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The Tutankhamun Illusion knit is 210 stitches high by 151 ridges of knitting wide (88cm by 65cm in using DK and knitting tightly with 3mm needles) and has been knitted to be viewed from the side. It is intended to be used as a wall hanging or as the centre of a bed cover. The completed item, in the colours I chose, has a luminous, almost holographic effect. The final two photographs show the project when viewed from directly in front and directly behind. September 2013 UpdateThe pattern now includes an extra chart intended for tablet users but others may find it helpful. You can view 20 ridges at a time and always be able to see the numbers across the bottom of the chart. Never lose your place again!

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A liquid crystal display device generally includes a back plate, a middle frame, and a liquid crystal glass. The middle frame is positioned between the back plate and the liquid crystal glass for supporting the liquid crystal glass. However, a design of the middle frame increases the thickness of the liquid crystal display device. Therefore, there is room for improvement in the art.

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Gov. Phil Bryant’s proposals totaling more than $12 million to enhance access to health care for uninsured Mississippians are pending in the Legislature. But some question whether the governor’s proposals are the most efficient use of scarce state funds. Legislation in the Senate would provide $3.2 million to provide grants to federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics while a House proposal would provide $4.8 million for the two sets of clinics designed to provide health care to the poor and indigent. Nicole Webb, a spokeswoman for Bryant, said, “The governor’s intention with both of these bills is to increase access to primary health care services across the state. Many of the patients served by these clinics have incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty limit, and many are also uninsured.” The Republican Bryant and the House and Senate leadership have been steadfast in refusing to expand Medicaid to cover people earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level as is allowed under the federal Affordable Care Act.

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Marriage Equality Action Factory This is it. This'll be ONE last day to get the thousands students on to the electoral roll to vote for marriage equality.If we do and they vote - we win. If we win - it's the win where you'll always remember where you were. Imagine people sitting around with thumbs texting frantically like never before, people pacing around on the phone - until someone yells, "I got another one!" Another tally marked on the enrolment wall. Around you the thump of badge makers. Probably ridiculous music playing. New warmly printed pledges in to envelopes to enrolees for the next stage. Outside (with heaters) there is painting and crafts for - well that one is a secret which you'll have to come to find out. We want you to come, but actually we need you to. And you need you to.

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While other MediaPost newsletters and articles remain free to all ... our new Research Intelligencer service is reserved for paid subscribers ... Subscribe today to gain access to every Research Intelligencer article we publish as well as the exclusive daily newsletter, full access to The MediaPost Cases, first-look research and daily insights from Joe Mandese, Editor in Chief. Commentary TV Ads Play A Role In Good Vibes The debate over how much national TV advertising can help a marketer’s VIBE will continue in perpetuity. But an argument could be made it has a significant impact. WPP marketing firm Added Value has released its annual Cultural Traction report based on a survey looking to determine whether a brand is considered to be visionary, inspiring, bold and exciting (VIBE). Results for those characteristics are mixed together and an index is spit out yielding the VIBE rankings. In the U.S. – where about 9,500 people 16 and older were surveyed late last year -- Apple leads. It's followed by Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Sony. Looking at the top 20, 75% of the brands have offered at least some notable national TV promotions recently. The exceptions are IKEA (ranked 7th); Harley-Davidson (11th); Toms Shoes (15th); Chipotle (19th) and eBay (20th). If ad spending were the only contributor to a VIBE ranking, it would be no surprise that Apple, with all those iPad ads, is the leader. Or, that Target (6th); Samsung (9th) and Subway (10th) are in the top 10. advertisement advertisement But clearly, some brands rely on more than TV spots to get a leading VIBE, starting with Apple. Also, Google, which did have a memorable father-daughter spot, isn’t a heavy advertiser and is ranked second. Amazon, which is ranked third, backs the Kindle, but isn’t all over prime time plugging its Netflix-style streaming service. On the flip side, Verizon and AT&T, which have a seemingly unavoidable presence in prime time, are further down the list ranked 24th and 26th, respectively. Also, no domestic auto-marketer is in the top 20. Chevrolet is 21st and Ford is 27th. The foreign car companies, which spend less, did far better led by Mercedes at 12th, BMW at 14th and Honda at 18th. What about the cola wars? Coke comes in 17th and Pepsi at 22nd. Subway trounces all other quick-service restaurant competitors spending heavily on TV, with McDonald’s at 25th, Burger King at 53rd and KFC at 61st among all 63 ranked. So, the survey appears to indicate you can’t advertise your way to the top, but it can help bring good vibes.

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Clonazepam: new uses and potential problems. Clonazepam is a high-potency benzodiazepine labeled for use as an anticonvulsant. Increasingly, clonazepam has been used in the treatment of a variety of psychiatric disorders. The authors discuss its potential clinical applications, including (1) use as an adjunct to neuroleptics for treating psychosis, (2) management of specific psychotropic side effects, (3) alternative treatment for certain pain syndromes, and (4) a primary treatment for severe agitation, atypical psychosis, and anxiety disorders. Apparent treatment-emergent side effects including depression, disinhibition, and sexual dysfunction are also discussed.

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White House Chief of Staff on Debt Ceiling: No Veto Threat But GOP Can't Worry About 'Feelings' The White House Chief of Staff refused to issue a veto threat if the debt ceiling compromise doesn't include the president’s demand of tax increases. But Bill Daley did have a strong message for the Republicans: get tough. “I find it ironic that at times people who continually attack the president, beat him up on not only on policy, personality, a whole bunch of things, the minute he takes a tone that is a little more direct, and it was not personal, it was direct in that the leaders of Congress in both parties and especially those who are saying that revenue are off the table period in trying to solve this problem, that somehow that’s going to hurt the feelings of people. This is not a time to worry about feelings, this is a time to get results,” Daley told me. But despite the tough talk Daley would not threaten a veto if Congress doesn’t meet the president’s demand for a balanced package. Instead the chief of staff said that informal talks continue and he’s “optimistic” that the leaders will do the “people’s business, not the Parties’ business.” “The president will sign an extension to the debt ceiling that begins to make a serious impact on the deficit, that is balanced, that brings some balance and does not do it strictly on the backs of the American people by changing Medicare...George, I’m not going to say what the final solution will be, but believe me this president feels strongly that there must be sacrifice and both parties have to step forward, the leaders of the parties have to step forward and be willing,” he said. Suspicions are swirling that the August 2nd debt ceiling deadline set by the Treasury Department is not firm and that Sec. Geithner could find ways around it if he wanted. Daley said it is “crazy” to risk our financial reputation by squabbling over a day or two – but he did leave wiggle room. “No one should take any solace in the fact that it may be an hour -– a day earlier, or a day later or an hour earlier – this is, to even have that discussion is getting away from and trying to divert away from the fact that we’ve got to solve the budget deficit problem,” he told me. After all, Daley said, it was Congress that “passed all the legislation that created the deficit that we are in and they must solve this problem and the president is, has been and continues to be the force of trying to bring people together.”

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Oatmeal Stout (S) A medium-full bodied ale, rich and toasty in flavor. Victory® malt combines with the flaked brewers oatmeal to offer a nutty yet silky character. Dark chocolate barley adds an impression of roasted coffee. 2-row malt is included to aid in converting the oats’ starches into fermentable sugars. The selected yeast will yield a fermentation that leaves a slightly sweet character.

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Tuesday, May 27, 2014 36 Days Hi! So, I guess it's time to announce on here that in 36 days, Daniel is moving back to Texas, and I am to follow him 10 days afterwards. It's bittersweet- I don't feel "done" with this London chapter yet. But, I am thankful to have had this time here and maybe one day we will get to have an experience like this again. And if not, well, I really don't think Houston is that bad anyway. I am excited to eat Tex Mex, be around family, and live in my old house again. Plus, I am excited to not have 24/7 rain any more. Daniel and I had a picnic planned for yesterday, but had to cancel it due to rain. It just isn't the same having a picnic inside. Plus, it's hard to feel sad when we have SO much going on these next 36 days. Here's a countdown... 16 Days: Daniel's family comes to visit and we will have 6 people in our tiny one bedroom/ bathroom flat (which is hilarious, because our flat is also being shown right now...people are going to think we run a brothel with the amount of air mattresses we will have scattered around our flat). 19 Days: Back to Rome, this time with Daniel's family. And all Daniel and I are planning on doing it eating gelato and pasta. 23 Days: Athens with the family. 26 Days: Daniel's back in London, I go to Santorini with The Bond's. We are in walking distance of several wineries, so I am pretty excited for that. 27 Days: My brother comes to London from Paris. Daniel will pick him up from the train station. 29 Days: Back in London for a hot minute before... 30 Days: Prague with Gregory! It'll just be the two of us 31 Days: The Bond's return to Texas 36 Days: Daniel goes home... 40 Days: Gregory goes home... 46 Days: I go home! And in that time, we need to pack, sell/ get rid of a bunch of random things we have bought in London but don't need back home, cancel utilities here, start utilities in Texas, etc etc. I'm not that stressed about it because I know leaving London will be much easier than leaving Texas was last year. It'll all get done!

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Extranodal malignant lymphoma arising from mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue. Four cases of extranodal malignant lymphoma, one each arising in the stomach, salivary gland, lung, and thyroid, are described. These cases have many clinical, histopathologic, and immunohistochemical features in common, and it is proposed that this is because they share a common pattern of histogenesis from mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT). Clinical features of MALT-derived lymphomas include a tendency to remain localized for prolonged periods, and, thus, to be responsive to locally directed therapy. Histologically, this group of tumors is characterized by a noninvasive lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate within which foci of follicle center cells (FCC) can be seen invading epithelial structures, forming lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate lesions. Immunohistochemistry reveals monotypic cytoplasmic immunoglobulin (CIg) in the plasma cells serving to highlight the CIg-negative lymphoepithelial lesions. The clinical and histopathologic features of these lymphomas can be understood in the context of the behavioral characteristics and morphology of MALT.

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Don't have traditional screw-in fittings in your house? Plumen now sells bayonet light bulbs, so Brits can get in on the designer energy-efficient lighting shenanigans too. Look how purdy that bar looks with four of the naked £20 bulbs. [Plumen]

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IDF troops position sections of a wall near the Lebanon border at Kibbutz Misgav Am, April 20, 2016 (Channel 2 screenshot) Within the next two years, Israel’s border with Lebanon will be near unrecognizable from how it appears today, with reinforced security measures around the country’s northern-most communities including changes to the topography itself, a senior military official said. “What we’ve had until today has been a barrier that is insufficient,” the officer told The Times of Israel on Tuesday. “We need a serious barrier that will prevent someone from infiltrating and breaking into our communities and our territory.” The project to bolster the existing border fence will continue for several years to come in order to secure the area effectively, though most of the work will be completed within the next two years, according to the officer from the Israel Defense Forces’ Northern Command. The new border protection is designed to prevent Hezbollah or another terror group from infiltrating Israel to carry out attacks on civilians and soldiers. “We are taking the statements being made by our enemies seriously. Hezbollah’s [leader Hassan] Nasrallah regularly tells the press, ‘We’ll conquer the Galilee,’ and things like that. We take that seriously,” he said in the Northern Command’s Safed headquarters. Due to the sensitivity of his position, the officer asked not to be named. “In the past, we looked at the Golan Heights and saw the Syrian army and the Assad regime so we built a ‘glorious’ barrier, with trenches and minefields. But on the Lebanese front, we didn’t,” he said. The decision to change that situation was made after the 2006 Second Lebanon War with Hezbollah. It was not the result of any particular incident during the conflict, the officer stressed, but of a general change in mindset that brought the threats from Lebanon into greater focus within the IDF. This effort to shore up the border, which came into full swing approximately two years ago, is part of a larger Combat Engineering Corps program with the straightforward name, “Organization of the Region for War,” which is comprised of both the construction of these physical obstacles and training for any future conflict in Lebanon, the official said. The border has been relatively quiet over the past year. In January, after Hezbollah terrorist Samir Kuntar was allegedly killed by Israel, the group detonated an IED near an Israeli army vehicle, which caused some damage, but did not injure any soldiers. “We don’t have any other plans other than maintaining quiet, and I hope that everyone understands that well, including our neighbors,” Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said about the northern border on Tuesday. “In any case, I don’t recommend that anyone test us,” he added. So far, the combat engineering team has completed “dozens of kilometers of fences, kilometers of walls that were built, kilometers of cliffs that were hewn [from mountains],” he said, but there is still “a long way to go.” ‘There are some locations where they are working 24/7 — days, nights and weekends’ “Today, there are about 100 engineering vehicles on the border that are working at any given time. That’s an insane amount, something we haven’t seen in years,” he said. “We have a saying: No bulldozer stands idle,” the official said. “There are some locations where they are working 24/7 — days, nights and weekends.” As the construction is taking place close to the Blue Line, the still contentious but mostly agreed upon border between Israel and Lebanon, the IDF coordinates its efforts with the United Nation’s Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which is supposed to prevent misunderstandings and conflicts between the two militaries. View of the Israel-Lebanon border from Israel’s Western Galilee. April 25, 2015. (Nati Shohat/Flash90) That does not always work. In 2010, Lt. Col. Dov Harari was killed by a Lebanese army sniper as he led a team of soldiers to do some maintenance work on the Israeli side of the border. “On the one hand, everything is coordinated. But we don’t see UNIFIL as something that’s designed to protect us. We know how to protect ourselves quite well,” the officer said. The goal of this long-term project is to eventually provide improved security all along the approximately 60 mile (100km) border, from “the sea to the mountain,” the officer said, from Rosh Hanikra on the coast to the Golan Heights. This overhaul is expected to ultimately cost approximately one billion shekels and is being completed with both military and civilian engineering teams, the official said. “If we could do it with all military [teams], we would,” he said. “But it’s an issue of availability. The IDF is dealing with a few other fronts, you know.” A new wall near the Lebanon border at Kibbutz Misgav Am, April 20, 2016, in the shadow of a UN position (Channel 2 screenshot) The high cost, he explained, comes from the difficulty in operating on the rocky, mountainous terrain of the northern border. “There’s a difference between putting up a fence somewhere flat and putting up a fence where there are mountains, boulders, forests. It’s a difficult piece of engineering. It takes a long time. And it takes money,” he said. “A fence in a flat area costs X; a fence in a mountainous area costs X multiplied by four. Those are more or less the real numbers,” he said. The project is not being conducted from east to west, but rather in order of vulnerability. “We looked at the area and asked, ‘Where are the weak spots?'” he said. “First and foremost, it’s the communities next to the border, next to Lebanon. So we take care of them and then the rest of the area.” The northern Israeli town of Metulla, located adjacent to the Lebanese border. (Shmuel Bar-Am) The Northern Command’s combat engineers assessed each spot along the border and devised a security blueprint designed for its specific landscape features, the officer said. For instance, Metulla, which is located directly adjacent the border fence and sits in a fairly open plain, is already protected by a more than 20-foot tall concrete wall, which will be further reinforced. “But there are communities that are in mountainous areas, where the solution is [man-made] cliffs and clearing fields,” he said. The IDF is literally changing the landscape — lobbing off sections of mountains to create steep, unpassable cliffs so terrorists cannot enter Israel or clearing forests so that infiltrators have no place to hide. “I was saying the other day, from space you can see the Great Wall of China, well you can already see what we’re doing in Google Earth,” the officer said. By signing up, you agree to our terms You hereby accept The Times of Israel Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, and you agree to receive the latest news & offers from The Times of Israel and its partners or ad sponsors.

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WASHINGTON -- Sen. Arlen Specter backed off a threat to have a Senate subcommittee investigate whether the NFL and the Philadelphia Eagles violated antitrust laws in their handling of Terrell Owens. Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday that he talked to lawyers in the Department of Justice about the issue. "I think it's more a matter for them than us because we've got ... a lot of matters which take precedence over this for our own time," said Specter, R-Pa. Specter did not say Tuesday whether the Justice Department indicated it will look into the matter. Early next year his committee will conduct a confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. On Monday, Specter said it was "vindictive and inappropriate" for the league and the Eagles to prohibit the All-Pro receiver from playing and prevent other teams from talking to him, and he might refer the matter to the subcommittee. He added that he was "not a supporter of Terrell Owens." The Eagles suspended Owens on Nov. 5 for four games without pay for "conduct detrimental to the team," and deactivated him with pay Sunday after the suspension ended. Arbitrator Richard Bloch said last week the team's actions were supported by the labor agreement between the league and the NFL Players Association.

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Q: Allow uploaded images as replies in chat In chat, almost everything works as a reply to a specific message, including oneboxes. The only thing that doesn't seem to work as a reply is an uploaded image. Even if I hit the reply button before uploading the image, it will always be posted like an empty message. Curiously, even if I post an image that has already been uploaded, as a link, such that it oneboxes, I can do so as a reply. Apart from the little reply-arrow, this even looks identical to a freshly uploaded image (and I suspect that behind the scenes, uploading actually does just generate a onebox to the uploaded image's link). So I guess I can currently work around this, by uploading the image first (e.g. by inserting it into a post on main which I then never submit), and then posting the link as a reply, but that seems rather like a rather annoying workflow. So would it be possible, to take replies into account when uploading images, too? A: Upload the image as you always do Click "edit" or your up-arrow Click this arrow to reply (or select "reply to this message" in the popup which appears by clicking down-arrow) You'll see something like this: Hit ur Enter!

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Acai, Vitamin C, And Different Antioxidants For A Healthy Dog The Newfoundland Membership of America – liable for the preservation, safety and welfare of the Newfoundland Dog in America since 1930. A re-insurance program for employers that offer health insurance coverage to their early retirees will save as a lot as $1,200 for every household enrolled. The Utah Public Health Laboratory not too long ago became licensed to perform Zika virus blood testing and shall be able to perform a extra specific sort of Zika testing. Sure, Obamacare must be changed, and the very best and most secure approach to replace it is not to repeal it, but to reinforce it. Strive promoting insurance across state strains in case you must. Uncertainty is the only given that 2017 will convey for health data expertise, in line with a new report from DirectTrust. Health Stage Seven International’s Quick Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) application programming interface is transferring closer to becoming a mature normal, with the normative” model slated for launch someday in 2017. Tasmania continues to have among the many lowest health status in Australia yet is spending as a lot if no more on health companies than are different states and territories. Parents, with the advice of their health care provider, also needs to inform the college if they believe their child is a part of a sensitive group and will have restricted outside physical activity when air quality is poor. Buying your groceries from Pacific Health Meals is a rewarding practice that caters directly to you and your loved ones, whereas benefitting the native economic system and our treasured pure world. Since 2010, health care costs throughout your complete health care system have grown on the slowest charge in 50 years. A stronger health care system also contributes to our defense towards future threats to public health. In Australia, dried fruit can contain very excessive amounts of sulphites – three,000 elements per million (ppm) in comparison with 2,000 ppm in the UK, and much increased per serve than another meals consumed by children. Twenty-seven neighborhood enter meetings had been held across the state to gather views on the health problems with biggest need and disparity for a particular area. The Federal Government pronounces an independent evaluation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme to examine overall prices, value for money and its long-time period sustainability. These not solely work as an anti-inflammatory tonic, but also delivers fiber, manganese (good for your bone health), and vitamin C. Different fruits with anti-inflammatory properties embody mangoes, figs, and strawberries. The Canadian system will be contrasted with the statutory health insurance coverage system that exists in Germany. Cities in New Zealand and internationally are on the frontline of addressing public health and environmental sustainability. It’s not a shock that so many different corporations and entrepreneurs need to get a slice of the health care pie.

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To link to the entire object, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed the entire object, paste this HTML in websiteTo link to this page, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed this page, paste this HTML in website wrolittiftti published by kr1dek se bingham mmrilyvllx t\y,sw t v\n 4 1830 yo l......._n 4 the wmters cahoi.imay is published every tues day at'thkee dollars per annum payable at tlie montlis.h iii seven weeks fewer peas by five fais/tela than thc other three yet they weighed more when kil led by 0 stone and four pounds upon an aver age or six stones twelve pounds upon the whole the poet the powers of mind necessary to produce those different results are not the same reesqn governs the one and imagina tion the other the former is confined to argument and truth the latter to imagery and sentiment the orator analyzes aud reasons compares and deduces j tiie poet combines and imitates ; of happiness ; — that to secure these rights gov ernments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the gov erned ; — that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of thc people to alter or abolish it anil to institute a new government laying its foundation on suclj principles and organizing its pow era in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness prudence indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes anel accordingly all experience hath shown that man kind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed ilu when a long train of abuses and usurpations pur suing invariably thc same object evinces u design to reduce them under absolute despotism it i their right it is their duly to throw off such gov ernment and to provide new guards for their fu ture security such has bcen the patient suffer ance of these colonies ; anel such is now thc nr cc-siiy which constrains them to alter their forme .-■. systems of government — the history e,f tb present kin of grcat-brtain i a history of rr pealed injuries and usurpations all having in ep . lect object thc establishment of an absolute tyi anny over these states to prove this let fact be submitted to a candid world : — hix^no paper will be discontinued until 1i arrearages are paid unless at tlie discretion of thc editors whoever will become responsible for the payment of nine papers shall receive a tenth gratis l'mityuhtvvvtt adv terms will be inserted ou the customary from " letteus from washington no advertisement inserted until it has been paid for or its payment assumed by sonic person in this town or its vicinity " his eye in a line phrenzy rolling dotli glance from heaven to earth from earth i-i heaven and embodies forth the forms of things un known the orator must exist in the living world ; the poet may live in a world of his own creation memory and judgment are lhe powers employed by the former imagina tion and invention those exercised by tiie lat ter in moving the heart and exciting the passions they differ only in the means em ployed to produce this effect anel in this alone they approximate ihe examples are numerous to establish the correctness of these positions cicero was a great orator but a bad pott ; pope was a great poet but a bad orator in short oratory ancl poetry have never been united in one individual but to return with all the excellencies i have mentioned mr calhoun has some great faults l icn,af>piirticnt says the duke de la rochefocault '"■t/tt'au.v grands homines pavoir iegrands defauts ,> he wants i think consistency and perseverance of mind and seeus incapable ot long continued antl j patient investigation what he does not see hat tiie tu st examination he seldom takes pains i j to search tor ; but still the lightning glance oi lus mind and the rapidity with which hc analyzes never fails to furnish him with all i that may be necessary for his immediate pur poses in his legislative career which 1 though shirt was uncommonly luminous his iuve u novelty and his apparent solici itude to astonish were so great that he has occasionally been known to go beyond even : the dream ol political visionaries antl to pro pose schemes which were in their nature im i practicable or injurious and which he seemed jto o/1-.r merely lor the purpose of displaying the affluence of his mind and lhe fertility ot ihis ingenuity youth aud tbe necessary want ol experience may be pled as an apol ogy lor his eccentricities of conduit and his apparent aberrations lhe wisdom of age and a more conect and extensive accptaint ance with men anel things will doubtless allay the ardor ot his mind ami lessen the fervor ot his temperament like our eccentric countryman darwin he is capable of broach ing new theories but wants the persevering investigation tension of thtught ancl patience ol judgmeni,nccess-'ry tu bring them to matu rity or to render them beneficial men like these are often both very serviceable and in jurious to society in such a body as the | congress of the united states where tlie concentrated wisdom of the nation is assem bled such a man's sphere of usefulness can not be correctly ascertaineel or defined — amidst the variety ol schemes hh ingenuity suggests and his restless emulation urges him to propose many will no doubt be found to be practicable ; and though be cannot himself pause to mature them the mass of mind bv which he it stti rounded and on which he blazes vvill reduce them to shape and give to his ingenious novelties " a local habitation and a name in short mr calhoun is one of those beings whom you can only trace lilte the comet by the light which he casts upon his path or the blaze which he leaves in bis train but the situation to which he has re cently been elevated has 1 fear abridged his sphere ot uselulness ; ancl as secretary of war mr calhoun who occupied every tongue during the sessions of the national legisla ture may dwindle into obscurity but will never be forgotten mr calhoun is a young man oi about thirty-five years of age his torm is above the middle size but meagre bony and slender : his face wants beauty but his eye possesses all the brilliancy and lire nf genius lie is a native of the south and has i understand been educated for tlie bar it is not my in tention to enter into any abstract speculations on the influence of climate upon the human intellect on this subject much ingenuity and learning have bcen wasted and the vis ionary theories of buffon kaynal c have bcen laid aside as the lumber of tlie schools or the idle sporting of fancy ; but it has al ways appeared to me that sonic climates are mere propitious to genius and the rapid dc vclopement of the intellectual powers than others the soft and voluptuous climate of ionia for example is better adapted to nour ish and expand the genius of man than the inclement blasts and " thick litotian air 1 ' of northern latitudes be this however as it may whether mr calhoun be indebted to climate to nature or to circumstances lor the powers he possesses he is urcpues tionably an extraordinary young man he started up on the theatre ef legislation a political roscius and astonished the vete rans around him by the power of his mind and the rcsistlessness of his eloquence he has the ingenuity without the sophistry of godwin to whose mind i think his bea.*s no trilling analogy on all subjects whether abstract or ordinary whether political or moral hc thinks with a rapidity that no diffi culties can resist aud with a novelty that never fails to delight lie has the brilliancy | without the ornament of burke the fire with out the literature of pitt with an inven tion which never abandons him and whose fertility astonishes he seems to loath thc pa rade of rhetoric and the glitter and decora tions of ait his style of eloquence is pe culiar and extraordinary ; without any appa rent pageantry of imagination or any of the flower-woven beauties of language he seizes on the mind which like the unfortunate bird under the influence of fascination becomes passive and obedient to the power it neither can nor wishes to resist in the " tempest and whirlwind of his eloquence his argu mentation is so rapid his thoughts are so novel and his conclusions so unexpected vet apparently correct that you can neither anti cipate nor think ; the attention is rit eteel and the mind occupied alone with the subject which lie is handling and it is not until the fascination of his manner has subsided that you feel inclined to reason or become capa ble of detecting his errors pi ven then his witchery lingers cn the imagination and casts a veil over the judgment which it cannot im mediately remove and which in opposition to the strongest efforts tends to obscure its perceptions ancl weaken its energies i have heard gentlemen who were associated with him declare that when he spoke tbey were for some time after he had closed unable to remove the spell by which they were bound ; and that even by condensing almost to obscu rity they could not answer the whole of his iiunierous arguments and ingenious deduc tions without occupying too much ofthe time of the house and yet he has never been known to attempt but one rhetorical flourish and in that be unfortunately failed his ora torical style has none of the embellishments of art or the witcheries of fancy but is al most to dryness plain unadorned and con cise he has nothing in him poetical — his creations are not those of imagination in wdiich i think he is somewhat deficient you never see him employed in weaving garlands or strewing flowers on your path ; be never strives to lap ia elysium to delight in the rainbow colors and eractic blaze of fancy his light ir the light of reason clear unre fracted ancl luminous between oratory and poetry there is i con ceive an essential difference conviction is the object of the orator and pleasure that of x/"ah letters to tbe editors must bc post-paid or thev will notbc attended to attluu\3 litistuwi like the first mortals blest is he from debts and usury and business free jlith his oii'n team who ploughs tlie coil which grateful once confessed his fa thc •'.- toil the farmer's text book great profits in agriculture can result only from great improvements of the soil great improve ments of thc soil can result only from unremit ting industry the chief study of every farmer should be what it useful and what ia uaelesa ex pense in relation to his art the discrimination he has refused his assent to laws the mo-it wholesome anel necessary for the public good hi has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance unless suspended in their operation till his assent should bc obtained ; and when so suspended he has ut terly neglected to attend to them he has refused to piss other laws for the ac commodation of large districts of people unless those people would relinquish the right of repre sent tion in the legislature — a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only he has called together legislative bodies at places unusual uncomfortable and distant from . the depository of their public records for the soles purpose cf fatiguing them br compliance with j his measures between these is the master key of the farmer's prosperity the first should bc incurred with a freedom little short ot profusion thc last should be shunned as the sailor shuns the rocks where are seen the wreck of the hopes of preceding mariners in this art and almost in this art alone " it is the liberal hand which makcth rich " liberality in providing utensils is thc saving both of time and of labour the more perfect bis instruments thc more profitable are they he has dissolved representative houses repeat cdly for opposing with manly firmness his in vasions em the rights of the people he has refused for a long time after ur.h di solutions to cause others to be elected ; whereby the legislative powers incapable of annihilation have returned to the people at large for their ex ercise ; the state remaining in thc nic;,:i time ex posed to all the danger of invasion from without and convulsions wilhin so also is it with ij^workirfg c^.tlc and ills stock the most perfect in their kin is are ever the most profitable liberality in good barns and warm s_icl_crs is the source of health strength and comfort to ani mals ; causes them to thrive on less food and se cures from damage all sorts of crops liberality also in the provision of food fpr do mestic animals is the source of flesh muscle and manure he bas endeavored to prevent thc population of these states ; for that purpose obstructing tho laws for naturalization of foreigners ; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither and raising tlie condition of new appropriation of lands liberality to the earth in seed culture and compost is lhc source of its bounty he has obstructed the administration of jin nee by refusing his assent to laws for establish ing judiciary powers ili # bas made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices and the amount antl payment of their salaries lis has erected a multitude of new offices and sent hither swarms of officers to hart-ass our people and eat out their substance he has kept among us in times of peace siritv cling armies without the consent of our legisla tures thus it is in agriculture as in every part of creation a wise antl paternal providence has in separably connected our duty and our happiness in cultivating the earth thc condition of man's success is his industry upon it in raising domestic animals tlie condition of his success i.s kindness ancl benevolence to them in making thc productiveness of the earth de pend upon the diligence antl wisdom of the culti vator the universal l-'athcr has inseparably con ncclcd the fertility of his creation with the stron gest intellectual inducements and tlie highest moral motives he has affected to render the military indepen elcrit of and superior to thc civil power he has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and un acknowledged by our laws ; — giving his assent lo their acts of pretended legislation — for quartering large bc.lics of troops anion us : — in putting the brutal world under his dominion be bus placed the happiness of which their nature is susceptible under the strong guarantee oi m:m's interest for protecting them hy a mot dial front punishment for any murders which they shoultl commit on the inhabitants of these state : — instead therefore of repining at his lot let the cultivator of the ground consider his as among thc highest and happiest of all human destinies mnce in relation to the earth he is the instru ment of heaven's bounty : and in relation to the inferior orders of creation the almoner of prov idence for rutting off our trade with all parts of thc world : — for imposing taxes on us without our con sent : — i'or depriving us in many cases of the benefits of trial by jury : — for transporting us beyond seas to bc tried for pretended offences s • for abolishing the free system of english laws in a neighboring province establishing therein an arbitrary govern ment and tenft_rging its boun daries so as lo render it at once an example and lit instrument for introducing thc t.amc absolutes rule into these colonies — management t_f vila the importance of the following experiment with respect to the treatment of hogs copied from a london newspaper has induced a member of the society foi'-promothig agriculture to rcepiest thut it may bc published in their next collection for the attention of the american farmer deelliauon *»!_ independence a i vim mhi's lliri.aluvion 11 v tlllf 11 ll'll j'sknt.vrl vks iii - tin i'mtiai states 01 awulic it cuxobesi as8emb-.sd ji i.v -., 1776 for taking away our charters abolishing out most valuable laws and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments : — ■for suspending our legislatures and declaring themselves invested vith power to legislate for ut in all cases whatsoever wren in the course of human events it be comes necessary for oiic people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the poweis of the earth the separate and equal station to whieb ihe laws of nalur and of nature's god entitle them ; a decent respect to the opinions of man kind requires that ihey should declare the causes which impel them to the separation v hold these truths to be stli evident tha ii mr are created equal ; th.it tbey arc endowed by their creator with certain unalienable i ights ■! jut among u'r.i a*e l f «*> liberty m & the puwitt " thc following experiment w:.s lately made bv a gentleman of norfolk six pigs ofthe nor folk breed ancl of nearly equal weight were put to keeping at thc same time und treated the same us to food and litter for about seven weeks — three 06 them were left to shift lor themselves as to cleanliness ; thc other three were kept as clean as possible by a nun employed for the purpose h/ith a currycomb snd brush the l s risuincil lie abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us lie has plundered our seas ravaged our • asis burnt our town and destroyed the lives of o'm people he is tt this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the worlds of firth desola'f on r.ntftyi nn <• already ycgt.n,y..ut * jr calhoun and mr godwin are alik oonsp-cuoua for viliat i call ingenuity u cftnt-rxuititigiastifel frwt imagination . brill's nu i key applied tn g^ifu .. The SA of NC considers this item in the public domain by U.S. law but responsibility for permissions rests with researchers. Language eng FullText wrolittiftti published by kr1dek se bingham mmrilyvllx t\y,sw t v\n 4 1830 yo l......._n 4 the wmters cahoi.imay is published every tues day at'thkee dollars per annum payable at tlie montlis.h iii seven weeks fewer peas by five fais/tela than thc other three yet they weighed more when kil led by 0 stone and four pounds upon an aver age or six stones twelve pounds upon the whole the poet the powers of mind necessary to produce those different results are not the same reesqn governs the one and imagina tion the other the former is confined to argument and truth the latter to imagery and sentiment the orator analyzes aud reasons compares and deduces j tiie poet combines and imitates ; of happiness ; — that to secure these rights gov ernments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the gov erned ; — that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of thc people to alter or abolish it anil to institute a new government laying its foundation on suclj principles and organizing its pow era in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness prudence indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes anel accordingly all experience hath shown that man kind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed ilu when a long train of abuses and usurpations pur suing invariably thc same object evinces u design to reduce them under absolute despotism it i their right it is their duly to throw off such gov ernment and to provide new guards for their fu ture security such has bcen the patient suffer ance of these colonies ; anel such is now thc nr cc-siiy which constrains them to alter their forme .-■. systems of government — the history e,f tb present kin of grcat-brtain i a history of rr pealed injuries and usurpations all having in ep . lect object thc establishment of an absolute tyi anny over these states to prove this let fact be submitted to a candid world : — hix^no paper will be discontinued until 1i arrearages are paid unless at tlie discretion of thc editors whoever will become responsible for the payment of nine papers shall receive a tenth gratis l'mityuhtvvvtt adv terms will be inserted ou the customary from " letteus from washington no advertisement inserted until it has been paid for or its payment assumed by sonic person in this town or its vicinity " his eye in a line phrenzy rolling dotli glance from heaven to earth from earth i-i heaven and embodies forth the forms of things un known the orator must exist in the living world ; the poet may live in a world of his own creation memory and judgment are lhe powers employed by the former imagina tion and invention those exercised by tiie lat ter in moving the heart and exciting the passions they differ only in the means em ployed to produce this effect anel in this alone they approximate ihe examples are numerous to establish the correctness of these positions cicero was a great orator but a bad pott ; pope was a great poet but a bad orator in short oratory ancl poetry have never been united in one individual but to return with all the excellencies i have mentioned mr calhoun has some great faults l icn,af>piirticnt says the duke de la rochefocault '"■t/tt'au.v grands homines pavoir iegrands defauts ,> he wants i think consistency and perseverance of mind and seeus incapable ot long continued antl j patient investigation what he does not see hat tiie tu st examination he seldom takes pains i j to search tor ; but still the lightning glance oi lus mind and the rapidity with which hc analyzes never fails to furnish him with all i that may be necessary for his immediate pur poses in his legislative career which 1 though shirt was uncommonly luminous his iuve u novelty and his apparent solici itude to astonish were so great that he has occasionally been known to go beyond even : the dream ol political visionaries antl to pro pose schemes which were in their nature im i practicable or injurious and which he seemed jto o/1-.r merely lor the purpose of displaying the affluence of his mind and lhe fertility ot ihis ingenuity youth aud tbe necessary want ol experience may be pled as an apol ogy lor his eccentricities of conduit and his apparent aberrations lhe wisdom of age and a more conect and extensive accptaint ance with men anel things will doubtless allay the ardor ot his mind ami lessen the fervor ot his temperament like our eccentric countryman darwin he is capable of broach ing new theories but wants the persevering investigation tension of thtught ancl patience ol judgmeni,nccess-'ry tu bring them to matu rity or to render them beneficial men like these are often both very serviceable and in jurious to society in such a body as the | congress of the united states where tlie concentrated wisdom of the nation is assem bled such a man's sphere of usefulness can not be correctly ascertaineel or defined — amidst the variety ol schemes hh ingenuity suggests and his restless emulation urges him to propose many will no doubt be found to be practicable ; and though be cannot himself pause to mature them the mass of mind bv which he it stti rounded and on which he blazes vvill reduce them to shape and give to his ingenious novelties " a local habitation and a name in short mr calhoun is one of those beings whom you can only trace lilte the comet by the light which he casts upon his path or the blaze which he leaves in bis train but the situation to which he has re cently been elevated has 1 fear abridged his sphere ot uselulness ; ancl as secretary of war mr calhoun who occupied every tongue during the sessions of the national legisla ture may dwindle into obscurity but will never be forgotten mr calhoun is a young man oi about thirty-five years of age his torm is above the middle size but meagre bony and slender : his face wants beauty but his eye possesses all the brilliancy and lire nf genius lie is a native of the south and has i understand been educated for tlie bar it is not my in tention to enter into any abstract speculations on the influence of climate upon the human intellect on this subject much ingenuity and learning have bcen wasted and the vis ionary theories of buffon kaynal c have bcen laid aside as the lumber of tlie schools or the idle sporting of fancy ; but it has al ways appeared to me that sonic climates are mere propitious to genius and the rapid dc vclopement of the intellectual powers than others the soft and voluptuous climate of ionia for example is better adapted to nour ish and expand the genius of man than the inclement blasts and " thick litotian air 1 ' of northern latitudes be this however as it may whether mr calhoun be indebted to climate to nature or to circumstances lor the powers he possesses he is urcpues tionably an extraordinary young man he started up on the theatre ef legislation a political roscius and astonished the vete rans around him by the power of his mind and the rcsistlessness of his eloquence he has the ingenuity without the sophistry of godwin to whose mind i think his bea.*s no trilling analogy on all subjects whether abstract or ordinary whether political or moral hc thinks with a rapidity that no diffi culties can resist aud with a novelty that never fails to delight lie has the brilliancy | without the ornament of burke the fire with out the literature of pitt with an inven tion which never abandons him and whose fertility astonishes he seems to loath thc pa rade of rhetoric and the glitter and decora tions of ait his style of eloquence is pe culiar and extraordinary ; without any appa rent pageantry of imagination or any of the flower-woven beauties of language he seizes on the mind which like the unfortunate bird under the influence of fascination becomes passive and obedient to the power it neither can nor wishes to resist in the " tempest and whirlwind of his eloquence his argu mentation is so rapid his thoughts are so novel and his conclusions so unexpected vet apparently correct that you can neither anti cipate nor think ; the attention is rit eteel and the mind occupied alone with the subject which lie is handling and it is not until the fascination of his manner has subsided that you feel inclined to reason or become capa ble of detecting his errors pi ven then his witchery lingers cn the imagination and casts a veil over the judgment which it cannot im mediately remove and which in opposition to the strongest efforts tends to obscure its perceptions ancl weaken its energies i have heard gentlemen who were associated with him declare that when he spoke tbey were for some time after he had closed unable to remove the spell by which they were bound ; and that even by condensing almost to obscu rity they could not answer the whole of his iiunierous arguments and ingenious deduc tions without occupying too much ofthe time of the house and yet he has never been known to attempt but one rhetorical flourish and in that be unfortunately failed his ora torical style has none of the embellishments of art or the witcheries of fancy but is al most to dryness plain unadorned and con cise he has nothing in him poetical — his creations are not those of imagination in wdiich i think he is somewhat deficient you never see him employed in weaving garlands or strewing flowers on your path ; be never strives to lap ia elysium to delight in the rainbow colors and eractic blaze of fancy his light ir the light of reason clear unre fracted ancl luminous between oratory and poetry there is i con ceive an essential difference conviction is the object of the orator and pleasure that of x/"ah letters to tbe editors must bc post-paid or thev will notbc attended to attluu\3 litistuwi like the first mortals blest is he from debts and usury and business free jlith his oii'n team who ploughs tlie coil which grateful once confessed his fa thc •'.- toil the farmer's text book great profits in agriculture can result only from great improvements of the soil great improve ments of thc soil can result only from unremit ting industry the chief study of every farmer should be what it useful and what ia uaelesa ex pense in relation to his art the discrimination he has refused his assent to laws the mo-it wholesome anel necessary for the public good hi has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance unless suspended in their operation till his assent should bc obtained ; and when so suspended he has ut terly neglected to attend to them he has refused to piss other laws for the ac commodation of large districts of people unless those people would relinquish the right of repre sent tion in the legislature — a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only he has called together legislative bodies at places unusual uncomfortable and distant from . the depository of their public records for the soles purpose cf fatiguing them br compliance with j his measures between these is the master key of the farmer's prosperity the first should bc incurred with a freedom little short ot profusion thc last should be shunned as the sailor shuns the rocks where are seen the wreck of the hopes of preceding mariners in this art and almost in this art alone " it is the liberal hand which makcth rich " liberality in providing utensils is thc saving both of time and of labour the more perfect bis instruments thc more profitable are they he has dissolved representative houses repeat cdly for opposing with manly firmness his in vasions em the rights of the people he has refused for a long time after ur.h di solutions to cause others to be elected ; whereby the legislative powers incapable of annihilation have returned to the people at large for their ex ercise ; the state remaining in thc nic;,:i time ex posed to all the danger of invasion from without and convulsions wilhin so also is it with ij^workirfg c^.tlc and ills stock the most perfect in their kin is are ever the most profitable liberality in good barns and warm s_icl_crs is the source of health strength and comfort to ani mals ; causes them to thrive on less food and se cures from damage all sorts of crops liberality also in the provision of food fpr do mestic animals is the source of flesh muscle and manure he bas endeavored to prevent thc population of these states ; for that purpose obstructing tho laws for naturalization of foreigners ; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither and raising tlie condition of new appropriation of lands liberality to the earth in seed culture and compost is lhc source of its bounty he has obstructed the administration of jin nee by refusing his assent to laws for establish ing judiciary powers ili # bas made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices and the amount antl payment of their salaries lis has erected a multitude of new offices and sent hither swarms of officers to hart-ass our people and eat out their substance he has kept among us in times of peace siritv cling armies without the consent of our legisla tures thus it is in agriculture as in every part of creation a wise antl paternal providence has in separably connected our duty and our happiness in cultivating the earth thc condition of man's success is his industry upon it in raising domestic animals tlie condition of his success i.s kindness ancl benevolence to them in making thc productiveness of the earth de pend upon the diligence antl wisdom of the culti vator the universal l-'athcr has inseparably con ncclcd the fertility of his creation with the stron gest intellectual inducements and tlie highest moral motives he has affected to render the military indepen elcrit of and superior to thc civil power he has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and un acknowledged by our laws ; — giving his assent lo their acts of pretended legislation — for quartering large bc.lics of troops anion us : — in putting the brutal world under his dominion be bus placed the happiness of which their nature is susceptible under the strong guarantee oi m:m's interest for protecting them hy a mot dial front punishment for any murders which they shoultl commit on the inhabitants of these state : — instead therefore of repining at his lot let the cultivator of the ground consider his as among thc highest and happiest of all human destinies mnce in relation to the earth he is the instru ment of heaven's bounty : and in relation to the inferior orders of creation the almoner of prov idence for rutting off our trade with all parts of thc world : — for imposing taxes on us without our con sent : — i'or depriving us in many cases of the benefits of trial by jury : — for transporting us beyond seas to bc tried for pretended offences s • for abolishing the free system of english laws in a neighboring province establishing therein an arbitrary govern ment and tenft_rging its boun daries so as lo render it at once an example and lit instrument for introducing thc t.amc absolutes rule into these colonies — management t_f vila the importance of the following experiment with respect to the treatment of hogs copied from a london newspaper has induced a member of the society foi'-promothig agriculture to rcepiest thut it may bc published in their next collection for the attention of the american farmer deelliauon *»!_ independence a i vim mhi's lliri.aluvion 11 v tlllf 11 ll'll j'sknt.vrl vks iii - tin i'mtiai states 01 awulic it cuxobesi as8emb-.sd ji i.v -., 1776 for taking away our charters abolishing out most valuable laws and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments : — ■for suspending our legislatures and declaring themselves invested vith power to legislate for ut in all cases whatsoever wren in the course of human events it be comes necessary for oiic people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the poweis of the earth the separate and equal station to whieb ihe laws of nalur and of nature's god entitle them ; a decent respect to the opinions of man kind requires that ihey should declare the causes which impel them to the separation v hold these truths to be stli evident tha ii mr are created equal ; th.it tbey arc endowed by their creator with certain unalienable i ights ■! jut among u'r.i a*e l f «*> liberty m & the puwitt " thc following experiment w:.s lately made bv a gentleman of norfolk six pigs ofthe nor folk breed ancl of nearly equal weight were put to keeping at thc same time und treated the same us to food and litter for about seven weeks — three 06 them were left to shift lor themselves as to cleanliness ; thc other three were kept as clean as possible by a nun employed for the purpose h/ith a currycomb snd brush the l s risuincil lie abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us lie has plundered our seas ravaged our • asis burnt our town and destroyed the lives of o'm people he is tt this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the worlds of firth desola'f on r.ntftyi nn

Mid

Preoperative Percutaneous Transthoracic Needle Biopsy Increased the Risk of Pleural Recurrence in Pathological Stage I Lung Cancer Patients With Sub-pleural Pure Solid Nodules. We retrospectively evaluated whether preoperative percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy (PTNB) affected the incidence of pleural recurrence in pathological stage I lung cancer patients. Pleural recurrence occurred in pure solid nodule (PSN) cases but not in ground-glass nodule cases, as evaluated using thin-section computed tomographic imaging. When the cases were restricted to sub-pleural PSN, the incidence of recurrence tended to be higher in a PTNB group (63 patients diagnosed by PTNB) than in a non-PTNB group (86 patients diagnosed by transbronchial biopsy or intraoperative diagnosis) (25% vs. 4%, p =.050). PTNB should not be performed in patients with a sub-pleural PSN.

High

Just in Time for Christmas: Bacon-Scented Shaving Cream by Nate Wooley | November 29, 2012 12:47 pm Just in Time for Christmas: Bacon-Scented Shaving Cream [1]Now you can buy that special someone bacon-scented shaving cream. Introduced by Justin Esch, co-founder of the Seattle-based J&D Foods, the shaving cream was developed with the website, The Art of Shaving[2]. The intent was to create a good shaving product with J&D’s unique aura about it, reports the Los Angeles Times[3]. While smelling of bacon, the cream does not contain any actual pork products. The developers ran into issues with shelflife and such that prevented them using real bacon. J&D Foods has a long history — well, since 2007 anyway — of developing bacon-related products. It’s the company responsible for earlier sensations like Baconnaise, the bacon-flavored mayonnaise, and BaconPOP, a bacon-flavored popcorn. The cream is being billed as the first shaving cream to have the scent of the popular breakfast slides. That’s a good brag, but a shop in Florence, Wis., has been selling a similar product since 2010, according to the Edmonton Examiner[4]. The cream sells for $14.99 per 5-ounce jar. Production is limited to 2,500 jars, which are available online.

Low

Q: Pyinstaller scrapy error: After installing all dependencies for scrapy on windows 32bit. I've tried to build an executable from my scrapy spider. Spider script "runspider.py" works ok when running as "python runspider.py" Building executable "pyinstaller --onefile runspider.py": C:\Users\username\Documents\scrapyexe>pyinstaller --onefile runspider.py 19 INFO: wrote C:\Users\username\Documents\scrapyexe\runspider.spec 49 INFO: Testing for ability to set icons, version resources... 59 INFO: ... resource update available 59 INFO: UPX is not available. 89 INFO: Processing hook hook-os 279 INFO: Processing hook hook-time 279 INFO: Processing hook hook-cPickle 380 INFO: Processing hook hook-_sre 561 INFO: Processing hook hook-cStringIO 700 INFO: Processing hook hook-encodings 720 INFO: Processing hook hook-codecs 1351 INFO: Extending PYTHONPATH with C:\Users\username\Documents\scrapyexe 1351 INFO: checking Analysis 1351 INFO: building Analysis because out00-Analysis.toc non existent 1351 INFO: running Analysis out00-Analysis.toc 1351 INFO: Adding Microsoft.VC90.CRT to dependent assemblies of final executable 1421 INFO: Searching for assembly x86_Microsoft.VC90.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.21 022.8_none ... 1421 INFO: Found manifest C:\Windows\WinSxS\Manifests\x86_microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc 8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.21022.8_none_bcb86ed6ac711f91.manifest 1421 INFO: Searching for file msvcr90.dll 1421 INFO: Found file C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_ 9.0.21022.8_none_bcb86ed6ac711f91\msvcr90.dll 1421 INFO: Searching for file msvcp90.dll 1421 INFO: Found file C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_ 9.0.21022.8_none_bcb86ed6ac711f91\msvcp90.dll 1421 INFO: Searching for file msvcm90.dll 1421 INFO: Found file C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft.vc90.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_ 9.0.21022.8_none_bcb86ed6ac711f91\msvcm90.dll 1592 INFO: Analyzing C:\python27\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\loader_pyi_boots trap.py 1621 INFO: Processing hook hook-os 1661 INFO: Processing hook hook-site 1681 INFO: Processing hook hook-encodings 1872 INFO: Processing hook hook-time 1872 INFO: Processing hook hook-cPickle 1983 INFO: Processing hook hook-_sre 2173 INFO: Processing hook hook-cStringIO 2332 INFO: Processing hook hook-codecs 2963 INFO: Processing hook hook-pydoc 3154 INFO: Processing hook hook-email 3255 INFO: Processing hook hook-httplib 3305 INFO: Processing hook hook-email.message 3444 INFO: Analyzing C:\python27\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\loader\pyi_import ers.py 3535 INFO: Analyzing C:\python27\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\loader\pyi_archiv e.py 3615 INFO: Analyzing C:\python27\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\loader\pyi_carchi ve.py 3684 INFO: Analyzing C:\python27\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\loader\pyi_os_pat h.py 3694 INFO: Analyzing runspider.py 3755 WARNING: No django root directory could be found! 3755 INFO: Processing hook hook-django 3785 INFO: Processing hook hook-lxml.etree 4135 INFO: Processing hook hook-xml 4196 INFO: Processing hook hook-xml.dom 4246 INFO: Processing hook hook-xml.sax 4296 INFO: Processing hook hook-pyexpat 4305 INFO: Processing hook hook-xml.dom.domreg 4736 INFO: Processing hook hook-pywintypes 5046 INFO: Processing hook hook-distutils 7750 INFO: Hidden import 'codecs' has been found otherwise 7750 INFO: Hidden import 'encodings' has been found otherwise 7750 INFO: Looking for run-time hooks 7750 INFO: Analyzing rthook C:\python27\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\loader\rth ooks\pyi_rth_twisted.py 8111 INFO: Analyzing rthook C:\python27\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\loader\rth ooks\pyi_rth_django.py 8121 INFO: Processing hook hook-django.core 8131 INFO: Processing hook hook-django.core.management 8401 INFO: Processing hook hook-django.core.mail 8862 INFO: Processing hook hook-django.db 9112 INFO: Processing hook hook-django.db.backends 9153 INFO: Processing hook hook-django.db.backends.mysql 9163 INFO: Processing hook hook-django.db.backends.mysql.base 9163 INFO: Processing hook hook-django.db.backends.oracle 9183 INFO: Processing hook hook-django.db.backends.oracle.base 9253 INFO: Processing hook hook-django.core.cache 9874 INFO: Processing hook hook-sqlite3 10023 INFO: Processing hook hook-django.contrib 10023 INFO: Processing hook hook-django.contrib.sessions 11887 INFO: Using Python library C:\Windows\system32\python27.dll 12226 INFO: Warnings written to C:\Users\username\Documents\scrapyexe\build\runspid er\warnrunspider.txt 12256 INFO: checking PYZ 12256 INFO: rebuilding out00-PYZ.toc because out00-PYZ.pyz is missing 12256 INFO: building PYZ (ZlibArchive) out00-PYZ.toc 16983 INFO: checking PKG 16993 INFO: rebuilding out00-PKG.toc because out00-PKG.pkg is missing 16993 INFO: building PKG (CArchive) out00-PKG.pkg 19237 INFO: checking EXE 19237 INFO: rebuilding out00-EXE.toc because runspider.exe missing 19237 INFO: building EXE from out00-EXE.toc 19237 INFO: Appending archive to EXE C:\Users\username\Documents\scrapyexe\dist\run spider.exe running built exe "runspider.exe": C:\Users\username\Documents\scrapyexe\dist>runspider.exe Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 2, in File "C:\python27\Lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\loader\pyi_importers.py", line 270, in load_module exec(bytecode, module.dict) File "C:\Users\username\Documents\scrapyexe\build\runspider\out00-PYZ.pyz\scrapy" , line 10, in File "C:\Users\username\Documents\scrapyexe\build\runspider\out00-PYZ.pyz\pkgutil ", line 591, in get_data File "C:\python27\Lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\loader\pyi_importers.py", line 342, in get_data fp = open(path, 'rb') IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\ \Temp\_MEI15522\scrapy\VERSION' I'm extremely helpful for any kind of help. I need to know how to build standalone exe from scrapy spider for windows. Thank you very much for any help. A: Inside scrapy/__init__.py, you'll see the part where the author uses pkgutil.get_data(). I'm not very sure if you need to indicate to pyinstaller that the scrapy/VERSION text file gets packaged altogether like a data file, or if pkgutil.get_data works at all for pyinstaller, but heres a quick hack I used. Simply go to the __init__.py file, comment away these 2 lines and replace with a string of your choice e.g __version__="scrap-123". You will need __version__ as it's being referred to in another module. __version__ = pkgutil.get_data(__package__, 'VERSION').decode('ascii').strip() version_info = tuple(int(v) if v.isdigit() else v for v in __version__.split('.'))

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A step towards marriage equality? Publish Date: 19/09/2011 A public consultation to consider how to make civil marriage available to same-sex couples will begin in March 2012, the government has announced. As part of its commitment to advancing equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals the government announced in February this year its intention to look at how legislation could develop on equal civil marriage. Minister for Equalities Lynne Featherstone said: “I am delighted to confirm that early next year, this government will begin a formal consultation on equal civil marriage for same-sex couples. “This would allow us to make any legislative changes before the end of this Parliament. “We will be working closely with all those who have an interest in the area to understand their views ahead of the formal consultation.” The consultation will only cover civil marriage for same sex couples – not religious marriage, nor will the consultation cover civil partnership for heterosexual couples. Earlier this year, the government announced that religious buildings will be allowed to host civil partnership registrations. The change, which will be entirely voluntary and will not force any religious group to host civil partnership registrations if they do not wish to do so, is being introduced as part of the Equality Act 2010. It will give same-sex couples, who are currently prevented from registering their civil partnership in a religious setting, the chance to do so. The government will be laying the necessary regulations by the end of this year in order to allow the first civil partnership on religious premises to take place as soon as possible in the new year. This is a separate piece of work to the consultation just announced.

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Aircraft head lights, as they are employed in airplanes and helicopters, may comprise a plurality of lighting arrangements, each of said lighting arrangements comprising a reflector, in particular a reflector having a parabolic shape. With the parabolic reflectors, a strong collimation of light is achieved for providing a bright illumination in a desired direction. In order to use the available space efficiently, the lighting arrangements are arranged very closely to each other. A very close arrangement of the lighting arrangements results in an overlapping of the reflectors of adjacent lighting arrangements. In consequence, the shape of the reflectors needs to be modified so that they deviate from the parabolic shape in sections in which at least two adjacent reflectors contact each other (reflector contact sections). Deviations from the parabolic shape result in the generation of undesired stray light. It therefore would be beneficial to provide an improved aircraft head light comprising a plurality of lighting arrangements which reduces the problem of stray light, but which still allows for a dense packing of the lighting arrangements.

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EU sanctions targeting Russia don’t work and “all decent people” support removing them, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said ahead of next week’s European Parliamentary elections. “I continue to believe that we don’t need sanctions. The issue of their removal unites all decent people,” Salvini told Sputnik new agency after holding a major rally that included leaders of 11 right-wing European parties in Milan on Saturday. The leader of the right-wing League party argued that the economic warfare between the EU and Russia has “caused damage and resolved nothing.” “If a tool does not work, it is removed,” he added. Also on rt.com ‘We want nothing to do with you’: Salvini says Merkel and Macron ‘ruined’ Europe Salvini stressed that much would depend on the outcome of the upcoming elections, including whether it would be possible to repeal the anti-Russia restrictions. Polls show that Salvini’s right-wing alliance, Europe of Nations and Freedom, is expected to become one of the largest blocs in the next EU parliament. The political group “will perform a historic feat to pass from the 8th place in Europe to third or maybe second,” National Rally leader Marine Le Pen predicted while speaking at the Milan rally. Also on rt.com ‘As if Germany is a US colony’: Bundestag energy chief lashes out at Russia sanctions The United States and the European Union imposed restrictions on Russia produce and other goods following Crimea’s reunification with Russia in 2014. Moscow reciprocated the sanctions in a tit-for-tat move. Since then, the sanctions regime has expanded to include banking and other sectors. As a result, many European businesses have been pushed out of the Russian market. The issue has sparked considerable anger in Germany, where politicians from both the left and the right have spoken out against the policy as counter-productive and harmful to German interests. Like this story? Share it with a friend!

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Cost of Living With a balanced mix of urban sophistication and great small communities, the Madison Region is among the more affordable major markets in the Midwest. While cost of living varies by county and municipality within the eight-county region, our overall cost of living falls in line with the national average. Both the Madison MSA and Janesville MSA boast a Regional Price Parity below the national average of 100. Average annual pay in the Madison Region grew faster than the national average at a rate of 16.4% between the 2010-2015 time period, increasing from $40,395 to $47,005. Homeowners with a mortgage in the Madison metropolitan statistical area spent 23.6% of income on median monthly housing costs in 2014, a figure comparable with the national average. In addition, residents in each of the eight counties in the Madison Region enjoy rents below the national gross median rent. This part of Wisconsin offers a variety of housing options, including new and existing neighborhoods in our suburbs and rural communities, as well as luxury condominiums in our major downtown areas. Many of the region’s services that contribute to our high quality of life are funded through property tax, which vary between individual communities. Sales tax in all eight counties is 5.5%. Vehicle taxes are not assessed in Wisconsin. The Madison Region offers easy, affordable living, making it a prime choice for businesses and employees alike. Sources: Sperling’s Best Places; Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages; 2010 State of the Madison Region Report; 2011 Advance Now Competitive Assessment; and 2010-2014 American Community Survey Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Regional Price Parity (RPP) measures the difference in price levels of goods and services across locations, serving as a proxy for cost of living. In 2013, the Madison MSA’s RPP was 97.7 — nearly 2.5 percentage points below the national average.

