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/** * @author Richard Davey <rich@photonstorm.com> * @author Florian Mertens * @copyright 2020 Photon Storm Ltd. * @license {@link https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT|MIT License} */ /** * Get the shortest distance from a Line to the given Point. * * @function Phaser.Geom.Line.GetShortestDistance * @since 3.16.0 * * @generic {Phaser.Geom.Point} O - [out,$return] * * @param {Phaser.Geom.Line} line - The line to get the distance from. * @param {(Phaser.Geom.Point|object)} point - The point to get the shortest distance to. * * @return {number} The shortest distance from the line to the point. */ var GetShortestDistance = function (line, point) { var x1 = line.x1; var y1 = line.y1; var x2 = line.x2; var y2 = line.y2; var L2 = (((x2 - x1) * (x2 - x1)) + ((y2 - y1) * (y2 - y1))); if (L2 === 0) { return false; } var s = (((y1 - point.y) * (x2 - x1)) - ((x1 - point.x) * (y2 - y1))) / L2; return Math.abs(s) * Math.sqrt(L2); }; module.exports = GetShortestDistance;

Q: 12 v watt heater with nichrome coil i am new here. First of all I am sorry for my bad english. I want a help from those who know about nichrome heater coil. I want to make a 12v dc incubator using nichrome wire as heating element, all I need is to produce almost 40 degree celsius in my styrofoam box. For this, how much length nichrome required? Which gauge ? How much watt does it consume? ( To know the the approximate backup time from a 12v 9ah battery) . How to calculate these things? Please help me. i think if i connect a small length (small resistance) nichrome to 12v battery, most of the volt dropped in internal resistance of the battery, that will drain battery fast. If i connect a long nichrome to the 12v battery, most of the volatge dropped in the nichrome , but it will reduce the current ( look like a 12v bulb lighting with a 6v source). So at a specific length of nichrome that will produce 40'c heat efficiently. Hiw to find that length? That is my question. A: You don't have to deal with nichrome wire if you stay within the temperature limits of standard resistors, and 40°C stays within these easily. Buy a power resistor. The needed power depends on the heat loss. Calculate that first. $$\dot{Q} = \lambda\cdot \frac{A}{d}(\vartheta_{1}-\vartheta_{2})$$ $$\lambda: \mathrm{thermal\ conduction\ coefficient\ of\ styrofoam}$$ $$A: \mathrm{surface\ area\ (on\ the\ outside\ for\ being\ on\ the\ safe \ side)}$$ $$d: \mathrm{distance\ (thickness\ of\ styrofoam\ wall)}$$ $$\vartheta: \mathrm{temperature\ (highest\ inside\ -\ lowest\ outside)}$$

Last Friday 29th July I went to the Holmbush Centre at Shoreham to help my old friend and radio colleague Patrick Souiljaert man (person?) a stand at the entrance to Tesco there. He has written an autobiography in microscopic detail about the challenges of his life as a person with Cerebral Palsy. He was starved of oxygen a birth which led to the condition. However, instead of letting it define him, he has used it to energise and power his ambition, refusing to accept its limitations, using them instead to define his goals. After going to school in various special establishments (the word special is used in its loosest context here) in the South, Patrick emerged as a man with extreme sensitivity to his and others place in the world. He worked at a major telecomms company for many years before deciding that he could be a radio producer. He achieved this and worked for three Sussex-based radio stations before deciding that he could also be a property investor before going on to become an international speaker, writer and motivator. It is a raw, no-holds-barred account of the first half of his life with names and organisations changed to protect the innocent and the less than innocent. It is a page turning, honest, gripping story that demonstrates an almost documentary, forensic recall of detail and really installs the reader inside the head of someone who reacts powerfully to the limitations that life has laid upon him. Last Friday, Patrick, John , Clare and myself went to Holmbush armed with 200 copies of the book, some banners and a great pitch provided by the generous customer services team at Tesco led by Lisa. I was given access to the public intercom system in order to make announcements. Patrick called out to most passers by with a friendly ‘hello’, ‘how are you?’ and a goodly minority stopped to have a chat and by the end of the day 38 copies of the book at £10 each were sold. The point of this post? That you don’t have to accept the hand that life has dealt you. That you can dream and then wake up and achieve those dreams. That you can decide to be a writer and go and write and publish your book. That you can call yourself an international motivational speaker and go and motivate by speaking. Internationally. Stars form when the right amount of dust and gas coalesce due to gravitational pull. Within the star nuclear reactions continue to release energy to keep the star hot. Just before the star bursts into existence all these forces are working together at their optimum strength. It’s a sultry early Autumn day and the leaves on the trees are beginning to feel a little restless. The greens are transmuting to the first hints of yellow. The sun is high in the sky and the wind is thinking about migrating from north to east. I’m in my car parked in a road near the eastern entrance to Worthing where suburban folk mow lawns and shape hedges to fit whatever sits behind their frontal consciousness. Up the road is an ordinary secondary school that doesn’t quite realise yet that it will become famous soon, mentioned in Wikipedia, visited by pilgrims, worn as a badge by generations of students to come. At the other end of the road is a pub, deadly quiet at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, unaware that it will become the third or fourth point on the tours that will sprout up in this very ordinary part of West Sussex, England. Mike Kerr in Brighton I’m parked outside Mike Kerr’s house, or more accurately, his parent’s house, waiting for Mike to arrive, ready to drive him across Sussex to radio studios where we will conduct the only radio interview in the week when his band’s album has gone to Number One in the official UK charts, with 66,000 sales in six days. Noel Gallagher’s ‘High Flying Birds’ album four years ago was the last rock album to sell as many. Later in the interview we would joke about Mike and Noel leaning against the bar and comparing album sales, we would joke about Mike getting Dave Grohl wrapped in a box for Christmas. Half a decade ago I’m in the Thomas a Becket pub in Worthing watching a band comprising four kids who were at school with my son and who I had known since they were eleven years old deliver an electrifying venom-filled punk set with their leader and songwriter George McCanna delivering invective disguised as rock lyrics about the pointlessness of suburban life. Flavour Country with George, Joe Dennis, Toby Lancaster and a young, bespectacled geeky guy called Mike Kerr on keys and bass were a ferocious blast of teenage aggression, bemusing the pocket of regulars leaning at the bar. Hunting the Minotaur – Mike Kerr (2nd left) A little later I’m in the Cricketers in Broadwater, Worthing. My marriage has fallen apart and my only solace is the music. I’m nursing a pint of Harveys, the only beer you should drink in Sussex, when the young keyboardist in the band that had morphed from Flavour Country into Hunting the Minotaur gets up and sings with a guitar. I didn’t know he sang, and it was good. The dust and the gas were forming, the atoms splitting. The taxi pulls up and out rolls Mike and his old friend from school, Nat Clark. They had been in a pub and Mike needs to go in the house and have a leak. Nat sits in the car. “Well, I say”, “what do you make of all this?” “Mad” he replies. Mike studied catering at Northbrook College and has been working when he’s been working as a trainee chef amongst other things. This week the job description changed to actual, real, bona fide rock star. Mike, Nat Clark & Roy in the studio Yes, he and Royal Blood duettist, drummer and mate, Ben Thatcher have appeared at Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds, and Finsbury Park with the Arctic Monkeys. They have appeared on Later with Jools Holland when Neil Finn put the thumbs up on camera at the end of their explosive performance of ‘Little Monster’. Matt Helders of the Arctic Monkeys wore a T-shirt hurriedly created for him when they headlined at Glastonbury. At that point Royal Blood hardly existed. The NME and Kerrang and Q started calling them the future of Rock ‘n Roll. But until this week they did not have a Number One album. I had Mike’s phone number on my mobile. My son Callum, a mate of Mike’s had forwarded it. I texted Mike and asked for an interview. The old respect between young musician and someone who has run radio stations and labels kicked in. Against the advice of his management, label and press office, he agreed to meet up. Mike Kerr & Ben Thatcher of Royal Blood Earlier that day at 7am I had driven over to Seaford to load the computer play out system at Seahaven FM with the Royal Blood album in its majestic entirety, some historic and very rare Flavour Country/Hunting the Minotaur tracks and a selection of music that Mike had referenced in interviews and some other stuff I just knew he liked. ‘I know him’ I thought. We are in the car driving though the South Downs on the way to Seaford. Mike’s phone rings. It’s George McCanna, his old compadre in Flavour Country/Hunting the Minotaur. He’s heard that Mike is back from touring for a couple of days before flying to Paris for the next leg of the tour. They arrange to meet later. Mike tells me that he learned to sing in Joe Dennis’s living room, practising and remembering some of the tricks that George used to deploy. I can hear George in one or two of the higher register yowling vocal breaks. The neutrons start to split and re-connect. The forces are forming like a large dark cloud on the horizon. I realise that this will be the last car journey like this. Ordinary and relaxed, three people laughing and joking on the way to another Sussex town. Mike Kerr, Royal Blood and Roy Mike’s mobile is very private. There are no press interruptions even though everyone wants to talk to him. He has grown charisma, the star quality sets like a interplannetary aura around him. The old spectacles have gone, the hair is wild but fashionable, the leather rocker jacket stylised and perfect for the music, the speech more considered, the gaps between questions and answers long enough to create a sense of importance. With a jolt I realise that he does now look like a young Marlon Brando. We arrive at the studios. Seahaven FM is a small independently run and financed radio station. A community station where no-one is paid, even the fulltime Director, Nick Mallinson, who does what he does for the love of it. These stations occupy the space that the old pirate stations used to before they went dance obsessed. Enthusiasts gather around the microphone to deliver their eccentric, passionate, obsessive love of music in all its colours and genres for the pleasure of other obsessives. Ben Thatcher & Mike Kerr of Royal Blood There are 250 and rising of these stations in the UK. They attract over 1 million listeners a week. Who? People interested in their community, the travel and the traffic, the micro climates of weather, gossip and what’s on. Seahaven FM on 96.3 in Seaford, Peacehaven and Newhaven and on www.seaheavenfm.com is one of the better ones. David Scott, erstwhile of Southern FM and other commercial stations, now retired, occupies the Breakfast slot. The local MP Norman Baker has a show called ‘Anything Goes’, and anything does, musically. There are world music shows, rock n roll shows, jazz shows and I play whatever I like on my Thursday 7-9pm slot because I’ve been listening and working with music for the best part of 40 years and I’ve paid my dues. I re-arrange the songs on the playlist to suit Mike Kerr’s mood and taste. Unaccountably, I feel nervous. The boy I knew has grown into a man, a star has formed. He has ‘people’ who look after him, but today he has climbed under the fence and escaped. He is off line, off circuit. He can say what he likes and so can I. The next two hours fly by. I cover all the obvious questions that you can read in all the press interviews, but we also go a little deeper, the prodigiously talented George McCanna is mentioned and honoured. Mike’s Mum, Angie and Dad, Bob, who I have known for years are thanked. His school friends Joe, Toby, Alex and my own son Callum are referenced with love and respect. All musical talents in their own right. We play adrenalin-pumped rock and roll, we nod back to Led Zeppelin, and nod forward to Drenge who have left the ‘F’ word at the end of their track ‘Blood Sport’ and which, having heard it go out live, I have to go back and edit out on the recording. The Arctic Monkeys, Foals, Muse, Queens of the Stone Age, The Raconteurs, Them Crooked Vultures also feature. Musical signposts rather than antecedents, combined with the Royal Blood album it’s a rock ‘n roll show that Peel, Walker, Lamacq and the others would have all revelled in. At the end, we all feel good about what has happened. In this week of all weeks, it’s good to mark the passage of time, to pay respect to the people who have helped along the way. This may be the last time Mike Kerr gets to be the local boy from Worthing chatting about music with his mates. I drive him and Nat back to Worthing. It’s been a blast. We say goodbye outside a pub. He walks in and Ye Olde House at Home in Broadwater, Worthing joins the ranks of the immortals. The particles collide. The light explodes. Mike walks through a doorway and the star forms. A word in your shell-like.. If you are a business one of the best ways of making an impact on the people you want to impress is by writing and hosting good clear and compelling copy on your various web platforms. Words are like the air we breathe. You can’t avoid them and they infiltrate just about every aspect of your day – from the newspaper (or more likely the news website) that you read in the morning to the signs and directions you’ll read on the roadside as you travel to work – to the millions of words sent via the web every day in the form of emails and sales communications. We are becoming a nation of copy-blasé individuals as a result. Unless the words that you read are relevant, original, striking and penetrating you are going to pass on by on the other side of road – or blogosphere. Your customers are no more word blind than anyone else. They are saturated by daily chit-chat and petitions, imploring and importuning. They have learnt to be callous about boring word chains, hackneyed sales lines, and red alerts and underlining that are really all about crying wolf. When you speak in writing or communication it’s really got to count. Deliver little gobbets of tedium to people and they’ll cross the digital road when you come by next time. The content is so important – but then so is the way in which you package it in grammatical and spelling terms. A great message is undermined fatally by a spelling error and an apostrophe in the wrong place. Is it me or am I the only person in the world who knows how to use the possessive apostrophe? A case of Roy’s obsession. If you weren’t taught how to spell or punctuate at school, sue your ex-teachers and then get some help. There is always someone in the office that loves to proofread and show off their superior English skills. These are the true followers of Michael Gove – and in your business bubble they could become priceless. Ask them to doublecheck your words – and don’t be afraid of the criticism that will come your way. It’s for your own good. In the old days good PR copy started with the edict – cover the Who, Where, Why and When questions in the first paragraph. The discipline still stands. Interest the reader, tell them why you are writing to them, what it’s all about, when and why and make it interesting. Does it have a call to action and does the piece set out the stall for your product or business. The deafening silence in response to these questions means that you are engaging in the business of jibber-jabber, diminishing echoes in an empty room. The customer isn’t your only audience. Google sits above all this like a stern Victorian schoolmaster with algorithms as board rubbers ready to fly at you as they rank your copy by its quality and content. It wants to see that you are treating your reader as an intelligent human being rather than as a dumb recipient of adwords and phrases designed to lift you into the Web Premier League. Engage, befriend, amuse and stimulate. Your readers will like you more for it – and so will Google. If you are not good at self-editing and suspect that you may not be the genius you’ve always aspired to be, then get someone else to critically appraise your copy. Ask them to take a red pen to it, eliminate extraneous words and sub clauses, bracketed interjections and ruminations. These are the empty crisp packets fluttering along the street of your selling ambition. In the old days ad agencies employed copywriters as apart of art departments and the scribe and the art director worked hand in glove. I know, because that is where I started. Nowadays the client pours copy into the funnel labelled Creative like raw cement and expects the power of the mac and the WordPress template to magically mix it into the smooth elixir of sales. The truth is that copy writing is an art in the same way that design is an art. Otherwise we’d all be ‘Madmen’.

Whaling in the United Kingdom Commercial whaling in Britain began late in the 16th century and continued after the 1801 formation of the United Kingdom and intermittently until the middle of the 20th century. The trade was broadly divided into two branches. The northern fishery involved hunting the bowhead whale off the coast of Greenland and adjacent islands. The southern fishery was activity anywhere else, including in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans and off the Antarctic. The Sperm whale, the Southern right whale and Humpback whale were the main target species in South Sea whaling. The industry went on to become a profitable national enterprise and a source of skilled mariners for the Royal Navy in times of war. Modern whaling, using factory ships and catchers fitted with bow-mounted cannons that fired explosive harpoons, continued into the 20th century and was mainly focused on the Antarctic and nearby islands where shore stations had also been established. The collapse of whale stocks in the 1960s, due to overfishing, saw Britain abandon the industry after three and a half centuries of involvement. Early history Stranded whales, or drift whales that died at sea and washed ashore, provided meat, blubber (rendered into oil) and bone to coastal communities in pre-historic Britain. A 5,000 year old whalebone figurine was one of the many items found in the Neolithic village of Skara Brae in Scotland after that stone age settlement was uncovered by a storm in the 1850s. Whalebone weaving combs from the middle and late Iron Age have been found on archaeological digs in Orkney and Somerset. A charter granted to Hilary, Bishop of Chichester in 1148 gave him the right to “any whale found on the land of the church of Chichester, except the tongue, which is the King's.” The English king had asserted the right to the entire whale by 1315 when Edward II reserved “to himself the right of all whales cast by chance upon the shore.” Whales came to be known as “Royal fish”, the disposal of which was an exclusive right of the monarch, or his local representative. Indeed, to this day, the Crown Estate asserts that "theoretically The Queen can claim ownership" of beached whales and other "Royal fish". The first tentative interest in commercial whaling may have occurred in 1576 when a British vessel sailed “to the country called Labrador, which joins Newfoundland, where the Biscay men go in search of whales.” The Basques had whaled in the Bay of Biscay from the twelfth century and by the middle of the sixteenth century were crossing the Atlantic each year to the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland where they established temporary whaling settlements. Sustained British interest in the trade began in 1577 when the Muscovy Company in London was granted a Crown monopoly to hunt whales “within any seas whatsoever.” It may have been further stimulated when, for political reasons, parliament banned whale oil imports from the Spanish Basque country, the main whale oil exporters, in 1579. The northern whale fishery A vessel owned by the London-based Muscovy Company discovered and began to exploit the Spitsbergen (Svalbard) whaling grounds in 1611. By 1617 at least fifteen British vessels were whaling off Spitsbergen each season. Ongoing participation in the fishery proved elusive. It was due, in part, to costly competition between rival chartered companies as they tried to exclude each other, and their foreign rivals, from the region. In the meantime, the Dutch had entered the fishery and soon became dominant. By the 1660s, there were hundreds of Dutch and German vessels active off Spitsbergen, while in some years not a single British vessel. Parliament tried to revive British involvement late in the 17th century. It began with legislation in 1672 that allowed British whaling crews to be composed of up to half foreign nationals, such as the skilled Dutch. The Act also exempted British-caught oil from customs duty, and imposed a £9 a tun duty on oil and £18 on “whale fins” (baleen) imported from other national fleets. It was not till Dutch involvement began to falter in the 1690s, due to political turmoil and warfare in Holland, that the British saw an opportunity, which led to the creation of the Greenland Company. The initiative was unsuccessful and the losses incurred were so large they discouraged further British involvement in the trade till the 1720s, when Henry Elking persuaded the South Sea Company to try the Spitsbergen fishery. Two dozen new vessels were built and equipped and sent forth under the direction of Elking as agent and superintendent for the Greenland Fishery on a salary of £100 a year plus 1.5% of gross sales. This initiative too was unsuccessful and spelled the end of chartered company involvement in the trade in Britain. Parliament wanted to revive whaling to reduce the trade imbalance with Holland and at the same time build up a naval reserve of ships and men that could be easily mobilised in times of war. In 1732 it offered an annual bounty of twenty shillings (one pound sterling) a ton for all whaling vessels over 200 tons fitted out in Great Britain, the relevant legislation coming into force in 1733. The bounty was increased to thirty shillings a ton in 1740, but even then only four or five British vessels sailed north each year. Most of these were owned by merchants who imported whale oil. The government increased the bounty to forty shillings a ton in 1750 and this proved the tipping point for a take off in the trade. Just two ships were fitted out in 1749, increasing to twenty in 1750, and eighty-three by 1756. The forty shillings a ton bounty represented a subsidy of £600 for the average sized 300 ton ship in the trade. Also important was a jump in demand for whale oil. The manufacture of woollen textiles was increasing and right whale oil was widely used to clean wool before it was spun. The Industrial Revolution needed lubricants for machinery, and growing urbanization increased the demand for lamp fuel, including in street lighting. London was the best lit city in the world, with 5000 street lamps by the 1740s. The building industry also used whale oil as an ingredient in paint, varnish and putty. All of this increase in demand led to a rise in price. The average wholesale price was £14 7s a tun early in the 1740s and this rose to £27 a tun in 1754. At the same time Dutch had started to withdraw from the fishery. Scottish ports were well placed to participate in the growth of the fleet. They were closer to the northern whaling grounds and sent forth more whalers to the Arctic than English outports early in this revival of interest in the trade. Scottish ports involved in the trade, in order of importance, were, Leith, Dunbar, Barrowstoness, Dundee, Aberdeen, Montrose, Glasgow, Anstruther, Greenock, Kirkcaldy and Alloa. London remained the single most important port dispatching 71% of British whalers in 1753. Other English ports involved include Hull (from 1598), Newcastle (1752), Whitby (1753), Exeter (1754), Ipswich (1786) and Peterhead (1788). Additional English and Welsh ports participating during the “bounty period” (1733-1824) were Berwick, Dartmouth, Grimsby, Liverpool, Lynn, Milford, Scarborough, Stockton, Sunderland, Whitehaven and Yarmouth. There were setbacks along the way. These included war in Europe in 1756, which saw the crews of some northern whalers depleted by the press-gangs, regardless of exemptions granted to harpooners, line-managers and boatsteerers A fall in the price of oil at the same time also impacted the industry and led shipowners to leave the trade. There were eighty-three vessels involved in 1759, and just forty when the war ended in 1763. Whaling remained at a low ebb for the next decade with some ports, such as Whitby and Hull, leaving the trade entirely for a time. Numbers slowly increased till there were fifty vessels involved by 1770. The American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) acted as another break on northern whaling. When peace came in 1783 it was followed by an expansion in the British economy and a renewed demand for whale oil. America had been a major supplier to Britain, especially of sperm whale oil. Britain started to participate in the sperm whale fishery in 1775 and imposed a heavy duty on oil imported from elsewhere. The high tariff barrier remained after peace was declared and acted as an accelerent to British involvement in South Sea whaling. British activity in the Arctic also began to increase. The number of Greenland whalers rose from 44 in 1782 to 102 in 1784. The Greenland fishery peaked in 1786-1788 when 250 British vessels were involved with an aggregate tonnage of 73,000 and employing about 10,000 men. Those vessels came from 23 different ports, with London alone sending 91 vessels, followed by Hull with 36 and Whitby and Newcastle with twenty each. The year 1788 was also one of massive loss with the fleet as a whole recording a deficit of £199,371, the London vessels by themselves losing £40,000. Vessels began to leave the trade and by 1790 only eleven ports were still involved. The number of vessels involved in northern whaling slowly picked up as the turn of the century approached, largely unaffected by the French Revolutionary period and Napoleonic Wars. The price of oil and bone was volatile and the latter ranged in price from £400 a ton to just £30 between the 1760s and 1815. Prices began to improve as the new century progressed and the Davis Strait fishery began to develop. The size of the fleet peaked in 1821 after which it began a long slow decline that lasted until the end of the century. The decline began when the Board of Trade introduced free trade legislation that removed the bounty in 1824. Also significant was a fall in the price of whale oil to just £18 in 1820-21 season, in response to weak demand caused by a rise in imports of seed oil. More free trade legislation in 1844 saw the high duty on American-caught whale oil reduced from £27 18s 7d per tun to just £6 6s, and the duty on sperm oil fall to £15 15s. The duty reduction benefited consumers of whale oil but it exposed the whaling industry to the cold winds of competition, and it withered in response. Poor seasons became more common as whale stocks declined, further hastening the exit from the industry. The vessels still engaged stayed longer on the whaling grounds to achieve better results and in the process were sometimes trapped by the ice. Forced to over-winter, some ships were crushed by the ice and their crewmen had to evacuate the ship. If there was no vessel nearby to take them aboard they would soon freeze to death. Even those taken aboard another vessel faced scurvy or starvation in crowded unsanitary conditions till the ice began to break up and the vessel could begin the journey home. The southern whale fishery Sperm whale oil - a valuable commodity worth two or three times more than northern right whale oil - had been imported from Britain’s New England colonies till the American War of Independence curtailed supply. This prompted British entrepreneurs, particularly those who had previously imported the oil, to send their own ships into the South Seas to obtain this high-value commodity. Ten whalers left Britain in 1775, including nine from London, and crossed the equator into the South Atlantic in search of sperm whales. London alone sent 76 whaling vessels into the south Atlantic between 1776 and 1783. British vessels went on to make around 2,500 voyages whaling and sealing voyages to the South Seas between 1775 and 1859. These voyages were made by over 930 vessels owned by 300 principal shipowners. Some of these vessels in the South Atlantic also engaged in clandestine trading on the coast of Brazil. A group of American Quaker whalers, led by William Rotch, senior (1734-1828) of Nantucket, then the hub of the American whaling industry, sought to evade British naval blockades of American ports, and the high duty on imported foreign whale oil, by relocating, first to France, and then to Britain. The Rotch family owned at least ten British South Sea whalers between 1775 and 1794. The British ships initially “fished” in the mid and south Atlantic, spreading into the Pacific and Indian Oceans in the 1780s. The government bounty of forty shillings a ton paid to northern whalers was extended to the southern fishery in 1776. A heavy import duty that applied to oil imported from other countries was not lifted even after hostilities between Britain and America ceased in 1783 and was an additional incentive for shipowners to remain involved in the trade. The first British whaler to enter the Pacific was the Emilia, owned by Samuel Enderby & Sons and commanded by Captain James Shields. This vessel sailed from London in September 1788 and fished the Peru Grounds before returning to London in March 1790 with 139 tuns of sperm whale oil. International conflict became inevitable, spilling over all the continents of the New World. Spain resented the intrusion of British vessels into the Pacific, especially when they engaged in clandestine trading at Spanish colonies in South America. In 1789, rising tension over the issue saw Spanish warships, thousands of miles away on the west coast of what is now Canada, seize British vessels engaged in the maritime fur trade in Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island. The resulting Nootka Crisis was an international incident that brought both nations to the brink of war. War was averted but tensions remained high. Australia was also in their sights. In 1793 a Spanish naval captain with recent knowledge of the area submitted a plan to invade New South Wales, destroy Sydney and carry away the 7,000 colonists to labour in Spain's own South American colonies. British whaling continued in the Pacific, with occasional setbacks along the way. These include the Anglo-French War (1778-1783), the Anglo-Spanish War (1796-1808) and the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States. These conflicts forced vessels to travel to and from the whaling grounds in convoys protected by Royal Navy warships. This was not always enough and in 1797 a number of the British whalers were captured when they called at ports on the coast of Chile and Peru for supplies, unaware that war had broken out between Spain and Britain. The US warship Essex captured a dozen British whalers in the Pacific in 1812, the loss in ships and cargo estimated at $2.5 million. As well as a problem, these conflicts also presented opportunities for British whalers. Many of them sailed for the Pacific with Letters of Marque obtained from the government, allowing them to attack, capture and plunder enemy-owned trading vessels. Another significant barrier to expansion were Crown monopolies granted to the East India Company and the South Sea Company which restricted British maritime activity in the Pacific and Indian Oceans to ships owned or licensed by the Companies. Pressure exerted by the London whaling lobby saw these restrictions gradually lifted between 1786 and 1813, after which British whalers had unrestricted access to all whaling grounds. Some whaling shipowners, such as Samuel Enderby & Sons and Mather & Co., chartered their vessels to serve as convict transports and store ships to the Australian colonies on the outward voyage to the South Seas. Others took with them trade goods they sold in the colonies, or at ports in South America. Contraband trading at South American ports and bays could be lucrative but, if detected by the Spanish colonial authorities, might result in confiscation of the ship and a lengthy period of imprisonment for the crews. In the years between 1800 and 1809 the British South Sea whaling fleet averaged 72 vessels with 30 ships returning each year. The annual average catch during this period was 1,634 tuns of sperm and 3,300 tuns of southern right whale oil, with an average annual value of £122,000. British involvement in the South Seas fishery reached its peak, in terms of the number of vessels involved, in the years between 1820 and 1822. The end of subsidy payments in 1824 played a part in the decline, as did the reduction in the duty on imported foreign-caught oil in 1843, and its total abolition in 1849. A decline in whale stocks was also a significant factor and caused a steady increase in the length of voyages. By 1843, only 36 vessels were still involved in the trade, and just 20 by 1850. The last British vessel involved in South Sea whaling in the Age of Sail was the Cowlitz (Captain Bushell) which returned to London in 1859. As well as the Enderby family, other prominent shipowners in the southern whale fishery included Daniel Bennett, Alexander Champion, John St Barbe and Thomas Sturge. Modern whaling The development of harpoons went hand in hand with the development of commercial whaling. Harpoon guns were trialed by the South Sea Company in 1737 and hand-held guns that discharged rocket harpoons were in general use by American and other national whalers in the second half of the 19th century. Further experimentation at that period by Svend Foyn at Tonsberg in Norway resulted in a safer and more efficient harpoon cannon that was patented in 1870. These cannon were mounted on the bow of steam-powered metal-hulled catchers and allowed faster whale species to be hunted. The introduction of factory ships that could winch the captured whales up a stern ramp and onto the deck meant further advances in efficiency and safety for those employed in the industry. Modern whaling in Britain can be dated from 1904, when Norwegian expatriate Christian Salvesen at Leith in Scotland established the Olna Whaling Company. Shore-based whaling stations established at Olna Firth and elsewhere in Scotland were highly productive, taking 2,418 Fin and 1,283 Sei whales between 1908 and 1914, inclusive. After the oil was extracted, the meat and bone was ground into a meal used as an animal food supplement. Salvesen later established other stations at Thorvig in the Faroe Islands and at Hellisford in Iceland. Modern whaling methods soon depleted whaling stocks in European waters and companies began to look further afield. The Dundee whaling expedition set out from Scotland and ventured to the Antarctic in 1892-93 to look for whaling grounds that might be worth fishing. The first modern shore-based whaling station in the southern hemisphere was established at Grytviken on South Georgia by an Argentine company in 1904. There were nineteen whaling firms in the region by 1914, most of them owned or staffed by Norwegians. Christian Salvesen established a new whaling company in 1908 which began operations at West Falkland in January 1909 and, later in the year, at South Georgia. The latter operation was based at Leith Harbour and it continued to function till the 1960s. The official language there was Norwegian, indicating the main source of labour. A second British firm, the Southern Whaling and Sealing Company of North Shields, was established in 1911 to operate at Prince Olav Harbour on South Georgia. Old merchant vessels of 2000-3000 tons were brought into service as rudimentary factory ships by the Norwegians in 1905, and by the British in 1911. These vessels allowed the whole whale to be processed with less waste. The start of World War I led to an increased demand for whaling products, and catches by the two British firms in the Antarctic increased in response. Advances in hydrogenation allowed the oil from baleen whales to be hardened to make margarine, a substitute for butter, in short supply due to the war. The hardened whale oil was also used to make soap, with Lever Brothers the major user of whale oil in Britain. A major event in the post-war years was the purchase of the Southern Whaling Company by Lever Brothers for £360,000 in September 1919. The Southern Whaling and Sealing Company and Christian Salvesen were the two main producers of whale oil from shore-based whaling stations and floating factory ships in the Antarctic in the early 1920s. Other significant developments were the introduction of larger catchers, that could range further, and a switch in target species from fin whales to blue whales. The depletion of South Georgia waters by the 1920s saw British companies invest in new factory ships that could be sent to whaling grounds further afield during the brief three month long Antarctic whaling season. The waters around the South Shetland Islands and South Orkney Islands were tried but the major development in the 1920s was the discovery by the Norwegian, Captain Carl Anton Larsen in the 1923-24 season, of a passage through the pack ice to the ice-free waters of the Ross Sea. The difficult conditions in the Ross Sea called for larger factory ships and more powerful catchers. Christian Salvesen took delivery of six new catchers in 1924, the first of forty catchers commissioned and built at Middlesbrough for them during the inter-war years. The profits in the industry saw the creation of a third British firm in 1928, the Hector Whaling Company, with a nominal capital of £250,000. An increase in the number of factory ships from 17 to 41, most of them deployed to the Ross Sea, saw total world whale oil production explode from 145,394 tons in 1926-27 to 601,392 tons in the 1930-31 season, while the British component went from 61,781 tons to 120,533 tons during the same period. This massive oversupply led to a rise in inventories and a dramatic fall in price which resulted in the decision by the Norwegians to keep their vessels in port for the 1931-32 season. British producers responded by closing two unprofitable shore-based stations in Scotland and another in South Africa. Continued overfishing and the resulting depletion of whale stocks in Antarctic waters turned thoughts to greater regulation and how the industry might be made sustainable. Efforts were made to further limit the length of the whaling season and quotas were introduced on the number of whales that could be taken. More effective in limiting the catch was the ongoing surplus of oil in storage and the resulting low price that continued to restrict the number of factory ships at sea. This continued until 1935, when a rise in the price of oil saw an increase in the number of ships to sail. Some of these "fished" the whaling grounds off Western Australia, Peru and Madagascar. The old cycle was soon repeated with overproduction and the inevitable crash in the oil price. The oil surplus of the 1935-36 season was the result of good weather in the Antarctic and the activity of new whaling factories and catchers, including some from Japan, Germany and Denmark, new entrants into modern whaling. It also reflected the creation of a number of new small whaling companies in Britain during the 1930s. These included Anglo-Norse Ltd, Polar Whaling Company and Star Whaling. There were still nine British shore-based whaling stations operating in the 1930s. To maintain production levels, the target species broadened, with fin, humpback and sperm whales taken in increasing numbers. Even so, on the eve of world war in 1939 the industry was facing difficult times with declining whale stocks, rising costs and falling demand as manufacturers switched to whale oil substitutes, such as palm oil. The Second World War devastated the whaling industry. The European market for British-caught oil disappeared almost overnight. But a new market opened up as the British government began to buy and stockpile any whale oil they could lay their hands on. When the Minister of Food, Sir Frederick Marquis heard rumors the Germans were negotiating to buy whale oil from the Norwegians, to be made into margarine, he made contact with the traders and agreed the first price quoted and bought their entire stock and had it transported to Britain. Whale catchers and factory ships were requisitioned for military purposes and a number were sunk by enemy action. Whale numbers around the world recovered slightly during the conflict but when the Second World War ended, the war on the whales began again. An urgent need for edible oils of all kinds in the post-war period saw the price of whale oil reach £100 a ton on several occasions between 1945 and 1952 and prompted a resurgence in the industry. Some of the vessels sent south had been seized from Germany as enemy property while other factories and catchers were newly built. British companies produced 39,708 tons of oil in the 1945-46 season, rising to 89,012 tons in 1948-49. The renewed activity by British, Norwegian and other producers postponed any plans for regulations to limit the number of whales taken and make the industry sustainable. The International Whaling Commission reduced the length of the whaling season in the late 1940s, and also introduced catch limits. The quotas were set too high and, in any case, were ignored by some operators. Attempts were made to expand the market for whale meat in Britain by marketing it for human consumption, but were unsuccessful. After the oil was extracted most of the residue continued to be processed into low-value meat meal to feed livestock. The value of whale oil peaked in 1950-1952 , in anticipation of strong demand during the Korean War, and then began to decline. The British share of the catch fell after 1954 and companies based in the United Kingdom started to think about how to exit the industry. Hector Whaling did so in 1960 and Salvesen in 1963, bringing to an end three and a half centuries of British involvement. Whaling product imports were banned in Britain in 1973. A massive decline in whale numbers had made the industry uneconomic and the International Whaling Commission introduced a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982. Britain was one of 25 members of the Commission to successfully approve the moratorium, which went into effect in 1986. Whaling vessels Alexander (1801) Amelia Wilson (1809) Britannia (1783) Butterworth (1785) Cadmus (1813) Canada (1786) Catherine (1811) Cumberland (1800) Diana (1840) Eliza (1802) Harpooner (1791) Mary Ann (1772) Rockingham (1767) Seringapatam (1799) Tiger (1773) Truelove (1764) William (1770) See also Greenland Dock Grytviken Sperm whaling References British Southern Whale Fishery (BSWF) web site, http://www.britishwhaling.org/ Clayton, Jane & Charles A. Clayton (2016) Shipowners investing in the South Sea whale fishery from Britain: 1775 to 1815 (2016) Jane M. Clayton & Charles A. Clayton, Hassobury, UK. Jones, A.G.E. & Dale Chatwin (2014) Ships employed in the South Seas Trade, 1775-1859, Volume 3, Navarine, Hobart. Citations Category:Economy of the United Kingdom Category:Maritime history of the United Kingdom

Selectivity Determination of a Small Molecule Chemical Probe Using Protein Microarray and Affinity Capture Techniques. Small molecule selectivity is an essential component of candidate drug selection and target validation. New technologies are required to better understand off-target effects, with particular emphasis needed on broad protein profiling. Here, we describe the use of a tritiated chemical probe and a 9000 human protein microarray to discern the binding selectivity of an inhibitor of the mRNA decapping scavenger enzyme DcpS. An immobilized m7GTP resin was also used to assess the selectivity of a DcpS inhibitor against mRNA cap-associated proteins in whole cell extracts. These studies confirm the exquisite selectivity of diaminoquinazoline DcpS inhibitors, and highlight the utility of relatively simple protein microarray and affinity enrichment technologies in drug discovery and chemical biology.

Commentary on the comparative effectiveness of alternative settings for joint replacement rehabilitation. The comprehensive Joint Replacement Outcomes in Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities and Nursing Treatment Sites 1 and 2 studies presented in this issue of the Archives by DeJong and colleagues focus on an important issue facing U.S. rehabilitation today: the comparative effectiveness of alternative rehabilitation settings for the management of conditions such as joint replacement. Although there are hints in the data that patients receiving care in inpatient rehabilitation facilities compared with those treated in skilled nursing facilities may have slightly better recoveries of physical function, the evidence is weaker than for a number of other conditions. It is important to look beyond the question of which setting is best, toward gaining a deeper understanding of the elements within these settings that most enhance outcomes.

[Blood alcohol concentration is dependent on the sequence of the combined administration of trichlorethylene and ethanol]. In equimolar amounts ethanol and trichloroethylene were administered intraperitoneally to male ICR mice in varying sequences. The sequence of administration proved to be decisive for the blood alcohol levels. In relation to ethanol alone following the simultaneous administration of trichloroethylene and ethanol the blood alcohol levels were elevated. This effect is furthermore enhanced if trichloroethylene was administered 1 h prior to ethanol administration. The reversed sequence had no effect on blood alcohol levels.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to a cleaning apparatus, and, in particular, to an apparatus especially suited for cleaning hard-surfaced floors. 2. Description of the Related Art Cleaning floors is a tedious and laborious task. Over the years, many devices have been designed for this purpose, including brooms, mops, vacuum-cleaners, and countless variations thereon. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,896,611 and 500,976 each discloses a device that utilizes a rotatable brush to accelerate debris into a collection container. These devices have the ability to pick up relatively large dirt particles, but smaller items such as dust and hair are usually left behind. Additionally, these devices generally are designed for industrial applications, and therefore, tend to be too cumbersome for household use. Meanwhile, widely-used electret cloth mops, which utilize static electricity to attract dirt, hair, and dust particles, pose the opposite problem. These devices are effective at picking up small particles, but larger debris tends to collect at the front edge of the mop where the debris is pushed across the floor until a user manually removes the debris from the floor. In addition, using electret cloth mops is time consuming because the user frequently has to replace spent electret cloth. Other floor cleaning devices, like those depicted in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,092,699 and 5,372,609, attempt to solve this problem by providing a continually-fed cleaning cloth, but these devices are likewise incapable of picking up larger debris. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a cleaning apparatus that is capable of removing both large and small particles from a surface, yet is easily handled and operated.

John, who for the last few years has helped with running the rustic camp site Pharmacy Viagra Fuerteventura know as ‘Glyn’s Field’, close to Morfa Dyffryn nude beach, has been in touch.Pharmacy Viagra Fuerteventura Pharmacy Viagra Fuerteventura

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for efficient energy usage and resultant monetary gain. More particularly, in a preferred embodiment, the present invention is a system and method to aid building engineers to effectively manage energy demand and energy sources in commercial and industrial HVAC applications. 2. Description of the Art Energy producers typically charge customers according to electrical demand (measured in kW hour) and also by a peak demand in a given hour (measured in kW). Energy management is ever more critical for environmentally conscious, cost-effective operation of buildings where heating ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are employed. Henceforth, many control systems have been introduced to obtain greater control over energy usage. One such innovation was proposed by Hilebrand et al., entitled “Temperature Control Method and Apparatus,” U.S. Pat. No. 5,539,633, and was awarded patent protection in 1996. According to Hileband and his co-inventors, it is desirable for HVAC controls to automatically reduce cooling output in response to a pre-determined peak demand, as electrical utility cost during an actual peak demand will be at its highest. A drawback to the approach offered by Hileband is that it's difficult to provide the automation desired along with maintaining comfortable temperatures to building occupants. Another control system has been proposed by Traut, II et al., entitled “Computer Program And Method for Reducing HVAC Demand for Energy,” U.S. Pat. No. 7,249,043. According to Traut II, a need exists to enable energy suppliers to more effectively control peak demand situations so that their capacity is not exceeded. The solution proposed aggregates users into a purchasing block and regulates user demand based on energy needs relative to one another. However, this solution for overdemand also provides automation that removes ad hoc control of the electricity consumers. Additional control systems have been proposed that attempt to provide energy saving automation in HVAC controls, such as “Adaptive Hierarchy Usage Monitoring HVAC Control System,” to Poth et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,555,364. A further example is provided by Ehlers et al, entitled “System and Method of Controlling An HVAC System,” U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,226; as well as “System and Method of Controlling An HVAC System,” U.S. Pat. No. 7,130,719 also to Ehlers et. al. As stated herein, managing electrical loads in commercial HVAC applications is ever more important as new rises in energy cost and environmental concerns come forth. Energy customers are still concerned over surcharges that are accessed by power producers during peak demand. Also more expensive electronic equipment, for example, is more abundant in commercial buildings leading to increased electrical demand. While some electrical loads are essentially fixed and cannot be easily controlled, other loads can be effectively managed to maximize efficiency. For example, a chiller having a primary function of making ice, as needed, would optimally be used at night/holidays or weekend where demand is relatively low. Additionally, any systems requiring battery charges should be performed during an off-peak time. Similarly, if batter power can be used during a demand peak to offset actual load, then building engineers should consider this option. Hence, building engineers are having an ever increasing role in monitoring energy performance to improve efficiency. While many commercial buildings rely solely on the power grid for electrical demand, some building can provide limited power for their own consumption with battery cells, solar cells, natural gas and diesel generators. The alternate energy source is primarily a back up for essential loads in the event the power distribution grid loses power; however the alternative energy sources could be used to offset a peak in electrical demand. One advantage to monitoring energy demand and performance, as stated herein, is that load shedding may be needed to conserve electricity peak periods. For example, unnecessary loads can be reduced during the early to mid afternoon hours during the sunniest days resulting in reduced energy costs during peak demand. Another advantage to monitoring energy performance is that it could be a first indicator that a certain electrical load, such as an air handling unit, may be in need of periodic maintenance. In light of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for monitoring energy performance in HVAC applications so that building engineers can respond to projected peak demands and unexpected surges in demand. It is further an object of the present invention to provide a method of collecting historical temperature data in relation to hourly demand and peak demand. It is still further an object of the present invention to provide a software module able to plot real-time energy demand vs. expected energy demand and automatically issue an alert to building engineers of any abnormality. These, as well as other advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description and drawings. It is understood that changes in the specific structure shown and described may be made within the scope of the claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Established in the late 60s, MELICONI S.p.A. has since been successfully operating in the houseware market, producing household and kitchen accessories in plastic and metal. Starting 1987, MELICONI also established its presence in the Video Hi-Fi accessories market, again with comforting success. Two key factors have consistently guided the company's activity, prompting its growth up to this day: creativity and imagination. The constant quest for new materials and innovative answers to the publ… NuWave, is a rapidly growing housewares corporation located in Libertyville, Illinois. Our Mission is to educate people of all backgrounds by developing products that promote efficiency and value while enhancing the quality of life. We encourage our customers, and everyone, to adapt to a lifestyle that benefits themselves, their communities and this planet we all share. NuWave consistently surpasses customers’ expectations when it comes to reliability, efficiency and value. More than simply off… Our company has been created at the middle of eighties. As a result of two different professional experiences, RGV has become on of the market laders for the professional slicers production. RGV has always manufactured professional slicers and then has modified them for the household use without taking off the basic characteristics. Always in search of new technologies, with the years the range of slicers has increased and it has reached about 80 models among domestic and professional slicers. S… REDMOND is an international rapidly developing household appliances brand. A holding company since 1992. REDMOND focuses on advanced smart technologies in home appliances and infrastructure, supports healthy lifestyle as one of the main keys to consumer success. Constant attention to customer needs, marketing experience and capacity in applying R&D to products have led the company to achieve exciting results which are expressed in continuous growth of REDMOND consumers worldwide. M…

Friday, February 27, 2009 Is there anyone out there who hasn't read LIFE OF PI? For those who haven't it's the story of 16-year-old Pi Patel, the son of a zookeeper in Pondicherry, India. His father decides to move the family and some of the animals to Canada. Pi is set adrift in the Pacific after a shipwreck with a Bengal tiger, a zebra, a spotted hyena and an orangutan. It's a harrowing adventure as the tiger kills the other animals and Pi must use all his wits to stay alive. When their raft reaches the coast the tiger runs off and the authorities don't believe his story. Finally Pi tells them another more conventional version. Which is the truth? The reader must decide. What do I believe? - I think Pi created an adventure, one that he truly believes, one that allowed him to survive the terror, boredom, hunger and all the other emotions that go along with a journey that is physically and mentally agonizing.Can this complex novel be made into a good movie? I have my doubts, but I did enjoyBig Fish It's another story where you must distinguish between a man's fish tales and reality. Wednesday, February 25, 2009 I'm reading SAG HARBOR by Colson Whitehead for the Barnes and Noble book club. It's a semi-autobiographical coming of age story about the black community in Sag Harbor in 1985. First let me say that I love the book. I read a little this morning then started surfing around and happened on a video of Colson on YouTube. He's walking around Sag Harbor and talking about his book and he makes you feel like you're right there with him. Several others in the book club have said they're waiting for a plot to emerge. Well as Colson himself says, this is "a slice of life, we were nerds, nothing much happens." I hope he was being facetious. He's a master of the metaphor; he paints vivid pictures of time and place like nobody else. His writing makes me green with envy. I can't wait to get further into the book and discussion. Friday, February 20, 2009 I've been reading a lot of posts about John Updike who died of lung cancer last month. Although I've read a lot of his work there was much I didn't know about the man including the fact that he was born in Pennsylvania and his first novel was THE POORHOUSE FAIR published in 1959. He's probably best known for his Rabbit novels including RABBIT, RUN and RABBIT REDUX, as well as THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK. I enjoyed his book reviews in The New Yorker; the first one was published in 1961, so I looked on their site and found an interesting piece I hadn't seen before. John Updike's Rules on Reviewing Books from PICKED-UP PIECES, 1975. "My rules, shaped intaglio-fashion by youthful traumas at the receiving end of critical opinion, were and are: 1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt. 2. Give enough direct quotation—at least one extended passage—of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste. 3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy précis. 4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.… 5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it’s his and not yours? To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser. Do not accept for review a book you are predisposed to dislike, or committed by friendship to like. Do not imagine yourself a caretaker of any tradition, an enforcer of any party standards, a warrior in any ideological battle, a corrections officer of any kind. Never, never...try to put the author “in his place,” making of him a pawn in a contest with other reviewers. Review the book, not the reputation. Submit to whatever spell, weak or strong, is being cast. Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys of reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end." Wednesday, February 18, 2009 Nicole North has an upcoming workshop in March. I've taken three of her workshops and they've been really helpful. So if you write romance and are thinking about taking a class here's the info:Yosemite Romance Writers PresentsWorkshop: Turn up the Heat! Heightening Sexual Tension and Sensuality in Your ManuscriptPresenter: Nicole NorthDate: March 2 - 27, 2009 Description: Editors want to buy spicy-hot romance stories now more than ever before. How do you do it? In this class we will discuss all aspects of sexual tension and sensuality and how they relate to the developing romance in your story. You'll learn tips for successfully building sexual tension over the course of the hero and heroine's relationship from first glance, through climax, to happily ever after. Several examples will be used to illustrate different nuances of hot romantic chemistry and how to employ them in your own story. Learn how to avoid clichés and use sexiness in fresh new ways. Strengthening sexual tension will take your story from ho-hum to so hot and delicious your reader can't put it down. We'll do exercises for hands-on learning. (Please be aware this course contains explicit and frank discussions of sexuality.)**About the presenter: Nicole North writes sensual and erotic romance novels and novellas. She is the author of paranormal erotic romance novellas Devil in a Kilt, Red Sage Secrets Volume 27 Untamed Pleasures, July 2009; Beast in a Kilt, Red Sage Secrets Volume 29; and Kilted Lover, Red Sage. She has finaled in over a dozen writing competitions and won several awards. She admits sexual tension and delicious love scenes are her favorite elements of romance and sprinkles them liberally through her stories. What others have said about her works: "This author handles sexual tension very well. Her characters are completely drawn to each other..." and "Wow! Talk about sexual chemistry. This story has it in spades. You're a natural in the romantic chemistry department." She has a BA degree in psychology. Please visit her website to learn more and read past student testimonials: http://www.nicolenorth.com Monday, February 9, 2009 So far it's been a horrible winter. One cold after another led to a bout with pleurisy. For those not familiar with it here is the definition from Wikipedia. "Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is an inflammation of the pleura,[1] the lining of the pleural cavity surrounding the lungs. Pleurisy has a variety of infectious and non-infectious causes. Pleurisy can cause extremely painful respiration (also called pleuritic chest pain) and other signs and symptoms ..." That's putting it mildly. Every breath was agony and a cough was something to be feared and avoided at all costs. Try not to get pleurisy, it's hell. But all is well now and I'm back at Camp Swampy South. I've replaced my cityscape with my beach view. And it is glorious here. With sun and temperatures in the fifties what more can you ask for. I have lots of writing to catch up on and many books to review. I've signed up for Barnes and Noble's First Look book club. Last month we read A FORTUNATE AGE by Joanna Smith Rakoff. I was less than impressed. My review will be published by Ezine shortly. You'll see it in my Ezine widget on the right and on my Twitter alerts. This month we're reading SAG HARBOR by Colson Whitehead. I'm about to start it now and will tell you all about it.

