text:
Our Open-Source Hub
Blog Posts -
Alex Balk
Why we're not using Kubernetes (kind of)
Kubernetes is the best thing since sliced bread. Everyone is talking about its internal parts, how to use it, best practices and the latest and greatest supporting tools for it.
This isn't a story about how great Kubernetes is (yes, okay, it's great). It's about our journey into the realm of large scale deployments, and why we're not using Kubernetes. Okay, we are, but we hide it.
This blog post was put together by Shahaf Sages, Dafna Frank and Alex Balk.
A long time ago in the early 2000s, in a startup far-far away, there was a lone Java developer. The developer had a mission. It was an ambitious mission, one that was not for the faint of heart. His mission was to write the most beautiful Java code ever written, and make some sweet startup money along the way.
Actually, this developer wasn't alone. And frankly, his code wasn't that good, but it worked, and he, and his fellow "lone Java developers" needed to get this code to production. And so they did, using the tools they knew best: copy & paste… but in the Linux variant, called "scp". And the sweet startup money flowed. Or at least trickled a bit.
It's good, but is it good enough?
This worked well for a while, but not very well or for very long. Fairly quickly, problems started showing up. Problems that needed more code to be written, uploaded and managed on production machines. Which too started to add up. Version control, which was so common in the process of writing code, was desperately needed in the process of deployment. And rollbacks, because the beautiful code was sometimes moody. And some way to keep tab of these (also moody) machines where the code was running. Because sometimes they had an annoying tendency to die or just stop responding.
And so it was decided by the great powers of infrastructure development that be. There will be no more "scp"ing, as it was declared to be manual and thus the root of all evil. Instead, a system shall be born – a deployment system, with artifact version control, build management, rollbacks, progress bars, a model to account for all machines and services, and access control to grant permissions to the lucky few who shall unleash their code onto production. And it was dubbed GluFeeder, for it was based on the Open Source Glu framework from LinkedIn which was state of the art at the time. And it was GOOD.
It works so well, why touch it?
Until, 8 years later, it wasn't all that good anymore. But that took a long time, and everyone got used to it and it hid away many problems. So if it works don't touch it, right?
Maybe not. Problems were abundant:
The small (not so much) startup ran on physical machines, and each service had an entire machine for its own, which meant quite a bit of waste
The small (not so much) startup was moving towards microservices because they're cool and scalable and async and shiny, so said waste was about to get out of hand because there were now a lot of services
The moody physical machines were still moody and whenever they decided they didn't want to work anymore, all the services running on them just died in nasty, nasty ways
The model for describing "what service runs where" was handled in one big yaml file and all the developers had their sticky fingers touching it directly, with no validation
Adding more service instances was really really REALLY painful because the new physical machines that were ordered took a long, long time to arrive at the (not so small) startup's datacenters
And so it was decided by the great powers of infrastructure development that be. There will be no more GluFeeding because it worked but wasn't "10x scale". Instead, a system shall be born – a deployment system, with:
Support for containers, because the Java developers were making friends with JavaScript and Python and Go developers
A per-service model stored in a real database with all the metadata goodness that describes how to build, run and operate micro, macro or mega services
A resource management system, the best Open Source had to offer, to manage the moody server resources and ensure code was running even if servers went away – the almighty Kubernetes
Orchestration of many, many resource managers (Kubernetes clusters), across many, many datacenters, or at least 3
A well defined contract between the services and the environment they run in, so that everyone gets their metrics, logs, environment variables and properties in the format and flavor they prefer, without dealing with the gory, gruesome details
A poll was run and the people voted. The name that was chosen was Dyploma (DYnamic dePLOyment MAnagement system), which only shows that democracy doesn't always work very well.
One small step for dev, one giant leap for devops
In the course of a year and a half, the infrastructure developers and the Java early adopter developers met every week to present, discuss and test what was being developed. A Python CLI was chosen as the initial interface for the system, as it was quick to develop and required little UX skills. Little by little the features were added, tweaked and tuned. And little by little confidence was built in the new system and the great Kubernetes beast which it controlled through the scriptures of the fabric8 java client. Until the Python CLI was no longer enough and a Vue.js Web UI was added instead.
Great care was taken in the design to ensure only metadata was kept within Dyploma, so as not to contaminate it with duplicate state of the Kubernetes beasts. And so Dyploma was lean on data and mostly just passed orders to Kubernetes, Prometheus, Consul, Jenkins, TeamCity, Bitbucket and anyone else it could boss around. The system would let the developer:
Describe the service's endpoints
Provider special build parameters
Set runtime information, such as environment, cluster, number of instances
Build, deploy, scale up/down and disable with one click
View what's running, where, how much, why and who gave the order
And just plain hide away all of the underlying systems details because the developers were lazy and spoiled and we LOVE them that way
No, really, let's unfold that last statement
The developers didn't need to know anything about making the underlying infrastructure work. They just got it all for free. Gift wrapped with a nice web UI. Once they had their service defined, all they had to do was decide how much, which version and where, and pay the bill (okay, not yet, but it's coming). There were no yaml files, no Helm charts, no configMaps or anyone called Jason. There was a single place to view the runtime status of a service, its history of changes, its logs, graphs and a single place to control it all, which even had batch operations but that's just showing off.
And so simplicity was restored, velocity was increased, stability was a welcome side-effect and much cost was saved through better resource utilisation and reuse of aging moody machine hardware. And it was GOOD.
Until, one day, a lone Java developer had an idea.
"Why don't we ditch Dyploma and use Kubernetes instead?", he said. "I've read that it's the best thing since sliced bread." And the infrastructure developers just stared.
Every Kubernetes blog post that respects itself shows off some numbers and yaml files.
We have no yaml files to show you, but we do respect ourselves, so here are some numbers:
GluFeeder
Machines managed: 2000
Services running on the managed machines: 2500
Unique types of services: 150
Dyploma
Kubernetes deployments: 2300
Since you've read up to here, we'll assume that you're interested in getting some insights around building a deployment system (vs yet more Kubernetes tips & tricks), so we'll give you some of our inputs:
We wanted flexibility AND simplicity. This isn't cheap. If you want developers to "just write code", you'll have to have other developers "just write infra".
Deployment systems are built for users. Bring the users onboard for the ride if you're building one.
Use the terminology of the system you're relying on. If it's called a pod, call it a pod. Don't call it a FLDSMDFR. We called a "deployment" a "service". Don't.
Kubernetes is complicated. So is your runtime context (at least when you're big). The challenge is in using the former to contain the latter, while simplifying it for the users. This means that the user should be able to say the absolute minimum and get sane defaults, but also be able to override everything in the runtime without having to speak any Kubernetes. Simple, right?
Protect yourself. People will make mistakes. They will put the SVN version number in the replicas field. And you will cry.
Looking forward, this is what we're working on these days:
Horizontal autoscaling. Because after you're done migrating, you start optimising. And you want it simple enough for devs to "click here".
Deployment A/B testing. All the levers are there, but you have to build them into a usable tool.
Requests, limits and "let me set that for you". Because they don't necessarily mean what you think they mean.
Jobs. Because crons are running wild and it doesn't hurt us now, but only because we're not looking.
Exposing cost to owners. Because nothing is free, not even your own bare metal.
Open Source. Because the world needs this.
Amir Matar
Increase Your Velocity with a Safe Automatic Deployment
At Outbrain we work at a fast pace trying to combine the challenges of developing new features fast, while also maintaining our systems so that they can cope with the constant growth of traffic. We deliver many changes on a daily basis to our production and testing environments so our velocity is much affected by our DevOps tools. One of the tools we use the most is the deployment tool since every new artifact must be deployed to simulation and staging environments and pass its test before it can be deployed to production. The simulation environment is used for running E2E integration tests. These tests simulate real use cases and they involve all relevant services. The staging environment is actually a single production machine (AKA a canary machine) which receives a small portion of the traffic in production. It allows us to make sure the new version is working properly in the production environment before we deploy it to the rest of the production servers. In this session, you'll find out how we increased velocity with a safe automatic deployment of high scale services.
Our deployment flow
The illustration above depicts the flow each code change must pass until it arrives in production.
A developer commits code changes and triggers a "build & deploy" action that creates an artifact for the requested service and deploys it to our simulators servers. Once an hour, a build in TeamCity runs the simulation tests of our services.
If the developer doesn't want to wait for the periodic run, they need to run the simulation tests manually. Once the build passes, the developer is allowed to deploy the artifact to the staging server. At this point, we verify that the staging server behaves properly by reviewing various metrics of the server, and by checking the logs of that server.
For instance, we verify that the response time hasn't increased and that there are no errors in the log. Once all these steps are completed, the new version is deployed to all production servers. This whole process can take 30-45 minutes.
As one can see, this process has a lot of problems:
It requires many interventions of the developer.
The developer either spends time waiting for actions to complete in order to trigger the next ones or they suffer from context switches which slow them down.
The verification of the version in staging is done manually hence
It's time-consuming.
There is no certainty that all the necessary tests are made.
It's hard to share knowledge among team members of what the expected result of each test is.
The new automatic pipeline
Recently we have introduced a pipeline in Jenkins that automates this whole process. The pipeline allows a developer to send code changes to any environment (including production) simply by committing them into the source control while ensuring that these changes don't break anything.
The illustration below shows all stages of our new pipeline
Aside from automating the whole process, which was relatively easy, we had to find a way to automate the manual tests of our staging environment. As mentioned, our staging servers serve real requests coming from our users.
Some of our services handle around 2M requests per minute so any bad version can affect our customers, our users, and us very quickly. Therefore we would like to be able to identify bad versions as soon as possible. To tackle this issue, our pipeline starts running health tests on our staging servers 5 minutes after the server goes up since sometimes it takes time for the servers to warm up.
The tests which are executed by TeamCity, pull a list of metrics of the staging server from our Prometheus server and verify that they meet the criteria we defined. For example, we check that the average response time is below a certain number of milliseconds. If one of these tests fail, the pipeline fails. At that point, the developer who triggered the pipeline receives a notification e-mail so that they can look into it and take the decision whether the new version is bad and revert it, or maybe the tests need some more fine-tuning and the version is okay to deploy to the rest of the servers.
The pipeline ends when the new version is deployed to production but this doesn't necessarily mean that the version is 100% okay, although the chances that the version is not okay at this stage are low.
For the purpose of ensuring our production servers function properly, many periodic tests constantly monitor the servers and trigger alerts in case of a failure and allow us to react fast and keep our services available.
What we gained
The automated deployment process ensures the quality of our deliveries and that they don't break our production servers.
Reduction of time developers spends on DevOps tasks.
The decision whether a version in staging is okay is more accurate as it is based on comparable metrics and not on a subjective decision of the developer.
The developer doesn't need to remember which metrics to check for each service in order to tell whether a service functions properly.
פוסטים בעברית
Backend (26)
BigData (9)
Cloud (10)
Dev Methods (23)
DevOps (18)
FEDs forum newsletter (6)
Front End (4)
High Scale (10)
IT/Ops (16)
New Hire (1)
Platform (18)
System Architecture (18)