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'Happy Days,' 'Malcolm in the Middle' and other TV Moms worth coming home to Share this: June Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley, “Leave It to Beaver,” CBS and ABC, 1957-63): Series television had many wife-and-mother archetypes in the 1950s, and a prime one was the endlessly patient, supportive spouse of Ward and mother to Wally and Theodore (a.k.a. “Beaver”). Victoria Barkley (Barbara Stanwyck, “The Big Valley,” ABC, 1965-69): It could be argued that the widowed Victoria played both mother and father to her grown offspring, and her grit made her the equal of any man in the frontier. Olivia Walton (Michael Learned, “The Waltons,” CBS, 1972-79): Full of compassion, the mother of the large Walton brood also had the backbone to bring her family through the Depression. Marion Cunningham (Marion Ross, “Happy Days,” ABC, 1974-84): “Mrs. C.” was a throwback to the idealized television wives/moms of the 1950s — and why not? That’s the era in which the long-running sitcom was set. Eleanor Southworth Ewing Farlow (Barbara Bel GeddesandDonna Reed, “Dallas,” CBS, 1978-90): Though the original performer left and then returned, the character always was depicted as the type of loving but strong-willed woman who gave all to her oil-rich family … and to their ranch, Southfork. Alexis Morell Carrington Colby Dexter Rowan (Joan Collins, “Dynasty,” ABC, 1981-89): With her iconic flashiness, it’s easy to forget the domineering Alexis also was a devoted mom to Adam, Fallon, Steven and Amanda … and frequently a source of their problems. Clair Huxtable (Phylicia Rashad, “The Cosby Show,”NBC, 1984-92): Not only was Clair an ideal contemporary mom, she also was a career woman (as a lawyer) and a wonderfully spicy marital partner to husband Cliff. Livia Soprano (Nancy Marchand, “The Sopranos,” HBO, 1999-2000): She didn’t act very motherly much of the time, but even weakened, the longtime linchpin of the crime family always was a force to be reckoned with.

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In a 4 quart sauce pot, on medium-high heat, bring milk to boil and add 1 teaspoon salt. Whisk in polenta or grits. Cook and stir constantly about 5 - 7 minutes until polenta starts to pull away from the sides of the pot. Add Organic Chili & Cilantro Dip, cream, goat cheese and black pepper. Stir until smooth. Add hot water, if needed, a little at a time while stirring, until you reach a smooth, creamy consistency. Serve immediately.

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Based solely on wins and losses, you could forgive FiveThirtyEight’s recent assessment of the Boston Celtics’ players ranking on their list of the 53 best franchise players in the league. Only three players on the current roster made the cut, and the results might surprise you. However, when you take into account the results stem from the projections created by their CARMELO system, it becomes clearer why Marcus Smart - a CARMELO projection darling - clocked in as Boston’s highest rated player at 25, andIsaiah Thomas- Mr. Fourth Quarter himself - did not even make the cut. Another major factor in their ranking was the expected projection over the next six seasons (including the current one), which explains why All-Star big man Al Horford checks in last of the three Celts ranked at number 50. The reasoning? Per FiveThirtyEight: “Al Horford at No. 50! That’s probably not what the Celtics were hoping for when they inked him to a $113 million contract, but he’ll also turn 31 in June and his reputation has always (slightly) exceeded his numbers.” Fair enough - six years from now, if Al is in the league, it’s pretty safe to say his best years will be several years behind him. But who else made the list? You might expect Avery Bradley’s recent growth as a player to be enough to garner a spot on the list given he is yet to turn 26 (his birthday is a week from today, actually - felicidades, sir!), but, surprisingly, he did not make the cut. In fact, the only other player who made the list - and dead last at 53 - was a player included in the Rajon Rondo trade as salary match as much as for capabilities (assuming Danny Ainge’s prognosticative abilities were on par with the rest of the league’s). Yep, you guessed right - Jae Crowder came in last. Jae Crowder, who called Durant's move to the Warriors a "slap in the face" in July, is out tonight with a sprained left ankle. Is this what Boston fans should expect? Given the spate of injuries, could it be even lower? It’s not a fun thing to think about, but unless a move is made to improve the roster or the team regains and improves upon their renowned blue-collar chemistry that enabled them to exceed last year’s anticipated win total, this may be what plays out by season’s end. Such a result would unequivocally be a significant step back for a franchise with big expectations and aspirations, and would almost certainly impede their quest to land another top-shelf free agent as they chase an unprecedented eighteenth championship. In the end, how the on-court action unfolds this year may have a lot to do with how the players and front office react off the court, particularly after this rough - but still superable - start.

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Q-fever soluble vaccine effects in Coxiella burneti sensitized humans. A Q-fever soluble vaccine (phase I C. burnetitrichloro-acetic acid extract) was administered in a single dose to 28 persons formerly immunized with the same soluble vaccine one year before and to other 28 persons which had naturally been infected with C. burneti one or two years ago. All these persons were skin-tested with the same but diluted vaccine 48 hrs before vaccination. Mild local and general reactions were found only in the C. burneti previously infected vaccinees (local reactions in 9 cases and general reactions in 6 cases). Serological conversion was obtained in 92.8% (complement fixation test) and in 89.3% (mouse protection test) of the previously immunized individuals and in 96.4% (CF test) of the formerly Q-fever infected persons.

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Initially I had Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood cast as the bad guy. He met with Detroit Mayor Dave Bing (D) and Gov. Rick Snyder (R) last week, so I presume this announcement has been festering since then. Even Detroit City Council had no clue, interviewing project managers just this week. It becomes apparent, however, Mayor Bing made the decision; perhaps under duress from Gov. Snyder who is not a rail proponent. In place of the Woodward light rail line is a proposal for several bus rapid transit lines. According to Bing, this is the right decision for Detroit and the region. Except no one asked the transit folks at SEMCOG, or Detroit City Council, or Detroit’s congressional delegation, any of which seem none too happy with this turn of events. Mayor Bing contends the same money will buy bus rapid transit from downtown Detroit out Woodward and Gratiot into Oakland and Macomb Townships, a line between those suburban endpoints, and another connecting downtown Detroit with Metro Airport. There’s no question such a plan would serve more than Woodward light rail alone. As M-1 Rail points out, however, there’s been no work on funding, no environmental impact studies, or any other preparatory work. Bus rapid transit is, thus, at least a couple of years down the road—pun intended—before the first shovel-ful of dirt is turned. Never mind Detroit already has two dysfunctional bus systems. The “plan” is to overlay bus rapid transit so it complements the current Detroit Department of Transportation (D-DOT) and Suburban Mobility Authority for Rapid Transt (SMART) bus systems. Just what we need, a third metro Detroit bus system. Besides my predictable chagrin at yet another nail in the coffin of Detroit rail transit, the region is left as the only major metropolitan area without an integrated transit system and, particularly, no light or commuter rail or subway systems. Taking a more pragmatic view, however, loss of the Woodward light rail line equates to a loss of an estimated $3 billion in development along the light rail route. Bus systems do not bring the same degree of transit-oriented development as rail. Did I point out the entrepreneurs behind M-1 Rail still want to proceed with at least phase I construction? Asked if he’d support increasing Michigan’s gas tax, given that the state has the nation’s worst-maintained roads, Snyder said no, “because we need to get efficient first” with the state’s existing transportation funds. … “So let’s get efficient about where we’re deploying these dollars. There’s a much better way to do things, and that’s what we should focus on first.” First, the Governor wants a revenue-neutral change in the fuel tax. Snyder’s plan eliminates the 19-cent “current gas tax on consumers”, shifting it to a percentage at the wholesale level. Wow! I won’t have to pay state gas tax anymore! Except, does anyone believe wholesalers won’t pass the cost of that tax onto retailers? Is the average retailer likely to discount his pump price by the amount of the wholesale tax passed to him? As the Brits would say, not bloody likely. While this proposal is initially revenue-neutral for the gas tax, a percentage tax on wholesale fuels will go up as prices rise. The proposal includes another hidden tax increase. Michigan levies sales tax, presently 6% on goods sold, including gasoline. Retailers don’t include the current 19-cent gas tax when calculating the sales tax. Since the wholesale tax will be part of the price retailers pay, it will now become subject to the 6% sales tax. On day one of a wholesale tax, Michigan will collect more than a penny per gallon in additional taxes from consumers. So much for “revenue-neutral”; never mind Michigan’s fuel taxes are already among the highest in the country. It’s a big hit to people’s wallets in a state still struggling to rebound from a decade-long recession. A family with three cars registered to one person would have to fork over $360 extra all at once. From my perspective, the increased vehicle registration fees are neither logical nor beneficial. Snyder says they will raise about $1.4 billion for roads. They will also price many out of their cars in a state with few functioning transportation options. Don’t be surprised if there is an increase in license plate thefts or cutting their corners off to get someone else’s current year tab. Here’s a novel concept: how about charging heavier weight vehicles for the road damage they cause? A 5,000-pound car exerts a mere 2,500 pounds per axle while Michigan allows up to 17,000 pounds—nearly seven times that of the car—per axle. Financing road repairs also needs to ensure non-resident users pay their share, not just Michiganians. Earlier this year, a bipartisan legislative report said Michigan needs $1.4 billion more for roads each year. Coincidence? I think maybe not. Mon, 17 Oct 2011 Detroit and its suburbs enjoy bus service from not one, but two dysfunctional systems. Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) buses primarily serve the city while Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) buses serve the suburbs, including forays into downtown Detroit. It’s not at all uncommon to see buses from one, the other, or both, chasing each other—even leap-frogging as one stops while another goes to the next stop. As many as half of DDOT’s buses are in the shop waiting to be fixed. Even former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick knew way back in 2004 that DDOT was a broken system. As for SMART, individual suburbs can opt out, so the system has traverse these unserved areas to connect those that are served. Declining property values left SMART underfunded by its millage, so the system plans to lay off 123 and cut or eliminate service on 36 routes. Nine years ago, Southeast Michigan was on the cusp of a solution called the Detroit Area Regional Transportation Authority (DARTA). After years of negotiating and political maneuvering, the Michigan House and Senate had passed the necessary legislation. Then, in a moment of extreme self-importance and political spitefulness, the Jaba-the-Hut-esque John Engler (R) vetoed the bill mere nanoseconds before his rotundness rolled out of office as his term as governor expired. Thanks, John. The region has been paying the price ever since. The elephant in the room is still getting city and suburbs to put their differences aside and craft a true, workable transit solution for Southeast Michigan. Imagine how much farther along we would be if Engler hadn’t been such a jackass. Mon, 10 Oct 2011 Michiganians want good roads and there is no doubt a good transportation infrastructure is important to Michigan’s economy. Of course, this takes money and there’s no secret Michigan is struggling with budget deficits. Last month, a bipartisan legislative committee recommending doubling Michigan’s road funding. The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) even made a propaganda film, using my tax dollars, to justify it. And now, Gov. Rick “No New Gas Tax” Snyder flip-flopped, à la Romney, and climbed on board the tax increase steam roller. I want good roads, just like everybody else. But I’m not convinced MDOT is spending our money as wisely as they say. I get the whole Federal-State match thing, but to squander 20% on stupid stuff to get the 80% is not solving the problem. I offer Exhibit A: mile marker signs with the direction, highway designation, and, in urban areas, placed every 1-2 tenths of a mile. If someone needs to be reminded what highway they’re on and which direction they’re going every 2/10ths of a mile, they shouldn’t be driving. Even if these markers cost the same as the originals, which they don’t, the cost has skyrocketed 5 times; for no significant value. The irony is the example pictured was part of a Detroit News article warning how bad Michigan’s roads are going to get. And don’t even get me started on the project a few years ago when the replaced all of the big green signs for better night visibility. Why not replace them as they wore out or got damaged? As Exhibit B, I offer Michigan’s so-called Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), intended to facilitate traffic around greater Grand Rapids and southeast Michigan (metro Detroit). The most visible aspect of ITS are the nearly 100 variable message signs (VMS) like the one pictured, including those at Grayling and Clare for which there is no traffic congestion justification. The VMS routinely depict messages about as useful as the one pictured near Grand Rapids. With fall approaching, you can expect them to say “Don’t veer for dear.” I spend a lot of time on the road and I think I can count one one hand the number of times a VMS has assisted my travels in any meaningful way. But ITS is more than just useless electronic signs. It includes nearly 270 closed circuit TVs, not counting the out-state ones like those in the upper peninsula, obviously with no congestion management purpose. And it includes two manned operations centers. MDOT’s website shows 3 people in the metro Detroit center, presumably a typical shift of staff that “oversees a traffic monitoring system”“. Neither these MDOT employees nor the VMS they are masters of contribute substantially to reducing congestion. At what expense are we gaining such miniscule benefit? For Exhibit C, I offer the I-94/I-696 interchange. MDOT completely reconstructed this interchange in 2010 to the same exact specifications as existed previously. Here’s the problem with that: two lanes exit from I-94 east and west each to become four lanes of I-696 west, except the right lane becomes exit only in a quarter mile at Gratiot, a major arterial. Why didn’t MDOT add another lane to accomodate this and allow four lanes to continue past Gratiot? Gratiot’s westbound on-ramp restores the fourth lane. The same intersection was previously rebuilt, again to the same standards, in the late 1990s. So, despite changes in traffic volumes and flows, MDOT has rebuilt the I-94/I-696 interchange twice to 40-year-old (1968) design criteria. While I could keep going on, let me finish with Exhibit D, the 30 MDOT transportation service centers across the state. This includes five in metro Detroit alone. At least MDOT plans to consolidate some service centers. I hope they reduce their seemingly large fleet of red minivans, with several to a dozen or more at each service center. Before MDOT expects additional state revenues for road projects, they need to show they’re fiscally responsible and working smart with what they get. The additional lanes at the reworked Okemos/I-96 interchange is proof they can when they want to. Oh, and don’t use my tax dollars to lobby me about your funding. The straw poll results pile on Gov. Rick Perry’s poor performance at Thursday’s debate, adding to the Perry is out meme. Whether Perry can salvage his bid remains to be seen. In any case, it should not give pause to seriously consider Romney. Beyond Romney’s opposition to national health care reform and auto company bailouts, Mitt says he’s part of the middle class, in the 80-90% with us. I guess he feels our pain, too. Never mind, despite his father having been CEO of American Motors before his election as Governor of Michigan, Mitt wanted US automakers to go belly up. Never mind, as Massachussetts Govenor, he signed into law the very legislation on which Obamacare is modeled. Romney said he, too, would propose financial fixes for Social Security, most likely a slight increase in the retirement age for younger workers and a decrease in the plan’s growth rate for higher-income retirees. “It can’t keep going forever the way it is,” Romney said. Seems to me, a used car salesman is more trustworthy and believable than Mitt Romney. Tue, 20 Sep 2011 Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and billionaire Manuel (Matty) Moroun’s Detroit International Bridge Co. (DBIC) had a legal agreement on the Gateway Project to connect I-75 and I-96 directly to the privately-owned Ambassador Bridge. Construction, which cost Michigan taxpayers $230 million and shut down I-75 to facilitate construction for over a year. Still, DBIC failed to live up to its commitments and 18 months after a court order to comply, DBIC is no closer to meeting its obligations. What’s really interesting about this is both former Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) and current Gov. Rick Snyder (R) support the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) public span, at odds with Moroun’s second private span. Wed, 24 Aug 2011 In the last election, Michigan voters turned out US Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D), gave newcomer Rick Snyder (R) the governor’s office instead of several seasoned politicos, and changed the state legislative landscape. Despite reelecting all but one US Congressional incumbent in the general election (throw out the incumbents, but mine’s ok), it seemed like Michigan voters might actually be starting to think for themselves. Could it be they’re no longer interested in superfluous hype? Will they really hold elected officials accountable to do their jobs? I wanted to be where I could hear the waves. As a boy, we spent summers on Lake Huron and I could hear the crashing waves at night. It was one of my favorite things in the world; being near the water and the waves was something I very badly wanted to experience again. Uh, Mitt, then why not come back to Michigan? He’s the son of a Michigan governor (George W. Romney), but went into politics in Massachussetts. He doesn’t own any property in Michigan, chosing three other states instead. And, even though his father was the head of American Motors before getting into politics, Mitt opposed automaker bailouts, writing an op-ed titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” in the New York Times. Wed, 03 Aug 2011 Our penny-wise, dollar-foolish, dysfunctional so-called representatives (Congressmen and Senators) in Washington barely managed to cobble together a debt ceiling deal before the economy tumbled into the abyss. Then they went home for a month-long vacation, leaving the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) without appropriations to operate. As a result, about 4,000 FAA employees are on furlough, meaning they don’t work and they don’t get paid. How many of them, do you suppose, live paycheck to paycheck? How many of our elected officials will help them out during their involuntary layoff? Add to that another estimated 70,000 construction workers idled by stop work orders on various FAA-funded projects. They’ll all collect unemployment, thus adding to the cost of doing business and the cost of government. The 74,000 laid off will also skew the jobless numbers, which will affect stocks and other aspects of the economy. The previous FAA reauthorization expired 22 July. There has been no long-term (meaning 2-4 years) for the FAA since 2007. Meanwhile, some airlines have raised ticket prices, pocketing the previous tax amounts the government is not, presently, collecting. Do you suppose they’ll lower prices when the taxes come back on line? If you do, just start sending your checks to me—it’s more productive than just burning your cash. At issue in the debate are, essentially, two fundamental aspects. The most publicized is the Essential Air Service (EAS) subsidy, which pays airlines to provide commercial service to largely remote areas. In Michigan, that affects 8 airports with EAS subsidies: This FAA bill funded the EAS for two-and-a-half years. So that would be stable funding for two-and-a-half years rather than a few months at a time. I think it’s a good program and I’m all for it. As far as I was concerned, it was a vote for the program. So, let me see. Benishek votes against the FAA reauthorization, but it’s really a vote for the Essential Air Service program. Reminds me of “These are not the droids you’re looking for.” Is anyone else confused by this? That said, however, the travel distances to “non-essential” air service facilities seems to justify ending this taxpayer subsidy. Heck, I live in metro Detroit and it takes me about 45 minutes to get to Detroit Metro. Suck it up and drive an hour to another airport. Interestingly, Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI-03), a Tea Party freshman from Grand Rapids, broke party lines and voted against HR 638. He’s the only Michigan representative that didn’t vote with his party. Apparently, he was opposed to the general fund subsidy, according to Amash’s Facebook post: [Justin Amash] just voted no on H R 658, FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act. The bill authorizes FAA activities through 2014. Under the bill, the authorized FAA spending level is flat-lined at the FY 2008 level for FY 2012-2014. That is a savings of $495 million per year over current spending. Even so, the bill relies on subsidies from the general fund to cover about 25% of total costs. The bill passed 223-196.

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Topology-Aware Non-Rigid Point Cloud Registration. In this paper, we introduce a non-rigid registration pipeline for unorganized point clouds that may be topologically different. Standard warp field estimation algorithms, even under robust, discontinuity-preserving regularization, produce erratic motion estimates on boundaries associated with 'close-to-open' topology changes. We overcome this limitation by exploiting backward motion: in the opposite direction, a 'close-to-open' event becomes 'open-to-close', which is by default handled correctly. Our approach relies on a general, topology-agnostic warp field estimation algorithm, similar to those employed in recent dynamic reconstruction systems from RGB-D input. We improve motion estimation on boundaries associated with topology changes in an efficient post-processing phase. Based on both forward and (inverted) backward warp hypotheses, we explicitly detect regions of the deformed geometry that undergo topological changes by means of local deformation criteria and broadly classify them as 'contacts' or 'separations'. Subsequently, the two motion hypotheses are seamlessly blended on a local basis, according to the type and proximity of detected events. Our method achieves state-of-the-art motion estimation accuracy on the MPI Sintel dataset. Experiments on a custom dataset with topological event annotations demonstrate the effectiveness of our pipeline in estimating motion on event boundaries, as well as promising performance in explicit topological event detection.

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After seven years, Republicans have finally released their health care legislation. Now their bill can be compared side-by-side with the Affordable Care Act based on how it affects enrollees’ pocketbooks — including both premiums and out-of-pocket costs for care. The bill does not measure up well: For all but the youngest individuals, it increases both overall costs and the risk of a financially devastating event. Republicans will argue that by cutting back insurance standards, their bill would lower premiums — because people can choose to buy less coverage than the ACA currently requires. But premiums are only one expense that enrollees have to worry about. First, the level of tax credits affects how much enrollees would actually pay for those premiums, out of pocket. Second, the degree of insurance protection affects how much enrollees would pay in deductibles, co-pays, and other forms of cost-sharing. (“Cost-sharing” refers to how the insurance company and the enrollee split the costs of health services.) We’re presenting an analysis here of the net financial impact of the Republican bill on premiums, after tax credits, plus cost-sharing. We estimate that the bill would increase costs for the average enrollee by $1,542, for the year, if the bill were in effect today. In 2020, the bill would increase costs for the average enrollee by $2,409. We provide the figure for 2020 because that’s when the Republican tax credits would go into effect; we provide a figure for this year so that readers can get a sense of how the plan might affect their situation were it implemented today. Importantly, the gap between costs under the ACA and under the Republican bill would grow over time. In general, the impact of the Republican bill would be particularly severe for older individuals, ages 55 to 64. Their costs would increase by $5,269 if the bill went into effect today and by $6,971 in 2020. Individuals with income below 250 percent of the federal poverty line would see their costs increase by $2,945 today and by $4,061 in 2020. The bill’s key alterations to the framework created by the ACA, explained The ACA includes three elements that affect the generosity of insurance. First, it requires insurers to cover a minimum share of costs, on average. This minimum “actuarial value” of the plans is set by law at 60 percent. Second, the act provides premium tax credits that are linked to the cost of a plan that covers 70 percent of costs, on average (the so-called silver plans). As the price of those plans rise, so does the tax credit. Third, the ACA reduces cost-sharing levels — that is, it provides another kind of subsidy — for lower-income individuals with income from 100 percent to 250 percent of the federal poverty level. The combined effect of these elements is that, for non-group policies under the ACA, the weighted average share of costs covered by insurers is about 75 percent. The Republican bill unveiled last night would remove these elements. It would eliminate the minimum required actuarial value; eliminate cost-sharing reductions for lower-income individuals; and provide flat tax credits by age unrelated to any plan’s cost. These tax credits are for the most part also unrelated to people’s income, but they start to phase out for individuals with income above $75,000. The combined effect of these changes is that the bill would dramatically reduce the generosity of insurance and sharply increase deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs. The Republican bill would also relax the limit on how much insurers can charge older individuals (a practice known as “age rating”). Currently, the ACA prohibits insurers from charging older individuals premiums that are more than three times greater than premiums for younger individuals. Under the Republican bill, insurers could charge premiums for older individuals that are as much as five times greater. Therefore, obviously, premiums for older individuals would go up, those for younger individuals would go down. Lastly, the Republican bill would eliminate the individual mandate. Instead, if individuals have a gap in coverage greater than 63 days, they would face a penalty equal to 30 percent of premiums for 12 months. How we estimated costs We previously published an analysis of the Republican plan using the tax credit levels prescribed in legislation sponsored by Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price when he was a member of Congress. For this analysis, we used the same methodology and altered parameters and assumptions as explained below. We used the tax credit levels specified in the Republican bill: $2,000 for individuals up to age 30; $2,500 for individuals age 30 to 39; $3,000 for individuals age 40 to 49; $3,500 for individuals age 50 to 59; and $4,000 for individuals over age 60. These tax credits phase out for individuals with income above $75,000 and for those filing a joint return with income above $150,000. (In our analysis, we treated households with at least two adults as joint filers.) As stated above, we first applied these tax credits to premiums in 2017 and then to premiums in 2020, the year the credits would take effect. To estimate premiums in 2020, we inflated premiums using National Health Expenditure (NHE) projections. For comparison with the ACA, we adjusted the ACA’s subsidy amounts using Congressional Budget Office estimates and NHE projections. Over time, the value of the new tax credits under the Republican bill would erode significantly. That’s because they are indexed to grow with consumer inflation plus 1 percentage point, which is much slower than the rate medical costs are actually growing. Under the ACA, by contrast, tax credits grow in lockstep with premiums for “silver” plans, and costs are capped as a percentage of income. The ACA’s tax credit structure would help protect enrollees from premium increases from 2017 to 2020; under the Republican plan, enrollees would pay a greater share of premiums each year. Whenever tax credit levels exceed premiums, we assumed that the excess could be deposited in health savings accounts to reduce cost-sharing levels, as specified in the Republican bill. We assume that under the Republican bill the average actuarial value would fall to 50 percent; all things considered, plans would cover only half of health care costs. That’s because the Republican bill would encourage enrollment in “catastrophic” plans with high deductibles. The insurance industry pegs the actuarial value of such catastrophic plans at 50 percent. In addition, a recent analysis by the Urban Institute estimated that about half of people, under the Republican system, could use their tax credits to buy a plan with an actuarial value of a mere 47 percent. Our assumption of a 50 percent actuarial value is actually generous to the Republican bill. Even though the bill repeals the minimum actuarial value, it does not repeal limits on out-of-pocket costs or essential health benefits. Using the 2018 actuarial value calculator, mathematically plans could not have an actuarial value much below 58 percent with these constraints. The plan would lead to a sicker pool of enrollees We assume that the Republican bill’s replacement for the individual mandate would cause some degree of adverse selection. In other words, the change in incentives would likely lead disproportionately sicker individuals to enroll in coverage, driving up premiums. Younger, healthier individuals may not be sufficiently motivated by the “continuous coverage” requirement, and modest penalty for violating it, to sign up for coverage to avoid an abstract penalty if they happen to get sick sometime in the unforeseeable future. If they do miss the open enrollment period, they would effectively be locked out of the market. Sicker individuals, on the other hand, would do absolutely everything they could to sign up and avoid a gap in coverage. What’s more, the late enrollment penalty would be far lower than the additional premium insurers would charge to many sicker individuals if they were able to do so. So it would be a bargain for many individuals to wait until they get sick to enroll in coverage. In the absence of the individual mandate, CBO estimates that adverse selection would increase premiums by 20 percent. We assume that the Republican bill’s replacement for the individual mandate would have at least some effect, but that it would not be as effective as the mandate. We assumed the shift to a continuous coverage model would increase premiums by 10 percent. We found significant cost increases both for individuals and for families Although premiums would be lower under the Republican bill, this decrease would be offset by an increase in cost-sharing. Once the differences in tax credits are accounted for, the bill would increase costs significantly. On top of this, shifting consumer spending from premiums to cost-sharing would greatly increase financial risk. (If you’re now paying 50 percent of your costs, instead of 25 percent, a big hospital bill could be devastating.) We reported above the results for individuals. For families, the Republican bill would increase costs by $2,243 if the bill were in effect today. For families with a head of household age 55 to 64, the bill would increase costs by $7,604. For families with income below 250 percent of poverty, the bill would increase costs by $6,228. These cost increases would explode by 2020. We estimate that the Republican bill would increase costs for families by $4,274. For families with a head of household age 55 to 64, the bill would increase costs by $10,591. For families with income below 250% percent of poverty, the bill would increase costs by $9,024. There may be a reason why Republicans took so many years to reveal their health care plan: It is easier to attack an imperfect existing system than to improve it. Under examination, the Republican bill clearly does not compare favorably with the ACA. As many have pointed out, and as the CBO score will clearly show, the Republican bill would cause millions of people to lose their coverage — but it would also increase costs significantly for those who remain insured. David Cutler is the Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics at Harvard University. John Bertko is the chief actuary for Covered California, the state’s health insurance exchange. Topher Spiro is the vice president for health policy at the Center for American Progress. Emily Gee is a health economist at the Center for American Progress. The Big Idea is Vox’s home for smart, often scholarly excursions into the most important issues and ideas in politics, science, and culture — typically written by outside contributors. If you have an idea for a piece, pitch us at [email protected].

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Amy Choate-Nielsen: Parental lessons passed through generations It moves so deftly, swiftly, that it sometimes stuns me into thinking it's standing still (especially in the afternoon, between the hours of 4 and 5 p.m.). Then just when the slowness of time has dazed me sufficiently, I am shocked into realizing another month has passed, or another year. Suddenly I have graduated from high school, and college, and I've gotten married and have two children. I'll have another birthday in a week or two, but time is tricky. It doesn't make me feel older. It simply adds things to the equation, so that I have moments when I still think of myself as a 15-year-old, and yet simultaneously, I'm in charge. Those startling moments come often, especially between the hours of 4 and 5 p.m., when my daughter asks for another handful of crackers and I tell her, "No more crackers, you'll spoil your dinner," just like my mother told me. The 15-year-old me thought spoiling your dinner was a silly idea, but here I am, propagating the message because now that I'm in charge, I know spoiling a toddler's dinner is a big deal after I've spent an hour making it. That is one of the benefits of time: perspective. I can't always see what I'm learning or how I'm changing while I'm in the midst of it, but once in awhile, the dawn breaks and I realize I understand things now that I didn't when I was 15. That you shouldn't spoil your dinner is one. That the mother I am today is largely based on the mothering I had as a child is another. As I've researched and learned more about my grandmother, Fleeta Choate, who died before I was born, I expected to learn more about myself — but I was surprised to discover that learning about her would teach me to better understand my father. He has a brilliant mind, a good sense of humor and an inspiring nonchalance about popular opinion, but I've always thought my dad has rotten luck. He's been a practicing attorney for most of his career, but he's always had projects on the side — grand entrepreneurial dreams that never got off the ground, no matter how he tried. In the beginning, there was an oil well, a television station and a run for public office that didn't work out, and for the past few decades, he's worked on a revolutionary keyboard layout that has been slow to catch on. I've often wondered why my dad worked so hard, investing precious time and money on each of those projects when they were out of his expertise and he already had a chosen profession. Why didn't he just give up when one venture failed, instead of finding another and another? But learning more about my grandparents helps me understand. My grandmother was a licensed nurse, and my grandfather was a mechanic — he repaired typewriters, which ultimately inspired my father's lifelong passion for keyboard layouts. But they also had side projects, rental properties and investments — some of which were unusual. For instance, a man once persuaded my grandparents to start a chinchilla farm in their basement, with the idea that they could harvest and sell the fur. My grandparents bought the animals, special cages to keep them in and expensive food to feed them. After one of the animals died from the summer heat, they cooled the critters with a brand-new window air conditioner — the only one in the house. Eventually, another chinchilla died from eating a calendar hanging on the wall near the cage and the rest failed to breed, so Fleeta gave up the business and sold the remaining animals. But in the process, she taught my father a valuable lesson that he has passed on to me: Never be too afraid to try. And now, as I prepare my children for their world encounters, strange as it is to be the one in charge, I find that I, too, can draw on Fleeta's influence. "You can do hard things," I will tell my daughter. "Don't be afraid to try." Amy Choate-Nielsen is a full-time mom and part-time writer at the Deseret News. She spends her days at the park and her nights at the computer. In this column, she writes about family history and her quest to understand the mysteries of life while learning about her deceased grandmother, Fleeta.

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Possible digoxin toxicity associated with concomitant ciprofloxacin therapy. A 27 year old female with a complex history of congenital heart disease, cardiac surgery, heart failure, and arrhythmias was admitted for a Pseudomonas aeruginosa sternal wound infection and treated with intravenous antibiotics. After discharge and completion of an outpatient course of intravenous antibiotics, suppressive antibiotic therapy with ciprofloxacin was initiated. She presented to clinic with nausea and anorexia within a few days of addition of ciprofloxacin to her current regimen of medications, which included digoxin. The digoxin was discontinued, with all other medications remaining the same, and the symptoms resolved in 48 h. The dose of digoxin was restarted at 50 % of the previous dose with no further complications. The proposed cause of the nausea and anorexia was digoxin toxicity secondary to a drug-drug interaction with ciprofloxacin. Patients receiving ciprofloxacin and digoxin should be monitored closely for the risk of digoxin toxicity.

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Q: not all data insert in convert from excell to database i have this code: ConnectString = @"Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=" + ExcelFile + ";Extended Properties=\"Excel 12.0 Xml;HDR=No\""; SheetName = SheetName.Substring(0, SheetName.Length - 5); OleDbConnection Connection = new OleDbConnection(); Connection.ConnectionString = ConnectString; try {Connection.Open();} catch (Exception EX) { MessageBox.Show(EX.Message); } OleDbDataAdapter Command = new OleDbDataAdapter("SELECT * FROM [" + SheetName + "$]", Connection); DataSet ExcelData = new DataSet(); try {Command.Fill(ExcelData);} catch (Exception EX) { MessageBox.Show(EX.Message); } finally { if (Connection.State != ConnectionState.Closed) Connection.Close(); } but not all the data in column 1 insert - i get empty data why ? what can be wrong ? thank's in advance A: When importing from Excel, datatypes for the columns are by default guessed based on the contents of the first eight rows. If the values are blank in the first 8 rows for a given column, that can result in no data for the column at all. This can be overridden in the registry. I would suggest investigating that possibility. Here's a good writeup. http://blog.lab49.com/archives/196

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Jackson Seemed High After Leaving Docs 7/10/2009 3:00 AM PDT Jackson Seemed High After Leaving Docs Michael Jackson used to leave the offices of various doctors looking "out of it," according to a former bodyguard who was interviewed by detectives during the 2004 child molestation investigation. Chris Carter, a former Jackson bodyguard, was interviewed by detectives from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department. Carter told detectives he would drive Jackson to doctors' offices in New York, Florida and California. The Sheriff's documents, obtained by TMZ, say "[Carter] named Dr. [Arnold] Klein, Dr. [Allan] Metzger, Dr. Barney from Solvang, Dr. Saunders and Dr. Farshchian." The notes continue, "Carter described JACKSON as being sharp and 'in tune' prior to the doctor visits and afterward he would be out of it and sedated." The notes also say "Dr. Farshchian told him that JACKSON was addicted to Demerol, but said he was giving JACKSON a placebo to wean him off." Carter talks of an incident where Jackson was intoxicated in a hotel room and fell on his face. Carter said he confronted Jackson and spoke with him about his drug problem for an hour. Carter said Jackson denied having a problem. According to the notes, "Carter said he told Jackson he was not comfortable in getting prescriptions for him." Carter says he then quit being Jackson's bodyguard as a result.

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A home daily activity simulation model for the evaluation of lifestyle monitoring systems. Lifestyle monitoring (LM) technology is part of a new generation of telecare which aims to observe the daily activities of older or vulnerable individuals and determine if a medical or care intervention would be beneficial. The development and validation of new LM systems should ideally involve extensive trials with users in real conditions. Unfortunately, effective user trials are very challenging, generally limited in scope and costly. In this paper, a simulator is proposed that can serve to generate synthetic data of daily activity which can then be used as a tool for the validation and development of LM systems. The most challenging part of the simulator is to replicate people's behaviour. In the paper, a novel model of daily activity simulation is proposed. Such daily activities are dependent on a number of external factors that control the need or desire to perform the activity. The proposed simulator aims to reproduce behaviour such that the probability of performing an activity increases until the need is fulfilled. It is possible to parameterise the behavioural model according to a set of features representing a particular individual. The simulator parameters have been populated using real world experiments through hardware testing and data collection with older people. Experimental verification that the desired features are reasonably reproduced by the simulator is provided.

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Q: Unexpected effect of padding on width animation This question is similar to this question resolved previously: CSS text-align delay with width animation I have an animation that goes from 0% width to 100% with the intent of loading the page without any text visible and immediately revealing it from left to right. I noticed that with the padding included, the first portion of the text on the left loads already visible. What is the reason for this? Thanks! @keyframes leftright { 0% { max-width: 0%; } 100% { max-width: 100%; } } .test_1 { overflow: hidden; white-space: nowrap; width: 80vw; padding: 0 10vw; border: 1px solid red; font: bold 15vmin 'Playfair Display', serif; animation: leftright 1s; } <div class="test_1">Why hello there</div> A: You can achieve the desired behavior without the unwanted side effects by splitting up the presentation and animation jobs and assigning them to separate divs. Here is another question that has an answer to explain why the padded div doesn't have a width of zero. border-box with padding can't have 0 width @keyframes leftright { 0% { max-width: 0%; } 100% { max-width: 100%; } } .test_1 { animation: leftright 10s; overflow: hidden; white-space: nowrap; width: 80vw; border: 1px solid red; } .test_2 { padding: 0 10vw; font: bold 15vmin 'Playfair Display', serif; } <div class="test_1"> <div class="test_2">Why hello there</div> </div>

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662 F.2d 1082 218 U.S.P.Q. 396, 1981 Copr.L.Dec. P 25,325 Michael CHRISTOPHER, t/a Barn Dinner Theatre, Appellee,v.Ardith CAVALLO, Appellant. No. 80-1712. United States Court of Appeals,Fourth Circuit. Argued May 5, 1981.Decided Oct. 30, 1981. J. Michael Cleary, Washington, D.C. (E. Fulton Brylawski, Brylawski & Cleary, Washington, D.C., La Rue Van Meter, Falls Church, Va., on brief), for appellant. Thomas L. Rowe, Chesterfield, Va. (Henry A. Conner, Jr., Richmond, Va., on brief), for appellee. Before WINTER, Chief Judge, and RUSSELL and WIDENER, Circuit Judges. WIDENER, Circuit Judge: 1 On March 5, 1979, the appellant, Ardith Cavallo, entered into a contract with Michael Christopher, the operator of the Barn Dinner Theater in Richmond, Virginia, licensing Christopher to produce and present to the paying public a musical play entitled "Peter Pan-The Magical Musical," which play she claimed to own and to have principally created. This work closely resembled the classic play by James M. Barrie entitled "Peter Pan or The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up," the copyright for which is held by The Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London, and which is licensed for production in the United States exclusively by Samuel French, Inc.1 Upon discovering that Christopher intended to produce Mrs. Cavallo's work, the Hospital and French sought and obtained an injunction of that production, and were awarded the sum of $5,000.00 in lieu of actual damages, statutory damages, profits, attorneys' fees and costs. 2 In the instant case, Christopher sued to recover this sum and other damages from Mrs. Cavallo on the grounds that she fraudulently misrepresented that her work did not constitute an infringement upon the Barrie copyright and that she had breached her warranty that she had sufficient title to her play to sell or license it. The district court denied appellant's motion to dismiss these claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and upon trial held that Mrs. Cavallo was liable to Christopher as a result of her breach of warranty of good title. She appeals, and we affirm. 3 While Mrs. Cavallo bases her appeal on several grounds, we find only the challenge to the district court's assertion of subject matter jurisdiction worthy of discussion. In his complaint, Christopher asserted that this action arises under the copyright laws of the United States and under the law of Virginia and thus is subject to adjudication in the district court. Mrs. Cavallo challenges this assertion, contending that the complaint did not raise an issue requiring the interpretation of the copyright laws of the United States and that, absent an allegation of another jurisdictional basis, Christopher's claims were not cognizable in the district court. 4 Congress has granted the district courts exclusive original jurisdiction of civil actions arising under any Act of Congress relating to copyrights. 28 U.S.C. § 1338(a). Whether such a question is presented is determined from the plaintiff's initial pleading. Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company v. Mottley, 211 U.S. 149, 152, 29 S.Ct. 42, 43, 53 L.Ed. 126 (1908). "To bring a case within the statute, a right or immunity created by the Constitution or laws of the United States must be an element, and an essential one, of the plaintiff's cause of action." Gully v. First National Bank, 299 U.S. 109, 112, 57 S.Ct. 96, 97, 81 L.Ed. 70 (1936) (emphasis added); McCorkle v. First National Pennsylvania Banking & Trust Company, 459 F.2d 243, 250 (4th Cir. 1972). Applying this principle in the context of a copyright claim in T. B. Harms Company v. Eliscu, 339 F.2d 823, 828 (2d Cir. 1964), Judge Friendly stated that an action may be said to arise under the Copyright Act where the complaint "...asserts a claim requiring the construction of the Act, ...." Christopher's complaint asserts such a claim. 5 Under Virginia law, an essential element of a cause of action for breach of warranty is an allegation of the fact of the breach. Howell v. Cowles, 6 Grat. (47 Va.) 393, 397 (1849). The complaint here fulfilled that requirement by asserting that, contrary to Mrs. Cavallo's representation that she had the right to license or sell her play, and that it did not infringe Barrie's copyright, the licensing of that property constituted an infringement thereof. Proof of that claim plainly required the construction of the copyright laws of the United States in order to establish the existence of the infringement, for the existence of the infringement was necessary to prove the breach of warranty. This case is, therefore, cognizable pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1338(a) as one which presents a substantial federal question as one of its essential elements.2 6 We have considered the arguments of appellant with respect to collateral estoppel and lack of liability on the claim of warranty and are of opinion they are without merit. 7 The judgment of the district court is accordingly 8 AFFIRMED. 1 That Cavallo's work constituted an infringement upon the Barrie copyright was decided in the related case of The Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London, et al. v. Melody Dinner Theater, et al., 516 F.Supp. 67 (E.D.Va.1980), which we have affirmed in No. 80-1711, --- F.2d ---- (4th Cir. 1981). The district court's decision in that case preceded the trial of the instant case and was held to determine the issue of infringement in the present case by collateral estoppel 2 Nor is the federal claim asserted here insubstantial because it was decided in an earlier case. While a federal question is deemed insubstantial if it presents an issue no longer subject to discussion in light of prior decisions, McGilvra v. Ross, 215 U.S. 70, 80, 30 S.Ct. 27, 31, 54 L.Ed. 95 (1909), this is the case only where such prior decisions render the claim frivolous or unsound. Hagans v. Lavine, 415 U.S. 528, 537-38, 94 S.Ct. 1372, 1379, 39 L.Ed.2d 577 (1974). In the case at hand, Christopher's assertion that the Cavallo play infringed upon the Barrie copyright was not rendered frivolous or unsound by the prior decision; rather, Christopher's position is supported by that decision

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Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School (commonly known as LuHi) is a Christian college preparatory school in Brookville, New York, United States. It was founded and built in 1960 on a estate and has a student body of approximately 450 students in grades 6-12, with students coming from more than 50 school districts throughout Long Island and New York City. The school is accredited by the New York State Association of Independent Schools. Academics Students follow a liberal arts curriculum, which includes required courses in English, mathematics, the natural and physical sciences, social studies and government, world language (students can choose between Spanish and French), business, religion, the fine arts, physical education, and health. Electives courses, ranging from entrepreneurship to creative writing, are also offered in all departments. LuHi also offers 14 Advanced Placement courses. Classes are scheduled using a four-day block scheduling system, which includes a weekly school-wide chapel service held in the Chapel/Performing Arts Center. LuHi students generally perform significantly better than average on standardized high school achievement and college admissions tests, as well as AP exams. LuHi students score higher on the ACT and SAT than both the New York state and national average. Also, the top 10% of the class of 2019 tallied an average cumulative score of 1300 on the SAT and a 31 on the ACT. In addition, in 2019 75% of LuHi AP students scored a 3 or higher on the AP exams. That is compared to 62% of students in New York State, and 59% of students nationwide. Service learning is an important part of the LuHi experience. Students participate in many service activities throughout the year including coat, food and book drives, Habitat for Humanity Builds, service trips to Nicaragua, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and other countries, as well as a meal packing event to benefit local food pantries and the Andrew Grene School in Haiti. LuHi also offers 25 high school clubs and 14 middle school clubs. Athletics Long Island Lutheran fields 17 high school and 11 middle school sports teams, most of which compete in the Private Schools Athletic Association (PSAA)] or the Independent Private and Parochial Schools Athletic League (IPPSAL). The varsity football team competes in the Metropolitan Independent Football League, and won the league championship in 2019. However, the boys and girls varsity basketball teams compete as independents. LuHi is known for its highly successful boys and girls basketball programs. The boys team has won seven New York State Federation Championships, while the girls team has won three Federation titles. In March 2011, the boys team won the Class A NYS Federation Championship and the girls team won the Class B NYS Federation Championship, making LuHi only the second school in the history of the tournament to win both the boys and girls titles in the same year (Christ the King Regional High School won both in 2010). A table listing the NYS Federation Championships won by the boys and girls basketball teams is provided below. Summer programs In addition to its scholastic activities, LuHi hosts a Summer Program during the summer months. LuHi Summer Programs offer a wide variety of programs throughout four 2-week sessions including sports schools, arts & education programs, and all-around programs, which allow campers to participate in a wide range of recreational activities. Notable alumni Reggie Carter, 1975, former shooting guard for the New York Knicks and St. John's University Bill Chamberlain, 1968, former small forward for the Phoenix Suns, the Memphis Tams (ABA), the Kentucky Colonels (ABA), and the University of North Carolina Jipsta, 1992 (attended from 1987–1989), a Top 5 Billboard recording artist; who has had six consecutive Top 10 appearances on the Dance Club Songs chart published by Billboard. Drew Nicholas, 1999, former shooting guard for the University of Maryland; 2002 NCAA National Champion with Maryland; 2-time Euroleague Champion (2009, 2011) with Panathinaikos; 2005–06 Alphonso Ford Trophy winner as the Euroleague top scorer Shamar Stephen, 2009, defensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings; seventh round draft pick (220th overall) of the Minnesota Vikings in the 2014 NFL Draft; former defensive tackle for the University of Connecticut Bill Wennington, 1981, former center for the Chicago Bulls, among other NBA teams, and St. John's University; 3-time NBA Champion (1996, 1997, 1998) with the Bulls; color commentator for Chicago Bulls radio broadcasts on ESPN Radio 1000 References External links Long Island Lutheran Middle & High School Private Schools Athletic Association (PSAA) Independent Private and Parochial Schools Athletic League (IPPSAL) LuHi Summer Programs Category:Private high schools in New York (state) Category:Schools in Nassau County, New York Category:Lutheran schools in the United States Category:Private middle schools in New York (state) Category:Preparatory schools in New York (state) Category:Secondary schools affiliated with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Category:Educational institutions established in 1960 Category:1960 establishments in New York (state)

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The Fuchs'sche Mühle is one of six mills in the lovely Weinheimer valley. The pretty dining areas in the restaurant have been christened the Farmer's Room, the Miller's Room and the Fox's Den. There is a beer garden behind the restaurant for warmer days.

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In addition to the direct investment services listed above, the company is also permitted to perform the following ancillaryfinancial services: Safekeeping and administration of financial instruments, including custodianship and related services Granting credits or loans to one or more financial instruments, where the firm granting the credit or loan is involved in the transaction Advice to undertakings on capital structure, industrial strategy and related matters and advice and services relating to mergers and the purchase of undertakings Foreign exchange services when related to the provision of investment services Investment research and financial analysis Services related to underwriting One additional benefit of being licensed within the European Union, is that the company is able to ‘passport’ under MiFID into any European jurisdiction and undertake investment activities. With an assembled team of seasoned professionals with working experience gained in Moscow, London, New York, Frankfurt and Cyprus, plus state-of-the-art operational infrastructure, the company GPB-Financial Services Ltd is uniquely positioned to provide supreme service to its clients, for access to the Russian Capital Markets and Global Capital Markets whereby it can leverage extensively from its sole shareholder, Gazprombank. GPB-Financial Services Limited is recognised as a member firm of the London Stock Exchange from 13th October 2016. Membership is granted in accordance with the Rules of the London Stock Exchange on the basis that GPB-Financial Services Limited will be trading in principal and agency capacities on the SETS and IOB order books as a member firm. News No relations to Binary options and/or Forex trading Dear ReaderPlease note that GPB-Financial Services Ltd has NO relations NOR does it offer any services or maintains a platform relating to Binary options and/or Forex trading. Should you come across with such situations please contact us at + 357 25055100 or at [email protected]. EU and US Sanctions do not Affect Operations and Financial Standing of Gazprombank September 12, 2014 Reinforced EU and US sanctions in respect of a number of Russian companies and banks do not affect operations and financial standing of Gazprombank. New edition of the EU and USA sanctions prohibit providing new financing to the Bank with maturity exceeding 30 days, versus 90 days previously. Gazprombank hereby states that it is fulfilling its obligations to clients, investors, depositors and lenders in full and on time. Gazprombank’s branches and offices are operating as before and provide usual services to both individuals and corporate clients. Rouble and foreign currency settlements, including those processed via payment cards of international payment systems, are being processed duely and on time. Gazprombank comments on EU restrictive measures August 1, 2014 In its new regulation issued on 31 July 2014, the Council of the European Union imposed certain restrictive measures on access to EU capital markets by major Russian banks, including Gazprombank. The restrictive measures do not apply to Gazprombank’s subsidiaries established in the EU.Read Gazprombank comments on EU restrictive measures US Sanctions will not Affect Financial and Operational Stability of Gazprombank July 17, 2014 Sanctions declared by the USA administration against certain Russian companies and banks, including Gazprombank, contemplate only restrictions on the access by US investors to long-term (over 90 days) debt instruments of the Gazprombank issued after 16 July 2104. Such restrictions do not affect the operations of Gazprombank and the Bank is operating in normal regime. All of the instructions of Bank’s clients legal entities and individuals, all obligations to investors, depositors and lenders are being fulfilled in full and on time. Settlements of Rouble and foreign currency accounts of the clients are being processed without delay, including those processed via payment cards of international payment systems. Risk Warnings Gazprombank Gazprombank has been successfully operating in the banking market since 1990. Founded by the world’s largest gas producer and exporterGazprom to provide banking services for gas industry enterprises, since then Gazprombank has become one of the leaders of the banking sector, which key performance indicators places the bank among the top three banks of Russia. Gazprombank as a universal financial institution delivers a wide range of banking and investment services covering over 45,000 corporate and approximately 3 million private clients. Gazprombank invests and lends to companies of major sectors of the economy – oil and petrochemical industry, metallurgy, machine building, nuclear industry, electric power industry, real estate construction, transport, telecommunications and trade. Diversified client base enables a strong growth of a corporate loan portfolio and the retail business also shows sustainable growth. Despite of rapid growth of the loan portfolio, efficient risk policy and prudent approach to borrowers allow the Bank to maintain a ratio of problem and non-performing loans at the lowest level among the largest Russian banks. Gazprombank actively develops areas closely related to the investment business. Beside strategic investments to oil and gas, petrochemical industries and media-business in Russia, Gazprombank occupies leading positions in transactions in the capital markets (bond underwriting, arranging financing for clients), corporate finance advisory and project finance.At present Gazprombank operates eight subsidiary and affiliated banks in Russia, Belarus, Switzerland and Armenia, representative offices in China and Mongolia as well as forty three own branches across Russia from Kaliningrad in the west to Youzhno-Sakhalinsk in the east. The total number of offices delivering customer friendly high-quality banking and depository services under the single brand name of Gazprombank exceeds 500. Steady development and high reliability was rewarded with ratings assigned by international rating agencies: Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s etc. Gazprombank was twice awarded by The Banker Magazine as “The Bank of the Year in Russia” in 2001 and 2005.

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Q: Does the number of active visible HWNDs in Windows 7 (or up) affect performance notably? The question is vague admittedly but I'm trying to avoid going down a design rabbit hole. I'd heard anecdotally that creating hundreds of buttons and other controls in an application would be less performant than writing my own windowless controls and handling the mouse click/move/tracking/capture logic my self. I'll just say my preference is to use HWND based controls because I don't have to reinvent the wheel but not if the application will become unusable. A: Based on my experience with a very HWND-heavy application I don't think you will encounter significant general performance problems. You will, however, need to make sure you're not exceeding the per-process and per-session handle limits (which default to 10,000 for a process and 32,768 for the session) if you are going crazy with creating O/S windows. At some point, you will simply be unable to create new handles (and therefore unable to create new window objects), your application will start acting in bizarre ways, and it's downhill from there. You can also run low on desktop heap when you create tons of O/S handles, and this can cause other instability issues. For these reasons it's best to design in such a way that you stay well under the limits for any conceivable use case.

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<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no" ?> <!DOCTYPE project PUBLIC "-//audacityproject-1.3.0//DTD//EN" "http://audacity.sourceforge.net/xml/audacityproject-1.3.0.dtd" > <project xmlns="http://audacity.sourceforge.net/xml/" projname="start_tow_nostart_data" version="1.3.0" audacityversion="2.1.2" sel0="1.1240816327" sel1="1.1240816327" vpos="0" h="0.0000000000" zoom="414.5583081125" rate="44100.0" snapto="off" selectionformat="hh:mm:ss + milliseconds" frequencyformat="Hz" bandwidthformat="octaves"> <tags/> <wavetrack name="start_tow" channel="2" linked="0" mute="0" solo="0" height="150" minimized="0" isSelected="0" rate="44100" gain="1.0" pan="0.0"> <waveclip offset="0.00000000"> <sequence maxsamples="262144" sampleformat="262159" numsamples="49572"> <waveblock start="0"> <simpleblockfile filename="e00009d3.au" len="49572" min="-1.0" max="0.998615" rms="0.218979"/> </waveblock> </sequence> <envelope numpoints="0"/> </waveclip> </wavetrack> <wavetrack name="Audio Track" channel="2" linked="0" mute="0" solo="0" height="150" minimized="0" isSelected="0" rate="44100" gain="1.0" pan="0.0"> <waveclip offset="0.00000000"> <sequence maxsamples="262144" sampleformat="262159" numsamples="3895"> <waveblock start="0"> <simpleblockfile filename="e000035b.au" len="3895" min="-0.952087" max="0.999969" rms="0.060847"/> </waveblock> </sequence> <envelope numpoints="0"/> </waveclip> <waveclip offset="1.07343163"> <sequence maxsamples="262144" sampleformat="262159" numsamples="3895"> <waveblock start="0"> <simpleblockfile filename="e00001d8.au" len="3895" min="-0.952087" max="0.999969" rms="0.060847"/> </waveblock> </sequence> <envelope numpoints="0"/> </waveclip> </wavetrack> <wavetrack name="Audio Track" channel="2" linked="0" mute="0" solo="0" height="150" minimized="0" isSelected="1" rate="44100" gain="1.0" pan="0.0"> <waveclip offset="0.00000000"> <sequence maxsamples="262144" sampleformat="262159" numsamples="49572"> <waveblock start="0"> <simpleblockfile filename="e0000fd7.au" len="49572" min="-0.049998" max="0.049997" rms="0.025073"/> </waveblock> </sequence> <envelope numpoints="0"/> </waveclip> </wavetrack> </project>

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Modesto Police Officers Stand with Representative Jeff Denham Oct. 25, 2014 - - The Modesto Police Officers Association today endorsed the reelection of Jeff Denham to the United States Congress. “We all know that crime knows no boundaries. As Congressman for our area, Jeff Denham has been instrumental in securing funds and raising awareness regarding the impact of crime in our communities,” said Doug Ridenour, Chair of the Modesto Police Officers’ Political Action Committee. “Denham is always available, listens, and tries to help. He instinctively understands that public safety is essential to our quality of life and that a professional and trained law enforcement is our best chance for achieving that.” The Modesto Police Officers Association represents the largest city in the 10th Congressional District.

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Low doses of allergen and probiotic supplementation separately or in combination alleviate allergic reactions to cow β-lactoglobulin in mice. Probiotic supplementation and oral tolerance induction can reduce certain types of food allergy. The objectives of this study were to investigate the allergy-reducing effects of probiotics (VSL#3) and/or oral tolerance induction via low doses of an allergen supplementation in β-lactoglobulin (BLG)-sensitized mice. Three-week-old, male BALB/c mice were divided into 6 groups (n = 8/group): sham-sensitized negative control (CTL-), BLG-sensitized positive control (CTL+), oral tolerance-induced and BLG-sensitized group (OT), probiotic-supplemented OT group (OTP), probiotic-supplemented CTL- (PRO), and probiotic-supplemented and BLG-sensitized (PROC) groups. Mice were i.p. sensitized with BLG and alum and then orally challenged with BLG. Immunological responses were assessed by monitoring hypersensitivity scores and measuring levels of BLG-specific serum Igs, total serum IgE and fecal IgA, and cytokines from serum and spleen lysates. Hypersensitivity scores were significantly lower in the PROC (2.00 ± 0.53), OT (0.75 ± 0.46), and OTP mice (1.00 ± 0.53) than in the CTL+ mice (2.63 ± 0.52) as were BLG-specific serum IgE concentrations (34.3 ± 10, 0.442 ± 0.36, 3.54 ± 3.5, and 78.5 ± 8.7 μg/L for PROC, OT, OTP, and CTL+, respectively). Our results suggest that supplementation of VSL#3 suppressed the allergic reaction mainly through increased intestinal secretary IgA (sIgA) in PROC mice, and oral tolerance offered allergen-specific protective effects to BLG-induced allergy, probably through CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cell-mediated active suppression. In OTP mice, probiotics did not induce a further reduction of hypersensitivity score compared with OT mice but may provide additional protection to unforeseen nonspecific challenges through increased intestinal sIgA.

