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Malaysia Ruling Party Urged to Shun ‘Traitor’ Anwar
Reuters, September 22, 2004
By Liau Y-Sing
KUALA LUMPUR—A rising star of
Malaysia’s main ruling party urged the organisation on Wednesday to close
ranks against its most prominent dissident, Anwar Ibrahim, branding the former
deputy premier a traitor.
The head of the youth wing of the United Malays National
Organisation (UMNO) did not name Anwar, freed this month from almost six years
in jail, but it was clear that the former deputy prime minister turned
anti-government protester was his target.
“Let us not forget that this traitor had destroyed our
unity, tarnished our image and damaged the country’s economy through
demonstrations and street protests and begged for foreign intervention to
serve his narrow political purposes,” Hishammuddin Hussein told the
party’s annual assembly.
“Those who had opposed UMNO, those who had burned the
UMNO flag and those who had mocked UMNO leaders, do not dream that you can
return to UMNO, what more to be in the leadership of UMNO.”
His speech risked upsetting UMNO leaders, who do not want
debate on Anwar to sidetrack the assembly, the first to be held under the
leadership of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Abdullah took power a year ago from veteran leader and
UMNO strongman Mahathir Mohamad, whose sacking of Anwar six years ago prompted
one of the most divisive chapters in Malaysian politics and split UMNO, which
sees itself as the backbone of government.
Anwar led
street protests after his sacking, calling for an end to official corruption
and cronyism. He was later jailed on what he called trumped-up charges of
sodomy and corruption. He was freed on September 2 after a court quashed the
sodomy count.
Anwar, in Germany recovering from back surgery, says he
has no plans to return to UMNO. But he still has sympathisers in the party,
which is widely viewed as the only real vehicle for Anwar to realise his
long-held ambition to lead the country.
UMNO has produced every prime minister since Malaysia
gained independence from Britain in 1957.
Crackdown on Vote-Buying
A senior aide to Anwar said by phone from Munich, where
Anwar is recuperating at a specialist back clinic, that the former UMNO
leader-in-waiting had no plans to rejoin UMNO and was not interested in
responding to Hishammuddin’s attack.
“I am very certain the grass-roots UMNO delegates are
very unhappy at what happened today,” said Azmin Ali. “The majority of
grass-roots leaders are still with him (Anwar). They know what happened to him
for the last six years. There’s not much they can do but they know deep in
their hearts what’s happening.”
But UMNO youth wing deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin
disagreed.
“I will stand side by side with Hishammuddin in
battling Keadilan if I have to,” Khairy, Prime Minister Abdullah’s
son-in-law, said, referring to the pro-Anwar party.
The youngest son of Anwar’s nemesis, Mahathir, scored
the highest vote in Wednesday’s contest for 20 seats in the youth wing’s
executive council. “I think it’s a reflection of their thanks to my
father,” said Mukhriz Mahathir.
Abdullah does not want the assembly sidetracked by Anwar
and instead wants to show that UMNO has taken his anti-corruption message to
heart and cracked down on vote-buying in elections for senior party posts.
There were signs on Wednesday that the crackdown,
enforced with the help of party spies loyal to Abdullah, was being felt.
“I can really feel the difference. I don’t see people
walking about offering cars and money. It looks a lot cleaner this time,”
said Ramlah Abdul Rahman, 53, an UMNO delegate from Malacca.
“It used to be so bad in the past,” agreed Mohamad
Asri Mahmud, 39, from Kelantan state. “I used to get phone calls at midnight
from people wanting me to vote for them. I just couldn’t sleep. People
really seem to be in fear of the new tough actions taken by the leadership.”
Hundreds of complaints have been made to the party and
its relatively new disciplinary board has meted out suspensions.
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Philippine police clash with rebels, killing 5
The Associated Press
Philippine police clashed with communist rebels, killing five people and wounding three on the same day the insurgents fatally shot a security guard for an American-owned gold mining company, officials said Friday.
The renewed violence came three months after the New People's Army rebels and the government reopened intermittent talks to resolve one of Asia's longest-running Marxist rebellions. But they have repeatedly failed to agreed on a truce.
In a first attack Thursday, about 60 guerrillas flagged down four motorcycle-riding security guards on a remote mining road in the southern Philippines and seized their assault rifles and radios, police chief Aaron Aquino of Compostela Valley province said.
Aquino said one of the guards working for Russell Mining & Minerals Inc. apparently resisted and was fatally shot.
Private security guards are not authorized to carry assault rifles, and police have repeatedly warned that such weapons attract rebels, Aquino said.
In a separate clash in northern Cagayan province, police said they engaged the rebels in a gunfight for almost two hours, killing five and wounding three insurgents. Another one was captured while two officers were wounded, police said.
The rebels have warned that they will launch fresh attacks against mining and logging companies, accusing them of taking land from peasants and indigenous people.
The New People's Army have fought for a Marxist state for decades and are listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and EU governments. The military estimates their strength at several thousand fighters.
The instability has stunted economic development in rural areas. The rebels have survived by raiding remote police and army posts to snatch weapons and extorting money from businesses in areas where they operate.
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1. Field of the Invention
Generally, the present disclosure relates to the manufacture of semiconductor devices, and, more specifically, to various novel methods of forming a gate structure on a vertical transistor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In modern integrated circuits, such as microprocessors, storage devices and the like, a very large number of circuit elements, especially transistors, are provided on a restricted chip area. Transistors come in a variety of shapes and forms, e.g., planar transistors, FinFET transistors, nanowire devices, vertical transistors, etc. The transistors are typically either NMOS (NFET) or PMOS (PFET) type devices wherein the “N” and “P” designation is based upon the type of dopants used to create the source/drain regions of the devices. So-called CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) technology or products refers to integrated circuit products that are manufactured using both NMOS and PMOS transistor devices. Irrespective of the physical configuration of the transistor device, each device comprises drain and source regions and a gate electrode structure positioned above and between the source/drain regions. Upon application of an appropriate control voltage to the gate electrode, a conductive channel region forms between the drain region and the source region.
FIG. 1A is a simplistic depiction of an illustrative prior art vertical transistor device 10. In general, the vertical transistor 10 comprises a generally vertically oriented channel semiconductor structure 12A that extends upward from a front surface 12S of a semiconductor substrate 12. The semiconductor structure 12A may have a variety of different configurations when viewed from above, e.g., circular, rectangular, square, etc. The device 10 further comprise a channel region 13, a gate-all-around (GAA) gate structure 14, a bottom source/drain (S/D) region 16, a top S/D region 18, a bottom spacer 15B and a top spacer 15T. Also depicted is an illustrative bottom contact 20 that is conductively coupled to the bottom S/D region 16 and a top contact 22 that is conductively coupled to the top S/D region 18. In the depicted example, the gate structure 14 comprises a gate insulation layer 14A and a conductive gate electrode 14B. The materials of construction for the components of the device 10 may vary depending upon the particular application.
For many early device technology generations, the gate electrode structures of most transistor elements have comprised a plurality of silicon-based materials, such as a silicon dioxide and/or silicon oxynitride gate insulation layer, in combination with a polysilicon gate electrode. However, as the channel length of aggressively scaled transistor elements has become increasingly smaller, many newer generation devices employ gate electrode stacks comprising alternative materials in an effort to avoid the short-channel effects which may be associated with the use of traditional silicon-based materials in reduced channel length transistors. For example, in some aggressively scaled transistor elements, gate electrode stacks comprising a so-called high-k dielectric/metal gate (HK/MG) configuration have been shown to provide significantly enhanced operational characteristics over the heretofore more commonly used silicon dioxide/polysilicon (SiO/poly) configurations.
One well-known processing method that has been used for forming a transistor with a high-k/metal gate structure is the so-called “gate last” or “replacement gate” technique. In the replacement gate technique, a so-called “dummy” or sacrificial gate structure is initially formed and remains in place as many process operations are performed to form the device, e.g., the formation of doped source/drain regions, performing an anneal process to repair damage to the substrate caused by the ion implantation processes and to activate the implanted dopant materials. At some point in the process flow, the sacrificial gate structure is removed to define a gate cavity where the final HK/MG gate structure for the device is formed.
FIGS. 1B-1F simplistically depict one illustrative prior art process flow that is employed to form replacement gate structures on vertical transistor devices. FIG. 1B depicts the device 10 after several process operations were performed. First, a plurality of the above-described vertically oriented channel semiconductor structures 12A are formed above the substrate 12. Thereafter, several layers of material were sequentially deposited above the substrate: a layer of spacer material for the bottom spacer 15B, a sacrificial layer of material 21 (e.g., silicon dioxide) and a layer of spacer material for the top spacer 15T. Also depicted in FIG. 1B is a patterned etch mask layer 23. The patterned etch mask 23 may be made of a variety of different materials, e.g., photoresist, a combination of layers, etc.
FIG. 1C depicts the device 10 after an etching process was performed through the patterned etch mask 23 to remove the exposed portions of the top spacer layer 15T. The etching process stops on the sacrificial layer 21. FIG. 1C depicts the device after the patterned etch mask 23 was removed.
FIG. 1D depicts the device after a wet etching process was performed to remove the sacrificial layer 21 relative to the surrounding materials so as to define a plurality of replacement gate cavities 25.
FIG. 1E depicts the device 10 after simplistically depicted materials 14 for the replacement gate structure were formed so as to overfill the replacement gate cavities 25. The materials 14 for the replacement gate structure would normally include a high-k gate insulation layer (not separately shown), one or more additional metal-containing layers (e.g., work function adjusting metal layers), such as titanium nitride, and a bulk conductive fill material, such as tungsten or polysilicon. The high-k insulation layer and the additional metal-containing layers are typically formed by performing a conformal deposition process.
