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Banking on easy pension withdrawal
K.Venkatasubramanian | Smart Seniors | Updated on: Dec 09, 2018
ICICI Prudential Easy Retirement: A good market-linked pension plan
Centre's 'rigid stand' on pension updation drives RBI staff to go on mass leave
EPFO member can withdraw 75% funds after 30 days of job loss
The RBI's master circular seeks to make transactions smooth for seniors
For senior citizens who have retired from the Central/State government service and receive pension, organisations and banks work to make the process comfortable. Even so, the banking regulator RBI has come out with a master circular recently (July 2018), which instructs banks to make it easy and simple for the elderly to draw pension.
The directives give greater clarity on aspects such as having a joint account for receiving pension, prompt payment of dearness relief, nomination for receiving arrears in case of death, submission of life certificate and withdrawal modes for sick/disabled persons.
If you are a pensioner or assisting an elderly relative or parent to withdraw pension every month, you need to be aware of these updated instructions.
Pension in joint account
Many State and Central government departments credit pension to joint accounts. However, the joint account must be opened by a pensioner only with his/her spouse as a joint holder.
A joint account can be operated by a retired person with his/her spouse, whom he authorises for family pension in the Pension Payment Order (PPO) in case of his/her death (main pensioner).
The RBI circular makes it clear that these joint accounts can be operated as a 'either or survivor' or 'former or survivor' basis.
This move would greatly benefit the elderly, as both spouses would be able to withdraw amounts, more so if the pensioner is sick or immobile.
The banking regulator's instructions also make it clear that in case of death of the pensioner, the bank cannot ask the surviving spouse to open a new account for the purpose of receiving family pension. The same account can continue to be used.
Now, governments tend to come up with pay commissions periodically, which hike the salaries for those serving and the pension for retirees. These additional payments are made with a lag from the time of announcement of revised salaries and pensions.
In case a pensioner dies in the intervening period, the arrears can be paid to the nominee or to the surviving spouse if he/she is a second holder in the joint account.
All pension-paying bank branches have been instructed to accept nomination forms — 'A' for adding a nominee and 'B' for changing an existing nominee.
Updating pension details
The PPO number in the pension passbook issued by the respective government agency is important for the retirees, as it has all details of the amounts payable after retirement; the person who would be the recipient of the pension after the death of the pensioner and other personal information. In case the PPO papers are lost, it becomes quite challenging for the elderly to obtain duplicates.
Also, transferring a pension account to another bank or branch would be difficult, without these details. The RBI has now advised banks to update the PPO number in the bank passbook itself. This move would help avoid unnecessary hassles for the senior citizens.
Banks have also been instructed to issue pension slips and provide details of increase in basic pay or dearness allowance (DA) announced by governments at regular intervals. Higher pension, starting from an additional 20 per cent of the revised basic, is paid to government service retirees who are more than 80 years old and the amounts are progressively increased in slabs according to the age. For such pensioners, it would be a welcome move to have pension slips so that they can check if the additional pension sanctioned is correctly credited to their accounts.
Operational ease
All pensioners and family pensioners need to submit a life certificate, usually by November 30 every year. Though some opt for Aadhaar-based biometric authentication that is a form of digital life certificate, some others submit the form physically to the pension-paying bank or the respective department. There are instances of banks misplacing the physical certificates, resulting in pensions being held back, which can have severe financial implications for senior citizens.
The RBI has directed banks to mandatorily issue acknowledgements during the receipt of life certificates.
Banks have also been advised to consider entering the receipt of life certificates in their CBS (core banking system) and issuing a system-generated acknowledgement. As a result, the receipt of documents would be acknowledged and records updated in real time.
Finally, for pensioners who are immobile or very sick and generally too old to physically withdraw pension from their banks, the thumb or toe impressions — attested by two witnesses known to the bank, one of whom should be a responsible bank official — can be made in the cheque instead. If even this is not possible, a mark that is identified by two independent witnesses should be made on the cheque.
pension and welfare
RBI and other central banks

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Ising model with fixed length Someone made the comment for an Ising model that:

When finite  length  is fixed for a rectangular Ising model, there still is no phase transition.

How do they know this?
EDIT: To make the question more precise, taken from a comment of the OP below:

Sorry, let me state the question explicitly: for a ferromagnetic Ising model with length and width of N and f(N)=N spins, respectively, Tc > 0. But for width of f(N)=constant, Tc=0. So for f(N)=N^x, at what value of x does Tc become > 0. If the answer is x=infinity, then why would x=1 result in Tc > 0, since f(N)=N^1=N and Tc > 0 for this case?

