text:
La modulación de amplitud en cuadratura o QAM (acrónimo de Quadrature Amplitude Modulation, por sus siglas en inglés) es una técnica que transporta dos señales independientes, mediante la modulación, tanto en amplitud como en fase,de una señal portadora. Esto se consigue modulando una misma portadora, desfasada en 90°. La señal modulada en QAM está compuesta por la suma lineal de dos señales previamente moduladas en doble banda lateral con portadora suprimida.

Se asocian a esta tecnología aplicaciones tales como:
 Módems telefónicos para velocidades superiores a los 2400 bps.
 Transmisión de señales de televisión, microondas, satélite (datos a alta velocidad por canales con ancho de banda restringido).
 Modulación con codificación reticulada, que consigue velocidades de transmisión muy elevadas combinando la modulación con la codificación de canal.
 Módems ADSL que trabajan a frecuencias comprendidas entre 24 kHz y 1104 kHz, alcanzándose velocidades de datos de hasta 9 Mb/s.

QAM Analógica
La modulación QAM Analógica permite que dos señales provenientes de dos fuentes independientes, pero con características de ancho de banda similares, ocupen el mismo ancho de banda de transmisión y se puedan separar en el extremo receptor, ahorrando así el uso del ancho de banda disponible. Así, si dos señales  y , modulan dos señales portadoras de la misma frecuencia, una desfasada en 90° respecto a la otra, mediante el uso de moduladores de producto (que multiplican las señales por la portadora) la señal resultante será expresada matemáticamente de la forma:

En el receptor, estas señales son demoduladas usando dos demoduladores de producto que multiplican la señal recibida , proporcionalmente igual a  en dos vías separadas, con la señal de un oscilador local recuperada a partir de la señal recibida y con ésta desfasada en 90° para reproducir las señales originales  y  respectivamente. Debido a la propiedad de ortogonalidad de las señales portadoras, es posible detectar independientemente las señales transmitidas.

En forma ideal,  se recupera al multiplicar la señal recibida por una portadora de frecuencia  que puede ser expresada así:

Usando las identidades trigonométricas, la ecuación anterior se puede escribir como:

Haciendo pasar esta señal compuesta por un filtro pasa bajo adecuadamente diseñado, se remueven los componentes de altas frecuencias que contienen a , dejando solamente la señal , que no es afectada por , lo cual demuestra que ambas señales pueden ser recibidas independientemente. En forma similar, la señal recibida es multiplicada por la señal del oscilador local desfasada en 90° y la señal compuesta se hace pasar por otro filtro paso bajo para extraer .

La fase de la señal recibida se supone que se conoce con exactitud en el receptor. Si la fase de demodulación está incluso un poco fuera del margen aceptado, el resultado es la presencia de diafonía entre las señales moduladas. Este problema de sincronización de portadora en el receptor debe ser manejado en los sistemas QAM de alguna manera. Por ejemplo, en la televisión analógica en color, es transmitida una ráfaga consistente en 8 a 11 ciclos de la subportadora de color, después de cada pulso de sincronización horizontal de referencia. Con esta táctica, se garantiza la sincronización en ambos extremos.

La QAM analógica es usada en los sistemas de televisión en color NTSC y PAL, en los cuales las señales  y  transportan los componentes de crominancia. La modulación QAM-Compatible es usada en los sistemas de radiodifusión AM stereo para transportar la información de diferencia estéreo.

Análisis de Fourier de la modulación QAM

En el dominio frecuencial, QAM tiene un patrón espectral similar al de la modulación doble banda lateral con portadora suprimida. Usando la transformada de Fourier sobre la expresión de la señal , se encuentra que:

donde  son las transformadas de Fourier o representaciones en el dominio frecuencial de ,  y , respectivamente.

QAM Digital

La QAM Digital, conocida también como QAM Cuantizada (de la expresión inglesa Quantized QAM), se basa en los principios de su similar analógica, con la diferencia de que tiene como entrada un flujo de datos binarios, el cual es dividido en grupos de tantos bits como se requieran para generar N estados de modulación, de allí que se hable de N-QAM. Por ejemplo, en 8-QAM, cada tres bits de entrada, que proporcionan ocho valores posibles (0-7), se alteran la fase y la amplitud de la portadora para derivar ocho estados de modulación únicos. En general, en N-QAM, cada grupo de m-bits genera  estados de modulación.

Para representar los estados de modulación posibles en los distintos tipos de modulación digital, como la QAM Cuantizada, se utiliza el llamado diagrama de constelación en analogía con la astronomía. Los puntos de la "constelación" están uniformemente dispuestos en una rejilla cuadrada con igual separación vertical y horizontal, aunque son posibles otras configuraciones. Puesto que en las telecomunicaciones digitales los datos son binarios, el número de puntos del diagrama es normalmente una potencia de 2. Ya que el número de estados de modulación en QAM es generalmente un número cuadrado, las formas más comunes son de 16-QAM, 64-QAM y 256-QAM. Al cambiar a una constelación de orden superior, es posible transmitir más bits por símbolo. Sin embargo, si la "energía promedio" de la constelación sigue siendo la misma, los puntos deben estar más cercanos y son por lo tanto más susceptibles al ruido y la distorsión, lo que resulta en una tasa de bits de error más alta y así la QAM de orden superior puede ofrecer más datos menos confiables que la QAM de orden inferior.

Si son necesarias velocidades de datos más allá de los valores ofrecidos en el esquema de modulación 8-PSK, lo más usual es cambiar a la modulación QAM ya que se obtiene una mayor distancia entre puntos adyacentes en el plano I-Q mediante la distribución de los puntos de manera más uniforme. Una desventaja, en este caso, es que los puntos ya no son todos de la misma amplitud, de modo que el demodulador debe correctamente detectar tanto la fase como la amplitud.

Los modos 64-QAM y 256-QAM se utilizan a menudo en la televisión digital terrestre y por cable y los módems de cable. En los Estados Unidos, estos son los esquemas de modulación digital obligatorios para televisión por cable aprobados por SCTE en la norma ANSI/SCTE 07 2000. La norma europea de televisión digital terrestre DVB-T utiliza las modulaciones 16-QAM y 64-QAM al igual que las normas ISDB-T y ISDB-Tb, también conocida como SBTVD. La modulación de 256-QAM está prevista  en el Reino Unido para la televisión en alta definición.

Los sistemas de comunicación diseñados para alcanzar niveles muy altos de eficiencia espectral suelen emplear constelaciones QAM muy densas. Por ejemplo, los dispositivos actuales de 500 Mbps para comunicación por cables de energía eléctrica usan las modulaciones 1024-QAM y 4096-QAM, así como los dispositivos bajo el futuro estándar de ITU-T denominado G.hn para redes sobre el cableado existente en casa (cable coaxial, líneas telefónicas y líneas eléctricas). Otro ejemplo, es la tecnología VDSL2 de pares de cobre trenzado, cuya constelación tiene un tamaño que abarca hasta los 32.768 puntos, que equivale al esquema de 15-QAM.

Diagramas de moduladores y demoduladores QAM

Modulador Analógico

Las señales de entrada  y , pasan por moduladores de producto que modulan separadamente a la misma portadora que tiene frecuencia angular  pero con desfase de 90°. Esto se indica en el diagrama bajo las funciones de coseno y seno. Las señales son sumadas por un circuito analógico lineal y de ahí pasan al equipo transmisor. En el caso de las normas de televisión cromática NTSC y PAL, estas señales incorporan los pulsos de sincronización vertical y horizontal, mientras que el audio se añade en el transmisor, con lo cual se completa la señal televisiva. A partir de la señal transmitida es posible recuperar la señal portadora lo que permite mantener la sincronización, tanto en fase como en frecuencia, entre la señal portadora y la señal del oscilador local del receptor.