Image-forming apparatuses, e.g., copiers and printers, have in recent years been subjected to greater diversity in their intended uses and use environments as well as demands for greater speed, higher image quality, and greater stability. For example, printers, which in the past have been used mainly in the office, have also entered into use in severe environments, e.g., high temperatures, high humidities, and it is also critical in such instances that a stable image quality be provided. Copiers and printers are also undergoing apparatus downsizing as well as advances in energy efficiency, and the use is preferred within this context of magnetic single-component developing systems that use a favorable magnetic toner. In a magnetic single-component developing system, a magnetic toner layer is formed by a toner layer thickness control member (referred to herebelow as the developing blade) on a toner-bearing member (referred to herebelow as the developing sleeve) that is provided in its interior with a magnetic field-generating means such as a magnetic roll. Development is carried out by transporting this magnetic toner layer to the developing zone using the developing sleeve. Charge is imparted to the magnetic toner by the friction generated when the developing blade and the developing sleeve come into contact in the contact region between the developing blade and the developing sleeve (referred to herebelow as the blade nip region). Reducing the diameter of the developing sleeve is a critical technology for reducing the size of the apparatus. With such a reduced-diameter developing sleeve, the developing zone at the developing nip region is narrowed and fly over by the magnetic toner from the developing sleeve is then impaired and a portion of the magnetic toner will readily remain on the developing sleeve. In this case, turn over of the magnetic toner in the magnetic toner layer within the blade nip deteriorates and the charging performance of the magnetic toner layer readily becomes nonuniform. Moreover, when an extended durability test is carried out in such a state, the magnetic toner in the blade nip region is readily subjected to shear and deterioration phenomena then readily occur, for example, the external additive at the magnetic toner surface becomes buried. As a consequence, the flowability and the charging performance of the magnetic toner are prone to decline in the latter half of an extended durability test that uses a small-diameter sleeve, and the charging performance in particular readily becomes nonuniform. In addition, these deterioration phenomena are particularly prone to occur with magnetic toners in high-temperature, high-humidity environments, and systems in which the process speed has been raised in support of the higher speeds of recent years will only continue to be more stringent with regard to charging performance uniformity. In particular, with magnetic toners the dispersibility of the magnetic body readily exercises a substantial effect on charging performance uniformity, as compared to magnetic body-free nonmagnetic toners, and various image defects are readily produced when the magnetic toner has an inferior charging performance uniformity. For example, the overcharged magnetic toner fraction remains on the developing sleeve, and as a result the image density is prone to decline and image defects, such as fogging in nonimage areas, can occur. In addition, due to the influence of the curvature of a reduced-diameter sleeve, it is difficult to stir the magnetic toner at the back of the developing sleeve. When the flowability of the magnetic toner is unsatisfactory, the magnetic toner compacted at the back of the developing sleeve assumes a packed condition and a state may be assumed in which the magnetic toner cannot be satisfactorily fed to the developing sleeve. In this case the magnetic toner in the vicinity of the developing sleeve becomes overcharged and the charging performance uniformity of the magnetic toner then readily becomes unsatisfactory due to the transport of the magnetic toner to the blade nip region in a state of nonuniform charge. To respond to this problem, numerous methods have been proposed in which the dielectric properties, which are an index for the state of the dispersion of the magnetic body within a magnetic toner, are controlled in order to bring about a stabilization of the changes in the developing performance that accompany changes in the environment. For example, in Patent Document 1 the dielectric loss tangent (tan δ) in a high-temperature range and the normal temperature range is controlled in an attempt to reduce the variations in toner charging performance associated with variations in the environment. While certain effects are in fact obtained under certain prescribed conditions, in particular adequate consideration is not given to a high degree of starting material dispersity for the case of a high magnetic body content, and there is still room for improvement with regard to the charging performance uniformity of magnetic toners. In order to suppress environmental variations by toners, Patent Document 2 discloses a toner for which the ratio between the saturation water content HL under low-temperature, low-humidity conditions and the saturation water content HH under high-temperature, high-humidity conditions is brought into a prescribed range. This control of the water content does in fact provide certain effects for the image density reproducibility and transferability under certain prescribed conditions, but in particular no mention is made of the charging performance uniformity when the magnetic body is incorporated as a colorant in the reasonable amount, and this is inadequate for obtaining the effects of the present invention. Patent Document 3 discloses an image-forming apparatus that contains toner particles as well as spherical particles that have a number-average particle diameter of from at least 50 nm to not more than 300 nm, wherein the free ratio of these spherical particles is from at least 5 volume % to not more than 40 volume %. This has a certain effect with regard to inhibiting, under a prescribed environment, contamination of the image carrier, scratching of the image carrier and intermediate transfer member, and image defects. Patent Document 4, on the other hand, discloses a toner in which large-diameter particles are anchored and small-diameter particles are externally added. This supports an improvement in the fixing releasability and a stabilization of the toner flowability and makes it possible to obtain a pulverized toner with excellent charging, transport, and release properties. Patent Document 5 discloses an art in which the coating state for the external additive is controlled and the dielectric properties of the toner are also controlled and that is effective mainly for the issue of streak prevention. In these inventions, however, the free ratio of the spherical particles or large-diameter particles, as inferred from the anchoring conditions or free conditions of these particles, is relatively high, and control of the state of fixing of inorganic fine particles that are otherwise added is inadequate. Due to this, the charging performance uniformity for magnetic toners is inadequate, for example, when an extended durability test is run in a high-temperature, high-humidity environment—where charging is already prone to become nonuniform, and the effects sought by the present invention are not obtained. That is, there is still room for improvement to obtain, through the use of a magnetic toner that has a satisfactory charging performance uniformity, a high quality image even after an extended durability test in a system with a fast process speed in support of higher speeds and using a reduced-diameter sleeve in support of apparatus downsizing.

Does knowledge of drug prescribing predict drug management of standardized patients in office practice? Drug prescribing for the elderly is an important area of medical knowledge since inappropriate prescribing may lead to significant adverse drug events. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between knowledge of drug use and quality of drug management by general practitioners in practice. A cross-sectional study design was used to evaluate a sample of 37 GPs in practice. A set of common musculoskeletal problems was chosen to evaluate doctors' knowledge of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use, while performance in practice was assessed using elderly standardized patients. The reliability of knowledge test scores was evaluated using measures of internal consistency. The relationship between knowledge of drug use and quality of therapeutic management in practice was evaluated by rank order and linear correlation analysis. Demographic characteristics of participating and non-participating doctors were similar. The reliability of the knowledge test was 0.55. The reliability of performance scores was 0.66. The correlation between overall performance on the standardized patient cases and total knowledge test score was 0.22 (95% confidence interval = 0-0.63). Knowledge test scores were poorly correlated with quality of therapeutic management in office practice. This indicates that knowledge tests alone cannot predict quality of performance with regard to drug prescribing for the elderly in primary care office practice.

Fatty acids promote translocation of CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase to the endoplasmic reticulum and stimulate rat hepatic phosphatidylcholine synthesis. The mechanism by which fatty acids stimulate the biosynthesis of phosphatidylcholine has been studied in cultured rat hepatocytes. Long chain fatty acids (1 mM) stimulated approximately 1.9-fold [methyl-3H] choline incorporation from phosphocholine into phosphatidylcholine by isolated hepatocytes. Oleate and palmitate (4 mM) enhanced phosphatidylcholine production by 3- and 2.2-fold, respectively. Stimulation of phosphatidylcholine synthesis by oleate was evident within 30 min after addition of the fatty acid to the hepatocyte medium. The effect could be correlated with a doubling of the microsomal CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase activity. Additional evidence for a direct effect by fatty acids and their CoA derivatives on the cytidylyltransferase was obtained in vitro. Arachidonate, oleate and palmitate (0.1 mM) stimulated rat liver cytosolic cytidylyltransferase activity 4.1-, 3.5- and 3.2-fold, respectively. Activation by oleate was accompanied by a 3.6-fold reduction in the apparent Km of the cytidylyltransferase for CTP and aggregation of the enzyme to high molecular weight species. Acceleration of the cytidylyltransferase reaction by fatty acids provides a positive feed-forward mechanism for regulation of phosphatidylcholine anabolism.

--- abstract: 'In the present paper we construct normal numbers in base $q$ by concatenating $q$-ary expansions of pseudo polynomials evaluated at the primes. This extends a recent result by Tichy and the author.' address: ' 1. Université de Lorraine, Institut Elie Cartan de Lorraine, UMR 7502, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, F-54506, France;2. CNRS, Institut Elie Cartan de Lorraine, UMR 7502, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, F-54506, France' author: - 'Manfred G. Madritsch' title: Construction of normal numbers via pseudo polynomial prime sequences --- Introduction {#sec:introduction} ============ Let $q\geq 2$ be a positive integer. Then every real $\theta\in[0,1)$ admits a unique expansion of the form $$\theta=\sum_{k\geq1}a_kq^k\quad(a_k\in\{0,\ldots,q-1\})$$ called the $q$-ary expansion. We denote by $\mathcal{N}(\theta,d_1\cdots d_\ell,N)$ the number of occurrences of the block $d_1\cdots d_\ell$ amongst the first $N$ digits, *i.e.* $$\mathcal{N}(\theta,d_1\cdots d_\ell,N):=\#\{0\leq i< n\colon a_{i+1}=d_1,\ldots,a_{i+\ell}=d_\ell\}.$$ Then we call a number normal of order $\ell$ in base $q$ if for each block of length $\ell$ the frequency of occurrences tends to $q^{-\ell}$. As a qualitative measure of the distance of a number from being normal we introduce for integers $N$ and $\ell$ the discrepancy of $\theta$ by $$\mathcal{R}_{N,\ell}(\theta)=\sup_{d_1\ldots d_\ell}{\left\vert}\frac{\mathcal{N}(\theta,d_1\cdots d_\ell,N)}{N}-q^{-k}{\right\vert},$$ where the supremum is over all blocks of length $\ell$. Then a number $\theta$ is normal to base $q$ if for each $\ell\geq1$ we have that $\mathcal{R}_{N,\ell}(\theta)=o(1)$ for $N\to\infty$. Furthermore we call a number absolutely normal if it is normal in all bases $q\geq2$. Borel [@borel1909:les_probabilites_denombrables] used a slightly different, but equivalent (*cf.* Chapter 4 of [@bugeaud2012:distribution_modulo_one]), definition of normality to show that almost all real numbers are normal with respect to the Lebesgue measure. Despite their omnipresence it is not known whether numbers such as $\log2$, $\pi$, $e$ or $\sqrt2$ are normal to any base. The first construction of a normal number is due to Champernowne [@champernowne1933:construction_decimals_normal] who showed that the number $$\begin{aligned} 0.1\,2\,3\,4\,5\,6\,7\,8\,9\,10\,11\,12\,13\,14\,15\,16\,17\,18\,19\,20\dots\end{aligned}$$ is normal in base $10$. The construction of Champernowne laid the base for a class of normal numbers which are of the form $$\begin{gathered} \sigma_q=\sigma_q(f)= 0.{\left\lfloor}f(1){\right\rfloor}_q{\left\lfloor}f(2){\right\rfloor}_q{\left\lfloor}f(3){\right\rfloor}_q {\left\lfloor}f(4){\right\rfloor}_q {\left\lfloor}f(5){\right\rfloor}_q {\left\lfloor}f(6){\right\rfloor}_q \dots,\end{gathered}$$ where ${\left\lfloor}\cdot{\right\rfloor}_q$ denotes the expansion in base $q$ of the integer part. Davenport and Erd[ő]{}s [@davenport_erdoes1952:note_on_normal] showed that $\sigma(f)$ is normal for $f$ being a polynomial such that $f({\mathbb{N}})\subset{\mathbb{N}}$. This construction was extended by Schiffer [@schiffer1986:discrepancy_normal_numbers] to polynomials with rational coefficients. Furthermore he showed that for these polynomials the discrepancy $\mathcal{R}_{N,\ell}(\sigma(f))\ll (\log N)^{-1}$ and that this is best possible. These results where extended by Nakai and Shiokawa [@nakai_shiokawa1992:discrepancy_estimates_class] to polynomials having real coefficients. Madritsch, Thuswaldner and Tichy [@madritsch_thuswaldner_tichy2008:normality_numbers_generated] considered transcendental entire functions of bounded logarithmic order. Nakai and Shiokawa [@nakai_shiokawa1990:class_normal_numbers] used pseudo-polynomial functions, *i.e.* these are function of the form $$\begin{gathered} \label{mani:pseudopoly} f(x)=\alpha_0 x^{\beta_0}+\alpha_1x^{\beta_1}+\cdots+\alpha_dx^{\beta_d}\end{gathered}$$ with $\alpha_0,\beta_0,\alpha_1,\beta_1,\ldots,\alpha_d,\beta_d\in{\mathbb{R}}$, $\alpha_0>0$, $\beta_0>\beta_1>\cdots>\beta_d>0$ and at least one $\beta_i\not\in{\mathbb{Z}}$. Since we often only need the leading term we write $\alpha=\alpha_0$ and $\beta=\beta_0$ for short. They were also able to show that the discrepancy is $\mathcal{O}((\log N)^{-1})$. We refer the interested reader to the books of Kuipers and Niederreiter [@kuipers_niederreiter1974:uniform_distribution_sequences], Drmota and Tichy [@drmota_tichy1997:sequences_discrepancies_and] or Bugeaud [@bugeaud2012:distribution_modulo_one] for a more complete account on the construction of normal numbers. The present method of construction by concatenating function values is in strong connection with properties of $q$-additive functions. We call a function $f$ strictly $q$-additive, if $f(0)=0$ and the function operates only on the digits of the $q$-ary representation, i.e., $$f(n)=\sum_{h=0}^\ell f(d_h)\quad\text{ for }\quad n=\sum_{h=0}^\ell d_hq^h.$$ A very simple example of a strictly $q$-additive function is the sum of digits function $s_q$, defined by $$s_q(n)=\sum_{h=0}^\ell d_h\quad\text{ for }\quad n=\sum_{h=0}^\ell d_hq^h.$$ Refining the methods of Nakai and Shiokawa [@nakai_shiokawa1990:class_normal_numbers] the author obtained the following result. Let $q\geq2$ be an integer and $f$ be a strictly $q$-additive function. If $p$ is a pseudo-polynomial as defined in (\[mani:pseudopoly\]), then there exists $\eta>0$ such that $$\begin{gathered} \sum_{n\leq N}f\left({\left\lfloor}p(n){\right\rfloor}\right) =\mu_fN\log_q(p(N)) +NF\left(\log_q(p(N))\right) +\mathcal{O}\left(N^{1-\eta}\right),\end{gathered}$$ where $$\mu_f=\frac1q\sum_{d=0}^{q-1}f(d)$$ and $F$ is a $1$-periodic function depending only on $f$ and $p$. In the present paper, however, we are interested in a variant of $\sigma_q(f)$ involving primes. As a first example, Champernowne [@champernowne1933:construction_decimals_normal] conjectured and later Copeland and Erd[ő]{}s [@copeland_erdoes1946:note_on_normal] proved that the number $$\begin{aligned} 0.2\,3\,5\,7\,11\,13\,17\,19\,23\,29\,31\,37\,41\,43\,47\,53\,59\,61\,67\dots\end{aligned}$$ is normal in base $10$. Similar to the construction above we want to consider the number $$\begin{gathered} \tau_q=\tau_q(f)=0.{\left\lfloor}f(2){\right\rfloor}_q {\left\lfloor}f(3){\right\rfloor}_q {\left\lfloor}f(5){\right\rfloor}_q {\left\lfloor}f(7){\right\rfloor}_q {\left\lfloor}f(11){\right\rfloor}_q {\left\lfloor}f(13){\right\rfloor}_q \dots,\end{gathered}$$ where the arguments of $f$ run through the sequence of primes. Then the paper of Copeland and Erd[ő]{}s corresponds to the function $f(x)=x$. Nakai and Shiokawa [@nakai_shiokawa1997:normality_numbers_generated] showed that the discrepancy for polynomials having rational coefficients is $\mathcal{O}((\log N)^{-1})$. Furthermore Madritsch, Thuswaldner and Tichy [@madritsch_thuswaldner_tichy2008:normality_numbers_generated] showed, that transcendental entire functions of bounded logarithmic order yield normal numbers. Finally in a recent paper Madritsch and Tichy [@madritsch_tichy2013:construction_normal_numbers] considered pseudo-polynomials of the special form $\alpha x^\beta$ with $\alpha>0$, $\beta>1$ and $\beta\not\in{\mathbb{Z}}$. The aim of the present paper is to extend this last construction to arbitrary pseudo-polynomials. Our first main result is the following \[thm:normal\] Let $f$ be a pseudo-polynomial as in (\[mani:pseudopoly\]). Then $$\mathcal{R}_N(\tau_q(f))\ll(\log N)^{-1}.$$ In our second main result we use the connection of this construction of normal numbers with the arithmetic mean of $q$-additive functions as described above. Known results are due to Shiokawa [@shiokawa1974:sum_digits_prime] and Madritsch and Tichy [@madritsch_tichy2013:construction_normal_numbers]. Similar results concerning the moments of the sum of digits function over primes have been established by Kátai [@katai1977:sum_digits_primes]. Let $\pi(x)$ stand for the number of primes less than or equal to $x$. Then adapting these ideas to our method we obtain the following \[thm:summatoryfun\] Let $f$ be a pseudo-polynomial as in (\[mani:pseudopoly\]). Then $$\sum_{p\leq P}s_q({\left\lfloor}f(p){\right\rfloor})=\frac{q-1}2\pi(P)\log_qP^\beta+\mathcal{O}(\pi(P)),$$ where the sum runs over the primes and the implicit $\mathcal{O}$-constant may depend on $q$ and $\beta$. With simple modifications Theorem \[thm:summatoryfun\] can be extended to completely $q$-additive functions replacing $s_q$. The proof of the two theorems is divided into four parts. In the following section we rewrite both statements in order to obtain as a common base the central theorem – Theorem \[mani:centralthm\]. In Section \[sec:proof-prop-refm1\] we start with the proof of this central theorem by using an indicator function and its Fourier series. These series contain exponential sums which we treat by different methods (with respect to the position in the expansion) in Section \[sec:expon-sum-estim\]. Finally, in Section \[sec:proof-prop-refm2\] we put the estimates together in order to proof the central theorem and therefore our two statements. Preliminaries {#sec:preliminaries} ============= Throughout the rest $p$ will always denote a prime. The implicit constant of $\ll$ and $\mathcal{O}$ may depend on the pseudo-polynomial $f$ and on the parameter $\varepsilon>0$. Furthermore we fix a block $d_1\cdots d_\ell$ of length $\ell$ and $N$, the number of digits we consider. In the first step we want to know in the expansion of which prime the $N$-th digit occurs. This can be seen as the translation from the digital world to the world of blocks. To this end let $\ell(m)$ denote the length of the $q$-ary expansion of an integer $m$. Then we define an integer $P$ by $$\begin{gathered} \sum_{p\leq P-1}\ell\left(\lfloor f(p)\rfloor\right) <N\leq \sum_{p\leq P}\ell\left(\lfloor f(p)\rfloor\right),\end{gathered}$$ where the sum runs over all primes. Thus we get the following relation between $N$ and $P$ $$\label{mani:NtoP} \begin{split} N&=\sum_{p\leq P}\ell({\left\lfloor}f(p){\right\rfloor})+\mathcal{O}(\pi(P))+\mathcal{O}(\beta \log_q(P))\\ &=\frac{\beta}{\log q}P+\mathcal{O}\left(\frac{P}{\log P}\right). \end{split}$$ Here we have used the prime number theorem in the form (*cf.* [@tenenbaum1995:introduction_la_theorie Théorème 4.1]) $$\begin{gathered} \label{pnt} \pi(x)=\mathrm{Li}\, x+\mathcal{O}\left(\frac x{(\log x)^G}\right),\end{gathered}$$ where $G$ is an arbitrary positive constant and $$\mathrm{Li}\,x=\int_2^x\frac{\mathrm{d}t}{\log t}.$$ Now we show that we may neglect the occurrences of the block $d_1\cdots d_\ell$ between two expansions. We write $\mathcal{N}(f(p))$ for the number of occurrences of this block in the $q$-ary expansion of $\lfloor f(p)\rfloor$. Then implies that $$\begin{gathered} \label{mani:Ntrunc} {\left\vert}\mathcal{N}(\tau_q(f);d_1\cdots d_\ell;N)-\sum_{p\leq P}\mathcal{N}(f(p)){\right\vert}\ll\frac N{\log N}.\end{gathered}$$ In the next step we use the polynomial-like behavior of $f$. In particular, we collect all the values having the same length of expansion. Let $j_0$ be a sufficiently large integer. Then for each integer $j\geq j_0$ there exists a $P_j$ such that $$q^{j-2}\leq f(P_j)<q^{j-1}\leq f(P_j+1)<q^j$$ with $$P_j\asymp q^{\frac j\beta}.$$ Furthermore we set $J$ to be the greatest length of the $q$-ary expansions of $f(p)$ over the primes $p\leq P$, i.e., $$\begin{gathered} J:=\max_{p\leq P}\ell(\lfloor f(p)\rfloor)=\log_q(f(P))+\mathcal{O}(1)\asymp\log P.\end{gathered}$$ Now we show that we may suppose that each expansion has the same length (which we reach by adding leading zeroes). For $P_{j-1}<p\leq P_j$ we may write $f(p)$ in $q$-ary expansion, i.e., $$\begin{gathered} \label{mani:expansionoffp} f(p)=b_{j-1}q^{j-1}+b_{j-2}q^{j-2}+\dots+b_{1}q+b_{0}+b_{-1}q^{-1}+\dots.\end{gathered}$$ Then we denote by $\mathcal{N}^*(f(p))$ the number of occurrences of the block $d_1\cdots d_\ell$ in the string $0\cdots0b_{j-1}b_{j-2}\cdots b_1b_0$, where we filled up the expansion with leading zeroes such that it has length $J$. The error of doing so can be estimated by $$\begin{aligned} 0&\leq\sum_{p\leq P}\mathcal{N}^*(f(p))-\sum_{p\leq P}\mathcal{N}(f(p))\\ &\leq\sum_{j=j_0+1}^{J-1}(J-j)\left(\pi(P_{j+1})-\pi(P_{j})\right)+\mathcal{O}(1)\\ &\leq\sum_{j=j_0+2}^{J}\pi(P_{j})+\mathcal{O}(1)\ll\sum_{j=j_0+2}^{J}\frac{q^{j/\beta}}j \ll\frac P{\log P}\ll\frac N{\log N}.\end{aligned}$$ In the following three sections we will estimate this sum of indicator functions $\mathcal{N}^*$ in order to prove the following theorem. \[mani:centralthm\] Let $f$ be a pseudo polynomial as in . Then $$\begin{gathered} \label{mani:centralthm:statement} \sum_{p\leq P}\mathcal{N}^*\left({\left\lfloor}f(p){\right\rfloor}\right)=q^{-\ell}\pi(P)\log_qP^\beta+\mathcal{O}\left(\frac{P}{\log P}\right)\end{gathered}$$ Using this theorem we can simply deduce our two main results. We insert into and get the desired result. For this proof we have to rewrite the statement. In particular, we use that the sum of digits function counts the number of $1$s, $2$s, etc. and assigns weights to them, i.e., $$s_q(n)=\sum_{d=0}^{q-1}d\cdot\mathcal{N}(n;d).$$ Thus $$\begin{aligned} \sum_{p\leq P}s_q({\left\lfloor}p^\beta{\right\rfloor}) &=\sum_{p\leq P}\sum_{d=0}^{q-1}d\cdot\mathcal{N}(p^\beta) =\sum_{p\leq P}\sum_{d=0}^{q-1}d\cdot\mathcal{N}^*(p^\beta)+\mathcal{O}\left(\frac{P}{\log P}\right)\\ &=\frac{q-1}2\pi(P)\log_q(P^\beta)+\mathcal{O}\left(\frac{P}{\log P}\right)\end{aligned}$$ and the theorem follows. In the following sections we will prove Theorem \[mani:centralthm\] in several steps. First we use the “method of little glasses” in order to approximate the indicator function by a Fourier series having smooth coefficients. Then we will apply different methods (depending on the position in the expansion) for the estimation of the exponential sums that appear in the Fourier series. Finally we put everything together and get the desired estimate. Proof of Theorem \[mani:centralthm\], Part I {#sec:proof-prop-refm1} ============================================ We want to ease notation by splitting the pseudo-polynomial $f$ into a polynomial and the rest. Then there exists a unique decomposition of the following form: $$\begin{gathered} \label{pseudo:poly:split} f(x)=g(x)+h(x)\end{gathered}$$ where $h\in{\mathbb{R}}[X]$ is a polynomial of degree $k$ (where we set $k=0$ if $h$ is the zero polynomial) and $$g(x)=\sum_{j=1}^r\alpha_jx^{\theta_j}$$ with $r\geq1$, $\alpha_r\neq0$, $\alpha_j$ real, $0<\theta_1<\cdots<\theta_r$ and $\theta_j\not\in{\mathbb{Z}}$ for $1\leq j\leq r$. Let $\gamma$ and $\rho$ be two parameter which we will frequently use in the sequel. We suppose that $$\begin{gathered} 0<\gamma<\rho<\min\left(\frac1{4(k+1)},\frac{\theta_r}{2}\right).\end{gathered}$$ The aim of this section is to calculate the Fourier transform of $\mathcal{N}^*$. In order to count the occurrences of the block $d_1\cdots d_\ell$ in the $q$-ary expansion of $\lfloor f(p) \rfloor$ ($2\le p \le P$) we define the indicator function $$\begin{aligned} \mathcal{I}(t)=\begin{cases} 1, &\text{if }\sum_{i=1}^\ell d_iq^{-i}\leq t-\lfloor t\rfloor <\sum_{i=1}^\ell d_iq^{-i}+q^{-\ell};\\ 0, &\text{otherwise;} \end{cases}\end{aligned}$$ which is a $1$-periodic function. Indeed, we have $$\begin{gathered} \label{position} \mathcal{I}(q^{-j}f(p)) = 1 \Longleftrightarrow d_1\cdots d_\ell = b_{j-1}\cdots b_{j-\ell},\end{gathered}$$ where $f(p)$ has an expansion as in (\[mani:expansionoffp\]). Thus we may write our block counting function as follows $$\begin{gathered} \label{mani:NthetatoNstar} \mathcal{N}^*(f(p))=\sum_{j=\ell}^J\mathcal{I}\left(q^{-j}f(p)\right).\end{gathered}$$ In the following we will use Vinogradov’s “method of little glasses” (*cf.* [@vinogradov2004:method_trigonometrical_sums]). We want to approximate $\mathcal{I}$ from above and from below by two $1$-periodic functions having small Fourier coefficients. To this end we will use the following \[vin:lem12\] Let $\alpha$, $\beta$, $\Delta$ be real numbers satisfying $$\begin{gathered} 0<\Delta<\frac12,\quad\Delta\leq\beta-\alpha\leq1-\Delta.\end{gathered}$$ Then there exists a periodic function $\psi(x)$ with period $1$, satisfying 1. $\psi(x)=1$ in the interval $\alpha+\frac12\Delta\leq x \leq\beta-\frac12\Delta$, 2. $\psi(x)=0$ in the interval $\beta+\frac12\Delta\leq x \leq1+\alpha-\frac12\Delta$, 3. $0\leq\psi(x)\leq1$ in the remainder of the interval $\alpha-\frac12\Delta\leq x\leq1+\alpha-\frac12\Delta$, 4. $\psi(x)$ has a Fourier series expansion of the form $$\psi(x)=\beta-\alpha+\sum_{\substack{\nu=-\infty\\\nu\neq0}}^\infty A(\nu) e(\nu x),$$ where $$\begin{gathered} \label{mani:A} {\left\vert}A(\nu){\right\vert}\ll \min \left( \frac 1\nu, \beta-\alpha,\frac{1}{\nu^2\Delta} \right). \end{gathered}$$ We note that we could have used Vaaler polynomials [@vaaler1985:some_extremal_functions], however, we do not gain anything by doing so as the estimates we get are already best possible. Setting $$\label{mani:abd} \begin{split} \delta=P^{-\gamma},\quad \begin{aligned} \alpha_-&=\sum_{\lambda=1}^\ell d_\lambda q^{-\lambda}+(2\delta)^{-1},& \beta_-&=\sum_{\lambda=1}^\ell d_\lambda q^{-\lambda}+q^{-\ell}-(2\delta)^{-1},\\ \alpha_+&=\sum_{\lambda=1}^\ell d_\lambda q^{-\lambda}-(2\delta)^{-1},& \beta_+&=\sum_{\lambda=1}^\ell d_\lambda q^{-\lambda}+q^{-\ell}+(2\delta)^{-1}. \end{aligned} \end{split}$$ and an application of Lemma \[vin:lem12\] with $(\alpha,\beta,\delta)=(\alpha_-,\beta_-,\delta)$ and $(\alpha,\beta,\delta)=(\alpha_+,\beta_+, \delta)$, respectively, provides us with two functions $\mathcal{I}_-$ and $\mathcal{I}_+$. By our choice of $(\alpha_\pm,\beta_\pm,\delta)$ it is immediate that $$\label{uglI} \mathcal{I}_-(t)\leq\mathcal{I}(t)\leq\mathcal{I}_+(t) \qquad (t\in\mathbb{R}).$$ Lemma \[vin:lem12\] also implies that these two functions have Fourier expansions $$\begin{aligned} \label{mani:Ifourier} \mathcal{I}_\pm(t)=q^{-\ell}\pm P^{-\gamma}+ \sum_{\substack{\nu=-\infty\\\nu\neq0}}^\infty A_\pm(\nu)e(\nu t)\end{aligned}$$ satisfying $$\begin{gathered} {\left\vert}A_\pm(\nu){\right\vert}\ll\min({\left\vert}\nu{\right\vert}^{-1},P^{\gamma}{\left\vert}\nu{\right\vert}^{-2}).\end{gathered}$$ In a next step we want to replace $\mathcal{I}$ by $\mathcal{I}_+$ in (\[mani:NthetatoNstar\]). For this purpose we observe, using , and that $$\begin{gathered} {\left\vert}\mathcal{I}(t)-q^{-\ell}{\right\vert}\ll P^{-\gamma} + \sum_{\substack{\nu=-\infty\\\nu\neq0}}^\infty A_\pm(\nu)e(\nu t).\end{gathered}$$ Thus setting $t=q^{-j}f(p)$ and summing over $p\leq P$ yields $$\begin{gathered} \label{mani:0.5} {\left\vert}\sum_{p\leq P}\mathcal{I}(q^{-j}f(p))-\frac{\pi(P)}{q^{\ell}}{\right\vert}\ll\pi(P)P^{-\gamma}+\sum_{\substack{\nu=-\infty\\\nu\neq0}}^\infty A_{\pm}(\nu)\sum_{p\leq P}e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}f(p)\right).\end{gathered}$$ Now we consider the coefficients $A_\pm(\nu)$. Noting one observes that $$\begin{gathered} A_\pm(\nu)\ll\begin{cases} \nu^{-1}, &\text{for }{\left\vert}\nu{\right\vert}\leq P^{\gamma};\\ P^{\gamma}\nu^{-2}, &\text{for }{\left\vert}\nu{\right\vert}>P^{\gamma}. \end{cases}\end{gathered}$$ Estimating all summands with ${\left\vert}\nu{\right\vert}>P^{\gamma}$ trivially we get $$\begin{gathered} \sum_{\substack{\nu=-\infty\\\nu\neq0}}^\infty A_\pm(\nu)e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}f(p)\right) \ll\sum_{\nu=1}^{P^{\gamma}}\nu^{-1}e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}f(p)\right)+P^{-\gamma}.\end{gathered}$$ Using this in yields $$\begin{gathered} {\left\vert}\sum_{p\leq P}\mathcal{I}(q^{-j}f(p))-\frac{\pi(P)}{q^{\ell}}{\right\vert}\ll\pi(P)P^{-\gamma}+\sum_{\nu=1}^{P^{\gamma}} \nu^{-1}S(P,j,\nu),\end{gathered}$$ where we have set $$\begin{gathered} \label{S_Pjnu} S(P,j,\nu):=\sum_{p\leq P}e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}f(p)\right).\end{gathered}$$ Exponential sum estimates {#sec:expon-sum-estim} ========================= In the present section we will focus on the estimation of the sum $S(P,j,\nu)$ for different ranges of $j$. Since $j$ describes the position within the $q$-ary expansion of $f(p)$ we will call these ranges the “most significant digits”, the “least significant digits” and the “digits in the middle”, respectively. Now, if $\theta_r>k\geq0$, *i.e* the leading coefficient of $f$ origins from the pseudo polynomial part $g$, then we consider the two ranges $$1\leq q^j\leq P^{\theta_r-\rho}\quad\text{and}\quad P^{\theta_r-\rho}<q^j\leq P^{\theta_r}.$$ For the first one we will apply Proposition \[prop:least\_significant\] and for the second one Proposition \[prop:most\_significant\]. On the other hand, if $k>\theta_r>0$, meaning that the leading coefficient of $f$ origins from the polynomial part $h$, then we have an additional part. In particular, in this case we will consider the three ranges $$1\leq q^j\leq P^{\theta_r-\rho},\quad P^{\theta_r-\rho}<q^j\leq P^{k-1+\rho},\quad\text{and}\quad P^{k-1+\rho}<q^j\leq P^{k}.$$ We will, similar to above, treat the first and last range by Proposition \[prop:least\_significant\] and Proposition \[prop:most\_significant\], respectively. For the middle range we will apply Proposition \[prop:middle\_digits\]. Since $2\rho<\theta_r$, we note that the middle range is empty if $k=1$. Since the size of $j$ represents the position of the digit in the expansion (*cf.* ), we will deal in the following subsection with the “most significant digits”, the “least significant digits” and the “digits in the middle”, respectively. Most significant digits ----------------------- We start our series of estimates for the exponential sum $S(P,j,\nu)$ for $j$ being in the highest range. In particular, we want to show the following \[prop:most\_significant\] Suppose that for some $k\geq1$ we have ${\left\vert}f^{(k)}(x){\right\vert}\geq\Lambda$ for any $x$ on $[a,b]$ with $\Lambda>0$. Then $$S(P,j,\nu)\ll\frac1{\log P}\Lambda^{-\frac1k}+\frac{P}{(\log P)^G}.$$ The main idea of the proof is to use Riemann-Stieltjes integration together with \[ik:lem8.10\] Let $F\colon[a,b]\to{\mathbb{R}}$ and suppose that for some $k\geq1$ we have ${\left\vert}F^{(k)}(x){\right\vert}\geq\Lambda$ for any $x$ on $[a,b]$ with $\Lambda>0$. Then $${\left\vert}\int_a^be(F(x))\mathrm{d}x{\right\vert}\leq k2^k\Lambda^{-1/k}.$$ We rewrite the sum into a Riemann-Stieltjes integral: $$\begin{aligned} S(P,j,\nu)=\sum_{p\leq P}e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}f(p)\right) =\int_{2}^{P}e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}f(t)\right)\mathrm{d}\pi(t)+\mathcal{O}(1).\end{aligned}$$ Then we apply the prime number theorem in the form to gain the usual integral back. Thus $$\begin{aligned} S(P,j,\nu) =\int_{P(\log P)^{-G}}^{P} e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}f(t)\right) \frac{\mathrm{d}t}{\log t} +\mathcal{O}\left(\frac{P}{(\log P)^G}\right).\end{aligned}$$ Now we use the second mean-value theorem to get $$\label{mani:res:most} \begin{split} S(P,j,\nu)\ll\frac1{\log P}\sup_{\xi} {\left\vert}\int_{P(\log P)^{-G}}^{\xi}e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}f(t)\right)\mathrm{d}t{\right\vert}+\frac{P}{(\log P)^G}. \end{split}$$ Finally an application of Lemma \[ik:lem8.10\] proves the lemma. Least significant digits ------------------------ Now we turn our attention to the lowest range of $j$. In particular, the goal is the proof of the following \[prop:least\_significant\] Let $P$ and $\rho$ be positive reals and $f$ be a pseudo-polynomial as in . If $j$ is such that $$\begin{gathered} \label{mani:gammarange} 1\leq q^j\leq P^{\theta_r-\rho}\end{gathered}$$ holds, then for $1\leq\nu\leq P^\gamma$ there exists $\eta>0$ (depending only on $f$ and $\rho$) such that $$\begin{gathered} S(P,j,\nu)=(\log P)^8P^{1-\eta}.\end{gathered}$$ Before we launch into the proof we collect some tools that will be necessary in the sequel. A standard idea for estimating exponential sums over the primes is to rewrite them into ordinary exponential sums over the integers having von Mangoldt’s function as weights and then to apply Vaughan’s identity. We denote by $$\Lambda(n)=\begin{cases} \log p,&\text{if $n=p^k$ for some prime $p$ and an integer $k\geq1$;}\\ 0,&\text{otherwise}. \end{cases}$$ von Mangoldt’s function. For the rewriting process we use the following \[mr:lem11\] Let $g$ be a function such that ${\left\vert}g(n){\right\vert}\leq 1$ for all integers $n$. Then $${\left\vert}\sum_{p\leq P}g(p){\right\vert}\ll\frac1{\log P}\max_{t\leq P} {\left\vert}\sum_{n\leq t}\Lambda(n)g(n){\right\vert}+\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{P}).$$ This is Lemma 11 of [@mauduit_rivat2010:sur_un_probleme]. However, the proof is short and we need some piece later. We start with a summation by parts yielding $$\sum_{p\leq P}g(p)=\frac1{\log P}\sum_{p\leq x}\log(p)g(p)+\int_2^P\left(\sum_{p\leq t}\log(p)g(p)\right)\frac{\mathrm{d}t}{t(\log t)^2}.$$ Now we cut the integral at $\sqrt{P}$ and use Chebyshev’s inequality (*cf.* [@tenenbaum1995:introduction_la_theorie Théorème 1.3]) in the form $\sum_{p\leq t}\log(p)\leq\log(t)\pi(t)\ll t$ for the lower part. Thus $$\begin{aligned} {\left\vert}\sum_{p\leq P}g(p){\right\vert}&\leq\left(\frac1{\log P}+\int_{\sqrt{P}}^P\frac{\mathrm{d}t}{t(\log t)^2}\right) \max_{\sqrt{P}<t\leq P}{\left\vert}\sum_{p\leq P}\log(p)g(p){\right\vert}+\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{P})\\ &=\frac2{\log P}\max_{\sqrt{P}<t\leq P}{\left\vert}\sum_{p\leq t}\log(p)g(p){\right\vert}+\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{P}).\end{aligned}$$ Finally we again use Chebyshev’s inequality $\pi(t)\ll t/\log(t)$ to obtain $$\begin{gathered} \label{mani:log_Mangoldt_equivalence} {\left\vert}\sum_{n\leq t}\Lambda(n)g(n)-\sum_{p\leq t}\log(p)g(p){\right\vert}\leq\sum_{p\leq\sqrt{t}}\log(p)\sum_{a=2}^{{\left\lfloor}\frac{\log(t)}{\log(p)}{\right\rfloor}}1 \leq\pi(\sqrt{t})\log(t)\ll\sqrt{t}.\end{gathered}$$ In the next step we use Vaughan’s identity to subdivide this weighted exponential sum into several sums of Type I and II. \[bkmst:lem23\] Assume $F(x)$ to be any function defined on the real line, supported on $[P/2, P]$ and bounded by $F_0$. Let further $U,V,Z$ be any parameters satisfying $3 \leq U < V < Z < P$, $Z \geq 4U^2$, $P \geq 64 Z^2 U$, $V^3 \geq 32 P$ and $Z-\frac12\in\mathbb{N}$. Then $$\left| \sum_{P/2< n\leq P} \Lambda(n) F(n) \right| \ll K \log P + F_0 + L (\log P)^8 ,$$ where $K$ and $L$ are defined by $$\begin{aligned} K&=\max_M\sum_{m=1}^\infty d_3(m)\left\vert\sum\limits_{Z<n\leq M} F(mn)\right\vert,\\ L&=\sup\sum_{m=1}^\infty d_4(m)\left\vert\sum\limits_{U < n < V} b(n) F(mn)\right\vert,\end{aligned}$$ where the supremum is taken over all arithmetic functions $b(n)$ satisfying $|b(n)| \leq d_3(n).$ After subdividing the weighted exponential sum with Vaughan’s identity we will use the following lemma in order to estimate the occurring exponential sums. \[bkmst:lem25\] Let $X,k,q\in \mathbb{N}$ with $k,q\geq 0$ and set $K=2^k$ and $Q= 2^q$. Let $h(x)$ be a polynomial of degree $k$ with real coefficients. Let $g(x)$ be a real $(q+k+2)$ times continuously differentiable function on $[X/2 , X]$ such that $\left| f^{(r)}(x) \right| \asymp F X^{-r}$ $( r = 1, \dots, q+k+2) $. Then, if $F = o (X^{q+2})$ for $F$ and $X$ large enough, we have $$\left| \sum_{X/2 < x \leq X} e(g(x) + h(x)) \right| \ll X^{1 - \frac{1}{K}} + X \left( \frac{\log^k X}{F} \right)^{\frac{1}{K}} + X \left( \frac{F}{X^{q+2}} \right)^{\frac{1}{(4KQ-2K)}}.$$ Now we have the necessary tools to state the An application of Lemma \[mr:lem11\] yields $$S(P,j,\nu)\ll\frac1{\log P}\max{\left\vert}\sum_{n\leq P}\Lambda(n)e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}(g(n)+h(n))\right){\right\vert}+P^{\frac12}.$$ We split the inner sum into $\leq \log P$ sub sums of the form $${\left\vert}\sum\limits_{X< n \leq 2X}\Lambda(n)e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}(g(n)+h(n))\right){\right\vert}$$ with $2X \leq P$ and let $S$ be a typical one of them. We may assume that $X \geq P^{1-\rho}$. Using Vaughan’s identity (Lemma \[bkmst:lem23\]) with $U = \frac{1}{4} X^{1/5}$, $V= 4 X^{1/3}$ and $Z$ the unique number in $\frac12+\mathbb{N}$, which is closest to $\frac{1}{4} X^{2/5}$, we obtain $$\begin{gathered} \label{mani:S} S \ll 1+(\log X)S_1+(\log X)^8S_2,\end{gathered}$$ where $$\begin{aligned} S_1&=\sum_{x < \frac{2X}{Z}} d_3(x) \sum_{y > Z, \frac{X}{x} < y < \frac{2X}{x}} e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}(g(xy)+h(xy))\right)\\ S_2&=\sum_{\frac XV<x\leq\frac{2X}U} d_4(x) \sum_{U < y < V, \frac{X}{x} < y \leq \frac{2X}{x}} b(y) e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}(g(xy)+h(xy))\right)\notag\end{aligned}$$ We start with the estimation of $S_1$. Since $d_3(x)\ll x^{\varepsilon}$ we have for $$\begin{aligned} {\left\vert}S_1{\right\vert}\ll X^\varepsilon\sum_{x\leq\frac{2X}Z} {\left\vert}\sum_{\substack{\frac Xx<y\frac{2X}x\\y>Z}}e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}(g(xy)+h(xy))\right){\right\vert}.\end{aligned}$$ For estimating the inner sum we fix $x$ and denote $Y=\frac Xx$. Since $\theta_r\not\in{\mathbb{Z}}$ and $\theta_r>k\geq0$, we have that $${\left\vert}\frac{\partial^\ell g(xy)}{\partial y^\ell}{\right\vert}\asymp X^{\theta_r}Y^{-\ell}.$$ Now on the one hand, since $q^j\leq P^{\theta_r-\rho}$, we have $\nu q^{-j}X^{\theta_r}\gg X^{\rho}$. On the other hand for $\ell\geq5(\lfloor\theta_r\rfloor+1)$ we get $$\frac{\nu}{q^j}X^{\theta_r}Y^{-\ell}\leq P^\gamma X^{\theta_r-\frac25\ell}\ll X^{-\frac12}.$$ Thus an application of Lemma \[bkmst:lem25\] yields the following estimate: $$\label{mani:estim:S1} \begin{split} {\left\vert}S_1{\right\vert}&\ll X^{\varepsilon}\sum_{x \leq 2X/Z} Y \left[ Y^{-\frac{1}{K}} + (\log Y)^kX^{-\frac{\rho}{K}} + X^{-\frac{1}{2} \frac{1}{4K \cdot 8L^5 - 2K}} \right] \\ &\ll X^{1+\varepsilon}(\log X)\left(X^{-\rho} + X^{-\frac{1}{64L^5-4} } \right)^{\frac1K}, \end{split}$$ where we have used that $\frac kK<1$ and $\rho<\frac13$. For the second sum $S_2$ we start by splitting the interval $( \frac{X}{V} , \frac{2X}{U} ]$ into $\leq \log X$ subintervals of the form $(X_1, 2X_1]$. Thus $$\begin{aligned} {\left\vert}S_2{\right\vert}&\leq (\log X)X^{\varepsilon}\sum_{X_1<x\leq 2X_1}{\left\vert}\sum_{\substack{U<y<V\\\frac Xx<y\leq\frac{2X}x}}b(y)e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}(g(xy)+h(xy))\right){\right\vert}\end{aligned}$$ Now an application of Cauchy’s inequality together with ${\left\vert}b(y){\right\vert}\ll X^\varepsilon$ yields $$\begin{aligned} {\left\vert}S_2{\right\vert}^2 &\leq (\log X)^2X^{2\varepsilon}X_1\sum_{X_1<x\leq 2X_1}{\left\vert}\sum_{\substack{U<y<V\\\frac Xx<y\leq\frac{2X}x}}b(y)e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}(g(xy)+h(xy))\right){\right\vert}^2\\ &\ll (\log X)^2X^{4\varepsilon}X_1\\ &\quad\times\left(X_1\frac{X}{X_1}+{\left\vert}\sum_{X_1<x\leq2X_1} \sum_{A < y_1 < y_2 \leq B}e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j} (g(xy_1)-g(xy_2) + h(xy_1)-h(xy_2))\right) {\right\vert}\right)\end{aligned}$$ where $A = \max \{U, \frac{X}{x} \} $ and $B = \min \{U, \frac{2X}{x} \}$. Changing the order of summation, we get $$\begin{gathered} |S_2|^2 \ll (\log X)^2X^{4\varepsilon}X_1\\ \times\left(X+ \sum_{A < y_1 < y_2 \leq B}{\left\vert}\sum_{X_1<x\leq2X_1} e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j} (g(xy_1)-g(xy_2) + h(xy_1)-h(xy_2))\right) {\right\vert}\right)\end{gathered}$$ As above we want to apply Lemma \[bkmst:lem25\]. To this end we fix $y_1$ and $y_2 \ne y_1$. Similarly to above we get that $${\left\vert}\frac{\partial^\ell\left(g(xy_1)-g(xy_2)+h(xy_1)-h(xy_2)\right)}{\partial x^\ell}{\right\vert}\asymp\frac{{\left\vert}y_1-y_2{\right\vert}}{y_1}X^{\theta_r}X_1^{-\ell}.$$ Now, on the one hand we have $\frac{\nu}{q^j}\frac{{\left\vert}y_1-y_2{\right\vert}}{y_1}X^{\theta_r}\gg X^{\rho}$ and on the other hand $$\frac{\nu}{q^j}\frac{{\left\vert}y_1-y_2{\right\vert}}{y_1}X^{\theta_r}X_1^{-\ell} \ll X^{\gamma+\theta_r}\left(\frac{X}{V}\right)^{-\ell} \ll X^{\gamma+\theta_r-\frac23\ell} \ll X^{-\frac12}$$ if $\ell\geq2\lfloor\theta_r\rfloor+3$. Thus again an application of Lemma \[bkmst:lem25\] yields $$\label{mani:estim:S2} \begin{split} {\left\vert}S_2{\right\vert}^2 &\ll (\log X)^2X^{4\varepsilon}X_1\left(X + \sum_{A<y_1<y_2\leq B} X_1\left( X_1^{-\frac{1}{K}} + X^{-\frac{\rho}{K}} + X^{-\frac{1}{2} \frac{1}{4K \cdot 2L^2 - 2K}}\right)\right) \\ &\ll (\log X)^2X^{4\varepsilon}\left(X^{\frac53} + X^{2-\frac{\rho}{K}} + X^{2- \frac{1}{16KL^2 - 4K}}\right). \end{split}$$ Plugging the two estimates and into proves the proposition. The digits in the middle ------------------------ Now we are getting more involved in order to consider those $j$ leading to a position between $\theta_r$ and $k$. These sums correspond to the “digits in the middle” in the proof of Theorem \[mani:centralthm\]. We want to prove the following \[prop:middle\_digits\] Let $P$ and $\rho$ be positive reals and $f$ be a pseudo-polynomial as in . If $2\rho<\theta_r<k$ and $j$ is such that $$\begin{gathered} \label{mani:middle_range} P^{\theta_r-\rho}< q^j\leq P^{k-1+\rho}\end{gathered}$$ holds, then for $1\leq\nu\leq P^\gamma$ we have $$\begin{gathered} S(P,j,\nu)=\sum_{p\leq P}e\left(\frac{\nu f(p)}{q^j}\right)\ll P^{1-\frac{\rho}{4^k}}.\end{gathered}$$ The main idea in this range is to use that the dominant part of $f$ comes from the polynomial $h$. Therefore after getting rid of the function $g$ we will estimate the sum over the polynomial by the following \[lem:exponential\_sum\_primes\_poly\] Let $h\in{\mathbb{R}}[X]$ be a polynomial of degree $k\geq2$. Suppose $\alpha$ is the leading coefficient of $h$ and that there are integers $a$, $q$ such that $${\left\vert}q\alpha-a{\right\vert}<\frac1q\quad\text{with}\quad (a,q)=1.$$ Then we have for any $\varepsilon>0$ and $H\leq X$ $$\sum_{X<p\leq X+H}\log(p)e(h(p))\ll H^{1+\varepsilon}\left(\frac1q+\frac1{H^{\frac12}}+\frac{q}{H^k}\right)^{4^{1-k}}.$$ This is a slight variant of [@harman1981:trigonometric_sums_over Theorem 1], where we sum over an interval of the form $]X,X+H]$ instead of one of the form $]0,X]$. Now we have enough tools to state the As in the Proof of Proposition \[prop:least\_significant\] we start by an application of Lemma \[mr:lem11\] yielding $$S(P,j,\nu)\ll\frac1{\log P}\max{\left\vert}\sum_{n\leq P}\Lambda(n)e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}(g(n)+h(n))\right){\right\vert}+P^{\frac12}.$$ We split the inner sum into $\leq \log P$ sub sums of the form $$S:=\sum_{X<n\leq X+H}\Lambda(n)e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}(g(n)+h(n))\right)$$ with $P^{1-2\rho}\leq X\leq P$ and $$H=\min\left(P^{1-\theta_r}{\left\vert}\nu{\right\vert}^{-1}q^j,X\right).$$ Now we want to separate the function parts $g$ and $h$. Therefore we define two functions $T$ and $\varphi$ by $$T(x)=\sum_{X< n\leq X+x}\Lambda(n)e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}h(n)\right) \quad\text{and}\quad \varphi(x):=e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}g\left(X+x\right)\right)$$ Then an application of summation by parts yields $$\label{mani:eq_1} \begin{split} \sum_{X< n\leq X+H}\Lambda(n) e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}(g(n)+h(n))\right) &=\sum_{n=1}^{H} \varphi(n)(T(n)-T(n-1))\\ &=\sum_{n=1}^{H}T(n)\left(\varphi(n)-\varphi(n+1)\right)+\varphi(H-1)T(H)\\ &\ll{\left\vert}T(H){\right\vert}+\sum_{n=1}^{H-1}\left|\varphi(n)-\varphi(n+1)\right|{\left\vert}T(n){\right\vert}\end{split}$$ Let $\alpha_k$ be the leading coefficient of $P$. Then by Diophantine approximation there always exists a rational $a/b$ with $b>0$, $(a,b)=1$, $$1\leq b\leq H^{k-\rho} \quad\text{and}\quad {\left\vert}\frac{\nu\alpha_k}{q^j}-\frac ab{\right\vert}\leq \frac{H^{\rho-k}}{b}.$$ We distinguish three cases according to the size of $b$. - **Case 1.** $H^\rho<b$. In this case we may apply Lemma \[lem:exponential\_sum\_primes\_poly\] together with to get $$T(h)\ll H^{1-\frac{\rho}{4^{k-1}}+\varepsilon}.$$ - **Case 2.** $2\leq b<H^\rho$. In this case we get that $${\left\vert}\frac{\nu\alpha_k}{q^j}{\right\vert}\geq{\left\vert}\frac ab{\right\vert}-\frac1{b^2}\geq\frac1{2b}\geq\frac12H^{-\rho}\geq\frac12P^{-\rho}.$$ Since $2\rho<\theta_r$, this contradicts our lower bound $q^j\geq P^{\theta_r-\rho}$. - **Case 3.** $b=1$. This case requires a further distinction according to whether $a=0$ or not. - **Case 3.1.** ${\left\vert}\frac{\nu\alpha_k}{q^j}{\right\vert}\geq\frac12$. It follows that $$q^j\leq2{\left\vert}\nu\alpha_k{\right\vert}$$ again contradicting our lower bound $q^j\geq P^{\theta_r-\rho}$. - **Case 3.2.** ${\left\vert}\frac{\nu\alpha_k}{q^j}{\right\vert}<\frac12$. This implies that $a=0$ which yields $$\begin{gathered} \label{case3.2} q^j\geq{\left\vert}\nu\alpha_k{\right\vert}H^{k-\rho}. \end{gathered}$$ We distinguish two further cases according to whether $P^{1-\theta_r}{\left\vert}\nu{\right\vert}^{-1}q^j\leq X$ or not. - **Case 3.2.1** $P^{1-\theta_r}{\left\vert}\nu{\right\vert}^{-1}q^j\leq X$. This implies that $q^j\leq P^{\theta_r}{\left\vert}\nu{\right\vert}$ and $$H=P^{1-\theta_r}{\left\vert}\nu{\right\vert}^{-1}q^j\geq P^{1-\rho}{\left\vert}\nu{\right\vert}^{-1}\geq P^{1-2\rho}.$$ Plugging these estimates into gives $$P^{\theta_r}\geq {\left\vert}\alpha_k{\right\vert}P^{(1-2\rho)(k-\rho)}.$$ However, since $4(k+1)\rho<1$, we have $$(1-2\rho)(k-\rho)>k-1+2\rho\geq\theta_r$$ yielding a contradiction. - **Case 3.2.2** $P^{1-\theta_r}{\left\vert}\nu{\right\vert}^{-1}q^j>X$. Then $H=X\geq P^{1-2\rho}$ and becomes $$P^{k-1+\rho}\geq{\left\vert}\nu\alpha_k{\right\vert}P^{(1-2\rho)(k-\rho)}$$ yielding a similar contradiction as in **Case 3.2.1**. Therefore **Case 1** is the only possible and we may always apply Lemma \[lem:exponential\_sum\_primes\_poly\] together with . Plugging this into  yields $$\begin{aligned} \sum_{X< n\leq X+H}\Lambda(n) e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}(g(n)+h(n))\right) &\ll H^{1-\frac{\rho}{4^{k-1}}+\varepsilon}\left(1+\sum_{X< n\leq X+H}\left|\varphi(n)-\varphi(n+1)\right|\right)\end{aligned}$$ Now by our choice of $H$ together with an application of the mean value theorem we have that $$\sum_{X\leq n\leq X+H}{\left\vert}\varphi(n)-\varphi(n+1){\right\vert}\ll H\frac{\nu}{q^j}P^{\theta-1}\ll 1.$$ Thus $$\begin{aligned} \sum_{X\leq n\leq X+H} \Lambda(n) e\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}(g(n)+h(n))\right) \ll H^{1-\frac{\rho}{4^{k-1}}+\varepsilon}.\end{aligned}$$ Proof of Theorem \[mani:centralthm\], Part II {#sec:proof-prop-refm2} ============================================= Now we use all the tools from the section above in order to estimate $$\begin{gathered} \label{distance_from_mean} \sum_{j=\ell}^J{\left\vert}\sum_{p\leq P}\mathcal{I}(q^{-j}f(p))-\frac{\pi(P)}{q^{\ell}}{\right\vert}\ll\pi(P)H^{-1}J+\sum_{\nu=1}^{H} \nu^{-1}\sum_{j=\ell}^JS(P,j,\nu).\end{gathered}$$ As indicated in the section above, we split the sum over $j$ into two or three parts according to whether $\theta_r>k$ or not. In any case an application of Proposition \[prop:least\_significant\] yields for the least significant digits that $$\begin{gathered} \label{estimate:least} \sum_{1\leq \nu\leq P^\gamma}\nu^{-1}\sum_{1\leq q^{j}\leq P^{\theta_r-\rho}} S(P,j,\nu) \ll (\log P)^9JP^{1-\eta}.\end{gathered}$$ Now let us suppose that $\theta_r>k$. Then an application of Proposition \[prop:most\_significant\] yields $$\label{estimate:most_non_integer} \begin{split} \sum_{1\leq \nu\leq P^\gamma}\nu^{-1}&\sum_{P^{\theta_r-\rho}< q^{j}\leq P^{\theta_r}}S(P,j,\nu)\\ &\ll \sum_{1\leq \nu\leq P^\gamma}\nu^{-1}\sum_{P^{\theta_r-\rho}< q^{j}\leq P^{\theta_r}}\frac1{\log P}\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}\right)^{-\frac1{{\left\lfloor}\theta_r{\right\rfloor}}}+\frac{P}{(\log P)^{G-2}}\\ &\ll \frac{P}{\log P}. \end{split}$$ Plugging the estimates and into  we get that $$\sum_{j=\ell}^J{\left\vert}\sum_{p\leq P}\mathcal{I}(q^{-j}f(p))-\frac{\pi(P)}{q^{\ell}}{\right\vert}\ll\frac{P}{\log P},$$ which together with proves Theorem \[mani:centralthm\] in the case that $\theta_r>k$. On the other side if $\theta_r<k$, then we consider the two ranges $$P^{\theta_r-\rho}<q^j\leq P^{k-1+\rho} \quad\text{and}\quad P^{k-1+\rho}<q^j\leq P^k.$$ For the “digits in the middle” an application of Proposition \[prop:middle\_digits\] yields $$\label{estimate:middle} \begin{split} \sum_{1\leq \nu\leq P^\gamma}\nu^{-1}\sum_{P^{\theta_r-\rho}< q^{j}\leq P^{k-1+\rho}}S(P,j,\nu) &\ll \sum_{1\leq \nu\leq P^\gamma}\nu^{-1}\sum_{P^{\theta_r-\rho}< q^{j}\leq P^{k-1+\rho}}P^{1-\frac{\rho}{4^k}}\\ &\ll(\log P)JP^{1-\frac{\rho}{4^k}}. \end{split}$$ Finally we consider the most significant digits. By an application of Proposition \[prop:most\_significant\] we have $$\label{estimate:most_integer} \begin{split} \sum_{1\leq \nu\leq P^\gamma}\nu^{-1}&\sum_{P^{k-1+\rho}< q^{j}\leq P^{k}}S(P,j,\nu)\\ &\ll \sum_{1\leq \nu\leq P^\gamma}\nu^{-1}\sum_{P^{k-1+\rho}< q^{j}\leq P^{k}}\frac1{\log P}\left(\frac{\nu}{q^j}\right)^{-\frac1k}+\frac{P}{(\log P)^{G-2}}\\ &\ll \frac{P}{\log P}. \end{split}$$ Plugging the estimates , and into  we get that $$\sum_{j=\ell}^J{\left\vert}\sum_{p\leq P}\mathcal{I}(q^{-j}f(p))-\frac{\pi(P)}{q^{\ell}}{\right\vert}\ll\frac{P}{\log P},$$ which together with proves Theorem \[mani:centralthm\] in the case that $\theta_r<k$. Acknowledgment {#acknowledgment .unnumbered} ============== The author wants to thank G[é]{}rald Tenenbaum for many fruitful discussions and suggestions in connection with the proof of Proposition \[prop:middle\_digits\]. [10]{} V. Bergelson, G. Kolesnik, M. Madritsch, Y. Son, and R. Tichy, *Uniform distribution of prime powers and applications to van der corput sets*, Israel Journal of Mathematics (2013), accepted. E. Borel, *[Les probabilités dénombrables et leurs applications arithmétiques.]{}*, Palermo Rend. **27** (1909), 247–271 (French). Y. Bugeaud, *Distribution modulo one and [D]{}iophantine approximation*, Cambridge Tracts in Mathematics, vol. 193, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2012. D. Champernowne, *[The construction of decimals normal in the scale of ten]{}*, J. Lond. Math. Soc. **8** (1933), 254–260 (English). A. H. Copeland and P. Erd[ő]{}s, *Note on normal numbers*, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. **52** (1946), 857–860. H. Davenport and P. Erd[ő]{}s, *Note on normal decimals*, Canadian J. Math. **4** (1952), 58–63. M. Drmota and R. F. Tichy, *Sequences, discrepancies and applications*, Lecture Notes in Mathematics, vol. 1651, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1997. 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Nombres Bordeaux **24** (2012), 153–171. C. Mauduit and J. Rivat, *Sur un problème de [G]{}elfond: la somme des chiffres des nombres premiers*, Ann. of Math. (2) **171** (2010), no. 3, 1591–1646. Y. Nakai and I. Shiokawa, *A class of normal numbers*, Japan. J. Math. (N.S.) **16** (1990), no. 1, 17–29. [to3em]{}, *Discrepancy estimates for a class of normal numbers*, Acta Arith. **62** (1992), no. 3, 271–284. [to3em]{}, *Normality of numbers generated by the values of polynomials at primes*, Acta Arith. **81** (1997), no. 4, 345–356. J. Schiffer, *Discrepancy of normal numbers*, Acta Arith. **47** (1986), no. 2, 175–186. I. Shiokawa, *On the sum of digits of prime numbers*, Proc. Japan Acad. **50** (1974), 551–554. G. Tenenbaum, *Introduction à la théorie analytique et probabiliste des nombres*, second ed., Cours Spécialisés \[Specialized Courses\], vol. 1, Société Mathématique de France, Paris, 1995. J. D. Vaaler, *Some extremal functions in [F]{}ourier analysis*, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. (N.S.) **12** (1985), no. 2, 183–216. I. M. Vinogradov, *The method of trigonometrical sums in the theory of numbers*, Dover Publications Inc., Mineola, NY, 2004, Translated from the Russian, revised and annotated by K. F. Roth and Anne Davenport, Reprint of the 1954 translation.