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The 2014 Eurovision Song Contest is over and a gay, bearded transvestite from Austria won the final round. Thomas Neuwirth, better known as the drag persona Conchita Wurst, edged out artists from the Netherlands, Sweden, and 34 other participating countries. On the Internet, Russians have reacted to Wurst’s victory with a mix of humor and homophobia. Objections to Wurst’s involvement in Eurovision are already several months old. In December 2013, men in Russia and Belarus launched petitions to ban television stations from broadcasting the music contest, if Wurst took part. Hosted on the American website Change.org, the Belarusian petition collected over 4 thousand signatures. The Russian petition attracted over 23 thousand supporters. Following Wurst’s win today, Russians responded with several different memes. Some were intended to mock the artist’s unusual beard, whereas others took aim more broadly at Europe’s supposed cultural permissiveness. The Austrians have changed. Many bloggers juxtaposed images of Wurst alongside famous historical Austrians, such as Franz Joseph I and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, drawing attention to the passage of time, implying that Austria—and Europe along with it—has ceased to produce quality art and no longer observes traditional, correct values. Others have contrasted Wurst with Alexander Mozhaev, also known as “Babai” (or “bogeyman”), the famously bearded pro-Russia separatist from Slaviansk, whose impressive facial hair has come to symbolize Ukrainian rebels’ stoic masculinity. But life in Russia hasn’t changed. “Two worlds. Two childhoods.” Rykov: For the first time in two weeks, I’m compelled to shave. Demyanov: Just imagine how Babai must feel. The Russian nationalist website Sputnik & Pogrom tweeted an image warning Ukrainians that further European integration will expose them to the cultural values that celebrate people like Wurst. The message below uses Wurst’s face to try to scare people in Ukraine’s southeast into voting in the separatist referendum, scheduled for May 11. Ukraine, you want into Europe? Conchita is waiting for Ukraine! May 11, either you go to the referendum, or the blue beard comes to you! Some of the most vitriolic posts online have involved men sharing photographs of themselves shaving in protest against Wurst. Rapper Aleksandr Stepanov, known as “ST,” uploaded to Instagram pictures of him shaving, with the message, “I pass the baton,” and the hashtag, “Prove that you’re not Conchita” (#докажичтотынекончита). Anton Korobkov, a popular pro-Kremlin blogger, also posted a “selfie” while shaving. Just watched Eurovision. Had to go shave. Another Russian rapper, Timur Yunusov, better known as “Timati,” responded to Stepanov’s Instagram post with high praise. Yunusov also thanked Vladimir Putin for “banning gay parades in Moscow,” and criticized Europe for “normalizing” bearded women. The rapper explained that he would likely assault any gay couple in Russia that dared to hold hands and kiss in public. For all the alarm about Europe’s supposed cultural collapse, Wurst is not in fact Eurovision’s first gender-bending victor. The artist Dana International, a transgender Israeli who underwent sex reassignment surgery in 1993, won the contest in 1998. That year, Russia was not allowed to participate because of low average scores from previous years. As a result, Russian television decided not to broadcast the competition in 1998. Eurovision always agitates Russia’s homophobes. The contest’s performances are invariably flamboyant and difficult to square with any traditional concept of masculinity. Thanks to the conflict in Ukraine, East-West tensions are now at a post-Soviet highpoint, and gay-bashing benefits from Russia’s surge in patriotic chauvinism. Of course, the spectacle of a homosexual bearded drag-queen singing champion also spices up things a bit.

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*** SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERT *** Reporting The LOST Alternate Reality Game (The Lost Experience) which began May 3rd, 2006 during the airing of the LOST episode "Two For The Road"......... "We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." - Thomas Stearns Eliot Wednesday, July 12, 2006 HANSO FOUNDATION COMMERCIAL # 7 07/12/06 It has been a long time coming but it looks like we have another commercial from the Hanso Foundation. Dr. Thomas Werner Mittelwerk is the centerpiece of this commercial which aired during the episode “23rd Psalms” of Lost tonight. Mittelwerk is seen in a white lab coat in the lobby of The Hanso Foundation and the commercial is Presented by ABC, Inc. “Spirited debate…It’s the cornerstone of our philosophy, here at the Hanso Foundation. We’re reaching out to a better tomorrow and that means listening to our critics, even those who would lob unfounded claims from the darkness. We’re confident in our mission. That’s why we invite you – talk about us, discuss our accomplishments and continued progress. We are here for you.Thank you and Namaste.” Is there a clue here somewhere? I have been looking at the transcript for quite some time and only “unfounded claims from the darkness” and “spirited debate” stands out. It is a strange way to say this. I wonder if it is a clue of some sort? Note: The shutdown THF.org site has been changed with new text that reads: "Click here to see a statement by Dr. Werner Mittelwerk, President and Chief Technologist of the Hanso Foundation." The entire statement contains a hot link to the Mittelwerk Hanso Commercial # 7 that we've already seen. The text reads Werner Mittelwerk, but the commercial tells us that this is Thomas Mittelwerk. Strange difference here... 6 comments: Mittlewerk and his GWC buddies vanish; Dr. Zander (another Bad Twin reference? Alexander "Zander" Widmore?) is disappeared; the "late" Vigi Benoffski and our own Vincent "Wally" Bole are both (unless they're the same guy. VB?) off to Australia (Wally was going to Korea, too, but maybe the missles will dissuade him of that side trip.) And the Helgus Antonius comes and goes without leaving a trace. Exactly how Rachel failed to see them leave is a mystery in itself, but has it been discussed anywhere that the same magic that cloaks "the island" could be used on this ship? Philadelphia Experiment-style? Could it be beaming its way to Perth/Korean off-shore site? Re: The Holy Flower/St. Anthony: You might be interested in checking out this medical site on St. Anthony's Fire, Ergotism, Heart Disease. There's just got to be a connection with our hippy-trippy-gimpy bunch, don't you think?

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Porphyria cutanea tarda in three generations of a single family. We examined conjugal and blood relatives of one kindred for evidence of porphyria cutanea tarda. The disease was identified in eight family members in three generations. Four were classified as having overt porphyria cutanea tarda because of four criteria: photo-enhanced dermatosis; excessive urinary excretion of uroporphyrins; characteristic thin-layer chromatographic pattern of urinary porphyrins; and decreased activity of erythrocyte uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase. Two patients with excessive excretion of uroporphyrins or characteristic chromatograms, or both, and decreased uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase activity were classified as having subclinical porphyria cutanea tarda, and two with decreased uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase activity only were classified as having latent porphyria cutanea tarda. This study provides further evidence that prophyria cutanea tarda can be a familial disease inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion. We propose a reclassification of porphria cutanea tarda as an overt, subclinical or latent disorder.

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Sick of being a martyr to a lost cause With all of your fucking rules and your stupid cause It's hard to believe that it turned out this bad With nothing left of what we used to have And I feel alone That's cause enough to make me fear myself The things you always hear about are happening to someone else And now that you're with me, I'm afraid that I will be alone I never dreamed that I would make it this far I'll never make it on my own Not without a shot in the dark And I don't understand the things that seem to hold me back You'll never understand me You'll never understand my pain Now that I see clearly Now that the pain has gone away My eyes are closed You'll never understand my pain My eyes are closed The visions seem to pass before my eyes The things I think about come crashing down with all the lies Another minute here is a minute that I've spent too long And all the things that I think that I have found Concluded in the photographs of you that're strewn upon the ground Another failure here I think that I'll just have to quit

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/* Copyright 2017-2019 VMware, Inc. SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-2-Clause */ package com.vmware.weathervane.auction.controllers; import javax.annotation.PreDestroy; import javax.inject.Inject; import javax.inject.Named; import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse; import org.slf4j.Logger; import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory; import org.springframework.dao.CannotAcquireLockException; import org.springframework.orm.ObjectOptimisticLockingFailureException; import org.springframework.security.access.AccessDeniedException; import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller; import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PathVariable; import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestBody; import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping; import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMethod; import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ResponseBody; import com.vmware.weathervane.auction.data.model.User.UserState; import com.vmware.weathervane.auction.rest.representation.UserRepresentation; import com.vmware.weathervane.auction.security.UserDetailsServiceImpl; import com.vmware.weathervane.auction.service.UserService; import com.vmware.weathervane.auction.service.exception.DuplicateEntityException; import com.vmware.weathervane.auction.service.exception.InvalidStateException; @Controller @RequestMapping(value="/user") public class UserController extends BaseController { private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(UserController.class); private UserService userService; public UserService getUserService() { return userService; } @Inject @Named("userService") public void setUserService(UserService userService) { this.userService = userService; } @Inject UserDetailsServiceImpl userDetailsServiceImpl; @PreDestroy private void printUserCacheStats() { double userByAuthTokenMissRate = userService.getUserByAuthTokenMisses() / (double) UserDetailsServiceImpl.getUserByAuthTokenGets(); logger.warn("User Cache Stats: "); logger.warn("UserByAuthToken. Gets = " + UserDetailsServiceImpl.getUserByAuthTokenGets() + ", misses = " + userService.getUserByAuthTokenMisses() + ", miss rate = " + userByAuthTokenMissRate); } @RequestMapping(method=RequestMethod.POST) public @ResponseBody UserRepresentation registerUser( @RequestBody UserRepresentation theUser, HttpServletResponse response) { logger.info("UserController::registerUser username = " + theUser.getUsername()); // Check whether passwords are the same. This check could be done in // javascript in the Browser, but do here as well for safety. if (!theUser.getPassword().equals(theUser.getRepeatPassword())) { theUser.setState(UserState.NOPASSWORD); return theUser; } else { Boolean suceeded = false; while (!suceeded) { try { theUser = userService.registerUser(theUser); suceeded = true; } catch (ObjectOptimisticLockingFailureException ex) { logger.info("UserController::registerUser got ObjectOptimisticLockingFailureException with message " + ex.getMessage()); } catch (CannotAcquireLockException ex) { logger.warn("UserController::registerUser got CannotAcquireLockException with message " + ex.getMessage()); } catch (DuplicateEntityException e) { theUser.setState(UserState.DUPLICATE); response.setStatus(HttpServletResponse.SC_CONFLICT); return theUser; } } } return theUser; } @RequestMapping(method=RequestMethod.DELETE) public @ResponseBody UserRepresentation deleteUser( @RequestBody UserRepresentation theUser, HttpServletResponse response) { logger.info("UserController::deleteUser username = " + theUser.getUsername()); Boolean suceeded = false; while (!suceeded) { try { userService.deleteUser(theUser); suceeded = true; } catch (InvalidStateException e) { theUser.setState(UserState.INCOMPLETE); response.setStatus(HttpServletResponse.SC_CONFLICT); return theUser; } } return theUser; } @RequestMapping(value="/{id}", method=RequestMethod.GET) public @ResponseBody UserRepresentation getUser(@PathVariable long id, HttpServletResponse response) { UserRepresentation theUser = null; String username = this.getSecurityUtil().getUsernameFromPrincipal(); logger.info("UserController::getUser id = " + id + ", username = " + username); try { this.getSecurityUtil().checkAccount(id); } catch (AccessDeniedException ex) { response.setStatus(HttpServletResponse.SC_FORBIDDEN); return null; } try { theUser= userService.getUser(id); } catch (IndexOutOfBoundsException ex) { theUser = null; response.setStatus(HttpServletResponse.SC_NOT_FOUND); return null; } return theUser; } @RequestMapping(value="/{id}", method=RequestMethod.PUT) public @ResponseBody UserRepresentation updateUser( @PathVariable long id, @RequestBody UserRepresentation theUser, HttpServletResponse response) { String username = this.getSecurityUtil().getUsernameFromPrincipal(); logger.info("UserController::updateUser username = " + username); try { this.getSecurityUtil().checkAccount(theUser.getId()); } catch (AccessDeniedException ex) { response.setStatus(HttpServletResponse.SC_FORBIDDEN); return null; } // Check whether passwords are the same. This check could be done in // javascript in the Browser, but do here as well for safety. if ((theUser.getPassword() == null)|| (theUser.getRepeatPassword() == null)) { response.setStatus(HttpServletResponse.SC_BAD_REQUEST); theUser.setState(UserState.NOPASSWORD); } else if (!theUser.getPassword().equals(theUser.getRepeatPassword())) { response.setStatus(HttpServletResponse.SC_BAD_REQUEST); theUser.setState(UserState.NOPASSWORD); } else { Boolean suceeded = false; while (!suceeded) { try { theUser = userService.updateUser(theUser); suceeded = true; } catch (ObjectOptimisticLockingFailureException ex) { logger.info("UserController::updateUser got ObjectOptimisticLockingFailureException with message " + ex.getMessage()); } catch (CannotAcquireLockException ex) { logger.warn("UserController::updateUser got CannotAcquireLockException with message " + ex.getMessage()); } catch (DuplicateEntityException ex) { response.setStatus(HttpServletResponse.SC_CONFLICT); return null; } } } return theUser; } }

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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. Determining the successful operation of various hardware associated with the engine typically requires several sensors for determining the states of the various types of hardware. Providing separate sensors for each of the different parts of the engine increases the overall cost of the engine and, therefore, increases the cost of the vehicle. Automobile manufacturers are under increased pressure to reduce costs while providing a reliable vehicle. One sensor that may be used within a vehicle is an in-cylinder pressure sensor. The in-cylinder pressure sensor provides feedback for operating the engine. The in-pressure sensor signal may have a significant amount of noise. Low-pass filtering with a band pass filter may attenuate the signal to unacceptable levels so that sufficient pressure data may not be obtained.

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971 F.Supp. 440 (1997) Charla J. KRAHEL, Plaintiff, v. OWENS-BROCKWAY GLASS CONTAINER, INC., a Delaware corporation, and a division of Owens-Illinois, Inc.; Owens-Illinois, Inc., a Delaware corporation; Local 3112 Glass Molders Pottery Plastics & Allied Workers Union; Glass Molders Pottery Plastics & Allied Workers International Union, Defendants. Civil No. 96-1280-AS. United States District Court, D. Oregon. March 13, 1997. *441 *442 Judy Danelle Snyder, Cynthia Halse Stutsman, Hoevet & Snyder PC, Portland, OR, for Charla J. Krahel. Christine Kitchel, Stoel Rives, Portland, OR, Lee Ann Huntington, Stephen M. Hankins, Morgenstein & Jubelirer, San Francisco, CA, for Owens-Brockway Glass Container Inc., Owens Illinois Inc. Gene B. Mechanic, Goldberg Mechanic & Stuart, Portland, OR, Carl S. Yaller, Glass Molders Pottery Plastics & Allied Workers Int'l Union, Media, PA, for Local # 12 Glass Molders, Pottery, Plastics & Allied Workers Union, Glass, Pottery, Plastics & Allied Workers Int'l Union. OPINION ASHMANSKAS, United States Magistrate Judge: Plaintiff Charla Krahel brings this action against defendants Owens-Brockway Glass Container, Inc., and its parent Owens-Illinois, Inc. (collectively "Owens"), and against Local 112 of the Glass Molders Pottery Plastics & Allied Workers Union ("Local 112") and its parent Glass Molders Pottery Plastics & Allied Workers International Union (collectively "Union"). Owens has moved to dismiss (or in the alternative to stay) the action on grounds the Collective Bargaining Agreement ("CBA") between Owens and the Union contains a mandatory grievance and arbitration procedure. Owens has also moved to dismiss all claims against the parent Owens-Illinois for failure to state a claim, to strike the claims for damages in excess of the cap established by the 1991 Civil Rights Act and to dismiss the sixth claim for negligence. Plaintiff has conceded the motion to dismiss the negligence claim, so I will not address it further. BACKGROUND I acknowledge that the parties have very different versions of the facts in this case and the inferences to be drawn from those facts. For purposes of these motions, however, the factual allegations of the complaint are generally presumed to be true and plaintiff is entitled to the benefit of all reasonable inferences from those facts.[1] Plaintiff is an employee of defendant Owens-Brockway Glass. Plaintiff is also a member of defendant Local 112, which represents certain employees of Owens. There is a collective bargaining agreement ("CBA") between the Union and Owens. Plaintiff was employed by Owens for over five years as a carton assembler and bulk pack operator. In September 1989, plaintiff applied for an apprentice electrician position with Owens. There were 36 applicants for the position. Plaintiff was the only female applicant. Plaintiff scored higher than all other applicants on the qualifying test, but she was not selected for the apprentice electrician position. Instead, the position was offered to Phil Huddleston. Mr. Huddleston is now Vice-President of Local 112, though it is unclear from the pleadings whether he also held that position in September 1989. The selection committee was composed of three members of Local 112 and three members of the Owens' management team. Plaintiff was designated as the runner-up. When Huddleston was unable to accept the position for personal reasons, plaintiff was awarded the apprenticeship by default. Plaintiff was scheduled to take her state electrician's examination in November 1993. In October 1993, Local 112 agent Dan Benson and Owens' plant manager Mark Recker sought to dissuade plaintiff from taking the examination as scheduled. They told plaintiff they didn't believe she was ready to take *443 the exam and advised her to extend her apprenticeship for another six months. Plaintiff discussed the matter with a representative of the state licensing agency, who advised her that the apprenticeship could not be extended without approval by the agency and that plaintiff would be dropped from the apprenticeship program unless she sat for the November examination. Plaintiff took and passed the November 1993 examination. After passing the examination, plaintiff applied for a day shift position. Plant manager Recker told plaintiff's supervisor that plaintiff "will never see straight days." Male employees with lesser seniority were assigned to the day shift, but plaintiff was not permitted to work the day shift during Recker's tenure as plant manager. Recker was reassigned to a different Owens facility in April 1995, after which plaintiff was allowed to work the day shift. For more than six years — beginning around the time she was awarded the apprenticeship position and continuing through the date the complaint was filed — plaintiff was ostracized by the male employees, most or all of whom were members of Local 112. They refused to sit near her in the breakroom and joked about that behavior. Plaintiff repeatedly was told that the male employees did not like her and did not want to work with her. A nude centerfold of a woman was posted in Owens' shop area with plaintiff's name written across the breast. An obscene drawing of a woman was found in the men's restroom at Owens with plaintiff's name written by the picture. Plaintiff was told that she was a "birth defect" and referred to as that "fucking cunt." The male journeymen who supervised plaintiff deliberately placed her in the dirtiest jobs and joked about making sure plaintiff got dirty. She was told, "You won't last a month", "You won't want to get dirty", and "You'll be afraid of breaking your nails." Some of the male employees, including an agent of Local 112, told plaintiff that she was incompetent and that all she did was sit in the office on her ass. A journeyman mechanic, who is a member of Local 112, told plaintiff "There ain't no damn female who is ever going to be [my] equal." According to the complaint, the discriminatory treatment did not subside with the passage of time, but instead persisted. In April 1996, a drawing was posted in plaintiff's work area depicting plaintiff and her sister, whom she had been training, with the caption "the dumb training the stupid." Derogatory comments about plaintiff were written on machines where she works. Plaintiff believes that some of her equipment was sabotaged to make it appear that she was not competently performing her job. In March 1996, Swede Lindholm, President of Local 112, stated that plaintiff did not know what her license entailed. Around the same time, another Local 112 agent commented that plaintiff was unable to perform her job duties without one of the men "holding [plaintiff's] hand." A Local 112 agent told a new employee whom plaintiff was assigned to train that "it must be a real put-down to be trained by a woman." Plaintiff's welding skills were criticized and it was proposed that she be required to become a certified welder. No similar requirement has been imposed upon any male electrician at this Owens facility. On numerous occasions between 1990 and 1996 plaintiff complained to her supervisors and crew leaders about the manner in which she was being treated, but was told that there was nothing Owens could do about the situation.[2] In March 1996, when plaintiff complained about being called a "fucking cunt," plaintiff's supervisor took her complaint to Local 112's president, Swede Lindholm, and vice-president, Phil Huddleston. Their response was to criticize plaintiff's job performance. In April 1996, plaintiff filed a complaint against Owens with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries ("BOLI") and the EEOC, alleging sexual harassment and unlawful employment practices. In May 1996, plaintiff passed the Owens' management profile *444 test and applied for a management position for which she was qualified. The position was given to a male employee from outside Owens' Portland facility. In June 1996, plaintiff and five male employees at Owens' Portland facility were selected for a journeyman training program. The following week, there was an unsuccessful attempt to mediate plaintiff's claims against Owens. The EEOC and BOLI both issued "right to sue" letters. One week later, plaintiff was informed by Owens that she could not participate in the training program. Plaintiff subsequently filed additional complaints against Local 112 and Owens with BOLI and the EEOC, and received "right to sue" letters. Plaintiff has asserted claims against Owens and the Union for violation of Title VII and ORS 659.030(1)(b). These claims appear to be premised on a hostile work environment theory. Plaintiff also has asserted state and federal law claims against Owens for unlawful retaliation (after she filed her Title VII claim with BOLI and EEOC). Finally, plaintiff has asserted claims against all defendants for "negligence" in failing to train its personnel concerning compliance with laws and regulations prohibiting sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination.[3] Mandatory Arbitration and Grievance Procedure The Owens defendants have moved to dismiss plaintiff's claims on grounds the collective bargaining agreement between Owens and the Union establishes a mandatory grievance procedure, which culminates in binding arbitration, for resolving all disputes. Owens cites the following language in Article 32 of the CBA: Section 1. The Company and the Union will comply with all laws preventing discrimination against any employee because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicap, or veteran status. Section 2. This Contract will be administered in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Before taking action relevant to this Section, the Company will meet with the Local Union, and both parties will have sufficient opportunity to express their opinions regarding an anticipated action. Section 3. Any disputes under this Article as with all other Articles of this Contract shall be subject to the grievance procedure.[4] I Whether an employer and labor union may agree between themselves to arbitrate or otherwise limit an employee's civil rights claims has long been the subject of controversy. In Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., 415 U.S. 36, 94 S.Ct. 1011, 39 L.Ed.2d 147 (1974), an employee was discharged, allegedly on account of his race. The collective bargaining agreement expressly provided "that there shall be no discrimination against any employee on account of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or ancestry," and further provided that "[n]o employee will be discharged, suspended or given a written warning notice except for just cause." As in the instant case, the CBA in Alexander established a mandatory four-step grievance procedure culminating in binding arbitration. The plaintiff in Alexander asserted a grievance, went to arbitration with the company, and lost. He then filed suit against the employer. The district court dismissed on grounds the action was barred by the binding arbitration clause in the CBA. The Supreme Court disagreed. Title VII was designed to supplement rather than supplant, existing laws and institutions relating to employment discrimination. An individual *445 does not forfeit his private cause of action if he first pursues his grievance to final arbitration under the nondiscrimination clause of a collective-bargaining agreement. Id. at 48-49, 94 S.Ct. at 1019-20. In a unanimous decision, the Court also rejected the suggestion that the employee's right to bring a Title VII action had been waived by the arbitration clause in the CBA: To begin, we think it clear that there can be no prospective waiver of an employee's rights under Title VII. It is true, of course, that a union may waive certain statutory rights related to collective activity, such as the right to strike. These rights are conferred on employees collectively to foster the processes of bargaining and properly may be exercised or relinquished by the union as collective-bargaining agent to obtain economic benefits for union members. Title VII, on the other hand, stands on plainly different ground; it concerns not majoritarian processes, but an individual's right to equal employment opportunities. Title VII's strictures are absolute and represent a congressional command that each employee be free from discriminatory practices. Of necessity, the rights conferred can form no part of the collective-bargaining process since waiver of these rights would defeat the paramount congressional purpose behind Title VII. In these circumstances, an employee's rights under Title VII are not susceptible of prospective waiver. Id. at 51-52, 94 S.Ct. at 1021 (internal citations omitted.). The Court observed that an employee may waive his rights as part of a settlement agreement. However, in determining the effectiveness of any such waiver a court would have to determine that the employee's consent to the settlement was voluntary and knowing. In no event can the submission to arbitration of a claim under the nondiscrimination clause of a collective-bargaining agreement constitute a binding waiver with respect to an employee's rights under Title VII. Id. at 52 n. 15, 94 S.Ct. at 1021 n. 15. The Alexander court also expressed concern regarding the different procedures followed in labor arbitration, the comparative inexperience by labor arbitrators in civil rights litigation, the potential for conflicts between Title VII and the CBA, and the limited remedies that might be awarded by an arbitrator pursuant to the CBA. Id. at 56-58, 94 S.Ct. at 1023-25. Finally, A further concern is the union's exclusive control over the manner and extent to which an individual grievance is presented. In arbitration, as in the collective-bargaining process, the interests of the individual employee may be subordinated to the collective interests of all employees in the bargaining unit. Moreover, harmony of interest between the union and the individual employee cannot always be presumed, especially where a claim of racial discrimination is made. And a breach of the union's duty of fair representation may prove difficult to establish. In this respect, it is noteworthy that Congress thought it necessary to afford the protections of Title VII against unions as well as employers. Id. at 58 n. 19, 94 S.Ct. at 1024 n. 19. The Court concluded that "the federal policy favoring arbitration of labor disputes and the federal policy against discriminatory employment practices can best be accommodated by permitting an employee to pursue fully both his remedy under the grievance-arbitration clause of a collective-bargaining agreement and his cause of action under Title VII. The federal court should consider the employee's claim de novo. The arbitral decision may be admitted as evidence and accorded such weight as the court deems appropriate." Id. at 60, 94 S.Ct. at 1025. Eighteen years later, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide the validity of an arbitration clause in an individual contract, as opposed to a collective bargaining agreement. In Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., 500 U.S. 20, 111 S.Ct. 1647, 114 L.Ed.2d 26 (1991), the plaintiff was a registered securities representative who, in the course of registering with the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE"), signed an agreement to arbitrate any disputes arising out of his employment or termination of employment. Plaintiff was later terminated, allegedly on account of his age, and brought an action in federal court for violation of the *446 Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"). The Supreme Court held that Gilmer was bound by the arbitration agreement he had signed. The court emphasized that Gilmer was not foregoing any of his substantive legal rights under ADEA, but merely submitting those claims for resolution in an arbitral, rather than a judicial, forum. Id. at 26, 111 S.Ct. at 1652. So long as Gilmer could effectively vindicate those rights in the arbitral forum, the purpose of the statute would not be frustrated. Id. at 28, 111 S.Ct. at 1653. The Court observed that under the NYSE arbitration rules the arbitrator had authority to award the same relief to Gilmer as could be obtained in a court of law. Id. at 32, 111 S.Ct. at 1655. The Court rejected Gilmer's concerns about the fairness of the arbitration proceedings, finding that the particular rules employed by the NYSE were adequate. Id. at 30-32, 111 S.Ct. at 1654-55. The Court also rejected Gilmer's contention that he had not voluntarily signed the arbitration agreement, noting that Gilmer was an experienced businessman. Id. at 33, 111 S.Ct. at 1655-56. Gilmer might be viewed as a "sea change," rejecting the views expressed in Alexander and giving the court's blessing to coerced arbitration of all individual civil rights claims. However, the Gilmer Court gave mixed signals. On the one hand, it rejected the "mis-trust of the arbitral process" expressed in Alexander. On the other hand, the Court disclaimed any intention to overrule the holdings in Alexander v. Gardner-Denver and its progeny, Barrentine v. Arkansas-Best Freight System Inc., 450 U.S. 728, 101 S.Ct. 1437, 67 L.Ed.2d 641 (1981) and McDonald v. West Branch, 466 U.S. 284, 104 S.Ct. 1799, 80 L.Ed.2d 302 (1984): In holding that the employee [in Alexander v. Gardner-Denver] was not foreclosed from bringing the Title VII claim, we stressed that an employee's contractual rights under a collective-bargaining agreement are distinct from the employee's statutory Title VII rights: "In submitting his grievance to arbitration, an employee seeks to vindicate his contractual right under a collective-bargaining agreement. By contrast, in filing a lawsuit under Title VII, an employee asserts independent statutory rights accorded by Congress. The distinctly separate nature of these contractual and statutory rights is not vitiated merely because both were violated as a result of the same factual occurrence." We also noted that a labor arbitrator has authority only to resolve questions of contractual rights. The arbitrator's "task is to effectuate the intent of the parties" and he or she does not have the "general authority to invoke public laws that conflict with the bargain between the parties." By contrast, "in instituting an action under Title VII, the employee is not seeking review of the arbitrator's decision. Rather, he is asserting a statutory right independent of the arbitration process." We further expressed concern that in collective-bargaining arbitration "the interests of the individual employee may be subordinated to the collective interests of all employees in the bargaining unit." Barrentine and McDonald similarly involved the issue whether arbitration under a collective-bargaining agreement precluded a subsequent statutory claim. In holding that the statutory claims were not precluded, we noted, as in Gardner-Denver, the difference between contractual rights under a collective-bargaining agreement and individual statutory rights, the potential disparity in interests between a union and an employee, and the limited authority and power of labor arbitrators. There are several important distinctions between the Gardner-Denver line of cases and the case before us. First, those cases did not involve the issue of the enforceability of an agreement to arbitrate statutory claims. Rather, they involved the quite different issue whether arbitration of contract-based claims precluded subsequent judicial resolution of statutory claims. Since the employees there had not agreed to arbitrate their statutory claims, and the labor arbitrators were not authorized to resolve such claims, the arbitration in those cases understandably was held not to preclude subsequent statutory actions. Second, because the arbitration in those *447 cases occurred in the context of a collective-bargaining agreement, the claimants there were represented by their unions in the arbitration proceedings. An important concern therefore was the tension between collective representation and individual statutory rights, a concern not applicable to the present case. Finally, those cases were not decided under the FAA, which, as discussed above, reflects a "liberal federal policy favoring arbitration agreements." Id. at 34-35, 111 S.Ct. at 1656-57 (internal citations omitted). In the years since Gilmer was decided, the Ninth Circuit has enforced arbitration agreements that were part of an individual employment contract, while carefully distinguishing cases in which the arbitration clause was part of a collective bargaining agreement. See Mago v. Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc., 956 F.2d 932, 935 (9th Cir.1992); Prudential Ins. Co. v. Lai, 42 F.3d 1299 (9th Cir.1994). Controlling case law from the Supreme Court and this Circuit thus holds that an employee's right to a judicial forum for his or her Title VII claims cannot be waived by a binding arbitration clause inserted in a collective bargaining agreement. Owens essentially is asking this court to declare those precedents void. The question is whether there is any basis for doing so. Owens first cites a number of cases, from this and other circuits, which enforced arbitration agreements in an individual employment contract. See, e.g., Mago, 956 F.2d at 935; Prudential Ins., Co., 42 F.3d 1299. However, in none of those cases was the arbitration clause contained in a collective bargaining agreement. Consequently, these cases merely follow the Gilmer/Alexander dichotomy established by the Supreme Court. They do not repudiate Alexander. Next, Owens contends that the 1991 Civil Rights Act overruled Alexander, citing the following language in the Act: Where appropriate and to the extent authorized by law, the use of alternative means of dispute resolution, including ... arbitration, is encouraged to resolve disputes arising under the Acts or provisions of Federal law amended by this title. Pub.L. 102-166, § 18. The Ninth Circuit has expressly rejected Owens' contention that this language abrogates the holding in Alexander. Prudential Ins. Co., 42 F.3d at 1304-05. The Circuit cited language from the House Report on the bill which expressly disclaimed any intent to overrule Alexander: The committee emphasizes ... that the use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms is intended to supplement, not supplant, the remedies provided by Title VII. Thus, for example, the committee believes that any agreement to submit disputed issues to arbitration, whether in the context of a collective bargaining agreement or in an employment contract, does not preclude the affected person from seeking relief under the enforcement provisions of Title VII. This view is consistent with the Supreme Court's interpretation of Title VII in Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., 415 U.S. 36 [94 S.Ct. 1011, 39 L.Ed.2d 147] (1974). The committee does not intend for the inclusion of this section to be used to preclude rights and remedies that would otherwise be available. HR Rep. No. 40(I), 102nd Cong., 1st Sess., reprinted in 1991 USCCAN 549, 635. Had Congress desired to abrogate the holding in Alexander, it could have done so expressly in a single sentence: "A collective bargaining agreement may provide for binding arbitration, in lieu of any judicial remedy, for disputes arising under the Acts or provisions of Federal law amended by this title." Instead, Congress chose to adopt weaker language that left Alexander intact. In the very same bill, Congress expressly overruled several other Supreme Court precedents. Congress clearly knew how to take such action when it desired. Finally, Owens cites a recent opinion from the Fourth Circuit, Austin v. Owens-Brockway Glass Container Inc., 78 F.3d 875 (4th Cir.), cert. den., ___ U.S. ___, 117 S.Ct. 432, 136 L.Ed.2d 330 (1996), which held that a binding arbitration clause in a collective bargaining agreement is sufficient to bar an employee from pursuing a Title VII or ADA claim in the courts. I find the Austin court's *448 analysis unpersuasive. Austin cites Gilmer and the 1991 Civil Rights Act amendment for the proposition that arbitration is encouraged. However, both those authorities expressly disclaim any intent to overrule Alexander with regard to arbitration clauses in collective bargaining agreements. Austin offers no other basis for concluding that Alexander has been abrogated. This glaring omission has been noted by other courts. See Pryner v. Tractor Supply Co., 927 F.Supp. 1140, 1145-46 (S.D.Ind.1996) (the fatal flaw in Austin is its failure to fully consider the prior holding of Alexander v. Gardner-Denver); Bush v. Carrier, 940 F.Supp. 1040, 1045-46 (E.D.Tex.1996) (declining to follow Austin); Bynes v. Ahrenkiel Ship Management, (U.S.), Inc., 944 F.Supp. 485 (W.D.La.1996) (same); Buckley v. Gallo Sales Co., 949 F.Supp. 737, 743 (N.D.Cal. 1996) (declining to follow Austin and concluding that the Ninth Circuit would do the same); Hill v. American National Can Co., 952 F.Supp. 398 (N.D.Tex.1996) (declining to follow Austin).[5] The Austin court cited several post-Gilmer cases in which arbitration clauses were enforced, but each of those cases concerned a clause in an individual employment contract such as the one at issue in Gilmer. None of the cases relied upon by Austin concerned an arbitration clause inserted in a CBA. The vast majority of reported post-Gilmer decisions have concluded that Alexander v. Gardner-Denver still controls in the circumstances presented here. See, e.g., Tran v. Tran, 54 F.3d 115 (2d Cir.1995), cert den., ___ U.S. ____, 116 S.Ct. 1417, 134 L.Ed.2d 542 (1996); E.E.O.C. v. Board of Governors, 957 F.2d 424, 431 n. 11 (7th Cir.), cert den., 506 U.S. 906, 113 S.Ct. 299, 121 L.Ed.2d 223 (1992); Buckley, 949 F.Supp. at 742-43; Bynes, 944 F.Supp. 485; Bush, 940 F.Supp. at 1045-46; Pryner, 927 F.Supp. at 1145-46; Hill, 952 F.Supp. 398; Humphrey v. Council of Jewish Federations, 901 F.Supp. 703, 709-10 (S.D.N.Y.1995); DiPuccio v. United Parcel Service, 890 F.Supp. 688, 692-93 (N.D.Ohio 1995); Jackson v. Quanex Corp., 889 F.Supp. 1007, 1010-11 (E.D.Mich.1995); Randolph v. Cooper Indus., 879 F.Supp. 518 (W.D.Pa.1994); Block v. Art Iron, Inc., 866 F.Supp. 380, 385-87 (N.D.Ind.1994); Griffith v. Keystone Steel Wire Co., 858 F.Supp. 802, 804 (C.D.Ill.1994); Claps v. Moliterno Stone Sales Inc., 819 F.Supp. 141, 147 (D.Conn.1993). But cf. Brummett v. Copaz Packing Corp., 954 F.Supp. 160 (S.D.Ohio 1996) (following Austin); Jessie v. Carter Health Care Center, Inc., 930 F.Supp. 1174 (E.D.Ky.1996)(same); Bright v. Norshipco, 951 F.Supp. 95 (E.D.Va. 1997)(same, though the court is in the Fourth Circuit and thus is bound by the decision in Austin). The judges in this District have adhered to Alexander v. Gardner-Denver. See Schmidt v. Safeway, Inc., 864 F.Supp. 991, 995 (D.Or.1994)(opinion by Judge Panner); James v. James River Paper Co., CV 94-142-ST (D Or 1994) (findings and recommendations issued by Magistrate Judge Stewart on June 29, 1994 and adopted by Judge Jones on July 26, 1994). Admittedly, there is some incongruity between the holdings in Alexander and Gilmer. As a practical matter, an arbitration clause inserted in a personal employment contract may be no more "voluntary" than one inserted in a collective bargaining agreement. Arbitration clauses such as the one in Gilmer are, for the average employee, not the product of bargaining but a non-negotiable adhesion contract. Consent to the arbitration clause is the price for obtaining or retaining employment. Nonetheless, the Gilmer Court elected to distinguish Alexander rather than overrule it, and Congress left that holding intact. There also is some logic to Owens' assertion that the Title VII claims concern other employees and their relationship with each other and with their employer, and thus the Title VII claims cannot be viewed in isolation. However, that is true of all cases in which individual rights are at issue. For instance, one person's right to a smoke-free workplace may come at the expense of another *449 employee's right to smoke on the job. Owens also contends that resolution of plaintiff's claims may impact the collective bargaining agreement. There is the potential for some overlap; a claim that an employee was wrongly terminated or not promoted on account of race, gender, or other forbidden grounds may well implicate the terms of a collective bargaining agreement which establishes a grievance procedure to resolve claims for wrongful termination or refusal to promote. Claims relating to discrimination in job assignments, shifts, seniority, and working conditions may also implicate matters that are the subject of the collective bargaining agreement. On the other hand, Alexander does not preclude requiring an employee to first pursue her grievances before bringing an action; it merely holds that the grievance procedure is not the exclusive remedy and an adverse decision in that forum does not preclude filing a Title VII action. Defining the balance between individual rights and the policies reflected in federal labor law is ultimately a political decision that Congress must make. In Alexander, the Supreme Court offered its interpretation of the balance that Congress has struck. In the years since, Congress has acquiesced in that decision. Consequently, it remains the law of the land. Congress or the Supreme Court may overrule Alexander, but this court is bound by controlling precedent in the absence of intervening changes in the law. See Rodriguez de Quijas v. Shearson/American Express, Inc., 490 U.S. 477, 484, 109 S.Ct. 1917, 1921-22, 104 L.Ed.2d 526 (1989) (where a Supreme Court precedent has direct application in a case, yet may rest on reasons rejected in some other line of decision, the lower courts must follow the case which directly controls, leaving to the Supreme Court "the perogative of overruling its own decisions"); Ackerley Communications of the Northwest, Inc. v. Krochalis, 108 F.3d 1095, 1099 (9th Cir.1997). II Even in the absence of controlling precedent, I would likely reach the same result in this particular case. Laws prohibiting discrimination on account of factors such as race, gender, national origin, religion, and disability are designed to protect the rights of minorities or other groups whom Congress has determined require special protection. The same is true of laws forbidding sexual harassment. There is an inherent tension between these laws and a rule that would permit the majority to waive or compromise the very laws that were intended to protect the rights of the minority. The fear is that during the collective bargaining process, a union that is — to cite one possible example — overwhelmingly white, male, and able-bodied, may be all too willing to compromise the special protections that are afforded to women, minorities, or persons with disabilities. The majority of union members may not perceive any personal benefit from laws that protect only a minority, or may in some cases be openly hostile to the changes mandated by those laws.[6] The employer also has a powerful incentive to incorporate in a collective bargaining agreement terms that limit its potential liability under the civil rights laws. A further concern is that the union and its membership may themselves be the target of a Title VII action. Cf Woods v. Graphic Communications, 925 F.2d 1195, 1200-03 (9th Cir.1991) (union may be liable under Title VII for refusing to process grievances of black members alleging racial discrimination, and acquiescing in racially discriminatory work environment); Local Union No. 12, United Rubber Workers v. N.L.R.B., 368 F.2d 12 (5th Cir.1966) (union allegedly refused to process any grievances by black members concerning segregated plant facilities). In the instant case, most of the offensive conduct allegedly was perpetrated by employees of Owens who are members and officers of Local 112, including its President and Vice-President. The defendants include *450 Local 112 and the parent International Union. In essence, the defendants have contracted amongst themselves to waive plaintiff's rights and to submit plaintiff's claims against them to binding arbitration. Defendants now ask this court to enforce that agreement against plaintiff. A related matter is the efficacy of the grievance and arbitration procedure. At my request, the parties submitted supplemental briefing on these issues.[7] Because this motion to dismiss is directed at the court's jurisdiction to hear this case, as opposed to the merits of the complaint, the court may properly consider certain materials outside the complaint such as the collective bargaining agreements.[8]Winter, 900 F.2d at 1324; Roberts, 812 F.2d at 1177. The court may also resolve factual disputes regarding jurisdictional matters to the extent they are separable from the merits of the controversy. Id. Owens and the Union defendants agree that the CBA provides for a four-step grievance procedure. The employee initiates a grievance by presenting it to his or her foreman and shop steward "within three (3) working days from the date the grievance arises." If the grievance is not resolved in Step 1, the employee and Shop Steward may refer the matter to the Local 112 Business Committee for investigation. If the Business Committee elects to pursue the grievance, it must present the grievance to the employee's department head within seven days. If the Business Committee is dissatisfied with the response, the Committee and the International Representatives of the Union have seven more days in which to jointly present the grievance to the Owens' plant manager.[9] If the grievance still has not been resolved to the Union's satisfaction, the fourth step is a conference between the International President of the Union and the Vice President of Human Resources for Owens. Finally, either the Union or Owens may request binding arbitration of the dispute. The arbitrators are selected by Owens and the Union, and follow the Voluntary Labor Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association. The arbitrator has no power to add to, subtract from, or modify the terms of the CBA. While this procedure may work well for ordinary labor disputes, there are a number of unique problems in applying these procedures to the Title VII and state law claims at issue here. First, with the exception of the initial decision to present a grievance, it is the Union and Owens that are adjusting the grievance, the Union and Owens that decide whether a grievance has been satisfactorily resolved, the Union and Owens that decide whether to elevate a grievance to the next step or allow it to die, the Union and Owens that decide whether to refer the grievance to arbitration, the Union and Owens that select the arbiters, and the Union and Owens that participate in and control the arbitration process. CBA, Articles 26 and 27. See also Griffin v. International Union, United Auto., Aerospace and Agr. Implement Workers of America, 469 F.2d 181, 183 (4th Cir. 1972) (an individual employee has no absolute right to insist that his grievance be pressed through any particular stage of the contractual grievance procedure; union may choose to process only those grievances that it concludes will justify the expense and time involved in terms of benefitting the membership at large.) It is also the Union membership and officers who, along with Owens, are accused of violating plaintiff's Title VII rights. That presents a serious conflict of interest. If the *451 threat of legal action was looming on the horizon, the Union and Owens might still have a powerful incentive to resolve the problem in order to preclude a lawsuit. Once that threat is eliminated, the situation is reversed. The Union and Owens would both have incentive to let the claims quietly die. Owens argues that if the employee is dissatisfied with the Union's representation, he or she may bring a separate action against the Union for breach of the duty of fair representation. The Supreme Court found that argument unpersuasive because such a claim may be difficult to prove. Alexander v. Gardner-Denver, 415 U.S. at 58 n. 19, 94 S.Ct. at 1024 n. 19. It is analogous to ignoring a clear conflict of interest on the part of an attorney because his client can always bring an action for malpractice. In some cases the client could choose to knowingly waive the conflict, but here the plaintiff is given no option: she must accept the Union as her representative without regard to any conflict of interest. Owens and the Union also contend that 29 U.S.C. § 159(a) allows plaintiff to pursue a grievance independently of the Union. That section states, in relevant part, that: [A]ny individual employee or a group of employees shall have the right at any time to present grievances to their employer and to have such grievances adjusted, without the intervention of the bargaining representative, as long as the adjustment is not inconsistent with the terms of a collective-bargaining contract or agreement then in effect [and further providing that] the bargaining representative has been given opportunity to be present at such adjustment. While § 159(a) gives plaintiff a right to "present" her grievances to her employer, it apparently does not compel Owens to meet with plaintiff, let alone to take any action on her grievances. See Broniman v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., 353 F.2d 559, 562 (6th Cir.1965) (§ 159(a) preserves the employee's right to approach the employer individually, but does not require the employer to accept the invitation or to adjust the grievance); Black-Clawson Co. v. International Ass'n of Machinists, Lodge 355, Dist. 137, 313 F.2d 179 (2d Cir.1962) (same); Malone v. United States Postal Service, 526 F.2d 1099, 1106-07 (6th Cir.1975); Local Union No. 12, United Rubber Workers of America v. N.L.R.B., 368 F.2d 12, 18 n. 8 (5th Cir.1966) ("substantial doubt exists concerning the extent of the employee's `right' to compel his employer to comply with the grievance and arbitration provisions in the bargaining contract when his union refuses to represent him"); Serra v. Pepsi-Cola General Bottlers Inc., 248 F.Supp. 684, 686 (N.D.Ill.1965); Ostrofsky v. United Steelworkers of America, 171 F.Supp. 782, 791-92 (D.Md.1959). But cf Hughes Tool Co. v. N.L.R.B., 147 F.2d 69, 73 (5th Cir.1945) (the right to "present" a grievance includes the right to fully prosecute a grievance through all stages and appeals); Donnelly v. United Fruit Co., 40 N.J. 61, 190 A.2d 825, 835 (N.J.1963) (if union is not properly representing employee, he may intervene in arbitration proceedings and obtain independent representation, and is not bound by the actions of the union in disposing of his grievance.) In their responses to this court's questions, Owens and the Union agreed that plaintiff could not pursue arbitration on her own. Only the Union and Owens may request arbitration of a grievance. Owens again suggests that if the Union wrongly refused to pursue the grievance or failed to properly represent her, plaintiff could bring an action against the Union for breach of its duty of fair representation. However, that is rarely a satisfactory answer. Alexander, 415 U.S. at 58 n. 19, 94 S.Ct. at 1024 n. 19. It requires the plaintiff to litigate and win a "case within a case"; the plaintiff must show that the union acted arbitrarily or in bad faith in its handling of the grievance and must also prove that, but for the Union's misconduct, she likely would have prevailed on her grievance. See Chauffeurs, Teamsters & Helpers, Local No., 391 v. Terry, 494 U.S. 558, 564, 110 S.Ct. 1339, 1344, 108 L.Ed.2d 519 (1990); Vaca v. Sipes, 386 U.S. 171, 192-93, 196-98, 87 S.Ct. 903, 917-18, 919-21, 17 L.Ed.2d 842 (1967) (plaintiff must do more than show he would have prevailed on his grievance; he must also prove arbitrariness *452 or bad faith on the part of the union in processing his grievance and prove that his damages were caused by the union's conduct); Dushaw v. Roadway Express, Inc., 66 F.3d 129, 132 (6th Cir.1995) (plaintiff cannot recover from either union or employer unless he proves both breach of the CBA by the employer and breach of the duty of fair representation by the union which substantially affected the outcome of the grievance proceeding); Deboles v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 552 F.2d 1005, 1019-20 (3d Cir. 1977) (union not liable for breach of duty of fair representation absent proof of that the breach directly damaged person to whom the duty was owed.) There is, of course, precedent for such dual claims in "hybrid § 301" actions where the employee brings an action against the employer for breach of the collective bargaining agreement along with an action against the union for breach of its duty of fair representation. See, e.g., Clayton v. International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America, 451 U.S. 679, 101 S.Ct. 2088, 68 L.Ed.2d 538 (1981); Vaca, 386 U.S. at 186, 87 S.Ct. at 914-15; Dushaw, 66 F.3d 129. In such cases, however, the rights in question arise under the collective bargaining agreement, which also establishes the exclusive remedy for violations of that agreement. Ordinarily there would be no recourse to the courts. Consequently, it is incumbent upon the employee to establish the existence of extraordinary circumstances that justify invocation of a judicial remedy. To the extent an employee's rights arise under a collective bargaining agreement and are created by that agreement, it may be appropriate for those rights to be vindicated solely through the grievance procedures established by that agreement. Cf Republic Steel Corp. v. Maddox, 379 U.S. 650, 652-53, 85 S.Ct. 614, 616-17, 13 L.Ed.2d 580 (1965) (individual employee wishing to assert contract grievances must first attempt to use the contract grievance procedure agreed upon by employer and union as the mode of redress); Smith v. Evening News Ass'n, 371 U.S. 195, 200, 83 S.Ct. 267, 270, 9 L.Ed.2d 246 (1962)(rights of individual employees arising from a CBA are often inextricably intertwined with union interests and therefore may not be pursued by a private state law action, but are subject to the provisions of federal labor law). However, the rights at issue here were not created by the collective bargaining agreement, but by Congress. They do not arise from the contract. There was no consideration for the employer's promise to follow the civil rights laws, for that duty already existed. These rights are not subject to negotiation. They cannot be bargained away by the Union in return for an extra twenty-five cents an hour in wages or two additional days of sick leave. Nor is a union authorized to compromise an employee's civil rights for the good of the bargaining unit as a whole. It has also been suggested that by agreeing to arbitration the employee does not forfeit any substantive rights, but simply trades one forum for another. Gilmer, 500 U.S. at 26, 111 S.Ct. at 1652. While that may have been true of the specific arbitration agreement at issue in Gilmer, that does not appear to be the case here. In a judicial forum, plaintiff would have an absolute right to pursue her Title VII claims. She would not need the Union's blessings to pursue her claims, nor could her claims be involuntarily dismissed by the Union. Her cause would be decided by a jury or a federal judge, not a panel selected exclusively by the defendants. Plaintiff would be at liberty to retain counsel of her own choosing and to present her own case, whereas — according to Owens' reply brief — plaintiff would be represented during the grievance and arbitration procedure by the Union or by an attorney representing the Union. It is indeed an unusual set of facts were the plaintiff is represented in litigation by the co-defendant's attorney. In addition, the CBA requires that all grievances be presented within three days from the date the grievance arises. By contrast, the statute of limitations in a Title VII action is 300 days, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e)(1), and evidence of earlier incidents may be admissible to prove a continuing violation. Varner v. National Super Markets, Inc., 94 F.3d 1209, 1214 (8th Cir.1996). Admittedly, there is some merit to a rule that requires *453 claims to be promptly asserted so the problem does not fester. The purposes of Title VII would not necessarily be undermined by a policy of nipping the misconduct in the bud, rather than allowing the injury to compound, and awarding damages later. However, that policy has already been implemented in large part by the comparatively brief statute of limitations for Title VII claims when compared to the limitations periods for ordinary tort or contract claims. The CBA effectively overrides the 300-day statute of limitations established by Congress and replaces it with a three-day statute of limitations. That is a material alteration. A three-day statute of limitation may be suitable for the types of claims that commonly arise under a CBA; it is not necessarily suited to a Title VII claim predicated upon maintenance of a hostile work environment, or for many sexual harassment claims. In such cases, it may not be a particular isolated act that gives rise to the claim, but a pattern of conduct. A further consideration is the remedies that would be available to plaintiff under the CBA. Under Title VII, an employee may recover compensatory and punitive damages as well as attorney fees. However, the CBA provides that the "arbitrator shall have no power to add to, subtract from, or modify the terms of this Contract ..." The question, then, is what remedies are authorized by the contract. In response to the court's questions, the Union has suggested that an arbitrator has authority to award some compensatory damages under the label of "make whole." However, the examples cited by the Union appear to be limited to economic damages and would not authorize an award of non-economic damages. There are some Ninth Circuit cases that seem to allow a labor arbitrator to award punitive damages, at least in the absence of any contractual provision limiting that authority. Goss Golden West Sheet Metal, Inc. v. Sheet Metal Workers Inter. Union, Local 104, 933 F.2d 759 (9th Cir. 1991); Pullman Power Prods. Corp. v. Local 403, 856 F.2d 1211 (9th Cir.1988) (over a strong dissent from Judge Beezer, who maintained that settled Ninth Circuit law forbids an award of punitive damages by a labor arbitrator absent express authorization of such awards in the CBA.)[10] However, a careful reading of those cases discloses that the Circuit merely applied an extremely deferential standard of review and deferred to the arbitral panel's interpretation of its own powers. Goss Golden West, 933 F.2d at 764 ("we cannot say that ... the agreement would not even arguably include the power to make an award of punitive damages.") That is a far cry from affirmatively holding that the arbitrators who would hear plaintiff's claim are authorized to award punitive damages. Moreover, as the Union acknowledges, there is a split among the circuits on this issue, with some circuits holding that labor arbitrators have no authority to award punitive damages.[11] At best it remains an unsettled issue, absent any contract language expressly conferring such authority. *454 Owens suggests that the provisions and remedies of Title VII are incorporated by reference in the contract, hence, the arbitrator would have the power to award any remedy that could be awarded by a court, including compensatory and punitive damages. That is certainly one plausible interpretation of the contract. However, that interpretation is not binding upon the arbitral panel and this court would have only limited authority to review the arbitrator's contrary holding. United Paperworkers International Union v. Misco, Inc., 484 U.S. 29, 38, 108 S.Ct. 364, 371, 98 L.Ed.2d 286 (1987) ("as long as the arbitrator is even arguably construing or applying the contract and acting within the scope of his authority, that a court is convinced he committed serious error does not suffice to overturn his decision.") The same holds true for the suggestion that the arbitrator might still consider plaintiff's claims notwithstanding her failure to present a grievance within three days of the incident in question. That is one potential interpretation of the contract, but unless it is the only permissible reading that interpretation would not be binding upon the arbitral panel. In the end, I cannot say with any degree of certainty that the contractual remedies are substantially equivalent to the remedies that would otherwise be available to plaintiff in a court of law, or that plaintiff could "effectively vindicate" her Title VII rights under the procedures established by the CBA. Cf Gilmer, 500 U.S. at 26, 28, 111 S.Ct. at 1652, 1653. That is a further reason for holding that plaintiff's claims are not barred by the arbitration clause in the CBA.[12] III In the alternative, Owens asks the court to stay this action while plaintiff exhausts her remedies under the grievance procedure, including (presumably non-binding) arbitration. This question was not definitively addressed in Alexander, since the employee had invoked the grievance and arbitration procedures and filed suit only after failing to obtain the desired relief. I have serious concerns about the efficacy of the grievance and arbitration procedures in this case, particularly when the Union and Owens are both defendants. However, there are also important considerations that favor requiring an employee to first attempt to resolve the matter by way of the established grievance procedure before resorting to the courts. See, e.g., Republic Steel, 379 U.S. at 653, 85 S.Ct. at 616-17. In Alexander v. Gardner-Denver, the Court observed that: "[T]he federal policy favoring arbitration of labor disputes and the federal policy against discriminatory employment practices can best be accommodated by permitting an employee to pursue fully both his remedy under the grievance-arbitration clause of a collective-bargaining agreement and his cause of action under Title VII. The federal court should consider the employee's claim de novo. The arbitral decision may be admitted as evidence and accorded such weight as the court deems appropriate." 415 U.S. at 60, 94 S.Ct. at 1025. The Court thus sought to address some of the concerns that Owens has raised regarding the overlap between Title VII claims and issues that may be the subject of the collective bargaining agreement. Therefore, I will stay this action and require plaintiff to first pursue the grievance and arbitration remedies available to her under the CBA. In the event that plaintiff's worst fears regarding that procedure materialize, she still has resort to the courts. Exhaustion may prove futile and the parties may be back before this court several months from now. Nonetheless, I conclude that it is a necessary step in order to minimize any friction between the vindication of individual statutory rights and the federal labor policies that favor the collective bargaining process. Indeed, had plaintiff *455 promptly lodged grievances, instead of allowing the matter to fester, it might have been possible to avoid some of the problems that later developed. There also is some merit to having grievances addressed, at least at the initial stages, by those who are most familiar with the participants and the issues involved. For instance, while it is possible that Recker and Benson were discriminating against plaintiff because of her gender, I cannot preclude the possibility that plaintiff's gender had nothing to do with their actions and they genuinely believed that she would benefit from additional training before taking the examination. Given the advanced status of the grievances here, the parties may mutually agree to forego the initial grievance stages and proceed directly to arbitration. Since plaintiff will not be required to accept the decision of the arbitrator as final, the same rule will apply to defendants. Non-binding arbitration may appear to be a waste of time, but it may also provide a preview of the likely result of any litigation and enhance the prospects for settlement.[13] Motion to Strike Claims for Damages in Excess of Cap Owens also moves to strike plaintiff's prayer for damages in excess of the cap established by the Civil Rights Act of 1991. 42 U.S.C. § 1981a(b)(3) provides that: The sum of the amount of compensatory damages awarded under this section for future pecuniary losses, emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, and other nonpecuniary losses, and the amount of punitive damages awarded under this section, shall not exceed, for each complaining party ... $300,000. The complaint demands that Owens pay compensatory damages of $300,000 and also punitive damages of $300,000. Owens correctly asserts that the $300,000 limit is for compensatory and punitive damages combined hence plaintiff cannot recover more than that sum. See Kimzey v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 107 F.3d 568 (8th Cir.1997) ("Title VII provides that the upper limit on an award including punitive and compensatory damages in a case such as this is $300,000.") However, that does not preclude plaintiff from making such a demand in her complaint. The jury could conceivably award $300,000 in compensatory damages and no punitive damages, or $20,000 in compensatory damages and $280,000 in punitive damages. Plaintiff is, therefore, entitled to plead $300,000 in compensatory damages and also $300,000 in punitive damages.[14] Owens also protests that plaintiff seeks $300,000 in damages for the underlying Title VII claim, and an additional $300,000 in damages on her claim that Owens illegally retaliated against her for asserting the Title VII claim. Owens contends that the $300,000 limit was intended to limit the total recovery on all of plaintiff's Title VII claims against her employer and she may not circumvent that limit by pleading multiple claims alleging separate violations of Title VII by the same defendant. I agree with Owens' analysis of the statute. Plaintiff may not recover twice from Owens for the alleged violations of Title VII. I do not believe that a one-recovery rule "irrationally diminishes the consequences [to the employer] of retaliating against an employee who has complained of or resisted discrimination," as plaintiff suggests. A $300,000 cap upon damages is certainly adequate to seize the employer's attention. The employer will not have a license to retaliate without fear of consequences, for it is by no means certain *456 that the award in the underlying case would exhaust the entire $300,000 cap. Indeed, there are cases where the employer has prevailed on the underlying sexual harassment claim only to then be found liable for retaliating against the employee for having filed the claim. See, e.g., Iannone v. Frederic R. Harris Inc., 941 F.Supp. 403 (S.D.N.Y.1996).[15] However, that possibility also counsels against granting Owens' motion to strike plaintiff's prayer for $300,000 in damages on her retaliation claim. Rather, the appropriate time to address the damage cap is during post-trial motions, assuming that this case progresses to that stage. Motion to Dismiss Owens-Illinois Defendant Owens-Ilinois seeks dismissal of the claims against it. Plaintiff has not alleged any conduct by Owens-Illinois, which is the parent corporation of defendant Owens-Brockway. Ordinarily a parent corporation is not liable for the Title VII violations of its wholly owned subsidiary. Watson v. Gulf & Western Industries, 650 F.2d 990, 993 (9th Cir.1981). Plaintiff correctly observes that there are limited exceptions to that rule. However, plaintiff has offered no basis for this court to find that any of the exceptions is applicable here. Nor does there appear to be any pressing need for plaintiff to find such an exception in this case. Owens has stipulated that its Owens-Brockway subsidiary has more than 500 employees for purposes of evaluating its Title VII liability.[16] Owens has also represented to the court that the Owens-Brockway subsidiary has over one billion dollars in assets, in excess of one hundred million dollars in net equity, and is more than capable of paying any judgment that might be rendered in this case. In reliance upon those representations, I grant the motion to dismiss defendant Owens-Illinois. At oral argument, plaintiff suggested that she was concerned with discovery and, in particular, the right to obtain documents that were in the possession of the parent corporation. The federal discovery rules would seem to provide ample means for plaintiff to obtain documents in the possession of defendant Owens-Ilinois that relate to this case. That is not a valid basis to retain Owens-Illinois as party to this case. If a problem arises during discovery, the court will address it at that time. CONCLUSION Owens' motion (# 17-1) to dismiss this action on grounds that arbitration is the sole remedy available to plaintiff is DENIED. Owens' alternative motion (# 17-2) to stay this action pending exhaustion of remedies is GRANTED. The results of the arbitration will not bar subsequent judicial action unless the parties otherwise agree. Owens' motion (# 17-3) to strike the prayer for damages in excess of the statutory cap is DENIED with leave to renew such motion post-trial. Owens' motion (# 17-4) to dismiss the Sixth Claim for negligence is GRANTED. Owens' motion (# 17-5) to dismiss defendant Owens-Illinois is GRANTED. Owens' Request for Judicial Notice (# 19-1) is DENIED as moot. NOTES [1] There are limited exceptions for jurisdictional allegations and similar matters, where the court may consider some materials outside the complaint and may resolve certain factual disputes to the extent they are separable from the merits of the controversy. Winter v. California Medical Review, Inc., 900 F.2d 1322, 1324 (9th Cir.1990); Roberts v. Corrothers, 812 F.2d 1173, 1177 (9th Cir.1987.) [2] There is some suggestion that plaintiff did not personally witness certain incidents, and her supervisors told plaintiff they could not rely upon hearsay. However, that is not entirely clear in the complaint. [3] Plaintiff has conceded the motion to dismiss the negligence claim against Owens. The Union did not move to dismiss, so the negligence claim against the Union remains in this case. [4] The CBA does not expressly say that all Title VII claims are subject to binding arbitration to the exclusion of judicial remedies. It merely says that "disputes under this Article ... shall be subject to the grievance procedure." Article 26 is entitled "Grievance Procedure". The arbitration clause is in Article 27. However, arbitration clauses in collective bargaining agreements tend to be broadly construed. See Mitchell v. Hercules, Inc., 410 F.Supp. 560 (S.D.Ga.1976). My resolution of other issues in this case makes it unnecessary to decide this question. [5] Owens also suggests that there are important differences between the language of the arbitration clause at issue here and the one in Alexander, that warrant departing from the holding in that case. I disagree. [6] I do not mean to imply that this is necessarily true of the defendant Union. On the contrary, the supplemental briefing suggests that there may be a substantial number of female members in Local 112, including shop stewards and members of the union's Business Committee. Nonetheless, the potential that individual civil rights will be subordinated is a significant concern that cannot be gainsaid. [7] Thoughtful responses were received from the Owens and Union defendants. Plaintiff's counsel declined the opportunity to brief these issues. [8] Defendants' request for judicial notice of the collective bargaining agreement is, therefore, moot. However, I question whether the terms of a collective bargaining agreement between two private parties satisfies FRE 201(b)(2) (court may take judicial notice of facts "capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned.") Rather, this language appears to contemplate judicial notice of facts such as the mileage between Portland and Seattle, or the height of Mount Hood. [9] During most of the time period addressed by the complaint, the plant manager was Mark Recker. Notably, Recker is named in the complaint as one of the leading protagonists. That raises some questions about the efficacy of steps one through three of the grievance procedure. [10] The Supreme Court's recent decision in Mastrobuono v. Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc., 514 U.S. 52, 115 S.Ct. 1212, 131 L.Ed.2d 76 (1995), is not dispositive of this question. It was not a labor arbitration case, and the arbitration rules designated in the contract expressly authorized an award of punitive damages. [11] There is a longstanding reluctance to award punitive damages in labor cases. See, e.g., Local 127, United Shoe Workers of America v. Brooks Shoe Mfg. Co., 298 F.2d 277, 284 (3d Cir.1962) (Biggs, concurring) ("It is the general policy of the federal labor laws ... to supply remedies rather than punishment.") In part, that may be because punitive damages are ordinarily not available in an action for breach of a contract. However, the aversion to punitive damages in labor cases appears to extend far beyond that. See International Bro. of Electrical Workers v. Foust, 442 U.S. 42, 52, 99 S.Ct. 2121, 2127-28, 60 L.Ed.2d 698 (1979) (denying punitive damages); Association of Flight Attendants v. Horizon Air Indus., Inc., 976 F.2d 541, 551 (9th Cir.1992) (citing this policy as rationale for denying award of attorney fees to prevailing party); Moore v. Local Union 569, IBEW, 989 F.2d 1534, 1542 (9th Cir.1993); United Transportation Union Local 74 v. Consolidated Rail Corp., 881 F.2d 282 (6th Cir.1989); Williams v. Pacific Maritime Ass'n, 421 F.2d 1287, 1289 (9th Cir.1970); Atwood v. Pacific Maritime Ass'n, 432 F.Supp. 491, 498 (D.Or.1977) (all concluding that there was no right to punitive damages). But cf Woods v. Graphic Communications, 925 F.2d 1195, 1204-05 (9th Cir.1991) (awarding punitive damages against union for racial discrimination against member). [12] Plaintiff has argued that membership in the union was mandatory, she did not vote in favor of the collective bargaining agreement, and she did not knowingly and voluntarily waive her Title VII rights. Whether plaintiff personally voted for the agreement or read it is of no consequence. Rather, such questions are subsumed within the larger question of whether a union may consent to arbitration of claims by its members for violation of their civil rights. [13] Nothing I have said in this opinion precludes the parties from agreeing to other methods for resolving this case, including arbitration on terms acceptable to all parties that address the concerns plaintiff has expressed regarding the existing arbitration procedure. [14] Several courts have held that granting a pretrial motion to strike a prayer for damages in excess of the statutory cap would violate the express language of 42 U.S.C. § 1981a(c)(2): "If a complaining party seeks compensatory or punitive damages under this section — the court shall not inform the jury of the [damage cap] limitations ..." Johnson v. Metropolitan Sewer Dist., 926 F.Supp. 874, 876 (E.D.Mo.1996); Haltek v. Village of Park Forest, 864 F.Supp. 802, 807 (N.D.Ill.1994). [15] At oral argument, plaintiff suggested that a plaintiff might file a Title VII claim, which is resolved, after which the employer would have nothing to lose by subsequently retaliating against the plaintiff. Without deciding the issue, since it is not presented here, the scenario described by plaintiff would seemingly give rise to a separate claim. Resolution of the first claim would not waive any claims the plaintiff might have for subsequent Title VII violations. [16] Owens' reply brief used the number "over 300 employees". Reply Brief at 15. The court assumes this was a typographical error — the statute establishes a cap of $300,000 in damages from an employer with more than 500 employees — and that Owens-Brockway intended to stipulate that it has over 500 employees for purposes of 42 U.S.C. § 1981a. Owens should immediately advise the court if it has a different understanding of the stipulation.

