuscular or orotracheal vaccination. The antibody response of the 1-week-old chickens was considerably poorer than that of the older chickens. Following orotracheal vaccination with the V4 strain, chickens with low levels of maternally derived antibody responded with low levels of HI antibody. On the other hand, in the progeny of hens hyperimmunised with the V4 strain the production of active antibody following orotracheal vaccination was delayed until the level of passive antibody had declined considerably. There was no response to intramuscular vaccination in congenitally hyperimmune chickens. The minimum HI antibody inducing dose of V4 vaccine, when measured 3 weeks after vaccination of 6-weeks-old chickens, was 105.6 50% egg infectious doses.

Legacy PV panels How far can they go? The introduction of photovoltaic (PV) modules in the early 1970's to energize remote telecommunication sites has provided a much needed backbone for communications in far reaching and remote areas of Australia. Whilst accurate analysis of batteries is common, little data is captured on PV modules. Where a rule of thumb theory is applied to assessing PV capacity there is an increased risk of critical network outages or premature loss of full life asset delivery. This paper will look at an effective method of analyzing PV capacity, eliminating the necessity for disassembly and off site laboratory testing. It will demonstrate how a new test instrument specifically designed to capture legitimate data can be carried out live on site.

Investigation puts British government under spotlight for allowing members of former Egyptian dictatorship to retain assets in UK Britain has allowed key members of Egypt's toppled dictatorship to retain millions of pounds of suspected property and business assets in the UK, potentially violating a globally-agreed set of sanctions. The situation has led to accusations that ministers are more interested in preserving the City of London's cosy relationship with the Arab financial sector than in securing justice. Hosni Mubarak, the ousted former president, was sentenced to life in jail in June. A six-month investigation, conducted by BBC Arabic and released in conjunction with the Guardian and al-Hayat, a pan-Arab newspaper, has identified many valuable assets linked to his family and their associates that have not been frozen. These include luxury houses in Chelsea and Knightsbridge and companies registered in central London. One member of Mubarak's inner circle has even been permitted to set up a UK-based business in recent months, despite being named on a British Treasury sanctions list (pdf) of Egyptians who are linked to misappropriated assets and subject to an asset-freeze. In response to the investigation, the Foreign Office said it was working closely with its Egyptian counterparts to hunt down Mubarak regime assets. The Treasury, which has a dedicated unit tasked with implementing financial sanctions, said it was confident it had acted properly. Both departments said they could not comment on individual cases. The revelations will embarrass British ministers, who have previously expressed support for the Arab uprisings and vowed to take "decisive action" to track down and return illicit funds taken out of Egypt. Yet 18 months on from the downfall of Mubarak, publicly-accessible records from Companies House and Land Registry indicate that the fortunes of regime figures convicted of embezzling money from Egypt remain at least partially on UK soil and untouched by British authorities. The problem is compounded by the apparent lack of political will in Egypt when it comes to chasing former regime assets – a situation which some experts attribute to the continued influence of major players from the Mubarak era. Egypt's government is currently pursuing a lawsuit against the UK Treasury for dragging its heels on asset recovery. "This is a collective crime from both the British and Egyptian governments," said Dr Mohamed Mahsoob, a public investigator who led enquiries into Egypt's "stolen billions" and who has since been appointed to the country's new cabinet. "The UK is one of the worst countries when it comes to tracing and freezing Egyptian assets," he said. "The British are saying that they need official requests from the Egyptian government before they take any action and that until this happens they are allowing the free movement of assets and the closure of certain accounts of companies beyond UK borders, to be reinvested elsewhere under different guises in order to prevent it from being retrieved. "This is pure political profiteering that doesn't reflect the concept of British justice and democracy that we teach in Egyptian universities. "The UK is doing nothing less than bleeding Egyptian assets, which can only be to the detriment of the Egyptian nation." An aggressive free-market reform programme instituted by the Mubarak regime in the 1990s and 2000s saw previously state-owned companies and landholdings shift into the hands of private businessmen at an astonishing rate. Prominent "big sharks" within the ruling NDP party – including Mubarak's playboy son and assumed successor Gamal – amassed huge riches. Popular anger with the scale of corruption was a driving force behind Egypt's revolution. As political shockwaves from Egypt's upheaval spread throughout the region, Britain's political leaders scrambled to realign themselves with the revolutionaries. David Cameron declared that the UK government was a friend of the Egyptian people and ready to "help in any way we can". Three days after Mubarak's downfall, with popular pressure to recover Egypt's 'stolen billions' mounting in the street, the interim government in Cairo requested that western authorities freeze the assets of several former regime members who were suspected of embezzling public funds and hiding them in property and business interests. William Hague, the foreign secretary, told MPs the request would be co-operated with, and government ministers promised "firm, decisive and prompt action". Yet although Switzerland took only half an hour to begin freezing Egyptian regime assets following Mubarak's overthrow, the UK took 37 days to follow suit – a delay which critics say could have allowed assets to be liquidated and illicit funds to be moved offshore. And while Switzerland has frozen almost £500m of suspect Egyptian assets, the UK has frozen less than a fifth of that and returned none of it to Egypt. Meanwhile nearly half of Egypt's population lives below the poverty line, and the country's government has just requested a controversial £3bn loan from the IMF to help stabilise its economy. Professor Mark Pieth, one of the world's leading authorities on cross-border asset recovery, said the revelations were not surprising. "As a citizen I would be outraged," he told the BBC. "But as a lawyer I would say it doesn't astonish me that much because I'm not sure that the rules on so-called PEPs [Politically Exposed People] are really fully implemented in the UK. The state is not bending over backwards yet to help." He added: "Egypt had a strong relationship to the west, and quite a strong relationship to the UK for that matter. "I'm thinking especially of all sorts of Arab banks with their subsidiaries in the City of London. If you go for a walk in the City you can see them – I'm pretty sure that Egyptian cronies of the Mubarak family and members of that system felt quite comfortable depositing money in the UK. "It's probably cosier to bring your money to your friends at an Arab bank in the City of London. "[For the British government] Egypt's military generals are probably still a guarantor for safety whereas the new parliament and the new president are probably looked on with reservation. "I would expect Britain is careful not to squarely go against the remnants of the old regime." Public records show a number of apparently unfrozen UK-based assets linked to Egyptian regime figures, some of whom are now in jail in Cairo for economic fraud. Gamal Mubarak was on a list published by the Treasury in March 2011 detailing 19 Egyptians whose assets were to be frozen. Yet MedInvest Associates, a London-based investment firm of which Gamal was a director, has never been frozen. Gamal subsequently stepped down as director and in February MedInvest was quietly dissolved voluntarily, potentially allowing its assets to be transferred abroad beyond the reach of investigators. Gamal Mubarak is also heavily linked with a £10m London home round the corner from Harrods department store. The Knightsbridge house is named as Mubarak's place of address in his company filings for MedInvest and listed as the Mubarak family home on the birth certificate of Gamal's daughter, born in London in 2010. But the property has not been frozen for investigation. Gamal is now in jail in Cairo, awaiting verdict on money laundering charges. Another figure on the Treasury's sanctions list has actually been allowed to open a new business in the UK. Naglaa el-Ghazarley, wife of former tourism and housing minister Ahmed el-Maghrabi – now serving a five-year jail sentence in Egypt for corruption – registered Essential Designs by Nejla last November, almost eight months after the UK promised to freeze her assets. The company's registered address in Chelsea also remains unfrozen. Tim Daniel, a lawyer specialising in asset recovery, said it was "extraordinary" that someone on the sanctions list could begin trading in the UK in this way. Judge Assem el-Gohari, the official in Egypt's ministry of justice responsible for tracing stolen funds, insists that he has challenged the UK authorities over their inaction, but was told in response that British investigators need more information to proceed. "The British government is obliged by law to help us but it doesn't want to make any effort at all to recover the money. It just says: Give us evidence. Is that reasonable? "We're in Egypt. How can we search for money in the UK? We believe the UK has breached international law and the anti-corruption agreements." Alistair Burt, minister for the Middle East and North Africa, denied Britain was not doing enough. "We are working closely with their [Egypt's] authorities to identify and restrain assets their courts have identified as stolen," he said. "It is crucial that the recovery and return of stolen assets is lawful. It is simply not possible for the UK to deprive a person of their assets and return them to an overseas country in the absence of a criminal conviction and confiscation order. "We are therefore working closely with the appropriate authorities in Egypt to help them understand the legal process and how to work with it effectively and efficiently, including through expert-to-expert contacts in the UK and Cairo, the signing of a memorandum of understanding on intelligence sharing with the Egyptian financial intelligence unit, and increased police-to-police intelligence co-operation." Andy Slaughter, the shadow justice minister, said the evidence unearthed by the investigation showed that the UK government is "effectively turning a blind eye" to money stolen from the Egyptian people. "Twenty minutes work by officials could have identified very substantial assets belonging to the old Egyptian regime. We used to be a place where international justice was seen to be done, and now we're turning a blind eye to every type of abuse," he said. • Egypt's Stolen Billions will be broadcast on BBC2's Newsnight on Monday and on the BBC Arabic channel for the next two weeks Sanctions and the law The international community uses financial sanctions to try to shape the behaviour of specific regimes and individuals, as well as to stop funds from slipping into terrorist hands and prevent those suspected of economic fraud from squirrelling their fortunes away beyond public reach. Sanctions are imposed at a supranational level by either the UN (under Article 41 of the UN charter) or the EU (under Article 11 of the Treaty of the EU), though in practice each nation retains its own set of legal procedures when it comes to setting and implementing sanctions and the energy with which they go about their task often depends on political will. With its huge financial centre and valuable property market, London is a global magnet for international assets, meaning that the British authorities are regularly called into action when sanctions are applied. The UK foreign office is responsible for setting overall policy regarding sanctions while a dedicated unit in the Treasury implements the sanctions themselves – usually by contacting private financial institutions like banks and investment funds and asking them to freeze relevant assets. The official British sanctions list (pdf) is constantly updated and currently runs to 74 pages, listing everyone from al-Qaida fugitives to Congolese warlords and North Korean politicians. • This article was amended on 3 September 2012. The original said the Egyptian government had just agreed a £3bn loan with the IMF. The loan has yet to be formally approved.

Sharingplus as a Model of Lecturers Classroom Discourse in Communicating Learning Tasks to Minangkabaunese Students Fundamentally Minangkabaunese students are those who can work industriously and seriously in accomplishing their tasks. However, currently, they prefer getting something instantaneously without considering the quality. The fact attracted researcher to investigate how to make them back to basic character. This paper analyzes a model of discourse and how to implement it at university level. Therefore, six lecturers who taught at English Department at Teacher College Sumatera Barat, which is called STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat, along with their students, were selected as participants. They were selected purposively. Data were collected by using video recording and by interviewing them and analyzed by following qualitative analysis. Findings can be described that SHARINGPLUS (Stimulating, Handled with consensus, Appropriateness-based, Revising, Illustrating, Negotiating, Goal-oriented, Patient, Loving, Unforgettable, and Sympathetic) model is appropriate to apply when communicating learning tasks to Minangkabaunese students. Therefore, those who want to make students study hard can adapt the model based on the existing situation and condition.

