1. Blumenthal D. Launching HITECH. New England Journal of Medicine. 2010; 362(5):382-5.
This article provides an overview of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which was passed in 2009 as part of the stimulus bill. The HITECH act supports national, interoperable, private, and secure electronic health information systems, with the ultimate goal of providing better healthcare to Americans. The act emphasizes meaningful use of electronic health records (EHR), which means that the use of EHRs improve quality, efficiency, and safety of healthcare, and promote public health in such a manner that also ensures privacy and security of the data. Link to article.
2. Stevens L, Rancourt J. Health Information Technology Can Make Disasters Seem Like Business as Usual.Annals of Emergency Medicine. 2014; 63(4): 425-427.
This article encapsulates the mission of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information in regards to Health Information Technology (HIT) in disasters. The article goes through the history of developing HIT in the US, starting with issues surrounding Hurricane Katrina and the initial efforts to make technology that would be implemented only in a disaster. This idea was exchanged for interoperable electronic health records that would be used in day-to-day medicine. This concept was implemented in New York, was tested in Hurricane Sandy, and was a success. Link to abstract.
3. Friedman DJ, Parrish RG, Ross DA. Electronic Health Records and US Public Health: Current Realities and Future Promise. American Journal of Public Health. 2013; 103:1560-1567.
This article goes into depth on how the concept of meaningful use will be implemented in EHRs, as required by the HITECH Act. The first stage of meaningful use involves the automatic reporting of immunization data, syndromic surveillance, and lab results of reportable diseases. The second stage involves reporting diagnosis to cancer registries and other specialized registries. This article also details barriers to adoption of EHR, notably funding, standardized data and transmission methods, and information content. Link to abstract.
4. Lenert L, Sundwall DN. Public Health Surveillance and Meaningful Use Regulations: A Crisis of Opportunity. American Journal of Public Health. 2012; 102(3): e1-7.
This article delves into the challenges and opportunities facing local and state public health departments in regards to the Meaningful Use regulations of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The authors state that most public health departments do not have the IT infrastructure to handle the data they would be required to process, and the funding is not available to revamp those infrastructures. They suggest cloud computing as a secure, economically feasible way for public health departments to increase their data-handling capacity and share data among departments, between state and local departments, and between state/local and federal health entities. Link to article.
5. Rader A, Edmunds M, Bishop J. Public Health Preparedness and Response for At-Risk Populations: Harnessing the Power of Health Information Technologies. Booz Allen Hamilton Publications. 2010.
This report contains the aspect of health IT in disasters in two unique respects; through the lens of at-risk populations, and with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 as policy to consider. ARRA is relevant in this context due to its funding to increase the reach of wireless and broadband technology around the country. The report provides a thorough and broad look at at-risk populations, delves into those populations that would not immediately be considered so, and discusses various federal policy that impacts disadvantaged populations. Link to report.
6. Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordination Councils. Working Without Technology: How Hospitals and Healthcare Organizations Can Manage Communication Failure.
This document contains recommendations to assist healthcare organizations and facilities in planning for communications and technology failures. These recommendations include multi-tiered approaches to information sharing, providing emergency communication devices to staff, planning ahead, knowing your local partners, and empowering staff at all levels to make decisions. Link to report.
7. American Academy of Pediatrics, Preparedness Checklist for Pediatric Practices, 2013.
This checklist provides a framework for disaster preparedness planning for pediatric practices. This list encompasses a wide variety of considerations when planning for disaster, from specific needs of patients and medications that a practice would need on hand, to protecting patient records and obtaining appropriate insurance coverage. Link to checklist.
8. Morehouse School of Medicine, Emergency Preparedness Toolkit for Primary Care Providers.
This toolkit for primary care physicians provides trainings, fact sheets, and templates for a wide variety of disaster scenarios, including but not limited to blackouts, terrorism, earthquakes, chemical attacks, winter storms, and earthquakes. Link is a Google document and will launch an immediate download.
9. Freedy JR, Simpson WM. Disaster-Related Physical and Mental Health: A Role for the Family Physician. American Academy of Family Physicians. 2007; 75(6):841-846.
This paper discusses how family practice physicians can be aware of and respond to the mental health outcomes of disasters. It discusses mental health risk factors and common post-disaster health problems, both physical and mental in nature. Link to article.
10. Runkle JD, Brock-Martin A, Karmaus W, Svendsen ER, Secondary Surge Capacity: A Framework for Understanding Long-term Access to Primary Care for Medically Vulnerable Populations in Disaster Recovery. American Journal of Public Health. 2012;102(12):e24-e32.
This paper discusses the need for identifying vulnerable populations pre-disaster, in order to anticipate and plan for a surge in their primary care needs in the aftermath of a disaster. Link to toolkit.
11. Pomaski J, Ying J, National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health. Health IT and Disaster Preparedness. Published September 30, 2014. Accessed December 1, 2014.
This webinar (audio available) discusses health IT preparedness and recovery lessons learned from New York City. The first half focuses on Health IT preparedness from the technical standpoint while the second half presents the experience of one Federally Qualified Health Center as they prepared, weathered, and recovered after Superstorm Sandy. Direct Link to Audio Recording.
12. Davidson D, Missouri HIT Assistance Center. Disaster Recovery & HIT: A Lesson from Joplin. Published August 9, 2013. Accessed May 2, 2014.
This webinar (slides and audio available) details the impact that the 2011 tornado had on the Joplin community, including the large impact on its healthcare system. It specifically focuses on the preparedness planning, response, and recovery efforts of the ACCESS Family Care clinic, a Federally Qualified Health Center with five branches in the Joplin area. Much of the planning for HIT-specific preparedness is broadly applicable to other types of practices.
Link to audio and other webinars provided by the MO HIT Assistance Center.
13. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Continuity and Resiliency for Health IT Systems: Preparing for Unforeseen Events. Published May 17, 2012. Accessed Dec 3, 2014.
This recorded webinar (1:18:38) provides advice on the use of IT in disasters. It is specifically geared towards rural primary care and inpatient settings.Link to video clip.
14. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Disaster Recovery Plans for HIT - Why is it Important. Published Nov 1, 2010. Accessed Dec 3, 2014.
This recorded webinar (1:20:50) goes over HIT disaster recovery plans. Continuity of critical operations is emphasized, and steps and strategies are discussed for recovery planning. Examples are given from Hurricane Katrina. Link to video clip.
15. Horahan K, Morchel H, Raheem M, Stevens L. Electronic Health Records Access During a Disaster. Online Journal of Public Health Informatics. 2014; 5(3):e232.
This paper discusses the successful access of EHRs by a New York medical center following Superstorm Sandy. This facility had the data backed up to a remote location that was unaffected by the floodwaters, and when the fiber optic cables were destroyed they accessed their data via a microwave link system they had tested previously. The paper also discusses the State of New York's efforts to facilitate the availability of electronic medical information after disasters, as well as how New Jersey implemented just-in-time measures to backup electronic health data. Link to article.
16. Abir M, Mostashari F, Atwal P, Lurie N. Electronic Health Records Critical in the Aftermath of Disasters. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine. 2012; 27(6): 620-2.
This article covers EHR after Hurricane Katrina and in Joplin, MO, and specifically focuses on aspects outside of continuity of care. For example, EHRs in Joplin were able to allow an Opioid Treatment Program to continue, as well as providing dental records for fatality identification. The utilization of EHRs by US physicians responding to the Haiti earthquake ensured that appropriate specialists were deployed. The article overall emphasized the usefulness of "robust IT strategy, including standardization, consolidation, virtualization, and discipline." Link to abstract.
17. Shin P, Jacobs F. An HIT Solution for Clinical Care and Disaster Planning: How One Health Center in Joplin, MO Survived a Tornado and Avoided a Health Information Disaster. Journal of Public Health Informatics. 2012; 4(1):e7.
This article details the steps that a Community Health Center (CHC) took to transition to Electronic Medical Records, and then outlines how these steps proved invaluable when a large tornado struck the area. Due to electronic records and a resilient system, the CHC was able to resume operations within 12 hours and provide critical services to the community. Link to article.
18. Russell M. Permanent Record: Electronic Records Aid in the Aftermath of Joplin Tornado. Journal of AHIMA. 2011; 82;34-7.
This article details how another healthcare provider in Joplin, St. John's Regional Medical Center, was able to provide care to the community due to electronic medical records. The building itself was completely destroyed, but the hospital had transitioned to electronic health records, housed in a tornado-proof, off-site location, 21 days prior to the storm. Access to these records allowed for St. John's to set up a satellite location to provide healthcare services to the community. Private physicians associated with the hospital were also able to access their records and continue to provide care even if their offices were destroyed. St. John's also provided information to the surrounding community on how to return or destroy medical records that had been blown away, and due to the EHR system the field hospital was nearly paperless. In contrast, Freeman Health System's EHR was shut down after the storm to conserve power, and as a result patient lists and documentation were not reliable. Link to abstract.
19. Hoffman S, Podgurski A. Big Bad Data: Law, Public Health, and Biomedical Databases. Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics. 2012; 41(s1):56-50.
This article focuses on the implications inconsistent data quality in EHRs would have on the public health benefits of these data. The article touches on the many ways EHRs could benefit public health, including in disaster situations, but states that there are many flaws. Entry error, upcoding, interoperability issues, and fragmented patient records are all discussed, as well as the fact that the infrastructure to process such massive amounts of data is not available. Suggestions on how to fix these issues include incentivizing or compelling interoperability in EHR software and the development of software that can pull relevant data out of EHRs automatically. The authors suggest formulating error rates and uncertainty characterization will assist in the analysis of these data. Link to article.
20. Bala H, Venkatesh V, Venkatraman S, Bates J, Brown SH. Disaster response in health care: A design extension for enterprise data warehouse. Communications of the ACM. 2009; 52: 136-140.
This article discusses the use of Enterprise Data Warehouses (EDW) in disasters, specifically modifying the architecture of data warehouses in order to make data available during disasters. They modeled their modification after the Veterans Health Administration IT systems response during Hurricane Katrina. It is available for free online. Link to article.
21. DeGaspari J. States Prepare for Seamless Exchange of Health Records After Disasters. Healthcare informatics (website). 2013.
This news article details a new multi-state effort to facilitate the exchange of health records in a disaster through Health Information Exchange programs. These states are working with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) in order to accomplish this. Multiple recent disasters are cited as examples of the importance of protecting patient health records through electronic tools. Link to article.
22. Rutkow L, Vernick JS, Wissow LS, Kaufmann CN, Hodge JG. Prescribing Authority During Emergencies Challenges for Mental Health Providers. Journal of Legal Medicine. 2011; 32(3):249-260.
This paper discusses general concerns and barriers to providing mental health prescriptions in a disaster setting. It focuses in on electronic prescriptions as a solution to some of these barriers. E-prescriptions are seen as a solution since it would not be necessary to find a healthcare worker with prescribing authority to continue treatment; however some states still have laws prohibiting the use of e-prescriptions for some controlled substances. In regards to how e-prescriptions can facilitate mental and behavioral health treatment in a disaster, the paper recommends that states update their laws to match the federal law allowing the e-prescription of controlled substances. It also recommends the use of national databases of prescription history in order to address concerns related to displacement. Link to article.
23. Ducker M, Sanchez C, Taylor SR. Pros and Cons of E-Prescribing in Community Pharmacies, U.S. Pharmacist, 2013; 8(38)(P&T Suppl):4-7.
This paper discusses general policy as well as the pros and cons surrounding e-prescriptions. The pros are outlined as increased patient safety, cost benefits, access to records, and improved workflow. In the section detailing access to records, the paper addresses the success of utilizing e-prescription data to access the medication needs of Katrina evacuees. The cons listed were clarifying inaccuracies, software design issues, and cost. Link to article.
24. Piza F, Steinman M, Baldisserotto S, Morbeck RA, Silva E. Is there a role for telemedicine in disaster medicine? Critical Care. 2014; 18:646.
a. This letter discusses the positive outcomes resulting from the use of telemedicine after a large fire in Brazil. The hospitals that received the patients were able to discuss challenges with specialists around the world. This assisted in the diagnosis and management of the patients. While the authors are fully in support of telemedicine, they acknowledge a significant limitation; in the event of a natural disaster, internet connectivity may be disrupted, removing telehealth as an option. Link to article.
25. Xiong W, Bair A, Sandrock C, Wang S, Siddiqui J, Hupert N. Implementing Telemedicine in Medical Emergency Response: Concept of Operation for a Regional Telemedicine Hub. Journal of Medical Systems. 2012; 36:1651-1660.
This paper investigates a telemedicine hub as a potential resource in a disaster response scenario, discusses what the operational characteristics of such a hub would be, and discusses the potential benefit of remote clinical consultation. Probalistic models were utilized to develop scenarios (major, medium, and minor scale) with earthquake victims that took into account wait time for treatment and mortality due to delay of treatment. Setting up a designated receiving center with telemedicine capability was shown to greatly decrease mortality to due to delay of treatment. Link to article.
26. Latifi R, Tilley EH. Telemedicine for Disaster Management: Can it transform chaos into an organized, structured care from the distance?. American Journal of Disaster Medicine. 2014; 9(1):25-35.
27. Kim TJ, Arrieta MI, Eastburn SL, Icenogle ML, Slagla M, Nuriddin AH, Brantley KM, Foreman, RD, Buckner AV. Post-disaster Gulf Coast Recovery Using Telehealth. Telemedicine and e-health. 2013; 19(3):200-210.
This paper discussed the use of telehealth in the response and recovery after Hurricane Katrina. The researchers conducted interviews with key informants and national organizations involved with Gulf Coast recovery work. It was observed that funding, regulations, workflow, attitudes, personnel, technology, and evaluation were they key elements to telehealth success. It was noted that telehealth was especially helpful in meeting mental health needs in the aftermath of Katrina. Link to article.
28. Vo AH, Brooks GB, Bourdeau M, Farr R, Raimer BG. University of Texas Medical Branch Telemedicine Disaster Response and Recovery: Lessons Learned from Hurricane Ike. Telemedicine and e-health. 2010; 16(5):627-633.
After a direct hit from Hurricane Ike in 2009, the University of Texas Medical Branch was able to resume telemedicine much more quickly than physical operations. This paper discusses the technology involved in UTMB's telehealth systems, the community-level preparations that supported the telehealth center coming back online, and initial steps towards bringing remote telehealth capability back online. One of the first steps was to integrate any notes made by healthcare providers back into the patient's EMR, and it was noted that the EMR system was critical to providing care. Main lessons learned included topics relating to workforce availability, mobile technologies in telehealth, disaster planning, and systems engineering. Link to abstract.
29. Simmons SC, Murphy TA, Blanarovich A, Workman FT, Rosenthal DA. Carbone, M. Telehealth technologies for terrorism response: A report of the 2002 Coastal North Carolina domestic preparedness training exercise. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 2003;10:166-176.
This article details how available health IT systems, specifically telemedicine, local and wide-area networks (LAN and WAN), and video/voice conferencing, were utilized in a joint military-civilian disaster-preparedness training exercise. Technologies performed well, but the authors noted that another drill run by actual responders would provide better results. Link to article.
30. Bouri N, Ravi S. Going Mobile: How Mobile Personal Health Records Can Improve Health Care During Emergencies. Journal of Medical Internet Research mHealth and uHealth. 2014; 2(1) e8.
This paper discusses the need to overcome challenges in order to integrate Personal Health Records (PHRs) into emergency response plans. PHRs would help deliver health information even if paper and electronic systems are unavailable, allowing providers to better share data with patients, providing medical histories at the point of care, and advancing telehealth. The challenges discussed include a lack of infrastructure to manage and verify these personal health data, unclear costs to maintain PHRs, lack of standardization, and legal, regulatory, and privacy challenges. Link to article.
31. Irmiter CA, James JJ. A secure personal health information device: A tool to improve health outcomes in a disaster or public health emergency. American Medical Association. 2012.
This report details efforts to find a secure, usable, consistent technological method for communicating vital health information during a disaster. It focuses on using a Health Security Card (HSC), a credit card-sized device with a built-in chip that contains important personal health information. These cards can then be read via a handheld device. Disaster scenarios found that these cards allowed for faster triage and more effective utilization of resources. Link to abstract.
32. Irmiter CA, Subbarao I, Shah JN, Sokol P, James JJ. Personal Derived Health Information: A foundation to Preparing the United States for Disasters and Public Health Emergencies. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. 2012; 6:303-310.
This article, which contributed to the report above (Irmiter and James, 2012), details the results of an expert panel convened to determine what critical health information would be required in an emergency. These data would then be included on a transportable device that could then be given to healthcare workers. Link to abstract.
33. Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). Edited by Sarasohn-Kahn, J., Using Personal Health IT (PHIT) to Transform Healthcare. 2013. Accessed 9/19/13.
This informative website (and available pdf) details personal health information technology (PHIT), and includes detailed information about the uses of PHIT, utilizing mainstream technology for health uses, and adopting meaningful use concepts for PHIT. Link to website.