FIG. 1F depicts the device 10 after several process operations were performed. First, a chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) process was performed to planarize the upper surface of the gate materials 14 with the upper surface 15S of the patterned top spacer layer 15T. Thereafter, one or more anisotropic etching processes were performed to remove exposed portions of the gate materials 14, wherein the etching process ultimately stops on the layer of bottom spacer material 15B. As depicted, these operations result in the formation of separate GAA gate structures 14 that wrap around the channel portion 13 of the devices. Importantly, using this prior art process flow, the gate structures 14 are not self-aligned in that the lateral width 14L of the gate structure 14 is approximately defined by the lateral width 15L of the patterned features of the top spacer layer 15T. Since these features are defined by a patterning process, e.g., masking and etching, the control of the exact size and exact positioning of these patterned features is subject to the problems generally encountered when defining features using patterning processes such as, for example, positional accuracy relative to other structures (like the structures 12A), pattern transfer variations, etc. These types of issues are only expected to be more problematic as device dimensions continue to decrease with advancing technology.
The present disclosure is directed to methods of forming a gate structure on a vertical transistor device that may solve or reduce one or more of the problems identified above.
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The home at 167 Aberdeen has always turned my head. I love the symmetry of the centre hall plan, the character of the original shutters, the elegance of the portico framed entryway and the whimsy of the proud lion door knocker.
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Handover
Now it is time for me to hand over to the man with the world’s greatest haircuts, Mr Christopher Beesley.
Enjoy your time with him. You should.
See you all at Norwich on Saturday morning... you ARE going to Norwich, right? x
14:57Ian Doyle
No way, Jose?
I think this is a bit harsh. They won, after all.
But what do you think?
14:30Ian Doyle
Wicked Wiki
LOL, as the kids might say. In 2003.
14:29KEY EVENT
Javier got a ladder?
Mascherano may need one if this turns out how it could do.
14:26Ian Doyle
Did you know?
We've ran out of photos of Teixeira for now, so here's the first one I posted once again
Were you aware that an anagram of ‘Alex Teixeira’ is ‘Ex-Aerial Exit’?
Well now you do.
‘That part of the world’ football expert John Bradley has some interesting comments on the Ukraine-based Brazilian forward.
Let me tell you, he’s outstanding. He really is. When I first saw the news of Liverpool’s interest, my reaction was “wow, what a signing that would be!”
We’re all aware of his goalscoring record by now, which is outstanding. I think by the time the Ukrainian league stopped in December, he had more goals than any other top-flight player in Europe, which says plenty.
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Influence of ultrasonic processing on the macromolecular properties of poly (D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) alone and in its biocomposite with hydroxyapatite.
In this work poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) and a poly(d,l-lactide-co-glycolide)/hydroxyapatite (PLGA/HAp) composite processed in an ultrasonic field at higher (25 degrees C) and lower (8 degrees C) temperatures were studied with respect to the molecular properties of the obtained materials. The processing of the PLGA and the PLGA/HAp composite in an ultrasonic field resulted in a change of molar mass averages of the polymer/polymeric part of these materials, while an amorphous structure and a 50:50 lactide-to-glycolide co-monomer ratio were preserved without the formation of crystalline oligomers. However, mobility of polymeric chains obtained after ultrasonic processing was lower indicating ordering the structure of polymeric chains as a result of processing. Additionally, it was observed that the mobility of the PLGA macromolecules was lower within the composite in comparison with the mobility of the chains within the PLGA alone in the case when both were obtained after ultrasonic processing. This was a consequence of the structure formation through the interactions between the PLGA and the HAp. Based on these results different degradation rate of PLGA in composite can be expected, which is important in the application of this material for the controlled drug delivery of medicaments.
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from __future__ import division
import sys
from data_iterator import TextIterator
import cPickle as pkl
from os.path import expanduser
import torch
import numpy
from model_batch import *
import time
from datetime import timedelta
from torchtext.vocab import load_word_vectors
# batch preparation
# batch preparation
def prepare_data(seqs_x, seqs_y, labels, maxlen=None):
lengths_x = [len(s) for s in seqs_x]
lengths_y = [len(s) for s in seqs_y]
if maxlen is not None:
new_seqs_x = []
new_seqs_y = []
new_lengths_x = []
new_lengths_y = []
new_labels = []
for l_x, s_x, l_y, s_y, l in zip(lengths_x, seqs_x, lengths_y, seqs_y, labels):
if l_x < maxlen and l_y < maxlen:
new_seqs_x.append(s_x)
new_lengths_x.append(l_x)
new_seqs_y.append(s_y)
new_lengths_y.append(l_y)
new_labels.append(l)
lengths_x = new_lengths_x
seqs_x = new_seqs_x
lengths_y = new_lengths_y
seqs_y = new_seqs_y
labels = new_labels
if len(lengths_x) < 1 or len(lengths_y) < 1:
return None, None, None, None, None
n_samples = len(seqs_x)
maxlen_x = numpy.max(lengths_x)
maxlen_y = numpy.max(lengths_y)
x = numpy.zeros((maxlen_x, n_samples)).astype('int64')
y = numpy.zeros((maxlen_y, n_samples)).astype('int64')
x_mask = numpy.zeros((maxlen_x, n_samples)).astype('float32')
y_mask = numpy.zeros((maxlen_y, n_samples)).astype('float32')
l = numpy.zeros((n_samples,)).astype('int64')
for idx, [s_x, s_y, ll] in enumerate(zip(seqs_x, seqs_y, labels)):
x[:lengths_x[idx], idx] = s_x
x_mask[:lengths_x[idx], idx] = 1.
y[:lengths_y[idx], idx] = s_y
y_mask[:lengths_y[idx], idx] = 1.
l[idx] = ll
if torch.cuda.is_available():
x=Variable(torch.LongTensor(x)).cuda()
x_mask=Variable(torch.Tensor(x_mask)).cuda()
y=Variable(torch.LongTensor(y)).cuda()
y_mask=Variable(torch.Tensor(y_mask)).cuda()
l=Variable(torch.LongTensor(l)).cuda()
else:
x = Variable(torch.LongTensor(x))
x_mask = Variable(torch.FloatTensor(x_mask))
y = Variable(torch.LongTensor(y))
y_mask = Variable(torch.FloatTensor(y_mask))
l = Variable(torch.LongTensor(l))
return x, x_mask, y, y_mask, l
# some utilities
def ortho_weight(ndim):
"""
Random orthogonal weights
Used by norm_weights(below), in which case, we
are ensuring that the rows are orthogonal
(i.e W = U \Sigma V, U has the same
# of rows, V has the same # of cols)
"""
W = numpy.random.randn(ndim, ndim)
u, s, v = numpy.linalg.svd(W)
return u.astype('float32')
def norm_weight(nin, nout=None, scale=0.01, ortho=True):
"""
Random weights drawn from a Gaussian
"""
if nout is None:
nout = nin
if nout == nin and ortho:
W = ortho_weight(nin)
else:
W = scale * numpy.random.randn(nin, nout)
return W.astype('float32')
if torch.cuda.is_available():
print('CUDA is available!')
base_path = expanduser("~") + '/pytorch/ESIM'
embedding_path = expanduser("~") + '/pytorch/DeepPairWiseWord/VDPWI-NN-Torch/data/glove'
else:
base_path = expanduser("~") + '/Documents/research/pytorch/ESIM'
embedding_path = expanduser("~") + '/Documents/research/pytorch/DeepPairWiseWord/VDPWI-NN-Torch/data/glove'
task='snli'
print('task: '+task)
if task=='snli':
dictionary=base_path+'/data/word_sequence/snli_vocab_cased.pkl'
datasets = [base_path+'/data/word_sequence/premise_snli_1.0_train.txt',
base_path+'/data/word_sequence/hypothesis_snli_1.0_train.txt',
base_path+'/data/word_sequence/label_snli_1.0_train.txt']
valid_datasets = [base_path+'/data/word_sequence/premise_snli_1.0_dev.txt',
base_path+'/data/word_sequence/hypothesis_snli_1.0_dev.txt',
base_path+'/data/word_sequence/label_snli_1.0_dev.txt']
test_datasets = [base_path+'/data/word_sequence/premise_snli_1.0_test.txt',
base_path+'/data/word_sequence/hypothesis_snli_1.0_test.txt',
base_path+'/data/word_sequence/label_snli_1.0_test.txt']
elif task=='mnli':
dic = {'entailment': '0', 'neutral': '1', 'contradiction': '2'}
dictionary = base_path + '/data/word_sequence/mnli_vocab_cased.pkl'
datasets = [base_path + '/data/word_sequence/premise_multinli_1.0_train.txt',
base_path + '/data/word_sequence/hypothesis_multinli_1.0_train.txt',
base_path + '/data/word_sequence/label_multinli_1.0_train.txt']
valid_datasets_m = [base_path + '/data/word_sequence/premise_multinli_1.0_dev_matched.txt',
base_path + '/data/word_sequence/hypothesis_multinli_1.0_dev_matched.txt',
base_path + '/data/word_sequence/label_multinli_1.0_dev_matched.txt']
valid_datasets_um = [base_path + '/data/word_sequence/premise_multinli_1.0_dev_mismatched.txt',
base_path + '/data/word_sequence/hypothesis_multinli_1.0_dev_mismatched.txt',
base_path + '/data/word_sequence/label_multinli_1.0_dev_mismatched.txt']
test_datasets_m = [base_path + '/data/word_sequence/premise_multinli_1.0_test_matched.txt',
base_path + '/data/word_sequence/hypothesis_multinli_1.0_test_matched.txt',
base_path + '/data/word_sequence/label_multinli_1.0_test_matched.txt']
test_datasets_um = [base_path + '/data/word_sequence/premise_multinli_1.0_test_mismatched.txt',
base_path + '/data/word_sequence/hypothesis_multinli_1.0_test_mismatched.txt',
base_path + '/data/word_sequence/label_multinli_1.0_test_mismatched.txt']
#n_words=42394
dim_word=300
batch_size=32
num_epochs=500
valid_batch_size=1
print 'Loading data'
with open(dictionary, 'rb') as f:
worddicts = pkl.load(f)
n_words=len(worddicts)
wv_dict, wv_arr, wv_size = load_word_vectors(embedding_path, 'glove.840B', dim_word)
pretrained_emb=norm_weight(n_words, dim_word)
for word in worddicts.keys():
try:
pretrained_emb[worddicts[word]]=wv_arr[wv_dict[word]].numpy()
except:
pretrained_emb[worddicts[word]] = torch.normal(torch.zeros(dim_word),std=1).numpy()
train = TextIterator(datasets[0], datasets[1], datasets[2],
dictionary,
n_words=n_words,
batch_size=batch_size)
'''
train_valid = TextIterator(datasets[0], datasets[1], datasets[2],
dictionary,
n_words=n_words,
batch_size=valid_batch_size,
shuffle=False)
'''
'''
valid_m = TextIterator(valid_datasets_m[0], valid_datasets_m[1], valid_datasets_m[2],
dictionary,
n_words=n_words,
batch_size=valid_batch_size,
shuffle=False)
valid_um = TextIterator(valid_datasets_um[0], valid_datasets_um[1], valid_datasets_um[2],
dictionary,
n_words=n_words,
batch_size=valid_batch_size,
shuffle=False)
test_m = TextIterator(test_datasets_m[0], test_datasets_m[1], test_datasets_m[2],
dictionary,
n_words=n_words,
batch_size=valid_batch_size,
shuffle=False)
test_um = TextIterator(test_datasets_um[0], test_datasets_um[1], test_datasets_um[2],
dictionary,
n_words=n_words,
batch_size=valid_batch_size,
shuffle=False)
'''
valid = TextIterator(valid_datasets[0],valid_datasets[1],valid_datasets[2],
dictionary,
n_words=n_words,
batch_size=valid_batch_size,
shuffle=False)
test = TextIterator(test_datasets[0], test_datasets[1], test_datasets[2],
dictionary,
n_words=n_words,
batch_size=valid_batch_size,
shuffle=False)
criterion = torch.nn.CrossEntropyLoss()
model = ESIM(dim_word, 3, n_words, dim_word, pretrained_emb)
if torch.cuda.is_available():
model = model.cuda()
criterion = criterion.cuda()
optimizer = torch.optim.Adam(model.parameters(),lr=0.0004)
print('start training...')