Modulador Digital

El flujo digital de datos, se divide en dos partes, mediante un convertidor serie-paralelo (S/P en la figura), las cuales atraviesan dos convertidores digital-analógico. Las señales pasan después por filtros pasa-bajo y luego son multiplicadas por la misma portadora de frecuencia , pero ésta es desfasada en 90° en una de las ramas de la figura, tal como ocurre en la QAM Analógica. Este paso genera las señales  y  que serán transmitidas. Ambas señales son sumadas linealmente y se envían al canal de transmisión. La señal enviada, se expresa como esta sumatoria:

donde  y  son los voltajes a la salida de los multiplicadores para el símbolo n-ésimo que está siendo transmitido.

Demodulador Analógico

La señal analógica recibida  es dividida y cada parte es enviada a dos demoduladores de producto que la multiplican por la señal portadora con diferencias de fase de 90°. Las señales de salida de los demoduladores, denominadas  y  atraviesan los filtros pasabajos TP, adecuadamente diseñados para obtener las señales finales  y , que serán procesadas en forma independiente. Para mantener la sincronización, puede existir una etapa de recuperación de portadora que luego es filtrada y amplificada para ser mezclada o también, en forma alterna, un lazo de seguimiento de fase. El esquema de demodulación básico es mostrado en el diagrama que sigue.

Demodulador Digital

La señal recibida se divide en dos vías, mediante un divisor de potencia (DIV) en cada una de las cuales se encuentra un demodulador de producto alimentado por la señal de un oscilador local, sincronizado mediante un circuito de recuperación de portadora, cuya señal sufre un desfase de 90° en una de estas vías. Las señales a la salida de los demoduladores son procesadas con filtros pasa-bajo para eliminar los múltiplos de los armónicos de la señal del oscilador local y luego son convertidas en forma digital para, finalmente, mezclar los flujos digitales de datos en un convertidor paralelo a serie (P/S).

En la práctica, existe un retardo de fase desconocido entre el transmisor y el receptor que debe ser compensado por la sincronización del oscilador local del receptor. En aplicaciones móviles, siempre existirá una desviación en frecuencia debido a la posible presencia de un desplazamiento por efecto Doppler proporcional a la velocidad relativa entre el transmisor y el receptor. Tanto las variaciones de fase como de frecuencia introducidas por el canal deben ser compensadas mediante la adecuada sincronización del oscilador local, lo cual requiere una referencia de fase, y esta tarea se lleva a cabo mediante un lazo de seguimiento de fase.

Rendimiento de la QAM cuantizada

Las siguientes definiciones son necesarias en la determinación de las tasas de error:
  = Número de símbolos en la constelación de modulación.
  = Energía por bit.
  = Energía por símbolo =  con k bits por símbolo.
  = Densidad espectral de ruido (expresada en W/Hz)
  = Probabilidad de error de bit.
  = Probabilidad de error de bit por portadora.
  = Probabilidad de error de símbolo.
  = Probabilidad de error de símbolo por portadora.
 .

 está relacionada con la Función error de Gauss, y es la probabilidad de que x esté debajo de la "cola" de la curva de la función de densidad de probabilidad gaussiana hasta el infinito positivo.

Las tasas de error que son establecidas aquí son las de ruido blanco gaussiano aditivo.

Cuando se den las coordenadas de puntos de la constelación en esta sección, se deberá tener en cuenta que representan una constelación no normalizada. Es decir, si se requiere conocer la energía media en un punto, la constelación tendría que ser escalada linealmente.

QAM Digital Rectangular

Los diagramas de constelaciones para la QAM Rectangular son, en general, inferiores a lo óptimo en el sentido de que no maximizan el espacio de los puntos de la constelación para una energía dada. Sin embargo, los puntos o símbolos de la constelación tienen la ventaja considerable de que pueden ser fácilmente transmitidos como dos señales por modulación por amplitud de pulsos con portadoras en cuadratura, y pueden ser fácilmente demodulados. Las constelaciones que no son cuadradas, logran marginalmente mejor tasa de error de bit (BER), pero son más difíciles de procesar.

La primera constelación para QAM Rectangular que suele aparecer es la de 16-QAM en la que se da un bit de asignación de código Gray. La razón de que sea así, es que una breve consideración revela que los esquemas digitales 2-QAM y 4-QAM son, de hecho, modulaciones por desplazamiento de fase (BPSK) y por cuadratura de fase (QPSK), respectivamente. Además, el rendimiento de tasa de error de la modulación 8-QAM es cercano a la de 16-QAM, pero su velocidad de datos es sólo 0,75 veces la de 16-QAM.

Las expresiones para la tasa de símbolos de error de QAM Rectangular no son difíciles de obtener, pero originan ecuaciones complicadas. Para un número par "k" de bits por símbolo existen expresiones exactas. Estas son más fácilmente expresadas en el sentido de errores por portadora, bajo esta fórmula:

de modo que:

La tasa de error de bit depende de la asignación de los símbolos, pero para  y un bit de código Gray, asumiendo que cada error de símbolo causa sólo un error de bit, la tasa de error de bit es aproximadamente:

.

Ya que las portadoras son independientes, la tasa general de error de bit es la misma que la tasa de error por portadora, como ocurre en BPSK y QPSK.

QAM Rectangular de "k-impar"

Para valores impares de , como en 8-QAM () es difícil obtener tasas de error de símbolo, pero un valor que puede ser aceptado, viene dado por:

QAM No Rectangular

Es la naturaleza de QAM que la mayoría de los diagramas de constelaciones de cualquier orden se pueden construir de muchas formas diferentes y no es posible cubrirlas todas. Los diagramas anexos muestran la disposición de los puntos en el plano para los esquemas 8-QAM y 16-QAM circular.

La constelación 8-QAM circular es óptima, entre otras similares, ya que se requiere la mínima potencia promedio para una distancia mínima dada entre los puntos. No es así en la constelación de 16-QAM por estar debajo de lo óptimo, aunque para que lo sea, se puede construir una a lo largo de las mismas líneas de la constelación de 8-QAM.

La constelación circular destaca la relación entre las modulaciones digitales QAM y PSK. Se pueden construir diagramas para otros órdenes de constelaciones a lo largo de similares (o muy diferentes) líneas. En consecuencia, es difícil de establecer expresiones para las tasas de error de la QAM No-rectangular, ya que necesariamente ello depende de la configuración de la constelación. Sin embargo, un límite superior obvio vinculado a la tasa está relacionado con la distancia más corta en línea recta entre dos puntos, por lo cual la probabilidad de error de símbolo es definida como:

Una vez más, la tasa de error de bit depende de la asignación de los bits a símbolos. Aunque, en general, hay una constelación no rectangular que es óptima para una modulación M-QAM en particular, no utiliza ya que las señales en esquemas M-QAM Rectangulares son mucho más fáciles de modular y demodular.

Interferencia y Ruido

Al pasar a una constelación QAM de orden superior en entornos de aplicación QAM adversos de RF/microondas, la interferencia multitrayectoria aumenta generalmente. Existe una dispersión de los puntos de la constelación, disminuyendo la separación entre estados adyacentes, por lo que es difícil que el receptor decodifique la señal apropiadamente, reduciéndose la inmunidad al ruido. Hay varias mediciones de los parámetros de prueba que ayudan a determinar un modo QAM óptimo para un entorno operativo específico. Los tres parámetros siguientes son los más significativos:
 Relación portadora/interferencia.
 Relación portadora a ruido
 Relación umbral a ruido.