"Karen is an inspirational HR Consultant who has successfully helped me secure lucrative jobs within the IT industry. Her approach to offering a focused service on CV composition, articulating key usp information in a condensed manner that is easy to read has successfully helped me stand out from the crowd and has significantly increased application to interview conversion rates both now and in the past. I would highly recommend Karen's services to any other candidates who are looking for good value services that make a positive difference"


text:
configTmplFile=config/defaults.tmpl.json
configFile=config/defaults.json
srcFolder=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")
cd $srcFolder
srcFolder=`pwd`
export osv=$(uname|awk '{ print $1 }')
[[ "$osv" == "Darwin" ]] && export sedInplaceReplaceCmd="sed -i '' " || export sedInplaceReplaceCmd="sed -i "
if [[ "$1" == "clean" ]]
 then
    echo "WARN: Cleaning yaml/*"
    rm -rf yaml/* && mkdir -p yaml
    cp -f $configTmplFile $configFile
    $sedInplaceReplaceCmd '/"exampleFiles":/d' $configFile
    echo -n "  \"exampleFiles\": [ " >> $configFile
    find ../../services -type f -name "*.yaml" -exec cp -rf {} yaml/ \;
    cd yaml
    rm -rf PetStore*
    find . -name "*yaml" -execdir echo '{}' ';' >../list
    $sedInplaceReplaceCmd 's/.\///g' ../list
    cd ..
    first=1
    for i in $(cat list)
    do
      $sedInplaceReplaceCmd 's/in: headers/in: header/g' yaml/$i
      if [[ "$first" == "1" ]]
       then
          yamlFiles=$(echo "\"$i\"")
          first=0
       else
          yamlFiles=$(echo "$yamlFiles, \"$i\"")
      fi
    done
    echo -n $yamlFiles >> $configFile
    echo " ]" >> $configFile
    echo "}" >> $configFile
    rm -rf list* yaml/*\'
 else
    echo "INFO: Will abort rebuilding if dist/bunble.js is present"
fi
[[ ! -f dist/bundle.js ]] && npm install && npm run build
exit 0

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Libraries Round the World: With Love from the Landa's
San Antonio has what may be the most romantic library in the world, the Hannah Landa Memorial Library. This library is located in the Landa family's treasured home in the Monte Vista Historic District. The Italianate stone and stucco house was built in 1928 for the couple, Hannah and Harry Landa. They participated in the design and furnished the home with purchases from their European travels. Hannah & Harry Landa in 1942:
Ornamental urns from travels in Rome, Italy:
In 1946, the residence and five surrounding acres were bequeathed to the city of San Antonio by Harry Landa for a public library and children's playground. When completed the home was considered one of the finest in the South. Now as a library you can linger and enjoy it too. The posh interior:
Harry Landa's wife, Hannah, died suddenly from the flu in 1942 after 30 years of marriage. Heartbroken and alone, Harry published his memoir As I Remember… in 1945 and died a year later.
I tracked down a copy of his book through Interlibrary Loan. The 100-page memoir, including photos and sketches, was sent free of charge to my local library from the Cody Memorial Library in Georgetown, Texas, north of Austin. He copyrighted his book but since not renewed, I have included some of his quotes in this blog. You can buy his memoir on Amazon, but since it's a rare book, it costs $450. Instead, consider requesting it from your library via Interlibrary Loan.
The Landas were married for 32 years but didn't have or adopt children. As Harry said in his memoir, "We had no family, so we lived for one another." Harry mentioned near the end of his memoir, "After her passing, all of my lights went out, and I felt deserted and alone, a desolate and sorrowful man. I lost all interest in life and felt that I had been inflicted with a great punishment."
Poor Harry! After reading about his adventures in a not-so-easy game of life, I wanted to give him an encouraging hug. If only everyone could find an enduring true love that lasts for over thirty years. Paintings of Harry and Hannah in the Grand Hall:
Hannah Landa
Harry Landa
Harry had quite a background and story to tell. His father, Joseph Landa, was born in Northern Germany and supplied horses to the Russians. Not wanting to be a Rabbi as his parents wished, he ran away to Liverpool, England and saved money for a ticket in steerage for America.
After a storm and close call, he was held responsible for the bad luck. Joseph was nearly tossed overboard, but the captain hid him. All his belongings were stolen, and he arrived in New York City with only one English half-crown hidden in his mouth and the clothes on his back. Luckily, in New York City, he was helped by European townspeople. He moved southwest to Texas and New Braunfels, a German settlement north of San Antonio, and opened a store.
Pappa Joseph was a success and made an annual buying trip to New York City. He traveled by mule to Vicksburg, Mississippi, on a river steamer to St. Louis, and by train to New York. But the long and treacherous trip was worth it when he met his wife and love of his life, Helena Friedlander, from Albany. Wedding photo of Harry's Parents in 1851:
When President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in the midst of the Civil War in 1863, Harry's father, an abolitionist, set his slaves free. But Texas was a Confederate state, so he had to protect his newly freed slaves and hide in Mexico until the war ended.
Harry's mother ran the business in Texas and raised the children, including baby Harry born in 1861, relying on a nearby gun for protection. Times were tough in Texas. After the Civil War, a representative for Lincoln's successor, President Andrew Johnson, reported back, "If I owned hell and Texas, I'd sell Texas and live in hell."
And if you think his father's adventurous beginnings can't be beat, Harry also had a fascinating life story. He was shot on a train, by who else but train robbers, and narrowly missed having his hand amputated. The bullets were poisoned putting his whole life in danger, so he traveled to Mexico, Arkansas, New York City, and Germany for cures. He had so many surgeries he lost count.
But Harry was unstoppable, and when on the road to recovery he worked all sorts of jobs, built up a mill business in New Braunfels, and became a respected banker, landowner, and rancher. He had his share of failures and disappointments but never gave up. Harry was an innovative problem solver and once imported Chinese Pekin ducks to keep the Comal river clean for his mill, but they ended up multiplying and polluting the river instead.
After his mother died in 1912, Harry felt alone for the first time and missed her companionship. In San Antonio's classy St. Anthony Hotel's Peacock Alley, Harry saw an attractive woman, Hannah Mansfeld. He was determined to meet this young lady visiting from Tucson, Arizona, despite hearing she was to be engaged. But Harry kept striking out and was warned she spent too much money – $30 for two pairs of shoes. He replied that was exactly the type of woman for him.
Destiny intervened, and Harry was invited to a formal dance since they were short of men. At the dance, he teased Hannah and said he was a floor-walker (salesman) at Joske's, a well-known downtown department store, when he had already built his fortune. Hannah told her friends she was worried he couldn't afford to buy champagne for their table.
The next day Harry drove Hannah, with his married sister along as a chaperone, to see his estate and home in New Braunfels. Shortly after they met, he proposed and won over his future parents-in-law despite their concerns about this rough Texas rancher. They were wed in her hometown of Tucson and returned to live in New Braunfels. The newlyweds:
On the last page, of Harry's memoir, he is circumspect. "However, in the recent past, a change has come over my spirit, and I feel that I have enjoyed an eventful and very blessed existence. Through all of my ups and downs, and through all of my good and bad luck, I was guided by the influence and advice of two noble women. First, by my mother in my extreme youth, and until my late manhood and then by my wife until her death. Due to the companionship of these two precious women, my life has bloomed to its sweetest and best …."
His final paragraph refers to his faith in God and his parents who brought him up free of prejudice and malice. Harry died a year later in 1946, and the City of San Antonio received an impressive site for a new library. Outside views from January when it's not at its best:
Thank you, Hannah and Harry, for your awesome home and garden and for sharing your story. Lovely valentine-red shrimp plants still blooming in January:
If you are in the mood for romance, plan a visit to San Antonio and the Landa Park in nearby New Braunfels off interstate 35 between Austin and San Antonio. The annual Fiesta in San Antonio takes place from mid to late April. This is a great time to visit, but the river walk is a romantic spot year-round. The luxury hotel, the St. Anthony, where the Landa's met is nearby and a convenient place to stay for touring downtown San Antonio and the nearby Landa Library. And don't forget to take a stroll down historic Peacock Alley.
Karen Stensgaard is the author of the novel AQUAVIT, the first book in the Aquamarine Sea Series with a second novel underway. AQUAVIT is available as a paperback from Amazon and Ingram Spark or as an e-book from almost everyone else. Libraries have free access via Overdrive. Link to free chapters on Amazon
Posted in Libraries Round the World, WritingTagged Aquavit, Hannah and Harry Landa, Karen Stensgaard, Landa Library, Landa Park, New Braunfels, San Antonio, St. Anthony Hotel, Texas, the Hannah Landa Memorial Library
Libraries Round the World: Super Bowl LII Champs Encourage All of Us
Another Reason to Celebrate
3 thoughts on "Libraries Round the World: With Love from the Landa's"
Have been seeing so many libraries & this is one is ultra special & such a beautiful home!
Don Mathis says:
The Landa Library inspires poetry! https://therivardreport.com/writers-take-a-walk-landa-library/
Susan Salzman says:
This is my favorite library. It doesn't have a large collection, but the atmosphere is unmatched. I love to bring friends here and give them a tour. Most have no idea that it exists. I'm so glad you included the Landa's love story. I didn't know anything other than they were a loving couple who wanted to pass along something to the city and to children.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Replace the two main filter tanks every 500,000 gallons /3.8 million litres (about 8-10 years for the average household), and you can replace them yourself without a plumber's assistance. Simply shut off the water at your system with the provided valve, detach your main tanks (bottom and top tanks), and replace them with the new EQ-1000 Rhino tanks. No messy, time-consuming, media-only replacements required. The process takes minutes.