Rocket Run 5K Location: Inman Park Date: Sun 04/28/2013 Distances: 1 mile, 5K Event Size: 1000 Participants Features: Adult||Family||Kids||Men||Women Date Time Race Distance Highlights: Blast off for education! Come out and run a beautiful course on a beautiful Spring day in Inman Park and support our community elementary school. There is also a 1-mile Rocket Blast for the young ones. Be sure to stay around and enjoy the Inman Park Festival. http://inmanparkfestival.org/

Athani, Pudukkottai Athani is a village in the Aranthangi revenue block of Pudukkottai district, Tamil Nadu, India. Demographics As per the 2001 census, Athani had a total population of 2691 with 1338 males and 1353 females. Out of the total population 1564 people were literate. External links rakkammal koil References Category:Villages in Pudukkottai district

Q: Align first div to left with subsequent divs aligned right I wish to display three pieces of text on the same horizontal line, as follows: | | | Chapter one Language: English | | | I am using | to represent either the extreme left or right of the window. This is what I have now: <div> <div>Chapter one</div> <div>Language:</div> <div>English</div> </div> The text English will eventually be replaced by a combo box. How should I style my divs? A: #container { display: flex; } #container > div:first-child { margin-right: auto; } <div id="container"> <div>Chapter one</div> <div>Language:&nbsp;</div> <div>English</div> </div> Whether you ultimately have one or two divs on the right (depending on your combo box set-up), the method above will work. It basically keeps the first div flush left and everything else flush right. More details here: Aligning Three Divs Horizontally Using Flexbox Methods for Aligning Flex Items Browser support: Flexbox is supported by all major browsers, except IE < 10. Some recent browser versions, such as Safari 8 and IE10, require vendor prefixes. For a quick way to add prefixes use Autoprefixer. More details in this answer.

Q: Why can't I receive messages from 3rd party clients with Lidgren? I'm using Lidgren as a networking library for my server application. I am just trying to learn how things can tie together in a real environment (database access, networking, physics, etc), so I decided that I would write a basic server application for Minecraft. It doesn't need to be fully functional, just have the packet handling and whatnot working. However, my problem is that Lidgren just seems to outright ignore any packets from Minecraft. Why could this be? var peerConfig = new NetPeerConfiguration("MinecraftDotNet") { Port = port, AcceptIncomingConnections = true }; peerConfig.EnableMessageType(NetIncomingMessageType.ConnectionApproval); _lidgrenServer = new NetServer(peerConfig); _lidgrenServer.Start(); My output shows Debug Messages from Lidgren, but the Minecraft client cannot seem to "see" the server (And I am not getting any incoming packets from the client, either) A: As there has been no answer, I will close this question. It seems that due to some limitation of Lidgren, it can only receive messages that were written in Lidgren clients.

Preparing recipes using seasonal vegetables is a delightful experience. It is good for health as well as it saves you some cost. I try to pick and cook seasonal vegetables throughout the year. Even this year before the mango season wraps up, I thought of trying out some recipes using mango. Luckily my mom got a few kgs of it for preparing mango pickle. What else then? I just picked one and tried out mango dal from this site with few modifications. Since our ancestors were from Andhra, our day-to-day recipes closely resembles the Andhra cuisine. We know that this mango dal is also an andhra dish, but we know only by it's name and until now I've never cooked this dish at home. Only when I happened to read about this dal in Radhika's site, I wished to prepare it. Loved the combo of the tangy mango and toor dal which gives an unique taste for this dal. 1) Wash and soak toor dal for 30 minutes.2) Meanwhile, Wash mango and wipe it using a kitchen towel. Peel the skin of the mango and cut it into one and half inch sized cubes. Chop onion and garlic.3) After 30 minutes, take toor dal in a pressure cooker and add 2 and 1/2 to 3 cups of water. Heat it and remove the foam that forms on the surface of the water using the ladle.4) Now, add chopped mango, onion, garlic and green chilli. Add turmeric, salt and cumin seeds. Mix well and cover using a lid. Pressure cook it for 3-4 whistles or till the toor dal becomes soft. Wait till the steam from pressure cooker subsides. Once it subsides, open the lid and mash the dal well. Taste and adjust the salt. Add more water if the dal is thick and bring to boil. 5) In a seasoning pan, heat oil. Add mustard seeds and urad dal when it is hot. Add curry leaves and asafoetida. Turn the flame off and pour this seasoning to the mashed dal.6) Cover the dal till you serve to maintain the flavor.7) Serve with hot steamed rice. Notes:1) My toor dal normally gets cooked well in 3 whistles after soaking it for 30 minutes and hence I mixed both toor dal and mango together to make the job easier. If not, cook dal and mango separately and add it together to make this dal. Add seasoning after mixing both cooked mango and toor dal.2) Increase or decrease the water consistency based on your preference. 3) Make sure to chop the mangoes into big chunks in case if you are pressure cooking it along with toor dal.

ELK GROVECLASS SCHEDULE The Elk Grove Bond Rd. location was our first club and is one of our favorites. Our Zumba, indoor cycling, and Zen classes are amazing, taught by even more amazing instructors. Our diverse clientele means that we offer a variety of classes. Check out the Elk Grove fitness class schedule. We are confident that you’ll find one you love. When you’re done, spend some time in the beautiful backyard area with its many pools. You deserve a break after a hard workout.

2016 Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts The 2016 Jiffy Lube Alberta Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Alberta's provincial women's curling championship, was held from January 20 to 24 at the North Hill Curling Club in Calgary. The winning Chelsea Carey team will represent Alberta at the 2016 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Grande Prairie. Teams The teams are listed as follows: Knockout Draw Brackets The draw is listed as follows: A Event B Event C Event Playoffs A vs B Saturday, January 23, 6:30pm C1 vs C2 Saturday, January 23, 6:30pm Semifinal Sunday, January 24, 9:30am Final Sunday, January 24, 2:00 pm References Category:Curling in Alberta Category:2016 Scotties Tournament of Hearts Category:Sport in Calgary Category:2016 in Alberta

// Code generated by protoc-gen-validate. DO NOT EDIT. // source: envoy/config/filter/http/fault/v2/fault.proto package envoy_config_filter_http_fault_v2 import ( "bytes" "errors" "fmt" "net" "net/mail" "net/url" "regexp" "strings" "time" "unicode/utf8" "github.com/golang/protobuf/ptypes" ) // ensure the imports are used var ( _ = bytes.MinRead _ = errors.New("") _ = fmt.Print _ = utf8.UTFMax _ = (*regexp.Regexp)(nil) _ = (*strings.Reader)(nil) _ = net.IPv4len _ = time.Duration(0) _ = (*url.URL)(nil) _ = (*mail.Address)(nil) _ = ptypes.DynamicAny{} ) // define the regex for a UUID once up-front var _fault_uuidPattern = regexp.MustCompile("^[0-9a-fA-F]{8}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{12}$") // Validate checks the field values on FaultAbort with the rules defined in the // proto definition for this message. If any rules are violated, an error is returned. func (m *FaultAbort) Validate() error { if m == nil { return nil } if v, ok := interface{}(m.GetPercentage()).(interface{ Validate() error }); ok { if err := v.Validate(); err != nil { return FaultAbortValidationError{ field: "Percentage", reason: "embedded message failed validation", cause: err, } } } switch m.ErrorType.(type) { case *FaultAbort_HttpStatus: if val := m.GetHttpStatus(); val < 200 || val >= 600 { return FaultAbortValidationError{ field: "HttpStatus", reason: "value must be inside range [200, 600)", } } default: return FaultAbortValidationError{ field: "ErrorType", reason: "value is required", } } return nil } // FaultAbortValidationError is the validation error returned by // FaultAbort.Validate if the designated constraints aren't met. type FaultAbortValidationError struct { field string reason string cause error key bool } // Field function returns field value. func (e FaultAbortValidationError) Field() string { return e.field } // Reason function returns reason value. func (e FaultAbortValidationError) Reason() string { return e.reason } // Cause function returns cause value. func (e FaultAbortValidationError) Cause() error { return e.cause } // Key function returns key value. func (e FaultAbortValidationError) Key() bool { return e.key } // ErrorName returns error name. func (e FaultAbortValidationError) ErrorName() string { return "FaultAbortValidationError" } // Error satisfies the builtin error interface func (e FaultAbortValidationError) Error() string { cause := "" if e.cause != nil { cause = fmt.Sprintf(" | caused by: %v", e.cause) } key := "" if e.key { key = "key for " } return fmt.Sprintf( "invalid %sFaultAbort.%s: %s%s", key, e.field, e.reason, cause) } var _ error = FaultAbortValidationError{} var _ interface { Field() string Reason() string Key() bool Cause() error ErrorName() string } = FaultAbortValidationError{} // Validate checks the field values on HTTPFault with the rules defined in the // proto definition for this message. If any rules are violated, an error is returned. func (m *HTTPFault) Validate() error { if m == nil { return nil } if v, ok := interface{}(m.GetDelay()).(interface{ Validate() error }); ok { if err := v.Validate(); err != nil { return HTTPFaultValidationError{ field: "Delay", reason: "embedded message failed validation", cause: err, } } } if v, ok := interface{}(m.GetAbort()).(interface{ Validate() error }); ok { if err := v.Validate(); err != nil { return HTTPFaultValidationError{ field: "Abort", reason: "embedded message failed validation", cause: err, } } } // no validation rules for UpstreamCluster for idx, item := range m.GetHeaders() { _, _ = idx, item if v, ok := interface{}(item).(interface{ Validate() error }); ok { if err := v.Validate(); err != nil { return HTTPFaultValidationError{ field: fmt.Sprintf("Headers[%v]", idx), reason: "embedded message failed validation", cause: err, } } } } if v, ok := interface{}(m.GetMaxActiveFaults()).(interface{ Validate() error }); ok { if err := v.Validate(); err != nil { return HTTPFaultValidationError{ field: "MaxActiveFaults", reason: "embedded message failed validation", cause: err, } } } if v, ok := interface{}(m.GetResponseRateLimit()).(interface{ Validate() error }); ok { if err := v.Validate(); err != nil { return HTTPFaultValidationError{ field: "ResponseRateLimit", reason: "embedded message failed validation", cause: err, } } } // no validation rules for DelayPercentRuntime // no validation rules for AbortPercentRuntime // no validation rules for DelayDurationRuntime // no validation rules for AbortHttpStatusRuntime // no validation rules for MaxActiveFaultsRuntime // no validation rules for ResponseRateLimitPercentRuntime return nil } // HTTPFaultValidationError is the validation error returned by // HTTPFault.Validate if the designated constraints aren't met. type HTTPFaultValidationError struct { field string reason string cause error key bool } // Field function returns field value. func (e HTTPFaultValidationError) Field() string { return e.field } // Reason function returns reason value. func (e HTTPFaultValidationError) Reason() string { return e.reason } // Cause function returns cause value. func (e HTTPFaultValidationError) Cause() error { return e.cause } // Key function returns key value. func (e HTTPFaultValidationError) Key() bool { return e.key } // ErrorName returns error name. func (e HTTPFaultValidationError) ErrorName() string { return "HTTPFaultValidationError" } // Error satisfies the builtin error interface func (e HTTPFaultValidationError) Error() string { cause := "" if e.cause != nil { cause = fmt.Sprintf(" | caused by: %v", e.cause) } key := "" if e.key { key = "key for " } return fmt.Sprintf( "invalid %sHTTPFault.%s: %s%s", key, e.field, e.reason, cause) } var _ error = HTTPFaultValidationError{} var _ interface { Field() string Reason() string Key() bool Cause() error ErrorName() string } = HTTPFaultValidationError{}

Q: What is an elegant way to find versions of packages on a pypi package index? Currently I'm using a very ugly approach based on a regex for finding links and taking them apart. I'm unhappy with the code, so I'm asking for nicer solutions, preferably using only the stdlib. Edit The task at hand has 2 parts: Find all distributions that match a certain criteria (like prefix of the name). Find all versions available in each found distribution. The expected result is a mapping of distribution -> versions -> files. A: its unfortunate, but due to the lack of xmlrpc on other indexes i need to keep my solution

Michael Sifris Michael Sifris is a Trials Division justice at the Supreme Court of Victoria. In his career he practiced as a solicitor in both South Africa and Australia. He is a former partner of Schwarz, Goldblatt, Bloch & Gross, and is a graduate of the graduate law program at the University of Melbourne. References Category:Judges of the Supreme Court of Victoria Category:University of Melbourne alumni Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

The combination of gamma ionizing radiation and 8-Cl-cAMP induces synergistic cell growth inhibition and induction of apoptosis in human prostate cancer cells. The antiproliferative and cytotoxic potential of the nucleotide analog 8-Cl-cAMP was tested in PC-3 and DU145 metastatic human prostate cancer cells. The drug was examined as the only therapeutic agent and in combination with ionizing irradiation (IR). Highly synergistic effects of IR and 8-Cl-cAMP were observed in both cell lines when examined by the MTT viability and BrdU proliferation assays. The combination of IR and 8-Cl-cAMP at clinically relevant doses exerted substantial growth inhibition. The combination of IR and 8-Cl-cAMP caused a significant disturbance in the distribution of cell cycle phases. Cell cycle arrest in the sub-G0/G1 phase predominated in both cell lines. The most striking observation was a significant increase in apoptotic PC-3 and DU145 cells. The DU145 cells were three times more sensitive to the combined treatment than PC-3 cells. The initial resistance to IR-induced apoptosis in these p53-deficient prostate cancer cell lines was overcome through an alternative proapoptotic pathway induced by 8-Cl-cAMP. Considering the low effective doses of treatments, improved tumor eradication rates and minimal undesirable side effects, the combination of IR and 8-Cl-cAMP could be the therapy of choice in treating prostate cancer.

Influence of VEGF-A gene variation and protein levels in breast cancer susceptibility and severity. Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) plays an important role in tumour angiogenesis and cancer progression. VEGF gene variation may influence VEGF levels and therefore cancer susceptibility and progression. We studied the role of VEGF single nucleotide polymorphisms and haplotypes in breast cancer susceptibility and severity. We also studied the relationships of VEGF SNPs with circulating VEGF levels in healthy volunteers and protein expression in breast cancers. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the regulatory regions of the VEGF gene were genotyped by high throughput methods in approximately 500 breast cancer cases and 500 appropriate controls. Haplotype frequencies were inferred using methods based on the Expectation Maximisation algorithm. The effect of VEGF genotypes on serum and plasma VEGF levels were studied in another cohort of healthy individuals. A semi-quantitative assessment of VEGF protein expression on tissue micro arrays (TMA) constructed from approximately 300 breast cancer samples was performed and compared with VEGF genotypes and with histopathological parameters and survival in breast cancer. The -460T/+405C/-7C/936C haplotype in the VEGF gene was found to be associated with decreased breast cancer risk (p = 0.029). The -7C>T polymorphism may influence overall breast cancer survival (p = 0.027). Individual polymorphisms however did not affect breast cancer susceptibility. There was no association between the individual polymorphisms and circulating VEGF levels in healthy volunteers and VEGF expression on the breast cancer micro array. VEGF expression in breast cancers was however associated with high grade (p = 0.002) and ER negative tumours (p = 0.03).

About PrincessBambii : I like deer a lot. uvu I'm also a very big fan of the Silent Hill game series. uvu Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is my favourite anime. uvu Thank you to everyone that has been sending me nice messages and saying hello to me! I don't usually respond, but it doesn't mean that I don't like you or that I'm ignoring you, so please don't feel offended! I'm just a bit shy about making friends! PrincessBambii's page activity Visits Liked! PrincessBambii's FML badges Inception You read an FML that mentions a badge, and in return you've been awarded a badge. A badge inside a badge. The Mixer You like to live life randomly, and we salute you. Checking you out You checked out the profile page belonging to one of the last people to have a look at your profile. Hard at Work Voting on an FML from the Work category on a Monday between 8 and 9am, how ironic. Beginner You have looked through 5 pages of the website. That’s a start. This isn't what should be happening You've set the cat off again, he's started pushing fruit out of bodies of water. Well done. I’m your new creative director You had to give your opinion on this new “piece” that the whole world is talking about.

Show HN: Not BASIC – though strongly inspired by it - teacher_cs https://nbasic.net/ide/ ====== pmarreck This is cool! I’d love an immutable/functional version of this (I believe it can be about as simple). Also, could work better on mobile... ~~~ teacher_cs Thanks. Functional/immutable - that would not be BASIC like anymore. Mobile and programming - a challenging thing.

The long range goal of this work is to study the molecular basis of membrane-cytoskeleton associations and their role in the directed intracellular movements of membranes and organelles. Specifically, it is planned to investigate the idea that actin filament-membrane attachments are instrumental in the translocation of secretory vesicles to the plasma membrane during exocytosis. The approach taken here will be to demonstrate specific and regulated associations of actin with purified membrane components. The catecholamine-containing secretory vesicles (chromaffin granules) are an experimentally accessible system because they can be easily prepared in large quantities and high purity. Also, actin filaments can bind to a protein site on purified chromaffin granule membranes and these interactions are regulated by free calcium ion concentrations thought to mediate exocytosis in vivo (Fowler, V.M. and H.B. Pollared. 1982. Nature 205:336-339). However, using available methods of measuring actin binding to membranes, it was not possible to distinguish a small number of high affinity sites on the membranes from a large number of low affinity sites, nor to clearly distinguish effects of regulatory factors on actin binding from effects on actin polymerization or on filament self-association. Therefore, a primary goal of this proposal will be to quantitatively characterize actin binding to membranes, using define, radiolabelled actin species (e.g., monomer, convalently cross-linked dimer) at subcritical concentrations so that actin polymerization will not interfere with analysis of binding data. Subsequently, it is planned to identify and purify the actin-binding protein(s) from the chromaffin granule membrane, to characterize its interaction with monomeric and filamentous actin, and to determine its relationship to known actin-binding proteins, as well as its subcellular location in the cell. Regulatory features of actin-membrane association (e.g., [Ca++] free, phosphorylation) will be investigated at three levels: actin binding to membranes, interactions of the purified protein with actin, and during exocytosis from intact cells. It is also planned to determine ultrastructurally how actin filaments are attached to the chromaffin granule membrane in vitro, and in situ in the cell, and to determine whether immunologically cross-reactive proteins might also be present on membranes of other subcellular organelles.

Optimal timing of elective caesarean section in Belgian White and Blue breed of cattle: the calf's point of view. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the timing of elective caesarean section (ECS) during parturition affects pulmonary and metabolic adaptation to extra-uterine life in healthy Belgian White and Blue (BWB) calves delivered at term. Vaginal palpation was performed and deliveries divided into six categories of timing for ECS: cervix closed (TECS 1); passive and active cervical dilatation (TECS 2 and TECS 3); full cervical dilatation (TECS 4); spontaneous rupture of allantoic (TECS 5) and amniotic (TECS 6) membranes. One hundred and eighteen BWB calves were examined at birth, 5, 15, 30, 45 and 60 min and 2, 3, 6, 12 and 24 h after birth using the following measurements: physical examination (time between birth and sternal recumbency [T-SR]); heart rate (mHR); arterial blood gas analyses (arterial partial pressure in oxygen [PaO(2)], in carbon dioxide [PaCO(2)], arterial haemoglobin oxygen saturation [SaO(2)], alveolo-arterial difference in oxygen [AaDO(2)]); pulmonary function tests using the oesophageal balloon catheter technique (respiratory rate [RR], total pulmonary resistance [R(L)], dynamic lung compliance [C(Ldyn)], tidal volume [V(T)] and minute volume [V(E)]); arterial and venous blood acid-base balance analyses (arterial and venous pH [pHa and pHv], bicarbonate concentration [HCO(3)a and HCO(3)v], base excess [BEa and BEv]); rectal temperature (RT); jugular venous blood sampling for determination of metabolic variables (blood glucose [G], plasma lactate [L], serum cortisol [C], plasma noradrenaline [NA] and adrenaline [A] concentrations); haematological variables (red blood cell count [RBC], total haemoglobin concentration [Hb], Packed Cell Volume [PCV]) and passive immune transfer variables (total serum protein [TP] and beta(2)gammaglobulin [beta(2)gamma] concentrations).TECS significantly (P</=0.05) influenced PaO(2), SaO(2), AaDO(2), RR, V(T), V(E), C(Ldyn), RT, G, NA, A, RBC, Hb and TP: compared to TECS> or =4 calves, TECS< or =3 calves showed lower PaO(2), SaO(2), V(T), C(Ldyn), RT, G, NA, A, RBC, Hb and TP and higher AaDO(2), RR, V(E). TECS differences progressively decreased and disappeared between 6 and 12 h after birth in TECS 2 and 3 calves but remained up to 24 h in TECS 1 calves. Improved postnatal respiratory and metabolic adaptation in TECS> or =4 calves were mainly related to differences in exposure to labour and subsequent hormonal surge: catecholamines, particularly A, enabled more effective removal of lung liquid and/or release of surfactant which contribute to better gas exchanges and induced greater energy mobilization to maintain adequate body temperature. It was concluded waiting for full cervical dilatation before performing CS should be encouraged because it promotes postnatal respiratory and metabolic adaptation in full-term BWB calves.

Equilibrium point control of a monkey arm simulator by a fast learning tree structured artificial neural network. A planar 17 muscle model of the monkey's arm based on realistic biomechanical measurements was simulated on a Symbolics Lisp Machine. The simulator implements the equilibrium point hypothesis for the control of arm movements. Given initial and final desired positions, it generates a minimum-jerk desired trajectory of the hand and uses the backdriving algorithm to determine an appropriate sequence of motor commands to the muscles (Flash 1987; Mussa-Ivaldi et al. 1991; Dornay 1991b). These motor commands specify a temporal sequence of stable (attractive) equilibrium positions which lead to the desired hand movement. A strong disadvantage of the simulator is that it has no memory of previous computations. Determining the desired trajectory using the minimum-jerk model is instantaneous, but the laborious backdriving algorithm is slow, and can take up to one hour for some trajectories. The complexity of the required computations makes it a poor model for biological motor control. We propose a computationally simpler and more biologically plausible method for control which achieves the benefits of the backdriving algorithm. A fast learning, tree-structured network (Sanger 1991c) was trained to remember the knowledge obtained by the backdriving algorithm. The neural network learned the nonlinear mapping from a 2-dimensional cartesian planar hand position (x,y) to a 17-dimensional motor command space (u1, . . ., u17). Learning 20 training trajectories, each composed of 26 sample points [[x,y], [u1, . . ., u17] took only 20 min on a Sun-4 Sparc workstation. After the learning stage, new, untrained test trajectories as well as the original trajectories of the hand were given to the neural network as input. The network calculated the required motor commands for these movements. The resulting movements were close to the desired ones for both the training and test cases.

Neuronal mechanisms of two-dimensional orienting movements in the cat. I. A quantitative study of saccades and slow drifts produced in response to the electrical stimulation of the superior colliculus. To evaluate the metrics of rapid eye movements caused by the activation of distinct collicular microzones, the superior colliculus (SC) was electrically stimulated in alert behaving cats while their heads were restrained. A quantitative study of electrically induced rapid eye movements demonstrated that their amplitude and direction depended on the intensity of stimulation, the electrode location, and the initial position of the eyes, while their duration depended on the intensity of stimulation. When detailed quantitative procedures are employed, properties of saccades produced in response to the electrical stimulation of the feline SC resemble those of saccades elicited in response to the electrical stimulation of a variety of primate brain areas. Besides saccades, electrical stimulation of the feline SC gave rise to slow drifts whose amplitude and direction was also influenced by the initial position of the eyes. Because their size depended on the frequency of stimulation and their time course reflected mechanical properties of the oculomotor plant, induced slow drifts could be due to a more or less direct projection of the SC onto extraocular motoneurons. A model that includes such a variety of connections between the SC and extraocular motoneurons is presented and is shown to produce realistic combinations of fast and slow eye movements when its input is a step function of time. The present findings support the notion that an orbital mechanical factor underlies the eye position sensitivity of slow drifts and saccades evoked in response to the electrical stimulation of the SC.

Incidence of neoplasia in Hashimoto's thyroiditis: a fine-needle aspiration study. There is a recognized association between Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) and thyroid neoplasms. We reviewed fine-needle aspirations (FNAs) from 90 patients with HT to assess the contribution of this procedure. For seven patients, FNA showed HT and follicular neoplasm (n = 6) or HT and papillary carcinoma (n = 1). Eighteen patients underwent thyroid resection. Three patients had follicular adenomas which were not detected by FNA, one patient had papillary carcinoma confirmed, and six patients with follicular neoplasm by FNA were negative for tumor. Thus, 4% of our patients had confirmed neoplasms, an incidence lower than usually reported. One reason for the lower rate of neoplasia in our series was misinterpretation of follicular neoplasia in the background of HT. The cytologic changes in the hyperplastic follicular and metaplastic oncocytic epithelium are similar to those seen in follicular neoplasm. Our study suggests that these processes may be indistinguishable, and thus, in the presence of HT, the diagnosis of follicular neoplasm probably should not be rendered.

Dolphin Gifts Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in seventeen genera. Dolphins are often regarded as one of Earth's most intelligent animals, though it is hard to say just how intelligent. Comparing species' relative intelligence is complicated by differences in sensory apparatus, response modes, and nature of cognition. Furthermore, the difficulty and expense of experimental work with large aquatic animals has so far prevented some tests and limited sample size and rigor in others. Compared to many other species however, dolphin behavior has been studied extensively, both in captivity and in the wild. Dolphins are social, living in pods of up to a dozen individuals. In places with a high abundance of food, pods can merge temporarily, forming a superpod; such groupings may exceed 1,000 dolphins. Size: Dolphins vary in size by species. The smallest dolphin is Maui's Dolphin measuring 4 feet in length and weighing about 90 lbs. The largest dolphin is the Orca Whale, measuring 30 feet in length and weighing several tons. Habitat: Dolphin species are found in both fresh and salt water. Description: Dolphins have long streamline bodies with flukes and flippers to help them swim. Dolphins have a blow hole on the top of their heads. Diet: A dolphins diet varies depending on the size of the species. Smaller dolphins feed on fish and squid, while larger dolphins will feed on larger marine animals. Communication: Dolphins are excessively vocal and social. Dolphins use a series of sounds and echolocation to communicate with other dolphins in the pod.

4 Awesome Wallpaper Apps for Android [#5] Changing wallpapers is the quickest way to freshen up a dull device, and finding a good wallpaper is not a difficult task too. Just perform an image search on Google and you’ll come up with tons of good wallpapers. But they are just good, and why settle for good when you can have better, right? It’s 2016 and there is an app for everything including wallpapers. So instead of searching for them in the image searches or internet communities, just head to the Google Play Store and grab yourself one of the 4 awesome wallpaper apps we are about to mention. Don’t Miss! Flatsters Minimal Wallpapers Flatsters Minimal Wallpapers is a collection of, as the name suggests, flat and minimal wallpapers. The collection here is not that huge, but if you prefer quality over quantity, then it is for you. As of now, it has wallpapers for a few Football teams, TV shows, Music, etc. New wallpapers are to be added soon. SimplyPaper – Wallpapers SimplyPaper offers some amazing and minimal wallpapers. It has 10+ categories including minimal, animal, polygon, landscapes, technology, etc. All wallpapers are designed in portrait orientation, so they will fit your device perfectly and are not suitable for tablets. But the good thing is that it has a separate category where it shows all those wallpapers which are designed for tablets. All the wallpapers are in 3k resolution and can be downloaded and stored on your device. Absolutely Wallpapers Absolutely Wallpapers is a wallpaper collection app with more than 300 wallpapers which are stored in the cloud and are designed in 2K or higher, divided into 6 categories like nature, sea, landscape, material, etc. You can either directly apply these wallpapers on your home screen or save them on your phone. It has push notification facility so you get notified when new wallpapers are available without updating the app. The wallpapers in this app are only for personal use and should not be used for commercial purpose. Wallpapers Wallpapers, by Google, offers all the wallpapers from Pixel devices. Other than that, it also fetches wallpapers from Google earth collection and Google+. The app is divided into multiple categories like nature, landscape, cities, life, etc. All wallpapers are of high quality and you can set them to change everyday i.e. wallpapers change on its own one day after another.

SEARCH NEILCORNRICH.COM Tuesday, December 11, 2007 Orlando, Fla. — Kansas University’s football team came away with gobs of hardware at Thursday’s College Football Awards Show. The most notable honor went to KU coach Mark Mangino, who was named the Home Depot Coach of the Year. Mangino, in his sixth year at Kansas, led the program out of mediocrity and into the Orange Bowl. The Jayhawks finished the regular season 11-1. “I appreciate the Home Depot and ESPN for the award,” Mangino said. “However, this award represents our wonderful players and our great assistant coaches, who have worked to make this an incredible season. It’s not about me. It’s about us.” “Us” also was honored Thursday. The Jayhawks were named Breakthrough Team of the Year for their five-game improvement over last year’s 6-6 season. In addition, junior cornerback Aqib Talib and junior offensive tackle Anthony Collins were named to the Walter Camp All-America team, voted on by the Football Writers Association of America. Collins also was an Outland Trophy finalists, but lost to LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey. The Outland Trophy goes to the nation’s top interior lineman. Mangino, already named Big 12 coach of the year, is a finalist for at least two other national coach-of-the-year honors — the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award and the Eddie Robinson Award. The Associated Press names a national coach of the year, as well, which Mangino likely is on a short list of candidates for. March 4, 2014 By Turron Davenport There is a player that sends scouts back to the film room every year after they see him stand out ... CONTACT INFORMATION For over 25 years, Neil Cornrich and NC Sportshas been a leader in managing the careers of professional athletes and coaches. For more information, please visit the links on this website or feel free to contact us:

The invention generally relates to an analog varactor. A varactor is an electronic device whose capacitance is a function of a control voltage that is applied to the device. The varactor typically is used, for example, in an oscillator to control its oscillation frequency. As a more specific example, the oscillator may be a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) of a phase locked loop (PLL). The VCO typically generates an oscillating output signal for the PLL, and the PLL controls the oscillation frequency of the VCO to lock the output signal onto a reference signal. In this regard, the PLL typically regulates a frequency control signal that is provided to a varactor of the VCO in a feedback loop to achieve the lock. The frequency control signal is a function of the phase difference between the reference signal and the PLL's output signal. Thus, by controlling the capacitance of the varactor with the frequency control signal, the PLL finely tunes the oscillation frequency of the VCO to achieve the lock.

New fares – cleaner air in Warsaw Warsaw has changed its public transport fares considerably in 2017. The biggest novelty was a large reduction of the prices of travel cards valid in both zones and introduction of free rides for the students of primary schools and junior high schools in Warsaw. The city shows this way that public transport and sustainability are its priorities. Every day nearly a million passenger cars cross the borders of Warsaw – they enter and leave the capital city. The share of transit, i.e. cars that are not part of the agglomeration traffic, in this traffic is less than seven percent. Thinking about the people who live outside Warsaw and work in the capital city, ticket prices have been reduced: 30-day travel card now costs by PLN 30 (c. EUR 7 – 17%) less, and the 90-day travel card is now cheaper by PLN 76 (c. EUR 18 – 14%). The new fares are supposed to encourage passengers from the suburbs to choose public transport, which will reduce the number of cars entering Warsaw every day from the nearby communes and improve the quality of air in the capital city. It is estimated that consequently the number of passengers using public transport services will go up gradually by c. 10,000 people per year. Schoolchildren ride for free Students of primary schools and junior high schools in Warsaw and the students residing in Warsaw who attend primary schools and junior high schools outside the capital city will be entitled to free rides as of 1 September 2017. This entitlement is encoded on special personal City Cards - Student Cards - for the entire duration of the child’s school attendance (no longer than 4 years) and is valid in zone 1 and 2. It is a priority for the authorities of Warsaw to increase the share of public transport in overall capital city traffic from 56.9 to 65 per cent, reduce the number of private cars driving in the streets every day, and limit emissions of air pollutants. Research has shown that parents driving their children to school will switch to public transport themselves if their children can ride for free. Special Student Cards shape positive transport habits from childhood and make children accustomed to using public transport. In the future the passengers who are children now will also support green public transport. New tickets in a fare A single reduced fare transfer group ticket for up to 10 people that costs PLN 22 (c. EUR 5) has been added to our previous ticket offer. It will facilitate getting around for school groups and their chaperones (who had to validate many tickets so far and now will validate only one or two). Visitors coming to the capital city only for a few days will be able to buy a 3 day ticket for PLN 36 (c. EUR 9 - zone 1) or PLN 57 (c. EUR 14 - zone 1 and 2) valid for 72 hours from its validation. Organisers of conferences, congresses, cultural or sports events will have the possibility of purchasing tickets – so called conference tickets (encoded on city cards for a selected number of days). Modern and competitive Public transport is currently the most popular means of transport - it accounts for nearly 46.8% of the traffic in Warsaw. In 2016 1,136,503,549 passengers used public transport services (by over 5 million more than in 2015). Buses carried the biggest number of passengers (573,935,337 i.e. 50.5%), followed by trams (272,402,873 – 23.97%) and the underground (229,868,337 – 20.23%). Warsaw has 320 public transport lines. Every day its residents may ride 245 bus lines, and every night – 43. Moreover, there are 26 tram lines, 4 Rapid Urban Railway lines and two underground lines. It’s nearly 5,500 kilometres of routes on which vehicles with the logo of Public Transport Authority run. Every weekday over 1,600 buses leave their depots during the morning rush hours. The residents rushing to school or work can also ride 429 trams, 48 underground trains and 19 Rapid Urban Railway trains. On weekdays public transport vehicles cover over 460,000 vehicle-kilometres. Switching to public transport you can leave your car in one of the 14 Park & Ride parking lots. Warsaw wants to make its public transport more attractive than car transport. It keeps developing and improving its offer - it is modernising its rolling stock, building the second line of the underground, new tram routes and more P+R parking lots, introducing tram and bus priority and improving the quality of services provided by its carriers. Warsaw authorities have been cooperating successfully for many years with the nearby communes on creating a common transport system (covering already 33 communes now). More and more passengers use the common metropolitan transport – their number has increased by 20% over the past few years. Social Share Search Newsletter Agenda Network EMTA EMTA c/o STIF 41 avenue de Châteaudun F-75009 PARIS Phone: +33 1 53 59 21 00 + 33 1 53 59 21 33 E-mail : contact at emta.com About Us EMTA brings together the authorities responsible for public transport in the main European cities. It promotes the exchange of information and good practices in the field of public transport organisation, planning and funding. This website provides detailed information about EMTA and each of its member authorities.

