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December 10, 2022 dulciemarino9
This study used machine learning and a national prospective cohort registry database to analyze the major risk factors of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants, including environmental factors. The data consisted of 10,353 VLBW infants from the Korean Neonatal Network database from January 2013 to December 2017. The dependent variable was NEC. Seventy-four predictors, including ambient temperature and particulate matter, were included. An artificial neural network, decision tree, logistic regression, naïve Bayes, random forest, and support vector machine were used to evaluate the major predictors of NEC. Among the six prediction models, logistic regression and random forest had the best performance (accuracy: 0.93 and 0.93, area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve: 0.73 and 0.72, respectively). According to random forest variable importance, major predictors of NEC were birth weight, birth weight Z-score, maternal age, gestational age, average birth year temperature, birth year, minimum birth year temperature, maximum birth year temperature, sepsis, and male sex. To the best of our knowledge, the performance of random forest in this study was among the highest in this line of research. NEC is strongly associated with ambient birth year temperature, as well as maternal and neonatal predictors.
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) occurs in 5–10% of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants and is one of the leading causes of death among them1,2,3. It is known that even survivors of NEC eventually come down with long-term growth failure and neurodevelopmental impairments4,5,6,7.
The pathogenesis of the clinical entity known as NEC is multifactorial. Traditionally, immaturity, hyperosmolar formula, fast feeding advance, infection, and bowel ischemia are known risk factors for NEC8,9,10,11,12,13,14. In addition, several studies have investigated the association between seasonal variations and NEC15,16,17,18. A previous multicenter study in the US showed a biphasic high peak occurrence of NEC in May/June and October/November15. Javidi et al. reported a similar bimodal peak and higher number of NEC in April/May16. In this study, gestational age (GA), birth weight (BW), and birth month were associated with NEC. Another multicenter study in England showed that the incidence of surgical NEC was higher in late spring 17. However, a study in Sweden found a peak incidence in November and a low incidence in May18. These studies, though with inconsistent results, revealed that environmental factors such as seasonal variation and birth month could influence the incidence of NEC. Studies on the association between NEC and other environmental factors, such as ambient temperature and air pollution are lacking. Furthermore, no endeavors have been made regarding the utilization of machine learning for the prediction of NEC among VLBW infants.
In this context, this study employed machine learning and a national prospective cohort registry database to examine the main predictors of NEC in VLBW infants, including environmental factors such as ambient temperature, air pollution, and seasonal variation in birth year. This study presents the most comprehensive machine learning analysis on this topic, using a rich collection of 74 predictors and bringing new results concerning their associations with NEC.
Descriptive statistics for NEC and its categorical predictors are presented in Table 1. Among 10,353 VLBW infants, the proportion of NEC was 6.8% (n = 704). The results of the univariate analysis (chi-square test for the equality of proportions "Yes" or t test for the equality of means) are presented in Table 2. The P values were smaller than 0.05 for the following variables: GA, BW, small-for-GA, sex (male), birth year, multipara, gestational diabetes mellitus, chorioamnionitis, pre-labor rupture of membrane, antenatal steroid use, cesarean section, oligohydramnios, polyhydramnios, Apgar score, intensive neonatal resuscitation, initial blood gas analysis, pulmonary hemorrhage, respiratory distress syndrome, treated patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), air leak syndrome, and sepsis.
Table 1 Descriptive Statistics: Necrotizing Enterocolitis and Categorical Predictors.
Table 2 Univariate Analysis.
The performance measures for the six prediction models for NEC are listed in Table 3. The random split and analysis were repeated 50 times then its average was taken for external validation. The performance results were similar, irrespective of the inclusion of average ambient temperature for each of the 10, 9, 8, …, 2, 1, and 0 months before birth. With the inclusion of sepsis, the area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve for the random forest increased from 0.70 to 0.72. Among the six prediction models for NEC, logistic regression and the random forest with 1000 trees had the best performance (accuracy: 0.93 and 0.93, area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve: 0.73 and 0.72, respectively). The findings of hyper-parameter tuning in the last box of Table 3 show that the random forests with 500, 400, 300, 200 and 100 trees were not as good as the random forest with 1000 trees. Indeed, the area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curves for the six prediction models in one of the 50 runs are presented in Fig. 1. The results in Fig. 1 came from one particular run (i.e., the 50th run), whereas the results in Table 3 are the averages of the 50 runs. This explains why they are different from each other. The values and ranks of random forest variable importance are presented in Table 4. The importance rank of the temperature average for each of the 10, 9, 8, …, 2, 1, and 0 months before birth was below the top 30, while their sepsis counterparts were within the top 10 (9th). According to the random forest variable importance in Table 4 and Fig. 2, the major predictors of NEC were BW (0.0910), BW Z-score (0.0907), maternal age (0.0712), GA (0.0476), average birth year temperature (0.0250), birth year (0.0245), minimum birth year temperature (0.0244), maximum birth year temperature (0.0239), sepsis (0.0237), sex (male) (0.0198), multipara (0.0189), surfactant use ≥ 2 (0.0168), multiple pregnancy (0.0166), treated PDA (0.0165), and chorioamnionitis (0.0163). Based on logistic regression variable importance (the absolute value of the optimized coefficient) in Table 5, indeed, major predictors of NEC were sepsis, BW Z-score, gestational diabetes mellitus, PDA ligation, unmarried, pulmonary hemorrhage, sex (male), maximum birth year temperature, air leak syndrome, chorioamnionitis, small-for-GA, blood gas base excess, GA, in vitro fertilization, and antenatal steroid. It needs to be noted that the results in Tables 4 and 5 came from one particular run (i.e., the 50th run).
Table 3 Model performance for predicting necrotizing enterocolitis: Means and confidence intervals over 50 runs.
Area Under the Receiver-Operating-Characteristic Curves for Necrotizing Enterocolitis. Legend: The area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve (AUC) is the plot of the true positive rate (sensitivity) against the false positive rate (1- specificity) at various threshold settings. Abbreviations: ANN Artificial neural network, AUC Area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve, DT Decision tree, LR Logistic regression, NB Naïve Bayes, RF Random forest, SVM Support vector machine.
Table 4 Random Forest Variable Importance: Temperature Average for Birth Month, Sepsis Included.
Random Forest Variable Importance Plots for Necrotizing Enterocolitis. Legend: Random forest variable importance calculates node impurity (GINI) decrease from the creation of a branch on a certain predictor. It is an average over all trees in a random forest with the range of 0 and 1. Abbreviations: PM, Particulate matter; PROM, Pre-labor rupture of membranes.
Table 5 Logistic Regression Variable Importance: Temperature Average for Birth Month, Sepsis Included.
Among the six prediction models for NEC, logistic regression and random forest had the best performances. According to random forest variable importance, major predictors of NEC included environmental factors (ambient birth year temperature), maternal factors (maternal age, multipara, multiple pregnancy, chorioamnionitis), and neonatal factors (GA, BW, male sex, sepsis, PDA).
This study confirmed that BW and GA were the main predictors of NEC. Our findings were consistent with the results of previous studies that revealed that lower BW and GA were the main risk factors for NEC19,20. Prematurity is well known to be the main cause of NEC. This can be explained by ischemic mucosal injury in the immature gut of preterm infants21. Recently, NEC has been considered to develop as multifactorial hits in the immature gut by both prenatal and postnatal factors. In addition, the gut microbiota in preterm infants is different from that in healthy term infants, and show a decreased diversity22,23. Moreover, prematurity reflects developmental changes in several organs other than in the gut, which increases the incidence of neonatal morbidity.
A unique finding of this study was that ambient temperature was associated with the incidence of NEC. The higher ambient temperature associated with NEC incidence may be influenced by environmental factors. Previous studies have reported that a high ambient temperature increases the risk of preterm birth24,25,26. Heat induces the production of proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor, causing inflammatory processes at the maternal–fetal interface27. Furthermore, heat stress increases the production of oxytocin and prostaglandin, which are associated with uterine contractions and induce preterm labor28,29. It causes dehydration, resulting in decreases in maternal fluid levels, subsequently reducing fetal blood volume and leading to the production of pituitary hormones that provoke labor30.
Sepsis is one of the main predictors of NEC. Infection triggers inflammation in the immature gastrointestinal tract, which may contribute to NEC pathogenesis31. Recent findings have shown that preterm infants are exposed to a bacteria-rich environment in the neonatal intensive care unit and antibiotics that reduce the diversity of the gut microbiome32. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is a pathogen recognition molecule that recognizes bacterial endotoxins such as lipopolysaccharides and induces inflammation33. This TLR4-mediated bacterial signaling leads to increased mucosal injury and reduced mucosal repair, resulting in mucosal defects in which bacteria can translocate through the circulation34,35,36. At this stage, bacteria lead to the inhibition of vasodilator expression, thus decreasing intestinal perfusion, which results in tissue necrosis of the gut37.
In this study, chorioamnionitis was found to be a predictor of NEC. There have been debates regarding prenatal infection or inflammation and its effects on NEC. Some studies reported no association, but others demonstrated that chorioamnionitis was associated with preterm birth, and it was also associated with inflammation and infection in infants during perinatal periods38,39,40. A meta-analysis by Been et al. revealed that chorioamnionitis is significantly associated with NEC41. Our findings are consistent with the results of these studies. Gastrointestinal inflammatory markers were increased in preterm infants exposed to chorioamnionitis, reflecting the proinflammatory state of the gut after birth42. The gut microbiome reflects amniotic fluid with chorioamnionitis43. In this condition, preterm infants may have disturbed barrier function, which would increase the susceptibility of the gut to secondary hits, such as sepsis and circulatory instability, leading to an increased incidence of NEC41.
In this study, multiparity was significantly associated with NEC. Lee et al. reported similar results in VLBW infants40. This finding may explain why the infant can be affected by maternal parity, exposure to maternal stress factors from recurrent pregnancy, oxidative stress, and passive transfer of immunomodulators that change the gut microbiota of neonates.
There are some limitations to this study. First, address information was not provided in the Korean Neonatal Network (KNN) database; hence, national averages were taken for PM10 and temperature variables in this study. More specific information on these predictors would improve the validity of research in this direction. Second, this study did not consider the possible mediating effects of the various predictors. Third, this study did not focus on examining the possible mechanisms between major predictors and NEC. Fourth, this study did not include indoor factors that could be major predictors of NEC. Fifth, it was beyond the scope of this study to compare various re-sampling approaches regarding class imbalance, i.e., the proportion of NEC was only 6.8%. Under-sampling involves the reduction of the majority class for the balance, whereas over-sampling involves the expansion of the minority class for the goal. For example, a recent study compared the performance measures of four machine learning models in the cases of under-sampling and over-sampling for the prediction of cardiovascular disease44. Few studies are available, and further investigation is needed on this topic. Sixth, maternal age, GA, BW, BW Z-score and environmental predictors were not normalized in order to keep their full information. Using different rescaling methods for these continuous predictors (e.g., normalization) and comparing their results would make a valuable contribution for this line of research. Seventh, this study followed existing literature 49,53,54 to focus on top-10 predictors in terms of random forest variable importance. However, it needs to be noted that there has been no consensus on the threshold of major predictors in terms of random forest variable importance. Eighth, this study focused on random forest variable importance instead of logistic regression variable importance. Logistic regression performed as good as did the random forest in this study. But logistic regression requires an unrealistic assumption of ceteris paribus, i.e., "all the other variables staying constant." For this reason, we used random forest variable importance for evaluating the importance ranking of a major predictor and univariate analysis for testing the direction of association between NEC and the predictor. Some predictors ranked within the top 15 in the random forest but out of the top 30 in logistic regression, i.e., BW (1st vs. 63rd), maternal age (3rd vs. 52nd), average birth year temperature (5th vs. 56th), birth year (6th vs. 65th), primipara (11thvs. 33rd) and surfactant use (12th vs. 40th). Little literature is available and more examination is needed on comparing the variable importance of various statistical approaches.