text:
Home » Study at King's » Undergraduate Study
Each year, King's College admits between 130-135 undergraduates from a range of all the subjects offered at the University of Cambridge except Education, Land Economy and Veterinary Medicine. Overall, we are a medium-sized College housing around 430 undergraduates across all years.
The students at King's form a diverse, tolerant and informal community with students from many different educational, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. We actively encourage all prospective students regardless of their backgrounds to consider Cambridge and to think about applying here. When considering an application we are looking for academic promise and potential. All candidates are considered on an individual basis where we are careful to interpret their application in light of their personal and educational background.
You can find information about the application process, dates and deadlines, and other useful resources when it comes to admissions at King's in the pages linked below. Should you not be able to find the answer to your questions in these pages or, if they leave you wanting to find out more about life at King's, we would be more than happy for you to get in touch with us directly at: undergraduate.admissions@kings.cam.ac.uk
Thinking of applying to Cambridge? See here for details of how to apply, and why King's might be the right College for you.
Find out more about choosing your subject and see the full list of the courses available to study at King's, from Anglo-Saxon to Theology.
Information about tuition fees and the cost of living in Cambridge, as well as the financial support available to undergraduate students.
Find out about life at King's - from our accommodation and facilities to the array of student societies and opportunities on offer here.
Find out more about our Open Days, visiting King's at other times and informal meetings with our Admissions team, or take the virtual tour!
Whether our history, our Chapel, our inclusivity or our informality, there are many reasons to consider applying to King's - find out more here!
Studentship awarded for MPhil in Advanced Computer Science
Funded by The Phoenix Partnership (TPP), the Alan Turing Studentship has been awarded to Maja Trębacz.
Contributions to College life rewarded with the Provost's Prize
The Provost's Prize has been awarded to four students who have made a significant contribution to the College community
Tweets by King's Outreach
Undergraduate Admissions Office
CB2 1ST
Email: undergraduate.admissions@kings.cam.ac.uk
Teachers, parents and advisers may also find it useful to
read the advice provided on the central University website.


chat over a cup of coffee: The Liebster award!
Hello lovelies ! How are you doing ? I'm so excited to share with you this awesome post ! A fellow blogger nominated me for the Liebster award !
4. Come up with your own 11 questions to ask the ones you nominate and include them.
I love working out and eating healthy and I can't eat junk for more than a day because I have no energy to move.
I love dancing ,yoga,cheerleading and everything that keeps me moving .
For the moment I'm in love with "Carrie Diaries".
I want to go to England and study fashion design.
I recently finished reading "The Great Gatsby" .
My favourite season is spring but I love summer as well.
I can't live without my computer .
I'm a cheerleader yei !
I can't think my life without my best friend .
I'm a verified unicorn .
I'm in the first year of high school .
My name's Anna-Maria but my friends calls me "Anna" .
Without any doubt black is the answer.
3. What feature in yourself you like the most and why?
Do you mean in my character or my appearance ?
Anyway ,I love that I'm passionate and I don't give up matter what because it makes me a fighter .
As it comes to my appearance I think my eyes are very unique 'cause they are very big .
4. What is your favourite cosmetic brand?
5. What is your favourite store?
6. What is your favourite piece of jewellery?
A necklace with the Eiffel tower from forever21.
7. What is one piece of clothing, that you can't imagine yourself without?
For the moment the biker jacket that I got from topshop because it just looks nice with almost everything .
8. What are the three things you would take with yourself on a lonely island?
My camera,a notebook,my best friend .
Definitely working for Vogue .
I dare to dream high so maybe in New York drinking a huge Americano and working for a magazine and having my own clothing line.
11. If you had the chance to have one of your wishes come true, what it would be?
To be able to achieve all my dreams .
Can you consider yourself as fashion forward?
What's your opinion about gay rights?
Do read any particular magazine?
What one word can describe your character perfectly?


text:
Hemigenia purpurea, with the common name of narrow-leaved hemigenia is a small plant growing in the Sydney  and Nowra districts of eastern Australia. Often found in poor soils in heathland with a relatively high rainfall. By the coast or in the Blue Mountains.

A small shrub up to 2 metres tall. Leaves in whorls of three. Leaves hairless, narrow, 1 to 1.6 cm long, 1 mm wide, wedged shape with an acute angle at the base of the leaf. Narrow and pointed at the end of the leaf. Leaf stem 2 to 4 mm long. Attractive blue or violet flowers appear mostly from August to April.

Hemigenia purpurea appears similar to certain plants of the genus Prostanthera; however, it is distinguished by the thin leaves.

References

purpurea
Lamiales of Australia
Endemic flora of Australia
Flora of New South Wales
Plants described in 1810

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Side Effects...
Side Effects Revealed: Women Share Their Experiences with Breast Cancer Drugs
Our Bodies Our Blog has invited the folks at Breast Cancer Action to write monthly guest posts on breast cancer and related issues.
by Pauli Ojea
Women facing a life-threatening illness like breast cancer often have very difficult decisions to make about whether they can live with the side effects of what could be a helpful drug. Deciding whether the benefits outweigh the risks can happen only if all the information on side effects is available. All too often it's not.
In an effort to remedy this situation, Breast Cancer Action (BCA) just released a report on women's experiences with side effects of aromatase inhibitors (AIs), a common class of drugs for breast cancer treatment. In doing so, we hope to encourage additional research on how AIs affect women.
For women living with estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer, AIs are a relatively new class of drugs that have quickly become the standard of care. Limited information about AI side effects is available, but there's still a lot we don't know.
Arimidex, the first AI, was approved by the FDA in 1996 for breast cancer treatment. Soon after, BCA started hearing from women whose doctors were recommending Arimidex, asking what the known side effects were and how long they should stay on the drug.
Knowing that the FDA couldn't — and the drug industry wouldn't — collect this information in a way that's helpful to patients, we decided to do it ourselves. We wanted to make sure that this information was being captured somewhere. So, with an online survey we launched in 2005, we began collecting information from women about their experience on the three AIs approved for use in breast cancer: anastrozole (Arimidex), letrozole (Femara) and exemestane (Aromasin).
In 2007, we released a preliminary report based on the first 612 responses to the survey. Our new release, "Side Effects Revisited: Women's Experiences with Aromatase Inhibitors," is based on nearly 1,200 responses. The most common side effects reported continue to be hot flashes, bone pain, tiredness, muscle pain and insomnia. We also found that more than 25 percent of respondents experienced side effects so severe they decided to stop taking their AI. This is particularly troubling, because it means that the side effects were so bad that women felt they would rather risk a breast cancer recurrence than experience such poor quality of life.
The report also found that the women who took our survey (which is not necessarily a representative sample of all women taking an AI) are on average much younger than the women who have been studied in clinical trials of these drugs. These younger women — and by younger we mean under 60 — are experiencing more and worse side effects than older women on AIs. This is particularly true for younger women whose menopause was induced.
As a result, they're experiencing very real quality-of-life issues that aren't reflected in clinical trial data thus far. These results tell us that it will be crucial for future studies to look at how AIs are affecting younger women.
Here at BCA, we understand that patients almost always know before the medical community does what side effects they are experiencing. Through these reports on AI side effects, we hope to encourage additional research on the long-term side effects for all women taking these drugs. After all, this information is what allows people to make informed decisions about their health care — a value that's critically important to all of us.
Pauli Ojea is the community organizer at Breast Cancer Action, where she mobilizes people to do something besides worry. Read BCA's full report on women's experiences with side effects of aromatase inhibitors, including quotes from the women themselves. Visit http://community.breastcancer.org to join online discussions on the topic.


I learned this trick from Francis. It works every time.
Wife of Joka, she hasn't come to anything we've done until now. She's been at the study at Terry's house the last two weeks and is really into it. Pray for her.
We are actually starting our third week of school here in Menya, but we just got our good internet back after three months so here are some two-week old pics.
After years of Edwin coming to us with an ax to grind, it's exciting to see God changing his heart and attitudes. But today he literally came with an ax to grind.
Today another child was buried. This is the grave with Joka, the grave digger, on the right and Tomas, the father, sitting above it. Tomas is the man from our post "Chipping Away" who said he wanted me to come and teach their group some time. Pray for them.
This is Ken, a young husband and father who lives across the river. He didn't attend our teaching, but has been coming to our church meetings. Api has taken it upon himself to meet daily with Ken and his family to walk them through the gospel. We are excited for Ken to hear and thrilled about Api's enthusiasm–God is clearly doing a mighty work in and through him.


text:
/**
 * Layout class for {@link Ext.form.field.Text} fields. Handles sizing the input field.
 * @private
 */
Ext.define('Ext.layout.component.field.Text', {
    extend: 'Ext.layout.component.field.Field',
    alias: 'layout.textfield',
    requires: ['Ext.util.TextMetrics'],

    type: 'textfield',

    canGrowWidth: true,

    measureContentWidth: function (ownerContext) {
        var me = this,
            owner = me.owner,
            width = me.callParent(arguments),
            inputContext = ownerContext.inputContext,
            inputEl, value, calcWidth, max, min;

        if (owner.grow && me.canGrowWidth && !ownerContext.state.growHandled) {
            inputEl = owner.inputEl;

            // Find the width that contains the whole text value
            value = Ext.util.Format.htmlEncode(inputEl.dom.value || (owner.hasFocus ? '' : owner.emptyText) || '');
            value += owner.growAppend;
            calcWidth = inputEl.getTextWidth(value) + inputContext.getFrameInfo().width;

            max = owner.growMax;
            min = Math.min(max, width);
            max = Math.max(owner.growMin, max, min);