I was threatened with violence and rape and begged a bus driver to protect me from my harasser. Instead, he laughed and shook the man’s hand. EDIT (12/17/13, 3:45pm): Within hours of this post going viral, I received a call from Helen Moore, the CSD for Golden Gate Bus. It was a good call. They’re paying attention. They want to fix this. I don’t know what will happen with the driver who laughed and shook my harasser’s hand, but their official statement is “We are listening and are investigating the matter at the highest level of our organization.” EDIT (12/18/13, 3pm): Overwhelmed, thankful, and feeling incredibly, indescribably raw right now. PTSD adrenaline/hypervigilance + gaslighting + judgement + extreme exposure = losing my lunch a couple of times since this story went viral. I am appreciative to every person who’s reached out with compassion, and to the GGT representatives for being so proactive and professional in their response. A request: can everyone please stop rallying to get the driver fired? That’s not going to help ANYTHING. I do NOT support that. I can’t imagine what kind of horrorshows public transit drivers deal with on a reg. basis. The bus driver was young. My harasser was obviously aggressive. I was shaking, yelling, terrified, angry. The driver made a big mistake by not taking me seriously and calling the police when I repeatedly begged him to. He made a big mistake by shaking my harasser’s hand and laughing while I stood there in shock and continuing to beg for help. That was frightening and dehumanizing for me. But I don’t want to dehumanize him. I really don’t. I spoke up because what happened is unacceptable and nothing like it should ever, ever happen on Golden Gate Transit again. But I don’t want a young man who was obviously inadequately trained to handle a volatile situation (and probably fearful) to lose his job. I just want him, and everyone else with his responsibilities, to get the training they need to do a BETTER job. That being said, I do hope there’s bus cam footage of my harasser. He approached me in the middle of the night, became enraged when I wouldn’t talk to him, was further enraged when I made the decision to stand firm and yell at him, and then told me he was going to lay hands on me and that I deserved to be raped “for being a bitch” and more. He’s definitely said and done stuff just like that before, probably worse. He’ll do it again, I have no doubt. Oof. This is scary and hard. My hands keep shaking. Gotta take a break. Signing off for a while. Thanks again for the overwhelming support. Go tell someone you love them. EDIT: (12/19/13, 1:45pm) An apology has been issued. Read it, and some responses here. EDIT: (12/23/13) I’ve written a big update here. Last night I took the bus into San Francisco from Sausalito to see the incredible Anna Von Hausswolff perform at the Rickshaw Stop. After the show, I walked a friend over to Civic Center BART, ate a fast food snack, and then headed to the 70/80 Golden Gate Transit bus stop at Mission & 5th. During that time, the battery on my phone died. Bleh. Bad timing. I endured a lot of casual harassment from different men at different points and felt pretty spooked. I waited alone at 5th and Mission between midnight and one o’clock for my Sausalito bus. At one point a leering dude in a sportscar backed up to the bus stop and asked “hey, baby, where you going, can I give you a ride” and when I shook my head, he called me a cunt and peeled off. Which sucked… but you know what was way worse? *Another* guy showed up shortly after that, got WAY closer to me than necessary, looked me up and down, gave me a “hey baby, how you doin’” and, when I was unwilling to engage in conversation with him, became infuriated and wouldn’t leave me alone. Over the course of five minutes, he verbally threatened me with rape, a beating, and kept trying to lurch closer to me. When I barked “BACK OFF” and raised my fists, he took a couple steps back, but unzipped his pants and started pantomiming taking his dick out while continuing to call me a bitch and a stuck-up ho. “I am going to slap you, bitch. You deserve to get raped. You deserve a dick in your ass. Stuck-up ugly slut. You’re gonna get raped because you’re a bitch and bitches deserve whatever they get.” At one point he made a motion as if he was going for something tucked into the back of his pants. I just kept yelling at him as loudly and aggressively as I could. But I was genuinely scared at that point. It was the middle of the night. I was alone, without a working phone or pepper spray. But we were in a brightly lit place, so I decided to stand my ground and keep yelling at him to stay the fuck away from me and hope the bus would arrive soon, which it did. I rushed to it. The doors to the bus opened, and I called to the driver, “this man just threatened to rape and beat me and started to expose himself, please don’t let him on.” Blank stare from the bus driver. My harasser actually pushed past me, got on the bus, sat down in the front seat, told the bus driver “pay this bitch no mind, she’s a crazy-ass prostitute” and laughingly told him, “she been harassing ME”. I again asked the bus driver to either get him off the bus or call the cops. The bus driver refused to do either, and then, as I watched, he laughed good-naturedly along with my harasser and *actually shook his hand* when the harasser reached over. I was stunned. I stood at the head of the bus and kept saying “why aren’t you listening to me? Please call the cops. Don’t let him stay on the bus.” With my harasser sitting right there in the front row, I refused to budge from the front of the bus, holding onto the railing, continuing to ask the bus driver to get him off the bus or call the police. Harasser: “Sit your ass down, bitch.” Bus driver: stoically doing nothing. When it became clear that I wasn’t going to budge, my harasser got downright jolly with the driver, said “Imma go sit in the back of the bus where I belong now” and they appeared to share a moment of connection over my perceived overreaction. The implication being, I guess, that my response to threats of rape and a beating from a stranger while minding my own business alone at a bus stop in the middle of the night was somehow racist. I was in shock and shaking and continued to hold onto the railing at the front of the bus. The driver eventually ordered me to sit down. So I did. And then asked him: “why aren’t you doing anything? Why did you shake his hand and laugh? That guy threatened to hurt me and rape me. Why would you do that?” He basically ignored my questions. Ignored me. I sat there, in shock, while my harasser continued to yell threats and insults at me from the rear of the bus. A couple of stops later, a vaguely familiar person stepped on board. I noticed he was wearing a DNA Lounge hoodie and said “hey, you work at DNA, don’t you? Hi, I’m Meredith.” “Hi, I’m Mango.” I asked if he had a pen I could borrow, and he did. I asked the bus driver for his name. He wouldn’t give it to me. So I wrote down the number of the bus on a scrap of paper and gave the pen back. And then chatted pleasantly with Mango for the rest of the journey back to Sausalito. Upon exiting the bus, I told the bus driver “that was really not cool, man. This is why women are afraid.” He just stared at me blankly. Didn’t say anything. Drove away. I walked the rest of the way home in daze. This morning I called the Golden Gate Transit hotline and filed a report. I genuinely do not want to get the driver fired. He seemed young and totally clueless and lacking in empathy, but not actively unkind. I just hope that some sort of protocol adjustment happens. Some kind of conversation where it’s made clear to each and every driver that when a woman begs them to call the cops or to bar an aggressive man from their bus, they should DO THAT. What happened to me last night is nothing compared to what a lot of women endure, I know. I don’t mean to trivialize anyone else’s experiences by talking about my own. And I realize that public transit drivers probably endure far scarier confrontations themselves from time to time and dread the potential for violence. But I still wanted to mention that this happened publicly, because speaking up seems more constructive than saying nothing. Bottom line: I’m really glad I didn’t get raped, beaten, or killed while trying to get home alone last night. I’m grateful that I got to hang out with Mango, having a kindly human interaction instead of sitting there alone, feeling subhuman and invisible, for the rest of that bus ride. Thank you, Mango. And all things considered, I’m still very glad I came out for that Anna Von Hausswolff show. She is really special. Her voice is powerful and good and gives me hope. If you like doomy, witchy, ethereal music, you should buy her album Ceremony. It’s gorgeous. TL;DR — Music heals. Silence is death. Don’t ignore women when they tell you they’re in immediate danger and beg you for help.

An interactive MATLAB-based tool for teaching classical systems and controls This educational research endeavor describes the development of a MATLAB/Windows/C++ PC environment designed to teach fundamental concepts from classical systems and controls. Interactive computer-aided-lessons (ICALs) form the heart of the environment. Upon entering the environment, a master menu is provided from which the user can select a starting ICAL. The user is then led through a sequence of ICALs-each carefully designed to teach a specific concept. During each lesson, the screen is divided into three child windows. The first window is called the Goal Window. The second window is called the Introduction, Question, Answer, Explanation Window. The third window is called the Graphics Window. The ICAL environment has been designed such that old lessons may be easily modified and new lessons may be easily created and added to the environment. A sequence of ICAL screens have been provided to illustrate the utility of the environment as an educational tool.

Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder watches the action against Phoenix during NBA basketball in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 6, 2017. The NBA is back, and the Utah Jazz’s home opener starts tonight at 7 as the team faces the Denver Nuggets. Before you prepare to make your trip around the newly renovated Vivint Arena, CBS Sports created a four-step plan to reach a playoff berth without the help of Gordon Hayward or George Hill. The plan includes defense, led by Rudy Gobert; spot-up shooter Rodney Hood and Ricky Rubio to fill the void at point guard. Nothing is more depressing than your favorite college football team having one of the worst records in the country. So, ESPN’s Ryan McGee quoted his inspirational thought of the week for his bottom 10 teams. Spoiler alert to Cougar fans, BYU (1-6) is No. 2 on the list. Despite a poor record, McGee did pay his respects to Cougar Nation for having one of the strongest fan bases in college football. Zack Moss makes Pac-12 team of the week. With seven goals, one assist and three game-winning goals, it’s no wonder why Ashley Hatch of the North Carolina Courage was awarded rookie of the year this season. Here’s a 2-minute highlight of the former Cougar, tweeted by the National Women's Soccer League.

BMX racing—riding bicycles off-road on a groomed dirt track—has been around since the 1970s, but enjoyed a surge of popularity in recent decades, making its way into the 2008 summer Olympics. The Idaho State BMX Championship promises an action-packed weekend, when expert and novice riders hit the tracks at Eagle Park BMX for an event known to draw a crowd 1,000 strong. Catch a double-points state pre-race on Sept. 11, a triple-points state final race and raffle on Sept. 2 and a double-points Bob Warnicke race on Sept. 3. If you'd like to do more than spectate, it isn't too late: Riders who want to test their mettle racing others on jumps and runs can register online until 8 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 31.

Antisemitism in the American Religious Landscape: The Present Twenty-First Century Moment This contribution is an examination of so-called religious antisemitism vis--vis the various Christian religious communities and/or denominations at the present time, framed by the recognition that, over the last several years, an increase in antisemitism in the United States has been shown by figures compiled by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). It is further framed by examining the 2015 Pew Research Center Report Americas Changing Religious Landscape, and its 2016 If the U.S. had 100 people: Charting Americas Religious Affiliations.

Effects of local climate on nest cavity characteristics of a North African endemic woodpecker Abstract Levaillants Woodpecker Picus vaillantii is a primary cavity nester, endemic to the forests of northern Africa, including the cedar forest in Aurs Mountains. This species, similar to all woodpeckers, is important for the integrity of ecosystems, especially as it provides nesting cavities and contributes to the availability of habitats for several secondary cavity nesters that cannot excavate their hollows. This work aim to characterise the Levaillants Woodpeckers nest cavities and to test the effect of local climatic conditions on the size and orientation of these cavities. Surveys were carried out in the breeding seasons of 2018 and 2019 using the point count method to search for the nests. Based on nest measurements conducted on a total of 52 available nest cavities, our results reveal that entrances are dominated by round shapes (94.2%) as compared to oval shapes. The mean height and width values of the cavity entrances were found to be 7.26 ± 1.51 centimetres and 7.11 ± 1.44 centimetres. The depth of the internal chamber and its width were estimated to be 35.42 ± 7.82 centimetres and 17.95 ± 4.01 centimetres, respectively. Unlike the average values of the volumes of the internal chamber, those relating to the entrance area and orientation vary significantly according to altitude and climatic conditions. Indeed, when climbing towards the summits, the cavities widen and turn to the west-southwest. This behaviour of the Levaillants Woodpecker seems to help it to benefit from maximum sunshine at high altitudes and to avoid predators and competitors more abundant at medium or low altitudes.

Tumor vaccine composed of CpG ODN class C and irradiated tumor cells up-regulates the expression of genes characteristic of mature dendritic cells and of memory cells. Only properly mature dendritic cells (DCs) in the presence of tumor antigens accomplish to activate all of the elements of the immune network and have the potential to induce tumor-specific effectors and memory T cells. In the current study, we firstly aimed to investigate the in vivo maturation of antigen presenting cells (APCs) at the molecular level by following the expression of CD11c, CD86 and MyD88 genes in the mixture of mononuclear cells after treatment of mice with a tumor vaccine composed of C-class CpG oligodeoxynucletides (CpG ODN) and irradiated melanoma B16F1 tumor cells. The second objective was to define whether the tumor vaccine induces generation of memory T cells (CD44hiCD62Llo/hiCD27hi). Finally, based on gene expression pattern we aimed to determine the tissue distribution and homing of the (mature) APCs and memory cells after vaccination. We demonstrated that by tumor vaccine the APCs (including DCs) are manipulated in vivo. By this kind of vaccine, the differentiation and maturation of APCs is triggered primarily in the spleen and is subsequently followed by the migration of these APCs to the bone marrow. Once in the bone marrow, these APCs play a crucial role in the development and maintenance of long-lived memory T cells capable of preventing a relapse of malignant disease. In conclusion, our results provide insight into the nature and scope of the antitumor immune response elicited by this kind of tumor vaccine in vivo. We showed that the maturation of APCs is a prerequisite for the generation of effective long-term antitumor immunity.

