Rising interest rates have, predictably, imperiled various corners of the bond market and scores of bond ETFs.
Soaring Treasury yields have prompted billions in outflows from ETFs that hold U.S. government debt, particularly longer duration fare.
Substantial outflows have been seen from U.S. high-yield bond funds and investment-grade corporate bond ETFs have offered little shelter from the storm. Emerging markets bond ETFs been trounced on tapering chatter and diminishing risk appetite in the fixed income space.
While all signs point to current environment being a tricky one to navigate for bond investors, some compelling opportunities remain among bond ETFs for those with an appetite for risk and a thirst for yield.
"While BBB and BB bonds are only one level apart in terms of credit rating, they have very different yield characteristics. For the 12 months ended July 2013, spreads above the five-year treasury yield ranged from 160 to 216 basis points (bps) for BBB rated bonds and ranged from 256 to 421 bps for BB rated bonds," according to S&P Global Fixed Income Research.
In a new research note, S&P Capital IQ points out that investors are demand higher yields to be involved with bonds that are rated at the higher end of the junk spectrum.
Related: Nifty New Bond ETF Has Low Duration, High Yield.
"The most common way for a bond to drop from investment grade to speculative, also known as becoming a falling angel, is to be downgraded one notch from BBB- to BB+. Through August 8 of this year, there were 17 U.S. companies that fell to speculative grade in Standard & Poor's Ratings, 13 of them have fallen one notch. Meanwhile, in the other four instances, the credit ratings fell multiple notches," said S&P Capital IQ in the note.
Investors can access fallen angel bonds with the Market Vectors Fallen Angel High Yield Bond ETF (NYSE:ANGL). Nearly two-thirds of ANGL's holdings are rated BB and over 48 percent of the fund has maturities ranging from one to five years.
Fallen angel bonds offer some benefits to investors that are often overlooked. First, these bonds have better credit profiles than traditional junk bonds because fallen angels once had investment-grade ratings. As such, fallen angels have lower default and offer the potential for robust capital appreciation because they earn promotions back to investment-grade status more often than bonds that were born as junk. ANGL has a 30-day SEC yield of 5.14 percent.
Another option for investors looking to explore bonds with "B" ratings is the iShares Baa - Ba Rated Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE:QLTB). Over 64 percent of QLTB's 372 holdings are rated BBB+, BBB or BBB-, so this is not a pure junk bond ETF. That is reflected in the 12-month trailing yield of 3.61 percent, 286 basis points below that of the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE:HYG), the largest junk bond ETF.
QLTB, which was rated Marketweight by S&P Capital IQ, has an effective duration of 6.19 years and annual fees of 0.3 percent. Top-10 holdings include issues from Ford (NYSE:F), Citigroup (NYSE:C) and American International Group (NYSE:AIG).
The SPDR BofA Merrill Lynch Crossover Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE:XOVR) also goes overlooked for the simple reason that some investors do not know exactly what a crossover bond is.
"Crossover" corporate debt generally means corporate debt rated at levels where the lower end of investment grade debt and the higher end of high yield debt meet. Qualifying securities must be rated BBB1 through BB3, inclusive (based on an average of Moody's, S&P and Fitch). Qualifying securities must have at least one year remaining term to maturity, a fixed coupon schedule and a minimum amount outstanding of $250 million," according to State Street.
XOVR, also rated Marketweight by S&P Capital IQ, has lost 5.7 percent since May 22 when Federal Reserve tapering chatter started in earnest. The fund's modified adjusted duration is almost 5.6 years, which is well below that of the largest investment-grade corporate bond ETF. XOVR's current yield is 5.3 percent with an average yield to worst of 4.36 percent. Yield to worst is a measure of the lowest possible yield an investor can garner without the issuer defaulting.


Coming from the world of the theatre, I enjoy staging a session in detail, from the script to set, including casting, styling and of course enacting your fantasy, or Mine.
Suspense, illumination, interrogation, rapture… I upset your expectations and open the door to a carefully lit stage as you become the puppet of my play and you relinquish control.
More elaborate scenari often involve other players, my Partners in crime all highly regarded and talented Mistresses, submissives and switches, but also creative performers whom I carefully choose.
Be aware that I love Public Play, it fulfils a powerful fantasy based on exhibition and performance.
Lastly, you might be one of the few persons whom I deem a potential participant in the ultimate experience of Role Play which could last for 24 hours or more, here in England or abroad.


text:
Domestic Scenes in Russia: In a Series of Letters Describing a Year's ...
Av Richard Lister Venables
dered enormous, in most cases, in England: here, however, assessed taxes are unheard of. In the house about a hundred people are maintained ; and upwards of thirty horses, chiefly for harness, are kept in condition in the stables.
The Russians appear to be extremely devoted to card-playing, which they carry on on Sunday as much as any other day. I am not speaking here of gambling, which, however, I fear, is lamentably prevalent, but of the practice in ordinary society, where whist is the usual game. They sit down before dinner, which is usually at three or four o'clock, and when it is announced, they leave their cards on the table, and resume their game the moment they return from the dining-room, continuing to play from that time till the party disperses ; so that excepting for those who are no card-players, there really is no conversation. I observe every where a custom which is exceedingly slovenly, namely, that of marking the state of the game by scoring it in chalk upon the table-cloth, instead of using counters. Pieces of chalk, and brushes for erasing the figures, are always put on the table with the cards.
I will conclude my letter by a few remarks on the subject of Russian rank and title, which do not go together as in England. The Russians have but two titles of honour,—that of knaize, prince or duke, and graf, count. There are also barons, but they are not originally of Russian extraction, but German, usually
from Courland and Livonia. All these titles multiply themselves ad infinitum,* being enjoyed equally by every descendant of the possessor, in the male line, without any distinction in favour of the eldest branch: they are, therefore, of little value, except as procuring, perhaps, a slight degree of consideration in society, especially in the eyes of foreigners. All rank, privilege, or precedence in Russia is either military, or is measured by a military grade. A prince who is an ensign must give way to the son of a shopkeeper who is a lieutenant, and the daughter of an untitled general will walk before a princess whose father is only colonel.f Though, however, titles are of no account, nobility confers great privileges : none but a noble can possess serfs, without which landed property in this country is of little value. The nobles are free from the conscription, which presses heavily on all other classes. They are in no case liable to the knout and other corporeal punishments; and they can always claim to enter
* As an instance of this, I may observe that of the name of Galit. zin only, there are, at present, no less than three hundred princes : how many princesses there may be I do not know, but they, of course, are very numerous.
+ There is, however, a title of Prince which is conferred rarely, and only for long or disti ed services, and which is therefore highly valuable. The Prince Volchonsky, Field-marshal Count Paskewitch, Prince of Warsaw ; and the Prince of Italy, Count Souvaroff, are noblemen holding this rank. Princes of this class have the style of highness, and the title, I believe, descends only to the eldest son and his heirs male ; at all events, it does not pass to all the descendants, like other Russian titles.
the service, at the least, as under-officers, and to receive a commission, or to attain an equivalent rank as civilians, at the farthest, in three years, excepting in cases of misconduct. I should add, that being noble in Russia corresponds to the being a gentleman in England; although the Russian assumes the coronet and full-faced helmet with closed visor, instead of the simple crest and side-faced helmet of the untitled English gentleman. He does not, however, use supporters to his arms, unless they have been specially granted to his family. Nobility is earned by service or acquired by inheritance: every one who serves the Emperor, either in a civil or military capacity with the rank of officer, is noble, and
may, therefore, wear a coronet on his seal or carriage, even if he is by birth bourgeois or peasant: unless, however, he was noble by birth, his nobility does not descend to his children, until he has reached, at least, the grade of major; after this, his family is placed in the position of hereditary noblesse.
A census is taken at certain intervals, and if, during a period amounting to two or three generations, any family from father to son have failed to enter the service of the crown, they lose their nobility, are erased from the list, and reduced to the class of ordinary peasants. Excepting the clergy, who are a class apart, the members of all branches of the liberal professions are, as I have already told you,
considered as " in the service;" and each individual is classed with entire reference to military rank. One civilian has the grade of ensign, another of lieutenant, and so on, up to full general. From the rank of major-general upwards, all persons, with their wives and daughters, so long as the latter remain unmarried, have the style of Excellency. Their sons, of course, enjoy no rank but what they have themselves attained in the service. A general's daughter ranks with a colonel's wife: but a lady, on marrying, loses whatever title or precedence she may have held by right of birth, or by an office at court, such as that of maid of honour, and can only assume that of her husband. Less fortunate than our honourable and right honourable young ladies, who retain their rank or title after marriage, the Russian general's daughter is no longer Her Excellency, when she has become the captain's wife, and Mademoiselle la Princesse must descend to plain Madame, if she weds an untitled husband.
LETTER VII.
Exhibition of fire-engines-Fire establishments in the hands of Go.
vernment-Account of the system-Village regulations--Frequent occurrence of rural fires–Visit to a monastery-Ex-archbishopA Te Deum-Convent treasures-Origin of the use of images in the Greek church — Visit to Riepinsk — Going to bed—Mayor of Riepinsk-Towing barge--Project of establishing steam on the Volga" A name's day-Performance of mass by the archbishop-Mode of communicating the death of the Emperor Alexander to his mother
- Treasures of the monastery at Yaroslav- Remarks on Russian churches Conclusion of visit at Yaroslav - Post-horse system Feldt yägers.
Yaroslav, October 4th, 1837. We were much interested, a few days ago, by a little impromptu exhibition, which displayed the efficiency of the fire-establishment, and the alertness of the men: before, however, commencing any description of what we saw, I must give you a short account of the Russian system.
The fire establishments here are not, as in England, in the hands of insurance companies, but under the immediate control of government. The firemen are soldiers, and the horses, engines, &c., are the property of the crown; the whole, however, appears to be well organized, and the general regulations laid