            // Constrain
            calcWidth = Ext.Number.constrain(calcWidth, owner.growMin, max);
            inputContext.setWidth(calcWidth);
            ownerContext.state.growHandled = true;

            // Now that we've set the inputContext, we need to recalculate the width
            inputContext.domBlock(me, 'width');
            width = NaN;
        }
        return width;
    },

    publishInnerHeight: function (ownerContext, height) {
        ownerContext.inputContext.setHeight(height - this.measureLabelErrorHeight(ownerContext));
    },

    beginLayoutFixed: function(ownerContext, width, suffix) {
        var me = this,
            ieInputWidthAdjustment = me.ieInputWidthAdjustment;

        if (ieInputWidthAdjustment) {
            // adjust for IE 6/7 strict content-box model
            // RTL: This might have to be padding-left unless the senses of the padding styles switch when in RTL mode.
            me.owner.bodyEl.setStyle('padding-right', ieInputWidthAdjustment + 'px');
            if(suffix === 'px') {
                width -= ieInputWidthAdjustment;
            }
        }

        me.callParent(arguments);
    }
});


is there some cli version for local using without internet?
Try contact the author? There is an email address under haqteam.com.
…which can then be used to turn it into Haxe!
You're one of those people who makes funny sentences with Google Translate, aren't you?
Like it or not, PHP and Haxe are radically different languages – built at different times and for different worlds. Asking for an automatic tool to convert between one and the other is, to me, like asking for a tool that will convert an apple into a watermelon. Yes, both of them might be "edible things," but they truly bear no exploitable resemblance to one another.
And doing a php compiler which outputs to haxe might be possible as well.
Haxe compiles to PHP very well.
Yes, it compiles to PHP quite nicely, although deficiencies of the PHP language's design leave a lot of things to be desired.
However, that's not what we're talking about here. You can't take PHP code and meaningfully convert it into Haxe code. Certainly you will not wind up with something that gains particular advantage by being "Haxe" source-code.
Sure, the PHP language is inching forward, as it always does, in various ways (that are usually incompatible with prior versions of itself), but I just finished an enormous conversion-and-rehab project in which none of the source-code started out as PHP-7 and some of it was in (dear God) versions of the language. "It wasn't pretty." 5,993 files' worth of stuff that was not pretty.
. . . (but, by gawd, it works) . . . . . . does four+ million dollars every month, and it . . . works.
I just finished an enormous conversion-and-rehab project in which none of the source-code started out as PHP-7 and some of it was in (dear God) versions of the language. "It wasn't pretty." 5,993 files' worth of stuff that was not pretty.
Did you convert to Haxe? Any chance for a detailed (blog) post?


text:
Jan 18 Uncle Sam's Paper is Downgraded
While not news in the United States, the South China Morning Post reports the downgrading of U.S. government debt from A- to BBB+, "putting the debt repayment capacity of the world's biggest economy below that of Russia and Botswana and on a par with Colombia and Peru."
The way Beijing-based Dagong Global, a Chinese rating agency, sees it, Uncle Sam's paper deserves, "a 'negative outlook' because of the US federal government's declining capacity to repay debt, a situation worsened by tax cuts."
No discouraging words have come from the U.S.-based ratings agencies, but Dagong "has argued that the Western system dominated by Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Rating is flawed and China must have its own voice in the industry," writes Frank Tang.
It turns out the downgrade came just hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping and Donald Trump chatted on the phone.
Bloomberg reports that China's holdings of U.S. Treasuries in November, fell to $1.18 trillion, a four month low. "The news on China's possible plan to ease Treasury purchases fueled speculation that the country was sending a warning shot to the Trump administration that it has retaliation options in a trade dispute," writes Shelley Hagan.
However, the Chinese may wonder about continued lending to a country close to $21 trillion in hock. Mr. Tang mentions the "fierce debate in China over whether Beijing should stop buying US government debt.
"The US government has never defaulted on its debt but Dagong's assessment pegs it as a highly dangerous place for bond investors."
Perhaps the Chinese have taken to heart Jim Grant's description of U.S. Treasuries--"return-free risk."
Grant, when questioned by Henry Bonner at Sprott Resources in 2014, reflected on the conundrum that is buying government bonds,
"Think of it" – I'm now putting words in posterity's mouth. "Think of it, people were buying as if the supply were limited. They were buying government securities, which yielded practically nothing. They were buying bonds denominated in currencies that the central banks explicitly vowed to depreciate. Why did they do that?"
Japanese investors also exited U.S. government obligations for a second straight month in November while buying more German and French notes, reports Bloomberg.
Sid Verma and Paul Dodson write,
A widening deficit may double U.S. government bond supply this year, while tax cuts threaten to curb corporate demand for Treasuries. At the same time, Europe's economy is booming, the euro is the best-performing currency in the Group of 10 in the past 12 months, and the region's central bank is still buying bonds.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has announced it has changed its policy from QE to QT and the yield curve is flattening with a vengeance. "Now there is a strong correlation historically between yield curve inversions and recessions," Yellen said in December. "But let me emphasize the correlation is not causation."
This time is different the outgoing Fed Chair claimed. "I think there are good reasons to think that the relationship between the slope of the yield curve and the business cycle may have changed," Yellen said.
Downgraded debt, doubling bond supply, flattening curve: don't worry be happy.
US Treasuries
Jan 19 Government: Where Unions still Thrive and Steal
Jan 17 Bitcoin Bugs become Gold Bugs
Nov 17 Negative Time Preference or Bond Crack-up Boom
May 23 Trouble in Euroland
Mar 13 Banks' Unrealized Losses soon to be Realized


text:
In Lewisburg and far afield, Bucknell's students and staff make a positive and palpable difference.
Photo: John Enyeart
Fairytale Canyon, named for its incredible sandstone rock formations, was one of the scenic sites Professor Wooden took in this summer in Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia
Professor Amanda Wooden, environmental studies, has been immersed in the languages, culture and politics of post-Soviet countries since her first visit to Russia and Belarus in 1992. She has lived in Kyrgyzstan several times since 2001 and returns frequently to her "second home."
"I care deeply about what happens there, am committed to doing research on environmental topics that concern people and have a responsibility to share what I learn," Wooden says.
What Interests Her:
Through a Fulbright research grant, Wooden is currently studying the social meaning and political impacts of glacier loss in the Tian Shan mountain range. The project stems from an earlier examination of Kyrgyzstan's Kumtor mine, where miners are removing glaciers to access gold.
"Kyrgyzstan has a complicated and dynamic history," Wooden says, noting the residents deal with the contradictions and intersections of post-Sovietism and capitalism, as well as communitarian and religious-spiritual traditions that predate Soviet times and are enjoying a revival.
Wooden is also drawn to the "stunningly beautiful mountainous landscape" that is central to her research. "The ways in which these landscapes shaped, and continue to shape, the everyday life, language and culture of this dynamic society is fascinating," she says.
— Beth Kaszuba


An organization of international repute and globally accredited capacities, Hamdard is India's largest manufacturer of Herbal based products for FMCG, OTC and Pharma. The quest for innovation at Hamdard is continuing and expanding. Hence for our business expansion, we are looking for dynamic and energetic professionals who have a passion to excel.
If you wish to work in a professionally driven work environment and achieve career goals, this is the place for you.
working on manufacturing Greenfield projects. Must have credible exposure to all aspects of project management, viz.
ensuring operational controls, ensuring qualitative project delivery.
communication skills to maintain proper interaction with relevant govt. / legislature bodies.
matters. Should have good legal drafting abilities.
LL.B with 8-12 years of experience in Legal, Statutory and Regulatory Compliances of Corporate and Plant.
working in Manufacturing as well as in Trusts will be an advantage.
have excellent business analytical skills.
communication (written and oral) and coordination skills are must.
and activation in all unit and local canteens. Custodian of all initiatives and priorities in this area.
objectives across all product categories, GT and MT. Will be key custodian of new product launches, ensuring adherence to the sales budget. Must have excellent data / business analytics skills.


text:
Duck's Block
1316 BROAD ST, Victoria, British Columbia, V8W, Canada
Duck's Building
Duck's Block is a three-storey Victorian brick commercial building on Broad Street.
Duck's Block is an excellent example of a large-scale Late Victorian commercial building. Constructed in 1892 for Simeon Duck, successful early local entrepreneur, MLA, and former Minister of Finance for British Columbia. This handsome Victorian building is a testament to the entrepreneurship of its original owner. Initially built as the home of Duck's Carriage Works, and also used as retail outlets, entertainment venues, and early meeting rooms for the Knights of Pythias. This building is representative of the multi-functionality of Victoria's commercial district in the late nineteenth century. Bold decoration and architectural solidity make Duck's Block a dominant presence within Broad Street's narrow streetscape.
Source: City of Victoria Planning and Development Department
The character-defining elements of the Duck's Block include:
- the prominent position of the building within the streetscape, marked by the lack of a set-back;
- the architectural solidity of the structure, seen in such elements as the rusticated masonry piers at street level, and stone lintels;
-bold Victorian detailing, such as arched windows on the uppermost storey, the corbelled cornice detailing, and small triangular pediment above the cornice;
- the mixed use of this building for a variety of commercial enterprises;
- intact original storefront elements such as cast iron columns.
Local Governments (BC)
Local Government Act, s.954
Community Heritage Register
Office or Office Building
City of Victoria Planning and Development Department
DcRu-768
1421 Blanshard Street, Victoria, British Columbia
Congregation Emanu-el is a one and one-half storey brick Romanesque Style synagogue on the corner…
1 Centennial Square, Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria City Hall is a two-and-one-half storey masonry building situated at the northwest corner…
Rogers' Chocolates
913 Government Street, Victoria, British Columbia
Rogers' Chocolates is a two-storey Queen Anne Style brick commercial building on Government Street.