Bethe-Slater-curve-like behavior and interlayer spin-exchange coupling mechanisms in two-dimensional magnetic bilayers Layered magnets have recently received tremendous attention, however, spin-exchange coupling mechanism across their interlayer regions is yet to be revealed. Here, we report a Bethe-Slater-curve (BSC) like behavior in nine transition metal dichalcogenide bilayers (MX2, M=V, Cr, Mn; X=S, Se, Te) and established interlayer spin-exchange coupling mechanisms at their van der Waals gaps using first-principle calculations. The BSC-like behavior offers a distance-dependent interlayer anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) to ferromagnetic (FM) transition. This phenomenon is explained with the spin-exchange coupling mechanisms established using bilayer CrSe2 as a prototype in this work. The overlapped interfacial Se wavefunctions form an interlayer effective site, the spin alignment of which determines interlayer magnetic coupling. At a shorter interlayer distance, Pauli repulsion at this site dominates and thus favors anti-parallel oriented spins leading to interlayer AFM. For a longer distance, kinetic energy gain of polarized electrons across the bilayer balances the Pauli repulsion and the bilayer prefers an interlayer FM state. In light of this, the AFM-FM transition is a result of competition between Pauli and Coulomb repulsion and kinetic energy gain. All these results open a new route to tune interlayer magnetism and the revealed spin-exchange coupling mechanisms are a paramount addition to those previously established ones.

Senior Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha lawmaker Sanjay Raut today openly challenged the Election Commission's Model Code of Conduct in place, in a shocking remark during a campaign in Mira-Bhayandar in Mumbai's suburb. "To hell with it, we will speak whatever comes to our mind," the Shiv Sena leader said, at the rally on Sunday. "Hum aise log hain. Bhaad mein gaya kanoon, achar sanhita bhi hum dekh lenge. Jo baat hamare mann mein hai wo agar hum mann se bahar nahi nikalein to ghutan si hoti hai (We are such people. To hell with the law, we'll deal with the Model Code of Conduct. Whatever comes to our mind we must speak out otherwise we feel claustrophobic)", the Sena leader told the crowd. The Election Commission has not yet commented on Sanjay Raut's remarks. The Sena leader earlier was issued a notice by the Mumbai district election officer for allegedly violating the model code of conduct over his comments against Communist Party of India's candidate Kanhaiya Kumar. Sanjay Raut, the editor of Shiv Sena's mouthpiece Saamana, said in the editorial that Kanhaiya Kumar must be defeated in the upcoming elections, even if it needed the BJP to "tamper with EVMs". Kanhaiya Kumar, the former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University's student union, is contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha poll from Bihar's Begusarai. Mumbai city Collector Shivaji Jondhale in the notice said that Sanjay Raut's statement showed "lack of faith in the deployment of EVMs and muddying the electoral process".

MicroRNA-124a and microRNA-34b/c are frequently methylated in all histological types of colorectal cancer and polyps, and in the adjacent normal mucosa. MicroRNAs (miRs) are a class of small RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional and/or translational level by interacting with their target mRNAs. miRs are down-regulated or up-regulated in various cancer types, triggering abnormal cell differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis. miR-124a and miR-34b/c have been reported to be expressed at lower levels in colorectal cancer (CRC) due to methylation of these genes. The present study aimed to determine the methylation status of miR-124a and miR-34b/c in CRCs and polyps of various histological types, adjacent normal mucosa and ulcerative colitis. The colon cancer cell line study showed an association of the lower expression of miR-124a and miR-34b/c with the methylation of these genes and induction of the expression of these genes with the treatment by 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine. Among nine different cancer types examined, CRC showed the highest frequency of methylation of miR-124a (cell lines 88% and tissues 99%) and miR-34b/c (cell lines 89% and tissues 93%). Mucinous and non-mucinous CRCs and all the histological types of colorectal polyps showed a high frequency of methylation of miR-124a and miR-34b/c. Notably, methylation of miR-124a (59%) and miR-34b/c (26%) was observed in the adjacent normal mucosa of CRC patients, but not in colonic mucosa from patients without cancer or with ulcerative colitis. The methylation of miR-124a in the adjacent normal mucosa was associated with the microsatellite instability of CRC, while the methylation of miR-34b/c was associated with an older age at diagnosis of CRC. The results showed that the methylation of miR-124a and miR-34b/c occured early in colorectal carcinogenesis and certain CRCs may arise from a field defect defined by the epigenetic inactivation of miRs.

Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games. They're bubbles. And they're in color. And they wash out, rub away or plain evaporate after splattering. Describing Tim Kehoe's invention – Zubbles – is simple. The 15-year journey from concept to this summer's product launch was anything but. "If you said to me, 'You're going to spend a quarter of your life playing with bubbles,' I'd have said you were crazy," the 39-year-old St. Paul, Minn. inventor and father of five said. "You're so afraid of that day you wake up, and somebody else is on the cover of a toy magazine with colored bubbles." Not a fear most of us could identify with, maybe, but then again, most of us aren't marketing-degree-holders turned Mad Toy Scientists, either. It's been four years since Tim's idea and quest earned him a Popular Science feature and the magazine's subsequent Best of What’s New Grand Award in 2005, and though at the time the bubbles' release seemed imminent, what seemed right around the corner ... wasn't. "We all thought we were done at this point, and then it became apparent that what we did at beaker scale just wasn't something that could easily be done on a large scale," Tim recalled. He credits Robert Balchunis with turning the production process into a workable, scalable model, and as of July 2009, considers the Zubbles finally finished. Tim shipped me a bottle of each hue to give them a whirl, and even my middle-school-age daughter was excited the day they showed up in the mailbox. And truthfully, there's a certain joy to be had in watching the bubbles pop and splatter on clothes, plants and patio chairs. The impermanence of the splashes was as advertised: Some of the smaller patches simply faded, others rinsed out of T-shirts with a quick swish under the kitchen faucet. Now I'm thinking of other ways to try them out: I think my nephew's got a bubble rocket toy which would look neat shooting skyward on Zubble exhaust. And I wonder how much the color gets diluted if you add some drugstore glycerin to make giant Zubbles? I also wonder what Tim's got up his sleeve next. __Wired: __Simple and groundbreaking and a testament to one man's refusal to accept clear, boring bubbles. Tired: Well, they are just bubbles, and at $14.95 for a two-bottle pack, significantly pricier than most.

Chilly, overcast weather didn't dampen spirits as developers, elected officials, and Johns Hopkins leaders broke ground Wednesday morning on two projects designed to transform part of the area north of The Johns Hopkins Hospital in East Baltimore. The 5.5 acres at North Wolfe and East Eager streets known as Eager Park will soon be home to a 15-story, $87 million hotel and 49 new townhomes. The homes will start under $300,000, and several will be ready by early 2016. The 194-room extended-stay Marriott Residential Inn East Baltimore at the Johns Hopkins Medical Campus should be complete by mid-2017, developers say. Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels; Ronald R. Peterson, president of the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System and executive vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine; and Paul B. Rothman, dean of the medical faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, were among the group that plunged the first shovels into the ground, a symbolic start to the construction projects. "These projects mark the next milestone in building a stronger, more vibrant East Baltimore and deepening the ties between Johns Hopkins and the neighborhood we call home," Daniels said. The nonprofit East Baltimore Development Inc. was founded in 2002 to bring residential, retail, and recreational space to the area just north of the Johns Hopkins medical campus, while also constructing a science and technology park. A 165,000-square-foot building already underway will be home to the Johns Hopkins FastForward incubator, as well as laboratories and the offices of Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures. Peterson smiled as he addressed the groundbreaking's attendees. "As we recruit new people to the hospital, for us to be able to say that there is new, affordable housing within a safe walk to the hospital is music to my ears," he said. Andy Frank, special advisor to the president of the Johns Hopkins University for economic development, said that, after years of planning, the project is underway. "For 12 years, there has been talk of building a new community north of the Johns Hopkins Hospital," Frank said. "But there never has been anything to buy until now." Frank said he hopes the townhomes will attract Johns Hopkins Hospital employees, adding that they will be eligible for the Johns Hopkins Live Near Your Work benefit, where employees can apply for grants to help them purchase homes near Johns Hopkins. Scott Levitan, senior vice president of Forest City–New East Baltimore Partnership, the main developer of Eager Park, says that Johns Hopkins employees and residents of the neighborhood have lots to look forward to. "There will be an amphitheater, a pavilion, and we're going to have farmers markets and other activities that are programmed in Eager Park," he said. "There will be playing fields and a community garden and a playground for the residents of the neighborhood. It's all very exciting." The area is already home to the new Henderson-Hopkins school, which Levitan said is the first new school built in Baltimore in 22 years. "This has been years in the making," Daniels said. "It's a wonderful project. Today is a really good day for East Baltimore." The groundbreaking ceremony included Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, state Senator Nathanial McFadden, Baltimore City Council President Bernard "Jack" Young, and representatives from the offices of Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and U.S. Congressman Elijah Cummings.

Preparation of 7-oxaaporphine derivatives and evaluation of their dopaminergic activity. A series of 7-oxaaporphine derivatives was prepared. The compounds were evaluated as dopaminergic agents. None of them showed either affinity for dopamine receptors or activity in vivo in the climbing behavior (mice) and turning behavior (6-hydroxydopamine-lesioned rats) tests. The lack of activity is tentatively related to the effect of the oxygen atom on the pKa of these molecules.