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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In the United States, College entrance exams are required by many colleges in order for a person to enter their institute. Some of the entrance exams that are required are the SAT, the ACT, and the TOEFL.
The exams test English and some test math and other subjects. Any person planning on taking any of these exams must know the area of studies each exam is going to test in order for them to prepare because each exam is different. For example there is the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test), which has two kinds; there is the SAT I and there is the SAT II. The SAT I is required by most colleges. It tests the persons knowledge in English, algebra, and geometry.
The ACT (American College Testing) is another exam, which is somewhat different from the SAT I. The ACT subjects include English, math, and science.
Another exam is the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language); nonnative English-speaking persons can take this exam. The TOEFL tests the person's ability in the English language only.
The SAT II is different subject exams - mathematics, English, science, foreign languages, and history. This means that you can take an exam in subjects like chemistry, biology, and others. Some colleges require the applicants to take the SAT II in certain subjects.
The Michigan Test is another test that is also for persons whose first language is not English. Montgomery College requires this test. The Michigan test includes a listening portion, a reading portion, and vocabulary. Students also have to write an essay. The Michigan Test is for students from other countries who have been in the U.S. for five years or less.
The Accuplacer is another Montgomery College test. It is an English and math test. It is for students who are fluent English speakers.
These test are taken mostly by seniors and juniors in high school planning on entering college after high school. But some students take the tests for practice starting in 9th grade.
Are you confused about all these tests? Teachers may suggest what test you should take because some students may do better on certain tests than the others. For example some teachers recommend their students take the ACT if the student is strong in science.
It is important to prepare for the exams before taking them. "With ACT your class notes are one of your stronger points, things you're doing in class now, because it is so closely related to it," said Sharon Williams, the College/Career Center Coordinator. Preparation is important because according to some high school students these tests are not easy. "They're hard because they have words that we don't understand or we don't know the definitions of," explains senior Ismael Ventura, who on June 7 took the SAT I for the first time. Now he's preparing to take it again for the second time.
To help people who are going to take a test, there are many types of courses that can be taken to prepare for these exams. Schools like Montgomery Blair High School offer a semester SAT I prep-course which is free. There are also private institutes that offer a preparation course, but unlike the Blair High School course the students must pay for them.
There are also other ways to prepare for these exams. One of the methods that can be used to prepare for these tests is to take a practice test. To take an ACT practice test can go to www.act.org. To get SAT practice materials a person could go to www.collegeboard.com or go to ask a counselor. At Blair High School there's an SAT practice test CD-ROM available for the students. There are also booklets with practice tests available at the Blair Career Center.
Senior Thanh Chau is a senior who still hasn't taken the SAT I yet. Chau plans on taking the SATs in November and is hoping that it will help her get into the University of Maryland. Like Ventura, Chau also thinks that the SATs are difficult, especially the English part of the test. But she has been studying in order to do well on it. "I'm somewhat prepared," explained Chau. "I've been studying mostly for the English. I think the English is most difficult."
A person who will take any of these tests must sign up for them and must pay for most of them. The SAT exams are administered seven times a year, in October, November, December, January, March, May, and in June. One way to register for the SATs is to register online at www.collegeboard.com or by picking a form from the Career Center and mailing it. It's important to register early because that way a person will have a better chance at taking the test in the place of their choice. The cost for the SATs is $28.
The ACT is it's given six times a year, in September, October, December, February, April, and June. You also have to register for the ACT. Register online at www.act.com. The cost for the ACT is $26.
The TOEFL is given throughout the year. It's better to register early because the test centers fill quickly. The cost for the TOEFL is $130.
If a person is unable to pay for these exams there are ways that they can get the price reduced. Blair students can visit Blair's Career Center. The coordinator there will help them. "They have actually a waiver program, Ms. Williams said. "The income guideline for their waiver is extremely low, but what we will to do is request a waiver from our portion here for $65. Then request a waiver for the other half through the ETS organization that handles it.
A person taking any of these exams should plan to take them more than once. Many schools look at the highest score a student gets on the tests.


Last edited by Kowy; May 28th, 2010 at 13:48.
Last edited by danmark_ori; May 26th, 2010 at 21:57.
This show is going to be EPIC!!
Regarding your last post on Extrema...trance brings out the young person in me!!
I love lange intro, it's so cool.
Nice to see you online by the way!! I'm ready for an awesome hour of Trance!!


text:
1915 Baseball Season
More 1915 Baseball Season Highlights
A surprising no-hitter and the first of what would be many Babe Ruth home runs to come added excitement to the 1915 baseball season. See additional highlights below:
Babe Ruth hits his first major league homer on May 5, 1915, off Jack Warhop of the Yankees.
Cleveland is first known as the "Indians."
Cleveland trades Joe Jackson to Chicago for Braggo Roth and cash.
Rube Marquard of the Giants no-hits Brooklyn on April 15.
Jimmy Lavender of Chicago no-hits the Giants on August 31.
The A's fall to last place with a 43-109 record, down an all-time record 56 games from their 99-53 mark in 1914.
Prior to the 1915 baseball season, the White Sox buy Eddie Collins from the A's for $50,000.
The Cards lead the National League with 590 runs, the fewest ever by a loop leader.
Braves Field opens on August 18 replacing South End Grounds, in existence as an Major League park since 1876.
In a switch from 1914, the Red Sox play their 1915 World Series home games in new Braves Field.
George Sisler debuts for the Browns -- as a pitcher -- and beats Johnson 2-1.
The Tigers have the top three men in RBI in the American League.
The Tigers, the last team to wear collars on their uniforms, finally abandon them.
The Chalmers Award is discontinued prior to the 1915 season, ending MVP selections until the 1920s.
The Federal League folds on December 22.
Brooklyn's Benny Kauff is again the Federal League bat champ (.342) and also leads in SA (.509) and steals (55).
Giant Larry Doyle tops the National League with a .320 BA, the lowest prior to 1988 to lead the senior loop.
On April 24, Ruth is pinch-hit for for the last time, as Hack Cady bats for him.
In his big league debut, Bruno Haas of the A's walks an American League record 16 Yankees and loses 15-7.
The Giants finish last, despite a 69-83 record.
To learn more about baseball, see:
How Baseball Works
How the Baseball Hall of Fame Works
How Minor League Baseball Teams Work


text:
MIKETZ: Pharaoh's Dreams, Joseph and His Brothers in Egypt, Deception and Character Tests, and Beethoven's Birthday
Posted on December 17, 2020 Posted By: David Tilman Categories: Hazzan David F. Tilman
We have arrived at the Torah portion of Miketz/The End (of two years' time), and the drama of our Torah based personalities is intense and complex! The portion opens with the famous story of Pharaoh's dreams. Pharaoh has two dreams that neither he nor his advisors can fully understand and interpret. In the first, seven thin, emaciated and ugly cows standing next to the Nile River step forward and eat seven fat and contented cows. Next, seven dehydrated ears of grain consume seven healthy ears of grain. Thanks to the intervention of Pharaoh's chief cup bearer, the young Joseph, imprisoned due to the false testimony of Potiphar's wife, is brought before Pharaoh to decipher his two dreams. In prison, Joseph earned a reputation as a skilled interpreter of dreams, and the cup bearer is aware of this young man's wisdom. Joseph is brought to Pharaoh, and he reveals the obvious: Egypt will live through seven years of plenty followed by seven more years of famine, drought, and misery. Pharaoh listens carefully, and then appoints Joseph as his viceroy to guide the country through the coming 14 years, first of manifold bounty and then deprivation.
Meanwhile, Jacob/Israel and his family are enduring the same famine in Canaan. Jacob sends his ten sons to Egypt to purchase food for the family, but he keeps Benjamin, his youngest child and the only surviving son of his beloved wife, Rachel, with him.
Joseph's brothers come to Egypt, and they address their brother, second in importance only to Pharaoh, with their food needs. Fourteen years have passed since they threw him in anger and jealousy into a pit to be devoured by wild beasts. Now he is viceroy of Egypt! Although Joseph recognizes his brothers immediately, they do not realize that this Egyptian ruler and nobleman is their brother whom they had abandoned years before.
Initially he accuses them of being spies! He demands that they return to Canaan to bring back Benjamin, his younger brother and son to his mother, and he keeps Simeon as a hostage. When the brothers return with Benjamin, Joseph begins a series of character tests for his brothers, placing money in their sacks, and secretly putting his own goblet in Benjamin's sack.
Each time that the brothers have an audience with Joseph, he inquires, "How is your aged father of whom you spoke? Is he still in good health?" They replied, "It is well with your servant our father; he is still in good health. (43:27-28)" After three such queries, the brothers still have no idea that they are talking with their long-lost brother, Joseph. We could surmise that Joseph was both eager for news of his father, Jacob/Israel, and was giving his brothers hints about his real identity!
After the third interaction, the brothers are at their wits' ends. They did not steal Joseph's goblet, yet it was found in Benjamin's bag. "Judah replied, 'What can we say to my lord? How can we plead, how can prove our innocence? (44:16)'" All the while, Joseph is dealing with his own residual anger at his brothers' treatment of him many years earlier.
These convoluted series of faked robberies and character tests will have their resolution in next week's portion.
The events in Miketz are depicted in the very first musical play written by Tim Rice and the youthful soon to be superstar composer Anthony Lloyd Webber. Originally written for a London school in 1968, the show has been several times expanded to a full-blown Broadway show and feature length movie and has been presented on Broadway and all over the world. The songs are written in a variety of contemporary styles, including early rock and roll, calypso, Latin, and other pop based musical forms. Here is one of my favorite moments.
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is portrayed as Elvis, king of Rock and Roll. He sings about his enigmatic dream in a distinctly 1950's king of Rock and Roll style in the song, "Song of the King." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlU98dOFrJc
Finally, I would be remiss not to mention the 250th birthday of Ludwig von Beethoven, on Wednesday, December 16. So many serious composers and performers consider Beethoven to be the greatest composer who ever lived in the history of Western music. In 1989, immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Leonard Bernstein conducted a historic performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony from a site in front of the Berlin Wall. He told the chorus to substitute "Freiheit/Freedom" for "Freude/Joy" in the last and most famous movement. This sentiment is worthy of the Hasmonean family, Mattathias, his five sons, including Judah, as they fought the Greeks in order to establish Jewish religious freedom.
Ellen and our family wish all our KI friends a joyous conclusion to Hanukkah and Shabbat Shalom.