accumulated_loss=0
batch_counter=0
report_interval = 1000
best_dev_loss=10e10
best_dev_loss2=10e10
clip_c=10
max_len=500
max_result=0
model.train()
for epoch in range(num_epochs):
accumulated_loss = 0
model.train()
print('--' * 20)
start_time = time.time()
train_sents_scaned = 0
train_num_correct = 0
batch_counter=0
train = TextIterator(datasets[0], datasets[1], datasets[2],
dictionary,
n_words=n_words,
batch_size=batch_size)
for x1, x2, y in train:
x1, x1_mask, x2, x2_mask, y = prepare_data(x1, x2, y, maxlen=max_len)
train_sents_scaned += len(y)
optimizer.zero_grad()
output = model(x1, x1_mask, x2, x2_mask)
result = output.data.cpu().numpy()
a = np.argmax(result, axis=1)
b = y.data.cpu().numpy()
train_num_correct += np.sum(a == b)
loss = criterion(output, y)
loss.backward()
''''''
grad_norm = 0.
for m in list(model.parameters()):
grad_norm+=m.grad.data.norm() ** 2
for m in list(model.parameters()):
if grad_norm>clip_c**2:
try:
m.grad.data= m.grad.data / torch.sqrt(grad_norm) * clip_c
except:
pass
''''''
optimizer.step()
accumulated_loss += loss.data[0]
batch_counter += 1
#print(batch_counter)
if batch_counter % report_interval == 0:
msg = '%d completed epochs, %d batches' % (epoch, batch_counter)
msg += '\t training batch loss: %f' % (accumulated_loss / train_sents_scaned)
msg += '\t train accuracy: %f' % (train_num_correct / train_sents_scaned)
print(msg)
#if batch_counter>(int(17168/64)):
# break
msg = '%d completed epochs, %d batches' % (epoch, batch_counter)
msg += '\t training batch loss: %f' % (accumulated_loss / train_sents_scaned)
msg += '\t train accuracy: %f' % (train_num_correct / train_sents_scaned)
print(msg)
# valid after each epoch
model.eval()
''''''
msg = '%d completed epochs, %d batches' % (epoch, batch_counter)
accumulated_loss = 0
dev_num_correct = 0
n_done=0
for dev_x1, dev_x2, dev_y in valid:
n_done += len(dev_x1)
x1, x1_mask, x2, x2_mask, y = prepare_data(dev_x1, dev_x2, dev_y, maxlen=max_len)
with torch.no_grad():
output = model(x1, x1_mask, x2, x2_mask)
result = output.data.cpu().numpy()
loss = criterion(output, y)
accumulated_loss += loss.data[0]
a = numpy.argmax(result, axis=1)
b = y.data.cpu().numpy()
dev_num_correct += numpy.sum(a == b)
msg += '\t dev loss: %f' % (accumulated_loss/n_done)
dev_acc = dev_num_correct / n_done
msg += '\t dev accuracy: %f' % dev_acc
print(msg)
''''''
if dev_acc>max_result:
max_result=dev_acc
msg = '%d completed epochs, %d batches' % (epoch, batch_counter)
accumulated_loss = 0
dev_num_correct = 0
n_done = 0
pred=[]
error_analysis = []
for test_x1, test_x2, test_y in test:
n_done+=len(test_y)
x1, x1_mask, x2, x2_mask, y = prepare_data(test_x1, test_x2, test_y, maxlen=max_len)
with torch.no_grad():
output = model(x1, x1_mask, x2, x2_mask)
result = output.data.cpu().numpy()
loss = criterion(output, y)
accumulated_loss += loss.data[0]
a = numpy.argmax(result, axis=1)
b = y.data.cpu().numpy()
dev_num_correct += numpy.sum(a == b)
pred.extend(result)
if a != b:
my_dict = {}
s1 = ''
for word in x1:
s1 += worddicts.keys()[word.data[0]] + ' '
# print(s1)
my_dict['s1'] = s1
s2 = ''
for word in x2:
s2 += worddicts.keys()[word.data[0]] + ' '
# print(s2)
my_dict['s2'] = s2
# print(model.alpha[:,:,0].data.cpu().numpy())
# print(model.beta[:,:,0].data.cpu().numpy())
my_dict['alpha'] = model.alpha[:, :, 0].data.cpu().numpy()
my_dict['beta'] = model.beta[:, :, 0].data.cpu().numpy()
my_dict['pred_label']=a[0]
my_dict['true_label']=b[0]
error_analysis.append(my_dict)
pkl.dump(error_analysis, open(base_path + '/ESIM_snli_error_analysis.pkl', 'wb'))
msg += '\t test loss: %f' % (accumulated_loss / n_done)
test_acc = dev_num_correct / n_done
msg += '\t test accuracy: %f' % test_acc
print(msg)
torch.save(model, base_path + '/model_ESIM_snli_visualize' + '.pkl')
# max_result=test_acc
# with open(base_path+'/result_ESIM_prob.txt','w') as f:
# for item in pred:
# f.writelines(str(item[0])+'\t'+str(item[1])+'\t'+str(item[2])+'\n')
elapsed_time = time.time() - start_time
print('Epoch ' + str(epoch) + ' finished within ' + str(timedelta(seconds=elapsed_time)))
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Comments on: Windows Blue for Windows Phone, battery/performance/core app updates delivered through windows store?http://mynokiablog.com/2013/02/08/windows-blue-for-windows-phone-batteryperformancecore-app-updates-delivered-through-windows-store/
Random, informal Nokia blog for Nokia, Symbian, Maemo, MeeGo and Windows Phone news, reviews, rants, suggestions and applications.Tue, 31 Mar 2015 19:27:00 +0000hourly1By: field of viewhttp://mynokiablog.com/2013/02/08/windows-blue-for-windows-phone-batteryperformancecore-app-updates-delivered-through-windows-store/comment-page-1/#comment-1446557
Mon, 16 Jun 2014 03:37:55 +0000http://mynokiablog.com/?p=45957#comment-1446557Thanks for the article, can I set it up so I get an email sent to me whenever you write
a fresh post?
]]>By: rustyknight17http://mynokiablog.com/2013/02/08/windows-blue-for-windows-phone-batteryperformancecore-app-updates-delivered-through-windows-store/comment-page-1/#comment-766167
Sat, 09 Feb 2013 18:15:10 +0000http://mynokiablog.com/?p=45957#comment-766167Yes , sounds cool , hope it`ll bring WP8 close to Symbian/Meego functionality , that would be most interesting !
Speaking of which , I find the timing interesting as well , considering that Blackberry is rumoured to be coming out with what seems like a very similar update for their OS called 10.1 … Thoughts ?
]]>By: tonysinghhttp://mynokiablog.com/2013/02/08/windows-blue-for-windows-phone-batteryperformancecore-app-updates-delivered-through-windows-store/comment-page-1/#comment-765417
Fri, 08 Feb 2013 19:44:12 +0000http://mynokiablog.com/?p=45957#comment-765417Thank you, read it
]]>By: Windows Blue to be an update for Windows Phone 8 as well as Windows 8 | Siliconia Hubhttp://mynokiablog.com/2013/02/08/windows-blue-for-windows-phone-batteryperformancecore-app-updates-delivered-through-windows-store/comment-page-1/#comment-765318
Fri, 08 Feb 2013 17:11:00 +0000http://mynokiablog.com/?p=45957#comment-765318[…] MyNokiaBlog […]
]]>By: dsshttp://mynokiablog.com/2013/02/08/windows-blue-for-windows-phone-batteryperformancecore-app-updates-delivered-through-windows-store/comment-page-1/#comment-765269
Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:15:18 +0000http://mynokiablog.com/?p=45957#comment-765269I think we are still on track for Windows 9.. they are just going to try to prolong the life of 8 for longer
]]>By: Viipottajahttp://mynokiablog.com/2013/02/08/windows-blue-for-windows-phone-batteryperformancecore-app-updates-delivered-through-windows-store/comment-page-1/#comment-765065
Fri, 08 Feb 2013 12:20:15 +0000http://mynokiablog.com/?p=45957#comment-765065WP Central’s own source (it is an update to their story on the Verge story :)) also confirms this, but unfortunately says its not right around the corner in terms of timing. So perhaps a fall update? Which does not meant there won’t be other updates in the meanwhile.