Impact of Moringa oleifera on rumen fermentation and methane emission under in vitro condition Exploring innovative methods to provide essential nutrients and reducing ruminant greenhouse gas emission is crucial for animal production and diminishing global warming. This study was conducted to examine the efficacy of Moringa oleifera leaves (ML) in ruminants at 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30% and 40% level in different roughage (R) and concentrate (C) (80R:20C, 70R:30C and 60R:40C) under in vitro conditions. Chemical composition of ML, concentrate mixture and berseem were estimated. Rumen fermentation parameters of male goat kids viz., total gas production, CH4, true dry matter digestibility (TDMD), organic matter digestibility (TOMD), partial fraction (PF), microbial biomass (MBP), ammonia (N), acetate, propionate, butyrate and acetate propionate ratio were observed under in vitro conditions. Results revealed that crude protein, organic matter and ethyl ether content were higher in ML as compared to concentrate mixture and berseem. Magnesium and iron content were also higher in ML as compared to concentrate and berseem. Total gas production, digestibility of DM and OM, MBP, acetate and propionate level were improved (P<0.05) upto 1020% replacement. In contrast, decreased in CH4 (%) and CH4 (mL/100 mg dDM) was noted with increased levels of ML incorporation. There was no change observed in ammonia, acetate: propionate ratios at all the three planes of nutrition. In this study, it is concluded that mixing Moringa oleifera leaves in feed can be used as protein supplement and reduce the methane emission without causing any effect on digestibility and rumen fermentation parameters. However, ML can be suggested for widespread practice to attain the sustainable animal production (1020%) and to alleviate the global warming. Introduction Livestock rearing is important for global food production. Animal production in farm is typically reduced due to the low quality and scarcity of animal feeds in tropical countries. Feedstuffs especially protein sources such as legumes, cereals and grains essential for animal development, have become very expensive and limited in many regions of the world (). Hence, it is required for searching a substitute source of feed which are edible, rich in protein and minerals, low-priced and fulfils the basic needs of small ruminants. The ruminant cattle industry significantly contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emission that cause global warming (Eisen and Brown 2022). Methane is one of the main GHG and its potency is twenty-five times as that of CO 2. Ruminants are one major causes of emission of methane (81-92 MT) produced per year worldwide which is equal to total anthropogenic methane (23-27%). Methane is produced by enteric fermentation process in ruminants and contributes about 13% of methane emission from livestock in India (). Cattle contribute 49.10% enteric methane emission followed by buffalo, goat, sheep and others as 42.80%, 5.38%, 2.59% and 0.73% within agriculture. Different sources such as amino acids, organic acids, essential oils and exogenous enzymes have been used to alleviate the ruminant methane emission (;). Numerous studies have reported a reduction in enteric methane emission by feeding of tree leaves to ruminants and many workers have advocated their use as an alternative protein source for livestock (). Moringa oleifera is a perennial tree feed and also called as "miracle tree". It is a multipurpose and fastgrowing tree with nutritional and therapeutic properties that can be planted in a variety of climates including drought and heat, and can be harvested numerous times (). Its leaves contain sufficient quantity of minerals, proteins and vitamins according to the nutritional demand in lactating goats (). It is also having antioxidant properties such phenols, vitamin C, carotene and flavonoids (). It is an inexpensive protein constituent as compared to soyabean and sesame feed meals used in livestock feeding. Moringa oleifera leaves (ML) meal contains 9 times extra protein as compared to yogurt having good feeding effect and can be used as protein substitute in animal feed (Su and Chen 2020). The normal crude protein content in ML was 180-270 g CP/kg DM as reported by Kholif et al.. Application of Moringa foliage improved the feed consumption, metabolic profile and growth performance of goat kids (). ML are natural feed supplement which produce secondary metabolites like tannins and saponins, modify the pathways of rumen fermentation and prevent the growth of methanogens effectively (). ML strengthened the immune system and reduced oxidative stress in goats due to the presence of bioactive compounds (;). Dong et al. reported that supplementation of ML in goats food improved content of fat milk and decrease the M. ruminantium which involved in methane production. Application of Moringa oil (4%) along with 30-50% of roughage ration decreased the methanogens and protozoa population but increase the Provotella which involved in rumen acidosis (). There has been less research on the effects of ML at various concentration on male goat kids to reduce enteric methane emission, and how it affects rumen fermentation kinetics and digestibility. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate the consequence of M. oleifera leaves on rumen fermentation and methane production under in vitro conditions with different plane of nutrition. Farm description and feed preparation The present study was conducted in Animal Nutrition Division, National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal, Haryana, India. This institution is located at 29° 42N and 79° 54E at 834 feet above the sea level. Moringa oleifera leaves was collected from NDRI farm, shade and oven dried, grind and powder were packed in airtight polythene bags, while berseem and concentrate mixture were oven dried at 60 ℃. Desiccated samples were crushed and sieve (1 mm) by using electrically operated Wiley mill. After complete drying, sample was grinded and placed in sample bottles for further use. Dried samples were used for analysis of DM, OM, CP and EE as per AOAC, NDF and ADF (Van ). Estimation of secondary metabolites in Moringa oleifera leaves Tannin estimation was carried out using the method given by Nwinuka et al.. Tannic acid (1 mg/mL) was used as the reference. Plant leaves extract (1 mL) was mixed with Folin-Ciocalteu reagent (0.5 mL) and sodium carbonate solution (1 mL). The total volume was made up to 5 mL. Tannins concentration was determined by measuring absorbance at 755 nm. Methanolic extract of leaves (500 L) and anisaldehyde reagent (500 L, 0.5%) were mixed in a test tube and left for 10 min for saponins estimation. Sulphuric acid (5%, 2 mL) was added in tubes, mixed properly and kept in water bath at 60℃ for 10 min. The tubes were cooled and the absorbance was measured at 435 nm (). Total phenolic content (TPC) in methanolic extract of ML was determined using the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent assay. Folin-Ciocalteu (750 mL), sodium carbonate (7.5%, 2 mL) and leaves methanolic extract (200 ml) were added in a tube. The mixture was diluted with deionized water to 7 mL, then left at room temperature in the dark for 2 h. The absorbance was measured at 765 nm using spectrophotometer (Folin and Ciocalteu 1927). The total flavonoid content (TFC) was determined using the method described by Zhishen et al.. Briefly, methanolic extract (1 mL) was added to a 10 mL volumetric flask containing water (4 mL). Sodium nitrate (0.3 mL, 5%) was added in flask followed by aluminum chloride (0.3 mL, 10%) at 5 min, sodium hydroxide (2 mL, 1 M) at 6 min. Then 2.4 mL water was added in flask and absorbance was measured at 510 nm. Mineral composition of feed ingredients Dried (0.5 g) dried and crushed feed sample was weighted into digestion tubes, tri acid mixture (10 mL) was added for digestion in Kelplus micro digestion assembly. The absence of white fumes and black particles in the residues suggested that samples had been completely digested. The digested samples were then filtered using filter paper. Filter paper was rinsed many times with double distilled water and Inductivity coupled plasma (ICP-Optical Emission Spectrometer was used for mineral analysis, while P was estimated using spectrophotometric method (Sultana 2020). Experimental design and rumen liquor collection Rumen liquor was collected from the male goat kids with stomach tube and vaccum pump fitted with sterile pipe connected to it in early morning before feeding in prewarmed thermos flask, filtered using four layers of muslin cloth and used as an inoculum for in vitro gas production in different treatments ( Menke and Steingass 1988). Details of the experiment as follows: ML at different concentration (0,5,10,15,20,30 and 40% replaced with concentrate mixture) along with three different ratios of roughage and compound feed (60R:40C, 70R:30C and 80R:20C) were prepared for in vitro experiment. This trial was conducted with three replications with 3 sub replicates of each treatment (total n = 9 samples). Different substrates (200 mg) were weighted separately and added in calibrated glass syringes (100 mL) at the bottom side. The piston was greased through petroleum jelly and hard-pressed inside the syringe. These syringes were incubated at 39 ℃ in water bath. Solution media was prepared separately which contains micro mineral solution (0.124 mL), macro mineral solution (250 mL), rumen buffer solution (250 mL), resazurin solution (1.25 mL) and distilled water (500 mL). This solution was prewarmed at 39 ℃ and fizzed with CO 2, when this mixture become colorless rumen liquor was added. After proper mixing this mixture (30 mL) was injected in syringes through auto dispenser, shaken gently, outlet closed and incubated in water bath for 24 h at 39 ℃ for further use. Piston level was checked for initial reading and syringes were shaken after every 30 min. Analysis of total gas production After 24 h incubation of the above mixture, total gas production was estimated by deducting the initial reading as of final reading. Estimation of in vitro methane production The in vitro methane (CH 4 ) production was estimated by taking the sample gas after 24 h of incubation from the head space in the air tight syringe and injected to gas chromatogram fitted with flame ionization detector and stainless-steel column packed with Porapak-Q (1.5 m 3.2 mm 2 mm). The temperature for injector column and detector were adjusted as 40, 50 and 100 ℃ and flow rate for nitrogen gas through column was 30, 300 and 30 mL/min. Gas sample (2 mL) from syringe was injected into GC through injection port. The standard gas used for methane estimation composed of methane and CO2 (50%). Estimation of true dry and organic matter digestibility (TDMD/TOMD), partial fraction (PF) and microbial biomass (MBN) After 24 h incubation, syringe samples from each replicate were transferred to centrifuge tubes and centrifuged for 10 min at 3000 rpm. Obtained pellet was used for the estimation of DM and OM. Pellets obtained after centrifugation were refluxed with neutral detergent solution, filtered using G1 crucibles and then residues were oven dried to evaluate the TOMD. For in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVTOMD) estimation the residue was ashed at 550-650 ℃ in Muffle furnace. Microbial biomass production and partial fraction were estimated using TDOM (). Estimation of ammonia production Aliquot gas sample was used for the assessment of ammonia nitrogen (NH 3 -N) by Kjeldahl process. Supernatant was acidified with equal volume of HCl (0.5 M) and placed at − 20 ℃. Acidified supernatant (5 mL) and NaOH (10 mL) steam distilled using KELPLUS-N analyzer (Pelican, India). The ammonia was collected in boric acid solution (20%) comprising of mixed indicators and then titrated with H 2 SO 4 (). Estimation of volatile fatty acids (VFA) Supernatant (4 mL) was added in m-phosphoric acid (25%, 2 mL) and overnight placed at 4 ℃. The solution was centrifuged for 15 min at 3000 rpm and stored at 4 ℃ for VFA analysis. The individual VFA in different samples were estimated using gas chromatograph (Nucon 5700) equipped with flame ionization detector and stainlesssteel column packed with chromosorb 101. Analytical conditions used for fractionation of VFA was injector port temperature (210 ℃), column temperature (180 ℃), detector temperature (230 ℃). Flow rate of carrier nitrogen gas was 40 mL/min ( ). Statistical analysis Results were statistically analyzed using SPSS software ver. 16.0 through one-way analysis of variance at P < 0.05. The values of above parameters were presented as mean ± standard error. Chemical composition of feed ingredients and total mixed ration (TMR) The chemical composition of berseem fodder, concentrate and M. oleifera leaves are presented in the Fig. 1 Secondary metabolites in Moringa oleifera leaves On the basis of % dry matter, the value of each chemical component such as tannin, saponin, TPC and TFC in M. oleifera leaves was calculated. The TPC content was higher (4.28%) followed by TFC (3.61%), tannin (2.02%) and saponin (1.01%), respectively. Table 2. Chemical composition of ML ML assists as a healthy and affordable source of micronutrients and proteins. It helps to alleviate the feeding trouble and act as alternative source for ruminants with high biological value. In this study, enhancement in OM and CP with ML addition were observed. Kholif et al. revealed that ML extract supplementation in Nubian goats enhanced the digestibility of OM, dry matter and NDF. Fadiyimu et al. also revealed that feeding concentrate along with ML (25%) significantly enhanced the intake of CP, DM, weight gain and nutrient digestibility in sheep. This may be due the production of phenolics, tannins and saponins by ML which can be used as energy sources in low amounts by rumen microbes during rumen fermentation (). CP fraction Table 4 Effect of replacement of Moringa oleifera leaf on in vitro digestibility, total gas, methane, PF and MBP along with roughage and concentrate feed (70R:30C) Means with different superscripts a, b, c, d and e in the same row differ significantly (P < 0.05) (;Makkar and Becker 1996). Sultana et al. reported that ML feed (100%) significantly improved the CP and NDF content in Bengal goats. Secondary metabolites in ML Secondary metabolites found in ML include tannins, flavonoids, phenolics and saponins may also contribute to improvements in nutrient digestibility. Rumen microbes can utilize them as energy sources without negatively affecting rumen fermentation (Abdel-Raheem and Hassan 2021). They also have antibacterial and protozoal effects that help to reduce methane production while increasing acetate production, which improves carbohydrate digestion in ruminants (). SM also have an effect on ruminal cellulolytic and ammonia producing bacteria and limit the production of gases required for methanogenesis (Goel and Makkar 2012;Kholif and Olafadehan 2021). Mineral profile of different feeds Mineral content varied as the feed available. Supplementation of plant derived feed having appropriate nourishing sources and one of the finest methods to improve the nutritional status in ruminants (). ML are appropriate for animal feed not only for nutrients it also having low quantities of antinutrients. In this study magnesium and iron content were higher in ML as compared to berseem and concentrate mixture. Many plants are deficient in minerals like iron but ML contains calcium, phosphorus, iron, magnesium and zinc about 24,700, 4,400, 318.81, 190 and 22.05 (mg/kg) on dry matter basis (). Calcium is the utmost plentiful mineral vital for the animal body involved in skeleton and teeth formation. Keeping the optimum level of minerals such as calcium and phosphorus is crucial for normal functioning of the body. Trace minerals also play an important function for animal body and required in small amount such as zinc, iron, manganese and copper which involved in tissue repairing, protein metabolism, improved immune status and had positive outcome on milk production of animals (). Gas production and rumen fermentation parameters Animal feed composition having critical aspect to control the methane emission. Recently ruminant methane reduction approaches involved the addition of some inhibitors such as chemical, biological and natural animal feed to inhibit the growth of methanogenic microbes in gut of animals. ML are effective methanogen inhibitors and thus considered alternatives for rumen fermentation pathways. In this study increase in total gas production was observed upto 10% level. Gas production is mainly due to liberation of acetate, propionate and butyrate by the fermentation of carbohydrates. In the present study it is revealed that as the roughage contents increased methane production also augmented, but addition of ML reduces the methane production at 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 and 40% levels. This might be due to the presence of -linolenic, tannins and saponins in ML (). Presence of tannins and phenolics had antimicrobial effects which can be a main cause for methane reduction (Goel and Makkar 2012). Reduction in methane (17%) was also observed in ML treated ruminants over soyabean meal (). Supplementation of ML by replacing soyabean meal significantly reduces methane production, ammonia-N in steers and goats, but increased the production of CO 2 reported by Elghandour et al. (2017a, b). ML feed decreased enteric methane emission and increased milk production in dairy cows as reported by Bashar et al.. ML feeding may reduce the energy loss including methane and urinary nitrogen without having an effect on beef cattle production (). Higher ruminal digestibility of fibers and other constituents in ML reportedly contributes to its considerably high energy concentration. Dey et al. also reported increased in the TDMD and TOMD contents on supplementation of M. oleifera leaves to wheat straw. Supplementation of M. oleifera improve digestibility, sustained outstanding situation and confirm better feeding value (). Therefore, improvement in TDMD and TDMO in the present study might be due to higher degradability of Moringa leaves as both the parameters improved with incremental levels of concentrate replacement with ML. Li et al. reported that ML diet can enhance nutrient intake, nutritional digestibility and rumen fermentation in dairy Holsteins cows. Aregheore reported that ML supplementation (20%) in growing goats improved digestibility and weight gain. The increasing level of ML in the experimental did not affect ammonical nitrogen concentration in any of the TMR. Ammonia-N ratio of ruminal in this study reached from 12.02 to 13.14 (mg/dl). This could be due to the total dietary nitrogen level was at par (iso-nitrogenous) or with a small difference, and thus nitrogen degradation in the rumen occurred in a similar fashion among the R:C ratio or within the same ratio in different level of ML replacement. Elghandour et al. (2017a, b) reported that ML supplementation decreased the ruminal ammonia-N and protozoal population. Application of ML decreased ruminal ammonia-N due to presence of tannins and phenols help retain dietary proteins and slow down the degradability of rumen proteins ((Kholif et al., 2016. Rumen protozoa are thought to be the primary source of rumen ammonia due to bacterial protein consumption and proteolysis (). Reduction in ammonia-N also may be due to the decrease in the protozoal and bacterial population which involved in degradation of proteins in ruminants (). ML may play a function in limiting ammonia by reducing ruminal protein breakdown and deamination and as well as rumen ammonia. Higher VFA and lower ruminal ammonia during ML feed showed increased in consumption of dietary nitrogen (). Increase in propionate production also represents a change in rumen fermentation to reduce methane emission (). Moringa leaves silage increased the total gas production, acetate, propionate while reduced the ruminal protozoa population and methane production. PF which is the ratio of in vitro substrate truly digested to gas volume () theoretically varies from 2.75 to 4.41 the values of PF of all the three groups with ML were within the normal range indicating proper portioning of nutrient for microbial mass production. The increase in MBP (mg) in the current study might be due to higher fraction of CP, in concurrence with greater ruminal degradability of ML protein. It might also be due to the improvement of the rumen microbiome and stimulation of fermentation process by the fermentable N and available carbohydrates supplied by M. oleifera leaves. ML supplementation altered ruminal fermentation and reduced in vitro greenhouse gases production. Present study revealed that supplementation of ML improved protein content, digestibility rate, microbial biomass and partial fraction and reduces methane gas emission. Moringa oleifera leaves can be used as a protein basis in diet of goats under in vitro conditions. Supplementation of ML improved the nutrient digestibility, rumen fermentation parameters and corresponding decrease in methane production. Consequently, it can be concluded that M. oleifera leaf powder can be replaced up to 10-20% of concentrate as a protein source and for methane mitigation in ruminants. Still, further study on different animals with different concentration of ML is needed to validate/ expand the results under in vitro and in vivo conditions.