To the best of our knowledge, the performance of the random forest in this study (the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.72) is among the highest in this line of research. NEC is strongly associated with birth year temperature, as well as maternal and neonatal predictors.
Participants and variables
The data consisted of 10,353 VLBW infants from the KNN database from January 2013 to December 2017. The KNN started in April 2013 as a national prospective cohort registry of VLBW infants admitted or transferred to neonatal intensive care units across South Korea (it covers 74 neonatal intensive care units now). It collects perinatal and neonatal data of VLBW infants based on a standardized operating procedure45.
The dependent variable was NEC, with binary categories (no, yes). The following 47 perinatal predictors were considered (43 of them had binary categories): sex, birth-year (categorical: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), birth-month, birth-season (spring, summer, autumn, winter), multiple pregnancy, in vitro fertilization, gestational diabetes mellitus, overt diabetes mellitus, pregnancy-induced hypertension, chronic hypertension, histologic chorioamnionitis, pre-labor rupture of membranes > 18 h, antenatal steroid, cesarean section, oligohydramnios, polyhydramnios, maternal age (years), primipara, maternal education (categorical: elementary, junior high, senior high, college or higher), maternal citizenship, paternal education (categorical: elementary, junior high, senior high, college or higher), paternal citizenship, marital status, congenital infection, 1-min Apgar score ≤ 3, 5-min Apgar score < 7, neonatal resuscitation program, intensive neonatal resuscitation (intubation, chest compression or medications), initial blood gas pH < 7.0, initial blood gas base excess < -15, pulmonary hemorrhage, respiratory distress syndrome, surfactant use ≥ 2, PDA treatment (medical or surgical), PDA ligation, air leak syndrome, GA, GA < 28 weeks, GA < 26 weeks, BW, BW Z-score, BW < 1,000 g, BW < 750 g, SGA, and sepsis. The following 26 environmental predictors were also included: PM10 for birth year, PM10 for each month during pregnancy, average ambient temperature for birth year, minimum ambient temperature for birth year, maximum ambient temperature for birth year, and average ambient temperature for each month during pregnancy. PM10 and ambient temperature data were obtained from the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) (PM10 https://data.kma.go.kr/data/climate/selectDustRltmList.do?pgmNo=68; temperature https://web.kma.go.kr/weather/climate/past_cal.jsp). According to the KMA, PM10 denotes the concentration of particles with diameters of 10 µm or less, whereas ambient temperature represents the overall temperature of the outdoor air surrounding people.
NEC was diagnosed according to the modified Bell's staging criteria (≥ Stage II)46. Gestational diabetes mellitus was defined as any degree of glucose intolerance with the onset or first recognition during pregnancy. Pregnancy-induced hypertension was defined as hypertension with onset in the latter part of pregnancy (> 20 weeks' gestation), followed by normalization of blood pressure postpartum. Chorioamnionitis was defined as histologic chorioamnionitis47. Oligohydramnios (or polyhydramnios) was defined as an amniotic fluid index of < 5 cm (or > 24 cm). Small-for-GA was defined as BW below the 10th percentile, according to the Fenton growth chart48.
Artificial neural networks, decision trees, logistic regression, naïve Bayes, random forests, and support vector machines were used for predicting NEC49,50,51,52,53,54. The following default parameters were adopted for convenience: The splitting criterion was GINI, the max depth was not determined and the number of trees was 1000 in the random forest; the radial basis function kernel was employed in the support vector machine; and the limited memory Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno algorithm served for the optimization of the artificial neural network. Data on 10,353 observations with full information were divided into training and validation sets in a 70:30 ratio. Accuracy, which is the ratio of correct predictions among 3,106 observations, was employed as the standard for validating the models. Random forest variable importance, the contribution of a certain variable to the performance (GINI) of the random forest, was used to examine the major predictors of NEC in VLBW infants, including environmental factors. The random split and analysis were repeated 50 times, and the average was used for external validation55,56. Different seed numbers were used for different runs but the default parameters stayed the same throughout the random splits and analyses. R-Studio 1.3.959 (R-Studio Inc.: Boston, United States) was employed for the analysis from August 1, 2021 to September to 30, 2021.
The KNN registry was approved by the institutional review board (IRB) at each participating hospital (IRB No. of Korea University Anam Hospital: 2013AN0115). Informed consent was obtained from the parent(s) of each infant registered in the KNN. All methods were carried out in accordance with the IRB-approved protocol and in compliance with relevant guidelines and regulations.
The names of the IRB of the KNN participating hospitals are as follows: The Institutional Review Board of Gachon University Gil Medical Center, The Catholic University of Korea Bucheon ST. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea Seoul ST. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea ST. Vincent's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea Yeouido ST. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea Uijeongbu ST. Mary's Hospital, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, GangNeung Asan Hospital, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Kangwon National University Hospital, Konkuk University Medical Center, Konyang University Hospital, Kyungpook National University Hospital, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Kyung Hee University Medical Center, Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Korea University Anam Hospital, and Kosin University Gospel Hospital, National Health Insurance Service Iilsan Hospital, Daegu Catholic University Medical Center, Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital, Dong-A University Hospital, Seoul Metropolitan Government-Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan ST. Mary's Hospital, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Samsung Medical Center, Samsung Changwon Medical Center, Seoul National University Hospital, Asan Medical Center, Sungae Hospital, Severance Hospital, Soonchunhyang University Hospital Bucheon, Soonchunhyang University Hospital Seoul, Soonchunhyang University Hospital Cheonan, Ajou University Hospital, Pusan National University Children's Hospital, Yeungnam University Hospital, Ulsan University Hospital, Wonkwang University School of Medicine & Hospital, Wonju Severance Christian Hospital, Eulji University Hospital, Eulji General Hospital, Ewha Womans University Medical Center, Inje University Busan Paik Hospital, Inje University Sanggye Paik Hospital, Inje University Ilsan Paik Hospital, Inje University Haeundae Paik Hospital, Inha University Hospital, Chonnam National University Hospital, Chonbuk National University Hospital, Cheil General Hospital & Women's Healthcare Center, Jeju National University Hospital, Chosun University Hospital, Chung-Ang University Hospital, CHA Gangnam Medical Center, CHA University, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University, Chungnam National University Hospital, Chungbuk National University, Kyungpook National University Chilgok Hospital, Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital, Kangdong Sacred Heart Hospital, Hanyang University Guri Hospital, and Hanyang University Medical Center.
Data collection was approved by the institutional review board of each hospital participating in KNN (2013AN0115). Informed consent was obtained from the parents (s) of each infant registered in the KNN.
The code used in this study is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The data presented in this study are not publicly available. However, the data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request and with permission from the Korean Neonatal Network and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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This work was supported by (1) the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2019-ER7103-02#), (2) Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2020R1I1A1A01073697) and (3) the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare under the Korea Health Technology R&D Project supervised by the the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (HI22C1302). The funder had no role in the design of the study; the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data; or the writing of the manuscript.
Department of Pediatrics, Korea University College of Medicine, Anam Hospital, 73 Goryeodae-Ro, Seongbuk-Gu, Seoul, 02841, Korea
Hannah Cho, Eun Hee Lee & Ju Sun Heo
Department of Pediatrics, Korea University Anam Hospital, Seoul, Korea
Hannah Cho & Ju Sun Heo
AI Center, Korea University College of Medicine, Anam Hospital, 73 Goryeodae-Ro, Seongbuk-Gu, Seoul, 02841, Korea
Kwang-Sig Lee
Hannah Cho
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Ju Sun Heo
H.C., E.H.L., K.S.L., and J.S.H. contributed to the design of the study; collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data; and writing, editing, and approval of the manuscript.
Correspondence to
Kwang-Sig Lee or Ju Sun Heo.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Cho, H., Lee, E.H., Lee, KS. et al. Machine learning-based risk factor analysis of necrotizing enterocolitis in very low birth weight infants.
Sci Rep 12, 21407 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-25746-6
Accepted: 05 December 2022
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Published at Sat, 10 Dec 2022 14:29:53 +0000
What is the next frontier of AI and robotics? – WGSN
From human-centred design to robot imagination, discover the ideas and innovations driving AI and robotics today.
At WGSN, we've been tracking the growth opportunities and added value that AI and robotics can enable in people's lives, both at home and in the workplace. While substantial growth has been made, what further breakthroughs do we need to incite true mass adoption?
Here's a look at the key trends and where the industry is heading:
Human-centred design
While computers have been around since the 1930s, they only became accessible 50 years later with the advent of graphical user interfaces (GUIs), kicking off the multi-trillion dollar industry we know today. Similarly, focusing on the usability of AI and robotics technologies is the key to driving adoption.
In industrial contexts, growing emphasis is on user-friendly robots that do not require a high level of expertise to operate. Software companies such as Canada-based Omnirobotic are tackling this issue with its platform that makes it easy to set up autonomous robot applications with minimal positioning and little to no manual programming. Meanwhile, US-based Ready Robotics' Forge/OS platform integrates with hundreds of industrial robot brands and lets operators manage them with a simple flowchart-style visual programming interface.
The use of these technologies are on the rise; Gartner forecasts global artificial intelligence software revenue will grow 21.3% in 2022 to a $62.5bn market.
ThisIsEngineering/Pexels
General intelligence robots
Current machine learning technologies are being used to teach robots specific tasks, but they are rigid and do not handle variation well. For a future where smart robots can handle more work, robots need an understanding of setting and context.
"Lifestyle robots must be able to augment human capability and potential, to explore, evaluate, experiment and extend what it already knows when we encounter an unknown problem," says Oliver Tian, vice president at Global Robot Clusters.
At AIBotics 2022, a conference addressing the adoption of AI in robotics, researchers from the National University of Singapore and Johns Hopkins University showcased a new framework that helps robots understand the affordance of things instead of what they look like. They successfully taught robots a chair's purpose (sitting affordance) and how to prepare a chair for a person to sit comfortably on. Coined "robot imagination", this method could make household robots smarter and better at solving problems autonomously.
Robots for ageing populations
Many societies globally are facing a fast ageing population, raising concerns about slowing economic growth and societal issues such as mobility and social participation. Some governments are looking to tech to combat these issues, partnering with private companies and academics to redesign cities and societies of the future.
Japan's Society 5.0 vision aims to tackle its ageing population issue through the digitalisation of its entire society, using remote technologies to enable its population to work for longer while leaving routine work to AI. In Susono, the government is collaborating with Japanese automaker Toyota on Woven City, an experimental city housing 360 residents, most of whom are elderly. The project will test automated mobility innovations and smart home developments, including an underground parcel delivery and rubbish disposal system.
AI and robotics trends will affect how we work, play and learn in the future. WGSN subscribers can check out our Key Trend: Artificial Intelligence at Work report to learn about the near-term impacts of this revolution.
Previous Commissary technology: artificial intelligence | Supermarket Perimeter
Next What We Got Right And Wrong In Our 2022 AI Predictions – Forbes


