text:
\section{Conclusions}
In this article, we investigate a DL-enabled semantic communication system for speech signals, named DeepSC-S, which achieves more efficient transmission than the traditional systems by utilizing the speech semantic information. Particularly, we jointly design the speech coding and the channel coding to learn and extract the essential speech information. Additionally, an attention mechanism based on squeeze-and-excitation (SE) networks is utilized to improve the recovery accuracy. Moreover, in order to facilitate DeepSC-S working well over various physical channels, a model with strong robustness to channel variations is investigated. Simulation results demonstrated that DeepSC-S outperforms the traditional communication systems, especially in the low SNR regime. Hence, our proposed DeepSC-S is a promising candidate for speech semantic communication systems.
\section{Experiment and Numerical Results}
In this section, we compare to the performance between the proposed DeepSC-S and the traditional communication systems for speech signals transmission over telephone systems under the AWGN channels, the Rayleigh channels, and the Rician channels, where the accurate CSI is assumed.
\begin{figure*}[tbp]
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.33\linewidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=1\textwidth]{Figures/simulation/test_MSE_AWGN.eps}
\subcaption{AWGN channels}
\label{MSE tested under AWGN channel}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.33\linewidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=1\textwidth]{Figures/simulation/test_MSE_Rayleigh.eps}
\subcaption{Rayleigh channels}
\label{MSE tested under Rayleigh channel}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.33\linewidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=1\textwidth]{Figures/simulation/test_MSE_Rician.eps}
\subcaption{Rician channels}
\label{MSE tested under Rician channel}
\end{minipage}
\caption{MSE loss tested for (a) AWGN, (b) Rayleigh, and (c) Rician channels with the models trained under various channels.}
\label{MSE comparison for different testing channels}
\end{figure*}

\subsection{Speech Dataset and Traditional Model}
In the whole experiment, we adopt the speech dataset from Edinburgh DataShare, which comprises more than 10,000 \emph{.wav} files trainset and 800 \emph{.wav} files testset with sampling rate 16KHz. In terms of the traditional telephone systems, the sampling rate for speech signals is 8KHz, thus, the speech samples are down-sampled to 8KHz. Note that the number of speech samples in different \emph{.wav} files is inconsistent. In the simulation, we fix $W=16,384,$ and each sample sequence in $\boldsymbol m$ consists of frames $F=128$ with the frame length $L=128$.

According to ITU-T G.711 standard, 64 Kbps pulse code modulation (PCM) is recommended for speech source coding in telephone systems with $2^8=256$ quantization levels\cite{b23}. For the channel coding, turbo codes with soft output Viterbi algorithm (SOVA) is considered to improve the performance of error detection and correction at the receiver\cite{b24}, in which the coding rate is 1/3, the block length is 512, and the number of decoding iterations is 5. In addition, to make the number of transmitted symbols in the traditional systems is same as that in DeepSC-S, 64-QAM is adopted in the traditional systems for the modulation.

\subsection{Experiments over Telephone Systems}
\subsubsection{A Robust Model}
In this experiment, we investigate a robust system to work on various channel conditions by training DeepSC-S under the fixed channel condition, and then testing the MSE loss via the trained model under all adopted fading channels. Particularly, the number of the SE-ResNet modules in the \emph{speech encoder/decoder} is 4 and the number of the 2D CNN modules in the \emph{channel encoder/decoder} is 1, which includes 8 kernels. The network setting of the proposed DeepSC-S are shown as Table \ref{telephone DeepSC-S NN parameters}.
\renewcommand\arraystretch{1.15}
\begin{table}[htbp]
\footnotesize
\caption{Parameters settings of the proposed DeepSC-S for telephone systems.}
\label{telephone DeepSC-S NN parameters}
\centering
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|}
\hline
               & \textbf{Layer Name} & \textbf{Kernels} & \textbf{Activation}\\
\hline
    \multirow{2}{6.0em}{\textbf{\centering \ Transmitter}} & 4$\times$SE-ResNet & 4$\times$32   & Relu \\
\cline{2-4}
                                                                         & CNN layer   &    8   &   Relu    \\
\cline{1-4}
    \multirow{3}{6.0em}{\textbf{\centering \ \ \ Receiver}}   & CNN layer   &    8   &   Relu    \\
\cline{2-4}
                                    & 4$\times$SE-ResNet      &    4$\times$32    &   Relu     \\
\cline{2-4}
                                    & 1$\times$CNN module     &   1               &   None     \\
\cline{1-4}
    \textbf{Learning Rate}          & $\eta$                  &    0.001          &   None     \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

As shown in Fig. \ref{MSE comparison for different testing channels} (a), in terms of the MSE loss tested under the AWGN channels, DeepSC-S trained under the AWGN channels outperforms the model trained under the Rayleigh channels and the Rician channels when SNRs are higher than around 6 dB. Besides, according to Fig. \ref{MSE comparison for different testing channels} (b), DeepSC-S trained under the AWGN channels performs quite poor in terms of MSE loss when testing under the Rayleigh channels. Furthermore, Fig. \ref{MSE comparison for different testing channels} (c) shows the model trained under the three adopted channels can achieve MSE loss values under $9\times10^{-7}$ when testing under the Rician channels. Therefore, DeepSC-S trained under the Rician channels is considered as a robust model that is capable of coping with various channel environments.

Note that during the training stage, the Gaussian noise in three channels are generated under a fixed SNR value, 8 dB. According to Fig. \ref{MSE comparison for different testing channels}, when SNR in three testing channels is lower than 8 dB, DeepSC-S trained under the AWGN channels has higher MSE loss values than the model trained under Rayleigh channels and the Rician channels.

\subsubsection{SDR and PESQ Results}
Based on the robust model, i.e., DeepSC-S trained under the Rician channels and 8 dB SNR, we test the SDR and PESQ under DeepSC-S and the traditional systems for speech transmission over telephones systems.

Fig. \ref{SDR result for speech communcation} compares the SDR performance between DeepSC-S and the traditional communication systems under the AWGN channels, the Rayleigh channels, and the Rician channels, which shows that DeepSC-S achieves better SDR than the traditional one under all tested channels. Moreover, DeepSC-S performs steadily when coping with different channels and SNRs, while for the traditional model, its performance is quite poor under dynamic channel conditions, especially in the low SNR regime, DeepSC-S significantly outperforms the traditional systems. Furthermore, DeepSC-S yields higher SDR scores under the Rician channels than the AWGN channels because the model is trained under the Rician channels.
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\includegraphics[width=0.45\textwidth]{Figures/simulation/SDR_Rician_train.eps}
\centering
\caption{SDR score versus SNR for the traditional speech communication systems with 8-bits A-law PCM coding with Turbo codes in 64-QAM and DeepSC-S under the AWGN channels, the Rayleigh channels, and the Rician channels.}
\label{SDR result for speech communcation}
\end{figure}

The PESQ score comparison is in Fig. \ref{PESQ result for speech communcation}. From the figure, the proposed DeepSC-S can provide high quality speech recovery and outperforms the traditional approaches under various fading channels and SNRs. Moreover, similar to the results of SDR, DeepSC-S obtains good PESQ scores when coping with channel variations while the traditional one provides poor scores under the low SNR regime. According to the simulation results, DeepSC-S is able to yield better speech transmission service in the complicated communication scenarios than the traditional systems, especially in the low SNR regime.
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\includegraphics[width=0.45\textwidth]{Figures/simulation/PESQ_Rician_train.eps}
\centering
\caption{PESQ score versus SNR for the traditional speech communication systems with 8-bits A-law PCM coding with Turbo codes in 64-QAM and DeepSC-S  under the AWGN channels, the Rayleigh channels, and the Rician channels.}
\label{PESQ result for speech communcation}
\end{figure}

\section{Introduction}
Intelligent communications have been investigated recently to break though the bottlenecks of the traditional communication systems\cite{b1}. Inspired by the success of deep learning (DL) in various areas, such as computer vision and natural language processing (NLP), DL has been considered as a promising candidate to revolutionize communication systems with high performance and intelligence\cite{b2}. Particularly, DL has shown its great potentials to solve the existing technical problems in physical layer communications\cite{b3,b4,b5} and wireless resource allocations\cite{b6,b7}.

Even if the communication systems utilizing DL technique yield better performance than the traditional approaches for some scenarios and conditions, most of the literature focus on the performance improvement at the bit or symbol level, which usually takes bit-error rate (BER) or symbol-error rate (SER) as the performance metrics. Particularly, the major task in the traditional communication systems and the developed DL-enabled systems, is to recover the transmitted message accurately and effectively, represented by digital bit sequences. In the past decades, such type of wireless communication systems have experienced significant development from the first generation (1G) to the fifth generation (5G) and the system capacity is approaching Shannon limit. Based on Shannon and Weaver\cite{b8}, communications can be categorized into three levels as follow: \romannumeral1)  \emph{level A}: how accurately can the symbols of communication be transmitted? \romannumeral2) \emph{level B}: how precisely do the transmitted symbols convey the desired meaning? \romannumeral3) \emph{level C}: how effectively does the received meaning affect conduct in the desired way? This indicates the feasibility to transmit the semantic information, instead of the bits or symbols, to achieve higher system efficiency.

Semantic information, in contrast to information theory exploited in existing communication systems, takes into account the meaning and veracity of source information because it can be both informative and factual\cite{b9}, which facilitates the semantic communication systems to recover information via further utilizing the meaning difference between the input and the recovered signals\cite{b10}. According to the recent efforts in\cite{b11}, semantic data can be compressed to proper size for transmission using a lossless method by utilizing the semantic relationship between different messages, while the traditional lossless source coding is to represent a signal with the minimum number of binary bits by exploring the dependencies or statistical properties of input signals. In addition, inspired by the E2E communication systems\cite{b12}, different types of sources have been considered in recent investigations on E2E semantic communication systems, which mainly focus on the image and text transmission\cite{b13,b14,b15,b16,b17,b18,b19,b20}. The investigation on semantic communications for speech signals transmission is still missed.

Particularly, an initial research on semantic communication systems for text information has been developed\cite{b13}, which mitigates the semantic error to achieve Nash equilibrium. However, such a text-based semantic communication system only measures the performance at the word level instead of the sentence level. Thus, a further investigation about semantic communications for text transmission, named DeepSC, has been carried out\cite{b14} to deal with the semantic error at the sentence level with various length. Moreover, a lite distributed semantic communication system for text transmission, named L-DeepSC, has been proposed\cite{b15} to address the challenge of IoT to perform the intelligent tasks.