News, ideas & latest features We have some exciting news to share with you. Today, we’re introducing the ability for companies to brand their ViewFlux Share Links. Here’s how to do it. If you’re the admin of your ViewFlux company account, head over the user menu and click on Company Settings, then just upload your logo & add your website URL. All your Share Links will now be branded with your company logo. This feature is an optional & premium feature and it’s only available on the Boutique & Agency plans. Not long after launching our first version of ViewFlux in January, here we are, releasing the second version. With this version we’re adding the UX in ViewFlux. Here are the main features this realease comes with: Better UI & UX The ViewFlux interface has improved in many ways. It has been simplified and refined to achieve a cleaner and more intuitive UI. User experience and consistency were the main things we had in mind while creating it.Read more A bit more than one year ago we’ve launched ViewFlux in public BETA. From there on we received tons of valuable feedback and suggestions from you guys, which brought us closer to the final product. It took us a lot of effort and tweaking to get to the point where we’re ready to announce you that we will shortly launch the first version of ViewFlux. We will bring in the paid subscriptions starting January 26, 2015. As we value your contribution to making ViewFlux better, everyone that used it while in BETA will get a 50% discount for a period of 3 months. Thanks everyone for supporting us and for sharing your thoughts.Read more ViewFlux now supports syncing your projects with Dropbox. There are two major benefits: you can easily create and manage your ViewFlux projects from Dropbox you can back up your ViewFlux projects to Dropbox Connecting ViewFlux with Dropbox In order to connect your ViewFlux account with Dropbox you have to access your acccount menu and click on Sync. Head over the Dropbox panel and click on the Connect button. After connecting, Dropbox will automatically create a folder for your ViewFlux projects (Dropbox\Apps\ViewFlux). All your existing ViewFlux projects will automatically show up in your Dropbox folder.Read more Real-time collaboration in now available within ViewFlux. Whenever you’re creating projects, adding or updating screens, leaving comments or adding linkspots, your team mates will instantly get to see them. Of course this is also available on the Share Links, so your clients will see every single project update in an instant. All your older projects deserve a place to rest. That’s why we have created a new place for storing them. Retire your finished projects using the new Archiving feature. The option is available in the project list, while having your mouse over a project. There are some things that you should know before doing so. Archiving a project will automatically restrict access to its project files & deliverables, while its share links will be deleted. In other words, an archived project is no longer sharable and its files are not accessible directly from the archive. Though, you can restore an archived project anytime you want and make it sharable again. Thank you all for your feedback. A lot of feedback that came from you guys helped us improve ViewFlux. There was one thing, though, that got requested frequently: uploading PSD & PDF files directly into your projects.We’re happy to announce that ViewFlux now supports these file types.Read more Hey guys, thanks to everyone who sent us feedback. We appreciate your help in making ViewFlux the best tool for prototyping and design feedback. As you might have noticed we’ve tweaked quite a few things in the past month. This time we had a look at the sharing feature, which we tried to improve. With the new features you can now share your projects directly from ViewFlux without having to send the share links via email or IM.Read more

Mitchell Creek Mitchell Creek may refer to: Mitchell Creek (Tunitas Creek), a stream in California Mitchell Creek (South Dakota), a stream in South Dakota Mitch Creek, professional basketball player

Q: Almost sure convergence of non-rising subalgebras sequence I'm studying almost sure convergence and trying to prove that the following statement is true or false: For every non-rising sequence $\sigma$-subalgebras $G\small{n}\subset F$ for every $A \in F$ $P(A|G\small{n}) \xrightarrow{a.s.} P(A|\cap {\tiny n \in N} \space G\small{n})$ I feel that it is true. But how to prove it? A: This is an immediate consequence of the backward martingale convergence theorem. Any probability textbook will prove this. Also see here.

Q: USD Currency Formatting in java? Below is the Code for the Number Formatter : double value = 12345.678; // locale preference should be retrieved from user preferences Locale defaultLocale = new Locale("en", "US", "USD"); NumberFormat nf = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance(defaultLocale); String formattedValue = nf.format(value); System.out.println(formattedValue); The Output Value : $12,345.68 But here ,I would like to have my ouput value as : $12,345.68 USD. I need to get USD(Currency Code) at the End of the Value. Also i am Calling Webservice inorder to get the Value ,How do I pass the Value to the Required field ,and Format it? A: This code do the tricks : double value = 12345.678; java.util.Currency usd = java.util.Currency.getInstance("USD"); java.text.NumberFormat format = java.text.NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance(java.util.Locale.US); format.setCurrency(usd); System.out.println(format.format(value) + " " + usd.getCurrencyCode()); Output : $12,345.68 USD A: Why can't you just append that value yourself? System.out.println(formattedValue + " USD");

The Great Brain Race: How Global Universities Are Reshaping the World Introduction JOANNE MYERS: Good afternoon. I'm Joanne Myers, Director of Public Affairs Programs, and on behalf of the Carnegie Council, I would like to thank you all for joining us. Today our speaker is Ben Wildavsky. Mr. Wildavsky will be discussing a topic that I know some of you are familiar with, some of you may have expressed concern about, and others may just want to know more about. The subject is the global university. The expansion of the global marketplace and trade between the world's nations is usually understood to be a phenomenon involving goods and the prices we pay for them, yet another vitally important global marketplace has been evolving, one in which ideas rather than things are what count. In this international bazaar of education, it is the future that is becoming even more precious than oil, wheat, or gold. The globalization of universities is transforming education around the world. Some are concerned. But need we be? For many years, students from all over the world have traveled to other countries for higher education, whether to the leading universities in Europe or to the United States. But today nations in the Middle East and in Asia are investing in building their own universities. To do so, countries such as Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and others have entered into partnerships with the celebrated universities of the West. Yet there are fears that many of these universities will compete with American institutions or that other countries will become more competitive at attracting graduate students. In The Great Brain Race, our speaker draws on extensive research from China, India, the United States, Europe, and the Middle East to chronicle growing globalization of higher education in all its dimensions. Some of the topics he addresses include the recruitment of students and faculty, the swift spread of branch campuses, the well-financed efforts to create world-class universities, the innovative efforts by online universities to fill unmet needs in higher education markets around the globe, and the closely watched rankings by which everyone keeps score. As someone who has spent most of his career researching and writing about educational issues, Mr. Wildavsky has watched this development take root and grow. For many years, his voice as a former education editor of U.S. News & World Report, as a higher education reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, and as executive editor of The Public Interest, he has been listened to and his ideas well received. Today the internationalization of higher education is becoming the Silk Road of the 21st century. As this academic trade route is expanded, the question that comes to mind is how this globalization of knowledge will impact the future. Who will benefit? And why does it matter? Remarks BEN WILDAVSKY: Thank you very much, Joanne, for that kind introduction. You've done such a wonderful job summarizing some of my main points, I'm not sure what there is left, except to go to Q&A. I'm really pleased to have such a great audience. I have just had a chance to look through this list. It looks like we have members of the university community, of course, the international community, the financial community, and the "old friends of mine" community, whom I'm particularly glad to see. I would like you to try to look at your handouts, if you have them, and these photos. This is sort of a transmogrified PowerPoint presentation. What I've been told is that, when in Manhattan, it's important to really try to get the attention of the sophisticated audience one finds in Manhattan, and the best way to do this is with pictures of cute animals. So if you look over there, I have some cute monkeys. This was taken from the balcony of the guesthouse I was staying at in Southeast India. It's on the edge of a national forest. You just see these monkeys running around. They're adorable at first glance. But it turns out that they have a dark side. I found out after I had been there for about a day that it's very important not to leave your windows or doors open when you leave, because they'll come in and trash the place. So things aren't always what they seem. This is a very beautiful place. There are not only monkeys, but deer running around. There are these magnificent banyan trees all over the place. It has a little bit of a sleepy, out-of-the-way feel, certainly to a Westerner like me. This is the campus of the one of the elite universities of the world, the Indian Institute of Technology, the IIT, of Madras. It's one of a number around India. This is a place where there is a huge national exam. Only about 2 or 3 percent of those who apply get in. People call it the MIT of India. It's very much connected to the world of global knowledge transmission and mobility that I'll be talking about today. The first day I was there, my first appointment, as usual, when I visit a campus, was with the college president. As you know, it's important to pay one's respects early on. I went to see this guy, who is in the bottom right of that slide. His name is M.S. Ananth. He's in what seemed to me a rather remote place, in the national forest. He's just back from Davos, in Switzerland, where he has been part of the Higher Education Working Group headed by Rick Levin, the president of Yale. I walked around this campus. I spent a few days there. You would go to the recruiting office, and just like an American campus, there are sign-up sheets for interviews. There are sign-up sheets for Google. There are sign-up sheets for McKinsey. I was very intrigued, actually, to see a big poster advertising graduate fellowships at a place called KAUST. KAUST is the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. It's a brand-new graduate-level university in Saudi Arabia. They are trying to find the best students in the world, so they are going everywhere, including this national forest in India to the students at IIT Madras. As I worked on The Great Brain Race, this is the kind of thing that just happened over and over again. I found very interesting juxtapositions, things I wouldn't have expected. Actually, this wasn't really what I was thinking of at all when I started on the book. As Joanne mentioned, I used to be the editor of the U.S. News & World Report college guides, and one of the things we used to do was profile campuses around the country, which was always fun to do as a writer, as an editor. So I had this idea that I would do sort of a Cook's tour of the world and profile the best campuses in the world. That might have been a good book for somebody, maybe for me another time. But I realized after a couple of months—I was actually in Shanghai at a conference and met people from all over the world. I felt that I was missing the real story. The real story, and what I'll talk about now, is really a shaking-up of the old order in higher education. Really, what's happening is that the same forces of globalization that we hear about in so many other contexts have very much arrived in the context of universities and colleges. I'm going to talk about, just briefly, what I discovered as I worked on this, for the last several years: What I think higher-education globalization is. Why I think it's important. Why some people are worried about it. Why I think they shouldn't worry, because, ultimately, what I call in the book "free trade in minds" is something that's really an opportunity for us and for the world. It's not a threat. I'm going to just talk about the three big hallmarks of higher-education globalization. There are others that are discussed in the book, but for present purposes, I'm going to focus on: Near and dear to my heart because of my U.S. News background, college rankings have become a global enterprise. They're everywhere. So what's happening with academic mobility? The first thing to know is that mobility has become enormous. There are now about 3 million mobile students around the world, students studying outside their home countries. These are not study-abroad kids. These are students who are going for a year or more, often degree-seeking students, outside their home countries. That's a 57 percent increase in the last decade. So the trend-line is moving very, very quickly. There is huge competition to recruit these students. At the high level, at the graduate Ph.D. level or the postdoc level, those students form the backbone of the research enterprise everywhere. Everybody wants the best students, to create the best labs and the best research. At the same time, undergraduates are valued very much. Part of that, of course, is revenues. They are often what are called full-pay students. They pay full freight, and that brings in a lot of revenues to universities in places like Great Britain or Australia. At the same time, though, they are also valued for the human capital that they bring to the countries where they study. Many of them stay on afterwards. The competition for these students has led to somewhat unorthodox recruiting techniques. You will see in the bottom here—this was a viral ad that ran. The New Zealand Higher Education Authority put this out on the Internet. This is actually a still from a video. I decided the video was perhaps a little steamy for this audience. You can see there's a young couple making out in a corner of the hot tub, and there are a couple of disapproving parents looking on in the other corner. The caption is, "Get further away from your parents." New Zealand is really focusing very heavily on the Asian student market as they recruit. What's really remarkable, if you turn the page, is how successful the strategy has been. The 999 percent increase in the last ten years tells you that marketing really appears to work. In addition to student mobility, without going into detail right now, there is mobility of research itself. If you look at the number of cross-national scientific research collaborations, it has doubled in the last two decades. I think that's only going to continue. Campuses themselves are becoming mobile. I'm referring to what's often called the branch campus or the satellite campus phenomenon. These are institutions, usually in the West, that set up branches in other countries, often in the Middle East or in Asia. There are now 162 of these branch campuses around the world. Again, a very steep increase—a 43 percent increase in just the past several years. Really, I think it's because there's just huge demand for Western education. A lot of people want what we have. Just as a small example, I spent some time, in fact, with John Sexton, the president of NYU. I spent some time in Abu Dhabi, where NYU was setting up a campus, not really a branch campus. You shouldn't use that word around John Sexton. He doesn't like that term. I'll get to that later. But many of these campuses—in Qatar, for example, where I also spent some time, in Doha, there is a complex called Education City. It's a huge compound on the edge of Doha. It's incredibly lavish. Every building is made of marble. They look like ancient temples or something. They house campuses of American universities. Georgetown's School of Foreign Service is there. Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism is there. Cornell's Weill School of Medicine is there, and so forth. This photo here on the second page is one that particularly struck me. I spent some time in this building. Again, it's this enormous, lavish building. That door that you see in the middle is probably one and a half times as tall as the ceiling here. It opens up, and these three young women come out. They are dressed head to toe in black abayas, as the young women do on that campus, by and large. But then right near them you see these big banners that say, "Welcome to Aggieland." What Texas A&M is doing—this is the Texas A&M Engineering School—they are trying to bring a little bit of College Station to Doha. You see that kind of thing all over the place. So there are all these different kinds of mobility going on. They are accompanied by some level of concern. Joanne, I think you mentioned brain drain. That's something people have worried about for decades. It's still going on. I talked to some Indonesian scholars just a couple of weeks ago, and it's certainly something that is on their minds. The concern has been that the best and brightest from the developing world will go to a university in the developed world and will often not go home. People take, in my view, very unwise measures to try to counter this. Just a couple of years ago, right after I visited India, the head of the IIT in Bombay—which is still the name they use, although it's Mumbai now—he basically banned his students from going overseas to do internships, which are very popular. They are very sought-after. They will go to UBS or they will go to a research lab. He basically said, "No, you can't go. You certainly can't go for credit." This represents this notion that we have to hold on to what we've got. Conversely, people in receiving countries are sometimes threatened by the caliber and the number of students who are coming in. We certainly see this in the United States. Just a decade or so ago, the University of Tennessee put a limit of 20 percent in every graduate department for foreign students, which was a real handicap to trying to bring excellent students in, because, as many of you probably know, in departments like engineering and computer science nationwide, at the doctoral level, 60, 65 percent of the students earning Ph.D.s are from overseas. Those are the best students. So we have had periodic outbreaks of what I call academic protectionism. I think, in all ways, really, this is just misguided. I think the kind of mobility we are seeing is really something that we should embrace. It's not something we should fear. The key reason is that we are really now, increasingly, in a dynamic higher education environment, not a static one. The old patterns are starting to change. I'll give you a sense of what I have in mind. Yes, brain drain is still a concern in many places, but we are now seeing—actually, it's here in New York. The Institute for International Education, the IIE, has done some research talking about brain circulation. Another researcher uses the term "brain train." The idea is that people are no longer just making the conventional East-to-West trajectory. Sometimes somebody will go from, say, India or China to a Western country for one degree. They will go to a second Western country for a third degree. But then they may well go back home, because growing economies provide so many more opportunities in the business world. In a place like China, growing universities provide much better opportunities than ever in the academic world. So those kinds of patterns are changing. A wonderful example is a guy named Choon Fong Shih, who is from Singapore—I believe ethnically Chinese—grew up in Singapore, went to Canada for a master's, went to Harvard for a Ph.D., is a materials scientist, a very respected guy, went to Brown, became a very well-known professor there. Then he was recruited back to Singapore, to the National University of Singapore, which is trying very hard to become a global academic hub. They brought him back. He headed up an institute there. Then he rose to president of NUS. Already, that's a little bit of a reversal of the conventional trajectory. But now the world is changing. I mentioned to you KAUST before. KAUST was starting up. They were looking for a great new president. So they recruited him from Singapore to Saudi Arabia. Now he's the president of KAuST. In some ways, he is emblematic, I think, of the possibilities that now exist. I wouldn't suggest that he's typical, but I think he shows how the stereotype that we have and the worries that we have don't necessarily reflect the new kind of changing reality. You could say that student mobility and faculty mobility are rising, but they are under the control of individuals. You could say it's not so surprising. People have new opportunities. They move around. We have had mobile students since the beginnings of Western universities, and even before. But now it's just huge numbers. People are able to do it by making individual decisions. What's much harder, I think, is for institutions themselves to change. Anybody who has been in the university world knows how hard that can be. But one of the other things that really struck me as I worked on the book was how much really is changing among institutions. A lot of nations, I think very correctly, see a thriving university system as the pathway to innovation, the pathway to economic growth. There is actually a wonderful quote from a book that came out a couple of years ago by Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz [The Race Between Education and Technology]. It just states it very simply: Human capital, embodied in one's people, is the most fundamental part of the wealth of nations. I think that's just widely accepted now. What that means is that a country like China is not content simply to send lots of students overseas, although they are doing that. They are not content simply to host branch campuses or partnerships on their soil, although they are doing that. They want to build their own great institutions. They are doing so as fast as they possibly can. They want to be able to compete with the best in the world. And this is true for many other countries. There are really three ways they are doing this. The first is by spending a lot of money. You need money to be competitive. China has spent billions on this in the last decade or two. They are really trying to do two things. They are trying to improve mass access and they are trying to improve quality. At the access level—these books become quickly out of date—I had written that they quadrupled the number of students over a decade. I just read a wonderful article by Rick Levin in the new issue of Foreign Affairs, in which he reports that it has quintupled in the last decade. So a massive expansion of student access, but also an effort to create much greater quality and to focus their dollars on a smaller subset of institutions. In Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah, when he started KAUST, spent $10 billion to endow the university, which made it instantly the sixth-largest university endowment in the world. So they're spending money. They are also recruiting very heavily. I mentioned the example of Choon Fong Shih at KAUST. There are lots of others. China, again, is doing this a lot. They are trying to bring a lot of overseas Chinese back to their universities to teach. They are called "sea turtles," in Chinese. I don't know if there are any Chinese speakers. I'm not one. But, apparently, it's a homonym for "returnees." So people use the term "sea turtles" to talk about these folks. They will try to bring them back to China, where it has become much more appealing to live and to teach than it was even 15 or 20 years ago. The third thing people are doing is creating partnerships. Singapore is a great example of this. It's a way of jump-starting your university. If you don't necessarily have all the intellectual resources right there, you try to bring them in. Singapore, as I mentioned, wants to be a global academic hub. They want to be not just a regional center, but a bigger center. MIT has a presence there. They have the business school from the University of Chicago. You could go on and on. INSEAD, the famous international business school, originally started in Fontainebleau outside of Paris, now has a coequal campus in Singapore, where you can start your degree in either place, and they really insist that they make no distinction between the two. Of course, Singapore feels that that sort of presence is good for them. Now, all this stuff is going on, but, again, there are some worries about this. There are some worries about this in particular, I would say, in the West and in the United States. The central worry is that we're losing our edge, that we're not going to be number one anymore. Since World War II, we have had this amazing university system. We're the world's magnet. I think we are still the world's magnet. You could just tick off whatever criteria you want—research, Nobel Prizes, et cetera. But there is a sense that the rest of the world—and people think of Asia often—is rising and may overtake us. We often hear concerns about engineering, science, research, Ph.D. production. This came up, for example, during the presidential campaign. President Obama talked at one point about, "How are we going to stay competitive when China and South Korea are producing so many more engineering Ph.D.s than we are, at a much faster rate? We're going to fall behind." So the general premise here is that if others are getting ahead, we're going to lose out. Once again, I think this is a mistaken way of looking at what's happening in the world. This is something that we should be happy about. We should be enthusiastic about all the knowledge creation that is happening everywhere. The reason, fundamentally, is that increasing knowledge is not a zero-sum game. There's not a finite amount of knowledge in the world that we all have to be fighting over. More smart people in China, more people with Ph.D.s in China, is good for us. It's not bad for us. Economists often use the term "public good" to talk about knowledge and research discoveries. The central idea here is that when you make a research discovery in South Korea or in Saudi Arabia or—France and Germany are trying to revamp their universities, which used to be great and are now pretty bad—those kinds of discoveries can't be kept within national boundaries. So if there is a research discovery in South Korea—in the United States, we have great research, but we also have great innovation and great entrepreneurship. That's one of the things we're best at. That's the secret sauce that so many Asian nations admire in what we do. So it's entirely possible that discoveries elsewhere will be capitalized on by us. Again, I think what's happening is really very exciting, and it's not something that should cause any alarm. I've talked about this huge competitive marketplace for students. I've talked about the competitive marketplace for universities themselves, this effort to create fantastic universities all over the place. And it's an uphill fight for many places. You need a lot of things to create a world-class university. But people are in there trying. As I said, there are some of you from the financial world, and we all know that markets, in order to function well, need information. So perhaps it's inevitable that the university market that has emerged needs some kind of information. For better or for worse, what has emerged are global college rankings. There's a long history of rankings, which I won't rehearse in great detail here. There is a whole chapter in the book about this. I know another old friend, Dan Polisar, has heard the whole talk at his own think tank in Israel. Basically, in the United States rankings really started around the turn of the 19th century. They took all kinds of forms. But they really didn't take off until my own alma mater, U.S. News, created rankings in 1983, initially just a poll of college presidents, a very conventional journalistic parlor game, but which gradually became much more involved, and involved all kinds of data collection and metrics, and certainly took on the aura of social science, although it isn't really social science. But it has a lot of information. What a lot of people don't know—certainly everyone knows about U.S. News—there are now about 40 rankings like this in countries around the world; they really just took off after U.S. News started—in some places you might expect, in Canada, in Italy, in Great Britain, but also places you wouldn't expect, like Kazakhstan and Peru. They are really immensely popular. But probably the real breakthrough, in terms of today's discussion and this notion of the information you need in the global market, came in 2003, when Shanghai Jiao Tong University, a venerable and very good Chinese university in Shanghai, created the first really global college rankings. This was part and parcel of what China was trying to do with their entire higher-education system. They wanted to revive it, to revamp it, to make it world-class. They were very methodical. The idea was, if you want to get someplace ahead, you need to know where you start from and you need a yardstick. So they created rankings, with a very heavily scientific and research focus. That was their emphasis, and really still is. One year later, a British publication, sort of the equivalent of our Chronicle of Higher Education—it's called Times Higher Education—started another global ranking, much more consumer-oriented, with a very different set of criteria, much more survey-based. That also became very popular very quickly. These rankings, of course, like the U.S. News rankings, have been very controversial. I mentioned the Shanghai conference. It was a funny experience for me to be sitting in this conference full of people from all over the world and to see a very elegant French college president, a philosopher named Monique Canto-Sperber, who is the president of one of the lead schools in Paris, the École Normale Supérieure—she had flown all the way to Shanghai to give this passionate speech about how terrible the Shanghai rankings are, how completely unfair they are to places like hers. For me, it was great to be on the sidelines, number one. Also it shows how you really can't win, because at U.S. News the big complaint was that we focused too much on inputs, not enough on outputs—"so you get great students coming in. You're Harvard. They come in at the 99th percentile and they leave at the 99th percentile. So what? What did you accomplish?" Her complaint was that the selection process for her institution was so intense that there was no measure in the Shanghai rankings for how incredibly selective the input was. It's really hard to satisfy everybody. Fundamentally, people feel that the global rankings, as they complain about the U.S. News rankings, measure the wrong things, create perverse incentives, fundamentally don't tell you about the real effectiveness of a university. In fact, if you're French—and people do this elsewhere, too, but I'll pick on the French—you don't like what's out there, you feel the French don't get a fair shake, and you create your own ranking. So a French engineering school, another one of the grandes écoles in Paris—it's called MINES Paris Tech; it's one of the great engineering schools—they created their own ranking of world universities, which led to this wonderful tautological headline which you will see in your handout: "French Do Well in French World Rankings." We're in a world where, if you don't like the data source, you can come up with your own. Yes, rankings have lots of imperfections. I don't have to defend rankings as part of my job anymore. But while rankings do have lots of problems, I think rankings are ultimately very useful. They can be useful. They have the potential to be useful. That's true for individuals. It's true for universities. It's true for policymakers, in terms of deciding what's effective, what's not, where you should put your resources. Without belaboring the reasons, I think that measurement is useful. I think one of the things that has happened with rankings, even rankings that were intended for consumers, like the Times Higher Education rankings, quickly became used by policymakers as a way of looking at how much universities are respected by their peers. If you believe that peer review should have some effect on how universities are viewed—how much are they spending? What is their research output? It has encouraged a lot of self-examination on the part of universities, who have not always been terribly receptive to outside examination. The fact is—this is true in the United States and it's true around the world—we're really in the age of accountability. Rankings are simply not going to go away. They're with us. The real question going forward is going to be how to make them better. Fortunately, there is really a lot going on. Just a couple of examples. This British publication, Times Higher Education, basically acknowledged that there were a lot of flaws in their sampling, in their survey. This year they fired their data firm that they have been working with since the inception. They got rid of them. They have hired Thomson Reuters to come in. They are really trying to just start the whole thing over again. They are being very transparent. I'm on their Twitter feed. Every couple of days, it's about a speech one of their head editors is giving about the need for more input about what they should do differently. I think that's great. I'm not sure what the result will be, but they are moving in the right direction. The OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, is also developing a new system. They don't like to call it ranking. They would get mad at me if I called it that. Essentially, it's an effort to assess what colleges are really doing at the ground level, particularly with undergraduates. They are actually borrowing an American measure called the Collegiate Learning Assessment—I don't know if Roger Benjamin is here, but it's being done, actually, out of New York—to try to measure how much students grow while they are on campus. How does their writing ability improve from freshman to senior year? How does their analytical ability improve? The OECD has actually contracted with this American group and is trying to develop a method that can be used in various OECD nations. It's very tricky. It's a challenging thing. But I think they are doing something that's new and something that's rigorous and something that's important. I think those kinds of efforts are really going to help us measure effectiveness ultimately. In places like the U.S., we do great in research; I'm not sure how we'll do in teaching. It could be a wakeup call, in the same way that the PISA test [Program for International Student Assessment] for 15-year-olds really taught us that we were behind a lot of countries that we would prefer not to be behind. We don't know what's going to happen as these kinds of measurements get better. I'm just going to conclude by recapping the main things I've talked about—student and faculty mobility, this world-class research quest, the global college rankings explosion. I just want to reiterate that despite the anxieties that we sometimes hear about the kind of university globalization that is taking place, I think it's really crucial that we reject protectionism, academic protectionism, in all of its forms. As I said, knowledge is not a finite resource. There's plenty to go around. We need to grow knowledge. It's something that can benefit everybody. It's really an opportunity for the world when more countries do more to build both the quantity and the quality of their universities. The last thing I'm going to say is, when we look to the future of global higher education, I think we should also keep in mind that we just don't know what's going to happen next. So much has changed. You could look back to the German research universities of the 19th century, which is where the modern research university was created, this idea of having research and teaching under one roof, the beginnings of academic freedom. Lots of Americans went to Germany to study what they did. They came back here and they cloned the model, by creating places like Johns Hopkins and the University of Chicago. We ran with it, we improved it, and we became the best, head and shoulders above the Germans. For several decades, the Germans have really had an egalitarian funding system, which means they have all been sort of equal in their mediocrity. It's a pretty bad system, by and large. So the Germans are now trying to re-create a competitive funding system to build some great universities, and they are coming to the United States to look and figure out how to do it. That's in 150 years. There is a big turnaround. So I think we should have humility as we look ahead. We already know there are lots of research partnerships. Columbia has a partnership with Sciences Po in Paris. They also have a partnership with the London School of Economics. We may see all kinds of new permutations and combinations coming up. The whole us-versus-them prism through which we in the U.S. tend to see this is, I think, beginning to change. John Sexton, the current president of NYU, of course, is trying to create what he calls a global network university, the idea being that the new Abu Dhabi campus could be one of several hubs, the Washington Square campus, of course, being one, Abu Dhabi being another. They would like to create a campus in Shanghai. That would be another. The idea is that you might start in Shanghai and then finish in Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi to Washington Square, and so forth. So whatever happens, I'm just convinced that universities are going to be the key to innovation and to economic growth. The key to continuing this in the future is going to be in the freest possible movement of people and of ideas. I think it's a very exciting time. I'm just very interested and curious to see what's going to happen next. Thank you. Questions and Answers QUESTION: One area that you really didn't address was the online university. I follow a number of the private companies, both in China and in the United States, just in terms of their securities. But if you took to the logical conclusion the point you just made, couldn't you really have a global university online? Do you think that online colleges and universities could really equal the experience of a brick-and-mortar university, ultimately? BEN WILDAVSKY: I know it's conventional to say this, but that really is a great question. I'm glad you asked. There is a chapter in the book about the for-profits, which are heavily online. This is a function of too much compression. Absolutely. The for-profits are a relatively new player globally, as they are in the States. Again, there are lots of comparisons. They are serving a different market. In my view, it's a huge market. It's an underserved market. India is a great example. It's just a tragedy. India is an incredible country. The human capital is just amazing. It's horribly underserved by its universities—not just the quality. There are a small number of high-quality places, like the IITs. But the quantity is just completely inadequate. So people don't have what they need to get ahead, and they are hungry for it. The for-profits have the potential—lots of caveats about the right kind of regulatory regime—they have the potential to serve people who need, often, more practical degrees, vocational degrees, people who are nontraditional learners, the kinds of people we see here going to the Phoenixes. [Reference to Phoenix Online University.] In Latin America, the same thing. There are countries that have elite universities that are—again, it's the paradox: They are elite, and they are often free, which sounds very egalitarian, but it turns out that to get in, you typically have to go to an expensive private school. So they don't tend to serve kids of the working class—or the middle class, for that matter. So as the for-profits have gone in—places like Laureate, based in Baltimore, which was originally the parent company of Sylvan Learning, the tutoring company. They have spun off Sylvan. They are now really going in a big way into the global for-profits. The same is true of Kaplan. You know the Stanley Kaplan tutoring company. But Kaplan is now much more in higher education, both in the U.S. and overseas, than it is in the tutoring business. There's a smaller place, Whitney International. I'm sure you know these names. To get to your question about online, online goes very well with the for-profit because of the model. Essentially, you have sort of fixed costs going in, but then, if you can get to scale, you have returns that become very significant. Is it ultimately going to be the same experience or as good an experience? It's hard to say. We don't have good metrics to know what a good experience is. Frankly, one of the problems with the for-profits is that they say they do all this great measurement internally, but they are not very transparent about it, which, in the U.S. context, bothers me, because they get a lot of federal student money. But they are not very good about sharing what they know about their own effectiveness. Places like MIT have their OpenCourseWare program, where they have tried to make their entire curriculum available online. Yale has taken a somewhat narrower approach, where they have a smaller number of classes that are online, with really richer content than what MIT has to offer. There's a lot of experimentation going on. You do find that in a place like China—this is in my book, and I can't remember the exact statistic—a very high percentage of the Chinese students who are studying with Australian universities are doing so online. Clearly, for some students, some of the time, this will be acceptable. It's always, compared to what? What are your alternatives? If you want a Western education, if you think it's good, and it's cheaper online and you can stay at home online, I think if the quality seems reasonable to you, you are going to do it, and if the degree is going to have some value in the market. In the U.S., there is some research suggesting that the most effective means of using online education is what they sometimes call "click-and-brick." This is why Phoenix, for example, has these centers by freeway exits. People will do some of their work purely online, but they will also go in once a week, once every couple of weeks, and they will see some classmates, they will see an instructor in person. I would just guess that that might be the way. You might have MIT classes—Africa, again, is just horribly underserved. There are all kinds of difficulties. But there are some countries that are doing online learning. But one of the issues you have is that you need to have really good TAs [Teaching Assistants]. You may have an MIT professor with a great course in mechanical engineering, but you need to have the human capital on the ground to really walk the kids through that. I think it's going to be difficult to do that purely online. QUESTION: I have two questions. The first has to do with teacher salaries in these expanding universities. I assume that, with this growth, there's tremendous competition for good teachers. Has that resulted in an improvement in teachers', professors' salaries? Secondly, what about scholarships? Are these new universities able to provide the kinds of scholarships that we have in this country? BEN WILDAVSKY: On teacher salaries, I can certainly speak to the high end. I happen to know this guy's salary. I came across it sort of by happenstance. To try to lure American professors to the Middle East, for example, is very expensive. NYU tends to downplay this. They don't really want to talk about the figures. They want to say that it's about the excitement and the intellectual experience. And I don't doubt that that's part of what it's about. If you are an art historian who studies the Islamic world, it's a paradise to be there. But the compensation packages are very generous, including things like tuition for your kids' schools, because that's what you are going to do over there, trips back home, and all that stuff, and I think a pretty hefty salary supplement in some cases. But you need that. Again, I'm talking about the branch campuses here. If you are an American university and you want to have a credible degree in Doha or wherever, you need to have a critical mass of faculty. People from NYU made this point to me very emphatically: The faculty are the university. It's not going to be NYU, it's not going to be Georgetown unless you have a bunch of those people. When I was there, I talked to a guy named James Reardon-Anderson, from the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, who served as dean over there up until about a year ago. There are these forms you can look at that tell you what the five highest salaries are. I was looking up something else, and I discovered he makes the same as the president of Georgetown. He was making $450,000, $500,000, which in academia is a good salary, to be over there. In other places, the context is very different. India just simply isn't paying; university professors are civil servants. It's a huge problem. The IITs, actually, despite their reputation, are facing a severe difficulty with faculty shortages, because the opportunities in industry are so great, along with the opportunities overseas. China I think is doing somewhat better. They are able to bring back—certainly the elites, Tsinghua or Peking University, can pull together packages that are quite generous. That's what I can tell you on that question. On scholarships, this is a big question. To what extent is this an elite phenomenon? If it is, is it going to reach more people? I mentioned the for-profits. They are actually targeting a far less elite segment. But I have not seen really great breakdowns of socioeconomic status of who leaves. I think at the high end, the most talented students get fellowships. There are lots of federal research dollars. They can't go directly to the best overseas students, but they go to professors who get research grants, and those in turn go to these foreign graduate students. So at the elite levels, they get supported; among undergraduates, not so much. Foreign undergraduates going to Great Britain are typically full-pay students. Postgraduates, as they call them, are often not. Thinking about the IIE here in New York, they have talked to me about—there are a number of scholarship programs that are being created to try to get less affluent students to be able to participate in these kinds of international experiences. But those are very small. The one thing I would say is, I am confident that—3 million; the projections are that it may get up to 20 million in 20 or 30 years—at some point it's no longer the elite. Even 3 million—those can't all be kids going to Oxford and MIT. There are too many of them. There are kids from Singapore going to Australia to study tourism. Yes, they may be from reasonably well-off families, but they're not—Sam Huntington talks about the Davos Man, the international elite that feel fewer allegiances to their own countries than to their cosmopolitan peers. I don't think that's what's happening. There may be some thin slice of that, but I think it's going to go deeper. Certainly my hope is that it will go deeper and deeper still. QUESTION: What about undergraduate affordability of our schools? How do we maintain our job and economic competitiveness if we are educating everybody else? What's the role for government support—for example, free undergraduate education? BEN WILDAVSKY: Let me start with the second thing you asked about, competitiveness, and what we are going to do if we educate everybody else. I generally take the view that we're better off educating the best and brightest from around the world, for several reasons. QUESTIONER: If they stay here. BEN WILDAVSKY: Sure, but—there are almost two ways you could look at it. Number one, if they stay here. Silicon Valley, you name it—so much of our economic prosperity in recent years has been driven by immigrants. I'm very much in favor of having as open as possible borders. It's a complicated discussion, but certainly among the highly talented immigrants, I think we're making a terrible mistake putting limits on H-1B visas. Those are the visas that allow skilled immigrants to stay. They are only for a few years, but there have been—it has gone down a little bit with the economic downturn, but typically huge waiting lists. There is a danger. People like Vivek Wadhwa, who is an entrepreneur who sort of turned pundit—the Kauffman Foundation, where I work, has given him some support—he is really concerned that people won't even come here to study if they don't think they can stay on to work, at least for a few years. So we may be losing people. We don't know who we're losing with those kinds of policies. If people stay here, which many do—they find a way—that redounds to our benefit. But the other thing is, even if people come here and they do a Ph.D. and they work in a lab while they are doing that, again they are generating research and knowledge. If you believe that universities are about the quest for truth and also the meritocratic principle, which I didn't really touch on so much in my overview—but that's very important to what's happening—if you can get ahead, more and more, not perfectly, but increasingly, based on what you know, not on who you are, I think that is part of what universities should be about. There's a whole argument that even those who return—again, we know this has not always been the case, unfortunately; some people who have become our enemies have started here—many of those who study here and return to their home countries, I think, take away some fondness, speaking about the U.S., for our country and for our values. I think that's very important. The first part of your question was on affordability. That's very tough. It's hard for Americans to afford college. In terms of financial aid policies, there are some very wealthy places. I think Harvard is need-blind for foreign students. I'm not sure how many low-income foreign students they really have. They are in a position where they can do that. Most places simply can't do that, and foreign students are going to be last on their list. In terms of, as I said, graduate students, it's a different ballgame, because there you are really going for, in sciences, the best people to work in your labs—in economics, too. Those programs are full of foreign graduate students. QUESTION: We work in developing countries, which have a lot of very basic problems. You mentioned India as one of the places where you were, which has the world's greatest reservoir of uneducated primary-school children, particularly girls. Do you see a switch, to the extent that these international universities are in India, for example, or in other developing countries, in terms of what's studied? I know in Senegal, for example, when Senegal took over the French model and tried to develop their universities, they did a lot of comparative literature and things that they discovered decades later weren't really addressing their needs. Do you see in this internationalization a switch in what the universities are offering and what the academic departments are focused on? BEN WILDAVSKY: Also a very good question. What I've mostly seen is that—again, I'm thinking of the big players, China, India, the Middle East—people still want the subjects, in terms of where they are in development, that they think are going to be most helpful. Those tend to be sciences and engineering. That's what the fascination is with. That doesn't mean that won't change. It's funny. You discover things from these kinds of discussions, actually, which is wonderful, and from other kinds of dialogues, things that I should have written about or that I'll write about again. One is the liberal arts. I wish I could say that our liberal arts tradition is being cloned everywhere around the world. It's not happening yet. But I think that is something people are beginning to think about more and more. I reference him a lot, because he is just awfully thoughtful. Rick Levin, of Yale, has this article I mentioned in Foreign Affairs. He talked about the Asian nations, with their ascendant universities, really feeling that—just as we tend to worry about them and sort of look over our shoulders—how are we going to compete?—they feel that what we have that they want to get is the ability to think creatively—it's an overused expression, but out-of-the-box thinking—the ability to question authority. There's a great new book out called Start-up Nation about Israel's thriving economy. One of the points they make is that the military culture in which questioning of officers is apparently encouraged to a greater extent than many places has led to an entrepreneurial culture that has been very successful. That isn't the conventional Asian culture. Obviously, there are differences between Asian nations. I think what perhaps we'll see more of—this is really speculation—is maybe the comp. lit. majors of the world, which some of us spent time on as undergraduates, will end up being more important than they are now. Maybe being a good engineer is not enough, if you are not able to analyze from five or ten different points of view—though, again, I don't want to caricature engineers. They're smart people, and they do analyze from many points of view. I guess just to sum it up, I think the conventional subjects in science and engineering are by far the most popular. I have mentioned the for-profits, vocational stuff—nursing, tourism, accounting. Those are things people want. In Colombia—there's a great story in the book that I borrowed from The Chronicle of Higher Education—you're in some small town and La Gran Colombia University beams a satellite course into your small town, where you're working a dayshift in a restaurant, but you're going to study tourism at night so you can become a tour guide. That's happening simultaneously with people at KAUST studying high-level mechanical engineering with professors from Stanford. All these things are happening simultaneously. I think the subjects are probably going to be those more practical ones, for a time, and then perhaps, if people want to become more - the more and more they see the value of creativity, maybe they will be wanting to study Thucydides more. I don't know. QUESTION: I take it that English is the default language in these universities. Are there any exceptions, any other languages being used? BEN WILDAVSKY: It's hard to generalize completely. What I can say is, English, absolutely. I'm having a brain freeze on the exact statistic, but there are, I think, two or three times more non-native English speakers in the world now than there are native English speakers. English is it. In the academic world, I think English is it, for now. It could be something different. In the Middle Ages, Latin was the lingua franca. That's what you had to know to be able to participate in this network of knowledge. Now it's English. There are many places, not only Scandinavian countries, where we know how great their English is, but in other parts of Europe, that are offering master's degrees, various kinds of programs, all in English. In South Korea, there's a new liberal arts-style university that has been created there, all in English from the beginning. So there is just huge interest in that. In France, at this elite political science institute, Sciences Po—I interviewed the director, and he pretty much said that people should stop whining and start publishing in English, because that's what you have to do. I'm not really answering your question, but I'm answering it indirectly. Yes, certainly, you go to French universities and German universities and the undergraduates are all studying their native languages—Italy, Spain. But when you have visiting lecturers, it's going to be English. When I go to Shanghai for a conference or OECD for a conference in Paris, it's all English. QUESTION: I have a question. We have in this country a dichotomy. We have great private universities and we have great public universities. In the last decade or longer, the great public universities have suffered from an ongoing decline in their funding from states, and it's only getting worse. How is that going to impact our ability to continue to attract our own students and the best foreign students to come to universities that have lesser facilities? BEN WILDAVSKY: It's a big concern. I'm a faculty brat from the University of California. I'm very attached to that university, not just for personal reasons, but I think it has been very important to the state and to the nation. There are a lot of things you could say about California. California citizens bear a lot of the blame for what has happened there because of budget and tax policies over the years. They're in a tough period. But they were flush ten, 15 years ago. There is kind of a boom-and-bust cycle. The question in some cases is whether you—there's sort of a virtuous cycle: When you have enough great people, you keep on being great. Then the question is, how soon does that dissipate when your funding goes south? It's true already—and this probably was happening before all the problems of the big state universities—that Tsinghua and Peking Universities combined, as of a couple of years ago, were producing more undergraduates who went on to American Ph.D.s than UC Berkeley was. UC Berkeley for years was the top. So that has already been changing. I think it's a concern, if you care about these institutions, if you think they have been important. I don't really know what to say, except that I don't think we're going to lose our place in all these rankings, Shanghai and Times Higher, we're way up there. But again, if in 50 years Berkeley has the same funding problems it does now, they're going to be in bad shape. I can't resist saying, since we're at the end, Berkeley is the source of the first college ranking I ever found, which came from the 1895 University of California yearbook. I wish I had put that in my pictures here. It's this wonderful chart, and it has all these great pictures of these young men in their calisthenics uniforms. It has this chart showing all the physical dimensions of the men of this fairly new university. They're all outdoors exercising. It talks about how big their neck muscles are and their thighs and their chests. Then it compares it to an average—this is a pretty impressive sample; it's, I think, more than the global college rankings use—30,000 East coast bluebloods, from places like Amherst and Cornell. It shows you what their measurements were. Then it shows you, three years down the road, after working out in the California sunshine, these guys had surpassed the East Coast guys. This is really the first example of value-added rankings. It just shows you there's nothing new. JOANNE MYERS: I thank you for giving us value-added to the subject of higher education. The views and opinions expressed in the media, comments, or publications on this website are those of the speakers or authors and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions held by Carnegie Council.