With the DoorBird D301, you can speak with visitors from anywhere using your smartphone.
With DoorBird, your parcels can be delivered at any time – even when you are not at home. When the postman rings your doorbell, you receive an instant alert on your smartphone and can decide on the spot where he should leave the parcel. Whether you direct him to the neighbor, open the front or the garage door – the solution for all deliveries is now in your hands.
Most burglaries take place during the day when nobody is at home. To find apartments and houses where no one is inside, burglars first press the doorbell. With DoorBird, you can check who is standing at your front door while being at the office or on holidays. A simple "Hello, who is there?" is often enough to put off most burglars.
A visitor rings your doorbell.
The DoorBird D301 sends the signal from your analog indoor station via push notification to your smartphone or tablet.
Using the free DoorBird App, you can now speak with the visitor and open the door.
Which indoor stations does the DoorBird D301 support?
Check your compatibility with the D301!


crafty goodies: Remember this~View Master reels!
Helmar 450 quick Dry works great for that!!
Thanks for stopping by and I'll see ya soon!!!!
Wowwwwwwwww! This is GORGEOUS Connie! i love love love the colors and loving what you did with the viewmasters!! LOVING that badge!!!
This is so cute!!! I love it Connie!! It's alway fun to see your layouts that use your vintage finds!!
The green is so pretty for this page, Connie. Love how you used the View Masters too. How many more to go? LOL!
What an AWESOME find! I would so have scooped those up, too!!! I'm jealous!
You are so creative! What a great use for those reels. I really like the layout...it looks fantastic.
This is amazing! Love all the green also. You are mega-talented.
the ideas you come up with are amazing! LOVE iT!
connie - LOVE what you did with the view master! awesome!
What fun. I love how you used the reels as embellishments. You should make a note on the back of your layouts when you use "vintage" pieces to what they are for future generations.
Love how you used the reels! Great page!


text:
La Ligue A de la Ligue des nations 2022-2023 est la première division de la Ligue des nations 2022-2023, troisième édition d'une compétition impliquant les équipes nationales masculines des 55 associations membres de l'UEFA.

Format
Le format de la compétition est identique à l'édition précédente.

Légende des couleurs

Tirage au sort
Les équipes sont attribuées à la Ligue A en fonction de la liste d'accès basée sur le classement général de la précédente édition. Elles sont réparties en quatre chapeaux de quatre équipes, placées selon leur coefficient.

Le tirage au sort de la phase de ligue a lieu à Nyon, le .

Groupes
Légende des classements

Groupe 1

Groupe 2

Groupe 3

Groupe 4

Classement général
Légende des classements

Tableau final

Demi-finales

Match pour la troisième place

Finale

Buteurs
3 buts

  Michy Batshuayi
  Memphis Depay

2 buts

  İlkay Gündoğan
  Kai Havertz
  Jonas Hofmann
  Joshua Kimmich
  Timo Werner
  Harry Kane
  Kevin De Bruyne
  Leandro Trossard
  Luka Modrić
  Andreas Cornelius
  Andreas Skov Olsen
  Álvaro Morata
  Pablo Sarabia
  Kylian Mbappé
  Zsolt Nagy
  Roland Sallai
  Lorenzo Pellegrini
  Giacomo Raspadori
  Steven Bergwijn
  Denzel Dumfries
  Cody Gakpo
  Brennan Johnson
  Karol Świderski
  João Cancelo
  Diogo Dalot
  Cristiano Ronaldo
  Breel Embolo
  Jan Kuchta

1 but

  Thomas Müller
  Mason Mount
  Luke Shaw
  Marko Arnautović
  Christoph Baumgartner
  Michael Gregoritsch
  Marcel Sabitzer
  Xaver Schlager
  Andreas Weimann
  Leander Dendoncker
  Loïs Openda
  Youri Tielemans
  Axel Witsel
  Andrej Kramarić
  Marko Livaja
  Dejan Lovren
  Lovro Majer
  Mario Pašalić
  Borna Sosa
  Kasper Dolberg
  Christian Eriksen
  Pierre-Emile Højbjerg
  Jens Stryger Larsen
  Jonas Wind
  Jordi Alba
  Gavi
  Íñigo Martínez
  Carlos Soler
  Karim Benzema
  Olivier Giroud
  Adrien Rabiot
  Dániel Gazdag
  Ádám Szalai
  Dominik Szoboszlai
  Nicolò Barella
  Alessandro Bastoni
  Federico Dimarco
  Wilfried Gnonto
  Virgil van Dijk
  Davy Klaassen
  Teun Koopmeiners
  Noa Lang
  Wout Weghorst
  Gareth Bale
  Kieffer Moore
  Rhys Norrington-Davies
  Jonathan Williams
  Matty Cash
  Jakub Kamiński
  Robert Lewandowski
  Piotr Zieliński
  William Carvalho
  Gonçalo Guedes
  Ricardo Horta
  Diogo Jota
  Bernardo Silva
  Manuel Akanji
  Remo Freuler
  Noah Okafor
  Haris Seferović
  Jakub Pešek
  Patrik Schick

But contre son camp

  Eric García(pour la )
  Gianluca Mancini(pour la )
  Djibril Sow(pour la )