A: For any finite system, the partition function is an analytic function of the (inverse) temperature, as well as any other parameter. Thus, there are no discontinuities in any derivative of the partition function, and thus there is no phase transition.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Strengthening Severe Weather Prediction Using the Advanced Victorian Regional GPS Network a Recent NDRGS Project
Page created by Barry Phillips
GSR_3
Geospatial Science Research 3.
School of Mathematical and Geospatial Science, RMIT University
Strengthening Severe Weather Prediction Using the Advanced
Victorian Regional GPS Network − a Recent NDRGS Project
Suqin Wu1, Toby Manning1, Yubin Yuan1, Xiaoming Wang1, Allison Kealy2, John le
Marshall1,3 and Kefei Zhang1
SPACE Research Centre,
1. School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476
Tel: +61-3-9925 2114; Fax: +61-3-96632516; Email: suqin.wu@rmit.edu.au
2. Department of Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne, Australia
3. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Australia
Abstract.
The Natural Disaster Resilience Grants Scheme (NDRGS) is a grant program funded by the Commonwealth
Attorney-General's Department under the Australian National Partnership Agreement on Natural Disaster
Resilience signed by Prime Minister and state Premier of Victoria. Under the Agreement, Victoria develops an
Implementation Plan, for approval by the Australian Commonwealth Minister for Justice, to receive continued
funding for the NDRGS.
This contribution introduces the Victorian NDRGS project – "Strengthening Severe Weather Prediction Using
the Advanced Victorian Regional Global Navigation Satellite Systems" awarded to a consortium led by RMIT
University in 2013. This project aims to develop a smart GPS-based water vapour estimation system for disaster
management users to reduce the risks and impact of natural weather disaster events. The regional precipitable
water vapour measurements obtained predominantly from this new system using measurements from regional
ground-based GNSS continuously operating reference stations (CORS) networks in Australia –will be
assimilated into the Australian Community Climate and Earth-System Simulator (ACCESS) model.
In this paper, the main objectives, anticipated outcomes and research roadmap for this project are introduced.
The key issues and challenges confronting innovative applications of GNSS for severe weather event prediction
in Australia are emphasised. The key results achieved so far related to atmospheric remote sensing and
atmospheric modelling etc. are briefly reported.
Keywords: GPS/GNSS, water vapour, severe weather event, Vicpos™, GNSS meteorology.
Dr Suqin Wu is a research fellow at the SPACE Research Centre, RMIT University. Her areas of expertise
include GPS precise positioning and its innovative applications, geodesy, precise orbit determination and
prediction etc.. Dr Toby Manning is a lecturer at RMIT University and his area of specialty is in 4D tomographic
modeling of GNSS-derived wet refractivity for regional severe weather applications. Mr Yubin Yuan and Mr
Xiaoming Wang are PhD candidates at SPACE and their research topics mainly focus on real-time retrieval of
tropospheric products from GNSS observations for severe weather monitoring and climate study, and on
improving the accuracy of GNSS tropospheric products for severe weather monitoring and climate study,
respectively. Associate Professor Allison Kealy is a staff member in the Department of Infrastructure
Engineering at The University of Melbourne. Dr John le Marshall is a senior principal research scientist at the
Bureau of Meteorology. Prof Kefei Zhang is Director of the SPACE Research Centre, RMIT University.
Globally, severe weather events have caused substantial damage to properties and claimed many lives over the
past decade. The frequency and severity of the severe weather events are amplified by climate change and
increased societal dependencies on costly and complex infrastructure. Statistics from the last 20 years of disaster
management data (www.disasters.ema.gov.au) show that in Victoria alone, 2.5 million people have been affected
by severe storms and flooding, resulting in over $1.9 billion in losses. These statistics highlight the pressing need
for a reliable and robust severe weather monitoring and predicting system, coherent with current disaster
management risk reduction solutions. The ability to monitor and predict the development of severe storms, in
particular those that have the potential to produce heavy rainfalls, is highly dependent on the availability of
precise water vapour (WV) information. The amount of WV contained in the troposphere has significant
implications in determining the intensity, time and extent of storm activities.
The most commonly used technique of sensing WV is through the use of radiosondes. Due to the high cost
involved, only a small number of radiosonde stations regularly launch weather balloons with the typical
frequency of just twice a day. This means only sparse WV measurements are available for meteorology, and this
is true in particular for low tropospheric regions. To address this issue, Global Navigation Satellite Systems
(GNSS) have been considered to offer significant potential for improved atmospheric remote sensing for both
weather and climate monitoring. This is a direct result of its unique advantages of global availability in any
weather and any time. Many regional and national ground-based permanent continuously operating reference
stations (CORS) networks have been established all over the world predominantly for geodetic applications.
GNSS observations from a CORS network have become a valuable and rich data source for estimating
atmospheric variables, especially PWV in the troposphere, for the region covered by the network. Applying
GNSS-derived products to meteorological applications (termed GNSS meteorology) is promising.
To leverage developments towards an Australian national positional infrastructure (NPI) via the National
Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) AuScope, SPACE at RMIT initiated GNSS for severe
weather research in 2010 through the Australian Space Research Program (ASRP) platform technology project.
In 2012 RMIT, as an international collaborator, was also involved in a major international initiative of the
European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) 1206 − Advanced Global Navigation Satellite
Systems tropospheric products for monitoring severe weather events and climate (GNSS4SWEC). Most recently,
a new collaborative project "Strengthening Severe Weather Prediction Using the Advanced Victorian Regional
Global Navigation Satellite Systems" was funded by the Victorian government via the Natural Disaster
Resilience Grants Scheme (NDRGS) of Victoria. The partner organisations of this project include RMIT
University, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), the Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI),
the University of Melbourne, and Australia's Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Infrastructures (CRCSI).
This one-year (2014−2015) project aims to utilise the advanced Victorian GNSS infrastructure – the CORS
network, i.e. Vicpos™, as a new source of WV to improve severe storm predictability. Vicpos™ is currently the
most dense and most mature state-wide CORS network, used mainly for high accuracy positioning in Victoria,
Australia. Tens of millions of dollars have been invested by the Victorian government over the last two decades
to build this homogenous, state-wide positioning infrastructure, which is important for spatial science activities
in Victoria. Vicpos™ is coordinated, operated and maintained by the Victorian Government – through the
Department of Environment and Primary Industry (DEPI).
This project addresses a number of risks that have been identified as a high priority for natural disaster events by
the Victorian state government. These include: severe storms, flash flooding and flooding. All three are related to
synoptic weather patterns and strongly correlated with the WV content in the troposphere. The most efficient and
effective (precise, frequent and unbiased) estimation of WV content from this research will underpin our
capability and capacity in dealing with severe weather phenomena in Victoria and beyond. It is expected that this
research will play an important role in assessing the severity of these risks and mitigating their impact, both
socially and economically.
This research will also leverage the existing Vicpos™ infrastructure for meteorological studies, in particular for
estimating the tropospheric Zenith Total Delay (ZTD), from which the amount of integrated water vapour
(IWV), also known as PWV, in the troposphere can be derived. The dense distribution of Vicpos™ stations
provides a unique opportunity to use advanced GNSS technology for meteorological studies. Cutting-edge
GNSS meteorology techniques will be used as a new type of GNSS sensor to investigate WV content in addition
to currently available alternate atmospheric WV observation systems. In this project, in collaboration with the
BoM, the ZTD/PWV derived from Vicpos™ will be assimilated into the Australian Community Climate and
Earth-System Simulator (ACCESS) model for an investigation of potential improvements in the predictability of
severe weather.
2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
This project aims to develop an unprecedented GNSS-based system that can be used by disaster management
stakeholders to reduce the risk and impact of natural disaster events. This will be carried out by:
•   Precisely and continuously monitoring the amount of PWV in the troposphere over the Victorian region
obtained from the Vicpos™ measurements along with selected AuScope stations;
•   Fostering partnerships between research institution like the RMIT, BoM and regional authorities like
DEPI;
•   Effectively using heavily invested NPI, i.e. VicPos™, in Victoria for extended services and products in
severe weather prediction;
•   Positioning Victoria as a leading state and research hub in using the advanced GNSS for severe weather
services and potential reduction of risks; and
•   Providing an important guide/role model for other states who have heavily invested in establishing their
state-wide CORS networks.
This research will demonstrate the potential of using the Australian NPI i.e. GNSS CORS networks as a novel,
active, IWV sensing system for strengthening the predictability of severe storms. The outputs of this research
will help to identify and mitigate the social and economic impacts of severe storms and heavy rainfalls in
conjunction with existing disaster management policies and practices. Tangible outputs include:
•   Incorporating a new GNSS NPI-based data source into the assimilation scheme of the Australian
ACCESS model;
•   Continuously estimating regional PWV for short term, near real-time and long-term climate studies; and
•   Developing a new interactive web-based product dedicated to WV distribution on the SPACE Research
Centre's server.
The workplan to achieve the above mentioned tasks or outputs is:
•   Generating a GNSS database related to a few selected recent severe storms;
•   Assimilation study of post-processed GNSS data;
•   Developing near real-time GNSS processing capability; and
•   Assimilating near real-time GNSS results (to the ACCESS model).
The research roadmap is outlined in the diagram below.
GNSS observations, meteorological data,
precise orbit, satellite clock and Earth
rotation parameters.
Tomographic Modeling of WV
GNSS Data Processing                                       Constructing a WV tomographic model for
Estimating ZTD based on PPP and DD                         studying WV's variation and correlation in space
methods and in post-processing and near                    and time domains for climate study, and for
real-time modes, converting ZTD to                         improving functions and models used in GNSS
PWV/IWV.                                                   data processing.
Web-based Product Services Establishment
Providing GNSS-derived regional ZTD and
Assimilating GNSS-derived ZTD or
PWV/IWV, and their tomographic results for
IWV/PWV into the ACCESS model for
investigating WV spatial distribution.
improving short-term weather forecast.
3. METHODOLOGY
The standard products obtained from GNSS data processing are mainly the optimal estimates of the coordinates
of GNSS stations (if the coordinates are unknown) and the ZTD. The GNSS-derived ZTD is attributed to two
constituents of the troposphere: gases that obey hydrostatic equilibrium and those that do not. The first
constituent is composed of all major gases in the troposphere while the second is linked only with WV. Thus the
ZTD is usually divided into a hydrostatic part – zenith hydrostatic delay (ZHD), and a non-hydrostatic part –
zenith wet delay (ZWD), i.e.
ZTD = ZHD + ZWD                                                                             (1)
The ZHD is very stable and so can be determined at a high accuracy using an empirical model and the surface
meteorological measurements near the station. The Hopfield or Saastamoinen models are the most commonly
used such empirical models (Hopfield, 1969; Saastamoinen, 1972). The ZHD accounts for more than 80% of the
ZTD. However, the ZWD cannot be calculated at a high accuracy using any empirical model due to its dynamic
nature. This is the reason for the ZWD being treated as an unknown parameter and being estimated in GNSS
data processing. There are a few dedicated software packages available to do the GNSS data processing such as
BERNESE, from which the algorithms of solving for the unknown parameters including the ZWD from GNSS
observations systems can be found in Hugentobler et al., 2007.
In this research, GNSS data will be processed in near real-time, e.g. every 30 minutes, for high temporal
resolution ZTD/PWV results over Victoria, which will then be transferred to the BoM for data assimilation
studies. To achieve this, several types of data including precise satellite orbits, satellite clock corrections, earth
rotation parameters, especially for GNSS precise point positioning (PPP), are needed. Moreover, for the standard
GNSS network solution, the original strategies need to be modified to allow for sliding windows or stacked
processing (Bosy et al., 2011; Dousa, 2010) so that high accuracy, high resolution and robust solutions can be
obtained from a set of 30-minute-period observation data.
The next step is to convert the GNSS-derived ZWD to PWV using a dimensionless conversion factor, the so-
called Π parameter (Askne and Nordius, 1987) which is dependent on the weighted mean temperature of the
atmosphere (Davis et al., 1985) above the station:
PWV = ZWD ∙ Π                                                                               (2)
Π=                                                                                (3)
∙            ′
Π                   is the scale factor (kgm ! );
ρ#                  is the density of liquid water (kgm ! );
R%                  is the specific gas constant of WV (Jkg K );
m#                  is the molar mass of WV (m# =18.01528 kgkmol );
k ! and - ′ .        are two physical constants (K . hPa ), defined by Askne and Nordius (1987); and
T0                  is the weighted mean temperature of the atmosphere above the station (K).
For the Australian region, 12 can be calculated by Hunter (2010) (Choy et al. 2013):
12 ≈70.03+0.726Ts                                                                           (4)
where Ts is the temperature observation at the station.
For deriving wet refractivity from the GNSS-derived wet signal path delay (345# ) from ground GNSS station a
to satellite x, the following formula can be used (Troller et al., 2006):
345# = 10 8 ∙ 9? :;
where ∆si is the length of the ray in voxel i. It is noted that the ray bending effect is commonly ignored as an