We love how area rugs can really bring together a room! Of course, they do more than just look good. In your home, these rugs can receive a lot of foot traffic and gather a lot of dirt. Let Chem-Dry of Lafayette bring back the your rugs' original vibrant patterns and colors with our safe, restorative cleaning solutions.
We recognize that some oriental and area rugs can be treasured investments so that is why Chem-Dry of Lafayette technicians always clean with meticulous care and attention to detail to preserve the beauty.
FREE no-obligation price quotes before beginning any work.
A thorough evaluation to determine the most effective and safe cleaning method for your rug.
Pre-spray cleaner, a powerful deep clean, expert drying, and fringe cleaning.
CLEANER rugs for LONGER due to no sticky, dirt-attracting residue.
Specialized solutions designed especially for area rugs.
Because we were granted The Carpet And Rug Institute Seal of Approval, you can be sure that Chem-Dry of Lafayette will provide you the highest-quality area rug cleanings! To receive this honor, our cleaning process met thorough standards in the following areas: soil removal, water recovery, fiber protection and cleaning solution certification. The CRI seal of approval serves as proof of our superior cleaning services and guarantees that you are receiving a proven service that works.
Don't you love how area rugs can really bring together a room? In your home, these rugs can receive the majority of foot traffic and hold a lot of dirt. Let Chem-Dry of Lafayette bring back the your rugs' original vibrant patterns and colors with our safe, restorative cleaning solutions. We recognize that some oriental and area rugs can be treasured investments so that is why Chem-Dry of Lafayette technicians always clean with meticulous care and attention to detail.
Pre-spray cleaner, a gentle submersion bath, expert drying, and fringe cleaning.


Hop a flight taking off in a lightning storm.
Of 528 total papers on climate change (published between 2004 and February 2007), only 38 (7%) gave an explicit endorsement of the consensus. If one considers "implicit" endorsement (accepting the consensus without explicit statement), the figure rises to 45%. However, while only 32 papers (6%) reject the consensus outright, the largest category (48%) are neutral papers, refusing to either accept or reject the hypothesis. This is no "consensus."
Hell's Bells, played as part of a worship service.
This one is worth a "heh."
This little primer over at The Volokh Conspiracy should give you a little ammunition the next time you run into one of those mouthy college kids sporting a Che Guevara t-shirt.
I love YouTube. One of my favorite things to do is hunting down old 80's music videos (and downloading them locally using Firefox and the Ook? Video Ook! plugin), and once in awhile I come across a real treasure.
Such as this music video of "Six Six Six" by now retired Christian rock band Degarmo & Key. I've heard it was the first video by a Christian rock band played on MTV, who subsequently pulled it after it a few plays labeling it as too violent. Amazing to think MTV had a morality filter at one point, and that they chose to aim it at a Christian rock band.
Vintage Apple II computer, featuring 5.25" floppy drives/disks.
The Miami Vice getups D&K are wearing.
I did not know that. Reboot Windows without having to reboot the hardware.
A pretty extensive, reasoned look at global warming, examining the science behind the hysteria hype concerns as well as delving in to a handful of common questions. It's a long read complete with pretty slides, so buckle up.
Here's a little puzzle game for you to kill a few hours on.
It has nothing to do with the traditional "Paintball" game.