Hommes du match
2 fois

 Manuel Neuer

 Pablo Sarabia

 Denzel Dumfries

1 fois

 Joshua Kimmich

 Thomas Müller

 Maximilian Wöber

 Patrick Pentz

 Leandro Trossard

 Michy Batshuayi

 Kevin De Bruyne

 Mario Pašalić

 Josip Juranović

 Borna Sosa

 Andreas Cornelius

 Pierre-Emile Højbjerg

 Jonas Wind

 Carlos Soler

 Olivier Giroud

 Presnel Kimpembe

 Ádám Lang

 Dominik Szoboszlai

 Roland Sallai

 Francesco Acerbi

 Nicolò Barella

 Leonardo Bonucci

 Teun Koopmeiners

 Memphis Depay

 Cody Gakpo

 Aaron Ramsey

 Piotr Zieliński

 Diogo Dalot

 Cristiano Ronaldo

 Bernardo Silva

 Manuel Akanji

 Yann Sommer

 Jan Kuchta

 Tomáš Vaclík

Articles connexes

Ligue des nations de l'UEFA

Notes et références

Ligue des nations de l'UEFA 2022-2023

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
PwC drops ethical concerns as prospect of Pilatus Bank funds looms
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), one of the major 'big four' audit firms in Malta, has changed its position over its association with Pilatus Bank – defined in court as a money laundering machine – and has accepted to take over a new role at the bank despite a potential conflict of interest.
The sudden change of heart, accompanied by the possibility for PwC to rake in massive fees, possibly running into millions, surprised many in the industry as it came about only a few years after its managing partner David Valenzia declared in court that his firm was not comfortable with continuing its work for Pilatus Bank due to its record.
PwC acted as the bank's internal auditor between February 2014 and December 2016 and was supposed to serve as one of the bank's "three lines of defence" when it comes to following proper procedures, including anti-money laundering compliance.
On PwC's watch, Pilatus was responsible for a number of suspicious transactions which led to the European Banking Authority's withdrawal of its licence. During the same period, the Maltese regulator, the MFSA, failed to take any action against the bank despite repeated reports in the press.
During court testimony in the notorious Egrant inquiry, which dealt with whether Michelle Muscat, wife of disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat owned a secret account at Pilatus Bank, Valenzia had said PwC was "uncomfortable" with continuing its work for the bank as more and more stories of impropriety were surfacing in the media.
Shrugging off responsibility for his firms' role onto his predecessor, former managing partner Kevin Valenzia (his brother), David Valenzia admitted that his firm was still pitching for another contract from Pilatus Bank when problems became public.
"They never came back to us until June 2017, which by that time we were uncomfortable continuing with that engagement," he told the court.
Extract from David Valenzia's statement in the Egrant inquiry.
Just a few years after his declarations in court, PwC, still managed by the same Valenzia, is now adopting a new approach.
A few weeks ago, at the invitation of the MFSA, PwC accepted to act as 'competent person' for Pilatus Bank, dropping its objections voiced in the Egrant inquiry.
This means that PwC will take over the administration of the bank it was previously 'uncomfortable' working for and now charging it, possibly millions in fees for its work.
Pilatus Bank was shut down at the end of 2018 and had its licence taken away over serious money laundering breaches.
Speaking to The Shift, several audit industry sources said they were surprised at the latest turn by PwC. "It is astonishing that PwC has accepted to take on this assignment when it was so close to the embarrassing story of Pilatus Bank," one financial services expert said.
"It is even sadder that after trying to shrug off any responsibility for what happened on their watch, it seems that a few years down the line PwC is now 'comfortable' once again to work with Pilatus Bank and earn their cash. We really have a serious problem in the profession."
Asked for their reaction, both the MFSA and PwC justified their position.
Without explaining the process of how the financial services regulator decided to choose PwC, the MFSA said it "speaks to a range of potential service providers and considers all relevant issues before making a competent person or skilled person appointment."
A similar stance was adopted by PwC: "In line with its professional requirements, PwC carries out procedures prior to accepting any engagement. We cannot comment on client-specific matters".
Big audit firms are a big problem
During the past years, Malta's major auditing firms have become synonymous with stories of alleged money laundering, breach of rules, fraudulent activities, and lack of ethics as the country has dived in rankings in order to attract the super-rich and wealthy to its shores, including through the selling of passports and citizenship.
After years of absence and failures by the supervisory authorities, pressure by international organisations, including Moneyval, led to a sudden surge in policing, leading to many long-practising accountants and auditors, such as Brian Tonna, Karl Cini, Manuel Castagna and others now facing criminal charges.
The 'Big Four' firms in Malta – Deloitte, PwC, KPMG and EY – normally associated with the highest of standards, have not been spared criticism because they went with the flow.
Industry sources told The Shift that PwC's sudden change of heart is just another example of how these firms have grown too big and are now constrained to sacrifice their ethics, standards and code of conduct at every prospect of cashing in lucrative fees.
In February, The Shift exposed another of the Maltese big four when it resulted that EY had charged more than €10 million in fees when acting as a 'competent person' for Satabank – also accused of money laundering activities.
The appointment of EY by the MFSA was made at the time when the financial regulator was led by its now-disgraced CEO Joseph Cuschieri.
The former CEO, who had to resign after a scandal involving him accepting gifts from Yorgen Fenech, used to work for EY as an advisor and was a close friend of the 'competent person's managing partner, Ronald Attard.
During the past years, all the big four firms have become increasingly dependent on government handouts, cashing in millions annually in taxpayer funds in direct orders and tailor-made assignments.
These firms that have now expanded to dozens of partners are used by the government and its many entities to write reports and give advice on numerous multi-million euro projects and deals.
They are also regularly assigned to audit government entities, charging exorbitant fees to taxpayers.
Povru haddiem li afdakhom bil- vot is-suppost u spicca jehu l-loqom. Il-*persons of trust* korrotti bil-provi u qisu ma gara xejn. ISTHU
Gee Mike
There is a free lunch for everyone, as long as you tow the line. It is best to be the "in" guy to clean up any unsavoury poop still running around in the remain books. Surprising after so many years of clean ups and purges of data.
I will be surprised if there is anything left, notwithstanding the ten years data retention requirements.
If they told me the sky was blue, i wouldn't hesitate to look up, professional bullshitters who survive on taxpayers easy money for their trade AND non accountable. Ideal for business in Mafialand.
Jools Seizure
Reply to mick
Do you notice the frequency with which accountants use the word "professional"? It seems they believe that talking about it is a good substitute for actually being professional. They are nothing but mercenaries scooping up public money providing consultancies and writing reports that are invariably peppered with numerous caveats effectively absolving them from any responsibility.
Must be a different PwC from the plethora of google suggestions from 'PwC scandal'.
Graham Crompton
Reply to viv
But once again the MFSA are involved. Why don't they get investigated?
Francis Darmanin
Not often you get it wrong, but you slipped up badly with "Normally associated with the highest of standards…" I'm afraid. Speak to some small time auditors, and they'll tell you.
Ġwanni Fenek
Kuljum b'xi skandlu ġdid u tal-waħx. Għad xi darba jiddispjaċina ta' dan kollu.
Nibki għal pajjiżi li ntilef fil-ħmieġ tal-korruzzjoni u tfotta għal dejjem.
' PwC drops ethical concerns as prospect of Pilatus Bank funds looms 'Opportunism reigns supreme in this country.
No signs of integrity ever existed by some people in their profession.
Joseph Croker
How can PWC be appointed 'competent person' when they had already been engaged by Pilatus? Do I smell a strong odour of conflict of interest? But then the prospect of earning considerable fees masks the stench!
Paul Bonello
Reply to Joseph Croker
MFSA and PWC will come up with the lame and invalid pretext of Chinese Walls.
PM fails to meet women's lobby on survey that shows majority against legalising prostitution
Uncivil defender of the nation

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


New app dev challenges in 2015 — Are you ready?
Regardless of the sector in which your business operates or its size, conducting mobile and web application development has never been more important – because it's never had more of a competitive impact.
It's not without challenges, however. That's because application development software technologies and IT environments change quickly, and app dev itself has never been more complex. Keeping up is tough and getting tougher.