Referencias

Véase también

 APSK
 PSK
 ASK

Radiodifusión
Multiplexación
Módem
Telecomunicaciones
Términos de telecomunicaciones

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Asian imports of Iran oil slide, may recover on supply fears
Asia's top buyers of Iranian crude have cut purchases by about 14 percent so far this year, but imports may edge higher in coming months as growing unrest in Africa threatens to tighten global oil supplies, Reuters reported.
Tough U.S. and EU sanctions have slashed exports from the OPEC member by more than half to about 1 million barrels per day (bpd), costing it as much as $80 billion in lost revenue since early 2012, according to White House estimates.
However, a breakthrough agreement last month between world powers and Tehran over its disputed nuclear programme may offer Asian importers a slight reprieve from conflicts in South Sudan and Libya, which have pushed Brent futures back towards three-month highs.
Although the Geneva deal doesn't allow Iran to boost oil sales for six months, buyers who sharply reduced purchases earlier in the year have room to raise imports. India tops the list, for making the steepest cuts, followed by South Korea. China and Japan have the least scope as they have struggled to lower shipments this year.
The deal, with the United States and five other global powers, known as the P5+1, agreed to pause efforts to reduce Iran's crude sales, allowing consumers to continue buying their "current average amounts of crude oil".
It also exempts buyers of Iranian oil, most of whom are based in Asia, from continually reducing purchases to earn a six-monthly waiver granted by the United States from sanctions.
The U.S. State Department extended a six-month Iranian sanctions' waiver at the end of November to China, India, South Korea and other countries as a reward for them reducing purchases of Iranian crude oil earlier this year.
Imports by Iran's largest customers - China, India, Japan and South Korea - fell to 928,529 bpd in the first 11 months of the year, down from 1.08 million bpd in the same period a year ago, according to official customs reports and tanker data from trade sources.
Shipments in November by the four totalled 968,946 bpd, down 5.6 pct from 1.03 million bpd a year ago.
India has cut imports by 38.5 percent so far this year to 196,200 bpd.
Iran's biggest customer China imported 538,513 bpd of Iranian crude in November, the second-highest this year. In the first 11 months, China's purchases from Iran were down only 0.6 percent at 421,520 bpd.
Japan, which has also struggled to cut its Iranian crude purchases this year after lowering them by 40 percent in 2012, slashed imports to 82,300 bpd in November, down more than half on a year earlier, the country's trade ministry said on Friday.
Japan's imports of Iranian oil during the 11 months through November were down 4.6 pct at 178,539 bpd, the data showed.
South Korea's imports of Iran oil fell 12.1 percent to 132,270 bpd between January and November.
The United States believes the economic impact on Iran of U.S. and European Union sanctions forced Tehran to the negotiating table.
The pair believe Iran is developing nuclear weapons, while Iran says its program is for power generation. Washington has stressed that Tehran has to take concrete steps within six months for any further relaxation of sanctions.
If the Islamic Republic is caught making bombs after last month's deal, the United States and its allies will have ways to reimpose sanctions on Iran, national security adviser Susan Rice said on Sunday.
Iran crude
US includes SGC in exception list of anti-Iran sanctions
Oil&Gas 2 November 2018 19:38
Iran to lodge complaint against ATR, MP says
Business 13 September 2018 17:41
Iran's power sector would suffer from sanctions-official
US traditional allies keeping Washington at a distance - Rouhani
Politics 12 September 2018 14:31
Iran suspends power contracts due to rising dollar – official
US not able to cut Iran's oil exports to 'zero' – VP