Open Meetings are for those who have a desire to stop drinking. Open meetings also allow attendance by those who are interested in finding out about AA, such as family members (if you have children under 16 with you, they may NOT attend meetings which begin at or after 7:00pm), members of the medical profession, and other non-members interested in the AA program of recovery. Only those who express a desire to stop drinking may share in the open meetings. Others are free to attend and listen.
Closed Meetings are limited specifically to those people who have a desire to stop drinking. No one else may attend those meetings.
Holiday Schedule: Tri County Center maintains its regular schedule 365 days of the year.


text:
Your browser is unsupported
We recommend using the latest version of IE11, Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari.
Expand About History menu
Why Study History?
Living and Studying in Chicago
Expand People menu
Expand Programs menu
WRGUW
Teaching of History
Expand News and Events menu
Brown Bag Series
Expand Resources menu
Resources and Awards
Support UIC History
las.uic.edu
+Give
UIC menu
View Menu Down arrow icon
The Department of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) offers serious and successful undergraduate and graduate programs, including a strong Teaching of History program. At any one time, close to 400 undergraduate majors and 100 graduate students are enrolled and working toward degrees. In addition to the BA, MA, and Ph.D., we also offer BAT and MAT degrees in conjunction with the College of Education. As a Research One University, UIC is one of 88 universities that receive at least $40 million of federal funding per year.
Meanwhile, UIC's History faculty are outstanding scholars, leading their specialties in new and exciting directions. Our graduate students enter into a vibrant community of scholars, and many go on to secure tenure-track jobs in universities and colleges throughout the nation. Undergraduates have the opportunity to create their own area of concentration within the major. Students at every level also profit from the department's connections to other leading institutions and universities in the Midwest. All in all, the History Department is an ideal setting in which to garner a broad-based education and build skills in research, writing, and critical analysis at any level.
Setting Heading link
A major city of international significance, Chicago is a marvelous place to be a student. Renowned for its magnificent architecture, the city is set on a beautiful lakefront with numerous public parks and opportunities for recreation. The city offers world class music, theater and art, and a host of galleries and museums. The University is a stone's throw from downtown and convenient to public transportation. The campus also boasts features—such as lawns and trees and open spaces—found in universities set in more rural areas.
slide show Heading link
Go to the next slide
Go to the previous slide
Chicago in the early twentieth century
To Major or Minor
A Four-Year Model
Internships and Careers for History Majors
Undergraduate Course Syllabi
Our PhD's Today
Teaching Assistant Policies
Graduate Courses Syllabi
Faculty (Teaching of History)
601 S. Morgan St., 913 UH Chicago, IL 60607
histdept@uic.edu
UIC Safe Mobile App
UIC Today
Powered by Red 3.0.51


text:
Donald Trump Blames Russia, Not China, for North Korea Tensions
By Sofia Lotto Persio On 10/26/17 at 9:48 AM EDT
President Donald Trump speaks to the press in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., on October 16. Trump blamed Russia for "hurting" U.S. efforts on North Korea. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
World U.S. North Korea relations Russia China Xi jinping
President Donald Trump has praised China's efforts in helping the U.S. contain the nuclear threat from North Korea, but he criticized Russia's stance on the growing tensions with Pyongyang.
Speaking to Fox Business Network's Lou Dobbs in an interview aired Wednesday, the president said Moscow's influence in dealing with North Korea has not been beneficial to the U.S. efforts to contain the country's nuclear threat.
"China is helping us, and maybe Russia's going through the other way and hurting what we're getting," Trump said. "When I say 'maybe,' I know exactly what I'm talking about," he added, cryptically.
The praise for Chinese efforts signal a shift in tone for the president, who has at times scoffed at China for not doing enough on North Korea or trying to help but with "little success"—just on time for his meeting with President Xi Jinping as part of a trip to Asia next month.
Trump told Dobbs he spoke to Xi earlier that evening to congratulate him on his "extraordinary elevation," in reference to the Chinese leader's recent power consolidation at the Communist Party Congress.
Spoke to President Xi of China to congratulate him on his extraordinary elevation. Also discussed NoKo & trade, two very important subjects!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 25, 2017
Trump described Xi as a "very good person," with whom he has the "best relationship of any [past] presidents" and said he wished he had as good a relationship with Russia as he does with China.
Relations between the U.S. and Russia remain strained over allegations of Moscow's interference in the 2016 presidential election, its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and its ongoing backing of the regime in Syria.
Nonetheless, Trump is still hoping to deliver on his pledge to improve ties with Russia. "It would be great if we could get along with Russia," he said. "The North Korea situation would be easier to solve."
China is North Korea's closest ally in the region, but Russia has also increased its level of engagement in the peninsula, seeking to position itself as a mediator and win infrastructure projects along the way.
The two countries officially oppose the possibility of a nuclear-armed North Korea and voted in favor of the latest U.S.-backed sanctions on the country at a U.N. Security Council meeting, but only after America agreed to Russia's requests to water down the resolution, particularly with regards to imposing a full oil embargo.
Beijing and Moscow have agreed on a roadmap to reinstate the Six Party Talks, to which they participated along with North Korea, Japan, South Korea and the U.S. to negotiate an end to Pyongyang's nuclear development program for six years before these collapsed in 2009.
The roadmap proposes an end to the U.S joint military exercises with South Korea in exchange for Pyongyang giving up on the nuclear development program—a proposal the U.S. has already rejected.
Why the U.S. Shouldn't Strike North Korea First
U.S. Warships Prepare for Kim Jong Un's Missiles
House Votes To Place Sanctions On North Korea


Leo Matthysen laces up next to some of his prized possessions before going through some drills.
A Grade 4 pupil at Groote Schuur Primary School, Leo "Litchi" Matthysen, 10, competed at the under-10 world championships in Croatia, last month.
The left-footed Argentinian soccer wizard Messi was discovered at a young age.
And once he joined the Barcelona youth academy, he grew from strength to strength and won the Fifa Ballon d'Or award for footballer of the year on five occasions.
Leo from Mitchell's Plain started playing tennis at the age of four and was taken under the wing of Anthony Harris Tennis Academy two years later.
Last month, the youngster got the opportunity to test his skills on an international level when he played at the world champs, also known as the Smirkva Bowl Tournament. Leo is only the second South African junior to compete at this competition, following in the footsteps of Lloyd Harris – the current SA number two ranked men's player.
"Before this, I played in the SA championships in Bloemfontein but got knocked out in the semi-final to the player who won the tournament," he said.
Having only turned 10 years old on Tuesday, Leo has always played in higher age divisions.
Currently ranked third in the country and first in the Western Province for the under-11 age division, he competed in the under-12 Constantia Junior Tournament and won the singles division, at the weekend.
Leo said he also enjoys playing soccer but tennis remains his first love.
"The first time I picked up a tennis racket was when I went to watch my father (Nathan) train.
"After his training session we hit a couple of balls on the court and that's when the coach invited me to join the club.
"I trained the very next day and it wasn't long before I played in my first tournament.
"At the time, I was just five years old and I beat a nine year old player 6-1," said Leo.
"I enjoyed getting that win and I kept on playing. Last year was the first time I made the WP team.
"I had to go for trials to make that team but didn't need to do that this year because the top three players automatically make the squad.
"The competition was awesome and we've seen how the other young players are doing things. How, at the age of nine, those players are already in a professional frame of mind," said Matthysen.


Throughout the year, we team up with our manufacturers and hold training seminars to ensure that you are current on new products and information. Sign up for our newsletter so you will always stay in the loop.
LS Building Products has the experience and knowledge for all of your project needs, whether they are simple or customized to your specifications.
Trust our experienced staff to accurately quote your next project. There is no job too big or small and never any fee for estimates. Please email us or stop into your nearest location today.
We have one of the largest, well-maintained fleets in the business. Each one of our trucks is equipped with GPS allowing us to track the exact location of your delivery. Call your local office to schedule your next delivery today.
Your dream kitchen can become reality with help from our accomplished cabinet designers. Take advantage of our Animated 3D kitchen design walkthrough program to visualize every detail of your custom design.
Our in-house business coach can help with business management, sales, accounting, and how to maintain profitability. Then, our Graphic Designer can tailor a marketing strategy, creating higher sales for your company.
Let our professional truss designers use their talents to create the perfect plan to assure that your new home or building will be structurally sound.
It is important that your windows and doors are working properly. If you have any issues with our products, give us a call and we will schedule an appointment to come take a look.
Contact LS Building Products today, to become a part of this growing team!


Kroger has secured a deal to sell its Turkey Hill business to an affiliate of private equity firm Peak Rock Capital.
The announcement comes seven months after the US retailer said it would explore strategic options for the unit, including a potential sale.
Turkey Hill produces a range of iced teas, fruit drinks, milk, frozen dairy products and ice creams. As part of the sale agreement, the Peak Rock Capital affiliate will continue to operate the Turkey Hill business out of its Conestoga, Pennsylvania, facility.
Turkey Hill produces a range of iced teas, fruit drinks and ice creams.
Peak Rock Capital managing director Robert Pistilli said: "Turkey Hill represents an exciting opportunity to invest in a premier brand with an established reputation for quality, flavour variety, and authenticity, within the large and growing ice cream and refrigerated drinks space.
Last year, Austin-based Peak Rock Capital acquired pretzel producer Pretzels as well as Louisiana Fish Fry Products. An affiliate of the firm also bought Tyson Foods' pizza crust manufacturing business.


text:
Q: Java read/write positional file Let's say I have the following format of string in a file:
"0001  Full NameOtherDataXXX"
Questions:

*

*Is there a technical name for these sort of files that I'm unaware of? It's harder to search about it without knowing a name for it.

*Is there some sort of library in Java 7/8 that would help me reading/writing this types of files/strings by just specifying it? Ex of specification

Example of specification (it could also be through annotations in a model class):
| Name   | Type    | Size | Padding char | Padding type |

| Field1 | Integer | 4    |    '0'       | Left         |
| Field2 | String  | 11   |    ' '       | Left         |
| Field3 | String  | 12   |    'X'       | Right        |

A: Take a look at BeanIO
I've used it to read fixed width files with different data types, and worked perfectly. You can define expected types and formats n your beanIO definitions

A: No official name but generally referred to as "fixed-width" or "padded text". As I recollect this format is most commonly seen with systems related to old mainframes. Reports printed to terminal screen or green-bar paper were commonly produced in this style.