Abstract. This paper compares three commercial lead-free solders; CASTIN®, Babbitt and SAC-I and their modified compositions in terms of mechanical and soldering properties. Solders tested are six alloys with different compositions in the range of (major elements): Sn/Cu(0.7-4)/Ag(0-4)/Sb(0.5-8)/Bi(0-3)/Ni(0-0.15). Effects of alloying elements on the thermal behavior (melting and solidification), wetting force, contact angle, spreading, tensile and hardness properties are studied. Based on preliminary results an alloy modification is made and its properties are compared and discussed against the commercial creep resistant solder alloy, i.e. SAC-I.
Introduction. Solder plays an important role in the assembly and interconnection of electronic materials. Traditionally, Sn-Pb alloy has been the major solder alloy for electronic owing to its low cost and performance. The eutectic 63Sn-37Pb solder has preferred soldering characteristics and reliability for microelectronic assembly. However, the inherent toxicity of lead and associated environmental and public health concerns is driving the microelectronic industries to seek suitable solder alloys to replace traditional Sn-Pb solder alloy [1-4]. Many lead-free solder alloys have been developed and investigated as alternatives for the conventional eutectic Sn-Pb. Among the lead-free alternatives, Sn-Ag-Cu (SAC) alloys have received the most attention and regarded as the de facto replacement for Sn-Pb solders.
The increasing demand for high reliability electronics in the automobile industry is driving the electronics industry to seek for solders that can tolerate temperature fluctuations between cold and hot extremes. The traditional lead-free SAC alloys have poor creep resistance in harsh service environments . During aging, SAC alloys undergo substantial microstructure evolution which manifests itself as a change in mechanical behavior as shown in Fig.1. Such a degradation of mechanical strength represents a significant problem for solder joint reliability. The addition of alloying elements such as bismuth (Bi), antimony (Sb) and nickel (Ni) can improve the mechanical performance of solder alloys. Bismuth dissolves in the tin matrix and improves strength and creep resistance due to the solid solution hardening effect . It has also been reported that antimony in solution (in Sn) has only a minor effect on the creep resistance , however, alloys with higher concentrations of antimony show a uniform distribution of Sn/Sb precipitates which provide a profound strengthening effect reducing the creep rate of the alloy . Nickel is marginally soluble in tin and forms an intermetallic compound phase that can increase strength due to precipitation hardening and also reduces the sliding of the grain boundaries which improves creep performance . In this paper, therefore, we study mechanical and soldering properties of an alloy developed for high operating temperature named SAC-I and compare it with commercial lead-free alloys; CASTIN® and Babbitt and their modifications.
Experimental. Five alloys were prepared in an electric pot with graphite crucible. The composition of solder alloys was analyzed by arc emission spectroscopy is shown in Table 1. The molten alloys were cast into flat dog-bone shape in a stainless steel mold for tensile testing. The tensile specimens with the dimensions shown in Fig.2 were annealed at 125°C for 96 hr. to remove any residual stress or inhomogeneity induced during the sample preparation. Tensile tests were performed at room temperature with a constant strain rate of 10-3 s-1. For each alloy at least five specimens were tested to ensure reproducibility of the tensile test results. Hardness of all the specimens was also measured by Vickers microhardness testing machine with 25 gf load and 15s impression time.
Thermal behavior of the alloys was investigated with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). A piece of 20-25mg alloy was heated in an aluminum cell at heating rate of 10°C/min up to 300°C under nitrogen atmosphere followed by cooling to room temperature (ROC) at -10°C/min. Each alloy was tested twice and the reading was based on the second run.
Wettability is a critical factor when evaluating the performance of a solder alloy. The wetting process is dynamic during soldering and the solid/liquid interfacial tension between solder and substrate varies as the wetting proceeds. Wettability can be quantified with wetting balance technique that measures wetting force between molten solder and solid substrate versus wetting time. Wettability of the alloys was therefore quantified with wetting balance technique. A copper plate coupon (25mm×6mm×0.5mm) used as the substrate was immersed in a bath of liquid solder alloy and the wetting force was measured with time. A commercial alcohol based no clean flux (AIM NC 265) was used to clean the substrate surface. Each test was repeated three times and the average value was reported.
Wetting contact angle (Fig. 3) was measured for selected alloys by means of Drop Shape Analyzer (DSA 100) Kruss machine. Using a commercial water based no clean liquid flux (AIM NC 275) 50±2mg solder alloy was melted on a smooth copper plate at 260°C and the contact angle was measured in the liquid state. The results are average of five testing measurements.
The specimens for microstructural observation were successively ground on progressively finer papers from 360 grit to 800 grit. Polishing was performed using 1 μm diamond suspension followed by 0.05 μm alumina suspension followed by washing with alcohol. The specimens were subsequently etched by immersing in a solution of 2% (by volume) hydrochloric acid (HCl) and 5% nitric acid (HNO3) in methanol for about 5-15 s. Right after etching the specimens were washed with alcohol. Microstructures of selected alloys were observed with optical microscope.
Results and Discussion. DSC heating curves (heat flow versus temperature) are shown in Fig. 4. The valleys stand for intense endothermic phase transitions, i.e. melting. Except for Babbitt-A that shows two peaks (valleys) other alloys have one endothermic melting peak. For onset melting temperature (solidus) determination linear extrapolation method is utilized and the results are depicted in Fig. 5. Babbitt melts at a high temperature, 237°C, but adding Bi or Ag to Babbitt reduces the melting temperature. It is interesting to note that 2% Ag has a more significant effect on reducing the melting point (i.e. 13°C) as compared to the addition of 3% Bi (i.e. 6°C). In other words, Ag is a much more efficient element to lower the melting temperature of Babbitt alloy as compared to Bi.
Tensile stress-strain curves of the alloys in fig. 6 show that SAC-I has a higher strength compared to Babbitt, but addition of Bi increases the strength of Babbitt by solid solution strengthening mechanism and at the same time makes it less ductile. Ag has little effect on tensile behavior of Babbitt. Comparatively, CASTIN® is the weakest but the most ductile alloy in Fig. 5. Furthermore, consistent with tensile test results, hardness data (Fig. 7) also demonstrates Babbitt-B as the hardest alloy and CASTIN® as the softest alloy in this study.
In order to better understand effect of alloying elements on microstructure and mechanical behavior of the alloys, phase equilibria calculation was carried out by means of the FactSage™ thermodynamic software . The calculated weight percent of major phases present in each alloy is illustrated in Table 2. The equilibrium microstructure of Babbitt alloys consists of large amount of precipitates Sb/Sn and Cu6Sn5 whereas SAC-I has much lower precipitate phases. This leads to a conclusion that the high strength of SAC-I which is comparable to Babbitt alloys is attributed to solid solution strengthening of Bi and perhaps precipitation hardening effect of Ni elements. CASTIN® is a relatively soft alloy because does not contain large amount of solid solution and particle strengtheners.
Optical microstructures of the hardest and softest alloys, i.e. Babbitt-B and CASTIN®, as well as SAC-I are shown in Fig. 8. It is illustrated that CASTIN® is a eutectic type dendritic microstructure, whereas Babbitt-B comprises Sn-rich matrix (dark color) and large SnSb (β phase) and small Cu6Sn5 particles (η phase). SAC-I microstructure shows similar but lower amount of precipitates as that of Babbitt-B. The presence of these particles as well as the dissolution of bismuth in tin increases the strength of the alloy through solid solution and precipitation strengthening mechanisms. This is reflected in the mechanical behavior of the alloys presented in Fig.6 and Fig.7.
The wetting balance test results shown in Fig. 9 depicts that bismuth and silver additions similarly improve wettability of Babbitt by increasing wetting force and reducing wetting time demonstrated with the shifting wetting curve towards top left of Babbitt curve. Comparatively, SAC-I and CASTIN® have better wetting behavior with a higher wetting force and shorter wetting time. Moreover, the wetting appearance of the solders demonstrated in Fig. 10 ranks CASTIN® as the best solder with a smooth surface whereas other alloys' surfaces are fairly rough.
Considering melting, wetting and mechanical behavior of the alloys studied, CASTIN™ and SAC-I are better choices for further evaluation. One drawback of SAC-I alloy, however, is its poor formability due to the high content of strengthening alloying elements. It is too hard to draw and make solid and cored wire. CASTIN™ formability is superior to SAC-I and can be drawn easily, however, it has lower mechanical and creep resistance. Thus, an attempt was made to improve the mechanical performance of CASTIN™ while maintaining its formability properties. Fig. 11 illustrates that a modified composition CASTIN™ alloy has similar melting behavior and tensile strength with much better formability as compared to SAC-I. This new alloy also demonstrates slightly better wetting behavior with smooth and continuous wetting balance curve as compared to that of SAC-I (Fig. 12). Wetting contact angle of the two alloys are comparable as illustrated in Fig. 13.
CASTIN™ (0.7Cu/2.5Ag/0.5Sb) (balance is Sn).
Melting temperature (Tm) of Babbitt is too high (237°C), but addition of Bi and in particular Ag reduce Tm. SAC-I shows the lowest melting temperature (212°C).
Babbitt alloys and SAC-I show high strength and hardness with low ductility. Babbitt-B is very brittle while CASTIN™ is the most deformable alloys studied.
Wetting behavior of SAC-I and CASTIN™ are equally good wheres Babbitt alloys show poor wettability.
Based on the soldering and mechanical data obtained from the mentioned alloys a new alloy named "modified CASTIN™" has been developed that shows comparable melting temperature, wettability and strength and better ductility with respect to SAC-I alloy. Further studies are required to investigate creep properties and solder joint reliability of the alloy.
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 H.-J. Albrecht, P. Frühauf, K. Wilke, SMT Int., 2009.
 C.W. Bale, P. Chartrand, S.A. Degterov, G. Eriksson, K. Hack, R. Ben Mahfoud, J. Melancon, A.D. Pelton, S. Petersen, CALPHAD 26 (2002) 189-228.