Background ========== Low back pain (LBP) is a common, disabling and expensive disorder. In 1998 treating this condition cost the National Health Service (NHS) £1,632M \[[@B1]\]. The 2009 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines for early management of persistent non-specific LBP \[[@B2]\] recommend that clinicians consider offering patients with chronic LBP a course of one of a range of different therapies (acupuncture, exercise, manual therapy), depending on the patient\'s preference. These therapies have modest average benefits at a modest cost. The clinical effects and the costs of these different treatments are of a similar magnitude, so there is no clear basis for preferring any one of these treatments for use in the NHS. It is, however, possible that improved matching of patients to treatments will produce a greater overall positive effect. An understanding of the factors that inform patient choice and decision-making might help patients to make the best treatment decision for themselves. Having the opportunity to participate in such decision-making may also be associated with better health outcomes \[[@B3],[@B4]\]. A patient-centred approach, using shared decision-making (SDM), involves the patient and healthcare professional discussing treatment options and interacting to agree on a management plan \[[@B5],[@B6]\]. This approach is widely advocated but its use in practice is challenging \[[@B7]\]. SDM involves taking patient expectations, preferences, concerns, ideas and values, plus the practitioner\'s values and experiences into account. In contrast, informed decision-making involves presenting patients with relevant information and options without the healthcare professional expressing a preference. This \'informed model\' gives patients autonomy but fails to take into account the shared interaction \[[@B8]\]. The patient-practitioner interaction model represents \'informed shared decision-making\' (ISDM) and is the model that will be used to design a decision support package (DSP) for LBP patients. The quality of patient-practitioner interactions may be crucially important in improving back pain outcomes \[[@B9]\]. Coaching to support patients\' making decisions is effective in aiding patients\' knowledge, information recall, and participation in decision-making \[[@B10]\]. Decision aids are \'interventions designed to help people make specific and deliberate choices among options by providing information about the options and outcomes relevant to a person\'s health status\' \[[@B10]\]. These aids provide information to facilitate patients\' involvement in the decision-making process. Patient expectations and preferences also play a role in decision-making and may affect outcomes. Patients with a higher expectation of recovery have reported higher functional improvement \[[@B11]\]. Within randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in general, those randomised to their preferred treatment gain more benefit \[[@B12]\]. However, evidence from RCTs of LBP is equivocal: one RCT of LBP found that those who expected better outcomes with treatment gained more benefit than those who did not; however another trial failed to show that expectations affected outcome \[[@B13],[@B14]\]. Patient preferences may also affect treatment adherence \[[@B15]\]. Patients report they would like to play an active role in decisions concerning their health \[[@B16]\]. Many patients also want a patient-centred approach to decision-making incorporating communication, partnership and health promotion \[[@B17]\]. However it is important to remember that while not all patients want to be involved in decision-making all of the time, they should be given choice about the depth of involvement. Clinicians do not always involve patients in decision-making; possibly because they feel ill trained to do so \[[@B18]\]. Despite this, general practitioners (GPs) have positive views about SDM and can gain the skills required to implement SDM in practice \[[@B19],[@B20]\]. The aim of this pilot RCT is to develop and test the effect of a DSP on patient satisfaction. This package will comprise material to assist both the physiotherapist and patient during the informed shared decision-making process. Overall, the DSP will be designed to help patients seeking care for back pain, make informed choices, about their treatment which are the best for them. Methods/Design ============== This pilot has been funded by the National Institute of Health Research - Research for Patient Benefit Programme (Ref: PB-PG-0808-17039). Ethical approval has been granted by Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee (Ref: 10/H1211/2). Intervention design ------------------- To inform the design of the DSP, we will conduct a series of exploratory studies (described in more detail below). This work will be carried out in collaboration with physiotherapists, patients, and experts in the field of decision support and decision aids. At this time it is difficult to predict the exact nature of the DSP - this will depend on the findings from our exploratory work. However, we anticipate that there will be: an information package that summarises the nature of each intervention; a rationale for the interventions, questions that assist the patient in reviewing their current health status and the value they place on possible future scenarios, and what is known about the effectiveness of the interventions. In a recent Cochrane review of decision aids for people facing health treatment or screening decisions, the included studies used a variety of decision aids for a range of conditions. A sample of some of the decision aids included were cancer treatments and screening, back surgery, hormone replacement therapy and osteoporosis treatments. The decision aids varied in formats including video tapes, computer based interactive programmes, audio material and information booklets \[[@B21]\]. Some decision aids were available in a combination of formats giving patients options. Our DSP will be designed to enable easy implementation into routine NHS care. This will be suitable for use by both patients and therapists. We anticipate that once this package has been developed, we will devise a formal training programme to deliver to physiotherapists to improve their knowledge of the treatment options and their skills in ISDM. We will integrate patients\' and therapists\' views on the content and format of our decision support package. We will subsequently publish a paper describing the intervention in detail. In the early phase, we will ask physiotherapists within the Coventry Community Physiotherapy team to test the intervention in an uncontrolled manner, allowing us to test practicality and feasibility in the clinical environment. We will assess this by direct observation of the consultation process and through focus groups with patients and physiotherapists. This will allow us to optimise the intervention before starting the pilot RCT. The section below describes the exploratory work to be undertaken to inform the intervention design. ### A. Literature & evidence review We will review relevant new trial data published since the 2009 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines on low back pain \[[@B2]\]. This will allow us to identify any new data that, if available to the guideline development group, may have led to a change of recommendations. We will only include RCTs of therapist delivered interventions with a sample size \>349. This is the sample size beyond which an RCT can detect a standardised effect size of 0.3 or less with 80% power and 5% significance if there are two groups split evenly \[[@B22]\]. It is such large trials that might, in the future, lead to changes in guidance. The information about the treatments and evidence in our DSP will be based on this NICE guidance and subsequent trials identified from this review. We will systematically seek studies of decision aids for treatments for benign disorders, such as tennis elbow or depression, with multiple moderately effective treatment options. We will extract data about the components of these interventions and the mechanisms by which they are thought to act. We will use this data to inform the design of our decision aid. We will also systematically identify qualitative studies of people with chronic back pain that include accounts of why they chose different therapies. This will provide us with some understanding of the reasoning behind treatment choice within patients with back pain. ### B. Secondary Analysis We have interview data from people living with back pain undertaken with individuals in both the intervention and control arm of a clinical trial evaluating a group cognitive behavioural approach for patients with low back pain in primary care (Back Skills Training Trial - BeST) \[[@B23]\]. Interviews were undertaken at 2-4 months after the intervention (or baseline assessment) and 12 months later. The interviews include exploration of the experience of living with back pain including the use of interventions beyond that being evaluated in the trial. We will re-analyse these data to identify influences on treatment decisions and use this data in our decision aid planning and development. ### C. Patients\' perspectives Concurrently we will develop a questionnaire to measure current patient preferences for treatment. We will approach around 100 people seeking treatment from the physiotherapy department for LBP. Those interested will be asked to complete the questionnaire and subsequently participate in a focus group. Interested respondents will provide a sampling frame for our focus groups. Our purposive sampling willbe informed by age, gender, duration & troublesomeness of LBP, treatment decisions and treatment preferences. We will run two focus groups to develop a broad understanding of the factors that inform choice and decision-making among patients with back pain in which we will explore: how patients make decisions in general (i.e. decision style), how they make decisions and choices about treatments for their back pain, what information patients would like to help them make more informed choices, and what patients think of the existing material on offer to them. Qualitative data will be analysed using the framework method to identify key concepts and themes \[[@B24]\]. ### D. Experts\' perspectives To develop an understanding of experts\' views and experiences of informed shared decision-making for LBP treatments we have selected two broad areas of experts, physiotherapists and patient experts. By engaging these two groups we hope to generate a range of experiences which will feed into our intervention design. We will recruit physiotherapists, who regularly provide first contact care for low back pain from a neighbouring primary care trust, to a nominal group - a formal face to face consensus method \[[@B25]\]. This is a structured approach to data collection from a group who have insight into a specific topic area. This method allows ideas to be generated as well as solutions to be achieved. Participants are initially asked to generate ideas, which the group later discuss and rank in order of importance. We have selected this method as it encourages participation from everyone and as a result we hope it will lead to good quality ideas and solutions. Concurrently, we will also conduct a Delphi study with patient group leaders, expert patients and advocacy group activists. We will work with local and national organisations to identify expert patients who have experience of managing back pain. We have selected the Delphi method as it is a practical method of obtaining opinions from a range of experts nationally. We will develop a set of questions to send to the experts; the responses will then be collated and fed back to the participants for further rounds of questions. Rounds will continue until consensus is achieved. The results of the reviews and secondary analyses together with the focus groups, nominal group technique and the Delphi study will feed into the intervention design. We will use the overall consensus of opinion to help inform how we develop, and what we include, in our decision support package. It is not possible at the time of writing to pre-judge the content and format of the decision support package. As part of the design process for the package we will invite comments from key opinion leaders in back pain research nationally and internationally to ensure that no key content has been omitted. Pilot RCT design ---------------- This study is a single centre randomised controlled trial taking place in the physiotherapy service at NHS Coventry Community Physiotherapy. The physiotherapy service sees around 300 patients as new back pain referrals a month. The service uses a paper free referral system, when patients are advised by their GP to attend the physiotherapy service, it is the patient\'s responsibility to call the booking team and arrange an appointment. Physiotherapists will be randomised to either receiving training for the DSP or not. Subsequently patients will be randomised to either a trained or a standard physiotherapist. ### Study population and eligibility criteria One hundred and fifty participants seeking treatment from the physiotherapy service at NHS Coventry Community Physiotherapy will be recruited. We will include patients who have been advised by their GP to attend physiotherapy. GPs are asked to refer those patients presenting with LBP who do not return to normal activities after 3-4 weeks. Earlier referrals can be made for patients who are not coping with their pain e.g. the pain has a significant effect upon daily living or they present with poor prognosis which the GP is unable to address. In all cases the GP would provide patients with the Back Pain Access number. The patient is then free to ring and directly book a 45 minute assessment appointment. GPs are asked to exclude patients if they have signs of red flags, acute LBP of less than 3-4 weeks, those already under secondary care, had recent lumbar spine surgery, LBP as part of a presentation of multiple body pains e.g. fibromyalgia, thoracic or cervical pain and unstable psychiatric illness. In this pilot RCT patients will be included if they are seeking treatment for non specific LBP, they are aged ≥18 years and have fluent spoken and written English. We will exclude patients with severe psychiatric or personality disorders, those with a terminal or critical illness and patients with possible serious spinal pathology (e.g. tumour, infection or fracture). ### Recruitment procedure Following advice from their GP, the patient is given information on how to get in touch with the booking service to make an appointment (see figure [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}). Those who do so will be sent an invitation to join the study. Interested participants will return the consent form and completed baseline questionnaire to the research team. Patients who meet the inclusion criteria, complete the baseline questionnaire and consent to the trial will be included. They will be randomised to either a DSP trained physiotherapist or usual physiotherapy care. All participants will attend a 45 minute one-to-one assessment where they will be informed of the treatments on offer and have the opportunity to discuss these. {#F1} ### Randomisation We will randomise half of the 14 (five whole time equivalents) physiotherapists to deliver the intervention. Patients will then be randomised to physiotherapists. Once the consent form and baseline questionnaire are received, the physiotherapy department will call the Warwick Clinical Trials Unit randomisation service to randomise the patient to either the control or intervention arm. Clinic lists will be adjusted to ensure participants have appointments with the allocated therapists: control or intervention. ### Outcome assessment Our package of outcome measures is based on those we have used successfully in two previous large scale community based trials of LBP treatments and are in line with international recommendations \[[@B26],[@B27]\]. ### a. Primary outcome measure We will use satisfaction with treatment at three months using a five-point Likert Scale (very satisfied to very dissatisfied) as our primary outcome. It is an amended version of the standardised and recommended single-item question \[[@B28]\]. Since a study of this size is unlikely to show a change in clinical outcomes, satisfaction with treatment is a useful outcome measure that is likely to be more sensitive to change than clinical outcomes. If, in this pilot, we can generate some evidence that we can improve satisfaction, we will have justification for proceeding to a trial to test the impact on clinical outcomes. ### b. Secondary outcome measures • Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ) \[[@B29]\] - The most commonly used measure of LBP-related disability in primary care trials. • Modified Von Korff \[[@B30]\] - A measure of LBP & disability over the preceding month. • SF-12 \[[@B31]\] - A generic measure of health-related quality of life. • EuroQol \[[@B32]\] - A generic measure of health utility that is designed for use in RCTs. • Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) \[[@B33]\] - An established and validated self rating instrument for anxiety and depression. • Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ) \[[@B34]\] - An established measure self-efficacy for people with chronic pain. • Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ) \[[@B35]\] - The physical sub-scale of FABQ measures attitude to movement in back pain. • Attendance - we will measure attendance from the physiotherapy department\'s records. • Use of health services and costs ### Immediate follow-up The immediate follow-up assessment will focus on satisfaction with the decision-making process. We will use the \'Satisfaction with Decision Scale\' \[[@B36]\]. This is a tool used to measure satisfaction with a health care decision. The scale has been adapted and applied to other conditions \[[@B37]\]. We will post this questionnaire to participants and ask them to return it by post to the study team. ### Three-month follow-up For this pilot RCT we will do a single follow-up after three months, when treatment will be complete and maximum benefit from treatment is expected. In addition to measuring satisfaction and repeating baseline measures we will collect data on health service use and health transition \[[@B38]\]. We will send follow-up questionnaires by post, three months after randomisation. We will send postal reminders after two and four weeks, and if necessary, we will collect a minimum data set by phone from non-responders. ### Sample size In the Back Skills Training (BeST) trial, satisfaction with treatment was measured using a five-point Likert Scale (very satisfied to very dissatisfied) \[[@B23]\]. In this trial the difference in satisfaction with treatment (a combination of \'somewhat satisfied\' and \'very satisfied\') at three months was 23.6% compared to 54.3% for control and treatment arm, respectively. Assuming satisfaction is 50% in the control group (similar to the treatment arm in BeST), then to show a similar additional improvement to 75% with 80% power at 5% significance level we need data on 58 participants in each group. We have not inflated the sample size to allow a design effect for clustering by therapist. In our two previous trials of LBP treatments, clustering effects by therapist were insignificant \[[@B26],[@B27]\]. Thus, allowing for a 20% loss to follow up, we need to recruit a minimum of 150 participants. ### Data analysis Descriptive summary statistics for demographic and baseline data will be provided. The dichotomised responses on the five point Likert scale to the treatment satisfaction question will be analysed by means of a generalised linear mixed model with logit link, fixed effects for intervention and baseline pain severity, and random physiotherapist effects. The estimated intervention effect (odds ratio) will be reported with 95% confidence interval and p-value testing the null hypothesis of no intervention effect. Continuous outcomes will be reported as difference in change from baseline with its 95% confidence interval. ### Health economics We will estimate the mean cost of the intervention and other back pain-related NHS services and participants\' out of pocket expenses over the three-month study period. We will collect information on the cost of training for the physiotherapists in the DSP group, including the cost of the tutors\' time to prepare and deliver the training, the cost of participants\' time, travel costs and materials. Therapy cost will be collected from PCT records. The three-month follow-up questionnaire will include questions about use of medication (prescribed and over-the-counter), GP attendances, inpatient stays, outpatient consultations, and visits to other therapists (NHS and private). Healthcare cost will be estimated using unit costs from the NHS tariff and standard references texts \[[@B39]\]. The \'within-trial\' difference in mean costs and the difference in mean quality adjusted life years (QALYs) will be estimated with 95% confidence intervals, allowing for the effects of treatment, baseline pain severity, and treating physiotherapist. These estimates will help us to assess the potential benefits of conducting a definitive trial and economic evaluation. For example, if the DSP is associated with greater healthcare costs and no apparent improvement in health outcomes over this initial three-month period, it is unlikely that further research would be worthwhile, particularly if there is also no clear evidence of a strong patient preference for use of the DSP. However, if cost savings and/or health improvements are observed, it is possible that DSP may be a cost-effective intervention and further research would be warranted. Competing interests =================== Martin Underwood was chair of the guideline development group for the NICE Low back pain guidelines. Joanne Lord was employed by NICE at the time of the development of the NICE Low Back Pain Guidelines and advised the guideline development group on economic analysis. All other authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors\' contributions ======================= All authors have read and approved the final manuscript. SB - has contributed to the design of the study and has commented on draft versions of this manuscript. TF - has contributed to the design of the study and is overseeing the quantitative analyses. TF has commented on draft versions of this manuscript. FG - has contributed to the design of the study and is overseeing the qualitative analyses. FG has commented on draft versions of this manuscript. JL - has contributed to the design of the study and is overseeing the economic analysis. AN - has commented on draft versions of this manuscript. SP - has substantially contributed to the conception and design of the study. SP has drafted this manuscript. CT - has contributed to the design of the study and has commented on draft versions of this manuscript. JT - has contributed to the design of the study and is overseeing the intervention design. JT has commented on draft versions of this manuscript. MW - has contributed to the design of the study. MU - is the principal investigator. He has substantially contributed to the conception and design of the study and obtaining the funding. MU has critically commented on draft versions of the manuscript. Pre-publication history ======================= The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here: <http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2474/12/52/prepub> Acknowledgements ================ Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) Programme (Ref: PB-PG-0808-17039). This project benefited from facilities funded through *Birmingham Science City Translational Medicine Clinical Research and infrastructure Trials platform*, with support from Advantage West Midlands.

Q: deleting file in ntfs using c How can I delete a file on an ntfs drive? i tried deletefile and remove, but neither worked. Any suggestions? do { char* nPtr = new char [lstrlen( data.cFileName ) + 1]; for( int i = 0; i < lstrlen( data.cFileName ); i++ ) nPtr[i] = char( data.cFileName[i] ); nPtr[lstrlen( data.cFileName )] = '\0'; if(!strcmp(nPtr , fn)) remove(nPtr); cout << nPtr << endl; } thanks arefin A: The call to DeleteFile() does work and in your case it did work. DeleteFile() is contracted to delete the file you specify, if it can be deleted. If the file could be deleted, then it will be. If the file could not be deleted then it will not be. If DeleteFile() returns false, what the documentation refers to as failure, then the file was not deleted, for a good reason. You can call GetLastError() to find out why the file was not deleted. A: "didn't work" can happen because mistake in parameter (path specified not correctly) or because you don't have permissions to delete the file or because the file is in use. Resolutions are different for these causes. You can check what the actual problem is by checking whether DeleteFile() returns false and then calling GetLastError() function to get the error code. Error codes: 2 - file not found 3 - path not found 5 - access denied 87 - invalid parameter

Utility of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative condition that primarily affects motor neurons. Cognitive changes are reported in 25%-50% of patients, secondary to frontotemporal involvement. The objective of this study was to evaluate the utility of a screening tool, the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (ACE), in ALS patients. In this retrospective cross-sectional study, performance on the ACE was compared between 55 ALS patients and 49 healthy controls. The validation of the ACE in ALS patients was explored using a neuropsychometric battery. Correlations between the ACE and clinical variables such as the ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised (ALSFRS-R) and forced vital capacity were computed. A higher percentage of patients were below cut-off scores, although this remained non-significant between the patient and control groups. The ACE did not reveal significant differences between ALS patients and controls. The scores on the ACE displayed moderate correlations with our neuropsychometric battery for some domains, whereas others showed poor or no associations. Poor ACE Total was associated with lower ALSFRS-R and finger-tapping scores. Performance on the ACE was comparable between patients and controls. Associations with motor function pose a challenge to accurate interpretation of ACE performance. It is likely that patients with poor cognition have greater disability, or that poor ACE performance reflects reduced motor ability to perform the task. This raises concern for the utility of the ACE as a screening tool in ALS patients, especially since recent versions of the ACE continue to include motor-based tasks.

Accused man was at London townhouse prior to explosion, say witnesses Firefighters on scene of an explosion in a townhouse on Southdale Road in London Ontario on Friday, August 15, 2014. (DEREK RUTTAN, The London Free Press) People who witnessed the spectacular explosion of a south London townhouse in 2014 testified Tuesday that a man resembling Reuben Garcia was at the scene shortly before the incident. Garcia, 29, has pleaded not guilty to arson and drug trafficking charges in relation to the blast and fire that was blamed on butane used for marijuana resin production in the home. No one was injured but the damage eventually resulted in the demolition of five townhouses. The townhouse in a public housing complex on Southdale Road was rented by Maureen Vilbar who moved to Guelph for the summer of 2014 but had left keys with Garcia, a friend and distant cousin. On Monday Vilbar testified that Garcia had called her on Aug. 15, just hours before the blast and told he had cleaned rotten food out of her refrigerator. Vilbar’s testimony was supported by witnesses who were in the area at the time. Denise Dowd, who live in a nearby townhouse, and Ronald Maclean, who was visiting a friend, said they saw a man cleaning the refrigerator crisper drawers on the front lawn of the townhouse shortly before the explosion. Dowd identified Garcia as the man she saw while Maclean said he resembled the man but did not specifically identify him. Robert Lounsbury, who was visiting a friend in the complex, said he witnessed the explosion and saw a man run out the front door with his hair on fire. That also supported Vilbar’s testimony on Monday. She said Garcia called her to say the house had caught fire and his friend was burned. Another neighbour, Ashley Snake, the final witness for the prosecution, said she saw a man resembling Garcia and another man arrived in an SUV that day and carry some heavy grocery bags and a cylinder into the townhouse. Garcia’s lawyer Aaron Prevost challenged Vilbar’s testimony suggesting Garcia’s phone call about the refrigerator was made weeks before the explosion. He also challenged the testimony of the witnesses on Tuesday, pointing out Dowd did not identify Garcia in the preliminary hearing and Snake mistakenly identified a co-accused man, Mustafa Eldogdog, as Garcia. Eldogdog, 27, faced similar charges in the incident. In January Crown prosecutors dropped arson charges against Eldogdog and he pleaded guilty to five counts of possessing marijuana and marijuana resin for trafficking. The trial is expected to conclude Wednesday with Garcia testifying in his own defence.

Interference and noise are major factors limiting the performance of cellular wireless communication networks. Most modern mobile terminals, or User Equipment (UE) include some demodulation capability to mitigate interference, thus improving the signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) measured at the output of the receiver. Improvements in SINR result in better performance. This capability can be used, for example, in detecting transmitted data information or in computing some measure of channel quality information (CQI) that is used for link adaptation, power control and user scheduling. The same is true of base stations. Canceling or suppressing interference typically relies on identification of a set of channel resources that experience a particular form of interference as well as the estimation of interferer parameters for that set. The process of identification estimates the presence of an interference source that affects multiple channel resources. The process of interference parameter estimation is more easily accomplished when the interferer does not vary significantly in time or frequency due to fading, dispersion or intermittent transmission of the interferer. Since the estimation process typically is performed in the presence of random (i.e., thermal) noise, a sufficient number of estimation samples are required to minimize the effects of the noise. Further, estimation degrades when those samples are used where the interference varies abruptly. Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is a spread spectrum multiplexing technique that distributes transmitted data over a large number of sub-carriers that are spaced apart at precise frequencies. Data is divided into a plurality of parallel data streams, one for each sub-carrier. Each sub-carrier is modulated at a low symbol rate, maintaining total data rates similar to conventional, single-carrier modulation schemes in the same bandwidth. Additionally, pre-coding may be applied across the transmitted symbols prior to mapping to the OFDM sub-carriers, for example, to obtain transmit diversity or to obtain better peak to average power in the transmitted signal. In OFDM systems such as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), discontinuities can exist in the interference due to a number of reasons: 1) interferer signals transmitted from other cells can be packet-based, so interferer transmissions may be intermittent; 2) in addition to scheduling in time, transmissions can be scheduled in different frequency sub-bands; 3) multiple users can exist, for example from multiple base stations in the downlink and from multiple users in the uplink; 4) different transmission ranks can be used which present different interferer profiles; and 5) different pre-coding schemes can be used, which also present different interferer profiles. Similar situations exist in other OFDM systems, such as WiMAX. For LTE, since scheduling is performed on contiguous groups of OFDM sub-carriers and symbols, called resource blocks, one approach to mitigating the impact of interference discontinuities is to restrict the estimation of the interferer parameters to use only received data corresponding to a single resource block. This avoids the problem of having to use an adjacent resource block, which may contain a different interferer profile. However, this potentially limits the estimation accuracy in the case where the same interferer profile exists in one or more adjacent resource blocks, and could be used to improve interference estimation.

The present invention relates to a wet type clutch to be actuated by a hydraulic pressure. This kind of clutch is made to effect torque transmission by bring a friction member and a frictional surface facing the friction member into facial contact with each other. In a known torque transmission system for forcing the friction member and the frictional surface to contact, the friction member is adhered to either a piston or the surface facing the piston, and the frictional surface is exemplified by the surface facing the friction member, so that the piston is moved forward to engage with that surface. In this system, the piston itself acts as a torque transmission member, as exemplified in a lockup clutch of a torque converter. FIGS. 16 and 17 show a torque converter 1 which is equipped with a lockup clutch of the prior art. This torque converter 1 has its entirety defined liquid-tight by a front cover 2 and a shell 3a of the pump impeller 3 and is filled up with a fluid. The torque converter 1 is arranged with a turbine runner 4, a stator 5, and a piston 6 of the lockup clutch. To such a surface of the piston 6 as is located at the circumferential edge portion and faces the inner surface of the front cover 2, there is adhered a porous friction member 7 which is formed into an annular shape having a constant width. Across this piston 6, there are formed a first oil chamber 8 at the side of the front cover 2 and a second oil chamber 9 at the side of the turbine runner 4. In case the lockup clutch is to be applied, the fluid is fed to the second oil chamber 9 and discharged from the first oil chamber 8. As a result, the internal pressure in the second oil chamber 9 exceeds that in the first oil chamber 8 so that the piston 6 is pushed toward the front cover 2 to bring its friction member 7 into contact with the front cover 2 as a countermember while shutting the communication between the first oil chamber 8 and the second oil chamber 9 by that friction member 7. As a result, leakage of the fluid from the second oil chamber 9 to the first oil chamber 8 is substantially eliminated to establish a large pressure difference between the two oil chambers 8 and 9 so that the friction member 7 of the piston 6 is pushed to contact with the front cover 2. In other words, the lockup clutch is applied to transmit the torque of the engine directly to the (not-shown) input shaft of the gear transmission mechanism from the front cover 2 through the piston 6. As in the lockup clutch described above, however, the wet type clutch, which is to be applied by shutting the communication between the higher pressure oil chamber and the lower pressure oil chamber with the friction member and the frictional surface, has a tendency to be given a lower torque capacity for the fed oil pressure than that of the ordinary wet type clutch, in which clutch discs and clutch plates alternately arranged are pushed by a piston. Specifically, such lockup clutch as in the prior art is constructed such that the porous friction member 7 is used and impregnated with the fluid. As a result, the higher pressure of the second oil chamber 9 at the time of applying the clutch propagates to the fluid in the friction member 7, too. This pressure applied to the portion of the friction member 7 acts in the direction to move the piston 6 away from the front cover 2 thereby to reduce the force to applying the clutch. More specifically, the force acting to move the piston 6 apart from the front cover 2 takes a higher level (as will be called the "apply pressure"), as seen from FIG. 17, at the portion of the friction member 7 contacting with the second oil chamber 9 having a higher pressure and gradually takes the lower level as goes away from the second oil chamber 9, until it takes substantially the same level (as will be called the "drain pressure") as that in the first oil pressure 8 at the portion contacting with the first oil chamber having a lower pressure. The so-called "sum of reactions", as is distributed due to the porous material of the friction member 7, lowers the force to apply the clutch so that the apparent coefficient .mu. of friction of the friction member 7 drops to reduce the torque capacity. In order to increase this torque capacity, it is conceivable to increase the size of the clutch or to raise the oil pressure for applying the clutch. The large-sized clutch will cause problems that its mountability on a vehicle becomes poor and that its responsiveness to the operation is deteriorated. On the other hand, the rise in the oil pressure for the clutch application will increase the deformation of the shell or the like of the torque converter to cause another problem that an offset contact with the clutch surface occurs.

Q: find column and row index on specific regex match on a pandas dataframe Let's say I have a pandas dataframe with string content in its cells. What's the best way to find a string that matches an specific regex and then return a list of tuples with their respective row and column indexes? I.e., import pandas as pd mydf = pd.DataFrame({'a':['hello', 'world'], 'b': ['hello', 'folks']}) def findIndex(mydf, regex): return regex_indexes If I do: regex = r"hello" findIndex(mydf, regex) # it'd return [(0,0), (0,1)], If I do: regex = r"matt" findIndex(mydf, regex) # it'd return [(-1,-1)], If I do: regex = r"folks" findIndex(mydf, regex) # it'd return [(1,1)], I could do a double for loop on the pd.DataFrame but was wondering if other ideas are better... A: You can try to use apply, str.match and nonzero. def findIdx(df, pattern): return df.apply(lambda x: x.str.match(pattern)).values.nonzero() findIdx(mydf, r"hello") (array([0, 0]), array([0, 1])) df.apply(lambda x: x.str.match(pattern)).values return an array of the same size of df where True indicates matches and False otherwise. We then use nonzero to find the indices of 1(True) part. It will return the indices that match the pattern in a tuple of arrays. If you need a list of tuples, use list(zip(*findIdx(mydf, r"hello"))) [(0, 0), (0, 1)] or np.transpose(findIdx(mydf, r"hello")). If one needed to return None while nothing is found, one can try def findIdx(df, pattern): ret = df.apply(lambda x: x.str.match(pattern)).values.nonzero() return None if len(ret[0]) == 0 else ret Note: str.match uses re.match under the hook. It will match a string which begins with pattern in this example function. If one wants to find whether a string contains pattern as a substring, use str.contains rather than str.match.

[Prognosis factors in adenocarcinoma of the kidney. I. Staging, clinical and macroscopic factors of the tumor]. In 95 cases of renal adenocarcinoma (32 stage I, 18 II, 26 III, and 19 IV) submitted to radical nephrectomy and hilar lymphadenectomy with a follow-up of 5 years, we evaluated the prognostic value of the Robson classification (p less than 0.01), categories T (p less than 0.01), N (p less than 0.01), M (p less than 0.01) and V (p = NS), 3 clinical parameters (sex, age, duration of symptoms and signs) which proved to be of no prognostic value, and 6 macroscopic features of the tumor (solid or cystic nature of the tumor, presence of intrarenal tumor satellite modules, ureteric invasion, tumor size, site and intrarenal location of the tumor). Four of the foregoing proved to influence prognosis.

New Generation BMW X4 To Launch In India In 2019 Snapshot: Second generation X4 will launch in India as part of BMW’s strategy to create a new segment every year. BMW is aiming to strengthen its presence in the Indian luxury car market. Inspired by the good response from the buyers in 2017, BMW is aiming to improve its sales performance in coming years and in an attempt to do so, the brand is targeting to create a new segment every year. As part of that strategy, BMW will launch the second generation X4 in India sometime in 2019. BMW X4 will come to India as a CKD unit and the company will locally assemble it here. It could be priced between Rs, 55 lakh and Rs. 60 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi) upon arrival. While the first generation X4 was not launched in India, arrival of the X4 will certainly enhance the Bavarian auto giant’s strength here. The automaker is targeting to take on the Mercedes-Benz GLC with the X4 and we can expect to see localized production of this vehicle here. However, specific time of the launch is yet to be revealed. But, we hope to learn about it in coming days. The BMW X4 is underpinned by the CLAR RWD architecture and it comes 50 kg lighter compared to the predecessor. Handling and performance of the car too have been improved significantly. Considering the fact that Indian buyers are showing more and more interest towards premium cars, BMW expects to see good sales performance with this model. While the sharp design of the car will certainly catch attention of everyone, interior features and styling are meant for enhancing premiumness to next level. On the powertrain front, BMW X4 will be available in seven different engine options. However, it is not clear, which engine options will be available in the Indian market. For transmission duty, the car gets an 8-speed automatic gearbox and there is an AWD system as standard offering.

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Introduction {#s1} ============ Flowering is a critical phase transition in the development of angiosperms. The correct timing of this transition, such as it occurs under most favorable conditions, is essential factor determining reproductive success. The floral transition is an integrated response to various signal states of the plant [@pone.0014012-Bernier1]. The molecular mechanism of the control of flowering time has been most extensively studied in the model species *Arabidopsis thaliana* (Arabidopsis). An initial genetic survey with late-flowering mutants led to defining inductive photoperiods, extended exposure to cold, and the gibberellins (GAs) class of plant hormones phytohormones as major factors promoting flowering in Arabidopsis [@pone.0014012-Koornneef1]. Further studies identified the effect of light quality, ambient temperature, stress, and other phytohormones in the flowering-time regulation [@pone.0014012-Putterill1]. Plant growth is synchronized by an array of phytohormones, which differentially affect multiple physiological, metabolic, and cellular processes, resulting in a coordinated developmental program. Known phytohomones include cytokinins, auxins, GAs, abscisic acid (ABA), brassinosteroids (BRs), and ethylene [@pone.0014012-Gray1]. We note that various phytohormones have been implicated in regulating the floral transition [@pone.0014012-Davis1]. As for example, the importance of GAs in the control of flowering time in Arabidopsis was first reported by Langridge in 1957, who showed that exogenous application of GAs hastened developmental timing [@pone.0014012-Langridge1]. In Arabidopsis, genetic and pharmacological experiments implicate GAs as promoters of flowering, particularly under non-inductive short-day conditions. One key experiment was the demonstration that *gibberellin deficient1* (*ga1*), a mutant blocked in biosynthesis of GA, was found to be delayed in flowering [@pone.0014012-Wilson1]. The mutant *gibberellin insensitive* \[*gai*\] defective in GA signaling is also delayed in the floral transition [@pone.0014012-Wilson2]. Reciprocally, mutants with enhanced GA-signaling, such as *spindly* (*spy*) and plants over-expressing *FLOWERING PROMOTIVE FACTOR1* (*FPF1*), which is believed to be involved in GA-signal transduction, flower early [@pone.0014012-Jacobsen1], [@pone.0014012-Kania1]. Transgenic approaches to increase the level of endogenous GAs, caused by overexpression of the GA20 oxidase *GA5*, leads to a similar early flowering-time phenotype as GA application, particularly under short-day growth [@pone.0014012-Huang1], [@pone.0014012-Coles1]. Finally, double-mutant analyses with known late-flowering mutants revealed that the GA pathway is distinctive from other flowering-regulating pathways and that its activity is important during growth under a non-inductive photoperiod [@pone.0014012-Koornneef1], [@pone.0014012-Koornneef2]. The role of ABA in regulating the floral transition was initially proposed based on the early-flowering phenotype of an ABA-deficient mutant, indicating that ABA inhibits flowering [@pone.0014012-MartinezZapater1]. In a study that has since been retracted, ABA was proposed to influence floral transition by direct binding to RNA-binding protein FCA [@pone.0014012-Razem1], [@pone.0014012-Razem2]. Whereas there is affirmative data that FCA does not directly bind ABA [@pone.0014012-Risk1], [@pone.0014012-Jang1], the core of this retracted manuscript could be correct. Notably, this work by Razem et al. clearly demonstrated the genetic and pharmacological effect of ABA on flowering time in Arabidopsis, and that this hormone delays flowering through up-regulation of the potent floral repressor *FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC*). This non-controversial portion of that work (note that [Figures 3](#pone-0014012-g003){ref-type="fig"} and [4](#pone-0014012-g004){ref-type="fig"} of the 2006 paper where not part of the 2008 retraction) indicates that ABA, at least in part, modulates flowering by affecting the transcript level *FLC* [@pone.0014012-Razem1]. Interestingly, an independent study has demonstrated the inhibiting role of ABA on flowering time through modulating DELLA activity [@pone.0014012-Achard1]. Collectively, one can infer that ABA is a floral repressor. The promotive role of BRs in floral transition was proposed based on the late-flowering phenotype of BR-deficient mutants, *det2* and *dwf4* [@pone.0014012-Chory1], [@pone.0014012-Azpiroz1], and early flowering of the *bas1 sob7* double mutant, which is impaired in metabolizing BRs to their inactive forms [@pone.0014012-Turk1]. The finding that a mutation in the BR receptor *BRI1* leads to late flowering further supports the positive effect of BRs on the timing of floral transition. Interestingly, BR signaling also interacts with the autonomous pathway, as combining *bri1* with late-flowering autonomous mutants *ld* and *fca* results in delayed floral transition [@pone.0014012-Domagalska1]. This late flowering is accompanied with an increase in expression of the floral repressor *FLC* in these double mutants [@pone.0014012-Domagalska1]. This is consistent with observations that BR signals work within a chromatin pathway which requires ELF6 and REF6 as components in the floral-transition [@pone.0014012-Yu1]. Thus, BRs are floral promoters. It has been reported that for many physiological processes, hormone-signaling pathways do not function as separate entities. These pathways interact at various levels within the signaling process to ensure an appropriate biological response (reviewed in [@pone.0014012-Gazzarrini1]). A well-described example of such hormone interactions is the regulation of seed germination, in which GAs and BRs have been shown to function antagonistically to ABA to break dormancy and promote germination [@pone.0014012-Steber1]. We thus hypothesized that these three hormones might genetically interact in the regulation of the floral transition. This hypothesis seemed to be particularly attractive as both ABA and BRs signaling are proposed to interact with the autonomous pathway to modulate the levels of FLC in the control of floral transition [@pone.0014012-Razem1], [@pone.0014012-Domagalska1], and at the same time, salt (which activates ABA signaling) reduces levels of bioactive GAs [@pone.0014012-Achard1]. In this work, we examined the possibility of genetic interactions between the GA-, the ABA- and BR-regulated pathways in the control of the transition from vegetative to reproductive development. The impact of mutations in the GA, ABA, and BR biosynthetic pathways was directly tested to assess their interactive network. Double-mutant combinations defective in the biosynthesis of GA, ABA, and BR were constructed and their flowering time was measured. Also, plants that over-express genes encoding rate-limiting enzymes in biosynthesis of GA, ABA, or BR were generated and their flowering time was investigated. We found that the hormone pathways tested appear to be complex in their promotive and repressive roles Furthermore, there appears to be a cross-regulatory effect between GA and BR signals. Results {#s2} ======= Analyses of genetic interactions between the *ga1, cpd*, and *aba2* mutants in flowering {#s2a} ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To test for hormonal interaction in the control of the floral transition in Arabidopsis, we focused on potential relations amongst three known phytohormones: GAs, ABA, and BRs. To assess the interaction amongst them, we examined the effect of simultaneous reduction in the endogenous levels of two hormones, in all possible combinations. This was achieved by taking advantage of the existing hormonal-biosynthetic mutants *constitutive photomorphogenesis and dwarfism* (*cpd*), *gibberellin deficient1* (*ga1*), and *abscisic acid deficient2* (*aba2*) [@pone.0014012-Szekeres1], [@pone.0014012-LeonKloosterziel1], [@pone.0014012-Cheng1], [@pone.0014012-Sun1]. The chosen *cpd, ga1*, and *aba2* mutants are blocked in the biosynthesis of BRs, GAs, or ABA, respectively ([Fig. 1](#pone-0014012-g001){ref-type="fig"}), and each exhibits deficiency phenotypes specific for the respective hormone. The morphology of these lines can be seen ([Fig. 2A](#pone-0014012-g002){ref-type="fig"}). ![Simplified hormone biosynthetic pathways.\ The hormone biosynthetic pathways of Arabidopsis for gibberellins ***A.***, ABA ***B.***, and, brassinolide ***C.***. The biosynthesis mutants used in this study and sites of their lesions are shown. Also, the biosynthetic genes over-expressed to increase the levels of respective hormones are indicated. ***A.*** The *ga1* mutant is impaired in the first stage of GA-biosynthesis: the cyclization of geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP) to copalyl diphosphate (CPP). ***B.*** The *aba2* mutant is blocked at the cis-xanthoxin to ABA-aldehyde conversion. ***C.*** The conversion of 6-Deoxocathasterone/Cathasterone to 6- Deoxoteasterone/teasterone does not occur in the *cpd* mutant. ***A.*** The *GA5* gene encodes a GA 20-oxidase that catalyzes the formation of the GA20 and GA9, the final precursors of the bioactive GAs. ***B.*** The *NCED3* encodes 9-*cis*-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase that catalyzes the oxidative cleavage of a 9-*cis* isomer of epoxycarotenoid (9-*cis*-violaxanthin or 9'-*cis*-neoxanthin) to form xanthoxin. ***C.*** The *DWF4* gene encodes a 22-a hydroxylase (CYP90B1) that catalyzes the conversion of 6- Oxocampestanol/Campestanol to 6-Deoxocathasterone/Cathasterone. IPP, Isopentenyl pyrophosphate. ABA, abscisic acid. Adapted from [@pone.0014012-Srivastava1].](pone.0014012.g001){#pone-0014012-g001} {#pone-0014012-g002} The double mutants (*aba2 ga1, ga1 cpd, aba2 cpd*) together with single *ga1, aba2, cpd* mutants, and the wild-type control, were subjected to flowering-time analyses under long- and short-day conditions. All single mutants in respective phytohormone pathways, under long days, flowered as expected when compared to the literature [@pone.0014012-Szekeres1], [@pone.0014012-LeonKloosterziel1], [@pone.0014012-Cheng1], [@pone.0014012-Sun1]. In our studies, we confirmed previously reported phenotypes, namely, the *cpd* and *ga1* mutants being slightly late flowering, and the *aba2* mutant exhibiting modest early flowering. ([Fig. 2B](#pone-0014012-g002){ref-type="fig"}, [Table 1](#pone-0014012-t001){ref-type="table"}). To assess potential genetic interactions, the pair-wise comparisons for each genotype to wild type, or to respective single mutants, were carried out. The double *aba2 ga1* mutant exhibited intermediate flowering phenotype between *ga1* and *aba2*, suggesting a lack of genetic interaction between these two hormonal pathways in the control of timing of the floral transition ([Fig. 2B](#pone-0014012-g002){ref-type="fig"} and [Table 1](#pone-0014012-t001){ref-type="table"}). The phenotype of *aba2 cpd* double mutant was not significantly different from the single *cpd*, or the wild type ([Fig. 2B](#pone-0014012-g002){ref-type="fig"} and [Table 1](#pone-0014012-t001){ref-type="table"}). This indicates that these two hormonal pathways act largely independently in the control of floral transition. In contrast, the double *cpd ga1* mutant flowered slightly later than the single *cpd* mutant, and this response was not different from the single *ga1* under the experimental conditions tested ([Fig. 2B](#pone-0014012-g002){ref-type="fig"} and [Table 1](#pone-0014012-t001){ref-type="table"}). 10.1371/journal.pone.0014012.t001 ###### Student\'s t-test for flowering-time differences between mutant genotypes. {#pone-0014012-t001-1} Genotype 1 Genotype 2 P value ------------ ------------ ------------------------------------------------ WS *aba2* 0.003123 [\*](#nt106){ref-type="table-fn"} WS *cpd* 0.026681 [\*](#nt106){ref-type="table-fn"} WS *ga1* 0.000035 [\*\*\*](#nt104){ref-type="table-fn"} WS *aba2 cpd* 0.638560 ø WS *aba2 ga1* 0.012466 [\*](#nt106){ref-type="table-fn"} WS *cpd ga1* 0.000483 [\*\*](#nt105){ref-type="table-fn"} *aba2* *aba2 cpd* 0.000231 [\*](#nt106){ref-type="table-fn"} *cpd* *aba2 cpd* 0.068565 ø *aba2* *aba2 ga1* 0.000025 [\*\*\*](#nt104){ref-type="table-fn"} *ga1* *aba2 ga1* 0.009909 [\*](#nt106){ref-type="table-fn"} *cpd* *cpd ga1* 0.000359 [\*\*](#nt105){ref-type="table-fn"} *ga1* *cpd ga1* 0.063013 ø Listed are pairs of compared genotypes. P values for each pair are provided. ø No significant difference P\>0.05; statistically significant differences: \*\*\*P\<0.0001, \*\*P\<0.001, \*P\<0.05. We next examined the timing of flowering in phytohormone-biosynthetic mutant combinations under non-inductive short-day conditions. Late-flowering genotypes grown under non-inductive photoperiods result in plants that had leaf senescence before bolting occurred (data not shown). Thus, leaves were \"missing\" by the time bolting commenced. Furthermore, the morphology of several mutant combinations precluded accurate leaf counting. For these reasons, we scored the number of days to bolting as a direct measure of flowering time for these short-day experiments. In these experiments, the *ga1* mutant did not flower during the extended duration of growth ([Fig. 2C](#pone-0014012-g002){ref-type="fig"}). Non-flowering responses were observed in the *cpd* and the double *ga1 cpd* mutants. The *aba2* single mutant flowered slightly earlier than wild type. ([Fig. 2C](#pone-0014012-g002){ref-type="fig"}). Furthermore, the reduction in endogenous ABA levels due to a lesion in *ABA2* led to both the *ga1* and the *cpd* mutants to flower within the duration of the assay, in their respective double mutants ([Fig. 2C](#pone-0014012-g002){ref-type="fig"}). With an analysis using Student\'s t-test, all genotypes were statistically separable in all pair-wise combinations (P\<0.002). Taken together, complex interactions resulted when examining the reduction of GAs, ABA, and BRs, when considering the timing of flowering under inductive long days and non-inductive short-days. Flowering-time analyses of plants with elevated expression of rate-limiting enzymes in the biosynthesis of GAs, ABA, and BRs {#s2b} ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To further examine the role of GAs, ABA, and BRs in the floral transition, we analyzed the effect of elevated endogenous levels of each hormone on flowering time under long- and short-day growth conditions. Transgenic plants over-expressing rate-limiting enzymes in BR, GAs, and ABA biosynthesis were generated. For this, respectively, the *DWF4, GA5*, and *NCED3* genes were chosen. Their relative positions in respective biosynthetic pathways are depicted in [Fig. 1](#pone-0014012-g001){ref-type="fig"}. These genes have been previously shown to cause an increase in the endogenous levels of respective hormone or its precursor when over-expressed [@pone.0014012-Huang1], [@pone.0014012-Coles1], [@pone.0014012-Choe1], [@pone.0014012-Iuchi1]. These selected genes were expressed under control of the Cauliflower Mosaic Virus 35S promoter, which enabled their expression to high levels. The over-expression of the genes of interest was confirmed using RT-PCR with gene-specific primers ([Fig. 3A](#pone-0014012-g003){ref-type="fig"}), and further, the levels of reaction products were quantified. All transcript levels were found for all lines to be \>3 fold increased, compared to the wild type (data not shown). Furthermore, the obtained transgenic lines displayed morphological and physiological phenotypes attributed to the overproduction of the respective hormones, as described in respective previous reports [@pone.0014012-Huang1], [@pone.0014012-Coles1], [@pone.0014012-Choe1], [@pone.0014012-Iuchi1]. We concluded that these lines were suitable for flowering-time studies. {#pone-0014012-g003} The *35S::DWF4*, *35S::GA5*, and *35S::NCED3* lines were subjected to flowering-time analyses under long- and short-day growth conditions ([Fig. 4A, B](#pone-0014012-g004){ref-type="fig"}). The flowering time of similar *35S::GA5* genotypes has already been reported [@pone.0014012-Huang1], [@pone.0014012-Coles1], and the results described here are therefore confirmatory. The differences in flowering times amongst genotypes were compared with an analysis using Student\'s t-test. As expected, three representative lines of the *35S::GA5* flowered early under both long and short days (P\<0.0001). Neither *35S::DWF4* nor *35S::NCED3* exhibited a consistently altered flowering time. Under long days, only one out of three *35S::DWF4* lines flowered marginally early (line \#42, P\<0.05). Under short days, none of the lines displayed reproducible changes in flowering time. The *35S::NCED3* line \#5 was the only one out of four *35S::NCED3* lines that displayed marginally accelerated flowering in a reproducible and significant manner (P\<0.05), under both photoperiods of tested growth. Hence, whereas GAs had a clear concentration-limiting role in the flowering-time control, ABA and BR do not seem to be limiting in a concentration-dependent manner for timing of floral transition. {#pone-0014012-g004} In the double-mutant analysis, we observed that *ga1* and *cpd* generated late flowering, and that *ga1* could enhance the *cpd* phenotype ([Figure 2](#pone-0014012-g002){ref-type="fig"}). This could suggest that in the absence of BRs, the additional absence of GAs leads to a maximal hormone block in the generation of late flowering phenotype. In this sense, *ga1* would be epistatic to *cpd*; no additive effect was detected in the *ga1 cpd* double mutant ([Figure 2](#pone-0014012-g002){ref-type="fig"}). We hypothesized that the promotive effects of BRs would only be observed in the presence of increased GAs levels. To test this, the double *35S::DWF4/35S::GA5* transgenic line was generated, and this genotype was analyzed for its flowering time under non-inductive short-day conditions. Consistent with this hypothesis, the double *35S::DWF4/35S::GA5* flowered significantly earlier than the single *35S::GA5* line (P\<0.001). ([Fig. 4B](#pone-0014012-g004){ref-type="fig"}). This result clearly demonstrates a major rate-limiting role of GAs in floral promotion. It also implies that BRs\' promotive role in the transition to flowering depends on the presence and concentration of GAs. Discussion {#s3} ========== Previous analysis of the individual hormonal effects of GAs, ABA, and BRs have supported that each has a role in the transition from vegetative to reproductive development. Here we examined whether these effects had any interdependence. Using loss-of-function and gain-of-function studies, we were able to conclude that genetic interactions between these hormone-pathways in reproductive timing were complex. Further, whereas the genetic depletion of any of the three tested hormones led to timing defects, for genetically increased levels of hormones, only GA led to noted physiological timing defects; the sole increase of ABA and BR did not lead to dramatically modified responses. As an example of the complexities, BR effects where most noted in the context of a transgenic that also was increased for GA. Taken jointly, there was clearly a dominant role of GAs as the phytohormone that promotes the transition from vegetative to reproductive development. The analyses of the flowering phenotypes of double *aba2/ga1/cpd* mutant combinations revealed the basis of their genetic interactions ([Fig. 2](#pone-0014012-g002){ref-type="fig"}, [Table 1](#pone-0014012-t001){ref-type="table"}). Based on the flowering behavior of the double *aba2 ga1* mutant, compared to the respective single mutants, we concluded that the block in ABA and GA synthesis, respectively, result in independent phenotypic effects on flowering time. We note that others have reported a direct cross-regulatory interaction between ABA and GA hormonal pathways with the discovery that a component of the ABA biosynthesis pathway, and in drought tolerance, where a direct target for GA action *via* the so-called DELLA proteins [@pone.0014012-Zentella1]. From there, we further found no significant difference under inductive photoperiods for the flowering time between the double *cpd aba2* and single *cpd* mutants, which suggested to us that the BR-deficient mutant is epistatic to the ABA-biosynthesis mutant, at least under examined conditions. As well, since the double *cpd aba2* did not differ from wild type, we interpreted this as that the phenotypic effect generated by the *aba2* mutation was different from that resultant from the *cpd* mutation. We cannot exclude that the circadian effects on the photoperiod pathway generated from BR and ABA signaling are not canceling out, as these hormones have opposite effects on the \"speed\" of clock periodicity [@pone.0014012-Hanano1]. The statistical difference between the *cpd ga1* double mutant and the *ga1* single mutant under long-day conditions is genetic support that BR- and GA-pathways genetically interact and/or that GA levels are modified by the genetics of BRs, as has been shown previously [@pone.0014012-Steber1], [@pone.0014012-Bouquin1]. Furthermore, it appears that *ga*- and *br*-synthesis mutants can cause cross-regulatory effects on the reciprocal hormone homeostasis levels [@pone.0014012-Bouquin1], [@pone.0014012-Reid1], [@pone.0014012-Wang1]. Although, this is not always the case [@pone.0014012-Jager1]. Taken together, the relationships between the studied hormonal pathways in the control of flowering time are concluded to be complex and the genetic relations of these three pathways cannot be put into a simple linear pathway. In contrast, it appears that there are cross-regulatory mechanisms that function on several levels. Similar responses have also been reported by others [@pone.0014012-Kuppusamy1]. A part of the genetic complexity could be caused by reciprocal, differential regulation of the hormone biosynthetic genes by various hormone-signaling pathways, as it has been shown that in seedlings BR and GA antagonistically regulate the accumulation of mRNAs of the GA-regulated *GASA1* and *GA5* genes [@pone.0014012-Bouquin1]. ABA increases were not found to generate large effects on floral timing. Transgenic lines that overexpressed the *NCED3* genes did not exhibit strong flowering phenotypes ([Fig. 3](#pone-0014012-g003){ref-type="fig"}, [4](#pone-0014012-g004){ref-type="fig"}). In general, *35S::NCED3* plants were slightly earlier flowering than wild type, except one line that was marginally delayed in flowering. Those effects were not statistically significant. Our results trended differently from what has been published recently regarding the effect of pharmacological manipulation of ABA on the floral transition. For instance, it has been reported that exogenous ABA delays flowering, and that this correlated with the up-regulation of *FLC* [@pone.0014012-Achard1], [@pone.0014012-Razem3]. As mentioned earlier, the *35S::NCED3* plants exhibited increased expression of *NCED3* and an ABA-over-expression phenotype, including delayed germination and growth, and activation of some ABA-regulated genes [@pone.0014012-Iuchi1]. We also observed such effects ([Fig. 3B](#pone-0014012-g003){ref-type="fig"} and data not shown). It has also been shown that over-expression of this ABA-biosynthetic gene results in an elevation of the endogenous levels of ABA. Thus, the lack of a strong phenotype in the generated *35S::NCED3* plants was under a context of increased ABA content. Perhaps the endogenous levels of ABA in plants overexpressing *NCED3* were lower compared to ABA levels obtained through exogenous application of ABA reported [@pone.0014012-Razem1], [@pone.0014012-Achard1] (we note that they reported that a significant delay in flowering was not observed with the addition of 1 µM ABA, and was only with a pharmacological level of 10 µM ABA was an effect seen). It has been considered that ABA is a \"stress hormone,\" because its levels increase upon stress treatment. Furthermore, it mediates the response to drought and other stresses [@pone.0014012-Finkelstein1]. It has also been reported that drought accelerates flowering [@pone.0014012-Levy1]. Hence, we wonder if at low concentrations ABA inhibits flowering, and after reaching a certain threshold, it induces the floral transition. This could explain the mild early flowering that can be observed in some *35S::NCED3* lines. Further detailed studies on the mechanism of drought- and ABA-induced flowering are required to resolve this issue. As with ABA, increases in BRs did not dramatically alter the wild type for floral-promotive effects. No pronounced flowering phenotype was detected when *35S::DWF4* lines were analyzed ([Fig 3](#pone-0014012-g003){ref-type="fig"}, [4](#pone-0014012-g004){ref-type="fig"}). Under long days, only one line was found to flower statistically earlier, and therefore, overproduction of BRs seems not to affect flowering under this condition. Under short days, only one of three *35S::DWF4* lines displayed mild later flowering. Thus, BRs may not have a rate-limiting role in floral promotion. In support of previous findings [@pone.0014012-Huang1], transgenic efforts to increase endogenous GA pools caused accelerated flowering time ([Fig. 3](#pone-0014012-g003){ref-type="fig"}, [4](#pone-0014012-g004){ref-type="fig"}). The *35S::GA5* plants we generated clearly flowered earlier under both photoperiodic conditions tested, confirming the importance of GAs in the control of the transition to flowering. Given the apparent redundancy of the *cpd* phenotype on the *ga1* phenotype ([Table 1](#pone-0014012-t001){ref-type="table"}), and the clear action of *35S::GA5* on promoting flowering, and the lack of clear effect *35S::DWF4* on promoting flowering ([Fig. 4](#pone-0014012-g004){ref-type="fig"}), it was of interest that *35S::DWF4* introduction accelerated the floral transition in the context of the *35S::GA5* ([Fig. 4B](#pone-0014012-g004){ref-type="fig"}). One interpretation is that GA is limiting to promote flowering in the context of elevated BR levels. Collectively, of all transgenic up-regulation responses tested, GA elevation had the most marked effect. This supports the notion that GA is a dose-dependent regulator of the reproductive transition. The phenotype of the BR- and ABA-deficient mutant and the lack of a significant flowering phenotype in the transgenic lines that over-express the *DWF4* and *NCED3* genes, leads us to a conclusion that these hormonal pathways are necessary for proper timing of the floral transition, but are themselves insufficient to significantly modify the transition time. GA in turn, seems to be a \"master\" hormone over ABA/BRs. This hypothesis is furthered by the clear late-flowering effect of the *ga1* mutation, particularly under non-inductive photoperiods [@pone.0014012-Wilson1]. The over-expression of the *GA5* gene resulted in a clear early-flowering phenotype, regardless of the photoperiod, confirming the promotive role of this hormone. Finally, the dominant role of gibberellins, followed by a supporting function of ABA and BRs can be inferred from the analyses of the double hormonal mutants. Collectively, we report that hormone regulation on the transition from vegetative to reproductive development depends on an overall balance of GAs, ABA, and BRs. Materials and Methods {#s4} ===================== Plant material {#s4a} -------------- Experiments were carried out using *Arabidopsis thaliana* ecotype *Wassilewskija-2*, termed in the paper WS. The *ga1-3* mutant, originally in the L*er* background, was backcrossed into WS, as described in [@pone.0014012-Domagalska1]. *cpd-3939* was a gift from F. Tax (University of Arizona) [@pone.0014012-Domagalska1], [@pone.0014012-Noguchi1] and *aba2-2* (*gin1--1*) was kindly provided by J. Sheen (Harvard University) [@pone.0014012-Cheng1]. Single *cpd*, *aba2*, and *ga1* mutants were crossed to each other in order to obtain double mutants. The resultant double mutants were isolated by identifying homozygous lines for *aba2*, and *ga1* mutation, based on glucose-insensitivity and GA-deficiency, respectively [@pone.0014012-Wilson1], [@pone.0014012-Cheng1]. Plants heterozygous for *cpd* were found in the F3 generation by identifying dwarf \"cabbage\"-looking plants. Since the *cpd* mutant is male sterile, the double homozygous mutants were always visually selected from the segregating population during each experiment. To isolate the *aba2 ga1* double mutant, the selected in the F2 generation GA-deficient mutants were self-fertilized and in the next generation lines homozygous for the *aba2* mutation were isolated with the previously described molecular marker [@pone.0014012-Cheng1]. Identified in this way the *aba2 ga1* mutant was self-fertilized and its progeny was used in further experiments. To construct plants over-expressing *DWF4, NCED3, GA5* genomic clones were amplified with primer pairs: *DWF4* with (GWF)CCATGTTCGAAACAGAGCATCA and (GWR)TTACAGAATACGAGAAACCCTAATA, *GA5* with (GWF)CCATGGCTTCTTTCACGGCAACG and (GWR)TCACACGACCTGCTTCGCCA, and *NCED3* with (GWF)CCATGGCCGTAAGTTTCGTAACAA and (GWR)TTAGATGGGTTTGGTGAGCCAA. GWF denotes GGGG*att*B1 site, GWR denotes GGGG*att*B2 site, (GATEWAY®, Invitrogen, Germany). Purified PCR-products were separately inserted into the pDONR207 vector by means of BP reaction (GATEWAY®, Invitrogen, Karlsruhe, Germany). The accuracy of cloned gene sequences was confirmed by sequencing. Subsequently, the cloned *DWF4, GA5, NCED3* genes were inserted downstream of the 35S promoter into the plant-transformation pLeela vector [@pone.0014012-Liu1] using an LR reaction. The resulting constructs were transformed into *Agrobacterium tumefaciens* GV3101 pMP90RK strain [@pone.0014012-Koncz1], which was used to transform wild-type WS Arabidopsis plants by means of the improved floral-dip method [@pone.0014012-Davis2]. Transgenic plants were selected based on their resistance to Basta, as described [@pone.0014012-Weigel1]. Plants were confirmed to harbor a transgene by genotyping with 35S-specific primers and gene-specific primer used for cloning. Plants were backcrossed to WS, and in F2 generation lines that harbored one insert (as judged by scoring the segregation of a single locus of resistance to Basta) were used for further experiments. Homozygous lines, resultant from such transgenic lines, were those used for experimentation. The double *35S::DWF4/35S::GA5* transgenic line was generated by crossing the relevant single transgenics and selecting in the F2 and F3 generations the required genotype. Analysis of mRNA abundance {#s4b} -------------------------- Transcript abundance was analyzed by reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR, exactly as described [@pone.0014012-Domagalska1]. Primers to amplify *EF1α* where GTTTCACATCAACATTGTGGTCATTGG and GAGTACTTGGGGGTAGTGGCATCC; primers to amplify *DWF4* were TCCCTAGTGGGTGGAAAGTG and TTACAGAATACGAGAAACCCT; primers to amplify *GA5* were AAGGCCTTTGTGGTCAATATCGGC and TTAGATGGGTTTGGTGAGCCAA; primers to amplify *NCED3* were CAAGATTCGGGATTTTAGACA and TCACACGACCTGCTTCGCCA. PCR products were separated on ∼2.5% agarose gels. The DNA was stained with ethidium bromide and photographically visualized. PCR products were visualized and analyzed for saturation levels using KODAK 3 system. For the densitometry measurement, Image J 1.42 software was used [@pone.0014012-Abramoff1]. Plant growth condition and flowering time experiment {#s4c} ---------------------------------------------------- Experiments were conducted similarly as described [@pone.0014012-Domagalska1]. Briefly, seeds were stratified for 2--5 days at 4°C in darkness on half-strength MS-medium without sucrose (Sigma-Aldrich, Taufkirchen, Germany), with 1.2% (w/v) agar or MS-medium without sucrose supplemented with 50 µM GA~3~, followed by 1--2 days incubation under the light (long-day photoperiod), prior to transferring to soil. Flowering-time experiments were performed in a temperature- and photoperiod-controlled greenhouse and in climate-controlled growth chambers. The long day consisted of 16 hours of light, followed by 8 hours of darkness; the light intensity was 80--160 µmol s^−1^ m^−2^. The short day-condition consisted of 8 hours of light and 16 hours of darkness, the light intensity was 100--150 µmol s^−1^ m^−2^; the temperature was ∼22°C. Approximately twelve plants per genotype were analyzed in each experiment. Standard error (SE) was measured. Experiment replications provided similar results. Flowering time was scored as the number of rosette leaves at flowering, or days to bolting, when the bolt was *ca.* 1 cm high. We thank Alon Samach and Fabio Fornara for critical comments and Amanda Davis for editing assistance. **Competing Interests:**The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. **Funding:**This work was supported in the SJD group by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DA1061/2-1), the German Israeli Project Cooperation (DIP project H 3.1), and from the Max Planck Society. MAD was supported by a fellowship within the IMPRS program. Funding in the FN group was supported by the grant OTKA 81399 and by a HHMI International Scholar Fellowship. The funders of this work had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. [^1]: Conceived and designed the experiments: MAD ES FN SJD. Performed the experiments: MAD ES. Analyzed the data: MAD ES FN SJD. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: MAD ES FN. Wrote the paper: MAD ES FN SJD. [^2]: Current address: Department of Biology, University of York, York, United Kingdom [^3]: Current address: Marie Curie Memorial Cancer Center, Warsaw, Poland