In the area of semantic communications for image information, a DL-enabled semantic communication system for image transmission, named JSCC, has been developed\cite{b16}. Based on JSCC, an image transmission system, integrating channel output feedback, has been investigated to improve image reconstruction\cite{b17}. Similar to text transmission, IoT applications for image transmission have been carried out. Particularly, a joint image transmission-recognition system has been developed\cite{b18} to achieve high recognition accuracy and a deep joint source-channel coding architecture, name DeepJSCC, has been investigated\cite{b19} to process image with low computation complexity.

In this article, we explore the semantic systems for speech signals by utilizing DL technique. Particularly, a DL-enabled semantic communication system for speech signals, named DeepSC-S, is proposed to address the existing challenges in the traditional communication systems, e.g., the block-wise system has been demonstrated to be sub-optimal, and conventional linear signal processing algorithm is unable to capture many imperfections and non-linearities in the practical channel. The main contributions of this article can be summarized as threefold:

\begin{itemize}
\item A novel semantic communication system for speech signals, named DeepSC-S, is first proposed, which treats the whole transceiver as two deep neural networks (DNNs), and jointly designs the speech coding and the channel coding to deal with source distortion and channel effects.

\item Particularly, in the proposed DeepSC-S, the squeeze-and-excitation (SE) networks\cite{b20} is employed to learn and extract the essential speech semantic information, as well assign high values to the weights corresponding to the essential information during the training phase. By exploiting the attention mechanism based on SE networks, DeepSC-S improves the accuracy of signal recovering.

\item Moreover, by training DeepSC-S under a fixed fading channel and SNR, then facilitating the trained model with good performance under testing channel conditions, the proposed DeepSC-S is highly robust to dynamic channel environments without network tuning and retraining.
\end{itemize}

The rest of this article is structured as follows. Section \uppercase\expandafter{\romannumeral2} introduces the model of speech semantic communication system and performance metrics. In Section \uppercase\expandafter{\romannumeral3}, the details of the proposed DeepSC-S is presented. Simulation results are discussed in Section \uppercase\expandafter{\romannumeral4} and Section \uppercase\expandafter{\romannumeral5} draws conclusions.

\section{Proposed Semantic Communication System for Speech Signals}
To address the aforementioned challenges, we design a DL-enabled speech semantic communication system, named DeepSC-S. Specifically, an attention-based two-dimension (2D) CNN is used for the speech coding and a 2D CNN is adopted for the channel coding. The details of the developed DeepSC-S will be introduced in this section.

\subsection{Model Description}
As shown in Fig. \ref{proposed sys}, the input of the proposed DeepSC-S, denoted as $\boldsymbol S\in\mathfrak R^{B\times W}$, is the set of speech sample sequences, $\boldsymbol s$, which are drawn from the speech dataset, $\mathfrak S$, and $B$ is the batch size. The input sample sequences set, $\boldsymbol S$, are framed into $\boldsymbol m\in\mathfrak R^{B\times F\times L}$ for training before passing through an attention-based encoder, i.e., the \emph{speech encoder}, where $F$ indicates the number of frames and $L$ is the length of each frame. The \emph{speech encoder} directly learns the speech semantic information from $\boldsymbol m$ and outputs the learned features $\boldsymbol b\in\mathfrak R^{B\times F\times L\times D}$. Afterwards, the \emph{channel encoder}, denoted as a CNN layer with 2D CNN modules, converts $\boldsymbol b$ into $\boldsymbol U\in\mathfrak R^{B\times F\times2N}$. In order to transmit $\boldsymbol U$ into a physical channel, it is reshaped into symbol sequences, $\boldsymbol X\in\mathfrak R^{B\times FN\times2}$, via a reshape layer.

The channel layer takes the reshaped symbol sequences, $\boldsymbol X$, as the input and produces $\boldsymbol Y$ at the receiver, which is given by
\begin{equation}
\boldsymbol Y=\boldsymbol H\boldsymbol X+\boldsymbol W,
\label{proposed channel}
\end{equation}
where $\boldsymbol H$ consists of $B$ number of channel coefficient vectors, $\boldsymbol h$, and $\boldsymbol W$ is Gaussian noise, which includes $B$ number of noise vectors, $\boldsymbol w$.

The received symbol sequences, $\boldsymbol Y$, is reshaped into $\boldsymbol V\in\mathfrak R^{B\times F\times2N}$ before feeding into the \emph{channel decoder}, represented by a CNN layer with 2D CNN modules. The output of the \emph{channel decoder} is $\widehat{\boldsymbol b}\in\mathfrak R^{B\times F\times L\times D}$. Afterwards, an attention-based decoder, i.e., the \emph{speech decoder}, converts $\widehat{\boldsymbol b}$ into $\widehat{\boldsymbol m}\in\mathfrak R^{B\times F\times L}$ and $\widehat{\boldsymbol m}$ is recovered into $\widehat{\boldsymbol S}$ via the inverse operation of framing, named deframing, where the size of $\widehat{\boldsymbol S}$ is same as that of $\boldsymbol S$ at the transmitter. The loss is calculated at the end of the receiver and backpropagated to the transmitter, thus, the trainable parameters in the whole system can be updated simultaneously.
\begin{figure*}[htbp]
\includegraphics[width=1\textwidth]{Figures/model/proposed_sys.eps}
\centering
\caption{The proposed system architecture for semantic communication system for speech signals.}
\label{proposed sys}
\end{figure*}

\subsection{Speech Encoder and Decoder}
The core of the proposed DeepSC-S is the NN-enabled \emph{speech encoder} and \emph{speech decoder} based on an attention mechanism, named SE-ResNet, as shown in Fig. \ref{SE-ResNet}, where the SE layer is considered as an independent unit and one or multiple SE-ResNet modules are sequentially connected to constrct the \emph{speech encoder} and the \emph{speech decoder}.
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\includegraphics[width=0.48\textwidth]{Figures/model/ResNet_module.eps}
\centering
\caption{SE-ResNet module for constructing the \emph{speech encoder} and the \emph{speech decoder}.}
\label{SE-ResNet}
\end{figure}

The motivation of attention mechanism is to identify the essential information and the weights corresponding to the essential information are assigned to high values when weight updating and adjusting during the training phase. In this work, we focus on learning the speech semantic information, such as the stressed speech signals. Particularly, for SE networks, a \emph{squeeze} operation is first implemented to aggregate the 2D spatial dimension of each input feature, then an operation, named \emph{excitation}, intents to learn and output the attention factor of each feature by capturing the inter-dependencies. Accordingly, the weights of input to SE-ResNet are reassigned, i.e., the weights corresponding to the essential speech information are paid more attention. Additionally, residual network is adopted to alleviate the problem of gradient vanishing due to the network depth.

\subsection{Model Training and Testing}
Based on the prior knowledge of channel state information (CSI), the transmitter and receiver parameters, $\boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal T}$ and $\boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal R}$, can be updated simultaneously. As aforementioned, the objective of the proposed DeepSC-S is to train a model to capture the essential information in speech signals and make it to work well under various channels and a wide SNR regime.

\subsubsection{Training Stage}
As in Fig. \ref{proposed sys}, the training algorithm of DeepSC-S is described in Algorithm \ref{training algorithm}. During the training stage, in order to achieve a valid training task, the MSE loss converges until the loss is no longer decreasing. The number of SE-ResNet modules is an important hyperparameter, which aims to facilitate the good performance of the \emph{speech encoder/decoder}, as well as the reasonable training time.
\begin{algorithm}[htb]
\caption{Training algorithm of the proposed DeepSC-S.}
\label{training algorithm}
\textbf{Initialization:} initialize parameters $\boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal T{\boldsymbol(\mathbf0\boldsymbol)}}$ and $\boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal R{\boldsymbol(\mathbf0\boldsymbol)}}$, $i=0$.

\begin{algorithmic}[1]
    \State \textbf{Input:} Speech sample sequences $\boldsymbol S$ from speech dataset $\mathfrak S$, a fading channel $\boldsymbol h$, noise $\boldsymbol w$ generated under a fixed SNR value.
    \State Framing $\boldsymbol S$ into $\boldsymbol m$ with trainable size.
        \While{Stop criterion is not meet}
            \State $\mathbf T_{\boldsymbol\beta}^{\mathcal C}(\mathbf T_{\boldsymbol\alpha}^{\mathcal S}(\boldsymbol m))\rightarrow\boldsymbol X$.
            \State Transmit $\boldsymbol X$ over physical channel and receive $\boldsymbol Y$ via \State (\ref{channel}).
            \State $\mathbf R_{\boldsymbol\delta}^{\mathcal S}(\mathbf R_{\boldsymbol\chi}^{\mathcal C}(\boldsymbol Y))\rightarrow\widehat{\boldsymbol m}$.
            \State Deframing $\widehat{\boldsymbol m}$ into $\widehat{\boldsymbol S}$.
            \State Compute loss ${\mathcal L}_{MSE}(\boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal T},\;\boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal R})$ via (\ref{loss function}).
            \State Update trainable parameters simultaneously via SGD:
                \begin{equation}
                \boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal T\left(i+1\right)}\leftarrow\boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal T\left(i\right)}-\eta\nabla_{\boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal T\left(i\right)}}{\mathcal L}_{MSE}(\boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal T},\;\boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal R})
                \label{transmitter paramter update}
                \end{equation}
                \begin{equation}
                \boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal R\left(i+1\right)}\leftarrow\boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal R\left(i\right)}-\eta\nabla_{\boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal R\left(i\right)}}{\mathcal L}_{MSE}(\boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal T},\;\boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal R})
                \label{receiver paramter update}
                \end{equation}
            \State $i\leftarrow i+1$.
        \EndWhile
    \State \textbf{end while}
    \State \textbf{Output:} Trained networks $\mathbf T_{\boldsymbol\alpha}^{\mathcal S}(\cdot)$, $\mathbf T_{\boldsymbol\beta}^{\mathcal C}(\cdot)$, $\mathbf R_{\boldsymbol\chi}^{\mathcal C}(\cdot)$, and $\mathbf R_{\boldsymbol\delta}^{\mathcal S}(\cdot)$.
\end{algorithmic}