Early events in the trafficking of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. The N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor plays a central role at excitatory synapses where it has been implicated in multiple functions associated with synaptic plasticity. While this receptor has been intensely studied with respect to its physiology and pharmacology, its cell-biological properties, such as subunit assembly, post-translational processing and trafficking in neurons, are only beginning to be addressed. Critical to many of the functions of the NMDA receptor are the multiple proteins with which it interacts. While these interactions have been most thoroughly studied with respect to the receptor at the synapse, the same proteins may also interact with the receptor much earlier in its biosynthetic pathway and play important roles in receptor trafficking from the endoplasmic reticulum to the synapse.

An Approach to Establish the Negotiation Agenda in Argumentation-Based Contexts During a multi-issue negotiation, negotiators must decide which issues to include in a negotiation agenda and in which order these issues should be negotiated. In this context, if negotiators change the order of issues in the agenda, the outcome of the negotiation can be affected. Here, we analyse the use of an argumentation-based negotiation planning approach to set this agenda in an argumentation-based negotiation context. In this approach, an agent builds argumentation plans, in which the actions represent the arguments that the negotiator should use to persuade its opponents. These plans integrated into the general planning process allow the agent to establish a negotiation agenda by determining in advance what opponents could be persuaded, what issues could be agreed and what is the order in which the issues should be negotiated. A case of study shows how this information is obtained. Finally, the experiments confirmed that the effectiveness and performance of the agent that establishes a negotiation agenda increase when the negotiation context offers multiple alternatives to negotiate.

Less than a week after raising $70 million in financing, Evernote is announcing today that it has purchased the popular Penultimate iPad app. It's not the first acquisition by the company; last year the "remember everything" company bought screen capture sharing app Skitch and integrated it into the larger Evernote ecosystem. We spoke with Evernote CEO Phil Libin and Penultimate's Ben Zotto, and they said that Penultimate, like Skitch, won't be going away. The app itself will live on under the same name, and should get deeper Evernote integration in the coming months. Libin said, "The magic of Penultimate is that it's really simple. Our number one mission is to keep that." The purchase makes a lot of sense: it adds yet another way to easily add more information to Evernote users' ever-expanding libraries of notes, images, audio, and other content. Evernote's apps offer decent OCR support for searching images for text, and Ben Zotto notes that Penultimate brings its own set of technologies for handwriting recognition that will be "sprinkled into the Evernote system." Libin agreed, saying "this is exactly the handwriting app that we should be doing." Libin also said that he's been talking to Zotto for several years now and he initially tried to talk him into "joining Evernote early on" (Zotto will be joining the Evernote team). Penultimate, which recently added Retina support, will continue to be $0.99 in the App Store.

Risk factors of diabetic foot of neuropathic origin in patients with type 2 diabetes. INTRODUCTION Diabetic foot is a diabetes mellitus complication leading to recurrent ulcerations, risk of osteomyelitis and tissue necrosis which may finally result in amputation. Diabetic foot of neuropathic origin manifesting as autonomic and sensory motor neuropathy is the most common type of this complication. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors of diabetic foot of neuropathic origin occurrence in patients with type 2 diabetes. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study included 240 patients, 74 with diabetic foot of neuropathic origin and 166 with diabetes. Cases and controls were matched in terms of age structure. Patients with peripheral arterial disease were excluded from the study. The study was conducted in the Gastroenterology and Metabolic Diseases Department, Medical University of Warsaw, Poland. We used logistic regression models, 2, U Mann-Whitney's and t-Student tests. RESULTS Logistic regression analysis showed that diabetic foot of neuropathic origin risk factors were: male gender (OR = 6.63; 95% CI: 3.31-13.27; p = 0.00001), duration of diabetes (OR = 1.10; 95% CI: 1.06-1.14; p = 0.00001), height (OR = 1.09; 95% CI: 1.06-1.13; p = 0.00001), weight (OR = 1.04; 95% CI: 1.04-1.06; p = 0.00001) and waist circumference (OR = 1.05; 95% CI: 1.02-1.08; p = 0.001). Although there was a correlation between diabetic foot of neuropathic origin and BMI value, it had no impact on DF occurrence risk. CONCLUSION It is possible to identify patients at risk of diabetic foot development by evaluating anthropometric features. The existence of specific factors increasing the odds of diabetic foot of neuropathic origin occurring may lead to the identification of patients at risk of its development.

(Reuters) - Hasbro Inc, the maker of games ranging from Monopoly to foam Nerf balls, has ended talks to acquire U.S. movie studio and entertainment company Lions Gate Entertainment Corp, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The deal would have given Hasbro a direct pipeline into Hollywood with more movies and TV shows tied to its toy brands. The Pawtucket, Rhode Island-based company has worked with Viacom Inc’s Paramount Pictures on the “Transformers” and “G.I. Joe” film franchises, and with the Lionsgate movie studio on a “My Little Pony” film, due in theaters in October. The negotiations with Lions Gate ended last week because of price disagreements, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the talks were confidential. It is not clear whether negotiations could restart in the future. Lions Gate declined to comment. Hasbro did not respond to a request for comment. Hasbro shares fell 1.9 percent to $103.90, giving the company a market value of about $12.9 billion. Shares of Lions Gate were trading almost flat at $29.25, representing an overall market value of close to $5.9 billion. “Synergies would be realized from overlap in creative, marketing, production, and verticalization of content model,” according to Jefferies LLC analysts. A deal would have come a year after Lions Gate acquired premium U.S. television network Starz in a $4.4 billion cash-and-stock deal, aimed at making it less dependent on delivering blockbuster movies by giving it ownership of pay television channels with more than 30 million subscribers. Lions Gate Chairman Mark Rachesky’s hedge fund MHR Fund Management LLC is the company’s largest shareholder. Media mogul John Malone, who is also a shareholder, has a seat on the company’s board as well. Lions Gate vice chairman and board member Michael Burns also sits on the board of Hasbro.

Laying Down the Ladder: A Typology of Public Participation in Australian Natural Resource Management The most influential attempts to classify forms of public participation are based on the ladder of public participation (after Arnstein 1969), which orders approaches from those in which government dominates decision-making to ones in which its power is shared equally with the public or communities. Such unidimensional classifications can no longer reflect the realities and complexities of role-sharing between governments, communities and other parties in natural resource management. Initiative may come from nongovernment sources, and other dimensions besides power are relevant in designing participatory processes. This article describes a typology of public participation in Australian natural resource management, commissioned by Land and Water Australia as part of a comprehensive project to enhance the information base on participatory approaches in Australian natural resource management (Buchy, Ross and Proctor 2002). Besides power sharing, it incorporates differences in agency (which parties carry the initiative), tenure (the nature of the parties' control over the resources), the nature of the participants, the nature of the task, and its duration. The typology distinguishes forms of participation based on voluntary action such as stewardship groups, from formal collaborations between stakeholder groups, and other forms of environmental management. The typology is intended as a guide to those designing or participating in such processes. The types should be considered in terms of their suitability for different circumstances, not as a hierarchy of desirability. Further, effective participatory processes should be customised to suit their circumstances, and can combine aspects of different types successfully to achieve greater advantages than single types may offer.

Towards Solving the Missing Marker Problem in Realtime Motion Capture A common problem in optical motion capture is the so-called missing marker problem. The occlusion of markers can lead to significant loss of tracking accuracy unless continuous data flow is guaranteed by computationally demanding interpolation or extrapolation schemes. Since interpolation algorithms require data sampled before and after an occlusion, they cannot be used for real-time applications. Extrapolation algorithms only require data sampled before an occlusion. Other algorithms require statistical data and are designed for post-processing. In order to bridge sampling gaps caused by occluded markers and hence to improve 3D real-time motion capture, we suggest a real-time extrapolation algorithm. The realization of this prediction algorithm does not need statistical data or rely on an underlying cinematic human model with pre-defined marker distances. Under the assumption that natural motion can be linear, circular, or a linear combination of both, a prediction method is suggested and realized. The paper presents linear and circular movement measurements for use when a marker is briefly lost. The suggested extrapolation method seems to behave well for a reasonable number of frames, not exceeding 200 milliseconds.