, & (20080619). Part 4 International transactions, Ch.15 Important groups of treaties, Treaties of Guarantee and of Protection. In (Ed.), Oppenheim's International Law: Volume 1 Peace. : Oxford University Press,. Retrieved 23 Apr. 2019, from http://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law/9780582302457.001.0001/law-9780582302457-div1-340.
, and . "Part 4 International transactions, Ch.15 Important groups of treaties, Treaties of Guarantee and of Protection." Oppenheim's International Law: Volume 1 Peace. : Oxford University Press,. Oxford Public International Law. Date Accessed 23 Apr. 2019 <http://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law/9780582302457.001.0001/law-9780582302457-div1-340>.
, and . "Part 4 International transactions, Ch.15 Important groups of treaties, Treaties of Guarantee and of Protection." In Oppenheim's International Law: Volume 1 Peace. : Oxford University Press,, 20080619. http://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law/9780582302457.001.0001/law-9780582302457-div1-340.
, . Part 4 International transactions, Ch.15 Important groups of treaties, Treaties of Guarantee and of Protection. In: Oppenheim's International Law: Volume 1 Peace. Oxford University Press; 2008. http://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law/9780582302457.001.0001/law-9780582302457-div1-340. Accessed April 23, 2019.


text:
Q: Filetransfer plugins fails on phonegap build Adding the plugin FileTransfer to config.xml fails on phonegap-build for android.
<gap:plugin name="cordova-plugin-file-transfer" source="npm" version="1.3.0"/>

I saw an answer relating to cordova build. But how should I resolve the issue for phonegap build?
It has always been working until today (or maybe yesterday). What should I change?

A: cordova-plugin-file-transfer installs cordova-plugin-file too, and the latest version of cordova-plugin-file doesn't support phonegap build because it requires cordova android 5.0.0 that isn't on phonegap build, so install yourself the cordova-plugin-file with the previous version, add this line before the cordova-plugin-file-transfer one
<gap:plugin name="cordova-plugin-file" source="npm" version="3.0.0"/>

this is going to be reverted soon, so it shouldn't be a problem in a few hours

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: How to perform single imputation of a categorical variable in SPSS? My supervisor is convinced that the following procedure for single imputation of missing values of a categorical variable can be performed in SPSS: missing observations for that variable are RANDOMLY assigned the variable categories (levels) in the same distribution in which they occur in the non-missing observations.
So, a dumb example: I have a binary variable (say, gender) in 8 observations; the variable is not missing in 6 observations, and it is 0=male in 3 (50%) and 1=female in 3 (50%); the procedure would randomly assign to the remaining 2 observations, in which it is missing, the gender 0=male to one and 1=female to the other one, so that the distribution is still 50%-50%. The dataset would be created by
data list free/gender.
begin data
0 1 0 1 0 1 '' ''
end data.

I can perform the procedure in R, where you are free to manipulate vectors and the like. But after days of studying and surfing the web, I cannot do it in SPSS. There are only built-in single imputation methods such as the Expectation-Maximization method, and I cannot easily do it manually.
Not that I do not believe the method can be fully maximized. Assume there was one more missing observation in my example dataset: you would have 3 missing observations, so you would be forced to have 33.3% of one gender and 66.6%^of the other gender. In most cases, you won't be able to reproduce the exact same distribution of levels as in the non-missing observations. This last choice must be done by a human.
How would you do it? Is my supervisor wrong?
Important note: this is about the procedure, not the validity of this incredibly rough imputation method.

A: You can find some replacement functions for missing data in the menu under "Transform -> Replace Missing Values".
The transformation you are looking for, I think, is possible with a little trick.
Now lets make use of the "series mean" method from the Replace Missing Values function.
RMV /gender_1=SMEAN(gender).

Because the gender variable is 0-1 coded, this procedure returns the proportion of 1 compared to 0, where gender is missing and saves it into the variable gender_1. Where gender is not missing the value of gender is returned. The proportion value can also be viewed as the probability that gender will have the value 1. Now you can replace them with bernoulli distributed random numbers (using the probability stored in "gender_1").
* Where gender is missing, replace the value for the "probability" of gender=1
* with a bernoulli distributed random number (0 or 1) given this probability.
DO IF MISSING(gender).
   COMPUTE gender_1 = RV.BERNOULLI(gender_1).
END IF.
EXECUTE.


Statement Jordan: "The title track Wired For Madness Pt. 1 originally came into existence as an audio experience meant to take the listener on a musical journey. Now with video from the imagination of Wayne Joyner, it has evolved into a full on eye and ear extravaganza."


This post is going to be completely random... welcome to my brain!
Ready to hang with me?
You know I am a big fan of devotionals. Although I think they are all worth sharing, this one is awesome! Coming straight from ONE: A Marriage Devotional by Jimmy Evans.
Research proves that the best marriages are those with high goals. It's important that you set goals for your marriage and keep your expectations high. However, high goals must also be accompanied by realistic expectations.
There are two extremes that cause a lot of marriage problems. On the one hand, it is common to see couples who have very high expectations for their marriages but also have a fairy tale mentality that everything good is just going to fall into their proverbial laps. Unrealistic expectations set them up for heartache and disappointment.
On the other extreme are the couples who don't want to be disappointed so they keep their expectations low. Sometimes these couples are cynical because of failed marriages in their past or chronic problems in their present marriage.
Finding balance is the key to success. You must set goals and have dreams for your marriage. You must also realize that there will be challenges along the way and enemies you must face and overcome. By the way, the journey toward the dream is as important as the dream itself. It is on the journey that you learn to depend on each other, trust in each other, pray together and ultimately become close friends and intimate lovers.
+ Have a date night every week. Do something special and work hard on that night to keep your romance alive.
+ Commit to having a vision retreat this year (which I talked about in week 44, A Common Vision).
+ Be creative and energetic in meeting each other's needs.
+ Brush up on your manners. Recommit to appreciating each other and honoring each other.
+ Go to at least one marriage seminar this year, and read at least one marriage book together.
Be inspired to set some new goals and keep dreaming big dreams for your marriage. God created you for greatness.
Talk It Out | What goals have you set for your marriage? Do you have realistic expectations of how to attain them? Write down your common goals and pray together, asking God to help you realize your dreams.
Walk It Out | Make this week's date night specifically for her. Husbands, let your wife choose what you will do on your date, and put extra effort into making it special for her!
Married or not, we are all dreamers! Even the men!
I like that this forces couples to really think, talk, and set some goals. IT'S vital, I believe.
So tomorrow on our Spring Break ROAD TRIP (wo0-hoo!) we will be doing some goal-setting.
Like I stated before, my blog has been going through a face lift! I've been searching for various color combos and stumbled across a new site that's worth sharing!
It's a great resource for any party planning, web planning, or house planning!
I'm going to be completely honest.
Every morning I ask myself, can it get ANY bigger???
Good thing there is a little miracle growing in there because this belly is taking OVER.
10 weeks until we meet baby Ireland!
You know what ladies? All this big belly business is SO worth it.
Lastly, we told Halo she's going on a road trip.
She doesn't look too excited!


Greg Livingstone in his book, "Planting Churches in Muslim Cities" gives some great insights into the whole Islamic landscape and the importance of church planting. Livingstone's experience with ministry in the Middle East, not only gives credibility to what he is writing about, but he gives very practical advice and solutions to see a more fruitful ministry to the Muslims.
But God is doing something.
Livingstone notes that God is raising up a new paradigm to reach Muslims. Rather than having a very individualistic mindset of reaching out to people, Livingstone is proposing that ministry be done in teams. He feels like this is more of a biblical model as we look into the Book of Acts.
It is exciting to read about the importance of the apostolic ministry when it comes to reaching Muslims and even regions influenced by Islam. We have to go beyond the recent avenues of teaching English and even come up with new pathways to build relationships, as well as to bless the city or village.
1)	I am more Western than I would like to confess. Even though at times I pride myself in being bi-cultural, I realized that I might be more Western in my thinking compared to the culture and customs of the Middle East or in Indonesia.
2)	We really need more transcultural people to be part of future international church plants in Muslim dominated countries. I think this is where being bi-cultural is very helpful.
3)	The Jakarta team will need to train aggressively on learning how to adapt to various cultures. There are a lot of non-Western things that we have to adapt to as well as adopt in order for us to be more effective in sharing the Gospel.
This is a good book to get a person's mind thinking about doing missions through church planting, especially in areas where it is not easy to stand out as a local church. But God is moving through people who have a Muslim background but converted to the Gospel message. These are the people that are reaching out to their follow Muslim family and friends. There are some powerful testimonies.
These are some of the things that we want to experience as we head out to Indonesia.