\end{algorithm}

\subsubsection{Testing Stage}
Based on the trained networks $\mathbf T_{\boldsymbol\alpha}^{\mathcal S}(\cdot)$, $\mathbf T_{\boldsymbol\beta}^{\mathcal C}(\cdot)$, $\mathbf R_{\boldsymbol\chi}^{\mathcal C}(\cdot)$, and $\mathbf R_{\boldsymbol\delta}^{\mathcal S}(\cdot)$ from the outputs of Algorithm \ref{training algorithm}, the testing algorithm of DeepSC-S is illustrated in Algorithm \ref{testing algorithm}. As shown in Algorithm \ref{testing algorithm}, the trained model under a fixed channel condition is employed to test the performance under various fading channels directly without model retraining.
\begin{algorithm}[htb]
\caption{Testing algorithm of the proposed DeepSC-S.}
\label{testing algorithm}

\begin{algorithmic}[1]
    \State \textbf{Input:} Speech sample sequences $\boldsymbol S$ from speech dataset $\mathfrak S$, trained networks $\mathbf T_{\boldsymbol\alpha}^{\mathcal S}(\cdot)$, $\mathbf T_{\boldsymbol\beta}^{\mathcal C}(\cdot)$, $\mathbf R_{\boldsymbol\chi}^{\mathcal C}(\cdot)$, and $\mathbf R_{\boldsymbol\delta}^{\mathcal S}(\cdot)$, testing channel set $\mathcal H$, a wide range of SNR regime.
    \State Framing $\boldsymbol S$ into $\boldsymbol m$ with trainable size.
    	\For{each channel condition $\boldsymbol h$ drawn from $\mathcal H$}
    	    \For{each SNR value}
    	        \State Generate Gaussian noise $\boldsymbol w$ under the SNR value.
    	        \State $\mathbf T_{\boldsymbol\beta}^{\mathcal C}(\mathbf T_{\boldsymbol\alpha}^{\mathcal S}(\boldsymbol m))\rightarrow\boldsymbol X$.
                \State Transmit $\boldsymbol X$ over physical channel and receive $\boldsymbol Y$ \State via (\ref{channel}).
                \State $\mathbf R_{\boldsymbol\delta}^{\mathcal S}(\mathbf R_{\boldsymbol\chi}^{\mathcal C}(\boldsymbol Y))\rightarrow\widehat{\boldsymbol m}$.
                \State Deframing $\widehat{\boldsymbol m}$ into $\widehat{\boldsymbol S}$.
                \EndFor
            \State \textbf{end for}
        \EndFor
    \State \textbf{end for}
	\State \textbf{Output:} Recovered speech sample sequences, $\widehat{\boldsymbol S}$, under different fading channels and various SNR values.
\end{algorithmic}

\end{algorithm}

\section{System Model}
In this section, we first introduce the considered system model. Besides, the details of the system model and the performance metrics are presented.

\subsection{System Expectation}
The considered system will transmit the original speech signals via a neural network (NN)-based speech semantic communication system, which comprises two major tasks as shown in Fig. \ref{sys model}: \romannumeral1) semantic information learning and extracting of speech signals; \romannumeral2) and mitigating the effects of wireless channels. Due to the variation of speech characteristics, it is a quite challenging problem. For a practical communication scenario, the signal passing through the physical channel suffers from distortion and attenuation. Therefore, the considered DL-enabled system targets to recover the original speech signals and achieve better performance than the traditional approaches while coping with complicated channel distortions.
\begin{figure}[tbp]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.45\textwidth]{Figures/model/sys_model.eps}
\caption{The model structure of DL-enabled semantic communication system for speech signals.}
\label{sys model}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Transmitter}
The proposed system model is shown in Fig. \ref{sys model}. From the figure, the input of the transmitter is a speech sample sequence, $\boldsymbol s=\left[s_1,\;s_2,\;...,\;s_W\right]$ with $W$ samples, where $s_w$ is $w$-th item in $\boldsymbol s$ and it is a scalar value, i.e., a positive number, a negative number, or zero. At the transmitter, the input, $\boldsymbol s$, is mapped into symbols, $\boldsymbol x$, to be transmitted over physical channels. As shown in Fig. \ref{sys model}, the transmitter consists of two individual components: the \emph{speech encoder} and the \emph{channel encoder}, in which each component is implemented by an independent NN. Denote the NN parameters of the \emph{speech encoder} and the \emph{channel encoder} as $\boldsymbol\alpha$ and $\boldsymbol\beta$, respectively. Then the encoded symbol sequence, $\boldsymbol x$, can be expressed as
\begin{equation}
\boldsymbol x=\mathbf T_{\boldsymbol\beta}^{\mathcal C}(\mathbf T_{\boldsymbol\alpha}^{\mathcal S}(\boldsymbol s)),
\label{auto-encoder}
\end{equation}
where $\mathbf T_{\boldsymbol\alpha}^{\mathcal S}(\cdot)$ and $\mathbf T_{\boldsymbol\beta}^{\mathcal C}(\cdot)$ indicate the \emph{speech encoder} and the \emph{channel encoder} with respect to (w.r.t.) parameters $\boldsymbol\alpha$ and $\boldsymbol\beta$, respectively. Here we denote the NN parameters of the transmitter as $\boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal T}=(\boldsymbol\alpha,\boldsymbol\;\boldsymbol\beta)$.

The mapped symbols, $\boldsymbol x$, are transmitted over a physical channel. Note that the normalization on transmitted symbols $\boldsymbol x$ is required to ensure the total transmission power constraint $\mathbb{E}\left\|\boldsymbol x\right\|^2=1$.

The whole transceiver in Fig. \ref{sys model} is designed for a single communication link, in which the channel layer, represented by $p_h\left(\left.\boldsymbol y\right|\boldsymbol x\right)$, takes $\boldsymbol x$ as the input and produces the output as received signal, $\boldsymbol y$. Denote the coefficients of a linear channel as $\boldsymbol h$, then the transmission process from the transmitter to the receiver can be modeled as
\begin{equation}
\boldsymbol y=\boldsymbol h\ast\boldsymbol x+\boldsymbol w,
\label{channel}
\end{equation}
where $\boldsymbol w\sim\mathcal{CN}(0,\;\sigma^2\mathbf I)$ indicates independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) Gaussian noise, $\sigma^2$ is noise variance for each channel and $\mathbf I$ is the identity matrix.

\subsection{Receiver}
Similar to the transmitter, the receiver also consists of two cascaded parts, including the \emph{channel decoder} and the \emph{speech decoder}. The \emph{channel decoder} is to mitigate the channel distortion and attenuation, and the \emph{speech decoder} recovers speech signals based on the learned and extracted speech semantic features. Denote the NN parameters of the \emph{channel decoder} and the \emph{speech decoder} as $\boldsymbol\chi$ and $\boldsymbol\delta$, respectively. As depicted in Fig. \ref{sys model}, the decoded signal, $\widehat{\boldsymbol s}$, can be obtained from the received signal, $\boldsymbol y$, by the following operation:
\begin{equation}
\widehat{\boldsymbol s}=\mathbf R_{\boldsymbol\delta}^{\mathcal S}(\mathbf R_{\boldsymbol\chi}^{\mathcal C}(\boldsymbol y)),
\label{auto-decoder}
\end{equation}
where $\mathbf R_{\boldsymbol\chi}^{\mathcal C}(\cdot)$ and $\mathbf R_{\boldsymbol\delta}^{\mathcal S}(\cdot)$ indicate the \emph{channel decoder} and the \emph{speech decoder} w.r.t. parameters $\boldsymbol\chi$ and $\boldsymbol\delta$, respectively. Denote the NN parameter of the receiver as $\boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal R}=(\boldsymbol\chi,\boldsymbol\;\boldsymbol\delta)$.

The objective of the whole transceiver system is to recover the speech information as close as to the original. In the traditional communication systems, the performance is achieved at the bit level to target a low BER/SER. However, in our proposed system, the bit-to-symbol transformation is not involved. Thus, for the sake of forming a powerful loss function, we treat the speech recovery process after going though the whole transceiver as a signal reconstruction task by exploiting the characteristics of speech signals, then mean-squared error (MSE) can be used as the loss function in our system to measure the difference between $\boldsymbol s$ and $\widehat{\boldsymbol s}$, denoted as
\begin{equation}
{\mathcal L}_{MSE}(\boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal T},\;\boldsymbol\theta^{\mathcal R})=\frac1W\sum_{w=1}^W{(s_w-{\widehat s}_w)}^2.
\label{loss function}
\end{equation}

\subsection{Performance Metrics}
In our model, the system is committed to reconstruct the raw speech signals. Hence, the signal-to-distortion ration (SDR)\cite{b21} is employed to measure the ${\mathcal L}_2$ error between $\boldsymbol s$ and $\widehat{\boldsymbol s}$, which can be expressed as
\begin{equation}
SDR=10\log_{10}\left(\frac{\left\|\boldsymbol s\right\|^2}{\left\|\boldsymbol s-\widehat{\boldsymbol s}\right\|^2}\right).
\label{SDR}
\end{equation}
The higher SDR represents the speech information is recovered with better quality, i.e., easier to understand for human beings. According to (\ref{loss function}), MSE loss could reflect the goodness of SDR. The lower the MSE, the higher the SDR.