text:
FutureTimeline.forum
Fictional Future
Welcome to FutureTimeline.forum
Obsolete tropes in future fiction
Started by zEVerzan , Jul 28 2012 04:37 PM
tropes obsolete future fiction
zEVerzan
Orange Animating Android
LocationSome Underground Sweatshop Probably
So, as we all know, science and technology march on.
But what will happen to certain plot tropes in fiction when technology is able to solve more and more of our problems? Will entire genres die?
For example, I recently rewatched an episode of Seinfeld (early-mid 90's, as if you all need to know) where a couple of the characters got separated in New York City, and the whole plot episode was about them trying to find each other. Shenanigans, hijinks and tom foolery ensued, but it occurred to me that modern technology of 20 years later would make getting lost in a big city very difficult. Give each character a cell phone and the whole plot would be resolved in a minute.
The same goes for just about every old movie about a road trip or adventure- Planes, Trains & Automobiles for instance, where Steve Martin spent days trying to get back home in time for Thanksgiving. If Steve Martin's character had a cell phone he could have gotten a ride in a couple hours, he and John Candy wouldn't have had such a bonding adventure, and he wouldn't have grown as a person at all.
Thanks to modern technology, we have seen the death of adventure-based plotlines. Some adventure flicks are still made today, but those aren't fun or interesting unless the characters' phones get lost or broken. 10 years from now, we'll undoubtedly point and laugh at today's sitcoms and how old they are, but why?
Point is, how will technology affect storytelling in the future? What tropes will die, and what tropes will be born? What will happen to fiction?
Edited by EVanimations, 28 July 2012 - 04:39 PM.
I always imagined the future as a time of more reason, empathy, and peace, not less. It's time for a change.
Attention is currency in the "free marketplace of ideas".
I do other stuff besides gripe about the future! Twitter Youtube DeviantArt +-PATREON-+
We could just make films and set them in the 80's I suppose or any point in the 3000 years before that, if the future really became too boring and safe. If full immersion virtual reality comes true people won't have such an attachment to the present anyway, since they won't live such a huge proportion of their life in it as such. Also, people like things that remind them of their youth, if we all live forever and the number of new births decreases we might well love anything that reminds us of a simpler world we remember from our early years.
Not really what I had in mind, but I guess making everything a period piece would be a convenient way to cheat these implications without any real creativity.
Dramatism
I think you're right that certain parts of fiction will die. But fiction will always live on. As I'm sure you're getting more at stories in the time period it would take place in, and not loopholes of showing a different sort of time. Because just like now, there will be fantasy stories that take place in the past and historical fiction. Maybe fiction will have to take a weirder approach from what was done in the past. Maybe most people in the future live in VR. Maybe something causes someone to want to get out of it permanently. Perhaps they find an underground civilization of people living in the old culture. If the AI and other robots seem like a fine part of society, maybe there would be a story about them actually working on an intricate plan to take over, or maybe something else entirely. Perhaps adventure stories could live on in VR? And what about paranormal stories? I think there will always be something science can't prove but seems real that could make a great story. So what I'm getting at is, fiction will always live on.
I strive to be an apple amongst oranges.
Alric
That reminds me of the movie Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. Most of the movie is about them going to a fast food place to get some burgers. They have the technology, skill and knowledge to the point that the entire trip should be uneventful and done easily and quickly yet some how they get totally side tracked. I mean seriously, how hard is it to go to a Mcdonalds or something? Lets take your example though with the cell phones. They could lose the cell phone. It could run out of power because they forgot to charge it. They could drop it and it could break. Someone could steal it. The google map might not match up with the street. While following the directions they might head down Thompson drive south instead of Thompson drive north. Maybe there is construction so the path doesn't work. Maybe a friend calls and needs some help and the person gets side tracked helping them. Maybe a person is injuries on the street so they help them. Maybe someone else loses their phone and they let them borrow it and they break it, or steal it. Maybe a dog steals it. Maybe one of them trips and hurts them self. Maybe they meet up with each other but there is a wall in the way because a street doesn't go all the way through, so they need to find a way around the wall. Maybe they decide to meet and end up passing each other on the trip. Maybe they decide to meet and one gets on the subway and then the other calls and changes the plan, but the person is already on the train and can't stop so is stuck traveling further away. Maybe one of them gets easily distracted and keeps wandering off to window shop. Maybe one is easily distracted and keeps wandering off to follow hot girls around to hit on them. Maybe their glasses fall off and they can't see. Maybe they drop their wallet and so start looking for it and don't pay attention to their calls. Maybe they turned the phone off for some reason and forget to turn it back on so keep missing the call. Maybe they call each other at the exact same time so both get a busy signal and decide to try again later. I could go on all day long. There is literally and infinite number of possibilities. In fact, I bet you could name any situation possible with any technology you want available and I can come up with at least three possible ways to ruin the plans.
Edited by Alric, 22 August 2012 - 09:47 AM.
kjaggard
Locationwhere fanciful imaginings and hard won knowledge meet to genesis the future.
It's a common fear that as tech solves all our problems the main impetus to have questing of any kind deminish in favor of desire and relisation of desire a moment later. It's not happened yet in all human history. The problems don't get less and less, they just change source. The computer didn't give us the paperless office it at first promised. One dollar ramen and canns of baked beans make food cheap and easy for almost everybody, but there are still people starving in the world. you can cross country in less than a day or take a week about it depending on which route you take, but it's still not something that's so casual that we all do it on a daily basis. On top of that we have a new set of problems. Because tech cause problems as it solves them. Sure getting lost is a key trope throughout history, it's key because it' a consequence of leaving your comfort zone and venturing into the unknown. It changes the unknown into the known, to a degree, though it in fact does little about the comfort zone. I think in a sense you may see the shift of stories about being lost turn into stories of being told by our tech where we need to go to resolve the quest, but the places we have to be difficult tests of character. The conservative mother/ officer manager finds her rental car stolen while in another city, and it has something greatly important to her in the trunk, but she can track where her car is. Can she cut through the hippies in the park to get to the nearest subway entrance that will let her get out on the same street as where her car is parked? What if going through the park she is forced to deal with 'those liberals' and while frustrated ends up surprised by some of the encounters with 'them' turning out to be decent people with valid concerns if different desires that are not opposition but not complimentary either. She might discover that black and white thinking is the short cut of the lazy mind. That is right before the police raid the camp, and she gets caught and detained. She's released twenty hours later without charges, but her car is moved now. and she has know way of knowing if the maguffin is still unfound and what will happen when it is. so off again. Tech has become the guide and the sage, offering advice and knowledge but the places we get lost are not always physical. Culture and community also cause us to get lost and leave our comfort zone. Some stories will adapt to that and it will usually be those who are unfarmiliar with not having google maps in hand when in a new place. Mapless lost will linger pretty much only in the minds and memories of those who've experienced it. But we will all still feel lost at some points.
Edited by kjaggard, 24 August 2012 - 07:35 PM.
Live content within small means. Seek elegance rather than luxury, Grace over fashion and wealth over riches.
Listen to clouds and mountains, children and sages. Act bravely, think boldly.
Await occasions, never make haste. Find wonder and awe, by experiencing the everyday.
jimmyhelu
Although Warren W. Wagar in his fictional future history consider's him the last nail in Western metaphysics. Rorty interestingly enough reads Sf and uses SF tropes.
Italian Ufo
that would be nice to see how fiction will be in 100 years from now.
Increasingly in the future we'll see stories which take a path that makes the most sense to you, while also being exciting enough to keep you fascinated.
If something I say sounds like trolling/being stupid/offensive, please forgive me. I'm bad with people.
razer1994
We can still have adventure stories, the scale just needs to be larger.
Yuli Ban
Born Again Singularitarian
LocationNew Orleans, LA
Oh man, not even a decade later and I can already see exactly this happening as we speak.
I think this might be a big, metacultural reason for the absolute explosion of nostalgia fiction. Why are so many people obsessed with the 1980s and 1990s? Well the truth is just that the aesthetic looks cool and pleasing (even in the early 2000s as a little kid, I thought pink/purple and cyan looked nice), but I think this is actually setting us up for more period pieces of a time that resembles the present enough but lacks certain technologies that make for easy solutions to plots.
As for VR revitalizing adventure narratives, I think there might be something there. Just from the success of Ready Player One and the direction of new Jumanji movies.
Paranormal stories actually could get some revitalization as well. Child's Play is an example, yes, but I think there may be more to be done with things like Alexa ghosts (which are actually a thing), smarthouses detecting anomalies, smarthouses going haywire, and whatnot.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future.
funkervogt
The zombie genre will die out once we have armies of robots that can't get infected with viruses and that will be able to easily kill hordes of zombies.
If we evolved into posthumans with augmented senses, abilities and bodies, many monster movies and slasher movies wouldn't make sense anymore. For example, how does the monster sneak up on a character in the woods at night if the character has night vision and eyes in the back of his head?
The "character-is-dying-of-a-terminal-illness" trope will also disappear once we have discovered medical immortality.
Miky617
On the contrary, I think this could revitalize the horror industry. Once people have augmented their senses and abilities, it'll be all the more unnerving for people to consider situations where these new senses fail them. How much scarier would it be to face a creature that thwarts not only your human abilities but also your superhuman abilities? Or even worse, if these new senses begin to conflict with each other. Imagine talking to your neighbor one day as if everything was just as normal, only to switch on your infrared vision and see that they're cold as a corpse or that they have no pulse, or turn up your extrasensory hearing to find ominous whispers radiating out of their head. I think the smarter and more advanced we become, the more tantalizing psychological horror will be and the potential to mess with what we think of as normal will only expand as our idea of "normal" does as well.
Erowind likes this
Then the movies would need to be contrived to the point of being unbelievable.
Depending on the type of horror they're going for, that might not be the case. If we're talking about paranormal/supernatural horror then that genre already lends itself to being unbelievable. Do we really need to lay out how exactly a ghost or paranormal entity does what it does in order to make a scary movie? I would argue that the more you know about it, the less scary it is. A good horror movie in the future need not necessarily be believable, as long as it evokes fear of some type or otherwise some kind of visceral, disturbed reaction. It's true that it'll be a lot harder to set up other kinds of horror such as slasher stories, but that still leaves a lot of room for other kinds to fill in the gaps. Of course, horror is subjective like a lot of things, so a lot of people might find that less believable horror stories aren't as scary as the ones that make you feel like they could actually happen to you, but I'll leave it up to the writers and directors of the future to find that balance. For all we know, coming up with good stories will probably be in the domain of AI at that point, and they might be much better at scaring us than we are.
On another note, if we're talking about a more believable type of horror, then maybe someday we'll be so comfortable with our augmentations that the thought of losing them alone will be horrifying. If our BCIs allow us to communicate telepathically with each other to the point that we're always in each other's heads sharing experiences, then maybe the silence that comes from getting cut off from that would be deafening and terrifying (getting locked in a box that prevents signals getting in or out might do that, or whatever else might cause that kind of blackout). For many of us, even losing our phones is enough to send us into a panic, so how much worse would it be to lose something that's become an integral part of ourselves? Maybe the threat of reverting back to our basic, unaugmented selves will be a new kind of fear that we'll develop.
This may just be the 30-year Nostalgia Cycle happening. That's people growing up and start creating mass media at the same time as wanting to recapture that childhood wonder.
It's why the 80's saw a lot of media set in the 50's, and the 50's the 20's, and the 20's blah blah you get it.
I'm a bit worried that SO much of the culture we're mass-producing is nostalgic. Does that mean 2040's kids are going to be rebooting 2010's reboots of 1980's media?
Arab Muslim
LocationBarbary Lands
I agree, but the 2000s like the 1970s should be shunned from nostalgia history forever.
2010s does have an aesthetic though, despite nostalgia films being made. Reboots have been happening for decades in the film industry. A lot of pop culture films last century are remakes. Scarface was a remake, The Thing was a remake, A Fistful of Dollars was a remake. What matters is how its transformed, and while Disney thinks this is wokeness, Disney remakes barely have a hand in what defines the 2010s. We had shit like Inception, Interstellar, Blade Runner 2049, Mad Max, Get Out, Arrival, Ex Machina, etc. Some remakes, some originals, some sequels, all show a cultural transformation that goes balls deep into existential, and cultural questions.
Clothing styles could be better. I hope they don't go to instagram to see how people dressed nowadays. For me, it's moving away from jeans to maximizing comfort. It is the era of sweatpants and leggings. There's also K-Pop fashion that's doing the rounds.
Outlook's secret song of the ~week: https://youtu.be/YjUhBVkJoMk
Dino Synth is my new favourite genre
Erowind
Anarchist without an adjective
The U.S government thought the same about nukes in the novel version of World War Z (the better version, movie was terrible.) The battle of Yonkers was all the worse when the zeds were ravenous and irradiated. I can see the movie trope of hope being torn away from a group of survivors when they narrowly manage to charge a security bot only for it to be overwhelmed by a hoard of 10,000+ zombies later in the film. The bot would successfully save them in the moment adding to the dread when it dies later. Perhaps for the sake of the story it takes place in a relatively peaceful country like Iceland and there were only a few hundred bots to begin with so the zombies won initially.
In the long term clarketech will make the genre less tenable though. Zombies aren't much of a worry when one can manipulate the laws of physics.
Outlook likes this
My prediction: the overall aesthetic/genre that define(d) the 2010s is 'the expensive gritty reboot/adaptation blockbuster'. 2040s nostalgic media, then, will take the aesthetic and present it as something that reminds us of when we were young.
I imagine a totally original movie - original plot, characters, everything, nothing anyone's seen before - but it has the aesthetic of a gritty reboot blockbuster. It treats everything and everyone as if we're supposed to know them, makes quirky inside jokes and references to things that never existed.
Reason for this? Gen Z kids are growing up today with expensive gritty reboots and adaptations of things they never grew up with - but whether or not they grew up with these properties makes no difference to them. When they get old enough to make movies might as well express that artistically huh, and get all meta with it at that
Jakob and Outlook like this
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text:
Montana Medicaid: Repeal or expansion? Both carry costs
(UM Community News Service) Mykal and Julie Funk underestimated the cost of housing when they moved to Missoula three years ago and spent six months living in their car.
Julie, 38, was born with spina bifida. She is paralyzed and uses a wheelchair. Her partner of 17 years is 38-year-old Mykal, who has Asperger's syndrome and suffers from back pain and other ailments.
Medicaid, the state-federal partnership that helps some of Montana's poor with health care costs, has always covered Julie. But Mykal wasn't able to get coverage for himself until the 2105 Legislature expanded Medicaid.
Before qualifying, Mykal used the emergency room for treatment of his gastroesophageal reflux disease. The condition could be treated at a less expensive clinic, but not without insurance. Mykal said he knew it was an inappropriate use of the ER.
"I had to count on the hospital to swallow the bill," Mykal said.
Through expansion, Mykal has been received treatment for his back pain and gets preventative care. He is enrolled in an online service, Career Step, and will complete training for work in medical billing or coding in February.
"It's exciting and it's scary," Mykal said.
It's scary because the increased income may cost the couple benefits and services. Mykal wants to work, but he's not guaranteed a living wage. The eligibility requirements are disincentives for Mykal to make more money because he'll lose subsidized health care services, but won't be able to cover them himself.
Health care or work?
This was a common worry for a group of 13 people who gathered recently at Missoula's Partnership Health Center for a meeting of the center's Patient Council. Director Laurie Francis led the meeting at the center, where 43 percent of its 16,000 patients live at or below the federal poverty level.
"We treat the ramifications of poverty all day long," Francis said.
Since Medicaid expansion, the center's number of uninsured patients has dropped from over 50 percent to 20 percent, she added.
That not surprising. Statewide enrollment in Montana's Medicaid expansion program has surpassed what lawmakers predicted when the bill was enacted in 2015. Expanding it beyond 2019 would mean higher costs to the state, though the federal government provides most of the money.
In the run-up to the 2019 legislative session, legislators are already talking about possible changes to Medicaid, with solutions ranging from repealing expansion to restricting enrollment and other ways to cut costs.
For Senate Minority Leader Jon Sesso, D-Butte, passing expansion was a giant step forward for Montana. He said the rising health care costs need addressing, but providing access to through government programs is the right thing to do.
"It's who we are, taking care of each other," Sesso said.
Since 2015, the federal government has paid for 100 percent of Montana's Medicaid expansion. If the Legislature extends it, the feds would pay for 90 percent, leaving state lawmakers to determine where the additional 10 percent will come from.
This November Initiative 185 pitched that question to voters, who rejected it by over 27,000 votes. The measure would have paid for expansion by increasing taxes on tobacco products.
Bullock's plan and opposition
In his budget proposal, Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock is requesting new taxes on things like hotel rooms, rental cars and liquor to pay for Medicaid expansion. Legislative fiscal analysts estimate it would cost the state $59 million to continue Medicaid expansion over the next two budget years.
But Senate President Scott Sales, R-Bozeman, said Bullock's tax increases are a non-starter for him. He said he's not inclined to vote for expansion because Montanans cannot afford the program in the long run.
"I think (Bullock's proposal) is a little tone-deaf, especially after the defeat of I-185," Sales said.
That's the same stance Sales took in 2015, as did many Republicans who voted against expansion. Sales said costs remain a big concern. Another, he added, is a lack of work requirements for those who are able.
Heading in the legislative debate, the politics on Medicaid expansion aren't entirely polarized. Medicaid expansion passed in 2015 when a faction of Republicans joined Democrats, and that's a possible scenario for the 2019 session too.
Ed Buttrey, a Great Falls Republican, carried the bill four years ago when he was in the Senate. Now in the House, Rep. Buttrey plans to carry it again. He said he's confident expansion can pass – with some tweaks.
Buttrey plans to release a draft of the Medicaid Reform and Integrity Act in January. It will likely include requirements that some recipients work or perform some kind of community service. Buttrey said there will be exceptions but added that everyone should have "some skin in the game."
"It has to be a Montana-flavored solution," Buttrey said.
Democratic leaders like Sesso are supportive, though he was reluctant to predict how the state would pay for it.
Meanwhile, Mykal and Julie Funk anxiously await the outcome. Julie will be able to stay on Medicaid no matter what, but Mykal's health care future is uncertain.
"If Medicaid (expansion) fails, I won't get coverage," he said.
This story was written for the University of Montana's Community News Service, which features coverage from students at UM's School of Journalism. Editors with questions about this story may contact reporter Shaylee Ragar (shaylee.ragar@umontana.edu) or supervisor Dennis Swibold (dennis.swibold@umontana.edu).