Introduction {#s1} ============ The polyclonal structure of *Escherichia coli* from clinical and commensal human isolates, and from environmental isolates has clearly been shown by studies recently carried out in the Netherlands (clinical and commensal human isolates and chicken meat isolates), England (clinical isolates) and France (clinical and commensal isolates) on the basis of sequence types (ST) [@pone.0072191-Brisse1]--[@pone.0072191-Overdevest1]. However, some *E. coli* lineages were identified as predominant in the five above cited studies independent of the source of the isolate or the production of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL). In particular, *E. coli* ST131 was predominant among the clinical and commensal human isolates, producers of ESBL or not. In contrast, it was not identified in ESBL-producing *E. coli* isolated from chicken meat in the Netherlands. The absence of clone ST131 has also been confirmed recently in Spain among the *E. coli* isolates contaminating raw chicken meat [@pone.0072191-Egea1] although another previous Spanish study had found that 7% of retail chicken samples were contaminated by *E. coli* ST131 [@pone.0072191-Mora1]. Vincent *et al*. also had identified *E. coli* ST131 from retail chicken samples in Canada but at a significant lower prevalence (0.4%) than in Spain [@pone.0072191-Vincent1]. In contrast, isolates of ST10, comprising ESBL and non-ESBL producers, were frequent both among the clinical and commensal human isolates as well as among the meat isolates [@pone.0072191-Brisse1], [@pone.0072191-Gibreel1], [@pone.0072191-NicolasChanoine1], [@pone.0072191-Overdevest1], [@pone.0072191-Vincent1]. As shown by the Dutch, Canadian and French studies, the recognized avian pathogenic *E. coli* ST117 was another predominant lineage among the clinical and meat isolates [@pone.0072191-Brisse1], [@pone.0072191-Overdevest1], [@pone.0072191-Mora2]. On the other hand, although CTX-M-15 was shown to be the predominant CTX-M enzyme (46%) among the French clinical isolates, it should be stressed that CTX-M-1 was the only ESBL found in the ST117 clinical isolates in France and was the predominant ESBL found among the ST117 meat isolates in the Netherlands [@pone.0072191-Brisse1], [@pone.0072191-Overdevest1]. These reports suggest that epidemiological differences exist between CTX-M-producing strains of ST131 and non-ST131 clones. Therefore, we sought to analyse characteristics associated with CTX-M-producing *E. coli* ST131 isolated from clinical samples by performing a sub-population analysis of data collected during a case-control study carried out from November 2008 to June 2009 to determine factors independently associated with a clinical sample positive for a CTX-M-producing *E. coli* isolate in ten hospitals of the Paris area [@pone.0072191-NicolasChanoine2]. The analysis of the population structure of CTX-M-producing *E. coli* and non-ESBL-producing *E. coli* isolates which was performed in addition to the case-control study, was also used as a basis for the present study [@pone.0072191-Brisse1]. Materials and Methods {#s2} ===================== Ethics Statement {#s2a} ---------------- Written informed consent was obtained from all adult participants and from parents for child participants. The study and the consent procedure were approved by the Ethics Committee of the Groupe Hospitalier Universitaire Nord (Institutional review board N°IRB00006477). Study Design and Participants {#s2b} ----------------------------- All consecutive inpatients with a clinical sample positive for CTX-M-producing *E. coli* and considered as cases in a previous 8-month (2008--2009) case-control study performed in ten university hospitals in the Paris area were included in the present sub-population study [@pone.0072191-NicolasChanoine2]. Patients with a clinical sample positive for CTX-M-producing ST131 *E. coli* (n = 55) were compared with those with a clinical sample positive for CTX-M-producing non-ST131 *E. coli* (n = 97) with regard to 66 characteristics collected during the case-control study, including basic demographic data, patient's lifestyle (housing, travel abroad, diet, pet, sport practice...), medical history (hospitalisation and invasive devices in the preceding six months, antibiotic in the preceding month, co-morbidity...) and data on the current hospitalisation (hospitalisation wards**,** invasive devices, antibiotic regimens ...). The 97 non-ST131 *E. coli* isolates displayed 51 ST types of which 38 were displayed by a single isolate and 13 by several isolates: 14 isolates for ST10, 7 for ST167 and ST648, 4 for ST88 and ST410, 3 for ST38, ST93, ST117, ST354, ST405, ST617 and ST1284 and 2 for ST44 [@pone.0072191-Brisse1]. Statistical Analysis {#s2c} -------------------- Variables were first compared using univariate logistic regression and odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated. We next used a multivariate analysis using a backward selection with variables with p-value \<0.1 in univariate analysis. P-values were assessed at the 0.05 level. All statistical analyses were performed with SAS software, version 9.3 (SAS Institute, Cary, North Carolina). Results {#s3} ======= A total of 55 patients with a CTX-M-producing ST131 *E. coli* clinical isolate were compared to 97 patients with a CTX-M-producing non-ST131 *E. coli* clinical isolate with regard to the 66 variables studied ([Tables 1](#pone-0072191-t001){ref-type="table"}, [2](#pone-0072191-t002){ref-type="table"} and [3](#pone-0072191-t003){ref-type="table"}). In univariate analysis, patients harbouring *E. coli* ST131 were more likely than those harbouring non-ST131 *E. coli* to be aged [\>]{.ul}65 years (OR = 2.2; 95% CI = 1.1--4.3) and [\>]{.ul}80 years (OR = 3.8; 95% CI = 1.8--7.7) ([Table 1](#pone-0072191-t001){ref-type="table"}). Among factors focusing on patient's lifestyle ([Table 1](#pone-0072191-t001){ref-type="table"}), living in collective housing (OR = 3.9; 95% CI = 1.6--9.3) and being functionally dependent before hospitalisation (OR = 4.3; 95% CI = 2.1--8.8) were significantly associated with a ST131 *E. coli* clinical isolate. On the opposite, consumption of poultry at least twice a week was inversely associated with a ST131 *E. coli* clinical isolate (OR = 0.3; 95% CI = 0.1--0.7) ([Table 1](#pone-0072191-t001){ref-type="table"}). Patients with a ST131 *E. coli* clinical isolate were more likely than others to have been in long term care facilities (LTCF) between admission and study inclusion (OR = 2.8; 95% CI = 1.2--6.3), and to have a urinary tract infection during the current hospitalisation (OR = 2.2; 95% CI = 1.0--4.6) ([Table 3](#pone-0072191-t003){ref-type="table"}). On the opposite, patients with a ST131 *E. coli* clinical isolate were less likely to have surgery in the last month (OR = 0.4; 95% CI = 0.2--0.9) ([Table 2](#pone-0072191-t002){ref-type="table"}), to have been in intensive care unit (ICU) (OR = 0.3; 95% IC = 0.1--0.9), and to have invasive devices within the week prior inclusion (OR = 0.2; 95% CI = 0.1--0.5), notably a urinary catheter (OR = 0.3; 95% CI = 0.1--0.6), and intravascular devices (OR = 0.2; 95% CI = 0.1--0.5) ([Table 3](#pone-0072191-t003){ref-type="table"}). 10.1371/journal.pone.0072191.t001 ###### Univariate and multivariate analyses of demographic and lifestyle factors associated with a CTX-M-producing ST131 or non-ST131 *E. coli* clinical isolate. {#pone-0072191-t001-1} Univariate analysis Multivariate analysis ----------------------------------------------- --------------------- ----------------------- ----------------- ---------- ---------------- ------- *Demographic data* Age (mean ± SD) in years 70.2±25.8 60.5±24.0 1.0 (1.0--1.0) 0.02 Age \<15 years 3 (5.4) 6 (6.2) 0.9 (0.2--3.6) 0.8 Age ≥ 65 years 37 (67.3) 47 (48.5) 2.2 (1.1--4.3) 0.03 Age ≥80 years 28 (50.9) 21 (21.7) 3.8 (1.8--7.7) 0.0003 Female 41 (74.6) 58 (59.8) 2.0 (1.0--4.1) 0.07 Country of birth outside of Europe 15 (27.3) 36 (37.1) 0.6 (0.3--1.3) 0.2 Living in a country outside of Europe 1 (1.8) 10 (10.3) 0.2 (0.02--1.3) 0.09 *Lifestyle* Collective housing 17 (30.9) 10 (10.3) 3.9 (1.6--9.3) 0.002 Individual housing (\>2 household members) 11 (20.0) 33 (34.0) 0.5 (0.2--1.1) 0.07 Live alone 13 (23.6) 21 (21.7) 1.1 (0.5--2.5) 0.8 Functionally dependent before hospitalisation 29 (52.7) 20 (20.6) 4.3 (2.1--8.8) \<0.0001 Patients not working 43 (78.2) 64 (66.0) 1.8 (0.9--4.0) 0.12 Retired patients 37 (67.3) 51 (52.6) 1.9 (0.9--3.7) 0.08 Consumption of: \- ≥7 raw vegetables/week 26 (68.4) 59 (69.4) 1.0 (0.4--2.2) 0.9 \- poultry ≥ twice a week 15 (39.5) 56 (66.7) 0.3 (0.1--0.7) 0.006 0.2 (0.1--0.6) 0.002 \- beef ≥ twice a week 21 (55.3) 57 (67.9) 0.6 (0.3--1.3) 0.2 Consumption of raw meat 9 (16.4) 28 (28.9) 0.5 (0.2--1.1) 0.09 Community meal 29 (52.7) 52 (53.6) 1.0 (0.5--1.9) 0.9 Practice of a sport 3 (5.5) 8 (8.3) 0.6 (0.2--2.5) 0.5 Pets or livestock 5 (9.1) 14 (14.4) 0.6 (0.2--1.7) 0.3 Travel abroad in the preceding 6 months 3 (5.5) 14 (14.4) 0.3 (0.09--1.2) 0.1 10.1371/journal.pone.0072191.t002 ###### Univariate and multivariate analyses of medical history-related factors associated with a CTX-M-producing ST131 or non-ST131 *E. coli* clinical isolate. {#pone-0072191-t002-2} Univariate analysis Multivariate analysis ------------------------------------------------------- --------------------- ----------------------- ----------------- ------ ---------------- ------ In the preceding 6 months \- hospitalised 34 (61.8) 63 (65.0) 0.9 (0.4--1.7) 0.7 \- hospitalised ≥10 days 19 (34.6) 42 (43.3) 0.7 (0.3--1.4) 0.3 \- hospitalised \<10 days 15 (27.3) 21 (21.7) 1.4 (0.6--2.9) 0.4 \- hospitalised outside of France 1 (1.8) 7 (7.2) 0.2 (0.03--2.0) 0.2 \- at least one invasive device 30 (54.6) 66 (68.0) 0.6 (0.3--1.1) 0.1 0.3 (0.1--0.7) 0.01 • urine drainage 16 (29.6) 31 (32.3) 0.9 (0.4--1.8) 0.7 • mechanical ventilation 3 (5.6) 10 (10.4) 0.5 (0.1--1.9) 0.3 • intravascular devices 29 (53.7) 62 (64.6) 0.6 (0.3--1.3) 0.2 • colonoscopy, endoscopy 9 (17.3) 28 (30.4) 0.5 (0.2--1.1) 0.09 Surgery during the last month 10 (18.2) 34 (35.4) 0.4 (0.2--0.9) 0.03 Prothesis within the last year 2 (3.7) 8 (8.3) 0.4 (0.09--2.1) 0.3 Antibiotic in the month preceding hospitalisation 16 (29.1) 37 (38.1) 0.7 (0.3--1.4) 0.3 \- cotrimoxazole 2 (3.6) 8 (8.3) 0.4 (0.09--2.1) 0.3 \- fluoroquinolones 4 (7.3) 7 (7.2) 1.0 (0.3--3.6) 1.0 \- extended spectrum cephalosporins 4 (7.3) 7 (7.2) 1.0 (0.3--3.6) 1.0 \- penicillins 6 (10.9) 11 (11.3) 1.0 (0.3--2.7) 0.9 \- ≥5 days 9 (16.4) 22 (22.7) 0.7 (0.3--1.6) 0.4 Nursing or physiotherapy before hospitalisation 9 (16.4) 17 (17.5) 0.9 (0.4--2.2) 0.9 At least one co-morbidity 33 (60.0) 57 (58.8) 1.1 (0.5--2.1) 0.9 \- recurrent urinary tract or chronic skin infections 18 (32.7) 21 (21.7) 1.8 (0.8--3.7) 0.1 \- obstructive bronchial pulmonary disease 2 (3.6) 5 (5.2) 0.7 (0.1--3.7) 0.7 \- cancer 10 (18.2) 27 (27.8) 0.6 (0.3--1.3) 0.2 \- diabetes 12 (21.8) 22 (22.7) 0.9 (0.4--2.1) 0.9 10.1371/journal.pone.0072191.t003 ###### Univariate and multivariate analyses of current hospitalisation-related factors associated with a CTX-M-producing ST131 or non-ST131 *E. coli* clinical isolate. {#pone-0072191-t003-3} Univariate analysis Multivariate analysis -------------------------------------------------------- --------------------- ----------------------- ----------------- ----------------------------------------- ----------------- ------ Transferred from another hospital 32 (25.5) 18 (18.6) 1.5 (0.7--3.3) 0.3 Mc Cabe score 2 11 (21.6) 23 (27.1) 0.7 (0.3--1.7) 0.5 Immunocompromised 15 (27.3) 36 (37.1) 0.6 (0.3--1.3) 0.2 Between admission and inclusion \- Ward • ICU 4 (7.3) 27 (27.8) 0.3 (0.1--0.9) 0.2 (0.05--0.8) 0.02 • LTCF 21 (38.2) 14 (14.4) 2.8 (1.2--6.3) 0.0009[\*](#nt102){ref-type="table-fn"} 4.4 (1.3--14.7) 0.02 • Others 30 (54.5) 56 (57.8) 1 1 \- Invasive device during the last week 33 (60.0) 84 (86.6) 0.2 (0.1--0.5) 0.0003 • urine drainage 11 (20.0) 45 (46.4) 0.3 (0.1--0.6) 0.002 • mechanical ventilation 5 (10.6) 19 (20.0) 0.5 (0.2--1.4) 0.2 • intravascular devices 31 (56.4) 81 (84.4) 0.2 (0.1--0.5) 0.0003 \- Antibiotic receipt 24 (43.6) 57 (58.8) 0.5 (0.3--1.1) 0.07 • cotrimoxazole 3 (5.5) 6 (6.2) 0.9 (0.2--3.6) 0.9 • fluoroquinolones 7 (12.7) 10 (10.3) 1.3 (0.5--3.5) 0.7 • penicillins 10 (18.2) 26 (26.8) 0.6 (0.3--1.4) 0.2 • extended spectrum cephalosporins 6 (10.9) 12 (12.4) 0.9 (0.3--2.5) 0.8 • aminoglycosides 2 (3.6) 11 (11.3) 0.3 (0.06--1.4) 0.1 • carbapenems 1 (1.8) 8 (8.3) 0.2 (0.03--1.7) 0.14 • ≥5 days 13 (23.6) 35 (36.1) 0.5 (0.3--1.2) 0.1 Specimen and infection data \- specimen sampled after 48 h of hospitalisation 35 (63.6) 51 (52.6) 1.6 (0.8--3.1) 0.2 \- specimen sampled after \>10 days of hospitalisation 21 (38.2) 35 (36.1) 1.1 (0.6--2.2) 0.8 \- urine sample 39 (70.9) 58 (59.8) 1.6 (0.8--3.3) 0.2 \- urinary tract infection 42 (76.4) 58 (59.8) 2.2 (1.0--4.6) 0.04 ICU; intensive care unit, LCTF; long term care facility, P value resulting from the analysis of the variable "ward" classified into 3 categories, *ie* ICU, LCTF and others. In multivariate analysis, only previous residence in LTCF (OR = 4.4; 95% CI = 1.3--14.7) remained positively associated with *E. coli* ST131 ([Table 3](#pone-0072191-t003){ref-type="table"}). However, consumption of poultry at least twice a week (OR = 0.2; 95% CI = 0.1--0.6) ([Table 1](#pone-0072191-t001){ref-type="table"}), having had at least one device in the preceding 6 months (OR = 0.3; 95% CI = 0.1--0.7) ([Table 2](#pone-0072191-t002){ref-type="table"}), and hospitalisation in ICU (OR = 0.2; 95% CI = 0.05--0.8) ([Table 3](#pone-0072191-t003){ref-type="table"}) were, independently, inversely associated with isolation of *E. coli* ST131 from clinical samples. Discussion {#s4} ========== *E. coli* ST131 has been shown to be a worldwide predominant clone among extra-intestinal pathogenic isolates but also among the human commensal flora [@pone.0072191-Gibreel1], [@pone.0072191-NicolasChanoine1], [@pone.0072191-NicolasChanoine2]--[@pone.0072191-Rogers1]. Interestingly, it was found to be almost the only lineage among clinical isolates of group B2 *E. coli* that produced CTX-M enzymes [@pone.0072191-Brisse1]. It displayed a higher ability to colonize the digestive tract and a lower level of virulence in various animal models in comparison with reference group B2 urinary pathogenic *E. coli* strains (CFT053, J536 and HT7) [@pone.0072191-Johnson2]--[@pone.0072191-Vimont1]. Therefore, better knowing the epidemiology of clone ST131, which appears to be a very peculiar group B2 lineage, especially among isolates producing CTX-M enzymes, is of interest due to its worldwide success. The present prospective study investigated which factors among 66 studied were associated with those of ST131 *E. coli* clinical isolates that produce CTX-M enzymes. Among the various types of food products analysed, it was found, for the first time, that consumption of poultry meat at least twice a week is a factor inversely associated with isolation of a CTX-M-producing ST131 *E. coli* clinical isolate among the CTX-M-producing *E. coli* clinical isolates. In other words, it means that consumption of poultry meat was associated with isolation of CTX-M-producing *E. coli* that did not belong to ST131. This finding is of importance with regard to the debate on the potential food-borne source of *E. coli* ST131, notably those producing CTX-M enzymes [@pone.0072191-Vincent1], [@pone.0072191-Manges1]. Poultry meat was suggested as a source of *E. coli* ST131 on the basis of two studies published in 2010 because *E. coli* ST131 has been isolated from poultry meat samples [@pone.0072191-Mora1], [@pone.0072191-Vincent1]. The most recent studies conducted in the Netherlands and in Spain challenged this hypothesis as they failed to isolate CTX-M-producing *E coli* ST131 from chicken meat samples [@pone.0072191-Kluytmans1], [@pone.0072191-Egea1]. Overall, the results of our study are in accordance with the fact that *E. coli* ST131 has not been identified among ESBL-producing *E. coli* isolated from retail chicken meat on the contrary to other lineage [@pone.0072191-Kluytmans1], [@pone.0072191-Overdevest1], [@pone.0072191-Egea1], [@pone.0072191-Dhanji1]. Although, there are very few studies on the population structure of ESBL-producing *E. coli* isolates from poultry meat, it is noteworthy that, among the CTX-M-producing non ST131 *E. coli* clinical isolates, some dominant clonal groups (ST10, ST117 and ST354) are commonly identified from chicken meat [@pone.0072191-Kluytmans1], [@pone.0072191-Vincent1], [@pone.0072191-CohenStuart1]. Interestingly, ST167 and ST648, the two highest dominant clonal groups after ST10 among the CTX-M-producing non-ST131 *E. coli* clinical isolates had been identified among ESBL-producing *E. coli* isolates from Spanish poultry farms and from birds of prey from Germany and Mongolia [@pone.0072191-Cortes1], [@pone.0072191-Guenther1]. In summary, the dominant non-ST131 clonal groups in our population are clonal groups commonly identified in avian populations. The only factor positively associated with isolation of CTX-M-producing *E. coli* ST131 from clinical samples was residence in LTCF before inclusion in the study. Rooney *et al*. showed that a high proportion of people living in such settings in England had digestive tract colonization with ESBL-producing *E. coli* ST131 [@pone.0072191-Rooney1]. Of note, the first identification of CTX-M-15-producing *E. coli* ST131 in France was achieved from patients in LTCFs [@pone.0072191-KassisChikhani1], [@pone.0072191-LeflonGuibout1]. More recently, Banerjee et al. conducted a retrospective study in all healthcare settings in Olmsted County (Minnesota) and found that LTCF residence was a factor independently associated with *E. coli* ST131 [@pone.0072191-Banerjee1]. Overall, three studies conducted in three different developed countries have found a link between LTCF residence and *E. coli* ST131. This might suggest that human cross-transmission is a key factor in the dissemination of CTX-M-producing *E. coli* ST131. Although the proportion of hospital-acquired (isolation after 48 h of hospitalisation) CTX-M-producing ST131 and non-ST131 *E. coli* isolates was high and not significantly different (63.6% *vs* 56.2%: P = 0.2) and the patients infected by either *E. coli* ST131 or *E. coli* non-ST131 did not differ with regard to Mac Cabe score, we found that presence of invasive devices in the preceding six months and stay in ICU before study inclusion were inversely associated with isolation of CTX-M-producing *E. coli* ST131. It suggests that isolation of CTX-M-producing non-ST131 *E. coli* from clinical samples is more likely to be healthcare-related. Such results seem to be in contradiction with those obtained by Banerjee *et al*. [@pone.0072191-Banerjee1]. Indeed, they found that *E. coli* ST131 is linked to healthcare and hospital acquisition. However, we noted that this link was identified by Banerjee *et al* in the univariate and not in the multivariate analysis that they carried out. Finally, we were not able to link travel abroad, notably in Africa and India, to isolation of CTX-M-producing *E. coli* ST131 from clinical samples probably because of the lack of power regarding this association in our study [@pone.0072191-Peirano1]. In conclusion, this study provides more insight into the epidemiological features of ST131 and non-ST131 *E. coli* producing CTX-M enzymes. It shows, for the first time, that isolation of CTX-M-producing *E. coli* ST131 from clinical samples was not linked to consumption of specific foods and confirms that residence in long term care facilities is linked to these isolates. Further studies are required to know whether our results are also relevant for *E. coli* ST131 not producing CTX-M enzymes. Coli β study group: Anani Akpabie (Hôpital Emile Roux, AP-HP, Limeil Brévannes, France), Catherine Doit (Hôpital Robert Debré, AP-HP, Paris, France), Salah Gallah (Hôpital Charles Foix, AP-HP, Ivry, France), Najiby Kassis-Chikhani (Hôpital Paul Brousse, AP-HP, Villejuif, France), Béatrice Larroque (Hôpital Beaujon, AP-HP, Clichy, France), Véronique Leflon-Guibout (Hôpital Beaujon, AP-HP, Clichy, France), Estelle Marcon (Hôpital Beaujon, AP-HP, Clichy, France), Didier Moissenet (Hôpital Tousseau, AP-HP, Paris, France), Isabelle Podglajen (Hôpital Georges Pompidou, AP-HP, Paris, France), Charlotte Verdet (Hôpital Tenon, AP-HP, Paris, France), Corine Vincent (Université D Diderot, Paris, France), and Jean-Ralph Zahar (Hôpital Necker, AP-HP, Paris, France). [^1]: ^¶^ Membership of the Coli β study group is provided in the Acknowledgments. [^2]: **Competing Interests:**The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. [^3]: Conceived and designed the experiments: MHNC VJ FM. Performed the experiments: MHNC SB. Analyzed the data: MV CL FM MHNC JR. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: MHNC SB. Wrote the paper: MHNC JR VJ SB CL.

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Vehicles include seatbelts for each of the seats onboard. The seatbelt includes webbing that, when the seatbelt is buckled, stretches across an occupant of the seat. An anchor attaches one end of the webbing to a seat frame. The other end of the webbing feeds into a retractor, which includes a spool that pays out and retracts the webbing. A tongue slides freely along the webbing and, when engaged with a buckle, divides the webbing into a lap band and a shoulder band. The seatbelt is typically a three-point harness, meaning that the webbing is attached at three points around the occupant when fastened: the anchor, the retractor, and the buckle.

TheMarket for Lemons and the Price of Dishonesty The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics was awarded thisyear to three economists: George Akerlof, Joseph Stiglitz and Michael Spence,who made significant contributions to modeling markets with information asymmetry.In many cases in a given market sellers or buyers may have exclusiveinformation that is not available to the counter party. The best-known examplecomes from the [paper by Akerlof, The Market for "Lemons": QualityUncertainty and the Market Mechanism, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 84,(1970), pages 488-500. An owner of a used car can form a good idea of the qualityof his vehicle. He has much better information if his car is a lemon. As bothgood and bad used car have to sell at the same price - it is impossible for anaverage buyer to distinguish between good and bad merchandise - they sellers ofgood used cars are driven out of the market. Most traded used cars will belemons. Of course, there are ways to mitigate the problem: an owner of a goodused car may send signal to the buyer by offering him a guarantee or absorbingthe cost of inspection. Hiring is a similardecision. As Michael Spence wrote in his paper Job Market Signaling,Quarterly Journal of Economics, 87, (1973), pages 355 - 374, to hire somebodyis frequently to purchase a lottery ticket. The employer cannot directlyobserve the productivity of a potential hire. "What he does observe is aplethora of personal data in the form of observable characteristics andattributes of the individual, and it is these that must ultimately determinehis assessment of the lottery he is buying." The observable characteristics of an individual may be immutable (raceand, generally, sex) but in some cases certain attributes are alterable. A candidatecan modify such characteristics as education and job history. Some economistssay, tongue-in-cheek, that some candidates who attended top schools and spentmany painful hours studying useless subjects signal their willingness to dowhatever it takes to succeed. Another way to send a signal about one's qualityis to find a job with a top firm at the beginning of one's career and tosucceed in this firm before moving on. This provides a useful lesson to anybodywho plans to be in the labor market at some points in his or her life: thereputation of the current employer is critical to future employmentopportunities and should be defended at any cost. Honesty, at the end of theday, is an imperative dictated as much by morality as by one's self interest. - The Market for Lemons and the Price of Dishonesty.doc - The Market for Lemons and the Price of Dishonesty.doc

Up to this now, any pointers on the easiest way to get them? Already have wood elf and dark elf. I found mine doing random side quests. I just put it on the backburner and finally got them all. You can get a Falmer in Blackreach since you've been there already. Otherwise here is a list someone put together: There's also supposed to be a house that has blood samples for each race except High Elf. I think someone said it was M'Qiar the Liars house. I found it, but I forget where. I think it was north/northeast of Markarth. Location: highway jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive Posts: 33,871 Points: 2,148 Re: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Discussion Thread I see how that is better but at the same time not upset I chose the armor with magic & poison resistance over it. Once I can upgrade enchanted armors I see that as being the better trade off as i've been using Light Armor anyways. Also i've seen more glitches in Skyrim so far than Fallout 3 or New Vegas. None of it is gamebreaking though like the mysterious flying shovel or the Mammoth standing on the other mammoth. You need to be in the Tower of Mzark, it's in the opposite end of Blackreach. Then the puzzle is (right two pillars) left left, right right left right if I remember right. Then the 2nd one from the left lights up, just keep moving it until the very left one lights up. Move that one until you get the mission update or the lexicon starts glowing. Now good luck finding all the blood. Yeah, I just googled the answer last night. Not wsure how anyone would be able to figure that out on their own. Quote: Edit: lol at all this "I killed a giant!" talk. I can just sit there while two mammoths and two giants hack away at me and still tank those fuckers. Like I said... Apparently there's a bug in the PS3 version that fucks with save files once they get to around 6 megs. I'm at about 5 and a half right now. If they screw me on this I will murder someone's family. Played this for about eighteen hours in total now (I don't think I've ever managed that much with a game in the space of one week) and I've been to TWO cities. Just about made it to Riften or whatever it's called on my travels, so that'll make three cities in twenty hours. I will never finish this game. Getting to become a werewolf in the Companions quest line was pretty cool. And I participated in my first dragon/giant/mammoth deathmatch earlier. Well, they all fought while I got to high ground and pinged arrows. I thought I was about ready to tackle a giant on my own, but after the giant and mammoth fucked up two dragons I think I'll hold off on it.

Intravenous versus nebulized ceftazidime in ventilated piglets with and without experimental bronchopneumonia: comparative effects of helium and nitrogen. Lung deposition of intravenous cephalosporins is low. The lung deposition of equivalent doses of ceftazidime administered either intravenously or by ultrasonic nebulization using either nitrogen-oxygen or helium-oxygen as the carrying gas of the aerosol was compared in ventilated piglets with and without experimental bronchopneumonia. Five piglets with noninfected lungs and 5 piglets with Pseudomonas aeruginosa experimental bronchopneumonia received 33 mg/kg ceftazidime intravenously. Ten piglets with noninfected lungs and 10 others with experimental P. aeruginosa bronchopneumonia received 50 mg/kg ceftazidime by ultrasonic nebulization. In each group, the ventilator was operated in half of the animals with a 65%/35% helium-oxygen or nitrogen-oxygen mixture. Animals were killed, and multiple lung specimens were sampled for measuring ceftazidime lung tissue concentrations by high-performance liquid chromatography. As compared with intravenous administration, nebulization of ceftazidime significantly increased lung tissue concentrations (17 +/- 13 vs. 383 +/- 84 microg/g in noninfected piglets and 10 +/- 3 vs. 129 +/- 108 microg/g in piglets with experimental bronchopneumonia; P < 0.001). The use of a 65%/35% helium-oxygen mixture induced a 33% additional increase in lung tissue concentrations in noninfected piglets (576 +/- 141 microg/g; P < 0.001) and no significant change in infected piglets (111 +/- 104 microg/g). Nebulization of ceftazidime induced a 5- to 30-fold increase in lung tissue concentrations as compared with intravenous administration. Using a helium-oxygen mixture as the carrying gas of the aerosol induced a substantial additional increase in lung deposition in noninfected piglets but not in piglets with experimental bronchopneumonia.

All I Have To Do Chords WWW.AZCHORDS.COM | Everly Brothers - All I Have To Do Chords - AZ Chords "All I Have To Do Is Dream" (Boudleaux Bryant) Intro: E (arpeggiated electric guitar w/tremolo) E C#m A B Dre-e-e-e-eam dream dream dream E C#m A B Dre-e-e-e-eam dream dream dream Verse 1: E C#m A B When I want you in my arms E C#m A B When I want you and all your charms E C#m A B Whenever I want you all I have to do E C#m A B Is dre-e-e-e-eam dream dream dream Verse 2: When I feel blue in the night And I need you to hold me tight Whenever I want you all I have to do E A E E7 Is dream Bridge: A I can make you mine G#m Taste your lips of wine F#m B7 E E7 Anytime night or day A G#m Only trouble is gee whiz F#7 B7 I'm dreaming my life away Verse 3: I need you so that I could die I love you so and that is why Whenever I want you all I have to do E C#m A B Is dre-e-e-e-eam dream dream dream [2rd repeat: to coda] E A E E7 Dre-e-e-e-ee-e-eam [repeat bridge] [repeat verse 3] Coda [repeat to fade]: E C#m A B Dre-e-e-e-eam dream dream dream -- another ace 50's tab from Andrew Rogers ↑ Back to top | Tablatures and chords for acoustic guitar and electric guitar, ukulele, drums are parodies/interpretations of the original songs. You may use it for private study, scholarship, research or language learning purposes only

Q: Using iteration in XSLT I have a following XSLT: <xsl:template match="@*|node()"> <xsl:copy> <xsl:apply-templates select="@*|node()"/> </xsl:copy> </xsl:template> <xsl:template match="node()[child::node() [contains(@Source, 'filename1') or contains(@Source, 'filename2')]]" /> Can anybody advice me how I can use a parameter or variable instead of "filename1" and "filename2" to loop through filemanes? How can the second template be rewritten (perhaps, with adding a new template?) to use an inline xsl, such as <xsl:variable name="FileName"> <name>filename1</name> <name>filename2</name> </xsl:variable> Thanks in advance, Leo A: I. XSLT 1.0 solution (this is easier to do with XSLT 2.0): <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:my="my:my"> <xsl:output omit-xml-declaration="yes" indent="yes"/> <xsl:strip-space elements="*"/> <my:fileNames> <f>filename1</f> <f>filename2</f> </my:fileNames> <xsl:variable name="vFilenames" select="document('')/*/my:fileNames/*"/> <xsl:template match="node()|@*" name="identity" priority="-1"> <xsl:copy> <xsl:apply-templates select="node()|@*"/> </xsl:copy> </xsl:template> <xsl:template match="node()"> <xsl:variable name="vCur" select="."/> <xsl:variable name="vHit"> <xsl:for-each select="$vFilenames"> <xsl:if test= "$vCur/node()[contains(@Source, current())]">1</xsl:if> </xsl:for-each> </xsl:variable> <xsl:choose> <xsl:when test="not(string-length($vHit))"> <xsl:call-template name="identity"/> </xsl:when> </xsl:choose> </xsl:template> </xsl:stylesheet> when applied on this XML document (when will you, people, learn to provide your source XML???): <t> <tt> <x> <y/> </x> <mm> <z Source="filename1"> <u/> <v/> </z> </mm> <rr> <m Source="filename2"> <u/> <v/> </m> </rr> <v-v> <p Source="filename3"> <u/> <v/> </p> </v-v> </tt> </t> produces the wanted, correct result: <t> <tt> <x> <y/> </x> <v-v> <p Source="filename3"> <u/> <v/> </p> </v-v> </tt> </t> II. XSLT 2.0 solution: <xsl:stylesheet version="2.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"> <xsl:output omit-xml-declaration="yes" indent="yes"/> <xsl:strip-space elements="*"/> <xsl:param name="pFileNames"> <f>filename1</f> <f>filename2</f> </xsl:param> <xsl:template match="node()|@*"> <xsl:copy> <xsl:apply-templates select="node()|@*"/> </xsl:copy> </xsl:template> <xsl:template match= "node()[node() [some $fn in $pFileNames/f satisfies contains(@Source, $fn) ] ]"/> </xsl:stylesheet> when this transformation is applied on the same XML document (as above), the same correct result is produced: <t> <tt> <x> <y/> </x> <v-v> <p Source="filename3"> <u/> <v/> </p> </v-v> </tt> </t>

Q: What is the structure of $S$? Suppose we define an equivalence relation on $\mathbb R$ by $aRb$ iff $\{a\}=\{b\}$ for $a,b\in\mathbb R$. Here $\{.\}$ defines the fractional part. In other words, $aRb$ iff $a-b\in\mathbb Z$. Suppose $S$ is the collection of all equivalence classes defined by this equivalence relation. What is the structure of $S$? So the way I proceeded is: Suppose $\bar{a}$ is the equivalence class for $a\in\mathbb R$. Then, $\bar{a}$ is the set of all real numbers located at integer distances from $a$. So $\bar{a}$ is a set of equidistant points (if we try to represent $\bar{a}$ graphically). The same is true for $\bar{b}$ for any other $b\in \mathbb R$. Every such equivalence class consists of a sequence of equidistant points. So the collection $S$ of these equivalence classes will be the entire real line! But our professor drew $S$ as a circle containing all elements from $0$ to $1$ on the circumference, with $0$ and $1$ being the identical point on the circumference. He further hinted that we need to consider the function $z\mapsto e^{2\pi zi}$ for $z\in\mathbb R$. I don't understand this. A: Hint. Name $T$ the equivalence relation. And define $$ \begin{array}{l|rcl} \varphi : & \mathbb R & \longrightarrow & \mathbb U\\ & t & \longmapsto & e^{2i\pi t} \end{array}$$ You know that $\varphi$ is surjective. Now you will be able to prove that the inverse image of $z \in \mathbb U$ by $\varphi$ is an equivalence class of the equivalence relation $T$. This proves that $\varphi$ induces a bijection $\overline{\varphi}$ between $S$ and $\mathbb U$. Which is exactly what your professor mentionned.

Elder Gallery Episode 101: Today I talk to Sonya Pfeiffer of the Elder Gallery in Charlotte, NC. We talk about the Transparency exhibition which features the work of North Carolina-based glass artists David Patchen, Alex Bernstein, Brent Skidmore, Mark Leputa, Linda Luise Brown and Chris Watts. It goes from January 11 until March 19, 2009. Episode 53: Today I chat with Larry Elder. I find out what he’s been up to since we last spoke. He’s since sold his gallery to focus on the business of consulting. Apologies for the noise. We were competing with sound on both ends. I’ve included a transcript of the first part to hopefully make up for it. L: When I sold the gallery, I bought this collection…did I mention that to you before? B: Umm. I was looking…I was trying to remember. I don’t think so. I was going to ask you…What is your connection to… L: This collection: all this work is done by an artist who died in 2009. His name was Carl Plansky. And…sit tight…I’ll show you. I represented him for a number of years, but then he had a heart attack and died. He lived in New York City, and had another studio in upstate New York. He painted with the big guys and was the young kid on the block. He moved to New York when he was nineteen. He studied at the New York Studio School where he met some famous artists including Joan Mitchell, the famous abstract expressionist. He knew the De Koonings, Grace Hartigan…and he became friends with, especially Joan. He would travel to France where she had her studio and would paint with her. A lot of these paintings I have were painted with her in her studio. So after he died I bought all his estate which was over a thousand pieces. Those drawers there are filled with pieces like this one on the floor behind me, works on paper, and those back on the wall over there, the one on the floor. All the paintings you see back in through there: all those big ones, all those tall ones, those are paintings that he did. He was pretty well known because he manufactured oil paint for artists…Williamsburg oil paint was his company. Through this business he was able to sustain himself in a very nice fashion. Great paint. All the big names used his oil paints and so he was high quality, but he really loved painting. He commented often that he was very fortunate that he could have access to all the paint that he needed. The paintings you see here show the large amounts of oil paint that he used in his work. He would trade paint for canvases, brushes and other art supplies. My job now is is to locate appropriate resellers for the collection like Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art; they’re going to be a reseller for the collection and I have a reseller in Charleston. I’m working with an art consultant in New York who is introducing me to some gallery owners and art consultants in that area which is really where I think his work will be well-received. I’ve developed a website, CarlPlansky.com, and have just published a new catalogue. I’m doing research for a coffee table book of his work that I hope to have published. I’ve just gotten from his sister a whole stack of photographs of him when he was traveling to France with Joan Mitchell and letters from Joan Mitchell, Grace Hartigan and other artist friends. This is great for me and the collection. I’ve got a lot of work to do but it’s great fun. You said you were representing him before at the Elder Gallery. How did you get connected to him? After I opened the gallery in 2001, my wife and I would to travel to New York and other places to see what other established galleries were showing. On one of our trips we walked into the Fuller Building in NYC which was loaded with art galleries. You could enter the elevator, push any floor and you would just walk out to a floor with a number of art galleries. One such gallery was the Fishbach Gallery where we happened to see a one man show for Plansky. We were looking around and thinking, Wow! This is cool stuff. Hadn’t seen anything like that. They had a postcard on the front desk which I took to add to a file of New York art galleries or art in New York. About two years later, I was thinking, ok, I need to get my plan for next year so I started flipping through the file and I found this postcard and I thought, oh I remember that. I wonder if I could get him to show here…Fat chance. But I tracked him down. Found where he lived. Left him a voicemail and he returned my phone call. I explained what I was doing and he said, “hmmm. I never really shown in the southeast.” I said, “Well would you like to?” He said, “Yeah, I could think about that.” I said, “Well, I’d love to give it a try here.” He said, “Well, what do you want to do?” I said, “I’d like to have some of your work, on consignment to do a market test. And that started the whole process. He got in a truck and drove down with a truckload…when I say truckload…20 paintings for me to chose from. Of course I took most of them and that was the beginning. I introduced him to the market here and developed a really nice following And that was 2001? That was probably 2004. I have been successful in placing one of his large painting in the Mint Museum’s permanent collection. A number of the museums have some of his work which is really important as you’re developing a brand name for this artist. So, that’s what I’ve been doing. That’s awesome! That’s really cool! It’s a lot of fun. Plus I love the work, personally and it resonates with me. I just love watching people come in and see this big painting here. You just kind of get lost in it. It’s on West Trade street, so where Trade and Tryon meet at the main intersection. If you turn left onto West Trade. It’s one block down on the left. Charlotte First Pres church is on the right, across from this building…Morton’s steakhouse is in the lobby. The lobby of the building was designed to be an art gallery and I have an agreement with the owners to curate exhibitions for that space. It’s really a beautiful building. You should go there sometime. It’s open daily and you can visit up until 10 o’clock at night. The Arts and Science Council is a tenant in the building. John Tinguely kinetic sculpture is located in the lobby. So I installed a show of his work this past Saturday and it will be up for about four months. Well, yeah, I’ll have to stop by, for sure. So, it’s not really a whole lot different than….you’re still kind of running a gallery with Plansky’s stuff [and you run the Carillon gallery]. I saw that you do consulting and you do all these other kinds of services. But did you do these services at your other gallery? Yes, but it was more in a retail environment. Here, I guess you could say I’m more like a wholesaler, if you will. It’s probably a pretty bad analogy, but I was tied to being in a gallery when the doors were open since I was the operator of that business. Now I’m focused in on this one collection which doesn’t require retail hours. That’s why I set up other sellers because that’s what they do. My goal is to train them, make them knowledgeable on the collection and help create excitement for it. Through the collection they can add to their revenue from these sales. I would be like an artist to them for their stable of artists. I just provide them with art. Talk a little about the services you provide. When you’re consulting, do you try to steer people to buy these [Plansky paintings] or what kind of consulting do you do? Well, I’ve always been one who likes to listen to what people say and try to figure out what it is that they know, and what is it that they want to know, and what they want to accomplish. If I have a dialogue with someone who has expressed an interest in art, they may say I don’t know anything about art, I’m intimidated. My job is to try to make them feel comfortable with looking at art by recommending galleries and museums for them to visit. I try to make them aware of what constitutes good art and often suggest videos to introduce them to different types of art, art history, and things like that. My goal is to help them develop a better appreciation of art in both two-dimensional and three- dimensional formats. Afterwards I talk to them about what gets them excited and determine the style of art that they are most attracted to. Generally to start out with, it’s rare that you’ll find someone like that who’ll say, oh, I like total abstraction. They’re usually more into realism or impressionism. I try to encourage them to think about what speaks to them and to ask themself if they feel that this is something they would like to live with for many years. I don’t encourage people to buy for the sake of investment. unless you’re buying work by very well-known artists. The odds of you making a lot of money are pretty slim. I want people to look at it as What makes me happy? What gives me satisfaction when I’m looking at it. And if they choose to start a collection I can make suggestions of things for them to consider. In addition, I work with businesses which is really the bulk of the consultancy that I do. I’m generally brought in when a company moves into a new building or plans to make significant changes to their interiors. I can arrange to make recommendations for art, acquire the art, and install it. All this work will result in having an environment that they’re proud of and that their employees would be comfortable working in. It’s pretty straightforward. I feel that I have pretty good eye when it comes to art and interior design. I have a broad esthetic and I like a wide variety of work. I don’t pigeonhole myself nor do I want my clients to be pigeonholed into buying something only the work of one artist. To me that’s pretty boring. Yeah, same here. There are people who want to do that. So if that’s really where they want to go, then I’ll work with them in that regard. But I don’t encourage that. I have worked with clients who have work that they’d like to sell; maybe they’ve inherited artwork, or have something that doesn’t appeal to them any longer. I’ll place it on the secondary market and find a buyer for it. I have an affiliation with Campania Fine Moulding in Charlotte who do a superb job in framing different types of art. So it’s just all those things that, whatever it is that someone’s trying to get — be it an individual, or a corporation, I can work with them. All kinds of stuff. That’s really neat. I also saw that you do art rentals, I thought that was kind of cool. Actually, I was just speaking with someone about this program. I’m working with a company over at Southpark that rents art from me on a six-month basis. They purchased some a number of pieces but wanted some more significant pieces for their public spaces. They weren’t willing to spend the type of money required to have some really high-end pieces. We agreed on a six-month rental wherein they want to keep it for additional term or they can exchange those pieces for others to give the space a “new look.” So businesses do that mostly? Do people do it for their houses? I really don’t look for that. I think that could be an interesting thing to do, but it involves too much, for too little, when it comes to homeowners. Corporations see the value in that and I just never really explored it on a residential basis. Most residential customers prefer to purchase. I’ve worked with realtors before, where they were staging a property and need art on the walls. They realize that art can transform an interior and can heighten the possibility of selling the property. When corporations have you pick out art for them, is it basically just to convey their brand or the knowledge of art they want people to think that they have? It depends. I’ve found that law firms are notorious for having exquisite furnishings. In the past law firms would have mahogany furniture, leather chairs, law books, and things like that. Their art work was mostly traditional in style as well. But a lot of them have decided, That’s pretty stuffy. We want to come into the new century. So many have added modern furnishings, modern art, things of that nature, to convey a feeling of wealth and of being current in their practice. Another good example would be wealth management companies who want to impress current clients as well as prospective clients. A great way to do this is to have exceptional artwork on display throughout their offices. They’re no strangers to wealth. That’s right, yeah, no strangers to wealth, that’s a good way to put it. So yeah, it does convey a certain feel that they have. Some people want it to be warm and some people want it to be sleek. So there’s a lot of different things people want to convey. I also encourage companies to consider their employees when designing their interiors. They’re there every day. So give them something to look at, to get lost in sometimes, and to be proud of when they bring their family or their friends in. Or just to appreciate something that maybe they wouldn’t be able to see at home. They spend the bulk of their lives in an office or in a facility, so why not make it so it sets the tone for the company, for the management? Say, we’re investing in you. Silly as it may sound, having a beautiful environment for employees to work in says a lot about a company. So I try to encourage people to look at it that way. I was at this gallery talk at Anne Neilson’s this weekend, I guess, and I forget the artist’s name, but she was talking something about how sometimes when people buy a piece of art, when they bring it home, it just doesn’t work. They don’t care for it in their home. She even talked about something called synesthesia, where they get an alternate response. Like, they may “hear” a really vibrant painting, like that one Oh, I don’t know… I don’t know, she used this word and I never heard it before, but I thought it was cool Synesthesia? Synesthesia. I think that was the word that she used. I looked it up afterwards, but I forgot it. But it’s almost like you get a vibe from… It’s like if you look at that and you get like an auditory ringing in your ears. Auditory effect from visual stimulus. But not in a pleasant way. Not in a pleasant way. And I just wondered how common that was….Not that they would say that word or even know what it was. Just kind of like, Ok, I’ve had this in my house, it’s just kind of creepy, it’s following me around. That is creepy. I’ve never heard of it. Never heard of it? Never have. Doesn’t mean anything, but I’ve never known anyone to experience that. Well, I mean, not even that per se, but just kind of like say they came here and they liked that painting here, but then they brought it home and they were like, I’m not sure if I like it in my house…. Oh yeah, that happens. A lot of times when I was in the retail business, I would encourage people, if they liked it, but weren’t sure it was going to work. I’d encourage them to take it home, keep it for a couple of days and live with it, see how you feel. If it feels as good there as it did here, then that’s a good sign. Episode 40: Second careers and bringing fine art to new audiences. Brooke goes to the Elder Gallery in Charlotte, North Carolina, to talk with founder Larry Elder. After launching three successful dot-coms, Elder took a leap of faith in order to pursue his passion for fine art. The Elder Gallery is celebrating 15 years of serving experienced art buyers, art novices, and artists at all stages of their careers.