Perceptual evaluation of speech distortion (PESQ)\cite{b22} is considered as another metric to measure the quality of listening at the receiver, which assumes the short memory in human perception. PESQ is a speech quality assessment model combing the perceptual speech quality measure (PSQM) and perceptual analysis measurement system (PAMS), which is in International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T) recommendation P.862. PESQ is a good candidate for evaluating the quality of speech messages under various conditions, e.g., background noise, analog filtering, and variable delay, by scoring the speech quality range from -0.5 to 4.5.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Media Newsletters & Publications
One Shabbos One World
Photos & News Article
Photos - Click HERE
By Shael Gelfand
300 Communities Unite for One Shabbat One World
It was a weekend few will forget. More than 250 people joined together in Jewish fellowship to celebrate One Shabbat One World - Feb 6-8 at Chabad House in Calgary - a Shabbos dedicated to the era of universal peace and harmony (Moshiach). The weekend was filled with spirituality and sharing by Jews around the world as One Shabbat One World was celebrated in more than 300 cities. With almost 200 people attending the Shabbat dinner on Friday evening, Chabad House was filled to overflowing. "We are just delighted with the turnout," said Rabbi Mordechai Groner Director of the Calgary Jewish Learning Institute, and organizer of One Shabbat One World. "There wasn't an empty seat in the house and more importantly it provided the opportunity for members of Calgary's Jewish community to come together to celebrate Shabbat."
Keynote to the Calgary celebration was the teachings of Rabbi Dr. Laibl Wolf, LL.B, M.Ed.Psych, D.Div. of Melbourne Australia. Rabbi Wolf is a world renowned expert and teacher of authentic Kabbalah. Rabbi Wolf also gave presentations on Saturday evening and Sunday morning.
Saturday's presentation was called Be Strong in the face of Crisis and provided participants with some insight and tools on leading a fulfilling life even during difficult times. He told his audience not to live a horizontal or shallow life, comparing it to staying on the surface of the water while swimming in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. "Lead a vertical life with depth, living each moment" said Rabbi Wolf, only when you dive below the surface do you experience the true wonder of the Reef.
Sunday's presentation was called Mind Yoga. Rabbi Wolf told his audience he first coined the phrase Mind Yoga when asked to explain Kabbalah during an interview on American television. "It's a wonderful metaphor, "says Rabbi Wolf. While no one in attendance wore workout clothing, "the notions of adopting postures in terms of the way we think and the way we feel, mind postures and emotion postures is a long and established practice in the deeper labyrinths of Torah and Judaism."
Rabbi Wolf explained that in a world that challenges us to be appropriate and balanced in our response mechanisms "it behooves us to be much more trained and disciplined." He said to do that we must "undertake a training program to be able to evolve those composures of mind and emotion that allow us to connect with each other, optimally, in a loving, positive compassionate repose rather than through a fearful, disrespectful and disconnected repose." Rabbi Wolf demonstrated and explained his Mind Yoga program and also led the participants through some meditation exercises.
Judging by the response from the audience, Rabbi Wolf was a hit. All his books, tapes and study guides quickly sold out. To find out more about Dr. Laibl Wolf and his spiritual growth centre visit his website at www.laiblwolf.com.
One Shabbat One World was a tremendous success. Special thanks go to the weekend hosts Edwin and Denise Ritchie, members of the One Shabbos One World committee, patrons and sponsors.
May we merit to celebrate the ultimate One Shabbos with the coming of our righteous Moshiach now.
For more information and photos of this wonderful program please visit www.ChabadAlberta.org
One Shabbos One World Photos

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Marketing & MediaTV
TV News El Salvador
StarTimes partners with MLW to air 'Fusion' in Africa
Major League Wrestling has recently announced it has entered into an agreement to broadcast its flagship weekly hour-long program MLW Fusion non-exclusively in Africa on StarTimes...
Ali Mufuruki to acquire majority in Wananchi Cable
Tanzanian businessman Ali Mufuruki has increased his shares in Wananchi Cable Ltd, a company specialising in providing internet access, voice and pay TV...
CNN enlists top journalism students for iReport initiative
ATLANTA, US: CNN has announced the launch of a new initiative for journalism students, called CNN iReport University, linked to iReport, the network's user-generated news community.
Festival of Media LatAm: Enter NOW!
MIAMI, US: The first Festival of Media LatAm will celebrate the creativity and innovative thinking that is at the heart of media communications across the LatAm region with an inaugural Award - The Festival of Media LatAm Campaign of the Year Award 2010. And it's time to enter.


Richard Dawkins goes through the various arguments for the existence of God. I would have to say that I am equally disappointed with the ontological argument. As a former skeptic, I would never have been moved by this. As a Christian, I never use it.
The argument from beauty has a bit more merit. But I think Dawkins misunderstands it. He sees it as being "Humans can make beautiful art, therefore there must be a God." I would see it more as about why we think there is such a thing as beauty. How can people determine something is ugly and something is beautiful? Why is a sunrise beautiful and roadkill ugly? Is it simply personal taste or are we recognizing something? I don't use this argument, but I thing there is something to it.
Dawkins also dismisses the argument from experience. Of course there is great danger in focusing too much on experience. I would never base an important decision on something like a dream or a strange feeling. But if there is a God, there would be an expectation that he would interact with us in some way. I have had some powerful experiences with God that have strengthened my faith but would not likely convince a skeptic.
I agree with Dawkins that the argument from admired religious scientists is not a good argument. However, Dawkins errs when he suggests that atheists are generally better educated than theists. Recent studies have demonstrated that there is a high level of education for regular attenders. It is interesting that a good portion of scientists are atheist. It is not that science and God are incompatible. Perhaps atheists are naturally drawn to science as a means of explaining their atheistic worldview. It would be interesting to know what came first, the atheist or the science.
What are we to do with Pascal's Wager? There is some truth to it. If atheists are correct, when I die I will never know I was wrong. If theists are correct, atheists will know they were wrong when they die. However, this wager does not get us to Christianity. If my faith was based only this wager, I could die and find out that Judaism or Islam was the correct religion. So there are definite weaknesses with this argument.
Dawkins also tackles the argument from Scripture. However, Dawkins makes so many errors in that section that I am going to have to take that on in a separate post.
I dare any atheist to argue with this logic!


Look at the photos! This spotless, well maintained home is in move in condition. Built originally as a 2 Bedroom suite, the second bedroom was converted to an open den and could return to a second bedroom very easily. Spacious and bright with a southwesterly outlook, this suite in Vandemar West is in the perfect location, just a short stroll from the seawall, the library and hallway between the shops and amenities of both Ambleside and Dundarave. Building amenities include large inhouse workshop and out swimming pool. Suite 201 has an enclosed solarium adding to the expansive feel to the home. No pets or rentals allowed. Currently the best $ per square foot asking price by far in Dundarave – concrete or frame construction.


Can you pass this NHL goal horn quiz?
You guys made it happen.
It's the NHL GOAL HORN QUIZ!
After the two-week goal of 10,000 likes on the last quiz was met in... four hours, the BarDown Squad is giving the people what they want. Emilie, Corwin, Luca, Eric and Jesse (yes, that's a child-size Leafs T-shirt) are tackling goal horns from around the NHL, with a bit of a twist this week — instead of eliminations, this one's a best-of-ten. Everyone gets to the final boss!
Without further ado: Here's your goal horn quiz!
So, how well do you know your horns? Probably fewer than Emilie, who was eight for her first eight goal horns to win her first quiz of the season. You couldn't name a better quiz to win!


TEPZZ 89_867A_T EP A1 (19) (11) EP A1 (12) DEMANDE DE BREVET EUROPEEN. (51) Int Cl.: G01F 15/075 ( ) F24D 19/10 (2006.
Download "TEPZZ 89_867A_T EP 2 891 867 A1 (19) (11) EP 2 891 867 A1 (12) DEMANDE DE BREVET EUROPEEN. (51) Int Cl.: G01F 15/075 (2006.01) F24D 19/10 (2006."


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Q: Adding a datepicker in relativel ayout crashes with nullpointer exception I am using Android Studio for designing layouts.
<RelativeLayout

    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"

    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="vertical">

    <!-- I want to add DatePicker here -->

    <GridView

        android:id="@+id/gridview"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:columnWidth="90dp"
        android:numColumns="@integer/magic_square_cols"
        android:verticalSpacing="10dp"
        android:horizontalSpacing="10dp"
        android:stretchMode="columnWidth"
        android:gravity="center"

        tools:context=".MainActivity"
        android:textAlignment="center" />

</RelativeLayout>

But as soon as I drag and drop or add DatePicker . The UI crashes with rendering problems and gives a NullPointerException which I have pasted here:
http://uthcode.codepad.org/UQeYO5Qn
Is there any limitation in the layout+view that I am encountering?

A: This is bug https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=62239 and the fix should be released soon.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Q: Hyperledger fabric peers throwing vscc error and not committing new blocks My hyperledger fabric peers are throwing the following vscc error:
2021-08-30 08:25:41.694 UTC [gossip.privdata] StoreBlock -> INFO 242 Received block [84] from buffer channel=assetschannel
2021-08-30 08:25:41.727 UTC [vscc] Validate -> ERRO 243 VSCC error: stateBasedValidator.Validate failed, err unexpected EOF
2021-08-30 08:25:41.728 UTC [committer.txvalidator] validateTx -> ERRO 244 Dispatch for transaction txId = 463b57826a54e16921aa153617a824e39514550c25a7c5816fb77bde3386f357 returned error: unexpected EOF
2021-08-30 08:25:41.728 UTC [gossip.privdata] StoreBlock -> ERRO 245 Validation failed: unexpected EOF channel=assetschannel
2021-08-30 08:25:41.728 UTC [gossip.state] commitBlock -> ERRO 246 Got error while committing(unexpected EOF
github.com/hyperledger/fabric/gossip/state.(*GossipStateProviderImpl).commitBlock
    /go/src/github.com/hyperledger/fabric/gossip/state/state.go:799
github.com/hyperledger/fabric/gossip/state.(*GossipStateProviderImpl).deliverPayloads
    /go/src/github.com/hyperledger/fabric/gossip/state/state.go:571
runtime.goexit
    /usr/local/go/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1374)
2021-08-30 08:25:41.728 UTC [gossip.state] deliverPayloads -> ERRO 247 Failed executing VSCC due to unexpected EOF. Aborting chain processing

This happened right after adding key-level endorsement policy in the chaincode. After executing the transaction, the fabric-sdk stopped receiving the commit event and peers stopped receiving new blocks from the ordering nodes. Prior to adding key-level endorsement policy and execution of transaction, the peers were committing new blocks and there was no issue. Now, even the chaincode upgrade transaction is not being committed.
Peer ledger height:
Blockchain info: {"height":84,"currentBlockHash":"K2uPQ6E8BqvCDi1BsIpc5pnRPUGwpeM3ejlFLgiLuOM=","previousBlockHash":"BtlZSJ9Q0tpou4NhVtckRr26BM0pMPe5Z3J5qOto6PM="}
Orderer log shows that the latest block is 101
021-08-30 07:56:43.587 UTC [orderer.consensus.etcdraft] writeBlock -> INFO 047 Writing block [98] (Raft index: 130) to ledger channel=assetschannel node=2
2021-08-30 07:57:25.418 UTC [orderer.consensus.etcdraft] writeBlock -> INFO 048 Writing block [99] (Raft index: 131) to ledger channel=assetschannel node=2
2021-08-30 08:05:09.380 UTC [orderer.consensus.etcdraft] writeBlock -> INFO 049 Writing block [100] (Raft index: 132) to ledger channel=assetschannel node=2
2021-08-30 08:08:34.060 UTC [orderer.consensus.etcdraft] writeBlock -> INFO 04a Writing block [101] (Raft index: 133) to ledger channel=assetschannel node=2

Any suggestions/feedback would be helpful


Golden Gate Park seems like the perfect setting for Sharon Van Etten's celestial yet gritty voice, poetic lyrics, and folk-driven sound. With her summer tour kicking off soon and the release of her album, Tramp, in February 2012, Van Etten is exuding confidence while remaining true to her introspective lyrics and more melancholy songs. Although her brand of music may not have fans dancing ecstatically, she can captivate an audience, as her lyrical mastery and guitar playing make her an inescapable presence on stage.