text:
\section{Effective Hamiltonian method}
\subsection{3D case}
We adopt the form of effective Hamiltonian in Ref.~[\onlinecite{Zhong1994}].
The effective Hamiltonian consists of three parts, as
\begin{equation}
E_{\text{3D-param}}^{(\text{3D})}\left(\{\mathbf{u}_i\},\eta,p\right)=E_1(\left\{\bm{u}_i\right\})+E_2(\left\{\eta_l\right\},p_{\text{ext}})+E_3(\left\{\bm{u}_i\right\},\left\{\eta_l\right\}),
\end{equation}
where $E_1(\left\{\bm{u}_i\right\})$ is the energy term of FE modes $\left\{\bm{u}_i,~ i=1,2,\cdots,N\right\}$, $E_2(\left\{\eta_l\right\},p_{\text{ext}})$ is the energy term of lattice strain $\left\{\eta_l,~l=1,2,\cdots,6\right\}$ and external pressure $p_{\text{ext}}$, and $E_3(\left\{\bm{u}_i\right\},\left\{\eta_l\right\})$ is their coupling.

The energy term of FE modes $E_1(\left\{\bm{u}_i\right\})$, contains the local and non-local terms of the FE modes, as
\begin{equation}
E_1(\left\{\bm{u}_i\right\})=E_{\text{self}}(\left\{\bm{u}_i\right\})+E^{(\text{3D})}_{\text{dipole}}(\left\{\bm{u}_i\right\})+E_{\text{short}}(\left\{\bm{u}_i\right\}),
\end{equation}
where $E_{\text{self}}$ is the isolated on-site energy of the FE modes, $E^{(\text{3D})}_{\text{dipole}}$ and $E_{\text{short}}$ describe their non-local interactions of long-range (here is the dipole-dipole interactions) and short-range (electron hybridization and repulsion between 1st-3rd nearest neighbors), respectively.

When atoms of one cell are separately displaced from their position of the perfect cubic structure, \textit{i.e.} atoms in the other cells keep unchanged, it yields the on-site energy of the FE modes.
We take the Taylor series to describe this energy variation, with cutoff up to fourth order as
\begin{equation}
\label{eself}
E_{\text{self}}=\sum_i\left(\kappa_2 u_i^2+\alpha_4 u_i^4+\sum_{(\alpha,\beta)}\gamma_4 u_{i\alpha}^2u_{i\beta}^2\right),
\end{equation}
where $\kappa_2$, $\alpha_4$, and $\gamma_4$ are the coefficients for corresponding orders.
The odd terms have been ignored according to cubic symmetry.
Since FE modes are soft modes, the fourth order terms are considered to contain at least anharmonic contributions.