Enhancing the design of a supply chain network framework for Open Education. This article addresses the problem of education in the knowledge society. More precisely it suggests to conceptualize Open Education as a supply chain in the form of a network of responsible citizens, switching roles and participating meaningfully in any education endeavour. It results in co-designing learning paths and creating common goods in the form of knowledge commons. These insights are gathered through a reflection conducted with a method of scholarship of teaching and learning, a theoretical framework of value creation (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2020) and epistemologies of absences and emersions, and a case study. Introduction The knowledge society and knowledge economy are underway: this is now an established fact but what does it mean in terms of science and education (David & Foray, 2003;Foray, 2002)? Is it clear in stakeholders' and citizens' minds that such a society and economy are goals to achieve and not accomplished states? Knowledge is core in both Open Education (OE) and Open Science (OS) which are dedicated to co-creating and sharing common goods. In terms of science and education suppliers, Higher Education institutions are major players and they currently address the knowledge society challenge in the form of internationalisation (de Wit & Altbach, 2021;Jones & de Wit, 2021). Within this dynamics, a growing awareness of the importance of rethinking science and education is a voice rising -be it from organisations like UNESCO or the League of European Research Universities with recommendations for policy (;UNESCO, 2020aUNESCO,, 2020b, from international researchers who share their reflections in terms of epistemologies (e.g. ;Innerarity, 2015;Santos, 2016) or from new practices in terms of research funding (e.g. crowdfunding, citizen science). It highlights scientific practices that pre-existed copyright law and alerts about ecological impacts of a digital society and economy (). From the perspective of supply chain management, education has been reported as a linear effort from pre-school to life-long learning with the interactions of different types of resources -intellectual, human, natural, financial, physical, etc.. To move away from linear processes that fail to translate educational processes in a knowledge society, we have developed the concept of an Open Education Supply Chain (OESC) (). Based on the 3 basic principles of supply chain management -the design phase, which consists of developing 'roads' and 'nodes' through which physical, information and financial flows are managed; the planning phase of the flows, through advanced planning systems; and the control of the different flows at the operation level -the OESC is conceptualised as follows. Roads refer to the different type of competences and knowledge developed in institutional and certified settings as well as those developed in non-institutional settings, certified or not (e.g., self-learning). Nodes refer to the different educational stakeholders providing any given training -undergraduate, postgraduate, continuing education with or without accredited certification. They can provide face-to-face, on-line or blended training. The variety of potential roads and nodes conduce to the building of highly individual learning paths. The purpose of this reflection, conducted in a scholarship of teaching and learning approach is to further develop the OESC concept with the support of a case study taking place at the lifelong learning centre of the University of Geneva. We first provide information with regard to the method and the theoretical framework. We then review the concept of OE from several perspectives and present the case study. Finally, we present our current understanding of OE conceptualised as a supply chain. Method and theoretical framework The methodology developed within this article is based on a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) approach (Boyer, 1990;Haigh & Withell, 2020;Hubball & Clarke, 2010;Miller-Young & Yeo, 2015). It describes researchers' progress and reflection on OE conceptualised as a supply chain. Using categories from Hubball and Clarke (2010, p. 4), Table 1 outlines how the outcomes shared within the present paper have been produced. The theoretical framework to guide this reflection is composed of value creation framework (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2020) ( Figure 1) on one hand and on epistemology of absences and emersions on the other. As specified in Class et al. (2021, p. 619), "Value is defined in terms of agency and meaningfulness of participation. More precisely, participating is perceived as conducting to a difference that matters." Epistemology of absences and emersions is a call to consider all the knowledge that science has deliberately set aside, evaluating it as non-scientific knowledge. It is a call to let knowledge express itself, without filtering it with "Western-centred" glasses of what scientific knowledge is. For instance, upon asking some stakeholders from countries in Latin America, to express key concepts in their native languages, these are related to elements (e.g. "water", "fire") or to the "Mother-Earth". Finally, it is a call to stop the mindset of always moving into further development (e.g. planned obsolescence; artificial scarcity), not taking into account the resources that the planet is able to produce or absorb. With the current ecological crisis we are living, in light of this epistemology and of others concerned with modern considerations of science and their inevitable crash, making space for ignored knowledge to emerge seems timely and wise. This is in line with Open Science as understood by UNESCO (2020a, pp. pp. 4-6) -i.e. openness towards the "diversity of knowledge" and towards "the process of scientific knowledge creation and circulation". The knowledge society, as its name indicates, is based on knowledge. What is knowledge? How does it differ from information? Knowledge is defined as a cognitive capability that empowers its owners with intellectual and physical actions whereas information is formatted and structured data that lies there and becomes active when actors who have the needed knowledge to process it, do so (David & Foray, 2003). Knowledge-based communities, like those of open-source software programmers, create and reproduce extensive knowledge. They develop advanced strategies for sharing and disseminating the knowledge produced with the support of digital technologies. "Sharing knowledge is their raison d'tre" whereas private companies regard new knowledge as an "exclusive property" to be monetized (David & Foray, 2003, p. 30). Defining openness in Open Education Openness, in a special issue of the Journal of Information Technology dedicated to openness and IT, is defined as being characterized by access, participation, transparency and democracy (). An analysis of relationships between the concepts of openness and education shows that depending the perspective adopted, a myriad of interpretation of both is possible. What matters is to consider 5 essential challenges framed in terms of values, theorizing sharing, standards, deep philosophical questioning and meta-critical thinking. With regard to values, although openness and education are associated to positive connotations, they do not represent values "per se" (Hug, 2016, p. 5). Sharing being an essential concept of OE, a huge work in terms of operationalizing and theorizing what sharing means is to be conducted. Policies like UNESCO 's state recommendations for Open Educational Resources (OER) but the question of standards to allow practitioners really adopt them should be addressed seriously in its full breadth and depth. Since OE draws on technologies, the "post or trans-humanist" (p. 5) complexity of IT and AI in education are philosophical questions to debate actively. Finally, in academia, it is important to foster meta-critical thinking that goes beyond current contradictions (e.g. "involution of democratic achievements in the name of democracy" (p. 6)) to lay the ground for education as a common good and let knowledge commons emerge fully. Indeed, education understood from the perspective of von Humboldt is "a means of realizing individual possibility rather than a way of drilling traditional ideas into youth to suit them for an already established occupation or social role" (Wikipedia, 2021b). Initiatives for open schools were conducted in the 1960s and 1970s relying on von Humboldt's ideas. It is also at that time, and following his ideas, that Open Universities were established. Whereas the movement did not break through in schools, it did in open universities and paved the way to OER and MOOCs. Indeed, learning from the pendulum swung in the 1960s, OER were clearly associated to licensing and copyleft issues from their start in their design of the year 2000s. Quite interestingly, and this is an example of the contradictions mentioned by Hug, MOOCs "deliberately altered the criteria for openness insofar as it was now only open (i.e., cost-free) access instead of open licenses" (Deimann, 2016, p. 5). Open Education invariants It is obvious that Open Education, similar to Open Science, is in the process of being understood and can represent an umbrella term to flag a different way of approaching education (Burgos, 2020;Fecher & Friesike, 2014). Authors agree on underlying values that are: geared towards humans and commoning (vs profit); trustworthiness; and Assessing Open Education Assessing competences and certifying them is an essential issue tackled from various perspectives in the literature and ranging from open admission to open credentials (Figure 2). Open admission, is understood as the changes of academic policy to open up admissions for everyone, without any prior certification requirements. Open competencies are related to open assessment. In the form of a contextual catalog of competencies (i.e. in French, the so-called rfrentiel de comptences), they list knowledge and skills against which open assessment is defined (;Wiley, 2017). Open assessment, is in its turn understood as assessment that showcases knowledge and skills developed using Open Education Practice and Open Educational Resources (Conrad & Prinsloo, 2020). Finally, Open credentials are understood as certifications issued by an accountable and authorized entity (e.g. institution, community) within a technological infrastructure over which learners have full control. Indeed, learners should be able to redistribute their credentials without involving third party bodies and be able to remix and regroup them in the way they want. They own and have full control over their credentials. To guarantee the validity of a credential, it must be tamper-proof, and the origin of the credential must be trusted. Open credentials try to gain the trust by requiring transparency (). To enhance the transparency and thereby the trust, the certifying entity has to take measures to increase the visibility of its practices. To do this, the certifying body shares detailed information on the competences developed, the design process, the syllabi, the assessment procedures, etc. (Inamorato dos ). The need for alternative credentialing that documents lifelong learning completed online, in face-to-face and in blended modalities, in so-called semi-formal or informal ways, is growing (Janzow, 2014 cited by ). Alternative credentialing also allows to credit so-called transversal valued skills and knowledge that are known under the 21 st century skills-set (;WorldEconomicForum, 2016) but are not credited for in so-called formal systems (Finkelstein, Knight, & Manning, 2013 cited by ). One manner of offering open credentials is through the use of badges. Badges are promising because they are portable and easy to share on social media (e.g. LinkedIn) () even if today they assert only microknowledge and skills. Combining Open badges and Open competencies offer the opportunity to develop and get certified for micro-knowledge and skills upon learners' decisions. It is important that learners take the lead of their education journey -i.e. active learning vs being taught to build individual paths (). With regard to the integration of Open credentials, the following criteria of inviolability, controllability, verifiability, independency, transparency have been identified as bottom-line to be followed. They are challenging especially in the sense of achieving a fully automated solution spread at large scale. Acknowledging competences and knowledge on one hand and being able to show easily their validity can be made through open badges matched with blockchain technology ( Figure 3) or a similar ecological technological process. Indeed, providers of open badges are multiple and certifications completed at micro levels diverse. It is thus a good solution to secure them in a back-pack ( Figure 4). Open Ecosystem Certification is important, among other things because OE is connected and interacts with the remaining social, economic and political worlds to name but a few. Stacey Actors in the Open Education landscape Whereas in the position paper (), we were strongly influenced by Stacey and Hinchliff Pearson 's tripartite perspective of the world -state, commons, market -we now think that it would be an error to consider the GAFAM as simply an actor from the market. Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon et Microsoft (GAFAM) are more powerful than states (Wikipedia, 2021a) and take decision in all domains, be it through direct processing of personal data from the internet or through the funding of organisations like the World Health Organisation for example. In addition, in light of the epistemology of absences and emersions, it is important to take into account ignored actors and stakeholders and bring them into the equation. Ignored actors represent the maximum of the unknown in the equation. Revising actors' and stakeholders' mapping from the current situation ( Figure 6) to the new situation ( Figure 7) is a dynamic projection to help us think what the future could look like. At a finer granularity, from a Delphi survey conducted within a current project on OE, identified actors are public entities, lead thinkers, suppliers, community members, non-profit organisations and politics/legal representatives. Some of their roles and practices are depicted and vary from generating public goods to providing support through funding (Figure 8). A case study Some 15 years ago, the Swiss education system has uniformized its continuing education sector (Swissuniversities, No date), designing 3 main certifying diplomas -Certificate, Diploma and Master of advanced studies (CAS, DAS, MAS), each representing at least 10, 30 and 60 ECTS. Very similar to regular Bachelor and Master programmes, these trainings present the specificity of being oriented towards an audience of professionals who seek to advance their career or change their career path, adding new competencies to their background. These trainings are thus more practice oriented than regular Bachelor and Master curricula. They are designed to help participants develop their professional project, module after module, within a given training. Even if designed in a participatory manner with stakeholders from the economy and from academy, these programmes remain very closed and linear in the sense that participants are drilled through a given path within one pre-conceived programme. They cannot for instance mix module 1 of the CAS in digital learning with module 2 of the CAS in blockchain technology, etc. to come up with their own tailor-made CAS. Continuing education is designed per programme and programmes are like silos designed per domain and per type of diploma. In 2017, a new diploma has appeared in this Swiss continuing education landscape at EPFL and in 2020 at UNIGE: the Certificate of Open Studies (COS) (EPFL-UNIL, No date; Universite- de-Genve, 2020, article 65 ). This first attempt to offer OE complies with the open admission criteria. With regard to all remaining key features -free access, OER, agency, empowerment, etc., the COS is still to be invented. MOOCs also come to mind when talking about OE but MOOCs comply with the same and sole criteria of open admission. Certification is not free and above all, MOOCs do not qualify as OER as explained above since they have refused the principle of open licensing. In terms of Open credentials, the conclusion of Favre 's study is full of insights. The current proof of concept underway at the University of Geneva aims at distributing securely diplomas with a blockchain technology. Its aim does not converge with Wiley 's OE above-mentioned recommendations for Open credentials as learners' capacity to redistribute and remix their credentials without involving any third party is not planned. 6 Supply chain applied to Open Education Basics of supply chain Learners taking roads through nodes (cf. introduction) generate flows, acting in a broader network and web of activities. Supply chain networks can be featured in terms of flow management, bottleneck management and queuing networks management (Bhaskar & Lallement, 2010). Flow management combines innovation and value-added operations and requires digital products and services to offer new value creation through dynamic flows within the network structure (). Bottleneck management refers to any process activity or constraining organizational performance where the system advances quicker than its slowest bottleneck component (Slack & Lewis, 2005). Bottleneck management consists in eliminating or acknowledging bottlenecks () by locating and defining their origins and causes (de ). Finally, queuing network analysis refers to identifying and modelling the performance of stochastic systems (). Supply chain concepts applied to Open Education Flow management in OE represents students requesting to participate to given learning sessions to gain knowledge and skills. As intelligent agents, they choose their own path and dynamically change it according to interactions with the remaining intelligent agents. Dynamic and continuous flow management is thus required to face potential bottlenecks. Bottlenecks in the OESC may happen when the number of open positions is limited with respect to the number of learners requesting the use of a specific node. This situation requires new forms of allocating resources to cater for demanded learning opportunities. In OESC, stochastic systems refer to competences and knowledge sought for by learners. For a same input, different outputs can be offered, e.g. different learning sources providing targeted and sought for competences and knowledge. This is where dynamic queuing network management can help to redirect to the most appropriate and available learning sources. Furthermore, digital technologies enhance added value for learners and remaining stakeholders in terms of services, decision making, visibility and prediction. Four dimensions for Open Education Supply Chain We have conceptualized OE as a supply chain inspired by Garay-Rondero et al. 's 4 dimensions. The first dimension, D1, refers to OESC components and processes to facilitate its management ( Figure 9). These components and processes have the capacity to analyze data, understand learners' demands and transform this information into knowledge. For example, when a learner formulates a demand, processes are activated to suggest a choice of several paths, showing in real time the differences amongst them (e.g. language, domain, level, design, underpinning values, overall objective in terms of quality understood as educating citizens for the knowledge society, etc.). The second dimension, D2, refers to OE stakeholders and needed infrastructure. It addresses core components of learning (e.g. pedagogy, resources, knowledge and skills development), learners (i.e. responsible citizen) and learning providers (e.g. institutions, communities, individuals, businesses) on one hand. On the other, it addresses core components of learning infrastructure (e.g. policies, legal frameworks, technological infrastructure). This is where Open education practice come into play -from admission to certification, through open educational resources or open source software (e.g. Burgos, 2020;Cronin, 2020;;Weller, 2020;Wiley, 2017). This dimension is highly interactive and agile. Stakeholders who deliver learning, those who evaluate competences and knowledge, those who certify and all the remaining stakeholders within this huge and complex network must act according to open values, be accountable and acknowledged as competent bodies across landscapes -market, commons the state and any emergent actor. The third dimension, D3, refers to the Open Ecosystem. This refers to the remaining opens with which education interacts, namely Open Science which is the closest to education; open galleries, libraries, archives, museums (GLAM); open government; open institutions; or open enterprises. The fourth dimension, D4, refers to digital and physical flows. It captures the myriad of individual learning paths supported and empowered by the underlying previously described 3 dimensions. This flow leverages citizens in the knowledge society to contribute to the building of a collective human intelligence. Zooming in to highlight the paradigm shift This was to give a picture of the overall structure. If we zoom at it and look at the different links of the OESC, from admission to certification, we can say that in the current paradigm, public or private institutions accredited by state, market or GAFAM are those who have the status to decide. In the open paradigm, communities and ignored actors join in to decide and this changes obviously the entire game. Instead of having an administrative office, in a given institution, checking whether a learner has the required diplomas to start a given training, imagine that a learner can rely on diverse communities asserting, in the form of open credentials, that he or she has such and such competences and knowledge. Able to transform this information into knowledge, the learner takes the responsibility to enroll in a given training, estimating that he or she has the necessary prerequisites. Should it not be the case once the learning journey has started, he or she has the responsibility to take a decision, e.g. find support because the gap is within his or her zone of proximal development or change his or her learning route. This is the current admission situation in MOOCs. No pass, in the form of previous diploma, is required to attend training. It is the responsibility of the learner to evaluate whether a given training is good for him or her, fix what he or she wants to get out of it (e.g. certification, network of interested persons, resources, etc.) and decide how to go about it. The paradigm shift occurs at this very level. There is a shift in responsibility and decision taking. It is no longer the institution that tells a learner what to learn and whether he or she is admissible. In a landscape where no pre-designed curricula exist, it is the learner's responsibility to take decisions and make choices. A second shift, when enrolling in a training, consists, as a learner, in deciding about clear objectives and then co-designing the actual learning adventure in a participatory manner with the teaching agents. It is important to remember that open values are among others about participation, experience, agency and empowerment. Thus, teaching agents' values in the education setting should be outstanding mastery in their respective domains to allow for flexibility and co-design, at each and every step of the learning journey. Time for predefined "educational products" ready to be consumed is over and the maker movement is a good example for this. Learners want to take the control of their path to develop knowledge and skills with full creativity and responsibility. Visualizing the OESC at a micro level To better figure out trajectories of individuals and communities in OESC, a first visual representation captures the process at an individual level ( Figure 10). The learner takes on several roles simultaneously in different spaces -in this example, roles are learner in programming, teacher in Math's and community member in a Fablab. He or she is in interaction with other citizens in all these activities. Each of these individuals evolves in an open ecosystem, making use, adapting, creating and making available OER, soliciting and solicited within citizen science projects, and using open-source software. Combining this individual layer with the representation of OESC (Figure x above) and adding social, economic, political and other dynamic forces to it, produces a complex network (Figure 11). It can not be captured visually with all its dynamics at this point but represents work to be conducted in the future with relevant case studies to gain further insights. Discussion and conclusion A knowledge society is a society that has to be invented and in which value creation in terms of knowledge, as a raison d'tre is core. Policies (UNESCO, 2020a) have acknowledged this and act as guidelines for citizens. The Open movement offers a sustainable framework (e.g. Creative Commons) for citizens to take their responsibility and creatively make these policies a reality in everyday life. In this article we have tried to contribute to modelling Open Education supply chain as a network. A network of citizens and communities who turn in turn co-produce, codesign, participate actively and meaningfully (i.e. they are not passive consumers of pre-packaged products that are monetised). They contribute to the creation of common goods that take multiple forms. They contribute to the building of a human collective intelligence as an active node in the network who can demonstrate multiple skills and knowledge and flexibly switch roles in an open ecosystem.