elevation cut-off angle of 10 degrees is usually applied.
Using all 345# derived from a regional GNSS CORS network in a tomographic model system, all the voxels'
wet refractivity can be estimated and these results can be used to investigate the spatial distribution of WV. If a
time series of such models are derived then a 4D tomographic model can be established for the study of the
spatio-temporal variation of WV over the network region.
In the step of assimilating atmospheric sensing data into a numerical weather prediction (NWP) model for
weather forecasting, the regional PWV/IWP is a very important input. If accurate PWV can be converted from
the GNSS-derived ZTD then this PWV can be used for weather forecasting by assimilating them into the NWP
model. Via the collaboration with the BoM, more accurate atmospheric parameters such as refractivity and
temperature, which are required in the conversion for high accuracy PWV, can be obtained. The resulting PWV
with high accuracy is then used in the assimilation process.
3. RESULTS TO DATE
A range of new developments and progresses related to this project have been achieved during the last few years.
Results from the following two studies are summarised here.
3.1 Using GPS to capture the signature of severe weather events in Australia
The distribution and dynamics of WV is closely associated with meteorological phenomena, such as long
persistent rainfalls, tropical cyclones, mid-latitude cyclonic storms and thunder storms that are ongoing
challenges for synoptic meteorology (Ahrens and Samson, 2010). Improving the understanding of WV
distribution is important for meteorology (Le Marshall et al., 2010). The tomographic model, as a general model
based on the inverse Radon transform theory, has been intensively used to investigate the spatial distribution of
WV over a region by a number of researchers and organisations across the globe (Bender et al., 2011; Perler et
al., 2011; Brenot et al., 2012; Flores et al., 2000; Rohm et al. 2014b). The standard approach to establishing
GNSS-derived-troposphere tomographic models is to divide the spatial tropospheric region of interest into a 3D
voxel structure. The intercepted distance of the GPS signal passing through the voxel of concern is used in the
design matrix for the estimation of the tomographic model (Rohm et al. 2014b).
For investigating the performance of using the Victorian regional GNSS CORS network, for near real-time
monitoring and forecasting of severe weather, two case studies were selected to investigate the signature of GPS-
derived PWV and also the wet refractivity field derived from a 4D tomographic model under the influence of
severe mesoscale convective systems (MCS). The two cases were from the storm period during 3–8 March, 2010
and the severe precipitation period during 1–15 January, 2011, both occurred in Melbourne. Results showed
strong spatial and temporal correlations between the variations in the ground-based GPS-derived PWV and the
passage of the severe MCS, suggesting that the GPS-derived PWV can resolve the synoptic signature of the
dynamics and precursors to severe weather (Zhang et al., 2014).
The 4D wet refractivity tomographic modelling results suggest that the state-wide tomographic solution can be
used to identify the signature of convection in the vertical layers at the front of the storm and also gradients of
rear inflow jets in the stratiform region. Compared with the co-located radiosonde-derived wet refractivity under
the influence of severe weather, the tomographic models achieved an accuracy/RMS of 8.58 ppm. These findings
suggest that ground-based-GPS-derived PWV and tomographic modelling for wet refractivity fields have the
potential to increase the ability of early detection and forecasting when assimilated into a NWP model and to
depict the 3D signature of wet refractivity for the convective and stratiform processes evident in the MCS events
(Zhang et al., 2014).
This research indicated that ground-based GNSS is a highly effective and robust observing technique for
detection of the dynamics of water vapour during formation and lifecycle of severe weather. Using GNSS-
derived tropospheric products to complement conventional meteorological observations for studying, monitoring
and potentially predicting severe weather events is significant for meteorology, especially in the Australian
context and also the southern hemisphere, where other atmospheric sensors are spatially and temporally sparse.
3.2 Using GPS-PPP to retrieve PWV in real-time
For obtaining high accuracy GNSS-derived ZTD or PWV, several data processing approaches or strategies can
be used. For example, 1) double-differencing (DD), which includes short-baseline-network solution, long-
baseline-network solution, and baseline-by-baseline solution — run but not considered; and 2) precise point
positioning (PPP) (float ambiguity) (Rohm et al. 2014a). The DD approach can eliminate satellite and receiver
clock errors but it needs simultaneous observations between two satellites and two receivers. Whilst the PPP
approach only needs one receiver so it does not need simultaneous observations, but it needs precise satellite
orbit and clock corrections. In fact, in terms of determining PWV, both DD and PPP approaches do not have
significant differences in the resultant accuracies (1−2 mm)(Choy et al., 2013).
Modern weather forecasting systems have an ever increasing demand for PWV retrieval in terms of (1) short
latency or no latency, (2) higher spatial resolutions of GNSS stations but relatively low computational resources,
and (3) higher temporal resolutions specifically for severe weather nowcasting [Li et al., 2009]. This research
took these three aspects into account and investigated the retrieval of the ZTD and PWV from the real-time PPP
approach (Yuan et al., 2014). The test data included (1) real-time GPS data from 20 globally distributed IGS
stations, (2) the ZTD products from the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) and the United States
Naval Observatory (USNO), and (3) radiosonde data from stations within 60 km from the selected IGS stations
for the validation of the GPS-derived tropospheric results.
The test result of the real-time ZTD retrievals from a one-month period GNSS observations at the 20 stations
showed that the accuracies of the GPS-PPP-derived ZTD at most of the stations agreed well with that from the
International Global Navigation Satellite Systems Service, with a root-mean-square error (RMSE)
Davis, J.L., Herring, T.A., Shapiro, I.I., Rogers, A.E.E., Elgered, G. (1985) Geodesy by radio interferometry:
effects of atmospheric modelling errors on estimates of baseline length. Radio Sci. 20, pp. 1593–1607.
Flores, A., Ruffini, G., and Rius, A. (2000) 4D tropospheric tomography using GPS slant wet delays, Ann.
Geophys., 18, pp. 223–234.
Hunter (2010) Hunter, G. Flood fears after giant hail lashes Melbourne. Available: .
Hopfield, H.S. (1969) Two-quartic tropospheric refractivity profile for correcting satellite data. J. Geophys.
Res. 74, pp. 4487–4499.
Hugentobler, U., Dach, R., Fridez, P., Meindl, M. (Eds) (2007) Bernese GPS Software Version 5.0. Astronomical
Institute, University of Berne.
Le Marshall, J., Xiao, Y., Norman, R., Zhang, K., Rea, A., Cucurull L., Seecamp, R., Steinle, P., Puri, K., and Le,
T. (2010) The beneficial impact of radio occultation observations on Australian region forecasts, Austr.
Meteorol. Oceanogr. J., 60, pp. 121–125.
Li, Z., J. Li, W. P. Menzel, J. P. Nelson, T. J. Schmit, E. Weisz, and S. A. Ackerman (2009) Forecasting and
nowcasting improvement in cloudy regions with high temporal GOES sounder infrared radiance
measurements, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 114, issue D9.
Perler, D., Geiger, A., and Hurter, F. (2011) 4D GPS water vapor tomography: new parameterized approaches, J.
Geodesy, vol. 85, pp. 539–550.
Rohm,W., Zhang, K., and Bosy, J. (2014) Limited constraint, robust Kalman filtering for GNSS troposphere
tomography, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, pp. 1475 −1486.
Rohm W., Yuan Y., Biadeglgne B., Zhang K., Le Marshall J. (2014a) Ground-based GNSS ZTD/IWV estimation
system for numerical weather prediction in challenging weather conditions, Atmospheric Research, vol. 138,
pp. 414 −426.
Rohm W., Zhang K.and Bosy J. (2014b) Limited constraint, robust Kalman filtering for GNSS troposphere
tomography, Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., 7, pp. 9133 −9162.
Perler D., A. Geiger, and F. Hurter (2011) 4D GPS water vapor tomography: New parameterized approaches. J.
of Geodesy, 10.1007/s00190- 011-0454-2.
Poli, P., et al. (2007) Forecast impact studies of zenith total delay data from European near real‐time GPS
stations in Météo France 4DVAR, Journal of Geoph. Res.: Atmospheres(1984–2012) , vol. 112.D6 .
Saastamoinen, J. (1972). Atmospheric correction for troposphere and stratosphere in radio ranging of satellites.
In: Henriksen SW, Macini A, Chovitz BH (eds) The use of artificial satellites for geodesy. Geophysics
monograph 15. American Geophysical Union, Washington D.C, pp. 247–251.
Shoji, Yoshinori, Masaru Kunii, and Kazuo Saito (2009) Assimilation of nationwide and global GPS PWV data
for a heavy rain event on 28 July 2008 in Hokuriku and Kinki, Japan, SOLA 5, pp. 45–48.
Troller M., A. Geiger, E. Brockmann, and H. Kahle (2006) Determination of the spatial and temporal variation of
tropospheric water vapour using CGPS networks. Geophys J Int . vol. 167(2), pp. 509–520.
Yuan Y., Zhang K., Rohm W., Choy S., Norman R, and Wang C. (2014) Real-time retrieval of precipitable water
vapor from GPS precise point positioning, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, vol. 119, issue 16,
pp. 10044–10057.
Zhang K., Manning T., Wu S., Rohm W., Yuan Y. and Choy S. (2014) Capturing the Signature of Severe Weather
Events in Australia Using GPS Measurements (submitted to the journal of IEEE-JSTARS).
My personal sales-route planner - www.portatour.com - With portatour , discover the future of fully automated sales-route planning for your field ...
Acute severe asthma - African Journal of Respiratory medicine
Lund University, Faculty of Science Information Sheet, 2020
Publikationen - seed4change
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European Omnichannel - Savills
Life science research tools market size, growth and trends (2013-2021) - Table of Contents - DeciBio
Spotlight Japan inbound retail - October 2018 Savills World Research Japan
A protocol for developing, disseminating, and implementing a core outcome set for stress urinary incontinence
Facing up to the business case - Summary report - CIPD
QR Code-based Learning Development: Accessing Math Game for Children Learning Enhancement - Online-Journals.org
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Researcher Engagement Cluster Meeting Deans and Directors of Graduate Studies' Programme - Sunday 10 - Tuesday 12 March 2019 University of ...
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Speed and Awareness of Network Portability: An Antecedent to Intention to Port among Mobile Phone Users in Southwest Nigeria - jbrmr
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DOOM PATROLS
A THEORETICAL FICTION ABOUT POSTMODERNISM
by Steven Shaviro ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1997
Ranging everywhere, going nowhere, this is a posturing collection of essays on postmodernism. Like those strange, fearsome fish that live in the ocean's deepest depths, Shaviro's prose and his ideas may thrive in their own confined milieu, but brought to the surface world where the rest of us live, they explode and die. Shaviro (Literature and Film/Univ. of Washington) tries to conceal the basic unoriginality of his thought behind a dense patter of quotation, citation, and jargon. And so we are treated to the recycled thoughts of such postmodern sages as Baudrillard and Deleuze, as well as the usual, trite reflections on rock 'n' roll (it induces disorientation, the quintessential postmodern experience) and Disney World (where excess blurs the boundary between reality and unreality and the postmodern world's fetish of the object is fully realized). Shaviro also spends an inordinate amount of time analyzing the comic book series Doom Patrol, whose main virtue, apparently, is its deliberate engagement with postmodern themes. But the subject matter is really unimportant. With tautological criticism like this, subjects exist only to confirm a theory. Hence, postmodern critics adore such fabulistic novelists as Pynchon but almost never acknowledge the existence of such doughty realists as Mailer or Bellow. Shaviro jettisons such concepts as theme and coherence, rambling wherever whims and his borrowings take him, perhaps trying to demonstrate tautologically the confusions of a postmodern universe. In short, these essays aren't really about anything at all. If, as seems possible, the death rattle of postmodernism has already begun to sound, Shaviro is happily oblivious to its imminent end.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1997
Publisher: Serpent's Tail
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
by William Strunk & E.B. White ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 1972
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").
Pub Date: May 15, 1972
by Beverly Cleary ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 22, 1983
Possibly inspired by the letters Cleary has received as a children's author, this begins with second-grader Leigh Botts' misspelled fan letter to Mr. Henshaw, whose fictitious book itself derives from the old take-off title Forty Ways W. Amuse a Dog. Soon Leigh is in sixth grade and bombarding his still-favorite author with a list of questions to be answered and returned by "next Friday," the day his author report is due. Leigh is disgruntled when Mr. Henshaw's answer comes late, and accompanied by a set of questions for Leigh to answer. He threatens not to, but as "Mom keeps nagging me about your dumb old questions" he finally gets the job done—and through his answers Mr. Henshaw and readers learn that Leigh considers himself "the mediumest boy in school," that his parents have split up, and that he dreams of his truck-driver dad driving him to school "hauling a forty-foot reefer, which would make his outfit add up to eighteen wheels altogether. . . . I guess I wouldn't seem so medium then." Soon Mr. Henshaw recommends keeping a diary (at least partly to get Leigh off his own back) and so the real letters to Mr. Henshaw taper off, with "pretend," unmailed letters (the diary) taking over. . . until Leigh can write "I don't have to pretend to write to Mr. Henshaw anymore. I have learned to say what I think on a piece of paper." Meanwhile Mr. Henshaw offers writing tips, and Leigh, struggling with a story for a school contest, concludes "I think you're right. Maybe I am not ready to write a story." Instead he writes a "true story" about a truck haul with his father in Leigh's real past, and this wins praise from "a real live author" Leigh meets through the school program. Mr. Henshaw has also advised that "a character in a story should solve a problem or change in some way," a standard juvenile-fiction dictum which Cleary herself applies modestly by having Leigh solve his disappearing lunch problem with a burglar-alarmed lunch box—and, more seriously, come to recognize and accept that his father can't be counted on. All of this, in Leigh's simple words, is capably and unobtrusively structured as well as valid and realistic. From the writing tips to the divorced-kid blues, however, it tends to substitute prevailing wisdom for the little jolts of recognition that made the Ramona books so rewarding.
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
More by Beverly Cleary
RAMONA'S WORLD
by Beverly Cleary
THE HULLABALOO ABC
by Beverly Cleary & illustrated by Ted Rand
MY OWN TWO FEET