For non-local parts, the most prominent term is the dipole-dipole interaction $E^{(\text{3D})}_{\text{dipole}}$.
When considering the macroscopic FE properties, it's a good approximation to view the polarization (distributed continuously in the space) as a series of departed point dipoles located at the center of each cell.
However, short-range repulsion and electron hybridization, \textit{i.e.} $E_{\text{short}}$, must be also included to complement the non-local interactions.
Analogous with the treatment of Coulomb terms and exchange-correlation terms in DFT, we shall exactly characterize the  dipole-dipole interaction in $E_{\text{dipole}}^{(\text{3D})}$ and include all the other inter-site terms in $E_{\text{short}}$.
We implement the $E_{\text{dipole}}$ calculations with Ewald summation (EW3D)\cite{Allen1989}.
Due to the $r^{-2}$ form, the direct summation over all interacting dipoles cannot converge with finite cutoff in real space.
Ewald summation divides this into three converged terms, as
\begin{equation}
\label{edipole}
E^{(\text{3D})}_{\text{dipole}}=E_{\text{r}}+E_{\text{k}}+E_{\text{corr}}.
\end{equation}
The real space term $E_{\text{r}}$ can quickly converge in real space, as
\begin{equation}
\label{dipole-r}
E_{\text{r}}=\frac{1}{2}\sum_{i,j=1}^{N}{\sum_{\left|\mathbf{n}\right|=0}^{\infty}}^\prime\left((\bm{\mu}_i\cdot\bm{\mu}_j)B(\mathbf{r}_{ij}+\mathbf{n})-(\bm{\mu}_i\cdot\mathbf{r}_{ij})(\bm{\mu}_j\cdot\mathbf{r}_{ij})C(\mathbf{r}_{ij}+\mathbf{n})\right),
\end{equation}
with
\begin{equation}
B(r)=\frac{\text{erfc}(\kappa r)}{r^3}+\frac{2\kappa}{\sqrt{\pi}}\frac{e^{-\kappa^2r^2}}{r^2},
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
C(r)=\frac{3\text{erfc}(\kappa r)}{r^5}+\frac{2\kappa}{\sqrt{\pi}}\frac{(2\kappa^2r^2+3)}{r^2}\frac{e^{-\kappa^2r^2}}{r^2},
\end{equation}
where $\kappa$ is the Ewald parameter, and $\bm{\mu}_i$ is the dipole at site $i$, and $\mathbf{n}$ represents the lattice vector $\left\{n_1\bm{a}+n_2\bm{b}+n_3\bm{c}|\mathbf{n}=(n_1,n_2,n_3)\right\}$. $E_{\text{r}}$ sums over all pair $\left<i,j\right>$ and all integer vector $\mathbf{n}$, with the prime meaning excluding $i=j$ for $\left|\mathbf{n}\right|=0$. And the k-space term can quickly converge in kspace
\begin{equation}
\label{dipole-k}
E_{\text{k}}=\frac{1}{2}\sum_{i,j=1}^{N}\sum_{\mathbf{k}\neq0}\frac{4\pi}{k^2L^3}(\bm{\mu}_i\cdot\mathbf{k})(\bm{\mu}_j\cdot\mathbf{k})e^{-\frac{k^2}{4\kappa^2}}\cos(\mathbf{k}\cdot\mathbf{r}_{ij}),
\end{equation}
where  $\bm{k}$ labels the reciprocal lattice vector. And the correction term is
\begin{equation}
\label{dipole-corr}
E_{\text{corr}}=-\sum_i^N\frac{2\kappa^3}{3\sqrt{\pi}}\bm{\mu}_i^2+\frac{1}{2}\sum_{i,j=1}^N\frac{4\pi}{3L^3}\bm{\mu}_i\cdot\bm{\mu}_j.
\end{equation}
Note that $E^{(\text{3D})}_{\text{dipole}}$ is written in forms of $\bm{\mu}_i$ which might require DFT calculations.
Actually, we can equivalently derive the polarization via FE mode magnitude $\bm{u}_i$.
Modern polarization theory tells that the changed polarization is linear to the displacement of the centers of Wannier function, indicating an access to calculate the polarization $\bm{\mu}_i$ of crystals,\cite{Resta1993} through
\begin{equation}
\label{borncharge}
\bm{\mu}_i=\frac{eZ_{\text{Born}}^*}{V}\mathbf{u}_i,
\end{equation}
where $Z_{\text{Born}}^*$ is the Born effective charge derived from first-principles calculations.
Substituting $\bm{\mu}_i$ with $\mathbf{u}_i$, we would rewrite the dipole-dipole interaction in a form of FE modes $\bm{u}_i$, as
\begin{equation}
\label{edipole}
E_{\text{dipole}}^{(\text{3D})}=\frac{1}{2}\sum_{i,j=1}^N\sum_{\alpha\beta}Q_{ij,\alpha\beta}u_{i_\alpha}u_{j_\beta},
\end{equation}
where the coefficients $Q_{ij,\alpha\beta}$ are calculated from Eq.~(\ref{dipole-r})-(\ref{dipole-corr}) once and for all, and are stored for latter $E_\text{dipole}$ calculations.
Ensuring efficiency and accuracy, we shall update these coefficients only when the lattice is largely distorted from the last calculated structure.

The $E_{\text{short}}$ is written in a similar form with Eq.~(\ref{edipole}), as
\begin{equation}
\label{eshort}
E_{\text{short}}=\frac{1}{2}\sum_{\left<i,j\right>}\sum_{\alpha\beta} J_{ij,\alpha\beta}u_{i\alpha}u_{j\beta},
\end{equation}
where $J_{ij,\alpha\beta}$ is the interaction coefficients. Unlike $E_{\text{dipole}}$, $\left<i,j\right>$ sums over atmost the
third nearest neighbor (TNN. FNN and SNN for first and second nearest neighbor in the same way), while farther inter-site interaction has been cut off in condition dipole-dipole interactions have
been excluded.
In fact, we determine this cutoff by watching the tendency of interaction magnitude towards farther sites.
It shows a ratio of 1\ :\ 0.180\ :\ 0.014 by comparing the strongest magnitudes of the FNN, SNN, and TNN interaction parameters.
Considering that there are 6 FNNs, 12 SNNs, and 8 TNNs, the ratio of energy contributions comes to be 1\ :\ 0.360\ :\ 0.018.
This cutoff up to TNN is reasonable since it quickly converge and the ignored parts would bring slight contributions.
The independent parameters are $j_1-j_7$, labeling different interacting configurations which could be found in Ref.~[\onlinecite{Zhong1995}].

Then we look at the lattice strain part $E_2(\left\{\eta_l\right\},p_{\text{ext}})$ and its interaction with FE modes $E_3(\left\{\bm{u}_i\right\},\left\{\eta_l\right\})$.
\begin{equation}
E_2(\left\{\eta_l\right\},p_{\text{ext}})=E_{\text{strain}}(\left\{\eta_l\right\})+E_{\text{p}}(\left\{\eta_{1,2,3}\right\},p_{\text{ext}})
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
E_3(\left\{\bm{u}_i\right\},\left\{\eta_l\right\})=E_{\text{int}}(\left\{\bm{u}_i\right\},\left\{\eta_l\right\})
\end{equation}
Lattice strain is crucial to describe structural properties of FE materials.
The strain contains homogeneous and inhomogeneous part, describing the averaged and localized structure distortion, respectively.
Without introducing lattice strain, BTO shows incorrect phase sequence as cubic to rhombohedral phase.\cite{Zhong1995}
When considering the controversial domain structures in SnTe films, inhomogeneous strain must be introduced.
This requires deepening studies, however, being off the main issues of this article.
Since the considered FE phase transition is more about the macroscopic properties, we take only the homogeneous part of the strain to simplify the problem.
The strain energy is
\begin{equation}
\label{estrain}
E_{\text{strain}}=\frac{N}{2}B_{11}(\eta_1^2+\eta_2^2+\eta_3^2)+NB_{12}(\eta_1\eta_2+\eta_2\eta_3+\eta_3\eta_1)+\frac{N}{2}B_{44}(\eta_4^2+\eta_5^2+\eta_6^2),
\end{equation}
where $B_{11}$, $B_{12}$, and $B_{44}$ are elastic coefficients (they relate to elastic constant $C_{11}$ via $B_{11}=C_{11}*V_{\text{cell}}$, etc.), and $N$ is the number of simulated cells.
The external pressure $p_{\text{ext}}$ is here to consider the lattice mismatch with the substrates, further enabling investigation on the pressure-temperature phase diagrams. It interacts with strain via
\begin{equation}
\label{ep}
E_{\text{p}}=p_{\text{ext}}\cdot \Delta V=p_{\text{ext}}V(\eta_1+\eta_2+\eta_3).
\end{equation}
And the interaction between strain and on-site FE mode is
\begin{equation}
\label{eint}
E_{\text{int}}=\frac{1}{2}\sum_{i=1}^N\sum_{l\alpha\beta}B_{l\alpha\beta}\eta_l u_{i\alpha}u_{i\beta},
\end{equation}
where $B_{l\alpha\beta}$ is the coupling coefficients.
Due to cubic symmetry, we have written Eq.~(\ref{estrain}) and Eq.~(\ref{eint}) with only independent coefficients.
Here, $B_{11}$, $B_{12}$, and $B_{44}$ are independent for the strain energy, and $B_{1xx}$, $B_{1yy}$, and $B_{4yz}$ are independent for the coupling energy of strain and FE modes.

Finally, combining all the terms in Eq.~(\ref{eself})(\ref{edipole})(\ref{eshort})(\ref{estrain})(\ref{ep})(\ref{eint}), we obtain the total energy as
\begin{equation}
\label{efinal}
E_{\text{3D-param}}^{(\text{3D})}=E_{\text{self}}+E_{\text{dipole}}^{(\text{3D})}+E_{\text{short}}+E_{\text{strain}}+E_{\text{p}}+E_{\text{int}},
\end{equation}
where all the parameters are derived from the first-principles calculations.
We shall use Eq.~(\ref{efinal}) latter to perform Monte Carlo simulations.

One finite-$T$ FE modes configuration on strained lattice is shown schematically in Fig.~\ref{figs1}.
We set a finite temperature $T$ and external pressure $p_{\text{ext}}$, allowing FE modes $\left\{\bm{u}_i,~ i=1,2,\cdots,N\right\}$, lattice strain $\left\{\eta_l,~l=1,2,\cdots,6\right\}$ varied to achieve thermal equilibrium.
Then we do statics on ${u}_{x,y,z}=\left<{u}_i\right>_{x,y,z}$ and $\left\{\eta_l,~l=1,2,\cdots,6\right\}$ to tell the properties of the system at finite-$T$.
The structural informations are given by the distorted lattice and displaced atomic positions.
Ferroelectric properties are described by the alignments of FE modes.
When they aligned uniformly to one direction, a FE phase is determined and the magnitude of polarization is given by Eq.~(\ref{borncharge}).
And when they aligned randomly with the statistical average to be zero, a PE phase is determined.

\begin{figure}[h]
\includegraphics[width=0.7\linewidth]{FIGS1.pdf}
\caption{\label{figs1}A schematic of the effective potential. The reference structure (grey solid lines) is distorted by lattice strain $\eta$ (orange dashed lines) and FE modes $\mathbf{u}_i$ \textit{i.e.} the polarization (green arrows). Their intra- and interactions are used later to perform the Monte-Carlo simulations.}
\end{figure}

\subsection{2D case}
Coming to the 2D case, the effective Hamiltonian must be modified to restore the varied electronic structure.
Our main purpose is to build the bridge between bulk and thin films, upon which understand the abnormal behavior of $T_{\text{c}}$ in SnTe.

A natural choice is to retain the effective Hamiltonian of bulk and introduce some corrections to characterize the own properties of the films.
The local terms $E_{\text{self}}$ originate from the isolated on-site energy of the FE modes.
Thereby if the lattice constant and atomic position remain unchanged, $E_{\text{self}}$ of this site should remain unchanged no matter when its surrounding sites form 2D geometry or 3D geometry.
$E_{\text{dipole}}$ would receive changes upon going to films, however, mainly from the geometry changes (lattice contraction in out-of-plane direction and expansion in in-plane direction).
The picture of point dipoles at each site from macroscopic viewing remains unchanged.
By definition, the short-range terms $E_{\text{short}}$ are mostly affected.
The cut in out-of-plane direction leads to electrons redistribution, one might roughly consider, from original position interacting with out-of-plane neighboring sites to in-plane neighboring sites.