I'm laying here in my new little tent breathing oxygen-depleted air (equivalent to 15,000 feet or 4500m) while I post this latest update. It is 5:01am local time and I'm wide awake after waking up at 3:50am this morning to shuttle my son to his swim practice. Oh, it is 2°F outside and the roads are a little hazardous after a small snowstorm last night. Why am I telling you these details? Some people hate discomfort. They dislike early, cold, and inclement mornings more than any other threat to their comfort. I love these mornings. Why? On those 65°F days when I get to sleep in until 7am and enjoy a peaceful, sunny new day, I appreciate them more by experiencing and remembering these more challenging days. A little deprivation goes a long way for me. Still, I actually prefer these cold days; I have learned to like them and embrace them.
Embracing discomfort also affords me a greater sense of luxury in small doses of comfort. I cannot even fathom what a former POW, for example, must feel when he or she gets to sleep in a newly made bed for the first time and eat a self-selected meal. These contrasts must be overwhelming and hard to even describe to others. I'm not saying my experiences are even remotely close to theirs but we can all experience a little pleasure magnification by doing without.
I recall my formative years where I raced sailboats with my family. Most of these races were overnight - offering us all little chance of sleep or comfort. A race would typically start on a Friday afternoon and end on a Sunday morning. We all had fun in some way or another but to call it fun is a stretch. It was - to be sure - gratifying to do well as a team but there was something more to these outings. We had shifts or watches throughout the race; mostly, we slept or sailed for 4 hours in alternating fashion. Sleep often consisted of crawling down into the soaking wet cabin I foul weather gear and passing out from sheer exhaustion on equally wet sails. Sailing, similarly, offered little rest. If the winds were string, we changed sails and kept a lookout for other boats and obstructions. Light winds meant we all battled our eyes and hoped our 4-hour shift would end soon. We sailed through rain, squalls, doldrums, cold, heat, and wind....often more than we or our boat could easily manage. These experiences taught me more than any other about the importance of sacrificing comfort.
If you asked my dad, brother, cousins, or friends about these races, they might recall different moments or highlights but we all recall the amazing comfort of our own beds on Sunday evening. What a joy to sleep for 8 hours in a heated or air conditioned room! Again, the contrast between discomfort and a little comfort got magnified.
How does discomfort relate to climbing?
Climbing - especially high alpine climbing - affords little luxury. Often the little bit of available luxury comes in the form of a piece of cheese or chocolate after a hard day. Cold, damp tents situated in windy, exposed areas make for less-than-ideal sleeping conditions and yet most of us enjoy this activity. Again, finding enjoyment in these situations can be tough but many of us go back to experience the hardship repeatedly.
Why go back for more?
Many of us climb to re-experience life. We soon need to feel a little deprivation to fully feel alive and climbing provides that deprivation. Climbing is an activity that provides few benefits beyond the experience. Some climbers use summits just as stamp collectors use stamps; they collect them like trophies in a checklist of objectives. Others capture pictures and sacrifice to get the perfect shot. Each climb gives the photographer another opportunity to capture the essence of a mountain. Still others just like being out in the wilderness and "experiencing" nature for the fun or companionship available in the outdoors. Each of these motives result in the same behavior. The person goes back for more. I believe after a person gets a taste of the discomfort, that taste becomes a craving. None of us like to be miserable but we slowly get accustomed to slight discomfort and we soon appreciate the contrast I mentioned previously. Neither the checklist, picture nor "fun" acts as sufficient motive to endure hardship. There must be something else and that something might be a need.
Do you need a little discomfort to feel satisfaction with everyday life? I do. That need is why I climb, sail, ski, snowboard, hike, swim, run, drink, and work. I find comfort in discomfort. How about you? Post a comment below with your thoughts.
Today is my day off but the past few days were hard efforts with plenty of weather to keep me energized. I also finished a few books while lounging in my tent at 13-14,000 feet (4000-4300m). Life is pretty good. If you are interested in reading adventure books, I highly recommend Ed Webster's 3-part series on his adventures to Everest. Check out... Snow in the Kingdom: My Storm Years on Everest .
Just to give you a taste of the good life in Northern Virginia when it snows, I posted a picture of me post-run on Monday afternoon. All smiles of course.
Finding comfort in discomfort. Have you ever found that a little bit of discomfort leads to a greater sensitivity and appreciation of comfort? My colleagues and I are interested in discomfort tolerance but I see it as a necessity; others of you may find it something to simply endure.
Routines help us get things done but sometimes routines can be destructive. I have several examples where a training routine can be useful to get going but can also lead to overtraining if I become a slave to that routine. The post on routines shows several personal projects I had over the years that ended with both good and bad outcomes.
Slimming down, shaping up, and readying yourself for failure in the mountains. Fitness can be a key ingredient but it can also lead to serious problems at altitude. I recount several instances where the fittest people work too hard, too early and fail to acclimatize. Thus, I intend to go fat, fit, and acclimatized - a sharp contrast from the greyhounds that run up hills.
Thanks for following. See you in a few days.
Today marks only 10 weeks left before I get to rest and then climb. It has been a long journey. I began training and preparing to climb Everest 20 months ago today. Yep, 20 months. Since that time, I climbed several mountains, traveled the world, met some fantastic people and still have yet to reach the summit. I have no regrets and cannot wait to turn the page on this fantastic journey of self-discovery. Here are a few thoughts that occupied me over the past few days.
There are so many things to complain about in life but I find it invigorating to thank those who support me, doubt me, and question me. All three groups - even a fourth that ignores me as some crackpot - motivate me to get better. I thank you all for your continued support, criticism, and doubt; keep up the good work and keep me focused on the prize.
I have a lot of great friends. Some I see regularly and many I have not seen in years. There are even a ton I recently met and plan to meet up with in the near future. All of my friends seem to have big goals - many bigger than mine. They strive to make themselves better and, in the process, to improve the world. Thanks for being such good role models. You all know who you are so pat yourselves on the back to recognize you made a difference in many people's lives - particularly mine. We will enjoy a pint together soon, I promise.
Yeah, I know the tired old saying that "you ought to live your life as if it is your last day of life" seems more fitting and inspirational for some. For climbers, we ought to focus on days ahead. Living each day as if it is our last means we do foolish things today. I say live with a focus on tomorrow but enjoy today for its beauty and novelty. Life is great - take advantage of each day. Say yes to new options. Meet new people. Grow.
That is what I am up to these days. I think. Yeah, I train too. I decided to cut back on the training updates. You can see a long history of training logs posted from last year. I am doing the same routine this year, however, I plan to post more thoughts about my preparation rather than the rote, weekly training grind.
See you in a few days with more thoughts and observations. Thanks for being part of the journey.
Thanks for following our journey. I left you last time with the post-summit celebration at basecamp. We were all overjoyed with the dream of getting off the mountain. Patrick and Kathy summited an 18,000 foot peak nearby while Brendan and I summited Aconcagua. It was a long day for us all and we were looking forward to steak and wine in Mendoza. So, off we went...on the long, downhill slog.
We woke up early to get our bags weighed and sorted for the mule service down the hill. These mules provide us with a huge weight offset so we can easily climb up to and down from basecamp without hauling a ton of gear. Aconcagua is unique in this respect that animals are allowed to "operate" on the mountain; other hills like Denali do not allow animals so we climbers are forced to haul our loads up/down the mountain. Below are some pictures of our trek down from PdM to the Horcones ranger station. It was a long (5.5 hour) trek in the dusty valley. Wish I could say it was picturesque but I would be lying.
Brendan and I left PdM at about 8:20am - a full hour or more after Patrick and Kathy shoved off. It was a glorious morning with almost no wind and cool temperatures. We were all smiles at first.
All smiles at first. Yeah, more rock and scree but at least this will be the last of it for some time.
Here are more pictures of our retreat. Not much more to say other than we were extremely happy to get away from this scree pile.
I'm smiling believe it or not.
Live action photo of Brendan crossing a very cold stream en route to the bottom.
YES! Stuck the landing for at least a 9....judges?
Brendan and I caught up with Kathy and Patrick and then proceeded down the hill at a rapid pace. My toes were beaten up from over 20 hours of descending over the past few days. Blisters and purple toenails seemed to be the day's special.
The last bit of running water until we hit Penitentes.
Brendan coming up and bearing the heat and dry climate quite well. He might have something different to report.
We passed by several ascending mule trains. These guys hammer this trail. Humans have nothing on them. Go mules, go!
Brendan still chugging along...quite happy to be leaving this hill.
The trip out took us about 5.5 hours and seemed to last in our heads much longer. If you look at the pictures of the terrain, you'll see nothing but loose rocks and fine dust. The rocks provided no traction and the dust blew up in a nasty cough-inducing cloud with the slightest wisp of wind. Good grief! I signed up to climb a mountain not a giant dirt pile. Unfortunately, I got the latter. Oh well. Good fun....(NB...fun ain't always fun).
I think we lost our smiles by this point. We just wanted to be done. At this point, we were about 3 hours into the descent.
Almost home. One last uphill and then we are off for more toe busting downhill to the finish.
Here we are! Finally. Ugh.
The ranger station! We made it.
I got to the ranger station and immediately took off my shoes to reveal some nasty toes. For the sake of all of you, I decided to omit those pictures. They are not suitable for any age.
Hey, wait a second, where is Brendan?
Made it. I think I can see a smile. Nah, it is probably a grimace. Brendan...comments?
We celebrated the accomplishment. More accurately, we celebrated the end of the scree pile. We had visions of beer, wine, and steak that filled us with enough energy to get down that hill.
Fake smiles...but we are done.
And then the beer came...when we arrived in Penitentes. Brendan, note I am omitting our wait at the ranger station. That was not exactly fun but the beer was worth the wait. Check out the wild style hairdo Brendan was sporting in these last days.
Real smiles followed with our first beer. Ah beer. Nectar of the gods. Nice hair dude.
Very happy to be done. Time for beer.
Our arrival back in Mendoza could not come soon enough. We were all ready to eat real food and enjoy a nice, comfortable bed. I managed to negotiate a one-night deal at the Huentala hotel - the same place I crashed for two days to shake off my sinus infection. It was worth it just to have a place to spread out our gear and get re-established in civilization. Below, Kathy is enjoying our first night out. Great to see her smiling again.
The next day, we found ourselves in a rather precarious spot. It was new years eve and nothing was open. We had to scrounge to find food and during the typical siesta time. Our choices...slim. Here is what remains of the most disgusting hot dog I ever ate. It was something shaped like a hot dog but tasted like something I never ate before. Pure hell.
After a few days rest, we opted for a wine tour and headed out to make the most of the few days left before my family left (and Brendan and I headed to Chile). Patrick had a blast just being back in civilization. Here he is trying on some new clothes. No, the Oregon shirt was his but the hat added a nice new twist to school casual.
The wine tour was a hoot. Two of us enjoyed each stop to the fullest and even purchased a few road bottles to enjoy between stops. The bus driver did not take too kindly to us drinking during the long, hot tour but Brendan and I found that drinking eased our pain considerably. Even Patrick had fun on the tour. See, he is smiling (see picture below). He was finally fully recovered from the AMS.
and who wouldn't be happy amongst all that wine?
We enjoyed the bus ride with our road pops (not pictured for fear that the bus driver would kick us off in the middle of nowhere).
After our trip, we walked about the following days and enjoyed the quiet comfort of our hotel room.
On a walkabout with the family.
Our luxurious sweet suite - courtesy of Hotels.com. Thanks guys!
I spent the majority of those rest days catching up on my climbing journal and drinking beer to regain some of my lost 18-20 lbs. Yep, climbing is one very difficult way to lose weight but a dangerous way too. Perhaps next time I will eat more butter. Mmmmm....butter.
Beer, writing, reading, and beer. Not always in that order.
We finished off our trip together with an outing to the huge park. It was a nice day trip on one of the hottest days I can recall - post living in Tucson. Man was it hot and I hate the heat. We trudged around the city and walked through what amounted to a jungle in the middle of Mendoza. It was an enjoyable day that ended soon enough.
Oh yeah, a hot day in the park.
Our trip lasted until January 5th together. On that day, I headed off to Santiago, Chile to meet up with Brendan and party...er, sightsee through a new country. I will post some pictures of that trip below. The most memorable place we visited was Valparaiso. If you ever get a chance to head down to Chile, I highly recommend that little city on the coast.
OK, fini! We are done with Aconcagua. My next objective: Everest. Stay tuned for some posts related to my preparation for Everest.