1. Field Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to a portable device, a display apparatus, a display system, and a method for controlling power of a display apparatus thereof, and more particularly, to a portable device, a display apparatus, a display system, and a method for controlling power of a display apparatus thereof, which can control power of the display apparatus using the portable device. 2. Description of the Related Art Various display apparatuses such as a digital television (TV), etc. have undergone rapid development in all aspect of the device such as the addition and improvement of many features as well as the quality of the image and sound produced by the apparatuses. Further, the TV has evolved, from an analogue TV through which users simply view broadcasts, into a digital TV through which users view and enjoy various content. As the TV has evolved into the digital TV, a booting time that is required to display a digital broadcast or perform a smart function (for example, a web browsing function, etc.) after the TV has been turned on is somewhat prolonged in comparison with the responsiveness of the analogue TV For example, in the case of the digital TV, the booting time that is taken when the TV is initially turned on is a time that is required every time that the TV is turned on. The entirety of the booting time is preserved by a user as time taken prior to reaching the intended feature so any time taken for booting is not a short time as experienced by the user who wishes to watch the TV promptly. Although the booting time has become shorter in recent years as the processor has been improved and S/W technology has been developed, there is a hardware limit.

Obits Archives Submit an Obit The first 25 words are free and then it is 75 cents per word. Photos are $25; double photos $35 (recent photo and photo from past). The obit daily deadline is 3 p.m. Major credit cards are accepted. Obits must be submitted from local funeral homes. If it is an out of town funeral home, crematory, or if the body was donated, the family may submit the obituary but the newspaper must have proof of death - a letter from the institution or a death certificate, for instance. Obits can be faxed to (423) 757-6674 or emailed to obits@timesfreepress.com. Please call (423) 757-6348 to confirm receipt and to make payment. Local Obits for Thu. Aug 02, 2012 BRIDGEPORT Grady Don Abbott, 81 a lifelong resident of Bridgeport, passed away peacefully at his home Tuesday, July 31, 2012, after a lengthy illness surrounded by his loving family.Don was the son of the Barbara Ann Cook, 70, of Chattanooga, passed away Thursday, July 26, 2012, in a Nashville hospital.Funeral service will be at noon Thursday at Olivet Baptist Church with Pastor Kevin L. Adams, Sr. officiating.Burial in Forest Leatrice Maeona Copeland, 87, a lifelong resident of Soddy-Daisy, passed away Monday, July 30, 2012, in an area healthcare facility.Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. today in the funeral home chapel with Rev. Clara Mae Cuzzort Ellison, 81, of Lookout Valley, entered into the gates of heaven for her eternal life on Monday, July 30, 2012, at Memorial Hospital after a long battle with Alzheimers.She was a native Harold Winston Gant, 65, of Red Bank, passed away Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012.He was actively involved in the Chattanooga area automotive industry for over 40 years.He was preceded in death by parents, Helen Peek and Rosaria P. Geraci, 101, of Chattanooga, formerly of New Orleans, passed away Tuesday, July 31, 2012, at a local healthcare facility.She was a loving and giving person who loved to cook for both her family James Edward Lewis, 88, of Chattanooga, passed away Thursday, July 26, 2012, in a local health care facility.Funeral at 12:30 p.m. today in the chapel of Taylor Funeral Home with Pastor J.W. Cole as the Peggy Evans Meador, of East Ridge died Sunday, July 29, 2012.Funeral services will be 1:30 p.m. Thursday Aug. 2, at the East Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home Burial will be in Chattanooga National Cemetery. The William Walton Muse, 65, of Chattanooga, passed away Friday, July 27, 2012, at his residence.He was a United States Army veteran. He was preceded in death by his father, John W. Muse and mother, Matilda Betty Jean OQuinn, 86, of Collegedale, passed away Tuesday, July 31, 2012.She was a wonderful wife and my best friend and is resting in Jesus until the resurrection. Betty, I am looking forward to meeting Ralph Payton passed away Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012, at his home in Red Bank.Funeral arrangements are incomplete; a full obituary will appear in Fridays Times-Free Press. Arrangements by the North Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral EVENSVILLE Leona Barger Porter, 80, died Tuesday, July 31, 2012.Funeral service are 11 a.m. Friday in the chapel of Vaughn Funeral Home.Interment in Porter Cemetery.Visitation is from 6 to 8 p.m. today at the Brent Marcel "Lil Money" Taylor, 23, of Chattanooga, passed away Sunday, July 29, 2012.He was employed by Volkswagon. He was also a member of Sin City Disciples, Chattanooga Chapter.He was preceded in death by his Georgia Muriel "Woody" White, 88, went to be with her Lord on Monday, July 30, 2012 at Memorial Hospice in Chattanooga.She was born April 24, 1924 in Bridgeport, Ala. Muriel was the youngest daughter of Melinda C. Whiteman, 60, of Lookout Mountain, died Tuesday, July 31, 2012.Arrangements will be announced by Covenant Funeral & Cremation Service, Crox family owned and operated, www.CovenantFuneral.com.

Trigonopterus kalimantanensis Trigonopterus kalimantanensis is a species of flightless weevil in the genus Trigonopterus from Indonesia. Etymology The specific name is derived from the Indonesian word for Borneo, Kalimantan. Description Individuals measure 2.35–2.65 mm in length. General coloration is a dark rust-color, with a black pronotum and light rust-colored antennae. Range The species is found around elevations of in Tanjung Redeb, part of the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan. Phylogeny T. kalimantanensis is part of the T. bornensis species group. References kalimantanensis Category:Beetles described in 2014 Category:Beetles of Asia Category:Insects of Indonesia Category:Endemic fauna of Indonesia Category:Endemic fauna of Borneo

While the majority of Bin Laden's story had been well-documented to this point, I could not help but pick out certain items that not only raised an eyebrow individually, but even more so as they began to pile up. The following are line-items quoted directly from the Times piece: "Osama - the name means "young lion." "He summoned reporters to a cave in Afghanistan when he needed to get his message out, but like the most controlling of C.E.O.'s he insisted on receiving written questions in advance." "The world's most threatening terrorist, he was also known to submit to frequent dressings down by his mother." "He created training camps for his foot soldiers, a media office to spread his word, and even "shuras," or councils, to approve his military plans and his fatwas. [...] Bin Laden had established new training camps in Sudan, but he became a man without a country" "Bin Laden would say in retrospect that he was always aware who his enemies were." "In an interview with Time magazine that December, he brushed aside President Clinton's threats against him, and referred to himself in the third person, as if recognizing or encouraging the notion that he had become larger than life." After tweeting several of the passages above, I know that I'm not alone in the eerily similar references. Obviously, under no circumstances do I feel that the two men in question (the other, you can decide for yourself) are even mentionable within the same frame of mind when it comes to being a person. But as a Clevelander, as a sports fan who also happens to be a contributing editor on this very blog, I felt that I would be remiss if I did not share them with you all.

Yolk hydrolases in the eggs of Anticarsia gemmatalis hubner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae): a role for inorganic polyphosphate towards yolk mobilization. Despite being the main insect pest on soybean crops in the Americas, very few studies have approached the general biology of the lepidopteran Anticarsia gemmatalis and there is a paucity of studies with embryo formation and yolk mobilization in this species. In the present work, we identified an acid phosphatase activity in the eggs of A. gemmatalis (agAP) that we further characterized by means of biochemistry and cell biology experiments. By testing several candidate substrates, this enzyme proved chiefly active with phosphotyrosine; in vitro assays suggested a link between agAP activity and dephosphorylation of egg yolk phosphotyrosine. We also detected strong activity with endogenous and exogenous short chain polyphosphates (PolyP), which are polymers of phosphate residues involved in a number of physiological processes. Both agAP activity and PolyP were shown to initially concentrate in small vesicles clearly distinct from typically larger yolk granules, suggesting subcellular compartmentalization. As PolyP has been implicated in inhibition of yolk proteases, we performed in vitro enzymatic assays with a cysteine protease to test whether it would be inhibited by PolyP. This cysteine protease is prominent in Anticarsia egg homogenates. Accordingly, short chain PolyP was a potent inhibitor of cysteine protease. We thereby suggest that PolyP hydrolysis by agAP is a triggering mechanism of yolk mobilization in A. gemmatalis.

Q: Grunt set option for task and run that task using new value I have Grunt build automation added in my project. I have created one custom task which sets a variable for other task and now I want to run the task using the value I set. grunt.registerTask('dist-flow', function () { if (!grunt.option('env')) { grunt.option('env', 'prod'); console.log(grunt.option('env')); } grunt.registerTask('dist',['dev_prod_switch']); grunt.task.run('distdev'); }); But whenever I run the dist-flow task it will set env to prod but dev_prod_switch always take default value which I set for dev_prod_switch. So I want set the options from task and run specific task using that new value. A: The problem: Based on your question and comments, I'm assuming your Gruntfile.js looks something like this. Gruntfile.js: module.exports = function(grunt) { grunt.initConfig({ dev_prod_switch: { options: { environment: grunt.option('env') || 'dev', env_char: '#', env_block_dev: 'env:dev', env_block_prod: 'env:prod' }, all: { files: { 'appCommon/config.js': 'appCommon/config.js', } } }, }); grunt.registerTask('dist-flow', function () { if (!grunt.option('env') ) { grunt.option('env', 'prod'); console.log(grunt.option('env')); } grunt.registerTask('dist',['dev_prod_switch']); grunt.task.run('distdev'); }); }; Your issue is that you are trying to set the option inside a task, and read it back in the initConfig object. The trouble is, initConfig runs before your tasks, so environment has already been set to the default when your dist-flow task is run. This line: environment: grunt.option('env') || 'dev', Runs before this line: grunt.option('env', 'prod'); A Solution: Inside your task, you can access your config option through grunt.config, so you could modify the value in the config object like so. grunt.config.data.dev_prod_switch.options.environment = grunt.option('env'); Example Gruntfile.js: module.exports = function(grunt) { grunt.initConfig({ dev_prod_switch: { options: { environment: grunt.option('env') || 'dev', env_char: '#', env_block_dev: 'env:dev', env_block_prod: 'env:prod' }, all: { files: { 'appCommon/config.js': 'appCommon/config.js', } } }, }); grunt.registerTask('dist-flow', function () { if (!grunt.option('env') ) { grunt.option('env', 'prod'); console.log(grunt.option('env')); grunt.config.data.dev_prod_switch.options.environment = grunt.option('env'); console.log(grunt.config.data.dev_prod_switch.options.environment); } grunt.registerTask('dist',['dev_prod_switch']); grunt.task.run('distdev'); }); };

334 F.Supp. 117 (1971) MOBIL OIL CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. W. R. GRACE & COMPANY and Pontiac Refining Corp., Defendants. Civ. A. No. 67-H-424. United States District Court, S. D. Texas, Houston Division. May 28, 1971. Supplemental Memorandum August 4, 1971. *118 *119 George B. Finnegan, Jr., Granville M. Pine and John A. Diaz, Morgan, Finnegan, Durham & Pine, Sanford M. Litvack, Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine, New York City, Ben G. Sewell, Sewell, Junell & Riggs, Houston, Tex., for plaintiff. William K. Kerr and Herbert F. Schwartz, Fish & Neave, New York City, Palmer Hutcheson, Jr., Hutcheson, Taliaferro & Grundy, Houston, Tex., for defendants. MEMORANDUM AND ORDER NOEL, District Judge. Plaintiff, MOBIL OIL CORPORATION (hereafter Mobil) sued defendant, W. R. GRACE AND CO. (hereafter Grace) and defendant, PONTIAC REFINING CORP., (hereafter Pontiac) now a division of CHAMPLIN PETROLEUM COMPANY (hereafter Champlin) for infringement upon its product and process patent claims. Pontiac and Champlin have moved the Court to sever the action against them from the one brought against Grace and thereafter to stay the proceedings as to them. They predicate their request upon the dual assertion that they are only secondarily involved in the litigation and that the entire controversy can be satisfactorily resolved by a judgment in the Mobil-Grace controversy. Grace has moved the Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) to transfer the severed action against it to the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, New Haven Division. Grace asserts that such transfer would promote "the convenience of parties and witnesses" and be "in the interest of justice." After careful study the Court finds that the interests of justice, as well as the convenience of the parties and witnesses, require that the defendants' motions be granted. Plaintiff instituted this complicated suit with its very large financial consequences to the parties, on May 29, 1967. Since then preparations for trial have proceeded with reasonable diligence but have not been completed. Plaintiff and defendant have noticed depositions yet to be taken, and plaintiff has filed interrogatories directed to defendant. Defendant is awaiting plaintiff's tender of documents which this Court recently ordered it to produce. During the pendency of this cause, Mobil prosecuted a suit against the Filtrol Corporation in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Mobil Oil Corp. v. Filtrol *120 Corp., Civil Action No. 69-633-F (C.D.Cal. 1/4/71). At issue in that cause was the validity of one or more of the patent claims at issue here. Plaintiff's counsel in that suit represent it here, and Filtrol Corporation's counsel represent Grace, Pontiac and Champlin. Although not admitted by the parties, the Court has observed that while the California litigation was in active engagement the pretrial discovery in this litigation was not so actively pursued. Pretrial discovery did not start in earnest until October, 1970, when, presumably, the California litigation was winding down. On December 14, 1970, to expedite adjudication and the previously expressed wishes of counsel, the Court set the instant case for pretrial conference on March 12, 1971 and trial on April 12, 1971. During the pretrial conference counsel informed the Court of the complicated factual and legal issues involved, and asked the Court to prepare its docket for a protracted trial. In answer to the Court's inquiry, counsel announced that they were then ready for trial. However, this announcement proved to be premature. To insure that the cause would be ready for trial, to aid in the resolution of pending discovery problems, and to discuss with counsel possible reference of the case to a special master by agreement, another pretrial conference was held on March 30, 1971. The request for reference to a special master was predicated upon the Court's announcement that its criminal and civil rights docket would prevent its giving the parties time for a protracted trial commencing April 12, 1971 as previously set. Counsel considered the proposal, and at a pretrial conference held April 2, it appeared to the Court that an agreement between counsel to such reference might be accomplished. Counsel subsequently informed the Court that they were unable to agree, and on April 14, 1971, defendants filed the motions which are the subject of this Memorandum and Order. These motions were noticed for submission on April 26. As the Court had previously announced it would hear counsel on discovery matters on April 26, 1971, the scope of that hearing was enlarged to include oral argument on the instant motions. The Court heard the oral argument of counsel and took the questions under advisement. Thereafter on May 3, 1971, the Court entered an order staying the submission and/or consideration of discovery and pleading motions until it had acted upon the motions to transfer, sever and stay. The basic issues in this suit are predicated upon Grace's manufacture, sale and inducement of its customers to use catalysts containing zeolite in their petroleum cracking processes. Mobil asserts that since June, 1964, Grace has manufactured eight types of infringing catalysts, 41,923,815 pounds of which have been shipped into the territorial jurisdiction of the Court for use in the alleged infringing cracking processes. No evidence was offered reflecting the scope of Grace's nationwide infringing activities. Pontiac-Champlin's involvement stems from their purchase and four-year use of 342,000 pounds of one of the products in its Corpus Christi, Texas petroleum refinery. Expressed in percentage, Pontiac-Champlin purchased less than one per cent of the total poundage shipped into this District. The defendants do not contend that they are not properly joined. Nor do they contend that they were not properly served or that the venue is incorrect. See: 28 U.S.C. § 1404(b); F.R. Civ.P. 4. Instead, defendants argue that the cause should be restructured by severance to enable the primary parties to have trial in a different forum. As presently postured, this cause is not susceptible to transfer to Connecticut because that forum is not one in which Pontiac-Champlin could have been originally sued without their waiving their statutory service and venue rights. See: 28 U.S.C. §§ 1400(b) and 1404(a); Hoffman v. Blaski, 363 U.S. 335, 80 S.Ct. 1084, 4 L.Ed.2d 1254 (1960); Foster-Milburn Co. *121 v. Knight, 181 F.2d 949 (2nd Cir. 1950) (per Learned Hand, J.). There is no suggestion by plaintiff, however, that Grace could not have been sued originally in Connecticut, its place of incorporation. This Court is faced first with the threshold questions whether (i) to sever the causes of action against properly joined parties, (ii) to transfer the cause as to the one defendant, and (iii) thereafter stay the cause as to the other. The criteria for determining the three questions involve the same relevant criteria— namely the determination by the Court of whether the movants have made a clear showing that the balance of convenience and the interests of justice require the proposed actions. Wyndham Associates v. Bintliff, 398 F.2d 614 (2nd Cir. 1968), cert. denied 393 U.S. 977, 89 S.Ct. 444, 21 L.Ed.2d 438 (1968); Leesona Corp. v. Cotwool Mfg. Corp., 308 F.2d 895 (4th Cir. 1962); affirming and denying mandamus from; 204 F.Supp. 139 (W.D.S.C.1962); Potter Instrument Co., Inc. v. Control Data Corp., 169 U.S. P.Q. 86-89 (S.D.Ind.1971); Burroughs Corp. v. Newark Electronics Corp., 317 F.Supp. 191 (N.D.Ill.1970); General Tire and Rubber Co. v. Jefferson Chemical Co., 50 F.R.D. 112, 114 (S.D.N.Y. 1970). This Court has the power to sever the claims against properly joined defendants, Wyndham Associates v. Bintliff, supra; 3 J. W. Moore, Moore's Federal Practice, par. 21.05[2] (1970), and to stay the proceedings as to one of them in appropriate circumstances. Landis v. North American Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254-255, 57 S.Ct. 163, 81 L.Ed. 153 (1936); 1 J. W. Moore, supra, par. 0.204 (1970). Mobil cites the cases of Hoffman v. Blaski, supra, Lemelson v. Sears Roebuck and Co., 292 F.Supp. 170 (D.Conn. 1968); and Silver v. Goodman, 234 F. Supp. 415 (D.Conn.1964) for the two-pronged proposition (i) that this Court does not have the power to restructure the parties in this lawsuit to accomplish transfer, and (ii) that even if such power exists, it should not be so exercised because the District Court in the transferee forum would not do so. To read the cited cases distinguishes them. In none of them was there a discussion of a court's power to transfer a severed cause of action to a forum in which the cause against the transferred defendant could properly have been brought. See for example: Wyndham v. Bintliff, supra, 398 F.2d at 618, Leesona Corp. v. Duplan Corp., 317 F.Supp. 290, 299 (D.R.I.1970). In Blaski the Supreme Court was confronted with a situation where the district court transferred a multiple defendant suit to a forum in which one of the transferred defendants could not have been sued without waiving his rights to proper venue and service. In that situation the Court held that the transferor court did not have the power to transfer the cause to the transferee forum because it was not a forum "where it might have been brought." The Connecticut District Court cases can be construed no further. In Silver v. Goodman, supra, Judge Zampano refused to transfer a multiple defendant action from Connecticut to New York because one of the defendants could not have been sued there. Likewise, in Lemelson v. Sears Roebuck and Co., supra, another multiple defendant action in which each of them could not have been sued in New York, Judge Zampano followed Blaski and Goodman in holding that the Court did not have the power to transfer the cause to New York. There have been numerous federal decisions since Blaski which have authorized a federal district court to sever the claims of several defendants to create a new cause of action susceptible to § 1404 (a) transfer. Wyndham Associates v. Bintliff, supra; Leesona Corp. v. Cotwool Mfg. Co., supra; Potter Instrument Co., Inc. v. Control Data Corp., supra; Burroughs Corp. v. Newark Electronics Corp., supra. In these cases the transferred defendant could originally have *122 been sued in the transferee forum without his consent to service or venue. Id. This procedure is eminently reasonable. Absent this power a federal court would be unable to curtail the powers of a plaintiff to thwart justice by his joinder of a peripherally connected defendant to an action for the sole purpose of accentuating the burdens of trial upon a defendant who otherwise would have been entitled to a § 1404(a) transfer. Wyndham Associates v. Bintliff, supra; Burroughs Corp. v. Newark Electronics Corp., supra. In light of these decisions, the factual similarity of the instant cause to them, as well as the factual discrepancies between it and those relied upon by plaintiff, this Court concludes that it has the power to grant the defendants' motions. Furthermore, inasmuch as the questions posed here have not been litigated in the transferee forum, this Court is of the opinion that a transfer of the severed action between Mobil and Grace would be construed by the recipient Judge as a warranted exercise of permissible discretion. Before the severance of properly joined parties is permissible, this Court must make three basic determinations, as follows: First, it must determine the degree of involvement each defendant has in the transactions which form the basis of plaintiff's cause of action. The Courts which have allowed severance have determined that the severed but not transferred defendant was only secondarily or peripherally involved in the litigation. See for example: Potter Instrument Co., Inc. v. Control Data Corp., supra; Burroughs Corp. v. Newark Electronics Corp., supra; cf.: Wyndham Associates v. Bintliff, supra; Leesona Corp. v. Cotwool Mfg. Co., supra. In Potter Instrument Co. and Burroughs Corp., the courts found that the customers of a manufacturer who had sold them allegedly infringing products were only secondarily involved. In each case the charges against the customer stemmed completely from its purchase and dealings with the infringing product. In each it was clear that the charges against the customer could be resolved completely in an adjudication between the plaintiff and the manufacturer. In Potter Instrument Co. the court pointed out that the manufacturer had indemnified its customer for potential infringement liability and was conducting its customer's defense. While in Burroughs Corp. the court noted the de minimis percentage of the allegedly infringing product which the customer had purchased did not necessitate its remaining joined to the manufacturer and thereby thwart an otherwise appropriate transfer. Second, this Court must determine if the absence of the secondarily involved defendant from the transferee forum would work an unwarranted inconvenience upon the transferee court or the parties in that forum. This principle was a factor in Leesona Corp. v. Cotwool Mfg. Co., supra; and underlay the decisions in Potter Instrument Co., Inc. v. Control Data Corp., supra; and Burroughs Corp. v. Newark Electronics Corp., supra.[1] Severance would be inappropriate if it would merely lead to piecemeal litigation in separate forums. Impermissible inconvenience, however, does not exist in a case in which the adjudication of the claims leveled against a severed and transferred defendant would include the adjudication of the issues which form the basis of the charges made against the non-transferred defendant. This is especially true where both defendants have potential joint liability, and the transferred defendant can be expected to be able to bear the burden of satisfying *123 a judgment rendered in the transferee forum. In a case where these factors exist it is reasonable to believe that the plaintiff would not have to undergo the inconvenience and expense of prosecuting two cases in different forums to achieve the relief which he originally sought in the transferor forum. This is the inconvenience which courts must guard against. In essence, the severance and transfer of the claims against a primary defendant is appropriate when it is apparent that the plaintiff will be able to obtain the substance of the relief he seeks in the transferor forum. Id. Third, this Court must balance the factors implicit in its determination of a § 1404(a) motion to determine if the severing out and transfer of the cause against the primary defendant would promote the convenience of the transferred parties and their witnesses, and be in the interests of justice. See for example: Wyndham Associates v. Bintliff, supra; Leesona Corp. v. Cotwool Mfg. Co., supra; Potter Instrument Co., Inc. v. Control Data Corp., supra; and Burroughs Corp. v. Newark Electronics Corp., supra. Before this Court can grant a motion to stay the proceedings as to the cause of action against a secondarily involved defendant, it must determine that the interests of justice require it. Implicit in this broad determination are the subsidiary determinations that it would be a waste of judicial effort to adjudicate the claim, and the determination that plaintiff would not be substantially harmed by the postponement of this cause of action. See: Landis v. North America Co., supra; Potter Instrument Co., Inc. v. Control Data Corp., supra; Burroughs Corp. v. Newark Electronics Corp, supra; cf: Lemelson v. Sears Roebuck and Co., supra. After an examination of the affidavits and their attached exhibits, it is clear that the first and second requirement for the severance and transfer of the Mobil cause of action against Grace have been met, and that the requirements for staying its action against Pontiac-Champlin have been fulfilled. Therefore, if the third criterion for severance and transfer is fulfilled, the action against Grace will be transferred. Pontiac-Champlin's secondary involvement in the instant case is clear. It is not contested that their defense is being conducted by Grace's defense counsel pursuant to an indemnity agreement between them. In essence the infringement claims against Pontiac-Champlin stem from Pontiac's purchase and use of a minute percentage of one of the eight allegedly infringing products manufactured and sold by Grace. The product involved is allegedly covered by claims emanating from only one of the three patents in suit. Being essentially a customer whose sole transgression is the purchase and use of a small percentage of an infringing product, Pontiac-Champlin can be and should be classified as a secondary or peripheral defendant.[2] There is no doubt that Mobil can adjudicate the merits of its contentions in *124 an action against Grace without Pontiac-Champlin. Pontiac-Champlin's activities as a purchaser constitute secondary patent infringement and its use of the product make it potentially liable as a primary infringer. Nevertheless, Grace is potentially liable for the same activities —selling the catalysts and inducing Pontiac-Champlin's use of the process. See: Mobil's Supplemental Complaint ¶¶ 9 and 10; 35 U.S.C. §§ 271(a) and (b). Therefore, the essence of Mobil's claims against Pontiac-Champlin can be adjudicated in the Connecticut forum without delaying Mobil's opportunity to litigate the contentions underlying its claims against Pontiac-Champlin.[3] Likewise, trial there would not hamper Mobil's efforts to collect damages for the harm, if any, which Pontiac-Champlin caused it as this would be determined in the adjudication of the claims against Grace. Furthermore, it is obvious that a present adjudication of the claim left upon this docket would unnecessarily waste the time of this Court and the parties in duplicative litigation. In determining if the instant action between Mobil and Grace should be transferred, the criteria enumerated in 28 U. S.C. § 1404(a) are controlling. Section 1404(a) states: For the convenience of parties and witnesses, in the interest of justice, a district court may transfer any civil action to any other district or division where it might have been brought. Federal courts have determined that an application of this statute to a particular case requires a consideration of numerous factors to determine if the movants have made a clear showing that a transfer to a forum not of plaintiff's choosing is appropriate.[4] In patent infringement and related cases the following are some of the factors which have been held to be pertinent in assisting the courts to balance the ultimate factors contained in § 1404(a): 1. The proximity of each party's business headquarters, officers, legal and patent staffs, research facilities, and manufacturing plants to the forums in question. See for example: Leesona Corp. v. Cotwool Mfg. Corp., supra; Potter Instrument Co., Inc. v. Control Data Corp., supra; Burroughs Corp. v. Newark Electronics Corp., supra; Henry I. Siegel Co. v. Koratron Co., 311 F.Supp. 697 (S.D.N.Y.1970); Glenn v. Trans-World Airlines, Inc., 210 F.Supp. 31, 33 (E.D.N.Y.1962). 2. The proximity of each party's documentary and other tangible evidence to the forums in question. Id. 3. The proximity of each party's trial counsel to the forum in question. Sweetheart Plastics, Inc. v. Illinois Tool Works, 267 F.Supp. 938, 943-944 (S.D. N.Y.1967); United States v. Swift and Co., 158 F.Supp. 551, 559 (D.C.D.C. 1958); cf.: Saraf v Chatham Carpet Mills, Inc., 275 F.Supp. 951 (S.D.N.Y. 1967).[5] *125 4. The proximity of each party's witnesses, including employees, experts and patentees, to the forums in question. See for example: Leesona Corp. v. Cotwool Mfg. Co., supra; Potter Instruments Co., Inc. v. Control Data Corp., supra; Burroughs Corp. v. Newark Electronics Corp., supra.[6] 5. The possibilities of trial delay and the seriousness of the resulting prejudices arising from it if the transfer were granted. See for example: Burroughs Corp. v. Newark Electronics Corp., supra, 317 F.Supp. 192; Leesona Corp. v. Duplan Corp., 317 F.Supp. 290, 302 (D.R.I. 1970); Blue Bell, Inc. v. Jaymar-Ruby, Inc., supra, 311 F.Supp. 943-944. 6. The possibilities of judicial economy being achieved by transferring the cause to a forum in which the same or a similar cause is pending. See for example: Wyndham Associates v. Bintliff, supra; Leesona Corp. v. Cotwool Mfg. Corp., supra. 7. The determination of which forum would promote a more efficient adjudication by enabling the parties to use process to acquire the testimony of unwilling witnesses, and in which the possibilities of receiving live rather than deposed testimony would be greater. See for example: Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, supra, 330 U.S. at 511, 67 S.Ct. 839; Wyndham Associates v. Bintliff, supra; Henry I. Seigel Co. v. Koratron Co., supra; Blue Bell, Inc. v. Jaymar-Ruby, Inc., supra.[7] 8. The proximity of each forum to facilities in which a judicial view could be taken if needed. See for example: Glenn v. Trans-World Airlines, Inc., supra. Plaintiff argues that this litigation has progressed too far in this forum for defendant to make the motion. Its argument is not in and of itself a factor preventing transfer. See for example: Sypert v. Miner, 266 F.2d 196 (7th Cir. 1959); General. State Authority (of Pa.) v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 314 F. Supp. 422, 424 (S.D.N.Y.1970); Blue Bell, Inc. v. Jaymar-Ruby, Inc., supra, 311 F.Supp. 943-944; Bowers v. A. H. Bull and Co., 144 F.Supp. 646 (S.D.N.Y. *126 1956); 1 J. W. Moore, supra, par. 0.145 [4-3] (2nd ed. 1964). Instead, the prejudice caused by the timing of a motion is only one factor to be balanced by the Court in its consideration of whether justice would be served by a transfer. In several cases courts have expressed their belief that decision of transfer motions is preferable in the later stages of a case. They reason that the trial court can then visualize with more clarity the factors implicit in its determinations. A. C. Nielsen v. Hoffman, 270 F. 2d 693, 696 (7th Cir. 1959) (denying mandamus); Sypert v. Miner, supra. The cases plaintiff cites are not persuasive. La Chemise La Coste v. Allegator Co., 313 F.Supp. 915, 168 U.S.P.Q. 458 (D.Del.1970); Devex Corp. v. General Motors Corp., 263 F.Supp. 17 (D. Del.1967); Roller Bearing Co. of America v. Bearings, Inc., supra; Coffill v. Atlantic Coastline R. R. Co., 180 F.Supp. 105, 107-108 (E.D.N.Y.1960). Instead, they are consistent with the Court's views of the law. In all but one, material prejudice was found by the court to have been caused by the belated motion. In the other, by way of dictum, the court complained of its burden in having to educate itself in some facets of a partially litigated case which was then transferred to it. The court's real concern was the waste of judicial economy. Devex Corp. v. General Motors Corp., supra. The instant case is obviously distinguishable. No issues, save those connected with discovery and this motion, have been litigated, and the cause is neither ready for trial nor even a meaningful pretrial. Judicial economy would not be wasted by the transfer. Plaintiff then argues that if the motions are found to be timely an additional factor to be considered by this Court before transfer is the location of this district within an area where there are a great number of catalytic cracking facilities. It does not relate, however, how this enables the parties to expedite the presentation of proof, or would otherwise facilitate the interests of justice. This factor is therefore irrelevant. Applying the relevant factors enumerated above to the instant case, it becomes clear that the third test for severance and transfer has been fulfilled. An examination of the affidavits and arguments of counsel disclose that trial in New Haven, Connecticut, would greatly reduce the parties' burdens of producing evidence for trial. Plaintiff is a New York corporation with its principal place of business, headquarters officers, legal department and patent department in New York City, New York. Its lead and trial counsel, George B. Finnegan, Jr., Granville M. Pine and John A. Diaz of Morgan, Finnegan, Durham & Pine, and Sanford M. Litvack of Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine are located in New York City. Grace is a Connecticut corporation which, like plaintiff, has its principal place of business, headquarters officers, patent department and legal department in New York City. The headquarters officers of Grace's Davidson Division, the division charged with the responsibility of developing, manufacturing and marketing the allegedly infringing catalysts, are also in New York City. Its lead and trial counsel, William K. Kerr and Herbert F. Schwartz, of Fish and Neave, are located in New York City. Based on the mileage chart which appears on page 25 of "Texaco Travel Atlas by Rand McNally" (1971), it appears that New York, New York is approximately 80 miles from New Haven, Connecticut, and 1650 miles from Houston, Texas. (The mileage to be enumerated herein comes from said mileage chart and is approximate.) The catalyst research center where Mobil developed the patents in litigation is in Paulsboro, New Jersey. Also located in Paulsboro is the plant where Mobil manufactures its catalysts. Paulsboro, New Jersey, is 180 miles from New Haven, Connecticut and 1550 miles from this forum. The Grace Davidson Division's main offices are located in Baltimore, Maryland. Its research facilities are located in Clarksville, Maryland, a city close to Baltimore. Baltimore is 270 miles from *127 New Haven, Connecticut and 1450 miles from Houston. The manufacturing facilities where the Davidson Division manufactures its allegedly infringing catalysts are located in Baltimore, Maryland; Cincinnati, Ohio (703 miles from New Haven, Connecticut and 1115 miles from Houston, Texas); and Lake Charles, Louisiana (1490 miles from New Haven, Connecticut and 175 miles from Houston, Texas). Neither party has submitted affidavits locating the records and other tangible evidence relevant to the case. It is reasonable to believe, however, that they are located in the offices of the parties' respective counsel, or in their corporate headquarters or research centers. It seems unlikely that copies of relevant manufacturing records would not be duplicated and kept in the parties' headquarters or research centers. Excluding the mileage from the manufacturing plants to the forums in question, it appears that a New Haven, Connecticut trial would reduce the round trip mileage by 8200 miles. If the distance from the manufacturing plants is included, there is still a savings of 6454 round trip miles.[8] An examination of the proposed witness lists compiled by each party in preparation for the submission of a pretrial order discloses that the witnesses and the parties would be convenienced by a trial in New Haven. (These lists were exhibits A and B to the affidavit of William K. Kerr, submitted in support of defendant's motion. The lists were not controverted.) The lists disclose that none of the proposed witnesses reside in the Southern District of Texas and that only two of the 31 witnesses reside in the Fifth Judicial Circuit. Two others reside at points of basic inconvenience to either forum, one living in Chicago, Illinois and the other in Cincinnati, Ohio. The remaining 27 reside in close proximity of the New Haven, Connecticut forum. Twenty-five live near the parties' headquarters, research or manufacturing facilities already noted in New York, New Jersey or Maryland. The remaining two reside in Saddle River, New Jersey, and Perkasie, Pennsylvania.[9] The mileage *128 savings which would result from a trial in New Haven, Connecticut, is one of approximately 66,390 round trip miles. There is no showing made that trial delay would result from transfer. The affidavits submitted by each party are conflicting, and in this regard unpersuasive. The only basically uncontroverted evidence is a portion of a report prepared by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, which was submitted by defendant as Exhibit D to the affidavit of William K. Kerr. The portion submitted is Table 10C which statistically sets out the number of jury and non-jury trials held in each federal district court during the 1970 fiscal year ending June 30, 1970. It enumerates the average time to trial after issue was joined. It shows that there were 82 trials held in Connecticut during this period and that 80% of the non-jury ones were reached within one month after issue was joined. By contrast, in this district there were 157 trials and the average non-jury case was not reached until 12 months after issue was joined. The Court realizes that docket conditions change constantly. There is nothing on this record, however, to indicate the extent of change which has occurred. As discovery is not complete, it appears that any prediction of faster trial setting in either forum would be based on conjecture. With the case in this posture it is obvious that the interest of justice would not be affected by a transfer. Cf.: Jahncke Service Inc. v. OKC Corp., 301 F.Supp. 886, 869 (D. Del.1969).[10] At this time problems of witness availability and/or the need for adverse witnesses are not clear. If these problems should arise, however, the transferee forum's advantageous proximity to the location of the announced witnesses and other sources of evidence strongly suggests that it would be the more appropriate forum in which the resolution of these problems could be accomplished. If a judicial view of a petroleum cracking catalyst research center or refinery should become necessary, it would be less of a burden to transport the New Haven Court and its staff to one of those which this Court judicially notices are located in the Philadelphia-New Jersey-New York City area, than it would be to require the parties and witnesses to bear the economic and intrinsic cost of litigation in this forum. In sum, the evidence of record demonstrates that the convenience of parties and witnesses and the interests of justice dictate the severance and transfer of the controversy between Mobil and Grace. It is therefore ordered that (1) the cause of action against Grace and Pontiac-Champlin be severed; (2) the resulting cause of action against Pontiac-Champlin be stayed on the docket pending the prompt prosecution of the other claim; and (3) the resulting cause of action between Mobil and Grace be transferred to the New Haven Division of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut within ten days. The Clerk shall furnish a copy of this Memorandum and Order to each counsel of record. Counsel for Grace will promptly prepare and submit an appropriate order to counsel for Mobil for approval as to form and then to the Court for signature. *129 SUPPLEMENTAL MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION A. Background Statement In its Memorandum and Order of May 28, 1971, this Court granted several motions previously filed by the defendants. Mobil Oil Corp. v. W. R. Grace & Co. and Pontiac Refining Co., (Civil Action No. 67-H-424) (S.D.Texas, May 28, 1971). The Memorandum and Order accomplished the following: 1. Severed the causes of action filed against the defendants creating two new causes of action; 2. Stayed the resulting cause of action between Mobil and Pontiac-Champlin; and 3. Transferred to the Federal District Court sitting in New Haven, Connecticut the resulting and remaining cause of action between plaintiff and W. R. Grace & Co. Thereafter, at the behest of Mobil the Court stayed the execution of its order for ten days from June 7, 1971, in order to allow Mobil an opportunity to file a motion for reconsideration. On June 17, 1971 Mobil submitted its motion which included a request that in the event the Court should vacate its order, certain issues be certified to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). Accompanying the motion were a brief and several affidavits. On June 23, 1971 the defendants filed an affidavit and a brief in opposition. On June 25, 1971, in order to clarify certain matters raised in the parties' papers, the Court held a hearing which was attended by local counsel for each of the parties. On June 30, 1971 Mobil filed a clarification of its position on several of the issues it had previously raised by the submission of a supplemental brief and affidavit. Mobil is now raising two new contentions and reurging several others. In summary, Mobil asserts that: (1) the defendants' motions were time-barred because the case had been pending since May 29, 1967 and the parties' trial preparations were nearing completion; (2) the defendants were barred from maintaining their motion because of statements they made in accompanying pleadings; (3) the Court considered irrelevant evidence in making its decision; (4) the severance and stay of the Mobil v. Pontiac-Champlin cause would more greatly prejudice the plaintiff than the Court initially realized; and (5) a recent United States Supreme Court decision required this Court to give the plaintiff's choice of venue greater significance. B. Background of Motion for Reconsideration On May 29, 1967 Mobil instituted this patent infringement action. Thereafter, the parties proceeded with voluminous discovery and pleading modifications, the bulk of the discovery to date having been accomplished in the latter part of 1970 but continuing to and being unfinished at this time. In the winter of 1970 the Court set the cause for pretrial on March 12, 1971 and trial on April 12, 1971. At pretrial, counsel announced that they would be ready for trial but noted that they had come to loggerheads and would need the Court's aid in resolving some discovery questions. Because of the Court's then-existing docket condition, local counsel for the parties were asked to confer with the Court in chambers on March 30, 1971. At that time additional unresolved discovery matters were pending. Counsel were told that the April 12, 1971 trial setting would have to be cancelled and the trial postponed. The reasons were reviewed with counsel. The Court suggested that the parties consider the feasibility of the Court appointing one of the local Federal Magistrates to act as special master to hear the matter pursuant to Rule 53, Fed.R.Civ.P. The local counsel advised the Court they would inform their respective New York trial counsel of the Court's suggestion. On April 2, 1971 the Court met with all counsel in chambers. At that time *130 the Court repeated in substance what was told local counsel on March 30. Counsel then indicated no objection to the appointment of a master as such but did say that the appointment of one of the Magistrates as a master was unacceptable. Counsel expressed willingness to attempt to agree upon one or more attorneys who would be acceptable to their clients for appointment, and to submit same to the Court within two weeks. At no time during either the March 30, 1971 or the April 2, 1971 conferences did the Court infer to counsel that it would never be able to try the case. A later trial setting by the Court was not discussed. The sense of the meeting was that a master could probably be agreed upon and that the original trial setting— before a master—or a short postponement thereof, would be feasible. At that time no objection had been voiced by either party to the appointment of a master, acceptable to both parties as well as to the Court. The case then took an unexpected turn. On April 14, 1971 and before the expiration of the two week period, defendants filed the instant motions to transfer and noticed them for submission on April 26, 1971. In their submission papers defense counsel used language which the Court construed to be in deference, especially in view of the fact defendants were obviously abandoning efforts to agree upon a master. Thereafter, as the Court had previously announced it would hear counsel on April 26, 1971 concerning pending discovery matters, the scope of that hearing was enlarged to include oral argument on the defendants' motions to transfer. At no time during oral argument did defendants indicate that they desired or intended to abandon their motions to transfer or the relief requested therein. The Court took the motions under advisement and entered its order thereon May 28, 1971. C. Mobil's Contentions 1. Mobil's first assertion in its present motion was discussed in some depth by the Court in its prior memorandum and order at pages 15-16. There the Court pointed out that the time when a party makes a motion for transfer under § 1404(a), 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) (1948) as amended (1962), "is not in and of itself a factor preventing transfer." The Court then pointed out that "the prejudice caused by the timing of a motion is only one factor to be balanced by the Court in its consideration of whether justice would be served by a transfer." See for example: General Tire & Rubber Co. v. Watkins, 373 F.2d 361 (4th Cir. 1967) (en banc), certiorari denied Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. v. General Tire & Rubber Co., 386 U.S. 960, 87 S. Ct. 1031, 18 L.Ed.2d 109 (1967); Sypert v. Miner, 266 F.2d 196 (7th Cir. 1959); General State Authority (of Pa.) v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 314 F.Supp. 422, 424 (S.D.N.Y.1970); Blue Bell v. Jaymar-Ruby, Inc., 311 F.Supp. 942, 943-944 (S. D.N.Y.1969); Sypert v. Bendix Aviation Corp., 172 F.Supp. 480 (N.D.Ill. 1948) mandamus denied sub nom. Sypert v. Miner, 266 F.2d 196 (7th Cir. 1959), cert. den. 361 U.S. 832, 80 S.Ct. 82, 4 L.Ed.2d 74 (1959); Bowers v. A. H. Bull & Co., 144 F.Supp. 646 (S.D. N.Y.1956); Molloy v. Bemis Bros. Bag Co., 130 F.Supp. 265 (S.D.N.Y.1955). United States v. Swift & Co., 158 F.Supp. 551 (E.D.N.Y.1958). In United States v. Swift & Co., supra, a transfer was approved 35 years after judgment had been entered for the purpose of adjudicating the scope of the Court's prior order. In Sypert v. Bendix Aviation Corp., supra, the case was awaiting retrial because the jury had been unable to reach a verdict when the transfer was approved. General Tire & Rubber Co. v. Watkins, supra, had already been partially litigated when the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit granted the appellant's request for a mandamus and transferred the cause to a more expeditious forum. In another exemplary case the defendant's motion for transfer was granted although discovery was almost completed and the cause was set upon the court's trial-ready docket. Bowers v. A. H. Bull & Co., supra. Molloy v. Bemis Bros. Bag *131 Co., supra, is similar to the Bowers decision. There the transfer was granted even though the cause had been pending on the transferor court's docket for three years and the pretrial discovery was almost completed. In several cases it has been pointed out that the decision of transfer motions is preferable in the later stages of a cause's development. This is true because the transferor court is then better qualified to visualize the factors implicit in its determination. A. C. Nielsen v. Hoffman, 270 F.2d 693, 696 (7th Cir. 1959); Sypert v. Miner, supra; Webster-Chicago Corp. v. Minneapolis-Honeywell Reg. Co., 99 F.Supp. 503 (D.Del. 1951). As was pointed out by this Court in its earlier memorandum and order at pp. 10-12, 16, 20, n. 10, any prejudice which the plaintiff might suffer as a result of defendant's motion is insufficient to counteract the overwhelming convenience to the parties and witnesses which would be achieved by the transfer. See pp. 16-21 of the May 28, 1971 memorandum and order. Assessed in their entirety, Mobil's actions in this cause create a strong suggestion of forum shopping. If such should be the case, it is worthy of note that forum shopping is not looked upon with favor by the federal courts. Clayton v. Warlick, 232 F.2d 699, 706 (4th Cir. 1956); Chicago R. I. and P. Ry Co. v. Igoe, 212 F.2d 378, 382 (7th Cir. 1954); Polaroid Corp. v. Casselman, 213 F.Supp. 379, 384 (S.D.N.Y.1962); De Luxe Game Corp. v. Wonder Products Co., 166 F.Supp. 56, 58 (S.D.N.Y.1958); Rayco Mfg. Co. v. Chicopee Mfg. Co., 148 F.Supp. 588, 592-594 (S.D.N.Y. 1957); Paragon-Revolute Corporation v. C. F. Pease Company, 120 F.Supp. 488, 491 (D.Del.1954); cf.: William Gluckin & Company v. International Playtex Corporation, 407 F.2d 177 (2nd Cir. 1969). 2. Mobil's second assertion is incorrect. At oral argument, in their briefs, and in their affidavits defendants have vigorously urged that the convenience of the parties and the witnesses, as well as the interests of justice, dictate that the cause be transferred. Examined in this light the language in defendant's pleadings which Mobil asserts to be a waiver is no more than language displaying defendants' courtesy to this Court. Until a motion is withdrawn this Court is duty bound to apply the law to the facts presented to it and to render a decision, as has been done. 3. Mobil's attack on the evidence which this Court considered is misplaced. If plaintiff had proceeded to read the next two paragraphs on page 20 of the May 28, 1971 memorandum and order, it would have seen that the Court acknowledged the inaccuracy of applying the questioned evidence, and thereafter concluded that no evidence had been presented from which the Court might determine whether the parties could receive a faster trial in the transferee forum. 4. Mobil's fourth contention concerning additional prejudice to it from the severance and stay of its claims against Pontiac-Champlin plows no new ground and is rejected. See pages 8-12 and 20, n. 10 of the Court's May 28, 1971 memorandum and order; see also: Amperex Electronic Corp. v. Perry, 168 U.S.P.Q. 615 (7th Cir. 1970); Gellman v. L. Karp & Sons, 109 F.2d 391 (7th Cir. 1940); Ransburg Electro-Coating Corp. v. Williams, 246 F.Supp. 626 (W.D.Ark.1965). 5. Mobil's last assertion is rejected. The United States Supreme Court in Blonder-Tongue Laboratories, Inc. v. University of Illinois Foundation, 402 U.S. 313, 91 S.Ct. 1434, 28 L.Ed.2d 788 (1971) did not increase the significance of the plaintiff's choice of forum in patent cases. The case is inapposite and clearly distinguishable. D. Mobil's Alternative Request for § 1292(b) Certification to the Court of Appeals As the Court has found its previous decision on the merits of the defendants' motions to have been correct, the plaintiff's alternative request for a § 1292(b) certificate recommending interlocutory appeal must be decided. 28 *132 U.S.C. § 1292(b). If this were a case similar to that before this Court in E. F. Hutton & Co. v. Brown, 305 F.Supp. 371, 401-403 (S.D.Tex.1969), Mobil's request would probably have been granted. But the cause at bar is not. Once the facts are developed, all that remains is plaintiff's disagreement with this Court's application of settled legal principles to the facts of the case. Such a discretionary ruling is not within the limited class of cases set out in 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b) for certification. See: Garner v. Wolfinbarger, 433 F.2d 117, 120 (5th Cir. 1970) (and cases cited therein);[1],[2]see also: 1 Barron and Holtzoff, Federal Practice and Procedure, § 86.7 (C. Wright ed. 1960). Accordingly, for the reasons stated herein, it is ordered that the plaintiff's motion for reconsideration is in all things denied. The Clerk shall file this writing and thereupon transmit this cause to the United States District Court sitting in New Haven, Connecticut. The Clerk shall send copies to all counsel. NOTES [1] From its decision in Wyndham Associates v. Bintliff, supra, it is evident that the Court of Appeals for the Second Judicial Circuit would not consider this a separate issue, but, instead, considers it to be one of the numerous criteria to be considered within the third test. It is treated here with higher dignity in the interest of thoroughness. [2] Plaintiff's attempts to inflate Pontiac-Champlin's involvement by (1) asserting it was a primary infringer and therefore incapable of being a secondary defendant; and (2) pointing out the number of pounds of the infringing product which it purchased, are without merit. In Leesona Corp. v. Cotwool Mfg. Co., supra, the Appellate Court ignored appellant's arguments about a customer being a primary infringer of a product and allowed the transfer of the claims against the primary defendant to be severed and transferred. This result is eminently correct. The labeling of the activities of a customer as secondary or primary constitutes no more than a semantic ploy which cannot by itself otherwise increase a customer's involvement in the overall patent infringement of the supplier and manufacturer. Mobil's reference to the poundage purchased by Pontiac-Champlin is meaningless. What is important is the realization that Pontiac-Champlin purchased less than one percent of the poundage which Grace shipped into this judicial district alone. There is no indication how many pounds of these products were sold from 1964 to date elsewhere in the nation or world. [3] As Connecticut is Grace's place of incorporation and place of residence for the purposes of 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b), Mobil will be able to offer proof of every alleged act of infringement Grace has committed as a primary or secondary infringer. [4] Plaintiff argues that the court's discretion in applying the statute is very limited because the transfer ousts it from its chosen forum. It relies upon Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, 330 U.S. 501, 508, 67 S.Ct. 839, 91 L.Ed. 1055 (1947) for this. Gulf Oil predates the 1948 venue statute. The statute has been construed as increasing the trial court's discretion in ruling upon transfer motions and as decreasing the importance of the plaintiff's choice of forum. Norwood v. Kirkpatrick, 349 U.S. 29, 32, 75 S.Ct. 544, 99 L.Ed. 789 (1955); Garner v. Wolfinbarger, 433 F.2d 117, 119 (5th Cir. 1970); Time, Inc. v. Manning, 366 F.2d 690, 698 (5th Cir. 1966); In re Alamo Chemical Transportation Co., 323 F.Supp. 789 (S.D.Tex.1970) (per Noel, J.). If the factors considered were closely parallel as they were in In re Alamo Chemical Transportation Co., supra, this Court would, as it did there, deny a motion to transfer. Cf: Blue Bell Inc. v. Jaymar-Ruby, Inc., 311 F.Supp. 942 (S. D.N.Y.1969). [5] Plaintiff contends that the convenience of counsel is not relevant. This Court disagrees. The cost of counsel's transportation and time in route must be borne by the parties. Therefore this factor directly bears upon the convenience of the parties and costs of litigation. Id. [6] Plaintiff contends that the convenience of experts and employees is immaterial, as they are paid for their trouble. It cites Everprest, Inc. v. Phillips-Van Heusen Corp., 300 F.Supp. 757 (M.D.Ala.1969); and Roller Bearing Co. of America v. Bearings, Inc., 260 F.Supp. 639 (E.D. Pa.1966) for this. Everprest, Inc. does not help. It does not discount the parties' inconvenience in transporting and diverting employees from their duties, nor the cost of transporting experts to a more distant forum. Instead it seems to eliminate the individual discomfort of the employee, or expert, from the category of witnesses. To the extent this opinion or the other disallows a party's inconvenience in exporting its employees and experts to a more distant forum to be considered, the Court declines to follow it for the reasons stated in footnote 5 above. See for example: Sweetheart Plastics, Inc. v. Illinois Tool Works, Inc., supra, 267 F.Supp. at 943-944; United States v. Swift and Co., supra; Clayton v. Swift and Co., 137 F.Supp. 219 (W.D.N.C. 1956), mandamus denied in Clayton v. Warlick, 232 F.2d 699 (4th Cir. 1956); cf.: Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, supra, 330 U.S. at 511, 67 S.Ct. 839. In passing, the Court would point out its belief that apparently affluent parties are as entitled to the monetary savings to be gained by trial and pretrial in a closer forum as are less affluent litigants. Id. [7] Plaintiff contends that in patent cases deposition testimony is sufficient. Everprest, Inc. v. Phillips-Van Heusen Corp., supra. This Court would qualify and say only minimally sufficient. In technical cases a court often lacks particular expertise. Therefore, the exposure of experts to the court's questioning can often enable the court to grasp critical issues. Plaintiff contends that because defendant has not asserted its inability to call adverse witnesses, the unavailability of process is irrelevant. This is without merit. Parties are not called upon to disclose the identity of rebuttal witnesses before trial. Therefore, the increased possibility for the use of process to insure their attendance is of importance in assuring a just adjudication. [8] The savings figures were computed by adding the travel figures from each city discussed. The distances to New Haven, Connecticut, were computed in one column and those to Houston, Texas, in another. The difference between these figures doubled equaled the amount of savings. [9] Plaintiff is going to call 21 witnesses (one to be announced) including the patentees. The proximity of the residences of the witnesses to each forum is reflected by the following chart: Miles to Miles to Witnesses and residences New Haven Houston 8 live in or near New York City 80 1640 8 live in Paulsboro, N.J. 180 1550 1 lives in Saddle River, N.J. 115 1615 1 lives in Perkasie, Pa. 170 1648 1 lives in Chicago, Illinois 895 1113 1 lives in Dallas, Texas 1729 242 Defendant indicated it would call 14 witnesses * (one to be announced). The proximity of the residences of defendant's witnesses to each forum is shown as follows: Miles to Miles to Witnesses and residences New Haven Houston 5 live in or near Baltimore, Md. 270 1450 1 lives in or near New York City 80 1640 1 lives in Princeton, N.J. 115 1605 1 lives in Cincinnati, Ohio 703 1115 1 lives in Lake Charles, La. 1409 175 * Five of these are Mobil employees, four of whom plaintiff listed as "tentative" witnesses. Therefore the mileage information pertinent to them was included in plaintiff's chart. The fifth man (Andrew L. Gaboriault, of New York City) is listed in defendant's chart. [10] Plaintiff argues that the prejudices to it which would arise from a delay in trial are the inconveniences caused by (1) delay in receiving damages; and (2) the problems of placating its present patent licensees. This type of inconvenience, if proven, would not be sufficiently prejudicial to sway the balance of justice against transfer where, as here, the factors of convenience weigh so heavily, toward trial in the transferee forum. Burroughs Corp. v. Newark Electronics Corp., supra, 317 F.Supp. 192; Leesona Corp. v. Duplan Corp., supra, 317 F.Supp. 302; Blue Bell, Inc. v. Jaymar-Ruby. Inc., supra, 311 F.Supp. 943-944. [1] In Garner v. Wolfinbarger, supra, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Judicial Circuit states: We are of the view that § 1292(b) review is inappropriate for challenges to a judge's discretion in granting or denying transfers under § 1404(a). The Congressional policy against piecemeal appeals, as expressed in the final judgment rule, 28 U.S.C. § 1291, to which § 1292 (b) is a narrow exception, is eroded by permitting review of exercise of the judge's discretion under § 1404(a) as a "controlling question of law." Our conclusion is the same as that already reached by the Second, Third, and Sixth Circuits,4 and by the text writers.5 The temptation is great when an interlocutory appeal is properly taken from one order, and the record is before us, and the parties themselves may desire a declaration on the validity of another interlocutory order not independently appealable under § 1292(b), to consider everything on a sort of ad hoc pendent jurisdiction basis. Apparently this is what happened in Time, Inc. v. Manning [366 F.2d 690 (5th Cir.)]. A similar case is Koehring Co. v. Hyde Construction Co., 324 F.2d 295 (5th Cir. 1963), where appellant appealed from denial of a motion to dismiss on grounds of lack of jurisdiction in Mississippi and of alternative § 1404(a) and § 1406(a)6 motions to transfer to Oklahoma. Without considering the question of availability of review, we held that we need not reach the jurisdiction issue because the case should be transferred to Oklahoma. There are several considerations against piecemeal appeals. It is contrary to the language of § 1292(b), which is in terms of the appealability where "such order involves a controlling question of law." The issue is not one of convenience to the litigants, or even to this court, but of appellate jurisdiction. The ad hoc approach invites the parties to inject a sham issue as the vehicle to bring the case to this court at the interlocutory stage for a declaration on an order not otherwise reviewable. And it confuses the courts and the parties, who assume that because a discretionary transfer order has been reviewed in one case it can be reviewed in any other. (Footnotes omitted). Id., at 120. [2] The cases relied upon by plaintiff in its brief were discussed and either rejected or construed in a light favorable to this Court's instant decision by the Court of Appeals in Garner.