Each field is defined as a certain number of characters. Using a monospaced font means the columns of data visually align. When the data value for a field has a fewer number of characters, some "padding" characters are added to value. Add the padding characters to the front for a right-aligned column, and to the end for a left-aligned column. Your example spec is defining the padding characters as a zero, space, or X as well as that left-right alignment.
I've never seen a Java library for reading or writing such padded text. But that might be a good idea. Having a formally-defined machine-readable spec for any particular file's format is an intriguing idea. Most folks make their own little library as it is not difficult.

In the PC era, delimiter formats are more common. Generally Tab-delimited or Comma-Separated-Values (CSV). More sensible to my mind would be the use of the four characters explicitly defined in ASCII and Unicode for the very purpose of delimiting data in text files, code points 28 to 31, but inexplicably I've never seen them used.
The chores of reading and writing both Tab and CSV formats are performed handily by the Apache Commons CSV library.
And in the internet-age, we commonly write data to XML or JSON formats.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Many people today struggle to make their cash go as far as it once did. Costs are rising, wages are standing still, and savings accounts can't be relied on for income like they used to. People are searching for steady financial ground. Something to rely on, like previous generations had.
That's why we built a portfolio that takes you back to the good old days of consistent investment income. Introducing SteadyIncome℠.* No big swings. No stress. Just an estimated 2.70%** return annually.
SteadyIncome is designed to be very conservative (less risky), investing only in fixed income (bond) exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The portfolio focuses on generating yield and income through these investments. If you are new to investing or prefer stability, this is a great, practical way to get started.
Essentially, it's a place to park your cash that's safer than investing in stocks but that provides greater estimated returns than a traditional savings account. With the SteadyIncome portfolio, you can earn 20 times*** more income than the average savings account offers today.
Why let your cash sit in a savings account when you can put it in a SteadyIncome portfolio and earn extra interest and dividend income while you mull your next move?
Go to My Portfolio in the Finances tab.
Use the Risk Slider to choose SteadyIncome (move slider all the way left).
We'll rebalance you at no cost. And you can always go back to something more aggressive later if you'd like to make another change.
Just joining MoneyLion? Once you open your investment account with a free MoneyLion membership, you can switch to the SteadyIncome portfolio using the Risk Slider. In order to access the Risk Slider, go to your portfolio page and tap Edit Allocation.
See Table 1 below for details on the ETFs in the SteadyIncome portfolio.
MoneyLion believes everyone deserves a path to their dreams, and our free MoneyLion Core membership includes a managed investment account with no fees, no minimums, and no experience needed.
Ready to make the most of your money? Get a free MoneyLion membership today. We'll create a personalized portfolio of stock and bond ETFs for you. And whenever you add money to your investment account, we'll buy shares or fractions of shares on your behalf to put your money to work.
*The SteadyIncome Portfolio is a portfolio constructed primarily of low-risk, high credit-quality Fixed Income ETFs. The ETFs were chosen with an aim to limit risk and produce income. However, the SteadyIncome Portfolio is subject to market risk, and may not achieve a 2.70% return, as no return can be guaranteed. The level of income in the portfolio may vary over time as interest rates and market conditions shift.
**2.70% yield is the asset-weighted blend of the 30 Day SEC Yield as of Mar. 15, 2019. Yield is an important number in evaluating a low-risk, all-bond portfolio, but is distinct from actual investment returns, which may vary.


text:
Wozniacki outlasts Arvidsson to advance
2 K Shares
AFPUpdated on Mar 13, 2012, 16:05 IST
INDIAN WELLS, California: Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki brushed aside a shaky first set to come from behind and beat Sofia Arvidsson 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the Indian Wells tennis tournament third round.
Denmark's Wozniacki, who won a half dozen titles last year, is still finding her way in 2012 and it showed Monday as she struggled to hold serve against her fellow Scandinavian in a two hour, 35 minute night match.
It was an uphill struggle at times for the former world number one as Arvidsson came charging out of the gate, using excellent groundstrokes to seize control in some of the longer rallies in front of about 2,000 people at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
"I have known Sofia since I was 12 or 13," Wozniacki said. "We practised together and we know each other's games so well. She just came from a win in Memphis so I know she was on fire. I am so happy with the win."
Arvidsson was the victor in the pair's first encounter six years ago, when Wozniacki was only 15, but the Dane has now won five of their six meetings since then.
Wozniacki broke the Swede seven times overall, including three times in the final set.
Both players struggled to hold serve in a sloppy opening set. Arvidsson broke Wozniacki in the seventh and ninth games but was broken herself in the eighth. In the final game, Arvidsson took a 40-15 lead then closed out the set on her second set point when Wozniacki dumped a shot into the net.
Wozniacki broke Arvidsson in the 11th game of the second set, winning all four points and setting the stage for her to serve for the set.
On match point in the third set, Arvidsson hit a backhand drop shot that Wozniacki was able to reach easily to hit a running forehand winner.
Wozniacki advances to the fourth round where she will play Ana Ivanovic, who beat Ksenia Pervak 6-7 (8/10), 6-3, 6-2.
The 28-year-old Arvidsson has been resurgent this year, winning her second WTA career title after a six-year gap at the Memphis tournament last month, beating Kiwi Marina Erakovic in the final.


text:
Indonesia puts 'discriminatory' school rule on hold
Govt still intends to scrap supplementary funding for small private institutions despite widespread opposition
Ryan Dagur, Jakarta
Published: September 09, 2021 06:50 AM GMT ▾
Updated: September 09, 2021 06:58 AM GMT
Indian Church's failures in handling sex abuse cases
Winter Olympics venue tainted by China's massacre of Catholics
Philippine bishop rebukes Marcos supporters
Concern over nun's safety after Indian bishop's rape acquittal
Cambodian court drops charges against CNRP activists
Pakistan protest over selection of minority parliamentarians
Decriminalizing sex crime victims in Indonesia
Korean missionaries build up lives in Malaysia's Borneo
Toothless ICC hits dead end over Philippine war on drugs
Mother Teresa nuns seek protection from arrest in India
Young students in East Manggarai district of Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province make their way to a Catholic private elementary school. (Photo: Ryan Dagur/UCA News)
The Indonesian government has suspended the introduction of a regulation deemed by critics to discriminate against small private schools after a flood of protests from private school administrators including Catholics.
Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology Nadiem Makarim announced on Sept. 9 that the government had put on hold the ministerial regulation which states that private schools with fewer than 60 students over the last three years would not receive School Operational Assistance (BOS) funds.
"We evaluated this regulation and given that the Covid-19 pandemic is still having a very large impact, we have decided not to enforce it until next year," he told parliament. "Hopefully this can allay some fears."
Donate to UCA News with a small contribution of your choice
BOS funds are disbursed to schools by the government annually for every student in the country. This year the government disbursed 52.5 trillion rupiah (US$3.6 billion) to 216,662 education institutions.
The money helps with the operational costs of small schools, and activists and administrators of such institutions say they would struggle to survive if this funding was withdrawn.
The government, however, wants schools with small student numbers to be combined for cost-effectiveness and the regulation is seen as a way of persuading schools to do so.
This regulation takes away the right of Indonesian children to an education
The regulation does provide exceptions for schools categorized as being in remote and underdeveloped areas such as Papua, where many people live below the poverty line, but many small schools elsewhere would be affected, its opponents say.
The proposal has drawn protests from various educational organizations such as the National Council of Catholic Education, the two largest Muslim organizations — Nahdatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah — and the Alliance of Education Organizing Organizations.
In a statement, they called for the regulation to be scrapped completely, calling it unconstitutional and discriminatory and saying it "fails to fulfill a sense of social justice."
"This regulation takes away the right of Indonesian children to an education," they said.
Indonesian court overturns school ban on forced religious attire
Indonesia to reopen schools under strict conditions
Catholics criticize Indonesian plan to tax schools
Catholic teacher's death highlights scandals in Indonesian education
Thank you. You are now signed up to Daily newsletter
They also said the government should respect the efforts of private institutions that have been trying for decades to contribute to education, adding that merging schools would not work in many cases.
Besides the economic ramifications, mergers would not be easy because of the differing status and practices of schools, especially those managed by religious institutions, they argued. They cited the impracticality of merging a Catholic school with an Islamic one as an example.
Franciscan Father Vinsensius Darmin Mbula, chairman of the National Council of Catholic Education said many small private schools are located in areas not classified as remote and underprivileged that would struggle if the funding was withdrawn.
We don't want the government to leave behind those who are already in a difficult position
"There are certain schools that take students who cannot be accepted in rich schools, even in state schools which require a lot of special requirements to get in. These students are generally from lower-income families and with low ability and their only hope for getting an education is through government assistance," he said.
"We don't want the government to leave behind those who are already in a difficult position."
He said he appreciated the suspension of the regulation but said it should be dumped altogether and that "the state must not forget one of its major tasks is to educate the nation."
"Private schools are taking part in efforts to help fulfill the state's obligations. Therefore, private schools should be supported, not only state schools," he said.
….As we enter the first months of 2022, we are asking readers like you to help us keep UCA News free.
For the last 40 years, UCA News has remained the most trusted and independent Catholic news and information service from Asia. Every week, we publish nearly 100 news reports, feature stories, commentaries, podcasts and video broadcasts that are exclusive and in-depth, and developed from a view of the world and the Church through informed Catholic eyes.
Our journalistic standards are as high as any in the quality press; our focus is particularly on a fast-growing part of the world - Asia - where, in some countries the Church is growing faster than pastoral resources can respond to – South Korea, Vietnam and India to name just three.
And UCA News has the advantage of having in its ranks local reporters who cover 23 countries in south, southeast, and east Asia. We report the stories of local people and their experiences in a way that Western news outlets simply don't have the resources to reach. And we report on the emerging life of new Churches in old lands where being a Catholic can at times be very dangerous.
With dwindling support from funding partners in Europe and the USA, we need to call on the support of those who benefit from our work.
Click here to find out the ways you can support UCA News. You can make a difference for as little as US$5…
UCA News monitors the content of the comments and reserves the right to remove posts that contains abusive, offensive, racist, threatening or harassing comments or personal attacks of any kind.
ICJ to hear genocide case against Myanmar regime
Religious volunteers love patients as much as they can
Letter from Rome: Can Pope Francis ever reform Roman Curia?
Pakistan's economic woes put PM Khan's future in doubt
Christians pick up the pieces in war-torn Syria
Jesuits open hearts to help Korean youth overcome stress