Anyone who is viewing this website right now knows that clearly, he was wrong. When you're building a performance system you want all of the components to be top notch. Great ram is key for any system worth its weight.
Today we will be reviewing Patriot's Viper II 1600MHz Ram. This triple channel Kit Comes out of Patriots Extreme Performance line so It shouldn't disappoint.
Specifications were mostly concerning the box. I excluded those because they were not terribly relevant to the review.


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Q: Android adapter getView better decoupling with a viewGroup I'd like to create less work for the getView method of an android list Adapter.  I have been reading that we can let a ViewGroup update the view instead of the getView method and thus make scrolling faster.  I need some help understanding this concept and here is what i have so far:
@Override
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
    MyViewGroup myViewGroup;
    if (convertView == null) {
        myViewGroup = (MyViewGroup) LayoutInflater.from(context)
          .inflate(R.layout.banana_phone, parent, false);
    } else {
        myViewGroup = (MyViewGroup) convertView;
    }

    InfoObject info = getItem(position);

    myViewGroup.update(info); //how does this part work ? this is synchrounous so getView has to wait, doesn't it ?

    return myViewGroup;
}

I got this idea from this site
So my issue is how do i make the viewGroup update without letting getView wait.  I believe in the implementation i have above getView would wait until the viewgroup is updated, correct ? so this would slow down the listview still.  I would like an example of what the custom viewgroup would look like (or non custom if thats the case)?
could anyone give an example what MyViewGroup would look like after extending ViewGroup  and say updating a textview in the listview as im not understanding how to structure the custom viewgroup so that it updates a textview for example?

A: You are correct, the update call is (and should be!) synchronous, and getView will have to wait.
Creating your own ViewGroup for a list provides better decoupling - it has no performance benefits, but rather moves the setting of values within the view into a separate class to the adapter. If you then used this view in another layout, say as a header in a detail view, you would reduce code duplication by utilizing the update method.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Tag: Eugene Brennan
Cabaret Voltaire on La Edad de Oro, 1983
Cabaret Voltaire appeared on Spain's La Edad de Oro music show a few months after Tuxedomoon in November 1983. This was three months after I saw the Cabs at the Haçienda in Manchester, a concert you can see yourself in terrible sound and picture quality on a Cherry Red DVD. (Granted, the Haçienda video recordings were never intended for public sale but that taping looks particularly poor.) So it's good to find this Spanish broadcast capturing the band performing songs from their recently released The Crackdown album. As with many of the other British groups given a slot on La Edad de Oro, this was a much more generous showcasing than was allowed by the UK's music shows of the period, most of which tended to favour safe pop or rock acts. One reason Cabaret Voltaire formed their own video label, Doublevision, was to provide an outlet for visual works by groups that the major TV channels were ignoring. The tenth release on the Doublevision video label happened to be Tuxedomoon's Ghost Sonata film.
The drummer for the Spanish broadcast, as on the Cabs' albums, was Alan Fish, and the performance is mixed with shots of the band's vaguely ominous film and video material. Both this show and the Tuxedomoon performance have translated lyrics running over the screen, a strange thing to see with Cabaret Voltaire who never printed their lyrics.
By coincidence a new Cabaret Voltaire compilation album has just been released, #7885 (Electropunk To Technopop 1978 – 1985), which Eugene Brennan reviews here. I've already got everything on it but it's a good overview of the group's evolution from post-punk weirdos to a formidable electronic-dance outfit. (Although the full-length 12″ tracks are the essential versions.)
• Tuxedomoon on La Edad de Oro, 1983
• Doublevision Presents Cabaret Voltaire
• Just the ticket: Cabaret Voltaire
• European Rendezvous by CTI
• TV Wipeout
• Seven Songs by 23 Skidoo
• Elemental 7 by CTI
• The Crackdown by Cabaret Voltaire
• Network 21 TV
Author JohnPosted on June 30, 2014 June 30, 2014 Categories {music}, {television}Tags Cabaret Voltaire, Eugene Brennan, Haçienda, La Edad de Oro, Network 21, The Haçienda, Tuxedomoon
A Dune-inspired piece by Joshua Budich for In Dreams: an art show tribute to David Lynch at Spoke Art.
• "[Montague] Summers was a friend of Aleister Crowley and, like [Jacques d'Adelswärd] Fersen, conducted homoerotic black masses; whatever eldritch divinity received their entreaties was evidently propitiated by nude youths." Strange Flowers goes in search of the Reverend Summers.
• More Jarmania: Veronica Horwell on the theatrical life of Derek Jarman, Paul Gallagher on When Derek Jarman met William Burroughs, and Scott Treleaven on Derek Jarman's Advice to a Young Queer Artist.
• Robert Henke of Monolake talks to Secret Thirteen about his electronic music. More electronica: analogue-synth group Node have recorded a new album, their first since their debut in 1995.
This hypertrophied response to decay and dilapidation is what drives the "ruin gaze", a kind of steroidal sublime that enables us to enlarge the past because we cannot enlarge the present. When ruin-meister Giovanni Piranesi introduced human figures into his "Views of Rome", they were always disproportionately small in relation to his colossal (and colossally inaccurate) wrecks of empire. It's not that Piranesi, an architect, couldn't do the maths: he wasn't trying to document the remains so much as translate them into a grand melancholic view. As Marguerite Yourcenar put it, Piranesi was not only the interpreter but "virtually the inventor of Rome's tragic beauty". His "sublime dreams", Horace Walpole said, had conjured "visions of Rome beyond what it boasted even in the meridian of its splendour".
Frances Stonor Saunders on How ruins reveal our deepest fears and desires.
• Gustave Doré. L'imaginaire au pouvoir: Four short films from the Musée d'Orsay to accompany their current exhibition, Gustave Doré (1832–1883): Master of Imagination.
• At Dangerous Minds: Remembering Cathy Berberian, the hippest—and funniest—lady of avant-garde classical music.
• "Merely a Man of Letters": Jorge Luis Borges interviewed in 1977 by Denis Dutton & Michael Palencia-Roth.
• Luke Epplin on Big as Life (1966), a science-fiction novel by EL Doctorow which the author has since disowned.
• The Psychomagical Realism of Alejandro Jodorowsky: Eric Benson talks to the tireless polymath.
• A video essay by Matt Zoller Seitz for the 10th anniversary of David Milch's Deadwood.
• Eugene Brennan on Scott Walker's The Climate of Hunter (1984).
• Dune at Pinterest.
• Prophecy Theme from Dune (1984) by Brian Eno | Olivine (1995) by Node | Gobi 110 35′ south 45 58′ (1999) by Monolake
Author JohnPosted on March 16, 2014 March 16, 2014 Categories {architecture}, {art}, {books}, {electronica}, {film}, {gay}, {illustrators}, {music}, {occult}, {science fiction}, {television}Tags Aleister Crowley, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Brian Eno, Cathy Berberian, David Lynch, David Milch, Deadwood, Denis Dutton, Derek Jarman, EL Doctorow, Eric Benson, Eugene Brennan, Frances Stonor Saunders, Gustave Doré, Horace Walpole, Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen, Jorge Luis Borges, Joshua Budich, Luke Epplin, Marguerite Yourcenar, Matt Zoller Seitz, Michael Palencia-Roth, Monolake, Monolake (musician), Montague Summers, Musée d'Orsay, Node (group), Paul Gallagher, Piranesi, Robert Henke, Scott Treleaven, Scott Walker, Strange Flowers, Veronica Horwell, William Burroughs


Oat milk has been used for centuries to soothe dry, itchy skin. Pure iceberg water to make fresh oat milk and blend it with sweet almond oil for an emollient, protective lotion. With carefully handcrafts pure, iceberg water glycerites using vegetable glycerin to extract the impressive medicinal constituents of lavender and deliver them to your skin in this rich and totally indulgent lotion.
Massage into skin as needed to relieve dry, itchy skin.
Iceberg water (aqua), avena sativa (oat) kernel extract, persea gratissima (avocado) oil, prunus amygdalus dulcis (sweet almond) oil, emulsifying wax nf, stearic acid, tocopherol (vitamin E) lavandula officinalis, (lavender) oil, benzyl alcohol & salicylic acid & glycerin & sorbic acid.