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Tag Archives: computer
The King Maker
Last year the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg was dubbed a "King Maker" by many in the press, due to the historic power afforded to him as a result of a hung parliament. He could either prop up grumpy Gordon or crack open the party poppers for Dave's coronation. The public rejoiced in watching the usual big boys squirm and a new man get a chance to pull the strings. But now no one agrees with Nick and he's plummeted from the heights of Britain's most popular to the land's favourite burning effigy. Thousands genuinely hate him and want to scratch out his entrails for his sickening, unnatural marriage to the Tories. They despise him for drunkenly tossing away longstanding pledges to the public on his stag night and loathe him for cutting chunks from the country's finances lustfully on honeymoon. For many it's a painful, all consuming dislike of this one yellow tied Westminster suit amongst hundreds.
It's sometimes easy to accept the idea that in today's world, truly bad films don't get made anymore. It's impossible to find two hours in front of a screen with some flickering images completely unsatisfying. You can't hate a piece of filmmaking like you hate a man. You can't find it as painfully offensive to your artistic taste and morality as swathes of reckless, damaging government spending cuts. This may be true. Even the most misguided projects I review usually have some kind of redeeming quality, at least one moment of real enjoyment or an admirable aim. But The King Maker is a film that took only 60 seconds for me to want the blessed release of the end credits. It's an absolute and total turkey, the sort of film that goes straight to the bottom shelf at Tesco for a reason, the sort of film that without qualification deserves the label: BAD.
Out of scores and scores of poor movies, The King Maker is one of the few that if you have any sense of quality and taste, you'll rapidly be able to regard with something close to hate. Seriously you should heed my warning if you want to avoid an excruciating hour and a half; do not watch The King Maker. Certainly DO NOT PAY ANY (real) MONEY TO SEE THIS. You might think its 88 minute running time short, but it feels a hell of a lot longer and you'll never get those precious minutes back. There is nothing at all to justify spending time on this lifeless, empty shell of a film.
Literally nothing at all, everything about The King Maker is purely bad. As I've said it takes less than a minute for the shoddy editing and woefully low production standards present throughout to raise their ugly, persistent heads. The film opens with an action chase sequence peppered with ludicrous ninja/karate style high kicks and flips. There are jumps and landings that would be laughable were the tone not so serious or the camerawork and execution not so dire. In fact much of the action in The King Maker could be from a masterful slice of slapstick Charlie Chaplin or a ridiculous Monty Python sketch. But The King Maker is not even so bad it is funny. At times it ought to be hilarious. I did not laugh or smile once at its awfulness though. Afterwards my face hurt from the exhaustive efforts of a non-stop grimace.
The main reason I can't even recommend The King Maker as refreshing fest of unintentional LOL moments is because it's evident that the actors are trying so damn hard. You can't have a good old heartening chuckle at all those involved in the film when it's so obvious that they were trying to make something good; they have no idea how shit it is and you're left with an endless feeling of painful pity. Every element of the movie is bad, every acting performance poor at best and agonisingly awful at worst. In fairness to the cast they are not helped by the script. Rather than rant about its failures one quote sums up the clunky, grating quality of the dialogue: "Look it's the king's emissary, I wonder what he wants?".
For what it's worth the film chronicles the story of Portuguese mercenary Fernando De Gama (Gary Stretch), who is shipwrecked in Siam and rescued from slavery by his love interest. He works his way up through the ranks of society, stumbles across a plot, and has scores of his own to settle blah blah blah…it's really not worth it.
There are continuity errors aplenty, an out of place soundtrack that will make you cringe, silly stunts and cliché black and white flashbacks. CGI of a port full of ships looks like it's been taken from an unsuccessful computer game with unconvincing Windows 98 graphics (the water in particular looks atrocious). In fact the plot and action set pieces and horrible attempts at a historical setting all seem like ingredients from an out of date, bargain basement video game. There are even punch and kick sound effects ripped straight from cartoon archives.
Despite my partial defence of the actors earlier, the standout flaws of this film are their totally unbelievable performances. The worst offender is the plotting Queen and her lover as they fail to convey the passion of their secret affair. The majority of their scenes together seem like a disappointing porno with an inexplicable lack of flesh on show. Another potentially career devastating turn comes from lead Gary Stretch. His limp delivery of lines serves as the final nail in the coffin for The King Maker. Even a film so badly executed could have salvaged some likeability with a charismatic turn from the lead actor. Stretch merely drags things further into painful depths of disappointment and dismalness.
The King Maker was supposed to be a spectacular showcase of Thailand. It's only the third Thai film to be made in the English language, and the first since 1941. There are some superb, beautiful locations occasionally visible in the background amongst the appalling action of the story. But they don't deserve to be associated with the worst film I've seen this year and I suspect the favourite by a mile in the race for worst film of 2011.
Tagged 2010, 2011, absolute, acting, action, affair, atrocious, awful, awfully, bad, battle, blog, bottom, Britain, British, Cameron, Clegg, Coalition, Comedy, computer, Cuts, David, deficit, dire, director, dismal, dreadful, Ed, England, epic, film, filmmaking, Flickering, football, game, Gary, Guardian, historical, history, Indiana, Jones, King, Labour, Liam, LOTR, love, Maker, marriage, Money, movie, murder, myth, narrative, new, painful, plot, plotting, policy, Politics, poor, Review, secret, sex, shelf, shoddy, Siam, sickening, silly, Stretch, stupid, style, terrible, Tesco, Thailand, The, thoughts, time, truly, Turkey, UK, unholy, useless, Verdict, waste, wedding, worse, worst, writer, writing
Egypt: Mubarak's fall opens a new chapter in history and diplomacy
Faint columns of twisty smoke on the horizon. Dry dirt and dust whipped into clouds by the commotion in the street. Baking rooftops stretching for as far as the eye can see in the hot sunlight. Your guide ranting in impassioned Arabic, the immense weight and colour of the rich past hanging in the air around you. You can feel it stirring, something new and meaningful adding to it. Chants and songs of freedom from the crowds below, being marched into action and reality. A sense of being at the eye of a storm of change that will define generations. Then loud voices, angry noise and pounding footsteps on the stairs. Bangs as doors crash open; guns and uniforms glistening. An adrenalin fuelled fear as your face is shoved to the gritty floor.
During recent events in Egypt, articles with these sorts of ingredients and phrases were cropping up on the front pages of newspapers every day. Somehow journalists and writers managed to weave their own extraordinary experiences into some sort of comment on events and the news from the ground. Personally I can't imagine anything more exciting and fulfilling than to be at the heart of such a historical event; effortlessly writing incredibly, simply by saying what your eyes see happening all around you. To work in such a fascinating country at a time of such dramatic upheaval and change is satisfying enough and probably would have overwhelmed me. But consider the implications of the outcome of the protests in Egypt and the ongoing rebellion in the Middle East, and the unfolding story of history becomes even more intoxicating, inspirational and important.
The opening months of 2011 are proving to be nothing short of momentous. I do not need to use hyperbole. Seemingly permanent regimes, which were unquestionably entrenched through power and fear, have crumbled and sprouted glaring weaknesses. As if this weren't enthusing enough, the forces that have brought about such changes have been new, modern and democratic. People taking to the streets, tired with repression and the state of their economies, have brought about reform and the toppling of infamous regimes. Mass meetings were organized and propelled by tools alien to historians and political analysts, like Facebook and Twitter. Despite distrust of the West, fuelled by its support of the dictators being ousted, most demonstrators called for democratic systems similar to our own that could transform the way the world works together. The true power of politics has been restored.
Egypt is the most high profile case so far but the disruption is ongoing. At the moment it's Libya in turmoil. We are living through a new age of productive and successful political action. The scenes in Egypt put student protests in this country from the tail end of last year in the shade, but all the demonstrations are part of a global trend. In the continuing difficulties lingering from the economic crisis, we are once again witnessing the interconnectivity of the modern world. And in a rare time of genuine history in a world which had seemingly seen everything, the need for a new form of diplomacy once again emerges.
It was frankly embarrassing for Britain and the US to have such an ever shifting, vague stance on the Egyptian crisis as it unfolded. Of course the dangers and difficulties were plain. We could not tolerate another radical Islamic country, another Iran in a volatile region, particularly in the place of a moderate tourist destination with a stable relationship with Israel. But it was rapidly clear that President Mubarak's situation was untenable. As soon as this became obvious it became self-defeating to continue to offer even the slightest veil of support for him. Especially when even before the crisis, particularly with Liberals in government, Britain should have been adopting a more comprehensible, pro-democracy/anti-dictatorship stance. Eventually Nick Clegg refreshingly admitted that events in Egypt were "exciting". Of course they were, this was a whole new kind of revolution; 21st century and democratic, not 20th and Communist.
Britain may no longer be a big player on the world stage, but it once was. As a result of the actions of the British Empire in the past, British governments shall always have a strong duty to nations it has had a considerable hand in shaping. William Hague therefore, as Foreign Secretary, should always have been supportive of the wishes of the Egyptian people. For too long democracies in the West, cajoled by America, have tolerated regimes that abuse civil rights in favour of "stability". The events of early 2011 have proved that perfect stability is a myth. Any leadership is prone to volatility and violence. Therefore it's time governments started to stand truly by the philosophies and politics they claim to espouse, and have faith in the people of other nations to make the right choices. There's a long way to go in Egypt, but so far the people have proved they want democracy, not just a new controlling leadership in the shape of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Debate continues to rage about the best way to deploy the foreign office in the 21st century; what is Britain's global role? In the past I've argued it should be combating climate change and this remains important. But now, given the changing tides, it's time we started ending support for corrupt governments and supporting the spread of democratic values in a hands-off way. With influence shifting east to China and India, a process of democratisation in the Middle East could prove crucial to the direction of the next century, given the treasure trove of natural resources and energy stored there. A spirit of cooperation, empathy and understanding is needed to face the numerous oncoming challenges and hurdles. Democracy and the UN can help with this.
Other developments in diplomacy mean that we in the West do not merely have to talk the talk of peace either. There are new methods of direct action to punish inflammatory behaviour and enforce calm. Recently details emerged of the Stuxnet computer virus attack on Iran's nuclear programme, which set it back years. It was a major boost for President Obama's approach, which has come under fire for its lack of action. Obama can continue to seem reasonable, as he's always offered the chance of negotiation to Iran. But despite the attack not being officially linked to any government, it's obvious certain governments sanctioned it. This sort of non-deadly cyber warfare could be the far preferable stick in future diplomatic disputes, as opposed to the nuclear weapons of the Cold War era. Of course not all cyber warfare is so harmless; certain attacks on infrastructure have the potential to reduce societies to chaos and cause scores of deaths. But that's just a further reason to develop our capabilities, both defensively and offensively, and deploy them in conjunction with our diplomatic aims. Trashing each other's technical hardware is a far nicer scenario than devastating our cities and if nothing else it will give the West a genuine moral high ground for a change.
As Egypt and other countries begin a transition to fairer governance, it's innovative methods like these we should use as a last resort to hinder and halt dangerous elements plotting to seize control, as opposed to rash deployments of armed forces. In this new era of history and diplomacy it's vital we respect the people of other nations and keep them onside. For they now know where the real power lies; with themselves.
Tagged age, Alexandria, America, armies, army, banner, Blair, blog, Britain, Bush, Cairo, Cameron, change, Clegg, Coalition, Colonel, computer, Conservatives, Control, coup, crisis, cyber, democracy, deployment, dictatorships, diplomacy, East, Ed, Egypt, election, enthused, era, EU, excitement, eye, facebook, Ferguson, Foreign, front, Gaddafi, global, goals, Hague, hard, Hider, history, ideals, internet, interventionism, invasion, Iranian, Iraq, Israel, James, Jordan, journalists, Labour, leader, Liberals, liberty, Libya, loyalty, Luxor, meanigful, media, meeting, middle, Miliband, Mubarak, negotiation, neo-cons, news, newspapers, Niall, Nick, nuclear, Obama, Office, Oil, online, Page, philosophy, PM, point, police, policy, Politics, power, President, protests, regime, resources, revolt, revolution, riot, role, soft, stance, status, storm, streets, Stuxnet, The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph, The Times, Tunisia, Twitter, UN, unrest, uprising, violence, virus, war, warfare, weapons, website, William, World, writer


text:
Q: CRON Example for Strapi Hi I was wondering If anyone got examples of using Cron Schedule functions on Strapi: https://strapi.io/documentation/3.x.x/configurations/configurations.html#functions
like sending email, accessing the strapi config, etc.

A: Strapi 3 has cron jobs turned off by default. Make sure you turn them on first :)
You also don't need to do */1 for every minute in a cron job, just *, as * means every, and it only checks once a minute.