Back in action: The fountain of the National Monument, also known as the Monas dancing fountain, has returned after years of hiatus. Jakarta Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat inaugurated the fountain on Saturday night.(JP/Seto Wardhana)After almost a decade hiatus, the once iconic water fountain at the National Monument (Monas) has started dancing again to entertain visitors with its colorful lights, projected visuals and traditional and national songs every weekend.
The first dance of the water fountain on Saturday marked the launch of a campaign named "Yuk ke Monas" (Let's go to Monas), kicked off by Jakarta Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat.


Slider mint tins with a custom imprint on the mint! Everyone loves candy and there is no denying that fact. With the innovative Slider Tin, you can have a great promotional product sure to please anyone. The tins can be filled with any of our signature printed candies. All you have to do is pick which one you like best. The variety of choices are peppermints, red hots, gum, candy hearts, candy stars, sugar free peppermints, colored bullet candy, chocolate littles, and even sugar free gum. You can customize your choice of candy with your logo using either a 4-color process laminated decal or a 1-color direct imprint. Cusotm mint tins are a great tradeshow giveaway.
Available Colors: Gray or White Case w/ Full Color Label.
1 5/8" x 2 3/4" x 5/8"
Typical Imprint Area(s): Direct Imprint Size: 2" x 1.125"
Decal Size: 2.5" x 1.5"
Sliding Mint Tins with a direct imprint on the mint included. Price includes one design on mint, each additional design is $0.10 and an additional setup, PMS match available but CANNOT guarantee match - if match needed a production sample must be ordered in advance @ $42 - ($42 credited upon re-order from client.). Tamper evident shrink wrap-other companies use tape or stickers, Ingredients on every package, all candy options are made in America.


All The Most Useful Wordpress Plugin in the World!
There is one plugin I install on every single site I every work on.
It's this one.. Duplicate Post!
It's so useful to be able to create new pages and posts from existing one. I don't know why they just don't build it in to the WordPress core.
You can use this plugin to create an exact copy of a page or post, or you can use it to create a new draft from something you already have.
A must have on every site.
Hope you find it useful too!


When Kip came to us, his previous site had been somewhat abandoned and he was looking to either update or create a whole new site. We talked about this goals and the direction that he wanted to go and we decided to start clean. The new site would be focused on people moving to Eugene and Bend from out of state. It would help people get a sense of what they could expect with each city and include description of each neighborhood. It would also a blog that's updated regularly focusing on community events and as well as real estate insights.
Kip and his team did all the writing for the site and they did a amazing job. I'd recommend checking it, even if you're native Oregonian, to get a renewed sense about what's awesome about Oregon.


A British professor and two others from Norway have been awarded the world's most prestigious scientific award- the Nobel prize in medicine.
Announced Monday at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, John O'Keefe of Britain and May‐Britt Moser and Edvard Moser of Norway won the award for their work identifying the cells that make up the GPS of the brain.
Announced, Monday, by Goran Hansson, secretary of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, John O'Keefe of University College London in the 1970s identified the place cells in the brain that register specific places.
Thirty-five years later, the Mosers, discovered the grid cells, which function as a built-in navigation system that tells animals where they are, where they are going and where they have been.
The Mosers who are husband and wife, are professors at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim.
The Nobel Committee said in a news release, Monday, "The discoveries of John O ́Keefe, May‐Britt Moser and Edvard Moser have solved a problem that has occupied philosophers and scientists for centuries — how does the brain create a map of the space surrounding us and how can we navigate our way through a complex environment?


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May 31, 2018 - Science
Earth-like dunes of icy methane found on Pluto
Alison Snyder, author of Science
Ridges of dune formations on the mountainous edge of Pluto's Sputnik Planitia ice plain. Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
Despite its thinner atmosphere and lower gravity, Pluto is home to icy dunes resembling those on Earth, according to research published today in the journal Science.
The big picture: Pluto's surface is far more dynamic and diverse than researchers expected before NASA's New Horizon's spacecraft flew closely past it in 2015. The finding also suggests similarities between the dwarf planet and our own.
"It gives us further information about our own planet's formation — the world we're all standing on right now."
— Matt Telfer, geographer, University of Plymouth
What they saw: In July 2015, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft captured images of Sputnik Planitia, a large plain of mostly nitrogen ice on the western side of Pluto's now-iconic heart. Amid the mountains and glaciers there, Telfer and colleagues spotted 357 pale ridges and six darker perpendicular streaks that are telltale characteristic of dunes.
The formations, which stretch across an area about 47 miles wide, are similar to those seen in satellite images of the Sahara.
"They are a weather vane left on the landscape that tells us which way the wind has blown," Telfer told Axios.
How they formed: Pluto's roughly 20 mph winds are strong enough to keep particles blowing but not strong enough to get them airborne in the first place.
It's possible that as Pluto's surface is warmed by the distant sun, frozen nitrogen particles turn from solid to gas, the researchers suggest. That gas then lifts off the surface, carrying the still frozen methane grains upward where the wind can then pick them up and move them.
But there are other possible processes to explain their formation, including a crystallization process they're still studying, Telfer says.
One more thing: Pluto's dunes are long transverse ridges, similar to some found on Earth, Mars, Titan and other bodies throughout the solar system.
"Despite radically different conditions or different processes, sometimes similar landscapes result," Telfer says. " [S]ome of these science fiction landscapes may not be that incredible."


Did you know that Croatia notes the first official mentioning of vampiric being? Between 16th and 17th century, the Istrian village of Kringa was home to individual called Jure Grando, who seemed to be associated with vampirism. The tale has inspired many art pieces, including the recent movie about Croatian vampire called Jure Grando, Strigun from Kringa.
The word 'strigun' is used to describe vampires in Istrian dialect, especially those that share crafts with warlocks. Interestingly enough, the case of Grando received attention from scientists of the time, and many deemed this Croat as genuine undead being.
From what is known, Jure would exit his casket on the cemetery and terrorize villagers of Kringa every night. His widow even claimed that he sexually harassed her once. The only way to stop this was to remove his head, which was done by locals in a very disturbing feat. The story was told through many myths and legends, and as already mentioned, serves as an inspiration even to contemporary artists of Croatia.
The movie is of debutant nature, and was made in stop-motion technique. This means that Martin constructed small toy-like models, and achieved the illusion of their movement by filming them in different postures, each slightly different than one before. In the world where computer animation can be found on every step, such traditional approach is really refreshing.
We are sure that movie about Croatian vampire will gain a lot of attention, and bring many tourists to village of Kringa. The locals have founded a bar that cherishes the tale of Grando, so if you are fan of these mythical beings, feel free to venture into Istria's inner regions and explore their beauty.
If you dare, of course.


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News in Science › Energy and Transport
Nobel Prize winner tops Australia Day honours
Professor Elizabeth Blackburn has been named a Companion of the Order of Australia.(Source: Kim White/Reuters)
Video: Australia Day honours (News Video)
Blackburn's nose leads to Nobel Prize, Science Online, 06 Oct 2009
Honoured astronomer 'can't help himself', Science Online, 26 Jan 2010
The 2010 Australia Day Honours List
Australia's first female Nobel Prize winner Professor Elizabeth Blackburn has been awarded Australia's highest honour in this year's Australia Day Awards.
Blackburn made history for changing the way scientists think about ageing and disease with her groundbreaking work on cells.
Last year she and two of her US-based colleagues were jointly awarded the 100th Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in recognition of their work.
She is named Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in recognition of her "eminent service to science as a leader in the field of biomedical research, particularly through the discovery of telomerase and its role in the development of cancer and ageing of cells and through contributions as an international adviser in Bioethics."
Blackburn says she is glad both the Order of Australia and the Nobel Prize have recognised science.
"In both cases they're awarded for my research on tumours and how they're replenished, which is very basic question driven research, so I am very happy to see that science is being honoured in this way, especially by the Order of Australia," she says.
Blackburn says being named a Companion of the Order of Australia gives her another tie with the country she grew up in.
"I'm a dual citizen of Australia and the United States. All my family still lives in Australia and I was brought up there so I have real ties there and so this is another nice tie to Australia. It does make me feel this nice connected feeling," she says.
Other scientists recognised
Astronomer Professor Fred Watson of the Anglo-Australian Observatory was appointed a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to astronomy, particularly the promotion and popularisation of space science through public outreach.
He says we live in a golden age of astronomy and space science and it's important Australians are aware of the research.
"We're on the brink of so many discoveries that I think will profoundly affect the way we think about ourselves."
Professor Frank Shann was also appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for service to medicine as a paediatrician, particularly as an advocate for children's health.
Professor Anthony Cunningham of the University of Sydney and Professor Wendy Hoy of the University of Queensland were both made Officers in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AO) for their work in medical research.
Cunningham, who is also Director of the Westmead Millennium Institute and Centre for Virus Research has been recognised for his service to medicine, in particular his work on sexually transmitted diseases.
He says he is humbled by being singled out as a leader.
"The award is probably as much a recognition of the work with the institute and the Australian centre as it is my personal research."
Hoy, who has dedicated her research time to better understanding chronic disease, particularly renal failure, was also honoured for her work as an advocate for Indigenous health in Australia and the US.
Professor Patrick McGorry received the Australia of the Year award for his work in the mental health field, in particular his achievements in improving the mental health of young people.
He says Australia is poised for a new era of re-engineering of our mental health system.
"I think Australia as a country is perfectly poised to drive this sort of reform internationally. We are very innovative, we have a track record of that," says McGorry.
"But [we need] the right support from government and from the whole Australian community because 50 per cent of us will develop a mental health problem at some point in the life span."
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https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/01/26/2801245.htm?topic=energy
Energy and Transport News
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'Optical fibre' made out of thin air
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At least 37 miners are dead and many injured after a gold mine collapsed in the Central African Republic.
The collapse occurred inside a pit near Ndassima village on Sunday and was caused by heavy rainfall, Reuters reports.
"The toll of 37 is provisional as there were many injured," said Prosper Ndouba, a spokesman for the president's office.
The republic is a major site for diamond and gold projects but political coups and corruption have been constant sources of instability. After the latest coup in March, the country was banned from the Kimberley Process, an international organization aimed at cleaning up the diamond trade.
Creative Commons image by anyjazz65.