Therefore, we keep the the form of local terms $E_{\text{self}}$ unchanged, consider only geometry changes in dipole-dipole interaction terms (from $E_{\text{dipole}}^{(\text{3D})}$ to $E_{\text{dipole}}^{(\text{2D})}$), and count all the other surface effects in short range terms (keep $E_{\text{short}}$ unchanged and add corrections in $E_{\text{corr}}^{(\text{2D})}$).
The total of the energy in 2D geometry is written as:
\begin{equation}
E_{\text{3D-param}}^{(\text{2D})}\left(\{\mathbf{u}_i\},\eta,p\right)=E_{\text{self}}+E_{\text{dipole}}^{(\text{2D})}+E_{\text{short}}+E_{\text{strain}}+E_{\text{p}}+E_{\text{int}}+E_{\text{corr}}^{(\text{2D})},
\end{equation}
where only $E_{\text{dipole}}^{(\text{2D})}$ and $E_{\text{corr}}^{(\text{2D})}$ are different from the 3D case.
In order to satisfy the prerequisite that when increasing the film thickness the correction terms $E_{\text{corr}}^{(\text{2D})}$ must vanish spontaneously, we take the form of Ref.~[\onlinecite{Almahmoud2004}] and add the exponential decay coefficients to describe this layer dependency, as
\begin{equation}
\label{2D_corr}
E_{\text{corr}}^{(\text{2D})}\left(n_l\right)=\sum_{\substack{\alpha=\beta\\ \alpha=x,y}}\sum_{\substack{\left<i,j\right>\\j=i\pm\hat{\alpha}}} e^{-B\cdot n_l} A_{ij,\alpha\beta}u_{i\alpha}u_{j\beta},
\end{equation}
where $n_l$ labels the number of layers, $A_{ij,\alpha\beta}$ describes the short range interactions
(exclude the short part of dipole-dipole interactions) between neighboring sites $\left<i,j\right>$.

Meanwhile, EW2D instead of EW3D should be used to solve the $E_{\text{dipole}}$ terms in the Hamiltonian due to slab geometry.
The EW2D summation is also written in three parts
\begin{equation}
E^{(\text{2D})}_{\text{dipole}}=E_{\text{r}}+E_{\text{k}}+E_{\text{corr}},
\end{equation}
where $E_{\text{r}}$ is the same as bulk, but kspace terms $E_{\text{k}}$ and correction terms $E_{\text{corr}}$ are different from bulk, as
\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
E_{\text{k}}=&\frac{1}{2}\sum_{i,j=1}^N\sum_{\mathbf{k}\neq 0}\frac{\pi}{L^2}e^{i\mathbf{k}\cdot\bm{\rho}_{ij}}\\
&\left\{ (\bm{\mu}_i^{\rho}\cdot\mathbf{k})(\bm{\mu}_j^{\rho}\cdot\mathbf{k})D(z_{ij})-i[\mu_i^z(\bm{\mu}_j^{\rho}\cdot\mathbf{k})+\mu_j^z(\bm{\mu}_i^{\rho}\cdot\mathbf{k})]\frac{\partial D(z_{ij})}{\partial z_{ij}}-\mu_i^z\mu_j^z\frac{\partial^2 D(z_{ij})}{\partial z^2_{ij}}\right\},
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
with
\begin{equation}
D(z_{ij})=\frac{1}{k}\left[e^{kz}\text{erfc}(\frac{k}{2\kappa}+\kappa z)+e^{-kz}\text{erfc}(\frac{k}{2\kappa}-\kappa z)\right],
\end{equation}
where superscript $\rho$ labels the in-plane components and $z$ labels the out-of-plane component. And
\begin{equation}
E_{\text{corr}}=\frac{2\kappa\sqrt{\pi}}{L^2}\sum_{i,j=1}^N\mu_i^z\mu_j^z\ e^{-\kappa^2z_{ij}^2}-\frac{2\kappa^3}{3\sqrt{\pi}}\sum_{i=1}^N\mu_i^2.
\end{equation}

\begin{figure}[b]
\includegraphics[width=0.4\linewidth]{FIGS2.pdf}
\caption{\label{figs2} EW3D and EW2D results for $E_{\text{dipole}}$ calculations in film geometry. (a) shows the in-plane polarization case and (b) shows the out-of-plane polarization case. }
\end{figure}
In Fig.~\ref{figs2}, we show a test for calculating dipole-dipole interaction via two commonly used method, EW2D and EW3D.
To derive the energy for a same system of $xy$-periodic and $z$-free (ppf periodic boundary condition) film, EW2D can be directly used while EW3D requires extra treatment.
EW3D expand this film to a $xyz$-periodic structure with a few UC vacuum (ppp periodic boundary condition).
EW3D method will be fast iff the vacuum is not too large, but rough due to its unconsidered layer interaction errors.
When only deal with in-plane polarization, EW3D reaches convergence with EW2D upon 3UC vacuum.
However, EW3D shows slow convergence for out-of-plane polarization upon increasing vacuum slab thickness.
Considering this, we will use EW2D for 2D calculation to ensure our results.
\section{Computational details}
\subsection{DFT calculations}
For DFT calculations, we use the Vienna ab initio Simulation Package (VASP) with projector-augmented-wave (PAW) method.\cite{Kresse1996, Kresse1999}
The PAW valence electron configurations are $4d^{10}5s^25p^2$ for Sn and $5s^25p^4$ for Te.
The PAW energy cutoff is 850 eV for SCAN functional.
A $12\times12\times12$ k-point mesh turns out to yield converged results for the Bravais cell of bulk SnTe (a cubic structure with 4 Sn atoms and 4 Te atoms).
We use finite-displacement method for phonon calculations, as implemented in PHONOPY.\cite{Togo2015}
In Fig.~\ref{figs3}, we show the results with LDA,\cite{Ceperley1980} PBE,\cite{Perdew1996} and
SCAN functionals.\cite{Sun2015}
LDA yields no soft mode, while PBE and SCAN yield soft modes.
And the shear modes also turn to be a soft mode in SCAN, which might be crucial for group-IV monochalcogenides,\cite{Rabe1987a} and we shall count it in the shear strain terms of the Hamiltonian.
Potential energy curves following the displacement patterns of the FE mode are then calculated.
PBE curves process a shallower well than SCAN.
We think PBE might not be accurate enough to describe the electronic structure of SnTe.
Fei \textit{et al.} actually have derived non-polar structure for SnTe film using the PBE
functional (Fig.~S3(b) in the supplemental information of Ref.~[\onlinecite{Fei2016}]), in contrast
with experiment.\cite{Chang2016}
Hence, we use SCAN functionals for DFT calculations and later parameterizations of the effective
Hamiltonian.

\begin{table}[h]
\caption{Lattice constant by DFT calculations}
\begin{tabular}{p{5cm}p{2.5cm}<{\centering}p{2.5cm}<{\centering}p{2.5cm}<{\centering}p{2.5cm}<{\centering}}
\hline\hline
Functionals & LDA & PBE & SCAN & exp. \\\hline
Lattice constant(\AA) & 6.24 & 6.40 & 6.34 & 6.32 \\
\hline\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\begin{figure}[b]
\includegraphics[width=0.8\linewidth]{FIGS3.pdf}
\caption{\label{figs3} Phonon spectrum of SnTe via different functionals. (a)-(c) are LDA, PBE, and SCAN results, respectively\footnote{The non-zero acoustic mode in SCAN results might originate from some bugs of the program codes. We found this bug reoccurs in phonon calculations of perovskites, hexaferrites, and more materials. Since all the required informations from DFT calculations are the total energies, we trust in these energies.}. Note that non-analytical term correction (characterizing the LO-TO spliting) aren't included here. (d) the potential energy curves from DFT calculations using different functionals. Since LDA presents no soft mode, here we only show PBE results (in black curves) and SCAN results (in red curves). The atomic configurations have been displaced following the patterns of FE mode. We noticed that PBE results in a shallower well than SCAN.}
\end{figure}

For film calculations, we also base on this cubic structure and build the supercell with a
vacuum of 19.03~\AA\text{} along $z$-direction (out-of-plane $\left[001\right]$ direction).
The $z$-grid of k-mesh is varied in associate with the length of $z$-direction.
As in experiments, the SnTe films interact weakly with the substrates (graphitized 6-H SiC covered
by mono-/bi-layer graphene) through van der Waals interactions which are often viewed as truly 2D materials.
Hence we apply free-standing films, retaining its intrinsic 2D features.
This also means the open circuit (OC) condition should be used for the following Monte Carlo (MC) simulations.
The van der Waals (vdW)-type interactions aren't introduced to avoid double counting, due to the
features of SCAN functionals.\cite{Sun2015}
Besides, since strain effects has been included in the Hamiltonian (see section I), we use the same
lattice constant as bulk for films.

In BaTiO$_3$ (BTO), the LDA functional is used for an easier comparison with published
results.\cite{Zhong1994,Zhong1995}
Concerning the fact that BTO has been systematically studied in these reference, and it is a system when conventional scaling law holds, we will mainly focus on SnTe in later discussions and resort to BTO only when comparison is needed.

\subsection{Parameters}
Here we list the parameters of the effective Hamiltonian for BTO and SnTe from above first-principles calculations.
\begin{table}[h]
\caption{{\label{BTO_param}}Parameters of the effective Hamiltonian for BTO. Energies are in hatrees in order to compare with Ref.~[\onlinecite{Zhong1995}].}
\begin{tabular}{ccccccc}
\hline\hline
Self & $\kappa_2$ & 0.0691 & $\alpha_4$ & 0.328 & $\gamma_4$ & -0.504\\\hline
Dipole & $\epsilon$ & 5.24 & $Z^*_{\text{Born}}$ & 10.26\\\hline
Short & $j_1$ & -0.0288 & $j_2$ & 0.0393 \\
& $j_3$ & 0.00979 & $j_4$ & -0.0106 & $j_5$ & 0.00580 \\
& $j_6$ & 0.00492 & $j_7$ & 0.00246 \\\hline
Strain & $B_{11}$ & 4.76 & $B_{12}$ & 1.62 & $B_{44}$ & 1.82 \\\hline
Inter & $B_{1xx}$ & -2.25 & $B_{1yy}$ & -0.171 & $B_{4yz}$ & -0.0888 \\\hline
2D corr & $A$ & 0.0282 & $B$ & -0.4958\\
\hline\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

As a verification, we first independently obtain the parameters of BTO, which are compared with those of Vanderbilt.\cite{Zhong1995}
LDA functional is used here for BTO.
The parameters for BTO are listed in Table.~\ref{BTO_param}.
One could easily see all our parameters are close to those of Vanderbilt (Table.~II in Ref.~[\onlinecite{Zhong1995}]).

\begin{table}[h]
\caption{{\label{SnTe_param}}Parameters of the effective Hamiltonian for SnTe. Energies are in hatrees in associate with BTO.}
\begin{tabular}{ccccccc}
\hline\hline
Self & $\kappa_2$ & 0.0128 & $\alpha_4$ & 0.0140 & $\gamma_4$ & -0.00971\\\hline
Dipole & $\epsilon$ & 51.9 & $Z^*_{\text{Born}}$ & 19.9\\\hline
Short & $j_1$ & -0.00407 & $j_2$ & 0.000402 \\
& $j_3$ & 0.000128 & $j_4$ & -0.000731 & $j_5$ & 0.000457 \\
& $j_6$ & 0.0000582 & $j_7$ & 0.0000291 \\\hline
Strain & $B_{11}$ & 6.82 & $B_{12}$ & 0.0972 & $B_{44}$ & 1.09 \\\hline
Inter & $B_{1xx}$ & -0.264 & $B_{1yy}$ & -0.0270 & $B_{4yz}$ & -0.0165 \\\hline
2D corr & $A$ & -0.00722 & $B$ & -0.376\\
\hline\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