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Biochemical and genetic alterations of oxidant/antioxidant status of the brain in rats treated with dexamethasone: protective roles of melatonin and acetyl-L-carnitine. The current study was undertaken to investigate the protective role of melatonin (MEL) and acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) against dexamethasone (DM)-induced neurotoxicity. Adult female rats (60) were divided into: (1) control group, (2) DM-treated group, (3) MEL-treated group, (4) ALC-treated group, (5) MEL- and DM-treated, and (6) ALC- and DM-treated group. Serum acetylcholinesterase (AchE) activity, malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO) level, catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activities were estimated. Gene expression of the prooxidants (NO synthases NOS-1, NOS-2 and heme oxygenases HO-1, HO-2) and antioxidant enzyme (GST-P1) as well as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fragmentation analysis of brain tissue were investigated. Histological examination of the brain tissue was carried out. DM administration caused significant increase in serum AchE activity, MDA and NO levels accompanied with significant decrease in the antioxidant enzymes activity. Pretreatment with MEL or ALC prior DM has been found to reverse all the former parameters. On the genetic level, DM administration significantly increased the expression level of NOS-1, NOS-2, HO-1, and HO-2 messenger ribonucleic acids (mRNAs) and decreased that GST-P1-mRNA in brain tissue. Also, DM produced DNA fragmentation in brain tissue. Treatment with MEL or ALC prior DM administration tend to normalize the above mentioned parameters. These results were documented by the histological examination of brain tissue. The present study suggests that oxidative stress is involved in the pathogenesis of DM-induced neurotoxicity. The inhibition of oxidative stress via stimulation of the antioxidant enzymes by MEL and ALC pretreatment plays a central protective role in modulation of neurotoxicity induced by DM.

High

Q: Is timezone.now().date a function or a callable? I'm writing a manager in Django 1.5. I want to return a QuerySet that contains objects with a start date either today or in the future. Based on this answer to a previous problem I presume my manager needs to use a callable rather than a function. I've written: ... return super(UpcomingEventManager, self).get_query_set().filter(date__gte=timezone.now().date) I read that code as being a callable (date) that relies on a function (timezone.now()) for its value. But will Django treat it as a callable or a function? I know I can test this by creating an object and waiting until tomorrow but I'd rather understand this fully. A: Django 1.10 get today date: >>> from django.utils import timezone >>> timezone.now() datetime.datetime(2016, 11, 29, 7, 23, 55, 924928, tzinfo=<UTC>) >>> timezone.now().date <built-in method date of datetime.datetime object at 0x7f42512b42a0> >>> timezone.now().date() datetime.date(2016, 11, 29) A: You seem to be using callback in a way I don't recognise here. timezone.now() returns a value of type datetime.datetime. That class has a property, date, which returns the date portion of that value. There are no callbacks involved here at all. Edit Your confusion is stemming from a mis-reading of the previous question. That's about default values used in model field declarations: as the answers there state, you need to use a callable rather than a value because the declaration is evaluated on first import. But that's not what you're doing here at all. You're simply passing a value to a function from another function. There's no early evaluation involved: the code will be evaluated when the function is called, so it's perfectly safe to use date() or today() there. In fact, in this case passing the callable rather than the value will not work. (Also, you should use the word "callable" rather than "callback" here: a callback implies some sort of asynchronous behaviour, which isn't what's happening.)

Mid

Q: Luke 23:54 - Historical Evidence that the Jewish Calendar Day began at Sunrise? Closely Related: - Historical Evidence that the Jewish Calendar Day Began at Sunset? - Luke 23:54 - How should "Sabbath Dawning" be Interpreted? - Historical Evidence of the Sabbath Rest Beginning the Preceding Night? What are the earliest textual evidences substantiating if a Jewish Calendar day may have begun at sunrise in ancient Israel? In view of the question : Luke 23:54 - How should "Sabbath Dawning" be Interpreted? A: Note: As the author of the question - I feel that a stronger answer would be to point to historical evidences outside of Scripture, and evidences earlier than the Talmud. For example, evidences regarding Beit Hillel would be helpful. 1. Question Restatement : What are the earliest textual evidences that a day in ancient Israel began at sunrise? Answers : Section #2. Rabbinic Literature; Section #3. the New Testament ... This answer presupposes a Christian authority to challenge and disregard Rabbinic authority and tradition : NASB, Titus 1:13-14 - This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. Note: These texts are generally accepted as reasonable bases to question whether a day was reckoned from sunset, or sunrise - objections notwithstanding. 2. Rabbinic Literature : MISHNA Pesahim IV - And the Sages say, "In Yehuda, they would do work on the eve of Pesach until noon; and in the Galilee they did not work at all [on that day]." And [with respect to] the evening [of the fourteenth of Nissan in places like the Galilee], Beit Shammai forbids [work], but Beit Hillel permits [it] until the sunrise. B. Talmud, Book 9 - Tracts Maccoth, Shebuoth, Eduyoth, Abuda Zara, and Horioth - R. Simlayi lectured: Six hundred and thirteen commands were said to Moses; three hundred and sixty-five of them negatives, corresponding to the number of days in a year counting according to sunrise; and two hundred and forty-eight positives, B. Talmud, Chulin 83a - GEMARA. Our Rabbis taught: This was expounded by R. Simeon b. Zoma: Since the whole passage deals only with the laws concerning consecrated animals, [27] and with regard to consecrated matters [a day means] the day and the night following it ... [28 For in connection with the eating of sacrificial meat it is written (ibid. VII, 15). It shall be eaten on the day of his offering; he shall not leave any of it until the morning. Thus it may be eaten the whole of the night following the day.] 3. The New Testament : NASB, Matthew 27:57-62 - 57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph ... 59 And Joseph took the body [Mark 15:46 bought a linen cloth] ... and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth ... 62 Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, NASB, Matthew 28:1 - Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. Greek Interlinear, Luke 23:54 - Indeed, it was the Day of Preparation, and Sabbath dawning. NASB, John 20:19 - So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week ... 4. The Old Testament Genesis 1:6-8 - Then God [made the sky] and there was evening (ending the daytime), and there was morning (ending the nighttime), [making] the second day. Note: From Rabbi Samuel ben Meir's Peshat of Genesis 1:8, (@emory.edu) and Can The Torah Contradict Halacha (Jewish Law)?) NASB, Genesis 19:34 - On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, NASB, Exodus 16 - 23 then he said to them, “This is what the Lord meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.” 24 So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered ... 27 It came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. NASB, Leviticus 7:15 - ‘Now as for the flesh of the sacrifice of his thanksgiving peace offerings, it shall be eaten on the day of his offering; he shall not leave any of it over until morning. NASB, Leviticus 22:30 - It shall be eaten on the same day, you shall leave none of it until morning; I am the Lord. NASB, Leviticus 23:26-32 - 26 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 27 “On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; 32 It is to be a sabbath of complete rest ... on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your sabbath.” Note: If presupposing "calendar days according to evenings" - then this passage would exclude the daytime of the 10th - internally contradicting itself. NASB, Numbers 33:3 - They journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the next day after the Passover the sons of Israel started out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians, NASB, Deuteronomy 21:22 - “If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is [s]accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance. NASB, 1 Samuel 19:10-11 - 10 ... And David fled and escaped that night. 11 Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, in order to put him to death in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be put to death.” NASB. 1 Samuel 20 - 18 Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon [first of the month], and you will be missed because your seat will be empty. 19 When you have stayed for three days, you shall go ... 34 Then Jonathan ... did not eat food on the second day of the new moon [the month] ... 35 Now it came about in the morning that Jonathan went out into the field for the appointment with David [on the third of the month]. NASB, 2 Chronicles 35 - 1 Then Josiah celebrated the Passover ... and they slaughtered the Passover animals on the fourteenth day of the first month. ... 10 So the service was prepared ... 11 They slaughtered the Passover animals ... 13 So they roasted the Passover animals ... 16 So all the service of the Lord was prepared on that day to celebrate the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord according to the command ... NASB, Jonah 4:7 - But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. ... etc, etc. Note: See also a compelling argument at http://www.iahushua.com/ST-RP/twt.htm; But, the primary reference needs confirmation, (RABBINICAL ESSAYS BY JACOB Z. LAUTERBACH HEBREW UNION COLLEGE PRESS CINCINNATI 1951).

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Assessment of quality of life during long-term treatment of tolvaptan in refractory heart failure: design and rationale of the AQUA-TLV study. The vasopressin type 2 receptor antagonist tolvaptan (TLV) has recently become available to treat congestion in in-hospital patients with heart failure (HF). However, there is no evidence confirming the long-term efficacy of TLV. The Assessment of Quality of life during long-term treatment of TLV in refractory heart failure (AQUA-TLV) study is a multicenter, open-labeled, randomized, controlled clinical trial that will enroll 100 patients from 18 hospitals in Japan. Patients with HF assigned to New York Heart Association class III or IV, who had a previous history of hospitalization due to congestive HF during the past 1 year and ongoing symptomatic congestion with baseline urine osmolality > 350 mOsm/L regardless of being prescribed daily furosemide ≥ 60 mg are randomized to the conventional diuretics group (50 patients) and TLV add-on group (50 patients), and their quality of life will be assessed using the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire after 6 months of treatment. This study is the first multicenter prospective randomized study in Japan to evaluate the long-term clinical effectiveness of TLV compared with conventional treatment in patients with congestive HF (UMIN Clinical Trial Registry Number: UMIN 000009604).

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Q: How to implement a fragment inside a fragment (getting Android.Support.V4.App or Android.App conversion errors) In Xamarin.Android I am implementing a fragment inside a fragment in my project but unable to do that i am getting this errors while implementing it. When i use this same code a new sample project i am able to create and bind a fragment in to another fragment successfully, where as i am unable to do the same while implementing in real project I also tried using getActivity(),Activity(), and all resources available online but unable to do that Can anyone please solve this problem which i am facing. A: Just refine your code by using this: Android.Support.V4.App.Fragment fragment = new FragmentForSliderView(); Android.Support.V4.App.FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction = SupportFragmentManager.BeginTransaction(); fragmentTransaction.Add(Resource.Id.AddSlider, fragment).Commit();

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4 Squadron SAAF 4 Squadron SAAF was a South African Air Force unit which served during World War II. It was resurrected in 1951 and remained active until 1958. Its final period of active service was from 1961 to 1991. Its final aircraft were Impala Mk IIs. It was based at Lanseria Airport at the time of final disbandment. History Establishment and deployment The squadron was initially equipped with Hawker Hartbees, Hawker Furys and Wapitis when it was first formed in April 1939 in Durban. It was disbanded soon thereafter (December 1939) and resurrected at AFB Waterkloof on 24 March 1941 flying Hurricanes. Operational training took place in Kenya and soon the squadron was responsible for protection against possible Italian attacks from Somaliland. While in Kenya, it received a number of Curtiss Mohawks which had been taken over from French orders. World War II On 1 September 1941 the squadron began to move to Egypt and converted to Tomahawks. Its first combat patrol came on 12 November, early in Operation Crusader as a fighter-bomber squadron. The squadron remained in Egypt to take part in all of the desert battles from Operation Crusader to El Alamein. The squadron also supported the advance into Tunisia as well as the invasions of Sicily and Italy. The Kittyhawks were replaced by Spitfires in July 1943. In August it moved on to Sicily and to the Italian mainland in September from where it concentrated on ground attack missions until the end of hostilities. 4 Squadron remained in Italy for two months after the end of the war; on 12 July its personnel began returning to South Africa. The squadron was disbanded in October 1945. Post World War II 4 Squadron was reformed in January 1951 at AFB Waterkloof as the Active Citizen Force element of 1 Squadron with Harvards and Spitfires until once again disbanded in October 1958. On 1 November 1961, it was reformed at Swartkop, flying Harvards and in August 1972 the first Impala Jets were received. The squadron moved from Swartkop to Waterkloof and then to Lanseria Airport where it received Impala Mk IIs. It saw numerous deployments to South-West Africa and Mpacha and Rundu airfields in southern Angola. Its home base remained at Lanseria until it was disbanded in September 1991. Aircraft See also List of World War II aces from South Africa References Footnotes Citations External links Category:Squadrons of the South African Air Force SAAF4 Category:Military units and formations established in 1939 Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1991

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Saturday, September 09, 2006 Eileen, Pedro & Penelope My mate Eileen (recently abandoned by long term toy boy Mike) is doing well. We met on Wed to eat and go to the cinema - as idlers do. She didn’t fancy subtitles so we saw ‘You me and Dupree’ instead of ‘Volver’. I thought this would be OK for 2 reasons: 1) Faced with the same choice Marina Hyde had done the same thing (footnote to Tuesday’s G2 column)2) Matt Dillon was in ‘Dupree’ and he was great in ‘Crash’ BAD CALL!It was totally unfunny, all the problems were sorted out in the end by Michael Douglas saying ‘Sorry’ and it wasted 108 minutes of my life. Matt was born in 1964 so my sums make him 42 - much too old to play a gullible newly wed. So, the next day I sneaked back to see ‘Volver’. I rarely go to the cinema alone. I’m worried that someone might see me and think I’m a saddo. Come to think of it I’m more of a saddo for worrying about it. At the 2.30 showing the audience consisted of a fat girl eating popcorn and me. Would they still show the film if we hadn’t turned up? ‘Volver’ was great. Penelope Cruz is gorgeous, sexy and a very convincing actress. If I were a bloke/lesbian she would be top of my list. She reminds me of a young Sophia Loren enhanced with a bit of Natalie Wood. Pedro Almodovar’s interiors are high Kitsch. He combines turquoise, red and bright orange and adds bright poppies, fairy lights and Tretchikoff style paintings. His films hit all the senses at once. The plot was good too. This ‘Tretchikoff style’ portrait (which is one of my secret collection) looks a bit like Penelope in the roleKAZ I just read that Almodovar made Cruz wear a “false ass” (arse to us) to make her character, Raimunda, resemble an Italian film heroine of the 1950s.Spot on with Sophia then. Nowt sad about going to the cinema alone, I did last week to see this very film. I never understand why people need to go wuith someone especially on a date. After all you are not going to talk with the other person are you. Going to the cinema on your own is fab. I used to do it a lot - or sometimes I'd go to a film with a friend and we'd wind up in different auditoriums. You don't always need friends along to enjoy yourself. I wasn't going to go and see Volver, but you have swayed me with your tantalising Tretchikoff pictures. The design of the fork lift work platforms available from many companies is intended to be as user friendly as possible, and with this in mind, care has been taken to ensure that no matter what available space you have. Forklift operator is one of the jobs where you just can't have zero open job spots. There are times in the warehouse and freight industries when the workload suddenly increases exponentially. Notice that these are often the same people that made the brand name parts. Once the training is completed, the participants will receive the certificate and they can start to operate the forklift.

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Q: ftp: special characters in password I need to execute this command wget -r ftp://$USER:$PASSWORD@$SITE/ But first since there were some special characters (such as '!?') within the PASSWORD I had some problems that I solved by escaping them with '\'.. Now I am facing the problem that special character don't work with the ftp command...(here) At the moment I get this: Bad port number This is because also some numbers are present within the PASSWORD, I tried to single-quote, but without success.. How can I solve, if I would not change the password? On terminal, on Debian. A: Use the --ftp-user and --ftp-password parameters instead of encoding it into the URL

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1. Field of the Invention The invention relates in general to sliding track assembly and in particular to three-stage sliding track assembly having latch mechanisms with a pair of swing arms. 2. Description of the Related Art A conventional three-stage sliding track assembly generally comprises an outer rail, a middle rail, and an inner rail reciprocally movable along a longitudinal axis thereof. The middle rail is movably mounted between the inner rail of the outer rail. A ball bearing is usually provided to mounted between any two of the rails to facilitate reciprocal sliding thereof. Moreover, various latch mechanisms configured to mount between the rails have been disclosed for positioning or releasing the rails, such as the disclosure in U.S. Pat. No. 6,350,001.

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Ionic liquids in electrochemical devices and processes: managing interfacial electrochemistry. Many ionic liquids offer a range of properties that make them attractive to the field of electrochemistry; indeed it was electrochemical research and applications that ushered in the modern era of interest in ionic liquids. In parallel with this, a variety of electrochemical devices including solar cells, high energy density batteries, fuel cells, and supercapacitors have become of intense interest as part of various proposed solutions to improve sustainability of energy supply in our societies. Much of our work over the last ten years has been motivated by such applications. Here we summarize the role of ionic liquids in these devices and the insights that the research provides for the broader field of interest of these fascinating liquids.

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Grid+ token sale review Capped ~9x upside makes investing in the token unattractive Here's a short review of the Grid token and token sale. The Grid+ project, an ambitious Consensys formation, aims to create Ethereum-based financial infrastructure for energy trades. Energy supply from small generators of electricity, such as homeowners with solar panels, shall be matched to demand from other electricity consumers and the corresponding financial transaction executed on the Ethereum blockchain. Grid+, the firm, shall extract revenues (rent) from this match-making and delivery process by charging a price markup to consumers of electricity in systems it deploys. The project proposes to build multiple components to enable energy transaction infrastructure: BOLT stable coin: A token system on Ethereum, different from the Grid+ token offered in the crowd-sale, used for actual monetary exchange in energy markets. One BOLT carries a purchasing power equivalent to 1 USD. Hardware smart agent: An IoT device, designed and commercially sold by the Grid+ team, to monitor the generation capacity and consumption demand of an individual home-owner and autonomously make energy trades on their behalf. Energy transactions are expected to be small micro-payments, necessitating automation of trading decisions. The hardware smart agent fulfils this automation role. Payment channels and other software work: Energy markets on Ethereum need high transaction capacity and a communications network. Grid+ shall create this using payment channels and a communications network for hardware smart agents. Grid+, the firm, shall operate distributed energy markets and earn revenues by charging a markup on each energy unit transacted for and consumed in their energy markets. Normally, analysis of this project would necessitate an understanding of the demand for such technology, target market size and execution challenges. However, all of this effort can be done away with because of the (unattractive) token structure. Nature of the Grid+ token The Grid+ token, being sold in the pre-sale and crowd-sale, is a discount coupon that can be used to purchase electricity at wholesale rates from a functioning Grid+ system. Grid+ tokens do not confer any control rights on the crowd-sale investors. Presumably, there is a privately-held separate asset, the firm shares, which do grant these rights but no details have been released on the firm shareholding structure in the Whitepaper. A Grid+ token enables the holder to purchase 500kWh of electricity at wholesale rather than retail rates if/when the project succeeds. Therefore, the value of token, in case of project success, can be estimated as: Maximum value of Grid+token = Amount of electricity receivable × Markup per unit of electricity charged by Grid+ Plugging in values supplied by the whitepaper, we estimate the typical value of a Grid+ token, in case of large project success, to be $10. Amount of electricity receivable is 500kWh per token, and markup per unit of electricity charge by Grid+ is estimated at $0.02 per kWh. Crowd-sale participants can purchase tokens at a rate of $1.15 per token. Thus, the maximum upside that a crowd-sale investor can expect is 8.7X ($10 / $1.15). Therefore: Return on Grid+ token when project succeeds = 8.7X Return on Grid+ token when project fails or is indefinitely delayed = -1X Timeline of Grid+ token utility is entirely upto the team since token holders do not have any control/voting rights on the project. Startups building speculative energy infrastructure come with large risk. Can an 8.7X upside be sufficient compensation for that risk? We think not, but for completeness sake, lets review the risks: Risks inherent in the token Technology Risk: Ethereum might be a great system for conducting ICOs, but prove insufficient for the needs of distributed energy markets. Transaction costs & latencies (for opening and closing payment channels for instance) are a primary source of technology risk. A secondary source is that blockchains may not perform any better than traditional financial databases at this particular application. The BOLT stable token could equivalently have been issued on a traditional financial database with universal read access. Competitive Risk: Micro-grid solutions and smart home monitoring devices are a large market with companies such as Tesla, Siemens and a multitude of others. These firms are in the game for providing similar solutions, which creates competitive risk. Control Risk: In exchange for financing the project to the tune of $100 million in total, token sale participants get zero control / voting rights over the project! Token buyers are effectively buying discount coupons instead of equity / voting rights in the project, and are therefore exposed greatly to control risk. What happens when a large company such as Siemens buys a majority of the equity in the project from Consensys in a private deal? Can Siemens be expected to put their full executional resources behind the project as Consensys would do today? Team risk: Grid+ boasts a large and talented team, which ought to reduce the execution risk. However, there needs to be greater clarity on the incentive structure of team members. Are team leads and members Consensys employees that can change their jobs easily or do they hold a meaningful quantity of project shares? What are the vesting schedules on project shares like? Growth risk: Crowd-sale investors shall be able to utilise and liquidate their tokens only when the parent Grid+ company honours these discount coupons. In order for them to honor all the coupons, a minimum of electricity worth $4.5 billion (90 million tokens ×500 kWh per token ×10 cents per kWh) must be transacted on their live grids. There is a non-negligible possibility that Grid+ succeeds but on a scale smaller than that and is unable to deliver the full utility of the coupons to crowd-sale investors. Conclusion Given these downside risks, and a maximum upside of 8.7X, crowd-sale investors ought to carefully mull their options before investing. The cryptocurrency space delivers similar returns on capital, on a time-scale of 3 years, simply by investing in a diversified portfolio of the Top-5 coins. This makes the opportunity cost of capital for crypto-investors much higher than share market participants. For the authors, the Grid+ crowd-sale in its current form is an easy pass. Disclaimer: this article constitutes our opinions and is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be an investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice. For personal inquiry and feedback, you can also reach us at: [email protected] Follow us on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/fredkined r/ethereum thread on this article: r/ethtrader thread on this article: https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/comments/7320lh/grid_token_sale_review/

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McDonald’s Is Selling Secret Big Mac Sauce On Ebay So McDonald’s secret sauce is currently up for auction on eBay. I guess the obesity epidemic, as it is, isn’t obese enough for them. McDonald’s patrons only get exercise walking from the car to the counter before they get stuck in those booths and then kids start throwing nuggets at them for all eternity. Now they are bringing the secret whale sauce to the internets so you can order from your hospital bed. It’s actually for charity. Not that this will stop Ronald’s soul from rotting in hell with Grimace and the rest of the gang, but it’s a start. Bidding is up to $23,100.00 AU for this bottle of diarrhea dressing.

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Oprah Winfrey Googled herself for the first time: “I am so impressed’ 7 July 2018 3 min read Oprah Winfrey recently Googled herself for the first time, she says “so impressed.” (Reuters) Oprah Winfrey has the most amazing life — and she knows it! The 64-year-old media mogul has worked hard for her career and is not afraid to take advantage of the benefits of its success. Speaking with British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful, the worldwide leader gets real about staying true to themselves, what they would do if she were not famous, and what she thought, after she Googled herself for the first time. “The beauty of my life is that of 32, 33, I figured out how I myself fully on television, and in all these years I have made a fortune myself,” Winfrey, who covers the August issue of the magazine, proudly states in a video posted on Thursday. “So I’m never not with me. I am never not the person that you see. There are days that I feel more open and warm than others.” Oprah Reveals the Big Royal Blunder They Almost Made on Prince Harry & Meghan Markle’s Wedding A post shared by British Vogue (@britishvogue) on Jul 3, 2018 at 2:04am PDT With the explanation that they never “was limited by the fact that I have a life that other people know about it,” Lady O admits that they have done well for themselves. “I have the most amazing life,” she expresses. “I Googled I the other day for the first time, I am so impressed with myself! This is what I did not know. I was the first Afro-American self-made millionaire, donated more to charity in the 20th century than any other African American. This is really good.” Oprah Reveals Whether They are Down, to the Stars in ‘Ocean’s 8’ Sequel (Exclusive) But there was a time that she worried too much, and revealed what her advice to her younger self would be. “Oh, honey. Oh, girl, what the world has in store for you,” Winfrey says. “In the first place, it would be ‘relax’, ‘stop being afraid,” and it would be, ‘everything is in order. No matter what it will all be fine.'” As far as her greatest frustrations in the current industry, it is her impatience with the younger generation expect instant success. Oprah Winfrey Dishes on Her Fun to Hang out With Meghan Markle’s Mother (Exclusive) “My biggest frustration is with young people who think that success is intended that the Winfrey snaps her fingers and says. “They think that there is not a process. They think that they need to come out of the college and their brand. And I realize now that I have a brand, but I was resistant to being called a brand for many years… But how did I get a brand was not by trying to be a brand.” Her path was to “make the right move” and the next step and the next step, never stop, and the expectation that the middle of the night. But if she hadn’t found fame and fortune, they could see themselves teaching. “I would definitely, definitely, definitely will be teaching in the classroom, because it is the thing, it still brings me the greatest joy,” Winfrey shared. “It is my favorite moment in the world, if you can see that someone.” You may also like connectVideoKlum bares too much bod in ad Heidi Sharper Image ads too racy for … Las Vegas? Hong Kong have quite the morning of Heidi Klum! The 45-year-old supermodel took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a few sexy, topless pictures of her... connectVideoKate Beckinsale reacts to funny meme about her Pete Davidson make-out session Kate Beckinsale, 45, left a comment on a Instagram post that poked fun of the actress’ recent make-out session with Pete Davidson, 25, at a New York... connectVideoCharo the man of Kjell Notches dead of apparent suicide Various reports say that the Spanish-American singer Charo’s husband Kjell Beams, died on Monday of an apparent suicide at the age of 79 years. According to TMZ, a self... Robert Downey Jr. waged a struggle against a number of his “Avengers” cast mates on Wednesday. Robert Downey Jr. waged a struggle against a number of his “Avengers” castmates on Wednesday. The actor, who plays the role of... Hailey Baldwin reportedly spoke this week about the importance of mental health and must be of the “grounding” she likes to escape to. (Getty) Hailey Baldwin reportedly spoke this week about the importance of mental health and must be of... Evan Peters and Emma Roberts (photo) have reportedly broken up for the third time since their engagement in 2013. (x17) Emma Roberts is moving on. The “Scream Queens” actress and Evan Peters have reportedly broken off their engagement... connectVideoOzzy and Sharon Osbourne, kiss for the cameras Sharon Osbourne is taking a shot at the younger generation about the use of social media and technology. The former “X-Factor” judge opened up to Britain’s The Daily Star... Jessica Simpson is set to give birth to her third child in the near future. (Brian Ach/Getty Images) Jessica Simpson is ready and ready to give birth! A source speaking with the ET has noted that Simpson’s “hospital bags are...

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Q: Best way to store a password in C#, so that the user cannot access it? I am making an offline password manager using winforms, with a master password that the user has to enter before the user can access all his/her passwords. Now, I want to store the master password, to compare with the master password the user has just entered, and if they are the same, decrypt the files storing all the user's passwords, and display all the user's passwords. Where can I store the user's password on the user's machine? I cannot just put it into AppData, the registry or a similar folder, since I do not want the user to see the password, since someone else could be using the machine when the user left it on. That is the whole idea of having a master password. I can of course encrypt the file where I store the password, but then where would I store the encryption key? I don't think hard coding the encryption key would be a good idea, since the key would be the same for any person who installs my program, which I don't think would be ideal. I cannot use an external database, this is an offline password manager. Any ideas or ways to improve the question would be appreciated. I don't need anything crazy secure, just a place where the user, other users on the machine, or a program would not be able to access the master password. I am using c# .net and winforms and I am using the DESCryptoServiceProvider class and a CryptoStream to encrypt and decrypt the actual passwords stored in the password manager. I am new to C# and StackOverflow, I realize this question is a little vague and not phrased nicely, and probably might get taken down (just like most of my questions), so any help on how to improve it would be appreciated. A: Simply don't save it. Encrypt the other passwords with the master password and then throw the master password away. Ask for it again when you need to decrypt. If you don't save it, it can't be compromised.

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'Dreamer' immigration bill not on U.S. Senate agenda this month WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate will not consider an immigration bill as part of year-end legislation but will turn to a measure protecting immigrant youths known as “Dreamers” in January, No. 2 Senate Republican John Cornyn said on Monday. 'Dreamers' hug as they meet with relatives during the 'Keep Our Dream Alive' binational meeting at a new section of the border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border in Sunland Park, U.S., opposite the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, December 10, 2017. Picture taken from the U.S side of the U.S.-Mexico border. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez Cornyn also said that if Congress cannot meet an early March deadline for passing legislation providing the protections against deportation for undocumented immigrants who were brought illegally into the United States as children, President Donald Trump could consider extending the deadline. In interviews over the past several days, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers and aides said that talks on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) have been quietly making progress. “The president has given us enough time to deal with this before March and so I think that’s plenty of time and I expect us to meet it,” Cornyn told reporters. “If we can’t, then the president could extend the deadline if he chose to do so. But this is something we’re going to turn to, I’m sure, in January.” Tensions between Republicans and Democrats over the issue of legislative protections for Dreamers increased this fall after Trump took a hard line on the conditions for a deal. An intense lobbying campaign has been underway to urge lawmakers to find a permanent legislative fix after the Republican president ended the DACA program in September. He gave Congress until early March to come up with a legislative replacement. On Capitol Hill, advocates have handed out buttons to lawmakers and aides with the number “122,” referring to the estimated number of Dreamers each day who already are losing the temporary legal status they had under DACA. FILE PHOTO: Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) speaks during Senate Intelligence Committee hearing to answer questions related to Russian use of social media to influence U.S. elections, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., November 1, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo Immigration advocates have erected a huge monitor on the National Mall. Situated at the base of the U.S. Capitol for lawmakers and tourists alike to see, it broadcasts videos of Dreamers pleading for help. Meanwhile, seven DACA beneficiaries from Mexico, Argentina and Colombia were in the fourth day of a hunger strike to draw attention to the issue. Republican Representative John Carter, a veteran of past immigration debates, said he worried Democrats want to go way beyond the scope of DACA and the approximately 800,000 Dreamers who at one time or another were covered by Democratic former President Barack Obama’s executive order. “They’re talking Dream Act,” Carter said referring to the legislation offered by Democratic Senator Dick Durbin and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. “And that number is about 2 million people. That’s too much.” Past legislative attempts to allow Dreamers to get work permits and drivers licenses, open bank accounts and “come out of the shadows” have stalled as conservative Republicans and lobbying groups objected to giving “amnesty” to anyone who entered the United States illegally - even those who had no choice in the matter and have grown up here. Democratic Representative Michelle Lujan Grisham, who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said Republican demands for additional resources for immigration enforcement throughout the United States and not just at the border are a major problem. Her concern is that the Trump administration might use the money to hire more federal agents to nab undocumented relatives of Dreamers. “If you’re going to come in and go to hospitals and go to courtrooms and go to schools” in search of family members, “I’m not going to do that,” she said in an interview.

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Assessment of mental health and illness, considered in the light of a 13-year longitudinal study (mental health of the Finnish student. Follow-up, report III). The present study forms part of a longitudinal study of mental health and covers a period of 13 years. Two fundamental findings were obtained in the present work. The first of these was in brief that the development of mental disorders and occurrence of symptoms increase with age. The other finding was that men and women differ in many ways from each other in terms of the nature of mental health. We might say that healthy as well as perhaps more disturbed narcissism takes different forms in women and men. Women are more faithful to tradition, men's interest is more directed toward social concerns and object relationships. Women are more practiced in self-observation, while men resort to action and somatization. Women's symptoms are dominated by fear and worry, while men, following tradition have to mask their fears.