]]>By: aslanoohttp://mynokiablog.com/2013/02/08/windows-blue-for-windows-phone-batteryperformancecore-app-updates-delivered-through-windows-store/comment-page-1/#comment-765047
Fri, 08 Feb 2013 11:45:15 +0000http://mynokiablog.com/?p=45957#comment-765047Actually my german sources source was the verge her the link
]]>By: aslanoohttp://mynokiablog.com/2013/02/08/windows-blue-for-windows-phone-batteryperformancecore-app-updates-delivered-through-windows-store/comment-page-1/#comment-765045
Fri, 08 Feb 2013 11:41:10 +0000http://mynokiablog.com/?p=45957#comment-765045This is the source but it is in german so you may use GoogleTranslate or may be you even speak german
There should be english sites reporting that too around that date i guess.
]]>By: tonysinghhttp://mynokiablog.com/2013/02/08/windows-blue-for-windows-phone-batteryperformancecore-app-updates-delivered-through-windows-store/comment-page-1/#comment-765042
Fri, 08 Feb 2013 11:32:24 +0000http://mynokiablog.com/?p=45957#comment-765042What is the Full in win8 tht u mention of,
would love to read more about this policy change, if somebody would be so kind to post a link
]]>By: tonysinghhttp://mynokiablog.com/2013/02/08/windows-blue-for-windows-phone-batteryperformancecore-app-updates-delivered-through-windows-store/comment-page-1/#comment-765040
Fri, 08 Feb 2013 11:30:31 +0000http://mynokiablog.com/?p=45957#comment-765040Interesting piece of info!! Thank you, may I ask for the rest of the info I mean the source or microsoft article about it!
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(i) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fungal cells and fungi which synthesize hyaluronan, and to methods for preparing such fungi, and also to methods for preparing hyaluronan with the aid of these fungal cells or fungi. Furthermore the present invention relates to the use of fungi for preparing hyaluronan and hyaluronan-containing food or feed.
(ii) Description of the Related Art
Hyaluronan is a naturally occurring unbranched, linear mucopolysaccharide (glucosaminoglucan) which is constructed of alternating molecules of glucuronic acid and N-acetyl-glucosamine. The basic building block of hyaluronan consists of the disaccharide glucuronic acid-beta-1,3-N-acetyl-glucosamine. In hyaluronan, these repeating units are attached to one another by beta-1,4 linkages.
In pharmacy, use is frequently made of the term hyaluronic acid. Since hyaluronan is in most cases present as polyanion and not as free acid, hereinbelow, the term hyaluronan is preferably used, but each term is to be understood as embracing both molecular forms.
Hyaluronan has unusual physico-chemical properties, such as, for example, properties of polyelectrolytes, viscoelastic properties, a high capacity to bind water, properties of gel formation, which, in addition to further properties of hyaluronan, are described in a review article by Lapcik et al. (1998, Chemical Reviews 98(8), 2663-2684). The specific properties of hyaluronan are determined inter alia by the molecular weight and the molecular weight distribution of the hyaluronan in question.
Hyaluronan is a component of extracellular connective tissue and bodily fluids of vertebrates. In humans, hyaluronic acid is synthesized by the cell membrane of all body cells, especially mesenchymal cells, and ubiquitously present in the body with a particularly high concentration in the connective tissues, the extracellular matrix, the umbilical cord, the joint fluid, the cartilageous tissue, the skin and the vitreous body of the eye (Bernhard Gebauer, 1998, Inaugural-Dissertation, Virchow-Kinikum Medizinische Fakultät Charité der Humboldt Universität zu Berlin; Fraser et al., 1997, Journal of Internal Medicine 242, 27-33).
Recently, hyaluronan was also found in animal non-vertebrate organisms (molluscs) (Volpi and Maccari, 2003, Biochimie 85, 619-625).
Furthermore, some pathogenic gram-positive bacteria (Streptococcus group A and C) and gram-negative bacteria (Pasteurella) synthesize hyaluronan as exopolysaccharides which protect these bacteria against attack by the immune system of their host, since hyaluronan is a non-immunogenic substance.
Viruses which infect single-cell green algae of the genus Chlorella, some of which are present as endosymbionts in Paramecium species, bestow upon the single-cell green algae the ability to synthesize hyaluronan after infection by the virus (Graves et al., 1999, Virology 257, 15-23). Hitherto, this is the only example from the systematic realm of the plants where the synthesis of hyaluronan was demonstrated.
Organisms from the realm of the fungi (mycota) which synthesize hyaluronan have hitherto not been described. WO 03 060063 does describe the use of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for preparing a recombinantly expressed hyaluronan synthase, but not the preparation of hyaluronan with the aid of transgenic yeasts. The synthesis of hyaluronan with the aid of genetically altered Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells seems impossible even, as they obviously lack the enzyme UDP-glucose 6-dehydrogenase which is necessary for the preparation of a substrate of hyaluronan synthase (UDP-glucuronic acid) (DeAngelis and Achyuthan, 1996, J Biological Chemistry 271(39), 23657-23660).
The catalysis of the hyaluronan synthesis is effected by a single membrane-integrated or membrane-associated enzyme, hyaluronan synthase. The hyaluronan synthases which have hitherto been studied can be classified into two groups: hyaluronan synthases of Class I and hyaluronan synthases of Class II (DeAngelis, 1999, CMLS, Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 56, 670-682).
The hyaluronan synthases of vertebrates are further distinguished by the identified isoenzymes. The different isoenzymes are referred to in the order of their identification using Arabic numbers (for example, hsHAS1, hsHAS2, hsHAS3).
The mechanism of the transfer of synthetic hyaluronan molecules across the cytoplasmic membrane into the medium surrounding the cell has not yet been fully elucidated. Earlier hypotheses assumed that the transport across the cell membrane would be carried out by the hyaluronan synthase itself. However more recent results indicate that the transport of hyaluronan molecules via the cytoplasmic membrane takes place by way of an energy-dependent transport by means of relevant transport proteins. Thus Streptococcus strains in which synthesis of an active transport protein was inhibited were generated by mutagenesis. These strains synthesized less hyaluronan than corresponding wild-type bacterial strains (Ouskova et al., 2004, Glycobiology 14(10), 931-938). It was shown, with the aid of agents acting in a specific inhibiting manner on known transport proteins in human fibroblast cells, that it is possible to reduce both the amount of hyaluronan produced and the activity of hyaluronan synthases (Prehm and Schumacher, 2004, Biochemical Pharmacology 68, 1401-1410).
The unusual properties of hyaluronan offer a wealth of possibilities for application in various fields, such as, for example, pharmacy, the cosmetics industry, in the production of food and feed, in technical applications (for example as lubricants), etc. The most important applications where hyaluronan is currently being used are in the medicinal and cosmetics field (see, for example, Lapcik et al., 1998, Chemical Reviews 98(8), 2663-2684, Goa and Benfield, 1994, Drugs 47(3), 536-566).
In the medical field, hyaluronan-containing products are currently used for the intraarticular treatment of arthrosis and in ophthalmics used for eye surgery. Derivatized, so-called cross-linked hyaluronan is used for treating joint diseases (Fong Chong et al., 2005), Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 66, 341-351). Hyaluronan is also used for treating joint disorders in racehorses. In addition, hyaluronic acid is a component of some rhinologics which, for example in the form of eye drops and nasalia, serve to moisten dry mucous membranes. Hyaluronan-containing solutions for injection are used as analgesics and antirheumatics. Patches comprising hyaluronan or derivatized hyaluronan are employed in wound healing. As dermatics, hyaluronan-containing gel imfungi are used for correcting skin deformations in plastic surgery.
For pharmacological applications, preference is given to using hyaluronan having a high molecular weight.
In cosmetic medicine, hyaluronan preparations are among the most suitable skin filler materials. By injecting hyaluronan, for a limited period of time, it is possible to smooth wrinkles or to increase the volume of lips.
In cosmetic products, in particular in skin creams and lotions, hyaluronan is frequently used as moisturizer by virtue of its high water-binding capacity. Further possibilities of application in the medicinal and cosmetics field, such as, for example, the use of hyaluronan as carrier for active compounds which ensures a controlled release of the active compound over a long period of time, as carrier for active compounds which transports the active compounds in a targeted manner into the lymphatic system or as active compound which, after application as an ointment, ensures that the active compound remains in the skin for a relatively long period of time, are described in Lapcik et al. (1998, Chemical Reviews 98(8), 2663-2684). The use of hyaluronan derivatives in the medicinal field requires further research efforts; however, first results have already revealed a large potential (Lapcik et al. 1998, Chemical Reviews 98(8), 2663-2684).
Furthermore, hyaluronan-containing preparations are sold as so-called nutraceuticals (food supplements) which can also be used in animals (for example dogs, horses) for the prophylaxis and alleviation of arthrosis.