A: My requirement was to fetch data from an external MSSQL DB (master data) hosted under RDS (AWS) and update the strapi product catolog (mongodb) every minute.
I've created a custom "cron" folder under "root" to keep all my custom modules in order keep a clean "cron.js".
Under "cron.js" i've simply imported my custom module to call the external module:
const fwSync = require('../../cron/dataSync');

A: '*/1 * * * *': async() => {
    console.log("I am running " + new Date(), Object.keys(strapi.config));
    await strapi.services.article.publish();
  }

In your-project/config/functions/cron.js. you can add as many functions in the above format.
The function name in itself is a cron expression which is parsed by strapi to execute at frequent intervals. There are many online tools that will tell you the cron expression that you want to create.
The above function runs every 1 minute, by which I am publishing a content type by using strapi.services. i.e. in file your-project/api/article/services/Article.js
I have written a service layer method that at the moment is publishing an article.
Similarly, you can send an email from your email content type or any utility file that you have made to trigger an email.
For accessing strapi config use: strapi.config object instead of strapi.services

A: Some example of CRON jobs for Strapi
add this line server.js
...
  port: env.int('PORT', 1337),
  cron :{
    enabled: true
  },
  admin:
...

cron.js some examples
module.exports = {
  /**
   * Simple examples.
   */
  '*/5 * * * * *': () => {
    console.log(" ~ file: cron.js ~ executing action ~Every 5sec");
  },
  '*/10 * * * * *': () => {
    console.log(" ~ file: cron.js ~ executing action ~Every 10sec");
  },
  '* */5 * * * *': () => {
    console.log(" ~ file: cron.js ~ executing action ~Every 5min");
  },
  '* * */5 * * *': () => {
    console.log(" ~ file: cron.js ~ executing action ~Every 5hour");
  },
};

A: If you want to call multiple cron jobs
import firstCronJob from '../src/plugins/first-cron-job';
import secondCronJob from '../src/plugins/second-cron-job';

export default ({ env }) => ({
    host: env('HOST', '0.0.0.0'),
    port: env.int('PORT', 1337),
    app: {
        keys: env.array('APP_KEYS'),
    },
    cron: {
        enabled: true,
        tasks: {
            ...firstCronJob,
            ...secondCronJob,
        },
    },
});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Echmarcach mac Ragnaill (m. 1065) fue un caudillo hiberno-nórdico, Señor de las Islas y monarca vikingo del reino de Dublín y gran parte de Galloway. Según Seán Duffy era nieto o bisnieto de Ivar de Waterford. Benjamin Hudson, no obstante, vincula a Echmarcach como nieto de Gofraid mac Arailt de Mann. De todas forma ambas opiniones son conjeturas ya que no ha sobrevivido mucho registro histórico y por lo tanto existe poca información.

La vida de Echmarcach estuvo marcada de triunfos y derrotas. En 1036 logró el trono de Dublín con ayuda de Donnchad mac Briain, rey de Munster, posible hermano de Cacht ingen Ragnaill con quien Echmarcach casó en 1032; así como Donnchad mac Gilla Pátraic, rey de Osraige y Leinster, posible primo hermano. Fue expulsado por Ivar III Haraldsson (Imar mac Arailt) en 1038, pero recuperó el poder en 1046 cuando ya era soberano absoluto de todas las islas del mar de Irlanda: Man, las Hébridas y por lo menos Rhins of Galloway. Echmarcach volvió a ser expulsado de Dublín en 1052 y de la Isla de Man en 1061 por Murchad mac Diarmata. Clare Downham sugiere que Echmarcach fue rival de Suibne mac Cináeda, anterior monarca de Rhinns.

Es bastante probable que Echmarcach sea Iehmarc, uno de los tres reyes del noroeste (otro era Malcolm II de Escocia), quien según la crónica anglosajona era vasallo de Canuto el Grande, rey vikingo de Dinamarca e Inglaterra.

Heimskringla menciona que Echmarcach devastó Bretland (Gales) con ayuda de su amigo y guerrero vikingo Guttorm Gunnhildsson. Sin embargo, comenzaron las desavenencias por el reparto del botín y se enfrentaron en batalla naval en el estrecho de Menai. Guttorm ganó la batalla tras orar a Olaf II el Santo y Echmarcach presuntamente murió en combate.

Véase también
 Reino de Rhinns

Referencias

Bibliografía

 Sturluson, Snorri. Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway, trad. Lee M. Hollander. Reprinted University of Texas Press, Austin, 1992. ISBN 0-292-73061-6

Reyes vikingos de Dublín del siglo XI
Reyes vikingos de la Isla de Man del siglo XI


Spirithouse Import Gallery, a peak into the exotic lands of Southeast Asia. They offer a wide variety of crafts, jewelry, clothing and home decor. You may even forget that you're in the heart of historic Nevada City as your browse through the items from Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Bali. And if you're looking to enjoy some culture from that part of the world check out the latest event at the North Columbia Schoolhouse. Gamelan Sekar Jaya, a sixty-five member company of musicians and dancers are coming on June 9th to perform traditional Balienese music in the outdoor amphitheater. "The performance, beginning with the gamelan angklung and gendér wayang, will unfold under dappled pinks and oranges of the sunset and framed by the towering pines that surround the amphitheater," said Saraswati Susilo. "Following intermission, the gamelan semerandana and gamelan jegog will move to the open field adjacent the historic Schoolhouse, true to the open-air settings used in traditional Balinese contexts, where groups often play within or in front of temple courtyards." Grounds open at 6pm, so bring your blanket and your picnic for a fun night out. You can buy tickets online or at Briar Patch, Mother Truckers or post a comment here for a chance to win 2 free tickets. Winner will be drawn on Wednesday, June 6th.
Adrienne our daughter made a comment on this show by the image online. She said wow how beautiful, what is that. We are lucky to live in such a wonderful town that produces so many different kinds of shows.
What an amazing event to be witnessed!
What a beautiful display of world reknown art. I love this store, there is truly a little something for eveyone!
We were able to enjoy this Balienese art about 12 years ago in Bali….what a treat to now be able to see this in our Nevada County!!!
I love this show and this form or art. I've never seen this troupe before, but have seen others doing similar dancing….beautiful.
Oh I love Spirithouse- what great pictures to capture their wares. Gamelan Sekar Jaya is sure to be amazing!
Wow! This looks like an amazing performance. So artistic and beautiful, just like your website Erin. Looks great.
We are selling tickets for this event at the Nevada City Box Office located in the Miners Foundry ~ So I have had a chance to check it out, and it looks great! Should be an entertaining show.
I have been attending Gamelan since I was a kid. Every performance reminds me that there are infinite ways in which to express story, spirit, and ceremony. Looking forward to it again!


text:
Daniel Grossman
has been a print journalist and radio producer for 30 years. He has reported on climate issues from all seven continents, including from near both the south and north poles. He's a Bullard Fellow at the Harvard Forest, researching carbon uptake in the world's forests.
http://twitter.com/grossmanmedia http://dangrossmanmedia.com/
One River Dies, Another Is Born
In north Brazil, the combined effects of a hydroelectric dam and earth-shifting livestock have altered the landscape — and upended peoples' lives.
It's Time for Journalism to Ring the Alarm About Climate Change More Loudly
At the same time, reporters should be cautious not to oversell small and dubious solutions, as one recent case illustrates.
Dam Lies: Despite Promises, An Indigenous Community's Land Is Flooded
Panama's Barro Blanco dam was supposed to help fight climate change. It ended up damning a culture.