Norton is a city in, and the county seat of, Norton County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 2,928.
Norton was founded in 1872. Like the county, it was named for Capt. Orloff Norton.
The first hotel was a log house, built in 1873.
One of the first recorded tornado pictures was taken in Norton, in 1909, by photographer Will Keller.
Norton is located at 39°50′0″N 99°53′27″W / 39.83333°N 99.89083°W / 39.83333; -99.89083 (39.833338, -99.890899). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.93 square miles (5.00 km2), all land. The city is situated on the north side of Prairie Dog Creek in Norton County. Before the Bureau of Reclamation constructed Keith Sebelius Lake in 1963, Norton was prone to frequent flooding. The construction of the Dam has since resolved the problem and created the current reservoir that sits 2.5 miles (4.0 km) southwest of Norton. The Nebraska border is located 11 miles (18 km) north of the city.
As of the census of 2010, there were 2,928 people, 1,290 households, and 763 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,517.1 inhabitants per square mile (585.8/km2). There were 1,465 housing units at an average density of 759.1 per square mile (293.1/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 96.8% White, 0.2% African American, 0.1% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 0.5% from other races, and 1.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.3% of the population.
There were 1,290 households of which 26.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.5% were married couples living together, 9.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 40.9% were non-families. 36.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 18.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.86.
The median age in the city was 44.8 years. 23.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 20.6% were from 25 to 44; 27.8% were from 45 to 64; and 22% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 46.6% male and 53.4% female.
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,012 people, 1,331 households, and 814 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,566.5 people per square mile (605.7/km²). There were 1,517 housing units at an average density of 789.0 per square mile (305.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.91% White, 0.40% Native American, 0.33% Asian, 0.03% African American, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.63% from other races, and 0.66% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.03% of the population.
There were 1,331 households out of which 27.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.5% were married couples living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.8% were non-families. 36.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 2.86.
In the city, the population was spread out with 24.5% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 22.1% from 45 to 64, and 24.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $30,339, and the median income for a family was $36,179. Males had a median income of $25,943 versus $20,559 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,438. About 5.5% of families and 9.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.4% of those under age 18 and 6.5% of those age 65 or over.
Norton is on the boundary of two climate zones, humid continental and semiarid. Temperatures can fluctuate drastically between the winter and summer seasons with average lows of 15 °F in January to average highs of 94 °F in July. Precipitation is relatively low with an average yearly rainfall of 21.1 inches. Snowfall throughout the year averages 25.1 inches (640 mm), however, because of its location on the high plains, snowfall totals can sometimes approach the yearly average after a single snowfall.
The Board of Education for the Unified School District #211, the Norton Community Schools, oversees the operation of three student attendance centers in the Community of Norton.
Eisenhower Elementary School Constructed in 1954 and added on to in 1966 and 1990, Eisenhower Elementary serves students in USD 211 in grades ECD through sixth grade. Full day, every day kindergarten is offered as is a full range of special education services. Grades ECD through four are taught in self-contained classrooms. Grades 5 & 6 are departmentalized for instruction in math, reading, science, language arts and computer technology. Each teacher also teaches social studies and spelling to their homeroom students.
Norton Junior High School Constructed in 1937 and extensively remodeled in 1984, Norton Junior High School serves the 120+ students in grades 7 & 8. In addition to required classes of math, language arts, physical education/ health, science and social studies each junior high student receives 3 semesters of instruction in computer technology and digital media production and one semester of technology exploration (robotics, pneumatics, electronics, etc.). Elective classes are offered in vocal music, instrumental music, art, wood working, and family and consumer sciences.
Norton Community High School Constructed in 1975 & 1977, NCHS is a 3A high school with an enrollment of 200+. A comprehensive high school, NCHS is able to offer instruction in the areas of calculus, physics, human anatomy, chemistry II and foreign language. In addition to the regular academic curriculum, NCHS offers fine arts and vocational training.
The Norton Community High School Bluejays have won ten Kansas State High School Activities Association state championships in wrestling, including a state championship in 2010 and three consecutive Class 3-2-1A championships in 2004-6. Norton's football team won back-to-back Class 4A state championships in 1985 and 1986, and finished as state runners-up in 1989. The girls basketball and boys basketball teams won state championships in 1983 and 2003, respectively, and have made numerous state tournament appearances. NCHS also boasts programs in girls tennis, girls volleyball, boys golf, cross country, and track and field.
Kathleen Sebelius, the former Secretary of Health and Human Services and a former governor of Kansas.
^ "2010 City Population and Housing Occupancy Status". U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved March 27, 2011.
^ Kansas State Historical Society (1916). Biennial Report of the Board of Directors of the Kansas State Historical Society. Kansas State Printing Plant. p. 253.
^ "Profile for Norton, Kansas". ePodunk. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
^ Blackmar, Frank Wilson (1912). Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Volume 2. Standard Publishing Company. p. 374.
^ "Project Details - Almena Unit". United States Bureau of Reclamation. Retrieved 2010-11-02.
^ "Historical Weather for Norton, KS". Weatherbase. Retrieved September 4, 2009.
^ "Norton Climate Records". NOAA. Retrieved September 4, 2009.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Norton, Kansas.
This page was last edited on 12 April 2019, at 06:13 (UTC).


On the tenth page of the first issue of the Village Voice, published on October 26, 1955, the anonymous restaurant critic known to history only as "dhs" writes, "The Village may well be touted for its theatre, art galleries, grog shops and assorted cultural pursuits but for the tried and true trenchman this is all, so to speak, gravy. He, the trencherman," the critic continues, "culls kitchens as assiduously as his poetic friends scan sonnets." And he, the trencherman, was undoubtedly equally rewarded. For dhs, the Village was a "multi-lingual dining hall" stuffed with "justly famed" Italian joints, "sundry excellent steak-and-chop houses," and "sea-food restaurants." Holding forth in these booths, from these stools, leaning on the counter, cigarettes in hand, were the best minds of his generation. On his adventures, dhs might well have run into everyone from the devilishly handsome Jack Kerouac, to Allen Ginsberg in all his pre–holy man bookishness, to Joan Didion, James Baldwin, C. Wright Mills, and Doris Day, to Willem de Kooning, drunk as usual, and Frank O'Hara, for whom there would be no Lunch Poems had there not been lunch.
Long gone are the days when patronage of the arts devolved to kindly restaurateurs. Long dead are Max and Mae and Bob and Lorraine. Long past the days of Potpourri. On a recent swing down the block, I find the address occupied by a barbershop called Wicked Ways, and, down a few stairs, a massage parlor from whose thin stalls emerge the grunts of old men. They sound like grumpy machinery creaking, and the air reeks of baby oil and exploitation.
Does one despair? Hardly. One simply walks north. Though the Village is much changed, a block north on Waverly Place, the Waverly Diner occupies the same corner as it has for the last 35 years. In 2011, the restaurant underwent renovation. Some things have changed. To the consternation of neon aficionados, the words "Steaks Chops Seafood" no longer glow from the sign above the door. To the chagrin of actors — and their mothers — the old black-and-white framed photographs of thespians that had once lined the walls are gone too. But the heart remains beating, 24-7. It wasn't an existential renovation, what you might call an anagnorisis renovation, the kind that turned Oedipus into a sad sack or the Minetta Tavern into "Minetta Tavern" or Chumley's into "Chumley's" . The Waverly Diner is cleaner now, but it hasn't lost its purity.
With lace-rimmed paper hearts hanging in the window and from the wall, the diner has never looked so fetching as it does on this mid-morning weekday. When I stop by, every table is full, every counter seat taken. Ditto the four-top booths, the two-top booths, and even the one-sided table by the door, with four chairs for lonely hearts to watch the world go by from. Each together in his or her aloneness.
The menu is as ridiculously long as I remember from my late-night visits as an NYU student, and placed on the table with the same professional disregard by black-vested waiters who wait by the door like personal trainers at a gym. But there are some more courtly touches, too, these days. "May we suggest a fruit and cheese platter or a cheese platter?" the menu asks on the first page. At the bottom of the "Potatopia" page — which presents, among other things, fries in their disco, pizza, and cheese permutations — five sauces, from BBQ sauce, tomato sauce, marinara sauce, cocktail sauce, and honey mustard (which isn't a sauce), are suggested as possible partners for the baked potato, which itself is presented in five iterations, from sweet to stuffed with broccoli and cheese.
A survey of the tables reveals the gloriously disparate tastes of the patrons. A 24-7 restaurant operates on its own circadian rhythms, only loosely correlated to the natural ones. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are here unmoored from traditional time frames, so that the restaurant's tables form a culinary Pompeii. Each diner is caught wherever he is in his life. At 10 a.m, one finds spaghetti and meatballs, a daily special; golden waffles with tufts of whipped cream that look like El Dorado seen from an airplane; a Romanian steak, well-charred and glistening; as well as the people for whom those choices make the most sense. I can only speculate on the road by which an old man with limpid blue eyes came to order a platter of shimmering Portuguese sardines, splayed out on a pellucid sheet of lettuce, but it must have been long and winding and very interesting.
A few days later, I stop by for a late dinner, around 10 p.m. on a Monday night. Alone, I work my way through a Waverly Melt, a chocolate egg cream, a homemade orangeade, a plate of pizza fries, and a slice of strawberry shortcake. It's an odd jumble of dishes, chosen more to be a representative sample than for any internal cohesion. And of all that I eat, nothing is amiss. The Waverly Melt, essentially a patty melt, is just as greasy as it should be. The hamburger patty sweats it out under a swelter of sautéed onions and a gooey blanket of American cheese, while being kept somewhat contained by grilled butter-soaked white bread. The pizza fries are steak-cut, and though they appear as abashed by the extraneous toppings as a dog does a sweater, they are nonetheless dignified and delicious. The egg cream beats Gem Spa and the orangeade would beat any other in the city, if only it were served more. The only misstep was the strawberry shortcake, from whom days in the display case sapped a certain joie de vivre. Overall, the menu is a major chord, a close rhyme, a base hit. One gets the same satisfaction eating from it as one does patting the flank of a horse, a deep resonant sense of solidity.
In these pages in the weeks and years to come, I will revisit great good places like these of the Village and beyond, the restaurants that fall in the long trough between novelty and obsolescence, too old for excitement and too young for elegy. These are the restaurants at risk of vanishing, to be caught only by Jeremiah Moss, New York's greatest catcher in the rye. The kind of restaurants that drew the attention of Joseph Mitchell and Meyer Berger and the affection of nameless hungry hordes yearning for egg salad.


These are a classic earwire design with a ball and spring and have a lovely quality plating. Available in either silver or gold plated. If you wanted to add a little extra security when wearing these earwires you could use our plastic earwire stoppers to prevent them slipping out of the ear.