This years' regatta at the end of the World produced some of the most unbelievably diabolical weather that most of the competitors had ever raced in. During many of the races, up to five different winds would compete for the affections of the sailors, lulling those who were succumbed into chasing a sure fire winner into desperation and solitude in their own special corner.
At the beginning, everything seemed to be OK and the 21 OKs sailed out of the Napier channel into a beautiful 12 knot sea breeze. But just minutes before the first start, the wind started to back, favouring the pin end by almost a right angle, and giving Greg Wilcox and Karl Purdie a jump on the fleet that they were never to lose. It all turned to custard down the first reach with boats beating, running and reaching all within chatting distance of each other. Boats would get a little puff and catch 15 places, only to lose 15 while other boats caught a puff from a different direction. All credit to Wilcox though, while the rest of the fleet changed places from front to back and back again, he managed to stay in the breeze until the finish and win by a staggering 12 minutes.
Straight after the finish and just before the start of the second race the south-wester kicked in at 25 knots with bullets coming through at over 30. Those who still had the heart for it after the first race blasted round the shortened course. Local hero Adrian Mannering won with Purdie second again.
New Years Eve. Beer, wine rum headaches. Usual stuff.
The first OK race of 2006, race 3 of the New Year Regatta was started in 1 knot of breeze from the land. About an hour had passed before Alistair Deaves rounded the wing mark, some distance ahead of Wilcox and the chasing pack. At this stage the sea breeze put in an appearance making the fleet beat up to the leeward mark and then run down to the windward mark. The breeze then died away again causing the fleet to close up again with the lead passing to Wilcox and then Matt Bismark. Bismark held the lead until the final reach/ beat type leg when he was caught on the wrong side of a returning land breeze. Wilcox won from Deaves and Bismark and with the breeze again dying to nothing, these three had sailed ashore and eaten their lunch before the next boat appeared on the beach.
After protracted lunch discussions about the desirability of doing any more sailing that day, most of the fleet sailed out to race 4 in an unexpectedly stiffening sea breeze. But before any of the fleets could be started the wind had blown from 3 other directions and the postponement flag was put up. At this point the race committee changed the course to be sailed to Course C. Now probably the worst thing to do when this happens, at Napier, is to ask one of the locals what the course might possibly be. And so when the starting gun finally sounded, some of the fleet went upwind looking for the first mark, while others reached off in the opposite direction and the rest wavered in the middle somewhere. When the breeze finally settled in it was from the south-west again at about 20 knots. Purdie won from Wilcox and Deaves.
Reports of a 40 knot front coming through the next day led many to believe that racing would be called off on the Monday, but after a sensible clubhouse briefing in the morning it was decided to hold the morning race and wait for the expected midday front before deciding on any afternoon racing.
So race 5 was a very short affair in a 20-25 knot North-Wester, gusting to 30 at the last wing mark. Russell Wood started to show some form by leading for much of the race, only to be passed on the last screaming reach by Wilcox and Mannering.
We then sat on the beach for 3 hours waiting for the storm. The storm was delayed and the decision to sail one last race was made and the fleets made their nervous ways out to sea. Ominous signs could be seen in the west in the shape of towering clouds with back stuff underneath, slowly making their way towards us. The nor-wester had already started to ease and swing to the north, making another short race something of a follow the leader race. On the last triangle, with the wind almost gone completely, we knew IT was coming. Sudden short lived hot puffs of wind would come from the west, foretelling the doom that was approaching. For the OK fleet it arrived on the last reach, at first at 25 knots, then to 30 by the finish. As we sailed up the channel bullets were coming through at 40 and by the time we made the beach it was blowing a steady 50 knots, making getting up the ramp a wee bit interesting. In the hills is was blowing 70! Anyway, Adrian Mannering won this race.
Overall, Wilcox had won the event with a race to spare, and spent the last race happily taking photos of the carnage from the harbour wall, content in the knowledge that not only had he won the last regatta in the Summer series but also the series itself, by 1 point, from National Champion Mark Perrow.
The containers were packed the next day to take the NZ OK fleet to the 2006 World Championships at Lake Macquarie, NSW in February. With a bronze medal for Wilcox last year, hopes are again high for Kiwi success at this event.
Note: the results at Napier Sailing Club Website are wrong about the last race, so there is only a short list here.
Actually Adrian Mannering won the last race and the places wrere different to the results posted.


For as long as anyone can remember, the fores of Light and Darkness have been separated by a massive rift that once split them apart.
However, the rift has been closing for a while and not it is inevitable that the two forces will clash!
Find yourself fighting for the Light in Enclave, a thrilling RPG from the developers of Starbreeze!


text:
Q: C11 Standard docs Starting from this SO protected question I'm trying to understand what the difference between those documents:

*

*9899 2012 costs $60

*9899 2011 costs $265
As you can see those documents have very different prices and I don't know if the cheaper one is valid or is something like draft or cut copy of the real standard.
Did someone buy the INCITS one?

EDIT
As @Chqrlie pointed out: What is the difference between the ANSI and ISO official documents available for a free and the final draft freely accessible from the official website at open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1570.pdf

A: I finally got answers from:

*

*Ansi

The ISO/IEC 9899:2011 is the original ISO standard published by ISO.
  The INCITS/ISO/IEC 9899-2012 is the domestic U.S. adoption of the ISO.

*INCITS

Technically, the two standards are identical. The US version has additional front matter to add a U.S. cover and adoption date details. Once we adopt the international standard, we can set the price based on our fee schedule, which generally results in a lesser fee than buying the ISO version.
To provide more background on this, most INCITS technical committees hold U. S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) relationships to ISO/IEC JTC 1 subcommittees and working groups and, to some ISO technical committees, subcommittees and working groups.
  Subject to a few exceptions, INCITS adopts all ISO/IEC or ISO standards that fall within its program of work as "Identical" American National Standards in accordance with the ANSI "Expedited Procedures for the Identical Adoption of an ISO or IEC standard as an American National Standard".
Similarly, INCITS will generally withdraw any such adopted American National Standard that has been withdrawn as an ISO/IEC or ISO International Standard.

A:
What is the difference between the ANSI and ISO official documents available for a free and the final draft freely accessible from the official website at open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1570.pdf

There were several erroneous sentences in n1570 mentioning _Alignof for expressions, which doesn't exist. So _Alignof was removed from 6.3.2.1p2, p3, p4, fn. 65; and 6.7.1 fn. 121.
Note that since C11 we had a (very trivial) technical corrigendum and a whole lot of accepted defect reports that a conforming C11 compiler may implement ahead of a new TC or standard.