text:
Mabel Adrienne Morrison (March 1, 1883 – November 20, 1940) was an American stage actress of the early 20th century. She married actor Richard Bennett, with whom she had three daughters who later would become actresses.

Early years
Adrienne Morrison was a daughter of actress Rose Wood and actor Lewis Morrison. Her lineage through her mother made Morrison "the seventh generation of an English theatrical family."

Morrison first appeared on stage at 6 months of age when her mother held her during a production of The Cricket on the Hearth. She was educated at St. Gabriel's Convent and the Convent of the Sacred Heart before returning to the stage at 14 years of age to portray Juliet.

Career
In 1905, she appeared as Nat-u-ritch, an Aboriginal American woman, in the play The Squaw Man with William Faversham. She also performed in Damaged Goods, Hamlet, Love for Love, and The Servant in the House.

Morrison retired from the theater in 1926, but made a brief return in May 1940 to appear in Grey Farm at the Hudson Theatre.

From 1930 to 1932, Morrison directed Children's Players, a company of adult actors who presented plays for children in the New York City area, Connecticut, and New Jersey.

Personal life and death
Morrison and actor Richard Bennett married In Jersey City on November 8, 1903, but she retained her maiden name. Their daughters, Barbara Bennett, Constance Bennett, and Joan Bennett, would all become film actresses. Of the three, Joan would become the best known in acting, although both she and Constance would see wide success. Barbara never achieved the success of her sisters in acting, but married Morton Downey, and the couple had five children, with their first born being Morton Downey Jr. Despite Bennett's earnings, he became bankrupt.

In April 1925, she and Richard Bennett divorced. On January 19, 1927, she married Eric Seabrooke Pinker, a dramatic and literary agent, in an art gallery in New York City. That marriage produced no children, but lasted until her death in her apartment in New York City of a heart attack in 1940. She was buried in a family plot in Pleasant Valley Cemetery in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

Legal problems
On June 7, 1939, Pinker was sentenced to a term of  to five years in Sing Sing prison for theft of approximately $30,000 from two clients. An investigation by the office of District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey indicated that Pinker used money owed to those clients to pay money due to other clients. The audit also indicated that Pinker had taken about $109,000 from other writers whom he represented. Morrison had been a partner in the firm, Eric S. Pinker & Adrienne Morrison, Inc., dealing with drama clients while Pinker handled literary clients. She resigned from the business on June 2, 1937. Pinker said that Morrison was not involved with the theft, but at the time of Pinker's sentencing, an assistant district attorney told the judge that a complaint had been made against Morrison and "we are considering ... whether there should be a prosecution."

In October, 1939, Morrison's residence in Lyme, Connecticut, was attached as a result of a $25,000 suit by a playwright who alleged that she "failed to report all proceeds" from a play.