text:
07 Oct 21 News Events Chile
Huemul portfolio earns award recognition for financing and innovation
The LatinFinance Awards praised the "innovative" hybrid approach of Mainstream's Andes Renovables platform in Chile, the Phase 2 build out of which Puelche Sur Wind Farm in the Los Lagos region, above, is a part of
Mainstream's US$993 million Huemul portfolio of wind and solar projects in Chile has received new recognition for its funding.
The raising of US$620 million from a consortium of seven lenders last year was named as the region's Renewable Energy deal of 2020 at the recent LatinFinance Project & Infrastructure Finance Awards.
The judges also praised the 1.35 GW Andes Renovables platform – which Huemul's three wind and two solar projects form Phase 2 of – for its "innovative" hybrid approach to delivering on 24/7 year-round firm power commitments.
The acclaim for Huemul's financing follows it success earlier this year at the prestigious Proximo energy and infrastructure sector awards
Here is LatinFinance's award citation for Mainstream in the new Q3/Q3 issue of its magazine:
Renewable Energy Financing of the Year: Huemul Renewable Portfolio
Mainstream Renewable Power is changing the face of electricity generation in Chile with one of the world's most innovative green energy projects.
The Irish developer is in the midst of building out its 1,350MW Andes Renovables platform that combines wind and solar plants distributed across Chile.
The company closed financing in August 2020 for the project's second phase, known as the Huemul Portfolio, raising $620 million in debt out of a total Capex of $993 million. It was one of the largest debt financings for renewable energy globally in 2020, and involved a consortium of lenders including CaixaBank, DNB Bank, IDB Invest, KfW IPEX-Bank, MUFG, Santander Chile and SMBC.
The scope of the financing and the innovative approach to the energy platform won Mainstream the Renewable Energy Financing of the Year award.
"The financing for the Huemul Portfolio allows us to build out our renewable energy projects in Chile and continue with our commitment to deliver clean energy at scale. It signals the confidence of the market in our strategy and the work we are doing to build out this portfolio," CEO Mary Quaney tells LatinFinance.
What sets Mainstream's approach apart from others is the use of different energy sources – wind and solar power – and the location of the projects. Quaney says that the hybrid approach is an important feature of the project's development in Chile.
"The assets are diversified very carefully geographically as well as by technology. The hybridized portfolio provides a more aggregated generation profile. It is an innovative approach and we are doing it at scale, which let us close the financing at a very difficult time in the Covid-19 pandemic," she says.
Huemul will add 632MW of renewable energy to the Chilean grid through five assets, including three wind farms and two solar PV projects. Mainstream's initial Condor project, with $520 million in financing that closed in 2019, includes 571MW in wind and solar projects. A third phase, Copihue, will add close to 150MW with one wind farm. $182 million in financing for it closed in July.
When completed in 2022, Mainstream's assets will provide a substantial chunk of Chile's non-conventional general capacity, which stood at 7,338MW in July 2021, according to the National Energy Commission.
Huemul's five assets will generate enough power for 781,000 homes and will displace more than 720,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually.
This extract appears in the new issue of LatinFinance magazine, which is available to read and download here.
12 Aug 21 Chile
Mainstream Renewable Power inaugurates the first of its ten projects under construction in Chile
01 Jul 21 Chile
Mainstream completes final phase of US$1.8bn platform financing in Chile
02 Apr 21 Chile
Financing of US$934m Huemul portfolio wins new Deal of Year award
01 Sep 20 Chile
Mainstream closes Phase 2 of US$1.8bn Andes Renovables financing


Wash and dry the chicken and make deep slits into it. Apply vinegar, salt, ginger garlic paste, chilli paste and meat tenderizer. Massage well for 5 minutes. Now add rest of the spices and mix well. Add yogurt and blend with your hands and keep aside for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Prepare your roasting pan with the wire rack. Brush some oil on the wire rack and place all the chicken legs on to it without overlapping and bake for 45 minutes.
Take out the rack and flip the sides and bake for another 45 minutes.
Take out, drizzle some lemon juice and serve hot with mint sauce.
Made these for dinner and they were amazing!


May Contain (+/-): Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Ultramarines (CI 77007), Ferric Ferrocyanide (CI 77510), Chromium Oxide Greens (CI 77288), Chromium Hydroxide Green (CI 77289), Manganese Violet (CI 77742), Blue 1 Lake (CI 42090), Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140), Ferric Ammonium Ferrocyanide (CI 77510).
For Best ResultsDEFINED LOOKDefine – In small strokes, glide liner across lash line from inner to outer corner.
DRAMATIC LOOKDefine - In small strokes, glide liner across lash line from inner to outer corner.Enhance – Extend and thicken line from outer corner up towards brow; wing out for extra drama.
Removes easily with Expert Eyes Moisturizing Eye Makeup Remover.