Hyaluronan used for commercial purposes is currently isolated from animal tissues (roostercombs) or prepared fermentatively using bacterial cultures. U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,973 describes a process for isolating hyaluronan from roostercombs or alternatively from umbilical cords. In addition to hyaluronan, animal tissues (for example roostercombs, umbilical cords) also contain further mucopolysaccharides related to hyaluronan, such as chondroitin sulphate, dermatan sulphate, keratan sulphate, heparan sulphate and heparin. Furthermore, animal organisms contain proteins (hyaladherins) which bind specifically to hyaluronan and which are required for the widest range of functions in the organism, such as, for example, the degradation of hyaluronan in the liver, the function of hyaluronan as lead structure for cell migration, the regulation of endocytosis, the anchoring of hyaluronan on the cell surface or the formation of hyaluronan networks (Turley, 1991, Adv Drug Delivery Rev 7, 257 ff.; Laurent and Fraser, 1992, FASEB J. 6, 183 ff.; Stamenkovic and Aruffo, 1993, Methods Enzymol. 245, 195 ff; Knudson and Knudson, 1993, FASEB 7, 1233 ff.).
The Streptococcus strains used for the bacterial production of hyaluronan are exclusively pathogenic bacteria. During cultivation, too, these bacteria produce (pyrogenic) exotoxins and haemolysins (streptolysin, (in particular alpha- and beta-haemolysin) (Kilian, M.: Streptococcus and Enterococcus. In: Medical Microbiology. Greenwood, D.; Slack, RCA; Peutherer, J. F. (Eds.). Chapter 16. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, UK: pp. 174-188, 2002, ISBN 0443070776) which are released into the culture medium. This renders purification and isolation of the hyaluronan prepared with the aid of Streptococcus strains more difficult. In particular for pharmaceutical applications, the presence of exotoxins and haemolysins in the preparations is a problem.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,539 describes the preparation of hyaluronan by fermentation of a mutagenized bacterial strain (Streptococcus zooedemicus). The mutagenized bacteria strain used no longer synthesizes beta-haemolysin. The yield achieved was 3.6 g of hyaluronan per litre of culture.
EP 0694616 describes a method for cultivating Streptococcus zooedemicus or Streptococcus equi, where, under the culture conditions employed, no streptolysin, but increased amounts of hyaluronan are synthesized. The yield achieved was 3.5 g of hyaluronan per litre of culture.
During cultivation, Streptococcus strains release the enzyme hyaluronidase into the culture medium, as a consequence of which, in this production system, too, the molecular weight is reduced during purification. The use of hyaluronidase-negative Streptococcus strains or of methods for the production of hyaluronan where the production of hyaluronidase during cultivation is inhibited are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,046. The yield achieved was up to 2.5 g of hyaluronan per litre of culture, and the maximum mean molecular weight achieved was 3.8×106 Da, at a molecular weight distribution of from 2.4×106 to 4.0×106.
US 20030175902 and WO 03 054163 describe the preparation of hyaluronan with the aid of heterologous expression of a hyaluronan synthase from Streptococcus equisimilis in Bacillus subtilis. To achieve the production of sufficient amounts of hyaluronan, in addition to heterologous expression of a hyaluronan synthase, simultaneous expression of a UDP-glucose dehydrogenase in the Bacillus cells is also required. US 20030175902 and WO 03 054163 do not state the absolute amount of hyaluronan obtained in the production with the aid of Bacillus subtilis. However, the amounts of hyaluronan achieved are not higher than the amounts which are obtained by means of fermentation of Streptococcus strains. (Fong Chong et al., 2005), Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 66, 341-351). In the production of hyaluronan with the aid of Bacillus subtilis a maximum mean molecular weight of about 4.2×106 Da is achieved. However, this mean molecular weight was only achieved for the recombinant Bacillus strain where a gene coding for the hyaluronan synthase gene from Streptococcus equisimilis and the gene coding for the UDP-glucose dehydrogenase from Bacillus subtilis were integrated into the Bacillus subtilis genome under the control of the amyQ promoter, where at the same time the Bacillus subtilis-endogenous cxpy gene (which codes for a P450 cytochrome oxidase) was inactivated. The molecular weight of the hyaluronan produced with the aid of Bacillus strains could also not be increased with respect to the hyaluronan produced by means of Streptococcus strains (Fong Chong et al., 2005), Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 66, 341-351).
The production of hyaluronan by fermentation of bacteria strains is associated with high costs, since the bacteria have to be fermented in sealed sterile containers under expensive controlled culture conditions (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,349). Furthermore, the amount of hyaluronan which can be produced by fermentation of bacteria strains is limited by the production facilities present in each case. Here, it also has to be taken into account that fermenters, as a consequence of physical laws, cannot be built for excessively large culture volumes. Particular mention may be made here homogeneous mixing of the substances fed in from the outside (for example essential nutrient sources for bacteria, reagents for regulating the pH, oxygen) with the culture medium required for efficient production, which, in large fermenters, can be ensured only with great technical expenditure, if at all.
The purification of hyaluronan from animal organisms is complicated owing to the presence, in animal tissues, of other mucopolysaccharides and proteins which specifically bind to hyaluronan. In patients, the use of hyaluronan-containing medicinal preparations contaminated by animal proteins can result in unwanted immunological reactions of the body (U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,973), in particular if the patient is allergic to animal proteins (for example chicken egg white). Furthermore, the amounts (yields) of hyaluronan which can be obtained from animal tissues in satisfactory quality and purity are low (roostercomb: 0.079% w/w, EP 0144019, U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,046), which necessitates the processing of large amounts of animal tissues. A further problem in the isolation of hyaluronan from animal tissues consists in the fact that the molecular weight of hyaluronan during purification is reduced since animal tissues also contain a hyaluronan-degrading enzyme (hyaluronidase).
In addition to the hyaluronidases and exotoxins already mentioned, Streptococcus strains also produce endotoxins which, when present in pharmacological products, pose risks for the health of the patient. In a scientific study, it was shown that even hyaluronan-containing medicinal products on the market contain detectable amounts of bacterial endotoxins (Dick et al., 2003, Eur J. Opthalmol. 13(2), 176-184). A further disadvantage of the hyaluronan produced with the aid of Streptococcus strains is the fact that the isolated hyaluronan has a lower molecular weight than hyaluronan isolated from roostercombs (Lapcik et al. 1998, Chemical Reviews 98(8), 2663-2684). US 20030134393 describes the use of a Streptococcus strain for producing hyaluronan which synthesizes a particularly pronounced hyaluronan capsule (supercapsulated). The hyaluronan isolated after fermentation had a molecular weight of 9.1×106 Da. However, the yield was only 350 mg per litre.
Although hyaluronan has unusual properties, it is, owing to its scarcity and the high price, rarely, if at all, used for industrial applications.
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The use of ultrasound for placement of many IVs in pediatric cases has significantly enhanced the success of Central Vein Catheterizations (CVCs), although ultrasound can often be hard for non- specialists to use. Although ultrasound guidance can certainly facilitate vascular access, it takes practice and experience to master the real-time ultrasound, free hand technique. The value of this SBIR project is to use technology to broaden the number of clinicians who can safely and quickly perform these important procedures, thereby also reducing hospital costs by freeing up Interventional Radiology or Anesthesia specialists. This application describes the technological research plan to address key technical product developments to adapt the FDA-cleared SCENERGY to the pediatric market for CVCs and to obtain clinical data to demonstrate that the addition of the needle-guidance technology increases the accuracy and speed of non-specialist in vessel cannulation. Public health implications of this proposal include reducing the number of attempts to cannulate children as well as the speed with which this is accomplished. This reduces the psychological stress of patients and their parents. More importantly, the number of needle insertions is correlated with complications, so a reduction in needle insertions/complications has both commercial and non-commercial importance. Finally, by broadening the number of clinicians able to successfully perform CVCs, this proposal ameliorates health disparities that arise from access to care limitations.
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Prediction of the apnea-hypopnea index from overnight pulse oximetry.
s: To compare the relative usefulness of the different indexes derived from pulse oximetry in the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and to determine if a combination of these indexes improves the prediction of the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) measured by polysomnography. Prediction model developed from 224 patients, validated prospectively in 101 patients from the same center (group 1) and in 191 patients from a different sleep center (group 2). Two independent sleep clinics run by university sleep specialists. Patients who underwent polysomnography for suspicion of OSA. The following indexes were calculated from pulse oximetry recordings performed simultaneously during polysomnography: (1) Delta index, the average of the absolute differences of oxygen saturation between successive 12-s intervals; (2) desaturation events per hour to 2%, 3%, and 4% levels; and (3) cumulative time spent below 90%, 88%, 86%, 84%, 82%, and 80% saturation. The best predictor was the Delta index, although desaturation events provided similar levels of diagnostic accuracy. An aggregation of multivariate models using combination of indexes reduced the prediction error (r(2) = 0.70) significantly (p < 0.05) compared to using the Delta index alone (r(2) = 0.60). The proportion of subjects from the validation groups within 95% confidence interval (CI) of the derivation group was 90% (95% CI, 83 to 95%) and 91% (95% CI, 86 to 95%) for groups 1 and 2, respectively. The overall likelihood ratios for the aggregated model in all patient groups were 4.2 (95% CI, 3.3 to 15.3), 3.4 (95% CI, 2.7 to 4.3), 3.0 (95% CI, 2.2 to 4.1), and 6.7 (95% CI, 4.9 to 9.2) for normal (AHI < 5/h), mild (AHI 5 to < 15/h), moderate (AHI 15 to < 30/h), and severe (AHI > or = 30/h) disease, respectively. The Delta index and oxygen desaturation indexes provided similar levels of diagnostic accuracy. The combination of indexes improved the precision of the predicted AHI and may offer a potentially simpler alternative to polysomnography.
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The effects of cadmium contamination on the discriminative stimulus properties of cocaine and related drugs.