Victor Serventi Victor Serventi (23 June 1907 – 16 March 2000) was a French composer. Life Born in Algiers, Serventi studied at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1921; piano with Joseph Morpain then Lazare-Lévy, harmony with Jean Gallon, counterpoint and fugue with Noël Gallon and musical composition with Henri Busser. From 1934, he competed several times to the Prix de Rome where he won the first Grand Prix in 1937 with his cantata La Belle et la Bête. From 1943 to 1977, he was professor at the Conservatoire de Paris. His compositions include Variations sur une complainte corse for piano in 1938, a piano suite in 1942 and variations for clarinet and piano. His most famous work, regularly given in concert and recorded several times, is the Largo et scherzando for double bass and piano which he composed in 1944. Serventi was married to singer Suzanne Juyol (1920-1994). He died at Margency (Val-d'Oise) at the age of 82. References External links Victor Serventi Largo-Scherzando (YouTube) Category:French classical composers Category:French male classical composers Category:20th-century French composers Category:French male composers Category:Prix de Rome for composition Category:Conservatoire de Paris alumni Category:Academics of the Conservatoire de Paris Category:People from Algiers Category:1907 births Category:2000 deaths Category:20th-century French male musicians

Iron-induced changes in pyruvate metabolism of Tritrichomonas foetus and involvement of iron in expression of hydrogenosomal proteins. The main function of the hydrogenosome, a typical organelle of trichomonads, is to convert malate or pyruvate to H(2), CO(2) and acetate by a pathway associated with ATP synthesis. This pathway relies on activity of iron-sulfur proteins such as pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase (PFOR), hydrogenase and ferredoxin. To examine the effect of iron availability on proper hydrogenosomal function, the metabolic activity of the hydrogenosome and expression of hydrogenosomal enzymes were compared in Tritrichomonas foetus maintained under iron-rich (150 microM iron nitrilotriacetate) or iron-restricted (180 microM 2,2-dipyridyl) conditions in vitro. The activities of PFOR and hydrogenase, and also production of acetate and H(2), were markedly decreased or absent in iron-restricted trichomonads. Moreover, a decrease in activity of the hydrogenosomal malic enzyme, which is a non-Fe-S protein, was also observed. Impaired function of hydrogenosomes under iron-restricted conditions was compensated for by activation of the cytosolic pathway, mediating conversion of pyruvate to ethanol via acetaldehyde. This metabolic switch was fully reversible. Production of hydrogen by iron-restricted trichomonads was restored to the level of organisms grown under iron-rich conditions within 3 h after addition of 150 microM iron nitrilotriacetate. Protein analysis of purified hydrogenosomes from iron-restricted cells showed decreased levels of proteins corresponding to PFOR, malic enzyme and ferredoxin. Accordingly, these cells displayed decreased steady-state level and synthesis of mRNAs encoding PFOR and hydrogenosomal malic enzyme. These data demonstrate that iron is essential for function of the hydrogenosome, show its involvement in the expression of hydrogenosomal proteins and indicate the presence of iron-dependent control of gene transcription in Tt. foetus.

First comparative phenetic studies of Argentinean species of Acacia (Fabaceae), using morphometric, isozymal, and RAPD approaches. Morphological and genetic diversity among Acacia aroma, A. macracantha, A. caven, and A. furcatispina were studied with morphometric, isozymal, and RAPD approaches. The analysis of seven isozyme systems revealed 21 loci, and RAPD analysis showed 34 loci. Most of these loci allowed us to differentiate the species, with the exception of A. aroma and A. macracantha, the two most similar species. The levels of genetic variability estimated by isozymes were higher than those obtained from RAPD analyses. Morphometric characters showed highly significant differences among the species, although A. aroma and A. macracantha are differentiated only by thorn length. The phenogram obtained from isozyme data is consistent with morphological data. The RAPD phenogram based on allelic frequencies showed agreement with morphological and isozymal approaches only at the intraspecific levels, while the RAPD phenogram based on Nei and Li's similarity measures agreed with the phenograms constructed from isozyme and morphological data. High similarities and high indirect gene flow were found between A. aroma and A. macracantha, results that call the relationship between them into question.

Proteins as parameters in the discrimination between different blood-CSF barriers. Data on cerebrospinal fluid to serum concentration ratios for albumin, IgG and alpha 2-macroglobulin were analysed by groupings based on electrophoretic or clinical criteria. Statistically significant differences (P less than 0.01) were found for distinguishing up to three different blood-CSF barriers, when compared to normal barrier function.

Slickstones Quarry, Cromhall Slickstones Quarry, Cromhall () is a 2.7 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near the village of Cromhall, South Gloucestershire, notified in 1966. The site shows red Triassic rocks in fissures of older carboniferous limestone. The quarry is home to Cromhall Diving Centre, used by trainees as there is a sloping entry (former road) and a pontoon. References Category:Geology of Gloucestershire Category:Quarries in Gloucestershire Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Avon Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1966 Category:Diving quarries in the United Kingdom

Contact Us BOSTON — Robert C. Merton, Harvard's John and Natty McArthur University Professor based at Harvard Business School and winner of the 1997 Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in the Economic Sciences, recently received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Claremont Graduate University in Los Angeles. Merton was recognized with the degree Doctor of Science, honoris causa, for his important contributions to the fields of mathematics and financial options, including intertemporal portfolio choice, capital asset pricing, and risky corporate debt. Claremont Graduate University also commended him for his creation of the Merton Model, a structural credit risk model that treats equity as an option on the firm's assets; his development of SmartNest, a pension management platform that addresses deficiencies associated with traditional defined-benefit and defined-contribution plans; and his ability to translate financial science into practice. The University also applauded Merton's groundbreaking work on a new method for valuing derivative securities, for which he won the Nobel Prize with Myron S. Scholes in 1997. In collaboration with the late Fischer Black, Merton and Scholes developed a pioneering formula for the valuation of stock options. This method also paved the way for economic valuations in many other areas, generated new types of financial instruments, and facilitated more efficient risk management. Robert Merton was the 35th Harvard University faculty member to be awarded a Nobel Prize. To celebrate this honor, Harvard Business School opened an exhibition exploring the context in which Merton conducted his Nobel Prize research - from his early influences and investigations as a young doctoral student more than thirty-five years ago to the impact and growth of his groundbreaking work in the current academic and financial communities. Merton donated his gold Nobel Prize medal to Harvard Business School in 2005, along with the tooled leather box in which the medal was awarded and the accompanying diploma with original watercolor painting and citation. All these items are on permanent display in the de Gasp�� Beaubien Reading Room, located on the first floor of Harvard Business School's Baker Library | Bloomberg Center. At HBS, Merton currently teaches the second-year elective Functional and Strategic Finance, a course organized around applying finance science and financial engineering in the design and management of global financial institutions, markets, and the financial system. Merton earned a bachelor's degree in engineering mathematics from Columbia University, a master's degree in engineering mathematics from the California Institute of Technology, and a doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then served on the finance faculty of the MIT Sloan School of Management until 1988, when he moved to Harvard Business School. He is past president of the American Finance Association and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Custom Page Content 4 About Harvard Business School Founded in 1908 as part of Harvard University, Harvard Business School is located on a 40-acre campus in Boston. Its faculty of more than 200 offers full-time programs leading to the MBA and doctoral degrees, as well as more than 70 open enrollment Executive Education programs and 55 custom programs, and HBX, the School’s digital learning platform. For more than a century, HBS faculty have drawn on their research, their experience in working with organizations worldwide, and their passion for teaching to educate leaders who make a difference in the world, shaping the practice of business and entrepreneurship around the globe.

Tapanee Levitation 4 __NOTOC__ The Tapanee Levitation 4 is a Canadian four-seat STOL aircraft designed to be homebuilt by Michel Lequin for Tapanee Aviation of Mont-Saint-Michel, Quebec. Design and development A larger version of the companies earlier Pegazair bushplane, the Levitation is a high-wing monoplane with V-strut bracing, leading edge slats and Junkers flaperons. Powered by a Lycoming O-360 flat-six piston engine with a two-blade propeller. The Leviation has a fixed conventional landing gear with a tailwheel and a cabin holding a pilot and three passengers in two rows of side-by-side seating. By December 2004 five kits had been sold. Specifications See also References Notes Bibliography External links Category:Homebuilt aircraft Category:2000s Canadian civil utility aircraft Category:Tapanee Aviation aircraft Category:High-wing aircraft Category:STOL aircraft Category:Aircraft first flown in 2002

Low-level aerial surveys aim to understand rapid Antarctic melting Published: Thursday, October 8, 2009, 14:40 [IST] Subscribe to Oneindia News Washington, October 8 (ANI): A giant NASA DC-8 aircraft loaded with geophysical instruments and scientists is all set to fly at low level over the coasts of West Antarctica, in order to understand the rapid Antarctic melting. The flights, dubbed 'Operation Ice Bridge', are an effort by NASA in cooperation with university researchers to image what is happening on, and under, the ice, in order to estimate future sea-level rises that might result. Since 2003, laser measurements of ice surfaces from NASA's ICESat satellite have shown that vast ice masses in Greenland and West Antarctica are thinning and flowing quickly seaward. Last month, a report in the journal Nature based on the satellite's measurements showed that some parts of the Antarctic area to be surveyed have been sinking 9 meters (27) feet a year. In 2002, one great glacial ice shelf jutting from land over the ocean on the Antarctic Peninsula simply disintegrated and floated away within days. NASA's satellite reaches the end of its life this year, and another will not go up until 2015. In the interim, Operation Ice Bridge flights will continue and expand upon the satellite mission. In addition to lasers, the plane will carry penetrating radars to measure snow cover and the thickness of ice to bedrock, and a gravity-measuring system run by Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory that will, for the first time, plot the geometry and depth of ocean waters under the ice shelves. The gravity study is seen as key because many scientists believe warm ocean currents may be the main force pulling the ice sheets seaward, melting the undersides of ice shelves and thus removing the buttresses that hold back the far greater masses of ice on land. "What our colleagues see from modeling of these glaciers is that warm ocean water is providing the thermal energy to melt the ice," said Lamont geophysicist Michael Studinger, a co-leader of the gravity team who will be on some of the flights. "To really understand how the glaciers are going to behave, we need the firsthand measurements of water shape and depth," he added. "A remarkable change is happening on Earth, truly one of the biggest changes in environmental conditions since the end of the ice age," said Tom Wagner, cryosphere program scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington. "It's not an easy thing to observe, let alone predict what might happen next. Studies like this one are key," he added. (ANI)

Q: CSS: Sorry, the at-rule @keyframes is not implemented Trying to make a simple animation using example found at http://www.w3schools.com/cssref/tryit.asp?filename=trycss3_keyframes2 as a reference however, the image which i'm trying to animate stands still. Aptana editor spits out these errors -"Property animation doesn't exist, "Property animation-iteration-count doesn't exist", "Sorry, the at-rule @keyframes is not implemented". my html: <div id="animate"><img src="flower.jpg"> </div> my css: #animate img { width:50px; height:50px; animation: test 25s; animation-iteration-count: 10; -moz-animation: test 25s; } @keyframes test { 0% {left:0px; top:0px;} 25% {left:200px; top:0px;} 50% {left:200px; top:200px;} 75% {left:0px; top:200px;} 100% {left:0px; top:0px;} } @-moz-keyframes test { 0% {left:0px; top:0px;} 25% {left:200px; top:0px;} 50% {left:200px; top:200px;} 75% {left:0px; top:200px;} 100% {left:0px; top:0px;} } The third error, "Sorry, the at-rule @keyframes is not implemented" - does it mean that this feature is not officially implemented worldwide? if so, why the example code at W3schools works OK, but the code from my editor does not work? using Mozilla 18.0.2 on windows A: This seems to work for me. I added a containing class just to be sure. http://codepen.io/anon/pen/JBdgk Also, you've only written moz keyframes. You are testing this in Firefox, right?

// Autogenerated by hob window.cls || (window.cls = {}); cls.WindowManager || (cls.WindowManager = {}); cls.WindowManager["2.0"] || (cls.WindowManager["2.0"] = {}); cls.WindowManager["2.0"].WindowID = function(arr) { this.windowID = arr[0]; };

Copper coloured using French hops. A Maris Otter base, and six malts, including Pilsner, Vienna and Melanoidin - a malt which adds a deep amber to red / brown colour with a flavour notes of honey and biscuit.

Spin-resolved photoemission of surface states of W(110)-(1 x 1)H. The surface electronic states of W(110)-(1 x 1)H have been measured using spin- and angle-resolved photoemission. We directly demonstrate that the surface bands are both split and spin-polarized by the spin-orbit interaction in association with the loss of inversion symmetry near a surface. We observe 100% spin polarization of the surface states, with the spins aligned in the plane of the surface and oriented in a circular fashion relative to the Smacr; symmetry point. In contrast, no measurable polarization of nearby bulk states is observed.

Q: Schedule a price increase All our prices are managed through an external integration so price increases have to be scheduled. Example: In January you have an original price of £30 and receive a price increase request that has to start from February (£40). All logic must be build in advance. How would you approach it? A possible solution would be to create 2 attributes: increased_price and increased_price_date could be an option but this will require a process to run every day and check if there are product like this with that particular date and then update the current price. Any other options? Thanks A: It depends a lot on how your getting the pricing from your integration supplier and the number of products which you have. However I recently completed a project which under some circimstances had a price change going on every other minute so it was quite resource intensive. The approach I took there, and which might be sutible for you is to extend the Product Model's getPrice() and connect to redis where you will cache pricing in an simple key value approach. Example: [100 => [ '01' => 30.00, // January '02' => 40.00 // February ] ] Now you can make a connection to this, and return the month for the current price that month. Extending upon this logic, you can directly query the API provider of your service and return the current price in run time this gives the benefit that your code always returns the price in the suppliers database without ever needing to worry about updating your local price. public function getPrice() { if ($this->_redisHelper->isRedisPriceReady($this->getId())) { return $this->_redisHelper->getPrice($this->getId()); } $parentPrice = parent::getPrice(); return $parentPrice; } Above is an example of what I'm doing - checking to see if I have a redis price available (in my case we generate this at run time rather than externally hence the getPrice on the helper - this simply connects and retrieves the relevant price from the structure in redis.) That section you would replace with either an API call to the supplier, or a middle man query depending on your needs.

<?php /** * OSSMail test class. * * @copyright YetiForce Sp. z o.o * @license YetiForce Public License 3.0 (licenses/LicenseEN.txt or yetiforce.com) * @author Tomasz Kur <t.kur@yetiforce.com> */ namespace tests\Settings; class OSSMail extends \Tests\Base { /** * Testing change configuration for Roundcube. */ public function testChangeConfig() { $configurator = new \App\ConfigFile('module', 'OSSMail'); $configurator->set('des_key', 'YetiForce_Test'); $configurator->set('default_host', ['ssl://imap.gmail.com', 'ssl://imap.YT_Test.com']); $configurator->create(); $this->assertSame('YetiForce_Test', \App\Config::module('OSSMail', 'des_key')); $this->assertCount(0, array_diff(\App\Config::module('OSSMail', 'default_host'), ['ssl://imap.gmail.com', 'ssl://imap.YT_Test.com'])); } }

Thursday, July 9, 2009 Wizards Vs. Vampires: Harry Potter and Twilight Alicia Penner, a 13-year-old from Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, read the “Harry Potter” books 57 times. She watched the “Harry Potter” movies. Then last fall, a friend lent her the teen vampire book series “Twilight”—and she was hooked. The “Harry Potter” poster that used to hang on her bedroom wall has been replaced by the “Twilight” poster she got for her 13th birthday. As a new “Harry Potter” movie opens next week, the bespectacled wizard faces a new challenge: how to compete for the attention of a young audience that has been growing up—and is starting to prefer the angsty teen romances and cooler, edgier characters of the “Twilight” books and movies. The film moves directly into the territory where “Twilight” now rules. The sixth “Potter” movie, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” has a distinctly more grown-up tone than its predecessors and features a strong romantic plotline. The movie’s timing may have helped its vampire rival. Last year Warner Bros. delayed the release of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” to fill a hole in its summer-2009 schedule. Hollywood studio Summit Entertainment wasted no time pushing its teen vampire picture “Twilight” into the vacant November slot. The film, adapted from the best-selling book series about an epic love story between a vampire who looks 17 years old and a normal teenage girl, became an overnight success, grossing more than $382 million world-wide on a shoestring budget of $37 million. Hollywood marketing executives say that these days the “Twilight” franchise has influenced almost every studio marketing campaign that targets teenage girls. Some posters for the upcoming “Potter” film echo “Twilight”’s emphasis on romance. One features Harry and his crush, Ginny, gazing longingly into each others’ eyes, in a pose reminiscent of “Twilight”’s now-iconic image of its star-crossed lovers, Bella and Edward. Another shows Harry’s friend Ron with his girlfriend Lavender, while a jealous Hermione scowls in the background. Warner Bros. and the team behind “Potter” say they didn’t take the “Twilight” franchise into account when designing their marketing materials for “The Half-Blood Prince.” Instead, they crafted a campaign aimed to resonate with previous “Potter” films, the executives and filmmakers say, dismissing the notion that there is a rivalry between the franchises among fans. “With all due respect to “Twilight,” the longevity and world-wide success of the Harry Potter franchise speaks for itself,” a studio representative said. The previous five “Potter” films have grossed almost $4.5 billion in world-wide box-office revenue, making the franchise one of the biggest in history. J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” books have sold more than 400 million copies world-wide, compared with 53 million for Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” series. But after 10 years on the New York Times best-seller list, the “Potter” books fell off the children’s-series list last May, and since then have returned only intermittently. Meanwhile, the “Twilight” books have spent 100 weeks on the chart. Both David Yates, who directed “The Half-Blood Prince,” and David Heyman, the franchise’s longtime producer, say they’ve never seen “Twilight,” and say they deliberately avoided thinking about other franchises when making the “Potter“series. “We live in a bit of a bubble,” said Mr. Heyman, who read the first “Potter” book before it was published in 1997 and immediately had Warner Bros. option the rights. Mr. Yates, who will also direct the final two installments, adds: “J.K. Rowling has given us such a rich and dynamic world that I can’t really look over my shoulder and worry about other teen stories.” Warner Bros. says the “Potter” movies have become more grown-up in order to follow the narrative of the books and to appeal to an audience that’s getting older. Nearly a decade has elapsed since the “Potter” producers cast an 11-year-old Daniel Radcliffe in the pivotal role of Harry. “As the characters and storylines of the Harry Potter films have matured, our marketing materials have followed suit,” says a studio representative. (A 2006 survey found that the average age kids started reading the series was 9 and that nearly 60% of kids aged 9 to 11 had read it.) The new “Harry Potter” film, which opens July 15, focuses heavily on the romantic entanglements that mark the entry into adulthood, and features some dark moments—including the death of a major character—that make it more sophisticated than some of the previous movies. The film begins with Harry’s sixth year at Hogwarts, when he discovers an old book of potions marked as property of a mysterious “Half-Blood Prince.” Harry delves into that book and, through a series of flashbacks, learns more about the past of his nemesis Lord Voldemort. Meanwhile, he and his classmates are also caught up in matters of the heart. There’s frequent talk of “snogging,” as Lavender celebrates Ron’s victory in a quidditch game with a kiss that sends a jealous Hermione into a rage, and Harry sees Ginny kissing another boy. “There is a much stronger romantic strand in this film than in earlier movies,” says Mr. Yates. “The characters have reached that point in their lives where their hormones are starting to fly and they are exploring sexuality and discovering the opposite sex.” For its part, Summit Entertainment, the studio behind “Twilight,” says it has been careful to steer clear of the commercial juggernaut that “Potter” has become, especially because its “Twilight” fan base overlaps with the “Potter” audience. The studio says that its strategy has been to avoid releasing any “Twilight” material too close to big release dates for “Harry Potter.” “It’s the only franchise that we ever pay attention to,” says Rob Friedman, chief executive and co-chairman of Summit Entertainment. “We are very cognizant of where they are, and we’ve always been wary of being in too close proximity to ‘Harry Potter’ because we know our fans cross over so much, and we definitely don’t want to compete with ‘Harry’ for attention.” Haami Nyangibo, a 13-year-old girl from London, says that after years of reading “Harry Potter” she has come to find the “Twilight” books “far more relatable. They just engage in a more realistic way. A lot of my friends have gone off ‘Harry Potter’ and are onto ‘Twilight,’ ” she says. For many girls, the appeal of “Twilight” lies in Edward Cullen, the gorgeous vampire who fights his own biological destiny to fall in love with Bella Swan, a human girl. Robert Pattinson, the 23-year-old British heartthrob with unkempt hair and bedroom eyes who plays Cullen in the “Twilight” movies, has added to Edward’s mystique. Mr. Pattinson also has a history with the “Harry Potter” franchise: He played Harry’s onetime rival, Cedric Diggory, in the past two “Potter” movies. Summit will release the “Twilight” sequel, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” on Nov. 20, the same time of year it released the first “Twilight” in 2008. The first trailer for the $50 million film prominently features action-packed werewolf sequences, which could appeal to male fans. While teen girls seemed to be the target audience of the first “Twilight” film, Summit says 40% of its audience was male, with most of those viewers under 25. Tabloids have continued to stoke interest in the series, with weekly photos and stories chronicling a possible real-life romance between Ms. Stewart and Mr. Pattinson, as they shoot romantic scenes for upcoming sequels in locales like the small Tuscan city of Volterra, Italy. (A representative for Ms. Stewart declined to comment; a representative for Mr. Pattinson couldn’t be reached.) Jeff Gomez, president of Starlight Runner Entertainment and a producer who has consulted on some top franchises, such as the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, says “Twilight’s” focus on romance means it could overtake “Potter” as the wand-wielding “Potterheads” grow up and into more sophisticated films. “I have a lot of confidence in ‘Harry Potter,’” he says, “and it has a narrative momentum that carries its core audience along.” But he says even a series as established as “Harry Potter” can be threatened by a franchise like “Twilight,” which has exploded so quickly and attracted such ravenous fans. Ms. Penner says she has moved on from Harry, however. Recently, she came across her old “Harry Potter” poster while cleaning her room. “I saw it in the closet but by then ‘Twilight’ had come along, and I thought, ‘Who cares?’ ” she says. “Nobody really believes you can have magic, but some people believe you can find the perfect guy.” No comments: Post a Comment About The Editor I am a 'youth media and marketing expert' who has for the past fifteen years, been developing business strategies, producing, creative directing and editing pop-culture and 'lifestyle' oriented content and marketing initiatives geared towards tweens, teens, millennials, and young adults through a variety of medium including the internet, print, video, audio, and live events. I always stay on-top of news items that discusses the latest media and marketing initiatives targeting this elusive group, and have collected them here at "Don't Call Me A Tween".Below is a list of some of the companies I have worked or consulted for:

external hard drive help please hi everyone i just bought a external hardrive called maxtor personal storage 3200. now all you are meant to do is plug it in and windows will give the drive a name. well i done all that but its not shown in my computer not on the screen, do i have to format it first so that it shows up?? im really upset with this can any one help please thankyou chris to ddp, sorry my friend im new with this external drive the leaflet tells me windows xp should have read the frive and they say it has one big parton on it,now i right clicked my computermthen i selected manage then computer management and disk management. thats where i got to beause on the box on the right side just showed the c: drive and underneath it that box showed a box saying disk o which is the c: drive then cd rom o which is my dvd and cd rom1 which is my dvd rw . now can you please advise my what you mean by initiate the drive because i cant see my external one on the screen and how do i initiate the drive. sorry, im a right pain but i just dont know what to do. thank you for your patience chri hope to hear from you soon hi again yes there is its in the other devices part now i clicked on that and it says install driver but i have no software with it, and also when i installed it a box came up saying found new hardware and again ask me you search for driver in floppy and the other drives oh yeah also i clicked on the question mark and looked in the device status and it said driver not installed code 28 if that means anything, i thought you just plug it in and it loaded the drivers sor some reason i would not be a setting in my cmos would it ??? seriously, i dont think it should require any drivers to be loaded to work. Like Dragonz17 says: is the AC power pluuged in? because without it, it would act just like you say it is, so you may wanna check that.. It wont be a setting in the CMOS or BIOS because the OS runs at a higher level, to put it simply (above the HAL)... cheers nickberry, well i checked all the leads and like i said earlier mate a window comes up saying found new device and do i want to search for drivers i say no and thats it, this has really got me cheers mate okay - ignoring the hard drive for a moment, check this for me, do you have a USB 2.0 / Enhanced controlller listed in the device manager? also - if you switch the view to 'devices by connection' where does the unrecognised device appear? i find 'devices by connection so much easier to understand as you can see eveything as it is actually connected up physically... hi nickberry, well mate i looked at the manual and in the device manager and yes i have usb 2 and looked in device manager as you said and i have a enchanced usb controller but as you look at where it says enchanced controller theres a connection leading away from it and thats a usb root hub hiya cphicks! - thats great - each USB controller has a USB hub attached to it (a USB hub consists of 2 USB sockets). And the unkown device - where does that appear? how many USB controllers are listed ? do you have any other USB devices you can use to locate the one that is USB2?

Race to the Landing; Pickwick Landing Race to the Landing; Pickwick Landing State Park; Pickwick Dam - Hosted by the Friends of Pickwick Landing State Park, one of 21 races on the TN State parks Running Tour. For more info, call 731-689-3129.

Nerve degeneration is prevented by a single intraneural apotransferrin injection into colchicine-injured sciatic nerves in the rat. In this work, we have immunohistochemically analyzed the effects of single injections of apotransferrin (aTf) on the expression of myelin (myelin basic proteins [MBPs]) and axonal (protein gene product 9.5 [PGP 9.5] and beta(III)-tubulin [beta(III)-tub]) proteins in colchicine-injected and crushed sciatic nerves of adult rats. A protein redistribution was seen in the distal stump of injured nerves, with the appearance of MBP- and PGP 9.5-immunoreactive (IR) clusters which occurred earlier in crushed nerves (3 days post-injury [PI]) as compared to colchicine-injected nerves (7 days PI). beta(III)-tub-IR clusters appeared at 1 day PI preceding the PGP 9.5- and MBP-IR clusters in colchicine-injected nerves. With image analysis, the peak of clustering formation was found at 14 days PI for MBP and at 3 days PI for beta(III)-tub in colchicine-injected nerves. At 28 days of survival, the protein distribution patterns were almost normal. The intraneural application of aTf, at different concentrations (0.0005 mg/ml, 0.005 mg/ml, 0.05 mg/ml, 0.5 mg/ml), prevented nerve degeneration produced by colchicine, with the appearance of only a small number of MBP- and beta(III)-tub-IR clusters. However, aTf was not able to prevent clustering formation when the nerve was crushed, a kind of injury that also involves necrosis and blood flow alterations. The results suggest that aTf could prevent the colchicine effects by stabilizing the cytoskeleton proteins of the nerve fibers, avoiding the disruption of the axonal transport and thus the myelin degeneration. Transferrin is proposed as a complementary therapeutic avenue for treatment of cytotoxic nerve injuries.

Bill Daley joins race to become Chicago’s next mayor Bill Daley announced his decision to run for mayor of Chicago, continuing a Daley family dynasty in the city. Daley is the son of Richard J. Daley and the brother of Richard M. Daley, who remain Chicago’s two longest-serving mayors, 21 and 22 years, respectively. “Daley’s last name, by itself, boosts him into the circle of six-to-eight candidates who likely will gather sufficient petition signatures to get on the February ballot,” communications instructor John McCarron said. “Don’t forget that the Southwest Side Irish/white-ethnic machine-within-the-Machine essentially ran politics hereabouts for almost 50 years.” Aside from family ties to local government, Daley is no stranger to politics, having served as White House chief of staff to former president Barack Obama from January 2011 to January 2012. Daley additionally served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 1997 to 2000 under former president Bill Clinton. “I think he is certainly very passionate about Chicago and public service,” said professor Nick Kachiroubas. “He always struck me as being willing to talk in those situations about reflecting about what he’s done and looking at it as a multifaceted point of view.” Daley previously ran for the state’s top officer in 2013 against then-governor Pat Quinn in the Democratic primary. Daley subsequently left the race, stating that he was not prepared for the magnitude of the campaign. Daley said he would never run for office again. Daley explained the motivation behind his campaign in a Sept. 18 radio interview with WBEZ on their show “Morning Shift.” “When I flirted with the idea of running for governor, it was a little foreign to me quite frankly” Daley told WBEZ. “You had an incumbent governor, a Democrat, somebody who had lots of difficulties and I thought was damaged and probably couldn’t win, and didn’t. And we ended up with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, who’s had a dismal record for four years.” Daley went on to say that while he felt he could not make a significant difference during his campaign for governor leading to him eventually dropping from the campaign, he is confident in his mayoral campaign. While the Daley legacy is certainly important to Chicago politics, some worry that it could be a potential deterrent to Daley’s campaign. The legacy of Richard J. Daley is especially complicated, particularly his handling of the 1968 Chicago riots. The former mayor had infamously ordered “shoot to kill arsonists” and “shoot to maim looters,” creating a controversy throughout the city. Despite the controversy surrounding his remarks during the riots, Richard J. Daley was the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee for 23 years after the riots and continues to remain an icon within Chicago and its political sphere. “Daley brings instant name recognition but the family dynasty is a mixed legacy,” said Chris Bury, senior journalist in residence at DePaul. “Richard M. Daley served 22 years and was a popular mayor, but he left the city in terrible financial shape and his deal to sell Chicago’s parking meters was a disaster. Daley’s father dominated Chicago politics in a different era of machine politics.” Bury believes that the road will be hard for Daley to break away from his family’s political legacy and create a name for himself in the upcoming elections. “Bill Daley will have to show what sets him apart in a city that is very different from the one his brother and father led,” Bury said. “Chicago is now much more diverse and racially and ethnically divided than it was even a few years ago.” In the interview with WBEZ, Daley expressed interest in not having his campaign conflated with the legacy of his father and brother. “Some people liked [Richard M. Daley] and thought his tenure was great. Others said it was terrible,” Daley said. “So I’ll let the voters decide—hopefully not about Richard M. or Richard J., but about Bill Daley. Because we are different.” Aside from being a big name within Chicago, the Daley family also holds ties to DePaul. Both Richard J. and Richard M. Daley graduated from the College of Law. The Daley Building at 14 E. Jackson Blvd. is even named after the younger mayor and his wife, Maggie. “I think DePaul had a very important place in both [Richard J. Daley’s and Richard M. Daley’s] educational careers.” Kachiroubas said. “I think Bill Daley would have a closer tie to Loyola, but he’s certainly been good to DePaul as he’s been willing at speak to DePaul in years past.” While Daley is an experienced politician, his ability to run his own campaign has been questioned, especially following his failed campaign run in 2013. “Just about everyone in the media knows Bill Daley from his longtime career as a corporate executive, his service in the Clinton and Obama administrations, and his on-again/off-again runs for the governor’s office,” McCarron said. “Those first two gigs are biographical assets. His cancelled feints toward the governor’s office leave some thinking he’s not in this one for the long haul.” Daley’s age and potential lack of a connection with voters are another potential obstacle he will face during his campaign. “Can he connect on a personal level with voters? Does he have a vision for Chicago that resonates? Can a 70-year-old white business guy appeal to a younger and more diverse city population?” Bury said. “These are questions that can only be answered as the campaign unfolds.”

Q: adding to nested dictionaries in python i have a nested dictionary in the form of: self.emoji_per_word = {0: {'worte': 0, 'emojis': 0, '#': 0}} Now i need to add more sub dictionaries to this as my program runs. I do this: worte = 0 emoji = 0 # some code that assigns values to the 2 variables and creates the time_stamp variable if time_stamp in self.emoji_per_word: self.emoji_per_word[time_stamp]['worte'] = self.emoji_per_word[time_stamp]['worte'] + worte self.emoji_per_word[time_stamp]['emojis'] = self.emoji_per_word[time_stamp]['emojis'] + emojis else: self.emoji_per_word[time_stamp]['worte'] = worte self.emoji_per_word[time_stamp]['emojis'] = emojis As you can see, i try to the test if the key time_stamp already exists and if yes, update the value with the new data. If not i want to create the key time_stamp and assign it a inital value. However im getting a Key Error once the programm goes past the inital value (see top). Exception in thread Video 1: Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:\Anaconda\lib\threading.py", line 916, in _bootstrap_inner self.run() File "C:\MA\Code\jsonparser_v2\jsonparser_v2.py", line 418, in run self.process_json() File "C:\MA\Code\jsonparser_v2\jsonparser_v2.py", line 201, in process_json self.emoji_per_word[time_stamp]['worte'] = worte KeyError: 1 What I want in the end is something like this: self.emoji_per_word = {0: {'worte': 20, 'emojis': 5, '#':0.25}, 1: {'worte': 20, 'emojis': 5, '#':0.25}} What am I doing wrong here? A: You're getting the error because self.emoji_per_word[time_stamp] doesn't exist when time_stamp != 0 so you need to create the dictionary first before assigning values to it, like so: else: self.emoji_per_word[time_stamp] = {} self.emoji_per_word[time_stamp]['worte'] = worte self.emoji_per_word[time_stamp]['emojis'] = emojis

Q: MSB6003 The specified task executable "sgen.exe" could not be run. The filename or extension is too long Running VS 2017 15.5.3 on windows 10. Getting this generic error "The specified task executable "sgen.exe" could not be run. The filename or extension is too long" When building project in Release configuration and X64 platform. But it builds fine in Debug configuration and Any CPU platform. As suggested in https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/98090/vs-2017-153-error-the-specified-task-executable-sg.html Was able to build it but after the setting "Generate serialization assembly" to OFF. Don't think the filename is long. Would anyone shed light on this? Best Regards, Damodar A: MSB6003 The specified task executable “sgen.exe” could not be run. The filename or extension is too long As we know, The sgen.exe is used to created an XML serialization assembly for types in a specified assembly in order to improve the startup performance of a XmlSerializer when it serializes or deserializes objects of the specified types. If you do not need the XML serialization assembly, you should set the property of GenerateSerializationAssemblies to Auto or off. And SGen by default only for proxy types generates for “Any CPU”. That is the reason why you got the error on the Release configuration and X64 platform but not on Debug configuration and Any CPU platform. You can right click on your project->Properties->Build->GenerateSerializationAssemblies, set the value to off. Then unload your project, edit project, in the project file, you can find the following line of code: <GenerateSerializationAssemblies>Off</GenerateSerializationAssemblies> However, this line of code on exists on the condition Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU' ", So to resolve this issue, you can manually add this line of code to others conditions. Your project files configuration would end up looking something like this: <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|x86' "> ... <GenerateSerializationAssemblies>Off</GenerateSerializationAssemblies> </PropertyGroup> <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|x64' "> ... <GenerateSerializationAssemblies>Off</GenerateSerializationAssemblies> </PropertyGroup> See Generating an Xml Serialization assembly as part of my build for more detailed info. Hope this helps. A: In Solution Explorer, right-click on the project throwing the error; then click on Properties. In the window that opens, click on the Build tab by the left. Locate the Generate serialization assembly option. Set ti to OFF or AUTO.

Phagocytic and bactericidal activity of granulocytes in diabetic children. Phagocytic and bactericidal activity of granulocytes were estimated in granulocytes of normal and diabetic children. The influence of candidal, tuberculin antigens, and staphylococcal antitoxin on these parameters was also tested. Thirty diabetic and forty healthy children made up the study group. Their ages were 6-18 yr. The disease duration was from 1 to 12 yr. Granulocytes from diabetic children demonstrated a normal ability to absorb staphylococcus. On the other hand, the capacity for intercellular killing of bacteria by granulocytes of diabetic children was decreased.

Q: What can I do inside "location" background thread? For the sake of this question, assume I plan to build a Google Latitude client app for iOS 4. my app needs to upload the user gps location every two minutes, and also download the user friends locations. - in the background! my app can't wait to be woken up by the OS on cellular tower switches (because they may only happen after 2 KM, while my app needs constant gps updating), so I understand I can create a thread, similar to the ones GPS navigators use, to run in the background. I have no knowledge in iPhone programming, I just need to know if my app is feasible. Will I be able to access the internet from within the background thread (and upload the user gps location), or is it restricted to only sampling the GPS location. 1. Will Apple approve such an application, or is this type of use forbidden? because my app isn't realy critical such as a gps navigator Thanks! A: As Don said, iOS will send location events to apps that support it. From there, the app can do what it needs to do with the location event. Background apps can register for one of three options: Significant changes only: a low-power way to track location that only wakes the app up when there's a "significant" change in location Standard location services: compatible with all iOS devices that can use location services, allows you specify change in distance, and works in background. However, if the app has been terminated or suspended, iOS won't attempt to relaunch the app. Continuous location services: allows the program to receive continuous location updates and iOS will not suspend the application when sent to the background. More info: Executing Code in the Background and Location Awareness Programming Guide If you take a look at Executing Code in the Background, Apple provides guidelines on what multitasking-aware apps should and shouldn't do.

Q: Does gravitational lensing provide time evolution information? When we see multiple images of the same object because of the phenomenon of gravitational lensing, do all the images show the lensed object at the same point in time? Does it take the same amount of time for light from the lensed object to reach us no matter what image we look at or are we watching the lensed object at different points in time and if so, how big can the difference in time typically be? A: Time delays between the light received from multiple lensed images is a well known and commonly studied phenomenon. A typical example can be found in Koopmans et al. (2003) where they study a quadruple lens system formed by a forefround object at z=0.6 and a background source at z=1.4. The time delays measured are 31-77 days and this seems to be typical for the objects studied so far. The delay depends on the difference in path length taken by the multiple images. This in turn depends on the distance to the source and the distance between the source and the lensing object and on the mass distribution around the lensing object. It also depends on the expansion rate of the universe, which gives a route to estimating the Hubble parameter. A rule of thumb appears to be that the delay is of order $r_s/c$, where $r_s = 2GM/c^2$, where $M$ is the mass of the lens interior to the path of the light ray. $$ \tau \sim 10^{-5} \left(\frac{M}{M_{\odot}}\right)\ {\rm sec}$$ So for a $10^{12}M_{\odot}$ foreground lensing galaxy (a big spiral like the Milky Way), the delay is about 100 days.

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Talk given for the second MSA (Microscopy Society of America) Workshop on Multiphoton Excitation Microscopy (Atlanta, 12 July 1998). The topics described were aspects associated with multiphoton imaging down in the 700-800nm region: UV excitable probes, tissue autofluorescence and cell viability under the imaging conditions necessary to excite these types of fluorescence.

/* Copyright Rene Rivera 2013 Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt) */ #ifndef BOOST_PREDEF_OTHER_H #define BOOST_PREDEF_OTHER_H #include <boost/predef/other/endian.h> /*#include <boost/predef/other/.h>*/ #endif