text:
Nemo nascitur sapiens, sed fit.
Bionanotech
Bio Dietz
Selected recent results from this laboratory
Gigadalton-scale shape-programmable DNA assemblies
K. Wagenbauer, C. Sigl, and H. Dietz, Nature 2017
Natural biomolecular assemblies such as molecular motors, enzymes, viruses and subcellular structures often form by self-limiting hierarchical oligomerization of multiple subunits. Large structures can also assemble efficiently from a few components by combining hierarchical assembly and symmetry, a strategy exemplified by viral capsids4. De novo protein design and RNA and DNA nanotechnology aim to mimic these capabilities, but the bottom-up construction of artificial structures with the dimensions and complexity of viruses and other subcellular components remains challenging. Here we show that natural assembly principles can be combined with the methods of DNA origami to produce gigadalton-scale structures with controlled sizes. DNA sequence information is used to encode the shapes of individual DNA origami building blocks, and the geometry and details of the interactions between these building blocks then control their copy numbers, positions and orientations within higher-order assemblies. We illustrate this strategy by creating planar rings of up to 350 nanometres in diameter and with atomic masses of up to 330 megadaltons, micrometre-long, thick tubes commensurate in size to some bacilli, and three-dimensional polyhedral assemblies with sizes of up to 1.2 gigadaltons and 450 nanometres in diameter. We achieve efficient assembly, with yields of up to 90 per cent, by using building blocks with validated structure and sufficient rigidity, and an accurate design with interaction motifs that ensure that hierarchical assembly is self-limiting and able to proceed in equilibrium to allow for error correction. We expect that our method, which enables the self-assembly of structures with sizes approaching that of viruses and cellular organelles, can readily be used to create a range of other complex structures with well defined sizes, by exploiting the modularity and high degree of addressability of the DNA origami building blocks used.
[image shows a 3D printed model of a 1.2 Gigadalton defined-size dodecahedron that integrates the equivalent of 220 DNA origami.]
Biotechnological mass production of DNA origami
F. Praetorius, B. Kick, K. Behler, M. Honemann, D. Weuster-Botz, and H. Dietz
DNA nanotechnology, in particular DNA origami, enables the bottom-up self-assembly of micrometre-scale, three-dimensional structures with nanometre-precise features. These structures are customizable in that they can be site-specifically functionalized or constructed to exhibit machine-like or logic-gating behaviour. Their use has been limited to applications that require only small amounts of material (of the order of micrograms), owing to the limitations of current production methods. But many proposed applications, for example as therapeutic agents or in complex materials could be realized if more material could be used. In DNA origami, a nanostructure is assembled from a very long single-stranded scaffold molecule held in place by many short single-stranded staple oligonucleotides. Only the bacteriophage-derived scaffold molecules are amenable to scalable and efficient mass production; the shorter staple strands are obtained through costly solid-phase synthesis or enzymatic processes. Here we show that single strands of DNA of virtually arbitrary length and with virtually arbitrary sequences can be produced in a scalable and cost-efficient manner by using bacteriophages to generate single-stranded precursor DNA that contains target strand sequences interleaved with self-excising 'cassettes', with each cassette comprising two Zn2+-dependent DNA-cleaving DNA enzymes. We produce all of the necessary single strands of DNA for several DNA origami using shaker-flask cultures, and demonstrate end-to-end production of macroscopic amounts of a DNA origami nanorod in a litre-scale stirred-tank bioreactor. Our method is compatible with existing DNA origami design frameworks and retains the modularity and addressability of DNA origami objects that are necessary for implementing custom modifications using functional groups. With all of the production and purification steps amenable to scaling, we expect that our method will expand the scope of DNA nanotechnology in many areas of science and technology.
[image shows an artists impression of future DNA-origami-containing medical tablets]
Self-assembly of genetically encoded DNA-protein hybrid nanoscale shapes
F. Praetorius and H. Dietz, Science 2017
We describe an approach to bottom-up fabrication that allows integration of the functional diversity of proteins into designed three-dimensional structural frameworks. A set of
custom staple proteins based on transcription activator–like effector proteins folds a double- stranded DNA template into a user-defined shape. Each staple protein is designed to recognize and closely link two distinct double-helical DNA sequences at separate positions on the template. We present design rules for constructing megadalton-scale DNA-protein hybrid shapes; introduce various structural motifs, such as custom curvature, corners, and vertices; and describe principles for creating multilayer DNA-protein objects with enhanced rigidity. We demonstrate self-assembly of our hybrid nanostructures in one-pot mixtures that include the genetic information for the designed proteins, the template DNA, RNA polymerase, ribosomes, and cofactors for transcription and translation.
Uncovering the forces between nucleosomes using DNA origami
J. Funke, P. Ketterer, C. Lieleg, S. Schunter, P. Korber and H. Dietz.
Science Advances 2016
Revealing the energy landscape for nucleosome association may contribute to the understanding of higher-order chromatin structures and their impact on genome regulation. We accomplish this in a direct measurement by integrating two nucleosomes into a DNA origami–based force spectrometer, which enabled subnanometer-resolution measurements of nucleosome-nucleosome distance frequencies via single-particle electron microscopy imaging. From the data, we derived the Boltzmann-weighted distance-dependent energy landscape for nucleosome pair interactions. We find a shallow but long-range (~6 nm) attractive nucleosome pair potential with a minimum of −1.6 kcal/mol close to direct contact distances. The relative nucleosome orientation had little influence, but histone H4 acetylation or removal of histone tails drastically decreased the interaction strength. Because of the weak and shallow pair potential, higher-order nucleosome assemblies will be compliant and experience dynamic shape fluctuations in the absence of additional cofactors. Our results contribute to a more accurate description of chromatin and our force spectrometer provides a powerful tool for the direct and high-resolution study of molecular interactions using imaging techniques.
Please see also our related study on nucleosome unwrapping.
Single molecule dissection of stacking forces in DNA
F. Kilchherr, C. Wachauf, B. Pelz, M. Rief, M. Zacharias, and H. Dietz.
We directly measured at the single-molecule level the forces and lifetimes of DNA base-pair stacking interactions for all stack sequence combinations. Our experimental approach combined dual-beam optical tweezers with DNA origami components to allow positioning of blunt-end DNA helices so that the weak stacking force could be isolated. Base-pair stack arrays that lacked a covalent backbone connection spontaneously dissociated at average rates ranging from 0.02 to 500 per second, depending on the sequence combination and stack array size. Forces in the range from 2 to 8 piconewtons that act along the helical direction only mildly accelerated the stochastic unstacking process. The free-energy increments per stack that we estimate from the measured forward and backward kinetic rates ranged from –0.8 to –3.4 kilocalories per mole, depending on the sequence combination. Our data contributes to understanding the mechanics of DNA processing in biology, and it is helpful for designing the kinetics of DNA-based nanoscale devices according to user specifications.
Nanoscale rotary apparatus formed from tight-fitting 3D DNA components
P. Ketterer, E. Willner, and H.Dietz, Science Advances 2016
We report a nanoscale rotary mechanism that reproduces some of the dynamic properties of biological rotary motors in the absence of an energy source, such as random walks on a circle with dwells at docking sites. Our mechanism is built modularly from tight-fitting components that were self-assembled using multilayer DNA origami. The apparatus has greater structural complexity than previous mechanically interlocked objects and features a well-defined angular degree of freedom without restricting the range of rotation. We studied the dynamics of our mechanism using single-particle experiments analogous to those performed previously with actin-labeled adenosine triphosphate synthases. In our mechanism, rotor mobility, the number of docking sites, and the dwell times at these sites may be controlled through rational design. Our prototype thus realizes a working platform toward creating synthetic nanoscale rotary motors. Our methods will support creating other complex nanoscale mechanisms based on tightly fitting, sterically constrained, but mobile, DNA components.
Placing molecules with Bohr radius resolution using DNA origami
J. Funke and H. Dietz, Nature Nanotechnology, 2015
Molecular self-assembly with DNA relies on building blocks that are commensurate to those of biological macromolecular machines and should therefore be capable of delivering the atomic-scale placement accuracy known today only from natural and designed proteins. So far, few objects afford a design accuracy better than 5 nm, and the subnanometre scale has been reached only within the unit cells of designed DNA crystals. Here, we report a molecular positioning device made from a hinged DNA origami object in which the angle between the two structural units can be controlled with adjuster helices. We rationally adjusted the average distance between fluorescent molecules and reactive groups from 1.5 to 9 nm in 123 discrete displacement steps. The smallest displacement step possible was 0.04 nm, which is slightly less than the Bohr radius. The fluctuation amplitudes in the distance coordinate were also small (±0.5 nm), and within a factor of two to three of the amplitudes found in protein structures.
Dynamic DNA devices and assemblies formed by shape-complementary, non-basepairing 3D components
Thomas Gerling, Klaus F. Wagenbauer, Andrea M. Neuner, Hendrik Dietz, Science 2015
Discrete three-dimensional (3D) DNA components can specifically self-assemble in solution on the basis of shape-complementarity and without base pairing. Using this principle, we produced homo- and heteromultimeric objects, including micrometer-scale one- and two-stranded filaments and lattices, as well as reconfigurable devices, including an actuator, a switchable gear, an unfoldable nanobook, and a nanorobot. These multidomain assemblies were stabilized via short-ranged nucleobase stacking bonds that compete against electrostatic repulsion between the components' interfaces. The balance between attractive and repulsive interactions, and thus the conformation of the assemblies, may be finely controlled by global parameters such as cation concentration or temperature and by an allosteric mechanism based on strand-displacement reactions.
Cryo-EM structure of a 3D DNA-origami object
X. Bai, T. Martin, S. Scheres, and H. Dietz, PNAS 2012
A key goal for nanotechnology is to design synthetic objects that may ultimately achieve functionalities known today only from natural macromolecular complexes. Molecular self-assembly with DNA has shown potential for creating user-defined 3D scaffolds, but the level of attainable positional accuracy has been unclear. Here we report the cryo-EM structure and a full pseudoatomic model of a discrete DNA object that is almost twice the size of a prokaryotic ribosome. The structure provides a variety of stable, previously undescribed DNA topologies for future use in nano- technology and experimental evidence that discrete 3D DNA scaf- folds allow the positioning of user-defined structural motifs with an accuracy that is similar to that observed in natural macromole- cules. Thereby, our results indicate an attractive route to fabricate nanoscale devices that achieve complex functionalities by DNA- templated design steered by structural feedback.
Rapid folding of DNA into nanoscale shapes at constant temperature
Jean-Philippe J. Sobczak, Thomas G. Martin, Thomas Gerling, Hendrik Dietz, Science 2012
We demonstrate that, at constant temperature, hundreds of DNA strands can cooperatively fold a long template DNA strand within minutes into complex nanoscale objects. Folding occurred out of equilibrium along nucleation-driven pathways at temperatures that could be influenced by the choice of sequences, strand lengths, and chain topology. Unfolding occurred in apparent equilibrium at higher temperatures than those for folding. Folding at optimized constant temperatures enabled the rapid production of three-dimensional DNA objects with yields that approached 100%. The results point to similarities with protein folding in spite of chemical and structural differences. The possibility for rapid and high-yield assembly will enable DNA nanotechnology for practical applications.
Synthetic lipid membrane channels formed by designed DNA nanostructures
M. Langecker, V. Arnaut, T. Martin, J. List, S. Renner, M. Mayer, H. Dietz, and F. Simmel, Science 2012
We created nanometer-scale transmembrane channels in lipid bilayers by means of self-assembled DNA-based nanostructures. Scaffolded DNA origami was used to create a stem that penetrated and spanned a lipid membrane, as well as a barrel-shaped cap that adhered to the membrane, in part via 26 cholesterol moieties. In single-channel electrophysiological measurements, we found similarities to the response of natural ion channels, such as conductances on the order of 1 nanosiemens and channel gating. More pronounced gating was seen for mutations in which a single DNA strand of the stem protruded into the channel. Single-molecule translocation experiments show that the synthetic channels can be used to discriminate single DNA molecules. The work was done in collaboration with the Simmel lab at TUM.
DNA origami gatekeepers for solid-state nanopores
R. Wei, T. Martin, U. Rant, and H. Dietz, Angewandte Chemie 2012
We developed DNA origami nanoplates that function with solid-state nanopores, which can be fabricated through standard electron beam lithography. The DNA origami nanoplates are permeable to small ions, but the passage of macromolecules can be controlled by including custom apertures. The chemical addressability of the DNA nanoplates enables bait–prey single-molecule sensing experiments, as highlighted in our study by the sequence-specific detection of DNA snippets and genomic phage DNA. Applications in biomolecular interaction screens and for detecting DNA sequences by hybridization are readily conceivable. High-resolution sensing applications, such as electrical DNA sequencing will require reducing both the leakage current and current fluctuations.


A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Tuesday morning, September 23rd for a new homecare business that has branched into Paducah. "Visiting Angels" offers living assistance services and is deemed America's choice in homecare. Workers at "Visiting Angels" believe they have more than just a job; they have a personal commitment to improving the lives of others and are dedicated to serve and care for their clients and their families. The new Western Kentucky location that is being directed by Karen Wade and Gary Rogers is located at 2511 Jackson Street in Paducah. For more information call 270-408-1619 or visit their website at www.visitingangels.com/westernkentucky.


Learn techniques of twining and simple looping, making a connection with basketry and textiles. Work around simple moulds to make samples using both techniques and achieve an understanding of how to create woven structures, using a range of fine flexible materials.
The focus of the making will be working around a mould, which either becomes part of the finished piece or is removed to leave a hollow form.
Twining requires the weaving of an active element around a passive warp. The weaving is worked in the hands with the use of a few simple tools. Looped stuctures are formed using loops with either the fingers or a needle. The resulting fabric can be either tightly worked and therefore firm or loosely worked and more fluid.
Working around simple moulds, samples will be worked using both techniques. You will be encouraged to work with a range of different fine flexible materials, all of which will have their own qualities. This will provide a variety of results when moulds are removed. Some of the moulds will be incorporated into the piece, meaning that the work almost covers the mould, for example working around a pebble.
Mary will demonstrate techniques, provide visual notes and offer individual support to enable you to create your own decorative pieces.
By the end of the course you should be confident with the basics of the technique of twining and simple looping. Also have an understanding of how to work around different forms to create a woven structure. The course will highlight the differences in materials and their characteristcs.
Tools will be available on loan if required.
Please wear covered shoes in the workshop.
Mary Crabb is an award-winning contemporary basketmaker. Having originally worked in willow, Mary now works with fine flexible materials, both natural and man-made, to create small, detailed and decorative woven forms exploring the connection between basketry and textiles.