Rats were exposed to a diet containing 100 ppm cadmium chloride or a control diet. At 52 days of exposure, rats were trained to discriminate between saline and 5 mg/kg cocaine injections. After acquisition training, successive substitution tests were conducted using cocaine, the indirect dopamine agonist d-amphetamine, the mixed D1-D2 agonist apomorphine, SKF 38393 and SKF 82958 (both preferential D1 agonists), quinpirole (a preferential D2 agonist), GBR 12909 (a dopamine reuptake inhibitor), procaine (a local anesthetic), and morphine (an opiate). The results showed that cadmium-exposed rats were slower to acquire the saline-cocaine discrimination than controls. Moreover, cadmium contamination reduced substitution when apomorphine, SKF 82958, and GBR 12909 were presented during generalization testing. Also, cadmium exposure blocked tolerance to cocaine that was evident in control rats following 14 days of exposure to 60 mg/kg/day cocaine.
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<?php
/**
* Smarty plugin
* @package Smarty
* @subpackage plugins
*/
/**
* Smarty count_sentences modifier plugin
*
* Type: modifier<br>
* Name: count_sentences
* Purpose: count the number of sentences in a text
* @link http://smarty.php.net/manual/en/language.modifier.count.paragraphs.php
* count_sentences (Smarty online manual)
* @author Monte Ohrt <monte at ohrt dot com>
* @param string
* @return integer
*/
function smarty_modifier_count_sentences($string)
{
// find periods with a word before but not after.
return preg_match_all('/[^\s]\.(?!\w)/', $string, $match);
}
/* vim: set expandtab: */
?>
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point image
10,20 http://boston.openguides.org/markers/ORANGE.png
15,25 http://boston.openguides.org/markers/ORANGE.png
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Interprofessional Graduate Students' Perspectives on Caring for Vulnerable Populations.
The purpose of this focus group study was to explore graduate students' clinical experiences with vulnerable populations, perceived barriers to care, and ethical issues related to caring for disenfranchised groups. Furthermore, based on their experiences, the students were asked to share suggestions for curricular changes that could enhance care for vulnerable populations through interdisciplinary collaboration and multidisciplinary projects. The responses of the participants add to what is known about the care of vulnerable populations, offering a first-hand description of students' preparation for work with vulnerable populations and the interdisciplinary team.
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Known vehicular seat belts comprise an anchorage fitting including a fastening hole for fastening the fitting to the vehicle body and an eye for fastening the belt webbing. For fastening the belt webbing it is inserted through the eye, wrapped around the latter and stitched into a loop. To make the loop and the seams sufficiently resistant to tensile stress, a considerable length of belt webbing is needed. Looping the belt webbing into the eye and subsequently stitching the belt webbing to the loop are cost-intensive operations.
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Today in History - October 25
October 25
Today's Stories:
Encountering Kiska Island
On October 25, [1741] we had very clear weather and sunshine, but even so it hailed at various times in the afternoon. We were surprised in the morning to discover a large tall island at 51° to the north of us.
Thus wrote the naturalist-physician, Georg Wilhelm Steller, about his first encounter with Kiska Island in the Aleutian Islands chain of present-day Alaska. Steller’s journal was kept according to the Old Style (Julian) calendar, which was replaced by the Gregorian calendar in 1752, so his October 25 is November 5 by twenty-first-century reckoning. His entries provide a detailed firsthand account of the final voyage of the navigator and explorer Captain-Commander Vitus Jonassen Bering.
Bering was born in 1681 in Horsens, Denmark, but served with the Russian fleet for thirty-eight years. Under Tsar Peter the Great, Bering led an expedition from 1725-30 to explore northeastern Siberia and purportedly to determine if Russia and North America were connected by a land bridge. Having learned that North America and Russia were not connected, Bering undertook a second exploration, lasting from 1733-43. The Great Northern Expedition sought to secure a Russian foothold on the North American continent. In June 1741, Bering set sail on the St. Peter, with fellow navigator Aleksei Chirikov commanding the St. Paul. The two soon were separated by a storm at sea. Chirikov searched futilely for Bering, but headed home after losing two scouting parties of his own men.
After a futile search for the St. Paul, Bering’s men made the first European discovery of the northwest coast of America on July 16, sighting coastal mountains on the northern Gulf of Alaska coast which he named the St. Elias Mountains. By mid-September, Bering had set a return course when, ill with scurvy, he became too weak to command his ships. He and his men took refuge on an uninhabited island. Survivors of Bering’s ship finally came ashore in November on land they believed Kamchatka; their journals reveal an extraordinary tale. Bering died in December, but the survivors took advantage of the abundant sea life and natural resources and returned to health by eating whale blubber, and the meat of sea otters and “sea cows,”—the latter having seaweed-nourished meat.
Fur-trading possibilities soon hastened the colonial settlement of Alaska and the Aleutians. The Russian-American Company, led by Grigorii Shelekov and encouraged by Tsarina Catherine the Great, established a Russian outpost on Kodiak Island in 1784. The Russian Orthodox Church founded its first Orthodox mission in North America in 1794.
Native Peoples
The Native peoples of the greater Aleutian Islands region are the Unangax̂ , also know as the Aleut. It is estimated that native peoples have lived in the Aleutian Islands region for at least 10,000 years, and in greater Alaska for at least 15,000 years. Kiska Island, which is part of the Rat Islands, is said to have been inhabited for at least 6,000 years. All of the Aleutian Islands, including Kiska, had been densely occupied by native peoples long before Europeans or Americans made contact. In fact, reports describe an attack on the shipwrecked crew of the Sv. Kapiton vessel in 1758.
Native customs remained strong in Alaska after U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward purchased this territory from Russia in 1867. However, in 1948, the Cold War halted centuries of native travel back and forth across the Bering Strait. Only after the Reagan-Gorbachev Moscow summit in 1988 did the “Friendship Flights” from Nome to Provideniya allow Alaska natives once again to share their mutual culture. At this time, other economic, scientific, and cultural exchanges also recommenced.
Learn More
Explore items from the Meeting of Frontiers project, a bilingual, multimedia English-Russian digital library that tells the story of the meeting of the Russian-American frontier in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. These materials are included in the World Digital Library, a project of the Library of Congress in cooperation with libraries, archives, museums, educational institutions, and international organizations from around the world.
Abigail Smith Adams
On October 25, 1764, Abigail Smith married a young lawyer from Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts, by the name of John Adams, who would become, some thirty years later, the second president of the United States. Their union launched a vital and long-lived partnership of fifty-four years, which carried the couple from colonial Boston to Philadelphia and the politics of revolution; to Paris and London and the world of international diplomacy; and finally to New York , Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., where in November, 1800 they became the first presidential couple to occupy the newly built White House in the nation’s new capital. Among their five children, John Quincy Adams would also become a U.S. president. For almost two centuries, Abigail Adams remained the only American who was both the wife and the mother of a president, a distinction she now shares with Barbara Bush.
Abigail Adams is perhaps best remembered for her letters, written especially to her husband JohnExternal during long periods of separation, but also to her larger network of family members and friends, such as Mercy Otis Warren and Thomas Jefferson. The daughter of a Congregational minister born in 1744 in Weymouth, Massachusetts, the young Abigail received a sophisticated though largely informal education, fueled by the presence of many books and frequent visitors in her home. John Adams was one such visitor, and their earliest letters document a witty and affectionate courtship spanning several years. In married life, Abigail Adams proved a talented chronicler of significant events, combining a broad knowledge of history and politics with perceptive commentary and a keen eye for detail. Her letters comprise an important account of key events in the United States’ early history as a nation.
Adams and her husband corresponded regularly during the course of his many absences from home, first as a circuit judge in Massachusetts and then, most famously, while he attended the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. It was in one of these letters that Abigail Adams’ spirited admonition to “remember the Ladies” appears:
I long to hear that you have declared an independency—and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If p[a]rticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebel[l]ion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.
The Adams’s frequent separations continued into the 1780s, as John Adams accepted several commissions from the U.S. government to Europe, both during the revolution and after it formally ended. Throughout this time, Abigail Adams managed the family farm and finances, and raised the couple’s children largely on her own. The Adams sons, as they grew older, traveled with their father to Europe. In 1784 Abigail joined her husband in Paris, bringing along their oldest daughter, Abigail 2d (Nabby). From there the family moved to London where John Adams served in the challenging role of the United States’ first minister to the recently defeated Great Britain. On their return to Boston in 1788, the Adams moved into a new, larger home in Quincy, but only a few months later in March 1789, John Adams was selected the first vice president, serving with President George Washington for the next eight years.
During her husband’s vice presidency, Abigail Adams drew on her experience abroad to assist First Lady Martha Washington in official entertaining; together they created the new role of primary hostess for the country. Adams also advised her husband in politics, and kept charge of the family’s Massachusetts property, traveling home from the temporary capital at Philadelphia during periods of poor health. In Washington, D.C., she continued her entertaining in the unfinished and drafty White House in a barely habitable city. When, in 1800, John Adams lost his bid for re-election in what proved the nation’s first contentious presidential election, she happily retired from public life to spend more time with her husband.
Starting with the 1841 collection prepared by her grandson Charles Francis Adams, a great number of books containing the correspondence of Abigail Adams have been published. To locate additional titles go to the Library of Congress Online Catalog and search on Abigal Adams letters.
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5 Mouth-Watering Street Foods In India
India is famous for its culture, tradition, and lifestyle all around the world. One of the most extraordinary things about India is its Street Foods. Indian food is loved by all and especially the street foods. Every state and city have it peculiar cuisine, specialty, and taste.
Street Foods in India
Here we have a list of some of the famous street foods in India. So don’t miss them whenever you visit these places.
1. Delhi – Famous for Chat
Photo Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf6nMKEMqYQ
Delhi, the capital of India, is famous for delicious and spicy chat including Punjabi food. Chole Bhature is the famous Punjabi snack that is easily available along the roadside in Delhi. Besides Chole-Bhature you will get aloo parathas, Gobi parathas and all sorts of parathas, Rajma Chawal, Pani Puri, Aloo chat on the streets of Delhi.
2. Mumbai – Vada Pav the Indian Burger
Mumbai is famous for Vada Pav that you will get everywhere from streets to railway stations. Some other famous street foods in Mumbai are Pav Bhaji, Missal Pav, Masala Pav, Kanda Poha, Samosa, Bombay Sandwich and Pani Puri.