WNCU 90.7 FM, a public radio station anchored at North Carolina Central University, is launching a program to train a diverse, inclusive, and underrepresented group of student reporters.
WNCU 90.7 FM serves partly as a hub to educate and train young journalists at North Carolina Central University, which includes mentoring and professional networking. The Advancement of Emerging Young, Diverse News Journalists project will train students via WNCU public radio and the student newspaper, The Campus Echo, during fall 2018 and spring 2019. Through this project, WNCU also aims to better serve its community by curating and sharing news stories from the perspective of this diverse group. The project will be led by WNCU's experienced professionals, including general manager Lackisha Freeman and news and public affairs director Kimberley Pierce Cartwright.
Since its founding in 1995, WNCU has focused on education for listeners and students alike. Its main goal is to locally produce music, news, and public affairs programs that are culturally enriching, diverse, intelligent, interactive and thought-provoking. All final productions from this project will be aired on WNCU and the podcast will be shared via www.wncu.org. The launch of this collaborative project will give an often-underserved group of students the chance to create authentic stories and develop key professional skills for their careers.
Learn more about WNCU 90.7 FM via its website. You can also find it on Facebook, and Twitter.


QLX-D Digital Wireless Systems deliver defined, streamlined performance with transparent 24-bit digital audio. Combining professional features with simplified setup and operation, QLX-D offers outstanding wireless functionality for demanding live sound events and installations. Shure digital wireless technology enables QLX-D to transmit detailed audio with extended, virtually flat frequency response. Designed to be incredibly RF spectrum efficient, QLX-D reliably operates more channels on-air than any other wireless system in its class. Automatic channel scan and IR sync make finding and assigning an open frequency quick and easy. Ethernet connection provides networked channel scanning across multiple receivers and Shure Wireless Workbench 6 control software compatibility for advanced frequency coordination. AES-256 encryption comes standard and can be easily enabled for secure wireless transmission. Compatible with the Shure SB900 lithium-ion battery, QLX-D rechargeable power options provide dramatic long-term cost savings and extended transmitter battery life over alkaline batteries, with battery metering that reports remaining runtime in hours and minutes. With clearly defined performance, QLX-D delivers the very latest in wireless technology innovation from Shure.
The Qwik Time Quartz Credit Card Metronome can operate in 2/4 3/4 or 4/4 rhythms. It also features an Accent beat with a bouncing ball visual to reach rhythm. Over 200 speeds 40 to 250 BPM.
The Qwik Time Quartz Metronome offers over 200 settings. A distinctive click sound cuts through the music to give precisely what you need from a metronome.


text:
'Ford v Ferrari' Review
When kicking into high gear, Ford v Ferrari (also known as Le Mans '66) is an explosive sports film of the best kind. When downshifting it definitely has some bumps in the road with building out its characters (though based on real people) to fit in to a movie narrative. However it still moves forward confidently enough for you to just sit back and enjoy the ride.
The amazing parts of this are all the scenes involving racing and being locked in a car with the characters. They are wonderfully shot and edited, making you wish to see more and more of them the whole time. When there is motor racing, there is less acting which means stunt drivers need to step up and bring it and they did an exceptional job. Talking about acting, the main stars Christian Bale (Ken Miles) and Matt Damon (Carroll Shelby) perform to their standards while Jon Bernthal (Lee Iacocca) and Noah Jupe (Peter) are a joy to watch as they navigate through some cliche-y scenes with grace. Everything to do with sound is knocked out of the park by the sound department, putting the viewer right in the middle of all the action.
Trying to balance out the action movie-ness, the film introduces quite a bit of classic drama elements in between. Unfortunately much of it comes off as unnecessary and tiring, the characters are poorly introduced and built out (again, even though they are based on real people) and the dramatic dialogue is just there to be dramatic, without ever really adding up to anything. Main examples of this are the scenes involving Miles' household and the whole character of Leo Beebe who seems to be there only for the sassiness. The score by Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders is a frustrating case as it seems to hit perfectly towards the end but in the beginning, it seems distractingly out of place and time with cues that try to belong to 60's without ever managing to do it.
Smileys: Stunt choreography, editing, sound design
Frowneys: Characterisation, score
Ford v Ferrari is just good ol' fun, with enough slower moments to grab a beer without missing anything important.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
«Мистер Вудкок» () — американская комедия режиссёра Крейга Гиллеспи. Премьера фильма состоялась 14 сентября 2007 года.

Сюжет
Главным героем фильма является Джон Фарли, писатель, ставший известным после написания книги о том, как помочь самому себе добиться успехов в жизни. Ему предлагают вернуться в свой родной город, чтобы получить награду, а именно ключ от города. После приезда и встречи с матерью он узнаёт о том, что она уже несколько месяцев встречается с его школьным учителем физкультуры мистером Вудкоком, который издевался над ним в течение всего его периода пребывания в школе.

Джон решает, что не может уехать из этого города до тех пор, пока его мать встречается с человеком, который издевался над ним все его школьные годы. Он начинает всеми способами пытаться очернить Вудкока в глазах своей матери и спровоцировать разрыв их отношений.

В ролях

Критика

Фильм получил в основном низкие оценки. На сайте Rotten tomatoes на январь 2014 года рейтинг фильма равен 13% и составляет среднюю оценку в 4 балла по десятибалльной шкале . На сайте Metacritic фильм имеет рейтинг в 5.7, основанный на 32 отзывах, а на IMDb его оценка составляет 5.1 балла .

Несмотря на то, что фильм был так низко оценен большинством критиков, Роджер Эберт дал ему три звезды из четырёх .

В одном из интервью в 2009 году Шон Уильям Скотт сказал, что на съёмочной площадке фильма они с Торнтоном не раз обсуждали, насколько ужасен тот был и что нет ничего хуже, чем ощущение того, что ты идёшь на съёмки фильма, который может положить конец твоей карьере .

Примечания

Ссылки

Кинокомедии США
Дебютные фильмы кинорежиссёров
Фильмы New Line Cinema
Фильмы на английском языке
Фильмы Крейга Гиллеспи
Фильмы США 2007 года