Workers, managers, and executives are demanding more from their HR function.
The need for more information to "run the business." The required response to this is the democratization of HR.
The desire for personalized services. The required response to this is the consumerization of HR.
These demands strengthen the argument for workforce analytics because analytics can help deliver insights directly to managers and also provide intelligence that enables the personalization of services to employees.
At a time when data are more readily available than ever, HR is being asked for more information, better insights, and more precise recommendations to help executives and managers run their businesses. This puts a strain on the traditional HR function that primarily dealt with the process side of recruitment, resourcing, development, and employee relations. For the last 40 years or so, HR has delivered structured programs, developed policies, and implemented best practices to allow executives and managers to manage people in a cyclical pattern—for example, through annual performance reviews, specific salary increase programs, and succession planning cycles. However, the demand has changed and new requests for information are emerging, as Table 1.1 illustrates.
For executives and managers to get timely answers to questions and make informed decisions about their people, they need information, insights, and recommendations. HR needs to respond to these requests in real time, providing information and insights to managers and executives as they need it. The workforce analytics function is at the heart of this change because HR is sharing more than just data with managers and executives—it is also giving them business insights and recommendations generated by sophisticated algorithms.
Bringing the type of customization experienced by consumers to the world of work can yield great benefits. In 2012, Amazon reported a 29 percent increase in second quarter fiscal results. A Fortune article at the time discussed how Amazon's recommendation engine contributed much to that success by using algorithms to heavily customize the browsing experience for returning customers.
Mark Huselid, Distinguished Professor at Boston's Northeastern University, is one of the world's experts in workforce analytics.3 He sees this area as the future for the HR profession. "In my experience, the outside world is changing more quickly than the organization is changing on the inside. So there is an increased demand for talent related information.
"The arc of the analytics story is that it is both very new and very old. We've been playing at this for a long time. So what's new? A confluence of factors: access to data and better, easier, faster analytics tools." The workplace is also changing with the Internet, social media, smartphones, and work marketplaces for jobs virtually everywhere and for any skill. "Executing strategy through the workforce, and helping managers do a better job of that has gotten much more complex," Mark says.
Mark's message is simple: Businesses must understand their workforce better. And to do that, they must use analytics.


Susan Hunt is a mother and grandmother, a pastor's wife, and the former Director of Women's Ministries for the Presbyterian Church in America. She has written numerous books, including a release for middle school and teen girls, co-authored with Mary Kassian: Becoming God''s True Woman . . . While I Still Have a Curfew.


Fervor for sustainable and accessible energy underpins the Special Session of the 2018 Vienna Energy Forum.
As a leading global and multi-stakeholder forum mandated with exploring and providing a platform for debate on 21st century developmental challenges from the perspective of sustainable energy, this year's special session will pivot around SDG #7: Affordable and Clean Energy.
From May 14th to May 16th, the Vienna Energy Forum (VEF) will gather leaders from governments, civil society, international organizations and the private sector, in an aim to push the energy-development agenda forward. The vast array of participants will debate key issues and opportunities surrounding sustainable energy for development, reflect on how to strengthen and advance SDG #7 and its nexus with other development goals, and provide action-oriented objectives across sectors.
Please Note: Attendance to this Special Session of the Vienna Energy Forum is by invitation only.
By underscoring SDG 7's role in inclusive global development, the forum will address 3 key starting points to advance inclusive and sustainable industrial development: Energy System Transformation, Climate Technology and Innovation, and Partnerships.
Moreover, the special session aims to contribute to the review of SDG #7 the High Level Political Forum in New York in July 2018, and more broadly, to uphold the latter's pursuit of a Transformation toward Sustainable and Resilient Societies.
The past 5 forums focused on a range of topics related to the question of energy and development. The biennial meetings have not only provided major contributions to the design of the SEforALL goals, but also have fostered the development of the city of Vienna as a Global Energy Hub.


text:
GERS FIGURES DON'T LIE, DESPITE WHAT INDEPENDENCE SUPPORTERS SAY
In a piece first published by The Herald, Kevin Hague takes on GERS deniers.
In this paper last week I wrote about focus groups run by These Islands with Scots now leaning towards independence. One of the observations I made was that, when faced with economic facts, many of the participants' reaction was to deny that those facts could be true.
The Letters pages in the days that followed provided further illustration of this phenomenon, with independence supporters writing in to denounce my description of the Scottish Government's economic data as facts.
The annual Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) report is the publication which tells us how much tax Scotland's economy raises and how much is spent both directly by the Scottish government (devolved spending) as well as on Scotland's behalf by Westminster (reserved spending). When North Sea oil revenues were booming, the Yes movement was keen on quoting these GERS figures, and in 2014 the SNP's independence White Paper described the GERS report as "the authoritative publication on Scotland's public finances".
Now oil revenues have collapsed, we're told "but they show how Scotland fares as part of the UK, not as an independent country". This is a truism –historical actual figures by definition can only show us what happened in the past. The point, of course, is that they tell us where we start from: how much revenue our existing economy generates and what it costs to deliver the public services we are used to receiving (including a population share of the UK's shared international affairs, defence, government administration and debt interest costs).
Anybody who wants to make an economic case for independence can then argue what would change relative to those figures and attempt to show how they'd make the books balance. The SNP's Sustainable Growth Commission (SGC) tried this and concluded that separation from the UK would lead to, at best, a decade of spending restraint, more realistically, a decade of austerity.
Perhaps understandably, some independence supporters want to deny the starting point that leads to that conclusion, so claim the figures are "dubious", "discredited" or "highly disputed". Yet it is a point of fact that the figures are produced at the request of the Scottish Government (not Westminster), are compiled by Scottish Government economists in St Andrew's House and pass the stringent tests required to qualify for National Statistics status.
The original GERS report may have been "Tory-created" 28 years ago, but after 20 years of devolution and 13 years of SNP control, the way the figures are compiled has changed out of all recognition. To claim the numbers are now "engineered to show a false deficit" is to accuse the SNP Government of talking down Scotland's economy.
So the GERS data is good, the question is what does it tell us?
It tells us that in 2018/19 Scotland's economy raised £65.4 billion in revenue and that if we subtract devolved spending of £46.2 billion, we would still be £19.2 billion in the black. So if Scotland doesn't actually "get back" more than £19.2 billion in reserved spending, then the angry letter writers would have a point. But it does, so I'm afraid they don't.
If you take the time to explore the detail of the reserved spending figures in GERS (and I have), you'll find that reserved spending controlled by Westminster includes £22.2 billion of non-defence spending both for and in Scotland (mainly pensions and benefits, but also network rail costs, research & innovation investment, R&D tax credits, DWP and HMRC staff, etc.). It also includes £1.8 billion of international costs, mainly related to an 8.2% population share of Overseas Development Aid and Foreign & Commonwealth Office costs. All of these are costs which the SNP's Growth Commission committed to an independent Scotland maintaining (while accepting a diminished international diplomatic presence as a result).
So even after we've carefully excluded from GERS other costs which are outside Scotland (e.g. Scotland's share of HS2, the Houses of Commons and Lords, BBC, etc.), at this point Scotland has already "got back" £4.8 billion more than we've raised in taxes – and this is before charging a single penny for defence or debt interest.
For those still determined to believe the GERS report is skewed against Scotland, consider the following: 29% of the Scottish Government's ferries costs and 57% of Creative and Historic Scotland costs are not charged to Scotland in GERS, but instead to the rest of the UK. That's £125m which doesn't appear as a cost against Scotland's deficit, but which an independent Scotland would clearly be responsible for.
The bottom line here is that no rational interpretation of the data could conclude that Scotland gets back less than it sends to Westminster today. To accept this is not to deny the possibility of independence, it is merely to heed the words of Robert Burns: "But fact are chiels that winna ding, An' downa be disputed".
This piece was first published by The Herald, on 4th December 2020.
Denis Munro 06/12/2020 20:05:26
I have spent more time than is sensible disputing the economics of independence with SNP supporters and I have encountered exactly the same head-in-the-sand determination to dismiss the GERS figures as " Toaree" statistics. When I counter that, no , they are produced under the direction of the Scottish government by its own statisticians, the fall-back position is that, well, "she has been told to make them like that by the Toarees in London." It's worrying that people who can believe such a thing may have a vote. And impossible to have an agreed basis for a discussion.
Michael 07/12/2020 09:21:30
You barely touch the surface on this, as indicated from moving from Bn in benefit to £125m. Typical arguments , Why charge the 4Bn charge for UK deficit payments, why pay that when Scotland had no deficit when oil was good and would have had a large oil fund like Norway? Forgetting the benefits of 250 year previous, or intangibles of previous spending benefits v's not spending like Norway (which also benefits from greater production during high oil period). Why charge Bn for defence, we don't need Trident. Albeit 90% of the cost are running costs where the majority of spend will be around Faslane and be a net gain for Scotland. What about lose of economies of scale? 100'sM were touted as being the cost but we knew this was laughable, recent devolving a small portion of the tax system cost this so surely Better Together figures of 4Bn are more accurate? Then place this against the future of an more aging population, lower birth rate compared to rest of UK, then who exactly is going to pay for all of this black hole? I would also like to see comparisons of Scotland v's the PIIGS during the financial crisis, and how the current 18% overspend compares to Greece etc. This should give an indicator on how Scotland would be treated before any re-entry to the EU.
Michael Ashmore 07/12/2020 14:55:39
I am not convinced that Nicola Sturgeon really wants full independence for Scotland. She must surely accept the GERS figures and the report by her own Finance expert predicting at least a "Decade of Austerity" and knows that she has no credible answer. At the last referendum she was open to the option of Devo Max. If those who are soft on Independence were offered a third option, namely Home Rule or something similar then the picture might change entirely. Mike Ashmore.
Andrew McLean 25/02/2021 13:01:55
It would be interesting to ask the SNP, or anyone else who now dismisses the contents and validity of the GERS figures, (a) from what year (presumably sometime post-2014) do the figures cease to be reliable and "the authoritative publication on Scotland's public finances"; (b) since they're produced by the Scottish Government, what changes did the Scottish Government make to render them invalid; and (c) why did it do so? Having answers to these questions would certainly assist those of us who still believe the figures are reliable to understand what's gone wrong with them.
Please log in to create your comment
Kevin Hague
info@these-islands.co.uk
5 Kingsthorne Park
Houstoun Industrial Estate
EH54 5DB