3. Patna’s Litti Chokha
Litti Chokha is the peculiar dish of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. It looks as dal batti of Rajasthan but tastes different. You will find this dish everywhere in Bihar. Litti is made of Sattu which is a kind of floor and Chokha is made of vegetables.
4. Ahmedabad – Delicious Dabeli
The most popular street food of Ahmadabad is Dabeli which originated in Kutch. It is found in other cities also but its special in Gujarat. Other specialty found there are Dhokla, Fafda Jalebi, and Khandvi.
5. Chennai – Famous Idli Sambar
Photo Credit: http://www.mapsofindia.com/my-india/food/idli-sambhar
This South Indian city Chennai is famous for its South Indian dishes such as Idli Sambar, Vada Sambar, and Dosa, various types of Chutneys, upma, and appum. These delicious foods you will find everywhere on the streets of Chennai.
Conclusion
These were only a few cities in India but there are many more famous street foods like Poha Jalebi in Indore, Aloo Tikki in Lucknow, kachori in Rajasthan, egg rolls in Kolkata, Kebabs and Biryani in Hyderabad, Momos in Jammu, and much more. Every Indian city has something or the other specialties so don’t forget to taste them but also keep the hygiene in mind when eating the street food.
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[Efferent loop obstruction by a phytobezoar after gastrectomy].
The authors present one case of intestinal obstruction due to phytobezoar of the efferent loop, in a previously undergone gastric surgery patient. They report, in the light of bezoar's peculiar location, that is usually it found in the stomach or small bowel.
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NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.
United States Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit
______________________
MACK A. BETTS,
Plaintiff-Appellant
v.
UNITED STATES,
Defendant-Appellee
______________________
2016-1733
______________________
Appeal from the United States Court of Federal
Claims in No. 1:16-cv-00050-CFL, Judge Charles F.
Lettow.
______________________
Decided: July 8, 2016
______________________
MACK A. BETTS, Detroit, MI, pro se.
DEVIN ANDREW WOLAK, Commercial Litigation
Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of
Justice, Washington, DC, for defendant-appellee. Also
represented by BENJAMIN C. MIZER, ROBERT E.
KIRSCHMAN, JR., ALLISON KIDD-MILLER.
______________________
2 BETTS v. US
Before PROST, Chief Judge, BRYSON and WALLACH, Circuit
Judges.
PER CURIAM.
Mack Betts appeals the dismissal of his complaint for
lack of subject matter jurisdiction by the U.S. Court of
Federal Claims. For the reasons discussed below, we
affirm.
BACKGROUND
On December 28, 2015, Mr. Betts filed a complaint
with the Court of Federal Claims seeking review of his
“Request for Benefits for Nine Dependents.” Appellee’s
App. 3. Mr. Betts’s request was based on a workplace
injury and a subsequent denial of benefits in an action
Mr. Betts brought against his employer at the Michigan
Compensation Appellate Commission.
The Court of Federal Claims dismissed Mr. Betts’s re-
quest for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because the
United States was not a party to the dispute. The Court
of Federal Claims also declined to transfer the case to
another federal court because no federal court would have
jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine.
Mr. Betts subsequently filed this appeal and seeks an
order for payment to compensate for the time he lost from
work while injured.
DISCUSSION
We review the legal question of subject matter juris-
diction de novo, without deference to the Court of Federal
Claims. Smith v. United States, 709 F.3d 1114, 1115
(Fed. Cir. 2013). We review decisions not to transfer a
case under 28 U.S.C. § 1631 for an abuse of discretion.
Rick’s Mushroom Serv., Inc. v. United States, 521 F.3d
1338, 1342 (Fed. Cir. 2008).
BETTS v. US 3
I
Unlike other federal courts, the jurisdiction of the
Court of Federal Claims is limited by statute to “money
judgments in suits brought for relief against the United
States.” United States v. Sherwood, 312 U.S. 584 (1941).
That is, there is no jurisdiction over claims against pri-
vate parties.
Here, Mr. Betts’s complaint is not against the United
States; it is against his employer. Consequently, the
Court of Federal Claims does not have jurisdiction over
Mr. Betts’s case. The Court of Federal Claims did not err
in this determination.
II
When a case has been filed in a federal court that does
not have jurisdiction, that court may, in its discretion,
transfer that case to any federal court where jurisdiction
would be proper “if it is in the interest of justice.” See 28
U.S.C. § 1631. For a transfer to be in the “interests of
justice,” there must be jurisdiction in another federal
court. See id; Hoffman v. Blaski, 363 U.S. 335, 343
(1960).
In this case, the Court of Federal Claims determined
that there would be no jurisdiction over Mr. Betts’s claims
in any federal court under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine.
Named for two Supreme Court cases, the doctrine holds
that federal courts are without subject matter jurisdiction
when four conditions are met: (1) the case is brought by
an unsuccessful party in a state court action; (2) the
plaintiff complains of injuries caused by the state court
judgment; (3) the state court case terminated before
litigation started in federal court; and (4) the unsuccessful
party requests that the federal court review and reject the
state court judgment. Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Saudi Basic
Indus. Corp., 544 U.S. 280, 283 (2005).
4 BETTS v. US
We agree with the Court of Federal Claims that all
four conditions are met. First, Mr. Betts initially brought
suit against his employer in Michigan state court. Sec-
ond, Mr. Betts seeks compensation based on the state
court’s denial of benefits. Third, the state court made its
decision before Mr. Betts filed his complaint at the Court
of Federal Claims. Finally, Mr. Betts requests that the
Court of Federal Claims review and reject that decision.
Because the conditions for the Rooker-Feldman doc-
trine are met, no federal court would have subject matter
jurisdiction over Mr. Betts’s complaint. Therefore, the
Court of Federal Claims did not abuse its discretion in
declining to transfer Mr. Betts’s case under 28 U.S.C.
§ 1631.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the dismissal of
Mr. Betts’s case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
AFFIRMED
COSTS
Each party shall bear their own costs.
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Welcome
The Earth Warriors Festival (EWF) is an Earth centered multi-path Pagan Festival. Honoring the many paths of warriors and guardians. Wiccan, Druidic, Asatru, Santeria, Shamanism, Ceremonial, Toltec, etc. Coming together to celebrate our similarities and learn from our differences. If you walk the Warrior's Path, are interested in Earth Keeping, drumming, fire, expanding your awareness and skills and are 21 years of age or older, THIS IS THE FESTIVAL FOR YOU!
Recent News
Note from Heather:*Those interested in Presenting/Performing at Next fall's Event EWF: Legacy 2018 should email a bio, head shot and workshop descriptions to: [email protected] are a One People by Spirit and HeartMany Blessings,Heather Killen 2/17/18
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Fast and Furious 6 Nissan GT-R Revealed
Nissan GT-R has been always been, in one way or another, a part of the Fast and Furious franchise. It’s mostly done guest appearances, but on the evidence of what we’re seeing here, it is going to be playing a main role in the sixth installment. The car is made jointly by R’s Tuning and SP Engineering.
First thing you notice on this blue monster is the massive body kit consisting of modified bumpers, new vented hood, crazy fenders, side sills, carbon doors, carbon roof, and carbon spoilers. They come from various brands such as Seibon, AMS and AeroCatch.
R’s tuning has also tuned the GT-R’s cooling system, so when SP is done increasing the power with modified electronics and what not, the car would cope. They have also beefed up the brakes using Weapons Grade Performance’s carbon ceramic discs and Endless lining.
The best of part of this car, however, is the Switzer P800 twin-turbo kit installed on the engine, complemented with HKS downpipe and a resonated Y-pipe. Modifications are quite deep, but that’s what it takes to become a movie star.
(Founder / Chief Editor / Journalist) – Arman is the original founder of Motorward.com, which he kept until August 2009. Currently Arman is our chief editor and is held responsible for a large part of the news we publish.
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Wednesday, 3 July 2013
Felt hearts
A while back I opened an account with Pinterest - be warned though, it can take over your life! Somehow or other I saw some felt Christmas decorations and then after putting 'felt' into the search box - WOW! I was gobsmacked at the gorgeous things I was seeing. Some of my favourites I've added to my 'Felt and Fabric Inspiration' board here. When I was a little girl I was given a needle book made from felt and over the years it has sadly started to fall apart, so I will try to make a new one soon. In the mean time I saw lots of pretty heart decorations and with my growing collection of dies thought it would be an excuse to start a new craft without too much expense .. .. after all, if I have the dies all I need is a scrap of felt, right? And those boxes of beads and buttons that are gathering dust really need to be used up .. .. ..
I made a couple of star and tree decorations last Christmas, my first attempt, and made the red heart too, but finished it off today with the decoration on the reverse.
My attempts at blanket stitching around the edges looked awful so I've just used a stab stitch with embroidery threads, made loops from ribbon, and a tiny button to tidy up the back of the pink heart.
It doesn't show up in the pictures, but the white felt on the reverse and the front of my red heart is actually glittered felt so catches the light.
The hearts are cut with Marianne Design die CR1225 and to decorate the red heart I've added a little fancy heart button and red ribbon bow. I found that a good thick 'tacky' pva glue will hold things in place, so it helps to add a little before you start stitching the layers together, and to stick on the embellishments.
And this is the heart I've made today. Cut with the same Marianne Design heart dies, then to embellish the front I've cut the flower and mistletoe leaves from LR0189 and added the little pearl beads. I did have difficulty with the stems of the mistletoe as they tended to break - I think I need to get firmer felt, mine is quite thin.
Well what do you think? I forgot to say they are both padded with wadding so are nice and squishy. Any 'solid' die would work, I think, but any with too much detail might disintegrate. I am going to try cutting and layering up some flowers next, ready for my new needle book.
I'm still not able to get at my stamping and Copics so you might see a few other craft items from me in the coming days/weeks. In the mean time I am sure I can loose several more hours browsing Pinterest for more felt inspiration!