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Introduction {#s0001} ============ Dopamine (DA) regulation of neural circuit function is ubiquitously observed across species. Acting through D1 and D2 classes of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), DA broadly regulates synaptic transmission in the central nervous system (CNS) through modulation of presynaptic neurotransmitter release and postsynaptic response \[[@cit0092]\]. In particular, DAergic modulation of synaptic output from interneurons, through the activation of D2 receptors, modulates circuit function in a wide range of neurobiological functions, from fundamental homeostatic processes to higher order neural function. For example, in the freshwater pond snail *Lymnaea stagnalis*, rhythmic DAergic inhibition of respiratory interneuron output is key to mediating aerial respiration behaviour \[[@cit0088],[@cit0075]\]. In the mammalian brain, DAergic D2 receptor-dependent inhibition of neurotransmitter release from interneurons in the striatum \[[@cit0021],[@cit0023],[@cit0053]\] and amygdala \[[@cit0010],[@cit0019],[@cit0072]\] are critically involved in motor control and associative learning. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms underlying D2 receptor-mediated DAergic inhibition of interneuron synaptic output is of particular physiological significance. Activation of D2 receptors inhibited voltage-gated Ca^2+^ current (*I*~Ca~) in both *L. stagnalis* \[[@cit0004]\] and mammalian \[[@cit0099],[@cit0016],[@cit0074]\] interneurons. As activity-induced Ca^2+^ influx is a key determinant of presynaptic vesicle release \[[@cit0104]\], this likely contributes to DAergic inhibition of interneuron synaptic output. D2 receptor-mediated inhibition of voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channels occurs through both voltage-dependent and -independent mechanisms \[[@cit0015],[@cit0015],[@cit0060]\]. The voltage-dependent mechanism involves direct binding between the G-protein βγ subunit and the α1 subunit of voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channels \[[@cit0020],[@cit0037],[@cit0079],[@cit0101]\], which results in reduction of the peak current amplitude and slowing of current activation kinetics \[[@cit0071],[@cit0002],[@cit0005],[@cit0031]\]. The voltage-dependence stems from the ability of a strong depolarization to induce unbinding of the Gβγ subunit and relieve part of the inhibition \[[@cit0005],[@cit0013],[@cit0030],[@cit0042],[@cit0057]\]. In contrast, the slower and longer-lasting voltage-independent inhibition can be mediated through a variety of mechanisms, including regulation of voltage-gated Ca^2+^channel surface expression levels through direct interaction with GPCRs \[[@cit0060]\], involvement of the Gα subunit \[[@cit0051]\], soluble second messenger cascades \[[@cit0049],[@cit0038]\] and kinase activation \[[@cit0080],[@cit0015],[@cit0025]\]. However, whether D2 receptor-mediated inhibition of voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channels leads to synaptic suppression in interneurons remains unclear. The central pattern generator network that gives rise to the aerial respiration behaviour in the mollusk *Lymnaea stagnalis* provides a well-characterized and highly tractable model for examining DA-mediated regulation of voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channels and synaptic output in interneurons. This circuit consists of the DAergic pacemaker neuron RPeD1 and the follower interneurons VD4 and IP3i \[[@cit0096]\]. DAergic input from the RPeD1 to the follower cells is necessary for rhythmic network activity of the CPG, as when VD4 and IP3i are cultured together in the absence of the RPeD1, pulsatile application of DA elicited a series of alternating bursts similar to that exhibited by the intact three-interneuron network both *in vivo* and *in vitro* \[[@cit0088]\]*.* In a well-established *in vitro* soma-soma synapse model \[[@cit0034]\], VD4 forms an excitatory cholinergic synapse with its postsynaptic target LPeD1 \[[@cit0045],[@cit0097],[@cit0098]\]. The soma-soma synapse between VD4 and LPeD1 allows direct access to both pre- and post-synaptic compartments for electrophysiological, pharmacological, and imaging studies. Furthermore, DA receptors, G protein subunits and Cav2 channels have been well-characterized in the *L. stagnalis* CNS. Both D1- and D2-like receptors have been identified in *L. stagnalis* central neurons \[[@cit0026],[@cit0048]\]. The effects of DA on the VD4 and IP3i are shown to be mediated through D2-like receptors, as the effects can be blocked only by the D2 receptor antagonist, sulpiride \[[@cit0068],[@cit0069]\]. In this study, we employed the VD4 to LPeD1 synapse model to study the endogenous mechanisms underlying DAergic modulation of voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channels and synaptic output in interneurons. We found that DA not only inhibits *I*~Ca~ in the VD4 through both voltage-dependent and independent pathways, but also suppresses synaptic vesicle release downstream of voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channel-conducted Ca^2+^ influx. Materials and methods {#s0002} ===================== Sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis {#s0002-0001} -------------------------------------------- Nucleotide sequences of the *L. stagnalis* CNS transcriptome assembly \[[@cit0082]\] were retrieved from the European Nucleotide Archive (<https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena>) (accession numbers FX180119- FX296473). Open reading frames (\>100 amino acids) were identified using TransDecoder v5.0.2 \[[@cit0044]\] to form the predicted protein-coding sequence set. Protein sequences of vertebrate orthologs of D2 subfamily receptors, G protein subunits and Cav2 channels were retrieved from UniProt \[[@cit0091]\] ([Table 1](#t0001){ref-type="table"}). For each protein, sequences of the orthologs were aligned via MUSCLE \[[@cit0029]\] to create a profile HMM (HMMER v3.1b1) \[[@cit0028]\] that was then used to query the predicted protein-coding sequences of the *L. stagnalis* CNS transcriptome (cut-off E-value:1e-5). The top hit was searched against the Nr database using BLAST \[[@cit0001]\] to confirm protein identity. The *L. stagnalis* sequences were aligned with their respective vertebrate orthologs using MUSCLE and analyzed in MEGA7 (Kumar et al., 2016) to find the best-fit model and construct the phylogenetic tree with 500 bootstrap replicates. Functional protein domains were identified according to UniProt annotations. Table 1.Accession numbers of proteins used to construct profile HMM and sequence alignments.GeneHumanNon-human primateRatMouseVertebrate fish*Lymnaea*Cav2.1O00555H2NXR5P54282P97445F8W3Z0FX182534Cav2.2Q00975H2PU57Q02294O55017A0A146UZM5 DRD2P14416H2NFB8P61169P61168Q8AWE0 DRD3P35462H2P9P0P19020P30728Q6DGJ2FX186271DRD4P21917H2NCB0P30729P51436Q5DJ15 GNAOP09471H2NQY0P59215P18872F8W442FX182600GNAI1P63096Q5RAD4P10824B2RSH2Q7T3D3 GNAI2P04899H2QMN4P04897P08752Q6TNT8FX180365GNAI3P08754H2PZK9P08753Q9DC51A9JTC8 Gβ~1~P62873Q5R5W8P54311P62874Q6PH57FX180485Gγ~2~P59768Q5R7U4NP_001244278.1P63213Q15KE4FX191281 Animals {#s0002-0002} ------- Freshwater pond snails, *L. stagnalis*, obtained from an inbred culture at the Free University, Amsterdam, were raised and maintained in aquaria at the University of Toronto. All animals used were kept in water at room temperature (20--22°C) on a 12 hr light/dark cycle and fed lettuce twice a week (Monday and Friday) and Purina Trout Chow once (Wednesday). One- to two-month-old snails with shell length of 10--15 mm were used in all experiments. Dissection {#s0002-0003} ---------- All animals were dissected under sterile conditions. Snails were anaesthetized for 10 minutes in ∼10% (v/v) Listerine in water. The anaesthetized snails were then de-shelled with fine curved forceps and pinned to a black silicone rubber--based dissection dish containing normal snail saline (NSS) (mM: 51.3 NaCl, 1.7 KCl, 4.1 CaCl2, and 1.5 MgCl2, 5.0 HEPES, pH adjusted to 7.9 with NaOH). A dorsal midline incision was made to expose the CNS, including the central ring and the buccal ganglia from under the buccal mass. The CNS was subsequently removed from the animal using fine dissection scissors and immediately placed in the antibiotic-containing solution (ACS): NSS containing 50 mg/mL gentamycin (Sigma, ON, Canada). Cell culture {#s0002-0004} ------------ Conditioning medium (CM) was prepared by incubating 8-12 acutely isolated central ring ganglia in 6 ml defined medium (DM) (mM: serum-free 50% (v/v) Liebowitz L-15 medium (GIBCO, NY, USA) containing 40.0 NaCl, 1.7 KCl, 4.1 CaCl2, 1.5 MgCl2, 5.0 HEPES, 10 glucose, 1.0 L-glutamine, 20-mg/mL gentamycin, pH adjusted to 7.9 with NaOH) in glass Petri dishes pre-coated with Sigmacote (Sigma) for 72 hrs, as described previously \[[@cit0081],[@cit0034],[@cit0089]\]. The resulting 1X CM was frozen in polypropylene tubes at −20°C until required. Subsequently, the brains were then rewashed in ACS and then re-incubated in DM for another 3--5 days to produce 2X CM. A further session of washing and re-incubating for another week produced 3X CM. For cell isolation, the central ring ganglia were treated with trypsin (Type III, 3 mg/mL, Sigma) dissolved in NSS for 20 min to weaken the outer glial sheath surrounding the central ganglia. The brains were then treated with trypsin inhibitor (3 mg/mL, Sigma) dissolved in NSS for 18 min. Upon completion of digestion, the ganglia were then placed in CM on a black silicone rubber based dissection dish. The connective tissue sheath surrounding the neuronal ganglia was removed using fine forceps. The VD4 and LPeD1 neurons were identified by colour and size in the visceral ganglia and left pedal dorsal ganglia, respectively. Gentle suction via a 2mm fire-polished pipette (World Precision Instruments, FL, USA) that was coated with Sigmacote (Sigma) was used to isolate the identified neurons. The neurons were subsequently plated onto a poly-L-lysine coated glass bottom culture dish filled with pre-prepared CM. For single cell configuration, acutely isolated VD4 neurons were plated in culture dishes independently from one another for 24 hrs prior to testing. To culture synaptic pairs, acutely isolated VD4 and LPeD1 neurons were plated in culture dishes in close proximity to each other to allow for direct contact between respective neurites. Neurons were kept in culture for 24 hrs to allow for synaptic formation prior to experiments. The formation of the synapse was confirmed by electrical analysis through noting the existence of a postsynaptic response correlated to presynaptic electrical stimulation. Electrophysiology {#s0002-0005} ----------------- As previously described electrophysiological recordings were performed under current clamp mode \[[@cit0034],[@cit0033],[@cit0039]\], or voltage-clamp mode \[[@cit0033],[@cit0052],[@cit0065]\], using an Axopatch 700A amplifier (Axon Instruments, CA, USA) connected to an analog-to-digital interface Digidata 1322 that was linked to a personal computer running pClamp9 (Axon Instruments) \[[@cit0039],[@cit0065]\]. Recording pipettes were pulled using a Flaming-Brown micropipette puller (Model P-87, Sutter Instruments, Novato, CA, USA. The data were filtered at 1 kHz (-3 dB) using a 4- pole Bessel filter and digitized at a sampling frequency of 2 kHz. Data was analyzed using Clampfit version 9.2 (Axon Instruments). All curve fittings were carried out using Origin 7 (OriginLab, MA, USA). Whole-cell (ruptured) patch-clamp recordings {#s0002-0006} -------------------------------------------- Pipettes were filled with whole cell recording pipette solution (mM: 29 KCl, 2.3 CaCl2, 2 MgATP, 0.1 GTP-Tris, 11 EGTA, 10 HEPES, pH adjusted to 7.4 with KOH) (series resistances ∼1 -- 2 MΩ). Whole cell recordings were carried out in modified NSS (mM: 10 CaCl2, 45.7 TEA-Cl, 1 MgCl2, 10 HEPES, 2 4-AP, pH adjusted to 7.9 with TEA-OH). Dopamine (DA) (Catalogue \#62-31-7, Sigma) was applied via perfusion in the bath solution. Based on previous report that the maximum effective dose of DA on VD4 interneurons is 100 µM \[[@cit0004]\], we had chosen 10 µM DA for all experiments, unless noted otherwise, to ensure consistency of response. For voltage step experiments, currents were elicited by stepping from the holding potential to the test potential of +30mV for 50 ms. A prepulse protocol was applied consisting of a holding potential of −70 mV which first stepped to a depolarization of +80 mV for 10 ms, then to test voltage of +30mV for 50 ms separated by an inter-pulse voltage of −70 mV for 5 ms ([Figure 7A](#f0007){ref-type="fig"}). To generate the current-voltage (IV) curve, the holding potential was set to −70 mV and 50 ms depolarizing steps from −40 mV to +100mV with a +5mV interval was used. The IV relation was generated from peak inward current using a Boltzmann fit (I=G\*(V-Vrev)\*(1-(1/(1+exp((V-Vh)/S))))). To generate the AP waveform (APW), single VD4 neurons were current clamped via a sharp intracellular pipette in NSS bath solution to evoke and record APs endogenous to those neurons. Positive current was injected at levels to induce and maintain an AP train at 2Hz. This frequency was chosen because it represents a sustainable firing rate composed of single APs. The averaged AP profile showed a threshold voltage of −29 mV, an overshoot voltage of +35mV, and half width of 4.5 ms ([Figure 6A](#f0006){ref-type="fig"}). Experiments conducted using the APW was controlled using pClamp9. The APW was flanked with the holding potential of −70 mV. Data acquisition was filtered at 1 kHz (-3 dB) using a 4- pole Bessel filter and digitized at a sampling frequency of 2 kHz. Leak currents were subtracted via P/N leak subtraction protocol using 4 positive subsweeps from a holding level of −70 mV. Data was analyzed using Clampfit version 9.2. All curve fittings were carried out using Origin 7. Simultaneous pre- and post-synaptic monitoring of VD4-LPeD1 synaptic transmission {#s0002-0007} --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To study synaptic transmission between the VD4 and LPeD1 neurons, a dual clamp protocol was used ([Figure 4B](#f0004){ref-type="fig"}). The presynaptic cell was current clamped via the intracellular sharp electrode and the postsynaptic cell was simultaneously voltage clamped via the patch electrode. Prior to testing, the presynaptic neuron was kept hyperpolarized to −70 mV by negative current injection to prevent any unwanted firing of APs. During testing, APs were induced by positive current injection to depolarize the neuron just past its firing threshold. A 5s long 1 Hz current pulse train was used to elicit five APs. Postsynaptic responses were detected as excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs). The existence of a functional synapse was confirmed when an EPSC was correlated with a presynaptic AP. All recordings were carried out in NSS bath solution. Ratiometric FURA-2 Ca^2+^ imaging {#s0002-0008} --------------------------------- Intracellular Ca^2+^ (\[Ca^2+^\]~i~) was measured using a FURA-2 ratiometric Ca^2+^ imaging system, as described previously \[[@cit0033]\]. For intracellular sharp recording experiments, the cell-permeant AM-FURA-2, was used. The cells were incubated with 10 μM AM-FURA-2 (Molecular Probes, OR, USA) for 30 minutes and washed out with recording solution three times prior to imaging. The experiments were carried out in the dark to prevent photobleaching of the dye. The cells were stimulated with simultaneous intracellular recording, and the corresponding FURA-2 fluorescence signal was excited at 340 and 380 nm wavelengths generated by UV light from a 100W Hg/Xe-arc lamp, alternately passed through 340 and 380 nm excitation filters using a high speed random monochromator controlled by Image Pro 5 (Photon Technology International). The fluorescence signal, generated after the excitation light, was reflected via a 430 nm dichroic mirror, passed through a 530 nm long-pass emission filter, and detected and digitized by an intensified charged-coupled device (ICCD) camera (Photon Technology International) in Image Pro 5. Signal acquisition was done in hi-speed acquisition mode using a 10 ms exposure time per excitation wavelength at 8x8 binning. Intensity of fluorescent signals detected at 340 and 380 nm were then processed to floating point images before being used to generate Poenie-Tsien ratio intensity images. These images were used for all FURA-2 analyses. For voltage clamp experiments, the cell impermeant FURA-2 penta-potassium salt was loaded into neurons through the patch pipette by inclusion in the pipette solution. A final concentration of 100 µM FURA-2 penta-potassium salt was used and allowed to dialyze into the neuron after establishing a seal and rupture. FM1-43 imaging of vesicle release {#s0002-0009} --------------------------------- Levels of vesicle release were monitored using the styryl dye N-(3-Triethylammoniumpropyl)-4-(4-(Dibutylamino) Styryl) Pyridinium Dibromide (FM1-43) (Molecular Probes). This water-soluble dye fluoresces when it binds to a lipid-rich membrane and has been commonly used to visualize synaptic vesicles following endocytotic processes. FM1-43 dye (4 µM) was added to culture dishes and allowed to equilibrate for 5 minutes. To load the dye, neurons were induced to fire APs by intracellular sharp electrode current injection. Two 5s current pulses separated by 30s were used, which caused endocytosis of the FM1-43 dye. Any dye that was not endocytosed was subsequently washed away by exchanging NSS bath solution once every 5 minutes for a total of three washes. The experiments were carried out in the dark to prevent photobleaching of the dye. Exocytosis of FM1-43 dye and subsequent destaining of dye was achieved by either electrical stimulation or ionomycin application. Electrical stimulation of vesicle release was performed using intracellular electrodes to inject current pulses into FM1-43 loaded neurons, to cause unloading of dye. The current injection protocol consisted of three current injection pulses of 5s each separated by 30s, which was controlled by pClamp9 software. Ionomycin stimulation of vesicle release was performed by rapid bath exchange of 2 μM ionomycin dissolved in NSS bath solution onto neurons. Imaging of FM1-43 fluorescence was acquired simultaneously with the above mentioned stimulus protocols. FM1-43 fluorescence signal was excited at 488 nm wavelength generated by UV light from a 100 W Hg/Xe-arc lamp, alternately passed through a 488nm excitation filter, which was controlled by Image Pro 5. Emitted light was passed through a band pass filter 510 nm--560 nm and detected and digitized by an intensified charged-coupled device (ICCD) camera in Image Pro 5. Signals were sampled at 0.5Hz using a 300 ms exposure time and 4×4 binning. Fluorescent intensities in single neurons were analyzed using the averaged fluorescence from the entire soma. In synaptically paired neurons, fluorescence intensities were taken from three regions: (i) presynaptic contact site (CS), (ii) presynaptic non-contact site, (iii) postsynaptic non-contact site ([Figure 4E](#f0004){ref-type="fig"}). Data analysis and statistics {#s0002-0010} ---------------------------- Unless otherwise stated, data are presented as the mean ± s.e.m. Statistical analyses were carried out using SigmaStat 3.0 (Jandel Scientific, IL, USA). Differences between mean values from each experimental group were tested using a paired t-test for two groups or one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA, Holm-Sidak or Tukey method) followed by Holm-Sidak post-hoc test for multiple comparisons. Differences were considered significant if *p* \< 0.05. Results {#s0003} ======= Identification and phylogenetic analyses of *L. stagnalis* orthologs of D2-like receptors, G protein subunits and Cav2 channels {#s0003-0001} ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We first examined the *L. stagnalis* CNS transcriptome \[[@cit0082]\] to characterize the conservation of genes involved in DAergic regulation of Cav2 channels in central neurons. Whereas the D2-like subfamily of receptors in vertebrates is known to include three isoforms, D2, D3 and D4 receptors, we found that the *L. stagnalis* CNS expresses a single D2-like receptor ([Figure 1](#f0001){ref-type="fig"}) in which the two agonist bindings sites show partial sequence similarity with vertebrate D2-4 receptors. Consistent with previous reports \[[@cit0062],[@cit0061]\], we observed that *L. staganalis* Gαi ([Figure 2](#f0002){ref-type="fig"}A) and Gαo ([Figure 2B](#f0002){ref-type="fig"}) subunits share high degrees of sequence identity with their vertebrate counterparts, with complete conservation of the four guanine nucleotide binding sites required for GTP binding. Similarly, the seven WD repeat domains in the single *L. stagnalis* Gβ protein ([Figure 2C](#f0002){ref-type="fig"}), which are implicated in protein-protein interaction \[[@cit0063]\], are nearly identical to those in vertebrate Gβ~1~ orthologs. Greater sequence divergence was observed in the single *L. stagnalis* Gγ isoform as compared to vertebrate Gγ~2~ orthologs ([Figure 2D](#f0002){ref-type="fig"}). Finally, sequence analyses of the *L. stagnalis* Ca~V~2 (*L*Ca~V~2) channel ortholog Ca~V~2, demonstrate that two of the three Gβ~1~γ~2~ binding sites, one in the N-terminus cytoplasmic tail and another in the I-II linker region, on vertebrate Ca~V~2.1 and Ca~V~2.2 channels that are essential for G protein-mediated voltage-dependent regulation of Cav2 channels \[[@cit0102]\] are conserved in considerable degrees in L Ca~V~2. Taken together, these findings demonstrate *L. stagnalis* to be a conserved model for examining the fundamental mechanisms of G protein-mediated DAergic modulation of Ca~V~2 channels in the CNS. Figure 1.Protein sequence alignment and phylogenetic tree of the D2-like receptor in *L. stagnalis.* *A*, Amino acid sequence comparisons of the two agonist bindings sites between the single *L. stagnalis* D2-like receptor and the three isoforms of the D2-like subfamily of DA receptors in selected vertebrate species. Conserved and similar sequences in alignments are colored as black and grey boxes, respectively. *B*, Phylogenetic analysis was conducted by the Maximum Likelihood method using the JTT+G+I model. Bootstrap value from 500 replicates are shown next to each node. The scale bars indicate the estimated evolutionary distance in the units of the number of amino acid substitutions per site. Figure 2.Protein sequence alignment and phylogenetic tree of G protein subunits in *L. stagnalis*. *A-B*,Amino acid sequence comparisons of the four nucleotide binding sites in the single *L. stagnalis* Gαi and Gαo orthologs with the vertebrate Gαi isoforms GNAI1-3 (A1) and Gαo (B1), respectively. As all four sites are identical across GNAI1-3 isoforms in human, chimpanzee, rat, mouse and zebrafish, only one instance is shown for simplicity. Phylogenetic analysis was conducted by the Maximum Likelihood method using the JTT+G model for Gαi (A2) and the LG+G model for Gαo (B2). *C*, Amino acid sequence comparisons of the seven WD repeat regions (WD1-7) of the single isoform *L. stagnalis* Gβ and vetebrate orthologs of Gβ~1~ (C1). Phylogenetic analysis was conducted by the Maximum Likelihood method using the WAG model (C2). *D*, Amino acid sequence comparisons of the single *L. stagnalis* Gγ isoform and vetebrate orthologs of Gγ~2~ (D1). Phylogenetic analysis was conducted by the Maximum Likelihood method using the LG model (D2). Conserved and similar sequences in alignments are colored as black and grey boxes, respectively. Bootstrap value from 500 replicates are shown next to each node. The scale bars indicate the estimated evolutionary distance in the units of the number of amino acid substitutions per site.Figure 2.(Continued).Figure 2.(Continued). DA inhibits synaptic output of the VD4 {#s0003-0002} -------------------------------------- VD4 and LPeD1 were acutely isolated and cultured for 24 hours to allow for soma-soma synapse formation prior to testing, as previously described by \[[@cit0034]\]. Only pairs adopting the soma-soma synapse morphology were selected for recordings ([Figure 4A](#f0004){ref-type="fig"}). To test the effects of DA on synaptic transmission between the VD4 and LPeD1, postsynaptic responses to presynaptic APs were examined using dual-clamp recordings ([Figure 4B](#f0004){ref-type="fig"}). As it has previously been shown that 10 µM DA nearly abolishes all evoked action potential firing activity in VD4 interneurons \[[@cit0004]\], we employed 1 µM DA here to ensure sufficient VD4 synaptic output and detectable LPeD1 post-synaptic response. Indicative of the formation of an excitatory synapse between VD4 and LPeD1, recordings showed a one-to-one correlation between presynaptic APs and EPSCs ([Figure 4C](#f0004){ref-type="fig"}). As commonly observed, the first EPSC from the train of five APs had a larger amplitude than the remaining four APs. We noted that DA affected the properties of the AP train, however did not change the first AP of the train. We thus compared the first EPSC elicited by the first AP, before and after DA application. We found that DA resulted in a 37.8% reduction in peak amplitude of the first EPSC (no DA: −126.15 ± 7.97 pA; DA: −78.46 ± 10.38 pA, n = 4, *p* \< 0.05) ([Figure 4D](#f0004){ref-type="fig"}). Inhibition of synaptic transmission by DA was reversed by washing with NSS bath solution (−101.33 ± 9.67 pA, n = 4). We next sought to determine whether the DA-mediated reduction in EPSC amplitude was due to changes in vesicle release from the VD4, using the fluorescent styryl dye FM1-43 to visualize synaptic vesicle exocytosis ([Figure 4E](#f0004){ref-type="fig"}). FM1-43 labelled synaptic pairs show intensified labelling at the presynaptic side of the contact site (CS) before (left panel) and after (right panel) simulation ([Figure 4E](#f0004){ref-type="fig"}), indicating the location of the presynaptic recyclable vesicle pool. Exocytosis of FM1-43 labeled vesicles was elicited by a 5s burst of APs induced presynaptically. DA application resulted in a 70.2% (no DA: −4.7 ± 0.8 a.u.; DA: −1.4 ± 0.4 a.u.; n = 5; *p* \< 0.05) reduction in FM1-43 destaining, which could be rescued by 36.2% after wash with NSS bath solution (-3.0 ± 0.6 a.u., n = 5; [Figure 4F](#f0004){ref-type="fig"}). Fewer vesicles situated at the pre- and postsynaptic non-contact sites (non-CSs) were released in response to evoked APs and their release was insensitive to DA ([Figure 4F](#f0004){ref-type="fig"}). Taken together, these findings indicate that DA inhibited synaptic output of the VD4 through suppression of vesicle release. DA inhibits *I*~Ca~ in the VD4 {#s0003-0003} ------------------------------ Activity-induced Ca^2+^ influx is a key determinant of presynaptic vesicle release. We first confirmed and expanded upon earlier findings by \[[@cit0004]\]. that 10 µM DA indeed inhibited the amplitude of *I*~Ca~ in the VD4 ([Figure 5A](#f0005){ref-type="fig"} and [B](#f0005){ref-type="fig"}), without affecting its activation properties ([Figure 5C](#f0005){ref-type="fig"}). However, as a non-physiological square wave (SW) protocol was used to evoke *I*~Ca~, the physiological relevance of the observed inhibition by DA was unclear. Therefore, as shown in [Figure 6A](#f0006){ref-type="fig"}, we employed pre-recorded VD4 AP waveforms (APW) as the voltage clamp command to examine the effect of the same concentration of DA on intracellular Ca^2+^ dynamics during neuronal activity. We then compared the *I~Ca~* peak amplitude induced by either APW ([Figure 6B](#f0006){ref-type="fig"}) or SW ([Figure 6C](#f0006){ref-type="fig"}) in response to 10 μM DA. We found that DA reduced the average peak amplitude of APW-evoked *I*~Ca~ by 36.9 ± 9.01% (n = 4) ([Figure 6B](#f0006){ref-type="fig"}), which was comparable with the extent of DA-mediated reduction observed in *I*~Ca~ elicited by a SW voltage step to peak APW amplitude (+30 mV) (36.10 ± 5.03%, n = 6; p\>0.05) ([Figure 6C](#f0006){ref-type="fig"}). The 10 µM DA-induced reduction of I~Ca~ evoked by SW or APW DA was consistent, as summarized in [Figure 6D](#f0006){ref-type="fig"}. Clearly, DA inhibited Ca^2+^ influx evoked by neuronal activity in the VD4. Prepulse depolarization facilitates *I*~Ca~ in the presence of DA {#s0003-0004} ----------------------------------------------------------------- Next, we sought to investigate the mechanisms underlying DAergic inhibition of *I*~Ca~ in the VD4. GPCR-mediated inhibition of presynaptic voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channels, via the liberated Gβγ subunit, can be detected using a prepulse depolarization that causes unbinding of the Gβγ subunit from the channel and disinhibition of *I*~Ca~ \[[@cit0047],[@cit0054]\] ([Figure 7A](#f0007){ref-type="fig"}). We found that DAergic inhibition of *I*~Ca~ (36.10 ± 5.03%, n=5) in the VD4 was significantly reduced by prepulse depolarization (26.95 ± 3.41%, n=5, *p* \< 0.05) ([Figure 7B](#f0007){ref-type="fig"} and [C](#f0007){ref-type="fig"}). The prepulse had no effect on *I*~Ca~ in the absence of DA ([Figure 7B](#f0007){ref-type="fig"} and [C](#f0007){ref-type="fig"}). These findings suggest that DAergic inhibition of *I*~Ca~ in the VD4 involved Gβγ-dependent signalling. DA inhibits ionomycin-induced synaptic vesicle release from the VD4 {#s0003-0005} ------------------------------------------------------------------- Several studies have shown that neuromodulators can also inhibit presynaptic vesicle release in neurons independently of their effects on Ca^2+^ dynamics, such as through direct G protein-dependent interaction with the exocytic machinery \[[@cit0070],[@cit0011],[@cit0012],[@cit0040],[@cit0041],[@cit0078],[@cit0093],[@cit0100]\]. To investigate the possibility that DA also modulates VD4 synaptic release downstream of Ca^2+^ influx, we employed the ionophore ionomycin to mediate Ca^2+^ entry into the cell independently of voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channels \[[@cit0018]\]. Upon addition of ionomycin, the linear relationship between extracellular Ca^2+^ concentration and FURA-2 imaging of intracellular Ca^2+^ concentration indicated that the source of the Ca^2+^ influx is from the extracellular bath ([Figure 8A](#f0008){ref-type="fig"}). First, we confirmed that ionomycin-induced Ca^2+^ influx was sufficient to trigger vesicle release by monitoring intracellular Ca^2+^ concentration and vesicle release using FURA-2 fluorescence and FM1-43 destaining, respectively ([Figure 8B](#f0008){ref-type="fig"}). We observed that ionomycin caused a rapid influx of Ca^2+^ that then reached an equilibrium level and remained constant. In parallel, FM1-43 fluorescence traces showed two components: a rapid exponential decrease in fluorescence directly after ionomycin application, followed by a slow linear decay in fluorescence. Finally, we examined the effects of DA on ionomycin-induced vesicle release. Interestingly, exogenous DA was still able to attenuate ionomycin-induced vesicle release in the VD4 by 66.9% (no DA: 221.2 ± 35.6 a.u., n = 6; DA: 73.3 ± 11.5 a.u., n = 4; *p* \< 0.05) ([Figure 8C](#f0008){ref-type="fig"} and [D](#f0008){ref-type="fig"}). Taken together, these results indicate that DA also inhibited VD4 synaptic output via voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channel-independent mechanisms. Discussion {#s0003-0006} ---------- In this study, we examined the effects of DA on *I*~Ca~ and vesicle release in a well-characterized molluscan interneuron synapse model. We demonstrated for the first time that DAergic inhibition of synaptic output is mediated through both voltage-dependent and -independent inhibition of voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channels, and voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channel-independent suppression of vesicle release. The DAergic system in *L. stagnalis* {#s0003-0007} ------------------------------------ In mammalian neurons, DA broadly regulates neurotransmission through activation of a family of GPCRs, which are divided into two major classes based on their structural, pharmacological, and signalling properties: D1 and D5 receptors belong to the subfamily of D1-like receptors, whereas D2, D3, and D4 receptors are grouped into the D2-like receptor class. Both D1/3- and D2/4-like receptors have been identified in *L. stagnalis* based on their pharmacological properties, albeit with differing sensitivities to various agonists and antagonists as compared to their vertebrate counterparts \[[@cit0086],[@cit0003],[@cit0048],[@cit0069],[@cit0094]\]. The D1- and D2-like receptors in *L. stagnalis* exhibit differential expression patterns, with the former present on growth cones and the latter on the soma \[[@cit0026]\]. The effects of DA on the VD4 are shown to be mediated by D2-like receptors, as it has been shown that the effets of both synaptically released DA from the RPeD1 and exogenously applied dopamine on the VD4 can be blocked *only* by sulpiride, a D2 receptor antagonist \[[@cit0068]\]. Indeed, DAergic inhibition of *I*~Ca~ in the VD4 \[[@cit0004]\] is consistent with observations of D2 receptor effects in mammalian CNS \[[@cit0074],[@cit0016],[@cit0050],[@cit0073]\]. While the downstream targets and signaling mechanisms of D2-like receptors in *L. stagnalis* remain unclear, previous studies \[[@cit0062],[@cit0061]\]; Knol *et al.*, 1995) and our sequence analyses of G protein subunits ([Figure 2](#f0002){ref-type="fig"}) in the *L. stagnalis* CNS have demonstrated that they are highly homologous to their vertebrate counterparts. Taken together, *L. stagnalis* provides a conserved model for studying DAergic regulation of interneuron function. There are several potential limitations to the cultured VD4 interneuron electrophysiological experimental model employed in studies thus far, including our current report, in recapitulating the physiological conditions of DAergic modulation of interneurons in *L. stagnalis*. As the VD4 likely receives pulsatile DAergic input from the presynaptic rhythmically active pacemaker neuron RPeD1 \[[@cit0085],[@cit0088]\], the bath-applied tonic DA treatment may not fully mimick the effects of phasically released DA on VD4 membrane and synaptic properties *in vivo.* While the sensitivity of cultured VD4 interneurons to bath-applied DA has been characterized \[[@cit0004]\], it is yet unclear what range of DA concentrations act on the VD4 interneuron *in vivo*. Voltage-dependent and independent inhibition of *I*~Ca~ by DA {#s0003-0008} ------------------------------------------------------------- Activity-induced Ca^2+^ influx is a key determinant of presynaptic vesicle release \[[@cit0104]\]. A reduction in the amount of Ca^2+^ influx through voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channels at the active zone would efficiently reduce the probability of synaptic vesicle fusion and therefore neurotransmission \[[@cit0058],[@cit0046]\]. Previous studies have reported that DAergic inhibition of synaptic output in interneurons is associated with reductions in *I*~Ca~ in mammalian interneurons \[[@cit0099],[@cit0016]\]. In this study, we confirmed and expanded upon the findings of \[[@cit0004]\]. by demonstrating that DA inhibits voltage-dependent Ca^2+^ influx elicited by physiologically relevant stimuli, i.e. action potential waveforms, in the VD4. These findings suggest that DA likely inhibits activity-induced Ca^2+^ influx in the presynaptic terminal that is required for neurotransmitter release. Prepulse facilitation of VD4 *I*~Ca~ in the presence of DA indicates that this inhibition is mediated in part through voltage-dependent G-protein--mediated inhibition, which is shown to be mediated through direct binding of membrane-delimited Gβγ to cytoplasmic regions of the α1 subunit of Ca~V~2 family of voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channels, resulting in delay of the activation kinetics and a depolarizing shift in the activation voltage of the channel \[[@cit0027],[@cit0005],[@cit0031],[@cit0036],[@cit0047],[@cit0054],[@cit0103]\]. In this study, we observed only a reduction in *I*~Ca~ amplitude without changes in its activation kinetics. As the effects of Gβγ-mediated inhibition are shown to be dependent on the Ca~V~ β subunit subtype \[[@cit0017],[@cit0032]\], this may in part be due to differences in the *L. stagnalis* and mammalian Ca~v~ β subunit properties. A previous study reported that the *L. stagnalis* Ca~V~2 ortholog, *L*Ca~V~2, does not exhibit prepulse facilitation when co-expressed in HEK-293T cells with rat orthologs of the Ca~V~2 channel accessory subunits α2δ1 and β1b and G protein subunits β1 and γ2 \[[@cit0051]\]. As protein-protein interaction between LCa~V~2 and rat Gβ1γ2 was not directly confirmed in the study, and given the sequence divergence we observed between *L. stagnalis* and vertebrate Gβ ([Figure 2C](#f0002){ref-type="fig"}), Gγ ([Figure 2D](#f0002){ref-type="fig"}), and Ca~V~2 channel Gβγ binding sites ([Figure 3](#f0003){ref-type="fig"}), the discrepancies between our findings may be attributable in part to non-canonical associations between LCa~V~2 and mammalian Gβγ protein. In addition, endogenous factors present in *L. stagnalis* neurons but absent in HEK-293T cells may also be required for the G protein-mediated voltage-dependent regulation of LCa~V~2 channels observed in this study. Figure 3.Protein sequence alignment and phylogenetic tree of the Cav2 channel in *L. stagnalis*. *A*, Amino acid sequence comparison of the Gβγ binding sites on the single *L. stagnalis* Cav2 channel isoform, LCav2, N-terminus cytoplasmic tail (*A1*) and I-II linker region (*A2-3*) with vertebrate orthologs of Cav2.1 and Cav2.2. Conserved and similar sequences in alignments are colored as black and grey boxes, respectively. Gaps are denoted by dashes. *B*, Phylogenetic analysis was conducted by the Maximum Likelihood method using the JTT+G model. Bootstrap value from 500 replicates are shown next to each node. The scale bars indicate the estimated evolutionary distance in the units of the number of amino acid substitutions per site. Figure 4.DA inhibits vesicle release from VD4 interneurons. *A*, DIC image of a soma-soma synaptic pair. VD4 and LPeD1 were isolated and placed in culture for 24 hours to allow for soma-soma synapse formation. *B*, Schematic of the dual-clamp configuration to simultaneously monitor pre- and post-synaptic activity in synaptically paired VD4 and LPeD1. *C*, Representative traces of simultaneous pre-synaptic action potentials (APs) recoreded from VD4 cell and excitatory post-synaptic currents (EPSCs) recorded from LPeD1 cells, before (left) and after (right) DA application. *D*, Summary of the amplitude of the first EPSCs recorded from LPeD1 cells, before (Ctrl), during (1 µM DA) and after (Wash) dopamine application. *E*, Representatives of FM1-43 imaging showing distribution of FM1-43 staining with high intensity at the cell-contact region (arrow, CS), as well as the sites of non-contact site (white dashed line ovals) at the pre- (Pre Non-CS, VD4 cell) and post-synaptic cells (Post non-CS, LPeD1 cell) respectively. FM1-43 labelling before (left panel) and after (right panel) action potential stimuli in VD4 cells. The reduction in fluorescence intensity at CS indicates the presynaptic vesicle release. *F*, Summary of the changes in FM1-43 signal at the different regions indicated in *E*, showing DA inhibits vesicle release from the VD4 at the CS, but not at non-CSs. The patterns of the bars showing the sites of the images were taken, and the sequence of the bars with different background color shows the recording conditions, in order of control (first bar, white), 1 uM DA (second bar, grey) and wash (third bar, white), at indicated sites where fluorescent intensities were taken. \**p* \< 0.05. Figure 5.DA inhibits *I*~Ca~ in VD4 interneurons. *A*, Whole cell voltage clamp recordings were performed in VD4 interneurons to characterize the effects of DA on *I*~Ca.~ Representative traces of *I*~Ca~ elicited by SW voltage steps in the VD4 before (left) and after (right) DA application. *B*, Representative IV relationship of peak *I*~Ca~ before and after DA application, and after washout. *C*, Representative activation curves of *I*~Ca~ before and after DA application. Figure 6.DA inhibits action potential waveform (APW)-evoked *I*~Ca~ in VD4 interneurons~.~ *A*, To mimic physiologically relevant neuronal activity, APs recorded from a VD4 interneuron were used to elicit *I*~Ca~ in whole cell voltage-clamped cultured VD4 interneurons. Upper panel: APWs recorded from VD4 cells were used as the stimulus protocol. Lower panel: the inward I~Ca~ recorded in response to each APW stimulus. *B*, Representative traces of APW-evoked *I*~Ca~ in the absence or presence of DA. *C*, Representative traces of *I*~Ca~ evoked by a square-waveform (SW) voltage step from the resting membrane potential of −70 mV to +30 mV, the APW peak amplitude (+30mV), in the absence or presence of DA. *D*, Comparable reductions are observed in SW- and APW-evoked *I*~Ca~ in the presence of DA. \* *p* \< 0.05. Figure 7.Prepulse facilitation of *I*~Ca~ in VD4 interneurons in the presence of DA. *A*, The prepulse protocol employed in whole cell voltage clamp recordings of VD4 interneurons. *B*, Representative traces of *I*~Ca~ evoked by the test pulse without (solid line) and with (dashed line) a prepulse, in the absence or presence of DA. *C*, Significant recovery of *I*~Ca~ by prepulse depolarization is observed only in the presence of DA. *\* p* \< 0.05. Figure 8.DA inhibits vesicle release from VD4 interneurons downstream of Ca^2+^ influx. *A*, Ionomycin-evoked Ca^2+^ influx in the VD4 interneuron, as measured by averaged FURA-2 signal from four proximal-membrane regions (inset), is proportional to extracellular Ca^2+^ concentration (\[Ca\]~o~). *B*, Ionomycin-induced Ca^2+^ influx, as measured by FURA-2 signal (grey), is sufficient to induce vesicle release, as indicated by FM1-43 destaining (black). *C*, Representative FM1-43 destaining curve upon ionomycin application (arrow) in the absence (filled) or presence (open) of DA. *D*, Ionomycin-induced vesicle release from VD4 interneurons is significantly reduced in the presence of DA. \* *p* \< 0.05. The depolarizing prepulse relieved only ∼30% of DAergic inhibition of *I*~Ca~ in the VD4 in our study, suggesting that DA also inhibited *I*~Ca~ through a voltage-independent mechanism. G protein-mediated voltage-independent inhibition of LCa~V~2 in the VD4 has been reported to be mediated through the Gα subunit and increases in cAMP levels, with a slow time course on the scale of minutes \[[@cit0051]\]. Slow but persistent voltage-independent G protein-mediated inhibition of voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channels has also been well-documented in mammalian neurons \[[@cit0009],[@cit0006],[@cit0007],[@cit0022],[@cit0056],[@cit0066],[@cit0083],[@cit0087],[@cit0102]\] and shown to be mediated by a variety of mechanisms, including regulation of Ca~v~ surface expression levels through direct interaction with GPCRs \[[@cit0059],[@cit0060]\] and phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP~2~) depletion \[[@cit0049],[@cit0038]\] and kinase activation \[[@cit0080],[@cit0025]\]. Parallel activation of voltage-dependent and independent inhibition of voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channels has been hypothesized to allow for fine-tuning of intracellular Ca^2+^ levels and activity-dependent plasticity \[[@cit0066],[@cit0014],[@cit0051],[@cit0076],[@cit0095]\]. The relative ratio between voltage-dependent and -independent modes of inhibition in chick sensory neurons is shown to be critically dependent on intracellular Gβγ concentration \[[@cit0064]\]. Activation of D2 receptors induces both voltage-dependent and -independent inhibition of the N-type voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channels in HEK-293T cells \[[@cit0060]\] and differentiated NG108-15 cells \[[@cit0015]\]. Consistent with the previous reports, our findings demonstrated DA effects are mediated by both voltage-dependent and -independent inhibition. It is likely that the synaptically released DA level onto interneurons varies, and thus can differentially modify interneuron intracellular Ca^2+^ dynamics and synaptic output, thereby inducing cellular and circuit-wide plasticity. DAergic inhibition of vesicle release downstream of Ca^2+^ influx {#s0003-0009} ----------------------------------------------------------------- In neurons and secretory cells, GPCRs can inhibit vesicle release in parallel with changes in *I*~Ca~ \[[@cit0070],[@cit0018],[@cit0024],[@cit0077],[@cit0084]\]. This inhibition can occur through direct binding of the Gβγ subunit to the C-terminus of the SNARE protein SNAP-25, thereby displacing synaptotagmin and preventing vesicle exocytosis \[[@cit0040],[@cit0093],[@cit0105]\]. Gβγ is also known to interact with several other proteins involved in synaptic vesicle release, including syntaxin, VAMP, CSP and synaptotagmin \[[@cit0055]\]. Binding of Gβγ to these proteins may alter their function and/or interaction with other proteins in the exocytic machinery, thereby inhibiting vesicle release downstream of Ca^2+^ influx \[[@cit0090]\]. While no direct interaction between G protein and presynaptic proteins have been reported in *L. stagnalis*, they are shown to be homologous in structure and function to their vertebrate counterparts ([Figure 2](#f0002){ref-type="fig"}) \[[@cit0062],[@cit0061]\]; Knol *et al.*, 1995; \[[@cit0035],[@cit0043]\]. Here we employed the ionophore ionomycin to induce Ca^2+^-dependent synaptic release independently of voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channel activation, as it has been shown in hippocampal neurons that ionomycin-induced synaptic release is unaffected by the voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channel blocker Cd^2+^ \[[@cit0018]\]. We demonstrated that DA inhibits vesicle release from VD4 interneurons downstream of activity-induced Ca^2+^ influx. Our finding suggests that *L. stagnalis* may serve as an easily tractable model in which to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of G protein-mediated modulation of synaptic release. Potential functional significance of redundant mechanisms of DAergic inhibition of synaptic transmission in interneurons {#s0003-0010} ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In this study, we provide the first demonstration that inhibition of *I*~Ca~ and direct inhibition of synaptic vesicle release all contribute to DAergic presynaptic inhibition in interneurons. It may be hypothesized that whereas the Gβγ subunit-mediated voltage-dependent inhibition allows for rapid activity-dependent regulation of synaptic transmission, the voltage-independent inhibition of *I*~Ca~ and direct inhibition of vesicle release machinery may allow for more persistent and nuanced inhibition of interneuron synaptic output \[[@cit0066],[@cit0014],[@cit0051],[@cit0076],[@cit0095]\]. Indeed, strong but modifiable inhibition of the VD4 activity may be integral to respiratory control in *L. stagnalis*. In the context of the respiratory CPG network, the VD4 controls the muscles that close the pneumostome \[[@cit0089]\]. Increased firing of the RPeD1 neuron, which results in increased DA release onto VD4, coincides with opening of the pneumostome and initiation of the inspiration phase \[[@cit0088]\]. Therefore, complete inhibition of VD4 output during this phase is likely crucial to prevent interruption of inspiration and thus generating normal rhythmic respiration behaviour. In addition, the capacity for activity-dependent plasticity in the VD4 response to DA, endowed by voltage-dependent inhibition of voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channels, may be important for the well-documented hypoxia and learning-induced modulation of CPG activity and aerial respiration behaviour in *L. stagnalis* \[[@cit0067],[@cit0008]\]. Conclusion {#s0003-0011} ---------- In this study, we provide the first demonstration that DA suppresses synaptic output of a molluscan respiratory interneuron through both voltage-dependent and -independent inhibition of *I*~Ca~, and voltage-gated Ca^2+^ channel-independent inhibition of synaptic vesicle release. In future studies, the relative sensitivity and function of each pathway and any potential interactions between them will be further investigated to expand our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms that shape interneuron function and neuronal network dynamics. Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest ============================================= No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed. Acknowledgments =============== This work was supported by an operating grant from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to HSS (RGPIN-2016-04574) and ZPF (RGPIN-2014-06471). ND was a recipient of Canadian Graduate Studentship of NSERC (NSERC-CGS-D). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. Author contributions ==================== ZPF conceived and designed research, DL performed experiments; DL & ND analyzed data and prepared figures; ND, DL, HSS, ZPF interpreted results of experiments and wrote the manuscript. [^1]: These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Identification of a sodium pump Na+/K+ ATPase α1-targeted peptide for PET imaging of breast cancer. The sodium pump Na+/K+ ATPase a1 subunit(NKA a1), an attractive cancer-related biomarker and therapeutic target, is closely related to the development and progression of several cancers including breast cancer. Currently, a NKA a1 inhibitor, UNBS1450, has already evidenced its great therapeutic potential in personalized cancer treatment. The ability of non-invasive imaging of NKA a1 expression would be useful for selecting cancer patients who may benefit from this drug. Here, we identified an S3 peptide that is specifically homed to breast cancer by phage display. All data of in vitro and in vivo experiments suggested the excellent targeting character of the S3 peptide. As the binding activity of the S3 phage was positively correlated to the level of NKA α1 expression in various breast cancer cells, NKA α1 was validated as the primary target of the S3 peptide. Based on immunohistochemistry staining result of 107 breast cancer patients, NKA α1 was verified to be a novel tracking marker and a prognostic predictor for breast cancer. Importantly, we proposed and validated an S3 peptide-based radiotracer 18F-ALF-NOTA-S3 for PET (Positron Emission Tomography) imaging of breast cancer and other NKA α1-overexpressing cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma and non-small cell lung cancer, in mouse models. Our findings demonstrated the potential application of 18F-ALF-NOTA-S3 for visualization of NKA α1-positive lesions, which provide a new approach to character tumor phenotypic imaging.

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Synthesis of size controllable cu-phthalocyanine nanofibers by simple solvent diffusion method and their electrochemical properties. Tetra (2-isopropyl-5-methylphenoxy) substituted Cu-phthalocyanine nanofibers were obtained in large scale by a simple solvent diffusion method. The sizes of the fibers can be finely tuned under different solvent temperature. FE-SEM micrographs indicate that the length of the fibers changed from several hundreds micrometers to several hundreds nanometers and the width changed from several micrometers to several decade nanometers. XRD measurement showed a highly long-range ordered lamellar arrangement of the substituted Cu-phthalocyanine molecules in the microfiber and the UV-vis absorption spectrum of the fibers indicated an H-aggregate of the phthalocyanine molecules. The CV curves elucidate the CuPc fibers can be fabricated Faraday pseudocapacitor.

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Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano erupted twice on Friday night, giving off spectacular flashes of light followed by dazzling incandescent material spilling out of the crater and down the mountain side. The first eruption occurred at 10:44 p.m. local time, before shooting off another blast less than one hour later, at 11:22 p.m. The eruptions sent large columns of ash and smoke up to 2 kilometres into the air, with ash raining down on surrounding areas.

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(* * Solution to Project Euler problem 173 * Copyright (c) Project Nayuki. All rights reserved. * * https://www.nayuki.io/page/project-euler-solutions * https://github.com/nayuki/Project-Euler-solutions *) (* * Let n be the side length of the lamina, k be the side length of the hole, and T be the number of tiles we have. * * The smallest possible lamina is a 3*3 square with a hole in the middle. The largest possible lamina consumes as many tiles as possible * in a thin square outline with a side length of floor(T/4) + 1. (The hole has side length floor(T/4) - 1.) Thus 3 <= n <= floor(T/4) + 1. * * Since the lamina is symmetrical, the side length of the hole is even if and only if the side length of the lamina is even (same parity). * The smallest possible hole is 1*1 or 2*2. The largest possible hole has side length n - 2. Thus 1 <= k <= n - 2. * * The number of tiles used in a lamina is n^2 - k^2, so we have the constraint that 0 < n^2 - k^2 <= T. * We can rearrange this inequality to get k^2 >= n^2 - T. For a given n: * - If n^2 - T <= 0, then this inequality is true for every k, so the set of valid k's is {1 or 2, ..., n - 2}. * The size of this set is floor((n - 1) / 2). * - Otherwise, the inequality implies that k >= ceil(sqrt(n^2 - T)). The set of valid k's is as follows: * {m, m+2, m+4, ..., n-2}, where m the lowest number such that m >= ceil(sqrt(n^2 - T)) and m has the same parity as n. * The size of this set is floor((n - m) / 2). * * Now all we have to do is sum up the sizes of the sets of allowed k's, for n in the range [3, floor(T/4)+1]. *) tiles = 10^6; Sum[ Floor[(n - If[n * n - tiles <= 0, 1, Ceiling[Sqrt[n * n - tiles]]]) / 2], {n, 3, Floor[tiles / 4] + 1}]

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#version 450 layout(early_fragment_tests) in; layout(depth_greater) out float gl_FragDepth; void main() { gl_FragDepth = 0.5; }

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Earlier today, Microsoft said that it will make available .NET Framework libraries under a "Reference" license. Anyone accepting the license agreement would be able to look at the code but not modify or redistribute it. The question: Would anyone really want to open this Pandora's Box? My colleague Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols sure doesn't think so. "Microsoft's so-called opening up of .NET Framework is setting a trap for open-source programmers," he asserts. "Open-source developers should avoid this code at all costs." SJVN's conclusion: Anyone viewing the source code could later be accused of using code or concepts in other projects. This is one situation where the phrase, "What you don't know can't hurt you," really applies. For some developers, looking into this code could be the same as looking into the abyss. The risk is greatest for commercial and open-source developers and least for those doing in-house corporate applications. Microsoft isn't much in the business of suing its customers, but the company has already laid claim—assertion of 235 patent violations—against open-source software. Microsoft has the means and incentive to sue open-source developers, and .NET Framework code could make the assault that much easier.

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Q: How do I connect to the default instance of SQL Server if a "named instance" parameter is required? I'm installing some software and I need to tell it to use the default instance of SQL Server, however the Installshield GUI insists that I enter in information for a named instance. The target SQL Server is version 2008R2 I'm hoping there is a clean hack that I can use such as "." or "default" but I haven't guessed it yet. I've also tried MSSQLSERVER, and that didn't work either. A: Run this query: SELECT @@SERVERNAME + '\' + @@SERVICENAME AS InstanceName and use the result as your instance name. A: If you have a default instance configured just use the server hostname as instance A: All SQL server instances are stored in the Windows Registry. You can query the registry by using the Windows tool C:\Windows\System32\Regedt32.exe and browse/search there, you can do it by using a language, like C#  (see Example 1 there) or even T-SQL (also known as Transact-SQL). In this answer, I'll show you how to do it with T-SQL. Use this script, which I found here, to determine ServerName, InstanceName, HostName and PortNumber: set nocount on Declare @key Varchar(100), @PortNumber varchar(20) if charindex('\',CONVERT(char(20), SERVERPROPERTY('servername')),0) <>0 begin set @key = 'SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\Microsoft SQL Server\'+@@servicename+'\MSSQLServer\Supersocketnetlib\TCP' end else begin set @key = 'SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\MSSQLServer\MSSQLServer\Supersocketnetlib\TCP' end EXEC master..xp_regread @rootkey = 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE', @key = @key, @value_name = 'Tcpport', @value = @PortNumber OUTPUT SELECT CONVERT(char(20), SERVERPROPERTY('servername')) ServerName, CONVERT(char(20), SERVERPROPERTY('InstanceName')) InstanceName, CONVERT(char(20), SERVERPROPERTY('MachineName')) as HostName, convert(varchar(10), @PortNumber) PortNumber If the InstanceName is null, it means there is no named instance configured, then you have two, non-exclusive options: Specify the ServerName to access the default instance - or - Use the Sql Server Configuration Manager -> SQL Native Client XX.Y Configuration -> Aliases to define an alias. For example: will set up alias Inst1 for the local SQL server. Specify (local)\Inst1,1433 to access it. Of course, instead of (local) you can also use the ServerName. IMPORTANT: After setting up the alias, you need to restart the SQL service of the related instance or reboot your PC, otherwise it will not be accessible immediately. If you're using a port other than the default port 1433, you might need to open your local firewall in order to get this working. Note: If you don't have it in the start menu, the SQL Server Configuration Manager can be found in C:\Windows\System32. Look for SqlServerManagerXX.msc (where XX is the SQL version, e.g. XX=11 or XX=13).

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This Notebook Helps You Stay Zen In a Hectic World Technology has made it easy to digitally plan your day, but using smartphones and laptops to manage your calendar leaves plenty of room for getting sucked into a Facebook comment thread, spending way too much time browsing through Amazon, or accidentally liking an old romantic partner’s Instagram photo (whoops!). Staying focused and in the moment is hard, but Corso seeks to make things a little easier with their Mindful Notebook. The Mindful Notebook was successfully funded on Kickstarter by hundreds of backers seeking an old-school way to stay on task. The top of every page features an inspirational quote to get you in a positive headspace, and underneath there’s plenty of room to make lists, set goals, or just spill your thoughts. The Gratitude Patience section at the bottom of each page gives you a place to think back about what went right every day, so you don’t lose sight of what’s going well, and with every purchase, Corso makes a donation to the Foundation for a Mindful Society to help other people reach peak zen. The Mindful Notebook is a thoughtful approach to planning your day and keeping your goals at the forefront without losing sight of what’s truly important. You can snag one today for the sale price of $21.99 and start gearing up and zen-ing out.

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The long-term goal of Dr. Bradbury's laboratory is to understand the mechanism of endocytosis of ion channels, using endocytosis of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) as an experimental system. CFTR is important in the regulation of chloride secretion by the cAMP-mediated second messenger cascade, and mutations in CFTR give rise to the human genetic disease cystic fibrosis (CF). Our working model predicts that cAMP not only increases the open probability (Po) of CFTR, but also regulates the number (N) of CFTR molecules in the plasma membrane. Endocytosis of CFTR is a major mechanism for acutely regulating the distribution of CFTR between the plasma membrane and subcellular organelles such as endosomes and recycling vesicles. Therefore endocytosis may partly determine the magnitude of the secretory response to cAMP mediated agonists. However, the mechanisms of the specific steps of CFTR endocytosis are not yet fully understood. Proposed research will focus on the steps and molecular interactions necessary for the endocytosis of CFTR. The emphasis of the project will be on the search for and characterization of clathrin adaptor molecules that allow effective interaction of CFTR with a plasma membrane clathrin coated pit, a key element of the endocytic apparatus. The general strategy of these studies falls into two related directions. We will determine which sites on CFTR directly bind to plasma membrane adaptor proteins, and determine which subunits of the adaptor proteins are responsible for this interaction. Identification of binding sites for adaptor proteins should provide a basis for understanding the mechanisms of specificity in CFTR endocytosis. We will analyze the role of CFTR phosphorylation in this interaction, to determine if phosphorylation status of CFTR modulates its affinity for adaptor proteins and hence efficiency of endocytosis. These studies will be accompanied by a kinetic analysis of CFTR endocytosis in cells expressing mutants of CFTR which lack plasma membrane adaptor binding motifs. Similarly the endocytic kinetics of CFTR phosphorylation mutants will be evaluated in the presence and absence of cAMP raising agents. Studies of the dynamics of CFTR internalization may, in turn, help identify other proteins regulating CFTR endocytosis. Results from our studies should allow us to design experimental approaches to prevent the endocytosis of CFTR mutants that reach the plasma membrane but have a low open probability upon activation.

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#include "fw-util.h" #include <cstdio> #include <cstring> #include <openbmc/pal.h> using namespace std; class CpldFpgaComponent : public Component { string comp; uint8_t fru_id = 0; public: CpldFpgaComponent(string fru, string _comp, uint8_t _fru_id) : Component(fru, _comp), comp(_comp) ,fru_id(_fru_id) {} int print_version() { uint8_t ver[8] = {0}; string comp_upper(comp); size_t find_len = 0; transform(comp_upper.begin(), comp_upper.end(), comp_upper.begin(), ::toupper); find_len = comp_upper.find("_"); if (find_len != string::npos) { comp_upper.replace(find_len, 1, " "); } printf("%s: ", comp_upper.c_str()); try { /* Print CPLD Version */ if (pal_get_cpld_fpga_fw_ver(fru_id, (char *)comp.c_str(), ver)) { printf("NA\n"); } else { if(fru_id == FRU_CPLD) { printf("%u.%u.%u\n", ver[0], ver[1], ver[2]); } else { printf("%u.%u\n", ver[0], ver[1]); } } } catch (string err) { printf("NA (%s)\n", err.c_str()); } return 0; } }; // Register CPLD FW components CpldFpgaComponent scmcpld("cpld", SCM_CPLD, FRU_CPLD); CpldFpgaComponent smbcpld("cpld", SMB_CPLD, FRU_CPLD); CpldFpgaComponent fcmcpld_t("cpld", FCM_CPLD_T, FRU_CPLD); CpldFpgaComponent fcmcpld_b("cpld", FCM_CPLD_B, FRU_CPLD); CpldFpgaComponent pwrcpld_l("cpld", PWR_CPLD_L, FRU_CPLD); CpldFpgaComponent pwrcpld_r("cpld", PWR_CPLD_R, FRU_CPLD); // Register FPGA FW components CpldFpgaComponent pim1_domfpga("fpga", PIM1_DOM_FPGA, FRU_FPGA); CpldFpgaComponent pim2_domfpga("fpga", PIM2_DOM_FPGA, FRU_FPGA); CpldFpgaComponent pim3_domfpga("fpga", PIM3_DOM_FPGA, FRU_FPGA); CpldFpgaComponent pim4_domfpga("fpga", PIM4_DOM_FPGA, FRU_FPGA); CpldFpgaComponent pim5_domfpga("fpga", PIM5_DOM_FPGA, FRU_FPGA); CpldFpgaComponent pim6_domfpga("fpga", PIM6_DOM_FPGA, FRU_FPGA); CpldFpgaComponent pim7_domfpga("fpga", PIM7_DOM_FPGA, FRU_FPGA); CpldFpgaComponent pim8_domfpga("fpga", PIM8_DOM_FPGA, FRU_FPGA); CpldFpgaComponent iobfpga("fpga", IOB_FPGA, FRU_FPGA);

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Artist Statement I have had a life long love affair with fabrics and fiber. I learned traditional needle arts from 3 generations of women in my family, and while they used their talents for necessity or hobbies, I have been fortunate to be able to expand on these basic skills and express myself as a fiber artist. I specialize in realistic and representational nature scenes. My inspiration begins with places I've seen, from girlhood vacations in upper Minnesota to trips around the US and beyond. I manipulate traditional and non-traditional fabrics for depth and texture. I especially love working with batiks, silks, polyester, and light-weight upholstery. To these, I add sheers and netting to manipulate color and add layers to my art, which allows me to gain to depth of color necessary for me to paint pictures with fabric. I study photographs and employ continuous experimentation, refining construction techniques to capture details. Recently, I have begun to explore to possibility of creating three dimensional structures with fiber in order to increase the capacity, scale and realism of my work. From close-up pieces that show fine detail, to panoramic vistas that display sweeping landscapes, my art illustrates my passion to take the precise color and textural elements found in nature and translate them into meaningful expressions of nature's beauty.

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/* * SonarQube * Copyright (C) 2009-2020 SonarSource SA * mailto:info AT sonarsource DOT com * * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public * License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either * version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. * * 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 * Lesser General Public License for more details. * * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, * Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA. */ package org.sonar.api.utils.log; import java.io.PrintStream; import org.junit.Rule; import org.junit.Test; import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor; import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat; import static org.mockito.Mockito.anyString; import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock; import static org.mockito.Mockito.startsWith; import static org.mockito.Mockito.times; import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify; import static org.mockito.Mockito.verifyZeroInteractions; public class ConsoleLoggerTest { private PrintStream stream = mock(PrintStream.class); private ConsoleLogger underTest = new ConsoleLogger(stream); @Rule public LogTester tester = new LogTester(); @Test public void debug_enabled() { tester.setLevel(LoggerLevel.DEBUG); assertThat(underTest.isDebugEnabled()).isTrue(); assertThat(underTest.isTraceEnabled()).isFalse(); underTest.debug("message"); underTest.debug("message {}", "foo"); underTest.debug("message {} {}", "foo", "bar"); underTest.debug("message {} {} {}", "foo", "bar", "baz"); verify(stream).println("DEBUG message"); verify(stream).println("DEBUG message foo"); verify(stream).println("DEBUG message foo bar"); verify(stream).println("DEBUG message foo bar baz"); assertThat(tester.logs(LoggerLevel.DEBUG)).containsExactly( "message", "message foo", "message foo bar", "message foo bar baz"); } @Test public void debug_disabled() { tester.setLevel(LoggerLevel.INFO); assertThat(underTest.isDebugEnabled()).isFalse(); assertThat(underTest.isTraceEnabled()).isFalse(); underTest.debug("message"); underTest.debug("message {}", "foo"); underTest.debug("message {} {}", "foo", "bar"); underTest.debug("message {} {} {}", "foo", "bar", "baz"); verifyZeroInteractions(stream); } @Test public void trace_enabled() { tester.setLevel(LoggerLevel.TRACE); assertThat(underTest.isDebugEnabled()).isTrue(); assertThat(underTest.isTraceEnabled()).isTrue(); underTest.trace("message"); underTest.trace("message {}", "foo"); underTest.trace("message {} {}", "foo", "bar"); underTest.trace("message {} {} {}", "foo", "bar", "baz"); verify(stream, times(4)).println(anyString()); } @Test public void trace_disabled() { tester.setLevel(LoggerLevel.DEBUG); assertThat(underTest.isTraceEnabled()).isFalse(); underTest.trace("message"); underTest.trace("message {}", "foo"); underTest.trace("message {} {}", "foo", "bar"); underTest.trace("message {} {} {}", "foo", "bar", "baz"); verifyZeroInteractions(stream); } @Test public void log_info() { underTest.info("message"); underTest.info("message {}", "foo"); underTest.info("message {} {}", "foo", "bar"); underTest.info("message {} {} {}", "foo", "bar", "baz"); verify(stream).println("INFO message"); verify(stream).println("INFO message foo"); verify(stream).println("INFO message foo bar"); verify(stream).println("INFO message foo bar baz"); assertThat(tester.logs(LoggerLevel.INFO)).containsExactly( "message", "message foo", "message foo bar", "message foo bar baz"); } @Test public void log_warn() { Throwable throwable = mock(Throwable.class); underTest.warn("message"); underTest.warn("message {}", "foo"); underTest.warn("message {} {}", "foo", "bar"); underTest.warn("message {} {} {}", "foo", "bar", "baz"); underTest.warn("message with exception", throwable); ArgumentCaptor<String> captor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(String.class); verify(stream, times(5)).println(captor.capture()); for (String msg : captor.getAllValues()) { assertThat(msg).startsWith("WARN "); } verify(throwable).printStackTrace(); assertThat(tester.logs(LoggerLevel.WARN)).containsExactly( "message", "message foo", "message foo bar", "message foo bar baz", "message with exception"); } @Test public void log_error() { underTest.error("message"); underTest.error("message {}", "foo"); underTest.error("message {} {}", "foo", "bar"); underTest.error("message {} {} {}", "foo", "bar", "baz"); underTest.error("message with exception", new IllegalArgumentException()); verify(stream, times(5)).println(startsWith("ERROR ")); assertThat(tester.logs(LoggerLevel.ERROR)).containsExactly( "message", "message foo", "message foo bar", "message foo bar baz", "message with exception"); } @Test public void level_change_not_implemented_yet() { assertThat(underTest.setLevel(LoggerLevel.DEBUG)).isFalse(); } }

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Q: How to add classes to images based on their categories? I need to be able to: 1.) assign categories to images and 2.) add classes to all images that correspond to their assigned categories. I was able to add categories to images with the following: function ug_add_categories_to_attachments() { register_taxonomy_for_object_type( 'category', 'attachment' ); } add_action( 'init' , 'ug_add_categories_to_attachments' ); And I found a function to add a class to images as so: function add_image_class($class){ $class .= ' additional-class'; return $class; } add_filter('get_image_tag_class','add_image_class'); But I'm not advanced enough with php to take it much further. I tried this function ug_add_image_class($class){ foreach(get_the_category() as $cat) { $class .= ' category-'.$cat->slug; }; return $class; } add_filter('get_image_tag_class','ug_add_image_class'); but no love... Help? Ideas? Please? and Happy Friday! A: Much thanks to birgire at the referenced url for the answer: /** * Append the image categories to the current image class. * * @see http://wordpress.stackexchange.com/a/156576/26350 */ add_filter( 'get_image_tag_class', function( $class, $id, $align, $size ) { foreach( (array) get_the_category( $id ) as $cat ) { $class .= ' category-' . $cat->slug; } return $class; } , 10, 4 );

High

If you frequent comic conventions, there's a good chance you've spotted the iconic banner of the Wuvable Oaf at one point or another. The large hairy, naked wrestler wearing nothing more than pink underwear with a cat's face in front, his scary eyes glaring and taunting you to come over through shear intrigue and curiosity. Or fear. Creator Ed Luce has the Wuvable Oaf collected hardcover coming out from Fantagraphics this month, collecting the first five years of his wildly entertaining comic. The wuvable creator was on hand at WonderCon this past weekend and was nice enough to sit down and answer a few of my oafish questions. Cameron Hatheway: Tell me all about Wuvable Oaf. How did it all begin? What makes him so wuvable? Ed Luce: Well he started out actually as a paper doll design. I was asked to contribute to a paper doll themed show, and the core of the character, the most recognizable image of him is completely naked but has a little pair of underwear on with a cat face on the front of it. So that was the blank doll, and he's scary looking obviously, he has pink eyes and this grill of pink teeth, a heavy beard and he's hairy. All his outfits around him were The Smiths t-shirts, or a onesie pajama pants with cats crawling all over it, or a powdered blue jogging suit. So the Wuvable Oaf concept was kind of set up there. I moved up to San Francisco after that and started to go to comic book shows and had a lifelong interest in comics, but never thought I could make one, until I went to the Alternative Press Expo and discovered the Prism Comics booth there. Prism Comics is a non-profit LGBT organization that supports queer comic creators. And I was paging through, and I thought, "This is great! I didn't know this existed," but I didn't see a character whose story I felt reflected my own experience. You know the best way to create something is to fill a vacuum or create something that you want to see. That's kind of how the Oaf was born, I just said, "You know, I'm sick of seeing these big heavy guys either be the villains in comics, or the butts of a lot of jokes, without any kind of telling their story from their point of view." I am not a big guy, but I know a lot of big guys. The character was influenced by a lot of my friends, so he's kind of an amalgam of a lot of my friends. If you're a student of comics, you can see him making a lot of references to Nancy; Sluggo from the Nancy comics, Bluto from the Popeye comics, he's kind of that type but he's been given the center stage, so that's the heart of the comic. CH: How much of yourself did you put into Oaf? For instance, are you a retired professional wrestler? How many cats do you own? EL: I call it "exaggerated autobio." My life is not that interesting in of and itself, like from a memoir standpoint, but I think my perspective is. There are a lot of nuggets of truth in the comic, especially from my dating experience. The dynamic in the comic is of this big, oafish guy, who kind of likes smaller guys. That's been kind of my dating dynamic, prior to meeting my partner of course. But I always say the Oaf is me on the inside, I'm not physically that size but he's kind of the guy that my mom raised, the "mama's boy." He's very friendly, a people pleaser. The Eiffel character, his sort of primary love interest, is more physically me. He's smaller and also the negative side of my personality, like all the pettiness and jealously and all of that. They kind of are represented in these two characters. And when they get together it becomes this weird, almost self-portrait, like a comic conceptual self-portrait. So that part of it is very much me. But also as I said, a lot of the characters are based on friends, and again I know a lot of big guys who I base the characters on them. I do have one cat. A lot of people see the comic and think I'm a cat hoarder, and I'm not! The cats ended up in the comic because I had ended a long-term relationship when I moved to San Francisco, and we had cats, and I didn't want to break them up too, so I left them with my Ex and I just miss my cats. They kind of also are fun to play off of the big scary guy; the cute kitties and the big scary guy, there's a nice tension that kind of develops. And I think people are just also attracted to cats. That was a nice byproduct of what I put out there. To a certain degree you try to control, and you put out a message, and you think you know how people are going to react. But when you put something out into the world, that's what's great about art, it gets picked-up and turned into something else by the feedback and peoples reaction to it. The cats have definitely become a big part of the storyline. I've given them their own storyline, a lot of their part in the book is just me trying to explain their weird behavior, the kind of unknowable feline psychology works its way into the book. I only have one cat strangely enough. We waited several years before we got that one. She's one cat, but has many personalities, so I think she's a legion, a split-personalities of cats in one cat, so one is enough for me. CH: Can we expect to see a plush doll line of the cats stuffed with your body hair? EL: Oh god no! I don't think I have strength. My partner is fairly furry but he doesn't grow his hair back as quickly as the Oaf does. I mean I've looked at merchandising for toys and things like that. When I make merchandise, I'm more of make what I would buy, so I don't own a lot of stuffed animals. But I have gotten into the figure market a little bit. I'm lucky enough to have a collaborator in Erik Erspamer, he's a Phoenix based sculptor and he's been making figures for me. The stuffed doll thing, maybe somewhere down the line we could get into licensing and doing that, I would love to— CH: Like maybe one of those WWE Brawlin' Buddies! EL: Yeah totally! We could do that, I'm just a licensing agreement away. CH: What's the reception been like in the LGBT community? Are people fans of the character, or feel like he's putting bears in a negative light? EL: I would say I made this character for this bear community. He's never called a "bear" in the comic, I feel like I avoided labels, I didn't even want to use the words "gay" or "queer" or "bear" anywhere in the book because I think it's all really obvious. And in that sense its left it open for everybody even outside of the gay community to appreciate it, but really it's a valentine to that group, and I never expected anybody outside of that to appreciate it. They've hung with me, I haven't really gotten any kind of criticism from the gay community. It's interesting especially in the last couple weeks the big book has come out from Fantagraphics, it seems like my queer audience is there, it's devoted, but it's almost being eclipsed by a straight audience now. Especially at this show, so many guys have come up and said, "That's me! You're ripping-off my life story!" Jokingly, but they really respond to the kind of hyper masculinity of it, I think there's a lot of body positivity that comes out of this character. Big hairy guys are not always well-received in mainstream pop culture, but people see him and they're like, "Oh it's a celebration of me. I don't have to feel weird and awkward about being big and hairy and maybe a little sweaty, maybe take up a little too much space," so it does, it sort of celebrates that type. It's interesting you should mention has there been any kind of criticism or critique from the gay community, there hasn't from the gay community at large from the audience, but I do feel, and not to focus on the negative, but occasionally I get critiques from other queer comics creators that my comic isn't "gay enough." That it doesn't have enough explicit sex or nudity in it. I made a decision really early on that I love that in other people's work, I like Tagame, and Jiraiya, there are definitely people who are really good at doing that, but I wanted the focus of my book to be elsewhere and I think some great creators think that explicit sex and gay comics have to go together— CH: And it just might not be your cup of tea. EL: It's not. I had an art career as a painter for years and I did really kind of more explicit illustration in painting works, so when I got to this project, it's a pop medium. I wanted it to be accessible to that large audience. It seems to have been as I've said, as a pleasant side-effect, it's working. Not just a lot of straight guys but women like the character, and the cats, and the story. If I've received any kind of negativity, occasionally I'll get "sex positive," that kind of academic term gets thrown at me a little bit, and although my book doesn't have sex in it, it's not "sex positive," but there are some sexual situations in there but I think they're more—I call them "situational erotics," they're more incidental exposures. I call it "The Galifianakis Factor." In a lot of his films he's naked and it's meant to gross-out one part of the audience, but I know a large part of the audience also finds it endearing, so I kind of work that angle a lot in my comics too. CH: You made him bearable. EL: Exactly, pun intended. CH: You have the Wuvable Oaf hardcover coming out this month from Fantagraphics. What's it like to finally have the result of years' worth of blood, sweat & tears in your hands? Any special features in the back? EL: It's exciting. It's really fulfilling. I've been buying Fantagraphics books since I was a teenager, so to kind of fit into that echelon of creators—I'm not trying to be arrogant or brag, but when they send the checks out, in the corner it's got a Jaime Hernandez drawing and it says, "We publish the world's greatest cartoonists," so I can't quite get my head around that, to be kind of considered in that league, and I'm certainly not, but to be welcomed into that family has been certainly great. And again I did not expect these comics, these are the first comics I've ever made, to reach such a wide audience, so there's a little hesitation and I'm a little freaked out by how big the audience has potentially become for this. Just because I sort of see things in the art, mistakes I may have made that nobody else can see. But other than that to finally get everything collected, there are dozens of comics represented in this, the first five years of my work. It's been great, Fantagraphics did a beautiful job with the hardcover, putting it together. They put their full faith and backing into it, from a promotional standpoint as well. There's not a lot of new work in there, they specifically wanted to collect everything I've done before because it's been hard to get your hands on it until now, but I think the feature that some of the editors were most excited about was the back portion of the book is all profiles on each of the characters based on the Marvel Universe Handbook that used to come out in the '80s. It's totally in that format, and I'm excited about that too because it allows a little window to the history of the characters that I can't get at in the main storyline. They have fake superpowers and all that sort of stuff. I think when people at shows like this, WonderCon being a sort of superhero venue, they open that book and sort of see how that's influenced my work. You may not think that as an indie artist that I was influenced by Marvel and DC, but that's what I bought from the get go. That kind of aspect of it is I think good bonus material. CH: Going back to the check really quick, do you have that laminated just in case anyone has a critique for you? Do you just whip it out and point to the corner? EL: [Laughter] No I definitely kept them. I haven't done anything with them yet, but I definitely took a picture of it and posted it with my address blurred out. I think that definitely upset some of my friends and fellow creators, but it is what it is. CH: Music plays a big part in the comic. If you ever decide to retire from comics, can we expect to see you form the band Ejaculoid and tour the country? EL: You know, Ejaculoid exists already. I've released three singles, actual music singles, from friends of mine that are in the bands Limp Wrist and Talk Is Poison, they're in a band called Needles and they've recorded as though they are Ejaculoid. We've released three singles on vinyl, and have digital downloads that accompany it. I actually then had a couple other bands expand those songs and do covers of them for another project called Oafanthology which is other artists and creators like Tom Neely and Johnny Ryan drew my characters, and it made sense to them to release a record version of that with covers songs. Harassor is a Los Angeles black metal band, they did a full-on black metal version of the song, and Author & Punisher is sort of a doom industrial sort of one man band, and they also did a cover of the song as well. Yeah I've already started releasing music under the name. I don't think I'd ever form a band, I'm not musically inclined at all so I would avoid that. That might bring a negative light onto my project, but I'm really open-minded to working with musicians to continue to record music. CH: Any other projects you're currently working on, or is it just Wuvable Oaf and world domination? EL: I'm really committed to Wuvable Oaf at this point, especially touring behind the book. We're going all over the place in the next three months including London, England, which I'm really excited about. And Canada. I'm looking forward to kind of pushing him as far as I can. After that, I have subsequent storylines, it picks up with issue five, so it'll be a different Oaf. I think of Oaf as a type—it's not necessarily the titular character, it's also a type of guy. There's another character in the book, Smusherrrr, my best friend is writing that story arc because the character is based on him. We'll be exploring another corner of the Oaf Universe, the "Oafiverse" as I call it. I mean I'm always open to continue to work on things. I was a part of the Henry & Glenn Forever project, so I did a story in that, and I always sort of contribute little things to that, Henry Rollins and Glenn Danzig in a domestic partnership. Kind of the ultimate in fan-fiction. I've been doing alternate covers for other artists at Image and things like that. I'll always been working on the Oaf, that's my main project, my main platform to talk about everything I'm interested in, so definitely Oaf for the foreseeable future. Special thanks to Ed for taking time out of his busy schedule during WonderCon to talk all-things Wuvable Oaf with me. You can find more of his work at his website or follow him on Twitter. Cameron Hatheway is a reviewer and the host of Cammy's Comic Corner, an audio podcast. You can pitch him on a Wuvable Cammy plush on Twitter @CamComicCorner.