The parameters for SnTe are listed in Table.~\ref{SnTe_param}.
By comparing the dimensionless parameters (strain related $B_{11}, B_{12}, B_{44}$) with BTO, we notice that SnTe tends to rhombohedral structure.
Lowered $B_{12}$ results in less competition between different direction of lattice strain, and lowered $B_{44}$ allows larger shear strain.
Since the polarization and size of unit cell are different for BTO and SnTe, direct comparisons of the magnitude of other parameters related with FE modes are meaningless.
A better choice is to compare their relative value for each material.\footnote{Another choice is to reduce all the parameters by polarization density. This bring a factor of $Z/L^3$ to the length dimension. Parameters are reduced by their own length dimension, \textit{e.g.} $\kappa_2$ has the power of two and $\gamma_4$ has the power of four.}
We shall see for short-range interaction parameter, the numerical relations are similar for SnTe and BTO.
However, the $\alpha_4$ and $\gamma_4$ are lower and $B_{4yz}$ are larger in SnTe than BTO.
Since competition between different direction is lowered, the tendency to rhombohedral phase in SnTe should be reserved.
Actually, our simulations tell that in BTO the polarizations of different directions appear in sequence, exhibiting four phases as cubic to tetragonal to orthogonal to rhombohedral.
In SnTe bulk, the polarization appear simultaneously in all three directions, exhibiting only two phases as cubic to rhombohedral.

\subsection{Monte Carlo calculations}
We use the aforementioned Hamiltonian with parameters derived in last subsection.
Due to that most energy terms of the Hamiltonian are localized expect the dipole-dipole interaction, we use the single flip algorithm.
That is, each Monte Carlo sweep (MCS) consists of a series of trial moves of the FE modes on each site and the six components of the homogeneous strain, in which homogeneous strain components take 20-100 trial moves repeatedly in one MCS.
The step sizes are adapted to control the accept ratio in range of 20\%-30\%.
For each simulation configuration (cell, temperature, and external pressure), we run at least 200,000 MCSs, in which first 150,000 MCSs are used to ensure thermal equilibrium and last 50,000 MCSs are used for statistics.

\begin{figure}[h]
\includegraphics[width=0.5\linewidth]{FIGS4.pdf}
\caption{\label{figs4} Convergence test for the simulation cell. $10 \times 10 \times 10$ supercell and $15\times15\times15$ supercell are in coincidence at low temperature and show a few deviation near the critical point. $10\times10\times10$ cell shows $\sim$10 K difference from $15\times15\times15$ cell. In fact, this range of error is far lower than the difference between bulk and film (several hundreds of Kelvins), or among films of different layers (several tens to hundreds of Kelvins). Considering 4 times atoms and at least 16 times computation loads with $15\times15\times15$ cell, we adopt $10\times10\times10$ cell for latter simulations.}
\end{figure}

The long-range nature of ferroelectricity requires large-scale simulations.
Here we take the simulation cells as $10\times 10\times 10$ periodic supercell for bulk (corresponding to a cell with $a=63.2$\AA\ containing 8,000 atoms, which results in unaffordable computation load for DFT calculations. That's also why we use a model Hamiltonian method instead of \textit{ab initio} molecular dynamics), and $10\times10\times N$ $xy$-periodic $z$-free slab for $N$-UC films.
The convergence test for this supercell has been shown in Fig.~\ref{figs4}.
The errors from the cell sizes are controlled to a few Kelvin, which are accurate enough to tackle the issues in our manuscript, telling the thickness dependency of Curie temperature.
\newpage
\section{Pressure compensation}
The lattice strain has crucial influence in FE phase transitions.
Due to insufficiently accurate electronic structure of DFT, transition temperature might be far from the correct value by using the DFT optimized geometry.
An exerted pressure is used here to compensate this error.
We determine this compensation pressure by comparing with the experimental measurements.
As shown in Fig.~\ref{figs5}, we calculate the phase transitions of bulk SnTe at different external pressures.
We found $\sim$2GPa gives reasonable $T_{\text{c}}$ for bulk SnTe [Fig.~\ref{figs5}].
In the same way, the compensation pressure for 1-10UC films are all set as 1GPa, difference from bulk being used to count for the substrates strain.
This is in agreement with experiment by Chang \textit{et al.}, which applied substrates with lattice constant slightly larger than SnTe films.
We don't seek for a more precise value for this compensation pressure due to the effective Hamiltonian method might have as a few ten Kelvins as systematic errors.
Besides, this compensation pressure is reasonable in its magnitude.
That is, SCAN slightly overestimate the lattice constant, requiring the compensation pressure to be positive and small.
LDA, however, underestimate the lattice constant, requiring the compensation pressure to be negative and larger.
This is true in our results, since BTO with LDA uses a -8GPa compensation pressure\footnote{In Ref.~[\onlinecite{Zhong1995}], Vanderbilt use -4.8GPa compensation pressure in order to fit all the three transition temperature (namely C-T, T-O, O-R) in BTO. This leads to a $\sim$100K divergence with experiments for Curie temperature. Here we use -8Gpa to better fit the Curie temperature (namely C-T).}, and SnTe with SCAN using a 2GPa compensation pressure for bulk.

To emphasize, when studying the thickness dependency of $T_{\text{c}}$ in films, threats from the large extrinsic factor of lattice strain can be ruled out by setting a same compensation pressure in our method.
However, the other model methods such as Landau's phenomenological model, $\phi^4$ model, etc. cannot guarantee this, since strain terms are not considered and the parameterizations are done in one specific structure.
One could see from the strain-temperature phase diagram in Ref.~[\onlinecite{Fei2016}], $T_{\text{c}}$ for 1UC SnSe varies from 64K to 640K among different strains.
This uncertainty actually hinder the exploration of the thickness dependency of $T_{\text{c}}$.
In our method, the built-in strain-pressure relation makes it possible to exclude extrinsic strain effect and question the intrinsic size effects of SnTe's abnormalities.
Using a same external pressure, we have show the clearly different tendency upon going from bulk to thin films in SnTe [Fig.~3(b) in our manuscript].

\section{Bulk results and P-T phase diagram}
Here we process microscopic details of the phase transitions in SnTe bulk.
FE modes and lattice strain are used to determine the Curie temperature.
Taking Fig.~\ref{figs5}(g) as an example, we give the $T_{\text{c}}$ equals 147K for bulk with external pressure 2Gpa.
Above 147 K, the diagonal part of the strain tensor is the
same and the average of all three components of the FE modes $\left<u\right>_{\alpha=x,y,z}$ are close to zero so as
the non-diagonal part of strain tensor $\left<\eta\right>_{i=4,5,6}$ [Fig.~\ref{figs5}(h) and \ref{figs5}(i)].
At 147~K, the magnitudes of the FE modes suddenly jump and then gradually saturate.
This divergence and the equivalence between the polarization in $x$, $y$, and $z$ directions indicate
that a rhombohedral FE phase is formed with polarization along $\left[111\right]$.
A more accurate determination of $T_{\text{c}}$ can be done by fitting the critical behavior of polarization, \textit{i.e.} FE modes (latter shown in Eq.~(\ref{fiteq})).

FE modes are viewed as the order parameters in FE phase transition.
We can convert it from $\mathrm{\AA}$ to $\mathrm{C} / \mathrm{m}^2$ via
\begin{equation}
\mathbf{P}=\frac{eZ^*_{\text{Born}}}{V}\left<\mathbf{u}\right>=1.26\left<\mathbf{u}\right>\frac{\mathrm{C}/\mathrm{m}^2}{\mathrm{\AA}}.
\end{equation}
Since structural phase transition occurs simultaneously, lattice strain could also be used to characterize the phase transitions.
\begin{figure}[ht]
\includegraphics[width=1.0\linewidth]{FIGS5.pdf}
\caption{\label{figs5} The microscopic details of the phase transitions in bulk SnTe under different pressures. Here we show the results of both original bulk (spontaneous phase transition) and the constrained bulk (constrain $u_z=0$ and $\eta_3=\eta_4=\eta_5=0$, we shall discuss later in section VI). (a)(d)(g)(j) shows the magnitudes of FE modes, (b)(e)(h)(k) and (c)(f)(i)(k) shows the magnitudes of diagonal and non-diagonal lattice strain, respectively.}
\end{figure}
\newpage
Utilizing above informations at different external pressures, we further derive the $P$-$T$ phase diagram of bulk SnTe, as shown in Fig.~\ref{figs6}.
In the pressure range we calculated, cubic PE phase and rhombohedral FE phase are observed.
Increasing the external pressure, the PE phase will take over the FE region, which is the same as previous studies in BTO.\cite{Zhong1995}
More phases might appear in much higher pressure, however, the above parameters are not appropriate to do these simulations.
This is because our effective Hamiltonian take the Taylor series and the parameters have the predictive power of first-principles if and only if this expansion is valid.
Much higher pressure breaks this expansion and a new reference structure along with new parameters are required.

\begin{figure}[h]
\includegraphics[width=0.6\linewidth]{FIGS6.pdf}
\caption{\label{figs6} The pressure-temperature phase diagram of bulk SnTe. The compensation pressure we determined is 2GPa for bulk SnTe, which should be shifted when compring with the experiments. This leads to Curie temperature $T_{\text{c}}=147K$ corresponding to experiments at 0GPa, where $\sim$50K is left to count for the defect effects.}
\end{figure}