References

External links

1883 births
1940 deaths
American people of English descent
American people of Jewish descent
American people of Spanish descent
American stage actresses
20th-century American actresses
Actresses from New York City

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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PF Magic
December 23, 2018 December 24, 2018 / Red Metal	/ 17 Comments
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior took the world by storm when it debuted in arcades in February of 1991. The competitive fighting game had existed since the mid-eighties, but Street Fighter II codified the genre. Countless enthusiasts formed long lines around the arcade cabinets, which eventually collected over two-billion USD in gross revenue within the next four years, meaning roughly nine-billion quarters were spent to play this game. Not surprisingly, when Capcom created ports for the prominent platforms of the fourth console generation, they became instant bestsellers.
In the wake of this overwhelming success, many developers saw potential in the exciting, new genre. One such developer was the San Francisco-based PF Magic. Their game was to be released on the Super NES, Sega Genesis, and 3DO. Tapping into the often sophomoric zeitgeist of the nineties, they titled their fighting game Ballz. Just to hit home that subtlety was off the table, the opening of the game stated "To be the champion, you gotta have Ballz!" Predictably, Nintendo wasn't pleased and demanded the wording be changed for the SNES port. This version states "You gotta play Ballz!" The Genesis version was originally going to have online multiplayer support, which would have been made possible with the Edge 16, a planned modem adapter for the console. The plans for peripheral were scrapped by the time Ballz saw its release in 1994. Despite this setback, Ballz was released to a fairly warm reception. Famicom Tsūshin awarded it twenty-eight points out of a possible forty, Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the Genesis version a 6.2 out of 10, and GamePro wrote a positive review, praising its balanced gameplay and humorous sound effects. How does Ballz fare when compared to the countless other classic fighting games released around this time?
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text:
Court lifts hold on secret documents seized from Trump
US Justice Department wins its appeal and can resume its use of the classified files in its probe on whether the ex-president illegally took national defense material
Some of the documents recovered from Trump's Mar-a-lago mansion in Florida.AP
Miguel Jiménez
New York - 22 Sep 2022 - 16:30 UTC
Late on September 21, a US federal appeals court permitted the Justice Department to resume its investigation of classified documents that the FBI seized during its search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida (USA). The decision is a major repudiation of the former president's defense strategy pertaining to the government documents. It is yet another blow against the former president on the same day that he and three of his children were sued by the New York attorney general for the alleged fraudulent management of his businesses.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, had temporarily barred investigators from continuing to use the documents in their inquiry while an independent arbiter ("special master") conducts a separate review. The objective of the independent review was to determine whether the seized documents were protected by attorney-client privilege (communications between Trump and his attorneys) or the executive privilege, which allows the executive branch to withhold information about ongoing proceedings from another branch of government, even though Trump no longer holds a public office.
The Justice Department first appealed to Cannon to unblock the roughly 100 secret documents found in Mar-a-Lago, which almost by definition are not affected by these privileges. When Cannon rejected this appeal, the Justice Department appealed to a superior court in the state of Georgia (USA). The appeals panel then ruled in favor of the Justice Department and granted an interim injunction pending final resolution of the appeal. "We grant the stay pending appeal. The district court's order is stayed insofar as it prohibits the government's use of the classified documents and insofar as it requires the government to submit the classified documents to the special expert for review."
The three-judge appeals panel has delivered a clear setback for Trump, who broke the law when he retained more than 11,000 publicly owned documents. Upon leaving office, presidents are required by law to turn over all documents and records used in office to the National Archives. But that infraction is not criminal in itself, and few would advocate charging Trump just because he took press clippings, photographs, letters and other unprotected papers. But classified documents are a different matter. If they put national security at risk, Trump may have committed a crime by violating espionage laws. Since Trump first claimed that he did not have the documents and then resisted releasing them, he is also being investigated for possible obstruction of justice. Therefore, the appeals court ruling gives the green light to the most critical aspect to the government investigation.
In its 29-page ruling, the appeals court rejected the possibility that Trump could have "an individual interest in or need for any of the roughly 100 documents with classification markings" seized by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago. "Plaintiff has not even attempted to show that he has a need to know the information contained in the classified documents."
The appeals court also neutralized one of Trump's defense maneuvers. Even though the former president repeatedly claimed that he had declassified all the documents, his lawyers have not openly argued that point in court, because the argument can easily be turned against him. In addition, the potential crime only pertains to removing or retaining documents that could damage national security, not other non-damaging classified documents.
"Plaintiff suggests that he may have declassified these documents when he was president. But the record contains no evidence that any of these records were declassified. And before the special judge, plaintiff resisted providing any evidence that he had declassified any of these documents," stated the appeals court ruling. "In any event, at least for these purposes, the declassification argument is a red herring because declassifying an official document would not change its content or render it personal. Therefore, even if we assume that the plaintiff declassified some or all of the documents, that would not explain why he has a personal interest in them."
The stigma of being investigated
The appeals court rejected Trump's argument that he would be irreparably harmed if the department investigates the documents before they are reviewed by the independent arbiter. The court pointedly noted that the former president's lawyers have not suggested that any of the secret documents affect attorney-client privilege. Secondly, if the alleged harm is the stigma of being investigated, "all potential defendants could point to the same harm."
The ruling is also a blow to Judge Aileen Cannon who blocked the Justice Department's review of the documents pending the independent arbiter's review. The appeals court agreed that the Justice Department needs the documents to investigate, "… among other things, the identity of anyone who accessed the classified material; whether any particular classified material has been compromised; and whether there may be more classified material unaccounted for." Preventing the Justice Department from doing so could harm the government and the American people, to the extent that it poses a risk to national security.
Trump's lawyers were already arguing with the Justice Department over the special master review being conducted by semi-retired Judge Raymond Dearie. A main sticking point was whether Trump's defense could have accessed those documents for their own review. The appeals court ruling has settled that particular issue, at least as long as another court decision doesn't further muddle the case.
New York attorney general sues Trump and his eldest children for fraud
Iker Seisdedos | New York
US Justice Department tightens Trump probe with 40 subpoenas to ex-president's aides


Every company needs employees with expert mathematical skills to inform business decisions. The master's in Mathematics at the YU Katz School focuses on developing your skills in modelling, algorithms, and numerical applications to help you succeed in a variety of industries. In our program, you will use predictive scientific simulations to solve real-world problems.
Our Mathematics master follows an apprenticeship model. Students will choose a research project and develop it across multiple semesters under the guidance of a faculty member or industry mentor. Recent research projects have included applications to systems biology, complex networks, topological insulators, and astrodynamics.
The MS in Math at the Katz School provides the flexibility to customize your curriculum. In addition to traditional coursework, you may also enrol in special topics or design an independent study under the mentorship of senior faculty. You may also choose to specialize in financial mathematics and take courses in the departments of Mathematical Sciences, Economics, Physics, and Computer Science.
Masters in Mathematics students are required to complete ten courses (30 credits) and a thesis or comprehensive project in order to graduate. Students may replace the thesis or project with a written comprehensive exam.
Students are required to complete four of the following courses.
Students must choose six elective courses. A partial list of elective courses are listed below but the course offerings each semester may differ.
The Center for Mathematical Sciences provides a university-wide resource for graduates who have a deep interest in mathematics. The Center prepares students for positions at the frontiers of applied/industrial mathematics. Research at the Center focuses on emerging fields of pure and applied mathematics and the modelling of new technologies. The main activity of the Center is to host extended visits by leaders in various fields of mathematics, as well as shorter visits by talented, younger mathematicians. The Center also promotes the dissemination and popularization of frontier research in mathematics, particularly in fields of interest to students and faculty at Yeshiva University.
Research Interests include dynamical systems, applications to financial mathematics, mechanics, and mathematical biology.