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The moon was formed by a violent, head-on collision between the early Earth and a “planetary embryo” called Theia approximately 100 million years after the Earth formed, UCLA geochemists and colleagues report. Scientists had already known about this high-speed crash, which occurred almost 4.5 billion years ago, but many thought the Earth collided with Theia (pronounced THAY-eh) at an angle of 45 degrees or more — a powerful side-swipe (simulated in this 2012 YouTube video). New evidence reported Jan. 29 in the journal Science substantially strengthens the case for a head-on assault. The researchers analyzed seven rocks brought to the Earth from the moon by the Apollo 12, 15 and 17 missions, as well as six volcanic rocks from the Earth’s mantle — five from Hawaii and one from Arizona. Christelle Snow/UCLA Paul Warren, Edward Young (holding a sample of a rock from the moon) and Issaku Kohl The key to reconstructing the giant impact was a chemical signature revealed in the rocks’ oxygen atoms. (Oxygen makes up 90 percent of rocks’ volume and 50 percent of their weight.) More than 99.9 percent of Earth’s oxygen is O-16, so called because each atom contains eight protons and eight neutrons. But there also are small quantities of heavier oxygen isotopes: O-17, which have one extra neutron, and O-18, which have two extra neutrons. Earth, Mars and other planetary bodies in our solar system each has a unique ratio of O-17 to O-16 — each one a distinctive “fingerprint.” In 2014, a team of German scientists reported in Science that the moon also has its own unique ratio of oxygen isotopes, different from Earth’s. The new research finds that is not the case. “We don’t see any difference between the Earth’s and the moon’s oxygen isotopes; they’re indistinguishable,” said Edward Young, lead author of the new study and a UCLA professor of geochemistry and cosmochemistry. Young’s research team used state-of-the-art technology and techniques to make extraordinarily precise and careful measurements, and verified them with UCLA’s new mass spectrometer. The fact that oxygen in rocks on the Earth and our moon share chemical signatures was very telling, Young said. Had Earth and Theia collided in a glancing side blow, the vast majority of the moon would have been made mainly of Theia, and the Earth and moon should have different oxygen isotopes. A head-on collision, however, likely would have resulted in similar chemical composition of both Earth and the moon. “Theia was thoroughly mixed into both the Earth and the moon, and evenly dispersed between them,” Young said. “This explains why we don’t see a different signature of Theia in the moon versus the Earth.” Theia, which did not survive the collision (except that it now makes up large parts of Earth and the moon) was growing and probably would have become a planet if the crash had not occurred, Young said. Young and some other scientists believe the planet was approximately the same size as the Earth; others believe it was smaller, perhaps more similar in size to Mars. Another interesting question is whether the collision with Theia removed any water that the early Earth may have contained. After the collision — perhaps tens of millions of year later — small asteroids likely hit the Earth, including ones that may have been rich in water, Young said. Collisions of growing bodies occurred very frequently back then, he said, although Mars avoided large collisions. A head-on collision was initially proposed in 2012 by Matija Ćuk, now a research scientist with the SETI Institute, and Sarah Stewart, now a professor at UC Davis; and, separately during the same year by Robin Canup of the Southwest Research Institute. Co-authors of the Science paper are Issaku Kohl, a researcher in Young’s laboratory; Paul Warren, a researcher in the UCLA department of Earth, planetary, and space sciences; David Rubie, a research professor at Germany’s Bayerisches Geoinstitut, University of Bayreuth; and Seth Jacobson and Alessandro Morbidelli, planetary scientists at France’s Laboratoire Lagrange, Université de Nice. The research was funded by NASA, the Deep Carbon Observatory and a European Research Council advanced grant (ACCRETE).

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--- abstract: | We use topological methods to prove a semicontinuity property of the Hodge spectra for analytic germs defined on an isolated surface singularity. For this we introduce an analogue of the Seifert matrix (the fractured Seifert matrix), and of the Levine–Tristram signatures associated with it, defined for null-homologous links in arbitrary three dimensional manifolds. Moreover, we establish Murasugi type inequalities in the presence of cobordisms of links. It turns out that the fractured Seifert matrix determines the Hodge spectrum and the Murasugi type inequalities can be read as spectrum semicontinuity inequalities. address: - 'Institute of Mathematics, University of Warsaw, ul. Banacha 2, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland' - 'A. Rényi Institute of Mathematics, 1053 Budapest, Reáltanoda u. 13-15, Hungary.' author: - Maciej Borodzik - András Némethi title: The Hodge spectrum of analytic germs on isolated surface singularities --- [*Dedicated to Joseph Steenbrink*]{} Introduction ============ In a series of articles [@BN; @BN2] (see also [@BNR; @BNR2]) the authors developed a topological method to prove the semicontinuity of the Hodge spectrum in low dimensions, which originally was obtained by purely Hodge theoretical methods (that is, by algebraic or analytic machinery). This topological method worked successfully for local plane curve singularities, or for two-variable complex polynomials (for the mixed Hodge structure at infinity). It was even possible to compare the spectrum at infinity with local spectra of singular points of a fixed fiber of a polynomial map. The approach used only topological, not analytic, arguments; the idea was that upon using the polarization properties of the mixed Hodge structure, the spectrum was characterized by the Levine–Tristram signatures of the Seifert form. Next, in the presence of a deformation, using the corresponding topological cobordism one proved a Murasugi type inequality valid for the Levine–Tristram signatures. This inequality was reinterpreted as a spectrum semicontinuity property. Having these results, it was natural to ask if these method can be generalized to germs $g:(X,0)\to (\C,0)$ defined on an arbitrary isolated surface singularities $(X,0)$; in fact, this question was asked explicitly by J. Steenbrink at the meeting in Lille in 2012 during a presentation of the first author. The point is that a possible generalization was obstructed seriously already at its starting point: if the link $M$ of $(X,0)$ (which is an oriented 3–manifold) is not a rational homology sphere, then one cannot associate with the link of $g$, $L_g\subset M$, a Seifert form, and all the linking theory of cycles in $M$, intensively used in the previous cases, was missing. There is also a second warning. Although in the literature there are a few different proofs for the semicontinuity property of [*hypersurface*]{} singularities (see [@St; @Var; @Var2]), in this general context the semicontinuity was not even formulated, and it is not so clear what would be a possible Hodge theoretical proof for it. In this general case even the computation of the spectrum in concrete examples might create problems, hence we lack even key examples. The goal of the present note is to surmount all these difficulties, and to propose and prove a possible semicontinuity inequality. Since in the classical case of hypersurfaces, the semicontinuity of the spectrum had several strong applications (mostly as obstructions for deformations), we expect that the present results will also find their applications regarding deformations of these more general objects. The main novelty is the definition of the [*fractured Seifert form*]{}, defined on the subspace $\ker(H_1(\S)\to H_1(M))$ of $H_1(\S)$ ($\S$ being the Milnor fiber of $g$). Moreover, we establish for this new object all the important properties of the classical Seifert form, and its relation with monodromy and intersection forms. In this presentation we use intensively the language of hermitian variation structures of [@Nem2]. For this fractured Seifert form we can consider the analog of the Levine–Tristram signatures, and we prove Murasugi type inequality in the presence of a cobordism. Furthermore, one of the main results shows that the fractured Seifert form determines the Hodge spectrum, hence, as in the old case, the Murasugi type inequalities for the signatures provide semicontinuity properties for the spectrum. Unless specified otherwise, the homologies usually mean homologies with rational coefficients. For a set $A$, the symbol $|A|$ denotes the cardinality. All the manifolds are assumed to be oriented. Hermitian variation structures – Generalities {#S:HVS} ============================================= Hermitian Variation Structures (in short HVS) were introduced in [@Nem2] as a way to encode the ‘homological Milnor package’ of the Milnor fibration. It turns out that they can be used to connect knot theory with Hodge theory via the Seifert form of the link. This approach was exploited in [@BN]: in this language, the Levine–Tristram signatures for links correspond to the spectrum of a HVS. Review of hermitian variation structures {#s:reviewHVS} ---------------------------------------- First recall the definition of a HVS. In contrast with e.g. [@BN] or [@BN2] we will deal with non-simple variation structures as well. \[def:HVS\] [@Nem2] For a fixed sign $\ef=\pm 1$, an *$\ef$–hermitian variation structure* consist of a quadruple $(U;b,h,V)$, where - $U$ is a complex linear space; - $b\colon U\to U^*$ is an $\ef$–hermitian endomorphism; - $h\colon U\to U$ is an automorphism preserving $b$; - $V\colon U^*\to U$ is an endomorphism. These objects should satisfy the following compatibility relations: $$V\circ\, b=h-I\text{ and }{\overline{V}}^*=-\ef V\circ\, {\overline{h}}^* \ \ \ \ \ \mbox{(`Picard--Lefschetz' formulae)}.$$ Here ${\overline{\cdot}}$ denotes the complex conjugate and $\cdot^*$ the duality. In our applications in the next sections we shall always choose the sign $\ef=-1$. Sometimes we refer to the *dimension* of a HVS as the dimension of the underlying linear space $U$. The prototype of a HVS is provided by a Milnor fibration of an isolated hypersurface singularity $(\C^{m+1},0)\to (\C,0)$: $U$ is the middle homology $H_m(F)$ of the fiber, $b$ the intersection form on it, $h$ the monodromy, and $V$ is the variation operator, see Section \[ss:clas\]. In this case $\ef=(-1)^m$. If $V$ is an isomorphism, then we say that the HVS is *simple*. In such a case $V$ determines $b$ and $h$ completely by the formulae $h=-\ef V({\overline{V}}^*)^{-1}$ and $b=-V^{-1}-\ef {{\overline{V}}^*}^{-1}$. If $V$ fails to be an isomorphism, then necessarily $1$ must be an eigenvalue of $h$. If $b$ is an isomorphism, we say that the HVS is [*non-degenerate*]{}. Then $V=(h-I)b^{-1}$, hence the HVS is completely determined by the underlying *isometric structure* $(U;b,h)$, see [@Nem2 Remark 2.6a] and [@Milnor-forms] for the definition of the isometric structure. Examples of HVS --------------- Here we shall follow closely [@Nem2; @BN] (some sign conventions differ from [@Nem2]). For $k\ge 1$, $J_k$ denotes the $(k\times k)$–Jordan block with eigenvalue $1$. \[ex:mv2k\] For $\lambda\in\mathbb{C}^*\setminus S^1$ and $k\ge 1$, the quadruple $${\mathcal{V}}_{\lambda}^{2k}=\left(\mathbb{C}^{2k};\left(\begin{matrix}0&I\\\ef I&0\end{matrix}\right),\left(\begin{matrix}\lambda J_k&0\\ 0&(1/\bar{\lambda})\cdot {J_k^*}^{-1}\end{matrix}\right),\left(\begin{matrix}0&\ef(\lambda J_k-I)\\ (1/\bar{\lambda})\cdot {J_k^*}^{-1}-I&0\end{matrix}\right)\right)$$ defines a simple and non-degenerate HVS. Moreover, ${\mathcal{V}}_{\lambda}^{2k}$ and ${\mathcal{V}}_{1/\bar{\lambda}}^{2k}$ are isomorphic. \[ex:mvlambda\] For any $k\ge 1$ there are precisely two non-degenerate $\epsilon$–hermitian forms (up to a real positive scaling), denoted by $b^k_\pm$, such that $${\overline{b}}^*=\ef b\text{ and }J_k^*bJ_k=b.$$ By convention, the signs are fixed by $(b^k_{\pm})_{1,k}=\pm i^{-m^2-k+1}$, where $\epsilon=(-1)^m$. The entries of $b$ satisfy: $b_{i,j}=0$ for $i+j\leq k$ and $b_{i,k+1-i}=(-1)^{i+1}b_{1,k}$. According to this, for $\lambda\in S^1$, there are up to an isomorphism two non–degenerate HVS with $h=\lambda J_k$. These are $${\mathcal{V}}^k_{\lambda}(\pm 1)=\left(\mathbb{C}^k;b^k_{\pm},\lambda J_k,(\lambda J_k-I)(b^k_\pm)^{-1}\right).$$ The structures are simple for $\lambda\not=1$, otherwise not. \[ex:mvtilde\] For $k\ge 1$ there are two degenerate simple HVS with $h=J_k$. They are $$\widetilde{{\mathcal{V}}}^k_1(\pm 1)=\left(\mathbb{C}^k;\widetilde{b}_\pm,J_k,\widetilde{V}_{\pm}^k\right), \ \ \ \mbox{where} \ \ \ \widetilde{b}^k_\pm=\left(\begin{matrix} 0 & 0\\ 0&b^{k-1}_\pm \end{matrix}\right).$$ The entries of $V^{-1}$ satisfy: $(V^{-1})_{i,j}=0$ for $i+j\geq k+2$, $(V^{-1})_{i,k+1-i}= \pm (-1)^{i+1} i^{-m^2-k}$. For $k=1$ this is $\widetilde{{\mathcal{V}}}^1_1(\pm 1)=(\mathbb{C},0,I, \pm i^{m^2+1})$. We use the following uniform notation for the above simple structures: $$\label{eq:wk} {\mathcal{W}}^k_\lambda(\pm 1)=\begin{cases} {\mathcal{V}}^k_\lambda(\pm 1)&\text{if $\lambda\in S^1\sm\{1\}$}\\ \widetilde{{\mathcal{V}}}^k_1(\pm 1)&\text{if $\lambda=1$.} \end{cases}$$ Classification of simple HVS ---------------------------- In [@Nem2] the second author proved that each simple variation structure is a direct sum of indecomposable ones. \[p:classification\] A simple HVS is uniquely expressible as a sum of indecomposable ones up to ordering of summands and up to an isomorphism. The indecomposable pieces are ${\mathcal{W}}^k_\lambda(\pm 1)$ (for $k\ge 1$, $\lambda\in S^1$) and ${\mathcal{V}}^{2k}_\lambda$ (for $k\ge 1$, $0<|\lambda|<1$). Hence, for each [*simple*]{} HVS, say ${\mathcal{V}}$, there exists a collection of numbers $p^k_\l(u)$ (with $k\ge 1$, $\l\in S^1$, $u=\pm 1$) and $q^k_\l$ (with $k\ge 1$ and $0<|\l|<1$) such that $$\label{eq:decomp} {\mathcal{V}}=\bigoplus_{\substack{0<|\lambda|<1\\ k\geqslant 1}} q^k_\lambda\cdot {\mathcal{V}}^{2k}_\lambda \oplus \bigoplus_{\substack{|\lambda|=1\\ k\geqslant 1, \ u=\pm 1}} p^k_\lambda(u)\cdot {\mathcal{W}}^{k}_\lambda(u),$$ where the symbol $m\cdot{\mathcal{V}}$ denotes a sum of $m$ copies of the structure ${\mathcal{V}}$. If a HVS is not simple, then a direct sum decomposition of the monodromy $h$ (e.g. its Jordan block decomposition) does not imply the existence of splitting of the whole structure. \[ex:nonsplit\] Consider $$b=\bp 0&0&1\\0&0&0\\-1&0&0\ep, \hspace{5mm} h=\bp 1&0&0\\0&1&1\\ 0&0&1\ep, \hspace{5mm} V=\bp 0& 1 & 0\\ 1&0&0\\ 0&0&0\ep$$ These matrices define a $(-1)$–HVS, which is indecomposable. Nevertheless, the next splitting holds (to see it, write $V$ as a block matrix and use the assumptions). \[lem:split\] Let ${\mathcal{V}}=(U;b,h,V)$ be a HVS. Assume that $U=U_1\oplus U_2$ such that both $b$ and $h$ have block decomposition $b=b_1\oplus b_1$ and $h=h_1\oplus h_2$ with $b_1$ non-degenerate. Then $V=V_1\oplus V_2$ as well, hence ${\mathcal{V}}$ decomposes as a direct sum ${\mathcal{V}}_1\oplus {\mathcal{V}}_2$ of HVS’s. \[rem:matrices\] Regarding our identities we use the following matrix notations. Assume that in the vector spaces $V$ and $W$ we fixed the bases $\{\xi_i\}_i$, respectively $\{\zeta_j\}_j$. Then a morphism $A:V\to W$ is represented by the matrix ${\bf A}=\{A_{ij}\}_{ij}$, where $A(\xi_i)=\sum_jA_{ji}\zeta_j$. (This means that $(A_{11} \cdots A_{1n})$ is the first line.) (In other words, if ${\bf v}$ is the column vector representing $v\in V$ (i.e. it has entries $\{v_i\}_i$, where $v=\sum_i v_i\xi_i$), then $A(v)$ is represented by the column vector ${\bf A}\cdot {\bf v}$.) Any base $\{\xi_i\}_i$ in $V$ determines a dual base $\{\xi_j^*\}_j$ in $V^*=\operatorname{Hom}_{\R}(V,\R)$ via $\xi_j^*(\xi_i)=\delta_{ji}$, where $\delta_{ji}$ is the Kronecker symbol. If $A:V\to V$ is a morphism, then its dual $A^*:V^*\to V^*$ has matrix representation ${\bf A^*}={\bf A}^t$. Similarly, if $B:V\times V\to \R$ is a bilinear form, then it is represented by the matrix ${\bf B}=\{B_{ij}\}_{ij}$, where $B_{ij}:=B(\xi_i,\xi_j)$. (This means that $B(v,w)$ in matrix calculus is given by ${\bf v}^t\cdot {\bf B}\cdot {\bf w}$.) Furthermore, if $b:V\to V^*$ is defined by $b(v)=B(v,\cdot )$, then the identities $B_{ik}=B(\xi_i,\xi_k)=b(\xi_i)(\xi_k)=\sum_jb_{ji} \xi_j^*(\xi_k)=b_{ki}$ show that ${\bf B}={\bf b}^t$. Spectrum and signature of a real simple HVS {#s:specHVS} ------------------------------------------- Let ${\mathcal{V}}$ be a simple HVS defined over the real numbers. For simplicity we will also assume that the coefficients $q^k_\lambda$ in the decomposition are all zero. In the sequel we define the [*spectrum*]{} $\operatorname{Sp}$ and the [*signature*]{} of ${\mathcal{V}}$. For more details regarding this subsection, see [@BN]. \[def:spectrum\] The [*spectrum*]{} is a finite set of real numbers from the interval $(0,2]$ with integral multiplicities such that any real number $\alpha$ occurs in $\operatorname{Sp}$ precisely $s(\alpha)$ times, where $$s(\alpha)=\sum_{n=1}^\infty\sum_{u=\pm1}\left(\frac{2n-1-u(-1)^{\lfloor \alpha\rfloor}} {2}p^{2n-1}_\lambda(u)+np^{2n}_\lambda(u)\right), \ \ (e^{2\pi i\alpha}=\lambda).$$ \[def:signatureofHVS\] The *signature* of ${\mathcal{V}}$ is the map $\s_{{\mathcal{V}}}\colon S^1\sm\{1\}\to\Z$ given by $$z\mapsto\textrm{signature of}\left((1-z)V+(1-{\overline{z}})V^t\right).$$ The spectrum and the signature are related, cf. [@BN Corollary 4.15].[^1] \[lem:sigandspec\] Let $x\in[0,1]$ be such that $\{x,1+x\}\cap \operatorname{Sp}=\emptyset$. Let $z=e^{2\pi ix}$. Then $$\begin{aligned} |\operatorname{Sp}\cap (x,x+1)|&=\frac12(\dim U-\sigma(z))\\ |\operatorname{Sp}\setminus [x,x+1]|&=\frac12(\dim U+\sigma(z)).\end{aligned}$$ This lemma will allow us to use topological methods developed in Section \[S:fracturedd\] (namely, cobordism) to study semicontinuity of the spectrum. Links in $3$-manifolds {#S:fracturedd} ====================== In this section we study links in oriented closed $3$-manifolds. Our approach depends on several choices, for example, choices of the Seifert surface. However, in the applications in singularity theory, there will always be a natural choice, dictated by singularity theory. Fractured linking number {#ss:fracturedlink} ------------------------ Let $M$ be a closed connected oriented $3$-manifold. Let $\alpha,\beta\subset M$ be two disjoint one-dimensional cycles. If $M\cong S^3$, the linking number $\operatorname{lk}(\alpha,\beta)\in\Z$ is a well-defined number. We refer to [@Rol Chapter V.D] for various equivalent definitions. In this section we extend the definition for arbitrary 3-manifold $M$, but for special 1-cycles. Assume that $[\alpha]=[\beta]=0$ in $H_1(M;\Q)$. Then there exists a 2-chain $A$ such that $\p A=\alpha$. We denote the algebraic intersection number of $A$ and $\beta$ in $M$ by $A\cdot\beta$ (which counts intersection points with signs provided that $A$ and $\beta$ are in general position). If $A$ and $A'$ are two different 2-chains such that $\p A=\p A'=\alpha$, then $A\cdot\beta=A'\cdot\beta$. Indeed, the cycle $A\cup -A'$ defines an element in $H_2(M;\Q)$. Then $(A\cup -A')\cdot \beta$ as an intersection product in $M$, is zero, since $[\beta]=0\in H_1(M)$. \[def:clk\] We define the [*fractured linking number*]{} $\operatorname{flk}(\alpha,\beta)$ as $A\cdot\beta\in\Q$, where $\partial A=\alpha$. (By the above discussion it is independent of the choice of $A$.) If $M$ is a 3-manifold, one has a linking form on the torsion part of its first homology with values in $\Q/\Z$. Our construction is different: it assigns an element from $\Q$ to any two disjoint rationally null-homologous cycles. By choosing its name ‘fractured linking number’ (instead of ‘linking number’) we emphasize the difference and avoid confusions. As the classical linking number, the fractured linking number is symmetric too. \[lem:fractured\] For any two disjoint null-homologous cycles $\alpha,\beta$ on $M$ we have $\operatorname{flk}(\alpha,\beta)=\operatorname{flk}(\beta,\alpha)$. It is enough to prove the statement for $\alpha$ and $\beta$ integral cycles. Let $A$, $B$ be surfaces such that $\p A=\alpha$, $\p B=\beta$, and $A$ and $B$ intersect transversely. Then $A\cap B$ is an oriented cobordism between $A\cap\p B$ and $\p A\cap B$. This proof extends to the level of chains as well. In the classical case, one has another definition of the linking pairing. Namely, given two disjoint 1-cycles $\alpha,\beta\subset S^3=\p B^4$, one takes two 2-chains $A,B$ in the ball $B^4$ such that $\p A=\alpha$ and $\p B=\beta$. Then $\operatorname{lk}(\alpha,\beta)=A\cdot B$. We extend this result in a way that we allow an arbitrary four manifold instead of $B^4$, but we need to impose additional conditions on the chains $A$ and $B$. \[lem:AcdotB\] Assume that $W$ is a four manifold such that $\p W=M$. Let $\alpha,\beta$ be two disjoint null-homologous 1-cycles in $M$. Then for any 2-chains $A,B\subset W$ such that $\p A=\alpha$, $\p B=\beta$ and $[A]=[B]=0\in H_2(W,M;\Q)$ we have $$\operatorname{flk}(\alpha,\beta)=A\cdot B.$$ First we show that $A\cdot B$ does not depend on the specific choice of $A$ and $B$. To this end, assume that we have a 2-chain $A'$ such that $\p A'=\alpha$ and $[A']=0\in H_2(W,M;\Q)$. Then $A\cup -A'$ is an absolute cycle in $W$ so it represents a class $[A-A']\in H_2(W)$ and $(A\cup -A')\cdot B=[A-A']\cdot [B]$, where the last product is the intersection pairing $H_2(W)\times H_2(W,M)\to\Q$. But this is zero since $[B]=0$. Thus $A\cdot B$ is well-defined. By picking concrete $A$ and $B$ we will show that $A\cdot B=\operatorname{flk}(\alpha,\beta)$. To this end, choose a collar $M\times[0,1)\subset W$, such that $M\times\{0\}$ is identified with $M=\p W$. Let $C$ be a 2-chain in $M$ such that $\p C=\beta$. We define $B$ as $C$ with its interior pushed slightly inside $M\times[0,1/2]$. Clearly $[B]=0\in H_2(W,M;\Q)$. Let $A$ be arbitrary 2-chain satisfying the hypothesis of the lemma. We isotope $A$ so that $A\cap (M\times[0,1])=\alpha\times[0,1]$. Then, by construction, all the intersection points of $A\cap B$ correspond to the intersections of $\alpha$ with $C$. The condition that $A$ and $B$ represent $0\in H_2(W,M)$ is essential, even if $M$ is the 3-sphere. For example, consider $\C^2$ with coordinates $x,y$ and let $M=\{|x|^2+|y|^2=1\}$, $W_0=\{|x|^2+|y|^2\le 1\}$. Let $A_0=\{x=0\}$, $B_0=\{y=0\}$ and put $\alpha=A_0\cap M$, $\beta=B_0\cap M$. Then $\operatorname{lk}(\alpha,\beta)=1$, as is the algebraic intersection number of $A_0$ with $B_0$. But now we can define $W$ as $W_0$ blown up in the origin and $A$, $B$ as the strict transforms of $A_0$ and $B_0$ respectively. Then $A\cap B=\emptyset$, but still we have $\p A=\alpha$, $\p B=\beta$. Of course, $A$ and $B$ do not represent $0$ in $H_2(W,M)$. We end up this subsection with an alternative construction of the fractured linking number. Let $\alpha$ and $\beta$ be disjoint cycles in $M$, which represent $0\in H_1(M;\Q)$. Assume that $\alpha$ can be represented by a simple closed loop. Then $\beta$ defines an element in $H_1(M\sm\alpha;\Q)$, which is mapped to $0$ by the map $H_1(M\sm\alpha)\to H_1(M)$. We have $$U:=\ker (H_1(M\sm\alpha;\Q)\to H_1(M;\Q))\cong\Q$$ and there is a canonical choice of the isomorphism, such that the oriented meridian of $\alpha$ goes to $1$. Then we can define $\operatorname{flk}(\alpha,\beta)$ to be the class $[\beta]\in \Q$. We leave it as an exercise to check that the two definitions are in fact equivalent. Links and fractured Seifert matrices ------------------------------------ \[def:link1\] A *link* $L$ in an oriented connected 3-manifold $M$ is a disjoint union of embedded oriented circles $K_1\sqcup\dots\sqcup K_n$ in $M$. A *Seifert surface* of a link $L\subset M$ is a [*connected oriented surface*]{} $\S\subset M$ such that $\p\S=L$, and the interior of $\S$ is disjoint from $L$. If such surface exists, we know that $[L]=0\in H_1(M;\Z)$. Conversely, if $[L]=0\in H_1(M;\Z)$, the arguments of [@Er] or [@BNR2] guarantee the existence of $\S$. However, in the present paper, all the links that we shall consider will have a Seifert surfaces. Let $\S$ be a Seifert surface for a link $L$ and $j:\S\hookrightarrow M$ be the inclusion map. We set $$\label{eq:V0} \vs=\ker\big(j_*\colon H_1(\S;\Q)\to H_1(M;\Q)\big).$$ For any $\beta\in \vs$ let $\beta^+$ be the cycle $\beta$ pushed slightly off $\S$ in the positive normal direction. Obviously, $[\beta^+]=0\in H_1(M;\Q)$. \[def:csp\] The *fractured Seifert pairing* $S\colon \vs\times \vs\to \Q$ for $\S$ is defined by $(\alpha,\beta)\mapsto \operatorname{flk}(\alpha,\beta^+)$. A *fractured Seifert matrix* is a rational square matrix of size $\dim \vs$ such that in some basis of $\vs$ the fractured Seifert pairing is represented by $S$. Usually we shall not make a distinction between a Seifert pairing and a Seifert matrix, see Remark \[rem:matrices\]. In general, $S$ is not $\pm$-symmetric, nevertheless Lemma \[lem:fractured\] implies the following. \[lem:disjoint\] If $\alpha,\beta\in \vs$ and $\alpha$ is disjoint from $\beta$, then $S(\alpha,\beta)=\operatorname{flk}(\alpha,\beta)$. In particular, if $\alpha_1,\dots,\alpha_k\in\vs$ are pairwise disjoint, then $S$ restricted to the subspace spanned by $\alpha_1,\dots,\alpha_k$ is symmetric. In this paper we assume that all the links satisfy the following additional assumptions. \[def:link\] - A link will be called 0–link if all component are (rational) null-homologous: $[K_j]=0\in H_1(M;\Q)$ for any $j=1,\dots,n$, and if $L$ admits a Seifert surface. - A 0–link is called [*special*]{} if $\operatorname{flk}(K_i,K_j)>0$ for all $i\not=j$. Consider the fractured linking matrix $\{{\mathcal L}(K_i,K_j)\}_{i,j}$ associated with a [*special*]{} link $L$. Here, ${\mathcal L}(K_i,K_j):=\operatorname{flk}(K_i,K_j)$ for $i\not=j$, while ${\mathcal L}(K_i,K_i)$ is determined by the imposed identities ${\mathcal L}(\sum_iK_i,K_j)=0$ for any $j$. \[lem:nondeg\] If $L$ is special, then ${\mathcal L}$ is negative semi-definite with 1-dimensional null space generated by $\sum_iK_i$. (Cf. [@Neu-inv Sec. 3]) If $R=\sum_ir_iK_i$, then ${\mathcal L}(R,R)=-\sum_{i<j} (r_i-r_j)^2\operatorname{flk}(K_i,K_j)$. Fibred links and monodromy {#s:fibred} -------------------------- Our goal in this section is to study the fractured Seifert matrix associated to a fibred link. Understanding a decomposition of a fractured Seifert matrix with respect to generalized eigenspaces of the monodromy operator will lead us to a decomposition of HVS defined for a fibred link. We begin with the following definition. \[def:hs\] We shall refer to an open book decomposition $(M,L,p)$ with binding $L$ and projection $p\colon M\sm L\to S^1$ simply as a *fibred link*. We define its (canonical) *Seifert surface* $\S$ as the page $p^{-1}(1)$. The *monodromy* diffeomorphism (well defined up to an isotopy) will be denoted by $\hs\colon\S\to\S$. (Notice that since we consider $L$ to be an oriented link, we require that $p$ restricted to the oriented meridians $\mu_1,\ldots,\mu_n$ of components of $L$ is an *orientation preserving* diffeomorphism.) For any $t\in[0,1]$, set $\S_t=p^{-1}(e^{2\pi it})$ with $\S=\S_0$. Since $p$ is locally trivial, there exist a smooth family of diffeomorphisms $\hst\colon\S\stackrel{\cong}{\longrightarrow}\S_t$ induced by trivialization over $[0,t]$, such that $\hs_0$ is the identity and $\hs_1=\hs$ is the monodromy. These diffeomorphisms are also well defined only up to isotopy. Let $h\colon H_*(\S;R)\to H_*(\S;R)$ be the homological monodromy induced by $\hs$ for any coefficient ring $R$. In the usual definition of the Seifert matrix, to any cycle $\beta\in H_1(\S)$ we associate $\beta^+$ (‘the push off of $\beta$ in the positive direction’). In the case of the above fibred situation, we set $\beta^+=\hs_{1/2}\beta$. This is common in singularity theory too, see e.g. [@AGV; @Zol]. The Wang sequence of the fibration $p\colon M\sm L\to S^1$ is $$\label{eq:wang} \ldots \to H_1(\S)\to H_1(M\sm L)\stackrel{h-I}{\longrightarrow} H_1(M\sm L)\stackrel{q}{\to} H_0(\S)\to\ldots$$ The map $q$ is the following: a cycle $\alpha\in H_1(M\sm L)$ in general position with respect to $\S$ is mapped to $(\alpha\cdot\S)$ times the generator of $H_0(\S)\simeq \Z$. Since $q(\mu_i)=1$, $q$ is onto. Let $L$ be a special fibred link. Let $j\colon\S\hookrightarrow M$ be the inclusion. We define $$U_\partial :=\ker\big( \overline{j_*}:H_1(\S)/{\rm im}(h-I)\to H_1(M)\big),$$ where $\overline{j_*}$ is induced by $j_*$. Later on we shall define a lift of $\vb$ to a subspace of $H_1(\S)$. Let $\mu_i$ be the oriented meridian of $K_i$ in $M$. We have the following commutative diagram, $$\label{eq:newdiagram} \xymatrix{&&0\ar[d]&&\\ &&\Q\langle\mu_i\rangle_{i=1}^n\ar^m[d]\ar^{{\overline{m}}}[dr]&&\\ 0\ar[r]&\vb\ar[r]\ar^{{\overline{j}}_*}[dr]&H_1(M\sm L)\ar[r]\ar^r[d]&H_0(\S)\cong\Q\ar[r]&0\\ &&H_1(M)\ar[d]&&\\ &&0&& }$$ where the horizontal exact sequence is induced by (\[eq:wang\]). The map $m$ is induced by inclusions of meridians, the map $r$ is induced by inclusion. The diagonal maps are compositions. \[lem:new\] - The vertical line of is a short exact sequence. - The map ${\overline{m}}$ is given by $\sum q_i\mu_i\mapsto\sum q_i\in H_0(\S)$, hence it is onto. - The map ${\overline{j}}_*$ is onto. Furthermore $\dim\vb=n-1$ and $\vb\cong\{\sum q_i\mu_i \colon \sum q_i=0\}$. <!-- --> - Use $H_2(M, M\setminus L)=\Q\langle \mu_i\rangle _{i=1}^n$ and the fact that $H_2(M)\to H_2(M,M\setminus L)$ is trivial due to the fact that each $[K_i]=0$. - is clear, the map ${\overline{m}}$ sends a meridian to $M\sm L$ and $q$ sends it further to $1$, for each meridian intersects $\S$ precisely once. - surjectivity of ${\overline{j}}_*$ follows from (b) and diagram chasing. The rest is clear. The intersection form $\alpha \cdot_\S\beta $ on $H_1(\S)$ has the following compatibility properties. (Part (b) is the analogue of a Picard–Lefschetz formula from singularity theory.) \[lem:new2\] Assume that $L$ is a special fibred link and $\alpha=(h-I)\gamma$ for some $\gamma\in H_1(\S;\Q)$. Then $\alpha\in U^\Sigma$. Moreover, the following hold. - If $\beta\in\ker(h-I)$ then $\alpha\cdot_\S\beta=0$. - If $\beta\in \vs$ then $\operatorname{flk}(\alpha,\beta^+)= \gamma\cdot_\S\beta.$ - Denote the homology classes in $H_1(\S)$ determined by the boundary components by $\{K_i\}_{i=1}^n$ (subject to the single relation $\sum_i K_i=0$). Let ${\mathcal K}$ be the subspace of $H_1(\S)$ generated by these components. Then ${\mathcal K}\cap \operatorname{im}(h-I)=0$, hence ${\mathcal K}$ injects to $H_1(\S)/{\rm im}(h-I)$ with image exactly $U_\partial$. The first statement follows from Wang exact sequence, which shows that the class of $\alpha$ is zero already in $H_1(M\setminus L)$. - $\gamma\cdot_\S\beta=h\gamma\cdot_\S h\beta=(\gamma+\alpha)\cdot_\S\beta=\gamma\cdot_\S\beta+\alpha\cdot_\S\beta$, since $\cdot_\S$ is $h$-invariant. - Consider $A=\bigcup_{t\in[0,1]}\hst \gamma$. The boundary of $A$ is $h\gamma-\gamma$, which is homologous to $\alpha$. Hence $\operatorname{flk}(\alpha,\beta^+)=A\cdot\beta^+$. We can assume that $A$ is in general position with respect to $\beta^+=h^\S_{1/2}\beta$. $$A\cdot\beta^+=(A\cap\S_{1/2})\cdot_{\S_{1/2}}\beta^+= \hs_{1/2}\gamma\cdot_{\S_{1/2}}\hs_{1/2}\beta=\gamma\cdot_\S\beta.$$ - Set $R=\sum_ir_iK_i=(h-I)\gamma$. Then by part (b) $\operatorname{flk}(R,K_j)=\gamma\cdot_\S K_j=0$. Hence, by Lemma \[lem:nondeg\], $R=0$ in $H_1(\S)$. Since each $K_j$ is zero-homologous, ${\mathcal K}$ injects in $U_\partial$. Since these spaces have the same dimension, they are isomorphic. In the sequel we will not make distinction between ${\mathcal K}$ and $U_\partial$, we think about $U_\partial$ as the [*kernel of the intersection pairing on $H_1(\S)$*]{}, that is $\vb$ is regarded as a subspace of $\vs$. Consider the generalized eigenspace decomposition of $h$ $$\label{eq:firstdecomp} H_1(\S;\Q)=\vn\oplus\ve,$$ corresponding to eigenvalue $\neq 1$, respectively $=1$. Both subspaces $\vn$ and $\ve$ are monodromy invariant and orthogonal with respect to $\ \cdot_\S\ $. \[cor:fromwang\] - The subspace $\vn$ belongs to $\vs$. Furthermore $\ve\cap \vs=\vi\oplus\vb$, where $\vi=\ve\cap\operatorname{im}(h-I)$. - The monodromy $h$ preserves the direct sum decomposition $$\label{eq:v0-decomp} \vs=\vn\oplus\vi\oplus\vb.$$ - The components in (\[eq:v0-decomp\]) are pairwise orthogonal with respect to the intersection form $\ \cdot_\S \ $. - The restriction of the intersection form on $\vn$ is non-degenerate. For (a) use Wang exact sequence, Lemma \[lem:new\] and part (c) of Lemma \[lem:new2\]. Part (b) is clear. Next, we prove (c). The kernel of the intersection form, $\vb$ is orthogonal to everything. Next, $\vi\perp \vn$, since $\ve\perp \vn$. For (d), take $\alpha$ from the kernel of $\cdot_\S|\vn$. Then $\alpha\in \ker(\cdot_\S)$, hence $\alpha\in U_\partial$. But $U_\partial\cap \vn=0$. \[prop:sisinv\] For the fractured Seifert pairing $S$ the following facts hold. - $S$ is monodromy invariant, i.e. $S(h\alpha,h\beta)=S(\alpha,\beta)$ for any $\alpha,\beta\in \vs$, - $S$ satisfies $S(\alpha,\beta)=S(h\beta,\alpha)$, - $S$ satisfies $S(\alpha,\beta)=S(\beta,\alpha)=0$ for $\alpha\in\vn$ and $\beta\in\vi\oplus\vb$, and - $S$ has block structure with respect to the decomposition . <!-- --> - The monodromy $\hs$ extends to an automorphism of $M$, still denoted by the same $\hs$. We clearly have $\operatorname{flk}(\alpha,\beta^+)=\operatorname{flk}(\hs\alpha,(\hs\beta)^+)$. Hence $S(\alpha,\beta)=S(h\alpha,h\beta)$. - We have $S(\alpha,\beta)=\operatorname{flk}(\alpha,\beta^+)=\operatorname{flk}(\alpha^+,\hs\beta)=\operatorname{flk}(\hs\beta, \alpha^+)= S(h\beta,\alpha)$. - Take $\gamma\in \vn$ such that $(h-I)\gamma=\alpha$. Then $S(\alpha,\beta)=\gamma\cdot_\S\beta=0$ by Corollary \[cor:fromwang\]. Similarly, $S(\beta,\alpha)=S(h\alpha,\beta)=S(\alpha,h^{-1}\beta)=\gamma\cdot_\S h^{-1}\beta=0$. - By part (c) it is enough to ensure that $S$ has block structure on $\vi\oplus\vb$. Let $\alpha =(h-I)\gamma\in\vi$ and $\beta\in\vb$. Then $S(\alpha,\beta)=\gamma\cdot_\S\beta=0$. Corresponding to part (d) of Proposition \[prop:sisinv\], we write ${S_{\neq 1}}$, ${S_{\operatorname{im}}}$ and ${S_\partial}$ for the fractured Seifert pairing restricted to $\vn$, $\vi$ and $\vb$ respectively. Non-degeneracy of $S$. Simple fibred links ------------------------------------------ In this subsection we give sufficient conditions for the fractured Seifert matrix of a fibred link to be non-degenerate. \[prop:Si-nondeg\] - ${S_{\neq 1}}$ and ${S_\partial}$ are non-degenerate. - If $\vi \subset \ker(h-I)$, then ${S_{\operatorname{im}}}$ is non-degenerate as well. We begin with (a). Since $h-I$ is invertible on $\vn$ and the intersection pairing on $\vn$ is non-degenerate, the statement follows from Lemma \[lem:new2\](b). The non-degeneracy of ${S_\partial}$ is built in our assumptions: Lemma \[lem:disjoint\] together with Definition \[def:link\] and Lemma \[lem:nondeg\] show that ${S_\partial}$ is actually a negative definite symmetric matrix. We note, that in the statement of Lemma \[lem:nondeg\], we use the word ‘negative semi-definite’, but on $\vb$ this 1-dimensional null–space of the fractured linking form is killed by Lemma \[lem:new\](c). We continue with (b). Recall that by Lemma \[lem:new2\] we have $\vb \cap\vi=0$. Set ${\overline{\ve}}:=\ve/\vb$. Then $\vi$ projects isomorphically to a subspace of $\overline{\ve}$. Let $\alpha_1,\dots,\alpha_k$ be linearly independent elements in $\vi$, such that their representatives form a basis in $\vi/\vb$. Let us choose $\beta_1,\dots,\beta_k$ in $\ve$ such that $(h-I)\beta_j=\alpha_j$. Let $\vbb$ be the space spanned by $\beta_1,\dots,\beta_k$. Clearly $\vbb\to\vbb/\vi$ is an isomorphism. Finally, take a subspace $\vf$ of $\ve$ such that $$\label{eq:vfix} \ve=\vf\oplus\vi\oplus\vb\oplus\vbb,$$ and such that $\vf$ is $h$–invariant. This is possible because the assumption guarantees that there are no Jordan block of size 3 or larger and $\vbb\oplus\vi$ corresponds to Jordan blocks of size $2$. We have $\vi\oplus \vf\subset \ker(h-I)$, so by Lemma \[lem:new2\](a) $\vi\perp (\vi\oplus \vf)$. On the other hand, the induced intersection form on $\vi\oplus\vf\oplus\vbb$ is non-degenerate, this follows from the fact that the kernel of the intersection form on $\ve$ is exactly $\vb$, see Corollary \[cor:fromwang\](c). We conclude that the block matrix $\{\alpha_i\cdot_\S\beta_j\}_{i,j}$ should be non-degenerate. But by Lemma \[lem:new2\](b) this is the matrix of ${S_{\operatorname{im}}}$ in the basis $\alpha_1,\dots,\alpha_k$. The subspaces $\vbb$ and $\vf$ of $\ve$ that were defined in the above proof, will be important in Section \[s:vf\]. Their definition depends on various choices, in Section \[s:vf\] we will put additional conditions on $\vbb$ and $\vf$. The assumption that $\vi\subset \ker(h-I)$ is equivalent to the absence of Jordan blocks of size $3$ or larger of eigenvalue $1$ in the Jordan block decomposition of $h$. This always holds if $L$ is a graph link in a graph manifold (see e.g. [@EN]). More generally, if in the Nielsen–Thurston decomposition of $h$ there are no pseudo–Anosov pieces, then $h$ cannot have Jordan blocks of size larger than $2$ (with whatever eigenvalue) by [@FM Corollary 13.3]. \[def:simple\] A special fibred link $(M,L,p)$ is called *simple* if the monodromy has no Jordan block of size more than 2 with eigenvalue $1$. \[cor:simple\] The fractured Seifert matrix of a simple fibred link is non-degenerate. Complementary space to $\vs$ {#s:vf} ---------------------------- Assume that $L$ is a simple fibred link. Let us consider the space $\vf $ in the proof of Proposition \[prop:Si-nondeg\]. Since the intersection form on $\vi\times \vbb$ is non-degenerate we can choose $\vf$ (by adding vectors from $\vi$ to base elements of the original $\vf$) such that $\vbb\perp \vf$ too and $\vf$ still remains $h$-invariant. Decomposition has the property that the space $\vf$ is orthogonal to $\vi\oplus\vb\oplus\vbb$, $\vi\perp\vi$, and $\ker(h-I)=\vf\oplus \vi\oplus \vb$. On $\vf\oplus \vi\oplus \vbb$ the intersection from is non-degenerate. Then automatically one also has the following result. \[cor:vfnondeg\] The intersection form of $H_1(\S)$ restricted to $\vf\times\vf$ is non-degenerate, and $\vf$ is even dimensional. Decomposition \[eq:vfix\] together with Corollary \[cor:fromwang\] gives also $$\label{eq:complement} H_1(\S)=\vs\oplus\vbb\oplus\vf.$$ To conclude this section let us write a corollary to Lemma \[lem:new\](c). \[cor:dimvs\] For any special fibred link (not necessary simple) we have $$\dim\vs=\dim H_1(\S)-\dim H_1(M).$$ Lemma \[lem:new\](c) tells that ${\overline{j}}_*$ is onto, hence $H_1(\S)\to H_1(M)$ is onto, and $\vs$ is defined as the kernel of this map. Cobordisms and signatures ========================= Cobordisms of links ------------------- We begin with the following definition. Fix two links $L_0\subset M_0$ and $L_1\subset M_1$ as in \[def:link1\]. A *cobordism of links* connecting $(M_0,L_0)$ and $(M_1,L_1)$ is a pair $(W,Y)$, where $W$ is a 4-manifold and $Y\subset W$ is a surface, such that $\p W=-M_0\sqcup M_1$, $\p Y=-L_0\sqcup L_1$. A cobordism will be called *standard* if $W\cong M_0\times[0,1]$. Compatibility with Seifert surfaces of links is formulated as follows. \[def:Seifertcobordism\] Let $(M_0,L_0)$ and $(M_1,L_1)$ be two links and $\S_0,\S_1$ Seifert surfaces respectively for $(M_0,L_0)$ and $(M_1,L_1)$. A pair $(W,\O)$ is a *Seifert cobordism* between links $(M_0,L_0)$ and $(M_1,L_1)$ and their Seifert surfaces $\S_0$ and $\S_1$ if - $W$ is a 4-manifold with boundary $-M_0\sqcup M_1$; - $\O$ is a 3-manifold with corners; - $\S_0:=\O\cap M_0$ and $\S_1:=\O\cap M_1$ are the Seifert surfaces for $L_0=\p\S_0$ and $L_1=\p\S_1$; - $\p\O=\S_0\cup Y\cup\S_1$, where $Y\subset W$ and $\p Y=-L_0\cup L_1$. \[rem:iswsmooth\] The condition that $W$ is a manifold might be slightly relaxed. More precisely, we can allow $W$ to be singular away from $\p W\cup\O$. For example, we can assume that there exists a finite number of points $w_1,\dots,w_s\in W\sm(\partial W\cup \O)$ such that $W\sm\{w_1,\dots,w_s\}$ is a smooth manifold. In fact, in the applications we do not use the smoothness of $W$. On the other hand, the smoothness of $\O$ is exploited by its Poincaré duality. We wish to study, how the fractured Seifert matrices does change under the Seifert cobordism. The situation is standard in the classical case. To simplify the notation, we shall first restrict ourselves to the case when $M_1$, $L_1$ and $\S_1$ are empty. The manifolds $M_0$, $L_0$ and $\S_0$ will be denoted by $M$, $L$, $\S$. The inclusions $\S\hookrightarrow\O$, $\S\hookrightarrow M$ and $(\O,\S)\hookrightarrow(W,M)$ will be denoted by $i$, $j$, resp. $k$. Let $\vnu\subset \vs$ be the space of those elements $\alpha\in\ker i_*$ for which there exists $A\in H_2(\O,\S;\Q)$ such that $\p A=\alpha$ and $k_* A=0$ (see diagram (\[eq:funddiagram\])). \[prop:thenullspace\] Let $\alpha,\beta\in \vnu$. Then, $S(\alpha,\beta)=0$. Let $B^+$ be the cycle $B$ pushed off $\O$ in the positive normal direction. Obviously $\p B^+=\beta^+$ and $B^+$ is a zero element in $H_2(W,M;\Q)$. By Lemma \[lem:AcdotB\] we have $\operatorname{flk}(\alpha,\beta^+)=A\cdot B^+$. But $A\subset\O$ and $B^+$ is disjoint from $\O$. Next we search for a bound for $\dim \vnu$. We will need the following diagram $$\label{eq:funddiagram} \xymatrix{ \ & H_2(\O,\S)\ar[r]^{\p}\ar[d]_{k_*} & H_1(\S)\ar[r]^{i_*}\ar[d]_{j_*} & H_1(\O)\ar[d]\\ 0\to\operatorname{coker}(H_2(M;\Q)\to H_2(W;\Q))\ar[r]^(0.7){l_*} & H_2(W,M)\ar[r]^{\p'} & H_1(M)\ar[r]^{a_*} & H_1(W), }$$ (where the rows are long exact sequences of pairs) and the next terminology as well. The *irregularity* of the Seifert cobordism $(W,\O)$ is $$\label{eq:irr} \operatorname{Irr}_2:=\dim\operatorname{coker}\big(H_2(M;\Q)\to H_2(W;\Q)\big).$$ (The subscript $2$ suggests that the irregularity is related to the map on the second homologies. Later, in a more specific case, we shall also introduce $\operatorname{Irr}_1$.) We have the following estimates. $$\begin{aligned} (a) \hspace{1cm} & \dim \vnu\ge \dim(\ker i_*\cap \ker j_*)-\operatorname{Irr}_2\\ (b) \hspace{1cm} & \dim(\ker i_*\cap\ker j_*)\ge\dim\ker i_*-\dim\ker a_*.\end{aligned}$$ \(a) Since $\vnu=\p(k_*^{-1}(0))$ and $\ker i_*\cap\ker j_*=\p(k_*^{-1}(\ker \p'))$, one has $$\dim (\ker i_*\cap \ker j_*)/\vnu\leq \dim(k_*^{-1}(\ker \p')/k_*^{-1}(0) =\dim \ker \p'.$$ \(b) $0\to \ker i_*\cap\ker j_*\to \ker i_*\stackrel{j_*}{\longrightarrow} \ker a_*$ is exact. We remark that $\dim\ker a_*$ does not depend on the cobordism of the link itself (that is, on $L,\ \S,\ \Omega$), but only on $M$ and $W$. Finally, we estimate $\dim\ker i_*$. \[lem:poinc\] One has the following estimate $$\dim\ker i_*\ge b_1(\S)-\frac12b_1(\S\cup Y).$$ Decompose $i_*$ as $H_1(\S)\stackrel{b_*}\longrightarrow H_1(\S\cup Y) \stackrel{c_*}{\longrightarrow}H_1(\O)$. Then $$\dim\ker i_*-\dim\ker b_*=\dim (\operatorname{im}b_*\cap \ker c_*)\ge \dim \operatorname{im}b_*+\dim\ker c_*-b_1(\S\cup Y).$$ Clearly, $\dim\ker b_*+\dim (\operatorname{im}b_*)=b_1(\S)$. As $\S\cup Y=\p\O$ and $\O$ has dimension three, by the Poincaré duality arguments one gets $\dim\ker c_*= b_1(\S\cup Y)/2$. Now we combine our last three statements. \[cor:bound\] If $(W,\O)$ is a Seifert cobordism such that $(M_1,L_1,\S_1)=\emptyset$, then $\vs$ contains the subspace $\vnu$ of dimension at least $$b_1(\S)-\frac12 b_1(Y\cup\S)-\operatorname{Irr}_2-\dim\ker a_*$$ on which the Seifert form identically vanishes. We will use Corollary \[cor:bound\] to control the fractured signatures, which we now define. Fractured signatures -------------------- \[def:fracturedsig\] Let $(M,L)$ be a special link, $\S$ its Seifert surface, and $S$ the fractured Seifert pairing on $\vs$. The *fractured signature* is a function $\s\colon S^1\sm\{1\}\to\Z$ defined as $$z\mapsto \textrm{signature}((1-z)S+(1-{\overline{z}})S^t).$$ The *fractured nullity* is a function $n \colon S^1\sm\{1\}\to\Z$ defined as $$z\mapsto \dim\ker ((1-z)S+(1-{\overline{z}})S^t).$$ Here $\cdot^t$ denotes the transpose (in the matrix notation), or simply $S^t(\alpha,\beta)=S(\beta,\alpha)$. If $S$ is non-degenerate then $n(z)=0$ for almost all values of $z$. Furthermore, if $(M,L)$ is fibred and $\S$ is a fiber, then $\s$ is a piecewise constant function with possible jumps only at roots of the characteristic polynomial of the monodromy $\Delta(z):=\det(h-I\cdot z)$. Indeed, by Proposition \[prop:sisinv\](b) one has the identity $(1-z)S+(1-{\overline{z}})S^t=(1-{\overline{z}})S(h^{-1}-I\cdot z)$. Fractured signatures are motivated by cobordisms: the next Theorem \[thm:signatures\] is at the core of the present article. To prove it, we start with the following standard fact from linear algebra. \[lem:lagrang\] If $\vnu\subset \vs$ is a subspace such that for $\alpha,\beta\in \vnu$ we have $S(\alpha,\beta)=0$, then for all $z\in S^1\sm\{1\}$: $$|\s(z)|\le \dim \vs-2\dim \vnu+n(z).$$ The next main result is the starting point in proving our semicontinuity results. \[thm:signatures\] Let $(W,\O)$ be a Seifert cobordism of links $(M_0,L_0)$ and $(M_1,L_1)$. Then for all $z\in S^1\sm\{1\}$ we have $$\begin{gathered} |\s_0(z)-\s_1(z)|\le \dim \vs_0+\dim \vs_1-2b_1(\S_0)-2b_1(\S_1)+ b_1(Y\cup\S_0\cup\S_1)+2\operatorname{Irr}_2+\\+2\dim\ker(H_1(M_0\cup M_1)\to H_1(W))+n_0(z)+n_1(z),\end{gathered}$$ where $\vs_j=\ker(H_1(\S_j)\to H_1(M_j))$ and $\S_j=\O\cap M_j$ is the Seifert surface of $L_j$ ($j=0,1$). We define $(M,L)=(M_1\cup -M_0,L_1\cup -L_0)$. Let also $\S=\S_1\cup-\S_0$. Then the fractured signatures of $L$ are $\s(z)=\s_0(z)-\s_1(z)$ and the nullities satisfy $n(z)=n_0(z)+n_1(z)$. Indeed, if $S_0$ and $S_1$ are fractured Seifert matrices for $(M_0,L_0)$ and $(M_1,L_1)$, respectively, then $S_1\oplus -S_0$ is a fractured Seifert matrix for $S$. The theorem is now a direct consequence of Corollary \[cor:bound\] and Lemma \[lem:lagrang\]. Hermitian variation structures associated with a simple fibred link {#s:chvs} =================================================================== In this section we will associate with a simple fibred link two HVSs. One of them is given by the fractured Seifert matrix, the other by the classical variation map. We prove that they determine each other. The ‘fractured’ and ‘mended’ HVS for simple fibred links {#ss:chvs} -------------------------------------------------------- Let $(M,L,p)$ be a simple fibred link. Let $\S$ be its Seifert surface, $h\colon H_1(\S)\to H_1(\S)$ the monodromy, $b$ the hermitian intersection form on $H_1(\S)$, and $S\colon \vs\times \vs\to\C$ the fractured Seifert pairing. \[def:fracturedHVS\] The *fractured hermitian variation structure* associated to the simple fibred link $L$ is the structure ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\frct}}=(\vs;b|_{\vs},h|_{\vs},(S^{t})^{-1})$ (defined already over $\Q$). By Lemma \[lem:new2\](b) and Proposition \[prop:sisinv\](b) (and using the last line of Remark \[rem:matrices\] too) one checks that the above system forms a HVS. Since $(S^t)^{-1}$ is invertible, cf. Proposition \[prop:Si-nondeg\], ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\frct}}$ is simple. According to the direct sum $\vs:=\vn\oplus\vb\oplus\vi$ (cf. Section \[s:fibred\]) the fractured HVS decomposes into a direct sum ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\frct}}:={{\mathcal{V}}_{\neq 1}}\oplus{{\mathcal{V}}_{\partial}}\oplus{{\mathcal{V}}_{\operatorname{im}}}$ of HVS as well. This follows from the Splitting Lemma \[lem:split\], since the pair $(b|_{\vs},h|_{\vs})$ admits a direct sum decomposition, and $b|_{\vs}$ is non-degenerate on ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\neq 1}}\oplus{{\mathcal{V}}_{\operatorname{im}}}$, cf. Corollary \[cor:fromwang\]. The components are the following. - The quadruple ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\neq 1}}=(\vn;{b_{\neq 1}},h|_{\vn},({S_{\neq 1}}^t)^{-1})$ (the natural restrictions on $\vn$); - On $\vb$ the $h|_{\vb}$ is trivial and $b|_{\vb}= 0$. Hence ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\partial}}=(\vb;0,I,({S_\partial}^t)^{-1})$. By Lemma \[lem:nondeg\] $({S_\partial}^t)^{-1}$ is negative definite, thus ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\partial}}=(n-1)\cdot {\mathcal{W}}^1_1(+1)$. - On $\vi$ the form $b|_{\vi}$ is $0$ (by Lemma \[lem:new2\](a)) and $h|_{\vi}$ is the identity (since $L$ is simple). Thus ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\operatorname{im}}}=(\vi;0,I,({S_{\operatorname{im}}}^t)^{-1})$. In particular, $\vi$ is a union of copies of ${\mathcal{W}}^1_1(+1)$ and ${\mathcal{W}}^1_1(-1)$. Although the operators $b$ and $h$ of ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\frct}}$ can be extended to (the intersection form and monodromy on) $H_1(\S,\C)$, the extension of $(S^t)^{-1}$ is not immediate. Nevertheless, we wish to define such an extension, however the extension will fail to be simple. First, we introduce a HVS on $\vf$ (see Section \[s:vf\]). \[def:fixext\] The structure ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\fix}}$ on $\vf$ is the HVS structure determined by non-degenerate isometric structure $(\vf;b|_{\vf},h|_{\vf})$ (cf. Corollary \[cor:vfnondeg\]). Note that $h$ is the identity, $V=0$, and $b|_{\vf}$ is fully antisymmetric. Hence ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\fix}}$ is a direct sum of $\frac12\dim\vf$ copies of ${\mathcal{V}}^1_1(+1)\oplus {\mathcal{V}}^1_1(-1)$. \[def:mended\] The *mended* HVS associated with a simple fibred link, denoted by ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\mend}}$, is a direct sum ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\mend}}:={{\mathcal{V}}_{\partial}}\oplus{{\mathcal{V}}_{\neq 1}}\oplus{\mathcal{V}}'\oplus{{\mathcal{V}}_{\fix}}$, where ${\mathcal{V}}'$ is constructed from ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\operatorname{im}}}$ by replacing each summand ${\mathcal{W}}^1_1(\pm 1)$ of ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\operatorname{im}}}$ by a copy of ${\mathcal{V}}^2_1(\pm 1)$. It is straightforward that the operator $h$ of ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\mend}}$ is the monodromy $ H_1(\S)\to H_1(\S)$, the form $b$ of ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\mend}}$ is the intersection form of $\S$, and the restriction of ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\mend}}$ on $\vs$ is ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\frct}}$. The operator $V$ of ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\mend}}$ is zero on $\vf\oplus U_B$, which is exactly the kernel of $V$. This space is isomorphic to $H_1(M;\C)$, since $j_*:H_1(\S)\to H_1(M)$ is onto, cf. Lemma \[lem:new\](c). The form of the above extensions is motivated by Theorem \[th:mendfib\]. The ‘classical’ homological variation structure on $H_1(\S)$ {#ss:clas} ------------------------------------------------------------ Fix a fibred link $(M,L,p)$ and consider the fibration $p:M\setminus L\to S^1$ with fiber $\Sigma=p^{-1}(1)$. Let $\hs:\S\to\S$ be the geometric monodromy as in Definition \[def:hs\]. We can assume that $\hs|_{\partial \S} $ is the identity (this is how usually we recover $M$ from $\hs$). The [*variation map*]{} $\operatorname{Var}:H_1(\S,\partial\S)\to H_1(\S)$ is given by $[x]\mapsto [\hs(x)-x]$ for any relative cycle $x$ of $(\S,\partial \S)$, see e.g. [@Lo]. After identifying $H_1(\S,\partial\S)$ with the dual of $H_1(\S)$ we obtain the [*homological (real) VHS associated with the fibration $p$*]{}, ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm fib}}:=(H_1(\S); b,h, \operatorname{Var})$, where $b$ and $h$ are the intersection form and the algebraic monodromy. (${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm fib}}$ is defined already over $\Z$.) It is known that when $M$ is a $\Q$– or $\Z$–homology sphere, then $\operatorname{Var}= (S^t)^{-1}$ (over $\Q$ or $\Z$ respectively). This fact is generalized in the next statement. \[th:mendfib\] ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm fib}}={{\mathcal{V}}_{\mend}}$. Moreover, ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm fib}}$ determines the fractured Seifert form $S$, while $S$ and the integer $n$ (the number of components of $L$) determine ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm fib}}$ as well. Let us write $\widetilde{U}:= \vi\oplus U_B$. Note that the monodromy $h$ and the intersection form $b$ on $U=H_1(\S)$ have block decomposition according to the direct sum decomposition $U=U_{\not=1}\oplus \vf\oplus \widetilde{U}\oplus \vb$. Since the kernel of $b$ is exactly $\vb$, by Lemma \[lem:split\] the whole ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm fib}}$ splits into ${\mathcal{V}}_{\not=1}\oplus {\mathcal{V}}_{fix}\oplus \widetilde{{\mathcal{V}}}\oplus {{\mathcal{V}}_{\partial}}$. Consider now the homological exact sequence of the pair $(M,\S)$. In the presence of the open book decomposition $p$, the boundary operator $\partial: H_2(M,\S)\to H_1(\S)$ can be identified with $\operatorname{Var}:H_1(\S,\partial \S)\to H_1(\S)$. Hence, one has the exact sequence (see also [@Ste (2.6)(b)]) $$\label{ex:VAR} 0\to H_2(M)\to H_2(\S,\partial \S)\stackrel{\operatorname{Var}}{\longrightarrow} H_1(\S)\to H_1(M)\to 0.$$ This has several consequences. First, $\operatorname{im}\operatorname{Var}=U^\S$. Hence, if $\alpha\in H_1(\S,\partial \S)$ and $\beta\in U^\S$, and $\alpha(\beta)$ denotes the pairing (duality) $H_1(\S,\partial\S)\otimes H_1(\S)= U^*\otimes U\to \R$, then $S(\operatorname{Var}\alpha,\beta)$ is well-defined, and, in fact, it equals $\alpha(\beta)$ (whose proof is analogous to the proof of \[lem:new2\](b)). In matrix notations, $ \alpha(\beta)=S^t(\operatorname{Var}\alpha)(\beta)$, hence $S^t\cdot \operatorname{Var}$ is the identity whenever $S$ is well-defined. In particular, $\operatorname{Var}$ extends $(S^t)^{-1}$ from $U^\S$ to $U$. The extension is special: by (\[ex:VAR\]) the rank of the kernel of $\operatorname{Var}$ is $\dim H_1(M)$ which equals $\dim (\vf\oplus U_B)$ (cf. the end of \[ss:chvs\]), the complementary space of $U^\S$ in $U$. Since $b|_{\vf}$ is non-degenerate on $\vf$, it determines the HVS, hence this component agrees with the extension \[def:fixext\] of ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\mend}}$. Finally, the extension from $\vi$ to $\widetilde{U}$ with the imposed kernel property mentioned above, imposes the modification ${\mathcal{W}}^1_1(\pm 1) \,\mapsto \, {\mathcal{V}}^2_1(\pm 1)$ from \[def:mended\]. This ends the proof of the identity ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm fib}}={{\mathcal{V}}_{\mend}}$. Let us recall the type of the blocks of $({{\mathcal{V}}_{\mend}})_{=1}$. ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\fix}}$ is a direct sum of $\frac12\dim\vf$ copies of ${\mathcal{V}}^1_1(+1)\oplus {\mathcal{V}}^1_1(-1)$, ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\partial}}=(n-1)\cdot {\mathcal{W}}^1_1(+1)$, while $\widetilde{{\mathcal{V}}}$ has (say) $c_{\pm}$ copies of ${\mathcal{V}}^2_1(\pm 1)$. Since all these types are different, it is easy to delete the extended part: ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\fix}}$ is deleted, ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\partial}}$ is preserved, while $\oplus_\pm\, c_{\pm}\cdot {\mathcal{V}}^2_1(\pm 1)$ is modified into $\oplus_\pm \,c_{\pm}\cdot {\mathcal{W}}^1_1(\pm 1)$ (the restriction to $\vi=\operatorname{im}(h|_{\vi}-1)\subset \widetilde{U}$). Hence, ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm fib}}$ determines $S$. Conversely, the matrix $S$ itself almost determines ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm fib}}$. The only missing data is to know, how to separate the sum $n-1+c_+$ (which is determined from $S$) into two pieces $n-1$ and $c_+$. Isolated complex analytic surface singularities {#S:NSS} =============================================== Links in isolated surfaces singularities {#s:milnor} ---------------------------------------- Let $(X,0)$ be a complex analytic isolated surface singularity (germ). We fix an embedding of $(X,0)$ into some $\C^N$. The *link* of $(X,0)$ is the oriented 3-manifold $M$ obtained as the intersection $X\cap S^{2N-1}_\e$, where $S^{2N-1}_\e$ is a sphere of sufficiently small radius $\e$ and centered at $0$. The diffeomorphism type of $M$ does not depend on the choice of the embedding and on the radius of the sphere [@LDT; @Lo; @Milnor-book]. Assume that $g\colon (X,0)\to(\C,0)$ is the germ of an analytic function, which determines an isolated singularity $(\{g=0\},0)\subset (X,0)$. If $\e$ is sufficiently small, then the intersection $L_g:=M\cap\{g=0\}$ is transverse. The pair $L_g\subset M$ is called the *link* of the germ $g$ at $0$. For a germ $g$ as above one defines two fibrations. The first one is the [*Milnor fibration*]{} (see [@Milnor-book] when $X$ is smooth and [@Ham] in the general case). \[prop:MilnorOnM\] The map $\arg g\colon M\sm L_g\to S^1$ defines an open book decomposition of $(M,L_g)$. In parallel, let $\eta>0$ be sufficiently small, $D_\eta\subset\C$ be the disk of radius $\e$ centre $0$, and $B_\e \subset\C^N$ be the $\e$–ball around $0$. Then one has the [*tube filtration*]{} (see [@LDT3]): \[prop:MilnorOnB\] The map $g\colon (g^{-1}(D_\eta\setminus 0)\cap B_\e)\to D_\eta \sm 0$ is a locally trivial fibration. \[prop:equiv\] [@Milnor-book; @LDT; @CSS] The fibrations $\arg g$ of \[prop:MilnorOnM\] and the restriction of the fibration of \[prop:MilnorOnB\] to $S^1=\partial D_\eta$ are equivalent. In particular, their fibres are diffeomorphic and the monodromy maps coincide. Take $\Sigma:=(\arg g)^{-1}(1)\subset M $ to be the Seifert surface of $L_g$ and denote the components of $L_g$ by $K_1,\ldots, K_n$. For the pair $\S\subset M$ we will use all the notation of sections 2 and 3. The following result proves that $L_g\subset M$ is a 0–link in the sense of Definition \[def:link\]. \[lem:nullhomog\] Each component $K_i$ of $L_g$ represents $0\in H_1(M;\Q)$. In general it is not true that there exist analytic germs $g_i:(X,0)\to (\C,0)$ ($1\leq i\leq n$), such that the link of $g_i$ is $K_i\subset M$. However, if we allow to modify the analytic structure supported on the topological type of $(X,0)$ (that is, if we keep the pair $(M,L_g)$ up to an isotopy, but we change the analytic structure into some $(X_i,0)$), then such a germ $g_i:(X_i,0)\to (\C,0)$ exists; see [@NP], or page 3 of [@NNP]. Then the Milnor fiber $\Sigma_i\subset M$ of $g_i$ satisfies $\p\Sigma_i=K_i$. \[lem:vbneg\] $L_g$ is special fibred in the sense of Definition \[def:link\]. In particular, the form $\operatorname{flk}$ on $\vb$ is negative definite (cf. Lemma \[lem:nondeg\]). We need to show that $\operatorname{flk}(K_i,K_j)>0$ for any $ i<j$. By resolution of singularities, the pair $g^{-1}(0)\subset X$ has an embedded resolution, hence the pair $L_g\subset M$ has a plumbing representation, where each $K_i$ is represented by an arrowhead. Let $\Sigma_i$ be the Seifert surface of $K_i$ provided by the Milnor fiber of $g_i:(X_i,0)\to (\C,0)$ (identified topologically, cf. the proof of Lemma \[lem:nullhomog\]). If the arrowhead associated with $K_j$ is supported by the vertex $v_j$, then $\operatorname{flk}(K_i,K_j)=\S_i\cdot K_j$ is exactly the multiplicity of the germ $g_i$ along the exceptional divisor marked by $v_j$. This is a positive integer (which can be identified combinatorially from the plumbing graph of $(M,L_g)$). Finally, we verify that $L_g$ is simple in the sense of Definition \[def:simple\]. \[prop:monod\] The eigenvalues of monodromy $h$ are roots of unity, and $h$ does not have any Jordan blocks of size $\ge 3$. The fibred link $(M,L_g,\arg g)$ is a simple fibred link. In particular, its fractured HVS ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm frct}}$ and the mended HVS ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\mend}}$ are well-defined, and ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\mend}}={\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm fib}}$. The analyticity implies one more restriction for them. It is the generalization of [@Neu-inv (3.2)] (valid for plane curves and $\lambda\not=1$), [@Nem2 6.14] (valid for arbitrary hypersurfaces and $\lambda\not=1$). \[prop:twist\] For any eigenvalue $\lambda$ the block ${\mathcal{V}}^2_\lambda(-1)$ does not appear in ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm fib}}$. Consider first the case $\lambda=1$. Using the terminology of [@EN Sec. 13], the twist of the monodromy is nonpositive. This follows similarly as in [@EN], since it involves only local computation regarding local analytic germs of type $f(x,y)=x^ay^b$ with $a,b$ positive integers and $(x,y)\in (\C^2,0)$ corresponding to the edges of an embedded resolution graph. This means, that if $\alpha\in H_1(\S,\partial \S)$ then $\alpha(\operatorname{Var}\alpha)$ should be nonpositive (here we use for $\alpha(\beta)$ the notation of the proof of Theorem \[th:mendfib\], regarding the pairing $(\alpha,\beta)\in H_1(\S,\partial\S)\otimes H_1(\S)$). Since $\alpha(\beta)=S(\operatorname{Var}\alpha,\beta)$ (cf. the proof of \[th:mendfib\]) we get that $\alpha(\operatorname{Var}\alpha)= S(\operatorname{Var}\alpha,\operatorname{Var}\alpha)$. Let us consider ${\mathcal{V}}^2_1(\pm 1)$. It is the structure $$\Big( \C^2;\, \bp 0&\mp 1\\ \pm 1 & 0\ep, \bp 1&1\\ 0&1\ep, \bp \mp 1& 0\\ 0&0\ep\Big).$$ Suppose ${\mathcal{V}}^2_1(\pm 1)$ is a summand of ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm fib}}$, let $\alpha$ be in $\C^2$ corresponding to ${\mathcal{V}}^2_1(\pm 1)$, then $\operatorname{Var}\alpha$ is a vector of type $(a,0)$ for some $a\in\C$ and then $\alpha(\operatorname{Var}\alpha)=\mp a^2$. This is nonpositive for any $\alpha$ if and only if from $\mp$ we take the minus sign. In the literature, there is another test for the sign of the twist which works uniformly for any $\lambda$. In [@Neu-inv] the notations are the following: Neumann’s $L$ is our $S^t$, while his $S$ is our $b^t$. (This can be verified by identifying his identities with ours from Definition \[def:HVS\].) Then, for any $\lambda$, an $N$–root of unity, the test from pages 228–229 from [@Neu-inv] requires that $S(\alpha, (h^N-1)\alpha)$ is nonpositive. This, in our language, means that $b^t_\pm(J_2-1)$ must have on the diagonal nonpositive entries (where $b_\pm$ is the $b$–operator of ${\mathcal{V}}^2_\lambda(\pm1)$, or of ${\mathcal{V}}^2_1(\pm1)$ given above). By a computation, $b^t_\pm(J_2-1)={\tiny \bp 0& 0\\ 0& \mp1\ep}$, hence in $\mp1$ only the $-$ sign is allowed. \[rem:graph\] As a corollary of Proposition \[prop:twist\], the components ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\fix}}\oplus {{\mathcal{V}}_{\partial}}\oplus \widetilde{{\mathcal{V}}}$ of $({\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm fib}})_{=1}$ (generalized eigenspace for $\lambda=1$) are the following: ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\fix}}$ is a direct sum of $\frac12\dim\vf$ copies of ${\mathcal{V}}^1_1(+1)\oplus {\mathcal{V}}^1_1(-1)$, ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\partial}}=(n-1)\cdot {\mathcal{W}}^1_1(+1)$, and $\widetilde{{\mathcal{V}}}$ is a direct sum of $\dim \vi$ copies of ${\mathcal{V}}^2_1(+ 1)$. All these ranks can be read from the dual embedded resolution graph of $(M,L_g)$. Indeed, if $\Gamma$ is the (abstract) dual resolution graph of $(X,0)$, let $c(\Gamma)$ be the number of independent cycles in $\Gamma$ (that is, the first Betti number of the topological realization of $\Gamma$), and let $g(\Gamma)$ be the sum of all genus decorations of the vertices. Then, by [@NS], $c(\Gamma)=\dim \vi$ (which equals the number of $2\times 2$-Jordan blocks with eigenvalue one), and $\dim \vf=2g(\Gamma)$. In particular, all these numbers are independent of the choice of the germ $g$ (that is, of the choice of the link $L_g$). Moreover, $\dim H_1(M)=2g(\Gamma)+c(\Gamma)$. On the other hand, $n$ obviously is the number of arrowheads of the graph of $(M,L_g)$. Regarding the notations of the proof of Theorem \[th:mendfib\], in this analytic case $c_-=0$, and $c_+=c(\Gamma)$. Hence $({\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm frct}})_{=1}$ consists of $n-1+c(\Gamma)$ copies of ${\mathcal{W}}^1_1(+1)$. Hence, the last statement of Theorem \[th:mendfib\] can be reformulated also as follows: $S$ and $c(\Gamma)$ determine ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm fib}}$. In particular, if $\Gamma$ is a tree, then $S$ and ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm fib}}$ determine each other. Mixed Hodge Structures on the vanishing (co)homology of $g$ {#ss:MHS} ----------------------------------------------------------- If $g$ is an isolated hypersurface singularity (in any dimension) then the cohomology of its Milnor fiber carries a mixed Hodge structure by the work of Steenbrink and Varchenko. The structure is compatible with the monodromy action (the semisimple and the nilpotent parts are morphisms of type $(0,0)$ and $(-1,-1)$ respectively), and has several polarization properties induced by the intersection and variation forms. Steenbrink and Varchenko considered also the associated spectrum, which are rational numbers $\alpha$, one number for each eigenvalue $\lambda=e^{2\pi i\alpha}$ of the monodromy, such that the choice of $\alpha$ reflects the position in the Hodge filtration of the corresponding eigenvector. The more general case when $(X,0)$ is a space germ with an isolated singularity, and $g:(X,0)\to (\C,0)$ is an analytic function germ which also defines an isolated singularity, is treated in [@Ste]. In this case, if $\dim (X,0)=2$, then the spectrum $\operatorname{Sp}_{{\rm MHS}}$ is situated in the interval $(0,2]$ (or shifted to $(-1,1]$, but here we prefer the first version). For precise definitions and particular cases see the articles of Steenbrink and Varchenko in the present bibliography (e.g. [@Stee (5.3)] or [@Stsp]), and also their references. In fact, the (co)homologies of the link $M$ itself carry mixed Hodge structure as well (see e.g. [@Ste]). For example, if $\dim (X,0)=2$, then $\dim\operatorname{Gr}^W_{-1}H_1(M)=2g(\Gamma)$ and $\dim\operatorname{Gr}^W_0H_1(M)=c(\Gamma)$ (in $H^1(M)$ the weights are $+1$ and $0$). The Hodge numbers for $H_1(M)$ are $h_{-1,0}=h_{0,-1}=g(\Gamma)$ and $h_{0,0}=c(\Gamma)$. Moreover, the natural geometric exact sequences (like (\[ex:VAR\])) are compatible with MHS (see e.g. the proof of Theorem \[th:specs\]). If $H_1(M,\Q)=0$ then $\operatorname{Sp}_{{\rm MHS}}$ is symmetric with respect to 1, see [@SSS]. Hence, in this case $\operatorname{Sp}_{{\rm MHS}}\subset (0,2)$. However, in general, $\operatorname{Sp}_{{\rm MHS}}\cap\Z$ fails to be symmetric, see below. In our approach, one can consider the fractured HVS ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm frct}}$ and its spectrum $\operatorname{Sp}_{{\rm frct}}\subset (0,2]$ determined from ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm frct}}$ as in Section \[s:specHVS\]. \[th:specs\] - $\operatorname{Sp}_{{\rm MHS}}\setminus \Z = \operatorname{Sp}_{{\rm frct}}\setminus \Z$. In particular, they are both symmetric with respect to 1. Hence $\operatorname{Sp}_{{\rm frct}}$ is also symmetric. - In $\operatorname{Sp}_{{\rm MHS}}$ the spectral number 2 appears with multiplicity $c(\Gamma)+g(\Gamma)$, while 1 with multiplicity $c(\Gamma)+g(\Gamma)+n-1$. - All integral spectral numbers of ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm frct}}$ are concentrated at 1 with multiplicity $c(\Gamma)+n-1$. - The spectrum $\operatorname{Sp}_{{\rm MHS}}$ coincides with the spectrum of ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm fib}}$ (hence also with the spectrum of ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm mend}}$, by Theorem \[th:mendfib\]). - In particular, $\operatorname{Sp}_{{\rm MHS}}=\operatorname{Sp}_{{\rm frct}} + g(\Gamma)\cdot \{1,2\}+ c(\Gamma)\cdot \{2\}$. Here all the spaces are considered with complex coefficients. As the monodromy preserves the decomposition $H_1(M)=\vn\oplus\vf\oplus\vb\oplus(\vbb\oplus\vi)$, the spectrum of MHS is a union of contributions on $\vn$, $\vf$, $\vb$ and $\vbb\oplus\vi$. On $\vn\oplus\vf$ the intersection form is non–degenerate, so the polarization property of the MHS (as in [@Nem2 Section 6]) shows that the spectrum of the MHS agrees with the spectrum ${\operatorname{Sp}_{\neq 1}}\cup{\operatorname{Sp}_{\fix}}$. This shows (a). Notice that $\vf$ is the sum of the same amount of copies of blocks with different polarizations (signs), hence ${\operatorname{Sp}_{\fix}}$ is a union of the same amount of copies of $\{1\}$ and $\{2\}$. On $\vi\oplus\vbb$, the monodromy is the union of two–dimensional Jordan blocks with eigenvalue 1. Each Jordan block corresponds to either ${\mathcal{V}}^2_1(1)$, or ${\mathcal{V}}^2_1(-1)$, but the contribution of both structures to the spectrum is the same: each contributes with $\{1,2\}$. Indeed, the nilpotent monodromy operator shifts the Hodge filtration by $-1$; in particular $\vi$ contributes with spectral numbers 1 and $\vbb$ with 2. The contribution of $\vb$ to $\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}$ follows from an extension of the argument in [@SSS Theorem 2.1] (the term $(\#\mathcal{A}-1)(0,1)$ in that article corresponds to the element $(n-1)\cdot\{1\}$ in $\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}$). The above discussion (see also Remark \[rem:graph\]) shows that $\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}$ agrees with the spectrum of ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm fib}}$. So (b) and (d) are also proved. \(c) For $\lambda=1$ we have only blocks of type ${\mathcal{W}}^1_1(+1)$ (cf. Proposition \[prop:twist\]); then use Definition \[def:spectrum\]. Part (e) is a consequence of (a)–(d) and the comparison of ${{\mathcal{V}}_{\frct}}$ with ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm fib}}$ in Remark \[rem:graph\]. An alternating way to check the Hodge types of the blocks $\vb$ and $\vf\oplus \vbb$ is via exact sequences. There are two main exact sequences (usually written in cohomology and compact support cohomology), both of them being sequences of mixed Hodge structures, see [@Ste (2.6)(a)-(b)]. The first, written in our language, is $$0\to \C\to H_1(\partial \Sigma)\to (H_1(\Sigma))_1\stackrel{j}{\to}(H_1(\Sigma,\partial \Sigma))_1\to H_1(\partial \Sigma)\to \C\to 0,$$ where (by duality) $j$ can be identified with our $b_1$. In particular, the kernel of $b_1$ (hence $\vb$ too) supports a mixed Hodge structure, as the link of the curve singularity $X\cap \{f=0\}$. For dimensional reason it supports only one Hodge type, which is the same as for curves sitting on surface singularities with rational homology sphere links, or even as for plane curve singularities. Hence they have the same type of spectrum contributions, namely 1. To identify the term $\vf\oplus \vbb\simeq {\rm coker}({\rm Var})$ we consider the ‘variation exact sequence’: $$0\to H_2(M)\to H_1(\Sigma,\partial \Sigma)\stackrel{{\rm Var}}{\longrightarrow}H_1(\Sigma)\to H_1(M)\to 0$$ and use the Hodge types of $M$, cf. Section \[ss:MHS\]. We emphasize again that $\operatorname{Sp}_{{\rm frct}}$ can be connected with the signatures of ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm frct}}$ by Lemma \[lem:sigandspec\]. They agree with the signatures of the Seifert form because of the following lemma. \[lem:signature\] The fractured signature of the link $L_g$ (defines via the Seifert matrix, cf. Definition \[def:fracturedsig\]) is equal to the signature of ${\mathcal{V}}_{{\rm frct}}$ (cf. Definition \[def:signatureofHVS\]). Note that $V=(S^t)^{-1}$. But then we have $$S\left((1-z)V+(1-{\overline{z}})V^t\right)S^t=(1-z)S+(1-{\overline{z}})S^t,$$ hence the two forms $(1-z)V+(1-{\overline{z}})V^t$ and $(1-z)S+(1-{\overline{z}})S^t$ are congruent. Their signatures coincide. Deformations of singularities {#s:notation} ----------------------------- In this section we establish notation, which will allow us to formulate and prove Theorem \[thm:semic\]. A *deformation* of an isolated singularity $g_0:(X,0)\to (\C,0)$ is a complex 3-dimensional variety $\X\subset\C^{N}\times D$ (where $D$ is a small disk in $\C$ centered at the origin) together with an analytic function $G\colon\X\to\C$ and a projection $\pi\colon\X\to D$ such that: - $\pi$ is a flat morphism; - for $t\in D$, the inverse image $X_t:=\pi^{-1}(t)$ is a surface with isolated singularities; - the function $g_t=G|_{X_t}$ has only isolated singularities; - the central fiber $X_0$ has a single singularity $x_0$ and $g_0$ is regular away from $x_0$. Given such a deformation, let us choose a small ball $B_0\subset\C^{N}$ and put $S_0=\p B_0$. Suppose that the ball is such that $X_0\cap S_0$ is the link $M_0$ of the singularity $x_0\in X_0$. Shrinking $B_0$ if necessary, we can assume that $g_0^{-1}(0)\cap S_0$ is the link of singularity of $g_0$ at $x_0$. We shall denote this link by $L_0$. (-6,-3)(6,3) (2.5,2.5)(2,2)(1,0)(0,0)(2.7,2.7) (2.5,-2.5)(2,-2)(1,0)(0,0) (3,2.5)(2.5,2)(2.1,1.3)(1.8,1.2)(3.2,2.7) (1.8,1.2)(2.1,1.1)(1.5,0)(1,0) (3,-2.5)(2.5,-2)(2.1,-1.3)(1.8,-1.2) (1.8,-1.2)(2.1,-1.1)(1.5,0)(1,0) (1,0)[0.07]{} (1.8,1.2)[0.07]{} (1.8,-1.2)[0.07]{} (2.4,1.8)(2.2,1.6)(2.15,1.4)(1.95,1.35) (1.85,1.05)(1.85,0.9)(1.5,0.17)(1.3,0.1) (2.4,-1.8)(2.2,-1.6)(2.15,-1.4)(1.95,-1.35) (1.85,-1.05)(1.85,-0.9)(1.5,-0.17)(1.3,-0.1) (2,0.5) (1.9,1.3)[0.04]{} (1,0)[0.3]{}(1.2,0.35) (1.8,1.2)[0.2]{}(2.2,1.2) (1.8,-1.2)[0.2]{}(2.2,-1.2) (0,0)[3]{}(3.2,0) Let now $t\in D\sm\{0\}$ be sufficiently small. Then $X_t\cap S_0\cong M_0$. Furthermore, by choosing $t$ small enough we can guarantee that $(X_t\cap S_0,g_t^{-1}(0)\cap X_t\cap S_0)\cong (M_0,L_0)$ as pairs. Let $x_1,\dots,x_k$ be the critical points of $g_t$ on $X_t$. (If $x\in X_t$ is a singular point of $X_t$ and $g_t(x)=0$, then $x$ has to be considered as a critical point of $g_t$.) Let $B_1,\dots,B_k$ be small pairwise disjoint balls near $x_1,\dots,x_k$ such that $B_i\subset B_0$ and the pair $(M_i,L_i):=(\p B_i\cap X_t,\p B_i\cap X_t\cap g_t^{-1}(0))$ is the link of the singularity of $g_t$ at $x_i$. Finally let $$W={\overline{B_0\cap X_t\sm(B_1\cup\cdots \cup B_k)}}.$$ Then $W$ is a cobordism between a disjoint union $M_1\cup\cdots \cup M_k$ and $M_0$. In general, $W$ can have a finite number of singular points: these are all those singular points of $X_t$ where $g_t$ does not vanish. See Figure \[fig:deform\]. Let us consider the map $\arg g_t\colon W\to S^1$. This is a surjection and let us pick a regular value $\delta$ such that $\O:=\arg g_t^{-1}(\delta)$ omits all the singular points of $W$. We have the following observation. For any $i=0,\dots,k$ the intersection $\O\cap\p B_i$ is the Seifert surface $\S_i$ for $L_i$ cut out by its Milnor open book. Let $Y={\overline{\p\O\sm\bigcup_{i=0}^k\S_i}}$. Observe that $Y=g_t^{-1}(0)\cap W$. Let also $Z=Y\cup\S_1\cup\dots\cup\S_k$. (This has some ‘corners’ along $\partial Y$, but they can be smoothed.) \[lem:Zisdiffeo\] The manifold $Z$ is diffeomorphic to a Seifert surface $\S_0$. By Proposition \[prop:equiv\], $\S_0\cong g_0^{-1}(\delta)\cap B_0$ if $\delta\in\C\sm\{0\}$ is sufficiently small. Then, since $t$ is sufficiently close to $0$, $\S_0\cong g_t^{-1}(\delta)\cap B_0$. Now $$g_t^{-1}(\delta)\cap B_0=\big(g_t^{-1}(\delta)\cap W\big) \cup\bigcup_{i=1}^k \big(g_t^{-1}(\delta)\cap B_i\big).$$ Applying Proposition \[prop:equiv\] again, we have $g_t^{-1}(\delta)\cap B_i\cong\S_i$. On the other hand, since $\delta$ is very small and $g_t^{-1}(0)$ has no singular points, we have $Y=g_t^{-1}(0)\cap W\cong g_t^{-1}(\delta)\cap W$. Semicontinuity of ${\operatorname{Sp}_{\frct}}$ {#s:semic} ----------------------------------------------- Given the notation introduced in Section \[s:notation\] we are ready to formulate and prove the next semicontinuity result regarding the spectrum. ${\operatorname{Sp}_{\frct}}^i$ denotes the spectrum associated with the corresponding local fractured HVS, $i=0,\ldots, k$. \[thm:semic\] If $s\in[0,1]$ is such that $z=e^{2\pi is}$ is not an eigenvalue of the monodromy of $L_0$, then $$\begin{aligned} |{\operatorname{Sp}_{\frct}}^0\cap(s,s+1)|\ge& \sum_{i=1}^k|{\operatorname{Sp}_{\frct}}^i\cap(s,s+1)|-\operatorname{Irr}_2-\operatorname{Irr}_1\\ |{\operatorname{Sp}_{\frct}}^0\sm[s,s+1]|\ge& \sum_{i=1}^k|{\operatorname{Sp}_{\frct}}^i\sm[s,s+1]|-\operatorname{Irr}_2-\operatorname{Irr}_1,\end{aligned}$$ where $$\operatorname{Irr}_1=\dim\ker(H_1(M_0\cup M_1\cup\dots\cup M_k)\to H_1(W))-\sum_{i=1}^k b_1(M_i).$$ The pair $(W,\O)$ is a Seifert cobordism of links $(M_0,L_0)$ and $(M_1,L_1)\sqcup\dots\sqcup(M_k,L_k)$. For $i=0,\dots,k$, let $\s_i(z)$ denotes the fractured signature of the link $L_i$. Suppose first that $z$ is chosen so that $z$ is not an eigenvalue of the monodromy of any $h_i$. Since the links $(M_0,L_0)$,…,$(M_k,L_k)$ are simple fibred, we have $n_0(z)=n_1(z)=\dots=0$. Theorem \[thm:signatures\] applied in this situation yields $$\begin{gathered} \left|\sum_{i=1}^k\s_i(z)-\s_0(z)\right|\le \sum_{i=1}^k(\dim \vs_i-2b_1(\S_i))+b_1(\p\O)+\dim \vs_0-2b_1(\S_0)+\\ +2\operatorname{Irr}_2+2\dim\ker(H_1(M_0\cup M_1\cup\dots\cup M_k)\to H_1(W)).\end{gathered}$$ Here $\vs_i=\ker(H_1(\S_i)\to H_1(M_i))$ and $\dim\vs_i$ is the size of the fractured Seifert matrix for $M_i$. Therefore $\dim \vs_i-2b_1(\S_i)=-\dim \vs_i-2b_1(M_i)$. On the other hand, by Lemma \[lem:Zisdiffeo\], we have $\p\O\cong\S_0\cup\S_0$, hence $b_1(\p\O)=2 b_1(\S_0)$. We obtain. $$\label{eq:firstsemic} \begin{split} &\left|\sum_{i=1}^k\s_i(z)-\s_0(z)\right|+\sum_{i=1}^k\dim \vs_i-\dim \vs_0\le\\ &\le 2\operatorname{Irr}_2+2\dim\ker(H_1(M_0\cup M_1\cup\dots\cup M_k)\to H_1(W))-2\sum_{i=1}^k b_1(M_i). \end{split}$$ The proof now follows from Lemma \[lem:sigandspec\]. It remains to deal with the case where $z$ is an eigenvalue of $h_j$ for some $j>0$. This is done by choosing $z'$ sufficiently close to $z$ and using the result for $z'$. The argument is as in [@BNR Section 4.1], we omit here the details. Special cases of Theorem \[thm:semic\] -------------------------------------- Theorem \[thm:semic\] is stated in a rather general form, $X_t$ might have many singular points, $W$ itself is allowed to be singular. Sometimes it is more convenient to have some special cases. We begin with the following lemma We have $$\operatorname{Irr}_1+\operatorname{Irr}_2=\dim H_2(W,M)-\sum_{i=1}^k b_1(M_i),$$ where $M=\p W=M_0\sqcup M_1\sqcup\dots\sqcup M_k$. By the long exact sequence of the pair $(W,M)$ we obtain $$\dim\operatorname{coker}(H_2(M)\to H_2(W))+\dim\ker(H_1(M)\to H_1(W))=\dim H_2(W,M).$$ \[prop:irr=0\] Suppose that $M_0\cong M_1$ are rational homology cobordant and $M_2\cong\dots\cong M_k\cong S^3$. Suppose additionally that $W$ is built from a rational $H$–cobordism (that is the inclusions $M_0\hookrightarrow W'$ and $M_1\hookrightarrow W'$ induce isomorphism on rational homologies) $W'$ between $M_0$ and $M_1$ by removing $k-1$ balls, then $\operatorname{Irr}_1+\operatorname{Irr}_2=0$. Clearly $H_2(W',M)\cong H_2(W,M)$. Furthermore $\dim H_2(W,M)=b_1(M_0)=b_1(M_1)$. The statement follows by definition. If $\X$ is a trivial deformation, that is $X_t\cong X_0$, then $\operatorname{Irr}_1+\operatorname{Irr}_2=0$. We can choose $M_1$ to be equal to $M_0$. Then $W$ is obtained from $M_0\times [0,1]$ by removing a finite number of 4-balls; these balls are neighbourhoods of the critical points of $g_t$ on $g_t^{-1}(0)$. Thus $W$ satisfies the assumptions of Proposition \[prop:irr=0\]. Semicontinuity results for ${\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}}$ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Using Theorem \[th:specs\](e) we can now deduce semicontinuity property for ${\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}}$ from Theorem \[thm:semic\]. For $i=0,1,\ldots,k$ let $c_i$ and $g_i$ be the quantities $c(\Gamma)$ and $g(\Gamma)$ corresponding to $M_i$, as in Remark \[rem:graph\]. That is $c_i$ is the number of independent cycles in the graph $\Gamma_i$ representing the link $M_i$, while $g_i$ is the sum of all genus decorations of the vertices. Let us set $$\Delta_1=c_0-\sum_{i=1}^kc_i, \ \ \ \ \ \Delta_2=c_0+g_0-\sum_{i=1}^k(c_i+g_i).$$ Then one has the following result. \[thm:semic-MHS\] If $s\in[0,1]$ is such that $z=e^{2\pi is}$ is not an eigenvalue of the monodromy operator of $L_0$, then $$\begin{aligned} |{\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}}^0\cap(s,s+1)|\ge& \sum_{i=1}^k|{\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}}^i\cap(s,s+1)|-\operatorname{Irr}_2-\operatorname{Irr}_1+\Delta_1\\ |{\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}}^0\sm[s,s+1]|\ge& \sum_{i=1}^k|{\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}}^i\sm[s,s+1]|-\operatorname{Irr}_2-\operatorname{Irr}_1+\Delta_2.\end{aligned}$$ Suppose $s\in(0,1)$. We use the fact that $|({\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}}^i\sm{\operatorname{Sp}_{\frct}}^i)\cap(s,s+1)|=c_i$ and $|({\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}}^i\sm{\operatorname{Sp}_{\frct}}^i)\sm(s,s+1)|=c_i+g_i$, which follows from Theorem \[th:specs\](d). If $s=0$ or $s=1$, then the assumptions imply that $1$ is not an eigenvalue of the monodromy operator of $L_0$, in particular, neither 1 nor 2 are in ${\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}}^0$. By Remark \[rem:graph\] we infer that $c_0=g_0=0$, hence $\Delta_1,\Delta_2\le 0$. Clearly, ${\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}}^i\cap(0,1)={\operatorname{Sp}_{\frct}}^i\cap(0,1)$, so the first inequality holds if $s=0,1$. If $s=0$, we have ${\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}}^i\sm[0,1]={\operatorname{Sp}_{\frct}}^i\sm[0,1]\cap (g_i+c_i)\cdot\{2\}$, so the second inequality in that case follows from the case $s\in(0,1)$. As ${\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}}^i\sm[1,2]={\operatorname{Sp}_{\frct}}^i\sm[1,2]$ and $\Delta_2\le 0$, we infer that the second inequality holds for $s=1$ as well. As a corollary, we prove the semicontinuity in the case of Proposition \[prop:irr=0\]. Under the assumptions of Proposition \[prop:irr=0\], for instance if $X_t\cong X_0$, we have $\Delta_1=\Delta_2=0$. Thus for any $s\in[0,1]$ such that $e^{2\pi i s}$ is not an eigenvalue of the monodromy operator of $L_0$ we have $$\begin{aligned} |{\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}}^0\cap(s,s+1)|\ge& \sum_{i=1}^k|{\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}}^i\cap(s,s+1)|\\ |{\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}}^0\sm[s,s+1]|\ge& \sum_{i=1}^k|{\operatorname{Sp}_{\operatorname{MHS}}}^i\sm[s,s+1]|.\end{aligned}$$ [piglet]{} V.I. Arnold, S.M. Gussein–Zade, A.N. Varchenko, *Singularities of differentiable mappings. II.*, “Nauka”, Moscow, 1984. M. Borodzik, A. Némethi, *Hodge-type structures as link invariants*, Ann. Inst. Fourier **63**(1) (2013), 269–301. M. Borodzik, A. Némethi, *Spectrum of plane curves via knot theory*, J. London Math. Soc. **86** (2012), no. 1, 87–110. M. Borodzik, A. Némethi, A. Ranicki, *On the semicontinuity of the mod 2 spectrum of hypersurface singularities*, arXiv:1210.0798, to appear in J. of Alg. Geom. M. Borodzik, A. Némethi, A. Ranicki, *Codimension 2 embeddings, algebraic surgery and Seifert form*, arxiv:1211.5964. J. L. Cisneros-Molina, J. Seade, J. Snoussi, *Refinements of Milnor’s fibration theorem for complex singularities*, Adv. in Math. **222** (2009), 937–970. D. Eisenbud and W. Neumann, *Three-dimensional link theory and invariants of plane curve singularities*, Annals Math. Studies **110**, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1985. D. Erle, *Quadratische Formen als Invarianten von Einbettungen der Kodimension 2*, Topology **8** (1969) 99–114. B. Farb, D. Margalit, *A primer on mapping class groups*, Princeton Mathematical Series, **49**. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2012. H. Hamm, *Lokale topologische Eigenschaften komplexer Räume*, Math. Ann. **191**(1971), 235–252. Lê Dũng Tráng, *Some remarks on the relative monodromy*, in: Real and complex Singul., Proc. Nordic Summer Sch., Symp. Math., Oslo 1976, 397–403. Lê Dũng Tráng, *Vanishing cycles on complex analytic sets*, in. Various problems in algebraic analysis (Proc. Sympos., Res. Inst. Math. Sci., Kyoto Univ., Kyoto, 1975). Surikaisekikenkyusho Kokyroku No. **266** (1976), 299–318. Lê Dũng Tráng, *Singularités isolées des intersections complêtes*, in: Introduction à la théorie des singularités , I, 1–48, Travaux en Cours, **36**, Hermann, Paris, 1988. E. Looijenga, *Isolated Singular Points on Complete Intersections*, London Math. Soc. Lecture Notes Series **77**, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1984. J. Milnor, *On isometries of inner product spaces*, Invent. Math. **8** (1969), 83–97. J. Milnor, *Singular points of complex hypersurfaces,* Annals of Mathematics Studies, No. **61** Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J, 1968. A. Némethi, *The real Seifert form and the spectral pairs of isolated hypersurface singularities*, Compositio Mathematica, **98** (1995), 23–41. A. Némethi, *Resolution graphs of some surface singularities, I. Cyclic coverings*, Proceedings of the AMS Conference, San Antonio, 1999. Contemporary Mathematics 266, Singularities in Algebraic and Analytic Geometry, AMS 2000, 89-128. A. Némethi, J.H.M. Steenbrink, *On the monodromy of curve singularities*, Math. Zeitschrift, **223** (1996), 587-593. W. D. Neumann, *Invariants of plane curve singularities*, in: ,,Knots, braids and singularities” (Plans-sur-Becs, 1982), 223–232, Monogr. Enseign. Math., **31**, Enseignement Math., Geneva, 1983. W. D. Neumann, A. Némethi, A. Pichon: *Principal analytic link theory in homology sphere links*, Proc. of the Conference in Honor of the 60th Birthday of A. Libgober, [*Topology of Algebraic Varieties*]{}, Jaca (Spain), June 2009; [*Contemporary Math.*]{} [**538**]{} (2011), 377–387. W.D. Neumann, A. Pichon: Complex analytic realization of links. [*Intelligence of low dimensional topology 2006*]{}, 231–238, Ser. Knots Everything, 40, World Sci. Publ., Hackensack, NJ, 2007. D. Rolfsen, *Knots and links*, Mathematics Lecture Series, **7**. Publish or Perish, Inc., Houston, TX, 1990. J.H.M. Steenbrink, *Mixed Hodge Structures on the Vanishing Cohomology*, Nordic Sumemr School/ NAVF, Symposium in Math., Oslo 1976, 525–563. J.H.M. Steenbrink, *Mixed Hodge Structures associated with isolated singularities*, Proc. of Symp. in Pure Math., **40**, Part 2 (1983), 513–536. J.H.M. Steenbrink, *Semicontinuity of the singularity spectrum*, Invent. Math **79** (1985), 557–565. J.H.M. Steenbrink, *The spectrum of hypersurface singularities*, Astérisque **179-180** (1989), 163–184. R. Schrauwen, J. Steenbrink, J. Stevens, *Spectral pairs and the topology of curve singularities*, Complex geometry and Lie theory (Sundance, UT, 1989), 305–328, Proc. Sympos. Pure Math., **53**, Providence, 1991. A.N. Varchenko, *On the semicontinuity of the spectrum and an upper bound for the number of singular points of projective hypersurfaces*, Doklady Akad. Nauk. **270**(6) (1983), 1294–1297. A.N. Varchenko, *On change of discrete invariants of critical points of functions under deformation*, Uspehi Mat. Nauk. **5** (1983), 126-127. H. Zoladek, *The monodromy group*, Mathematical monographs (new series), **67**, Birhäuser Verlag, Basel, 2006. [^1]: This is Corollary 4.4.9 in the arxiv version of [@BN].