2 comments:
These are gorgeous Annie. I've got lots of bits of felt........somewhere. I'm always going to make something with them but it hasn't happened so far. I get fed up with my rubbish broadband connection sometimes and end up crocheting. I've been making a jacket for Oliver and I hope I get it finished before I run out of wool!!
Followers
Copyright Info
I am happy to share my designs here in the hope that they inspire you to develop your own ideas. However, direct copying without my permission of any design shown on this blog is an infringement of copyright.
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/*
* Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
* contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
* this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
* The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache license, Version 2.0
* (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
* the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
*
* http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
*
* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
* distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
* WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
* See the license for the specific language governing permissions and
* limitations under the license.
*/
package org.apache.logging.log4j.mongodb4;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.Core;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.nosql.NoSqlProvider;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.plugins.PluginBuilderAttribute;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.plugins.PluginBuilderFactory;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.filter.AbstractFilterable;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.plugins.Plugin;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.plugins.validation.constraints.Required;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.status.StatusLogger;
import org.bson.codecs.configuration.CodecRegistries;
import org.bson.codecs.configuration.CodecRegistry;
import com.mongodb.ConnectionString;
import com.mongodb.MongoClientSettings;
import com.mongodb.client.MongoClient;
import com.mongodb.client.MongoClients;
import com.mongodb.client.MongoDatabase;
/**
* The MongoDB implementation of {@link NoSqlProvider} using the MongoDB driver
* version 4 API.
*/
@Plugin(name = "MongoDb4", category = Core.CATEGORY_NAME, printObject = true)
public final class MongoDb4Provider implements NoSqlProvider<MongoDb4Connection> {
public static class Builder<B extends Builder<B>> extends AbstractFilterable.Builder<B>
implements org.apache.logging.log4j.core.util.Builder<MongoDb4Provider> {
@PluginBuilderAttribute(value = "connection")
@Required(message = "No connection string provided")
private String connection;
@PluginBuilderAttribute
private int collectionSize = DEFAULT_COLLECTION_SIZE;
@PluginBuilderAttribute("capped")
private boolean capped = false;
@Override
public MongoDb4Provider build() {
return new MongoDb4Provider(connection, capped, collectionSize);
}
public B setCapped(final boolean isCapped) {
this.capped = isCapped;
return asBuilder();
}
public B setCollectionSize(final int collectionSize) {
this.collectionSize = collectionSize;
return asBuilder();
}
}
private static final Logger LOGGER = StatusLogger.getLogger();
// @formatter:off
private static final CodecRegistry CODEC_REGISTRIES = CodecRegistries.fromRegistries(
MongoClientSettings.getDefaultCodecRegistry(),
CodecRegistries.fromCodecs(MongoDb4LevelCodec.INSTANCE));
// @formatter:on
// TODO Where does this number come from?
private static final int DEFAULT_COLLECTION_SIZE = 536_870_912;
@PluginBuilderFactory
public static <B extends Builder<B>> B newBuilder() {
return new Builder<B>().asBuilder();
}
private final Integer collectionSize;
private final boolean isCapped;
private final MongoClient mongoClient;
private final MongoDatabase mongoDatabase;
private final ConnectionString connectionString;
private MongoDb4Provider(final String connectionStringSource, final boolean isCapped,
final Integer collectionSize) {
LOGGER.debug("Creating ConnectionString {}...", connectionStringSource);
this.connectionString = new ConnectionString(connectionStringSource);
LOGGER.debug("Created ConnectionString {}", connectionString);
LOGGER.debug("Creating MongoClientSettings...");
// @formatter:off
final MongoClientSettings settings = MongoClientSettings.builder()
.applyConnectionString(this.connectionString)
.codecRegistry(CODEC_REGISTRIES)
.build();
// @formatter:on
LOGGER.debug("Created MongoClientSettings {}", settings);
LOGGER.debug("Creating MongoClient {}...", settings);
this.mongoClient = MongoClients.create(settings);
LOGGER.debug("Created MongoClient {}", mongoClient);
String databaseName = this.connectionString.getDatabase();
LOGGER.debug("Getting MongoDatabase {}...", databaseName);
this.mongoDatabase = this.mongoClient.getDatabase(databaseName);
LOGGER.debug("Got MongoDatabase {}", mongoDatabase);
this.isCapped = isCapped;
this.collectionSize = collectionSize;
}
@Override
public MongoDb4Connection getConnection() {
return new MongoDb4Connection(connectionString, mongoClient, mongoDatabase, isCapped, collectionSize);
}
@Override
public String toString() {
return String.format(
"%s [connectionString=%s, collectionSize=%s, isCapped=%s, mongoClient=%s, mongoDatabase=%s]",
MongoDb4Provider.class.getSimpleName(), connectionString, collectionSize, isCapped, mongoClient,
mongoDatabase);
}
}
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Earth Island Reports
Fired Up Media
Three Issues to Watch During the Durban Climate Summit
The International Climate Negotiations roadshow is rolling into Durban, South Africa this December and the big question – at least for the diminished audience still watching – is what we can expect out of the latest episode of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The performance that took place in Copenhagen two years ago was a disaster. Last year’s installment, which occurred in Cancun, Mexico, was a pleasant surprise, but only because expectations had been set so low. The red-hot intensity that used to greet the performances has cooled to a lukewarm. If the negotiations were just entertainment, that would be bad enough. But this is the future of the planet at stake.
The issues on the table in Durban are huge. First, the very future of the Kyoto Protocol and which countries will be participating in any binding agreement after next year. Second, the key financial issue of how rich and poor countries will pay for responding to climate change. Third, the question of what targets to set for binding emissions reductions.
The very complexity of the climate negotiations is a reason that many people have tuned out these summits. Best, then, to keep it simple. Here’s a quick cheat sheet so you can follow along at home – and help explain the issues to your friends and family.
Participation.
The pre-negotiation meetings that took place in Bonn, Germany and Panama were characterized by bickering and showmanship. Many climate policy experts are predicting a stalemate at the South Africa summit, and that would be a disaster. A breakthrough in Durban is urgent since the Kyoto Protocol’s targets are set to expire. The only binding international agreement on greenhouse gases (so far), it went into effect in 2005, eight years after it was adopted by the vast majority of the globe’s nations. The treaty’s first set of emissions reduction targets expires in 2012.
Unfortunately, the world’s largest countries are reluctant to play with each other. The United States and some other industrialized nations say they will adopt emissions limits only if rising powers like China, India, and Brazil (which were excluded from the original 1997 goals) also commit to matching reductions. For their part, China, India, and Brazil continue to maintain that the richer nations have larger obligations to make reductions because they have spewed the bulk of the planet’s carbon pollution since the start of the fossil fuel age. It’s a geopolitical game of chicken.
Once again we could see an agreement left on the drafting table, covered in brackets and lacking signatures.
Financing.
Participation isn’t the only problem. As the worst economic downtown since the Great Depression slogs on (and outraged young people occupy city centers from Cairo to Madrid to New York) climate negotiators are charged with figuring out how to pay for any global agreement, including funding reduced carbon emissions, transferring technology between countries, and adapting to the inevitable changes we are already locked into.
A so-called Green Climate Fund is supposed to provide up to $100 billion a year, through 2020, to help meet those costs. But double- or even triple-counting is starting to impinge upon the mostly hypothetical funding mechanism. There’s another wrinkle. “The proposed Green Climate Fund is good news, but it is designed to distribute the funds – not raise them,” says Richard Gledhill of the consulting firm PwC. While there are plenty of ideas for sources of funding – including carbon credits, taxes on bunker and aviation fuels, and even a “Robin Hood” or Tobin Tax on financial transactions – political will is sparse.
How sparse? A group of German students were the first contributors to the adaptation fund, donating €131.09 in 2009 after throwing a fundraiser at their school. After that stunt, some embarrassed governments began making contributions to the adaptation fund. But many nations remain shameless. The fund has collected around $160 million a year, a far cry from the billions needed to prepare countries for even the lowest levels of climate impacts.
Among climate campaigners, there’s a hope that holding the negotiations in Africa will help draw attention to the need for transferring money from rich countries to poorer ones. “Having the negotiations on the continent of Africa – one of the continents deeply impacted by climate change – should help remind government representatives of the real reason for gathering in Durban, South Africa,” says Ilana Solomon of ActionAid. “That is to say, it’s not about politics and it’s not about maintaining the status quo. It is about real people whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by a global crisis they did little to create.”
Targets.
If – somehow – a critical mass of countries comes together and agrees to binding agreements, the question becomes: What amount of greenhouse gases should we be cutting?
A growing number of scientists are following NASA’s James Hansen in saying that the most ambitious international targets – 450 parts per million of atmospheric CO2 – would create more warming than anticipated. Hansen and others say we should be shooting for 350 ppm. The opening of the Northwest Passage may only be a precursor to accelerating warming. Penn State climatologist Richard Alley says ice sheets are melting “100 years ahead of schedule.” The takeaway: Even a strong agreement might not be good enough to halt runaway climate change.
Despite these three daunting challenges, campaigners, at least in public, are staying upbeat. Steve Herz of the Sierra Club says: “An essential outcome of the Durban meetings is agreement on the rules that will govern the Green Climate Fund that was established in Cancun. There is no good reason why such an agreement shouldn’t be reached, and failure to do so would be a major setback.”
In short, the upcoming show in Durban will have all the dramatic elements of the last couple of derailed negotiations, but with the looming expiration of the Kyoto Protocol and dire science and weird weather bringing more urgency than ever before. Hopefully – if the wave of democracy cresting around the world washes up against the bureaucratic and sedentary international climate negotiations – we might find some more hope in the warmer parts of the world, where fears of the impacts of climate change keep rising.
And if not? Well then get ready to pack your bags for Rio de Janeiro, where the roadshow is scheduled to meet in June 2012, 20 years after the whole process was started.
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