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The promised "very special wine at a price to match", as described here by Johann Krige last month is on sale.
Cybercellar.com and Wade Bales Wine Society. Only 1000 bottles have made, the grapes coming from the oldest vines on the farm, and the first 600 have been released with a price of 1,000 ZAR per bottle (82GBP/132USD). The last tranche of 400 bottles will be released later this year. There is a limit of 36 bottles per customer, but according to .Angela Lloyd's blog all the available bottles sold out instantly.
Over on eBob (Robert Parker's forum) Chaad Thomas thought Fairview's 2005 Pinotage was a great wine.
"Dark garnet, with some ruby reflections. Bright. Bold nose is smoky, gamey, and herbal. My wife says it smells like an Italian [spiced] stable! It's definitely redolent of wild berries and true to that SA funk.
Fresh and lively up front, the wine shows ripe, supple fruit and good weight. It's quite harmonious, with a good balance of earth tones and savor. The fruit is a juicy blend of cherry, raspberry, and cranberry...maybe blackberry.
Nicely knit all the way through the middle, too. The finish is a progressive evolution from the palate, allowing a nice glow of salty, beefiness at the end. Mouthwatering.
In all, this is still a great wine, true to my memory of it a few years back, on release. It's so satisfying and enjoyable to drink! It's not profound,but it is distinctly flavorful and "original" tasting."
In New Zealand, Sue Courtney at Wine of the Weektested a gizmo called SpinWine that is supposed to aerate wine. Sue compared three distinctly different wines, Tempranillo, Montepulciano and Te Awa Hawkes Bay 2007 Pinotage. The SpinWine didn't impress but the Pinotage did.
Concentrated, impenetrable, blackberry red hue. There's a tomato character to the aroma and a hint of a barnyard character too. A full-bodied wine in the mouth with soft tannins and bright, spicy, meaty flavours.
Amanda at The Travelling Grape 'was so excited' about tasting her very first Pinotage which a friend of a friend had brought back to her in California. It was Diemersfontein Pinotage 2008 .
Wow, a chocolate bomb on my nose right away with dark rich coffee beans. Could this be a Café Mocha lover's answer? At first it was a bit hot and tickled my nose but that dissipated in time. The front of the palate was quick but the middle, whoa nelly…smooth like velvet with a hint of smoke and leather but the coffee and chocolate certainly stole the show. The finish lingered around a bit and left me yearning for a chocolate covered cherry. Very unique and I encourage each of you to get your hands on some to try.
Hooray!!! A wine that is inexpensive, scrumptious, and organically/sustainably grown. For the price, it doesn't get much better than this. I haven't had a lot of South African wine, but I'm hooked. This Pinotage is sure to be a crowd pleaser. It's quite sweet and will appeal to the Pinot fans (Iswithi means "sweet" in Zulu), but it's cherry-sweet rather than sickly-sweet, and it's also full-bodied enough to win over Cab and Syrah fans.
It happens quite often that uniquely handcrafted wines are overlooked in the chase for best value, yet quality wines. While the coffee-styled Pinotage is handcrafted by impressive scientific measures, the question remains - how unique is it?
Bertus Fourie aka Starbucks Fourie (which makes him sound a little bit like a movie star) is the MD of Val de Vie Wines and creator of the infamous coffee-styled Pinotage, particularly invented to "demystify" wine, making it more accessible to the people. Fourie's coffee Pinotage career, of which the 'recipe' lies in a specific type of oak and toasting combined with specific yeast, took off at Diemersfontein and has since left a trail of coffee beans at KWV causing much controversy and tons of cash. Currently employed in a "purely management capacity", Fourie is in charge of the Barista Pinotage while his brother, Martin Fourie, is the official winemaker of Val de Vie Wines. Despite lots of criticism from the industry, the reaction by the public has so far been extremely positive not only in South Africa but also countries such as Singapore, the UK, USA and Canada.
It is generally believed that Fourie "practically invented this style of Pinotage", but apart from using Pinotage, this method isn't so new Down Under. Although not with Pinotage, Australian wine company Wolf Blass already "exhibited some of these characters back in the late 70s," says senior wine judge and KWV consultant, Ian McKenzie. Although the focus has never been on these coffee-like characters, he continues, they "have always been recognized and described as barrel ferment artefact and have been utilized to varying degrees by different winemakers as a complexing agent". McKenzie has been working as a consultant to KWV since 2005. According to Prof Sakkie Pretorius of the Wine Research Institute in Australia, even though one can not "rule out the possibility of another (yet to be discovered) Pinotage-specific compound which is driving those coffee characters" it is more likely that those "characters are not exclusively associated with varietal Pinotage wines" and can in fact be used with any varietal.
"We have found these coffee-like characteristics can be achieved in almost any red wine," McKenzie further explained, "provided the grapes are fully mature with ripe sweet fruit characters and importantly, ripe tannins". Yellowtail and Little Penguin are among a couple of currently available Australian brands that have "similar but not as pronounced characters" in many different varieties including Shiraz. The basis of Fourie's research however, was not done "on the enhanced coffee aromas, but the effect thereof on Pinotage due to the aromatic profile of this variety". Yes it can be done with any varietal, he explains over a cup of (real) coffee, but "not nearly the same result is achieved as with Pinotage".
Although he has caused much controversy (albeit not on purpose), he remains a firm believer in the success of the Pinotage grape and believes that Pinotage handled correctly in the cellar and the vineyard "can produce a world class wine" - even without the added coffee aromas. Though widely criticised, the 2009 Barista does show lots of fruit, soft tannins and a delicate yet very much recognisable hint of coffee and mocha - indeed, a very drinkable wine. Fourie, however, is "slightly disappointed in the 2009", for which he wished even "more coffee intensity" and scores the KWV Café Culture the highest point of the three - a wine described by Tim James as "squishy". Proving there is no such thing as bad publicity, the Diemersfontein 2008, KWV Café Culture 2009 and Barista Coffee Pinotage 2009 were voted top of the polls (in that order) during the Cape Town RMB WineX - popular wine show organised by Michael Fridjhon. The KWV Café Culture, sweet and sticky with overwhelming flavours of coffee and chocolate, seems to be the characteristics most non-lovers of wine prefer when drinking wine. However, Fourie is quick to assure that the Coffee Pinotage was not created in an attempt to camouflage the varietal characteristics but purely a decision of "supply and demand" thereby giving the consumers what they want.
Pinotage Association vice-chairman and acclaimed winemaker De Wet Viljoen believes the key to any successful Pinotage lies in knowing that winemakers "work with a living thing (the vineyard) where there is no fixed recipe and the starting point is never the same". He prefers a Pinotage of which the primary fruit is not completely overwhelmed and feels the most important part of winemaking is to "recognise and stick to the varietal characteristics" of the grape.
Pinotage certainly isn't a crude grape that makes for unbalanced and unsophisticated wines but merely asks for refinement; finding the elegance and the sophistication in the grape as proven by Abrie Beeslaar, Beyers Truter, Neil Ellis, Danie Steytler and Johan Malan. Almost like moving along the edge of a steel-point knife, every winemaker has "to strive for balance" - an important point that relates to any other varietal. McKenzie feels the level of the coffee-like characters found in Bertus's versions and the KWV Café Culture would in Australia "in all probability be regarded as overoaked".
The truth is veteran winemakers have seen many vintages of Pinotage (and other varieties) make their way through the cellar and have by now recognised what they call "concept wines". The danger comes, De Wet explains, when critics and people start to "place Pinotage in a box", associating it with one particular style. "Different styles come and go but some things are timeless and will never change."
Timeless or not, people seem to love a good trend and Bertus Fourie is most certainly enjoying the ride on this wave of success.
Francois Naude retired from L'Avenir but he couldn't retire from wine making. Here he is talking about his own wine, Le Vin de Francois.
I was very impressed with the poise and elegance of Altydgedacht Estate 's delicious 2008 Pinotage when I tasted it for the first time a few months ago. I was manning the Pinotage Association stand at the Wines of South Africa London Mega Tasting in October and this wine got many positive comments.
Etienne Louw made the wine and he invited me to the farm in Durbanville to meet him and owners John & Ollo Parker.
I asked Etienne to tell me about his Pinotage.
The Parkers are the fifth generation to own the farm, which is quite large at 412h and stretches up the side of a high hill. Here the chill sea wind drops the temperature dramatically and its where the Parkers grow Sauvignon Blanc that the Durbanville area is rightly famous for.
A little lower are their Pinotage vineyards. Much of Altydgedacht's vines are farmed on contract basis for wineries such as Nederburg. A central block of Pinotage, marked by coloured ribbons tied to the end of the trellis, are reserved for Altydgedacht and it is these that made the 2008 wine that won the 2009 Top 10 competition -- the first Durbanville wine to do so.
Not all the farm grows vines: the Parkers also grow grain and reserve large tracts of the original renosterveld vegetation, on which Ollo's wife is an expert. Ruth Parker wrote the book Renosterveld: A Wilderness Exposed. Her husband, Ollo, is the cellarmaster while brother John is viticulturist.
Etienne arrived in 2006 to take over winemaking duties. He has many plans. He used to work at sparkling wine specialists J C LeRoux and he is experimenting with a methode cap classique at Altydgedacht, and the un-degorged bottle I tried was impressive.
But old favourites are safe. Altydgedacht make one of the Cape's few Gewurtztraminer wines, a nice example which, they tell me, is very popular in America. They also make a rare Barbera, a variety they pioneered, and which I later greatly enjoyed with pasta.
On the way down from the vineyards Ollo stopped to fasten some loose vines. I was intrigued by the tool he used that seemed to work by just pointing at the vine.
Marisa D'Vari at A Wine Story has posted an interview with Kanonkop winemaker Abrie Beeslaar about his 2007 Pinotage.
Pinotage, a grape native to South Africa, is rarely seen in California, but George Bursick of J Wine Co. in the Russian River made a 2006 pinotage that is probably the best version of the grape I have ever tasted. At $38, the wine isn't cheap, but it is startlingly excellent."
says Dan Berger in The Napa Valley Register.


Standards Australia is the independent and not-for-profit developer of internationally-aligned Australian Standards. In this column, Tim Wheeler, National Sector Manager of Standards Australia, talks about the organisation's role in developing standards in the Asia-Pacific region.
Fire safety has been in the news a lot lately. The high-rise apartment fire in Melbourne's Docklands, which has been blamed on external cladding that did not conform to combustibility standards, prompted an inquiry by the Senate on building products imported into Australia.
While Australia reviews its standards and conformance system, we should also take the opportunity to introduce a measure of healthy introspection. How do Australia's standards compare with the rest of the region, and indeed the rest of the world? What can we learn from and do better?
In today's interconnected world, where globalised product supply chains stretch across different countries, most houses in Australia will have building materials that are imported from different parts of the world. This is happening not just because businesses want to reduce costs. They do this in response to increasing customer demand for lower prices, greater product options and better value for money.
This is why harmonised, mutually recognised and internationally-aligned standards are so important. All around the world, standards open up market access for businesses, and boost trade and investment by reducing barriers to trade. Standards that provide a baseline level of safety requirements allow markets and consumers to have confidence in the quality of products and services.
It all starts from countries working together to share best practices. Standards Australia has been very active in strengthening our partnerships with other countries in the region.
In June 2015, Australia and Singapore deepened bilateral cooperation with a strong focus on facilitating bilateral trade and investment under a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
A key component of this cooperation is the harmonisation and alignment of technical standards across both economies. SPRING Singapore and Standards Australia are intensifying collaboration with a view to aligning standards where possible.
As two of the leading national standards bodies in the Asia-Pacific region, it makes sense for us to pool our resources where there is mutual benefit; and to align our standards development programs to foster innovation, productivity, industry competitiveness and market access in the region.
We have identified a number of areas in early discussions, such as the built environment, including heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) and fire services engineering; the silver economy (another name for the 'grey' economy); and intergenerational change.
We aim to start with international standards, identify what works for both economies and to map out a standards infrastructure that provides the greatest benefits with the best use of resources.
We also aim to actively explore areas where harmonised and aligned standards will fit our society in future. We have had great support from both governments for this process, all the way up to the Prime Ministers of both countries.
At the invitation of the New Caledonian Government, Standards Australia is working on a project in New Caledonia in collaboration with AFNOR, the French national standards body. The project aims to build capacity in New Caledonia for standards development, through sharing best practices, experiences and information in the area of building and construction standards. The first phase of the project includes a mapping of both countries' standards, to identify similarities and explore potential areas for harmonisation. This project will be of mutual benefit and could potentially boost two-way trade and investment between Australia and New Caledonia.
Signing of Memorandum of Understanding between SPRING Singapore and Standards Australia, witnessed by the Prime Ministers of both countries. Image courtesy of the Ministry of Communications and Information, Singapore.
We have also been helping our neighbours in capacity-building projects. Recently, in association with SPRING Singapore and ISO's Regional Office in the Asia Pacific, Standards Australia conducted an Institutional Capacity Building Workshop with Myanmar's national standards body, the Myanmar Department of Research and Innovation (DRI). This workshop will assist DRI to develop further procedures that will strengthen the organisation's capacity and ability to participate in national and international standards development activities. The goal was to enhance trade and economic benefits for Myanmar and the region through setting up business-friendly standardisation infrastructure based on international systems and norms.
Standards Australia continues to be very active at the technical and governance levels in regional and international standards bodies, such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the Pacific Area Standards Congress (PASC), and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance (APEC SCSC). Mr Adrian O'Connell, our Deputy Chief Executive Officer, has been re-elected for another term on the ISO Technical Management Board. He also serves as the Executive Chair of PASC.
Australia is represented on all major IEC governance committees including the IEC Council Board, Strategic Management Board and the Conformity Assessment Board. This high level of engagement ensures that Australia is able to exercise leadership in areas of standards development that support Australia's national interests.
Our work would not have been possible without the experts that make up our technical committees.
Standards Australia's annual Standards Awards are presented to those who have made significant contributions to standardisation. This year, the inaugural WR Hebblewhite Medal for Outstanding Contribution or Distinguished Service in Standards Development, named after our first and longest-serving Chief Executive William Rayner Hebblewhite, was presented to a very deserving winner, Mr Russell Shephard, AFSM.
Russell has been a champion of standards both in Australia and overseas. More than twenty years of his career were spent in standardisation work for Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for firefighters, representing the Australasian Fire and Emergency Services Authority Council and serving as Chair of Technical Committee SF-049, Firefighters Personal Protective Equipment, and a number of other fire safety committees.
His extensive expertise is held in high regard by the international firefighting PPE community. In 2011, he worked tirelessly to achieve worldwide consensus on ISO 16073, Wildland firefighting personal protective equipment – Requirements and test methods, as a single Standard to cover minimum performance requirements and methods for all wildland personal protective equipment.
Recently in 2014, he became Chair of ISO TC 94/SC 14, Firefighters' Personal Protection. He was awarded the Australian Fire Service Medal in 2007 for his contribution to enhancing safety in the Australian Fire Industry.
Russell's work on the national and international levels has contributed to the health and safety of many of our finest and bravest, and has helped countries from all over the world to be on the same page when it comes to fire safety.