text:
SCLC Appoints Anti-Gay Bernice King As New President
5 comments |	Friday, October 30, 2009
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference has voted Bernice King, daughter of late civil rights icon Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. into office as their newly elected president with a vote by the board of directors of 23-15.
King succeeds former SCLC president Charles Steele who resigned after serving five years in the position and the Rev. Byron Clay who served as interim president.
From The Atlanta Journal Constitution:
King was elected over Arkansas Appeals Court Judge Wendell Griffen. King was not present when the vote was announced. Rev. Byron Clay, interim president, phoned King with news of her victory.
"In the spirit of your late father, with great anticipation, we look forward to your leadership," Clay told King in the phone call.
Clay said the board will meet with King soon before making any other announcements. "She is excited, I am excited and the nation will be excited," Clay said.
King will be the seventh permanent leader in the organization's history. Founded in 1957 by Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph David Abernathy and Joseph Lowery, among others, the SCLC was at one time one of the country's most powerful direct action civil rights groups.
She becomes the first female leader, but the third King to serve as president, following her father and older brother, Martin Luther King III.
As far as the nation being excited about King taking over an organization whose political relevancy has been called into question in recent years much like it's sister organization The NAACP seems a little overstated.
I imagine members within the SCLC who were seeking a fresh start with a progressive leader who would provide new leadership and not more of the same are disappointed today.
Bernice King has proven to be a polarizing figure on gay rights issues and will surely be at odds with members of her organization such as Rev. Eric Lee, president of the Los Angeles SCLC chapter who has come out publicly in support of marriage equality. Rev. Lee was threatened to be fired from his position due to his support of marriage equality in July.
Bernice King also serves as a minister at the notoriously homophobic New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia under the leadership of Bishop Eddie Long. The pair organized a march against same-sex marriage in downtown Atlanta that attracted thousands in 2004. The state of Georgia added a constitutional amendment effectively banning same-sex marriage shortly thereafter.
at 11:27 AM Permalink
It is outrageous that one of the most venerated civil rights groups in the nation should elect someone who does not support civil rights for all, no matter what their sexual orientation. That it should come right after President Obama signed a new hate crimes bill into law is a slap in the face to this administration and all who believe in human rights for all.
From North. . .no ones even knows about the SCLC so is it a big deal in the South. The SCLC is so old and it is going to cost them a future. Any civil rights organization that is openly homophobic is going to be alienated in about 10 years. . . . Secondly, . . . It is obvious that Bernice King is being used because of her name, what is her salary. --They should have named Judge Greg Mathis a few years ago.
I'm just waiting for Bernice King to be outed as a lesbian. Everyone knows she is.
It just sickens me because Coretta Scott King spoke out against inequality.
I've always thought she was a lesbian!! Look at her mannerisms- she's definitely in the closet. Her hatred towards gays and lesbians stems from her own personal issues. Homosexuality is still taboo in the black community. It would be great if she told the truth and came out the closet.
Bernice King is the final nail in the coffin for SCLC. They are no longer a civil rights group. They are a black christian rights only group. What is the SCLC going to do when Bernice King is "outed" as a lesbian? Fire her too? lol
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HOUGHTON — Metamaterials offer the very real possibility that our most far-fetched fancies could one day become real as rocks. From invisibility cloaks and perfect lenses to immensely powerful batteries, their super-power applications tantalize the imagination. That said, so far "tantalize" has been the operative word, even though scientists have been studying metamaterials for more than 15 years.
"Not many real metamaterial devices have been developed," said Elena Semouchkina, associate professor of electrical engineering at Michigan Technological University. Soldiers can't throw invisibility cloaks over their shoulders to elude sniper fire, and no perfect lens app lets you see viruses with your smartphone. In part, that's because traditionally, researchers overly simplify how metamaterials actually work. Semouchkina says their complications often have been ignored.
So she and her team set about investigating those complications and discovered that the magic of metamaterials is driven by more than just one mechanism of physics. A paper describing their research was recently published online by the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics (DOI:10.1088/1361-6463/aa89d3).
Metamaterials may seem complex and futuristic, but the opposite is closer to the truth, says Semouchkina. Metamaterials ("meta" is the Greek word for "after" or "beyond") are engineered materials that have properties not found in nature. They are typically built of multiple identical elements fashioned from conventional materials, such as metals or nonconductive materials. Think of a Rubik's cube made of millions of units smaller than the thickness of a human hair.
These designer materials work by bending the paths of electromagnetic radiation — from radio waves to visible light to high-energy gamma rays — in new and different ways. How metamaterials bend those paths — a process called refraction — drives their peculiar applications. For example, a metamaterial invisibility cloak would bend the paths of light waves around a cloaked object, accelerating them on their way, and reunite them on the other side. Thus, an onlooker could see what was behind the object, while the object itself would be invisible. The illustration above, by MTU PhD student Navid Ganji, provides an example of how this effect works.
The conventional approach among metamaterials researchers has been to relate a metamaterial's refractive properties to resonance. Each tiny building block of the metamaterial vibrates like a tuning fork as the electromagnetic radiation passes through, causing the desired type of refraction.
"Metamaterials seem simple, but their physics is more complicated," she said, explaining that she and her team focused on dielectric metamaterials, which are built of elements that don't conduct electricity.
The team ran numerous computer simulations and made a surprising discovery: it was the shape and repetitive organization of the building blocks within the metamaterial — their periodicity — that affected the refraction. Resonance seemed to have little or nothing to do with it.
"We found that the properties that go along with being a photonic crystal can mask the resonance of metamaterials, to the point they can cause unusual refraction — including negative refraction, which is necessary for the development of a perfect lens," Semouchkina said.
So what does this mean for the scientists and engineers designing tomorrow's super materials?
Semouchkina's team is working on developing invisibility cloaks using photonic crystals, but she stresses that metamaterials research can have other real-world applications. One of her projects focuses on using metamaterial concepts to improve the sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which could lead to better medical diagnostics and advances in biological research.
"This is a very practical outcome, compared to the Harry Potter stuff," she said.
The new paper was authored by Semouchkina, Gandji, and Research Professor George Semouchkin, all of Michigan Tech's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.


Hollywood actress Eva Longoria starred in a new photo shoot for the September issue of Lucky.37-year-old star of "Desperate Housewives" appeared on the cover of gloss in a white jacket from Calvin Klein, a black top brand DKNY and shorts from Express. In an interview with the magazine Eva spoke about his close friend Victoria Beckham and said that she liked to wear her dress:"Victoria's such a funny," says the actress, " I'm madly in love with her and respect her style. I like to wear dresses of her design - they are very comfortable and simple.".


text:
var makeRequestMock = function(endpoint, resultCallback) {

	return resultCallback(null, {
		testResult : endpoint
	});
};

module.exports = makeRequestMock;

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
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Fellowships & Exchanges (12)
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Ukraine Situation (1)
Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust (1)
Borlaug Fellowship Program (9)
Cochran Fellowship Program (3)
Emerging Markets Program (EMP) (3)
Faculty Exchange Program (2)
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Food for Progress (15)
Foreign Market Development Program (FMD) (3)
Local and Regional Food Aid Procurement Program (1)
Market Access Program (MAP) (3)
McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program (15)
Communications to Congress (6)
Export Sales Announcement (3)
Stakeholder Notice (6)
Forest Products (3)
Grains, Feeds and Fodders (16)
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Soybeans (13)
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Communications to Congress
Food for Progress Program – FY 2021 Report to Congress
USDA Trade Mission to East Africa Underway
Deputy Secretary Dr. Jewel Bronaugh arrived today in Nairobi to launch a USDA agribusiness trade mission. The U.S. delegation includes representatives from 32 agribusinesses and farm organizations looking to establish trade relationships and explore opportunities for U.S. exports to East Africa.
Deputy Secretary Bronaugh To Lead East Africa Agribusiness Trade Mission
Representatives from 32 U.S. agribusiness and farm organizations will join Deputy Agriculture Secretary Dr. Jewel Bronaugh for a trade mission to Nairobi, Kenya, and Zanzibar, Tanzania, Oct. 31 - Nov. 4.
USDA Accepting Applications for East Africa Trade Mission
USDA is accepting applications from U.S. exporters for a trade mission to Nairobi, Kenya, and Zanzibar, Tanzania, Oct. 31-Nov. 4.
Fourteen New Agricultural Officers Sworn into Foreign Service
U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Dr. Jewel Bronaugh administered the oath of office today to 14 USDA employees who will serve American agriculture internationally as members of the Foreign Service.
Biden Administration Announces Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Global Food Aid to Respond to Putin's Unprovoked Invasion of Ukraine
USDA and USAID intend to draw down entire Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust to respond to global food insecurity
Ambassador McCain Visits USDA School Feeding Site in Kenya
While in Kenya, Ambassador Cindy McCain saw how USDA's McGovern-Dole Program has helped boost food security and educational opportunities for vulnerable children and families.
USDA Announces Additional International Trade Missions for 2022
As part of USDA's commitment to expanding and diversifying global market opportunities for U.S. agriculture, the Department will sponsor four additional international trade missions in 2022,
2021 Highlights: Expanding Opportunities, Tackling Challenges for U.S. Agriculture
Throughout 2021, FAS was proud to support USDA's efforts to create more and better markets for U.S. agriculture, to address the climate crisis, and to promote nutrition and food security.
Secretary Vilsack Highlights Key Work in 2021 to Create More and Better Markets
Secretary Vilsack highlights key USDA accomplishments – including FAS's global leadership – to create more and better markets for U.S. agriculture in 2021.
Export Sales Announcement
Private Exporters Report Sales Activity for China and Bangladesh
WASHINGTON, April 12, 2021—Private exporters reported to the U.S. Department of Agriculture the follow activity: Export sales of 132,000 metric tons of soybeans for delivery to China during the 2021/2022 marketing year; and Export sales of 110,000...
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SME Home Technologies	Humans of Manufacturing Alysa Darrencamp
Bridging an Interest in Science with Manufacturing
Manufacturing Engineer Credits High School Science Olympiad, College Mentor for Her Success in Automotive Industry
It all started with a model bridge… As a young girl, Alysa Darrencamp, now a vehicle operations manufacturing engineer at Ford, entered her school's Science Olympiad, which sparked her interest in engineering. "Talking with the teacher and understanding the basics of tension, compression and how bridges work really interested me," she explained.
With research and the volunteer help of a working engineer, Darrencamp built her bridge, which needed to hold four gallons of sand without collapsing. She tested it, made adjustments in the design, rebuilt it, and tested the structure again. She entered the final model and won the contest.
"That blew my mind," she said. "Taking the research and my understanding of how bridges work, studying what kind of woods serve as good building materials and making corrections to my bridge design—that's what really started me on the engineering career path."
Darrencamp got her degree in energy engineering and a minor in environmental engineering at Pennsylvania State University. She credits her mentor, Professor Elizabeth Wiggins-Lopez, as steering her interest toward those engineering disciplines. It was during her sophomore year that Wiggins-Lopez pulled aside Darrencamp and two other young women to work on a project to make cities more sustainable.
Penn State was focusing on fuel cell technology at the time, so Darrencamp's team chose to do a project based on wind power and electrolysis through fuel cells. The project helped boost her confidence; she admits she was intimidated by working with the men in her classes.
"I believe that the focus on STEM education is extremely important in schools, starting from elementary school and moving through middle and high school. Teaching the common disciplines of STEM teaches you how to make yourself successful in real life."
Alysa Darrencamp
"I had a different mind-set," she said. "I was problem-solving and looking at the big picture where they were focused on smaller, in-the-moment projects. Being introduced to the other women in the program and working with a female professor, seeing where she had gone in her career, really kept me in engineering."
Today, Darrencamp enjoys having a "variety of minds"—male and female—listening and communicating with each other to solve problems. "I feel the quickest way to find a solution to a problem is through teamwork," she said. "Because we're all trying to solve the same problem, in the end, everyone is working together."
One of Darrencamp's favorite projects at Ford was building the body of the high-strength, aluminum F-150, where everything she had learned about welding a vehicle body was replaced with riveting technology. "I enjoyed taking the same size vehicle, decreasing its weight while still maintaining its safety and durability through using lighter, yet strong body material," she said.
Her work in fuel cell research gave her the opportunity to apply her manufacturing know-how to a research project at Ford—increasing the performance of vehicle parts under all weather conditions.
"I was hands-on in the factory, seeing how things fit and work together," Darrencamp explained. "I brought the knowledge of how things are built to my team, and questioned them about some of the parts they were using in development—I didn't know if they would work properly."
She developed her own fuel cell design that not only met Ford requirements, but also decreased cost and environmental impacts.
"I used my understanding of what we are capable of manufacturing and how the part is supposed to be installed," Darrencamp said. "In my design, the cell is very easy to manipulate to satisfy the different needs it would face. My team was a bit leery because it was a completely out-of-the-box development. But once I tested it and they saw its efficiencies, they understood."
Ford managers understood, too, and Darrencamp's design solution is now going through the patent process.
Darrencamp's idea of manufacturing engineering is like having your family by your side. "Everyone in my department has your back and is always willing to help," she said. "This includes everyone who works in the factories, engineers, operators, mechanics, etc."
She enjoys giving back to the engineering community through Ford's Girls Fast Track Races program, where the auto manufacturer teams up with local Girl Scout Councils to teach girls that manufacturing and engineering can be fun. The girls are tasked with engineering a race car, building it and then racing it. Ford engineers such as Darrencamp volunteer their time to help and encourage the girls.
"I believe that the focus on STEM education is extremely important in schools, starting from elementary school and moving through middle and high school," she notes. "Teaching the common disciplines of STEM teaches you how to make yourself successful in real life."
Looking to read some of our other profiles on manufacturing individuals? Click below to checkout our complete Humans of Manufacturing section.
More Humans of Manufacturing