\section{Film results}
Here we process microscopic details of the phase transitions in SnTe films with different thicknesses, in Fig.~\ref{figs7}.
The experiments measured the distortion angle instead of the polarization.
In fact, the distortion angle corresponds to the non-diagonal strain [Fig.~\ref{figs7}(c)], especially $\eta_{6}$ here.
Their relation is
\begin{equation}
\Delta \alpha=90^\circ-\mathrm{arccos}(2\eta_{xy})=\mathrm{arcsin}(\eta_{6}).
\end{equation}
Since the distortion angle is small, above equation can be rewritten as
\begin{equation}
\Delta \alpha=\eta_{6}\cdot\frac{180^{\circ}}{\pi}.
\end{equation}
Our simulation gives the distortion angle for 1UC $\Delta \alpha_{\text{1UC}}\sim1.2^\circ$ extrapolated to $T=4K$, in agreement with experimental value $\sim1.4^\circ$.
Besides, we also use the following equation to fit the critical behavior of FE modes [short dash curves in Fig.~\ref{figs7}(a)]:
\begin{equation}
\label{fiteq}
u(T)=\begin{cases}
e^A(T_{\text{c}}-T)^\beta, & T<T_{\text{c}};\\
0, & T>T_{\text{c}}.
\end{cases}
\end{equation}
To be noted that, we fit the mean square root of the FE modes (for film, that is $u=\sqrt{(u_x^2+u_y^2)/2}$) instead of the total polarization.
This gives the critical indexes in consistent with the experimental value 0.33$\pm$0.05 for 1-4UC.\cite{Chang2016}

\begin{table}[htbp]
  \centering
  \caption{\label{table4} Curie temperature fit for films with different thicknesses.}
    \begin{tabular}{cp{2.5cm}<{\centering}p{2.5cm}<{\centering}p{2.5cm}<{\centering}}
    \hline\hline
    Layernumber   & \multicolumn{1}{c}{$T_{\text{c}}/K$} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{A} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{$\beta$} \\\hline
    1     & 304   & -3.198 & 0.2758 \\
    2     & 597   & -3.116 & 0.2684 \\
    3     & 562   & -3.157 & 0.2695 \\
    4     & 482   & -3.375 & 0.3024 \\
    5     & 408   & -3.410 & 0.3052 \\
    6     & 362   & -3.598 & 0.3370 \\
    8     & 310   & -3.884 & 0.3886 \\
    10    & 278   & -3.817 & 0.3774 \\
    \hline\hline
    \end{tabular}%
\end{table}%

\begin{figure}[t]
\includegraphics[width=0.7\linewidth]{FIGS7.pdf}
\caption{\label{figs7} The microscopic details of the phase transitions in SnTe films with different layer numbers. (a) shows the magnitudes of the FE modes. The $u_z$ components in this range of thickness are nearly zero so that we don't show them for simplicity; (b)(c) shows the diagonal part and non-diagonal part of the lattice strain, respectively.}
\end{figure}

\section{Constrained bulk simulation}
We process a numerical experiment for bulk SnTe.
Spontaneously, SnTe bulk has only two phases, the PE cubic phase and the FE rhombohedral phase.
However, the ultra-thin films seem more close to an orthogonal phase, which is absent in bulk.
By the convenience of effective Hamiltonian method, we can prepare a constrained bulk (c-bulk).
In this c-bulk, the polarization along $z$-direction has been constrained to zero, as well as other $z$-related components of the lattice strain, namely $\eta_3, \eta_4,$ and $\eta_5$.
Upon decreasing the thickness, the order parameters characterizing the FE phase transition are unchanged.
If we keep the form of interactions also unchanged, we shall find scaling law valid for this c-bulk.
We verify this in the main article [Fig.~3(b) olive curves in the manuscript].
Besides, since phase O has higher rank in the C-T-O-R transition sequence, we observe this c-bulk process higher $T_{\text{c}}$ than the original bulk (Fig.~\ref{figs5}).
We have showed in the main article, that the $T_c$ of films without correction terms are approaching c-bulk instead of original bulk.
Microscopic details of the c-bulk results are merged in Fig.~\ref{figs5}.

\newpage
\begin{figure}[t]
\includegraphics[width=0.6\linewidth]{FIGS8.pdf}
\caption{\label{figs8} The pressure-temperature phase diagram of bulk BTO. Our results is close to Ref.~[\onlinecite{Zhong1995}]. We obtain C-T-O-R phase transition with reasonable transition temperatures.}
\end{figure}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
James William Jordan (January 13, 1908 – December 4, 1957) was an American baseball player whose career in the major leagues lasted from April 20, 1933, to September 27, 1936.

A native of the South Carolina settlement of Tucapau, a part of the Startex-Tucapau census-designated place in Spartanburg County, Jordan was a , right-handed batter and pitcher who began his career in the minors with the home county South Atlantic League team in 1926. He subsequently played for Topeka, Dayton, Houston, Greensboro, Rochester and Jersey City before spending four seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers as a second baseman and shortstop.  Following his stint with the Dodgers, he served as a manager of the Hutchinson Pirates and London Pirates.

Jimmy Jordan died at his home in Charlotte, North Carolina five-and-a-half weeks before his 50th birthday.

References

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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


My long-time readers know how much of an impact my mother, Tasmima Hossain's work and passions have influenced me.
But perhaps what many of you do not know is that I spent a lot of time growing up at her magazine, Anannya's offices as a little girl in Bangladesh.
So suffice to say it was a huge honor to have my mom put me on the cover of her magazine, which has been running for over 25 years, for the month of April.
You can read the interview about my life and journey into journalism online here.
When your mom makes you her #CoverGirl, you've got to embrace it!


text:
MEK: Is Europe Becoming More Savvy About Iran?
Written by Amineh Qaraee on December 23, 2020 . Posted in NEWS
(PMOI / MEK Iran): The hope that the Iranian regime will somehow change its leopard spots and become a responsible member of the international community has been disproven time after time.
Have European leaders become savvier about the nature of the Iranian regime, or are they going to continue the policy of appeasement they have followed since at least the signing of the nuclear agreement in 2015? The hope that the Iranian regime will somehow change its leopard spots and become a responsible member of the international community has been disproven time after time, but at least until now, the EU and Britain seem to have ignored the ugly reality of the mullahs' intentions.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), reported that the most recent actions of the Iranian regime should be enough to change the minds of the most conciliatory of international leaders.
The following is a snapshot of what the mullahs have been up to close to or on European soil:
E.U. residents and joint E.U. / Iranian citizens have been arrested while in Iran on a visit or close by,
They have been charged with espionage or other spurious charges and one has been executed, as is commonly the fate of Iranians within Iran. France-based Ruhollah Zam, who exposed sex and corruption scandals within the Iranian regime, was kidnapped while on a visit to Karbala, in Iraq and then taken to Iran where he was charged and executed.
RT IOPHRpress "24 MEPs whilst condemning the execution of #RuhollahZam, signed an open letter to @JosepBorrellF requesting to stop all trade & diplomatic relations of EU with #Iran until Dr. Ahmad Reza Djalali returns to his country of residence, #Sw… pic.twitter.com/YpTl8ocxXL"
— Shabtab News (@shabtabnews) December 18, 2020
Another ex-pat. Iranian, Habib Chaab, who lives normally in Sweden,
Now awaits sentencing in Iran after being kidnapped in Turkey. Turkish authorities have already made arrests and accused the Iranian intelligence service (MOIS) of being involved.
Sweden says #Iran has denied access to detained dissident Habib Chaab https://t.co/51bQRyV6Si via @AlArabiya_Eng
— Farideh Karimi (@KarimiFarideh) December 17, 2020
Iranian-German dual national, Jamshid Sharmahd,
Was also probably abducted from Dubai earlier in the year.
Germany should support Iranian-German citizen Jamshid Sharmahd, who has been kidnapped by the Iranian state. He's a dissident accused of involvement in "terrorist operations". @RegSprecher @BaerbelKofler @GermanyDiplo he deserves the right to a fair trial https://t.co/BwmPVKhVTi
— Amnesty Westminster Bayswater (@AmnestyWB) August 6, 2020
Assadollah Assadi,
An Iranian diplomat, based in Vienna, has been accused of organizing a bomb attack on an Iranian main opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), rally near Paris in 2018. He is waiting for the verdict of a Belgian court. Prosecutors are confident that Assadi was operating with the full backing of the Iranian regime.
The 2018 bombing was intended to wipe out the (PMOI / MEK Iran)'s leaders and chief supporters and demoralize its remaining members. Assadi was in a key position to plan this attack.
E.U. leaders have become more strident in their criticism of these abductions and executions of Iranian joint EU nationals, certainly compared to the fate of EU and other western citizens who were kidnapped and held to ransom within Iran. Where these latter have found release has usually been after delicate negotiations with Iranian authorities rather than open criticism. This attitude now seems to have changed with a more hard-line response being used.
After the Zam execution, EU ambassadors from four EU nations boycotted a joint EU Iranian business forum in Tehran. The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, also denounced the execution as "barbaric."
(PMOI / MEK Iran): Zam's execution triggered condemnation from several European countries as well as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Iran and the Special Rapporteur on Summary Executions.
The Iranian leadership may choose to ignore the effects of its outrages on European public opinion, but polls taken in Europe reveal that the mullahs are definitely not the flavor of the month.
Nuclear deal,
Some EU leaders have also shown stricter attitudes towards Iran over the nuclear deal, especially as video footage of a new Iranian underground nuclear site has been revealed. The regime has been a sharp reminder that it is not to proceed with any uranium enrichment program.
The Associated Press (AP) recently reported that the Iranian regime had started to construct a site at Fordo, in Iran, of an underground nuclear facility. It is not too far from either the holy city of Qom or Tehran. #MEK #Iran #WeStand4FreeIran pic.twitter.com/oa50ktm9kD
— MEK Iran (Mujahedin-e Khalq) (@MEK_Iran) December 21, 2020
There is a version of a well known European proverb in Iran that depicts the help a turtle gives to a scorpion who cannot cross a river. When helping the scorpion, the turtle is stung. The moral of the story is that it is in the scorpion's nature to sting, whether it is being helped or not. EU leaders should reflect on this story and recognize that the mullahs also cannot change who they are. The turtle learned from the encounter. Will the EU?
Tags: #FreeIran2018, Iran Opposition, Iran Terrorism, IRGC, Mujahedin-e Khalq, National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), People's Mojahedin organization of Iran, PMOI


The mobile-phone industry returned from its mammoth annual trade show, 3GSM, held earlier this month in Barcelona, gloating over its successful year. More than 3 billion (almost half the world's population) now have mobiles, and the price of a phone has sunk as low as $25. There are now more mobile-phone subscribers in poor countries than rich ones. That would have been unimaginable a decade ago. But the next digital hurdle—providing internet access—will be much harder to surmount, for both economic and geographical reasons.


text:
New Durham mayor hopes to make city 'safe for everyone'
Elaine O'Neal,
Posted December 6, 2021 10:39 p.m. EST
Updated December 6, 2021 11:33 p.m. EST
By Chris Lovingood, WRAL anchor/reporter
Durham, N.C. — Retired judge Elaine O'Neal made history on Monday night when she was sworn in as the first Black female mayor of Durham.
O'Neal said that, while she was excited about being sworn in, there are a lot of issues that need to be tackled in the city, including housing, gun violence and making Durham safe for everyone.
She added that she's been attending Durham City Council meetings to hear as much input as possible to help form a game plan to address the issues.
O'Neal said a lot of the violence is connected to poverty and affordability.
She said she plans to address the resources available to those who live in Durham this week.
"You can offer all the jobs you want and you can offer all other types of things, but if a person doesn't have a safe place to lay their head, everything else is pretty much off," said O'Neal.
O'Neal said she will unveil plans on Wednesday during a news conference at 10 a.m. at Durham City Hall.
IMAGE: New Durham mayor hopes to make city 'safe for everyone'
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Durham City Council holds Oath of Office ceremony
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Leaders hope racial equity report spurs Durham residents to action
Elaine O'Neal
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Sydney Franklin
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