text:
Canada's Online Harms Proposal Sparks Near Universal Condemnation
Drew Wilson | August 6, 2021
Reaction is pouring in over Canada's online harms proposal. Reaction so far has been pretty universally opposed to this.
The Canadian online harms proposal was more or less made public earlier. The proposal envisions a stunning rebuke to the free and open Internet. If made law, it would all but shut down the open Internet and threaten to run those who chose to stick around into bankruptcy. We issued a response to the consultation not consultation. We even clarified the status of where this proposal is at in the big legislative picture as well.
Of course, it isn't just us and Michael Geist speaking out against this dangerous proposal. Others have reacted to the proposal. Canadian Lawyer ran an article detailing the various reactions from the legal community. The reactions were generally negative:
The plan poses problems for Charter protections such as freedom of expression and protection against unreasonable search and seizure, say two lawyers who spoke with Canadian Lawyer. Another says that, while "the devil is in the details" and more will be revealed when a bill is drafted, the underlying purpose of providing victims of online harms a more practical recourse is welcome and necessary.
"We think it's a solution in search of a problem," says Joanna Baron, executive director of the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF). "We think that there are already… criminal code provisions against this speech. And so, I'm not sure what the justification is for building a regulatory superstructure with enhanced police powers."
A significant concern for Fraser and Baron is the proposal of a 24-hour take-down requirement for harmful content.
The quick turnaround works for content that is clearly illegal, but anyone familiar with content-moderation decision-making on internet platforms knows there is "a whole lot of grey area," says Fraser. Complicating the matter further is that algorithms, as well as people, will be doing the moderating.
"Can you determine whether or not content that relates to terrorism is likely to incite terrorism, or whether it's just about terrorism?" says Fraser.
Faced with significant fines, platforms will err on the side of caution and take down content simply because they received a complaint, he says.
"I think that is probably the most significant new rule in terms of freedom of expression," says Baron.
Daphne Keller, a Platform Regulation Director for the Stanford Cyber Policy Center, also commented on this issue.
Something terrible is happening in Canadian Internet law, and the people who care in the rest of the world are mostly stretched too thin to pay attention. We're counting on people like @mgeist, @EmilyLaidlaw, @tamir_i, and @vivekdotca to somehow fix it. 1/
— Daphne Keller (@daphnehk) July 30, 2021
Something terrible is happening in Canadian Internet law, and the people who care in the rest of the world are mostly stretched too thin to pay attention.
She offered a whole Twitter thread detailing what she thinks about this in general, but agrees that the ideas put forth in the Online Harms technical paper is terrible.
Meanwhile, Leigh Beadon of Techdirt described the proposal as a "war on Internet freedom":
In order to enforce these rules, the public could file complaints with the Digital Safety Commissioner. The new commissioner would be empowered to hold hearings on any issue, including non-compliance or anything that the Commissioner believes is in the public interest. The Digital Safety Commissioner would have broad powers to order the OCSs "to do any act or thing, or refrain from doing anything necessary to ensure compliance with any obligations imposed on the OCSP by or under the Act within the time specified in the order." Moreover, there would also be able to conduct inspections of companies at any time.
Yes, the government wants to give a new commissioner the power to basically set any rules they want about how online platforms operate, for any reason, so long as it can be framed as a matter of "public interest" — and to be able to conduct random inspections to ensure compliance. It also provides extremely wide latitude for the commissioner to hold hearings in secret if the issue can be said to impact privacy, national security, international relations, national defense or confidential commercial interests, among other things. And that's not all: the planned legislation would also grant Canada's national intelligence service, CSIS, new powers to secretly investigate online threats.
And, for the pleasure of facing all these stringent new requirements that would make operating in Canada extremely unappealing if not impossible, online platforms get to foot the bill
It's hard to imagine a more appalling, arrogant move by this current government, even after its long history of trying to clamp down on the internet with powerful new regulations. These proposals are not new ideas: they've been floated and sometimes attempted in countries all over the world for years, and the huge problems they present have been discussed and dissected many times. But the government hasn't even paid lip service to criticisms and counterarguments, and its invitation for public comment feels perfunctory and irrelevant rather than sincere — especially with Minister Guilbeault's track-record of ignoring such criticism and failing to give clear answers to important questions.
Dan Albas commented that the proposal would put Canada in line with authoritarian countries:
A reminder that it's already against the law to post unlawful content like child pornography or terrorist recruitment/financing. What is being proposed by the Trudeau Government & its scope are significant, placing Canada alongside a number of authoritarian & illiberal countries.
— Dan Albas (@DanAlbas) July 30, 2021
Unfortunately, there is little to no hope that any voice of reason will be listened to in this debate. Canadian Heritage Minister, Steven Guilbeault says he's moving forward with this plan. From Globe and Mail:
Despite a campaign being anticipated soon, Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault said the new online harms bill would be introduced as a top priority "very early on when the House resumes its work in the fall."
"We're hearing loud and clear from Canadians that something needs to be done about online hate," Mr. Guilbeault said in an interview.
"What we're presenting is what we feel is the best course forward, but we want to hear Canadians on that, and that's what we'll be doing in the coming weeks."
The government has posted details of its proposed approach on the Canadian Heritage section of its website and is asking the public to provide feedback by e-mail. The potential legislation would apply to sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, but would exclude private communication channels such as WhatsApp and telecommunications networks.
So, a very top down approach for lawmaking where the lawmaker wants to dictate what the laws are no matter what. So, same approach taken with Bill C-10. It really shows that the Minister has learned nothing from the last total disaster that was on his hands. With a lack of learning from history, it seems we'll be in for another round of this style of lawmaking the next time around too.
Categories: Censorship Tags: Canada, consultation, online harms, reaction | Comments
"Worlds Worst" Cory Doctorow Joins Chorus in Condemning Canada's Online Harms Plan
Why 24 Hour Takedowns in Canada's Online Harms Proposal Was So Heavily Rejected
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Robert B. Honeyman, for the appellants.
E.W. Hamn, for the respondents.
The plaintiffs resided in Wayne county and had long been engaged in shipping apples and produce to the city of New York, and prior to the transactions in question had made sales to the defendants, who were dealers in produce in New York city. The plaintiffs knew of the custom of the trade in New York city in regard to arbitrations in case of a disagreement between a buyer and a seller.
On the 16th of January, 1906, the defendants ordered of the plaintiffs "two cars of heavy packed Prime Chopped Apples," which order was accepted by wire by the plaintiffs on the following day. Car No. 40547, containing 125 barrels of "chops" was shipped in pursuance of this order on the 20th of February, 1906, and arrived in New York on the twenty-eighth, and was promptly inspected by the defendants and rejected on the ground that the apples were not prime and, therefore, did not correspond in quality to those purchased, and immediately notified the plaintiffs of their rejection; and that letter contained the following: "Car No. 40,422 has not yet arrived, but if these are of the same quality as Car No. 40,547, we will not even go to the expense of sampling same, as we absolutely refuse to accept goods of this kind."
On the sixth of March the plaintiffs wrote to the defendants that unless they heard from them by Wednesday following the goods would be sold in the open market. The defendants replied by letter bearing date the same date, referring to their preceding letter, stating that they were willing to submit the matter to arbitration "as per terms of sale, and if the arbitrators should decide that the goods are prime, we, of course, will accept them." In the letter they also advised the plaintiffs that the other car had arrived and was not prime, and they rejected the same.
On the twelfth of March the plaintiffs wrote to the defendants that they had "concluded to arbitrate car N.Y.C. 40422 and establish a grade of prime. Should this car be decided not prime, we will either tender you other goods or you can settle with us at market difference. Paul Haebler will act as our arbitrator and I have instructed him to have samples drawn and notify you as soon as he has them. You might also call him up to-morrow and see if he has the samples ready."
The plaintiffs thereupon appointed Mr. Haebler, a dealer in produce and apples, as their arbitrator, and the defendants Mr. Martin, also an expert in the business. These arbitrators met immediately, obtained samples of the apples from the official sampler of apples in car 40547, and signed a written decision to the effect that they had examined the samples of that car and "that same is not a good delivery on contract calling for Prime Bleached Chops Crop 1905;" and the defendants immediately notified the plaintiffs of this decision. On the following day the plaintiffs replied, stating that they had not agreed to arbitrate the apples in car No. 40547 and had no notice of this arbitration. This letter contained the following: "We note car No. 40422 will be arbitrated to-day, which is according to agreement. Now should this car fail to meet the standard of quality, you will please write us at once the lowest basis you will make a cash settlement on." The same arbitrators inspected this car of apples and did not agree, and they selected as an umpire another disinterested man engaged in that business, and the three of them examined the samples from this lot and all joined in a decision to the effect that they were not a good delivery, calling for "Prime Bleached Chops Crop 1905;" and the plaintiffs were promptly apprised of this decision. In answering they declined to recognize it and sold the goods in the market, and they have recovered damages for both car lots of the apples.
At the close of the evidence the defendants' counsel moved for the direction of a verdict on the ground that the arbitration award was a bar. The court, by the consent of the parties, held this under advisement and submitted to the jury the question whether the apples were prime, and the jury found a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs. Later the trial justice held that the arbitration agreement was invalid and that there was nothing in the agreement authorizing the selection of an umpire, or third arbitrator, and that the plaintiffs were entitled to the benefit of the verdict in their favor.
The agreement to arbitrate was made in the light of the custom which prevailed in New York city. Both parties understood this thoroughly. The plaintiff Thomas B. Welch, after testifying that Paul Haebler was the man selected to represent the plaintiffs in the arbitration, added: "The practice is that when the arbitrators are selected to get samples from the official sampler. I think it was Kuhlman in this case. They get a sample entirely separate from any samples the purchaser had. After it has been decided they shall arbitrate, each instructs their man to draw a sample or two samples. They are submitted to two, and if they fail to agree, a third man is called in. Q. But in this particular case I see there are only two, and if the two arbitrators did agree that obviated calling in the third one? A. Oh, yes, I expect so. Q. And when they make their decision upon the samples, that is accepted by the parties usually, is it, as binding? A. It depends on whether they consider they have had fair treatment or not. Q. You accept an arbitration according to whether you come out ahead or not? A. It depends on the parties who arbitrate, some of them." And further he was asked: "Q. Were you to appoint an arbitrator and the two arbitrators to appoint a third? A. When they failed to agree."
I think, therefore, although there was no specific direction in the letters, in which we find a somewhat informal arrangement for arbitration, for the selection of an umpire or third arbitrator, that it was the expectation of the parties that such was to be the course pursued, and that the two arbitrators did not exceed their authority in making this selection.
All concurred, except McLENNAN, P.J., who dissented upon the opinion of the trial court, and FOOTE, J., not sitting.
Judgment and order reversed and new trial granted, with costs to appellants to abide event.


Scottish Financial Enterprise Young Professionals invite you to another in their series of events focusing on business exchange, hosted by SFE members.
Speaking at this event in Glasgow will be young Barclays' professionals who will introduce you to their organisation, discuss their current roles and career journeys, as well as provide information about the Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) networks in which they are heavily involved. Coincidentally, this event lands during Barclays' D&I Week, a full week of sessions designed to increase awareness and promote their D&I networks and Citizenship agenda, and is sponsored by Emerge (part of Barclays' Multi-Generational network).
As well as being a great chance to learn about other businesses and different types of roles, these events will also provide an excellent networking opportunity for young people working in the financial services industry.
Lunch will be provided. To register to attend, please click on the link below.


Villa Ania is ample, colourful and scenic villa located 4 km from The Albufeira Old Town (30 minutes from The Faro International Airport) and The Strip, has an outdoor swimming pool and Jacuzzi with cover pool and a green garden. The Villa Ania features a roof terrace with panoramic views of distant mountains and the ocean. The air-conditioned property features private bathrooms, an equipped kitchen, a dining area and an outdoor furnished terrace. This luxurious villa has 9 bedrooms, living room, flat-screen satellite TV (inside/outside), DVD player and a PS2 gaming console, which has a capacity up to 50 people.
Flat-Screen Satellite TV (inside & outside), DVD Player and a PS2 Gaming Console.