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amazing sunrise Niki had me get up with the kids this morning at 10 till 7 (late for a normal day, but early on vacation!) and I got to see the sun rising low in the sky over our beautiful beach and pool: what an amazing place to stay on vacation! We love the beach, the pool, again the weather has been great, the location near so many restaurants, the quiet part where we are just south of the state park, the two bedroom condo construction, the living space downstairs, the large bedrooms (especially the master) upstairs, the balcony (though Niki gets bitten by mosquitoes), the fact that its mostly families with kids and large extended families staying here: really, we hit the jackpot with this one. But the fact that we can wake up on the beach and see the sunrise (and I will see the sunrise before I leave!) is really the best part about this place (and the fact that the pool is right on the beach!). Of course, the best part about being here is having the time on vacation with Niki and the kids, and this could have happened anywhere and been great. However, it being on the beach, and being so far away from my regular routine, has really helped us get in some good family time, and has provided an environment to create lasting memories. Also, being here on vacation has allowed me to inquire into myself and to consider who I am and questions about my primary relationships without the distraction of work and church obligations. I’ve been able to consider what makes me “me”, as it were, as I haven’t been able to in a long time, and I’ve been able to consider things about my relationship with my wife and children that aren’t always evident to me, or that I’m typically too distracted to give my full attention. What’s more, and as I’ve written before, I’ve discovered that writing for myself – journaling, as it were – is a helpful exercise for me: it helps me to be in touch with “me” you might say, and I realize that the time that I didn’t journal (last week) was a time where my thoughts went haywire for a little while and I felt like I was somehow drifting or that my mind was racing and distracted. It seems that one purpose of journaling, then, is to put down all these distracting thoughts (as they often talk about in AA). So I pray that I leave here with some tools that I can continue to use in my regular life: journaling, for one, and being more intentional about spending time with my family as well. Niki said to me last night that she would like to structure time to spend with each other in the evenings, after the kids go to bed, as even on vacation we’ve often done our own thing in those hours in the evening and perhaps missed some opportunities to communicate. Exercise and guitar are also things that I should incorporate into a healthy routine (also visual art? being outdoors?) so I will need to prioritize being more intentional about these things when I return.