On this episode of The PVDcast, I am joined by local screenwriter and filmmaker, Steph Greegor. She is the driving force behind a movie project called The Third Period. This film is about an aging hockey player, who is trying to battle back from an injury to resurrect his career. Besides talking about the film, we also dive into Steph's other projects – a novel called Paper Wasps and her production company, Eleven One Productions. We even manage to fit in a little superhero talk, discussing why superhero stories have the best drama. Get ready for one merry monologue of movie making madness on episode 175!
Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to the show!
The PVDcast is John Orlando's personal podcast. On each episode, John chats with a guest and tackles important pop-culture topics!


Nordland County can boast of 35% of all the White-tailed Sea-eagles in Norway and 20% of the world�s population. The White-tailed Sea-eagle is closely related to the American Bald Eagle and hundreds of these majestic birds can be seen around Bod�. It is a magnificent and powerful bird with a wing span of about 8 foot and has been a protected species in Norway since 1968.A short stroll will take you to the boat pier, where you�ll be greeted by your friendly captain. After an orientation and safety briefing, you�ll be kitted out in a floatation suit, gloves and glasses.On boarding your RIB, your captain will take you on an exhilarating ride along the dazzling fjord. Enjoy the surrounding landscape of steep cliffs, snow-capped peaks and cascading waterfalls as you whizz across the water to discover the natural environment of the eagle. Your knowledgeable captain will slow down at the best places to spot the eagles and you may also be able to see an array of other wildlife including otters, moose or orca.