PRESIDENT CLINTON: Thank you, General Maddox, Chancellor and Mrs. Kohl, Mayor and Mrs. Diepgen, General Joulwan, General Yates, Ambassador Holbrook... members of the Berlin Brigade.
Let me first say a word of appreciation to those who have spoken before; to General Yates for his moving statement of commitment and a shared experience you have had here in protecting freedom, and in your work since the end of the Cold War in Iraq and Turkey and Macedonia and elsewhere; General Maddox for his leadership and continuing commitment to our presence in Europe; and especially to my friend, Chancellor Kohl. For it is what has happened in the last few years since the Wall fell which has proved that your enduring sacrifice was worth it. We are marking the end of a half a century of sacrifice on freedom's frontier. But we are celebrating a new beginning.
Chancellor Kohl, I thank you for being America's great friend and for proving in the inordinate sacrifices made by the German people and the German government since the Wall came down that unification can be a reality; that Germany can be whole and one, and a full partnership in leading the world to a better tomorrow. America is in your debt, sir.
In 1945, at the dawn of the Cold War, President Truman came here to Berlin. From atop the American headquarters he raised high the Stars and Stripes, and stated then his hope that one day Berlin would be part of what he called a better world, a peaceful world, a world in which all the people will have an opportunity to enjoy the good things in life.
Well, today Berlin is free; Berlin is united; Berlin has taken its rightful place in that better world. The symbolic walk that the First Lady and I and Chancellor and Mrs. Kohl took through the Brandenburg Gate, and the symbolic ceremony held for the first time with an American President on the eastern side of that gate, gave full evidence to the success of those efforts.
And now, with the Cold War over, we gather to honor those Americans who helped to bring it to an end, who helped to unite Berlin, who helped to make it possible for us to walk through the Brandenburg Gate -- the men and women of the Berlin Brigade.
Few moments in the life of a nation are as proud as when we can thank our sons and daughters in uniform for a job well done. Today we share such a moment. We case your colors as you prepare to bid farewell to this place you have done so much to secure.
And I say to all of you -- the members of the Berlin Brigade -- America solutes you; mission accomplished.
From Checkpoint Charlie to Doughboy City to Tempelhof Airport and beyond, more than 100,000 American men and women have served in Berlin. More than anyone, they showed the patience it took to win the Cold War. More than anyone, they knew the dangers of a world on edge. They would have been the first casualties in the world's final war, yet they never flinched.
They were people like Colonel Gail Halverson*, who dropped tiny parachutes carrying candy to the children of Berlin during the 1948 airlift; and Sid Shacknow*, a Holocaust survivor, who became an American citizen after the second world war. Here in Berlin, he became better known as Brigadier General Shcknow*, the Brigade commander; and Edward Demory*, one of the heroes of Checkpoint Charlie who commanded a unit that, for 16 tense hours, looked straight into the guns of Soviet tanks in 1961; people like a brave pilot named Hans Pool*, who stood sentry one day in 1964, when a young East Berliner dashed for freedom. East German guards fired, and the youth fell wounded. And that's when Private Pool* jumped the Wall and carried him to freedom.
Today our troops are strong. They have what they need to do the job; they deserve it and they must always have it. The lessons we have learned for 50 years tell us that we must never let the forces of tyranny rule again.
In the long struggle to free Berlin, no one ever knew for sure when the day of liberty would come -- not when Harry Truman raised the flag in 1945, or when the first airlift planes landed in 1948, or when the hateful Wall went up in 1961. But in all those years, the defenders of Berlin never gave up. You stood your ground; you kept watch; you fortified an island of hope. Now we go forward to defend freedom and, strengthened by your devotion, we work for the day when we can say everywhere in the world what you made it possible for us to say here today in Berlin -- mission accomplished.


text:
MOMOLAND Yeonwoo Boyfriend Now: Is She Dating Now
Is Yeonwoo Dating Now?
Is Yeonwoo Boyfriend Lee Min Ho?
DO NOT MISS: BTS J-Hope Girlfriend Now: Is J-Hope Dating Anyone?
Kim Taehyung
Yeonwoo Ideal Type Jackson Wang
Yeo One and Yeonwoo Dating Rumors
Leeteuk
Yeonwoo's Ideal Type
Who is Yeonwoo's Boyfriend Now?
MOMOLAND Yeonwoo Boyfriend Now: Is She Dating Now? Yeonwoo Boyfriend 2023: Her Perfect Sort & Dating History. Yeonwoo could be an artist and on-screen character hailing from Seoul, South Korea. She was given the title Lee Da-bin at birth. Right now, she is spoken to by MLD Entertainment. Her most eminent achievement was her time went through as a part of the young lady bunch Momoland, who accomplished the foremost victory with the melody "Boom Boom." Yeonwoo made his make big appearance with the bunch in 2016 beside eight other individuals, serving as the lead rapper, vocalist, center, and visual. Tragically, after making the choice to seek a career in acting, she made the choice to now not to be a portion of the group. Her collections "Live On," "Cheat on Me On the off chance that You Can," and "Tempted" are three of the foremost exceptional works of her career. Today, we are progressing to learn almost Yeonwoo's past and display sentimental connections. From the state of her display relationship to the rumors encompassing her previous connections to her perfect sort!
Agreeing with the data that we have, Yeonwoo does not have a partner. There have been later reports that she is dating an individual on-screen character. Be that as it may, both of their organizations have debated the legitimacy of these charges. Proceed to peruse in case you're inquisitive about finding out more approximately the personality of this puzzling performing artist. As we are approximate to clarify to you, there have been several relationship rumors around Yeonwoo in the past.
Lee Min-ho may be a Seoul-born South Korean performing artist, artist, demonstrate inventive chief, and businessman. He is most known for his work within the amusement industry. Amid Yeonwoo's birthday, the two watched together, and it showed up in spite of the fact that they were going on a "movie date." The administration groups for Lee Min-ho and Yeonwoo have both negated the relationship charges, despite the truth that numerous individuals are beneath the impression that typically verification that the two are dating.
Kim Tae-Hyung, way better known by his arrange title "V," could be an artist, musician, performing artist, and part of the South Korean boy bunch BTS. He is best known for his organized name. Fans can't offer assistance but dispatch the two together in spite of the fact that, and the title of their dispatch is "Taewoo," in spite of the reality that the two have never truly met with one another in any important way. Numerous individuals think that the two were implied to be together since they show up to be very alluring when they are. The web is overflowing with fan-created pictures that indicate to appear what a sentimental relationship between BTS's V and Yeonwoo, a part who once performed with Momoland, may seem like.
Jackson Wang could be a Hong Kong local who could be a rapper, vocalist, and design originator in expansion to being a part of the boy band Got7. Yeonwoo and Wang have never had any kind of communication with one another. In any case, when inquired to depict her ideal sort, Yeonwoo said that she is drawn to those who are able to create her snicker. Fans immediately thought of Jackson Wang due to his mysterious capacity to create others around him giggle at any given minute.
Yeo Chang-gu, best known by his arrange title Yeo One, maybe a performer, performing artist, and part of the boy band Pentagon from South Korea. In 2018, it was said that Yeonwoo was included in a sentimental relationship with a part of the Pentagon. In spite of the truth that the beginning of this story is hazy, numerous people have moved rapidly to obtain confirmation to set up that the rumor is precise. It wasn't long after that when rumors started to circulate that the cryptic Pentagon part who was supposedly dating Yeonwoo was none other than Yeo One. Fans would fortify this thought by indicating to actualities such as the two people striking so also postured photos for photo sessions and wearing indistinguishable articles of attire. After the two out of the blue worked together on a cover melody titled "Perhaps Love," the rumor got to be indeed more believable.
Leeteuk is the organized title of the South Korean vocalist, composer, moderator, radio identity, on-screen character, and part of the boy band Super Junior, Stop Jeong-su, who is additionally known as Stop Jeong-su. In 2018, Leeteuk was called out for sending a message on Yeonwoo's fan page with the untrue impression that she was the one making the posts. The fan posted a depiction of the experience to her Instagram story with the caption "OMG I can't accept it." The screenshot included Leeteuk's answer to Yeonwoo, which basically expressed "Hi, Yeonwoo." One of Yeonwoo's fans was thrilled to memorize of the unforeseen message, but the lion's share of fans did not share their excitement. Leeteuk got a part of the backfire since of the 13-year age hole that exists between him and Yeonwoo. A parcel of fans alluded to him as "creepy" for reaching somebody who shows up to be "young sufficient to be his daughter." This drives a part of criticism. After a few times had passed, Leeteuk took to his Instagram account to distribute an apology.
MOMOLAND Yeonwoo Boyfriend Now Is She Dating Now
The year 2018 was the year that fans found out who Yeonwoo had a mystery pulverize on, and they are excited to have found out who it was. A photo of Yeonwoo that appeared on the bolt screen of her iPhone was made open and circulated online. The part of AOA whose confront showed up on her bolt screen was none other than Seolhyun. Yeonwoo has specified in the past a number of extra characteristics that make up her perfect sort, in expansion to the truth that Seolhyun from AOA is her perfect sort. Yeonwoo revealed that she contains a delicate spot for people who donate the impression that they detest her but, in reality, like her. Somebody who can make her giggle is another quality that she finds appealing in an accomplice.
In spite of the truth that she includes a huge number of admirers who accept they are her life partner, Yeonwoo has never been hitched and has never been in a relationship.


text:
Kroksjön is a small lake southwest of the city of Skellefteå, Sweden. There is a sawmill and a couple of holiday cottages around the lake. During the last couple of years more and more people are starting to live there all year round.

References

Lakes of Västerbotten County

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Rómulo Gallegos (Caracas, 2. kolovoza 1884. – Caracas, 4. travnja 1969.), venezuelanski romanopisac i političar.

Bio je liberal, narodni poslanik, ministar prosjvete, osnivač stranke "Accion Democratica", a 1948. godine predsjednik republike, no iste je godine svrgnut nakon državnog udara konzervativnih vojnih krugova te je emigrirao u Meksiko.

Njegov roman "Dona Barbara", u kojem s mnogo kolorita slika život u venecuelanskim savanama, jedno je od najtipičnijih djela hispano-američke književnosti.

Ostali romani
 "Penjačica",
 "Ubogi crnac",
 "Cantaclaro".

Izvori

Venezuelanski predsjednici
Političari 1945. – 1989.
Venezuelanski umjetnici
Književnici


I am coming off of a two month hiatus due to a stress fracture on the inside my left tibia close to the knee. I started running again on April 11th. My satorius and other hamstring muscles are experiencing pain that only disappears when I am stretching them as well as what feels like the backside of the bone. it hurts to press on the area that is usually covered by the calf. I am doing about 2-3 miles a day, alternating indoor cycling and running easy. Should I worry about this pain? or keep stretching it out and go easy on it.
Major bone injury so no long or anything approaching hard for 12 weeks. Supplement with bike and walking. Soreness near the injury means you are not ready yet.. ichy or "not feeling right" are good signs.
Stop and regress at any sign of pain.


Back in September CNBC reported that Coca-Cola was in talks with cannabis producer Aurora Cannabis to make marijuana-infused drinks that would focus on easing inflammation, pain and cramping.
CBD is a marijuana compound that is currently used in numerous products but don't get your hopes up for an infused Coca-Cola, yet. A statement from the company published by Business Insider read: "We have no interest in marijuana or cannabis. Along with many others in the beverage industry, we are closely watching the growth of non-psychoactive CBD as an ingredient in functional wellness beverages around the world. The space is evolving quickly. No decisions have been made at this time."