(=) Nicotiana plumbaginifolia var. bigelovii Torr.
Kehr, A. E. & H. H. Smith 1952. Multiple genome relationships in Nicotiana Mem. Cornell Univ. Agric. Exp. Sta. 311:8.
Leitch, I. J. et al. 2008. The ups and downs of genome size evolution in polyploid species of Nicotiana (Solanaceae) Ann. Bot. (Oxford) 101:805-814.
Qu, N. et al. 2004. Consistency of Nicotiana attenuata's herbivore- and jasmonate-indiced transcriptional responses in the allotetraploid species Nicotiana quadrivalvis and Nicotiana clevelandii Pl. Physiol. (Lancaster) 135:539-548.
Wu, J. et al. 2006. Evolution of proteinase inhibitor defenses in North American allopolyploid species of Nicotiana (Planta) 224:750-760.
National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL: https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxonomydetail.aspx?id=25291. Accessed 20 April 2019.


text:
Q: Not getting expected answer using this approach? I am solving a question on LeetCode , Here is the Link
I got the solution but I wanted to know what wrong I am doing here , There are some testCases below  or you can visit the link . A  helping attempt is always appreciated from my side.
class Solution {
public:
    static bool comparator(vector<int>&a,vector<int>&b){
        return a[1]>b[1];
    }
    int maximumUnits(vector<vector<int>>& boxTypes, int truckSize) {

        sort(boxTypes.begin(),boxTypes.end(),comparator);
        int sum=0;

        for(int i =0;i<boxTypes.size();i++){

            if(truckSize>boxTypes[i][0]){
                sum+=boxTypes[i][0] * boxTypes[i][1];
                truckSize= truckSize - boxTypes[i][0];

            }else{
                sum += truckSize * boxTypes[i][1];

            }

        }
        return sum;
    }
};

TestCases:
 [[1,3],[2,2],[3,1]]

 4

 [[5,10],[2,5],[4,7],[3,9]]

10

Expected:
8
91

OutPut:
8
101

A: You need to add a break in the else statement. If truckSize <= boxTypes[i][0], we just load truckSize boxes and it will no longer accept any boxes (which means we need to break the for loop and return the result). Otherwise, it will continue the for loop, and try to load the following boxes.


St. Louis is one of Slalom's newest offices and is poised to be one of the fastest growing in the Midwest. Home to a burgeoning start-up scene, storied Midwest companies, and loads of talent, St. Louis is a city on the rise. We sat down with Stefanie Thelen, the office's new general manager, to learn why she chose Slalom, her perspectives on the market, and what inspires her.
You've decided to make Slalom your home—and we couldn't be more excited. Tell us a little about why you chose Slalom.
I love my Slalom story—I didn't know I was looking for Slalom until they found me. I happened to pick up a call from a Seattle area code, and it was Troy Johnson, co-founder and general manager. After 30 minutes on the phone with him, I felt incredibly inspired by his energy and vision.
The more people I met across Slalom, the more I kept thinking, "These are my people. These are the people who want to give more, learn more, risk more, and be more for each other and for our clients." It's important to me that we have the skills, experience, and perspectives that come with our broader national and international presence—but I'm really here because I'm inspired by our people.
What are the key things you see in building that type of culture in St. Louis?
On my first day on the job, I got some great advice from our president, Tony Rojas. Tony reminded me that my number one responsibility as a general manager for Slalom is to be a steward of the culture. I've thought a lot about what that really means and how I can best serve my team.
Culture has a lot to do with fostering connection and commitment to bring out the best in people. Companies don't have ideas—people have ideas. Companies don't solve problems—people solve problems. And we, as individuals and as teams, do our best and give our best when we're connected to each other. When we have trust and loyalty, we feel safe enough to fail. That means we can be bold and have the courage to take risks and drive truly amazing outcomes. That's the environment we want to build and sustain in our market.
That alone was inspiring—you are going to have a team of very inspired people working for you in St. Louis.
I appreciate that. I'm really impressed and thrilled with the team that we already have in place here. I'm excited to grow from such a strong foundation.
It's so inspiring to watch people discover their gifts and experience what they're really capable of achieving.
What do you think makes St. Louis unique from a business perspective?
There are some incredible companies here and, many of them—from mid-market to Fortune 500—are homegrown. They're deeply connected to this community and committed to St. Louis. There's also a strong entrepreneurial spirit here. You can see it in the growing number of startups we have and the amount of investments being made, but it's also evident in the innovations coming from more established companies.
What are some of the biggest challenges your clients are facing right now?
An interesting thing about the St. Louis market is the diversity of industries that are represented. Companies here, like everywhere, are being impacted by significant disruption and they're facing similar challenges. They need to take advantage of what's made them successful, but they have to innovate and be agile to stay relevant. No matter what business you're in, there's a big focus on how to leverage technology as an asset, particularly to get closer to your customer and to create new opportunities for revenue.
How do you begin building trusting relationships in a new market for Slalom?
Trust is the most important thing, and the way you build it now is the way that you've always built it—by being authentic, honest, and by coming through. One of the things I love about Slalom—that I felt from day one and I've felt every moment since—is that we collectively do whatever it takes to come through for each other and for our customers. And that's how we'll build trust here.
Great consultants are thinkers and fixers. They're humble, curious, and positive. They see opportunities in challenging situations and are willing to take risks. The best consultants I've ever worked with have two things in common: they can put themselves in others' shoes and they have a 'whatever it takes' attitude. I see that in the people that I've met at Slalom so far, and it's certainly core to the kind of talent that we're focused on attracting here in St. Louis.
Trust is the most important thing, and the way you build it is…by being authentic, honest, and by coming through.
It's so inspiring to watch people discover their gifts and experience what they're really capable of achieving. I love the adage that a rising tide lifts all boats. We're going to create opportunities with and for each other to maximize our potential. We're going to create the kind of positive energy and momentum that's infectious. That's how we'll have the greatest impact on our clients and drive the greatest outcomes—by raising everyone's game.
What are some of your goals in the year ahead?
My first goal is to build a team of people who feel engaged, connected, and inspired. A year from now, if we can say that we've been true to our values, made an impact for our clients and the St. Louis community, and learned and grown together as people, I'll call the year a success. If we love the work we're doing and our clients love working with us, I'll call it a huge success!