i just know. and i think you know too.
I know you know we both know ...?
I think we all know how we know about knowing what we know.
everyone else knows but us.
Now i know after studying hard ?
Yes, I know that I no longer want you. If you can't communicate openly or honestly, then we have nothing.


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Chicago PD Season 8: Everything We Know
Divya Meena
'Chicago P.D.' is a crime drama revolving around a team of detectives led by a cop, who's quite ruthless in his pursuit of justice. It follows the Intelligence Unit of the 21st District of the Chicago Police Department as the central characters tackle perpetrators of the city's major street offenses, from serial killers to drug trafficking, and that's just their professional life. The police procedural, along with 'Chicago P.D.', 'Chicago Justice', and 'Chicago Med,' is a byproduct of NBC's 'Chicago Fire.'
Together known as 'One Chicago' franchise, it focuses on various aspects such as police force, prosecutors, and intelligence unit, and the medicinal team as their core premises, respectively. On February 27, 2020, during the run of the seventh season, the official announcement regarding the renewal of seasons eight, nine, and ten. So when can the audience expect the next chapter of the story? Well, here's everything you need to know about 'Chicago P.D.' season 8.
Chicago P.D. Season 8 Release Date
'Chicago P.D.' season 8 was initially slated to follow suit of its forerunner editions and premiere in mid-September, but the unrelenting events of 2020 considerably put a pin in the production leading to a postponement. So as per the revised schedule, 'Chicago P.D.' season 8 is set to release on November 11, 2020, at 10 pm ET, on NBC.
Chicago P.D. Season 8 Cast: Who is in it?
The chief characters from the show are all expected to return for season 8, which includes Jason Beghe as Hank Voight, Jon Seda as Antonio Dawson, Jesse Lee Soffer as Jay Halstead, Tracy Spiridakos as Hailey Upton, Marina Squerciati as Kim Burgess, Sophia Bush as Erin Lindsay, Laroyce Hawkins as Kevin Atwater, and Patrick John Flueger as Adam Ruzek. As for any other casting tweak, there hasn't been an announcement yet, so we will have to wait for an official update from the network.
Chicago P.D. Season 8 Plot: What can it be About?
The finale of season 7 is a roller-coaster ride, that sets up one of Intelligence's finest, Atwater, for an immensely difficult season eight. The finale follows Atwater as he reluctantly agrees to go undercover with Tom Doyle (Mickey O'Sullivan), despite him being a racist cop who held him at gunpoint last season. Unfortunately, things haven't changed for Doyle though, as he assumes – largely based on his biases against people of color – that a black man was up to no good and pursuing him leads to Doyle getting fatally injured in the crossfire that ensues.
Following Doyle's death, Atwater makes his decision to go with the true retelling of events to his superiors, about Doyle having no justifiable right to have pursued the man who eventually wound up killing him. However, it doesn't fly with Doyle's supporters as Atwater returns home to find them camped out in police cars.
Season 8 will explore the aftermath of the seventh season. It might showcase the after-effects of Doyle's passing on the rest of the Intelligence unit, and also put the focus on whether they have Atwater's back or not. During an in-depth breakdown of the season 7 finale, the executive producer, Rick Eid divulged on his original plans that didn't end up happening. Along with revealing that the original season finale has been pushed to episode 4 or 5 of season 8, Rick added that one of the beloved characters gets murdered in the episode. He also mentioned that season 8 will pick up in real-time rather than jumping ahead in the timeline.
Read More: Best Detective TV Series on Netflix


text:
Parophthalmoptera is a genus of picture-winged flies in the family Ulidiidae.

Species
 P. picea

References

Ulidiidae


text:
Q: Nested Form in Rails don't show nothing in Form I want to create a nested form with relations between Clientes has_many enderecos, but in my form nothing is show up.
Look my models:
class Cliente < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :enderecos, dependent: :destroy

  validates :nome, :sexo, presence: true
  validates :cpf, :email, :username, presence:true, uniqueness: true
  has_secure_password

  accepts_nested_attributes_for :enderecos
end

And endereco:
class Endereco < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :cliente
end

And my form:
<%= form_for(@cliente) do |f| %>

    <%= f.text_field :nome, placeholder: 'Nome completo', size: '50px' %>

  <% f.fields_for :endereco do |endereco_form| %>

        <%= endereco_form.label :cep, 'placeholder: ' %>
        <%= endereco_form.text_field :cep, placeholder: 'CEP' %>

        <%= endereco_form.text_field :numero, placeholder: 'Número' %>

  <% end %>

    <%= f.submit %>

<% end %>

But inside nested part nothing is show up, what's happening?