The ultra-thin limit regime is characterized by a structure which at least in one dimension is significantly smaller than the incoming light wavelength. The absorption in this regime is characterized either by very weak absorption or by a broad peak attributed to the zeroth order Fabry-Perot mode. We show that this mode provides a 14.5% ultimate efficiency in a 25 nm GaAs slab on a gold substrate. GaAs in air achieves only a 5% for a 10 nm slab. Such an amplification of the resonance absorption is attributed to the high losses of the substrate. For very high losses, the zeroth order mode transits from an over-damped regime to an under-damped one.
Light absorption plays a central role in the design of optoelectronic devices. It is of particular relevance in the case of solar cells, where the photogenerated carriers result from the absorption of the incoming solar light. The most simple physical model to describe the absorption in the active material of a solar cell is a free-standing slab. The absorption of a slab presents a series of peaks which are well described by the Fabry-Perot resonances resulting from the interference of the transmitted and reflected waves at the bounding surfaces. Such resonances are commonly described as an integer multiple of the optical path: m λm/2 = n L, being λm the wavelength of the resonance of order m = 1,2,…,n the refractive index and L the thickness of the slab. The positions of these resonances coincide with the transmission maxima of the slab and conversely, with the minima in the reflectance. If the slab presents optical losses, i.e. its material is described by a complex refractive index, the position of the absorption maxima are slightly shifted with respect to the aforementioned thumb rule of the FP resonances. A broader perspective of the problem is attained from a guidance point of view. If we look at the slab as a two dimensional waveguide, there would be guided modes propagating within the slab at particular frequencies and wavevector orientations thanks to the total internal reflection (TIR) at the top and bottom interfaces . For an incoming angle larger that the TIR critical angle, part of the energy of the field is radiated away from the waveguide, becoming a leaky mode. In a seminal work [2–4], Kliewer, Fuchs and Pardee described such modes as virtualmodes. The particular case of light impinging on a surface at a normal angle is equivalent to the study of a guided mode propagating with a wavevector normal to the waveguide surfaces. Physical methods have evolved in the description of open cavities, being the theory of quasi-normal modes (QNM) the most complete nowadays [5, 6]. Hence, the resonances of an optical system, which are traditionally determined by the poles of the scattering matrix , are the eigenvalues of the QNM allowing a rigorous description of optical systems like photonic bandgap structures [8, 9] and plasmonic cavities .
In the ultra-thin regime (L/λ ≪ 1) an additional peak can be identified which has no correspondence with any order m, as illustrated in Figure 1. In the same plot, we show how the real part of the QNMs eigenfrequencies [Re(ω˜m)] points perfectly the peak absorption maxima, while the simple interference conditions formulated above (ωm) appear to be red-shifted. Relying on the QNM theory, we managed to attribute the left-most absorption peak to the excitation of the QNM of zeroth order, i.e. m = 0 . More intriguing is the fact that the position of this peak is predicted by the imaginary part of the QNMs eigenfrequency [Im(ω˜m)]. This is attributed to the over-damped nature of the zeroth oder mode, i.e. Im(ω˜m) ≫ Re(ω˜m), as discussed in .
In the current study, we analyze the impact of the optical properties of the substrate on the features of the absorption peak. We will see that the presence of a metallic substrate amplifies enormously the absorption of the zeroth order model. Indeed, Massiot el al. reported in  an experimental absorption of ≈ 70% at ≈ 650 nm for a single GaAs layer of 25 nm on Au substrate, which was identified as an "unexpected" FP resonance . We have identified such peak with the zero-frequency mode of the structure and studied the critical role played by the losses of the substrate. The absorption in ultra-thin films might be enhanced even further by introducing a diffraction grating , being even possible to achieve the total light absorption in a narrow band .
Figure 1 Optical absorption for a free-standing slab of refractive index N = 4.0 + i0.35. The vertical lines denote the position of the resonances as predicted by the real (blue) and imaginary (black) part of the eigenfrequecies of the QNMs (ω˜m) and the FP interference condition (red).
being I(λ) the AM 1.5 solar radiation spectrum, A(λ) the GaAs layer absorption, λmin=350 nm and λmax=872 nm (the GaAs bandgap at 300 K). The top bound of ηult (A(λ) = 1) for these settings is 45%. A clear maximum can be identified at 25 nm. At larger thicknesses the absorption peak overlaps the GaAs bandgap region, which acts as a high-pass filter, hence resulting in a less efficient absorption. The value of the maximum ηult is 14.5%, meaning that with such a small amount of GaAs a third of the theoretical ultimate efficiency is achieved. The amplification effect can be quantified by comparing this value with that obtained in a free-standing GaAs slab. It is possible to see in Figure 2(b) that the first maximum in ηult reaches a 5% at L = 10 nm. Hence, the gold substrate plays a crucial role in the amplification of the zeroth order resonance. This result might be interpreted as an effect of a better overlapping between the mode and the absorbing material. As the metallic substrate is a better back-reflector, the mode tail does not penetrate so deeply into the back material and experiences a confinement in the active region. The total absorption increases even further due to the losses present now in the substrate. These losses play a little effect in our study, because we have considered only the absorption in the active layer along the paper. In general, the enhancement of the zeroth mode absorption increases with a higher refractive index contrast and a higher absorption in the substrate. The latter effect is discussed in the next section.
Figure 2 (a) Total absorption (blue) and absorption in the GaAs layer (red) for different slab thicknesses. The spectra are displaced vertically one to each other. The dotted horizontal lines denote the different axis scale from zero to one. (b) Ultimate efficiency taking into account only the absorption in GaAs on Au for dispersive (solid black) and non-dispersive materials (dashed black, NGaAs = 3.83 + i0.15 and NAu = 0.155 + i3.6). Dispersive GaAs on air case (solid red).
The position of the maximum is difficult to predict because of the dispersion of the materials. A direct search of the resonance position requires a location of the poles of the scattering matrix in the complex plane. Therefore, an analytical continuation of the dielectric function of the involved materials must be available. For the sake of simplicity, we follow a different approach. The dielectric response of GaAs and Au is described by a fixed value provided that the same qualitative results to those reported in Figure 2 are obtained. Taking as a reference the value of the refractive index at the position of the maximum for L = 25 nm (650 nm), we use the following values NAu = 0.155+i3.6 and NGaAs = 3.83+i0.15 to describe the materials. The resulting ηult is shown in Figure 2(b) to facilitate the comparison. As can be appreciated in the plot, both curves show a qualitative good agreement. The absorption spectrum is shown in Figure 3 in dimensionless units given that the absence of material dispersion permits to apply the scale invariance of Maxwell's equations. From the comparison with Figure 1, it is remarkable the change in the shape of the spectrum. Now the absorption is more intense and the peaks have experienced a reduction of their linewidth. Such change is even more pronounced for the zeroth order mode. Instead of appearing as a "shoulder", it adopts a Lorentzian shape, like any other FP resonances. This effect is again related with the presence of a substrate which acts as a back reflector.
Figure 3 Absorption spectrum for a slab of index N = 3.83+i0.15 on a substrate of index N = 0.155 + i3.6. The vertical lines denote the position of the resonances as predicted by the real (blue) and imaginary (black) part of the eigenfrequencies of the QNMs (ω˜m).
The vertical lines in Figure 3 help to localize their position in the spectrum. As we saw in Figure 1 the position of the first and second order FP peaks is well predicted by the real part of ω˜m. However the position of the zeroth order is now better predicted by the real part than the imaginary part. The metallic substrate induces a strong blue shift of the eigenfrequency. The resonances lose their over-damped character becoming critically-damped, i.e. Im(ω˜m) ≈ Re(ω˜m). Therefore the position of the maximum is neither the imaginary nor the real part of the eigenfrequency.
The fact of replacing the air (Figure 1) by a metal (Figure 3) as back material results in a huge blue shift of the zeroth order mode. Such strong effect is attributed to the high losses of the substrate. This is illustrated in Figure 4. We have considered two different cases: a substrate defined by Re(N) = 1.5 (a) and Re(N) = 0.155 (b) and a varying Im(N). The former case resembles a dielectric material, while the latter is representative of a metal substrate. In both cases, the evolution of the spectra with the imaginary part shows the strong blue shift and the increase of the absorption at resonance. From the comparison can be also noted that the metallic substrate is more efficient in amplifying the FP resonances, in particular that attributed to the zeroth order mode. These results also show that the peak identified in Figure 2 is originated by the zeroth order mode. It is possible to recognize an enhancement in the light trapping as a result of having a higher index contrast in the metallic case than in the dielectric one.
Figure 4 Absorption spectrum for a slab of index N = 3.83+i0.15 on a substrate of real index N = 1.5 (a) and N = 0.155 (b) for different values of the imaginary part. Position of the absorption maximum of the zeroth order mode compared to the real and imaginary part of the resonance for the same slab of L = 25 nm on a substrate of real index N = 1.5 (c) and N = 0.155 (d) and different values of the imaginary part.
The change in shape of the zeroth order peak evolves from that of an over-damped resonance to the case of a critically-damped and finally an under-damped one. It is possible now to study the evolution of the peak maximum as a function of the substrate losses. In Figure 4(c) and (d), the position of such maximum is extracted by inspection of the absorption spectra for the two aforementioned cases. The peak position is expressed in wavelength terms to facilitate the comparison. For negligible losses, the imaginary part of the eigenfrequency is significantly larger than the real part, which corresponds to the over-damped case. Indeed, the imaginary part provides an accurate estimate of the position of the maximum for both types of substrates. However, as the losses increase, the position of the maximum deviates from the imaginary part and slowly converges to the real part of the eigenfrequency. Such convergence is achieved in the under-damped case.
We have studied the absorption of slabs in the ultra-thin regime, meaning thicknesses of a few tens of nanometers. These systems are very interesting for solar cells  and also for optical coatings . Relying on the theory of quasi-normal modes, we have successfully attributed the absorption peak appearing in a 25 nm GaAs slab on Au to the excitation of the zeroth order mode. We have also shown that the losses of the substrate play an important role in the amplification and shift towards optical wavelengths of the zeroth order resonance. In the past, the origin of such resonance was qualitatively explained by means of strong interference effects [12, 18]. In this work, we have provided a complementary description solely based on the quasi-normal modes of the structure.
We acknowledge the financial support through projects TEC2015-64189-C3-2-R and PCIN-2013-179 (MINECO/FEDER), AIC-B-2011-0806 (MINECO), S2013/MAE-2780 (Community of Madrid) and by the European Space Agency contract No 4000112049/14/NL/MV under the GSP/ARIADNA program.
 Allan W. Snyder and John D. Love. Optical Waveguide Theory. Chapman & Hall, 1991.
 K. L. Kliewer and R. Fuchs. Optical modes of vibration in an ionic crystal slab including retardation. I. Nonradiative region. Phys. Rev., 144 (2):495–503, 1966.
 K. L. Kliewer and R. Fuchs. Optical modes of vibration in an ionic crystal slab including retardation. II. Radiative region. Phys. Rev., 150(2): 573–588, 1966.
 R. Fuchs, K. L. Kliewer, and W. J. Pardee. Optical properties of an ionic crystal slab. Phy. Rev., 150(2):589–596, 1966.
 E. S. C. Ching, P. T. Leung, A. Maassen van den Brink, W. M. Suen, S. S. Tong, and K. Young. Quasinormal-mode expansion for waves in open systems. Reviews of Modern Physics, 70(4):1545–1554, 1998.
 P. T. Kristensen and S. Hughes. Modes and mode volumes of leaky optical cavities and plasmonic nanoresonators. ACS Photonics, 1(1):2–10, 2014.
 E. Popov. II Light Diffraction by Relife Gratings: A Macroscopic and Microscopic View. In E. Wolf, editor, Prog. Optics, Vol. 31, pp. 139–187. Elsevier, 1993.
 A. Settimi, S. Severini, N. Mattiucci, C. Sibilia, M. Centini, G. D'Aguanno, M. Bertolotti, M. Scalora, M. Bloemer, and C. M. Bowden. Quasinormal-mode description of waves in one-dimensional photonic crystals. Physical Review E, 68(2):026614, 2003.
 A. Settimi, S. Severini, and B. J. Hoenders. Quasi-normal-modes description of transmission properties for photonic bandgap structures. J Opt. Soc. Am. B, 26(4):876, 2009.
 Q. Bai, M. Perrin, C. Sauvan, J.-P. Hugonin, and P. Lalanne. Efficient and intuitive method for the analysis of light scattering by a resonant nanostructure. Optics Express, 21(22):27371–27382, November 2013.
 J. M. Llorens, J. Buencuerpo, and P. A. Postigo. Absorption features of the zero frequency mode in an ultra-thin slab. Applied Physics Letters, 105(23):231115, 2014.
 I. Massiot, N. Vandamme, N. Bardou, C. Dupuis, A. Lemaître, J.-F. Guillemoles, and S. Collin. Metal Nanogrid for Broadband Multiresonant Light-Harvesting in Ultrathin GaAs Layers. ACS Photonics, 1:878–884, 2014.
 N. Vandamme, I. Massiot, C. Colin, A. Cattoni, N. Bardou, C. Sauvan, P. Lalanne, J. F. Guillemoles, and S. Collin. Plasmonic Nano-Gratings for High-Efficient Ultrathin GaAs Solar Cells. In 28th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, 2013.
 Björn C. P. Sturmberg, Kokou B. Dossou, Lindsay C. Botten, Ross C. McPhedran, and C. Martijn de Sterke. Fano resonances of dielectric gratings: symmetries and broadband filtering. Optics Express, 23(24): A1672, 2015.
 Björn C. P. Sturmberg, Teck K. Chong, Duk-Yong Choi, Thomas P. White, Lindsay C. Botten, Kokou B. Dossou, Christopher G. Poulton, Kylie R. Catchpole, Ross C. McPhedran, and C. Martijn de Sterke. Total absorption of visible light in ultrathin weakly absorbing semiconductor gratings. Optica, 3(6):556, June 2016.
 E. D. Palik. Handbook of Optical Constants of Solids. Academic Press, Burlington, 1997.
 P. B. Johnson and R. W. Christy. Optical Constants of the Noble Metals. Physical Review B, 6(12):4370–4379, 1972.
 M. A. Kats, R. Blanchard, P. Genevet, and F. Capasso. Nanometre optical coatings based on strong interference effects in highly absorbing media. Nature Materials, 12(1):20–24, January 2013.
J. M. Llorens born in Valencia (1976). He received his degree (1999) and Ph.D. (2007) in Physics from the University of Valencia. Post-doc from 2007 to 2009 in the Advanced Concepts Team of ESA in the Netherlands. Since 2009 he is working at the Institute of Microelectronics of Madrid CSIC. His research interests are in the electronic structure of semiconductor nanostructures and nanophotonics based on them. He is active in design of lasers, LEDs and solar cells.
J. Buencuerpo born in Madrid (1986). He received his degree (2010) in Physics and Master in Applied Physics (2011) from the University Complutense of Madrid. Since 2012 he is working at the Institute of Microelectronics of Madrid (CSIC) as Ph.D. student. His research interests are in light trapping designs using nanophotonic crystals and the electronic response of these structures for solar applications. He is active in design and fabrication of nanostructured solar cells.
J. M. Ripalda born in Bochum (1972). He received his degree (1995) and Ph.D. (2001) in Physics from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. Post-doc from 2001 to 2003 in Imperial College London. Since 2003 he is working at the Institute of Microelectronics of Madrid CSIC. His research interests are in III–V semiconductor technology and photovoltaics. Currently he is most active in the design of concentrator solar cells (CPV).
P. A. Postigo received his M.Sc. degree in Physics from the University of Basque Country in 1992, and the Ph.D. degree in Physics from the Polytechnic University of Madrid in 1996. He was Postdoctoral Associate at the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he worked in optoelectronic integration of lasers on GaAs-VLSI chips. He is permanent researcher at the Instituto de Microelectronica de Madrid (IMM-CNM-CSIC) in Spain since 2005. His work is focused on the design, fabrication and characterization of nanophotonic devices including photonic crystal lasers, single-photon emitters and photonic crystal solar cells.
Journal of Green Engineering, Vol.5 245–256.


✓ The highlight of this laptop is 17.3 in Display Size which is best available in this price range. You can buy this product at Amazon for Rs. 59394.
Asus TUF FX705DY-AU027T Gaming Laptop is currently available in stores like Amazon and Flipkart to purchase, with best price being Rs.59394. You can checkout the product at any of the stores below.
This Laptop is meant for Gaming,Performance. The Operating System installed in this laptop is Windows. There are Laptop, Power Adaptor, User Guide, Warranty Documents inside the product package. The dimensions of the laptop are 279.4 x 399.8 x 27.6 mm.
The laptop has a screen size of 17.3 in. and comes with resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels & has display density of 127 ppi (Pixels per inch). This Asus laptop also has Full HD LED Backlit IPS Display (with 60 Hz Refresh Rate).
This laptop features Ryzen 5 processor which is clocked at 2.1 GHz and has 2 MB Cache Memory.