The simultaneous flow of oil-gas-water mixtures in pipes is a common occurrence in the petroleum industry. This type of flow is found in producing wells. Most well fluids are composed of oil and gas but during the life of the well the water content can increase greatly. Research into this area has defined a number of different flow regimes for such mixtures. The need to measure downhole flow rate, density and fluid fractions of oil-gas-water mixtures in the production string has been fundamental for many years. The device described herein enables determining these parameters, along with ambient pressure and temperature, to be measured using a modular flowmeter based on vortex shedding, energy harvesting, electro acoustic Technology (EAT), molded mandrels and DAS optical telemetry. Numerous modules can be installed across a pay field so that local flow conditions in different regions can be determined. A device is described which provides: a means to harvest energy from downhole fluid flow based on Vortex Induced Vibration (VIV). The energy is converted to electricity that is used for powering very low power electronic sensing devices such as Electro Acoustical Technology (EAT) devices, which piggy back on fiber optic Distributed Acoustic System (DAS) telemetry for data transmission. Energy harvesting is the process by which energy readily available from the environment is captured and converted into usable electrical energy. Historically, downhole electrical power has been either via electrical wiring from the surface, limited life batteries, or turbines powered by drilling mud for MWD. All of these methods were used for creating significant power downhole. The advent of nano powered sensors, ultralow power microprocessors and other minimal powered devices opens up a new era for downhole telemetry when combined with fiber optic data transmission. This promises perpetually powered sensors that use very small amounts of energy. What is needed is a method for downhole energy harvesting to power this new generation of electronics. The major sources of energy downhole are fluid flow, vibration, acoustics and heat. While the system described below is based on the conversion of fluid flow using piezo electrics, conversion can also be accomplished using vibrating cantilevers, accelerometers, induction coils and magnets, impellers and other means. There must be fluid flow for the vortex energy harvester to work. Where no flow is present, vibration, acoustics or heat transfer can be utilized. In some cases all three can be utilized together.

Analysis of Printing Pattern and Infiltration Percent over the Tensile Properties of PLA Printed Parts by a Fuse Deposition Modelling Printer Fuse Deposition Modelling (FDM) 3D printing is nowadays becoming more standard equipment in various fields of study as it can offer both low operating expenses and small investment cost; however, it has been accepted that the printed parts form this kind of printers is not too strong compare with the other Manufacturing technique. This study aims to analyze the effects of both Printing patterns and Infiltration percent on the tensile properties of the specimens obtained by an FDM printer. The specimens have been fabricated with three difference directions that are Horizontal (H), Crosswise (C), and Vertical (V) and within these groups, they are also vary the Infiltration percent at 20% 60% and 100%. After that they had been tested under a Universal tensile testing machine and then these obtained data had been analysed by an Analysis of Variance with 23 level. The result shows that both of Printing Patterns and Infiltration percent can be effect on Tensile strength of the specimens with significant different at 95% confidence level. Beginning with an increase of infiltration percent, it can lead to very strong effect on increasing of the tensile strength. In the case of print patterns, it can be concluded that the maximum stress is C, H and V, respectively. Because of the C pattern printing, tensile testing is a direction that is aligned with the printing of the layer. (For example, like pulling several ropes together) Introduction 3D Printing, is one of additive manufacturing processes, being a prevalent production technology amongst modern-day designers as this technology has continuously progressed over the last ten years. Some of the advantages of 3D printing include the ability to mold complex work pieces that other technologies cannot do and it can offer a printed by only a single process. As this technology is readily available for everyone, no skill workers can make a complex casting just one click. Even if there are many advantages of this technology, one of the main disadvantages of technologies is that it takes a long time to complete the printing parts. Fuse Deposition Modelling (FDM) is becoming famous as it offers both low investment cost and operating cost but its printed parts are weaker in comparison to more common plastic production processes, such as injection, blowing, extrusion, molding and CNC 9th TSME-International Conference on Mechanical Engineering (TSME-ICoME 2018) IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 501 012028 IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1757-899X/501/1/012028 2 etc. The heart of an FDM is an extruder, composted of feeding gears, heater and extruder. (see Figure 1) First, the feeding gears are going to convey a plastic wire into a nozzle. After that heater, attached closed to the end of extruder, has been energies. The plastic wire will be melt and then be extrude onto a platform layer by layer. The two sizes with the difference diameters of plastic wire, available on the market are 1.75 and 3.00 mm and the nozzle sizes may range from 0.20, 0.40, up to 1.00 mm. Plastic wires would be made from PLA and ABS, however, they could also Nylon, PETG, ASA, PC, ESD and etc. Figure 1 Fused Deposition model, FDM Ashu Garg and Anirban Bhattacharya investigated the failure behavior of the specimens resulting from tensile stress at the different layer thicknesses by the FDM 3D Printer. This research had been studied the layer thicknesses of the specimens to be 0.178 mm, 0.254 mm and 0.330 mm and they were performed a tensile strength by a Zwick/Roell Z050 tensile test machine. All of the specimens made form an ABS. The results showed that, the maximum elongation was approximately 4.6% on the specimens with layer thickness of 0.178 mm while the specimen of 0.330 mm offered the highest tensile strength at 34.5 MPa. John Ryan C. Dizon and Alejandro H. Espera, Jr. studied the mechanical properties of polymers obtained from 3D printers from SLA, SLS, FDM and Polyjet.The types of polymers studied by the researcher are varied, such as ABS, Nylon, PPSF and PEI. The conditions of the specimen include the printing pattern and structural types of infill. The types of infill are 100 percent infill, honeycombs, drills and stripes. Tensile Testing by ASTM D638-14 for Plastics and ASTM D412-16 for Rubber and Thermoplastic Elastomers were tested. The results showed that the specimen with the honeycomb structure offered the highest tensile strength at break-point while crosswise has the highest tensile strength. Ravinder Sharma and Rupinder Singh investigated the mechanical properties of PVC from FDM by parameter thickness, infill percentage and infill speed. The results showed that the highest yield stress was 3.47 MPa at the conditions of infill 100%; Layer thickness of 0.25 mm; and Deposition speed of 37 mm / min. The work pieces, obtained from FDM, is well known that they are weakest compared with other traditional processes. Because 3D printing is not melting homogeneous, the printed layers may easier fracture. However, there are no any research has been purposed a mathematical modelling between a mechanical properties and both of percent of infill with difference printing pattern. This research focuses on the technique using a FDM 3D printing technique to investigate the mechanical properties of PLA filament materials. According to ASTM D638, the mechanical properties of specimens had been obtained by a universal tensile testing machine and then they were statistically analysed the by Analysis of Variance (Anova). The useful information from this study could allow any FDM users to understand the mechanical properties for designing any printed parts form this kind of 3D-printer. Plastic filament The plastic filament used in this study is a Poly-Lactic acid; PLA, Brand AGRU. This filament is a thermoplastic made from natural materials with a low melting point, and is easy to degrade in the atmospheric condition. This PLA's properties have been listed in a Table 1. The 3D printer (FDM) used in the experiment developed in house with 300 500 300 mm printed part. This printer has a 0.4 mm single nozzle and Repetier-Host V 2.0.1 software is a control software in this experiment. Specimen fabrication In this experiment, the standard specimens were printed as referring to the American Society for Testing and Materials D638 (See Figure 2 Left). For all of the spacimens were printed as hexagonal honeycomb interior because it is very popular among designers. Moreover, this pattern has high stresses, good pressures and tensile strength compared to other types of infill pattern. The print speed has set at 80 mm/s with 0.18 mm layer thickness and double shell lines. The infiltration percent were 20%, 60% and 100%. The printing patterns of the specimen follow these forms: Horizontal; H, Crosswise; C and Vertical; V ( See Figure 3 Left and Right). In each of these forms, the specimens were fabricated on a different printer bases. Figure 3-right shows the front view of the specimen while it was printing. All of specimens were tested by a universal testing machine (INSTRON Model 5969) with a 50 kN load cell. According to ASTM D638, the standard testing for mechanical properties was performed with pulling speed 5 mm/min at the 25 °C. Table 2 shows the mechanical properties for the specimens. The maximum yield stress at 48. 53 MPa printing condition at C100%s and minimum yield stress at 13.88 MPa printing conditions of C20%. At the same infill percentage, crosswise pattern ( C) would offer the highest yield stress because the direction of force is in the same direction of printing direction. The highest and lowest percentages of Elongation at Yield were 2.90% and 1.34% at the C 100% and V 20% respectively. The highest and lowest recordings of Young's Modulus were 2398. 57 and 1122. 86 at the C 100% and H 20% respectively. Figure 4 shows the relationship between strain and stress; it can be seen that most fracture patterns are of a brittle nature. This type of fracture, when passed through a yield point, will have little or no stretching. However, the condition of the horizontal ( H) printing pattern is the ductile fracture pattern. This fracture. This is very flexible or Elongation when pulled. The horizontal ( H) printing patterns are shown in Figure 2 Right. Because of this pattern, the surface pattern is an alternate type of print path with an angle of reference (x) of 45°. Fig 1) The print time varies depending on the conditions as shown in Table 2. A low percentage of infill will take less time while the higher can lead to increase print time because the printer head needs longer time to travel with the higher density. The Crosswise (C) pattern took a longer printing time because it was necessary to print support parts, help in fabrication of the work pieces as same as a scuffle. And the less time is horizontal (H) pattern because it was no need to print any support. Figure 4 Relationship of Stress and Strain Each printing pattern offered the different types of fracture. As shown in Figure 5, it was observed that fragment of the vertical (V) was perpendicular with the direction of force as same as the fragment happen on the non-elastic materials or brittle material. This can offer the less mechanical properties base on relatively low interfacial strength; therefore, it should avoid for loading a printed part in this 9th TSME-International Conference on Mechanical Engineering (TSME-ICoME 2018) IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 501 012028 IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1757-899X/501/1/012028 6 direction. Facture pattern of Crosswise (C) and Horizontal (H) can lead to the same facture as happening in any elastic material. The most effective tensile stress was Crosswise ( C), resulting in the fracture occurred unevenly because these specimens have the same load direction for each single filament. Right: Specimen of Infill 100% conditions after tensile test Table 3 shown an Analysis of Variance on Yield Stress ( MPa). It can see that all of these factors including their relations are statically significant on Yield Stress ( MPa). It can see that figure 6 shows the effect of both printing patterns at the differences of infill over Yield Stress. All of the samples offers lower Yield Stress than single Filament test as these can be evidence that all of the filaments do not perfectly melt. This can result in low Yield Stress compared to conventional melting processes. Table 3 Analysis of Variance for Yield Stress (MPa) The highest Yield Stress at the same of infill was C, H and V, and the highest stress values at the same printing pattern were 100%, 60% and 20%, respectively. At 100 percent of infill, it offered a maximum Yield Stress but its average was lower than Yield Stress of single fiber. Figure 6 Data Mean for Yield Stress (MPa) Table 4 shows an Analysis of Variance on Young Modulus; E ( MPa). Both factors had a significant effect on Young Modulus; E (MPa). Figure 7 shows the Means Young Modulus of each condition. The maximum Young Modulus was C, V and H, respectively, these were similar affect in a composite material at the low Share Modulus. The Maximum Young Modulus values are unsurprisingly 100%, 60% and 20%, respectively. Conclusions The results from this experiment show the mechanical properties of PLA specimens after performing a tensile testing. The experiments were clearly showed that at the C100 printing conditions, the maximum Yield stress is at 48.53 MPa and the V20 printing condition had the lowest Yield stress at 13.87 MPa. At the C100 printing conditions, the maximum Young's Modulus value was recorded at 2398.57 MPa and the H20 printing condition had the lowest Young's Modulus value at 1123.86 MPa. From this, it can be concluded that the type of printing pattern is one of the most parameter in FDM 3d printing, the highest yield stress would be happening in Crosswise (C), Horizontal (H) and Vertical (V), respectively. In addition, it could be separated the print pattern into two groups that are Crosswise (C) with Horizontal (H) and Vertical (V). In case of Crosswise (C) with Horizontal (H) at infill between 20% and 100% may offer increasing in Yield strength by 39 percent while Vertical (V) offers less yield strength as this pattern have a fracture like brittle material. The Infiltration percentages, that produced the highest yield stress is 100%, 60%, and 20%, respectively.