This pumpkin enzyme peel is rich in anti-aging and skin perfecting nutrients.The natural pumpkin enzymes also aid in exfoliating dead skin cells and impurities, while delivering vitamins and nutrients to the skin. The result is younger, healthier looking skin and a more vibrant complexion.
Cucurbita Pepo (Pumpkin), Glycerin, Aqua (Water), Lactobacillus/Pumpkin Ferment Extract, Lactic Acid (L), Polyglyceryl-4 Caprate, Fructooligosaccharides (D-beta), Albumen, Gluconic Acid (D), Vanilla Planifolia Fruit Oil, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Eugenia Caryophyllus (Clove) Leaf Oil, Cinnamomum Cassia (Cinnamon) Leaf Oil, Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root Oil, Myristica Fragrans (Nutmeg) Kernel Oil, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil*. *USDA Certified Organic | NOP. Phthalate-free.


text:
package net.aionstudios.n2d;

import java.awt.DisplayMode;
import java.awt.GraphicsConfiguration;
import java.awt.GraphicsDevice;
import java.awt.GraphicsEnvironment;

public class EnvironmentSettings {

	private static GraphicsConfiguration graphicsConfig = DisplayManager.getWindows()[0].getGraphicsConfiguration();
	private static GraphicsDevice gameScreen = DisplayManager.getWindows()[0].getGraphicsConfiguration().getDevice();
	private static GraphicsEnvironment graphicsEnvironment = GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment();
	private static DisplayMode displayMode = DisplayManager.getWindows()[0].getGraphicsConfiguration().getDevice().getDisplayMode();
	private static int recommendedFPSCap = (DisplayManager.getWindows()[0].getGraphicsConfiguration().getDevice().getDisplayMode().getRefreshRate()*2)+1;

	public static int getRecommendedFPSCap() {
		return recommendedFPSCap;
	}

	public static  GraphicsConfiguration getGraphicsConfig() {
		return graphicsConfig;
	}

	public static  GraphicsDevice getGameScreen() {
		return gameScreen;
	}

	public static  GraphicsEnvironment getGraphicsEnvironment() {
		return graphicsEnvironment;
	}

	public static  DisplayMode getDisplayMode() {
		return displayMode;
	}

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


You're gonna wonder how you ever lived without these carryalls.
But since we're all about do-it-all features, here are a few upgraded options worth snagging for the long weekend.
Also awesome: the Poler Stuff Camera Cooler, which is built to hold an SLR camera with all the accessories, but doubles as a perfect six-pack-sized cooler for those of us that stick to Instagram selfies. Plus, side pockets fit your phone and tablet (the latest issue of SELF, perhaps?) perfectly. Bonus: Cross-body straps make it effortless to haul.
Looking for something a little more lo-fi? The Bagabond Beach Bag, looks like a bucket-bag backpack hybrid, but the roll-shaped tote not only fits everything you need, it has a waterproof interior so it's perfect for stashing wet towels without soaking your back. Oh, and once you pack this thing full of stuff it actually doubles as an awesome way to prop yourself up while you dive into your latest beach reading. Plus, the sack is big enough to fit a yoga mat so it's great for non-beach days, too.
Always Losing Your Bikini Top?


When it comes to optimising your documents and web pages so that search engines will find them—which means people will find them, boosting traffic to your site—many experts will tell you that HTML is the better way to go. It's what users are used to. People use it more frequently for web pages. And they embed social sharing in it more often.
That said, you get a lot of benefit out of making your PDFs search-engine friendly. For one thing, if you've already got a lot of PDFs on your website, it's not only time-consuming to replace them; you may be eliminating perfectly good pages that others have already linked to, which is a no-no for SEO.
And if your PDF content is intended to be printed, like brochures or user guides, or even archived, like government and legal documents, turning it into HTML can defeat that purpose.
Instead, it's wise to put best practices for SEO in PDF in place upfront, right at the time of creation.
The good news is SEO for PDF isn't difficult. It just requires that you and other PDF file creators follow these steps.
Big files take longer to load, which makes people and search engines unhappy. So be sure to use the PDF Optimizer in Foxit PhantomPDF, which lets you compress image files and remove data redundancy to reduce your PDF file size.
Having both HTML and PDF versions of the same content can be a good idea, but only if you take steps to ensure that search engines don't view your PDF file as a duplicate of your HTML file. They penalise you for duplication, so check their guidelines for avoiding duplicate content.
You've gone to the trouble to create a nice, easily searchable, keyword-happy title. Now be sure to fill out the Author, Subject, and Keywords document properties. The jury is still out on exactly how they affect SEO, but better not to omit potentially useful information.
By write-protecting your PDF file, you prevent would-be bad guys from downloading it, making changes to it and uploading it to their site.
Take these simple steps for making your PDF files into SEO friendly files and you'll be in good graces with the search engines. And the users that want to find your content.


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Q: Environmental variables not working (Windows 11) I was trying to setup the .NET SDK as I've started learning Unity.
The problem is I can't seem to be able to use dotnet in the CMD. I checked my path to see if the .NET installer included it and it did. Running echo %PATH% in CMD includes C:\Program Files\dotnet\;.
Still I get this error when running 'dotnet' or any dotnet command in CMD:
'dotnet' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

When I open a terminal in the C:\Program Files\dotnet\ directory and run 'dotnet' everything works as expected.
It's as if Windows ignores my path. I'm lost and can't find any way to fix it. Any suggestions?

A: For some reason Windows ignored my user environment variables. Adding C:\Program Files\dotnet\; to my system environment variables instead of my user environment variables seems to have resolved the problem.


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With nothing of note bar the Hooded Crow (which was reported from the Bill early in the morning) on the land it was left to a few odds and ends on the sea off the Bill to provide the bulk of the day's sightings; these included 49 Common Scoter, 40 Manx Shearwaters, 6 commic terns, 3 Mediterranean Gulls and 2 Sandwich Terns.
Immigrants/wanderers in the Obs garden moth-traps included 17 Rusty-dot Pearl, 5 Diamond-back Moth, 2 each of Dark Sword Grass, Cream-bordered Green Pea and Dark Spectacle and singles of Blotched Marble Endothenia quadrimaculana, Delicate and Miller.
Puffin - Portland Bill, 24th June 2014 © Pete Saunders
...we don't often bother to mention the Puffins once they've settled in but they are still about, with the highest count so far this summer being just 4.
Also the first of a selection of catch-up photos; this Crescent Bell Epinotia bilunana caught three nights ago at Sweethill was a first for Portland (photo © Debby Saunders):


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Altitude Angel's L.A.A.N.C. Service Now Freely Available to Users in the United States
Update: LAANC is now available to both recreational and commercial drone pilots directly through DroneSafetyMap.com. This service is provided free to all users in the U.S.
Plan your Next Flight
London, UK: Altitude Angel, the world's foremost unmanned traffic management (UTM) technology provider, today announced it has expanded access to its implantation of the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (L.A.A.N.C.) service in its products, meaning its U.S.-based commercial drone pilots can now use the company's capabilities to access airspace at around 600 U.S. airports – free of charge.
Part 107 (Commercial) operations can now gain L.A.A.N.C. approval through Altitude Angel's DroneSafetyMap.com
On the expansion of the L.A.A.N.C. capability, Richard Parker, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Altitude Angel said:
"We're pleased to be bringing L.A.A.N.C. capability to our commercial pilots flying in the United States. While we've had L.A.A.N.C. technology available for a number of months, this release puts it front and centre in our product portfolio, making access quick and easy, so anyone wanting to seek L.A.A.N.C. approval can now do so via DroneSafetyMap.com."
In addition, Altitude Angel's implementation of L.A.A.N.C. means pilots can quickly check their 'options' before submitting a full authorisation request and make any adjustments in a streamlined process to maximise their chances of securing approval.
Altitude Angel was initially approved by the Federal Aviation Authority (F.A.A.) as a UAS Service Supplier (U.S.S.) of the L.A.A.N.C. in October of last year.
The expansion of the L.A.A.N.C. authorisation service follows Altitude Angel's recent announcement of an industry alliance with Pierce Aerospace, the U.S. based remote identification system supplier, with the goal to bring automated drone flight a step closer.
Altitude Angel is an aviation technology company delivering solutions which enable the safer integration and use of fully automated drones into airspace. Through its Airspace Management platform, GuardianUTM O/S, they deliver the essential software platform which enable national deployments of USpace compatible services, safely unlocking the potential of drones and helping national aviation authorities and air navigation service providers to establish new services to support the growth in the drone industry.
The foundation components of GuardianUTM O/S are also available to enable third-party UTM developers, drone manufacturers and software developers to incorporate enterprise-grade data and services into their UTM solutions.
Altitude Angel was founded by Richard Parker in 2014 and is headquartered in Reading, UK.
Altitude Angel's developer platform is open and available to all at https://developers.altitudeangel.com.
Stephen Farmer, Altitude Angel, Head of Corporate Communications & PR