text:
Kevin King Experiencing Second-Year Jump
TJ Watt truthers may not want to hear it, but last year's second-round corner Kevin King is off to a strong start in his second NFL season. While many people wanted the Green Bay Packers to select Watt at edge rusher during the 2017 draft, the Packers elected to trade back and take King at the start of the second round. Watt had a promising rookie season racking up seven sacks while King spent nearly half the year on injured reserve battling a shoulder injury. However, back healthy again in 2018, King has now emerged as Green Bay's number one corner and a well-valued draft pick.
Not to say King had a bad rookie year, but he did not have the same role as he does today. Now he's consistently lining up against opposing team's number one receiver and holding his own in the process.
Unfortunately, King has dealt with injuries again causing him to miss two games this year, but when he's on the field he's been the Packers best cover corner. Per Pro Football Focus, he has only surrendered eight catches on 17 targets for an overall NFL passer rating of 76.6.
The biggest play of King's young career came right before the bye week on Monday night taking on the San Francisco 49ers. In a tie game, quarterback CJ Beathard was moving the 49ers into field goal range before he took a shot downfield on third down and three.
Beathard was looking for his hot receiver of the night in Marquise Goodwin who was in a one on one matchup with King. King got his head turned just as the ball arrived and secured his first career interception at the 10-yard line.
"It just came down to the end," King said after the play. "It was third down and we were actually in cover zero. It was a good call, but they actually had a pretty good call against it. (I) just played it."
The Packers obviously went on to win the game with the help of Aaron Rodgers leading a masterful drive in the final minute, however, it would never have happened had King not made the play of the night beforehand.
King obviously has a lot more prove in his career, but we can definitely say he hasn't been a bust.
Brandon Carwile was a Cheesehead at birth. His dad grew up attending games at Lambeau and passed on the legacy. Brandon graduated from Longwood University in 2016 with a degree in mass media. He has covered the Packers for over two years and currently works with packerstalk.com. Find him on twitter at @PackerScribe.
Grading Each Packers Draft Pick
The Green Bay Packers are stocked up on young talent as they prepare to create ...read more
Packers Should Hold Off and Use a Mid-Round Pick on This Edge Rusher
The Packers will have to address their pass rush in this year's draft. The only ...read more
Packers Official 7-Round Mock Draft
All of the Packers needs are addressed in this official seven-round mock draft. GM Brian ...read more
This entry was posted in Brandon Carwile, NFL Draft, Packers 2018-2019 Season and tagged 2018 Season, Kevin King, Kevin King 2018 season, Kevin King interception, Packers vs. 49ers. Bookmark the permalink.


text:
module Alchemy
  class EssenceColor < ActiveRecord::Base
    acts_as_essence :ingredient_column => :color
    validates :color, format: { with: /\A#[\h]{6}\z/}, allow_blank: true
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


A cyst is a collection of fluid in a small sac. A Popliteal Cyst is a soft, often painless bump seen in the Popliteal area (back side of the knee). It is also referred to as a bakers cyst. The weakening of the joint capsule in the damaged area can cause the small sac of fluid to form. It can increase in size over a period of time.
MRI of the knee will confirm the diagnosis but it is rarely indicated.
Usually no treatment is needed except observation.
If the cyst is painful, the goal of treatment is to correct the problem, such as arthritis or a meniscus tear. Sometimes, a cyst can be drained (aspirated) or, in rare cases, removed with surgery if it becomes very large or causes symptoms.
Rupture & increase in size.


"We would never have thought about a video game party and it works so well, in fact very well indeed! It is a great birthday party idea, so glad we found you.
Before the event I really appreciated being contacted in advance and made to feel informed all the way through.
The kids had a blast and I loved having the children off my hands in the van while I could set up lunch.
The original Rayman (Rayman Origins) has become an integral part of any multiplayer video game party. It just works. Easy drop in and drop out multiplayer action always up to four players to work their way through many challenges. Drop out (Bubble yourself) and the rest can continue unhindered.
Rayman Legends is the sequel and we have put together a short video for you to get a feel for this great game.
We still find it amazing that many have neither heard of or played Rayman games. Those that do play, Soon get to grips with the frenetic multiplayer action. The award winning team of Ubisoft artists, designers and composers have taken the game to new heights.
In a nutshell this is what we love kids to play. Despite the peer pressure as they grow up here is a game that provides humorous game play, great characters and enough challenges to keep them interested for hours of game play.
The graphics are glorious, the sound track immersive and the overall feeling is one of a polished quality, fun game. As an occasional gamer throughout my years, this is the best of what I remember about great platform games. Except the controls, graphics and sound are beautiful and learning curve well thought through.
As far background; Rayman and our other heroes have taken a 100-year nap! Wouldn't that be nice! However, this has allowed "The Nightmares" to infest the Glade of Dreams. Once Rayman and friends wake up they must set off on a new adventure to restore order to the universe. All before tea time!
Up to four players can drop in and out during gameplay on the PS3 and Xbox. On the WiiU there is the possibility of five players (one using the game pad). It is a brilliant multiplayer game that challenges experienced Rayman players and new players.
There are also quick fire micro games and also daily online challenges that are great for pass the controller competitions amongst a small group of friends.
Keep you eyes peeled for locations often above / below and behind you that contain objects to collect as you work through the levels.
Do not forget the sprint (Right Trigger) and the ability to Double Jump and Fly by holding the jump button.
In the multi player modes use, Select (PS3) or back (Xbox), to bubble yourself and then any key to come back in. This is especially useful if you end up stuck or are lagging behind on a level.


Radiant Window Washing is rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, based on 7 reviews!
Annika came and provide a free estimate I felt was very fair, we went ahead and set a day to have the work done. They showed up on time and did a totally awesome job and above all they left my home clean, the windows look great and I would recommend they to anyone, better than when I first moved into my new home.
My windows look amazing! They were here when they said there would be and they will come do a quote prior to the service! Thank you so much!
Marc and Annika do an amazing job and their prices are great! They clean the windows of my home and my two learning centers and I am always impressed with the job that they do. They are professional, punctual, and courteous. I love supporting a family-owned small business and highly recommend them!
Did a great job on the windows, clean, quick and quiet! Will definitely use again!
Marc and Annika are two of the hardest working, most genuine folks you'll ever meet. Give them a try. You won't be disappointed!
Are you looking for a reliable window washing service? Well look no further! Radiant is a family owned business that provides you with detailed work. At the end they even check every window to make sure everything is perfect. On top of that, Marc and Annika are a very pleasant and friendly.. Would definitely recommend them!


text:
Hampstead Highgate Express > News > Local Council
Camden Council insist 'rich list' findings are inaccurate
Camden Town Hall - Credit: Archant
Bosses at Camden Council say a list which claims the local authority has the highest number of staff earning more than £100,000 in the country is inaccurate and should be withdrawn.
The TaxPayers' Alliance published its annual Town Hall Rich List last week. It showed 40 senior officers at Camden Council received more than £100,000 in 2011/12.
The list includes the chief executive on a basic salary of £140,000 plus £32,000 in pension contributions and other payments.
The list states the highest paid council officer was the director of culture and environment.
They were paid £154,000 plus £28,000 in pension and benefit payments.
At Haringey Council, 14 senior officers earned more than £100,000 and at Islington Council the total was 20.
However, Camden's finance chief, Cllr Theo Blackwell, said the list was inaccurate and the true number of staff earning salaries of £100,000-plus was 16.
Camden Council say the list is misleading because it includes staff who left the local authority during the year, while some of the figures have been double counted from statement of accounts.
After publication of the list, Cllr Blackwell and chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, Matthew Sinclair, appeared on ITV's Daybreak to debate the figures.
Speaking to the Ham&High, Cllr Blackwell accused the TaxPayers' Alliance of "poor research" and of being funded by "pro-private sector outfits and have an axe to grind against the public sector".
Mr Sinclair said: "Our calculations of the remuneration for senior staff at Camden Council are based entirely on the accounts as published by the council.
"If councillors are questioning the veracity of the figures, then they are questioning the veracity of their own accounts, which they are legally obliged to publish as an accurate statement of their finances."