A: You forgot the '=' sign:
<%= f.fields_for :endereco do |endereco_form| %>


CDC and state and local health departments continue to investigate cases of monkeypox among persons who had contact with wild or exotic mammalian pets or persons with monkeypox (1,2). This report updates epidemiologic, laboratory, and smallpox vaccine use data for U.S. cases.
As of June 25, a total of 79 cases of monkeypox had been reported to CDC from Wisconsin (39), Indiana (20), Illinois (16), Missouri (two), Kansas (one), and Ohio (one) (Figure); these include 29 cases laboratory-confirmed at CDC and 51 cases under investigation by state and local health departments (Table). A total of 19 cases were excluded from those reported in the previous update because they met the exclusion criteria outlined in the updated case definition (2), and 11 were added. Of the 79 cases, 37 (47%) were among males; the median age was 28 years (range: 1--51 years). Age data were unavailable for two patients. Among 75 patients for whom data were available, 19 (25%) were hospitalized. Two patients have had a serious clinical illness. The first patient was a child with a previously reported laboratory-confirmed case of severe monkeypox-associated encephalitis (1,2); the child subsequently improved and was discharged after requiring hospitalization for 14 days. A second child, who was exposed to three ill prairie dogs, was hospitalized with profound painful cervical and tonsillar adenopathy and diffuse pox lesions, including lesions in the oropharynx. Although the child had difficulty breathing and swallowing, mechanical ventilation was not required. The adenopathy peaked 5 days after rash onset and 7 days after onset of initial prodromal symptoms of general malaise, myalgia, and fever. Preliminary testing of skin rash lesions was positive for orthopox virus; confirmatory testing for monkeypox virus is pending at CDC.
Of the 79 reported cases, 29 (37%) have been laboratory confirmed at CDC for monkeypox by detection of virus in skin rash lesions by using culture, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), immunohistochemical testing, and/or electron microscopy. One patient had monkeypox virus detected by PCR and culture in throat and nasopharyngeal swabs obtained when the patient was ill with prodromal symptoms and a macular rash. In addition, an IgM response to orthopox viral antigen was detected in an acute serum sample. For these laboratory-confirmed cases, dates of illness onset ranged from May 16 to June 11. All confirmed patients reported a rash and at least one other clinical sign or symptom, including fever, respiratory symptoms, and/or lymphadenopathy. The median incubation period (i.e., first exposure date to illness onset date) was 12 days (range: 2--26 days). The majority of confirmed patients reported exposure to wild or exotic mammals, including prairie dogs; some patients also had contact with other persons with monkeypox virus infection in a household setting. No cases of monkeypox that could be attributed exclusively to person-to-person contact have been confirmed.
To prevent further transmission of monkeypox, 26 residents of five states have received smallpox vaccine since June 13; recipients included 24 adults and two children. Vaccine was administered to two laboratory workers pre-exposure and to 24 persons post-exposure (11 health-care workers, seven household contacts, three laboratory workers, two public health veterinarians, and one work contact). One adult who was vaccinated as a child did not have a major vaccine reaction or "take" 7 days after vaccination and required revaccination.
CDC has issued updated interim guidance on the use of smallpox vaccine, cidofovir, and vaccinia immune globulin for prevention and treatment in the setting of an outbreak of monkeypox (3). Principal changes in the updated guidance include a revision of the definition of close contact with an ill animal, recommendations for vaccination of clinical laboratory workers handling specimens from ill animals and persons infected with monkeypox virus, and instructions for reporting smallpox vaccine--related serious adverse events to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
Health-care providers, veterinarians, and public health officials who suspect monkeypox in animals or humans should report such cases to their state and local health departments. State health departments should report suspect cases to CDC, telephone 770-488-7100. Clinical specimens should be submitted for testing after consultation with the state and local health department. Interpretation of laboratory results requires completion of specimen submission forms, which are available at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/monkeypox/diagspecimens.htm. Additional information about monkeypox is available at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/monkeypox.
CDC. Update: multistate outbreak of monkeypox---Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin, 2003. MMWR 2003;52:561--4.
This report is based on data contributed by MG Anderson, MD, Crusader Clinic; S Homann, MD, Rockford Infectious Disease Consultants, Rockford; L Frenkel, Dept of Pediatrics, Univ of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois.


The FOSSIL paper cut artwork is unique and handcut.
It is beautiful when placed in a floating frame, casting shadows.
Your order includes backing in my beautiful 220 g pearl white paper, PLUS one piece of plexiglas to use with the one included in the frame you must purchase.


The commodity slump that spurred bear markets in everything from gold to corn to sugar this year will deepen by the end of December as prices head for their first annual loss since 2008, if history is any guide.
The Standard & Poor's GSCI Spot Index of 24 raw materials fell in December 83 percent of the time since 1971 when the benchmark gauge was posting losses for the year through November, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The average December loss was 3.9 percent, which if it happened this time would mean a 7.8 percent drop for the year.
Investors pulled a record $34.1 billion from commodity funds since the end of December, according to EPFR Global, which started tracking the flows in 2000. Ample rains boosted global crops, increased mine output spurred supply gluts in metals and the U.S. is extracting the most crude oil since 1989. Economic growth in China, the biggest user of everything from soybeans to zinc to cotton, is poised to slow for a third year in 2013, according to economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Fifteen members of the S&P GSCI are heading for annual losses, with grains and precious metals leading the declines. Corn tumbled 40 percent, on track for the biggest annual slump since the data begins in 1960. Gold is heading for the first yearly retreat since 2000 and silver is poised for the worst rout in three decades.
The commodity index fell 4 percent this year, while the MSCI All-Country World Index of equities jumped 18 percent. The Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the currency against 10 major peers, gained 4 percent. This is the first time that commodities are trailing both shares and the dollar since 2005, when the data begins.
Since 1971, commodities fell in December 55 percent of the time, and averaged returns for that month of 0.1 percent. In the years when the GSCI is negative in the first 11 months, the December losses are magnified.
There will be "significant" declines through next year for iron ore, gold, soybeans and copper,Jeffrey Currie, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s head of commodities research in New York, said in Nov. 20 report.


With World Read Aloud Day just around the corner, it's not too late to use your technological resources to enhance your celebration and bring reading to life for your students. Here are seven ways to do just that!
Yet, guest readers can also be students' parents or grandparents, volunteers from local businesses or organizations, or even students and teachers at other schools. If you would like to connect with other educators who are interested in Skyping for WRAD, visit this wiki created by John Schu and Shannon Miller – ChangeTheWorldStoryByStory.wikispaces.com/Skype+Schedules+and+Projects.
By the way, don't miss out on the opportunity to allow your own students to serve as the Guest Readers for other classes or schools as well!
2. Podcasting – Get your students excited about reading by using voice-recording applications to record themselves reading aloud. Vocaroo.com or the Voice Memos app on various iDevices are simple ways to implement this… or use a more robust program like Audacity, Aviary or Garageband, which would even allow students to add mood music or sound effects to their productions. Play these finished masterpieces for the class or publish them online to share with others!
3. Talking Avatars – Using the voice recording function at Voki.com, students can use their voices to create an avatar that can read aloud to the class. Whether Abraham Lincoln is reading the Gettysburg Address or a cat is reading Carl Sandburg's famous Fog poem, this activity will delight students of all ages.
Bonus: Students can read their own poems and compositions aloud as well! Check out this elementary Voki project by Samantha Lewis that promotes literacy and writing through Dr. Seuss inspired rhyming poems.
5. Digital Storytelling – To celebrate both reading and writing, consider allowing the students to create Digital Storybooks using the Web 2.0 application, Little Bird Tales. This application allows students to compose a written piece, draw original illustrations and record themselves reading the book aloud. Best of all, they are easy to share with the class, e-mail to parents or paste on your class website.
6. Puppet Shows or Reader's Theater – Lights! Camera! Action! Bring reading to life with a little drama! Use your document camera to create live or recorded Read Alouds of Reader's Theater or other works with engaging images of student-created popsicle stick avatars, finger puppets or other manipulatives. For example, read Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar with a large popsicle stick avatar of the caterpillar and real versions of the red apple, two green pears, a cupcake, a single leaf and more.
7. Video Book Reviews – Students can use a webcam, Flipcam or Doc Cam to record a review of a favorite book, including sharing illustrations and reading their favorites passages aloud.
Bonus: Upload these video book reviews online and connect their URLs to QR codes (qrcode.kaywa.com) that can be printed and affixed to the cover of the book for other students to watch throughout the school year!
Using Technology, you can easily use your World Read Aloud Day event to ignite a passion for reading in your students and allow it to spread far beyond your classroom walls.
World Read Aloud Day takes place on Wednesday, March 7th. For more ideas, activities resources, visit LitWorld.org/WorldReadAloudDayActivities. You can even download their original picture book, New Day, New Friends, to share with your class!
Writing is a lot more fun when you can create illustrations, storybooks, or movies to go with it!
that help you do just that!
Pros: You can print your book! Has lots of characters and facial expressions. Can upload your own images.
Pros: This has cool and creepy pictures, backgrounds and moving animations. You can record your voice or sounds effects. Plus, there are great stories to read on here, too!
Pros: Uses cool Pop-Up illustrations to create a book. You can add your own ideas and upload your own images.
Cons: Many students felt Prezi was hard to get the hang of; there are no images or video in the program (you have to upload them yourself).
Pros: Storybird lets you make your own book and story. They said it was inspiring to write based on a picture prompt and use professional illustrations/artwork. They liked adding funny text to the pictures. Plus, you can write the story with someone else!