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Introduction ============ Since the introduction of the concept of burnout by [@ref-15] ([@ref-15]), this syndrome is becoming an important topic in psychological and educational research ([@ref-23], [@ref-23]; [@ref-30], [@ref-30]). An expanding body of research examining the relationship between teaching stressful situations and burnout have found that teachers tend to report higher levels of occupational-related stress and burnout than many other human service professionals ([@ref-30], [@ref-30]). According to [@ref-29] ([@ref-29]), burnout syndrome is characterized by three primary dimensions: (1) feelings of emotional exhaustion and being emotionally drained by intense contact with students; (2) depersonalization or negative, cynical attitudes toward students; and (3) a sense of lack of personal accomplishment or of ineffectiveness and low competence in one's work. This syndrome has been repeatedly described as being the result of a significant accumulation of chronic work-related stress ([@ref-28], [@ref-28]). In identifying important sources of teacher burnout, [@ref-32] ([@ref-32]) included a wide diversity of stressors such as students' misbehaviours and discipline problems, students' poor motivation for work, role conflict and role ambiguity, and pressure and criticisms from parents, among others. All these factors have been associated with the development and maintenance of teacher burnout ([@ref-9], [@ref-9]; [@ref-24], [@ref-24]). In addition, the high levels of stress experienced by teachers and costly mental health-related problems have also been found to contribute to the growing retention problems within the school setting ([@ref-36], [@ref-36]). However, teaching professionals do show marked individual differences in their responses to different teaching stressors, ranging from minor psychological symptoms and mild anxiety to burnout as the more severe negative affective experience ([@ref-4], [@ref-4]). Individual differences constructs are believed to increase the likelihood that conditions related to the stressful situation will be effectively addressed or resolved and higher levels of such skills will lead to lower reported burnout ([@ref-25], [@ref-25]). Consistent with this view, researchers in the field of individual differences have shown interest in examining mechanisms that might explain what individual factors predispose teachers to burnout ([@ref-1], [@ref-1]; [@ref-9], [@ref-9]). One dimension that has gained growing attention in the field of individual differences as a person-related psychological resource is the people ability to deal effectively with affective information, often referred to as emotional competence (or emotional intelligence) ([@ref-31], [@ref-31]; [@ref-10], [@ref-10]). Some authors prefer the use of the more generic and neutral "emotional competence" term when are used self-report measures similar to those used in this study ([@ref-10], [@ref-10]; [@ref-18], [@ref-18]). Emotional competence (EC) is regarded here as an affect-related skill, which refers to the ability to understand, manage, and express the social and emotional aspects of life in ways that enable one to coping with stressful and emotionally laden situations ([@ref-22], [@ref-22]). In recent years, studies and theories have emphasized that EC has an impact on adaptive functioning at school ([@ref-21], [@ref-21]), even in the prediction of prosocial classsroom climate and teacher burnout ([@ref-7], [@ref-7]; [@ref-33], [@ref-33]). Several authors have proposed that EC is a personal coping resource that allows teachers to manage and cope successfully with external and internal demands in a stressful workplace ([@ref-5], [@ref-5]; [@ref-21], [@ref-21]). According to [@ref-41] ([@ref-41]), it is believed that emotionally competent individuals are better adjusted than their less skilled counterparts due to the former having access to their own feelings and being able to manage their negative states even when emotionally aroused by challenging situations. Likewise, [@ref-7] ([@ref-7]) suggested that the integrated operation of these emotional competencies might render teachers less vulnerable to teacher burnout, since they might gain better access to the healthy information and action tendency within emotions, and use the information to make sense of their reactions to stressors as well as to guide adaptive action. In fact, EC has been considered to be particularly relevant to work behaviour in teachers because abilities to manage relationships and to show interpersonal sensibility when needed are the prerequisites for improving increasing classroom management ([@ref-16], [@ref-16]). Consistent with this assumption, accumulating empirical research has shown that EC might explain unique variance of both attitudinal and behavioural work outcomes ([@ref-17], [@ref-17]; [@ref-18], [@ref-18]). Having high EC is one of these personal resources that might act as a protector factor, reducing the effects of teacher work strain ([@ref-6], [@ref-6]; [@ref-20], [@ref-20]). Although EC appears to be negatively related to burnout, the mechanisms by which EC affects burnout are not clear. [@ref-41] ([@ref-41]) have listed several underlying mechanisms which might play a mediating role in the EC--occupational-related stress link, suggesting the levels of perceived stress as an underlying process. Given the emerging evidence of a link between EC and burnout ([@ref-6], [@ref-6]; [@ref-20], [@ref-20]; [@ref-33], [@ref-33]), and the well-established connections between high perceived stress and burnout ([@ref-28], [@ref-28]), it is probable that part of the influence of EC on burnout occurs through the mediating effect of perceived stress. However, although these factors are reported to be correlated with each other in the literature, such a proposition has not been empirically evaluated. Also, the relative strength of the direct and indirect relations between EC and burnout is unclear. Therefore, there are some reasons to believe that EC may show influence the risk of burnout symptoms through perceived stress. Stress is conceptualized as an experience resulting from an imbalance between demands and resources or as taking place when pressure exceeds one's perceived ability to cope ([@ref-27], [@ref-27]). Relevant to the current study, results of previous research suggest that teachers confused about their emotional knowledge abilities and with no confidence in their own emotional regulation abilities are unlikely to feel in control of stressful situations, showing generally higher perceived stress ([@ref-6], [@ref-6]; [@ref-20], [@ref-20]). When these individuals maintain higher stress levels, there is the potential for them to increase the risk of becoming burned out on the job. On the contrary, it is tentative to think that teachers who are high on emotional competence would also experience as though they have more control over their stressful environment because they can confer sense and manage their negative moods more adaptively ([@ref-41], [@ref-41]). In fact, several researchers have found evidence that EC are negatively associated with experience of stress ([@ref-12], [@ref-12]; [@ref-16], [@ref-16]), supporting its utility as an individual characteristic that helps shape subjective interpretations of stressful daily events. These positive effects of EC on perceived stress may result in reduced levels of burnout. Likewise, EC might influence the manner in which a teacher views and reacts to stressful events and experience of stress which, in turn, may reduce levels of burnout symptoms. Hence, the assessment of perceived stress as a potential mediator of the link between EC and teacher burnout symptoms seems to be warranted. Additionally, a variety of socio-demographic factors has been associated with symptoms of burnout, including age, sex and grade level taught ([@ref-30], [@ref-30]). In order to ensure that our findings would not be confounded with these predictive dimensions, respondents's age, gender, and grade level taught were used as control variables in our proposed mediation model of perceived stress on the link between EC and burnout. In summary, a large body of literature deals with the prediction of different indicators of teacher burnout. One of this predictor may be the way in which people identify and manage one's own feelings and those of others. However, rather little is known about the mechanisms that interlink EC, perceived stress and burnout in teachers. Beyond the mere associations among these dimensions, this study will examine whether there is a mediation effect to gain more insight into possible mechanisms of the development of teacher burnout and of protective resource factors. Although the theoretical assumption of mediation of perceived stress on the interplay between EC and burnout has been proposed by authors ([@ref-41], [@ref-41]), one finds hardly any formal tests of mediation in the available literature. One valuable exception is the preliminary work of [@ref-13] ([@ref-13]) who examined the relationship of perceived emotional intelligence, stress, and burnout in a sample of high school teachers using the TMMS (i.e., Trait Meta-Mood Scale) to predict teacher burnout and the mediating role of stress. In short, they found partial support for the idea that perceived stress mediated the influence of TMMS dimensions on specific subscales of teacher burnout. However, as authors have pointed out, TMMS only evaluates intrapersonal emotional process, but this does not preclude the importance of interpersonal dimensions not measured by TMMS. Besides, other important socio-demographic dimensions such as sex, age and grade taught level, which are related to stress and teacher burnout, were not controlled for. Finally, the sample was composed of only high school teachers which limits the extent to which the findings can be generalized. Future research with a heterogenous sample of grade level teachers, using more comprenhensive EI measures and controlling for classic socio-demographics factors related to teacher burnout is needed to confirm the usefulness and validity of these findings. In light of the above considerations, the purpose of the present study was to examine the role of perceived stress as a mediator in the relationship between EC and teacher burnout. We hypothesized that more emotionally competent teachers would experience less stress, and this reduction in stress might account for their decreased experience of symptoms of teacher burnout, even when controlling for salient background characteristics. Methods ======= Participants ------------ The study used a cross-sectional survey with incidental sampling. The original sample, who participated voluntarily and anonymously in the study, consisted of 494 teachers (334 female and 160 male). The responses provided by five participants were dropped from the study because they were incomplete. The final sample comprised 489 teachers (330 females and 159 males) from fifteen autonomous regions in Spain: Andalusia (*n* = 165); Galicia (*n* = 80); Madrid (*n* = 71); Castile-La Mancha (*n* = 46); Castile and León (*n* = 11); Cantabria (*n* = 25); Valencia (*n* = 17); Navarra (*n* = 15); Extremadura (*n* = 11); Aragón (*n* = 11); Canary Islands (*n* = 9); Asturias (*n* = 9); Balearic Islands (*n* = 8); Ceuta (*n* = 6) and La Rioja (*n* = 5). The mean age was of 39.90 years (SD = 9.49 years). One hundred and three were elementary teachers (males = 14; females = 89) who taught pupils from 3-to-5 year-olds; 243 intermediate teachers (males = 77; females = 166) who taught students from 6-to-11 year-olds; 135 secondary teachers (males = 66; females = 69) who taught students from 12-to-17 year-olds and eight teachers with unreported grade level taught. A total of 81.8% of the teachers worked in state schools and 17.2% worked in private schools that receives public funds. Teaching experience ranged from one month to 38 years (*M* = 4.22 years; SD = 7.85 years). Materials --------- ### Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS; [@ref-26], [@ref-26]) To evaluate EC we used the WLEIS. The scale consists of 16 items relating to self-emotional appraisal (SEA), other emotional appraisal (OEA), use of emotion (UOE) and regulation of emotion (ROE). The items are scored on a 7-point Likert-type scale (1 = totally disagree to 7 = totally agree). The scale has shown adequate internal consistency and evidence of validity ([@ref-26], [@ref-26]). As in previous studies, we combined the subscales into a global EC measure since we were more interested in the overall EC construct than in each of its dimensions ([@ref-38], [@ref-38]; [@ref-40], [@ref-40]). The WLEIS was translated from English into Spanish using the method of back-translation. In our sample, the Cronbach's alpha for total EC was 0.89. ### Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; [@ref-11], [@ref-11]) This is a 14-item measure of self-appraised stress. Respondents are asked to rate the frequency during the last month with which they have been in situations they consider stressful. Frequency is rated across a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 0 (never) to 4 (very often). We used the Spanish version of this scale ([@ref-35], [@ref-35]). In our sample, the reliability was 0.75. ### Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI; [@ref-29], [@ref-29]) This scale consists of 22 items scored on a 7-point frequency scale from 0 (never) to 6 (daily) and comprises three sub-scales: Emotional Exhaustion, which describes feelings of being emotionally overextended and exhausted by one's work; Depersonalization, which describes an unfeeling and impersonal response towards recipients of one's care or service; and Personal Accomplishment, which describes feelings of competence and successful achievement in one's work with people ([@ref-29], [@ref-29]). We used the most widely used Spanish version of MBI, which has shown adequate psychometric properties in occupational population ([@ref-37], [@ref-37]). In this study, Cronbach's alpha for Emotional Exhaustation was 0.90; for Depersonalizaton was 0.72 and for Personal Accomplishment was 0.83. Procedures ---------- Participants were recruited through the help of Psychopedagogy students (UNED) and psychology students at University of Málaga. These students received instructions from the teaching staff regarding how to administer the questionnaire correctly. The data were collected as part of a project, participating in a research study on emotions and well-being at work. Most importantly, participants were fully informed about the voluntary basis of participation; they were also informed that questionnaires were completed anonymously. Thereafter, they provided informed consent. Once the questionnaires were completed, the students returned them to the teaching staff for statistical processing. The study protocol was approved as part of the project PSI2012-38813 by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Malaga. Results ======= Descriptive statistics ---------------------- Descriptive statistics (e.g., means, standard deviations, skewness and kurtosis) alpha coefficients for the study variables are presented in [Table 1](#table-1){ref-type="table"}. 10.7717/peerj.2087/table-1 ###### Descriptives, internal reliabilities and correlations for all study measures.  *M* SD Skewness Kurtosis *α* 1 2 3 4 5 ----------------------------- ------ ------ ---------- ---------- ----- ------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- ---- 1\. Emotional competence 5.25 .69 --0.54 0.15 .89 -- 2\. Perceived stress 1.19 .64 0.41 0.08 .75 --.47[^\*\*^](#table-1fn1){ref-type="fn"} -- 3\. Emotional exhaustion 2.06 1.24 0.56 --0.25 .90 --.38[^\*\*^](#table-1fn1){ref-type="fn"} .45[^\*\*^](#table-1fn1){ref-type="fn"} -- 4\. Depersonalization .84 1.02 1.53 2.48 .72 --.32[^\*\*^](#table-1fn1){ref-type="fn"} .27[^\*\*^](#table-1fn1){ref-type="fn"} .52[^\*\*^](#table-1fn1){ref-type="fn"} -- 5\. Personal accomplishment 4.78 .84 --.99 .96 .83 .55[^\*\*^](#table-1fn1){ref-type="fn"} --.34[^\*^](#table-1fn2){ref-type="fn"} --.42[^\*\*^](#table-1fn1){ref-type="fn"} --.40[^\*\*^](#table-1fn1){ref-type="fn"} -- **Notes.** *p* \< 0.01. *p* \< 0.05. Mahalanobis' distance was computed to determine if multivariate outliers occurred in the dataset. One participant was found to be outlier (*p* \< .001), being removed from the dataset. Pearson product--moment correlation coefficients were used to specify the relationship between the variables. Scores on all the factors, except for depersonalization, are normally distributed, as indicated by skewness and kurtosis. Therefore, for depersonalization that showed high kurtosis, Spearman correlations were computed. In general, all relationships among EC, stress and burnout symptoms were statistically significant. Thus, perceived stress scores were significantly and positively related to emotional exhaustation and depersonalization and negatively associated with personal accomplishment. Mediation analysis ------------------ According to the general guidelines offered by [@ref-3] ([@ref-3]) for establishing evidence for a proposed mediation model, four conditions need to be satisfied. First, the predictor (EC) needs to be related to the outcome (burnout subscales). Second, the predictor must be related to the hypothesized mediator (perceived stress). Third, the mediator must be related to the outcome when controlling for the predictor. Fourth, the effect of the predictor on the outcome must be reduced when the effect of the mediator is controlled. As recommended by [@ref-34] ([@ref-34]), bootstrap analysis, a non-parametric sampling procedure, was used to test the significance of the indirect effects. Bootstrapping is an approach that resamples the original sample size from the data multiple times and does not rely on the assumption that data are normally distributed. Current analyses utilized 5,000 bootstrap resamples to generate 95% confidence intervals. The indirect effect is significant at *p* \< .05 if zero is not included in the 95% confidence interval for that indirect effect. We conducted a set of path analyses to test separately the potential role of perceived stress as a mediator between EC and each burnout subscale including sex, age, and grade taught level as covariates in the analyses. Perceived stress as a mediator between EC and teacher emotional exhaustation ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- We conducted a series of regressions to test for a mediation effect of perceived stress on the relationship between EC and teacher emotional exhaustion controlling for sex, age and grade taught level in the first step. As seen in [Table 2](#table-2){ref-type="table"}, after controlling for teachers background characteristics, in the second step EC was regressed on emotional exhaustion, accounting for 14% of the variance in this burnout dimension. In the third step, emotional exhaustation was simultaneously regressed on background characteristics, EC and perceived stress. When perceived stress was entered into the equation, the beta weight from EC dropped from --.37 to --.22, but it remained significant. 10.7717/peerj.2087/table-2 ###### Regression models predicting the three teacher burnout symptoms from emotional competence and perceived stress controlling for sex, age and grade taught level.  Predictor Emotional exhaustion Depersonalization Personal accomplishment -------------------- ---------------------- ------------------- ------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- ----- ------- ------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- ----- ------- ------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- **Step 1** .04 6.23 .03 4.30 .04 5.61 Sex .06 --.10[^\*^](#table-2fn1){ref-type="fn"} --.00 Age .19[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} .04 --.08 Grade taught level .02 .09 --.16[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} **Step 2** .18 24.42 .14[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} .13 17.45 .10[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} .35 60.89 .31[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} Sex .05 --.10[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} --.00 Age .16[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} .02 --.04 Grade taught level .00 .07 --.13[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} EC --.37[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} --.33[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} .56[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} **Step 3** .27 32.89 .09[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} .15 16.47 .02[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} .36 51.12 .01[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} Sex .03 --.11[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} .01 Age .14[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} .01 --.03 Grade taught level --.00 .07 --.13[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} EC --.22[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} --.25[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} .50[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} Perceived stress .34[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} .16[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} --.12[^\*\*^](#table-2fn2){ref-type="fn"} **Notes.** *p* \< .05. *p* \< .01. By using the SPSS macro provided by [@ref-34] ([@ref-34]), the indirect effect of perceived stress was estimated to lie between --.38 and --.19 with 95% confidence (bootstrap coefficient = --.27), as you can see in [Table 3](#table-3){ref-type="table"}. Because zero was not in the 95% confidence interval, the findings suggested that the indirect effect through perceived stress was significantly different from zero at *p* \< .05, supporting the view that perceived stress partly mediated the relation between EC and emotional exhaustation controlling for sex, age and grade taught level. 10.7717/peerj.2087/table-3 ###### Indirect effects of emotional competence on burnout symptoms, through perceived stress and controlling for background characteristics.  Model[^a^](#table-3fn1){ref-type="fn"} *Estimated*[^b^](#table-3fn2){ref-type="fn"}*coefficient* *SE* 95% CI ---------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ------ -------- ------- Emotional competence-emotional exhaustation --.29 .04 --.38 --.19 Emotional competence-depersonalization --.11 .03 --.19 --.05 Emotional competence-personal accomplishment .06 .02 .02 .12 **Notes.** In the presence of perceived stress as a mediator, and the covariates of, sex, age, and grade taught level. Estimated using bias corrected and accelerated bootstrapping, with 5,000 samples. Perceived stress as a mediator between EC and depersonalization --------------------------------------------------------------- Next, EC was regressed on depersonalization (*b* = − .32, *p* \< .001), accounting for 10% of the variance in this burnout dimension even controlling for background characteristics. In the third step, depersonalization was simultaneously regressed on background characteristics, EC and perceived stress. As [Table 2](#table-2){ref-type="table"} shows, when perceived stress was included in the model, there was a decrease in EC influence on depersonalization (the beta weight dropped from --.33 to --.25). The indirect effect was significant (bootstrap coefficient = --.11), with a 95% confidence interval of --.18 to --.04, supporting the view that perceived stress partly mediated the relation between EC and depersonalization (see [Table 3](#table-3){ref-type="table"}). Perceived stress as a mediator between EC and personal accomplishment --------------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, we conducted a series of regressions to test for a mediation effect of perceived stress on the relationship between EC and personal accomplishment. In the first step, we controlling for background characteristic, grade taught level was a significant predictor of the variance in this burnout dimension. In the second step, EC was found to be a significant predictor of personal accomplishment, accounting for 31% of the variance in this burnout symptom. In the last step, perceived stress was added to the model, explaining an additional 1% of the variance in this burnout subscale. As [Table 2](#table-2){ref-type="table"} shows, when perceived stress was included in the model, there was a decrease in EC influence on personal accomplishment (the beta weight dropped from .56 to .50). The indirect effect was significant (bootstrap coefficient = .06), with a 95% confidence interval of .02 to 0.11, supporting the view that perceived stress is also a partial mediator in the link between EC and personal accomplishment (see [Table 3](#table-3){ref-type="table"}). Discussion ========== This study expands on previous research literature on EC and teacher burnout ([@ref-7], [@ref-7]; [@ref-20], [@ref-20]; [@ref-33], [@ref-33]) by examining direct and indirect relations between EC, perceived stress and burnout in a sample of teachers. Our underlying reasoning was that EC may work through to the reduction of perceived stress, which in turn would promote lower levels of teacher burnout independently of sex, age and grade taught level. There is accumulating empirical evidence that deficits in emotional abilities are directly related to high levels of burnout ([@ref-13], [@ref-13]; [@ref-33], [@ref-33]). Consistent with these findings, our research did provide evidence that EC was correlated with both perceived stress and burnout symptoms. Specifically, teachers who report being poor emotionally at perceiving and managing emotions also tend to report feeling exhausted more often and being more cynical about their work and about students whom they work with, and a more reduced sense of personal accomplishment. One explanation for these findings is that teaching professionals' skills at effectively managing emotional challenges are characterized by more constructive thought patterns, and teachers find it easier to catch and to identify faulty appraisals and correct maladapted construals in the workplace ([@ref-41], [@ref-41]). In addition, it is possible that teachers who are more emotionally competent would also feel that they have more control over their stressful environment because they can confer sense and manage their negative moods associated with stress more adaptively. Similarly, in line with earlier studies, our correlational data found that greater perceived stress scores were related in the expected direction to higher levels of burnout symptoms ([@ref-28], [@ref-28]). Specifically, greater perceived stress was significantly associated with greater emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and lower feelings of personal accomplishment. The present study found some preliminary support for the idea that perceived stress mediated the influence of EC on specific subscales of teacher burnout, suggesting a complex process. The mediation analyses revealed that perceived stress partially mediated the relations between EC and all burnout symptoms. The results of this study might point to one plausible explanation for the association between EC and burnout as being related to the reduced perceptions of stress experienced by teachers with high EC. In general, increasing EC in teachers may reduce the risk of job burnout both directly and indirectly by reducing the experience of stress. Emotionally competent teachers may reduce be better equipped to engage with and successfully manage stressful school situations, which in turn would lead to lower symptoms of emotional exhaustation and depersonalization and higher personal accomplishment. More research is needed to examine the underlying mechanism by which teachers with high EC reduce their levels of stress, either identifying and avoiding potentially stressful contexts or interpreting stressful conditions at work in a less stressful way. Nevertheless, these findings may be valuable not only for developing theoretical models and for understanding better the link between EC and occupational stress ([@ref-41], [@ref-41]), but also for developing more effective stress intervention programmes for teachers ([@ref-9], [@ref-9]). Based on our results, it is suggested that EC might play an important role in the process of certain responses to job stress in teachers. In terms of intervention implications, teachers could be taught how to employ specific emotional strategies for managing stress; this in turn might help them to reduce their feelings related to teacher burnout. In this sense, our data support the idea that programmes to prevent burnout involving the enhancement of EC might be useful to facilitate an increased perception of self-appraisal in teaching work. Besides, whereas therapeutic efforts to increase EC may reduce symptoms burnout, perceived stress appears to be an important aspect of burnout in teachers, so it is also of great importance to help teachers who are vulnerable for burnout to provide specific strategies for reducing negative moods provoked by stress. Cognitive behavioral therapy has been shown to be an effective way of reducing work-related stress, even more than the other intervention types ([@ref-39], [@ref-39]). Further research will determine whether EC interventions, either alone or in conjunction with other stress management interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapies, will enhance psychological outcomes for the classic symptoms of teacher burnout ([@ref-14], [@ref-14]). Future work should also be addressed to the positive pole of burnout, work engagement ([@ref-2], [@ref-2]), to determine when and under what circumstances EC work better for increasing individuals' positive and fulfilling attitude toward work in teachers. Finally, several limitations of the current study should be mentioned. First, although our data provide preliminary evidence for the mediation model proposed, due to data being collected in a single wave of measurement it is impossible to determine the directionality of any causal relationships between variables. A closer examination of the nature of this relationship should be performed using prospective studies. Second, self-reported measures of EC may not reflect actual emotional ability. To address this issue, further studies might consider the inclusion of other approaches complementary to the use of self-report for measuring EC, such as peer reports or performance measures, which provide valuable information about people's emotional reactions in the work sphere. Finally, it is important to underline that our participants were based on a purposive sampling and, hence, their representativeness is questionable. Despite these limitations, it appears that EC may have an important place in the educational psychologist's repertoire of occupational well-being and may suggest possible avenues for improving future stress management programs to assist distressed teachers. Although school climate factors are considered to be one of the prominent causes of teacher burnout ([@ref-1], [@ref-1]; [@ref-19], [@ref-19]), our results, in line with prior studies, support the importance of individual differences with regard to EC in the development of teacher burnout. While organization-focused interventions in educational settings are important in preventing burnout, the findings of this study provide some evidences that educational settings should pay more attention to the development of protective personal resources taking into account the perspective of interaction between personal characteristics and contextual variables in teaching ([@ref-1], [@ref-1]; [@ref-9], [@ref-9]). Finally, as high stress levels and poor EC continually rank as the most prominent causes why teachers become dissatisfied with the profession and end up leaving their positions ([@ref-8], [@ref-8]), paying more attention to the development of these personal resources might help teachers employ EC in their professional and personal relationships and contribute to greater positivity at work ([@ref-16], [@ref-16]; [@ref-20], [@ref-20]). Future research could examine this issue by training people in EC and observing how such training impacts on teacher burnout symptoms over time. Elucidating which protective resource factors contribute most to a better subjective well-being at work, and how to develop these aspects, is a promising approach to the enhancement of teaching skills and merits serious attention. Supplemental Information ======================== 10.7717/peerj.2087/supp-1 ###### Raw data ###### Click here for additional data file. 10.7717/peerj.2087/supp-2 ###### Mahalanobis ###### Click here for additional data file. We would like to give our heartfelt thanks to all the teachers who participated in this study. Additional Information and Declarations ======================================= The authors declare there are no competing interests. [Lourdes Rey](#author-1){ref-type="contrib"}, [Natalio Extremera](#author-2){ref-type="contrib"} and [Mario Pena](#author-3){ref-type="contrib"} conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper. The following information was supplied relating to ethical approvals (i.e., approving body and any reference numbers): Comité ético de experimentación de la Universidad de Málaga. The following information was supplied regarding data availability: The raw data has been supplied as [Supplemental Information](#supplemental-information){ref-type="supplementary-material"}.

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A Statement from the House of Bishops of The Anglican Church of CanadaConcerning the Calls to Action from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18) As bishops of The Anglican Church of Canada we are very grateful for the work of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Many of us have participated in the local, regional, and national gatherings hosted by Chief Justice Murray Sinclair, Dr. Marie Wilson, and Chief Wilton Littlechild. At the heart of every gathering was the opportunity for survivors of the Indian Residential Schools to tell their stories. We recognize the tremendous courage of all who shared their experiences of loneliness, humiliation and abuse. We commend the Commissioners for their steadfastness in listening to these stories and ensuring that they are never lost but preserved for all time in the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation in Winnipeg. Having heard the testimony of thousands of former students and the inter-generational impact of their experiences on their families, the Commissioners issued at the Closing Ceremonies for the TRC in Ottawa in June, 94 Calls to Action. The first several Calls draw attention to the nature and legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery; the terrible consequences for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis of a federal policy of assimilation made operable through the Indian Residential Schools; and the trauma of emotional, physical, sexual, and spiritual abuse experienced by thousands of children, many of whom died or went missing. Attention is also drawn to the deplorable state of child welfare in many indigenous communities today. All the other Calls speak to reconciliation and how that might be achieved. They envision a future in which relations between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples are based on mutual respect. A number of the Calls are addressed to various levels of government, and a number to the Churches. Many of them call us to work in cooperation with the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK). We embrace these Calls to Action in the spirit in which the Commissioners issued them, – as a roadmap for all Canadians in a journey toward reconciliation and renewal in our country. We acknowledge the efforts of the staff of the General Synod to put in place a plan for how our Church will respond to these Calls to Action; and we are especially grateful for the commitment of The Primate’s Commission on Discovery, Reconciliation and Justice to help us to do this work well. We are particularly mindful of the Call to the Churches to put in place by March 31st their plans for how they will implement the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). In the spirit of a number of the Calls to Action we remain deeply committed to walking in partnership with Indigenous peoples in their quest fro self-determination and rejoice in those moments that bring the vision of the elders and the hopes of the youth into greater focus and fruition. Many of us have been blessed to have had one of the Commissioners speak at our Synods or other diocesan gatherings. We have learned much and been humbled by how much more we need to learn. We have been challenged and inspired to take our part in hearing and telling the truth, and in being ambassadors for that reconciliation by which relations in our country will be rebuilt. We commit our best efforts to personally speak about these Calls to Action in our dioceses and to engage others in the work to which these calls summon us. We ask your prayers for all Indigenous Peoples in Canada. In the midst of what so many describe as “overwhelming death in our communities” these Calls to Action represent so much hope for a brighter and better future for themselves, their children and their grandchildren. We ask your prayers for our new Federal Government. As it sets its course may these Calls to Action be declared a priority. We ask you to join us in praying, “Great Creator God,who desires that all creationlive in harmony and peace. Remembering the Children,we dare to dream of a Path of Reconciliationwhere apology from the heart leads to healing of the heartand the chance of restoring the circle,where justice walks with all,where respect leads to true partnership,where the power to change comes from each heart. Hear our prayer of hopeand guide this country of Canadaon a new and different path.Amen”.(Reference: Remembering the Children Prayer, Church Leaders Tour 2009)

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You, Unoaked I’m not particularly knowledgeable about wine, and drink little of it. However, I do love a glass of good white wine with a meal and have come to appreciate the “unoaked” (also called unwooded or naked) varieties of Chardonnay. Because the wine is stored in stainless steel vessels instead of oak barrels, it doesn’t carry the heavier flavor of the oak into the wine. Thus the subtle flavors of the grapes come through in the unoaked wine without being overpowered by the heavier oak flavor. I might say that unoaked wine is more genuine, allowing the true nature of the grape to be experienced. Similarly, I hope that you are allowing your own true nature to shine through in a way that others can experience you as you are without heavy overtones of behaviors that don’t match up with who you are. Your true nature can only be experienced and intentionally expressed (or intentionally withheld) when you know yourself. Getting to know yourself is not a selfish act (as I once believed) but rather a doorway to being at your best as a human being so you that you can be at your best as a leader. You are a complex person, so plan to spend a lifetime on your discoveries. Be prepared to experience lots of emotion as you “unoak” yourself. You’ll find your true nature: Exhilarating as you continually find out new strengths and ways to lead with your gifts. A recent conversation with a leader uncovered her strength with one-to-one conversations. But she didn’t feel quite as comfortable in group settings, a required activity for a new, more impactful position. She discovered great joy in learning that she could transfer her skills and abilities in one-on-one conversations to a group setting (i.e. she didn’t always have to be the one to stand in front of a group and talk. She could invite them into conversation, using her true gifts). Frightening as you discover your dark side. I personally avoided looking at my dark side for a long time, believing that it wasn’t necessary to know about that part of me that was less than ideal. With time, I’ve come to embrace the dark along with the light. I’ve found that this is completely necessary so that I can come to recognize when I’ve offended or hurt someone – and to be more intentional about not allowing this to happen in the future. Thus, I’m more effective as a leader when I know what I need to watch out for about myself. Frustrating when long-held behaviors (and sometimes the beliefs behind the behavior) that you know you need to change surface over and over again. No, it isn’t Ground Hog Day, it’s just the way your brain works until you become more present to the behaviors and you intentionally work to change them. Eventually the new behaviors will surface, with dedication, time, and patience. Humbling as you discover that you’re human after all; you share your journey with every other human who chooses to be purposeful to discovering their true selves. This isn’t touch-feely stuff. It’s the same stuff the best leaders go through in order to become better. Gandhi wasn’t Gandhi without working to learn about himself and putting what he learned to use. Neither were Aung San Suu Kyi, Abraham Lincoln or Margaret Thatcher. They all got to know themselves as “unoaked” and used that knowledge to allow their best selves to shine through to get better at leading others. You should too. Mary Jo Asmus is the founder and President of Aspire Collaborative Services LLC, an executive coach, writer, internationally recognized thought leader, and a consultant who partners with organizations of all kinds to develop and administer coaching programs. She has “walked in your shoes” as a former leader in a Fortune company.

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Masterpiece Mystery!"Sherlock, Series II - The Hounds of Baskerville" Sherlock and Watson pursue the trail of the Baskerville experiments - top-secret government research on genetically engineered gigantic animals for military use. Or so it is rumored. Whatever the truth, something big is up on the moors.G

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/* * Copyright 2004, 2011 Freescale Semiconductor. * * SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+ */ /* * mpc8541cds board configuration file * * Please refer to doc/README.mpc85xxcds for more info. * */ #ifndef __CONFIG_H #define __CONFIG_H /* High Level Configuration Options */ #define CONFIG_BOOKE 1 /* BOOKE */ #define CONFIG_E500 1 /* BOOKE e500 family */ #define CONFIG_CPM2 1 /* has CPM2 */ #define CONFIG_MPC8541 1 /* MPC8541 specific */ #define CONFIG_MPC8541CDS 1 /* MPC8541CDS board specific */ #define CONFIG_SYS_TEXT_BASE 0xfff80000 #define CONFIG_PCI #define CONFIG_PCI_INDIRECT_BRIDGE #define CONFIG_SYS_PCI_64BIT 1 /* enable 64-bit PCI resources */ #define CONFIG_TSEC_ENET /* tsec ethernet support */ #define CONFIG_ENV_OVERWRITE #define CONFIG_FSL_LAW 1 /* Use common FSL init code */ #define CONFIG_FSL_VIA #ifndef __ASSEMBLY__ extern unsigned long get_clock_freq(void); #endif #define CONFIG_SYS_CLK_FREQ get_clock_freq() /* sysclk for MPC85xx */ /* * These can be toggled for performance analysis, otherwise use default. */ #define CONFIG_L2_CACHE /* toggle L2 cache */ #define CONFIG_BTB /* toggle branch predition */ #define CONFIG_SYS_MEMTEST_START 0x00200000 /* memtest works on */ #define CONFIG_SYS_MEMTEST_END 0x00400000 #define CONFIG_SYS_CCSRBAR 0xe0000000 #define CONFIG_SYS_CCSRBAR_PHYS_LOW CONFIG_SYS_CCSRBAR /* DDR Setup */ #define CONFIG_SYS_FSL_DDR1 #define CONFIG_SPD_EEPROM /* Use SPD EEPROM for DDR setup*/ #define CONFIG_DDR_SPD #undef CONFIG_FSL_DDR_INTERACTIVE #define CONFIG_MEM_INIT_VALUE 0xDeadBeef #define CONFIG_SYS_DDR_SDRAM_BASE 0x00000000 /* DDR is system memory*/ #define CONFIG_SYS_SDRAM_BASE CONFIG_SYS_DDR_SDRAM_BASE #define CONFIG_NUM_DDR_CONTROLLERS 1 #define CONFIG_DIMM_SLOTS_PER_CTLR 1 #define CONFIG_CHIP_SELECTS_PER_CTRL (2 * CONFIG_DIMM_SLOTS_PER_CTLR) /* I2C addresses of SPD EEPROMs */ #define SPD_EEPROM_ADDRESS 0x51 /* CTLR 0 DIMM 0 */ /* * Make sure required options are set */ #ifndef CONFIG_SPD_EEPROM #error ("CONFIG_SPD_EEPROM is required by MPC85555CDS") #endif #undef CONFIG_CLOCKS_IN_MHZ /* * Local Bus Definitions */ /* * FLASH on the Local Bus * Two banks, 8M each, using the CFI driver. * Boot from BR0/OR0 bank at 0xff00_0000 * Alternate BR1/OR1 bank at 0xff80_0000 * * BR0, BR1: * Base address 0 = 0xff00_0000 = BR0[0:16] = 1111 1111 0000 0000 0 * Base address 1 = 0xff80_0000 = BR1[0:16] = 1111 1111 1000 0000 0 * Port Size = 16 bits = BRx[19:20] = 10 * Use GPCM = BRx[24:26] = 000 * Valid = BRx[31] = 1 * * 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 * 1111 1111 1000 0000 0001 0000 0000 0001 = ff801001 BR0 * 1111 1111 0000 0000 0001 0000 0000 0001 = ff001001 BR1 * * OR0, OR1: * Addr Mask = 8M = ORx[0:16] = 1111 1111 1000 0000 0 * Reserved ORx[17:18] = 11, confusion here? * CSNT = ORx[20] = 1 * ACS = half cycle delay = ORx[21:22] = 11 * SCY = 6 = ORx[24:27] = 0110 * TRLX = use relaxed timing = ORx[29] = 1 * EAD = use external address latch delay = OR[31] = 1 * * 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 * 1111 1111 1000 0000 0110 1110 0110 0101 = ff806e65 ORx */ #define CONFIG_SYS_FLASH_BASE 0xff000000 /* start of FLASH 8M */ #define CONFIG_SYS_BR0_PRELIM 0xff801001 #define CONFIG_SYS_BR1_PRELIM 0xff001001 #define CONFIG_SYS_OR0_PRELIM 0xff806e65 #define CONFIG_SYS_OR1_PRELIM 0xff806e65 #define CONFIG_SYS_FLASH_BANKS_LIST {0xff800000, CONFIG_SYS_FLASH_BASE} #define CONFIG_SYS_MAX_FLASH_BANKS 2 /* number of banks */ #define CONFIG_SYS_MAX_FLASH_SECT 128 /* sectors per device */ #undef CONFIG_SYS_FLASH_CHECKSUM #define CONFIG_SYS_FLASH_ERASE_TOUT 60000 /* Flash Erase Timeout (ms) */ #define CONFIG_SYS_FLASH_WRITE_TOUT 500 /* Flash Write Timeout (ms) */ #define CONFIG_SYS_MONITOR_BASE CONFIG_SYS_TEXT_BASE /* start of monitor */ #define CONFIG_FLASH_CFI_DRIVER #define CONFIG_SYS_FLASH_CFI #define CONFIG_SYS_FLASH_EMPTY_INFO /* * SDRAM on the Local Bus */ #define CONFIG_SYS_LBC_SDRAM_BASE 0xf0000000 /* Localbus SDRAM */ #define CONFIG_SYS_LBC_SDRAM_SIZE 64 /* LBC SDRAM is 64MB */ /* * Base Register 2 and Option Register 2 configure SDRAM. * The SDRAM base address, CONFIG_SYS_LBC_SDRAM_BASE, is 0xf0000000. * * For BR2, need: * Base address of 0xf0000000 = BR[0:16] = 1111 0000 0000 0000 0 * port-size = 32-bits = BR2[19:20] = 11 * no parity checking = BR2[21:22] = 00 * SDRAM for MSEL = BR2[24:26] = 011 * Valid = BR[31] = 1 * * 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 * 1111 0000 0000 0000 0001 1000 0110 0001 = f0001861 * * FIXME: CONFIG_SYS_LBC_SDRAM_BASE should be masked and OR'ed into * FIXME: the top 17 bits of BR2. */ #define CONFIG_SYS_BR2_PRELIM 0xf0001861 /* * The SDRAM size in MB, CONFIG_SYS_LBC_SDRAM_SIZE, is 64. * * For OR2, need: * 64MB mask for AM, OR2[0:7] = 1111 1100 * XAM, OR2[17:18] = 11 * 9 columns OR2[19-21] = 010 * 13 rows OR2[23-25] = 100 * EAD set for extra time OR[31] = 1 * * 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 * 1111 1100 0000 0000 0110 1001 0000 0001 = fc006901 */ #define CONFIG_SYS_OR2_PRELIM 0xfc006901 #define CONFIG_SYS_LBC_LCRR 0x00030004 /* LB clock ratio reg */ #define CONFIG_SYS_LBC_LBCR 0x00000000 /* LB config reg */ #define CONFIG_SYS_LBC_LSRT 0x20000000 /* LB sdram refresh timer */ #define CONFIG_SYS_LBC_MRTPR 0x00000000 /* LB refresh timer prescal*/ /* * Common settings for all Local Bus SDRAM commands. * At run time, either BSMA1516 (for CPU 1.1) * or BSMA1617 (for CPU 1.0) (old) * is OR'ed in too. */ #define CONFIG_SYS_LBC_LSDMR_COMMON ( LSDMR_RFCR16 \ | LSDMR_PRETOACT7 \ | LSDMR_ACTTORW7 \ | LSDMR_BL8 \ | LSDMR_WRC4 \ | LSDMR_CL3 \ | LSDMR_RFEN \ ) /* * The CADMUS registers are connected to CS3 on CDS. * The new memory map places CADMUS at 0xf8000000. * * For BR3, need: * Base address of 0xf8000000 = BR[0:16] = 1111 1000 0000 0000 0 * port-size = 8-bits = BR[19:20] = 01 * no parity checking = BR[21:22] = 00 * GPMC for MSEL = BR[24:26] = 000 * Valid = BR[31] = 1 * * 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 * 1111 1000 0000 0000 0000 1000 0000 0001 = f8000801 * * For OR3, need: * 1 MB mask for AM, OR[0:16] = 1111 1111 1111 0000 0 * disable buffer ctrl OR[19] = 0 * CSNT OR[20] = 1 * ACS OR[21:22] = 11 * XACS OR[23] = 1 * SCY 15 wait states OR[24:27] = 1111 max is suboptimal but safe * SETA OR[28] = 0 * TRLX OR[29] = 1 * EHTR OR[30] = 1 * EAD extra time OR[31] = 1 * * 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 * 1111 1111 1111 0000 0000 1111 1111 0111 = fff00ff7 */ #define CONFIG_FSL_CADMUS #define CADMUS_BASE_ADDR 0xf8000000 #define CONFIG_SYS_BR3_PRELIM 0xf8000801 #define CONFIG_SYS_OR3_PRELIM 0xfff00ff7 #define CONFIG_SYS_INIT_RAM_LOCK 1 #define CONFIG_SYS_INIT_RAM_ADDR 0xe4010000 /* Initial RAM address */ #define CONFIG_SYS_INIT_RAM_SIZE 0x4000 /* Size of used area in RAM */ #define CONFIG_SYS_GBL_DATA_OFFSET (CONFIG_SYS_INIT_RAM_SIZE - GENERATED_GBL_DATA_SIZE) #define CONFIG_SYS_INIT_SP_OFFSET CONFIG_SYS_GBL_DATA_OFFSET #define CONFIG_SYS_MONITOR_LEN (256 * 1024) /* Reserve 256 kB for Mon */ #define CONFIG_SYS_MALLOC_LEN (128 * 1024) /* Reserved for malloc */ /* Serial Port */ #define CONFIG_CONS_INDEX 2 #define CONFIG_SYS_NS16550 #define CONFIG_SYS_NS16550_SERIAL #define CONFIG_SYS_NS16550_REG_SIZE 1 #define CONFIG_SYS_NS16550_CLK get_bus_freq(0) #define CONFIG_SYS_BAUDRATE_TABLE \ {300, 600, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400,115200} #define CONFIG_SYS_NS16550_COM1 (CONFIG_SYS_CCSRBAR+0x4500) #define CONFIG_SYS_NS16550_COM2 (CONFIG_SYS_CCSRBAR+0x4600) /* Use the HUSH parser */ #define CONFIG_SYS_HUSH_PARSER #ifdef CONFIG_SYS_HUSH_PARSER #endif /* pass open firmware flat tree */ #define CONFIG_OF_LIBFDT 1 #define CONFIG_OF_BOARD_SETUP 1 #define CONFIG_OF_STDOUT_VIA_ALIAS 1 /* * I2C */ #define CONFIG_SYS_I2C #define CONFIG_SYS_I2C_FSL #define CONFIG_SYS_FSL_I2C_SPEED 400000 #define CONFIG_SYS_FSL_I2C_SLAVE 0x7F #define CONFIG_SYS_FSL_I2C_OFFSET 0x3000 #define CONFIG_SYS_I2C_NOPROBES { {0, 0x69} } /* EEPROM */ #define CONFIG_ID_EEPROM #define CONFIG_SYS_I2C_EEPROM_CCID #define CONFIG_SYS_ID_EEPROM #define CONFIG_SYS_I2C_EEPROM_ADDR 0x57 #define CONFIG_SYS_I2C_EEPROM_ADDR_LEN 2 /* * General PCI * Memory space is mapped 1-1, but I/O space must start from 0. */ #define CONFIG_SYS_PCI1_MEM_VIRT 0x80000000 #define CONFIG_SYS_PCI1_MEM_BUS 0x80000000 #define CONFIG_SYS_PCI1_MEM_PHYS 0x80000000 #define CONFIG_SYS_PCI1_MEM_SIZE 0x20000000 /* 512M */ #define CONFIG_SYS_PCI1_IO_VIRT 0xe2000000 #define CONFIG_SYS_PCI1_IO_BUS 0x00000000 #define CONFIG_SYS_PCI1_IO_PHYS 0xe2000000 #define CONFIG_SYS_PCI1_IO_SIZE 0x100000 /* 1M */ #define CONFIG_SYS_PCI2_MEM_VIRT 0xa0000000 #define CONFIG_SYS_PCI2_MEM_BUS 0xa0000000 #define CONFIG_SYS_PCI2_MEM_PHYS 0xa0000000 #define CONFIG_SYS_PCI2_MEM_SIZE 0x20000000 /* 512M */ #define CONFIG_SYS_PCI2_IO_VIRT 0xe2100000 #define CONFIG_SYS_PCI2_IO_BUS 0x00000000 #define CONFIG_SYS_PCI2_IO_PHYS 0xe2100000 #define CONFIG_SYS_PCI2_IO_SIZE 0x100000 /* 1M */ #ifdef CONFIG_LEGACY #define BRIDGE_ID 17 #define VIA_ID 2 #else #define BRIDGE_ID 28 #define VIA_ID 4 #endif #if defined(CONFIG_PCI) #define CONFIG_MPC85XX_PCI2 #define CONFIG_PCI_PNP /* do pci plug-and-play */ #undef CONFIG_EEPRO100 #undef CONFIG_TULIP #undef CONFIG_PCI_SCAN_SHOW /* show pci devices on startup */ #define CONFIG_SYS_PCI_SUBSYS_VENDORID 0x1057 /* Motorola */ #endif /* CONFIG_PCI */ #if defined(CONFIG_TSEC_ENET) #define CONFIG_MII 1 /* MII PHY management */ #define CONFIG_TSEC1 1 #define CONFIG_TSEC1_NAME "TSEC0" #define CONFIG_TSEC2 1 #define CONFIG_TSEC2_NAME "TSEC1" #define TSEC1_PHY_ADDR 0 #define TSEC2_PHY_ADDR 1 #define TSEC1_PHYIDX 0 #define TSEC2_PHYIDX 0 #define TSEC1_FLAGS TSEC_GIGABIT #define TSEC2_FLAGS TSEC_GIGABIT /* Options are: TSEC[0-1] */ #define CONFIG_ETHPRIME "TSEC0" #endif /* CONFIG_TSEC_ENET */ /* * Environment */ #define CONFIG_ENV_IS_IN_FLASH 1 #define CONFIG_ENV_ADDR (CONFIG_SYS_MONITOR_BASE + 0x40000) #define CONFIG_ENV_SECT_SIZE 0x40000 /* 256K(one sector) for env */ #define CONFIG_ENV_SIZE 0x2000 #define CONFIG_LOADS_ECHO 1 /* echo on for serial download */ #define CONFIG_SYS_LOADS_BAUD_CHANGE 1 /* allow baudrate change */ /* * BOOTP options */ #define CONFIG_BOOTP_BOOTFILESIZE #define CONFIG_BOOTP_BOOTPATH #define CONFIG_BOOTP_GATEWAY #define CONFIG_BOOTP_HOSTNAME /* * Command line configuration. */ #include <config_cmd_default.h> #define CONFIG_CMD_PING #define CONFIG_CMD_I2C #define CONFIG_CMD_MII #define CONFIG_CMD_ELF #define CONFIG_CMD_IRQ #define CONFIG_CMD_SETEXPR #define CONFIG_CMD_REGINFO #if defined(CONFIG_PCI) #define CONFIG_CMD_PCI #endif #undef CONFIG_WATCHDOG /* watchdog disabled */ /* * Miscellaneous configurable options */ #define CONFIG_SYS_LONGHELP /* undef to save memory */ #define CONFIG_CMDLINE_EDITING /* Command-line editing */ #define CONFIG_AUTO_COMPLETE /* add autocompletion support */ #define CONFIG_SYS_LOAD_ADDR 0x2000000 /* default load address */ #if defined(CONFIG_CMD_KGDB) #define CONFIG_SYS_CBSIZE 1024 /* Console I/O Buffer Size */ #else #define CONFIG_SYS_CBSIZE 256 /* Console I/O Buffer Size */ #endif #define CONFIG_SYS_PBSIZE (CONFIG_SYS_CBSIZE+sizeof(CONFIG_SYS_PROMPT)+16) /* Print Buffer Size */ #define CONFIG_SYS_MAXARGS 16 /* max number of command args */ #define CONFIG_SYS_BARGSIZE CONFIG_SYS_CBSIZE /* Boot Argument Buffer Size */ /* * For booting Linux, the board info and command line data * have to be in the first 64 MB of memory, since this is * the maximum mapped by the Linux kernel during initialization. */ #define CONFIG_SYS_BOOTMAPSZ (64 << 20) /* Initial Memory map for Linux*/ #define CONFIG_SYS_BOOTM_LEN (64 << 20) /* Increase max gunzip size */ #if defined(CONFIG_CMD_KGDB) #define CONFIG_KGDB_BAUDRATE 230400 /* speed to run kgdb serial port */ #endif /* * Environment Configuration */ /* The mac addresses for all ethernet interface */ #if defined(CONFIG_TSEC_ENET) #define CONFIG_HAS_ETH0 #define CONFIG_ETHADDR 00:E0:0C:00:00:FD #define CONFIG_HAS_ETH1 #define CONFIG_ETH1ADDR 00:E0:0C:00:01:FD #define CONFIG_HAS_ETH2 #define CONFIG_ETH2ADDR 00:E0:0C:00:02:FD #endif #define CONFIG_IPADDR 192.168.1.253 #define CONFIG_HOSTNAME unknown #define CONFIG_ROOTPATH "/nfsroot" #define CONFIG_BOOTFILE "your.uImage" #define CONFIG_SERVERIP 192.168.1.1 #define CONFIG_GATEWAYIP 192.168.1.1 #define CONFIG_NETMASK 255.255.255.0 #define CONFIG_LOADADDR 200000 /*default location for tftp and bootm*/ #define CONFIG_BOOTDELAY 10 /* -1 disables auto-boot */ #undef CONFIG_BOOTARGS /* the boot command will set bootargs*/ #define CONFIG_BAUDRATE 115200 #define CONFIG_EXTRA_ENV_SETTINGS \ "netdev=eth0\0" \ "consoledev=ttyS1\0" \ "ramdiskaddr=600000\0" \ "ramdiskfile=your.ramdisk.u-boot\0" \ "fdtaddr=400000\0" \ "fdtfile=your.fdt.dtb\0" #define CONFIG_NFSBOOTCOMMAND \ "setenv bootargs root=/dev/nfs rw " \ "nfsroot=$serverip:$rootpath " \ "ip=$ipaddr:$serverip:$gatewayip:$netmask:$hostname:$netdev:off " \ "console=$consoledev,$baudrate $othbootargs;" \ "tftp $loadaddr $bootfile;" \ "tftp $fdtaddr $fdtfile;" \ "bootm $loadaddr - $fdtaddr" #define CONFIG_RAMBOOTCOMMAND \ "setenv bootargs root=/dev/ram rw " \ "console=$consoledev,$baudrate $othbootargs;" \ "tftp $ramdiskaddr $ramdiskfile;" \ "tftp $loadaddr $bootfile;" \ "bootm $loadaddr $ramdiskaddr" #define CONFIG_BOOTCOMMAND CONFIG_NFSBOOTCOMMAND #endif /* __CONFIG_H */

Low

Q: Expect-regex positive lookbehind So I'm trying to use expect to automate logging into a switch and grabbing the interface associated with a mac address, but whenever I try to use a positive lookbehind regex it errors out. Here is what the input looks like: VLAN ID MAC Address Interface IfIndex Status ------- ------------------ --------- ------- ------------ 100 13:3N:K2:98:33:09 0/2 2 Static 100 52:0L:H9:74:6B:GG 0/8 8 Static 100 85:2F:E7:02:25:74 0/10 10 Static And here is the code: expect -c " ... send \"show mac-addr-table\r\"; expect -re {(?<=85:2F:E7:02:25:74).*(0\/..)} set output \$expect_out(buffer) puts \"Result : \$output\" " and this is the output I am hoping for: Result : 0/10 Sadly whenever I try this expect errors our with: couldn't compile regular expression pattern: quantifier operand invalid while executing "expect -re {(?<=85:2F:E7:02:25:74).*(0\/..)}" I should also add that trying to escape ? doesn't output anything. A: Tcl (and so Expect) does not support the (?<=re) syntax (from Perl?). You can try like this: expect -re {85:2F:E7:02:25:74.*(0/..)} set output $expect_out(1,string) This is from expect's manual: Upon matching a pattern (or eof or full_buffer), any matching and previously unmatched output is saved in the variable expect_out(buffer). Up to 9 regexp substring matches are saved in the variables expect_out(1,string) through expect_out(9,string).

Mid

Nobody doubts that Arsenal will need time to absorb Mikel Arteta’s methods but, by the same token, some examples are not to be taken. In October 2013, Arteta captained them here and proceeded to score before being harshly sent off. When Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the current captain, put them ahead six and a quarter years on it ensured the happier part of that occasion would be repeated, but the picture would again turn sour and, this time, there were no grounds for complaint. Arsenal had become frustrated after an almost untouchable first 25 minutes, Palace niggling away thereafter to the extent it was little surprise when Jordan Ayew scored a deflected equaliser after half-time. But that does not explain away the game’s grim abiding image, which was that of Max Meyer’s left ankle bending under the impact of a terrible challenge that meant Aubameyang was dismissed via a VAR review midway through the second half. Crystal Palace 1-1 Arsenal: Premier League – as it happened Read more Meyer had nicked the ball past Aubameyang near the halfway line and, at full speed, the tackle seemed little more than a careless clip. Paul Tierney was quick to issue a booking but it was soon clear different ideas would be forming at Stockley Park. It had been a reckless and potentially career-threatening action, Aubameyang’s studs crashing into Meyer’s grounded ankle. Fortunately, Meyer was able to limp off, with the extent of his injury expected to be clearer on Monday. The damage was certainly not as severe as it might have been; nonetheless, after a two-minute delay Aubameyang was shown the red card and when a replay was finally shown on the big screens the crowd’s gasps reflected the offence’s severity. “I just watched it and it looked nasty,” said Arteta. “Knowing Auba, there’s no intention to make such a tackle. Hopefully [Meyer] hasn’t been injured and we are sorry for that. The decision was made and we have to accept it.” Aubameyang will miss three games and, if nothing else, his absence may offer Arteta a glimpse of life without a player who is yet to begin talks about extending his contract. Roy Hodgson will be happy if that is the extent of Meyer’s lay-off, wondering aloud whether the forward’s positive outlook in the dressing room was optimism or bravado. Like his opposite number Hodgson saw no malicious intent in what was, to apply every sense of the term, a striker’s tackle. “I want to emphasise I’m not accusing Aubameyang of trying to injure the player,” he said. “I’m sure he didn’t. It’s the type of challenge a forward trying to recover and show the right degree of aggression sometimes makes.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest Crystal Palace celebrate the equaliser against Arsenal scored by Jordan Ayew (No 9). Photograph: David Klein/Reuters Any idea this would be a game defined by physicality seemed absurd early on. Arsenal popped the ball around at will and Palace had not made a meaningful entry into their half before Aubameyang’s 12th-minute opener. It was a beautifully conceived goal, David Luiz sliding a low, firm ball down the heart of the pitch and Mesut Özil smartly laying it off to Alexandre Lacazette. The resulting through ball was perfect and the entire move presented a snapshot of the incisive combinations Arteta will demand from a group of players who need to find consistency. What followed, though, was a precis of the mess he has inherited. The sight of an injury-blighted Palace working their way back into the contest, more through getting in Arsenal’s faces than anything they produced in possession, was reminiscent of the manner they dug in to turn around a two-goal deficit at the Emirates in October. Manchester United thump Norwich as Marcus Rashford celebrates in style Read more There was also a sense of déjà vu in the way Arsenal switched off from a quick free-kick nine minutes after the interval, allowing Meyer to cross and then letting Cheikhou Kouyaté tee up Ayew. His shot struck David Luiz and looped up over Bernd Leno as if in slow motion. Palace had hardly been dominant but Arsenal’s lack of focus will give most opponents a chance and Arteta knows it is something he must change. “At this level if you switch off for two seconds, five seconds, you will concede a goal straight away,” he said. “I’m going to have to find a way to try and avoid those situations. It happened today and it cost us two points.” It might not have done had Vicente Guaita, tipping Nicolas Pépé’s raking strike on to the post and then smothering Lacezette’s rebound, failed to stop Arsenal’s 10 men executing a late heist. Palace could have won it when Sokratis Papastathopoulos cleared James Tomkins’s deflected header off the line; a draw was fair but both teams were left to count a potentially heavy cost.

Low

Genetic and life-style determinants of peptic ulcer. A study of 3387 men aged 54 to 74 years: The Copenhagen Male Study. In the Copenhagen Male Study men with the Lewis blood group phenotype Le(a+b-), non-secretors of ABH antigen, and men with the O or the A phenotype in the ABO blood group have been found to have a significantly higher lifetime prevalence of peptic ulcer than others. We investigated the importance of the association of these genetic markers, life-style factors, and social class with lifetime risk of peptic ulcer, testing specifically the hypothesis that the strength of the association of risk factors with peptic ulcer depends on genetic susceptibility. Three thousand three hundred and forty-six white men 55-74 years old were included for study. From a questionnaire validated during an interview information was obtained about life-style factors and peptic ulcer history (gastric or duodenal). Potential non-genetic risk factors examined were smoking history, alcohol consumption, physical activity level, consumption of tea and coffee, and use of sugar in tea or coffee. Three hundred and eighty-four men (11.5%) had a history of peptic ulcer; 120 (3.6%) had had an operation due to peptic ulcer. Non-genetic peptic ulcer risk factors identified were ever having been a smoker, use of sugar in tea or coffee, abstention from tea consumption, and low social class. On the basis of these and the genetic factors, it was possible to identify a low-risk group (n = 142) with a lifetime prevalence of 4.2%, several intermediate-risk groups, and a high-risk group (n = 55) with a prevalence of 29%; the odds ratio with 95% confidence limits (OR) was 9.3 (3.4-25.3). Corresponding values with regard to operation were 1.4% and 20.0%; OR = 17.5 (3.7-82.0). Several significant interactions were found; for example, the use of sugar was associated with peptic ulcer risk only when interacting with genetic risk groups. Considering the role of Helicobacter pylori, it is interesting that the factors identified in this study were able to identify groups with extremely different lifetime risks. This finding and also the finding of strong interactions between genetic and life-style factors and between genetic factors and social class for the risk of peptic ulcer may have both public-health and clinical implications.

High

Fuck you Android Framework for those horrible XMLs I have to write for layouts. Fuck you for your useless layout editor that generates spaghetti code every time I change something. Fuck you for that Constraint Layout which is the most unused library till this date. Fuck you for those horrible core components like activities and fragments. Fuck Android OS that can not even manage state changes by itself. Fuck you for those TransactionTooLargeException. I can’t even simply pass the data between UI. Oh, I forgot to fuck all those IllegalStateException from FragmentManager. Fuck you for making me so ill to write this fucking boilerplate code for content providers. Fuck you for UI components like DrawerLayout and ViewPager. Fuck you because I can’t simply create navigation menu with all activities. Fuck you because now I have to answer my manager that why did I waste two fucking days just to set custom fonts in menu. Fuck you for all your UI components in the support libraries. Fuck you for your NotificationCompat that changes API every year for every OS version. Your support libraries need more libraries to support. Each class in those libraries will have suffix ‘CompatCompat’. Fuck you for your media components. I can’t even think to make a simple camera app. Fuck you for your VideoView, MediaPlayer and SurfaceView. Fuck all OEMs for implementing their own media stack. Fuck you for all async primitives in the framework. Fuck you for your horrible AsncTasks. Fuck you for making me dependent on third party libraries for building simplest things. Fuck you for that shittiest WebView APIs. Fuck you for providing such a great security to my app that any fucking idiot can decompile it and do whatever he wants. So, fuck you Google for making my life miserable by being an Android developer. Fuck you for your poor over-engineering that couldn’t make just what is expected. FUCK YOU!

Low

Q: Combining Salary with percentage of salary I have a question in my mind... suppose there are three employees in a dept having different salaries e.g: empA=1000, empB=1500 and empC=1200... I require two columns one salaries of each employee and percentage of salaries out of total salary empA 1000 27.03% empB 1500 40.54% empC 1200 32.43% What can be the query? A: Please try: select Emp, salary, CONVERT(numeric(18,2), CONVERT(numeric(18,2), salary)/( SUM(salary) over())*100) [Percent] From tbl SQL Fiddle Demo

High

THIS BOAT IS A GREAT OVER NIGHTER, AND HAS AN EXCELLENT CONFIGURATION FOR DAY TIME BOATING AS WELL. IT HAS A SUN PAD, SINK, COOLER STORAGE, UPGRADED STEREO SYSTEM, AND BIMINI TOP. INSIDE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY CAN BE COMFORTABLE AT NIGHT WITH A MID-BERTH THAT SLEEPS 2, A STAND UP CUDDY WITH ADDITIONAL BERTHING, AND FULL CANVAS TOP FOR THE EXTERIOR. A FULL GALLEY CAN EXTEND YOUR STAY WITH MICROWAVE, STOVE, REFRIG, AND SINK. A PUMP OUT HEAD AND SHOWER COMPLETE THE COMFORTS. THE BOAT HAS A RE-MANUFACTURED MERCRUISER ENGINE WITH 0 HOURS, AND BRAVO 3 OUTDRIVE. THE BOAT HAS NO TRAILER. FOR ANY QUESTIONS YOU CAN CALL ME AT 812-292-6414.. Located in Madison Indiana. 1997 Crownline 250 CR, MUST SELL! This 26'8" Crownline CR250 is in amazing shape. Easily sleeps 4. Under 460 hours on single 300hp carb injected V8. Survey completed last year. New this season - battery charger and battery, water pump, and Bimini top - isinglass. Hot water tank replaced three seasons ago. Ignition module replaced last season. Refrigerator on its fourth season. Aftermarket stereo that booms. Water holding tank on its second season. Garmin Gps 440 included. Portable a - c included. Dual axle trailer included. Everything you need! Indoor, heated winter storage so it is available to see now! Contact Dana- [email protected] or (440)829-5576. Located in Marblehead Ohio. Shines like new! 1997 Crownline CR250 Cruiser, Mercruiser 7.4lx EFI with bravo 1 drive and stainless mercury mirage prop. Trim Tabs. 157 hrs! Great all around boat that can be trailered with a 1 - 2 pickup or full size SUV. 6'3" head clearance in cabin, aft cabin that will sleep two adults, full v bearth bed, and dining area. Full bathroom with porcelin toilet, shower with hot water, fresh water and waste holding tanks and macerator. Fridge, sink, shorepower, twin on board battery charger, twin batteries with perko switch. Mooring cover, bimini and camper top. Stow-away seats. Windlass anchor. Big custom stereo with great all around sound even at low levels. 2005 Aluminum with surge brakes, great tires, carpeted bunks. Boat has little to no dock rash, and shines as if it was new. I constantly get compliments on the shine. New batteries, new shower pump. No leaks. Vynil is in outstanding shape for the age of the boat, it has a few small tears but no staining and is as brite as new. Cloth headliner in cabin was repaired poorly and shows signs of glue. No mechanical issues at all, has a warranty on drive and engine unitl 5 - 2012. Bring all offers!. Located in Syracuse New York. 523183 - $17,499 OBO Make me an offer. All reasonable offers considered. Well maintained fresh water boat, with matching custom trailer. This is a very roomy weekend cruiser for only 25 feet. This boat has been kept in very nice condition. With sleeping capacity for 4, full galley and a stand up head with hot and cold shower, a large cockpit and swim platform with boarding ladder, you'll have everything you need for great weekends on the water, 370 hrs o Mercruiser 5.7 V-8 call Tom 630-244-8951.. Located in Chicago Illinois. 523183 - $17,499 OBO Make me an offer. All reasonable offers considered. Well maintained fresh water boat, with matching custom trailer. This is a very roomy weekend cruiser for only 25 feet. This boat has been kept in very nice condition. With sleeping capacity for 4, full galley and a stand up head with hot and cold shower, a large cockpit and swim platform with boarding ladder, you'll have everything you need for great weekends on the water, 370 hrs o Mercruiser 5.7 V-8 call Tom 630-244-8951.. Located in Chicago Illinois.

Mid

# Working on the Engine API The Engine API is an HTTP API used by the command-line client to communicate with the daemon. It can also be used by third-party software to control the daemon. It consists of various components in this repository: - `api/swagger.yaml` A Swagger definition of the API. - `api/types/` Types shared by both the client and server, representing various objects, options, responses, etc. Most are written manually, but some are automatically generated from the Swagger definition. See [#27919](https://github.com/docker/docker/issues/27919) for progress on this. - `cli/` The command-line client. - `client/` The Go client used by the command-line client. It can also be used by third-party Go programs. - `daemon/` The daemon, which serves the API. ## Swagger definition The API is defined by the [Swagger](http://swagger.io/specification/) definition in `api/swagger.yaml`. This definition can be used to: 1. Automatically generate documentation. 2. Automatically generate the Go server and client. (A work-in-progress.) 3. Provide a machine readable version of the API for introspecting what it can do, automatically generating clients for other languages, etc. ## Updating the API documentation The API documentation is generated entirely from `api/swagger.yaml`. If you make updates to the API, edit this file to represent the change in the documentation. The file is split into two main sections: - `definitions`, which defines re-usable objects used in requests and responses - `paths`, which defines the API endpoints (and some inline objects which don't need to be reusable) To make an edit, first look for the endpoint you want to edit under `paths`, then make the required edits. Endpoints may reference reusable objects with `$ref`, which can be found in the `definitions` section. There is hopefully enough example material in the file for you to copy a similar pattern from elsewhere in the file (e.g. adding new fields or endpoints), but for the full reference, see the [Swagger specification](https://github.com/docker/docker/issues/27919). `swagger.yaml` is validated by `hack/validate/swagger` to ensure it is a valid Swagger definition. This is useful when making edits to ensure you are doing the right thing. ## Viewing the API documentation When you make edits to `swagger.yaml`, you may want to check the generated API documentation to ensure it renders correctly. Run `make swagger-docs` and a preview will be running at `http://localhost`. Some of the styling may be incorrect, but you'll be able to ensure that it is generating the correct documentation. The production documentation is generated by vendoring `swagger.yaml` into [docker/docker.github.io](https://github.com/docker/docker.github.io).

Mid

Loss of interleukin-21 leads to atrophic germinal centers in multicentric Castleman's disease. Both multicentric Castleman's disease (MCD) and immunoglobulin (Ig)G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) are systemic diseases, presenting with hypergammaglobulinemia and elevated serum levels of IgG4. However, with regard to histopathological findings, MCD shows atrophic germinal centers. On the other hand, expanded germinal centers are detected in IgG4-RD. We extracted germinal centers from specimens of each disorder by microdissection and analyzed the expression of mRNAs by real-time polymerase chain reaction to clarify the mechanisms underlying atrophied germinal centers in MCD. This analysis disclosed loss of interleukin (IL)-21 and B cell lymphoma (Bcl)-6 in the germinal centers of MCD. Loss of IL-21 is considered to be involved in the disappearance of Bcl-6 and leads to atrophied germinal centers in MCD.

High

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk"> <PropertyGroup> <TargetFramework>netcoreapp3.0</TargetFramework> <GenerateAssemblyInfo>true</GenerateAssemblyInfo> <GenerateDocumentationFile>true</GenerateDocumentationFile> </PropertyGroup> <ItemGroup> <Compile Include="Config.fs" /> <Compile Include="Utils.fs" /> <Compile Include="LocalState.fs" /> <Compile Include="MarshalledLogger.fs" /> <Compile Include="Primitives\ResourceFactory.fs" /> <Compile Include="Primitives\CancellationEntry.fs" /> <Compile Include="Primitives\ProcessEntry.fs" /> <Compile Include="Primitives\Counter.fs" /> <Compile Include="Primitives\ResultAggregator.fs" /> <Compile Include="Primitives\CloudAtom.fs" /> <Compile Include="Primitives\CloudQueue.fs" /> <Compile Include="Primitives\CloudDictionary.fs" /> <Compile Include="Runtime\WorkerManager.fs" /> <Compile Include="Runtime\ProcessManager.fs" /> <Compile Include="Runtime\WorkItemQueue.fs" /> <Compile Include="Runtime\ClusterState.fs" /> <Compile Include="Worker\Subscription.fs" /> <Compile Include="Worker\Controller.fs" /> <Compile Include="Worker\Configuration.fs" /> <Compile Include="Worker\Main.fs" /> <Compile Include="Client.fs" /> <None Include="test.fsx" /> <None Include="paket.references" /> </ItemGroup> <ItemGroup> <ProjectReference Include="..\MBrace.Core\MBrace.Core.fsproj" /> <ProjectReference Include="..\MBrace.Runtime\MBrace.Runtime.fsproj" /> </ItemGroup> <Import Project="..\..\.paket\Paket.Restore.targets" /> </Project>

Mid

Clinical and necropsy observations are described in a man in whom 2 sheep carotid arterial heterografts were inserted as aortocoronary bypass conduits 30 months before death, and in whom a canine saphenous vein heterograft was inserted several hours before death. Examination of previous reports describing heterografts for vascular reconstruction or bypass in both man and experimental animals and observations in our patients suggest that heterografts are unsatisfactory as aortocoronary bypass conduits.

Mid