Endurance training may improve exercise capacity, lung function and quality of life in Fontan patients Children born with univentricular hearts undergo staged surgical procedures to a Fontan circulation. Longterm experience with Fontan palliation has shown dramatically improved survival but also of a lifelong burden of an abnormal circulation with significant morbidity. Many Fontan patients have reduced exercise capacity, oxygen uptake, lung function and quality of life. Endurance training may improve submaximal, but not maximal, exercise capacity, lung function and quality of life. Physical activity and endurance training is also positively correlated with sleep quality. Reviewing the literature and from our singlecentre experience, we believe there is enough evidence to support structured individualised endurance training in most young Fontan patients.

SARAH GILBERT Daily Finance August 16, 2010 A d v e r t i s e m e n t {openx:49} Soda and processed-food manufacturers have long insisted that all sugars are essentially the same. Yet, simultaneously they’re delicately backing away from high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as one study after another links the corn-based sweetener to obesity and diabetes. While the market for HFCS declined by 9% in 2008, says Ken Roseboro of the Organic and Non-GMO Report, it was still used in 55% of all sweetened edibles in 2009. Fresh food that lasts from eFoods Direct (Ad) New findings published this month in the journal Cancer Research by University of California Los Angeles researchers could further sour the public’s sentiment toward the super-sweet, super-cheap syrup and reduce its use even further. HFCS is 55% fructose and 42% glucose. The study found that pancreatic tumor cells metabolized fructose differently than glucose and that the cancer cells “readily metabolized fructose to increase proliferation.” In other words, as the headline reads, “Cancer cells slurp up fructose.” Read entire article

The influence of group formation on learner participation, language complexity, and corrective behaviour in synchronous written chat as part of academic German studies Abstract Synchronous written chat and instant messaging are tools which have been used and explored in online language learning settings for at least two decades. Research literature has shown that such tools give second language (L2) learners opportunities for language learning, e.g., the interaction in real time with peers and native speakers, the written mode of language, and the time available for planning and monitoring utterances. However, since the majority of the empirical work on chat and instant messaging has been conducted under experimental conditions, relatively little research has investigated how interaction in chat influences language learning opportunities under the conditions of an online academic language course where students have unequal status because of their different language background and level of L2 proficiency. This article presents an explorative study of the interaction in chat in a web-based academic language course between students with different L1s and different levels of L2. The aim is to shed light on how student interaction in an institutional context benefits the language learning environment in a manner that promotes L2 learners attention to linguistic items in their input and output, and that allow opportunities for functional practising. Based on a mainly quantitative analysis, this article illustrates how L2 learners participation, the complexity of their utterances, and their opportunities for self-correction and corrective feedback are influenced by group formation.

Cynical Reason in the Cranky Age Drawing on Peter Sloterdijks Critique of Cynical Reason, this chapter tracks shifts in Mark Twains political imagination to help interrogate cynicism as a feeling and a hermeneutic. After the 1881 assassination of President Garfield by Charles Guiteau, some commentators looked back to Twains The Gilded Age for his satire of the insanity defense, which Twain saw as a cynical ruse. Yet when Twain returns to a character from The Gilded Age in The American Claimant, the eccentric Colonel Sellers, he rejects the violence of legal reason and affirms a species of lunacy as an irrational-but-necessary optimism. Through a reading of these novels unstable tone, this chapter shows how cynicism is defined by the intensity of its own affective involvement in politics (expressed aversively as a smart form of bitterness) and a deep suspicion of others positive affects as signs of unthinking credulity.

A Big Sister society? When you imagine a surgeon, is that person white and male? The online campaign #ILookLikeASurgeon aims to tackle this stereotype, which campaigners say discourages women and ethnic minorities from entering and flourishing in surgery. The campaign has gained traction, but change of this sort takes time. Research published in this weeks journal might help. Wallis and colleagues look at whether surgeons sex affected how patients fared after surgery (doi:10.1136/bmj.j4366). They found that, in a wide range of common procedures, patients treated by female surgeons

Histologic variants of acinar prostate carcinomas: Clinicopathologic importance Acinar carcinoma comprises more than 90% of prostatic adenocarcinomas and is characterized by a small gland proliferation with an infiltrative growth pattern. The numerous, variably-defined histological variants of prostatic adenocarcinoma can prove to be diagnostic challenges and show prognostic differences when compared to the usual acinar carcinoma, thus emphasizing the importance in accurate recognition. Variants of acinar prostatic adenocarcinoma include the atrophic, pseudohyperplastic, microcystic, foamy gland, mucinous (colloid), signet ring-like cell, pleomorphic giant cell, and sarcomatoid variants. The atrophic, pseudohyperplastic, microcystic, and foamy gland variants can be challenging to diagnose due to their deceptively benign appearance. While the atrophic, pseudohyperplastic, microcystic, and foamy gland variants usually present as low-grade malignancies (Gleason score 6-7), the mucinous (colloid), signet ring-like cell, pleomorphic giant cell, and sarcomatoid variants often present as high-grade malignancies (Gleason score >7) and are usually associated with a worse prognosis. Small cell carcinoma is not considered as a variant of acinar carcinoma, is classified under neuroendocrine tumors, and is recommended not to be assigned a Gleason score. Small cell carcinoma is often preceded by a diagnosis of acinar adenocarcinoma, rarely presents as a de novo tumor, and, as in other organs systems has an aggressive clinical course. In this review article, we discuss variants of prostatic acinar carcinomas and briefly discuss small cell carcinoma. Awareness of variants of acinar prostate carcinoma and their clinicopathologic features is essential to rendering an accurate diagnosis and clinical management of patients with these tumors.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to surface curvature detectors. More specifically, the invention is directed to a method and apparatus for detecting the curvature of a reflective surface. 2. Description of the Prior Art In order to detect the curvature of a surface, the prior art devices have included the use of dial indicators for measuring the displacement of the surface from a reference plane. An electronic curvature measuring apparatus has used the curved surface and a reference surface as capacitor plates with the capacitance of the capacitor being affected by the curvature of the surface being analyzed. While such a electronic tester eliminates the mechanical contact and possible damage necessitated by the dial indicator measuring device and is amenable to as rapid measuring operation, it also is limited in that the reference plate and the surface being analyzed must be electrically conductive in order to provide the electrical conduction for the capacitor form thereby. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a method and apparatus for measuring the curvature of a surface without the need for a mechanical contact with the surface and having the attributes of being useful for measuring the curvature of a non-metallic surface and providing a rapid measurement operation.

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Patient is a 3-year-old male with palpable mass in the left upper quadrant. There is a large mass in the left renal fossa, 14.5cm craniocaudal, heterogeneous with speckled calcifications. Thin peripheral enhancement suggesting rim of normal kidney. Tumor extends along the left ureter. Wilms tumor, a.k.a. nephroblastoma, is the most common abdominal cancer of childhood. It occurs between 1-5 years of age, with peak at 3 years. The presentation is typically an asymptomatic abdominal mass in a normal child. In 5% of cases, the tumor is bilateral. The tumor may extend into the renal vein and IVC. Twenty percent of patients have lung metastases. The tumor tends to appear as a solid ball-like mass but may be heterogeneous due to hemorrhage, necrosis and/ or calcification. These tumors arise from the kidney, unlike neuroblastomas which are seen in the suprarenal area. The intrarenal mass is surrounded by a thin rim of renal tissue, referred to as the "claw sign". Donnelly LF. Pediatric Imaging: The Fundamentals. Saunders, 2009.

Development of a highly selective nickel cobalt oxide nanoparticles modified molecular imprinted polymer based sensor for detection of gallic acid in green tea In this work, a low cost solution route for sensing gallic acid in green tea has been established using nickel-cobalt oxide nanoparticles (Ni/CoOX NPs) embedded gallic acid imprinted polymer. The Ni/CoOX NPs so synthesized are thoroughly mortared with the molecular imprinted polymer prepared by co-polymerization of polyacrylic acid and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) on a graphite sheet. Ultra violet visible spectroscopic (UV-vis) analysis has been performed in order to confirm the template removal. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) were employed for determining the electrochemical and analytical characteristics of the electrode. The electrode is found to be highly repeatable with relative standard deviation (RSD) value of 0.94% and the relative selectivity coefficient (RSC) of 79.16%. The sensing electrode has been subjected to five green tea samples. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on the obtained DPV data set to observe the discrimination ability of the electrode on the basis of gallic acid content in green tea. The separability index (SI) value for PCA score plot is found to be 38.15, indicating a clear distinction among the samples.